Part 28 (1/2)

Each time victory appeared certain so one which seems due to Palissy's own carelessness Thehis kiln was full of small pebbles, and when the oven becalaze Then the enamel was spread over the earthen pots (which at last were properly baked), and the surface of each vessel, instead of being absolutely smooth, became as sharp as a razor and tore the hand of any unlucky person who touched it

To guard against such accidents Palissy invented some sort of cases--'lanterns' he calls them--in which to put his pots while in the kiln, and these he found extrean to model lizards and serpents, tortoises and lobsters, leaves and flowers, but it was a long while before he could turn thereen of the lizards,' he tells us, 'got burned before the colour of the serpents was properly fixed,' and the lobsters, serpents and other creatures were baked before it suited the potter, ould have liked theth his patience and courage triue his furnace and how to mix his materials; the victory had taken him sixteen years to win, but at last he, and not the fire, was master; henceforth he could make what he liked, and ask what price he chose

And there ill leave Palissy the artist and turn to the life of Palissy the Huguenot

For soion had spread rapidly in this corner of France, and Palissy, always anxious to understand everything that caan first to inquire into the new doctrines, and then to adopt them One of the converts, Philibert Haistrates and condemned to death, and Palissy, as his special friend, careless of any risk to himself, did all that was possible to obtain his pardon; when that proved hopeless, the potter arranged a plan of escape for the prisoner, but Haed at Bordeaux in 1557

The new religion had changed life outwardly as well as inwardly at Saintes, as Palissy his, banquets, ss of the past Ladies were forbidden by Calvin, whose as law, even to wear ribbons; the wine shops were e ing hyarave as their fathers' The new faith spread rapidly in this district, but the converts did not all behave in the peaceable er it also grew more violent, and it was plain to him and to everyone else that civil war must shortly follow Cruelty on one side was answered by cruelty on the other, and Palissy had thrown in his lot with the Huguenots, and by his writings as well as his words urged theainst the Catholics Perhaps the artist in hirieved to hear of the destruction in the beautiful churches of the carved ies of the saints that were broken by axes and hammers; of the pictures that were burned, or the old illuminated ave his approval, and when things went against the Huguenots, even Palissy's powerful friends who ader shut their eyes He arned to change his ways, and as he did not the duke of Montpensier, then governor of the rebellious provinces, thought he would keep Palissy fro him into prison Froistrates, irritated at his having given the use of a tohich they had granted hiuenots, ordered him into stricter confinement, while they debated whether the studio should be destroyed But the constable of France, Anne de Monter, Catherine de Medicis, who ca him potter to the royal household In this manner Palissy and his studio both escaped, and soon afterwards the Treaty of Aave peace to both parties

After this the happiest period of Palissy's life began He was free, he was on the way to grow rich, and he had leisure to write down the thoughts and plans that had cos, or lately, in his lonely hours in prison His children could be well provided for, and he need have no more anxiety about them As to his wife, she appears to have been already dead when fortune at last visited him, and, indeed, she played but a small part in his life

Now his first book was coardens that Palissy hoped to lay out if his rich friends, Montmorency, or Montpensier, or Conde, or even the queen herself, would help hiarden of Palissy's thoughts was to be very large, and certainly would cost a great deal of money It was to be situated under a hill, so that the flowers and fruits ht be protected froh it Broad alleys would cross the garden, ending in arbours, some made of trees, trained or cut into different shapes, and filled with statues; others of different coloured stones, with lizards and vipers cli upon the walls, while on the floor texts would be picked out in pebbles Plants and floould hang frorottos, and beside thes and fish would gaze with surprise at their stone companions on the brink Here and there the stream would be dammed up into a lake covered with tiny islands, and filled with forget-me-nots and water-lilies and pretty yellow irises, and at the next turn of the path the visitor would be delighted by a beautiful statue half hidden by a grove of trees Catching sight of an inscription in the left hand of the figure, he would not resist stepping aside to read it, and as he was stooping to see ritten a jar of water in the figure's right hand would empty itself on his head

[Illustration: A jar of water in the figure's right hands emptied itself on his head]

Wet and cross, the visitor would pursue his way, taking care not to go near another statue standing alone in a wide grassy space, with a ring dangling fro on the lady of the house would, however, think that the flat laould be a splendid place in which to play at 'tilting at the ring,' and here was a ring just set up for the purpose Hastily fetching their toy weapons, they would choose a starting-place and, holding their lances well back, run swiftly towards the statue, hoping to thrust the lance-point through the ring, as by-and-by they would have to do at the sports at a royal wedding or a coronation But theround froure and hit the chaht and surprise of his coame that could be played twice on the sareat lords with trains of attendants frequently stopped at each other's houses on the way to their own lands, so that a constant supply of fresh pages

It was in 1565 that Palissy was sent for to Paris by the queen, to help her to decorate and lay out the gardens of the palace of the Tuileries, which she was now planning, close to the Louvre

The very name of the place must have sounded howhile this part of Paris had been the workshop of brick-makers and potters outside the walls of the old city But in the reign of Catherine's father-in-law, Francis I, they were forced tohad taken a fancy to the site, and had bought it for his mother Gardens were made where the furnaces had stood; but these were by no h to please Catherine, and she called in her favourite architect, Philibert Delorme, to erect a palace in their place, and bade Palissy, now called 'Bernard of the Tuileries' by his friends, to invent her a new pleasure-ground stretching away to the west