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DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 BY 
 
 AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "walks IN LONDON," "WALKS IN ROME," " WALKS IN PARIS, 
 
 "FLORENCE," "VENICE," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," " CITIES OF 
 
 SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY," ETC., ETC. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited 
 
 New York : 9 Lafayette Place 
 
 London, Glasgow and Manchester 
 
AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE'S WORKS. 
 IN 12mo, CLOTH VOLUMES-. 
 
 Walks in Paris. 50 Illustrations. One volume, $3.00 
 
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 it»'»t**^ •• 1... ' 
 
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 Copyright, 1888, by J. L. Blamire. 
 
DC i(oS 
 
 PREFACE. '^^^ 
 
 The following excursions are given in the order in which 
 they encircle Paris, beginning with St. Cloud. The wood- 
 cuts are from my own sketches, transferred to wood by 
 
 Mr. T. SuLMAN. 
 
 Augustus J. C. Hare. 
 
 PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 In this Edition the 7iumerous citations from French 
 writers of history or memoirs^ in illustration of the vari- 
 ous historical edifices that still remain^ have been translated 
 into English^ and contain most valuable information respect- 
 ing the France of pre-revolutionary times. 
 
 748 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — #♦• 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. St. Cloud and Sevres i 
 
 II. Versailles 15 
 
 III. St. Germain 106 
 
 IV. RuEiL, Malmaison, and Marly .... 119 
 V. PoissY and Mantes, Argenteuil .... 144 
 
 VI. St. Denis, Enghien, and Montmorency . . 161 
 
 VII. St. Leu Taverny, the Abbaye du Val, and 
 
 Pontoise 188 
 
 VIII. Ecouen, Royaumont, St. Leu-d'Esserent, Creil, 
 
 Nogent-les-Vierges 199 
 
 IX. Chantilly and Senlis 208 
 
 X. Compiegne and Pierrefonds .... 224 
 
 XI. Nantouillet, Dammartin, and Ermenonville . 237 
 
 XII. Vincennes and Brie-Comte-Robert . . . 242 
 
 XIII. Meaux 254 
 
 XIV. Fontainebleau 260 
 
 XV. Corbeil, Savigny-sur-Orge, Montlh^ry, Etampes 282 
 
 XVI. Sceaux, Chevreuse, and Limours . . . 298 
 
 XVII. Meudon, Bellevue, Port Royal, Rambouillet . 313 
 
 XVIII. Montfort-l'Amaury and Dreux . . . 34^ 
 
 Index 355 
 
I. 
 
 ST. CLOUD AND SEVRES. 
 
 THERE are four ways of reaching St, Cloud, i. The plcas- 
 antest is to drive through the Bois de Boulogne, which is 
 very enjoyable, or (2) to take the American tramway — leaving the 
 Place de la Concorde — which goes to Boulogne and the Pont de 
 St. Cloud (fares, 55 c. and 35 c). 3. By the steamers (only in 
 summer) — Ics Iliroidellcs parisienncs — which start ever)'' half-hour 
 from the Quai des Tuileries opposite the Louvre (fares, week- 
 days, 30 c. ; Sundays, 50 c), and pass Sevres (see below). 4. By 
 rail from the Gare St. Lazare, which is the more ordinary way, if, 
 as is often the case, St. Cloud be visited on the way to another 
 point of interest. 
 
 The railway-line passes — 
 
 Zk, Courbevoie, where Louis XV. built magnificent 
 barracks, which still exist. Under the Empire they were 
 used for the Imperial Guard. The plain is now full of 
 villas and gardens. 
 
 \ok. Puteaux., with pretty views over the Seine, and 
 rich cherry orchards. 
 
 \2k. Suresnes (the ancient Surisnae), where the cou- 
 ronnement d^une rosiere takes place annually on the Sunday 
 nearest to August i, at the church in the valley on the left. 
 Suresnes is at the base of Mont- Valerien, originally the site 
 of a calvary and hermitage, now of a famous fortress. 
 There is a splendid view across the Bois de Boulogne to 
 
2 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Paris. Jean Jacques Rousseau admired it with Bernar- 
 din de Saint-Pierre. 
 
 " Paris ■ 'reared in 'the ;cHstance her towers, covered with 
 light, and seemed to cr6<vnitfte'"\Vidfe landscape. This spectacle 
 contraste4 wi^h ^hefh^av}', leaden, cl-cTiids which succeeded each 
 other to t'fie we,%t'j {^-tkI', a.ppeared« to", ftll tfte valle}-. As we walked 
 in silence, contemplating the spectacle, Rousseau said to me, ' I 
 will come, this summer, and meditate here.'" — Bernardi?i de St. 
 Pierre. 
 
 15/'. St. Cloud (Hotel de la Tete Noire., Place Royale; 
 Hotel (he Chateau., at the entrance of the Avenue du Cha- 
 teau and the j^arc : endless restaurants). 
 
 Very near the station is the Chateau de St. Cloud, set 
 on fire by the bombs of Mont-Valerien, in the night of Oc- 
 tober 13, 1870, and now the most melancholy of ruins. 
 Sufficient, however, remains to indicate the noble charac- 
 ter of a building partly due to Jules Hardouin and Man- 
 sart. The chateau is more reddened than blackened by 
 the fire, and the beautiful reliefs of its gables, its statues, 
 and the wrought-iron grilles of its balconies are still per- 
 fect. Grass, and even trees, grow in its roofless halls, in 
 one of which the marble pillars and sculptured decorations 
 are seen through the gaps where windows once were. 
 The view from the terrace is most beautiful. 
 
 The name of St. Cloud comes from a royal saint, who 
 was buried in the collegiate church, pulled down by Marie 
 Antoinette (which stood opposite the modern church), and 
 to whose shrine there is an annual pilgrimage. Clodomir, 
 King of Orleans, son of Clovis, dying in 524, had be- 
 queathed his three sons to the guardianship of his mother 
 Clotilde. Their barbarous uncles, Childebert and Clo- 
 taire, coveting their heritage, sent their mother a sword 
 and a pair of scissors, asking her whether she would pre- 
 fer that they should perish by the one, or that their royal 
 
ST. CLOUD 3 
 
 locks should be shorn with the other, and that they should 
 be shut up in a convent. " I would rather see them dead 
 than sliaven," repHed Clotilde proudly. Two of the princes 
 were then murdered by their uncles, the third, Clodo- 
 wald, was hidden by some faithful servants, but fright 
 made him cut off his hair with his own hands, and he en- 
 tered a monastery at a village then called Nogent, but 
 which derived from him the name St. Clodowald, corrupted 
 into St. Cloud. 
 
 Clodowald bequeathed the lands of St. Cloud to the 
 bishops of Paris, who had a summer palace here, in which 
 the body of Fran9ois I. lay in state after his death at 
 Rambouillet. His son, Henri H., built a villa here in 
 the Italian style ; and Henri HI. came to live here in a 
 villa belonging to the Gondi family, whilst, with the King 
 of Navarre, he was besieging Paris in 1589. The city was 
 never taken, for at St. Cloud Henri was murdered by 
 Jacques Clement, a monk of the Jacobin convent in Paris, 
 who fancied that an angel had urged him to the deed in a 
 vision. 
 
 "Jacques Clement left Paris on the 31st of July, and took 
 the road to Saint Cloud. At the outposts of the besiegers, he met 
 the Procureur General La Guesle, who had accompanied the 
 army, and told him that he brought to the king ' letters and news 
 of the servants he had in Paris.' La Guesle took him to his 
 lodgings, interrogated him, and was so satisfied with his replies, 
 that he went at once to tell the king. Jacques announced that 
 the royalists in Paris were prepared to seize one of the gates of 
 the city. He supped gaily with La Guesle's people, and slept so 
 soundly that he was obliged to be aroused to go to the king. 
 Henri, after having read the passport and the forged credentials, 
 ordered the monk to approach. Jacques declared that he had 
 matters of importance to say to the king in secret. The captain 
 of the Guard, Larchant. and even La Guesle, the introducer of 
 the monk, opposed in vain a private interview between Clement 
 and the king ; but Henri, although he had received many warn- 
 
^ DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ings that his life was in danger, ordered La Guesle and Belle- 
 garde, the grand equerry, who was near him, to retire some paces, 
 and ' lent an ear ' to the Jacobin. An instant afterwards, the 
 'king uttered a great cry, ' Ah, the wretched monk, he has killed 
 me !' Brother Jacques had drawn a knife out of his sleeve, and 
 plunged it into the lower part of the abdomen. 
 
 " Henri started up, plucked the dagger from the wound, from 
 which the bowels immediately protruded, and struck the assas- 
 sin on the face. La Guesle rushed at the monk, and knocked 
 him down with a sword-cut ; the 'guard in ordinary,' the Forty- 
 five, ran in at the king's cries, and massacred the murderer on 
 the spot. They left to the executioners only a dead body. Henri 
 expired on the 2d of August, 1589, between two and three in the 
 morning, at the age of thirty-eight. 
 
 " So were avenged, at once, Coligni and Guise ; so were ful- 
 filled the vows of popular hatred ; God had extinguished the 
 race of Valois ! " — H. Martin, " Hist, de France. '' 
 
 From this time the house of the banker Jerome Gondi, 
 one of the Italian adventurers who had followed the fort- 
 unes of Catherine de Medicis, was an habitual residence 
 of the Court. It became the property of Hervard, Con- 
 troller of Finances, from whom Louis XIV. bought it for 
 his brother Philippe d'Orleans, enlarged the palace, and 
 employed Lenotre to lay out the park. Monsieur married 
 the beautiful Henriette d'Angleterre, 3'oungest daughter of 
 Charles I., who died here (June 30, 1670) with strong 
 suspicion of poison ; St. Simon affirms the person em- 
 ployed to have confessed to Louis XIV. having used it at 
 the instigation of the Chevalier de Lorraine (a favorite of 
 Monsieur), whom Madame had caused to be exiled. One 
 of the finest sermons of Bossuet describes the " nuit desas- 
 treuse, ou retentit comme un e'clat de tonnerre cette eton- 
 nante nouvelle : Madame se meurt ! Madame est morte ! 
 Au premier bruit d'un mal si ctrange., on accourt a Saint- 
 Cloud de loutes parts, on trouve tout consterne, excepte le 
 coeur de cette princesse." 
 
ST. CLOUD 5 
 
 In the following year Monsieur was married again to 
 the Princess Palatine, when it was believed that his late 
 wife appeared near a fountain in the park, where a servant, 
 sent to fetch water, died of terror. The vision turned out 
 to be a reality — a hideous old woman, who amused her- 
 self in this way. "Les poltrons," she said, ''faisaient tant 
 de grimaces^, que j'en mourrais de rire. Ce plaisir noc- 
 turne me payait de la peine d'avoir porte la hotte toute la 
 joumee." 
 
 Monsieur gave magnificent fetes to the Court at St. 
 Cloud, added to the palace with great splendor, and 
 caused the great cascade, which Jerome Gondi had made, 
 to be enlarged and embellished by Mansart. It was at 
 St. Cloud that Monsieur died of an attack of apoplexy, 
 brought on by over-eating, after his return from a visit to 
 the king at Marly. 
 
 "Judge what confusion and disorder was at Marly that 
 night, and what horror at Saint Cloud, that palace of delights. 
 Every one at Marly hastened as best they could to St. Cloud, the 
 soonest ready the first ; and all, men and women, pressed and 
 crowded into the carriages without ceremony or order. Mon- 
 seigneur went with Madame la Duchesse. In the state in which 
 he was, the shock was so great, that it was all that one of the 
 Duchesse's grooms, who happened to be there, could do, to drag 
 and carry him almost trembling into the carriage. Monsieur had 
 not a moment of consciousness after the first attack ; not even a 
 gleam for an instant, except when Father de Trevoux came in 
 the morning to say mass, and even this gleam did not return. 
 
 " The most terrible spectacles often present moments of 
 ridiculous contrasts. Father de Trevoux came back and cried to 
 Monsieur, 'Monsieur, do not you know 5-our confessor? Do 
 not you know good little Father de Trevoux who is talking to 
 you ? ' and this made the less afflicted laugh indecently. 
 
 "The king appeared very much distressed; he was natu- 
 rally prone to weep, and he was therefore in tears. He had 
 never occasion except to love Monsieur tenderly, and although 
 they had not been on good terms for two months, these sad mo- 
 
6 BA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 mcnts recalled all his tenderness ; perha]>s he reproached himself 
 for having precipitated the death by the scene of the morning ; 
 he was, too, two years younger, and had all his life been in as 
 good or better health than he. The king heard mass at Saint 
 Cloud, and, at eight in the morning. Monsieur being beyond 
 hope, Mme de ^laintenon and Mme the Duchesse de Bourgogne 
 persuaded him not to remain longer, and returned with him in his 
 carriage. As he was about to leave, and made some kindly re- 
 marks to M. de Chartres, both of them weeping much, the young 
 prince took the opportunity of saying, ' Eh, Sire, what will be 
 my fate ? ' embracing his knees ; ' I lose Monsieur, and you do 
 not love me.' The king, surprised and much touched, embraced 
 him and made all the affectionate remarks he could. On his ar- 
 rival at Marly, he and the Duchesse de Bourgogne went to the 
 apartments of Mme de Maintenon. Three hours afterwards, M. 
 . Fagon, to whom the king had given orders not to quit Monsieur 
 till he was dead or better, which could only happen by a miracle, 
 entered, and the king, as soon as he saw him, said, ' Well, M. 
 Fagon, my brother is dead?' 'Yes, Sire,' replied he, 'no rem- 
 edy would act.' The king wept profusel3^ He was urged to 
 take some food in the rooms of Mme de Maintenon, but he re- 
 fused and wished to dine as usual with the ladies, and tears 
 coursed down his cheeks often during the repast, which was 
 short. He then shut himself up with Mme de Maintenon till 
 seven o'clock, when he took a turn in the garden. He transacted 
 business with Chamillart, and then with Pontchartrain respecting 
 the ceremonies on the death of Monsieur, and then gave his order 
 to Desgranges, the master of the ceremonies. He took supper 
 an hour earlier than usual, and soon after went to bed. He had 
 received at five o'clock a visit from the King and Queen of Eng- 
 land, which lasted only for a minute. 
 
 " On the departure of the king, the crowd gradually dimin- 
 ished at Saint Cloud, so that ^Monsieur, in his dying moments, 
 was left on a lounge in his cabinet, exposed to the scullions and 
 lower servants, most of whom, from interest or affection, were much 
 distressed. The high officers of the household, and others who 
 lost their places or pensions, made the air resound with their 
 cries, while all the ladies who were at Saint Cloud, and lost all 
 their amusements, ran here and there, like dishevelled bac- 
 chantes. 
 
 " Madame was ia her cabinet meanwhile ; she had never had 
 any great esteem or affection for Monsieur, but felt her loss and 
 
ST. CLOUD 7 
 
 her fall ; and in the midst of her grief, cried with all her force, 
 ' No convent ! Do not speak to me of a convent. I will not 
 have a convent ! ' The good princess had not lost her senses. 
 She knew that by her marriage contract, she had to choose, on 
 becoming a widow, between a convent or the chatean of ]Mont- 
 argis for a residence. Whether ^he thought she could quit one 
 easier than the other, or whether she felt how much reason 
 she had to fear the king, although she did not yet know all, and 
 he treated her with the usual courtesy, she had still greater fear 
 of a convent. When Monsieur was dead she entered her carriage 
 with her ladies, and went to Versailles, accompanied by M. and 
 Mme the Duchess de Chartres, and the wdiole of their suites. 
 
 " After such a terrible sight, so many tears, and such displays 
 of affection, every one expected that the three days that remained 
 of the visit to Marly would be exceedingly melancholy. But on 
 the very evening of Monsieur's death, when the ladies of the palace 
 entered the apartments of Mme de Maintenon, where she was, 
 and the king with her, and the Duchess de Bourgogne, about 
 noon, they heard in the adjoining room were they where, the 
 party singing some operatic airs. Shortly afterwards the king, 
 seeing Mme the Duchess de Bourgogne very sad in the cor- 
 ner of the room, asked Mme de Maintenon, with surprise, what 
 made her so melancholy, and began to cheer her up, and then to 
 play with her and some of the ladies of the palace, whom he sum- 
 moned to amuse them. Nor was this the only strange occur- 
 rence. After dinner — that is, a little after two o'clock, twenty-six 
 hours after Monsieur's death — the Duke de Bourgogne asked the 
 Duke de Montfort if he would like a game of cards. ' Cards ! ' 
 cried Montfort, in extreme astonishment ; ' do not you know that 
 Monsieur is not cold yet ! ' ' Pardon me,' said the prince, ' I 
 know it, but the king wishes every one at Marly to be amused, 
 and has ordered me to set all to cards, and for fear that there 
 should be some reluctance in beginning, to give the example my- 
 self.' They formed a party, and the salon was soon filled with 
 card-tables." — St. Simon, '' Ulemobrs," 1701. 
 
 The chatean continued to be occupied b}^ Madame, 
 daughter of the Elector, the rude, original, and satirical 
 Princess Palatine, in whom the modern House of Orleans 
 has its origin/ and here she died during the regency of 
 her son. 
 
 1 Henri Martin, xiii. 355. 
 
8 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 "Madame was a princess of the olden times, attached to 
 lionor, virtue, rank and grandeur, and inexorable as to good 
 manners. She was not deficient in intelligence, and what she 
 saw, she saw clearlv. A good and faithful friend, sure, true, up- 
 right, easy to alarm and shock, very difficult to reconvert, brusque, 
 prone to dangerous sallies in public, very German in all her ways, 
 frank, regardless of all delicacy or reserve for herself or for 
 (Others, severe, stern, and taking fancies. She loved dogs and 
 horses, hunting and public performances ; was always in a man's 
 great-coat or wig, and a riding dress. For sixty )'ears, 'veil or 
 sick, and she was seldom that, she had never used a dressing- 
 gown." — St. Sinioi, '' Afe'/noires.'' 
 
 The Regent d'Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV. ^ received 
 Peter the Great at St. Cloud in 17 17. In 1752 his grand- 
 son, Louis Philppe d'Oi'leans, gave at St. Cloud one of the 
 most magnificent fetes ever seen in France. 
 
 " 28 Sept. La fete de Saint-Cloud a ete magnifique et popu- 
 laire : tout le peuple de Paris y a couru, de fagon qu'il etait 
 entierement dehors dimanche, et que, le lendemain, c'etait en- 
 core une procession de tout le peuple qui revenait. Toutes les 
 vignes de la plaine vis-a-vis Saint-Cloud ont ete ravagees, et le 
 roi a remis a ces vignerons la taille pour trois ans." — Barbier, 
 "'Journal." 
 
 In 1785 the Due d'Orleans sold St. Cloud for six mil- 
 lion francs to Queen Marie Antoinette, who made great 
 alterations in the internal arrangements of the building, 
 where she resided during: the earlv davs of the Revolution. 
 
 "One day, during a visit of the court to Saint Cloud, 1 was 
 witness of a very affecting scene, which we took care not to 
 divulge. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, the guard was not 
 mounted, there was almost nol)od}- that day at Saint Cloud, and 
 I was reading to the queen, who was working at her frame, in 
 one of the rooms that had a balcony opening on the court. The 
 windows were closed, but we heard a dull sound from a number 
 of voices, that seemed to speak onlv in suppressed ton^s. The 
 queen told me to see what it was ; I raised the muslin curtain, 
 and saw, beneath the balcony, over fifty persons. This group 
 was composed of ladies, old and young, all dressed in the costume 
 
ST. CLOUD g 
 
 usual in the country, some old Chevaliers de Saint-Louis, some 
 vouns Knights of Malta, and a few ecclesiastics. I told the 
 queen that it was probably a reunion of some societies from the 
 neighboring country districts, who wished to see her. She rose, 
 opened the window, and appeared on the balcony, and then all 
 this good people said to her in a low voice, ' tiave courage, Ma- 
 dame, the French suffer for }ou and with you ; they pray for 
 you, and Heaven will hear them ; we love you, we respect yon, 
 and we reverence our exemplary king.' The queen burst into 
 tears, and raised her handkerchief to her eyes. ' Poor queen, 
 she weeps ! ' the ladies said, but the fear of compromising her 
 Majesty and the persons who displayed such affection, inspired 
 me to take her Majesty's hand with an intimation that I wished 
 her to return to the room ; then, raising my eyes, I gave the 
 company to understand that prudence dictated my action. They 
 judged so too, for I heard, ' She is right, that lady,' and then, 
 ' Adieu, Madame,' uttered in accents so full of truth and sad- 
 ness, that, when I recall them, after the lapse of twenty years, I 
 am still moved." — Mine Campan. 
 
 It was at St. Cloud that the coup (fetal occurred \ybich 
 made Napoleon first-consul. This led him to choose the 
 palace of St. Cloud, which had been the cradle of his 
 power, as his principal residence, and, under the first em- 
 pire, it was customary to speak of " le cabinet de Saint- 
 Cloud,'' as previously of " le cabinet de Versailles," and 
 afterwards of " le cabinet des Tuileries." Here, in 1805, 
 Napoleon and Josephine assisted at the baptism of the 
 future Napoleon III. 
 
 " Dimanche, a trois heurs apres-midi, Leurs Majestes Im- 
 periales, suivies de la cour, se rendirent a Saint-Cloud pour 
 le bapteme du prince Napoleon-Louis, fils de S. A. I. Mgr. 
 Louis. Cette ceremonie a ete faite avec la plus grande pompe 
 par Sa Saintete. L'imperatrice etait precedee par les pages, les 
 ecuyers, et les chambellans de S. M. ; a droite de l'imperatrice 
 etait sa dame d'honneur et, un pen en arriere, son premier aumo- 
 nier ; a sa gauche, son premier ecuyer, sa dame d'atours ; un 
 page portait la queue de la robe de S. M." &c. — Le Monitet»*% 27 
 Mars, 1805. 
 
lO 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 It was also in the palace of St. Cloud that Napoleon I. 
 was married to Marie Louise, April i, 1810. 
 
 In this palace of many changes the allied sovereigns 
 met after the fall of the first empire. Blucher, after his 
 fashion, slept booted and spurred in the bed of Napoleon ; 
 and the capitulation of Paris was signed here July 3, 1815. 
 
 Louis XVIII. and Charles X. both lived much at St. 
 Cloud, and added to it considerably; but here, where 
 Henri IV. had been recognized as King of France and 
 Navarra, Charles X. was forced by the will of the people 
 to abdicate, July 30, 1830. Two years after, Louis Phi- 
 lippe established himself with his family at St. Cloud, and 
 his daughter Clementine was married to Duke Augustus 
 of Saxe-Coburg in its chapel, April 28, 1843. Like his 
 uncle, Napoleon III. was devoted to St. Cloud, where — 
 " d'un coeur leger " — the declaration of war with Prussia 
 was signed in the library, July 17, 1870, a ceremony fol- 
 lowed by a banquet, during which the " Marseillaise " was 
 played. The doom of St. Cloud was then sealed. On 
 the 13th of the following October the besieged Parisians 
 beheld the volumes of flame rising behind the Bois de 
 Boulogne, which told that St. Cloud, recently occupied by 
 the Prussians, and frequently bombarded in consequence 
 from Mont-Valerien, had been fired by French bombs. 
 
 In the Lower Park of St. Cloud, an avenue, entered 
 from the Place Royale, and bordered on one side by 
 booths and shops, leads at once to the foot of the Grande 
 Cascade. 
 
 But visitors will generally start on a (short) walk from 
 the chateau, at the back of which they will find the 
 gardens (Pare Reserve), the Petit Pare of Marie Antoi- 
 nette, now always open to the public. The walk, between 
 the flower-beds, fiicing the chateau, leads to the water called 
 
GARDENS OF ST. CLOUD n 
 
 Piece de la Grande Gerbe, whence in a few minutes a cross- 
 way -is reached, formed by the Alices de Versailles, de la 
 Felicite, and de la Lantcnie. If we follow, to the left, the 
 Allee de ha Lanterne, we reach at once the terrace, where 
 the Belvidere of Napoleon I. formerly stood, known as the 
 Lanterne de Diogene, and destroyed during the siege of 
 Paris in 1870. The view towards Paris is most interest- 
 ing and beautiful. There is some idea of erecting a 
 Crystal Palace, like that of Sydenham, on this site ! 
 
 Following the Allee du Chateau as far as a grassy am- 
 phitheatre, a path on the right leads down to the lower 
 walks at Le grand Jet d^Eau, or Jet de la Grande Gerbe, 
 which (when it plays) is 42 metres in height. 
 
 " Persuadez aux ycux, que, d'un coup de baguette, 
 Una f6e, en passant, s'est fait cette retraite. 
 Tel j'ai vu de Saint-Cloud le bocage enchanteur 
 L'oeil de son jet hardi mesure la hauteur ; 
 Aux eaux qui sur les eaux retombent et bondissent, 
 Les bassins, les bosquets, les grottes applaudissent, 
 Le gazon est plus vert, I'air plus fraix, des oiseaux 
 Le chant s'anime au bruit de la chute des eaux ; 
 Et les bois, inclinant leur tiges arrosees, 
 Semblent s'epanouir a ces douces rosees." — Delillc. 
 
 Hence, a few steps bring us to La Grande Cascade, the 
 most magnificent of the " grandes-eaux," which plays from 
 4 to 5 P.M. on the second Sunday of every month in sum- 
 mer, and on the three Sundays of the fete de St. Cloud, 
 which lasts from three to five weeks from the first Sunday 
 in September. The upper part of the cascade is due 
 to Lepautre, by whom it was constructed for Monsieur, 
 brother of Louis XIV. ; the lower to Mansart. The two 
 cascades are completely harmonious, though separated by 
 the walk called Alice de Tillet, from a house which once 
 occupied the site. True Parisians of the middle classes 
 
12 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 have no greater pleasure than a day spent at St. Cloud — 
 "pour voir jouer les eaux. " 
 
 At the end of one of the principal avenues, Allee de 
 Breteuil, below the Allee du Chateau, is the Pavilion de 
 Breteuil, built by the Bailli de Breteuil, Chancellor of the 
 Duke of Orleans. 
 
 Joining the park of St. Cloud is that of Villeneuve 
 VEtang^ which belonged to the Duchesse d'Angouleme, 
 
 
 LA GRANDE CASCADE. ST. CLOUD. 
 
 who frequently resided there as Dauphine, during the reign 
 of Charles X., devoting herself to the education of her 
 nephew, afterwards Comte de Chambord. It was here 
 that, a fortnight before the revolution of 1830, which drove 
 her from France, she received a visit — accompanied by 
 vehement demonstrations of lovaltv and affection — from 
 Louis Philippe. 
 
 The favorite summer retreat of Napoleon III. — where 
 the garden still retains the seat of the Empress Eugdnie, 
 
SE VRES 
 
 13 
 
 and the swing and miniature railway of the Prince Imperial 
 -—is now occupied by the dog-kennels and experiments of 
 M. Pasteur. 
 
 Between St. Cloud and Versailles, with a station on the 
 railway, is Ville (fAvray (Restaurant de la Chaumiere), 
 with pools surrounded by wood, constantly painted by 
 Corot, to whom a monument (by Dechaune) has been 
 erected, near the house which he occupied. Marc Antoine 
 Thierry, first valet de chambre of Louis XVI., built a 
 chateau here, below which was a (still existing) fountain, 
 whose pure waters, exclusively reserved for the king's table, 
 were daily sent for from Versailles. 
 
 The steamer descends the Seine, passing under the 
 Pont de Solferino, Pont de la Concorde, Pont des Invalides, 
 and Pont d'Alma. Then the Champ de Mars is seen on 
 the left, the Palais du Trocadero on the right. After the 
 Pont d'le'na, Passy is passed on the right, and the He des 
 Cygnes on the left. Then comes the Pont de Grenelle, 
 after which Auteuil is passed on the right and Javel on the 
 left. After leaving the Pont-viaduc du Point-du-Jour, the 
 He de Billancourt is seen on the left. After the Pont de 
 Billancourt, the steamer passes between the lies de Billan- 
 court and Se'guin to Bas Meudon. Hence, skirting the 
 heights of Bellevue, it reaches its sixth station — 
 
 Sevres (Severa). — Here, very near the river, at the end 
 of the bridge, is the famous Ma?tufacture de Porcelame, open 
 daily to visitors from 12 to 4 from October i to March 31, 
 and from 12 to 5 from April i to September 30. The 
 workshops are only supposed to be visible on Mondays, 
 Thursdays and Saturdays, with an order from the adminis- 
 tration, but strangers are generally admitted. 
 
14 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 A china manufactory, which had already existed at 
 St. Cloud, Chantilly, and Vincennes, was first established 
 here in 1756, and having been bought from its owners in 
 1760, at the instigation of Mme de Pompadour, by Louis 
 XV., became thenceforth a royal manufacture. 
 
 "The manufactory of Sevres had no competition to fear ; for 
 the decree of the Council of 1780 forbade any private enterprise, 
 under pain of fine and confiscation, for the manufacture of ' all 
 sorts of articles or pieces of porcelain, painted or unpainted, gilt 
 or ungilt, flat or in relief, in sculpture, flowers and figures.'" — '■ 
 Patil Lacroix, Dix-hiiitihne siecle. 
 
 The collections shown are divided into the Exposition 
 des produits de Sevres and the Musee Ceramique. In the 
 ateliers, visitors are shown the three processes of le Toiir- 
 nage, h Coulage, and la Cuisson des pates et des eniaux. 
 
 The village of Sevres clusters round the church of St. 
 Romain, which dates from the XIII. c, but has been much 
 altered at different times. In the cemetery is the tomb of 
 Senancour — the poet of the first Revolution — with the 
 words of his choice (from his '■ Libres Meditations "), 
 " Eternite, deviens mon asyle ! " 
 
 If the traveller enters the park of St. Cloud by the 
 Sevres gate, a few minutes bring him to an avenue leading 
 to the extremity of a piece of water which ends in the 
 Grande Cascade. 
 
II. 
 
 VERSAILLES. 
 
 SUMMER visitors to Versailles should, if possible, be there 
 on a Sunday, when the graiides eaux are playing. This fairy 
 scene is advertised in the newspapers, at the Gare de I'Ouest, and 
 on the omnibuses which serve the station. 
 
 Nothing can prevent a visit to Versailles from being exceed- 
 ingly fatiguing. There is too much to be seen for one day. 
 Even superficial visitors should give one day at least to the inte- 
 rior of the palace, and another to the gardens and the Trianons. 
 
 If an attempt be made to see the whole in one day, a carriage 
 should certainly be taken from the Palace to the Trianons. 
 
 The palace is visible daily, except Mondays, from 12 to 4. 
 Visitors are allowed to wander unattended. 
 
 The park and gardens are visible daily from 6 A.M. to 8 p.m. 
 The fountains play about 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of every 
 month in summer, except the Bassin de Neptune, which only plays 
 from 5 to 5.30 p.m. 
 
 The Grand Trianon, Muse'e des Voittires, and Petit Tiianon 
 are shown daily, except Monday, from 12 to 4. Visitors are here 
 hurried round b)' a guide. 
 
 The palace chapel is shown on production of a passport. 
 
 All the sights of Versailles are open free to the public. 
 
 The galleries of the palace are very cold in winter. 
 
 There are three ways of reaching Versailles, i. The pleas- 
 antest, by the tramway from the Quai du Louvre (interior, i fr. ; 
 imp^riale, 85 c). Trams every quarter of an hour from 8 a.m. 
 The road crosses the Seine at Sevres, passes through Chaville 
 and Viroflay, and ends at the Place d'Armes at Versailles, on the 
 side opposite the palace, at the angle of the Rue Hoche. 
 
l6 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 2. By rail from the Gave St. Lazare (rive droite) in 35 min. 
 express : 50 min. slow trains. The line is the same as that to St. 
 Cloud. There are omnibuses (30 c), and tramway (25 c. and 
 15 c), and carriages (i fr. 25 c. the course : i fr. 50 c. the hour, 
 without pourboire) from the station to the palace. On leaving 
 the station, pedestrians must turn left by the Rue Duplessis. 
 Reaching the market, turn right by Rue de la Paroisse to the 
 church of Notre Dame, built by Hardouin-Mansart, 16S4-S6 ; 
 then turn left, passing the statue of Gene/al Hoche (born at Ver- 
 sailles, 1768) to the Place d'Armes, where you find the palace on 
 your right. 
 
 3. By rail from Garc Montparnasse (very far from the English 
 quarter of Paris) by Clamart, Meudon, and Belleville, described 
 in Ch. xvii. From the station at Versailles, take the Avenue 
 Thiers, then (right) the Avenue de Sceaux, which will lead to the 
 Place d'Armes, opposite the palace. 
 
 Tickets : Single — First class, i fr. 65 c. ; second class, i fr. 
 20 c. Return — First class, 3 fr. 30 c. ; second class, 2 fr. 40 c. 
 On Jours des grandes eaux : Return — First class, 3 fr. 30 c. ; sec- 
 ond class, 2 fr. 40 c. Return tickets are available by either line. 
 
 Carriages for drives in the neighborhood of Versailles cost 2 
 fr. an hour, or 2 fr. 50 c. on Sundays and fete days. 
 
 Hotels": des Reservoirs (which faced the mansion of the Princes 
 de Conde, where La Bruyere died) ; de France. 
 
 Restaurant : du Miise'e, Rue des Reservoirs, good and rea- 
 sonable. 
 
 " Venez, suivez mon vol au pays des prestiges, 
 A ce pompeux Versailles." — Delille, '' Jardins.'' 
 
 " Versailles .... 
 
 Ou les rois furent condamnes a la magnificence." 
 ' Voltaire, ' ' Henriade. " 
 
 The first palace of Versailles was a hunting lodge built 
 by Louis XIII. at the angle of the present Rue de la 
 Pompe and Avenue de St. Cloud. This he afterwards 
 found too small, and built, in 1627, a moated castle, on 
 the site of a windmill in which he had once taken shelter 
 for the night. The buildings of this chateau still exist, re- 
 spected, as the home of his father, in all the alterations of 
 
THE CREATIOiY OF ]^ERSAILLES 17 
 
 Louis XIV., and they form the centre of the present 
 jDalace. In 1632 Louis XIII. became seigneur of Ver- 
 sailles, by purchase from Francois de Gondi, Archbishop 
 of Paris. 
 
 The immense works which Louis XIV. undertook here, 
 and which were carried out by the architect Mansart, were 
 begun in 1661, and in 1682 the residence of the Court was 
 definitely fixed at Versailles, connected by new roads with 
 the capital. Colbert made a last effort to keep the king 
 at Paris, and to divert the immense sums which were 
 being swallowed up in Versailles to the completion of the 
 Louvre. 
 
 ' It is, Sire, a very difficult task that I am undertaking ; for 
 nearly six months I have been hesitating about saying to your 
 Majesty what I said yesterday, and what I am going to say 
 further. . . . Your Majesty knows, that, apart from brilliant 
 actions in war, nothing marks so strongly the grandeur and 
 genius of princes as their buildings, and that posterity always 
 measures them by the standard of the superb edifices they erected 
 in their lives. What a pity, if the greatest and most exemplary 
 of kings . . . should be measured by the standard of Versailles ! 
 And there is always this danger to fea?: While your Majesty has 
 expended very large sums on this house, the Louvre has been 
 neglected, and it is assuredly the most superb palace in the 
 world, and the most worthy of your grandeur; and may God 
 grant that so many occasions that may necessitate the entrance on 
 some great wars may not deprive you of the means of completing 
 this superb building.' " — Guillatiniot. 
 
 The very' dulness of the site of Versailles, leaving 
 everything to be created, was an extra attraction in the 
 eyes of Louis XIV. 
 
 "Colbert wished the king to be what Richelieu had been, 
 France personified ; that he should be the thought, as Paris was 
 the head of France, and that the thought, so to say, should not 
 be divorced from the brain where it was developed. 
 
 " Louis, on the contrary, tended insensibly to absorb France 
 
1 8 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 into his personality, to be the State instead of expressing and 
 representing the State ; to be by himself and for himself instead 
 of being by and for France. Paris galled and burdened him. 
 He felt his greatness cramped in that queen city which did not 
 owe its origin to him, and enveloped him in its gigantic arms ; he 
 hated that power of the people that had humiliated his childhood 
 and more than once overcome his predecessors. Jealous of 
 Paris, he was jealous even of the shadow of his own ancestors, 
 or at least he did not wish to be subject to their memories. If 
 he preferred his palaces to Paris, he preferred Versailles to his 
 other palaces, because Fontainebleau, Chambord, Saint-Germain 
 had been already created, and were edifices on which Francis I. 
 and Henri HI. had left ineffaceable marks of their glory. At 
 Versailles, all was to be still created, except the modest starting- 
 point given by Louis XHI., the little palace of his father, which 
 the Great King would respect from filial piety which cost his 
 pride nothing. Louis XIV. did not fear the recollections of 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 " At Versailles, we have said, all was to be created, not only 
 monuments of art, but nature herself. This lonely plain, pleas- 
 ing enough from the woods and hills that surround it, had no 
 wide views, no sites, no water, no inhabitants ; it was a favorite 
 ivithout /nL'7'it, as a contemporary^ wittily remarked. But it was 
 a merit to have no merit of its own, and to owe ever^'thing to its 
 master. What Louis did in the choice of his palace, one day, 
 we may fear, he will do in the choice of his generals and ministers ! 
 
 "There are no sites, no water, and no inhabitants at Ver- 
 sailles ; the sites will be created by creating an immense land- 
 scape of human handiwork ; the water will be brought from all 
 the region by works that terrify the imagination ; the inhabitants 
 will be made, if we may so say, to spring from the earth by build- 
 ing a whole large city for the attendants on the chateau. Louis 
 will thus make a city for himself, a form for himself of which he 
 alone is the soul. Versailles and the Court will be the body and 
 soul of one and the same being, both created for the same end, 
 the glorification of the god on earth to whom they owe their 
 existence." — Martin, "^ Hist, de F7'ance.'' 
 
 The great difficulty to be contended with in the creation 
 of Versailles was the want of water, and this, after various 
 
 * Le due de Crequi. 
 
THE CREATION OF VERSAILLES ig 
 
 other attempts had failed, it was hoped to overcome by a 
 canal which was to bring the waters of the Eure to the 
 royal residence. In 1681, 22,000 soldiers and 6,000 horses 
 were employed in this work, with such results of sickness, 
 that the troops encamped at Maintenon, where the chief 
 part of the work was, became unfit for any service. On 
 October 12, 1678, Mme de Se'vigne writes to Bussy- 
 Rabutin : — 
 
 " The king wished to go to Versailles, but it seems that God 
 did not wish it, to judge from the impossibility of getting the 
 buildings in a state to receive him and by the prodigious mor- 
 tality among the workmen, whose corpses were carried away 
 every night by cartloads. This sad procession was concealed lest 
 it should alarm the artisans and decry the healthfulness of this 
 'favorite without merit.' You know this hon mot about Ver- 
 sailles." 
 
 Nine millions were expended in the Aqueduct of 
 Maintenon, of which the ruins are still to be seen, then it 
 was interrupted by the war of 1688, and the works were 
 never continued. Instead, all the water of the pools and 
 the snow falling on the plain between Rambouillet and 
 Versailles was brought to the latter by a series of subter- 
 ranean water-courses. 
 
 No difficulties, however — not even pestilence, or the 
 ruin of the country by the enormous cost — were allowed to 
 interfere with "les plaisirs du roi." Tho palace rose, and 
 its gigantic gardens were peopled with statues, its woods 
 with villages. 
 
 " The first works at Versailles were directed by the same Le- 
 vau, from whom Colbert had taken the Louvre. Levau dying in 
 1670, the direction of the works, with the title of first architect of 
 the king, was entrusted to a very young man, Jules Hardouin 
 Mansart, whose uncle, Francois Mansart, had enjoyed a great 
 reputation in architecture, and contributed more than any one 
 else to push builders into a servile imitation of the antique. The 
 
20 OA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 nephew eclipsed the uncle, and became the Lebrun of architect- 
 ure. The small but picturesque chateau of Louis XIII. was sur- 
 rounded b}^ immense constructions, nearly in the style of Per- 
 rault, which present to the eye a richly ornamented story raised 
 on a simpler basement and crowned by an attic. On the Paris 
 side, where the chateau of Louis XIII. remains in view, the con- 
 trast between it and the new buildings makes Versailles an irreg- 
 ular pile, but one of a singular and striking effect, by the arrange- 
 ment of the three courts gradually diminishing in size to the third, 
 a kind of sanctuary in the depths of which the Royal Majesty re- 
 posed. On the other side, the aspect changes as by enchantment ; 
 there, everything is the work of Louis XIV., everything is new 
 and completely symmetric. The vast development of the hori- 
 zontal lines compensate for the want of elevation. There none 
 of the happy contrasts of the old national architecture are to be 
 seen. The monotony of this absolute uniformity is only inter- 
 rupted by the extreme projection of the centre before the two 
 wings, a projection which proclaims it the part of the palace con- 
 secrated by the presence of the master. This centre predomi- 
 nates, whether it is viewed in front from the middle of the garden, 
 or whether from the foot of the low hills of Satory, it is seen, in 
 flank, towering on its immense terrace, between the double 
 'Giant Stairs,' to which nothing can be compared. Everywhere 
 an ascent has to be mounted, in order to reach the spot where 
 Supreme Majesty sits enthroned. 
 
 "The same thought fills the interior. Painting there deifies 
 Louis in every form, in war and peace, in art and in the adminis- 
 tration of the empire ; it celebrates his loves and his victories, 
 his passions and his labors. All the heroes of antiquity, all the 
 deities of Olympus render homage to him in lending him their 
 attributes in turn. He is Augustus, he is Titus, he is Alexander, 
 he is Jupiter Tonans, he is Hercules vanquishing monsters ; 
 more often, he is Apollo inspiring the Muses, and King of Light. 
 Mythology is nothing more, than a great enigma to which the 
 name of Louis is the only answer, his name alone among all the 
 gods. If the gods abdicate before him, kings and nations are 
 prostrated at his feet. As his reign rolls lengthening on, art re- 
 produces on canvas or in marble, in a strain of hyperbole, each 
 of his triumphs, and each humiliation of his enemies, and fixes 
 on the brilliant vaults of Versailles a perpetual hosanna in honor 
 of the future master of the world. 
 
 " His age, prolific in men of talent, served Louis in all his 
 
THE CREATION OF VERSAILLES 2 1 
 
 desires, and gave him a third artist, Lenostre, to complete Lebrun 
 and Mansart. Thanks to Lenostre, Louis from the windows of 
 his incomparable galcrie des glaces, saw nothing that was hot his 
 creation. The whole horizon is his work, for his garden embraces 
 the whole horizon ; it is at once the master-piece of the marvellous 
 artist who covered France with his monuments of verdure, and 
 the master-piecs of that singular art which must be judged not in 
 isolation, but in reference to the buildings to whose line^ it unites 
 its lines, an architecture of vegetation which frames and completes 
 the architecture oi otone and marble. Entire groves were 
 brought, full grown, from the depths of the finest forests of 
 France, and the art of animating marble and the art of mov- 
 ing water, fill them with all the wonders of which imagination 
 could dream. An innumerable people of statues animate the 
 thickets and the lawns, is reflected in the waters or rises from the 
 bosom of the waves. All the deities of the woods, the rivers and 
 the sea, all the dreams of ancient poetry seem to have gathered at 
 the feet of the great king. Neptune seems to send forth from all 
 sides his jets of waters that cross in the air in sparkling curves; 
 Neptune becomes the servant of Louis ; Diana, the solitary god- 
 dess of the woods, becomes his mistress under the lineaments of 
 the chaste La Valliere. Apollo, his favorite symbol, presides 
 over all this enchanted world. At the two extremities of the view 
 is seen the mythological sun, the transparent emblem of the sun 
 of Louis, rising from the floods in his car to enlighten and rule 
 the world, and plunging into them again uO cast aside the govern- 
 ment of heaven in the voluptuous shadow cf the grotto 01 Thetis. 
 " Louis' will was fulfilled. He created around him a little 
 universe, in which he was the only necessary being, and almost 
 the only real being." — Martin, ''Hist, de France. '' 
 
 Oh ! que Versailles etait superbe 
 Dans ces jours purs de tout affront 
 Ou les prosperites en gerbe 
 S'epanouissaient sur son front ! 
 La, tout faste etait sans mesure ; 
 La, tout arbre avait sa parure ; 
 La, tout homme avait sa dorure ; 
 Tout du maitre suivait la loi. 
 Comme au meme but vont cent routes. 
 La les grandeurs abondaient toutes ; 
 L'Olympe ne pendait aux voutes 
 Que pour completer le grand roi ! 
 
22 £>AVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Vers le temps ou naissaient nos peres 
 Versailles rayonnait encore. 
 Les lions ont de grands repaires ; 
 Les princes ont des palais d'or. 
 Chaque fois que, foule asservie, 
 l^e peuple au coeur ronge d'envie 
 Contemplait du fond de sa vie 
 Le fier chateau si radieux, 
 Rentrant dans sa nuit plus livide, 
 II emportait dans son oeil vide 
 Un eblouissement splendide 
 De rois, de femmes et de dieux ! 
 
 Victor Hugo, '''Les Voix Interieiires." 
 
 Under Louis XV., Versailles was chiefly remarkable as 
 being the scene of the extravagance of Mme de Pompa- 
 dour and the turpitude of Mme du Barry. Mme Campan 
 has described for us the hfe, the very dull life, there of 
 " Mesdames," daughters of the king. Yet, till the great 
 Revolution, since which it has been only a shadow of its 
 former self, the town of Versailles drew all its life from the 
 chateau. 
 
 "The life of this secondary town is the same as the life of 
 the chateau, and the life of the chateau is known at the end of 
 one day's examination. What was done one day will be done, 
 exactl)', the next ; and whoever knows one day, knows the whole 
 year." — Tableau de Paris, 1782. 
 
 " Since the days of the Caesars, no single human life occu- 
 pied so much space beneath the sun. In the Rue des Reservoirs 
 were the old and the new hotels of the Governor of Versailles, 
 the hotels of the governor of the children of the Count d'Artois, 
 the garde-meuble of the crown, the building for the lodgings and 
 dressing-rooms of the actors playing at the Palace, Monsieur's 
 stables ; in the Rue des Bons-Enfants, the hotel of the ward- 
 robe, the lodging of the managers of the water-works, the hotel of 
 the officers of the Comtesse de Provence ; in the Rue de la 
 Pompe, the hotel of the Grand -Provost, the stables of the Duke 
 of Orleans, the hotel of the guards of the Comte d'Artois, the 
 queen's stables, the pavilion of the Springs ; in the Rue Sator}', 
 the stables of the Comtesse d'Artois, Monsieur's English garden, 
 
THE CREATION- OF VERSAILLES 23 
 
 the king's ice-houses, the iiding-school of the light horse of the 
 King's Guard, the garden of the hotel of the treasurers of the build- 
 ings. From these four streets, judge of the rest. You cannot 
 take a hundred steps in this city without meeting an appendix to 
 the palace ; hotel of the staff of the bod^'-guards, hotel of the 
 staff of the light horse ; the immense hotel of the body-guard, the 
 hotel of the gendarmes of the guard, hotels of the Grand Lou- 
 vetier, the Grand Falconer, the grand huntsman, the grand master, 
 the commander of the canal, the controller-geneial, the superin- 
 tendent of buildings, the hotel of the chancellery, the buildings 
 of the falconry and aviary, of the boar-hounds, the great kennel, 
 the dauphin's kennel, the kennel of the so-called green hounds, the 
 hotel of court carriages, the warehouse of the buildings and fur- 
 niture, workshops and storerooms for the same, the grand stable, 
 the little stable, other stables in the Rue de Limoges, in the Rue 
 Royale, and the Avenue de Saint Cloud ; the king's kitchen gar- 
 den, comprising twent^'-nine gardens and four terraces, \\\q, grand 
 commiDi, inhabited by two thousand people, houses and hotels 
 styled Louis, where the king assigned lodgings for a time or for 
 life. These words on paper cannot give the physical impression 
 of the physical immensity. To-day only bits remain of that an- 
 cient Versailles, mutilated and appropriated to other uses ; but go 
 and see them nevertheless. Look at the three avenues that meet 
 in the grand square, forty toises wide, four hundred long, and 
 which still were not too large for the crowd, the movement, the 
 giddy speed of escorts dashing out headlong, and carriages driv- 
 ing a tombeau ouvert ; see, in fro"nt of the chateau, the two stables, 
 with their railings of thirty-two toises, that cost in 1682 three 
 millions, that is to say, fifteen millions of to-day, so simple and 
 so beautiful that, under Louis XIV. himself they were used at 
 one time for a field for the cavalcades of the princes, at another, 
 for a theatre, and at another for a ball-room. Then follow with 
 your eye the development of the gigantic semicircular Place, 
 which, from railing to railing, from court to court, went on rising 
 and closing, at first between the hotels of the ministers, then be- 
 tween the two colossal wings, to end in the haughty enclosure of 
 the marble court, where pilasters, statues, pediments, ornaments, 
 multiplied and piled up stage after stage, lift to heaven the ma- 
 jestic sternness of their lines and the overcharged display of their 
 ornamentation. According to a manuscript, stamped with the 
 arms of Mansart, the palace cost 153 millions, that is, about 750 
 millions of to-day. When a king wishes to display himself, this 
 
24 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 is the price of his dwelling. Now cast your eyes to the other 
 side, to the gardens, and the displa)'^ of ro)^alty becomes more 
 clear. The parterres and the park are a salon in the open air ; 
 nature has there nothing natural ; it is entirely arranged and 
 straightened out with a view to society ; it is not a place to be 
 alone and stretch one's self, but a spot to walk in company and 
 exchange salutations. The upright hornbeams are walls and 
 hangings. The clipped yews figure as vases and h'res. The par- 
 terres are carpets with borders. In these straight, rectilinear 
 alleys the king, cane in hand, will gather round him all his suite. 
 Sixty ladies, in gold-embroidered robes, puffed out over hoops 
 twenty-four feet in circumference, can walk without inconve- 
 nience on the steps of these stairs. These cabinets of verdure can 
 shelter a princely banquet. Under the circular portico all the 
 lords who have the entry to the chamber can join in witnessing 
 the play of a new fountain. They will find their parallels even 
 in the figures of marble or bronze that people the alleys and the 
 basins, in the dignified countenance of an Apollo, in the theatri- 
 cal air of a Jupiter, in the high-world ease and studied careless- 
 ness of a Diana or a Venus. The gods themselves are of their 
 world. Stamped b)^ the efforts of a whole society, and of a whole 
 age, the imprint of the court is so strong that it is graven on de- 
 tails as well as on the whole, on things material as well as on 
 things spiritual." — Taine, " Orig. de France Contempofaine." 
 
 Approaching from the town, on entering the grille of 
 the palace from the Place d'Armes we find ourselves in 
 the vast Cour des Statues — " solennelle et morne." In the 
 centre is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. by Fctitot and 
 CartelUer. Many of the surrounding statues were brought 
 from the Pont de la Concorde at Paris. Two projecting 
 wings shut in the Cour Royale, and separate it from the 
 Cour des Princes on the left, and the Cour de la Chapelle 
 on the right. Beyond the Cour Royale, deeply recessed 
 amongst later buildings, is the court called, from its pave- 
 ment, the Cour de Marbre, surrounded by the little old 
 red Chateau of Louis XIII. 
 
 " Instead of entirely destroying the little chateau and making 
 a new vast plan, the king, in order to save the old chateau, built 
 
COURT OF THE PALACE 
 
 25 
 
 all around it and covered it, in a fashion, with a beautiful mantle 
 which spoiled all." — Correspondaiicc dc Madame. 
 
 The Cour de Marbre was sometimes used as a theatre 
 under Louis XIV., and the opera of Alcestis was given 
 there. It has a peculiar interest, for no stranger can look 
 up at the balcony of the first floor without recalling Marie 
 Antoinette presenting herself there, alone, to the fury of 
 the people, October 6, 1789. 
 
 "All was sobs and confusion around their Majesties, while 
 the queen, with noble and touching firmness, consoled and en- 
 couraged everybody. ' I have the courage to know how to die,' 
 she said, 'but I would wish, at least, that those who are vile 
 enough to play the part of assassins should have the conscious- 
 ness of their crime, that is, show themselves as they are.' Some 
 time afterwards, when the ministers had arrived in the king's 
 apartments, some gun-shots were discharged in the courts, and 
 directed against the windows of the room of her Majesty, It was 
 told me that M. de la Luzerne, minister of marine, having seen a 
 ball strike the wall near the window where the queen stood, ad- 
 vanced and glided, as if from curiosit}^ between her and the 
 window. The motive of the movement did not escape the queen. 
 ■' I see,' she said to M. de la Luzerne, 'what your intention is, 
 and I thank you, but I do not wish you to remain there. It is 
 not your place, it is mine.' And she forced him to retire. . . . 
 
 " Her Majesty appeared for the second time at the balcony. 
 At this second appearance a voice demanded, ' The queen on the 
 balcony ! ' The princess, who was never so great or more noble 
 than when danger was most imminent, presented herself without 
 hesitation on the balcony, holding the Dauphin in one hand and 
 Madame Royale in the other. A voice then exclaimed, ' No 
 children ! ' The queen, by a backward movement of the arms, 
 pushed the children back into the room and remained alone on 
 the balcon}^ crossing her arms on her breast with a countenance 
 of a calm nobility and dignity impossible to depict, and seemed 
 to wait for death. This act of resignation so astonished the 
 assassins and inspired such admiration in the mob that a general 
 clapping of hands and ' Bravo ! long live the queen !' repeated on 
 all sides, disconcerted the malevolent. Nevertheless, I saw one 
 of the madmen aim at the queen, and his neighbor strike down 
 with his hand the barrel of the gun." — Weber, '' Aldmoires." 
 
26 DA VS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The palace of Versailles has never been inhabited by- 
 royalty since the chain of carriages drove into this court 
 on Oct. 6 to convey Louis XVI. and his family to Paris. 
 
 " Yes, TIlc king to Paris : what else? Ministers may consuh, 
 and National Deputies wag their heads ; but there is now no 
 other possibility. You have forced him to go willingl)^ 'At 
 one o'clock ! ' Lafayette gives audible assurances to that pur- 
 pose ; and universal insurrection, with immeasurable shout, and 
 a discharge of all the fire-arms, clean and rusty, great and small, 
 that it has, returns him acceptance. V\^hat a sound ; heard for 
 leagues ; a doom-peal ! And the Chateau of Versailles stands 
 ever since vacant, hushed, still, its spacious courts grass-grown, 
 responsive to the hoe of the weeder." — Carlyle. 
 
 From the Grajide Cour the gardens may be reached by 
 passages either from the Coiir des Princes on the left, or 
 from the Cour de la Chapelle on the right. The palace has 
 had three chapels in turn. The first, built by Louis XIII. , 
 was close to the marble staircase. The second, built by- 
 Louis XIV., occupied the site of the existing Salon 
 d'Hercule. The present Chapel^ built 1 699-1 710, is the 
 last work of Mansart. 
 
 " This beautiful chapel of Versailles, as far as workmanship 
 and decoration are concerned, which cost so many millions, and 
 is so badly proportioned that it seems a charnel house high above 
 ground, threatening to crush the chateau, was made so by a trick. 
 Mansart only took into account the proportions of the tribunes 
 and designedly built this horrible elevation above the chateau in 
 order, by its deformity, to compel the raising of the chateau by 
 an additional story. Without the breaking out of the war, dur- 
 ing which he died, this would have been done," — St. Simon, 
 " Memoires." 
 
 "Louis XIV. did not like domes, and when he asked his 
 favorite architect, Hardouin-Mansart, whom he had just named 
 superintendent of buildings in place of the Marquis de Villecerf, 
 who died in 1699, for the plan of the cliapel of Versailles, he was 
 careful to say, as his only instruction, ' Above all, no dome ! ' " — 
 Paid Lacroix, 
 
THE CHAPEL 2*J 
 
 Here we may think of Bossuet, thundering before 
 Louis XIV. " les royaumes meurent, sire, comme les rois," 
 and of the words of Massillon, '' Si Je'sus-Christ paraissait 
 dans ce temple, au miUeu de cette assemble'e, la plus 
 auguste de I'univers, pour vous juger, pour faire le terrible 
 discernement," &c. Here also we may imagine Louis 
 XIV. daily assisting at the mass, and his courtiers, es- 
 pecially the ladies, attending also to flatter him, but gladly 
 escaping, if they thought he would not be there. 
 
 " Brissac, major of the body-guard, could not abide an}* du- 
 plicity. He was anno3'ed at seeing all the tribunes lined with 
 ladies in the winter at the salut on Fridays and Sundays, when the 
 king almost never failed to be present, while very few were there 
 when it was known in time that he would not come, and under 
 the pretense of reading their 'hours,' they all had little tapers 
 before them, so that they could be recognized and remarked. 
 One evening when the king was going to the sahit, and while the 
 evening prayers were being said which preceded the sakit, all the 
 guards at their posts, and the ladies in their places, the major 
 came, towards the end of the prayers, and, showing himself in the 
 vacant seat of the king, raised his baton and cried in a loud tone : 
 ' Royal Guards, withdraw ! Back to your quarters ! The king 
 will not come.' The guards obe)"ed at once, there were murmurs 
 among the ladies, the little tapers were put out, and soon they 
 had all left, except the Duchess de Guiche, Mme de Dangeau, 
 and one or two others who remained. Brissac had placed some 
 subaltern officers at the exits of the chapel to stop the guards, 
 and order them back to their posts, as soon as the ladies were so 
 far away as to have no suspicions. Thereupon the king arrived, 
 and, much surprised not to see the tribunes filled with ladies, 
 asked how it happened that no one was there. On leaving the 
 ceremony, Brissac told him what he had done, not without enlarg- 
 ing on the piety of the court ladies. The king, and all with him, 
 laughed very much. The story spread immediatel3^ and all the 
 ladies would have liked to strangle him." — St. SiJiton,'' Memoires," 
 1708. 
 
 "I remember an edifying and beautiful discourse by Massil- 
 lon that was interrupted by a burst of laughter from the Duchesse 
 de Boufflers. The text was, * Happy are the peoples whose kings 
 
28 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 are of ancient race.' There was certainly nothing in it of a nature 
 to provoke peals of laughter, but every time the sacred text was 
 repeated by the lips of the orator, M. de Villeroy, Governor of H. 
 M., was melted to tears and sobbed while gazing in an obsequious 
 manner on the king, and made such grimaces that the poor young 
 lady would not resist it, which made a great scandal." — Souvenirs 
 de la Marquise de la Creqtii. 
 
 The carefully organized system of etiquette was ob- 
 served nowhere more carefully than in the chapel, espe- 
 cially ^hen the king communicated. 
 
 "After the elevation of the Host, a fauld-stool was placed 
 below the altar at the spot where the priest begins service ; it was 
 covered with a cloth, and then with a large piece of linen hanging 
 down before and behind. At the Pater iVoster, the almoner of the 
 day rose and whispered into the king's ear the names of all the 
 dukes present in the chapel. The king gave him two names ; always 
 those of the oldest, to each of whom the almoner, immediately 
 afterwards, advanced and made a reverence. The priest having 
 communicated, the king rose and went to kneel, without carpet 
 or hassock, before the fauld-stool, and took hold of the linen ; then 
 the two dukes who had been warned, and who, with the captain of 
 the guards on duty, had alone risen from their hassocks and fol- 
 lowed him, the oldest on the right, the other on the left, took hold 
 at the same time as the king, each of one corner of the linen, which 
 they held on the king's side, while the two almoners in attendance 
 held the other two corners on the side next the altar, all four on their 
 knees, and the captain of the guards also, who knelt alone behind 
 the king. After the communion and ablution, the king remained 
 a little longer in the same place, and then returned to his seat, 
 followed by the captain of the guards and the two dukes, who 
 resumed their places. If a son of France was there alone, he 
 alone held the right corner of the linen napkin, and no one held 
 the other ; and when the Duke of Orleans was there and no son 
 of France, the same form was kept. A prince of the blood, if 
 present, took no part in the service with him, but if only a prince 
 of the blood was present, one duke, instead of two, was warned, 
 and he served on the left, with the prince of the blood on the right 
 hand." — St. Simon, 1707. 
 
 It was in the chapel that the flattery of royalty took its 
 strongest form. 
 
THE CHAPEL 
 
 29 
 
 "When Mme the Dauphiness celebrated Easter, there were 
 ' select hosts' for this princess ; God evidently displayed a select 
 real presence for the daughter-in-law of the great king." — Dan- 
 geati. 
 
 In the devotion which characterized the last years of 
 
 Louis XIV.'s life, he was constantly in the chapel. We 
 
 read in a letter of Mme de Maintenon (1686) : — 
 
 " The king was at matins last night ; he heard three masses ; 
 he was at high mass to-day, after which he went to s«^e Madame, 
 with whom he passed an hour. He went also to Mme the Dau- 
 phiness, and thence to sermon. He heard musical vespers." 
 
 At this time he had become equally severe as to the 
 
 religious practice and the dress of his courtiers, male as 
 
 well as female. 
 
 "The courtier, of olden times, wore his hair, had trunks and 
 pourpoint, wore large canons, and was a libertine. This is out 
 of place now. He wears a v.-ig, a tight coat, close stockings, 
 and is pious. Everything is regulated by fashion." — La Brnyere, 
 '' De la Mode:'' 
 
 We are able to picture the scene in this chapel during 
 
 the last moments of Louis XV. 
 
 " It was evening ; the ro3'al family and all the court were 
 prostrate in the superb and imposing chapel of the chateau. The 
 sacrament was exposed, the prayers of forty hours chanted, and 
 supplications offered to God for the recovery of the dying mon- 
 arch. Suddenly black clouds veiled the sky, night seemed to 
 envelop the chapel in its shades, and the first peal of thunder 
 was heard ; soon came the whistling winds, the torrents of rali 
 dashing against the windows, the lightning flashes, which every 
 instant made the tapers lighted on the altar turn pale, and sent an 
 awful gleam through the melancholy obscurity ; then the dull roll- 
 ing, or the threatening crash of the thunder that seemed to rend 
 the veil of the temple ; the songs of the church continued through 
 the tempest, the impression of terror in every voice and on every 
 face ; heaven thundering while the God of mercy was invoked ; 
 the war of all the elements, which it was impossible not to asso- 
 ciate in thought with the destruction of the most powerful of men, 
 the sight of the young heir and his young companion, both ap- 
 
30 , ^^ ^^^ NEAR PARIS 
 
 palled, both weeping between the altar, Avhich they implored in 
 vain, the tomb into which they saw their father descending, and 
 the throne which the}- shuddered to mount ; then the departure 
 from the chapel when the service was over, the abstraction, the 
 deep silence, in which no voice was heard, but only hasty steps, 
 as each hurried to his room, in order to breathe freely from the 
 weight that oppressed him. This scene was also reckoned among 
 the threatening auspices under which the new reign opened." — 
 Weber, ^^ Me'i/ioires." 
 
 On Sundays and fete days there is always a musical low 
 mass in the chapel at c) a.m. 
 
 In describing the Mnsee, the apartments are taken in 
 the order in which they are usually visited, and which it is 
 better to follow, if one does not wish to be lost. All the 
 furniture of Versailles was sold during the Revolution (in 
 1793), and, though a few pieces have been recovered, the 
 palace is for the most part unfurnished, and little more 
 than a vast picture-gallery. From the antechamber of the 
 chapel open two galleries on the ground floor of the north 
 wing. One is the Galerie dcs Sculptures ; the other, divided 
 by diiTerent rooms looking on the garden, is the Galerie 
 de I Histoire de France. The first six rooms of the latter 
 formed the apartments of the Due de Maine, the much in- 
 dulged son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan. 
 
 Where there are such acres of pictures, and where all 
 are named, we only notice here those which are remarkable 
 as works of art or of historic interest connected with the 
 place itself. 
 
 Salle IV.— 
 
 Ary Scheffer. The Death of Gaston de Foix at the Battle 
 of Ravenna. 
 
 Salle VIIL— 
 
 Pezey. Louis XIV. receiving the Oath of Dangeau, Grand- 
 Mastcr of the Order of St. Lazarc ; a picture interesting here as 
 representing the original chapel. 
 
THE SALLE DE L OPERA 31 
 
 Salle XI. — Pictures iiiuslratue of the life of Louis 
 XVI. 
 
 At the end of the gallery (but only to be entered now 
 from the Rue des Reservoirs) is \\\^ Salle de I Ope?-a. In 
 spite of the passion of Louis XIV. for dramatic represen- 
 tations, no theatre was built in the palace during his reign. 
 Some of the plays of Moliere and Racine were acted in 
 improvised theatres in the park ; others, in the halls of the 
 palace, without scenery or costumes ; the Athalie of Racine, 
 before the king and Mme de Maintenon, by the young 
 ladies of St. Cyr. The present Opera House was begun 
 by Jacques Ange-Gabriel under Louis XV. for Mme de 
 Pompadour, and finished for Mme du Barry. 
 
 " Disposition des plus heureuses, grandioses d'ensemble et 
 de style, risthesse et harm5nie de details, tout se trouve reuni pour 
 faire de cette salle un incomparable chef-d'osuvre." — Vaiidoyer. 
 
 The Opera House was inaugurated on the marriage of 
 
 the Dauphin with Marie Antoinette, and nineteen years 
 
 after was the scene of that banquet, the incidents of which 
 
 were represented in a manner so fatal to the monarchy, 
 
 given by the body-guard of the king to the officers of a 
 
 regiment which had arrived from Flanders. 
 
 "The king was informed of the ardent enthusiasm that 
 animated this assembly of loyal chevaliers, and the oath which 
 these soldiers had renewed to defend, to the last gasp, the masters 
 who had hitherto been an object of veneration and love to their 
 people. Their Majesties and their children came with a slender 
 suite to honor and embellish this assemblage by their presence. 
 They were invited by M. the Comte de Tcsse, equerry of the 
 queen, and by the Comte d'Agoult, major of the Life Guards, 
 who, struck by the sight of the house, the number of guests, the 
 effect of the horse-shoe table, the lighting of the hall, and the 
 throng of spectators grouped in the boxes, justly believed that 
 such a spectacle could not but interest the ro)^al family. It 
 entered at first the first boxes opposite the stage. The musicians 
 struck up, amidst loud applause, the popular air, ' Oh peut-on 
 
32 
 
 £>AVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ctre mit'ux quau sehi de sa fa/nilie?' The air was accompanied 
 with redoubled acclamations. ' Vive le roi ! vive la reine ! vive la 
 faiiiille royale!' The august family was soon requested to descend 
 and make the tour of the room. Marie Antoinette, by an irre- 
 sistible impulse, imitating her august mother, took the Dauphin 
 by the hand and led him around the tables, proud of displaying 
 to the generous defenders of the throne the fair child who was 
 the presumptive heir. At the view of so much majesty and 
 grace, such beauty and innocence, the intoxication of feeling and 
 admiration rose to a climax ; tears of sensibilit}^ filled every e3^e 
 and the music gave out the touching strains from Richard Cceur 
 de Lion : 
 
 ' Richard ! O vion roi ! 
 Vunivers f abandonne. ' 
 
 "This air, which made such a striking allusion to the situation 
 of Louis XVI., and which had been for some time forbidden in 
 France, was repeated in chorus from all the benches. Never was 
 there so loyal a concert, never did a purer sentiment electrify a 
 whole assembly. The august countenances of the king and 
 queen bore, on that evening, the imprint of contentment and 
 happiness in place of the melancholy they had exhibited for 
 many months. 
 
 " In the evening, the ladies of the Court formed with pieces 
 of white paper some cockades that they distributed in the private 
 rooms of the chateau to the body-guards and the officers they met 
 on their way. All this was done in gaiety and simplicity, and 
 ought not to have been regarded as out of the French character ; 
 it was the expression of great devotion for the king and his 
 family. How could such a demonstration of joy in the royal 
 palace be regarded as a crime ?" — Weber, " M^moircs" 
 
 Returning from the end of the picture gallery, we may 
 
 pass through the Galerie des Sculptures^ chiefly casts from 
 
 royal and other monuments. Some, however, are brought 
 
 from Paris churches destroyed at the Revolution, and 
 
 amongst these we may especially notice, beginning at the 
 
 entrance — 
 
 1879, 1880. The Due dc Vitry, Marechal de France, and his 
 
 wife, 1666. 
 1892. Henri Chabot, Due de Rohan. By Fran5ois Angular. 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 33 
 
 1885. Louis Potier, Marquis de Gesvres, 1643. By Lehongr. 
 
 1883. Rene Potier, Due de Tresmes, 1670. 
 
 1898. Francois d'Argouges, first President of the Parliament 
 
 of Brittany. By Co3'sevox. 
 1915. Ferdinand Philippe Louis, Due d'Orleans, 1842. By 
 
 Pradier. 
 1901. Philippe d'Orleans, Regent of France. By Lemoyne. 
 *i854. Jeanne Dare. By Princess Marie d'Orleans, daughter 
 
 of Louis Philippe. 
 
 "If it does not give the enthusiastic majesty of Jeanne, at 
 least it gives her purit}^ her grace and her resigned devotion. It 
 is the work of a young woman less illustrious by her blood than 
 by her talent and noble character, whose early end all France 
 has to regret." — Martin, " Hist, de France.'' 
 
 Near (left) a cast from the great monument of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, we enter a suite of five rooms formerly 
 occupied by the ladies and gentlemen in waiting, adorned 
 with modern historic pictures, and known from their sub- 
 jects as Salles des Croisades. Returning to the Galerie de 
 Sculpture and following it to the vestibule of the chapel, 
 we must now take the little staircase on the left of the 
 chapel, which will conduct us to another vestibule of the 
 chapel on the first floor. Here we enter (right) the sec- 
 ond Galerie de Sculpture., from the midst of which we reach 
 the Salles de Peinture, called Galerie de Cofisfantin, a set 
 of seven rooms adorned with modern historic pictures and 
 busts, some of them very interesting as representing ^he 
 Court, surroundings, life, campaigns, and battles of Napo- 
 leon III.;, the idol of France at the time they were exe- 
 cuted. 
 
 Returning from these rooms to the Galerie de Sculpture., 
 and, turning at the end, we reach the landing, where we 
 find a staircase which leads us up to the second floor, the 
 Attique du Nord, panelled with part of the vast Versailles 
 collection of portraits, chiefly copies and poor as works of 
 
34 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 art, but including a few of great interest, especially here, in 
 the palace where so many of the originals lived and died. 
 Turning to the left by the door opposite the stairs, we 
 enter — 
 
 Salle I., where we may notice with interest as originals : 
 
 3052. Charles VII. XVI c. 
 3116. Fran9ois t. XVI c. 
 311S, Claude de France. 
 3121. Renee de France. 
 
 3198. Don Carlos, Infant of Spain. Attributed to .SVr A. 
 More. 
 
 Salle II. — 
 
 3282. Porbus : H#nri IV. as a child, at the time when lie had 
 
 to be flogged to make him go to mass. 
 3347. Mh-evelt : Maurice de Nassau. 
 
 Salle III— 
 
 3367. Sitnon Votiet : Louis XIII. 
 
 It used to be said of Louis XIII., " II ne dit pas tout ce qu'il 
 pense ; il ne fait pas tout ce qu'il veut ; il ne veut pas tout ce 
 qu'il pent." 
 
 3391. Philippe de Champaigne : Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 Richelieu described his own character to the Marquis de la 
 Vieuville : " Je n'ose rien entreprendre sans y avoir bien pense, 
 mais quand une fois j'ai pris ma resolution, je vais a mon but, je 
 renverse tout, je fauche tout, et ensuite je couvre tout de ma 
 soutane rouge." 
 
 Salle IV.— 
 
 3443. Testeliii : Chancellor Seguier. 
 
 3441. Anne of Austria. 
 
 3488. Lebriin : Vicomte de Turenne, Marechal de France. 
 
 3445. Testelin : Louis XIV. as a boy. 
 
 3445. Henrietta Maria, Queen of England. 
 
 " Her vivacity deprived all her actions of that gravity that is 
 necessary to persons of her rank, and her soul was too much car- 
 ried away by her feelings." — Mme de Motteville. 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 3^ 
 
 Salle v.— 
 
 3624. Mignard : Anne Marie de Bourbon, Mile de Blois, 
 afterwards Princess de Conti, as a child. 
 
 " 27 Dec. 1679. All the court rejoiced at the marriage of M. 
 the Prince de Conti and Mile de Blois. The}^ were like lovers in 
 romances ; the king made great sport of their affection. He 
 spoke tenderly to her, and assured her that he loved her so much 
 that he did not wish to lose her ; the child w"s so moved and de- 
 lighted that she wept. The king said he could see well enough 
 what aversion she had for the husband whom he had chosen for 
 her. She redoubled her tears, and her little heart could not con- 
 tain her joy. The king told the little scene, and it gave pleasure 
 to every one. As for M. de Conti, he was transported, and did not 
 know what he was saying or doing ; he walked over everj^body 
 who came in his way, in his haste to see Mile de Blois. Mme 
 Colbert did not wish him to see her till evening, but he broke 
 through the guards, and flung himself at her feet and kissed her 
 hand. She embraced him without more ado, and began to weep 
 again. This good little princess is so tender and so pretty that 
 one would like to eat her." — Mme de S^vigne'. 
 
 3052. Schmitz {after Afignard) : Mme de la Valliere and her 
 two children. 
 
 " In the midst of her highest fortune, she had herself painted 
 by Mignard, with her two children, and holding in her hand a 
 pipe from which hung a soap-bubble with the legend : ' Sic transit 
 gloria imindi,'' " — Hoefer. 
 
 4304. Fran9oise Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse d'Orleans, and 
 Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse : 
 children of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan. 
 
 3553. Louis de France, " Le Grand Dauphin." 
 
 "He is the most incomprehensible man in the world ; he is 
 not stupid, )'et always acts as if he were. This arises from his 
 insensibility and his indifference." — Correspondance de Madame, 
 1699. 
 
 " He is the most difficult man in the world to entertain, for 
 he never sa)'s a word." — Mine de Maintenon. 
 
 3500. Louis XIV. 
 
 3545. Carlo Alaratta : Lenotre. 
 
 "Illustrious for having been the first to design the beautiful 
 
36 jDA YS near PARIS 
 
 gardens that adorn France, Lenotre had such probity, upright- 
 ness and integrity, that all loved and esteemed him." — St. Si/non. 
 
 Salle VI.— 
 
 3629. Mignard : Philippe de France, grandson of Louis 
 XIV., afterwards Philippe V. of Spain, as a child. 
 
 3578. Hyacinthe Rigaiid : Mignard. 
 
 " L'elegante portraitiste des dames de la cour." — Henri Mar- 
 tin. 
 
 3586. Detroy : Jules Hardouin-Mansard, Surintendant des 
 batiments du roi. 
 
 " He was a large man, well made, with a pleasing face, sprung 
 from the dregs of the people, but with much natural talent, all 
 directed to please and attract, without, however, ever getting clear 
 of the roughness acquired in his early condition." — St. Simon. 
 
 3579. Gilles Alloa : Coysevox. 
 
 Salle VII.— 
 
 3640. Rigatid : Jean Baptiste Keller. 
 3566. Vivien : Fenelon. 
 
 "With the most deep-seated probity, the most ardent and 
 most sincere hunger and thirst for truth, the most scrupulous 
 purity, the presence of God always felt in every deed or situation 
 of his daily life, to whom he referred with a holy jealousy the 
 most important and the most trivial actions." — St. Simon. 
 
 " He had merely skin over his bones and his eyes deep-set in 
 his head, but he talked very pleasantly ; he was polished and even 
 gay. He laughed readily and liked to talk without reserve." — 
 Correspondance de Madame. 
 
 Salle VIII— 
 
 3 640. Riga ud : Keller. 
 
 3673. Rigaud : Louise Antoinc dc Pardaillan, Due d'Antin, 
 legitimate son of Mme de Montespan. 
 
 " Beautiful as the day when young, he preserved great re- 
 mains of it to the end of his life, but it was a masculine beauty, 
 and a face full of intelligence. No one had more charm, mem- 
 ory, light, or knowledge of men and of each man. Coarse by 
 nature, gentle and polished by judgment, he sacrificed everj^thing 
 to ambition and riches." — St. Simon, 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 37 
 
 3637. Mignard : Fran9oise d'Aubigne, Mmc de Maintenoti. 
 
 "Always under constraint, at first to gain a living, then to 
 rise, then to reign, she was never happy, and deserved neither the 
 exaggerated satires nor praises of which she was the object." — 
 Duclos. 
 
 " L'envie de faire un nom etait ma passion," she wrote to her 
 pupils at St. Cyr. 
 
 " Mignard, when painting Mme de Maintenon as Sainte Fran- 
 goise of Rome, asked the king, smiling, if in order to adorn the 
 picture, he might dress her in an ermine mantle. ' Yes," said the 
 king, ' Sainte Frangoise deserves one.' This portrait is the most 
 beautiful one of her in existence All the courtiers ad- 
 mired it ; the attribute of royalty did not escape notice." — De la 
 Beaumelle, " Me'moires de Mme de Maintenon." 
 
 " Madame. I have seen the most beautiful thing that can be 
 imagined, a portrait of Mme de Maintenon by Mignard ; she is 
 dressed as Sainte Frangoise of Rome ; Mignard has embellished 
 her, but it is without insipidity, without red or white, without the 
 air of youth, without all her perfections, and he presents to us a 
 face bevond all that can be described, animated eyes, perfect 
 grace, no gewgaws, and with all this no portrait comes before 
 it." — M/ue de Coiilanges a Mme de Se'vigne, Oct., 1694. 
 
 3652. Rigaud : Dangcau (Philippe et Courcillon, Marquis dc 
 Dangeau). 
 
 " A kind of man whose metal had lost its temper. All his 
 capacity went no further than conducting himself well, injuring 
 nobody, multiplying the breezes of flattery that surrounded him, 
 and in acquiring, preserving, and enjoying a kind of consider- 
 ation." — St. Simon. 
 
 3661. Marie Louise d'Orleans, Duchesse de Berry, eldest 
 daughter of Philippe, Due d'Orleans, and great- 
 niece of Louis XIV., the most depraved of all 
 French princesses — undutiful as a daughter, un- 
 faithful as a wife, and most protiigate as a widow 
 during the regency of her father. 
 
 " Born with superior intelligence, a striking face which pleas- 
 antly arrested attention, she spoke with singular grace, and a nat- 
 ural eloquence peculiar to her which flowed in an easy stream. 
 What might she not have done with these talents, if the vices of 
 her heart, spirit, and soul, and a most violent disposition, had not 
 
38 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 turned so many fair gifts into the most dangerous poison? Im- 
 measurable pride and the most continual treachery were, in her 
 eyes, virtues on which she piqued herself, and irreligion, which she 
 believed was an ornament to her wit, placed the climax on all 
 the rest." — St. Simon. 
 
 "She is not at all pretty. She is thick and short, long 
 arms and short hips, she walks badly, and displays a want of 
 grace in all she does ; she makes horrible grimaces, has a crying 
 face, marked with the small-pox, red eyes — their color is clear blue 
 — and a reddish face. But her neck, hands, and arms are per- 
 fectly beautiful. With all this, her husband and her father im- 
 agine that Helen was never so beautiful as the Duchesse de 
 Berry." — Correspondance de Madame. 
 
 " The question of her funeral oration caused such embarrass- 
 ment, that at the end it was resolved not to have one." — Me'moires 
 de ]\Iadame. 
 
 2084. Rigaiid : Elizabeth Charlotte de Baviere, Duchesse 
 d'Orleans — Madame, called by her intimates " Lise- 
 Lotte." The Princess Palatine, second wife of Phi- 
 lippe d'Orleans, only brother of Louis XIV. She is 
 celebrated in all the memoirs of the time, and by her 
 own published correspondence. 
 
 "This princess was dressed up as a kind of Amazon, with a 
 man's cloth coat laced at the seams ; she had a petticoat to match, 
 a three-tailed wig like that of H. M., and a hat exactly like the 
 king's, which she did not take ofT or lift while she was paying 
 her respects to us, which, however, she performed with sufficient 
 ease and ceremony. It is right to add that her vulgar Royal 
 Highness had her feet in boots and a whip in her hand. She was 
 badly formed, badly turned, badly disposed for everything and 
 against everybody. She had a face like a russet apple, short, 
 broad, high colored, not much nose, black eyes, animated, without 
 any trace of wit — the kind of face we see everywhere." — Souvenirs 
 de la Marquise de Creqtci. 
 
 " The rough, original, satiric Princess of Orleans, from whom 
 the modern house of Orleans was to spring." — Henri Martin. 
 
 3695. Rigaud : Louis XV. as a child. 
 3682. Antoine Coypel : His own Portrait. 
 3680. Rigaud : His own Portrait. 
 
 " Rigaud, who made himself illustrious by leaving to pos- 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 3^ 
 
 terity the living images of most of the great men of the age." — 
 Henri Martin. 
 
 3681. Largillieres : His own Portrait, 
 
 3677. Mi^nard : La Comtesse de Feuquieres, daughter of the 
 artist. 
 
 " The marriage of a brother of Feuquieres, with the daugh- 
 ter of the celebrated Mignard, the first painter of his time, 
 who was dead, was a love match. Bloin, the first valet de 
 chambre of the king, had been keeping her, to the knowledge of 
 everybody, and induced the king to sign the contract of mar- 
 riage." — St. SifHon. 
 
 3701. Santerre : Philippe, Due d'Orleans, Regent du Roy- 
 aume. 
 
 " He is like the child in the story to whose baptism all the 
 fairies were invited ; one wished him a good figure, another elo- 
 quence, another that he should learn all the arts ; a fourth, all the 
 exercises — that is fencing, riding, dancing; a fifth, that he become 
 skilled in the art of war; a sixth, that he be more courageous 
 than any one. The seventh fairy had been overlooked in the in- 
 vitations. 'I cannot take from the child, ' she said, 'what my 
 sisters have bestowed, but while life lasts, I shall be contrary, so 
 that all the favors they have accorded will amount to nothing. 
 Therefore, I will give him such a bearing that he shall seem lame 
 and hump-backed ; I will make his beard grow so black and 
 thick, from one day to another, and make him grimace like a day 
 dreamer that he will be disfigured ; I will plunge him into such 
 ennui that he will detest all the arts he cultivates — music, paint- 
 ing, and drawing ; I will inspire him with a taste for solitude, and 
 a horror of the society of honest people." — Correspondance de 
 Madame {his mothet). 
 
 3725. Santerre : Louise Adelaide d'Orleans, Mile de Chartres, 
 abbesse de Chelles, daughter of the Regent. 
 
 3711. Philippe V. of Spain (Philippe de France), grandson of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 Galerie. — 
 
 L. 3769. Vanloo et Parrocel : Louis XV. on horseback, as a 
 
 boy. 
 3754. J. B. Vanloo : Marie Leczinska. 
 3750. Rigaud : Louis XV. 
 
40 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 3789, Tocqiie : Louis, Dauphin — " Monseigneur," son of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 " He was perfection towards the king ; never had a son such 
 respect, such obedience, such filial love for his father. This must 
 be conceded to him ; it is the chief praise that can be given him." 
 — Correspondaiice de Madame. 
 
 3751. Vanloo : Louis XV. 
 
 "Louis XV. had a most imposing presence. His eyes re- 
 mained fixed on )'Ou all the time he was talking ; and in spite of 
 the beauty of his features, he inspired a kind of dread." — Mjue 
 Campan. 
 
 3765. Cardinal de Fleury, Prime Minister under Louis XV. 
 3741. Nattier : Anne Louise Benedicite de Bourbon-Conde, 
 Duchesse du Maine. 
 
 " She had courage in excess ; was enterprising, audacious, 
 furious, knowing only the present passion, and postponing every- 
 thing to it." — St. Shnon. 
 
 3752. Cozette : Louis XV. — a portrait in late life. 
 
 "His manners in no way resembled his habits and tastes; 
 his bearing was easy and noble, he carried his head with much 
 dignity ; his look, without being severe, was imposing." — M7nc 
 Campaii. 
 
 3755. Tocque : Marie Leczinska. 
 
 " The noblest model of all the religious and social virtues." 
 — Mine Campan. 
 
 " There could not be a better woman, nor one with less tact, 
 than Marie Leczinska ; serious and austere, rigidly and often 
 inopportunely devout, she did everything that could alienate a 
 husband younger than herself." — Henri Martin. 
 
 3791. C. Natoire : Louis Dauphin, son of Louis XV. 
 
 " His virtues are known by every Frenchmen." — Mine Cam- 
 pan. 
 
 3805. Nattier : Madame Victoire, daughter of Louis XV., as 
 
 a girl. 
 3795. L. Tocque : Marie Anne Christine Victoire de Baviere 
 
 (La Dauphine), daughter-in law of Louis XIV., and 
 
 mother of the Dues de Bourgogne and Berry, and of 
 
 Philippe V. of Spain. 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 4 1 
 
 "The king was extremely impatient to learn what she was 
 like. He sent Sanquin, an honest man incapable of flattery. 
 'Sire,' he said, 'saving the first look, you will be pleased with 
 her.' The remark was an apt one, for there is something in her 
 nose and brow which is too long in proportion to the rest, which 
 at first produces a bad effect. But she has such grace, such beau- 
 tiful arms, such beautiful hands, such a beautiful figure, such 
 a beautiful neck, such beautiful teeth, such beautiful hair, so 
 much wit and goodness, caressing without being insipid, familiar 
 with dignity ; in fine, such charming manners that the first view 
 must be pardoned." — Mme de Se'vignc. 
 
 " I saw Madame la Dauphine, whose want of beauty is not at 
 all shocking or disagreeable ; her face does not become her, but her 
 wit does perfectly. She neither says nor does anything without 
 showing that she has a good deal. She has lively, piercing eyes, 
 she understands and comprehends everything readily ; she is 
 natural, and no more embarrassed nor astonished than if she had 
 been borne in the Louvre. She exhibits the highest gratitude 
 towards the king, but without baseness ; not as being below what 
 she is to-day, but as having been chosen and distinguished from 
 all Europe. She has a very noble air, and much dignity and 
 goodness ; she loves verses, music, and conversation ; she is 
 often four or five hours quite alone in her chamber, and is sur- 
 prised at the exertions made to amuse her. She has shut the door 
 on all mockery and malice." — Lettre de Mtfie de Se'vigne', Mars, 
 1680. 
 
 "The good, honest, and dear Dauphine." — Correspoiidance de 
 Madame, Duchesse d' OrUans. 
 
 3885. Tocque' : Gresset. 
 
 3902. Madame Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia, sister of Louis 
 XVI. 
 
 " This princess was a child so enormously large that people 
 gave her the nickname of ' big madame.' " — Mnie Campan. 
 
