Part 21 (1/2)

The rest of the surroundings and accessories of Versailles are mere adjunctive details of those chief features here ue theuidebooks

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 htful for that

Saint Gernificent site Behind is a wooded background, and before one are the ht is a panorama which is to be likened to no other on earth Across the river bottoht as the proverbial flight of the arrohile on the horizon, looking from the celebrated terrace, one sees to-day the silhouetted outline of Paris with the Tour Eiffel and the do points

The town itself is ugly and ill-paved, and heavy-booted dragoonsto and froht Neither are scorching auto 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 Geres of French history was but a vast extent of forest which under Charlene came to the possession of the monks of the Abbaye de Saint Ger Robert in the tenth century, practically upon the site of the present edifice In the eleventh century there ca, 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 fro them down on one of his bold raids, but by 1367, Charles V re-erected the ”_castel_” of Saint Gerlish, by coercion, induced aestablishment 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 establish the artistic aave the task of reconstruction to the architect Pierre Cha only the Saint Chapelle of Saint Louis and the donjon

The building one forith an extreme rapidity for at the architect's death, in 1544, it had reached nearly the level of the rooftop

Chaes' successor was his son-in-law, Guillau the primitive plan, completed the work in 1548

Saint Germain, above the first story, is essentially a construction of bricks, but the effect is even now, as Chainally intended, an edifice with itswalls and buttresses of stone binding together the slighter fabric, or filling, above Although it is Renaissance through and through, Saint Ger Italian and enius

This edifice of Francis I was more a fortress than a palace in spite of its decorative features, and Henri II, desiring soan 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 streainally descended in terraces

Chiefly it is to Henri IV that this structure owes its distinction, for previously ent on but interht the work to coed 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 Germentary walls and piles of debris, the Pavillon Henri IV, and, in part, the old royal chapel remain

Actually the structure of to-day includes that part of the Hotel du Pavillon Henri IV which is used as a restaurant

Henri IV and Louis XIII gave Saint Gerreat _eclat_ as a suburban place of sojourn, and froradually 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 conte 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 ca

It was in one of the le turrets of the facade, Louis XIII ended his unhappy existence in 1642 His own private band of musicians played a ”De Profundis” of his own co 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 o 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 clairaves

The arrival of Anne d'Autriche and the royal fa the war of the Fronde was one of the most draht, co theh the tiaunt 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 fro of any kind The princes fared no better, actually sleeping on the floor

There were plenty of s, but no furniture The personal belongings which the court had brought with the even; those worn one day ashed the next However the queen good-naturedly sh it all She called it ”an escapade which can hardly last a week”

All Paris was by this ti ”_Vive la Fronde_”: ”_Mort a Mazarin_”: but it proved to be so more than a little affair of a week, as