A Summer in Western France ... Edited by Frances Trollope

Chapter II

Departure from Paris — Parisian Pleasure-Parties — French Railroads — Versailles — Tbe Musee Monstre — " Toutes les Gloires de la France " — Princess Mary's " Maid of Orleans " — Journey to Rambouillet — St. Cyr — Chateau de Rambouillet — Journey to Epernon — A " Commissionaire, comme il y en a peu" — Epernon — A Night's Unrest — Maintenon — The Chateau — Journey to Chartres ....... 10

Chapter III

Chartres— The Cathedral— Exterior— The West Front— Early History of the Church — Druids at Chartres — Druidical Temple there — Singular Tradition — Consideration of its Possible Foundation in Truth — First Destruction of the Cathedral by Fire — Nature of the Second Building — Second Destruction by Fire — Third — The Rebuilding; a Scene from the Life of the Middle Ages — Construction of the New Steeple — Curious Inscription — Fire in the Cathedral in 1836— The New Roof— The Interior of the Church — Painted Windows — Different Periods of the Art of Painting on Glass — Rose Windows — Walk on the Banks of the Eure — View of the City— A Twilight Hour in the Cathedral . CONTENTS. IV

Chapter IV

The Advantages of Ascending High Towers — Prospect over La Beauce— Corn Market at Chartres — Female Corporation — Mode of Transacting Business at Chartres — Church of St. Aignan — Church of St. Pierre — Journey to Orleans — Vineyards of the Orleanais — Their Produce — The Story of Jacques Boulay, a warning to Authors — First View of the Loire — The Bridge— The Old Bridge — A Legend of its History — Epigram on the Opening of the New Bridge — Orleans from the other side of the River 49

Chapter V

Orleans — View from the top of the Cathedral — La Sologne — Condition of the Population of this District — Superstitions — Curious Custom — Cathedral — Interior — West Front — Destruction of the old Cathedral — Foundation of the Present Structure — The Jubilee at Orleans — Account of the Expences of Building the Cathedral — New Street — Beards and Bishops — " A Difference between a Bishop and a Dean" — Books in Orleans in the Sixteenth Century — Historical localities in Orleans — Anecdotes — Earl of Salisbury — Marie Touchet — Diana of Poitiers — Jeanne d' Arc's House — Curious Passages concerning her — Present State of the House which she inhabited — Specimen of an Orleanais Ballad — Source of the River Loiret . . . . .60

Chapter VI

Steamboats on the Loire — Various Companies for the Navigation of the River — The Quay at Orleans— Departure of the Boat — Construction of the Steamers on the Loire — Voyage to Meuno* Junction of the Loiret with the Loire — Appearance of the River —Cellars at St. Pierre— Bridge of Meung— The Town— Walk to Clery — Story of Notre Dame de Clery — Tomb of Louis XL — Strange Toll— Church at Clery— Figure of Louis XL— Walk to Beaugency — View of the Town — Anecdotes of its History — Journey to Blois .... 07

Chapter VII

Blois— Its Position— Its Streets — The Chateau— Its exterior — Its Foundation, and Subsequent History — Murder of the Due de Guise— Architecture of the Chateau — The most Ancient Part- Louis the Twelfth's Building— Lodging of the Ladies of Catherine de Medicis— Part Built by Francis I.- Hall of Assembly of the States — West Side built by Mansard — The Observatory of Catherine de Medicis — View from it— Porter of the Chateau .106 CONTENTS. V

Chapter VIII

Blois— Roman Aqueduct — The Cathedral — Bishop's Palace — Gardens — School at Play — Evening Service in the Cathedral — "Via Crucis " — Scenic Effect — Fact versus Fancy — Journey to Chambord — Menars-le-Chateau — Situation of Chambord — Anecdotes of the Chateau — Marshal Saxe — Architecture of the Chateau — Return to Blois — Voyage to Amboise — Steamboat aground — The River below Blois — Chaumont — Catherine de Medicis — Arrival at Amboise — The Castle — Its History — The Conspiracy of Amboise — Present State of the Castle — Excavations — Extraordinary Monument — Approach to the Chateau — View from the Terrace — Servants' Offices — " Changement de Decoration" — The Chapel — Carriage Staircase — Departure for Blere . . . . . . .119