 3993. Nivelon : Louis Dauphin. 
 
 3819. N'attier : La Duchesse d'Orleans. 
 
 3810. Drouais : Madame Sophie, daughter of Louis XV. 
 
 " Madame Sophie, who united to the most unpleasant coun- 
 tenance the most mediocre intellect, was an entirely passive per- 
 sonage." — Me7noires de Besenval. 
 
 3813. Nattier: Madame Louise, daughter of Louis XV., be- 
 fore she took the veil. 
 
42 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 " Her soul was lofty and she loved great things. She could 
 do only one splendid action, that of quitting a palace for a cell, 
 rich vestments for a sackcloth gown. She did it." — Mme Campan. 
 
 3796. Marie Josephe de Saxe, la Dauphine, mother of Louis 
 
 XVI. 
 3806. N'attier : Madame Victoire. 
 
 "Madame Victoire, good, gentle, affable, lived in the most 
 charming simplicity in a circle that cherished her ; she was adored 
 by her household." — Mine Campan. 
 
 3872. Raphael Mengs : Charles III. 
 
 3791. Natolre: Louis de France, Dauphin. 
 
 3890. Callet : Louis XVL 
 
 "His features were those of his race, rendered somewhat 
 heavier by the German blood of his mother, a princess of Saxony. 
 Beautiful blue eyes, widely open, more limpid than sparkling, 
 a round brow sloping backward, a Roman nose in which the soft 
 heavy nostrils modified a little the energy of the acquiline form, a 
 smiling mouth with a gracious expression, thick lips well formed, 
 a fine skin, a rich, rosy complexion, although somewhat flaccid, a 
 short figure, a plump body, a timid attitude, and an uncertain 
 gait." — Lamartine, "Hist, des Girondins."' 
 
 " Serenity, sweetness and good-will are depicted on the king's 
 face. We feel that no evil thought can approach him." — Karam- 
 sine, 1790. 
 
 3895. Mme Lehriui : Marie Antoinette. 
 
 "The queen is still beautiful and majestic. Marie Antoinette 
 is born to be a queen. Her bearing, ber look, her smile, all 
 indicate a superior being. It cannot be doubted but that her 
 heart was deeply wounded. Well, she knew how to hide her 
 grief, and not a cloud obscured the brilliancy of her beautiful 
 eyes. " — Karamsine, 1 790. 
 
 3802. Heinslus : Madame Adelaide, daughter of Louis XV., 
 
 in late life. 
 3783. M»ie Guiard : Louise Elizabeth de France, "Madame 
 
 rinfante," eldest daughter of Louis XV. 
 3907. Mme Lebncn : Marie Therese de France, Madame 
 
 Royale, and Louis Joseph Xavier, the first Dauphin, 
 
 son of Louis XVI. 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD 43 
 
 Returning by the other side — 
 
 3912. Aline Lebrun : Louise Marie Adelaide de Bourbon, 
 
 Duchesse d'Orleans (Mile de Penthievre). 
 3865. Drouais : " Monsieur," afterwards Louis XVIIL 
 
 "This heartless bel esprit, who will one day be Louis XVIIL, 
 a young man without youth, a cold, false heart, a sceptic who 
 had imbibed from the age only negations." — Henri Martin. 
 
 3899. Vanloo : Charles Philippe de France, Comte d'Artois, 
 afterwards Charles X. 
 
 "Obstinate, noisy, profligate, with an open heart and easy 
 disposition, he had the defects of youth without striking qualities 
 or a decided character." — Henri Martin. 
 
 3S09. Nattier: Madame Sophie. 
 
 3802. N'attier : Mme Adelaide (called " Loque " by her 
 father, Louis XV.). 
 
 "Madame Adelaide had for an instant a charming face, but 
 never did beauty disappear as rapidly as hers. She was imperious 
 and impulsive ; abrupt manners, a harsh voice, and a curt pro- 
 nunciation rendered her more than imposing." — Mine Cavipan. 
 
 3901. Drouais : Le Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. 
 
 " Monseigneur d'Artois pulls the mask from a fair imper- 
 tinent ; fights a duel inconsequence — almost drawing blood. He 
 has breeches of a kind new in this world — a fabulous kind ; 
 'four tall lackeys,' says Mercier, as if he had seen it, 'hold him 
 up in the air, that he may fall into the garment without vestige of 
 wrinkle ; from which rigorous encasement the same four, in the 
 same way, and with more effort, have to deliver him at night.' " — 
 Carlyle. 
 
 3704. Nivelon: La Dauphine — Marie Josephe de Saxe, mother 
 of Louis XVI. 
 
 3822. Fete given at the He d'Adam by the Prince de Conti. 
 
 3887. Stag taken before the Chateau of L'lle d'Adam. 
 
 3825. Supper " chez le Prince de Conti " at the Temple, with 
 portraits of the Princesse de Beauvau, Comtesse de 
 Boufflers, Comtesse d'Egmont, Marechale de Luxem- 
 bourg, Prince d'Henin, President Renault, Pont de 
 Vesle. Trudaine. The 5'oung Mozart, aged eight, is 
 at the piano, accompanied by the celebrated Geliotte. 
 
 3801. Nattier: Madame Adelaide. 
 
44 DA YS NEA^ PARIS 
 
 " Madame Adelaide was entirely deficient in that goodness 
 which alone makes the great beloved. She carried too far the 
 idea of the prerogatives of rank." — Muie Campan. 
 
 3776. Toe q lie : Abel Francois Poisson, Marquis de Marigny, 
 
 brother of Mme de Pompadour. 
 3S50, Carlo Vanloo : The painter and his family. 
 3775. Boucher : Antoinette Poisson, Mme de Pompadour. 
 
 "At a ball at the Hotel de Ville, a pretty mask, after having 
 flirted a long time with his Majesty, let fall her handkerchief as 
 she departed. Louis XV. picked it up and threw it to her. ' The 
 handkerchief is throzun,' the courtiers cried. They spoke truly." — 
 Touchaj'd-Lafosse. 
 
 3830. Rigaud : Fran9ois Rene de Voyer de Paulm)' — D'Ar- 
 
 genson. 
 3785. Drouais : Bouchardon, the sculptor. 
 3743. Aved : J. B. Rousseau. 
 
 "Jean Baptiste Rousseau had the face of Silenus and the 
 figure of a vine-cutter." — Marquise de Cre'qiii. 
 
 Returning down the gallery, one enters — 
 
 Salle VIIL — 
 
 3958. Ge'rai'd: Madame Adelaide. 
 
 3960. Mme Guiard : Madame Victoire. 
 
 3962. Elizabeth Philippine Marie Helene de France, " Ma- 
 
 dame Elizabeth." 
 
 "The pious Elizabeth, victim of her respect and tender 
 attachment to the king, her brother, whose lofty virtues deserve 
 the celestial crown." — Mine Campan. 
 
 3963. Carteaux : Louis XVL on horseback. 
 
 3970. Drouais: " Monsieur," afterwards Louis XVTIL 
 3974. Drouais: Le Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. 
 
 Redescending the staircase, we reach, on the second 
 floor, La Galerie des Peintures. The order in which the 
 palace must be visited has here the inconvenience of re- 
 versing the chronological order of the pictures. 
 
 Salle I. — 
 
 1810. Court: The Due d'Orleans signs the proclamation of 
 La Lieutenance-generale. 
 
ATTIQUE DU NORD ^c 
 
 1814, 1815. Hcim : The Chamber presents to the Due d'Or- 
 leans the Act which calls him to the throne. 
 
 1822. Biard: King Louis Philippe in the midst of the Na- 
 tional Guard. 
 
 Salle II. — 
 
 1791. //. Verne t : Review by Charles X. 
 
 1792. Gerard: Coronation of Charles X. 
 
 1793. Gros : A review in camp by Charles X. 
 
 Salle III— 
 
 1778. Gros : Louis XVIIL leaving the Tuileries. 
 17S7. Paul Dela7-oche : The taking of Trocadero. 
 
 Salle IV.— 
 
 Copies of H. Vernet. 
 
 Salle v.— 
 
 1754. Rouget: Marriage of Napoleon L and Marie Louise. 
 
 Salle VI — 
 
 1745. Goutherot : Napoleon L wounded before Ratisbon. 
 1749. Bellajigd : Battle of Wagram. 
 
 Salle VII— 
 
 1731. Bergeret : Alexander presents the Calmucks to Napo- 
 
 leon L 
 
 1732. Taunay : Entry of the Imperial Guard to Paris. 
 1735- Taunay : Passage of the Sierra-Guadarrama. 
 1739. He^'sent : Taking of Landshut. 
 
 Salle VIII — 
 
 1716. Menageot : Marriage of Prince Eugene de Be auharnais. 
 1721. Ponce Camiis : Napoleon L at the tomb of Frederick IL 
 1724. Mtdard : Napoleon receives the Persian Ambassador. 
 
 Salle IX.— ' 
 
 1696. Taunay : Descent from the Mont St. Bernard. 
 1709. Tatinay : The French army entering Munich. 
 
 Salle X. — 
 
 1684. Hennequin : The Battle of the Pyramids. 
 
 Here we end our visit to the northern wing. The 
 Salon d'Hercule is the communication between this wing 
 
46 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 and the central and principal part of the palace. This is 
 the part of chief interest, and may be visited without the 
 rest. Those who wish to do this will ascend one of the 
 little staircases by the side of the chapel, from the vesti- 
 bule, on the ground floor, and, on reaching the vestibule 
 on the first floor, will turn left. 
 
 The Saloji d'' Herciile is so named from the picture of 
 the '^ Apotheosis of Hercules " on its ceiling, by Francois 
 le Moyfie, who chose the subject in remote flattery of his 
 patron, Hercule de Fleury, the Cardinal Minister. The 
 " Passage of the Rhine " is a copy of Van der Meulen : 
 Louis XIV. did not cross the river, and is represented in 
 the foreground. 
 
 " Satirique flatteur, toi qui pris tant de peine 
 Pour chanter que Louis n'a pas passe le Rhin." 
 
 Voltaire {from Prior). 
 
 This salon was formed from the upper part of the old 
 chapel, where the many marriages of Louis XIV. 's chil- 
 dren took place, beginning with the love-marriage of his 
 lovely littlt daughter (by Mme de la Valliere), Mile de 
 Blois, with the Prince de Conti. 
 
 " The dress of the Prince de Conti was priceless ; it was one 
 mass of enibroidery of very large diamonds that followed the 
 compartments of black velvet on a straw-colored ground. It is 
 said that the straw color was not a success, and that Mme de 
 Langeron, who is the soul of all the decorations of the hotel of 
 Conde, was made ill by it. In fact, it was one of those things 
 for which one cannot be consoled. The duke, the duchess, and 
 Mme de Bourbon had three dresses adorned with different jewels 
 for the three days. But I was forgetting the best ; that is, that the 
 prince's sword was set with diamonds. 
 
 " La famosa spada 
 Al cui valore ogni vittoria e certa. 
 
 The lining of the mantle of the Prince de Conti was black satin. 
 
SALLE DE DLANE 47 
 
 picked out with diamonds. The princess was romantically beau- 
 tiful, apparelled and happy. 
 
 " Qu'il est doux de trouver dans un amant qu'on aime 
 Un epoux que Ton doit aimer ! " 
 
 Mme de S^vigni. 
 
 Here the Due de Bourgogne, grandson of Louis XIV., 
 was married to Marie Adelaide de Savoie, long the darling 
 of the king and Court. Here Philippe d'Orleans, Due de 
 Chartres (afterwards the Regent d'Orleans), was married 
 to Frangoise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV. 
 and Mme de Montespan ; and here her brother, Louis- 
 Auguste, Due du Maine, was married to Louise-Benedicite 
 de Bourbon Conde. Here, also, in 1685, Louis XIV. was 
 himself married to Mme de Maintenon by Harly, Arch- 
 bishop of Paris, and the Pere Lachaise, confessor of the 
 king; Bontems, first valet de chambre, and the Marquis 
 de Montchevreuil being the witnesses. 
 
 The small room called the Salle d' Abondance leads 
 (left, after passing an anteroom) to the Salle des Etats- 
 generaux (with a statue of Bailly), whence the Petits Ap- 
 partements de Louis XV. — noticed later — are sometimes 
 reached. 
 
 The door on the opposite side of the Salle d'Abon- 
 dance from which we entered, leads to the Salle de Venus, 
 marked by a group of the Three Graces. Next comes the 
 Salle de Diane, with fine portraits of Marie Thdrese, attrib- 
 uted to Beaubrun, and Louis XIV., by Rigaud, perhaps 
 the most characteristic of the many portraits of the king. 
 
 " He talked to perfection ; if the conversation was merry, he 
 joined in with pleasantr}' ; if he condescended to tell a story, he 
 did so with infinite grace and with such a noble and refined style as 
 I have seen only in him." — Mfue de Cayhis, " Souz'eni?-s." 
 
 "Never was there a man so naturally polished, nor of a 
 politeness so measured and graduated, nor who distinguished 
 
48 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 better age, merit, and rank in his replies and his manner. His 
 salutations, more or less marked, but always slight, had incom- 
 parable grace and majest}-. He was admirable in his different 
 ways of receiving salutes at the head of the lines of the army and 
 at reviews. In the case of women nothing could surpass it ; he 
 never passed before any one in a bonnet without taking off his 
 hat, even to chamber-maids, whom he knew to be such. He never, 
 by any chance, said anything disobliging to any one. Before the 
 world nothing was out of place or left to hazard, but, down to his 
 slightest gesture, his walk, his bearing, and his whole counte- 
 nance were all measured, decorous, noble, grand, majestic, and 
 always very natural." — St. Simoii, xii. 461. 
 
 From the Salle de Diane we enter the Salon de Mars, 
 which was used as a ball-room under Louis XIV., when it 
 was decorated by some of the fine works of Paul Veronese 
 and Titian, which are now in the Louvre. Over the 
 chimney is the young Louis XIV. crowned by Victory. 
 The great pictures represent the coronation of Louis XIV. 
 and his interview with Philippe V. at the He des Faisans. 
 Near the entrance is a portrait of Anne Genevieve de 
 Bourbon^ Duchesse de Longueville, the heroine of the 
 Fronde. 
 
 " Mme de Longueville had naturally a fiery spirit, but she 
 had also finesse and tact. Her capacity was not assisted by her 
 idleness. She had a languor in her manner which was more 
 effective than the brilliancy of those even who were more beauti- 
 ful. She had a languor, too, in her spirit, which had its charms 
 because it awoke in bright and surprising flashes." — Cardinal de 
 Retz, '' M^moires," 
 
 " It was impossible to see her without loving her and wishing 
 to please her. She had the air of making a public profession of 
 bel esprit.'' — Mme de Motteville. 
 
 " So crazy for popular favor as to go and lie in at the Hotel 
 de Ville ; so disillusioned as to end in the penitence of the 
 cloister a life which love and ambition had agitated in turn." — 
 Vat out. 
 
 Near the opposite door are (2054) the Due de Longue- 
 ville and (2053) the Prince de Conde. Le Salon de Mer- 
 
SALOX D'APOLLON 40 
 
 cure was the " chambre de parade," which served for the 
 *' jeu du roi " on the "jours d'appartement.' It contains 
 good portraits of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, as well 
 as of Louis XIV. and Marie The'rese, of whom the king 
 said at her death (July 30, 1683), " Depuis vingt-trois ans, 
 que nous sommes ensemble, voila le premier chagrin 
 qu'elle m'ait donne'." Here also are portraits of (2068) 
 La Grande Mademoiselle, and of (2069) Marguerite Louise 
 d'Orle'ans, wife of Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany. It was in this room, turned into a chapelle 
 ardente^ that the coffin of Louis XIV. lay in state for eight 
 days. 
 
 Le Salon d^ApoIlon was formerly the throne-room. 
 The three rings which supported the canopy are still in 
 their places. Here Louis XIV. received the submission 
 of the Doge of Venice, who answered to the courtiers who 
 asked him what he found most remarkable at Versailles : 
 " C'est de m'y voir." 
 
 Here also Louis XIV. held his last public audience, in 
 
 1715- 
 
 Amongst the pictures are — 
 
 2078. Entry of Louis XIV, and Marie Therese into Douai, 
 
 1667. 
 3503. Henriette d'Angleterre (Madame), youngest daughter of 
 
 Charles I., and Philippe de France, Due d'Orleans. 
 
 "The princess of England, the king's sister-in-law, brought 
 to the court the charms of refined and animated conversational 
 powers, supported by the reading of good books, and by rare and 
 delicate taste. She inspired fresh emulation, and introduced at 
 the court a politeness and a grace of which the rest of Europe 
 had scarcely an idea." — Voltaii-e. 
 
 " Her regular beauty surprised all those who had seen in her, 
 as a child, only ugliness and grace. If her figure had been per- 
 fect, she would have been nature's master-piece. Her conversa- 
 tion had a thousand charms ; her mind was enriched by the read- 
 
50 BA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ing of the best books ; her taste, although delicate and natural, 
 was sure and fine ; her temper equable, charming, and such as she 
 required to rule over the French. Although she touched the first 
 throne of the world, it was clear, from her very perfections, that 
 she had been brought up in the bosom of misfortune ; with all 
 this she had the desire and ability to please," — De la Beaumelle, 
 " Mhnoires de Mine de Maintoiony 
 
 " Madame, whom whole ages could scarcely replace for 
 beauty, youth and dancing." — Mine de Sdvigne. 
 
 3504. Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, Mile de Montpensier, 
 as Bellona, and Gaston, Due d'Orleans. 
 
 " I am tall, neither fat nor thin, with a handsome, easy figure. 
 I have a good face ; the bust well made ; my arms and hands, not 
 beautiful, but a beautiful skin. My leg is straight, and the foot 
 well shaped ; my hair light, of a beautiful light brown ; my counte- 
 nance is long, but well shaped ; the nose large and aquiline ; the 
 mouth neither large nor small, but cut in an agreeable manner; 
 the lips red ; the teeth not beautiful, but not horrible either ; my 
 eyes are blue, neither large nor small, but bright, soft and proud, 
 like my face. I have a lofty air without arrogance." — Portrait de 
 Mile de Montpensier fait par elle-menie, Nov., 1657. 
 
 As for Gaston d'Orleans — 
 
 " He looked like a king's son, half starved." — Mnie de Motte- 
 ville. 
 
 2085. Henriette d'Angleterre, Duchesse d'Orleans. 
 
 2080. Henriette Marie de France, Queen of England. "La 
 
 reine malheureuse." 
 2089. Marie Louise d'Orleans, Queen of Spain. 
 
 Le Salon de la Guerre is a magnificent room. The 
 ceiling is adorned with pictures by Lebrun^ celebrating the 
 victories of Louis XIV. 
 
 "The magnificent historical paintings which ornament the 
 grand gallery of Versailles and the two saloons, had no small 
 share in irritating all Europe against the king, and uniting it 
 against his person rather than against his kingdom." — St. Simon, 
 '^ Me moires,'" 1695. 
 
 (Over the chimney-piece) Coysevox : A relief of Louis XIV. 
 on horseback, trampling upon his enemies. 
 
GALERIE DES G LACES ei 
 
 La Grande Galerie des Glaces was built by Louis XIV. 
 in the place of a terrace between two pavilions. The 
 larger pictures are by Lebrun. the sculptured children on 
 the cornice by Coysevox ; the inscriptions are attributed to 
 Boileau and Racine. All the symbolical paintings exalt 
 Louis XIV. as a god. 
 
 "Nothing can be compared to him at reviews or fetes, and 
 wherever an air of gallantry was required by the presence of ladies, 
 he was always majestic, yet sometimes with gaiety ; before the 
 world there was nothing out of place or left to hazard ; down to 
 the least gesture, his walk, his bearing, his countenance, all were 
 measured, decorous, noble, grand, majestic, and always natural, 
 Avhich the unique, incomparable advantages of his whole appear- 
 ance greatly facilitated. In serious affairs, audiences of ambas- 
 sadors, and ceremonies, no man was more imposing, and it was 
 necessary to be accustomed to see him, if, in addressing him, one 
 did not wish to break down. His replies on these occasions were 
 alwa} s short, to the point, seldom without some obliging or even 
 flattering phrase, if the discourse merited it. The respect which 
 his presence at any place inspired, imposed silence, and even a 
 sort of dread." — St. Simon. 
 
 This gallery, which has a noble view down the gardens 
 of the palace, was the scene of the great fetes of the court. 
 
 " The king was not only sensible of the continued presence of 
 distinguished persons, but also of those of lower rank. He 
 looked to right and left at his lever and his coucker, at his meals, as 
 he passed through the rooms or the gardens of Versailles, where 
 only members of the court had liberty to follow him. He saw and 
 remarked everyone ; no one escaped him, not Cv-en those who did 
 not expect to be seen. He mentally noted the absence of those 
 who were regular at court ; that of those who came more or less 
 often, and the general or particular causes of their absence ; he 
 combined these remarks, and never omitted the smallest oppor- 
 tunity of acting with respect to them. It was a demerit to all dis- 
 tinguished personages not to make the ordinary sojourn at the 
 court ; and to others, to come there rarely, while it Avas certain 
 disgrace to come never, or almost never. When there was a 
 question of anything for their benefit, 'I do not know him,' he 
 
52 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 would reply haughtily. Of those who rarely presented them- 
 selves, he said, ' He is a man whom I never see.' These resolu- 
 tions were irrevocable." — St. Simon, "' M^/noires." 
 
 Here also the memoirs of the time bring many strange 
 scenes before us from the family life of the royal family, as 
 on the announcement of the (compulsory) marriage of the 
 Due de Chartres (afterwards the Regent d'Orleans) with a 
 natural daughter of Louis XIV. by Mme de Montespan. 
 
 " Madame was walking in the gallery with Chateauthiers, her 
 favorite, and worthy to be so ; she "walked with great strides, 
 handkerchief in hand, weeping without restraint, talking pretty 
 loud, gesticulating, and representing admirably Ceres after the 
 rape of Proserpine, furiously seeking for her daughter, and de- 
 rT\anding her from Jupiter. Out of respect, all left her the field, 
 and only passed to enter the apartment. Monseigneur and Mon- 
 sieur had returned to lansquenet. The former appeared to me as 
 usual. Never was anything so covered with shame as the face of 
 Monsieur, nor so disconcerted as his whole figure ; this condition 
 asted for more than a month. M., his son, seemed in despair, 
 and his intended in extreme embarrassment and sadness. Young 
 as she was, marvellous as was the marriage, she saw and felt the 
 whole scene, and apprehended all the consequences. Next day 
 all the court visited Monsieur, ISIadame, and the Duke de Char- 
 tres without saying a word ; they were content to bow, and all 
 passed in perfect silence. They then went to attend as usual the 
 rising of the council, in the gallery, through which the king went 
 to mass. Madame went there. M., her son, approached, as he 
 did every day, to kiss her hand. Madame at that instant gave 
 him a sounding buffet, that was heard several yards oft', and 
 which, given in the presence of all the court, covered the poor 
 prince with confut ion, and filled the countless spectators, of whom 
 I was one, with prodigious astonishment." — St. Simon, ^^Ale- 
 moires,'' 1692. 
 
 "The Parisian, on Whitsunday, runs to Versailles to see the 
 princes, the procession of blue ribbons, then the park, and then 
 the menagerie. The grand apartments are opened to him ; the 
 smaller ones, which are richer and more curious, are closed. At 
 noon he presents himself in the gallery to see the king going to 
 mass, and the queen, and Monsieur and Madame, and Monseig- 
 neur the Comte d'Artois, and Madame the Comtesse d'Artois. 
 
LA SALLE DU CON SELL 
 
 53 
 
 Then they say to each other : ' Have yoii seen the king ? — Yes ; he 
 laughed, — True, he laughed. — He seemed happy, — Good reason why .'' " 
 — Tableau de Pails, 17S2. • 
 
 It was in this gallery that King William of Prussia 
 caused himself to be proclaimed German Emperor in Jan- 
 uary, 187 1. 
 
 From the Grande Galerie des Glaces, before advancing 
 to the other galleries of the Musee, we should turn by first 
 door on the left to La Salle du Conseil, which was divided 
 under Louis XIV., the further part being the Cabinet 
 des Perruqiies, where the king changed his wig several 
 times a day. In the nearer part, called Cabinet du Roi, 
 Louis XIV. transacted business with his ministers. In 
 this room is preserved the clock of Louis XIV., which was 
 stopped at the moment of his death, and has never been 
 set in motion since. 
 
 The room was arranged as it is now under Louis XV., 
 under whom Mme du Barry loved to display here her irre- 
 pressible audacity. 
 
 " She was a Roxalana, gay and familiar, without respect for 
 the dignity of the sovereign. Mme du Barry carried forgetful- 
 ness of the proprieties so far as to wish one day to be present at 
 the council of state ; the king was weak enough to consent ; she 
 remained there ridiculously perched on the arm of his chair, and 
 played all the little childish monkey tricks which could please 
 old sultans. 
 
 " On another occasion she pulled out of the king's hands a 
 packet of letters still sealed up. . . . The king tried to seize it ; 
 she resisted ; made him chase her two or three times around the 
 table in the middle of the council-room, and then, as she passed 
 the fire-place, flung them in, where they were burned. The king 
 was furious ; he seized his audacious mistress by the arms and 
 turned her out without speaking. Mme du Barry fancied herself 
 disgraced ; she went to her rooms, and remained alone for two 
 hours, a pre}^ to the greatest disquiet. The king came to look 
 for her ; the countess, in tears, flung herself at his feet, and he 
 pardoned her." — ALine Catnpan, "■ Me moires." 
 
54 
 
 DA VS NEAR PARIS 
 
 It was in the embrasure of the first window of this 
 same room that the panic-stricken M. de Breze' announced 
 to Louis XVI. the terrible answer of Mirabeau, when the 
 deputies were summoned to separate : " Nous sommes ici 
 par la volonte du peuple, et nous n'en sortirons que par la 
 force des baionnettes." 
 
 From the Salle du Conseil w'e may turn aside to visit 
 the very interesting historic rooms called Les Petits Ap- 
 parte77ients de Louis XV. (sometimes entered opposite the 
 Salle des Etats-ge'ne'raux, when the order is reversed), 
 comprising the — 
 
 Chambre a coucher de Louis XV. This was the billiard- 
 room of Louis XIV. It was here that the game-loving 
 king accorded his friendship over the billiard-table to 
 Chamillart, who rose to be minister. 
 
 "The king, who amused himself often with billiards, the 
 taste for which lasted a long time, used, nearly every evening, to 
 make parties with M, de Vendome and M. le Grand, and some- 
 times the Marshal de Villeroy or the Duke de Grammont. They 
 heard that Chamillart was a good player, and wished to try him 
 in Paris. They were so pleased that they spoke of him to the 
 king, and praised him so, that he ordered M. le Grand to bring 
 him back the first time he went to Paris. He came, and the king 
 found that they had not said too much. M. de Vendome and M. 
 le Grand extended more friendship and protection to him than 
 the other two did, with the result that he was admitted once for 
 all into the king's party, where he was the strongest player of all. 
 He behaved so modestly that he pleased the king and the cour- 
 tiers by whom he was protected in place of being laughed at, as 
 happens to an unknown new-comer from the town." — St. Simon, 
 1699. 
 
 This was the future minister for whom was composed 
 the epitaph — 
 
APPARTEMENTS DE LOVIS XV. rr 
 
 " Ci-git Ic fameux Chamillard, 
 De son roi le protonotaire, 
 Qui fut un heros au billard, 
 Un zero dans le ministere." 
 
 It was in this room that an absurd conflict of senti- 
 mentality and common-sense took place after the attempt 
 of Damiens to murder the king, when Louis XV. took to 
 his bed, received the last sacraments, and gave his last 
 directions as a dying man. 
 
 " M. de Landsniath, an equerry and master of the hounds, 
 was an old soldier who had given many proofs of courage ; noth- 
 ing could reduce his excessive frankness to the habits and con- 
 venances of the court. The king was very fond of him. M. de 
 Landsmath had a thundering voice. He entered the room of 
 Louis XV., the day of the horrible attempt by Damiens, a few 
 minutes after, and found the Dauphine and the king's daughters 
 beside the king ; these princesses, dissolved in tears, surrounded 
 his Majesty's bed. 'Turn out these weepers, Sire,' said the old 
 equerry, ' I wish to speak with you alone.' The king signed to 
 the princesses to retire. 'Come,' said Landsmath, 'your wound 
 is nothing ; you had plent)'- of under-clothing and vests.' Then 
 displaying his breast, ' See,' he said, pointing to four or five large 
 scars, ' these are worth reckoning ; it is thirty years since I re- 
 ceived these wounds. Come, cough as hard as you can.' The 
 king coughed. ' It is nothing,' said Landsmath ; ' laugh at it ; in 
 four days we will hunt a stag.' ' But if the blade were poisoned?' 
 said the king. ' An old story, all that,' he replied ; 'if the thing 
 were possible, your under-clothing and vests would have cleaned 
 the blade from any dangerous drugs.' The king was calmed and 
 passed a vQ,xy good night." — Mme Campan. 
 
 But it was also in this room that Louis XV. really 
 died. May lo, 1774, of malignant small-pox, which fifty per- 
 sons caught from merely crossing the neighboring gal- 
 lery : though his three daughters nursed him with fearless 
 devotion. 
 
 " The king was at the last extremity ; besides the small-pox, he 
 had spotted fever, and there was danger in entering the room. ls\. 
 de Latoriere died after having opened the door to see him for two 
 
56 £>AVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 minutes. The ph)^sicians themselves took all sorts of precaution 
 to preserve themselves from the contagion of the terrible disease, 
 and Mesdames, who had never had the small-pox, who were no 
 longer young and naturally of feeble health, were all three in his 
 chamber, seated near his bed, and beneath the curtains ; they 
 passed day and night there. Ever)'^ one made strong remon- 
 strances to them on the subject, and told them that it was more 
 than risking their lives, it was sacrificing them. Nothing could 
 deter them from fulfilling this pious duty." — Sottvenirs de Fdicie. 
 
 The pictures include — 
 
 The Coronation of Louis XV. ; Louis XV. as a child, by 
 Rigaud ; and the six daughters of Louis XV., by Nattier. 
 
 The Salon des Petidules was the council-chamber of 
 Louis XV. On the floor is a meridian line said to have 
 been traced by Louis XVI. From a little window in this 
 room, Louis XV., unseen himself, was fond of watching 
 the courtyard and its arrivals. Hence also, as the fickle 
 king saw the funeral train of his once beloved Mme de 
 Pompadour leaving Versailles, he exclaimed, " La Mar- 
 quise a mauvais temps pour son voyage ! " 
 
 La Salle d' Or et d\4rgent contained a collection of 
 precious stones under Louis XV. The valuables in this 
 room were concealed at the Revolution behind a portrait 
 of Mme de Maintenon. La Salle des Buffets was also the 
 Cabinet de Travail de Louis XV. et XVI. Adjoining it 
 is shown the oratory of Louis XIV. Le Cabinet des 
 Medailles was previously part of a little gallery : it be- 
 longed to the apartment of Mme de Montespan. 
 
 La Bihliotheque de Louis XVL. Here the iron safe of 
 Louis XVL, and the //z^/'^r^/^^^which it contained, are said 
 to have been found on the denunciation of Gamain. An 
 autograph report of Mansart on some of his new buildings, 
 with the notes of Louis XIV. on the margin, is preserved 
 here. La Salle des Porcelaines, which has a fine tapestry 
 
LA SALLE DES PORCELALVES 
 
 57 
 
 portrait of Louis XV., was the apartment of the king's 
 favorite daughter, Madame Adelaide. 
 
 " Louis XV. came down every morning, by a secret stair, to 
 the rooms of Madame Adelaide. Often he brought and took 
 with him some coffee which he had made himself. Madame 
 Adelaide rang the bell to give notice to Madame Victoire of the 
 king's visit ; Madame Victoire, as she rose to go to her sister, 
 rang for Madame Sophie, who, in turn, rang for Madame Louise. 
 The apartments of the princesses were very large. Madame 
 Louise lived in the one farthest away. This youngest daughter 
 of the king was deformed and small ; to join the daily gathering, 
 the poor princess crossed, running with all her might, a great 
 number of rooms, and, in spite of her hurry, had often only time 
 to embrace her father, who was going to hunt." — Af77ie Campan. 
 
 The Salle des Porcelaines leads to the Escalier des 
 Ambassadeurs. 
 
 By a little window, lighted from an inner court, we 
 reach the Salle a Manger, whence we enter the Cabinet des 
 Chasses, looking upon the little court called Cour des Cerfs, 
 which is surrounded by a balcony whither the royal family 
 used to come to inspect the spoils of the chase. The iron 
 grille on the left of the balcony communicated with the 
 alcove of the chamber of Louis XV., which Mme du 
 Barry entered by this means. The gilt door on the right 
 of the entrance communicates with a staircase which led 
 up to the apartments of Madame du Barry — small rooms 
 lighted by round-headed windows. On the second story 
 of the Cour des Cerfs, Louis XV. had some small private 
 rooms, which Louis XVI. afterwards used as a workshop, 
 where he amused himself as a locksmith, and where, with 
 the help of the workman Gamain, he constructed, in the 
 beginning of 1792, his famous armoire de fer. Beyond 
 this is the Salle des Etats-gene'raux (see p. 47). 
 
58 DA YS .YEAR PARIS 
 
 From the Salle du Conseil we enter La Chanibre a cou- 
 cher lie Louis XIV. 
 
 The original bed and furniture of this room gave twelve 
 years' work to Simon Delobel, tapissier, valet de chambre 
 du roi. The present bed was made under Louis Philippe. 
 The counterpane, originally adorned with the "Triumph 
 of Venus," was exchanged in the latter years of Louis 
 XIV. for the " Sacrifice of Abraham " and the " Sacrifice 
 of Iphigenia," the work of the young ladies of St. Cyr. 
 This quilt, found in two parts, in Germany and Italy, was 
 recovered by Lonis Philippe. No one was allowed inside 
 th? balustrade in which the bed is placed — ia riiciie — with- 
 out being especially summoned by the king. The pictures 
 of St. John by Raffaelle, and David by Domenichino, 
 which are now in the Louvre, were originally on either side 
 of the bed. The portrait of Anne of Austria, mother of 
 Louis XIV., hung here in the king's time. The other 
 family portraits have been brought hither since. 
 
 " At eight o'clock the first valet de chanibie on duty, who 
 had slept in the king's room, and had dressed, awoke him. The 
 first physician, the first surgeon, and his nurse, as long as she 
 lived, entered at tiie same time. She kissed him, the others 
 rubbed him, and often changed his shirt. At a quarter past, the 
 grand chamberlain was summoned, and in his absence the first 
 gentleman of the chamber for the year, and with him those who 
 had the grandes entrees. One of them opened the curtain which 
 was closed, and presented some holy water from the basin at the 
 bed-head. These gentlemen were there only for a moment, and 
 this was the time to speak to the king if they had anything to 
 say to him or ask of him, and then the others departed. When 
 they had nothing special to say, they only remained a few^ min- 
 utes. The one who had opened the curtains and presented the 
 holy water, presented the book of the olTSce of the Holy Ghost, 
 and then both passed into the council chamber. The office was 
 quickly said ; the king called and they returned. The same 
 officer gave him his dressing-gown, and then those who had the 
 second entries or business entered ; a few moments afterwards, 
 
CHAM B RE DE LOUIS XIV. 
 
 59 
 
 the throng waiting in the chamber entered, first the most dis- 
 tinguished, then everybody, and they found the king pulling on 
 his shoes, for he did nearly everything himself with address and 
 grace. He could be seen shaving every other day, and he wore 
 a little short wig, without ever, at any time, even in bed when he 
 took medicine, appearing otherwise in public. He often talked 
 of hunting, and sometimes a few words to some one. There 
 was no toilet table within his reach ; a mirror was held before him. 
 " When he was dressed, he said his prayers by the side of his 
 bed, while all the clergy present knelt, the cardinals without 
 hassocks ; all the laymen remained standing, and the captain of 
 the guard came to the balustrade during the prayer, after which 
 the king went to his cabinet." — St. Simon. 
 
 No one who considers this oppressive etiquette will 
 wonder that, on hearing of it, Frederick the Great said 
 that, if he was king of France, he would name another 
 king to go through all that in his place. 
 The king used to dine in his chamber. 
 
 " The dinner was always an petit convert, that is, alone in his 
 chamber, at a square table opposite the middle window. It was 
 more or less abundant, for he ordered in the morning either petit 
 cotivert or tres petit convert. The latter, however, had always 
 plenty of dishes and three courses without desert When the 
 table had been brought in, the chief courtiers entered, then all 
 who were known, and the first gentleman of the chamber went to 
 give notice to the king. He served him if the grand chamber- 
 lain was not there. 
 
 " I have seen, but very rarely, Monseigneur and his sons at 
 the petit convert, standing, without the king ever offering them a 
 seat. I have constantly seen the princes of the blood and the 
 cardinals in line. I have seen pretty often Monsieur, either com- 
 ing from Saint Cloud to see the king or leaving the council, the 
 only one who entered. He handed the napkin, and remained 
 standing. A little while afterwards the king, seeing he was not 
 going away, asked him if he would not be seated ; he bowed, and 
 the king ordered a seat to be brought. A tabouret, or stool, was 
 placed behind him. A few moments afterwards the king would 
 say, ' My brother, be seated.' He bowed, and sat down till the 
 end of dinner, when he presented the napkin. At other times 
 when he came from Saint Cloud, the king, as he entered, asked 
 
6o DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 if he would not dine. If lie refused, he departed at once, with- 
 out any reference being made to a seat ; if he accepted, the 
 king ordered a cover for him. The table was square ; he placed 
 himself at one end, his back towards the cabinet. Then the 
 grand chamberlain, if he served, or the first gentleman of the 
 chamber, gave and removed the glasses and plates for Monsieur, 
 just as he did for the king, but Monsieur received his service 
 with marked politeness. When he was at the king's dinner he 
 maintained and enlivened the conversation. Then, although at 
 table, he handed the king his napkin both when he sat down and 
 when he left, and restored it to the grand chamberlain. The 
 king ordinarily spoke little at dinner, only a few words here and 
 there, unless there were some of those nobles with whom he was 
 familiar, and then he spoke a little more. So was it at his levee 
 also." — St. Simon, 1715. 
 
 "The king, when he left the table, remained for less than a 
 quarter of an hour, his back against the balustrade of the cham- 
 ber. He found there a circle of all the ladies who had been at 
 his supper, and who came there to wait a little before he left the 
 table, except the ladies who had been seated, who only left the 
 table after him, and who, as belonging to the suites of the princes 
 and princesses that had supped with him, came one by one to 
 make their reverences, and formed a circle standing where the 
 other ladies had left a wide space for them ; the men stood be- 
 hind. The king amused himself by noticing the dresses, faces, 
 and graceful bows, said a few words to the princes and princesses 
 who had supped with him, and who formed a circle near him on 
 two sides ; then bowed to the ladies right and left, repeating this 
 once or twice as he went out, with incomparable grace and maj- 
 esty. He spoke sometimes, but rarely, as he passed and entered 
 into his cabinet, where he stopped to give orders, and then went 
 to the second cabinet." — Sf. Sinion, 1710. 
 
 It was this room that witnessed the closing scenes of 
 
 Louis XIV. 's life:— 
 
 "He said to Mme de Maintenon that he had always heard 
 that it was difficult to make up one's mind to die ; but that he, 
 now on the verge of this moment so dreaded by mankind, did 
 not find the resolution was so difficult to take. She replied it 
 was very diflScult when one was attached to the creature, had 
 hatred in the heart, or reparations to make. ' Ah ! ' rejoined the 
 king, ' as for reparations, I, as a private person, owe none to any- 
 
CHAMBRE DE LOUIS XIV. 6 1 
 
 body ; but for those I owe to the kingdom, I trust in God's mercy,' 
 The following night was much disturbed. He was seen joining 
 his hands at every moment, and was heard saying the prayers he 
 was accustomed to make in health, and to beat his breast at the 
 Confiteor, 
 
 "On Wednesday, August 28, he paid Mme de Maintenon a 
 compliment which did not please her, and to which she did not 
 reply a word. He said to her that what consoled him in quitting 
 her was the hope that at her age they would soon be reunited. 
 At seven in the mornirig he summoned Father de Tellier, and as 
 he spoke to him of God, he saw, in the mirror, two pages of his 
 chamber seated at the foot of his bed and weeping. He said to 
 them, 'Why do you weep? Did \q\x believe that I was immor- 
 tal ? For my part, I never thought so, and )'0u ought to prepare 
 yourselves to lose me at my age.' 
 
 "On Saturday, August 31, about seven in the evening, he 
 was so ill that the prayers for the dying were said. The prepara- 
 tions recalled him to himself ; he repeated the prayers in such a 
 strong voice that it could be heard above that of a great number 
 of clerg}', and of all that had entered. At the end of the prayers 
 he recognized the Cardinal de Rohan, and said, ' These are the 
 last mercies of the Church.' He was the last man to whom he 
 spoke. He repeated several times, 'Ximc et in hora viortis,' and 
 then, ' O my God ! come to my aid ; hasten to help me.' These 
 were his last words. He was all night with consciousness, and 
 in a long agony, which ended on Sunday, September i, 1715, at 
 a quarter past eight in the morning, three days before the com- 
 pletion of his seventy-seventh year, in the sixty-second year of 
 his reign. 
 
 " From time to time, while he was at liberty, and in the last 
 days when he had banished all business and all other cares, he 
 was solely occupied with God, his salvation, his own nothingness, 
 so that occasionally there escaped him the words, ' IV/ieti I was 
 king.' Absorbed in advance in the great future to which he saw 
 himself so near, detached from the world without regret, humble 
 without meanness, with a contempt for all that was no longer for 
 him, with a tranquillity and possession of soul that consoled the 
 valets whom he saw weeping, he formed a most touching spec- 
 tacle ; and what rendered him admirable was that he was entirely 
 and always the same ; a feeling of his sins without the least dread, 
 confidence, shall I say entire? in God, without doubt or disquiet, 
 but based on the mercy and blood of Jesus Christ, equal resigna- 
 
62 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 tion as to his personal condition, and as to how long he would 
 last, and regretting that he did not suffer. Who would not admire 
 a death-bed so noble and at the same time so Christian ? Who, 
 however, will not shudder at it?" — St. Simon. 
 
 When a king of France died the palace clock was 
 
 stopped at the minute of his death, to remain motionless 
 
 till the death of the next sovereign. The first gentleman 
 
 standing in the balcony above the Cour de Marbre, cried 
 
 three times : " Le roi est mort ! " then, breaking his wand 
 
 of office, and taking a fresh one : " Vive le roi ! " 
 
 " Louis XIV, was regretted by his private valets, few other 
 people, and the chiefs of the business of the Constitution. His 
 successor was not of age. Madame felt for him only fear and 
 courtesy. Mme the Duchess de Berry did not love him and hoped 
 to reign. M. the Duke of Orleans could not be expected to weep 
 for him, and those who were not did not make it their business. 
 Mme de Maintenon was weary of the king after the death of the 
 Dauphiness ; she did not know what to do or how to amuse him ; 
 her restraint was tripled because he was much oftener at her apart- 
 ment, or in parties with her. She had come to the end of her 
 wishes ; so, in spite of her loss in losing the king, she felt herself 
 freed, and was capable of no other feeling. 
 
 ' The court was composed of two classes : some who hoped 
 to make a figure, and to be introduced, were delighted to see the 
 end of a reign in which there was nothing for them but waiting ; 
 the others, fatigued by a heav)'- )^oke always crushing, that of the 
 ministers being more so than that of the king, were charmed to 
 find themselves in liberty ; all, in fact, were delivered from a con- 
 tinual weariness and longing for novelty. 
 
 " Paris, tired of a dependence that had held down everything, 
 breathed in the hope of some liberty, and in the joy of seeing the 
 end of the authority of so many persons who abused it. The 
 provinces, in their despair at their ruin and annihilation, breathed 
 and quivered with joy ; the parliaments and all judicial bodies, 
 suppressed by edicts and the removal of cases, flattered them- 
 selves, the former that they would make a figure, the latter that 
 they would be enfranchised. The people, ruined, crushed, des- 
 perate, thanked God with scandalous fervor for a deliverance 
 of which the most ardent no longer doubted." — St, Simon, 
 '' M^moires" 171 5. 
 
CHAMBRE DE LOUIS XIV. 63 
 
 " Louis XIV. died without having had the pain of seeing 
 France descend from the rank to which he had raised it. He de- 
 scended to the tomb tranquil but sad. The glory of his reign had 
 been won ; he outlived all those whom he had associated there- 
 with as if to seal it. But he ought to have cast an unquiet eye on 
 the future of the reign which was to begin at his death." — Balzac, 
 " Six Rois de France ^ 
 
 La Salle de V CEil de Bcsu/ [opening from the bedroom) 
 is so called from its oval skylight. This was the king's 
 antechamber, in which the courtiers awaited " le grand 
 lever du roi." In a strange pictm*e hy iVoeref, Louis XIV. 
 is represented as Apollo, and all the rest of the royal 
 family of the earlier part of his reign — Marie The'rese, La 
 Grande Mademoiselle, Madame (Henriette), Monsieur, 
 Anne of Austria, Henrietta Maria (of England), and the 
 four daughters of Monsieur — as gods and goddesses. 
 Mercier describes the principal occupant of this chamber 
 in the XVIIL c. :— 
 
 "In it lives a broad-shouldered, colossal Suisse, a big bird in 
 a cage. He eats, drinks, sleeps in that anteroom, and never 
 leaves it ; the rest of the palace is strange to him. A simple 
 screen separates his bed and his table from the potentates of this 
 world. Twelve sonorous words adorn his memory, and constitue 
 his task : ' Pass on, gentlemen, pass on ! — Gentlemen, the king ! — 
 Retire ! — No admission, Monseigneur ! " And Mcmseigneur goes 
 without a word. Everj^ one salutes him, no one contradicts him ; 
 his voice chases from the galler}' a flock of counts, marquises and 
 dukes, who flee before his words. He turns back princes and 
 princesses, and only speaks to them in monosyllables. No in- 
 ferior dignity imposes on him ; he opens, for the master, the glass 
 door, and shuts it ; all the rest of the world is nothing in his eyes. 
 When his voice echoes the squads of courtiers diminish and 
 scatter ; all fix their looks on that large hand that holds the door- 
 knob ; motionless or in action it has a surprising effect on all be- 
 holders. His vails amount to five hundred louis d'or, for no one 
 dare offer to that hand a metal as vile as silver." — Tableau de 
 Paris. 
 
 The guardian now stationed in the Salle de I'CEil de 
 
64 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 BcEuf will admit visitors (50 c.) to Lcs Petits Appartements 
 de Marie- Antoijieite, previously used by Marie Leczinska. 
 These little rooms are entered by the corridor by which 
 the unfortunate Marie Antoinette escaped, October 6, 
 1789. The Bibliotheqtie Rouge was the oratory of Marie 
 Therese, and the painting room of Marie Leczinska. The 
 Bibliotheque Bleue leads to the Bath-7'oom of Marie Lec- 
 zinska. The Salon de la Rcine has panelling of the time 
 of Marie Antoinette. 
 
 It was in her old age, as superintendent of the imperial 
 college of Ecouen, that Mme Campan wrote : — 
 
 " I have Hved long ; fortune placed in my power to see and 
 judge of the celebrated women of different periods. I was inti- 
 mate with young people whose graces and amiability will be 
 known long after them. I never, in any rank, or at any age, 
 found a woman of so fascinating a nature as Marie Antoinette ; 
 never one in whom the dazzling splendor of the crown left the 
 heart so tender, or who, in the heaviest misfortunes, showed her- 
 self so compassionate for the misfortunes of others; I have 
 never seen one so heroic in danger, so eloquent when the occa- 
 sion demanded, or so frankly gay in prosperity." 
 
 V A7itichambre die Roi (behind the CEil de Boeuf ) was 
 used for dinners when there was grand convert, to which 
 only^/f et petits fils de France were admitted. 
 
 No. 2149. The Institution of the Military Order of St. Louis 
 is very interesting as showing Louis XVI. in his 
 bedchamber. In 1836 it served as a guide for the 
 restoration of that room. 
 
 La Salle des Gardes, at the top of the marble staircase, 
 was used for the household guard of the king. 
 
 No. 2130 is a curious picture representing the Carrousel or 
 Tournament given by Louis XIV. before the Tuile- 
 ries, June 16, 1662. 
 
 Returning into the Grande Galerie des Glaces, on the 
 left, at the bottom of this gallery we enter the Salon de la 
 
CHAMBRE DE LA REINE 
 
 65 
 
 Paix, a pendant to the Salon de la Guerre at the other end 
 of the gallery. 
 
 Le Salon de la Paix has a picture over the chimney- 
 piece by Le Moyne, representing Louis XV. as a god giving 
 peace to Europe. The frescoes of this room are of the 
 kind so offensive to foreign powers : Holland on its knees 
 receiving upon its buckler the arrows which Love brings it 
 with olive branches — symbolical of the provinces which 
 the king had conquered from it, and the peace which he 
 had given it, &c. On the ceiling is France drawn in a 
 triumphal car by turtledoves, harnessed by Love — symbol- 
 ical of the marriages of the Dauphin with a Bav^arian 
 princess, and of Mademoiselle with the King of Spain. 
 This room was used as a Salle de Jeu^ and immense sums 
 were lost here. Mme de Montespan lost 400,000 pistoles 
 here in one night at biribi. 
 
 It was in this room that the king and Mme de Main- 
 tenon remained (1712) during the last agonizing hours 
 of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, who had been the light of 
 their existence \ that they received the opinions of the 
 seven physicians in office ; and that the Queen of Eng- 
 land (hurrying from St. Germain) vainly tried to comfort 
 them in the greatest sorrow of their lives — " lis e'taient I'un 
 et I'autre dans la plus amere douleur." 
 
 La Chamhre de la Reine was that of Marie Theresa, 
 wife of Louis XIV., who died there. It was afterwards 
 inhabited by his beloved granddaughter-in-law, the 
 Duchesse de Bourgogne. The Duchesse d'Orldans de- 
 scribes the scene in this room after the news arrived of 
 the sudden death of the Dauphin (son of Louis XIV.) at 
 Meudon, when he was supposed to be recovering from the 
 small-pox. 
 
 "16 April, 1711. — I ran to the Duchess de Bourgogne's 
 
de DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 apartments, where I saw a benumbing spectacle ; the Duke and 
 Duchess de Bourgogne were utterly upset, pale as death and 
 speechless. The Duke and Duchess de Berry were lying on the 
 floor, their elbows on a lounge, crying so that )'ou could hear 
 them three rooms off; my son and Mme d'Orleans wept in silence, 
 and did their utmost to calm the Duke and Duchess de Berry. 
 All the ladies were on the floor weeping around the Duchess de 
 Bourgogne. I accompanied the Duke and Duchess de Berry to 
 their rooms ; they went to bed, but continued to cry no less." — 
 Corrcspondance de Madame. 
 
 In this room the Duchesse de Bourgogne died. 
 
 "Many amiable qualities attached all hearts, Avhile her per- 
 sonal relations to her husband, to the king and Mme de Main- 
 tenon, attracted the homage of the ambitious. She had labored to 
 acquire this position from the first moments of her arrival, and 
 never ceased, during life, to continue so useful a toil, of which 
 she reaped the fruits without interruption. Gentle, timid, but 
 adroit, fearing to give the slightest pain to anybody, and though 
 all lightness and vivacity, very capable of far reaching views ; 
 constraint, even to annoyance, cost her nothing, though she felt 
 all its weight ; complacency was natural to her, flowed from her, 
 and was exhibited to every memlaer of her court. 
 
 "She wished to please even the most useless and the most 
 ordinary persons, yd without seeming to make an effort to do so. 
 You were tem.pted to believe her wholly and solely devoted to 
 those with whom she found herself. Her gaiet}' — young, active 
 and quick — animated all, and her nymph-like lightness carried 
 her everywhere like a whirlwind which fills several places at 
 once and gives them movement and life. She was the ornament 
 of all diversions, the life and soul of all pleasure, and at balls 
 ravished everybody by the justness and perfection of her dancing. 
 She spared nothing, not even her health, to gain Mme de Main- 
 tenon, and through her the king. 
 
 "In public serious, respectful to the king, with a timid 
 decorum to Mme de Maintenon, whom she never addressed 
 except as my aunt, thus prettily confounding aflfection and rank. 
 In private, prattling, skipping, flying around them, now perched 
 upon the sides of their arm-chairs, now playing on their knees, 
 she clasped them round the neck, embraced them, kissed them, 
 caressed them, rumpled them, tickled them under the chin, tor- 
 mented them, rummaged their tables, their papers, their letters, 
 
CHAMBRE DE LA HEI.VE 
 
 67 
 
 broke the seals and read the contents in spite of opposition, if 
 she saw it was likely to be taken in good part. 
 
 " The king could not do without her. Everything went wrong 
 when the parties of pleasure, which his love and consideration 
 for her insisted on being frequently formed to divert her, kept 
 her from being near him. Even at his public supper-table, if 
 she were away, an additional cloud of silence and seriousness 
 settled around him. 
 
 "With her were eclipsed, joy, pleasure, even amusement and 
 ever}' kind of grace ; darkness covered the face of the Court, 
 she animated it throughout ; she filled it all at once, she occupied 
 every place and penetrated everywhere. If the Court survived her, 
 it was only languishing. No princess was so regretted, as none 
 was more worthy of being so ; the regret could not pass away, 
 and a secret bitterness remained, with a terrible void that could 
 not be filled." — St. Sbnon. 
 
 Louis XV. and Philippe V. of Spain were both born in 
 this room. Here Marie Leczinska died, and here also 
 Marie Antoinette gave birth to Marie Therese, afterwards 
 Duchesse d'Angouleme, Madame Royale. 
 
 " The royal family, the princes of the blood, and the high 
 officers passed the night in the rooms adjoining the chamber of 
 the queen. Madame, the king's daughter, came into the world 
 before noon of the 19th of December, 1778. The custom of allow- 
 ing the indiscriminate entr)' of all who presented themselves at 
 the moment of the accouchement of queens was observed with such 
 exaggeration, that at the moment when the accoucheur Vermond 
 said aloud, ' The queen is giving birth,' the floods of curious peo- 
 ple who rushed into the chamber were so numerous, and so tumult- 
 uous, that the movement almost killed the queen. The king had 
 taken, during the night, the precaution to fasten with cords the 
 immense screens of tapestry that surrounded her Majesty's bed ; 
 without this, they would certainly have been thrown down on her. 
 It was not possible to stir in the room ; it was filled with a crowd 
 so mixed, that one could fancy one's self in a public place. Two 
 Savo)^ards climbed on the furniture to get a better view of the 
 queen, who was opposite the fireplace, on a bed prepared for her 
 accouchement. This noise, the sex of the child, which had been 
 communicated to the queen by a sign agreed upon, they say, with 
 the Princess de Laraballe, or a mistake of the accoucheur, for a 
 
68 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 moment suppressed the natural sequel of child-birth. The blood 
 flew to her head, her mouth was twisted, the accoucheur cried, 
 'Air! Hot water; she must be bled in the foot!' The win- 
 dows had been caulked ; the king opened them with a strength 
 which nothing but his love for the queen could have given him ; 
 these windows were very high, and pasted with strips of paper 
 all their length. The basin of hot water not coming quick 
 enough, the accoucheur told the first surgeon to lance without it. 
 He did so ; the blood fiowed freely, and the queen opened her 
 eyes. The joy that came so rapidly after the most lively fear could 
 scarce be restrained. The Princess de Lamballe was carried 
 through the crowd in a state of unconsciousness. The valets de 
 chambre and the ushers took by the collar those whose indiscreet 
 curiosity did not urge them to clear the room. This cruel ctistoin 
 was forever abolished. The princes of the family, the princes of 
 the blood, the chancellor, and the ministers were sufficient to 
 attest the legitimacy of an hereditary prince. The queen was re- 
 called from the gates of death." — Mine Campan. 
 
 Here it was that Marie Antoinette, accustomed to the 
 simplicity and freedom of the Austrian Court, suffered so 
 cruelly from the etiquette of Versailles. 
 
 " The dressing of the princess was a masterpiece of etiquette ; 
 everything was by rule. The lady of honor, and the lady of the 
 robes, both of them, if they were present together, assisted by the 
 first bed-chamber woman and two maids in ordinary, discharged 
 the principal service. But there were distinctions among them. 
 The lady of the robes put on the petticoat and presented the dress. 
 The lady of honor poured out water for washing the hands, and 
 put on the chemise. When a princess of the royal family was at 
 the dressing, the lady of honor yielded to her this function, but 
 she did not yield it directly to princesses of the blood ; in this 
 case she handed the chemise to the first bed-chamber woman, who 
 presented it to the princess of the blood. Each of these ladies 
 observed scrupulously this custom, each clinging to her rights. 
 One winter day, it happened that the queen, almost entirely un- 
 dressed, was just about to put on her chemise ; I held it unfolded ; 
 the lady of honor came in, removed her gloves, and took the 
 chemise. Some one scratched at the door ; it was opened ; it was 
 the Duchess of Orleans ; her gloves were removed, she advanced 
 to take the chemise, but the lady of honor must not give it to her ; 
 
CHAMBRE DE LA REI.VE 
 
 69 
 
 she gave it to me and I handed it to the princess. Another 
 scratch at the door ; it is Madame, Countess of Provence ; the 
 Duchess of Orleans offered her the chemise. The queen was hold- 
 ing her arms crossed over her breast, and seemed to be cold. 
 Madame saw her distressed attitude, confined herself to laying 
 down her handkerchief, kept her gloves on, and in putting on the 
 chemise, brought the queen's hair down. The queen began 
 to laugh to hide her impatience, after having muttered between 
 her teeth several times, 'It is odious! What a nuisance!'" — 
 MiJie Can I pa 72. 
 
 The pictures comprise : — 
 
 2092. Lcbrun: Marriage of Louis XIV. 
 
 2ogi. Ant. Dicii: Birth of the Due de Bourgogne. 
 
 2095. Ant. Dieii: Marriage of the Due de Bourgogne and 
 
 Marie Adelaide de Savoie. 
 
 These pictures are very interesting as showing the 
 different members of the royal family, of whom we have 
 heard so much, at three different times. The portraits 
 are — 
 
 2097. Mme Lebriin : Majie-Antoinette. 
 
 "Qui donnait tant d'eclat au trone des Bourbons, 
 Tant de charmc au pouvoir, tant de grace a ses dons." 
 
 Deiille. 
 
 "Tall, admirably made, the best walker in France, carrying 
 her head high on a beautiful Grecian neck." — M e moires de Mine 
 Vigee-Lebrun, i. 64. 
 
 2096. N'atticr : Marie-Leczinska. 
 
 This picture of Marie Leczinska partly conceals the 
 door of the passage by which Marie Antoinette escaped 
 from her bed-chamber on the terrible night of October 6, 
 1789. 
 
 "The queen went to bed at two o'clock in the morning ; she 
 fell asleep, fatigued by a painful day. She ordered her two 
 women to go to bed, in the belief that there was nothing to fear, 
 at least, that night. But the unfortunate princess owed her life 
 
yo J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 to the feeling of attachment that prevented them from obeying 
 her. 
 
 " On leaving the queen's apartment, these ladies called their 
 maids, and all four sat together near the door of her Majesty's 
 bedroom. About half past four o'clock, they heard horrible cries 
 and some gun-shots ; one of them went in to awake the queen 
 and make her get out of bed ; my sister flew to the spot where 
 the noise seemed to be ; she opened the door of the ante-chamber 
 leading to the great guard-room, and saw one of the body-guards, 
 holding his musket across the door, who was being attacked by 
 a crowd that were striking him ; his face was already covered 
 with blood ; he turned and called to her, ' Madame, save the 
 queen ; they come to murder her.' She suddenly closed the door 
 on this hapless victim to his duty, pushed in the large bolt, and 
 took the same precaution as she passed through the next room ; 
 having reached the queen's room, she cried, * Madame, get out of 
 bed ; do not dress yourself ; fly to the king's room ! ' The queen, 
 in terror, sprang out of bed ; a petticoat was put on her without 
 being tied, and the two ladies conducted her towards the ail de 
 bccuf. One door of the queen's dressing-room, adjoining this 
 room, was never bolted except on her side. What a frightful 
 moment ! It was bolted on the other side ! We knocked re- 
 peatedly ; a servant of the king's valet opened it ; the queen en- 
 tered the room of Louis XVI., and did not find him there. In 
 alarm for the queen's life he had gone down by the stairs and 
 corridors which pass under the o:il de ba;tif ^.nd lead to the queen's 
 room 'Without the necessity of crossing that apartment. He en- 
 tered the room of her Majesty, and found only the body-guards 
 who had taken refuge there. The king told them to wait some 
 minutes, as he feared to risk their lives, and bade them go then 
 to the ceil de bceiif. ISIme de Tourzel, then governess of the chil- 
 dren of France, had brought Madame and the Dauphin to the 
 king's chamber. The queen saw her children again. We ma}' 
 paint for ourselves this scene of tenderness and of desolation." — 
 AInie Camp an. 
 
 "The murderers, meeting no further resistance, entered, 
 and penetrated to the queen's bed, the curtains of which they 
 lifted. Furious at finding their victim escaped, they rushed at the 
 bed and pierced it with their pikes. From the queen's apart- 
 ments, thej^ returned into the gallery, to force the ceil de boetif 2C!\d 
 the king's apartments. In the rage which transported them they 
 would have massacred all the royal family, if they had not met in 
 
SALON DE LA REINE 
 
 71 
 
 this anteroom some old grenadiers of tlfe French Guards who 
 took the body-guards under their protection, and who, in concert 
 with a few of them, defended the king's door. The grenadiers 
 threatened to fire on this horde of wretches, if they did not at 
 once quit the chateau. They sneaked off by the great staircase, 
 and joined, in the courtyard, the group of ruffians who were pre- 
 paring to put to death the fifteen body-guards under the very 
 windows of the king." — IVeber, Afemoires. 
 
 The next room, Le Salon de la Reine^ was the meeting 
 place for the Court of Louis XIV. after dinner. Mme de 
 Sevigne' describes the scene whilst Mme de Montespan 
 was in the height of her favor. 
 
 "2gth Jul}', 1676. — You know the ceremony of dressing the 
 queen, the mass, the dinner ; but it is no longer necessary to be 
 suffocated while their Majesties are at dinner, for at three o'clock 
 the king, the queen. Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle, all the 
 princes and princesses, Mme de Montespan, her suite, the 
 courtiers, the ladies, in fine, all that is called the Court of 
 France is found in that fine apartment of the king, which you 
 know. The furniture is divine, everything is magnificent. We 
 do not know what it is to be warm there, for we can pass freely 
 from one spot to another. A game of revcrsis arranges everything. 
 The king is next to Mme de Montespan, who deals, Monsieur, 
 the queen, and Mme dc Soubise, Dangeau and company, Langlee 
 and company ; a thousand louis are scattered on the cloth, there 
 are no other counters. I saluted the king as you taught me ; he 
 returned my salute as if I had been young and pretty. The queen 
 talked a long time with me about her illness. M. the Duke paid 
 me a thousand compliments, and then Hitti qtianti. Mme de 
 Montespan spoke of Bourbon, and begged me to tell her about 
 Vichy. Her beauty is surprising ; her figure is not half as stout 
 as it was, without her complexion, eyes, or lips being less beauti- 
 ful. She was dressed entirely in point de France, her hair in a 
 thousand curls, the two on the temples falling down low on the 
 cheeks ; black ribbons on her head, the pearls of the Mare- 
 chale d'Hopital, set Avith clasps and pendants of diamonds of 
 the highest beauty, three or four pins, no cap-, in a word, a 
 triumphant beauty to astonish all the ambassadors. She knew 
 that there were complaints that she prevented all France from 
 seeing the king ; she has restored him as you see, and 3^ou cannot 
 
72 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 imagine the joy of all the world, nor the beauty this gives the 
 court. This agreeable confusion, without confusion, of all that is 
 most select, lasts from three to six. If couriers arrive, the king 
 retires for a moment to read his letters and then returns. There 
 is always some music to which he listens, and which has a good 
 effect ; he converses with the ladies who are accustomed to have 
 that honor. The game is given up at six o'clock. ... At six, the 
 king, Mme de Montespan, M. and Mme de Thianges enter a car- 
 riage with the nurse Heudicourt on the step, that is, in paradise, 
 or the glory of Niquee. You know how these carriages are made ; 
 they cannot see each other, for all face the same way. The queen 
 was in another with the princesses, and then all the world trooped 
 together as it pleased. There are gondolas on the canal ; there is 
 music there, and, on our return at ten, there is a play ; midnight 
 strikes, we say vwdia iioche." 
 
 The pictures in this room include : — 
 
 2099. Joseph Ch7-istophe : The Baptism of Louis de France, 
 
 Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. 
 2110. Establishment of the Hotel des Invalides. 
 2098. Visit of Louis XIV. to the Gobelins. 
 
 The portraits are : — 
 
 2101. Hyaciiitlie Rigaud : Louis de France, Due de Bourgogne, 
 the beloved pupil of Fenelon. 
 
 "A prince whom every one could not but respect, and the 
 few remarks he made occasionally or at the council were received 
 with surprising attention and carried real weight. 
 
 " He was short rather than tall, a long brown face, the upper 
 part perfect, the loveliest e3'es in the world, a bright, touching, 
 striking, admirable look, usually gentle, always piercing, and an 
 agreeable, proud, refined, spirituelle countenance that inspired 
 esprit. The lower part of the face rather pointed ; the nose, long, 
 prominent, but not handsome, did not suit him well ; the hair 
 was chestnut, so curly and abundant that it pufTed out. It was 
 soon perceptible that his figure was changing. He became hump- 
 backed." — St. Simon. 
 
 " He was a virtuous, just and intelligent man. He comforted 
 the king when he could ; he was compassionate and gave alms 
 freely; he sold all his mother's jewels and gave the money for 
 poor wounded officers. He did all the good in his power, and 
 hurt no one during his whole life." — Correspondance de Madame. 
 
SALO.Y DE LA REINE 
 
 73 
 
 2IOI. Marie Adelaide de Savoic, Duchesse de Bourgogac. 
 
 "4th Nov., 1696. — She has the highest grace and the best 
 figure I ever saw : dressed for a picture, and her head, too ; her 
 eyes are bright and very beautiful, the lashes black and charm- 
 ing, the complexion well blended, as white and red as you can 
 desire ; the most beautiful black hair that can be seen, and in 
 great quantity ; the mouth red, the lips full, the teeth white, long 
 and irregular, the hands well made, but of the color of her age. 
 ... I am quite content. ... I hope you will be so too. Her 
 air is noble, her manner polished and agreeable. I take pleasure 
 in telling you this good report, for I find that, without prejudice 
 or flattery, I am compelled to do so." — Louis XLV. to AInie de 
 Mainteno7t after meeting the Duchesse de Bottrgogne at Monta^'ges. 
 
 " 15th Dec, 1710. — As for the Duchess de Bourgogne, I see 
 to-day all the world chanting her praises, her good heart, her 
 noble spirit, and agreeing that she knows how to keep a thronged 
 court in respect. I see her adored by the Duke de Bourgogne, 
 tenderly loved by the king, who has just placed his household in 
 her hands to dispose of as she likes, saying publicly that she will 
 be capable of directing the greatest affairs." ^ — Mine de Maintenon. 
 
 " The king had brought her up completely to his wishes. She 
 was his only consolation and only joy. Her temper was so gay 
 that she always knew how to efface his wrinkles, however gloomy 
 he was. A hundred times a day she ran to him, and always said 
 something pleasant." — Corrcspondance de Madame. 
 
 2103. Rigaud : Philippe V., Roi d'Espagne, grandson of Louis 
 
 XIV. 
 
 2104. Charles de France, Due de Berry, grandson of Louis 
 
 XIV., younger brother of the Due de Bourgogne and 
 Philippe V. of Spain, who died May 4, 17 14, with 
 strong suspicions of poison. 
 
 " M. the Duke de Berry was of the ordinary height of most 
 men, rather ^stout every way, of a beautiful blond complexion, 
 a fresh, handsome countenance which indicated brilliant health. 
 He was made for society, and for the pleasures he loved ; the 
 best, gentlest, most feeling, most accessible man, without pride 
 or vanity, but not without dignity, nor without feeling it. He 
 was the best looking and most gracious of the three b'rothers, and 
 consequently the most loved, the most caressed, the most admired 
 
 ^ Letter to the Princesse des Ursins. 
 
74 BAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 by the world. He was the favorite son of Monseigncur, by taste, 
 and by his natural inclination for freedom and pleasure." — St. 
 Simon. 
 
 V Anticha7?ibre de la Reine. This was used as a dining: 
 room for the gra?id convert de /a 7'eine. 
 
 to 
 
 "One of the most disagreeable customs for the queen was 
 that of dining in public every day. IVIarie Leczinska always fol- 
 lowed this tiresome usage ; Marie Antoinette observed it while 
 she was Dauphiness. The Dauphin dined with her, and every 
 table of the household had its public dinner every day. The 
 ushers let all well dressed people enter, and the sight delighted 
 the provincials. At the dinner hour one met on the stairs only 
 good, honest folk, who, after having seen the Dauphiness take 
 her soup, went to see the princes eat their boiled joint, and then, 
 hurried breathlessly to see Mesdames take desert." — Alme Cam- 
 pan, 
 
 The ceiling comes from the Ducal Palace at Venice. 
 The pictures comprise — 
 
 2106. Halle : The Doge of Venice and Louis XIV. 
 2605. E. Tranqtie : Siege of Lille. 
 
 2109. Lcbntn : Louis XIV. on horseback. 
 
 "The king surpassed all the courtiers by the perfection of 
 his figure, and the majestic beaut)' of his face ; the sound of his 
 voice, noble and touching, gained the hearts his presence intimi- 
 dated ; he had a bearing which befitted him, and his rank alone, 
 and would have been ridiculous in any one else ; the embarrass- 
 ment he inspired in those he spoke to secretly flattered the com- 
 placency with which he felt his superiority. Louis XIV. is suffi- 
 ciently depicted in these two verses from the Be'reiiice of Racine : — 
 
 " ' Ou'en quelque obscurite que le ciel Tcut faii naitre, 
 Le monde, en le vo)'ant, eiit reconnu son maitre.'" 
 
 Voltaire. 
 
 2107. Lebrun and Vandcrniculen : The Defeat of the Spanish 
 
 • army at Bruges, Aug. 3, 1667. 
 
 2108. Girard : Philippe de France, Comte d'Anjou (second 
 
 grandson of Louis XIV.), declared King of Spain, 
 as Philippe V. 
 
SALLE DU SACRE ye 
 
 The portraits are — 
 
 2113. Mme de Maintenon. 
 
 2115. Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse, sec- 
 
 ond son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan. 
 
 " He was very short, but he possessed honor, virtue, upright- 
 ness, truth, even dignity, a manner of receiving as gracious as a 
 natural but icy coldness permitted ; a desire and capacity for 
 action, but by fair means, while his just and direct sense, usually, 
 supplied the place of intelligence." — St. Simon. 
 
 2110. Anne de Chabot-Rohan, Comtesse de Soubise. 
 
 2114. Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Vermandois, son of Louis 
 
 XIV. and Mile de la Valliere. 
 
 By the door which the Garde du Corps was murdered 
 while defending, October 6, 1789, and which the bed- 
 chamber women bolted on the inside, we enter La Salle 
 des Gardes de la Reine invaded by the torrent of revolu- 
 tionists armed with pikes and sabres, shrieking for the 
 blood of Marie Antoinette. 
 
 2116. After JMiguard : Louis de France, le Grand Dauphin, 
 
 and his family. 
 
 2117. Santerre : Marie Adelaide de Savoie, Duchesse de Bour- 
 
 gogne, afterwards Dauphine. A lovely picture. 
 
 " Ever}-thing the Dauphiness says is just and well turned ; it 
 leaves nothing to be desired in wit or in humor, and this is such 
 a gift that the rest is forgotten." — Altne de Sezngn^. 
 
 Now, for a moment, we quit the historic recollections 
 of the old regime to enter upon La Salle du Sacre, fur- 
 nished a rEjitpi/r, and adorned with busts of Josephine, 
 Marie Louise, and the parents of Napoleon, In the centre 
 is '^Gli Ultimi Giorni di Napoleone primo," a noble work 
 of Vela, i860. On the walls are — 
 
 2277. David : Coronation of Napoleon I. — an immense pict- 
 ure, containing one hundred figures. The painter 
 at first represented Pius VII. with his hands upon his 
 knees. The Emperor forced him to alter this, say- 
 
76 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ing, " Je ne I'ai pas fait venir de si loin pour ne rien 
 faire." When the Emperor went to the artist's studio 
 to see the picture — 
 
 "The courtiers reproached the painter for having made the 
 Empress the heroine of the picture, by representing her corona- 
 tion rather than Napoleon's. The objection is certainly not with- 
 out foundation. It might have been thought that the new 
 sovereign had foreseen, calculated, arranged everything in ad- 
 vance with his first painter. . . . When all the court was drawn 
 up before the picture, Napoleon, with his head covered, walked 
 for more than half an hour before the large canvas, examining all 
 the details with the most scrupulous attention, while David and 
 the spectators remained silent and motionless. ... At last he 
 spoke : ' It is well, David, very well ; you have divined m}^ 
 thought ; you have given me French chivalry. I thank you for 
 having handed down to future ages this proof of the affection I 
 wished to give to her who shares with me the toils of government.' 
 Soon after Napoleon took two steps towards David, raised his 
 hat, and, with a slight inclination of the head, said in raised 
 voice, ' David, I salute you.' " — Delesclusc. 
 
 The picture represents many persons not present, as 
 Mme Mere, who was at Rome at the time of the corona- 
 tion. 
 
 2278. David : Distribution of Eagles to the Army, Dec. 5, 
 
 1804. 
 2276. Gros : The Battle of Aboukir, July 25, 1799. 
 Between the windows are portraits of Napoleon at difTerent 
 
 times. That (No. 2279) representing him during the 
 
 Italian campaigns is by Rouillai-d. 
 
 With the second of the two succeeding rooms we re- 
 turn to the times of Louis XIV., as it was the Grand Cab- 
 inet of Mme de Maintenon — " la toute-puissante," as the 
 Duchesse d'Orleans calls her in her letters. 
 
 "The apartments of Mme de Maintenon were on the first 
 floor, opposite the hall of the king's guards. The antechamber 
 was rather a long narrow passage to another antechamber, ex- 
 actly similar, in which only the captains of the guards entered, 
 then a large, very deep chamber. Between the door, giving en- 
 
SALLE DU SACRE 
 
 77 
 
 trance from this second antechamber, and the chimney, was the 
 king's armchair, backed up to the wall, a table before it and a 
 stool for the minister who was working with him. On the other 
 side of the chimney-piece, a niche of red damask, and an arm- 
 chair, where Mme de Maintenon remained with a little table 
 before her. Further on, her bed in a recess. Opposite the foot 
 of the bed, a door with five steps to mount, then a large cabinet, 
 opening on the first antechamber of the day-rooms of the Duke 
 de Bourgogne, which this door enfiladed, and which is to-day the 
 apartment of Cardinal Fleury. This first antechamber, having 
 this room to the right and on the left the grand cabinet of Mme 
 de Maintenon, descended, as it still does, by five steps into the 
 marble saloon adjoining the landing of the great stairway at the 
 end of the two galleries, upper and lower, called those of the 
 Duchess of Orleans and of the princes. Every evening the 
 Duchess de Bourgogne played cards in Mme de Maintenon's 
 grand cabinet with the ladies to whom the entry was given, a favor 
 not extensively accorded, and thence entered, as often as she 
 liked, the adjoining room which was the chamber of Mme de 
 Maintenon, where she was with the king, the fire-place between 
 them. Monseigneur, after the comedy, went up to this grand 
 cabinet, which the king never and Mme de Maintenon rarely 
 entered. 
 
 "Before the king's supper, the servants of Mme de Mainte- 
 non brought her some soup and a plate and some other dish. 
 She eat her supper, her women and one valet serving, the king 
 always present and almost always a minister at work. Supper 
 over — it was short — the table was removed ; her women remained 
 and immediately undressed her in a minute, and put her in bed. 
 When the king received word that his supper was ready, he 
 passed for a moment into the dressing-room, and afterwards 
 went to say a word to Mme de Maintenon, and then rang a bell 
 which communicated with the grand cabinet. Then Monseigneur, 
 if he was there, the Duke and Duchess de Bourgogne and her 
 ladies, the Duke de Berry, filed into the room of Mme de Main- 
 tenon, merely traversing it, and preceded the king, who pro- 
 ceeded to take his place at table, followed by Mme the Duchess 
 de Bourgogne and her ladies. Those who were not in her ser- 
 vice, either went away, or, if they were dressod to go to the 
 supper (for the privilege of entering this cabinet was to form a 
 court there for the Duchess de Bourgogne without it being one), 
 made a tour through the grand guard-room without entering Mme 
 
78 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 de Maintenon's room. No man, save the three princes, ever en- 
 tered the grand cabinet." — St. Simon, i-joii. 
 
 Hence we enter — 
 
 La Salle de 1792, called Salle des Cent-Suisses under 
 Louis XVI., decorated with portraits of the Consulate and 
 Empire. The little rooms adjoining, now called Salles des 
 Aquarelles, were the apartments of the Due de Bourgogne, 
 afterwards of Cardinal Fleury and the Due de Penthievre. 
 Returning to the Salle de 1792, and crossing a landing 
 which has statues of Louis XIV. by Marin, Napoleon I. 
 by Cartellier, and Louis Philippe by Diunont, we reach — 
 
 (The south wing) La Galerie des Batailles, formed 
 under Louis Philippe from the suite of apartments in- 
 habited under Louis XIV. by Monsieur (Due d'Orlenns) 
 and his children. We may notice — 
 
 2672. Ary Scheffcr : Charlemagne at Paderborn. 
 2676. Eugene Delacroix : Battle of Taillebourg. 
 2715. Gerard : Henry IV. entering Paris. 
 2765. Gerard: Battle of Austerlitz. 
 2674. ^ f Battle of Bovines. 
 
 2743. Battle of Fontenoy. 
 
 2768. \ Horace Vernet:\ Battle of Jena. 
 2772. I j Battle of Friedland. 
 
 2776. J [ Battle of Wagram. 
 
 The gallery ends in the Salon de 1830 (in the ancient 
 Pavilion de la Surintendance), containing pictures of 
 events in the reign of Louis Philippe. 
 
 Hence we must return to the little rooms belonging to 
 the apartment of Mme de Maintenon, which now form a 
 passage to a staircase — VEscalier de Marhre, leading to 
 the upper floor of the south wing. Here, turning left, we 
 enter — 
 
 Salle L. (time of Louis XVIII. and Charles X.), begin- 
 ning on the right — 
 
HISTORIC PORTRAITS yg 
 
 4799. Gerard : Caroline Duchesse de Berry and her children. 
 (Daughter of Ferdinand I., King of the two Sicilies, 
 and sister of Christina of Spain ; the heroine of the 
 civil war in La Vendee, where she was found con- 
 cealed in a chimney, Nov. 7, 1832, and imprisoned 
 at Blaye. She married as her second husband Count 
 Lucchesi Palli, of Venice, by whom she had several 
 children.) 
 
 4795. Gerard : Charles X. 
 
 " All the royal qualities of his soul were written in his coun- 
 tenance ; nobleness, frankness, majesty, goodness, honor, can- 
 dor, all revealed a man to love and be beloved. Depth and 
 solidity alone were wanting in the face ; in looking at it, one felt 
 attracted to the man, but doubtful about the king." — lamartine. 
 
 4798. Gerard : Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Due de Berrv', 
 1778-1820, murdered at the door of the Opera house. 
 
 4831. Jeanne Louise Henriette Genet, Mme Campan, super- 
 intendent of the College of Ecouen. 
 
 "Mme Campan, to whom Louis XVL, in 1792, confided the 
 most secret and dangerous papers, for whom Louis XVL in his 
 cell at Les Feuillants, August 10, 1792, cut off two locks of his 
 hair, giving one to her, the other to his sister, while the queen, 
 throwing her arms alternately round their necks, exclaimed, 
 ' Unhappy women ; you are so only on my account ; I am more 
 so than you.' " — De Lally. 
 
 4833. Stephanie St. Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis. 
 
 4797. Gros : Marie Therese, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Dau- 
 
 phine. 
 4830. Lawrence : Gerard. 
 4835. Delaroche : Gregory XVL 
 4803. Delaroche: The Due d'Angouleme at the taking of 
 
 Trocadero. 
 
 4796. Gerard : Louis Antoine d'Artois, Due d'Angouleme. 
 4794. Ge'rard : Le Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. 
 
 Salle II. — 
 
 47S9. David: Pius VIL — a replica of the portrait m the 
 
 Louvre. 
 4786. Gros : His own portrait. 
 4715. Meyjiier : Joseph Fesch, Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons, 
 
 uncle of Napoleon L 
 
8o DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 " The gentlest and most imperturbable man of society." — 
 
 Memoii'es de la Duchesse d' Abi-anth. 
 
 (Unn.) Giierin (after Gerard) : Marie Louise. 
 
 "Her height was ordinarv'- ; what she was utterly devoid of 
 was grace. Very fresh complexion, pretty hair, these were the 
 charms that seduced Napoleon." — Me'/tioires de la Duchesse 
 d'Aii'antes. 
 
 4785. Godcfroid: Mme Campan. 
 
 4700. Le Thiere : The Empress Josephine. 
 
 "Without being precisely pretty, her whole person was pe- 
 culiarly charming. There were delicacy and harmony in her feat- 
 ures ; her look was gentle ; a small mouth skilfully concealed 
 bad teeth ; her complexion, rather dark, was aided by the red and 
 white she habitually employed ; her figure was perfect, all her 
 limbs supple and delicate ; her slightest movements were easy 
 and elegant. To no one more fully could be applied the verse of 
 La Fontaine : 
 
 " ' Et la grace plus belle encor que la beaute.' " 
 
 Mme de Remus at. 
 
 4705. Menjaj'd : Napoleon L, with Marie Louise and the King 
 
 of Rome. 
 (Unn.) Rotiget : Napoleon presenting the King of Rome to 
 
 the great dignitaries of the Empire. 
 
 Salle III.— 
 
 Pictures of Royal Palaces. 
 
 Salle IV.~ 
 
 English Portraits. 
 
 Galerie. — The historic pictures here are terribly injured 
 by coarse "restoration;" they are also all stripped of their 
 original frames. 
 
 J^ight Wall.— 
 
 4558. Ge'rai'd : Laetitia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon — 
 " Mme Mere." 
 
 "A woman of moderate intelligence, who, in spite of the rank 
 to which events raised her, presents nothing to praise." — Mme de 
 Remus at. 
 
HISTORIC PORTRAITS 8i 
 
 " Mme Bonaparte, the mother, had a high and remarkable 
 character ; good at bottom, with a cold exterior, and possessing 
 great sense." — Me'moires de la Duchesse cI Abrantes. 
 
 (Unn.) Jeanron : Honore Gabriel de Riqueti, Comte de Mira- 
 
 beau. 
 4616. Girodet : Belle}', a ransomed black slave, who was a 
 
 deputy at the Convention. 
 4610. Roiiillard : Camille Desmoulins. 
 
 4613. Haner : Charlotte Corday, painted a few minutes before 
 
 she was taken to execution. When the executioner 
 entered, she took the scissors from his hands, and, 
 cutting off a long tress of her hair, gave it to the 
 painter as a remembrance. 
 
 4614. Mme Roland. 
 
 4531. Mauzaisse : Mme de Genlis, with Eugenie Adelaide 
 d'Orleans, and Pamela, afterwards Lady Edward 
 Fitzgerald. 
 
 " Mme de Genlis died three months after the Revolution of 
 July. She lived just long enough to see her pupil king. Louis 
 Philippe was most truly a little of her making ; she had educated 
 him, like a man, not like a woman." — Victor Hugo, '" Choses 
 Viies." 
 
 4523. Risault : Marie Therese Louise de Savoie Carignan, 
 
 Princesse de Lamballe. 
 4458. Nattier: "Madame Sophie," called " Graille " by her 
 
 father, Louis XV. A very pretty picture, though we 
 
 read — 
 
 " Madame Sophie was very plain ; I never saw anybody 
 with such an uncouth air ; she walked very quick, and in order 
 to recognize, without staring, the people who drew up to let her 
 pass, she had acquired the habit of looking from side to side 
 like a hare. This princess was so timid that you might see her 
 ever)^ day for years and never hear her utter a word. It is said, 
 however, that she displayed intelligence, and even amiability, in 
 the society of some favorite ladies ; she studied much, but read 
 alone ; the presence of a reader annoyed her infinitely." — M?ne 
 Cainpan. 
 
 4442. Elizabeth d'Orleans, Mile de Beaujolais. 
 
 442S. Nattier: Marie Louise de France, "Madame Louise." 
 
 4386. Alexis Belle : Louis XV. as a boy. 
 
82 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 4329. Rigaud : Gaston Armand de Rohan, Cardinal de Rohan. 
 
 5065. Escot : Jean Jacques Rousseau. 
 
 4476. Vanloo : Louis Phelipeaux, Comte de St. Florentin, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 4302. Largilliere : The Regent d'Orleans. 
 
 4275. Jean de la Fontaine. 
 
 " La Fontaine, so well known for his Fables and Tales, and 
 always so heavy in conversation." — Sf. Simon, '' Ale'fnoires" 1695. 
 
 *2i96. Fran9oise d'Aubigne, Mme de Maintenon, and Fran- 
 5oise Charlotte d'Aubigne, afterwards Duchesse de 
 Noailles. 
 
 4074. Catherine de Medicis. 
 
 4120. Ary Scheffer : Henri IV. — " sa majeste a labarbegrise," 
 as Gabrielle d'Estrees used to call him. 
 
 4117. Henri IV., aged thirty-eight. XVII. c. 
 
 Left Wall {returnifig), 
 *427o. Philippe de Cha/npaigne : Catherine Agnes d'Arnauld, 
 Abbess of Port-Royal, who at six years old became 
 Abbess of St. Cyr, and at nine could repeat the whole 
 of the Psalms by heart. 
 
 4276. Rigaud : Nicolas Boileau. 
 
 4374. Greuze : Bernard le Borier de Fontenelle. 
 4421, Largilliere: Nicolas Coustou, 
 4416. Largilliere : The Painter and his Family. 
 4405. Chancellor Maupeou. 
 
 4510. Auifiier : Louise Elizabeth de France, "Madame ITn- 
 fante," eldest daughter of Louis XV. 
 
 "Madame Infante, who was singularly fat, loved very rich 
 dress, and possessed great good nature that, without injuring her 
 dignity, penetrated every action." — Me'inoires dii Comte Duport de 
 Cheverny. 
 
