an here the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien was brought from across the frontier, tried, and shot, by Napoléon's order, 20th March, 1804. A marble pillar in the ditch marks the spot"Hic cecidit" (here he fell.) Louis XV. lived here when young; Mirabeau was a prisoner here; the ministers of Charles X. were also sent here; and, lately, it was the residence of the Duke of Montpensier. Here Thiers, Changarnier, Cavaignac, &c., were confined on the memorable 2nd December, 1851. It is a moated space, 4,115 feet by 656, with remains of towers on the walls; and, besides three or four courts, includes the tall square Donjon, with round towers and turrets at the corner (now a powder magazine); and la Sainte Chapelle, a later pointed building of the 16th century (begun 1379, by Charles V.), having three spires, the Duc d'Enghien's tomb, good traceried windows, stained by J. Cousin, in which you see the devices of Henry IV. (an H.) and Diane de Poictiers (a crescent). The beautiful armoury is worth seeing; admission by ticket, on Saturday, A great fête is held in the woods, on August 15th. Under its trees the excellent St. Louis used, frequently, to administer justice to his people. To the south of it is St. Maur-le-Pont, on the right bank of the Marne, near a canal of 3,640 feet tunnelled through the rock, for the purpose of cutting off a bend of the river.] The line runs close to the Seine, to Villeneuve-St.-Georges (44 miles), a pretty spot under a hill, in department Seine-et-Oise, on the Seine, where the Yères joins (crossed by a threearched viaduct), among many country-seats. That of Beauregard, on a hill, commands a fine view. Villeneuve, so called, is as old as Charlemagne's time. A suspension bridge leads over to Villeneuve-le-Roi. Coaches to Crosne and l'Abbaye d' Yères-the latter having (at a factory) traces of an old Benedictine house; and Crosne, being the birth-place of Boileau, at a house in Rue Simon. A large viaduct crosses the valley of the Yères, 130 yards long, on 9 arches, to Brunoy (23 miles), which is in a forest, and has a château of Louis XVIII., who gave the estate, with the title of Duc de Brunoy, to our great Wellington; one of his many well-earned rewards though scarcely heard of till his death. Rochefoucauld was at one time the owner. It stands on the site of a favourite seat of Philippe de Valois. There is a spire church of the 13th century. Talma had a house here. Coaches to Guignes, Chaumes, and to Brie-Comté-Robert (9 kil. east-south-east), the old capital of Brie, in a marshy but fertile spot, founded in the 12th century, by Robert de Dreux (brother of Louis VII.), who built the old ruined castle, or Tour-de-Brie. Robert II. built St. Étienne's Gothic church, which has some old tombs. The Hôtel Dieu is nearly as old. Charles VII. took it from the English, 1440. Brie cheese, pens, tiles &c., are made, and there is a good trade in grain. Population, 2,800. Cross the Yères again by a viaduct of 410 yards, on 28 arches, 33 yards high in some parts. Combs-la-Ville (23 miles), a pretty place on the Yères. Lieusaint (3 miles), near Rougeau forest, seen on the south. Cesson (4 miles). Coach to Seine-Port, on the Seine. At 4 miles further, an iron viaduct 72 feet high, on three arches, each 131 feet span, leads over the river to MELUN, 28 miles from Paris. HOTELS.-Du Grand Monarque; Des Princes. Population, 11,290. Capital of department Seine Coaches to Drameil, Vigneux, Limeil, Boissy-St.-et-Marne, and the Melodunum of Cæsar, in a pleaLéger, Valenton. [BOISSY (5 kil. east), is on a hill covered with vineyards and country houses. Grosbois château is near it.] Cross the Yères, by a three-arched viaduct, to Montgeron (1 miles), in Sénart forest, which has two châteaux. sant spot at the foot of a hill, on the Seine, which winds round an island here, on which the oldest part of the town, with its broad quays, is seated. Two bridges, one called the Pont-aux-Moulins (Windmill Bridge), on several irregular arches, join this part to the quarters on the right and left banks; the latter being the best built, and called St, Aspais, after an old solemn-looking Gothic church of the 15th or 16th century, which has some excellent stained windows and slender columns down