terrors were not hidden by clumps of rhododendrons, laurels, laurestinas, and many flowering creepers. It was built in the course of three weeks by the architect Ledoux, who was at infinite pains to satisfy himself and the capricious beauty who had ordered its erection. Amongst the many plans which he conceived, one is still extant. He had an idea of raising in front of the pavilion a colossal arch of red brick, broken at one of its extremities. Through the opening of this arch would have been seen at a distance, and as it were at the end of a telescope, the pavilion of Luciennes, with its dazzling façade, its four columns of opal, and its airy gallery. This was a thought worthy of Italy, even with the architect's own embellishments, but the climate, little better than our own, and affected by its proximity to the Seine, afforded him little scope for indulging in long perspectives, and renouncing his arch, Ledoux contented himself with constructing the pavilion such as it remains to this day, with its graceful form and fluted Ionic columns, crowned by an open gallery. It is a temple dedicated to any of the goddesses-Venus, Juno, or Diana-but not a regular dwelling, for it requires more than a complaisant imagination to see in it a habitable house, though it contained a dining-room, saloon, bed-room, kitchen, cellar, and even a garret. But these domestic denominations wrought no change in the character of the building, which is perfectly Greek within as well as without, and therefore very unfit for people of the present day. All the principal rooms are circular. This graceful form-very ill-adapted, however, for modern furniture, is the sole beauty which they have preserved after the lapse of half a century. There is no longer any gilding-no glasses, no pictures remain all have disappeared. The walls alone have remained, and owing to the pavilion having been almost always occupied, are in good preservation. Between the brilliant fêtes of Madame du Barri and the dramatic soirées given by a contemporaneous member of the Chamber of Deputies, the last occupant of Luciennes, there intervened to its detriment only the dark days of the reign of terror, the place having always been the property of wealthy and distinguished people. Right and left, on the outside of the pavilion, were two admirably executed marble statues of Allegrain; one represented a nymph leaving the bath, the other Diana surprised by Actæon. The poet Guichard wrote the following distich on this charming group :— Sous ce marbre imposteur, toi que Diane attire, The statue of the baigneuse attested no less strikingly the taste of Madame du Barri in the selection she made of the works of art which she placed at Luciennes before the eyes of the king. Hear how Diderot speaks of this nymph, writing of it 1767:- Belle, belle, sublime figure, la plus parfaite figure de femme que les modernes aient faite. La critique la plus sévère est restée muette devant elle. Les belles épaules! qu'elles sont belles! comme ce dos est potelé ! quelle forme de bras! quelles precieuses, quelles miraculeuses vérités de nature dans toutes ces parties!! comment a-t-on imaginé ce pli au bras gauche? Ce sont des détails sans fin, mais si doux, qu'ils n'ôtent rien au tout, qu'ils n'attachent point au dépens de la masse; ils y sont et ils n'y sont pas; que de choses que l'on sent et qu'on ne peut pas rendre! J'ai dit que la sculpture, cette année, était pauvre. Je me suis trompé. Quand elle a produit une pareille figure, elle est riche. Cette statue est pour le roi." He should have said for Madame du Barri. Diderot has said much more on the subject, which we have not space to transcribe here, but he has not gone beyond the truth, and posterity has confirmed his opinion. Many an English traveller has no doubt often stood before this statue, now in the sculpture gallery of the Louvre, lost in admiration of the lovely baigneuse, ignorant of whence it came, and, haply, imagining that he was gazing on one of the marvels of Greek art. The Louvre, however, ran the risk of losing this treasure only a few years back, for one of the heirs of Madame du Barri commenced a law-suit for its recovery, but it either failed or Madame de Neuville, the claimant, received an equivalent, for the statue is still in the gallery. In the peristyle of the pavilion was a fine bas-relief by Lecomte of Bacchanalian children, of exquisite grace and harmonious proportions. The apartments of this abode are few in number, but sufficiently spacious to allow of the display which was demanded by furniture richer than was ever seen at Trianon, at Marly, or even at Versailles. Before we speak of the interior, it is but just to say that Madame du Barri royally rewarded the architect. Ledoux was named inspector of the salt-works in Franche Comté, with a salary of 8000 livres. The vestibule, which served as a dining-room, was ornamented with pilasters of gray marble, and round it were ranged four galleries for the musicians of the countess on her gala days. In the same hall were several fine pictures by Greuze, who was commissioned to paint them by Madame du Barri-her fulllength portrait by Drouet, and her bust by Pajou. Madame du Barri must have been surpassingly lovely; we may believe so without difficulty, since her enemies-and no man or woman ever had so manywho have attacked her birth, the virtue of her mother, the reputation of her father, and of her husband, who have, in short, libelled her in every possible way in every public print in Europe-all, even the executioner, into whose hands she fell at last, unhesitatingly admitted her beauty. And how beautiful she must have been ! Those who have not seen her portrait, may fancy the original from the following description by Madame le Brun : : "Elle était d'une taille moyenne; des cheveux cendrés et bouclés comme ceux d'un enfant, descendaient le long de son visage d'une coupe admirable. Sa gorge était très forte, mais très belle, et ses yeux allongés, jamais ouverts, lui