 4455. Nattier : Anne Henriette de France, " Madame Henri- 
 ette," second daughter of Louis XV. 
 
 " Henriette lived like the queen. All called her a saint, and 
 called her just what we saw she was. When compelled to go 
 to the Comedy, she said her prayers." — Journal of Mme Louise de 
 Prance. 
 
 4441. Marie Leczinska. 
 
HISTORIC PORTRAITS 
 
 83 
 
 "Marie Leczinska brought nothing, as a portion, on the day 
 of her nuptials, except modesty, virtue, and goodness of heart." — 
 WraxalVs ''Hist. Afemoirs." 
 
 4485. Roslin : Fran9ois Boucher. 
 
 4448. After Drotiais : Mme du Barry and her black page 
 Zamore (who afterwards betrayed her to death). 
 *4520. Mme Lebrun : Marie Antoinette and her three children. 
 The artist relates in her Memoirs that the queen al- 
 ways passed this picture on her way to and from mass 
 in the chapel. After the first Dauphin died in 1789 
 it recalled her loss so vividly that she had it moved, 
 sending at the same time to tell Mme Lebrun the 
 reason, for fear her feelings should be hurt. 
 
 "The only good portraits of the queen, in existence, are that 
 by Werthmuller, first painter to the king of Sweden, and that by 
 Mme Lebrun, saved from the fury of the revolution by the com- 
 missaires of the wardrobe at Versailles, There reigns in the com- 
 position of this picture, a striking analogy with that of Henriette 
 of France, wife of the unfortunate Charles L, painted by Van 
 Dyck ; like Marie Antoniette, she is seated surrounded by her 
 children, and this resemblance adds much to the melancholy in- 
 terest which this beautiful work inspires." — Mme Campaji. 
 
 " Le ciel mit dans ses traits cet eclat qu'on admire ' 
 France, il la couronna pour ta felicite : 
 Un sceptre est inutile avec tant de beaute ; 
 Mais a tant de vertu il fallait un empire." 
 
 La Harpe. 
 
 4556. Lebrun: Gretry, the famous dramatic composer, 1741- 
 
 1813. 
 4561. George Washington. 
 4526, Mme Lebrtin : Louise Marie Adelaide de Bourbon, Du- 
 
 chesse d'Orleans. 
 4551. Boilly : Marmontel. 
 
 4529. Antoine Philippe d'Orleans, Due de Montpensier. 
 4607. David: Barere. 
 
 4538. Schillz : Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Due d'Enghien. 
 4550. Danloux : Jacques Delille. 
 *4630. Grcuze : Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul. 
 
 Returning to Salle I. we find a little cabinet containing 
 a number of sketches for pictures by Gerard, 
 
84 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Beyond the head of the Escalier de Marbre are four 
 rooms filled with modern pictures. The second room con- 
 tains portraits of Louis Philippe, Marie Ame'lie, Madame 
 Adelaide, and all the princes and princesses of the House 
 of Orleans, mostly by Winterhalter. 
 
 " The king's error was in not despairing soon enough. He 
 was accustomed to good fortune, and the good fortune of his long 
 life betrayed him in the last days of his reign." — Lamaj-tine. 
 
 **The queen Marie Amelie had an exquisite and charming 
 dignity, and represented grace and distinction in the somewhat 
 bourgeois circles of the court." — Paul Vassili. 
 
 " Madame Adelaide was an intelligent woman and of good 
 advice, which was freely bestowed in harmony with the king, but 
 never in excess. Madame Adelaide had something manly and 
 cordial, and much tact." — Victor Hugo. 
 
 2nd Room. — 
 
 Bonnet : M. Thiers. 
 
 T^rd jRoom. — The Bonaparte family,^ including — 
 1561. David : Napoleon I. crossing the Great St. Bernard. 
 5134. Lefevre : Napoleon I. in his imperial robes. 
 
 '* Bonaparte is short, not well proportioned, because the length 
 of his bust makes the rest of his person seem short. He has thin, 
 chestnut hair, grey-blue eyes, a yellow complexion, while he was 
 thin, which, later, became of a dull colorless white. The line of 
 his brow, the setting of his eye, the outline of the nose, were all 
 beautiful and recalled ancient medals. His mouth, rather flat, 
 becomes agreeable when he laughs ; his teeth are regular ; his 
 chin a trifle short, and the jaw square and heavy ; he has pretty 
 hands and feet ; I note this because he is ver}^ proud of them," — 
 Mme de Remus at. 
 
 "For those who often approached Napoleon, there remains 
 one recollection which is inseparable from his presence ; that is 
 the light which spread over all his features when he smiled, but 
 with the consciousness of smiling ; then his eyes, that really were 
 beautiful, and his incomparable look, grew gentle, and however 
 
 * The Bonapartes descend from Bonaparte di Cianfardo, who (when ex- 
 pelled from Florence during the civic broils) settled with his family at Sarzana 
 in the middle of the XIII. c. Hence Francesco di Giovanni Bonaparte was 
 sent by the Republic of Genoa to Corsica, c. 1512. 
 
E SCALIER BE MARRRE S^ 
 
 little the smile might be provoked by a noble sentiment, his coun- 
 tenance then assumed a divine expression. In such moments the 
 man was more than man." — Memoires de la Duchesse d' Abrantes. 
 
 "The only eulogy worthy of his Majesty is the most simple 
 history of his reign." — Muraire, Premier President de la Coiir de 
 Cassation. 
 
 Ge'rard : Josephine. 
 
 4702. Marie Louise and Napoleon II. 
 
 " Napoleon loved Marie Louise for rank and pride. She was 
 the blazon of his athliation to the great families. She was the 
 mother of his son, the perpetuation of his ambition. . . . She 
 was a pretty Tyrolese girl, with blue eyes, light hair, and a slender, 
 supple figure." — Lamartine. 
 
 5132. Ge'rard : Madame Mere. 
 Benoist : Marie Pauline, Princess Borghese. 
 Lefevre : Mme Clary, Queen of Naples. 
 
 4412. Mme Lebrtin : Caroline, Mme Murat, Grande-Duchesse 
 de Berg, afterwards Queen of Naples, 
 
 "The Grand Duchess of Berg (Caroline) was the youngest 
 and prettiest princess of the imperial family ; I say the prettiest 
 because she was as fresh as a bunch of roses." — Memoires de la 
 Duchesse d' Abr antes. 
 
 Plundered of all her fortune by Ferdinand I., she lived, after 
 the fall of the empire, at different places in Austria with her 
 sister Elise. 
 
 4714. Marie Julie, Queen of Spain. 
 
 4635. Lefevre: Lucien, Prince of Canine. 
 
 Le Thiere : Marianne-Elise, Mme Baciocchi, Princess of 
 Piombino, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, called, for her 
 wise government and efforts for the amelioration of her 
 country, " La Semiramis de Lucques." 
 
 "I never knew a woman with such disagreeable points as 
 hers." — Me'moires de la Duchesse d' Abrantes. 
 
 Flandrin : Napoleon III., the Empress Eugenie, and the 
 Princesses Mathilde and Clotilde. 
 
 A corridor contains pictures of events in the reign of 
 Louis Pliilippe. 
 
 We may now descend the Escalier de Marbre^ the 
 
86 ^A VS NEAR PARIS 
 
 famous staircase where Louis XIV. waited for the Grand 
 Conde, weak from age and wounds, saying, " Mon cousin, 
 ne vous pressez pas, on ne pent monter tres-vite quand on 
 est charge comme vous de tant de lauriers." After de- 
 scending, at tlie foot of the Escalier de Marbre, we find 
 ourselves on the ground floor of the palace, and may finish 
 exploring the south wing, by traversin ; several vestibules 
 leading to a series of halls which formed the apartments 
 of the Due and Duchesse de Bourbon under Louis XIV. 
 (as far as the Vestibule Napoleon), and which now are the 
 Galeries de V Empire. The pictures in these rooms, of the 
 modern French school, illustrating the glories of the past 
 Empire, are of no great interest. The last hall — Salle de 
 Marengo — contains : 
 
 1567. David: The First Consul crossing the Great St. 
 Bernard. 
 
 Hence, descending a few steps of the Escalier de 
 Monsieur, we find — 
 
 Les Salles des Marines^ called Le Pavilhm de Mofisieur 
 from having been inhabited, under Louis XVI., by his 
 second brother, the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII. ). 
 The pictures are by modern French artists, many of them 
 by Gudin. From these halls we cross the Vestibule de 
 V Escalier de Provence to the Salles des Tombeaux under the 
 ground floor, because the level of the ground is so much 
 lower on the garden side of the palace. Mounting 
 L'Escali-er de Monsieur on the right (parallel with the 
 Galeries de I'Empire) we find — 
 
 La quatrieme Galerie de Sculptures ^ containing busts 
 and statues of celebrated persons from the Great Revolu- 
 tion to 1814. 
 
 This completes the tour of the south wing. Descend- 
 
SALLE S DES TABLEAUX-PLANS 87 
 
 ing L'Escalier des Fri?tcrs, and crossing the vestibule lead- 
 ing to the gardens, we may enter the halls on the ground 
 floor of the central part of the palace. Three vestibules 
 filled with sculpture lead to a number of rooms which 
 formed the apartment of " Monseigneur " (Le grand 
 Dauphin), son of Louis XIV., and, after his death, of the 
 Due and Duchesse de Berry ; then, later, of the Dauphin, 
 son of Louis XV. Of these, the — 
 
 Salle des Amiraux contains portraits of French admi- 
 rals from Florent de Varennes in 1270, admiral under St. 
 Louis, to the Due d'Angouleme, son of Charles X. 
 
 Salle des Con?ietables. — There were thirty-nine constables 
 under the old monarchy, the most illustrious being Du- 
 guesclin, Olivier de Clisson — "le boucher des Anglais," 
 and Anne de Montmorency. The last was Lesdiguieres, 
 under Louis XIII. 
 
 Salles des Marechaux. — The portraits of the Marshals 
 of France, more than 300 in number, fill thirteen halls. 
 We should turn aside at the seventh hall if we wish to 
 enter the — 
 
 Salle des Rois de France^ containing a collection of por- 
 traits of sovereigns. 
 
 Les Salles des Residences royales contain a number of 
 pictures of interest, especially those of palaces which have 
 been destroyed — Marly, the old Louvre, the Tour de Nesle, 
 &c., as well as of Versailles at many different periods. 
 
 Returning to the Salle des Rois de France, and cross- 
 ing the Vestibule de Louis XIII., opening upon the Cour de 
 Marbre, we reach the — 
 
 Salles des Tableaux- Plans, containing plans of battles 
 from 1627 to 1844. The salle w^hich forms the angle of 
 one of the pavilions of the chateau of Louis XIII. was part 
 of the Salle des Gardes pour V Apparteinent particulier du 
 
SS DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Rot, with the staircase called IJ Escalier dii Roi. Louis 
 XV. was descending this staircase, when he was attacked 
 by Damiens, who was seized in the hall below. 
 
 "The 5th of January, in the evening, as ihe king was de- 
 scending into the marble court, to go from Versailles to Trianon, 
 a man glided between the guards and him, and gave him a blow 
 in the side. Louis carried his hand to the spot struck, and drew 
 it back stained with blood. With some presence of mind, he rec- 
 ognized the assassin by his having his hat on alone, and had 
 him seized — ordered that no violence be done him. There was 
 nothing found on him but a knife with two blades, the smaller, 
 a kind of penknife ; it was with this that he had struck, and, thanks 
 to the thick redingote in which the king was wrapped, the point 
 only entered four lines. 
 
 "Damiens had no accomplices, and was not, speaking 
 strictly, an assassin. He was a lackey out of place, with a brain 
 bewildered and excited by remarks heard in the Great Hall of 
 the Palais, or in the ante-chambers of some councillors of the 
 parliament and some pious Jansenists. He did not wish to kill 
 the king, but only to give him a ivarning, in order that he should 
 cease persecuting the parliament, and punish the archbishop, the 
 cause of all the ill. He ought to have been sent to Bicetre ; he 
 was condemned to the frightful punishment borne by Ravaillac : 
 he was torn by pincers, melted lead was poured on him, and he 
 was then quartered by four horses (28th March, 1757)." — Martin, 
 '''Hist, de France.'' 
 
 Returning hence, we cross the vestibule, to the Galerie 
 de Louis XIII., containing his statue, that of Anne of Aus- 
 tria, and — 
 
 Charles Lebriin : The Meeting of Louis XIV. and Philippe 
 IV. at the Isle of Pheasants. 
 
 Several of the last six Salles des Marechaux formed part 
 of the Appartement des Bains, inhabited by " Mesdames," 
 daughters of Louis XV. The last salle was the bedcham- 
 ber of Mme de Pompadour. 
 
 Les Salles des Guerriers cklebres contain the portraits of 
 famous warriors (not constables or marshals). These 
 
THE GARDENS S9 
 
 rooms were the cabinet and antechamber of Mme de Pom- 
 padour. 
 
 The garden front of the pahice has not yet experienced 
 the soothing power of age. It looks almost new ; two hun- 
 dred years lience it will be magnificent. The long lines of 
 the building, with its two vast wings, are only broken by 
 the top of the chapel rising above the wing on the left. 
 
 "Here all is the work of Louis XIV., all is new and com- 
 pletely symmetrical. The immense development of the hori- 
 zontal lines compensates for the want of height in the buildings. 
 It displays none of the happy irregularities of the old national 
 architecture. The monotony of this absolute uniformity is inter- 
 rupted only by the projection of the central body before the two 
 wings, a projection that announces the portion of the palace 
 consecrated by the Master's presence. This central body is 
 dominant on all sides, whether one looks at it from the middle 
 of the garden, or whether, from the wooded slopes of Satory, one 
 has a side view of it, towering above its immense terrace, between 
 the double Giant Stairs, to which there is nothing comparable. 
 From all sides you must mount up to arrive at the spot where 
 the supreme majesty is enthroned." — Martin, ''Hist, de France." 
 
 The rich masses of green formed by the clipped yews 
 at the sides of the gardens have the happiest effect, and 
 contrast vividly with the dark background of chestnuts, of 
 which the lower part is trimmed, but the upper falls in 
 masses of heavy shade, above the brilliant gardens with 
 their population of statues. These grounds are the 
 masterpiece of Lenotre, and of geometrical gardening, 
 decorated with vases, fountains, and orange-trees. Lovers 
 of the natural may find great fault with these artificial 
 gardens, but there is much that is grandiose and noble 
 in them ; and, as Voltaire says : " II est plus facile de 
 critiquer Versailles que de le refaire." 
 
 "Thanks to Lenotre, Louis, from the window of his incom- 
 parable Galeiie des Glaces, sees nothing but his own creation. The 
 
90 
 
 DA YS XE.4R PARIS 
 
 entire horizon is liis work, for the garden fills the horizon. It is 
 at once the masterwork of the great artist who covered France 
 with his monuments of verdure, and the masterwork of that 
 singular art which must be judged, not by itself, but in reference 
 to the edifices to whose lines its lines are united, an architecture 
 of vegetation which frames and completes the architecture of 
 stone and marble. Whole groves were brought, full grown, from 
 the depths of the fairest forests of France, and the art of ani- 
 mating marble, and the art of moving Avater, filled them with all 
 the prodigies of which fancy could dream. An innumerable 
 population of statues animates the woods and lawns, is reflected 
 in the waters or rises from the bosom of the wave. All the deities 
 of the forests, the rivers and the sea, all the dreams of ancient 
 poetry seem to have gathered at the feet of the great king. 
 Neptune seems to spout from all points the waters of Versailles 
 that cross in the air in sparkling arches, Neptune is the servant 
 of Louis ; Diana, the solitary goddess of the woods, becomes his 
 lover under the lineaments of the chaste La Valliere. Apollo, 
 his favorite symbol, presides over all this enchanted world. At? 
 the two extremities of the view is seen the mythologic sun, 
 transparent emblem of Louis, rising from the floods on his car 
 to illuminate and rule the world, and plunging into them to cast 
 ofif the burden of celestial government in the voluptuous shade 
 of the Grotto of Thetis." — Henri Martin. 
 
 " Depuis qu'Adam, ce cruel homme, 
 A perdu son fameux jardin. 
 Oil sa femme, autour d'une pomme, 
 Gambadait sans vertugadin, 
 Je ne crois pas que sur la terre 
 II soit un lieu d'arbres plante, 
 Mieux exerce dans I'art de plaire, 
 Plus examine, plus vante. 
 Plus decrit, plus lu, plus chante, 
 Que I'ennuj-eux pare de Versailles." 
 
 Alfred de M us set. 
 
 The gardens need the enlivenment of the figures, for 
 which they were intended as a background, in the gay 
 Courts of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. as represented in 
 the pictures of Watteau ; but the Memoirs of the time 
 enable us to repeople them with a thousand forms which 
 
THE GARDE XS gi 
 
 have long been dust, centring around the great king, " Se 
 promenant dans ses jardins de Versailles, dans son fauteuil 
 a roues." 
 
 " If you wish to find once more this vanished world, look for 
 it in the works which have preserved its outward forms or accent, 
 at first in the paintings and engravings of Watteau, Fragonard 
 and the St. Aubins, then in the romances and comedies of Voltaire, 
 Marivaux, even Colle and Crebillon the younger ; there you see 
 the figures and hear the voices. What refined Countenances, 
 engaging and gay, all brilliant with pleasure and desire to please ! 
 What ease in gait and bearing ! What piquant grace in dress and 
 smile, in the vivacious chatter, the management of the fluty voice, 
 the coquetry of veiled allusions ! How one involuntarily lingers 
 to look and listen ! Prettiness is everywhere, in the small 
 spiritual heads, the waving hands, the beribboned attire, the doll- 
 looks and the faces." — Taine, '' Lcs Origines de la France Con- 
 temporaine ." 
 
 The sight of the magnificent terraces in front of the 
 palace will recall the nocturnal promenades of the Court, 
 so much misrepresented by the enemies of Marie An- 
 toinette. 
 
 "The summer of 1778 was extremely hot ; July and August 
 passed without a single storm refreshing the air. The queen, 
 inconvenienced by her pregnancy, passed whole days in her own 
 strictly closed apartments, and could not sleep till she had 
 breathed the fresh night air, walking with the princesses and 
 their brothers, on the terrace beneath her rooms. At first, these 
 walks created no sensation, but the idea arose of enjoying, dur- 
 ing these beautiful summer-nights, the effect of a concert of wind 
 instruments. The musicians of the chapel were ordered to per- 
 form pieces of this kind, on a platform raised in the middle of 
 the parterres. The queen, seated on a bench on the terrace, with 
 all the royal family, except the king, who only appeared twice, 
 as he did not wish to change his bedtime, enjoyed the effect of 
 this beautiful music. Nothing could be more innocent than 
 these walks, yet soon Paris, France, even Europe were occupied 
 with them in a manner most injurious to the character of Marie 
 Antoinette. It is true that all the inhabitants of Versailles 
 wished to enjoy these serenades and that, very soon, there was a 
 
92 
 
 J) A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 crowd from eleven o'clock to two or three in the morning. The 
 windows of the ground floor, occupied by Monsieur and Ma- 
 dame, remained open, and the terrace was jjcrfectly lighted by 
 numerous candles in these two apartments. Some terrincs, 
 placed in the parterres, and the lights on the platform of the 
 musicians, lighted up the rest of the place where they were. 
 
 " I do not know if some thoughtless women ventured to go 
 off and descend into the lower part of the park ; it may be so ; 
 but the queen, Madame, and the Comtesse d'Artois, were arm in 
 arm, and remained on the terrace. Dressed in robes of white 
 percale, with large straw hats, and muslin veils (a costume 
 generally adopted by the women), while the princesses were 
 seated on the benches, they were difficult to distinguish ; but, 
 when standing, their different stature made them always easy to 
 recognize, and the others drew up to let them pass. It is true 
 that, when they sat down on the benches, some private persons 
 came and sat beside them, which amused them much." — Mme 
 Canipan, *^ Memoircs.'' 
 
 Very stately is the view clown the main avenue — ^great 
 fountains of many figures in the foreground ; then the 
 brilliant Tnpi:: Vert, between masses of rich wood; then 
 the Bassin d^ Apollon, and the great canal extending to 
 distant meadows, and lines of natural poplars. 
 
 One of the finest views of the palace, giving an impres- 
 sion of its immensity, is from the head of the steps which 
 descend from the terrace of the Parterre dii Midi, towards 
 the water. Here visitors will be reminded of the poem of 
 Alfred de Musset Sur irois marches de marbre rose. The 
 lake is called the Piece d^Pau des Suisses, and was made 
 by the Swiss regiment in 1679. Beyond it is an equestrian 
 statue by Bernini, executed at Rome, and intended for 
 Louis XIV. ; but the king was so dissatisfied with it that 
 he cut off its head and replaced it by one by Girardon, 
 intended for Marcus Curtius. Beneath this terrace is the 
 Orangerie, a stately arcaded building by Mansart, with 
 noble orange and pomegranate trees. 
 
JARDIN DU ROT 93 
 
 "The beauty and number of the orange trees and other 
 plants kept there, cannot be expressed. There are some of the 
 trees which have resisted the attacks of a hundred winters." — 
 La Fontaine, "' Amonj' de Psyche ct Cupidou." 
 
 It was in the Orangerie that Madame, mother of the 
 Regent, was walking one day — thinking herself alone — 
 singing the Lutheran canticles of her youth, when a painter 
 (a refugee) at work there, flung himself at her feet, saying, 
 " Est-il possible, madame, que vous vous souvenez encore 
 de nos Psaumes ? " 
 
 From the Parterre du Nord, the Allee d^Eau, formed 
 by Claude Perrault, leads to the immense Basshi de Nep- 
 tune. Louis XV. used to watch the progress of its deco- 
 rations, attended by his dogs — Gredinet, Charlotte, and 
 Petite Fille,^ — whilst Madame du Barry walked in the 
 Allee d'Eau, followed by her little negro Zamore. The 
 Bassin de Neptune is the great attraction at the time of 
 the graiides eaux. 
 
 The great central Allee du Tapis Vert runs between 
 bosquets adorned by statues and fountains. Of the bos- 
 quets on the left, that nearest the palace is the Bosquet de 
 la Cascade^ or Salle de Bal, where the Grand Dauphin used 
 to give his hunting dinners. 
 
 The neighboring Bosquet de la Reine is that where Car- 
 dinal Rohan mistook Mile Oliva for Marie Antoinette. 
 
 The Allee d^ Automne 2ir\d the Quinconce du Midi [wh&xtt 
 bands play in summer on Sundays and Thursdays from 3 
 to 4.30) lead to the yardin du Roi (open after May i 
 from 2 P.M.), formed by Louis XVIIL The neighboring 
 Bosquet de la Colonnade owes its architectural designs to 
 Hardouin Mansart. 
 
 At the end of the Allee du Tapis Vert is the vast 
 
 ^ Familiar to us from the admirable paintings of Oudry in the Louvre. 
 
94 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Bassin d^Apollon, decorated by a figure of the god in his 
 chariot (designed by Lebrun), who throws up magnificent 
 jets of water on tlie days when the fountains play. The 
 Grand Cmial, which opens from this basin, was covered 
 with boats in the time of Louis XIV. 
 
 Amongst the bosquets on the north, we need only espe- 
 cially notice, near the Fojitaine de Diane^ the Bosquet d'' Apol- 
 lo?i, adorned by a group of Apollo and the nymphs, by 
 Girardon and Regnaudin, one of the many sculptures in 
 which Louis XIV. is honored as a divinity. 
 
 This group originally stood in the Grotte de Thetis, 
 destroyed when the north wing of the palace was built. It 
 is described by La Fontaine : — 
 
 " Ce Dieu, se reposant sous ces voutes humides, 
 Est assis au milieu d'un choeur de Nereides ; 
 Toutes sont des Venus, de qui Fair gracieux 
 N'entre point dans son coeur et s'arrete a ses yeux ; 
 II n'aime que Thetis,^ et Thetis les surpasse." 
 
 The great difficulty in erecting the gardens of Ver- 
 sailles arose from the want of water, eventually overcome 
 by bringing it {ks eaux hautes) from Trappes, and {les 
 eaux basses) from the plain of Saclay. It was at one time 
 attempted to divert the whole riv^er Eure, by an aqueduct 
 from Maintenon, to the use of Versailles. 
 
 " Nothing has pleased me so much as what you tell me of the 
 great beauty that is to appear at Versailles, fresh, pure, and natu- 
 ral, and is to efface all other beauties. I assure you I was jeal- 
 ous, and expected some new beauty to arrive and be presented 
 at the court. I find, all at once, that it is a river which has been 
 led from its path, precieuse as it is, by an army of forty thousand 
 men ; no fewer were required to make its bed. It seems it is a 
 present that Mme de Maintenon makes to the king, of the thing 
 which he desires most in the world." — Mme de Se'vigne', 1684. 
 
 * Marie Th^rese. 
 
LE GRAiXD TRIANON 95 
 
 The Trianojis may be reached in half an hour from the 
 railway station, but the distance is considerable, and a car- 
 riage very desirable considering all the walking inside the 
 palaces to be accomplished. Carriages take the straight 
 avenue from the Bassin de Neptune. The pleasantest way 
 for foot-passengers is to follow the gardens of Versailles as 
 far as the Bassin d'Apollon, and then turn to the right. 
 At the end of the right branch of the grand canal, stair- 
 cases lead to the park of the Grand Trianon ; but these 
 staircases are railed in, and it is necessary to make a 
 detour to the Grille de la Grande Entree, whence an ave- 
 nue leads directly to the Grand Trianon, while the Petit 
 Trianon lies immediately to the right, behind the buildings 
 of the Concierge and Corps de Garde. 
 
 The Trianons are open daily, but the apartments cannot be 
 visited without a guide. Salle dcs Voittires (entered from the 
 esplanade before the Grand Trianon) is only open on Sundays 
 and Thursdays. 
 
 The original palace of the Grand Trianon was a little 
 
 chateau built by Louis XIV. in 1670, as a refuge from the 
 
 fatigues of the Court, on land bought from the monks of 
 
 St. Genevieve, and belonging to the parish of Trianon. 
 
 But in 1687 the humble chateau was pulled down, and the 
 
 present palace erected by Mansart in its place. 
 
 "The king, who liked building, and had cast off his mis- 
 tresses, had pulled down the little porcelain Trianon he had made 
 for Mme de Montespan, and was rebuilding it in the form it still 
 retains. Louvois was superintendent of the buildings. The 
 king, who had an extremely accurate eye, perceived that one win- 
 dow was a trifle narrower than the others. He showed it to 
 Louvois to be altered, which, as if was not finished, was easy to 
 do ;' Louvois maintained the window was all right. The king 
 insisted then and next day, too, but Louvois, pig-headed and in- 
 flated with his authority, would not yield. 
 
 "The next day the king saw Le Notre in the gallery. Al- 
 though his trade was with gardens rather than houses, the king 
 
gS DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 consulted him on the matter. He asked him if he had been to 
 Trianon. Le Notre replied that he had not. The king ordered him 
 to go. On the morrow he saw Le Notre again ; same question, 
 same answer. The king comprehended the reason of all this, 
 and, a little annoyed, commanded him to be there that afternoon 
 at a given time. Le Notre did not dare to disobey this time. The 
 king arrived, and Louvois being present, they returned to the sub- 
 ject of the window which Louvois obstinately said was as broad 
 as the rest. The king wished Le Notre to measure it, for he 
 knew that, upright and true, he would say openly what he found. 
 Louvois, piqued, grew angry. The king, no less so, let him say 
 his say. Le Notre did not stir. At last the king made him go, 
 Louvois still grumbling and maintaining his assertion with au- 
 dacity and little measure. Le Notre measured the window and 
 said that the king was right by several inches Louvois still 
 wished to argue, but the king silenced him, commanding him to 
 have the window altered at once, and, contrary to his custom, 
 abusing him roundly. 
 
 ** What annoyed Louvois most, was that this scene took place 
 not only before all the officers of the buildings, but in presence 
 of all who followed the king in his promenades, nobles, courtiers, 
 officers of the guard and others, even the valets, because the 
 building was just rising, all were on a level, a few steps off, and 
 everything was open and ever)^body in attendance everywhere. 
 The dressing given to Louvois was smart and long, with reflections 
 on the fault of this window, which, if unnoticed, might have 
 spoiled all the fagade and compelled it to be rebuilt. 
 
 " Louvois, not accustomed to such treatment, returned home 
 in fury and like a man in despair. Saint Pouenge, and his con- 
 stant familiars, were frightened, and, in their disquietude, sought 
 to learn what had happened. At last he told them, said he was 
 lost, and that for a few inches the king forgot all his services 
 which had led to so many conquests ; but he would arrange it, 
 he would bring about a war that would force him to be employed 
 and quit the trowel. Then he burst out in reproaches and fury. 
 
 "He kept his word. He caused a war to grow out of the 
 aflfair of the double election in Cologne, of the Prince, of Bavaria 
 and Cardinal Furstemberg, and confirmed it by carrying the 
 flames into the Palatinate." — St. Simon, '' Memoircs'' 1709. 
 
 Louis XIV. constantly visited the Grand Trianon, with 
 which for many years he was much delighted. 
 
LE GRAND TRIANON 
 
 97 
 
 "The loth July, 1699, Louis XIV. took his stand on the ter- 
 race of Trianon, looking on the canal, and watched the embarka- 
 tion of Monseigneur, Mme the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and all 
 the princesses. After supper, Monseigneur and the Duchesse de 
 Bourgogne walked till two o'clock in the morning in the gardens, 
 and then Monseigneur went to bed. The Duchesse de Bourgogne 
 entered a gondola with some of her ladies, and Madame la Du- 
 chesse in another, and remained on the water till sunrise. Then 
 Madame la Duchesse went to bed, but the Duchesse de Bour- 
 gogne watched till Mme de Maintenon left for Saint-Cyr. She 
 saw her mount her carriage at half-past seven, and then she went 
 to her bed." — Dangeaii, ^^ M^nioires." 
 
 But, after 1700, Louis XIV. never slept at Trianon, 
 and, weary of his plaything here, turned all his attention 
 to Marly. Under Louis XV., however, the palace was 
 again frequently inhabited. 
 
 "At first a house of porcelain for a lunch, then enlarged to 
 sleep in, finally a palace of marble and porphyr\% with delightful 
 gardens." — St. Simon. 
 
 Being entirely on one floor, the Grand Trianon con- 
 tinued to be a most uncomfortable residence, till subterra- 
 nean passages for service were added under Louis Philippe, 
 who made great use of the palace. 
 
 The buildings are without character or distinction. 
 Visitors have to wait in the vestibule till a large party is 
 formed, and are then hurried full speed round the rooms, 
 without being allowed to linger for an instant. Amongst 
 the chambers thus scampered through are the Salon des 
 Glaces, which was used for the council of ministers under 
 Louis Philippe, and is furnished ^7 V Empire; the Bedroom 
 of Louis XIV., afterwards used by the Grand Dauphin, 
 Josephine, and Louis Philippe ; the Study of Qiiccn Marie 
 Amelie; the Salon de Familleoi the time of Louis Philippe ; 
 the Antechamber of Louis XIV., containing the extraordi- 
 nary picture by Migfiard, representing him as the sun — 
 
g8 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 " le roi soleil " ; the Gallery, containing a group of sculpt- 
 ure by Vela, given by the ladies of Milan to the Empress 
 Eugenie after the Italian campaign ; the Salon Circulaire ; 
 the Salle de Billard, with portraits of Louis XV. and Marie 
 Leczinska by Va?iloo ; the Salle de Malachite, with portraits 
 of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., the Grand Dauphin and 
 Louis XVI., the Due de Bourbon and Due d'Enghien; 
 and the rooms prepared by Louis Philippe for the visit of 
 Victoria of England. The chapel, which is not shown, 
 was built by Louis Philippe, and his daughter Marie was 
 married there to Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg. 
 
 On emerging from the Grand Trianon, we should turn 
 to the left. A door on the left of the avenue is the en- 
 trance to the Miisee des Voitures — a blaze of crimson and 
 gold — containing — 
 
 I, The gorgeous coronation carriage of Charles X., built 1825, 
 and used at the baptism of the Prince Imperial. 2. The carriage 
 built 1821 for the baptism of the Comte de Chambord, and used 
 for the marriage of Napoleon III. 3. La Topaze, built 1810 for 
 the marriage of Napoleon I. and Marie Louise. 4. La Turquoise, 
 built with (5) La Victoirc and (6) La Brillaiife, for the coronation 
 of Napoleon I. 7. LJ Opale, which took Josephine to Malmaison 
 after her divorce. Two Chaises a Porteurs belonged respectively 
 to Mme de Maintenon and Mme du Barry. Of the four sledges, 
 one, formed like a shell, belonged to Mme de Maintenon, another, 
 also like a shell, was built in the time of Louis XV. for Mme du 
 Barry, and restored for Marie Antoinette. After the Revolution 
 • the citizen deputies of the people besported themselves, and their 
 wives went to market, in the royal carriages.' 
 
 On reaching the grille of the Cour d^ Honneur of the 
 Petit Trianon, visitors should enter on the left and ask for 
 the concierge for the interior of the palace. But if they 
 only wish to visit the gardens, they may enter freely from 
 a door out of the court on the right of the grille. 
 
 ^ During the seventy-five days of his reign, Ledru RoUin had at his orders 
 four carriages, eighteen draught and saddle horses, and ten servants. 
 
LE PETIT TRIAXON 
 
 99 
 
 The Petit Trianon was built by Gabriel for Louis XV. 
 in the botanical garden which Louis XIV. had formed at 
 the instigation of the Due d'Ayen. It was intended as a 
 miniature of the Grand Trianon, as that palace had been a 
 miniature of Versailles. The palace was often used by 
 Louis XV., who was here first attacked by the smallpox, 
 of which he died. Louis XVI. gave it to Marie Antoi- 
 nette, who made its gardens, and whose happiest days 
 were spent here. Mme Campan describes *' Marie Antoi- 
 
 LE PETIT TRIANON. 
 
 nette, vetue en blanc, avec un simple chapeau de paille, 
 une legere badine a la main, marchant a pied, suivie d'un 
 seul valet, dans les allees qui conduisent au Petit-Trianon." 
 
 " The king gave her the Little Trianon. From that time she 
 occupied herself in embellishing the gardens, without permitting 
 any alteration in the building or any change in the furniture, 
 which had become very shabbv, and which remained, in 1789, 
 just as it was in the reign of Louis XV. Everything, without 
 exception, was preserved, and the queen slept in a faded bed, 
 which had served the Comtesse du Barry. The reproach of ex- 
 travagance, generally made to the queen, is the most inconceiv- 
 
lOO DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 able of the popular errors which have been established in the 
 world respecting her character. She had the very opposite fault, 
 and I can prove that she often carried economy as far as real 
 shabbiness, especially in a sovereign. She took a great fancy to 
 her retreat at Trianon ; she used to go there alone, followed by a 
 footman, but found there attendants to receive her, a concierge 
 and his wife, who took the place of a maid, wardrobe-women, 
 pages, &c. 
 
 "The queen sometimes remained an entire month at the 
 Little Trianon, and established there all the usages of its etiquette. 
 When she entered her saloon, the ladies did not quit the piano 
 or their tapestry work, and the men did not interrupt their games 
 of billiards or backgammon. There was little accommodation 
 in the Trianon. Mme Elizabeth used to accompany the queen 
 there, but the ladies of honor and the ladies of the palace had 
 no establishment ; according to the invitations sent out by the 
 queen, guests came from Versailles at dinner-time. The king 
 and the princes went regularly to supper. A robe of white per- 
 cale, a gauze fichu, a straw hat, formed the attire of the prin- 
 cesses ; the pleasure of running about the buildings of the vil- 
 lage, of seeing the cows milked, of fishing in the lake, delighted 
 the queen, and every year she displayed more aversion for the 
 stately journeys to Marly. 
 
 "The idea of playing comedy, as was done then in almost 
 all country houses, followed the idea the queen had had of living 
 at Trianon without pageantr}'. It was agreed that, excepting M. 
 the Comte d'Artois, no young man should be admitted into the 
 troupe, and that there should be no spectators but the king. Mon- 
 sieur, and the princesses not in the play, but that, to animate the 
 actors a little, the first boxes might be occupied by the queen's 
 readers and maids, with their children and sisters. This formed 
 about two score persons." — Mine Campan, '^Meinoiresy 
 
 The Petit Trianon is a very small and very iinassuming 
 country house. Mme de Maintenon describes it in June 
 as " un palais enchante' et parfume." Its pretty simple 
 rooms are only interesting from their associations. The 
 furniture is mostly of the time of Louis XVI. The stone 
 stair has a handsome iron balustrade; the salons are 
 panelled in white. Here Marie Antoinette sat to Mme 
 
LE PETIT TRIANON tot 
 
 Lebrun for the picture in which she is represented with 
 her children. In the Salle a majigcr is a secretaire given 
 to Louis XVI. by the States of Eyrgond^^-, a'.id portraits of 
 the king and Marie Antoinette. The' Cahmet de Travail 
 of the queen has a cabinet givSn to lie r cjr/, h£r'i>i2r'riaLg'i b,y 
 the town of Paris ; in the Salle de Reception are four pict- 
 ures by Watteau ; the Boudoir has a Sevres bust of the 
 queen ; in the Chambre a coucher is the queen's bed, and a 
 portrait of the Dauphin by Lebrun. These simple rooms 
 are a standing defence of the queen from the false accusa- 
 tions brought against her at the Revolution as to her ex- 
 travagance in the furnishing of the Petit Trianon. Speak- 
 ing of her happy domestic life here, Mme Lebrun says, "I 
 do not believe Queen Marie Antoinette ever allowed an 
 occasion to pass by without saying an agreeable thing to 
 those who had the honor of being near her." 
 
 In the Chapel (only shown on special application) is a 
 picture by Vien of St. Louis and Marguerite de Provence 
 visiting St. Thibault. In the early years of Bonaparte's 
 consulship, the Petit Trianon was turned into an inn. After 
 the Restoration, Louis XVIII. often came here for the 
 day from Paris, and the gouty king would order himself to 
 be carried through the rooms of many associations. 
 
 "The Little Trianon, a caprice of the queen, still filled with 
 her games, her idyls, her beaut}-, her voice, and the pleasures in 
 which Louis XVIIL had mingled in his youth, drew tears from 
 him. He recalled to mind the spectacles, concerts, and illumi- 
 nations, the loves of these delightful gardens, whose trees had 
 spread their first shadows over the steps of the young court. He 
 discovered in this royal cottage, the whole soul of a princess 
 who longed for obscurity to hide her happiness, even to the bed 
 of simple muslin of the Queen of France, where she dreamed 
 of romantic felicity on the eve of the scaffold." — Lamartine. 
 
 In the pleasant gardens, Le Temple d'Amour^ surrounded 
 
102 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 by water, contains a statue by Bouchardofi. A little further 
 on, several cottages compose the Ha7neau where the queen 
 kept;hfeV-cows'-a'-id -jT^ultty, and near which she planted a 
 weeping willow in the year in which she left Versailles for 
 e<fer.;,''T'h^''buil'diligsrri&:lain 'the names she gave them — the 
 Maiso7i du Mamie?', once inhabited by the Comte de Pro- 
 vence ; the Bergerie ; the Mais on du Seig7ieur (Louis 
 XVI.); the Maison du Bailli (Comte de Polignac) ; Le 
 Presbytere (Cardinal de Rohan) ; the Maison du Garde 
 (Comte d'Artois). Close to the lake is the Laiterie )ovci^di 
 to the Tour de Marlborough. Near another little lake is 
 \hi^Salo7i de Musique, an octagonal building with four doors 
 and windows. 
 
 One of the prettiest fetes given by Marie Antoinette at 
 the Petit Trianon was the illumination of the gardens 
 during the visit of her brother, the Emperor Joseph II. 
 
 "The art with which the English garden was not illuminated 
 but lighted, produced a charming effect ; the terrifies, hidden by 
 planks painted green, lighted up all the clumps of shrubs or 
 flowers, bringing out their various tints in the most varied and 
 agreeable manner ; some hundreds of fagots, kindled in the moat, 
 behind the Temple of Love, diffused a brightness which rendered 
 that point the most brilliant in the garden. Besides, these even- 
 ings had nothing remarkable but what they owed to the good taste 
 of the artists ; still it was much talked of. The grounds did not 
 permit the admission of a great part of the court ; those not invited 
 were discontented, and the people, Avhich pardons only fetes which 
 it shares, had a great part in the malevolent exaggerations of the 
 cost of this little fete, which was put at such a ridiculous price, 
 that the fagots burned in the moat seemed to have required the 
 destruction of a whole forest. The queen, hearing these reports, 
 desired to Icnow precisel)'^ how much wood was burned ; it was 
 found that fifteen hundred fagots had sufficed to keep the fire 
 burning till four in the morning." — Mme Campan. 
 
 Near the Salon de Musique is the Salle de Spectacle in 
 
GARDENS OF THE PETIT TRIANON 
 
 103 
 
 which Marie Antoinette acted in the Devifi dti Village and 
 the Barbier dc Seville. 
 
 " Madame, the Comtesse de Provence, refused to play in the 
 comedy, at the theatre of the Little Trianon ; she said it Avould 
 be a breach of etiquette. 
 
 " ' But I play ; I, myself,' said the queen, ' and the king has 
 no objection.' 
 
 " ' Madame,' replied her sister-in-law, ' it is here just as Bos- 
 suet said it was in the case of theatres, great examples for, good 
 reasons against. A princess of Savoy must never shrink from 
 great examples in default of good reasons.' 
 
 FARM OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 
 '* ' Brother,' said the queen with animation, calling the Comte 
 dArtois, as it were, to her aid, * come and take the side of Ma- 
 dame, and let us prostrate ourselves before the eternal grandeur 
 of the house of Savoy. I thought, up till now, that the house of 
 Austria was the first. . . . ' 
 
 " ' Ladies,' broke in the Comte dArtois, ' I believed just the 
 contrary ; I believed, for example, that you had a serious dis- 
 pute, but as I see it turning to jest, I think I had better not 
 meddle in it.' " — Souvenirs de la Marquise de Cr^qiii. 
 
 The Duchesse d'Abrantes gives ns a pretty picture of 
 Napoleon L playing with the one-year-old King of Rome 
 
I04 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 on the lawn at Trianon, giving him his sword to ride 
 upon. 
 
 There is not much of importance in the town of Ver- 
 sailles — La Cite dii Grand Roi. If the visitor leaves the 
 gardens by the gate of the Orangerie at the foot of the 
 Escalicr des Cent Marches, he will find himself facing the 
 Rue de I'Orangerie, which will lead him to (right) the 
 Cathedral of St. Louis, containing a monument by Pra- 
 dier, erected by the town of Versailles to the Due de Berry, 
 
 Returning to the Rue de I'Orangerie, and turning left, 
 then following (right) the Rue de Satory to the Rue du 
 Vieux- Versailles, we find, on the right, the Rue du Jeu de 
 Paume, on the right of which is the entrance of the famous 
 Salle du Jeu de Patmie. Over the entrance is inscribed : 
 " Dans ce Jeu de paume le xx juin mdcclxxxix, les de'- 
 pute's du peuple repousses du lieu ordinaire de leurs 
 seances, jurerent de ne point se separer qu'ils n'eussent 
 donne une constitution a la France. lis ont tenu parole." 
 The famous oath of the Jeu de Paume is engraved under a 
 portico behind a statue of Bailly, and round the hall are 
 inscribed the names of the 700 who signed the proces verbal 
 of the meeting of June 20, 1789. In 1883 the hall was 
 turned into a Musee de la Revolution Pran false. 
 
 " Memories of the monarchy and the aristocracy throb in the 
 long streets of the parishes of St. Louis and of Notre Dame, 
 where every step recalls a famous name, evokes an original figure 
 or revives a strange anecdote. No town in France, except Paris, 
 offers, in the same degree, the attraction of a journey in the past, 
 and among things of the past." — Barron, ''Les environs de Parish 
 
 The ever-extending limits of the town have now em- 
 braced the villa of Clagny, which Louis XIV. gave to 
 Mme de Montespan, It was thither that she retired, and 
 watched the " conversion " of Louis XIV. taking place 
 
CLAGNY 105 
 
 under the influence of Mme de Maintenon, Bossuet, and 
 Bourdaloue. 
 
 " Mon pere, dit un jour Louis XIV. a Bourdaloue, vous 
 devez etre content de moi : Mme de Montespan est a Clagny. 
 
 " — Oui, sire, repondit Bourdaloue ; mais Dieu serait plus 
 satisfait si Clagny 6tait a soixante-dix lieues de Versailles."— 
 Hequct, 
 
III. 
 
 ST. GERMAIN. 
 
 THERE are two ways of reaching St. Germain, i. By rail 
 from the Gave St. Lazare. Express, 30 min. ; slow trains, 
 50 min. Trains every hour, at 25 min. before the hour. {Single — 
 First, I f. 65 c. ; second, i f. 35 c. ; Return — First, 3 f. 30 c. ; 
 second, 2 f. 70 c.) 2. By the steamer Le Totiriste, on the Seine ; 
 carriages at the landing-place. 
 
 The train passes — 
 
 5 k. Asnieres. — Its XVIII. c. chateau was transformed 
 into a restaurant in 1848. 
 
 \2 k. Nanterre — a large village celebrated because St. 
 Germain of Auxerre, passing on his way to England with 
 St. Loup, Bishop of Troyes {c. 429), remarked the shep- 
 herdess Genevieve amongst the crowd assembled to see 
 him, and called her to a life of perpetiial virginity, con- 
 secrating her to the service of God, and giving her a 
 copper cross to wear. Here, while she was yet a child, 
 her mother is said to have been smitten with blindness, 
 for giving her a box on the ear in a passion, but to have 
 been restored by her prayers. Then St. Genevieve, hav- 
 ing drawn water from the well of Nanterre, bathed her 
 mother's eyes with it, upon which she saw as clearly as 
 before. From this time the well is said to have preserved 
 its miraculous powers, and 20,000 pilgrims come to it 
 annually. Queen Anne of Austria, in despair at not be- 
 
NANTERRE 
 
 107 
 
 coming a mother, came to drink of its waters, and the 
 result was Louis XIV. The well is in the Garden of the 
 Presbytery^ which can be entered through the Church of 
 St. Maurice, dating from XIII. c, but spoilt by restorations. 
 The chapel of St. Genevieve is covered with ex-votos. A 
 monument commemorates Charles Le Roy, " horloger du 
 roi," 1 77 1. The Gateaux de Nanterre are celebrated, and 
 
 WELL OF ST, GENEVIEVE, NANTERRE. 
 
 have an immense sale to the pilgrims. The fete of the 
 Rosiere, when the girl who is esteemed the most virtuous 
 in the town is led in procession, publicly eulogized, and 
 crowned with roses, is still observed every Whit-Monday 
 in this church. 
 
 13 /^. Rueil.—K tramway to the village, and to Mal- 
 maison and Marly. (See Ch. IV.) 
 
io8 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 \^ k. Chatoii—sNhQXQ Soufflot built a chateau, which 
 still exists, for Bertin, minister of Louis XV, Hither, to 
 another chateau (now destroyed), near the Avenue de 
 Croissy, the hated Chancellor Maupeou retired after the 
 king's death, and the people sang under his windows — 
 
 " Sur la route de Chatou 
 En foule on s'achemine, 
 Et c'est pour voir la mine 
 Du Chancelier Maupeou 
 
 Sur la rou- 
 
 Sur la rou- 
 Sur la route de Chatou." 
 
 At the Revolution, Chatou belonged to the Comte 
 d'Artois, and was sold as national property. It was at 
 Chatou that Louis XIV. met the exiled Queen Mary 
 Beatrice, on her arrival from England. There are pretty 
 views upon the river. 
 
 " C'est pres du pont de Chatou 
 Qu'on verrait, sans peine, 
 Couler ses jours jusqu'au bout 
 Au gre de la Seine." 
 
 Desuoyers. 
 
 i<) k. Le Vesinet — possessing a race-course, and the 
 Asile de Vesifief, a succursale of the Paris hospitals for 
 female convalescents. 
 
 In the forest of Ve'sinet or Echauffour, Louis XIV, 
 used to go hawking with black falcons. 
 
 "The king went to fly falcons at the plain of Vesinet. The 
 King of England and the Prince of Wales were there, but the 
 queen was not visible ; she had been unwell for some days. 
 Madame and Mme la Duchesse were on horseback. A black 
 hawk was taken, and the king ordered a gratuity of 600 livres to 
 the master of the falcons ; he gives as much every year for the 
 first black hawk taken in his presence ; otherwise, he gives the 
 horse on which he rides and his dressing-gown." — Dangeau, 
 ''M/moires," 24 April, 1698. 
 
ST. GERMAIN-EN-LA YE 109 
 
 \Z k. Le Pecq (once Alpicum, then Aupec) — where 
 rOrme de Sully near the Seine, is the only tree remaining 
 of many planted by the minister of Henry IV. A house 
 is inscribed " Pavilion Sully, 1603." 
 
 The Villa of Monte Cristo was built by Alexander Du- 
 mas ; its gate is inscribed " Monte Cristo, propriete' his- 
 torique," but it has long since been sold. There is an 
 atmospheric railway from Le Pecq up the wooded hill 
 to— 
 
 2\k. St. Gerjnain-en-Laye. 
 
 Hotels: du Pavilion Henri IV., in a delightful situa- 
 tion on the terrace, and with a most beautiful view ; du 
 Pavilion Louis XIV., Place Pontoise ; de rAnge-Gardien, 
 Rue de Paris ; du Prifice Galles, Rue de la Paroisse. Res- 
 taurant Grenier, close to the station; very dear: many 
 other restaurants. 
 
 The first royal chateau of St. Germain was built by 
 Louis le Gros in the XH. c, near a monastery belonging 
 to St. Germain des Pres at Paris. Both palace and mon- 
 astery were burnt by the Black Prince. Charles V. began 
 to rebuild the palace in 1367, and it was continued by 
 Frangois I, Within its walls Henri IL and Catherine de 
 Medicis received the six-year-old Mary Stuart from the 
 hands of the Comte de Breze, who had been sent to Scot- 
 land to fetch her, as the bride of their son, afterwards Fran- 
 cois IL 
 
 The old palace was like a fortress, and Henri IV., 
 wishing for a more luxurious residence, built a vast palace 
 which occupied the site of the existing terrace. Beneath 
 it a beautiful garden, adorned with grottoes, statues, and 
 fountains in the Italian style, descended in an amphi- 
 theatre as far as the bank of the Seine. The palace and 
 garden of Henri IV. have entirely disappeared. The for- 
 
no DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 mer was destroyed by the Comte d'Artois, afterwards 
 Charles X. In the older chateau Louis XIV. was born, 
 and in the second chateau Louis XIII. died, after a linger- 
 ing illness, May 14, 1643. 
 
 " He spoke of death with most Christian resignation ; he was 
 so well prepared that at the sight of St. Denis from the windows 
 of the new chateau of St. Germain, where he was, so as to be in 
 better air than in the old one, he pointed out the road to St. Denis, 
 by which his body was to be conveyed ; he indicated a place 
 where the road was bad, and advised that it be avoided, for fear 
 the carriage should stick in the mud. I heard say, even, that 
 during his illness he set to music the De proftmdis which was 
 sung in his room immediately after his death, as is the custom as 
 soon as the kings are dead." — Memoires de Mile de Montpensier. 
 
 Here, six years later, Anne of Austria, flying from 
 Paris with her two sons, before the rising of the Fronde, 
 took refuge with all the royal family except the Duchesse 
 de Longueville, bivouacking upon straw in the unfurnished 
 palace, whilst waiting for troops to come from the army in 
 Flanders. 
 
 " The king often wanted necessaries. The pages of the 
 chamber were dismissed because he could not support them. At 
 the same time the aunt of Louis XIV., the daughter of Henry the 
 Great, wife of the King of England, a fugitive in Paris, v/as re- 
 duced to extreme poverty ; and her daughter, since married to 
 the brother of Louis XIV., remained in bed, not being able to 
 have a fire, without the people of Paris, drunk with fury, pa)ang 
 any attention to the afflictions of so many royal personages." — 
 Voltaire, " Siecle de Louis XIV." 
 
 Louis XIV., who added the five pavilions at the angles 
 of the older and still existing palace, at one time thought 
 of rebuilding the whole on a much more magnificent scale ; 
 one fatal obstacle prevented him : from its lofty site he 
 could see St. Denis, his future burial-place ! 
 
 " Saint Germain, unique in combining the marvels of a wide 
 view, the immense level of a continuous forest, unique, too, by 
 
CHATEAU DE ST. GERMAIN 
 
 III 
 
 the beauty of its trees, soil, situation, the advantages of spring 
 water at that elevation, the admirable gardens, heights and ter- 
 races which, one above another, conducted one with ease over 
 the widest expanse that one could wish, the charms and con- 
 venience of the Seine, finally a town quite complete which its po- 
 sition itself created, all was abandoned for Versailles, the dullest 
 and most ungrateful of all spots." — St. Siinoti. 
 
 After the English Revolution of 1688, James II. found 
 at St. Germain the generous hospitality of Louis XIV. 
 
 ChAtEAU of ST. GERMAIN. 
 
 He lived here for thirteen years as the guest of the King 
 of France, wearing always a penitential chain round his 
 waist (like James IV. of Scotland) and daily praying God 
 to pardon the ingratitude of his daughters, Mary and 
 Anne. Here his youngest child Louisa — " la Consola- 
 trice " — was born, and here, as the choir in the Chapel 
 Royal were singing the anthem. "Lord, remember what is 
 come upon us, consider and behold our reproach " (Sep- 
 
112 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 tember 2, 1701), he sank into the Queen's arms in the 
 swoon from which he never recovered. 
 
 " loth Jan., 1689. — The king acted divinel)' towards their 
 English Majesties ; for is it not to be the image of the Almighty, 
 to sustain a king expelled, betrayed and abandoned? The noble 
 soul of the king was delighted to play this part. He met the 
 queen with all his household and a hundred six-horse coaches. 
 When he perceived the carriage of the Prince of Wales, he de- 
 scended and embraced him tenderly; then he ran to meet the 
 queen, who had left her carriage ; he saluted her, conversed some 
 time, placed her at his right in his carriage, presented to her 
 Monseigneur and Monsieur, who were also in the carriage, and 
 took her to St. Germain, where she was provided like the queen 
 with all sorts of requisites, among them being a very rich cash- 
 box with 6,000 livtes d'or. The next day there was the arrival of 
 the King of England at St. Germain, where the king waited for 
 him ; he was late in arriving ; the king went to the end of the 
 guard-room to meet him ; the King of England kissed him 
 heartily as if he would have embraced his knees ; the king 
 stopped him, and embraced him cordially three or four times. 
 They conversed in a low tone for a quarter of an hour ; the king 
 presented to him Monseigneur, Monsieur, the Princes of the 
 blood, and Cardinal de Bonzi ; he led him to the apartment of 
 the queen, who could scarce retain her tears. After a conversa- 
 tion of some minutes, his Majesty conducted them to the Prince 
 of Wales, where they conversed for some time, and left them 
 there, refusing to be escorted back, and saying to the king : ' Here 
 is your house ; when I shall come here, you will do me the hon- 
 ors, and I shall do them when you come to Versailles.' Next 
 day, which was )'esterday, Mme the Dauphiness went there, and 
 all the court. I do not know how they regulated the seats of the 
 princesses, for they had them arranged as at the court of Spain ; 
 and the queen-mother of England was treated as a daughter of 
 France. The king sent 10,000 livrcs dor to the King of England ; 
 the latter seemed aged and tired ; the queen was there ; her eyes, 
 that had been shedding tears, were beautiful and black ; her com- 
 plexion good, but her mouth rather large ; her teeth good, her 
 figure good, and she had a deal of wit ; all this rendered her 
 pleasing. Here is matter for you to subsist on in public conver- 
 sation. 
 
 " 17th January, 1689. The court of England is quite estab- 
 
CHATEAU DE ST. GERM AIM 
 
 113 
 
 lished at St. Germain ; they only wish for 50,000 francs a month, 
 and their court is on that footing. The queen pleases much, the 
 king converses pleasantly with her; she has a just, unaffected 
 disposition. The king desired Mme the Dauphiness to pay the 
 first visit ; she kept saying she zaas sick, and this queen went to 
 see her, three days ago, dressed to perfection, a robe of black 
 velvet, a handsome skirt, head well dressed ; a figure like the 
 Princess de Conti, much majesty ; the king went to receive her at 
 her carriage ; she went first to his apartments, where she had a 
 fauteuil above the king's ; she was there half an hour, then he 
 escorted her to the Dauphiness, who was up ; this caused some 
 surprise. The queen said to her, * Madame, I thought 3'ou were 
 in bed.' ' Madame,' replied the Dauphiness, ' I resolved to rise 
 to receive the honor your Majesty has paid me.' The king left 
 them, because the Dauphiness has no fauteuil in his presence. 
 The queen took a good place in a fauteuil, Madame on her left, 
 three oiher fauteui Is for the three little princes ; they talked away 
 for half an hour ; there were a good many duchesses, the court 
 very large ; at last, she departed ; the king was notified and led 
 her to her carriage. He returned and praised the queen highly ; 
 he said, ' This is as a queen should be both in mind and body, 
 holding her court with dignity.' He admired her courage in ad- 
 versity, and her passion for her husband, for she did, in truth, 
 love him. 
 
 "2nd February, 1CS9. The Queen of England has all the 
 look, if God pleased, of preferring to reign in the good king- 
 dom of England, where the court is large and noble, than to be at 
 St. Germain, although laden with the king's heroic goodness. As 
 for the King of England, he seems content ; and it is for that, that 
 he is here. 
 
 " 28th February, 1689. It is a fact that the King of England 
 departed this morning to go to Ireland, where he is impatiently 
 expected ; he will be better there than here. The king gave him 
 arms for ten thousand men ; when his English Majesty said fare- 
 well, he concluded by saying, with a laugh, that his own personal 
 arms were the only things forgotten ; the king gave him his ; our 
 heroes of romance could not have shown more gallantry. What 
 will not this brave and unfortunate king do with arms that 
 are always victorious ? He has then the casque and cuirass of 
 Renaud, of Amadis, and of all our paladins of fame ; I will not 
 say of Hector, for he was unfortunate. There is not a single 
 thing that the king did not offer him, generosity and magnanimity 
 
114 BAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 can go no farther. . . . The queen has gone into retirement at 
 Poissi with her son ; she will be near the king, and all news ; she 
 is overcome with grief . . . this princess excites great pity. 
 
 " 2nd March, 16S9. The king said to the King of England, at 
 parting : ' Monsieur, I am sorry to see you go ; still, I hope never 
 to see you again ; but if you do return, be assured that you will 
 find me just the same as you leave me.' Could one say anything 
 better? The king heaped on him everything, great and small; 
 two millions, ships, frigates, troops, officers. ... I come to small 
 things, toilet sets, camp beds, services of silver and plate, arms 
 for himself, which were the king's own, arms for the troops in 
 Ireland ; the arms that go with him are considerable ; lastly, gen- 
 erosity, magnificence, and magnanimity have been never so dis- 
 played as on this occasion. The king did not wish the queen to 
 go to Poissi ; she will see few people ; there will be tears, cries, 
 sobs, fainting-fits ; that is easy to understand. He is now where 
 he ought to be, he has a good cause, he protects our holy religion, 
 he must conquer or die, for he has courage." 
 
 After the king's death his widow, Mary Beatrice, con- 
 tinued for seventeen years to reside at St. Germain. Here 
 she witnessed the death of her darling daughter, Louisa, 
 April 18, 1 7 12; and here, in the thirtieth year of her 
 exile, the queen herself passed away in the presence of 
 thirty Jacobite exiles, of whom she was the best friend and 
 protectress. 
 
 " The Queen of England died May 7, after ten or twelve days' 
 illness. Her life, from her coming to France till the end of 1688, 
 was nothing but a series of misfortunes, heroically borne to the 
 end, in submission to God, contempt of the world, penitence, 
 prayer, and continual good works, and all the virtues that make 
 a saint. With much natural sensibility, she blended much wit 
 and natural pride, which she knew how to restrain and keep down 
 constantly ; she had the grandest air in the world, at once majestic 
 and imposing, and with all was gentle and modest. Her death 
 was as saintly as her life. Of the 600,000 livres which the king 
 gave her yearly, she saved all to support the poor English who 
 filled St. Germain. Her corpse was carried, two days afterwards, 
 to the Filles de St. Marie of Chaillot, where it was deposited, and 
 where she often went into retreat." — St. Simon. 
 
CHATEAU DE ST. GERMAIN ng 
 
 "8th May, 1718. Yesterday morning at seven o'clock, the 
 good, pious, virtuous Queen of England died at St. Germain. 
 She is, for sure, in heaven ; she did not keep a penny for herself, 
 she gave all to the poor, and maintained whole families. She 
 never in all her life spoke ill of any one, and when they wished to 
 tell her anything about this person or that person, she was wont 
 to say, ' If it is any ill about any one, I pray you, do not tell it to 
 me. I do not like stories that attack reputations.' She bore her 
 misfortunes with the greatest patience in the world, not from 
 want of spirit ; she was very intelligent, polished and win- 
 ning. . . . She always made the highest eulogies on the Princess 
 of Wales." — Correspojidance de Madame. 
 
 In accordance with the last wish of the queen, the 
 Regent d'Orleans allowed her ladies and many other noble 
 British emigrants to continue in the palace^ where they and 
 their descendants remained till the Revolution drove them 
 from their shelter. Till then, the room in which Mary 
 Beatrice died was kept as it was in her life-time — her 
 toilette table, with its plate, the gift of Louis XIV., set 
 out, with four wax candles ready to light, as if the queen's 
 return was constantly expected. 
 
 Under the Reign of Terror the name of St. Germain 
 was changed to La Montagne du Bel-Air, and it was in- 
 tended to turn the chateau into a prison, and to establish 
 a guillotine en permanence in its courtyard, when the fall of 
 Robespierre intervened. 
 
 In the interior of the chateau the decorations and 
 chimney-pieces are of brick. The rooms are now occupied 
 by a Musee des Antiquites Natiofiaks, chiefly of very early 
 date, of great interest to archaeologists, and intended as a 
 prelude to the collections of the Hotel de Cluny. The 
 museum is only open (free) on Sundays, Tuesdays and 
 Thursdays, from 11.30 to 5 in summer, and 11 to 4 in 
 winter. 
 
 In one of the rooms on the ground floor the primitive 
 
Ii6 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 boats (pirogues) hewn out of the trunk of a tree, and found 
 in the Seine and Saone, are especially remarkable. Other 
 halls are devoted to casts from the Roman buildings in 
 France (at Orange, St. Remy, &c.) ; relics of the Roman 
 legions in Gaul ; funeral urns and tombs in brick and 
 lead ; bronzes and pottery. On the upper floor are flint 
 weapons, fossils found in the caverns of France, and 
 models of cromlechs, menhirs, &c. 
 
 Opposite the palace is the parish Church, containing 
 (ist chapel, right) the monument erected by Queen Vic- 
 toria to James 11. of England, " magnus prosperis, ad- 
 versis major," and inscribed " Regio cineri pietas regia." 
 
 " Some Irish Jesuits pretended that miracles were wrought at 
 his tomb. There was even a talk of his being canonized at 
 Rome after his death, the Rome that had abandoned him during 
 his life. 
 
 "Few princes were more unfortunate than he ; and history- 
 gives no example of a house so long unfortunate. The first of 
 the Scotch kings, his ancestors, who bore the name of James, 
 after being prisoner in England for eighteen years, was, with his 
 wife, murdered by his subjects; James II., his son, was killed 
 at twenty-nine, in combat with the English ; James III., impris- 
 oned by his people, was killed by the insurgents, in battle ; 
 James IV. perished in a battle he lost ; Marie Stuart, his grand- 
 daughter, driven from her throne, a fugitive in England, after 
 languishing eighteen years in prison, was condemned to death 
 by English judges, and beheaded ; Charles I., Mary's grandson, 
 King of Scotland and England, was sold by the Scotch, con- 
 demned to death by the English, and died on the scaffold in 
 public ; James, his son, seventh of the name, and second of 
 England, of whom we are speaking, vv^as driven from the three 
 kingdoms, and, as a climax of misfortune, the legitimacy of his 
 son was disputed. This son attempted to mount the throne of 
 his fathers, onl}' to cause his friends to die by the executioner's 
 hands ; and we have seen the prince, Charles Edward, in vain 
 uniting the virtues of his fathers and the courage of John So- 
 bieski, his maternal ancestor, perform exploits and meet mis- 
 fortunes most incredible. If anything justifies those who believe 
 
TERRA Ck OF ST. GERMAIN uy 
 
 in a fatality which nothing can escape, it is this unbroken series 
 of misfortunes that persecutes the house of Stuart for over three 
 hundred years." — Voltaire, " Siecle dc Louis XIV." 
 
 Soon after the death of James II. Mme de Maintenon 
 wrote to Mme de Perou : — 
 
 " I have not yet been able to get any relics of the King of 
 England ; the queen was in her bed, out of condition to look for 
 any. When the body of this sainted king was opened, the guards 
 dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, and touched his body 
 with their rosaries. I reverence God's dispensation ; he per- 
 mitted this prince to be contemned in life in order to make him 
 feel humiliation, and he glorifies him when he can no longer 
 misuse glory." 
 
 Passing in front of the palace, by the gardens planned 
 by Lenotre, we reach the Terrace, constructed by Lenotre 
 in 1676, and one of the finest promenades in Europe. 
 The view is most beautiful over the windings of the Seine 
 and the rich green plain : on the right are the heights of 
 Marly and Louveciennes ; on the left the hills of Mont- 
 morency, and Mont Valerien and Montmartre in the dis- 
 tance ; above Ve'sinet, the cathedral of St. Denis is visible 
 — " ce doigt silencieux leve vers le ciel." James II. de- 
 clared that the view from the terrace of St. Germain re- 
 minded him of that from Richmond, and he used to walk 
 here daily, leaning, upon the arm of Mary Beatrice. The 
 terrace extends from the Pavilion Henri IV. — which was 
 the chapel of Henri IV. 's palace, and in which Louis XIV. 
 was baptized — to the Grille Royale, leading to the forest. 
 
 A number of drives and straight alleys pierce the forest 
 of St. Germain, which is sandy, and, for the most part, 
 beautiless. The Chateau du Val to the right of the Grille 
 Royale, built at enormous cost by Mansart for Louis XIV., 
 on the site of a pavilion of Henri IV., is now the property 
 of M. Fould. The Pavilion de la Micette was built by 
 
li§ DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Louis XIV. and Louis XV L on the ruins of a chateau of 
 Francois L Les Loges are a succursale to the college for 
 the daughters of members of the Legion of Honor at St. 
 Denis. Near this was a hermitage to which one of Henri 
 IV. 's courtiers retired under Louis XIII., with a chapel 
 dedicated to St. Fiacre. The pilgrimage to this chapel 
 has given rise to the annual Fete des Loges, celebrated on 
 the first Sunday after the day of St. Fiacre (August 30) — 
 the most popular and crowded of all fetes in the neighbor- 
 hood of Paris. Le Chene des Loges is one of the finest oaks 
 in France. 
 
 In the neighborhood of St. Germain are (3 k. ) Marcil 
 Marly, which has pleasant views, and (4/^.) Chambourcy, 
 supposed to possess the relics of St. Clotilde, wife of Clo- 
 vis, whose fete, July 3, attracts great crowds. It is a pleas- 
 ant drive of 13 z^. from St. Germain to Versailles. Public 
 carriages leave at 10.30, 2.30, and 7.30, passing through 
 Rocquencourt, where M. Fould has a chateau. 
 
IV. 
 
 RUEIL, MALM A I SOX, AND MARLY. 
 
 IT is only a pleasant afternoon's drive through the Bois de 
 Boulogne to Rueil and Malmaison. If Marly be visited on 
 the same day, it Avill be better to take a ticket from the Gave St. 
 Lazare to Rueil Ville, or tickets can be taken direct to Marly. 
 
 13 /^. Riieil. Below the station carriages are waiting on 
 a tramway to take passengers to — 
 
 \\k. Rueil Ville. This large village was of no impor- 
 tance till Cardinal de Richelieu built here a chateau like a 
 fortress, whither he often retired, and where he condemned 
 the Mare'chal de Marillac, convicted of public peculation, 
 to be executed in the Place de Greve. Pere Joseph died 
 here, December 18, 1638, when Richelieu said, "Je perds 
 ma consolation et mon secours, mon confident et mon 
 ami." The cardinal bequeathed his chateau de Rueil to 
 his niece, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, who made it so 
 attractive that Louis XIV. coveted it and commanded 
 Colbert to ask her to sell it to him. She proudly replied : — 
 
 "I can never testify my obedience on an occasion which 
 marks more my infinite respect for the wishes of his Majesty 
 than in the matter in question, having never thought of selling 
 Rueil, nor having ever thought it would be sold. I confess that it 
 is dear to me for many considerations ; the excessive expenses I 
 have incurred there evidence the attachment and affection I have 
 always had for it ; but the sacrifice that I shall make will be the 
 
120 J^AVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 greater ; I hope that, presented by your hands, you will cause its 
 merit to be felt. 
 
 "The king is master ; and he who gave me Rueil taught so 
 well to all France the obedience she owes to him, that his Majesty 
 ought not to doubt of mine." 
 
 Louis XIV., however, found Rueil too small, and 
 turned to the building of Versailles, only sending Lenotre 
 to study the beautiful gardens of Richelieu. The grounds 
 of Rueil were cut up by the heirs of the Duchesse 
 d'Aiguillon, and the chateau was destroyed in the Rev- 
 olution. 
 
 On descending from the tramway it is only two minutes' 
 walk (right, then left) through the court of the Hotel de 
 Ville to the Church of Rueil ^ rebuilt by Napoleon III. To 
 the right of the altar is the tomb of Josephine (by Gilet 
 and Dubuc), bearing the figure of the empress (by Car- 
 tellier), dressed as in the coronation picture of David, 
 kneeling at a prie-dieu, and inscribed: "A Jose'phine, 
 Eugene et Hortense, 1825." Close by is the simple 
 sarcophagus tomb of Count Tascher de la Pagerie, gov- 
 ernor of Martinique, uncle of the Empress. On the left of 
 the altar is the tomb erected by Napoleon III. to his 
 mother, with the figure of Queen Hortense (by Bartolini) 
 kneeling, and crowned by an angel. ^ She died October 5, 
 1837, at Arenenberg on the lake of Constance, desiring 
 with her last breath to be buried by her mother at Rueil. 
 The tomb is inscribed : " A la Reine Hortense, le Prince 
 Louis Bonaparte." 
 
 The street opposite the church door leads from Rueil 
 to Malmaison, passing, to the left, the property called 
 Boispreau^ which, under the first empire, belonged to an 
 old maiden lady, who refused to sell it to Josephine, in 
 
 '^ The vault beneath may be seen on application at 15 Place de I'Eglise. 
 
LA MALMAISON 12 1 
 
 spite of her entreaties. On September 23, 1809, the 
 emperor wrote to the empress at Mahnaison : — 
 
 " I have received your letter of the i6th ; I see you are well. 
 The old viaid' s house is worth only 120,000 francs. They will 
 never get more for it. Still, I leave you mistress to do as you 
 like, since it amuses you ; but, once bought, do not pull it down 
 to make some rocks. Adieu, man amie. — Napoleon." 
 
 Taking the convenient tram again, which runs direct 
 along the road, we may descend at — 
 
 \%k. La Mahnaison. — The station is opposite a short 
 avenue, at the end of which, on the right, is the principal 
 entrance to Malmaison. A Httle higher up the road (right) 
 is a gate leading to the park and gardens, freely open to 
 the public, and being sold (1887) in lots by the State. 
 There is melancholy charm in the old house of many recol- 
 lections — grim, empty, and desolate ; approached on this 
 side by a bridge over the dry moat. A short distance off 
 (rather to the left, as you look from the house) is a very 
 pretty little temple— the Temple of Love — with a front of 
 columns of red Givet marble brought from the chateau of 
 Richelieu, and a clear stream bursting from the rocks 
 beneath it. 
 
 Malmaison is supposed to derive its name from having 
 been inhabited in the XI. c. by the Norman brigand Odon, 
 and afterwards by evil spirits, exorcised by the monks of 
 St. Denis. Josephine bought the villa with its gardens, 
 which had been much praised by Delille, from M. Lecou- 
 teulx de Canteleu for 160,000 francs. The Duchesse 
 d'Abrantes describes the life here under the Consulate — 
 
 "The life led at Malmaison resembled the life led in all 
 country houses where much company is assembled. In the morn- 
 ing we rise when we like, and, till eleven, the hour fixed for 
 breakfast, one is one's own mistress. At eleven we meet in a 
 little, very low saloon, looking on the court, on the first floor, and 
 
t22 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 in the right wing ; no men are present, just as at breakfast in 
 Paris, unless Joseph or perhaps Louis or Fesch, or some of the 
 family. The exceptions were so rare that I do not recall ever 
 having seen a man at the breakfasts at Malmaison. After break- 
 fast, conversation, or reading the papers, some one was always 
 coming from Paris for an audience, for Mme Bonaparte already 
 granted audience. 
 
 "The first consul was never seen before dinner. He came 
 down at five or six in the morning into his private cabinet ; he 
 worked with Bourrienne, or the ministers, generals, or councillors 
 of state ; and this continued till the dinner hour, which always 
 took place at six o'clock. It was rare that somebody was not 
 invited. 
 
 "On Wednesdays he gave a dinner, almost of ceremony, at 
 Malmaison. The second consul was present, the councillors of 
 state, the ministers, some generals particularly esteemed, and 
 women of unsoiled reputation. When it was fine, the first consul 
 would order dinner to be served in the park. The table was 
 placed on the left of the lawn before the chateau, a little in ad- 
 vance of the right avenue. A short time was spent at table ; the 
 first consul thought the dinner long if it lasted a half-hour. 
 
 "When he was in good humor, the weather fine, and he had 
 at his disposition some minutes, snatched from the constant labor 
 which was then killing him, he played with us at ' prisoner's bars.' 
 He cheated as he did at reversis ; he knocked us down, he came 
 on us without crying, 'bar,' cheating in a way to provoke merry 
 laughter. On these occasions, Napoleon took his coat off, and 
 ran like a hare, or rather like the gazelle he made eat all the snuflf 
 in his box, telling it to run at us, and the accursed beast tore our 
 gowns and pretty often our legs." — Me'moires. 
 
 Josephine retired to Malmaison at the time of her 
 
 divorce, and seldom left it afterwards. 
 
 "Napoleon, moved and disturbed, weeping like them, told 
 Josephine's children that their mother was neither repudiated nor 
 disgraced, but sacrificed to a State necessity, and recompensed for 
 her noble sacrifice by the greatness of her children, and the tender 
 friendship of him who had been her husband. . . . The Senatus- 
 consultum continued to Josephine the rank of empress, and as- 
 signed her a revenue of two millions, with a free gift of the cha- 
 teaux of Navarre and Malmaison, and numerous precious objects." 
 — Thiers ^ ' ' V Empire. " 
 
LA MAL'MAISON- 
 
 123 
 
 In 1 8 14, the unhappy Josephine, whose heart was al- 
 ways with Napoleon^ was forced to receive a visit from the 
 allied sovereigns at Malmaison, and died of a chill which 
 she caught in doing the honors of her grounds to the Em- 
 peror Alexander on May 26, by a water excursion on the 
 pool of Cucufa. After his return from Elba, Napoleon re- 
 visited the place. 
 
 " He felt the need of revisiting the modest dwelling where 
 he had passed the fairest years of his life, by the side of a wife 
 
 MALMAISON. 
 
 who had, assuredly, faults, but was a true friend ; one of those 
 souls that are never met twice, and are forever regretted when 
 lost. He obliged Queen Hortense, who had not yet dared to 
 enter a spot so full of poignant memories, to accompany him. 
 In spite of his crushing preoccupations, he consecrated several 
 hours to traversing the little chateau and the gardens, where Jose- 
 phine cultivated the flowers she collected from all quarters of the 
 globe. In seeing once more these dear and saddening objects, 
 he fell into melancholy reveries. 
 
 " Napoleon, while walking in this spot, at once so attractive 
 and so distressing, said to Queen Hortense, ' Poor Josephine ! 
 by every turn in the walks, I fancy I see her. Her death, the 
 
Ii4 ^^ ^'^ NEAR PARIS 
 
 news of which surprised me at Elba, was one of the keenest sor- 
 rows of that fatal year 1814. She had weaknesses be3'ond doubt, 
 but she at least would never have abandoned me!'" — Thiers, 
 " L' E?npire.'' 
 
 After the loss of the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon 
 once more retired to Malmaison, then the property of the 
 children of Josephine, Eugene and Hortense. There he 
 passed June 25, 1815, a day of terrible agitation. 
 
 " At times he demonstrated the necessity, for France and 
 himself, of withdrawing his abdication and taking up the sword 
 again ; and then he was heard making plans of retirement, and 
 arranging for a life of profound solitude and repose." — A de 
 Vatdabelle. 
 
 That evening at five o'clock he put on a " costume de 
 ville — un habit marron," tenderly embraced Queen Hor- 
 tense and the other persons present, gave a long lingering 
 look at the house and gardens connected with his happiest 
 hours, and left them forever. 
 
 After the second Restoration Prince Eugene sold Mal- 
 maison, removing its gallery of pictures to Munich. There 
 is now nothing remarkable in the desolate rooms, though 
 the " Salle des Marechaux," the bedroom of Josephine, 
 and the grand salon (with a chimney-piece given by the 
 Pope), are pointed out. In later years the house was for 
 some time inhabited by Queen Christina of Spain. It will 
 be a source of European regret if at least the building con- 
 nected with so many historic souvenirs, and the immediate 
 grounds, be not preserved. 
 
 Returning to the tram, we reach — 
 
 16 k. La yonchere^ where Louis Bonaparte had a villa. 
 
 \lk. Bougival {^Restaurant Fignon ; de Madrid. Hotel 
 de r Union). A rapidly increasing village, which, in its 
 quieter days, was much frequented by artists of the Corot 
 school, who appreciated the peaceful scenery of the Seine. 
 
MA RL Y-LA -MA CHINE 125 
 
 The inventor of the Machine de Marly died here in great 
 destitution and is buried in the church witii the inscription : 
 "^ Cy gissent honorables personnes, -Rennequin Sualem, 
 seul inventeur de la machine de Marly, de'cede le 29 juillet, 
 1708, age de 64 ans, et dame Marie Nouelle, son epouse, 
 decedee le 4 mai, 17 14, agee de 84 ans." The church has 
 a stone spire of the XII. c. 
 
 On the Route de Versailles is a monument to three 
 natives of Bougival, shot for cutting the telegraph lines of 
 Prussian investiture. It is inscribed with the last words of 
 one of them : " Je suis Frangais. Je dois tout entreprendre 
 contre vous. Si vous me rendez k la liberte, je recommen- 
 cerai." 
 
 The park of the neighboring Chateau de Buzenval was 
 twice the scene of a bloody conflict between the French 
 and Prussians. The painter, Henri Regnault, fell there, 
 January 19, 1870. The chateau is a quaint low building, 
 with a tower at either end. 
 
 i^k. is the village of La Celle St. Cloud. Its chateau, 
 the central part of which dates from 16 16 (when Joachim 
 Saudras added it to a hospice belonging to the abbey of 
 St. Germain des Pres), was bought in 1686 by Bachelier, 
 first valet de chambre of Louis XIV., with money given him 
 by the Due de la Rochefoucauld, on condition of his having 
 it to inhabit whenever he pleased. The duke received 
 Louis XIV. and Mme de Maintenon there in 1695. ^^ 
 1748 Mme de Pompadour bought the chateau, but sold it 
 two years after. The Chataiguerie is reached by the ave- 
 nue which opens on the left at the entrance of the village. 
 
 \Zk. Marly-la-Machhie. — The famous Machine de Ma?-^y 
 which lifted the waters of the Seine 643 metres, to the height 
 of the Aqueduct de Marly, by which they were carried to 
 Versailles, passed for a long time as a chef-d'oeuvre of mech- 
 
126 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 anism. It was invented by Rennequin Sualem, carpenter 
 of Liege, but was executed under tiie inspection of the 
 Chevalier Deville, who appropriated both the honor and the 
 reward. Since 1826 the original machine has been re- 
 placed by another of 64-horse power, worked by steam. 
 It is fifteen minutes' walk from the machine to the first 
 arches of the Aqueduct. 
 
 i()k. Fort-Marly. — Here carriages are changed for the 
 ascent of the hill. The tram passes under the railway 
 viaduct to — 
 
 21^/^. Marly-le-Roi., called Marlacum in the charters of 
 King Thierry, 678. The tram stops close to the Abreuvoir, 
 a large artificial tank, surrounded by masonry for receiving 
 the surplus water from the fountains in the palace gardens, 
 of which it is now the only remnant. Ascending the avenue 
 on the right, we shall find a road at the top which will lead 
 us, to the left, through delightful woods to the site of the 
 palace. Nothing remains but the walls supporting the 
 wooded terrace. It is difiicult to realize the place as it 
 was, for the quincunces of limes which stood between the 
 pavilions on either side the steep avenue leading to the royal 
 residence, formerly clipped and kept close, are now huge 
 trees, marking still the design of the grounds, but obscuring 
 the views, and, by their great growth, making the main 
 avenue very narrow. Here, seated under the trees, visitors 
 may like to read the story of the place. 
 
 "The king, tired of splendor and bustle, persuaded himself 
 that he should like something little and solitary. He searched 
 all around Versailles for some place to satisfy this new taste. 
 He examined several neighborhoods, he traversed the hills near 
 St. Germain, and the vast plain which is at the bottom, where 
 the Seine winds and bathes the feet of so many towns and so 
 many treasures in quitting Paris. He was pressed to fix himself 
 at Lucienne, where Cavoye afterwards had a house, the view 
 
MA RL 1 ^-LE-R 01 127 
 
 from which is enchanting ; but he replied that that fine situation 
 would ruin him, and that, as he wished to go to no expense, so 
 also he wished a situation which would not urge him to any. 
 He found, behind Lucienne, a deep, narrow valley, completely 
 shut in, inaccessible from its swamps and with no view, hills on 
 all sides, and a wretched village, called Marly, on one of them. 
 This closeness of the valley, without a view or the means of hav- 
 ing any, was all its merit. He fancied he was choosing a minister, 
 a favorite, a general. It was a great work to drain this sewer of 
 all the neighborhood, which threw its garbage there, and to bring 
 soil thither. 
 
 " At first, it was only for sleeping in, three nights, from 
 Wednesday to Saturday, two or three times in the year, with a 
 dozen or so of courtiers to fill the most indispensable posts. 
 
 " By degrees the hermitage was augmented, the hills cut 
 down to give room for building, and the one at the end pared 
 away to give at least a kind of imperfect view. In fine, with 
 buildings, gardens, waterworks, aqueducts, with all that is so 
 curious and so well known under the name of Marly ; with a 
 park, an ornamental and enclosed forest, with statues and pre- 
 cious furniture, Marly became what we see. With whole forests, 
 well grown and branching, which were brought in the form of 
 huge trees, from Compiegne and further incessantly, three- 
 fourths of which died and were immediately replaced ; with vast 
 spaces of dense woods and obscure alleys, suddenly changing 
 into immense pieces of water with gondolas on their bosom, then 
 changed again into forests, impervious to light as soon as they 
 were planted (I speak of what I saw in six weeks) ; with basins, 
 changed a hundred times, and cascades similarly, with figures in 
 succession all different ; with carp stews, adorned with the most 
 exquisite gilding and painting, barely finished, changed and re- 
 fashioned by the same masters an infinit)'' of times ; with, in addi- 
 tion, that prodigious machine, just alluded to, with its immense 
 aqueducts, monstrous conduits and reservoirs, devoted solely 
 to Marl}', without supplying water to Versailles — it may be almost 
 said that Versailles, as it stands, did not cost as much as Marl3^ 
 " If there are added the expenses of the ceaseless journeys, 
 which became, at last, at least equal to a residence at Versailles, 
 and often as thronged, when, quite at the end of his life, this be- 
 came the most customary residence, we will not say too much, 
 if we estimate Marl}- by milliards. Such was the fortune of a 
 den of snakes and carrion crows, of toads and frogs, chosen for 
 
128 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 no other reason than to spend money there. Such was the bad 
 taste of the king in everything, and his superb delight in forcing 
 nature, which neither the most oppressive war nor devotion 
 could diminish." — St. Simon, ^'M^moires." 
 
 St. Simon exaggerates the extravagance of Louis XVI. 
 at Marly, who spent there four and a half million francs 
 between 1679 ^^^'^ 1690, and probably as much or more 
 between 1690 and 17 15, perhaps in all ten or twelve mil- 
 lions, which would represent fifty million francs at the 
 present time. Nevertheless the expense of the amuse??te?ifs 
 of Louis XIV. greatly exceeded the whole revenue of 
 Henri IV. and those of the early years of Louis XIII. 
 
 " Louis chose the valley of Marly to build a hermitage there. 
 Marly was to be for him a shelter where he could be freed from 
 public life by a free private life. But Louis could no longer be 
 simple ; the pomp of his past followed him everywhere in spite 
 of him, and the hermitage became a palace, in truth, a palace 
 silent and concealed. Mansart built under the shades of Marly 
 a splendid pavilion for the king, with twelve lesser pavilions for 
 the courtiers admitted to the favor of following Louis into this 
 privileged retreat ; again there was the symbolic m3^thology of 
 Versailles, the royal sun reappeared surrounded by the twelve 
 signs of the Zodiac. Abysses of verdure, kept fresh by really 
 unrivalled cascades, and fountains without number enveloped 
 this fairy bower. A veiled sumptuousness reigned there, a sort 
 of chiaro-osciDv in harmony with the secret, which, after the death 
 of the queen (Jul}^ 30, 1683), the court soon suspected between 
 the king and Mme de Maintenon. Marly and Maintenon are 
 two names inseparable in our memory ; these two names recall to 
 us, as it were, a half-light where one speaks in half-tones ; some- 
 thing discreet, reposeful, cautious, a long twilight after the flam- 
 ing splendor of the first years of the great reign." — H. Martin, 
 ^' Hist, de France.^' 
 
 From the central pavilion in which the flattery of Man- 
 sart placed him as the sun, Louis XIV. emerged every 
 morning to visit the occupiers of the twelve smaller pavil- 
 ions (Les Pavilions des Seigneurs), the constellations, his 
 
PALACE OF MARLY I2q 
 
 courtiers, who came out to meet him and swelled his train. 
 These pavilions, arranged on each side of the gardens, 
 stood in double avenues of clipped lime-trees looking upon 
 the garden and its fountains, and leading up to the palace. 
 The device of the sun was carried out in the palace itself, 
 where all the smaller apartments circled round the grand 
 salon, the king and queen having apartments to the back, 
 the dauphin and dauphine to the front, each apartment 
 consisting of an anteroom, bedroom, and sitting-room, 
 and each set being connected with one of the four square 
 saloons, which opened upon the great octagonal hall, of 
 which four faces were occupied by chimney-pieces and 
 four by the doors of the smaller saloons. The central hall 
 occupied the whole height of the edifice, and was lighted 
 from the upper story. 
 
