of pure taste, the laws of strict har-traordinary. "It was not without surmony, were forced to obey the will of prise," says St. Simon, "that France the absolute despot. A profusion of saw her assume a public part in the deheavy gilding marks the pomp and em- liberation of affairs, and the astonishphasis of the Augustan age of the Grand ment was extreme when two councils Monarque. In ingenious mythological met in her apartments to discuss the fictions are celebrated the splendors of greatest and most important question its Cæsar, who enters Dunkirk wearing which had ever been raised throughout the casque, breastplate, and cloak of a the whole length of the reign." It Roman, surmounted by the wig of the was on the instigation of Madame de court of Versailles. As at Versailles, Maintenon that Louis took the momenso at Fontainebleau, the king delighted tous step which upset the balance of in fountains, and the groups of statues power and plunged Europe into war. in marble or bronze which adorn les cascades were the work of the sculptors of the period.

In September, 1715, Louis lay dying. For months past his health had been impaired, though he resented the suggestion of Madame de Maintenon that he should eat more sparingly of strawberries and peas, and abstain from highly seasoned dishes. His death was received by a depressed, despairing people with every demonstration of delight. He left behind him a kingdom drained of its resources, an empty treasury, a heavy burden of debt, a commerce and manufactures, which were once flourishing, almost extinguished. And among the enervated aristocracy who thronged to an idle, vicious, hypocritical court, there was not a single statesman who was capable of taking the helm of government. In the crowd that gathered in the faubourg to curse the conqueror, as his coffin was carried by bye-paths and unfrequented roads to St. Denis, might be seen the progenitors of that maddened mob who, eighty years later, violated his tomb, and scattered his ashes to the wind.

It was at Fontainebleau that Louis XIV. was first smitten with love for Louise de la Vallière. Here, in 1661, the year of his son's birth, the twentyfour violons du roi struck up the overture to the first representation of one of Molière's comedies, in which the author himself played a part. Here, in 1690, James II. of England found a refuge in the palace which had sheltered his mother. Here, from time to time, were celebrated the brilliant festivities which marked the early portion of the king's reign, and here, in gloom and darkness, the sun of France slowly set. Here, under the rule of Madame de Maintenon, piety became the fashion; here, in her pavilion, she shivered with the cold, while she consulted Mouthier on new dishes to tickle the jaded palate of Louis. And it was at Fontainebleau that two of the most momentous events of the king's reign took place. Within the walls of the palace Louis XV. has left behind him inhe signed the Revocation of the Edict numerable traces, both constructive of Nantes in 1685, and in 1700 decided and destructive, of his reign at Fonto accept the will of Charles II., which tainebleau. There, as elsewhere, the left the throne of Spain to his grandson, court danced its giddy dance of death the Duke of Anjou, afterwards Philip in the years which preceded the RevoV. The council at which this last im-lution. Throughout the whole period portant step was taken was held in the which elapsed between the death of room of Madame de Maintenon. In the Grand Monarch and the convention all his doubts and difficulties the king of the States-General the popular indighad long been accustomed to consult nation was steadily increasing. During the woman whom he nicknamed "La the dissipations of the Regency, the Solidité" or "La Raison." Such def- dull decorum of the early period of the erence to the judgment of a woman, reign of Louis XV., the unbridled deeven if she had been, as was supposed, bauchery of his later years, the movethe legal wife of the sovereign, was ex-ment gathered irresistible strength.

trusted, cheating was practised in the apartments both of the queen and of Marie Antoinette. Whilst J. J. Rousseau fled from the court, Voltaire solicited its favors. One evening when he was in waiting as a gentleman in ordinary of the royal chamber, the Marquise de Châtelet lost eighty-four thousand francs at lansquenet in the queen's salon. Voltaire said to her in English, "You are playing with cheats." His remark was overheard, and he judged it prudent to take refuge at Sceaux, where he remained for several months in hiding.