donnaient quelque chose d'enfantin." The portrait of Madame du Barri by Drouet (or Drouais) is incontestably a chef-d'œuvre; Vandyke has few superior to it. It bears the stamp of a perfect likeness, and this merit is heightened by an incomparable sweetness of drawing and colouring. The eyes and mouth have all that sleepy air ascribed to them by Madame le Brun; the forehead is high and fair, and the graceful figure is enveloped in a species of polka, (or Rhingrave, as it was then called,) which partially opens in front, reveals a lace frill, and a snowy bosom. There was also a fine portrait of her by Madame le Brun herself, which is still at Luciennes. Madame du Barri was not only beautiful, but her beauty was enduring. In 1781, at six-and-thirty years of age, she produced an impression on the Comte d'Allonville-ne -never very favourably disposed towards herwhich he thus describes in his Memoirs :-"I saw Madame du Barri at the time of her going into Normandy to pay a visit to the Duke de Brissac. As I examined her appearance, I could not at all reconcile what I had read of her and what her countenance expressed; not the slightest trace of her former condition (son ancien état) was observable in the decency of her air, the grace of her manners, and that refined bearing equally remote from pride as from humility, from license as from prudery; the sight of her alone sufficed to refute all that had been said against her. Moreover, she appeared to me extremely agreeable, and it would have caused me no surprise to learn that she had awakened new passions, as it is the fact that she has acquired many real friends." The king and Madame du Barri delighted in breakfasting in the vestibule, from whence they obtained a magnificent view of the country in the direction both of Versailles and St. Germain. The king was a great gourmand, and ate much and frequently; he was passionately fond of champagne, and put little stint on his enjoyment of Bordeaux, a wine which, though long known, had only recently been brought into fashion by the Duke de Richelieu. Zamore, the young negro, waited at table in the costume of an African of the Opera Comique, with a head-dress of feathers of divers colours, and bracelets and anklets of solid gold. The name of Zamore was given to him by Madame du Barri, to flatter the vanity of the author of "Alzire ;" he was very handsome, and scandal, which was so rife with regard to the favourite, affirmed that he was one of the numerous caprices of his mistress. Almost all the dishes that were served up to the king at these breakfasts were flavoured with amber or musk,-a secret in cookery introduced by the Duke de Richelieu, but now forgotten. It very seldom happened that these repasts ended without the king bestowing some rich present, a parure of diamonds or pearls, or some magnificent jewel, on his mistress. Though deficient in the grandeur and generosity of his grandfather, Louis XV. was a perfect king in the eyes of the women on account of his gallantry in small matters. He it was who set the fashion of making presents of portraits, snuff-boxes, services of china, rings, medallions, watches, and all those pretty objects which decorate the person or ornament the boudoir. One charm there was about Madame du Barri full of novelty for the king during the first part of their intimacy, namely, a freedom of speech and manners which was a perfect relief to the insipidity of his former mistresses of quality, the Chateauroux and Pompadours, and consoled him for his monotonous pleasures at the Parc aux Cerfs. He was enchanted with the laissez-aller of this fearless beauty, who spared no one as she passed in review the Court of Versailles. All were mercilessly shown up,-princesses, duchesses, countesses, every one of whatever rank who by their jealousy and envy declared themselves her rivals. She revealed the names of all their lovers and exposed all their intrigues, having acquired the knowledge of these things from the police at a somewhat high price. The king listened eagerly to every piquant detail-with which he regularly entertained his chosen friends at her petit lever. We have mentioned the Parc aux Cerfs,-a few words only are necessary in making further allusion to it. For thirty-four years Louis XV. kept up this strange establishment, the mere name of which can scarcely be uttered without shuddering; he kept it up to the period of his death, notwithstanding his numerous mistresses, notwithstanding the latest and loveliest, Madame du Barri, who never spoke to him on the subject, a proof at any rate of her tact. The Parc aux Cerfs was a remote, isolated, melancholy place, whither Louis repaired alone at night, to indulge in pleasures, or rather, commit crimes, which he at last brought himself to think he fully atoned for both towards God and man by the pensions he bestowed on the victims of his appetite. The cost of this hideous den was nearly three hundred and seventy thousand francs a month, or, for the time it lasted, upwards of six millions sterling! Louis XV. was excessively fond of the strawberries and raspberries of Luciennes, which are still so celebrated in the Parisian fruit markets. In summer, when he came to visit her, Madame du Barri always gathered him a plate-full as an accompaniment to the coffee which she prepared herself for him whom she called her dear France, the name she had chosen to give him. After breakfast the king adjourned to the salon, and there, seated in an easy-chair, enjoyed the magnificent view which lay spread at his feet beyond the waters of the Seine. The scene before him was calculated to awaken a thousand associations. On the horizon the château and terrace of St. Germain's were visible, with the recollections attached to them of Louis XII., of François Premier, and Louis XIV., who was born there. On the right rise the white walls of Bougival, the burial-place of that famous engineer, Rennequin Sualem, who invented the marvellous machine at Marly, which carries the