A Ramble Round France (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 Excerpt: ...it would take a long time indeed to tell you of a quarter of the sights of Paris, and you would be very weary before we had finished. We will therefore break off here, and betake ourselves to another of the royal residences, the old Castle of Fontainebleau, lying about thirty-seven miles from Paris, in a southerly direction, close to the town of the same name, in the midst of the splendid forest. The palace is not grand in outward appearance, but it is vast and venerable. Originally built by Robert the Pious, in the tenth century, it was rebuilt by Louis VII., and added to by Louis IX. Francis I., finding that it was falling into decay, restored the chateau magnificently, and received the Emperor Charles V. there in great state. Much of the building we now see dates from that time; but Fontainebleau has been a favourite pleasure palace with most of the French monarchs, and each one seems to have done something towards its embellishment. There are six courts, the buildings round them being of red brick, and by no means lofty; the gardens, something in the style of those at Hampton Court, are handsome, and in the ponds are some large carp that are very old and tame, coming to be fed with the most perfect confidence in your good intentions. The palace was very carefully restored in the style of the different periods of its construction by Louis Philippe, and the apartments of Catherine de Medici and Anne of Austria fitted up for the Due d'Orleans when he married. These were the rooms occupied by Pope Pius VII., when brought to Fontainebleau, ostensibly as a visitor, but in reality as a prisoner, by Napoleon, and there took place those scenes of alternate cajolery and rage to which the only answer of the shrewd and dignified old man was either "Comedie &qu...