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diff --git a/25842.txt b/25842.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cedacbc --- /dev/null +++ b/25842.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9875 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Royal Palaces and Parks of France, by Milburg +Francisco Mansfield, Illustrated by Blanche McManus + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Royal Palaces and Parks of France + + +Author: Milburg Francisco Mansfield + + + +Release Date: June 19, 2008 [eBook #25842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROYAL PALACES AND PARKS OF +FRANCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 25842-h.htm or 25842-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/4/25842/25842-h/25842-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/4/25842/25842-h.zip) + + + + + +ROYAL PALACES AND PARKS OF FRANCE + + * * * * * + + +_WORKS OF + +FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + + _Rambles on the Riviera_ $2.50 + + _Rambles in Normandy_ 2.50 + + _Rambles in Brittany_ 2.50 + + _The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine_ 2.50 + + _The Cathedrals of Northern France_ 2.50 + + _The Cathedrals of Southern France_ 2.50 + + _In the Land of Mosques and Minarets_ 3.00 + + _Royal Palaces and Parks of France_ 3.00 + + _Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country_ 3.00 + + _Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces_ 3.00 + + _Castles and Chateaux of Old Burgundy and the Border Provinces_ 3.00 + + _Italian Highways and Byways from a Motor Car_ 3.00 + + _The Automobilist Abroad_ net 3.00 + + (_Postage Extra_) + +_L. C. Page and Company_ + +_53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass._ + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Terrace of Henri IV, Saint Germain_ (_See page 286_)] + +[Illustration] + +ROYAL PALACES AND PARKS OF FRANCE + +by + +FRANCIS MILTOUN + +Author of "Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine," "Castles +and Chateaux of Old Burgundy," "Rambles in Normandy," +"Italian Highways and Byways +from a Motor-Car," etc. + +With Many Illustrations +Reproduced from paintings made on the spot by Blanche Mcmanus + + + + + + + +Boston +L. C. Page & Company +1910 + +Copyright, 1910. +by L. C. Page & Company. +(Incorporated) +All rights reserved + +First Impression, November, 1910 + +Printed by +The Colonial Press +C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U. S. A. + + + + +Preface + + "A thousand years ago, by the rim of a tiny spring, a monk who had + avowed himself to the cult of Saint Saturnin, robed, cowled and + sandalled, knelt down to say a prayer to his beloved patron saint. + Again he came, this time followed by more of his kind, and a wooden + cross was planted by the side of the "Fontaine Belle Eau," by this + time become a place of pious pilgrimage. After the monk came a + king, the latter to hunt in the neighbouring forest." + + +It was this old account of fact, or legend, that led the author and +illustrator of this book to a full realization of the wealth of historic +and romantic incidents connected with the French royal parks and +palaces, incidents which the makers of guidebooks have passed over in +favour of the, presumably, more important, well authenticated facts of +history which are often the bare recitals of political rises and falls +and dull chronologies of building up and tearing down. + +Much of the history of France was made in the great national forests and +the royal country-houses of the kingdom, but usually it has been only +the events of the capital which have been passed in review. To a great +extent this history was of the gallant, daring kind, often written in +blood, the sword replacing the pen. + +At times gayety reigned supreme, and at times it was sadness; but always +the pageant was imposing. + +The day of pageants has passed, the day when lords and ladies moved +through stately halls, when royal equipages hunted deer or boar on royal +preserves, when gay cavalcades of solemn corteges thronged the great +French highways to the uttermost frontiers and ofttimes beyond. Those +days have passed; but, to one who knows the real France, a ready-made +setting is ever at hand if he would depart a little from the beaten +paths worn smooth by railway and automobile tourists who follow only the +lines of conventional travel. + +France, even to-day, the city and the country alike, is the paradise of +European monarchs on a holiday. One may be met at Biarritz on the shores +of the Gascon gulf; another may be taking the waters at Aix or Vichy, +shooting pigeons under the shadow of the Tete de Chien, or hunting at +Rambouillet. This is modern France, the most cosmopolitan meeting place +and playground of royalty in the world. + +French royal parks and palaces, those of the kings and queens of +mediaeval, as well as later, times, differ greatly from those of other +lands. This is perhaps not so much in their degree of splendour and +luxury as in the sentiment which attaches itself to them. In France +there has ever been a spirit of gayety and spontaneity unknown +elsewhere. It was this which inspired the construction and maintenance +of such magnificent royal residences as the palaces of Saint +Germain-en-Laye, Fontainebleau, Versailles, Compiegne, Rambouillet, +etc., quite different from the motives which caused the erection of the +Louvre, the Tuileries or the Palais Cardinal at Paris. + +Nowhere else does there exist the equal of these inspired royal +country-houses of France, and, when it comes to a consideration of their +surrounding parks and gardens, or those royal hunting preserves in the +vicinity of the Ile de France, or of those still further afield, at +Rambouillet or in the Loire country, their superiority to similar +domains beyond the frontiers is even more marked. + +In plan this book is a series of itineraries, at least the chapters are +arranged, to a great extent in a topographical sequence; and, if the +scope is not as wide as all France, it is because of the prominence +already given to the parks and palaces of Touraine and elsewhere in the +old French provinces in other works in which the artist and author have +collaborated. It is for this reason that so little consideration has +been given to Chambord, Amboise or Chenonceaux, which were as truly +royal as any of that magnificent group of suburban Paris palaces which +begins with Conflans and ends with Marly and Versailles. + +Going still further afield, there is in the Pyrenees that chateau, royal +from all points of view, in which was born the gallant Henri of France +and Navarre, but a consideration of that, too, has already been included +in another volume. + +The present survey includes the royal dwellings of the capital, those of +the faubourgs and the outlying districts far enough from town to be +recognized as in the country, and still others as remote as Rambouillet, +Chantilly and Compiegne. All, however, were intimately connected with +the life of the capital in the mediaeval and Renaissance days, and +together form a class distinct from any other monumental edifices which +exist, or ever have existed, in France. + +Mere historic fact has been subordinated as far as possible to a recital +of such picturesque incidents of the life of contemporary times as the +old writers have handed down to us, and a complete chronological review +has in no manner been attempted. + + + + +Contents + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTORY 13 + II. THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH GARDENS 14 + III. THE ROYAL HUNT IN FRANCE 43 + IV. THE PALAIS DE LA CITE AND TOURNELLES 61 + V. THE OLD LOUVRE AND ITS HISTORY 75 + VI. THE LOUVRE OF FRANCIS I AND ITS SUCCESSORS 85 + VII. THE TUILERIES AND ITS GARDENS 106 + VIII. THE PALAIS CARDINAL AND THE PALAIS + ROYAL 131 + IX. THE LUXEMBOURG, THE ELYSEE AND THE + PALAIS BOURBON 151 + X. VINCENNES AND CONFLANS 168 + XI. FONTAINEBLEAU AND ITS FOREST 180 + XII. BY THE BANKS OF THE SEINE 203 + XIII. MALMAISON AND MARLY 215 + XIV. SAINT CLOUD AND ITS PARK 229 + XV. VERSAILLES: THE GLORY OF FRANCE 244 + XVI. THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES AND THE TRIANONS 260 + XVII. SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 279 + XVIII. MAINTENON 296 + XIX. RAMBOUILLET AND ITS FOREST 309 + XX. CHANTILLY 324 + XXI. COMPIEGNE AND ITS FOREST 342 + INDEX 363 + + + + +[Illustration: List of Illustrations] + + + PAGE + + TERRACE OF HENRI IV, SAINT GERMAIN (_see page 286_) _Frontispiece_ + THE LOUVRE, THE TUILERIES AND THE PALAIS ROYAL OF TO-DAY _facing_ 12 + "JARDIN FRANCAIS--JARDIN ANGLAIS" 15 + HENRI IV IN AN OLD FRENCH GARDEN _facing_ 20 + PARTERRE DE DIANE, CHENONCEAUX 27 + PLAN OF SUNKEN GARDEN (JARDIN CREUX) 30 + A PARTERRE _facing_ 32 + BASSIN DE LA COURONNE, VAUX-LE-VICOMTE _facing_ 42 + A "CUREE AUX FLAMBEAUX" _facing_ 46 + AN IMPERIAL HUNT AT FONTAINEBLEAU _facing_ 52 + RENDEZVOUS DE CHASSE, RAMBOUILLET _facing_ 56 + BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF OLD PARIS (Map) _facing_ 74 + THE XIV CENTURY LOUVRE _facing_ 82 + THE LOUVRE _facing_ 90 + ORIGINAL PLAN OF THE TUILERIES (Diagram) 106 + SALLE DES MARECHAUX, TUILERIES _facing_ 116 + THE GALLERIES OF THE PALAIS ROYAL 146 + BOURBON-ORLEANS DESCENDANTS OF LOUIS PHILIPPE (Diagram) _facing_ 146 + PALAIS DU LUXEMBOURG _facing_ 154 + DOOR IN THRONE ROOM, LUXEMBOURG 156 + THE PETIT LUXEMBOURG _facing_ 156 + THE LUXEMBOURG GARDENS _facing_ 158 + THE THRONE OF THE PALAIS BOURBON 161 + VINCENNES UNDER CHARLES V 168 + CHATEAU DE VINCENNES _facing_ 172 + A HUNT UNDER THE WALLS OF VINCENNES _facing_ 174 + CONFLANS 176 + ORIGINAL PLAN OF FONTAINEBLEAU 180 + FROM PARIS TO FONTAINEBLEAU (Map) _facing_ 180 + PALAIS DE FONTAINEBLEAU _facing_ 186 + SALLE DU THRONE, FONTAINEBLEAU _facing_ 190 + FRAGMENTS FROM FONTAINEBLEAU _facing_ 192 + CHEMINEE DE LA REINE, FONTAINEBLEAU _facing_ 194 + MONUMENT TO ROUSSEAU AND MILLET AT BARBISON _facing_ 200 + CHATEAU DE BAGATELLE 204 + CHATEAU DE MALMAISON _facing_ 218 + THE GARDENS OF SAINT CLOUD _facing_ 236 + THE CASCADES AT SAINT CLOUD _facing_ 240 + COUR DE MARBRE, VERSAILLES _facing_ 264 + THE POTAGER DU ROY, VERSAILLES _facing_ 270 + THE BASSIN DE LATONE, VERSAILLES _facing_ 272 + THE FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE, VERSAILLES _facing_ 274 + PETIT TRIANON _facing_ 276 + LAITERIE DE LA REINE, PETIT TRIANON 277 + SAINT GERMAIN (Diagram) 280 + THE VALLEY OF THE SEINE, FROM THE TERRACE AT SAINT + GERMAIN _facing_ 288 + FAUTEUIL OF MME. DE MAINTENON 297 + CHATEAU DE MAINTENON _facing_ 300 + AQUEDUCT OF LOUIS XIV AT MAINTENON _facing_ 306 + CHATEAU DE RAMBOUILLET (Diagram) 309 + LAITERIE DE LA REINE, RAMBOUILLET _facing_ 312 + CHATEAU DE RAMBOUILLET _facing_ 316 + CHANTILLY (Diagram) 325 + STATUE OF LE NOTRE, CHANTILLY _facing_ 326 + CHATEAU DE CHANTILLY _facing_ 336 + COMPIEGNE (Diagram) 343 + NAPOLEON'S BEDCHAMBER, COMPIEGNE _facing_ 352 + COURS DE COMPIEGNE _facing_ 356 + + + + +Royal Palaces and Parks of France + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The modern traveller sees something beyond mere facts. Historical +material as identified with the life of some great architectural glory +is something more than a mere repetition of chronologies; the sidelights +and the co-related incidents, though indeed many of them may be but +hearsay, are quite as interesting, quite as necessary, in fact, for the +proper appreciation of a famous palace or chateau as long columns of +dates, or an evolved genealogical tree which attempts to make plain that +which could be better left unexplained. The glamour of history would be +considerably dimmed if everything was explained, and a very seamy block +of marble may be chiselled into a very acceptable statue if the workman +but knows how to avoid the doubtful parts. + +An itinerary that follows not only the ridges, but occasionally plunges +down into the hollows and turns up or down such crossroads as may have +chanced to look inviting, is perhaps more interesting than one laid out +on conventional lines. A shadowy something, which for a better name may +be called sentiment, if given full play encourages these side-steps, and +since they are generally found fruitful, and often not too fatiguing, +the procedure should be given every encouragement. + +Not all the interesting royal palaces and chateaux of France are those +with the best known names. Not all front on Paris streets and quays, no +more than the best glimpses of ancient or modern France are to be had +from the benches of a sight-seeing automobile. + +Versailles, and even Fontainebleau, are too frequently considered as but +the end of a half-day pilgrimage for the tripper. It were better that +one should approach them more slowly, and by easy stages, and leave them +less hurriedly. As for those architectural monuments of kings, which +were tuned in a minor key, they, at all events, need to be hunted down +on the spot, the enthusiast being forearmed with such scraps of historic +fact as he can gather beforehand, otherwise he will see nothing at +Conflans, Marly or Bourg-la-Reine which will suggest that royalty ever +had the slightest concern therewith. + +Dealing first with Paris it is evident it is there that the pilgrim to +French shrines must make his most profound obeisance. This applies as +well to palaces as to churches. In all cases one goes back into the past +to make a start, and old Paris, what there is left of it, is still old +Paris, though one has to leave the grand boulevards to find this out. + +Colberts and Haussmanns do not live to-day, or if they do they have +become so "practical" that a drainage canal or an overhead or +underground railway is more of a civic improvement than the laying out +of a public park, like the gardens of the Tuileries, or the building and +embellishment of a public edifice--at least with due regard for the best +traditions. When the monarchs of old called in men of taste and culture +instead of "business men" they builded in the most agreeable fashion. We +have not improved things with our "systems" and our committees of +"_hommes d'affaires_." + +It is the fashion to-day to decry the cavaliers and the wearers of +"love-locks," but they had a pretty taste in art and an eye for artistic +surroundings, those old fellows of the sword and cloak; a much more +pretty taste than their descendants, the steam-heat and running-water +partisans of to-day. Louis XV and Empire drawing and dining-rooms are +everywhere advertised as the attractions of the great palace hotels, and +some of them are very good copies of their predecessors, though one +cannot help but feel that the clientele as a whole is more insistent on +telephones in the bedrooms and auto-taxis always on tap than with regard +to the sentiment of good taste and good cheer which is to be evoked by +eating even a hurried meal in a room which reproduces some historically +famous Salle des Gardes or the Chambre of the OEil de Boeuf of the +Louvre, if, indeed, most of the hungry folk know what their surroundings +are supposed to represent. + +Any chronicle which attempts to set down a record of the comings and +goings of French monarchs is saved from being a mere dull chronology of +dates and resume of facts by its obligatory references to the architects +and builders who made possible the splendid settings amid which these +picturesque rulers passed their lives. + +The castle builders of France, the garden designers, the architects, +decorators and craftsmen of all ranks produced not a medley, but a +coherent, cohesive whole, which stands apart from, and far ahead of, +most of the contemporary work of its kind in other lands. Castles and +keeps were of one sort in England and Scotland, of still another along +the Rhine, and if the Renaissance palaces and chateaux first came into +being in Italy it is certain they never grew to the flowering luxuriance +there that they did in France. + +Thus does France establish itself as leader in new movements once again. +It was so in the olden time with the arts of the architect, the +landscape gardener and the painter; it is so to-day with respect to such +mundane, less sentimental things as automobiles and aeroplanes. + +Another chapter, in a story long since started, is a repetition, or +review, of the outdoor life of the French monarchs and their followers. +Not only did Frenchmen of Gothic and Renaissance times have a taste for +travelling far afield, pursuing the arts of peace or war as their +conscience or conditions dictated; but they loved, too, the open country +and the open road at home; they loved also _la chasse_, as they did +tournaments, _fetes-champetres_ and outdoor spectacles of all kinds. Add +these stage settings to the splendid costuming and the flamboyant +architectural accessories of Renaissance times in France and we have +what is assuredly not to be found in other lands, a spectacular and +imposing pageant of mediaeval and Renaissance life and manners which is +superlative from all points of view. + +This is perhaps hard, sometimes, to reconcile with the French attitude +towards outdoor life to-day, when _la chasse_ means the hunting of tame +foxes (a sport which has been imported from across the channel), +"_sport_" means a prize fight, and a garden party or a _fete-champetre_ +a mere gossiping rendezvous over a cup of badly made tea. In the France +of the olden time they did things differently--and better. + +Not all French history was made, or written, within palace walls; much +of it came into being in the open air, like the two famous meetings by +the Bidassoa, Napoleon's first sight of Marie Louise on the highroad +leading out from Senlis, or his making the Pope a prisoner at the Croix +de Saint Heram, in the Forest of Fontainebleau. + +It is this change of scene that makes French history so appealing to +those who might otherwise let it remain in shut-up and dry-as-dust books +on library shelves. + +The French monarchs of old were indeed great travellers, and it is by +virtue of the fact that affairs of state were often promulgated and +consummated _en voyage_ that a royal stamp came to be acquired by many a +chateau or country-house which to-day would hardly otherwise be +considered as of royal rank. + +Throughout France, notably in the neighbourhood of Paris, are certain +chateaux--palaces only by lack of name--of the nobility where royalties +were often as much at home as under their own royal standards. One +cannot attempt to confine the limits where these chateaux are to be +found, for they actually covered the length and breadth of France. + +Journeying afield in those romantic times was probably as comfortably +accomplished, by monarchs at least, as it is to-day. What was lacking +was speed, but they lodged at night under roofs as hospitable as those +of the white and gold caravanserai (and some more humble) which perforce +come to be temporary abiding places of royalties _en tour_ to-day. The +writer has seen the Dowager Queen of Italy lunching at a neighbouring +table at a roadside _trattoria_ in Piedmont which would have no class +distinction whatever as compared with the average suburban road-house +across the Atlantic. At Biarritz, too, the automobiling monarch, +Alphonse XIII, has been known to take "tea" on the terrace of the great +tourist-peopled hotel in company with mere be-goggled commoners. _Le +temps va!_ Were monarchs so democratic in the olden time, one wonders. + +The court chronicles of all ages, and all ranks, have proved a gold +mine for the makers of books of all sorts and conditions. Not only court +chroniclers but pamphleteers, even troubadours and players, have +contributed much to the records of the life of mediaeval France. All +history was not made by political intrigue or presumption; a good deal +of it was born of the gentler passions, and a chap-book maker would put +often into print many accounts which the recorder of mere history did +not dare use. History is often enough sorry stuff when it comes to human +interest, and it needs editing only too often. + +Courtiers and the fashionable world of France, ever since the days of +the poetry-making and ballad-singing Francis and Marguerite, and before, +for that matter, made of literature--at least the written and spoken +chronicle of some sort--a diversion and an accomplishment. Royal or +official patronage given these mediaeval story-tellers did not always +produce the truest tales. Then, as now, writer folk were wont to +exaggerate, but most of their work made interesting reading. + +These courtiers of the itching pen did not often write for money. Royal +favour, or that of some fair lady, or ladies, was their chief return in +many more cases than those for which their accounts were settled by mere +dross. It is in the work of such chroniclers as these that one finds a +fund of unrepeated historic lore. + +The dramatists came on the scene with their plots ready-made (and have +been coming ever since, if one recalls the large number of French +costume plays of recent years), and whether they introduced errors of +fact, or not, there was usually so much truth about their work that the +very historians more than once were obliged to have recourse to the +productions of their colleagues. The dramatists' early days in France, +as in England, were their golden days. The mere literary man, or +chronicler, was often flayed alive, but the dramatist, even though he +dished up the foibles of a king, and without any dressing at that, was +feted and made as much of as a record piano player of to-day. + +One hears a lot about the deathbed scribblers in England in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but there was not much of that sort +of thing in France. No one here penned bitter jibes and lascivious +verses merely to keep out of jail, as did Nash and Marlowe in England. +In short, one must give due credit to the court chroniclers and +ballad-singers of France as being something more than mere pilfering, +blackmailing hacks. + +All the French court and its followers in the sixteenth century shouted +epigrams and affected being greater poets than they really were. It was +a good sign, and it left its impress on French literature. Following in +the footsteps of Francis I and the two Marguerites nobles vied with each +other in their efforts to produce some epoch-making work of poesy or +prose, and while they did not often publish for profit they were glad +enough to see themselves in print. Then there were also the professional +men of letters, as distinct from the courtiers with literary ambitions, +the churchmen and courtly attaches of all ranks with the literary bee +humming in their bonnets. They, too, left behind them an imposing +record, which has been very useful to others coming after who were +concerned with getting a local colour of a brand which should look +natural. + +It is with such guiding lights as are suggested by the foregoing resume +that one seeks his clues for the repicturing of the circumstances under +which French royal palaces were erected, as well as for the truthful +repetition of the ceremonies and functions of the times, for the court +life of old, whether in city palace or country chateau, was a very +different thing from that of the Republican regime of to-day. + +Not only were the royal Paris dwellings, from the earliest times, of a +profound luxuriance of design and execution, but the private hotels, the +palaces, one may well say, of the nobility were of the same superlative +order, and kings and queens alike did not disdain to lodge therein on +such occasions as suited their convenience. The suggestive comparison is +made because of the close liens with which royalty and the higher +nobility were bound. + +It is sufficient to recall, among others of this class, the celebrated +Hotel de Beauvais which will illustrate the reference. Not only was this +magnificent town house of palatial dimensions, but it was the envy of +the monarchs themselves, because of its refined elegance of +construction. This edifice exists to-day, in part, at No. 68 Rue +Francois Miron, and the visitor may judge for himself as to its former +elegance. + +Loret, in his "Gazette" in verse, recounts a visit made to the Hotel de +Beauvais in 1663 by Marie Therese, the Queen of Louis XIV. + + Mercredi, notre auguste Reine, + Cette charmante souveraine, + Fut chez Madame de Beauvais + Pour de son amiable palais + Voir les merveilles etonnantes + Et les raretes surprenantes. + +Times have changed, for the worse or for the better. The sedan-chair and +the coach have given way to the automobile and the engine, and the wood +fire to a stale calorifer, or perhaps a gas-log. + +The comparisons _are_ odious; there is no question as to this; but it is +by contrast that the subject is made the more interesting. + +From the old Palais des Thermes (now a part of the Musee de Cluny) of +the Roman emperors down through the Palais de la Cite (where lodged the +kings of the first and second races) to the modern installations of the +Louvre is a matter of twelve centuries. The record is by no means a +consecutive one, but a record exists which embraces a dozen, at least, +of the Paris abodes of royalty, where indeed they lived according to +many varying scales of comfort and luxury. + +Not all the succeeding French monarchs had the abilities or the +inclinations that enabled them to keep up to the traditions of the +art-loving Francis I, but almost all of their number did something +creditable in building or decoration, or commanded it to be done. + +Louis XIV, though he delayed the adjustment of Europe for two centuries, +was the first real beautifier of Paris since Philippe Auguste. Privately +his taste in art and architecture was rather ridiculous, but publicly he +and his architects achieved great things in the general scheme. + +[Illustration: _The_ Louvre _The_ Tuileries & _The_ Palais Royal _of_ +To-Day] + +Napoleon I, in turn, caught up with things in a political sense, in +truth he ran ahead of them, but he in no way neglected the +embellishments of the capital, and added a new wing to the Louvre, and +filled Musees with stolen loot, which remorse, or popular clamour, +induced him, for the most part, to return at a later day. + +In a decade Napoleon made much history, and he likewise did much for the +royal palaces of France. After him a gap supervened until the advent of +Napoleon III, who, weakling that he was, had the perspicacity to give +the Baron Haussmann a chance to play his part in the making of modern +Paris, and if the Tuileries and Saint Cloud had not disappeared as a +result of his indiscretion the period of the Second Empire would not +have been at all discreditable, as far as the impress it left on Paris +was concerned. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH GARDENS + + +The French garden was a creation of all epochs from the fifteenth to the +seventeenth centuries, and, for the most part, those of to-day and of +later decades of the nineteenth century, are adaptations and +restorations of the classic accepted forms. + +From the modest _jardinet_ of the moyen-age to the ample gardens and +_parterres_ of the Renaissance was a wide range. In their highest +expression these early French gardens, with their _broderies_ and +_carreaux_ may well be compared as works of art with contemporary +structures in stone or wood or stuffs in woven tapestries, which latter +they greatly resembled. + +Under Louis XIV and Louis XV the elaborateness of the French garden was +even more an accentuated epitome of the tastes of the period. Near the +end of the eighteenth century a marked deterioration was noticeable and +a separation of the tastes which ordained the arrangement of +contemporary dwellings and their gardens was very apparent. Under the +Empire the antique style of furniture and decoration was used too, but +there was no contemporary expression with regard to garden making. + +[Illustration: JARDIN FRANCAIS + +JARDIN ANGLAIS] + +In the second half of the nineteenth century, under the Second Empire, +the symmetrical lines of the old-time _parterres_ came again into being, +and to them were attached composite elements or motives, which more +closely resembled details of the conventional English garden than +anything distinctly French. + +The English garden was, for the most part, pure affectation in France, +or, at best, it was treated as a frank exotic. Even to-day, in modern +France, where an old dwelling of the period of Henri IV, Francois I, +Louis XIII, Louis XIV, or Louis XV still exists with its garden, the +latter is more often than not on the classically pure French lines, +while that of a modern cottage, villa or chateau is often a poor, +variegated thing, fantastic to distraction. + +Turning back the pages of history one finds that each people, each +century, possessed its own specious variety of garden; a species which +responded sufficiently to the tastes and necessities of the people, to +their habits and their aspirations. + +Garden-making, like the art of the architect, differed greatly in +succeeding centuries, and it is for this reason that the garden of the +moyen-age, of the epoch of the Crusades, for example, did not bear the +least resemblance to the more ample _parterres_ of the Renaissance. +Civilization was making great progress, and it was necessary that the +gardens should be in keeping with a less restrained, more luxurious +method of life. + +If the gardens of the Renaissance marked a progress over the _preaux_ +and _jardinets_ of mediaevalism, those of Le Notre were a blossoming +forth of the Renaissance seed. Regretfully, one cannot say as much for +the garden plots of the eighteenth century, and it was only with the +mid-nineteenth century that the general outlines took on a real charm +and attractiveness again, and this was only achieved by going back to +original principles. + +The first gardens were the _vergers_ and _preaux_, little checker-board +squares of a painful primitiveness as compared with later standards. +These squares, or _carreaux_, were often laid out in foliage and +blossoming plants as suggestive as possible of their being made of +carpeting or marble. When these miniature enclosures came to be +surrounded with trellises and walls the Renaissance in garden-making may +be considered as having been in full sway. + +Under Louis XIV a certain affluence was noticeable in garden plots, and +with Louis XV an even more notable symmetry was apparent in the +disposition of the general outlines. By this time, the garden in France +had become a frame which set off the architectural charms of the +dwelling rather than remaining a mere accessory, but it was only with +the replacing of the castle-fortress by the more domesticated chateau +that a really generous garden space became a definite attribute of a +great house. + +The first gardens surrounding the French chateaux were developments, or +adaptations, of Italian gardens, such as were designed across the Alps +by Mercogliano, during the feudal period. + +Later, and during the time of the Crusades, the garden question hardly +entered into French life. Gardens, like all other luxuries, were given +little thought when the graver questions of peace and security were to +be considered, and, for this reason, there is little or nothing to say +of French gardens previous to the twelfth century. + +An important species of the gardens of the moyen-age was that which was +found as an adjunct to the great monastic institutions, the _preaux_, +which were usually surrounded by the cloister colonnade. One of the most +important of these, of which history makes mention, was that of the +Abbaye de Saint Gall, of which Charlemagne was capitular. It was he who +selected the plants and vegetables which the dwellers therein should +cultivate. + +Of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there is an abundant literary +record, and, in a way, a pictorial record as well. From these one can +make a very good deduction of what the garden of that day was like; +still restrained, but yet something more than rudimentary. From now on +French gardens were divided specifically into the _potager_ and +_verger_. + +The _potager_ was virtually a vegetable garden within the walls which +surrounded the seigneurial dwelling, and was of necessity of very +limited extent, chiefly laid out in tiny _carreaux_, or beds, bordered +by tiles or bricks, much as a small city garden is arranged to-day. Here +were cultivated the commonest vegetables, a few flowers and a liberal +assortment of herbs, such as rue, mint, parsley, sage, lavender, etc. + +The _verger_, or _viridarium_, was practically a fruit garden, as it is +to-day, with perhaps a generous sprinkling of flowers and aromatic +plants. The _verger_ was always outside the walls, but not far from the +entrance or the drawbridge crossing the moat and leading to the chateau. + +It was to the _verger_, or orchard, curiously enough, that in times of +peace the seigneur and his family retired after luncheon for diversion +or repose. + + "D illocques vieng en cest vergier + Eascuns jour pour s'esbanoier." + +Thus ran a couplet of the "Roman de Thebes"; and of the hundred or more +tales of chivalry in verse, which are recognized as classic, nearly all +make mention of the _verger_. + +It was here that young men and maidens came in springtime for the fete +of flowers, when they wove chaplets and garlands, for the moyen-age had +preserved the antique custom of the coiffure of flowers, that is to say +hats of natural flowers, as we might call them to-day, except that +modern hats seemingly call for most of the products of the barnyard and +the farm in their decoration, as well as the flowers of the field. + +The rose was queen among all these flowers and then came the lily and +the carnation, chiefly in their simple, savage state, not the highly +cultivated product of to-day. From the ballads and the love songs, one +gathers that there were also violets, eglantine, daisies, pansies, +forget-me-nots, and the marguerite, or _consoude_, was one of the most +loved of all. + +The carnation, or _oeillet_, was called _armerie_; the pansy was +particularly in favour with the ladies, who embroidered it on their +handkerchiefs and their girdles. Still other flowers found a place in +this early horticultural catalogue, the marigold, gladiolus, stocks, +lily-of-the-valley and buttercups. + +Frequently the _verger_ was surrounded by a protecting wall, of more or +less architectural pretense, with towers and accessories conforming to +the style of the period, and decorative and utilitarian fountains, +benches and seats were also common accessories. + +[Illustration: _Henri IV in an Old French Garden_] + +The old prints, which reproduced these early French gardens, are most +curious to study, amusing even; but their point of view was often +distorted as to perspective. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, +perspective was almost wholly ignored in pictorial records. There was +often no scale, and no depth; everything was out of proportion with +everything else, and for this reason it is difficult to judge of the +exact proportions of many of these early French gardens. + +The origin of garden-making in France, in the best accepted sense of the +term, properly began with the later years of the thirteenth century and +the early years of the fourteenth; continuing the tradition, remained +distinctly French until the mid-fifteenth century, for the Italian +influence did not begin to make itself felt until after the Italian wars +and travels of Charles VIII, Louis XI and Francis I. + +The earliest traces of the work of the first two of these monarchs are +to be seen at Blois and, for a time henceforth, it is to be presumed +that all royal gardens in France were largely conceived under the +inspiration of Italian influences. Before, as there were primitives in +the art of painting in France, there were certainly French gardeners in +the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. One of these, whoever he may +have been, was the designer of the _preaux_ and the _treilles_ of the +Louvre of Charles V, of which a pictorial record exists, and he, or +they, did work of a like nature for the powerful house of Bourgogne, and +for Rene d'Anjou, whom we know was a great amateur gardener. + +The archives of these princely houses often recount the expenses in +detail, and so numerous are certain of them that it would not be +difficult to picture anew as to just what they referred. + +Debanes, the gardener of the Chateau d'Angers, on a certain occasion, +gave an accounting for "X Sols" for repairing the grass-plots and for +making a _petit preau_. Again: "XI Sols" for the employ of six gardeners +to trim the vines and clean up the alleys of the _grand_ and _petit +jardin_. + +Luxury in all things settled down upon all France to a greater degree +than hitherto in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and almost +without exception princely houses set out to rival one another in the +splendour of their surroundings. Now came in the ornamental garden as +distinct from the _verger_, and the _preau_ became a greensward +accessory, at once practical and decorative, the precursor of the +_pelouse_ and the _parterre_ of Le Notre. + +The _preau_ (in old French _prael_) was a symmetrical square or +rectangular grass-grown garden plot. From the Latin _pratum_, or +_pratellum_, the words _preau_, _pre_ and _prairie_ were evolved +naturally enough, and came thus early to be applied in France to that +portion of the pleasure garden set out as a grassy lawn. The word is +very ancient, and has come down to us through the monkish vocabulary of +the cloister. + +Some celebrated verse of Christine de Pisan, who wrote "The Life of +Charles V," thus describes the cloister at Poissy. + + "Du cloistre grand large et especieux + Que est carre, et, afin qu'il soit mieulx + A un prael, ou milieu, gracieux + Vert sans grappin + Ou a plante en my un tres hault pin." + +It was at this period, that of Saint Louis and the apotheosis of Gothic +architecture, that France was at the head of European civilization, +therefore in no way can her preeminence in garden-making be questioned. + +The gardens of the Gothic era seldom surpassed the _enclos_ with a +rivulet passing through it, a spring, a pine tree giving a welcome +shade, some simple flowers and a _verger_ of fruit trees. + +The neighbours of France were often warring among themselves but the +Grand Seigneur here was settling down to beautifying his surroundings +and framing his chateaux, manors and country-seats in dignified and most +appealing pictures. Grass-plots appeared in dooryards, flowers climbed +up along castle walls and shrubs and trees came to play a genuinely +esthetic role in the life of the times. + +An illustrious stranger, banished from Italy, one Brunetto Latini, the +master of Dante, who had sought a refuge in France, wrote his views on +the matter, which in substance were as above. + +About this time originated the progenitors of the _gloriettes_, which +became so greatly the vogue in the eighteenth century. Practically the +_gloriette_, a word in common use in northern France and in Flanders, +was a _logette de plaisance_. The Spaniards, too, in their _glorietta_, +a pavilion in a garden, had practically the same signification of the +word. + +In the fourteenth century French garden the _gloriette_ was a sort of +arbour, or trellis-like summer-house, garnished with vines and often +perched upon a natural or artificial eminence. Other fast developing +details of the French garden were tree-bordered alleys and the planting +of more or less regularly set-out beds of flowering plants. + +Vine trellises and vine-clad pavilions and groves were a speedy +development of these details, and played parts of considerable +importance in gardening under the French Renaissance. + +In this same connection there is a very precise record in an account of +the gardens of the Louvre under Charles V concerning the contribution of +one, Jean Baril, maker of Arlors, to this form of the landscape +architect's art. + +"Ornamental birds--peacocks, pheasants and swans now came in as adjuncts +to the French land and water garden." This was the way a certain +pertinent comment was made by a writer of the fifteenth century. From +the "Menagier de Paris," a work of the end of the fourteenth century, +one learns that behind a dwelling of a prince or noble of the time was +usually to be found a "_beau jardin tout plante d'arbres a fruits, de +legumes, de rosiers, orne de volieres et tapise de gazon sur lesquels se +promenent les paons_." + +French gardens of various epochs are readily distinguished by the width +of their alleys. In the moyen-age the paths which separated the garden +plots were very narrow; in the early Renaissance period they were +somewhat wider, taking on a supreme maximum in the gardens of Le Notre. + +Trimmed trees entered into the general scheme in France towards the end +of the fifteenth century. Under Henri IV and under Louis XII trees were +often trimmed in ungainly, fantastic forms, but with the advent of Le +Notre the good taste which he propagated so widely promptly rejected +these grotesques, which, for a fact, were an importation from Flanders, +like the _gloriettes_. Not by the remotest suggestion could a clipped +yew in the form of a peacock or a giraffe be called French. Le Notre +eliminated the menagerie and the aviary, but kept certain geometrical +forms, particularly with respect to hedges, where niches were frequently +trimmed out for the placing of statues, columns surmounted with golden +balls, etc. + +The most famous of the frankly Renaissance gardens developed as a result +of the migrations of the French monarchs in Italy were those surrounding +such palaces and chateaux as Fontainebleau, Amboise, and Blois. Often +these manifestly French gardens, though of Italian inspiration in the +first instance, were actually the work of Italian craftsmen. Pucello +Marceliano at four hundred _livres_ and Edme Marceliano at two hundred +_livres_ were in the employ of Henri II. It was the former who laid out +the magnificent _Parterre de Diane_ at Chenonceaux, where Catherine de +Medici later, being smitten with the skill of the Florentines, gave the +further commission of the _Jardin Vert_, which was intended to complete +this _parterre_, to Henri le Calabrese and Jean Collo. + +The later Renaissance gardens divided themselves into various classes, +_jardins de plaisir_, _jardins de plaisance_, _jardins de proprete_, +etc. _Parterres_ now became of two sorts, _parterres a compartiments_ +and _parterres de broderies_, names sufficiently explicit not to need +further comment. + +[Illustration: _"Parterre de Diane," Chenonceaux_] + +It is difficult to determine just how garden _broderies_ came into +being. They may have been indirectly due to woman's love of embroidery +and the garden alike. The making of these garden _broderies_ was a +highly cultivated art. Pierre Vallet, embroiderer to Henri IV, created +much in his line of distinction and note, and acquired an extensive +clientele for his flowers and models. Often these gardens, with their +_parterres_ and _broderies_ were mere additions to an already existing +architectural scheme, but with respect to the gardens of the Luxembourg +and Saint Germain-en-Laye they came into being with the edifices +themselves, or at least those portions which they were supposed to +embellish. Harmony was then first struck between the works of the +horticulturist--the garden-maker--and those of the architect--the +builder in stone and wood. This was the prelude to those majestic +ensembles of which Le Notre was to be the composer. + +Of the celebrated French palace and chateau gardens which are not +centered upon the actual edifices with which they are more or less +intimately connected, but are distinct and apart from the gardens which +in most cases actually surround a dwelling, may be mentioned those of +Montargis, Saint Germain, Amboise, Villers-Cotterets and Fontainebleau. +These are rather parks, like the "home-parks," so called, in England, +which, while adjuncts to the dwellings, are complete in themselves and +are possessed of a separate identity, or reason for being. Chiefly +these, and indeed most French gardens of the same epoch, differ greatly +from contemporary works in Italy in that the latter were often built and +terraced up and down the hillsides, whereas the French garden was laid +out, in the majority of instances, on the level, though each made use of +interpolated architectural accessories such as balustrades, statuary, +fountains, etc. + +Mollet was one of the most famous gardeners of the time of Louis XIV. He +was the gardener of the Duc d'Aumale, who built the gardens of the +Chateau d'Anet while it was occupied by Diane de Poitiers, and for their +time they were considered the most celebrated in France for their upkeep +and the profusion and variety of their flowers. This was the highest +development of the French garden up to this time. + +It is possible that this Claude Mollet was the creator of the +_parterres_ and _broderies_ so largely used in his time, and after. +Mollet's formula was derived chiefly from flower and plant forms, +resembling in design oriental embroideries. He made equal use of the +labyrinth and the sunken garden. His idea was to develop the simple +_parquet_ into the elaborate _parterre_. He began his career under Henri +III and ultimately became the gardener of Henri IV. His elaborate work +"Theatre des Plans et Jardinage" was written towards 1610-1612, but was +only published a half a century later. It was only in the sixteenth +century that gardens in Paris were planned and developed on a scale +which was the equal of many which had previously been designed in the +provinces. + +[Illustration: PLAN of SUNKEN GARDEN (_JARDIN CREUX_)] + +The chief names in French gardening--before the days of Le Notre--were +those of the two Mollets, the brothers Boyceau, de la Barauderie and +Jacques de Menours, and all successively held the post of Superintendent +of the Garden of the King. + +In these royal gardens there was always a distinctly notable feature, +the _grand roiales_, the principal avenues, or alleys, which were here +found on a more ambitious scale than in any of the private gardens of +the nobility. The central avenue was always of the most generous +proportions, the nomenclature coming from royal--the _grand roial_ being +the equivalent of _Allee Royale_, that is, Avenue Royal. + +By the end of the sixteenth century the Garden of the Tuileries, which +was later to be entirely transformed by Le Notre, offered an interesting +aspect of the _parquet_ at its best. In "_Paris a Travers les Ages_" one +reads that from the windows of the palace the garden resembled a great +checker-board containing more than a hundred uniform _carreaux_. There +were six wide longitudinal alleys or avenues cut across by eight or ten +smaller alleys which produced this rectangular effect. Within some of +the squares were single, or grouped trees; in others the conventional +_quincunx_; others were mere expanses of lawn, and still others had +flowers arranged in symmetrical patterns. In one of these squares was a +design which showed the escutcheons of the arms of France and those of +the Medici. These gardens of the Tuileries were first modified by a +project of Bernard Palissy, the porcelainiste. He let his fancy have +full sway and the criss-cross alleys and avenues were set out at their +junctures with moulded ornaments, enamelled miniatures, turtles in +faience and frogs in porcelain. It was this, perhaps, which gave the +impetus to the French for their fondness to-day for similar effects, but +Bernard Palissy doubtless never went so far as plaster cats on a +ridgepole, as one may see to-day on many a pretty villa in northern +France. This certainly lent an element of picturesqueness to the +Renaissance Garden of the Louvre, a development of the same spirit which +inspired this artist in his collaboration at Chenonceaux. This was the +formula which produced the _jardin delectable_, an exaggeration of the +taste of the epoch, but still critical of its time. + +The gardens of the Renaissance readily divided themselves into two +classes, those of the _parterres a compartiments_ and those of the +_parterres de broderies_. The former, under Francis I and Henri II, were +divided into geometrical compartments thoroughly in the taste of the +Renaissance, but bordered frequently with representations of designs +taken from Venetian lace and various other contemporary stuffs. There +were other _parterres_, where the compartments were planned on a more +utilitarian scale; in other words, they were the _potagers_ which +rendered the garden, said Olivier de Serres, one of "profitable +beauty." Some of the compartments were devoted entirely to herbs and +medicinal plants while others were entirely given over to flowers. In +general the compartments were renewed twice a year, in May and August. + +[Illustration: _A Parterre_] + +The _Grand Parterre_ at Fontainebleau, called in other days the +_Parterre de Tiber_, offered as remarkable an example of the terrace +garden as was to be found in France, the terraces rising a metre or more +above the actual garden plot and enclosing a sort of horticultural +arena. + +It was in the sixteenth century that architectural motives came to be +incorporated into the gardens in the form of square, round or octagonal +pavilions, and here and there were added considerable areas of tiled +pavements, features which were found at their best in the gardens of the +Chateau de Gaillon and at Langeais. + +One special and distinct feature of the French Renaissance garden was +the labyrinth, of which three forms were known. The first was composed +of merely low borders, the second of hedges shoulder high, or even +taller, and the third was practically a roofed-over grove. The latter +invention was due, it is said, to the discreet Louis XIV. In the +Tuileries garden, in the time of Catherine de Medici, there was a +labyrinth greatly in vogue with the Parisian nobles who "found much +pleasure in amusing themselves therein." + +In that garden the labyrinth was sometimes called the "Road of +Jerusalem" and it was presumably of eastern origin. + +In the seventeenth century grottos came to be added to the garden, +though this is seemingly an Italian tradition of much earlier date. +Among the notable grottos of this time were that of the _Jardin des +Pins_ at Fontainebleau, and that of the Chateau de Meudon, built by +Philibert Delorme, of which Ronsard celebrated its beauties in verse. +The art was not confined to the gardens of royalties and the nobility, +for the _bourgeoisie_ speedily took up with the puerile idea (said to +have come from Holland, by the way), and built themselves grottos of +shells, plaster and boulders. It was then that the _chiens de faience_, +which the smug Paris suburbanite of to-day so loves, were born. + +By the seventeenth century the equalized _carreaux_ of the early +geometrically disposed gardens were often replaced with the oblongs, +circles and, somewhat timidly introduced, more bizarre forms, the idea +being to give variety to the ensemble. There was less fear for the +artistic effect of great open spaces than had formerly existed, and the +avenues and alleys were considerably enlarged, and such architectural +and sculptural accessories as fountains, balustrades and perrons were +designed on a more extensive scale. Basins and canals and other +restrained surfaces of water began to appear on a larger scale, and +greater insistence was put upon their proportions with regard to the +decorative part which they were to play in the ensemble. + +This was the preparatory period of the coming into being of the works of +Le Notre and Mansart. + +The _Grand Siecle_ lent a profound majesty to royal and noble dwellings, +and its effect is no less to be remarked upon than the character of +their gardens. The moving spirit which ordained all these things was the +will of the _Roi Soleil_. + +_Parterres_ and _broderies_ were designed on even a grander scale than +before. They were frequently grouped into four equal parts with a +circular basin in the centre, and mirror-like basins of water sprang up +on all sides. + +Close to the royal dwelling was the fore-court, as often dressed out +with flowers and lawn as with tiles and flags. From it radiated long +alleys and avenues, stretching out almost to infinity. At this time the +grass-plots were developed to high order, and there were groves, +rest-houses, bowers, and _theatres de verdure_ at each turning. +Tennis-courts came to be a regularly installed accessory, and the basins +and "mirrors" of water were frequently supplemented by cascades, and +some of the canals were so large that barges of state floated thereon. +Over some of the canals bridges were built as fantastic in design as +those of the Japanese, and again others as monumental as the Pont Neuf. + +In their majestic regularity the French gardens of the seventeenth +century possessed an admirable solemnity, albeit their amplitude and +majesty give rise to justifiable criticism. It is this criticism that +qualifies the values of such gardens as those of Versailles and Vaux, +but one must admit that the scale on which they were planned has much to +do with this, and certainly if they had been attached to less majestic +edifices the comment would have been even more justifiable. As it is, +the criticism must be qualified. + +The aspect of the garden by this time had been greatly modified. Aside +from such great ensembles as those of Versailles was now to be +considered a taste for something smaller, but often overcrowded with +accessories of the same nature, which compared so well with the vastness +of Versailles, but which, on the other hand, looked so out of place in +miniature. + +It was not long now before the "style pompadour" began to make itself +shown with regard to garden design--the exaggeration of an undeniable +grace by an affected mannerism. All the rococco details which had been +applied to architecture now began to find their duplication in the +garden rockeries--weird fantasies built of plaster and even shells of +the sea. + +By later years of the eighteenth century there came on the scene as a +designer of gardens one, De Neufforge. His work was a prelude to the +classicism of the style of Louis XVI which was to come. There was, too, +at this time a disposition towards the English garden, but only a slight +tendency, though towards 1780 the conventional French garden had been +practically abandoned. The revolution in the art of garden-making +therefore preceded that of the world of politics by some years. + +There are three or four works which give specific details on these +questions. They are "_De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance_," by +Blondel (1773), his "_Cours d'Architecture_" of the same date, and +Panseron's volume entitled "_Recueil de Jardinage_," published in 1783. + +The following brief resume shows the various steps through which the +French formal garden passed. In the moyen-age the garden was a thing +quite apart from the dwelling, and was but a diminutive dooryard sort of +a garden. The garden of the Renaissance amplified the regular lines +which existed in the moyen-age, but was often quite as little in accord +with the dwelling that it surrounded as its predecessor. + +The union of the garden and the dwelling and its dependencies was +clearly marked under Louis XIV, while the gardens of Louis XV tended +somewhat to modify the grand lines and the majestic presence of those of +his elder. These gardens of Louis XV were more fantastic, and followed +less the lines of traditional good taste. Shapes and forms were +complicated and indeed inexplicably mixed into a melange that one could +hardly recognize for one thing or another, certainly not as examples of +any well-meaning styles which have lasted until to-day. The straight +line now disappeared in favour of the most dissolute and irrational +curves imaginable, and the sober majesty of the gardens of Louis XIV +became a tangle of warring elements, fine in parts and not +uninteresting, effective, even, here and there, but as a whole an +aggravation. + +Finally the reaction came for something more simple and more in harmony +with rational taste. + +The best example remaining of the Louis XV garden is that which +surrounds the _Pavillon de Musique_ of the Petit Trianon, an addition +to the garden which Louis XIV had given to the Grand Trianon. By +comparison with the big garden of Le Notre this latter conception is as +a boudoir to a reception hall. + +The garden of Louis XVI was a composite, with interpolations from across +the Rhine, from Holland and Belgium and from England even; features +which got no great hold, however, but which, for a time, gave it an air +less French than anything which had gone before. + +From the beginning of the nineteenth century the formal garden was +practically abandoned in France. It was the period of the real decadence +of the formal garden. This came not from one cause alone but from many. +To the straight lines and gentle curves of former generations upon +generations of French gardens were added sinuosities as varied and +complicated as those of the Vale of Cashmere, and again, with tiny stars +and crescents and what not, the ground resembled an ornamental ceiling +more than it did a garden. The sentimentalism of the epoch did its part, +and accentuated the desire to carry out personal tastes rather than +build on traditionally accepted lines. The taste for the English garden +grew apace in France, and many a noble plantation was remodelled on +these lines, or rooted