waters of the Seine through the air to shower them in the bronze basins of Versailles. To the left is Maisons, the residence at distant periods of Voltaire and Jacques Lafitte. A little nearer is Malmaison, where Delille translated the Georgics, and whither the Empress Josephine retired after her divorce; Ruel, where her ashes rest, and where Richelieu had a château, is also visible. Nanterre, too, the native place of Ste. Geneviève, and Vaulx, where Francis I. was suckled; besides a hundred other places, all of which have their celebrity, and are intimately connected with the history of France during a period of 300 years. Nor were the treasures of art within the saloon less attractive, at least to the lover of Madame du Barri,— than the charms of external nature. It was distinguished from all the royal apartments by the exquisite choice of all the objets with which it was decorated. The glasses, floors, walls, pictures, statues, mouldings, tables, chairs, hangings, cabinets, and china, were all of the most elaborate workmanship and of the finest taste. All the models and types were destroyed as soon as the copies were created, for the object was that these chefs d'œuvre should become priceless, and so, in fact, it has happened, for the name of Madame du Barri has exercised a magical influence in the market of curiosities, the value of every thing that once belonged to her having increased a hundred fold. The ceiling of the saloon, as well as of the bed-chamber and library, was covered with rustic pictures by Fragonard and Briard, and the innumerable statuettes were the workmanship of Pigalle and Pajou. In this fairy apartment, all the ornaments of detail, the chimney-pieces, the bolts, the chandeliers, the cornices, the keys and the handles of the doors, were all wrought of or embellished with the finest goldsmith's work; and where less precious metals, such as iron and copper were employed, the skill bestowed on their manufacture has made them of as much value as gold. When the king had sufficiently amused himself at the windows of the saloon, he entered the library, which was on the right hand side, and was fitted up with the same magnificence as the rest of the château. It was adorned with several choice pictures and some fine sculpture : amongst the latter were two small statues by Vassé, one at each extremity of the library; the first represented Love, the second, holding a mask, was Deceit. Numerous allegorical bronzes on ebony pedestals, the work of Goutières, were scattered through the apartment. The fittings up of this splendid room were of the richest kind, and the wood employed in the construction of the shelves and bookcases was entirely of cedar-the real cedar of Lebanon-the same sacred wood that Solomon used in building the Temple; all the exterior decorations were of pure gold, incrusted and wreathed in the most graceful forms. The contents of the library itself were characteristic of the owner. The licentious literature of the eighteenth century needs no description, and here it was enshrined. Amongst the least reprehensible were the Religieuse of Diderot, the Poems of Boufflers and Piron, the Pucelle of Voltaire, the Portefeuille d'un Dragon, and the Tales of Voisenon and Grécourt; the nature of the rest may easily be divined. They were all superbly bound, and the most favourite were enclosed in covers of silk and velvet, strewn with fine pearls and embroidered with the cypher and coronet of the countess! The cost of these precious works was rendered still more costly in the eyes of the lovers of curious collections by an additional refinement of luxury. Instead of the engravings which appear in ordinary copies, Madame du Barri caused to be inserted the original drawings from which the engravings were made-the designs of Boucher, of Chardin, of Lancret, and of Watteau, a style of decoration which greatly augmented their value. In her hours of leisure, the Sultana of Luciennes, reclined upon a divan, and was wont to beguile the time till her royal slave came to her feet by reading Zadig, or Candide, out of a copy worth, perhaps, 10,000 francs. The tempest of the first revolution has not entirely destroyed these books of a class which has been rightly named the Bibliothèque Infernale; from time to time they find their way to light, and are eagerly bought up by those in whose eyes the beauty of the ornament which surrounds them is an attraction that outweighs all other considerations. The sleeping-room was on the other side of the saloon, and, like the library, faced the river. Here all the decorations-the bed, the curtains, the furniture, the carpet, were of azure velvet; the ceiling was painted by Briard, and represented with exquisite skill the charms of a country life; the fire-place, which took the form of a golden tripod, stood out in bright relief against a chimney-piece of blue porcelain-of the tint which is only given to it at Sevres. It was in this chamber that Madame du Barri conquered the last show of opposition which the king sometimes made to her requests;-here he could refuse her nothing. It was in this room that she obtained for the Duke d'Aiguillon the privilege of succeeding Monsieur de Chaulnes in the post of commandant of the chevau-légers, an appointment in some respects as useful to the holder as that of minister, for it afforded the opportunity of private audiences of the king. The Duke de Choiseul strongly opposed this nomination, but his star was every day growing paler before that of Madame du Barri, until it was finally eclipsed. It was on this triumphant battle-field she put that daring question to the king, à propos of a new cook whom she had resolved to send away, although master of his craft, because he resembled the minister. "Sire," said the countess, "I have sent away my Choiseul; when do you mean to dismiss yours?" The minister's time was now at hand; all the notabilities of the court, who foresaw his fall, began to rally round the mistress. She was on the |