note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) royal palaces and parks of france * * * * * _works of francis miltoun_ _rambles on the riviera_ $ . _rambles in normandy_ . _rambles in brittany_ . _the cathedrals and churches of the rhine_ . _the cathedrals of northern france_ . _the cathedrals of southern france_ . _in the land of mosques and minarets_ . _royal palaces and parks of france_ . _castles and chateaux of old touraine and the loire country_ . _castles and chateaux of old navarre and the basque provinces_ . _castles and chateaux of old burgundy and the border provinces_ . _italian highways and byways from a motor car_ . _the automobilist abroad_ net . (_postage extra_) _l. c. page and company_ _ beacon street, boston, mass._ * * * * * [illustration: _terrace of henri iv, saint germain_ (_see page _)] [illustration] royal palaces and parks of france by francis miltoun author of "castles and chateaux of old touraine," "castles and chateaux of old burgundy," "rambles in normandy," "italian highways and byways from a motor-car," etc. with many illustrations reproduced from paintings made on the spot by blanche mcmanus boston l. c. page & company copyright, . by l. c. page & company. (incorporated) all rights reserved first impression, november, printed by the colonial press c. h. simonds & co., boston, u. s. a. preface "a thousand years ago, by the rim of a tiny spring, a monk who had avowed himself to the cult of saint saturnin, robed, cowled and sandalled, knelt down to say a prayer to his beloved patron saint. again he came, this time followed by more of his kind, and a wooden cross was planted by the side of the "fontaine belle eau," by this time become a place of pious pilgrimage. after the monk came a king, the latter to hunt in the neighbouring forest." it was this old account of fact, or legend, that led the author and illustrator of this book to a full realization of the wealth of historic and romantic incidents connected with the french royal parks and palaces, incidents which the makers of guidebooks have passed over in favour of the, presumably, more important, well authenticated facts of history which are often the bare recitals of political rises and falls and dull chronologies of building up and tearing down. much of the history of france was made in the great national forests and the royal country-houses of the kingdom, but usually it has been only the events of the capital which have been passed in review. to a great extent this history was of the gallant, daring kind, often written in blood, the sword replacing the pen. at times gayety reigned supreme, and at times it was sadness; but always the pageant was imposing. the day of pageants has passed, the day when lords and ladies moved through stately halls, when royal equipages hunted deer or boar on royal preserves, when gay cavalcades of solemn cortèges thronged the great french highways to the uttermost frontiers and ofttimes beyond. those days have passed; but, to one who knows the real france, a ready-made setting is ever at hand if he would depart a little from the beaten paths worn smooth by railway and automobile tourists who follow only the lines of conventional travel. france, even to-day, the city and the country alike, is the paradise of european monarchs on a holiday. one may be met at biarritz on the shores of the gascon gulf; another may be taking the waters at aix or vichy, shooting pigeons under the shadow of the tete de chien, or hunting at rambouillet. this is modern france, the most cosmopolitan meeting place and playground of royalty in the world. french royal parks and palaces, those of the kings and queens of mediæval, as well as later, times, differ greatly from those of other lands. this is perhaps not so much in their degree of splendour and luxury as in the sentiment which attaches itself to them. in france there has ever been a spirit of gayety and spontaneity unknown elsewhere. it was this which inspired the construction and maintenance of such magnificent royal residences as the palaces of saint germain-en-laye, fontainebleau, versailles, compiègne, rambouillet, etc., quite different from the motives which caused the erection of the louvre, the tuileries or the palais cardinal at paris. nowhere else does there exist the equal of these inspired royal country-houses of france, and, when it comes to a consideration of their surrounding parks and gardens, or those royal hunting preserves in the vicinity of the ile de france, or of those still further afield, at rambouillet or in the loire country, their superiority to similar domains beyond the frontiers is even more marked. in plan this book is a series of itineraries, at least the chapters are arranged, to a great extent in a topographical sequence; and, if the scope is not as wide as all france, it is because of the prominence already given to the parks and palaces of touraine and elsewhere in the old french provinces in other works in which the artist and author have collaborated. it is for this reason that so little consideration has been given to chambord, amboise or chenonceaux, which were as truly royal as any of that magnificent group of suburban paris palaces which begins with conflans and ends with marly and versailles. going still further afield, there is in the pyrenees that chateau, royal from all points of view, in which was born the gallant henri of france and navarre, but a consideration of that, too, has already been included in another volume. the present survey includes the royal dwellings of the capital, those of the faubourgs and the outlying districts far enough from town to be recognized as in the country, and still others as remote as rambouillet, chantilly and compiègne. all, however, were intimately connected with the life of the capital in the mediæval and renaissance days, and together form a class distinct from any other monumental edifices which exist, or ever have existed, in france. mere historic fact has been subordinated as far as possible to a recital of such picturesque incidents of the life of contemporary times as the old writers have handed down to us, and a complete chronological review has in no manner been attempted. contents chapter page i. introductory ii. the evolution of french gardens iii. the royal hunt in france iv. the palais de la citÉ and tournelles v. the old louvre and its history vi. the louvre of francis i and its successors vii. the tuileries and its gardens viii. the palais cardinal and the palais royal ix. the luxembourg, the elysÉe and the palais bourbon x. vincennes and conflans xi. fontainebleau and its forest xii. by the banks of the seine xiii. malmaison and marly xiv. saint cloud and its park xv. versailles: the glory of france xvi. the gardens of versailles and the trianons xvii. saint germain-en-laye xviii. maintenon xix. rambouillet and its forest xx. chantilly xxi. compiÈgne and its forest index [illustration: list of illustrations] page terrace of henri iv, saint germain (_see page _) _frontispiece_ the louvre, the tuileries and the palais royal of to-day _facing_ "jardin franÇais--jardin anglais" henri iv in an old french garden _facing_ parterre de diane, chenonceaux plan of sunken garden (jardin creux) a parterre _facing_ bassin de la couronne, vaux-le-vicomte _facing_ a "curÉe aux flambeaux" _facing_ an imperial hunt at fontainebleau _facing_ rendezvous de chasse, rambouillet _facing_ bird's eye view of old paris (map) _facing_ the xiv century louvre _facing_ the louvre _facing_ original plan of the tuileries (diagram) salle des marechaux, tuileries _facing_ the galleries of the palais royal bourbon-orleans descendants of louis philippe (diagram) _facing_ palais du luxembourg _facing_ door in throne room, luxembourg the petit luxembourg _facing_ the luxembourg gardens _facing_ the throne of the palais bourbon vincennes under charles v chateau de vincennes _facing_ a hunt under the walls of vincennes _facing_ conflans original plan of fontainebleau from paris to fontainebleau (map) _facing_ palais de fontainebleau _facing_ salle du throne, fontainebleau _facing_ fragments from fontainebleau _facing_ cheminÉe de la reine, fontainebleau _facing_ monument to rousseau and millet at barbison _facing_ chateau de bagatelle chateau de malmaison _facing_ the gardens of saint cloud _facing_ the cascades at saint cloud _facing_ cour de marbre, versailles _facing_ the potager du roy, versailles _facing_ the bassin de latone, versailles _facing_ the fountain of neptune, versailles _facing_ petit trianon _facing_ laiterie de la reine, petit trianon saint germain (diagram) the valley of the seine, from the terrace at saint germain _facing_ fauteuil of mme. de maintenon chateau de maintenon _facing_ aqueduct of louis xiv at maintenon _facing_ chateau de rambouillet (diagram) laiterie de la reine, rambouillet _facing_ chateau de rambouillet _facing_ chantilly (diagram) statue of le notre, chantilly _facing_ chateau de chantilly _facing_ compiÈgne (diagram) napoleon's bedchamber, compiÈgne _facing_ cours de compiÈgne _facing_ royal palaces and parks of france chapter i introductory the modern traveller sees something beyond mere facts. historical material as identified with the life of some great architectural glory is something more than a mere repetition of chronologies; the sidelights and the co-related incidents, though indeed many of them may be but hearsay, are quite as interesting, quite as necessary, in fact, for the proper appreciation of a famous palace or chateau as long columns of dates, or an evolved genealogical tree which attempts to make plain that which could be better left unexplained. the glamour of history would be considerably dimmed if everything was explained, and a very seamy block of marble may be chiselled into a very acceptable statue if the workman but knows how to avoid the doubtful parts. an itinerary that follows not only the ridges, but occasionally plunges down into the hollows and turns up or down such crossroads as may have chanced to look inviting, is perhaps more interesting than one laid out on conventional lines. a shadowy something, which for a better name may be called sentiment, if given full play encourages these side-steps, and since they are generally found fruitful, and often not too fatiguing, the procedure should be given every encouragement. not all the interesting royal palaces and chateaux of france are those with the best known names. not all front on paris streets and quays, no more than the best glimpses of ancient or modern france are to be had from the benches of a sight-seeing automobile. versailles, and even fontainebleau, are too frequently considered as but the end of a half-day pilgrimage for the tripper. it were better that one should approach them more slowly, and by easy stages, and leave them less hurriedly. as for those architectural monuments of kings, which were tuned in a minor key, they, at all events, need to be hunted down on the spot, the enthusiast being forearmed with such scraps of historic fact as he can gather beforehand, otherwise he will see nothing at conflans, marly or bourg-la-reine which will suggest that royalty ever had the slightest concern therewith. dealing first with paris it is evident it is there that the pilgrim to french shrines must make his most profound obeisance. this applies as well to palaces as to churches. in all cases one goes back into the past to make a start, and old paris, what there is left of it, is still old paris, though one has to leave the grand boulevards to find this out. colberts and haussmanns do not live to-day, or if they do they have become so "practical" that a drainage canal or an overhead or underground railway is more of a civic improvement than the laying out of a public park, like the gardens of the tuileries, or the building and embellishment of a public edifice--at least with due regard for the best traditions. when the monarchs of old called in men of taste and culture instead of "business men" they builded in the most agreeable fashion. we have not improved things with our "systems" and our committees of "_hommes d'affaires_." it is the fashion to-day to decry the cavaliers and the wearers of "love-locks," but they had a pretty taste in art and an eye for artistic surroundings, those old fellows of the sword and cloak; a much more pretty taste than their descendants, the steam-heat and running-water partisans of to-day. louis xv and empire drawing and dining-rooms are everywhere advertised as the attractions of the great palace hotels, and some of them are very good copies of their predecessors, though one cannot help but feel that the clientele as a whole is more insistent on telephones in the bedrooms and auto-taxis always on tap than with regard to the sentiment of good taste and good cheer which is to be evoked by eating even a hurried meal in a room which reproduces some historically famous salle des gardes or the chambre of the oeil de boeuf of the louvre, if, indeed, most of the hungry folk know what their surroundings are supposed to represent. any chronicle which attempts to set down a record of the comings and goings of french monarchs is saved from being a mere dull chronology of dates and résumé of facts by its obligatory references to the architects and builders who made possible the splendid settings amid which these picturesque rulers passed their lives. the castle builders of france, the garden designers, the architects, decorators and craftsmen of all ranks produced not a medley, but a coherent, cohesive whole, which stands apart from, and far ahead of, most of the contemporary work of its kind in other lands. castles and keeps were of one sort in england and scotland, of still another along the rhine, and if the renaissance palaces and chateaux first came into being in italy it is certain they never grew to the flowering luxuriance there that they did in france. thus does france establish itself as leader in new movements once again. it was so in the olden time with the arts of the architect, the landscape gardener and the painter; it is so to-day with respect to such mundane, less sentimental things as automobiles and aeroplanes. another chapter, in a story long since started, is a repetition, or review, of the outdoor life of the french monarchs and their followers. not only did frenchmen of gothic and renaissance times have a taste for travelling far afield, pursuing the arts of peace or war as their conscience or conditions dictated; but they loved, too, the open country and the open road at home; they loved also _la chasse_, as they did tournaments, _fêtes-champêtres_ and outdoor spectacles of all kinds. add these stage settings to the splendid costuming and the flamboyant architectural accessories of renaissance times in france and we have what is assuredly not to be found in other lands, a spectacular and imposing pageant of mediæval and renaissance life and manners which is superlative from all points of view. this is perhaps hard, sometimes, to reconcile with the french attitude towards outdoor life to-day, when _la chasse_ means the hunting of tame foxes (a sport which has been imported from across the channel), "_sport_" means a prize fight, and a garden party or a _fête-champêtre_ a mere gossiping rendezvous over a cup of badly made tea. in the france of the olden time they did things differently--and better. not all french history was made, or written, within palace walls; much of it came into being in the open air, like the two famous meetings by the bidassoa, napoleon's first sight of marie louise on the highroad leading out from senlis, or his making the pope a prisoner at the croix de saint héram, in the forest of fontainebleau. it is this change of scene that makes french history so appealing to those who might otherwise let it remain in shut-up and dry-as-dust books on library shelves. the french monarchs of old were indeed great travellers, and it is by virtue of the fact that affairs of state were often promulgated and consummated _en voyage_ that a royal stamp came to be acquired by many a chateau or country-house which to-day would hardly otherwise be considered as of royal rank. throughout france, notably in the neighbourhood of paris, are certain chateaux--palaces only by lack of name--of the nobility where royalties were often as much at home as under their own royal standards. one cannot attempt to confine the limits where these chateaux are to be found, for they actually covered the length and breadth of france. journeying afield in those romantic times was probably as comfortably accomplished, by monarchs at least, as it is to-day. what was lacking was speed, but they lodged at night under roofs as hospitable as those of the white and gold caravanserai (and some more humble) which perforce come to be temporary abiding places of royalties _en tour_ to-day. the writer has seen the dowager queen of italy lunching at a neighbouring table at a roadside _trattoria_ in piedmont which would have no class distinction whatever as compared with the average suburban road-house across the atlantic. at biarritz, too, the automobiling monarch, alphonse xiii, has been known to take "tea" on the terrace of the great tourist-peopled hotel in company with mere be-goggled commoners. _le temps va!_ were monarchs so democratic in the olden time, one wonders. the court chronicles of all ages, and all ranks, have proved a gold mine for the makers of books of all sorts and conditions. not only court chroniclers but pamphleteers, even troubadours and players, have contributed much to the records of the life of mediæval france. all history was not made by political intrigue or presumption; a good deal of it was born of the gentler passions, and a chap-book maker would put often into print many accounts which the recorder of mere history did not dare use. history is often enough sorry stuff when it comes to human interest, and it needs editing only too often. courtiers and the fashionable world of france, ever since the days of the poetry-making and ballad-singing francis and marguerite, and before, for that matter, made of literature--at least the written and spoken chronicle of some sort--a diversion and an accomplishment. royal or official patronage given these mediæval story-tellers did not always produce the truest tales. then, as now, writer folk were wont to exaggerate, but most of their work made interesting reading. these courtiers of the itching pen did not often write for money. royal favour, or that of some fair lady, or ladies, was their chief return in many more cases than those for which their accounts were settled by mere dross. it is in the work of such chroniclers as these that one finds a fund of unrepeated historic lore. the dramatists came on the scene with their plots ready-made (and have been coming ever since, if one recalls the large number of french costume plays of recent years), and whether they introduced errors of fact, or not, there was usually so much truth about their work that the very historians more than once were obliged to have recourse to the productions of their colleagues. the dramatists' early days in france, as in england, were their golden days. the mere literary man, or chronicler, was often flayed alive, but the dramatist, even though he dished up the foibles of a king, and without any dressing at that, was fêted and made as much of as a record piano player of to-day. one hears a lot about the deathbed scribblers in england in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but there was not much of that sort of thing in france. no one here penned bitter jibes and lascivious verses merely to keep out of jail, as did nash and marlowe in england. in short, one must give due credit to the court chroniclers and ballad-singers of france as being something more than mere pilfering, blackmailing hacks. all the french court and its followers in the sixteenth century shouted epigrams and affected being greater poets than they really were. it was a good sign, and it left its impress on french literature. following in the footsteps of francis i and the two marguerites nobles vied with each other in their efforts to produce some epoch-making work of poesy or prose, and while they did not often publish for profit they were glad enough to see themselves in print. then there were also the professional men of letters, as distinct from the courtiers with literary ambitions, the churchmen and courtly attachés of all ranks with the literary bee humming in their bonnets. they, too, left behind them an imposing record, which has been very useful to others coming after who were concerned with getting a local colour of a brand which should look natural. it is with such guiding lights as are suggested by the foregoing résumé that one seeks his clues for the repicturing of the circumstances under which french royal palaces were erected, as well as for the truthful repetition of the ceremonies and functions of the times, for the court life of old, whether in city palace or country chateau, was a very different thing from that of the republican régime of to-day. not only were the royal paris dwellings, from the earliest times, of a profound luxuriance of design and execution, but the private hotels, the palaces, one may well say, of the nobility were of the same superlative order, and kings and queens alike did not disdain to lodge therein on such occasions as suited their convenience. the suggestive comparison is made because of the close liens with which royalty and the higher nobility were bound. it is sufficient to recall, among others of this class, the celebrated hotel de beauvais which will illustrate the reference. not only was this magnificent town house of palatial dimensions, but it was the envy of the monarchs themselves, because of its refined elegance of construction. this edifice exists to-day, in part, at no. rue françois miron, and the visitor may judge for himself as to its former elegance. loret, in his "gazette" in verse, recounts a visit made to the hotel de beauvais in by marie thérèse, the queen of louis xiv. mercredi, notre auguste reine, cette charmante souveraine, fut chez madame de beauvais pour de son amiable palais voir les merveilles étonnantes et les raretés surprenantes. times have changed, for the worse or for the better. the sedan-chair and the coach have given way to the automobile and the engine, and the wood fire to a stale calorifer, or perhaps a gas-log. the comparisons _are_ odious; there is no question as to this; but it is by contrast that the subject is made the more interesting. from the old palais des thermes (now a part of the musée de cluny) of the roman emperors down through the palais de la cité (where lodged the kings of the first and second races) to the modern installations of the louvre is a matter of twelve centuries. the record is by no means a consecutive one, but a record exists which embraces a dozen, at least, of the paris abodes of royalty, where indeed they lived according to many varying scales of comfort and luxury. not all the succeeding french monarchs had the abilities or the inclinations that enabled them to keep up to the traditions of the art-loving francis i, but almost all of their number did something creditable in building or decoration, or commanded it to be done. louis xiv, though he delayed the adjustment of europe for two centuries, was the first real beautifier of paris since philippe auguste. privately his taste in art and architecture was rather ridiculous, but publicly he and his architects achieved great things in the general scheme. [illustration: _the_ louvre _the_ tuileries & _the_ palais royal _of_ to-day] napoleon i, in turn, caught up with things in a political sense, in truth he ran ahead of them, but he in no way neglected the embellishments of the capital, and added a new wing to the louvre, and filled musées with stolen loot, which remorse, or popular clamour, induced him, for the most part, to return at a later day. in a decade napoleon made much history, and he likewise did much for the royal palaces of france. after him a gap supervened until the advent of napoleon iii, who, weakling that he was, had the perspicacity to give the baron haussmann a chance to play his part in the making of modern paris, and if the tuileries and saint cloud had not disappeared as a result of his indiscretion the period of the second empire would not have been at all discreditable, as far as the impress it left on paris was concerned. chapter ii the evolution of french gardens the french garden was a creation of all epochs from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and, for the most part, those of to-day and of later decades of the nineteenth century, are adaptations and restorations of the classic accepted forms. from the modest _jardinet_ of the moyen-age to the ample gardens and _parterres_ of the renaissance was a wide range. in their highest expression these early french gardens, with their _broderies_ and _carreaux_ may well be compared as works of art with contemporary structures in stone or wood or stuffs in woven tapestries, which latter they greatly resembled. under louis xiv and louis xv the elaborateness of the french garden was even more an accentuated epitome of the tastes of the period. near the end of the eighteenth century a marked deterioration was noticeable and a separation of the tastes which ordained the arrangement of contemporary dwellings and their gardens was very apparent. under the empire the antique style of furniture and decoration was used too, but there was no contemporary expression with regard to garden making. [illustration: jardin franÇais jardin anglais] in the second half of the nineteenth century, under the second empire, the symmetrical lines of the old-time _parterres_ came again into being, and to them were attached composite elements or motives, which more closely resembled details of the conventional english garden than anything distinctly french. the english garden was, for the most part, pure affectation in france, or, at best, it was treated as a frank exotic. even to-day, in modern france, where an old dwelling of the period of henri iv, françois i, louis xiii, louis xiv, or louis xv still exists with its garden, the latter is more often than not on the classically pure french lines, while that of a modern cottage, villa or chateau is often a poor, variegated thing, fantastic to distraction. turning back the pages of history one finds that each people, each century, possessed its own specious variety of garden; a species which responded sufficiently to the tastes and necessities of the people, to their habits and their aspirations. garden-making, like the art of the architect, differed greatly in succeeding centuries, and it is for this reason that the garden of the moyen-age, of the epoch of the crusades, for example, did not bear the least resemblance to the more ample _parterres_ of the renaissance. civilization was making great progress, and it was necessary that the gardens should be in keeping with a less restrained, more luxurious method of life. if the gardens of the renaissance marked a progress over the _preaux_ and _jardinets_ of mediævalism, those of le notre were a blossoming forth of the renaissance seed. regretfully, one cannot say as much for the garden plots of the eighteenth century, and it was only with the mid-nineteenth century that the general outlines took on a real charm and attractiveness again, and this was only achieved by going back to original principles. the first gardens were the _vergers_ and _preaux_, little checker-board squares of a painful primitiveness as compared with later standards. these squares, or _carreaux_, were often laid out in foliage and blossoming plants as suggestive as possible of their being made of carpeting or marble. when these miniature enclosures came to be surrounded with trellises and walls the renaissance in garden-making may be considered as having been in full sway. under louis xiv a certain affluence was noticeable in garden plots, and with louis xv an even more notable symmetry was apparent in the disposition of the general outlines. by this time, the garden in france had become a frame which set off the architectural charms of the dwelling rather than remaining a mere accessory, but it was only with the replacing of the castle-fortress by the more domesticated chateau that a really generous garden space became a definite attribute of a great house. the first gardens surrounding the french chateaux were developments, or adaptations, of italian gardens, such as were designed across the alps by mercogliano, during the feudal period. later, and during the time of the crusades, the garden question hardly entered into french life. gardens, like all other luxuries, were given little thought when the graver questions of peace and security were to be considered, and, for this reason, there is little or nothing to say of french gardens previous to the twelfth century. an important species of the gardens of the moyen-age was that which was found as an adjunct to the great monastic institutions, the _preaux_, which were usually surrounded by the cloister colonnade. one of the most important of these, of which history makes mention, was that of the abbaye de saint gall, of which charlemagne was capitular. it was he who selected the plants and vegetables which the dwellers therein should cultivate. of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there is an abundant literary record, and, in a way, a pictorial record as well. from these one can make a very good deduction of what the garden of that day was like; still restrained, but yet something more than rudimentary. from now on french gardens were divided specifically into the _potager_ and _verger_. the _potager_ was virtually a vegetable garden within the walls which surrounded the seigneurial dwelling, and was of necessity of very limited extent, chiefly laid out in tiny _carreaux_, or beds, bordered by tiles or bricks, much as a small city garden is arranged to-day. here were cultivated the commonest vegetables, a few flowers and a liberal assortment of herbs, such as rue, mint, parsley, sage, lavender, etc. the _verger_, or _viridarium_, was practically a fruit garden, as it is to-day, with perhaps a generous sprinkling of flowers and aromatic plants. the _verger_ was always outside the walls, but not far from the entrance or the drawbridge crossing the moat and leading to the chateau. it was to the _verger_, or orchard, curiously enough, that in times of peace the seigneur and his family retired after luncheon for diversion or repose. "d illocques vieng en cest vergier eascuns jour pour s'esbanoier." thus ran a couplet of the "roman de thèbes"; and of the hundred or more tales of chivalry in verse, which are recognized as classic, nearly all make mention of the _verger_. it was here that young men and maidens came in springtime for the fête of flowers, when they wove chaplets and garlands, for the moyen-age had preserved the antique custom of the coiffure of flowers, that is to say hats of natural flowers, as we might call them to-day, except that modern hats seemingly call for most of the products of the barnyard and the farm in their decoration, as well as the flowers of the field. the rose was queen among all these flowers and then came the lily and the carnation, chiefly in their simple, savage state, not the highly cultivated product of to-day. from the ballads and the love songs, one gathers that there were also violets, eglantine, daisies, pansies, forget-me-nots, and the marguerite, or _consoude_, was one of the most loved of all. the carnation, or _oeillet_, was called _armerie_; the pansy was particularly in favour with the ladies, who embroidered it on their handkerchiefs and their girdles. still other flowers found a place in this early horticultural catalogue, the marigold, gladiolus, stocks, lily-of-the-valley and buttercups. frequently the _verger_ was surrounded by a protecting wall, of more or less architectural pretense, with towers and accessories conforming to the style of the period, and decorative and utilitarian fountains, benches and seats were also common accessories. [illustration: _henri iv in an old french garden_] the old prints, which reproduced these early french gardens, are most curious to study, amusing even; but their point of view was often distorted as to perspective. in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, perspective was almost wholly ignored in pictorial records. there was often no scale, and no depth; everything was out of proportion with everything else, and for this reason it is difficult to judge of the exact proportions of many of these early french gardens. the origin of garden-making in france, in the best accepted sense of the term, properly began with the later years of the thirteenth century and the early years of the fourteenth; continuing the tradition, remained distinctly french until the mid-fifteenth century, for the italian influence did not begin to make itself felt until after the italian wars and travels of charles viii, louis xi and francis i. the earliest traces of the work of the first two of these monarchs are to be seen at blois and, for a time henceforth, it is to be presumed that all royal gardens in france were largely conceived under the inspiration of italian influences. before, as there were primitives in the art of painting in france, there were certainly french gardeners in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. one of these, whoever he may have been, was the designer of the _preaux_ and the _treilles_ of the louvre of charles v, of which a pictorial record exists, and he, or they, did work of a like nature for the powerful house of bourgogne, and for rené d'anjou, whom we know was a great amateur gardener. the archives of these princely houses often recount the expenses in detail, and so numerous are certain of them that it would not be difficult to picture anew as to just what they referred. debanes, the gardener of the chateau d'angers, on a certain occasion, gave an accounting for "x sols" for repairing the grass-plots and for making a _petit preau_. again: "xi sols" for the employ of six gardeners to trim the vines and clean up the alleys of the _grand_ and _petit jardin_. luxury in all things settled down upon all france to a greater degree than hitherto in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and almost without exception princely houses set out to rival one another in the splendour of their surroundings. now came in the ornamental garden as distinct from the _verger_, and the _preau_ became a greensward accessory, at once practical and decorative, the precursor of the _pelouse_ and the _parterre_ of le notre. the _preau_ (in old french _prael_) was a symmetrical square or rectangular grass-grown garden plot. from the latin _pratum_, or _pratellum_, the words _preau_, _pré_ and _prairie_ were evolved naturally enough, and came thus early to be applied in france to that portion of the pleasure garden set out as a grassy lawn. the word is very ancient, and has come down to us through the monkish vocabulary of the cloister. some celebrated verse of christine de pisan, who wrote "the life of charles v," thus describes the cloister at poissy. "du cloistre grand large et especieux que est carré, et, afin qu'il soit mieulx a un prael, ou milieu, gracieux vert sans grappin ou a planté en my un très hault pin." it was at this period, that of saint louis and the apotheosis of gothic architecture, that france was at the head of european civilization, therefore in no way can her preëminence in garden-making be questioned. the gardens of the gothic era seldom surpassed the _enclos_ with a rivulet passing through it, a spring, a pine tree giving a welcome shade, some simple flowers and a _verger_ of fruit trees. the neighbours of france were often warring among themselves but the grand seigneur here was settling down to beautifying his surroundings and framing his chateaux, manors and country-seats in dignified and most appealing pictures. grass-plots appeared in dooryards, flowers climbed up along castle walls and shrubs and trees came to play a genuinely esthetic rôle in the life of the times. an illustrious stranger, banished from italy, one brunetto latini, the master of dante, who had sought a refuge in france, wrote his views on the matter, which in substance were as above. about this time originated the progenitors of the _gloriettes_, which became so greatly the vogue in the eighteenth century. practically the _gloriette_, a word in common use in northern france and in flanders, was a _logette de plaisance_. the spaniards, too, in their _glorietta_, a pavilion in a garden, had practically the same signification of the word. in the fourteenth century french garden the _gloriette_ was a sort of arbour, or trellis-like summer-house, garnished with vines and often perched upon a natural or artificial eminence. other fast developing details of the french garden were tree-bordered alleys and the planting of more or less regularly set-out beds of flowering plants. vine trellises and vine-clad pavilions and groves were a speedy development of these details, and played parts of considerable importance in gardening under the french renaissance. in this same connection there is a very precise record in an account of the gardens of the louvre under charles v concerning the contribution of one, jean baril, maker of arlors, to this form of the landscape architect's art. "ornamental birds--peacocks, pheasants and swans now came in as adjuncts to the french land and water garden." this was the way a certain pertinent comment was made by a writer of the fifteenth century. from the "ménagier de paris," a work of the end of the fourteenth century, one learns that behind a dwelling of a prince or noble of the time was usually to be found a "_beau jardin tout planté d'arbres à fruits, de legumes, de rosiers, orné de volières et tapisé de gazon sur lesquels se promènent les paons_." french gardens of various epochs are readily distinguished by the width of their alleys. in the moyen-age the paths which separated the garden plots were very narrow; in the early renaissance period they were somewhat wider, taking on a supreme maximum in the gardens of le notre. trimmed trees entered into the general scheme in france towards the end of the fifteenth century. under henri iv and under louis xii trees were often trimmed in ungainly, fantastic forms, but with the advent of le notre the good taste which he propagated so widely promptly rejected these grotesques, which, for a fact, were an importation from flanders, like the _gloriettes_. not by the remotest suggestion could a clipped yew in the form of a peacock or a giraffe be called french. le notre eliminated the menagerie and the aviary, but kept certain geometrical forms, particularly with respect to hedges, where niches were frequently trimmed out for the placing of statues, columns surmounted with golden balls, etc. the most famous of the frankly renaissance gardens developed as a result of the migrations of the french monarchs in italy were those surrounding such palaces and chateaux as fontainebleau, amboise, and blois. often these manifestly french gardens, though of italian inspiration in the first instance, were actually the work of italian craftsmen. pucello marceliano at four hundred _livres_ and edme marceliano at two hundred _livres_ were in the employ of henri ii. it was the former who laid out the magnificent _parterre de diane_ at chenonceaux, where catherine de médici later, being smitten with the skill of the florentines, gave the further commission of the _jardin vert_, which was intended to complete this _parterre_, to henri le calabrese and jean collo. the later renaissance gardens divided themselves into various classes, _jardins de plaisir_, _jardins de plaisance_, _jardins de propreté_, etc. _parterres_ now became of two sorts, _parterres à compartiments_ and _parterres de broderies_, names sufficiently explicit not to need further comment. [illustration: _"parterre de diane," chenonceaux_] it is difficult to determine just how garden _broderies_ came into being. they may have been indirectly due to woman's love of embroidery and the garden alike. the making of these garden _broderies_ was a highly cultivated art. pierre vallet, embroiderer to henri iv, created much in his line of distinction and note, and acquired an extensive clientele for his flowers and models. often these gardens, with their _parterres_ and _broderies_ were mere additions to an already existing architectural scheme, but with respect to the gardens of the luxembourg and saint germain-en-laye they came into being with the edifices themselves, or at least those portions which they were supposed to embellish. harmony was then first struck between the works of the horticulturist--the garden-maker--and those of the architect--the builder in stone and wood. this was the prelude to those majestic ensembles of which le notre was to be the composer. of the celebrated french palace and chateau gardens which are not centered upon the actual edifices with which they are more or less intimately connected, but are distinct and apart from the gardens which in most cases actually surround a dwelling, may be mentioned those of montargis, saint germain, amboise, villers-cotterets and fontainebleau. these are rather parks, like the "home-parks," so called, in england, which, while adjuncts to the dwellings, are complete in themselves and are possessed of a separate identity, or reason for being. chiefly these, and indeed most french gardens of the same epoch, differ greatly from contemporary works in italy in that the latter were often built and terraced up and down the hillsides, whereas the french garden was laid out, in the majority of instances, on the level, though each made use of interpolated architectural accessories such as balustrades, statuary, fountains, etc. mollet was one of the most famous gardeners of the time of louis xiv. he was the gardener of the duc d'aumale, who built the gardens of the chateau d'anet while it was occupied by diane de poitiers, and for their time they were considered the most celebrated in france for their upkeep and the profusion and variety of their flowers. this was the highest development of the french garden up to this time. it is possible that this claude mollet was the creator of the _parterres_ and _broderies_ so largely used in his time, and after. mollet's formula was derived chiefly from flower and plant forms, resembling in design oriental embroideries. he made equal use of the labyrinth and the sunken garden. his idea was to develop the simple _parquet_ into the elaborate _parterre_. he began his career under henri iii and ultimately became the gardener of henri iv. his elaborate work "theatre des plans et jardinage" was written towards - , but was only published a half a century later. it was only in the sixteenth century that gardens in paris were planned and developed on a scale which was the equal of many which had previously been designed in the provinces. [illustration: plan of sunken garden (_jardin creux_)] the chief names in french gardening--before the days of le notre--were those of the two mollets, the brothers boyceau, de la barauderie and jacques de menours, and all successively held the post of superintendent of the garden of the king. in these royal gardens there was always a distinctly notable feature, the _grand roiales_, the principal avenues, or alleys, which were here found on a more ambitious scale than in any of the private gardens of the nobility. the central avenue was always of the most generous proportions, the nomenclature coming from royal--the _grand roial_ being the equivalent of _allée royale_, that is, avenue royal. by the end of the sixteenth century the garden of the tuileries, which was later to be entirely transformed by le notre, offered an interesting aspect of the _parquet_ at its best. in "_paris à travers les ages_" one reads that from the windows of the palace the garden resembled a great checker-board containing more than a hundred uniform _carreaux_. there were six wide longitudinal alleys or avenues cut across by eight or ten smaller alleys which produced this rectangular effect. within some of the squares were single, or grouped trees; in others the conventional _quincunx_; others were mere expanses of lawn, and still others had flowers arranged in symmetrical patterns. in one of these squares was a design which showed the escutcheons of the arms of france and those of the médici. these gardens of the tuileries were first modified by a project of bernard palissy, the porcelainiste. he let his fancy have full sway and the criss-cross alleys and avenues were set out at their junctures with moulded ornaments, enamelled miniatures, turtles in faience and frogs in porcelain. it was this, perhaps, which gave the impetus to the french for their fondness to-day for similar effects, but bernard palissy doubtless never went so far as plaster cats on a ridgepole, as one may see to-day on many a pretty villa in northern france. this certainly lent an element of picturesqueness to the renaissance garden of the louvre, a development of the same spirit which inspired this artist in his collaboration at chenonceaux. this was the formula which produced the _jardin délectable_, an exaggeration of the taste of the epoch, but still critical of its time. the gardens of the renaissance readily divided themselves into two classes, those of the _parterres à compartiments_ and those of the _parterres de broderies_. the former, under francis i and henri ii, were divided into geometrical compartments thoroughly in the taste of the renaissance, but bordered frequently with representations of designs taken from venetian lace and various other contemporary stuffs. there were other _parterres_, where the compartments were planned on a more utilitarian scale; in other words, they were the _potagers_ which rendered the garden, said olivier de serres, one of "profitable beauty." some of the compartments were devoted entirely to herbs and medicinal plants while others were entirely given over to flowers. in general the compartments were renewed twice a year, in may and august. [illustration: _a parterre_] the _grand parterre_ at fontainebleau, called in other days the _parterre de tiber_, offered as remarkable an example of the terrace garden as was to be found in france, the terraces rising a metre or more above the actual garden plot and enclosing a sort of horticultural arena. it was in the sixteenth century that architectural motives came to be incorporated into the gardens in the form of square, round or octagonal pavilions, and here and there were added considerable areas of tiled pavements, features which were found at their best in the gardens of the chateau de gaillon and at langeais. one special and distinct feature of the french renaissance garden was the labyrinth, of which three forms were known. the first was composed of merely low borders, the second of hedges shoulder high, or even taller, and the third was practically a roofed-over grove. the latter invention was due, it is said, to the discreet louis xiv. in the tuileries garden, in the time of catherine de médici, there was a labyrinth greatly in vogue with the parisian nobles who "found much pleasure in amusing themselves therein." in that garden the labyrinth was sometimes called the "road of jerusalem" and it was presumably of eastern origin. in the seventeenth century grottos came to be added to the garden, though this is seemingly an italian tradition of much earlier date. among the notable grottos of this time were that of the _jardin des pins_ at fontainebleau, and that of the chateau de meudon, built by philibert delorme, of which ronsard celebrated its beauties in verse. the art was not confined to the gardens of royalties and the nobility, for the _bourgeoisie_ speedily took up with the puerile idea (said to have come from holland, by the way), and built themselves grottos of shells, plaster and boulders. it was then that the _chiens de faience_, which the smug paris suburbanite of to-day so loves, were born. by the seventeenth century the equalized _carreaux_ of the early geometrically disposed gardens were often replaced with the oblongs, circles and, somewhat timidly introduced, more bizarre forms, the idea being to give variety to the ensemble. there was less fear for the artistic effect of great open spaces than had formerly existed, and the avenues and alleys were considerably enlarged, and such architectural and sculptural accessories as fountains, balustrades and perrons were designed on a more extensive scale. basins and canals and other restrained surfaces of water began to appear on a larger scale, and greater insistence was put upon their proportions with regard to the decorative part which they were to play in the ensemble. this was the preparatory period of the coming into being of the works of le notre and mansart. the _grand siècle_ lent a profound majesty to royal and noble dwellings, and its effect is no less to be remarked upon than the character of their gardens. the moving spirit which ordained all these things was the will of the _roi soleil_. _parterres_ and _broderies_ were designed on even a grander scale than before. they were frequently grouped into four equal parts with a circular basin in the centre, and mirror-like basins of water sprang up on all sides. close to the royal dwelling was the fore-court, as often dressed out with flowers and lawn as with tiles and flags. from it radiated long alleys and avenues, stretching out almost to infinity. at this time the grass-plots were developed to high order, and there were groves, rest-houses, bowers, and _theatres de verdure_ at each turning. tennis-courts came to be a regularly installed accessory, and the basins and "mirrors" of water were frequently supplemented by cascades, and some of the canals were so large that barges of state floated thereon. over some of the canals bridges were built as fantastic in design as those of the japanese, and again others as monumental as the pont neuf. in their majestic regularity the french gardens of the seventeenth century possessed an admirable solemnity, albeit their amplitude and majesty give rise to justifiable criticism. it is this criticism that qualifies the values of such gardens as those of versailles and vaux, but one must admit that the scale on which they were planned has much to do with this, and certainly if they had been attached to less majestic edifices the comment would have been even more justifiable. as it is, the criticism must be qualified. the aspect of the garden by this time had been greatly modified. aside from such great ensembles as those of versailles was now to be considered a taste for something smaller, but often overcrowded with accessories of the same nature, which compared so well with the vastness of versailles, but which, on the other hand, looked so out of place in miniature. it was not long now before the "style pompadour" began to make itself shown with regard to garden design--the exaggeration of an undeniable grace by an affected mannerism. all the rococco details which had been applied to architecture now began to find their duplication in the garden rockeries--weird fantasies built of plaster and even shells of the sea. by later years of the eighteenth century there came on the scene as a designer of gardens one, de neufforge. his work was a prelude to the classicism of the style of louis xvi which was to come. there was, too, at this time a disposition towards the english garden, but only a slight tendency, though towards the conventional french garden had been practically abandoned. the revolution in the art of garden-making therefore preceded that of the world of politics by some years. there are three or four works which give specific details on these questions. they are "_de la distribution des maisons de plaisance_," by blondel ( ), his "_cours d'architecture_" of the same date, and panseron's volume entitled "_recueil de jardinage_," published in . the following brief résumé shows the various steps through which the french formal garden passed. in the moyen-age the garden was a thing quite apart from the dwelling, and was but a diminutive dooryard sort of a garden. the garden of the renaissance amplified the regular lines which existed in the moyen-age, but was often quite as little in accord with the dwelling that it surrounded as its predecessor. the union of the garden and the dwelling and its dependencies was clearly marked under louis xiv, while the gardens of louis xv tended somewhat to modify the grand lines and the majestic presence of those of his elder. these gardens of louis xv were more fantastic, and followed less the lines of traditional good taste. shapes and forms were complicated and indeed inexplicably mixed into a mélange that one could hardly recognize for one thing or another, certainly not as examples of any well-meaning styles which have lasted until to-day. the straight line now disappeared in favour of the most dissolute and irrational curves imaginable, and the sober majesty of the gardens of louis xiv became a tangle of warring elements, fine in parts and not uninteresting, effective, even, here and there, but as a whole an aggravation. finally the reaction came for something more simple and more in harmony with rational taste. the best example remaining of the louis xv garden is that which surrounds the _pavillon de musique_ of the petit trianon, an addition to the garden which louis xiv had given to the grand trianon. by comparison with the big garden of le notre this latter conception is as a boudoir to a reception hall. the garden of louis xvi was a composite, with interpolations from across the rhine, from holland and belgium and from england even; features which got no great hold, however, but which, for a time, gave it an air less french than anything which had gone before. from the beginning of the nineteenth century the formal garden was practically abandoned in france. it was the period of the real decadence of the formal garden. this came not from one cause alone but from many. to the straight lines and gentle curves of former generations upon generations of french gardens were added sinuosities as varied and complicated as those of the vale of cashmere, and again, with tiny stars and crescents and what not, the ground resembled an ornamental ceiling more than it did a garden. the sentimentalism of the epoch did its part, and accentuated the desire to carry out personal tastes rather than build on traditionally accepted lines. the taste for the english garden grew apace in france, and many a noble plantation was remodelled on these lines, or rooted up altogether. immediately neighbouring upon the dwelling the garden still bore some resemblance to its former outlines, but, as it drew farther away, it became a park, a wildwood or a preserve. isabey père, a miniaturist, under napoleonic stimulus, designed a number of french gardens in the early years of the nineteenth century, following more or less the conventional lines of the best work of the seventeenth century, and succeeded admirably in a small way in resuscitating the fallen taste. isabey's gardens may have lacked much that was remarkable in the best work of le notre, but they were considerably better than anything of a similar nature, so far as indicating a commendable desire to return to better ideals. under the second empire a great impulse was given to garden design and making in paris itself. it was then that the parks and squares came really to enter into the artistic conception of what a city beautiful should be. leaving the gardens of the tuileries and the luxembourg out of the question, the parc monceau and that of the buttes chaumont of to-day, the descendants of these first paris gardens show plainly how thoroughly good they were in design and execution. the majority of professional gardeners of renown in france made their first successes with the gardens of the city of paris, reproducing the best of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century work, which had endured without the competition of later years having dulled its beauty, though perhaps the _parterres_ of to-day are rather more warm in colouring, even cruder, than those of a former time. the _jardin fleuriste_ and the _parterre horticole_ of the nineteenth century appealed however quite as much in their general arrangement and the modification of their details and their rainbow colours, as any since the time of louis xvi. according to the expert definition the _jardin fleuriste_ was a "garden reserved exclusively to the culture and ornamental disposition of plants giving forth rich leaves and beautiful flowers." the above quoted description is decidedly apt. the seventeenth century french garden formed a superb framing for the animated fêtes and reunions in which took part such a brilliant array of lords and ladies of the court as may have been invited to taste the delicacies of a fête amid such luxurious appointments. the fashionable and courtly life of the day, so far as its open-air aspect was concerned, centered around these gardens and parks of the great houses of royalty and the nobility. the costume of the folk of the time, with cloak and sword and robes of silk and velvet and gilded carriages and _chaises-à-porteurs_, had little in common with the out-of-door garden-party life of to-day, where the guests arrive in automobiles, be-rugged and be-goggled and somewhat the worse for a dusty journey. it is for this reason that versailles and vaux-le-vicomte, in spite of the suggestion of sumptuousness which they still retain, are, from all points of view, more or less out of scale with the life of our times. the modern garden, whether laid out in regular lines, or on an ornamental scale, as a flower garden purely, or in a composite style, is usually but an adjunct to the modern chateau, villa or cottage. it is more intimate than the vast, more theatrically disposed area of old, and is more nearly an indication of the personal tastes of the owner because of its restrained proportions. [illustration: _bassin de la couronne, vaux-le-vicomte_] chapter iii the royal hunt in france just how great a part the royal hunt played in the open-air life of the french court all who know their french history and have any familiarity with the great forests of france well recognize. the echo of french country architecture as evinced in the "_maisons de plaisance_" and "_rendezvous de chasse_" scattered up and down the france of monarchial times lives until to-day, scarcely fainter than when the note was originally sounded. often these establishments were something more than a mere hunting-lodge, or shooting-box, indeed they generally aspired to the proportions of what may readily be accepted as a country-house. they established a specious type of architecture which in many cases grew, in later years, into a chateau or palace of manifestly magnificent appointments. at the great hunting exposition recently held at vienna the _clou_ of the display was a french royal hunting-lodge in the style of louis xvi, hung with veritable gobelin tapestries, loaned by the french government and picturing "the hunt in france." it was called by the critics a unique painting in a beautiful frame. in the days of francis i and his sons, the royal hunt was given a great impetus by catherine de médici, wife of henri ii. francis, in company with his sons, had gone to marseilles to meet the médici bride, who was on her way to make her home at the paris louvre, and when he found her possessed of so lively manners and such great intelligence he became so charmed with her that, it is said, he danced with her all of the first evening. what pleased the monarch even more, and perhaps not less his sons, was that she shot with an arquebuse like a sharpshooter, and could ride to hounds like a natural-born amazon. she was more than a rival, as it afterwards proved, of that arch-huntress, diane de poitiers. history recounts in detail that last royal hunt of francis i at rambouillet, when he was lying near to death, the guest of his old friend, d'angennes. the old manor, half hunting-lodge, half fortress, and very nearly royal in all its appointments, proved a comfortable enough rest-house, and on the day after his arrival, in march, , the monarch commanded the preparations for a royal hunt to commence at daybreak in the neighbouring forest. the equipage started forth in full ceremonial on the quest of stag and boar. the bugles blew and a sort of stimulated courage once more entered the king's breast, courage born of the excitement around him, the baying of the hounds and the tramping and neighing of impatient horses. he had forced himself from his bed and on horseback and started off with the rest, defying the better counsel of his retainers. his strength proved to be born of a fictitious enthusiasm, and, speedily losing interest, he was brought back to the manor where he had his apartments, and put speechless and half dead to bed, actually dying the next day from this last over-exertion, scarce half a century of the span of his life accomplished. henri de navarre also was a true lover of the open. born in a mountain town in the pyrenees he would rather camp on a bed of pine needles in the forest than lie on a tuft of down. he preferred his beloved bayonne ham, spiced with garlic, to a sumptuous dinner in _jarnet_ house, a famous paris tavern of the day; and had rather quench his thirst with a quaff of the wine of jurançon than the finest _cru_ in paris cellars. he hated the parade of courts, was dirty, unkempt and careless, a genuine son of the soil, heedless of fate, and an excellent huntsman. up to the seventeenth century the ladies of the french court showed a keener interest for falconry than for the hunt by horse and hounds. the heroines of the fronde, and the generation which followed, seemed to lose interest in this form of sport, and gave their favour to packs of hounds, and followed with equal interest the hunt for deer, wolves, boars, foxes and hares as they were tracked through forests and over arid wastes. the old hunting horn, the winding horn of romance, still exists at the hunts of france, a relic of the days of louis xiv. it sounds the conventional comings and goings of the huntsmen in the same classic phraseology as of old--the _lancer_, the _bien allée_, the _vue_, the _changement de forêt_, the _accompagné_, the _bat l'eau_, the _hallali par terre_, and the _curée_. the "_curée aux flambeaux_" was one of the most picturesque ceremonies connected with the royal hunt in france. it began in the gallant days, and lived even until the time of the second empire. [illustration: _a "curée aux flambeaux"_] the _curée_, that is the giving up to the hounds the remains of an animal slain in chase, does not always take place at night, but when it does the torches play the part of impressive and picturesque accessories. when a _curée_ takes place at the spot where the animal is actually killed the french sporting term for the ceremony is "_forcé et abattu_." this, however, is usually preceded by another called "_le pied_," which consists in cutting off one of the feet of the dead animal and offering it to the person in whose honor the hunt was held. when the _curée_ takes place by torchlight the body of the animal is carried beneath the windows of the chateau, a circle is formed by the "_piqueurs_," or head hunters, and all who have participated in the pursuit; and, to the sound of a trumpet, loaned by the sportsmen, one of the _valets de venérie_ cuts up the stag. the _meutes_, that is to say, the hounds which are let slip last of all, and which terminates the chase--are then brought by the _valet des chiens_, who has great difficulty in keeping them from breaking loose. when the entrails have been cut away the valet sits astride the animal, holding up the _nappe_, or head and neck, shaking it at the already furious hounds. it is the care of the valet during this interval to conceal the pieces of flesh which are still under the body. the hounds are then loosened, but are kept within bounds by the whips of the _piqueurs_ and the _valet des chiens_. when the dogs are sufficiently exasperated the brutes are allowed to rush upon the remains of their victim; only, however, to be driven back again by whipping. when their docility has thus been proven the definite signal, "_lachez tout_," is given, and the hounds rush towards the stag. the _curée_ then presents a savage spectacle: the air is filled with growling, barking and yelling, while the ground is covered with scrambling dogs, their mouths reeking with blood. the feminine costume for the hunt in the time of louis xiii was of broadcloth or velvet, with a great feather-ornamented "picture" hat. only now and again a lady on horseback after dared borrow doublet and jacket, and mount astride. the ladies followed the hunt of louis xiv on horseback, seldom, if ever, in the older manner of sitting behind their cavalier on the same steed. from the time of catherine de médici, indeed, the italian side-saddle had become the fashion for women. under louis xv the ladies sought a little more comfort, and followed the equipage sitting in a sort of hamper-like, diminutive basket, hung from the broad back of a sturdy quadruped. dresses became more fanciful, both in materials and colours. from this it was but a step to even more elaborate toilettes which necessitated a conveyance of some sort on wheels, but the most intrepid still clung to the traditionally classic methods. marie antoinette had her _equipage de chasse_, and madame durfort was constantly abroad in the forests of montmorency and boissy, directing the operation of eight or ten professional huntsmen. among her guests were frequently the ambassadors of prussia, russia and austria. in the time of louis xiv the comtesse de lude devoted herself to the hunt with a frenzy born of an inordinate enthusiasm. at the head of a pack of hounds she knew no obstacle, and, on one occasion, penetrated on horseback, followed by her dogs, into the oratory of the nuns of the convent of estival. by the end of the seventeenth century the hunt in france had become no more a sport for ladies. hunting was still a noble sport, but it was more for men than for women. the court hunted not only in royal company, but accepted invitations from any seigneur who possessed an ample preserve and who could put up a good kill; magistrates, financiers and bishops, indeed all classes, became followers of the hunt. montgaillard tells of a hunt in which he took part on the feast day of saint bernard, with the monks of the bernardin convent in languedoc. in the episcopal domain of saverne six hundred beaters were employed on one occasion to provide sport for an assembled company of lords and ladies. these were the days when the bishops were in truth _grand seigneurs_. the women of the court, while they played the game, ceded nothing to the men in bravery. neither rain, hail nor snow frightened them. on the th of june, , louis xiv was hunting the deer at rambouillet when a terrific, cyclonic storm fell upon the equipage, but not a man nor woman in the monarch's party quit. the duchesse de berry was "wet to the skin," but her ardour for the hunt was not in the least cooled. to-day at fontainebleau or rambouillet the echo is sounded from the hunting horn of labaudy, the sugar-king, who pulls off at least two "hunts," with his spectacular equipage, each year, and it is a sight too; a french hunting party was ever picturesque, and if to-day not as practical as the more blood-loving englishman's hunt, is at least traditionally sentimental, even artificial to the extent, at any rate, that it seems stagy, even to the inclusion of the automobiles which bring and carry away the participants. "other days, other ways" never had a more strict application than to _la chasse a courre_ in france. two accounts are here given of two comparatively modern figures in the french hunting field, which show the great store set by the sport in france. in the annals of the chateau de grosbois, belonging to-day to the prince de wagram, are the accounts of an early nineteenth century hunt, which shows that the game cost dear. the "grand veneur" of the napoleonic reign was a master sportsman, indeed, and to-day, in a gallery of the chateau, are preserved the guns of the master, his hunting crop and saddle, his "colours" and his hunting horn. from the registers of the chateau, under date of december , , the following, which concerned a hunting party given by the chatelain, is extracted verbatim. note of the maitre d'hotel for collations for the guests , francs illuminations , francs gratifications to the beaters , francs eau de cologne for the ladies francs gun-bearers francs helpers ( ) francs aids ( ) francs another hunt was given in , in honour of napoleon, when such items as three thousand francs for an orchestra, a like sum for bouquets for the ladies, a thousand or two for bonbons and fans, and twelve thousand for hired furniture, etc., to say nothing of the expenses of the hunt itself, made the bag somewhat costly. it was not always easy for the master of the hunt to get justice when it came to paying for his supplies, and in these same records a mention of a dozen leather breeches at a hundred and forty francs each was crossed off and a marginal note, _non_, added in the hand of maréchal berthier, prince de wagram, himself. the chief figure in the french hunting world of to-day is another descendant of the napoleonic portrait gallery, prince murat. at the age of twelve the young prince joachim had already followed the hounds at fontainebleau and compiègne. in his double quality of relative and companion of the prince imperial he was one of the chiefs of the equipment of the imperial hunt. to-day, though well past the span of life, he is as active and as enduring in his participation in the strenuous sport as many a younger man and his knowledge of the grand art of _vénerie_, and his ardour for being always ahead with the hounds, is noted by all who may happen to see him while jaunting through the fôret de compiègne, keeping well up with the traditions of his worthy elder, the "premier cavalier" of the first empire, the king of naples. [illustration: _an imperial hunt at fontainebleau_] he won his first stripes in the hunting field at compiègne in , at a hunt given in honour of the prince de hohenzollern and the princesse, who was the sister of the king of portugal. it was a most moving event, so much so that it just escaped being turned into a drama, for one of the ladies of the court had a leg broken, and the minister, fould, was almost mortally injured. a "_dix cors_," a stag with antlers of ten branches, had been run down at the rond royal where it had taken refuge in a near-by copse, and after an hour's hard chase was finally cornered in the courtyard of some farm buildings of the hameau d'orillets. a troop of cows was entering the courtyard at the same moment, and a most confused melée ensued. the inspector of forests saved the situation and the cows of the farmer, and the stag fell to the carabine of prince de la moskowa, with the young prince murat on his pony in the very front rank. thus early initiated in the chivalrous sport of the hunt the young man followed every hunt, big or little, which was held in the environs of paris for many years, and by the time that he came to possess the epaulettes of an officier de cuirassiers he was known to all the hunts from the ardennes to anjou. for the past generation he has been retired to civil life by a republican decree, and since that time has lived in his suburban paris property, devoting himself to the raising of hunters. here he lives almost on the borders of that great extent of forest which occupies the northern section of the ile de france, occasionally organizing a hunt, which takes on not a little of the noble aspect of a former time, the prince following always within sound of the hunting horn and the baying of the hounds, if not actually always within sight of the quarry. it is here, in his villa normande, near which saint ouen gave dagobert that famous counsel which has gone down in history, that the prince and princesse murat come to pass two or three months each year with their children, their allied parents and the "great guns" of the old régime who still gather about the master of the hunt as courtiers gather around their king. at chamblay there have been held magnificent gun shoots under the organization of the prince and his equipage. his kennels contain forty-eight of the finest bred hounds in france, and are guarded by three caretakers, the goader, carl, whose fame has reached every hunting court of europe and a couple of _valets des chiens_. the prince's colours are distributed as follows: a huzzar jacket of blue, with collar, plaquettes, and vest of grenadine and breeches of a darker blue. formerly prince murat hunted the roe-deer in the valley of the oise, but many enclosures of private property having made this exceedingly difficult in later years he is to-day obliged to go farther afield. in the spring the equipage goes to rosny, near mantes, and perhaps during the same season occasionally to rambouillet. the hunts at chamblay are the perfection of the practice of