up altogether. Immediately neighbouring upon the +dwelling the garden still bore some resemblance to its former outlines, +but, as it drew farther away, it became a park, a wildwood or a +preserve. + +Isabey Pere, a miniaturist, under Napoleonic stimulus, designed a number +of French gardens in the early years of the nineteenth century, +following more or less the conventional lines of the best work of the +seventeenth century, and succeeded admirably in a small way in +resuscitating the fallen taste. Isabey's gardens may have lacked much +that was remarkable in the best work of Le Notre, but they were +considerably better than anything of a similar nature, so far as +indicating a commendable desire to return to better ideals. + +Under the Second Empire a great impulse was given to garden design and +making in Paris itself. It was then that the parks and squares came +really to enter into the artistic conception of what a city beautiful +should be. + +Leaving the gardens of the Tuileries and the Luxembourg out of the +question, the Parc Monceau and that of the Buttes Chaumont of to-day, +the descendants of these first Paris gardens show plainly how thoroughly +good they were in design and execution. + +The majority of professional gardeners of renown in France made their +first successes with the gardens of the city of Paris, reproducing the +best of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century work, which +had endured without the competition of later years having dulled its +beauty, though perhaps the _parterres_ of to-day are rather more warm in +colouring, even cruder, than those of a former time. + +The _jardin fleuriste_ and the _parterre horticole_ of the nineteenth +century appealed however quite as much in their general arrangement and +the modification of their details and their rainbow colours, as any +since the time of Louis XVI. According to the expert definition the +_jardin fleuriste_ was a "garden reserved exclusively to the culture and +ornamental disposition of plants giving forth rich leaves and beautiful +flowers." The above quoted description is decidedly apt. + +The seventeenth century French garden formed a superb framing for the +animated fetes and reunions in which took part such a brilliant array of +lords and ladies of the court as may have been invited to taste the +delicacies of a fete amid such luxurious appointments. + +The fashionable and courtly life of the day, so far as its open-air +aspect was concerned, centered around these gardens and parks of the +great houses of royalty and the nobility. The costume of the folk of the +time, with cloak and sword and robes of silk and velvet and gilded +carriages and _chaises-a-porteurs_, had little in common with the +out-of-door garden-party life of to-day, where the guests arrive in +automobiles, be-rugged and be-goggled and somewhat the worse for a dusty +journey. It is for this reason that Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte, in +spite of the suggestion of sumptuousness which they still retain, are, +from all points of view, more or less out of scale with the life of our +times. + +The modern garden, whether laid out in regular lines, or on an +ornamental scale, as a flower garden purely, or in a composite style, is +usually but an adjunct to the modern chateau, villa or cottage. It is +more intimate than the vast, more theatrically disposed area of old, and +is more nearly an indication of the personal tastes of the owner because +of its restrained proportions. + +[Illustration: _Bassin de la Couronne, Vaux-le-Vicomte_] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ROYAL HUNT IN FRANCE + + +Just how great a part the royal hunt played in the open-air life of the +French court all who know their French history and have any familiarity +with the great forests of France well recognize. + +The echo of French country architecture as evinced in the "_maisons de +plaisance_" and "_rendezvous de chasse_" scattered up and down the +France of monarchial times lives until to-day, scarcely fainter than +when the note was originally sounded. Often these establishments were +something more than a mere hunting-lodge, or shooting-box, indeed they +generally aspired to the proportions of what may readily be accepted as +a country-house. They established a specious type of architecture which +in many cases grew, in later years, into a chateau or palace of +manifestly magnificent appointments. + +At the great hunting exposition recently held at Vienna the _clou_ of +the display was a French royal hunting-lodge in the style of Louis XVI, +hung with veritable Gobelin tapestries, loaned by the French government +and picturing "The Hunt in France." It was called by the critics a +unique painting in a beautiful frame. + +In the days of Francis I and his sons, the royal hunt was given a great +impetus by Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II. + +Francis, in company with his sons, had gone to Marseilles to meet the +Medici bride, who was on her way to make her home at the Paris Louvre, +and when he found her possessed of so lively manners and such great +intelligence he became so charmed with her that, it is said, he danced +with her all of the first evening. What pleased the monarch even more, +and perhaps not less his sons, was that she shot with an arquebuse like +a sharpshooter, and could ride to hounds like a natural-born Amazon. She +was more than a rival, as it afterwards proved, of that arch-huntress, +Diane de Poitiers. + +History recounts in detail that last royal hunt of Francis I at +Rambouillet, when he was lying near to death, the guest of his old +friend, d'Angennes. + +The old manor, half hunting-lodge, half fortress, and very nearly royal +in all its appointments, proved a comfortable enough rest-house, and on +the day after his arrival, in March, 1547, the monarch commanded the +preparations for a royal hunt to commence at daybreak in the +neighbouring forest. + +The equipage started forth in full ceremonial on the quest of stag and +boar. The bugles blew and a sort of stimulated courage once more entered +the king's breast, courage born of the excitement around him, the baying +of the hounds and the tramping and neighing of impatient horses. He had +forced himself from his bed and on horseback and started off with the +rest, defying the better counsel of his retainers. + +His strength proved to be born of a fictitious enthusiasm, and, speedily +losing interest, he was brought back to the manor where he had his +apartments, and put speechless and half dead to bed, actually dying the +next day from this last over-exertion, scarce half a century of the span +of his life accomplished. + +Henri de Navarre also was a true lover of the open. Born in a mountain +town in the Pyrenees he would rather camp on a bed of pine needles in +the forest than lie on a tuft of down. He preferred his beloved Bayonne +ham, spiced with garlic, to a sumptuous dinner in _Jarnet_ house, a +famous Paris tavern of the day; and had rather quench his thirst with a +quaff of the wine of Jurancon than the finest _cru_ in Paris cellars. + +He hated the parade of courts, was dirty, unkempt and careless, a +genuine son of the soil, heedless of fate, and an excellent huntsman. + +Up to the seventeenth century the ladies of the French court showed a +keener interest for falconry than for the hunt by horse and hounds. + +The heroines of the Fronde, and the generation which followed, seemed to +lose interest in this form of sport, and gave their favour to packs of +hounds, and followed with equal interest the hunt for deer, wolves, +boars, foxes and hares as they were tracked through forests and over +arid wastes. + +The old hunting horn, the winding horn of romance, still exists at the +hunts of France, a relic of the days of Louis XIV. It sounds the +conventional comings and goings of the huntsmen in the same classic +phraseology as of old--the _lancer_, the _bien allee_, the _vue_, the +_changement de foret_, the _accompagne_, the _bat l'eau_, the _hallali +par terre_, and the _curee_. + +The "_Curee aux Flambeaux_" was one of the most picturesque ceremonies +connected with the royal hunt in France. It began in the gallant days, +and lived even until the time of the Second Empire. + +[Illustration: _A "Curee aux Flambeaux"_] + +The _curee_, that is the giving up to the hounds the remains of an +animal slain in chase, does not always take place at night, but when +it does the torches play the part of impressive and picturesque +accessories. When a _curee_ takes place at the spot where the animal is +actually killed the French sporting term for the ceremony is "_force et +abattu_." This, however, is usually preceded by another called "_le +pied_," which consists in cutting off one of the feet of the dead animal +and offering it to the person in whose honor the hunt was held. + +When the _curee_ takes place by torchlight the body of the animal is +carried beneath the windows of the chateau, a circle is formed by the +"_piqueurs_," or head hunters, and all who have participated in the +pursuit; and, to the sound of a trumpet, loaned by the sportsmen, one of +the _valets de venerie_ cuts up the stag. The _meutes_, that is to say, +the hounds which are let slip last of all, and which terminates the +chase--are then brought by the _valet des chiens_, who has great +difficulty in keeping them from breaking loose. When the entrails have +been cut away the valet sits astride the animal, holding up the _nappe_, +or head and neck, shaking it at the already furious hounds. It is the +care of the valet during this interval to conceal the pieces of flesh +which are still under the body. The hounds are then loosened, but are +kept within bounds by the whips of the _piqueurs_ and the _valet des +chiens_. When the dogs are sufficiently exasperated the brutes are +allowed to rush upon the remains of their victim; only, however, to be +driven back again by whipping. When their docility has thus been proven +the definite signal, "_lachez tout_," is given, and the hounds rush +towards the stag. + +The _curee_ then presents a savage spectacle: the air is filled with +growling, barking and yelling, while the ground is covered with +scrambling dogs, their mouths reeking with blood. + +The feminine costume for the hunt in the time of Louis XIII was of +broadcloth or velvet, with a great feather-ornamented "picture" hat. +Only now and again a lady on horseback after 1650 dared borrow doublet +and jacket, and mount astride. + +The ladies followed the hunt of Louis XIV on horseback, seldom, if ever, +in the older manner of sitting behind their cavalier on the same steed. +From the time of Catherine de Medici, indeed, the Italian side-saddle +had become the fashion for women. + +Under Louis XV the ladies sought a little more comfort, and followed the +equipage sitting in a sort of hamper-like, diminutive basket, hung from +the broad back of a sturdy quadruped. Dresses became more fanciful, +both in materials and colours. From this it was but a step to even more +elaborate toilettes which necessitated a conveyance of some sort on +wheels, but the most intrepid still clung to the traditionally classic +methods. Marie Antoinette had her _equipage de chasse_, and Madame +Durfort was constantly abroad in the forests of Montmorency and Boissy, +directing the operation of eight or ten professional huntsmen. Among her +guests were frequently the ambassadors of Prussia, Russia and Austria. + +In the time of Louis XIV the Comtesse de Lude devoted herself to the +hunt with a frenzy born of an inordinate enthusiasm. At the head of a +pack of hounds she knew no obstacle, and, on one occasion, penetrated on +horseback, followed by her dogs, into the oratory of the nuns of the +Convent of Estival. + +By the end of the seventeenth century the hunt in France had become no +more a sport for ladies. Hunting was still a noble sport, but it was +more for men than for women. The court hunted not only in royal company, +but accepted invitations from any seigneur who possessed an ample +preserve and who could put up a good kill; magistrates, financiers and +bishops, indeed all classes, became followers of the hunt. + +Montgaillard tells of a hunt in which he took part on the feast day of +Saint Bernard, with the monks of the Bernardin Convent in Languedoc. In +the episcopal domain of Saverne six hundred beaters were employed on one +occasion to provide sport for an assembled company of lords and ladies. +These were the days when the bishops were in truth _Grand Seigneurs_. + +The women of the court, while they played the game, ceded nothing to the +men in bravery. Neither rain, hail nor snow frightened them. On the 28th +of June, 1713, Louis XIV was hunting the deer at Rambouillet when a +terrific, cyclonic storm fell upon the equipage, but not a man nor woman +in the monarch's party quit. The Duchesse de Berry was "wet to the +skin," but her ardour for the hunt was not in the least cooled. + +To-day at Fontainebleau or Rambouillet the echo is sounded from the +hunting horn of Labaudy, the sugar-king, who pulls off at least two +"hunts," with his spectacular equipage, each year, and it is a sight +too; a French hunting party was ever picturesque, and if to-day not as +practical as the more blood-loving Englishman's hunt, is at least +traditionally sentimental, even artificial to the extent, at any rate, +that it seems stagy, even to the inclusion of the automobiles which +bring and carry away the participants. "Other days, other ways" never +had a more strict application than to _la chasse a courre_ in France. + +Two accounts are here given of two comparatively modern figures in the +French hunting field, which show the great store set by the sport in +France. + +In the annals of the Chateau de Grosbois, belonging to-day to the Prince +de Wagram, are the accounts of an early nineteenth century hunt, which +shows that the game cost dear. The "Grand Veneur" of the Napoleonic +reign was a master sportsman, indeed, and to-day, in a gallery of the +chateau, are preserved the guns of the master, his hunting crop and +saddle, his "colours" and his hunting horn. + +From the registers of the chateau, under date of December 10, 1809, the +following, which concerned a hunting party given by the chatelain, is +extracted verbatim. + + Note of the Maitre d'Hotel for collations for the guests 8,226 francs + + Illuminations 1,080 francs + + Gratifications to the beaters 1,000 francs + + Eau de Cologne for the ladies 30 francs + + Gun-bearers 148 francs + + Helpers (150) 600 francs + + Aids (200) 315 francs + +Another hunt was given in 1811, in honour of Napoleon, when such items +as three thousand francs for an orchestra, a like sum for bouquets for +the ladies, a thousand or two for bonbons and fans, and twelve thousand +for hired furniture, etc., to say nothing of the expenses of the hunt +itself, made the bag somewhat costly. It was not always easy for the +master of the hunt to get justice when it came to paying for his +supplies, and in these same records a mention of a dozen leather +breeches at a hundred and forty francs each was crossed off and a +marginal note, _Non_, added in the hand of Marechal Berthier, Prince de +Wagram, himself. + +The chief figure in the French hunting world of to-day is another +descendant of the Napoleonic portrait gallery, Prince Murat. At the age +of twelve the young Prince Joachim had already followed the hounds at +Fontainebleau and Compiegne. In his double quality of relative and +companion of the Prince Imperial he was one of the chiefs of the +equipment of the Imperial Hunt. To-day, though well past the span of +life, he is as active and as enduring in his participation in the +strenuous sport as many a younger man and his knowledge of the grand art +of _venerie_, and his ardour for being always ahead with the hounds, is +noted by all who may happen to see him while jaunting through the +Foret de Compiegne, keeping well up with the traditions of his worthy +elder, the "Premier Cavalier" of the First Empire, the King of Naples. + +[Illustration: _An Imperial Hunt at Fontainebleau_] + +He won his first stripes in the hunting field at Compiegne in 1868, at a +hunt given in honour of the Prince de Hohenzollern and the Princesse, +who was the sister of the King of Portugal. It was a most moving event, +so much so that it just escaped being turned into a drama, for one of +the ladies of the court had a leg broken, and the minister, Fould, was +almost mortally injured. A "_dix cors_," a stag with antlers of ten +branches, had been run down at the Rond Royal where it had taken refuge +in a near-by copse, and after an hour's hard chase was finally cornered +in the courtyard of some farm buildings of the Hameau d'Orillets. A +troop of cows was entering the courtyard at the same moment, and a most +confused melee ensued. The Inspector of Forests saved the situation and +the cows of the farmer, and the stag fell to the carabine of Prince de +la Moskowa, with the young Prince Murat on his pony in the very front +rank. + +Thus early initiated in the chivalrous sport of the hunt the young man +followed every hunt, big or little, which was held in the environs of +Paris for many years, and by the time that he came to possess the +epaulettes of an Officier de Cuirassiers he was known to all the hunts +from the Ardennes to Anjou. + +For the past generation he has been retired to civil life by a +Republican decree, and since that time has lived in his suburban Paris +property, devoting himself to the raising of hunters. Here he lives +almost on the borders of that great extent of forest which occupies the +northern section of the Ile de France, occasionally organizing a hunt, +which takes on not a little of the noble aspect of a former time, the +prince following always within sound of the hunting horn and the baying +of the hounds, if not actually always within sight of the quarry. + +It is here, in his Villa Normande, near which Saint Ouen gave Dagobert +that famous counsel which has gone down in history, that the Prince and +Princesse Murat come to pass two or three months each year with their +children, their allied parents and the "great guns" of the old regime +who still gather about the master of the hunt as courtiers gather around +their king. + +At Chamblay there have been held magnificent gun shoots under the +organization of the prince and his equipage. His kennels contain +forty-eight of the finest bred hounds in France, and are guarded by +three caretakers, the goader, Carl, whose fame has reached every +hunting court of Europe and a couple of _valets des chiens_. The +prince's colours are distributed as follows: a huzzar jacket of blue, +with collar, plaquettes, and vest of grenadine and breeches of a darker +blue. + +Formerly Prince Murat hunted the roe-deer in the valley of the Oise, but +many enclosures of private property having made this exceedingly +difficult in later years he is to-day obliged to go farther afield. In +the spring the equipage goes to Rosny, near Mantes, and perhaps during +the same season occasionally to Rambouillet. + +The hunts at Chamblay are the perfection of the practice of the art. +Seldom is the quarry wanting. The refrain of the Ode to Saint Hubert +lauds the prowess of this great "Maitre d'Equipage." + + "Par Saint Hubert mon patron + C'est quelque due de haut renom + * * * + Sonnez: ecuyers et piqueux + Un Murat vien en ces lieux." + +Chamblay fortunately being neither populous nor near a great town there +is no throng of curious spectators hovering about to get in the way and +scare the game and the hounds and their followers out of their wits. The +Chasse de Chamblay is the devotion of the _vrais veneurs_; the Prince +Murat and his son, the Prince Joachim, (to-day at the military school at +Saint Cyr), the Prince Eugene Murat, the Comte de Vallon, the Baron de +Neuflize and a few famous _veneurs_ in gay uniforms come from afar to +give eclat to the hunt of the master. And the ladies: the following +names are of those devoted to the prowess of the Prince Murat--Madame la +Princesse, la Princesse Marguerite Murat, Mademoiselle d'Elchingen, the +Duchesse and the Marquise d'Albufera, the Duchesse de Camestra, and +Madame Kraft. + +From this one sees that romance is not all smouldering. If other proof +were wanting a perusal of that most complete and interesting account of +the hunt in France in modern times, "_Les Chasses de Rambouillet_" +(_Ouvrage offert par Monsieur Felix Faure_) would soon establish it. +This was not a work destined for the public at large. The hunt was ever +a sport of kings in France, and though France has become Republican its +_Chasse Nationale_ at Rambouillet partakes not a little of the aspect of +those courtly days when there was less up-to-dateness and more +sentiment. + +[Illustration: _Rendezvous de Chasse, Rambouillet_] + +There were but one hundred copies of this work printed for the friends +of the late president of the Republic--"Other Sovereigns," as the +dedication reads, "Princes, Grand Dukes, Ambassadors." + +Rambouillet was the theatre of the most splendid hunts of the sixteenth +century, and down through the ages it has ever held a preeminent place; +holds it to-day even. Louis XVI in the Revolutionary torment even +regretted the cutting off of his prerogative of the royal hunt, but he +had no choice in the matter. In his journal of 1789 one reads: "the cerf +runs alone in the Parc en Bas" (Rambouillet), and again in 1790: "Seance +of the National Assembly at noon; Audience of a deputation in the +afternoon. The deer plentiful at Gambayseuil." + +The Revolution felled many French institutions; low, great, +ecclesiastical and monarchial monuments, the trees of the forest, and +the royal game, by a system of poaching, had become greatly diminished +in quantity. + +The nineteenth century, so frankly democratic in its latter years, was +less favourable to the hunt than the monarchial days which had gone +before. It had a considerable prominence under Charles X, more perhaps +than it ever had under Napoleon, who in his infancy and laborious +adolescence had few opportunities of following it; and in the later +years of his life he was too busy. + +Napoleon III was not really a "good hunter," though he was something of +a marksman and took a considerable pride in his skill in that +accomplishment. + +Entering the democratic era, Jules Grevy seems to have been only a +pot-hunter of the _bourgeoisie_, who practiced the art only because he +wanted a jugged hare for his dinner, or again simply to kill time. + +Sadi-Carnot was still less a hunter of the romantic school, but assisted +frequently at the ceremonial shootings which were arranged for visiting +monarchs. On one occasion he was put down on the record-sheet of a hunt +at Rambouillet as responsible only for the death of eighteen heads, +whilst a visiting Grand Duke pulled down a hundred and fifty. + +It was notably during the presidency of Felix Faure that Rambouillet +again took on its animation of former times. The chateau had been +furbished up once more after a long sleep, and, to the great +satisfaction of the inhabitants of the town, there were more comings and +goings than there had been for a quarter of a century. + +In the summer and autumn the president made Rambouillet his preferred +residence, and there received many visiting sovereigns and notables of +all ranks. In one year a score of "Official Hunts" were held, to which +all the members of the diplomatic corps were invited, while there were +two or three affairs of an "International" character in honour of +visiting sovereigns. + +All was under the control of the Grand Veneur of the Third Republic, the +Comte de Girardin, and while a truly royal flavour may have been lacking +the general aspect was much the same as it might have been in the days +of the monarchy. The Captain of the Hunt under Felix Faure was the +Inspector of Forests, Leddet, and the Premier Veneur was the Commandant +Lagarenne. + +The president himself was a marksman of the first rank, and never was +there a reckoning up of the _tableau_ but that he was near the head of +the list. So accomplished was he with the rifle that on more than one +occasion he was obliged to practically efface himself in favour of some +visiting monarch, as it was said he did in the case of the King of +Portugal in 1895, the Grand Ducs Vladimir and Nicolas in 1896. + +Huntsmen not royal by virtue of title, or alliance, the Republican +president beat to a stand-still. He had no pity nor favour for a mere +ambassador, whether he hailed from England or Germany, nor for members +of the Institute, Senators nor Deputies. With Prince Albert of Monaco +he held himself equal, and for every bird shot on the wing by the head +of the house of Grimaldi the "longshoreman" of Havre brought down +another. + +_La chasse a courre_ before the law in France to-day may be practiced +only under strictly laid down conditions. The huntsman must legally have +his dogs under such control, and keep sufficiently close to them, as to +be able to recover the quarry immediately after it has been closed in +upon by the hounds. + +Like shooting, since the Decree of 1844, hunting with hounds may only be +undertaken under authority of a _permis de chasse_, and in open season, +during the daytime, and with the consent of the owners over whose +properties the hunt is to be held. + +The ceremony of the hunt in France now follows the traditions of the +classic hunt of the monarchy. The _veneur_ decides on the rendezvous, +whether the quarry be stag or chevreuil, fox or hare. The _piqueur_ +follows close up with the dogs, sets them on or calls them off, and +recalls them if they go off on a false scent. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PALAIS DE LA CITE AND TOURNELLES + + +Not every one assumes the Paris Palais de Justice to ever have been the +home of kings and queens. It has not, however, always been a tilting +ground for lawyers and criminals, though, no doubt, when one comes to +think of it, it is in that role that it has acted its most thrilling +episodes. + +The Saint Chapelle, the Conciergerie and the great clock of the Tour de +l'Horloge mark the Palais de Justice down in the books of most folk as +one of the chief Paris "sights," but it was as a royal residence that it +first came into prominence. + +This palace, not the conglomerate half-secular, half-religious pile of +to-day, but an edifice of some considerable importance, existed from the +earliest days of the Frankish invasion, and when occupied by Clotilde, +the wife of Clovis, was known as the Palais de la Cite. + +Under the last of the kings of the First Race this palace took on really +splendid proportions. When Hugues Capet arrived on the throne he +abandoned the kingly residence formerly occupied by the Frankish rulers, +the Palais des Thermes, and installed his goods and chattels in this +Palais de la Cite, which his son Robert had rebuilt under the direction +of Enguerrand de Marigny. + +Up to the time of Francis I it remained the preferred residence of the +French monarchs, regardless of the grander, more luxuriously disposed +Louvre, which had come into being. + +Philippe Auguste, by a contrary caprice, would transact no kingly +business elsewhere, and it was within the walls of this palace that he +married Denmark's daughter. His successors, Saint Louis, +Philippe-le-Hardi, and Philippe-le-Bel did their part in enlarging and +beautifying the structure, and Saint Louis laid the foundations of that +peerless Gothic gem--La Saint Chapelle. + +From the windows of the Palais de la Cite another Charles assisted at an +official massacre, differing little from that of Saint Bartholemew's, +which was conducted from the Louvre. + +On the first floor of the Palais de Justice of to-day is the apartment +paved in a mosaic of black and white marble, with a painted and gilded +wooden vaulting, where Charles V received the Emperor Charles IV and the +"Roi des Romains." The three monarchs, accompanied by their families, +here supped together around a great round marble table, a secret supper +prolific of an _entente cordiale_ which must have been the forerunner of +recent ceremonies of a similar nature in France. + +Known as the Salle de Marbre, this great chamber came later to be the +Tribunal where the courts sat. It was only after the death of Charles +VI, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, that the Palais de la +Cite was given over wholly to the disciples of Saint Yves, the judges, +advocates and notaries. It became also the definite seat of the +Parliament and took the nomenclature of Palais de Justice, though still +inhabited at intermittent intervals by French royalties. One such +notable occasion was that when Henry V of England was here married to +Catherine de France, and when Henry VI of England took up his temporary +residence here as king to the French. + +In the fourteenth century the precincts of the Palais de la Cite--the +open courtyard one assumes is meant--were invaded by the stalls of small +shopkeepers, some of which actually took root in wood and stone and +became fixtures to such an extent that the courtyard was known as the +Galerie des Merciers. + +The great marble chamber after becoming the meeting place of the +Tribunal played a part at times dignified and at others banal. An +incident is recorded where the clerks and minor court officials danced +on the famous marble table and "played farces" with the judicial bench +serving as a stage. It was said that, on account of the immoralities +which they represented, the authorities were obliged to suppress the +performances by law, as they have in recent years the flagrant freedom +of the "Quat'z Arts." + +Up to the times of Francis I but few events of importance unrolled +themselves within the Palais de la Cite, but in 1618 a violent +conflagration broke out leaving only the round towers of the +Conciergerie, the tower and the church, and that part of the main +structure which housed the great Salle de Marbre, unharmed. Apropos of +this, a joyous rhymester of the time made the following quatrain: + + "Certes ce fut un triste jeu + Quand a Paris Dame Justice + Pour avoir mange trop d'epice + Se mit le Palais tout en feu." + +Jacques Debrosse was charged with rebuilding the edifice after the fire +and refitted first the Grand Salle, to-day the famous Salle des Pas +Perdus, crowded with the shuffling coming and going crowd of men and +women whose business, or no business at all, brings them to this central +point for the dissemination of legal gossip. It is a magnificent +apartment, and, to no great extent, differs from what it was before the +conflagration. + +This Salle consists of two parallel naves separated by a range of +arcades and lighted by two great circular openings with four +round-headed windows at either end. Its attributes are practically the +same as they were in 1622. The structure, take it as a whole, may be +said to date only from the seventeenth century, but certain it is that +the old Palais de la Cite is incorporated therein, every stone of it, +and if its career was humdrum that was the fault of circumstances rather +than from any inherent faults of its own. + +The Conciergerie, that inelegant, inconsistent architectural mixture of +the ancient and modern, considered apart, though it properly enough is +usually considered with the Palais de Justice, was formerly the dwelling +or guardhouse of the Concierge of the Palais de la Cite. His post was +not merely that of the keeper of the gates; he was a personage at court +and was as autocratic as his more plebeian contemporaries of to-day, for +the Paris concierge, as we, who have for years lived under their +despotism well know, is a very dreadful person. + +In addition to being the governor of the royal dwelling this concierge +was the guardian of the royal prisoners. In 1348 he was further invested +with the official title of Bailli and the post was, at times, occupied +by the highest and the most noble in the land, among others Philippe de +Savoie, the friend of Charles VI, and Juvenal des Oursins, the historian +of this prince. The first to combine the two functions, that of Bailli +and Concierge, was Jacques Coictier, the doctor of Louis XI. + +As a virtual prison the Conciergerie only came to be transformed when +Charles V quitted the residence of the Palais de la Cite, and the +Conciergerie, as such, only figures on the Tournelles registers under +date of 1391. + +The fire of the latter part of the eighteenth century destroyed a large +part of the building, but enough remained to patch together the most +serviceable of Revolutionary prisons, for at one time it held at least +twelve hundred poor souls, of whom two hundred and eighty-eight were +killed off at one fell blow. + +But one woman among them all actually came to her death within the +prison walls. This was La Belle Bouquetiere of the Palais Royal who, in +an access of jealous furor, horribly mutilated a royal guardsman, and +for this met a most cruel death by being transfixed to a post and +submitting to a trial of "_le fer et le feu_." In just what manner the +punishment was applied one can best imagine for himself. + +The Revolutionary role of the Conciergerie is a thing apart from the +purport of this book, hence is not further referred to. + +Going back to the time of Francis I, among the famous prisoners of state +were Louis de Berquin, the Comte de Mongomere, the regicides Ravaillac +and Damiens, the Marechal d'Ancre, Cartouche, Mandrin and others. +To-day, as a prison, the Conciergerie still performs its functions +acceptably, safeguarding those up for the assizes, and those condemned +to death before being sent on their long journey. + +The three great flanking towers of the Conciergerie are its chief +architectural distinction to-day. That of the left, the largest, is the +Tour d'Argent, that of the middle, the Tour Bonchet, and the third, the +Tour de Cesar or the Tour de l'Horloge. This last is the only one which +has preserved its mediaeval crenulated battlements aloft. The great clock +has been commonly considered the largest timepiece of its kind extant, +but it is doubtful if this now holds good with railways and insurance +companies vying with each other to furnish the hour so legibly that he +who runs may read. + +Across the Pont au Change, from the Palais de la Cite, by the Louvre and +out into the Faubourg Saint Antoine, one comes to the Place des Vosges, +the old Place Royale, which occupies almost the same area as was covered +by the courtyard of the Palais des Tournelles, so called from its many +towers. + +All around the Palais des Tournelles was located a series of splendid +_hotels prives_ of the nobility. In one of these, the Hotel de Saint +Pol, the king once lodged twenty-two visiting princes of the quality of +Dauphin (the eldest son of a ruling monarch), their suites and +domestics. + +Charles V in his time amalgamated with his royal palace three of these +magnificent private dwellings, the Hotel du Petit Musc, the Hotel de +l'Abbe de Saint Maur and the Hotel du Comte d'Etampes. + +The palace proper really faced on what is now the Rue Saint Antoine, +opposite the Hotel Saint Pol. Its historic and romantic memories of the +sword and cloak period of gallantry were many, but the edifice was +demolished by the order of Catherine de Medici. + +In the palace Charles VI was confined, during the period of his +insanity, by order of the cruel Isabeau de Baviere. The Duke of Bedford, +when regent for the minor Henry VI, lodged here, and upon the expulsion +of the English it became the residence of Charles VII. Louis XI and +Louis XII each inhabited it, and the latter died within its walls. + +The Palais des Tournelles will go down to history chiefly because of +that celebrated jousting bout held in its courtyard on the marriage day +of the two princesses, Elizabeth and Marguerite. + +Henri II and the elder princes, his sons, were to ride forth in +tournament and break lances, if possible, with all comers. The court, +including Catherine de Medici and the princess Elizabeth, wife of +Philippe II, the late husband of Mary Tudor, the two Marguerites and +other high personages were seated on a dais upholstered in damascened +silk and ornamented with many-coloured streamers. + +The time was July and the morning. At a signal from Catherine music +burst forth and the bouts began. + +The king rode forth at the head of his chevaliers, wearing a suit of +golden armour, his sword handle set with jewels, and, in spite of the +presence of his wife, his lance flying black and white streamers, the +colours of Diane de Poitiers, who had lately turned her affections from +father unto son. + +A herald proclaimed the opening of the combat, and before night the king +had broken the lances of the Ducs de Ferrare, de Guise, and de Nemours, +and was just about disarming when a masked knight approached from the +Faubourg Saint Antoine and challenged the king, who, in spite of being +implored to desist by his queen, entered the lists again and was +ultimately wounded unto death by the sable knight. + +Henri II expired the same night in a bedchamber of the Palais des +Tournelles, whither he had been carried, at the age of forty-one, the +victim of chance, or the wile of the Sieur de Montgomeri, the ancestor +of England's present Earl of Eglinton. The captain of the Scotch Guards, +Montgomeri, was not immediately pursued (he meantime had fled the +court), but Catherine de Medici harboured for him a most bitter rancour. +Pro and con ran his cause, for he had his partisans, but the Marechal de +Matignon finally caught up with him in Normandy and he was tortured and +condemned to death for the crime of _lese majeste_--beating the king at +his own game. + +The widowed queen angrily ordered Diane de Poitiers from the court, and +caused the Palais des Tournelles to be razed. This was her only means of +showing her contempt for the woman who had played her royal spouse to +his death as the Romans played the gladiators of old; and Tournelles, as +a palatial monument of its time, blotted out the rest when it +disappeared from view. + +A forest of spirelets soared aloft from the gables and rooftrees of the +Palais des Tournelles. There was no spectacle of the time more imposing +than this sky-line silhouette of a Paris palace; not at Chambord nor +Chenonceaux was the spectacle more fine. It was like a fairy castle, +albeit that it was in the heart of a great city. + +To the right of the Palais des Tournelles, beyond the Porte Saint +Antoine, was the ink-black, frowning donjon of the Bastille, its +severity in strong contrast with the more luxurious palaces of the +princes which surrounded it not far away. + +The charming Place des Vosges, which occupies the site of Tournelles +to-day, is another of Paris's breathing spaces. Well may it be called a +royal garden--a park virtually on a diminutive scale--since it was +originally known as the Place Royale, under Henri IV. + +With the advent of the gascon Henri de Bearn this delightful little +unspoiled corner of old Paris took on the aspect which it now has. +Within this enclosure were the usual garden or park attributes, more or +less artificially disposed, but making an ideal open-air playground for +the court, shut in from outside surroundings by the outlines of the old +palace walls, and not too far away from the royal palace of the Louvre. + +The first and greatest historic souvenir of this garden was a Carrousel +given in 1612, by Marie de Medici, two years after the tragic death of +Henri IV, celebrating the alliance between France and Spain. Under +Richelieu the square became known as the Place des Vosges, and, in spite +of the law against duelling, which had by this time come into force, it +became a celebrated meeting place for duellists like Ivry, the "Grand' +Roue" or the "Vel' Hiver" of to-day. + +It was on May 12, 1627, that the Comte des Chappell killed Bussy +d'Amboise on this spot, and left a bloody souvenir, which was only +forgotten by the historians when they had to recount another meeting, +this time between the Catholic Duc de Guise and the Protestant Coligny +d'Andelot. + +"Monsieur," said the duke, "we will now proceed to settle that little +account between our illustrious houses," and with that he drew his +sword and killed Coligny, as if he were but stamping the life out of a +caterpillar. + +Now, with all this bloody memory behind, the Place became one of the +most elegant residential quarters of the capital, preferred above all by +the nobility, the Rohans, the Alegres and Rotroux. + +At No. 21 lived Victor Hugo, just before the Coup d'Etat, in the house +first made famous as the habitation of the somewhat infamous Marion +Delorme. + +Among other illustrious names who have given a brilliance to these +alleyed walks and corridors are to be recalled Corneille, Conde, Saint +Vincent de Paul, Moliere, Turenne, Madame de Longueville, De Thou, +Cinq-Mars, Richelieu, D'Ormesson, the Prince de Talmon, the Marquis de +Tesse and the Comte de Chabanne. + +It is possible that this charming Paris square will remain as ever it +has been, for a recent attempt of the owner of one of the houses which +borders upon it to change the disposition of the facade brought about a +law-suit which compelled him to respect the procedure which obtained in +1605 when it was ordained the Place Royale. + +To prove their rights the civic authorities had recourse to the original +plans still preserved in the national archives. This is a demonstration +of how carefully European nations preserve the written records of their +pasts. + +The decision finally arrived at by the courts--that the Place des Vosges +must be kept intact as originally planned--gave joy to the hearts of all +true Parisians and archeologists alike. + +[Illustration: BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF OLD PARIS] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE OLD LOUVRE AND ITS HISTORY + + +A stroll by the banks of the Seine will review much of the history of +the capital, as much of it as was bound up with Notre Dame, the Louvre +and the Palais de la Cite (now the Palais de Justice), and that was a +great deal, even in mediaeval and Renaissance times. + +The life of the Louvre was Paris; the life of Paris that of the nation; +and the life of the nation that of the people. This even the Parisians +of to-day will tell you. It is scant acknowledgment of the provinces to +be sure, but what would you? The French capital is much more the capital +of France than London is of England, or Washington of America--leaving +politics out of the question. + +Paris before the conquest by the Franks was practically only the +Seine-surrounded isle known as Lutetia, and later as "La Cite," and the +slight overflow which crept up the slopes of the Montagne de la Sainte +Genevieve. From the Chatelet to the Louvre was a damp, murky swamp +called, even in the moyen-age, Les Champeaux, meaning the Little Fields, +but swampy ones, as inferred by studying the evolution of the name still +further. + +A rapid rivulet descended from Menilmontant and mingled with the Seine +somewhere near the Garden of the Tuileries. + +Clovis and his Franks attacked the city opposite the isle, and, upon the +actual achievement of their conquest, threw up an entrenched camp on the +approved Roman plan in what is now the courtyard of the old Louvre, and +filled the moat with the waters of this rivulet. The ensemble was, +according to certain authorities, baptized the Louvre, or Lower, meaning +a fortified camp. This entrenchment was made necessary in order that the +Franks might sustain themselves against the Gallo-Roman occupants of +Lutetia, and in time enabled them to acquire the whole surrounding +region for their own dominion. This the Lower, or Louvre, made possible, +and it is well deserved that its name should be thus perpetuated, though +actually the origin of the name is in debate, as will be seen by a +further explanation which follows. + +Little by little this half-barbaric camp--in contradistinction to the +more solid works of the Romans--became a _placefort_, then a chateau, +then a palace and, finally, as the young lady tourist said, an art +museum. Well, at any rate, it was a dignified evolution. + +Two Louvres disappeared before the crystallization of the present rather +irregularly cut gem. From the Merovingians dates the Louvre des Champs, +the hostile, militant Louvre, with its high wood and stone tower, +familiar only in old engravings. After this the moyen-age Louvre, +attributable to Saint Louis and Charles V, with its great tower, its +thick walls of stone and its deep-dug moats, came into being. With +Francis I came a more sympathetic, a more subtle era of architectural +display, a softening of outlines and an interpolation of flowering +gables. It was thus that was born that noble monument known as the New +Louvre, which combined all the arts and graces of a fastidious ambition. + +Nothing remains of the old Louverie (to which the name had become +corrupted) which Philippe Auguste early in the thirteenth century caused +to be turned into an ambitious quadrangular castle from a somewhat more +humble establishment which had evolved itself on the site of the +Frankish camp, save the white marble outline sunken in the pavement of +the courtyard of the palace of to-day. By destiny this palace, set down +in the very heart of Paris, was to dominate everything round about. +From the date of its birth, and since that time, it has had no rivals +among Paris or suburban palaces. Its very situation compelled the +playing of an auspicious part, and the Seine flowing swiftly by its +ramparts added no small charm to the fetes and ceremonies of both the +Louvre and the Tuileries. + +Never was a great river so allied with the life of a royal capital; +never a stream so in harmony with other civic beauties as is the Seine +with Paris. When Henri II entered Paris after his Sacrament he +contemplated a water-festival on the Seine, which was to extend from the +walls of the Louvre to the towers of Notre Dame, a festival with such +elaborate decorations as had never been known in the French capital. + +The kings of France after their Sacrament entered the Louvre by the +quay-side entrance, followed by their cortege of gayly caparisoned +cavaliers and gilded coaches with personages of all ranks in doublet and +robe, cape and doublet. The scintillating of gold lace and burnished +coats gave a brilliance which rivalled that of the sun. + +No sooner had the cavalcade entered the gates of the Louvre than it came +out again to participate in the day and night festival, which had the +bosom of the Seine for its stage and its bridges and banks for the act +drop and the wings. + +The receptions of Ambassadors, the baptisms of royalties, royal +marriages and celebrations of victories, or treaties, were all feted in +the same manner. + +Napoleon glorified the Peace of Amiens under similar conditions, and +there is scarce a chronicler of any reign but that recounts the part +played by the Seine in the ceremonies of the court of the New and Old +Louvre. + +It was amid a setting which lent itself so readily to all this that the +Old Louvre, which was rebuilt by Francis I, first came to its glory. + +The origin of the name Louvre has still other interpretation from that +previously given. It seems to be a question of grave doubt among the +savants, but because the note is an interesting one it is here +reproduced. The name may have been derived as well from the word +_oeuvre_, from the Latin _opus_; it may have been evolved from +_lupara_, or _louverie_ (place of wolves), which seems improbable. It +may have had its evolution from either one of these origins, or it may +not. + +Anglo-Saxons may be proud of the fact that certain French savants have +acknowledged that the name of the most celebrated of all Paris palaces +is a derivation from a word belonging to their tongue and meaning +habitation. This, then, is another version and one may choose that which +is most to his liking, or may go back and show his preference for +_lower_, meaning a fortified place. + +A palace--something more elaborate than a mere habitation--stood on the +same site in the twelfth century, a work which, under the energies of +Philippe Auguste, in 1204 began to grow to still more splendid +proportions, though infinitesimal one may well conclude as compared with +the mass which all Paris knows to-day under the inclusive appellation of +"The Louvre." + +The Paris of Philippe Auguste was already a city of a hundred and twenty +thousand inhabitants, with mean houses on every side and little pretense +at even primitive comforts or conveniences. This far-seeing monarch laid +hand first on the great citadel tower of the fortified _lower_, added to +its flanking walls and built a circling rampart around the capital +itself. It is recounted that the rumbling carts, sinking deep in mud and +plowing through foot-deep dust beneath the palace windows, annoyed the +monarch so much that he instituted what must have been the first city +paving work on record, and commanded that all the chief thoroughfares +passing near the Louvre should be paved with cobbles. This was real +municipal improvement. He was a Solon among his kind for, since that +day, it has been a _sine qua non_ that for the well-keeping of city +streets they must be paved, and, though cobblestones have since gone out +of fashion, it was this monarch who first showed us how to do it. + +The Louvre of Philippe Auguste was the most imposing edifice of the +Paris of its time. To no little extent was this imposing outline due to +its great central tower, the _maitresse_, which was surrounded by +twenty-three _dames d'honneur_, without counting numberless _tourelles_. +This hydra-towered giant palace was the real guardian of the Paris of +mediaevalism, as its successor is indeed the real centre of the Paris of +to-day. + +The city was but an immense mass of low-lying gable-roofed houses, whose +crowning apex was the sky-line of the Louvre, with that of Tournelles +only less prominent to the north, and that of La Cite hard by on the +island where the Palais de Justice and Notre Dame now stand. + +Before the hand of Francis fell upon the Louvre it was but an isolated +stronghold--a combined castle, prison and palace, gloomy, foreboding and +surrounded by moats and ramparts almost impassable. Philippe Auguste +built well and made of it an admirable and imposing castle and a place +of defence, and a defence it was, and not much more. + +For its time it was of great proportions and of an ideal situation from +a strategic point of view; far more so than the isolated Palais de la +Cite in the middle of the Seine. + +Four gates led out from the inner courtyard of the Old Louvre: one to +the Seine; one to the south, facing Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; another +towards the site of the later Tuileries; and the other to about where +the Rue Marengo cuts the Rue de Rivoli of to-day. + +With the endorsement given it by Philippe Auguste the Louvre now became +the official residence of the kings of the Capetian race, whereas +previously they had dwelt but intermittently at Paris, chiefly in the +Palais de la Cite. + +The monarch, as if to test the efficiency of his new residence as a +stronghold, made a dungeon tower, his greatest constructive achievement +until he built the castle of Gisors, and in the tower imprisoned the +Comte de Flandre, whom he had taken prisoner at Bouvines. Louis IX +(Saint Louis), in his turn, built a spacious annex to Philippe Auguste's +Louvre, to which he attached his name. + +[Illustration: THE XIV CENTURY LOUVRE] + + +Charles V totally changed the aspect of the palace from what it had +formerly been--half-fortress, half-residence--and made of it a veritable +palace in truth as well as in name, by the addition of numerous +dependencies. + +Within a tower which was built during the reign of this monarch, called +the Tour de la Librairie, he assembled his royal bibelots and founded +what was afterwards known as the Bibliotheque du Louvre, the egg from +which was hatched the present magnificently endowed _Bibliotheque +Nationale_ in the Rue Richelieu. + +It is related that in 1373 the valet-de-chambre of Charles V made a +catalogue of the nine hundred and ten volumes which formed this +collection, an immense number for the time when it is known that his +predecessor, Jean-le-Bon, possessed but seven volumes of history and +four devotional books as his entire literary treasure. + +This seems to be a bibliographical note of interest which has hitherto +been overlooked. Charles V was evidently a man of taste, or he would not +have built so well, though all is hearsay, as not a fragment remains of +the work upon which he spent his talents and energies. + +From the death of Charles V, in 1364, until 1557 the Louvre by some +caprice ceased to be a permanent royal residence. At the latter epoch +the ambitious, art-loving Francis I conceived the idea that here was a +wealth of scaffolding upon which to graft some of his Renaissance +luxuries and, by a process of "restoration" (perhaps an unfortunate word +for him to have employed, since it meant the razing of the fine tower +built by Charles V), added somewhat to the splendours thereof, though in +a fickle moment, as was his wont, allowed a gap of a dozen years to +intervene between the outlining of his project and the terrifically +earnest work which finally resulted in the magnificent structure +accredited to him, though indeed it meant the demolition of the original +edifice. + +It was at this period that Charles V entered into the ambitious part +which Francis was to henceforth play in the Louvre, so perhaps the +interruption was pardonable. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE LOUVRE OF FRANCIS I AND ITS SUCCESSORS + + +One can attribute the demise of the Old Louvre to the coming of Charles +V to Paris in 1539. This royal residence, hastily put in order to +receive his august presence, seemed so coldly inconvenient and +inhospitable to his host, Francis I, that that monarch decided forthwith +upon its complete reconstruction and enlargement. Owing to various +combinations of circumstances the actual work of reconstruction was put +off until 1546, thus the New Louvre as properly belongs to the reign of +Henri II as to that of his father. + +Francis I, more than any other European monarch of his time, or, indeed, +before or since, left his mark as an architect of supreme tastes over +every edifice with which he came into personal contact. His mania was +for building--when it was not for affairs of the heart--and so daring +was he that when he could not get an old fabric to remodel he would +brave all, as did Louis XIV at Versailles, and erect a dream palace in +the midst of a desert. This he did at Chambord in the Sologne. At Paris +his difficulties were perhaps no less, but he had his materials and his +workmen ready at hand. + +Francis's repairs and embellishments to the Old Louvre were by no means +perfunctory, but he saw possibilities greater than he was able to +perform with the means at hand. He first razed the central tower, or +_donjon_, and scarce before the departure of his royal guest, was +already dreaming of replacing the entire fabric with another which +should bear the same name. One has read of the monarch's thoughts when +he was awaiting the coming to Paris of his old enemy in the peninsula; +how he regretted the moment when he should sally out to meet him and +leave his new-found friend, the Duchesse d'Etampes, in spite of her +pleadings for him to remain by her. All this is mere historic incident, +and has little to do with Francis's art instincts and ambitions. He +probably thought this very thing himself when he replied to the +importunate lady: "Duchesse, I must tear myself away without more ado; I +go to meet my brother monarch at Amboise on the Loire." + +It was Francis I, the passionate lover of art, who collected the first +pictures which formed the foundation of the present collections of the +Musee National du Louvre. He bought many in foreign parts, and many +others were brought from Italy by Italian artists, whom he had commanded +to the capital: Primaticcio brought with him, upon his arrival, more +than a hundred antique statues. These art objects were first assembled +at Fontainebleau and ornamented the apartments of the king. Among them +were Da Vinci's "La Joconde" and Raphael's "Holy Family and Saint +Michael." + +Henri II, Henri IV, and Louis XIII did little to enrich the art +collections of the palace, but Louis XIV charged his minister, Colbert, +with numerous purchases. In 1661 he bought the fine collection left by +Cardinal Mazarin, and ten years later purchased the contents of the +celebrated gallery belonging to the banker Jacob of Cologne. The state +expended for these acquisitions nearly six hundred thousand _livres_, +and received for this sum six hundred paintings and six thousand +drawings. + +It was at this period that the royal collections were transferred to +Paris, a little before the death of Colbert, when they were placed in +the galleries of the Louvre; though it was a hundred years later that a +national museum was actually created. This was virtually brought about +from the fact that the royal collections were transported in a great +part to Versailles, only to be returned to Paris in 1750, transferred +again to Versailles, and ultimately to be returned to Paris under the +sheltering wing of the grand old Louvre. + +The Museum of the Louvre, the Museum National et Central des Arts, is +the outgrowth of a Decree of the Convention, dated July 27, 1793. It was +aided and enriched considerably under Napoleon I, that passionate lover +of the beautiful, who, none too scrupulously, would even seek to "make a +campaign" in order to acquire art works for the museum of his capital. + +Many of these abducted art treasures (like the horses of Saint Marc, for +instance) were afterwards returned to their original owners, but the +nucleus of this unrivaled art museum was chiefly due to the consul and +emperor. + +As soon as Charles V had left the Louvre demolition was at once begun by +Francis, and in 1541 an Italian, Serlio, was bidden prepare a set of +plans for the Renaissance glory that was to be. Serlio, refusing, or +debating the price, was cast aside for the Frenchman, Lescot, whose plan +was adopted. + +The work can in no way be said to have suffered by the change of plans, +for though Pierre Lescot was as yet a name unknown in the world of +architecture his talents were sufficiently great, magistrate and +parliamentary counsellor though he was, to give to Paris what has ever +been accounted its chief Renaissance glory. + +Work was begun at once, a work which was not interrupted by intrigues of +court, of love, of war, nor by the deaths of Francis I nor his +successor, Henri II. + +Although the work was begun in an energetic manner it was 1555 before +the western wing was ready for the hand of the sculptors, but from this +time on, judging from the interpolated monograms of Charles IX and Henri +IV on the south wing, work progressed less hurriedly. The two other +constructions, which were to enclose the quadrangle to the north and +east, were completed under such circumstances that there has never been +a question as to their period. + +For fifteen years the work went on, when suddenly it was abandoned as +were the plans of Lescot. A sole wing, that following the Seine and +abutting at right angles against the Pavilion de l'Horloge, had +resulted. + +The sculptures of its south facade, as well as certain of its interior +decorations, were entrusted to Jean Goujon (1520-1572), who became a +victim of the horrible night of Saint Bartholomew, planned in the same +Louvre by the wily Medici. + +Henri II often dwelt over Lescot's plans and devices, and, on one +occasion, when the poet Ronsard was present, demanded of the architect +the meaning of the decorations surrounding a great _oeil-de-boeuf_ +window, two kneeling figures, one blowing a trumpet, and the other +extending a palm branch. "Victory and Fame," replied Lescot. And, in +honour of the architect and his sentiment, Ronsard composed his +"Franciade." The detail was actually by Goujon, whose design it was, +under the oversight of the master architect. One may see this _chef +d'oeuvre_ to-day just above the courtyard portal to the west. + +At the death of Henri II, Catherine de Medici came here to live alone, +and built the great extension, which stands to-day and joins the Old +Louvre with that portion along the banks of the Seine by the double +arch, through which swing the autobusses coming from the Rive Gauche +with such a Juggernaut grind that fears for the foundation of the palace +are ever uppermost in the minds of those responsible for its +preservation. + +[Illustration: _The Louvre_] + +It is in this Catherine de Medici portion of the Louvre (1578) that the +present Galerie des Antiques is installed, and which is usually +thronged, in season and out, with globe-trotting sight-seers who give +seldom a thought to its constructive elegance and its association with +the Medici. + +With the first years of the reign of Charles IX, there is to be remarked +a notable slowness of procedure with regard to the construction of the +New Louvre. This was brought about chiefly by the conception of the +Tuileries and the work which was actually begun thereon. Soon a gigantic +idea radiated from the ambitious mind of Catherine de Medici. In this +connection it must be remembered, however, that Catherine, so commonly +reviled as "the Italian," was not all Italian; French blood flowed +through her veins through that of her mother, Madeleine de la Tour +d'Auvergne. She came first to France, landing at Marseilles, whence she +arrived from Leghorn, and forthwith commenced her journey Parisward, +arriving finally at the Louvre as the bride of Prince Henri in the guise +of a simple, clever girl, though indeed she was twenty years the elder. + +Now she dreamed of uniting her chateau of the Tuileries with that of the +king by a long, connecting gallery. She put action to the thought and +under Pierre (II) Chambiges, a relative of the Chambiges of +Fontainebleau and Saint Germain, the Petite Galerie, a mere means of +communication between the two chateaux, and not the least to be likened +to a defensive structure, was begun and work thereon carried out between +1564 and 1571, though it remained for Thibaut Metezeau, in 1595-1596, to +carry it on a stage further under Henri IV. + +This architect introduced the notorious mezzanine, which has so +intrigued historians of the Louvre because of the unequal elevations of +the various floors, a procedure which was unavoidable save by recourse +to a substitution less to be objected to than the existing fault. +Actually the connection with the Tuileries was made by the prolongation +of this gallery by the Ducerceau brothers in 1595. The work existing +to-day, but only in its reconstructed form, is the same as that +completed by Napoleon III (1863-1868). + +Charles IX and Henri III, though making the Louvre their residence, +practically had no hand in its embellishment. The former gave his +energies and ideals full play in the Saint Bartholomew massacres and +shot at poor unfortunates who fled beneath the windows of his apartments +on the quay-side of the Louvre. This, if not the chief incident of his +association with the fabric, is at least the best remembered one. Henri +III, too, led a scandalous life within the walls of the Louvre and fled +on horseback, smuggled out a back door, as it were, on a certain May +evening in 1588, never more to return, for the Dominican monk Jacques +Clement killed him with a knife-thrust before he had got beyond Saint +Cloud. + +The accepted tale of the part played by the famous window of the Louvre +in the drama of Saint Bartholomew's night is as follows: As the signal +tolled from the belfry of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois it was answered by +another peal from the great bell of the Palais de Justice, where, within +a small apartment over the watergate of the Louvre, the queen and her +two sons were huddled together not knowing what might happen next. The +multitude streamed by on the quay before the palace, and, finally, amid +all the horror of Coligny's murder, and the throwing of his body from a +window of the Louvre to the street below, Charles IX stood at his window +regarding the fleeing Huguenots as so much small game, shooting away at +them with an arquebuse as they went by, and with an unholy glee, even +boasting that he had killed a score of heretics in a quarter of an hour. + +Historians of those exciting times were perhaps none too faithful +chroniclers and Charles's "excellent shots" in his "royal hunt," and +hideous oaths and threats such as: "We'll have them all, even the women +and children," are not details as well authenticated as we would like to +have them. Like Rizzio's blood stains they lack conviction. + +The ambitious white-plumed Henri de Navarre, when he became Henri IV of +France, set about to connect the tentacle which stretched southward from +the Old Louvre with the Tuileries (a continuation of the project of +Catherine de Medici), and, by the end of the sixteenth century, had +built a long facade under the advice of the brothers Ducerceau. This +work was added to on the courtyard side under the Second Empire, when a +reconstruction, more likely a strengthening of underpinning and walls +because of their proximity to the swift-flowing waters of the Seine, of +the work of Henri IV was undertaken. + +Joining the Tuileries and this work of Ducerceau was the celebrated +Pavilion de Flore, a work of the Henri IV period rather than that of +Catherine de Medici. + +From the Pavilion de Flore to the Pavilion de Lesdiguieres ran this long +gallery of the Ducerceau and numerous interstices and unfinished vaults +and arches leading towards the Old Louvre were, at this epoch, completed +by Metezeau and Dupaira. The chief apartment of this structure became +known as the _Galerie Henri IV_, and was completed in 1608. + +At the death of Henri IV, Richelieu, who at times builded so well, and +who at others was a base destroyer of monuments, demolished that portion +which remained of the edifice of Charles V. The work of Pierre Lescot +was preserved, however, and to give symmetry and an additional extent of +available space the rectangle facing Saint Germain l'Auxerrois to-day +was completed, thus enclosing in one corner of its ample courtyard the +foundations of the earlier work whose outlines are plainly traced in the +pavement that those who view may build anew--if they can--the old +structure of Philippe Auguste. In mere magnitude the present quadrangle +is something more than four times the extent of the Louvre of the time +of Charles V. + +This courtyard of the Louvre is perhaps that spot in all Paris which +presents the greatest array of Renaissance art treasures. From ground to +sky-line the facades are embroidered by the works from the magic hand of +the _Siecle Italien_. Jean Goujon himself has left his brilliant +souvenirs on all sides, caryatides, festoons, bas-reliefs, statues and +colonnades. + +Enthusiasm and devotion knew no bounds among those old craftsmen, but +all is well-ordered, regular and correct. "He who mentions the Louvre to +a Frenchman gives a greater pleasure than that of Mehemet-Ali when one +praises the pyramids." In a way the Louvre is the most magnificent +edifice in the universe; "four palaces one piled up on another, _une +ville entiere_." And when the Louvre was linked with the Tuileries in +the real, what a splendour it must have been for former generations to +marvel at! "_La plus belle et la plus grande chose sous le soleil._" + +This work of aggrandizement of the quadrangle was carried out by the +architect Lemercier on the basis of a project adopted in 1642, and, to a +great extent, completed before the arrival of Anne d'Autriche, twenty +years later. + +This queenly personage had ideas of her own as to what sort of a +residence she would have in Paris, and beyond her personal needs little +was done for the moment towards actually linking up the various loose +ends, each more or less complete in itself, which now composed the Paris +palace of the French monarchs. + +Her son, the king in person if not in power, was not likely to be +endowed with instincts which would put him in the rank of the +traditional castle or palace builders of his race; it was literature, +music and painting which more particularly flourished during his reign, +and so the Austrian contented herself at first with merely putting the +former apartments of Catherine de Medici into condition for her personal +use and building a Salle-de-Spectacle, and--happy thought--a +Salle-des-Bains. + +Louis XIV, as he found time, after the war of the Fronde, actually did +bethink himself of completing, in a way, the work of his elders, and +charged the architect Levau to finish off the north wing, which was done +in 1660. A year later the Galerie Henri IV was practically destroyed by +fire and rebuilt by Levau, who gave the commission for its interior +decoration to Lebrun. + +Soon the south wing was completed, leaving only the gap for the eastern +facade which was intended to be the chief entrance to the mass of +buildings, which still bore the comprehensive name of "The Louvre." + +For the accomplishment of this facade, the demolition of certain +dwellings of the nobility which had clustered around the royal fabric +was necessary, and the Hotels du Petit Bourbon, de Villequier, de +Chaumont, La Force, De Crequy, de Longueville, and de Choisy fell before +the picks of the house-breakers. Levau commenced work on the facade at +once, and made rapid progress until 1664, when an abrupt order came for +him to stop all work. Political conspiracy, graft, if you like, was at +work, and Colbert, little favourable towards Levau, made a proposition +to the king to open a competition for the design and execution of the +facade. Willingly enough, his mind doubtless more occupied with other +things, Louis XIV agreed, and a general call was sent out to all French +architects to enter the lists. Confusion reigned, and Levau was about to +be recalled when Colbert spied an unrolled parchment in the corner and +pounced upon it eagerly as the means of saving him from the dubious +efforts of the former incumbent. + +It was the "non-professional" plan submitted by a doctor in medicine, +one Charles Perrault. Jealous competitors made all sorts of criticisms +and objections, the chief contention being that if by any chance an +architectural design by a "pill-roller" proved pleasing to the eye it +was bound to be impracticable from an economic or constructive point of +view, or both. This is often enough true, and it proved to be so in this +case, for in spite of a certain amount of advice from an expert Italian +builder, who had come to Paris to help the good doctor with his +difficult task (for he actually received a commission for the work and +completed it in 1674), the facade did not fit the rest of the fabric +with which it was intended to join up, and to-day it may be observed by +the curious as being several feet out of line with the structure which +faces on the Rue de Rivoli. + +Louis XIV practically had no regard for the Louvre and its architectural +traditions; his palatial garden-city idea, worked out at Versailles, +shows what an innovator he was. He allowed the Louvre to be filled up +with all sorts of riffraff, who were often given a lodging there in +place of a money payment for some service rendered. The Louvre thus +became a sort of genteel poor-house, while king and court spent their +time in the more ample country-house behind the Meudon hills. + +By 1750 the Louvre had become little more than an immense ruin, humbled +and desecrated; a veritable orphan. The Marquis de Marigny, Surintendant +des Batiments Royaux, obtained the authorization to chase out the +parasites and clean up the Augean stable and put things in order as best +pleased his esthetic fancy, but only with the early years of the +nineteenth century did the Louvre become a real palace again and worthy +of its traditions. + +From 1803 to 1813 the architects Fontaine and Percier were constantly +engaged in the work of repairs and additions, and built (for Napoleon I) +the gallery which extends from what is now the Place Jeanne d'Arc to the +Pavillon de Rohan, along the Rue de Rivoli. This detached portion (bound +only to the Tuileries) was finally joined to the seventeenth century +work of Lemercier under Louis Napoleon in 1852. This gallery, the work +of "moderns," is no mean example of palace-building, either. It was the +work of Visconti and Lefuel, and with the adoption of this plan was +finally accomplished the interpolation of that range of pavilions which +gives the architecture of the Louvre one of its principal distinctions. +Named after the principal ministers of former administrations--Donon, +Mollien, Daru, Richelieu, Colbert, Turgot, etc., these pavilions break +up what would otherwise be monotonous, elongated facades. + +The inauguration of this last built portion of the palace was held on +August 14, 1857, the occasion being celebrated by a banquet given by +Napoleon III to all the architects, artists and labourers who had been +engaged upon the work. In the same Salle, two years later, which took +the name of Salle des Etats, the emperor gave a _diner de gala_ to the +generals returning from the Italian campaign. + +Still further resume of fact with regard to the main body of the Louvre, +as well as with respect to its individual components, will open +never-ending vistas and pageants. It is not possible in a chapter, a +book or a five-foot shelf to limn all that is even of cursory interest. +The well-known, the little-known and the comparatively unknown mingle in +varying proportions, according to the individual mood or attitude. To +some the appeal will lie in the vastness of the fabric, to others in the +varied casts of characters which have played upon its stage, still +others will be impressed with the dramatic incidents, and many more will +retain only present-day memories of what they have themselves seen. The +Louvre is a study of a lifetime. + +To resume a none too complete chronology, it is easy to recall the +following important events which have taken place in the Louvre since +the days of Henri III, the period at which only the barest beginnings of +the present structure had been projected. + +In 1591 a ghastly procedure took place when four members of the Conseil +des Seize were hung in the Salle des Caryatides by orders of the Duc de +Mayenne. + +Like the horoscope which foretold the death of Henri III, another royal +prophecy was cast in 1610 that reminds one of that which perhaps had +not a little to do with the making away with the last of the Valois +princes. + +The Duc de Vendome, the son of Henri IV by Gabrielle d'Estrees, handed +the king a documentary horoscope signed by an astrologer calling himself +La Brosse, which warned the king that he would run a great danger on May +14 in case he went abroad. + +"La Brosse is an ass," cried the king, and crumpled the paper beneath +his feet. + +On the day in question the king started out to visit his minister, +Sully, at the Arsenal. It was then in turning from the Rue Saint Honore +into the Rue de la Ferroniere that the royal coach, frequently blocked +by crowds, offered the opportunity to the assassin Ravaillac, who, +jumping upon the footboard, stabbed the king twice in the breast. + +After having been wounded the king was brought dying to the Louvre. His +royal coach drew up beneath the vault through which throngs all Paris +to-day searching for a "short cut" from the river to Saint Honore. It +was but a short, brief journey to the royal apartments above in the +Pavilion de l'Horloge, but it must have been an interminable calvary to +the gallant Henri de Navarre. The body was received by Marie de Medici +in tears, and the Ducs de Guise and d'Epernon clattered out the +courtyard on horseback to spread the false news that the king had +suffered no harm. Fearing the results of too precipitate publishing of +the disaster no other course was open. + +A gruesome memory is that the Swiss Guard at the Louvre surreptitiously +acquired a "_quartier_" of the dismembered body of the regicide and +roasted it in a fire set alight beneath the balcony of Marie de Medici +as an indication of their faithfulness and loyalty. + +It was Sully, the king's minister, who ran first up the stairs to +acquaint the queen of the tragedy--faithful ever to the interests of his +royal master. In spite of this, one of the first acts of Marie de Medici +as regent was to drive the Baron de Rosny and Duc de Sully away. Such is +virtue's reward--sometimes. + + * * * * * + +"Lying on his bed, his face uncovered, clad in white satin and a bonnet +of red velvet embroidered with gold, was all that remained of Henri IV +of France and Navarre. Around the bed were nuns and monks from all the +monasteries of Paris to keep vigil of his soul." + +So ends the chronicle closing the chapter of the relations of Henri IV +with his Paris palace. + +No particularly tragic event took place here for some years. Henriette +de France, widow of Charles I of England, taking refuge in France from +the troublous revolt at home, lived in the Louvre in 1644. She had at +first been graciously received by Mazarin, but was finally accorded only +the most strict necessities of life, a mere lodging in the Louvre, a +modest budget and a restricted entourage. + +In 1662, under Louis XIV, Moliere and his troup, in a theatre installed +in the Salle des Caryatides, gave the first "command" performance on +record. The plays produced were, "Nicodeme" and "Le Docteur Amoureux." + +An "art note" of interest is that Sylvain Bailly, the first curator of +the Musee du Louvre, was born within its precincts in 1736. + +In the dark days of July, 1830, the populace attempted to pillage and +sack the palace, but after a bloody reprisal retired, leaving hundreds +of dead on the field. The _parterre_ beneath the famous colonnade was +their burial place, though a decade later the bodies were exhumed and +again interred under the Colonne de Juillet in the Place de la Bastille. + +Le Notre, the gardener of kings, laid out the first horticultural +embellishments of the palace surroundings under Louis XIV, and with +little change his scheme of decoration lasted until the time of Louis +Philippe, who made away with much that was distinctive and excellent. + +Napoleon III came to the front with an improved decorative scheme, but +the hard flags of to-day, the dusty gravel and the too sparse +architectural embellishments do not mark the gardens of the Louvre as +being anything remarkable save as a desirable breathing spot for Paris +nursemaids and their charges. + +The iron gates of the north, south and east sides were put into place +only in 1855, and at the Commune served their purpose fairly well in +holding the rabble at bay, a rabble to whose credit is the fact that it +respected the artistic inheritance enclosed by the Louvre's walls. No +work of art in the museums was stolen or destroyed, though the library +disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE TUILERIES AND ITS GARDENS + + +[Illustration: ORIGINAL PLAN of the TUILERIES] + +No more sentimental interest ever attached itself to a royal French +palace than that which surrounded the Tuileries from its inception by +Charles IX in the mid-sixteenth century to its extinction by the Commune +in 1871. + +The Palace of the Tuileries is no more, the Commune did for it as it did +for the Hotel de Ville and many another noble monument of the capital, +and all that remains are the gardens set about with a few marble +columns and gilt balls--themselves fragments of former decorative +elements of the palace--to suggest what once was the heritage bequeathed +the French by the Medici who was the queen of Saint Bartholomew's night. + +It was a palace of giddy gayety that drew its devotees to it only to +destroy them. "Crowned fools who wished to be called kings, and others." +Even its stones were chiselled as if with a certain malignancy and +fatalism, for they have all disappeared, and their history, even, has +not been written as large as that of those of many contemporary +structures. + +Of the last five kings to which the Tuileries gave shelter--not counting +the Second Emperor--only one went straightway to the tomb; one went to +the scaffold and three others to exile. A sorry dowry, this, for an +inheritor of a palace at once so noble and admirable in spite of its +unluckiness. + +With the court followers and the nobility of the last days of the +monarchy it was the same thing; the Tuileries was but a temporary +shelter. The scaffold accounted for many and banishment engulfed others +to forgetfulness. + +It was a commonplace at the time to repeat the warning: "O! Tuileries! +O! Tuileries! Mad indeed are those who enter thy walls, for like Louis +XVI, Napoleon, Charles X and Louis Philippe you shall make your exit by +another door." + +The origin of the name Tuileries is somewhat ignominiously traced from +that of a tile factory which existed here in the heart of Paris, on the +banks of the Seine, in the sixteenth century. The property, which +comprised a manor-house as well as the tile fields, was known by the +name of La Sablonniere, and came to the Marquis Neuville de Villeroy, +Superintendent of Finances, who built on the spot a sort of fortified +chateau, which, if not of palatial dimensions, was of a palatial +prodigality of luxury. + +Louise de Savoie, mother of Francis I, acquired the property in 1518 and +nine years later gave it to Jean Tiercelin, the Maitre d'Hotel of the +dauphin, who later was to become Henri II. + +The lodge, or manor-house, had, by 1564, fallen into so ruinous a state +that Catherine de Medici, the widow of Henri II, set about to lay the +foundations of a new royal palace. + +Catherine never resided in her projected palace, and in 1566 Charles IX, +her son, gave the commission to Philibert Delorme to build a palace, +"neighbouring upon the Louvre, but not to be connected therewith, on the +site of the Tuileries." + +On July 11, work was begun, and the central pavilion and the two +extremes were carried up two stories within a year. The central +structure was a great circular-domed edifice, enclosing a marvellous +Escalier d'Honneur. The facade, preceded by two terraced porticos, was +on the courtyard, or garden, between the edifice and the Louvre. It sat +back to the present Rue des Tuileries. + +The Tuileries did not become a royal residence for some time after its +completion, for Charles IX clung tenaciously to his well-guarded +apartments in the Louvre; for the central structure of the Tuileries, +because of its lack of comparative height, was hardly as much of a +stronghold as he would have liked. + +A contemporary note in connection with Charles IX and the Tuileries is +found in Ronsard's "_Epitre a Charles IX_." + + "J'ay veu trop de macons + Bastir les Tuileries, + Et en trop de facons + Faire les momeries." + +Work on the edifice so auspiciously planned by Delorme was practically +discontinued during the reign of Henri III, owing to lack of funds. + +The Renaissance of Delorme, Bullant, Lescot, each of whom had a hand in +the building of the Tuileries, expressed certain characteristic phases +of architectural art in the reigns of Francis I and Henri II. The reign +of Charles IX was only another phase of that long reign of Catherine de +Medici, and architectural influences continued to follow along the same +reminiscent Italian lines, particularly with reference to such edifices +as the Medici herself caused to be built. In the dedication of Philibert +Delorme's "_Traite d'Architecture_" he expressed himself thus with +regard to the Tuileries: + +"Madame, I see from day to day with an increasing pleasure the interest +that your Majesty takes in architecture. The palace which you have built +at Paris near the Pont Neuf and the Louvre is, according to its +disposition, excellent and admirable to the extent that it pleases me +beyond measure." + +After Delorme considerable changes were made and successfully carried +out under the architects Ducerceau, Duperac, Levau and Dorbay. + +A distinct feature of the work of Delorme was his use of the column +ornamented throughout its length, which, as he says in his written +works, he first employed in the "_Palais de la Majeste de la Royne-Mere +a Paris_." + +Of the ability of Delorme there is no diversity of opinion to-day, nor +was there in his time. Besides the Tuileries he has to his credit the +Chateau d'Anet, the Chateau de Saint Maur, that of Meudon--built for the +Cardinal de Lorraine,--and his important additions to the Chateau de la +Muette and the Chateaux of Saint Germain, Madrid and Fontainebleau. + +As might be supposed Catherine de Medici professed a great admiration +for Delorme and recompensed his talents with a royal generosity, even +nominating him as Abbe of the Convent of Saint Eloi de Noyon, a fact +which caused the poet Ronsard to evolve a political satire: "La Truelle +Crossee." + +At the same time that she was building the Tuileries Catherine de Medici +caused additions to be made to the Louvre; at least she undertook the +completion of the unfinished portion, which had been left for other +hands to do. + +The first historic souvenir which stands out prominently with regard to +the Palais des Tuileries is the fete given four days before the fateful +Saint Bartholomew's night. It was the marriage fete of the gallant Henri +de Bearn, King of Navarre, and the wise and witty Marguerite de Valois. + +Henri IV, coming to the throne a quarter of a century after the +admirable first year's work on the Tuileries had been completed, found +that little had been done towards making it a really habitable place. It +had been hurriedly finished off to the second story, and had served well +enough for a temporary residence, or as an overflow establishment where +balls and fetes might be given without crowding, but to the ambitious +Henri IV nothing would do but that the pavilions should be bound +together with a more imposing ligature, and that the Pavillon de Flore +should in turn be linked up with the Louvre by a gallery. + +Under Louis XIII this latter really came to a conclusion according to +the plans of the architect Ducerceau, but the inspiration of making the +Louvre and the Tuileries one was due to Henri IV. + +Under Louis XIV and Louis XV the palace in its still attenuated form was +scarcely more than a rambling lodging, utterly lacking any of the noble +apartments with which it was afterwards endowed. The court at this time +practically made Versailles its headquarters. Neither of the +above-mentioned monarchs made aught but cursory visits to the Tuileries +and left its occupancy to officers of the household and ministers of +state. + +It was in the reign of Louis XV that the Florentine artist, Servandoni, +who was at the same time an eminent architect, a remarkable painter and +a _maestro_ of a musician, organized in the Palais des Tuileries the +Theatre des Machines, the first installed at Paris, and there came the +Comedie Francaise, the Opera and the Bouffes (the _Comedie Italienne_) +and gave command performances before the court. + +When the French resolved that Louis XVI should live in Paris, the Palais +des Tuileries was actually offered him, but it was a rather shabby place +of royal residence so far as its interior appointments were concerned, +though in all ways appealing when viewed from without. Considerable +repairs and embellishments were made, but warring factions did much to +make difficult any real artistic progress. + +With the advent of Louis XVI there came a contrast to gayety and freedom +from care in royal hearts and heads. On October 5 Louis XVI and the +royal family hid themselves behind barred doors, the convention taking +up its sittings under the same roof and forthwith passing an act which +allowed the completion of the palace according to the plans of Vignon at +an expense of three hundred thousand _livres_. An almost entire +transformation took place, the money being seemingly well spent, and the +structure now first took its proper place among the monumental art +treasures of the capital. + +A dramatic incident took place at the great gate of the Tuileries, which +faced the courtyard, when, on May 28, 1795, the populace surged in waves +against its sturdy barrier. The Deputy Feraud met them at the steps. +"You may enter only over my dead body," he said. No reply was made but +to crack his skull, behead the trunk and carry the head aloft on a pike +to the very Tribune where Boissy d'Anglas was presiding. + +The Salle de Spectacle of the Tuileries was, even at this period, the +largest auditorium of its kind in Europe, having eight thousand stalls +and boxes, which gave a seating capacity of considerably more than that +number of persons. + +In 1793 this playhouse, of which the parquet occupied the ground floor +of the Pavillon de Marsan, underwent a strange metamorphosis when it +became the legislative hall for the National Convention. All the names +and emblems showing forth in its decorations and indicative of its +ancient rule were changed into Republican devices and symbols. The +Pavillon de Marsan was called the Pavillon de l'Egalite, the Pavillon du +Centre became the Pavillon de l'Unite and the Pavillon de Flore the +Pavillon de la Liberte, where was lodged the Committee of Public +Safety. + +The Hall of the Convention, according to reports of the time, was an +appalling mixture of grandeur and effeminacy with respect to its +architectural lines. Surrounding that portion where the legislators +actually sat was the great amphitheatre which for three years was +occupied by a curious, vociferous public, more demonstrative, even, than +those that had attended the former theatrical representations in the +same apartment. + +From the opening of the National Convention to the reaction of +"Thermidor" it is estimated that more than three million people assisted +at what they rightly, or wrongly, considered as a "spectacle" staged +only for their amusement. + +By the time Napoleon had come into power the Tuileries was hardly +habitable, and before taking up his residence he was obliged to make +immediate and extensive transformations. + +On February 19, 1800, Napoleon, still First Consul, left the Palais de +Luxembourg and took up his residence in the Tuileries, the Third Consul, +Lebrun, being lodged in the Pavillon de Flore, in the "Petite +Appartement," which Marie Antoinette had fitted up for her temporary +accommodation when in town. Lebrun, however, gave up his lodging to the +Pope when the Pontiff came to Paris at Napoleon's orders. Consul +Cambaceres, however, refused to shelter himself beneath the roof of the +Tuileries, and indicated a preference for the magnificent Hotel +d'Elboeuf, which was accommodatingly put at his disposition. + +Napoleon entered the Tuileries in state, preceded and followed by an +imposing cortege. At the gate of the Carrousel the consuls alighted from +their carriages, and were received by the Consular Guard. On their +arrival the consuls read the following inscription posted at the +entrance: "On August 10th monarchy in France was forever abolished; it +will never be restored." By the 20th of February the inscription had +disappeared. Besides, orders were given to cut down the two liberty +trees which had been planted in the courtyard. On August 10 a large +quantity of cannon shot had been lodged in the facade of the Tuileries, +and around the shot were written these words: "Tenth of August." The +cannon balls disappeared, as well as the inscriptions, when the Arc de +Triomphe was erected on the Place du Carrousel. + +This alteration gave great satisfaction. It was important for the +tranquillity of France that the new government should inherit rather the +sword of Charlemagne than the guillotine of Marat. + +[Illustration: _Salle des Marechaux, Tuileries_] + +The imperial court soon displayed its splendour and magnificence in +the Palais des Tuileries, as a foregone conclusion anticipated. + +In a gorgeous and imposing Salle du Trone one might have seen in the +deep casement of the central window, standing up, their hats off, the +group of the Corps Diplomatique, the members of which, loaded with +decorations, ensigns, and diamonds, trembled in the presence of the +Little Corporal of other days; on the other side, the host of the +Princes of the Rhine Confederation--all the personages that Germany, +Russia, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Spain, all Europe, in one word, England +excepted, had sent to Paris. + +It is needless to say that the wedding reception of Napoleon and Marie +Louise at the Tuileries was celebrated with unusual magnificence. +Another event, on account of its peculiar moment, strongly excited the +enthusiasm of the French. On March 20, 1811, at seven o'clock in the +morning, the first salute of cannon announced that the empress had given +birth to a child, the future Aiglon, the King of Rome. + +After Napoleon's occupancy of the Tuileries it again served the monarch +under the Empire, the Restoration, under Louis Philippe and under the +Second Empire. The palace of unhappy memory saw successively the fall of +Napoleon, the entry of Louis XVIII, the file-by of the Allies, the +flight of Louis XVIII, of Charles X, Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. + +Up to the time of the Second Empire the Tuileries preserved, more or +less, its original interior arrangement, and, to a great extent, the +decorations with which it had been embellished under Louis XIV, Louis +XVI, and Napoleon I. + +The Pavilion de Flore, at the juncture of the Tuileries and the Louvre +of Henri IV, was practically rebuilt during the Second Empire, but it +followed closely the contemporary designs of the adjoining building. +Here are quartered executive offices of the Prefecture de la Seine. That +portion facing the Pont Royal contains a series of fine sculptures by +Carpeaux, the sole modern embellishments of this nature to be seen in or +on a Paris palace. + +As the Commune mob was fleeing before the army of Versailles a +conflagration broke out in the Tuileries and soon the whole edifice was +in flames. Within what may have been the briefest interval on record for +a conflagration of its size the Tuileries was but a smoking pile of +half-calcined stones. + +The Tuileries had another brief day of glory when the Prince President, +Louis Napoleon, entered its gates, coming straight from his inauguration +at Notre Dame. + +The cannon at the Hotel des Invalides blazed out a welcome and every +patriot Republican shouted: "Vive Napoleon!" They little knew, little +cared perhaps, that he would some day become the Second Emperor. + +The throng poured forth from the cathedral after the _Domine Salvum_ and +the benediction, the clergy leading the way, followed by the president +and his attendants. The orchestra played a lively march, and the great +bell in the tower boomed forth a glorious peal. + + * * * * * + +The president's carriage drew up before the gates of the Tuileries and +he entered the great apartment where a reception was given to various +public and military bodies. Between seven and eight thousand naval and +military officers paid their respects, and about half a battalion of the +army saluted, among them two Mamelukes. While this ceremony was going +on, the Place du Carrousel was occupied by several squadrons of cavalry +and the inner courtyards were practically infantry camps. The government +was taking no chances at the beginning of its career. The reception +lasted until well on towards evening, when a banquet of four hundred +covers was laid and partaken of by the invited guests. + +The last days of the Tuileries may be said to have commenced with that +eventful September 3, 1870, at five o'clock in the afternoon, when the +Empress Eugenie received a telegraphic despatch from Napoleon III +announcing his captivity and the defeat of Sedan. It was the overthrow. + +The evening and the night were calm; the masses, as yet, were unaware of +the fatal news the journals would publish on the morrow. The following +day was Sunday; the weather superb; the disaster was finally announced +and the masses thronged from all parts to the Place de la Concorde, +where a squadron of Cuirassiers barred the bridge leading to the Palais +Bourbon where the deputies were in session. + +On the arrival of the news the empress had called in General Trochu, the +Military Governor of Paris, and asked him if he could guarantee order. +He replied in the affirmative. Some hours later a group of deputies came +to the empress and counselled her to sign, not an abdication, but a +momentary renunciation of her powers as regent. Eugenie refused +point-blank. + +The throng, passing by the left bank, had arrived at the Chamber of +Deputies, and the formal sitting became a revolutionary one. At three +o'clock the imperial dynasty was proclaimed as at an end, and a +provisionary government installed. Henri Rochefort, the present editor +of the "_Intransingeant_," was delivered from the prison of Sainte +Pelagie and made a member of the government. + +By this time the mob which had invaded the Place de la Concorde became +menacing. The cry, "Aux Tuileries," first launched by the street gamins, +soon became the slogan of the crowd. To say it was to do it; the great +iron gates were closed, but in default of a protecting force of arms it +was an easy matter to scale them. + +Behind the curtained windows of the palace the empress witnessed the +assault and murmured to her ladies-in-waiting: "It is then finished." +She turned towards the Prince de Metternich and the Chevalier Nigra, +and, in the voice of a suppliant, demanded: "_Que me consillez vous?_" + +"You must leave at once, Madame; in a moment the palace will be +invaded." + +The empress became resigned and accompanied by Madame Le Breton, +Metternich and Nigra started for the Pavilion de Flore, passing through +the Galerie de Musee and the Galerie d'Apollon, finally leaving by the +gate of the Louvre, which is opposite Saint Germain l'Auxerrois. + +The empress was at last out of the palace, but not yet out of danger. A +band of manifestants, making for the Hotel de Ville and shouting; "Vive +la Republique," recognized the empress, but she mounted an empty fiacre +with Madame Le Breton, and giving the driver the first address that +entered her mind thus escaped further indignities, and perhaps danger. +Finally she found a refuge with Doctor Evans, the American dentist +living in the Avenue Malakoff, from whose house she left for England on +the following day. + +This is the Frenchman's point of view of one of the picturesque +incidents of history. It disposes of the legend that the empress left +the Tuileries in the carriage of Doctor Evans, but this cannot be +helped, with due regard for the consensus of French opinion. Doctor +Evans was a family friend, besides being the dentist who cared for the +imperial teeth, and it is not going beyond the truth to state that the +fortunate American acquired not a little of his vogue and wealth by his +association with Napoleon III and his family. + +By this time the populace had invaded the palace and cursed with +indignities unmentionable the marble halls, and the furnishings in +general, and pillaged such portable property as pleased the individual +fancies of the spoilsmen. + +After the signing of the Peace Treaty by the Bordeaux Assembly, which +now represented the governmental head, and Thiers had become president, +that worthy would do away with the cannon of which the National Guard +still held possession in their garrison on the Butte of Montmartre. The +orders which he sent forth came to be the signal for another outbreak on +the part of the populace. On March 18 the Commune was proclaimed and +Citoyen Dardelle, an old African hunter, was appointed military governor +of the Tuileries. Whatever this individual's military qualifications may +have been, he delivered himself to the enjoyment of a high and dissolute +life in his luxurious apartments in the palace; a fact which was +speedily made note of by the still restless populace. + +The Citoyen Rousselle, a member of the Communal Government, had the idea +of organizing a series of popular concerts in the gardens of the +Tuileries for the profit of the wounded in the late friction. + +Hung on the walls, at the entrance of each apartment was a placard which +read: "Fellow men, the gold with which these walls were built was earned +by your sweat." "To-day you are coming to your own." "Remain faithful to +your trust and see to it that the tyrants enter never more." + +During one of these public concerts a poem of Hegesippe Moreau was read +which terminated as follows, and set the populace aflame. + + * * * + "Et moi j'applaudirai; ma jeuneusse engourdie + Se rechauffera a ce grand incendie." + +He referred to the burning of the former abode of emperors and kings as +a sort of sacrifice to the common good. The public had held itself in +hand very well up to this moment, but applauded the verses vociferously. +The last of the concerts was held on May 21, the same day as the Army of +Versailles entered Paris. Night came, and with it the raging, red flames +springing skywards from the roof of the Tuileries. + +In a few moments the flames had enveloped the entire building. All the +forces that it was possible to gather had been ordered upon the scene, +but they were unable to save the old palace, and by one o'clock in the +morning it was but a mass of smoking ruins. The Communards had done +their work well. Before leaving its precincts they had sprinkled coal +oil over every square metre of carpet, window-hangings and tapestries, +and the slow-match was not long in passing the fire to its inflammable +timber. The library of the Louvre was destroyed, but the museums, +galleries and their famous collections fortunately escaped. + +For a dozen years the lamentable ruins of the old palace of the +Tuileries reared their singed walls, a witness and a reproach to the +tempestuosity of a people. Finally, in 1882, Monsieur Achille Picard +undertook their removal for thirty-three thousand francs, and within a +year not a vestige, not an unturned stone remained in its original place +as a witness to this chapter of Paris history. + +Two porticos of the Pavillon de l'Horloge, originally forming a part of +the Tuileries, have been re-erected on the terrace of the Orangerie, +facing the Place de la Concorde. + +There remain but two survivors of the late imperial sway in France, the +Empress Eugenie who lives in England, and Emile Olivier, "_l'homme au +coeur leger_," who lives at Saint Tropez in the Midi. + +A Paris journalist a year or more ago, while sitting among a little +coterie of literary and artistic folk at Lavenue's famous terrace-cafe, +recounted the following incident clothed in most discreet language, and +since it bears upon the Tuileries and its last occupants it is repeated +here. + +"Last night beneath the glamour of a September moon I saw a black shadow +silently creep out from beneath the gloom of the arcades of the Rue de +Rivoli just below the Hotel Continental. It crossed the pavement and +passed within the railings of the gardens opposite, one of the gates to +which, by chance or prearranged design, was still open. It moved slowly +here and there upon the gravelled walks and seated itself upon a +solitary bench as if it were meditating upon the splendid though sad +hours that had passed. Was it a wraith; was it Eugenie, late empress of +the French?" + +To have remembered such a dream of fancy for forty long years one must +have been endowed with superhuman courage, or an inexplicable +conscience. + +The Rue des Pyramides, which has been prolonged to the banks of the +Seine, will give those of the present generation who have never seen the +Tuileries an exact idea of its location. If it still existed the facade +of the palace would front upon this street. + +The most moving history of the detailed horrors of the Commune, +particularly with reference to the part played by the Tuileries therein, +is to be found in Maxime Ducamp's "_Les Derniers Convulsions de Paris_." + +One relic of the Tuileries left unharmed found a purchaser in a +Roumanian prince, at a public sale held as late as 1889. This was the +ornately beautiful iron gate which separated the Cour du Carrousel from +the Cour des Tuileries. Roumanian by birth, French at heart and Parisian +by adoption, this wealthy amateur, for a trifle over eight thousand +francs, became the owner of a royal souvenir which must have cost five +hundred times that sum. + +The eastern front of the Tuileries opened into a courtyard formed under +the direction of the first Napoleon. It was separated from the Place du +Carrousel by a handsome iron railing with gilt spear-heads extending the +whole range of the palace. From this court there were three entrances +into the Place du Carrousel, the central gate corresponding with the +central pavilion of the palace, the other two having their piers +surmounted by colossal figures of victory, peace, history and France. A +gateway under each of the lateral galleries also communicated on the +north with the Rue de Rivoli, and on the south with the Quai du Louvre. +The Place du Carrousel was named in honour of a tournament held upon the +spot by Louis XIV in 1662. It communicated on the north with the Rue +Richelieu and the Rue de l'Echelle, and on the south with the Pont Royal +and the Pont du Carrousel. To-day in the square stands the triumphal +arch erected by Napoleon in 1806, after the designs of Percier and +Fontaine. + +The newly laid-out and furbished-up gardens make the Place du Carrousel +even more attractive than it was when set about with flagged areas, +gravelled walks and paved road ways, and, while the monumental and +architectural accessories excel the horticultural embellishments in +quantity, the general effect is incomparably finer at present than +anything known before. + +Plans for rebuilding the Place du Carrousel provide for a division into +three distinct parts, three grand _pelouses_, _a boulingrins a la +Francais_, or lawns of a circumscribed area, according to the best +traditions of Le Notre, a border of flowers and a few decoratively +disposed clumps of flowering shrubs, the whole combined in such a way +that the perspective and vista down the Champs Elysees will in no manner +suffer. The architect-landscapist, M. Redon, who has been charged with +the work, has drawn his inspiration from a series of unexecuted designs +of Le Notre which have recently been brought to light from the innermost +depths of the national archives. It was a safe way of avoiding an +anachronism, and this time a government architect has chosen well his +plan of execution. + +In later years the question of the reembellishment of the Garden of the +Tuileries has ever been before the public, but little has actually been +changed save the remaking of certain garden plots, the planting of a few +shrubs or the placing of a few statues. + +The Garden of the Tuileries has a superficial area of 232,632 square +metres. It is the most popular of all open spaces in the capital to the +Parisian who would take his walks abroad not too far from the centre of +things. The chief curiosity of the garden is the celebrated chestnut +tree which burst into flower on the day of Napoleon's arrival from +Elba--March 20. The precocious tree has ever been revered by the +Bonapartists since, though the tree has never performed the trick the +second time. + +Statues innumerable are scattered here and there through the garden and +give a certain sense of liveliness to the area. Some are by famous +names, others by those less renowned, but as a whole they make little +impression on one, chiefly, perhaps, because one does not come to the +Garden of the Tuileries to see statues. + +To the left and right are the terraces, first laid out by the celebrated +Le Notre. Like the hanging gardens of Babylon, they overlook a lower +level of _parterres_, gravelled walks and ornamental waters. Along the +Rue de Rivoli is the Terrasse de l'Orangerie, and on the side of the +river is the Terrasse de la Marine. + +According to the original plans of Le Notre the garden was set down as +five hundred _toises_ in length, and one hundred and sixty-eight +_toises_ in width, the latter dimension corresponding to that of the +facade of the palace. + +Along the shady avenues of this admirable city garden of to-day an +enterprising _concessionaire_ has won a fortune by renting out +rush-bottomed chairs to nursemaids, retired old gentlemen with red +ribbons in their buttonholes, and trippers from across the channel. It +is a perfectly legitimate enterprise and a profitable one it would seem, +and has been in operation considerably more than half a century. + +It was from the Gardens of the Tuileries in 1784 that took place +Blanchard's celebrated ascension in Montgolfier's balloon and brought +forth the encomium from the British Royal Society that the body was not +in the least surprised that a Frenchman should have solved the problem +of "volatability." The French monarch, more practical, was so mightily +pleased with the success of the experiment that he bestowed upon the +author the sum of four hundred thousand francs from his treasury to be +used for the perfection of the art. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PALAIS CARDINAL AND THE PALAIS ROYAL + + +With the Louvre and the Tuileries the Palais Royal shares the popular +interest of the traveller among all the monuments of Paris. No other +edifice evokes more vivid souvenirs of its historic past than this +hybrid palace of Richelieu. One dreams even to-day, of its +sumptuousness, its legends, its amusing and extravagant incidents which +cast a halo of romantic interest over so many illustrious personages. So +thoroughly Parisian is the Palais Royal in all things that it has been +called "the Capital of Paris." + +Not far from the walled and turreted stronghold of the old Louvre rose +the private palaces, only a little less royal, of the Rambouillets, the +Mercoeurs and other nobles of the courtly train. They lived, too, in +almost regal state until Armand du Plessis de Richelieu came to humble +their pride, by fair means or foul, by buying up or destroying their +sumptuous dwellings, levelling off a vast area of land, and, in 1629, +commencing work on that imposing pile which was first known as the +Palais Cardinal, later the Palais d'Orleans, then as the Palais de la +Revolution and finally as the Palais Royal. + +It was near, yet far enough away from the royal residence of the Louvre +not to be overshadowed by it. The edifice enclosed a great square of +ground laid out with symmetrically planted trees and adorned with +fountains and statues. + +From the great central square four smaller courts opened out to each of +the principal points of the compass; there were also, besides the living +rooms, a chapel, two theatres, ballrooms, boudoirs and picture +galleries, all of a luxury never before dreamed of but by kings. + +The main entrance was in the Rue Saint Honore, and over its portal were +the graven arms of Richelieu, surmounted by the cardinal's hat and the +inscription: "Palais Cardinal." Like his English compeer, Wolsey, +Richelieu's ardour for building knew no restraint. He added block upon +block of buildings and yard upon yard to garden walls until all was a +veritable labyrinth. Finally the usually subservient Louis saw the +condition of things; he liked it not that his minister should dwell in +marble halls more gorgeous than his own. As a matter of policy the +Cardinal ceased to build more and at his death, as if to atone, willed +the entire property to his king. + +As the Palais Cardinal, the edifice was subjected to many impertinent +railleries from the public which, as a whole, was ever antagonistic to +the "_Homme Rouge_." They did not admit the right of an apostolic +prelate of the church to lodge himself so luxuriously when the very +precepts of his religion recommended modesty and humility. Richelieu's +contemporaries did not hesitate to admire wonderingly all this luxury of +life and its accessories, and Corneille, in the "_Menteur_" (1642), +makes one of the principal characters say: + + "Non, l'univers ne peut rien voir d'egal + Aux superbes dehors du Palais Cardinal; + Toute une ville entiere avec pompe batie, + Semble d'un vieux fosse par miracle sortie, + Et nous fais presumer a ses superbes toits + Que tous ses habitants sont des dieux ou des rois." + +The ground plan of the Palais Cardinal was something unique among city +palaces. In the beginning ground values were not what they are to-day in +Paris. There were acres upon acres of greensward set about and cut up +with gravelled walks, great alleyed rows of trees, groves without number +and galleries and colonnades innumerable. Without roared the traffic of +a great city, a less noisy traffic than that of to-day, perhaps, but +still a contrasting maelstrom of bustle and furor as compared with the +tranquillity within. + +After the edifice was finished it actually fell into disuse, except for +the periodical intervals when the Cardinal visited the capital. At other +times it was as quiet as a cemetery. Moss grew on the flags, grass on +the gravelled walks and tangled shrubbery killed off the budding flowers +of the gardens. + +Richelieu's last home-coming, after the execution of Cinq-Mars at Lyons, +was a tragic one. The despot of France, once again under his own +rooftree, threw himself upon his bed surrounded by his choicest pictures +and tapestries, and paid the price of his merciless arrogance towards +all men--and women--by folding his wan hands upon his breast and +exclaiming, somewhat unconvincingly: "Thus do I give myself to God." As +if recalling himself to the stern reality of things he added: "I have no +enemies but those of State." + +In a robe of purple silk, supported by pillows of the finest down and +covered with the rarest of laces, he rigidly straightened himself out +and expired without a shudder, with the feeling that he was well beyond +the reach of invisible foes. But before he died Richelieu received a +visit from his king in person. This was another token of his invincible +power. + +Thus the Palais Royal was evolved from the Palais Cardinal of Richelieu. +Richelieu gave the orders for its construction to Jacques Lemercier +immediately after he had dispossessed the Rambouillets and the +Mercoeurs, intending at first to erect only a comparatively modest +town dwelling with an ample garden. Vanity, or some other passion, +finally caused to grow up the magnificently proportioned edifice which +was called the Palais Cardinal instead of that which was to be known +more modestly as the Hotel de Richelieu. + +Vast and imposing, but not without a certain graceful symmetry, the +Palais Royal of to-day is a composition of many separate edifices +divided by a series of courts and gardens and connected by arcaded +galleries. The right wing enclosed an elaborate Salle de Spectacle while +that to the left enclosed an equally imposing chamber with a ceiling by +Philippe de Champaigne, known as the Galerie des Hommes Illustres, and +further ornamented with portraits of most of the court favourites of +both sexes of the time. The architectural ornamentation of this gallery +was of the Doric order, most daringly interspersed with moulded ships' +prows, anchors, cables and what not of a marine significance. + +In 1636, divining the attitude of envy of many of the nobility who +frequented his palace, Richelieu--great man of politics that he +was--made a present of the entire lot of curios to Louis XIII, but +undertaking to house them for him, which he did until his death in 1642. + +At the death of Louis XIII the Palais Cardinal, which had been left to +him in its entirety by the will of Richelieu, came to Anne d'Autriche, +the regent, who, with the infant Louis XIV and the royal family, +installed herself therein, and from now on (October 7, 1642), the +edifice became known as the Palais Royal. + +Now commenced the political role of this sumptuous palace which hitherto +had been but the Cardinal's caprice. Mazarin had succeeded Richelieu, +and to escape the anger of the Frondeurs, he, with the regent and the +two princes, Louis XIV and the Duc d'Anjou, fled to the refuge of Saint +Germain-en-Laye. + +In company with Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who had been rudely +awakened from her slumbers in the Luxembourg, they took a coach in the +dead of night for Saint Germain. It was a long and weary ride; the _Pavi +du Roi_ was then, as now, the most execrable suburban highroad in +existence. + +When calm was reestablished Mazarin refused to allow the regent to take +up her residence again in the old abode of Richelieu and turned it over +to Henriette de France, the widow of Charles I, who had been banished +from England by Cromwell. + +Thirty odd years later Louis XIV, when he was dreaming of his Versailles +project, made a gift of the property to his nephew, Philippe d'Orleans, +Duc de Chartres. Important reconstructions and rearrangements had been +carried on from time to time, but nothing so radical as to change the +specious aspect of the palace of the Cardinal's time, though it had been +considerably enlarged by extending it rearward and annexing the Hotel +Danville in the present Rue Richelieu. Mansart on one occasion was +called in and built a new gallery that Coypel decorated with fourteen +compositions after the AEnid of Virgil. + +Under the regency the Salon d'Entree was redecorated by Oppenard, and a +series of magnificent fetes was organized by the pleasure-loving queen +from the Austrian court. Richelieu's theatre was made into an +opera-house, and masked balls of an unparalleled magnificence were +frequently given, not forgetting to mention--without emphasis +however--suppers of a Pantagruelian opulence and lavish orgies at which +the chronicles only hint. + +In 1661, Monsieur, brother of the king, took up his official residence +in the palace, enlarged it in various directions and in many ways +transformed and improved it. Having become the sole proprietor of the +edifice and its gardens, by Letters Patent of February, 1692, the Duc +d'Orleans left this superb property, in 1701, to his son the too famous +regent, Philippe d'Orleans, whose orgies and extravagances rendered the +Palais Royal notorious to the utmost corners of Europe. + +The first years of the eighteenth century were indeed notorious. It was +then that Palais Royal became the head-centre for debauch and abandon. +It is from this epoch, too, that date the actual structures which to-day +form this vast square of buildings, at all events their general outline +is little changed to-day from what it was at that time. + +If the regent's policy was to carry the freedom and luxury of +Richelieu's time to excess, replacing even the edifices of the Cardinal +with more elaborate structures, his son Louis (1723-1752) sought in his +turn to surround them with an atmosphere more austere. + +A disastrous fire in 1763 caused the Palais Royal to be rebuilt by order +of Louis Philippe d'Orleans, the future Philippe-Egalite, by the +architect Moreau, who carried out the old traditions as to form and +outline, and considerably increased the extent and number of the arcades +from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and seven. These the astute +duke immediately rented out to shopkeepers at an annual rental of more +than ten millions. This section was known characteristically enough as +the Palais Marchand, and thus the garden came to be surrounded by a +monumental and classic arcade of shops which has ever remained a +distinct feature of the palace. + +A second fire burned out the National Opera, which now sought shelter in +the Palais Royal, and in 1781 the Theatre des Varietes Amusantes was +constructed, and which has since been made over into the home of the +Comedie Francaise. + +The transformations imposed by Philippe-Egalite were considerable, and +the famous chestnut trees, which had been planted within the courtyard +in the seventeenth century by Richelieu, were cut down. He built also +the three transverse galleries which have cut the gardens of to-day into +much smaller plots than they were in Richelieu's time. In spite of this +there is still that pleasurable tranquillity to be had therein to-day, +scarcely a stone's throw from the rush and turmoil of the whirlpool of +wheeled traffic which centres around the junction of the Rue Richelieu +with the Avenue de l'Opera. It is as an oasis in a turbulent sandstorm, +a beneficent shelf of rock in a whirlpool of rapids. The only thing to +be feared therein is that a toy aeroplane of some child will put an eye +out, or that the more devilish _diabolo_ will crack one's skull. + +Under the regency of the Duc Philippe d'Orleans the various apartments +of the palace were the scenes of scandalous goings-on, which were +related at great length in the chronicles of the time. It was a very +mixed world which now frequented the _purlieus_ of the Palais Royal. Men +and women about town jostled with men of affairs, financiers, +speculators and agitators of all ranks and of questionable +respectability. Milords, as strangers from across the Manche came first +to be known here, delivered themselves to questionable society and still +more questionable pleasures. It was at a little later period that the +Duc de Chartres authorized the establishment of the cafes and +restaurants which for a couple of generations became the most celebrated +rendezvous in Paris--the Cafe de Foy, the Cafe de la Paix, the Cafe +Carrazzo and various other places of reunion whose very names, to say +nothing of the incidents connected therewith, have come down to history. + +It was the establishment of these public rendezvous which contributed +so largely to the events which unrolled themselves in the Palais Royal +in 1789. This "Eden de l'Enfer," as it was known, has in late years been +entirely reconstructed; the old haunts of the Empire have gone and +nothing has come to take their place. + +Then came another class of establishments which burned brilliantly in +the second rank and were, in a way, political rendezvous also--the Cafe +de Chartres and the Cafe de Valois. Of all these Palais Royal cafes of +the early nineteenth century the most gorgeous and brilliant was the +Cafe des Mille Colonnes, though its popularity was seemingly due to the +charms of the _maitresse de la maison_, a Madame Romain, whose husband +was a dried-up, dwarfed little man of no account whatever. Madame +Romain, however, lived well up to her reputation as being +"_incontestablement la plus jolie femme de Paris_." By 1824 the fame of +the establishment had begun to wane and in 1826 it expired, though the +"_Almanach des Gourmands_" of the latter year said that the proprietor +was the Very of _limonadiers_, that his ices were superb, his salons +magnificent--and his prices exorbitant. Perhaps it was the latter that +did it! + +Another establishment, founded in 1817, was domiciled here, the clients +being served by "_odalisques en costume oriental, tres seduisantes_." +This is quoted from the advertisements of the day. The cafe was called +the Cafe des Circassiennes, and there was a _sultane_, who was the +presiding genius of the place. It met with but an indifferent success +and soon closed its doors despite its supposedly all-compelling +attractions. + +In the mid-nineteenth century a revolution came over the cafes of Paris. +Tobacco had invaded their precincts; previously one smoked only in the +_estaminets_. Three cafes of the Palais Royal resisted the innovation, +the Cafe de la Galerie d'Orleans, the Cafe de Foy and the Cafe de la +Rotonde. To-day, well, to-day things are different. + +The Theatre du Palais Royal of to-day was the Theatre des Marionettes of +the Comte de Beaujolais, which had for contemporaries the Fantoches +Italiens, the Ombres Chinoises and the Musee Curtius, perhaps the first +of the wax-works shows that in later generations became so popular. The +Palais Royal had now become a vast amusement enterprise, with side-shows +of all sorts, theatres, concerts, cafes, restaurants, clubs, +gambling-houses and what not--all paying rents, and high ones, to the +proprietor. + +In the centre of the garden, where is now the fountain and its basin, +was a circus, half underground and half above, and there were +innumerable booths and kiosks for the sale of foolish trifles, all +paying tribute to the ground landlord. + +Gaming at the Palais Royal was not wholly confined to the public +gambling houses. During the carnival season of 1777 the gambling which +went on in the royal apartments became notorious for even that +profligate time: in one night the Duc de Chartres lost eight thousand +_livres_. Louis XVI, honest man, took all due precautions to reduce this +extravagance, but was impotent. + +Between the courtyard fountain and the northern arcade of the inner +palace was placed the famous Cannon du Palais Royal, which, by an +ingenious disposition, was fired each day at midday by the action of the +sun's rays. All the world stood around awaiting the moment when watches +might be regulated for another twenty-four hours. + +The celebrated Abbe Delille, to whom the beauties of the gardens were +being shown, deplored the lack of good manners on the part of the +habitues and delivered himself of the following appropriate quatrain: + + "Dans ce jardin tout se rencontree + Excepte l'ombrage et les fleurs; + Si l'on y deregle ses moeurs + Du moins on y regle sa montre." + +The Galerie de Bois was perhaps the most disreputable of all the palace +confines. It was a long, double row of booths which only disappeared +when Louis-Philippe built the glass-covered Galerie d'Orleans. + +Up to the eve of the Revolution the Palais Royal enjoyed the same +privileges as the Temple and the Luxembourg, and became a sort of refuge +whereby those who sought to escape from the police might lose themselves +in the throng. The monarch himself was obliged to ask permission of the +Duc d'Orleans that his officials might pursue their police methods +within the outer walls. + +It was July 12, 1789. The evening before, Louis XVI had dismissed his +minister, Neckar, but only on Sunday, the 12th, did the news get abroad. +At the same time it was learned that the regiment known as the Royal +Allemand, under the orders of the Prince de Lambesc, had charged the +multitude gathered before the gates of the Tuileries. Cries of "A Mort!" +"Aux Armes!" "Vengeance!" were hurled in air from all sides. + +At high noon in the gardens of the Palais Royal, on the 13th, as the +midday sun was scorching the flagstones to a grilling temperature, the +sound of a tiny cannon shot smote the still summer air with an echo +which did not cease reverberating for months. The careless, unthinking +promenaders suddenly grew grave, then violently agitated and finally +raving, heedlessly mad. A young unknown limb of the law, Camille +Desmoulins, rushed bareheaded and shrieking out of the Cafe de Foy, +parted the crowd as a ship parts the waves, sprang upon a chair and +harangued the multitude with such a vehemence and conviction that they +were with him as one man. + +"Citizens," he said, "I come from Versailles * * * It only remains for +us to choose our colours. _Quelle couleur voulez vous?_ Green, the +colour of hope; or the blue of Cincinnati, the colour of American +liberty and democracy." + +_"Nous avons assez delibere!_ Deliberate further with our hands not our +hearts! We are the party the most numerous: To arms!" + +On the morrow, the now famous 14th of July, the Frenchman's "glorious +fourteenth," the people rose and the Bastille fell. + +Revolutionary decree, in 1793, converted the palace and its garden into +the Palais et Jardin de la Revolution, and appropriated them as national +property. Napoleon granted the palace to the Tribunal for its seat, and +during the Hundred Days Lucien Bonaparte took up his residence there. In +1830 Louis Philippe d'Orleans gave a great fete here in honour of the +King of Naples who had come to the capital to pay his respects to the +French king. Charles X, assisting at the ceremony as an invited guest, +was also present and a month later came again to actually inhabit the +palace and make it royal once more. + +[Illustration: The Galleries of the Palais-Royal under Napoleon First.] + +The table herewith showing the ramifications of the Bourbon Orleans +family in modern times is interesting--all collateral branches of the +genealogical tree sprouting from that of Louis Philippe. The heraldic +embellishments of this family tree offer a particular interest in that +the armorial blazonings are in accord with a decree of the French +Tribunal, handed down a few years since, which establishes the right to +the head of the house to bear the _ecu plein de France--d'azur a trois +fleurs de lys d'or_, thus establishing the Orleans legitimacy. + +[Illustration] + +The Republic of 1848 made the palace the headquarters of the Cour des +Comptes and of the Etat Major of the National Guard. Under Napoleon III +the Palais Royal became the dwelling of Prince Jerome, the uncle of the +emperor. Later it served the same purpose for the son of Prince +Napoleon. It was at this epoch that the desecration of scraping out the +blazoned _lys_ and the chipping off the graven Bourbon _armoiries_ took +place. Whenever one or the other hated Bourbon symbol was found, eagles, +phoenix-like, sprang up in their place, only in their turn to +disappear when the Republican device of '48 (now brought to light +again), _Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite_--replaced them. + +During the Commune of 1870 a part of the left wing and the central +pavilion suffered by fire, but restorations under the architect, +Chabrol, brought them back again to much their original outlines. +Through all its changes of tenure and political vicissitudes little +transformation took place as to the ground plan, or sky-line silhouette, +of the chameleon palace of cardinal, king and emperor, and while in no +sense is it architecturally imposing or luxurious, it is now, as ever in +the past, one of the most distinctive of Paris's public monuments. + +To-day the Palais Royal proper may be said to face on Place du Palais +Royal, with its principal entrance at the end of a shallow courtyard +separated from the street by an iron grille and flanked by two +unimposing pavilions. The principal facade hides the lodging of the +Conseil d'Etat and is composed of but the ground floor, a story above +and an attic. + +The Aile Montpensier, which follows on from the edifice which houses the +Comedie Francaise, was, until recently, occupied by the Cour des +Comptes. The Aile de Valois fronts the street of that name, and here the +Princes d'Orleans and King Jerome made their residence. To-day the same +wing is devoted to the uses of the Under Secretary for the Beaux Arts. + +It is not necessary to insist on, nor reiterate, the decadence of the +Palais Royal. It is no longer the "capitol of Paris," and whatever its +charms may be they are mostly equivocal. It is more a desert than an +oasis or a _temple de la volupte_, and it was each of these things in +other days. Its priestesses and its gambling houses are gone, and who +shall say this of itself is not a good thing in spite of the admitted +void. + +The mediocrity of the Palais Royal is apparent to all who have the +slightest acquaintance with the architectural orders, but for all that +its transition from the Palais du Cardinal, Palais Egalite, Palais de +la Revolution and Palais du Tribunat to the Palais Royal lends to it an +interest that many more gloriously artistic Paris edifices quite lack. + +There is a movement on foot to-day to resurrect the Palais Royal to some +approach to its former distinction, which is decidedly what it has not +been for the past quarter of a century. Satirical persons have demanded +as to what should be made of it, a _velodrome_ or a skating-rink, but +this is apart from a real consideration of the question for certain it +is that much of its former charm can be restored to it without turning +it into a Luna Park. It is one of the too few Paris breathing-spots, and +as such should be made more attractive than it is at the present time. + +It was sixty years ago, when Louis Philippe was the legitimate owner of +the Palais Royal, its galleries, its shops, its theatre and its gardens, +that it came to its first debasement. "One went there on tip-toe, and +spoke in a whisper," said a writer of the time, and one does not need to +be particularly astute to see the significance of the remark. + +It was Alphonse Karr, the _ecrivain-jardinier_, who set the new vogue +for the Palais Royal, but his interest and enthusiasm was not enough to +resurrect it, and so in later years it has sunk lower and lower. The +solitude of the Palais Royal has become a mockery and a solecism. It is +virtually a _campo santo_, or could readily be made one, and this in +spite of the fact that it occupies one of the busiest and noisiest +quarters of the capital, a quadrangle bounded by the Rues Valois, +Beaujolais, Montpensier and the Place du Palais Royal. + +The moment one enters its portal the simile accentuates and the hybrid +shops which sell such equivocal bric-a-brac to clients of no taste and +worse affectations carry out the idea of a cloister still further, for +actually the clients are few, and those mostly strangers. One holds his +breath and ambles through the corridors glad enough to escape the bustle +of the narrow streets which surround it, but, on the other hand, glad +enough to get out into the open again. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LUXEMBOURG, THE ELYSEE AND THE PALAIS BOURBON + + +The kings and queens of France were not only rulers of the nation, but +they dominated the life of the capital as well. Upon their crowning or +entry into Paris it was the custom to command a gift by right from the +inhabitants. In 1389 Isabeau de Baviere, of dire memory, got sixty +thousand _couronnes d'or_, and in 1501, and again in 1504, was presented +with six thousand and ten thousand _livres parisis_ respectively. + +The king levied personal taxes on the inhabitants, who were thus forced +to pay for the privilege of having him live among them, those of the +professions and craftsmen, who might from time to time serve the royal +household, paying the highest fees. + +It was during the period of Richelieu's ministry that Paris flowered the +most profusely. The constructions of this epoch were so numerous and +imposing that Corneille in his comedy "Le Menteur," first produced in +1642, made his characters speak thus: + + Dorante: Paris semble a mes yeux un pays de roman + * * * + En superbes palais a change ses buissons + * * * + Aux superbes dehors du palais Cardinal + Tout la ville entiere, avec pomp batie + * * * + +In 1701, Louis XIV divided the capital into twenty _quartiers_, or +wards, and in 1726-1728 Louis XV built a new city wall; but it was only +with Louis XVI that the faubourgs were at last brought within the city +limits. Under the Empire and the Restoration but few changes were made, +and with the piercing of the new boulevards under Napoleon III and Baron +Haussmann the city came to be of much the same general plan that it is +to-day. + +In the olden time, between the Palais de la Cite and the Louvre and the +Palais des Tournelles, extending even to the walls of Charenton, was a +gigantic garden, a carpet embroidered with as varied a colouring as the +_tapis d'orient_ of the poets, and cut here and there by alleys which +separated it into little checker-board squares. + +Within this maze was the celebrated Jardin Dedalus that Louis XI gave to +Coictier, and above it rose the observatory of the savant like a signal +tower of the Romans. This centered upon what is now the Place des +Vosges, formerly the Place Royale. + +To-day, how changed is all this "intermediate, indeterminate" region! +How changed, indeed! There is nothing vague and indeterminate about it +to-day. + +The earliest of the little known Paris palaces was the Palais des +Thermes. It may be dismissed almost in a word from any consideration of +the royal dwellings of Paris, though it was the residence of several +Roman emperors and two queens of France. A single apartment of the old +palace of the Romans exists to-day--the old Roman Baths--but nothing of +the days of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, who founded the palace in +honour of Julian who was proclaimed Emperor by his soldiers in 360 A.D. +The Frankish monarchs, if they ever resided here at all, soon +transferred their headquarters to the Palais de la Cite, the ruins +falling into the possession of the monks of Cluny, who built the present +Hotel de Cluny on the site. + +Of all the minor French palaces the Luxembourg and the Elysee are the +most often heard of in connection with the life of modern times. The +first is something a good deal more than an art museum, and the latter +more than the residence for the Republican president, though the +guide-book makers hardly think it worth while to write down the facts. + +The Palais du Luxembourg has been called an imitation of the Pitti +Palace at Florence, but, beyond the fact that it was an Italian +conception of Marie de Medici's, it is difficult to follow the +suggestion, as the architect, Jacques Debrosse, one of the ablest of +Frenchmen in his line, simply carried out the work on the general plan +of the time of its building, the early seventeenth century. + +Its three not very extensive pavilions are joined together by a +colonnade which encloses a rather foreboding flagged courtyard, a +conception, or elaboration, of the original edifice by Chalgrin, in +1804, under the orders of Napoleon. The garden front, though a +restoration of Louis Philippe, is more in keeping with the original +Medici plan; that, at any rate, is to its credit. + +To-day the Luxembourg, the Republican Palais du Senat, is but an echo of +the four centuries of aristocratic existence which upheld the name and +fame of its first proprietor, the Duc de Piney-Luxembourg, Prince de +Tigry, who built it in the sixteenth century. From 1733 to 1736 the +palace underwent important restorations and the last persons to inhabit +it before the Revolution were the Duchesse de Brunswick, the Queen +Dowager of Spain and the Comte de Provence, brother of Louis XVI, to +whom it had been given by Letters Patent in 1779. + +[Illustration: _Palais du Luxembourg_] + +In 1791 the Convention thought so little of it that they made it a +prison, and a few years later it was called again the Palais du +Directoire, and, before the end of the century, the Palais du Consulat. +This was but a brief glory, as Napoleon transferred his residence in +accordance with his augmenting ambitions, to the Tuileries in the +following year. + +By 1870 the edifice had become known as the Palais du Senat, then as the +headquarters of the Prefecture of the Seine, and finally, as to-day, the +Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the French Senate and the residence of +the president of that body. + +The principal public apartments are the Library, the "Salle des +Seances," the "Buvette"--formerly Napoleon's "Cabinet de Travail," the +"Salle des Pas Perdus"--formerly the "Salle du Trone," the Grand Gallery +and the apartments of Marie de Medici. The chapel is modern and dates +only from 1844. + +The Palais du Petit Luxembourg is the official residence of the +president of the Senate and dates also from the time of Marie de Medici. +The picture gallery is housed in a modern structure to the west of the +Petit Luxembourg. + +[Illustration] + +The facade of the Palais du Senat is not altogether lovely and has +little suggestion of the daintiness of the Petit Luxembourg, but, +for all that, it presents a certain dignified pose and the edifice +serves its purpose well as the legislative hall of the upper house. + +[Illustration: _The Petit Luxembourg_] + +The gardens of the Luxembourg form another of those favourite Paris +playgrounds for nursemaids and their charges. It is claimed that the +children are all little Legitimists in the Luxembourg gardens, whereas +they are all Red Republicans at the Tuileries. One has no means of +knowing this with certainty, but it is assumed; at any rate the +Legitimists are a very numerous class in the neighbourhood. Another +class of childhood to be seen here is that composed of the offsprings of +artists and professors of the Latin quarter, and of the active tradesmen +of the neighbourhood. They come here, like the others, for the fresh +air, to see a bit of greenery, to hear the band play, to sail their +boats in the basins of the great fountain and enjoy themselves +generally. + +One notes a distinct difference in the dress and manners of the children +of the gardens of the Luxembourg from those of the Tuileries and wonders +if the breach will be widened further as they grow up. + +The Jardin du Luxembourg is all that a great city garden should be, +ample, commodious, decorative and as thoroughly typical of Paris as the +Pont Neuf. Innumerable, but rather mediocre, statues are posed here and +there between the palace and the observatory at the end of the long, +tree-lined avenue which stretches off to the south, the only really +historical monument of this nature being the celebrated Fontaine de +Medicis by Debrosse, the architect of the palace. It was a memorial to +Marie de Medici. + +While one is in this quarter of Paris he has an opportunity to recall a +royal memory now somewhat dimmed by time, but still in evidence if one +would delve deep. + +As a matter of fact, royalty never had much to do with this hybrid +quarter of Paris, though, indeed, its past was romantic enough, +bordering as it does upon the real Latin Quarter of the students. +Bounded on one side by the immense domain of the Luxembourg, it +stretched away indefinitely beyond Vaugiraud, almost to Clamart and +Sceaux. + +[Illustration: _The Luxembourg Gardens_] + +At No. 27 Boulevard Montparnasse is an elaborate seventeenth house-front +half hidden by the "modern style" flats of twentieth century Paris. This +relic of the _grand siecle_, with its profusion of sculptured details, +was the house bought by Louis XIV about 1672 and given to the "widow +Scarron," the "young and beautiful widow of the court," as a +recompense for the devotion with which she had educated the three +children of the Marquise de Montespan, who, in 1673, were legitimatized +as princes of the royal house--the Duc de Maine, the Comte de Vexin and +Mademoiselle de Mantes. + +Madame Scarron, who became in time Madame de Maintenon, the "_vraie +reine du roi_," died in 1719, and the house passed to La Tour +d'Auvergne. + +On this same side of the river are the Palais de l'Institut and the +Palais Bourbon. The Palais de l'Institut, or Palais Mazarin, is hardly +to be considered one of the domestic establishments, the dwellings of +kings, with which contemporary Paris was graced. It was but a creation +of Mazarin, the minister, on the site of the Hotel de Nesle, and was +first known as the Palais des Quatre Nations, where were educated, at +the expense of the Cardinal, sixty young men of various nationalities. + +The old chapel has since been transformed into the "Salle des Seances" +of the Institut de France, the Five French Academies. The black, gloomy +facade of the edifice, to-day, in spite of the cupola which gives a +certain inspiring dignity, is not lovely, and tradition and sentiment +alone give it its present interest, though it is undeniably +picturesque. + +An inscription used to be on the pedestal of one of the fountains +opposite the entrance which read: + + "Superbe habitant du desert + En ce lieu, dis moi, que fais tu + --Tu le vois a mon habit vert + Je suis membre de l'institut." + +If the inscription were still there it would save the asking of a lot of +silly questions by strangers who pass this way for the first time. The +Palais de l'Institut is one of the sights of Paris, and its functions +are notable, though hardly belonging to the romantic school of past +days, for at present poets often make their entree via Montmartre's +"Chat Noir," or are elected simply because some other candidate has been +"_blackbouled_." + +Still following along the left bank of the Seine one comes to the Palais +Bourbon, the Chambre des Deputes, as it is better known. This edifice, +where now sit the French deputies, was built by Girardini for the +Dowager Duchesse de Bourbon in 1722, and, though much changed during +various successive eras, is still a unique variety of architectural +embellishment which is not uncouth, nor yet wholly appealing. Napoleon +remade the heavily imposing facade, so familiar to all who cross the +river by the Pont de la Concorde, but its grimness is its charm rather +than its grace. + +The structure cost its first proprietor twenty million or more francs, +and since it has become national property the outlay has been constant. +Everything considered it makes a poor showing; but its pseudo-Greek +facade, were it removed, would certainly be missed in this section of +Paris. + +The principal apartments are the "Salle des Pas Perdus," the "Salle des +Seances," and the "Salle des Conferences"--where, in 1830, the Duc +d'Orleans took the oath as king of France. + +A recent discovery has been made in the lumber room of this old Palais +Bourbon, where deputies howl and shout and make laws as noisily as in +any other of the world's parliaments. + +[Illustration: The THRONE of the PALAIS-BOURBON] + +This particular "find" was the throne constructed in 1816 for Louis +XVIII, with its upholstering of velvet embroidered with the golden +fleur-de-lis. The records tell that this throne also served Louis +Philippe under the Second Empire, and also was used under the Monarchy +of July. It was after the momentous "Quatre Setembre" that it was +finally relegated to the garret, but now, as a historical souvenir of +the first rank, it has been placed prominently where all who visit the +Palais Bourbon may see it. + +The history of the Palais de l'Elysee has not been particularly vivid, +though for two centuries it has played a most important part in the life +of the capital. In later years it has served well enough the +presidential dignity of the chief magistrate of the French Republic and +is thus classed as a national property. Actually, since its +construction, it has changed its name as often as it has changed its +occupants. Its first occupant was its builder, Louis d'Auvergne, Comte +d'Evreux, who built himself this great town house on a plot of land +which had been given him by Louis XV. Apparently the young man had no +means of his own for the construction of his luxurious city dwelling, +for he refilled his coffers by marriage with the rich daughter of the +financier Crozat. + +The new-made countess's mother-in-law apparently never had much respect +for her son's choice as she forever referred to her as "the little gold +ingot." + +"The ingot" served to construct the palace, however, though at the death +of its builder, soon after, it came into the proprietorship of La +Pompadour, who spent the sum of six hundred and fifty thousand _livres_ +in aggrandizing it. It became her town house, whither she removed when +she grew tired of Versailles or Bagatelle. + +History tells of an incident in connection with a fete given at the +Palais de l'Elysee by La Pompadour. It was at the epoch of the +"_bergeries a la Watteau_." The blond Pompadour had the idea of +introducing into the salons a troop of living, sad-eyed sheep, combed +and curled like the poodles in the carriages of the fashionables in the +Bois to-day. The quadrupeds, greatly frightened by the flood of light, +fell into a panic, and the largest ram among them, seeing his duplicate +in a mirror, made for it in the traditional ram-like manner. He raged +for an hour or more from one apartment to another, followed by the whole +flock, which committed incalculable damage before it could be turned +into the gardens. Such was one of the costly caprices of La Pompadour. +She had many. + +La Pompadour's brother, the Marquis de Menars et de Marigny, continued +the work of embellishment of the property up to the day when Louis XV +bought it as a dwelling for the ambassadors to his court. Its somewhat +restricted park, ornamented with a grotto and a cascade, was at this +time one of the curiosities of the capital. + +In 1773, the financier Beaujon bought the property from the king and +added considerably to it under the direction of the architect Boullee, +who also re-designed the gardens. Thanks to Beaujon, the wonderful +Gobelins of to-day were hung upon the walls, and many paintings by +Rubens, Poissin, Van Loo, Von Ostade, Murillo, Paul Potter and Joseph +Vernet were added. + +The death of the financier brought the property into the hands of the +Duchesse de Bourbon, the sister of Louis Philippe, and the mother of the +Duc d' Enghien, who died so tragically at Vincennes a short time after. +The duchess renamed her new possession Elysee-Bourbon and there led a +very retired and sad life among surroundings so splendid that they +merited a more gay existence. + +At the Revolution the palace became a national property, and, under the +Consulate, was the scene of many popular fetes, it having been rented to +a concern which arranged balls and other entertainments for the pleasure +of all who could afford to pay. Its name was now the Hameau de +Chantilly, and, considering that the entrance tickets cost but fifteen +sous--including a drink--it must have proved a cheap, satisfying and +splendid amusement for the people. + +This state of affairs lasted until 1805, when Murat bought it and here +held his little court up to his departure for Naples, when, in +gratefulness for past favours, he gave it to Napoleon. The emperor +greatly loved this new abode, which he rechristened the Elysee-Napoleon. + +After his defeat at Waterloo Napoleon, limping lamely Parisward, down +through the Forests of Compiegne and Villers-Cotterets, sought in the +Elysee-Napoleon the repose and rest which he so much needed, the throng +meanwhile promenading before the palace windows, shouting at the tops of +their voices "Vive l'Empereur!" though, as the world well knew, his +power had waned forever; the eagle's wings were broken. The throng still +crowded the precincts of the palace, but the emperor fled secretly by +the garden gate. + +On the return of the Duchesse de Bourbon from Spain the magnificent +structure became again the Elysee-Bourbon. The duchess ceded the palace +to the Duc and Duchesse de Berry but, at the duke's death, in 1820, his +widow abandoned it. + +Some time after it was occupied by the Duc de Bordeaux, and, in 1830, +it became one of the long list of establishments whose maintenance +devolved upon the Civil List, though it remained practically uninhabited +all through the reign of Louis Philippe. + +In 1848, the National Assembly designated the palace as the official +residence for the presidents of the French Republic. Three years after, +on the night of the first of December, as the last preparations were +being made by Louis Bonaparte for the Coup d' Etat and the final +strangling of the young republic, the residence of the president was +transferred to the Tuileries, and the palace of the Faubourg Saint +Honore was again left without a tenant, and served only to give +hospitality from time to time to passing notables. + +After the burning of the Tuileries, and the coming of the Third +Republic, the Elysee Palace again became the presidential residence, and +so it remains to-day. + +One of the most notable of modern events connected with the Elysee +Palace was the _diner de ceremonie_ offered by the president of the +Republic and Madame Fallieres to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt in April, 1910. +The dinner was served in the "Grand Salle des Fetes" and the music which +accompanied the repast was furnished by the band of the _Garde +Republicain_, beginning with the national anthem of America and +finishing with that of France. Never had a private citizen, a foreigner, +been so received by the first magistrate of France. The toast of +President Fallieres was as follows: "Before this repast terminates I +wish to profit by the occasion offered to drink the health of Monsieur +Theodore Roosevelt, an illustrious man, a great citizen and a good +friend of France and the cause of peace. I raise my glass to Madame +Roosevelt who may be assured of our respectful and sympathetic homage, +and I am very glad to be able to say to our guests that we count +ourselves very fortunate in being allowed to meet them in person and +show them this mark of respect." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +VINCENNES AND CONFLANS + +[Illustration: VINCENNES UNDER CHARLES V] + + +Vincennes is to-day little more than a dull, dirty Paris suburb; if +anything its complexion is a deeper drab than that of Saint Denis, and +to call the Bois de Vincennes a park "somewhat resembling the Bois de +Boulogne," as do the guidebooks, is ridiculous. + +In reality Vincennes is nothing at all except a memory. There is to-day +little suggestion of royal origin about the smug and murky surroundings +of the Chateau de Vincennes; but nevertheless, it once was a royal +residence, and the drama which unrolled itself within its walls was most +vividly presented. A book might be written upon it, with the following +as the chapter headings: "The Royal Residence," "The Minimes of the +Bois de Vincennes," "Mazarin at Vincennes," "The Prisoners of the +Donjon," "The Fetes of the Revolution," "The Death of the Duc +d'Enghien," "The Transformation of the Chateau and the Bois." + +Its plots are ready-made, but one has to take them on hearsay, for the +old chateau does not open its doors readily to the stranger for the +reason that it to-day ranks only as a military fortress, and an +artillery camp is laid out in the quadrangle, intended, if need be, to +aid in the defence of Paris. This is one of the things one hears about, +but of which one may not have any personal knowledge. + +The first reference to the name of Vincennes is in a ninth century +charter, where it appears as _Vilcenna_. The foundation of the original +chateau-fort on the present site is attributed to Louis VII, who, in +1164, having alienated a part of the neighbouring forest in favour of a +body of monks, built himself a suburban rest-house under shelter of the +pious walls of their convent. + +Philippe Auguste, too, has been credited with being the founder of +Vincennes; but, at all events, the chateau took on no royal importance +until the reign of Saint Louis, who acquired the habit of dispensing +justice to all comers seated beneath an oak in the near-by Forest of +Joinville. + +The erection of the later chateau was begun by Charles, Comte de Valois, +brother of Philippe-le-Bel; and it was completed by Philippe VI of +Valois, and his successor, Jean-le-Bon, between the years 1337 and 1370, +when it became an entirely new manner of edifice from what it had been +before. It was in this chateau that was born Charles V, to whom indeed +it owes its completion in the form best known. + +To-day, the outlines of the mass of the Chateau de Vincennes are +considerably abbreviated from their former state. Originally it was +quite regular in outline, its walls forming a rectangle flanked by nine +towers, the great donjon which one sees to-day occupying the centre of +one side. The chapel was begun in the reign of Francois I and terminated +in that of Henri II. Its coloured glass, painted by Jean Cousin from the +designs of Raphael, is notable. + +The chapel at Vincennes, with the Saint Chapelle of the Palais de +Justice at Paris, ranks as one of the most exquisite examples extant of +French Gothic architecture. It was begun in 1379, but chiefly it is of +the sixteenth century, since it was only completed in 1552. This chapel +of the sixteenth century, and the two side wings flanking the tower of +the reign of Louis XIV, make the Chateau de Vincennes a most precious +specimen of mediaeval ecclesiastical and military architecture. If +Napoleon had not cut down the height of the surrounding walls the +comparison would be still more favourable. In the reproduction of the +miniature from the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry given herein one +sees the perfect outlines of the fourteenth century edifice. + +In later years, Louis XIII added considerably to the existing structure, +but little is now to be seen of that edifice save the great tower and +the chapel. + +Charles IX, whose royal edict brought forth the bloody night of Saint +Bartholomew in 1572, fell sick two years later in the Chateau de +Vincennes. Calling his surgeon, Ambroise Pare, to his side he exclaimed: +"My body burns with fever; I see the mangled Huguenots all about me; +Holy Virgin, how they mock me; I wish, Pare, I had spared them." And +thus he died, abhorring the mother who had counselled him to commit this +horrible deed. + +The donjon of Vincennes was carried to its comparatively great height +that it might serve as a tower of observation as well as a place of last +retreat if in an attack the outer walls of the fortress should give way. +Here at Vincennes a certain massiveness is noted in connection with the +donjon, though the actual ground area which it covers is not very +great; it was not like many donjons of the time, which were virtually +smaller chateaux or fortresses enclosed within a greater. + +Vincennes, in comparison with many other contemporary edifices, +possessed a certain regularity of outline which was made possible by its +favourable situation. When others were of fantastic form, they were +usually so built because of the configuration of the land, or the nature +of the soil. But here the land was flat, and, though the edifice and its +dependencies covered no very extended area, they followed rectangular +lines with absolute precision. + +As its walls were of a thickness of three metres, it was a work easy of +accomplishment for Louis XI to turn the chateau into a Prison of State, +a use to which the first chateau had actually been put by the shutting +up in it of Enguerrand de Marigny. Henri IV, in 1574, passed some +solitary hours and days within its walls, and Mirabeau did the same in +1777. The Duc d'Enghien, under the First Empire, before his actual death +by shooting, suffered sorely herein, while resting under an unjust +suspicion. + +[Illustration: _Chateau de Vincennes_] + +In 1814-1815 the chateau became a great arsenal and general storehouse +for the army. It was attacked by the Allies and besieged twice, but in +vain. It was defended against the armies of Blucher by the Baron +Daumesnil. Summoned to surrender his charge, "Jambe de Bois" (so called +because he had lost a leg the year before) replied: "I will surrender +when you surrender to me my leg." A statue to this brave warrior is +within the chateau, and commemorates further the fact that he +capitulated only on terms laid down by himself out of his humane regard +for the lives of friends and foes. + +The ministers of Charles X, in 1830, had cause to regret the strength of +the chateau walls; and Barbes, Blanqui and Raspail, in 1848, and various +Republicans, who had been seized as dangerous elements of society after +the Coup d'Etat of 1851, also here found an enforced hospitality. The +Chateau de Vincennes had become a second Bastille. + +The incident of the arrest and death of the Duc d'Enghien is one of the +most dramatic in Napoleonic history. The scene was Vincennes. Louis +Antoine Henri de Bourbon, son of the Prince de Conde, born at Chantilly +in 1772, became, without just reason, suspected in connection with the +Cadoudal-Pichegreu plot, and was seized by a squadron of cavalry at the +Schloss Ettenheim in the Duchy of Baden and conducted to Vincennes. +Here, after a summary judgment, he was shot at night in the moat behind +the guardhouse. The obscurity of the night was so great that a lighted +lantern was hung around the neck of the unfortunate man that the +soldiers might the better see the mark at which they were to shoot. + +Napoleon confided to Josephine, who repeated the secret to Madame de +Remusat, that his political future demanded a _coup d'Etat_. On the +morning of the execution, the emperor, awakening at five o'clock, said +to Josephine: "By this time the Duc d'Enghien has passed from this +life." + +The rest is history--of that apologetic kind which is not often +recorded. + +In the chapel at Vincennes a commemorative tablet was placed, by the +orders of Louis XVIII, in 1816, to mark the death of the young duke. + +The Bois de Vincennes is not the fashionable parade ground of the Bois +de Boulogne. On the whole it is a sad sort of a public park, and not at +all fashionable, and not particularly attractive, though of a vast +extent and possessed of a profoundly historic past of far more +significance than that of its sweet sister by the opposite gates of +Paris. + +[Illustration: _A Hunt under the Walls of Vincennes_ + +_From a Fourteenth Century Print_] + +It contains ten hundred and sixty-nine hectares and was due originally +to Louis XV, who sought to have a sylvan gateway to the city from the +east. Under the Second Empire the park was considerably transformed, new +roads and alleys traced, and an effort made to have it equal more +nearly the beauty of the more popular Bois de Boulogne. It occupies the +plateau lying between the Seine and the bend in the Marne, just above +the junction of the two rivers. + +There are some forty kilometres of roadway within the limits of the Bois +de Vincennes, and a dozen kilometres or more of footpaths; but, since +the military authorities have taken a portion for their own uses as a +training ground, a shooting range and for the Batteries of La +Faisanderie and Gravelle, it has been bereft of no small part of its +former charm. There are three lakes in the Bois, the Lac de Sainte +Mande, the Lac Daumesnil and the Lac de Gravelle. + +A near neighbour of Vincennes is Conflans, another poor, rent relic of +monarchial majesty. The Chateau de Conflans was situated at the juncture +of the Seine and Marne, but, to-day, the immediate neighbourhood is so +very unlovely and depressing that one can hardly believe that it ever +pleased any one's fancy, least of all that of a kingly castle builder. + +Banal dwellings on all sides are Conflans' chief characteristics to-day; +but the old royal abode still lifts a long length of roof and wall to +mark the spot where once stood the Chateau de Conflans in all its +glory. + +Conflans was at first the country residence of the Archbishops of Paris, +and Saint Louis frequently went into retreat here. When Philippe-le-Bel +acquired the property, he promptly gave it to the Comtesse d'Artois who +made of it one of the "_plus beaux castels du temps_." She decorated its +long gallery, the portion of the edifice which exists to-day in the +humble, emasculated form of a warehouse of some sort, in memory of her +husband Othon. Here the countess held many historic receptions and +ceremonies during which kings and princes frequently partook of her +hospitality. + +[Illustration: CONFLANS from an OLD PRINT.] + +After the death of the countess, the French king made his residence at +Conflans, and Charles VI, when dauphin, was also lodged here that he +might be near the capital in case of events which might require his +presence. A contemporary account mentions the fact that his _valet de +chambre_ was killed by lightning at Conflans while serving his royal +master. + +Conflans was the preferred suburban residence of the Princes and the +Ducs de Bourgogne, and Philippe-le-Hardi there organized his tourneys +and his _passes d'armes_ with great eclat, on one occasion alone +offering one hundred and fifteen thousand _livres_ in prizes to the +participants. + +This castle, for it was more castle than palace, was reputed one of the +most magnificent in the neighbourhood of the Paris of its time, +surrounded as it was with a resplendent garden and a forest in +miniature, really a part of the Bois de Vincennes of to-day, where +roamed wild boar and wolves which furnished sport of a kingly kind. + +The view from the terrace of the chateau must have been wonderfully +fine, the towers and roof-tops of old Paris being silhouetted against +the setting sun, its windows dominating the swift-flowing current of the +two rivers at the foot of the fortress walls. + +The greatest event of history enacted under the walls of Conflans was +the battle and the treaty which followed after, between Louis XI and the +Comte de Charolais, in 1405. + +Commynes recounts the battle as follows: "Four thousand archers were +sent out from Paris by the king, who fired upon the castle from the +river bank on both sides." + +Bows and arrows were hardly effective weapons with which to shoot down +castle walls, but stragglers who left themselves unprotected were from +time to time picked off on both sides and much carnage actually ensued. +Finally a treaty of peace was arranged, by which, at the death of +Charles-le-Temeraire, according to usage, Louis XI absorbed the +proprietary rights in the castle and made it a _Maison Royale_, +bestowing it upon one of his favourites, Dame Gillette Hennequin. + +The kings of France about this time developed a predilection for the +chateaux on the banks of the Loire, and Conflans was offered for sale in +1554. Divers personages occupied it from that time on, the Marechal de +Villeroy, the Connetable de Montmorency and, for a brief time, Cardinal +Richelieu. + +It was in the Chateau de Conflans that was planned the foundation of the +French Academy; here Moliere and his players first presented "La +Critique de l'Ecole des Femmes"; and here, also, was held the marriage +of La Grande Mademoiselle with the unhappy Lauzan. + +At the end of the reign of Louis XIV Fr. de Harlay-Chauvallon, +Archbishop of Paris, bought the property of Richelieu, and, with the +aid of Mansart and Le Notre, considerably embellished it within and +without. Madame de Sevigne, in one of her many published letters, writes +of the splendours which she saw at Conflans at this epoch. + +Saint-Simon, the court chronicler, mentions that the gardens were so +immaculately kept that when the Archbishop and "La Belle" Duchesse de +Lesdiguieres used to promenade therein they were followed by a gardener +who, with a rake, sought to remove the traces of each footprint as soon +as made. + +Later, the Cardinal de Beaumont, the persecutor of the Jansenists, +resided here. + + "Notre archeveque est a Conflans + C'est un grand solitaire + C'est un grand so + C'est un grand so + C'est un grand solitaire." + +The above verse is certainly banal enough, but the cardinal himself was +a _drole_, so perhaps it is appropriate. At any rate it is contemporary +with the churchman's sojourn at Conflans. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +FONTAINEBLEAU AND ITS FOREST + +[Illustration: ORIGINAL PLAN OF FONTAINEBLEAU] + + +Of all the French royal palaces Fontainebleau is certainly the most +interesting, despite the popularity and accessibility of Versailles. It +is moreover the cradle of the French Renaissance. Napoleon called it the +Maison des Siecles, and the simile was just. + +After Versailles, Fontainebleau has ever held the first place among the +suburban royal palaces. The celebrated "Route de Fontainebleau" of +history was as much a _Chemin du Roi_ as that which led from the capital +to Versailles. Versailles was gorgeous, even splendid, if you will; +but it had not the unique characteristics, nor winsomeness of +Fontainebleau, nor ever will have, in the minds of those who know and +love the France of monarchial days. + +[Illustration: From Paris to Fontainebleau] + +Not the least of the charm of Fontainebleau is the neighbouring forest +so close at hand, a few garden railings, not more, separating the palace +from one of the wildest forest tracts of modern France. + +The Forest of Fontainebleau is full of memories of royal rendezvous, the +carnage of wild beasts, the "_vraie image de la guerre_," of which the +Renaissance kings were so inordinately fond. + +It was from the Palace of Fontainebleau, too, that bloomed forth the +best and most wholesome of the French Renaissance architecture. It was +the model of all other later residences of its kind. It took the best +that Italy had to offer and developed something so very French that even +the Italian workmen, under the orders of Francois I, all but lost their +nationality. Vasari said of it that it "rivalled the best work to be +found in the Rome of its time." + +A charter of Louis-le-Jeune (Louis VII), dated at Fontainebleau in 1169, +attests that the spot was already occupied by a _maison royale_ which, +according to the Latin name given in the document was called Fontene +Bleaudi, an etymology not difficult to trace when what we know of its +earlier and later history is considered. + +Actually this _fontaine belle eau_ is found to-day in the centre of the +Jardin Anglais, its basin and outlet being surrounded by the +conventional stone rim or border. After its discovery, according to +legend, this fountain became the rendezvous of the gallants and the +poets and painters and the "sweet ladies" so often referred to in the +chronicles of the Renaissance. Rosso, the painter, perpetuated one of +the most celebrated of these reunions in his decorations in the Galerie +Francois I in the palace, and Cellini represented the fair huntress +Diana, amid the same surroundings. + +Under Louis-le-Jeune in 1169 was erected, in the Cour du Donjon, the +chapel Saint-Saturnin, which was consecrated by Saint Thomas a Becket, +then a refugee in France. + +Philippe Auguste and Saint Louis inhabited the palace and +Philippe-le-Bel died here in 1314. From a letter of Charles VII it +appears that Isabeau de Baviere had the intention of greatly adding to +the existing chateau because of the extreme healthfulness of the +neighbourhood. The work was actually begun but seemingly not carried to +any great length. + +Such was the state of things when Francois I came into his own and, +because of the supreme beauty of the site, became enamoured of it and +began to erect an edifice which was to outrank all others of its class. +The king and court made of Fontainebleau a second capital. It was a +model residence of its kind, and gave the first great impetus to the +Renaissance wave which rose so rapidly that it speedily engulfed all +France. + +Aside from its palace and its forest, Fontainebleau early became a noble +and a gracious town, thanks to the proximity of the royal dwelling. In +spite of the mighty scenes enacted within its walls, the palace has ever +posed as one of the most placid and tranquil places of royal residence +in the kingdom. + +All this is true to-day, in spite of the coming of tourists in +automobiles, and the recent establishment of a golf club with the usual +appurtenances. Fontainebleau, the town, has a complexion quite its own. +Its garrison and its little court of officialdom give it a character +which even to-day marks it as one of the principal places where the +stranger may observe the French dragoon, with _casque_ and breastplate +and boots and spurs, at quite his romantic best, though it is apparent +to all that the cumbersome, if picturesque, uniform is an unwieldy +fighting costume. There was talk long ago of suppressing the corps, but +all Fontainebleau rose up in protest. As the popular _chanson_ has it: +"_Laissez les dragons a leur Maire_." This has become the battle cry and +so they remain at Fontainebleau to-day, the envy of their fellows in the +service, and the glory of the young misses of the boarding schools, who +each Saturday are brought out in droves to see the sights. + +Many descriptions of Fontainebleau have been written, but the works of +Poirson, Pfnor and Champollion-Figeac are generally followed by most +makers of guidebooks, and, though useful, they have perpetuated many +errors which were known to have been doubtful even before their day. + +The best account of Fontainebleau under Francois I is given in the +manuscript memoir of Abbe Guilbert. Apparently an error crept into this +admirable work, too, for it gives the date of the commencement of the +constructions of Francois as 1514, whereas that monarch only ascended +the throne in 1515. The date of the first works under this monarch was +1528, according to a letter of the king himself, which began: "We, the +court, intend to live in this palace and hunt the _'betes rousses et +noirs qui sont dans la foret.'