Chapter IX

Blere — The One Fact in its History — Chenonceaux — Its History- Its Last Proprietor before the Revolution — Its Architecture — Beaulieu — Loches — Valley of the Indre — Picturesque Scenery — The Chateau of Loches — Anecdote of its History — Agnes Sorel — Her Tomb — Inscriptions — The Collegiate Church — Town of Loches — Remarkable Sign of an Inn — How an Old Woman made Better Soup than she intended — Journey to Tours . 151

Chapter X

Tower of the Cathedral of Tours — Regulation for the Prevention of Suicide — Furniture of a Sacristan's House — A Fall from the Tower — Preparations for Suicide a la Francaise — View from the Tower — Position of Tours — Plessis les Touis — Interior of the Cathedral — Church of St. Martin — Its Former Celebrity — Its Chapter — And other Members — Its History — Tours in the present Day — Its former Population — Present appearance of the Town — Former Luxury of the Inhabitants — Guillaume le Breton's Description of the Town — The Bridge — The Rue Royale — " La Cite" — Mode of Building a Town in the Middle Ages — Quaint Names of Streets — Anecdotes concerning them — Residence of Tristan TErmite — Public Library — English at Tours — Departure for Saumur . . . . . . 167

Chapter XI

Journey from Tours to Saumur — " Les Levees de la Loire " — Importance of these Works — " Le Deluge de Saumur" — The Loire VI CONTENTS. below Tours— River Scenery— Barges on the Loire— Habitations in the Rock— Luynes— " Pile de Cinq Mars"— Disputes as to its Origin— Langeais— Its Castle—" Seigneurs Engagistes" —Cha teau de Rochecotte —Chateau d'Usse— Chateau de Grillemont— Candes— Monsoreau —Touraine — Character of the Province — Frenchman's Idea of Beauty — Resemblance between Americans and Frenchmen — Arrival at Saumur . . • 190

Chapter XII

Hotel de Londres— Revocation of the Edict of Nantes — Duplessis- Momay — Fallen Fortunes of Saumur — Its Present State — The Chateau — Its Architecture — Views from the Terrace — View over the Loire — Dampierre — Margaret of Anjou — Mode of Cultivating the Vine — View over the Valley of the Thouet— Streets of Saumur— View of the Town from the Northern Bank of the River — " Butte de Moulins" — Departure for Angers — Steamboat Stores, Literary and Culinary — Voyage to Angers . . 205

Chapter XIII

Voyage from Saumur to Angers — Tufeaux — Its Quarries — Angevine Costume — Treves — Cuneault — Disadvantages of Steamboats — Gennes — Its Antiquities — Celtic — Roman — and Medieval — Traces of the Celtic Race in France — Superstitions attached to Oaks and Fountains in Anjou — Curious Practice — Beneficial effects of the Irruption of the Northmen into Europe — St. Maur — Benedictines — Their Settlement and Wealth in Anjou— Transcript of Books — Anecdote — Diploma of Clotaire I. respecting the Abbey of St. Maur — Recovery of this Document — Ponts-de-Ce — Battle between Louis XIII. and his Mother — Remarkable Epitaph — Country Houses on the Loire — Estimate of the Scenery of the Loire — Best Mode of performing the Voyage from Saumur to Angers ....... 215

Chapter XIV

Approach to Angers — Position of the Town — The "Doutre" — Bank of Slate — Peculiar Appearance of the Town — Hotel de Faisan— Walk to the Cathedral — Its Position — French Improvements—and taste — West Front of the Cathedral — Date of the Building— AncientVestibule — Foulques de Mathefelon— His Character — Excommunications— Anecdote — A Miracle in the Fourteenth Century — A Bishop and his Chapter — Secrets of the Chapter House— Death of Foulques de Mathefelon —View from the Top of the Tower of the Cathedral . . . CONTENTS. VII

Chapter XV

Walk to Visit the Slate Quarries in the Neighbourhood of Angers — Refuse of the Manufactured Slates — Manner of Working the Pits — " Le Grand Carreau" — Descent into the Pit — Underground Works — Striking Scene — A Narrow Escape — Nature of the Rock — Produce of the Quarries — Return to Angers — French Want of Punctuality— A Test of Philosophy . . 250