the art. seldom is the quarry wanting. the refrain of the ode to saint hubert lauds the prowess of this great "maitre d'equipage." "par saint hubert mon patron c'est quelque due de haut renom * * * sonnez: écuyers et piqueux un murat vien en ces lieux." chamblay fortunately being neither populous nor near a great town there is no throng of curious spectators hovering about to get in the way and scare the game and the hounds and their followers out of their wits. the chasse de chamblay is the devotion of the _vrais veneurs_; the prince murat and his son, the prince joachim, (to-day at the military school at saint cyr), the prince eugene murat, the comte de vallon, the baron de neuflize and a few famous _veneurs_ in gay uniforms come from afar to give éclat to the hunt of the master. and the ladies: the following names are of those devoted to the prowess of the prince murat--madame la princesse, la princesse marguerite murat, mademoiselle d'elchingen, the duchesse and the marquise d'albufera, the duchesse de camestra, and madame kraft. from this one sees that romance is not all smouldering. if other proof were wanting a perusal of that most complete and interesting account of the hunt in france in modern times, "_les chasses de rambouillet_" (_ouvrage offert par monsieur felix faure_) would soon establish it. this was not a work destined for the public at large. the hunt was ever a sport of kings in france, and though france has become republican its _chasse nationale_ at rambouillet partakes not a little of the aspect of those courtly days when there was less up-to-dateness and more sentiment. [illustration: _rendezvous de chasse, rambouillet_] there were but one hundred copies of this work printed for the friends of the late president of the republic--"other sovereigns," as the dedication reads, "princes, grand dukes, ambassadors." rambouillet was the theatre of the most splendid hunts of the sixteenth century, and down through the ages it has ever held a preëminent place; holds it to-day even. louis xvi in the revolutionary torment even regretted the cutting off of his prerogative of the royal hunt, but he had no choice in the matter. in his journal of one reads: "the cerf runs alone in the parc en bas" (rambouillet), and again in : "séance of the national assembly at noon; audience of a deputation in the afternoon. the deer plentiful at gambayseuil." the revolution felled many french institutions; low, great, ecclesiastical and monarchial monuments, the trees of the forest, and the royal game, by a system of poaching, had become greatly diminished in quantity. the nineteenth century, so frankly democratic in its latter years, was less favourable to the hunt than the monarchial days which had gone before. it had a considerable prominence under charles x, more perhaps than it ever had under napoleon, who in his infancy and laborious adolescence had few opportunities of following it; and in the later years of his life he was too busy. napoleon iii was not really a "good hunter," though he was something of a marksman and took a considerable pride in his skill in that accomplishment. entering the democratic era, jules grévy seems to have been only a pot-hunter of the _bourgeoisie_, who practiced the art only because he wanted a jugged hare for his dinner, or again simply to kill time. sadi-carnot was still less a hunter of the romantic school, but assisted frequently at the ceremonial shootings which were arranged for visiting monarchs. on one occasion he was put down on the record-sheet of a hunt at rambouillet as responsible only for the death of eighteen heads, whilst a visiting grand duke pulled down a hundred and fifty. it was notably during the presidency of felix faure that rambouillet again took on its animation of former times. the chateau had been furbished up once more after a long sleep, and, to the great satisfaction of the inhabitants of the town, there were more comings and goings than there had been for a quarter of a century. in the summer and autumn the president made rambouillet his preferred residence, and there received many visiting sovereigns and notables of all ranks. in one year a score of "official hunts" were held, to which all the members of the diplomatic corps were invited, while there were two or three affairs of an "international" character in honour of visiting sovereigns. all was under the control of the grand veneur of the third republic, the comte de girardin, and while a truly royal flavour may have been lacking the general aspect was much the same as it might have been in the days of the monarchy. the captain of the hunt under felix faure was the inspector of forests, leddet, and the premier veneur was the commandant lagarenne. the president himself was a marksman of the first rank, and never was there a reckoning up of the _tableau_ but that he was near the head of the list. so accomplished was he with the rifle that on more than one occasion he was obliged to practically efface himself in favour of some visiting monarch, as it was said he did in the case of the king of portugal in , the grand ducs vladimir and nicolas in . huntsmen not royal by virtue of title, or alliance, the republican president beat to a stand-still. he had no pity nor favour for a mere ambassador, whether he hailed from england or germany, nor for members of the institute, senators nor deputies. with prince albert of monaco he held himself equal, and for every bird shot on the wing by the head of the house of grimaldi the "longshoreman" of havre brought down another. _la chasse à courre_ before the law in france to-day may be practiced only under strictly laid down conditions. the huntsman must legally have his dogs under such control, and keep sufficiently close to them, as to be able to recover the quarry immediately after it has been closed in upon by the hounds. like shooting, since the decrée of , hunting with hounds may only be undertaken under authority of a _permis de chasse_, and in open season, during the daytime, and with the consent of the owners over whose properties the hunt is to be held. the ceremony of the hunt in france now follows the traditions of the classic hunt of the monarchy. the _veneur_ decides on the rendezvous, whether the quarry be stag or chevreuil, fox or hare. the _piqueur_ follows close up with the dogs, sets them on or calls them off, and recalls them if they go off on a false scent. chapter iv the palais de la citÉ and tournelles not every one assumes the paris palais de justice to ever have been the home of kings and queens. it has not, however, always been a tilting ground for lawyers and criminals, though, no doubt, when one comes to think of it, it is in that rôle that it has acted its most thrilling episodes. the saint chapelle, the conciergerie and the great clock of the tour de l'horloge mark the palais de justice down in the books of most folk as one of the chief paris "sights," but it was as a royal residence that it first came into prominence. this palace, not the conglomerate half-secular, half-religious pile of to-day, but an edifice of some considerable importance, existed from the earliest days of the frankish invasion, and when occupied by clotilde, the wife of clovis, was known as the palais de la cité. under the last of the kings of the first race this palace took on really splendid proportions. when hugues capet arrived on the throne he abandoned the kingly residence formerly occupied by the frankish rulers, the palais des thermes, and installed his goods and chattels in this palais de la cité, which his son robert had rebuilt under the direction of enguerrand de marigny. up to the time of francis i it remained the preferred residence of the french monarchs, regardless of the grander, more luxuriously disposed louvre, which had come into being. philippe auguste, by a contrary caprice, would transact no kingly business elsewhere, and it was within the walls of this palace that he married denmark's daughter. his successors, saint louis, philippe-le-hardi, and philippe-le-bel did their part in enlarging and beautifying the structure, and saint louis laid the foundations of that peerless gothic gem--la saint chapelle. from the windows of the palais de la cité another charles assisted at an official massacre, differing little from that of saint bartholemew's, which was conducted from the louvre. on the first floor of the palais de justice of to-day is the apartment paved in a mosaic of black and white marble, with a painted and gilded wooden vaulting, where charles v received the emperor charles iv and the "roi des romains." the three monarchs, accompanied by their families, here supped together around a great round marble table, a secret supper prolific of an _entente cordiale_ which must have been the forerunner of recent ceremonies of a similar nature in france. known as the salle de marbre, this great chamber came later to be the tribunal where the courts sat. it was only after the death of charles vi, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, that the palais de la cité was given over wholly to the disciples of saint yves, the judges, advocates and notaries. it became also the definite seat of the parliament and took the nomenclature of palais de justice, though still inhabited at intermittent intervals by french royalties. one such notable occasion was that when henry v of england was here married to catherine de france, and when henry vi of england took up his temporary residence here as king to the french. in the fourteenth century the precincts of the palais de la cité--the open courtyard one assumes is meant--were invaded by the stalls of small shopkeepers, some of which actually took root in wood and stone and became fixtures to such an extent that the courtyard was known as the galerie des merciers. the great marble chamber after becoming the meeting place of the tribunal played a part at times dignified and at others banal. an incident is recorded where the clerks and minor court officials danced on the famous marble table and "played farces" with the judicial bench serving as a stage. it was said that, on account of the immoralities which they represented, the authorities were obliged to suppress the performances by law, as they have in recent years the flagrant freedom of the "quat'z arts." up to the times of francis i but few events of importance unrolled themselves within the palais de la cité, but in a violent conflagration broke out leaving only the round towers of the conciergerie, the tower and the church, and that part of the main structure which housed the great salle de marbre, unharmed. apropos of this, a joyous rhymester of the time made the following quatrain: "certes ce fut un triste jeu quand a paris dame justice pour avoir mangé trop d'épice se mit le palais tout en feu." jacques debrosse was charged with rebuilding the edifice after the fire and refitted first the grand salle, to-day the famous salle des pas perdus, crowded with the shuffling coming and going crowd of men and women whose business, or no business at all, brings them to this central point for the dissemination of legal gossip. it is a magnificent apartment, and, to no great extent, differs from what it was before the conflagration. this salle consists of two parallel naves separated by a range of arcades and lighted by two great circular openings with four round-headed windows at either end. its attributes are practically the same as they were in . the structure, take it as a whole, may be said to date only from the seventeenth century, but certain it is that the old palais de la cité is incorporated therein, every stone of it, and if its career was humdrum that was the fault of circumstances rather than from any inherent faults of its own. the conciergerie, that inelegant, inconsistent architectural mixture of the ancient and modern, considered apart, though it properly enough is usually considered with the palais de justice, was formerly the dwelling or guardhouse of the concierge of the palais de la cité. his post was not merely that of the keeper of the gates; he was a personage at court and was as autocratic as his more plebeian contemporaries of to-day, for the paris concierge, as we, who have for years lived under their despotism well know, is a very dreadful person. in addition to being the governor of the royal dwelling this concierge was the guardian of the royal prisoners. in he was further invested with the official title of bailli and the post was, at times, occupied by the highest and the most noble in the land, among others philippe de savoie, the friend of charles vi, and juvenal des oursins, the historian of this prince. the first to combine the two functions, that of bailli and concierge, was jacques coictier, the doctor of louis xi. as a virtual prison the conciergerie only came to be transformed when charles v quitted the residence of the palais de la cité, and the conciergerie, as such, only figures on the tournelles registers under date of . the fire of the latter part of the eighteenth century destroyed a large part of the building, but enough remained to patch together the most serviceable of revolutionary prisons, for at one time it held at least twelve hundred poor souls, of whom two hundred and eighty-eight were killed off at one fell blow. but one woman among them all actually came to her death within the prison walls. this was la belle bouquetière of the palais royal who, in an access of jealous furor, horribly mutilated a royal guardsman, and for this met a most cruel death by being transfixed to a post and submitting to a trial of "_le fer et le feu_." in just what manner the punishment was applied one can best imagine for himself. the revolutionary rôle of the conciergerie is a thing apart from the purport of this book, hence is not further referred to. going back to the time of francis i, among the famous prisoners of state were louis de berquin, the comte de mongomere, the regicides ravaillac and damiens, the maréchal d'ancre, cartouche, mandrin and others. to-day, as a prison, the conciergerie still performs its functions acceptably, safeguarding those up for the assizes, and those condemned to death before being sent on their long journey. the three great flanking towers of the conciergerie are its chief architectural distinction to-day. that of the left, the largest, is the tour d'argent, that of the middle, the tour bonchet, and the third, the tour de césar or the tour de l'horloge. this last is the only one which has preserved its mediæval crenulated battlements aloft. the great clock has been commonly considered the largest timepiece of its kind extant, but it is doubtful if this now holds good with railways and insurance companies vying with each other to furnish the hour so legibly that he who runs may read. across the pont au change, from the palais de la cité, by the louvre and out into the faubourg saint antoine, one comes to the place des vosges, the old place royale, which occupies almost the same area as was covered by the courtyard of the palais des tournelles, so called from its many towers. all around the palais des tournelles was located a series of splendid _hotels privés_ of the nobility. in one of these, the hotel de saint pol, the king once lodged twenty-two visiting princes of the quality of dauphin (the eldest son of a ruling monarch), their suites and domestics. charles v in his time amalgamated with his royal palace three of these magnificent private dwellings, the hotel du petit musc, the hotel de l'abbé de saint maur and the hotel du comte d'Étampes. the palace proper really faced on what is now the rue saint antoine, opposite the hotel saint pol. its historic and romantic memories of the sword and cloak period of gallantry were many, but the edifice was demolished by the order of catherine de médici. in the palace charles vi was confined, during the period of his insanity, by order of the cruel isabeau de bavière. the duke of bedford, when regent for the minor henry vi, lodged here, and upon the expulsion of the english it became the residence of charles vii. louis xi and louis xii each inhabited it, and the latter died within its walls. the palais des tournelles will go down to history chiefly because of that celebrated jousting bout held in its courtyard on the marriage day of the two princesses, elizabeth and marguerite. henri ii and the elder princes, his sons, were to ride forth in tournament and break lances, if possible, with all comers. the court, including catherine de médici and the princess elizabeth, wife of philippe ii, the late husband of mary tudor, the two marguerites and other high personages were seated on a dais upholstered in damascened silk and ornamented with many-coloured streamers. the time was july and the morning. at a signal from catherine music burst forth and the bouts began. the king rode forth at the head of his chevaliers, wearing a suit of golden armour, his sword handle set with jewels, and, in spite of the presence of his wife, his lance flying black and white streamers, the colours of diane de poitiers, who had lately turned her affections from father unto son. a herald proclaimed the opening of the combat, and before night the king had broken the lances of the ducs de ferrare, de guise, and de nemours, and was just about disarming when a masked knight approached from the faubourg saint antoine and challenged the king, who, in spite of being implored to desist by his queen, entered the lists again and was ultimately wounded unto death by the sable knight. henri ii expired the same night in a bedchamber of the palais des tournelles, whither he had been carried, at the age of forty-one, the victim of chance, or the wile of the sieur de montgomeri, the ancestor of england's present earl of eglinton. the captain of the scotch guards, montgomeri, was not immediately pursued (he meantime had fled the court), but catherine de médici harboured for him a most bitter rancour. pro and con ran his cause, for he had his partisans, but the maréchal de matignon finally caught up with him in normandy and he was tortured and condemned to death for the crime of _lèse majesté_--beating the king at his own game. the widowed queen angrily ordered diane de poitiers from the court, and caused the palais des tournelles to be razed. this was her only means of showing her contempt for the woman who had played her royal spouse to his death as the romans played the gladiators of old; and tournelles, as a palatial monument of its time, blotted out the rest when it disappeared from view. a forest of spirelets soared aloft from the gables and rooftrees of the palais des tournelles. there was no spectacle of the time more imposing than this sky-line silhouette of a paris palace; not at chambord nor chenonceaux was the spectacle more fine. it was like a fairy castle, albeit that it was in the heart of a great city. to the right of the palais des tournelles, beyond the porte saint antoine, was the ink-black, frowning donjon of the bastille, its severity in strong contrast with the more luxurious palaces of the princes which surrounded it not far away. the charming place des vosges, which occupies the site of tournelles to-day, is another of paris's breathing spaces. well may it be called a royal garden--a park virtually on a diminutive scale--since it was originally known as the place royale, under henri iv. with the advent of the gascon henri de béarn this delightful little unspoiled corner of old paris took on the aspect which it now has. within this enclosure were the usual garden or park attributes, more or less artificially disposed, but making an ideal open-air playground for the court, shut in from outside surroundings by the outlines of the old palace walls, and not too far away from the royal palace of the louvre. the first and greatest historic souvenir of this garden was a carrousel given in , by marie de médici, two years after the tragic death of henri iv, celebrating the alliance between france and spain. under richelieu the square became known as the place des vosges, and, in spite of the law against duelling, which had by this time come into force, it became a celebrated meeting place for duellists like ivry, the "grand' roué" or the "vel' hiver" of to-day. it was on may , , that the comte des chappell killed bussy d'amboise on this spot, and left a bloody souvenir, which was only forgotten by the historians when they had to recount another meeting, this time between the catholic duc de guise and the protestant coligny d'andelot. "monsieur," said the duke, "we will now proceed to settle that little account between our illustrious houses," and with that he drew his sword and killed coligny, as if he were but stamping the life out of a caterpillar. now, with all this bloody memory behind, the place became one of the most elegant residential quarters of the capital, preferred above all by the nobility, the rohans, the alègres and rotroux. at no. lived victor hugo, just before the coup d'État, in the house first made famous as the habitation of the somewhat infamous marion delorme. among other illustrious names who have given a brilliance to these alleyed walks and corridors are to be recalled corneille, condé, saint vincent de paul, molière, turenne, madame de longueville, de thou, cinq-mars, richelieu, d'ormesson, the prince de talmon, the marquis de tessé and the comte de chabanne. it is possible that this charming paris square will remain as ever it has been, for a recent attempt of the owner of one of the houses which borders upon it to change the disposition of the façade brought about a law-suit which compelled him to respect the procedure which obtained in when it was ordained the place royale. to prove their rights the civic authorities had recourse to the original plans still preserved in the national archives. this is a demonstration of how carefully european nations preserve the written records of their pasts. the decision finally arrived at by the courts--that the place des vosges must be kept intact as originally planned--gave joy to the hearts of all true parisians and archeologists alike. [illustration: bird's eye view of old paris] chapter v the old louvre and its history a stroll by the banks of the seine will review much of the history of the capital, as much of it as was bound up with notre dame, the louvre and the palais de la cité (now the palais de justice), and that was a great deal, even in mediæval and renaissance times. the life of the louvre was paris; the life of paris that of the nation; and the life of the nation that of the people. this even the parisians of to-day will tell you. it is scant acknowledgment of the provinces to be sure, but what would you? the french capital is much more the capital of france than london is of england, or washington of america--leaving politics out of the question. paris before the conquest by the franks was practically only the seine-surrounded isle known as lutetia, and later as "la cité," and the slight overflow which crept up the slopes of the montagne de la sainte genevieve. from the chatelet to the louvre was a damp, murky swamp called, even in the moyen-age, les champeaux, meaning the little fields, but swampy ones, as inferred by studying the evolution of the name still further. a rapid rivulet descended from menilmontant and mingled with the seine somewhere near the garden of the tuileries. clovis and his franks attacked the city opposite the isle, and, upon the actual achievement of their conquest, threw up an entrenched camp on the approved roman plan in what is now the courtyard of the old louvre, and filled the moat with the waters of this rivulet. the ensemble was, according to certain authorities, baptized the louvre, or lower, meaning a fortified camp. this entrenchment was made necessary in order that the franks might sustain themselves against the gallo-roman occupants of lutetia, and in time enabled them to acquire the whole surrounding region for their own dominion. this the lower, or louvre, made possible, and it is well deserved that its name should be thus perpetuated, though actually the origin of the name is in debate, as will be seen by a further explanation which follows. little by little this half-barbaric camp--in contradistinction to the more solid works of the romans--became a _placefort_, then a château, then a palace and, finally, as the young lady tourist said, an art museum. well, at any rate, it was a dignified evolution. two louvres disappeared before the crystallization of the present rather irregularly cut gem. from the merovingians dates the louvre des champs, the hostile, militant louvre, with its high wood and stone tower, familiar only in old engravings. after this the moyen-age louvre, attributable to saint louis and charles v, with its great tower, its thick walls of stone and its deep-dug moats, came into being. with francis i came a more sympathetic, a more subtle era of architectural display, a softening of outlines and an interpolation of flowering gables. it was thus that was born that noble monument known as the new louvre, which combined all the arts and graces of a fastidious ambition. nothing remains of the old louverie (to which the name had become corrupted) which philippe auguste early in the thirteenth century caused to be turned into an ambitious quadrangular castle from a somewhat more humble establishment which had evolved itself on the site of the frankish camp, save the white marble outline sunken in the pavement of the courtyard of the palace of to-day. by destiny this palace, set down in the very heart of paris, was to dominate everything round about. from the date of its birth, and since that time, it has had no rivals among paris or suburban palaces. its very situation compelled the playing of an auspicious part, and the seine flowing swiftly by its ramparts added no small charm to the fêtes and ceremonies of both the louvre and the tuileries. never was a great river so allied with the life of a royal capital; never a stream so in harmony with other civic beauties as is the seine with paris. when henri ii entered paris after his sacrament he contemplated a water-festival on the seine, which was to extend from the walls of the louvre to the towers of notre dame, a festival with such elaborate decorations as had never been known in the french capital. the kings of france after their sacrament entered the louvre by the quay-side entrance, followed by their cortège of gayly caparisoned cavaliers and gilded coaches with personages of all ranks in doublet and robe, cape and doublet. the scintillating of gold lace and burnished coats gave a brilliance which rivalled that of the sun. no sooner had the cavalcade entered the gates of the louvre than it came out again to participate in the day and night festival, which had the bosom of the seine for its stage and its bridges and banks for the act drop and the wings. the receptions of ambassadors, the baptisms of royalties, royal marriages and celebrations of victories, or treaties, were all fêted in the same manner. napoleon glorified the peace of amiens under similar conditions, and there is scarce a chronicler of any reign but that recounts the part played by the seine in the ceremonies of the court of the new and old louvre. it was amid a setting which lent itself so readily to all this that the old louvre, which was rebuilt by francis i, first came to its glory. the origin of the name louvre has still other interpretation from that previously given. it seems to be a question of grave doubt among the savants, but because the note is an interesting one it is here reproduced. the name may have been derived as well from the word _oeuvre_, from the latin _opus_; it may have been evolved from _lupara_, or _louverie_ (place of wolves), which seems improbable. it may have had its evolution from either one of these origins, or it may not. anglo-saxons may be proud of the fact that certain french savants have acknowledged that the name of the most celebrated of all paris palaces is a derivation from a word belonging to their tongue and meaning habitation. this, then, is another version and one may choose that which is most to his liking, or may go back and show his preference for _lower_, meaning a fortified place. a palace--something more elaborate than a mere habitation--stood on the same site in the twelfth century, a work which, under the energies of philippe auguste, in began to grow to still more splendid proportions, though infinitesimal one may well conclude as compared with the mass which all paris knows to-day under the inclusive appellation of "the louvre." the paris of philippe auguste was already a city of a hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, with mean houses on every side and little pretense at even primitive comforts or conveniences. this far-seeing monarch laid hand first on the great citadel tower of the fortified _lower_, added to its flanking walls and built a circling rampart around the capital itself. it is recounted that the rumbling carts, sinking deep in mud and plowing through foot-deep dust beneath the palace windows, annoyed the monarch so much that he instituted what must have been the first city paving work on record, and commanded that all the chief thoroughfares passing near the louvre should be paved with cobbles. this was real municipal improvement. he was a solon among his kind for, since that day, it has been a _sine qua non_ that for the well-keeping of city streets they must be paved, and, though cobblestones have since gone out of fashion, it was this monarch who first showed us how to do it. the louvre of philippe auguste was the most imposing edifice of the paris of its time. to no little extent was this imposing outline due to its great central tower, the _maitresse_, which was surrounded by twenty-three _dames d'honneur_, without counting numberless _tourelles_. this hydra-towered giant palace was the real guardian of the paris of mediævalism, as its successor is indeed the real centre of the paris of to-day. the city was but an immense mass of low-lying gable-roofed houses, whose crowning apex was the sky-line of the louvre, with that of tournelles only less prominent to the north, and that of la cité hard by on the island where the palais de justice and notre dame now stand. before the hand of francis fell upon the louvre it was but an isolated stronghold--a combined castle, prison and palace, gloomy, foreboding and surrounded by moats and ramparts almost impassable. philippe auguste built well and made of it an admirable and imposing castle and a place of defence, and a defence it was, and not much more. for its time it was of great proportions and of an ideal situation from a strategic point of view; far more so than the isolated palais de la cité in the middle of the seine. four gates led out from the inner courtyard of the old louvre: one to the seine; one to the south, facing saint germain l'auxerrois; another towards the site of the later tuileries; and the other to about where the rue marengo cuts the rue de rivoli of to-day. with the endorsement given it by philippe auguste the louvre now became the official residence of the kings of the capetian race, whereas previously they had dwelt but intermittently at paris, chiefly in the palais de la cité. the monarch, as if to test the efficiency of his new residence as a stronghold, made a dungeon tower, his greatest constructive achievement until he built the castle of gisors, and in the tower imprisoned the comte de flandre, whom he had taken prisoner at bouvines. louis ix (saint louis), in his turn, built a spacious annex to philippe auguste's louvre, to which he attached his name. [illustration: the xiv century louvre] charles v totally changed the aspect of the palace from what it had formerly been--half-fortress, half-residence--and made of it a veritable palace in truth as well as in name, by the addition of numerous dependencies. within a tower which was built during the reign of this monarch, called the tour de la librairie, he assembled his royal bibelots and founded what was afterwards known as the bibliothèque du louvre, the egg from which was hatched the present magnificently endowed _bibliothèque nationale_ in the rue richelieu. it is related that in the valet-de-chambre of charles v made a catalogue of the nine hundred and ten volumes which formed this collection, an immense number for the time when it is known that his predecessor, jean-le-bon, possessed but seven volumes of history and four devotional books as his entire literary treasure. this seems to be a bibliographical note of interest which has hitherto been overlooked. charles v was evidently a man of taste, or he would not have built so well, though all is hearsay, as not a fragment remains of the work upon which he spent his talents and energies. from the death of charles v, in , until the louvre by some caprice ceased to be a permanent royal residence. at the latter epoch the ambitious, art-loving francis i conceived the idea that here was a wealth of scaffolding upon which to graft some of his renaissance luxuries and, by a process of "restoration" (perhaps an unfortunate word for him to have employed, since it meant the razing of the fine tower built by charles v), added somewhat to the splendours thereof, though in a fickle moment, as was his wont, allowed a gap of a dozen years to intervene between the outlining of his project and the terrifically earnest work which finally resulted in the magnificent structure accredited to him, though indeed it meant the demolition of the original edifice. it was at this period that charles v entered into the ambitious part which francis was to henceforth play in the louvre, so perhaps the interruption was pardonable. chapter vi the louvre of francis i and its successors one can attribute the demise of the old louvre to the coming of charles v to paris in . this royal residence, hastily put in order to receive his august presence, seemed so coldly inconvenient and inhospitable to his host, francis i, that that monarch decided forthwith upon its complete reconstruction and enlargement. owing to various combinations of circumstances the actual work of reconstruction was put off until , thus the new louvre as properly belongs to the reign of henri ii as to that of his father. francis i, more than any other european monarch of his time, or, indeed, before or since, left his mark as an architect of supreme tastes over every edifice with which he came into personal contact. his mania was for building--when it was not for affairs of the heart--and so daring was he that when he could not get an old fabric to remodel he would brave all, as did louis xiv at versailles, and erect a dream palace in the midst of a desert. this he did at chambord in the sologne. at paris his difficulties were perhaps no less, but he had his materials and his workmen ready at hand. francis's repairs and embellishments to the old louvre were by no means perfunctory, but he saw possibilities greater than he was able to perform with the means at hand. he first razed the central tower, or _donjon_, and scarce before the departure of his royal guest, was already dreaming of replacing the entire fabric with another which should bear the same name. one has read of the monarch's thoughts when he was awaiting the coming to paris of his old enemy in the peninsula; how he regretted the moment when he should sally out to meet him and leave his new-found friend, the duchesse d'Étampes, in spite of her pleadings for him to remain by her. all this is mere historic incident, and has little to do with francis's art instincts and ambitions. he probably thought this very thing himself when he replied to the importunate lady: "duchesse, i must tear myself away without more ado; i go to meet my brother monarch at amboise on the loire." it was francis i, the passionate lover of art, who collected the first pictures which formed the foundation of the present collections of the musée national du louvre. he bought many in foreign parts, and many others were brought from italy by italian artists, whom he had commanded to the capital: primaticcio brought with him, upon his arrival, more than a hundred antique statues. these art objects were first assembled at fontainebleau and ornamented the apartments of the king. among them were da vinci's "la joconde" and raphael's "holy family and saint michael." henri ii, henri iv, and louis xiii did little to enrich the art collections of the palace, but louis xiv charged his minister, colbert, with numerous purchases. in he bought the fine collection left by cardinal mazarin, and ten years later purchased the contents of the celebrated gallery belonging to the banker jacob of cologne. the state expended for these acquisitions nearly six hundred thousand _livres_, and received for this sum six hundred paintings and six thousand drawings. it was at this period that the royal collections were transferred to paris, a little before the death of colbert, when they were placed in the galleries of the louvre; though it was a hundred years later that a national museum was actually created. this was virtually brought about from the fact that the royal collections were transported in a great part to versailles, only to be returned to paris in , transferred again to versailles, and ultimately to be returned to paris under the sheltering wing of the grand old louvre. the museum of the louvre, the museum national et central des arts, is the outgrowth of a decree of the convention, dated july , . it was aided and enriched considerably under napoleon i, that passionate lover of the beautiful, who, none too scrupulously, would even seek to "make a campaign" in order to acquire art works for the museum of his capital. many of these abducted art treasures (like the horses of saint marc, for instance) were afterwards returned to their original owners, but the nucleus of this unrivaled art museum was chiefly due to the consul and emperor. as soon as charles v had left the louvre demolition was at once begun by francis, and in an italian, serlio, was bidden prepare a set of plans for the renaissance glory that was to be. serlio, refusing, or debating the price, was cast aside for the frenchman, lescot, whose plan was adopted. the work can in no way be said to have suffered by the change of plans, for though pierre lescot was as yet a name unknown in the world of architecture his talents were sufficiently great, magistrate and parliamentary counsellor though he was, to give to paris what has ever been accounted its chief renaissance glory. work was begun at once, a work which was not interrupted by intrigues of court, of love, of war, nor by the deaths of francis i nor his successor, henri ii. although the work was begun in an energetic manner it was before the western wing was ready for the hand of the sculptors, but from this time on, judging from the interpolated monograms of charles ix and henri iv on the south wing, work progressed less hurriedly. the two other constructions, which were to enclose the quadrangle to the north and east, were completed under such circumstances that there has never been a question as to their period. for fifteen years the work went on, when suddenly it was abandoned as were the plans of lescot. a sole wing, that following the seine and abutting at right angles against the pavilion de l'horloge, had resulted. the sculptures of its south façade, as well as certain of its interior decorations, were entrusted to jean goujon ( - ), who became a victim of the horrible night of saint bartholomew, planned in the same louvre by the wily médici. henri ii often dwelt over lescot's plans and devices, and, on one occasion, when the poet ronsard was present, demanded of the architect the meaning of the decorations surrounding a great _oeil-de-boeuf_ window, two kneeling figures, one blowing a trumpet, and the other extending a palm branch. "victory and fame," replied lescot. and, in honour of the architect and his sentiment, ronsard composed his "franciade." the detail was actually by goujon, whose design it was, under the oversight of the master architect. one may see this _chef d'oeuvre_ to-day just above the courtyard portal to the west. at the death of henri ii, catherine de médici came here to live alone, and built the great extension, which stands to-day and joins the old louvre with that portion along the banks of the seine by the double arch, through which swing the autobusses coming from the rive gauche with such a juggernaut grind that fears for the foundation of the palace are ever uppermost in the minds of those responsible for its preservation. [illustration: _the louvre_] it is in this catherine de médici portion of the louvre ( ) that the present galerie des antiques is installed, and which is usually thronged, in season and out, with globe-trotting sight-seers who give seldom a thought to its constructive elegance and its association with the médici. with the first years of the reign of charles ix, there is to be remarked a notable slowness of procedure with regard to the construction of the new louvre. this was brought about chiefly by the conception of the tuileries and the work which was actually begun thereon. soon a gigantic idea radiated from the ambitious mind of catherine de médici. in this connection it must be remembered, however, that catherine, so commonly reviled as "the italian," was not all italian; french blood flowed through her veins through that of her mother, madeleine de la tour d'auvergne. she came first to france, landing at marseilles, whence she arrived from leghorn, and forthwith commenced her journey parisward, arriving finally at the louvre as the bride of prince henri in the guise of a simple, clever girl, though indeed she was twenty years the elder. now she dreamed of uniting her chateau of the tuileries with that of the king by a long, connecting gallery. she put action to the thought and under pierre (ii) chambiges, a relative of the chambiges of fontainebleau and saint germain, the petite galerie, a mere means of communication between the two chateaux, and not the least to be likened to a defensive structure, was begun and work thereon carried out between and , though it remained for thibaut metezeau, in - , to carry it on a stage further under henri iv. this architect introduced the notorious mezzanine, which has so intrigued historians of the louvre because of the unequal elevations of the various floors, a procedure which was unavoidable save by recourse to a substitution less to be objected to than the existing fault. actually the connection with the tuileries was made by the prolongation of this gallery by the ducerceau brothers in . the work existing to-day, but only in its reconstructed form, is the same as that completed by napoleon iii ( - ). charles ix and henri iii, though making the louvre their residence, practically had no hand in its embellishment. the former gave his energies and ideals full play in the saint bartholomew massacres and shot at poor unfortunates who fled beneath the windows of his apartments on the quay-side of the louvre. this, if not the chief incident of his association with the fabric, is at least the best remembered one. henri iii, too, led a scandalous life within the walls of the louvre and fled on horseback, smuggled out a back door, as it were, on a certain may evening in , never more to return, for the dominican monk jacques clément killed him with a knife-thrust before he had got beyond saint cloud. the accepted tale of the part played by the famous window of the louvre in the drama of saint bartholomew's night is as follows: as the signal tolled from the belfry of saint germain l'auxerrois it was answered by another peal from the great bell of the palais de justice, where, within a small apartment over the watergate of the louvre, the queen and her two sons were huddled together not knowing what might happen next. the multitude streamed by on the quay before the palace, and, finally, amid all the horror of coligny's murder, and the throwing of his body from a window of the louvre to the street below, charles ix stood at his window regarding the fleeing huguenots as so much small game, shooting away at them with an arquebuse as they went by, and with an unholy glee, even boasting that he had killed a score of heretics in a quarter of an hour. historians of those exciting times were perhaps none too faithful chroniclers and charles's "excellent shots" in his "royal hunt," and hideous oaths and threats such as: "we'll have them all, even the women and children," are not details as well authenticated as we would like to have them. like rizzio's blood stains they lack conviction. the ambitious white-plumed henri de navarre, when he became henri iv of france, set about to connect the tentacle which stretched southward from the old louvre with the tuileries (a continuation of the project of catherine de médici), and, by the end of the sixteenth century, had built a long façade under the advice of the brothers ducerceau. this work was added to on the courtyard side under the second empire, when a reconstruction, more likely a strengthening of underpinning and walls because of their proximity to the swift-flowing waters of the seine, of the work of henri iv was undertaken. joining the tuileries and this work of ducerceau was the celebrated pavilion de flore, a work of the henri iv period rather than that of catherine de médici. from the pavilion de flore to the pavilion de lesdiguières ran this long gallery of the ducerceau and numerous interstices and unfinished vaults and arches leading towards the old louvre were, at this epoch, completed by metezeau and dupaira. the chief apartment of this structure became known as the _galerie henri iv_, and was completed in . at the death of henri iv, richelieu, who at times builded so well, and who at others was a base destroyer of monuments, demolished that portion which remained of the edifice of charles v. the work of pierre lescot was preserved, however, and to give symmetry and an additional extent of available space the rectangle facing saint germain l'auxerrois to-day was completed, thus enclosing in one corner of its ample courtyard the foundations of the earlier work whose outlines are plainly traced in the pavement that those who view may build anew--if they can--the old structure of philippe auguste. in mere magnitude the present quadrangle is something more than four times the extent of the louvre of the time of charles v. this courtyard of the louvre is perhaps that spot in all paris which presents the greatest array of renaissance art treasures. from ground to sky-line the façades are embroidered by the works from the magic hand of the _siècle italien_. jean goujon himself has left his brilliant souvenirs on all sides, caryatides, festoons, bas-reliefs, statues and colonnades. enthusiasm and devotion knew no bounds among those old craftsmen, but all is well-ordered, regular and correct. "he who mentions the louvre to a frenchman gives a greater pleasure than that of méhémet-ali when one praises the pyramids." in a way the louvre is the most magnificent edifice in the universe; "four palaces one piled up on another, _une ville entière_." and when the louvre was linked with the tuileries in the real, what a splendour it must have been for former generations to marvel at! "_la plus belle et la plus grande chose sous le soleil._" this work of aggrandizement of the quadrangle was carried out by the architect lemercier on the basis of a project adopted in , and, to a great extent, completed before the arrival of anne d'autriche, twenty years later. this queenly personage had ideas of her own as to what sort of a residence she would have in paris, and beyond her personal needs little was done for the moment towards actually linking up the various loose ends, each more or less complete in itself, which now composed the paris palace of the french monarchs. her son, the king in person if not in power, was not likely to be endowed with instincts which would put him in the rank of the traditional castle or palace builders of his race; it was literature, music and painting which more particularly flourished during his reign, and so the austrian contented herself at first with merely putting the former apartments of catherine de médici into condition for her personal use and building a salle-de-spectacle, and--happy thought--a salle-des-bains. louis xiv, as he found time, after the war of the fronde, actually did bethink himself of completing, in a way, the work of his elders, and charged the architect levau to finish off the north wing, which was done in . a year later the galerie henri iv was practically destroyed by fire and rebuilt by levau, who gave the commission for its interior decoration to lebrun. soon the south wing was completed, leaving only the gap for the eastern façade which was intended to be the chief entrance to the mass of buildings, which still bore the comprehensive name of "the louvre." for the accomplishment of this façade, the demolition of certain dwellings of the nobility which had clustered around the royal fabric was necessary, and the hotels du petit bourbon, de villequier, de chaumont, la force, de créquy, de longueville, and de choisy fell before the picks of the house-breakers. levau commenced work on the façade at once, and made rapid progress until , when an abrupt order came for him to stop all work. political conspiracy, graft, if you like, was at work, and colbert, little favourable towards levau, made a proposition to the king to open a competition for the design and execution of the façade. willingly enough, his mind doubtless more occupied with other things, louis xiv agreed, and a general call was sent out to all french architects to enter the lists. confusion reigned, and levau was about to be recalled when colbert spied an unrolled parchment in the corner and pounced upon it eagerly as the means of saving him from the dubious efforts of the former incumbent. it was the "non-professional" plan submitted by a doctor in medicine, one charles perrault. jealous competitors made all sorts of criticisms and objections, the chief contention being that if by any chance an architectural design by a "pill-roller" proved pleasing to the eye it was bound to be impracticable from an economic or constructive point of view, or both. this is often enough true, and it proved to be so in this case, for in spite of a certain amount of advice from an expert italian builder, who had come to paris to help the good doctor with his difficult task (for he actually received a commission for the work and completed it in ), the façade did not fit the rest of the fabric with which it was intended to join up, and to-day it may be observed by the curious as being several feet out of line with the structure which faces on the rue de rivoli. louis xiv practically had no regard for the louvre and its architectural traditions; his palatial garden-city idea, worked out at versailles, shows what an innovator he was. he allowed the louvre to be filled up with all sorts of riffraff, who were often given a lodging there in place of a money payment for some service rendered. the louvre thus became a sort of genteel poor-house, while king and court spent their time in the more ample country-house behind the meudon hills. by the louvre had become little more than an immense ruin, humbled and desecrated; a veritable orphan. the marquis de marigny, surintendant des batiments royaux, obtained the authorization to chase out the parasites and clean up the augean stable and put things in order as best pleased his esthetic fancy, but only with the early years of the nineteenth century did the louvre become a real palace again and worthy of its traditions. from to the architects fontaine and percier were constantly engaged in the work of repairs and additions, and built (for napoleon i) the gallery which extends from what is now the place jeanne d'arc to the pavillon de rohan, along the rue de rivoli. this detached portion (bound only to the tuileries) was finally joined to the seventeenth century work of lemercier under louis napoleon in . this gallery, the work of "moderns," is no mean example of palace-building, either. it was the work of visconti and lefuel, and with the adoption of this plan was finally accomplished the interpolation of that range of pavilions which gives the architecture of the louvre one of its principal distinctions. named after the principal ministers of former administrations--donon, mollien, daru, richelieu, colbert, turgot, etc., these pavilions break up what would otherwise be monotonous, elongated façades. the inauguration of this last built portion of the palace was held on august , , the occasion being celebrated by a banquet given by napoleon iii to all the architects, artists and labourers who had been engaged upon the work. in the same salle, two years later, which took the name of salle des États, the emperor gave a _diner de gala_ to the generals returning from the italian campaign. still further résumé of fact with regard to the main body of the louvre, as well as with respect to its individual components, will open never-ending vistas and pageants. it is not possible in a chapter, a book or a five-foot shelf to limn all that is even of cursory interest. the well-known, the little-known and the comparatively unknown mingle in varying proportions, according to the individual mood or attitude. to some the appeal will lie in the vastness of the fabric, to others in the varied casts of characters which have played upon its stage, still others will be impressed with the dramatic incidents, and many more will retain only present-day memories of what they have themselves seen. the louvre is a study of a lifetime. to resume a none too complete chronology, it is easy to recall the following important events which have taken place in the louvre since the days of henri iii, the period at which only the barest beginnings of the present structure had been projected. in a ghastly procedure took place when four members of the conseil des seize were hung in the salle des caryatides by orders of the duc de mayenne. like the horoscope which foretold the death of henri iii, another royal prophecy was cast in that reminds one of that which perhaps had not a little to do with the making away with the last of the valois princes. the duc de vendome, the son of henri iv by gabrielle d'estrées, handed the king a documentary horoscope signed by an astrologer calling himself la brosse, which warned the king that he would run a great danger on may in case he went abroad. "la brosse is an ass," cried the king, and crumpled the paper beneath his feet. on the day in question the king started out to visit his minister, sully, at the arsenal. it was then in turning from the rue saint honoré into the rue de la ferronière that the royal coach, frequently blocked by crowds, offered the opportunity to the assassin ravaillac, who, jumping upon the footboard, stabbed the king twice in the breast. after having been wounded the king was brought dying to the louvre. his royal coach drew up beneath the vault through which throngs all paris to-day searching for a "short cut" from the river to saint honoré. it was but a short, brief journey to the royal apartments above in the pavilion de l'horloge, but it must have been an interminable calvary to the gallant henri de navarre. the body was received by marie de médici in tears, and the ducs de guise and d'epernon clattered out the courtyard on horseback to spread the false news that the king had suffered no harm. fearing the results of too precipitate publishing of the disaster no other course was open. a gruesome memory is that the swiss guard at the louvre surreptitiously acquired a "_quartier_" of the dismembered body of the regicide and roasted it in a fire set alight beneath the balcony of marie de médici as an indication of their faithfulness and loyalty. it was sully, the king's minister, who ran first up the stairs to acquaint the queen of the tragedy--faithful ever to the interests of his royal master. in spite of this, one of the first acts of marie de médici as regent was to drive the baron de rosny and duc de sully away. such is virtue's reward--sometimes. * * * * * "lying on his bed, his face uncovered, clad in white satin and a bonnet of red velvet embroidered with gold, was all that remained of henri iv of france and navarre. around the bed were nuns and monks from all the monasteries of paris to keep vigil of his soul." so ends the chronicle closing the chapter of the relations of henri iv with his paris palace. no particularly tragic event took place here for some years. henriette de france, widow of charles i of england, taking refuge in france from the troublous revolt at home, lived in the louvre in . she had at first been graciously received by mazarin, but was finally accorded only the most strict necessities of life, a mere lodging in the louvre, a modest budget and a restricted entourage. in , under louis xiv, molière and his troup, in a theatre installed in the salle des caryatides, gave the first "command" performance on record. the plays produced were, "nicodeme" and "le docteur amoureux." an "art note" of interest is that sylvain bailly, the first curator of the musée du louvre, was born within its precincts in . in the dark days of july, , the populace attempted to pillage and sack the palace, but after a bloody reprisal retired, leaving hundreds of dead on the field. the _parterre_ beneath the famous colonnade was their burial place, though a decade later the bodies were exhumed and again interred under the colonne de juillet in the place de la bastille. le notre, the gardener of kings, laid out the first horticultural embellishments of the palace surroundings under louis xiv, and with little change his scheme of decoration lasted until the time of louis philippe, who made away with much that was distinctive and excellent. napoleon iii came to the front with an improved decorative scheme, but the hard flags of to-day, the dusty gravel and the too sparse architectural embellishments do not mark the gardens of the louvre as being anything remarkable save as a desirable breathing spot for paris nursemaids and their charges. the iron gates of the north, south and east sides were put into place only in , and at the commune served their purpose fairly well in holding the rabble at bay, a rabble to whose credit is the fact that it respected the artistic inheritance enclosed by the louvre's walls. no work of art in the museums was stolen or destroyed, though the library disappeared. chapter vii the tuileries and its gardens [illustration: original plan of the tuileries] no more sentimental interest ever attached itself to a royal french palace than that which surrounded the tuileries from its inception by charles ix in the mid-sixteenth century to its extinction by the commune in . the palace of the tuileries is no more, the commune did for it as it did for the hotel de ville and many another noble monument of the capital, and all that remains are the gardens set about with a few marble columns and gilt balls--themselves fragments of former decorative elements of the palace--to suggest what once was the heritage bequeathed the french by the médici who was the queen of saint bartholomew's night. it was a palace of giddy gayety that drew its devotees to it only to destroy them. "crowned fools who wished to be called kings, and others." even its stones were chiselled as if with a certain malignancy and fatalism, for they have all disappeared, and their history, even, has not been written as large as that of those of many contemporary structures. of the last five kings to which the tuileries gave shelter--not counting the second emperor--only one went straightway to the tomb; one went to the scaffold and three others to exile. a sorry dowry, this, for an inheritor of a palace at once so noble and admirable in spite of its unluckiness. with the court followers and the nobility of the last days of the monarchy it was the same thing; the tuileries was but a temporary shelter. the scaffold accounted for many and banishment engulfed others to forgetfulness. it was a commonplace at the time to repeat the warning: "o! tuileries! o! tuileries! mad indeed are those who enter thy walls, for like louis xvi, napoleon, charles x and louis philippe you shall make your exit by another door." the origin of the name tuileries is somewhat ignominiously traced from that of a tile factory which existed here in the heart of paris, on the banks of the seine, in the sixteenth century. the property, which comprised a manor-house as well as the tile fields, was known by the name of la sablonnière, and came to the marquis neuville de villeroy, superintendent of finances, who built on the spot a sort of fortified chateau, which, if not of palatial dimensions, was of a palatial prodigality of luxury. louise de savoie, mother of francis i, acquired the property in and nine years later gave it to jean tiercelin, the maitre d'hotel of the dauphin, who later was to become henri ii. the lodge, or manor-house, had, by , fallen into so ruinous a state that catherine de médici, the widow of henri ii, set about to lay the foundations of a new royal palace. catherine never resided in her projected palace, and in charles ix, her son, gave the commission to philibert delorme to build a palace, "neighbouring upon the louvre, but not to be connected therewith, on the site of the tuileries." on july , work was begun, and the central pavilion and the two extremes were carried up two stories within a year. the central structure was a great circular-domed edifice, enclosing a marvellous escalier d'honneur. the façade, preceded by two terraced porticos, was on the courtyard, or garden, between the edifice and the louvre. it sat back to the present rue des tuileries. the tuileries did not become a royal residence for some time after its completion, for charles ix clung tenaciously to his well-guarded apartments in the louvre; for the central structure of the tuileries, because of its lack of comparative height, was hardly as much of a stronghold as he would have liked. a contemporary note in connection with charles ix and the tuileries is found in ronsard's "_Épitre à charles ix_." "j'ay veu trop de maçons bastir les tuileries, et en trop de façons faire les momeries." work on the edifice so auspiciously planned by delorme was practically discontinued during the reign of henri iii, owing to lack of funds. the renaissance of delorme, bullant, lescot, each of whom had a hand in the building of the tuileries, expressed certain characteristic phases of architectural art in the reigns of francis i and henri ii. the reign of charles ix was only another phase of that long reign of catherine de médici, and architectural influences continued to follow along the same reminiscent italian lines, particularly with reference to such edifices as the médici herself caused to be built. in the dedication of philibert delorme's "_traite d'architecture_" he expressed himself thus with regard to the tuileries: "madame, i see from day to day with an increasing pleasure the interest that your majesty takes in architecture. the palace which you have built at paris near the pont neuf and the louvre is, according to its disposition, excellent and admirable to the extent that it pleases me beyond measure." after delorme considerable changes were made and successfully carried out under the architects ducerceau, duperac, levau and dorbay. a distinct feature of the work of delorme was his use of the column ornamented throughout its length, which, as he says in his written works, he first employed in the "_palais de la majesté de la royne-mere à paris_." of the ability of delorme there is no diversity of opinion to-day, nor was there in his time. besides the tuileries he has to his credit the chateau d'anet, the chateau de saint maur, that of meudon--built for the cardinal de lorraine,--and his important additions to the chateau de la muette and the chateaux of saint germain, madrid and fontainebleau. as might be supposed catherine de médici professed a great admiration for delorme and recompensed his talents with a royal generosity, even nominating him as abbé of the convent of saint eloi de noyon, a fact which caused the poet ronsard to evolve a political satire: "la truelle crossée." at the same time that she was building the tuileries catherine de médici caused additions to be made to the louvre; at least she undertook the completion of the unfinished portion, which had been left for other hands to do. the first historic souvenir which stands out prominently with regard to the palais des tuileries is the fête given four days before the fateful saint bartholomew's night. it was the marriage fête of the gallant henri de béarn, king of navarre, and the wise and witty marguerite de valois. henri iv, coming to the throne a quarter of a century after the admirable first year's work on the tuileries had been completed, found that little had been done towards making it a really habitable place. it had been hurriedly finished off to the second story, and had served well enough for a temporary residence, or as an overflow establishment where balls and fêtes might be given without crowding, but to the ambitious henri iv nothing would do but that the pavilions should be bound together with a more imposing ligature, and that the pavillon de flore should in turn be linked up with the louvre by a gallery. under louis xiii this latter really came to a conclusion according to the plans of the architect ducerceau, but the inspiration of making the louvre and the tuileries one was due to henri iv. under louis xiv and louis xv the palace in its still attenuated form was scarcely more than a rambling lodging, utterly lacking any of the noble apartments with which it was afterwards endowed. the court at this time practically made versailles its headquarters. neither of the above-mentioned monarchs made aught but cursory visits to the tuileries and left its occupancy to officers of the household and ministers of state. it was in the reign of louis xv that the florentine artist, servandoni, who was at the same time an eminent architect, a remarkable painter and a _maestro_ of a musician, organized in the palais des tuileries the theatre des machines, the first installed at paris, and there came the comédie française, the opera and the bouffes (the _comédie italienne_) and gave command performances before the court. when the french resolved that louis xvi should live in paris, the palais des tuileries was actually offered him, but it was a rather shabby place of royal residence so far as its interior appointments were concerned, though in all ways appealing when viewed from without. considerable repairs and embellishments were made, but warring factions did much to make difficult any real artistic progress. with the advent of louis xvi there came a contrast to gayety and freedom from care in royal hearts and heads. on october louis xvi and the royal family hid themselves behind barred doors, the convention taking up its sittings under the same roof and forthwith passing an act which allowed the completion of the palace according to the plans of vignon at an expense of three hundred thousand _livres_. an almost entire transformation took place, the money being seemingly well spent, and the structure now first took its proper place among the monumental art treasures of the capital. a dramatic incident took place at the great gate of the tuileries, which faced the courtyard, when, on may , , the populace surged in waves against its sturdy barrier. the deputy féraud met them at the steps. "you may enter only over my dead body," he said. no reply was made but to crack his skull, behead the trunk and carry the head aloft on a pike to the very tribune where boissy d'anglas was presiding. the salle de spectacle of the tuileries was, even at this period, the largest auditorium of its kind in europe, having eight thousand stalls and boxes, which gave a seating capacity of considerably more than that number of persons. in this playhouse, of which the parquet occupied the ground floor of the pavillon de marsan, underwent a strange metamorphosis when it became the legislative hall for the national convention. all the names and emblems showing forth in its decorations and indicative of its ancient rule were changed into republican devices and symbols. the pavillon de marsan was called the pavillon de l'egalité, the pavillon du centre became the pavillon de l'unité and the pavillon de flore the pavillon de la liberté, where was lodged the committee of public safety. the hall of the convention, according to reports of the time, was an appalling mixture of grandeur and effeminacy with respect to its architectural lines. surrounding that portion where the legislators actually sat was the great amphitheatre which for three years was occupied by a curious, vociferous public, more demonstrative, even, than those that had attended the former theatrical representations in the same apartment. from the opening of the national convention to the reaction of "thermidor" it is estimated that more than three million people assisted at what they rightly, or wrongly, considered as a "spectacle" staged only for their amusement. by the time napoleon had come into power the tuileries was hardly habitable, and before taking up his residence he was obliged to make immediate and extensive transformations. on february , , napoleon, still first consul, left the palais de luxembourg and took up his residence in the tuileries, the third consul, lebrun, being lodged in the pavillon de flore, in the "petite appartement," which marie antoinette had fitted up for her temporary accommodation when in town. lebrun, however, gave up his lodging to the pope when the pontiff came to paris at napoleon's orders. consul cambacères, however, refused to shelter himself beneath the roof of the tuileries, and indicated a preference for the magnificent hotel d'elboeuf, which was accommodatingly put at his disposition. napoleon entered the tuileries in state, preceded and followed by an imposing cortège. at the gate of the carrousel the consuls alighted from their carriages, and were received by the consular guard. on their arrival the consuls read the following inscription posted at the entrance: "on august th monarchy in france was forever abolished; it will never be restored." by the th of february the inscription had disappeared. besides, orders were given to cut down the two liberty trees which had been planted in the courtyard. on august a large quantity of cannon shot had been lodged in the façade of the tuileries, and around the shot were written these words: "tenth of august." the cannon balls disappeared, as well as the inscriptions, when the arc de triomphe was erected on the place du carrousel. this alteration gave great satisfaction. it was important for the tranquillity of france that the new government should inherit rather the sword of charlemagne than the guillotine of marat. [illustration: _salle des marechaux, tuileries_] the imperial court soon displayed its splendour and magnificence in the palais des tuileries, as a foregone conclusion anticipated. in a gorgeous and imposing salle du trone one might have seen in the deep casement of the central window, standing up, their hats off, the group of the corps diplomatique, the members of which, loaded with decorations, ensigns, and diamonds, trembled in the presence of the little corporal of other days; on the other side, the host of the princes of the rhine confederation--all the personages that germany, russia, poland, italy, denmark, spain, all europe, in one word, england excepted, had sent to paris. it is needless to say that the wedding reception of napoleon and marie louise at the tuileries was celebrated with unusual magnificence. another event, on account of its peculiar moment, strongly excited the enthusiasm of the french. on march , , at seven o'clock in the morning, the first salute of cannon announced that the empress had given birth to a child, the future aiglon, the king of rome. after napoleon's occupancy of the tuileries it again served the monarch under the empire, the restoration, under louis philippe and under the second empire. the palace of unhappy memory saw successively the fall of napoleon, the entry of louis xviii, the file-by of the allies, the flight of louis xviii, of charles x, louis philippe and napoleon iii. up to the time of the second empire the tuileries preserved, more or less, its original interior arrangement, and, to a great extent, the decorations with which it had been embellished under louis xiv, louis xvi, and napoleon i. the pavilion de flore, at the juncture of the tuileries and the louvre of henri iv, was practically rebuilt during the second empire, but it followed closely the contemporary designs of the adjoining building. here are quartered executive offices of the préfecture de la seine. that portion facing the pont royal contains a series of fine sculptures by carpeaux, the sole modern embellishments of this nature to be seen in or on a paris palace. as the commune mob was fleeing before the army of versailles a conflagration broke out in the tuileries and soon the whole edifice was in flames. within what may have been the briefest interval on record for a conflagration of its size the tuileries was but a smoking pile of half-calcined stones. the tuileries had another brief day of glory when the prince president, louis napoleon, entered its gates, coming straight from his inauguration at notre dame. the cannon at the hotel des invalides blazed out a welcome and every patriot republican shouted: "vive napoleon!" they little knew, little cared perhaps, that he would some day become the second emperor. the throng poured forth from the cathedral after the _domine salvum_ and the benediction, the clergy leading the way, followed by the president and his attendants. the orchestra played a lively march, and the great bell in the tower boomed forth a glorious peal. * * * * * the president's carriage drew up before the gates of the tuileries and he entered the great apartment where a reception was given to various public and military bodies. between seven and eight thousand naval and military officers paid their respects, and about half a battalion of the army saluted, among them two mamelukes. while this ceremony was going on, the place du carrousel was occupied by several squadrons of cavalry and the inner courtyards were practically infantry camps. the government was taking no chances at the beginning of its career. the reception lasted until well on towards evening, when a banquet of four hundred covers was laid and partaken of by the invited guests. the last days of the tuileries may be said to have commenced with that eventful september , , at five o'clock in the afternoon, when the empress eugenie received a telegraphic despatch from napoleon iii announcing his captivity and the defeat of sedan. it was the overthrow. the evening and the night were calm; the masses, as yet, were unaware of the fatal news the journals would publish on the morrow. the following day was sunday; the weather superb; the disaster was finally announced and the masses thronged from all parts to the place de la concorde, where a squadron of cuirassiers barred the bridge leading to the palais bourbon where the deputies were in session. on the arrival of the news the empress had called in general trochu, the military governor of paris, and asked him if he could guarantee order. he replied in the affirmative. some hours later a group of deputies came to the empress and counselled her to sign, not an abdication, but a momentary renunciation of her powers as regent. eugenie refused point-blank. the throng, passing by the left bank, had arrived at the chamber of deputies, and the formal sitting became a revolutionary one. at three o'clock the imperial dynasty was proclaimed as at an end, and a provisionary government installed. henri rochefort, the present editor of the "_intransingeant_," was delivered from the prison of sainte pélagie and made a member of the government. by this time the mob which had invaded the place de la concorde became menacing. the cry, "aux tuileries," first launched by the street gamins, soon became the slogan of the crowd. to say it was to do it; the great iron gates were closed, but in default of a protecting force of arms it was an easy matter to scale them. behind the curtained windows of the palace the empress witnessed the assault and murmured to her ladies-in-waiting: "it is then finished." she turned towards the prince de metternich and the chevalier nigra, and, in the voice of a suppliant, demanded: "_que me consillez vous?