the aisles. It stands on Grande Place, near the préfecture, which, with the ancient clock tower, was part of St. Pierre's Benedictine abbe of very early date (when Clovis took the town 494, it had several convents, &c.), but damaged by the Normans in their invasion, and finally ruined by Henry IV. in the wars of the League. The préfecture gardens run down to the river, and it stands opposite the château of Vaux-le-Peny, whence there is a good prospect. The Hôtel de Ville was built, 1847-8, in the Renaissance style, with a new tower, matching an ancient one, which it includes. On the Island you see the House of Detention for this and four other departments, an enormous square pile, with two towers, &c., and a church of the 10th century, now in course of restoration. It is the site (built on, since 1740) of the château or palace of the early French kings, where Philippe I. and Robert died, and Blanche, mother of St. Louis, kept her court; Isabella, of Bavaria, fled to it when driven out of Paris. There are in the town, a palais de justice, in an old convent, a library of 10,000 volumes at the préfecture, a theatre, large barracks, &c. The English held possession of Melun between 1420-30. Bishop Amyot, grand almoner of France, and the translater of Plutarch, was born here, 1513. Trade in grain, wine, cattle, Brie cheese, &c. Conveyances: By steamer to Paris, Montereau, &c.; by coach to Barbison, Milly, &c. that, a few days after, he sent its owner into banishment. It belongs to the Duc de VauxPraslin.] From Melun, on the rail, you pass Bois-le-Roi (3 miles), at the border of the forest of Fontainebleau. The Changés viaduct, on 300 arches, and the châteaux of Vaux-Pény (finely seated), and Rochette, are seen; then, 5 miles further, comes FONTAINEBLEAU, 36 miles from Paris. HOTELS.-De Londres, a first-rate hotel, and highly recommended; Hotel de France; Ville de Lyon; Aigle Noir. Omnibuses wait on all the trains. Population, 10,700. English Service, in Rue de la Paroisse. This place, remarkable for its Château, where Napoléon abdicated, 1814, is a sous-préfecture, in department Seine-et-Marne, in a hollow of the Forest. It is well built, and has an Hôtel de Ville; a church, built 1624; the Palais de Justice, in Place du Marché, with the bibliothèque of 28,000 volumes; two hospices, founded by Anne of Austria and Madame de Montespan; a château d'eau, or reservoir, in Rue Baver, for supplying the fountains; statue of General Damesme, erected 1851; and the obelisk to the south, built 1770, when Louis XVI. was married. The Château, or Palace, is an irregular pile, composed of five or six courts, of different ages and styles, chiefly of brick, and high-roofed; joined together by galleries, and adorned with wall paint [At 6 kil. north-east, on the Meaux road, is Vaux-ings, Gobelins tapestry, china, &c. It originated, Praslin, or Vaux-le-Vicomte, a fine château, in the Renaissance style, built by Le Vau, for Louis XIV.'s comptroller of the finances, Vicomte de Fouquet, at a cost of £1,500,000 sterling, and regarded, as Voltaire remarks, as one of the handsomest in Europe. It is richly adorned with sculptures throughout, and paintings by Lebrun and Mignard. The former artist enjoyed a salary of 10,000 francs, besides being paid for each picture he finished. Louis XIV. was magnificently entertained here, 1661, but was so shocked at the display he witnessed 1162-9, in a hunting-seat of Louis VII., called Fontaine de Belle eau, after a spring here; though some explain it Fontaine-Bleaud, from a dog of that name. Philippe-le-Bel died in it; Francis I. greatly improved it; it was the favourite seat of Henry IV.; Louis XIII. was born here, as was Henry III.; the great Condé died here, 1686, the year after Louis XIV. had signed here the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; Louis XV. was married here, 1734. Napoléon, too, here married Marie Louise, 1810, and signed the concordat with Pius VII. (who was here a prisoner) in 1812, and abdicated, 30th March, 1814; and here the late Duke of Orléans was married, 1837, since which the château has been in part restored. A gate called the Entrée d'Honneur, in Place Ferrare (from which a railing of 340 feet divides it), leads into the first court, or Cour du