Chapter XVI

Interior of the Cathedral — Effect of Architecture— Provincial Antiquaries—Painted Glass — Appearance of the Town — Embellishments — The University — Its Origin — Situation of several of its " Inns" — Republic of Letters during the Middle Ages — Migration of Professors from Oxford to Angers — Academical Life in the Thirteenth Century — A Town and Gown Row in the Olden Time — Its Results — Oaths used by the Students of Angers in the Fifteenth Century — Punishment for using them — Manners of the Studeuts at that Period — and in the Seventeenth Century — Anecdote — Fete Dieu at Angers — Gallantry of the Angevine Students, and the Heroic Devotion of the Angevines — The Bishop's " Maudement" ....... 259

Chapter XVII

Tlie Chateau — Its Appearance — and Position — Its Historical Reminiscences — Departure from Angers — Rival Steam Companies — " Le Riverain" — Loire below the Mayenne — Islands — Their Produce — Normans in the Loire — Isle de St. Jean — Epitaph — Notre Dame de St. Behuard — Angevin Wines — Banks of the Loire in Anjou . . . .281

Chapter XVIII

Voyage from Angers to Nantes — Savonnieres — Rocks of Rochefort — Coal-field on the Loire — Chalonnes — The Heresy of the Chalonnais — Montjean — Chantoce — Gilles de Laval — Blue Beard — His Chapel Establishment — His Crimes — and Punishment — Ingrande — Salt Smugglers — The Loire below Ingrande — Coal Mines — St. Florent — Passage of the Loire by the Vendeeans — One Way of Writing History — Marillais — Ancient Festival — Speculation on the Origin of the Romish Festival on the 8th of September — Pilgrimages — Curious Letter of a Bishop in the Twelfth Century respecting them — Village Fetes — Ancenis — Former Tide in the Loire — Joachim du Bellay — Specimen of his Sonnets — Tower of CONTENTS. VIII Oudon — Its Legend —Champtoceaux — Its History — Les Folies Siffait — Entrance into Britanny — Department de la Loire Infe rieure — Character of the Angevine Scenery — Approach to Nantes 290

Chapter XIX

First Appearance of Nantes — Islands in Front of it — Ancient Streets in Nantes — Mode of Building — La Juiverie — Curious Inscription on a House in it — The Cathedral — Exterior — Nave — Its Foundation — St. Felix — His Claims to Canonization — Subsequent Fortunes of the Cathedral — Bishop Hoctron and the Golden Apple — Revenues of Nantes in the Tenth Century — Foundation of the Present Cathedral Edifice — Inscription — Tomb of Francis II. — Casket containing Duchess Anne's Heart — Curious Inscriptions — Inhabitants of the Old Part of the Town — The Chateau — Henry IV. 's First Visit to Nantes — Appearance of the Castle — Duchesse de Berri — Cardinal de Retz — Return to T Hot el de TEurope 321

Chapter XX

Nantes — Walk along the Quays — The Bourse — Character of the Nantais Merchants — and Population generally — Quai de la Fosse — Characteristics common to Seaport Towns — Those peculiar to Nantes — Former Prosperity of Nantes — Slave Trade — Amount of Imports and Exports before the Revolution — Present Population of the Town — Consumption of Animal Food — Quai des Constructions — Quai d'Aiguillon — The Due d' Aiguillon's Purchase of the post of Lieutenant-general of the Province — La Sylphe Steamer — Hill below the Town — View from it Ferry — Isle des Chevaliers — Trentemoux — View of Nantes — Rencontre with an Idiot — Story of " La Fille de la Punition" . . . . . . .334

Chapter XXI

French Tables d'Hote — Those of Germany — Invariable Company met at them in France — French "Commis Voyageur" and English "Bagman" — Disagreeable Manners of the Former and Gross Language — Anecdote — Present State of France — Physical Improvement and Progress— Moral Retrogression Compatibility of the Two — Causes of Demoralization in Fiance — Tendency to Social Dissolution — Favourite Newspapers in the Provinces— Charivari— National— Siecle — Presse — Circulating Libraries— Favourite Authors — Provincial Readers— Anecdote — Extent of Demoralization — Peasantry . CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XXII

Evening Walk — Place du Boussay — Cours Saint Pierre — Fashionable Promenade — Cours Saint Andre — Statue of Louis XVI. — Of Breton Worthies — Military Parade — Young Soldiers — Drilling — Dislike of the Population of certain Provinces to the Service — Origin of the feeling — Different Races — Antipathy to the Service does not arise from want of Courage — Anecdote — A Perigordian Conscript and his Father . . 365