 The great ambition of every courtier was " etre des 
 Marlys," and all curried favor with the king by asking to 
 accompany him on his weekly '• voyages de Marly."' 
 
 "This was called presenting one's self for Marl}*. The men 
 asked on the morning of the day, saying to the king merely, 
 * Sire, Marly ! ' In his last years the king grew tired of this. A 
 page in blue in the gallery inscribed the names of those who asked, 
 and put down their names. The ladies always continued to pre- 
 sent themselves. 
 
 "At Marly, if the king was in residence, all who went there 
 had full liberty to follow him to the gardens, to join him or to 
 leave him ; in one word, do just as they liked. 
 
 "All the ladies who went had the honor of eating, evening 
 and morning, at the same hour in the same little saloon that 
 separated the apartments of the king from those of Mme de 
 Maintenon. The king kept a table where all the sons of France 
 and the princesses of the blood were placed, except the Duke de 
 Berr)% the Duke of Orleans and the Princess de Conti, who were 
 always placed at the table of Monseigneur , even when he was 
 hunting. There was a third smaller table where sometimes one, 
 sometimes others were placed, and all three were round, with 
 
I^o ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 liberty for all to sit at whichever seemed good to them. The 
 princesses of the blood were placed, right and left, according to 
 rank ; the duchesses and other princesses as they happened, but 
 next to the princesses of the blood without any mingling of any 
 others ; then the non-titled ladies completed the round of the 
 table, and Mme de Maintenon among them about the middle ; 
 
 but for a long time she had not eaten there At the end of 
 
 dinner the king went to the rooms of Mme de Maintenon, and 
 sat in ?i f ante nil near her in a niche formed by a sofa closed in on 
 three sides, the princesses of the blood on stools near them, and, 
 at a distance, some privileged ladies. There were several tables 
 of tea and coffee, and any who liked took some. The king re- 
 mained a longer or shorter time, according as the conversation of 
 the princesses amused him, or business demanded ; then he 
 passed before all these ladies, and went to his own rooms, and 
 all left except some friends of Mme de Maintenon. After dinner 
 no one entered where the king and Mme de Maintenon were ex- 
 cept the Duchess de Bourgogne, and the minister who came on 
 business. The door was closed, and the ladies in the other room 
 only saw the king passing in to supper, and followed him ; after 
 supper, in his rooms, the princesses, just as at. Versailles." — St. 
 Simon, 1707. 
 
 The Court used to arrive at Marly on a Wednesday 
 and leave it on a Saturday ; this was an invariable rule. 
 The king always passed his Sundays at Versailles, which 
 was his parish. 
 
 "Louis XIV. had established for Marly a kind of etiquette 
 different from that of Versailles, but still more wearisome. Cards 
 and supper took place every day, and demanded much dressing ; 
 Sundays and fete days the waters played, and the people were 
 admitted into the garden, and there was always as many people 
 as at the fetes of St. Cloud. 
 
 "The ages have their colors, and assuredly Marly still more 
 than Versailles carried one back to that of Louis XIV. ; all 
 seemed to be constructed by the magic power of a fairy wand, 
 
 " The palace and the gardens of this house of pleasure, could 
 also be compared to the theatrical setting of the fifth act of an 
 opera. There no longer exists the slightest trace of so much 
 magnificence ; the revolutionary demolishers tore from the bosom 
 
LIFE AT MARLY 131 
 
 of the earth even the cast-iron pipes that brought the waters. 
 Perhaps a brief description of this palace and the usages estab- 
 lished there by Louis XIV. may be of interest. 
 
 " The garden of Marly, long and very broad, ascended, by an 
 imperceptible slope, to the pavilion of the sun, inhabited only by 
 the king and his family. The pavilions of the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac bordered the two sides of the parterre, and were united by 
 charming arbors where the sun's ra3'S could not penetrate. The 
 pavilions nearest that of the sun were reserved for princes of the" 
 blood, or persons invited to stay at Marh' ; all the pavilions were 
 named after the fresco paintings which covered the walls, and 
 had been executed by the most celebrated artists of the age of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 "On the line of the pavilion above were, on the left, the 
 Chapel ; on the right, a pavilion, styled La Perspective, which 
 masked a large space in which were lodgings destined to persons 
 attached to the service of the court, the kitchens and immense 
 halls, where more than thirty tables were splendidly served. 
 
 " During half of Louis XV. 's reign, the ladies still wore the 
 Marly court dress, so styled by Louis XIV., which differed from 
 that adopted at Versailles ; the French robe, with plaits at the 
 back and large paniers, took the place of this dress, and was kept 
 till the end of the reign of Louis XVI. 
 
 "The diamonds, the feathers, the rouge, the dress em- 
 broidered or covered with gold thread, took away the slightest 
 appearance of a sojourn in the country ; but the people loved to 
 see the pomp of its sovereigns and of a brilliant court pass be- 
 neath its groves. 
 
 "After dinner, and before the time for play, the queen and 
 princesses, with their ladies, wheeled, by men in the royal livery, 
 in carrioles, covered with gold-embroidered canopies, traversed 
 the thickets of Marh', where the trees, planted by Louis XIV., 
 were of prodigious height ; in many places the height of these 
 trees was surpassed by the fountains of the most limpid water ; 
 while in others, cascades of white marble, whose waters, smitten 
 by some beams of the sun, seemed sheets of silver gauze, con- 
 trasted with the obscurity of the thickets. 
 
 " In the evening, to be admitted to theyVw de la reitie, it was 
 sufficient for any well-dressed man to be named and presented 
 by an officer of the court to the usher of the play-room. The 
 saloon, very large and octagonal in shape, rose up to the roof in 
 the Italian style, and was terminated by a cupola ornamented by 
 
132 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 balconies, where the ladies not presented could easily gain ad- 
 mittance to enjoy the sight of this brilliant gathering. 
 
 "The rich men and heavy players of Paris never missed one 
 of the evenings at Marly, and the sums lost and won were always 
 considerable. 
 
 "Louis XIV. hated high play, and often displayed temper 
 when heavy losses were mentioned. The men had not yet intro- 
 duced the fashion of Avearing black while not in mourning, and 
 the king gave some of his hardest raps to the knights of St. Louis 
 thus dressed, who came to risk two or three loiiis in the hope 
 that fortune would favor the pretty duchesses who were glad to 
 place them on their cards. 
 
 "Strange contrasts are seen in the midst of the grandeur of 
 courts ; to play such great stakes at the queen's faro-table, there 
 was required a banker provided with large sums of money, and 
 this necessity gave a seat at the table, where etiquette admitted 
 only persons of the highest title, not only to M. de Chalabre, who 
 was the banker, but also to a simple retired captain of infantry, 
 who was his second. A trivial expression was heard very often 
 uttered, expressive of the manner in which court was paid to the 
 king. The men, who had been presented but not invited to reside 
 at Marly, went there just as to Versailles, and then returned to 
 Paris, and thus the fashion came up of saying that one had only 
 been to Marly en polisson ; and nothing appeared to me more 
 singular than to hear a charming marquis reply to one of his 
 friends who asked him if he had been in the voyage de Marly : 
 ' Non, je n'y suis qu'en polisson.' This simply meant, ' I was 
 there like all those whose nobility does not date from 1400.' 
 What great talents, what men of high merit, who soon, unhappily, 
 began to attack the ancient monarchy, were found in the class 
 designated by the word polisson ! 
 
 " These ' voyages de Marly ' were very dear for the king. After 
 the tables of honor, those of the chaplains, the equerries, the 
 stewards, &:c., were all so magnificently served, that strangers 
 were invited to them, and almost every one who came from Paris 
 was supported at the expense of the court." — '' Me'nioires." 
 
 The leading figure at Marly was Mme de Maintenon, 
 who occupied the apartments intended for Queen Marie 
 Therese, but who led the simplest of lives, bored almost 
 to extinction. She used to compare the carp languishing 
 
MADAME DE MAINTENON • 133 
 
 in the tanks of Marly to herself — "" Comme moi, ils regret- 
 tent leur bourbe." 
 
 " Success, entire confidence, rare devotion, omnipotence, 
 public and universal adoration, ministers, generals, the highest of 
 the roj'al family, all, in a word, prostrate at her feet ; everything 
 well and good by her, and faulty without her. ]Men, business, 
 things, appointments, justice, mercy, religion, all without excep- 
 tion, in her hands ; even the king and the fate of his victims. Who 
 was this incredible fairy? how did she rule without a break, ob- 
 stacle, or the slightest cloud for more than thirty years — aye, for 
 thirty-two? This is the strange phenomenon which has to be 
 retraced, and which was one to all Europe." — St. Si/noii, " JA'- 
 
 " It was principally on points of morals and in questions of re- 
 ligion that the influence of Mme de Maintenon was powerful and 
 almost irresistible. In this respect she believed she had a mission 
 to accomplish ; she regarded herself, in good faith, as chosen by 
 Providence to bring Louis XIV. back to continence and piety, 
 to guide him in the path of salvation, to sanctify a reign which 
 hitherto had been only glorious, to fortify and extend the empire 
 of religion and the authority of the Church. It was this which 
 was repeated to her incessantly by men clothed with a sacred 
 character, whose virtues she admired, who inspired her with 
 boundless confidence, and whom she listened to with submissive 
 docility. Fenelon wrote to her one day, 'The friendship which 
 you have for the king ought to be purified by sorrow ; it is a 
 slight thing to have no interest ; every consolation must be re- 
 nounced, and the most humiliating things endured. You will 
 never become too small beneath your cross, and you will never 
 have so much liberty, authority, or power in 3'our words as when 
 you shall be humbled and made lowly by renouncing all your 
 sensibility.' " — Hcqnct, " Hist, de Mme de Maintenon.'' 
 
 At first Mme de Maintenon dined, in the midst of the 
 other ladies, in the square salon which separated her apart- 
 ment from that of the king; but soon she had a special 
 table, to which a very few other ladies, her intimates, came 
 by invitation. 
 
 " Queen in private, as displayed by her tone, her seat and 
 place in presence of the king, Monseigneur, Monsieur, the court 
 
134 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 of England, and of all present, she was a very simple private 
 gentlewoman externally, always taking the lowest place. I have 
 often seen her at the king's dinners at Marly, eating with him and 
 the ladies, and at Fontainebleau, in full dress, with the Queen of 
 England, as I have remarked elsewhere, absolutely yielding her 
 place and retiring always for titled ladies, even for distinguished 
 ladies of quality, never being forced by those of title, but by those 
 of ordinary quality, with an air of careful civility, and ever}'-- 
 where polished, affable, speaking like a person who makes no 
 claims or demonstrations, but who was resolved only to consider 
 what was about her. 
 
 "Always dressed well, nobly, neatly, tastefully, but very 
 modestly, and in a style older than her age required. After she 
 ceased to appear in public, she wore caps and a black scarf when 
 she happened to be seen. 
 
 " She never visited tlic king but when he was sick, or in the 
 mornings when he had taken medicine ; and so, too, with the 
 Duchess de Bourgogne ; never otherwise for any duty. 
 
 " In her own rooms with the king, they each sat in a fauteuil, 
 a table before each at the corners of the fire-place ; she next the 
 bed, the king with his back to the wall on the side of the ante- 
 room door, and two stools before the table, one for the minister, 
 who came to transact business, the other for his bag. On busi- 
 ness days, they were not long together before the minister entered, 
 and often a still shorter time after he left. 
 
 " During the transaction of business Mme de Maintenon read 
 or did tapestry. She heard all tliat passed between the king and 
 the minister, for they spoke loud. She rarely interjected a word, 
 still more rarely was it of any consequence. Often the king asked 
 her advice. Then she replied with great discretion. Never, or 
 almost never, did she seem to lay stress on anything, and still 
 seldomer, to take interest in any one, but she was in accord with 
 the minister, who did not dare to oppose her in private, or flinch 
 in her presence. When some favor or some post was to be 
 granted the matter was arranged between them beforehand, and 
 this sometimes delayed business without the king or any one 
 knowing the reason. 
 
 "About nine o'clock, two lady's maids came and undressed 
 Mme de Maintenon ; soon afterwards, her inattre-d' hotel, and a 
 valet de chambre brought her some soup and something light. 
 When she had finished supper, her women put her into bed, and 
 all this in presence of the king, and the minister (who continued 
 
MADAME DE MAINTENON 13 e 
 
 his work, and did not speak any lower), or if no minister were 
 there, some ladies with whom she was intimate. All this brought 
 it on to ten o'clock, when the king went to supper, and at the 
 same time the curtains of Mme de Maintenon were drawn. . . . 
 The king went to her bedside, where he remained standing a 
 while, wishing her good night, and then went to take his place at 
 table. Such was the routine of life in Mme de Maintenon's apart- 
 ments. 
 
 " It has been said that Mme de Maintenon was a private gen- 
 tlewoman in public ; elsewhere, queen ; sometimes queen even in 
 public, as at the promenades of Marly, when out of complaisance 
 she joined in them when the king wished to show her something 
 newly completed. 
 
 " Queen in private, Mme de Maintenon always had 2t. fauteuil, 
 and in the most convenient place in her room, in presence of the 
 king, all the royal family, even in presence of the Queen of Eng- 
 land. At most she rose for Monseigneur and Monsieur, because 
 they rarely visited her. For no other son of France, their wives, 
 or the king's bastards, did she rise, nor for any one, except, a little, 
 for ordinary persons with whom she was not intimate, and who 
 had obtained an audience, for, polite and modest, she always 
 attended to these points. 
 
 " What was a perpetual astonishment was the promenades just 
 mentioned, which she took, out of excess of complaisance, with 
 the king, in the gardens of Marly. He would have been a hun- 
 dred times more at his ease with the queen, and shown less gal- 
 lantry. His respect was most marked, although in the midst of 
 the court, and in presence of all the inhabitants of Marly who 
 chose to be there. The king believed himself to be there in pri- 
 vate, because he was at Marly. Their carriages went, close side 
 by side, for she almost never entered a chariot ; the king alone in 
 his, she in a sedan chair. If their suite contained the Dauphiness 
 or the Duchesse de Berr)% or the king's daughters, they followed 
 or surrounded them on foot, or if they entered a chariot with some 
 ladies, it was to follow at a distance, never to overtake. Often the 
 king walked on foot beside the chair. At every moment he took 
 off his hat, and lowered it to speak to Mme de Maintenon or to 
 reply to her if she spoke to him, which she did less frequently 
 than he, who had always something to say or point out. As she 
 feared the air even in the finest and calmest weather, she pushed 
 up the glass at the side, every time, with three fingers, and closed 
 it immediately. When the chair was set down for her to see the 
 
136 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 new fountain, there was the same behavior. At such times, the 
 Dauphiness often used to perch on the front pole, and begin a 
 conversation, but the front glass ahva)'s remained closed. At the 
 end of the promenade, the king escorted Mme de Maintenon to 
 near the clrateau, took his leave of her, and continued his prom- 
 enade." — St. Sif/io/i, '' Menioires,'" 1715. 
 
 In all royal palaces, even at the present clay, society is 
 probably drearier than anywhere else, but it was never 
 duller than at Marly. " On apprend a se taire a Marly," 
 we find the lively Duchesse d'Orleans writing to her fam- 
 ily; "souvent, la plupart du temps meme, on est seize 
 ou dix-sept a table, et on n'entend pas un mot." On Feb- 
 ruary 5, 171 1, "Madame" writes from Marly: — 
 
 "On no side is there any conversation; at Meudon we 
 speak under our breath ; Monseigneur talks very little, so does 
 the king, I believe the former counts his words, and is resolved 
 never to pass a certain number. At St. Cloud no more talk than 
 elsewhere. All the ladies have such a dread of saying anything 
 that can displease here, and prevent them going to Marly, that 
 they only speak of cards and dress, which seems to me tiresome 
 enough." 
 
 Mme de Maintenon wrote : — 
 
 "Why cannot I give you all my experience ! Why cannot I 
 make you see the ennui that devours the great, and the trouble 
 which they have to fill their time ! " — Lettres, iii. 152. 
 
 Marly was the scene of several of the most tragic 
 events in the life of Louis XIV. " Tout est mort ici, la 
 vie en est otee," wrote the Comtesse de Caylus (niece of 
 Mme de Maintenon) from Marly to the Princesse des Ur- 
 sins, after the death of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, And, 
 in a few days afterwards. Marly was the scene of the 
 sudden death of the Dauphin (Due de Bourgogne), the 
 beloved pupil of Fenelon. Early in the morning after the 
 death of his wife, he wa*s persuaded, " malade et navre de 
 la plus intime et de la plus amere douleur," to follow the 
 
DEATH OF THE DUG DE BOURGOGNE 
 
 m 
 
 king to Marly, where he entered his own room by a win- 
 dow on the ground floor. 
 
 " Mme de Maintcnon came soon ; judge what was the anguish 
 of this interview ; she could not remain long and departed, . . . 
 A few moments afterwards he was told that the king was awake ; 
 the tears he had checked swelled in his eyes. I approached and 
 signed to him to go, and then proposed it to him in a low voice. 
 Seeing that he did not move and was silent, I ventured to take 
 his arm, and represent that sooner or later he must see the king, 
 who was expecting him. . . . He gave a heartrending glance 
 and went. 
 
 " Every one who was then at Marly, a very small number, 
 was in the grand saloon. Princes, princesses, grandes entrees, 
 were in the little saloon, between the apartments of the king 
 and Mme de Maintenon ; she was in her chamber, but, informed 
 of the king's waking, entered alone his apartments, crossing the 
 little saloon, and all there entered soon afterwards. The Dau- 
 phin, who came in by the cabinets, found everybody in the 
 king's chamber, who, when he saw him, called him to him to 
 embrace him tenderly and repeatedly. These first moments of 
 emotion passed in words, broken by tears and sobs. 
 
 " The king, soon after, looked at the Dauphin, and was 
 alarmed. All present were so too, the physicians more than the 
 others. , , . The king ordered him to go to bed ; he obeyed, 
 and never rose again. . . . Inquietude respecting the Dau- 
 phin increased. He did not conceal his belief that he would 
 never rise. He even expressed himself so more than once, with a 
 resignation, contempt of the world, and all that is great therein, 
 submission and love of God that were beyond compare. No ex- 
 pression can convey the general consternation. ... 
 
 " Friday morning, February i8, 1712, I heard very early that 
 the Dauphin, who had waited impatiently for midnight, had 
 heard mass soon after, had received the communion, and passed 
 two hours after in solemn communion with God ; that then he 
 received extreme unction, finally, that he died at half-past eight, 
 
 " He knew the king perfectly, he respected him, and, at the 
 end of his life, loved him as a son, paying him the attentive 
 court of a subject who knew, however, what he was. He culti- 
 vated Mme de Maintenon with all the attentions her situation de- 
 manded. He loved the princes, his brothers, with tenderness, 
 and his wife most passionately. The grief for her loss penetrated 
 
138 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 his inmost vitals. His piety survived by prodigious efforts. 
 The sacrifice was entire but not bloodless. In this terrible afflic- 
 tion, he displayed nothing mean, small, or indecent. We saw a 
 man, beside himself, who forced himself to bear a calm exterior 
 and succumbed to the effort. 
 
 " The days of this affliction were soon abridged. . . . But, 
 great God ! what a spectacle you gave in him, that cannot be re- 
 vealed in all its secret sublimity, which you alone can give, 
 and the price of which you alone can tell ! What an imitation 
 of Christ on the cross ! I speak not merely in regard to death 
 and sufferings ; it rose far above that. What tender, calm views ! 
 What excess of resignation, what eager thanksgivings for being 
 preserved from the throne and the account he would have to 
 give ! what ardent love of God ! what a piercing insight into his 
 own nothingness and sins ! what a grand idea of infinite mercy ! 
 what religious and holy fear ! what modest confidence ! what 
 sage peace, what readings, what ceaseless prayers ! what ardent 
 desire for the last sacraments ! what profound composure, what 
 invincible patience, what sweetness, what constant goodness to 
 all who drew near ! what pure charity that urged him to go to 
 God ! France fell, finally, under this last chastisement ; God 
 showed her a prince she did not merit. The world was not 
 worthy of him, he was already ripe for a blessed eternit3\" — St. 
 Simon, " Afemoires." 
 
 It was also at Marly — " la funeste Marly " — that the 
 Due de Berry, the younger grandson of Louis XIV., and 
 husband of the profligate daughter of the Due d'Orleans — 
 afterwards Regent, died, with great suspieion of poison, in 
 1 7 14. The MS. memorials of Mary Beatrice by a sister 
 of Chaillot, describe how, when Louis XIV. was mourn- 
 ing his beloved grandchildren, and that queen, whom he 
 had always liked and respected, had lost her darling 
 daughter Louisa, she went to visit him at Marly, where 
 "they laid aside all Court etiquette, weeping together in 
 their common grief, because, as the Queen said, ' We saw 
 that the aged were left, and that Death had swept away 
 the young.'" St. Simon depicts the last walk of the king 
 in the gardens of Marly — " I'etrange ouvrage de ses mains " 
 
ABANDONMENT OF MARLY 139 
 
 — on August 10, 1 7 15. He went away that evening to 
 Versailles, where he died on September i. 
 
 Marly was abandoned during the whole time of the 
 Regency, and was only saved from total destruction in 
 1 7 17, when the Re'gent Philippe d'Orle'ans had ordered its 
 demolition, by the spirited remonstrance of St. Simon — 
 
 " Let him consider how many millions have been thrown into 
 that old sewer to make a fairy palace, unique in all Europe by 
 its form, unique by the beauty of its fountains, unique, too, by 
 the reputation that the late king gave it. Let him think that it 
 was one of the objects of the curiosity of all strangers of every 
 quality that came to France ; that this demolition will echo 
 through Europe Avith reproaches which mean reasons of economy 
 would not change ; that all France would be outraged by seeing 
 itself deprived of so distinguished an ornament." — ^^Me'tnoires." 
 
 The great pavilion itself only contained, as we have 
 seen, a very small number of chambers. The querulous 
 Smollett, who visited Marly in 1763, speaks of it as " No 
 more than a pigeon-house in respect to a palace." But it 
 was only intended as the residence of the king. 
 
 " 6th Dec, 16S7. At Marly there are no rooms except to sleep 
 and dress in ; that done, all the rest is for the public. In the 
 king's apartment there is music ; in that of the Dauphin meals at 
 midday and in the evening ; there, too, is the billiard-table, always 
 filled. In the apartment of Monsieur is hazard, all the backgam- 
 mon-tables and card-tables ; in mine are the shopkeepers, and 
 there a fair is held." — Correspondance de Madatne. 
 
 "The thing that strikes me is the contrast between delicate 
 art in the arbors and groves, and wild nature in a spreading mass 
 of tall trees that dominate them and form the background. The 
 pavilions, separated and half-buried in a forest, seem to be the 
 abodes of different subaltern genii, whose master occupies the 
 middle one. This gives the whole an air of fairyland that pleases 
 me." — Diderot, '' Lettres a Mile Volland.'" 
 
 During the repairs necessary in the reign of Louis XV., 
 who built Choisy, and never lived at Marly, the cascade 
 which fell behind the great pavilion was removed. Mme 
 
140 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Campan describes the later Marly of Louis XVI., under 
 whom the " voyages " had become one of the great bur- 
 dens and expenses of royal life. The Court of Louis XVL 
 was here for the last time on June ii, 1789, but in the lat- 
 ter years of Louis XVI. M. de Noailles, governor of St. 
 Germain, was permitted to lend the smaller pavilions fur- 
 nished to his friends for the summer months. Marly per- 
 ished with the monarchy, and was sold at the Revolution, 
 when the statues of its gardens were removed to the Tui- 
 leries. A cotton mill was for a time established in the 
 royal pavilion ; then all the buildings were pulled down 
 and the gardens sold in lots ! 
 
 Still, the site is worth visiting. The Grille Royale^ 
 now a simple wooden gate between two pillars with vases, 
 opens on the road from St. Germain to Versailles, at the 
 extremity of the aqueduct of Marly. Passing this, one 
 finds one's self in an immense circular enclosure, the walls 
 of which support the forest on every side. 
 
 " He seems to see a vast circus, cleared and fortified in the 
 midst of the woods, where the work of man has come to add 
 itself audaciously to those of nature. Pillars, here and there cut 
 down, give an idea of the porticoes that ought to adorn this en- 
 trance ; beyond them, by gaps that time has made, the eye 
 plunges, right and left, into greater constructions, which are lost 
 in the thick shade of the trees. Opposite the gate by which one 
 enters is a view still more surprising ; the road sinks into a gulf, 
 where, from all points of the horizon, the forest seems to lower 
 itself ; the tall trees, which, even in the midst of their wild lib- 
 erty, witness, by a certain regularity, half effaced, to the fact that 
 they were one day subject to the axe, seem to hang, one over the 
 other, from the height of the steps of a gigantic amphitheatre, and 
 all to incline towards the power that had forced nature, as well as 
 nations, to obey its commands. 
 
 " We hastened to penetrate into the depths of this abyss of 
 verdure, the centre of all the grand landscape, made by man, by 
 which it is surrounded. We descend between two walls that 
 bear oaks and birches centuries old ; we come to a second circular 
 
THE SITE OF MARLY j^i 
 
 enclosure, which we are tempted to take for the ruins of a palace, 
 from the great undulations of verdure which hide its remains. 
 The slightness of the opening which the view has at this spot 
 warns 3-ou to descend farther ; and, after having crossed halls of 
 greenery left to chance, you arrive at a grander pile, from the top 
 of which the eye embraces a vast horizon. The ruins on which 
 you stand evidently trace a circular form, and as far as the eye 
 can reach, beyond the slopes that tower above you, beyond the 
 plains watered by the Seine, hidden at the foot of the hill, the 
 mountains, following the prolonged line of the heights of St. 
 Germain, round out their delicate lines that disappear towards 
 the woods of Montmorency. This time you have beneath your 
 feet the famous palace where Louis XIV. concealed, in the midst 
 of fetes, the sadness of his old age, and, in every line which 
 seems to repeat at will the same harmonious curve, there is re- 
 vealed the original plan which made Marly the king's delight, 
 when, disgusted with the theatrical and too public pomp of Ver- 
 sailles, he sought, in the depths of a better defended retreat, 
 pleasures more tranquil. 
 
 " You descend from the heap formed by the ruins of the 
 palace of Louis XIV. ; in the midst of halls of verdure, which 
 form pendants to those already traversed, you perceive, half 
 erect, half lying in the grass, the remains of buildings corre- 
 sponding to those of the second circular enclosure through which 
 you have passed. Behind the palace, on the indented hill, you 
 see, covered with moss, numerous steps over which a whole river 
 of water ought to flow. On either side, roads, cut beneath the 
 roots of the trees and bordered by great walls to sustain the 
 earth, disclose views of a forest arranged on a plan in which the 
 round line is always repeated. But you must go to the front 
 of the palace itself to find the most beautiful spots in the gardens. 
 
 "You descend from terrace to terrace ; each terrace used to 
 support a lawn, on the sides of which, to right and left, ran an 
 avenue that made the whole circuit of the amphitheatre of the 
 garden. 
 
 " The first terrace, crowned by the chateau, still displays its 
 marvellous trees, once trimmed into arbors, of which their bases 
 preserve the outline, flourishing, above these ancient vaults, with 
 new trunks, free and vigorous, that seem a second forest grafted 
 on the first. 
 
 "The second terrace distinctly indicates the two lateral 
 basins which adorned it. In the midst of the huge birches, which 
 
1^2 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 once covered with their shade elegant shells sculptured from 
 marble or bronze, the water, whose conduits have been found 
 impossible to destroy, rises naturally from the earth, which has 
 kept the form of the ancient buildings ; at the spot, where the jet 
 of water darted up towards the dome of these groves, rushes are 
 growing thickly ; the pond lilies bloom and cover this tranquil 
 lake, which is not agitated, except occasionally by the hands of 
 the village washerwomen. 
 
 " The third and fourth terraces still present the remains of 
 vast basins that occupied the greatest part of them ; their forms 
 are sharply outlined to the eye by the sinking of the ground, and 
 also by the fresher green of the plants that grow more freely in 
 places once enriched by the waters." — Magasin pittoresqiie XVI. 
 Mars, 1884. 
 
 The Forest of Marly has been greatly curtailed of late 
 years. The parts worth visiting are perhaps best reached 
 by the Porte de I'Etang-la-Ville (4 k, from St. Germain), 
 which has a railway station, named thus from a neighbor- 
 ing village. If the forest be entered at Foiirgueux, one 
 soon reaches the Desert de Retz, the gardens of which are 
 lauded by Delille. 
 
 As late as the time of Louis XIV. the forest of Marly 
 abounded in wolves. " Madame " (Duchesse d'Orleans) 
 describes in her letters going to hunt them with the Dau- 
 phin, and how (February, 1709) they devoured a courier 
 and his horse. 
 
 The return from Marly may be varied by taking the 
 railway by St. Cloud to Paris. The line passes at 2 /^ (19 >^. 
 from Paris) Louveciennes (Mons Lupicinus), a pretty vil- 
 lage, where Louis XV. built a delightful villa for Mme du 
 Barry, which she was allowed to retain under Louis XVL, 
 and where she always walked about dressed in white mus- 
 lin in summer and percale in winter. 
 
 " The Comtesse du Barry never forgot the indulgent treat- 
 ment she met at the court of Louis XIV. ; she let the queen 
 
LOUVECIENNES 143 
 
 know, during the most violent crises of the Revolution, that there 
 was not in France a woman more stricken with grief than she for 
 all that her queen had to suffer ; that the honor she had enjoyed 
 of living many years near the throne, and the infinite goodness 
 of the king and queen had attached her so sincerely to the cause 
 of royalty that she begged the queen to grant her the honor of 
 disposing of all she possessed. Without accepting these offers, 
 their Majesties were touched by her gratitude." — Mme Campan. 
 
 Mme du Barry escaped in the early days of the Revo- 
 lution, but was persuaded to return to Louveciennes, not — 
 as is usually said — to look for her jewels, as they were 
 already sold in England, but to join her admirer, the Due 
 de Brissac, who was murdered by the people at Versailles, 
 and his head exhibited on a pike under her window. She 
 was herself betrayed by the negro boy Zamore, upon whom 
 she had heaped innumerable benefits, and was guillotined 
 with the final supplication, " Ne me faites pas du mal, 
 monsieur le bourreau ! " upon her lips. The beautiful pa- 
 vilion of her villa, built by Ledoux, still exists, but the in- 
 terior is much altered. 
 
V. 
 POISSY AND MANTES, ARGENTEUIL. 
 
 ON the Chemin de Fer de Rouen ; b)' rail from the Gave St. 
 Lazare. Poissy and Mantes form a most delightful day's 
 excursion from Paris, though architects and artists will wish to 
 stay longer at Mantes. Vigny requires a separate excursion. 
 
 The line passes — 
 
 I'] k. Maiso?is-Laffitte. — The magnificent chateau of 
 Maisons was built by Francois Mansart for Rene de Lon- 
 gueil, Surintendant des Finances. Voltaire frequently 
 staid there with the President de Maisons, and nearly died 
 there of the small-pox. On his recovery, he had scarcely 
 left the chateau to set out on his return to Paris, when the 
 room he had occupied and the adjoining chambers were 
 destroyed by fire. In 1778 the chateau was bought by the 
 Comte d'Artois, and an apartment was arranged there for 
 each of the royal family. Maisons was sold as national 
 property at the Revolution, and has since belonged to the 
 Due de Montebello, and to the banker Laffitte, by whom 
 part of the park has been cut up for villas. 
 
 As Maisons is approached by the railway, there is a 
 fine view (on right) of the stately chateau rising above the 
 west bank of the Seine, with a highly picturesque mill of 
 the same date striding across an arm of the river in the 
 foreground. 
 
POISSY 14^ 
 
 "The chateau of Maisons, built by Fran9ois Mansart about 
 the year 1658, is one of those happy designs which seem to have 
 linked together the style of Francis I. with that of Louis XIV. 
 It combines the playfulness of outline which prevailed at an 
 earlier age with a strict adherence to the proprieties of the Orders 
 as then understood. The roof is enormous, but relieved by the 
 chimneys and by being broken into masses ; while the whole 
 effect of the design is that it is the house of a nobleman, of sin- 
 gular elegance, neither affecting templar grandeur nor descending 
 into littleness." — Fergiisson. 
 
 \\k. is Sartroitville, where the church has a central 
 romanesque octagon, with a stone spire of later date. 
 The nave piers are cylindrical, the arches pointed tran- 
 sitional. 
 
 2 2/1". ConJla7is-St.-Honorme. — This place receives its 
 first name from its situation at the confluence of the Seine 
 and Oise ; its second from the shrine of St. Honorine, 
 brought hither by a native of Graville for protection from 
 the Normans in 898 : her relics are still carried in pro- 
 cession on Ascension Day. The parish church of St. 
 Madou has an admirable romanesque tower of the XII, c. 
 In the choir is the tomb of Jean I., Seigneur de Mont- 
 morency, and near it the XIV. c. statue of Mathieu IV. 
 de Montmorency, Admiral and High Chamberlain of 
 France, 1304. A tower, called La Baronnie, marks the 
 site of the priory of St. Honorine. 
 
 27 >^. Poissy {Hotel de Rouen^ right of station: very 
 humble), on the left bank of the Seine, was the seat of a 
 very ancient royal residence, destroyed by Charles V. If 
 St. Louis was not born here he was certainly baptized 
 here, and was wont to sign himself " Louis de Poissy." 
 
 Close to the railway, in the centre of the tiny town, 
 rises the noble Church. Late romanesque, with flamboyant 
 additions, it has a most striking outline. The older por- 
 tions — the nave, the apsidal choir with its two apsides, and 
 
146 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 the west and central towers, date from the XI. c., though 
 the massive west tower, supporting a conical stone spire, 
 and the two first bays of the nave, were rebuilt, on the old 
 lines, in the XVII c. The nave chapels are XV. c. The 
 west tower formerly serv^ed as a porch, but this is now 
 
 WEST TOWER, POISSY. 
 
 blocked up, and the principal entrance is by a magnificent 
 early XVI. c. porch on the south, with open arches on two 
 sides : it has been injured externally by coarse restoration, 
 but is untouched within. 
 
CHURCH OF POISSY 
 
 147 
 
 "The spire of the central clock tower is of wood, like some 
 spires of Norman belfries in an analogous situation, and there 
 is no reason to suppose that it was originally designed in stone. 
 The open story of the octagonal belfry is composed of coupled 
 arcades on the larger, and of simple arcades on the smaller sides. 
 The base of this clock tower does not support a cupola or lan- 
 tern, like the central towers of the Rhine or of Normandy ; it is 
 only the lower story of the belfry above the vaulting of the nave." 
 — Viollet-le-Dnc. 
 
 The interior is exceedingly beautiful and has been well 
 restored. A number of early statues of saints are full of 
 quaint character. The romanesque chapel on the north of 
 the choir contains a fragment of the font in which St. Louis 
 was baptized. 
 
 " C'est pourquoy, estant un jour en ce lieu depuis qu'il fut 
 roy, 11 dit avec joye a ses amis que c'estoit la qu'il avoit receu le 
 plus grand honneur qu'il eust jamais eu. C'est pourquoy lors- 
 qu'il ecrivoit en secret a ses amis particuliers, et qu'il vouloit 
 supprimer sa qualite de roy, il se nommoit Louis de Poissy ou 
 le seigneur de Poissi. On dit qu'il se plaisoit particulierement 
 en ce lieu." — Le N'ain de Tilletnont. 
 
 A considerable part at least of the rest of the font has 
 been taken as dust in glasses of water by the faithful as 
 a cure for fever. In the same chapel is a tombstone, with 
 a very curious epitaph, recording how Remy Renault, 
 1630, was twice dead and twice alive, how, after having 
 been consigned to the tomb, he was resuscitated by the 
 devotion of his son, expressed in ardent prayer to St. 
 Genevieve, and rose again a second Lazarus, to be called 
 "Le ressuscite." His son, a second Remy, who ordained 
 special worship to St. Genevieve for her favor, now rests 
 with him. 
 
 In the opposite chapel of St. Louis are relics of the 
 sainted king. This chapel formerly had a stained-glass 
 
148 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 window representing the birth of St. Louis, and beneath 
 were the XVI. c. lines — 
 
 " Sainte-Louis fut un enfant de Poissy, 
 Et baptise en la presente eglise ; 
 Les fonts en sont gardes encore ici, 
 Et honores comme relique exquise." 
 
 The apsidal chapel, filled with ex-votos to the Virgin, 
 has modern stained-glass illustrative of the life of St. 
 Louis. 
 
 A little behind the church is a fine old gateway, flanked 
 by two round towers, the principal existing remnant of the 
 famous Abbey of Poissy, which PhiHppe le Bel founded in 
 1304, in the place of an earlier Augustinian monastery 
 founded by Constance of Normandy, wife of King Robert. 
 In its refectory, Catherine de Medicis convoked the Col- 
 loque de Poissy in 1560, when thirty Protestants, with The- 
 odore de Beze at their head, disputed upon religious sub- 
 jects with the papal legate^ sixteen cardinals, forty bishops, 
 and a number of other theologians. Nothing remains of 
 the magnificent abbey church, a marvel of architectural 
 beauty, begun by Philippe le Bel and finished by Philippe 
 de Valois, which was pulled down in the beginning of the 
 XIX. c. It contained the tombs of Queen Constance, 
 Philippe le Bel, Agnes de Meranie, and of Philippe and 
 Jean of France, children of Louis VIII. and Blanche of 
 Castile. A pewter urn, containing the heart of the founder, 
 Philippe le Bel, was found during some repairs in 1687. 
 Reached by the abbey gate is the house occupied, for 
 thirty years, by the famous artist Meissonier. 
 
 On the right of the station is the entrance to ih.Q Bridge 
 (originally of thirty-seven arches) built by St. Louis, but 
 all its character is destroyed by its being lowered and by the 
 substitution of a cast-iron parapet for the original of stone. 
 
MEDAN 
 
 U^ 
 
 The famous Cattle-market of Poissy, founded by St. 
 Louis, is still held every Thursday. 
 
 The line passes (left) Medan^ with a chateau dating from 
 the XV. c., and in which pavilions of that date are con- 
 nected by galleries of the time of Henri IV. In the 
 XVII. c. church is the font of the famous royal church 
 of St. Paul in Paris, inscribed — 
 
 " A ces foils furent une fois 
 Baptisez pluseurs dues et rois, 
 Princes, contes, barons, prelatz 
 Et autres gens de tous estatz. 
 Et afin que ce on cognoisse, 
 lis servoient en la paroisse 
 Royal de Saint Pol de Paris, 
 Ou les Roys se tenoient jadis : 
 Entre autres y fut notablement 
 Baptise honourablement 
 Le sage roy Charles-le-Quint 
 Et son fils qui aprez lui vint, 
 Charles le large bie[n] [ai]me 
 Sixieme de ce nom cla[m]e." 
 
 35 >^. Triel. — A considerable place under the hills, on the 
 right. The village of Vernoiiillet (left of the station) has a 
 steeple of good outline rising from a romanesque tower. 
 A number of ruined emigres, on their return to France 
 after the Revolution, united to buy its chateau, and spent 
 the rest of their lives there in happy harmony ! The 
 adjoining village of Vemeiiil has a central romanesque 
 tower with late additions. The cruciform church of Triel 
 itself is chiefly of the XIV. c, with a plain central tower : 
 a street passes beneath the lofty choir. Vaux (i ^.) has 
 a romanesque tower and transept, and an elegant semi- 
 circular early pointed apse ; the nave, which has aisles, 
 but no clerestory, is XIV. c. 
 
 41 /^. Meulan-les-Mureaux. — The station is at Mureaux, 
 
l^o DAVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 where the modern church contains six curious XIII c. 
 columns : of these, four, at the entrance, support a kind 
 of triumphal arch of three openings. A stone bridge con- 
 nects Mureaux with Meulan, once the chief town of a 
 countship, which was united to the crown of France by 
 Philippe Auguste in 1203. Louis XII I. established a con- 
 vent of the Annunciation here for Charlotte du Puy de 
 Jesus-Maria, whose prayers were believed to have re- 
 moved the barrenness of Anne of Austria. The church of 
 Notre Dame^ in the lower town, is XIV. c. and XV. c. ; 
 that of St, Nicolas, on the hill (Le Haut Meulan), has a 
 XII. c. ambulatory. Near Notre Dame is a good XIV a 
 house. On the island called Le Fort, are remains of a 
 XV. c. chapel of St. Jacques, and of a castle of which Du 
 Guesclin overthrew the donjoji, when it was defended by 
 the partisans of Charles le Mauvais. 
 
 5 k, to the north, occupying a square eminence, is the 
 interesting Chateau de Vigny, built by Cardinal Georges 
 d'Amboise. 
 
 "The Chateau of Vigny quite resembles those of the XV. c, 
 only there may be remarked that the towers were applied to the 
 walls as much for ornament as for a means of defence. The large 
 windows, equally distributed in all parts of the exterior walls, 
 prove how much attacks were dreaded. 
 
 "This beautiful chateau, built on a site cut square, presents 
 the form of an oblong square. The longer side, which serves as 
 a fagade, is adorned by four towers at equal distances, sur- 
 mounted by machicolations, and crowned by very tall and very 
 elegant conical roofs. The gate of entrance is in the middle, 
 between the two central towers, in a kind of advanced work or 
 pavilion, which recalls, by its position, the donjons of certain 
 chateaux of the XII. c. 
 
 " Many of the windows are surmounted by imitation arcades, 
 and adorned with wreaths of foliage which proclaim sufficiently 
 the last years of the XV. century, and the beginning of the XVI," 
 — De CauDiont, ''Arc/iitecttcre militaire." 
 
MANTES 
 
 151 
 
 49/^. Epone. — The chateau belonged to the family of 
 Crequi. The church has an octagonal romanesque tower, 
 containing an XL c. portal : two other portals are XIL c. 
 An omnibus runs from the station of Epone to that of 
 Villiers-Neauphle on the line from Paris to Dreux, by the 
 valley of the Mauldre, passing {\2k.) Aiibiay^ where the 
 church contains an ancient tabernacle beautifully sculpt- 
 ured; and (20 /C'.) Maule^ where the church was built 1070- 
 1118, has a tower of 1547, and covers an XL c. crypt: a 
 beautiful XV. c. chapel serves as a sacristy. The chateau 
 dates from Louis XIIL 
 
 57 /&. Mantes. (Hotel du Gra?td Cerf, a good old-fash- 
 ioned inn: du Soleil d' Or.) "Mantes la jolie," of the 
 old topographers^, is a charming and interesting old town. 
 It was in 1087, after burning Mantes, which he had 
 reclaimed from Philippe I. of France, that William the 
 Conqueror, whilst riding proudly round the town, received 
 the injury of which he died a few days after at Rouen. 
 
 " While he galloped across the ruins, his horse put both his feet 
 on some burning materials covered by cinders, fell, and hurt him 
 in the belly. The excitement he had put himself in by riding and 
 shouting, the heat of the fire and of the season rendered a wound 
 dangerous. He was carried, sick, to Rouen, and, thence, to a 
 monastery beyond the walls of the city, as he could not bear the 
 noise. He languished for six weeks, surrounded by physicians 
 and priests, and, his illness still increasing, he sent some money 
 to Mantes to rebuild the churches that he had burned." — Augustin 
 Thierry. 
 
 The noble church of Notre Dame was built with the 
 money sent by William the Conqueror, and was again 
 rebuilt at the end of the XIL c. at the same time as 
 Notre Dame de Paris, to which it has a great resemblance. 
 Its fagade shows what that of Paris would have been if 
 its completion had not been delayed till the middle of the 
 
iS2 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 XIII. c. Of the three grand portals, two are admirable 
 examples of the XII. c. ; that on the right was rebuilt in 
 1300, with a gable copied from the south portal of Rouen 
 cathedral, which adds to the effect of the building by its 
 variety. Above the three portals are seven arches, of 
 which four light the first floors of the two towers. Higher, 
 is a large window in each tower, and in the centre a beauti- 
 ful rose-window. The graceful gallery above, of slender 
 lancet arches, is comparatively modern. The upper story 
 
 of the towers, of open arches, is indescribably light and 
 beautiful. The retired space, shaded by trees, in which the 
 church stands, recalls an English cathedral close in the 
 charm of its seclusion. 
 
 The church has no transept, and originally it had only 
 a simple ambulatory, with no radiating chapels ; the five 
 chapels which surround the choir only having been added 
 in the XIV. c. The clerestory is exceedingly light, and 
 the triforium, covering the whole space of the aisles, of 
 great width. Two leaden coffins recently discovered are 
 
MANTES te^ 
 
 supposed to contain the heart and entrails of Phihppe 
 Auguste, who died at Mantes, July 14, 1223. Viollet-le- 
 Duc mentions the Chapelle de Navarre on the south of 
 the choir, with its four arches meeting at a central pillar, 
 as one of the finest examples of the XIV. c. in the He de 
 France. Its four great windows are beautiful in design, 
 have grand fragments of stained glass, and are supported 
 by a graceful arcade. Against the wall of the north aisle 
 is the curious incised grave-stone of Robert Gueribeau 
 (1644), founder of the Ursuline convent. 
 
 " The magnificent edifice rises on an inclined space, that 
 might be described as bordered by ecclesiastical dwellings, but 
 into which there has, nevertheless, glided like an intruder, a 
 pretty, gallant, charming little theatre in Pompadour style, sculpt- 
 ured zxi^L pompone'e like a bit of Sevres china." — Barron, '' Les 
 environs de Pafis." 
 
 An artist will find attractive subjects in the noble tower 
 of 1340, which is all that remains of the great church of 
 St. Macloii, destroyed in the Revolution, and in the gothic 
 entrance (1344) of the old Hotel de Ville (which has a 
 stone staircase of the time of Charles VIII.), with a pretty 
 renaissance fountain in front of it. Many picturesque 
 fragments remain of the ancient walls and towers with 
 which Mantes was surrounded by Charles le Mauvais and 
 Charles le Sage, especially the Tour de St. Martiji and an 
 old postern gate on the Quai des Cordeliers. Of the other 
 gditQs, t\\Q Porte Cha?ite I Oie stiW exists. There is a very 
 picturesque, half-ruined bridge connecting the right bank 
 with the island in the Seine, whence there is the best view 
 of Notre Dame, rising in gray grandeur above the broken 
 outline of the old houses, and the whole mirrored in the 
 Seine. 
 
 Beyond the island, with its pleasant promenades, a 
 
1^4 ^^^ ^'^ NEAR PARIS 
 
 second bridge leads to the suburb of Limay, which has a 
 modern niairie, of good design, and a church chiefly of 
 the XIII. c. and XV. c, but possessing a very beautiful 
 XII. c. tower and spire, with a romanesque chapel be- 
 neath. On the left of the west entrance is the tomb of 
 Jean le Chenet, grand-ecuyer to Charles V., and his wife, 
 brought from the chapel of St. Antoine, which they 
 founded at the Celestine Convent ; behind it is a Fietd in 
 colored relief, on either side of which are the founders pre- 
 sented by their patron saints. The low wide font is of 
 the XIII. c. 
 
 On the hill above Limay is Le Chateau des Celestins, 
 on the site of a convent founded in 1376 by Charles V. ; 
 and a little below the white walls of its vineyard terraces a 
 path leads to the Hennitage of St. Saiiveur {4 k. from Man- 
 tes). The way winds along the edge of the limestone hills, 
 which, ugly in form, especially lend themselves to vine- 
 yards, and the views of the windings of the Seine are 
 beautiful. A stone cross stands at a point where there is 
 an exquisite view of Mantes — the noble towers of Notre 
 Dame rising above rich woods and a graceful bend of the 
 river, and the wavy hills, in soft succession of pink and 
 blue distances, folding behind them. The present hermit 
 is a woman with a number of children, but the place is 
 very quaint and picturesque — a little establishment en- 
 closed by walls, and a church of considerable size caverned 
 out of the rock, and containing a curious old St. Sepulchre 
 and a number of other figures full of character, brought 
 from the Celestins ; also the effigy of Thomas le Tourneur, 
 secretary of Charles V., and canon of Mantes, who died in 
 that convent. 
 
 Those who wish for a longer walk mav cross the Seine 
 by a ferry to the church of Gassicourt (3 /'. from Mantes), 
 
HERMITAGE OF ST. SAW EUR 
 
 155 
 
 partly of the XL c. and XIII. c, which belonged formerly 
 to a Cluniac priory, and of which Bossuet always held the 
 living. The portal is curious. The choir windows have 
 remains of stained glass given by Blanche of Castile. A 
 curious sculpture represents Jesus offering to the Queen, 
 as the Virgin, the portrait of St. Louis as a child. There 
 are considerable remains of mural paintings, and, in the 
 Chapelle St. Eloi, a sculptured lavabo. 
 
 A road runs north-west from Mantes, evading a wide 
 bend of the river, by the Chateau de Mcs?iil to (12 k.) 
 
 HERMITAGE OF ST. SAUVEUR. 
 
 Veiheuil, which has an important collegiate church, partly 
 gothic and partly renaissance, to the ornamentation of 
 which many kings and queens of France have contributed. 
 The porch bears the monograms of Fran9ois I. and Henri 
 11. The south and west doors are sculptured with scenes 
 from Scripture history. The west portal, surmounted by a 
 triple gallery, has statues of royal benefactors ; the central 
 column bears a figure of Charity. The unfinished tower is 
 of 1350. In the interior are considerable remains of 
 mural paintings. The XII. c. choir has good stall-work. 
 
156 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 At the end of the Cour dc f Eglise is a Httle crypt, a relic 
 of the primitive church of Vetheuil. 
 
 At 19 ^. from Mantes (2I k. from the station of Gasny 
 on the line from Vernon to Gisors), is the famous castle 
 of La Roche-Giiyon^ founded by Guy de Guyon in 998 
 (though the existing buildings are of the XIII. c), and 
 taken by the English in 14 18, after a gallant defence by 
 Perette la Riviere, widow of Guy VI. de la Roche Guyon, 
 who fell at Agincourt. Old ballads tell the story of a lord 
 of the castle murdered in 1097 by his father-in-law, together 
 with his wife, who vainly endeavored to protect him. The 
 immense substructions are hewn out of the rock ; the 
 principal remaining building is the donjon. The later 
 Chateau of the Due de la Roche-Guyon, at the foot of the 
 rock, has some traces of the XIII. c, and an entrance 
 gate of the XV. c. The Salle des Gardes, inscribed with the 
 family mottoes, Cest mon plaisir : In Deo confido, is filled 
 with armor. The Chambre de Hetiri IV. contains the 
 king^s bed and bureau. The XV. c. Church contains the 
 tomb of Francois de Silly, Due de la Roche-Guyon, 1627, 
 with his kneeling statue. A number of members of the 
 families of La Rochefoucauld, De Rohan, and De Mont- 
 morency, repose in the vaults. A Fountain, between the 
 church and the chateau, was erected by Due Alexandre de 
 la Rochefoucauld in 17 17. 
 
 The first station west of Mantes is (6 ^.) Rosny, with 
 the XVI. c. Chateau, built by the famous Sully (Maxi- 
 milien de Be'thune), to replace an earlier chateau in which 
 he was born, December 13, 1550. It was left unfinished 
 in 1610, as he had no longer spirit to continue the work 
 after the murder of his beloved master, Henri IV. The 
 Duchesse de Berri, daughter-in-law of Charles X., in- 
 habited it as a summer residence ; and a funeral monu- 
 
COLO MB ES i^^ 
 
 ment remains behind the altar of the church, which once 
 supported the heart of the murdered Due de Berri. The 
 chateau of Rosny now belongs to Lebaudy, the sugar- 
 refiner ! 
 
 To the south of Mantes is Rosay, where the pict- 
 uresque brick chateau of the Comtesse de Jobal dates 
 from Henri HI., and, between Rosay and Septeuil, the 
 little village of St. Corentin, which possessed an abbey 
 where Agnes de Me'ranie, wife of Philippe Auguste, was 
 buried, with the heart and entrails of Blanche of Castile. 
 
 Argenteuil is reached in twenty minutes from the Gare 
 St. Laza?-e, passing — 
 
 6 k. Colombes. — In this village, which belonged to the 
 abbey of St. Denis, was the convent of the Visitation de 
 Chaillot, founded by Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. 
 of England — "la reine malheureuse." It was at Chaillot 
 that Mme de Motteville, lady-in-waiting to Anne of 
 Austria, wrote the description of the English Revolution 
 in her Manoires from the lips of the queen ; and here 
 her wise sister, known in the court as Socratine, took 
 the veil. After the death of Henrietta Maria (August 31, 
 1669, aged sixty, at a chateau which she possessed at 
 Colombes ^), her heart was given to Chaillot. Her body 
 also lay in state in the convent before its removal to 
 St. Denis : and here, forty days after her death, a magnifi- 
 cent commemoration service was performed in the presence 
 of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans. Bossuet then pro- 
 nounced a discourse, in which he reviewed the varied 
 historic episodes which had attended the life of " the 
 
 * The Rue de la Reine-Henriette commemorates the residence of the queen 
 at Colombes. 
 
1^8 I>A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 queen incomparable, our great Henrietta," whose " griefs 
 had made her learned in the science of salvation and the 
 efficacy of the cross, whilst all Christendom united in 
 sympathy for her unexampled sorrows — Sa propre patrie 
 lui fut un triste lieu d'exil." 
 
 Queen Mary Beatrice came to Chaillot from St. Ger- 
 main to spend the time of James II. 's absence in Ireland, 
 and made a great friendship with three of the nuns 
 in the convent, her "three Angeliques." She frequently 
 visited Chaillot afterwards, and kept up a constant corre- 
 spondence with its inmates. Hither she retired imme- 
 diately after the death of James II., and one of the nuns 
 records ^ how, in her weeds, covered by a long black veil, 
 and preceded by the nuns singing the " De Profundis," 
 she came to the chapel to visit the heart of her husband. 
 " She bowed her head, clasped her hands together, knelt, 
 and kissed the urn through the black crape which covered 
 it, then, after a silent prayer, rose, and having asperged it 
 with holy water, without sigh or tear, turned about silently, 
 with great apparent firmness, but, before she had made 
 four steps, fell in such a faint as caused fears for her life.'* 
 
 In her latter years Mar}' Beatrice lived much in the 
 seclusion of Chaillot, taking refuge here when she had 
 given all she possessed to the importunity of the English 
 exiles ; and she bequeathed her heart to rest for ever in 
 the convent, and her body till the moment she always 
 hoped for should arrive, when her remains should be 
 transported to Westminster with those of the king her hus- 
 band and their daughter Louisa. 
 
 It was to Chaillot that Mile de la Valliere fled, when 
 she first escaped from the Court and from the indiffer- 
 
 1 Chaillot MS. 
 
CHAILLOT 1^9 
 
 ence of Louis XIV., captivated by Mme de Montespan ; 
 and hither Colbert came on the part of his master, to 
 bring her back once more to the Court, whence she soon 
 fled a second time, and for ever. 
 
 In the church of the Minims of Chaillot was the tomb 
 of Fran^oise de Veyni d'Arbouse, wife of Antoine Duprat, 
 afterwards Cardinal and Chancellor of France under Fran- 
 cois I., and that of the brave Marechal Comte de Rantzau, 
 inscribed : — 
 
 " Du corps du grand Rantzau tu n'as que des parts, 
 L'autre moitie resta dans les plaines de Mars : 
 II dispersa partout ses membres et sa gloire. 
 Tout abattu qu'il fut, il demeura vainqueur : 
 Son sang fut en cent lieux le prix de sa victoire, 
 Et Mars ne lui laissa rien d'entier que le coeur." 
 
 At Bezons^ a little west of Colombes, near the Seine, 
 are some remains of the chateau inhabited by the Mare'- 
 chal de Bezons in the beginning of the XVIII. c. 
 
 <^k. Argenteuil, famous for its wine and for its Benedict- 
 ine monastery, of whicli the famous He'loise was prioress 
 in the beginning of the XII. c, before she went to the 
 Paraclete. Its great relic was the seamless tunic of our 
 Saviour, supposed to have been woven by the Virgin. 
 Matthew of Westminster says that it grew with the growth 
 of Jesus — Mater ejus fecerat ei, et crevit ipso crescente. 
 Gregory of Tours says that, after the Crucifixion, the 
 " Holy Tunic " was preserved in a hidden cellar in the 
 town of Galatia, fifty leagues from Constantinople. This 
 town was destroyed by the Persians in 590, but the tunic 
 was saved, and carried to Jaffa, and thence, in 595, to 
 Jerusalem. In 614 it is believed to have been carried 
 off by Chosroes II. of Persia, when he sacked the holy 
 city, but his son gave it up in 628 to Heraclius, who car- 
 
l6o DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ri^d it to Constantinople. Here it remained till the Em- 
 press Irene gave it to Charlemagne, who bestowed it upon 
 his daughter Theodrada, abbess of Argenteuil. In the 
 IX. c. , when the convent was sacked by the barbarians of 
 the north, the tunic w^as lost, but its existence is supposed 
 to have been revealed by an angel to a monk in 1156, and 
 henceforth it worked many miracles. The Huguenots, 
 taking Argenteuil in 1567, made "a plaything "of the 
 tunic; but Henri III., Louis XIII., Marie de Medicis 
 and Anne of Austria made pilgrimages to it, and Mile de 
 Guise gave it a sumptuous shrine. At the Revolution the 
 church was pillaged, and the shrine carried off, but the 
 tunic was hidden in the presbytery garden, where it was 
 found by the Bishop of Versailles in 1804, and restored to 
 the church. A morsel was given, at his urgent request, to 
 Pius IX. and another to the Jesuit convent at Fribourg. 
 The Cathedral of Treves possesses the robe of Christ, as 
 distinguished from the tunic. 
 
 At the end of the long winding street of Argenteuil, is 
 the very handsome modern romanesque church. The 
 shrine is in the right transept, and, near it, a picture by 
 Bonterwek, representing the reception of the relic by Char- 
 lemagne's daughter. The church bells still ring at i p.m., 
 the hour at which the seamless tunic arrived in the VIII. c. 
 
VI. 
 
 ST. DENIS, ENGHIEN, AND MONTMORENCY. 
 
 ST. DENIS may be reached by rail from the Chemin do Fer 
 du Nord in fifteen minutes, but the station of St. Denis is 
 a long wa}' from the cathedral. A much better plan is to take 
 rhe tramway (every half hour), from the Rue Taitbout or Boule- 
 ^^ard Haussmann (an omnibus runs in connection from the 
 boulevard St. Denis), which sets visitors down close to the 
 cathedral. 
 
 Hotel de France ; du Grand Ccrf. 
 
 The way to St. Denis lies through the manufacturing 
 suburb of Paris, and is very ugly. The crosses (Monjoies, 
 Mons gaudii) which once bordered the way, have long 
 perished. 
 
 " In the way were faire crosses of stone carv'd with fieurs de 
 lys at every furlong's end, where they affirme St. Denys rested 
 and layd down his head after martyrdom." — Jolni Evelyn. 
 
 On the site of an oratory in which the pious Catulla 
 placed the relics of St. Denis, with his companions Rus- 
 ticus and Eleutherius, after their death at the Mons mar- 
 tyrum (Montmartre), and in the village which in the 
 XII. c. was called from her Vicus Catholiacensis, rose the 
 famous abbey of St. Denis. In the V. c. St. Genevieve 
 rebuilt the chapel of St. Denis, and her work was four 
 times reconstructed before the XIII. c, to which the 
 present building is due, though, in the crypt, some arches 
 remain from the church of Dagobert, 630. The Abbot 
 
1 62 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Suger, who governed France during the crusade of Louis 
 VII., built greater part of the church which we now see, 
 the church in which Jeanne Dare offered her sw^ord and 
 armor upon the altar, and in which Henri IV. abjured 
 Protestantism. The w'estern facade, of 1140,, has three 
 romanesque portals, richly decorated with sculpture^ that 
 in the centre with statues of the wise and foolish virgins. 
 Only one of the two side towers remains : that on the 
 north, pulled down in 1846, had a tall spire. The remain- 
 ing tower contains the great bell of Charles V., recast in 
 1758, and called Louise, in honor of Louis XV. The 
 stately aspect of the interior is greatly enhanced by the 
 four staircases leading to the chevet. The choir, sur- 
 rounded by radiating chapels, was consecrated in 1144. 
 The stained-glass windows are mostly of the reign of 
 Louis Philippe. Only one is ancient, that in the Chapel 
 of the Virgin, with the genealogy of Christ. 
 
 In 1790, the decree which suppressed the religious 
 orders put an end to the existence of the abbey of St. 
 Denis, which had lasted more than eleven centuries and a 
 half. The monks celebrated mass for the last time on 
 September 14, 1792, after which their church became that 
 of the parish. But in 1793 the church also was closed, 
 and was only reopened in the following year, as a Tem- 
 ple of Reason. In 1800, when Chateaubriand saw St. 
 Denis, the church was unroofed, the window^s broken, and 
 the tombs were gone. 
 
 " The people, in savage fury over the tombs, seemed to ex- 
 hume its own history and cast it to the winds. The axe broke 
 the bronze gates given by Charlemagne to the basilica of St. 
 Denis. Railings, roof-pieces, statues, all crumbled into frag- 
 ments beneath the hammer. Stones were torn up, tombs violated, 
 coffins smashed in. A mocking curiosity examined under the 
 bandages and shrouds the enbalmed bodies, the consumed flesh, 
 
CATHEDRAL OF ST. DENIS 
 
 163 
 
 'the calcined bones, the empty skulls of kings, queens, princes, 
 ministers, or bishops, whose names had echoed through the past 
 history of France. Pepin, the founder of the Carlovingian 
 dynasty, and the father of Charlemagne, was only a pinch of grey 
 dust, that the wind carried off. The mutilated heads of the 
 Turennes, the Duguesclins, Louis XII., Francis I. rolled on the 
 parvis. Every step was on piles of sceptres, crowns, pastoral 
 staves, historic or religious attributes. An immense ditch, the 
 sides of which were covered with quicklime, to destroy the 
 bodies, was dug in one of the outer cemeteries, called the Ceme- 
 tery of the Valois. Perfumes were burned in the vaults to purify 
 the air. After every blow of the axe, the shouts of the diggers 
 were heard as they discovered the remains of a king, and played 
 with his bones. 
 
 " Under the choir were buried the princes and princesses of 
 the first race and some of the third — Hugh Capet, Philippe le 
 Hardi, Philippe le Bel. They were stripped of their silk bands 
 and thrown into a bed of lime. 
 
 " Henri IV., skilfully enbalmed by Italians, preserved his 
 historic countenance. His chest, when exposed, still displayed 
 the two wounds by which his life had fled. His beard, scented 
 and spread out in fan-shape, as in his pictures, evidenced the 
 care which this voluptuous king took about his appearance. His 
 memory, dear to the people, protected him for a moment from 
 profanation. The crowd defiled in silence for two days before 
 this still popular corpse. Placed in the choir at the foot of the 
 altar, he received in death the respectful homage of the muti- 
 lators of royalty. Javogues, a representative of the people, was 
 indignant at such posthumous superstition. He endeavored to 
 demonstrate in a few words to the people, that this king, brave 
 and amorous, had been the seducer rather than the saver of his 
 people. ' He deceived,' said Javogues, ' God, his mistresses, and 
 his people ; let him not deceive posterity and your justice.' The 
 corpse of Henri IV. was flung into the common grave. 
 
 "His son and grandson, Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., fol- 
 lowed him. Louis XIII. was only a mummy, Louis XIV. a black, 
 amorphous mass of spices. The man was lost after death in per- 
 fumes, as during life in pride. The sepulchre of the Bourbons 
 gave up its dead ; queens, dauphines, princesses were carried in 
 armfuls, by laborers, and thrown, with their entrails, into the pit. 
 Louis XV. came last from the tomb. The infection of his rei^a 
 seemed to rise from his sepulchre. A mass of powder had to be 
 
164 I?AVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 burned to dissipate the mephitic odor of the corpse of this prince; 
 whose scandals had degraded royalty. 
 
 " In the tomb of the Charleses, there was found by the side of 
 Charles V. a hand of justice and a gold crown, and the spindle 
 and nuptial ring to the coffin of Jeanne de Bourbon, his wife. 
 
 "The tomb of the Valois was empty. The just hatred of the 
 people sought Louis XI, in vain. This king had himself buried 
 in one of the sanctuaries of the Virgin, Avhom he so often invoked 
 even to aid him in his crimes. 
 
 " The body of Turenne, injured by the cannon-ball, was 
 venerated by the people. It was saved from re-interment, and 
 preserved for nine years in the garrets of the Museum of Natural 
 History at the Jardin des Plantes, among the stuffed animals. 
 The soldiers' tomb of the Invalides was granted to this hero by 
 the hand of a soldier like him. Duguesclin, Suger, Vendome, 
 heroes, abbes, ministers of the monarchy, were hurled, pell-mell, 
 into the earth which confounded recollections of glory with rec- 
 ollections of slavery. 
 
 " Dagobert I. and his wife Nantilde reposed in the same sep- 
 ulchre for twelve centuries. There was no head to the skeleton 
 of Nantilde as to the skeletons of many queens. King John 
 closed this mournful procession of the dead. The tombs were 
 emptied. One corpse, it was seen, was wanting, that of a young 
 princess, daughter of Louis XV., who had fled into a convent 
 from the scandals of the throne, and died in the robe of a Carme- 
 lite. The vengeance of the Revolution sought for the virgin's 
 corpse even in the tomb of the cloister where she had fled all 
 grandeur. The coffin was brought to St. Denis to undergo the 
 punishment of exhumation and the garbage-pit. No corpse was 
 spared. Nothing royal was deemed innocent. This brutal in- 
 stinct revealed in the Revolution the desire to repudiate the long 
 past of France. It would have liked to tear out all the pages of 
 its history, to date all from the republic." — Lamartijie, "'Hist, des 
 Girondins.'' 
 
 Englishmen are interested in the fact that the first 
 coffin disinterred at St. Denis was that of Henrietta Ma- 
 ria, widow of Charles I. of England. The next was that 
 of her daughter Henrietta, first wife of the Due d'Orleans, 
 brother of Louis XIV. 
 
 None of the monuments which existed in the abbey- 
 
MONUMENTS OF ST. DENIS 165 
 
 church before the Revolution were older than the time of 
 St. Louis. It was that king who placed tombs upon the 
 resting-places of his predecessors from the time of Dago- 
 bert to that of Louis VL, his great-great-grandfather. Very 
 few princes and princesses of the first two dynasties were 
 buried at St. Denis, but the house of Capet were almost 
 all laid there. Of its thirty-two monarchs, only three de- 
 sired to be buried elsewhere — Philippe I. at St. Benoit- 
 sur-Loire ; Louis VIL at the abbey of Barbeau ; Louis XL 
 at Notre Dame de Clery. The coffins up to the XIV. c. 
 were in stone, after that in lead. The effigies placed here 
 by St. Louis cannot be considered as portraits. The first 
 statue which appears to aim at portraiture is that of Phi- 
 lippe le Hardi. After the time of Henri II. no royal monu- 
 ments were erected, and two long lines of coffins of fifty- 
 four members of the House of Bourbon were placed on 
 iron trestles in the sanctuary of the crypt, without tombs. 
 The Dauphin, eldest son of Louis XVL (June, 1789), 
 filled the last place which remained unoccupied ; a new 
 burial-place was in contemplation, when the Revolution 
 cleared out all the vaults. Up to that time, besides the 
 abbots of St. Denis, only twelve illustrious persons had 
 received the honor of burial amongst the kings — Pierre de 
 Nemours and Alphonse de Brienne, who died before 
 Carthage in 1270, and whose remains were brought back 
 with those of St. Louis ; Du Guesclin, the liberator of 
 France, and his brother in arms, Louis de Sancerre ; Bureau 
 de la Riviere, the faithful councillor of Charles V. and 
 Charles VI. ; Arnaud de Guilhem, killed at the battle of 
 Bulgue'ville, 143 1 ; Se'dile de St. Croix, wife of Jean Pas- 
 tourel, councillor of Charles V. ; Guillaume de Chastel, 
 killed at the battle of Pontoise, 1441 ; Louis de Pontoise. 
 killed at the siege of Crotoy, 1475 ; ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ Chatilloii, 
 
1 66 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 killed at the taking of Ciiarenton, 1649 ; and the Marquis 
 de St. Maigrin, killed fighting in the Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 1652 ; lastly, Turenne, whose body was removed to the In- 
 valides bv order of the first consul. 
 
 Between August 6 and 8, 1793, fifty monuments were 
 thrown down at St. Denis, but by the indefatigable energy 
 of a single private cititzen, Alexandre Lenoir, the greater 
 part of the statues and several of the tombs in stone and 
 marble were preserved, and removed to a Muse'e des 
 Monuments Francais at Paris. The monuments in metal 
 were almost all melted down, though they included the 
 precious recumbent statue of Charles le Chauve, the 
 tomb of Marguerite de Provence, the mausoleum of 
 Charles VIII., and the effigy of the Sire de Barbazan, 
 signed by Jean Morant, founder at Paris. At the same 
 time the royal coffins were rifled of silver-gilt crowns, 
 sceptres, hands of justice, rings, brooches, the distaffs of 
 two queens, and many precious stuffs. 
 
 A royal ordinance of December, 18 16, ordered the 
 closing of the historical museum, and the restoration to 
 the churches of such fragments of tombs as were pre- 
 served. A number of monuments from the abbevs of St. 
 Genevieve, St. Germain des Pre's, and Royaumont ; from 
 the convents of the Cordeliers, Jacobins, Celestins, and 
 other religious orders, were then sent to St. Denis with 
 those which had originally belonged to the church. Only 
 such tombs as were too large to be placed in the crypt 
 were left above ground ; the rest were arranged in the 
 vaults, where they continued till the restoration of the 
 monuments of St. Denis to their original site was begun 
 by VioUet-le-Duc, and the effigies brought from other sites 
 placed as near as possible to the tombs of those with 
 whom they were connected. 
 
MONUMENTS OF ST. DENIS 167 
 
 According to present arrangements, the monumental 
 treasures of St. Denis may be glanced at, but they cannot 
 be seen. Every half-hour (except i p.m.) on week days, 
 and between 3.30 and 5.30 on Sundays, parties of ten are 
 formed and hurried full-gallop round the church under the 
 guardianship of a jabbering custode, who is unaule to 
 answer any question out of the regular routine, allows no 
 one to linger except over the XIX. c. monuments, which 
 he greatly admires, and is chiefly occupied by the "Gentle- 
 men and ladies, please remember your guide," at the end 
 of the survey. Wooden barriers prevent any one from 
 approaching the tombs, so little is gained beyond a con- 
 sciousness that they are there. As the tombs are always 
 shown from the left, we follow that course here. 
 
 At the end of the open part of the left aisle of the nave 
 is the little Chapelle de la Trinite. It contains the tombs 
 of Charles de Valois, Comte d\4lencoji, 1346, and his wife 
 Marie d^ Espag?ie, 1379, brought hither from the great 
 church of the Jacobins at Paris. Charles de Valois fell 
 in the battle of Crecy: his shield, sword, and baldrick 
 were formerly covered with enamelled copper like those 
 of the Earl of Cornwall in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In the same chapel is the tomb of Leoji de Liisigjian, 
 King of Armenia, 1393, who died at Paris and was buried 
 with great magnificence by Charles VI. in the church of 
 the Celestins, whence his monument was brought here. 
 His statue lies on the spot where tradition says that Christ 
 entered the church to consecrate it in person. 
 
 Passing the barrier, the Chapelle de St. Hippolyte on the 
 left — open towards the aisle— is devoted to the family of 
 Valois or of St. Louis. The first group of monuments in 
 point of date is that of Philippe, brother of St. Louis ; Louis, 
 eldest so?i of St. Louis, 1260 ; Louis and Philippe, sons of 
 
i68 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Pierre, Comie d^Alejifon, and grandso?is of St. Louis, XIII. c. 
 All these were originally buried in the abbey which St. 
 Louis founded at Royaumont, and were brought hither on 
 its suppression in 1791. The figures of the brother and 
 son of St. Louis rest on tombs surrounded by niches full 
 of figures. Those on the tomb of Prince Louis represent 
 the funeral procession which accompanied his remains to 
 Royaumont. Henry III. of England, who was at that 
 time at Paris, was amongst those who carried the coffin, 
 and is thus represented in a relief at the foot of the tomb. 
 The two Alengon children died in infancy, and lie on the 
 same tomb, divided into two niches ; but this tomb is a 
 copy, the original, with that of a child of Philippe, Comte 
 d'Artois, 1291, also from Royaumont, is in the "magasin" 
 of the church ! Charles d^AnJou, Ki?ig of Sicily and Jeru- 
 salem, 1285, brother of St. Louis, is buried at Naples, with 
 a magnificent monument, but his heart was brought to the 
 church of the Jacobins at Paris, where his great-grand- 
 daughter. Queen Clemence de Hongrie, erected (1326) the 
 tomb which we now see here ; his right hand holds a 
 sword, and his left a heart. Blanche, third daughter of St. 
 Louis, 1320, married Ferdinand, eldest son of Alfonso X. 
 of Castile, but returned to France after his death, and 
 died in the convent of the Cordeliers in the Faubourg St. 
 Marcel, which she had founded, whence her tomb was 
 brought hither. She is represented in extreme youth. 
 Louis, Comte d'Evreux, 13 19, son of Philippe le Hardi, 
 and his wife, Marguerite d^Artois, 13 11, were buried in the 
 church of the Jacobins at Paris, whence their monument 
 was brought here. The figure of the Countess is one of 
 the best mediaeval statues known — both as to expression 
 and costume : at her feet two little dogs play with some 
 oak-leaves. Charles, Comte de Valois, 1325, third son of 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS 169 
 
 Philippe le Hardi, and chief of the royal branch of Valois, 
 was also brought hither from the church of the Jacobins, 
 his second wife, Catherine de Courfenay, 1307 (daughter 
 of Philippe, titular Emperor of Constantinople, from whom 
 she inherited the title of empress), was brought to St. 
 Denis from the monastery of Maubuisson : her statue has 
 the peculiarity of being in black marble. Cleme?tce de 
 Ho?igrie, 1328, second wife of Louis X., and daughter of 
 Charles Martel (d'Anjou), King of Hungary, was brought 
 hither from the Jacobins. The efhgies of Blanche d^Evj^eux^ 
 second queen of Philippe VI., 1398, and their daughter 
 yeanne de France, 137 1? rest on the spot which their tomb 
 formerly occupied in the centre of the Chapelle St. Hippo- 
 lyte, but the original black-marble tomb surrounded by 
 twenty-four statuettes of the ancestors of Blanche d'Evreux 
 is destroyed. The queen had formerly a metal crown. 
 Jeanne de France died at Beziers on her way to marry 
 Jean d'Aragon, Due de Gironne, but was brought for 
 burial to St. Denis. The statue erect against a pillar is 
 that of a Prioress of Poissy, Marie de Bourbon, 1402, 
 daughter of Pierre I., Due de Bourbon, and sister-in-law of 
 King Charles V, She received the veil in her fourth 
 year. Her effigy remained till the last century in the con- 
 ventual church of St. Louis de Poissy, attached to a pillar. 
 
 On the right of the aisle is the pillar in honor of Car- 
 dinal Louis de Bourbon, 1557 (son ofFran9ois de Bourbon, 
 Comte de Vendome, and Marie de Luxembourg), arch- 
 bishop of Sens and abbot of St. Denis. He is buried at 
 Laon, which was one of his five bishoprics, but his heart 
 was brought hither. The pillar formerly bore a kneeling 
 statue of the cardinal. 
 
 Close to this, but inside the choir, is the red-marble 
 twisted column in memory of Henri III., 1589, assassin- 
 
170 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 ated at St. Cloud, and first buried at the abbey of St. 
 Corneille de Compeigne, whence his remains were brought 
 hither in 1610, to be buried in the chapel of the Valois. 
 
 Now, on the right, we see, restored to their original 
 position between the choir and the transept, four tombs 
 bearing statues — Robert le Picux, 1031, and Constance 
 d'Arlcs, 1032, daughter of Guillaume, Comte de Provence; 
 Henri I., 1060, founder of St. Martin les Champs, and 
 Louis VI., 1 13 7; Philippe k Jeime^ eldest son of Louis 
 VI., 1 131 (who was crowned in the lifetime of his father, 
 1 129, and was killed by a fall from his horse), and Coti- 
 stance de Castille, 11 60, daughter of Alphonso VIII., who 
 married Louis VII. after his divorce from Eleanor of 
 Aquitaine ; Carloman, 771, king of Austrasia, and brother 
 of Charlemagne, who died at twenty-one, and JSrmejttrude, 
 869, first wife of Charles le Chauve. All this series be- 
 longs to the effigies erected by St. Louis to the memory of 
 his ancestors in the XIII. c. Near these are the tombs of 
 Louis X., le Hufin, 1316, who died at Vincennes; the 
 charming little effigy oiJea:i Z, 1316, son of Louis X., who 
 was born at the Louvre four months after his father's 
 death, and only lived five days ; and Jeaiine de France^ 
 1349, eldest daughter of Louis X. and Marguerite de 
 Bourgogne, wife of Philippe le Bon, king of Navarre. 
 Further inside the choir are tombs copied from those 
 originally existing in the abbey of Royaumont, and sup- 
 porting effigies brought from thence oijean Tristan and 
 Blanche, children of St. Louis, in enamelled copper. 
 Blanche died 1243 ; Jean, who accompanied his father to 
 the Crusades, died before him on the coast of Africa in 
 1247. 
 
 On the left, on either side of the entrance to the north 
 transept, are statues brought from Notre Dame de Corbeil 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS j^i 
 
 — a king and queen, which have been long regarded, but 
 with much uncertainty, as representing Clovis and Clotilde. 
 Hard by is the splendid tomb of Louis XII., 15 15, and 
 his second wife, A?me de Bretagne, 15 14, executed at Tours 
 by Jean Juste. ^ A large square base supports an edifice 
 pierced by twelve arches, within which the royal pair are 
 represented as skeletons, whilst above they kneel, as in 
 life, with joined hands before a prie-dieu, in statues which 
 are supposed to be portraits of the utmost fidelity. Statues 
 of Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance are seated 
 at the angles ; between the arches are statues of the apos- 
 tles, and on the base are four bas-reliefs of wonderful 
 workmanship, representing the campaigns of the king in 
 Italy. In this monument, says Liibke, " French sculpture 
 attained its classical perfection." 
 
 " On the burying-place of Louis XII. and Queen Anne, King 
 Francis, their son-in-law and successor, erected a sumptuous 
 mausoleum of fine white marble two stories high, which is one of 
 the finest, not to say the finest, piece of work in Europe. There 
 is a tomb in this mausoleum in which lie the bodies of the king 
 and queen in leaden coffins, as sound and whole as when they 
 were placed there. On that of the king, at the head, there is a 
 crown of gilt copper, formed like an imperial crown, and on that 
 of his wife a simple ducal crown. At the feet of the two coffins 
 are their epitaphs engraved on plates of tin." — Gennain Millet, 
 XVII. c. 
 
 " Faithful to his promises, the first observer of the laws he 
 gave, a foe to intrigue and quibbling, loving to take counsel of 
 learned men, and rejecting that vanity which is common to so 
 many sovereigns, which believes that omniscience is united to 
 omnipotence, Louis was truly a good king." — Tozichard-Lafosse, 
 '^ Hist, de Paris.'' 
 
 The next great monument, of Henri II., 1559, and 
 Catherine de Mtdicis, 1589, is the masterpiece of Germain 
 
 1 In 1531, Francis I. commissioned Cardinal Duprat to pay Jean Juste of 
 Tours for the monument of the " feu roy Loys et royne Anne." 
 
1^2 BAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Pilon. It formerly occupied the centre of a magnificent 
 chapel of its own, destroyed in 17 19, when it was trans- 
 ferred to the north transept. The royal pair are again 
 here represented twice — below, in the sleep of death, the 
 queen beautiful as at the time of the death of her husband, 
 whom she survived thirty years; above, kneeling in royal 
 
 TOMB OF LOUIS XII. ST. DENIS. 
 
 robes. The bas-reliefs of the stylobate represent Faith, 
 Hope, Charity, and Good Works. 
 
 "The Cavalierb Bernini admired the tomb of the Valois, he 
 who could find nothing passable in France." — Satival, " An- 
 tiqiiite's dc Paris.'' 
 
 Near the tomb of Henri H, is that of Guillawne du 
 Chasfel, 1441, "panetier du roi," killed at the siege of 
 Pontoise, and buried here by Charles VII. on account of 
 his grea^ valor and services to the state. He is repre- 
 sented in complete armor. 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS 
 
 173 
 
 Beyond this, in the Chapelle Notre Da??ie la Blanche, 
 are three tombs. The first bears the efiigies of Philippe V., 
 /e Zong, 1322 ; his brother, Charles IV., le Bel, 1328, with 
 his wife, Jca?me d'Evreux, 137 1, long his survivor. The 
 second is that of Blanche de France, 1392, daughter of 
 Charles IV., and wife of Philippe, Due d'Orleans, fifth 
 son of Philippe de Valois. The third effig}^ represents 
 Jean II., le Bon, who was taken prisoner at the battle of 
 Poitiers, and died at the Savoy in London, 1364.^ It was 
 to this chapel that Queen Jeanne d'Evreux gave the 
 image of the Virgin which is now at Paris, in the church 
 of St. Germain des Pre's. 
 
 On the right of the stairs ascending to the sanctuary, 
 between them and the choir, are the cenotaph monuments 
 of Clovis I, 511, and his son Childebert I., 558. The 
 statue of Clovis, of XII. c, comes from a tomb which 
 occupied the centre of a (now destroyed) church which he 
 founded under the name of the Saints-Apotres, and which 
 afterwards took that of St. Genevieve. The king has the 
 long hair and beard of the Merovingian race. The statue 
 of Childebert I. comes from his tomb in the centre of the 
 choir of the church which he founded in honor of St. Vin- 
 cent, afterwards St. Germain des Pre's.- 
 
 Ascending the steps, we find, on the right, the tomb of 
 a prince, supposed to be a Comte de Dreux, fi-om the church 
 of the Cordeliers : the epitaph was destroyed in a fire at 
 the monastery in 1580. Close by is an Unknown Frificess, 
 supposed to represent Blanche, daughter of Charles IV. 
 
 On the left, in the Chapelle St. Eiistache, the second 
 
 1 An authentic portrait of Jean le Bon, on wood, was, till recently, pre- 
 served at the Sainte Chapelle. 
 
 - Three sculptured gravestones placed by the Benedictines of St. Germain 
 des Pres over the graves of Clotaire II., his wife Bertrude. and Childeric II., 
 have been left neglected in the " magasin " of St. Denis. 
 
174 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 quadrangular chapel of the apse, we are surprised to find 
 Hcfiri II. and Catherine de Medicis, a second time, lying 
 on a bronze bed. The statues are splendid works of Ger- 
 main Pilon, and were only brought to St. Denis in 1589, 
 after the death of Catherine de Medicis. Behind this 
 tomb is the kneeling statue of Marie de Boicrbo7i^ 1538, 
 which once existed, with that of her sister Catherine, in 
 the abbey of Notre Dame de Soissons, of which the latter 
 was abbess. They were daughters of Charles de Bourbon, 
 Due de Vendome, and sisters of Antoine de Bourbon, 
 father of Henri IV. Marie was betrothed, in 1535, to James 
 V. of Scotland, but died before her marriage could take 
 place. On this spot formerly stood the monument of Tu- 
 renne, now at the Invalides. 
 
 The seven semicircular chapels of the chevet are dedi- 
 cated to St. Osmanne, St. Maurice, St. Peregrin, the Vir- 
 gin, St. Cucuphas, St. Eugene, and St. Hilaire. A num- 
 ber of ancient inscriptions, and some sepulchral stones of 
 abbots of St. Denis, have been placed in these chapels. 
 
 On the south side of the Sanctuary, but behind the 
 high-altar, inserted in a modern altar-tomb, is the curious 
 mosaic tomb oi Fredegonde, wife of Chilperic I., 597. The 
 queen — who, amongst many others, murdered her brother- 
 in-law, stepson, husband, and the bishop Pretextatus at 
 the altar — is represented with crown and sceptre, and royal 
 mantle. The tomb comes from St. Germain des Pres. 
 
 The Sacristy is adorned with modern paintings relating 
 to the history of the abbey. In an adjoining room is the 
 Treasury, now of little interest. 
 
 To the south of the high-altar, the side of the Epistle, 
 has been restored the tomb of Dagoberf., 638, long exiled 
 to the porch of the nave. This king died in the Abbey of 
 St. Denis. His gothic monument is probably due to St. 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS 
 
 175 
 
 Louis. A modern statue has been copied from the frag- 
 ments broken at the Revolution. At the sides of the arch 
 are the statues of Nantilde, wife of Dagobert, and Clovis 
 II., their son. The relief behind represents the legend 
 that, when Dagobert was dying, St. Denis appeared on the 
 shore of Sicily to a holy hermit named John, bidding him 
 arise instantly and pray for the departing king. He had 
 scarcely obeyed when he beheld, on the neighboring sea, a 
 boat full of demons, who were flogging the king as he lay 
 bound at the bottom of the vessel. The soul is repre- 
 sented as a naked figure crowned. Dagobert was crying 
 for help to his three favorite saints — Denis, Maurice, and 
 Martin. Forthwith the three saints appeared in the midst 
 of a mighty tempest, and snatched their servant from the 
 hands of his oppressors, and as they bore him, sustained 
 on a sheet, to celestial spheres, the hermit heard them sing- 
 ing the words of Psalm Ixv., " Blessed is the man whom 
 thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he 
 may dwell in thy courts." Guillaume de Nangis, who nar- 
 rates the vision of the hermit John, in his XIII. c. chroni- 
 cle, adds : 
 
 " Et se ne me croyez, allez a Sainct Denis en France, en 
 I'eglise, et regardez devant I'autel ou len chante tous les jours la 
 grant messe, la ou le roy Dagobet gist. La verrez-vous au-dessus 
 de luy ce que vous ay dit, pourtraict et de noble euvre richement 
 enluminee." 
 
