Royal Palaces and Parks of France   By: Milburg F. Mansfield (1871-)

WORKS OF

FRANCIS MILTOUN

Rambles on the Riviera $2.50

Rambles in Normandy 2.50

Rambles in Brittany 2.50

The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine 2.50

The Cathedrals of Northern France 2.50

The Cathedrals of Southern France 2.50

In the Land of Mosques and Minarets 3.00

Royal Palaces and Parks of France 3.00

Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country 3.00

Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces 3.00

Castles and Chateaux of Old Burgundy and the Border Provinces 3.00

Italian Highways and Byways from a Motor Car 3.00

The Automobilist Abroad net 3.00

( Postage Extra )

L. C. Page and Company

53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.

[Illustration: Terrace of Henri IV, Saint Germain ( See page 286 )]

[Illustration]

ROYAL PALACES AND PARKS OF FRANCE

by

FRANCIS MILTOUN

Author of "Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine," "Castles and Chateaux of Old Burgundy," "Rambles in Normandy," "Italian Highways and Byways from a Motor Car," etc.

With Many Illustrations Reproduced from paintings made on the spot by Blanche Mcmanus

Boston L. C. Page & Company 1910

Copyright, 1910. by L. C. Page & Company. (Incorporated) All rights reserved

First Impression, November, 1910

Printed by The Colonial Press C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U. S. A.

Preface

"A thousand years ago, by the rim of a tiny spring, a monk who had avowed himself to the cult of Saint Saturnin, robed, cowled and sandalled, knelt down to say a prayer to his beloved patron saint. Again he came, this time followed by more of his kind, and a wooden cross was planted by the side of the "Fontaine Belle Eau," by this time become a place of pious pilgrimage. After the monk came a king, the latter to hunt in the neighbouring forest."

It was this old account of fact, or legend, that led the author and illustrator of this book to a full realization of the wealth of historic and romantic incidents connected with the French royal parks and palaces, incidents which the makers of guidebooks have passed over in favour of the, presumably, more important, well authenticated facts of history which are often the bare recitals of political rises and falls and dull chronologies of building up and tearing down.

Much of the history of France was made in the great national forests and the royal country houses of the kingdom, but usually it has been only the events of the capital which have been passed in review. To a great extent this history was of the gallant, daring kind, often written in blood, the sword replacing the pen.

At times gayety reigned supreme, and at times it was sadness; but always the pageant was imposing.

The day of pageants has passed, the day when lords and ladies moved through stately halls, when royal equipages hunted deer or boar on royal preserves, when gay cavalcades of solemn cortèges thronged the great French highways to the uttermost frontiers and ofttimes beyond. Those days have passed; but, to one who knows the real France, a ready made setting is ever at hand if he would depart a little from the beaten paths worn smooth by railway and automobile tourists who follow only the lines of conventional travel.