_" "you must leave at once, madame; in a moment the palace will be invaded." the empress became resigned and accompanied by madame le breton, metternich and nigra started for the pavilion de flore, passing through the galerie de musée and the galerie d'apollon, finally leaving by the gate of the louvre, which is opposite saint germain l'auxerrois. the empress was at last out of the palace, but not yet out of danger. a band of manifestants, making for the hotel de ville and shouting; "vive la republique," recognized the empress, but she mounted an empty fiacre with madame le breton, and giving the driver the first address that entered her mind thus escaped further indignities, and perhaps danger. finally she found a refuge with doctor evans, the american dentist living in the avenue malakoff, from whose house she left for england on the following day. this is the frenchman's point of view of one of the picturesque incidents of history. it disposes of the legend that the empress left the tuileries in the carriage of doctor evans, but this cannot be helped, with due regard for the consensus of french opinion. doctor evans was a family friend, besides being the dentist who cared for the imperial teeth, and it is not going beyond the truth to state that the fortunate american acquired not a little of his vogue and wealth by his association with napoleon iii and his family. by this time the populace had invaded the palace and cursed with indignities unmentionable the marble halls, and the furnishings in general, and pillaged such portable property as pleased the individual fancies of the spoilsmen. after the signing of the peace treaty by the bordeaux assembly, which now represented the governmental head, and thiers had become president, that worthy would do away with the cannon of which the national guard still held possession in their garrison on the butte of montmartre. the orders which he sent forth came to be the signal for another outbreak on the part of the populace. on march the commune was proclaimed and citoyen dardelle, an old african hunter, was appointed military governor of the tuileries. whatever this individual's military qualifications may have been, he delivered himself to the enjoyment of a high and dissolute life in his luxurious apartments in the palace; a fact which was speedily made note of by the still restless populace. the citoyen rousselle, a member of the communal government, had the idea of organizing a series of popular concerts in the gardens of the tuileries for the profit of the wounded in the late friction. hung on the walls, at the entrance of each apartment was a placard which read: "fellow men, the gold with which these walls were built was earned by your sweat." "to-day you are coming to your own." "remain faithful to your trust and see to it that the tyrants enter never more." during one of these public concerts a poem of hégésippe moreau was read which terminated as follows, and set the populace aflame. * * * "et moi j'applaudirai; ma jeuneusse engourdie se réchauffera a ce grand incendie." he referred to the burning of the former abode of emperors and kings as a sort of sacrifice to the common good. the public had held itself in hand very well up to this moment, but applauded the verses vociferously. the last of the concerts was held on may , the same day as the army of versailles entered paris. night came, and with it the raging, red flames springing skywards from the roof of the tuileries. in a few moments the flames had enveloped the entire building. all the forces that it was possible to gather had been ordered upon the scene, but they were unable to save the old palace, and by one o'clock in the morning it was but a mass of smoking ruins. the communards had done their work well. before leaving its precincts they had sprinkled coal oil over every square metre of carpet, window-hangings and tapestries, and the slow-match was not long in passing the fire to its inflammable timber. the library of the louvre was destroyed, but the museums, galleries and their famous collections fortunately escaped. for a dozen years the lamentable ruins of the old palace of the tuileries reared their singed walls, a witness and a reproach to the tempestuosity of a people. finally, in , monsieur achille picard undertook their removal for thirty-three thousand francs, and within a year not a vestige, not an unturned stone remained in its original place as a witness to this chapter of paris history. two porticos of the pavillon de l'horloge, originally forming a part of the tuileries, have been re-erected on the terrace of the orangerie, facing the place de la concorde. there remain but two survivors of the late imperial sway in france, the empress eugenie who lives in england, and emile olivier, "_l'homme au coeur lèger_," who lives at saint tropez in the midi. a paris journalist a year or more ago, while sitting among a little coterie of literary and artistic folk at lavenue's famous terrace-café, recounted the following incident clothed in most discreet language, and since it bears upon the tuileries and its last occupants it is repeated here. "last night beneath the glamour of a september moon i saw a black shadow silently creep out from beneath the gloom of the arcades of the rue de rivoli just below the hotel continental. it crossed the pavement and passed within the railings of the gardens opposite, one of the gates to which, by chance or prearranged design, was still open. it moved slowly here and there upon the gravelled walks and seated itself upon a solitary bench as if it were meditating upon the splendid though sad hours that had passed. was it a wraith; was it eugenie, late empress of the french?" to have remembered such a dream of fancy for forty long years one must have been endowed with superhuman courage, or an inexplicable conscience. the rue des pyramides, which has been prolonged to the banks of the seine, will give those of the present generation who have never seen the tuileries an exact idea of its location. if it still existed the façade of the palace would front upon this street. the most moving history of the detailed horrors of the commune, particularly with reference to the part played by the tuileries therein, is to be found in maxime ducamp's "_les derniers convulsions de paris_." one relic of the tuileries left unharmed found a purchaser in a roumanian prince, at a public sale held as late as . this was the ornately beautiful iron gate which separated the cour du carrousel from the cour des tuileries. roumanian by birth, french at heart and parisian by adoption, this wealthy amateur, for a trifle over eight thousand francs, became the owner of a royal souvenir which must have cost five hundred times that sum. the eastern front of the tuileries opened into a courtyard formed under the direction of the first napoleon. it was separated from the place du carrousel by a handsome iron railing with gilt spear-heads extending the whole range of the palace. from this court there were three entrances into the place du carrousel, the central gate corresponding with the central pavilion of the palace, the other two having their piers surmounted by colossal figures of victory, peace, history and france. a gateway under each of the lateral galleries also communicated on the north with the rue de rivoli, and on the south with the quai du louvre. the place du carrousel was named in honour of a tournament held upon the spot by louis xiv in . it communicated on the north with the rue richelieu and the rue de l'echelle, and on the south with the pont royal and the pont du carrousel. to-day in the square stands the triumphal arch erected by napoleon in , after the designs of percier and fontaine. the newly laid-out and furbished-up gardens make the place du carrousel even more attractive than it was when set about with flagged areas, gravelled walks and paved road ways, and, while the monumental and architectural accessories excel the horticultural embellishments in quantity, the general effect is incomparably finer at present than anything known before. plans for rebuilding the place du carrousel provide for a division into three distinct parts, three grand _pelouses_, _à boulingrins à la français_, or lawns of a circumscribed area, according to the best traditions of le notre, a border of flowers and a few decoratively disposed clumps of flowering shrubs, the whole combined in such a way that the perspective and vista down the champs elysées will in no manner suffer. the architect-landscapist, m. redon, who has been charged with the work, has drawn his inspiration from a series of unexecuted designs of le notre which have recently been brought to light from the innermost depths of the national archives. it was a safe way of avoiding an anachronism, and this time a government architect has chosen well his plan of execution. in later years the question of the reëmbellishment of the garden of the tuileries has ever been before the public, but little has actually been changed save the remaking of certain garden plots, the planting of a few shrubs or the placing of a few statues. the garden of the tuileries has a superficial area of , square metres. it is the most popular of all open spaces in the capital to the parisian who would take his walks abroad not too far from the centre of things. the chief curiosity of the garden is the celebrated chestnut tree which burst into flower on the day of napoleon's arrival from elba--march . the precocious tree has ever been revered by the bonapartists since, though the tree has never performed the trick the second time. statues innumerable are scattered here and there through the garden and give a certain sense of liveliness to the area. some are by famous names, others by those less renowned, but as a whole they make little impression on one, chiefly, perhaps, because one does not come to the garden of the tuileries to see statues. to the left and right are the terraces, first laid out by the celebrated le notre. like the hanging gardens of babylon, they overlook a lower level of _parterres_, gravelled walks and ornamental waters. along the rue de rivoli is the terrasse de l'orangerie, and on the side of the river is the terrasse de la marine. according to the original plans of le notre the garden was set down as five hundred _toises_ in length, and one hundred and sixty-eight _toises_ in width, the latter dimension corresponding to that of the façade of the palace. along the shady avenues of this admirable city garden of to-day an enterprising _concessionaire_ has won a fortune by renting out rush-bottomed chairs to nursemaids, retired old gentlemen with red ribbons in their buttonholes, and trippers from across the channel. it is a perfectly legitimate enterprise and a profitable one it would seem, and has been in operation considerably more than half a century. it was from the gardens of the tuileries in that took place blanchard's celebrated ascension in montgolfier's balloon and brought forth the encomium from the british royal society that the body was not in the least surprised that a frenchman should have solved the problem of "volatability." the french monarch, more practical, was so mightily pleased with the success of the experiment that he bestowed upon the author the sum of four hundred thousand francs from his treasury to be used for the perfection of the art. chapter viii the palais cardinal and the palais royal with the louvre and the tuileries the palais royal shares the popular interest of the traveller among all the monuments of paris. no other edifice evokes more vivid souvenirs of its historic past than this hybrid palace of richelieu. one dreams even to-day, of its sumptuousness, its legends, its amusing and extravagant incidents which cast a halo of romantic interest over so many illustrious personages. so thoroughly parisian is the palais royal in all things that it has been called "the capital of paris." not far from the walled and turreted stronghold of the old louvre rose the private palaces, only a little less royal, of the rambouillets, the mercoeurs and other nobles of the courtly train. they lived, too, in almost regal state until armand du plessis de richelieu came to humble their pride, by fair means or foul, by buying up or destroying their sumptuous dwellings, levelling off a vast area of land, and, in , commencing work on that imposing pile which was first known as the palais cardinal, later the palais d'orleans, then as the palais de la revolution and finally as the palais royal. it was near, yet far enough away from the royal residence of the louvre not to be overshadowed by it. the edifice enclosed a great square of ground laid out with symmetrically planted trees and adorned with fountains and statues. from the great central square four smaller courts opened out to each of the principal points of the compass; there were also, besides the living rooms, a chapel, two theatres, ballrooms, boudoirs and picture galleries, all of a luxury never before dreamed of but by kings. the main entrance was in the rue saint honoré, and over its portal were the graven arms of richelieu, surmounted by the cardinal's hat and the inscription: "palais cardinal." like his english compeer, wolsey, richelieu's ardour for building knew no restraint. he added block upon block of buildings and yard upon yard to garden walls until all was a veritable labyrinth. finally the usually subservient louis saw the condition of things; he liked it not that his minister should dwell in marble halls more gorgeous than his own. as a matter of policy the cardinal ceased to build more and at his death, as if to atone, willed the entire property to his king. as the palais cardinal, the edifice was subjected to many impertinent railleries from the public which, as a whole, was ever antagonistic to the "_homme rouge_." they did not admit the right of an apostolic prelate of the church to lodge himself so luxuriously when the very precepts of his religion recommended modesty and humility. richelieu's contemporaries did not hesitate to admire wonderingly all this luxury of life and its accessories, and corneille, in the "_menteur_" ( ), makes one of the principal characters say: "non, l'univers ne peut rien voir d'égal aux superbes dehors du palais cardinal; toute une ville entière avec pompe bâtie, semble d'un vieux fossé par miracle sortie, et nous fais présumer à ses superbes toits que tous ses habitants sont des dieux ou des rois." the ground plan of the palais cardinal was something unique among city palaces. in the beginning ground values were not what they are to-day in paris. there were acres upon acres of greensward set about and cut up with gravelled walks, great alleyed rows of trees, groves without number and galleries and colonnades innumerable. without roared the traffic of a great city, a less noisy traffic than that of to-day, perhaps, but still a contrasting maelstrom of bustle and furor as compared with the tranquillity within. after the edifice was finished it actually fell into disuse, except for the periodical intervals when the cardinal visited the capital. at other times it was as quiet as a cemetery. moss grew on the flags, grass on the gravelled walks and tangled shrubbery killed off the budding flowers of the gardens. richelieu's last home-coming, after the execution of cinq-mars at lyons, was a tragic one. the despot of france, once again under his own rooftree, threw himself upon his bed surrounded by his choicest pictures and tapestries, and paid the price of his merciless arrogance towards all men--and women--by folding his wan hands upon his breast and exclaiming, somewhat unconvincingly: "thus do i give myself to god." as if recalling himself to the stern reality of things he added: "i have no enemies but those of state." in a robe of purple silk, supported by pillows of the finest down and covered with the rarest of laces, he rigidly straightened himself out and expired without a shudder, with the feeling that he was well beyond the reach of invisible foes. but before he died richelieu received a visit from his king in person. this was another token of his invincible power. thus the palais royal was evolved from the palais cardinal of richelieu. richelieu gave the orders for its construction to jacques lemercier immediately after he had dispossessed the rambouillets and the mercoeurs, intending at first to erect only a comparatively modest town dwelling with an ample garden. vanity, or some other passion, finally caused to grow up the magnificently proportioned edifice which was called the palais cardinal instead of that which was to be known more modestly as the hotel de richelieu. vast and imposing, but not without a certain graceful symmetry, the palais royal of to-day is a composition of many separate edifices divided by a series of courts and gardens and connected by arcaded galleries. the right wing enclosed an elaborate salle de spectacle while that to the left enclosed an equally imposing chamber with a ceiling by philippe de champaigne, known as the galerie des hommes illustrés, and further ornamented with portraits of most of the court favourites of both sexes of the time. the architectural ornamentation of this gallery was of the doric order, most daringly interspersed with moulded ships' prows, anchors, cables and what not of a marine significance. in , divining the attitude of envy of many of the nobility who frequented his palace, richelieu--great man of politics that he was--made a present of the entire lot of curios to louis xiii, but undertaking to house them for him, which he did until his death in . at the death of louis xiii the palais cardinal, which had been left to him in its entirety by the will of richelieu, came to anne d'autriche, the regent, who, with the infant louis xiv and the royal family, installed herself therein, and from now on (october , ), the edifice became known as the palais royal. now commenced the political rôle of this sumptuous palace which hitherto had been but the cardinal's caprice. mazarin had succeeded richelieu, and to escape the anger of the frondeurs, he, with the regent and the two princes, louis xiv and the duc d'anjou, fled to the refuge of saint germain-en-laye. in company with mademoiselle de montpensier, who had been rudely awakened from her slumbers in the luxembourg, they took a coach in the dead of night for saint germain. it was a long and weary ride; the _pavi du roi_ was then, as now, the most execrable suburban highroad in existence. when calm was reëstablished mazarin refused to allow the regent to take up her residence again in the old abode of richelieu and turned it over to henriette de france, the widow of charles i, who had been banished from england by cromwell. thirty odd years later louis xiv, when he was dreaming of his versailles project, made a gift of the property to his nephew, philippe d'orleans, duc de chartres. important reconstructions and rearrangements had been carried on from time to time, but nothing so radical as to change the specious aspect of the palace of the cardinal's time, though it had been considerably enlarged by extending it rearward and annexing the hotel danville in the present rue richelieu. mansart on one occasion was called in and built a new gallery that coypel decorated with fourteen compositions after the Ænid of virgil. under the regency the salon d'entrée was redecorated by oppenard, and a series of magnificent fêtes was organized by the pleasure-loving queen from the austrian court. richelieu's theatre was made into an opera-house, and masked balls of an unparalleled magnificence were frequently given, not forgetting to mention--without emphasis however--suppers of a pantagruelian opulence and lavish orgies at which the chronicles only hint. in , monsieur, brother of the king, took up his official residence in the palace, enlarged it in various directions and in many ways transformed and improved it. having become the sole proprietor of the edifice and its gardens, by letters patent of february, , the duc d'orleans left this superb property, in , to his son the too famous regent, philippe d'orleans, whose orgies and extravagances rendered the palais royal notorious to the utmost corners of europe. the first years of the eighteenth century were indeed notorious. it was then that palais royal became the head-centre for debauch and abandon. it is from this epoch, too, that date the actual structures which to-day form this vast square of buildings, at all events their general outline is little changed to-day from what it was at that time. if the regent's policy was to carry the freedom and luxury of richelieu's time to excess, replacing even the edifices of the cardinal with more elaborate structures, his son louis ( - ) sought in his turn to surround them with an atmosphere more austere. a disastrous fire in caused the palais royal to be rebuilt by order of louis philippe d'orleans, the future philippe-egalité, by the architect moreau, who carried out the old traditions as to form and outline, and considerably increased the extent and number of the arcades from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and seven. these the astute duke immediately rented out to shopkeepers at an annual rental of more than ten millions. this section was known characteristically enough as the palais marchand, and thus the garden came to be surrounded by a monumental and classic arcade of shops which has ever remained a distinct feature of the palace. a second fire burned out the national opera, which now sought shelter in the palais royal, and in the theatre des varietés amusantes was constructed, and which has since been made over into the home of the comédie française. the transformations imposed by philippe-egalité were considerable, and the famous chestnut trees, which had been planted within the courtyard in the seventeenth century by richelieu, were cut down. he built also the three transverse galleries which have cut the gardens of to-day into much smaller plots than they were in richelieu's time. in spite of this there is still that pleasurable tranquillity to be had therein to-day, scarcely a stone's throw from the rush and turmoil of the whirlpool of wheeled traffic which centres around the junction of the rue richelieu with the avenue de l'opera. it is as an oasis in a turbulent sandstorm, a beneficent shelf of rock in a whirlpool of rapids. the only thing to be feared therein is that a toy aeroplane of some child will put an eye out, or that the more devilish _diabolo_ will crack one's skull. under the regency of the duc philippe d'orleans the various apartments of the palace were the scenes of scandalous goings-on, which were related at great length in the chronicles of the time. it was a very mixed world which now frequented the _purlieus_ of the palais royal. men and women about town jostled with men of affairs, financiers, speculators and agitators of all ranks and of questionable respectability. milords, as strangers from across the manche came first to be known here, delivered themselves to questionable society and still more questionable pleasures. it was at a little later period that the duc de chartres authorized the establishment of the cafés and restaurants which for a couple of generations became the most celebrated rendezvous in paris--the café de foy, the café de la paix, the café carrazzo and various other places of reunion whose very names, to say nothing of the incidents connected therewith, have come down to history. it was the establishment of these public rendezvous which contributed so largely to the events which unrolled themselves in the palais royal in . this "eden de l'enfer," as it was known, has in late years been entirely reconstructed; the old haunts of the empire have gone and nothing has come to take their place. then came another class of establishments which burned brilliantly in the second rank and were, in a way, political rendezvous also--the café de chartres and the café de valois. of all these palais royal cafés of the early nineteenth century the most gorgeous and brilliant was the café des mille colonnes, though its popularity was seemingly due to the charms of the _maitresse de la maison_, a madame romain, whose husband was a dried-up, dwarfed little man of no account whatever. madame romain, however, lived well up to her reputation as being "_incontestablement la plus jolie femme de paris_." by the fame of the establishment had begun to wane and in it expired, though the "_almanach des gourmands_" of the latter year said that the proprietor was the véry of _limonadiers_, that his ices were superb, his salons magnificent--and his prices exorbitant. perhaps it was the latter that did it! another establishment, founded in , was domiciled here, the clients being served by "_odalisques en costume oriental, très seduisantes_." this is quoted from the advertisements of the day. the café was called the café des circassiennes, and there was a _sultane_, who was the presiding genius of the place. it met with but an indifferent success and soon closed its doors despite its supposedly all-compelling attractions. in the mid-nineteenth century a revolution came over the cafés of paris. tobacco had invaded their precincts; previously one smoked only in the _estaminets_. three cafés of the palais royal resisted the innovation, the café de la galerie d'orleans, the café de foy and the café de la rotonde. to-day, well, to-day things are different. the theatre du palais royal of to-day was the theatre des marionettes of the comte de beaujolais, which had for contemporaries the fantoches italiens, the ombres chinoises and the musée curtius, perhaps the first of the wax-works shows that in later generations became so popular. the palais royal had now become a vast amusement enterprise, with side-shows of all sorts, theatres, concerts, cafés, restaurants, clubs, gambling-houses and what not--all paying rents, and high ones, to the proprietor. in the centre of the garden, where is now the fountain and its basin, was a circus, half underground and half above, and there were innumerable booths and kiosks for the sale of foolish trifles, all paying tribute to the ground landlord. gaming at the palais royal was not wholly confined to the public gambling houses. during the carnival season of the gambling which went on in the royal apartments became notorious for even that profligate time: in one night the duc de chartres lost eight thousand _livres_. louis xvi, honest man, took all due precautions to reduce this extravagance, but was impotent. between the courtyard fountain and the northern arcade of the inner palace was placed the famous cannon du palais royal, which, by an ingenious disposition, was fired each day at midday by the action of the sun's rays. all the world stood around awaiting the moment when watches might be regulated for another twenty-four hours. the celebrated abbé delille, to whom the beauties of the gardens were being shown, deplored the lack of good manners on the part of the habitués and delivered himself of the following appropriate quatrain: "dans ce jardin tout se rencontrée exceptê l'ombrage et les fleurs; si l'on y dêregle ses moeurs du moins on y règle sa montre." the galerie de bois was perhaps the most disreputable of all the palace confines. it was a long, double row of booths which only disappeared when louis-philippe built the glass-covered galerie d'orleans. up to the eve of the revolution the palais royal enjoyed the same privileges as the temple and the luxembourg, and became a sort of refuge whereby those who sought to escape from the police might lose themselves in the throng. the monarch himself was obliged to ask permission of the duc d'orleans that his officials might pursue their police methods within the outer walls. it was july , . the evening before, louis xvi had dismissed his minister, neckar, but only on sunday, the th, did the news get abroad. at the same time it was learned that the regiment known as the royal allemand, under the orders of the prince de lambesc, had charged the multitude gathered before the gates of the tuileries. cries of "a mort!" "aux armes!" "vengeance!" were hurled in air from all sides. at high noon in the gardens of the palais royal, on the th, as the midday sun was scorching the flagstones to a grilling temperature, the sound of a tiny cannon shot smote the still summer air with an echo which did not cease reverberating for months. the careless, unthinking promenaders suddenly grew grave, then violently agitated and finally raving, heedlessly mad. a young unknown limb of the law, camille desmoulins, rushed bareheaded and shrieking out of the café de foy, parted the crowd as a ship parts the waves, sprang upon a chair and harangued the multitude with such a vehemence and conviction that they were with him as one man. "citizens," he said, "i come from versailles * * * it only remains for us to choose our colours. _quelle couleur voulez vous?_ green, the colour of hope; or the blue of cincinnati, the colour of american liberty and democracy." _"nous avons assez déliberé!_ deliberate further with our hands not our hearts! we are the party the most numerous: to arms!" on the morrow, the now famous th of july, the frenchman's "glorious fourteenth," the people rose and the bastille fell. revolutionary decree, in , converted the palace and its garden into the palais et jardin de la révolution, and appropriated them as national property. napoleon granted the palace to the tribunal for its seat, and during the hundred days lucien bonaparte took up his residence there. in louis philippe d'orleans gave a great fête here in honour of the king of naples who had come to the capital to pay his respects to the french king. charles x, assisting at the ceremony as an invited guest, was also present and a month later came again to actually inhabit the palace and make it royal once more. [illustration: the galleries of the palais-royal under napoleon first.] the table herewith showing the ramifications of the bourbon orleans family in modern times is interesting--all collateral branches of the genealogical tree sprouting from that of louis philippe. the heraldic embellishments of this family tree offer a particular interest in that the armorial blazonings are in accord with a decree of the french tribunal, handed down a few years since, which establishes the right to the head of the house to bear the _écu plein de france--d'azur a trois fleurs de lys d'or_, thus establishing the orleans legitimacy. [illustration] the republic of made the palace the headquarters of the cour des comptes and of the État major of the national guard. under napoleon iii the palais royal became the dwelling of prince jerome, the uncle of the emperor. later it served the same purpose for the son of prince napoleon. it was at this epoch that the desecration of scraping out the blazoned _lys_ and the chipping off the graven bourbon _armoiries_ took place. whenever one or the other hated bourbon symbol was found, eagles, phoenix-like, sprang up in their place, only in their turn to disappear when the republican device of ' (now brought to light again), _liberté, egalité, fraternité_--replaced them. during the commune of a part of the left wing and the central pavilion suffered by fire, but restorations under the architect, chabrol, brought them back again to much their original outlines. through all its changes of tenure and political vicissitudes little transformation took place as to the ground plan, or sky-line silhouette, of the chameleon palace of cardinal, king and emperor, and while in no sense is it architecturally imposing or luxurious, it is now, as ever in the past, one of the most distinctive of paris's public monuments. to-day the palais royal proper may be said to face on place du palais royal, with its principal entrance at the end of a shallow courtyard separated from the street by an iron grille and flanked by two unimposing pavilions. the principal façade hides the lodging of the conseil d'État and is composed of but the ground floor, a story above and an attic. the aile montpensier, which follows on from the edifice which houses the comédie française, was, until recently, occupied by the cour des comptes. the aile de valois fronts the street of that name, and here the princes d'orleans and king jerome made their residence. to-day the same wing is devoted to the uses of the under secretary for the beaux arts. it is not necessary to insist on, nor reiterate, the decadence of the palais royal. it is no longer the "capitol of paris," and whatever its charms may be they are mostly equivocal. it is more a desert than an oasis or a _temple de la volupté_, and it was each of these things in other days. its priestesses and its gambling houses are gone, and who shall say this of itself is not a good thing in spite of the admitted void. the mediocrity of the palais royal is apparent to all who have the slightest acquaintance with the architectural orders, but for all that its transition from the palais du cardinal, palais egalité, palais de la revolution and palais du tribunat to the palais royal lends to it an interest that many more gloriously artistic paris edifices quite lack. there is a movement on foot to-day to resurrect the palais royal to some approach to its former distinction, which is decidedly what it has not been for the past quarter of a century. satirical persons have demanded as to what should be made of it, a _vélodrome_ or a skating-rink, but this is apart from a real consideration of the question for certain it is that much of its former charm can be restored to it without turning it into a luna park. it is one of the too few paris breathing-spots, and as such should be made more attractive than it is at the present time. it was sixty years ago, when louis philippe was the legitimate owner of the palais royal, its galleries, its shops, its theatre and its gardens, that it came to its first debasement. "one went there on tip-toe, and spoke in a whisper," said a writer of the time, and one does not need to be particularly astute to see the significance of the remark. it was alphonse karr, the _écrivain-jardinier_, who set the new vogue for the palais royal, but his interest and enthusiasm was not enough to resurrect it, and so in later years it has sunk lower and lower. the solitude of the palais royal has become a mockery and a solecism. it is virtually a _campo santo_, or could readily be made one, and this in spite of the fact that it occupies one of the busiest and noisiest quarters of the capital, a quadrangle bounded by the rues valois, beaujolais, montpensier and the place du palais royal. the moment one enters its portal the simile accentuates and the hybrid shops which sell such equivocal bric-a-brac to clients of no taste and worse affectations carry out the idea of a cloister still further, for actually the clients are few, and those mostly strangers. one holds his breath and ambles through the corridors glad enough to escape the bustle of the narrow streets which surround it, but, on the other hand, glad enough to get out into the open again. chapter ix the luxembourg, the elysÉe and the palais bourbon the kings and queens of france were not only rulers of the nation, but they dominated the life of the capital as well. upon their crowning or entry into paris it was the custom to command a gift by right from the inhabitants. in isabeau de bavière, of dire memory, got sixty thousand _couronnes d'or_, and in , and again in , was presented with six thousand and ten thousand _livres parisis_ respectively. the king levied personal taxes on the inhabitants, who were thus forced to pay for the privilege of having him live among them, those of the professions and craftsmen, who might from time to time serve the royal household, paying the highest fees. it was during the period of richelieu's ministry that paris flowered the most profusely. the constructions of this epoch were so numerous and imposing that corneille in his comedy "le menteur," first produced in , made his characters speak thus: dorante: paris semble à mes yeux un pays de roman * * * en superbes palais a changé ses buissons * * * aux superbes dehors du palais cardinal tout la ville entière, avec pomp bâtie * * * in , louis xiv divided the capital into twenty _quartiers_, or wards, and in - louis xv built a new city wall; but it was only with louis xvi that the faubourgs were at last brought within the city limits. under the empire and the restoration but few changes were made, and with the piercing of the new boulevards under napoleon iii and baron haussmann the city came to be of much the same general plan that it is to-day. in the olden time, between the palais de la cité and the louvre and the palais des tournelles, extending even to the walls of charenton, was a gigantic garden, a carpet embroidered with as varied a colouring as the _tapis d'orient_ of the poets, and cut here and there by alleys which separated it into little checker-board squares. within this maze was the celebrated jardin dedalus that louis xi gave to coictier, and above it rose the observatory of the savant like a signal tower of the romans. this centered upon what is now the place des vosges, formerly the place royale. to-day, how changed is all this "intermediate, indeterminate" region! how changed, indeed! there is nothing vague and indeterminate about it to-day. the earliest of the little known paris palaces was the palais des thermes. it may be dismissed almost in a word from any consideration of the royal dwellings of paris, though it was the residence of several roman emperors and two queens of france. a single apartment of the old palace of the romans exists to-day--the old roman baths--but nothing of the days of the emperor constantius chlorus, who founded the palace in honour of julian who was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers in a.d. the frankish monarchs, if they ever resided here at all, soon transferred their headquarters to the palais de la cité, the ruins falling into the possession of the monks of cluny, who built the present hotel de cluny on the site. of all the minor french palaces the luxembourg and the elysée are the most often heard of in connection with the life of modern times. the first is something a good deal more than an art museum, and the latter more than the residence for the republican president, though the guide-book makers hardly think it worth while to write down the facts. the palais du luxembourg has been called an imitation of the pitti palace at florence, but, beyond the fact that it was an italian conception of marie de médici's, it is difficult to follow the suggestion, as the architect, jacques debrosse, one of the ablest of frenchmen in his line, simply carried out the work on the general plan of the time of its building, the early seventeenth century. its three not very extensive pavilions are joined together by a colonnade which encloses a rather foreboding flagged courtyard, a conception, or elaboration, of the original edifice by chalgrin, in , under the orders of napoleon. the garden front, though a restoration of louis philippe, is more in keeping with the original médici plan; that, at any rate, is to its credit. to-day the luxembourg, the republican palais du sénat, is but an echo of the four centuries of aristocratic existence which upheld the name and fame of its first proprietor, the duc de piney-luxembourg, prince de tigry, who built it in the sixteenth century. from to the palace underwent important restorations and the last persons to inhabit it before the revolution were the duchesse de brunswick, the queen dowager of spain and the comte de provence, brother of louis xvi, to whom it had been given by letters patent in . [illustration: _palais du luxembourg_] in the convention thought so little of it that they made it a prison, and a few years later it was called again the palais du directoire, and, before the end of the century, the palais du consulat. this was but a brief glory, as napoleon transferred his residence in accordance with his augmenting ambitions, to the tuileries in the following year. by the edifice had become known as the palais du sénat, then as the headquarters of the préfecture of the seine, and finally, as to-day, the palais du luxembourg, the seat of the french senate and the residence of the president of that body. the principal public apartments are the library, the "salle des séances," the "buvette"--formerly napoleon's "cabinet de travail," the "salle des pas perdus"--formerly the "salle du trone," the grand gallery and the apartments of marie de médici. the chapel is modern and dates only from . the palais du petit luxembourg is the official residence of the president of the senate and dates also from the time of marie de médici. the picture gallery is housed in a modern structure to the west of the petit luxembourg. [illustration] the façade of the palais du sénat is not altogether lovely and has little suggestion of the daintiness of the petit luxembourg, but, for all that, it presents a certain dignified pose and the edifice serves its purpose well as the legislative hall of the upper house. [illustration: _the petit luxembourg_] the gardens of the luxembourg form another of those favourite paris playgrounds for nursemaids and their charges. it is claimed that the children are all little legitimists in the luxembourg gardens, whereas they are all red republicans at the tuileries. one has no means of knowing this with certainty, but it is assumed; at any rate the legitimists are a very numerous class in the neighbourhood. another class of childhood to be seen here is that composed of the offsprings of artists and professors of the latin quarter, and of the active tradesmen of the neighbourhood. they come here, like the others, for the fresh air, to see a bit of greenery, to hear the band play, to sail their boats in the basins of the great fountain and enjoy themselves generally. one notes a distinct difference in the dress and manners of the children of the gardens of the luxembourg from those of the tuileries and wonders if the breach will be widened further as they grow up. the jardin du luxembourg is all that a great city garden should be, ample, commodious, decorative and as thoroughly typical of paris as the pont neuf. innumerable, but rather mediocre, statues are posed here and there between the palace and the observatory at the end of the long, tree-lined avenue which stretches off to the south, the only really historical monument of this nature being the celebrated fontaine de médicis by debrosse, the architect of the palace. it was a memorial to marie de médici. while one is in this quarter of paris he has an opportunity to recall a royal memory now somewhat dimmed by time, but still in evidence if one would delve deep. as a matter of fact, royalty never had much to do with this hybrid quarter of paris, though, indeed, its past was romantic enough, bordering as it does upon the real latin quarter of the students. bounded on one side by the immense domain of the luxembourg, it stretched away indefinitely beyond vaugiraud, almost to clamart and sceaux. [illustration: _the luxembourg gardens_] at no. boulevard montparnasse is an elaborate seventeenth house-front half hidden by the "modern style" flats of twentieth century paris. this relic of the _grand siècle_, with its profusion of sculptured details, was the house bought by louis xiv about and given to the "widow scarron," the "young and beautiful widow of the court," as a recompense for the devotion with which she had educated the three children of the marquise de montespan, who, in , were legitimatized as princes of the royal house--the duc de maine, the comte de vexin and mademoiselle de mantes. madame scarron, who became in time madame de maintenon, the "_vraie reine du roi_," died in , and the house passed to la tour d'auvergne. on this same side of the river are the palais de l'institut and the palais bourbon. the palais de l'institut, or palais mazarin, is hardly to be considered one of the domestic establishments, the dwellings of kings, with which contemporary paris was graced. it was but a creation of mazarin, the minister, on the site of the hôtel de nesle, and was first known as the palais des quatre nations, where were educated, at the expense of the cardinal, sixty young men of various nationalities. the old chapel has since been transformed into the "salle des séances" of the institut de france, the five french academies. the black, gloomy façade of the edifice, to-day, in spite of the cupola which gives a certain inspiring dignity, is not lovely, and tradition and sentiment alone give it its present interest, though it is undeniably picturesque. an inscription used to be on the pedestal of one of the fountains opposite the entrance which read: "superbe habitant du desert en ce lieu, dis moi, que fais tu --tu le vois à mon habit vert je suis membre de l'institut." if the inscription were still there it would save the asking of a lot of silly questions by strangers who pass this way for the first time. the palais de l'institut is one of the sights of paris, and its functions are notable, though hardly belonging to the romantic school of past days, for at present poets often make their entrée via montmartre's "chat noir," or are elected simply because some other candidate has been "_blackbouled_." still following along the left bank of the seine one comes to the palais bourbon, the chambre des deputés, as it is better known. this edifice, where now sit the french deputies, was built by girardini for the dowager duchesse de bourbon in , and, though much changed during various successive eras, is still a unique variety of architectural embellishment which is not uncouth, nor yet wholly appealing. napoleon remade the heavily imposing façade, so familiar to all who cross the river by the pont de la concorde, but its grimness is its charm rather than its grace. the structure cost its first proprietor twenty million or more francs, and since it has become national property the outlay has been constant. everything considered it makes a poor showing; but its pseudo-greek façade, were it removed, would certainly be missed in this section of paris. the principal apartments are the "salle des pas perdus," the "salle des séances," and the "salle des conferences"--where, in , the duc d'orleans took the oath as king of france. a recent discovery has been made in the lumber room of this old palais bourbon, where deputies howl and shout and make laws as noisily as in any other of the world's parliaments. [illustration: the throne of the palais-bourbon] this particular "find" was the throne constructed in for louis xviii, with its upholstering of velvet embroidered with the golden fleur-de-lis. the records tell that this throne also served louis philippe under the second empire, and also was used under the monarchy of july. it was after the momentous "quatre setembre" that it was finally relegated to the garret, but now, as a historical souvenir of the first rank, it has been placed prominently where all who visit the palais bourbon may see it. the history of the palais de l'elysée has not been particularly vivid, though for two centuries it has played a most important part in the life of the capital. in later years it has served well enough the presidential dignity of the chief magistrate of the french republic and is thus classed as a national property. actually, since its construction, it has changed its name as often as it has changed its occupants. its first occupant was its builder, louis d'auvergne, comte d'evreux, who built himself this great town house on a plot of land which had been given him by louis xv. apparently the young man had no means of his own for the construction of his luxurious city dwelling, for he refilled his coffers by marriage with the rich daughter of the financier crozat. the new-made countess's mother-in-law apparently never had much respect for her son's choice as she forever referred to her as "the little gold ingot." "the ingot" served to construct the palace, however, though at the death of its builder, soon after, it came into the proprietorship of la pompadour, who spent the sum of six hundred and fifty thousand _livres_ in aggrandizing it. it became her town house, whither she removed when she grew tired of versailles or bagatelle. history tells of an incident in connection with a fête given at the palais de l'elysée by la pompadour. it was at the epoch of the "_bergeries à la watteau_." the blond pompadour had the idea of introducing into the salons a troop of living, sad-eyed sheep, combed and curled like the poodles in the carriages of the fashionables in the bois to-day. the quadrupeds, greatly frightened by the flood of light, fell into a panic, and the largest ram among them, seeing his duplicate in a mirror, made for it in the traditional ram-like manner. he raged for an hour or more from one apartment to another, followed by the whole flock, which committed incalculable damage before it could be turned into the gardens. such was one of the costly caprices of la pompadour. she had many. la pompadour's brother, the marquis de menars et de marigny, continued the work of embellishment of the property up to the day when louis xv bought it as a dwelling for the ambassadors to his court. its somewhat restricted park, ornamented with a grotto and a cascade, was at this time one of the curiosities of the capital. in , the financier beaujon bought the property from the king and added considerably to it under the direction of the architect boullée, who also re-designed the gardens. thanks to beaujon, the wonderful gobelins of to-day were hung upon the walls, and many paintings by rubens, poissin, van loo, von ostade, murillo, paul potter and joseph vernet were added. the death of the financier brought the property into the hands of the duchesse de bourbon, the sister of louis philippe, and the mother of the duc d' enghien, who died so tragically at vincennes a short time after. the duchess renamed her new possession elysée-bourbon and there led a very retired and sad life among surroundings so splendid that they merited a more gay existence. at the revolution the palace became a national property, and, under the consulate, was the scene of many popular fêtes, it having been rented to a concern which arranged balls and other entertainments for the pleasure of all who could afford to pay. its name was now the hameau de chantilly, and, considering that the entrance tickets cost but fifteen sous--including a drink--it must have proved a cheap, satisfying and splendid amusement for the people. this state of affairs lasted until , when murat bought it and here held his little court up to his departure for naples, when, in gratefulness for past favours, he gave it to napoleon. the emperor greatly loved this new abode, which he rechristened the elysée-napoleon. after his defeat at waterloo napoleon, limping lamely parisward, down through the forests of compiègne and villers-cotterets, sought in the elysée-napoleon the repose and rest which he so much needed, the throng meanwhile promenading before the palace windows, shouting at the tops of their voices "vive l'empereur!" though, as the world well knew, his power had waned forever; the eagle's wings were broken. the throng still crowded the precincts of the palace, but the emperor fled secretly by the garden gate. on the return of the duchesse de bourbon from spain the magnificent structure became again the elysée-bourbon. the duchess ceded the palace to the duc and duchesse de berry but, at the duke's death, in , his widow abandoned it. some time after it was occupied by the duc de bordeaux, and, in , it became one of the long list of establishments whose maintenance devolved upon the civil list, though it remained practically uninhabited all through the reign of louis philippe. in , the national assembly designated the palace as the official residence for the presidents of the french republic. three years after, on the night of the first of december, as the last preparations were being made by louis bonaparte for the coup d' État and the final strangling of the young republic, the residence of the president was transferred to the tuileries, and the palace of the faubourg saint honoré was again left without a tenant, and served only to give hospitality from time to time to passing notables. after the burning of the tuileries, and the coming of the third republic, the elysée palace again became the presidential residence, and so it remains to-day. one of the most notable of modern events connected with the elysée palace was the _diner de ceremonie_ offered by the president of the republic and madame fallières to mr. and mrs. roosevelt in april, . the dinner was served in the "grand salle des fêtes" and the music which accompanied the repast was furnished by the band of the _garde republicain_, beginning with the national anthem of america and finishing with that of france. never had a private citizen, a foreigner, been so received by the first magistrate of france. the toast of president fallières was as follows: "before this repast terminates i wish to profit by the occasion offered to drink the health of monsieur theodore roosevelt, an illustrious man, a great citizen and a good friend of france and the cause of peace. i raise my glass to madame roosevelt who may be assured of our respectful and sympathetic homage, and i am very glad to be able to say to our guests that we count ourselves very fortunate in being allowed to meet them in person and show them this mark of respect." chapter x vincennes and conflans [illustration: vincennes under charles v] vincennes is to-day little more than a dull, dirty paris suburb; if anything its complexion is a deeper drab than that of saint denis, and to call the bois de vincennes a park "somewhat resembling the bois de boulogne," as do the guidebooks, is ridiculous. in reality vincennes is nothing at all except a memory. there is to-day little suggestion of royal origin about the smug and murky surroundings of the chateau de vincennes; but nevertheless, it once was a royal residence, and the drama which unrolled itself within its walls was most vividly presented. a book might be written upon it, with the following as the chapter headings: "the royal residence," "the minimes of the bois de vincennes," "mazarin at vincennes," "the prisoners of the donjon," "the fêtes of the revolution," "the death of the duc d'enghien," "the transformation of the chateau and the bois." its plots are ready-made, but one has to take them on hearsay, for the old chateau does not open its doors readily to the stranger for the reason that it to-day ranks only as a military fortress, and an artillery camp is laid out in the quadrangle, intended, if need be, to aid in the defence of paris. this is one of the things one hears about, but of which one may not have any personal knowledge. the first reference to the name of vincennes is in a ninth century charter, where it appears as _vilcenna_. the foundation of the original chateau-fort on the present site is attributed to louis vii, who, in , having alienated a part of the neighbouring forest in favour of a body of monks, built himself a suburban rest-house under shelter of the pious walls of their convent. philippe auguste, too, has been credited with being the founder of vincennes; but, at all events, the chateau took on no royal importance until the reign of saint louis, who acquired the habit of dispensing justice to all comers seated beneath an oak in the near-by forest of joinville. the erection of the later chateau was begun by charles, comte de valois, brother of philippe-le-bel; and it was completed by philippe vi of valois, and his successor, jean-le-bon, between the years and , when it became an entirely new manner of edifice from what it had been before. it was in this chateau that was born charles v, to whom indeed it owes its completion in the form best known. to-day, the outlines of the mass of the chateau de vincennes are considerably abbreviated from their former state. originally it was quite regular in outline, its walls forming a rectangle flanked by nine towers, the great donjon which one sees to-day occupying the centre of one side. the chapel was begun in the reign of françois i and terminated in that of henri ii. its coloured glass, painted by jean cousin from the designs of raphael, is notable. the chapel at vincennes, with the saint chapelle of the palais de justice at paris, ranks as one of the most exquisite examples extant of french gothic architecture. it was begun in , but chiefly it is of the sixteenth century, since it was only completed in . this chapel of the sixteenth century, and the two side wings flanking the tower of the reign of louis xiv, make the chateau de vincennes a most precious specimen of mediæval ecclesiastical and military architecture. if napoleon had not cut down the height of the surrounding walls the comparison would be still more favourable. in the reproduction of the miniature from the book of hours of the duc de berry given herein one sees the perfect outlines of the fourteenth century edifice. in later years, louis xiii added considerably to the existing structure, but little is now to be seen of that edifice save the great tower and the chapel. charles ix, whose royal edict brought forth the bloody night of saint bartholomew in , fell sick two years later in the chateau de vincennes. calling his surgeon, ambroise paré, to his side he exclaimed: "my body burns with fever; i see the mangled huguenots all about me; holy virgin, how they mock me; i wish, paré, i had spared them." and thus he died, abhorring the mother who had counselled him to commit this horrible deed. the donjon of vincennes was carried to its comparatively great height that it might serve as a tower of observation as well as a place of last retreat if in an attack the outer walls of the fortress should give way. here at vincennes a certain massiveness is noted in connection with the donjon, though the actual ground area which it covers is not very great; it was not like many donjons of the time, which were virtually smaller chateaux or fortresses enclosed within a greater. vincennes, in comparison with many other contemporary edifices, possessed a certain regularity of outline which was made possible by its favourable situation. when others were of fantastic form, they were usually so built because of the configuration of the land, or the nature of the soil. but here the land was flat, and, though the edifice and its dependencies covered no very extended area, they followed rectangular lines with absolute precision. as its walls were of a thickness of three metres, it was a work easy of accomplishment for louis xi to turn the chateau into a prison of state, a use to which the first chateau had actually been put by the shutting up in it of enguerrand de marigny. henri iv, in , passed some solitary hours and days within its walls, and mirabeau did the same in . the duc d'enghien, under the first empire, before his actual death by shooting, suffered sorely herein, while resting under an unjust suspicion. [illustration: _chateau de vincennes_] in - the chateau became a great arsenal and general storehouse for the army. it was attacked by the allies and besieged twice, but in vain. it was defended against the armies of blucher by the baron daumesnil. summoned to surrender his charge, "jambe de bois" (so called because he had lost a leg the year before) replied: "i will surrender when you surrender to me my leg." a statue to this brave warrior is within the chateau, and commemorates further the fact that he capitulated only on terms laid down by himself out of his humane regard for the lives of friends and foes. the ministers of charles x, in , had cause to regret the strength of the chateau walls; and barbés, blanqui and raspail, in , and various republicans, who had been seized as dangerous elements of society after the coup d'État of , also here found an enforced hospitality. the chateau de vincennes had become a second bastille. the incident of the arrest and death of the duc d'enghien is one of the most dramatic in napoleonic history. the scene was vincennes. louis antoine henri de bourbon, son of the prince de condé, born at chantilly in , became, without just reason, suspected in connection with the cadoudal-pichegreu plot, and was seized by a squadron of cavalry at the schloss ettenheim in the duchy of baden and conducted to vincennes. here, after a summary judgment, he was shot at night in the moat behind the guardhouse. the obscurity of the night was so great that a lighted lantern was hung around the neck of the unfortunate man that the soldiers might the better see the mark at which they were to shoot. napoleon confided to josephine, who repeated the secret to madame de remusat, that his political future demanded a _coup d'État_. on the morning of the execution, the emperor, awakening at five o'clock, said to josephine: "by this time the duc d'enghien has passed from this life." the rest is history--of that apologetic kind which is not often recorded. in the chapel at vincennes a commemorative tablet was placed, by the orders of louis xviii, in , to mark the death of the young duke. the bois de vincennes is not the fashionable parade ground of the bois de boulogne. on the whole it is a sad sort of a public park, and not at all fashionable, and not particularly attractive, though of a vast extent and possessed of a profoundly historic past of far more significance than that of its sweet sister by the opposite gates of paris. [illustration: _a hunt under the walls of vincennes_ _from a fourteenth century print_] it contains ten hundred and sixty-nine hectares and was due originally to louis xv, who sought to have a sylvan gateway to the city from the east. under the second empire the park was considerably transformed, new roads and alleys traced, and an effort made to have it equal more nearly the beauty of the more popular bois de boulogne. it occupies the plateau lying between the seine and the bend in the marne, just above the junction of the two rivers. there are some forty kilometres of roadway within the limits of the bois de vincennes, and a dozen kilometres or more of footpaths; but, since the military authorities have taken a portion for their own uses as a training ground, a shooting range and for the batteries of la faisanderie and gravelle, it has been bereft of no small part of its former charm. there are three lakes in the bois, the lac de sainte mandé, the lac daumesnil and the lac de gravelle. a near neighbour of vincennes is conflans, another poor, rent relic of monarchial majesty. the chateau de conflans was situated at the juncture of the seine and marne, but, to-day, the immediate neighbourhood is so very unlovely and depressing that one can hardly believe that it ever pleased any one's fancy, least of all that of a kingly castle builder. banal dwellings on all sides are conflans' chief characteristics to-day; but the old royal abode still lifts a long length of roof and wall to mark the spot where once stood the chateau de conflans in all its glory. conflans was at first the country residence of the archbishops of paris, and saint louis frequently went into retreat here. when philippe-le-bel acquired the property, he promptly gave it to the comtesse d'artois who made of it one of the "_plus beaux castels du temps_." she decorated its long gallery, the portion of the edifice which exists to-day in the humble, emasculated form of a warehouse of some sort, in memory of her husband othon. here the countess held many historic receptions and ceremonies during which kings and princes frequently partook of her hospitality. [illustration: conflans from an old print.] after the death of the countess, the french king made his residence at conflans, and charles vi, when dauphin, was also lodged here that he might be near the capital in case of events which might require his presence. a contemporary account mentions the fact that his _valet de chambre_ was killed by lightning at conflans while serving his royal master. conflans was the preferred suburban residence of the princes and the ducs de bourgogne, and philippe-le-hardi there organized his tourneys and his _passes d'armes_ with great éclat, on one occasion alone offering one hundred and fifteen thousand _livres_ in prizes to the participants. this castle, for it was more castle than palace, was reputed one of the most magnificent in the neighbourhood of the paris of its time, surrounded as it was with a resplendent garden and a forest in miniature, really a part of the bois de vincennes of to-day, where roamed wild boar and wolves which furnished sport of a kingly kind. the view from the terrace of the chateau must have been wonderfully fine, the towers and roof-tops of old paris being silhouetted against the setting sun, its windows dominating the swift-flowing current of the two rivers at the foot of the fortress walls. the greatest event of history enacted under the walls of conflans was the battle and the treaty which followed after, between louis xi and the comte de charolais, in . commynes recounts the battle as follows: "four thousand archers were sent out from paris by the king, who fired upon the castle from the river bank on both sides." bows and arrows were hardly effective weapons with which to shoot down castle walls, but stragglers who left themselves unprotected were from time to time picked off on both sides and much carnage actually ensued. finally a treaty of peace was arranged, by which, at the death of charles-le-téméraire, according to usage, louis xi absorbed the proprietary rights in the castle and made it a _maison royale_, bestowing it upon one of his favourites, dame gillette hennequin. the kings of france about this time developed a predilection for the chateaux on the banks of the loire, and conflans was offered for sale in . divers personages occupied it from that time on, the maréchal de villeroy, the connetable de montmorency and, for a brief time, cardinal richelieu. it was in the chateau de conflans that was planned the foundation of the french academy; here molière and his players first presented "la critique de l'ecole des femmes"; and here, also, was held the marriage of la grande mademoiselle with the unhappy lauzan. at the end of the reign of louis xiv fr. de harlay-chauvallon, archbishop of paris, bought the property of richelieu, and, with the aid of mansart and le notre, considerably embellished it within and without. madame de sévigné, in one of her many published letters, writes of the splendours which she saw at conflans at this epoch. saint-simon, the court chronicler, mentions that the gardens were so immaculately kept that when the archbishop and "la belle" duchesse de lesdiguières used to promenade therein they were followed by a gardener who, with a rake, sought to remove the traces of each footprint as soon as made. later, the cardinal de beaumont, the persecutor of the jansenists, resided here. "notre archeveque est à conflans c'est un grand solitaire c'est un grand so c'est un grand so c'est un grand solitaire." the above verse is certainly banal enough, but the cardinal himself was a _drôle_, so perhaps it is appropriate. at any rate it is contemporary with the churchman's sojourn at conflans. chapter xi fontainebleau and its forest [illustration: original plan of fontainebleau] of all the french royal palaces fontainebleau is certainly the most interesting, despite the popularity and accessibility of versailles. it is moreover the cradle of the french renaissance. napoleon called it the maison des siècles, and the simile was just. after versailles, fontainebleau has ever held the first place among the suburban royal palaces. the celebrated "route de fontainebleau" of history was as much a _chemin du roi_ as that which led from the capital to versailles. versailles was gorgeous, even splendid, if you will; but it had not the unique characteristics, nor winsomeness of fontainebleau, nor ever will have, in the minds of those who know and love the france of monarchial days. [illustration: from paris to fontainebleau] not the least of the charm of fontainebleau is the neighbouring forest so close at hand, a few garden railings, not more, separating the palace from one of the wildest forest tracts of modern france. the forest of fontainebleau is full of memories of royal rendezvous, the carnage of wild beasts, the "_vraie image de la guerre_," of which the renaissance kings were so inordinately fond. it was from the palace of fontainebleau, too, that bloomed forth the best and most wholesome of the french renaissance architecture. it was the model of all other later residences of its kind. it took the best that italy had to offer and developed something so very french that even the italian workmen, under the orders of françois i, all but lost their nationality. vasari said of it that it "rivalled the best work to be found in the rome of its time." a charter of louis-le-jeune (louis vii), dated at fontainebleau in , attests that the spot was already occupied by a _maison royale_ which, according to the latin name given in the document was called fontene bleaudi, an etymology not difficult to trace when what we know of its earlier and later history is considered. actually this _fontaine belle eau_ is found to-day in the centre of the jardin anglais, its basin and outlet being surrounded by the conventional stone rim or border. after its discovery, according to legend, this fountain became the rendezvous of the gallants and the poets and painters and the "sweet ladies" so often referred to in the chronicles of the renaissance. rosso, the painter, perpetuated one of the most celebrated of these reunions in his decorations in the galerie françois i in the palace, and cellini represented the fair huntress diana, amid the same surroundings. under louis-le-jeune in was erected, in the cour du donjon, the chapel saint-saturnin, which was consecrated by saint thomas à becket, then a refugee in france. philippe auguste and saint louis inhabited the palace and philippe-le-bel died here in . from a letter of charles vii it appears that isabeau de bavière had the intention of greatly adding to the existing chateau because of the extreme healthfulness of the neighbourhood. the work was actually begun but seemingly not carried to any great length. such was the state of things when françois i came into his own and, because of the supreme beauty of the site, became enamoured of it and began to erect an edifice which was to outrank all others of its class. the king and court made of fontainebleau a second capital. it was a model residence of its kind, and gave the first great impetus to the renaissance wave which rose so rapidly that it speedily engulfed all france. aside from its palace and its forest, fontainebleau early became a noble and a gracious town, thanks to the proximity of the royal dwelling. in spite of the mighty scenes enacted within its walls, the palace has ever posed as one of the most placid and tranquil places of royal residence in the kingdom. all this is true to-day, in spite of the coming of tourists in automobiles, and the recent establishment of a golf club with the usual appurtenances. fontainebleau, the town, has a complexion quite its own. its garrison and its little court of officialdom give it a character which even to-day marks it as one of the principal places where the stranger may observe the french dragoon, with _casque_ and breastplate and boots and spurs, at quite his romantic best, though it is apparent to all that the cumbersome, if picturesque, uniform is an unwieldy fighting costume. there was talk long ago of suppressing the corps, but all fontainebleau rose up in protest. as the popular _chanson_ has it: "_laissez les dragons a leur maire_." this has become the battle cry and so they remain at fontainebleau to-day, the envy of their fellows in the service, and the glory of the young misses of the boarding schools, who each saturday are brought out in droves to see the sights. many descriptions of fontainebleau have been written, but the works of poirson, pfnor and champollion-figèac are generally followed by most makers of guidebooks, and, though useful, they have perpetuated many errors which were known to have been doubtful even before their day. the best account of fontainebleau under françois i is given in the manuscript memoir of abbé guilbert. apparently an error crept into this admirable work, too, for it gives the date of the commencement of the constructions of françois as , whereas that monarch only ascended the throne in . the date of the first works under this monarch was , according to a letter of the king himself, which began: "we, the court, intend to live in this palace and hunt the _'betes rousses et noirs qui sont dans la forêt.'