 A seated wooden statue of the Virgin, near the tomb of 
 Dagobert, comes from the church of St. Martin des Champs 
 at Paris. Descending the steps of the sanctuary, we find on 
 the left four tombs bearing statues to Pepin, 768, who was 
 buried near the high-altar, with the good queen Berthe, 
 783 ; and to Louis III., ZZ},, and Carloman, 884, sons of 
 Louis II. The latter was killed at eighteen, in hunting, by 
 
176 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 the carelessness of one of his servants, and died refusing 
 to give his name, that he might not be punished ; his ad- 
 mirable statue is full of youthful grace. 
 
 Here is the entrance to the Crypt, of which the walled- 
 in central part, a relic of the XL c, has served since the 
 time of Henri IV. as a burial-place for the princes and prin- 
 cesses of the blood royal. It now contains the coffins of 
 Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Louis XVIII. , Mesdames 
 Adelaide and Victoire de France (brought from Trieste, 
 where they died), Charles Ferdinand, Due de Berry, and 
 two of his children, who died in infancy, Louis Joseph, 
 Prince de Conde, and Louis Henri Joseph, Due de Bour- 
 bon, father of the Due d'Enghien. Here also are Louis 
 VI I. , brought from the Abbey of Barbeau near Melun, and 
 Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., brought from the 
 church of the Capucins at Paris. In a walled-up chapel at 
 the end of the crypt aisle — Le Caveau de Turenne — have 
 been placed all the remains of earlier kings and queens- 
 which were exhumed from the trench into which they were 
 thrown at the Revolution. In the eastern chapel are kneel- 
 ing figures by Gaulle and Petitot to Louis XVI. and Marie 
 Antoinette. In another chapel is a monument to Louis 
 XVIII. by Valois, and a relief to Louis XVII In a third. 
 a relief commemorates Mada77ie Louise, daughter of Louis 
 XV., who died a nun at St. Denis. In a fourth is a statue 
 of Charlemagne by Gois, made by order of Napoleon I.; 
 in a fifth a monumental statue to Diane de Fra7ice, 16 19, 
 Duchesse d'Angouleme et de Montmorency, brought from 
 the Minimes of the Place Royale. On the wall to the 
 south is a bust of Louis XI. A passage containing four 
 huge statues of Religion, Courage, France, and Paris, by 
 Cortot and Dupaty, intended for the tomb of the Due de 
 Berry, murdered 1820, leads to an inner crypt. Here are 
 
THE CRYPT 177 
 
 tombs to Henri IV., Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria ; 
 Louis XIV., and Marie Therese, and Louis XV. The reliefs 
 placed over the burial-place of the heart of Louis XIII. 
 were brought from the Grands-Jesuites (Sts. Paul et Louis) 
 at Paris, and are the work of Jacques Sai-azin. Here also 
 a tomb bears medallions to Mesda7?ies Adelaide and Vic- 
 toire and I heir niece, Madaine Elizabeth, the brave and 
 saintly sister of Louis XVI. The Caveau Imperial, which 
 Napoleon III. made to receive his dynasty, is quite un- 
 tenanted. 
 
 Returning to the upper church, we find on the left the 
 Chapelle de St. yea7i-Baptiste or des Connetables, which con- 
 tains the very interesting tomb of Bertrand Duguesclin, 
 Comte de Longueville and Constable of France, who died 
 in 1380 before the walls of Chateauneuf de Rangon. 
 
 " ' Messire Bertrand jura que jamais ne partiroit d'illec qu'il 
 n'eut le chatel a son plaisir. Mais une maladie le prit, dont il 
 accoucha au lit ; pour ce ne se defit mie du siege ; mais ses gens 
 en furent plus aigres que devant " (Froissart). The Marechal de 
 Sancerre informed the English governor, in the name of Du Gues- 
 clin, that all the garrison would be put to the sword if it was taken 
 by assault. The hostile leader capitulated, and brought the keys 
 of the castle to Messire Bertrand ; he found him stretched on his 
 death-bed. The good constable collected the remains of his 
 forces to receive this trophy of his conquest, and gave up the 
 ghost a few moments afterwards, at the age of sixty-six." — Mar- 
 tin, '^ Hist, de France.'' 
 
 " Decimam Gallorum ex gente figuram, 
 Militis insignis Claschina, prole Britanna 
 Nati, Bertrandi, quo nullus major in armis 
 Tempestate sua fuit, aut praestantior omni 
 Virtute, et toto fama praeclarior orbe." 
 
 Antoiiie Astesan, 1451. 
 
 The funeral oration of Bertrand Duguesclin in 1580 is 
 the first example of a funeral oration pronounced in a 
 
178 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 church.^ A white marble statue commemorates the Con- 
 stable Louis de Sancerre, 1402^ brother-in-arms of Ber- 
 trand Duguesclin and Olivier de Clisson. "'Enfants,' 
 disait-il a ses gens lorsqu'ils allaient en guerre, ' en 
 quelque etat qu'un homme se trouve, il doit toujours faire 
 son honneur. ' " 
 
 Near Duguesclin, two months later, was laid the king 
 he served, Charles V., le Sage, 1380 — whose characteristic 
 statue reposes on a modern tomb of black marble, with 
 that of his queen jfeaime de Bourbon, i377) daughter of 
 Pierre I., Due de Bourbon, who was killed at Poitiers. 
 The statue of the queen was brought from the church of 
 the Celestins at Paris, where her entrails were buried, as 
 is indicated in the figure, by the bag in its hands, which is 
 supposed to contain them. From the same church were 
 brought two niches containing statues of Charles V. and 
 Jeanne, which formerly decorated the portal, destroyed in 
 
 1847. 
 
 Another modern tomb bears the remarkable effigies — 
 apparently portraits — of Charles VI., 1422, who died 
 insane, and his wicked wife Isabeau de Baviere, 1435. H^'* 
 crowned head bears a double veil, the upper fastened to 
 the lower by long pins. This hated queen was brought 
 to St. Denis in a boat by night, unattended — " ni plus ni 
 moins qu'une simple demoiselle." ^ A third tomb, almost 
 similar to the two last, commemorates Charles VII., 14-61, 
 and his wife, Marie d^AnJou, 1463, daughter of Louis 11., 
 king of Naples. 
 
 Against the wall of this chapel, the burial-place of 
 Charles V., have been placed two curious sculptured slabs 
 commemorating the Battle of B olivines, 12 14, brought from 
 the church of St. Catherine du Val-des-Ecoliers, founded 
 
 ^ Saint-Foix, Essais hist, sur Paris. - Brantome. 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS 
 
 179 
 
 by the sergeants-at-arms in thanksgiving for that victory, 
 the Confraternity of Sergeants-at-arms owing its foundation 
 to Charles V. The inscriptions on these curious monu- 
 ments tell how St. Louis laid the first stone of the church 
 of St. Catherine as a thank-offering for the victory of Bou- 
 vines. " Les sergents d'armes, qui gardaient le pont, 
 avaient promis une eglise a Madame Sainte Catherine, si 
 Dieu leur donnait victoire, et ainsi fut-il." The first of the 
 slabs bears one of the earliest known representations of 
 St. Louis. 
 
 To the wall of the transept is removed the beautiful 
 canopied tomb erected, in the church of the Ce'lestins at 
 Paris, by Fran9oise d'Alengon, to her seven-years-old 
 child, Re7iee d^ Orleans LoJigueville^ 15 15) daughter of Fran- 
 cois IL, Due de Longueville, who died in the abbatial 
 hotel of St. Genevieve. The crowned effigy of the child, 
 holding a rosary, rests upon a slab of black marble sup- 
 ported on a sarcophagus, decorated with statuettes of 
 virgin saints. Above are other virgin patronesses — the 
 Madonna, Margaret, Catherine, Barbara, and Genevieve 
 bearing a lighted taper, which a devil tries to extinguish 
 and an angel to keep alight. 
 
 Descending the church, we now come on the right to 
 another group of tombs. That of Isabelle d'Aragoriy 1271, 
 daughter of James L, king of Aragon, who died from a 
 fall from her horse while crossing a river at Cosenza in 
 Calabria, bears her white marble effigy with two little dogs 
 at her feet. Around, in white-marble letters inlaid in the 
 black, is the most ancient rhythmical inscription at St. 
 
 Denis : — 
 
 " Dysabel lame ait paradys 
 
 Dom li cors gist sovz ceste ymage 
 Fame av roi philippe ia dis 
 Fill lovis roi mort en cartage 
 
i8o DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Le jovr de sainte agnes seconde 
 Lan mil CC. dis et soisente 
 A cvsance fv morte av monde 
 Vie sanz fin dexli consente." 
 
 The tomb of Philippe le Hardi, 1285, who died at Per- 
 pignan, bears an efBgy which is supposed to be the eadiest 
 authentic royal portrait-statue at St. Denis. Close by is 
 the monument of Philippe IV., le Bel, 13 14, with a well- 
 preserved but mannered statue. Behind are the tombs of 
 Clovis II., 656, son of Dagobert I. and Nantilde, and 
 husband of St. Bathilde (buried at Chelles) ; and Charles 
 Martel, 741, son of Pepin d'Herstall, famous for his 
 victories over the Saracens, who held the title of Maire in 
 the palace of the Francs, or of " Due des Frangais." 
 
 On the left side of the transept door is buried Suger, 
 the great abbot of St. Denis, who built the greater part of 
 the church, and governed France during the crusade of 
 Louis VII. 
 
 We now reach, on the left, the magnificent tomb of 
 Francois I., 1547, and his wife Claude de France, 152 1, one 
 of the most perfect masterpieces of renaissance archi- 
 tecture and sculpture in France, designed by Philibert 
 Delorme, with royal effigies by Jean Goujon, and exquisite 
 sculptured details by Germain Pilon, Pierre Bontemps, 
 Ambroise Perret, Jacques Chantrel, Bastien Galles, Pierre 
 Bigoigne, and Jean de Bourges. The tomb is an edifice 
 of white marble — of which the east and west facades are 
 adorned, each with twent}'-one reliefs representing the 
 campaigns of the king, with the battles of Marignan and 
 Ce'risoles. Within the open arches, Frangois— a sublime 
 dead warrior — and Claude (who died at tvventy-one), a 
 gentle, melancholy girl, are seen lying in death. On the 
 platform above they are represented a second time, kneel- 
 
"PflE ROYAL TOMBS 
 
 i8l 
 
 ing in life, with their children behind them — Charlotte de 
 France, who died at eight years, the dauphin Francois, and 
 Charles, Due d'Orleans. 
 
 "They exhibit dignity, simplicity, and repose, and the 
 greatest nobleness of conception ; the wide and yet unpretend- 
 ing garments fall in a noble manner, and the linely-characterized 
 heads display great depth of expression." — Liibke. 
 
 Under one of the arches of the wall arcade is the 
 figure, brought from the church of the Jacobins in Paris, of 
 Beatrix de Bourbon, 1383, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of 
 Louis I., Due de Bourbon, and great-granddaughter of St. 
 Louis, whose first husband was Jean de Luxembourg, 
 King of Bohemia, killed upon the battle-field of Cre'cy, 
 and who afterwards married Eudes, lord of Grancey in 
 Burgundy. 
 
 Behind the tomb of Frangois I. and Claude, in the 
 chapel of St. Michel, is the exquisite urn, sculptured by 
 Pierre Bontemps, to contain the heart of Francois I., which, 
 after the death of the king at Rambouillet (March 31, 
 1547), was taken to the abbey of Notre Dame de Hautes- 
 Bruyeres. Close to the urn, on its ancient site, is the 
 effigy of Princess Marguerite, 1382, daughter of Philippe 
 le Long, and wife of Louis, Comte de Flandre, killed at 
 the battle of Crecy. She died at the age of seventy- 
 two, having endowed the chapel, where she was buried. 
 Much more of the original tomb remains in the magasin 
 of the church. 
 
 Near the aisle is the tomb of Charles, Comte d^Etampes, 
 1336, son of Louis, Comte d'Evreux, brought from the 
 church of the Cordeliers at Paris, where it occupied a 
 place behind the high- altar. 
 
 The group of monuments behind was originally erected 
 by Louis XIL, the son of Charles, Due d'Orleans, to his 
 
i82 DAVS NEAR PARIS 
 
 father, uncle, grandfather, and grandmother, in the church 
 of the Celestins at Paris. The fragments were brought 
 hither and restored. On a quadrangular base, surrounded 
 by twenty-four niches, are the statues of Charles^ Due d" Or- 
 leans, 1465, and Philippe, Co77ite de Vertus, 1420. Between 
 these figures rises a sarcophagus bearing the effigies — full 
 of character — of their parents, Louis de France, Due d^ Or- 
 leans, 1407, second son of Charles V., and his wife Val- 
 entine de Milan, 1408, from whom both Louis XI L and 
 Francois I. descended. Twenty of the statuettes which 
 surround the tomb are ancient. It was Louis d'Orleans 
 who built the chateaux of Pierrefonds and la Ferte-Milon, 
 and who was murdered in the Rue Barbette. Charles 
 d'Orleans was the poet-duke, who languished as a prisoner 
 at Windsor for twenty-five years after the battle of Agin- 
 court. With these monuments at the Celestins was the 
 urn of the little Due de Valois, 1656, with the touching 
 inscription by his parents, the Due and Duchesse d'Or- 
 leans : — 
 
 " Blandulus, eximius, pulcher, dulcissimus infans, 
 Deliciae matris, deliciseque patris, 
 Hie situs est teneris raptus Valesius annis, 
 Ut rosa quae subitis imbribus icta cadit." 
 
 The Magasi?ts of the church still contain many pre- 
 cious historic fragments, and it is much to be regretted 
 that they are not all replaced in the upper church. A 
 mutilated effigy, if ' original, or a fragment of a sepulchral 
 canopy, would always have an interest which no later, 
 though perfect, work can inspire. 
 
 A modern copy near the high-altar commemorates the 
 famous Orifia?n77ie {aurijia77ima — from its red and gold), 
 the standard of St. Denis, which became the banner of the 
 kings of France, and always accompanied them to the 
 
THE ROYAL TOMBS 183 
 
 battle-field : its last appearance was on the field of Agin- 
 court. The other precious objects which once filled the 
 treasury of St. Denis, and which included the chair of 
 Dagobert, the hand of Justice of St. Louis, the sword of 
 Jeanne Dare, and the coronation robes of Louis XIV., all 
 perished at the Revolution. Waxen effigies of the French 
 kings were formerly to be seen here, as still at West- 
 minster. 
 
 ' In a certain loft or higher roome of the church I saw the 
 images of many of the French kings, set in certain woden cup- 
 bords, whereof some were made onely to the middle with their 
 crownes on their heads. But the image of the present king 
 (Henri IV.) is made at length with his parliament roabes, his 
 gowne lined with ermins, and his crowne on his head." — Coryafs 
 "' Crudities y 
 
 The Abbey of St. Denis, ruled by a line of sixt}'-three 
 abbots, several of whom were kings of France, has entirely 
 disappeared. Mme de Maintenon appropriated its reve- 
 nues for the institution of St. Cyr. A house of education 
 for daughters of members of the Legion of Honor occupies 
 the modern buildings. 
 
 In the church called La Fa7visse, which was the chapel 
 of the Carmelite convent, a grave is pointed out as that 
 of Henriette d'Angleterre, youngest daughter of Charles I., 
 and wife of Gaston d'Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. ; her 
 body, however, was amongst those exhumed in the abbey 
 church. 
 
 In the Carmelite convent, Louise Marie de France, 
 "Madame Louise," third daughter of Louis XV., took the 
 veil in 1770; there she was constantly visited by her 
 nephew, Louis XVI., and there she died, before the trou- 
 bles of the Revolution, December 23, 1787. 
 
 "A moment before her death, she cried, 'It is time, then,' 
 
184 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 and a few instants afterwards, ' Come, let us rise, let us hasten 
 to Paradise.' These were the last words pronounced by this 
 saintly princess." — Proyart, " Vie de A/adame Louise." 
 
 After a morning passed laboriously at St. Denis, a 
 delightful afternoon may be spent in the forest of Mont- 
 morency, returning to Paris in the evening. There is, how- 
 ever, nothing especial to see, and the excursion is only 
 worth while to those not pressed for time, who wish for a 
 pleasant drive or walk in pretty country. Trains may be 
 joined at St. Denis. They run every hour from the Gare 
 du Nord to — 
 
 ii|-/^. Enghien les Bams (Hotel dcs Qiiatre Pavilions)^ 
 a village much frequented, since 1821, for its mineral wa- 
 ters, with an artificial lake. Here trains are changed. 
 The line then passes — 
 
 Soisy, where James H. of England lived for a time, 
 and planted a wood which bears his name. 
 
 14/^. Montmorency (Hotel de France; Cheval Blanc), 
 where numbers of carriages, horses, and donkeys are wait- 
 ing for excursions in the forest. This pretty place, famous 
 for its cherries, has, from the X. c, given a name to one 
 of the most illustrious families in France. Its chateau, 
 with halls decorated by Lebrun and gardens by Lenotre, 
 has perished, and most of the tombs of the Montmorency 
 family in the Church were destroyed in the Revolution : 
 that of the great Constable Anne — the brave warrior who 
 served under five kings, fought in two hundred battles, and 
 was unable to read — was broken up, and its fragments are 
 now to be seen in the Musee of the Louvre, to which the 
 portrait of Guillaume de Montmorency, which hung in the 
 church, has also been removed. Between the Rue Notre 
 
MONTMORENCY 
 
 '85 
 
 Dame and the Rue de Paris are some remains of an old 
 convent of the Templars. 
 
 Turning to the left from the station, and following the 
 boulevard to the end, we find, on the left, two groups of 
 fine old chestnut trees. In front of the first of these, "Z<z 
 Chataigneraie,''^ are several restaurants ; in the second is a 
 very ugly ruined house of three stories, with some doggerel 
 verses on its face. This is the so-called " Hermitage " 
 built for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Mme d'Epinay, on a 
 site where the hermit Leroy had built a cottage in 1659. 
 Rousseau came to inhabit it April 9, 1756, and wrote his 
 Nouvelle Helo'ise there. He thus describes his retreat, to 
 M. de Malesherbes : — 
 
 "What time, would 3'ou believe, sir, I recall most frequently 
 and most willingly in my dreams? It is the pleasures of my 
 retreat, it is my lonely walks, it is the quick passing yet delight- 
 ful days, that I have passed with myself, with my good and 
 simple housekeeper, with my beloved dog, with my old cat, with 
 the birds of the fields and the fawns of the forests ; with absolute 
 nature and her author, who is be3'ond all conception. Rising 
 before the sun, to go and see and contemplate his rising in my 
 garden, when I saw a fine day begin, my first wish was that 
 neither letters nor visits should come to break its chaim. . . . 
 I hurried through dinner to escape importunate guests. Be- 
 fore one o'clock, in even the most scorching days, I set out, in 
 full sunshine, with my faithful Achates hurrjang on, in the dread 
 that some one might come and seize me before I had been able 
 to get away ; but, once that I had doubled a certain corner, with 
 what thrills of joy did I begin to breathe as I found myself saved, 
 saying to myself, * Now I am my own master for the rest of the 
 day ! ' I then went, with a more tranquil step, to seek some wild 
 spot in the forest .... some asylum to which I could fancy I 
 had been the first to penetrate, and where no importunate third 
 person could come to interpose between nature and me. It was 
 here that she seemed to unfold to my eyes a magnificence ever 
 new. The gold of the broom and the purple of the heather 
 struck my eyes with a luxuriance which touched my heart ; the 
 majesty of the trees that covered me with their shade, the deli- 
 
i86 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 cacy of the shrubs that engirt me, the astonishing variety of 
 the trees and the flowers I trod beneath my feet, kept my spirit in 
 a continual alternation of observation and admiration ; the 
 assemblage of so many interesting objects that disputed for my 
 attention, attracting me ceaselessly from one to another, favored 
 my dreamy, idle humor, and made me often repeat inwardly, 
 ' No, Solomon, in all his glory, was never clad like one of 
 these.' . . . 
 
 "So passed away, in a continual delirium, the most charm- 
 ing days that ever human creature has passed ; and when the set- 
 ting of the sun made me think of retiring, astonished at the 
 quick flight of time, I believed I had not profited sufficiently by 
 my day." 
 
 The hermitage, becoming national property at the Rev- 
 olution, passed into the hands of Robespierre, who slept 
 there only three days before his execution. In 1798, the 
 house was bought by the musical composer Gretry, who 
 wrote there his six volumes of Reflexions dhin solitaire, 
 and died in 18 13. His heart was buried in the garden, 
 but afterwards removed. 
 
 One of the old chestnut trees in front of the house is 
 especially shown as having been planted by Rousseau. 
 When he left the hermitage in Dec. 15, 1757, he moved to 
 the house called Le Petit St. Louis, where he finished the 
 Nouvelle Heloise, and sta3'ed till April 9, 1762. A stone 
 table on its terrace bore a copper plate, inscribed — 
 
 " C'est ici qu'un grand homme a passe ses beaux jours ; 
 
 . Vingt chefs-d'oeuvre divers en ont marque le cours ; 
 C'est ici que sont nes et Saint Preux et Julie, 
 Et cette simple pierre est I'autel du genie." 
 
 The first turn on the left of the boulevard after leaving 
 the station, and then the first turn to the right, takes us 
 into the Foret de Montmorency. After emerging from the 
 village, the main road follows a terrace on the hillside, 
 with a beautiful view over Paris, the plain, and the low- 
 
GROLA Y 187 
 
 wooded hills. At 3 k. is Andilly, once the property of the 
 famous Arnaud d'Andilly, who sold it when he retired to 
 Port-Royal. Half an hour's walk from hence, through the 
 forest, leads to the XIV. c. Chateau de la C/iasse, once 
 moated and surrounded by four towers, of which two 
 remain. A little north-west of this is the valley of St. 
 Radegonde, so called from a chapel belonging to the 
 abbey of Chelles. It was here that the minister Roland 
 took refuge in the Revolution, before he fled to Rouen. 
 The village of Grolay (i\ /^.), where the church has good 
 stained glass, is another spot which may be visited from 
 Montmorency. 
 
VII. 
 
 ST. LEU TAVERN Y, THE ABBA YE DU VAL, AND 
 
 PONTOISE. 
 
 THIS is a delightful summer clay's excursion from the 
 Gare du Nord. Tickets must be taken to St. Leu 
 Taverny, thence to Meriel, thence to Pontoise. 
 
 \Z.k. St. Leu Taverny (Hotel, Croix Blanche). — The 
 modern church faces the station, at the end of a road lined 
 by villas. (The sacristan is to be found at No. 12 Grande 
 Rue.) Behind the altar is the stately tomb of Louis Bona- 
 parte, King of Holland, who died at Leghorn, desiring to 
 be brought hither to rest by the two sons who had died 
 before him. Below the king's statue are busts of his father 
 and his two sons ; on either side are statues — Faith and 
 Charity. In the crypt beneath are four huge sarcophagi, 
 of equal size, though the elder boy, Napoleon, died at five 
 years old. The death of the second boy, Louis, at Forli, 
 was a terrible affliction to Napoleon I. and Josephine. 
 
 "This child would have been, had he lived, a very dis- 
 tinguished man. He was extraordinarily like his father, and 
 consequently like the Emperor. He was a charming child, with 
 a goodness and firmness of character that equally spoke of a 
 moral resemblance with his uncle." — "Ule/iioircs dc la Diuhesse 
 d'Abranth:' 
 
 Opposite the sarcophagus of King Louis is that of his 
 father, Charles Bonaparte, who died at Montpelier. 
 
ST. LEU TAVERN Y 189 
 
 A chapel, which belonged to an older church, contains 
 the tomb of Mme le Broc, niece of the famous Mme 
 Campan, who fell from a precipice whilst visiting a water- 
 fall near Aix les Bains, in the presence of her sister, Mare- 
 chale Ney, and of Queen Hortense, to whom she was 
 lady-in-waiting. The queen herself is buried with Joseph- 
 ine at Rueil. 
 
 St. Leu Taverny once possessed two famous chateaux. 
 One of these belonged to the Due d'Orleans, whose chil- 
 dren were educated there by Mme de Genlis. The other 
 had been inhabited by the Constable Mathieu de Mont- 
 morency. The grounds of the chateaux were united by 
 Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I., and that of 
 Montmorency pulled down. The other chateau became a 
 palace and gave the title of Comte de St. Leu to King 
 Louis after he abdicated the throne of Holland ; after his 
 separation from Queen Hortense, St. Leu was made a 
 duchy for her. After the second Restoration, the Prince 
 de Conde, Due de Bourbon, bought St. Leu, and was 
 found hanged to the cord of the window, August 28, 1830. 
 He bequeathed St. Leu to his mistress, Mme,de Feucheres, 
 who sold it, and the chateau was pulled down in 1835. 
 
 Five minutes' walk from the church (turning to the left 
 from the door^ and again to the left by the Rue du Cha- 
 teau) on the site of his chateau, is a garden with a cypress 
 avenue and a cross in memory of the Due de Bourbon. 
 
 "The Duke de Bourbon was hanging from the fastening of the 
 north window, by two handkerchiefs passed one through the 
 other ; the first forming a f^at elongated ring, the second, an oval, 
 the lower part of which supported the lower jaw, and ended be- 
 hind the head on the top. The handkerchief, intended to choke, 
 had not a running noose, it did not press the artery, left the nape 
 visible, and was so loose that between the folds and the head 
 some of the spectators could easily insert their fingers. . . . 
 
190 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 This arrangement and the appearance of the body, strongly re- 
 futed the hypothesis of suicide. They struck with surprise most 
 of the witnesses." — Louis Blanc, ''Hist, de dix ansy 
 
 Taverny, 2 k. from St. Leu, has a church, partly XIII. c. 
 The Hue runs through cherry orchards to — 
 
 2^k. Me?-y. The church contains several spoils of the 
 Abbaye du Val — a XV. c. pulpit, an XVIII. c. lectern, 
 four stalls, and some tombs, especially those of Charles 
 
 ABBAYE DU VAL. 
 
 Villiers of ITsle-Adam, Bishop of Beauvais, and of Charles 
 de Montmorency and his third wife, Peronnelle du Villiers. 
 The sanctuary is XIII. c, except the vaulting. Behind is 
 a chateau built by Pierre d'Orgemont, Chancellor of 
 France, at the end of the XIV. c. 
 
 2Zk. Meriel, whence it is 2 k. to the Abbaye du Val. 
 Turn to the left from the station, under the railway ; then 
 take the first turning to the left, where a tramway crosses 
 the road. On reaching a cross in the cornfields, turn to 
 the right, and, in the next wooded hollow, find the gate of 
 the enclosure of the Abbaye du Val, which was founded 
 
ABBA YE DU VAL igi 
 
 1 1 25, and was a favorite resort of the kings of France. In 
 1646 it was united witli the Monastery of the Feuillants at 
 Paris. Sold at the Revolution, it has since been partially 
 demolished for the sake of its materials. Still, there are 
 huge remains. The existing buildings include the east 
 corridor of the cloister, with several vaulted halls, of which 
 the pillars are partially buried, on the ground floor, includ- 
 ing the chapter-house and refectory of late XII. c. On 
 the first floor is the ancient dormitory, a vast vaulted gothic 
 hall, divided into two aisles by eight columns with sculpt- 
 ured capitals. The divisions of the cells are marked by 
 the windows, each monk having one. Near the south 
 gable of this dormitory stood the church, of which the 
 walls of the apse and some pillars on the south have been 
 unearthed. To the west of the cloister are several low 
 vaulted gothic halls, a staircase of the XIII. c, and a ves- 
 tibule rebuilt in the XVII. c. Opposite the farm stood 
 the palace of the abbot, of which only the foundations re- 
 main. On the ground floor of an adjacent building, the 
 lavatory of the monks remains, on the line of the stream 
 Vieux-Moutier ; on the first floor is a gallery of the XV. c; 
 under ground is a gallery communicating from the 
 lavatory with the cellar and ice-house of XIII. c. The 
 very picturesque moulin d'eii haut (threatened with de- 
 struction, 1887) has perfectly-preserved buildings of the 
 XV. c, on the brook Vieux-Moutier, of which the source 
 is not far distant. 
 
 One of the high officials of the first empire, Comte 
 Regnault de Saint-Jean-d'Angely, transformed the abbey 
 into a chateau, and raised a colossal statue of Napoleon I. 
 in the park ; but all his works have already perished. 
 
 Pedestrians will walk across to the station of Auvers, 
 on the opposite line, or one may go on from Meriel to the 
 
192 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 next station of Valmondois, and there wait for a train going 
 south to — 
 
 T)2i k. (from Paris), Auvers. — The noble cruciform 
 church, situated on a height, has a picturesque gabled 
 tower. The chapel at the end of the left aisle is XII. c. 
 The choir was rebuilt in the XVI. c. The nave (XIII. c. 
 or early XIV. c.) is surrounded by a gothic gallery. 
 
 29 /^. Pofttoisc (Hotels du Pontoise, de la Gare ; omni- 
 bus 20 c. ). — A very picturesque little town on a height 
 above the Oise, which is crossed by a stone bridge of five 
 
 FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MILL (ABBAVE DV VAL). 
 
 arches. Pontoise existed in the time of the Gauls, who 
 
 called it Briva Isarae (the bridge of the Oise) : the 
 
 Romans called it Pons Isarae. The early kings of France 
 
 were often here. Philippe I. coined moneta Fontisiensis, 
 
 St. Louis spent the early years of his married life here, in 
 
 a castle in the upper tower, Mont Belien,^ and here, after 
 
 recovering from a dangerous illness, in 1244, he took the 
 
 vows of a crusader. 
 
 "La roine mere faisoit a la roine Marguerite de grandes 
 rudesses ; elle ne vouloit souffrir que le roi hantat la roine sa 
 
 * Only destroyed in the XVIII. c. 
 
PONTOISE IQ2 
 
 femme, ni demeurat en sa compagnie ; et, quand _e roi chc- 
 vauchoit aucunes fois par sa royaumc avec les deux roines, com- 
 munenient la roine Blanche faisoit separer le roi ct la roinc 
 Marguerite, et ils n'etoient jamais logis ensemblement. Et 
 advint une fois qu'eux etant a Pontoise, le roi etoit loge au- 
 dessus du logis de la roine sa femme et avait instruit ses huissiers 
 de salle de telle fagon, que quand il etoit avec ladite roine et que 
 madame Blanche vouloit venir en la chambre du roi ou en celle 
 de la roine, les huissiers battoient les chiens, afin de les faire 
 crier, et, quand le roi entendoit cela, il se mussoit [se cachait] de 
 sa mere." — Joi/iville. 
 
 In 1437 ^^^ town was taken by the English under 
 Talbot, who covered his men with white sheets, and so 
 enabled them to come close to the walls unobserved dur- 
 ing a hea\y snowstorm. Amongst the many historical 
 events which have since occurred at Pontoise, we may 
 notice the consecration of Bossuet, as Bishop of Meaux, 
 in the church of the Cordeliers, which possessed a mag- 
 nificent refectory, three times used for meetings of Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 Winding streets lead up into the town, passing the 
 church of Notre Dame, which is renaissance, though 
 founded XIII. c. It has a very wide central aisle, on the 
 right of which is the beautiful altar-tomb of St. Gautier, 
 1 1 46, bearing his figure, with four little angels swinging 
 censers at the extremities. Gautier was the first abbot of 
 St. Martin of Pontoise. Disagreeing with his monks, he 
 fled from them to Cluny, but was forced to return in 1072 : 
 soon he left them again, to live in a cave, where he gave 
 himself up to flagellation and penance, and finally he 
 found a more complete seclusion on an island near Tours. 
 He died in 1094, and, as he was censured by the Council 
 of Paris for his opinions, imprisoned for contumacy, and 
 frequently reproved for his wandering tendencies,^ it is 
 
 ^ Gallia Christiana., x. 254. 
 
ig4 DAYS NBA A' PARIS 
 
 strange that he should have been enrolled amongst the 
 saints. 
 
 Finely placed, at the highest point of the town, is the 
 vast and stately church of St. Maclou, which has a noble 
 tower and flamboyant west front. The choir and transept 
 date from the XII. c, but have later vaulting. In the 
 Chapelle de la Passion (first, left) is a splendid St. Sep- 
 ulcre with eight statues : the Resurrection is represented 
 above, and, on the side wall, the Maries hurrying to the 
 tomb. The Hotel Dieu, founded by St. Louis, was rebuilt 
 1823-27 : its chapel contains the Healing of the Paralytic, 
 a good work of Philippe de Champaigtie. At the entrance 
 of the town was a convent of English Benedictines, trans- 
 ferred to Boulogne in 1659. It contained the tomb of 
 John Digby, brother of an Earl of Bristol, inscribed "Hie 
 jacet umbra, et pulvis, et nihil." 
 
 The famous Foire de St. Martin is held at Pontoise on 
 November 11, 12, and 13, and is the most important fair 
 in the neighborhood of Paris. 
 
 Beyond the river, at 2 y^., is Aumb7ie^ where the church 
 of St. Ouefi, founded in the X. c, has a romanesque XL c. 
 portal, and contains an image of the Virgin, given by 
 Queen Blanche to the Abbey of Maubuisson. Returning 
 from St. Ouen d'Aumone to the highway, we should cross 
 the road, and then the railway by an iron bridge, to where 
 the gate of the famous Abbey of Maubuisson still crosses a 
 lane on the right, and supports a covered passage. The 
 greater part of the abbey ruins are in the beautiful gardens 
 of the adjoining chateau, but travellers are allowed to see 
 them on applying to the concierge. When the abbey was 
 founded, in 1236, by Queen Blanche of Castile for nuns 
 of the order of Citeaux, it was at first called Notre Dame 
 la Royale ; but the name of Maubuisson, which is that of 
 
ABBA YE DE MA UB UISSON 
 
 195 
 
 a neighboring fief, has prevailed. As she felt the approach 
 of death (1253), Queen Blanche summoned the abbess to 
 her palace at Melun, and received the monastic habit from 
 her hands, and, after her death, she was buried, with great 
 pomp, in the church of Maubuisson. Here, in 13 14, 
 Blanche, daughter of Othelin, Comte de Bourgogne, and 
 wife of Philippe de Poitiers, son of Philippe le Bel, ac- 
 cused, with her two young sisters-in-law, of adultery, was 
 
 
 GATEWAY (aBBAYE DE MAUBUISSON"). 
 
 shut up for life. But the convent itself had a very scan- 
 dalous reputation in later days, especially when Angelique 
 d'Estrees, sister of the famous Gabriel le, obtained the ap- 
 pointment of abbess from Henri IV., and spent five-and- 
 twenty years in corrupting the sisterhood. 
 
 "Without any hyprocrisy, without any veil or subterfuge, 
 she boldly organizes a worldly life. The abbey becomes that of 
 Thelema ; cards, tables, receptions, promenades, dainty colla- 
 tions, plenty of play acting, and dancing, all in company of gen- 
 tle cavaliers, amuse the leisure of these recluses. This mirthful 
 abode is the meeting-place of the young nobility of the neighbor- 
 
196 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 hood. Even the religious of St. Martin took their share in the 
 fete, and nuns and monies gave themselves the pleasure of a ball 
 together." — Barron. 
 
 Angelique Arnauld was sent from Port Royal to spend 
 five miserable years in the uphill work of reforming Mau- 
 buisson, where she had been educated in her early child- 
 hood, and Angelique d'Estrees, arrested by the general of 
 her Order, was carried off to the Filles Penitentes de St. 
 Marie, at Paris, where, though she once contrived to es- 
 cape and return to Maubuisson for a time, she ended her 
 days. Succeeding abbesses were not, however, much 
 more virtuous, certainly not Louise-Marie HoUandine, 
 Princess Palatine (daughter of Frederick IV. of Bohemia 
 and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I.), and aunt of 
 George I. of England, appointed abbess in 1664, who had 
 had fourteen children, and used to swear " par ce ventre 
 qui a porte quatorze enfants." ^ In her latter days, how- 
 ever, this abbess became perfectly respectable, and was 
 very highly esteemed. 
 
 " I have again made a visit to my aunt, the Abbesse of Mau- 
 buisson, and found her, thanks be to God, still more lively and 
 gay than the time before. She has more gaiety, more vivacity, 
 sight and hearing better than mine, although she is thirty years 
 older, for on the ist of April she was seventy-seven. She is 
 painting a very pretty picture for Madame, her sister, our dear 
 Electress of Brunswick ; it is the Golden Calf after Pussin. She 
 is adored in her convent, she leads a very rigid but tranquil life, 
 never eats meat, unless seriously sick, sleeps on a mattress hard 
 as a stone, has only straw chairs in her chamber, and rises at 
 midnight to pray. She forgets English less than German, for 
 every day some English come to see her, and besides she has 
 English nuns in her convent." — Correspondance de Madame. 
 
 The ruins are of great extent, though the abbey church 
 was so completely destroyed at the Revolution that noth- 
 
 * Lettres cT Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d^Orlcans. 
 
ABBA YE DR MAUBU/SSOA' jgj 
 
 ing remains but bases of walls and pillars, and the altar, 
 embedded in shrubs and flowers. Greatly to be regretted 
 are the magnificent tombs, including those of Blanche of 
 Castile; of Bona of Luxembourg; of Charles le Bel; of 
 a brother of St. Louis ; of Jean de Brienne, Prince of Acre ; 
 of Jeanne de France, daughter of Charles le Bel and 
 Blanche de Bourgogne ; of Catherine of France, daughter 
 of Charles V. ; of Jeanne, daughter of Charles VI. ; and 
 of Gabrielle d'Estrees, who was brought hither to be buried 
 in the choir of her sister's abbey, in April, 1599. The 
 centre of the choir was occupied by the tomb of the found- 
 ress^ inscribed — 
 
 " Ex te, Castella ! radians ut in aethere Stella, 
 Prodiit haec Bianca, quam luget natio Franca. 
 Rex pater Alphonsus, Ludovicus Rex quoqiie sponsus. 
 Quo viduata regens agit ut vigeat requiescens. 
 Hinc peregrinante nato, bene rexit ut ante ; 
 Tandem se Christo coetu donavit in isto, 
 Cujus, tuta malis, viguit gens Franca sub alls, 
 Tanta prius, talis jacet hie Pauper Monialis." 
 
 The two last words allude to the fact that the queen 
 took the monastic vows five days before her death. 
 
 The magnificent refectory is entire, in which the pri- 
 oress, Mme de Cleri, rebuked Henri IV. with profaning 
 the temples of God, when he came with Gabrielle d'Estrees 
 to the abbey. It has a vaulted roof, supported by four 
 columns, but is subdivided into an orangerie and dairy. 
 The gravestone of a bishop is preserved here. The dor- 
 mitory above is destroyed, and replaced by a terrace, at 
 the end of which some curious openings are seen, over 
 a stream which runs below at a great depth. In the gar- 
 dens, where the Mere Marie Angelique used to walk with 
 St. Francois de Sales, there are some traces of the Palace 
 
198 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 o\ St. Louis. " La Chapelle dc Nuit de St. Louis," sup- 
 ported by two columns, remained entire till 1884, when 
 the columns suddenly gave way, without a moment's warn- 
 ing, and all was instantaneously buried in ruin. A little 
 XVII. c. pavilion of the abbess — a kind of summer-house 
 — remains. There is a magnificent monastic barn, divided 
 into three aisles by pillars ; attached to the gable on the 
 interior is a tourelle with a staircase to the roof Tourelles 
 of the XIV. c. remain at the angles of the park wall. 
 
 " In the plan of the Abbey of Maubuisson there is still found 
 the primitive severity of the Cistercian arrangements, but, in the 
 style of the architecture, concessions have been made to the pre- 
 vailing taste of the epoch ; sculpture is no longer excluded from 
 the cloisters, the rigorousness of St. Bernard yields to the needs 
 of art, which then made itself felt even in the most modest 
 buildings. The Abbey of Maubuisson was at the same time an 
 agricultural establishment and a school for young girls. We 
 see, on examining the plan of the abbey, that this monastery 
 did not differ from those adopted for communities of men." — 
 Viollet-le-Duc. 
 
VIII. . 
 
 ECOUEN, ROYAUMONT, ST. LEU-D' ESSERENT, 
 CREIL, NO GEN T-LE S- VIER GE S. 
 
 REACHED from the Gare du Nord, Ecouen is on the 
 Hne from Paris to Beauvais. Ecouen and Royau- 
 mont {via Viarmes) may be visited in one day's excursion ; 
 St. Leu d'Esserent and Nogent-les-Vierges in another. 
 The train which leaves Paris about 10.15 allows three 
 hours at St. Leu, which gives time for luncheon at the little 
 inn by the river. From Creil one can walk or drive to 
 Nogent-les-Vierges, and return to Paris by the express 
 trains in one hour. 
 
 The line to Ecouen follows the Chemin-de-fer du Nord 
 to St. Denis, whence we branch off on the left to — 
 
 13/^. Groslay. — The church, XIII. c. and renaissance, 
 has good XVI. c. windows. 
 
 15/^. Sarcelles-St. Brice. — St. Brice has a XIII. c. 
 steeple, and Sarcelles (i >^., by omnibus) has a curious 
 church of the XII. c. and XVI. c, with a renaissance 
 portal and romanesque steeple. 
 
 18 k. EcoueJi. — The town is 2 k. from the station. An 
 omnibus meets every train. Ecouen is a pretty wooded 
 spot. The little town clusters around a little square with 
 an old chestnut tree. The renaissance church with fine 
 vaulting and glass (attributed to Jean Cousin) in the 
 
200 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 chancel and aisle, was built by Jean Bullant for the famous 
 Anne de Montmorency, at the same time with the mag- 
 nificent chateau, which rises above the houses. The gothic 
 choir windows bear the device of the Montmorency, 
 aTtAavw^, and the dates 1544, i545- Bullant, who wrote 
 his Traite des cinq ordrcs oh manieres at Ecouen, died here 
 in 1578, and had a monument, which is now destroyed, in 
 the church. 
 
 The chateau of Ecouen was founded in the XI. c, by 
 the Barons de Montmorency. The Connetable Anne de- 
 molished the ancient fortress, and replaced it by a magnifi- 
 cent renaissance palace by Bullant. Primaticcio furnished 
 designs for the two chapel windows. It was here that 
 Henri II. published his famous edict of 1559, pronouncing 
 sentence of death against the Lutherans. Confiscated 
 from the Montmorency under Louis XIII., Ecouen was 
 given to the Duchesse d^Angouleme, and passed to the 
 house of Conde, to whom it belonged till the Revolution, 
 when its treasures were dispersed. Napoleon restored 
 the fabric of the chateau, and made it a school for 
 daughters of members of the Legion of Honor, under 
 the famous Mme Campan. It was restored to the Prince 
 de Conde at the Restoration, but returned to the State in 
 1852, and is now once more a school, for the daughters of 
 officers. There is no admittance to the chateau or its 
 pretty gardens ; but the buildings are well seen from the 
 gate. 
 
 4 k. north of Ecouen is Le Mesnil-Aubry, with a very 
 handsome renaissance church ; its side wall, of XV. c, has 
 its ancient windows. 
 
 2o|Z', Domont. — The choir of the church is XII. c; 
 in the nave and transept are curious XIII., XV., and 
 XVI. c. gravestones. 
 
ABBA YE DE ROYAUMONT 
 
 201 
 
 25 /'. Monsoult. — 2 k. north-west is Maffliers^ with a 
 church partly due to Phihbert Delorme. 
 
 A branch leads east to — 
 
 7 k. Viarmes. — 3 k. north are the interesting remains 
 of the still occupied Abbey of Royaumont (Mons Regalis), 
 founded in 1230 by St. Louis, who often made it a retreat, 
 
 chAteau of ^couen. 
 
 eating with the monks in the refectory, and sleeping in 
 their dormitory. Five of his children were buried in the 
 beautiful XIII. c. church, which is now a ruin. The 
 effigies of Prince Jean Tristan and Princess Blanche are 
 now at St. Denis. Amongst other tombs which once 
 existed here, was that of Henri de Lorraine, Comte d'Har- 
 court, 1666, a chef-d'oeuvre of Coysevox. 
 
 The cloister and the refectory, which resembles that of 
 St. Martin des Champs at Paris, are preserved. In the 
 
202 -DA YS NEAR PARTS 
 
 centre of the Litter is an admirable reader's pulpit. Visitors 
 are not admitted to the abbey. 
 
 12 k. LuzarcJies (Hotel, St. Dai7iieii). — The church is 
 XII., XIII., and XIV. c. There are remains of a chateau, 
 and of the priory of St. Come, with a gate over a steep 
 street. 3 k. south is the stately XVI. c. Chateau de Cham- 
 pldtreux, belonging to the Due d'Ayen. The abbey of 
 Rocquemont was bought at the Revolution by Sophie 
 Amould and turned into a villa, whence she went to 
 represent the Goddess of Liberty in the civic fetes at 
 Luzarches. 
 
 Zzk. Fresles.—ThQ church is XIII., XVL, and XVIII.c. 
 Raoul de Presles was an author well known in the XIV. c. 
 3 k. east, in the forest of Carnelle, is La Pierre Ttirqiioise^ 
 a subterranean avenue of Druidical stones. 
 
 38 k. Persa7i-Beaui7i07it. — The little town of Beau77i07it- 
 sur-Oise gave a title of count to the family of Conti. It 
 has a fine XIII. c. church, with a crocketed stone spire, 
 and remains of a chateau of the same period. Behind the 
 town is the Forest of Car7iene. Here we join the main- 
 line from Paris to Creil via Pontoise, which has passed at — 
 
 40 k. L' Isle-Ada77t, where the Princes de Conti had a 
 magnificent chateau,^ destroyed at the Revolution, on an 
 island in the Oise ; nothing remains but a terrace. A 
 modern villa replaces the chateau. The place owes its name 
 to its island, upon which the Constable Adam built a 
 chateau in 1019, under Philippe I. The church is of the 
 XVI. c, but has a portal attributed to Philibert Delorme, 
 and was built at the cost of Anne de Montmorency ; in 
 
 ^ Armand de Conti inherited it as the second son of his mother, Charlotte 
 de Montmorency, Princesse de Conde, sister and heiress of Henri II. de Mont- 
 morency, beheaded at Toulouse in 1633. 
 
S T. LE U-D' ESSE REN T 
 
 203 
 
 one of its modern stained windows the great seigneurs ol; 
 I'lsle-Adam — Philippe de VilUers, Louis de Villiers, Anne 
 de Montmorency, and Francois de Bourbon, Prince de 
 Conti, are seen assisting at a mass celebrated by St. Martin 
 of Tours. \rv a chapel to the left is the tomb, partially de- 
 stroyed at the Revolution, of Louis Francois de Bourbon, 
 Prince de Conti, exiled to his estates of Isle-Adam by the 
 vengeance of Mme de Pompadour, whom he had treated 
 with great disdain. To the north-east and south-east is 
 the Forest of V Isle- Adam. 
 
 After passing Beaumont the line reaches — 
 53 k, Boran. — A suspension bridge over the Oise leads 
 (4 k. south-east) to the Abbey of Royaumont (see above). 
 6 /'. east is the old chateau of La Morlaye, occupying the 
 site of the Merovingian villa of Morlacum. 
 
 di k. St. Leii-d^ Esserent^ famous for its quarries of 
 Pierre de St. Leu. The noble and picturesque church 
 stands finely on a terraced height. It is approached by a 
 striking XII. c. porch with a chamber above it. The 
 steeple, of 11 60, has the singularity of detached hips only 
 united by rings to the main spire. To the south and west 
 the church is surrounded by buttresses and flying but- 
 tresses. Kt the east end is a romanesque tower on either 
 side of the sanctuary, which is beautifully constructed. 
 
 "If it is desired to ascertain the extreme limit to which the 
 architects of the end of the XII. c. attained in lightness of the 
 internal points of support, and in stability, obtained by means of 
 the equilibrium of opposing forces, it is necessary to see the 
 sanctuary of the church of St. Leu-d'Esserent." — Viollet-le-Dtic. 
 
 There are considerable remains, near the west end of 
 the church, of a priory, founded within the fortifications of 
 his castle by Hugues d'Esserent, Comte de Dammartin, in 
 the XL c, in gratitude to the Benedictines of the Wood 
 
204 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 of St. Michel, who paid his ransom when lie was taken 
 prisoner whilst on pilgrimage to Palestine. The most 
 remarkable remnant of the j^riory is a machicolated gate- 
 way of the XIV. c., intended apparently as much for the 
 entrance to a farm as for a fortified gate. There are beau- 
 tiful later renaissance buildings. 
 
 6t k. Creil (Buffet ; Hotel de PEpee, Leon d^ArgeJit^ 
 des Cheniijis-de-fer)^ the ancient Credulium, is a pretty town 
 on the Oise. Its old turreted houses rise straight from 
 
 ST. leu-d'esserent. 
 
 the river by the bridge, with the church spire behind them. 
 In the castle, pulled down by the Prince de Conde before 
 the Revolution, was a chamber, with a balcony enclosed 
 by an iron grille, where Charles VI. was shut up during 
 his madness. The island, where the castle once stood, is 
 now occupied by the remains of the Abbey of St. Evre- 
 mond, of which the desecrated choir exists, and shows 
 some friezes of great beauty. The Church has a tower 
 and crocketed spire (1551) ; near the entrance (right) are 
 
NOGENT-LES- VIERGES 
 
 205 
 
 remains of a chimney for warming the water used in 
 baptisms. 
 
 I k. north-west of Creil is Nogent-les- Vierges, where 
 Clovis is said to have had his camp when he drove out the 
 Roman legions from Gaul, and where the earliest kings 
 had a palace, in which Thierry III. was surprised by the 
 rebel Ebroin, maire du palais, in 673. 
 
 
 :^-. >^-s.— '>-^ 
 
 *^V/— -^<^ 
 
 ^ •'^srS^, 
 
 
 
 
 
 NOGENT-LES-VIERGES. 
 
 To the right is the Chu?'ch of Villcrs St. Paul Its 
 nave and aisles are romanesque, with gothic arches rest- 
 ing upon its huge columns and capitals. The choir and 
 tower, flanked by four tourelles, are gothic. The porch, 
 in the fagade, has curious sculptures. 
 
 A road turning to the left at the entrance of the village 
 
2o6 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 of Nogent, past the front of the chateau of Villers, leads 
 for 2 k. along the foot of the hills to the hamlet of Royau- 
 mont, above which, strikingly placed on the steep rocky 
 crest of a wooded hill, with an old chateau nestling under 
 it, and a wide view over the plain, is the interesting Church 
 of JVogent-les-Vierges, dedicated to the Assumption. The 
 beautiful tower has three tiers of arcades, ornamented at 
 the angles by columns, twisted or adorned with foliage, 
 and with a gabled roof. The very ancient nave — with 
 gothic additions — has stone roofs. Two bas-reliefs on the 
 pillars under the tower come from the destroyed church of 
 St. Marguerite at Beauvais. The gothic choir was added 
 by St. Louis : it is lighted by seven lancet windows of 
 three lights, with roses above them. The monument of 
 Messire Jehan Bardeau is signed by Michel Bourdin. In 
 front of this is a shrine with relics of Sts. Maura and 
 Bridget, Irish virgins, w^ho gave a name to the place, hav- 
 ing been buried here after their martyrdom at Baligfiy 
 I k. distant. Close by is the sepulchral chapel of Mare- 
 chal Gerard. 
 
 " It happened that, in the time of Pope Urban III. (who 
 flourished in 1185), the servants of Messire Garnier, Chevalier de 
 Senlis, lost one night a black-haired cow, and it passed the night 
 in the cemetery of Nogent on the tomb of the virgins ; the men, 
 having found her lying down, forced her to get up, and found 
 that she had become zuhite on the side that had touched the tomb ; 
 marvelling as they did, one of them said to the other that it was 
 not the cow they had lost ; the other replied, that if it was the 
 same, she would return to her place just as she was accustomed, 
 and this she did ; which caused the servants to repeat this marvel 
 to all whom they met, showing the cow that had turned white on 
 one side. After this, the place began to be honored and visited 
 by those afflicted by various maladies, wlio, returning, in great joy 
 and gladness, sound and whole, gave praise to God. Some time 
 thereafter the same cow, being again astray and passing the night 
 at the same spot, lying on the tomb of the holy virgins, the serv- 
 
VILLERS ST. PAUL 207 
 
 ants, not finding her, went to look in the same spot as they 
 had previously, and there they found her lying down, and, forcing 
 her to get up, they found her entirely white. The fame of the mir- 
 acle being spread abroad through all France, people came in great 
 abundance to Nogent, desiring to see this marvel, and many, 
 affected by divers maladies and languors, returned home sound 
 and whole. Henceforth the village of Nogent was christened les 
 Viei'ges.'" — Louvet, " Hist, de la ville Beajivais." 
 
 Behind the church is a desecrated cemetery, overgrown 
 with juniper. The gray walls and arches of the church, 
 the old elm in front clustered with misletoe, the wide 
 porch with its deep shadows, the broken tomb-stones, and 
 the little encircling chapels, are well adapted for a picture. 
 
 At the spot called La Croix des Vierges, a XIV. c. col- 
 umn marks the spot where the oxen stopped which drew 
 the chariot of Queen Bathilde, when she was attracted 
 to Nogent, in 645, by the fame of the miracle-working 
 virgins. 
 
 Passing in front of the chateau of Villers we may soon 
 reach the Church of Villers St, Paul. The nave and its 
 aisles are romanesque, with gothic arches resting upon its 
 huge columns and capitals. The choir and the tower, 
 flanked by four tourelles are gothic. The porch, in the 
 facade, has curious sculptures. 
 
IX. 
 
 CHANTILLY AND SEN LIS. 
 
 A DELIGHTFUL excursion of three day^ from Paris 
 may be made by spending the first between Chan- 
 tilly and Senlis, and sleeping at the latter; spending the 
 second morning at the Abbaye de la Victoire, proceeding 
 by rail to Pierrefonds, via Crepy-en-Valois, and sleeping at 
 Compiegne ; on the third day seeing Compiegne, and re- 
 turning via Creil. 
 
 The direct line from Paris to Chantilly branches off 
 from the main line at St. Denis. There is no beauty till it 
 enters the forest of Chantilly. It passes — 
 
 31^. Survilliers, where the chateau was bought by 
 Joseph Bonaparte^ who took the name of Comte de Sur- 
 villiers when he went to America after the fall of the Em- 
 pire. \k. east, near Plailly, is Morfontaine — where the 
 treaty of peace between France and the United States was 
 signed — the favorite residence of Joseph Bonaparte. 
 
 "At Morfontaine, sailing on the lakes, reading, billiards, 
 literature, ghost stories, more or less well told, ease, and entire 
 liberty, formed the life led there. Joseph Bonaparte was torn 
 from his peaceful tastes to go and reign over the Parthenope of 
 antiquity. 
 
 " ' Leave me King of Afoi-ffli2l<tiin\' he said to his brother. ' I 
 am much more happy in this enclosure, the end of which I see, it 
 is true, but where I can diffuse happiness around me.' 
 
CHAN TILLY 
 
 209 
 
 " His wife, Mme Joseph Bonaparte, also felt the same regret 
 at quitting her quiet habits, but Napoleon had spoken, and noth- 
 ing remained but to be silent and obey." — Memoircs de la Duchesse 
 if Ah'antes. 
 
 After Joseph Bonaparte, Morfontaine was possessed by 
 the Due de Bourbon, who left it to his mistress, Mme de 
 Feucheres. 
 
 40/^. Chantilly (Hotels, du Cygne, d^ Angleterre) was 
 the Versailles of the Princes de Conde. The famous Con- 
 stable Anne de Montmorency inherited Chantilly through 
 his grandmother, Marguerite d'Orgemont. He built the 
 existing chateau in the style of the Renaissance, uniting it 
 to the feudal castle, which had existed from the ninth cent- 
 ury. Henri H., Due de Montmorency, grandson and heir 
 of the Constable, was beheaded at Toulouse for joining in 
 the conspiracy of Gaston d'Orleans against Richelieu. His 
 confiscated domains were given by Louis XHI. to his sis- 
 ter Charlotte, who married Henry H., Prince de Conde, 
 and was the mother of the Grand Conde, of Armand de 
 Bourbon, Prince de Conti, and of the Duchesse de Longue- 
 ville.^ The magnificence of Chantilly dates from the 
 Grand Conde, under whom the gardens were designed by 
 Lenotre, and the waters of the Nonette and the Theve 
 pressed into service for magnificent cascades and foun- 
 tains. The most celebrated of the fetes given by the 
 Grand Conde at Chantilly was that to Louis XIV., in 
 April, 167 1. When it was in prospect Mme de Sevigne 
 wrote : 
 
 ^ The House of Conde descended from Louis I. de Bourbon, fifth and last 
 son of Charles de Bourbon, Due de Vendome, young^er brother of Antoine de 
 Bourbon, King of Navarre. He was first cousin of Henri IV. By his first 
 wife, he was the father of Henri, Prince de Conde; by his second wife, of 
 Charles de Bourbon, founder of the branch of Soissons. The Princes de Conti 
 descended from Armand de Bourbon, son of Henri H. de Conde, and younger 
 brother of le grand Conde. 
 
210 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 "The king is to go to Chantilly on the 25th of this month ; 
 he will be there a whole day. Never were such expenses incurred 
 at the triumphs of the Emperors as will be there. Nothing is too 
 dear ; all kinds of pretty fancies are entertained without regard 
 to money. It is believed that the Prince will not get off under 
 40,000 crowns." 
 
 It was at this fete that the famous cook Vatel killed 
 himself because the fish was late. 
 
 " Vatel, the great Vatel, maitre-d'hotel of M. Fouquet, who 
 was at this time, that of the Prince, this man of distinguished 
 capacity, above all the others, whose good head was capable of 
 holding the cares of a state, seeing at eight o'clock that the sea- 
 fish had not arrived, could not endure the dishonor which he saw 
 about to crush him, and, in a word, stabbed himself. 
 
 "The king arrived Thursday evening: the promenade, the 
 collation in a spot carpeted with jonquils, all that, was perfec- 
 tion. Then supper ; at some of the tables there was no roast, 
 on account of several dinners that had been overlooked. This 
 hurt Vatel ; he said several times, ' I have lost my honor, this is 
 a disgrace I shall not support.' He said to Gourville, ' My head 
 is turned ; for twelve nights I have not slept ; help me to give 
 orders.' Gourville consoled him as well as he could. The roast 
 that was missing, not at the table of the king, but at that of 
 the Vingt Cinquihncs, always returned to his mind. Gourville 
 told the Prince, the Prince went to Vatel's room, and said, 
 'Vatel, all is going on well ; nothing was so fine as the king's 
 supper,' He replied, ' Monseigneur, your goodness oppresses 
 me. I know that the roast was wanting at two tables.' ' Not at 
 all,' replied the Prince ; ' do not trouble yourself, all goes on well.' 
 Midnight came ; the fireworks were not a success, owing to 
 clouds ; they cost sixteen thousand francs. At four in the morn- 
 ing Vatel went through the place and found everybody asleep. 
 He met a petty purveyor, who brought only two loads of sea-fish. 
 He asks him, ' Is this all ?' ' Yes, Monsieur.' He did not know 
 that Vatel had sent to all the seaports. Vatel waits some time ; 
 the other purveyors do not arrive ; he becomes heated ; he fancied 
 that there would be no more sea-fish. He sought out Gourville, 
 and said, 'Monsieur, I shall not survive this disgrace.' Gour- 
 ville laughed at him. Vatel went up to his room, placed his 
 sword against the door, and passed it through his heart, but not 
 
CHANTILLY 211 
 
 till the third attempt, for he had given himself two wounds that 
 were not mortal ; he falls dead. The fish begins to arrive from all 
 sides. Vatel is looked for to distribute it ; they go to his room, 
 knock, force the door, and find him bathed in his blood ; they 
 run to the Prince, who is in despair. The Prince told it to the 
 king very sadly. They said it was because he had a sense of 
 honor after his fashion, praised him highly, and praised and 
 blamed his courage. . . . Meanwhile Gourville struggled to re- 
 pair the loss of Vatel. It was repaired ; the dinner was very 
 good. There was a collation, supper, a promenade, gambling, 
 and hunting. Everything was perfumed with jonquils, every- 
 body was enchanted." — M))ie de Sevigne. 
 
 The Grand Conde spent his latter years in a literary 
 seclusion at Chantilly. He died in 1686, and the last work 
 of the great orator Bossuet was his funeral oration. 
 
 "The Great Conde at Chantilly was still, as if at the head of 
 his armies, equally great in action and repose. He entertained 
 his friends in those superb avenues, to the sound of those leaping 
 waters, that were silent neither night nor day." 
 
 The son of the Grand Conde — Henri Jules de Bourbon, 
 " M. le Prince," of whom St. Simon gives so curious an 
 account, " qui alloit jusqu'a peser tout ce qui sortait de son 
 corps " — was a terrible domestic tyrant, his Princess was 
 his continual victim, and Mile de Conde died of his 
 harsh treatment. 
 
 " Chantilly was his delight. In his promenades he was al- 
 ways followed by several secretaries with writing cases and paper, 
 who wrote down, bit by bit, whatever came into his mind as re- 
 quiring to be repaired or embellished. He spent there prodigious 
 sums, but mere trifles in comparison to the treasures which his 
 grandson buried there and the marvels he created. 
 
 " In the fifteen or twenty last years of his life, some wander- 
 ing of mind was noticed. ... It was whispered, that at times 
 he fancied himself a dog, at others some other animal, whose 
 ways he imitated." — St. Sivwii. 
 
 Louis in. (1668-17 10), the next Prince de Conde', 
 known through life as " M. le Due," was one of the 
 
212 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 most prominent figures at Versailles during the reign of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 "He was a man considerably smaller than the smallest men ; 
 without being fat, he was thick everywhere, his head surprisingly 
 big, and a face to terrify you. It was said that a dwarf of the 
 Princess was the cause of this. He was of a livid yellow, a look 
 almost always of rage, but, at all times so proud and overbear- 
 ing, that he could scarcely be endured. He had wit, was well 
 read, retained something of an excellent education, politeness 
 and grace when he liked, but he seldom did like ; he had neither 
 the injustice, the avarice, nor the baseness of his fathers, but he 
 had all their powers, and displayed application and intelligence 
 to the art of war. His perversity seemed to him a virtue, and 
 some strange vengeances, which he took more than once, and 
 which a private individual would have been punished for, he 
 deemed an appanage of his greatness. His brutalit}^ was extreme 
 and displayed in everything. He was a mill, always whirling in 
 the air, and made all fly before it, and even his friends were 
 never safe, either from extreme insults or cruel pleasantries to 
 their face." — St. Simon. 
 
 It was to this strange personage that Louis XIV. had 
 married one of his daughters by Mme de Montespan — 
 Louise Frangoise de Bourbon, known as Mile de Nantes. 
 
 "The people who had the most reason to fear her, were en- 
 chanted by her, and those who had most cause to hate her, 
 had to keep reminding themselves of the fact, in order to resist 
 her charms. Never the least ill-humor at any time, joyous, gay, 
 witty with the finest salt, unshaken by surprises or misadvent- 
 ures, free in her most restless and most restrained moments, 
 she had passed her youth in frivolity and in pleasures which, in 
 every style, and every time she could do so, led to debauchery. 
 With these qualities, much wit, ahead for intrigue and business, 
 a pliability that cost nothing, but no ability for far-reaching 
 affairs, contemptuous, mocking, pricking, incapable of friend- 
 ship and ver}^ capable of hate, and then she was mischievous, 
 haughty, and implacable." — St. Simon. 
 
 The eldest of their nine children was Louis Henri, " M. 
 le Due," chief of the council of regency after the death of 
 
CHAN TILLY 2i^ 
 
 Louis XIV., and, after the death of the Duke of Orleans, 
 hrst minister of Louis XV. He displayed in a greater 
 degree the rapacity which had been a characteristic of his 
 ancestors, was greatly compromised in the financial opera- 
 tions of Law, and enormously increased his hereditary 
 fortune, living as a king at Chantilly, and receiving Louis 
 XV. and the Duchesse de Berry there wdth the utmost 
 magnificence. In 1726 he was supplanted as first minister 
 by Cardinal Fleury, who caused him to be exiled from the 
 Court. He spent his latter years entirely at Chantilly, 
 devoted to natural history, and died there in 1740. 
 
 His son, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, 
 was distinguished as a soldier. 
 
 '&' 
 
 " The field of battle was the place required for the men of 
 this house, so poor and mean in civil life. There only was it 
 given them to show what they were worth. It is reported that 
 an officer, requesting this Prince of Conde to retire a few paces 
 to avoid the fire of a battery, ' I do not find,' he replied, ' any of 
 these precautions in the history of the great Conde.' " — Le Bas. 
 
 This prince delighted to fill Chantilly with BufTon, 
 Marmontel, D'Alembert, Diderot, and other clever men of 
 the time. Originally a liberal in his views, he became 
 vehemently conservative with the Revolution, and was the 
 first of the princes to emigrate. On the banks of the 
 Rhine he organized the emigrant army called " I'armee de 
 Conde." Meanwiiile the old chateau of Chantilly was 
 destroyed by the Bande Noire. The little chateau escaped, 
 as its sale was not completed at the time of the Restora- 
 tion. The Chateau d'Enghien, w'hich had been built by 
 Louis Joseph, was used as a barrack. Under the first 
 empire Chantilly was given to Queen Hortense. 
 
 Louis Joseph Henri, the next owner of Chantilly, who 
 had married his cousin, Louise d'Orle'ans, was the father 
 
^j^ DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 of the Due d'Eoghien, murdered by Napoleon I. He 
 was the Due de Bourbon found hanged to the window- 
 bUnd at St. Leu, a few days before the revolution of 1830. 
 He left the Due d'Aumale, his great-nephew, his heir, with 
 the exception of two millions, several chateaux, &c., which 
 he bequeated to his English mistress, Sophia Dawes, 
 called Baronne de Feucheres. 
 
 Opposite the station of Chantilly is the entrance to a 
 delightful footpath which leads through a wood to the 
 idimons Race-course, where the races, established 1832, take 
 place every spring and autumn. On the third day of the 
 spring races, which is always a Sunday, the " Prix du 
 Jockey-Club " is contended for.^ The handsome building 
 beyond the race-course will be taken for the chateau, but 
 IS the magnificent Stables, built (17 19-1735) by Louis 
 Henri, seventh Prince de Conde'. Behind the stables 
 rises the Church, of 1672, where a monument, with an 
 angel guarding a bronze door, encloses the hearts of the 
 House of Conde', preserved, till the Revolution, in the 
 church of the Jesuits at Paris. A stained window repre- 
 sents the death of St. Louis. Very near the church is the 
 Hotel du Cygne. 
 
 Through a stately gateway at the angle of the stables, 
 we re-enter the park, and descend to the lake, out of which 
 the Chateau rises, the earlier part abruptly from the water. 
 The stone pavilion at the gate, the old pillars and terraces 
 close to the water, the feathery trees, the talJ gilt spire of 
 the chapel, the brilliant flowers on the flat land beyond 
 the lake, and the groups of people perpetually feeding the 
 fish, form a charming picture. 
 
 ^ The races are in the second week in May ; on the Sunday towards the end 
 of September which precedes the Paris races, and on the Sunday in October 
 which follows the Paris races. 
 
CHAN TILL V 
 
 S15 
 
 An equestrian statue of the Conne'table Anne de Mont- 
 morency, by 1^(7 u/ Dubois^ has been replaced before the 
 arcade of the Cour d'Honneur. Opposite the chateau is 
 the Favillofi d^Enghien, which the last Prince de Condc 
 but one built for the accommodation of his suite. The 
 parterre is open from half-past twelve to eight. A bridge 
 leads over a sunken garden to wooded glades, where 
 numbers of peacocks strut up and down. The name of 
 that part of the grounds known as Fare de Sylvie comes 
 from the '' Maison de Sylvie," a dull poem in honor of 
 
 CHANTILLV. 
 
 the Duchesse de Montmorency, composed here by Theo- 
 phile de Viau, condemned to be burnt alive for sacrilege, 
 and to whom the Duke (beheaded 1632) had given an 
 asylum. 
 
 The noble domain of Chantilly was given in 1886 as a 
 free gift to the France to which his life and heart were 
 devoted, by the most distinguished and public-spirited of 
 her sons, Henri d' Orleans, Due d'Aumale, immediately 
 after his exile by the republican government. The art 
 
Si6 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 treasures with which the palace is filled will be open to 
 the public, under the superintendence of officers appointed 
 by the Acade'mie de France, and will form the most touch- 
 ing and lasting evidence of forbearance and forgiveness 
 which Europe has ever seen. 
 
 The pictures at Chantilly include the glorious "Vierge 
 de la Maison d'Orleans " of Raffaelle, the " Venus and 
 Ganymede" of Raffaelle, the ''Battle of Rocroi" of Van 
 der Meulen, some of the best works of Watteau in exist- 
 ence^ the " Ecole Turque" and " Re'veil " oi Decamps, the 
 "Deux Foscari" oi Delacroix, and the " Mort du Due de 
 Guise " of Delaroche. There is a glorious collection of 
 portraits of the house of Conde. The library is valued at 
 200.000/., and for a single chest of drawers, which be- 
 longed to Louis XIV., 20,000/. was refused by its late 
 owner. In the splendid XVI. c. glass of the chapel win- 
 dows, the children of the Connetable de Montmorency 
 are represented. 
 
 In the Forest of Cha?itilly (i|- hour, following the Route 
 du Connetable, ojDposite the chateau, as far as the Carre- 
 four du Petit Convert, and thence taking the third alley to 
 the left) is the Chateau de la Reine Blanche, or de la Loge, 
 a building erected in the ancient style by the Due de 
 Bourbon, on the supposed site of a little chateau built in 
 1227 by Queen Blanche, mother of St. Louis. 
 
 The neighboring village of St. Firmin was the place 
 where the Abbe Prevost, author of Manon Lescaiit, fell 
 down in a fit. He was carried, apparently dead, into the 
 house of the cure, and the authorities ordered the body to 
 be opened. As the surgeon plunged his knife into the 
 body, a fearful scream showed that a swoon had been mis- 
 taken for death ; but it was too late ! 
 
 The line from Chantilly to Crepy-en-Valois passes — 
 
CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME ^ly 
 
 43 k. (from Paris) Senlis (Hotels, du Grand Cerf- — 
 good, clean, and reasonable ; des Arencs). 
 
 The picturesque and attractive little city of Senlis is a 
 treasure-house alike to the antiquary and artist. It retains 
 its Gallo-Rotnan fortiJicatio)is more perfectly than any town 
 in France, except Bourges and St. Lizier, and its walls of 
 cement, faced on both sides with cut stone, have preserved 
 sixteen out of their twenty-eight ancient towers. The site 
 of the residence of the Roman governor was afterwards 
 occupied by a Chateau of the Kings of France^ from Clovis 
 to Henri IV., of which interesting ruins remain from the 
 XL, XIII., and XIV. c. The ancient gothic entrance to 
 this chateau is to be found at the end of the Rue du Cha- 
 tel, but the modern approach is from the little Place St. 
 Maurice. The towers of the royal chateau are well seen 
 from the Rue de Chat-Huret. In 1863 some small re- 
 mains of a Roman Ajuphitheatre were discovered. 
 
 The Cathedral of Notre Dame, to which time has given 
 coloring of exquisite beauty, is a noble building of the 
 XII., XIII. , and XVI. c. The plan on which it was be- 
 gun, in 1 155, was of vast size, but want of funds compelled 
 the curtailment of the length which it was intended to give 
 to the nave, and the suppression of the triforium. The 
 church was consecrated in 1191. In the XIII. c, one of 
 the west steeples was completed, leaving the other unfin- 
 ished, chapels were added on the right of the choir, and a 
 transept was begun. The chapels of the nave and some 
 of those of the choir date from the XIV. c. and XV. c. 
 In 1502 the cathedral was struck by lightning, and it be- 
 came necessary to renew the whole of the vaulting and the 
 upper windows. The transept was finished and the fa9ade 
 restored at the same time. The central portal of the fa- 
 cade, formerly divided by a central pillar, has the Burial 
 
2l8 
 
 DA VS NEAR PARIS 
 
 and Coronation of the Virgin in its tympanum, one of the 
 earliest and best representations of this subject. The 
 transept portals bear the salamander of Francois I. : they 
 are surrounded by a loggia under the principal windows. 
 
 "Each of the gables of these porches is surmounted by fig- 
 ures ; on the south porch the Trinity is represented under the 
 
 v^-. 
 
 PORTAL, SEKLIS. 
 
 figure of an Eternal Father seated and holding the cross on which 
 Jesus Christ is extended ; a dove takes the place of his beard, and 
 seems to designate the Holy Ghost. The statue, in the country, 
 bears the name of God the Father. On the north porch is also an 
 allegorical figure, named God the Son ; it represents a man with 
 hands raised to heaven, in the attitude assumed b)'^ the early 
 Christians for prayer." — Dulaure, ''Environs de Paris,'' 
 
SENLIS gt^ 
 
 The steeple on the right of the fa^\icle is one of the 
 marvels of the XIII. c. 
 
 " One of the rare complete bell towers c: the beginning of 
 the XIII. century, is the one that flanks the fafade of the cathe- 
 dral of Senlis, on the south side. Built, without change or break 
 of plan, during the early years of the XIII. century, in materials 
 of excellent quality, this tower shows already the tendencies of 
 the architects of the XIII. century to seek for surprising effects. 
 Rising on a square base almost filled in, but under which there 
 opens a charming door to the south aisle of the cathedral, this 
 lateral belfry, contrary to the practice of previous architects, is 
 no longer an isolated monument, but intimately connected with 
 the plan of the church ; its ground floor serves as a vestibule to 
 >ne of the side vaults. . . . Great pinnacles of open work, rest- 
 ing on the angles of the square, serve for a transition between 
 the square base and the octagonal stor)\ The upper spire, with 
 eight sides, like the tower that supports it, bear on each face a 
 large light, the opening of which gives passage to the sound of 
 the bells." — Viollct-le-Diu. 
 
 In the interior, the pillars, side-aisles, and tribunes of 
 the nave and choir belong to the construction of the XII. c. 
 The nave has five bays, of which the first is a vestibule 
 under the towers, and the last opens upon the transepts. 
 In a chapel on the left, the keystone of the vaulting repre- 
 sents a large crown, with four angels extending their wings 
 towards it. The rectangular part of the choir has six 
 bays, of which the first is common to the transepts. The 
 chapels are XIII. c. and XIV. c. The ambulatory of the 
 apse is encircled by five chapels, of which four are XII. c. 
 The final chapel is modern. In the chapel of St. Rieul 
 are some fine incised monuments of bishops, their crosiers 
 inlaid in white marble. In the wall of the left aisle is a 
 XVII. c. relief of the Entombment. 
 
 The Evkhe, to the south-east of the cathedral, dates 
 from XII. c, but has lost all its characteristics. 
 
220 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Near the cathedral is the desecrated collegiate Church 
 of St. Frambourg,^ rebuilt in 1177, of striking and simple 
 proportions;, without aisles or transepts. In this part of 
 the town are several curious old houses with tourelles, and 
 other desecrated churches, one of them, St. Aig?ia?i (XIV. c. 
 and XVI. c), turned into a theatre. Another collegiate 
 church, St. Rieul., is greatly dilapidated. 
 
 The fine Church of St. Pierre is now enclosed in a 
 cavalry barrack. It is of the richest XVI. c. flamboyant, 
 and has two towers, one crowned by a beautiful spire of 
 
 1431- 
 
 Approached by an avenue from the lower part of the 
 town is the ancient Abbey of St. Fmcent, founded by Queen 
 Anne of Russia in 1065, now modernized, and occupied 
 by an ecclesiastical college. The monastic church still 
 exists, with its vaulting of 1130, and its graceful early 
 pointed (XII. c.) tower and low steeple. 
 
 The Hotel de Ville was rebuilt in 1495. Of the fine old 
 houses, we may especially notice No. 53 Vieille Rue de 
 Paris, with a XVI. c. polygonal tower, and No. 20 Rue 
 du Chatel, with a curious gothic portal and vaulted 
 halls. 
 
 We must take the Rue Bellon (first on left in descend- 
 ing the Grande Rue) and proceed in a direct line till we 
 reach a crucifix, then follow a stony road (right) to a 
 watermill, opposite which take a paved lane to reach 
 (right), in the gardens of a chateau, the beautiful ruins of 
 the Abbaye de la Victoire, founded by Philippe Auguste in 
 honor of the victory of Bouvines. The architect was a 
 monk named Menand. Louis XI. often used to stay at 
 this abbey, and built a chateau close by (which was pulled 
 
 ^ To visit the interior apply at No. 6 Rue St. Frambourg. 
 
ABBA YE BE LA VIC TO IRE 
 
 221 
 
 down by the monks in 1599), where he signed a treaty of 
 peace with Francois II. of Brittany. In 1783 the abbey 
 was suppressed, and the greater part of its buildings were 
 pulled down. The existing remains are those of three 
 bays of the south aisle of the choir, which had been re- 
 stored 1472 -15 19. 
 
 Very near the Abbaye de la Victoire, 3 1 /('. from Senlis, 
 is the ancient Chateau of Mont FEveque^ which was the 
 
 ABBAYE DE LA VICTOIRE. 
 
 summer residence of the bishops of Senlis. ^\k. further 
 (twenty minutes' walk from the station of Barbery, on the 
 line from Senlis to Crepy-en-Valois) is the ruined castle 
 of Montepilloy (Mons Speculatorum), built in the XII. c, 
 partly rebuilt by Louis d'Orleans in 1400, and dismantled 
 at the end of the XVI. c. 
 
 Ermenonville (13 >^'.) may be visited from Senlis. See 
 Chap. XL 
 
222 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The excursion to Chantilly and Senlis may be com- 
 bined with that to Pierrefonds and Compiegne, by taking 
 the railway to the former, changing at Crepy-en-Valois. 
 The line passes — 
 
 60 k. (from Paris) Barbery (the nearest station to Mont- 
 epilloy). The church was consecrated in 1586 by Guil- 
 laume Rose, Bishop of Senlis, famous in the League. 
 Near this is the chateau of Chamant, which belonged to 
 Lucien Bonaparte. There is a monument to his first wife, 
 Ele'onore Boyer. 
 
 " Madame Lucien was interred in the park of her property at 
 Plessis Chamant. Her husband built over her a monument of 
 white marble surrounded by a railing. When he went to Plessis 
 he took his daughters with him, that, young as they were, they 
 might pray with him." — Memoires de la Duchesse d' Abranth. 
 
 69^. Auger-St. Vincent. The church is XII., XIIL, 
 and XVI. c. with some windows of 1534. 2 >^. east is the 
 farm of Parc-aux-Da7ncs, once a monastery : the XV. c. 
 chapel remains. 
 
 76/^. Crepy-efi'Valois (Hotel, de la Ba?i?iiere\ The 
 former capital of the duchy of Valois has some remains of 
 a chteau founded in the XI. c. The parish church of St. 
 Denis dates from the same time, but the facade is XII. c, 
 the choir XV. c. The collegiate church of St. Thomas 
 was begun (1180) by Philippe d' Alsace, Comte de Flandre. 
 The facade is XIII. c; the tower, with a stone spire, 
 XIV. c. 
 
 "The building was in course of erection when the famous 
 Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, passed through the 
 town of Crepy. As the count showed to him with pride the im- 
 mense buildings of the church, 'To what saint will it be conse- 
 crated?' asked the archbishop. 'To the first martyr,' replied the 
 count, who intended to dedicate to St. Stephen. ' Do you speak,' 
 said the prelate, ' of the first of past martyrs or the first of 
 
ST. THOMAS 
 
 223 
 
 future marl/rs ? ' After the death of Thomas the count remem- 
 bered these prophetic words, and placed the church under the 
 invocation of the new martyr." — Dulaure, ^'^ Environs de Fa/is." 
 
 The town contains many houses of the XV. c. and 
 XVI. c. and one of the XIV. c. 
 
X. 
 
 COMPIEGNE AND PIERREFONDS 
 
 FROM the Gare du Nord. Compiegne and Pierre- 
 fonds may well form part of a three-days' excursion, 
 embracing Chantilly and Senlis (see Chap. IX.), but they 
 may easily be visited in the day from Paris. The line as 
 far as Creil is described in Chap. VII. and Chap. VIII. 
 
 At Creil the line to Brussels and Compiegne diverges 
 north-east by the right bank of the Oise, passing — 
 
 62 k. (from Paris) Po7it-St. Maxence, which takes its 
 name from an Irish martyr of the V. c. The church is 
 XV. c. and XVII. c. A XIV. c. facade remains of the 
 palace called Yraifte, which belonged to the dukes of Bur- 
 gundy. The Hotel de Ville or Maisofi du Roi, in the Rue 
 de Caville', is XV. c. In the Rue de la Ville is a XV. c. 
 tower. The line passes, on the left, near Houdancourt, 
 the ancient farm of Lamotte, of the Comtes de Lamotte- 
 Houdancourt, and the ruined castle of Longueil-St. Marie. 
 The forest of Halatte lies between the line and Senlis. 
 
 72 >^. Verberie, where Clotaire and Chilperic had a 
 residence, in which Charles Martel died, and where Pepin 
 summoned a general council in 752. Charlemagne rebuilt 
 the palace, in which several councils were afterwards held, 
 and where Charles le Chauve celebrated the marriage of 
 his daughter Judith with Ethelwulf, king of England. 
 
COMPIEGNE 225 
 
 The palace, restored by Charles V., existed till the XV. c, 
 when it was pulled down for building materials. 
 
 Verberie was amongst the fortresses whose demolition 
 was ordered by Charles VI L in 1431; but Francois I. 
 again surrounded it with walls, and its five gates were en- 
 tire in the XVIII. c. The church is XII., XIII., and XV. c. 
 At the south extremity of the town is Le Petit Ceppy — 
 a house of XIII. c. or XIV. .c. \k. south-east is the 
 church of St. Waast-de-Longmont, with a fine romanesque 
 portal and apse, and a tower with a stone steeple of XII. c. 
 The line passes on the left the church of Rivecourt, 
 which has a curious portal. The interior was painted in 
 fresco in the XVI. c. 
 
 84^. Compiegne (Hotels, de la Cloche^ very good; de 
 France; du Soleil d^ Or), The Latin name of Compiegne 
 was Compendium. The first Merovingian kings had a 
 palace here, and, ever since, the town has been a resort of 
 royalty. Pepin le Bref received here, as a present from 
 Constantine Copronymus, the first organ which had been 
 seen in France. Louis le Begue, son of Charles le Chauve, 
 was crowned here in 877, and died here two years after. 
 It was here that Eudes, Comte de Paris, was elected king 
 of France in 888. It was in the forest of Compiegne that 
 Philippe- Auguste lost his way whilst hunting, in his four- 
 teenth year, and was brought back to the palace by a 
 charcoal-burner, an adventure of which he so nearly died 
 of fright, that his father, Louis VII., had to cross over 
 into England to pray for his recovery at the shrine of St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury. Under the reign of St. Louis, 
 2,000 barons assembled at Compiegne for the marriage of 
 the king's brother, Robert. It was here that, after the 
 disasters which followed the battle of Poitiers, Charles V., 
 in 1358, reunited the States-General, and provoked a 
 
226 ^^4 YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 monarchical and feudal reaction against the rebellion of 
 Paris, which was making its first attempt at representative 
 government. 
 
 In the troublous times of Charles VII. Compiegne was 
 frequently taken and retaken by the conflicting armies, but 
 only one attack of the English is especially remembered, 
 for on that day, so fatal for the honor of France and 
 England, Jeanne Dare was taken prisoner. 
 
 "Jeanne returned to Compiegne; her heart was with this 
 town and its people si bounne fran^oise, but tire inner voice still 
 spoke to her sadly. Nearly every day the prophecy of her 
 approaching capture was renewed. According to a tradition 
 preserved at Compiegne, 'The maid, one early morning, had 
 mass said at St. Jacques and confessed and received her Creator, 
 and then retired near one of the pillars of the said church, and 
 said to many folk of the town who were there (and there was 
 there a hundred or six score of children that much desired to see 
 her): "My children and dear friends, I say to you that I am 
 sold and betrayed, and that, in brief time, I shall be delivered to 
 death. So I beg you to pray God for me, for never shall I again 
 have power to do service to the king or realm of France.'" 
 
 "Jeanne did down to the last moment all that she could do 
 in the conviction of victory. She went to seek for succor, 
 gathered at Crespi three or four hundred picked men, and hastened 
 to bring them to her 'good friends of Compiegne.' She re- 
 entered the town at sunrise. May 23, by the forest, which is still 
 called the forest of Cuise. A sally was prepared by agreement 
 between her and the governor, Guillaume de Flavi. 
 
 " Once in action, the warlike ardor, the fever of heroes, seized 
 her and banished her sombre presentiments. That day she had 
 no private warning, no dark presage. 
 
 "About five in the evening, Jeanne sallied from Compiegne 
 at the head of five hundred picked men, partly horse, partly on 
 foot, and attacked Marqui. The garrison of Marqui came out 
 to meet her, but was driven back and hurled into the village, 
 where Jeanne followed them. The Burgundians rallied. They 
 soon became superior in number, but the dash of the assailants 
 was such that they repulsed, in a second and third charge, this 
 always increasing multitude, 
 
COMPIEGNE 
 
 227 
 
 " Five hundred English, however, were coming from the 
 opposite side, from Venette. The companions of Jeanne saw 
 them at a distance on their rear. They forgot that the English 
 could not place themselves between them and the town without 
 being shot down by the artillery of the fortifications. They 
 thought they were cut off. The rear ranks disbanded. The 
 fugitives rushed to the barrier of the fortification and masked the 
 English, who, already sheltered from the fire of the place, charged 
 them boldly and gained the road. 
 
 "The bravest and most devoted of Jeanne's companions, 
 who had never quitted her since her parting from the king, one 
 of her brothers, her squire, Jean d'Aulon, and others still fought 
 around her. When they saw what was passing behind them, 
 'Endeavor to reach the city,' they cried to her. ' or you and we 
 are lost ! ' 
 
 " But Jeanne was transported with that heroic ecstasy which 
 danger inspired her with. ' Silence ! ' she cried. ' It depends 
 on you whether they are discomfited. Think only of smiting 
 them.' 
 
 "For all that she could say her people would not believe 
 it ; they took the bridle of her horse and made her by force return 
 to the town. 
 
 " It was too late. The streams of Burgundian and Picard 
 horsemen were pursuing, head to tail ; behind them, between 
 them and the place, other Burgundians, mixed with English, 
 were thrusting their swords into the first fugitives, and already 
 attacking the barrier. The barrier had been closed and the draw- 
 bridge raised. The governor of Compiegne was afraid of seeing 
 the rampart and the bridge over the Oise seized by the enemy. 
 There remained some boats filled with archers ; the most of the 
 foot soldiers of Jeanne's troop had already found refuge there, 
 but Jeanne, who did not retire except step by step, fighting all 
 the time, and who was resolved to enter last, could not gain the 
 banks of the Oise. She was driven, with her friends, into the 
 angle formed by the rampart and the slope of the road. 
 
