".......................... Voyez gémir en proie à sa longue torture,
Ce mortel confiné dans sa noire clôture.
Pour unique plaisir et pour seul passe-temps,
De sa lente journée il compte les instans,
Ou de son noir cachot mesure l'étendue,
Ou médite en secret sa fuite inattendue;
Ou, de ceux qu'avant lui renferma la prison,
Lit, sur ces tristes murs, la complainte et le nom:
Et lui-même y traçant sa douloureuse histoire,
A ceux qui le suivront en transmet la mémoire.
C'est peu d'être enchaîné dans ces tristes tombeaux,
Combien de souvenirs viennent aigrir ses maux!
Hélas! tandis qu'auprès de leurs jeunes compagnes;
Dans les riches cités, dans les vastes campagnes;
Ses amis d'autrefois errent en liberté,
Lorsque l'heure propice à la société,
Reconduit chaque soir la jeunesse folâtre
Aux entretiens joyeux, à la danse, au théâtre,
Ou, d'un plaisir plus doux annonçant le retour,
Du moment fortuné vient avertir l'amour,
Il est seul; ... en un long et lugubre silence,
Pour lui le jour s'achêve, et le jour recommence;
Il n'entend point l'accent de la tendre amitié,
Il ne voit point les pleurs de la douce pitié:
N'ayant de mouvement que pour traîner des chaînes,
Un coeur que pour l'ennui, des sens que pour les peines,
Pour lui, plus de beaux jours, de ruisseau, de gazon;
Cette vôute est son ciel, ces murs son horizon,
Son regard, élevé vers les flambeaux célestes,
Vient mourir dans la nuit de ses cachots funestes;
Rien n'égaie à ses yeux leur morne obscurité;
Ou si, par des barreaux avares de clarté,
Un faible jour se glisse en ces antres funêbres,
Il redouble pour lui les horreurs des ténêbres,
Et, le coeur consumé d'un regret sans espoir,
Il cherche la lumière et gémit de la voir."
DELILLE. CHATEAU DE SAINT GERMAIN.
This ancient pile of building is now a barrack for the King's Gardes du Corps, containing two troops, one of Luxembourg, and the other of Grammont, which are relieved every three months.
It is supposed to have been built in the reign of Robert, but there appears to be no certainty as to the exact period. It is interesting to the English traveller, from having been the last refuge of James the Second of England, and the residence, at various times, of very celebrated and distinguished characters. It was taken, and pillaged, and partly burnt, during the reign of Philip VI, in 1346, by Edward the Third, and again by the English in 1419, and rebuilt by Francis the First. During the war of the League in 1574, Catherine de Medicis retired to this Castle, but from the predictions of an astrologer, that she would die there, quitted it shortly after, and returned to the Tuilleries, which Palace she had founded.[14] Henry the Fourth often frequented Saint Germain. The Château Neuf, and one of the towers, called Le Pavilion de Gabrielle, which is still in good preservation, were erected by him, close to the Castle, for the residence of his favourite, La belle Gabrielle:[15] and the superb terrace was begun in his reign. From this spot the view is very interesting and extensive: nothing can surpass the admirable assemblage of hills, meadows, gardens, and vineyards, which charm the eye, and which as they are viewed from its different points on a clear summer's evening, appear at every turn, in new beauty, and endless variety.
[Footnote 14: According to Mezeray, this palace had its name from the spot whereon it is situated, which was called Les Tuilleries, because tiles (des tuiles) were made here. Catherine de Medicis built it 1564. It consisted of nothing but the large square pavilion in the middle, the two wings, and the two pavilions which terminate the wings. Henry IV. Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. afterwards extended, elevated, and embellished it. It is said to be neither so well proportioned, so beautiful, or so regular, as it was at first. The Tuilleries is, nevertheless, a very splendid palace. An astrologer having predicted to Catherine de Medicis, that she would die near St. Germain, she immediately flew, in a most superstitious manner, from all places and churches that bore this name; she no more resorted to St. Germain-en-Laye, and because her palace of the Tuilleries was situated in the parish of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, she was at the expense of building another, which was the Hotel de Soissons, near the church of St. Eustache. When it was known to be Laurence de Saint Germain, Bishop of Nazareth, who had attended her upon her death-bed, people infatuated with astrology averred that the prediction had been accomplished.]
[Footnote 15: Henri IV se plaisait beaucoup à Saint-Germain, et y vint souvent, quand son coeur fut épris des charmes de la belle Gabrielle. Ce prince galant et libéral, qui déjà lui avait prouvé son amour par le don d'une infinité de maisons de campagne, aux environs de Paris, voulut encore lui donner une preuve de sa tendresse, en bâtissant pour elle, à deux cents toises de l'ancien château, une nouvelle et belle habitation, qu'on appela le Château Neuf. Elevé sur les dessins de l'architecte Marchand, il était surtout remarquable par son architecture simple, ses nombreuses devises, les chiffres amoureux et les emblèmes allégoriques qui le décoroient, et qui faisoient une ingénieuse allusion à la passion du monarque pour sa mâitresse. L'une des ailes de ce château s'appelait même le Pavillon de Gabrielle.--Hist. Topo. des Environs de Paris.]
The City of Paris is seen in the distance. The fine aqueduct of Marly, the mountain de Coeur volant, Mount Calvary,[16] and Malmaison to the right; in front the forest of Vésinet, and beyond it the vale of Saint Denis; on the left the hills which encompass the beautiful vale of Montmorency; the Seine winding at the foot, and extending its course until it loses itself in the distance--all within one sweep of the eye!--Such is the enchanting prospect which presents itself.
It was at different times the residence of Louis XIII.[17] of Anne of Austria, Christiana of Sweden, and of Madame La Valière, when Madame de Montespan rivalled her in the affections of Louis XIV. After the former had retired to the Convent of the Carmelites at Paris, it was assigned in 1689 to the unfortunate James the Second, whose bigotry had driven him from the throne of England. Here, together with his Queen, and those of his court who fled with him to seek an asylum in France, and surrounded by those priests and monks, whose pernicious councils had led to his fall, the unhappy James remained until his death, the 16th Sept. 1701. The apartment in which he breathed his last is still preserved; but the whole of the interior has been very much neglected. It served as a quarter for a body of Prussians in 1815, and the following year was a barrack for the English troops quartered at St. Germain. A French poet of his time wrote these lines descriptive of the life he led in his retirement.
"C'est ici que Jacques second,
Sans Ministres et sans maîtresse,
Le matin allait à la Messe,
Et le soir allait au sermon."
[Footnote 16: On the top of this height is the Pavilion de Lucienne, built by Madame Dubarry, Mistress to Louis XV. afterwards the property of Madame La Princesse de Conti, now the residence of M. de Puy: at the foot is the village of Lucienne, surrounded by numerous villas: among the most remarkable is the residence of General Comte Campon.]