The Spell of the Heart of France

masterpiece of the French art of the seventeenth century. But this time it is not a question of a peril which is more or less distant. The destruction of Maisons is

sculptures which adorn the walls; they will sell them; then they will tear down the building. The fra

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single one of these can be found who will preserve for France one of the monuments which are the glory of French architecture. Not one of those public administrations which incessantly build at enormous expense hospitals, asylums, colleges, has thought that it might be able, by uti

s can find the necessary money to purchase archaeological curiosities and foreign trifles! 11 And you will see that, as soon as Maisons is stripped by the house wreckers, it will be found very prope

and the cascades which were placed between the chateau and the Seine, and demolished the great stables, a magnificent building decorated with precious sculptures, whic

tore some beauty to the fragments of park which had been preserved. Even today there remain pretty thick

omorrow will be no more than a pile of rubble and plaster. It ravishes us by the beauty of its lines, by the happy ch

les, and women, terminated like sphinxes, as lions or dogs. To the right and left, before the pavilions of the wings, rise tw

ecorated, on its four faces, with grand bas-reliefs representing four divinities: never did sculptures show more docility, more suppleness, in clothing archit

of the great Condé, an antique triumph is marshaled, the adorable playing children which Van Obstal carved above the cornice of the grand stone staircase, the noble caryatides which sustain the dome of the bedchamber, all the decoration of the guardroom where, about 1840, a poor painter called Bida

riginals on the ancient pedestals. But the hall has retained its coffered ceiling, whose bas-reliefs equal, in grace, fancy and richness of invention, the most delicate works of the Renaissance, in surety and simplicity of execution, the

olition, the heart contracts, and we ask with anger how such vandalism is still possi

by Fran?ois Mansart, between 16

sions were near Dieppe, possessed the territory of Maisons from the end

to begin it over again on a new plan, because he was not satisfied with his work. The expense was enormous: it has been estimated at more than six millions. Maisons, when it was finished, was considered one of the most beautiful chateaux of France. How could Longueil afford this royal fancy? We are very ill

u, great lords, you will all die like the least of men; here is one who comes to say that your nephew is dead." This fool talked like Bossuet. Mlle, de Montpensier adds that she went to pay her respects to the King and that she wept bitterly with him. "He was deeply afflicted, and with reason, fo

corridors and tiny chambers. A larger apartment, however, exists in the center of the building, below the lantern which crowns the roof

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eighteen he was President of Parliament. Re was said to be a good Latinist. His education had been irreligious and he loved science. He had established a chemical laboratory, where he manufactured the

a society ready to admire him. He knew, above all, that the President was the nephew of Mada

for the curate of Maisons and confessed. The Dana? of the alcove possibly heard the confession of Voltaire! Doctor Gervasi saved the dying man by making him drink "two hundred pints of lemonade." A

which they sent to Paris, one of the most beautiful edifices of the kingdom would have been destroyed. They hid this strange news from me on my arrival; I knew it when I awoke; you cannot imagine how great was my despair; you know the generous care which M. de Maisons had taken of me; I had been treated like a brother in his house, and the reward of so much go

y grief. M. de Maisons crowned his bounty by giving me the news himself in letters which make very evident that he excels in heart

We may also be shown the chamber of Lafayette. In addition, decorations in Empire

able beauty of the architecture and of the decorations has n