 "All the enemy rushed upon her at once. The banner, con- 
 secrated far otherwise than the orifiamme, that had been the sal- 
 vation of France, the banner of Orleans, of Patay and of Reims, 
 was in vain waved to summon assistance. The faithful army of 
 Jeanne was no longer there. The holy standard fell, overthrown 
 by French hands. The last defenders of the maid were dead, 
 captive or separated from her by the throng of assailants. 
 
2 28 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Jeanne still struggled. Five or six horsemen surrounded her, 
 and, all at once, laid hands upon her and her horse. Each of 
 them cried, ' Surrender to me ! Pledge 3'our word ! ' 'I have 
 sworn,' she replied, ' and pledged my word to another than you ; 
 I will keep my oath to him.' 
 
 " An archer pulled her violently ' by her casaque of cloth of 
 gold.' She fell from her horse. 
 
 " The archer and his master, the Bastard of Wandomme, a 
 man-at-arms from Artois, in the service of Jean of Luxembourg, 
 seized her. She was taken prisoner to Margny. 
 
 " The prediction of her voices was fulfilled. The period of the 
 struggle was ended for her. The period of martyrdom com- 
 menced." — Martin, "Hist, de France.'' 
 
 The Porte du Vieux-Pont, near which Jeanne Dare 
 was taken, long bore the inscription — 
 
 " Cy fuct Jehanne d'Ark pres de cestui passage 
 Par le nombre accablee et vendue a I'Anglais, 
 Quibrula, le felon, elle tant brave et sage. 
 Tous ceux-]a d'Albion n'ont faict le bien jamais." 
 
 All the later kings of France have from time to time 
 inhabited Compiegne, which was the favorite residence of 
 the Emperor Napoleon III., and the scene of his chief 
 hospitalities. 
 
 The town is prettily situated on the Oise, and its 
 streets are clean and handsome. In a central position is 
 the picturesque Hotel de Ville of 1502-15 10. The figures 
 of the Annunciation, which once decorated it, have been 
 replaced by an equestrian statue of Louis XII., by Jacque- 
 mart. In the interior is a Micsee, with the ordinary collec- 
 tion of second-rate pictures. The very fine church of St. 
 Antoine dates from the XII. c, but retains little of that 
 time. The rest is chiefly rich XVI. c. gothic, but the very 
 lofty choir and chevet are due to Pierre Dailly, XIV. c. 
 The tracery of its parapets is very rich. A curious XI. c. 
 font was brought from St. Corneille, and a stained window 
 from the church of Gilocourt. The church of St, Jacques^ 
 
COMPIEGNE 
 
 229 
 
 so touch) ngly connected with the story of Jeanne Dare, 
 was founded at the beginnuig of the XI II. c, but not 
 finished till the XV. c. It was intended to have two 
 towers, but only one was completed, and the portal which 
 was to have connected them is also unfinished. The in- 
 ternal ornamentation is of XVIII. c. On the neigh- 
 boring Place du Change is a house where Henri IV. often 
 stayed with his mistress, the Duchesse de Beaufort, to 
 whom it belonged. The CJmrch of St Nicholas, attached 
 to the Hotel Dieu, contains a curious renaissance wooden 
 altar-piece. In St. Ger7nain is a beautiful banc-d ^ osuvre 
 of 1587, which came from St. Jacques. 
 
 The Chateau de Compiegtie is the fourth royal residence 
 which has existed here. The first was that of Clovis and 
 Charlemagne ; the second was built by Charles le Chauve 
 on the banks of the Oise ; the third, on the present site, 
 was that of Charles V. ; the existing chateau was built by 
 Gabriel for Louis XV. The architectural effect of the 
 principal part recalls that of the Palais Royal at Paris, on 
 the side towards the Louvre. It is approached through a 
 grille from the great square. 
 
 The chateau is open to foreigners daily from 10 to i ; 
 the public are freely admitted on Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
 Saturdays, and Sundays at the same hours. On the ground 
 floor is installed the Musee Khmer, of early Indian and 
 Chinese monuments. The apartments, chiefly interesting 
 from their association with Napoleon I. and III., are hand- 
 some, but have no especial importance. The Galerie des 
 Fetes has decorations in the style of the first empire, by 
 Girodet, and statues of Napoleon I. and Madame Mere, 
 by Canova. There is a large collection of indifferent pict- 
 ures ; those of the story of Don Quixote, by Charles CoypeL 
 are amusing. 
 
230 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The Gardens cannot be entered through the palace. 
 Emergiug from the Cour cl'honneur, one must turn to the 
 left, where an open gate will soon be found on the left of the 
 avenue. These unkempt gardens have a much greater look 
 of the country than those of Versailles, and a long grass 
 avenue, made by Napoleon I. in 1810, stretches away from 
 them through the forest. The terrace is very handsome, 
 lined with orange and palm-trees in tubs. The great N of 
 Napoleon is often repeated on the facade of the palace on 
 
 CHATEAU DE COMPlfeCNE. 
 
 this side. At the end of the terrace, on the left, passing a 
 grille, we find ourselves above the Forte C/iapelle, built by 
 Philibert Delorme for Henri II., with a vaulted gallery 
 under the terrace. It bears the monograms of Henri II. 
 and Diane de Poitiers. Hence, an avenue leads to the 
 Coitrs, along the river. Here we may see the moat of 
 Charles V. and remains of the towers which defended it. 
 Returning to the middle of the fagade, and taking the stair- 
 case which descends to the park, we find to the left the 
 
ABBEY OF ST. CORNEILLE 
 
 231 
 
 berceaii, 1,800 met. long, which Napoleon I. made to please 
 Marie Louise, in imitation of that of Schoenbrunn. 
 
 The Fo?'est of Covipiegiie (called, till 1346, la foret de 
 Cuise) was a favorite hunting-ground with the kings of 
 France. Here a wild man, "vetu comme un loup," was 
 seized in the time of Charles IX. and brought to the king, 
 and here Henri IV. narrowly escaped being carried off by 
 Rieux, governor of Pierrefonds. An avenue, facing the 
 chateau, leads to the heights called Beaux-Mojits, from 
 which and from the neighboring hill called Mont die 
 Tremble, there are good points of view. A more distant 
 point for an excursion is the Mont St. Marc. This may be 
 combined with a visit to the royal Abbey of St. Corneille, at 
 the foot of the Beaux Monts. In this abbey, founded by 
 Charles le Chauve in 876, Henri III. was buried, in accord- 
 ance with his own desire, but was moved to St. Denis by 
 the Due d'Epernon. The abbey was totally destroyed at 
 the Revolution. A road now traverses the nave of the 
 church. Only part of the cloister remains, and is used as 
 a barrack. 
 
 "All the world knows the story of Grand-Ferre (1358). which 
 the collectors of anecdotes have extracted from the interesting 
 chronicle of the continuator of Nangis. The inhabitants of the 
 village of Saint Corneille and the neighboring villages \vere en- 
 trenched in a little fort, near the Abbey of Saint Corneille, under 
 the command of a farmer named Guillaume I'Alouette, a resolute 
 fellow, much beloved in the country. Guillaume had with him 
 his farm servant, who was called ' Grand-Ferre,' a kind of giant, 
 of prodigious stature and strength ; for the rest humble in heart 
 and simple in mind. The adventurers of the garrison of Creil 
 sent a detachment to take the fort of Saint Corneille ; the bandits 
 surprised it, and began by massacring I'Alouette. At this sight, 
 Grand-Ferre takes a heavy axe, and, followed by the most daring 
 of the peasants, thngs himself on the English. At each blow 
 he cut off an arm or split a head, and his comrades, imitating to 
 the best they could, rained blows on the English as if they had 
 
232 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 been threshing tlicir corn on tlie floor. Grand-Ferre knocked 
 down over forty himself; tlie others ran away. The peasants 
 were so emboldened by their victory, that, a second detachment 
 having come to avenge the first, the}^ sallied out to meet the 
 enemy in the open field. The English were treated as their pred- 
 ecessors had been. The peasants refused to admit to ransom, 
 and slew all they could catch, ' to put them out of the way of 
 doing harm.' 
 
 " Grand-Ferre, however, had been heated in this second fight ; 
 he drank a good deal of cold water and was seized with fever ; he 
 returned to the village and took to his bed. The men of Creil 
 soon heard of his sickness and sent a dozen soldiers to kill him ; 
 but Grand-Ferre, warned by his wife, had time to grasp his good 
 axe and to go out into the yard. 'Ah, robbers,' he cried to the 
 English, 'you think to catch me abed, but you have not got me 
 yet !' He put his back to the wall, raised his axe five times, and 
 struck five English dead on the spot ; the seven others ran as hard 
 as they could. He returned to his bed and drank some more cold 
 water ; the fever redoubled ; he received the sacraments and died, 
 wept by all the peasants. His exploits have made him a popular 
 hero." — Henri Mar tui, ''Hist, de France." 
 
 A direct road leads from St. Corneille to St. Pierre 
 (8 k. from Compiegne), with ruins of a priory founded by 
 Charles le Chauve for Benedictines, replaced by Celestines 
 in 1308. Below the ruins is La Fo7itai?ie des Miracles., 
 supposed to remove barrenness. 
 
 From Compiegne most visitors will take the railway 
 line to Villers-Cotterets, though there is a good road of 
 \2k. (omnibus) to — 
 
 96 k. Pierrefonds (Hotels, des Bains, prettily situated ; 
 des Ruines, good, less pretentious ; du Chateau ; des 
 Etrangers). One may dine at the Restaurant du Lac, 
 which has a lovely view of the lake and the opposite hill, 
 with every variety of forest green, and pink houses emerg- 
 i-ig from it. Pierrefonds is much frequented for its 
 mineral waters, useful for rheumatism and throat affec- 
 tions \ but of world-wide celebrity from its magnificent 
 
PIERREFOA'DS 
 
 233 
 
 chateau, one of the finest existing fortresses of the middle 
 ages. The original castle dated from the XI. c, but this 
 was replaced by the existing chateau (1398-1406) by the 
 Due d'Orleans (brother of Charles VI.), who was assas- 
 sinated in Paris by Jean sans Peur, in 1407. It was fre- 
 quently besieged by the English and bravely defended 
 against them. In 1588 it became the refuge of a band of 
 brigands under the command of the brave Rieux, vainly 
 besieged here by the Due d'Epernon and afterwards by 
 
 
 
 PIERREFONDS. 
 
 the Mare'chal de Biron, but eventually taken whilst pre- 
 paring to attack some public carriages, and hanged at 
 Compiegne. Under Louis XIII. the castle was com- 
 manded by one Villeneuve, who pillaged the country much 
 as Rieux had done. He was besieged by Charles de 
 Valois, Comte d'Auvergne, and the castle was dismantled 
 by Richelieu. During the Revolution the ruins were sold 
 for 8,100 fr. In 1 8 13 they were purchased by Napoleon 
 I., and their restoration was begun in 1858 under VioUet- 
 le-Duc and carried out through twenty-eight years at the 
 
234 
 
 DA ]'* lYEAJ^ PARIS 
 
 expense of the State, the vast works being rendered com- 
 paratively easy owning to the neighborhood of quarries of 
 the right kind of stone. Now the magnificent chateau is 
 as complete as when it was finished in the XIV. c, every- 
 thing ancient having been carefully preserved and the old 
 lines strictly follow^ed out. The castle is open daily to the 
 public, who are shown over it by warders, in large parties. 
 
 "The chateau is, at once, a fortress of the first rank and a 
 residence comprising all the offices requisite to provide for the 
 existence of a prince or a numerous garrison. The donjon could 
 be completely isolated from the other defenses. It was the habita- 
 tion specially reserved for the lord and comprised all the neces- 
 sary offices : cellars, kitchens, servants' rooms, wardrobes, 
 saloons, and reception halls. The building that contains the 
 great halls of the Chateau of Pierrefonds occupies the west side 
 of the parallelogram forming the perimeter of this seigneurial 
 residence. Once barracked in the halls of the ground floor, the 
 troops were overlooked by the galler)'- of the entresol which is 
 above the porch, and could not mount to the defenses except 
 under the leading of their officers. These halls, moreover, are 
 beautiful, well ventilated and lighted, provided with fire-places, 
 and easily held five hundred men." — VioUet-lc-Duc. 
 
 The chateau forms an irregular square of 6,270 met. at 
 the end of a promontory from which it is separated by a 
 moat. On each front are three great machicolated towers. 
 There are two entrances to the outer wall, though from 
 that nearest to the village only a steep footpath leads up 
 the hill. Here, an outer gate and two drawbridges are 
 passed before entering the castle court close to the donjon 
 tower. The Annunciation is sculptured on the front, St. 
 Michael over the gate. On the right of the court is the 
 chapel, on the door of which Viollet-le-Duc is himself 
 represented as St. James of Compostella. In the interior 
 the gallery pew for the inmates of the castle draws atten- 
 tion. A statue of the Due d'Orleans stands opposite the 
 
.?r. JEAN AUK BOIS 235 
 
 perron which leads to the principal apartments. The 
 Grande Salle de Reception, with squirrels holding shields of 
 fleurs de lis over the chimney ; the Cabinet de Travail du 
 Seigneur ; the Chambre a Coiicher du Seigneur, with its 
 curious arrangement for the Garde de Nuit ; the chamber 
 for the Knights of the Round Table, are some of those 
 which have been magnificently restored, their ancient deco- 
 rations having been reproduced as far as possible. Over 
 the chimney of the Salle d'Armes are statues of the wives 
 oipreux chevaliers, restored from statues found in the 
 ruins. From the towers there is a wide view over the 
 forests of Compiegne and Villers-Cotterets. In the south- 
 west tower are oubliettes, apparently veritable. The dif- 
 ferent arrangements for defense through the whole build- 
 ing are very interesting, and are well pointed out. 
 
 " If the defensive arrangements of the Chateau of Pierrefonds 
 have not the majestic grandeur of those of the Chateau of Coucy, 
 they are still combined with a skill, care, and foresight in details 
 that prove to what a degree of perfection the construction of 
 strong seigneurial places had been carried at the end of the XIV. 
 century, and to what extent the castellans at that epoch were mis- 
 trustful of people outside." — Viollet-le-Duc. 
 
 The village Church stands upon a crypt of 1060. The 
 choir and chapels are of 1206, the nave and portal XV. c, 
 the renaissance tower of 1552. There are remains of 
 XIV. c. stained glass. 
 
 ^\k. from Pierrefonds, ^k. from Compiegne, is the 
 ruined gothic church of St. yean aux Bois, occupying the 
 site of the villa of Cuisa, which gave the forest its first 
 name, where King Gonthran died in 562, saying — "Que 
 pensez-vous que soit le roi du ciel, qui fait mourir de si 
 grands rois ? " It was Adelaide, mother of Louis VII., who 
 built the convent and church for Benedictine nuns. The 
 buildings were destroyed by the soldiers of Turenne. 2^ k., 
 
236 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 at St. Feriime^ are remains of a succursale of the abbey. 
 Some of the tinestoaksin the forest are near St. Jean aux 
 Bois. 
 
 i4/{'. from Compiegne, traversing the whole forest, is 
 Morienva/, a hunting-lodge of King Dagobert, who founded 
 a church and two monasteries there. The monastery for 
 men was burnt by the Normans and rebuilt, as well as the 
 church, in the X. c. 
 
XL 
 
 NANTOUILLET, DAMMARTIN, AND ERMENON- 
 
 VILLE. 
 
 THIS is a pleasant and easy day's excursion from the 
 Gare du Nord. The best way is to take the 8.50 
 train, which does not stop till it reaches the station of 
 Dammartin. Here the courier (a pleasant open omnibus) 
 waits, and will take travellers to {2\k.) yuilly, a village 
 circling round a convent and the whitewashed buildings of 
 a college of Oratorians, founded 1638. It possesses a 
 statue of Cardinal de BeruUe, founder of the society here, 
 and the heart of Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, deposited 
 at Juilly in 1555. 
 
 Probably the courier will go on to Natitouillet, but it is 
 only I k. further. Here there are vast remains of the mag- 
 nificent chateau built by the unpopular minister Duprat, 
 who was chancellor under Frangois I. After the death of 
 his wife, ambition induced him to take orders, and in time 
 he became cardinal-legate. On the death of Clement VII. 
 he hoped to succeed to the papal throne through the in- 
 fluence of his patron, Francois I., and laid aside 400,000 fr. 
 to spend in briber}^ for the purpose. 
 
 A stately renaissance gateway, near a huge brick tower, 
 forms the approach to the chateau, which had a deep moat^ 
 formerly crossed by a drawbridge. Over the entrance is a 
 
238 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Storm-beaten statue, said to represent Jupiter, whom the 
 founder — for a cardinal-legate — held in strange admira- 
 tion, as is attested by the still legible inscription, "Jovi 
 genitori et protectori." The interior of the castle is now 
 occupied as a farm, but has many renaissance details of ex- 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 PORTAL, NANTOUILLET. 
 
 quisite beauty. Especially deserving of attention are the 
 wide gate on the left of the court, the door represented in 
 the woodcut, and a graceful staircase, with open windows 
 towards the court. Amongst the ornaments, the salaman- 
 der of Francois I., and the trefoils of Duprat are frequently 
 
DAMMARTIN 239 
 
 repeated. The chimney-piece of the Salle des Gardes 
 bears the arms of Duprat, and medallions with mytholog- 
 ical subjects. 
 
 The omnibus from Juilly will take tourists back to the 
 station, where they may find another omnibus, which also 
 comes to meet the train, to (4 k. from station) Dammartin 
 (Hotel du Chemin de Fer^ a good country inn — excellent 
 luncheon), a small town prettily situated on the ridge of. a 
 low hill. It was burnt down in 1230, according to the 
 rhyming chronicle — 
 
 L'an mil deux cents vingt et dix, 
 Fut Dammartin en flamrae mis. 
 
 It has two churches, the more important of which, 
 founded 1480, has a good flamboyant entrance. In its 
 beautiful choir, divided by two central pillars, and sur- 
 rounded by oak stalls, is the fine altar-tomb of the founder, 
 Antoine de Chabannes, the companion in arms of Lahire 
 and Jeanne Dare, who became Count of Dammartin by his 
 marriage with Marguerite de Nanteuil. It was Antoine 
 de Chabannes who revealed to Charles VII. the con- 
 spiracy of his son, afterwards Louis XI., for which he fell 
 into disgrace and had his property confiscated, as soon as 
 that king came to the throne, though his possessions were 
 afterwards restored^ and he lived to become the trusted 
 friend of the king. Pierre Lemire, who saved the church 
 under the Terror, is buried close by. On the north-east 
 of the town are some remains of the castle of Antoine de 
 Chabannes, sold to Anne de Montmorency in 1554. 
 
 It is an easy drive of 8 k. (carriage for half-day, 8 fr.) 
 from Dammartin to Ermenonville, through an uninterest- 
 ing country, but passing the renaissance church of Orthis, 
 and Eve^ where the church has a very good early-pointed 
 
240 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 tower. In a wooded hollow, close to the road, is the 
 handsome moated XVIII. c. chateau of Ermenonville^ be- 
 longing to Prince Radziwill. Here permission must be 
 asked of the concierge, before following a path, along (on 
 the other side of the road) the shore of an artificial lake, 
 to an island at the further end, reached by a bridge. 
 Here, under some poplars^, is a tomb, still bearing its 
 inscription to Rousseau — " L'homme de la verite et de la 
 nature." On a smaller island is the tomb of the painter 
 G. F. Meyer, 1779. Not far distant, but on a separate 
 property, is La Cabane de y. y. Rousseau^ a cottage where 
 he used to rest on his botanizing excursions. 
 
 Ermenonville, which had previously belonged to the 
 families of Orgemont and Montmorenc}^, fell, in 1763, into 
 the hands of the Marquis de Girardin, who had a natural 
 talent for landscape gardening, and made it one of the 
 prettiest places near Paris. He offered a retreat here, in 
 1778, to Jean Jacques Rousseau, then very failing in body 
 and mind, who inhabited a little pavilion (now destroyed) 
 near the chateau. Here he expatiated over the delights 
 of the country, and gave botanical lessons to the children 
 of his host. At the end of six weeks he had a fall, from 
 which he injured his head, and died, July 3, 1778. He 
 was buried the same evening by moonlight in the Isle of 
 Poplars, which has been a place of sentimental pilgrimage 
 ever since, though his remains were removed to the 
 Pantheon, October 11, 1794. When Bonaparte visited the 
 tomb of Rousseau, he said — " It would have been better 
 for France if this man had never existed ! " — " And why, 
 citizen consul ? " asked Girardin. " Because he paved the 
 way for the French Revolution." " I think, citizen consul, 
 that it is scarcely for you to complain of the Revolution." 
 "Well, the future will learn that it would have been better 
 
ERMEXON l 'JLLE 2 4 1 
 
 for the repose of the world if neither Rousseau nor I had 
 ever existed. " 
 
 A walk of two hours, through woods, leads from Erme- 
 nonville to Morfontaine (see Chap. IX.). Both places 
 may be visited from Senlis, from which Ermenonville is 
 13 k. and Morfontaine 10 k. distant. 
 
XII. 
 
 VINCENNE S A ND BRIE- COM TE-R OBER T. 
 
 VINCENNES, a short drive from Paris, is most easil)' reached 
 by omnibus from the Louvre, the Bourse, or Place de la 
 Bastille to Vincennes itself ; or b)^ the Chemin de Eer de Vincennes 
 (Place de la Bastille) in 15 min. Those who wish to walk to the 
 castle through the Bois xxva^y take the tramway from the Bastille to 
 Charenton, descending at the Porte de Picpus ; or may take the 
 railway, and leave it at the station of Bel-Air, close to the Porte 
 de Picpus. From the Porte de Picpus, the Avenue Daumesnil 
 leads by the Lac Daumesnil to the fortress : or by the Chaussee 
 du Lac (third turn, left) one may reach the Lac de St. Mande, and 
 follow the Route de la Tourelle from thence, and then the Route 
 de I'Esplanade to the chateau. 
 
 From the station of Vincennes the Rue de Montreuil leads to 
 the chateau. 
 
 The chateau is only shown in detail, from 12 to 4, to those 
 furnished with a special order from the Minister of War. Strangers 
 are always allowed to visit the chapel in the centre of the enclos- 
 ure unattended. Artists are not allowed to draw without special 
 permission. 
 
 The first castle of Vincennes was built by Louis VII., 
 1 164. This was rebuilt by Philippe Auguste, and again 
 by Philippe de Valois. In 1560 Catherine de Medicis be- 
 gan to add the Pavilions du Roi et de la Reine, which 
 Louis XIV. united by covered galleries, forming a vast 
 rectangle, flanked by nine outer towers. In the middle of 
 the XVIII. c. the chateau ceased to be a ro3^al residence, 
 and it became in turn a china manufactory, a military 
 
VINCENNES 243 
 
 school, and a manufactory of arms. It was put up for 
 sale at the Revolution, but no one would buy it, and un- 
 der Louis Philippe it was restored as a fortress and bar- 
 rack. 
 
 Many historic recollections linger about the old castle. 
 It was there that St. Louis received the Crown of Thorns 
 from the Emperor Baldwin, and thence that he set out for 
 his two crusades. Thither his body was brought back 
 from the coast of Africa. 
 
 "When the king set out for the Holy Land, he went to Vin- 
 cennes to take leave of his mother. At the end of a year his re- 
 mains were brought to the donjon he had loved. Nothing could 
 be more sad than the return of the young king, Philippe III. ; 
 he was escorted by the mortal remains of Louis IX., his father ; 
 of Jean, his brother ; of Thibaut, King of Navarre, his brother-in- 
 law ; of Isabelle of Aragon, his wife; of Alphonso, his uncle ; 
 and of Jeanne of Toulouse, his aunt ; all having died, either in 
 Africa, or Italy, during this fatal expedition." — Touc hard-La fosse, 
 ' ' Hist, de Pa) is." 
 
 It was at Vincennes that Enguerrand de Marigny, the 
 powerful minister of Louis le Hutin, was tried for having 
 misappropriated the public finances, and unjustly con- 
 demned to be hanged at Montfaucon, 13 15. It was there 
 that Louis X. (1316), Philippe V. (1322), and Charles IV. 
 (1328) died. There Charles V. was born (1337) and 
 passed the greater part of his life, and there Queen Isa- 
 beau de Baviere enjoyed her orgies. 
 
 Henry V., of England, after conquering the greater 
 part of France, died at Vincennes, in his thirty-fourth 
 year. 
 
 " Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night ! 
 
 King Henry the Fifth too famous to live long ! 
 England ne'er lost a king of so much worth." 
 
 Shakspeare^ ''Hen, VI.," Act. i. sc, i. 
 
244 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 " One of the doctors, from whom he ' asked for the truth,' flung 
 himself on his knees by his bed and told him to think of his soul, 
 for he had only two hours to live ; Henry summoned his con- 
 fessor and other churchmen, and ordered them to recite the seven 
 penitential psalms. 'And when they came to the Benigne fac, 
 Domine, where the words vuiri I/ieritsalcm occur, he said aloud 
 that he had the intention, after he had placed the kingdom of 
 France in peace, to go and conquer Jerusalem, if it had been the 
 pleasure of his Creator to let him live his life.' Then, as if to rc- 
 
 DONJON OF VINCENNES. 
 
 assure himself in this solemn hour, he recalled the fact that his 
 war with France had been approved by the ' most holy persons ' of 
 all the prelates of England, and that he had waged it without 
 offending God or putting his soul in peril. 'And, briefly there- 
 after, he gave up the ghost,' August 31, 1422." — Henri Marthi, 
 " Hist, de France y 
 
 "His body was cut in pieces, and boiled in a cauldron till 
 tlie flesh separated from the bones ; the water was thrown into a 
 cemetery, and the bones and flesh were placed in a lead coffin, 
 
VINCENNES 
 
 H^ 
 
 with many kinds of spices and odoriferous things, and smellcd 
 well. " — Juvenal dcs Ursins. 
 
 Louis XI. used Vincennes as a state prison, but his 
 successor continued to reside there occasionally, and in 
 1574 it witnessed the miserable death-bed of Charles IX., 
 in his twenty- fourth year, red from the Massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew. 
 
 " His end was so miserable that even the Huguenot writers 
 display some pity. His short and broken slumbers were troubled 
 by hideous visions ; exhausted by violent hemorrhages, he awoke 
 bathed in blood, and this blood reminded him of that of his sub- 
 jects shed in streams by his orders ; he saw in his dreams all the 
 corpses floating down the Seine, and he heard in the air lament- 
 able cries. The night before his death his nurse, Avhom he loved 
 much, although she was a Huguenot, and who watched beside 
 his bed, heard him lament, and weep, and sigh. 'Oh, nurse,' 
 he cried, ' what blood and what murders ! Oh, what bad advice 
 I had ! O my God, pardon me for these things, and show 
 mercy unto me. I know not where I am, so perplexed and agi- 
 tated do they render me ! What will become of all this [all this 
 country] ? What will become of me — me to whom God entrusts 
 it? I am lost, I feel sure ! ' Then the nurse said to him, ' Sire, 
 the blood and the murders be on the heads of those who made 
 you do them, and on their evil counsel.' His last words were 
 that he rejoiced at not leaving any male child to wear the crown 
 after him." — Henri Martin. 
 
 Cardinal Mazarin died at Vincennes, March 3, 1661 ; 
 but the death by which the castle is most remembered is 
 that of the brave and innocent Due d'Enghien, son of the 
 Prince de Conde, treacherously seized on foreign soil, con- 
 demned without a trial, and executed at once by order of 
 Napoleon I. in the night of March 20, 1804. 
 
 " The exit from the stairs was by a low door opened on the 
 ditch. The procession skirted for some time in the darkness the 
 foot of the high walls of the fortress as far as the sub-basements 
 of the pavilion of the queen. On turning the angle of this pavil- 
 ion, which displayed another portion of the ditch concealed by the 
 
246 DA yS N^AR PARIS 
 
 walls, the prince found himself suddenly face to face with the 
 detachments of troops posted to witness his death. The picket 
 of fusiliers detailed for the execution was separated from the 
 other soldiers, and their muskets glittered a few paces from him. 
 Some lanterns, carried by hand, lighted the ditch, the walls, and 
 the grave. The prince halted at a sign from his conductors ; he 
 saw his fate at a glance, and did not change color. 
 
 "He turned to the group of officers and of gendarmes who 
 had preceded him, and asked in a loud voice if there was an}- 
 one among them who would render him a last service. Lieu- 
 tenant Noirot left the group, and approached him. His bearing 
 indicated his intention. The prince said a few words to him in 
 a low tone. Noirot, then turning towards the troops, ' Gen- 
 darmes,' he said, ' has one of you a pair of scissors about him ?' 
 The gendarmes searched their knapsacks, and passed from hand 
 to hand to the prince a pair of scissors. He took off his cap, cut 
 a lock of his hair, drew a letter from his bosom, took a ring from 
 his finger, folded the hair, the letter, and the ring in a piece of 
 paper, and gave the little packet, his only bequest, to Lieutenant 
 Noirot, charging him, in the name of his situation and his death, 
 to see that it was forwarded to the young Princess Charlotte de 
 Rohan, at Ettenheim. 
 
 " This love message being thus entrusted, he collected him- 
 self for a moment, his hands joined to say his last pra3'er, and in 
 a low tone commended his soul to God. Then he took five or 
 six steps to place himself in front of the platoon, whose loaded 
 arms he saw gleaming. The glare of a large lantern, with several 
 candles in it, placed on the little supporting wall that overlooked 
 the open ditch, streamed on him and gave light to the soldiers to 
 aim by. The platoon retired some paces to measure the distance ; 
 the adjutant gave the word, ' Fire ! ' The young prince, as if 
 struck by lightning, fell, without a cry or movement, to the 
 ground. The clocks of the chateau were striking three o'clock 
 in the morning. 
 
 " His dog, that had followed him into the ditch, howled and 
 flung itself on his body. The poor animal was with difficulty re- 
 moved, and given to one of the prince's servants ; it was sent to 
 the Princess Charlotte, the only messenger from that tomb in 
 which was sleeping he whom she never ceased to weep. 
 
 " He was laid, fully dressed, in a grave dug beneath the wall. 
 His blood cried and will cry aloud against his murderer from age 
 to age." — Lamartine^ 
 
VINCENNES 
 
 247 
 
 "Examined by night, condenined by niglit, the Duke d'En- 
 ghien was killed by night. Tliis horrible sacrifice was rightly 
 consummated in darkness, in order that it might be said that 
 every law had been violated, even those that prescribed publicity 
 of execution." — Diipiu. 
 
 It was in the moat, on the side towards the esplanade, 
 to the right of the drawbridge, in the angle formed by the 
 Tour de la Reine, that the crime was committed. A red 
 granite column, inscribed " Hie cecidit," marked the spot 
 till the Revolution of July, when it was destroyed. 
 
 Vi?icennes is a fortress rather than a chateau. The 
 outline of the enclosure, keep, towers, and curtain walls — 
 a splendid example of a military work of the XIV. c. — 
 prove that a regular form was then adopted wherever the 
 site allowed. Though considerable walls have been added 
 at later times, it is still easy to detach the XIV. c. fortress 
 from its additions. 
 
 Entering the gates, we find, on the left of the great 
 court, the Salle d'Armes, the Chapel, and the Pavilion de 
 la Reine ; on the right, the Donjon and the Pavilion du 
 Roi. 
 
 The Chapel (the successor of those built by St. Louis 
 and Philippe de Valois) was founded by Charles V. in 
 1379, ^^^ finished by Henri II. in 1552. 
 
 "At Vincennes, a large tribune is carried by a vault above 
 the entrance ; it occupies the whole first bay. The statues of the 
 apostles and of four angles, behind the altar, were, at Vincennes 
 as at Paris, placed against the pillars, at the height of the window- 
 sills, and supported by consoles and covered with canopies. The 
 supporting walls beneath the mullions were not adorned with 
 arcade work at Vincennes, but were probably at one time fur- 
 nished with wooden bars and tapestry. The windows of the 
 apse alone have kept their stained glass, which was painted in 
 the XVI. century by Jean Cousin, and represents the Last Judg- 
 ment, Among the stained windows of the renaissance, these can 
 take the first rank ; they are well composed and of fine execution. 
 
248 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The roof of the Sainte Chapelle at Vincennes, constructed of 
 oak, and planned with great perfection, was surmounted only by 
 a very small, simple spire that no longer exists." — Vioilet-h'-Diic. 
 
 In the stained glass of the Last Judgment (saved during 
 the Revolution, in the Muse'e des Petits-Augustins), the 
 figure of Diane de Poitiers is pointed out — naked, her 
 golden hair encircled by a blue riband. In the former 
 
 CHAPEL OF VINCENNES. 
 
 sacristy (left of choir) is the tomb, by Deseine, erected by 
 Louis XVIII. to the Due d'Enghien, whose body, buried 
 on the spot where he fell, was then exhumed from the 
 moat and brought to the chapel. The Due de Bourbon, 
 who died at St. Leu in August, 1830, vainly implored in 
 his will to be buried here by his son. 
 
 The donjon is a lofty square tower, with a turret at 
 each angle. It is five stories high, and when the castle 
 was a royal residence, the king occupied the first floor, the 
 
VlNCENA^ES 249 
 
 queen and her children the second, the rest of the royal 
 family the third, the guards and servants the fourth and 
 fifth. Some of the panelling and wood-carving of the 
 royal apartments is now to be seen in the Salles His- 
 toriques of the Louvre. Amongst the many illustrious 
 prisoners immured here were the leaders of the Fronde 
 (1650), of whom the Prince de Conde' amused himself by 
 the cultivation of flowers, which produced the verses of 
 Mile de Scudery : — 
 
 "En voyant ces oeillets, qu'un illustre guerrier 
 Arrose d'une main qui gagne des batailles, 
 Souviens-toi quApollon batissait des murailles, 
 Et ne t'etonne pas que Mars soit jardinier." 
 
 The quietist Mme Guyon, the friend of Fe'nelon, was 
 imprisoned here in 1695, and composed a great volume of 
 mystic verses here.^ Diderot, author of the Pensees Philo- 
 sophiques, was imprisoned here in 1749, and Mirabeau in 
 1777, who wrote several of his works during his three 
 years' incarceration. He thus describes the introduction 
 of a prisoner to Vincennes : — 
 
 " The feeble gleam of a truly sepulchral lamp lights the 
 prisoner's steps ; two conductors, like the infernal attendants 
 whom the poets place in Tartarus, guide his walk, the bolts be- 
 yond number strike his ears and eyes, doors of iron turn on their 
 huge hinges, the trembling light that pierces with effort into this 
 ocean of darkness and allows to be perceived everywhere, chains, 
 bolts, and bars, augments the horror of such a spectacle and the 
 dread it inspires. The unfortunate captive at last arrives at his 
 den. Here he finds a truckle-bed, two chairs of straw and often 
 of wood, a jug almost always broken, a table covered with grease 
 . . . and what more? Nothing! Imagine the effect produced 
 on the soul by the first glance he casts around him." — Lettres de 
 cachet. 
 
 Before the Revolution visitors were often admitted to 
 
 1 Voltaire. 
 
250 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 the prisons at Vincennes, and could read upon the walls 
 such inscriptions as, " II faut mourir, mon frere, il faut 
 mourir, quand il plaira a Dieu ; " " Beati qui persecutionem 
 patiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum 
 coelorum ; " and, over the door, " Career Socratis, templum 
 honoris." The holy Jansenist leader, M. de St. Cyran, 
 was imprisoned and composed many of his most important 
 works here. 
 
 The Manufacture royale de Porcelaine de Frafice was 
 founded in 1753 by Louis XV. at the instance of Mme de 
 Pompadour, and from its origin was occupied in the manu- 
 facture of flowers in china. 
 
 " Disordered taste in porcelain made a whole flora bloom ; 
 entire beds, with all their varieties of plants, issued from the 
 furnaces of Vincennes, and took life under the hands of skilful 
 workmen, who forged a vegetation of bronze for these flowers of 
 enamel . " — Courajod. 
 
 The Bois de Vincen?ies, terribly curtailed of late years, 
 is the especial '' promenade du peuple." Six railway sta- 
 tions, on the Vincennes Brie-Comte-Robert line give ac- 
 cess to it ; that of Nogent or Fontenay is nearest to the 
 Lac des Minimes, that of Joinville-le-Pont to the Faisan- 
 derie. The Rue de Paris leads from the chateau to the 
 eastern part of the Bois, containing [2 k.) Lcs M'uwnes^ 
 where a pretty lake with islands and cascades occupies 
 the site where a religious house, founded by Louis VII., 
 once stood. Here the Due de Montpensier gave a fa- 
 mous fete, July 6, 1847. On Sunday afternoons in sum- 
 mer the Bois is crowded. Under every tree, along the 
 edge of every lawn, by the bank of every stream, are 
 family picnic parties, easily satisfied and intensely happy. 
 Stolid Englishmen are astonished at the eagerness with 
 which grown-up people are playing at ball or battledore. 
 
LE BOIS DE VINCENNES 
 
 251 
 
 Nowhere is the light-hearted, kindly, cheery character of 
 the French middle classes seen to greater advantage. In 
 England such a scene would be an orgy ; here all is quiet 
 enjoyment — coarseness, drunkenness, roughness are un- 
 known. It was during a showier of rain in the park of 
 Vincennes, when all the rest of the Court had hurried to 
 take shelter, that Louis XIV. lingered by the side of Mile 
 de la Valliere, and declared his love to her. 
 
 From Vincennes a line leads in a little more than one 
 hour to Brie Comte-Robert, passing — 
 
 9 k, JVoge?it-sur-Mar?te, where Charles V. built a cha- 
 teau — " un moult notable manoir," called the Chateau de 
 la Beaute, — where he died (1380) ; it was destroyed in the 
 XVI. c. In 1 72 1 the painter Antoine Watteau died here, 
 saying to the cure of Nogent, who held a common crucifix 
 before his closing eyes, " Otez-moi cette image ! Com- 
 ment un artiste a-t-il pu rendre si mal les traits d'un 
 Dieu ? " 
 
 13 /^. ,5"/. Maur-Port-Creteil, — A famous Benedictine 
 abbey was founded at St. Maur-ks-Fosses, in the reign of 
 Clovis II., and dedicated to St. Peter, but changed its 
 name in 868, when the monks of Grandfeuille in Anjou 
 fled thither from the Normans, bringing with them the 
 wonder-working body of St. Maur, which was henceforth 
 invoked here every June 24, by vast multitudes shouting, 
 " St. Maur, grand ami de Dieu, envoyez-moi gue'rison, s'il 
 vous plait ! " 
 
 On the death of Henry V. of England at Vincennes in 
 1423, his entrails were buried at St. Maur. The abbey 
 was secularized in the XVI. c. by the bishop of Paris, 
 when its monks were replaced by eight canons, of whom 
 
55^ -DA Ys Near parts 
 
 Francois Rabelais was one. Bishop Jean de Bellay em> 
 ployed Philibert Delorme to build him, on the site of the 
 abbey, a palace, which was sold to Catherine de Medicis 
 in 1536. From the last Valois, the chateau passed to Char- 
 lotte de la Tre'mouille, and from her, by marriage, to the 
 house of Conde. The relics which had belonged to the 
 abbey were removed to St. Germain des Pres at Paris, and 
 the XI. 0. reliquary of St. Maur is now in the Louvre. 
 The chateau perished in the Revolution. 
 
 17/C'. La Vareiitie St. Maur. — On the opposite side of 
 the Marne is Chefinevieres^ in a situation so admirable that 
 Louis XIV. thought of making it the royal town before he 
 decided to build at Versailles. An avenue leads to the 
 very picturesque chateau of Ormesson, built (XVI. c. and 
 XVII. c.) in a lake, and connected by two bridges with the 
 main land. 
 
 2o>('. Siicy-Bo7i7ieiiil. — The Chateau de Sjicy, of 1640, 
 belonged to the Marechal de Saxe, and his chamber retains 
 the furniture of his time. In the neighborhood are the 
 chateau of Chaud-Moncel^ which belonged to the royalist 
 " dames de Sainte-Amaranthe," guillotined on accusation of 
 plotting against the life of Robespierre, and the chateau de 
 Mofttaleau, which belonged to the Abbe de Coulanges, and 
 where Mme de Sevigne lived from her sixth to her twelfth 
 year. "Vous ai-je mande," she wrote late in life to her 
 daughter, "que je fus I'autre jour a Sucy. Je fus ravie de 
 voir cette maison oil j'ai passe ma plus belle jeunesse ; je 
 n'avais point de rhumatismes en ce temps-la ! " 
 
 22Z'. Boissy-St.-Leger. — Close by, on the left of the 
 line, is the very handsome moated Chateau de Gros-Bois, 
 built by the arrogant Charles de Valois, Due d'Angouleme, 
 bastard of Charles IX. and Marie Toucbet. Wishing to 
 enlarge his park at the expense of the village, but being op- 
 
BRIE- COM TE-R OBER T 253 
 
 posed by the cure, who refused to allow the church to be 
 pulled down, he took advantage of a processional pilgrim- 
 age in which the whole parish was engaged, to set such a 
 vast number of soldiers to work, that when the priest and 
 his congregation returned, no sign of the church remained, 
 and its site was already enclosed within the park walls. 
 In the XVIII. c. Monsieur, Comte de Provence, was the 
 owner of Gros-Bois. When it was sold by the nation, it 
 was bought by Barras, who was succeeded in turn by 
 Moreau^ Fouche, and Berthier. It still belongs to the son 
 of the Marechal Prince de Wagram, and is filled with his- 
 toric relics of the Empire. 
 
 20 y^. Vilkcresfies. — A little south is the Chateau de 
 Cercay^ which was the residence of M. Rouher, the favorite 
 minister of Napoleon III. 
 
 2i^k. Brie-Co7nte-Robert (Hotel de la Grace de Dieu), 
 named from Robert of France, fifth son of Louis le Gros. 
 It retains some ruins of a XII. c. Castle. The Church, of 
 the XII. c. and XIII. c, was modernized in the XVI. c. 
 In the chevet, which ends in a straight wall, is a fine rose 
 window, with XIII. c. glass, representing the months. The 
 side chapels are XIV. c. and XVI. c. In the north aisle 
 is a XIII. c. tomb, with the figure of a warrior. The tower 
 is XIII. c. The Hospital has a gothic portal, with six 
 arches of the XIII. c. 
 
XIII. 
 
 ME A UX. 
 
 THE station of the Chefniu de Fer de PEst or de 
 Strasbourg is close to the Gare du Nord and to the 
 Boulevard Magenta. The scenery of the line is exceed- 
 ingly bare and ugly. It passes through the banlietie of 
 Paul de Koch, described in so many of his novels, but 
 now built over and blackened, to — • 
 
 II k. Bondy, near the forest of Bondy, where Childeric 
 II., king of Austrasia, is supposed to have been murdered 
 in 673. The Avenue de I'Abbaye leads to the site of the 
 Abbey of Livry, founded 1200, whither Mme de Sevigne 
 often retired, and whence she wrote — 
 
 "Holy Tuesday, March 24, 1671. I have been here three 
 hours, with the purpose of retiring from the world and noise ; 
 till Friday evening, I design to be in solitude. I make a little 
 La Trappe of the place ; I wish to pray God here, and make a 
 thousand reflections. I have determined to fast a good deal." 
 
 The small remains of the abbey are now an orphanage ; 
 the gardens are cut up and destroyed. At the Restora- 
 tion the chateau of Livry belonged to the Comte de 
 Damas, the faithful friend of Louis XVIII. , who slept here 
 April II, 1814, the day before his entry into Paris. 
 
 13 k. I.e Raiiicy (Rincianum), where, in the XVII c, 
 Jacques Bordier built a magnificent chateau on the site of 
 
CHELLES 
 
 255 
 
 a Benedictine abbey. In 1750 the Due d'Orleans made 
 here a park which is described in the stilted verses of 
 Delille. Under the first empire the chateau belonged to 
 Marshal Junot, whose wife (Duchesse d'Abrantes) de- 
 scribes the first interview of Jerome Bonaparte with his 
 second wife, Princess Catherine of Wurtemburg, which 
 took place there under her auspices. Napoleon I. after- 
 wards imperiously forced the Duke d'Abrantes to give up 
 the chateau to him. It was pulled down under Louis 
 Philippe, and the park has since been cut up and de- 
 stroyed. The fine marble busts of Henri 11. , Charles IX., 
 Henri III., and Henri IV., now in the Louvre, formed 
 part of the decorations of Raincy. 
 
 \^ k. Villemoiible-Gag7iy. — The church of Gagny dates 
 partly from the XIII. c. 2 k. distant (omnibus, 30 c.) is 
 Monffermeil^ celebrated by Victor Hugo and Paul de 
 Koch, but the place is much changed of late years. 
 
 " To-day it is a pretty large village, ornamented, all the year 
 through, by villas in plaster, and, on Sundays, by blooming 
 citizens.' ' — Les Mise'rables. 
 
 19 k. Chelles^ where the early kings of France had a 
 palace, stained, in the VI. c, by the crimes of Frede- 
 gonde, who murdered the last of her stepsons at Noisy, on 
 the opposite bank of the Maine, in 580. The great stone 
 called Pierre de Chilperic once sustained the Croix de 
 Sainte-Bauteur^ marking the spot where Fredegonde caused 
 her husband Chilperic to be assassinated. That morning 
 he had come playfully behind her whilst she was dressing 
 her hair, and had given her a rap with his cane. "Pourquoi 
 me frappes-tu ainsi, Landri ? " she had exclaimed, thinking 
 that it was the Maire du Palais, her favored lover of the 
 moment. The king then went off abruptly to the chase, 
 and she felt that he must never return. Dagobert L, 
 
2t6 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Clovis II., and his son lived at the villa regalis of Chelles, 
 Clotaire III. died there, and Robert II. (le Pieux) con- 
 voked meetings of bishops there. The palace fell into 
 decay under the last Capetian kings, but the abbey, 
 founded by St. Clotilde in the beginning of the VI. c. and 
 rebuilt by St. Bathilde, wife of Clovis II., flourished till 
 the great Revolution^ and counted Gisela, sister of Charle- 
 magne, amongst its many abbesses of royal birth. Little 
 remains of it now, except some wood carvings in the 
 church, and some reliquaries containing bones of St. 
 Bathilde, St. Bertille, &c. When Louis XIV. was in- 
 spired with his sudden passion for Mile de Fontanges, 
 amongst the benefits heaped upon her family, he made her 
 sister abbess of Chelles, a dignity usually conferred upon 
 the daughters of princes or dukes. 
 
 " 6th April, 1680. Mme de Fontanges is made duchesse with 
 20,000 crowns pension ; she received congratulations thereon, to- 
 day, in her bed. The king has been publicly there ; she takes her 
 tabouret to-morrow, and goes to pass Eastertide at an abbey which 
 the king has given to one of her sisters. This is a style of sepa- 
 ration which will do honor to the severity of the confessor. There 
 are people who say that this establishment has the air of a dismis- 
 sal ; in truth, I do not believe so, time will tell us. At present 
 the state of things is thus : Mme de Montespan is in a fury ; she 
 wept much yesterday ; judge then of the martyrdom suffered by 
 her pride." — Mme de Se'vigne. 
 
 To this abbey, a few months later, her health and power 
 broken, Mile de Fontanges came as a refuge. 
 
 "7th July, 1680. Mme de Fontanges has left for Chelles. 
 She had four carriages and six, her own had eight horses ; all her 
 sisters were with her, but it was all so sad that it was piteous ; 
 the fair lady losing all her blood, pale, changed, overcome with 
 grief, despising 40,000 crowns income and a tabouret which she 
 has, and longing for health and the king's heart, which she has 
 not. I do not think there ever was an example of a person so 
 fortunate and so unfortunate. 
 
ME A UX 257 
 
 " ist September, 1680. We heard at our abbey [of Livry] the 
 triumphs, the trumpetings and the music of Chelles at the con- 
 secration of the abbess. It is said that the fair beauty thought 
 she was poisoned, and that gave her a right to have guards ; she 
 is still languishing, but so full of her grandeur that you must 
 imagine something precisely contrary to that little violet [La Val- 
 liere], who hid herself in the grass, and was ashamed of being a 
 mistress, a mother, and a duchesse ; that will never be the model." 
 — Mine de Sevigne'. 
 
 Louise Adelaide de Chartres, daughter of the Due 
 d'Orle'ans and granddaughter of Louis XIV. and Mme de 
 Montespan, became Abbess of Chelles in 17 19. Her 
 grandmother, Elizabeth Charlotte, writes — 
 
 " She persisted in her project of becoming a nun ;'it seems to 
 me she suits the world better ; . . . but it is a craze that has taken 
 rest in her brain. She has all the tastes of a boy ; she loves dogs, 
 horses, riding ; all day long she is handling powder, making fuses 
 or other fire-works ; she has a pair of pistols, with which she is 
 always shooting. She has no fear of anything in the world ; she 
 cares for nothing that women like ; she does not even take care 
 of her appearance. This is my reason for not being able to fanc)' 
 that she will make a good nun." — Me'moires de JMadame. 
 
 The abbey was totally destroyed at the Revolution, and 
 the tombs of Clotaire, Bathilde, and the numerous prin- 
 cesses who had reigned as abbesses perished with it. A 
 few statues which belonged to the abbey ornament the 
 parish church. 
 
 45 k. Meaiix (Hotel du Grand Cerf; des Trois Rois), in 
 the flourishing and prosperous pays Meldois — a vast fruit 
 and vegetable garden, an attractive old city, worth staying 
 to see. The Cathedral is seen from the station, rising 
 above the trees of the pleasant public walks. It was begun 
 in the XII. c, but was only finished in the XVI. c. On 
 the north-west is a massive square tower. The interior, 
 of the XV. c. and XVI. c, is exceedingly beautiful and 
 
258 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 harmonious ; faultless as far as it reaches, it impresses 
 more than many grander buildings. 
 
 In the right aisle of the choir is the monument by 
 Buixiel (1822) of Bossuet, the most illustrious bishop of 
 Meaux ; he is buried at the entrance to the sacristy. 
 
 " He was a man to whom honor, virtue, uprightness were as 
 inseparable as his knowledge and vast learning. His place as 
 tutor of Monseigneur had made him familiarly acquainted with 
 the king, who more than once consulted him concerning his 
 scruples. Bossuet often spoke to him about his mode of life 
 with a freedom worthy of the first ages and the first bishops of 
 the Church. More than once he checked the course of disorder ; 
 he ventured to pursue the king, who escaped from him. He 
 made at last all bad conduct cease, and he succeeded in crown- 
 ing this great work by the last blows that drove away from the 
 court for ever Mme de Montespan.'" — St. Simon,'' M^moires." 
 
 In the left choir aisle is the tomb of Philippe de Cas- 
 tile, son of the Seigneur de Chenoise, 1627, with his 
 kneeling figure; and, opposite, the beautiful flamboyant 
 portal called Porte Maugarni. 
 
 Entered to the left of the cathedral facade is the 
 Eveche^ of the XV. c. and XVI. c. Visitors are admitted 
 by the portress to the charming old-fashioned garden be- 
 hind the palace, designed by Lenotre, covered with snow- 
 drops in early spring. It is backed by a sunny terrace 
 upon the walls, ending in a pavilion, where Bossuet spent 
 much of his time, but which is no longer furnished. Here 
 were composed many of those sermons (which began in 
 improvisations at the Hotel de Rambouillet) in which, 
 with thorough knowledge and use of the Fathers, and in 
 kingly splendor of style, the great bishop chiefly aimed at 
 upholding the majesty of the Church doctrines, and making 
 of theological dogma a living reality. He is, however, al- 
 most better known by his funeral orations than by his 
 
MEA UX 
 
 259 
 
 sermons, though they are more artificial, and their high- 
 sounding phrases would now be unendurable. 
 
 "The Eveche is full of historic associations, besides being 
 very curious in itself. Here have slept many noteworthy person- 
 ages — Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, on their sad return 
 from Varennes, June 24, 1791 ; Napoleon in 1814; Charles X. in 
 
 LA MAITRISE, MEAUX. 
 
 1828 ; later, General Moltke in 1870, who said on that occasion, 
 'In three days, or a week at most, we shall be in Paris,' not 
 counting on the possibilities of a siege." — Holidays in Eastern 
 France. 
 
 Behind the cathedral is the curious building, of the 
 XIII. c, called La Mditrise. The bridges across the 
 Marne are covered with mills, some of them very old and 
 picturesque. 
 
XIV. 
 
 FONTAINEBLEA U. 
 
 THE Chemin de Fer de Lyon (for Fontainebleau) 
 starts from the Boulevard Mazas. It passes — 
 
 I k. (right), the village of Conjlafis, where the libertine 
 archbishop of Paris, Harlay de Champvalon, built a cha- 
 teau^ in which he died August 6, 1695, when Mme de 
 Coulanges wrote to Mme de Sevigne : " II s'agit mainte- 
 nant de frouver quelqu'un qui se charge de I'oraison fune- 
 bre. On pretend qu'il n'y a que deux petites bagatelles 
 qui rendent cet ouvrage difficile: la vie et la mort." The 
 chateau continued to be the residence of the archbishops 
 before and after the Revolution, till a service at St. Ger- 
 main I'Auxerrois (Feb. 13, 183 1), in honor of the Due de 
 Berry, led to an insurrection in which it was sacked. The 
 buildings are now occupied by a convent. 
 
 5 k. Char e?iton-le- Pont, a position which has often 
 proved of great military importance in defending or attack- 
 ing Paris. Here was the famous Te^nple des Protestants, 
 authorized by Henri IV., capable of containing 14,000 
 persons, where the Calvinists held their synods ; it per- 
 ished at the revocation of the edict of Nantes. A little 
 hospital of twelve beds, founded by Se'bastien Leblanc in 
 1642, was the origin of the enormous Hospital and Lima- 
 tic Asylum of Charenton — the Bedlam of France. 
 
r ABB A YE 261 
 
 7 k. Maisons-Alfort. — Maisons is remarkable for its 
 magnificent Ecole veterinaire, founded 1766. There is a 
 tramway hence to (4/^.) Creteuil, where Odette de Champ- 
 divers, mistress of Charles VI., had a manor. The church 
 is partly of the XIII. c, and has a fine west tower serving 
 as a porch. 
 
 1^ k. Villeneuve-St.- Georges, — Above the village is seen 
 the Chateau de Beauregard^ which belonged to Claude le 
 Pelletier, Controller of Finances after Colbert. 
 
 \2>k. Mojitgeron. — At Cros?te, 1 k. distant, Boileau was 
 born, at No. 3, Rue Simon, which is inscribed — 
 
 " Ici naquit Boileau, ce maitre en I'art d'ecrire. 
 II arma la raison des traits de la satire, 
 Et, dormant le precepte et I'exemple a la fois, 
 Du gout il etablit et pratiqua les lois." 
 
 2^k. east is Yeres^ where the chateau belonged in the 
 XIV. c. to the family of Courtena}', then to that of Bude'. 
 To the latter belonged Guillaume Bude, the learned secre- 
 tary of Charles VIII., of whose house the stately entrance, 
 flanked by round brick towers, remains in the village. A 
 spring, which was formerly in his garden, is called the Fon- 
 taine Bude'^ and bears a poetical inscription. 
 
 At V Abb aye (i >^.) are considerable remains of the 
 Benedictine Abbey, founded in 1132 by the Comtesse 
 d'Etampes, sister of Louis le Gros. Marie de Pisseleu, 
 sister of the famous Anne, Comtesse d'Etampes, became 
 its abbess in the XV. c. The buildings are now occupied 
 by a woolen factory. A beautiful XV. c. portal remains. 
 Few fragments exist of the convent of Camaldules, founded 
 by the Due d'Angouleme, bastard of Charles IX., on the 
 hill above the village. 2 k. distant is the ancient Chateau 
 de la Grange, a very handsome brick and stone building, 
 flanked by five towers, of the time of Henri IV. It be- 
 
262 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 longed to the widow of Hem i dc Guise, murdered by 
 Henri HI., and afterwards to Louis XHI. (under whom 
 it was called Grange-le-Roi) ; then to the Mare'chal de Saxe, 
 the victor of Fontenoy. The ivy on the fa9ade w^as planted 
 by Fox, when he came here to visit La Fayette, after the 
 peace of Amiens. 
 
 26 k, Brimoy. — The old chateau of Frangois de la 
 Rochefoucauld, celebrated in the wars of the Fronde, was 
 rebuilt in 1722 by the financier Paris de Montmartel, 
 whose son Jean Paris, Marquis de Brunoy, squandered 
 his large fortune in eccentricities. 
 
 "At the death of his father, he wished everything around 
 him, things as well as people, to be in mourning. His domestics 
 had to dress in black serge, every inhabitant received six ells of 
 the same stuff, and his father's statues were draped with it. An 
 immense piece of crape enveloped the chateau. The trees bore 
 weepers ; the fountains and cascades were filled with black 
 water ; floods of ink were thrown into the river and canal ; the 
 church was painted black ; the cows, the sheep, the hens were 
 dyed black." — Louis Barron, " Les Environs de Paris.'' 
 
 After the ruin of the marquis, Brunoy was bought by 
 Monsieur, brother of Louis XVL Chateau and park were 
 alike destroyed at the Revolution. In 18 15, after the 
 battle of Waterloo, Louis XVIII. conferred the title of 
 Marquis de Brunoy upon the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 45 k. Mehin (Hotel du Grand-Moiiarqice ; dii Coj?t- 
 merce), prettily situated on the Seine, was a favorite resi- 
 dence of the kings of France from the XI. c. Their castle, 
 at the east end of the island in the Seine w^as the place 
 where Philippe I. died j where St. Louis celebrated the 
 marriage of his daughter Isabelle with Thibaut of Navarre, 
 and which was besieged by Henry V. of England in 
 1420. 
 
MEL UN 
 
 263 
 
 The chateau was inhabited by Louis XIV. as a boy, 
 but was totally demolished in 1740. The market-place 
 has a large fountain. Of the churches which remain, St. 
 Aspais, in the main street, with good stained glass, is 
 XV. c. ; Notre Da7ne, near the river, was founded in the 
 X. c, and has two romanesque w-est towers. At the 
 east end of the town is the Chateau de Vaux-le-Phiy. 
 Jacques Amyot, the learned bishop of Auxerre, was a 
 native of Melun. 
 
 STREET AT MELUN. 
 
 6 k, north-east, by a walk or drive across a dreary up- 
 land plain, is the noble Chateau de Vaux-Praslin, built by 
 Fouquet, the famous " surintendant de finances " under 
 Cardinal Mazarin, with magnificent gardens laid out by 
 Lenotre, and internal decorations by Mignard and Charles 
 Lebrun. 
 
 "The palace and gardens of Vaux cost eighteen millions, or, 
 in the value of to-day, about thirty-five ; Fouquet built the palace 
 twice, and bought three hamlets, the ground of which was en- 
 
264 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 closed in the immense gardens, partly planted by Lenotre, and 
 then regarded as the most beautiful in Europe. The fountains 
 of Vaux, which since have seemed less than mediocre after those 
 of Versailles, Marly, and St. Cloud, were prodigies ; but yet 
 beautiful as was the house, the expenditure of eighteen millions, 
 the vouchers for which still exist, proves that he was served with 
 as little economy as he served the king with. It is true that Saint 
 Germain and Fontainebleau, the only houses of pleasure occupied 
 by the king, were far from approaching the beauty of Vaux ; 
 Louis XIV. felt it and was annoyed. In every part of the house 
 the arms and device of Fouquet are displayed ; a squirrel with 
 
 13.0^)3 
 
 ''■'?:,»*•••*' '^j^.,.. 
 
 CHATEAU DE VAUX-PRASLIN. 
 
 the motto, Quo non ascendant? 'Whither can I not climb?' The 
 king asked for an explanation ; the ambitious tone of the devicb 
 did not serve to appease the monarch. The courtiers remarked 
 that the squirrel was everywhere depicted as pursued by a snake, 
 which is in the arms of Colbert. The fete was superior to those 
 that Cardinal Mazarin had given, not only in splendor, but in 
 taste, the Le Fdcheux of Moliere was represented there for the 
 first time: Pelisson wrote the prologue, whic! was admired. 
 Public amusements conceal or prepare so often at court private 
 disasters that, without the queen mother, the Superintendent and 
 Pelisson would have been arrested at Vaux on the day of the 
 ik,\&r— Voltaire, " Siecle de Louis XI V." 
 
PON TA IXEBLEA V 265 
 
 "he glories of the chateau are celebrated in the " Songe 
 de \ux "' of La Fontaine : — 
 
 Tout combattit a Vaux pour le plaisir du roi : 
 La musique, les eaux, les lustres, les etoiles." 
 
 Yet eighteen days after his fete, Fouquet was arrested at 
 Nares, and imprisoned for life at Pignerol by order of the 
 kini The Due de Praslin, minister of Louis XIV., pur- 
 chaid the property, and it will ever be thought of in con- 
 necon with the murder of the unhappy Duchesse de 
 Prain, daughter of Mare'chal Sebastiani, which occurred 
 in iris in 1847. 
 
 "he chateau rises nobly from its wide moat, surrounded 
 by \st terraces. The Cour d^ Hon7ieur has a vast avant- 
 ^^a; lined by les communs. It may be all seen through the 
 grill which separates it from the road, inside which the 
 sugr-refiner, who has bought the chateau from its aristo- 
 crat and liberal owners, allows no visitors. 
 
 k. west of Melun, near Da7?imarie-L's-Lys, which has 
 a chrch dating partly from the XII. c, are the very 
 pictresque ruins of the XIII. c. Abbaye du Lys. 
 
 t k. Bois-le-Roi. — A little east of this, beyond the 
 curv of the Seine, is the little village of Fontaifie-le-Port^ 
 neawhich was the famous abbey of Barbeaux, founded by 
 Lou le Jeune in 1147. The church, which contained the 
 fine omb of Louis VII., was demolished at the Revolu- 
 tion, but the body of the king, wrapped in its silken 
 shrod, was concealed by a cure, and removed to St. Denis 
 in 1^:7. 
 
 3 k. Fontamebleau. 
 
 Te town is '^k. from the station; omnibus, 30c. Hotels — 
 de Fmce et d'Angleterre, facing the chateau ; de V Europe, close by 
 and ery good ; de Londres ; Bristol ; V Aigle JVoir. Carriages — 
 two orses, 4 f. first hour, 3 f. second hour ; one horse, 3 f. first 
 
266 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 hour, 2 f. second hour. By the day: two horses, 20 f., one 
 horse, 10 f. 
 
 The dull town is much frequented in the summer for 
 the sake of its park and chateau — 
 
 " Chasteau qui s'appelle 
 Du gracieux surnoin d'une fontaine belle." 
 
 Louis le Jeune, who dated his acts of 1 137 and 1 141 '• apud 
 fontem Bleaudi," was probably the first king of France 
 
 '^•"^^^^t^^^^iff^^^^^^s^ss? 
 
 ABBAYE DU LYS. 
 
 who lived here ; St. Louis could still sign his ordinances 
 " Donne en nos deserts de Fontainebleau," though, after a 
 fashion, the kings of France continued to make the place 
 a residence. Philippe le Bel, Louis (X.) le Hutin, 
 Philippe V. and Charles IV. were all born in the palace, 
 and there Philippe le Bel died (as was believed, from the 
 Templars' curse), in November, 1328 — " His face was still 
 fair when it began to pale from some nameless disease, 
 for he had neither fever nor visible malady." Philippe V. 
 also died at Fontainebleau. 
 
FONTAINEBLEA U 267 
 
 But the golden age of Fontainebleau came with the 
 Renaissance and Francois L, who wished to make Fon- 
 tainebleau the most glorious palace in the world. " The 
 Escurial ! " says Brantome, "what of that? See how long 
 it was of building ! Good workmen like to be quick 
 finished. With our king it was otherwise. Take Fontaine- 
 bleau and Chambord. When they were projected, when 
 once the plumb-line, and the compass, and the square, and 
 the hammer were on the spot, then in a few years we saw 
 the Court in residence there." 
 
 II Rosso was first (1531) employed to carry out the 
 ideas of Francois I. as to painting, and then Sebastian 
 Serlio was summoned from Bologna in 1541 to fill the place 
 of ^' surintendant des bastiments et architecte de Fontaine- 
 bleau." II Rosso — Giovambattista — had been a Florentine 
 pupil of Michelangelo, but refused to follow any master, 
 having, as Vasari says, "a certain inkling of his own.*' 
 Francois I. was delighted with him at first, and made him 
 head of all the Italian colony at Fontainebleau, where he 
 was known as '' Maitre Roux." But in two years the kins^ 
 was longing to patronize some other genius, and implored 
 Giulio Romano, then engaged on the Palazzo del Te at 
 Mantua, to come to him. The great master refused to 
 come himself, but in his place sent the Bolognese Prima- 
 ticcio, who became known in France as Le Primatice. 
 The new-comer excited the furious jealousy of II Rosso, 
 whom he supplanted in favor and popularit}^, and who, 
 after growing daily more morose, took poison in 1541. 
 Then Primaticcio, who, to humor his rival, had been sent 
 into honorable exile (on plea of collecting antiquities at 
 Rome), was summoned back, and destroyed most of II 
 Rosso's frescoes, replacing them by his own. Those that 
 remain are now painted over, and no works of II Rosso 
 
268 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 are still in existence (unless in engravings) except some of 
 his frescoes at Florence. 
 
 With the Italian style of buildings and decorations, the 
 Italian system of a Court adorned by ladies was first 
 introduced here under Frangois I., and soon became a 
 necessity. 
 
 " Bien sou vent ay-je veu nos roys aller aux champs, aux 
 villes et ailleurs, y demeurer et s'esbattre quelques jours, et n'y 
 mener point les dames ; mais nous estions si esbahis, si perdus, 
 si faschez, que pour huict jours que nous faisions de sejour 
 separez d'elles et de leurs beaux yeux, ils nous paroissoient un 
 an et toujours a souhaitter : ' Quand serons-nous a la court?' 
 n'appelant la court bien souvent la ou estoit le roy, mais ou 
 estoient la reyne et les dames." — Brantorne. 
 
 Under Fran9ois I., his beautiful mistress, the Duchesse 
 d'Etampes — "la plus belle des savantes, et la plus savante 
 des belles," directed all the fetes. In this she was suc- 
 ceeded, under Henri II., by Diane de Poitiers, whose 
 monogram, interwoven with that of the king, appears in all 
 the buildings of his time, and who is represented as a 
 goddess (Diana) in the paintings of Primaticcio. 
 
 Under Francois II., in 1560, by the advice of the 
 queen-mother, an assembly of notables was summoned at 
 Fontainebleau ; and here, accompanied by her 150 beau- 
 tiful maids of honor, Catherine de Medicis received the 
 embassy of the catholic sovereigns sent to demand the 
 execution of the articles of the Council of Trent, and call- 
 ing for fresh persecution of the reformers. 
 
 Much as his predecessors had accomplished, Henri 
 IV. did more for the embellishment of Fontainebleau, 
 where the monogram of his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrees, 
 is frequently seen mingled with that of his wife, Marie de 
 Medicis. All the Bourbon kings had a passion for hunt- 
 ing, for which Fontainebleau afforded especial facilities. 
 
CHATEAU DE FOXTAINEBLEAU 269 
 
 "The king thought only of the pleasures of the chase. It 
 seemed as if the courtiers were permitting themselves an epi- 
 gram, when they were heard saying seriously, on the days that 
 Louis XV. was not hunting, ' The king is doing nothing to-day.' " 
 — Mnie Camp an. 
 
 " The same day, his Majesty, after having been a-hawking, 
 had a wolf-hunt, and ended the day by a third hunt of a stag, that 
 lasted till night, in spite of three or four hours' rain. They were 
 then six leagues from the start. The king arrived a little tired. 
 This is what princes call amusement ; about tastes and pleasures 
 there is no need to dispute." — Stilly. 
 
 It was at Fontainebleau that Louis XIII. was born, 
 and that the Marechal de Biron was arrested. Louis XIII. 
 only lived here occasionally. In the early reign of Louis 
 XIV. the palace was lent to Christina, of Sweden, who 
 had abdicated her throne. 
 
 It was in one of the private apartments, occupying the 
 
 site of the ancient Galerie des Cerfs, now destroyed, that 
 
 she ordered the execution of her chief equerry, Monal- 
 
 deschi, whom she had convicted of treason. She listened 
 
 patiently to his excuses, but was utterly unmoved by them 
 
 and his entreaties for mercy. She provided a priest to 
 
 confess him, after which he was slowly butchered by blows 
 
 with a sword on the head and face, as he dragged himself 
 
 along the floor, his body being defended by a coat of 
 
 mail.^ 
 
 *' Of whatever fault Monaldeschi was guilty towards the philo- 
 sophic queen, she ought, as she had renounced royalty, have 
 asked for justice, not done it. The case was not that of a queen 
 punishing a subject, but of a woman terminating an affair of gal- 
 lantry by a murder ; the case of one Italian procuring the assas- 
 sination of another by order of a Swedish woman in a palace of 
 the King of France. No one ought to be put to death but by the 
 law ; Christina, in Sweden, would not have had the right to as- 
 sassinate any one, and certainly what would have been a crime at 
 
 » See the terrible narrative of Pere Lebel Mathurin de Fontainebleau, 
 called in to confess Monaldeschi. 
 
270 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Stockholm was not permissible at Fontainebleau. Those who 
 have justified this deed deserve to serve such masters. This 
 shame and cruelty tarnished the philosophy that had made Chris- 
 tina quit a throne. She would have been punished in England, 
 and every country where law reigns, but France closed her eyes 
 to this assault on the authorit)'' of the king, the right of nations 
 and humanity." — Voltaire, " Siecle de Louis XIV.'' 
 
 Even after the creation of the palaces of Versailles 
 and Marly, Louis XIV. continued to make an annual 
 "voyage de Fontainebleau." He compelled his whole 
 Court to follow him ; if any of his family were ill, and un- 
 able to travel by road, he made them come by water ; for 
 himself, he slept on the way, either at the house of the 
 Due d'Antin (son of Mme de Montespan) or of the Mare- 
 chal de Villeroy. It was here that the Grand Dauphin 
 was born, in 1661. Here, also, it was that Mme de Main- 
 tenon first appeared at the councils^, and that the king 
 publicly asked her advice as to whether he should accept 
 the throne of Spain for the Due d'Anjou. Here, also, in 
 1685, he signed the revocation of the edict of Nantes. 
 The great Conde died in the palace. Louis XV. was mar- 
 ried here to Marie Leczinska in 1725 ; and here the Dau- 
 phin, his son, died in 1765. Louis XVI. delighted in Fon- 
 tainebleau for its hunting facilities. 
 
 After the Revolution, Napoleon I. restored the chateau 
 and prepared it for Pius VII., who came to France to 
 crown him, and was here (January 25, 18 13) induced to 
 sign the famous Concordat de Fontainebleau, by which he 
 abjured his temporal sovereignty. 
 
 The chateau which witnessed the abdication of the 
 Pope, also saw that of Napoleon I., who made his touch- 
 ing farewell to the soldiers of the Vieille-Garde in the 
 Cour du Cheval-Blanc, before setting off for Elba. 
 
 "The guard itself was at Fontainebleau. He wished to bid it 
 
CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU 27 1 
 
 adieu. He ordered it to be drawn up in a circle around him in the 
 court of the chateau, and then, in presence of his old soldiers, 
 who were deeply moved, he pronounced the following words : 
 ' Soldiers, my old companions in arms, whom I have alwa)^s 
 found treading the path of honor, we must at last part. I could 
 have remained longer among you, but it would have prolonged a 
 cruel strife, added, perhaps, civil war to foreign war, and I 
 could not resolve to longer lacerate the breast of France. Enjoy 
 the repose which you have so justly earned, and be happ)^ As 
 for me, do not sorrow for me. There still remains a mission for 
 me, and it is to accomplish it that I consent to live ; namely, to 
 tell to posterity the great deeds we have done together. I would 
 gladly clasp you all in my arms ; but let me embrace that flag 
 which represents you. . . .' Then, drawing towards him Gen- 
 eral Petit, who bore the flag of the old guard, and who was the 
 complete model of modest heroism, he pressed to his bosom the 
 flag and the general, in the midst of the cries and tears of those 
 present ; he then flung himself into the depths of his carriage, 
 his eyes moist, and softening even the very commissioners 
 charged to accompany him." — Thiers, '' V Empire^ 
 
 The Cour du Cheval-Blanc^ the largest of the five courts 
 of the palace, took its name from a plaster copy of the 
 horse of Marcus Aurelius at Rome, destroyed 1626. Re- 
 cently it has been called the Cou}' dcs Adieux, on account 
 of the farewell of Napoleon I. in 18 14. It was once sur- 
 rounded by buildings on all sides ; one was removed in 
 1810, and replaced by a grille. The principal facade is 
 composed of five pavilions with high roofs, united by 
 buildings two stories high. The beautiful twisted staircase 
 in front of the central pavilion was executed by Lemercier 
 for Louis XIIL, and replaces a staircase by Philibert De- 
 lorme. Facing this pavilion, the mass of buildings on the 
 right is the Aile Neuve of Louis XV., built on the site of 
 the Galerie d'Ulysse, to the destruction of the precious 
 works of Primaticcio and Niccolo dell' Abbate, with which 
 it was adorned. Below the last pavilion, near the grille, 
 was the Grotte du Jardin-des-Pins, where James V. of 
 
272 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Scotland, coming over to marry Magdalen of France, 
 daughter of Francois I., watched her bathing with her 
 ladies, by the aid of a mirror. In the left angle is the 
 Jeu de Paume, occupying the site of the Galerie de Chev- 
 reuils, destroyed by fire. Beginning at this corner of the 
 facade, the Pavilions de VHorloge and des Amies stand on 
 either side of the Chapelle de la Sai?iie-Trmite. The cen- 
 tral is called the Pavilion des Peintures^ because Frangois 
 
 CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU. 
 
 I. collected the works of the great Italian masters there ; 
 the fifth at the right corner is the Pavilion des Peines, built 
 by Catherine de Medicis and Anne of Austria. 
 
 To the west of the Cour du Cheval-Blanc, and commu- 
 nicating with it, is the Cour de la Po?itai?ie, the main front 
 of which is formed by the Galerie de Francois I. This 
 faces the great tank, into which Gaston d'Orleans, at eight 
 years old, caused one of the courtiers to be thrown, whom 
 
CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU 
 
 273 
 
 he considered to have spoken to him disrespectfully. One 
 side of the Cour de la Fontaine, that towards the Jardin 
 Anglais, is terminated by a pavilion of the time of Louis 
 XV. ; the other, formerly decorated with statues, is at- 
 tributed to Serlio. The fountain from which the court 
 takes its name has been often changed ; a poor work by 
 Petitot now replaces the grand designs of the time of Fran- 
 gois I. and Henri IV. Beyond this court we find (on the 
 left) tho. Porte Doree, which faces the Chaicssee de Maiiitenoii^ 
 between the "Etang" and Parterre; it was built under 
 Francois I., and decorated by Primaticcio with paintings, 
 restored in 1835. It was by this entrance that Charles V. 
 arrived at the palace in 1539. 
 
 The Porte Doree leads into the Cour Ovale (formerly 
 du Doiijoji) surrounded by buildings which date from St. 
 Louis, though so completely altered that the only appar- 
 ent remnant of the feudal fortress is the tourelle attached 
 to the Pavilion St. Louis at the bottom of the court. The 
 noble facade on the right, in the two ranges of arches, was 
 mostly built by Francois I., and finished by Henri IV. \ 
 the beautiful peristyle is attributed to Serlio ; the capitals 
 of its pilasters and columns bear the " F " of Frangois I. 
 In the centre of the south side is the Chapelle St. Saturnin. 
 The Pavilion du Dauphin^ beyond this, is of Henri IV. 
 
 "The plan is as irregular as anything in gothic art, and there 
 is a picturesque abandon about the whole design which is very 
 charming and appropriate to the situation ; but, strange to say, 
 the effect of the whole is marred by the coarseness and vulgarity 
 of the details." — Fcrgtisson. 
 
 The curious Porte Dauphine (or JBaptistcre), which 
 forms the approach to the court from the outer side, was 
 built by Henri IV., and received its name at the baptism 
 of Louis XIII., which took place beneath it ; it bears the 
 
274 D^4 yS NEAR PARIS 
 
 initials of Henri IV. and Marie de Medicis. In front of 
 the Porte Dauphine, on tlie outer side, are two colossal 
 Hermes, flanking the entrance to the Cour des Offices. 
 
 The interior of the palace — open daily from ii to 4 — 
 is usually shown in the following order. Entering by the 
 Escalier de Fer a Cheval, in the Cour du Cheval-Blanc, we 
 turn left to— 
 
 La Chapelle de la Sai?ite-Trinite, built (1529) by Fran- 
 9ois I. in the place of the Oratory of St. Louis, of which a 
 Sfothic arcade remains at the end of the nave. Henri IV. 
 was urged to its rich decorations by the ambassador of 
 Spain, who said, when shown over the palace — "' Cette 
 maison serait plus belle, sire, si Dieu y e'tait loge aussi bien 
 que Votre Majeste." 
 
 The paintings of the vault, by Freminef, were continued 
 under Louis XIII. ; these are his only existing works. 
 The altar, by Bordogni, dates from Louis XIII. Here 
 Marie Louise d'Orleans, daughter of the Re'gent d'Or- 
 ie'ans, was married to the Prince of Asturias ; here Louis 
 XV. was married to Marie Leczinska ; and here the last 
 Due d'Orleans, son of Louis Philippe, was married to 
 Princess Helene of Mecklembourg. 
 
 A staircase now leads to the first floor, and we enter — 
 
 The Appartements de NapoleoJi I., all furnished in the 
 style of the first empire. The Cabinet de P Abdication is the 
 place where he resigned his power. His bedroom (con- 
 taining the bed of Napoleon I., the cradle of the King of 
 Rome, and a cabmet of Marie Louise) leads to the Salle 
 dii CoJiseil^ which was the Salon de Famille under Louis 
 Philippe ; its decorations are by Boucher^ and are the best 
 of the period. It was in leaving this room that the Mare- 
 chal de Biron was arrested under Henri IV., in a cabinet 
 which is now thrown into the adjoining Salle du Trbne. 
 
CHATEAU BE FONTAINEBLEAU 275 
 
 (previously the bedroom of the Bourbon kings), dating 
 from Charles IX., but decorated under Louis XIII. A 
 fine portrait by Philippe de Champaigne represents Louis 
 XIII. It is accompanied by his device — Erit haec quoque 
 cognita 7Jio?isfris, in allusion to his vehemence in the exter- 
 mination of heresy. 
 
 The adjoining Boudoir de Marie Antoinette is a beauti- 
 ful little room, painted by Barthelemy. The metal work 
 of the windows is said to have been wrought by Louis 
 XVI. himself, who had his workshop here, as at Versailles. 
 The richly-decorated Chambre a Coucher de la Reine was 
 inhabited by Marie de Medicis, Marie Therese, Marie 
 Antoinette, Marie Louise, and Marie Amelie. The silk 
 hangings were given by the town of Lyons to Marie An- 
 toinette on her marriage. The Salon de Musiqiie was the 
 Salon du Jeu de la Reine, under Marie Antoinette. The 
 AJicien Salon de Clorinde, or dcs Dames d'' Honiteur^ is 
 named from its paintings by Dubois from the Gerusalemme 
 Liberata. 
 
 The Galerie de Diafie, built by Napoleon I. and Louis 
 XVIII., replaces the famous frescoed gallery of Henri IV. 
 It is now turned into a library for the use of the town. In 
 the centre is a picture of Henri IV. on horseback, by 
 Mauzaise. The Salle des Chasses contain pictures of hunt- 
 ing scenes under Louis XV. 
 
 Entering the Grands Appartements, we pass through the 
 Salon des Tapisseries, hung with fine Flemish tapestry, to 
 the Salon de Fraticois /., with a chimney-piece of his date ; 
 its medallion, representing Mars and Venus, is attributed 
 to Primaticcio. The Salon de Louis XIII. is the room in 
 which that king was born, in 1601 : it dates from Frangois 
 I., and was decorated by Henri IV. Louis XIII. is rep- 
 resented as a child, riding on a dolphin, in one of the 
 
276 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 paintings of the ceiling. Below, let into the panelling, is 
 the first glass mirror seen in France. The next halls, of 
 the Pavilion St. Louis, were decorated under Louis Phi- 
 lippe. 
 
 The halls of the south wing begin with the Salle des 
 Gardes, the chimney-piece of which is formed by fragments 
 from the Salon de la belle Cheminee, now destroyed. The 
 Escalier du Roi, built by Louis XV., leads to the room oc- 
 cupied by the Duchesse d'Etampes, now called, from its 
 decorations by Primaticcio, La Chambre d^ Alexandre. Five 
 prettily-decorated and graceful rooms compose the Ap- 
 partement de Mme de Mainte?ioJi. 
 
 " At Fontainebleau I have very pretty apartments, subject to 
 the same cold and the same warmth, and having a window of the 
 size of the largest arcades, where there is neither shutter, nor 
 sash, nor screen, because the symmetry would be spoiled." — Mjue 
 de Mainteno7i a la Princesse des Ursins, 2"^ Jtiillet, 1713. 
 
 We now reach the glorious Galerie d^ HeJiri LI. (or Salle 
 des Fetes), built by Frangois I., and decorated by Henri 
 II. The walnut-wood ceiling and the panelling of the 
 walls are of marvellous richness. Over the chimney is a 
 gigantic H, and the initials of Henri II. are constantly 
 seen interlaced with those of Diane de Poitiers. 
 
 " The emblems of Diane, the bows, the arrows, the crescent 
 above all, are lavished right and left on the chimney-piece ; two 
 pictures represent Diane the Huntress and Diane in the Infernal 
 Regions. Finally, in the last arcade to the right is painted the 
 portrait, not of the goddess, but of the mistress herself. The 
 necessary attributes of Venus and Cupid are added to this figure 
 after nature." — Poisson. 
 
 The sixty paintings on the walls, including eight large 
 compositions, were executed by Niccolo delP Ahbate, and 
 are probably the finest decorations of the kind existing in 
 France, 
 
CHATEAU DE FONTAtNE^LEAU ij^y 
 
 The Chapelle Haute (especial order required) was built 
 by FranQois I., 1545. Below it is the Chapelle St. Saturnifty 
 built by Francois I. on the site, and according to the pro- 
 portions of the ancient chapel which was consecrated by 
 Thomas a Becket. The altar used by Pius VII. in his 
 apartment replaces the original altar, which bore the de- 
 vices of Henry 11. and Diane de Poitiers. From the 
 chapel a corridor leads to the hall constructed by Louis 
 Philippe under the gallery of Henri II., whence by the 
 Porte Doree and the Cour Ovale we re-enter the chateau 
 by the Pavilion St. Louis. 
 
 The Galerie de Fra7i^ois I. is a splendid work of the 
 renaissance. The salamanders and other devices of Fran- 
 gois I. are to be seen on all sides. The original paintings 
 were mostly by II Rosso, but have been painted over ; the 
 Danae is attributed to Priinaticcio, 
 
 " At the request of the Dauphin Henri, Maitre Roux had rep- 
 resented Diane de Poitiers as the nymph of the Fountain Bleau. 
 In his fresco she reclines, a Michelangelesque creature, among 
 the bulrushes, where she is discovered by Bleau, the hound. An 
 Amazon rather than a n)^mph, with a grave, stern head, mourn- 
 fully bent, she presents little likeness to the Dauphin's faded and 
 exquisite Diane. But Marie d'Etampes, the mistress of the king, 
 was furious at this apotheosis of her elderly rival. She stormed, 
 she raged, she sulked, till Maitre Claude Badouin was employed 
 to paint out the detested fresco. Fortunately Rosso had time to 
 copy it first, and a contemporary engraving by Rene Bo)'-vin also 
 attests the excellence of the design. A Latin inscription records 
 the wrath of Rosso : ' O Phidias, O Apelles, could your age con- 
 ceive so beautiful a thing as the subject of this painting? — Diana, 
 resting from the chase, and pouring out the waters of the 
 Fountain Bleau, which Francis I., most puissant king of the 
 French, father of the fine arts and of letters, left unfinished in 
 his own palace ! ' " — I\[ary F. Robinson, "■ Magazine of Art,'' March, 
 1885. 
 
 The rooms usually shown last are those formerly in- 
 
27§ DA YS NEAR PARI$ 
 
 habited by Catherine de Medicis and Anne of Austria, 
 and which, under the first empire, were used by Pius VII., 
 under Louis PhiHppe, by the Duke and Duchess of Or- 
 leans. The most interesting of these are the Chanibrea 
 Coucher, which bears the oft-repeated A L (the chiffre of 
 Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria), and in which Pius VII. 
 daily said mass, and the Salon., with its fine tapestry after 
 GiuHo Romano. The Galerie des Assiettes, adorned with 
 Sevres china, only dates from Louis Philippe. Hence, by 
 a gallery in the Aile Neuve, hung with indifferent pictures, 
 we may visit the Salle du Theatre, retaining its arrange- 
 ments for the emperor, empress, and court. 
 
 At the corner of the parterre, near the railing of the 
 park, is a detached building of Francois I., called the 
 Pavilion de Sully, from the residence of that minister — 
 " surintendant des batiments de la couronne."' 
 
 The Gardens, as seen now, are mostly as they were re- 
 arranged by Lenotre for Louis XIV. The most frequented 
 garden is the Parterre, entered from the Place du Cheval- 
 Blanc. In the centre of the Jar din Anglais (entered 
 through the Cour de la Fontaine) was the Fo?itaine Bleau, 
 which is supposed by some to have given a name to the 
 palace. The Eta?ig has a pavilion in the centre, where 
 the Czar Peter got drunk. The carp in the pool, overfed 
 with bread by visitors, are said to be, some of them, of im- 
 mense age. John Evelyn mentions the carp of Fontaine- 
 bleau, "that come familiarly to hand." 
 
 The jfardin de /' Orangerie, on the north of the palace, 
 called Jardin des Buis under Francois I., contains a good 
 renaissance portal. To the east of the parterre and the 
 town is the park, which has no beauty, but harmonizes well 
 with the chateau. 
 
 Visitors should not fail to drive in the Forest, Zok, in 
 
FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAV 27^ 
 
 Circuit, and, if they return late, may look out for its black 
 huntsman — " le grand veneur. '^ 
 
 " The question is still asked, of what nature was the spectre 
 seen so often and by so man}^ eyes in the forest of Fontainebleau ? 
 It was a phantom surrounded by a pack of dogs, which were 
 heard and seen at a distance, but it disappeared when any one 
 approached." — Sully. 
 