_" + +An account of Francois I and his "young Italian friends" makes mention +of the visit of the king, in company with the Duchesse d'Etampes, to the +studio of Serlio who was working desperately on the portico of the Cour +Ovale. He found the artist producing a "melody of plastic beauty, garbed +as a simple workman, his hair matted with pasty clay." He was standing +on a scaffolding high above the ground when the monarch mounted the +ladder. Up aloft Francois held a conference with his beloved workman +and, descending, shouted back the words: "You understand, Maitre Serlio; +let it be as you suggest." After the porticos, Serlio decorated the +Galerie d'Ulysse which has since disappeared owing to the indifference +of Louis XV and the imbecility of his friends; and always it was with +Francois: "You understand, Maitre Serlio; it is as you wish." The +_motif_ may have been Italian, but the impetus for the work was given by +the _esprit_ of the French. + +The defeated monarch was not able to bring away from Padua any trophies +of war; but he brought plans of chateaux, and gardens as well. He did +more: he took the very artists and craftsmen who had produced many of +the Italian masterpieces of the time. + +The tracing of the gardens at Fontainebleau, practically as they exist +to-day, was one of Francois I's greatest pleasures. In their midst, on +the shores of the Etang aux Carpes, was erected a tiny rest-house where +the royal mistresses might come to repose and laugh at the jests of +Triboulet. + +The edifice of Francois I is of modest proportions and of perfect unity; +but it is with difficulty that it presents its best appearance, +overpowered as it is by the heavier masses of the time of Henri IV, and +suffering as it does because of the eliminations of Louis XIV and Louis +XV when they made their additions to the palace. + +Under the Convention, later on, Fontainebleau's palace again suffered. +Under the Consulate it became a barracks and a prison, and finally, not +less terrible, were the restorations of Napoleon and Louis Philippe. A +castle may sometimes suffer less from a siege than from a restoration. + +From every point of view, however, Fontainebleau remains an +architectural document of the most profound interest and value, and, +from the tourists' point of view, it is the most appealing of all +European palaces of this or any other age. The expert, the artist and +the mere curiosity-seeker all unite in their admiration in spite of the +fact that the fabric has been denuded of many of its original beauties. + +[Illustration: _Palais de Fontainebleau_] + +First, this royal dwelling is of the most ample and effective +proportions; second, it possesses a remarkable series of luxurious +apartments; third, it still contains some of the finest examples of +furniture and furnishings of Renaissance and Napoleonic times; and, in +addition, there is also to be seen that admirable series of paintings +which represent the School of Fontainebleau. With such an array of +charms what does it matter if the unity of the Renaissance masterpiece +of Francois I is qualified by later interpolations? General impression +is the standard by which one judges the workmanship of a noble monument, +and here it is good to an extraordinary degree. + +The palace of to-day sits at one end of the aristocratic little town of +Fontainebleau. Beyond is the forest and opposite are many hotels which +depend upon the palace as the source from which they draw their +livelihood. + +The principal entrance to the palace opens out from the Place Solferino +and gives access immediately to the Cour du Cheval Blanc of Chambiges, +which, since that eventful day in Napoleonic history nearly a hundred +years ago, has become better known as the Cour des Adieux. At the rear +rises the famous horseshoe stair, certainly much better expressed in +French as the _Escalier en Fer a Cheval_, from which the emperor took +his farewell of his "Vieux Grognards" lined up before him, biting +savagely at their moustaches to keep down their emotions. + +This Cour du Cheval Blanc acquired its name from a plaster cast of +Marcus Aurelius's celebrated steed which was originally placed here +under a canopy or baldaquin held aloft by colonnettes. The moulds for +this work were brought from Venice by Primaticcio and Vignole, but it +was never cast in bronze and the statue itself disappeared in 1626. The +courtyard, however, still kept the name until the last of Napoleonic +days. + +As a Napoleonic memory this Cour des Adieux shares popularity with the +famous Cabinet of the Empire suite of apartments where Napoleon signed +his abdication. Certainly most visitors will carry away the memory of +these words as among the most vivid souvenirs of Fontainebleau. + + "_Le 5 Avril, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte signa son abdication sur + cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le deuxieme apres la + chambre a coucher a Fontainebleau._" + +The abdication itself (the document) is now exposed in the Galerie de +Diane, transformed lately into the Library. + +On the right is the Aile Neuf, built by Louis XV, for the housing of his +officers, on the site of the Galerie de Ulysse, originally one of the +most notable features of the palace of Francois I. Opposite is the sober +alignment of the Aile des Ministres, and still farther to the rear are +the Pavillon des Aumoniers, or de l'Horloge; the Chapelle de la Trinite; +the Pavillon des Armes; the Pavillon des Peintres; the Pavillon des +Poels; the Galerie des Fresques; and, finally, the Pavillon des +Reines-Meres. All of these details are of the period of Francois I save +the last, which was an interpolation of Louis XIV. + +The Fer a Cheval stairway, however, most curious because of the +difficulties of its construction, dates from the time of Louis XIII, and +replaces the stairs built by Philibert Delorme. The tennis court, just +before the Pavillon de l'Horloge, dates only from Louis XV. + +The imposing entrance court is a hundred and twelve metres in width by a +hundred and fifty-two metres in length, and to see it as it was +originally, before the destruction of the Galerie d'Ulysse, one must +imagine it as closed in by a series of small pavilions with their +frontons of colonnettes preceded only by a staircase and two drawbridges +crossing the moat, which at that time surrounded the entire confines of +the palace. The moat is to-day surrounded, where it still exists, by a +balustrade, due to the rather shabby taste of Louis XV. + +An inner courtyard, known as the Cour de la Fontaine, is incomparably of +finer general design than the entrance court, and the Cour Ovale, +absolutely as Henri IV left it, is finer still. At the foot of this +latter court is the Baptistry where were baptised, in 1606, the three +"Enfants de France," the dauphin, afterwards Louis XIII; the Princesse +Elizabeth, afterwards the Queen of Spain; and the Princesse de Savoie. + +The Cour Ovale is practically of the proportions of the ancient Manor of +Fontaine Belle Eau, built by Robert le Pieux. There, too, Philippe +Auguste, Saint Louis, Philippe-le-Bel, Charles V and Charles VII +frequently resided. Francois I had no wish that this old manor should +entirely disappear and preserved its old donjon, a relic which has since +gone the way of many another noble fane. There are several other notable +courts or gardens, the Cour des Offices, the Jardin de Diane, the +Orangerie, the Cour des Princes, etc. + +All the original gardens were laid out anew by Louis XIV, and that of +Diane underwent a considerable change at the hands of Napoleon, who also +laid out a Jardin Anglais on the site of the ancient Jardin des Pins, +where originally sprang into being the rippling Fontaine Beleau, or +Belle Eau, which gave its name to the palace, the forest and the town. + +[Illustration: _Salle du Throne, Fontainebleau_] + +The park, as distinct from the great expanse of surrounding forest, is a +finely shaded range of alleys, due chiefly to Henri IV, who cut the +great canal of ornamental water and ordained the general arrangement of +its details. + +The principal curiosity of the park is the famous Treille du Roy, or the +King's Grape Vine, which, good seasons and bad, can be counted on to +give three thousand kilos of authentic _chasselas_, grapes of the finest +quality. One wonders who gets them: _Ou s'en vont les raisins du roi?_ +This is an interrogation that has been raised more than once in the +French parliament. + +In general, the aspect of the exterior of the Palais de Fontainebleau, +the walls themselves, the Cours, the alleyed walks are chiefly +reminiscent of the early art of the Renaissance. Francois I is, after +all, more in evidence than the Henris or the Napoleons. Within, the same +is true in general, though to a less degree. The Renaissance is +_maitresse_ within and without; the other moods are wholly subservient +to her grace. + +There is hardly an apartment in all the world of palaces in France, or +beyond the frontiers, to rank with the great Galerie Francois I at +Fontainebleau, though indeed its proportions are modest and its lighting +defective to-day, for Louis XV blocked up all the windows on one side. +It remains, however, one of the richest examples of the Franco-Italian +decoration of its era, though somewhat tarnished by the heedlessness of +Charles X. + +Never were there before, nor since, its era such mythological +wall-paintings as are here to be seen. The aspirants for the Prix de +Rome protest each year against such subjects being set them for their +_concours_, but their judges, recalling how effective such examples are, +are insistent. The best examples of the School of Fontainebleau are a +distinct variety of French painting. The veriest dabbler in art can say +with Michelet: "There is no reminiscence of anything Italian therein." + +Frankly, these works were the product of secondary artists and their +pupils. Leonardo da Vinci, too old to do anything more than direct, saw +himself succeeded by Del Sarto, Rosso and Primaticcio. Cellini may have +contributed, too, but his labours were doubtless blotted out to a great +extent by the orders of the all-powerful Duchesse d'Etampes who feared +his competition with her protege, Primaticcio. One of the masters of +this coterie was Nicolo dell' Abbate, better known, perhaps, for his +works painted at Bologna than for his frescoes at Fontainebleau. + +[Illustration] + +The Galerie Henri II is notable also for its decorations, the harmonious +juxtaposition of sculpture and painting, and, although "restored" in +late years, presents an astonishing pristine vigour. This apartment +ranks with the Galerie Francois I, all things considered, as one of the +chief show apartments of the palace. Its length is thirty metres, its +breadth ten, with five ample round-headed windows letting in a flood of +light on either side, one set giving on the Cour Ovale, and the other on +the Parterre and the magnificent facade of the Porte Doree. The ceiling +is broken up into octagonal _caissons_, their depths alternately laid +with gold or silver, bearing the monogram of the monarch and his +_devise_. The parquet is laid in divisions reproducing the design of the +ceiling. On either side the walls are wainscoted in oak similarly +emblazoned in gold and silver, with the initials of Diane de Poitiers, +and of her admirer, Henri, everywhere interlaced. Again, a colossal +monogram reproduces itself in the chimney-piece with the frescoes of +Nicolo dell' Abbate, and fifty figures of mythological gods and heroes +decorate the window casings. + +The chapel dates chiefly from the time of Henri IV, the altar and +numerous embellishments belonging to later reigns. + +A certain sentiment, not a little real beauty, and much unauthenticated +history attach themselves to the Salon Louis XIII, the Salle du Trone, +the Apartment of Madame de Maintenon, those of Napoleon I, of Pope Pius +VII and of Marie Antoinette. + +The Galerie de Diane is little reminiscent of the day of the huntress, +being a reconstitution under the First Empire, though its decorations +date from the Restoration, and the ceiling, and furniture, apparently of +the best of Renaissance times, are merely copies made by Louis Philippe, +who did not hesitate, on another occasion, to blue-wash the Salon de +Saint Louis, and who hung worthless third-rate paintings, which even +provincial museums of the meanest rank have since refused to house, in +the admirably decorated apartments of the period of Francois and Henri. + +Fontainebleau, to-day, is but a memory of what it was, a memory by no +means fragmentary, by no means complete; but all sufficient. + +Of later years there is actually little to single out in the way of +remarkable additions or restorations. Under the Second Empire the +Galerie Francois I was repainted, some false antiquities added as +furnishings, and various ranges of books were stored away in the Galerie +de Diane, having been brought from the chapel which had ceased to serve +as the Library. This apartment was now refitted as a chapel, and, to +supplant six wall paintings which had been removed, Napoleon III ordered +seven canvases from the painter Schopin, illustrating the life of Saint +Saturnin. + +[Illustration] + +Finally, the Salle de Spectacle completes the modern additions, and, +while gaudily striking, is scarcely above the taste of a gilded cafe in +some pompous Prefecture. + +Henri IV was the creator of the park of the palace, which extended as +far as the village of Avon and absorbed all the Seigneurie de Montceau, +of which Mi-Voie (the dairy of Catherine de Medici) occupied a part. The +acquisition of the Seigneurie was made in 1609. Across it was cut a +"grand canal" in imitation of that already possessed by the Chateau de +Fleury. It was a great rarity as a garden accessory, and was more than a +quarter of a league long and forty metres wide. Bassompierre said in his +memoirs that Henri IV made him a wager that it could be filled with +water in two days. It actually took eight. + +To the north of the park, Henri IV built, under the name of La +Menagerie, what he called a _maison de plaisance_, but which was really +the forerunner of the animal house at Versailles. + +To all these works of Henri IV in the gardens at Fontainebleau is +attached the name of Francine. There were two brothers of the name, +Thomas and Alexandre, and it was the latter who chiefly occupied himself +with the Parterre, the Chaussee and the Grand Canal at Fontainebleau. In +the Jardin de la Reine he erected the celebrated Fontaine de Diane which +finally gave its name to the garden itself. The fountain was designed by +Barthelemy Prieur, and was cast in 1603. The original bronzes are now in +the Louvre, those seen at Fontainebleau to-day being later works (1684). + +The Forest of Fontainebleau is a dozen leagues in circumference, and of +an area of nearly thirty-five thousand acres. Its beauty, its natural +beauty, is unrivalled. Rocks, ravines, valleys, patriarchal oaks and +beeches, plains, woods, glades, meadows, lawns and cliffs, all are here. +Its population of stag and deer was practically exterminated during the +Revolution of 1830, but nevertheless it sustained its reputation as a +great hunting-ground for long afterwards. + +The Royal Hunt invariably centered at La Croix du Grand Veneur, a +notable landmark of the forest even now, at the intersection of four +magnificent forest roads. Its name comes from a legend of a spectral +black huntsman who was supposed to haunt the forest, and who appeared +for the last time, in reality or imagination, to Henri IV shortly before +his assassination. + +In 1854, one of the last and most gorgeous of Fontainebleau hunts was +given by Louis Napoleon. The emperor spent lavishly for the equipment of +the hunt, and granted liberal stipends to the attendants that they might +caparison themselves with some semblance of picturesque dignity; horses +and dogs were furnished and cared for on the same liberal scale. + +The costuming of a hunting party under such conditions was not the least +appealing of its picturesque elements. Three-cornered hats, gold lace, +knee breeches, silk stockings and other costly properties, when provided +for a single special occasion, as they were in this case, were apt to +suggest the life of centuries long gone by rather than that of modern +times. + +The Forest of Fontainebleau can best be briefly described as a +rendezvous for tourists and "trippers," and as a vast open-air studio +for the youthful emulators of "the men of Barbison." + +Historic, romantic and artistic memories and realities are on every +hand; the march of time and progress has not dimmed them, nor thinned +them out; the Forest of Fontainebleau remains to-day the best known and +most delightful extent of wildwood in all the world. + +The chief of the well-known names associated with the Forest of +Fontainebleau, and one which will never die, is that of Denecourt, +called also the "Sylvain de la Foret," a mythological appellation which +came from his abounding knowledge of its devious ways and byways. It was +in 1841 that Denecourt began his original studies and catalogued its +every stone and tree. He invented names and gave a historical setting to +many a picturesque and romantic site which might not have been known at +all had it not been for his enthusiasm. + +After the vogue of Denecourt all the world followed in his footsteps +until the Parisian knew as well the Longue Rocher, the Gorges d'Apremont +and the Gorge de Franchard as he did the Rue de la Paix or the Champs +Elysees. Denecourt's great work, "_Promenades dans la Foret de +Fontainebleau_" appeared in 1845, and if he is to be criticised for +letting his fancy run away with him now and then, and for the opera +bouffe nomenclature of many of the _caves_ and _mares_ and _chenes_ and +"fairy-bowers" and "tables of kings," he at least has enabled a curious +public to become better acquainted with this great forest. + +The flora of the Forest of Fontainebleau is remarkably varied; Denecourt +gives seventy varieties of plants and flowers which grow and propagate +here naturally, to which are to be added a great number of nondescript +vines, lichens and vegetable mosses. + +Of the trees the list extends from the imposing and sometimes gigantic +oaks, elms, beeches, and willows to shrubs and heather growth of the +most humble species. + +A score or more of the most commonly known feathered tribes people the +forest to-day with almost the same freedom of life and abundance as in +monarchial times. The songsters are all there, from the robin to the +nightingale; as well as the partridge and the celebrated indigenous +grouse. + +Previous to 1830 the forest was well supplied with big game, deer and +wild boar without number; but, in later times, as was but natural, these +have been greatly thinned out. Rabbits and hares, to say nothing of +foxes and the like, were formerly so abundant that, under Louis +Philippe, it was necessary to carry out what was practically a war of +extermination. To-day they exist, of course, but in no great numbers. + +Another sort of publicity has been given the Forest of Fontainebleau by +its association with the painters of the thirties. Theodore Rousseau, +in 1836, lived at Barbison, which at that time was but a hamlet of a few +houses, with no encumbering hotels, garages and merry-go-rounds as +to-day. + +A certain Pere Ganne kept a sort of a lodging house where artists were +made welcome at an exceedingly modest price. Not only the really famous +and much exploited painters of the time gained fortunes here, but those +of a more conservative school, who never rose to really great +distinction, also drew much of their inspiration from the neighbourhood, +among them Hamon, Boulanger and Celestin Nanteuil. + +Without having to go far to hunt up their subjects, the Forest of +Fontainebleau lying near Barbison offered to painters much that was not +available within so small a radius elsewhere. + +Diaz was here already when, in 1849, Jacque and Millet arrived upon the +scene, and at more or less frequent intervals, and for more or less +lengthy stays, there came Corot, Dupre and Daubigny. + +Just what the Barbison school produced in the way of painting all the +world knows to-day, but these men were originally the target of every +prejudiced critic of the Boulevards and the Faubourgs. The present day +has brought its reward and appreciation, though it is the dealers who +have profited--the men are dead. + +[Illustration: _Monument to Rousseau and Millet at Barbison_] + +In memory of the fame brought to this little corner of the forest in +general, and to Barbison in particular, there was placed (in 1894), at +the entrance to the village, a bronze medallion showing the heads of +Millet and Rousseau. It was a delicate way of showing appreciation for +the talents of those two great men who actually founded a new school of +painting. + +At the other end of the forest is the little village of Marlotte, also a +haven for many painters of a former day, and no less so for those of +to-day. The old forest in three quarters of a century has seen itself +reproduced on canvas in all its moods. No painter ever lived, nor could +all the painters that ever lived, exhaust its infinite variety. Hebert +in his "_Dictionnaire de la Foret de Fontainebleau_" says, rightly +enough, that, with the coming of the men of Fontainebleau and its +"_artist-villages_" the classic type of "Paysage d'Italie" has +disappeared from the Salon Catalogues. + +Art amateurs and the common people alike made the reputation of +Fontainebleau; the mere "trippers" were brought thither by Denecourt, +but the real forest lovers were those who were attracted by the +masterpieces of the painters. The town of Fontainebleau has changed +somewhat under this double influence. At Fontainebleau itself are two +monuments in memory of painters who have passed away. One of these is to +the memory of Decamps, who was killed by a fall from his horse while +riding in the forest; it is a simple bust, the work of Carrier-Belleuse. +The other is of Rosa Bonheur who died at Thomery, a little village on +the southern border of the forest, in 1902; it is an almost life-size +bull from a small model by the artist herself and surmounts a pedestal +which also bears a medallion of the artist. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BY THE BANKS OF THE SEINE + + +On the highroad to Saint Germain one passes innumerable historic +monuments which suggest the generous part that many minor chateaux +played in the court life of the capital of old. + +To-day, Maisons, La Muette and Bagatelle are mere names which serve the +tram lines for roof signs and scarcely one in a thousand strangers gives +them a thought. + +The famous Bois de Boulogne and its immediate environment have for +centuries formed a delicious verdant framing for a species of French +country-house which could not have existed within the fortifications. +These luxurious, bijou dwellings, some of them, at least, the caprices +of kings, others the property of the new nobility, and still others of +mere plebeian kings of finance, are in a class quite by themselves. + +Perhaps the most famous of these is the celebrated Bagatelle, within the +confines of the Bois itself. The Chateau de Bagatelle was built in a +month, thus meriting its name, by the Comte d'Artois, the future +Charles X, as a result of a wager with Marie Antoinette. On its facade +it originally bore the inscription: "_Parva sed apta_"--"small but +convenient." + +[Illustration] + +Bagatelle occupied a corner of the royal domain and, after its +completion, was sold to the Marquise de Monconseil, in 1747, who gave to +this princely suburban residence a dignity worthy of its origin. Then +came La Pompadour on the scene, the _petite bourgeoise_ who, by the +nobility acquired by the donning of a court costume and marriage with +the Sieur Normand d'Etioles, usurped the right to sit beside duchesses +and be presented to the queen, if not as an equal, at least as the +_maitresse_ of her spouse, the king. + +There is a legend about a meeting between La Pompadour and the king at +Bagatelle, a meeting in which she established herself so firmly in the +graces of the monarch that on the morrow she formed a part of the +entourage at Versailles. + +After having come into the possession of the heirs of Sir Richard +Wallace, Bagatelle finally became the property of the State. + +It is in the Chateau de Bagatelle that is to be installed the "Musee de +la Parole"--"The Museum of Speech." The French, innovators ever, plan +that Bagatelle shall become a sort of conservatory of the human voice, +and here will be classed methodically the cylinders and disks which have +recorded the spoken words of all sorts and conditions of men. + +In this Musee de la Parole will be kept phonographic records of all +current dialects in France, the argot of the Parisian lower classes, +etc., etc. + +Up to the present the evolution of the speech of man has ever been an +enigma. No one knows to-day how Homer or Virgil pronounced their words, +and Racine and Corneille, though of a time less remote, have left no +tangible record of their speech. Monsieur Got of the Comedie Francaise +believes that Louis XIV pronounced "_Moi_," "_le Roi_" as "_Moue_" "_le +Roue_"; and thus he pronounced it in a speech which has been recorded in +wax and is to form a part of the collection at Bagatelle. + +The Polo Grounds of Bagatelle, between the chateau and the Seine as it +swirls around the Ile de la Folie, are to-day better known than this +dainty little Paris palace; but Bagatelle will some day come to its own +again. + +Neuilly bounds the Bois de Boulogne on the north, and has little of a +royal appearance to-day, save its straight, broad streets. + +There is a royal incident connected with the Pont de Neuilly which +should not be forgotten. It came about in connection with the return of +Henri IV from Saint Germain in company with the queen and the Duc de +Vendome. They were in a great coach drawn by four horses which insisted +on drinking from the river in spite of the efforts of the coachman to +prevent them. + +The carriage was overturned and the royal party barely escaped being +drowned. One of the aids who accompanied them recounted the fact that +the impromptu bath had cured the king's toothache which he had acquired +over a rather hasty meal just before leaving the palace. "Had I +witnessed the adventure," said the Marquis de Verneuil, "I should have +proposed the toast: 'Le Roi Boit!" As a result of this incident a new +bridge was constructed, though it was afterwards replaced by the present +stone structure over which a ceaseless traffic rushes in and out of +Paris to-day. It was this present bridge over which Louis XV was the +first to pass on September 22, 1772. + +The Chateau de Neuilly was a favourite suburban residence of Louis +Philippe. It was here that a delegation came to offer him the crown, +and, after he had become king, he was pleased to still inhabit it and +actually spent considerable sums upon its maintenance. When the +Revolution of 1848 broke out, the sovereign took refuge at Neuilly and, +when besieged by the multitude, took flight in the night of February 26 +and left his chateau in the hands of a band of ruffians who pillaged it +from cellar to garret, finally setting it on fire. It burned like a pile +of brushwood, and it is said that more than a hundred drunken desperados +perished when its walls fell in. This was the tragic end of the Chateau +de Neuilly. + +By a decree of the president of the later Republic the Orleans princes +were obliged to sell all their French properties and the park of the +Chateau de Neuilly was cut up into morsels and lots were sold to all +comers. Thus was born that delightful Paris suburb, with the broad, +shady avenues and comfortable houses, with which one is familiar to-day. +The aristocratic Parc de Neuilly, with Saint James, is the only tract +near Paris where one finds such lovely gardens and such fresh, shady +avenues. + +Another quarter of Neuilly possesses a history worthy of being +recounted. The district known as Saint James derived its name from a +great suburban property which in 1775 belonged to Baudart de Saint +James. He created a property almost royal in its appointments, its +gardens having acquired an extraordinary renown. When he became a +bankrupt a throng of persons visited the property not so much with a +view to purchase as out of curiosity. A writer of the time says of this +Lucullus that he was the envy of all Paris. He died soon after his ruin, +from chagrin, and in apparent poverty, which seemingly established his +good faith with his creditors. Under the First Empire the domain was +bought by, or for, the Princesse Borghese, who here gave many brilliant +fetes at which the emperor himself frequently assisted. On the occasion +of the marriage of Napoleon to Marie Louise a series of fetes took place +here which evoked the especially expressed encomiums of the emperor. + +In 1815 Wellington made it his headquarters and here had his first +conference with Blucher. Upon Wellington quitting Saint James the +property was pillaged by the Iron Duke's own troops and actually +demolished by the picks and axes of the soldiery. + +Near the Passy entrance of the Bois is La Muette, a relic of a royal +hunting-lodge which took its name from the royal pack of hounds +(_meute_) which was formerly kept here. + +The Chateau de la Muette was the caprice of Francois I, who, when he +came to Paris, wished to have his pleasures near at hand, and, being the +chief partisan of the hunt among French monarchs, built La Muette for +this purpose. + +The Chateau de la Muette is thus classed as one of the royal dwellings +of France though hardly ever is it mentioned in the annals of to-day. + +Rebuilt by Charles IX, from his father's more modest shooting box, La +Muette became the centre of the court of Marguerite de Navarre, the +first wife of Henri IV; after which it served as the habitation of the +dauphin, who became Louis XIII. + +During the regency, Philippe d'Orleans took possession of the chateau +until the enthronement of Louis XV. The latter here established a little +court within a court, best described by the French as: "_ses plaisirs +prives_." It was this monarch who rebuilt, or at least restored, the +chateau, and brought it to the state in which one sees it to-day. + +In 1783 Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the court took up a brief +residence here to assist at the aerostatic experiences of De Rosier, and +in 1787, ceasing to be a royal residence, La Muette was offered for sale +after first having been stripped of its precious wainscotings, its +marbles and the artistic curiosities of all sorts with which it had been +decorated. The chateau itself now became the property of Sebastian +Erard, who bought it for the modest price of two hundred and sixty +thousand francs. + +Somewhat farther from Paris, crossing the peninsula formed by the first +of the great bends of the Seine below the capital, is Chatou which has a +royal reminder in its Pavilion Henri IV, or Pavillon Gabrielle, which +the gallant, love-making monarch built for Gabrielle d'Estrees. Formerly +it was surrounded by a vast park and must have been almost ideal, but +to-day it is surrounded by stucco, doll-house villas, and unappealing +apartments, until only a Gothic portal, jutting from a row of dull house +fronts, suggests the once cosy little retreat of the lovely Gabrielle. + +The height of Louveciennes, above Bougival, closes the neck of the +peninsula and from it a vast panorama of the silvery Seine and its +_coteaux_ stretches out from the towers of Notre Dame on one hand to the +dense forest of Saint Germain on the other. + +The original Chateau de Louveciennes was the property of Madame la +Princesse de Conti, but popular interest lies entirely with the Pavilion +du Barry, built by the architect Ledoux under the orders of Louis XV. + +Du Barry, having received the chateau as a gift from the king, sought to +decorate it and reembellish it anew. Through the ministrations of a +certain Drouais, Fragonard was commissioned to decorate a special +pavilion outside the chateau proper, destined for the "_collations du +Roi_." + +The subject chosen was the "Progres de l'Amour dans le Coeur des +Jeunes Filles." Just where these panels are to-day no one seems to know, +but sooner or later they will doubtless be discovered. + +Fragonard's famous "Escalade," or "Rendezvous," the first of the series +of five proposed panels, depicted the passion of Louis XV for du Barry. +The shepherdess had the form and features of that none too scrupulous +feminine beauty, and the "_berger gallant_" was manifestly a portrait of +the king. + +Perhaps these decorations at Louveciennes were elaborations of these +smaller canvases. It seems quite probable. + +Sheltered snugly against the banked-up Forest of Saint Germain, on the +banks of the Seine, is Maisons-Laffitte. Maisons is scarcely ever +mentioned by Parisians save as they comment on the sporting columns of +the newspapers, for horse-racing now gives its distinction to the +neighbourhood, and the old Chateau de Maisons (with its later suffix of +Laffitte) is all but forgotten. + +Francois Mansart built the first Chateau de Maisons on a magnificent +scale for Rene de Longueil, the Superintendent of Finance. In a later +century it made a most effectual appeal to another financier, Laffitte, +the banker, who parcelled out the park and stripped the chateau. + +For a century, though, the chateau belonged to the family of its +founder, and in 1658 the surrounding lands were made into a Marquisate. +In 1671, on the day of the death of Philippe, Duc d'Anjou, Maisons may +be said to have become royal for the court there took up its residence. +Later, the Marquis de Soyecourt became the owner and Voltaire stayed +here for a time; in fact he nearly died here from an attack of smallpox. + +In 1778 the property was acquired by the Comte d'Artois and the royal +family of the time were frequent guests. The king, the queen and each +of the princes all had their special apartments, and if Louis XVI had +not been too busy with other projects, more ambitious ones, there is +little doubt but that he would have given Maisons an eclat which during +all of its career it had just missed. At the Revolution it was sold as +National Property and the proceeds turned into public coffers. + +With the Empire the chateau became more royalist than ever. Marechal +Lannes became its proprietor, then the Marechal de Montebello, who here +received Napoleon on many occasions. With the invasion of 1815 the +village was devastated, but the chateau escaped, owing to its having +been made the headquarters of the invading allies. After this, in 1818, +the banker Laffitte came into possession. He exercised a great +hospitality and lived the life of an opulent bourgeois, but he destroyed +most of the outbuildings and the stables built by Mansart, and cut up +the great expanse of park which originally consisted of five hundred +hectares. His ideas were purely commercial, not the least esthetic. + +The scheme of decoration within, as without, is distinctly unique. Doric +pilasters and columns support massive cornices and round-cornered +ceilings, with here and there antique motives and even Napoleonic +eagles as decorative features. To-day all the apartments are deserted +and sad. The finest, from all points of view, is that of the +Salle-a-Manger, though indeed some of the motives are but plaster +reproductions of the originals. The chimney-piece, however, is left, a +pure bijou, a model of grace, more like a pagan altar than a +comparatively modern mantel. The oratory is in the pure style of the +Empire, and the stairway, lighted up by a curiously arranged +dome-lantern, gives a most startling effect to the entrance vestibule. + +In general the design of Maisons is gracious, not at all outre, though +undeniably grandiose; too much so for a structure covering so small an +area. The Cour d'Honneur gives it its chief exterior distinction and the +two pavilions have a certain grace of charm, when considered separately, +which the ensemble somewhat lacks. The surroundings, had they not been +ruthlessly cut up into building lots for over-ambitious Paris +shopkeepers, would have added greatly to the present appearance of the +property. As it is, the near-by race-course absorbed the orchard, the +_pelouse_ and many of the garden plots. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MALMAISON AND MARLY + + +Out from Paris, by the cobbly Pave du Roi, which a parental +administration is only just now digging up and burying under, just +beyond the little suburban townlet of Rueil (where the Empress Josephine +and her daughter Hortense lie buried in the parish church), one comes to +Malmaison of unhappy memory. It is not imposing, palatial, nor, +architecturally, very worthy, but it is one of the most sentimentally +historic of all French monuments of its class. + +Since no very definite outlines remain of any royal historical monument +at Rueil to-day the tourist bound towards Versailles by train, tram or +road, gives little thought to the snug little suburb through which he +shuffles along, hoping every minute to leave the noise, bustle and +cobblestones of Paris behind. + +Rueil is deserving of more consideration than this. According to Gregory +of Tours the first race of kings had a "pleasure house" here, and called +the neighbourhood Rotolajum. Not always did these old kings stay cooped +up in a fortress in the Isle of Lutetia. Sometimes they went afield for +a day in the country like the rest of us, and to them, with their slow +means of communication and the bad roads of their day, Rueil, scarce a +dozen miles from Notre Dame, seemed far away. + +Childerbert I, son of Clovis, is mentioned as having made a protracted +sojourn at Rueil, and whatever may have existed then in the way of a +royal residence soon after passed to the monks of Saint Denis, who here +fished and hunted and lived a life of comfort and ease such as they +could hardly do in their fortress-abbey. They, too, required change and +rest from time to time, and, apparently, when they could, took it. + +The Black Prince burned the town and all its dependencies in 1346, and +only an unimportant village existed when Richelieu thought to build a +country-house here on this same charming site which had so pleased the +first French monarchs. Richelieu did his work well, as always, and built +an immense chateau, surrounded by a deep moat into which were turned the +swift-flowing waters of the Seine. A vast park was laid out, in part in +the formal manner and in part as a natural preserve, and the +neighbourhood once more became frequented by royalty and the nobles of +the court. + +Richelieu bequeathed the property to his niece, the Duchesse +d'Aiguillon, and Louis XIV became a frequent dweller there--as a +visitor, but he did not mind that. Louis XIV was sometimes a monarch, +sometimes a master, and sometimes a "family friend," to put it in a +noncommittal manner. + +The Revolution nearly made way with the property and the Duc de Massena, +a few years afterwards, reestablished it after a fashion, but +speculating land-boomers came along in turn and royal memories meaning +nothing to them the property was cut up into streets, avenues and house +lots. + +The Chateau de Malmaison, which is very near Rueil, is in quite a +different class. Its history comes very nearly down to modern times. The +memory of Malmaison is purely Napoleonic. Its historical souvenirs are +many, but its actual ruins have taken on a plebeian aspect of little +appeal in these later days. + +In 1792 Malmaison was sold as a piece of national merchandise to be +turned into _ecus_, and a certain Monsieur Lecouteux de Canteleu, having +the ready cash and a disposition to live under its roof, took over the +proprietorship for a time. It was he who sold it to Josephine +Beauharnais, and it was she who gave it a glory and splendour which it +had never before possessed, gave it its complete fame, in fact. + +Napoleon himself, as First Consul, was passionately fond of the place, +but by the time he had become emperor, because of unhappy memories, +perhaps, for he had them at times, came rarely to this charming suburban +chateau. + +It was at Malmaison that began the good fortune of Josephine, and it was +at Malmaison that it flickered out like the dying flame of a candle. + +In a beating rain, on Saturday, December 16, 1809, Josephine quitted the +Tuileries, her eyes still red with the tears from that last brief +interview. She arrived at Malmaison at the end of a lugubrious day, when +the whole place was enveloped in a thick fog. She passed the night +almost alone in this great house where she had previously been so happy. +She could hardly, however, have been more sad than Napoleon was that +same night. He had shut himself up in his cabinet, remorseful and alone. + +The Sunday following was hardly less melancholy, for it was then +Josephine learned that Malmaison had been endowed with an income of two +millions for its upkeep, and that her personal belongings and the +furnishings of her favourite apartments were already on the way thither +from the Tuileries. The wound was not even then allowed to heal, for +she learned that Napoleon had ordained that she was to receive the +visits of the court as if she were still empress. + +[Illustration: _Chateau de Malmaison_] + +Napoleon had already written his former spouse to the effect that he +would give much to see her, but that he did not feel sufficiently sure +of himself to permit of it. This historic letter closed thus; "_Adieu, +Josephine, bonne nuit, si tu doutais de moi, tout sera bien indigne_." + +On the 17th of December Napoleon actually did come to Malmaison to see +her from whom he was officially separated. Josephine had confided to +Madame de Remusat, her lady-in-waiting, "It almost seems as if I were +dead, and only possessed of the faculty of remembering the past." + +In this Malmaison, so full of souvenirs of other days, Josephine was +obliged to content herself, for on January 12, 1810, the religious +marriage of Josephine and Napoleon was annulled automatically because, +as was claimed, it had not been celebrated with the necessary +formalities. + +Here at Malmaison Josephine even surrounded herself with the most +intimate souvenirs of Napoleon: a lounging chair that he was wont to +occupy stood in its accustomed place; his bed was always made; his sword +hung upon the wall; his pen was in his inkwell; a book was open on his +desk and his geographical globe--his famous _mappemond_--was in its +accustomed place. + +Princes passing through Paris came to Malmaison to salute the former +empress, and she allowed herself to become absorbed in her greenhouses +and her dairy, the direction of her house, her receptions and her +_petite cour_. + +In time all came to an end. When Napoleon returned to Paris in 1815 he +interrogated the doctor who had cared for Josephine during the illness +which terminated in her death the year before and asked him: "Did she +speak of me at the last?" The doctor replied: "Often, very often." With +emotion Napoleon replied simply: "_Bonne femme: bonne Josephine elle +m'aimeit vraiment_." + +After Waterloo Napoleon himself retired to Malmaison, which had become +the property of Josephine's children, Eugene and Hortense, and closed +himself up in the room where she died, the library which he occupied +when triumphant First Consul. + +Here he lived five mortal days of anguish preceding his departure for +Rochefort on that agonizing exile from which he never returned. + +After the divorce Josephine preserved the property as her own particular +residence, and in 1814 received there the celebrated visit of the +allied sovereigns. History tells of a certain boat ride which she took +on a neighbouring lake in company with the Emperor Alexander which is +fraught with much historic sentiment. It was this imprudent excursion, +in the cool of a May evening, that caused the death of the former +empress three days later. It was from this bijou of a once royal abode +that Napoleon launched his famous proclamation to the army which the +arrogant Fouche refused to have printed in the "_Moniteur Officiel_." +Upon this Napoleon sent the Duc de Rovigo to Paris for his passports and +the necessary orders which would enable him to depart in peace. The next +moment he had changed his mind, and he changed it again a few moments +afterwards. As the result of the Prussians' advance on Paris by the left +bank of the Seine Napoleon was obliged to accept the inevitable, and +with the words of General Becker ringing in his ears: "_Sire, tout est +pret_," he crossed the vestibule and entered the gardens amid a painful +calm on his part, and an audible weeping by his former fellows in arms +who were lined up to do him honour. He embraced Hortense passionately, +and saluted all the personages of his party with a sympathy and emotion +unbelievable. With an eternal adieu and a rapid step down the garden +walk to the driveway, he at last entered the carriage which was +awaiting him and was driven rapidly away. Some days after the Allies +pillaged and sacked Malmaison. Its chief glory may be said to have +departed with the Corsican. + +Under the Restoration, Prince Eugene had a sort of "rag sale" of what +was left. The lands which Josephine had bought of Lecouteaux were sold +to the highest bidder and the exotic shrubs and plants to any who would +buy, the pictures to such connoisseurs as had the price, those that were +left being sent to Munich. A Swedish banker now came on the scene (1826) +and bought the property--the chateau and the park--which he preserved +until his death twenty years later. Then it went to Queen Christina, and +was ultimately purchased by Napoleon III. + +In October, 1870, during the siege of Paris, General Ducrot sought to +make a reconnaissance by way of Malmaison, and so weak was his project +that the equipages of the King of Prussia and his Etat Major invested +the environs and made the property their official headquarters. + +Near by is a fine property called "Les Bruyeres," a royal estate of +Napoleon III. It was created and developed by the emperor and was always +referred to as a Parc Imperial. + +Perhaps the most banal of all the royal souvenirs around Paris is that +gigantic mill-wheel known as the Machine de Marly, down by the Seine a +few miles beyond Malmaison, just where that awful cobblestoned roadway +begins to climb up to the plateau on which sits the chateau of Saint +Germain and its park. + +Because it is of unesthetic aspect is no reason for ignoring the famous +Machine de Marly, the great water-hoisting apparatus first established +in the reign of Louis XIV to carry the waters of the Seine to the ponds +and fountains of Versailles. + +It was a creation of a Liegois, named Rennequin Sualem, who knew not how +to read or write, but who had a very clear idea of what was wanted to +perform the work which Louis XIV demanded. For a fact the expense of the +erection of the "Machine," and the cost of keeping its great wheels +turning, were so great that it is doubtful if it was ever a paying +proposition, but that was not a _sine qua non_ so far as the king's +command was concerned. It had cost millions of _livres_ before its +wheels first turned in 1682, and, if the carpenter Brunet had not come +to the rescue to considerably augment the volume of water raised (by +means of compressed air), it is doubtful if there would ever have been +enough water for the fountains of Versailles to play even one day a +year, as they do now every happy Sunday, to the delight of the +middle-class Parisian and the droves of Cookites who gaze on them with +wonder-opened eyes. + +The water was led from the Machine de Marly to Versailles by a conduit +of thirty-six arches where, upon reaching a higher level than the +gardens, it flowed by gravity to the fountains and basins below. This +aqueduct was six hundred and forty-three metres long, and twenty-three +metres high. It was a work which would have done credit to the Romans. + +A far greater romantic sentiment attaches itself to the royal chateau of +Marly-le-Roi than to the utilitarian "Machine," by which the suburb is +best known to-day. + +The history of Marly-le-Roi appears from the chronicles the most +complicated to unravel of that of any of the kingly suburbs of old +Paris, though in the days of the old locomotion a townlet twenty-six +kilometres from the capital was hardly to be thought of as a suburb. + +Marly-le-Roi, at any rate, with Marly-le-Bourg and Marly-le-Chatel, was +a royal dwelling from the days of Thierry III (678). The neighbouring +region had been made into a countship by the early seventeenth +century, and Louis XIV acquired it as his right in exchange for +Neuphle-le-Chateau in 1693, incorporating it into the domain of +Versailles. + +By this time it had become known as Marly-le-Roi, in distinction to the +other bourgs, and the king built a chateau-royal, variously known as the +Palais and the Ermitage. For a fact it was neither one thing nor the +other, according to accepted definition, but rather a group of a dozen +dependent pavilions distributed around a central edifice, the whole +straggling off into infinite and manifestly unlovely proportions. It was +as the sun surrounded by the zodiac. + +Isolated on a monticule by the river bank the chateau overlooked its +brood of small pavilions, which in a way formed an _entresol_, or foyer, +leading to the Pavilion Royal. All were connected by iron trellises, _en +berceau_, and the effect must have been exceedingly bizarre; certainly +theatrical. + +The four faces of these pavilions were frescoed, and balustrades and +vases at the corners were the chief architectural decorations. + +The royal pavilion consisted within of four vestibules on the ground +floor, each leading to a grand apartment in the centre. In each of the +four angles was a "self-contained" apartment of three or four rooms. +What this royal abode lacked in beauty it made up for in convenience. + +Each of the satellite pavilions was occupied by a high personage at +court. The Chapel and the Corps de Garde were detached from the chateau +proper, and occupied two flanking wings. + +The plans of the "Palais-Chateau-Ermitage" of Marly-le-Roi were from the +fertile brain of Mansart, and were arranged with considerable ingenuity, +if not taste, generously interspersed with lindens and truly magnificent +garden plots. There was even a cascade, or rather a tumbling river +(according to the French expression), for it fell softly over +sixty-three marble steps, forming a sort of wrinkled sheet of water, +which must indeed have been a very charming feature. It cost a hundred +thousand _ecus_ to merely lead the water up to it. The expenses of the +Pavilion de Marly, in the ten years from 1680 to 1690, amounted to +4501279 _livres_, 12 _sols_, 3 _deniers_. From this one may well judge +that it was no mean thing. + +The honour of being accounted a person of Marly in those times was +accredited as a great distinction, for it went without saying in that +case one had something to do with affairs of court, though one might +only have been a "furnisher." To be a courtier of Louis XIV, or to be a +_pensionnaire_ at Versailles, could hardly have carried more +distinction. + +The court usually resided at Marly from Wednesday until Saturday, and as +"the game" was the thing it is obvious that the stakes were high. + +The vogue of the day was gaming at table, and Marly, of all other +suburban Paris palaces, was an ideal and discreet place for it. "High +play and midnight suppers were the rule at Marly." This, one reads in +the court chronicle, and further that: "The royal family usually lost a +hundred thousand _ecus_ at play at each visit." One "gentleman croupier" +gained as much as three thousand _louis_ at a single sitting. + +Madame de Maintenon was the real ruler of Marly in those days; she had +appropriated the apartments originally intended for the queen, from +which there was a private means of communication to the apartments of +the king, and another forming a sort of private box, overlooking the +royal chapel. + +Little frequented by Louis XV, and practically abandoned by Louis XVI, +the palace at Marly was sold during the Revolution, after which it was +stripped of its art treasures, many of which adorn the gardens of the +Tuileries to-day; the great group of horses at the entrance to the +Champs Elysees came from the watering place of Marly. + +Actually, the royal pavilion at Marly has been destroyed, and there +remain but the most fragmentary, unformed heaps of stones to tell the +tale of its ample proportions in the days of Louis XIV and de Maintenon. + +The park is to-day the chief attraction of the neighbourhood, like the +one at Saint Cloud, which it greatly resembles. Across the park lies the +great highway from the capital to Versailles, over which so many joyous +cavalcades were wont to amble or gallop in the days of gallantry. The +pace is not more sober to-day, but gaily caparisoned horses and gaudy +coaches have given way to red and yellow "Rois des Belges," the balance +lying distinctly in favour of the former mode of conveyance, so far as +picturesqueness is concerned. + +The Foret de Marly is very picturesque, but of no great extent. Formerly +it enclosed many shooting-boxes belonging to the nobles of the court, of +which those of Montjoie and Desert de Retz were perhaps the most +splendid. + +On the Versailles road was the Chateau de Clagny, a royal _maison de +plaisance_, of an attractive, but trivial, aspect, though its +architecture was actually of a certain massiveness. Its gardens and the +disposition of its apartments pleased the king's fancy when he chose to +pass this way, which was often. He is said to have personally spent over +two million francs on the property. It must have been of some +pretensions, this little heard of Chateau de Clagny, for in a single +year ten thousand _livres_ were expended on keeping the gardens. To-day +it is non-existent. