"Near the Louvre stood the Hotel du Petit Bourbon, which contained a spacious gallery, that had been converted into a theatre, where the court was accustomed to give fetes and ballets, in which the princes and Louis XIV., when young, used to dance. The king, satisfied with Moliere, gave him this theatre; and upon the demolition of the hotel in 1660, in order to afford space for the colonnade of the Louvre, his majesty gave him the Theatre du Palais Royal, built by cardinal Richelieu, granted to his company a pension of 6000 livres, and allowed them to assume the title of troupe royale."

In:  Whittaker, G. B.: The History of Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day: Vol. II. London, 1825 p. 461

Author: G. B Whittaker