Chapter XXIII

Ungallant Band — Botanical Garden — Logical Classification of Plants — View from the Promenade — Cemetery de Misericorde — Legend — Rue de l'Entrepot — Fine Line of Streets — Church of Notre Dame — Anecdote — Jean de Montfort's Three Vows, and how he kept them — New Quarter of the City — M. Graslin — Literary Nomenclatures of the Nantais Streets — The Theatre — The Audience — Return to hotel — and Departure from Nantes . . . . . . .375

Chapter XXIV

Journey to Clisson — The Capital of La Vendee — The two Sevres — Their different Characters — French Guide-Books — Touching Anecdote respecting a Plaster-cast Merchant — Scenery of Clisson — Destruction of the Town in the War — Traces of the War in La Vendee — New Villages — Destruction of the Vendeean Villages — Retreats and Hiding-places of the Inhabitants — " Le Refuge" — The Castle of Clisson — Its Architecture — Its present State — The Constable Oliver Clisson — The brothers Cacault — Their History — Their Museum — Their Gardens — Anecdote of the Vendeean War . ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. I. PAGE A Vendeean Royalist .... Frontispiece. Connaissance Utile . . . Vignette Title. Departure of the " Inexplosible" from Orleans . . 89 Ecclesiastical Discipline in the Middle Ages . . 246 VOL. II. Charcoal Burners in the Limousin . .

Frontispiece. Useful Knowledge . . . Vignette Title. The Three Landladies of Tiffauges ... 19 Remarkable Stone Head . . . . .114 La Femme la plus bardie qui fut jamais . . . A SUMMER IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES OF FRANCE.

Chapter I. Introductory

" Adieu ! plaisant pays de France !" sighed Mary Stuart, as she stepped, with a tear in her eye and a melancholy foreboding at her heart, on board the boat which was to convey her from its shores for ever. And I confess that had I as much reason as she had for supposing that I should never again breathe its clear atmosphere, or ramble among its woods and streams, my adieus would have been spoken in as sad a spirit. For truly, much as men have done, and are doing, to render it otherwise, Nature has VOL. I. B

Introduction

. intended France for a right pleasant and highly-favoured clime. From the green pas tures and rich corn-lands of Normandy, to the vine-clad hills and olive groves of Pro vence, every temperate variety of atmosphere and soil conspires to produce a greater num ber of the thousand commodities, which to civilized man are become necessities, than any other portion of Europe of similar ex tent. Yes! Mary Stuart was right! Assuredly France eminently deserves to be called a " plaisant pays." It is true, many a rood of green forest has, since her time, yielded be fore the plough and the wants of increasing population, and many a Macadamized road is carrying modern ideas and new manners into nooks and recesses of the country, which in those days contained a handful of isolated, and therefore almost unprogressing inhabitants.

But, in spite of all that time and the march of events have done towards substi tuting the useful for the romantic, and re ducing to a dead level the picturesque in equalities of provincial manners, France has not yet ceased to be either a " plaisant pays," or an interesting one to those lovers of the knapsack and staff, who delight, while seeking Nature's beauties in her most se-

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 eluded haunts, to investigate also all those whimsical peculiarities and intricate sinuo sities of human character, which, constituting local characteristics, form so large and amusing a chapter in the general history of man, and furnish so instructive a commentary on the annals of European civilization. To many persons who are accustomed to consider France as, par excellence, a land of change — a country where, above all others, " old things have passed away, and all things have become new " — who think that the tremendous storm which has passed over her has, in breaking up the great deep of the moral as well as the political constitution of the nation, prepared her to be the first-born of a new order of things — a new era in the history of the world — it may appear a startling assertion to affirm that France is in fact very far less changed than England from what they both were three hundred years ago.

Few, however, who know well, not Paris, but France — not the great towns, and the great houses, and the great roads only, but agricultural, rural France, in its far-away provinces, in its little market-towns, in its secluded hamlets, and scattered granges, will not be aware that such is the case. b2

INTRODUCTION.

. Nor is it difficult to assign an adequate reason for the fact. That change which in England has been the gradual and silent work of ages, was sought to be effected in France by a sudden and violent convulsion. In the one case, the new elements passed gradually into the bones and veins of the body social, and were assimilated, becoming integral and healthy parts of the system. In the other, the sudden violence of the treatment adopted succeeded in deed in throwing the whole body into con vulsion, deranging the entire machinery of the constitution, and rendering it incapable of carrying on the vital functions in a healthy manner for many a generation to come, but yet left many of the smaller and more hidden parts of the social body almost unaltered by the violence of an agent, which has passed over and damaged them, but has not pene trated into their substance.