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SAINT CLOUD AND ITS PARK + + +The historic souvenirs of Saint Cloud and its royal palace are many and +varied, though scarcely anything tangible remains to-day of the fabric +so loved by Francis I and Henri II, and which was, for a fact, but a +magnificent country-house, originally belonging to the Archbishops of +Paris. + +To-day the rapid slopes of the hillsides of Saint Cloud are peopled with +a heterogeneous mass of villas of what the Parisian calls the "coquette" +order, but which breathe little of the spirit of romance and gallantry +of Renaissance times. Saint Cloud is simply a "discreet" Paris suburb, +and the least said about it, its villas and their occupants to-day, the +better. + +The little village of Saint Cloud which is half-hidden in the Forest of +Rouvray, was sacked and burned by the English after the battle of +Poitiers, and then built up anew and occupied by the French monarchs in +the reign of Charles VI. It was he who built the first _chateau de +plaisance_ here in which the royal family might live near Paris and yet +amid a sylvan environment. + +After this came the country-house of the Archbishops of Paris that Henri +II, when he tired of it, tore down and erected a villa in the +pseudo-Italian manner of the day, and built a fourteen-arch stone bridge +across the Seine, which was a wonder of its time. + +The banker Gondi, after huddling close to royalty, turned over an +establishment which he had built to Catherine de Medici, who made use of +it whenever she wished to give a country fete or garden party. By this +time the whole aspect of Saint Cloud was royal. + +It was within this house that the unhappy, and equally unpopular, Henri +III was cut down by the three-bladed knife of the monk Jacques Clement. +The incident is worth recounting briefly here because of the rapidity +with which history was made by a mere fanatical knife-thrust. With the +death of Henri III came the extinction of the House of Valois. + +As the king sat in the long gallery of the palace playing at cards, on +August 1, 1589, his cloak hanging over his shoulder, a little cap with a +flower stuck in it perched over one ear, and suspended from his neck by +a broad blue ribbon a basketful of puppies, an astrologer by the name of +Osman was introduced to amuse the royal party. + +"They tell me you draw horoscopes," remarked the king. + +"Sire, I will tell yours, if you will, but the heavens are +unpropitious." + + * * * * * + +"Just over Meudon is a star which shines very brightly," continued the +astrologer, "it is that of Henri de Navarre. But look, your Majesty, +another star burns brilliantly for a moment and then disappears, mayhap +it is your own." + +"If ever a man had a voice hoarse with blood it is that astrologer," +said the king. "Away with him." + +"If the Valois Henri doesn't die before the setting of another sun, I'll +never cast horoscope more," said the astrologer as he was hustled across +the courtyard and out into the highroad. + +As he left, a man in a monk's garb begged to be admitted to the king's +presence. It was Jacques Clement, the murderous monk, a wily Dominican, +bent on a mission which had for its object the extinction of the Valois +race. + +While the king was reading a letter which the monk had presented the +latter stabbed him deep in the stomach. + +Swooning, the king had just time to cry out: "_Ha! le mechant moine: Il +m'a tue, qu'on le tue._" + +The murderer in turn was struck down forthwith and his body, thrown from +the windows of the palace, was _ecartele_ by four white horses, which is +the neat French way of saying "drawn and quartered." + +It was an imposing cortege which wound down from the heights of Saint +Cloud and followed the river bank to Saint Germain, Poissy and thence to +Compiegne, conveying all that was mortal of Henri III, the least popular +of all the race of Valois. Following close behind the bier were Henri IV +and his suite, the favourites d'Epernon, Laschant, Dugastz and an +impressive soldiery. + +After the death of Henri III, Henri de Navarre, who played a not +unpicturesque part in the funeral ceremonies, installed himself in a +neighbouring property known as the Maison du Tillet. Thus it is seen +that the royal stamp of the little bourg of Saint Cloud was never +wanting--not until the later palace and most of the town were drenched +with kerosene and set on fire by the Prussians in 1871. + +The "Maison de Gondi" came, by a process of acquisition, and +development, in time, to be the royal palace of Saint Cloud. Its +overloaded details of Italian architecture were brightened up a bit by +the surroundings planned and executed by the landscapist Le Notre and +the life of the court in its suburban retreat took on a real and genuine +brilliance which under the restraint of the gloomy walls of the Louvre +and Paris streets could hardly have been. + +The brightest light shining over Saint Cloud at this time was the +radiance shed by the brilliant Henriette d'Angleterre. Her reign as a +social and witty queen of the court was brief. She died at the age of +twenty-six, poisoned at the instigation of the Chevalier de Lorraine +whom she had caused to be exiled. This was the common supposition, but +Louis XIV was afterwards able to prove (?) his brother innocent of the +crime. + +The gazettes of the seventeenth century recount many of the fetes given +at Saint Cloud by Monsieur on the occasion of his marriage to the +Princesse Palatine in 1671. One of the most notable of these was that +given for Louis XIV, wherein the celebrated cascades--an innovation of +Le Notre--were first brought to view. + +Mansart was called in and a great gallery intended for fetes and +ceremonies was constructed, and Mignard was given the commission for its +decorations. + +Monsieur died within the walls of the palace to which he had added so +many embellishments, as also did his second wife. Three royalties dead +of ambition, one might well say, for their lives were neither tranquil +nor healthful. They went the pace. + +The regent journeyed out from Paris to this riverside retreat to receive +the Tzar Peter in 1717, and in 1752 Louis Philippe d'Orleans set about +to give a fete which should obscure the memory of all former events of a +like nature into oblivion. How well he succeeded may be a matter of +varying opinion, for the French have ever been prodigally lavish in the +conduct of such affairs. At all events the occasion was a notable one. + +The predilection of royalty for Saint Cloud was perhaps not remarkable, +all things considered, for it was, and is, delightfully environed, and +about this time the Duc d'Orleans secretly married the Marquise de +Montesson and installed her in a habitation the "_plus simple_," a mere +shack, one fancies, costing six millions. The _nouveau riche_ of to-day +could scarcely do the thing with more _eclat_. + +The Revolution took over the park of Saint Cloud and its appurtenances +and donated them to the democracy--"for the pleasure of the people," +read the decree. + +On the eighteenth Brumaire, the First Republic blinked itself out in +the Palais de Saint Cloud, and the Conseil de Cinq Cents installed +itself therein under the Directoire. Bonaparte, returning from Egypt, +arrived at Saint Cloud just as Lemercier was dissolving the Conseil. +Seeing trouble ahead he commanded Murat to clear the chamber by drawn +bayonets. He kept his light shining just a bit ahead of the others, did +Napoleon. His watchword was initiative. Deputies clambered over each +other in their haste to escape by stairway, door and window, and +Bonaparte saw himself Consul without opposition--for ten years--for +life. + +The royal residences were put at Napoleon's disposition and he wisely +chose Saint Cloud for summer; Saint Cloud the cradle of his powers. As a +restorer and rebuilder of crumbling monuments Napoleon was a master, as +he was in the destructive sense when he was in the mood, and changes and +additions were made at Saint Cloud which for comfort and convenience put +it in the very front rank of French royal residences. + +In March, 1805, Pope Pius VII baptised, amid a grand pomp and ceremony, +in the chapel of the palace, the son of Louis Bonaparte, and five years +afterwards (April 1, 1810), the same edifice saw the religious marriage +of Napoleon with Marie Louise. + +On March 31, 1810, a strange animation dominated all the confines of the +palace. It was the occasion of the celebration of Napoleon's civil +marriage with Marie Louise. They did not enter the capital until three +days later for the ceremonial which united the daughter of the emperors +who were descendants of the Roman Caesars, to the "Usurper," who was now +for the first time to rank with the other crowned heads of Europe. + +The cortege which accompanied their majesties from Saint Cloud to Paris +was a pageant which would take pages to describe. The reader of these +lines is referred to the impassioned pages of the works of Frederic +Masson for ample details. + +A hundred thousand curiosity seekers had come out from Paris and filled +the alleys of the park to overflowing. Music and dancing were on every +hand. Mingled with the crowd were soldiers of all ranks brilliantly clad +in red, blue and gold. "These warriors were a picturesque, obtrusive +lot," said a chronicler; "after having invaded Austria they acclaim the +Austrian." + +In 1815 the capitulation of Paris was signed at Saint Cloud. The gardens +were invaded by a throng which gave them more the aspect of an +intrenched camp than a playground of princes. A brutal victor had +climbed booted and spurred into the bed of the great Napoleon and on +arising pulled the bee-embroidered draperies down with him and trampled +them under foot. Was this a proper manifestation of victory? + +[Illustration: _The Gardens of Saint Cloud_] + +At this period another great fete was given in the leafy park of Saint +Cloud, a fete which French historians have chiefly passed over silently. +The host on this occasion was the Prince of Schwartzenburg; the +principal guests the foreign sovereigns, gloating over the downfall of +the capital. + +Louis XVIII, after removing the traces of this desolate invasion, took +up his residence here on June 18, 1817, and in the following year built +the stables and the lodgings of the Gardes du Corps. In 1820 the chapel +begun by Marie Antoinette was finished and the Jardin du Trocadero +constructed. + +Charles X in his brief reign built, on the site of an old Ursulin +convent, further quarters intended for the personnel of the court. The +ensemble ever took on an increasing importance. At this time were laid +out the gardens between the cascades and the river, which, to some +slight extent, to-day, suggest the former ample magnificence of the park +as it faced upon the river. Leading through this lower garden was the +Avenue Royale extending to the chateau. + +Saint Cloud for Charles X, in spite of his first interest therein, could +have been but an unhappy memory for here he signed the abdication which +brought about his fall. He left his palace at Saint Cloud on July 30, +1830, at three o'clock in the morning, just as day was breaking through +the mists of the valley. He succumbed, the last of the Bourbons, on the +same spot on which Henri IV, as chief of the house, had first been +saluted as king. + +Louis Philippe divided his time between Neuilly and Saint Cloud, and +lent his purse and his enthusiasm to elaborating to a very considerable +extent both the palace and its surroundings. + +Napoleon III made Saint Cloud his preferred summer residence, and was +actually beneath the palace roof when the Prussian horde commenced its +march on the capital of Clovis. He left Saint Cloud on July 27, to take +personal command of the Army of the Rhine at Metz. + +As did Charles X, Napoleon III ceased to be sovereign of the French by +enacting the final scene in his royal career in the Palais de Saint +Cloud. Never again was the palace to give shelter to a French monarch. +The empress left precipitately after the disaster of Woerth, and two +months after the torch of arson made a ruin of all the splendour of the +palace and its dependencies. The inhabitants of the little city, which +had grown up around the confines of the palace, fled in refuge to +Versailles during the armistice. Scarcely an old house was preserved in +all the town. + +Among the _chefs d'oeuvres_ of art which perished in the flames were +the fine works of Mignard--above all, the magnificent Galerie +d'Apollon--the paintings of LeMoyne, Nacret, Leloir, the marines of +Joseph Vernet and innumerable objects of art which had been gathered +together for the embellishment of Saint Cloud by the later monarchs. +Some few treasures were saved by the care of the Crown Prince of +Prussia, and some vases, chairs and statues were appropriated and packed +off across the Rhine as the plunder of war. + +The park of Saint Cloud to-day contains nearly four hundred hectares, +the public park and the "preserve." From it spreads out one of the +loveliest panoramas in the neighbourhood of Paris, alleyed vistas +leading seemingly to infinity, with a sprinkling of statues still +flanking the Jardin du Trocadero. + +From the town one enters the park through a great iron gate from the +Place Royale, or by the Avenue du Chateau, which lands one on the +terraces where once stood the royal palace. + +From Ville d'Avray and from Sevres there are also entrances to the great +park, while to the latter runs an avenue connecting the "preserve" of +Saint Cloud with the wilder, more rugged Bois de Meudon. + +Actually the surroundings of Saint Cloud's great park are the least bit +tawdry. Here and there are booths and tents selling trashy souvenirs, +and even more unpleasant-looking articles of food and drink, while +fringing the river, and some of the principal avenues approaching the +cascade, are more pretentious restaurants and eating houses which are +royal in name and their prices if nothing else. + +The cascades are for the masses the chief sight of Saint Cloud to-day. +Historical souvenir plays little part in the minds of those who only +visit a monumental shrine to be amused, and so the falling waters of +Saint Cloud's cascade, like the gushing torrents of Versailles' +fountains, are the chief incentives to a holiday for tens of thousands +of small Paris shopkeepers who do not know that a royal palace was ever +here, much less that it had a history. + +There is an upper and a lower cascade, an artificial water ingeniously +tumbled about according to the conception of one Lepaute, an architect +of the time of the reign of Louis XIV. + +[Illustration: _The Cascades at Saint Cloud_] + +Mansart designed the architectural attributes of the lower cascade and +scores considerably over his colleague. Circular basins and canals +finally lead the water off to a still larger basin lower down where it +spouts up into the air to a height of some forty odd metres at a high +pressure. This is the official description, but it is hard to get up any +sympathy or enthusiasm over the thing, either considered as a work of +art or as a diversion. Frankly, then, Saint Cloud's chief charm is its +site and its dead and half-forgotten history. The "Tramp Abroad" and +"Rollo" and "Uncle George" knew it better than we, because in those days +the palace existed in the real, whereas we take it all on faith and +regret (sometimes) that we did not live a couple of generations ago. + +Bellevue, on the banks of the Seine, just before reaching Saint Cloud, +owes its origin (a fact which the great restaurant of the Pavillon Bleu +has made the most of in its advertisements), to a caprice of Madame de +Pompadour. She liked the point of view (as do so many diners on the +restaurant terrace to-day), and built a "_rendezvous-chateau_" on the +hillside, a half-way house, as it were, where Louis XV might be at his +ease on his journeyings to and from the capital. + +The Pompadour was able to borrow a force of eight hundred workmen from +the king for as long as was necessary to carry out her ambitious +projects at Bellevue and on November 25, 1750, she had a house-warming +in her modest villa (demolished in 1794) and _pendit la cremaillere_ +with a ceremony whose chief entertainment was the dancing of a ballet +significantly entitled "L'Amour Architect." + +Neighbouring upon Saint Cloud is a whole battery of hallowed, historical +spots associated with the more or less royal dwellings of the French +monarchs and their favourites. It was but a comparatively short distance +to Versailles, to Saint Germain, to Maintenon and to Rambouillet, and +the near-by Louveciennes was literally strewn with the most charming +country-houses, which, in many cases, kings paid for and made free use +of, though indeed the accounts for the same may not have appeared in the +public budgets, at least not under their proper names. + +At the summit of the hill which gives the town its name was a chateau +belonging originally to Madame la Princesse de Conti, and opposite the +railway station of to-day, with its prosaic and unlovely surroundings, +was a magnificent property belonging to Marechal Magnan, and the +Pavillon du Barry, built by the architect Ledoux to the orders of Louis +XV, who would provide a convenient nest in the neighbourhood of Saint +Cloud for his latest favourite. To-day the pavilion exists in name, +somewhat disfigured to be sure, but still reminiscent of its former +rather garish outlines, so on the whole it cannot be said to have +suffered greatly from an esthetic point of view. The property came +finally to be included as a part of the estate of Pierre Laffitte, +though still known, as it always has been, as the Pavillon du Barry. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +VERSAILLES: THE GLORY OF FRANCE + + "_Glorieuse, monumentale et monotone + La facade de pierre effrite, au vent qui passe + Son chapiteau friable et sa guirlande lasse + En face du parc jaune ou s'accoude l'automne._ + * * * + _Mais le soleil, aux vitres d'or qu'il incendie + Y semble rallumer interieurement + Le sursaut, chaque soir de la Gloire engourdi._" + + +These lines of Henri de Regnier explain the aspect of the Versailles of +to-day better than any others ever written. + +Versailles is a medley of verdure, a hierarchy of bronze and a forest of +marble. This is an expression full of anomalies, but it is strictly +applicable to Versailles. Its waters, jets and cascades, its monsters, +its Tritons and Valhalla of marble statues set off the artificial +background in a manner only to be compared to a stage setting--a +magnificent stage setting, but still palpably unreal. + +Yes, Versailles is sad and grim to-day; one hardly knows why, for its +memories still live, and the tangible evidences of most of its great +splendour still stand. + + "_Voici tes ifs en cone et tes tritons joufflus + Tes jardins composes ou Louis ne vient plus, + Et ta pompe arborant les plumes et les casques._" + +It is not possible to give here either an architectural review or a +historical chronology of Versailles; either could be made the _raison +d'etre_ for a weighty volume. + +The writer has confined himself merely to a more or less correlated +series of patent facts and incidents which, of itself, shows well the +futility of any other treatment being given of a subject so vast within +the single chapter of a book. + +The history of Versailles is a story of the people and events that +reflected the glory and grandeur of the Grand Monarque of the Bourbons +and made his palace and its environs a more sublime expression of +earthly pomp than anything which had gone before, or has come to pass +since. + +Versailles, after its completion, became the perfect expression of the +decadence and demoralization of the old regime. It can only be compared +to the relations between du Barry and the young Marie Antoinette, who +was all that was contrary to all for which the former stood. + +That the court of Louis XV was artificially brilliant there is no doubt. +It was this that made it stand out from the sombre background of the +masses of the time. It was a dazzling, human spectacle, and Versailles, +with its extravagant, superficial charms, carried it very near to the +brink of ruin, though even in its most banal vulgarities there was a +certain sense of ambitious sincerity. The people of the peasant class +lived as animals, "black, livid and scorched by the sun." The sense of +all this penetrated readily even to Versailles, so that La Pompadour or +Louis, one or the other of them, or was it both together, cried out +instinctively: "_Apres nous le deluge._" + +The intricacies of the etiquette of the daily life of the king, his +follies and fancies, made the history of Versailles the most brilliant +of that of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--certainly it was +the most opulent. The manners of the time were better than the morals, +and if good taste in art and architecture had somewhat fallen there is +no doubt but that a charming fantasy often made up for a lack of +estheticism. + +The story of the palace, the park, the king and his court are so +interwoven that no _resume_ of the story of one can ignore that of any +of the others. The king and court present themselves against this +background with an intimacy and a clearness which is remarkable for its +appeal to one's curiosity. It is a long, long day of life which begins +with the _petit lever_ and only ends with the _grand coucher_. + +If there was ever a Castle of Indolence and Profligacy it was +Versailles, though indeed it is regarded as the monarchy's brilliant +zenith. The picture is an unforgetable one to any who have ever read its +history or seen its stones. + +In the year 1650, Martial de Lomenci, one of the ministers of Charles +IX, was the Seigneur of Versailles, but at the will of Catherine de +Medici he was summarily strangled that she might get possession of the +property and make a present of it to her favourite, Albert de Gondi, +Marechal de Retz. + +About 1625 Louis XIII had caused a small hunting pavilion to be built +near by and, by degrees, acquiring more land took it into his head to +erect something more magnificent in the way of a country-house, though +the real conception of a suburban Paris palace only came with Louis XIV. + +Levau, the latter's architect, made the necessary alterations to the +structure already existing, and little by little the more magnificent +project known in its completed form to-day was evolved. War not being +actually in progress, or imminent, great bodies of soldiery were set at +work with pick and shovel, and at one time thirty thousand had laid +aside their sabres and muskets for the more peaceful art of +garden-making under the direction of Le Notre. + +In three decades the sum total of the chief roll of expenses of the +palace and its dependencies reached eighty-one million, one hundred and +fifty-one thousand, four hundred and fourteen _livres_, nine _sols_ and +two _deniers_. It is perhaps even more interesting to know that of this +vast sum more than three millions went for marble, twenty-one millions +for masonry, two and a half millions for the rougher woodwork and a like +sum for marquetry. Other additional "trifling" embellishments of +Versailles and the Trianon during the same period counted up another six +million and a half. + +The expense of these works was enormous on all sides. Water being +required for the purpose of supplying the fountains it was proposed that +the waters of the Eure should be turned from their original bed and made +to pass through Versailles, and the enterprise was actually begun. +Beyond the gardens was formed the Little Park, about four leagues +around, and beyond this lay the Great Park, measuring twenty leagues +around and enclosing several forest villages. The total expenses of +these works may never have been exactly known, but they must have been +immense, that is certain, and have even been estimated at as much as one +billion francs. The works were so far completed in 1664 that the first +Versailles fete was given to consecrate the palace. In honour of this +event Moliere composed "La Princesse d'Elide." + +The improvements, however, were continued, and in 1670, Levau, dying, +was succeeded by his nephew, Jules Hardouin Mansart, who wished to +destroy the chateau of Louis XIII and erect one uniform building. Louis +XIV, out of respect to his father, would not allow Mansart's project to +be carried out and therefore alterations were only made in the court by +surrounding it on the western side with the magnificent buildings now +forming the garden front. The southern wing was subsequently added for +the accommodation of the younger members of the royal family. In 1685 +the northern wing was erected to meet the requirements of the attaches +of the court. The chapel was commenced in 1699 and finished in 1710. + +Louis XIV took up his residence in the palace in 1681 with Madame de +Montespan, and, thirty-five years afterwards, died there, the reigning +favourite then being Madame de Maintenon. During this time Versailles +was the theatre of many extraordinary scenes. Louis XV was born here +but did not take up his residence here until after he was of age. Here +it was that his favourites Madame de Chateauroux, Madame de Pompadour +and Madame du Barry found themselves most at home. It was under the +direction of this monarch that the theatre was built in the northern +wing, and was formally opened on the occasion of the marriage of the +dauphin, Louis XVI, in 1770. + +Towards the end of the reign of Louis XV a new wing and pavilion were +added on the northern side of the principal court, and it was proposed +to build across the court a new front in the same uniform style. The +idea could not be carried out in consequence of the troublous times of +Louis XVI and the enormous estimated expense. The Revolution intervened +and Versailles remained closed until it was reopened by the first +Napoleon, who, however, was unable to take up his residence in it on +account of his frequent campaigns afield. + +At the Restoration Louis XVIII, as the representative of the ancient +monarchy, wished to make Versailles the seat of the court, but was +deterred from doing so by the appalling previous expense. During the +reigns of both Napoleon and Louis XVIII considerable sums were expended +in its refurbishing so that it was not wholly a bygone when finally the +French authorities made of it, if not the chief, at least the most +popular _monument historique_ of all France. + +And yet the aspect of Versailles is sadly wearying. To-day Versailles is +lonely; one is haunted by the silence and the bareness, if not actual +emptiness. Only once in seven years does the old palace take on any air +of the official life of the Republic, and that is when the two +legislative bodies join forces and come to Versailles to vote for the +new president. For the rest of the time it is deserted, save for the +guardians and visitors, a memory only of the splendours imagined and +ordained by Louis XIV. + +For nearly a century the master craftsmen of a nation conspired to its +beatification, and certainly for gorgeousness and extravagance +Versailles has merited any encomiums which have ever been expended upon +it. It was made and remade by five generations of the cleverest workers +who ever lived, until it took supreme rank as the greatest storehouse of +luxurious trifles in all the world. + +One wearies though of the straight lines and long vistas of Versailles, +the endless repetition of classical motives, which, while excellent, +each in its way, do pall upon one in an inexplicable fashion. It +possesses, however, a certain dignity and grace in every line. This is a +fact which one can not deny. It is expressive of--well, of nothing but +Versailles, and the part it played in the life of its time. + +The millions for Versailles were obtained in ways too devious and +lengthy to follow up here. Even Louis XIV began to see before the end +the condition into which he had led the nation, though he punished every +one who so much as hinted at his follies. Vauban, "the hero of a hundred +sieges," published a book on the relations between the king and court +and the tax-paying masses and was disgraced forever after, dying within +a few months of a broken heart that he should have been so impotent in +attempting to bring about a reform. + +The life of the king at Versailles had little of privacy in it. From his +rising to his going to bed he was constantly in the hands of his valets +and courtiers, even receiving ambassadors of state while he was still +half hidden by the heavy curtains of his great four-poster. They had +probably been waiting hours in the Salon de l'OEl de Boeuf before +being admitted to the kingly presence. + +It was at this period that Michael Chamillard, the Minister of War, +introduced billiards into France by the way of Versailles. He played +with Louis XIV and pleased him greatly, but Chamillard was no +statesman, as history and the following lines from his epitaph point +out. + + "_Ci git le fameux Chamillard + De son Roy le pronotaire + Qui fut un heros au billard + Un zero dans le Ministere._" + +This apartment of the OEil de Boeuf was the ancient Cabi du Conseil. +It is a wonderfully decorated apartment, and its furnishings, beyond +those which are actually built into the fabric, are likewise of a +splendour and good taste which it is to be regretted is not everywhere +to be noted in the vast palace of Louis XIV. The garnishings of the +chimney-piece alone would make any great room interesting and well +furnished, and the great golden clock, finely chiselled and brilliantly +burnished, is about the most satisfactory French clock one ever saw, +marking, as it does, in its style, the transition between that of Louis +XIV and Louis XV. + +Versailles, in many respects, falls far short to-day of the ideal; its +very bigness and bareness greatly detract from the value of the historic +souvenir which has come down to us. Changes could undoubtedly be made to +advantage, and to this point much agitation has lately been directed, +particularly in cutting out some of the recently grown up trees which +have spoiled the classic vistas of the park, and the removal of those +ugly equestrian statues which the Monarchy of July erected. + +Versailles only came under Napoleon's cursory regard for a brief moment. +He hardly knew whether he would care to make his home here or not, but +ordered his architects to make estimates for certain projects which he +had conceived and when he got them was so staggered at their magnitude +that he at once threw over any idea that he may have had of making it +his dwelling. + +The Revolution had stripped the palace quite bare; no wonder that the +emperor balked at the cost of putting it in order. Napoleon may have had +his regrets for he made various allusions to Versailles while exiled at +Saint Helena, but then it was too late. + +Louis Philippe took a matter-of-fact view of the possible service that +the vast pile might render to his family and accordingly spent much +money in a great expanse of gaudy wall decorations which are there +to-day, thinking to make of it a show place over which might preside the +genius of his sons. + +These acres of meaningless battle-pieces, Algerian warfare and what not +are characteristic of the "Citizen-King" whose fondness for red plush, +green repp and horsehair sofas was notable. What he did at Versailles +was almost as great a vandalism against art as that wrought by the +Revolution. + +Last scene of all:--Under Lebrun's magnificent canopied ceiling, where +the effigy of Louis XIV is being crowned by the Goddess of Glory, and +the German eagle sits on a denuded tree trunk screaming in agony and +beating his wings in despair, William of Prussia was proclaimed Emperor +of United Germany. It was almost as great an indignity as France ever +suffered; the only greater was when the Prussians marched through the +Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile. That was, and is, the Frenchman's--the +Parisian's, at all events--culminating grief. + +The apartment referred to is the Grand Galerie des Glaces (or Galerie +Louis XIV), which is accredited as one of the most magnificently +appointed rooms of its class in all the world. It is nearly two hundred +and fifty feet in length, nearly forty feet in width, and forty-three +feet in height. It is lighted by seventeen large arched windows, which +correspond with arched niches on the opposite wall filled with +mirrors--hence the name. + +Sixty Corinthian columns of red marble with bases and capitals of gilt +bronze fill up the intervening wall spaces. The vaulted ceiling by +Lebrun is divided into eighteen small compartments and nine of much +larger dimensions, in which are allegorically represented the principal +events in the history of Louis XIV, from the Peace of the Pyrenees to +that of Nymeguen. + +It was in this splendid apartment that Louis XIV displayed the grandeur +of royalty in its highest phase and such was the luxury of the times, +such the splendour of the court, that its immense size could hardly +contain the crowd of courtiers that pressed around the monarch. + +Several splendid fetes took place in this great room, of which those of +the marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne in 1697 and that given on the +arrival of Marie Antoinette were the most brilliant. + +Following are three pen-pictures of this historic palace. + +THE VERSAILLES OF LONG AGO. It was to Versailles that the _Grand Roi_ +repaired after his stern chase of the Spaniards across Flanders; through +the wood of Saint Germain and over those awful cobblestones which +Parisians know so well to-day rolled the gilded _carrosse_ of the king. +He had already been announced by a runner who had also brought news of +the latest victory. Courtiers and populace alike crowded the streets of +the town in an effort to acquire a good place from which to see the +arrival of the king. Intendants and servitors were giving orders on all +sides, frequently contradictory, and gardeners were furbishing up the +alleyed walks and flower beds in readiness for _Sa Majeste Louis +Quatorze_ and all his little world of satellites. A majestic +effervescence bubbled over all, and the _bourgeoisie_ enjoyed itself +hugely, climbing even on roof-tops and gables in the town without the +palace gates. + +The _Roi Soleil_ came at last to his "well-beloved city of Versailles." +"He arrived in a cloud of golden dust," said a writer of the time, and +any who have seen Versailles blazing and treeless in the middle of a +long, hot summer, will know what it was like on that occasion. + +Cannons roared, and the sound of revelry and welcoming joy was +everywhere to be heard. + +THE VERSAILLES OF YESTERDAY. The lugubrious booming of cannons came +rolling over the meanderings of the Seine from the capital. The +hard-heads of Paris would understand nothing; they would make flow +never-ceasing rivers of blood. The national troops were well-nigh +impotent; it was difficult to shoot down your own flesh and blood at any +time; doubly so when your native land has not yet been evacuated by a +venturesome enemy. It was the time of the Commune. Traffic at +Versailles was of that intensity that circulation was almost impossible. +In spite of a dismal April rain the town was full of all sorts and +conditions of men. The animation of the crowd was feverish, but it was +without joy. A convoy of prisoners passed between two lines of soldiers +with drawn bayonets. They were Frenchmen, but they were Communards. It +was but a moment before they were behind the barred doors of the +barracks which was to be their prison, packed like a troop of sheep for +the slaughter. Versailles itself, the palace and the town, were still +sad. The rain still fell in torrents. + +THE VERSAILLES OF TO-DAY. Roses, begonias, geraniums, the last of a long +hot summer, still shed their fragrant memories over the park of +Versailles. In the long, sober alleys a few leaves had already dropped +from the trees above, marking the greensward and the gravel like a +_tapis d'orient_, red and green and gold. + +Flora and Bacchus in their fountains seemed less real than ever before, +more sombre under the pale, trickling light through the trees. A few +scattered visitors were about, sidling furtively around the Trianon, the +Colonnade and the _Bosquet d'Apollon_; and the birds of the wood were +even now bethinking of their winter pilgrimage. Versailles was still +sad. The last rays of the setting sun shot forth reflected gold from the +windows of the chateau and soon the silver blue veil of a September +twilight came down like a curtain of gauze. + +Versailles, the Versailles of other days, is gone forever. Who will +awaken its echoes in after years? When will the Trianon again awake with +the coquetries of a queen? When will the city of the _Roi Soleil_ come +again into its own proud splendour? + +The sun has set, the great iron gates of the courtyard are closed, the +palace and all therein sleeps. + +"_Allon nous en d'ici: laissons la place aux ombres._" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES AND THE TRIANONS + + +Versailles without its court of marble, its fountains, its gardens and +its park, and the attendant Grand and Petit Trianons, would hardly have +the attraction that it has to-day. + +The ensemble is something of more vast and varied extent than is to be +seen elsewhere, though its aspect has somewhat changed from what it was +of old, and the crowds of Sunday and holiday visitors give the courts +and alleyed walks somewhat the aspect of a modern amusement resort. + +The gardens of Versailles were but the framing of a princely dwelling +created to respond to the requirements of a court which was attempting +to do things on a grand scale. Everything was designed with most +magnificent outlines; everything was royal, in all verity--architecture, +garden-making, fetes, receptions and promenades. What setting, then, +could have been more appropriate to the life of the times? + +Versailles, the town, had never prospered, and has never proved +sufficiently attractive to become a popular suburb; and, though to-day +it passed the mark of half a hundred thousand population, it never would +have existed at all had it not been for the palace of Louis XIV. + +Were it not for the palace and its attributes, Versailles would have +absolutely no memories for visitors, except such as may have lunched +well at the Hotel des Reservoirs or the Hotel du Trianon. That is not +everything, to be sure; but it is something, even when one is on an +historic pilgrimage. + +Even in the day of Louis XVI the popular taste was changing and +Versailles was contemptuously referred to as a world of automota, of +cold, unfeeling statuary and of Noah's Ark trees and forests. There was +always a certain air of self-satisfaction about it, as there is, to-day, +when the Parisian hordes come out to see the waters play, and the +sight-seers marvel at the mock splendour and the scraps of history doled +out for their delectation by none-too-painstaking guardians. + +In spite of all this, no sober-minded student of art or history will +ever consider Versailles, the palace and the park, as other than a +superb and a spectacular demonstration of the taste of the times in +which it was planned, built and lived in. + +Versailles was begun in 1624 by Louis XIII, who built here a humble +hunting-lodge for the disciples of Saint Hubert of whom he was the royal +head. So humble an erection was it that the monarch referred to it +simply as a "_petite maison_" and paid for it out of his own pocket, a +rare enough proceeding at that epoch. + +The critical Bassompierre called it a "_chetif chateau_," and +Saint-Simon referred to it as a "house of cards." Manifestly, then, it +was no great thing. It was, however, a comfortable country-house, +surrounded by a garden and a more ample park. + +It was not Lemercier, the presiding genius of the Louvre at this time, +but an unknown by the name of Le Roy, whom Louis XIII chose as his +architect. + +Boyceau traced the original _parterres_ with a central basin at a +crossroads of two wide avenues. Each of the four compartments thus made +was ornamented with _broderies_ and trimmed hedges, and the open spaces +were ingeniously filled with parti-coloured sands, or earth. A +_parterre_ of flowers immediately adjoined the palace and rudimentary +alleys and avenues stretched off towards the wood. Although designed by +Boyceau, this work was actually executed by his nephew, Jacques de +Menours, who, with difficulty, collected his pay. His books of account +showed that in five years, from 1631 to 1636, he had drawn but once a +year a sum varying from fifteen hundred to four thousand _livres_ while +in the same period the king had spent on the rest of the work at +Versailles two hundred and thirty-eight thousand _livres_, thirty-two +_sols_, six _deniers_, nearly one million one hundred thousand francs of +the money of to-day. + +The first of the outdoor embellishments of the palace at Versailles is +the great Cour Royale, or the Cour d'Honneur, which opens out behind the +long range of iron gates facing upon the Place d'Armes. At the foot of +this entrance court is an extension called the Cour de Marbre. This Cour +de Marbre, on January 5, 1757, was the scene of the infamous attack on +Louis XV by Damiens, just as the king was starting out for the Trianon. + +A thick redingote saved the king's life; but for "this mere pin-prick," +according to Voltaire, the monarch went immediately to bed, and five +times in succession sought absolution for his sins. Sins lay heavy even +on royal heads in those days. + +Damiens was but a thick-witted, superstitious valet, who, more or less +persecuted by the noble employers with whom he had been in service at +various times, sought to avenge himself, not on them, but on their king, +as the figurehead of all that was rotten in the social hierarchy. Louis, +heretofore known as the "Bien Aime," had become suddenly unpopular +because of the disastrous war against England and Germany, and his +prodigal dissipation of public moneys. + +Stretching out behind the palace are the famous gardens, the +_parterres_, the _tapis vert_, the fountains and the grand canal, with +the park of the Trianons off to the right. + +Good fortune came to Louis XIV when he found Andre Le Notre, for it was +he and no other who traced the general lines of the garden of the +Versailles which was to be. He laid a generous hand upon the park and +forest which had surrounded the manor of Louis XIII, and extended the +garden to the furthermost limits of his ingenuity. Modifications were +rapid, and from 1664 the _parterres_ and the greensward took on entirely +new forms and effects. The Parterre des Reservoirs became the Parterre +du Nord, and an alley of four rows of lindens enclosed the park on all +sides. The Parterre a Fleurs, or the Jardin du Roy, between the chateau +and the Orangerie, was laid out anew. + +By the following year the park began to take on the homogeneity which +it had hitherto lacked. The great Rondeau, as it was called, and which +became later the Bassin du Dragon, was excavated, and the Jardin Bas, or +the Nouveau Parterre, with an oval depression, was also planned. + +[Illustration: _Cour de Marbre, Versailles_] + +At one end of the park was the celebrated Menagerie du Roy, where the +rare and exotic animals collected by the monarch had "a palace more +magnificent than the home of any other dumb animals in the world." This +was the first period of formal garden construction at Versailles, and it +was also the period when the first great impetus was given to sculptural +decoration. + +In 1679, following a journey in Italy, Le Notre took up again the work +on the gardens at Versailles, devoting himself to the region south of +the palace which hitherto had been ignored. This was Le Notre's most +prolific period. + +The creations at Versailles can be divided into two distinct epochs, +that before 1670 and that coming after. After Le Notre's generous +design, the king and queen were seemingly never satisfied with the +endless plotting and planting which was carried on beneath the windows +of the palace, and in many instances changed the colour schemes and even +the outlines of Le Notre's original conceptions. + +The Versailles of to-day is no longer the Versailles of Louis XIII, so +far as the actual disposition of details goes. Then there was very +little green grass and much sand and gravel, a scheme of decoration +which entered largely into the seventeenth century garden. This refers +principally to the general effect, for Le Notre made much use of the +enclosing battery of lindens, chestnuts and elms of a majestic and +patriarchal grandeur which have since been cut and replaced by smaller +species of trees, or not replaced at all. + +No sooner were the ornamental gardens planned at Versailles than the +Potager du Roy, or fruit and vegetable garden, was created. This same +garden exists to-day with almost its former outlines. Here a soil +sufficiently humid, and yet sufficiently well drained, contributed not a +little towards the success of this most celebrated of all kitchen +gardens the world has known. + +The work of installing a further system of artificial drainage was +immediately begun, and the Eaux des Suisses was created, to take the +place of a former stagnant pool near by. Undoubtedly it was a stupendous +work, like all the projects launched with regard to Versailles, but, +like the others, it was brought to a speedy and successful conclusion. +The details of the history of this royal vegetable garden are fully set +forth in a work published in 1690 by the son of the designer, the Abbe +Michel de la Quintinye, in two bulky volumes. "It was meet that a royal +vegetable garden should have been designed by a 'Gentleman Gardener,'" +said the faithful biographer in his foreword, and as such the man and +the work are to be considered here. + +The work was accomplished by the combined efforts of a gracious talent +and the expenditure of much money, put at La Quintinye's disposition by +his royal master, who had but to put his hand deep into the coffers of +the royal treasury to draw it forth filled with gold. Critics have said +that La Quintinye's ability stopped with the preparation of the soil, +and with the design of the garden, rather than with the actual +cultivation, but at all events it was he who made the garden possible. + +La Quintinye adopted Arnauld d'Andilly's method of planting fruit trees +_en espalier_ by training them against a wall-like background, and to +accomplish this divided the garden plot, which covered an area of eight +hectares (twenty acres), into a great number of subdivisions enclosed by +walls, in order to multiply to as great an extent as possible the +available space to be used for the _espaliers_. Again, these same walls +served to shelter certain varieties which were planted close against +them. If this Potager du Roy was not actually the first garden of its +class so laid out, it was certainly one of the most extensive and the +most successful up to that time. + +The great terraces of at least two metres in width surrounded the +central garden, leaving a free area for the latter which approximated +three hectares. + +These terraces were divided into twenty-eight compartments, forming nine +distinct varieties of gardens. + +The celebrated gardener of Louis XIV sought not only to obtain fruits +and vegetables of a superior quality and an abundant quantity, but was +the first among his kind to produce early vegetables, or _primeurs_, in +any considerable quantity, and, by a process of forced culture, he was +able to put upon the table of the monarch asparagus in December, lettuce +in January, cauliflower in March and strawberries in April. All these +may be found at the Paris markets to-day, and at these seasons, but the +growing of _primeurs_ for the Paris markets has become a great industry +since the time it was first begun at Versailles. + +Of asparagus La Quintinye said, "It is a vegetable that only kings can +ever hope to eat." + +The Potager du Roy was begun in 1678, and completed in 1683. It cost, +all told, one million one hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and +eighty-three _livres_ of which four hundred and sixty-seven thousand +three hundred and sixty-four went for constructions in brick and stone, +walls, enclosures and drains. Its annual maintenance (1685) amounted to +twenty thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine _livres_. The effort proved +one of great benefit to its creator, for La Quintinye, at the completion +of this work, received further commissions of a like nature from the +Prince de Conde, the Duc de Montansier, Colbert, Fouquet and others. + +So great a marvel was this vegetable garden at Versailles that it was +the object of a pilgrimage of the Doge of Venice in 1685, and of the +Siamese ambassadors in the following year. The garden has been preserved +as an adjunct to Versailles up to the present day. For two centuries its +product went to the "Service de Bouche" of the chief of state, that is, +the royal dinner table; but in 1875 the Minister of Agriculture +installed there the French National Horticultural College, which to-day, +with a widened scope, has admitted ornamental plants and trees to this +famous garden. Nevertheless the general outlines have been preserved, +though certain of the terraces have disappeared, as well as many of the +walls of the original enclosure, thus reducing the number of garden +plots; in fact but sixteen distinctly defined gardens remain, including +the Clos aux Asperges. + +The general lines of the garden design of Le Notre and Boyceau at +Versailles are to be noted to-day, but if anything the maintenance of +the gardens is hardly the equal of what it was in the time of Louis XIV +and a seeming disaster has fallen upon Versailles as these lines are +being written. + +The military authorities have set aside, as a site for an aerostation +camp, some twenty-five acres of the park near Rocquencourt. This is one +of the loveliest parts, shaded by magnificent trees which, presumably, +will have to be sacrificed, since, if left standing, they would +certainly interfere with maneuvering with military aeroplanes, +dirigibles and balloons. + +At a time when deforestation is recognized to be one of the greatest +dangers that menace a country's prosperity, one of its consequences +being such inundations as those which recently devastated Paris and the +Seine valley, it is regrettable that the forest surrounding Versailles +should be depleted. + +[Illustration: _The Potager du Roy, Versailles_] + +Furthermore, the realization of the project means a loss of revenue to +the state which at present derives some sixty thousand francs a year +from the farming lease of this portion of the park. + +Therefore, for material considerations, as well as because Versailles +and its surroundings should be preserved intact as a noble relic of one +of the grandest periods of French history, one of the most beautiful +creations of French genius, the project attributed to the military +authorities is short-sighted. To diminish the attractions of Versailles +would certainly prove an unwise policy, as the stream of tourists, which +is the chief source of profit to Versailles and its population, would +inevitably be diverted to some other channel. + +Only a short time ago a Societe des Amis de Versailles was created for +the purpose of safeguarding its artistic and natural beauties. The +government gave the organization its approbation and there is something +delightfully ironical in the fact that the military authorities of the +same government are planning to destroy what the society, fathered by +the Ministere des Beaux Arts, was formed to preserve. + +Another modern aspect of the park of Versailles was noted during the +late winter when, after a sharp freeze, all the youth of Paris had +seemingly gone out to Versailles for the skating only to be met by a +freshly-posted notice which read: + + Defense + De Patiner Par + Arrete du 17 Decembre, 1849 + + +These signs were posted here and there about the park, in the courtyard, +on the postern gate, on trees, everywhere. The authorities were bound +that there should be no flagrant violation of the order of 1849. + +"You see," said one of the park guardians, "_c'est defendu_; but as we +are only two and the crowd is very large we can do nothing." This was +evident. Thousands overran the Grand Canal, which at its greatest depth +was scarcely more than a yard to the bottom, and so, despite of +monarchial decree, Republican France still skates on the ornamental +waters of Versailles when occasion offers. + +"_N'oubliez pas le petit balayeur, s'il vous plait_," was as often heard +as "_Allez vous-en_." + +On the whole it was rather a picturesque sight. A thick haze hung over +the now white "Tapis Vert," and the nude figures of the Bassin d'Apollon +were clothed in a mantle of snow, while the white-robed statues of the +Allee Royale, one could well believe, shivered as one passed. + +[Illustration: _The Bassin de Latone, Versailles_] + +The fountains of Versailles, the "Grands Eaux" and "Petits Eaux," which +shoot their jets in air "semi-occasionally" for the benefit of Paris's +"good papas" and their children, are distinctly popular features, and of +an artistic worth neither less nor greater than most garden accessories +of the artificial order. The fact that it costs something like ten +thousand francs to "play" these fountains seems to be the chief memory +which one retains of them in operation, unless it be the crowds which +make the going and coming so uncomfortable. + +The Orangerie lies just below the terrace of the Parterre du Midi, and a +thousand or more non-bearing orange trees are scattered about. They are +descendants of fifteenth century ancestors, it is claimed--but +doubtfully. + +The great basin of water known as the Eaux des Suisses was excavated by +the Swiss Guard of Louis XIV to serve the useful purpose of irrigating +the Potager du Roy, and as a decorative effect of great value to that +part of the garden upon which faces the fourteen-hundred-foot front of +the palace. + +Still farther off towards the Bois de Satory, after crossing the Tapis +Vert, lie the famous Bassins de Latone and Apollon, the Bassin du +Miroir and, finally, the Grand Canal, with one transverse branch leading +to the Menagerie (now the government stud-farm) and the other to the +Trianons. + +The satellite palaces known as the Grand and Petit Trianons are, like +the Palace of Versailles itself, of such an abounding historical +interest that it were futile to attempt more than a mere intimation of +their comparative rank and aspect. + +The rather sprawling, one-story, horseshoe-shaped villa built by Louis +XIV for Madame de Maintenon, and known as the Grand Trianon, was an +architectural conception of Mansart's. + +It is worth remarking that the Grand Trianon, to-day, is in a more +nearly perfect state than it has been for long past, for the +restorations lately made have removed certain interpolations manifestly +out of place. + +It is due to M. de Nolhac, the Conservateur du Musee de Versailles, that +this happy amelioration has been brought about and that Mansart's +admirable work is again as it was in the days of Madame de Maintenon and +those of the later Napoleon I. + +[Illustration: _The Fountain of Neptune, Versailles_] + +In spite of all this the Trianon of to-day is not what it was in the +eighteenth century. "Madame de Maintenon," said de Musset, "made of +Versailles an oratory, but La Pompadour turned it into a boudoir." He +also called the Trianon: "a tiny chateau of porcelain." It was, too, the +boudoir of Madame de Montespan. + +Louis XV, too, built, or furnished, discreet boudoirs of this order on +every hand. More than one great gallery in which his elders had done big +things he divided and subdivided into minute apartments and papered the +walls, or painted them, all colours of the rainbow, or hung them with +silks or velvets. + +"Don't you think my little apartment shows good taste," he asked one day +of the Comtesse de Seran at Versailles. + +"Not at all," she replied, "I would much rather that the walls were hung +in blue." + +That particular apartment was in rose, but, since blue was the favourite +colour of the monarch, the reply was but flattering. The next time that +his friend, the Comtesse, appeared on the scene the apartment had all +been done over in blue. + +The monarch soon began to turn his attention to the gardens. Bowers, +labyrinths and vases and statues were inexplicably mixed as in a maze. +He began to have the "_gout pastoral_," his biographer has said, a vogue +that Madame du Barry and Marie Antoinette came in time to push to its +limits. + +The king was too ready to admire all that was suggested, all that was +offered, and the ultimate effect was--well, it was the opposite of what +he hoped it to be, though doubtless he did not realize it. + +In the garden of the Grand Trianon is a great basin with a cascade +flowing down over a sort of a high altar arrangement in red and white +marble called the Buffet de l'Architecture, and evolved by Mansart. This +architect certainly succeeded much better with his purely architectural +conceptions than he did with interpolated decorative elements intended +to relieve a formal landscape. + +The Petit Trianon, the pride of Louis XV, was designed by the architect +Gabriel, and its reigning goddess was Marie Antoinette. Souvenirs of the +unhappy queen are many, but the caretakers are evidently bored with +their duties and hustle you through the apartments with scant ceremony +that they may doze again undisturbed in their corners. + +[Illustration: _Petit Trianon_] + +The garden of the Petit Trianon is a veritable _Jardin Anglais_, that +is, the decorative portion, where sweeps and curves, as meaningless as +those one sees on banknotes and no more decorative, are found in +place of the majestic lines of the formal garden when laid out after the +French manner. + +[Illustration: _La Laiterie de la Reine PETIT TRIANON_] + +The _Hameau_, where is the dairy where the queen played housewife and +shepherdess, is just to the rear of this bijou palace and looks stagy +and unreal enough to be the wings and back-drop of a pastoral play. + +Near Versailles was the Chateau de Clagny, with a garden laid out by Le +Notre, quite the rival of many better known. Of it Madame de Sevigne +wrote: "It is the Palais d'Armide; you know the manner of Le Notre; here +he has done his best." + +The Couvent des Recollettes, just across the Bois de Satory, was built +by Louis XIV out of regard for the _religieux_ whom he displaced from +an edifice which stood upon a plot which was actually needed for the +palace gardens. The Chateaux of Noisy and Molineaux were also affiliated +with Versailles. + +The rest of the surroundings and accessories of Versailles are mere +adjunctive details of those chief features here mentioned. To catalogue +them even would be useless since they are all set down in the +guidebooks. