Part 21 (2/2)

At this period, when Anne d'Autriche was practically a prisoner at Saint Gerainst its forest background was undeniably lorious forest was not then hidden by rows of banal roof-tops, and the dull drabs of barracks and prisons

In the war facade of the chateau was brilliant as a dia avenues of the park leading from the famous terrace stretched out into infinite vistas that wereThis 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 freedoht cavalcades to the heart of the forest, or proth of the terrace, and by soenuine ”begone, dull care” aspect to court life which was not at all possible in the capital

The following picture, taken froht apply as well to-day if oneout Parisward as night draws in

”It is a rare ed 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-bottoardens Still reat plain wrapped in dark shadows punctuated here and there with great splotches of reat city beyond (the Paris of to-day, whose hts actually do lend an additional chare is to be seen Scarcely a lanternsoul in the vast expanse below, but the h in the heavens, plots out the entire landscape with a wonderful i 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 coain 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 itsspread out before one as if on a map, a viehich extends from the Chateau de Maisons on the left to the Aqueduct de Marly and the heights of Louveciennes on the right, including the Bois de Vesinet, Mont Valerian, Montmartre and the whole Parisian panorama as far as the Coteaux de Montmorency

This terrace, too, was the project and construction of Le Notre in 1672

It is two and a half kiloth and thirtyhich is surmounted by a balustrade It extends froun battery ithin the confines of the forest Entrance froreat ornaateway 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 Ger and court scuttled about the park enjoying themselves as only royalty can--when soravelled walks and the alleyed paths of the forest all led to char 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 , who, left to his own devices, sought out fourtheLauzan into his confidence, pried upon the over the dancers at the ball of the night before when one of the above all others It was the first expression of ”La Valliere” since she had come timidly to court The rest is an idyll which is found set forth in all the history books at considerable length, and at this particularhad not then become the debauched roue that he was in later life

After Anne d'Autriche, Henriette, theof Charles I of England, found at Saint Gere

From 1661 onward Louis XIV made frequent visits to Saint Gerhbourhood and the immediate site that he conjured six and a half ular stipend, for the upkeep of this palace alone

This was robbery: raft pales before this; candelabra by the pound and writing tables by the square yard were known before the days of land, in 1688, found a hospitable refuge at Saint Germain, thanks to Louis XIV, and died within the palace walls in 1701, as did his wife, Maria d'Este, in 1718

Louis XV and Louis XVI gave Saint Gerht, and under the Empire it beca lower still, itfall arrived when it was turned into a penitentiary

Napoleon III, with finer instincts, here installed a one on intermittently since that tilory

Practically the palace in its present for, but a rebuilding of an old one, first begun under the coht to reestablish the edifice as it was under Francis I The great tower has been preserved but the corner pavilions of the period of Louis XIV have been de out of this plan

For forty years Saint Germain has been in a state of restoration, and like the restoration of Pierrefonds it has sed up fantastic sums

The western facade has been rebuilt from the chapel to the entrance portal and the last of Mansart's pavilions, which he built to please either his own fancy or that of Louis XIV, have been demolished Mansart himself made ith the old _tourelles_ and the balustrade which rounded off the angles of the walls of the ly _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 ner It, too, has been brought back to the state in which it was originally conceived and shorn of its encu 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 hen the lords and ladies in the train of Charles IX strolled and even gambolled therein

The Chapelle de Saint Louis (1240) is in every way rereat rose-hich was found by Millet to have been walled up by Louis XIV