_" an account of françois i and his "young italian friends" makes mention of the visit of the king, in company with the duchesse d'Étampes, to the studio of serlio who was working desperately on the portico of the cour ovale. he found the artist producing a "melody of plastic beauty, garbed as a simple workman, his hair matted with pasty clay." he was standing on a scaffolding high above the ground when the monarch mounted the ladder. up aloft françois held a conference with his beloved workman and, descending, shouted back the words: "you understand, maître serlio; let it be as you suggest." after the porticos, serlio decorated the galerie d'ulysse which has since disappeared owing to the indifference of louis xv and the imbecility of his friends; and always it was with françois: "you understand, maître serlio; it is as you wish." the _motif_ may have been italian, but the impetus for the work was given by the _esprit_ of the french. the defeated monarch was not able to bring away from padua any trophies of war; but he brought plans of chateaux, and gardens as well. he did more: he took the very artists and craftsmen who had produced many of the italian masterpieces of the time. the tracing of the gardens at fontainebleau, practically as they exist to-day, was one of françois i's greatest pleasures. in their midst, on the shores of the Étang aux carpes, was erected a tiny rest-house where the royal mistresses might come to repose and laugh at the jests of triboulet. the edifice of françois i is of modest proportions and of perfect unity; but it is with difficulty that it presents its best appearance, overpowered as it is by the heavier masses of the time of henri iv, and suffering as it does because of the eliminations of louis xiv and louis xv when they made their additions to the palace. under the convention, later on, fontainebleau's palace again suffered. under the consulate it became a barracks and a prison, and finally, not less terrible, were the restorations of napoleon and louis philippe. a castle may sometimes suffer less from a siege than from a restoration. from every point of view, however, fontainebleau remains an architectural document of the most profound interest and value, and, from the tourists' point of view, it is the most appealing of all european palaces of this or any other age. the expert, the artist and the mere curiosity-seeker all unite in their admiration in spite of the fact that the fabric has been denuded of many of its original beauties. [illustration: _palais de fontainebleau_] first, this royal dwelling is of the most ample and effective proportions; second, it possesses a remarkable series of luxurious apartments; third, it still contains some of the finest examples of furniture and furnishings of renaissance and napoleonic times; and, in addition, there is also to be seen that admirable series of paintings which represent the school of fontainebleau. with such an array of charms what does it matter if the unity of the renaissance masterpiece of françois i is qualified by later interpolations? general impression is the standard by which one judges the workmanship of a noble monument, and here it is good to an extraordinary degree. the palace of to-day sits at one end of the aristocratic little town of fontainebleau. beyond is the forest and opposite are many hotels which depend upon the palace as the source from which they draw their livelihood. the principal entrance to the palace opens out from the place solferino and gives access immediately to the cour du cheval blanc of chambiges, which, since that eventful day in napoleonic history nearly a hundred years ago, has become better known as the cour des adieux. at the rear rises the famous horseshoe stair, certainly much better expressed in french as the _escalier en fer à cheval_, from which the emperor took his farewell of his "vieux grognards" lined up before him, biting savagely at their moustaches to keep down their emotions. this cour du cheval blanc acquired its name from a plaster cast of marcus aurelius's celebrated steed which was originally placed here under a canopy or baldaquin held aloft by colonnettes. the moulds for this work were brought from venice by primaticcio and vignole, but it was never cast in bronze and the statue itself disappeared in . the courtyard, however, still kept the name until the last of napoleonic days. as a napoleonic memory this cour des adieux shares popularity with the famous cabinet of the empire suite of apartments where napoleon signed his abdication. certainly most visitors will carry away the memory of these words as among the most vivid souvenirs of fontainebleau. "_le avril, , napoleon bonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du roi, le deuxieme après la chambre à coucher à fontainebleau._" the abdication itself (the document) is now exposed in the galerie de diane, transformed lately into the library. on the right is the aile neuf, built by louis xv, for the housing of his officers, on the site of the galerie de ulysse, originally one of the most notable features of the palace of françois i. opposite is the sober alignment of the aile des ministres, and still farther to the rear are the pavillon des aumoniers, or de l'horloge; the chapelle de la trinité; the pavillon des armes; the pavillon des peintres; the pavillon des poëls; the galerie des fresques; and, finally, the pavillon des reines-meres. all of these details are of the period of françois i save the last, which was an interpolation of louis xiv. the fer à cheval stairway, however, most curious because of the difficulties of its construction, dates from the time of louis xiii, and replaces the stairs built by philibert delorme. the tennis court, just before the pavillon de l'horloge, dates only from louis xv. the imposing entrance court is a hundred and twelve metres in width by a hundred and fifty-two metres in length, and to see it as it was originally, before the destruction of the galerie d'ulysse, one must imagine it as closed in by a series of small pavilions with their frontons of colonnettes preceded only by a staircase and two drawbridges crossing the moat, which at that time surrounded the entire confines of the palace. the moat is to-day surrounded, where it still exists, by a balustrade, due to the rather shabby taste of louis xv. an inner courtyard, known as the cour de la fontaine, is incomparably of finer general design than the entrance court, and the cour ovale, absolutely as henri iv left it, is finer still. at the foot of this latter court is the baptistry where were baptised, in , the three "enfants de france," the dauphin, afterwards louis xiii; the princesse elizabeth, afterwards the queen of spain; and the princesse de savoie. the cour ovale is practically of the proportions of the ancient manor of fontaine belle eau, built by robert le pieux. there, too, philippe auguste, saint louis, philippe-le-bel, charles v and charles vii frequently resided. françois i had no wish that this old manor should entirely disappear and preserved its old donjon, a relic which has since gone the way of many another noble fane. there are several other notable courts or gardens, the cour des offices, the jardin de diane, the orangerie, the cour des princes, etc. all the original gardens were laid out anew by louis xiv, and that of diane underwent a considerable change at the hands of napoleon, who also laid out a jardin anglais on the site of the ancient jardin des pins, where originally sprang into being the rippling fontaine beleau, or belle eau, which gave its name to the palace, the forest and the town. [illustration: _salle du throne, fontainebleau_] the park, as distinct from the great expanse of surrounding forest, is a finely shaded range of alleys, due chiefly to henri iv, who cut the great canal of ornamental water and ordained the general arrangement of its details. the principal curiosity of the park is the famous treille du roy, or the king's grape vine, which, good seasons and bad, can be counted on to give three thousand kilos of authentic _chasselas_, grapes of the finest quality. one wonders who gets them: _ou s'en vont les raisins du roi?_ this is an interrogation that has been raised more than once in the french parliament. in general, the aspect of the exterior of the palais de fontainebleau, the walls themselves, the cours, the alleyed walks are chiefly reminiscent of the early art of the renaissance. françois i is, after all, more in evidence than the henris or the napoleons. within, the same is true in general, though to a less degree. the renaissance is _maitresse_ within and without; the other moods are wholly subservient to her grace. there is hardly an apartment in all the world of palaces in france, or beyond the frontiers, to rank with the great galerie françois i at fontainebleau, though indeed its proportions are modest and its lighting defective to-day, for louis xv blocked up all the windows on one side. it remains, however, one of the richest examples of the franco-italian decoration of its era, though somewhat tarnished by the heedlessness of charles x. never were there before, nor since, its era such mythological wall-paintings as are here to be seen. the aspirants for the prix de rome protest each year against such subjects being set them for their _concours_, but their judges, recalling how effective such examples are, are insistent. the best examples of the school of fontainebleau are a distinct variety of french painting. the veriest dabbler in art can say with michelet: "there is no reminiscence of anything italian therein." frankly, these works were the product of secondary artists and their pupils. leonardo da vinci, too old to do anything more than direct, saw himself succeeded by del sarto, rosso and primaticcio. cellini may have contributed, too, but his labours were doubtless blotted out to a great extent by the orders of the all-powerful duchesse d'Étampes who feared his competition with her protegé, primaticcio. one of the masters of this coterie was nicolo dell' abbate, better known, perhaps, for his works painted at bologna than for his frescoes at fontainebleau. [illustration] the galerie henri ii is notable also for its decorations, the harmonious juxtaposition of sculpture and painting, and, although "restored" in late years, presents an astonishing pristine vigour. this apartment ranks with the galerie françois i, all things considered, as one of the chief show apartments of the palace. its length is thirty metres, its breadth ten, with five ample round-headed windows letting in a flood of light on either side, one set giving on the cour ovale, and the other on the parterre and the magnificent façade of the porte dorée. the ceiling is broken up into octagonal _caissons_, their depths alternately laid with gold or silver, bearing the monogram of the monarch and his _devise_. the parquet is laid in divisions reproducing the design of the ceiling. on either side the walls are wainscoted in oak similarly emblazoned in gold and silver, with the initials of diane de poitiers, and of her admirer, henri, everywhere interlaced. again, a colossal monogram reproduces itself in the chimney-piece with the frescoes of nicolo dell' abbate, and fifty figures of mythological gods and heroes decorate the window casings. the chapel dates chiefly from the time of henri iv, the altar and numerous embellishments belonging to later reigns. a certain sentiment, not a little real beauty, and much unauthenticated history attach themselves to the salon louis xiii, the salle du trone, the apartment of madame de maintenon, those of napoleon i, of pope pius vii and of marie antoinette. the galerie de diane is little reminiscent of the day of the huntress, being a reconstitution under the first empire, though its decorations date from the restoration, and the ceiling, and furniture, apparently of the best of renaissance times, are merely copies made by louis philippe, who did not hesitate, on another occasion, to blue-wash the salon de saint louis, and who hung worthless third-rate paintings, which even provincial museums of the meanest rank have since refused to house, in the admirably decorated apartments of the period of françois and henri. fontainebleau, to-day, is but a memory of what it was, a memory by no means fragmentary, by no means complete; but all sufficient. of later years there is actually little to single out in the way of remarkable additions or restorations. under the second empire the galerie françois i was repainted, some false antiquities added as furnishings, and various ranges of books were stored away in the galerie de diane, having been brought from the chapel which had ceased to serve as the library. this apartment was now refitted as a chapel, and, to supplant six wall paintings which had been removed, napoleon iii ordered seven canvases from the painter schopin, illustrating the life of saint saturnin. [illustration] finally, the salle de spectacle completes the modern additions, and, while gaudily striking, is scarcely above the taste of a gilded café in some pompous préfecture. henri iv was the creator of the park of the palace, which extended as far as the village of avon and absorbed all the seigneurie de montceau, of which mi-voie (the dairy of catherine de médici) occupied a part. the acquisition of the seigneurie was made in . across it was cut a "grand canal" in imitation of that already possessed by the chateau de fleury. it was a great rarity as a garden accessory, and was more than a quarter of a league long and forty metres wide. bassompierre said in his memoirs that henri iv made him a wager that it could be filled with water in two days. it actually took eight. to the north of the park, henri iv built, under the name of la menagerie, what he called a _maison de plaisance_, but which was really the forerunner of the animal house at versailles. to all these works of henri iv in the gardens at fontainebleau is attached the name of francine. there were two brothers of the name, thomas and alexandre, and it was the latter who chiefly occupied himself with the parterre, the chaussée and the grand canal at fontainebleau. in the jardin de la reine he erected the celebrated fontaine de diane which finally gave its name to the garden itself. the fountain was designed by barthélemy prieur, and was cast in . the original bronzes are now in the louvre, those seen at fontainebleau to-day being later works ( ). the forest of fontainebleau is a dozen leagues in circumference, and of an area of nearly thirty-five thousand acres. its beauty, its natural beauty, is unrivalled. rocks, ravines, valleys, patriarchal oaks and beeches, plains, woods, glades, meadows, lawns and cliffs, all are here. its population of stag and deer was practically exterminated during the revolution of , but nevertheless it sustained its reputation as a great hunting-ground for long afterwards. the royal hunt invariably centered at la croix du grand veneur, a notable landmark of the forest even now, at the intersection of four magnificent forest roads. its name comes from a legend of a spectral black huntsman who was supposed to haunt the forest, and who appeared for the last time, in reality or imagination, to henri iv shortly before his assassination. in , one of the last and most gorgeous of fontainebleau hunts was given by louis napoleon. the emperor spent lavishly for the equipment of the hunt, and granted liberal stipends to the attendants that they might caparison themselves with some semblance of picturesque dignity; horses and dogs were furnished and cared for on the same liberal scale. the costuming of a hunting party under such conditions was not the least appealing of its picturesque elements. three-cornered hats, gold lace, knee breeches, silk stockings and other costly properties, when provided for a single special occasion, as they were in this case, were apt to suggest the life of centuries long gone by rather than that of modern times. the forest of fontainebleau can best be briefly described as a rendezvous for tourists and "trippers," and as a vast open-air studio for the youthful emulators of "the men of barbison." historic, romantic and artistic memories and realities are on every hand; the march of time and progress has not dimmed them, nor thinned them out; the forest of fontainebleau remains to-day the best known and most delightful extent of wildwood in all the world. the chief of the well-known names associated with the forest of fontainebleau, and one which will never die, is that of denecourt, called also the "sylvain de la forêt," a mythological appellation which came from his abounding knowledge of its devious ways and byways. it was in that denecourt began his original studies and catalogued its every stone and tree. he invented names and gave a historical setting to many a picturesque and romantic site which might not have been known at all had it not been for his enthusiasm. after the vogue of denecourt all the world followed in his footsteps until the parisian knew as well the longue rocher, the gorges d'apremont and the gorge de franchard as he did the rue de la paix or the champs elysées. denecourt's great work, "_promenades dans la forêt de fontainebleau_" appeared in , and if he is to be criticised for letting his fancy run away with him now and then, and for the opera bouffe nomenclature of many of the _caves_ and _mares_ and _chènes_ and "fairy-bowers" and "tables of kings," he at least has enabled a curious public to become better acquainted with this great forest. the flora of the forest of fontainebleau is remarkably varied; denecourt gives seventy varieties of plants and flowers which grow and propagate here naturally, to which are to be added a great number of nondescript vines, lichens and vegetable mosses. of the trees the list extends from the imposing and sometimes gigantic oaks, elms, beeches, and willows to shrubs and heather growth of the most humble species. a score or more of the most commonly known feathered tribes people the forest to-day with almost the same freedom of life and abundance as in monarchial times. the songsters are all there, from the robin to the nightingale; as well as the partridge and the celebrated indigenous grouse. previous to the forest was well supplied with big game, deer and wild boar without number; but, in later times, as was but natural, these have been greatly thinned out. rabbits and hares, to say nothing of foxes and the like, were formerly so abundant that, under louis philippe, it was necessary to carry out what was practically a war of extermination. to-day they exist, of course, but in no great numbers. another sort of publicity has been given the forest of fontainebleau by its association with the painters of the thirties. theodore rousseau, in , lived at barbison, which at that time was but a hamlet of a few houses, with no encumbering hotels, garages and merry-go-rounds as to-day. a certain père ganne kept a sort of a lodging house where artists were made welcome at an exceedingly modest price. not only the really famous and much exploited painters of the time gained fortunes here, but those of a more conservative school, who never rose to really great distinction, also drew much of their inspiration from the neighbourhood, among them hamon, boulanger and célestin nanteuil. without having to go far to hunt up their subjects, the forest of fontainebleau lying near barbison offered to painters much that was not available within so small a radius elsewhere. diaz was here already when, in , jacque and millet arrived upon the scene, and at more or less frequent intervals, and for more or less lengthy stays, there came corot, dupré and daubigny. just what the barbison school produced in the way of painting all the world knows to-day, but these men were originally the target of every prejudiced critic of the boulevards and the faubourgs. the present day has brought its reward and appreciation, though it is the dealers who have profited--the men are dead. [illustration: _monument to rousseau and millet at barbison_] in memory of the fame brought to this little corner of the forest in general, and to barbison in particular, there was placed (in ), at the entrance to the village, a bronze medallion showing the heads of millet and rousseau. it was a delicate way of showing appreciation for the talents of those two great men who actually founded a new school of painting. at the other end of the forest is the little village of marlotte, also a haven for many painters of a former day, and no less so for those of to-day. the old forest in three quarters of a century has seen itself reproduced on canvas in all its moods. no painter ever lived, nor could all the painters that ever lived, exhaust its infinite variety. hebert in his "_dictionnaire de la forêt de fontainebleau_" says, rightly enough, that, with the coming of the men of fontainebleau and its "_artist-villages_" the classic type of "paysage d'italie" has disappeared from the salon catalogues. art amateurs and the common people alike made the reputation of fontainebleau; the mere "trippers" were brought thither by denecourt, but the real forest lovers were those who were attracted by the masterpieces of the painters. the town of fontainebleau has changed somewhat under this double influence. at fontainebleau itself are two monuments in memory of painters who have passed away. one of these is to the memory of decamps, who was killed by a fall from his horse while riding in the forest; it is a simple bust, the work of carrier-belleuse. the other is of rosa bonheur who died at thomery, a little village on the southern border of the forest, in ; it is an almost life-size bull from a small model by the artist herself and surmounts a pedestal which also bears a medallion of the artist. chapter xii by the banks of the seine on the highroad to saint germain one passes innumerable historic monuments which suggest the generous part that many minor chateaux played in the court life of the capital of old. to-day, maisons, la muette and bagatelle are mere names which serve the tram lines for roof signs and scarcely one in a thousand strangers gives them a thought. the famous bois de boulogne and its immediate environment have for centuries formed a delicious verdant framing for a species of french country-house which could not have existed within the fortifications. these luxurious, bijou dwellings, some of them, at least, the caprices of kings, others the property of the new nobility, and still others of mere plebeian kings of finance, are in a class quite by themselves. perhaps the most famous of these is the celebrated bagatelle, within the confines of the bois itself. the chateau de bagatelle was built in a month, thus meriting its name, by the comte d'artois, the future charles x, as a result of a wager with marie antoinette. on its façade it originally bore the inscription: "_parva sed apta_"--"small but convenient." [illustration] bagatelle occupied a corner of the royal domain and, after its completion, was sold to the marquise de monconseil, in , who gave to this princely suburban residence a dignity worthy of its origin. then came la pompadour on the scene, the _petite bourgeoise_ who, by the nobility acquired by the donning of a court costume and marriage with the sieur normand d'Étioles, usurped the right to sit beside duchesses and be presented to the queen, if not as an equal, at least as the _maitresse_ of her spouse, the king. there is a legend about a meeting between la pompadour and the king at bagatelle, a meeting in which she established herself so firmly in the graces of the monarch that on the morrow she formed a part of the entourage at versailles. after having come into the possession of the heirs of sir richard wallace, bagatelle finally became the property of the state. it is in the chateau de bagatelle that is to be installed the "musée de la parole"--"the museum of speech." the french, innovators ever, plan that bagatelle shall become a sort of conservatory of the human voice, and here will be classed methodically the cylinders and disks which have recorded the spoken words of all sorts and conditions of men. in this musée de la parole will be kept phonographic records of all current dialects in france, the argot of the parisian lower classes, etc., etc. up to the present the evolution of the speech of man has ever been an enigma. no one knows to-day how homer or virgil pronounced their words, and racine and corneille, though of a time less remote, have left no tangible record of their speech. monsieur got of the comédie française believes that louis xiv pronounced "_moi_," "_le roi_" as "_moué_" "_le roué_"; and thus he pronounced it in a speech which has been recorded in wax and is to form a part of the collection at bagatelle. the polo grounds of bagatelle, between the chateau and the seine as it swirls around the ile de la folie, are to-day better known than this dainty little paris palace; but bagatelle will some day come to its own again. neuilly bounds the bois de boulogne on the north, and has little of a royal appearance to-day, save its straight, broad streets. there is a royal incident connected with the pont de neuilly which should not be forgotten. it came about in connection with the return of henri iv from saint germain in company with the queen and the duc de vendome. they were in a great coach drawn by four horses which insisted on drinking from the river in spite of the efforts of the coachman to prevent them. the carriage was overturned and the royal party barely escaped being drowned. one of the aids who accompanied them recounted the fact that the impromptu bath had cured the king's toothache which he had acquired over a rather hasty meal just before leaving the palace. "had i witnessed the adventure," said the marquis de verneuil, "i should have proposed the toast: 'le roi boit!" as a result of this incident a new bridge was constructed, though it was afterwards replaced by the present stone structure over which a ceaseless traffic rushes in and out of paris to-day. it was this present bridge over which louis xv was the first to pass on september , . the chateau de neuilly was a favourite suburban residence of louis philippe. it was here that a delegation came to offer him the crown, and, after he had become king, he was pleased to still inhabit it and actually spent considerable sums upon its maintenance. when the revolution of broke out, the sovereign took refuge at neuilly and, when besieged by the multitude, took flight in the night of february and left his chateau in the hands of a band of ruffians who pillaged it from cellar to garret, finally setting it on fire. it burned like a pile of brushwood, and it is said that more than a hundred drunken desperados perished when its walls fell in. this was the tragic end of the chateau de neuilly. by a decree of the president of the later republic the orleans princes were obliged to sell all their french properties and the park of the chateau de neuilly was cut up into morsels and lots were sold to all comers. thus was born that delightful paris suburb, with the broad, shady avenues and comfortable houses, with which one is familiar to-day. the aristocratic parc de neuilly, with saint james, is the only tract near paris where one finds such lovely gardens and such fresh, shady avenues. another quarter of neuilly possesses a history worthy of being recounted. the district known as saint james derived its name from a great suburban property which in belonged to baudart de saint james. he created a property almost royal in its appointments, its gardens having acquired an extraordinary renown. when he became a bankrupt a throng of persons visited the property not so much with a view to purchase as out of curiosity. a writer of the time says of this lucullus that he was the envy of all paris. he died soon after his ruin, from chagrin, and in apparent poverty, which seemingly established his good faith with his creditors. under the first empire the domain was bought by, or for, the princesse borghese, who here gave many brilliant fêtes at which the emperor himself frequently assisted. on the occasion of the marriage of napoleon to marie louise a series of fêtes took place here which evoked the especially expressed encomiums of the emperor. in wellington made it his headquarters and here had his first conference with blucher. upon wellington quitting saint james the property was pillaged by the iron duke's own troops and actually demolished by the picks and axes of the soldiery. near the passy entrance of the bois is la muette, a relic of a royal hunting-lodge which took its name from the royal pack of hounds (_meute_) which was formerly kept here. the chateau de la muette was the caprice of françois i, who, when he came to paris, wished to have his pleasures near at hand, and, being the chief partisan of the hunt among french monarchs, built la muette for this purpose. the chateau de la muette is thus classed as one of the royal dwellings of france though hardly ever is it mentioned in the annals of to-day. rebuilt by charles ix, from his father's more modest shooting box, la muette became the centre of the court of marguerite de navarre, the first wife of henri iv; after which it served as the habitation of the dauphin, who became louis xiii. during the regency, philippe d'orleans took possession of the chateau until the enthronement of louis xv. the latter here established a little court within a court, best described by the french as: "_ses plaisirs privés_." it was this monarch who rebuilt, or at least restored, the chateau, and brought it to the state in which one sees it to-day. in louis xvi, marie antoinette and the court took up a brief residence here to assist at the aerostatic experiences of de rosier, and in , ceasing to be a royal residence, la muette was offered for sale after first having been stripped of its precious wainscotings, its marbles and the artistic curiosities of all sorts with which it had been decorated. the chateau itself now became the property of sebastian erard, who bought it for the modest price of two hundred and sixty thousand francs. somewhat farther from paris, crossing the peninsula formed by the first of the great bends of the seine below the capital, is chatou which has a royal reminder in its pavilion henri iv, or pavillon gabrielle, which the gallant, love-making monarch built for gabrielle d'estrées. formerly it was surrounded by a vast park and must have been almost ideal, but to-day it is surrounded by stucco, doll-house villas, and unappealing apartments, until only a gothic portal, jutting from a row of dull house fronts, suggests the once cosy little retreat of the lovely gabrielle. the height of louveciennes, above bougival, closes the neck of the peninsula and from it a vast panorama of the silvery seine and its _coteaux_ stretches out from the towers of notre dame on one hand to the dense forest of saint germain on the other. the original chateau de louveciennes was the property of madame la princesse de conti, but popular interest lies entirely with the pavilion du barry, built by the architect ledoux under the orders of louis xv. du barry, having received the chateau as a gift from the king, sought to decorate it and reëmbellish it anew. through the ministrations of a certain drouais, fragonard was commissioned to decorate a special pavilion outside the chateau proper, destined for the "_collations du roi_." the subject chosen was the "progres de l'amour dans le coeur des jeunes filles." just where these panels are to-day no one seems to know, but sooner or later they will doubtless be discovered. fragonard's famous "escalade," or "rendezvous," the first of the series of five proposed panels, depicted the passion of louis xv for du barry. the shepherdess had the form and features of that none too scrupulous feminine beauty, and the "_berger gallant_" was manifestly a portrait of the king. perhaps these decorations at louveciennes were elaborations of these smaller canvases. it seems quite probable. sheltered snugly against the banked-up forest of saint germain, on the banks of the seine, is maisons-laffitte. maisons is scarcely ever mentioned by parisians save as they comment on the sporting columns of the newspapers, for horse-racing now gives its distinction to the neighbourhood, and the old chateau de maisons (with its later suffix of laffitte) is all but forgotten. françois mansart built the first chateau de maisons on a magnificent scale for rené de longueil, the superintendent of finance. in a later century it made a most effectual appeal to another financier, laffitte, the banker, who parcelled out the park and stripped the chateau. for a century, though, the chateau belonged to the family of its founder, and in the surrounding lands were made into a marquisate. in , on the day of the death of philippe, duc d'anjou, maisons may be said to have become royal for the court there took up its residence. later, the marquis de soyecourt became the owner and voltaire stayed here for a time; in fact he nearly died here from an attack of smallpox. in the property was acquired by the comte d'artois and the royal family of the time were frequent guests. the king, the queen and each of the princes all had their special apartments, and if louis xvi had not been too busy with other projects, more ambitious ones, there is little doubt but that he would have given maisons an éclat which during all of its career it had just missed. at the revolution it was sold as national property and the proceeds turned into public coffers. with the empire the chateau became more royalist than ever. maréchal lannes became its proprietor, then the maréchal de montebello, who here received napoleon on many occasions. with the invasion of the village was devastated, but the chateau escaped, owing to its having been made the headquarters of the invading allies. after this, in , the banker laffitte came into possession. he exercised a great hospitality and lived the life of an opulent bourgeois, but he destroyed most of the outbuildings and the stables built by mansart, and cut up the great expanse of park which originally consisted of five hundred hectares. his ideas were purely commercial, not the least esthetic. the scheme of decoration within, as without, is distinctly unique. doric pilasters and columns support massive cornices and round-cornered ceilings, with here and there antique motives and even napoleonic eagles as decorative features. to-day all the apartments are deserted and sad. the finest, from all points of view, is that of the salle-à-manger, though indeed some of the motives are but plaster reproductions of the originals. the chimney-piece, however, is left, a pure bijou, a model of grace, more like a pagan altar than a comparatively modern mantel. the oratory is in the pure style of the empire, and the stairway, lighted up by a curiously arranged dome-lantern, gives a most startling effect to the entrance vestibule. in general the design of maisons is gracious, not at all outré, though undeniably grandiose; too much so for a structure covering so small an area. the cour d'honneur gives it its chief exterior distinction and the two pavilions have a certain grace of charm, when considered separately, which the ensemble somewhat lacks. the surroundings, had they not been ruthlessly cut up into building lots for over-ambitious paris shopkeepers, would have added greatly to the present appearance of the property. as it is, the near-by race-course absorbed the orchard, the _pelouse_ and many of the garden plots. chapter xiii malmaison and marly out from paris, by the cobbly pavé du roi, which a parental administration is only just now digging up and burying under, just beyond the little suburban townlet of rueil (where the empress josephine and her daughter hortense lie buried in the parish church), one comes to malmaison of unhappy memory. it is not imposing, palatial, nor, architecturally, very worthy, but it is one of the most sentimentally historic of all french monuments of its class. since no very definite outlines remain of any royal historical monument at rueil to-day the tourist bound towards versailles by train, tram or road, gives little thought to the snug little suburb through which he shuffles along, hoping every minute to leave the noise, bustle and cobblestones of paris behind. rueil is deserving of more consideration than this. according to gregory of tours the first race of kings had a "pleasure house" here, and called the neighbourhood rotolajum. not always did these old kings stay cooped up in a fortress in the isle of lutetia. sometimes they went afield for a day in the country like the rest of us, and to them, with their slow means of communication and the bad roads of their day, rueil, scarce a dozen miles from notre dame, seemed far away. childerbert i, son of clovis, is mentioned as having made a protracted sojourn at rueil, and whatever may have existed then in the way of a royal residence soon after passed to the monks of saint denis, who here fished and hunted and lived a life of comfort and ease such as they could hardly do in their fortress-abbey. they, too, required change and rest from time to time, and, apparently, when they could, took it. the black prince burned the town and all its dependencies in , and only an unimportant village existed when richelieu thought to build a country-house here on this same charming site which had so pleased the first french monarchs. richelieu did his work well, as always, and built an immense chateau, surrounded by a deep moat into which were turned the swift-flowing waters of the seine. a vast park was laid out, in part in the formal manner and in part as a natural preserve, and the neighbourhood once more became frequented by royalty and the nobles of the court. richelieu bequeathed the property to his niece, the duchesse d'aiguillon, and louis xiv became a frequent dweller there--as a visitor, but he did not mind that. louis xiv was sometimes a monarch, sometimes a master, and sometimes a "family friend," to put it in a noncommittal manner. the revolution nearly made way with the property and the duc de massena, a few years afterwards, reëstablished it after a fashion, but speculating land-boomers came along in turn and royal memories meaning nothing to them the property was cut up into streets, avenues and house lots. the chateau de malmaison, which is very near rueil, is in quite a different class. its history comes very nearly down to modern times. the memory of malmaison is purely napoleonic. its historical souvenirs are many, but its actual ruins have taken on a plebeian aspect of little appeal in these later days. in malmaison was sold as a piece of national merchandise to be turned into _écus_, and a certain monsieur lecouteux de canteleu, having the ready cash and a disposition to live under its roof, took over the proprietorship for a time. it was he who sold it to josephine beauharnais, and it was she who gave it a glory and splendour which it had never before possessed, gave it its complete fame, in fact. napoleon himself, as first consul, was passionately fond of the place, but by the time he had become emperor, because of unhappy memories, perhaps, for he had them at times, came rarely to this charming suburban chateau. it was at malmaison that began the good fortune of josephine, and it was at malmaison that it flickered out like the dying flame of a candle. in a beating rain, on saturday, december , , josephine quitted the tuileries, her eyes still red with the tears from that last brief interview. she arrived at malmaison at the end of a lugubrious day, when the whole place was enveloped in a thick fog. she passed the night almost alone in this great house where she had previously been so happy. she could hardly, however, have been more sad than napoleon was that same night. he had shut himself up in his cabinet, remorseful and alone. the sunday following was hardly less melancholy, for it was then josephine learned that malmaison had been endowed with an income of two millions for its upkeep, and that her personal belongings and the furnishings of her favourite apartments were already on the way thither from the tuileries. the wound was not even then allowed to heal, for she learned that napoleon had ordained that she was to receive the visits of the court as if she were still empress. [illustration: _chateau de malmaison_] napoleon had already written his former spouse to the effect that he would give much to see her, but that he did not feel sufficiently sure of himself to permit of it. this historic letter closed thus; "_adieu, josephine, bonne nuit, si tu doutais de moi, tout sera bien indigne_." on the th of december napoleon actually did come to malmaison to see her from whom he was officially separated. josephine had confided to madame de remusat, her lady-in-waiting, "it almost seems as if i were dead, and only possessed of the faculty of remembering the past." in this malmaison, so full of souvenirs of other days, josephine was obliged to content herself, for on january , , the religious marriage of josephine and napoleon was annulled automatically because, as was claimed, it had not been celebrated with the necessary formalities. here at malmaison josephine even surrounded herself with the most intimate souvenirs of napoleon: a lounging chair that he was wont to occupy stood in its accustomed place; his bed was always made; his sword hung upon the wall; his pen was in his inkwell; a book was open on his desk and his geographical globe--his famous _mappemond_--was in its accustomed place. princes passing through paris came to malmaison to salute the former empress, and she allowed herself to become absorbed in her greenhouses and her dairy, the direction of her house, her receptions and her _petite cour_. in time all came to an end. when napoleon returned to paris in he interrogated the doctor who had cared for josephine during the illness which terminated in her death the year before and asked him: "did she speak of me at the last?" the doctor replied: "often, very often." with emotion napoleon replied simply: "_bonne femme: bonne josephine elle m'aimeit vraiment_." after waterloo napoleon himself retired to malmaison, which had become the property of josephine's children, eugene and hortense, and closed himself up in the room where she died, the library which he occupied when triumphant first consul. here he lived five mortal days of anguish preceding his departure for rochefort on that agonizing exile from which he never returned. after the divorce josephine preserved the property as her own particular residence, and in received there the celebrated visit of the allied sovereigns. history tells of a certain boat ride which she took on a neighbouring lake in company with the emperor alexander which is fraught with much historic sentiment. it was this imprudent excursion, in the cool of a may evening, that caused the death of the former empress three days later. it was from this bijou of a once royal abode that napoleon launched his famous proclamation to the army which the arrogant fouché refused to have printed in the "_moniteur officiel_." upon this napoleon sent the duc de rovigo to paris for his passports and the necessary orders which would enable him to depart in peace. the next moment he had changed his mind, and he changed it again a few moments afterwards. as the result of the prussians' advance on paris by the left bank of the seine napoleon was obliged to accept the inevitable, and with the words of general becker ringing in his ears: "_sire, tout est pret_," he crossed the vestibule and entered the gardens amid a painful calm on his part, and an audible weeping by his former fellows in arms who were lined up to do him honour. he embraced hortense passionately, and saluted all the personages of his party with a sympathy and emotion unbelievable. with an eternal adieu and a rapid step down the garden walk to the driveway, he at last entered the carriage which was awaiting him and was driven rapidly away. some days after the allies pillaged and sacked malmaison. its chief glory may be said to have departed with the corsican. under the restoration, prince eugene had a sort of "rag sale" of what was left. the lands which josephine had bought of lecouteaux were sold to the highest bidder and the exotic shrubs and plants to any who would buy, the pictures to such connoisseurs as had the price, those that were left being sent to munich. a swedish banker now came on the scene ( ) and bought the property--the chateau and the park--which he preserved until his death twenty years later. then it went to queen christina, and was ultimately purchased by napoleon iii. in october, , during the siege of paris, general ducrot sought to make a reconnaissance by way of malmaison, and so weak was his project that the equipages of the king of prussia and his État major invested the environs and made the property their official headquarters. near by is a fine property called "les bruyeres," a royal estate of napoleon iii. it was created and developed by the emperor and was always referred to as a parc impérial. perhaps the most banal of all the royal souvenirs around paris is that gigantic mill-wheel known as the machine de marly, down by the seine a few miles beyond malmaison, just where that awful cobblestoned roadway begins to climb up to the plateau on which sits the chateau of saint germain and its park. because it is of unesthetic aspect is no reason for ignoring the famous machine de marly, the great water-hoisting apparatus first established in the reign of louis xiv to carry the waters of the seine to the ponds and fountains of versailles. it was a creation of a liègois, named rennequin sualem, who knew not how to read or write, but who had a very clear idea of what was wanted to perform the work which louis xiv demanded. for a fact the expense of the erection of the "machine," and the cost of keeping its great wheels turning, were so great that it is doubtful if it was ever a paying proposition, but that was not a _sine qua non_ so far as the king's command was concerned. it had cost millions of _livres_ before its wheels first turned in , and, if the carpenter brunet had not come to the rescue to considerably augment the volume of water raised (by means of compressed air), it is doubtful if there would ever have been enough water for the fountains of versailles to play even one day a year, as they do now every happy sunday, to the delight of the middle-class parisian and the droves of cookites who gaze on them with wonder-opened eyes. the water was led from the machine de marly to versailles by a conduit of thirty-six arches where, upon reaching a higher level than the gardens, it flowed by gravity to the fountains and basins below. this aqueduct was six hundred and forty-three metres long, and twenty-three metres high. it was a work which would have done credit to the romans. a far greater romantic sentiment attaches itself to the royal chateau of marly-le-roi than to the utilitarian "machine," by which the suburb is best known to-day. the history of marly-le-roi appears from the chronicles the most complicated to unravel of that of any of the kingly suburbs of old paris, though in the days of the old locomotion a townlet twenty-six kilometres from the capital was hardly to be thought of as a suburb. marly-le-roi, at any rate, with marly-le-bourg and marly-le-chatel, was a royal dwelling from the days of thierry iii ( ). the neighbouring region had been made into a countship by the early seventeenth century, and louis xiv acquired it as his right in exchange for neuphle-le-chateau in , incorporating it into the domain of versailles. by this time it had become known as marly-le-roi, in distinction to the other bourgs, and the king built a chateau-royal, variously known as the palais and the ermitage. for a fact it was neither one thing nor the other, according to accepted definition, but rather a group of a dozen dependent pavilions distributed around a central edifice, the whole straggling off into infinite and manifestly unlovely proportions. it was as the sun surrounded by the zodiac. isolated on a monticule by the river bank the chateau overlooked its brood of small pavilions, which in a way formed an _entresol_, or foyer, leading to the pavilion royal. all were connected by iron trellises, _en berceau_, and the effect must have been exceedingly bizarre; certainly theatrical. the four faces of these pavilions were frescoed, and balustrades and vases at the corners were the chief architectural decorations. the royal pavilion consisted within of four vestibules on the ground floor, each leading to a grand apartment in the centre. in each of the four angles was a "self-contained" apartment of three or four rooms. what this royal abode lacked in beauty it made up for in convenience. each of the satellite pavilions was occupied by a high personage at court. the chapel and the corps de garde were detached from the chateau proper, and occupied two flanking wings. the plans of the "palais-chateau-ermitage" of marly-le-roi were from the fertile brain of mansart, and were arranged with considerable ingenuity, if not taste, generously interspersed with lindens and truly magnificent garden plots. there was even a cascade, or rather a tumbling river (according to the french expression), for it fell softly over sixty-three marble steps, forming a sort of wrinkled sheet of water, which must indeed have been a very charming feature. it cost a hundred thousand _écus_ to merely lead the water up to it. the expenses of the pavilion de marly, in the ten years from to , amounted to _livres_, _sols_, _deniers_. from this one may well judge that it was no mean thing. the honour of being accounted a person of marly in those times was accredited as a great distinction, for it went without saying in that case one had something to do with affairs of court, though one might only have been a "furnisher." to be a courtier of louis xiv, or to be a _pensionnaire_ at versailles, could hardly have carried more distinction. the court usually resided at marly from wednesday until saturday, and as "the game" was the thing it is obvious that the stakes were high. the vogue of the day was gaming at table, and marly, of all other suburban paris palaces, was an ideal and discreet place for it. "high play and midnight suppers were the rule at marly." this, one reads in the court chronicle, and further that: "the royal family usually lost a hundred thousand _écus_ at play at each visit." one "gentleman croupier" gained as much as three thousand _louis_ at a single sitting. madame de maintenon was the real ruler of marly in those days; she had appropriated the apartments originally intended for the queen, from which there was a private means of communication to the apartments of the king, and another forming a sort of private box, overlooking the royal chapel. little frequented by louis xv, and practically abandoned by louis xvi, the palace at marly was sold during the revolution, after which it was stripped of its art treasures, many of which adorn the gardens of the tuileries to-day; the great group of horses at the entrance to the champs elysées came from the watering place of marly. actually, the royal pavilion at marly has been destroyed, and there remain but the most fragmentary, unformed heaps of stones to tell the tale of its ample proportions in the days of louis xiv and de maintenon. the park is to-day the chief attraction of the neighbourhood, like the one at saint cloud, which it greatly resembles. across the park lies the great highway from the capital to versailles, over which so many joyous cavalcades were wont to amble or gallop in the days of gallantry. the pace is not more sober to-day, but gaily caparisoned horses and gaudy coaches have given way to red and yellow "rois des belges," the balance lying distinctly in favour of the former mode of conveyance, so far as picturesqueness is concerned. the forêt de marly is very picturesque, but of no great extent. formerly it enclosed many shooting-boxes belonging to the nobles of the court, of which those of montjoie and desert de retz were perhaps the most splendid. on the versailles road was the chateau de clagny, a royal _maison de plaisance_, of an attractive, but trivial, aspect, though its architecture was actually of a certain massiveness. its gardens and the disposition of its apartments pleased the king's fancy when he chose to pass this way, which was often. he is said to have personally spent over two million francs on the property. it must have been of some pretensions, this little heard of chateau de clagny, for in a single year ten thousand _livres_ were expended on keeping the gardens. to-day it is non-existent. chapter xiv saint cloud and its park the historic souvenirs of saint cloud and its royal palace are many and varied, though scarcely anything tangible remains to-day of the fabric so loved by francis i and henri ii, and which was, for a fact, but a magnificent country-house, originally belonging to the archbishops of paris. to-day the rapid slopes of the hillsides of saint cloud are peopled with a heterogeneous mass of villas of what the parisian calls the "coquette" order, but which breathe little of the spirit of romance and gallantry of renaissance times. saint cloud is simply a "discreet" paris suburb, and the least said about it, its villas and their occupants to-day, the better. the little village of saint cloud which is half-hidden in the forest of rouvray, was sacked and burned by the english after the battle of poitiers, and then built up anew and occupied by the french monarchs in the reign of charles vi. it was he who built the first _chateau de plaisance_ here in which the royal family might live near paris and yet amid a sylvan environment. after this came the country-house of the archbishops of paris that henri ii, when he tired of it, tore down and erected a villa in the pseudo-italian manner of the day, and built a fourteen-arch stone bridge across the seine, which was a wonder of its time. the banker gondi, after huddling close to royalty, turned over an establishment which he had built to catherine de médici, who made use of it whenever she wished to give a country fête or garden party. by this time the whole aspect of saint cloud was royal. it was within this house that the unhappy, and equally unpopular, henri iii was cut down by the three-bladed knife of the monk jacques clément. the incident is worth recounting briefly here because of the rapidity with which history was made by a mere fanatical knife-thrust. with the death of henri iii came the extinction of the house of valois. as the king sat in the long gallery of the palace playing at cards, on august , , his cloak hanging over his shoulder, a little cap with a flower stuck in it perched over one ear, and suspended from his neck by a broad blue ribbon a basketful of puppies, an astrologer by the name of osman was introduced to amuse the royal party. "they tell me you draw horoscopes," remarked the king. "sire, i will tell yours, if you will, but the heavens are unpropitious." * * * * * "just over meudon is a star which shines very brightly," continued the astrologer, "it is that of henri de navarre. but look, your majesty, another star burns brilliantly for a moment and then disappears, mayhap it is your own." "if ever a man had a voice hoarse with blood it is that astrologer," said the king. "away with him." "if the valois henri doesn't die before the setting of another sun, i'll never cast horoscope more," said the astrologer as he was hustled across the courtyard and out into the highroad. as he left, a man in a monk's garb begged to be admitted to the king's presence. it was jacques clément, the murderous monk, a wily dominican, bent on a mission which had for its object the extinction of the valois race. while the king was reading a letter which the monk had presented the latter stabbed him deep in the stomach. swooning, the king had just time to cry out: "_ha! le mechant moine: il m'a tué, qu'on le tue._" the murderer in turn was struck down forthwith and his body, thrown from the windows of the palace, was _écartelé_ by four white horses, which is the neat french way of saying "drawn and quartered." it was an imposing cortège which wound down from the heights of saint cloud and followed the river bank to saint germain, poissy and thence to compiègne, conveying all that was mortal of henri iii, the least popular of all the race of valois. following close behind the bier were henri iv and his suite, the favourites d'epernon, laschant, dugastz and an impressive soldiery. after the death of henri iii, henri de navarre, who played a not unpicturesque part in the funeral ceremonies, installed himself in a neighbouring property known as the maison du tillet. thus it is seen that the royal stamp of the little bourg of saint cloud was never wanting--not until the later palace and most of the town were drenched with kerosene and set on fire by the prussians in . the "maison de gondi" came, by a process of acquisition, and development, in time, to be the royal palace of saint cloud. its overloaded details of italian architecture were brightened up a bit by the surroundings planned and executed by the landscapist le notre and the life of the court in its suburban retreat took on a real and genuine brilliance which under the restraint of the gloomy walls of the louvre and paris streets could hardly have been. the brightest light shining over saint cloud at this time was the radiance shed by the brilliant henriette d'angleterre. her reign as a social and witty queen of the court was brief. she died at the age of twenty-six, poisoned at the instigation of the chevalier de lorraine whom she had caused to be exiled. this was the common supposition, but louis xiv was afterwards able to prove (?) his brother innocent of the crime. the gazettes of the seventeenth century recount many of the fêtes given at saint cloud by monsieur on the occasion of his marriage to the princesse palatine in . one of the most notable of these was that given for louis xiv, wherein the celebrated cascades--an innovation of le notre--were first brought to view. mansart was called in and a great gallery intended for fêtes and ceremonies was constructed, and mignard was given the commission for its decorations. monsieur died within the walls of the palace to which he had added so many embellishments, as also did his second wife. three royalties dead of ambition, one might well say, for their lives were neither tranquil nor healthful. they went the pace. the regent journeyed out from paris to this riverside retreat to receive the tzar peter in , and in louis philippe d'orleans set about to give a fête which should obscure the memory of all former events of a like nature into oblivion. how well he succeeded may be a matter of varying opinion, for the french have ever been prodigally lavish in the conduct of such affairs. at all events the occasion was a notable one. the predilection of royalty for saint cloud was perhaps not remarkable, all things considered, for it was, and is, delightfully environed, and about this time the duc d'orleans secretly married the marquise de montesson and installed her in a habitation the "_plus simple_," a mere shack, one fancies, costing six millions. the _nouveau riche_ of to-day could scarcely do the thing with more _éclat_. the revolution took over the park of saint cloud and its appurtenances and donated them to the democracy--"for the pleasure of the people," read the decree. on the eighteenth brumaire, the first republic blinked itself out in the palais de saint cloud, and the conseil de cinq cents installed itself therein under the directoire. bonaparte, returning from egypt, arrived at saint cloud just as lemercier was dissolving the conseil. seeing trouble ahead he commanded murat to clear the chamber by drawn bayonets. he kept his light shining just a bit ahead of the others, did napoleon. his watchword was initiative. deputies clambered over each other in their haste to escape by stairway, door and window, and bonaparte saw himself consul without opposition--for ten years--for life. the royal residences were put at napoleon's disposition and he wisely chose saint cloud for summer; saint cloud the cradle of his powers. as a restorer and rebuilder of crumbling monuments napoleon was a master, as he was in the destructive sense when he was in the mood, and changes and additions were made at saint cloud which for comfort and convenience put it in the very front rank of french royal residences. in march, , pope pius vii baptised, amid a grand pomp and ceremony, in the chapel of the palace, the son of louis bonaparte, and five years afterwards (april , ), the same edifice saw the religious marriage of napoleon with marie louise. on march , , a strange animation dominated all the confines of the palace. it was the occasion of the celebration of napoleon's civil marriage with marie louise. they did not enter the capital until three days later for the ceremonial which united the daughter of the emperors who were descendants of the roman cæsars, to the "usurper," who was now for the first time to rank with the other crowned heads of europe. the cortège which accompanied their majesties from saint cloud to paris was a pageant which would take pages to describe. the reader of these lines is referred to the impassioned pages of the works of frederic masson for ample details. a hundred thousand curiosity seekers had come out from paris and filled the alleys of the park to overflowing. music and dancing were on every hand. mingled with the crowd were soldiers of all ranks brilliantly clad in red, blue and gold. "these warriors were a picturesque, obtrusive lot," said a chronicler; "after having invaded austria they acclaim the austrian." in the capitulation of paris was signed at saint cloud. the gardens were invaded by a throng which gave them more the aspect of an intrenched camp than a playground of princes. a brutal victor had climbed booted and spurred into the bed of the great napoleon and on arising pulled the bee-embroidered draperies down with him and trampled them under foot. was this a proper manifestation of victory? [illustration: _the gardens of saint cloud_] at this period another great fête was given in the leafy park of saint cloud, a fête which french historians have chiefly passed over silently. the host on this occasion was the prince of schwartzenburg; the principal guests the foreign sovereigns, gloating over the downfall of the capital. louis xviii, after removing the traces of this desolate invasion, took up his residence here on june , , and in the following year built the stables and the lodgings of the gardes du corps. in the chapel begun by marie antoinette was finished and the jardin du trocadero constructed. charles x in his brief reign built, on the site of an old ursulin convent, further quarters intended for the personnel of the court. the ensemble ever took on an increasing importance. at this time were laid out the gardens between the cascades and the river, which, to some slight extent, to-day, suggest the former ample magnificence of the park as it faced upon the river. leading through this lower garden was the avenue royale extending to the chateau. saint cloud for charles x, in spite of his first interest therein, could have been but an unhappy memory for here he signed the abdication which brought about his fall. he left his palace at saint cloud on july , , at three o'clock in the morning, just as day was breaking through the mists of the valley. he succumbed, the last of the bourbons, on the same spot on which henri iv, as chief of the house, had first been saluted as king. louis philippe divided his time between neuilly and saint cloud, and lent his purse and his enthusiasm to elaborating to a very considerable extent both the palace and its surroundings. napoleon iii made saint cloud his preferred summer residence, and was actually beneath the palace roof when the prussian horde commenced its march on the capital of clovis. he left saint cloud on july , to take personal command of the army of the rhine at metz. as did charles x, napoleon iii ceased to be sovereign of the french by enacting the final scene in his royal career in the palais de saint cloud. never again was the palace to give shelter to a french monarch. the empress left precipitately after the disaster of woerth, and two months after the torch of arson made a ruin of all the splendour of the palace and its dependencies. the inhabitants of the little city, which had grown up around the confines of the palace, fled in refuge to versailles during the armistice. scarcely an old house was preserved in all the town. among the _chefs d'oeuvres_ of art which perished in the flames were the fine works of mignard--above all, the magnificent galerie d'apollon--the paintings of lemoyne, nacret, leloir, the marines of joseph vernet and innumerable objects of art which had been gathered together for the embellishment of saint cloud by the later monarchs. some few treasures were saved by the care of the crown prince of prussia, and some vases, chairs and statues were appropriated and packed off across the rhine as the plunder of war. the park of saint cloud to-day contains nearly four hundred hectares, the public park and the "preserve." from it spreads out one of the loveliest panoramas in the neighbourhood of paris, alleyed vistas leading seemingly to infinity, with a sprinkling of statues still flanking the jardin du trocadero. from the town one enters the park through a great iron gate from the place royale, or by the avenue du chateau, which lands one on the terraces where once stood the royal palace. from ville d'avray and from sevres there are also entrances to the great park, while to the latter runs an avenue connecting the "preserve" of saint cloud with the wilder, more rugged bois de meudon. actually the surroundings of saint cloud's great park are the least bit tawdry. here and there are booths and tents selling trashy souvenirs, and even more unpleasant-looking articles of food and drink, while fringing the river, and some of the principal avenues approaching the cascade, are more pretentious restaurants and eating houses which are royal in name and their prices if nothing else. the cascades are for the masses the chief sight of saint cloud to-day. historical souvenir plays little part in the minds of those who only visit a monumental shrine to be amused, and so the falling waters of saint cloud's cascade, like the gushing torrents of versailles' fountains, are the chief incentives to a holiday for tens of thousands of small paris shopkeepers who do not know that a royal palace was ever here, much less that it had a history. there is an upper and a lower cascade, an artificial water ingeniously tumbled about according to the conception of one lepaute, an architect of the time of the reign of louis xiv. [illustration: _the cascades at saint cloud_] mansart designed the architectural attributes of the lower cascade and scores considerably over his colleague. circular basins and canals finally lead the water off to a still larger basin lower down where it spouts up into the air to a height of some forty odd metres at a high pressure. this is the official description, but it is hard to get up any sympathy or enthusiasm over the thing, either considered as a work of art or as a diversion. frankly, then, saint cloud's chief charm is its site and its dead and half-forgotten history. the "tramp abroad" and "rollo" and "uncle george" knew it better than we, because in those days the palace existed in the real, whereas we take it all on faith and regret (sometimes) that we did not live a couple of generations ago. bellevue, on the banks of the seine, just before reaching saint cloud, owes its origin (a fact which the great restaurant of the pavillon bleu has made the most of in its advertisements), to a caprice of madame de pompadour. she liked the point of view (as do so many diners on the restaurant terrace to-day), and built a "_rendezvous-chateau_" on the hillside, a half-way house, as it were, where louis xv might be at his ease on his journeyings to and from the capital. the pompadour was able to borrow a force of eight hundred workmen from the king for as long as was necessary to carry out her ambitious projects at bellevue and on november , , she had a house-warming in her modest villa (demolished in ) and _pendit la cremaillère_ with a ceremony whose chief entertainment was the dancing of a ballet significantly entitled "l'amour architect." neighbouring upon saint cloud is a whole battery of hallowed, historical spots associated with the more or less royal dwellings of the french monarchs and their favourites. it was but a comparatively short distance to versailles, to saint germain, to maintenon and to rambouillet, and the near-by louveciennes was literally strewn with the most charming country-houses, which, in many cases, kings paid for and made free use of, though indeed the accounts for the same may not have appeared in the public budgets, at least not under their proper names. at the summit of the hill which gives the town its name was a chateau belonging originally to madame la princesse de conti, and opposite the railway station of to-day, with its prosaic and unlovely surroundings, was a magnificent property belonging to maréchal magnan, and the pavillon du barry, built by the architect ledoux to the orders of louis xv, who would provide a convenient nest in the neighbourhood of saint cloud for his latest favourite. to-day the pavilion exists in name, somewhat disfigured to be sure, but still reminiscent of its former rather garish outlines, so on the whole it cannot be said to have suffered greatly from an esthetic point of view. the property came finally to be included as a part of the estate of pierre laffitte, though still known, as it always has been, as the pavillon du barry. chapter xv versailles: the glory of france "_glorieuse, monumentale et monotone la façade de pierre effrite, au vent qui passe son chapiteau friable et sa guirlande lasse en face du parc jaune ou s'accoude l'automne._ * * * _mais le soleil, aux vitres d'or qu'il incendie y semble rallumer interieurement le sursaut, chaque soir de la gloire engourdi._" these lines of henri de régnier explain the aspect of the versailles of to-day better than any others ever written. versailles is a medley of verdure, a hierarchy of bronze and a forest of marble. this is an expression full of anomalies, but it