The gentle ripple of a stream will, in pro cess of time, entirely obliterate the most en during features of the soil over which it runs ; but the torrent-force of a sudden inundation leaves the fields, when it has subsided, with the crops indeed destroyed, and the beauty of the country defaced, but with its features and general form unchanged.

INTRODUCTION.

. Infinitely more traces and remains of the days when every man's "country" was the territory around the principal city, near which he lived, are to be found in the habits and ideas of the provincial French, than among the English. Not only does the " Angevin," the " Tourangeau," the " Auvergnat," the " Poitevin," the " Berrichon," &c, invariably call himself by these provincial names, and feel each his own province to be his country, and his fellow provincials more especially his countrymen ; but each of these has a distinct character, whose differences are perceptible, and preserves customs and ideas peculiar to his locality. One very obvious cause of the much greater degree in which local character has been preserved in France than in England is the very marked inferiority of the former country in all the means of communication and travel — that great agent which renders men uniform by rubbing them together, as pebbles on the seashore are all made round by the con tinual rolling of the wave.

The generality of Frenchmen, too, are naturally averse to tra velling. A long journey — let Rousseau say what he will of the delights of " un voyage a faire ;" (the " Paris au bout," I admit, would be enough to tempt a Frenchman from one

INTRODUCTION.

. end of the world to the other) — is ever an object of dread and disagreeable necessity to him, and is never undertaken for its own sake. This dislike of travelling may be a cause or a consequence of the bad and scanty pro vision of the means of locomotion in France. It is probably in some degree both. All these circumstances conspire with se veral others, which it would take a volume to develop, to cause an infinitely greater diffe rence to exist between Paris and the rest of France than exists between London and the rest of England. It has been frequently said that "Paris is France." And politically speaking, this is, most unfortunately for the country, almost absolutely true. No surer sign can be found that there is "something rotten in the state of" la grande nation, than the monstrous manner in which Paris has been able to lead all France by the nose.

We are suffering ourselves from a determination of blood to the head ; but with our neighbours the disease has far more invete racy, while the constitution has infinitely less stamina to resist it. A politician, therefore — unless his views are much more extended than those of the generality of politicians — may study France in the palaces, the cabinets, the salons, the

INTRODUCTION.

. " chambres,'' and the streets of Paris. But he who would form a competent notion of the real body of the people — of that which should be the thews and sinews of the nation — of that which must eventually make that vast country something very different from what it is at present, must take a wider range. The philosophical student of man, too, will hardly be content to form his estimate of so large and important a portion of mankind from the exquisitely artificial mass, which, in the streets, as well as in the society of Paris, is offered to him as a sample. The lover of history can need no second invitation to a ramble through any part of a country so storied, so redolent of great names, so thickly strewn with localities of highest interest, so intimately linked in almost every period with the history of deeds and names dear to the remembrance of every Englishman.

The physiological inquirer again knows full well what important illustrations of his favourite science may be found in the characteristic differences of physiognomy, stature, temperament, and constitution, even yet to be observed in the descendants of these tribes of different origin, who settled themselves in different parts of the country.

INTRODUCTION.

. The philologist also will find much material for curious and interesting research in the widely varying patois still existing unimpaired in many provinces, which have evidently arisen from the mixture of French with va rious other dialects of different origin. But if, O, gentle reader, thou chancest to belong to any of these grave and learned classes, peradventure — nay, assuredly — I should be guilty of presumption in inviting thee to be a companion of my summer ramble, without warning thee that I am none of these ; alas ! sir, neither politician, historian, philosopher, physiologist, nor philologist, but a simple admirer of Nature in all her moods, an humble gleaner in the bypaths of history, and sometimes a desultory wanderer in the shady lanes of hoar antiquity, whose ways are, as the poet sings, " nor rough, nor bar ren," " but strewn with flowers."

And now, most gentle reader, that I have been thus honest with thee, and we fairly understand each other, how sayest thou? Wilt thou allow me to be thy guide through those wide-spread provinces of central France, which extend from the Loire to the Dordogne? The fertile Touraine, the picturesque Anjou, the storied La Vendee, Bordeaux, the rich,

INTRODUCTION.