With fatal skill the king carried on the work of destroying the grandeur of the French monarchy, and the part which he played at Fontainebleau was that of the destroyer of its buildings. His hand pulled down the famous Galerie d'Ulysse, in which Primaticcio and Niccolò dell' Abbate had painted the adventures of the king of Ithaca. His hand, again, demolished the Salle de la Belle Cheminée to make room for the theatre, which Madame de Pompadour raised in its place, and which was burned in 1856. Many existing portions of the palace date from his reign; but their external appearance is mean and ineffective. Their internal decoration, on the other hand, is often exquisitely graceful. The royal apartments, for instance, are beautiful examples of the style of Louis XV., the ceilings adorned by Boucher, the pan-skill and her velvet riding-habit of the els by Van Loo. But here, again, the artistic and the political history of the time go hand in hand. The strength and vigor of the ancien régime were sapped and weakened, while the one redeeming feature of a degenerate society was the grace and elegance of its macners. And even these were as artificial as were Boucher's affected and boasted of his descent from a line grace, superficial charm of coloring, and figures drawn not from nature but from imagination.

The true queen of France, and not only queen, but regent and prime minister, was Madame de Pompadour. A brilliant horsewoman, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson had first attracted the notice of the king by her equestrian

bright blue known as l'œil du roi. Once installed as mistress, she completely dominated the king. Her fertile fancy and ready wit suggested amusements for his jaded appetite; she carefully consulted his gastronomic tastes in company with her famous chef, Mouthier, who inherited the genius of his father,

of cooks. Her indefatigable industry relieved his shoulders from all the burden of State business. Her supremacy It was at Rambouillet or at Choisy was undisputed. Her artistic taste, that Louis worked his tapestry, or aided by the graceful fancy of Boucher, delved, or turned, or cooked, with his is associated with every detail of the own hands, the most delicate dishes of style Louis XV. It was at her request his petits soupers. But at Fontaine- that the manufactories of Gobelin tapbleau, each in their turn, the four sis-estry and Sèvres china were placed ters of the house of Nesle reigned as under royal patronage. The choice maitresses en titre; here, also, Madame library which she gathered in her hotel, de Pompadour, and afterwards Madame du Barry, had their apartments. The queen, Maria Leczinska, seven years older than her boy bridegroom, was a plain, unintellectual, narrow-minded woman of exemplary piety. She was the mother of many of the king's children; but she was incapable of retaining, if she ever possessed, his affections. Her time was spent at her toilette, or at her prie-dieu, or at the lansquenet table. Play ran high at the court, and, if Voltaire is to be

afterwards the Elysée Bourbon, the plates which she engraved, the pieces which she modelled in Sèvres, the rare medals and masterpieces of furniture which she collected, prove that, lowborn though she was, she was not unfitted to direct the fashion of art and of dress.

It was in her theatre at Fontainebleau that, in 1752, was acted "Le Devin du Village," a new opera in one act, of which, says the Gazette of October 21, the "Sieur Rousseau de Genève "is the

garded.

His opera proved a complete success. The ladies all around him wept, and Rousseau also wept, delighted to give pleasure to so many women, who were

author. Vast sums were expended on aged himself to bear with intrepidity Madame de Pompadour's theatre, and, the curiosity with which he was reto make room for it, a masterpiece of sixteenth-century art was, as has been already said, destroyed by the king's orders. The people, dying of hunger, miserable, and desperate, bitterly complained, according to the "Journal beautiful as angels." As to the king, d'Argenson," of the reckless expendi- the music was, for the next twenty-four ture. The representation of "Le Devin hours, always in his mouth. He never du Village" thus groups in effective ceased singing, in a voice which was proximity the principal elements of the more out of tune than any other in the impending Revolution — the growing re- kingdom, "J'ai perdu mon serviteur." sentment of a starving people, the reck- The triumph which his opera obtained less prodigality of the court, the charm put Rousseau at his ease. But during of its high-bred society, the contempt the night all his fears returned. He for the glories of the past, and the man was to be presented to the king, and who, beyond all others, translated into there was a talk of a pension. He an eloquent theory the callous offences wished, he says, so far as was compatof an aristocratic clique, and muttered ible with the tone and air of severity execrations of an unprivileged majority. that he had adopted, to show himself In Rousseau's "Confessions" will sensible of the honor paid him by the be found an amusing description of the king. But his unreadiness of speech scene. With all his affectation of the and his constitutional timidity conton romain, Jean-Jacques was as shame- vinced him that he would be entirely at faced and self-conscious as an awkward a loss for words. Almost before dayschoolboy in the presence of the fash-break he pleaded ill health, and fled ionable world. With untidy dress, un- from Fontainebleau.