is strictly applicable to versailles. its waters, jets and cascades, its monsters, its tritons and valhalla of marble statues set off the artificial background in a manner only to be compared to a stage setting--a magnificent stage setting, but still palpably unreal. yes, versailles is sad and grim to-day; one hardly knows why, for its memories still live, and the tangible evidences of most of its great splendour still stand. "_voici tes ifs en cone et tes tritons joufflus tes jardins composés où louis ne vient plus, et ta pompe arborant les plumes et les casques._" it is not possible to give here either an architectural review or a historical chronology of versailles; either could be made the _raison d'être_ for a weighty volume. the writer has confined himself merely to a more or less correlated series of patent facts and incidents which, of itself, shows well the futility of any other treatment being given of a subject so vast within the single chapter of a book. the history of versailles is a story of the people and events that reflected the glory and grandeur of the grand monarque of the bourbons and made his palace and its environs a more sublime expression of earthly pomp than anything which had gone before, or has come to pass since. versailles, after its completion, became the perfect expression of the decadence and demoralization of the old régime. it can only be compared to the relations between du barry and the young marie antoinette, who was all that was contrary to all for which the former stood. that the court of louis xv was artificially brilliant there is no doubt. it was this that made it stand out from the sombre background of the masses of the time. it was a dazzling, human spectacle, and versailles, with its extravagant, superficial charms, carried it very near to the brink of ruin, though even in its most banal vulgarities there was a certain sense of ambitious sincerity. the people of the peasant class lived as animals, "black, livid and scorched by the sun." the sense of all this penetrated readily even to versailles, so that la pompadour or louis, one or the other of them, or was it both together, cried out instinctively: "_apres nous le deluge._" the intricacies of the etiquette of the daily life of the king, his follies and fancies, made the history of versailles the most brilliant of that of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--certainly it was the most opulent. the manners of the time were better than the morals, and if good taste in art and architecture had somewhat fallen there is no doubt but that a charming fantasy often made up for a lack of estheticism. the story of the palace, the park, the king and his court are so interwoven that no _résumé_ of the story of one can ignore that of any of the others. the king and court present themselves against this background with an intimacy and a clearness which is remarkable for its appeal to one's curiosity. it is a long, long day of life which begins with the _petit lever_ and only ends with the _grand coucher_. if there was ever a castle of indolence and profligacy it was versailles, though indeed it is regarded as the monarchy's brilliant zenith. the picture is an unforgetable one to any who have ever read its history or seen its stones. in the year , martial de lomenci, one of the ministers of charles ix, was the seigneur of versailles, but at the will of catherine de médici he was summarily strangled that she might get possession of the property and make a present of it to her favourite, albert de gondi, maréchal de retz. about louis xiii had caused a small hunting pavilion to be built near by and, by degrees, acquiring more land took it into his head to erect something more magnificent in the way of a country-house, though the real conception of a suburban paris palace only came with louis xiv. levau, the latter's architect, made the necessary alterations to the structure already existing, and little by little the more magnificent project known in its completed form to-day was evolved. war not being actually in progress, or imminent, great bodies of soldiery were set at work with pick and shovel, and at one time thirty thousand had laid aside their sabres and muskets for the more peaceful art of garden-making under the direction of le notre. in three decades the sum total of the chief roll of expenses of the palace and its dependencies reached eighty-one million, one hundred and fifty-one thousand, four hundred and fourteen _livres_, nine _sols_ and two _deniers_. it is perhaps even more interesting to know that of this vast sum more than three millions went for marble, twenty-one millions for masonry, two and a half millions for the rougher woodwork and a like sum for marquetry. other additional "trifling" embellishments of versailles and the trianon during the same period counted up another six million and a half. the expense of these works was enormous on all sides. water being required for the purpose of supplying the fountains it was proposed that the waters of the eure should be turned from their original bed and made to pass through versailles, and the enterprise was actually begun. beyond the gardens was formed the little park, about four leagues around, and beyond this lay the great park, measuring twenty leagues around and enclosing several forest villages. the total expenses of these works may never have been exactly known, but they must have been immense, that is certain, and have even been estimated at as much as one billion francs. the works were so far completed in that the first versailles fête was given to consecrate the palace. in honour of this event molière composed "la princesse d'elide." the improvements, however, were continued, and in , levau, dying, was succeeded by his nephew, jules hardouin mansart, who wished to destroy the chateau of louis xiii and erect one uniform building. louis xiv, out of respect to his father, would not allow mansart's project to be carried out and therefore alterations were only made in the court by surrounding it on the western side with the magnificent buildings now forming the garden front. the southern wing was subsequently added for the accommodation of the younger members of the royal family. in the northern wing was erected to meet the requirements of the attachés of the court. the chapel was commenced in and finished in . louis xiv took up his residence in the palace in with madame de montespan, and, thirty-five years afterwards, died there, the reigning favourite then being madame de maintenon. during this time versailles was the theatre of many extraordinary scenes. louis xv was born here but did not take up his residence here until after he was of age. here it was that his favourites madame de chateauroux, madame de pompadour and madame du barry found themselves most at home. it was under the direction of this monarch that the theatre was built in the northern wing, and was formally opened on the occasion of the marriage of the dauphin, louis xvi, in . towards the end of the reign of louis xv a new wing and pavilion were added on the northern side of the principal court, and it was proposed to build across the court a new front in the same uniform style. the idea could not be carried out in consequence of the troublous times of louis xvi and the enormous estimated expense. the revolution intervened and versailles remained closed until it was reopened by the first napoleon, who, however, was unable to take up his residence in it on account of his frequent campaigns afield. at the restoration louis xviii, as the representative of the ancient monarchy, wished to make versailles the seat of the court, but was deterred from doing so by the appalling previous expense. during the reigns of both napoleon and louis xviii considerable sums were expended in its refurbishing so that it was not wholly a bygone when finally the french authorities made of it, if not the chief, at least the most popular _monument historique_ of all france. and yet the aspect of versailles is sadly wearying. to-day versailles is lonely; one is haunted by the silence and the bareness, if not actual emptiness. only once in seven years does the old palace take on any air of the official life of the republic, and that is when the two legislative bodies join forces and come to versailles to vote for the new president. for the rest of the time it is deserted, save for the guardians and visitors, a memory only of the splendours imagined and ordained by louis xiv. for nearly a century the master craftsmen of a nation conspired to its beatification, and certainly for gorgeousness and extravagance versailles has merited any encomiums which have ever been expended upon it. it was made and remade by five generations of the cleverest workers who ever lived, until it took supreme rank as the greatest storehouse of luxurious trifles in all the world. one wearies though of the straight lines and long vistas of versailles, the endless repetition of classical motives, which, while excellent, each in its way, do pall upon one in an inexplicable fashion. it possesses, however, a certain dignity and grace in every line. this is a fact which one can not deny. it is expressive of--well, of nothing but versailles, and the part it played in the life of its time. the millions for versailles were obtained in ways too devious and lengthy to follow up here. even louis xiv began to see before the end the condition into which he had led the nation, though he punished every one who so much as hinted at his follies. vauban, "the hero of a hundred sieges," published a book on the relations between the king and court and the tax-paying masses and was disgraced forever after, dying within a few months of a broken heart that he should have been so impotent in attempting to bring about a reform. the life of the king at versailles had little of privacy in it. from his rising to his going to bed he was constantly in the hands of his valets and courtiers, even receiving ambassadors of state while he was still half hidden by the heavy curtains of his great four-poster. they had probably been waiting hours in the salon de l'oel de boeuf before being admitted to the kingly presence. it was at this period that michael chamillard, the minister of war, introduced billiards into france by the way of versailles. he played with louis xiv and pleased him greatly, but chamillard was no statesman, as history and the following lines from his epitaph point out. "_ci git le fameux chamillard de son roy le pronotaire qui fut un heros au billard un zero dans le ministère._" this apartment of the oeil de boeuf was the ancient cabi du conseil. it is a wonderfully decorated apartment, and its furnishings, beyond those which are actually built into the fabric, are likewise of a splendour and good taste which it is to be regretted is not everywhere to be noted in the vast palace of louis xiv. the garnishings of the chimney-piece alone would make any great room interesting and well furnished, and the great golden clock, finely chiselled and brilliantly burnished, is about the most satisfactory french clock one ever saw, marking, as it does, in its style, the transition between that of louis xiv and louis xv. versailles, in many respects, falls far short to-day of the ideal; its very bigness and bareness greatly detract from the value of the historic souvenir which has come down to us. changes could undoubtedly be made to advantage, and to this point much agitation has lately been directed, particularly in cutting out some of the recently grown up trees which have spoiled the classic vistas of the park, and the removal of those ugly equestrian statues which the monarchy of july erected. versailles only came under napoleon's cursory regard for a brief moment. he hardly knew whether he would care to make his home here or not, but ordered his architects to make estimates for certain projects which he had conceived and when he got them was so staggered at their magnitude that he at once threw over any idea that he may have had of making it his dwelling. the revolution had stripped the palace quite bare; no wonder that the emperor balked at the cost of putting it in order. napoleon may have had his regrets for he made various allusions to versailles while exiled at saint helena, but then it was too late. louis philippe took a matter-of-fact view of the possible service that the vast pile might render to his family and accordingly spent much money in a great expanse of gaudy wall decorations which are there to-day, thinking to make of it a show place over which might preside the genius of his sons. these acres of meaningless battle-pieces, algerian warfare and what not are characteristic of the "citizen-king" whose fondness for red plush, green repp and horsehair sofas was notable. what he did at versailles was almost as great a vandalism against art as that wrought by the revolution. last scene of all:--under lebrun's magnificent canopied ceiling, where the effigy of louis xiv is being crowned by the goddess of glory, and the german eagle sits on a denuded tree trunk screaming in agony and beating his wings in despair, william of prussia was proclaimed emperor of united germany. it was almost as great an indignity as france ever suffered; the only greater was when the prussians marched through the arc de triomphe de l'Étoile. that was, and is, the frenchman's--the parisian's, at all events--culminating grief. the apartment referred to is the grand galerie des glaces (or galerie louis xiv), which is accredited as one of the most magnificently appointed rooms of its class in all the world. it is nearly two hundred and fifty feet in length, nearly forty feet in width, and forty-three feet in height. it is lighted by seventeen large arched windows, which correspond with arched niches on the opposite wall filled with mirrors--hence the name. sixty corinthian columns of red marble with bases and capitals of gilt bronze fill up the intervening wall spaces. the vaulted ceiling by lebrun is divided into eighteen small compartments and nine of much larger dimensions, in which are allegorically represented the principal events in the history of louis xiv, from the peace of the pyrenees to that of nymeguen. it was in this splendid apartment that louis xiv displayed the grandeur of royalty in its highest phase and such was the luxury of the times, such the splendour of the court, that its immense size could hardly contain the crowd of courtiers that pressed around the monarch. several splendid fêtes took place in this great room, of which those of the marriage of the duc de bourgogne in and that given on the arrival of marie antoinette were the most brilliant. following are three pen-pictures of this historic palace. the versailles of long ago. it was to versailles that the _grand roi_ repaired after his stern chase of the spaniards across flanders; through the wood of saint germain and over those awful cobblestones which parisians know so well to-day rolled the gilded _carrosse_ of the king. he had already been announced by a runner who had also brought news of the latest victory. courtiers and populace alike crowded the streets of the town in an effort to acquire a good place from which to see the arrival of the king. intendants and servitors were giving orders on all sides, frequently contradictory, and gardeners were furbishing up the alleyed walks and flower beds in readiness for _sa majesté louis quatorze_ and all his little world of satellites. a majestic effervescence bubbled over all, and the _bourgeoisie_ enjoyed itself hugely, climbing even on roof-tops and gables in the town without the palace gates. the _roi soleil_ came at last to his "well-beloved city of versailles." "he arrived in a cloud of golden dust," said a writer of the time, and any who have seen versailles blazing and treeless in the middle of a long, hot summer, will know what it was like on that occasion. cannons roared, and the sound of revelry and welcoming joy was everywhere to be heard. the versailles of yesterday. the lugubrious booming of cannons came rolling over the meanderings of the seine from the capital. the hard-heads of paris would understand nothing; they would make flow never-ceasing rivers of blood. the national troops were well-nigh impotent; it was difficult to shoot down your own flesh and blood at any time; doubly so when your native land has not yet been evacuated by a venturesome enemy. it was the time of the commune. traffic at versailles was of that intensity that circulation was almost impossible. in spite of a dismal april rain the town was full of all sorts and conditions of men. the animation of the crowd was feverish, but it was without joy. a convoy of prisoners passed between two lines of soldiers with drawn bayonets. they were frenchmen, but they were communards. it was but a moment before they were behind the barred doors of the barracks which was to be their prison, packed like a troop of sheep for the slaughter. versailles itself, the palace and the town, were still sad. the rain still fell in torrents. the versailles of to-day. roses, begonias, geraniums, the last of a long hot summer, still shed their fragrant memories over the park of versailles. in the long, sober alleys a few leaves had already dropped from the trees above, marking the greensward and the gravel like a _tapis d'orient_, red and green and gold. flora and bacchus in their fountains seemed less real than ever before, more sombre under the pale, trickling light through the trees. a few scattered visitors were about, sidling furtively around the trianon, the colonnade and the _bosquet d'apollon_; and the birds of the wood were even now bethinking of their winter pilgrimage. versailles was still sad. the last rays of the setting sun shot forth reflected gold from the windows of the chateau and soon the silver blue veil of a september twilight came down like a curtain of gauze. versailles, the versailles of other days, is gone forever. who will awaken its echoes in after years? when will the trianon again awake with the coquetries of a queen? when will the city of the _roi soleil_ come again into its own proud splendour? the sun has set, the great iron gates of the courtyard are closed, the palace and all therein sleeps. "_allon nous en d'ici: laissons la place aux ombres._" chapter xvi the gardens of versailles and the trianons versailles without its court of marble, its fountains, its gardens and its park, and the attendant grand and petit trianons, would hardly have the attraction that it has to-day. the ensemble is something of more vast and varied extent than is to be seen elsewhere, though its aspect has somewhat changed from what it was of old, and the crowds of sunday and holiday visitors give the courts and alleyed walks somewhat the aspect of a modern amusement resort. the gardens of versailles were but the framing of a princely dwelling created to respond to the requirements of a court which was attempting to do things on a grand scale. everything was designed with most magnificent outlines; everything was royal, in all verity--architecture, garden-making, fêtes, receptions and promenades. what setting, then, could have been more appropriate to the life of the times? versailles, the town, had never prospered, and has never proved sufficiently attractive to become a popular suburb; and, though to-day it passed the mark of half a hundred thousand population, it never would have existed at all had it not been for the palace of louis xiv. were it not for the palace and its attributes, versailles would have absolutely no memories for visitors, except such as may have lunched well at the hotel des reservoirs or the hotel du trianon. that is not everything, to be sure; but it is something, even when one is on an historic pilgrimage. even in the day of louis xvi the popular taste was changing and versailles was contemptuously referred to as a world of automota, of cold, unfeeling statuary and of noah's ark trees and forests. there was always a certain air of self-satisfaction about it, as there is, to-day, when the parisian hordes come out to see the waters play, and the sight-seers marvel at the mock splendour and the scraps of history doled out for their delectation by none-too-painstaking guardians. in spite of all this, no sober-minded student of art or history will ever consider versailles, the palace and the park, as other than a superb and a spectacular demonstration of the taste of the times in which it was planned, built and lived in. versailles was begun in by louis xiii, who built here a humble hunting-lodge for the disciples of saint hubert of whom he was the royal head. so humble an erection was it that the monarch referred to it simply as a "_petite maison_" and paid for it out of his own pocket, a rare enough proceeding at that epoch. the critical bassompierre called it a "_chetif chateau_," and saint-simon referred to it as a "house of cards." manifestly, then, it was no great thing. it was, however, a comfortable country-house, surrounded by a garden and a more ample park. it was not lemercier, the presiding genius of the louvre at this time, but an unknown by the name of le roy, whom louis xiii chose as his architect. boyceau traced the original _parterres_ with a central basin at a crossroads of two wide avenues. each of the four compartments thus made was ornamented with _broderies_ and trimmed hedges, and the open spaces were ingeniously filled with parti-coloured sands, or earth. a _parterre_ of flowers immediately adjoined the palace and rudimentary alleys and avenues stretched off towards the wood. although designed by boyceau, this work was actually executed by his nephew, jacques de menours, who, with difficulty, collected his pay. his books of account showed that in five years, from to , he had drawn but once a year a sum varying from fifteen hundred to four thousand _livres_ while in the same period the king had spent on the rest of the work at versailles two hundred and thirty-eight thousand _livres_, thirty-two _sols_, six _deniers_, nearly one million one hundred thousand francs of the money of to-day. the first of the outdoor embellishments of the palace at versailles is the great cour royale, or the cour d'honneur, which opens out behind the long range of iron gates facing upon the place d'armes. at the foot of this entrance court is an extension called the cour de marbre. this cour de marbre, on january , , was the scene of the infamous attack on louis xv by damiens, just as the king was starting out for the trianon. a thick redingote saved the king's life; but for "this mere pin-prick," according to voltaire, the monarch went immediately to bed, and five times in succession sought absolution for his sins. sins lay heavy even on royal heads in those days. damiens was but a thick-witted, superstitious valet, who, more or less persecuted by the noble employers with whom he had been in service at various times, sought to avenge himself, not on them, but on their king, as the figurehead of all that was rotten in the social hierarchy. louis, heretofore known as the "bien aimé," had become suddenly unpopular because of the disastrous war against england and germany, and his prodigal dissipation of public moneys. stretching out behind the palace are the famous gardens, the _parterres_, the _tapis vert_, the fountains and the grand canal, with the park of the trianons off to the right. good fortune came to louis xiv when he found andré le notre, for it was he and no other who traced the general lines of the garden of the versailles which was to be. he laid a generous hand upon the park and forest which had surrounded the manor of louis xiii, and extended the garden to the furthermost limits of his ingenuity. modifications were rapid, and from the _parterres_ and the greensward took on entirely new forms and effects. the parterre des reservoirs became the parterre du nord, and an alley of four rows of lindens enclosed the park on all sides. the parterre à fleurs, or the jardin du roy, between the chateau and the orangerie, was laid out anew. by the following year the park began to take on the homogeneity which it had hitherto lacked. the great rondeau, as it was called, and which became later the bassin du dragon, was excavated, and the jardin bas, or the nouveau parterre, with an oval depression, was also planned. [illustration: _cour de marbre, versailles_] at one end of the park was the celebrated menagerie du roy, where the rare and exotic animals collected by the monarch had "a palace more magnificent than the home of any other dumb animals in the world." this was the first period of formal garden construction at versailles, and it was also the period when the first great impetus was given to sculptural decoration. in , following a journey in italy, le notre took up again the work on the gardens at versailles, devoting himself to the region south of the palace which hitherto had been ignored. this was le notre's most prolific period. the creations at versailles can be divided into two distinct epochs, that before and that coming after. after le notre's generous design, the king and queen were seemingly never satisfied with the endless plotting and planting which was carried on beneath the windows of the palace, and in many instances changed the colour schemes and even the outlines of le notre's original conceptions. the versailles of to-day is no longer the versailles of louis xiii, so far as the actual disposition of details goes. then there was very little green grass and much sand and gravel, a scheme of decoration which entered largely into the seventeenth century garden. this refers principally to the general effect, for le notre made much use of the enclosing battery of lindens, chestnuts and elms of a majestic and patriarchal grandeur which have since been cut and replaced by smaller species of trees, or not replaced at all. no sooner were the ornamental gardens planned at versailles than the potager du roy, or fruit and vegetable garden, was created. this same garden exists to-day with almost its former outlines. here a soil sufficiently humid, and yet sufficiently well drained, contributed not a little towards the success of this most celebrated of all kitchen gardens the world has known. the work of installing a further system of artificial drainage was immediately begun, and the eaux des suisses was created, to take the place of a former stagnant pool near by. undoubtedly it was a stupendous work, like all the projects launched with regard to versailles, but, like the others, it was brought to a speedy and successful conclusion. the details of the history of this royal vegetable garden are fully set forth in a work published in by the son of the designer, the abbé michel de la quintinye, in two bulky volumes. "it was meet that a royal vegetable garden should have been designed by a 'gentleman gardener,'" said the faithful biographer in his foreword, and as such the man and the work are to be considered here. the work was accomplished by the combined efforts of a gracious talent and the expenditure of much money, put at la quintinye's disposition by his royal master, who had but to put his hand deep into the coffers of the royal treasury to draw it forth filled with gold. critics have said that la quintinye's ability stopped with the preparation of the soil, and with the design of the garden, rather than with the actual cultivation, but at all events it was he who made the garden possible. la quintinye adopted arnauld d'andilly's method of planting fruit trees _en espalier_ by training them against a wall-like background, and to accomplish this divided the garden plot, which covered an area of eight hectares (twenty acres), into a great number of subdivisions enclosed by walls, in order to multiply to as great an extent as possible the available space to be used for the _espaliers_. again, these same walls served to shelter certain varieties which were planted close against them. if this potager du roy was not actually the first garden of its class so laid out, it was certainly one of the most extensive and the most successful up to that time. the great terraces of at least two metres in width surrounded the central garden, leaving a free area for the latter which approximated three hectares. these terraces were divided into twenty-eight compartments, forming nine distinct varieties of gardens. the celebrated gardener of louis xiv sought not only to obtain fruits and vegetables of a superior quality and an abundant quantity, but was the first among his kind to produce early vegetables, or _primeurs_, in any considerable quantity, and, by a process of forced culture, he was able to put upon the table of the monarch asparagus in december, lettuce in january, cauliflower in march and strawberries in april. all these may be found at the paris markets to-day, and at these seasons, but the growing of _primeurs_ for the paris markets has become a great industry since the time it was first begun at versailles. of asparagus la quintinye said, "it is a vegetable that only kings can ever hope to eat." the potager du roy was begun in , and completed in . it cost, all told, one million one hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and eighty-three _livres_ of which four hundred and sixty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-four went for constructions in brick and stone, walls, enclosures and drains. its annual maintenance ( ) amounted to twenty thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine _livres_. the effort proved one of great benefit to its creator, for la quintinye, at the completion of this work, received further commissions of a like nature from the prince de condé, the duc de montansier, colbert, fouquet and others. so great a marvel was this vegetable garden at versailles that it was the object of a pilgrimage of the doge of venice in , and of the siamese ambassadors in the following year. the garden has been preserved as an adjunct to versailles up to the present day. for two centuries its product went to the "service de bouche" of the chief of state, that is, the royal dinner table; but in the minister of agriculture installed there the french national horticultural college, which to-day, with a widened scope, has admitted ornamental plants and trees to this famous garden. nevertheless the general outlines have been preserved, though certain of the terraces have disappeared, as well as many of the walls of the original enclosure, thus reducing the number of garden plots; in fact but sixteen distinctly defined gardens remain, including the clos aux asperges. the general lines of the garden design of le notre and boyceau at versailles are to be noted to-day, but if anything the maintenance of the gardens is hardly the equal of what it was in the time of louis xiv and a seeming disaster has fallen upon versailles as these lines are being written. the military authorities have set aside, as a site for an aerostation camp, some twenty-five acres of the park near rocquencourt. this is one of the loveliest parts, shaded by magnificent trees which, presumably, will have to be sacrificed, since, if left standing, they would certainly interfere with maneuvering with military aeroplanes, dirigibles and balloons. at a time when deforestation is recognized to be one of the greatest dangers that menace a country's prosperity, one of its consequences being such inundations as those which recently devastated paris and the seine valley, it is regrettable that the forest surrounding versailles should be depleted. [illustration: _the potager du roy, versailles_] furthermore, the realization of the project means a loss of revenue to the state which at present derives some sixty thousand francs a year from the farming lease of this portion of the park. therefore, for material considerations, as well as because versailles and its surroundings should be preserved intact as a noble relic of one of the grandest periods of french history, one of the most beautiful creations of french genius, the project attributed to the military authorities is short-sighted. to diminish the attractions of versailles would certainly prove an unwise policy, as the stream of tourists, which is the chief source of profit to versailles and its population, would inevitably be diverted to some other channel. only a short time ago a société des amis de versailles was created for the purpose of safeguarding its artistic and natural beauties. the government gave the organization its approbation and there is something delightfully ironical in the fact that the military authorities of the same government are planning to destroy what the society, fathered by the ministère des beaux arts, was formed to preserve. another modern aspect of the park of versailles was noted during the late winter when, after a sharp freeze, all the youth of paris had seemingly gone out to versailles for the skating only to be met by a freshly-posted notice which read: defense de patiner par arrêté du decembre, these signs were posted here and there about the park, in the courtyard, on the postern gate, on trees, everywhere. the authorities were bound that there should be no flagrant violation of the order of . "you see," said one of the park guardians, "_c'est defendu_; but as we are only two and the crowd is very large we can do nothing." this was evident. thousands overran the grand canal, which at its greatest depth was scarcely more than a yard to the bottom, and so, despite of monarchial decree, republican france still skates on the ornamental waters of versailles when occasion offers. "_n'oubliez pas le petit balayeur, s'il vous plait_," was as often heard as "_allez vous-en_." on the whole it was rather a picturesque sight. a thick haze hung over the now white "tapis vert," and the nude figures of the bassin d'apollon were clothed in a mantle of snow, while the white-robed statues of the allée royale, one could well believe, shivered as one passed. [illustration: _the bassin de latone, versailles_] the fountains of versailles, the "grands eaux" and "petits eaux," which shoot their jets in air "semi-occasionally" for the benefit of paris's "good papas" and their children, are distinctly popular features, and of an artistic worth neither less nor greater than most garden accessories of the artificial order. the fact that it costs something like ten thousand francs to "play" these fountains seems to be the chief memory which one retains of them in operation, unless it be the crowds which make the going and coming so uncomfortable. the orangerie lies just below the terrace of the parterre du midi, and a thousand or more non-bearing orange trees are scattered about. they are descendants of fifteenth century ancestors, it is claimed--but doubtfully. the great basin of water known as the eaux des suisses was excavated by the swiss guard of louis xiv to serve the useful purpose of irrigating the potager du roy, and as a decorative effect of great value to that part of the garden upon which faces the fourteen-hundred-foot front of the palace. still farther off towards the bois de satory, after crossing the tapis vert, lie the famous bassins de latone and apollon, the bassin du miroir and, finally, the grand canal, with one transverse branch leading to the menagerie (now the government stud-farm) and the other to the trianons. the satellite palaces known as the grand and petit trianons are, like the palace of versailles itself, of such an abounding historical interest that it were futile to attempt more than a mere intimation of their comparative rank and aspect. the rather sprawling, one-story, horseshoe-shaped villa built by louis xiv for madame de maintenon, and known as the grand trianon, was an architectural conception of mansart's. it is worth remarking that the grand trianon, to-day, is in a more nearly perfect state than it has been for long past, for the restorations lately made have removed certain interpolations manifestly out of place. it is due to m. de nolhac, the conservateur du musée de versailles, that this happy amelioration has been brought about and that mansart's admirable work is again as it was in the days of madame de maintenon and those of the later napoleon i. [illustration: _the fountain of neptune, versailles_] in spite of all this the trianon of to-day is not what it was in the eighteenth century. "madame de maintenon," said de musset, "made of versailles an oratory, but la pompadour turned it into a boudoir." he also called the trianon: "a tiny chateau of porcelain." it was, too, the boudoir of madame de montespan. louis xv, too, built, or furnished, discreet boudoirs of this order on every hand. more than one great gallery in which his elders had done big things he divided and subdivided into minute apartments and papered the walls, or painted them, all colours of the rainbow, or hung them with silks or velvets. "don't you think my little apartment shows good taste," he asked one day of the comtesse de séran at versailles. "not at all," she replied, "i would much rather that the walls were hung in blue." that particular apartment was in rose, but, since blue was the favourite colour of the monarch, the reply was but flattering. the next time that his friend, the comtesse, appeared on the scene the apartment had all been done over in blue. the monarch soon began to turn his attention to the gardens. bowers, labyrinths and vases and statues were inexplicably mixed as in a maze. he began to have the "_gout pastoral_," his biographer has said, a vogue that madame du barry and marie antoinette came in time to push to its limits. the king was too ready to admire all that was suggested, all that was offered, and the ultimate effect was--well, it was the opposite of what he hoped it to be, though doubtless he did not realize it. in the garden of the grand trianon is a great basin with a cascade flowing down over a sort of a high altar arrangement in red and white marble called the buffet de l'architecture, and evolved by mansart. this architect certainly succeeded much better with his purely architectural conceptions than he did with interpolated decorative elements intended to relieve a formal landscape. the petit trianon, the pride of louis xv, was designed by the architect gabriel, and its reigning goddess was marie antoinette. souvenirs of the unhappy queen are many, but the caretakers are evidently bored with their duties and hustle you through the apartments with scant ceremony that they may doze again undisturbed in their corners. [illustration: _petit trianon_] the garden of the petit trianon is a veritable _jardin anglais_, that is, the decorative portion, where sweeps and curves, as meaningless as those one sees on banknotes and no more decorative, are found in place of the majestic lines of the formal garden when laid out after the french manner. [illustration: _la laiterie de la reine petit trianon_] the _hameau_, where is the dairy where the queen played housewife and shepherdess, is just to the rear of this bijou palace and looks stagy and unreal enough to be the wings and back-drop of a pastoral play. near versailles was the chateau de clagny, with a garden laid out by le notre, quite the rival of many better known. of it madame de sévigné wrote: "it is the palais d'armide; you know the manner of le notre; here he has done his best." the couvent des recollettes, just across the bois de satory, was built by louis xiv out of regard for the _religieux_ whom he displaced from an edifice which stood upon a plot which was actually needed for the palace gardens. the chateaux of noisy and molineaux were also affiliated with versailles. the rest of the surroundings and accessories of versailles are mere adjunctive details of those chief features here mentioned. to catalogue them even would be useless since they are all set down in the guidebooks. chapter xvii saint germain-en-laye saint germain has not the popularity of versailles, nor the charm of fontainebleau, but it is more accessible than either, and, if less known and less visited by the general mass of tourists, it is all the more delightful for that. saint germain, the chateau, the town and the forest, possess a magnificent site. behind is a wooded background, and before one are the meanderings of the seine which in the summer sunlight is a panorama which is to be likened to no other on earth. across the river bottom run the great tree-lined roadways, straight as the proverbial flight of the arrow, while on the horizon, looking from the celebrated terrace, one sees to-day the silhouetted outline of paris with the tour eiffel and the dome of the sacré coeur as the culminating points. the town itself is ugly and ill-paved, and heavy-booted dragoons make a hideous noise as they clank along to and from the cavalry barracks all through the day and night. neither are scorching automobiles making their ways to trouville and dieppe over the "route des quarante sous" a pleasant feature. one can ignore all these things, however, for what is left is of a superlative charm. [illustration: saint germain] saint germain-en-laye in the first stages of french history was but a vast extent of forest which under charlemagne came to the possession of the monks of the abbaye de saint germain-des-prés. the first royal palace here was built by king robert in the tenth century, practically upon the site of the present edifice. in the eleventh century there came into being another royal dwelling, and in the twelfth century louis-le-gros built a chateau-fort as a protection to the royal residence and monastery. this did not prevent the black prince from very nearly burning them down on one of his bold raids, but by , charles v re-erected the "_castel_" of saint germain-en-laye. the english, by coercion, induced a monk of a neighbouring establishment at nanterre to deliver up a set of false keys by which the great gates of the castle were surreptitiously opened, and, for a time, the descendants of the conqueror held possession. the establishment of charles v in no way satisfying the artistic ambitions of francis i, that monarch gave the task of reconstruction to the architect pierre chambiges, in , preserving only the saint chapelle of saint louis and the donjon. the building must have gone forward with an extreme rapidity for at the architect's death, in , it had reached nearly the level of the rooftop. chambiges' successor was his son-in-law, guillaume guillain, who, without changing the primitive plan, completed the work in . saint germain, above the first story, is essentially a construction of bricks, but the effect is even now, as chambiges originally intended, an edifice with its main constructive elements of lower sustaining walls and buttresses of stone binding together the slighter fabric, or filling, above. although it is renaissance through and through, saint germain shows not the slightest reminiscence of anything italian and must be considered entirely as an achievement of french genius. this edifice of francis i was more a fortress than a palace in spite of its decorative features, and henri ii, desiring something more of a luxurious royal residence, began what the historians and savants know as the chateau neuf--the palace of to-day which stands high on the hill overlooking the winding seine, to which seducing stream the gardens originally descended in terraces. chiefly it is to henri iv that this structure owes its distinction, for previously work went on but intermittently, and very slowly. henri iv brought the work to completion and made the chateau his preferred and most prolonged place of residence, as indeed did his successor. it is the chateau neuf of the time of henri iv which is to-day known as the palais de saint germain-en-laye. of the vieux chateau only some fragmentary walls and piles of débris, the pavillon henri iv, and, in part, the old royal chapel remain. actually the structure of to-day includes that part of the hotel du pavillon henri iv which is used as a restaurant. henri iv and louis xiii gave saint germain its first great _éclat_ as a suburban place of sojourn, and from the comings and goings of the court of that time there gradually grew up the present city of twenty thousand inhabitants; not all of them of courtly manners, as one learns from a recollection of certain facts of contemporary modern history. during the days when mazarin actually held the reins of state the court was frequently at saint germain. louis xiv was born here, and until versailles and marly came into being he made it his principal dwelling. it was in one of the magnificent apartments, too, midway between the angle turrets of the façade, louis xiii ended his unhappy existence in . his own private band of musicians played a "de profundis" of his own composition to waft his soul on its long journey. the chroniclers describe one of the monarch's last conversations as follows: "when they transport my body to paris after my soul has flown, laporte, remember that place where the road turns under the hill; it is a rough road, laporte, and will surely shake my bones sadly if the driver does not go slowly." those who have journeyed out from paris to saint germain by road in this later century will appreciate the necessity for the admonition. louis xiv, unlike louis xiii, detested saint germain beyond words, because the towers of the abbaye de saint denis, where he was destined one day to be buried, were visible from the terrace. louis xv was not so particular for he was so morbid that he even loved, as he claimed himself, the scent of new-made graves. the arrival of anne d'autriche and the royal family at saint germain during the war of the fronde was one of the most dramatic incidents of the period. they had travelled half the night, coming from the palais royal only to find a palace awaiting them which was unheated and unfurnished though the time was mid-january. always drear and gaunt it was immeasurably so on this occasion. mazarin had made no provision for the queen's arrival; there, were neither beds, tables nor linen in their proper places, no servants, no attendants of any kind, only the guardians of the palace. the queen was obliged to take rest from her fatigue on a folding camp bedstead, without covering of any kind. the princes fared no better, actually sleeping on the floor. there were plenty of mirrors and much gold gingerbread on the walls and ceilings, but no furniture. the personal belongings which the court had brought with them were few. no one had a change of clothing even; those worn one day were washed the next. however the queen good-naturedly smiled through it all. she called it "an escapade which can hardly last a week." all paris was by this time crying "_vive la fronde_": "_mort à mazarin_": but it proved to be something more than a little affair of a week, as we now know. at this period, when anne d'autriche was practically a prisoner at saint germain, the picture made by the old chateau against its forest background was undeniably more imposing than that which one sees to-day. the glorious forest was not then hidden by rows of banal roof-tops, and the dull drabs of barracks and prisons. in the warm spring mornings the glittering façade of the chateau was brilliant as a diamond against its setting, and the radiating avenues of the park leading from the famous terrace stretched out into infinite vistas that were most alluring. this effect, fortunately, is not wholly lost to-day. at night things were as idyllic as by day. the queen and her ladies, relieved of the dreary presence of the king who still remained at paris, revelled in an unwonted freedom. concerts, suppers and dances were the rule and moonlight cavalcades to the heart of the forest, or promenades on foot the length of the terrace, and by some romantically disposed couples far beyond, gave a genuine "begone, dull care" aspect to court life which was not at all possible in the capital. the following picture, taken from a court chronicle, might apply as well to-day if one makes due allowance for a refulgence of myriad lamps gleaming out parisward as night draws in. "it is a rare moonlight night. the queen and her ladies have emerged late on the stately terrace of henri iv which borders upon the forest and extends for nearly a league along the edge of the height upon which stands the chateau. "the queen and her brother-in-law, gaston, duc d'orleans, have seated themselves somewhat apart from the rest beside the stone balustrade which overlooks the steep descent to the plain below. vineyards line the hillside and the seine flows far beneath, the fertile river-bottom rich with groves and orchards, villas and gardens. still more distant sweeps away the great plain wrapped in dark shadows punctuated here and there with great splotches of moonlight. of the great city beyond (the paris of to-day, whose myriad glow-worm lights actually do lend an additional charm) not a vestige is to be seen. scarcely a lantern marks the existence of a living soul in the vast expanse below, but the moon, high in the heavens, plots out the entire landscape with a wonderful impressiveness, and the stars topping the forest trees to the rear and the heights which rise on the distant horizon lend their quota of romanticism, and, as if by their scintillations, mark the almost indiscernible towers of the old abbey of saint denis to the left. "'oh, what a lovely night,' said the queen to her companion. again it is the old chronicler who speaks. 'can the world ever appear so calm and peaceful elsewhere?'" this terrasse de henri iv, so called, is one of the most splendid and best-known terraces in europe, and is noted for its extent as well as for its marvellous point of view, the whole panorama parisward being spread out before one as if on a map, a view which extends from the chateau de maisons on the left to the aqueduct de marly and the heights of louveciennes on the right, including the bois de vesinet, mont valerian, montmartre and the whole parisian panorama as far as the coteaux de montmorency. this terrace, too, was the project and construction of le notre in . it is two and a half kilometres in length and thirty metres in width, upheld by a stone retaining wall which is surmounted by a balustrade. it extends from the pavillon henri iv to a gun battery well within the confines of the forest. entrance from the precincts of the palace is by the great ornamental iron gateway known as the grille royale, from which an alleyed row of lindens leads to the heart of the forest. the record of another merry party at saint germain is that which recounts that summer evening when the king and court scuttled about the park enjoying themselves as only royalty can--when some one else pays the bills. the terrace, the gravelled walks and the alleyed paths of the forest all led to charming and discreet rendezvous. [illustration: _the valley of the seine, from the terrace at saint germain_] so preoccupied was every one on this particular occasion that the merry-makers had hardly a thought for their king, who, left to his own devices, sought out four maids of honour gossiping in a bower, and, taking the mischief-loving lauzan into his confidence, pried upon them in the ambush of the night. they were gossiping over the dancers at the ball of the night before when one of them proclaimed her fancy for the agility and grace of the king above all others. it was the first expression of "la vallière" since she had come timidly to court. the rest is an idyll which is found set forth in all the history books at considerable length, and at this particular moment it was a genuine idyll, for the king had not then become the debauched roué that he was in later life. after anne d'autriche, henriette, the widow of charles i of england, found at saint germain a comfortable and luxurious refuge. from onward louis xiv made frequent visits to saint germain and was so taken with the charms of the neighbourhood and the immediate site that he conjured six and a half million francs out of his civil list, in addition to his regular stipend, for the upkeep of this palace alone. this was robbery: modern graft pales before this; candelabra by the pound and writing tables by the square yard were known before the days of machine politicians. james ii of england, in , found a hospitable refuge at saint germain, thanks to louis xiv, and died within the palace walls in , as did his wife, maria d'este, in . louis xv and louis xvi gave saint germain scarce a thought, and under the empire it became a cavalry school, and later, under the restoration, sinking lower still, it merited only the denomination of a barracks. its culminating fall arrived when it was turned into a penitentiary. napoleon iii, with finer instincts, here installed a museum, and restorations and rebuilding having gone on intermittently since that time the palace has now taken on a certain pretence to glory. practically the palace in its present form is a restoration, not entirely a new building, but a rebuilding of an old one, first begun under the competent efforts of the architect eugene millet, who sought to reëstablish the edifice as it was under francis i. the great tower has been preserved but the corner pavilions of the period of louis xiv have been demolished in accord with the carrying out of this plan. for forty years saint germain has been in a state of restoration, and like the restoration of pierrefonds it has swallowed up fantastic sums. the western façade has been rebuilt from the chapel to the entrance portal and the last of mansart's pavilions, which he built to please either his own fancy or that of louis xiv, have been demolished. mansart himself made way with the old _tourelles_ and the balustrade which rounded off the angles of the walls of the main buildings and substituted a series of heavy, ugly _maisonettes_, more like the bastions of a fortress than any adjunct to a princely dwelling. the courtyard of the chateau is curiously disposed; "so that it may receive the sun at all times," was the claim of its designer. it, too, has been brought back to the state in which it was originally conceived and shorn of its encumbering outhouses and odds and ends which served their purposes well enough when it was a barracks or a prison, but which were a desecration to anything called by so dignified a name as a chateau or a palace. this courtyard is to-day as it was when the lords and ladies in the train of charles ix strolled and even gambolled therein. the chapelle de saint louis ( ) is in every way remarkable, especially with respect to its great rose-window, which was found by millet to have been walled up by louis xiv. the military museum of to-day, which is enclosed by the palace walls, possesses a remarkable collection of its kind, but has no intimate lien upon the history of the palace. the _parterre_ before the palace is cut off from the forest of saint germain by three ornate iron gates. it was relaid, a transformation from designs originally conceived in , by le notre, modified in and much reduced in size and beauty in the nineteenth century, though later enlarged by taking three hectares of ground from the forest and turning them into the accepted form of an english garden. a peninsula of a superficial area of over ten thousand acres snugly enfolded in one of the great horseshoe bends of the seine contains the forêt de saint germain. a line drawn across the neck of the peninsula from saint germain to poissy, following the route de poissy, completely cuts off this tongue of land which is as wild and wooded to-day as in the times of francis, the henris and the louis. the _routes_ and _allées_ of the forest are traced with regularity and precision, and historians have written them down as of a length of nearly four hundred leagues, a statement which a glance at any map of the forest will well substantiate. high upon its plateau sits this historic wildwood, for the most part of a soil dry and sandy, with here and there some great _mamelon_ (druidical or pagan, as the case may be) rising somewhat above the average level. francis i, huntsman and lover of art and nature, did much to preserve this great forest, and louis xiv in his time developed its system of roads and paths, "chiefly to make hunting easy," says history, though it is difficult to follow this. at all events the forest remains to-day the most extensive unspoiled breathing-spot of its class near paris. within this maze of paths and alleys are many famed historic spots, the chêne saint fiacre, the croix de noailles, the croix saint simon, the croix du main (erected in in honour of the son of louis xiv), the Étoile des amazones, the patte d'oie, the chêne du capitaine and many more which are continually referred to in the history of the palace, the forest of saint germain-en-laye, and of the abbaye de poissy. the forest is not wholly separated from the mundane world for occasionally a faint echo of the rouen railway is heard, a toot from a river tug-boat bringing coal up-river to paris, the strident notes of automobile horns, or that of a hooting steam-tram which scorches along the principal roadway over which state coaches of kings and courtiers formerly rolled. the contrast is not particularly offensive, but the railway threatens to make further inroads, so one hardly knows the future that may be in store for the patriarch oaks and elms and chestnuts which make up this secular wildwood. their ages may not in all cases approach those of the great fontainebleau trees, and in point of fact the forest is by no means as solitary, nor ever was. one of the most celebrated, certainly one of the most spectacular, duels of history took place in the park at saint germain-en-laye. gui chabot de jarnac lived a prodigal and profligate life at the expense--it was said--of the favours of the duchesse d'Étampes. the dauphin, henri, making an accusation, deemed wholly uncalled for, a "_duel judiciaire_" took place, with la châtaigneraie as the dauphin's substitute as adversary of de jarnac who sought no apology but combat. it was because henri meantime had become king and issued his first letters patent to his council concerning the "_duel judiciaire_," whereby he absolved himself of the right to partake, that he appointed his dear friend françois de vivonne, "seigneur de la châtaigneraie," to play the rôle for him. unfortunately the young man could not justify by victory the honour of his king and before the monarch and the assembled court he was laid low by his adversary. this was one of the last of the "_duels judiciaires_" in france. what saint louis and philippe-le-bel had vainly sought to suppress, the procedure having cost at least a hundred thousand _livres_, was practically accomplished by henri ii by a stroke of the pen. chapter xviii maintenon out from paris, on the old route d'espagne, running from the capital to the frontier, down which rolled the royal cortèges of old, lie maintenon and its famous chateau, some sixty odd kilometres from paris and twenty from rambouillet. just beyond versailles, on the road to maintenon, lies the trim little townlet of saint cyr, known to-day as the west point of france, the military school founded by napoleon i giving it its chief distinction. going back into the remote past one learns that the village grew up from a foundation of louis xiv, who bought for ninety-one thousand _livres_ "a chateau and a convent for women," that madame de maintenon might establish a girls' school therein. she reserved an apartment for herself, and one suspects indeed that it was simply another project of the widow scarron to have a place of rendezvous near the capital. certainly under the circumstances, taking into consideration the good that she was doing for orphaned girls, she might at least have been allowed the right of a roof to shelter her when she wished. she was absolutely dominant within, though never actually in residence for any length of time. it was here that "esther" and "athalie," which racine had composed expressly for madame de maintenon's pensionnaires, were produced for the first time. [illustration: fauteuil _of_ mme. _de_ maintenon _worked by the_ demoiselles _of_ saint cyr] when not actually living at saint cyr it was madame de maintenon's custom to come hither from paris each day, arriving between seven and eight in the morning, passing the day and returning to town for the evening, much as a celebrated american millionaire journalist, whose country-house overlooks the famous convent garden, does to-day. madame de maintenon actually went into retirement at saint cyr upon the death of louis xiv, and for four years, until her death, never left it. she died from old age, rather than from any grave malady, in this "maison d'education," which she had inaugurated, and was buried in the chapel, beneath an elaborate tomb which the duc de noailles, who married her niece, caused to be erected. the tomb was destroyed during the revolution and the "maison royale de saint cyr," of which nothing had been changed since its foundation, was suppressed, the edifice itself being pillaged and the remains of madame de maintenon sadly profaned, finally to be recovered and deposited again in the chapel where a simple black marble slab marks them in these graven words: cy-git madame de maintenon - - napoleon i established the École militaire at saint cyr, from which are graduated each year more than four hundred subaltern officers. the ancient gardens of madame de maintenon's time now form the "champs de mars," or drill ground, of the military school. south from saint cyr runs the great international highroad, the old route royale of the monarchy. it rises and falls, but mostly straight as the flight of the crow, until it crosses the great national forest of rambouillet. following the valley of the eure almost to its headwaters it finally comes to maintenon, a town of a couple of thousand souls, whose most illustrious inhabitant was that granddaughter of theodore-agrippa d'aubigné, named françoise, and who came in time to be the marquise de maintenon. the chateau de maintenon was royal in all but name. the tresorier des finances under louis xi, jean cottereau (a public official who made good it seems, since he also served in the same capacity for charles viii, louis xii, and francis i), had a single daughter, isabeau, who, in , married jacques d'angennes, who at the time was already seigneur de rambouillet. as a dot this daughter acquired the lands of maintenon. the property was afterwards sold to the marquis de villeray, from whom louis xiv bought it in and disposed of it as a royal gift to françoise d'aubigné, the fascinator of kings, who was afterwards to become (in ) madame la marquise de maintenon. this ambitious woman subsequently married her niece to the duc d'ayen, son of the maréchal de noailles, and as a marriage portion--or possibly to avoid unpleasant consequences--turned over the property of maintenon to the young bride and her husband to whose family, the noailles, it has ever since belonged. to-day the duc and duchesse de noailles make lengthy stays in this delightful seigneurial dwelling, and since the apartments are full to overflowing of historical souvenirs of their family it may be truly said that their twentieth century life is to some considerable extent in accord with the traditions of other days. the existence of this princely residence is an agreeable reminder of the life of luxury of the olden time albeit certain modernities which we to-day think necessities are lacking. maintenon is certainly one of the most beautiful so-called royal chateaux of france, if not by its actual importance at least by many of the attributes of its architecture, the extent of the domain and the history connected therewith. it bridges the span between the private chateau and those which may properly be called royal. in the moyen-age maintenon was a veritable chateau-fort, forming a quadrilateral edifice flanked by round towers at three of its angles, and at the fourth by a great square mass of a donjon, all of which was united by a vast expanse of solidly built wall which possessed all the classic attributes of the best military architecture of its time. entrance was only over a deep moat spanned by a drawbridge. [illustration: _chateau de maintenon_] jean cottereau made his acquisition of the domain towards and immediately planned a new scheme of being for the old fortress which, according to a more esthetic conception, would thus be brought into the class of a luxurious residential chateau. he destroyed the _courtines_ which attached the great donjon to the rest of the building, and opened up the courtyard so that it faced directly upon the park. he ornamented sumptuously the window framings, the dormer windows, and the turrets, and framed in the entrance portal with a series of sculptured motives which he also added to the entrance to the great inner stairway. in short it was an enlargement and embellishment that was undertaken, but so thoroughly was it done that the edifice quite lost its original character in the process. like all the chateaux built at this epoch maintenon was no longer a mere fortress, but a palatial retreat, luxurious in all its appointments, and shorn of all the manifest militant attributes which it had formerly possessed. the shell was there, following closely the original outlines, but the added ornamentation had effectually disguised its primordial existence. living rooms needed light and air, while a fortress or quarters for troops might well be ordained on other lines. the renaissance livened up considerably the severe lines of the gothic chateaux of france, and though invariably the marks of the transition are visible to the expert eye it is also true, as in the case of maintenon, that there is frequently a homogeneousness which is sufficiently pleasing to effectually cover up any discrepancies which might otherwise be apparent. the warrior aspect is invariably lost in the transition, and thus a renaissance residential chateau enters at once into a different class from that of the feudal fortress regardless of the fact that such may have been its original status. the armorial device of jean cottereau--three unlovely lizards blazoned on a field of silver--is still to be seen sculptured on the two towers flanking the entrance portal which to-day lacks its old drawbridge before mentioned. surrounding the edifice is a deep, unhealthful, mosquito-breeding moat which is all a mediæval moat should be, but which is actually no great attribute to the place considering its disadvantages. one wonders that it is allowed to exist in so stagnant a condition, as the running waters of the near-by eure might readily be made use of to change all this. the site of the chateau at the confluence of the eure and the voise is altogether charming. madame de maintenon did much to make the property more commodious and convenient and built the great right wing which binds the donjon to the main _corps de logis_. her own apartments were situated in the new part of the palace. she also built the gallery which leads from the tour de machicoulis to the pointed chapel, which was a construction of the time of cottereau, an accessory which every self-respecting country-house of the time was bound to have. it was by this gallery that the open tribune in the little chapel was reached, thus enabling louis xiv to pass readily to mass while he was so frequent a visitor at that period when, at maintenon, he was overseeing the construction of his famous aqueduct. maintenon has had the honour, too, to count among its illustrious guests racine, who came at the request of madame de maintenon, and here wrote "esther" and "athalie" which were later produced at saint cyr by madame de maintenon's celebrated band of "demoiselles." louis xiv was not the last of royal race to accept the chateau de maintenon's hospitality for the unhappy charles x was obliged to ask shelter of its chatelain for himself and fleeing family. they arrived a little after midnight of a hot august night, slept as well as possible in the former apartments of madame de maintenon, and attended mass in the chapel on the following morning. the monarch then discharged the royal guard and the "hundred swiss" and gave up, defeated at the game of playing monarch against the will of the people. one enters the _cour d'honneur_ by a great portal of the time of louis xiv. immediately before one is the principal façade, with its towers of brick and its slender little turrets framing in so admirably the entrance door. this façade is of the fifteenth century and on the tympan of the dormer windows one may still see the monogram of its builder, cottereau. the drawbridge has been made way with, and the turrets over the portal have been bound together by a diminutive balcony of stone, which, while a manifest superfluity, is in no way objectionable. under the entrance vault are doors on either side giving access to the living apartments of the _rez-de-chaussée_. in the inner courtyard is to be found the most exquisite architectural detail of the whole fabric, the tower which encloses the monumental stairway, to which entrance is had by a portal which is a veritable gothic jewel. in the tympan of this portal, as in the dormer windows, is the device of jean cottereau, except in this case it is much more elaborate--a saint michel and the dragon, surrounded by a "_semis de coquilles_" bearing the escutcheons of the chatelain--_d'argent à lezards de sable_. at the left of this stairway tower is the principal courtyard façade, supported by four arcades, pierced with great windows and surmounted by two fine dormer windows, all in the style of louis xii, of which the same effects to be observed at blois and in the hotel d'alluye are contemporary. at the left of the inner court is the wing built by cottereau which terminates in a great round tower, while to the right is that erected by madame de maintenon ending at the donjon. directly opposite is a magnificent vista over the canal of ornamental water framed on either side by patriarchal trees and having as a background the silhouette of the arches of the famous aqueduct which was to lead the waters of the eure to versailles. the interior of the chateau is not less remarkable than the exterior. entering by the tower portal one comes at once to that magnificent _grand escalier_ which is accounted one of the wonders of the french renaissance. the salle à manger of to-day was the old-time salle des gardes. it is garnished with a fine wainscoting and panels of cordovan leather. the chambre à coucher of louis xiv, to the left, is to-day the salon, and here are to be seen portraits of louis xiv, louis xii, francis i, henri iv, and louis xiii. a tiny rotunda contains a statue of henri iv as a child, and portraits of madame de maintenon and louis xiv in their youth. a portrait gallery of restrained proportions contains effigies of madame de maintenon and her niece mademoiselle d'aubigné, the duc de penthièvre, the comtesse de toulouse, the duc de noailles, the duchesse de villars and the duchesse de chaumont. the show-piece of the chateau, albeit of recent construction, is known variously as the "grand galerie" and the "longue galerie." its decorations are due to the duc de noailles, the father of the present proprietor. virtually it is a portrait gallery of the noailles family, going back to the times of the crusaders and coming down to the twentieth century. the apartments of madame de maintenon form that portion of the chateau which has the chief sentimental interest. in an ante-chamber is a _chaise à porteurs_ once having belonged to the marquise, and her portrait by mignard. cordovan leather is hung upon the walls, and the restored sleeping-room is hung with a canopy and separated from the rest of the apartment by a balustrade in _bois doré_. above the chimney-piece is a portrait of louis xiv, after rigaud, and, finally, the oratory is ornamented by a series of elegant sculptures in wood and a magnificent boule coffer. [illustration: _aqueduct of louis xiv at maintenon_] in the left wing is found a beautiful chapel of the fifteenth century, which is very pure in style. it is decorated with a series of renaissance wood panels of the finest workmanship. the coloured glass of the windows is of the sixteenth century. the rebuilt monumental stairway connects directly with a passage leading to the entrance portico which opens on the garden terrace before the _parterre_. the park of maintenon is in every way admirable, with its _pelouse_, its great border of trees, its waterways and more than thirty bridges. jean cottereau himself planned the first vegetable and fruit garden, or _potager_, the same whose successor is the delight of the dwellers at maintenon to-day. the _parterre_, the grand canal and the two avenues of majestic trees were due to the conception of le notre, and their effect, as set off by the alleyed forest background and the pillars of the aqueduct of louis xiv, is something unique. the gardens at maintenon were perhaps not le notre's most famous work but they followed the best traditions of their time, and because of their vast expanse of ornamental water were, in a way, quite unequalled. ambling off towards the forest is a great avenue flanked with high overhanging shade trees known as the allée racine. it gets its name from the fact that the dramatist was wont to take his walks abroad in this direction and woo the muse while he was a guest of madame de maintenon. chapter xix rambouillet and its forest [illustration: château de rambouillet] rambouillet is one of the most famous of the minor royal chateaux of france. built under the first of the monarchies, in the midst of the vast forest of yveline, it has always formed a part of the national domain. even now, under republican france, it is still the scene of the hunts organized for visiting monarchs, and, within the last half dozen years alone, the monarchs of spain and belgium, italy and england have shot hares and stags and pheasants in company with a republican president. the occasions have lacked the picturesque costumes of the disciples of saint hubert in other times; but the huntsman still winds his horn to the same traditional tune and the banquets given in the chateau on such occasions are, in no small measure, an echo of what has gone before. it was in the old chateau of rambouillet that francis i died. in the month of march, , francis, coming from chambord in the south, crossed the "accursed bridge" and arrived at the foot of the ivy-grown donjon which one sees to-day, the last remaining relic of the mediæval fortress. for a year the monarch had led a wandering life, revisiting all the favourite haunts of his kingdom, and, though scarce turned fifty, was prematurely aged and gray. he was lifted tenderly from his royal coach, and by the winding stair, carried slowly to his apartments on the second floor, overlooking the three canals and the "accursed bridge" and the tangled forest beyond. jacques d'angennes, to whose ancestors rambouillet one day belonged, acted as host to his royal master and cared for him as a brother, but francis was dispirited, and growing weaker every moment. he complained bitterly of the death of his favourite son from the plague, and of that of the gay monarch across the channel, his old friend, henry viii of england. he was restless and wished to move on to saint germain, but his condition made that impossible. after a feeble attempt to rouse himself for a hunt in the forest, he took to his bed again, with the admonition to his friend d'angennes, who never left him: "i am dying, send for my son, henri." the prince joined the mourners around the royal bedside and heard his father's confession thus: "my son, i have sinned greatly; i have been led away by my passions; follow that which i have done that is accredited good, and ignore the evil; above all, cherish france; be good to my people." that was all except the final counsel to "beware of the guises; they are traitors." after that he spoke no more. francis i, the gallant, art-loving monarch, the father of the renaissance in france, was dead. in , catherine de médici, accompanied by her son charles ix, here awaited the results of the momentous battle of dreux. in , henri iii, fleeing paris after the "_journée des barricades_" came here to rest, and so fatigued was he on his arrival that he went to bed "_tout botté_." the son of louis xiv and madame de montespan came into possession of "the palace and lands" and in his honour the property was made, in spite of its limited area, a duché-pairie. louis xiv and madame de maintenon, as was but natural, because of its proximity to maintenon and to paris, frequently honoured rambouillet with their presence; and, a little later, louis xv and the beautiful comtesse de toulouse followed suit. the duc de penthièvre, to whom the property had by this time descended, at the instance of louis xvi, ceded to that monarch the domain of rambouillet. louis xvi built vast commons and outbuildings, all with some architectural pretence, to house the appanage of the royal hunt, and also built the laiterie de la reine and the model farm where, in , he established the first national sheepfold. [illustration: _laiterie de la reine, rambouillet_] to-day this is the famous École de bergers, where is quartered the largest flock of _moutons à laine_ (merino sheep) in france, they having been brought chiefly from spain. the laiterie de la reine was a tiny sandstone temple with interior fittings chiefly of white marble, and with a great, round centre-table, and smaller tables in each corner, equally of marble, as becomes a hygienically fitted dairy. it was restored by louis napoleon during the second empire, and is still to be seen in all its pristine glory. in addition, louis xvi had at rambouillet a private domain of a considerable extent which only the constitution of united to the civil list. this property, except the palace, the park and the forest, was sold later by the state. the imperial civil list, formed in by napoleon, included these dependencies specifically, and the emperor frequently hunted in the neighbouring forest, though, compared to his predecessors, he had little time to devote to that form of sport. here, too, was signed, in , the decree which united holland with the empire. rambouillet has fallen sadly since the revolution. a decree of the _representants du peuple_, of october , , provided that "the furnishings of this palace, heretofore royal, shall be sold." under the consulate and empire a certain citizen, trepsat by name, received an injury in protecting napoleon in an attack and, as recompense, was made the official architect and conservator of the palace of rambouillet. hardly had trepsat entered upon his functions when he suggested the demolition of the chateau. napoleon hesitated, but finally partially agreed, insisting, however, that enough should be left to form a comfortable hunting-lodge. trepsat would have torn down all and rebuilt anew. napoleon made an appointment with his architect to visit the property and discuss the matter in detail the following year ( ), but at that moment he was campaigning in austria, so the interview was not held. this was trepsat's chance, and he found a pretext to overthrow the entire east wing, but was stopped before he was able to further carry out his ignorant act of vandalism. trepsat was severely reprimanded by the emperor himself, and was ordered to put things back as he found them. "even the most battered and sickly architect who ever lived could hardly have had a worse inspiration," said napoleon. trepsat, be it recalled, had lost a leg. the restoration was commenced, but trepsat, committing one fault after another, and finally juggling with the accounts, was obliged to take on a collaborator by the name of famin, a young _pensionnaire_ of the académie des beaux arts, recently returned from rome. it was he who saved rambouillet from utter destruction. the apartments of napoleon, which were those given over to public functions in the time of the comte de toulouse, had been, and were, most luxuriously appointed. that which shows most clearly the imprint of the imperial régime is the curious salle de bains which was in direct communication with the study, or cabinet de travail. it might have been a room in a pompeian house so classic were its lines and decorations. there was a series of medallions painted on the wall representing portraits of members of the imperial family. these were chiefly portraits of the female sex, and napoleon, the first time he entered his bath, in an excess of modesty and fury cried out: "who is the ass that did this thing?" immediately they were painted out, and, for the sum of nine hundred and fifty francs, another artist was found who filled the frames of the medallions with sights and scenes associated less intimately with napoleonic history. under the empire the architect famin was commissioned to furnish a series of architectural embellishments to the gardens of rambouillet. various stone statues were added and an octagon pavilion on the ile des roches was restored and redecorated. two great avenues were cut through the _parterre_, and, as if fearing indiscretions on the part of his entourage, the emperor caused to be planted long rows of lindens and tulip trees, which were again masked by two rows of poplars. the _peloux_ of the jardin français were reëstablished and the curves and sweeps of the paths of the jardin anglais laid out anew. this ancient government property, arisen anew from its ruins, now bore the name of the pavillon du roi de rome, after the son of napoleon. the Écuries, or stables, which had been built by louis xvi, were transformed into kennels, and various "posts," or miniature shooting-boxes, were distributed here and there through the park. under the restoration the transformation of the chateau, which had been projected ever since the time of louis xvi, undertaken and then abandoned by napoleon, was again commenced, but on a less ambitious scale than formerly. chiefly this transformation consisted of opening up windows, thus making practically a new façade. it was not wholly a happy thought, and the spirit of economy of louis xviii, no less, perhaps, than other motives, arrested this mutilation and the architect was discharged from his functions. [illustration: _chateau de rambouillet_] again the hand of fate fell hard upon rambouillet and its definite eclipse as a royal abode came with the abdication of charles x. the abdication was actually signed at rambouillet, and here, in the same salle du conseil, the dauphin renounced the throne in favour of the young duc de bordeaux. it was at rambouillet that charles x passed those solemn last days before the abdication. he had been unmercifully harassed at paris and sought a quiet retreat, "not too far from the tuileries," where he might repose a moment and take counsel. in view of later events this was significant; perhaps it was significant at the time, for the king speedily repented his abdication. it was too late, for he had classed as rebels all the royalists who would have accepted the "infant king" as their monarch, even though the following revolution prevented this. it was on the third of august that the commissioners, deputies of the provisionary government, were brought before the king at rambouillet. they announced that twenty-five thousand armed parisians were marching on the chateau to compel him to quit his kingdom. it was not a matter for debate, and at nine o'clock on the same night the monarch gave assent to being conducted to cherbourg, where he embarked upon his fatal exile. after , with a business-like instinct, the authorities rented the property for twelve years to the baron schickler, and, at the end of the revolution of , its career became more plebeian still; it was rented to a man who converted the palace into an elaborately appointed road-house, and the lawns and groves into open-air restaurants and dancing places. under the gouvernement du juillet the chateau, the park and the forest were removed from the civil list, and entered upon the inventory of the administration des domaines. under the second empire rambouillet appeared again on the monarchial civil list. napoleon iii came here at times to hunt, but not to live, and of his rare appearances at the chateau but little record exists. since rambouillet has belonged to the republican government, and, since royalties no longer exist in france, republican chiefs of state now take the lead in rambouillet's national hunts. the property, as it stands to-day, is divided readily into four distinct parts, the palace, the _parterre_, the _jardin anglais_ and the park. the grove of lindens is remarkable in every respect, the ornamental waters are gracious and of vast extent, and the _laiterie_ and the _ferme_ are decidedly models of their kind; but the chaumière des coquillages, a rustic summer-house of rocks and shells and questionable débris of all sorts, is hideous and unworthy. not the least of the charming features of the park is the great alley of louisiana cypresses, one of the real sights, indeed, perfecting the charm of the great body of water to the left of the chateau. of the structure which existed in the fourteenth century, the chateau of rambouillet retains to-day only a great battlemented tower, and some low-lying buildings attached to it. successive enlargements, restorations and mutilations have changed much of the original aspect of the edifice, and modern structures flank and half envelop that which, to all eyes, is manifestly ancient. the débris of the old fortress, which was the foundation of all, adds its bit to the conglomerate mass of which the chief and most imposing elements are the two tall _corps de logis_ in the centre. within, a rather banal salle de bal is shown as the chief feature, but it is conventionally unlovely enough to be passed without emotion, save that its easterly portion takes in the _cabinet_, or private apartment, where charles x signed his abdication. adjoining this is the bedroom occupied by that monarch, and a dining-room which also served his majesty, and which is still used by the head of the government on ceremonious occasions. its decorative scheme is of the period of louis xv. the salle de conseil is of the period of charles x, and has some fairly imposing carved wainscotings showing in places the monograms of marie sophie and the comtesse de toulouse. a great map, or plan, of the forest of rambouillet covers the end wall, and, if not esthetically beautiful, is at least useful and very interesting. it was executed under louis xvi and doubtless served its purpose well when the hunters gathered after a day afield and recounted anecdotes of their adventures. there is another apartment on the ground floor which is known as the _salle à manger des rendezvous de chasse_, whose very name explains well its functions. the cabinet de travail of marie antoinette and the salle de bain of napoleon have something more than a mere sentimental interest; they were decidedly practical adjuncts to the royal palace. napoleon's bath took the form of a rather short, deep pool. its fresco decorations, as seen to-day--replacing that family portrait gallery which napoleon caused to be painted out--are after the pseudo-antique manner and represent bird's-eye views of various french cities and towns, while a series of painted armorial trophies decorates the ceiling. on the second floor are the apartments occupied by the duchesse de berry and those of the duchesse d'angouleme. in the great round tower is the circular apartment where francis i breathed his last. it is this great truss-vaulted room that most interests the visitor to rambouillet. on the ground floor is another salle de bain, quite as theatrically disposed as that of napoleon. its construction was due to the comte de toulouse whose taste ran to delft tiles and polychrome panels, framing two imposing marines, also worked out in tiles. the _parterre_, extending before the main building, is of an ampleness scarcely conceivable until once viewed. it is purely french in design and is of the epoch of the tenancy of the comte de toulouse. before the admirably grouped lindens was a boathouse, and off in every direction ran alleys of acacias, while here and there tulip beds, rose gardens and hedges of rhododendrons flanked the very considerable ornamental waters. this body of water, in the form of a trapezoid, is divided by four grass-grown islets and separates the jardin anglais from the jardin français. one of the islets is known as the ile des roches and contains the grotte de rabelais, so named in honour of the curé of meudon, when he was presented at rambouillet by the cardinal du bellay. it was on this isle that were given those famous fêtes in honour of the "_beaux esprits_" who formed the assiduous cortège of catherine de vivonne, mythological, pagan and _outré_. the jardin anglais at rambouillet is the final expression of the species in france. designed under the duc de penthièvre, it was restored and considerably enlarged by napoleon and, following the contours of an artificial rivulet, it fulfils the description that its name implies. more remote, and half hidden from the precincts of the chateau, are the chaumière and the ermitage and they recall the background of a fragonard or a watteau. it is all very "stagy"--but, since it exists, can hardly be called unreal. the park proper, containing more than twelve hundred hectares, is one of the largest and most thickly wooded in france. between the _parterre_ and the french and english garden and the park lie the farm and the laiterie de la reine, the caprice of louis xvi when he would content marie antoinette and give her something to think about besides her troubles. napoleon stripped it of its furnishings to install them, for a great part, at malmaison, for that other unhappy woman--josephine. later, to give pleasure to marie louise, he ordered them brought back again to rambouillet, but it was to napoleon iii that the restoration of this charming conceit was due. in the neighbourhood of rambouillet was the famous chateau de chasse, or royal shooting-box, which louis xv was fond of making a place of rendezvous. on the banks of the Étang de pourras stood this chateau de saint hubert, named for the patron saint of huntsmen, and within its walls was passed many a happy evening by king and courtiers after a busy day with stag and hound. the hunt in france was perhaps at the most picturesque phase of its existence at this time. the hunt of to-day is but a pale, though bloody, imitation of the real sport of the days when monarchs and their seigneurs in slashed doublet and hose and velvet cloaks pursued the deer of the forest to his death, and knew not the _maitre d'equipage_ of to-day. chapter xx chantilly chantilly, because of its royal associations, properly finds its place in every traveller's french itinerary. not only did chantilly come to its great glory through royal favour, but in later years the french government has taken it under its wing, the chateau, the stables and the vast park and forest, until the ensemble is to-day as much of a national show place as versailles or saint germain. it is here in the marble halls, where once dwelt the condés and the montmorencys, that are held each year the examinations of the french académie des beaux arts. and besides this it is a place of pilgrimage for thousands of tourists who, as a class, for a couple of generations previously, never got farther away from the capital than saint cloud. many charters of the tenth century make mention of the estates of chantilly, which at that time belonged to the seigneurs of senlis. the chateau was an evolution from a block-house, or fortress, erected by catulus in gallo-roman times and four centuries later it remained practically of the same rank. in the fourteenth century the chateau was chiefly a vast fortress surrounded by a water defence in the form of an enlarged moat by means of which it was able to resist the bourguignons and never actually fell until after the taking of meaux by the english king, henry v. [illustration: chantilly] jean ii de montmorency, by his marriage with marguerite d'orgemont, came to be the possessor of the domain, their son, in turn, becoming the heir. it was this son, guillaume, who became one of the most brilliant servitors of the monarchs louis xi, louis xii, and francis i, and it was through these friends at court that chantilly first took on its regal aspect. in turn the celebrated anne de montmorency, connetable de france, came into the succession and finding the old fortress, albeit somewhat enlarged and furbished up by his predecessor, less of a palatial residence than he would have, separated the ancient chateau-fort from an added structure by an ornamental moat, or canal, and laid out the _pelouse_, _parterres_ and the alleys of greensward leading to the forest which make one of the great charms of chantilly to-day. here resided, as visitors to be sure, but for more or less extended periods, and at various times, charles v, charles ix and henri iv, each of them guests of the hospitable and ambitious montmorencys. [illustration: _statue of le notre, chantilly_] chantilly passed in to charlotte, the sister of the last maréchal de montmorency, the wife of henri ii, prince de condé, the mother of the grand condé, the prince de conti and the duchesse de longueville. with the grand condé came the greatest fame, the apotheosis, of chantilly. this noble was so enamoured of this admirable residence that he never left it from his thoughts and decorated it throughout in the most lavish taste of his time, destroying at this epoch the chateau of the moyen-age and the fortress. these were the days of gallant warriors with a taste for pretty things in art, not mere bloodthirsty slaughterers. on the foundations of the older structures there now rose an admirable pile (not that which one sees to-day, however), embellished by the surroundings which were evolved from the brain of the landscape gardener, le notre. the revolution made way with this lavish structure and with the exception of the chatelet, or the petit chateau (designed by jean bullant in , and remodelled within by mansart) the present-day work is a creation of the duc d'aumale, the heir to the condés' name and fame, to whom the national assembly gave back his ancestral estates which had in the meantime come into the inventory of royal belongings through the claims established by the might of the second empire. back to the days of the grand condé one reads of an extended visit made by louis xiv to his principal courtier. it was at an expense of two hundred thousand _écus_ that the welcoming fête was accomplished. madame de sévigné has recounted the event more graphically than any other chronicler, and it would be presumption to review it here at length. the incident of vatel alone has become classic. to the coterie of poets at rambouillet must be added those of chantilly; their sojourn here added much of moment to the careers and reputations of boileau, racine, bourdaloue and bossuet. it was the latter, who, in the funeral oration which he delivered on the death of the prince de condé, said: "here under his own roof one saw the grand condé as if he were at the head of his armies, a noble always great, as well in action as in repose. here you have seen him surrounded by his friends in this magnificent dwelling, in the shady alleys of the forest or beside the purling waters of the brooks which are silent neither day nor night." the grand condé died, however, at fontainebleau. the heir, henri-jules de bourbon, did his share towards keeping up and embellishing the property, and to him was due that charming wildwood retreat known as the parc de sylvie. louis-henri de bourbon, minister of louis xv at the commencement of his reign, had gained a fabulous sum of money in the notorious "law's bank" affair, and, with a profligate and prodigal taste in spending, lived a life of the grandest of grand seigneurs at chantilly, to which, as his donation to its architectural importance, he contributed the famous Écuries, or stables. to show that he was _persona grata_ at court he gave a great fête here for louis xv and the duchesse du barry. the last prince de condé but one before the revolution built the chateau d'enghien in the neighbourhood, and sought to people the parc de sylvie with a rustic colony of thatched _maisonettes_ and install his favourites therein in a weak imitation of what had been done in the petit trianon. the note was manifestly a false one and did not endure, not even is its echo plainly audible for all is hearsay to-day and no very definite record of the circumstance exists. chantilly in later times has been a favourite abode with modern monarchs. the king of denmark, the emperor joseph ii and the king of sweden were given hospitality here, and much money was spent for their entertainment, and much red and green fire burned for their amusement and that of their suites. the revolution's fell blow carried off the principal parts of the condé's admirable constructions and it is fortunate that the petit chateau escaped the talons of the "bande noire." immediately afterwards the chateau d'enghien and the Écuries were turned over to the uses of the minister of war, and the authorities of the jardin des plantes were given permission to transplant and transport anything which pleased their fancy among the exotics which had been set out by le notre in chantilly's famous _parterres_. under the imperial régime the forêt de chantilly was given in fee simple to queen hortense, though all was ultimately returned to the condé heirs after the restoration. it was at this period that chantilly received the visit of alexander, emperor of russia, and the historian's account of that visit makes prominent the fact that during the periods of rain it was necessary that an umbrella be carried over the imperial head as he passed through the corridors of the palace from one apartment to another. the host of the emperor died here in and his son, spending perhaps half of his time here, cared little for restoration and spent all his waking hours hunting in the forest, returning to the petit chateau only to eat and sleep. the duc de bourbon added to the flanking wings of the petit chateau and cleaned up the débris which was fast becoming moss-grown, weed encumbered and altogether disgraceful. the moats were cleaned out of their miasmatic growth and certain of the grass-carpeted _parterres_ resown and given a semblance of their former selves. some days after the revolution of the prince de condé died in a most dramatic fashion, and his son, the duc d'enghien, having been shot at vincennes under the empire, he willed the duc d'aumale and his issue his legal descendants forever. towards the duc d'aumale sought to reconstruct the splendours of chantilly, but a decree of january , , banished the entire orleans family and interrupted the work when the property was sold to the english bankers, coutts and company, for the good round sum of eleven million francs, not by any means an extravagant price for this estate of royal aspect and proportions. the national assembly of did the only thing it could do in justice to tradition--bought the property in and decreed that it be restored to its legitimate proprietor. it was as late as that the duc d'aumale undertook the restoration of the chatelet and the rebuilding of the new chateau which is seen to-day. the latter is from the designs of henri daumet, member of the institut de france. in general the structure of to-day occupies the site of the moyen-age chateau but is of quite a different aspect. the duc d'aumale made a present of the chateau and all that was contained therein to the institut de france. from a purely sordid point of view it was a gift valued at something like thirty-five million francs, not so great as many new-world public legacies of to-day, but in certain respects of a great deal more artistic worth. the mass is manifestly imposing, made up as it is, of four distinct parts, the eglise, dating from , the Écuries, the chatelet--or petit chateau, and the chateau proper--the modern edifice. before the celebrated Écuries is a green, velvety _pelouse_ which gives an admirable approach. the architecture of the Écuries is of a heavy order and the sculptured decorations actually of little esthetic worth, representing as they do hunting trophies and the like. before the great fountain one deciphers a graven plaque which reads as follows: louis henri de bourbon prince de condé fut construire cette Écurie - . within the two wings may be stabled nearly two hundred horses. the grand Écuries at chantilly are assuredly one of the finest examples extant of that luxuriant art of the eighteenth century french builder. luxurious, excessively ornate and overpowering it is, and, for that reason, open to question. the work of the period knew not the discreet middle road. it was of chantilly that it was said that the live stock was better lodged than its masters. the architect of this portion of the chateau was jean aubert, one of the collaborators of jules hardouin mansart. the characteristics of chantilly, take it as a whole, the chateau, the park and the forest, are chiefly theatrical, but with an all-abiding regard for the proprieties, for beyond a certain heaviness of architectural style in parts of the chateau everything is of the finely focussed relative order of which the french architect and landscape gardener have for ages been past masters. the real french garden is here to be seen almost at its best, its squares and ovals of grassy green apportioned off from the mass by gravelled walks and ornamented waters. the "_tapis d'orient_" effect, so frequently quoted by the french in writing of such works, is hardly excelled elsewhere. all this shocked the mid-eighteenth century english traveller, but it was because he did not, perhaps could not, understand. rigby, "the norwich alderman" as the french rather contemptuously referred to this fine old english gentleman, said frankly of chantilly: "all this has cost dear and produced a result far from pleasing." he would have been better pleased doubtless with a privet or box hedge and an imitation plaster rockery, things which have never agreed with french taste, but which were the rule in pretentious english gardens of the same period. rigby must indeed have been a "_grincheau_," as the french called him, for this same up-country gentleman said of versailles: "lovely surrounding country but palace and park badly designed." versailles is not that, whatever else its faults may be. chantilly is more than a palace, it is a museum of nature, a hermitage of art and of history. the fantasy of its _tourelles_, its _lucarnes_ and its _pignons_ are something one may hardly see elsewhere in such profusion, and the fact that they are modern is forgotten in the impression of the general silhouette. the adventurer who first built a donjon on the rocher de chantilly little knew with what seigneurial splendour the site was ultimately to be graced. from a bare outpost it was transformed, as if by magic, into a renaissance palace of a supreme beauty. the duc d'aumale said in his "acte de donation de chantilly": "it stands complete and varied, a monument of french art in all its branches, a history of the best epochs of our glory." among all the palatial riches neighbouring upon paris, not forgetting versailles, compiègne, fontainebleau, pierrefonds and rambouillet, chantilly, by the remarkable splendour of its surroundings, its situation and the artistic treasures which it possesses, is in a class by itself. it is a class more clearly defined by the historic souvenirs which surround it than any other contemporary structure of this part of france. its corridors and gravelled walks and the long alleys of the park and forest may not take on the fête-like aspect which they knew in the eighteenth century, but they are not solitary like those of fontainebleau and rambouillet, nor noisily overrun like those of versailles or saint germain. the ornamental waters which surround the chateau de chantilly are of a grand and nearly unique beauty. it is a question if they are not finer than the waters of versailles, indeed they preceded them and may even have inspired them. the chatelet, the chateau proper and the chapel form a group quite distinct from the Écuries. the cour d'honneur is really splendid and one hardly realizes the juxtaposition of modernity. the pavilion attributed to jean bullant, the western façade, the ancient petit chateau, the grand vestibule, the grand escalier and the gallerie des cerfs and a dozen other apartments are of a rare and imposing beauty, though losing somewhat their distinctive aspect by reason of the _objets de musée_ distributed about their walls and floors. one of the landscape gems of chantilly is the _pelouse_, a vast esplanade of greensward now forming, in part, the celebrated race track of chantilly. sport ever formed a part of the outdoor program at chantilly, but that of to-day is just a bit more horsey than that of old, a good deal less picturesque and assuredly more vulgarly banal as to its _cachet_ than the hunts, the tourneys and courses of the romantic age. [illustration: _chateau de chantilly_] thousands come to chantilly to wager their coin on scrubs and dark horses ridden by third-rate "warned-off" jockeys from other lands, but probably not ten in ten thousand of the lookers on at the grand prix du jockey club in may ever make the occasion of the spring meeting an opportunity for visiting the fine old historic monument of the condés. the "races" of chantilly may be given a further word in that they are an outgrowth of a foundation by the duc d'orleans in . the track forms a circuit of two thousand metres, and occupies quite the best half of the pelouse, closed in on one side by the thick-grown forêt de chantilly and flanked, in part, on the other by the historic Écuries, with the tribune, or grand stand, just to the south. many tourists arrive at chantilly by auto, stop brusquely before the grande grille, rush through the galleries of the chateau, do "_cent pas_" in the park, give a cursory glance at the stables and are off; but more, many more, with slower steps and saner minds, drink in the charms which are offered on all sides and consider the time well spent even if they have paid "boulevard prices" at the restaurant du grand condé for their _dejeuner_. it has been said that a museum is a reunion of _objets d'art_ brought about by a methodical grouping, either chronologically or categorically. the duc d'aumale's musée de chantilly is more an expression of personal taste. he collected what he wished and he arranged his collections as suited his fancy. the famous musée de chantilly, which is the lodestone which draws most folk thither, so admirably housed, was a gift of the duc d'aumale who, for the glory of his ancestors, and the admiration of the world, to say nothing of his own personal satisfaction, here gathered together an eclectic collection of curious and artistic treasures, certainly not the least interesting or valuable among the great public collections in france. the effect produced is sometimes startling, a messonier is cheek by jowl with a baron gros, a decamps _vis à vis_ to a veronese, and a lancret is bolstered on either hand by a poussin and a nattier. amid all this disorder there is, however, an undeniable, inexplicable charm. there are three distinct apartments worth, more than all the others, the glance of the hurried visitor to the musée condé at chantilly. in the first, the santuario, is the livre d'heures of etienne chevalier, by jean fouquet, considered as the most important relic of primitive french art extant. the cabinet des gemmes comes second, and here is the celebrated "diamant rose," called the grand condé. finally there is the galerie de psyche, with forty-four coloured glass windows, executed for the connetable de montmorency in - . the great collection of historical and artistic treasures stowed away within the walls of chantilly the duc d'aumale selected himself in order to associate his own name with the glorious memory of the condés, who were so intimately connected with the chateau. the duc sought to recover such of the former furnishings of the chateau as had been dissipated during the revolution whenever they could be heard of and could be had at public or private sale. in this connection a word on chantilly lace may not be found inapropos. the chantilly lace of to-day, it is well to recall, is a mechanically produced article of commerce, turned out by the running mile from nottingham, england, though in the days when chantilly's porcelains rivalled those of sevres it was purely a local product. one may well argue therefore that the bulk of the chantilly lace sold in the shops of chantilly to-day is not on a par with the admirable examples to be seen in the glass cases of the museum. a wooded alley leading to the great park runs between the main edifice and the chateau d'enghien, a gentle incline descending again to the sunken gardens in a monumental stairway of easy slope, the whole a quintessence of much that is best of the art of the landscape gardener of the time. to the left extends the vast jardin anglais--a veritable french jardin anglais. let not one overlook the distinction: on conventional lines it is pretty, dainty and pleasing, but the species lacks the dignified formality of the italian garden or the ingenious arrangement of the french. its curves and ovals and circles are annoying after the _lignes droites_ and the right angles and the _broderies_ of the french variety. the forêt de chantilly covers two thousand four hundred and forty-nine hectares and extends from the bois de hérivaux on one side to the forêt de senlis on the other. the _rendezvous-de-chasse_ was, in the old days, and is to-day on rare occasions, at the rond point, to which a dozen magnificent forest roads lead from all directions, that from the town being paved with belgian blocks, the dread of automobilists, but delightful to ride over in muddy weather. the route de connetable, so called, is well-nigh ideal of its kind. it launches forth opposite the chateau and at its entrance are two flanking stone lions. it is of a soft soil suitable for horseback riding, but entirely unsuited for wheeled traffic of any kind. another of the great forest roads leads to the chateau de la reine blanche, a diminutive edifice in the pointed style, with a pair of svelte towers coiffed candle-snuffer fashion. tradition, and very ancient and somewhat dubious tradition, attributes the edifice as having belonged to blanche de navarre, the wife of philippe de valois. again it is thought to have been a sort of royal attachment to the abbaye de royaumont, built near by, by saint louis. this quaintly charming manor of minute dimensions was a tangible, habitable abode in , but for generations after appears to have fallen into desuetude. a mill grew up on the site, and again the walls of a chateau obliterated the more mundane, work-a-day mill. the duc de bourbon restored the whole place in that it might serve him and his noble friends as a hunting-lodge. chapter xxi compiÉgne and its forest one of the most talked of and the least visited of the minor french palaces is that of compiègne. the archeologists coming to compiègne first notice that all its churches are "_malorientées_." it is a minor point with most folk, but when one notes that its five churches have their high altars turned to all points of the compass, instead of to the east, it is assuredly a fact to be noticed, even if one is more romantically inclined than devout. through and through, compiègne, its palace, its hotel-de-ville, its forest, is delightful. old and new huddle close together, and the _art nouveau_ decorations of a branch of a great parisian department store flank a butcher's stall which looks as though it might have come down from the times when all trading was done in the open air. compiègne's origin goes back to the antique. it was originally compendium, a roman station situated on the highway between soissons and beauvais. a square tower, cæsar's tower, gave a military aspect to the walled and fortified station, and evidences are not wanting to-day to suggest with what strength its fortifications were endowed. [illustration: compiègne] it was here that the first frankish kings built their dwelling, and here that pepin-le-bref received the gracious gift of an organ from the emperor constantine, and here, in , that an assembly of bishops and nobles deposed louis-le-débonnaire. charles-le-chauve received pope jean viii in great pomp in the palace at compiègne, and it was this pope who gave absolution to louis-le-begue, who died here but a year after, . the last of the carlovingians, louis v (le-faineant), died also at compiègne in . the city is thus shown to have been a favourite place of sojourn for the kings of the franks, and those of the first and second races. as was but obvious many churchly councils were held here, fourteen were recorded in five centuries, but none of great ecclesiastical or civil purport. the city first got its charter in , but the merovingian city having fallen into a sort of galloping decay saint louis gave it to the dominicans in , who here founded, by the orders of the king, a hotel dieu which, in part, is the same edifice which performs its original functions to-day. the first great love of compiègne was expressed by charles v, who rebuilt the palace of charles-le-chauve in a manner which was far from making it a monumental or artistically disposed edifice. it was originally called the louvre, from the latin word _opus_ (_l'oeuvre_), a word which was applied to all the chateaux-forts of these parts. the same monarch did better with the country-houses which he afterwards built at saint germain and vincennes; perhaps by this time he had grown wise in his dealings with architects. like all the little towns of the valois, compiègne abounds in souvenirs of the guerre de cent ans, jeanne d'arc, louis xiv, louis xv, napoleon i and napoleon iii, and as its monuments attest this glory, so its forest, one of the finest in france, awakens almost as many historical memories. wars and rumors of war kept compiègne in a turmoil for centuries, but the most theatrical episode was the famous "_sortie_" made by jeanne d'arc when she was attempting to defend the city against the combined english and burgundian troops. it was an episode in which faint heart, perhaps treason, played an unwelcome part, for while the gallant maid was taking all manner of chances outside the gates the military governor, guillaume de flavy, ordered the barriers of the great portal closed behind her and her men. near the end of the pont de saint louis jeanne d'arc fell into the hands of the besiegers. an archer from picardy captured her single handed, and, for a round sum in silver or in kind, turned her over to her torturer, jean de luxembourg. a statue of the maid is found on the public "place," and the tour jeanne d'arc, a great circular donjon of the thirteenth century, is near by. another souvenir is to be found in the ancient hotel de boeuf, at no. rue de paris, where the maid lodged from the eighteenth to the twenty-third of august, , awaiting the entry of charles vii. with the era of francis i that gallant and fastidious monarch came to take up his residence at compiègne. he here received his "friend and enemy," charles v, but strangely enough there is no monument in compiègne to-day which is intimately associated with the stay here of the art-loving francis. he preferred, after all, his royal manor at villers-cotterets near by. there was more privacy there, and it formed an admirable retreat for such moments when the king did not wish to bask in publicity, and these moments were many, though one might not at first think so when reading of his affairs of state. there were also affairs of the heart which, to him, in many instances, were quite as important. this should not be forgotten. in a treaty was signed at compiègne which assured the alliance of louis xiii with the united provinces, and during this reign the court was frequently in residence here. in marie de médici, then a prisoner in the palace, made a notable escape and fled, doomed ever afterwards to a vagabond existence, a terrible fall for her once proud glory, to her death in a cologne garret ten years later. in the grand chancellor of sweden signed a treaty here which enabled france to mingle in the affairs of the thirty years' war. during the fronde, that "woman's war," which was so entirely unnecessary, anne d'autriche held her court in the palace of compiègne and received christine de suede on certain occasions when that royal lady's costume was of such a grotesque nature, and her speech so _chevaleresque_, that she caused even a scandal in a profligate court. anne d'autriche, too, left compiègne practically a prisoner; another _ménage à trois_ had been broken up. the most imposing event in the history of compiègne of which the chronicles tell was the assembling of sixty thousand men beneath the walls by louis xiv, in order to give madame de maintenon a realistic exhibition of "playing soldiers." at all events the demonstration was a bloodless one, and an immortal page in saint-simon's "memoires" consecrates this gallantry of a king in a most subtle manner. another fair lady, a royal favourite, too, came on the scene at compiègne in when madame du barry was the principal _artiste_ in the great fête given in her honour by louis xv. she was lodged in a tiny chateau (built originally for madame de pompadour) a short way out of town on the soissons road. du barry must have been a good fairy to compiègne for louis xv lavished an abounding care on the chateau and, rather than allow the architect, jacques ange gabriel, have the free hand that his counsellors advised, sought to have the ancient outlines of the former structure on the site preserved and thus present to posterity through the newer work the two monumental façades which are to be seen to-day. the effort was not wholly successful, for the architect actually did carry out his fancy with respect to the decoration in the same manner in which he had designed the École militaire at paris and the two colonnaded edifices facing upon the place de la concorde. this work was entirely achieved when louis xvi took possession. this monarch, in , caused to be fitted up a most elaborate apartment for the queen (his marriage with marie antoinette was consecrated here), but that indeed was all the hand he had in the work of building at compiègne, which has practically endured as his predecessor left it. the revolution and consulate used the chateau as their fancy willed, and rather harshly, but in its restoration was begun and charles iv of spain, upon his dethronement by napoleon, was installed therein a couple of years later. the palace, the park and the forest now became a sort of royal appanage of this spanish monarch, which napoleon, in a generous spirit, could well afford to will him. he lived here some months and then left precipitately for marseilles. napoleon affected a certain regard for this palatial property, though only occupying it at odd moments. he embellished its surroundings, above all its gardens, in a most lavish manner. virtually, all things considered, compiègne is a _palais napoleonien_, and if one would study the style of the empire at its best the thing may be done at compiègne. on july , , louis xviii and alexander of russia met at compiègne amid a throng of paris notabilities who had come thither for the occasion. charles x loved to hunt in the forest of compiègne. in , one of the daughters of louis-philippe, the princesse louise, was married to the king of the belgians in this palace. from to the palace and its grounds were the scenes of many imperial fêtes. napoleon iii had for compiègne a particular predilection. the prince-president, in , installed himself here for the autumn season, and among his guests was that exquisite blond beauty, eugenie montijo, who, the year after, was to become the empress of the french. faithful to the memory of his uncle, by reason of a romantic sentiment, the third napoleon came frequently to compiègne; or perhaps it was because of the near-by hunt, for he was a passionate disciple of saint hubert. it was his versailles! the palace of compiègne as seen to-day presents all the classic coldness of construction of the reign of louis xv. its lines were severe and that the building was inspired by a genius is hard to believe, though in general it is undeniably impressive. frankly, it is a mocking, decadent eighteenth century architecture that presents itself, but of such vast proportions that one sets it down as something grand if not actually of surpassing good taste. in general the architecture of the palace presents at first glance a coherent unit, though in reality it is of several epochs. its furnishings within are of different styles and periods, not all of them of the best. slender gold chairs, false reproductions of those of the time of louis xv, and some deplorable tapestries huddle close upon elegant "_bergères_" of louis xvi, and sofas, tables and bronzes of master artists and craftsmen are mingled with cheap castings unworthy of a stage setting in a music hall. a process of adroit eviction will some day be necessary to bring these furnishings up to a consistent plane of excellence. one of the façades is nearly six hundred feet in length, with forty-nine windows stretching out in a single range. it might be the front of an automobile factory if it were less ornate, or that of an exposition building were it more beautiful. in some respects it is reminiscent of the palais royal at paris, particularly as to the entrance colonnade and gallery facing the louvre. the chief beauty within is undoubtedly the magnificent stairway, with its balustrade of wrought iron of the period of louis xvi. the salle de spectacle is of a certain third empire-louis napoleon distinction, which is saying that it is neither very lovely nor particularly plain, simply ordinary, or, to give it a french turn of phrase, vulgar. one of the most remarkable apartments is the salle des cartes, the old salon of the aides de camp, whose walls are ornamented with three great plans showing the roads and by-paths of the forest, and other decorative panels representing the hunt of the time of louis xv. the chambre à coucher of the great napoleon is perhaps the most interesting of all the smaller apartments, with its strange bed, which in form more nearly resembles an oriental divan than anything european. doubtless it is not uncomfortable as a bed, but it looks more like a tent, or camp, in the open, than anything essentially intended for domestic use within doors. after the great napoleon, his nephew napoleon iii was its most notable occupant, though it was last slept in by the tzar nicholas ii, when he visited france in . the sleeping-room of the empress eugenie is fitted up after the style of the early empire with certain interpolations of the mid-nineteenth century. the most distinct feature here is the battery of linen coffers which marie louise had had especially designed and built. the salon des dames d'honneur, with its double rank of nine "scissors chairs," the famous _tabourets de cour_, lined up rigidly before the _canapé_ on which the empress rested, is certainly a remarkable apartment. this was the _decor_ of convention that madame sans gene rendered classic. [illustration: _napoleon's bedchamber, compiègne_] like all the french national palaces compiègne has a too abundant collection of sevres vases set about in awkward corners which could not otherwise be filled, and, beginning with the vestibule, this thing is painfully apparent. the apartments showing best the napoleonic style in decorations and furnishings are the salon des huissiers, the salle des gardes, the escalier d'apollon, the salle de don quichotte--which contains a series of designs destined to have served for a series of tapestries intended to depict scenes in the life of the windmill knight--the galerie des fêtes, the galerie des cerfs, the salle coypel, the salle des stucs and the salon des fleurs, through which latter one approaches the royal apartments. in the sixteenth century, or, more exactly, between and , was constructed compiègne's handsome hotel de ville, one of the most delightful architectural mixtures of gothic and renaissance extant. it is an architectural monument of the same class as the palais de justice at rouen or the hotel cluny at paris. its frontispiece is marvellous, the _rez-de-chaussée_ less gracious than the rest perhaps, but with the first story blooming forth as a gem of magnificent proportions and setting. between the four windows of this first story are posed statuesque effigies of charles vii, jeanne d'arc, saint rémy and louis ix. in the centre, in a niche, is an equestrian statue of louis xii, who reigned when this monument was being built. a _balustrade à jour_ finishes off this story, which, in turn, is overhung with a high, peaked gable, and above rise the belfry and its spire, of which the great clock dates from , though only put into place in . the only false note is sounded by the two insignificant, cold and unlovely wings which flank the main structure on either side. it is a sixteenth century construction unrivalled of its kind in all france, more like a belgian town-hall belfry than anything elsewhere to be seen outside flanders, but it is not of the low spanish-renaissance order as are so many of the imposing edifices of occidental and oriental flanders. it is a blend of gothic and renaissance, and, what is still more rare, the best of gothic and the best of renaissance. above its façade is a civic belfry, flanked by two slender towers. within the portal-vestibule rises a monumental stairway which must have been the inspiration of many a builder of modern opera-houses. opposite the hotel dieu is the poor, rent relic of the tour de jeanne d'arc, originally a cylindrical donjon of the twelfth century, wherein "la pucelle" was imprisoned in . between the palace and the river are to be seen many vestiges of the mediæval ramparts of the town, and here and there a well-defined base of a gateway or tower. mediævalism is rampant throughout compiègne. the park surrounding the palace is quite distinct from the wider radius of the fôret de compiègne. it is of the secular, conventional order, and its perspectives, looking towards the forest from the terrace and vice versa, are in all ways satisfying to the eye. one of the most striking of these alleyed vistas was laid out under the orders of the first napoleon in . it loses itself in infinity, almost, its horizon blending with that of the far distant beaux monts in the heart of the forest. in the immediate neighbourhood of the palace are innumerable statues, none of great beauty, value or distinction. on the south side runs a cours, or prado, as it would be called in catalonia. the word cours is of provençal origin, and how it ever came to be transplanted here is a mystery. still here it is, a great tree-shaded promenade running to the river. the climate of compiègne is never so blazing hot as to make this cours so highly appreciated as its namesakes in the midi, but as an exotic accessory to the park it is quite a unique delight. within the park may still be traced the outlines of the moat which surrounded the palace of charles v, as well as some scanty remains of the same period. another distinctive feature is the famous _berceau en fer_, an iron trellis several thousands of feet in length, which was built by napoleon i as a reminder to marie louise of a similar, but smaller, garden accessory which she had known at schoenbrunn. it was a caprice, if you like, and rather a futile one since it was before the time when artistically worthless things were the rage just because of their gigantic proportions. napoleon iii cut it down in part, and pruned it to more esthetic proportions, and what there is left, vine and flower grown, is really charming. the forêt de compiègne as a historic wildwood goes back to the druids who practiced their mysterious rites under its antique shade centuries before the coming of the kings, who later called it their own special hunting preserve. stone hatchets, not unlike the tomahawks of the red man, have been found and traced back--well, definitely to the stone age, and supposedly to the time when they served the druids for their sacrifices. [illustration: _cours de compiègne_] the soldiers of cæsar came later and their axes were of iron or copper, and though on the warpath, too, their way was one which was supposed to lead civilization into the wilderness. innumerable traces of the roman occupation are to be found in the forest by those who know how to read the signs; twenty-five different localities have been marked down by the archeologists as having been stations on the path blazed by the legions of rome. after the romans came the first of the kings as proprietors of the forest, and in the moyen-age the monks, the barons and the crown itself shared equally the rights of the forest. legends of most weird purport are connected with various points scattered here and there throughout the forest, as at the fosse dupuis and the table ronde, where a sort of "trial by fire" was held by the barons whenever a seigneur among them had conspired against another. ariosto, gathering many of his legends from the works of the old french chroniclers, did not disdain to make use of the forêt de compiègne as a stage setting. during the reign of clothaire the forest was known as the forêt de cuise, because of a royal palace hidden away among the druid oaks which bore the name of cotia, or cusia. until the palace existed in some form or other, though shorn of royal dignities. it was at this period that philippe vi divided the forests of the valois into three distinct parts in order to better regulate their exploitation. the frankish kings being, it would seem, inordinately fond of _la chasse_ the forêt de compiègne, in the spring and autumn, became their favorite rendezvous. alcuin, the historian, noted this fact in the eighth century, and described this earliest of royal hunts in some detail. in the forest was the witness of a great battle between the austrasians and the neustrians. before francis i with his habitual initiative had pierced the eight great forest roads which come together at the octagon called the puits du roi, the forest was not crossed by any thoroughfare; the nearest thing thereto was the chaussée de brunhaut, a roman way which bounded it on the south and east. louis xiv and louis xv, in turn, cut numerous roads and paths, and to the latter were due the crossroads known as the grand octagone and the petit octagone. it was over one of these great forest roads, that leading to soissons, that marie louise, accompanied by a cortège of three hundred persons, eighty conveyances and four hundred and fifty horses, journeyed in a torrential rain, in march , when she came to france to found a dynasty. a marriage had been consummated by procuration at vienna, and she set out to actually meet her future spouse for the first time at soissons. at the little village of courcelles, on the edge of the forest between soissons and compiègne, two men enveloped in great protecting cloaks had arrived post-haste from compiègne. at the parish church they stopped a moment and took shelter under the porch, impatiently scanning the horizon. finally a lumbering _berlin de voyage_ lurched into view, drawn by eight white horses. in its depths were ensconced two women richly dressed, one a beautiful woman of mature years, the other a young girl scarce eighteen years. the most agitated of the men, he who was clad in a gray redingote, sprang hastily to the carriage door. he was introduced by the older woman as "_sa majesté l'empereur des françaises, mon frere_." the speaker was one of the sisters of napoleon, caroline, queen of naples; the other was the archduchess marie louise, daughter of franz ii, emperor of austria. an imposing ceremonial had been planned for soissons and the court had been ordered to set out from compiègne with the emperor, in order to arrive at soissons in due time. when the actual signal for the departure was given the emperor was nowhere to be found. as usual he had anticipated things. for weeks before the arrival of the empress to be napoleon had passed the majority of his waking hours at paris in the apartments which he had caused to be prepared for marie louise. he selected the colour of the furnishings, and superintended the very placing of the furniture. among other things he had planned a boudoir which alone represented an expenditure of nearly half a million francs. lejeune, who had accompanied maréchal berthier to vienna to arrange the marriage, had returned and given his imperial master a glowing description of the charms of the young archduchess who was to be his bride. the emperor compared his ideal with her effigy on medals and miniatures and then worked even more ardently than before that her apartments should be worthy of her when she arrived. it was just following upon this fever of excitement that napoleon and the court had repaired to compiègne. so restless was the emperor that he could hardly bide the time when the archduchess should arrive, and it was thus that he set out with murat to meet the approaching cortège. the pavilion which had been erected for the meeting was left to the citizens of the neighbourhood, and the marvellous banquet which had been prepared by bausset was likewise abandoned. napoleon had no time to think of dining. all the roadside villages between soissons and compiègne were hung with banners, and the populace appeared to be as highly excited as the contracting parties. it still rained a deluge, but this made no difference. two couriers at full gallop came first to compiègne, crying: "place": "place": the eight white horses and the _berlin de voyage_ followed. before one had hardly time to realize what was passing, napoleon and his bride whisked by in a twinkling. at nine o'clock an outpost in the park at compiègne announced the arrival of the emperor and his train. at ten o'clock a cannon shot rang out over the park and the emperor and empress passed into the chateau to proceed with certain indispensable presentations; then to souper, a _petite souper intime_, we are assured. on the morrow all the world of the assembled court met the empress and avowed that she had that specious _beauté du diable_ which has ever pleased the french connoisseur of beautiful women. they went further, however, and stated that in spite of this ravishing beauty she lacked the elegance which should be the possession of an empress of the french. the faithful berthier silenced them with the obvious statement that since she pleased the emperor there was nothing more to be said, or thought. flying northward on the great highroad leading out from paris to chantilly and compiègne gadabout travellers have never a thought that just beyond pont saint maxence, almost in plain view from the doorway of the inn of the lion d'argent of that sleepy little town, is a gabled wall which represents all that remains of the "maison de philippe de beaumanoir," called the cour basse. the end index _aiguillon_, duchesse d', _alcuin_, _alexander_, emperor, , , _alphonse xiii of spain_, amboise, , , _amboise, bussy d'_, _ancre, maréchal d'_, _andelot, coligny d'_, - _andilly, arnauld d'_, anet, chateau d', , _angennes, jacques d'_, , , angers, chateau d', _anglas, boissy d'_, _angouleme, duchesse d'_, _anjou, ducs d'_, , , _anne of austria_, - , - , - , , _arc, jeanne d'_, - , ardennes, arlors, _artois, comtesse d'_, _aubert, jean_, _aubigné, d'_, _aumale, duc d'_, , , - , , , _auvergne, louis d'_, - _ayen, duc d'_, bagatelle, chateau de, , - _bailly, sylvain_, _barbés_, barbison, - _baril, jean_, _barry, mme. du_, , - , , , , , _bassompierre_, , bastille, , , _bausset_, _bavière, isabeau de_, , , _beauharnais, eugene_, , _beauharnais, hortense_, , , _beaujon_, _beaumont, cardinal de_, beauvais, hotel de, _becker, general_, _becket, thomas à_, _bedford, duke of_, _belleveu_, - _berquin, louis de_, _berry, duc de_, _berry, duchesse de_, , _berthier, maréchal_ (see _wagram, prince de_) _blanchard_, _blanqui_, _blois_, , , _blondel_, _blucher_, , _boileau_, boissy, forest of, _bonaparte, caroline_, _bonaparte, jerome_, _bonaparte, louis_, _bonaparte, lucien_, _bonheur, rosa_, _bordeaux, duc de_, _borghese, princesse_, _bossuet_, _boulanger_, _boullée_, boulogne, bois de, , , , , , _bourbon family_, - , , , bourbon, palais, , - _bourdaloue_, bourg-la-reine, _boyceau_, , , _breton, mme. de_, - _brunet_, _brunswick, duchesse de_, _bullant, jean_, , , _cadoudal_, _cambacères, consul_, - cardinal, palais (_see_ royal, palais) _carpeaux_, _carrier-belleuse_, _cartouche_, _cellini_, , _chabanne, comte de_, _chabrol_, _chalgrin_, _chambiges, pierre_, , - chamblay, - chambord, , , _chamillard, michael_, - _champaigne, philippe de_, _champollion-figèac_, chantilly, chateau and forest of, - , _chappell, comte des_, charenton, _charlemagne_, , , _charles ii_, _charles v_, , , , - , , , , - , , , , , , , _charles vi_, , , , - , _charles vii_, , , , , _charles viii_, , _charles ix_, , - , , - , , , , , _charles x_, , , , , , , , , - , , , - , _charles iv, emperor_, _charles v, emperor_, , , _charles i, of england_, , , _charles the bold of burgundy_ (see _charolais, comte de_) _charolais, comte de_, - _chartres, ducs de_ (see _orleans, ducs de_) _chateauroux, mme. de_, _chatou_, chenonceaux, , , _chevalier, etienne_, _childerbert i_, _christina, queen_, _cinq-mars_, , _clagny, chateau de_, , _clément, jacques_, , - _clothaire_, _clotilde_, _clovis_, , , _coictier, jacques_, , _colbert_, , , , , _coligny, admiral_, _collo, jean_, _commynes_, compiègne, palace and forest of, - , , , , - conciergerie, , - _condé family_, , , , - , , , conflans, chateau de, , - _constantine, emperor_, consulat, palais du (_see_ luxembourg, palais du) _conti family_, , , _corneille_, , , _corot_, _cottereau, jean_, , - , courcelles, _cousin, jean_, _coypel_, _cromwell_, _crozat_, _dagobert_, _damiens_, , - _dante_, _dardelle_, _daru_, _daubigny_, _daumesnil, baron_, _daumet, henri_, _debanes_, _debrosse, jacques_, , , _decamps_, , _delille, abbé_, _delorme, marion_, _delorme, philibert_, , - , _denecourt_, - , deputés, chambre des (_see_ bourbon, palais) _desmoulins, camille_, _diaz_, directoire, palais du (_see_ luxembourg, palais du) _donon_, _dorbay_, _drouais_, _ducamp, maxine_, _ducerceau_, , , , _ducrot, general_, _dugastz_, _dupaira_, _duperac_, _dupré_, _durfort, madame_, egalité, palais (_see_ royal, palais) enghien, chateau d', _enghien, duc d'_, , - , _epernon, ducs d'_, , _erard, sebastian_, _este, maria d'_, estival, convent of, _estrées, gabrielle d'_, , _Étampes, duchesse d'_, , , , _Étoiles, normand d'_, _eugenie, empress_, - , - , , , _evans, dr._, _fallières, president_, - _famin_, - _faure, felix_, , - _féraud_, _ferrare, duc de_, _flandre, comte de_, _flavy, guillaume de_, fleury, chateau de, _fontaine_, , fontainebleau, forest of, , , , , , - , , fontainebleau, palais de, , , , , , , , , - , , , _fouché_, _fould_, _fouquet, jean_, _fouquet, nicolas_, _fragonard_, _francine, thomas and alexandre_, _francis i_, , , , , , , - , , , , , , , - , , , , , - , - , , , , - , , , , , - , , , , _franz ii_, _gabriel_, , gaillon, chateau de, _ganne, père_, _girardini_, gisors, castle of, _gondi_, , _goujon, jean_, , grand trianon, , , , , , , , - _gregory of tours_, _grévy, jules_, _gros, baron_, grosbois, chateau de, _guilbert, abbé_, _guillain, guillaume_, _guise, ducs de_, , - , _hamon_, _harlay-crauvallon, archbishop de_, - _haussmann, baron_, , , _hebert_, _hennequin, dame gillette_, _henri ii_, , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , _henri iii_, , - , , , - , _henri iv_, , , , , - , - , , , , - , - , - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , - , , _henrietta of england_, , _henriette de france_, , _henry v of england_, , _henry vi of england_, , _henry viii of england_, hérivaux, bois de, _hohenzollern, prince de_, _hortense, queen_, _hugo, victor_, _hugues capet_, institut, palais de l', - _isabey_ (_père_), _jacob of cologne_, _jacque_, _james ii of england_, _jarnac, gui chabot de_, _joachim, prince_, , _john ii of france_, , _john viii, pope_, joinville, forest of, _josephine, empress_, , , - , justice, palais de (_see_ la cité, palais de) _karr, alphonse_, _la barauderie, de_, _labaudy_, _la brosse_, la cité, palais de, , - , , , , , , , _la châtaigneraie_, _laffitte, pierre_, , , _lambesc, prince de_, la muette, chateau de, , , - _lancret_, langeais, _lannes, maréchal_, _laporte_, _la quintinye_, - la reine blanche, chateau de, _laschant_, _latini, brunetto_, _lauzan_, , _la vallière, louise de_, _lebrun, charles_, , , _lebrun, consul_, _le calabrese, henri_, _lecouteux de canteleu_, , _ledoux_, , _lefuel_, _lejeune_, _leloir_, l'elysée, palais de, , - _lemercier, jacques_, , , , _le moyne_, _le notre_, , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , - , , , , , - , , _lepaute_, _le roy_, les bruyeres, _lescot, pierre_, - , _lesdiguières, duchesse de_, _levau_, - , , , _lomenci, martial de_, _longueil, rené de_, _longueville, mme. de_, , _loret_, _lorraine, cardinal de_, _lorraine, chevalier de_, _louis i_, _louis v_, _louis vi_, _louis vii_, , , _louis ix_, , , , , , , , , , , , _louis xi_, , , , , , - , , _louis xii_, , , , , , , _louis xiii_, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , _louis xiv_, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , - , - , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , - , , , , , _louis xv_, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , - , , , , , , , , , - , _louis xvi_, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , - , , - , , , , , _louis xviii_, , , , , , , _louis philippe_, , , - , , , , , , , , , , , - , (_see also orleans family_) louveciennes, chateau de, - , , louvre, , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , _lude, comtesse de_, _luxembourg, jean de_, luxembourg, palais de, , , , , , - machine de marly, - madrid, chateau de, _magnan, maréchal_, _maine, duc de_, maintenon, chateau de, , - , _maintenon, mme. de_, - , , , , , - , - , - , , maisons-laffitte, chateau de, , - , malmaison, chateau de, - , _mandrin_, _mansart, françois_, - _mansart, jules hardouin_, , , , , , , , , , , , mantes, _mantes, mlle. de_, _marat_, _marceliano, pucello and edme_, _marie antoinette_, , , , , , , , , - , , , _marie louise_, , , _marie sophie_, _marie thérèse_, _marigny, enguerrand de_, , _marigny, marquis de_, marlotte, marly-le-roi (_or_ -le-bourg _or_ -le-chatel), , - , , _mary tudor, of england_, marseilles, _massena, duc de_, _masson, frederic_, _matignon, maréchal de_, _mayenne, duc de_, _mazarin, cardinal_, , , , , , - mazarin, palais (_see_ institut, palais de l') _médici, catherine de_, , , , , , , - , - , - , , , , , , , , , , _médici, marie de_, , , , , , , _menars et de marigny, marquis de_, _menours, jacques de_, , - _mercogliano_, _messonier_, _metezeau, thibaut_, , _metternich, prince de_, meudon, bois de, meudon, chateau de, , _michelet_, _mignard_, , , _millet, eugene_, , _millet, jean françois_, , _mirabeau_, _molière_, , , , molineaux, chateau de, _mollet, claude_, , _mollien_, _monconseil, marquise de_, _mongomere, comte de_, _montansier, duc de_, montargis, _montebello, maréchal de_, _montespan, marquise de_, , , , _montesson, marquise de_, montgaillard, _montgolfier_, _montgomeri, sieur de_, montmartre, _montmorency family_, , , - , montmorency, forest of, , _montpensier, mlle. de_, _moreau, architect_, _moreau, hégésippe_, - _moskowa, prince de la_, _muette, chateau de la_, _murat, princes de_, - , , , _murillo_, musée de cluny, _musset, de_, _nacret_, nanterre, _nanteuil, célestin_, _napoleon i_, , , , - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , - , , , - , , , , , - , - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , - , - _napoleon iii_, , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , _nattier_, _neckar_, _nemours, duc de_, _neufforge, de_, neuilly and its chateau, - , _nicholas ii_, _nicolo dell' abbate_, _nigra, chevalier_, _noailles, ducs de_, - , noisy, chateau de, _nolhac, m. de_, _olivier, emile_, _oppenard_, _orgemont, marguerite d'_, _orleans, ducs d'_, - , , - , , , , , - , orleans, palais d' (_see_ royal, palais) _ormesson, d'_, _osman_, - _oursins, juvenal des_, _palatine, princesse_, _palissy, bernard_, - _panseron_, _paré, ambroise_, _paul, saint vincent de_, _penthièvre, duc de_, , , _pepin-le-bref_, _percier_, , _perrault, charles_, - petit luxembourg, palais du, , petit trianon, , , , , - , _pfnor_, _philippe auguste_, , , , - , , , _philippe iii_, , _philippe iv_, , , , , , _philippe vi_, , _philippe ii, of spain_, _philippe-egalité_, - _picard, achille_, _pichegreu_, pierrefonds, , _pisan, christine de_, _pius vii_, , , , _poirson_, _poissin_, poissy, , , , _poitiers, diane de_, , , - , _pompadour, mme. de_, , - , - , , , , _potter, paul_, _poussin_, _prieur, barthélemy_, _primaticcio_, , , , _provence, comte de_, quatre nations, palais des (_see_ institut, palais de l') _rabelais_, _racine_, , , , rambouillet, chateau and forest of, - , , - , , , , - , , , _rambouillet, seigneur de_, _raphael_, , _raspail_, _ravaillac_, , _redon_, _régnier, henri de_, _remusat, mme. de_, , _retz, maréchal de_, revolution, palais de la (_see_ royal, palais) _richelieu, cardinal_, , , , , - , , , , - _rigaud_, _rigby_, _robert ii_, , , _rochefort, henri_, - _romain, mme._, _ronsard_, , , , _roosevelt, theodore_, - _rosier, de_, _rosny_, _rosso_, , _rousseau, theodore_, , _rousselle_, rouvray, forest of, _rovigo, duc de_, royal, palais, - , , royale, place (_see_ vosges, place des) _rubens_, rueil (_see_ malmaison) _sadi-carnot_, saint cloud, palais de, , , , - saint cyr, - , saint germain-en-laye, , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , saint germain, forest of, , - _saint james, baudart de_, _saint louis_ (see _louis ix_) saint maur, chateau de, _saint ouen_, _saint-simon_, , , _sarto, del_, _savoie, louise de_, _savoie, philippe de_, _scarron, mme._ (see _maintenon, mme. de_) _schickler, baron_, _schopin_, sénat, palais du (_see_ luxembourg, palais du) senlis, senlis, forêt de, _senlis, seigneurs de_, _séran, comtesse de_, _serlio_, , _serres, olivier de_, _servandoni_, _sévigné, mme. de_, , , soissons, - _soyecourt, marquis de_, _sualem, rennequin_, _sully, duc de_, , _talmon, prince de_, _tessé, marquis de_, thermes, palais des, , , _thierry iii_, _thiers, president_, - thomery, _thou, de_, temple, the, _tiercelin, jean_, tillet, maison du, _toulouse, comte de_, _toulouse, comtesse de_, , tournelles, palais des, , - , , _trepsat_, - trianon (_see_ grand