. Perigord, dear to the gourmand, the back ward Limousin, the aristocratic Berri, with many an etcetera, shall all be ransacked in turn, and all yield us somewhat to admire or to reflect on, somewhat to interest our curiosity or amuse our fancy. Allons ! PARISIAN PLEASURE-PARTIES.

Chapter II

Departure from Paris — Parisian Pleasure-Parties — French Railroads— Versailles— The Musee Monstre— " Toutes les Gloires de la Fiance " — Princess Mary's " Maid of Orleans " — Journey to Rambouillet — St. Cyr — Chateau de Rambouillet — Journey to Epernon — A " Commissionaire, comme il y en a peu" — Epernon — A Night's Unrest — Maintenon — The Chateau — Journey to Chartres. At eight o'clock on as bright a morning as ever smiled on the white walls and grey roofs of Paris, I reached the railroad station among a crowd of hurrying, chattering passengers, bound, some for St. Germains, and some for Versailles. The latter was my destination, as it was that of by far the greater number of the crowd. For it was one of the days on which Louis Philippe's musee monstre is open to his ad miring subjects ; and the loveliness of the morning — one of the first really fine days of the spring of 1840 — had tempted numerous parties of pleasure-loving Parisians and sight seeing strangers to fix on this morning for their visit to Versailles.

TERMINUS OF THE RAILWAY We Versaillians were all marshalled into the right-hand apartment of the two, which are prepared respectively to receive the tra vellers proceeding to the two destinations to which the railroad conducts. Here we had to wait half an hour, while our more fortunate neighbours in the next room were despatched to St. Germains. The minutes passed how ever not without amusement amid the gabble which filled the room on all sides. A French man is totally without that feeling, whatever it may be, which makes an Englishman dis like speaking of his little domestic arrange ments and household affairs before indifferent strangers. The various groups around me were many of them loudly discussing the dif ficulties which they had had to surmount be fore the desired trip to Versailles could be accomplished, or their various plans for pass ing the day when there, including minute cal culations of expense, and warmly debated comparisons of the economy or costliness of various descriptions of refreshment.

At length, amid the still unabated clamour, a bell sounded, the doors of our prison were unbarred, and we all rushed pell-mell down the steps leading to the carriages. I clam bered to one of the seats with which the. roofs of some of the carriages are furnished : in FRENCH RAILROADS. about five minutes, by dint of intense hurry ing, running, screaming, pushing, and swear ing, all had seated themselves in the carriages, a bugle sounded, and off we went at a very staid and sober pace. We performed the distance, about thirteen miles, in forty minutes exactly, a degree of speed which quite as much exceeds that of the conveyances it has superseded, as the rate of travelling on our railways exceeds that of our best coaches. But it is very much to be doubted whether France is yet sufficiently advanced in com mercial energy, in general wealth and pro sperity, and, above all, in confidence and security, to enable her to undertake such gigantic enterprizes as those of our railway companies with safety or advantage.

No French company has yet been able to com plete its operations without aid from the go vernment. The truth is, that " la grande nation" has fallen into the mistake of that great Cornish giant, whose lamentable end has been recorded in the instructive chronicle of Jack the Giant-Killer, as a memorable warning against overweening ambition. Now this great giant, when he saw little Jack make away with an enormous and most enviable quantity of hasty-pudding, and immediately VERSAILLES. afterwards disembarrass himself of the load without inconvenience, exclaimed, as the vera cious legend informs us, " Odds boddikins ! hur can do that hurself!" And the unfor tunate monster, in attempting to follow accurately the example of hissubtle-witted adver sary, " ripped up his own bowels." This is an instructive parable, which might be recommended to the notice of our neigh bours with advantage as regards some other matters, as well as their two railroads, one on each side of the Seine.

The terminus of the line at Versailles is about a mile from the chateau, and a number of conveyances of various descriptions were waiting to convey the passengers to the grand object of nearly all of them. I preferred, however, to walk ; and when I arrived at the palace, I found that I had an hour and a half to dispose Of before the Musee would be open, which it never is till eleven o'clock. I first secured a place in, or rather on a huge vehicle, partaking of the nature of a diligence and an omnibus, which was to start for Rambouillet at one o'clock, and employed the rest of the time in a stroll among the stately alleys of the gardens, and the long, formal, half-deserted streets of noble man sions, which constitute this town, so vastly MUSEE MONSTRE. 14 too large and too magnificent for its present fortunes.