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE + + +Saint Germain has not the popularity of Versailles, nor the charm of +Fontainebleau, but it is more accessible than either, and, if less known +and less visited by the general mass of tourists, it is all the more +delightful for that. + +Saint Germain, the chateau, the town and the forest, possess a +magnificent site. Behind is a wooded background, and before one are the +meanderings of the Seine which in the summer sunlight is a panorama +which is to be likened to no other on earth. Across the river bottom run +the great tree-lined roadways, straight as the proverbial flight of the +arrow, while on the horizon, looking from the celebrated terrace, one +sees to-day the silhouetted outline of Paris with the Tour Eiffel and +the dome of the Sacre Coeur as the culminating points. + +The town itself is ugly and ill-paved, and heavy-booted dragoons make a +hideous noise as they clank along to and from the cavalry barracks all +through the day and night. Neither are scorching automobiles making +their ways to Trouville and Dieppe over the "Route des Quarante Sous" a +pleasant feature. One can ignore all these things, however, for what is +left is of a superlative charm. + +[Illustration: SAINT GERMAIN] + +Saint Germain-en-Laye in the first stages of French history was but a +vast extent of forest which under Charlemagne came to the possession of +the monks of the Abbaye de Saint Germain-des-Pres. The first royal +palace here was built by King Robert in the tenth century, practically +upon the site of the present edifice. In the eleventh century there came +into being another royal dwelling, and in the twelfth century +Louis-le-Gros built a chateau-fort as a protection to the royal +residence and monastery. This did not prevent the Black Prince from very +nearly burning them down on one of his bold raids, but by 1367, Charles +V re-erected the "_castel_" of Saint Germain-en-Laye. + +The English, by coercion, induced a monk of a neighbouring establishment +at Nanterre to deliver up a set of false keys by which the great gates +of the castle were surreptitiously opened, and, for a time, the +descendants of the Conqueror held possession. + +The establishment of Charles V in no way satisfying the artistic +ambitions of Francis I, that monarch gave the task of reconstruction to +the architect Pierre Chambiges, in 1539, preserving only the Saint +Chapelle of Saint Louis and the donjon. + +The building must have gone forward with an extreme rapidity for at the +architect's death, in 1544, it had reached nearly the level of the +rooftop. + +Chambiges' successor was his son-in-law, Guillaume Guillain, who, +without changing the primitive plan, completed the work in 1548. + +Saint Germain, above the first story, is essentially a construction of +bricks, but the effect is even now, as Chambiges originally intended, an +edifice with its main constructive elements of lower sustaining walls +and buttresses of stone binding together the slighter fabric, or +filling, above. Although it is Renaissance through and through, Saint +Germain shows not the slightest reminiscence of anything Italian and +must be considered entirely as an achievement of French genius. + +This edifice of Francis I was more a fortress than a palace in spite of +its decorative features, and Henri II, desiring something more of a +luxurious royal residence, began what the historians and savants know as +the Chateau Neuf--the palace of to-day which stands high on the hill +overlooking the winding Seine, to which seducing stream the gardens +originally descended in terraces. + +Chiefly it is to Henri IV that this structure owes its distinction, for +previously work went on but intermittently, and very slowly. Henri IV +brought the work to completion and made the chateau his preferred and +most prolonged place of residence, as indeed did his successor. + +It is the Chateau Neuf of the time of Henri IV which is to-day known as +the Palais de Saint Germain-en-Laye. Of the Vieux Chateau only some +fragmentary walls and piles of debris, the Pavillon Henri IV, and, in +part, the old royal chapel remain. + +Actually the structure of to-day includes that part of the Hotel du +Pavillon Henri IV which is used as a restaurant. + +Henri IV and Louis XIII gave Saint Germain its first great _eclat_ as a +suburban place of sojourn, and from the comings and goings of the court +of that time there gradually grew up the present city of twenty thousand +inhabitants; not all of them of courtly manners, as one learns from a +recollection of certain facts of contemporary modern history. + +During the days when Mazarin actually held the reins of state the court +was frequently at Saint Germain. Louis XIV was born here, and until +Versailles and Marly came into being he made it his principal dwelling. + +It was in one of the magnificent apartments, too, midway between the +angle turrets of the facade, Louis XIII ended his unhappy existence in +1642. His own private band of musicians played a "De Profundis" of his +own composition to waft his soul on its long journey. + +The chroniclers describe one of the monarch's last conversations as +follows: "When they transport my body to Paris after my soul has flown, +Laporte, remember that place where the road turns under the hill; it is +a rough road, Laporte, and will surely shake my bones sadly if the +driver does not go slowly." + +Those who have journeyed out from Paris to Saint Germain by road in this +later century will appreciate the necessity for the admonition. + +Louis XIV, unlike Louis XIII, detested Saint Germain beyond words, +because the towers of the Abbaye de Saint Denis, where he was destined +one day to be buried, were visible from the terrace. Louis XV was not so +particular for he was so morbid that he even loved, as he claimed +himself, the scent of new-made graves. + +The arrival of Anne d'Autriche and the royal family at Saint Germain +during the war of the Fronde was one of the most dramatic incidents of +the period. They had travelled half the night, coming from the Palais +Royal only to find a palace awaiting them which was unheated and +unfurnished though the time was mid-January. Always drear and gaunt it +was immeasurably so on this occasion. Mazarin had made no provision for +the queen's arrival; there, were neither beds, tables nor linen in their +proper places, no servants, no attendants of any kind, only the +guardians of the palace. The queen was obliged to take rest from her +fatigue on a folding camp bedstead, without covering of any kind. The +princes fared no better, actually sleeping on the floor. + +There were plenty of mirrors and much gold gingerbread on the walls and +ceilings, but no furniture. The personal belongings which the court had +brought with them were few. No one had a change of clothing even; those +worn one day were washed the next. However the queen good-naturedly +smiled through it all. She called it "an escapade which can hardly last +a week." + +All Paris was by this time crying "_Vive la Fronde_": "_Mort a +Mazarin_": but it proved to be something more than a little affair of a +week, as we now know. + +At this period, when Anne d'Autriche was practically a prisoner at Saint +Germain, the picture made by the old chateau against its forest +background was undeniably more imposing than that which one sees to-day. +The glorious forest was not then hidden by rows of banal roof-tops, and +the dull drabs of barracks and prisons. + +In the warm spring mornings the glittering facade of the chateau was +brilliant as a diamond against its setting, and the radiating avenues of +the park leading from the famous terrace stretched out into infinite +vistas that were most alluring. This effect, fortunately, is not wholly +lost to-day. + +At night things were as idyllic as by day. The queen and her ladies, +relieved of the dreary presence of the king who still remained at Paris, +revelled in an unwonted freedom. Concerts, suppers and dances were the +rule and moonlight cavalcades to the heart of the forest, or promenades +on foot the length of the terrace, and by some romantically disposed +couples far beyond, gave a genuine "begone, dull care" aspect to court +life which was not at all possible in the capital. + +The following picture, taken from a court chronicle, might apply as well +to-day if one makes due allowance for a refulgence of myriad lamps +gleaming out Parisward as night draws in. + +"It is a rare moonlight night. The queen and her ladies have emerged +late on the stately terrace of Henri IV which borders upon the forest +and extends for nearly a league along the edge of the height upon which +stands the chateau. + +"The queen and her brother-in-law, Gaston, Duc d'Orleans, have seated +themselves somewhat apart from the rest beside the stone balustrade +which overlooks the steep descent to the plain below. Vineyards line the +hillside and the Seine flows far beneath, the fertile river-bottom rich +with groves and orchards, villas and gardens. Still more distant sweeps +away the great plain wrapped in dark shadows punctuated here and there +with great splotches of moonlight. Of the great city beyond (the Paris +of to-day, whose myriad glow-worm lights actually do lend an additional +charm) not a vestige is to be seen. Scarcely a lantern marks the +existence of a living soul in the vast expanse below, but the moon, high +in the heavens, plots out the entire landscape with a wonderful +impressiveness, and the stars topping the forest trees to the rear and +the heights which rise on the distant horizon lend their quota of +romanticism, and, as if by their scintillations, mark the almost +indiscernible towers of the old Abbey of Saint Denis to the left. + +"'Oh, what a lovely night,' said the queen to her companion. Again it is +the old chronicler who speaks. 'Can the world ever appear so calm and +peaceful elsewhere?'" + +This Terrasse de Henri IV, so called, is one of the most splendid and +best-known terraces in Europe, and is noted for its extent as well as +for its marvellous point of view, the whole panorama Parisward being +spread out before one as if on a map, a view which extends from the +Chateau de Maisons on the left to the Aqueduct de Marly and the heights +of Louveciennes on the right, including the Bois de Vesinet, Mont +Valerian, Montmartre and the whole Parisian panorama as far as the +Coteaux de Montmorency. + +This terrace, too, was the project and construction of Le Notre in 1672. +It is two and a half kilometres in length and thirty metres in width, +upheld by a stone retaining wall which is surmounted by a balustrade. It +extends from the Pavillon Henri IV to a gun battery well within the +confines of the forest. Entrance from the precincts of the palace is by +the great ornamental iron gateway known as the Grille Royale, from which +an alleyed row of lindens leads to the heart of the forest. + +The record of another merry party at Saint Germain is that which +recounts that summer evening when the king and court scuttled about the +park enjoying themselves as only royalty can--when some one else pays +the bills. The terrace, the gravelled walks and the alleyed paths of the +forest all led to charming and discreet rendezvous. + +[Illustration: _The Valley of the Seine, from the Terrace at Saint +Germain_] + +So preoccupied was every one on this particular occasion that the +merry-makers had hardly a thought for their king, who, left to his own +devices, sought out four maids of honour gossiping in a bower, and, +taking the mischief-loving Lauzan into his confidence, pried upon them +in the ambush of the night. They were gossiping over the dancers at the +ball of the night before when one of them proclaimed her fancy for the +agility and grace of the king above all others. It was the first +expression of "La Valliere" since she had come timidly to court. The +rest is an idyll which is found set forth in all the history books at +considerable length, and at this particular moment it was a genuine +idyll, for the king had not then become the debauched roue that he was +in later life. + +After Anne d'Autriche, Henriette, the widow of Charles I of England, +found at Saint Germain a comfortable and luxurious refuge. + +From 1661 onward Louis XIV made frequent visits to Saint Germain and was +so taken with the charms of the neighbourhood and the immediate site +that he conjured six and a half million francs out of his Civil List, in +addition to his regular stipend, for the upkeep of this palace alone. +This was robbery: modern graft pales before this; candelabra by the +pound and writing tables by the square yard were known before the days +of machine politicians. + +James II of England, in 1688, found a hospitable refuge at Saint +Germain, thanks to Louis XIV, and died within the palace walls in 1701, +as did his wife, Maria d'Este, in 1718. + +Louis XV and Louis XVI gave Saint Germain scarce a thought, and under +the Empire it became a cavalry school, and later, under the Restoration, +sinking lower still, it merited only the denomination of a barracks. Its +culminating fall arrived when it was turned into a penitentiary. + +Napoleon III, with finer instincts, here installed a museum, and +restorations and rebuilding having gone on intermittently since that +time the palace has now taken on a certain pretence to glory. +Practically the palace in its present form is a restoration, not +entirely a new building, but a rebuilding of an old one, first begun +under the competent efforts of the architect Eugene Millet, who sought +to reestablish the edifice as it was under Francis I. The great tower +has been preserved but the corner pavilions of the period of Louis XIV +have been demolished in accord with the carrying out of this plan. + +For forty years Saint Germain has been in a state of restoration, and +like the restoration of Pierrefonds it has swallowed up fantastic sums. +The western facade has been rebuilt from the chapel to the entrance +portal and the last of Mansart's pavilions, which he built to please +either his own fancy or that of Louis XIV, have been demolished. Mansart +himself made way with the old _tourelles_ and the balustrade which +rounded off the angles of the walls of the main buildings and +substituted a series of heavy, ugly _maisonettes_, more like the +bastions of a fortress than any adjunct to a princely dwelling. + +The courtyard of the chateau is curiously disposed; "so that it may +receive the sun at all times," was the claim of its designer. It, too, +has been brought back to the state in which it was originally conceived +and shorn of its encumbering outhouses and odds and ends which served +their purposes well enough when it was a barracks or a prison, but which +were a desecration to anything called by so dignified a name as a +chateau or a palace. This courtyard is to-day as it was when the lords +and ladies in the train of Charles IX strolled and even gambolled +therein. + +The Chapelle de Saint Louis (1240) is in every way remarkable, +especially with respect to its great rose-window, which was found by +Millet to have been walled up by Louis XIV. + +The military museum of to-day, which is enclosed by the palace walls, +possesses a remarkable collection of its kind, but has no intimate lien +upon the history of the palace. + +The _parterre_ before the palace is cut off from the forest of Saint +Germain by three ornate iron gates. It was relaid, a transformation from +designs originally conceived in 1676, by Le Notre, modified in 1750 and +much reduced in size and beauty in the nineteenth century, though later +enlarged by taking three hectares of ground from the forest and turning +them into the accepted form of an English garden. + +A peninsula of a superficial area of over ten thousand acres snugly +enfolded in one of the great horseshoe bends of the Seine contains the +Foret de Saint Germain. A line drawn across the neck of the peninsula +from Saint Germain to Poissy, following the Route de Poissy, completely +cuts off this tongue of land which is as wild and wooded to-day as in +the times of Francis, the Henris and the Louis. + +The _routes_ and _allees_ of the forest are traced with regularity and +precision, and historians have written them down as of a length of +nearly four hundred leagues, a statement which a glance at any map of +the forest will well substantiate. + +High upon its plateau sits this historic wildwood, for the most part of +a soil dry and sandy, with here and there some great _mamelon_ +(Druidical or Pagan, as the case may be) rising somewhat above the +average level. Francis I, huntsman and lover of art and nature, did +much to preserve this great forest, and Louis XIV in his time developed +its system of roads and paths, "chiefly to make hunting easy," says +history, though it is difficult to follow this. At all events the forest +remains to-day the most extensive unspoiled breathing-spot of its class +near Paris. + +Within this maze of paths and alleys are many famed historic spots, the +Chene Saint Fiacre, the Croix de Noailles, the Croix Saint Simon, the +Croix du Main (erected in 1709 in honour of the son of Louis XIV), the +Etoile des Amazones, the Patte d'Oie, the Chene du Capitaine and many +more which are continually referred to in the history of the palace, the +forest of Saint Germain-en-Laye, and of the Abbaye de Poissy. + +The forest is not wholly separated from the mundane world for +occasionally a faint echo of the Rouen railway is heard, a toot from a +river tug-boat bringing coal up-river to Paris, the strident notes of +automobile horns, or that of a hooting steam-tram which scorches along +the principal roadway over which state coaches of kings and courtiers +formerly rolled. The contrast is not particularly offensive, but the +railway threatens to make further inroads, so one hardly knows the +future that may be in store for the patriarch oaks and elms and +chestnuts which make up this secular wildwood. Their ages may not in +all cases approach those of the great Fontainebleau trees, and in point +of fact the forest is by no means as solitary, nor ever was. One of the +most celebrated, certainly one of the most spectacular, duels of history +took place in the park at Saint Germain-en-Laye. + +Gui Chabot de Jarnac lived a prodigal and profligate life at the +expense--it was said--of the favours of the Duchesse d'Etampes. The +dauphin, Henri, making an accusation, deemed wholly uncalled for, a +"_duel judiciaire_" took place, with La Chataigneraie as the dauphin's +substitute as adversary of de Jarnac who sought no apology but combat. + +It was because Henri meantime had become king and issued his first +Letters Patent to his council concerning the "_duel judiciaire_," +whereby he absolved himself of the right to partake, that he appointed +his dear friend Francois de Vivonne, "Seigneur de la Chataigneraie," to +play the role for him. + +Unfortunately the young man could not justify by victory the honour of +his king and before the monarch and the assembled court he was laid low +by his adversary. + +This was one of the last of the "_duels judiciaires_" in France. What +Saint Louis and Philippe-le-Bel had vainly sought to suppress, the +procedure having cost at least a hundred thousand _livres_, was +practically accomplished by Henri II by a stroke of the pen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MAINTENON + + +Out from Paris, on the old Route d'Espagne, running from the capital to +the frontier, down which rolled the royal corteges of old, lie Maintenon +and its famous chateau, some sixty odd kilometres from Paris and twenty +from Rambouillet. + +Just beyond Versailles, on the road to Maintenon, lies the trim little +townlet of Saint Cyr, known to-day as the West Point of France, the +military school founded by Napoleon I giving it its chief distinction. + +Going back into the remote past one learns that the village grew up from +a foundation of Louis XIV, who bought for ninety-one thousand _livres_ +"a chateau and a convent for women," that Madame de Maintenon might +establish a girls' school therein. She reserved an apartment for +herself, and one suspects indeed that it was simply another project of +the Widow Scarron to have a place of rendezvous near the capital. +Certainly under the circumstances, taking into consideration the good +that she was doing for orphaned girls, she might at least have been +allowed the right of a roof to shelter her when she wished. She was +absolutely dominant within, though never actually in residence for any +length of time. It was here that "Esther" and "Athalie," which Racine +had composed expressly for Madame de Maintenon's pensionnaires, were +produced for the first time. + +[Illustration: Fauteuil _of_ Mme. _de_ Maintenon _Worked by the_ +Demoiselles _of_ Saint Cyr] + +When not actually living at Saint Cyr it was Madame de Maintenon's +custom to come hither from Paris each day, arriving between seven and +eight in the morning, passing the day and returning to town for the +evening, much as a celebrated American millionaire journalist, whose +country-house overlooks the famous convent garden, does to-day. + +Madame de Maintenon actually went into retirement at Saint Cyr upon the +death of Louis XIV, and for four years, until her death, never left it. +She died from old age, rather than from any grave malady, in this +"Maison d'Education," which she had inaugurated, and was buried in the +chapel, beneath an elaborate tomb which the Duc de Noailles, who married +her niece, caused to be erected. The tomb was destroyed during the +Revolution and the "Maison Royale de Saint Cyr," of which nothing had +been changed since its foundation, was suppressed, the edifice itself +being pillaged and the remains of Madame de Maintenon sadly profaned, +finally to be recovered and deposited again in the chapel where a simple +black marble slab marks them in these graven words: + + Cy-Git Madame De Maintenon + 1635-1719-1836 + +Napoleon I established the Ecole Militaire at Saint Cyr, from which are +graduated each year more than four hundred subaltern officers. + +The ancient gardens of Madame de Maintenon's time now form the "Champs +de Mars," or drill ground, of the military school. + +South from Saint Cyr runs the great international highroad, the old +Route Royale of the monarchy. It rises and falls, but mostly straight as +the flight of the crow, until it crosses the great National Forest of +Rambouillet. Following the valley of the Eure almost to its headwaters +it finally comes to Maintenon, a town of a couple of thousand souls, +whose most illustrious inhabitant was that granddaughter of +Theodore-Agrippa d'Aubigne, named Francoise, and who came in time to be +the Marquise de Maintenon. + +The Chateau de Maintenon was royal in all but name. The Tresorier des +Finances under Louis XI, Jean Cottereau (a public official who made good +it seems, since he also served in the same capacity for Charles VIII, +Louis XII, and Francis I), had a single daughter, Isabeau, who, in 1526, +married Jacques d'Angennes, who at the time was already Seigneur de +Rambouillet. + +As a dot this daughter acquired the lands of Maintenon. The property was +afterwards sold to the Marquis de Villeray, from whom Louis XIV bought +it in 1674 and disposed of it as a royal gift to Francoise d'Aubigne, +the fascinator of kings, who was afterwards to become (in 1688) Madame +La Marquise de Maintenon. + +This ambitious woman subsequently married her niece to the Duc d'Ayen, +son of the Marechal de Noailles, and as a marriage portion--or possibly +to avoid unpleasant consequences--turned over the property of Maintenon +to the young bride and her husband to whose family, the Noailles, it has +ever since belonged. + +To-day the Duc and Duchesse de Noailles make lengthy stays in this +delightful seigneurial dwelling, and since the apartments are full to +overflowing of historical souvenirs of their family it may be truly said +that their twentieth century life is to some considerable extent in +accord with the traditions of other days. + +The existence of this princely residence is an agreeable reminder of the +life of luxury of the olden time albeit certain modernities which we +to-day think necessities are lacking. + +Maintenon is certainly one of the most beautiful so-called royal +chateaux of France, if not by its actual importance at least by many of +the attributes of its architecture, the extent of the domain and the +history connected therewith. It bridges the span between the private +chateau and those which may properly be called royal. + +In the moyen-age Maintenon was a veritable chateau-fort, forming a +quadrilateral edifice flanked by round towers at three of its angles, +and at the fourth by a great square mass of a donjon, all of which was +united by a vast expanse of solidly built wall which possessed all the +classic attributes of the best military architecture of its time. +Entrance was only over a deep moat spanned by a drawbridge. + +[Illustration: _Chateau de Maintenon_] + +Jean Cottereau made his acquisition of the domain towards 1490 and +immediately planned a new scheme of being for the old fortress which, +according to a more esthetic conception, would thus be brought into the +class of a luxurious residential chateau. He destroyed the _courtines_ +which attached the great donjon to the rest of the building, and opened +up the courtyard so that it faced directly upon the park. He ornamented +sumptuously the window framings, the dormer windows, and the turrets, +and framed in the entrance portal with a series of sculptured motives +which he also added to the entrance to the great inner stairway. In +short it was an enlargement and embellishment that was undertaken, but +so thoroughly was it done that the edifice quite lost its original +character in the process. Like all the chateaux built at this epoch +Maintenon was no longer a mere fortress, but a palatial retreat, +luxurious in all its appointments, and shorn of all the manifest +militant attributes which it had formerly possessed. + +The shell was there, following closely the original outlines, but the +added ornamentation had effectually disguised its primordial existence. +Living rooms needed light and air, while a fortress or quarters for +troops might well be ordained on other lines. The Renaissance livened up +considerably the severe lines of the Gothic chateaux of France, and +though invariably the marks of the transition are visible to the expert +eye it is also true, as in the case of Maintenon, that there is +frequently a homogeneousness which is sufficiently pleasing to +effectually cover up any discrepancies which might otherwise be +apparent. The warrior aspect is invariably lost in the transition, and +thus a Renaissance residential chateau enters at once into a different +class from that of the feudal fortress regardless of the fact that such +may have been its original status. + +The armorial device of Jean Cottereau--three unlovely lizards blazoned +on a field of silver--is still to be seen sculptured on the two towers +flanking the entrance portal which to-day lacks its old drawbridge +before mentioned. Surrounding the edifice is a deep, unhealthful, +mosquito-breeding moat which is all a mediaeval moat should be, but which +is actually no great attribute to the place considering its +disadvantages. One wonders that it is allowed to exist in so stagnant a +condition, as the running waters of the near-by Eure might readily be +made use of to change all this. The site of the chateau at the +confluence of the Eure and the Voise is altogether charming. + +Madame de Maintenon did much to make the property more commodious and +convenient and built the great right wing which binds the donjon to the +main _corps de logis_. Her own apartments were situated in the new part +of the palace. She also built the gallery which leads from the Tour de +Machicoulis to the pointed chapel, which was a construction of the time +of Cottereau, an accessory which every self-respecting country-house of +the time was bound to have. It was by this gallery that the open tribune +in the little chapel was reached, thus enabling Louis XIV to pass +readily to mass while he was so frequent a visitor at that period when, +at Maintenon, he was overseeing the construction of his famous aqueduct. + +Maintenon has had the honour, too, to count among its illustrious guests +Racine, who came at the request of Madame de Maintenon, and here wrote +"Esther" and "Athalie" which were later produced at Saint Cyr by Madame +de Maintenon's celebrated band of "Demoiselles." + +Louis XIV was not the last of royal race to accept the Chateau de +Maintenon's hospitality for the unhappy Charles X was obliged to ask +shelter of its chatelain for himself and fleeing family. They arrived a +little after midnight of a hot August night, slept as well as possible +in the former apartments of Madame de Maintenon, and attended mass in +the chapel on the following morning. The monarch then discharged the +royal guard and the "hundred Swiss" and gave up, defeated at the game of +playing monarch against the will of the people. + +One enters the _Cour d'Honneur_ by a great portal of the time of Louis +XIV. Immediately before one is the principal facade, with its towers of +brick and its slender little turrets framing in so admirably the +entrance door. This facade is of the fifteenth century and on the tympan +of the dormer windows one may still see the monogram of its builder, +Cottereau. The drawbridge has been made way with, and the turrets over +the portal have been bound together by a diminutive balcony of stone, +which, while a manifest superfluity, is in no way objectionable. + +Under the entrance vault are doors on either side giving access to the +living apartments of the _rez-de-chaussee_. In the inner courtyard is to +be found the most exquisite architectural detail of the whole fabric, +the tower which encloses the monumental stairway, to which entrance is +had by a portal which is a veritable Gothic jewel. In the tympan of this +portal, as in the dormer windows, is the device of Jean Cottereau, +except in this case it is much more elaborate--a Saint Michel and the +dragon, surrounded by a "_semis de coquilles_" bearing the escutcheons +of the chatelain--_d'argent a lezards de sable_. + +At the left of this stairway tower is the principal courtyard facade, +supported by four arcades, pierced with great windows and surmounted by +two fine dormer windows, all in the style of Louis XII, of which the +same effects to be observed at Blois and in the Hotel d'Alluye are +contemporary. + +At the left of the inner court is the wing built by Cottereau which +terminates in a great round tower, while to the right is that erected by +Madame de Maintenon ending at the donjon. Directly opposite is a +magnificent vista over the canal of ornamental water framed on either +side by patriarchal trees and having as a background the silhouette of +the arches of the famous aqueduct which was to lead the waters of the +Eure to Versailles. + +The interior of the chateau is not less remarkable than the exterior. +Entering by the tower portal one comes at once to that magnificent +_grand escalier_ which is accounted one of the wonders of the French +Renaissance. + +The Salle a Manger of to-day was the old-time Salle des Gardes. It is +garnished with a fine wainscoting and panels of Cordovan leather. The +Chambre a Coucher of Louis XIV, to the left, is to-day the Salon, and +here are to be seen portraits of Louis XIV, Louis XII, Francis I, Henri +IV, and Louis XIII. + +A tiny rotunda contains a statue of Henri IV as a child, and portraits +of Madame de Maintenon and Louis XIV in their youth. A portrait gallery +of restrained proportions contains effigies of Madame de Maintenon and +her niece Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, the Duc de Penthievre, the Comtesse de +Toulouse, the Duc de Noailles, the Duchesse de Villars and the Duchesse +de Chaumont. + +The show-piece of the chateau, albeit of recent construction, is known +variously as the "Grand Galerie" and the "Longue Galerie." Its +decorations are due to the Duc de Noailles, the father of the present +proprietor. Virtually it is a portrait gallery of the Noailles family, +going back to the times of the Crusaders and coming down to the +twentieth century. + +The apartments of Madame de Maintenon form that portion of the chateau +which has the chief sentimental interest. In an ante-chamber is a +_chaise a porteurs_ once having belonged to the Marquise, and her +portrait by Mignard. Cordovan leather is hung upon the walls, and the +restored sleeping-room is hung with a canopy and separated from the rest +of the apartment by a balustrade in _bois dore_. Above the +chimney-piece is a portrait of Louis XIV, after Rigaud, and, finally, +the oratory is ornamented by a series of elegant sculptures in wood and +a magnificent Boule coffer. + +[Illustration: _Aqueduct of Louis XIV at Maintenon_] + +In the left wing is found a beautiful chapel of the fifteenth century, +which is very pure in style. It is decorated with a series of +Renaissance wood panels of the finest workmanship. The coloured glass of +the windows is of the sixteenth century. + +The rebuilt monumental stairway connects directly with a passage leading +to the entrance portico which opens on the garden terrace before the +_parterre_. + +The park of Maintenon is in every way admirable, with its _pelouse_, its +great border of trees, its waterways and more than thirty bridges. Jean +Cottereau himself planned the first vegetable and fruit garden, or +_potager_, the same whose successor is the delight of the dwellers at +Maintenon to-day. + +The _parterre_, the Grand Canal and the two avenues of majestic trees +were due to the conception of Le Notre, and their effect, as set off by +the alleyed forest background and the pillars of the aqueduct of Louis +XIV, is something unique. + +The gardens at Maintenon were perhaps not Le Notre's most famous work +but they followed the best traditions of their time, and because of +their vast expanse of ornamental water were, in a way, quite unequalled. + +Ambling off towards the forest is a great avenue flanked with high +overhanging shade trees known as the Allee Racine. It gets its name from +the fact that the dramatist was wont to take his walks abroad in this +direction and woo the muse while he was a guest of Madame de Maintenon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RAMBOUILLET AND ITS FOREST + +[Illustration: Chateau de Rambouillet] + + +Rambouillet is one of the most famous of the minor royal chateaux of +France. Built under the first of the monarchies, in the midst of the +vast forest of Yveline, it has always formed a part of the national +domain. Even now, under Republican France, it is still the scene of the +hunts organized for visiting monarchs, and, within the last half dozen +years alone, the monarchs of Spain and Belgium, Italy and England have +shot hares and stags and pheasants in company with a Republican +president. + +The occasions have lacked the picturesque costumes of the disciples of +Saint Hubert in other times; but the huntsman still winds his horn to +the same traditional tune and the banquets given in the chateau on such +occasions are, in no small measure, an echo of what has gone before. + +It was in the old chateau of Rambouillet that Francis I died. In the +month of March, 1547, Francis, coming from Chambord in the south, +crossed the "accursed bridge" and arrived at the foot of the ivy-grown +donjon which one sees to-day, the last remaining relic of the mediaeval +fortress. For a year the monarch had led a wandering life, revisiting +all the favourite haunts of his kingdom, and, though scarce turned +fifty, was prematurely aged and gray. + +He was lifted tenderly from his royal coach, and by the winding stair, +carried slowly to his apartments on the second floor, overlooking the +three canals and the "accursed bridge" and the tangled forest beyond. + +Jacques d'Angennes, to whose ancestors Rambouillet one day belonged, +acted as host to his royal master and cared for him as a brother, but +Francis was dispirited, and growing weaker every moment. He complained +bitterly of the death of his favourite son from the plague, and of that +of the gay monarch across the channel, his old friend, Henry VIII of +England. + +He was restless and wished to move on to Saint Germain, but his +condition made that impossible. After a feeble attempt to rouse himself +for a hunt in the forest, he took to his bed again, with the admonition +to his friend d'Angennes, who never left him: "I am dying, send for my +son, Henri." + +The prince joined the mourners around the royal bedside and heard his +father's confession thus: "My son, I have sinned greatly; I have been +led away by my passions; follow that which I have done that is +accredited good, and ignore the evil; above all, cherish France; be good +to my people." + +That was all except the final counsel to "beware of the Guises; they are +traitors." After that he spoke no more. Francis I, the gallant, +art-loving monarch, the father of the Renaissance in France, was dead. + +In 1562, Catherine de Medici, accompanied by her son Charles IX, here +awaited the results of the momentous battle of Dreux. In 1588, Henri +III, fleeing Paris after the "_journee des barricades_" came here to +rest, and so fatigued was he on his arrival that he went to bed "_tout +botte_." + +The son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan came into possession of +"the palace and lands" and in his honour the property was made, in spite +of its limited area, a Duche-Pairie. + +Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, as was but natural, because of its +proximity to Maintenon and to Paris, frequently honoured Rambouillet +with their presence; and, a little later, Louis XV and the beautiful +Comtesse de Toulouse followed suit. + +The Duc de Penthievre, to whom the property had by this time descended, +at the instance of Louis XVI, ceded to that monarch the domain of +Rambouillet. + +Louis XVI built vast commons and outbuildings, all with some +architectural pretence, to house the appanage of the royal hunt, and +also built the Laiterie de la Reine and the model farm where, in 1786, +he established the first national sheepfold. + +[Illustration: _Laiterie de la Reine, Rambouillet_] + +To-day this is the famous Ecole de Bergers, where is quartered the +largest flock of _moutons a laine_ (merino sheep) in France, they +having been brought chiefly from Spain. + +The Laiterie de la Reine was a tiny sandstone temple with interior +fittings chiefly of white marble, and with a great, round centre-table, +and smaller tables in each corner, equally of marble, as becomes a +hygienically fitted dairy. It was restored by Louis Napoleon during the +Second Empire, and is still to be seen in all its pristine glory. + +In addition, Louis XVI had at Rambouillet a private domain of a +considerable extent which only the Constitution of 1791 united to the +Civil List. This property, except the palace, the park and the forest, +was sold later by the State. The Imperial Civil List, formed in 1805 by +Napoleon, included these dependencies specifically, and the emperor +frequently hunted in the neighbouring forest, though, compared to his +predecessors, he had little time to devote to that form of sport. Here, +too, was signed, in 1810, the decree which united Holland with the +Empire. + +Rambouillet has fallen sadly since the Revolution. A decree of the +_Representants du Peuple_, of October 14, 1793, provided that "the +furnishings of this palace, heretofore royal, shall be sold." Under the +Consulate and Empire a certain citizen, Trepsat by name, received an +injury in protecting Napoleon in an attack and, as recompense, was made +the official Architect and Conservator of the Palace of Rambouillet. + +Hardly had Trepsat entered upon his functions when he suggested the +demolition of the chateau. Napoleon hesitated, but finally partially +agreed, insisting, however, that enough should be left to form a +comfortable hunting-lodge. Trepsat would have torn down all and rebuilt +anew. Napoleon made an appointment with his architect to visit the +property and discuss the matter in detail the following year (1805), but +at that moment he was campaigning in Austria, so the interview was not +held. This was Trepsat's chance, and he found a pretext to overthrow the +entire east wing, but was stopped before he was able to further carry +out his ignorant act of vandalism. Trepsat was severely reprimanded by +the emperor himself, and was ordered to put things back as he found +them. "Even the most battered and sickly architect who ever lived could +hardly have had a worse inspiration," said Napoleon. Trepsat, be it +recalled, had lost a leg. + +The restoration was commenced, but Trepsat, committing one fault after +another, and finally juggling with the accounts, was obliged to take on +a collaborator by the name of Famin, a young _pensionnaire_ of the +Academie des Beaux Arts, recently returned from Rome. It was he who +saved Rambouillet from utter destruction. + +The apartments of Napoleon, which were those given over to public +functions in the time of the Comte de Toulouse, had been, and were, most +luxuriously appointed. That which shows most clearly the imprint of the +imperial regime is the curious Salle de Bains which was in direct +communication with the study, or Cabinet de Travail. + +It might have been a room in a Pompeian house so classic were its lines +and decorations. There was a series of medallions painted on the wall +representing portraits of members of the imperial family. These were +chiefly portraits of the female sex, and Napoleon, the first time he +entered his bath, in an excess of modesty and fury cried out: "Who is +the ass that did this thing?" Immediately they were painted out, and, +for the sum of nine hundred and fifty francs, another artist was found +who filled the frames of the medallions with sights and scenes +associated less intimately with Napoleonic history. + +Under the Empire the architect Famin was commissioned to furnish a +series of architectural embellishments to the gardens of Rambouillet. +Various stone statues were added and an octagon pavilion on the Ile des +Roches was restored and redecorated. Two great avenues were cut through +the _parterre_, and, as if fearing indiscretions on the part of his +entourage, the emperor caused to be planted long rows of lindens and +tulip trees, which were again masked by two rows of poplars. The +_peloux_ of the Jardin Francais were reestablished and the curves and +sweeps of the paths of the Jardin Anglais laid out anew. + +This ancient government property, arisen anew from its ruins, now bore +the name of the Pavillon du Roi de Rome, after the son of Napoleon. The +Ecuries, or stables, which had been built by Louis XVI, were transformed +into kennels, and various "posts," or miniature shooting-boxes, were +distributed here and there through the park. + +Under the Restoration the transformation of the chateau, which had been +projected ever since the time of Louis XVI, undertaken and then +abandoned by Napoleon, was again commenced, but on a less ambitious +scale than formerly. Chiefly this transformation consisted of opening up +windows, thus making practically a new facade. It was not wholly a happy +thought, and the spirit of economy of Louis XVIII, no less, perhaps, +than other motives, arrested this mutilation and the architect was +discharged from his functions. + +[Illustration: _Chateau de Rambouillet_] + +Again the hand of fate fell hard upon Rambouillet and its definite +eclipse as a royal abode came with the abdication of Charles X. The +abdication was actually signed at Rambouillet, and here, in the same +Salle du Conseil, the dauphin renounced the throne in favour of the +young Duc de Bordeaux. + +It was at Rambouillet that Charles X passed those solemn last days +before the abdication. He had been unmercifully harassed at Paris and +sought a quiet retreat, "not too far from the Tuileries," where he might +repose a moment and take counsel. In view of later events this was +significant; perhaps it was significant at the time, for the king +speedily repented his abdication. It was too late, for he had classed as +rebels all the royalists who would have accepted the "infant king" as +their monarch, even though the following Revolution prevented this. + +It was on the third of August that the commissioners, deputies of the +Provisionary Government, were brought before the king at Rambouillet. +They announced that twenty-five thousand armed Parisians were marching +on the chateau to compel him to quit his kingdom. It was not a matter +for debate, and at nine o'clock on the same night the monarch gave +assent to being conducted to Cherbourg, where he embarked upon his fatal +exile. + +After 1830, with a business-like instinct, the authorities rented the +property for twelve years to the Baron Schickler, and, at the end of the +Revolution of 1848, its career became more plebeian still; it was rented +to a man who converted the palace into an elaborately appointed +road-house, and the lawns and groves into open-air restaurants and +dancing places. + +Under the Gouvernement du Juillet the chateau, the park and the forest +were removed from the Civil List, and entered upon the inventory of the +Administration des Domaines. + +Under the Second Empire Rambouillet appeared again on the monarchial +Civil List. Napoleon III came here at times to hunt, but not to live, +and of his rare appearances at the chateau but little record exists. +Since 1870 Rambouillet has belonged to the Republican Government, and, +since royalties no longer exist in France, Republican chiefs of state +now take the lead in Rambouillet's national hunts. + +The property, as it stands to-day, is divided readily into four distinct +parts, the palace, the _parterre_, the _Jardin Anglais_ and the park. +The grove of lindens is remarkable in every respect, the ornamental +waters are gracious and of vast extent, and the _Laiterie_ and the +_Ferme_ are decidedly models of their kind; but the Chaumiere des +Coquillages, a rustic summer-house of rocks and shells and questionable +debris of all sorts, is hideous and unworthy. + +Not the least of the charming features of the park is the great alley of +Louisiana cypresses, one of the real sights, indeed, perfecting the +charm of the great body of water to the left of the chateau. + +Of the structure which existed in the fourteenth century, the chateau of +Rambouillet retains to-day only a great battlemented tower, and some +low-lying buildings attached to it. Successive enlargements, +restorations and mutilations have changed much of the original aspect of +the edifice, and modern structures flank and half envelop that which, to +all eyes, is manifestly ancient. The debris of the old fortress, which +was the foundation of all, adds its bit to the conglomerate mass of +which the chief and most imposing elements are the two tall _corps de +logis_ in the centre. + +Within, a rather banal Salle de Bal is shown as the chief feature, but +it is conventionally unlovely enough to be passed without emotion, save +that its easterly portion takes in the _cabinet_, or private apartment, +where Charles X signed his abdication. Adjoining this is the bedroom +occupied by that monarch, and a dining-room which also served His +Majesty, and which is still used by the head of the government on +ceremonious occasions. Its decorative scheme is of the period of Louis +XV. + +The Salle de Conseil is of the period of Charles X, and has some fairly +imposing carved wainscotings showing in places the monograms of Marie +Sophie and the Comtesse de Toulouse. + +A great map, or plan, of the Forest of Rambouillet covers the end wall, +and, if not esthetically beautiful, is at least useful and very +interesting. + +It was executed under Louis XVI and doubtless served its purpose well +when the hunters gathered after a day afield and recounted anecdotes of +their adventures. + +There is another apartment on the ground floor which is known as the +_Salle a Manger des Rendezvous de Chasse_, whose very name explains well +its functions. + +The Cabinet de Travail of Marie Antoinette and the Salle de Bain of +Napoleon have something more than a mere sentimental interest; they were +decidedly practical adjuncts to the royal palace. + +Napoleon's bath took the form of a rather short, deep pool. Its fresco +decorations, as seen to-day--replacing that family portrait gallery +which Napoleon caused to be painted out--are after the pseudo-antique +manner and represent bird's-eye views of various French cities and +towns, while a series of painted armorial trophies decorates the +ceiling. + +On the second floor are the apartments occupied by the Duchesse de Berry +and those of the Duchesse d'Angouleme. + +In the great round tower is the circular apartment where Francis I +breathed his last. It is this great truss-vaulted room that most +interests the visitor to Rambouillet. + +On the ground floor is another Salle de Bain, quite as theatrically +disposed as that of Napoleon. Its construction was due to the Comte de +Toulouse whose taste ran to Delft tiles and polychrome panels, framing +two imposing marines, also worked out in tiles. + +The _parterre_, extending before the main building, is of an ampleness +scarcely conceivable until once viewed. It is purely French in design +and is of the epoch of the tenancy of the Comte de Toulouse. Before the +admirably grouped lindens was a boathouse, and off in every direction +ran alleys of acacias, while here and there tulip beds, rose gardens and +hedges of rhododendrons flanked the very considerable ornamental waters. +This body of water, in the form of a trapezoid, is divided by four +grass-grown islets and separates the Jardin Anglais from the Jardin +Francais. One of the islets is known as the Ile des Roches and contains +the Grotte de Rabelais, so named in honour of the Cure of Meudon, when +he was presented at Rambouillet by the Cardinal du Bellay. It was on +this isle that were given those famous fetes in honour of the "_beaux +esprits_" who formed the assiduous cortege of Catherine de Vivonne, +mythological, pagan and _outre_. + +The Jardin Anglais at Rambouillet is the final expression of the species +in France. Designed under the Duc de Penthievre, it was restored and +considerably enlarged by Napoleon and, following the contours of an +artificial rivulet, it fulfils the description that its name implies. + +More remote, and half hidden from the precincts of the chateau, are the +Chaumiere and the Ermitage and they recall the background of a Fragonard +or a Watteau. It is all very "stagy"--but, since it exists, can hardly +be called unreal. + +The park proper, containing more than twelve hundred hectares, is one of +the largest and most thickly wooded in France. Between the _parterre_ +and the French and English garden and the park lie the Farm and the +Laiterie de la Reine, the caprice of Louis XVI when he would content +Marie Antoinette and give her something to think about besides her +troubles. Napoleon stripped it of its furnishings to install them, for +a great part, at Malmaison, for that other unhappy woman--Josephine. +Later, to give pleasure to Marie Louise, he ordered them brought back +again to Rambouillet, but it was to Napoleon III that the restoration of +this charming conceit was due. + +In the neighbourhood of Rambouillet was the famous Chateau de Chasse, or +royal shooting-box, which Louis XV was fond of making a place of +rendezvous. + +On the banks of the Etang de Pourras stood this Chateau de Saint Hubert, +named for the patron saint of huntsmen, and within its walls was passed +many a happy evening by king and courtiers after a busy day with stag +and hound. + +The hunt in France was perhaps at the most picturesque phase of its +existence at this time. The hunt of to-day is but a pale, though bloody, +imitation of the real sport of the days when monarchs and their +seigneurs in slashed doublet and hose and velvet cloaks pursued the deer +of the forest to his death, and knew not the _maitre d'equipage_ of +to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CHANTILLY + + +Chantilly, because of its royal associations, properly finds its place +in every traveller's French itinerary. Not only did Chantilly come to +its great glory through royal favour, but in later years the French +government has taken it under its wing, the chateau, the stables and the +vast park and forest, until the ensemble is to-day as much of a national +show place as Versailles or Saint Germain. It is here in the marble +halls, where once dwelt the Condes and the Montmorencys, that are held +each year the examinations of the French Academie des Beaux Arts. And +besides this it is a place of pilgrimage for thousands of tourists who, +as a class, for a couple of generations previously, never got farther +away from the capital than Saint Cloud. + +Many charters of the tenth century make mention of the estates of +Chantilly, which at that time belonged to the Seigneurs of Senlis. The +chateau was an evolution from a block-house, or fortress, erected by +Catulus in Gallo-Roman times and four centuries later it remained +practically of the same rank. In the fourteenth century the chateau was +chiefly a vast fortress surrounded by a water defence in the form of an +enlarged moat by means of which it was able to resist the Bourguignons +and never actually fell until after the taking of Meaux by the English +king, Henry V. + +[Illustration: CHANTILLY] + +Jean II de Montmorency, by his marriage with Marguerite d'Orgemont, came +to be the possessor of the domain, their son, in turn, becoming the +heir. It was this son, Guillaume, who became one of the most brilliant +servitors of the monarchs Louis XI, Louis XII, and Francis I, and it was +through these friends at court that Chantilly first took on its regal +aspect. + +In turn the celebrated Anne de Montmorency, Connetable de France, came +into the succession and finding the old fortress, albeit somewhat +enlarged and furbished up by his predecessor, less of a palatial +residence than he would have, separated the ancient chateau-fort from an +added structure by an ornamental moat, or canal, and laid out the +_pelouse_, _parterres_ and the alleys of greensward leading to the +forest which make one of the great charms of Chantilly to-day. + +Here resided, as visitors to be sure, but for more or less extended +periods, and at various times, Charles V, Charles IX and Henri IV, each +of them guests of the hospitable and ambitious Montmorencys. + +[Illustration: _Statue of Le Notre, Chantilly_] + +Chantilly passed in 1632 to Charlotte, the sister of the last Marechal +de Montmorency, the wife of Henri II, Prince de Conde, the mother of the +Grand Conde, the Prince de Conti and the Duchesse de Longueville. + +With the Grand Conde came the greatest fame, the apotheosis, of +Chantilly. This noble was so enamoured of this admirable residence that +he never left it from his thoughts and decorated it throughout in the +most lavish taste of his time, destroying at this epoch the chateau of +the moyen-age and the fortress. These were the days of gallant warriors +with a taste for pretty things in art, not mere bloodthirsty +slaughterers. + +On the foundations of the older structures there now rose an admirable +pile (not that which one sees to-day, however), embellished by the +surroundings which were evolved from the brain of the landscape +gardener, Le Notre. The Revolution made way with this lavish structure +and with the exception of the Chatelet, or the Petit Chateau (designed +by Jean Bullant in 1560, and remodelled within by Mansart) the +present-day work is a creation of the Duc d'Aumale, the heir to the +Condes' name and fame, to whom the National Assembly gave back his +ancestral estates which had in the meantime come into the inventory of +royal belongings through the claims established by the might of the +Second Empire. + +Back to the days of the Grand Conde one reads of an extended visit made +by Louis XIV to his principal courtier. It was at an expense of two +hundred thousand _ecus_ that the welcoming fete was accomplished. Madame +de Sevigne has recounted the event more graphically than any other +chronicler, and it would be presumption to review it here at length. The +incident of Vatel alone has become classic. + +To the coterie of poets at Rambouillet must be added those of Chantilly; +their sojourn here added much of moment to the careers and reputations +of Boileau, Racine, Bourdaloue and Bossuet. It was the latter, who, in +the funeral oration which he delivered on the death of the Prince de +Conde, said: + +"Here under his own roof one saw the Grand Conde as if he were at the +head of his armies, a noble always great, as well in action as in +repose. Here you have seen him surrounded by his friends in this +magnificent dwelling, in the shady alleys of the forest or beside the +purling waters of the brooks which are silent neither day nor night." + +The Grand Conde died, however, at Fontainebleau. The heir, Henri-Jules +de Bourbon, did his share towards keeping up and embellishing the +property, and to him was due that charming wildwood retreat known as the +Parc de Sylvie. + +Louis-Henri de Bourbon, Minister of Louis XV at the commencement of his +reign, had gained a fabulous sum of money in the notorious "Law's Bank" +affair, and, with a profligate and prodigal taste in spending, lived a +life of the grandest of grand seigneurs at Chantilly, to which, as his +donation to its architectural importance, he contributed the famous +Ecuries, or stables. To show that he was _persona grata_ at court he +gave a great fete here for Louis XV and the Duchesse du Barry. + +The last Prince de Conde but one before the Revolution built the Chateau +d'Enghien in the neighbourhood, and sought to people the Parc de Sylvie +with a rustic colony of thatched _maisonettes_ and install his +favourites therein in a weak imitation of what had been done in the +Petit Trianon. The note was manifestly a false one and did not endure, +not even is its echo plainly audible for all is hearsay to-day and no +very definite record of the circumstance exists. + +Chantilly in later times has been a favourite abode with modern +monarchs. The King of Denmark, the Emperor Joseph II and the King of +Sweden were given hospitality here, and much money was spent for their +entertainment, and much red and green fire burned for their amusement +and that of their suites. + +The Revolution's fell blow carried off the principal parts of the +Conde's admirable constructions and it is fortunate that the Petit +Chateau escaped the talons of the "Bande Noire." Immediately afterwards +the Chateau d'Enghien and the Ecuries were turned over to the uses of +the Minister of War, and the authorities of the Jardin des Plantes were +given permission to transplant and transport anything which pleased +their fancy among the exotics which had been set out by Le Notre in +Chantilly's famous _parterres_. + +Under the imperial regime the Foret de Chantilly was given in fee simple +to Queen Hortense, though all was ultimately returned to the Conde heirs +after the Restoration. It was at this period that Chantilly received the +visit of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, and the historian's account of +that visit makes prominent the fact that during the periods of rain it +was necessary that an umbrella be carried over the imperial head as he +passed through the corridors of the palace from one apartment to +another. + +The host of the emperor died here in 1818 and his son, spending perhaps +half of his time here, cared little for restoration and spent all his +waking hours hunting in the forest, returning to the Petit Chateau only +to eat and sleep. + +The Duc de Bourbon added to the flanking wings of the Petit Chateau and +cleaned up the debris which was fast becoming