 The forest was a favorite hunting-ground of the kings 
 of France to a late period. It was here that the Marquis 
 de Tourzel, Grand Provost of France, husband of the gov- 
 erness of the royal children, fractured his skull, his horse 
 bolting against a tree, when hunting with Louis XVI., in 
 November, 1786. The forest is the especial land of 
 French artists, who overrun and possess it in the summer. 
 There are innumerable direction-posts, in which all the red 
 marks — put up by Napoleon III., because so few peasants 
 could read — point to the town. The following points are 
 of interest : — 
 
 Rochers d^Avo7i^ 7 k. (going and returning). 
 
 Mail de Henri IV. and Rocker Bouligny — a walk of 
 three hours. 
 
 Parquet de Mo7its-Aigiis (only open Thursdays and Sun- 
 days from 10 to 6), and Grotte du Sermejit., three hours. 
 
 Gorges du Houx, Grottes du Parjure and du Chasseur 
 Noir — a round of \o k. 
 
 Mont Ussy and Vallee die Nid de VAigle. 
 
 Fort des Moulins and Calvaire, two and a half hours. 
 
 Vallee de la Solle, Futaie du Gros-Fouteau, Fontaines 
 Sangui?iede et du Mont Chauvet — a walk of four hours. If 
 only one excursion be made, this may be commended. 
 Leave Fontainebleau by the Barriere de Paris, and, from 
 the Rond-Point, follow (right) the blue arrows. Some of 
 the oaks in this part of the forest are magnificent. 
 
2§0 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The Gorges d^ Apremont {^\\k. going and returning) are 
 very picturesque. 
 
 The Gorges de Tranchard, spoilt artistically, as well 
 as the Gorges d'Apremont, by young plantations, were in- 
 habited by hermits from the time of Philii^pe Auguste to 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 The Gorge aux Loups (five hours on foot going and re- 
 turning) is a picturesque spot, but a dull walk, and is best 
 combined with other places in a carriage-excursion. But 
 it is always better to take a carriage for the longer dis- 
 tances, selecting a coachman who knows the forest and is 
 not always suggesting imaginary difficulties. The most 
 usual drives are the Tillaie dii Roi^ the Hauteur de la Solle^ 
 Tranchard^ the Fort de rEmpereur, and then to the Gorges 
 d^Aprefnont, or the Gorge aux Loups. 
 
 " Fountaine Beleau forrest is very great and memorable for 
 exceeding abundance of great massy stones in it, whereof many 
 millions are so great, that twenty carts, each being drawn wit.i 
 ten oxen, are not able to moue one of them out of their place. 
 The plenty of them is so great both in the forrest and neare unto 
 it, that many hils and dales are exceeding full of them, in so 
 much that a man being a farre off from the hils and other places 
 whereon they grow, would thinke they were some great city or 
 towne." — Coiyaf s " Ci'tidities ,^^ 1611. 
 
 The beautiful combinations of rocks and trees were not 
 admired formerly as they are now. 
 
 "7 March, 1644. I went with some compan}^ towards Fon- 
 tainebleau. By the way we pass through a forest so prodigiously 
 encompass'd with hideous rocks of whitish hard stone, heaped 
 one on another in mountainous heights, that I think the like is 
 not to be found elsewhere. It abounds with staggs, wolves, 
 boares, and not long after a lynx or ounce was kill'd amongst 
 them, which had devour'd some passengers." — John Evelyn. 
 
 An excursion may be made from Fontainebleau to (8 k. ) 
 the pretty old town of Moret, with a station on the Lyons 
 
Mo RET 
 
 2S1 
 
 railway. The kings of France had a chateau at Moret, of 
 which the principal tower remains, dating from Louis le 
 Gros (1128). Henri IV. gave it to one of his mistresses, 
 Jacqueline de Bueil, with the title of Comtesse de Moret. 
 At either end of the principal street is a fine old gothic 
 gateway, relic of the fortifications of Charles VII. (1420), 
 and one of these rises most picturesquely at the end of the 
 bridge of fourteen arches over the Loing. The church, 
 
 built by Louis le Jeune, and consecrated by Thomas a 
 Becket in 1 166, only retains a choir of that date. The 
 triple nave and the transepts (with mullioned windows 
 filling all the surface of the gable wall) are XIII. c. : the 
 tower XV. c. ; the principal portal XVI. c. South of the 
 church is a timbered house of XV. c. and a little Hospice, 
 where the nuns make excellent barley-sugar. In the 
 main street, a renaissance house is inscribed " Concordia 
 res parvae crescunt, 16 18." 
 
XV. 
 
 CORBEIL, SAVIGNY-SUR-ORGE, MONTLHERY, 
 ETAMFES. 
 
 THIS is a pleasant summer da)^'s excursion from Paris. It is 
 best to take a single ticket at the Gare de Lyon for Cor- 
 beil. See the place, and have luncheon at the "Belle Image/' 
 In returning, only take a ticket to Juvisy, where cross to the 
 Chemin de Fer d'Orleans (alongside) and take a ticket to St. 
 Michel : here an omnibus for Montlhery meets the train. In the 
 evening, artists may think it worth while to stop between two 
 trains to sketch the picturesque chateau of Savigny, close to the 
 station. It is necessary to inquire if )^our carriage goes to the 
 Gare d'Orleans, otherwise you may enter one which follows the 
 Chemin de Fer de Ceinture. 
 
 The trains for Corbeil from the Gare de Lyon cross an 
 ugly plain, but approach the Seine on the right, and low 
 wooded hills on the left;, where the main line is left at — 
 
 15 >^. Villeneuve-St. Georges. — The line crosses the Seine 
 to Juvisy. 
 
 2\ k. Ris-0ra7igis. — Just beyond the station the line 
 passes the Chateau de Frejnont, which once belonged to 
 the Templars, afterwards to the President de Thou, the 
 historian, who had alluded to the profligacy of an uncle ^ 
 of Richelieu in his works, which caused the minister of 
 Louis XIIL to exclaim — " De Thou a mis mon nom dans 
 
 ^ " Moine apostat et coupable de toutes sortes de crimes." 
 
COkBElL 2 S3 
 
 son histoire ; je mettrai son nom dans la mienne," and De 
 Thou himself having died in 16 17, Richelieu beheaded his 
 son in 1642. This is the station for the Forest of Smarts 
 which is traversed by the road from Paris to Melun, and is 
 celebrated by an incident which occurred to Louis XV. 
 
 " Hunting one day in the forest of Senard, in a year when 
 bread was extremely dear, he met a man on horseback, carry- 
 ing a coffin. 'Where are you taking that coffin?' said the king. 
 
 ' To the village of ' replied the peasant.' ' Is it for a man 
 
 or a woman?' 'For a man.' 'What did he die of?' 'Of 
 hunger,' replied the villager abruptly. The king put spur to his 
 horse and asked no more questions." — Mdic Campati. 
 
 There are a number of fine chateaux near this, the 
 most important being that of Fetit-Bourg, pleasantly situ- 
 ated above the Seine^ which belonged to the Due d'Antin, 
 legitimate eldest son of Mme de Montespan, who received 
 his mother's former lover and Mme de Maintenon here 
 with great honors. Louis XV. also often resorted hither 
 with his mistresses. At the beginning of the Revolution 
 it was inhabited by the Duchesse de Bourbon. At the 
 invasion of the allies, Schwartzenburg established himself in 
 the chateau and treated there with Ney and Coulaincourt 
 upon the abdication of Napoleon I. After the Restoration 
 the chateau was restored by Aguado, Marquis de las 
 Marismas. 
 
 30 k. Eur y-stir- Seine ^ connected by a suspension bridge 
 with Etiolles, which belonged to the husband of Mme de 
 Pompadour. In later days the chateau was inhabited 
 by Count Walewski^ Minister of Foreign Affairs to Napo- 
 leon in. 
 
 31 k. Corbeil {}lote\ Bellevue, near the bridge : de la 
 Belle Image, good and reasonable), a considerable town, 
 at the meeting of the Essonne and the Seine, which is 
 crossed by a handsome bridge of five arches. Of its five 
 
2^4 ^^ ^^ NEAR PARIS 
 
 ancient churches only one remains, the collegiate church 
 of St. Exupere or St. Spire, founded by Haymon, first 
 Comte de Corbeil, in 950, rebuilt 1144, and served till 
 1790 by a chapter composed of a secular abbe, twelve 
 canons, and six chaplains. It is approached by a very 
 picturesque gateway, Porte du Cloitre, from the principal 
 
 PORTE DU CLOITRE, CORBEIL. 
 
 street. The west porch is under the tower. In a chapel 
 right of the principal entrance is the tomb of Count Hay- 
 mon, who is said to have built the church in honor of a 
 victory over a two-headed dragon, and who died on his 
 return from a pilgrimage to Italy seven years after its 
 foundation. In the same chapel is the monument of 
 
ESSOiVNES 285 
 
 Jacques de Bourgoin, who founded the College of Corbeil 
 in 1661. The curious shrine of St. Spire was melted 
 down at the Revolution. In the collegiate buildings Abe- 
 lard established his school, when he fled from Melun. 
 
 Nothing remains of the church of St. Jean de I'Ermi- 
 tage, which contained the relics of Sts. Quirin and Pience ; 
 of Notre Dame, which claimed to have those of St. Yon ; 
 or of St. Jean en ITsle, founded by Isemburge, the di- 
 vorced Danish wife of Philippe Auguste, who was buried 
 in its south transept (1256), under a fine tomb, bearing a 
 metal effigy. Near this church was the Palais de la Reine, 
 usually given as a residence to queens-dowager of France, 
 where the chamber of Isemburge was preserved till the 
 Revolution, when it perished like the tomb. Near the 
 bridge, on the left bank of the river, was the chateau 
 w^here Charles VIII. imprisoned the famous Georges 
 d'Amboise in 1487. 
 
 Twenty minutes' walk from Corbeil is the manufacturing 
 village of Essonnes, w^here Bernardin de St. Pierre had a 
 cottage, which still exists, though much altered. 
 
 Those who visit Montlhery after spending the morning at 
 Corbeil must remember to change their line at Juvisy, to the 
 Chemin de Fer d'Orleans. 
 
 Beyond Corbeil, on the line to Montargis, is — 
 
 41 k. MeuJiecy, with a XIII. c. church, near which the 
 Dues de Villeroy had a fine chateau, which perished in 
 the Revolution, 
 
 53 k. La Ferte-Alais (Firmitas Adelaidis) has an inter- 
 esting XII c. church, with a stone spire. 
 
 60 k. Boiitigfiy, with an old gateway. The church is 
 XII. c. 
 
 65 k. Maisse (7 k. east is Milly, with a XIII. c. church 
 containing a sculptured retable offered to St. Julienne, 
 
286 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The chateau dates from 1479, '^^"^ '^^^ curious halles are of 
 the same period). 
 
 77 /^. Malesherbes, — The church (XII. c. — XIII. c.) has 
 an octagonal tower, and contains a St. Sepulcre, sculptured, 
 in 1622, for the convent of Cordeliers. A bust of M. de 
 Malesherbes was given by Louis XVIII. In the church- 
 yard is a curious XIII. c. tomb. The chateau, originally 
 XV. c, but rebuilt, is still inhabited by the descendants of 
 the brave defender of Louis XVI. On the north is the 
 restored XV. c. Chateau de Rouville, 
 
 The Chemin de Fer d'Orle'ans starts from the Boule- 
 vard de Hopital. It passes — 
 
 dk. Vitry-sur-Seine, with a XVII. c. chateau of which 
 the owner, M. de Petitval, with his mother-in-law, two sis- 
 ters, and five servants were murdered, August 21, 1796, by 
 a band of masked robbers, who carried off the family pa- 
 pers, and were never brought to justice. A little north is 
 Ivry, which has an old church, and where Claude Bosc 
 du Bois, Prevot des Marchands, had a magnificent chateau 
 in the XVII. c. The Duchesse d'Orleans, mother of Louis 
 Philippe, resided at Ivry, which is now covered by manu- 
 factories. 
 
 10 /^. Choisy-le-Roi, formerly Choissy- Mademoiselle, 
 where " La Grande Mademoiselle," Mile de Montpensier, 
 only daughter of the first marriage of Gaston, Due d'Or- 
 leans, brother of Louis XIIL, employed F. Mansart to 
 build a chateau. It was here that she wept for her hus- 
 band, the Comte de Lauzun, imprisoned at Pignerol, and 
 that she endowed the Due du Maine with the duchy of 
 Aumale, tJie countship of Eu, and the principality of Dom- 
 bes, to purchase his freedom from Louis XIV. The resto- 
 
CHOISY-LE-ROI 287 
 
 ration of Lauzun gave small satisfaction to Mademoiselle. 
 He found that she had lost all good looks in pining for 
 him, and treated her with cruel neglect. In vain she flung 
 herself at his feet, crying, " Reviens a moi, qui t'aime tant," 
 he answered, " Louise d'Orle'ans, tu as tort de pleurer, car 
 tu me parais.plus vieille et plus laide que jamais." 
 
 " He retained his gallantry a very long time. Mademoiselle 
 was jealous, and this embroiled them over and over again. I have 
 heard Mme de Fontenilles say that, when she was at Eu with Made- 
 moiselle, M. de Lauzun went to pass some time there, and could 
 not refrain from running after the girls. Mademoiselle knew it, 
 lost her temper, scratched him and drove him from her presence. 
 The Comtesse de Fiesque patched it up : Mademoiselle appeared 
 at the end of a gallery ; he was at the other, and he traversed the 
 whole length of it on his knees till he came to the feet of Made- 
 moiselle. These scenes, more or less violent, often recom- 
 menced afterwards. He grew tired of being beaten, and in his 
 turn, gave Mademoiselle a good sound beating ; this happened 
 several times, till at last, tired of each other, they quarrelled once 
 for good and all, and never saw each other again ; he had, how- 
 ever, several portraits in his house, and always spoke of her 
 with much respect. There is no doubt they were secretly mar- 
 ried." — St. Simon, '^Memoiresy 
 
 Mademoiselle bequeathed Choisy to Monseigneur, son 
 of Louis XIV., who exchanged it for Meudo.n with Mme 
 de Louvois, who lived here " toute I'e'te avec bonne com- 
 pagnie, mais de'cente et tres-gaie, convenable a son age." ^ 
 Afterwards Choisy belonged to the Princesse de Conti, the 
 Due de la Valliere, and eventually to Louis XV., when it 
 became Choisy-le-Roi, and one of his favorite retreats. 
 He employed Jacques Gabriel to decorate (and spoil) the 
 architecture of Mansart and to build a smaller chateau for 
 Mme de Pompadour. Both the chateaux were decorated 
 by Chardin, Nattier, Boucher, Oudry, and other artists of 
 
 1 St Simon, 
 
288 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 the day. In 1774 Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette held 
 their Court here, but the Grand and the Petit Chateau were 
 both utterly destroyed at the Revolution, and nothing re- 
 mains except les gra7ids co??imtms, now occupied by a china 
 manufactory. 
 
 Close to Choisy are the village of Thiais, which dates 
 from Charlemagne, and Orly, where, in 1360, 300 men en- 
 dured a siege of three months from the English, who bru- 
 tally massacred them when hunger forced them to capit- 
 ulate. 
 
 i$k. Ablon. — A place entirely protestant in the XVI. c. 
 Sully had a villa there, of which there are some remains 
 facing the quay. 
 
 17 >^. Athis-Mons. — The church of Athis has a XIII. c. 
 tower. 
 
 2o>('. Juvisy-sur-Orge. — It was here, in the post-house 
 of the Cour de France, that (March 30, 18 14) Napoleon I., 
 on his way to Paris, received the despatch which an- 
 nounced the capitulation of the capital, and returned to 
 Fontainebleau. Near Juvisy is the picturesque double 
 bridge of Belles Fontaines. 
 
 2 2>^. Savigny-sur-0?'ge. — Close to the station is the 
 very handsome XV. c. chateau where Charles VII. is said 
 to have kept Agnes Sorel in a tower, which he could only 
 reach by a ladder. In recent times the chateau has been 
 inhabited by the Princesse d'Eckmiihl, widow of Mare- 
 chal Davoust. It now belongs to the Marquis d'Alta- 
 Villa. 
 
 2\k. Epinay-sur-Orge. — To the left of the railway we 
 now pass the Forest of St. Genevieve^ or Seqidgny. Here 
 Louis XIV. was hunting with his Court, when the wind 
 blew away the hat of one of the ladies in waiting of Ma- 
 dame, and attracted his attention to Marie de Fontange — 
 
FORET BE SEQUIGNY 
 
 289 
 
 ** Delle comme un ange, mais sotte comme un panier," 
 who soon shared the title of mistress with Mme de Mon- 
 tespan. 
 
 *' Mile de Fontange pleased the king enough to be his mistress 
 en titre. Strange as this double arrangement was, it was not new. 
 We had seen Mile de la Valliere and Mme de Montespan, whom 
 the former only paid in the coin she had paid to another. But 
 Mile de Fontange was not so fortunate either in vice, or fortune, 
 or repentance. Her beauty sustained her for a time, but her in- 
 
 CHATEAU OF SAVIGNY-SUR-ORGE. 
 
 tellect was good for nothing. Intelligence was required to amuse 
 and hold the king. If she had had that he would not have had the 
 leisure to be utterly disgusted with her. A quick death, which 
 caused no surprise, put an end speedily to this new love." — St. 
 Simon. 
 
 The Chateau St. Genevieve, inhabited by Louis XIII. 
 and Louis XIV., was pulled down by Berthier de Savigny, 
 Intendant de Paris, but he only began to build a new one. 
 
 To the right of the railway on the other side of the 
 
290 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Orge is Longport, where a very curious church is the ouiy 
 remnant of an abbey founded by Guy de Montlhdry and his 
 wife Hodierne, in 1061, on the site of a pilgrimage chapel 
 where an image of the Virgin had been found in a hollow 
 oak. The abbey perished in the Revolution. The church 
 portal, with its mutilated statues, is of great beauty. 
 
 29 k. St. Michel. — Half an hour's walk beyond the brook 
 of the Orge (right) is Mo7itlhery (diligence, 30 c), which 
 jDOSsessed a famous castle, constantly besieged by early 
 kings of France till Hugues de Cre'cy strangled the owner, 
 Milon de Bray, who was his cousin, and threw the body 
 from an upper window, and afterwards, being challenged to 
 clear himself of the accusation by single combat, confessed 
 the crime, retired to a monastery, and abandoned Montlhery 
 to the king, Louis le Gros. 
 
 St. Louis and his mother afterwards took refuge here 
 during the troubles of his early reign. In 1360 Montlhery 
 was occupied by the king of England, afterwards by the 
 Armagnacs, and, in the. reign of Louis XL, it gave a name 
 to a battle between the royal troops and those of the rebel 
 nobles who formed the ligue du bien public. The latter were 
 so far successful that the king was obliged to accord all 
 their demands, and made a treaty " par lequel," says Co- 
 mines, " les princes butinerent le monarque et le mirent 
 au pillage; chacun emporta sa piece." 
 
 " The battle which took the name of Montlhery, because it 
 took place in a plain near that town, offered the singular spectacle 
 of two armies in flight at the same moment. On both sides the 
 leaders abandoned the field of battle ; Louis XI., overcome by 
 fatigue, was carried to the chateau of Montlheri, while the Count 
 de Charolais, hurrying after the fugitives to rally them, increased 
 the terror of the Burgundians by making them believe, by his ab- 
 sence, that he had fallen into the hands of the enemy. The 
 French, not seeing their king, had the same idea ; others, the 
 
MARCOUSSIS 291 
 
 majority indeed, believed the king dead, while, breathless and 
 worn out, he was lying on a couch in the old donjon of Montlhery, 
 whose indestructible tower still defies the ages." — Lafosse, ''Hist, 
 de Paris.'" 
 
 The plain which was the scene of this bloody battle 
 long bore the name of La Cimetiere des Bourguignons. 
 Ruined in the wars of religion, the castle of Montlhery 
 was afterwards used as a quarry, and the dungeon tower, 
 with fragments of four smaller towers and broken walls, 
 now alone exists. Boileau describes Night going to search 
 for an owl in the Tour de Montlhery. 
 
 " Ses murs, dont le sommet se derobe a la vue, 
 Sur le cime d'un roc s'allongent dans la nue. 
 Et, presentant de loin leur objet ennuyeux, 
 Du passant qui le fuit semblent suivre les yeux. 
 Mille oiseaux effrayants, mille corbeaux funebres, 
 De ces murs desertes habitent les tenebres. 
 La, depuis trente hivers, un hibou retire 
 Trouvait contre le jour un refuge assure. 
 Des desastres fameux ce messager fidele 
 Salt toujours des malheurs la premiere nouvcllc, 
 Et, tout pret d'en semer le presage odieux, 
 II attendait la nuit dans ces sauvages lieux." — Boilcati. 
 
 One of the old tower gates remains, the Porte Baudry, 
 built, as an inscription tells, by Thibault File-Etaupe, in 
 1015, rebuilt by Henri III. in 1587, restored under 
 Napoleon I. Through the Porte Baudr>' we reach the 
 suburb of Lijias, where a great part of the church is 
 
 XIII. c. 
 
 A little west of Montlhery is Marcoussis, which has 
 some small remains of the fortress built at the end of the 
 
 XIV. c. by Jean de Montaigu, Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer under Charles VI., beheaded at the Halles in 
 1409. His body was brought from the gibbet of Mont- 
 faucon to be buried here in the Celestine convent which 
 
292 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 he had founded.^ In the time of Henri III. the chateau 
 belonged to Francois de Balzac d'Entragues, the husband 
 of Marie Touchet, mistress of Charles IX., and it was 
 afterwards the residence of his daughter, Henriette d'En- 
 tragues, at one time beloved by Henri IV. The chieftains 
 of the Fronde were imprisoned in the fortress, which was 
 pulled down in 1S05. The church, of 1388, has some 
 gooil stained glass. 
 
 PORTE BAUDRY, MONTLHERY. 
 
 The line continues by — 
 
 32/'. ^>^^//^;?j', where the line to Tours by Vendome 
 branches off to the right. 
 
 1 His epitaph contained the words: " Lequel, en haine des bons et loyaux 
 services par lui faits au roi et au royaume, fut, par les rebelles ennemis du roi, 
 injustement mis a mort a Paris." Behind his head were the lines : — 
 
 " Non vetuit servata fides regi patriaeque 
 Ne tandem injuste traderet ipse neci ; " 
 
 and above it — 
 
 " Pour ce qu'en paix tenois le sang de France, 
 Et soulageois le peuple de grevance, 
 Je souffris mort contre droit et justice 
 Et sans raison ; Dieu si m'en soit propice." 
 
 See Dulaure, " Environs de Parish 
 
ETRECHY 293 
 
 On the line to Vendome, easily attainable in a day's 
 excursion from Paris, are — 
 
 45 k. Breuilkt. — ^k. south is the magnificent Church of 
 St. Sidpice-de- Fav teres , founded to receive the relics of St. 
 Sulpice le De'bonnaire, Archbishop of Bourges, and al- 
 moner of Clotaire II., who died in 644. It is a splendid 
 specimen of late XIII. c. gothic, with a very lofty choir, 
 sculptured stall-work, and XV. c. glass. La Butte-St.-Yo7i 
 is said to have been a Roman camp. 
 
 47/^. St. Cheron. — The neighboring Chateau de Bla- 
 viile, begun by the President Guillaume de Lamoignon in 
 1658, is a very stately building of the time of Louis XIII. 
 Boileau, Racine, and Bourdaloue were frequently here as 
 the guests of Guillaume and Fran9ois de Lamoignon, and 
 Mme de Sevigne describes the charms of its society in her 
 letters. 
 
 56/^. Dourdan (Hotel de la Foste), a picturesque old 
 town, with an interesting ruined Castle, built by Philippe 
 Auguste. The XIII. c. Church of St. Germain is very pict- 
 uresque in outline, and contains a stone pulpit, good 
 wood-carving, and the grave of the poet Regnard, 1709. 
 The Halle is XIII. c. At Grillo7i^ west of the town, was 
 the residence of Regnard. 
 
 43 >^. Lardy. — The Chateau de Mesfiil Voisi?i, belong- 
 ing to the Marquise de Polignac, is a fine building of the 
 time of Louis XIII. 
 
 46/^. Chamarande. — The chateau, built by Mansart, 
 with a park by Lenotre, was inhabited, under Napoleon 
 III., by the Due de Persigny. 
 
 49 k. Ftrechy, which has a remarkably simple early- 
 pointed cruciform church, with a central tower. The sculpt- 
 ure of the foliage in the pier-capitals is extremely bold. 
 
 56/^. Etampes (HoteW//^ Gra?td Courrier ; du Grand 
 
294 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Motiarque ; dti Cheval Blanc), a most picturesque and in- 
 teresting place. The charming public walks and avenues 
 are bordered by remains of the city walls. The long, 
 white, ill-paved town straggles through the hollow, full of 
 curious buildings, possessing four churches of the greatest 
 value to the architectural student, and watered by the little 
 river Juine, which Coulon ("L'Ulysse Fran9ais," 1643) de- 
 scribes as "pavee d'une si grande quantite d'ecrevisses 
 que plus on en pesche, plus il en vient." 
 
 ST. BASILE, ETAMPES. 
 
 Nearest the station is the Church of St. Basile, a gothic 
 building with renaissance details. The west front is ro- 
 manesque, with a grand portal. The church was partially 
 rebuilt under Louis XII., but only the nave, with very wide 
 aisles, and part of the choir were finished, owing to want 
 of funds ; and the architects have left on the east wall the 
 inscription — Faxit Dens perficiar. The tower is of the end 
 of the XII. c. 
 
 Close by, a Caisse d'Epargne occupies the house which 
 
ETAMPES 
 
 295 
 
 bears the name of Diane de Poitiers. The fagade towards 
 the oourt is of extreme richness and beauty. One of the 
 doors has a medallion of Frangois I. 
 
 Very near this, at the angle of the Rue de Paris and 
 Rue St. Croix, is the house of Anne de Pisseleu, Duchesse 
 d'Etampes (1538), of the best period of the XVI. c. The 
 neighboring^ house, of the time of Louis XII., is made 
 into a Hotel de Ville. 
 
 Above the market-place rises the beautiful Church of 
 Notre Da77ie du Fort^ founded by Robert le Pieux, ex- 
 ceedingly picturesque, with its battlemented fagade, its 
 buttresses overgrown with wallflowers {boutons d^or). The 
 wide gothic portal is under the romanesque tower, which 
 is in the centre of the west front, with a steeple of great 
 beauty, ribbed and ornamented with scales. 
 
 " The manner in which the upper octagonal stage of the tower 
 harmonizes with the spire lights, and is connected by the pin- 
 nacles both with the square base below and the spire above, is 
 worth attention." — ■/. L. Petit. 
 
 Near the Juine is an old hotel, inscribed Hostel Saint- 
 Yoii, with octagonal tourelles, and richly sculptured win- 
 dows. 
 
 The fine parish church of St. Gillcs is chiefly XVI. c, 
 but has a very simple romanesque west portal of theXII. c. 
 The restored interior has many good incised monuments. 
 
 "The object of the architect has been to adapt, at the inter- 
 section of the transepts, a square tower, narrower than either the 
 nave, chancel, or transepts. The base is square, visible above 
 the roof of the nave, but absorbed by the transepts and chancel. 
 From the angles rise trangular slopes, as for the support of an 
 octagon ; on these, as well as on the space left on each of the 
 faces of the tower, stand equal gables : four cardinal, and four 
 diagonal. The points of the diagonal ones support the angles of 
 a smaller square tower, the faces of which fall behind the gables 
 resting on the sides of the base." — Petit, 
 
296 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 St. Marti?i (4 k. from the station) has a leaning west 
 tower, standing detached in front of the church, and only 
 connected with it by a porch. The upper part of the west 
 front is free. The church is early-pointed or transitional, 
 having a nave with aisles, small transepts not extending 
 beyond the aisles, and a semicircular apse, from which 
 three radiating chapels project. 
 
 ST. GILLES, ETAMPES. 
 
 The hill behind the station was occupied by the XII. c. 
 
 Chateau des Quatre Tours, of which the most important 
 remnant is the curious keep, or Tour Giiinette. This is of 
 very peculiar form, seeming to be composed by the union 
 of four circular towers. The entrance, on the first floor, 
 was reached by a drawbridge. The apartment of the lord 
 on the second floor was beautifully vaulted in stone ; the 
 
CHATEAU DE MEREVILLE 297 
 
 capitals of the columns still exist. ^ Amongst the other 
 remains of the castle are those of a little chapel of St. 
 Laurent. 
 
 The next station beyond Etampes is — 
 
 70 k. Mon?ierville, 6 k. from which, on the Juine, is the 
 interesting Chateau de Mereville, of XV. c. to XVI. c, 
 splendidly decorated by the painter Jean Joseph de la 
 Borde, under Louis XVL, at an expense of fourteen mil- 
 lion francs. It contains a vast amount of interesting old 
 furniture in its apartments lighted by 365 windows. 
 
 ^ See Victor Petit, Bulletin MonumentaL 
 
XVI. 
 SCEAUX, CHEVREUSE, AND LI M OURS. 
 
 THE Chemin de Fer de Sceaux et d'Orsay starts from 
 Paris near the Barriere d'Enfer. A pleasant little 
 afternoon excursion may be made without any fatigue to 
 Robinson and Sceaux. They will be found a refreshment 
 after some of the Paris sights in this direction — the Gobe- 
 lins, Val de Grace, &c. The line passes through a bare 
 country. The great asylum of Bicetre is seen on the left, 
 then the graceful aqueduct crossing a valley, before 
 reaching — 
 
 6 k. Arcueil, celebrated for its aqueduct, built by 
 Jacques Debrosses for Marie de Medicis to bring water to 
 Paris, but chiefly to feed the fountains of the Luxembourg, 
 on the site of an aqueduct which existed in Roman times, 
 which gave a name (Arculi) to the village, and which 
 served the Palais des Thermes. The church dates from 
 the XIII. c, but was altered in the XV. c. In the vil- 
 lage, No. 24 Grande Rue, a picturesque building of stone 
 and brick, was the house of the intendant of the Due de 
 Guise, who possessed a splendid chateau, destroyed in 
 1753, on the neighboring hill. A bust, on the Place des 
 Ecoles, commemorates the residence at Arcueil of Laplace, 
 author of the Mecaniqiie celeste. 
 
BOURG-LA-REINE 299 
 
 Charles Louis, Comte de BerthoUet, celebrated for his 
 scientific and archaeological studies, died at Arcueil, 
 Nov. 9, 1748. 
 
 " In his country seat at Arcueil, he could divide his time 
 between study and his simple tastes. All his luxury consisted 
 in his laboratory, his library, and a hot-house which served him 
 for a saloon, where he was delighted to receive his friends. 
 Learned strangers met with the most cordial welcome. There 
 came to this philosophic retreat, even during the war, physicists 
 and chemists of the greatest celebrity, the rivals of Berthollet in 
 discoveries and in services to science." — Hoeffer. 
 
 8 k. Bourg-la-Reine, where Edward III. of England en- 
 camped against Paris in 1359. Here Louis XV., a twelve- 
 year-old king, had his first interview with the still younger 
 Infanta of Spain, who was intended for his bride, but was 
 unceremoniously sent back to Spain three years after. 
 The house in the Grande Rue, where the first interview of 
 Louis XV. and the Infanta took place, is believed to have 
 been built by Henry IV. for Gabrielle d'Estrees. At the 
 end of the Grande Rue is the old gate leading to the 
 Chateau de Sceaux. On the little square a bust com- 
 memorates Condorcet (i 743-1 793), author of Progres de 
 Vesprit hu7nain^ who poisoned himself in the prisons of 
 Bourg-Egalite when arrested during the Revolution. The 
 house called L^Aumbnerie was the scene of the horrible 
 cruelties of the Marquis de Sade in the XVIII. c. 
 
 9 k. Fontejiay-aiix-Roses (to the right of the railway) was 
 the residence of Scarron. It is a pretty knot of villas, 
 buried in shrubs and gardens. Fontenay is most easily 
 reached by the omnibus which starts every fifteen minutes 
 from 45 Rue Crenelle St. Honore (50 c), passing through 
 Chatillon-sous-Bagneaux. 
 
 It is a pleasant walk of 2 k. from the station of Fontenay 
 (open omnibus, 50 c.) to Robinson^ a very singular and rather 
 
300 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS. 
 
 pretty village on the edge of a slight hill. It consists of a 
 street of cafes and restaurants, the most important of which 
 has its little dining-parlors under, around, and high in the 
 branches of some curious old chestnut trees. The place is 
 exceedingly popular with Parisians of the middle classes, 
 and crowded in fine summer evenings. Quantities of 
 
 
 
 S^fe^K. 
 
 ^;iii^^' 
 
 donkeys and horses are waiting to convey visitors to the 
 neighboring village of Aulnay, which stands at the entrance 
 of the Vallee aux Loups^ containing the grotesque house of 
 Chateaubriand, about which he says : " Je precedais la 
 mairie du moyen age qui vous he'bete a present. " Pleasant 
 rides may be taken from Robinson through the Bois de 
 Verri^res. 
 
SCEA UX 301 
 
 The railway winds oddly and pleasantly amongst gar- 
 dens to — 
 
 12 k. Sceaux (which may also be reached by an omni- 
 bus starting every hour from the Passage Dauphine, 50 c, 
 and passing through Bagtieux, where the church of St. 
 Herbland has a fine XIII. c. portal). Sceaux first became 
 celebrated in the XIII. c. from the relics of St. Mammes, 
 martyred in Cappadocia, brought from Palestine by Adam 
 de Colis, and preserved in the church, where they were be- 
 lieved to cure from colic those who approached them. 
 Colbert built a magnificent chateau at Sceaux, employing 
 Perrault in his buildings, Lebrun for their decoration, 
 and Lenotre in laying out the garden. Sceaux w^as pur- 
 chased in 1690 from the heirs of the Marquis de Seignelay 
 for the Due du Maine, son of Louis XIV. and Mme de 
 Montespan, the idolized pupil of Mme de Maintenon, who 
 had first become known to the king as his son's governess, 
 and who had printed, in 1677, a book of historical extracts 
 made by him under the title of CEiivres diverses d^un 
 enfant de sept ans. 
 
 "Sceaux was the theatre of the follies of the Duchesse de 
 Maine, and of the shame, embarrassment, and ruin of her hus- 
 band, by the immensity of her expenditures and the theatrical 
 performances given to the court and the town that flocked there 
 and mocked them. She herself played 'Athalie,' with the 
 comedians of both sexes, and other pieces, several times in the 
 week. Sleepless nights were passed at hazard or cards, in fetes, 
 illuminations, fire-works; in a word, fetes and fancies of all kinds 
 and every day. She swam in the joy of her new grandeur and re- 
 doubled her follies." — St. Sitnon, ''Memoires," 1714. 
 
 It was here that Louis XIV. took leave of his grand- 
 son, the Due d'Anjou, on his leaving France to assume 
 the crown of Spain. 
 
 "Saturday, December 4, the King of Spain visited the king 
 before any one else was admitted, and remained there a long time 
 
302 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 alone, and then went down to Monseigneur, with whom also he 
 remained a long time alone. They all heard mass together ; the 
 crowd of courtiers was incredible. On coming out from mass 
 they immediately entered their carriage, the Duchesse de Bour- 
 gogne between the two kings on the back seat, Monseigneur on 
 the front one between his other two sons, Monsieur at one door 
 and Madame at the other, surrounded with many more guards 
 than usual, gendarmes and light cavalry; the whole road to 
 Sceaux was strewn with carriages and people, and Sceaux, where 
 they arrived soon after noon, was full of ladies and courtiers, and 
 guarded by two companies of musketeers. When they left the 
 carriage, the king crossed the lower apartment and entered the 
 last room alone with the King of Spain, leaving everybody in the 
 saloon. A quarter of an hour afterwards he summoned Mon- 
 seigneur, who had also remained in the saloon, and some time 
 afterwards the ambassador of Spain, who took leave of the king 
 his master. A moment afterwards he summoned Monseigneur 
 and the Duchesse de Bourgogne, M. the Duke de Berry, Mon- 
 sieur and Madame, and after a short interval the princes of the 
 blood. The door was opened wide, and from the saloon they 
 were all seen Aveeping bitterly. The king said to the King of 
 Spain, on presenting the princes to him : * Here are the princes of 
 my blood and yours ; the two nations, at present, ought no longer 
 to regard themselves except as one nation ; they ought to have 
 the same interests, as I wish that these princes should be as at- 
 tached to you as to me ; 3'ou will never have friends more faithful 
 nor more assured.' All this lasted an hour and a half. At last 
 they had to part. The king escorted the King of Spain to the end 
 of the apartments and embraced him repeatedly, holding him for 
 a long time in his arms, and Monseigneur likewise. The spec- 
 tacle was extremely touching." — St. Simon, ''Me'moires." 
 
 The Court of Louis XIV. frequently halted at Sceaux 
 on their way to and from Fontainebleau. We find the 
 Duchesse d'Orleans writing : — 
 
 " 28th October, 1704. Last Thursday we left Fontainebleau 
 at eleven, and at a quarter to five we were at Sceaux. I went to 
 the kitchen garden. I wanted to see it, as poor M. de Navailles, 
 my son's late tutor, had praised it highly. In the time of M. Col- 
 bert, he came expressly to see Sceaux. The beautiful cascade 
 was shown him, the water gallery, which is wonderful, the avenue 
 
SCEA UX 20, 
 
 of chestnuts, the arbors, in fact all that was beautiful to see. He 
 did not praise an3^thing till he came to the kitchen garden where 
 the salad was, then he cried, ' In very truth, here is fine chicory ! ' 
 I went then, like him, to see the fine chicory." — Correspondance de 
 Madatne. 
 
 But Sceaux is chiefly connected with the follies and 
 extravagances of the Duchesse du Maine, Anne Louise 
 Benedicite de Bourbon-Conde, granddaughter of the Grand 
 Conde, and the sufferings of her fickle-minded husband. 
 
 " Mme du Maine had long since shaken off the yoke of com- 
 plaisance, attention, and all that she called constraint. She 
 did not heed either the king or M. the Prince, who would not 
 have been well received if he had crossed her, seeing that the 
 king, who took the part of M. du Maine, could do nothing. On 
 the slightest provocation, he endured all the arrogance of an 
 unequal marriage, often for nothing, tempers and outcries, that 
 made hinl fear for her head. He adopted the plan then of letting 
 her go on and ruin him by her fetes, fireworks, balls, and comedies, 
 which she acted herself in public, dressed as an actress." — St. 
 Simon, 1705. 
 
 "Mme du Maine took, more and more, to acting plays with 
 her domestics, and some retired actors. All the court went to 
 them, and could not comprehend the folly of the trouble of dress- 
 ing like an actress, learning and declaiming the grandest parts, and 
 appearing to a public audience in a theatre. M. du Maine, who 
 dared not contradict her for fear lest her brain give way, was by 
 the side of a door, and did the honors. Except for absurdity, 
 these amusements were not cheap." — St. Simon, 1707. 
 
 " M, du Maine . . . had wit, I will not say like an angel, 
 but like a devil, whom he resembled so strongly in malignity, 
 blackness, perversity of soul, disservice to all, service to none, 
 in dark ways, in the haughtiest pride, in exquisite falsity, in 
 countless artifices, in measureless dissimulations, and still, in 
 agreeability, the art of amusing, diverting, and charming when he 
 wished to please. He was a poltroon, accomplished in mind and 
 heart, and, therefore, all the more dangerous a poltroon. 
 
 "He was urged on by a woman of the same stamp, whose 
 intellect — and she had an infinity of it — was spoiled and corrupted 
 by reading romances and plays, a passion to which she abandoned 
 herself to such a degree that she passed years in learning them by 
 
304 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 heart, and publicly performing them herself. She had courage to 
 excess, was enterprising, daring, furious, knowing only her 
 present passion, to which she made everything defer, indignant 
 at the prudence and discretion of her husband, which she called 
 miserable weakness, and whom she reproached with the honor 
 she had done him by marrying him, and rendered mean and sub- 
 missive before her by treating him like a negro, and ruining him, 
 from top to bottom, without his daring to say a word. He bore 
 all from her in the fear he had of her, and the terror that her head 
 would be quite turned. Although he concealed many things from 
 her, the ascendancy she had over him was incredible, and she 
 drove him forward with a stick." — St, Simon. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the magnificence as well as the 
 extravagance of " les grandes nuits de Sceaux." 
 
 "The beginning of them, as of all things, was very simple. 
 Madame the Duchess of Maine, who loved to remain up, often 
 passed the whole night in different kinds of games. The Abbe 
 de Vaubrun, one of her courtiers most anxious to please her, pro- 
 posed, that during one of the nights destined for this purpose, 
 some one should appear under the form of Night clad in crape, 
 and thank the princess for the preference she accorded to night 
 over day, and that the goddess should have a follower to sing a 
 pretty air on the same subject. . . . The idea was applauded ; 
 and this gave rise to the magnificent fetes given at night by dif- 
 ferent persons to the Duchess of Maine." — Mile Delaimay. 
 
 It was at Sceaux that, under the Regency^ the Due du 
 Maine was arrested for treason, as he was coming out of 
 the chapel, and hurried off to a year's imprisonment at 
 Dourlans, at the same time that his wife, arrested in Paris, 
 was taken to Dijon. Upon the death of the duke (1736), 
 after terrible sufferings from a cancer in the face, Mme du 
 Maine ceased her political intrigues and devoted herself 
 entirely to amusements and belles-lettres. Those were the 
 brightest days of Sceaux, when Fontenelle, Lamotte^, Chau- 
 lieu, were its constant guests, and more especially Voltaire, 
 who had a fixed apartment in the chateau. 
 
 The Duchesse du Maine died in 1753. Her eldest 
 
SCEA UX 
 
 305 
 
 son, the Prince de Dombes, was killed in a duel with the 
 Marechal de Coigny two years after, but her second son, 
 the Comte d'Eu, spent twenty years at Sceaux and greatly 
 embellished it. After his death the place passed to his 
 cousin, the Due de Penthievre (father-in-law of the Prin- 
 cesse de Lamballe), whose gentleman-in-waiting was the 
 poet Florian, who wrote part of his Pastorales at Sceaux, 
 and died there. The Due de Penthievre gave Sceaux to 
 his daughter, the Duchesse d'Orle'ans, from whom it was 
 snatched by the Revolution, under which the chateau was 
 demolished, and the park destroyed, except a very small 
 portion. 
 
 This fragment, dignified by the name of Pare de Sceaux^ 
 is entered at once from the railway station. It is appro- 
 priated as a tea-garden, but is always open to the public. 
 
 "Sceaux possesses another no less powerful attraction for 
 the Parisian. In the midst of a garden whence some beautiful 
 views can be had, is an immense rotunda, open on all sides, the 
 dome, as light as spacious, being supported by elegant pillars. 
 This rustic canopy covers a dancing room." — De Balzac, " Z^ bal 
 de Sceaux'' 
 
 The garden is very quaint in its avenues, arcades, and 
 circles of clipped limes. Here, where all other memorials 
 of the favorite son of Louis XIV. are destroyed, one may 
 still see the tomb of a cat of the Duchesse du Maine, in- 
 scribed — " Ci-git Mar-la-main, le roi des animaux." 
 
 Close also to the station is the Churchy with a good 
 flamboyant tower. The monogram of Colbert, by whom 
 it was rebuilt, is to be seen on the vaulting of the choir. 
 Over the high-altar is a group by Puget, representing the 
 Baptism of Christ, which comes from the chapel of the 
 Due du Maine. Against a pillar on the left are propped 
 up the broken fragments of a black-marble monument in- 
 
3o6 ^A YS A' EAR PARIS 
 
 scribed to " le tres-haute et tres-puissant Louis-Auguste de 
 Bourbon, Due du Maine, Prince le'gitime de France, 1736, 
 et la tres-haute, tres-puissante Princesse Louise Be'ne- 
 dicite de Bourbon, Princesse du Sang, avec le Comte d'Eu 
 leur fils. ..." In the churchyard a bust commemorates 
 Florian, who is buried there, having been brought up in 
 the house of the Due de Penthievre, nephew of the Due 
 du Maine. 
 
 It is 5 /'. from Sceaux to Verrieres by Chatenay, where 
 Voltaire (Frangois Marie Arouet) was born, February 20, 
 1694. 
 
 The Chemin de Fer d'Orsay branches off from that of 
 Sceaux at Bourg-la-Reine and then passes — 
 
 1 1 k. Antony, a village which belonged to the abbey of 
 St. Germain des Pres at Paris from the IX. c. 
 
 i^k. Massy. — The church has a XIII. c. portal and 
 heavy tower. There is an omnibus from this station to 
 Verrieres. At the Chateau de Villegenis (right) Prince 
 Jerome Napoleon, ex-king of Westphalia, died June 24, 
 i860. 
 
 17/^. Palaiseaii has a handsome church, partly XII. c. 
 and XIII. c. Against the inner wall of the facade is 
 placed the tombstone of the family of Arnauld of Port- 
 Royal, who were exhumed from the destroyed abbey in 
 the night of September 13, 17 10, and reburied fifteen 
 years after, September 30, 1725. The church tower is 
 connected with the favorite story of La Pie Voleuse, for 
 there it is said that a magpie was discovered to have hid- 
 den the plate, for the theft of which an innocent young 
 girl — Ninette — was condemned, and was just about to be 
 executed. A pleasant drive or walk of i^k. leads hence 
 to Versailles by {z\k.) Igny^ where M. Tourneaux has 
 
ABBA YE A UX BOIS 307 
 
 built (1852), a fine chateau in the style of the renaissance ] 
 and Bievre, amongst whose seigneurs was the Marquis de 
 Bievre (1747-83) who collected the Bievriana. In a neigh- 
 boring valley some farm buildings are all that remain of 
 the Benedictine ^/^^(2>'<? //// Val profond ox Abbaye aiix Bois^ 
 which afterwards received the name of Val de Grace from 
 Anne de Bretagne. In 162 1 its nuns were removed to the 
 Faubourg St. Jacques at Paris. A path turning aside 
 from the hill which is ascended by the road to Versailles 
 leads to the artificial caves known as Grottes de Bievre. 
 It is of the valley of Bievre that Victor Hugo wrote, in his 
 Feuilles d^automne — 
 
 " Une riviere au fond, des bois sur les deux pentes ; 
 La des ormeaux, brodes de cent vignes grimpantes, 
 Des pres, ou le faucheur brunit son bras nerveux; 
 La des saules pensifs, qui pleurent sur la rive, 
 Et, comme une baigneuse indolente et naive, 
 Laissent tremper dans Feau le bout de leurs cheveux ; 
 La bas, un gue bruyant dans les eaux poissonneuses. 
 Qui montrent aux passants les jambes des faneuses, 
 Des Carres de ble d'or ; des etangs en flot clair ; 
 Dans I'ombre, un mur de craie et des toits noirs de suie ; 
 Les ocres des ravins, dechires par la pluie ; 
 Et I'aqueduc au loin, qui semble un pont de I'air." 
 
 In the church of Chilly^ a little east, are monuments 
 of the family of Effiat. The tomb of Martin Ruze' bears 
 his kneeling figure wearing the order of the St. Esprit. 
 
 23 k. Orsay, famous for the robber chieftains who 
 occupied its castle in the reign of Charles VI. and VII. 
 The existing chateau is surrounded by a moat, supplied by 
 the Yvette. One of the seigneurs of the neighboring 
 Bures^ distinguished in the crusades, was made Viceroy of 
 Jerusalem during the captivity of Baldwin II. 
 
 26 k. Gif. — Some small remains exist of the Bene- 
 dictine abbey of Notre-Dame du Val de GiJ\ founded in 
 
3o8 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 the XII. c, enclosed in the garden of Mme Edmond 
 Adam (Juliette Lamber), the authoress. A crypt is of the 
 end of the XL c. 
 
 2,1 k. St. Re7ny. — An ouiuibus (20 c.) meets all the 
 trains for (2 k.) Chevreuse — Caprosia — (Hotel de V Espe- 
 rance, a pleasant clean little country inn, a good centre for 
 artists), a little town nestling under a steep hill crowned 
 by the ruins of a large chateau — known in the country side 
 as La Madeleine from its former chapel, ruined long before 
 
 
 
 
 iWwm 
 
 CHKVREC'SE. 
 
 the Revolution. The seigneury of Chevreuse was given 
 by Frangois I. to the Duchesse d'Etampes ; but after the 
 death of Francois I. her domains passed to Claude de 
 Lorraine, Archbishop of Rheims. In 16 12 Chevreuse was 
 made a duchy for Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, widow of 
 the Conn^table de Luynes, whose second husband was 
 the younger son of Balafre, Due de Guise. From its don- 
 jon tower, Racine, placed there by his uncle, the intendajtt 
 of the house of Luynes, to overlook some workmen, meta- 
 
bAMPIERRE 309 
 
 phorically dated his letter of Baby lone, January 26, 1661. 
 There are some XII. c. remains of An Abbey of St. Saturnin 
 opposite the portal of the church. No. 14 Rue de Ver- 
 sailles is the curious Maisofi des Bannicres. The ascent to 
 the castle, with its steps in wood, presents many pictur- 
 esque points of view. 
 
 A carriage (10 fr.) may be taken from Chevreuse for 
 the excursion to Dampierre and Vaux-le-Cernay, and, 
 reaching Chevreuse in the middle of the day, there is 
 plenty of time for this, and to return to Paris in the 
 evening. 
 
 In the midst of the trim village of (4/^.) Dampierre, 
 handsome wrought-iron gates open towards the chateau of 
 the Due de Luynes, a vast red and yellow building with 
 towers at the angles, and great " de'pen dances." It was 
 chiefly rebuilt by J. H. Mansart for the Cardinal de 
 Lorraine. The chateau is backed by wooded hills and 
 green avenues. The buildings were restored in 1840 by 
 the well-known archaeologist and historian Honore', Due 
 de Luynes. Ingres was permitted by the duke to destroy 
 some fine works of Gleyre in the gallery, but the frescoes 
 with which the great artist began to replace them were so 
 indelicate that his work at Dampierre was speedily cut 
 short. Amongst the treasures of the chateau is a silver 
 statue by Rude of Louis XIII. as a child ; but the interior 
 of the building is not usually shown. The late duke, 
 famous for his love of art, died of his service in the papal 
 ambulance after the battle of Mentana. 
 
 The pretty scenery of the Yvette near Levy-St.-Nom 
 and Mesnii-St. -Denis may be visited from hence, and one 
 may return to Paris from the station of Verrieres. (See 
 Ch. XVIL) 
 
 Beyond Dampierre is good French home scenery — 
 
3lD 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 woods alternating with open fields sprinkled with fruit 
 trees. Beyond the pretty village of Senlisse, which has an 
 old church, and a moated XVI. c. manor-house, the car- 
 riage should be left at Le Grafid Moulin^ and regained at 
 another old mill, and Le Repos des Artistes, five minutes 
 further on. A path leads along the right bank of the 
 Yvette, through a little wood painted by a thousand artists, 
 full of great stones stained with crimson lichen, between 
 which the Yvette tosses in little rapids (called here les cas- 
 cades) to a limpid sheet of water in the more open ground. 
 2 k. further, io>^. from Chevreuse, is the village of 
 Vaux-le-Cer?iay [Au Rendez-vous des Artistes — a good artist- 
 inn), below which, reached through an old gateway close 
 to a chateau, are the remains of the abbey of which Guy 
 de Montfort, bishop of Carcassone, was abbot, and Pierre 
 des Vallees-Cernay, historian of the Albigensian war, was 
 a monk. To enter the grounds it is necessary to have 
 written beforehand to the proprietor, the Baroness Nathaniel 
 de Rothschild, 33 Faubourg St. Honore, but the ruined 
 church with its noble rose-window, is well seen from the 
 road. 
 
 "The abbey of Vaux-le-Cernay was a purely agricultural 
 establishment. Founded in 1128, the plan displays the simplicity 
 of arrangement and the regularity of building of the edifices 
 established by Citeaux ; always four open chapels, to the east in 
 the transept, and as at Citeaux a square apse. The large building 
 which prolongs the transept contained on the ground-floor the 
 chapter-house, the sacristy, parlors, &c., and, above, the dormitory. 
 Near the entrance, is a very large grange. The dove-house is at 
 a distance from the cloister, in the vast outbuildings which 
 surround the abbey." — Viollet-le-Duc. 
 
 The abbey of Vaux-le-Cernay was an especially coveted 
 possession. The poet Desportes possessed it, but without 
 interfering with any spiritual government. Henri III, 
 
va ux-le-cerna y 
 
 31J 
 
 asked him why he had refused the archbishopric of Bor- 
 deaux ; he replied that he dreaded the charge of souls. 
 "'Voire,' dit le roi, ' et vous etes abbe' ! N'avez-vous pas 
 charge des ames de vos moines?' 'Non' re'pondit Des- 
 portes, 'car ils n'eii ont point.'" Another abbot commen- 
 datory was Henri de Bourbon de Verneuil, bastard of 
 Henri IV., who, after a nominal rule of sixty years, threw 
 it up to marry at the age of sixty-nine ; it was then given 
 
 
 AT VAUX-LE-CERNAY. 
 
 to King Casimir of Poland, who had abdicated to take 
 orders. 
 
 Pedestrians who wish to vary their return to Paris may 
 join the line to Rambouillet at Les Essarts du Roi. 
 
 40 k. Lifnours has a good XVI. c. church. The cha- 
 teau, "des mignons et des raignonnes des rois de France," 
 was destroyed at the Revolution. Anne de Pisseleu, Diane 
 de Poitiers, and the Due de Joyeuse were amongst its 
 owners. At 4 k. east, passing Forges-les-Bains, is Briis, 
 where a large square tower, with a round tourelle attached 
 
312 
 
 I)A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 to it, is called the Tour d^Anne de Boleyn, and is pointed 
 out as the remnant of a convent where the unfortunate 
 Queen of England lived in her youth. When she came 
 over to France as maid of honor to Princess Mary on her 
 marriage with Louis XII., she was left by her father to 
 complete her education at Briis. It is supposed that a 
 convent was chosen here for that purpose^ because her an- 
 cestor, Walter de Boleyn, was vassal-kinsman to the lord 
 of Briis in 1344.^ 
 
 ^ See Strickland's Queens of England, iv. 167. 
 
XVII. 
 
 MEUDON, BELLEVUE, FORT ROYAL, RAM- 
 BOUILLET. 
 
 THE Gave MoJiipamasse is on the boulevard Mont- 
 parnasse, on the left bank of the Seine, at a great 
 distance from the hotels usually frequented by English 
 visitors. The trains as far as Versailles run every half- 
 hour from 6.35 till 9.5 A.M. ; after 10.5 at every hour. 
 
 The places to the right of the carriages are best for the 
 view. 
 
 6/?". Clamart, after which the railway passes beneath 
 the fort of Issy. On the left the villages of Val and Fleiiry 
 are seen, then Meudon with its terrace. On the right 
 there is a fine view over the valley of the Seine, with Paris, 
 the Bois de Boulogne, Mont Valerien, St. Cloud, and 
 Sevres. The gorge of Val-Fleiiry is crossed before reach- 
 ing— 
 
 Zk. Metidoft. It is an ascent of i|/^. from the station, 
 in a straight line, to the famous Terrace of Meudon, which 
 is always open to the public, and which has incomparably 
 the most beautiful and pictorial view in the neighborhood 
 of Paris. To the left the great mass of the city is seen, 
 backed by the heights of Montmartre and by fainter blue 
 distances. The dome of the Invalides glitters to the right 
 of the windings of the Seine with its bridges, and, further 
 
314 
 
 PA VS N^AR PARIS 
 
 to the right, southern Paris extends into long lines of 
 houses for miles, only broken by St. Sulpice, St. Germain, 
 the Pantheon, and the Val de Grace ; further still to the 
 right, the wooded hill in the foreground is surmounted by 
 ih^ Hospice de Fleury. In the deep hollow below is the 
 pretty little town of Meudon, with its old houses, and rich 
 masses of chestnut and acacia foliage around the XVI, c. 
 church, interesting from its association with Francois Ra- 
 belais, son of a publican, who, born (1485) on a metairie 
 near Chinon, died cure of Meudon, though he never re- 
 sided or performed any ecclesiastical duty there. 
 
 The Cardinal de Lorraine, who bought Meudon from 
 the famous Duchesse d'Etampes, mistress of Frangois I., 
 built a chateau here from designs of Philibert Delorme. 
 This chateau, says Corrozet, " was a house furnished forth 
 with columns, busts, paintings, grotesques, compartments 
 and devices of blue and gold, and more colors than it is 
 possible to mention." The heirs of the cardinal sold his 
 chateau to Servient, Surintendant de Finances from 1664 
 to 1669, who made the fine terrace above the village. 
 From his son, Meudon passed to Louvois, minister of 
 Louis XIV., from whose widow it was bought by the king. 
 
 "The king, accustomed to rule in his family, as much, at 
 least, as over his courtiers and his people, and who always 
 wanted to have them assembled beneath his eyes, did not view 
 with pleasure the gift of Choisy to Monseigneur, and the frequent 
 visits he made there with the small number of those whom he, 
 individually, invited to accompany him. It made a division in 
 the court which, at his son's age, could not be avoided after the 
 gift of this house had produced it, but he wished, at least, to 
 bring him nearer to him. Meudon, much larger, and made ex- 
 tremely magnificent by the millions that M. de Louvois had sunk 
 there, seemed to him fitting for this end. He proposed an ex- 
 change to Barbesieux for his mother, who had taken it in her 
 share at a value of 500,000 livres, and bade him to offer her 400,- 
 
MEUDOJSt ^^t 
 
 ooo livres more and Choisy to boot. Mme de Louvois, for whom 
 Meudon was too large and too difficult to fill, was ravished at re- 
 ceiving goo, ooo livres with a house more suited to her, and other- 
 wise very agreeable, and on the same day that the king proposed 
 the exchange, it was concluded. The king had not acted without 
 having spoken to Monseigneur, to whom the slightest appearance 
 of a wish was an order. Mme de Louvois afterwards passed her 
 summers in good company at Choisy, and Monseigneur flitted 
 more and more from Versailles to Meudon, where, in imitation 
 of the king, he made many improvements in the house and gar- 
 dens, and put a climax to the marvels which the Cardinals de 
 Meudon and de Lorraine and MM. Servient and de Louvois had 
 successively added." — St. Simon, '' Me'moires,'' 1695. 
 
 The son of Louis XIV. was never called Dauphin. 
 
 " Monseigneur was Monseigneur all his life, and the name of 
 Dauphin eclipsed. He is the first and only Monseigneur, quite 
 short, that was ever known." — St. Simon. 
 
 After he became the owner of Meudon, Monseigneur 
 lived there whenever he could escape from the Court, and 
 amused himself in the creation of gardens and buildings, 
 as his father did at Versailles : he especially loved, by- 
 taking refuge at Meudon, to avoid the tedious monotony 
 of the Voyages de Marly. His morganatic wife, known 
 by the name of Mile Chouin,^ resided at Meudon, united 
 to him {c. 1695) in secret bonds of matrimony, as Mme 
 de Maintenon was to Louis XIV., but occupied a very 
 different position, living in one of the attics of the house, 
 and seen by none but Monseigneur. The king never 
 came to Meudon (which, after all, he disliked as alien- 
 ating his son from the Court) till he was summoned 
 thither (171 1) by the news of Monseigneur's dangerous 
 illness. Then he established himself there till his son's 
 death (from small-pox), which was very sudden at the 
 last. 
 
 ^ Marie Emilie Jolyde Chouin, ob. 1732, 
 
3i6 
 
 DA YS NkAR PARIS 
 
 "April i6, 1711. — What a spectacle, madame, when I arrived 
 at Monseigneur's grand cabinet. The king, seated on a couch, 
 without shedding a tear, but shuddering and trembling from head 
 to foot ; Mme the Duchess in despair, Mme the Princess de Conti 
 torn with grief, all the courtiers silent, interrupted by sobs and 
 cries that we heard, and made us in the chamber every moment 
 believe that he was expiring." — Mme de Mainteiion a la Ftincesse 
 des Ursins. 
 
 "While the king was quietly supping, those in the chamber 
 of Monseigneur began to lose their heads. Fagon and the others 
 piled remedy on remedy without effect. The cure, who came 
 every evening before going home to learn the news, found, con- 
 trary to custom, all the doors open and the valets distracted. He 
 entered the chamber, where, seeing what had only too lately been 
 in question, he ran to the bed, took Monseigneur's hand, spoke 
 to him of God, and, seeing him quite conscious, but unable to 
 speak, drew from him what he could for a confession, of which 
 nobody had thought, and suggested acts of contrition. The poor 
 prince repeated some words distinctly, others confusedly, beat 
 his breast, pressed the clergyman's hand, appeared penetrated 
 with the best sentiments, and received absolution from him with 
 a contrite and anxious air. 
 
 " Meanwhile tlie king was rising from table, and almost fell 
 backwards, when Fagon, coming in, cried out, in great trouble, 
 that all was lost. Judge of the terror that seized every one at 
 this so sudden transition from entire security to the most hope- 
 less extremity. 
 
 "The king, almost beside himself, at once started for Mon- 
 seigneur's apartment and reprimanded severely the indiscreet 
 zeal of some courtiers who tried to restrain him, saying he wished 
 to see his son again, and asking if there were no further remedies. 
 When he was about to enter the room, the Princess de Conti, 
 who had had time to run to Monseigneur's chamber in the brief 
 interval after supper, presented herself to prevent his entrance. 
 She pushed him back with her hands, and told him that now he 
 must think of himself. Then the king, almost overcome by a 
 change so sudden and so complete, let himself be led to a sofa 
 near the entrance door of the cabinet by which he had entered, 
 and which opened on the chamber. He asked every one who 
 came out for news, without any one daring to reply. While he 
 had been coming down to Monseigneur's rooms, for he was 
 lodged above him, he had sent for Father Tellier, who had just 
 
ME U DON 
 
 317 
 
 gone to bed, but rose, was quickly dressed, and came to the 
 chamber ; but it was too late, as all the domestics have said 
 since, although the Jesuit, perhaps to console the king, assured 
 him that he had given him well-founded absolution. Mme de 
 Maintenon hastened to the king, and, sitting on the same sofa, 
 strove to weep. She tried to take the king away, as the carriages 
 were already waiting in the court, but it was impossible to make 
 him take this resolution till Monseigneur had expired. 
 
 "His agony — he was unconscious — lasted nearly an hour 
 after the king entered the cabinet. Mme the Duchess and 
 Mme the Princess de Conti were divided between their care 
 for the dying man, and their care for the king, to whom they often 
 came, while the faculty perplexed, the servants distracted, the 
 courtiers whispering, were pushing each other about, and walk- 
 ing incessantly, almost without changing their places. At last 
 the fatal moment came. Fagon came out to announce it. 
 
 " The king, in deep affliction, was led away by Mme de Main- 
 tenon and the two princesses. He entered his carriage with dif- 
 ficulty, supported on each side, Mme de Maintenon immediately 
 afterwards, who placed herself beside him. Mme the Duchess 
 and Mme the Princess de Conti entered after her, and sat on the 
 front seat. A crowd of Monseigneur's officers flung themselves 
 on their knees the whole length of the court, on each side, as the 
 king passed, begging him with strange outcries to have pity on 
 them, who had lost everything and were dying of hunger." — 
 St. Sifn on, " Me moires , " 1 7 1 1 . 
 
 In the reign of Louis XV., the Duchesse de Berry ex- 
 changed Amboise for Meudon, which was reunited to the 
 crown in 1726. In 1736, Stanislaus, king of Poland, was 
 lodged here. In 1789, the first Dauphin, son of Louis 
 XVI., died here. During the Revolution the older cha- 
 teau was transformed into a fortress, and Napoleon I. 
 pulled it down, using some of its marbles in building the 
 arch of the Place du Carrousel. A second chateau, which 
 had been built by the second Dauphin, was repaired and 
 intended to be used as a college for kings ! Marie Louise 
 and the King of Rome lived there during the Russian cam- 
 paign. Afterwards (1S33) Pedro, king of Portugal, his 
 
3i8 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 daughter, Dona Maria, the Due d'Orleans, and Marshal 
 Soult, inhabited it in turn. Under the second empire it 
 was the residence of Jerome Napoleon, once king of West- 
 phaUa. It was destroyed during the German war of 1870, 
 and the terraces are now the only memorials of the two 
 chateaux. Only the lower terrace is open to the public : 
 at the end is an observatory. 
 
 At Meudon, during the Reign of Terror, there was a 
 tannery of human skins, " such of the guillotined as seemed 
 worth flaying, of which perfectly good wash-leather was 
 made."^ The skin of the men was superior in toughness 
 {consistance) and quality to chamois, that of the women was 
 good for almost nothing, being so soft in texture.^ 
 
 Le Bois de Meudon is a favorite resort of Parisian 
 pedestrians. Mme Roland used to be brought thither in 
 her childhood. 
 
 "On Sunday, at five in the morning, every one was up. A 
 light dress, fresh and simple, some flowers, a gauze veil, pro- 
 claimed the day's projects. The odes of Rousseau, a volume of 
 Corneille, or some one, formed all my baggage. The three of us 
 [herself, father, and mother] set out. We were to embark at the 
 Pont Royal, which I saw from my windows, in a little boat which, 
 in the silence of a rapid and gentle sail, brought us to the banks 
 of Bellevue, not far from the glass-works. Thence, by steep 
 paths, we reached the Avenue de Meudon. . . . Dinner took 
 place in one of the Swiss cottages in the park. . . . Dear Meu- 
 don ! How often have I breathed under your shades, blessing 
 the author of my existence, and longing for what might one day 
 complete it, but with that charm of a desire without impatience, 
 which only colors the clouds of the future with the rays of hope ! 
 How often have I loved to repose under these tall trees, not far 
 from the clearings, where I saw the timid and nimble fawn pass- 
 ing ! I remember the more sombre spots, where we passed the 
 heats of noon ; then, while my father lying on the grass, and my 
 mother reclining on a heap of leaves I had prepared, surrendered 
 
 1 Montgaillard, iv. 290. 
 
 ^ See Carlyle's French Revolutions iii. 7, 
 
' BELLE V UE ■? 1 
 
 themselves to an after-dinner sleep, I contemplated the majesty 
 of thy silent woods, I admired nature, I adored the Providence 
 whose benefactions I felt." — ''' Mdmoiresy 
 
 " Pourquoi pas montes sur des anes ? 
 Pourquoi pas au bois de Meudon? 
 Les severes sont les profanes ; 
 Ici tout est joie et pardon, 
 
 Rien n'est tel que cette ombre verte, 
 Et que ce calme un peu moqueur, 
 Pour aller a la decouverte 
 Tout au fond de son propre coeur. 
 
 Tout chante ; et pas de fausses notes. 
 L'hymne est tendre ; et I'esprit de corps 
 Des fauvettes et des linottes 
 Eclate en ces profonds accords." — Victor LLtigo. 
 
 Louis XVI. was hunting at Meudon on October 6, 1789, 
 the very day of the attack of the people of Paris upon 
 Versailles, and Marie Antoniette had to send messengers 
 to hasten his return, so that he might reach the palace 
 before the expected arrival of the furies of the Halles.^ 
 
 A charming walk of i k. leads from the end of the ter- 
 race at Meudon, down a lime avenue to Bellevue (a 
 restaurant on the way, good but dear). 
 
 9^. Bellevue (Hotel de la Tete Noire). — Here Mme de 
 Pompadour, admiring the view from the hill above the left 
 bank of the Seine, built a chateau (1748-50), which Louis 
 XV. frequently used as a residence, and which he purchased 
 in 1757. After the death of Louis XV. the chateau became 
 the private residence of his daughters — Mesdames, Tantes 
 du Roi — till their flight before the coming Revolution in 
 1791. 
 
 " Mesdames, the king's aunts, left Bellevue at the beginning 
 of the year 1791. I went to take leave of Madame Victoire. I 
 
 1 Memoires de Weber, 
 
320 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 did not think that I saw for the last time of my life that august 
 and venerable protectress of my early )'Outh. She received me, 
 alone in her cabinet, and assured me that she hoped as well as 
 desired, to return soon to France ; that the French would be 
 much to blame if the excesses of the revolution rose to such x 
 height that she would have to prolong her absence. I knew from 
 the queen that the departure of Mesdames was judged necessary, 
 to leave the king free in his actions, since he would be forced to 
 remove with his famil}'." — Mme Canipan, '' iMe??ioires.'' 
 
 The chateau of Mesdames was sold during the Revo- 
 lution, and has been almost entirely destroyed. The only 
 remaining fragment, now known as Brimborion (a pavilion 
 inhabited by Louis XV. whilst the chateau was building), 
 is in private hands. A fine view over Paris (though inferior 
 to that from Meudon, turning to the left from the station 
 and taking the second turning to the right) is to be obtained 
 from the terrace at the end of the Avenue Me'lanie. 
 
 " One day, the Dauphin (son of Louis XV.) was leaning on 
 the grand balcony of the chateau of Bellevue, with his eyes fixed 
 on Paris ; a friend who saw him often, drew near, and said to 
 him, ' M. the Dauphin has a pensive air!' 'I was thinking,' 
 replied the prince, 'on the delight a sovereign ought to feel in 
 making the happiness of so many people.' " — Morceaux historiques. 
 
 The chapel of Notre Da7ne des Flammes, near the station, 
 commemorates a terrible railway accident of May 8, 1842, 
 when a train of eighteen carriages was thrown off the line, 
 set on fire by the engine, and forty-five persons were burnt 
 to death. 
 
 13 /^. Chaville possessed a magnificent chateau, built by 
 Louvois, but it was utterly destroyed at the Revolution. 
 
 14^. Viroflay. — There is a pleasant walk from hence to 
 Versailles (4^.) hy Jouy and Biic. 
 
 \Zk. Versailles. (See Chap. II.) Continuing the same 
 line to Rambouillet we pass — 
 
 22 k. Saint-Cyr, — This place derives its name from the 
 
ST. CYR 321 
 
 little Gaulish Christian Cyrus, who was thrown from a rock 
 by the Roman governor, at three years old, for refusing to 
 change his religion after the martyrdom of his mother. 
 A convent afterwards existed here. But St. Cyr was of no 
 importance till Mme de Maintenon received it as a wed- 
 ding present from Louis XIV., and transferred hither the 
 college for indigent young ladies of noble birth, which she 
 had previously instituted in the Chateau de Noisy near 
 Versailles, and which she placed under the care of her 
 friend, Mme de Brinon, an ex-Ursuline nun. Mansart was 
 employed by Louis XIV. to build the immense edifice, 
 v/hich still exists, to please Mme de Maintenon. 
 
 " Her taste for St. Cyr seemed to be unable to grow more 
 keen, ahd it did so every day. The more good she did there, the 
 more she wished to do. Surrounded by all the pleasures of the 
 court, she found a thousand pretexts to quit them. St. Cyr con- 
 soled her for all her trials. She did not fear, in leaving the king, 
 to find him on her return less attentive or less obliging ; she had 
 not that curiosity about affairs that always fears to lose the thread 
 of them. She hated visits to Fontainebleau, because they sepa- 
 rated her too long from her family, for she often said that she had 
 no other than that of St. Cyr. 'When shall I see mvself,' she 
 wrote to the Superior, ' at that great table, where, surrounded by 
 all my daughters, I am more at ease than at the royal banquets?' 
 Of all the verses made in her praise, the four worst ones were the 
 only ones that pleased her, because she found St. Cyr alluded to. 
 
 " ' Elle voit les honneurs avec indifference : 
 
 Son coeur de vains desirs n'est jamais combattu : 
 Sa maison meme de plaisance 
 Est une ecole de vertu,'" 
 De la Beaumelle, '^ Me'moires de Mme de Mahitenon" 
 
 In order to obtain admittance to St. Cyr it was neces- 
 sary to prove four degrees of nobility on the paternal side. 
 The number of pupils was restricted to 250, the mistresses 
 were forty, and there were forty '• soeurs converses " for 
 the service of the house. Whilst Mme de Maintenon was 
 
222 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 Still living at Versailles, she often amused Louis XIV. by- 
 making the young ladies of St. Cyr get up one of the 
 newly written plays of Racine, and act them in his pres- 
 ence. Mme de Sevigne describes seeing the performance 
 of Esther. 
 
 " 21 Feburary, i68g. I paid my court the other day at St. 
 Cyr more agreeably than I could have imagined. We found our 
 places reserved. I was on the second line behind the duchesses. 
 .... We listened, the Marechal de Bellefond and I, to this 
 tragedy with an attention that was remarked, and some well 
 placed but veiled eulogies. I cannot tell you how exceedingly 
 agreeable the piece was ; it is not easy to represent, and will 
 never be repeated ; it is a combination of music, verses, songs, 
 and persons, so perfect and complete that it left nothing to be 
 desired ; the girls who played the kings and the other characters, 
 seemed made for it ; the attention was general, and the only 
 trouble was that of seeing so fine a tragedy terminate ; everything 
 in it is sublime and touching ; the fidelity to sacred history in- 
 spires respect ; all the songs suited the words, that were taken 
 from the Psalms or Wisdom, and as introduced in the piece, were 
 singularly beautiful. The approbation given to the piece is a 
 measure of taste and attention. I was charmed, and the Mare- 
 chal also, who left his place to go and tell the king how pleased 
 he was, and that he was by the side of a lady worthy of having 
 seen Esther. The king came to our seats, and, turning, addressed 
 himself to me : ' Madame, I am informed that you are pleased.' 
 Without being astonished, I replied : ' Sire, I am charmed ; words 
 cannot express my feelings.' The king rejoined: 'Racine has 
 great talent.' I said : ' Sire, he has much talent, but, in truth, 
 these young persons have much also ; they enter into the subject 
 as if they had never done anything else.' 'Ah, yes,' he replied, 
 ' that is true.' And then his Majesty went away, and left me the 
 object of env)'- ; as if there was no new-comer but I, as it were, 
 the king was pleased to see my sincere admiration without noise 
 or displa3^" 
 
 Mme de Maintenon ruled the institution of Saint Cyr 
 as an autocrat, even during the lifetime of Louis XIV. 
 When he was upon his deathbed, as soon as he had lost 
 consciousness^ she obeyed his wishes, by retiring there 
 
ST. CYR 323 
 
 altogether, probably to avoid complications with his family, 
 having lost those members of it who were fond of lier, and 
 having reason to distrust the rest. The day after she 
 reached St. Cyr, the king died. Mile d'Aumale came into 
 her room and said, " Madame, toute la communaute' est k 
 I'eglise.' She understood, rose silently, and went herself 
 to the church, where the office of the dead was being re- 
 cited. The king had left her nothing in his will, but had 
 simply recommended her to the care of his nephew, after- 
 wards Regent. The Due d'Orle'ans was worthy of this 
 confidence. A few days after the king's death, he paid her 
 a visit, and continued her pension of 48,000 livres, in- 
 serting in the brevet that " son rare de'sinteressement la lui 
 avait rendue necessaire." 
 
 The retreat of Mme de Maintenon was once inter- 
 rupted. When the Czar Peter came to France in 17 17, 
 he insisted upon seeing the woman who, for thirty years, 
 had played such an important part in the world. She 
 comically describes the interview in a letter to Mme de 
 Caylus. 
 
 "July II, 1717. The Czar arrived at seven in the evening. 
 He sat himself at my bed-head. He asked me if I was sick ; I 
 answered, yes. He asked me what ailed me ; I replied, ' Ad- 
 vanced old age.' He did not know what to say, and his inter- 
 preter did not seem to understand. His visit was very short. . . . 
 He had the curtains at the foot of my bed opened, in order to see 
 me ; you can believe he would be satisfied." 
 
 The disgrace of the Due du Maine, whose governess 
 she had been, and whom she had brought up as her own 
 child, was a bitter affliction to Mme de Maintenon. She 
 could not rally from it. " Mourir est le moindre evene- 
 ment de ma vie," she said one day to Besse, her doctor. 
 She had no illness, only experienced " une grande difficulte 
 
324 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 de vivre." One day when Besse had forbidden her to eat, 
 she wrote to Mme de Glapion, Superior of St. Cyr : 
 
 " J'ai beau dire que j'ai beaucoup d'appetit et point de mal : 
 
 Fagon, en des maux plus presents, 
 
 M'abandonnait a ma sagesse, 
 Et pour un rien, Saint-Cyr, de concert avec Besse, 
 
 Me refuse des aliments ! 
 Et voila ce que c'est qu'avoir quatre-vingts ans. 
 
 Ordonnez done, ma chere fille, qu'on m'envoie ce que je de- 
 mande. Voulez-vous que la posterite dise — 
 
 ' Cette femme qui, dans son temps. 
 Fit un si brillant personnage, 
 Eut a Saint-Cyr beaucoup d'enfants, 
 Et mourut faute d'un potage.' " 
 
 Mme de Glapion answered by sending the potage, with 
 these lines — 
 
 " Que Besse en veuille a Glapion, 
 Malgre la Faculte vous serez obeie. 
 
 Vous, mourir d'inanition ! 
 Eh ! de tons vos enfants la grande passion 
 
 Serait de vous donner leur vie." 
 
 The Due de Noailles, who had married her niece, was 
 present at the deathbed of Mme de Maintenon. " Adieu, 
 men cher due," she said. " Dans quelques heures d'ici, 
 je vais apprendre bien des choses." She died April 15, 
 1719. She had desired to be simply buried in the church- 
 yard of St. Cyr. But the Due de Noailles erected a 
 magnificent tomb to her in the middle of the choir, which 
 was destroyed in the Revolution. Neither of her two 
 husbands was mentioned in her epitaph. 
 
 " Mme de Maintenon retired to St. Cyr, at the instant of the 
 king's death, and had the good sense to deem herself dead to the 
 world, and never to set foot out of the cloister of that house. 
 She did not wish to see any one from outside, asked nothing. 
 
ST. CYR 
 
 325 
 
 recommended no one, nor mixed in anything where her name 
 could be involved. 
 
 " Mme de Maintenon, besides her chamber-women — for no 
 man-servant entered the cloister — had two or sometimes three old 
 maids, and six young girls, attached to her chamber, and both 
 old and young were sometimes changed. As at court, she rose 
 early and went to bed betimes. Her prayers lasted long ; she 
 read also works of devotion ; sometimes she had a little history 
 read by these young girls, and amused herself by making them 
 discuss it and by instructing them. She heard mass from a 
 tribune against her chamber, often several offices, but verj'' rarely 
 in the choir. She communicated twice a week, usually between 
 seven and eight in the morning, and then returned to her tribune, 
 where, on these days, she remained for a long time. 
 
 " She nominated all the superiors, both the first and her sub- 
 alterns, and all the officials. A succinct account of current 
 events was rendered to her ; but, as regards everything beyond 
 that, the first superior took her orders from her. She was Ma- 
 dame, quite short, in the house, where everything was in her 
 hand, and although she had good and pleasant manners with the 
 ladies of St. Cyr, and displayed kindness to the young girls, all 
 trembled before her. Very rarely, indeed, did she see any one 
 except the superiors and the officials, unless it happened that she 
 sent for some one, or, more seldom still, Avhen some one ventured 
 to demand an audience, which she did not refuse. The first su- 
 perior came to her when she liked, but did not abuse her privi- 
 lege ; she gave her an account of everything, and received orders 
 about everything. ]Mme de Maintenon saw few but her. No 
 abbess, though a daughter of France, as there used to be, was 
 ever so absolute, so punctually obeyed, so feared, so respected, 
 and, with this, she was loved by almost all who were inmates of 
 St. Cyr. The priests from outside were just as submissive and 
 just as dependent. Never did she speak, in the presence of her 
 young ladies, of anything that could allude to the government or 
 the court ; very often, however, she spoke of the late king with 
 praise, but without exaggeration, and never a word about in- 
 trigues, cabals, or business." — St. Simon, '' Me'moires," 
 
 "Mme de Maintenon kept in a lofty room, wainscoted with 
 oak, without paint, and furnished in v^arnished leather through- 
 out. Before each seat there was a square of tapestr)^ to place 
 under the feet, because there was not even a carpet on the floor, 
 so simple was the furniture." — Souvenirs de Marquise de Cr^qui, 
 
326 ^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon L restored St. Cyr — pillaged 
 at the Revolution — as a military school. Its enormous 
 monotonous white buildings, with high slated roofs, con- 
 tain 350 pupils, and it annually gives about 140 young offi- 
 cers to the army. The greater part of the former gardens 
 are now a Champ de Mars. A black-marble slab in the 
 chapel covers the remains of Mme de Maintenon, collected 
 after the Revolution, and is inscribed — " Cy-git Mme de 
 Maintenon, 1635-1719-1826."^ 
 
 28^. Trappes, ^k. south (by the Bois de Trappes), is 
 the site of the famous Abbey of Port Royal des Champs.^ 
 
 " He whose journe}- lies from Versailles to Chevreuse will 
 soon find himself on the brow of a steep cleft or hollow, inter- 
 secting the monotonous plain across which he has been passing. 
 The brook which winds through the verdant meadows beneath 
 him, stagnates into a large pool, reflecting the mutilated gothic 
 arch, the water-mill, and the dovecot which rise from its banks ; 
 with tbe farm-house, the decayed towers, the forest-trees, and in- 
 numerable shrubs and creepers, which clothe the slopes of the 
 valley. France has many a lovelier prospect, though this is not 
 without its beauty ; and many a field of more heart-stirring inter- 
 est, though this, too, has been ennobled by heroic daring ; but 
 through the length and breadth of that land of chivalry and of 
 song, the traveller will in vain seek a spot so sacred to genius, to 
 piety, and to virtue. In those woods Racine first learnt the lan- 
 guage — the universal language — of poetry. Under the roof of 
 that humble farm-house, Pascal, Arnauld, Nicole, De Saci, and 
 
 ^ Her original epitaph, of great length, in Latin and French, contained the 
 words — 
 
 " Ici repose tres illustre dame, madame Franfoise d'Aubigne, marquise de 
 Maintenon, dame d'atour de Christine-Victoire de Baviere, dauphine de France. 
 . . . Aussi perseveramment que sagement chere a Louis-le-Grand. Femme 
 excellente au-dela de toutes les femmes de son siecle et de plusieurs precedents. 
 . . . Une seconde Esther par la raaniere dont elle a su plaire au roi ; une se- 
 conde Judith par I'amour de la retraite et roraison avec ses cheres filles. Pau- 
 vre, au milieu des richesses, par la liberalite envers les miserables ; humble, au 
 combls de sa gloire, par son affection pour la modestie chr^tienne. Elle est de- 
 cedee le 15 av^ril, 1719, ag(^e de 83 ans." 
 
 - Port Royal may be reached by the omnibus which runs between Verriferes 
 and Massy on the line from Paris to Limours. 
 
PORT ROYAL 327 
 
 Tillemont, meditated those works wliicli, as long as civilization 
 and Christianity survive, will retain their hold on the gratitude 
 and reverence of mankind. There were given innumerable 
 proofs of the graceful good-humor of Henri IV. To this seclu- 
 sion retired the heroine of the Fronde, Anne Genevieve, Duchess 
 of Longueville, to seek the peace which the world could not give. 
 Mme de Sevigne discovered here a place 'tout propre a inspirer 
 le desir de faire son salut.' " — Sir James Stephen. 
 
 The Benedictine abbey of Port Royal was founded in 
 1204, by Eudes de Sully, Bishop of Paris. It was a poor 
 abbey and only intended for twelve nuns. The lords of 
 Montmorency and Montfort were its principal benefactors. 
 Gradually it increased in prosperity. Honorius III. 
 authorized the celebration of the sacred office within its 
 walls, even when the whole countr}' might lie under inter- 
 dict, and a nun was permitted to keep seven fragments of 
 the wafers consecrated on her profession, and with them 
 to administer the Holy Sacrament to herself on as many 
 successive days. Still, for four centuries. Port Royal was 
 not remarkable. In the XVI. c. the rule of the convent 
 had greatly relaxed when Marie-Ange'lique, one of the 
 twenty children of Antoine Arnauld, having become a nun 
 at eight, was appointed abbess at eleven years old (in 1602), 
 her sister Agnes, of five years old, becoming abbess of St. 
 Cyr. Six years later, the young abbess of Port Royal be- 
 came its reformer. 
 
 " A capucin monk who had left his convent on account of his 
 libertine life, and who turned apostate in foreign lands, coming 
 by chance to Port Royal in 1608, was asked by the abbess and 
 her nuns to preach in their church. He did so, and the scoundrel 
 preached with such force on the happiness of a religious life, on 
 the beauty and holiness of the rule of Saint Benedict, that the 
 young abbess was exceedingly moved. She formed the resolu- 
 tion, not only to practice the rule in all its rigor, but even to em- 
 ploy all her efforts to make her nuns observe it. . . . In less than 
 five years community of goods, fasting, abstinence from meat, 
 
32$ 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 silence, vigils, in fine, all the austerities of the rule of Saint Bene- 
 dict were established at Port Ro)'al." — Racine. 
 
 The abbess Angelique secluded Port Royal from the 
 world, and herself set the example of cutting off unneces- 
 sary communication with it, by refusing admittance to her 
 own parents and her sister Mme le Maitre, when they 
 came to visit her one day ever after known as " la journe'e 
 du guichet." 
 
 " How deep was the peace, how holy the spirit of humility and 
 retirement, how pure and spiritual the temperance and self-denial, 
 and how fervent and zealous the spirit of charity which reigned 
 within the walls of its enclosure. In this truly admirable com- 
 munity might be seen united a rare example of industr}% inspired 
 by charity, and continued without intermission or relaxation ; of 
 prayer without any suspension ; of faith, bearing continual and 
 abundant fruits. In this society ambition had no place, nor was 
 any contention found, but who should fill up the most vile, the 
 most laborious, the most humiliating offices. No impatience was 
 to be discovered in the sisters, nor any caprice in the mothers : 
 and it might be truly said that, in this blessed community, Chris- 
 tian love burnt with a bright, a burning, a clear and steady flame ; 
 alike rendering obedience prompt, command reasonable, and de- 
 votion to God all in all. 
 
 " But nothing ever approached to the complete and entire dis- 
 interestedness which so eminently characterized Port Ro3"al, and 
 which, from the abbess to the last of the servants, glowed as one 
 soul, with an open and munificent generosity." — Schinunelpen- 
 ninck. 
 
 " Simplicity in the church, modesty in the domestics, silence 
 in the parlors, little anxiety of the nuns to maintain conversation, 
 little curiosity to learn the news of the world and even the affairs 
 of their kindred, ceaseless labor and continual prayer." — Racine. 
 