bleau. It was at Versailles, among her milkmaids and shepherdesses, that she struck the first blow in the cause of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" by abolishing the tabouret, a privilege of being seated in the presence of the king and queen. It was there also that she developed her passion for gambling, for lavishing extravagant gifts on her favorites, for introducing outrageous fashions and headdresses, like the

kempt beard, and ill-combed perruque, The Trianons at Versailles are more he found himself placed in a prominent closely associated with Marie Antoiposition in the centre of a gorgeously nette than the boudoirs of Fontainedressed crowd, and immediately opposite the box in which were seated the king and Madame de Pompadour. Many of the men were clad in coats of that shade of blue which had come to be known, not as l'œil du roi but as bleu Pompadour, and which Voltaire himself did not disdain to wear. The ladies wore the fichus and coiffures à la Marquise; the sword-knots of the soldiers were tied in the rosette à la Pompadour. As soon as the great lights were lit, Rousseau found himself among the crowd of court beauties - the only man in that part of the theatre. He expected to be treated with haughty coldness. On the contrary, he found every one civil and attentive. Ill at ease, he made speeches to himself. As to his beard, it was the work of nature. His 1 "Ques-a-co?" is the Provençal for “ Qu'est-ce dress was simple, but not dirty. If he que cela?" The word was used satirically by Beauwas thought to be ridiculous or imperti- marchais in one of his memorials addressed to his judges in the Procès Goezman. It was seized upon nent, he cared nothing for undeserved by the Parisian wig-makers, and applied to a headblame. Thus soliloquizing, he encour-dress introduced by Marie Antoinette.

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Ques-a-cos," 1or mythological edifices. But, as a skilful horsewoman, she delighted in the forest of Fontainebleau, and in the graceful refinement of the boudoir at the palace the artistic skill of the age is well displayed. Upon its decoration the genius of Rousseau and Barthélemy was employed. In the

centre of the parquet floor appear, from | determined to remove him to Fontainethe midst of a sun, the letters "M. A.,” "bleau. So rapidly was the removal which formed the monogram of the ill-accomplished, that the pope arrived fated queen. Tradition attributes the before the orders for his reception. ironwork of one of the windows of the bedroom to the blacksmith's skill of Louis XVI. In the adjoining bedroom her bed is preserved, hung with tapestry, designed by a pupil of Boucher. The hangings were ordered at Lyons, and they were still unfinished when the Revolution broke out. More than twenty years later they were presented by the city of Lyons to Marie Louise on her marriage with the Emperor Napoleon I.

Refused admittance at the gates of the palace, he was lodged till the evening in a house opposite the Cour des Adieux, now the famous Hôtel de France. The house was then occupied by a dentist. Had it been the hotel, presided over by a worthy predecessor of Monsieur or Madame Dumaine, Pius VII. would probably have preferred to remain there during the whole time of his captivity. In the palace of Fontainebleau, in the apartments still known by his name, the pope lived for nearly eighteen months. When Napoleon returned from Russia, he charged the Bishop of Nantes to re-open nego tiations with the pope on the subject of the Concordat. In January, 1813, the emperor himself arrived unexpectedly in the apartments of the pope. Embracing his captive with effusive affection, he protested his filial devotion. The pope, so runs the legend, replied with the single word, "Comediante." Beside himself with anger, Napoleon stormed and threatened. In the midst of the outburst, the laconic pope murmured another single word, " Tragediante." A second interview proved more successful. In the presence of the emperor, Marie Louise, and the whole court, the pope signed the famous Concordat at Fontainebleau on January 25, 1813.

None of the French palaces exercised so peculiar a fascination for Napoleon as the Maison des Siècles of Fontainebleau. The palace was refurnished and redecorated, till it was said that the wonders of Marly would have paled beside the magnificence of the imperial residence. It was here also that he lodged his royal prisoners, Charles IV. of Spain in 1808, and Pope Pius VII. in 1812. The pope had already visited Fontainebleau as an honored guest. In September, 1804, Napoleon had invited the pope to give by his presence the highest religious sanction to the consecration and coronation of the first emperor of the French. The sovereign pontiff was met at the Croix de St. Hérem, in the heart of the forest, by Napoleon, on horseback, and in hunting dress. Seated on the right of the consul, escorted by a troop of Mamelukes, the representative of Catholic But another year elapsed before the Christendom entered the palace, pope's release. His signature of the through lines of troops, and amid salvos Concordat did, indeed, make a change of artillery. The pope's second visit in his position. He was allowed the was made under very different circum-attendance of his suite, and twentystances.