Cheval Blanc, so called from the plaster casts of M. Aurelian's horse at Rome. It is the largest court, and since Napoléon took leave of his guard in it, 20th April, 1814, is commonly styled Cour des Adieux. The second, or Cour de la Fontaine, opens out to the gardens, and has, on one side, the Salle de la Belle Cheminée. Here Charles V. was lodged with his suite, 1539. It contains the apartments of the Queen-Mother, and of the Duke of Orléans. The third court, or Cour Ovale, or du Donjon, the most ancient of all, is long and narrow, and entered by the Porte Dorée (with its frescoes), from the Allée Maintenon. Another gate is called Porte Dauphin, in memory of the birth of Louis XIII. It includes a balcony on 45 pillars, with several rooms or salles, as the Salle de Bal, or Gallery of Henry II., with pictures; the Salles du Trône and du Conseil; a library of 30,000 volumes in waterfalls at the end, from which the canal goes off through the park, towards the old Church of Avon (where a stone records that "Ci-git MONADELXI"). The park contains a Jardin Anglais, a labyrinth, &c., and the royal or treille vine, famous for its abundant supply of Chasselas grapes. You walk from the town directly into the Forest, which is spread over an extent of 35,000 acres, or 550 square miles, on a white sandstone rock, with a very irregular surface. It is pierced by scores of sentiers, or paths; and is full of strikingly picturesque sites, some parts being green and well wooded, with magnificent shady alleys of oak, beech, &c., nearly 100 feet high, and groves of fir ; others, bare and rugged, or covered by patches of heath and broom. The whole has been thoroughly investigated by M. Denecourt, an enthusiastic resident, who has published an excellent plan, and about a dozen numbers of the "Délices de Fontainebleau," containing minute itineraries of the best promenades, and points of view. Trade in wine, fruit, ornaments in juniper wood, called genévrines, &c. A steamer runs on the Seine to Paris. Rail to Francis I.'s chapel, whose gallery of frescoes, by Nemours, Montargis, Nevers, Troyes, &c. Rossi, is here, and the windows of which are stained from designs by the late Princess Marie d'Orléans; a small plain cabinet, remarkable as that in which Napoléon signed his abdication; the gallery of Diana, 1600, and its pictures, by Pujol, &c. In the Fourth Court, or Cour de l'Orangerie, was the Gallerie des Cerfs (so called from being ornamented with stags' heads, but since divided off into separate apartments), where Christina of Sweden put her servant, Monaldeschi, to death, 1657. She lived in the next or fifth court, Cour des Princes, the smallest of all. The last, styled Cour des Cuisines, with the kitchens, &c., was built 1609, and contains a fountain with bronze mascarons or grotesque masques on it. The Chapel was built 1529, by Henry IV. on the site of St. Louis's, and is richly decorated. Statues, besides jets d'eau, are dispersed over the gardens, especially a Telemachus, by Canova, which was Napoléon's favourite. The parterre du Tibre is the oldest; the new one, on the south side, has a large pond, or étang, full of carp, and some The rail to Nemours, Nevers, &c., by the Bourbonnais country, turns off at Moret (as below). [Nemours (17 miles from Fontainebleau), in a hollow, on the river and canal du Loing, has the old castle of the Ducs de Nemours, now used for a public library (3,000 volumes) &c. It belonged to Gaston de Foix, before it came to the Orléans family. Most of the shares in the Loing Canal (the oldest in France, begun by Sully, and finished in 1740), were the property of Louis Philippe and his sister, Mad. Adelaide, till confiscated by the Emperor Napoléon, 1852. Population, 3,740. Near it is Bignon, where Mirabeau was born, 1749. Ferrières (13 miles), on the Loing, memorable for the fruitless diplomatic meeting of Bismarck and Jules Favre, after Sedan; when the latter declared that "not an inch of French soil nor a stone of her fortresses would be given up. Montargis (6 miles), a sous-préfecture in department Loiret, with 8,670 population, on the Orléans canal, where those of Briare and Loing join it, originated in a royal castle, built on a hill (mont), on the site of a Roman camp. One of its |