 "The august Majesty of God made itself felt in this holy 
 place. Jesus Cfhrist present on the altar was adored continuall}^ 
 night and day, without interruption. The holy mysteries were 
 offered with a holy awe which was religious and full of faith. The 
 ardent love that these pious women had for Christ made them 
 desire without ceasing to receive frequently the Divine Eucharist, 
 with a fervor and a fire of which the activity was, nevertheless, 
 
PORT ROYAL 329 
 
 sometimes checked by a keen feeling of luimility and penitence." 
 —Petitpicd. 
 
 The success which crowned the labors of the brave 
 Angelique for the reformation of her own abbey led to her 
 being employed in the reform of other religious houses, 
 especially that of Maubuisson, which had fallen into great 
 licence under the rule of a sister of the famous Gabrielle 
 d'Estrdes. Many of the nuns from this convent after- 
 wards sought a refuge at Port Royal, but fever soon drove 
 them from the over-crowded buildings, and the whole 
 community was obliged to take refuge in the Rue St. 
 Jacques at Paris, where a house had been purchased for 
 them by Mme Arnauld, mother of the Mere Ange'lique. 
 Here — in the ^' Convent of Port Royal de Paris " — it was 
 that they became intimate with Saint-Cyran, then a pris- 
 oner at Vincennes, and that they first began to follow him 
 and Jansenius as their teachers. 
 
 Meanwhile, the deserted buildings of Port Royal des 
 Champs were occupied by three nephews of the Mere 
 Ange'lique, the brothers Lemaitre, one of whom, Simon 
 Lemaitre de Sacy, had translated the Bible, and Terence ; 
 and another, Antoine, w^as famous as an advocate. 
 
 "Their example attracted five or six others, both secular 
 persons and ecclesiastics, who, being, like them, disgusted with 
 the world, came to be companions in their penitence. It was 
 not, however, an idle penitence ; while some looked after the 
 temporal affairs of the abbey and labored to re-establish its affairs, 
 the others did not disdain to cultivate the land, like common day 
 laborers ; they even repaired part of the buildings that had fallen 
 into ruin, and, by raising those that were too low and too much 
 in the ground, rendered life in this desert more healthy and more 
 comfortable than it had been. 
 
 " Life at Port Royal was ascetic and singularly laborious. 
 The recluses rose at three in the morning. After matins and 
 lauds they kissed the ground after the manner of the Chartreux, 
 and then passed long hours in prayer. They drank cider and 
 
330 J^A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 water, one only excepted. Some wore hair-shirts ; all slept on 
 straw. . . . Devotional exercises, nevertheless, did not absorb 
 all the time of the recluses. To rescue from the Jesuits the educa- 
 tion of the young — that is to say, of the future — they established 
 at Port Royal the schools which made its glory, and which gave 
 Racine to France. Lancelot was pre-eminently the teacher, 
 Nicole seconded him, and Antoine Lemaistre did not disdain to 
 weary his eloquent voice in the service of an audience of children. 
 There were hours devoted to manual labor, to prune the trees, to 
 look after the crops. But what ought to immortalize the em- 
 ployment of so many solemn days is all the learned works 
 which literature and education owe to Port Royal. Thus they 
 lived happy and proud and intoxicated with hpavenly hoping. 
 Sometimes, at the decline of day, they climbed the heights, and 
 made the echoes of the valley resound with their hymns." — Louis 
 Blanc, ''Hist, de la revolution francaisc." 
 
 Arnauld d'Andilly, father of the Mere Angelique, had 
 now joined the band of recluses known as the *' soHtaires 
 de Port-Royal." With his companions, who included the 
 well-known author Nicole, and the hellenist Lancelot, he 
 also devoted himself to the work of education. Amongst 
 their pupils the most illustrious was Jean Racine, who 
 became the historian of a community in which his sister 
 had taken the veil, and to which his mother had retired. 
 Many of the best known literary works of the age ema- 
 nated from Port Royal. The Logique of Arnaud; the 
 Traites rudimentaires of Lancelot ; the Ethiques of Nicole ; 
 the Histoire ecclesiastique of Lenain de Tillemont, were 
 written there. The abbey became a famous school, in 
 which statesmen were proud of having studied. " lis sont 
 marques au coin de Port-Royal," became a phrase of 
 literary or religious commendation. 
 
 Twenty years had elapsed since the flight of the nuns 
 from the malaria of Port Royal, when St. Cyran, who guided 
 their actions from his prison at Vincennes, bade them 
 return. " If the site was unhealthy, it was as easy to serve 
 
PORT ROYAL 331 
 
 God in a hospital as in a church, and no prayers were more 
 acceptable to Him than those of the afflicted." The Mere 
 Angelique answered, that in a church, where the presence 
 of angels and an ever holier Power had once rested, it 
 must be resting still, and therefore she would do his bid- 
 ding. Many of her nuns accompanied her. They were 
 welcomed by the "solitaires," who included the nearest 
 relatives of the abbess. This was their only meeting. The 
 men returned to the farm of Les Granges : the gates of the 
 abbey were closed upon the nuns. Gradually the report 
 of the holy atmosphere of Port Royal des Champs led 
 many great persons, weary of the turmoil of life, to establish 
 themselves in their neighborhood. The Due and Duchesse 
 de Luynes built a chateau there, and the Duchesses de 
 Liancourt and de Longueville made frequent retreats at 
 the abbey. 
 
 " Bound by no monastic vows, the men addressed themselves 
 to such employments as each was supposed best qualified to fill. 
 Schools for the instruction of youth in every branch of literature 
 and science were kept by Lancelot, Nicole, Fontaine, and De 
 Saci. Some labored at the translation of the Fathers, and other 
 works of piety. Arnauld plied his ceaseless toils in logic, geom- 
 etry, metaphysics, and theological debate. Ph)'sicians of high 
 celebrity exercised their art in all the neighboring villages. Le 
 Maitre and other eminent lawyers addressed themselves to the 
 work of arbitrating in all the dissensions of the vicinage. There 
 were to be seen gentlemen working assiduously as vine-dressers ; 
 officers making shoes ; noblemen sawing timber and repairing 
 windows ; a society held together by no vows, governed by no 
 corporate laws, subject to no common superior, pursuing no joint 
 designs, yet all living in unbroken harmony ; all following their 
 respective callings, silent, grave, abstracted, self-afflicted by fast- 
 ings, watchings, and humiliations — a body of penitents on their 
 progress through a world which they had resolved at once to serve 
 and to avoid. 
 
 "Like the inhabitants of Les Granges, the nuns employed 
 themselves in educating the children of the rich and poor, in 
 
332 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 almsgiving, and in other works of mercy. Angelique, as abbess, 
 exhibited a princely spirit of munificence — nourished and sus- 
 tained by the most severe and self-denying economy. She and 
 her sisterhood reserved for themselves little more than a place on 
 their own.list of paupers. So firm was her reliance on the Divine 
 bount}^ and so abstemious her use of it, that she hazarded a long 
 course of heroic improvidence, justified by the event and ennobled 
 by the motive ; but at once fitted and designed rather to excite the 
 enthusiasm of ordinary mortals, than to aflford a model for their 
 imitation. Wealth was never permitted to introduce, nor poverty 
 to exclude, any candidate for admission as a novice or a pupil. 
 On one occasion twenty thousand francs were given as a relief to 
 a distressed community ; on another, four timas that sum was 
 restored to a benefactress, whose heart repented a bounty which 
 she had no longer the right to reclaim. Their regular expenditure 
 exceeded by more than sevenfold their certain income ; nor were 
 they ever disappointed in their assurance, that the annual defi- 
 ciency of more than forty thousand francs would be supplied by 
 the benevolence of their fellow-Christians." — Sir James Stephen. 
 
 As advocate to Parliament, Antoine Arnauld, the father 
 of the Mere Angelique, had pleaded before the Sorbonne 
 for the expulsion of the Jesuits. This is supposed to have 
 been the first cause of the remorseless vindictiveness of 
 the Jesuits against his family. Arnauld also had praised 
 the Augiistinus of Jansenius, a Flemish bishop, unknown 
 to ordinary readers, in which the Jesuits pretended that 
 five heretical propositions were to be found, attacking the 
 mystery of divine grace. The very existence of these 
 propositions in the work he had approved was utterly 
 denied by Arnauld. On this insignificant subject arose the 
 great quarrel of Jesuits and Jansenists. The work of 
 Jansenius had been condemned by the Pope, and the 
 Port-Royalists were condemned by the Jesuits for not 
 finding in that w^ork the passages which the Pope said were 
 to be found there. Anne of Austria was appealed to, and 
 sent her officers to eject the nuns and recluses of Port Royal, 
 
PORT ROYAL 333 
 
 but for the time the abbey was saved by an apparent 
 miracle. Mile Perrier, niece of Blaise Pascal, a scholar 
 eleven years old, was apparently cured oi fistula lacrymalis 
 upon her eye being touched by a thorn from the Holy 
 Crown preserved at Port Royal ! The Court surgeon con- 
 firmed the truth of the story, and the queen-mother revoked 
 her mandate against the place to which so great a grace had 
 been granted. 
 
 The quarrel between the Jesuits and the Port-Royalists 
 lasted sixty years, during which the Jesuits represented 
 scholastic, the Jansenists spiritual, religion. During this 
 time Blaise Pascal, who had joined the recluses of Port 
 Royal des Champs, published his Lettres Proviiiciales. This 
 for a time assisted to ward off the fall of the abbey, but at 
 length an edict was obtained from Louis XIV., closing its 
 schools, and forbidding the further admission of postulants 
 to the convent. The number of the nuns was reduced by 
 three-fourths. 
 
 At this time the Mere Angelique was in extreme old age. 
 She went to die in the convent at Paris, and on her arrival 
 found the royal officers already in possession and employed 
 in dispersing the inmates. But she was permitted to expire 
 within the monastic walls, and was brought back for burial 
 to Port Royal des Champs, where the spot selected for her 
 grave was just outside the grille of the nuns' choir. 
 
 After the death of their mother, the society of Port 
 Royal, both at Paris and in the country, underwent renewed 
 persecution from the Archbishop of Paris. " They may be 
 pure as angels," he said, "but they are proud as devils," 
 and he set himself to grind them to submission. But the 
 Port-Royalists found a new defender in Anne Genevieve de 
 Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville (sister of the great 
 Conde and the Prince de Conti), the heroine of the Fronde, 
 
334 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 who, at the close of its cruel and last war, had retired to 
 the valley of Port Royal, and whose disinterested and gen- 
 erous conduct had obtained for her not only the pardon, 
 but the reverence of Louis. By the personal influence of 
 the duchess with the king, and by her eloquent letters to 
 the pope (Clement IX.), the imprisoned Port-Royalists were 
 set at liberty and the abbey and schools were reopened. 
 Mme de Longueville herself came to reside permanently 
 at Port Royal, in a hotel which she built close to the abbey. 
 It was here that she heard of the death of her son, killed 
 in battle in 1672. 
 
 "Mme de Longueville breaks one's heart, . . . Mile de 
 Vertus returned two days ago to Port Royal, where she is almost 
 always ; they went in quest of her with M. Arnauld, to tell her 
 this terrible news. Mile de Vertus had only to show herself — her 
 sudden return sufficiently indicated something fatal. In fact, as 
 soon as she appeared : ' Ah ! Mademoiselle, how is my brother? ' 
 Her thoughts dared not go further. ' Madame, he is recovering 
 from his wound ; there has been a battle.' ' And my son ? ' There 
 was no answer. ' Ah ! Mademoiselle, my son, my dear child — an- 
 swer me — is he dead?' 'Madame, I have no words to answer 
 you.' * Ah ! my dear son, he was killed on the field ? had he not 
 a single moment ? O, my God, what a sacrifice ! ' and then she fell 
 on her bed, and all that the keenest grief could do — convulsions, 
 a deadly silence, suppressed cries, bitter tears, appeals to Heaven, 
 tender and piteous complaints — she experienced them all. She 
 sees certain people, takes some soup, because God willed it. She 
 has no repose ; her health, already very bad, is visibly altered. 
 As for me, my wish for her is death, as I do not see that she can 
 live after such a loss." — Mdic dc Se'vigne, '''' Lettres." 
 
 Ten years of rest passed over the valley, in which the 
 most distinguished of the original recluses died, and were 
 laid in its peaceful cemetery, with Racine, the warrior 
 Prince de Conti, and the Due de Liancourt, who had also 
 sought a retreat there. In 1679 th^ Duchesse de Longue- 
 ville also died. Mme de Maintenon, herself governed by the 
 
PORT ROYAL 335 
 
 Jesuits, was now ruling the conduct of Louis XIV., the dis- 
 reputable Harlay was Archbishop of Paris, and Port Royal, 
 bereft of all powerful protectors, was doomed. The famous 
 recluses were banished, the nuns were despoiled of their 
 estates, they were interdicted the sacraments of the 
 Church, and on October 29, 1709, the last fifteen remain- 
 ing nuns were driven out of their convent by an armed 
 force, some being so old and infirm that they had to be 
 carried away in litters, and died from their removal. 
 
 " In a grey autumnal morning, a long file of armed horse- 
 men, under the command of D'Argenson, was seen to issue from 
 the woods which overhung the ill-fated monastery. In the name 
 of Louis he demanded and obtained admission into that sacred 
 enclosure. Seated on the abbatial throne, he summoned the 
 nuns into his presence. They appeared before him veiled, silent, 
 and submissive. Their papers, their title-deeds, and their prop- 
 erty were then seized, and proclamation made of a royal decree 
 which directed their immediate exile. It was instantly carried into 
 effect. Far and wide along the summits of the neighboring hills 
 might be seen a thronging multitude of the peasants whom they 
 had instructed, and of the poor whom they had relieved. Bitter 
 cries of indignation and of grief, joined with fervent prayers, 
 arose from these helpless people, as, one after another, the nuns 
 entered the carriages drawn up for their reception. Each per- 
 sued her solitary journey to the prison destined for her. Of 
 these venerable women, some had passed their eightieth year, 
 and the youngest was far advanced in life. Laboring under 
 paralysis and other infirmities of old age, several of them reached 
 at once their prisons and their graves. Others died under the 
 distress and fatigues of their journey. Some possessed energies 
 which no sufferings could subdue. Mme de Renicourt, for ex- 
 ample, was kept for two years in solitary confinement ; in a cell, 
 lighted and ventilated only through the chimney ; without fire, 
 society, or books. ' You may persecute, but you will never 
 change Mme de Renicourt,' said the archbishop ; 'for [such was 
 his profound view of the phenomenon] she has a square head, 
 and people with square heads are always obstinate.' 
 
 " Last in the number of exiles appeared, at the gates of the 
 abbey, the prioress, Louise de St. Anastasie Mesnil de Cour- 
 
336 I)A YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 tiaux. She had seen her aged sisters one by one quit forever 
 the abode, the associates, and the emplo3^ments of their lives. 
 To each she had given her parting benediction. She shed no 
 tears, she breathed no murmur, nor for a moment betrayed the 
 dignity of her office, nor the constancy of her mind. ' Be faith- 
 ful to the end,' were the last words which she addressed to the 
 last companion of her sorrows. And nobly did she fulfil her 
 own counsels. She was conducted to a convent, where, under a 
 close guard, she was compelled to endure the utmost rigors of a 
 jail. Deprived of all those religious comforts which it is in the 
 power of man to minister, she enjoyed a solace, and found a 
 strength, which it was not in the power of man to take away. In 
 common with the greater part of her fellow-sufferers, she died with- 
 out any priestly absolution, and was consigned to an unhallowed 
 grave. They died the martyrs of sincerity ; strong in the faith 
 that a lie must ever be hateful in the sight of God, though infalli- 
 ble popes should exact it, or an infallible Church, as represented 
 by cardinals and confessors, should persuade it. 
 
 " Unsatiated by the calamities of the nuns, the vengeance of 
 the enemies of Port Royal was directed against the buildings 
 where they had dwelt, the sacred edifice where they had wor- 
 shipped, and the tombs in which their dead had been interred. 
 The monastery and the adjacent church were overthrown from 
 their foundations. Workmen, prepared by hard drinking for 
 their task, broke open the graves in which the nuns and recluses 
 of former times had been interred. With obscene ribaldry, and 
 outrages too disgusting to be detailed, they piled up a loathsome 
 heap of bones and corpses, on which dogs were permitted to 
 feed. What remained was thrown into a pit, prepared for the 
 purpose, near the neighboring churchyard of St. Lambert. A 
 wooden cross, erected by the villagers, marked the spot ; and 
 many a pilgrim resorted to it, to pray for the souls of the de- 
 parted, and for his own. At length no trace remained of the 
 fortress of Jansenism to offend the e3^e of the Jesuits, or to per- 
 petuate the memory of the illustrious dead with whom they had so 
 long contended. The mutilated gothic arch, the water-mill, and 
 the dovecot, rising from the banks of the pool, with the decayed 
 towers and the farm-house on the slopes of the valley, are all that 
 now attest that it was once the crowded abode of the wise, the 
 learned, and the good. In that spot, however, may still be seen 
 the winding brook, the verdant hills, and the quiet meadows — 
 Nature's indestructible monuments to the devout men and women 
 
PORT ROYAL 
 
 337 
 
 who nurtured there affections which made them lovely in their 
 lives, and hopes which rendered them triumphant in death." 
 — Sir James Stephen. 
 
 " The queen mother, and the king more than she aftervvards, 
 seduced by the Jesuits, allowed themselves to be persuaded by 
 them of the exact and precise contradictory of the truth ; that is, 
 that every other school except theirs was hostile to the royal au- 
 thority, and had no other spirit than that of independence and re- 
 publicanism. The king knew no more than a child about this or 
 many other things. . . . They succeeded, then, in disposing of him 
 at their pleasure by pricking his conscience, and his jealousy for 
 his authority over everything that concerned this affair, and, 
 further, over everything that had the slightest indication that way, 
 that is, over everything and everybody whom it pleased them to 
 indicate as on that side. 
 
 " By these means they dispersed those holy illustrious soli- 
 taries whom study and penitence had gathered at Port Royal, and 
 who made such great disciples ; to whom Christians will be ever 
 indebted for those famous works that have diffused so bright 
 and solid a light, to discriminate truth from appearances, the nec- 
 essary from the bark, by touching with the finger a region so 
 little known and so obscured, and, besides, so disguised, by en- 
 lightening faith, kindling charity, developing man's heart, regu- 
 lating his morals, offering him a faithful mirror, and guiding 
 him between just fear and reasonable hope. It was, then, to 
 persecute them to the last remnant and everywhere, that the 
 devotion of the king and of Mme de Maintenon conforma- 
 bly with his was exercised till another field seemed more fitted 
 to be brought before this prince." — St. Simon, '' Me'moii-cs,'' 
 
 1715- 
 
 " I do not wish to say that, as regards the solitaries of Port 
 Royal, the charge of Jansenism was altogether baseless ; but 
 their doctrines, to the extent to which the masters of the school 
 professed them, were certainly inoffensive. Whatever, too, were 
 the opinions of the solitaries, their morals were irreproachable. 
 As much could not be said of their adversaries. This war, de- 
 clared against an institution which had made itself known only 
 by its merits, whose members aspired to no power, is one of the 
 saddest pages in the history of the XVII. century. On the side of 
 Port Ro3'al were virtue, conscience, light, great works ; on the 
 side of their adversaries was craft. It was craft that triumphed." 
 — P. Barren', '' Les ^crivains fran^ais.'^ 
 
338 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 It was in January, 1710, that the destruction of the 
 buildings of Port Royal was ordered by royal edict, and, 
 in 17 12, the church was pulled down. The bodies of the 
 Arnauld family, of Racine, De Saci, and Lemaitre had al- 
 ready been removed by their relations, but the tombs of 
 the other Port-Royalists were desecrated and their remains 
 exhumed. 
 
 Port Royal is now the property of the Due de Luynes, 
 who has cleared out the area of the noble church (built by 
 
 "=^1^ 
 
 PORT ROYAL. 
 
 the architect of Amiens cathedral), showing the bases of 
 its columns. A walnut tree is pointed out as contempo- 
 rary with the Mere Angelique, and a well which is called 
 "lafontaine de la Mere Angelique." The cellars of the 
 Hotel de Longueville also exist, and considerable remains 
 of Les Granges. Amongst the many monumental slabs 
 torn up from the church were those of the Arnaulds, and 
 Sacys, of Nicole, Pascal, and Racine. The last, after find- 
 ing a temporary resting-place in the church of Magny-les- 
 
LEVY-SAINT-NOM 330 
 
 Hameaux, is now in St. Etienne du Mont at Paris. Many 
 of the bodies from Port Royal were removed to the church 
 of St. Lambert on the road to Chevreuse, with some monu- 
 ments to the nuns, which may still be seen. 
 
 A drive from Versailles or Trappes to Port Royal may 
 easily be continued to embrace Dampierre and Chevreuse, 
 whence one may return to Paris by the line from Limours 
 (see Ch. XVI.). It is 5 k. from Port Roj^al to Dampierre, 
 or 6 k. (direct) to Chevreuse, which is 4 k. from Dampierre. 
 The great agricultural institute of Grignofi (Ch. XVIIL), 
 established in a Louis XIV. chateau, which was sometimes 
 used as a residence by Napoleon I., may also be visited 
 from Trappes. 
 
 2,2i k. La Verriere^ which takes its name from a 
 chateau, which belonged to the Comte de la Valette. An 
 omnibus leaves the station of La Verriere twice a day for 
 Dampierre (Ch. XVI.), 13 k. (75 c; 50 c.). The road 
 passes Mesnil St. Denis, a chateau of temp. Louis XIII. 
 In the church are two XVI. c. statues of Sts. Fiacre and 
 Catherine. To the south is the pretty little valley of the 
 Yvette, on the north bank of which is a XIII. c. chapel, 
 which is the only existing remains of the Abbey of Notre 
 Dame de la Roche. In the interior of the nave and tran- 
 sept are a number of gravestones of abbots, and the choir 
 tombs of the family of Levy, followers of Simon de Mont- 
 fort in the Albigensian crusade. The keys of the chapel 
 are kept at the farm-house, which has a fine old chimney- 
 piece. 
 
 Twenty minutes of descent take us from the chapel to 
 Levy-Sai?it-N'o?7i^ a picturesque village on the Yvette. In 
 the church is an ancient (stucco) image of the Virgin, 
 brought from the chapel of Notre Dame de la Roche, and 
 supposed to have been originally dug up by a bull with 
 
340 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 his horns, of a miraculous reputation, which twice a year 
 (March and September) brings mothers to touch it with 
 the linen of their children. A payment of lo c. is de- 
 manded for every shirt which touches the holy image. At 
 the bottom of the valley are the ruins of an unfinished 
 chateau, begun in the XVI. c. by Jacques de Crussol, 
 " grand-panetier de France." 
 
 An omnibus runs between La Verriere and Montfort 
 I'Amaury, \i k. distant (see Ch. XVIII.). The road passes 
 the ruined castle of Maurepas, one of the domains which 
 Louis XIV. gave to his minister, Louis Phelippaux, in ex- 
 change for Marly. When this castle was taken by the 
 English, in the reign of Charles VI., and its garrison were 
 tried, one of them, named Moniquet, confessed to having 
 thrown down seven men alive into the castle well and 
 crushed them by hurling huge stones upon their heads. ^ 
 The village of Le Tremblay is remarkable for its chateau, 
 which belonged to the family of Leclerc du Tremblay, of 
 which the famous Pere Joseph, the confidential friend of 
 Cardinal Richelieu, was a member. 
 
 A little east is the moated Chateau de Pontchartrain 
 (see Ch. XVIII.). 
 
 38 >^. Les Ess arts dtc Roi. — To the right of the railway, 
 before reaching this station the train passes the site of the 
 Priory of Haute-Bruyere (destroyed at the Revolution), 
 which was founded by the notorious Bertrade de Montfort, 
 queen of Philippe I. Its chapel contained her tomb, with 
 those of her illustrious descendants, the Comtes Simon and 
 Amaury de Montfort. Here also the heart of Francois I., 
 afterwards moved to St. Denis, was long preserved in a 
 vase of white marble. Nothing remains except the 
 
 ^ Journal du rcgne de Charles VI, 
 
RAMBOUILLET 
 
 34* 
 
 Chapelle des Peres, for in the order of Fontevrault a 
 convent for men was always attached to a monastery for 
 women. 
 
 The chateau of Artoire was built under Louis XIV. 
 Pedestrians may reach the ruins of Vaux le Cernay (Ch. 
 XVI.) in a walk of \\ hour from Les Essarts. 
 
 48/^. Rambouillet (Hotel du Lion d'Or; Dauphin; 
 Croix Blafiche). A town almost confined to a single 
 
 
 CHATEAU DE KAMBOUILLET. 
 
 street, La Grande Rue, 3 k. in length : in it is a Hospice 
 founded by the Comte de Toulouse in 1731. 
 
 The Chateau^ preceded by a Cour d'Honneur, has an 
 enormous round tower, battlemented and machicolated, 
 the only remnant of the ancient moated castle, which was 
 entered by a drawbridge, and which belonged to the family 
 D'Angennes, of whom Jean d'Angennes sold Cherbourg 
 to the English. The last of the family was Charles d'An- 
 gennes, whose wife, the Marquise de Rambouillet, was 
 celebrated as the literary leader of the XVII. c. Her 
 
342 ^^ yS NEAR PARIS 
 
 eldest daughter brought Rambouillet by marriage to the 
 Due de Montausier, governor of " Monseigneur," son of 
 Louis XIV. The property was sold by Fleuriau d'Arme- 
 nonville to the Comte de Toulouse, the legitimized younger 
 son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan, whose son, 
 the Due de Penthievre, sold it for sixteen million francs 
 to Louis XVI. The king was devoted to the place, but 
 Marie Antoinette detested it. " Que voulez-vous que je 
 fasse dans cette crapaudiere ? " she said, when the king 
 wanted to take her there. Rambouillet became national 
 property under the Republic; it was part of the civil list. 
 of Napoleon L, Louis XVIII., Charles X., and Napoleon 
 III. 
 
 The main buildings of the chateau date from the XV. c, 
 but have been altered in the XVI. c. and XVII. c. They 
 are very picturesque as seen from the gardens, which were 
 adorned by the Comte de Toulouse with tanks, lime ave- 
 nues, and statues, after the fashion of Versailles. 
 
 Cardinal de Bellay was frequently here in the time of 
 D'Angennes, to whom he was nearly related, and in his 
 suite, as a doctor, came Rabelais. 
 
 " At the foot of the chateau there is a very large plain in the 
 midst of which, by a freak of nature, is formed a circle of great 
 rocks, between which tall trees grow and form a very agreeable 
 shade. This is the spot where Rabelais amused them, as the 
 neighborhood says. And to-day still a certain hollow stone is 
 called the Kettle of Rabelais." — Tallcmant des Re'atix, 1658. 
 
 The spot thus spoken of is now surrounded by water 
 and called L'lle des Roches, but the cave of Rabelais is 
 still to be seen there. The Ferine experi?nenfa/e is due to 
 Louis XVI., and the Laiterl: de la Reine was made by him 
 for Marie Antoinette, to console her in temporary absences 
 from her beloved Trianon. It was afterwards a favorite 
 
RAMBOUILLET 
 
 343 
 
 spot with Marie Louise, for whom Napoleon I. redecorated 
 the little temple, the original decorations having been 
 removed to Malmaison. 
 
 It was in the old palace of Rambouillet that Francois I. 
 died, March 13, 1547. 
 
 "A slow fever consumed this monarch, Avho moved from 
 chateau to chateau without finding anywhere repose or alleviation ; 
 he was, finally, obliged to take to his bed at Rambouillet, and the 
 progress of an inveterate ulcer, which had tormented him for eight 
 
 GARDENS OF RAMBOUILLET. 
 
 years, soon left no hope. His last counsels to his son where to 
 lower the taxes, to keep, as ministers, d'Annehaut and the Car- 
 dinal de Tournon, not to recall Montmorency to office, and above 
 all, to be sure not to appoint the Guises, 'puree qtcils tendroient de 
 mettre lici et ses en f ants en pourpoint et son petiple en chejuise.^ 
 
 "The dying man's words must have been forgotten before 
 his body was cold. Diane de Poitiers and the Comte d'Aumale 
 were there joyfully watching the progress of the king's agony. 
 ' He is going, the gallant ; he is going,' said Frangois de Guise." 
 Martin, " Hist, de France.'' 
 
 Catherine de Medicis and Charles IX. waited at Ram- 
 
344 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 bouillet for the issue of the battle of Dreux. Since then 
 its principal visitors have been fallen royalties in flight. 
 Leon Gozlan says that the gate of the chateau is the funeral 
 arch through which the dynasties of France have passed 
 to the grave. Henri III. fled hither from Paris on the day 
 of the barricades, and '^'y coucha tout botte." Marie 
 Louise came hither, March 29, 1814, flying from Paris, 
 followed, on the next day, by Joseph Bonaparte. Return- 
 ing to Rambouillet a month later, the Empress received the 
 visit of the allied sovereigns here, and set out hence for 
 Vienna. In the following year Napoleon came hither after 
 his second abdication, on his way to Rochefort, where he 
 intended to embark for America. At the close of the 
 "comedie de quinze ans " Charles X. fled hither (July 31, 
 1830) from St. Cloud, and here he abdicated and the Due 
 d'Angouleme abandoned his rights, in favor of the Due de 
 Bordeaux, who was proclaimed as Henri V.^ 
 
 "King Charles X. arrived at Rambouillet; he had met on 
 the road the Duchesse de Berry ; he was escorted by the body- 
 guard and the gendari?ierie d'^lite. 
 
 "He was received, not with the demonstrations of joy, and 
 the festal air which lately welcomed his presence, but as an un- 
 fortunate. and fugitive prince. No lights had been prepared in 
 the court of honor. The carriage drew up at the foot of the 
 steps. 
 
 "Napoleon, flying from Malmaison, had come to the same 
 chateau, to pass the first night of his eternal exile. 
 
 " Next day, August i, at five in the morning, Madame the 
 Duchesse dAngouleme arrived, having left Vichy two da)^s be- 
 fore. She avoided Paris, passed through Versailles, disguised 
 as a country-woman, and, in one of the little public vehicles on 
 service in the neighborhood, crossed through the bands of insur- 
 gents, and finally reached Rambouillet in company with the 
 
 ^ Louis XIV. reigned: his son did not reign ; Louis XV. reigned : his son 
 did not reign ; Louis XVI. reigned : his son did not reign ; Napoleon I. reigned : 
 his son did not reign ; Charles X. reigned : his son did not reign ; Napoleon III. 
 reigned : his son did not reign. 
 
RAMBOUILLET 
 
 345 
 
 Dauphin, who, having received notice, came to meet her. The 
 king advanced as far as the steps to receive her ; she flung herself 
 into his arms. 
 
 " ' Ah, my father,' she exclaimed, * my father, what have you 
 done? At least,' she added, ' we will never separate.'" — Souve- 
 nirs du Due de Broglie. 
 
 Under Napoleon III. the palace of Rambouillet -was 
 made a refuge for the children of officers — "I'Ecole d'essai 
 des enfants de troupe." 
 
 There are pleasant drives and walks in the Forest of 
 Rambouillet. At St. Hilario?i are ruins of a XIII. c. 
 chapel. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 MONTFORT-LAMA UR V AND DREUX} 
 
 THE line (from the Gare Montparnasse) is the same 
 as Ch. XVII., as far as St. Cyr; hence it crosses 
 featureless corn-lands by — 
 
 29 k. Villepreicx-les-Clayes. In the woods of Arry near 
 Villepreux, a fete is held on Whit Monday, at the Chapelle 
 St. yotian. 
 
 33 k. Plaisir-Grignon. An omnibus takes travellers 
 in fifteen minutes to the great agricultural institution of 
 Grignon, founded in 1827. The handsome church of 
 Grignon is XIII. c. 
 
 40 k. Villiers-Neauphle. On the right, in the valley of 
 the Mauldre, at Neauphle-le- Vieiix, are considerable re- 
 mains of a Benedictine abbey and church, founded 1066, 
 and now turned into a farm. 2 k. left of the station is the 
 noble moated Chateau de Pontchar train, built by Paul 
 Phelypeaux Secretary of State (ob. 1621), and enriched by 
 his descendants, who for four generations filled high gov- 
 ernment offices. It is now occupied by Comte Hencliel 
 de Donnersmack. 
 
 An omnibus connects the station with Beynes, where 
 
 " These two places may be united in a pleasant summer-day's excursion 
 from Paris. It will then be necessary to leave Montfort-rAmaury station for 
 Dreux at 1.56. 
 
ONTFORT-LAMAURV 347 
 
 the church contains a magnificent renaissance retable, and 
 which has remains of a moated castle, flanked by eight 
 towers. 
 
 45 k. MoiitfortV Aniaury . It is 2 k. from the station, 
 by a straight avenue of planes, to the quaint, seldom- 
 visited town (omnibus, 40 c. ; Hotel des Voyageurs ; de 
 Paris — good restaurant), which is overlooked by the 
 ruined castle of the Comtes de Montfort. This famous 
 family descended from Charlemagne, through Judith 
 (daughter of Charles le Chauve), who married Baudouin 
 Bras-de-fer, Comte de Flandre. Their grandson, Guil- 
 laume, Comte de Hainaut, married the heiress of Epernon 
 and Montfort. He fortified the latter place, which took 
 the name of his son, Amaury. Simon, son of Amaury, was 
 the father of the famous Bertrade, who fled from her first 
 husband, Foulques de Re'chin, Comte d'Anjou, to marry 
 Philippe I. of France, who was already married himself. 
 The pair were excommunicated, nevertheless Bertrade 
 lived prosperously with the king for sixteen years, and 
 even contrived to reconcile her first and second husbands, 
 and dine with them together at Angers, and sit with them 
 under the same canopy at church — the king by her side, 
 Foulques on a stool at her feet. Bertrade died a nun. 
 Her brother, Amaury IV., a famous warrior, sometimes 
 the ally and often the enemy of his sovereign, was the 
 grandfather of the celebrated and cruel Simon de Mont- 
 fort, who overthrew the Counts of Toulouse and acquired 
 their dominions. His son, Amaury VII., resigned the 
 countship of Toulouse to Louis VIII. , for the dignity of 
 constable. 
 
 But the family history was by no means ended yet. 
 The son of Amaury VII. only left a daughter, who married 
 (1250) the Comte de Dreux. Yolande, heiress of Dreux 
 
348 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 and Montfort, married first Alexander III. of Scotland, 
 and secondly Arthur II., Due de Bretagne. The son of 
 her second marriage, Jean de Montfort, disputed the ducal 
 crown with his niece, Jeanne, wife of Charles de Blois. 
 The son of Jean de Montfort, of the same name, after 
 gaining the battle of Auray, where his rival was killed, be- 
 came duke, and the Dukes of Brittany continued to be also 
 Counts of Montfort till the marriage of Anne of Brittany 
 with Charles VIII., and afterwards with Louis XII. In 
 1537, Francois I. gave up to Spain the countship of Mont- 
 fort-l'Amaury, but recovered it seven years after. It after- 
 wards belonged to Catherine de Medicis, to her son the 
 Due d'Anjou, then to the Due d'Alengon. At the death 
 of the latter, Henri III. gave it to the Due d'Epernon. 
 Returning to the Crown, it was exchanged, in 1692, by 
 Louis XIV. with the duchy of Chevreuse. Never had 
 fortress so many illustrious owners. 
 
 The splendid Parish Church, chiefly renaissance, has 
 some small remains of the original building, given to the 
 abbey of St. Magloire at Paris, in 1072. The choir is 
 XV. c, except the flying buttresses added in the XVI. c, 
 to which the nave belongs. The tower is of 16 13. The 
 vaulting of the side aisles has very rich pendants. A great 
 deal of fine stained-glass of 1578 remains, most of the 
 windows — superb in color — representing scriptural sub- 
 jects, with the donors kneeling in front, often presented 
 by their patron saints. In the first window (right) kneel 
 Henri III. and Catherine de Medicis, attended by pages 
 and ladies. Facing the church is the castle on its hill, and 
 La Porte Bardoii closing the uphill street, and supposed 
 to derive its name from Hugues Bardoulf, father-in-law of 
 Simon de Montfort. From a side street on the right, in 
 ascending the hill, a pretty flamboyant portal gives access 
 
MONTFOR T-VAMA UR V 
 
 349 
 
 to the XV. c. cloisters of a convent, with good wooden 
 vaulting, the enclosed space being now used as a cemetery. 
 Amongst the tombs is that of the Duchesse de Be'thune- 
 Charost, daughter of the Marquis de Tourzel, governess 
 of Louis XVII. Little remains of the castle except two 
 towers, one hexagonal, of admirable brick- and stone-work. 
 There are some ruins of another castle near the chateau 
 of Groussaye. 
 
 PORTE BARDOU, MONTFORT-L AMAURY. 
 
 The modern chapel of Notre Dame du Chene^ on the 
 road to Artoire, contains a "miraculous" statue of the 
 Virgin, said to have been found in an oak. Near this is 
 the XVII. c. chateau of Mesnuls^ which belongs to the 
 Comte de Nogent. In the neighboring forest of St. Leger 
 was the Chateaic de St. Hubert, a richly-decorated hunting- 
 lodge, built by Gabriel for Louis XIV. and destroyed by 
 Louis XVI. 
 
 $6 k. Tacoignieres. To the right of the line is Riche- 
 
350 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 bourg, which has a fine XV. c. church, with a peculiar and 
 graceful spire. 
 
 63 k. Houdan (omnibus, 25 c.), the ancient Hodincum, 
 retains its old fortress-tower, built by Amaury III. de 
 Montfort [c. 1 130). It has a fine unfinished gothic church, 
 and (39 Rue de Paris) a richly-ornamented old timber 
 mansion. 6 k. east, at Ga?nbais, is a large moated chateau 
 of the XIV. c. 
 
 82 /'. Dreux (Hotel du Paradis, good), crowned by its 
 royal burial-place, and the remains of the castle of the 
 Comtes de Dreux. 
 
 The town — said to have been the capital of the Duro- 
 casses in the reign of Agrippa — has sustained many sieges, 
 and (December 19, 1562) was the scene of a sanguinary 
 battle, between the Protestants under Conde and Coligny, 
 and the Catholics under the "triumvirate" of the Con- 
 stable de Montmorency, the Due de Guise, and Mare'chal 
 St. Andre. Eight thousand men fell in the battle, in 
 which the Catholics were victorious, the Prince de Conde 
 on the Protestant side, and Montmorency on the Catholic 
 side, being taken prisoners, and St. Andre being killed. 
 
 The magnificent Church of St. Pierre is chiefly flam- 
 boyant, but the choir and the columns of the nave are 
 XII. c. and XIII. c. The fine gothic portal is by Cle'ment 
 M^tezeau, a native of Dreux. The stained glass is of great 
 beauty and interest. In the nave are remains of a series of 
 the Apostles ; in the choir several noble life-size figures of 
 saints ; in the south transept the Descent from the Cross 
 and the Sacrifice of Isaac. In the side chapels are a 
 Crucifixion ; scenes from the story of the sainted shoe- 
 makers, Crispin and Crispinian ; the Ascension ; the Bap- 
 tism of Clovis ; St. John ; Notre Dame de Pitie ; St. 
 Blaise ; St. Sebastian ; fragments of the story of Notre 
 
DREUX 
 
 351 
 
 Dame de Lorette, and of that of St. Fiacre. The (restored) 
 windows of the Chapelle de la Vierge narrate the history of 
 the Virgin. Some of the side chapels of the nave have 
 remains of frescoes representing the pilgrimage of the in- 
 habitants of Dreux to St. James of Compostella, in the 
 XVII. c. and XVIII. c. On the wall facing the altar is an 
 armed knight, with the epitaph of Mercceur de France, 
 1562. A curious bhiitier of XII. c. comes from the old 
 collegiate church of St. Etienne. The organ is of 1614. 
 
 Near the church is a very fine old clock-tower. The 
 renaissance Hotel de Ville was built 15 12-1537. It con- 
 tains a sculptured portal from the Chateau de Crecy, and 
 armor found on the battlefield of Ivry. The bell, founded 
 under Charles IX., is surrounded with a representation of 
 the Procession des Flambarts, which formerly took place 
 at Christmas at Dreux. 
 
 The Orleans Chapel rises picturesquely on the hill at 
 the end of the principal street. There are two ascents, one 
 
352 DAYS NEAR PARIS 
 
 for carriages, and a shorter one for pedestrians, winding up 
 to the grounds of the chateau, which are open to the pubUc. 
 Very Httle of the ancient castle remains, but its enclosure 
 is occupied by a garden, in the centre of which is the 
 Chapelle royale, built by the Dowager Duchess of Orleans 
 in 1813, and gothicized by Louis Philippe in 1839. The 
 architecture is wretched, but the contents are of the deepest 
 interest. For admission apply to the concierge on the left 
 of the entrance to the garden. Only funeral services are 
 now held here. Since the " chateau en planches " was de- 
 stroyed in 1848, the family have arrived for the services 
 in the morning, leaving again in the afternoon. 
 
 The beautiful stained windows of the antechapel repre- 
 sent Christ in the Garden of Olives ; the Deposition ; St. 
 Arnould washing the feet of pilgrims ; and St. Adelaide, 
 Queen of Hungary, distributing alms. 
 
 The rotunda or choir is the original part of the church. 
 The beautiful glass of the windows has figures of saints — 
 the Due d'Orleans is represented as St. Ferdinand, Prin- 
 cess Louise as St. Amelie, Louis Philippe as St. Philippe. 
 A stair descends behind the altar to the crypts and chapel 
 of the Virgin, entirely occupied by the royal monuments. 
 
 Right of the steps is the tomb of Mile de Montpensier, the two- 
 years-old daughter of Louis Philippe, by Pradier. 
 
 Left of the steps, the Due de Penthievre, eight-years-old son of 
 Louis Philippe. 
 
 Facing the steps, the huge tomb of King Louis Philippe and 
 Queen Marie Amelie, arranged to support their effigies — that of 
 the king standing, with his hand resting upon the kneeling 
 queen. 
 
 Right. Princess Marie, Duchesse of Wurtemberg. The an- 
 gel above was her last work in sculpture. 
 
 Right, in the sanctuary. The Due d'Orleans, eldest son of 
 Louis Philippe, 1842. The tomb was designed by Ary Scheffer, 
 and is very noble and touching. Behind (in a separate chapel, 
 
DREUX 353 
 
 being a Protestant) is Helene de Mecklembourg-Schwerin, Du- 
 chesse d'Orleans (1858), her hand outstretched from the dark 
 chapel, so as almost to touch her husband. 
 
 Right. Maria Clementina of Austria, Princess of Salerno, 
 mother of the Duchesse d'Aumale. 
 
 Left. Mme Adelaide, 1847, sister of Louis Philippe, beauti- 
 ful in lace and ermine ; by Millet. 
 
 Left. The crowned figure of the Duchesse d'Orleans, mother 
 of Louis Philippe, and foundress of the chapel — exquisitely 
 beautiful. 
 
 Left. The Duchesse de Bourbon-Conde, aunt of the king, 
 and mother of the Due d'Enghien. 
 
 Turnuig left from the steps. Two children of the Comte de 
 Paris ; an exquisite work of Franceschi. A child, bearing a 
 cross with one hand, lifts his baby brother to eternity with the 
 other. 
 
 Left. Prince Ferdinand, son of the Due de Montpensier ; by 
 Aime Millet. An exquisitely beautiful tomb, and simple touch- 
 ing figure. 
 
 Opposite, right. Prince Louis, son of the Due de Montpen- 
 sier ; by Millet. A veiled figure. 
 
 Left. Six children of the Due d'Aumale. 
 
 Left. Louis Philippe, Prince de Conde, eldest son of the 
 Due d'Aumale, who died at Sydney in his twent3^-first j^ear, Sep- 
 tember, 1866. 
 
 Left. Fran^oise, Due de Guise, last son of the Due d'Au- 
 male, who died at eighteen, July 25, 1872. 
 
 Right, opposite. Caroline, Duchesse d'Aumale, 1869, with a 
 beautiful statue by Alfred Lenoir. 
 
 Turning right from steps. Prince Robert, son of the Due de 
 Chartres, aged eighteen. 
 
 A beautiful series of windows represents the life of St. Louis. 
 The tomb of the Due de Penthievre, maternal grandfather of 
 Louis Philippe (father-in-law of the Princesse de Lamballe), was 
 violated in 1793. In side passages are some exquisite windows, 
 each being a picture on a single sheet of glass, executed at Sevres, 
 by Brongniart and Robert. 
 
 A little north-east of Dreux is Abondant, whither Mme 
 de Tourzel, governess of the children of Louis XVI., 
 retired after the death of Robespierre, having escaped 
 
354 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 miraculously from the guillotine, with her two daughters 
 the Duchesse de Charost, and Pauline, afterwards Com 
 tesse de Beam and authoress of Souvenirs de QuaranteAns. 
 Here this faithful friend of Marie Antoinette is buried, 
 with the epitaph — 
 
 "HicjacetL, E. F. T. A. M. J. deCroy, Ducissa de Tourzel, 
 regiae sobolis gubernatrix, Fortis in adversis, Deo regique 
 fidelis, vere mater pauperum, pertransivit benefaciendo, omnibus 
 veneranda, magno prolis amore dilecta. Abiit anno aetatis 82. 
 Requiescat in pace." 
 
 Architects especially will not fail to prolong their ex- 
 cursion to the interesting remains of the Chateau d'Anet, 
 near the station of Ezy-Anet, 2 1 >^. from Dreux, on the line 
 to Louviers. See Western France. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbaye aux Bois, 307 
 Corneille, 231 
 de Maubuisson, 194 
 de Port Royal, 326 
 de Royaumont, 201 
 St. Denis, 161 
 . du Val, 190 
 du Val Profond, 307 
 de la Victoire, 220 
 
 Ablon, 288 
 
 Abondant, 353 
 
 Andilly, 187 
 
 Anet, 354 
 
 Antony, 306 
 
 Arcueil, 298 
 
 Argenteuil, 159 
 
 Artoire, 341 
 
 Asnieres, 106 
 
 Athis-Mons, 288 
 
 Auger St. Vincent, 222 
 
 Aulnay, 151, 300 
 
 Aumone, 194 
 
 Auvers, 191 
 
 B. 
 
 Barbery, 222 
 
 Beauregard, chateau de, 261 
 
 Beaumont-sur-Oise, 202 
 
 Bellevue, 319 
 
 Beynes, 346 
 
 Bezons, 159 
 
 Bicetre, 298 
 
 Bi^vre, 307 
 
 Blaville, chateau de, 293 
 Bois de Meudon, 318 
 
 le Roi, 265 
 
 de Vincennes, 250 
 Boissy-St. Leger, 252 
 Bondy, 254 
 Boran, 203 
 Bougival, 124 
 Bourg-la-Reine, 299 
 Boutigny, 385 
 Bretigny, 292 
 Breuillet, 293 
 Brie-Comte Robert, 253 
 Briis, 311 
 Brimborion, 320 
 Brunoy, 262 
 Buzenval, chateau de, 125 
 
 C. 
 
 Celestins, chateau des, 154 
 Celle St. Cloud, 125 
 Chaillot, 157 
 Chamant, 222 
 Chamarande, 293 
 Chambourcy, 118 
 Champlatreux, chateau de, 202 
 Chantilly, 209 
 Charenton-le-Pont, 260 
 Chasse, chateau de la, 187 
 Chatenay, 306 
 
 Chatillon-sous-Bagneux, 299 
 Chatou, 108 
 Chaville, 320 
 Chaud-Moncel, 252 
 Chelles, 255 
 
356 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Chennevieres, 252 
 Chevreuse, 308 
 Chilly, 307 
 Choisy-le-Roi, 286 
 Clagny, 104 
 Clamart, 313 
 Colombes, 158 
 Compiegne, 225 
 Conflans, 260 
 
 Conflans-St.-Honorine, 145 
 Corbeil, 283 
 Courbevoie, i 
 Creil, 204 
 
 Crepy-en-Valois, 222 
 Creteuil, 261 
 Crosne, 261 
 Cucufa, pool of, 123 
 
 D. 
 
 Dammarie-les-Lys, 265 
 Dammartin, 239 
 Dampierre, 309 
 Domont, 200 
 Dourdan, 293 
 Dreux, 350 
 
 Echaffour, forest of, loS 
 Ecouen, 199 
 Enghien-les-Bains, 184 
 Epinay-sur-Orge, 288 
 Epone, 151 
 Ermenonville, 240 
 Essonnes, 285 
 Etampes, 293 
 Etrechy, 293 
 Eury-sur-Seine, 283 
 
 Fleury, 313 
 Fontainebleau, 265 
 Fontaine-le-Port, 265 
 Fontenay-aux-Roses, 299 
 Forest of Carnelle, 202 
 Chantilly, 216 
 Compiegne, 231 
 Fontainebleau, 27S 
 
 Forest of Halette, 224 
 Marly, 142 
 Montmorency, 186 
 Rambouillel, 345 
 St. Genevieve, 288 
 St. Germain, 117 
 St. Leger, 353 
 Senart, 283 
 Sequigny, 288 
 
 Forges-les-Bains, 311 
 
 Froment, chateau de, 282 
 
 Fourqueux, 142 
 
 Gambais, 350 
 
 Gassicourt, 154 
 
 Gif, 307 
 
 Grignon, 339 
 
 Grillon, 293 
 
 Grolay, 187 
 
 Gros Bois, chateau de, 252 
 
 Groslay, 199 
 
 H. 
 
 Halatte, forest of, 224 
 Haute-Bruyere, 340 
 Houdan, 350 
 
 I. 
 
 Issy, 313 
 Ivr}% 286 
 
 Jonchere, La, 124 
 Juilly, 237 
 Juvisy-sur-Orge, 288 
 
 L. 
 
 L'Abbaye, 261 
 
 La Ferte-Alais, 285 
 
 Lamotte, 224 
 
 Lardy, 293 
 
 La Varenne St. Maur, 252 
 
 La Verriere, 339 
 
 Les Essarts du Roi, 340 
 
 Les Loges, 118 
 
 L'Isle Adam, 202 
 
 Le Tremblay, 340 
 
 Levy-St.-Nom, 339 
 
INDEX 
 
 357 
 
 Limay, 154 
 Limours, 311 
 Livry, 254 
 Longport, 290 
 Longueil St. Marie, 224 
 Louveciennes, 142 
 Luzarches, 202 
 
 M. 
 
 Maisons-Alfort, 261 
 
 Laffitte, 144 
 Maisse, 285 
 Malesherbes, 286 
 Malmaison, La, 121 
 Mantes, 151 
 Maffliers, 201 
 Marcoussis, 291 
 Marcil Marly, 118 
 Marly-la-Machine, 125 
 
 le-Roi, 126 
 Massy, 306 
 Maubuisson, 194 
 Maule, 151 
 Maurepas, 340 
 Meaux, 257 
 Medan, 149 
 Melun, 262 
 
 Mereville, chateau de, 297 
 Meriel, 191 
 Mery, 191 
 Mesnil-Aubry, 200 
 Mesnil, chateau de, 155 
 
 St. Denis, 339 
 Mesnuls, chateau de, 349 
 Meudon, 313 
 Meulan-les-Mureaux, 149 
 Meunecy, 285 
 Milly, 285 
 Monnerville, 297 
 Monsoult, 201 
 Monte Cristo, villa of, 109 
 Mont-l'Eveque, chateau de, 221 
 Montfort-rAmaury, 347 
 Montgeron, 261 
 Montlhery, 290 
 Montmorency, 184 
 Mont Valerien, i 
 Moret, 280 
 Morfontaine, 208 
 
 Morienval, 236 
 Morlaye, chateau de, 203 
 
 N. 
 
 Nanterre, 106 
 Nantouillet, 237 
 Neauphle-le-Vieux, 346 
 Nogent-les-Vierges, 205 
 Nogent-sur-Marne, 251 
 Notre Dame de la Roche, 339 
 
 Orsay, 307 
 
 O. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palaiseau, 306 
 Parc-aux-Dames, 222 
 Pecq, Le, 109 
 Persan-Beaumont, 202 
 Petit Bourg, 283 
 Pierrefonds, 232 
 Poissy, 145 
 Pontchartrain, chateau de, 340 
 
 346 
 Pontoise, 192 
 Pont-St.-Maxence, 224 
 Port Marly, 126 
 Port Royal, 326 
 Presles, 202 
 Puteaux, I 
 
 R. 
 
 Raincy, Le, 254 
 Rambouillet, 341 
 Retz, desert de, 142 
 Ris-Orangis, 282 
 Rivecourt, 225 
 Robinson, 299 
 Roche-Guyon, La, 156 
 Roquemont, 202 
 Roquencourt, 118 
 Rosay, 157 
 Rosny, 156 
 
 Rouville, chateau de, 286 
 Royaumont, 201 
 Rueil, 119 
 
358 
 
 INDEX 
 
 V. 
 
 St. Brice, 199 
 
 St. Ch6ron, 293 
 
 St. Cloud, 2 
 
 St. Corentin, 157 
 
 St. Corneille, abbey of, 231 
 
 St. Cyr, 320 
 
 St. Denis, 161 
 
 St. Fiacre, 118 
 
 St. Firmin, 216 
 
 St. Genevieve, chateau de, 289 
 
 St. Germain-en-Laye, 109 
 
 St. Hilarion, 345 
 
 St. Hubert, chateau de, 349 
 
 St. Jean aux Bois, 235 
 
 St. Leu-d'Esserent, 203 
 
 St. Leu Taverny, 188 
 
 St. Maur-les-Fosses, 251 
 
 St. Maur-Port-Creteil, 251 
 
 St. Michel, 290 
 
 St. Pierre, 232 
 
 St. Reiny, 308 
 
 St. Sauveur, hermitage of, 154 
 
 St. Sulpice de Favieres, 293 
 
 St. Waast-de-Longmont, 225 
 
 Sarcelles-St. -Brice, 199 
 
 Sartrouville, 145 
 
 Savigny-sur-Orge, 288 
 
 Sceaux, 301 
 
 Senart, 283 
 
 Senlis, 217 
 
 Senlisse, 310 
 
 Sequigny, 288 
 
 Sevres, 13 
 
 Soisy, 184 
 
 Sucy-Bonneuil, 252 
 
 Suresnes, i 
 
 Survilliers, 208 
 
 T. 
 
 Tacoignieres, 349 
 Taverny, 190 
 Thiais,'288 
 Trap pes, 326 
 Trianon, Grand, 95 
 
 Petit, 99 
 Triel, 149 
 
 Val, 313 
 
 Val, abbaye du, 190 
 Valmondois, 192 
 Vaux, 149 
 
 le-Cernay, 310 
 Vaux-le-Peny, 263 
 
 -Praslin, 263 
 V^theuil, 156 
 Verberie, 224 
 Verneuil, 149 
 Vernouillet, 149 
 Versailles, 16 
 
 Antichambre du Roi, 64 
 
 dela Reine, 74 
 
 Appartements du Due de 
 
 Bourgogne, 78 
 
 de Cardinal Fleur}-, 
 
 78 
 du Due de Maine, 
 
 30 
 de Mme du Barr)', 
 
 57 
 de Mme de Main- 
 tenon, 78 
 de Mesdames, 88 
 de Monsieur, 87 
 du Due de Pen- 
 
 thievre, 78 
 Petits, de Marie 
 Antoinette, 64 
 de Louis 
 XV., 54 
 Attique du Nord, 33 
 Bassin d'Apollon, 93 
 
 de Neptune, 93 
 Bibliotheque de Louis 
 
 XVL, 56 
 Bosquet d'Apollon, 94 
 
 de la Colonnade, 93 
 de la Reine, 93 
 Cabinet de Chasses, 57 
 
 des Perruques, 53 
 du Roi, 53 
 Cathedral of St. Louis, 104 
 Chambre a Coucher de 
 Louis XIV., 58 
 de la Reine, 75 
 Chapelle, 26 
 
INDEX 
 
 359 
 
 Versailles — 
 
 Cour des Cerfs, 57 
 
 de la Chapelle, 26 
 Grande, 26 
 de Marbre, 25 
 des Princes, 26 
 des Statues, 24 
 
 Escalier des Ambassadeurs, 
 
 57 
 des Cent Marches, 
 
 104 
 de Marbre, 78, 84,85 
 des Princes, 87 
 de Provence, 86 
 du Roi, 88 
 Galerie des Batailles, 78 
 de Constantin, 33 
 des Glaces, 51 
 de Louis XIII., 88 
 des Peintures, 44 
 des Peintures His- 
 toriques, 80 
 Galeries de I'Empire, 86 
 
 de I'Histoire de 
 
 France, 30 
 de Sculptures, 32, 86 
 Gardens, 89 
 Grand canal, 94 
 Musee, 30 
 
 de la Revolution 
 Fran9aise, 104 
 Orangerie, 92 
 Parterre du Midi, 92 
 Pavilion de la Surintend- 
 
 ance, 78 
 Piece d'Eau des Suisses, 92 
 Place d'Armes, 24 
 Quinconce du Midi, 93 
 Salle d'Abondance, 47 
 des Amiraux, 87 
 d'Apollon, 48 
 des Bonaparte, 84 
 des Bourbon, 78 
 des Cent Suisses, 77 
 des Connetables, 87 
 du Conseil, 52 
 des Croisades, 33 
 de Diane, 47 
 des Etats-g6neraux,47 
 des Gardes, 64 
 
 Versailles — 
 
 Salle des Gardes de la 
 
 Reine, 75 
 de la Guerre, 50 
 des Guerriers C61e- 
 
 bres, 88 
 d'Hercule, 45 
 du Jeu de Paume, 104 
 de Mars, 48 
 des Marechaux, 87 
 des Marines, 86 
 de Mercure, 48 
 de I'CEil de Boeuf, 62 
 de I'Opera, 30 
 d'Or et d'Argent, 56 
 d'Orleans, 83 
 de la Paix, 65 
 des Pendules, 56 
 des Porcelaines, 56 
 de la Reine, 70 
 des Residences roy- 
 
 ales, 87 
 des Rois de France, 87 
 du Sacre, 75 
 des Tableaux-Plans, 
 
 87 
 des Tombeaux, 86 
 de Venus, 47 
 
 Tapis Vert, 92 
 
 Vestibule de Louis XIII. ,87 
 Vesinet, Le, 108 
 Viarmes, 201 
 
 Victoire, abbaye de la, 220 
 Vigny, 150 
 Villecresnes, 253 
 Ville d'Avray, 13 
 Villegenis, chateau de, 306 
 Villemouble-Gagny, 255 
 Villeneuve-l'Etang, 12 
 
 St. Georges, 261,282 
 Villepreux-les-Clayes, 346 
 Villers St. Paul, 207 
 Villiers N^auphle, 151, 346 
 Vincennes, 242 
 Viroflay, 320 
 Vitry-sur-Seine, 286 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yeres, 261 
 Yvette, the, 309 
 
^ir Augustus x^(, C, Jyaxt. 
 
 WALKS IN ROME. 
 
 Fourteenth Edition. 12mo, cloth, $3.50. 
 
 "And in connection with ttese explorations " (in Rome and OstiaX "we 
 may, with propriety, notice a work recently published in England and re- 
 published here—' Walks in Rome.' by Augustus J. C. Hare, a work which 
 is not only exhaustive in regard to the geography, but the history, inci- 
 dents, and legends of Eome, and is the best and only complete guide to all 
 its places of interest and attraction. This is high praise, but it is deserved, 
 and is corroborated by all who have had occasion to use the work."— Apple 
 ton's Cyclopedia, Article on Geographical Explorations and Discoveries. 
 
 "The real richness of Rome as well as its interest are known only to those 
 who stay a long time there ; but for such — or even for those wliose visit is a 
 brief one — we know no single work that can replace this of Mr. Hare. We 
 heartily recommend it to past and future visitors to Rome ; they will find it 
 a condensed library of information about the Eternal City."— Atlantic 
 Monthly. 
 
 "The book is to be impressively recommended to those who are going to 
 Rome as a cram ; to those who are not going, as an exquisite tale ; and to 
 those who have beeu there, as a memorizer." — Lippincott's Magazine. 
 
 " 1^0 one who has ever been to Rome, no one who hopes to get there, no 
 intelligent traveler now there, can afford to be without this valuable work 
 on the most noted city in the world's history." — Hall's Journal of 
 Health. 
 
 " It is the most complete monograph for the traveler that has, we think, 
 ever been published. It is a cyclopedia on the sights of Rome ; it is of 
 interest to those who are going, and to those who have returned : to the one 
 as 'guide, philosopher, and friend' — and now that it is written, no sight- 
 seer should go to Rome without it — to the ether as memento : but it is, fur- 
 ther than this, so generally interesting, that few will find it other than de- 
 lightful reading."— Evening Mail. 
 
 " This book supplies the peculiar sort of knowledge which the traveler in 
 Rome evidently needs. He does not want a mere guide-book to mark the 
 localities, or a more compendious history to recall the most interesting asso- 
 ciations. He wants a sympathetic and Avell-informed friend who has himself 
 been over the places described, and has appreciated them with the same 
 mingled sentiments of iuquisitiveness, reverence and inexplicable histori- 
 cal longing, with which the traveler of taste must approach a city of such 
 vast and heterogeneous attractions as Rome."— Westminstek Review. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
I'll) Augustus |. €. law. 
 
 WALKS IN LONDON. 
 
 \Yith. one hundred illustrations. Two volumes in one. 12mo, 
 
 cioth, $3.50. 
 
 "'Walks in London' is an exceedingly charming book." — New York 
 Herald. 
 
 " Every American, fond of walking and sight-seeing, who intends to visit 
 London, should buy this beautiful book."— New York Journal of Com- 
 merce. 
 
 "Everybody who wishes to know any thing about the great city, 
 everybody who wishes to refresh his memory regarding what he has seen 
 there, and particularly every one who has the prospect, near or remote, of 
 visiting London, should become possessed of this work.— Scotsman." 
 
 "A work of extreme attractiveiiess. Next to an actual visit to the vast 
 metropolis, this volume is in every way calculated to afford that pleasure. 
 Indeed, the careful reader of this work will obtain a larger fund of informa- 
 tion than is usually acquired by European tourists."— Graphic. 
 
 " The man who goes for the first time to London should take with him 
 the new book called ' Walks in London,' by Augustus J. C. Hare. It is, by 
 all odds, the pleasantest and most instructive hand-book of the great me- 
 tropolis that has come under our notice."— Philadelphia Evening 
 Bulletin. 
 
 "We can vouch that months o. residence in the British metropolis fail 
 to impart any thing like the keen enjoyment and large knowledge of what 
 De Quincey aptly called the nation of London, as may be got from a perusal 
 of Mr. Hare's recent ' Walks in London.' "—New York Sun. 
 
 "It is, indeed, a most delightful reproduction of the London of the past 
 which appears in Mr. Hare's pages. He givps the cream of whole libraries 
 of antiquarian research in a single walk, and. not only as a guide, but also 
 as a storehouse of information as to all that is worth seeing and knowing of 
 the great city, his book is inimitable. We know nothing to compare with 
 it." — Buffalo Courier. 
 
 " It would be difficult to find in any encyclopaedia an ampler or more 
 fully digested collection of all the important facts relating to the ancient 
 capital ; yet the work is quite as entertaining as an ordinary novel, and a 
 tithe of the ' good stories ' which it contains would set up a professional 
 diner-out for life. . . . It possesses all the merits of a guidebook, with 
 one additional merit which no guide-book ever possessed yet— that of being 
 readable throuohout." — New York Times. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
JEWIN STREET, 
 
 267 
 
 -where Jews had a right to bury before the reign of Her.ry 
 II.). It was here that Mikon, who had already been bUnd 
 for ten years, married his third wife, Ehzabeth, daughter of 
 Sir Edward Minshui, of a Cheshire family, in 1664, the year 
 before the Plague. 
 
 
 " Shakspeare's House," Aldersgate. 
 
 Here, in his blindness, he gave instruction by ear to 
 EUwood the Quaker in the foreign pronunciation of Latin, 
 which he aptly said was the only way in which he could 
 benefit by Latin in conversation with foreigners. It was 
 this EUwood who, when the Plague broke out in 1665, gave 
 Miiton the cottage-refuge at Chahbnt St. Giles, in which he 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM "WALKS IN LONDON." 
 
5o6 
 
 SICIL v. 
 
 William II. with monks from La Cava, is a fine picture of 
 S. Benedict, surrounded by the heads of the religious orders 
 under his rule, by Pietro Novelli. 
 
 A winding path (donkeys 3 frs.) leads from Monreale to 
 the desolate unfinished Benedictine Convent of S. Martijio 
 delle Scale, founded amid barren mountains by Gregory the 
 Great in 581, but with no buildings older than the last 
 century. Its decorations are very rich, but of little interest. 
 
 Cloisters, Monreale. 
 
 The Library contains some literary treasures, especially the 
 correspondence of the Beato Giuliano Majoli with King 
 Alfonso and the Viceroy of Naples in the fifteenth century, 
 which throws much light on contemporary Sicilian history. 
 In the refectory are two fine frescoes of Novello — " II Mon- 
 realese," Daniel in the Den of Lions, and the Prophet carried 
 by the Angel into the Wilderness. From the ascent to the 
 convent we see the Castle of S. Benedetto, which, from a 
 Saracenic fortress, was turned into a convent by William 11. 
 The return from S. Martino may be varied by passing through. 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM "CITIESOF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY." 
 
•Mr. Hare is the ideal tourist." — Journal of Covimerce^ New York^ 
 
 Books of Travel. 
 
 Uniform iu style, 12ino, bound in cloth. 
 
 WALKS IN PARIS. illustrated. One volume. $3.00. 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS. illustrated. One volume. $2.50. 
 WALKS IN LONDON. illustrated. Two volumes in one. $3.50. 
 WALKS IN ROME. Wuh Map One volume. $3.50. 
 STUDIES IN RUSSIA. illustrated. One volume. $2.00. 
 WANDERINGS IN SPAIN. illustrated. One volume, ifi.25- 
 
 CITIES OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY. with.iius- 
 
 trations. One volume. $2.50. 
 FLORENCE. with map and illustrations. One volume. $1.00. 
 VENICE. With map and illustrations. One volume. $1.00. 
 
 SKETCHES IN HOLLAND AND SCANDINAVIA, with 
 
 illustrations. One volume. $1.00. 
 
 MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE. with portn-^its on steel. 
 Two volumes in one. $3.00. 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN. with 
 
 portraits on steel. Two volumes in one. $3.00. 
 
 -GEORGE rOUTLEDGE & SONS. Lafayette Place, IC. Y. 
 
WALKS IN PARIS. 
 
 With 50 illustrations. i2mo, cloth, $3.00. 
 
 DAYS NEAR PARIS. 
 
 With 42 illustrations. ]2mo, cloth, $2.50. 
 
 7ke liutnerous citations fr-om Fre7!ch authorities illustrative of the historical asso^ 
 
 ciatloiis of the various buildings, streets aftd localities in Paris and its 
 
 vicitnty have in these editions been translated into English, thus 
 
 greatly facilitating their use hy American readers. 
 
 " One [' Walks in Paris'] of the most delightful and most attractive of books in its 
 kind, chatty, instructive, brimming over with anecdote, historical and otherwise, and 
 providing an account of the French capital equally vivid and entertaining." — Satur* 
 DAY Evening Gazette, Boston. 
 
 " Mr. Hare's books upon London, RomC; Florence, and Venice have given him an- 
 enviable reputation among travellers. Ot guide-books there are many, but Mr. Hare 
 adds to the ordinary information to be found in such works, the knowledge of a 
 scholar of liberal culture and the taste of a man of refinement, qualities which give his 
 books a distinctive literary character. His last two volumes treat of Paris and its 
 suburbs, both having the same value that their predecessors have, and both being 
 planned upon similar lines." — Book Buyer. 
 
 " The opinions and comments of others with which he has interspersed his descrip- 
 tions are chosen with good taste and judgment, and the illustrations, from the author's 
 own sketches, engraved on wood by T. Sulman, are a rare treat when the common 
 run of even steel cuts of the rich and rare architecture of Paris is borne in mind. 
 . . . . The book is written in an elegant and pleasing style and abounds not only 
 in things which will be new to most people who think they have seen Paris and in 
 kindly reflections thereon but in incident, allusion and anecdote as pertinent as inter- 
 esting." — Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 "Mr. Augustus J. C. Hare has walked about London and Rome and other places 
 to the great profit and advantage of travellers, and his ' Walks in Paris ' (Roudedge) 
 are of the kind that will be welcomed by tourists and sojourners in a foreign land. 
 His method is perfectly well known and stands approved by the great success that has 
 attended his books. . . . The aim is to furnish a guide book of a quality superior 
 to the mere lists of sights that hurried travellers must put up with — a guide book that 
 is worth study itself and induces further reading and study. ... Mr. Hare's 
 books are read to most advantage in the presence of the object described, or as an 
 immediate preparation foi a visit to the places enumerated. His taste and judgment 
 are as trustworthy as his skill is unusual. Under his leadership the least observant 
 traveller will have his eyes open to beauties and charms that he would otherwise pass 
 unheeded by." — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, 
 
 " Good Americans see Paris and Hve, but to those who can not see Paris an admira- 
 ble substitute is offered in this book by the accomphshed traveller and writer, Augus- 
 tus J. C. Hare, entitled ' Walks in Paris.' . . . Mainly the book takes us through 
 art galleries and old palaces; through historic quarters where old scenes Hve again in 
 Mr. Hare's vivid narrations and admirable citations from history, poetry, or criticism. 
 The enchantment of Paris is in its pages." — Boston Traveller. 
 
 "It can be safely said that in these two volumes the traveller will find more informa- 
 tion about Paris than in whole libraries of reference." — Publishing World. 
 
 " Indispensable to the traveller in Paris." — New York Tribune. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS. NEW YORK. 
 
TUILERIES GARDENS 25 
 
 The portion of the gardens nearest the Champs Ely- 
 s6es is Ictid out in groves of chestnut trees. There is a 
 tradition that one of these trees heralds spring by flower- 
 ing OR March 22, on which day orthodox Parisians go to 
 look for the phenomenon. 
 
 On either side of the gardens are raised terraces. That 
 on the south above the Seine formerly ended in the hand- 
 some Porte de ia Conference (on the v/alls of Charles 
 IX.). which was destroyed ni 1730. It derived its name 
 
 
 #«; 
 
 fe-.-^W,i rt- 
 
 £■■5, „.«{-/:»%< 
 
 ^^ -^ Z*-i 
 
 
 '7ii 
 
 I 
 
 £"' 
 
 K. 
 
 V' 
 
 f 
 
 
 *^Ffe&!si^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^^148^^-i^i^*;;;^ 
 
 f y"*^ /- . ^ - g i ff yT* "^fe^j ^ 
 
 _ -_:. ^^^_----^^^- _^ ',^''^^5^"^^-'rf-^^.^^^S^^"~' 
 
 THE GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES. 
 
 from the Spanish ambassadors having entered there to 
 confer with Mazarin about the marriage of IMaria Theresa 
 with Louis XIV. The north terrace, above the Rue de 
 Rivoli, is still one of the most popular promenades in 
 Paris. Its western end, being the warmest and sunniest 
 part of the garden, has obtained the name of Za Petits 
 Provence Here it was that Louis XV. first saw ]\Ille de 
 Romans, brought hither as a beautiful little girl to see 
 the show of the king's entr>^, sent to inquire at the lemon- 
 ade stall (existing then as now) who she was, and then 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM "WALKS IN PARIS." 
 
264 
 
 DA YS NEAR PARIS 
 
 closed in the immense gardens, partly planted by Lenotre, and 
 then regarded as the most beautiful in Europe. The fountains 
 of Vaux, which since have seemed less than mediocre after those 
 of Versailles, Marly, and St. Cloud, were prodigies ; but yet 
 beautiful as was the house, the expenditure of eighteen millions, 
 ihe vouchers for which still exist, proves that he was served with 
 as little economy as he served the king with. It is true that Saint 
 Germain and Fontainebleau, the only houses of pleasure occupied 
 by the king, were far from approaching the beauty of Vaux ; 
 Louis XIV. felt it and was annoyed. In every part of the house 
 the arms and device of Fouquct are displayed ; a squirrel with 
 
 
 CHATEAIT DE VAUX-PRASLIN. 
 
 the motto. Quo non asceiidam? 'Whither can I not climb?' The 
 king asked for an explanation : the ambitious tone of the device 
 did not serve to appease the monarch. The courtiers remarked 
 that the squirrel was everywhere depicted as pursued by a snake, 
 which is in the arms of Colbert. The fete was superior to those 
 that Cardinal Mazarin had given, not only in splendor, but in 
 taste, the Le Fdcheux of Moliere was represented there for the 
 first lime : Psiisson wrote the prologue, which was admired. 
 Public amusements conceal or prepare so often at court private 
 disasters that, without the queen mother, the Superintendent and 
 Pelisson would have been arrested at Vaux on the day of the 
 f§te." — Voltaire , " Siecle de Louis XI F," 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM "DAYS NEAR PARIS." 
 
|)}} Augustus k it. i)arc. 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF FRANCES, 
 
 BARONESS BUNSEN. 
 
 AVith two steel portraits. Two volumes in one. 12mo. cloth, 
 
 $3.00. 
 
 "Thase volumes are worthy of a place beside the ' Memorials of a Quiet Life.' " — 
 Church.man. 
 
 " I thank you with all my heart for the pleasure you have given to all of us by send- 
 ing to us the ' Life of Madame Bunsen.' It is a wonderful book in many ways — the 
 life of a wonderful woman. So much of the stor>' is told by herself, too, that we are 
 sure that we see her as she was and is." — Edward Everett Hale, in the Chris- 
 tian Register. 
 
 "We have been favored with many delightful biographies of late years, but there is 
 none which has the pure charm of this. . . . The reviewer who should say all he 
 thought of this lovely girl and saintly woman would be accused of e.xtravagance, but 
 he may safely leave the vindication of his enthusiasm to the book itself, which will 
 transport him into a refined atmosphere, and into company which goes far to redeem 
 this world of all its reproaches." — Charles Dudley Warner, in the Hartford 
 Courant. 
 
 |iu ^ugu.stus ii. (L\ flare. 
 
 STUDIES IN RUSSIA. 
 
 ^Yith illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $2.00. 
 
 " A most interesting volume, which will prove most welcome to those curious to 
 know something of this vast empire, and useful to those who are likely to travel 
 there." — Journal of Education. 
 
 "The volume can be cordially recommended for its entertaining character, its bril- 
 liant style, and for the vast amount of valuable information that it contains." — Satur- 
 day Evening Gazette, Boston. 
 
 "In Mr. Augustus J. C. Hare's book, 'Studies in Russia," we have a work of per- 
 manent value, which has not been hurriedly put forth to catch the possible advantage 
 of any war agitation. There are few countries where Englishmen travel less than in 
 Russia, and books such as this are not common. The illustrations are admirable."— 
 Book Buyer. 
 
 "The book is certainly a ver>- timely one, and is the best of the sort which has yet 
 been written in English." — Chicago Dial. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
|U) ^upstus il. (C. Wdx(. 
 
 WANDERINGS IN SPAIN. 
 
 "With illustrations. 12ino, elotli, $1.25. 
 
 " Mr. Augustus J. C. Hare, whose 'Walks in Rome' is a mcst delightful itinerary 
 which one finds in the hands of every visitor to the Eternal City, writes in ' Wander- 
 ings in Spain' a no less charming account of travels in that seldom visited country. 
 Mr. Hare is no ordinary traveler, who tricks out his page with cheap incident and 
 clap-trap description ; his book is alike charming to the ordinary reader, and worth 
 the attention of the earnest student of the new Republic, its people, its customs, its 
 cities, and its art." — N Y. Evening Mail. 
 
 "It is rarely that we have met a more delightful book of travels, or one more in- 
 structive. The literary style is unusually excellent, and the descriptions graphic, and 
 
 n:arked by a thorough appreciation of Spanish life and character The 
 
 illustrations interspersed in this volume are of such unusual excellence as to deserve 
 especial mention. Such pictures really help out the letter-press, which is more than 
 can be said of nine out of ten of the woodcuts with which modern books are so pro- 
 fusely illustrated." — Springfield Republican. 
 
 " It is worth a score of ordinary books of travel. He gives us not onlj^ facts, but 
 the impression of facts. As depicted by him, Spain becomes a living realit>'. We 
 seem to see its mountains, plains, and valleys ; to breathe its air, to walk its streets, 
 to behold its majestic architectural monuments. We are brought in contact with its 
 people; we visit *hem in their homes, we josde them in the streets, we hear their 
 voices. We know of no picture of Spain so vivid, yet so truthful, and can heartily 
 commend the volume as one of the rare works of the day." — California Press. 
 
 "We recollect no book that so vividly recalls the country to those who have visited 
 it, and we should recommend intending tourists to carrj- it with them as a companiort 
 of travel." — London Times. 
 
 " Mr. Hare's book is admirable. We are sure no one will regret making it the 
 companion of a Spanish journey. It will bear reading repeatedly when one is moving 
 among the scenes it describes — no small advantage when the traveling library is 
 scanty." — Saturday Review. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
!'' till ^ 
 
§iT Augustus 1. C Ijart. 
 
 MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE. 
 
 With two steel portraits. Two volumes in one. 12mo, cloth 
 
 $3.00. 
 
 " If it is a splendid service to men to make the way of duty look to them 
 as the way of joy, to clothe the common drudgeries of obedience in garments 
 of beauty, to render househohl routine sacred, and self-sacrifice attractive, 
 lihen no ordinary honor belongs to these 'Memorials of a Quiet Life. '" — 
 Bishop Huntin'gton. 
 
 "We are far from using the language of mere conventional eulogy when 
 we say that this is a book wliich will cause every riglit-minded reader to feel 
 not only the happier, but the better." — Conservative. 
 
 "The name of Hare is one deservedly to be honored; and in these 
 ' Memorials,' whicli are as true and satisfactory a biography as it is possible 
 to wiite, the author places his readers in the heart of the family, and 
 allows them to see the hidden sources of life and love by which it was 
 nourished and sustained. "— Athe.njeum. 
 
 "One of those books which it is impossible to read without pleasure. It 
 conveys a sense of repose not unlike that which everybody must have felt 
 out of service-time in quiet little village churches. Its editor will receive 
 the hearty t'.ianks of every cultivated reader for these profoundly interest- 
 ing 'Memorials' of two brothers, whose names and labors their universities 
 and church have alike reason to cherish with affection and remember with 
 pride, who have smoothed the path of faith to so many troubled wayfarers, 
 strengthening the weary and confirming the weak." — Standard. 
 
 "The book is rich in insight and in contrast of character. It is varied 
 and full of episodes wliich few can fail to read with interest ; and, as ex- 
 bibiting the sentiments and thoughts of a very influential circle of minds 
 during a quarter of a century, it may be said to have a distinct historical 
 value. "— XoxcoNFOiiiiisT. 
 
 "A charming b)ok, simply and gracefully lecording the events of a 
 simple and gracious life. Its connection with the beginning of a great 
 rjovement in the English Church will make it to the thoixghtful reader 
 more profoundly suggestive than many biographies crowded and bustling 
 vrith incident. It is almost the first of a class of books the Christian world 
 just now greatly needs, showing how the spiritiial life was maintained amid 
 the shaking of religiou.s ' opinions ' ; how the life of the soul deepened as the 
 thoughts of the mind broadened; and how, in tlieir union, the two formed 
 a volume of larger and more thoroughly vitalized Christian idea than the 
 English people had witnessed for many days." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
CITIES OF SOUTHERN 
 ITALY AND SICILY. 
 
 With illustrations. ]2mo, cloth, $2.50. 
 
 " Mr. Hare's name will be a sufficient passport for the popularity of his new work. 
 His books on the Cities of Italy are fast becoming as indispensable to the traveler ia 
 that part of the country as the guide-books of Murray or of Baedeker. . . His 
 book is one which we should advise all future travelers in Southern Italy and Sicily to 
 find room for in their portmanteaus." — Ac.-\de.my. 
 
 "We regard the volume as a necessary part of the equipment of a traveler in South- 
 ern Italy; if he goes without it he will miss the most thorough and most helpful book 
 that has treated it. The part devoted to Sicily is especially full of interest ; and we 
 should not omit to make mention of the exquisite little woodcuts done from Mr. Hare's 
 water-colors executed on the spot." — British Qiarterly Review. 
 
 "Of all the volumes published for the instruction and delight of travelers, those of 
 Augustus J. C. Hare are the best on many accounts. They are not mere directories 
 or catalogues. They are full of human life and interest. Mr. Hare is the ideal tour- 
 ist, who is interested in art, architecture, literature, natural history and all the scien- 
 ces, to the extent of not beif.g wearisome, but of gilding whatever he touches with the 
 light of his own knowledge and enthusiasm. . . . Wherever he has gone with 
 note-book in hand, he has not failed to jot down those objects which repay the trouble 
 of inspection, and to tell about them all that is worth knowing. His ' Studies in 
 Russia,' his ' Wanderings in Spain,' his ' Sketches in Holland and Scandinavia,' and 
 his ' Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily,' show him as much at home in those widely 
 separated countries as in his own London." — New York Journal of Comm^rcc. 
 
 |W giuciustus |. €. *);u-c. 
 
 SKETCHES IN HOLLAND 
 AND SCANDINAVIA. 
 
 With 33 illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " This little work is the best companion a visitor to these countries can have, while 
 those who stay at home can also read it with pleasure and profit." — Glasgow Her- 
 ald. 
 
 "Will be popular for its handy size and light manner Without being strikingly 
 amusing, it is yet never wearisome. . . . His notes of travel in Norway are very 
 tempting to tourists attracted to the north." — London Art Journal. 
 
 ' These sketches are made agreeable by- the same observation and love for history 
 which is found in 'Walks in London' and ' Walks in Rome.'" — Springfield Re- 
 publican. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, NEW YORK. 
 
72 
 
 IN DENMARK. 
 
 Jones for Christian IV., and containing the room where 
 the king died, with his wedding dress, and most of his 
 other clothes and possessions. This palace-building 
 monarch, celebrated for the drinking bouts in which 
 
 *\ 
 
 f'i M - - *^ 
 
 
 #%*. ^»«^ ''^" ' ' ' :~'^^^^^ 
 
 
 THE ROSENBORG PALACE, COPENHAGEN, 
 
 lie indulged with his brother-in-law, James I. of 
 England, was the greatest dandy of his time, and 
 before we leave Denmark we shall become \'ery 
 familiar with his portraits, always distinguished by 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM "SKETCHES IxV HOLLAND AND SCANDI- 
 NAVIA '• 
 
F LO R K N C K . One volume. 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 One volume. 
 
 With maps aud illustrations. 12mo, cloth; each. $1.00. 
 
 "Florence "and "Venice," by Aui^u-tu- J. C II;ire, from the aesthetic point 
 of view, are modii?. The contents are divided in the usual way accordiiii^ to 
 localities or •• excursions," and include all ol note that a man of taste would 
 need to know in re.rardtothe historic and artistic treasures <if these cities. 
 The volumes are illustrated and are furnished with maps and inaexes.''— 
 The Nation. 
 
 "Those who have found in Mr. Hare's " Walks in Rome" and his otiier 
 ■manuals so refreshini,' a relief from the monotonous matter-ol-fact of the guide- 
 book, will welcome the two attractive volumes on Venice and Florence, whicli 
 have just been added to the author's topographical series. Mr. Hare takes his 
 reader through the streets, palaces, galleries, wherever, in fact, there is any- 
 thing to reveal what, has made these cities great, and what still renders them the 
 most attractive spots in Europe."' — Boston Advertiser. ^ 
 
 " Charming is the word to be used in chnracterizin;^ these books. The plan 
 is in general tiiat of the earlier " Walks in Rome," and the cities are described 
 in a series of excursions whose details not only give a va^t deal of information 
 as to things and places, but are enriched by a store of hift( rical, literary, critical 
 .and anecdotal knowledge. Each of the volumes is furnished with a map com- 
 prehensive enough for the uses of the traveler.''— Ispringfield Republican. 
 
 "Those who have read "Walks in London '' will need no commendation to 
 Venice— Florence. It is a rare delight to read a book written by a man of broad 
 and ripe culture. Mr. Hare's "Walks about London " has long had thedtserved 
 reputation of being incomparably the best guide to that world's metmpolis ; 
 his guide-books to Italy, though less known on this side of the water, are hardly 
 inferior : and these two volumes are worthy companions to their predecessors." 
 —Christian Union. 
 
 "These two books, by a competent author, well printed, and with a 
 good index, should be popular among -U who desire to visit intelligently the 
 two cities whose names they hear. They are compact and brief, but they omit 
 nothing which the traveler needs to see, and they give an intelligent criticism 
 upon many of the chief objects of antiquity and art th;it come under his obser- 
 vation. There are colored plans of the two cities, and occasional illustrations. 
 The author's "Walks in Rome" and "Days near Rome "had proven his 
 quMlifications to treat of the Queen of the Adriatic and the City of the Arno." 
 —Churchman. 
 
 "Mr. Hare has entered into the themes of these volumes, Venice and 
 Florence, with the enthusiasm which they sues'est, and with an uncommon 
 degree of knowledge. The leadinEr of these books is a pleasure, for if they were 
 undertaken as a task the writing of them must have soon becrme a delight to 
 Mr. Hare. Ttiere i-> a world of charming reading in them, drawn from the pages 
 of those who have written about these romantic old cities— poets, travelers, his- 
 torian.*, critics— and the next best thing to being in their noble halls f.nd 
 palaces, hallowed with the memory of a thousand years, is to be there m spirit, 
 as one cannot hut be with such an arcomplished gentleman and learned scholar 
 as Mr. Hare for his guide.''— N. Y. Mail and Express. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGK & SONS. NEW YORK. 
 
THE KREMLIN OF MO SCO W. 
 
 ^75 
 
 are represented as rising from crescents. The Tartars, 
 who were masters of Russia for two hundred years, had 
 changed the churches into mosques and fixed the crescent 
 upon them. When the Grand Duke Ivan Vassiiivitch 
 drove out the Tartars, and restored the churches, he left 
 the crescents, but planted the cross upon them in sign of 
 victory, and Russia has since continued the practice. 
 
 The second cross-bar which is almost universally seen 
 placed crooked on the lower part of the cross \z because 
 the Russians believe our Saviour to have been deformed 
 
 VIEW FK0:M the K'KEMLIX. 
 
 - — to have had one leg shorter than the other. He 
 wished to drink to the utmost the degradation of 
 humanity. " He hath no form or comeliness. . . . We 
 did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. . . 
 It pleased the Lord to bruise him : he hath put him to 
 grief." 
 
 Paying due respect to the icons, strangers may wander 
 about these sacred courts at their will, but endless diffi- 
 culties attend them if they want to draw. Populace and 
 officials are alike suspicious of such a strange proceeding, 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE FROM '-'STUDIES IN RUSSIA." 
 
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