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seven cardinals were lodged in the Angry discussions and disputes sub- palace or the town, each with their sequently broke out between the em- train of attendants, and each dressed, peror and the pope, which ended in according as they had upheld or anNapoleon's determination to confiscate nulled the marriage with Josephine, in the Roman States. The Castle of St. black or red. Their memory yet lingers Angelo was occupied by the French in the culinary art of preparing les troops in 1809, and the pope was re-haricots du Cardinal. It was not till moved from Rome to Savona. There January, 1814, that the pope was rehe remained till June, 1812. Suddenly leased from his captivity at Fontainethe emperor, then on the eve of start- bleau.

ing for the expedition against Russia,

It was at Fontainebleau that Napo

leon, riding with a single attendant day | dose was either insufficient, or the drug after day for hours together through had lost its strength. The next mornthe forest of Fontainebleau, planned ing he had reconciled himself to life, the divorce of Josephine. Fontaine- and surrendered himself to whatever bleau had been the scene of the culmi- destiny his star might have in store for nation of his audacity and pride; it was him. the spot on which he had meditated his most callous act of cruelty and ingratitude. By a fitting retribution, it was destined to be also the stage on which was enacted his downfall.

On April 20, 1814, the emperor left Fontainebleau as a banished man. At twelve o'clock it had always been his practice to hold a review of the troops quartered at Fontainebleau. At the Among the suite of apartments built usual hour on this April 20 he left his by Louis XV., on the site of a gallery room dressed in his uniform as a coloconstructed in the reigns of Francis I. nel of Chasseurs. With rapid step he and Henry II., is the room in which descended the staircase of the great Napoleon signed his abdication on courtyard, and on the last flight paused April 5, 1814. "The allied powers to look quickly round him. General having proclaimed that the Emperor Petit came to the foot of the staircase to Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the receive his orders, and a circle of offire-establishment of the peace of Europe, cers was formed, in the centre of which the emperor, faithful to his oath, de- stood the emperor. He raised his clares that he abandʊns for himself and hand. It was the sign that he was for his heirs all claims upon the thrones about to speak. Every man was silent, of France and Italy, and that there is and in the deepest stillness he began no personal sacrifice, including even the words, " Officers, non-commissioned that of his life, which he is not pre- officers, and soldiers of the Old Guard, pared to make in the interest of I come to bid you farewell." Then, France." The writing-table on which having finished his speech, he embraced the abdication was signed, the pen with General Petit, and, covering the eagle which he wrote his name, are preserved with kisses, he seated himself in a carin the room. Adjoining it is the bed-riage, and drove rapidly away. room where, on the night of April 12, as Baron Fain relates, Napoleon attempted to commit suicide. During the retreat from Moscow Napoleon carried about with him a quantity of opium, which he had determined to take sooner than fall alive into the hands of the enemy. On this night of April 12 his valet heard him get up and, looking through the half-open door, saw him mix something in a glass of water, drink it, and then go back to bed. Shortly afterwards he was seized with the most violent pains. Dr. Yvan, from whom he had procured the poison, lost his head with terror, rushed out into the courtyard, leaped on a horse which he found tethered at the gate, and dashed into the forest. Meanwhile, the emperor gradually revived; the

1 Manuscrit de 1813, contenant le précis des événements de cette année, pour servir à l'histoire de l'empereur Napoléon. Paris, 1824-5. 2 vols.

8vo.

With the farewell of Napoleon I. the historical charms of Fontainebleau come to an end. There is no element of poetry in the flight of Charles X., still less in that of Louis Philippe. The downfall of Napoleon III. is too recent to be invested with the glamour of romance. But let the imagination wander back over the centuries of French history, and what a wealth of associations it conjures up, what dramatic scenes it re-enacts, what brilliant throngs of famous men and women it recalls to life!

As the shades of evening fall over the Cour des Adieux, and the wind sighs through the archways, the whole space is crowded with the shadowy figures of the heroes of a hundred fights, while they strain their ears to catch the hurried, broken farewell of their dethroned and exiled emperor. Here is the site of the theatre where Jean-Jacques sat abashed by the pres