trianon) _triboulet_, tribunat, palais du (_see_ royal, palais) _trochu, general_, tuileries, palace and gardens of the, , , , - , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , _turenne_, _turgot_, valerian, mont, _vallet, pierre_, _valois, charles, comte de_, _valois, elizabeth de_, _valois, marguerite de_ ( - ), , _valois, marguerite de_ ( - ), , , , _van loo_, _vasari_, _vauban_, vaux-le-vicomte, , _vendome, duc de_, , _vernet, joseph_, , _verneuil, marquis de_, _veronese_, versailles, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , vesinet, bois de, _vexin, comte de_, _vignole_, _vignon_, villa normande, _villeray, marquis de_, _villeroy, marquis neuville de_, _villeroy, maréchal de_, villers-cotterets, , , vincennes, chateau de, - , , vincennes, bois de, , - , _vinci, leonardo da_, , _visconti_, _vivonne, françois de_, _voltaire_, _von ostade_, vosges, place des, - , . _wagram, prince de_, , , , _wallace, sir richard_, _wellington_, - _william i, emperor_, _wolsey_, [illustration: _frontispiece_ the tower of london. the bloody tower and the wakefield tower, in which the crown jewels are kept.] peeps at royal palaces of great britain by beatrice home containing full page illustrations in colour and line drawings in the text london adam and charles black preface if a palace be a royal residence, as the dictionary defines it, then nearly all the famous castles of england would come under that title, for the norman and plantagenet kings were constantly moving from one stronghold to another during the unsettled period of the middle ages. until the fifteenth century, both the english and scottish kings resided in impregnable castles or fortified houses, but their sojourn was never long in one place. after the wars of the roses had crushed the power of the great nobles, it was no longer necessary for the monarch to dwell within a fortress, and it was then that the gracious and commodious palaces of whitehall, hampton court, and greenwich, arose in england. the scottish kings, having at the same time reached a greater control over their headstrong nobles, also began transforming their castles into palaces, and to erect holyrood and falkland to gratify their desire for more luxurious residences. within the compass of this small book, it would have been impossible to detail every castle in which a monarch ever resided, so that it has been thought better to confine attention to those palaces which were owned, and most constantly used by the kings and queens of england and scotland. contents chapter page i. westminster palace ii. windsor castle iii. the tower of london iv. kennington palace v. eltham palace vi. greenwich palace vii. whitehall palace viii. hampton court palace ix. st. james's palace x. kensington palace xi. kew palace xii. buckingham palace xiii. vanished palaces xiv. edinburgh castle xv. dunfermline castle xvi. stirling castle xvii. holyrood palace xviii. linlithgow palace xix. falkland palace xx. balmoral castle list of illustrations in colour the tower of london _frontispiece_ facing page windsor castle hampton court palace edinburgh castle stirling castle linlithgow palace balmoral castle st. james's palace _on the cover_ royal palaces of great britain chapter i westminster palace scarcely anything remains to-day to remind us of the vast size and the magnificence of the palace of westminster, the royal residence of the english kings from the time of edward the confessor until the reign of henry viii. for five centuries the monarchs of england kept their court on the island of thorney, within the sound of the bells of the great minster raised by the piety of the saintly edward. though the early kings were seldom long in one place, they regarded westminster as their principal palace, and often kept their christmas festivals there, a time of general feasting at the royal expense. cnut is supposed to be the first king to settle at westminster, whither he had gone, after his conversion to christianity, to be near his friend abbot wolfstan, and we are told that the incident of his rebuke to his courtiers concerning the tide occurred on the shores of the river thames. at that time westminster was surrounded by water, being built on the island of thorney, an islet that rose out of the low-lying marshy ground overspread by the wide and unembanked river. it is customary to attribute the ruin of the many beautiful and stately buildings of past ages, to the agency of civil wars, the fanatical zeal of protestant reformers, or the carelessness of the cromwellian soldiers; but far more deadly foes than the cannon-balls of enemies or the mistaken energies of religious zealots, were the destructive fires that time and again destroyed the splendid structures that adorned the vanished centuries. westminster, though immune from other foes, suffered terribly from fires, which have robbed us of the greatest part of one of the most picturesque of palaces. just after edward i. had finished repairing his royal dwelling a huge fire broke out, so tremendous that the palace was rendered uninhabitable, obliging the king to accept the hospitality of york place, the london house of the archbishops of york. edward ii. rebuilt the palace, which remained the main royal residence until a disastrous fire in drove the monarchs away for ever. though much was destroyed, a considerable part of the king's house remained, together with the beautiful chapel of st. stephen and the great hall of the palace; but yet another fire attacked this remnant in . from this last conflagration only westminster hall, the crypt of the chapel, and an old tower (now hidden away among the narrow byways of the abbey precincts) survived. the palace of westminster, described by camden as "large and magnificent, a building not to be equalled in that age," was of great extent, stretching from the abbey to the river. it consisted of a mass of rambling buildings erected with little regard to any fixed plan, but resulting in a picturesque medley of gabled roofs, carved stonework, delicate window tracery, noble halls, and exquisite chapels. medieval palaces required to be large, for all the king's work was done upon his own premises. bakers, brewers, chandlers, armourers, blacksmiths, carpenters, furriers, masons, gardeners, barbers, stablemen, embroiderers, weavers--all lived and worked within the palace walls, and received wages and lodging. as sir walter besant tells us, in his fascinating history of westminster, the palace was "a crowded city, complete in itself, though it produced nothing and carried on no trade; there were workshops and forges and the hammerings of armourers and blacksmiths, but there were no stalls, no chepe, no clamour of those who shouted their goods and invited the passengers to 'buy, buy, buy.'" within this city, crowded within a confined space, dwelt about fifteen thousand people all occupied with the king's business, from the judges, bishops, and high state officials, down to humble laundry-women. a strongly-fortified wall ran all round the palace, for medieval kings needed their royal residences to be places of defence as well as of regal splendour. there were gates leading to the abbey, to whitehall, and to the river, where the king's barges lay to take him down to the tower of london in the city, or up the river towards windsor. immediately beyond the busy throng of the palace and the monastic buildings of the abbey, lay green fields and pleasant rural scenes. between the palace and the noisy city, a mile away, stood palatial houses of the great nobles and bishops, facing the broad and sparkling thames. of all the beautiful buildings that once formed the extensive palace only the great hall remains, now known as westminster hall. william rufus built it in , declaring that, large though it might appear, it was "but a bedchamber" in comparison to what he intended to make. but practically nothing is left of the work of rufus, for we learn that three hundred years later, in , richard ii. ordered the "walls, windows, and roof to be taken down and new made." the following year richard, the most magnificent of the english kings, kept his royal christmas in the newly finished hall. dressed in cloth of gold, adorned with pearls and precious stones, richard entertained ten thousand people, necessitating the purchase of twenty-eight oxen, three hundred sheep, and numberless fowls every day for the feeding of his guests. he little thought that a few months hence the parliament meeting in that very hall would depose him. this famous hall has witnessed some of the most spectacular, splendid, and tragic events in the history of the nation, from the coronation banquets held within its walls, a-glitter with gorgeous raiment and all the pageantry of the past, to the sombre procedure of state trials. perhaps the best remembered scene is that of the trial of charles i., who had been brought hurriedly from windsor, and was lodged during his trial in part of the old palace, then used as the residence of sir ralph cotton. standing, a monarch tried by his subjects, charles stuart remains for all time a dignified figure, not deigning to plead before such a self-constituted court. for many centuries justice was administered from the hall, judges sitting in different parts determining chancery cases or those of common pleas. the most-to-be-regretted loss caused by the fire of is that of the chapel royal of the palace, the chapel of st. stephen. from an account of its architectural detail, which has fortunately been preserved, one gathers that it was a most beautiful and exquisite piece of work, as rich and stately as any in the country. king stephen is supposed to have founded it, but edward i. rebuilt it, only to have his building burnt down a few years later. his grandson, edward iii., restored it in such splendour that, as camden says, "he seems rather to have been the founder than only the repairer." he made it a collegiate church, endowing it with so much wealth after his victories in france that it almost rivalled its wealthy neighbour, the abbey of westminster. indeed, this royal munificence brought about considerable quarrelling with the abbey, whose inmates grudged the masses being said at st. stephen's, when they might have been said in the abbey and so enriched their coffers. in this new chapel richard ii. married his first wife, anne of bohemia. [illustration: westminster hall. from an engraving by hollar.] at the dissolution of the monasteries, the king granted to the commons of england, who had hitherto met in the chapter house of westminster abbey, the use of st. stephen's chapel, and there they have met ever since, except once during the reign of charles i. for the reception of the members the beautiful chapel was ruthlessly altered, but enough of the original work remained to make the fire of a disaster to all lovers of graceful architecture. the present house of commons is built upon the site of the old collegiate buildings, and only the crypt of the church remains to remind us of the royal chapel of our plantagenet kings. all the other historic rooms have vanished. nothing is left of the painted chamber, where edward the confessor died, the long room whose painted walls depicted the story of the confessor's life upon one side, while the other was devoted to the wars of the maccabees. these paintings were unknown until , when the tapestry that covered them was removed, and thus revealed the meaning of the room's designation. gone, too, is the old house of lords, used by the peers until the commonwealth, where the famous tapestry representing the defeat of the spanish armada was hung. in the vaults underneath, originally the confessor's kitchen, guy fawkes and his fellow-conspirators stored the barrels of gunpowder with which to blow up the parliament. after the restoration the lords removed to the white hall of the palace, taking the armada tapestry with them, which, together with so much of fascination and historic interest, perished in the all-embracing fire of . chapter ii windsor castle standing upon a steep chalk cliff that rises abruptly from the river thames, windsor castle towers above the low-lying river meadows, and, looking beyond the town that clusters round it, gazes proudly over twelve adjacent counties. for more than eight centuries a castle has stood upon this cliff-top, the defensive qualities of such a perfect natural stronghold having appealed to all the royal rulers of england. in saxon times the mound was defended by some kind of wooden palisade, which william the conqueror replaced with stone, nothing of which now remains. henry ii., the first of the plantagenet kings, built his palace there, erecting it upon what is known to-day as the upper ward, the castle being divided into three distinct sections or tiers. the upper ward, situated upon a higher level of the plateau, is separated from the lower ward by the round tower, which stands upon a mound in the centre. perhaps the most exciting times that the castle ever witnessed took place in the reign of john; certainly one of the most important events in the history of the english people is connected with its grey walls. john had filled the castle with mercenary troops, with which to defend himself against his insurgent barons. protected by these foreigners, who fought with extreme bravery, the castle sustained two sieges, the only active warfare in which it took any serious part. owing doubtless to its almost impregnable situation before the days of artillery, it remained calm and secure, however disturbed other parts of the kingdom might be. one summer day in the year king john, overawed by the great gathering of armed barons within sight of his castle, left his stronghold on the hill, and full of rage rode down to the meadow of runnymede, near staines. there he was forced to sign the great charter of english freedom, an action which reduced him to such a pitch of impotent fury that when he reached the castle again, he rolled on the ground, gnawing sticks and straws. it is to john's son, henry iii., that the present aspect of the castle is due, for though walls and towers have been rebuilt since his time, the general appearance remains the same. he was the first great builder, and beginning early with a reign of over fifty years before him, he was able to carry out his extensive building schemes. deserting the upper ward, where all his predecessors had lived, he built his palace on the lower plateau, also erecting a chapel on the site of st. george's. less than a century after his death palace and chapel had vanished, fallen into a rapid decay, so that almost the only records of his work to-day are to be found in the curfew tower, and the cloisters. the first king to be born at windsor was edward iii., who spent great sums upon his palace, practically rebuilding the whole castle. being a great warrior, loving war and glory, he became enamoured with the idea of founding an order of knighthood that should become as illustrious as that of king arthur, who was believed to have some connection with windsor. a round tower was built upon the mound, to hold the round table, and great festivities were held there in , but this round table idea forms no part of the great order--the order of the garter--instituted in . it is thought that froissart confused these two celebrations. [illustration: windsor castle: entrance to the horseshoe cloisters.] under the superintendence of william of wykeham, afterwards the great bishop of winchester, but employed by edward iii. as his surveyor of works, the lower ward was entirely given up to the service of st. george, the patron saint of the new order. this involved the building of a new palace, which was erected upon the upper ward, hitherto merely walled and left vacant. at the time when these great building schemes were in progress, there were two captive kings within the castle, for edward did not entirely devote his energy to palace building, which merely formed a pleasing interlude to the long and ambitious wars which occupied his life. david ii. of scotland had been captured at neville's cross in , and ten years later john, the king of france, joined him at windsor, having fallen to the black prince at poitiers. it is said that edward, while walking with his prisoners, discussed with them the building of his new palace. they suggested that it would look more regal if it stood upon the upper ward, at which edward cynically remarked that it should be erected at the cost of their ransoms. but as king john's ransom was never paid, and scotland was too poor a country to provide much even to redeem their king, edward was obliged to do most of the paying of the bill himself. good queen philippa, the sweet woman who had been the gentle inspiration of edward's life, fell ill at windsor in august, , an illness of which there was "no remedy but death," says froissart, who writes very sympathetically of her last moments. edward, the bravest knight in christendom, stood weeping at her bedside as she whispered to him her last requests, that he should pay her debts, carry on her charities, and be buried beside her. froissart tells us that "in all her life she did neither in thought, word, nor deed, things whereby to lose her soul." so that he was confident that "the holy angels received her with great joy up to heaven." during the reign of henry v., windsor again became a royal prison-house, scotland's youthful king, james i., spending about ten years of his life there. he had been captured when quite a lad on his way to france to be educated, and had received a good education at the hands of his captors, who had treated him kindly, allowing him considerable liberty. while at windsor he met his future queen, then the lady joan beaufort, the daughter of the earl of somerset, whom he describes in his poem, "the king's quair," as "the fairest and freshest youthful flower" he had ever seen. after his release in , they were married in southwark cathedral, setting off immediately afterwards for scotland. "the royal saint," as henry vi. has been called, did not spend time or money upon his palace at windsor, but was enthusiastic over the founding of eton college, which he erected on the opposite bank of the winding river, so that he could see it from his palace windows. in his zealous activity to make this college worthy of the virgin mary, in whose honour it had been founded, poor king henry forgot his kingdom, and found himself deposed long before his schemes were perfected. he lies buried in st. george's chapel, under a plain stone slab, having been brought thither from chertsey abbey by richard iii., who did not care for miracles to be performed at his victim's grave, and preferred to have the body under his own observation. as a form of penitence for having waded "through slaughter to a throne," edward iv. is said to have erected the beautiful chapel dedicated to st. george, which replaced the one built by edward iii. one of the finest specimens of pure perpendicular architecture in england, it is the most impressive and stately building enclosed within the walls of windsor castle. its glorious fan tracery is only rivalled by henry viii.'s chapel at westminster and king's college chapel, cambridge--all three being built during the latter half of the fifteenth century. but the choir, perhaps, attracts more attention than any other part of the chapel, for there are to be found the richly-carved stalls allotted to the use of the knights of the order of the garter. above each stall is placed the helmet of the knight, while his splendidly emblazoned banner hangs over it. at his death the helmet and banner are removed, but his gilded brass plate upon the back of the stall remains, so that upon these stalls can be seen the gilded plates of some of the most illustrious names in history. the succeeding monarchs from edward iv. to the time of elizabeth did little either to alter or adorn their palace by the shining thames. henry viii., who was very fond of windsor and often resided there till he obtained hampton court palace from his great minister, cardinal wolsey, rebuilt the main entrance to the lower ward which is known by his name. in the vault beneath the choir of st. george's bluff king hal found a resting-place beside jane seymour, his third wife, but no monument has been raised to his memory. almost the only part of the palace which has remained unaltered since its erection is the royal library, part of the building facing the north terrace. built by queen elizabeth as a picture gallery, it is a fine specimen of a tudor room, with a beautiful ceiling and a handsome stone chimney-piece. it is said that the "merry wives of windsor" was first performed in this gallery, the play having been written in a fortnight at the queen's command that shakespeare should write a play about sir john falstaff in love. the virgin queen is also responsible for the north terrace, on to which the gallery opened. [illustration: windsor castle has been a stronghold of importance since saxon times. st. george's chapel, whose long roof-line can be seen in the picture, was built by edward iv.] during the civil war the castle was held by the parliamentary forces, whose mere presence behind the strong walls was sufficient to repel prince rupert, charles i.'s headstrong nephew, who had hoped with a small body of horse to surprise the castle. no further attempt was made by the royalists to capture the royal fortress, to which king charles was brought as a prisoner in december, . for three years the unhappy king had been a captive, driven from prison to prison, windsor being his last resting-place before his trial and death in london. charles must have become aware that dangers were thickening round him, when, having refused to admit denbigh bearing the last overtures of the army, all ceremonies of state were omitted, his meals no longer being served to him on bended knee. after the tragedy at whitehall, the body of the king was brought to windsor and buried hurriedly one snowy february morning, in the vault below the choir, by the side of henry viii. at the restoration £ , was voted by the parliament to erect a fitting memorial, but for some unexplained reason his coffin could not be found, though two of the lords who had carried his body to the grave were still living. though the leaden coffin was identified in , no monument has yet been raised to the most unfortunate if also the most unwise of british sovereigns. his son, charles ii., employed sir christopher wren to make additions to the palace. much of this work still remains practically as it was in the days of the merry monarch, for whose dining-room (now called the state ante-room) verrio painted the ceiling and grinling gibbons carved the walls. no monarch is more intimately associated with windsor than george iii., who loved the place which had been cordially disliked and neglected by his two predecessors. so complete had been the neglect, that the castle was quite unfit for habitation, obliging the royal family, during the process of repairs, to live in an ugly stuccoed building known as the queen's lodge, built on the site of the present royal stables. owing to the minute chronicle of their daily events in the diary of fanny burney, we know exactly what the good commonplace king and queen did and said during their residence at windsor. so much had queen charlotte admired "evelina," that she thought no greater honour could be done to the gifted authoress than to make her a dresser to her royal self, a condescension which almost overwhelmed shy fanny burney, who accepted the post, little dreaming of the drudgery it entailed. everything went by routine in the court life: the same things were done every day at precisely the same time they were done the day before, with a monotony which thackeray declares must have rendered the life, frugal and virtuous as it was, stupid to a degree which he shuddered to contemplate. poor king george spent the last ten years of his life, hopelessly insane and quite blind, confined in rooms overlooking the north terrace, and was buried in the new tomb-house which he had cut in the solid chalk, under what is now known as the albert memorial chapel. george iv. carried on the repairs commenced by his father, living meanwhile in a lodge in the park. over a million pounds was spent upon the alterations and furnishing of the royal apartments. when sir jeffry wyattville, the architect to whom the work had been entrusted, had completed his task, windsor castle appeared exactly as it does to-day. the walls and towers had been repaired and refaced, the brick buildings within the walls had been cleared away, the round tower raised by forty feet so that it dominated the whole pile, and the present state apartments built on the south and eastern sides of the upper ward. though windsor castle cannot claim so fascinating or romantic a history as that of other royal palaces, yet it can boast that while its more picturesque rivals have either vanished or ceased their careers as palaces, it alone remains a royal residence with a story stretching back to the normans. majestic in its calm serenity, it remains, as leigh hunt used to say, "a place to receive monarchs in." chapter iii the tower of london there are no myths or legends connected with the building of london's great fortress, the clear light of history beats upon the erection of its walls. it was built by william the conquerer, not as a protection for the city, but as a proof of his dominating power over the subdued but possibly troublesome citizens. part of the roman wall which encircled the city was removed, and the tower rose into being upon the easternmost corner of saxon london, right on the shore of the river thames, the great highway from the sea. various additions were made by succeeding monarchs down to edward iii., until it assumed the shape we now see it, with the solid norman keep in the centre, an inner wall with twelve towers, protected by a strong outer wall surrounded by a deep moat. only four gateways gave entrance to the fortress, and those were strongly guarded by towers. any enemy attempting to enter from tower hill had to force his way across three branches of the moat, with three successive towers before he could reach the inner wall of the citadel. there were three gateways from the river, a small postern gate for the use of state visitors, the main water gate, which earned the ominous title of traitor's gate, due to the frequent arrival of state prisoners, and another entrance east of the traitor's gate. owing to its immense strength it was more commonly used by the kings during times of civil war, when from behind its bastioned walls they could bid defiance to the surging mobs outside. john, edward ii., henry vi., and edward iv. all retreated there for safety during their troublous reigns, but it is with richard ii., the boy-king, that we associate one of the most dangerous episodes in the eventful life of the city. one midsummer day in a frenzied mob of countrymen swarmed on tower hill, demanding, with no uncertain voice, a redress of grievances. within the tower there was great hesitation, the councillors of fifteen-year-old richard vacillating between a sally with force upon the ill-armed peasants and a granting of their just demands. with something of the insistence of the market-women of paris when they swarmed up to the gates of versailles, the savage crowd gained admittance into the tower, searching for their supposed enemy, the archbishop of canterbury, who, as the chief lawyer in england, represented the men who enslaved and starved them. seizing the poor old man, they dragged him out to tower hill, and, with their summary judgment, cut off his head then and there. the story of how richard saved the situation at smithfield after the death of wat tyler is well known. nothing now remains of the palace where the plantagenet kings held their court. it was situated between the white tower and the wakefield and lanthorn towers. scarcely used after the reign of henry vii., save for three days previous to the coronation procession through the city, it was completely demolished in the reign of william and mary, every fragment being removed. [illustration: the keep, or white tower.] the most romantic as well as the most pathetic incidents in the history of the tower are connected with its forlorn prisoners, doomed to long incarceration or speedy death at the will of despotic monarchs. even the sovereigns themselves were often captives within its walls. the two young princes, edward v. and his brother richard, entered the tower under the nominal protection of their uncle richard iii., never to appear again. anne boleyn returned as a prisoner to the place which she had formerly entered in triumph just before her coronation. retaining her gay spirit to the end, anne laughingly remarked that she had a little neck, when told that death by execution was quite painless. during the reign of her sister mary, queen elizabeth was brought through the traitor's gate to the tower, where she was confined for some time under suspicion of being implicated in sir thomas wyatt's rebellion. though ceasing to be a royal palace, and of little use as a fortress, the tower retained its position as a state prison until , becoming since then merely a barracks and a guard-house for the crown jewels. chapter iv kennington palace no royal house has more completely vanished from sight, and even from memory, than the royal palace of kennington. few know that such a palace ever existed, and certainly those who dwell upon its site would require to be possessed of keen imaginations, to realize that once all the pageantry of a medieval court took place, where to-day monotonous streets crowd upon one another. yet parliaments assembled and all the ceremonies of state were performed on a spot not far from where kennington park now stands. the whim of royal fancy was the cause of the complete obliteration of the palace, other royal houses pleasing the later kings more than the one upon lambeth marsh. low-lying ground, only redeemed from complete marshland by the embankment of the river, lay between it and the city of london on the north. as it was not until quite the end of the eighteenth century that houses began to be built upon this district, the land being up till then used as market-gardens, it is not surprising that when the palace was destroyed it soon passed from men's minds, no one living in the neighbourhood. the exact date of the destruction of the palace is not known, but its oblivion was almost complete when camden, the great antiquarian, wrote in , for he says: "the royal seat call'd kennington, whither the kings of england us'd to retire, the discovery whereof 'tis vain to endeavour after, there appearing neither name nor rubbish to direct us." though no vestige of the palace now remains, it is reasonable to conjecture, from the analogy of contemporary palaces which still exist, that kennington palace was a fortified building, with a strongly embattled wall and deep moat. deserted by henry viii., who found eltham and greenwich more to his taste, the building materials were all sold and the palace razed to the ground. some kind of tudor manor-house was built upon the site, for a survey taken about the middle of the seventeenth century describes a building of some fair size. close to it stood a low stone structure with a thatched roof, known as the "long barn," which was thought to be part of the old palace. it stood until , when it was pulled down, removing the last trace of historic interest. as one loses oneself among the maze of houses and streets of kennington, it is difficult to believe that in the lost palace which rose above the marsh of long ago harold harefoot, the son of cnut, was crowned, harthacnut, his brother, died either by treachery or accident, and henry iii. held two parliaments. but of all the kings whose memory should haunt the spot, the most to be remembered is richard ii., the handsome, popular, pleasure-loving and magnificent prince. after the early death of his father, the black prince, young richard had been brought up in the palace by his widowed mother. in later years richard brought his child-wife, the fair isabella of france, to kennington palace, to rest there for the night before she entered london in state. she was then only eight years old, and was never anything more than queen in name, for long before she was old enough to be a wife her attractive but unwise husband had been murdered by his enemies. chapter v eltham palace to realize that eltham was one of the most stately of royal residences one has only to stand within the magnificent hall erected by edward iv. though neglected for many years and allowed to fall into decay, it is still a marvellous relic of medieval splendour, at the time when perpendicular architecture was beautifying the land. the fine oak roof, with its hammer beams and carved pendants, is almost as perfect as when it was first put up, but unfortunately the beautiful tracery of the windows has suffered from being bricked up during the period of neglect. the whole hall, however, has lately undergone a thorough restoration, and the windows have been glazed, so that it is likely to remain for many centuries to come a noble witness of the dignified surroundings of the plantagenet kings. [illustration: hampton court palace. erected by cardinal wolsey and afterwards presented by him to henry viii. sir christopher wren reconstructed a part of the palace for william iii. and queen mary.] the old stone bridge, with its buttressed arches, built at the same time as the hall, still stands over the moat, which at one time ran all round the palace. standing on the bridge, across which must have trod edward iv., its builder, henry viii. in his buoyant youth, cardinal wolsey in the early days of his greatness, and queen elizabeth when visiting the palace to meet her scottish suitor the earl of arran, one looks down to-day upon smooth green water, overshadowed by willows and sycamores, and edged with smooth-shaven grass borders, with a glimpse of a rose-filled garden. [illustration: the banqueting hall, eltham palace.] for eltham, though only eight miles from london on the maidstone road, retains much of its rural charm. as one approaches the palace along a tree-shaded avenue between old red-brick walls, one forgets the nearness to the great city and the fact that tram-lines now run up to the quiet little high street. there is an old-world dignity about the neighbourhood of the palace, locally known as king john's palace, through some confusion with john of eltham, the second son of edward ii., who was born there. king john himself never resided in the palace, for it was not a royal house until the reign of his son. some charming old houses, with red-tiled roofs and overhung upper stories, standing among gardens gay with flowers, border the avenue. it is probable that wolsey and other lord chancellors stayed in these houses when in attendance upon the monarch. eltham has never been anything but a small village amid fertile country, so that the problem of feeding the court when resident in the palace must have been a serious one. two thousand people to be fed daily must have absorbed the energies of all the farmers round. in plan the palace was a quadrangular castle protected by a strong battlemented wall, surrounded by a deep moat, with a drawbridge and portcullis. camden claims that the original palace was built by anthony bec, bishop of durham, who presented it to eleanor, the beloved wife of edward i. of its subsequent history one learns that many kings held their christmas festivals there, that richard ii. was extremely fond of it, spending much of his time there, that edward iv. built the hall and bridge, and that henry vii. also did a good deal of building, and brought up his children within its walls. henry viii. spent his early childhood in the palace, being visited by the learned erasmus and sir thomas more. during the first years of his reign he also resided there frequently, until greenwich rose in his royal favour. it was at eltham that wolsey received the office of lord chancellor, and also where he drew up, in , the famous eltham ordinances for the regulation of the royal household. one finds from these ordinances that the king's guests were in the habit of stealing locks, tables, and other household articles, for strict rules were made concerning these fixtures, and also against the keeping of any dogs, except ladies' spaniels, within the precincts of the court. james i. was the last monarch to reside within the palace, his son, charles i., bestowing it upon sir john shaw, who pulled down all the buildings, with the exception of the great hall. when john evelyn visited it in , he found the whole place in ruins, but in the government was persuaded to undertake repairs in order to preserve this beautiful remnant of fifteenth-century architecture. chapter vi greenwich palace [illustration: greenwich palace.] greenwich was the sea palace of the english monarchs. it stood upon the edge of the broad and tidal river thames, which was salt to the taste at the time when the tudor monarchs gazed over its sparkling waters. from their palace windows henry viii. and his illustrious daughter elizabeth watched the busy vessels passing down to the sea, laden with wool and other merchandise, to return filled with silks, and spices, and precious metals; and looked with proud satisfaction at their ships of war lying anchored close at hand at deptford. warships had appeared at greenwich very early in its history, when it was a mere fishing village sheltered beneath the green slope of blackheath. the danes had arrived in , flying their raven flag, seeking tribute money from ethelred the ill-advised. during one of their visits, these ruthless norsemen murdered alphege, the archbishop of canterbury, by aiming beef bones, so it is said, at the good man's head. it was from their sea palace, too, that the royal rulers watched the departure and return of two famous explorers. on a certain day in may, , sir hugh willoughby sailed from deptford with his small expedition to search for a north-east passage to china. young king edward, already in the last stages of his wasting illness, was brought to the window to see the ships depart with their brave commander on board, who was destined never to return, being found frozen to death in his cabin in the arctic ice. crowds gathered along the shore, the nobles and courtiers thronged the palace windows as the ships sailed by, discharging their guns in a final salute, so that the surrounding hills echoed. twenty-seven years later, a small weather-beaten vessel, _the golden hind_, came to anchor at deptford after a momentous voyage round the world, in which battle and tempest had been braved, and little known lands visited. its dauntless commander shortly after was honoured by a visit from his sovereign lady, queen elizabeth, who, forgiving his irregular deeds because of their success, knighted him upon his own deck, causing him to arise as sir francis drake. though pre-eminently associated with the tudor monarchs who loved their healthy royal home, which felt the sea breezes coming up the river, greenwich had been a royal possession for many years. henry iv. dated his will from his manor of greenwich, while his son, humphrey, duke of gloucester, was the real founder of the palace. gaining permission from his nephew, henry vi., for whom he had acted as regent during his minority, he erected a stone manor-house, calling it placentia. disasters fell thick upon "good duke humphrey," as he has been called. his wife eleanor was accused of witchcraft, and after penance in the streets of london, was imprisoned for the remainder of her life, while he himself, falling under the displeasure of the haughty margaret of anjou, was arrested for high treason, dying suddenly a few days later under suspicion of poison. when it reverted to the crown, both henry vi. and edward iv. lived at placentia, and henry vii. wooed and won his yorkist bride there, but it is to henry viii. that greenwich owes its fame. born at greenwich in , baptized in the former parish church in a silver font "well padded with soft linen," henry viii. spent much of his time at his birthplace. he rebuilt the palace, erecting an unfortified dwelling, the sovereigns no longer requiring to dwell within a castle. his two daughters, mary and elizabeth, were born in the palace, their royal father, though disappointed at the non-arrival of a prince, ordering all reverence to be paid to the infant princesses. queen katharine of aragon spent some happy years at greenwich before henry was led away by the charms of anne boleyn. henry at that time seems to have been full of buoyant life and good-humour, enjoying the rough and tumble of tournaments in the park, riding out in the early morning of the first of may to bring in the blossom, and rollicking in the dances and pageants of the time. it was at one of the tournaments that henry last saw anne boleyn, who was acting the part of the queen of beauty. taking offence at her behaviour, the headstrong king got up suddenly and set off for london, never again seeing his unfortunate wife, who was arrested the following day and carried to the tower. after the time of james i., who, with his queen, much delighted in its situation, the palace fell gradually into decay, so that charles ii. pulled it all down and started to rebuild a new one. he never lived in it, for only one wing--that which now faces the building devoted to the museum--was ever erected, the scheme of the palace being rejected for quite another purpose. the gentle, kindly heart of queen mary, the beloved wife of william iii., was so moved by the suffering of the wounded sailors after the battle of la hogue, that she determined that the neglected palace should be furnished as a hospital for those seamen "who had protected the public safety." sir christopher wren furnished the design, and king william, private donors, and parliamentary grants supplied the endowment of the hospital, whose first stone was laid on june , . for over a century and a half invalided sailors were sheltered within the hospital, which was closed in , pensions being then bestowed instead of residence. the buildings are now used as a college for naval officers. greenwich still retains a sea-faring aspect; on a bright day the river, full of laden barges and busy little tugs, still sparkles, while "the noblest of european hospitals" remains as "a memorial of the virtues of the good queen mary, of the love and sorrow of william, and of the great victory of la hogue." chapter vii whitehall palace of all the many palaces of the english monarchs, none is more associated in men's minds with the splendour and pageantry of court life than the palace of whitehall. in comparison with other palaces, such as windsor, its life-story was very brief, just over a century and a half, but it was spent in the hey-day of royalty, when the kings were freed from the power of the great barons, and were not yet controlled by the constitution. it is full of memories of the masterful tudors, and the pleasure-loving stuarts, a period stored with great and stirring happenings, just when the new world was being discovered, the new learning flooding over europe, and the reformation stirring the hearts of men. yet of all its vast size, only a tiny fragment is left--the banqueting hall of the magnificent palace designed by inigo jones--and not a brick or stone remains of the palace where wolsey reigned in his episcopal glory, and henry viii. held his gorgeous court. the first house on the site of the palace belonged to hubert de burgh, the patriotic ruler of england during the minority of henry iii., but remembered most generally as the unwilling gaoler of young prince arthur. he bequeathed his property to the black friars, in whose church in holborn he was buried. not long afterwards the dominicans sold the house to walter de grey, archbishop of york, who left it as a london residence to his successors in the see of york. it will be remembered that after one of the serious fires that attacked the palace of westminster, edward i. took shelter in the archbishop's palace at york place, as it was then known, and continued to occupy it during the remainder of his reign. in his capacity as archbishop of york, cardinal wolsey came into possession of york place, which he almost entirely rebuilt. during his days of greatness wolsey lived in the utmost magnificence in his palace, rivalling the king's court at westminster. surrounded by many hundreds of courtiers, among whom were some of the noblest in the land, who did not disdain to serve "the butcher's son," wolsey kept high state, feasting off gold and silver plate, to the accompaniment of singing and music, wearing scarlet and gold, and riding on a crimson velvet saddle, with his feet in stirrups of silver gilt. as an excuse for the undoubted ostentation of the great cardinal, sir walter besant maintains that in his time "it was the right and proper use of wealth to entertain royally; it was part of a rich man to dress splendidly, to have a troop of gentlemen and valets in his service, to exhibit tables covered with gold and silver plate, to hang the walls with beautiful and costly arras. all this was right and proper." but wolsey experienced, as so many great men have done, that "they that stand high have many blasts to shake them, and when they fall, they dash themselves to pieces." after the disgrace of his great chancellor, henry viii. seized york place, quite regardless of the fact that, as it was not the private possession of the cardinal, he had no right to do so. but it was just what the king wanted, his own palace at westminster having been destroyed by fire a few years before. it was then that the name of whitehall came into use, as shakespeare reminds us in the play of henry viii.: "you must no more call it york place; that's past: for since the cardinal fell, that title's lost; 'tis now the king's, and called whitehall." though whitehall for us to-day signifies but one palace, in the days of the tudors nearly every palace had its "white hall," usually the great banqueting hall, so that the new name bestowed by henry was not peculiarly distinctive. henry was delighted with his new residence, and proceeded to add new buildings, and to enclose nearly all st. james's park up to the site of buckingham palace. covering a vast extent of ground, the palace rambled from scotland yard along the riverside, to where downing street now stands, and spread across the roadway by means of a long gallery. never so beautiful as westminster, the whitehall of the tudors was a mass of brick buildings, erected without any particular scheme just as occasion required, resulting, as besant declares, in a building "without dignity and without nobility." a roadway had always existed from charing cross to westminster, and not even the autocratic henry dared divert it for the sake of his palace, so that he caused two gateways to be erected to mark the precincts of the royal domain. both were put up about the same time, the one nearer westminster being called the king's gate, and the other the holbein gate, being designed by the famous artist, hans holbein. across this latter gateway ran the gallery connecting the main part of the palace with the tiltyard (now the horse guards parade) and the cockpit (where the admiralty now stands), the tennis court, and the bowling alley, where henry viii. indulged his love of games; for, as leigh hunt cynically tells us, "though he put women to death, he was fond of manly sports." both gateways were removed during the first half of the eighteenth century, when the road was widened. henry viii. died in the palace where he had secretly married anne boleyn, and where he had enjoyed so many of the good things of life. it is said that he had grown so unwieldy that he had to be lifted by means of machinery. cranmer came to see him on his deathbed, but when he arrived the king was already speechless, though still conscious. the archbishop, after "speaking comfortably to him, desired him to give some token that he put his trust in god through jesus christ, therewith the king wrung hard the archbishop's hand," and so left the earthly scene of his cruelties, his amusements, and his worldly success. [illustration: whitehall palace at the end of the seventeenth century.] when james i. succeeded to the throne of the tudors, he found the palace of whitehall needing a considerable amount of repairs. the old banqueting hall that had sufficed for the needs of elizabeth was despised by the new monarch, who regarded it as an "old rotten slight-builded banqueting house." inigo jones, the great architect, was called upon to supply plans for an entirely new palace. his plans, the originals of which still exist, were extremely ambitious, for if they had been carried out, london would have possessed a palace rivalling versailles, and covering an area of twenty four acres. according to his scheme, the palace was to present four imposing frontages, having square towers at the corners, and was to contain one vast central court, as well as six smaller courts. only the stately banqueting hall of this colossal scheme was ever erected, that which remains to-day, the solitary fragment of the once extensive palace. the hall was finished in , and when, three years later, charles i. came to the throne, he was too much overwhelmed with the difficulty of obtaining sufficient money to supply his immediate needs, to entertain any ideas of carrying out the proposed palace. he contented himself with adorning the existing banqueting hall, commissioning the artist rubens, who was in london in the capacity of ambassador from flanders, to paint the ceiling. for the magnificent work which we see to-day, covering the entire ceiling, representing the apotheosis of james i. the artist received £ , and a knighthood from king charles. it was outside the banqueting hall which he had so enriched, that king charles was beheaded on january , . early on the cold wintry morning, escorted by a body of soldiers, charles walked from st. james's palace, where he had spent his last night, across the park to whitehall. owing to the cold he had put on two shirts, in order to prevent any shivering, which might, the king thought, have been put down to fear. wearing a black cloak, and a striped red silk waistcoat, he walked rapidly, telling bishop juxon, who accompanied him, that he was soon going to obtain a heavenly crown. on the way he pointed out a tree in spring gardens, planted by his elder brother, henry. arrived at whitehall, he crossed over the gallery above the holbein gate, and went to his own room in the palace, awaiting the order for his appearance on the scaffold, spending the time in prayer. in spite of the great controversy on the subject of the position of the scaffold, and the manner of the king's approach to it, there seems to be every probability that the scaffold, which was erected in the open street, stood in front of the large windows of the banqueting hall. it is thought that king charles, after walking through the hall, crowded for him with memories of his father and of his own stately and decorous court, entered into a small adjoining room, the wall having been cut through for the purpose. and it was from the window of this small room that charles stepped upon the scaffold. at that time the windows of the banqueting hall, facing whitehall, were not glazed. a great crowd had assembled to witness, as sir thomas herbert, the king's devoted friend, records, "the saddest sight that england ever saw." with calm dignity charles performed the last actions of his life, asking his executioners whether his hair would hinder them, taking off his cloak, handing the "george" worn by the knights of the garter to bishop juxon, who remained by the side of his fallen monarch to the end, and then, after making a short speech declaring his innocence, kneeling down and laying his head upon the block. when bishop juxon reminded him that he had but one stage more, which would carry him from earth to heaven, the king replied: "i go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown." directly the painful scene was over every sign of it was removed at once; soldiers dispersed the crowd, and the scaffold was immediately taken down. the king's body was embalmed, after which it was shown to the public, that there should be no doubt of his death. a week later his faithful friends carried him to his last resting-place in st. george's chapel, windsor. and so was cut short the life of charles stuart, who, had his youth been spent under wiser guidance than that of his father, might have been one of england's noblest rulers. [illustration: the execution of charles i., outside whitehall palace. _from the painting by ernest crofts, r.a._] cromwell, conscious of his own integrity and free from superstitious fears, did not hesitate to occupy the palace outside which his late monarch had been executed. though he refused the crown offered to him in , his residence in whitehall began to assume more and more the aspect of a court, he himself gradually acquiring a dignified and stately manner, as we are assured by the contemporary royalist writer, sir philip warwick. "and yet i lived to see this very gentleman," he writes, "when for six weeks together i was a prisoner in his sergeant's hands, and daily waited at whitehall, appear of a great and majestic deportment and comely presence." after six years of almost autocratic power as protector of england, during which period he had shown his capacity as a statesman, cromwell breathed his last in the palace of his royal predecessors, relinquishing his hold upon life, in spite of his strong religious faith, with obvious reluctance. worn out with anxieties and domestic grief, especially over the death of his much-beloved daughter, elizabeth claypole, the great protector died at the age of fifty-nine, on september , , a day which he had always accounted as peculiarly fortunate, having been the occasion of his victories at dunbar and worcester. a tremendous storm, one of the most violent ever known, was raging over england when oliver cromwell's spirit passed into the great unknown. on his arrival in london after his restoration, charles ii. proceeded to whitehall, where he confirmed all the great charters of english liberty, such as magna carta, and the petition of right. two years later, charles brought his unhappy young bride by river in state to whitehall, after their honeymoon at hampton court. samuel pepys watched the pageant from the top of the banqueting hall, which he describes as "a most pleasant place as any i could have got." the whole river was covered with boats and barges, "so that we could see no water for them," some boats representing the mimic court of a king and queen, until the actual royal pair appeared, who were greeted with guns on their arrival at whitehall bridge. whitehall, so intimately connected with the tudors, fell with the stuarts. a fire, which raged furiously all one night, destroyed for ever, in , the old rambling palace known to wolsey and his royal master, leaving no fragment to remind us of its existence. only the graceful banqueting hall escaped the general conflagration. plans were drawn up by sir christopher wren for a new palace, but william iii., who, suffering from habitual asthma, found the smoke of whitehall almost intolerable, was not likely to be anxious to restore a palace in which he could not live. as he wrote to one of his friends, "the loss is less to me than it would be to another person, for i cannot live there." but though he made little effort to rebuild the palace, being already busy at altering hampton court, there is no truth in the statement of his enemies, that william had partly inspired the fire. george i. altered the banqueting-hall into a chapel royal, for which purpose it continued to be used until , when queen victoria gave permission for the building to be used for the united service museum. chapter viii hampton court palace in the high tide of its popularity, hampton court palace was considered the finest and most commodious palace in england, an opinion which was corroborated by the foreign ambassadors of the time, who spoke of it in terms of the highest praise. one distinguished foreign visitor, in the reign of queen elizabeth, recorded in his diary: "this is the most splendid and most magnificent royal palace of any that may be found in england, or, indeed, in any other kingdom." and though to-day the tide of royal favour has receded for ever from the shores of hampton court, the palace remains as stately and as dignified as when the proud wolsey paced its galleries. [illustration: hampton court: the first court.] its situation has always been a happy one, for though built on the banks of the river thames, it has avoided all the disadvantages of damp, owing to the gravelly nature of its soil. the nearness to london, only thirteen miles away, with easy access along the broad river, made it a delightful residence for the monarchs who were able to get to and fro from london, however bad the roads might be. when wearied with the smoke and bustle that surrounded whitehall, the royal owners rejoiced in escaping to their beautiful palace at hampton court, from whose windows they looked over the clean river, across fresh green meadows to the horizon of the blue surrey hills. cardinal wolsey was largely influenced by the healthy position of hampton court, when he bought the place from the knights hospitallers of st. john, who had owned it since the early part of the thirteenth century. the cardinal, like so many other great men, had never been strong, and had taxed his strength to the uttermost by the enormous quantity of work which he undertook. not only was he archbishop of york, holding various other bishoprics, but he was lord chancellor of england, an office which carried with it vast legal duties, and also that of chief adviser to the king, through whom all the business of the state was carried out. no wonder he needed a quiet spot far from the busy throng, but he would have been wiser had he built a modest country house, which would not have aroused the envy of the king. but wolsey had a passion for building, as his work at whitehall, his college of christchurch, oxford, and the school at ipswich, witness, and he apparently could not refrain from erecting a palace, which was to excite universal admiration, and ultimately to assist in his fall from power. though suffering from a variety of ailments, among which were ague and dropsy, wolsey never rested, but, having bought hampton court in , pushed on the building, so that it was finished and ready for occupation two years afterwards. no word concerning any architect has come down to us, so that we may presume that the palace was erected according to the cardinal's own plans, and that he is responsible for the romantic charm of the tudor work, with its clustered chimneys, gabled roofs, mullioned windows, and all the picturesque dignity of the red-brick courtyards. no sooner had the builders evacuated, than wolsey filled the palace with the most rich and costly furniture, magnificent tapestries, and beds upholstered in gorgeous velvet and silk, everything being adorned with the cardinal's arms, until it quite outshone anything that the king possessed. king henry often honoured his "good cardinal" with a visit, sometimes coming unexpectedly to surprise his chancellor. the greatest banquet wolsey ever gave was to the french ambassador in , when beds were prepared, each room being lighted with blazing fires and candles in silver candlesticks. music was performed all through the banquet, at which marvellous dishes appeared representing st. paul's church and various birds and beasts. though wolsey had handed over the lease of hampton court to the king in , when the first small cloud of royal displeasure had appeared, he continued to occupy his beautiful palace for four more years, until his final disgrace over the question of the divorce with katharine of aragon. king henry took possession in , and at once began building apartments for the lady anne boleyn, though queen katharine was still with him. four years later, after cranmer had pronounced a divorce, the pope still remaining obdurate, anne boleyn spent a gay and brilliant honeymoon within the cardinal's palace, recking little that the fickle king who had thrown off a faithful servant and a devoted wife for her sake, was to condemn her within a few years to a cruel death. hampton court remained henry's favourite palace, for he was proof against any sad memories of past wives, while he was enjoying the company of another. jane seymour, henry's third wife, whom he married the day after anne boleyn was executed, gave birth to henry's only son, edward, within the palace, the young prince being received with great rejoicings, which were cut short by the death of his mother a few days afterwards. catharine howard and catharine parr were both married at hampton court, and anne of cleves also spent a short time there, so that the palace is associated with all the wives of henry viii. as a builder, king henry is responsible for the great hall, on the north side of the clock court, a fine perpendicular building, with a rich ceiling and large bay window. even when, in his later years, he could no longer enjoy his favourite sports of hunting, archery, tennis, and fishing, owing to his increasing corpulence, henry retained his love for the cardinal's palace, and was often there amusing himself with games of backgammon and dice, and playing on the lute, having been always fond of music. queen mary, henry's eldest daughter, spent her gloomy honeymoon at the palace, none of her english subjects welcoming her marriage with philip ii. of spain. philip, though outwardly devoted, was not much in love with his plain and unattractive wife, who seems to have lost all joyousness during the years of her retirement following the divorce of her mother. deep melancholy and despair settled down upon the unfortunate queen, when her hopes of an heir to carry on her work of restoring the roman catholic religion in england were denied, and she knew that her protestant sister must succeed. during the reign of queen elizabeth no very important events occurred, for though the queen constantly visited the palace, she came for periods of rest and amusement, away from all political cares. when her successor came to hampton court, he was delighted with it, as he was with most of the english royal palaces, which were so much more rich and luxurious than those of holyrood or falkland. the park allowed him opportunity for his much-loved occupation of hunting, when, his ungainly figure clad in a vivid green hunting suit, he would follow the stag with great keenness. but, enthusiastic as he was, he much disliked any crowds assembling at the royal meets, thinking that they worried the hounds and spoilt the game, and so he issued peevish proclamations against "the bold and barbarous insolency of multitudes of vulgar people," who, if they followed the hunt at all were to be conveyed to the nearest gaol. the favourite indoor entertainment at this time was the masque, which reached the height of its popularity and glory during james's reign. ben jonson, the greatest poet, and inigo jones, the greatest architect of the day, were employed as author and designer of these stately dramatic performances, in which the nobles and ladies of the court took part, before an audience representing the highest in the land. but king james could not spend all his time watching gods and goddesses upon the stage, or hunting the deer in his park, for the question of religious toleration had to be decided. a conference was held in january, , at the palace, between the puritan clergy and the bishops, on the question of some lesser ecclesiastical reforms involving no change in the organization of the church. james delighted in presiding at the conference, as it gave him an opportunity of showing forth his scholastic accomplishments, which were real, though extremely pedantic. no settlement was arrived at, for james, after his experience under the presbyterians in scotland, delighted in the church of england with its subservience to royal authority. king james thought he had crushed the puritans with his arguments, but he had only left them certain that all concessions would have to be wrested from the king by force, resulting in the deadly struggle of his son's reign. though charles i. grew to be devotedly attached to his french bride, henrietta maria, he had some unfortunate disagreements with her during the early months of his married life, which he spent at hampton court. owing partly to the interference of the duke of buckingham, charles's unwise favourite, and to the young bride's extreme youth and lack of tact, there were constant quarrels between the royal pair. henrietta maria's large train of french followers were extremely unpopular among the english, owing to their religious beliefs, and the queen herself was ill-advised enough to refuse to take part in the coronation ceremonies, as they were performed by protestant clergy. at last charles grew so annoyed that he dismissed all the french suite in a high-handed manner, and sent them back to france. though the queen never became popular among the puritans, who attributed much of the king's stubbornness to her suggestion, yet she and her royal husband learned to live together in great domestic bliss. the first hint of the gathering storm was made evident to the king when the commons brought down to the palace their grand remonstrance, a document in which they had recorded, in unqualified language, all the king's misdeeds. charles retaliated by the fatal error of attempting to arrest five members of the commons; after the failure of which he retired from london to hampton court--the last time (except for one night) that he visited it as a free man. in the summer of , when his armies had all been crushed and dispersed, he came to the palace once more, but this time as a prisoner. he was still treated with great respect and allowed considerable liberty, visiting his children at sion house, and having them visit him. unhappily charles determined to escape, and was so far successful that he succeeded in slipping from the palace, crossing the river, and reaching the isle of wight. but there his success ended, for he was obliged to give himself up as a prisoner to the governor of the island, to be treated afterwards with increasing severity. cromwell's soldiers are credited with effecting considerable damage to historic buildings, but we are indebted to the protector for the saving of hampton court palace. it had already been sold to various purchasers, when cromwell became lord protector and the parliament, knowing his liking for the palace, at once set to work to repurchase it. the protector and his family soon after took up their residence there, provoking the mocking laughter of royalists, either for the regal state which cromwell maintained, or the homeliness of his wife. it is strange to remember, that along with all his austerity of character cromwell used to indulge, in his lighter moments, in great buffoonery, putting sticky sweetmeats on to the chairs on which the ladies were to sit, slipping live coals into his officers' coat pockets, or throwing wine about. hampton court had often served as a honeymoon palace, but the young brides had seldom been very happy, unless, perhaps, anne boleyn had managed to be care-free during her short reign. certainly queen mary and henrietta maria had been far from happy, but the insignificant little portuguese wife of charles ii. was the unhappiest of all. her husband did not love her, and she succeeded in annoying him by persisting in wearing her portuguese style of dress, which seemed grotesque to english eyes. when she gave in on this point, she was ordered to receive lady castlemaine, one of the king's favourites, as a lady of her bedchamber, an indignity which she was justified in refusing. but charles's open rudeness, and studied indifference to his wife, at last forced poor catharine of braganza to accept the notorious lady, after which the king treated her with respect, though never with love. when william iii. first saw hampton court, he was enchanted with it, it reminded him of his beloved holland, and besides, the air was free from smoke, so that his asthmatical frame could breathe easily. he at once began to set about rebuilding and altering the palace, and laying out the gardens in the formal dutch fashion. sir christopher wren was entrusted with the new work, creating the stately east and south fronts, and the fountain court that we see to-day. the architect had to join on the renaissance style of architecture in vogue at that time, to the late perpendicular of the original builders, and by adhering to red-brick with stone facings and copings, he made a combination which is both restful and dignified. queen mary took an intense interest in the new building which she was never destined to see finished, her early death causing king william to lose all pleasure in the palace, which they had both loved. for some years work almost ceased on the new building, until the disastrous fire at whitehall rendered it necessary for the king to have another palace. work was then hurried on, grinling gibbons working at the interior carving, verrio painting the ceilings and staircases, gardeners laying out the avenues and maze, till all was ready for the king in the winter of . little more than two years later, william, who had been very ill for some time, was riding in the park, when his horse stumbled on a mole-hill, throwing his royal master on to the ground. when the doctor examined him, king william was found to have broken his collar-bone, which was immediately set. in spite of the remonstrances of the doctor, the king insisted upon returning to kensington, where he rapidly became worse, the jolting of the roads having shifted the bone, which had to be reset. a fortnight later he died. the succeeding monarchs did little to the palace, though the first two hanoverian kings occasionally resided there. george iii., whose partiality for windsor and kew caused him to neglect all the other palaces, never visited hampton court after he became king, so that it was gradually left to various private families, who were granted apartments by the royal bounty. when queen victoria came to the throne the palace was made open to the public, who have much appreciated the privilege of seeing one of the most beautiful royal residences ever erected in england. chapter ix st. james's palace the old red-brick palace which stands at the foot of st. james's street, looking up towards the busy throng of piccadilly, still gives the diplomatic title to the court of great britain, though it has long been neglected by royalty. it stands serene amid the traffic of pall mall, having gained with the passing of ages some of that dignity with which it was said to be lacking in the eighteenth century, when sir john fielding wrote "it reflects no honour on the kingdom, and is the jest of foreigners." certainly less romantic in its history than westminster or whitehall, it yet remains to-day a tudor palace, while its more picturesque rivals have crumbled away. long before the palace was erected, a small hospital stood upon its site, its inmates being fourteen chaste maidens, victims of the deadly malady of leprosy. the position had been chosen carefully, owing to its extreme loneliness, it being then completely surrounded by fields. in course of time eight brothers had been added to the hospital, which was known as st. james the less, and the whole property had been granted by henry vi. to his new foundation, eton college. when henry viii. took possession of wolsey's palace in whitehall, he purchased the hospital and all the green fields round it, in order to obtain a park for his new residence. one is glad to learn that the unfortunate leprous maidens were pensioned off for the rest of their lives. king henry immediately set to work to build a sort of country manor-house for himself, surrounding the park with a brick wall, and at the same time draining it, for originally it was a somewhat dreary marsh. it is said that holbein, the artist, drew up the plans for the palace, which were carried out by thomas cromwell, wolsey's secretary, who rose in henry's favour upon his master's fall. but whoever was the architect, the palace is essentially tudor, and remains so in spite of the various additions made by the later monarchs. the gatehouse, with its four octagon towers and its clock, is the most familiar feature of the palace. unfortunately, from a sentimental point of view, the clock is a new one; an older one, bearing the date , was removed in , and is now at hampton court palace. perhaps the most interesting part of the interior is the old presence chamber, now known as the tapestry room, from the fine tapestry representing venus and mars, which had been made for charles i., but had been put away in a chest and apparently forgotten, till it was discovered and hung up for the wedding of george iv. the stone tudor fireplace in this room bears the initials h. and a. for henry and anne boleyn, united most inappropriately, considering their later history, by a true lover's knot. [illustration: the gate tower of st. james's palace.] in spite of henry's early