moss-grown, weed +encumbered and altogether disgraceful. The moats were cleaned out of +their miasmatic growth and certain of the grass-carpeted _parterres_ +resown and given a semblance of their former selves. + +Some days after the Revolution of 1830 the Prince de Conde died in a +most dramatic fashion, and his son, the Duc d'Enghien, having been shot +at Vincennes under the Empire, he willed the Duc d'Aumale and his issue +his legal descendants forever. + +Towards 1840 the Duc d'Aumale sought to reconstruct the splendours of +Chantilly, but a decree of January 22, 1852, banished the entire Orleans +family and interrupted the work when the property was sold to the +English bankers, Coutts and Company, for the good round sum of eleven +million francs, not by any means an extravagant price for this estate +of royal aspect and proportions. The National Assembly of 1872 did the +only thing it could do in justice to tradition--bought the property in +and decreed that it be restored to its legitimate proprietor. + +It was as late as 1876 that the Duc d'Aumale undertook the restoration +of the Chatelet and the rebuilding of the new chateau which is seen +to-day. The latter is from the designs of Henri Daumet, member of the +Institut de France. + +In general the structure of to-day occupies the site of the moyen-age +chateau but is of quite a different aspect. + +The Duc d'Aumale made a present of the chateau and all that was +contained therein to the Institut de France. From a purely sordid point +of view it was a gift valued at something like thirty-five million +francs, not so great as many new-world public legacies of to-day, but in +certain respects of a great deal more artistic worth. + +The mass is manifestly imposing, made up as it is, of four distinct +parts, the Eglise, dating from 1692, the Ecuries, the Chatelet--or Petit +Chateau, and the Chateau proper--the modern edifice. + +Before the celebrated Ecuries is a green, velvety _pelouse_ which gives +an admirable approach. The architecture of the Ecuries is of a heavy +order and the sculptured decorations actually of little esthetic worth, +representing as they do hunting trophies and the like. Before the great +fountain one deciphers a graven plaque which reads as follows: + + Louis Henri de Bourbon + Prince de Conde + Fut Construire Cette Ecurie + 1701-1784. + +Within the two wings may be stabled nearly two hundred horses. The Grand +Ecuries at Chantilly are assuredly one of the finest examples extant of +that luxuriant art of the eighteenth century French builder. Luxurious, +excessively ornate and overpowering it is, and, for that reason, open to +question. The work of the period knew not the discreet middle road. It +was of Chantilly that it was said that the live stock was better lodged +than its masters. The architect of this portion of the chateau was Jean +Aubert, one of the collaborators of Jules Hardouin Mansart. + +The characteristics of Chantilly, take it as a whole, the chateau, the +park and the forest, are chiefly theatrical, but with an all-abiding +regard for the proprieties, for beyond a certain heaviness of +architectural style in parts of the chateau everything is of the finely +focussed relative order of which the French architect and landscape +gardener have for ages been past masters. + +The real French garden is here to be seen almost at its best, its +squares and ovals of grassy green apportioned off from the mass by +gravelled walks and ornamented waters. The "_tapis d'orient_" effect, so +frequently quoted by the French in writing of such works, is hardly +excelled elsewhere. + +All this shocked the mid-eighteenth century English traveller, but it +was because he did not, perhaps could not, understand. Rigby, "the +Norwich alderman" as the French rather contemptuously referred to this +fine old English gentleman, said frankly of Chantilly: "All this has +cost dear and produced a result far from pleasing." He would have been +better pleased doubtless with a privet or box hedge and an imitation +plaster rockery, things which have never agreed with French taste, but +which were the rule in pretentious English gardens of the same period. +Rigby must indeed have been a "_grincheau_," as the French called him, +for this same up-country gentleman said of Versailles: "Lovely +surrounding country but palace and park badly designed." Versailles is +not that, whatever else its faults may be. + +Chantilly is more than a palace, it is a museum of nature, a hermitage +of art and of history. The fantasy of its _tourelles_, its _lucarnes_ +and its _pignons_ are something one may hardly see elsewhere in such +profusion, and the fact that they are modern is forgotten in the +impression of the general silhouette. + +The adventurer who first built a donjon on the Rocher de Chantilly +little knew with what seigneurial splendour the site was ultimately to +be graced. From a bare outpost it was transformed, as if by magic, into +a Renaissance palace of a supreme beauty. The Duc d'Aumale said in his +"Acte de Donation de Chantilly": "It stands complete and varied, a +monument of French art in all its branches, a history of the best epochs +of our glory." + +Among all the palatial riches neighbouring upon Paris, not forgetting +Versailles, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Pierrefonds and Rambouillet, +Chantilly, by the remarkable splendour of its surroundings, its +situation and the artistic treasures which it possesses, is in a class +by itself. It is a class more clearly defined by the historic souvenirs +which surround it than any other contemporary structure of this part of +France. + +Its corridors and gravelled walks and the long alleys of the park and +forest may not take on the fete-like aspect which they knew in the +eighteenth century, but they are not solitary like those of +Fontainebleau and Rambouillet, nor noisily overrun like those of +Versailles or Saint Germain. + +The ornamental waters which surround the Chateau de Chantilly are of a +grand and nearly unique beauty. It is a question if they are not finer +than the waters of Versailles, indeed they preceded them and may even +have inspired them. + +The Chatelet, the chateau proper and the chapel form a group quite +distinct from the Ecuries. The Cour d'Honneur is really splendid and one +hardly realizes the juxtaposition of modernity. The pavilion attributed +to Jean Bullant, the western facade, the ancient Petit Chateau, the +Grand Vestibule, the Grand Escalier and the Gallerie des Cerfs and a +dozen other apartments are of a rare and imposing beauty, though losing +somewhat their distinctive aspect by reason of the _objets de musee_ +distributed about their walls and floors. + +One of the landscape gems of Chantilly is the _Pelouse_, a vast +esplanade of greensward now forming, in part, the celebrated race track +of Chantilly. Sport ever formed a part of the outdoor program at +Chantilly, but that of to-day is just a bit more horsey than that of +old, a good deal less picturesque and assuredly more vulgarly banal as +to its _cachet_ than the hunts, the tourneys and courses of the romantic +age. + +[Illustration: _Chateau de Chantilly_] + +Thousands come to Chantilly to wager their coin on scrubs and dark +horses ridden by third-rate "warned-off" jockeys from other lands, but +probably not ten in ten thousand of the lookers on at the Grand Prix du +Jockey Club in May ever make the occasion of the spring meeting an +opportunity for visiting the fine old historic monument of the Condes. + +The "Races" of Chantilly may be given a further word in that they are an +outgrowth of a foundation by the Duc d'Orleans in 1832. The track forms +a circuit of two thousand metres, and occupies quite the best half of +the Pelouse, closed in on one side by the thick-grown Foret de Chantilly +and flanked, in part, on the other by the historic Ecuries, with the +Tribune, or grand stand, just to the south. + +Many tourists arrive at Chantilly by auto, stop brusquely before the +Grande Grille, rush through the galleries of the chateau, do "_cent +pas_" in the park, give a cursory glance at the stables and are off; but +more, many more, with slower steps and saner minds, drink in the charms +which are offered on all sides and consider the time well spent even if +they have paid "Boulevard Prices" at the Restaurant du Grand Conde for +their _dejeuner_. + +It has been said that a museum is a reunion of _objets d'art_ brought +about by a methodical grouping, either chronologically or categorically. +The Duc d'Aumale's Musee de Chantilly is more an expression of personal +taste. He collected what he wished and he arranged his collections as +suited his fancy. + +The famous Musee de Chantilly, which is the lodestone which draws most +folk thither, so admirably housed, was a gift of the Duc d'Aumale who, +for the glory of his ancestors, and the admiration of the world, to say +nothing of his own personal satisfaction, here gathered together an +eclectic collection of curious and artistic treasures, certainly not the +least interesting or valuable among the great public collections in +France. The effect produced is sometimes startling, a Messonier is cheek +by jowl with a Baron Gros, a Decamps _vis a vis_ to a Veronese, and a +Lancret is bolstered on either hand by a Poussin and a Nattier. Amid all +this disorder there is, however, an undeniable, inexplicable charm. + +There are three distinct apartments worth, more than all the others, the +glance of the hurried visitor to the Musee Conde at Chantilly. In the +first, the Santuario, is the Livre d'Heures of Etienne Chevalier, by +Jean Fouquet, considered as the most important relic of primitive French +art extant. + +The Cabinet des Gemmes comes second, and here is the celebrated "Diamant +Rose," called the Grand Conde. + +Finally there is the Galerie de Psyche, with forty-four coloured glass +windows, executed for the Connetable de Montmorency in 1541-1542. + +The great collection of historical and artistic treasures stowed away +within the walls of Chantilly the Duc d'Aumale selected himself in order +to associate his own name with the glorious memory of the Condes, who +were so intimately connected with the chateau. + +The Duc sought to recover such of the former furnishings of the chateau +as had been dissipated during the Revolution whenever they could be +heard of and could be had at public or private sale. + +In this connection a word on Chantilly lace may not be found inapropos. +The Chantilly lace of to-day, it is well to recall, is a mechanically +produced article of commerce, turned out by the running mile from +Nottingham, England, though in the days when Chantilly's porcelains +rivalled those of Sevres it was purely a local product. One may well +argue therefore that the bulk of the Chantilly lace sold in the shops of +Chantilly to-day is not on a par with the admirable examples to be seen +in the glass cases of the museum. + +A wooded alley leading to the great park runs between the main edifice +and the Chateau d'Enghien, a gentle incline descending again to the +sunken gardens in a monumental stairway of easy slope, the whole a +quintessence of much that is best of the art of the landscape gardener +of the time. + +To the left extends the vast Jardin Anglais--a veritable French Jardin +Anglais. Let not one overlook the distinction: On conventional lines it +is pretty, dainty and pleasing, but the species lacks the dignified +formality of the Italian garden or the ingenious arrangement of the +French. Its curves and ovals and circles are annoying after the _lignes +droites_ and the right angles and the _broderies_ of the French variety. + +The Foret de Chantilly covers two thousand four hundred and forty-nine +hectares and extends from the Bois de Herivaux on one side to the Foret +de Senlis on the other. The _rendezvous-de-chasse_ was, in the old days, +and is to-day on rare occasions, at the Rond Point, to which a dozen +magnificent forest roads lead from all directions, that from the town +being paved with Belgian blocks, the dread of automobilists, but +delightful to ride over in muddy weather. The Route de Connetable, so +called, is well-nigh ideal of its kind. It launches forth opposite the +chateau and at its entrance are two flanking stone lions. It is of a +soft soil suitable for horseback riding, but entirely unsuited for +wheeled traffic of any kind. + +Another of the great forest roads leads to the Chateau de la Reine +Blanche, a diminutive edifice in the pointed style, with a pair of +svelte towers coiffed candle-snuffer fashion. Tradition, and very +ancient and somewhat dubious tradition, attributes the edifice as having +belonged to Blanche de Navarre, the wife of Philippe de Valois. Again it +is thought to have been a sort of royal attachment to the Abbaye de +Royaumont, built near by, by Saint Louis. This quaintly charming manor +of minute dimensions was a tangible, habitable abode in 1333, but for +generations after appears to have fallen into desuetude. A mill grew up +on the site, and again the walls of a chateau obliterated the more +mundane, work-a-day mill. The Duc de Bourbon restored the whole place in +1826 that it might serve him and his noble friends as a hunting-lodge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +COMPIEGNE AND ITS FOREST + + +One of the most talked of and the least visited of the minor French +palaces is that of Compiegne. The archeologists coming to Compiegne +first notice that all its churches are "_malorientees_." It is a minor +point with most folk, but when one notes that its five churches have +their high altars turned to all points of the compass, instead of to the +east, it is assuredly a fact to be noticed, even if one is more +romantically inclined than devout. + +Through and through, Compiegne, its palace, its hotel-de-ville, its +forest, is delightful. Old and new huddle close together, and the _art +nouveau_ decorations of a branch of a great Parisian department store +flank a butcher's stall which looks as though it might have come down +from the times when all trading was done in the open air. + +Compiegne's origin goes back to the antique. It was originally +Compendium, a Roman station situated on the highway between Soissons and +Beauvais. A square tower, Caesar's Tower, gave a military aspect to the +walled and fortified station, and evidences are not wanting to-day to +suggest with what strength its fortifications were endowed. + +[Illustration: Compiegne] + +It was here that the first Frankish kings built their dwelling, and here +that Pepin-le-Bref received the gracious gift of an organ from the +Emperor Constantine, and here, in 833, that an assembly of bishops and +nobles deposed Louis-le-Debonnaire. + +Charles-le-Chauve received Pope Jean VIII in great pomp in the palace at +Compiegne, and it was this Pope who gave absolution to Louis-le-Begue, +who died here but a year after, 879. The last of the Carlovingians, +Louis V (le-Faineant), died also at Compiegne in 987. + +The city is thus shown to have been a favourite place of sojourn for the +kings of the Franks, and those of the first and second races. As was but +obvious many churchly councils were held here, fourteen were recorded in +five centuries, but none of great ecclesiastical or civil purport. + +The city first got its charter in 1153, but the Merovingian city having +fallen into a sort of galloping decay Saint Louis gave it to the +Dominicans in 1260, who here founded, by the orders of the king, a Hotel +Dieu which, in part, is the same edifice which performs its original +functions to-day. + +The first great love of Compiegne was expressed by Charles V, who +rebuilt the palace of Charles-le-Chauve in a manner which was far from +making it a monumental or artistically disposed edifice. It was +originally called the Louvre, from the Latin word _opus_ +(_l'oeuvre_), a word which was applied to all the chateaux-forts of +these parts. The same monarch did better with the country-houses which +he afterwards built at Saint Germain and Vincennes; perhaps by this time +he had grown wise in his dealings with architects. + +Like all the little towns of the Valois, Compiegne abounds in souvenirs +of the Guerre de Cent Ans, Jeanne d'Arc, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Napoleon I +and Napoleon III, and as its monuments attest this glory, so its forest, +one of the finest in France, awakens almost as many historical memories. + +Wars and rumors of war kept Compiegne in a turmoil for centuries, but +the most theatrical episode was the famous "_sortie_" made by Jeanne +d'Arc when she was attempting to defend the city against the combined +English and Burgundian troops. It was an episode in which faint heart, +perhaps treason, played an unwelcome part, for while the gallant maid +was taking all manner of chances outside the gates the military +governor, Guillaume de Flavy, ordered the barriers of the great portal +closed behind her and her men. + +Near the end of the Pont de Saint Louis Jeanne d'Arc fell into the hands +of the besiegers. An archer from Picardy captured her single handed, +and, for a round sum in silver or in kind, turned her over to her +torturer, Jean de Luxembourg. A statue of the maid is found on the +public "Place," and the Tour Jeanne d'Arc, a great circular donjon of +the thirteenth century, is near by. Another souvenir is to be found in +the ancient Hotel de Boeuf, at No. 9 Rue de Paris, where the maid +lodged from the eighteenth to the twenty-third of August, 1429, awaiting +the entry of Charles VII. + +With the era of Francis I that gallant and fastidious monarch came to +take up his residence at Compiegne. He here received his "friend and +enemy," Charles V, but strangely enough there is no monument in +Compiegne to-day which is intimately associated with the stay here of +the art-loving Francis. He preferred, after all, his royal manor at +Villers-Cotterets near by. There was more privacy there, and it formed +an admirable retreat for such moments when the king did not wish to bask +in publicity, and these moments were many, though one might not at first +think so when reading of his affairs of state. There were also affairs +of the heart which, to him, in many instances, were quite as important. +This should not be forgotten. + +In 1624 a treaty was signed at Compiegne which assured the alliance of +Louis XIII with the United Provinces, and during this reign the court +was frequently in residence here. In 1631 Marie de Medici, then a +prisoner in the palace, made a notable escape and fled, doomed ever +afterwards to a vagabond existence, a terrible fall for her once proud +glory, to her death in a Cologne garret ten years later. + +In 1635 the Grand Chancellor of Sweden signed a treaty here which +enabled France to mingle in the affairs of the Thirty Years' War. + +During the Fronde, that "Woman's War," which was so entirely +unnecessary, Anne d'Autriche held her court in the Palace of Compiegne +and received Christine de Suede on certain occasions when that royal +lady's costume was of such a grotesque nature, and her speech so +_chevaleresque_, that she caused even a scandal in a profligate court. +Anne d'Autriche, too, left Compiegne practically a prisoner; another +_menage a trois_ had been broken up. + +The most imposing event in the history of Compiegne of which the +chronicles tell was the assembling of sixty thousand men beneath the +walls by Louis XIV, in order to give Madame de Maintenon a realistic +exhibition of "playing soldiers." At all events the demonstration was a +bloodless one, and an immortal page in Saint-Simon's "Memoires" +consecrates this gallantry of a king in a most subtle manner. + +Another fair lady, a royal favourite, too, came on the scene at +Compiegne in 1769 when Madame du Barry was the principal _artiste_ in +the great fete given in her honour by Louis XV. She was lodged in a tiny +chateau (built originally for Madame de Pompadour) a short way out of +town on the Soissons road. + +Du Barry must have been a good fairy to Compiegne for Louis XV lavished +an abounding care on the chateau and, rather than allow the architect, +Jacques Ange Gabriel, have the free hand that his counsellors advised, +sought to have the ancient outlines of the former structure on the site +preserved and thus present to posterity through the newer work the two +monumental facades which are to be seen to-day. The effort was not +wholly successful, for the architect actually did carry out his fancy +with respect to the decoration in the same manner in which he had +designed the Ecole Militaire at Paris and the two colonnaded edifices +facing upon the Place de la Concorde. + +This work was entirely achieved when Louis XVI took possession. This +monarch, in 1780, caused to be fitted up a most elaborate apartment for +the queen (his marriage with Marie Antoinette was consecrated here), but +that indeed was all the hand he had in the work of building at +Compiegne, which has practically endured as his predecessor left it. The +Revolution and Consulate used the chateau as their fancy willed, and +rather harshly, but in 1806 its restoration was begun and Charles IV of +Spain, upon his dethronement by Napoleon, was installed therein a couple +of years later. + +The palace, the park and the forest now became a sort of royal appanage +of this Spanish monarch, which Napoleon, in a generous spirit, could +well afford to will him. He lived here some months and then left +precipitately for Marseilles. + +Napoleon affected a certain regard for this palatial property, though +only occupying it at odd moments. He embellished its surroundings, above +all its gardens, in a most lavish manner. Virtually, all things +considered, Compiegne is a _Palais Napoleonien_, and if one would study +the style of the Empire at its best the thing may be done at Compiegne. + +On July 30, 1814, Louis XVIII and Alexander of Russia met at Compiegne +amid a throng of Paris notabilities who had come thither for the +occasion. + +Charles X loved to hunt in the forest of Compiegne. In 1832, one of the +daughters of Louis-Philippe, the Princesse Louise, was married to the +King of the Belgians in this palace. + +From 1852 to 1870 the palace and its grounds were the scenes of many +imperial fetes. + +Napoleon III had for Compiegne a particular predilection. The +prince-president, in 1852, installed himself here for the autumn season, +and among his guests was that exquisite blond beauty, Eugenie Montijo, +who, the year after, was to become the empress of the French. Faithful +to the memory of his uncle, by reason of a romantic sentiment, the Third +Napoleon came frequently to Compiegne; or perhaps it was because of the +near-by hunt, for he was a passionate disciple of Saint Hubert. It was +his Versailles! + +The palace of Compiegne as seen to-day presents all the classic coldness +of construction of the reign of Louis XV. Its lines were severe and that +the building was inspired by a genius is hard to believe, though in +general it is undeniably impressive. Frankly, it is a mocking, decadent +eighteenth century architecture that presents itself, but of such vast +proportions that one sets it down as something grand if not actually of +surpassing good taste. + +In general the architecture of the palace presents at first glance a +coherent unit, though in reality it is of several epochs. Its +furnishings within are of different styles and periods, not all of them +of the best. Slender gold chairs, false reproductions of those of the +time of Louis XV, and some deplorable tapestries huddle close upon +elegant "_bergeres_" of Louis XVI, and sofas, tables and bronzes of +master artists and craftsmen are mingled with cheap castings unworthy of +a stage setting in a music hall. A process of adroit eviction will some +day be necessary to bring these furnishings up to a consistent plane of +excellence. + +One of the facades is nearly six hundred feet in length, with forty-nine +windows stretching out in a single range. It might be the front of an +automobile factory if it were less ornate, or that of an exposition +building were it more beautiful. In some respects it is reminiscent of +the Palais Royal at Paris, particularly as to the entrance colonnade and +gallery facing the Louvre. + +The chief beauty within is undoubtedly the magnificent stairway, with +its balustrade of wrought iron of the period of Louis XVI. The Salle de +Spectacle is of a certain Third Empire-Louis Napoleon distinction, which +is saying that it is neither very lovely nor particularly plain, simply +ordinary, or, to give it a French turn of phrase, vulgar. + +One of the most remarkable apartments is the Salle des Cartes, the old +salon of the Aides de Camp, whose walls are ornamented with three great +plans showing the roads and by-paths of the forest, and other decorative +panels representing the hunt of the time of Louis XV. + +The Chambre a Coucher of the great Napoleon is perhaps the most +interesting of all the smaller apartments, with its strange bed, which +in form more nearly resembles an oriental divan than anything European. +Doubtless it is not uncomfortable as a bed, but it looks more like a +tent, or camp, in the open, than anything essentially intended for +domestic use within doors. After the great Napoleon, his nephew Napoleon +III was its most notable occupant, though it was last slept in by the +Tzar Nicholas II, when he visited France in 1901. + +The sleeping-room of the Empress Eugenie is fitted up after the style of +the early Empire with certain interpolations of the mid-nineteenth +century. The most distinct feature here is the battery of linen coffers +which Marie Louise had had especially designed and built. The Salon des +Dames d'Honneur, with its double rank of nine "scissors chairs," the +famous _tabourets de cour_, lined up rigidly before the _canape_ on +which the empress rested, is certainly a remarkable apartment. This +was the _decor_ of convention that Madame Sans Gene rendered classic. + +[Illustration: _Napoleon's Bedchamber, Compiegne_] + +Like all the French national palaces Compiegne has a too abundant +collection of Sevres vases set about in awkward corners which could not +otherwise be filled, and, beginning with the vestibule, this thing is +painfully apparent. + +The apartments showing best the Napoleonic style in decorations and +furnishings are the Salon des Huissiers, the Salle des Gardes, the +Escalier d'Apollon, the Salle de Don Quichotte--which contains a series +of designs destined to have served for a series of tapestries intended +to depict scenes in the life of the windmill knight--the Galerie des +Fetes, the Galerie des Cerfs, the Salle Coypel, the Salle des Stucs and +the Salon des Fleurs, through which latter one approaches the royal +apartments. + +In the sixteenth century, or, more exactly, between 1502 and 1510, was +constructed Compiegne's handsome Hotel de Ville, one of the most +delightful architectural mixtures of Gothic and Renaissance extant. It +is an architectural monument of the same class as the Palais de Justice +at Rouen or the Hotel Cluny at Paris. Its frontispiece is marvellous, +the _rez-de-chaussee_ less gracious than the rest perhaps, but with the +first story blooming forth as a gem of magnificent proportions and +setting. Between the four windows of this first story are posed +statuesque effigies of Charles VII, Jeanne d'Arc, Saint Remy and Louis +IX. In the centre, in a niche, is an equestrian statue of Louis XII, who +reigned when this monument was being built. A _balustrade a jour_ +finishes off this story, which, in turn, is overhung with a high, peaked +gable, and above rise the belfry and its spire, of which the great clock +dates from 1303, though only put into place in 1536. The only false note +is sounded by the two insignificant, cold and unlovely wings which flank +the main structure on either side. + +It is a sixteenth century construction unrivalled of its kind in all +France, more like a Belgian town-hall belfry than anything elsewhere to +be seen outside Flanders, but it is not of the low Spanish-Renaissance +order as are so many of the imposing edifices of occidental and oriental +Flanders. It is a blend of Gothic and Renaissance, and, what is still +more rare, the best of Gothic and the best of Renaissance. Above its +facade is a civic belfry, flanked by two slender towers. Within the +portal-vestibule rises a monumental stairway which must have been the +inspiration of many a builder of modern opera-houses. + +Opposite the Hotel Dieu is the poor, rent relic of the Tour de Jeanne +d'Arc, originally a cylindrical donjon of the twelfth century, wherein +"La Pucelle" was imprisoned in 1430. + +Between the palace and the river are to be seen many vestiges of the +mediaeval ramparts of the town, and here and there a well-defined base of +a gateway or tower. Mediaevalism is rampant throughout Compiegne. + +The park surrounding the palace is quite distinct from the wider radius +of the Foret de Compiegne. It is of the secular, conventional order, and +its perspectives, looking towards the forest from the terrace and vice +versa, are in all ways satisfying to the eye. + +One of the most striking of these alleyed vistas was laid out under the +orders of the first Napoleon in 1810. It loses itself in infinity, +almost, its horizon blending with that of the far distant Beaux Monts in +the heart of the forest. + +In the immediate neighbourhood of the palace are innumerable statues, +none of great beauty, value or distinction. On the south side runs a +Cours, or Prado, as it would be called in Catalonia. The word Cours is +of Provencal origin, and how it ever came to be transplanted here is a +mystery. Still here it is, a great tree-shaded promenade running to the +river. The climate of Compiegne is never so blazing hot as to make this +Cours so highly appreciated as its namesakes in the Midi, but as an +exotic accessory to the park it is quite a unique delight. + +Within the park may still be traced the outlines of the moat which +surrounded the palace of Charles V, as well as some scanty remains of +the same period. + +Another distinctive feature is the famous _Berceau en Fer_, an iron +trellis several thousands of feet in length, which was built by Napoleon +I as a reminder to Marie Louise of a similar, but smaller, garden +accessory which she had known at Schoenbrunn. It was a caprice, if you +like, and rather a futile one since it was before the time when +artistically worthless things were the rage just because of their +gigantic proportions. Napoleon III cut it down in part, and pruned it to +more esthetic proportions, and what there is left, vine and flower +grown, is really charming. + +The Foret de Compiegne as a historic wildwood goes back to the Druids +who practiced their mysterious rites under its antique shade centuries +before the coming of the kings, who later called it their own special +hunting preserve. Stone hatchets, not unlike the tomahawks of the red +man, have been found and traced back--well, definitely to the Stone +Age, and supposedly to the time when they served the Druids for their +sacrifices. + +[Illustration: _Cours de Compiegne_] + +The soldiers of Caesar came later and their axes were of iron or copper, +and though on the warpath, too, their way was one which was supposed to +lead civilization into the wilderness. Innumerable traces of the Roman +occupation are to be found in the forest by those who know how to read +the signs; twenty-five different localities have been marked down by the +archeologists as having been stations on the path blazed by the Legions +of Rome. + +After the Romans came the first of the kings as proprietors of the +forest, and in the moyen-age the monks, the barons and the crown itself +shared equally the rights of the forest. + +Legends of most weird purport are connected with various points +scattered here and there throughout the forest, as at the Fosse Dupuis +and the Table Ronde, where a sort of "trial by fire" was held by the +barons whenever a seigneur among them had conspired against another. +Ariosto, gathering many of his legends from the works of the old French +chroniclers, did not disdain to make use of the Foret de Compiegne as a +stage setting. + +During the reign of Clothaire the forest was known as the Foret de +Cuise, because of a royal palace hidden away among the Druid oaks which +bore the name of Cotia, or Cusia. Until 1346 the palace existed in some +form or other, though shorn of royal dignities. It was at this period +that Philippe VI divided the forests of the Valois into three distinct +parts in order to better regulate their exploitation. + +The Frankish kings being, it would seem, inordinately fond of _la +chasse_ the Foret de Compiegne, in the spring and autumn, became their +favorite rendezvous. Alcuin, the historian, noted this fact in the +eighth century, and described this earliest of royal hunts in some +detail. In 715 the forest was the witness of a great battle between the +Austrasians and the Neustrians. + +Before Francis I with his habitual initiative had pierced the eight +great forest roads which come together at the octagon called the Puits +du Roi, the forest was not crossed by any thoroughfare; the nearest +thing thereto was the Chaussee de Brunhaut, a Roman way which bounded it +on the south and east. + +Louis XIV and Louis XV, in turn, cut numerous roads and paths, and to +the latter were due the crossroads known as the Grand Octagone and the +Petit Octagone. + +It was over one of these great forest roads, that leading to Soissons, +that Marie Louise, accompanied by a cortege of three hundred persons, +eighty conveyances and four hundred and fifty horses, journeyed in a +torrential rain, in March 1807, when she came to France to found a +dynasty. + +A marriage had been consummated by procuration at Vienna, and she set +out to actually meet her future spouse for the first time at Soissons. +At the little village of Courcelles, on the edge of the forest between +Soissons and Compiegne, two men enveloped in great protecting cloaks had +arrived post-haste from Compiegne. At the parish church they stopped a +moment and took shelter under the porch, impatiently scanning the +horizon. Finally a lumbering _berlin de voyage_ lurched into view, drawn +by eight white horses. In its depths were ensconced two women richly +dressed, one a beautiful woman of mature years, the other a young girl +scarce eighteen years. + +The most agitated of the men, he who was clad in a gray redingote, +sprang hastily to the carriage door. He was introduced by the older +woman as "_Sa Majeste l'Empereur des Francaises, mon frere_." The +speaker was one of the sisters of Napoleon, Caroline, Queen of Naples; +the other was the Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of Franz II, +Emperor of Austria. + +An imposing ceremonial had been planned for Soissons and the court had +been ordered to set out from Compiegne with the emperor, in order to +arrive at Soissons in due time. When the actual signal for the departure +was given the emperor was nowhere to be found. As usual he had +anticipated things. + +For weeks before the arrival of the empress to be Napoleon had passed +the majority of his waking hours at Paris in the apartments which he had +caused to be prepared for Marie Louise. He selected the colour of the +furnishings, and superintended the very placing of the furniture. Among +other things he had planned a boudoir which alone represented an +expenditure of nearly half a million francs. + +Lejeune, who had accompanied Marechal Berthier to Vienna to arrange the +marriage, had returned and given his imperial master a glowing +description of the charms of the young archduchess who was to be his +bride. The emperor compared his ideal with her effigy on medals and +miniatures and then worked even more ardently than before that her +apartments should be worthy of her when she arrived. + +It was just following upon this fever of excitement that Napoleon and +the court had repaired to Compiegne. So restless was the emperor that +he could hardly bide the time when the archduchess should arrive, and it +was thus that he set out with Murat to meet the approaching cortege. + +The pavilion which had been erected for the meeting was left to the +citizens of the neighbourhood, and the marvellous banquet which had been +prepared by Bausset was likewise abandoned. Napoleon had no time to +think of dining. + +All the roadside villages between Soissons and Compiegne were hung with +banners, and the populace appeared to be as highly excited as the +contracting parties. It still rained a deluge, but this made no +difference. Two couriers at full gallop came first to Compiegne, crying: +"Place": "Place": The eight white horses and the _berlin de voyage_ +followed. Before one had hardly time to realize what was passing, +Napoleon and his bride whisked by in a twinkling. + +At nine o'clock an outpost in the park at Compiegne announced the +arrival of the emperor and his train. At ten o'clock a cannon shot rang +out over the park and the emperor and empress passed into the chateau to +proceed with certain indispensable presentations; then to souper, a +_petite souper intime_, we are assured. + +On the morrow all the world of the assembled court met the empress and +avowed that she had that specious _beaute du diable_ which has ever +pleased the French connoisseur of beautiful women. They went further, +however, and stated that in spite of this ravishing beauty she lacked +the elegance which should be the possession of an empress of the French. +The faithful Berthier silenced them with the obvious statement that +since she pleased the emperor there was nothing more to be said, or +thought. + +Flying northward on the great highroad leading out from Paris to +Chantilly and Compiegne gadabout travellers have never a thought that +just beyond Pont Saint Maxence, almost in plain view from the doorway of +the Inn of the Lion d'Argent of that sleepy little town, is a gabled +wall which represents all that remains of the "Maison de Philippe de +Beaumanoir," called the Cour Basse. + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + + + _Aiguillon_, Duchesse d', 217 + + _Alcuin_, 358 + + _Alexander_, Emperor, 221, 330, 349 + + _Alphonse XIII of Spain_, 7 + + Amboise, 26, 28, 86 + + _Amboise, Bussy d'_, 72 + + _Ancre, Marechal d'_, 67 + + _Andelot, Coligny d'_, 72-73 + + _Andilly, Arnauld d'_, 267 + + Anet, Chateau d', 29, 111 + + _Angennes, Jacques d'_, 44, 299, 311 + + Angers, Chateau d', 22 + + _Anglas, Boissy d'_, 114 + + _Angouleme, Duchesse d'_, 321 + + _Anjou, Ducs d'_, 22, 136, 212 + + _Anne of Austria_, 96-97, 136-137, 284-287, 289, 347 + + _Arc, Jeanne d'_, 345-346, 354 + + Ardennes, 54 + + Arlors, 25 + + _Artois, Comtesse d'_, 176 + + _Aubert, Jean_, 333 + + _Aubigne, D'_, 299 + + _Aumale, Duc d'_, 29, 327, 331-332, 335, 338, 339 + + _Auvergne, Louis d'_, 162-163 + + _Ayen, Duc d'_, 299 + + + Bagatelle, Chateau de, 163, 203-206 + + _Bailly, Sylvain_, 104 + + _Barbes_, 173 + + Barbison, 200-201 + + _Baril, Jean_, 25 + + _Barry, Mme. du_, 211, 242-243, 245, 250, 275, 329, 348 + + _Bassompierre_, 195, 262 + + Bastille, 71, 145, 173 + + _Bausset_, 361 + + _Baviere, Isabeau de_, 69, 151, 182 + + _Beauharnais, Eugene_, 220, 222 + + _Beauharnais, Hortense_, 215, 220, 221 + + _Beaujon_, 164 + + _Beaumont, Cardinal de_, 179 + + Beauvais, Hotel de, 11 + + _Becker, General_, 221 + + _Becket, Thomas a_, 182 + + _Bedford, Duke of_, 69 + + _Belleveu_, 241-242 + + _Berquin, Louis de_, 67 + + _Berry, Duc de_, 165 + + _Berry, Duchesse de_, 50, 321 + + _Berthier, Marechal_ (see _Wagram, Prince de_) + + _Blanchard_, 130 + + _Blanqui_, 173 + + _Blois_, 21, 26, 305 + + _Blondel_, 37 + + _Blucher_, 173, 209 + + _Boileau_, 328 + + Boissy, Forest of, 49 + + _Bonaparte, Caroline_, 359 + + _Bonaparte, Jerome_, 147 + + _Bonaparte, Louis_, 235 + + _Bonaparte, Lucien_, 145 + + _Bonheur, Rosa_, 202 + + _Bordeaux, Duc de_, 166 + + _Borghese, Princesse_, 208 + + _Bossuet_, 328 + + _Boulanger_, 200 + + _Boullee_, 164 + + Boulogne, Bois de, 168, 174, 175, 203, 206, 209 + + _Bourbon Family_, 164-165, 329, 331, 341 + + Bourbon, Palais, 120, 159-161 + + _Bourdaloue_, 328 + + Bourg-la-Reine, 3 + + _Boyceau_, 30, 262, 270 + + _Breton, Mme. de_, 121-122 + + _Brunet_, 223 + + _Brunswick, Duchesse de_, 154 + + _Bullant, Jean_, 109, 327, 336 + + + _Cadoudal_, 173 + + _Cambaceres, Consul_, 115-116 + + Cardinal, Palais (_see_ Royal, Palais) + + _Carpeaux_, 118 + + _Carrier-Belleuse_, 202 + + _Cartouche_, 67 + + _Cellini_, 182, 192 + + _Chabanne, Comte de_, 73 + + _Chabrol_, 147 + + _Chalgrin_, 154 + + _Chambiges, Pierre_, 91, 281-282 + + Chamblay, 54-56 + + Chambord, 71, 86, 310 + + _Chamillard, Michael_, 252-253 + + _Champaigne, Philippe de_, 135 + + _Champollion-Figeac_, 184 + + Chantilly, Chateau and Forest of, 324-340, 362 + + _Chappell, Comte des_, 72 + + Charenton, 152 + + _Charlemagne_, 18, 116, 281 + + _Charles II_, 344 + + _Charles V_, 22, 23, 25, 62-63, 66, 68, 77, 82-84, 170, 190, 247, 281, + 327, 344, 356 + + _Charles VI_, 63, 66, 69, 176-177, 229 + + _Charles VII_, 69, 182, 190, 346, 354 + + _Charles VIII_, 21, 299 + + _Charles IX_, 89, 91-94, 106, 108-110, 171, 209, 291, 312, 327 + + _Charles X_, 57, 108, 118, 146, 173, 192, 204, 212, 237-238, 303, + 317, 319-320, 349 + + _Charles IV, Emperor_, 63 + + _Charles V, Emperor_, 85, 88, 346 + + _Charles I, of England_, 104, 137, 289 + + _Charles the Bold of Burgundy_ (see _Charolais, Comte de_) + + _Charolais, Comte de_, 177-178 + + _Chartres, Ducs de_ (see _Orleans, Ducs de_) + + _Chateauroux, Mme. de_, 250 + + _Chatou_, 210 + + Chenonceaux, 26, 32, 71 + + _Chevalier, Etienne_, 339 + + _Childerbert I_, 216 + + _Christina, Queen_, 222 + + _Cinq-Mars_, 73, 134 + + _Clagny, Chateau de_, 228, 277 + + _Clement, Jacques_, 93, 230-232 + + _Clothaire_, 357 + + _Clotilde_, 61 + + _Clovis_, 61, 76, 216 + + _Coictier, Jacques_, 66, 152 + + _Colbert_, 3, 87, 98, 100, 269 + + _Coligny, Admiral_, 93 + + _Collo, Jean_, 27 + + _Commynes_, 177 + + Compiegne, Palace and Forest of, 52-53, 165, 232, 335, 342-362 + + Conciergerie, 61, 65-68 + + _Conde Family_, 73, 269, 324, 327-331, 333, 337, 339 + + Conflans, Chateau de, 2, 175-179 + + _Constantine, Emperor_, 344 + + Consulat, Palais du (_see_ Luxembourg, Palais du) + + _Conti Family_, 211, 242, 327 + + _Corneille_, 73, 133, 151 + + _Corot_, 200 + + _Cottereau, Jean_, 299, 300-305, 307 + + Courcelles, 359 + + _Cousin, Jean_, 170 + + _Coypel_, 137 + + _Cromwell_, 137 + + _Crozat_, 162 + + _Dagobert_, 54 + + _Damiens_, 67, 263-264 + + _Dante_, 24 + + _Dardelle_, 123 + + _Daru_, 100 + + _Daubigny_, 200 + + _Daumesnil, Baron_, 173 + + _Daumet, Henri_, 332 + + _Debanes_, 22 + + _Debrosse, Jacques_, 64, 154, 158 + + _Decamps_, 202, 338 + + _Delille, Abbe_, 143 + + _Delorme, Marion_, 73 + + _Delorme, Philibert_, 34, 108-111, 189 + + _Denecourt_, 198-199, 201 + + Deputes, Chambre des (_see_ Bourbon, Palais) + + _Desmoulins, Camille_, 145 + + _Diaz_, 200 + + Directoire, Palais du (_see_ Luxembourg, Palais du) + + _Donon_, 100 + + _Dorbay_, 110 + + _Drouais_, 211 + + _Ducamp, Maxine_, 126 + + _Ducerceau_, 92, 94, 110, 112 + + _Ducrot, General_, 222 + + _Dugastz_, 232 + + _Dupaira_, 95 + + _Duperac_, 110 + + _Dupre_, 200 + + _Durfort, Madame_, 49 + + + Egalite, Palais (_see_ Royal, Palais) + + Enghien, Chateau d', 340 + + _Enghien, Duc d'_, 169, 172-174, 331 + + _Epernon, Ducs d'_, 103, 232 + + _Erard, Sebastian_, 210 + + _Este, Maria d'_, 290 + + Estival, Convent of, 49 + + _Estrees, Gabrielle d'_, 102, 210 + + _Etampes, Duchesse d'_, 86, 185, 192, 294 + + _Etoiles, Normand d'_, 204 + + _Eugenie, Empress_, 120-122, 125-126, 238, 350, 352 + + _Evans, Dr._, 122 + + + _Fallieres, President_, 166-167 + + _Famin_, 314-315 + + _Faure, Felix_, 56, 58-59 + + _Feraud_, 114 + + _Ferrare, Duc de_, 70 + + _Flandre, Comte de_, 82 + + _Flavy, Guillaume de_, 345 + + Fleury, Chateau de, 195 + + _Fontaine_, 99, 127 + + Fontainebleau, Forest of, 6, 50, 52, 181, 183, 196-202, 279, 294 + + Fontainebleau, Palais de, 2, 26, 28, 33, 34, 87, 91, 111, 180-196, + 329, 335, 336 + + _Fouche_, 221 + + _Fould_, 53 + + _Fouquet, Jean_, 339 + + _Fouquet, Nicolas_, 269 + + _Fragonard_, 211 + + _Francine, Thomas and Alexandre_, 196 + + _Francis I_, 8, 10, 12, 16, 21, 32, 44-45, 62, 64, 67, 77, 79, 81, + 84-89, 108, 110, 170, 181, 183-187, 189-191, 194, 209, 229, 281-282, + 290, 292, 299, 306, 310-311, 321, 326, 346, 358 + + _Franz II_, 359 + + + _Gabriel_, 276, 348 + + Gaillon, Chateau de, 33 + + _Ganne, Pere_, 200 + + _Girardini_, 160 + + Gisors, Castle of, 82 + + _Gondi_, 230, 232 + + _Goujon, Jean_, 89, 90 + + Grand Trianon, 39, 248, 258, 259, 260, 263, 264, 274-276 + + _Gregory of Tours_, 215 + + _Grevy, Jules_, 58 + + _Gros, Baron_, 338 + + Grosbois, Chateau de, 51 + + _Guilbert, Abbe_, 184 + + _Guillain, Guillaume_, 282 + + _Guise, Ducs de_, 70, 72-73, 103 + + + _Hamon_, 200 + + _Harlay-Crauvallon, Archbishop De_, 178-179 + + _Haussmann, Baron_, 3, 13, 152 + + _Hebert_, 201 + + _Hennequin, Dame Gillette_, 178 + + _Henri II_, 26, 32, 44, 69-70, 78, 85, 87, 89, 90, 91, 108, 110, 170, + 193, 229, 230, 282, 294-295, 311, 327 + + _Henri III_, 29, 92-93, 101, 109, 230-232, 312 + + _Henri IV_, 16, 26, 27, 29, 45-46, 71-72, 87, 89, 92, 94-95, 102-103, + 111-112, 118, 172, 186, 190, 191, 194-197, 206, 209, 210, 231, 232, + 238, 282-283, 306, 327 + + _Henrietta of England_, 233, 289 + + _Henriette de France_, 104, 137 + + _Henry V of England_, 63, 326 + + _Henry VI of England_, 63, 69 + + _Henry VIII of England_, 311 + + Herivaux, Bois de, 340 + + _Hohenzollern, Prince de_, 53 + + _Hortense, Queen_, 330 + + _Hugo, Victor_, 73 + + _Hugues Capet_, 62 + + + Institut, Palais de l', 159-160 + + _Isabey_ (_Pere_), 40 + + + _Jacob of Cologne_, 87 + + _Jacque_, 200 + + _James II of England_, 290 + + _Jarnac, Gui Chabot de_, 294 + + _Joachim, Prince_, 52, 56 + + _John II of France_, 83, 170 + + _John VIII, Pope_, 344 + + Joinville, Forest of, 169 + + _Josephine, Empress_, 174, 215, 217-222, 323 + + Justice, Palais de (_see_ La Cite, Palais de) + + + _Karr, Alphonse_, 149 + + + _La Barauderie, De_, 30 + + _Labaudy_, 50 + + _La Brosse_, 102 + + La Cite, Palais de, 12, 61-68, 75, 81, 82, 93, 152, 153, 170 + + _La Chataigneraie_, 294 + + _Laffitte, Pierre_, 212, 213, 243 + + _Lambesc, Prince de_, 144 + + La Muette, Chateau de, 111, 203, 209-210 + + _Lancret_, 338 + + Langeais, 33 + + _Lannes, Marechal_, 213 + + _Laporte_, 284 + + _La Quintinye_, 267-269 + + La Reine Blanche, Chateau de, 341 + + _Laschant_, 232 + + _Latini, Brunetto_, 24 + + _Lauzan_, 178, 289 + + _La Valliere, Louise de_, 289 + + _Lebrun, Charles_, 97, 255, 256 + + _Lebrun, Consul_, 115 + + _Le Calabrese, Henri_, 27 + + _Lecouteux de Canteleu_, 217, 222 + + _Ledoux_, 211, 243 + + _Lefuel_, 100 + + _Lejeune_, 360 + + _Leloir_, 239 + + L'Elysee, Palais de, 153, 162-167 + + _Lemercier, Jacques_, 96, 100, 135, 262 + + _Le Moyne_, 239 + + _Le Notre_, 16, 22, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 35, 39, 40, 104, 128, 129-130, + 179, 233, 248, 264-266, 270, 277, 288, 292, 307-308, 327, 330 + + _Lepaute_, 240 + + _Le Roy_, 262 + + Les Bruyeres, 222 + + _Lescot, Pierre_, 88-90, 109 + + _Lesdiguieres, Duchesse de_, 179 + + _Levau_, 97-98, 110, 247, 249 + + _Lomenci, Martial de_, 247 + + _Longueil, Rene de_, 212 + + _Longueville, Mme. de_, 73, 327 + + _Loret_, 11 + + _Lorraine, Cardinal de_, 111 + + _Lorraine, Chevalier de_, 233 + + _Louis I_, 344 + + _Louis V_, 344 + + _Louis VI_, 281 + + _Louis VII_, 169, 181, 182 + + _Louis IX_, 23, 62, 77, 169, 176, 182, 190, 281, 295, 341, 344, 354 + + _Louis XI_, 21, 66, 69, 152, 172, 177-178, 299, 326 + + _Louis XII_, 26, 69, 299, 305, 306, 326, 354 + + _Louis XIII_, 16, 48, 87, 96, 112, 132, 134, 136, 171, 189, 190, 194, + 209, 247, 249, 262, 266, 283-284, 306, 347 + + _Louis XIV_, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 29, 33, 38, 39, 46, 48, 49, 50, 85, + 87, 97-99, 104, 112, 118, 127, 136-137, 152, 158, 170, 178, 186, + 189, 190, 206, 217, 223-224, 226, 233, 240, 245, 247, 249, 251-253, + 255-257, 261, 264, 268, 270, 273, 274, 277, 283, 284, 288-290, 291, + 293, 296, 297, 299, 303-307, 312, 328, 345, 347, 358 + + _Louis XV_, 4, 14, 16, 17, 38, 48, 112, 152, 162, 163, 174, 185, 186, + 189, 190, 192, 205, 207, 209, 211, 227, 241, 243, 246, 250, 253, + 263-264, 275-276, 284, 290, 312, 320, 323, 329, 345, 348, 350-352, + 358 + + _Louis XVI_, 37, 39, 41, 43, 57, 108, 113, 118, 143, 144, 152, 154, + 210, 213, 227, 250, 261, 235-236, 352, 356, 358-362, 290, 312-313, + 316, 320, 322, 348, 351 + + _Louis XVIII_, 118, 161, 174, 237, 250, 316, 349 + + _Louis Philippe_, 105, 108, 117-118, 146, 149, 154, 162, 166, 186, 194, + 199, 207, 238, 254-255, 350 (_see also Orleans Family_) + + Louveciennes, Chateau de, 210-212, 242, 288 + + Louvre, 4, 12, 13, 22, 25, 32, 44, 62, 68, 75-105, 108, 109, 110, 111, + 112, 118, 124, 131, 132, 152, 233, 351 + + _Lude, Comtesse de_, 49 + + _Luxembourg, Jean de_, 346 + + Luxembourg, Palais de, 28, 40, 115, 136, 144, 153-158 + + + Machine de Marly, 223-224 + + Madrid, Chateau de, 111 + + _Magnan, Marechal_, 242 + + _Maine, Duc de_, 159 + + Maintenon, Chateau de, 242, 296-308, 312 + + _Maintenon, Mme. de_, 158-159, 194, 227, 249, 274, 296-299, 302-303, + 305-308, 312, 347 + + Maisons-Laffitte, Chateau de, 203, 212-214, 288 + + Malmaison, Chateau de, 215-223, 323 + + _Mandrin_, 67 + + _Mansart, Francois_, 212-213 + + _Mansart, Jules Hardouin_, 35, 137, 179, 226, 233, 241, 249, 274, 276, + 291, 327, 333 + + Mantes, 55 + + _Mantes, Mlle. de_, 159 + + _Marat_, 116 + + _Marceliano, Pucello and Edme_, 26 + + _Marie Antoinette_, 49, 115, 194, 204, 210, 237, 245, 256, 276-277, 320, + 322, 349 + + _Marie Louise_, 6, 117, 208 + + _Marie Sophie_, 320 + + _Marie Therese_, 11 + + _Marigny, Enguerrand de_, 62, 172 + + _Marigny, Marquis de_, 99 + + Marlotte, 201 + + Marly-le-Roi (_or_ -le-Bourg _or_ -le-Chatel), 2, 224-228, 283, 288 + + _Mary Tudor, of England_, 69 + + Marseilles, 91 + + _Massena, Duc de_, 217 + + _Masson, Frederic_, 236 + + _Matignon, Marechal de_, 70 + + _Mayenne, Duc de_, 101 + + _Mazarin, Cardinal_, 87, 104, 136, 159, 169, 283-285 + + Mazarin, Palais (_see_ Institut, Palais de l') + + _Medici, Catherine de_, 26, 31, 33, 44, 48, 68, 69-71, 90-91, 93-94, + 97, 107, 108, 110, 111, 171, 195, 230, 247, 311 + + _Medici, Marie de_, 72, 103, 154, 155, 158, 206, 347 + + _Menars et de Marigny, Marquis de_, 163 + + _Menours, Jacques de_, 30, 262-263 + + _Mercogliano_, 18 + + _Messonier_, 338 + + _Metezeau, Thibaut_, 92, 94 + + _Metternich, Prince de_, 121 + + Meudon, Bois de, 240 + + Meudon, Chateau de, 34, 111 + + _Michelet_, 192 + + _Mignard_, 233, 239, 306 + + _Millet, Eugene_, 290, 291 + + _Millet, Jean Francois_, 200, 201 + + _Mirabeau_, 172 + + _Moliere_, 73, 104, 178, 249 + + Molineaux, Chateau de, 278 + + _Mollet, Claude_, 29, 30 + + _Mollien_, 100 + + _Monconseil, Marquise de_, 204 + + _Mongomere, Comte de_, 67 + + _Montansier, Duc de_, 269 + + Montargis, 28 + + _Montebello, Marechal de_, 213 + + _Montespan, Marquise de_, 159, 249, 275, 312 + + _Montesson, Marquise de_, 234 + + Montgaillard, 50 + + _Montgolfier_, 130 + + _Montgomeri, Sieur de_, 70 + + Montmartre, 288 + + _Montmorency Family_, 178, 324, 326-327, 339 + + Montmorency, Forest of, 49, 288 + + _Montpensier, Mlle. de_, 136 + + _Moreau, Architect_, 138 + + _Moreau, Hegesippe_, 123-124 + + _Moskowa, Prince de la_, 53 + + _Muette, Chateau de la_, 111 + + _Murat, Princes de_, 52-56, 165, 235, 361 + + _Murillo_, 164 + + Musee de Cluny, 12 + + _Musset, De_, 274 + + + _Nacret_, 239 + + Nanterre, 281 + + _Nanteuil, Celestin_, 200 + + _Napoleon I_, 6, 13, 40, 51-52, 57, 79, 88, 100, 108, 115-118, 127, + 129, 145, 154, 155, 160, 165, 171, 173-174, 180, 186, 187-188, 190, + 194, 208, 213, 217-222, 235-237, 250, 254, 274, 296, 298, 313-316, + 320, 321, 322, 345, 349, 352, 355-356, 359-362 + + _Napoleon III_, 13, 58, 92, 100, 105, 118-122, 147, 152, 166, 195, + 197, 222, 238, 290, 313, 318, 323, 345, 350-352, 356 + + _Nattier_, 338 + + _Neckar_, 144 + + _Nemours, Duc de_, 70 + + _Neufforge, De_, 37 + + Neuilly and its Chateau, 206-209, 238 + + _Nicholas II_, 352 + + _Nicolo dell' abbate_, 193 + + _Nigra, Chevalier_, 121 + + _Noailles, Ducs de_, 298-300, 306 + + Noisy, Chateau de, 278 + + _Nolhac, M. de_, 274 + + + _Olivier, Emile_, 125 + + _Oppenard_, 137 + + _Orgemont, Marguerite d'_, 326 + + _Orleans, Ducs d'_, 137-140, 143, 144-149, 161, 209, 233, 234, + 286-287, 337 + + Orleans, Palais d' (_see_ Royal, Palais) + + _Ormesson, D'_, 73 + + _Osman_, 230-231 + + _Oursins, Juvenal des_, 66 + + + _Palatine, Princesse_, 233 + + _Palissy, Bernard_, 31-32 + + _Panseron_, 37 + + _Pare, Ambroise_, 171 + + _Paul, Saint Vincent de_, 73 + + _Penthievre, Duc de_, 306, 312, 322 + + _Pepin-le-Bref_, 343 + + _Percier_, 100, 127 + + _Perrault, Charles_, 98-99 + + Petit Luxembourg, Palais du, 155, 157 + + Petit Trianon, 39, 260, 264, 274, 276-277, 329 + + _Pfnor_, 184 + + _Philippe Auguste_, 12, 62, 77, 80-82, 169, 182, 190 + + _Philippe III_, 62, 177 + + _Philippe IV_, 62, 170, 176, 182, 190, 295 + + _Philippe VI_, 170, 358 + + _Philippe II, of Spain_, 69 + + _Philippe-Egalite_, 138-139 + + _Picard, Achille_, 125 + + _Pichegreu_, 173 + + Pierrefonds, 290, 335 + + _Pisan, Christine de_, 23 + + _Pius VII_, 6, 115, 194, 235 + + _Poirson_, 184 + + _Poissin_, 164 + + Poissy, 23, 232, 292, 293 + + _Poitiers, Diane de_, 29, 44, 70-71, 193 + + _Pompadour, Mme. de_, 163, 204-205, 241-242, 246, 250, 275, 348 + + _Potter, Paul_, 164 + + _Poussin_, 338 + + _Prieur, Barthelemy_, 196 + + _Primaticcio_, 87, 188, 192, 193 + + _Provence, Comte de_, 154 + + + Quatre Nations, Palais des (_see_ Institut, Palais de l') + + + _Rabelais_, 322 + + _Racine_, 297, 303, 308, 328 + + Rambouillet, Chateau and Forest of, 44-45, 50, 55-59, 242, 296, 298, + 309-323, 328, 335, 336 + + _Rambouillet, Seigneur de_, 299 + + _Raphael_, 87, 170 + + _Raspail_, 173 + + _Ravaillac_, 67, 102 + + _Redon_, 128 + + _Regnier, Henri de_, 244 + + _Remusat, Mme. de_, 174, 219 + + _Retz, Marechal de_, 247 + + Revolution, Palais de la (_see_ Royal, Palais) + + _Richelieu, Cardinal_, 72, 73, 95, 100, 131-139, 151, 178, 179, 216-217 + + _Rigaud_, 307 + + _Rigby_, 334 + + _Robert II_, 62, 190, 281 + + _Rochefort, Henri_, 120-121 + + _Romain, Mme._, 141 + + _Ronsard_, 34, 90, 109, 111 + + _Roosevelt, Theodore_, 166-167 + + _Rosier, De_, 210 + + _Rosny_, 55 + + _Rosso_, 182, 192 + + _Rousseau, Theodore_, 200, 201 + + _Rousselle_, 123 + + Rouvray, Forest of, 229 + + _Rovigo, Duc de_, 221 + + Royal, Palais, 131-150, 284, 351 + + Royale, Place (_see_ Vosges, Place des) + + _Rubens_, 164 + + Rueil (_see_ Malmaison) + + + _Sadi-Carnot_, 58 + + Saint Cloud, Palais de, 13, 93, 228, 229-243 + + Saint Cyr, 296-298, 303 + + Saint Germain-en-Laye, 28, 91, 111, 136, 203, 206, 223, 232, 242, 256, + 279-295, 311, 324, 336, 345 + + Saint Germain, Forest of, 212, 292-295 + + _Saint James, Baudart de_, 208 + + _Saint Louis_ (see _Louis IX_) + + Saint Maur, Chateau de, 111 + + _Saint Ouen_, 54 + + _Saint-Simon_, 179, 262, 348 + + _Sarto, Del_, 192 + + _Savoie, Louise de_, 108 + + _Savoie, Philippe de_, 66 + + _Scarron, Mme._ (see _Maintenon, Mme. de_) + + _Schickler, Baron_, 318 + + _Schopin_, 195 + + Senat, Palais du (_see_ Luxembourg, Palais du) + + Senlis, 6 + + Senlis, Foret de, 340 + + _Senlis, Seigneurs de_, 324 + + _Seran, Comtesse de_, 275 + + _Serlio_, 88, 185 + + _Serres, Olivier de_, 33 + + _Servandoni_, 112 + + _Sevigne, Mme. de_, 179, 277, 328 + + Soissons, 359-361 + + _Soyecourt, Marquis de_, 212 + + _Sualem, Rennequin_, 223 + + _Sully, Duc de_, 102, 103 + + + _Talmon, Prince de_, 73 + + _Tesse, Marquis de_, 73 + + Thermes, Palais des, 12, 62, 153 + + _Thierry III_, 224 + + _Thiers, President_, 122-123 + + Thomery, 202 + + _Thou, De_, 73 + + Temple, The, 144 + + _Tiercelin, Jean_, 108 + + Tillet, Maison du, 232 + + _Toulouse, Comte de_, 321 + + _Toulouse, Comtesse de_, 312, 320 + + Tournelles, Palais des, 66, 68-71, 81, 152 + + _Trepsat_, 313-314 + + Trianon (_see_ Grand Trianon) + + _Triboulet_, 186 + + Tribunat, Palais du (_see_ Royal, Palais) + + _Trochu, General_, 120 + + Tuileries, Palace and Gardens of the, 3, 13, 31, 33-34, 40, 76, 78, 82, + 91, 92, 94, 106-130, 131, 155, 157, 166, 218, 227, 317 + + _Turenne_, 73 + + _Turgot_, 100 + + + Valerian, Mont, 288 + + _Vallet, Pierre_, 27 + + _Valois, Charles, Comte de_, 170 + + _Valois, Elizabeth de_, 69 + + _Valois, Marguerite de_ (1492-1549), 8, 10 + + _Valois, Marguerite de_ (1553-1615), 10, 69, 111, 209 + + _Van Loo_, 164 + + _Vasari_, 181 + + _Vauban_, 252 + + Vaux-le-Vicomte, 36, 42 + + _Vendome, Duc de_, 102, 206 + + _Vernet, Joseph_, 164, 239 + + _Verneuil, Marquis de_, 207 + + _Veronese_, 338 + + Versailles, 2, 36, 42, 85, 88, 99, 112, 118, 145, 163, 180, 196, 205, + 215, 223-224, 226, 228, 239, 240, 242, 244-278, 279, 283, 296, 305, + 324, 334, 335, 336, 350 + + Vesinet, Bois de, 288 + + _Vexin, Comte de_, 159 + + _Vignole_, 188 + + _Vignon_, 113 + + Villa Normande, 54 + + _Villeray, Marquis de_, 299 + + _Villeroy, Marquis Neuville de_, 108 + + _Villeroy, Marechal de_, 178 + + Villers-Cotterets, 28, 165, 346 + + Vincennes, Chateau de, 168-175, 331, 345 + + Vincennes, Bois de, 168, 174-175, 177 + + _Vinci, Leonardo da_, 87, 192 + + _Visconti_, 100 + + _Vivonne, Francois de_, 294 + + _Voltaire_, 263 + + _Von Ostade_, 164 + + Vosges, Place des, 71-74, 152. + + + _Wagram, Prince de_, 51, 52, 360, 362 + + _Wallace, Sir Richard_, 205 + + _Wellington_, 208-209 + + _William I, Emperor_, 255 + + _Wolsey_, 132 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROYAL PALACES AND PARKS OF FRANCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25842.txt or 25842.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/4/25842 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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