enthusiasm, he was not often at the palace, which, indeed, was seldom used for any length of time, till after the fire at whitehall, and even then kensington palace was preferred. it was more usually occupied by the heir to the throne, or some of the younger members of the royal family. unhappy queen mary, soured by her early misfortunes, neglected by her husband, and despairing of the restoration of her church, died after a weary illness on november , , in the palace which she had always loved. her successors did not reside there, queen elizabeth only coming for brief periods, and james i. giving it to his son, prince henry, who died there of a malignant fever, imputed, as was customary at that time, to poison. on the death of his brother, charles i., as prince of wales, took up his residence in st. james's palace, spending the early years of his married life there, most of his children being born within its walls. associated with the hopeful time of his young manhood, the palace also recalls his last days upon earth, before the final scene at whitehall. arriving on january , , charles spent the remainder of his life there, with the exception of the few days of his trial when he was lodged in the precincts of the old palace of westminster. however much we may denounce the method by which charles attempted to govern his kingdom, we can accord him nothing but a respectful and sympathetic admiration for the manner in which he passed to his death. he was still a young and vigorous man, to whom life must have held much that was good, and yet he left it with no whinings at fate, but with a calm dignity and full of trust in god. the day before his execution his two young children, princess elizabeth and the duke of gloucester, came to say farewell. holding the little princess in his arms, he told her she must not grieve for him, for he was going to die a glorious death, "for the laws and religion of the land." with the duke of gloucester on his knee, the father told the children to love and obey their mother, and then looking sadly at his little daughter he said, "but, sweetheart, thou wilt forget what i tell thee." the child promised to write down what he had told her, and then, after they had received some jewels and a last kiss from their royal father, they were led away by bishop juxon. waking early on the fateful morning, the king roused his faithful attendant, sir thomas herbert, saying that he would get up, "having a great work to do this day." bishop juxon came and administered the sacrament, after which charles was persuaded to take a little food, as the day was so bitterly cold. a few hours later the dread sentence had been fulfilled; but st. james's palace was to witness one more scene, for the body was brought back on february , remaining there for many people to see it. a story, unsupported by evidence, though we would gladly give it credence, runs that a man, hidden in a cloak, visited the coffin, and as he walked round it was heard to mutter, "dreadful necessity"--the man being said to be oliver cromwell. after the restoration, charles ii. did not reside in the palace, but lent it to his brother, the duke of york, afterwards james ii., who maintained a lesser court there, while remaining in perfect amity with his royal brother. king charles took a tremendous interest in the park, which he altered under the superintendance of le nôtre, the famous french gardener, changing it from mere rural simplicity into long straight avenues, and confining the water of various ponds into one formal canal. bird-cage walk owes its name to the aviary which was created at this time in part of the park. much of the popularity which the merry monarch enjoyed was the way in which he wandered about among the public, unattended by the courtiers. he was often to be seen walking about with his dogs in the park, which had been made public eight years after he had come to the throne. james, duke of york, once ventured to suggest greater caution, but charles, with sly humour, replied: "brother james, take care of yourself, for no one would kill me to make _you_ king!" on his accession, james ii. left st. james's for whitehall, though his queen much preferred the palace in which she had lived as the duchess of york. his only son, the unfortunate old pretender, was born in st. james's in a room whose proximity to some back stairs allowed ground for the absurd belief that the child was smuggled into the palace in a warming pan. bitter disappointment at the prospect of the continuance of the roman catholic dynasty was responsible for the story. from this time st. james's was never very popular. when william of orange had driven away his father-in-law, he allowed the princess anne to reside in the palace, he himself retiring to kensington, which he built for his own use. the succeeding monarchs all delighted in the rural charms of kensington, and only came to st. james's when state ceremonies rendered their presence absolutely necessary. since the fire in , which destroyed a very picturesque part of the palace, no monarch has resided there, though the proclamation of the succession to the throne is still announced from the balcony leading from the tapestry room. chapter x kensington palace when william iii., "a great man in a little crazy body" as leigh hunt calls him, found that he could not stand the smoky atmosphere of whitehall, he looked about for a place sufficiently near london for him to be near his ministers, and yet should be rural enough to have clear fresh air. he found this spot in the village of kensington, where he bought a suburban mansion, formerly the residence of the earls of nottingham. here he at once began building, and laying out gardens in the formal dutch fashion, employing sir christopher wren to make the alterations to the house. while the king was in ireland fighting against his father-in-law, james ii., queen mary superintended the work, writing to her absent husband of the slow progress the builders were making, and how "the place made me think how happy i was there when i had your dear company." a road was specially constructed through hyde park, gravelled and lighted with lamps, for the convenience of the officers of state, who were obliged to visit the monarch in his country retreat. queen mary did not long enjoy the pleasures of kensington palace, for in the winter of , an epidemic of smallpox, which was raging in the neighbourhood, crept through the palace gates, and attacked the young queen. immediately she knew the terrible nature of her fate, the queen, with her usual kind consideration, directed that all her ladies and servants who had not had smallpox should hurry from the palace, while she herself, having put everything in order, calmly prepared for death. king william could scarcely be persuaded to leave his beloved wife, even to lie down at night upon the camp bed arranged for him in the ante-chamber. tears ran down the stern face which was seldom allowed to betray any emotion, and in the end, just before queen mary died, he was carried away from her bedside fainting. as he said to bishop burnet, "i was the happiest man on earth; and i am the most miserable. she had no fault; none: you knew her well: but you could not know, nobody but myself could know her goodness." eight years later, king william himself expired in the same palace, a man still in the prime of life, but worn out with illness and hard work to which his vigorous intellect had driven him. he was already far from well when he was thrown from his horse while riding in hampton court park, and broke his collar bone. the bone was set at once, after which the king insisted upon returning to kensington, against the advice of his doctors. upon arriving at the palace it was found that the bone required resetting owing to the jolting caused by the bad roads. the king lingered for a fortnight, busy all the time arranging a coalition to curb the power of france, but on march it was seen that he was sinking. macaulay tells us that "when his remains were laid out it was found that he wore next to his skin a small piece of black silk riband. the lords-in-waiting ordered it to be taken off. it contained a gold ring and a lock of the hair of mary." finding herself saddled with a debt of £ , still unpaid for the building alterations of her predecessor, queen anne contented herself with improving the gardens, leaving the palace untouched. but she added one architectural feature, the beautiful orangery designed by sir christopher wren, standing near the north-east of the palace, a building famous for the beauty of its proportions and the delicacy of its detail. at one time it was much neglected and even ran the danger of being pulled down, but was happily preserved and carefully restored in . the "dull woman with a dull husband," as leigh hunt bluntly summarizes queen anne and prince george of denmark, both died in the palace to which they were much attached, prince george dying in , six years before his wife. always a lethargic and weak-minded woman, queen anne's pleasures lay in eating and drinking, for she cared nothing for music or books, and would sit in silence for a long time among her friends. it was natural that such a woman should be ruled by the strong, imperious will of sarah, duchess of marlborough, who for many years completely influenced the queen. she, however, presumed too much upon this influence till a breach was effected, never to be healed. the last famous interview between the one-time friends took place in kensington palace. the duchess had written asking for an interview at which she should merely state her case, the queen not requiring to answer at all. this the stolid queen obeyed to the letter, for not a word could the furious duchess extract beyond "you desired no answer and you shall have none." [illustration: a courtyard of kensington palace.] under the first hanoverian king, who never was able to speak the language of his new subjects, the court at kensington was extremely dull. but as george i. liked the quietness of the palace, he erected a new suite of rooms, and employed william kent as the architect. to kent we are indebted for the monotonous drab frontage which faces the round pond. the last monarch to reside and to die in the palace was george ii., the "petty german autocrat" who scorned england and delighted in snubbing his english courtiers, declaring, according to lord hervey, that no englishman knew how to enter a room, nor any englishwoman how to dress, nor english cooks how to prepare a dinner, nor english coachman how to drive, nor, indeed, were there any english horses fit to ride or drive. queen caroline, his much-enduring wife, devoted herself to the planning out of the gardens, which she laid out practically as we now see them. uniting a collection of ponds she created the serpentine, and was also responsible for the round pond and the broad walk. george iii. did not care for kensington, much preferring his beloved windsor, so that the palace became somewhat neglected, being only used by various members of the royal family. the duke of kent, the fourth son of george iii., came to live there shortly after his marriage, the princess victoria being born on may , , in the room which now bears a brass plate commemorating the fact. at the time of her birth there seemed small likelihood of the little princess ever reaching the throne, but her royal uncles having no children, it soon became obvious that she was the heir to the throne of england. she herself, being brought up with scrupulous care by her widowed mother, did not know of her great future till the death of george iii. the residents of kensington soon became familiar with the sight of little princess victoria driving about in a donkey carriage or in a tiny chaise drawn by small ponies. a few weeks after her eighteenth birthday, the princess was awakened out of her sleep very early on a bright june morning. the archbishop of canterbury and the lord chamberlain had arrived at the palace, and their business could not wait. "we have come to see the _queen_ on business of state, and even the queen's sleep must give way to that." hastily putting on a dressing gown and slippers, the young girl went down, to be told by the archbishop that her uncle and king was dead, and that she was now the queen of a vast inheritance. later on that same morning her first council was held in the palace, the scene depicted by wilkie in his well-known picture. the young queen was very dignified and self-possessed, turning to lord melbourne, the prime minister, when doubtful as to what she should do, but showing all through the trying ordeal a gentle sweetness that won upon all the lords present. she read her speech "in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrassment," after which all the privy councillors came to kiss her hand and swear allegiance. when her uncle, the old duke of sussex, who was very infirm, came forward to kneel before her, she left her chair and came towards him, kissing him on the forehead. on july , the girl-queen left the home of her childhood for buckingham palace. members of the royal family continued to occupy various apartments in the palace, the duchess of kent residing there till her death in . queen mary was born there, her parents, the duke and duchess of teck, living there for a short time. after some years it was found that the palace was in a very bad state of repair, every part of the building wanting attention. so extensive was the dilapidation, that the question of pulling down the palace was seriously considered. fortunately, however, the historic place was saved by queen victoria, who was anxious to preserve her old home. it was finally decided as a memorial of the diamond jubilee, to repair the building thoroughly, and to throw open the state rooms to the public. the restoration was carried out most carefully, everything being saved that was possible; pictures were brought from hampton court, and the whole palace rendered much as it was in the days of its glory. at the present time it is serving as the temporary home of the london museum. chapter xi kew palace kew first became a royal residence in the reign of george ii., when it was leased from its private owners and used as a country seat by frederick, prince of wales. owing to his undutiful behaviour to his father, the prince was banished from court, when he retired to kew, forming a sort of opposition court there. but the actual red-brick jacobean house, now known as kew palace, was then only called the dutch house, after its original founder, sir hugh portman, who was a dutch merchant in the time of james i. it stood quite close to the more important building of kew house, and was as constantly occupied by members of the royal family as the larger adjacent palace. the dutch house, or kew palace as it is now designated, is thoroughly typical of its period--a simple, three gabled, and dignified looking building, unpalatial indeed, but quite befitting the position of the wealthy knight who built it. the interior has been altered to suit the tastes of the royal inmates, who inserted marble fireplaces, and put in new doors, but a good deal of the original jacobean panelling still remains. on the brass locks of the doors are to be seen the prince of wales's feathers, and the cypher of frederick, prince of wales. [illustration: kew palace (the dutch house) and george iii.'s castellated palace, pulled down by george iv.] george iii. spent a great part of his youth at kew, living there with his mother, the widowed princess of wales. he was brought up in strict retirement, his mother regulating his life and restricting his intercourse with the outer world. strangely enough, when he succeeded to the throne of his grandfather, george iii. did not revolt from the ordered régime of the early days, but maintained the same careful regularity all his life. he continued to love kew, where he and his devoted but prosaic queen spent several months of every year. buying the two houses from the lease-holders, queen charlotte turned the dutch house into a royal nursery, where her large family was brought up. both she and the king delighted in getting away to kew, where no kind of royal state was kept up, and where they could live the ordinary life of quiet country gentlefolk, the only life for which they were really suited. once a week the public were admitted into the gardens, and allowed the privilege of seeing the king and queen and the royal children _en famille_, talking to their friends, and walking about in their private gardens. the little riverside village of kew became quite gay, and its inhabitants were much loved by queen charlotte for the spontaneous enthusiasm with which they welcomed king george, after his attempted assassination by the mad woman, margaret nicholson. in order to erect a flamboyant palace, kew house was pulled down by royal command in , and a new "castellated structure of carpenters' gothic" put up under the direction of wyatt, the architect who was responsible for the alterations and repairs of windsor castle. fortunately it was never finished, owing to the poor king's illness, and it has been said that george iv. never did a better deed in his life than when he demolished the ridiculous palace perpetrated by his father. while the building was in progress the royal family moved into the dutch house. during one of the king's periodic attacks of madness in , he was confined to the dutch house, under the charge of two doctors, and when he walked in the gardens everyone was supposed to keep out of his way. but one day, miss fanny burney, then in attendance on queen charlotte, was walking in the gardens, having learnt that the king was to go to richmond. to her utter dismay she came quite suddenly upon the king, who called out to her, "miss burney!" she instantly ran off, not knowing the state in which he might be, and was horrified to find herself pursued by the poor king, who chased her hotly while she in vain sought to elude him. at last, hearing from the shouts of the doctors that she must stop as it was bad for the king to run, she waited till the king came up, who accosted her with, "why did you run away from me?" with a great effort the shy little authoress controlled herself, and, finding that the king was quite peaceful, she had a long conversation with him, during which her royal master confided in her some of his troubles. after the king's madness had become permanent he spent the last years of his unhappy life at windsor, but queen charlotte still resided for long periods at kew, where she died in november, , at the age of seventy-five. earlier in the same year, three royal weddings had taken place within the old house, for the question of the succession had become pressing. though queen charlotte had had fifteen children, she had no living grandchildren, for the princess charlotte, the only child of george iv. had just died. the drawing-room was fitted up with a temporary altar, and on the same day the duke of clarence (afterwards william iv.) was married to adelaide, daughter of the duke of saxe-meiningen, and the duke of kent to princess victoria of saxe-coburg. a few weeks before, the duke of cambridge had also been married in the palace. suffering, like kensington palace, from lack of royal favour and general neglect during the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was restored in and opened to the public by the wish of queen victoria, as a commemoration of the diamond jubilee. chapter xii buckingham palace buckingham palace, the london residence of the monarch, is the most familiar of all the royal palaces to the general british public, in so far as everyone, sooner or later, migrates to london. unfortunately the spectator sees only a somewhat depressing and stereotyped building, lacking the majestic proportions of windsor and the stately beauty of hampton court, representing, indeed, the very lowest ebb of english architecture. yet, in spite of its uninspiring exterior, it is full of interest, for present-day life throbs within its walls, the nation's history is bound up with it, and it pulsates with memories of the queen who won the hearts of her people as a young girl and kept them all through her long and honoured life. as a palace, its life-story is just beginning; three sovereigns only, excluding our present king, have lived within it. [illustration: buckingham palace, from the lake in st. james's park.] in the days of james i. the site of the palace was occupied by a plantation of mulberry-trees, a royal investment, the king believing that the cultivation of silkworms would be lucrative both for himself and the nation. in this he was disappointed, but the mulberry gardens remained as a place of amusement for the public until . both samuel pepys and john evelyn mention visiting the gardens, to which the fashion of the restoration resorted to eat mulberry tarts. when the mulberry gardens were first instituted, a keeper had been appointed by the king, and the office continued long after the work had become a sinecure. the keeper's official residence became known as goring house, when lord goring purchased it in . on the death of lord goring, henry bennet, lord arlington, bought the mansion, and later on succeeded in adding to his property the famous gardens, when they were closed to the public. according to john evelyn, lord arlington filled his house with the most rich and handsome furniture, all of which perished in a disastrous fire which broke out in . the house was rebuilt, receiving the new name of arlington house, and was afterwards sold to john sheffield, duke of buckinghamshire. not content with the building of the former owner, the duke pulled down arlington house and erected the immediate predecessor of the present palace, calling it after himself--buckingham house. it was apparently a dignified-looking mansion, much admired in its time, having a flat roof adorned with statues, and large gilded letters making _rus in urbe_. soon after he came to the throne, george iii. bought buckingham house from the duke of buckinghamshire's successor, and some years later altered it to suit his convenience, at the same time spoiling the general outline of the building. but king george and queen charlotte liked the house where most of their children were born, and carried on there the same placid domestic life that they led at windsor and at kew. the children were brought up most severely, the queen even carrying out the whipping herself, but the success of the system was not obvious, considering the later life of the young princes. though king george's simplicity is much laughed at, the nation owes something to his foresight and intelligence, in collecting a large library in his london house. for many years he spent £ , a year upon books, until he amassed the splendid collection now known as the king's library in the british museum, george iv. having presented it to the nation. it was in this library that dr. johnson had his famous interview with the king, whom he described as the finest gentleman he had ever seen. dr. johnson was a friend of the royal librarian who informed the king of the presence of the great lexicographer, whom king george wished to see. the conversation, as related by boswell, seems to have been about books and libraries, and johnson's own literary work, upon which the king complimented him. george iv. never lived in the palace, for on his accession he ordered the old house to be razed and a new palace built. but as he was at the same time rebuilding windsor castle, he did not venture to ask parliament for more money than necessary repairs, and told nash, his architect, to build upon the old lines. this nash proceeded to do without any models or drawings, with the result that he himself was surprised with the effect when the building was finished. so great was the universal scorn for the outspreading wings of the palace, that they were taken down at once. a cynical verse expressed the public's opinion of the architect: "augustus at rome was for building renown'd, for of marble he left what of brick he had found; but is not our nash, too, a very great master? he finds us all brick and he leaves us all plaster." the gateway to the palace was designed from constantine's arch in rome, and was intended to carry an equestrian statue of george iv. upon the top. this gateway, the marble arch, now stands at the oxford street entrance to hyde park, having been moved there in . after the builders had left the much-criticized palace, it was left empty and bare, until queen victoria came to the throne, when the girl-queen soon made the lifeless palace full of animation and happiness. all through her long reign buckingham palace is intimately associated with her, from her coronation day, that june morning when all london welcomed her with enthusiasm, down to the diamond jubilee, when the aged queen could say, "from my heart i thank my beloved people." it was from the palace that she set out on a cheerless february morning to her wedding in westminster abbey, and a great part of her happy married life was spent there, when in company with her beloved husband she held a brilliant court. two fancy dress balls were held, one where all the noblest and most distinguished in england came arrayed in the dress of the plantagenets, and the other where all appeared in georgian costumes. the marriage of the princess royal to the crown prince of germany took place from buckingham palace. though a highly approved love-match, it caused considerable grief to the royal household, the queen finding it extremely difficult to part with her eldest daughter. the queen wrote of it as "the second most eventful day" in her life, and after the young pair had set off for their new home in germany, she said, "my tears began to flow afresh frequently, and i could not go near vicky's corridor." the public will not soon forget the momentous events associated with the palace during the last reign; the serious illness of king edward, on the eve of his coronation, postponing the great ceremony for which many distinguished visitors had already arrived, and then after a short but brilliant reign, the sudden death of the popular monarch, throwing all the country into mourning. almost before anyone knew that the king was seriously ill, for he had only just come back from biarritz, the bulletin, announcing that "his majesty breathed his last" within the palace, was read by the sorrowing crowds. chapter xiii vanished palaces besides the palaces whose stories have been related, there were at one time many other royal residences scattered over england. these have either entirely vanished, even their sites being problematical, or mere fragments of them alone remain. while england remained in an unsettled condition, with constant internal wars, the kings were always moving about taking their court with them, staying in their various castles or fortified houses. we find that henry ii., the first of the plantagenet kings, never stayed long in any place, generally moving on after a few days' visit. but when more settled times came, and the parliament remained at westminster, the king came to live longer in london or at one of his royal houses in the neighbourhood. some of the country palaces were maintained on account of the hunting they afforded. a few brief notes must suffice for these vanished palaces. =baynards castle= was situated on the river thames not far from st. paul's. in the city of london tendered their allegiance to edward, duke of york (edward iv.) at baynards castle, and by doing so secured his triumph. it became a royal house on the attainder of humphrey, duke of gloucester, and was rebuilt by henry viii., but was seldom occupied by the sovereign. queen mary gave it to the earl of pembroke. [illustration: baynards castle in .] =dartford priory= was turned into a house for the king after the dissolution of the monasteries. it is chiefly associated with king henry viii.'s fourth wife, anne of cleves, who lived there during the reign of edward vi. and until her death in . queen elizabeth occasionally visited it, but when it was found to need costly repairs james i. granted it to robert, earl of salisbury. =enfield palace=, though a crown property from the time of henry iv., was not used as a royal residence until the time of henry viii. queen elizabeth was at enfield when henry viii. died, and she often visited it after she came to the throne. it was sold to the earl of pembroke in . =hatfield house= was acquired by henry viii., whose daughter, queen elizabeth, lived there during her sister's reign. james i. persuaded sir robert cecil to accept it in exchange for his house at theobalds. =havering-atte-bower= palace stood near romford, in essex. it was the country palace of edward the confessor, and was afterwards occupied by various queens, some of whom died there. james i. let it to the earl of oxford. =kempton park= was often used by the plantagenet kings up till the time of richard ii. henry viii. ordered it to be taken down, using the building materials for his new palace of whitehall. =king's langley=, in hertfordshire, was crown land from the fourteenth century, the manor being last held by charles i., who presented it to sir charles morrison. [illustration: nonsuch palace. _from an engraving by houfnagle._] =nonsuch palace= at cheam, in surrey, was built by henry viii., who had obtained the land in . the earl of arundel, to whom queen mary gave the palace, completed the building, which was still unfinished. it was a most unusual structure, almost fantastic with its bas-reliefs and gilded cupolas, and quite unlike the tudor mansion of the period. queen elizabeth often visited arundel, who entertained his royal mistress in lavish manner. she afterwards bought the estate, which james i. settled upon his wife. charles ii. gave it as a present to barbara, duchess of cleveland, who pulled it down. =oatlands=, near weybridge, in surrey, was the site of a palace erected by henry viii., who also enclosed a park. it was occasionally visited by henry viii.'s successors, down to the time of the civil war, when it was destroyed. [illustration: savoy palace, about . _from an etching by hollare._] =richmond palace=, the much-loved residence of the tudors, received its name from henry vii., who had been known as henry of richmond after the town in yorkshire, before he came to the throne. the first house was destroyed by richard ii. when his wife died there in , but henry vii. rebuilt it, dying there in . queen elizabeth was often at the palace, where she died in . =savoy palace= obtained its name from peter of savoy, the uncle of queen eleanor, the wife of henry iii., who resided there. it was bought back again by queen eleanor, who handed it on to edmund, earl of lancaster, from whose family it returned again to the crown, by the marriage of john of gaunt to blanche of lancaster. the captive king john of france spent some years of his life there. =somerset house= was built by the protector somerset, who ruthlessly destroyed churches and houses to obtain a site on the river. after his execution, it came to the crown, and was afterwards used as part of the queen's dowry, catharine of braganza being the last queen to live in the palace. in it was converted into a public office; buckingham palace, just acquired by george iii., being settled upon the queen. =theobalds=, on the borders of hertfordshire, was built by robert cecil, lord burleigh, who often entertained queen elizabeth, an honour which cost him £ , a visit. james i. was so delighted with it when he came there on his royal progress from scotland, that he induced his host to let him have it in exchange for hatfield. he was frequently there, enjoying the hunting in the neighbourhood, and died there in , his son charles being proclaimed at the gate. at the civil war it was much damaged, afterwards being parcelled out among some parliamentarian officers. the last remains disappeared in . =winchester castle= was built, according to tradition, by arthur, and was constantly used by the early english kings. it was the birthplace of henry iii., and parliament assembled there occasionally until the fifteenth century. henry v. was the last king to reside there. in the time of the commonwealth it came into the possession of sir william waller, from whom the corporation bought it. =woodstock=, in oxfordshire, was a royal manor when the domesday survey was made. it was at woodstock that queen eleanor, the wife of henry ii., discovered the fair rosamond, daughter of lord clifford, who was so much loved by her royal master. much of the story is probably legend; she was certainly not murdered by the jealous queen, but died in godstow nunnery. edward iii. and queen philippa were much attached to the palace, where their eldest son, the black prince, was born. after wyatt's rebellion, queen elizabeth was guarded there as a prisoner. james i. liked it for the hunting it afforded, and charles i. was often there during his reign, especially when his army was at oxford during the civil war. it fell into ruin after the war, and the estate was given to the duke of marlborough after his famous victory at blenheim. the architect of blenheim palace wished to save the ruins which still remained, but the duchess of marlborough declared that they spoilt the view, and so swept them away completely in . [illustration: edinburgh castle stands upon a great rock rising abruptly from low-lying ground. its history stretches back to the dim time of legends.] chapter xiv edinburgh castle edinburgh castle has a history that stretches far back till it is lost in the misty realm of legend. the great rock upon which it is built could not fail to have appealed to all the successive rulers of the land as of great strategic importance. it rises abruptly from the low-lying land, and dominates the country for many miles around, from the forth on the north to the pentland hills on the south. its celtic name of _maidun_, meaning the fort of the plain, became corrupted in later times to maiden's castle, the name being responsible for the tradition that the castle was used by the royal princesses, during times of great danger. [illustration: edinburgh castle, from the north.] though edwin, the king of northumbria, is the reputed founder of the town whose name is commonly derived from him, the clear light of history only begins to shine upon it in the days of malcolm canmore and his sainted queen. at that time a celtic castle stood upon the rock, of which there are no remains except st. margaret's chapel, a little norman building, named after malcolm canmore's english wife. malcolm, the big head, a brave but illiterate prince, was so devoted to his beautiful wife, that through her teaching he learned religion, and used to take part with her in the religious services of which she was so fond. unable to read himself, he caused her prayer-books and missals to be splendidly bound, and would listen to her while she read to him, submitting at the same time to refinements in dress and table customs which were quite innovations in the rude northern court. queen margaret was in the castle in , when her warlike husband and her eldest son went off with a large army to fight the english. she was lying very ill when the news came to her that both husband and son had been slain, the shock causing her death. as there was considerable disaffection in the country, her body was carried with great secrecy across the forth to dunfermline, a miraculous mist kindly enveloping the party, so that no one saw them escape. another queen margaret, also an english princess, a century and a half later, came as a girl-wife to the grim castle on the rock. she was the daughter of henry iii. of england, and had been married to alexander iii., a mere boy, with great splendour at york, her father hoping by the marriage to gain more influence over scotland. all the troubles of the war of independence during the fourteenth century arose from king alexander iii. leaving no male heir. his two sons had died before him, and his grand-daughter, the maid of norway, was his only heir. disasters came thick upon scotland soon after the death of alexander iii., who had fallen over a cliff on the coast of fife when riding too near the edge on a very dark and stormy night. for the next fifty years edinburgh castle was constantly being taken by the english and recaptured by the scottish people. everyone knows the story of how sir thomas randolph surprised the english garrison in the castle, by climbing up the precipitous side of the rock with a party of thirty bold men. after this capture, robert bruce, according to his usual policy, destroyed the castle, so that it should no longer serve as a stronghold for the english. but when edward iii. obtained it again in he rebuilt it. it was not until the early stuart kings, that edinburgh castle really became a palace, in the more peaceful sense of the word. when james i. returned to scotland after his long captivity in england, he spent a considerable amount of money on building the parliament house, (now used as the armoury), and many of the private apartments. he had doubtless, during his residence at windsor and westminster, learnt to enjoy the greater beauty and dignity of the english palaces. his son, james ii., continued his work of rebuilding. during the minority of james ii., a time when several parties in the state were endeavouring to capture their young monarch and to rule in his name, a great tragedy took place within the castle. william, earl of douglas, a lad of about eighteen, was then the head of the most wealthy and powerful family in scotland, and being of royal descent, might even make a claim to the throne. as he did not join himself to either the party of sir william crichton or that of sir alexander livingstone, these two leaders, usually at deadly enmity with one another, united to destroy the young earl. in the year , the earl and his brother david were invited to the castle, on the pretext that the young king wanted their congenial company. accompanied by their aged tutor, sir malcolm fleming, the two boys came to edinburgh, where they were received with real pleasure by james ii., and with false hospitality by crichton and livingstone. but the real purpose of the visit was evident when a black bull's head was placed upon the dinner-table, in scotland as much a symbol of death as the judge's black cap in a modern trial. taken unawares, the unfortunate boys were hurried to the castle walls, where, after a mock trial, they were beheaded, fleming also suffering a similar fate. after the time of flodden field, the monarchs very seldom used the castle for anything but a stronghold against their enemies, holyrood palace becoming their favourite residence. the last prince to be born in the castle was james vi., his mother, mary queen of scots, having chosen to be within the protection of its strong walls. the small room in which he was born can still be seen, a memorable room, for the infant prince was to bring peace to his realm, putting an end at last to centuries of conflict, not indeed by any wisdom or foresight of his own, but by succeeding to the throne of england. chapter xv dunfermline castle for peaceful beauty of situation the royal palace of dunfermline in fife excelled all others in scotland, for though the castles of edinburgh and stirling were majestic, they were too associated with the troubles of turbulent nobles to have been pleasant residences for the monarchs. the palace was built high above a wooded glen, its walls apparently rising out of the cliff-like sides of the winding stream. only a fragment now remains, but it is sufficient, with its mullioned windows and massive buttresses, to show how picturesque and stately must have been the stuart palace. the first monarch to reside at dunfermline was malcolm canmore, who built a castle on tower hill, a little distance away from the later palace. its site is still to be seen, though the slight remains of the walls are probably those of its norman successor. queen margaret lived the greater part of her reign there, spending her days in pious devotion, giving food and garments to the poor, or sitting with her maidens working at rich embroideries to adorn the abbey which she had founded. no frivolous conversation was allowed among the maidens, their royal mistress being very severe, yet the queen was much beloved, for she combined sweetness with her gravity. it was the presence of the abbey adjoining the palace which made dunfermline so dear to queen margaret. she was never tired of enriching her foundation with every gift that saintly enthusiasm could suggest, and when she died she was naturally buried in the lady chapel. the abbey buildings were destroyed by edward i., but were restored by bruce, who erected the palace near by, deserting the castle on the hilltop. the reforming energy of the protestants, in , led them to pull down most of the beautiful church of the abbey, fortunately leaving the nave, a fine example of norman work, to be used for presbyterian services. so many royal princes had been buried in the abbey, from malcolm canmore and his queen, that it has been sometimes called the "scottish westminster," yet the reformers did not spare it, though it contained the grave of robert bruce. bruce's monument being broken, became indistinguishable among the general ruin, till at the beginning of the nineteenth century the church was repaired. some fragments of the tomb were discovered, and on the grave being opened, the body of bruce was found wrapped in some remnants of cloth of gold, which had served as a winding sheet. a new tomb was made, and after a solemn service the body was reinstalled. queen margaret's tomb is still to be seen among the ruins of the lady chapel. many royal princes were born within the palace, from the bruce's son and heir, david, to charles i., the last prince to be born in scotland. when james vi. brought his newly-wedded wife to dunfermline, a new house was erected, called queen anne's house, to serve for the queen's use. three of their children were born there, princess elizabeth, who married the elector palatine of the rhine, prince charles, and a son who died in infancy. prince charles was described as "a very weak child," irritating his nurses with his peevishness. after james vi. acceded to the throne of england, he never revisited dunfermline, nor did charles i. see again the place of his birth. charles ii. came there in , when the scots were supporting him against the commonwealth, and while there, was forced to sign the covenant, much against his will. during the eighteenth century, the palace was absolutely neglected, and fell into hopeless ruin, defoe, when he made his tour round great britain in , finding it "the full perfection of decay." in the following century a private gentleman repaired the ruins, and claimed possession on account of the expenditure which the repair had entailed. however, the crown disputed his claim, and resumed possession in . chapter xvi stirling castle through the whole period of scottish history, stirling castle held a position of vast importance. in early days it stood as a stronghold against the barbarous highlanders of the north, acting as the frontier post of civilization. for fifty years during the war of independence, the castle was alternately held by the english or the scotch, whichever party was at the time dominant in the country. crowning the summit of a sudden outburst of volcanic rock, the castle was practically impregnable to all save treachery, and was therefore constantly used as the residence for the stuart kings during their minority. [illustration: stirling castle.] but being one of the three keys of the kingdom, its possession was eagerly sought during any foreign or civil war, great efforts being made both to attain and retain it. in , edward i. took stirling for the second time, and held it for three years. wallace had won a great victory within sight of the walls, a victory which had dispersed the english army, but had not been sufficient to take the castle. when the scots obtained possession in the winter of after starving the garrison into surrendering, sir william oliphant became governor of the castle, to himself sustain a siege of many months in . edward i. was so angry at being hindered from his purpose for so long, that when he at last gained the castle he broke faith with oliphant, sending him to the tower of london. ten years later, when robert bruce was winning back scotland from the feeble grasp of edward ii., stirling still held out. with superlative chivalry, edward bruce, who was conducting the siege, promised a year's respite, after which the castle must surrender unless relieved. urged by dire necessity, edward ii. was persuaded to leave his frivolous court, and gathering a magnificent army to march to scotland. but all their splendid equipment did not avail against the courage and ingenuity of the bruce, who, on the field of bannockburn won for scotland her greatest victory. thousands of the english lay dead upon the field, while edward fled for his life. stirling castle surrendered, and its fortifications were levelled. once again stirling was to be held by the english, when bruce's son was on the throne; but in it was regained, never to fall again into the hands of a foreign foe. in a room in the castle, still pointed out by the guide, william, earl of douglas, was murdered by his royal master, james ii. by special invitation, backed by a safe-conduct signed by the king, douglas had come to stirling in . when supper was over, the king took douglas into an inner room, where he accused him of being in league with ross and crawford against his monarch, and ordered him to break his bond. the haughty douglas refused to do so, whereat james, forgetful of his safe-conduct, struck at him with his dagger, and the courtiers in attendance, dashing to the assistance of their king, douglas fell covered with wounds, as the duc de guise was to do over a century later in the cabinet of henri iii. douglas was undoubtedly a danger to his country, at the head of so powerful and unruly a house, but james should have taken more legal measures to subdue him. however, the parliament of his day acquitted him of all blame. [illustration: stirling castle. one of the three keys of scotland, acting as a stronghold against the highlanders of the north.] his son, james iii., lived constantly at stirling, which was his favourite residence, building the parliament house which still remains. his interest in the chapel royal, to whose endowments he wished to add the rich priory of coldingham, aroused the enmity of the homes and hepburns, who regarding coldingham as a family property, rose against the king. to his lasting remorse the king's son, james iv., fought against his father, who was killed after the battle of sauchieburn. the young king really grieved, and in order that he should never forget, it is said he wore a belt of iron round his waist, adding an extra link every year. from all the records of legal expenditure, it is evident that james iv. was a great palace builder. he is responsible for much building at holyrood, linlithgow, and falkland, and at stirling too he did most of the building of the palace, which was carried on by his son. both mary queen of scots and james vi. were crowned at stirling as mere infants, the ceremony taking place in the parish church, just below the castle. queen mary revisited the scene of her coronation when she returned to scotland, after her long sojourn in france. she came there with young lord darnley as her husband in , and in december, the following year, her infant son, james, was baptized with great ceremony at stirling. many lords and nobles assembled, wearing only their swords in order that there might be less danger of disturbance, while the royal child was carried to the chapel by lady argyll, acting for queen elizabeth, between an avenue of gentlemen bearing wax torches. the only ominous sign amidst the festivities was the absence of the father, lord darnley, who remained sulking in the palace. fourteen months later the poor infant was crowned, his mother being forced to abdicate. another hurried ceremony took place, the crown being held over the king's head, and the baby hand guided to the sword and sceptre. the earl of morton took the oath as substitute, and then the infant was carried back to the castle in the arms of the hereditary governor of the castle, the earl of mar. for many years james vi. remained carefully guarded within the castle walls, never allowed to roam without first getting permission, until he had grown to man's estate. yet he bore no ill-will to stirling, to which he brought his wife, anne of denmark, and where his eldest son, prince henry, was born. after the desire of his life had been achieved, and he had become king of great britain, he paid one visit to stirling in , after which the castle was only used on one other occasion as a palace, when charles i. came there in . the castle remained in the charge of the earls of mar until the rebellion of , when their connection with the rising caused the attainder of the earl, and the loss of all his offices. chapter xvii holyrood palace to those who see it for the first time, holyrood palace is distinctly disappointing. all the glamour of its romantic history seems out of place in connection with the somewhat prosaic looking mansion, which bears little outward sign of its eventful life. nothing is left of the medieval abbey which once stood upon the site, save a ruined portion of the abbey church. and of the stuart palace, so associated with the fascinations of scotland's most famous queen, only a small part is left, though luckily the fire which attacked the palace at the end of the civil war spared the apartments used by mary queen of scots. yet, disappointing as a first impression may be, holyrood palace, to those who know anything of scotland's story, can never fail to be interesting. the palace was never a fortified building, for it was not used as a regular royal residence until the more fierce days of warfare had vanished. originally an abbey stood at the foot of arthur's seat, being founded by david i., in gratitude for his miraculous escape when out hunting. according to monkish tradition, the king was saved by the providential appearance of a cross which interposed between him and the infuriated stag. therefore the name of the abbey was called the holyrood. [illustration: the bedchamber of mary queen of scots, in holyrood palace.] though not a palace until the time of the stuarts, the early kings often held councils there, and continued to show royal favour to the monks, who had given the name of canongate to the burgh which arose outside the city walls. james ii., who lies buried in the royal vault in the chapel, was the first to erect any kind of royal apartments in the abbey. his successor, james iii., lived there, but it was james iv. who really was the builder of the palace, to which he brought his wife, margaret tudor, the english bride who was eventually to bring about the union of the crowns. james v. carried on the brilliance of his father's court, his two french wives bringing many of the fashions of their own country to grace their new home. his first wife died soon after her arrival, but his second wife, mary of guise, lived to rule scotland through many anxious years of regency, while her infant daughter was being brought up away from her in distant france. but it was under mary queen of scots that holyrood became really famous. she made it her constant and favourite residence. after her many years of education in france, and her brief career as the wife of the sickly francis ii., she returned to her native country in august, . john knox, with the superstition of the age, comments upon the peculiar fogginess and darkness of the weather which marked the young queen's arrival, saying, "that forewarning gave god unto us, but alas! the most were blind." bonfires were lit, and great demonstrations of joy were manifested when mary took up her abode at holyrood. a band of musicians with much zeal but little skill played outside her bedroom window, being courteously thanked by the queen; but brantôme, the french courtier, who had accompanied queen mary from france, complains in his memoirs of the terrible noise of these musicians who sang psalms all out of tune; "quelle musique! et quel repos pour sa nuit" he writes. the very first sunday after her arrival was marred by a tumult outside the chapel royal, where mass was being performed, a disturbance which was only checked by lord james stuart, the queen's natural brother, who stood in front of the chapel door, and being a zealous protestant himself, managed to check the reformers. the palace witnessed three interviews between the great reformer, john knox, and his young and beautiful queen. using his pulpit as the opportunity for declaiming against the doings of the queen and that of idolators generally, john knox was called to task by mary, who ordered him to appear before her at holyrood. the first interview took place in the audience-chamber, leading into the queen's bedchamber. only lord james stuart, afterwards the regent moray, was present at the interview, in which knox answered the queen's accusations very cleverly. the second interview was held in the queen's bedroom, the room which remains much as she left it, with the actual bed in which she slept. off this room were two small rooms, in one of which she was supping with her italian secretary, david riccio, when the band of armed men, headed by her husband darnley, burst into the room. riccio clung to the queen's dress, but was torn apart, stabbed, and dragged out to be despatched with many wounds at the top of the staircase. queen mary's son, james vi., spent some time of every year in the palace, and restored it when he was expecting his danish bride. charles i., who had been crowned king of scotland in the chapel at holyrood, restored the building, which was wrecked by a mob in , after james vii. (james ii. of england) had endeavoured to set up the roman catholic worship there. the chapel suffered another disaster about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the architect who had been entrusted with the work of restoring the building put on too heavy a roof, which fell in, destroying all but the bare walls. the royal vault at the east end of the south aisle still remains, containing the bodies of david ii., james ii., james v., and his queen, magdalen of france, and henry lord darnley. from the time of charles ii., who rebuilt the palace much as we see it now, and james vii., who stayed in the palace when duke of york, holyrood became deserted, the later stuarts and the georges not visiting their northern capital. but in september, , the palace once more broke into gaiety and splendour, when prince charles edward entered edinburgh and held high court in the home of his ancestors. his father was proclaimed as king james viii., ladies flocked to the balls to win a gracious smile from the handsome prince, and the kingdom seemed almost won. but in the midst of all the apparent brightness, the prince realized that his cause was not so successful as he had at first hoped; the highlanders, indeed, were flocking in, but the lowlanders held aloof. after a few weeks prince charlie determined to risk all on the desperate march into england, leaving edinburgh never to return again. since then holyrood has only once rejoiced in the presence of the monarch, when in george iv. visited edinburgh and received an enthusiastic welcome, chiefly through the fervid loyalty of sir walter scott, who devoted all his energies to the success of the first royal visit since the time of charles i. for nearly a century the palace has not been used as a royal residence, but is merely occupied once a year when the lord high commissioner to the assembly comes in state to the capital. chapter xviii linlithgow palace "of all the palaces so fair built for the royal dwelling, in scotland, far beyond compare, linlithgow is excelling." [illustration: the fountain in the quadrangle of linlithgow palace.] so wrote sir walter scott, an opinion which can be endorsed to-day, enough of the palace remaining, ruined though it is, to show what a stately and dignified structure it was in its days of greatness. the palace, standing on some rising ground jutting into a beautiful lake, is square in construction, having towers at the corners. the original entrance was on the eastern side, through a gateway which was protected by a drawbridge. inside this gateway is a mutilated statue, thought to represent pope julius ii., who gave james iv. his sword, still to be seen among the regalia in edinburgh castle. a ruined fountain stands in the centre of the courtyard, which once resounded with all the gaiety of the stuart court. the western side, containing the room where queen mary was born, is the oldest, while the northern side is the most recent, being rebuilt by james vi. apparently there was a castle or royal manor-house at linlithgow from the time of david i., who granted the skins of the rams, sheep, and lambs, who died there, to his foundation abbey of holyrood. when edward i. was holding sway over scotland, he spent a considerable time at linlithgow, turning it into a real fortress. builders, masons, and carpenters were ordered from england, who threw up stockades, enclosing the parish church within the walls. it remained in english hands until , when it was taken by a familiar strategy. a farmer, named binnock, who was in the custom of bringing hay to the garrison, determined to capture the castle, one of the last to submit to the conquering scots. one morning he drove up as usual to the castle gate, stopping his cart immediately under the portcullis, which was raised to admit him. cutting the yoke which fastened his horses, so that the cart could not be shifted nor the portcullis lowered, binnock sprang upon the unsuspecting porter and killed him. the hay in the cart covered some armed men who leapt out, being joined by others concealed near the gateway. the garrison was completely surprised, and were all put to the sword. binnock was rewarded by a grant of land. bruce destroyed the castle, following his usual policy, but it must have been rebuilt some time during the reign of his son. the palace which now remains is entirely a stuart building, the older castle and part of the church having been burnt down the year that james i. returned to his native country after his long captivity. great rebuilding took place in his reign, and, indeed, he is considered the main builder, the later monarchs only adding to and adorning portions of his scheme. it was in this new palace that henry vi. of england, with margaret of anjou, and edward prince of wales, stayed when the triumph of the yorkists had driven them from england. james iv., under whom scotland enjoyed a rare interval of prosperity, delighted in his beautiful palace of linlithgow, where he indulged in all the manly sports of the time. like his contemporary, henry viii., he revelled in tournaments, to which he invited all the lords to come and tilt with him, making of linlithgow another hampton court, where great merry-making took place. under his wise rule, scotland was at peace and prosperous, the court maintained a higher level of refinement and luxury, and science and art were encouraged. unfortunately, james's chivalrous and rash temperament led him into war with england and the disaster at flodden field. before starting on the expedition, a council was held at linlithgow, after which the king attended evensong in the church. according to the story described by eye-witnesses, a strange man, dressed in a blue robe belted with a linen strap, with reddish hair hanging to his shoulders, pushed his way up to where the king was kneeling. addressing him with slight reverence, the man warned the king against proceeding to battle, saying, "sir king, my mother has sent me to you desiring you not to pass at this time where thou art purposed," saying it would bring disaster and shame, also warning him against visiting any woman on his journey. while the lords and everyone round were astonished and amazed at this apparition, the man suddenly disappeared "like a blink of the sun." in spite of the fact that the superstition of the time credited the man with being st. john appearing upon earth, the king persisted in his undertaking to meet his death upon the battlefield, and to plunge scotland into mourning for the flower of the land. doubtless the man was an imposter, got up for the part, by those who wanted to dissuade the king. a little room in the south-west corner of the palace is pointed out as queen margaret's bower, being said to be the room from which the king's english bride watched for the messengers bringing her news of her husband's fate. when james v. became of age he also loved the palace, building the stately hall known as the parliament hall. he brought his french wife, mary of guise, there, who said she had never seen a more princely residence. his only child, mary queen of scots, was born in the palace, but he never saw her, for he was at falkland palace when the news of her birth was brought to him, dying of grief after the shameful defeat at solway moss. the infant queen was declared by some to be extremely delicate, but sir ralph sadler, the english ambassador in scotland, gave quite a different account. the queen-dowager took him into the room where her baby was lying, and showed him how healthy she was. he writes to queen elizabeth: "i assure your majesty it is as goodly a child as i have seen of her age, and as like to live, with the grace of god." [illustration: linlithgow palace. the birthplace of mary, queen of scots. though from very early times a royal manor-house, the existing building is purely the work of the stuart kings.] after the thrones were united, the palace, like so many others in scotland, became neglected, but it received its final ruin in , when general hawley's soldiers quartered in the palace. they had been defeated at falkirk by the jacobites, and were retreating. in spite of remonstrances to the general, the soldiers were allowed to make great fires in the palace, which were so carelessly watched that the building caught fire, leaving it the ruin which it is to-day. chapter xix falkland palace unless equipped with a good knowledge of scottish history, the average tourist wandering through fife will come upon falkland palace with surprise. its situation is so remote from any centre of importance, it stands upon no great river affording an outlet to the sea, and never being a stronghold of any sort it remains at the base instead of the top of the hills among which it is built. though elevated to the proud position of a royal burgh in , falkland can to-day be scarcely designated by any other title than that of a fair-sized village, so that the presence of the stately palace, ruined though it is, partakes of the nature of the unexpected. [illustration: the gateway of falkland palace.] being built purely for pleasure and convenience, and with no thought of safety, the builders of the palace indulged in greater beauty of decoration than is to be seen in almost any other palace in scotland. it suggests the dignity of a graceful french château, with its pilasters, bas-reliefs, statues, and canopied niches. of the three sides of which the palace once consisted, only two remain, one of these being much ruined. but the south wing which has always remained more or less intact, is sufficient to prove how far from barbarous was the taste of the later stuart monarchs. before the palace was erected a castle stood close to the site of the present building. it had long been a possession of the earls of fife, till in the fourteenth century it descended to an heiress who had no children. she bestowed the castle upon robert duke of albany, the brother of the inefficient king robert iii. upon albany rests the dreadful charge of murdering his young nephew, the duke of rothesay, by starving him to death in the castle at falkland. rothesay was young and wild, and had annoyed his uncle by getting himself made guardian of the realm, a post desired by albany. after involving scotland in war with england, due to his imprudence in jilting the daughter of the earl of march, who succeeded in obtaining an english army in his support, rothesay was captured on his way to st. andrews by his uncle, who, it is said, had his father's authority to do so. taken to falkland castle the prince never came out alive, dying of slow starvation according to one account, and of dysentery by another. it is evident that albany was suspected of murder, for he took the trouble to be officially acquitted of any part in his death. only grassy mounds now indicate the position of this castle, which must have been, according to the investigations of lord bute, of considerable extent. the execution of albany's son as a traitor made falkland crown property. the palace began to be erected by james ii., but its chief builder was james iv., who spent large sums of money on the work, and much enjoyed the sport to be obtained in the neighbourhood. his son, james v., was often there, though apparently not for long periods at a time. he was the only monarch to die there, a sad event which occurred at the early age of thirty. in despair at the rout of his army at solway moss, the young monarch refused all consolation, and just seemed to wait for death, though there were no apparent signs of it upon him. not even the news brought to him from linlithgow of the birth of a daughter could cheer him. merely saying the often quoted words, "it came wi' a lass and will pass wi' a lass," he turned his head to the wall and died a few days later. no events of importance took place at falkland during mary queen of scots' brief reign, though she visited it occasionally. her son, james vi., was much attached to it, on account of the good hunting it afforded. on one occasion he was nearly captured there by the reckless francis earl of bothwell, who made one of his many attempts to seize the king. but on this midnight attack he was unsuccessful, for he and his party were forced to flee when the artillery of the palace was turned against them. they were not pursued, as they had taken the precaution to take possession of all the horses. after james went to england he could seldom be lured from the luxury of his english palaces to visit his northern residences, but he did visit falkland once again in the year . tremendous preparations were made for the royal visit, eighty carts lumbered up from kirkcaldy with the luggage, and a large gathering of nobles and gentlemen made falkland once more a gay and busy place. charles i. came to falkland once in the summer of , after which the palace was never again to rejoice in great regal splendour. when charles ii. was being supported by the presbyterians of scotland, he spent a little time there, much worried by the persistency of his friends, who insisted upon his signing the covenant. after he departed, no monarch ever resided in the palace, which was given to a cromwellian officer during the commonwealth, but which, at the restoration, again became the property of the crown. lying deserted and neglected all through the eighteenth century, the palace became a quarry for those who needed building materials, till in it was bought by mr. john bruce of grangehill, who, with the assistance of sir walter scott, arrested the ruin and restored the remaining structure. chapter xx balmoral castle sir james clark's suggestion that the valley of the dee was a neighbourhood possessing all the qualifications of a health resort, induced the prince consort to purchase balmoral castle in . both he and the queen found the lonely situation of the castle among the rugged hills, quite delightful, and though prince albert had at first only taken a lease, he soon bought the entire property, handing it over to the queen as a possession for the reigning monarchs. though belonging to the farquharsons for about years, the last tenant of balmoral had been sir robert gordon, who, having been high in the diplomatic world, filled his house with many distinguished guests. sir robert had considerably enlarged the castle, but it was not sufficient for the needs of a court, quiet and homelike as it might be. a new castle was commenced in , largely from the plans and ideas of the prince consort, whose devoted wife called it "his own creation, own work, own building." to-day, the castle, built of native granite in the scottish baronial style, stands out strikingly white among the dark wooded hills. [illustration: balmoral castle. erected in , following the plans of the prince consort. built of native granite in the scottish baronial style, it stands out strikingly white among the dark wooded hills.] by august, , the new castle was quite ready, and queen victoria found everything delightful--"the house is charming; the rooms delightful; the furniture, papers, everything perfection"--and from that moment balmoral remained her favourite residence, where she was happy in the company of her beloved husband, and free from much of the conventionality of state ceremonial. no one reading the queen's letters or her diary, can fail to see how blissful was the simple domestic life, the gay picnic expeditions among the mountains, the informal dances where the queen joined in scotch reels and country dances. it was among the heather of the scottish hills that prince frederick of prussia proposed to the little princess royal, then only fifteen years old. prince frederick (afterwards the emperor frederick iii.) was so much in love that he could not refrain from speaking of it, though the queen, owing to her daughter's youth, had wanted him to wait a little longer. picking up a piece of white heather, prince frederick gave it to the princess as they rode down glen girnoch, telling her at the same time how _allerliebst_ she was. in the midst of all this happiness came the sudden blow of the early death of prince albert, a grief from which the queen never recovered. she wrote to her uncle, "my life as a _happy_ one is _ended_! the world is gone for _me_!" amidst all her desolation, it was a relief to her to get away to balmoral, where everything reminded her of him, and where the beauty and calm of the mountains and glens were restful. though there were no longer any large shooting parties, queen victoria did not shut herself up, but took a great interest in the tenantry, whom she visited constantly. under the fostering care of queen victoria, the village of balmoral, once poor and barren, with mud cottages roofed with heather, became prosperous. constant employment has brought wealth to the village, where schools and a library had been erected. whatever its subsequent history may be, balmoral castle will ever remain enshrined as the dearly-loved home of victoria the good, among the highland folk she knew and loved so well. all her letters from the castle breathe the same feeling as the one written on october , : "i love my peaceful wild highlands, the glorious scenery, the dear good people who are much attached to us ... my heart is _bien gros_ at going from here." billing and sons, ltd., printers, guildford. transcriber's note: _ _ represents italic text = = represents bold text sundry missing or damaged punctuation has been repaired. both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants of many words occur in this book. all have been retained. any illustration which interrupted a paragraph has been moved to a more convenient location, between paragraphs. page : 'chepe' is an old word, meaning 'market'. see 'the history of london' by (sir) walter besant (project gutenberg e-book ) (p. ) most fortunately, there exists a document priceless and unique, short as it is and meagre in many of its details, which describes london as it was in the reign of henry ii. it is written by one fitzstephen, chaplain to thomas (à) becket. he was present at the murder of the archbishop and wrote his life, to which this account is an introduction. . fitzstephen's account of the city. part i. (translation from latin) (p. ) "... cheapside preserves the name of the chepe, the most important of all the old streets. here, every day, all the year round, was a market held at which everything conceivable was sold, not in shops, but in selds, that is, covered wooden sheds, which could be taken down on occasion. do not think that 'chepe' was a narrow street: it was a great open space lying between st. paul's and what is now the royal exchange, with streets north and south formed by rows of these selds or sheds. presently the sheds became houses with shops in front and gardens behind. the roadway on the south side of this open space was called the side of chepe...." page : 'samual' corrected to 'samuel'. "samuel pepys watched the pageant...." page : "... that no englishman knew how to enter a room, nor any englishwoman how to dress, nor english cooks how to prepare a dinner, nor english coachman how to drive,..." ... is as printed, and 'coachman' is probably correct, in the context, though 'cooks' may be questionable.... page : 'castle' corrected to 'castles'. "... though the castles of edinburgh and stirling were majestic, they were...." page : 'seige' corrected to 'siege'. "... sustain a siege of many months in ." "... edward bruce, who was conducting the siege,..."