thic building lions, tigers, wolves, leopards, and other ferocious. animals, were kept there till the days of Lewis XIV, who caufed them to be tranfported to Verfailles. The park of Vincennes contains 1467 acres (arpens); it lies in front of the caftle, and forms one of its moft beautiful ornaments. The Wood of Beauty (lois de Beauté) is particularly remarkable, fituated.on an eminence whence the river Marne is feen; it is enclosed in a small park of fifty-two acres, that are called the park of Beauty. It was in this delightful fituation that the caftle of Beauty formerly ftood, in which the firt Kings of France often refided. Its antiquity is fo great, that it has never been known by what prince it was built; and being deftroyed feveral centuries, we now find only thickets in the place which it occupied. The park of Vincennes was long the only one in France, while the forefts of Fontainbleau, St. Germain, and Compiegne, open and without enclosure, contributed to the delight of the Kings in bunting. It is only fince the reign of Francis I, that the tafte for parks began to become general, and that the number of which has multiplied fo prodigiously to the prejudice of agriculture. The great and fmall parks have always been diftinguifhed at Vincennes; the latter was referved exclufively for the amufement of the Kings, who enlarged it fucceffively, by the acquifition of land from different individuals. "About the year 1164, Lewis VII, full of veneration for the order of Grammont, whofe religious were known by the name of Ermites, formed the project of eftablishing them in the wood of Vincennes, on the ruins of the ancient Roman college dedicated to Sylvanus. He required a certain number of these religious from their General, received them with refpect, and endowed them with royal magnificence. These monks practifed great aufterity, perfect difintereftedness, and lived in a retirement equal to that of the ancient hermits. One of them, called friar Bernard, obtained fome influence at Court, and engaged Philip Auguftus to expel the Jews from France. Some years after (1190) the fame prince, preparing to make a voyage to the Holy Land, at the head of an army of croisaders, made his will in the castle of Vincennes (called of Beauty), and ordered very particularly that, during his abfence, no perfon should be prefented to an ecclefiaftical benefice without the advice and confent of friar Bernard. During the winter of 1419 the fcarcity of wood was so exceffive, that the people were obliged to burn fruit trees and the joifts of the houfes. Charles VII allowed them to cut all the wood of Vincennes, which was promptly executed, and the trees as foon as felled were carried to Paris and fold very dear, as the English, being mafters of the environs of the capital, fuffered almost nothing to enter”. The humanity of the English army allowed the people this relief, which otherwife they could have intercepted; but it would be too much to expect magnanimity in a modern Frenchman fufficient to induce him to acknowledge this fact, which however is recorded by feveral ancient French hiftorians.-REV. The Queen, who retired to Vincennes, had nothing but green wood for her fires, while on the roads and in the streets of Paris were feen orly the poor dying of hunger and cold. Lewis XI, in 1469, inftituted the order of St. Michel, of which the prior of the Ermites of the wood of Vincennes was made Chancellor. But in 1584 Henry III, by a treaty with Francis de Neuville, Abbot of Grammont, detached the priory of Vincennes from this order, and transferred the monks to the royal college of Mignon at Paris. In virtue of this agreement the King eftablished in the priory of Vincennes the minor friars, or Cordeliers of Obfervance, who not being fatisfied there (although it is not known for why) returned to their convent in Paris. The King then brought from the convent of our Lady of Chaillot eighteen Minimes, called Bons Hommes, and eftablished them in the wood of Vincennes. Thefe latter religious were called in France Bons Hommes (good men) becaufe Lewis XI, charmed with the piety of Francis de Paula, their founder, whom he had brought from Italy to be near him, ufually called him bon homme. Henry III then erected several elegant buildings for the monks, ornamented with paintings, relicks, and books of devotion, all of which were afterwards pillaged as belonging to the King. While the antique college of the Druids, at firft changed into a temple confecrated to the god Sylvanus, was metamorphofed into a monaflery by the piety of the ancient kings, they themselves often lived in the Caftle of Beauty. 66 Pope John XXII preaching at Rome on the view of God which the bleffed are faid to enjoy in another lije, declared that this view would not be entire and perfect till after the refurrection and the lust judgment, and fent two legates to France to maintain and propagate this opinion. The King, Philip de Valois, convened at the Castle of Beauty all the mafters in theology, bishops, and abbots, which were then at Paris; and after feveral conferences, the unanimous decifion of the affembly was, that fince the death of Jefus Chrift the fouls of the faithful enjoy in Heaven, face to face, a perfect view of God, and that this view will remain the fame after the resurrection*. Philip de Valois fent this decifion to the Pope, who replied that HE WOULD HAVE HIM BURNT IF IT WERE NOT RETRACTED!! Such a menace would appear extraordinary, if we did not confider the time in which this monarch lived. "Charles V was fo pleafed with this refidence in Vincennes, that he had formed the project of building a walled town all round it, doubtless to avenge himself of the Parifians, who had formerly fhut their gates against him; but death terminated this project. Charles VII was not lefs attached to Vincennes, which he gave to his miftrefs, Agnes Sorel, juftly called, in confequence of her We recommend this folemn and unanimous decifion to the confideration of the advocates for purgatory, and also the atrocious menace of the Pope, who can in this act scarcely be deemed a Chriftian, we should fuppofe, even by the most bigotted devotees of Popish fuper.. ftition.-REV. charms, the Beauty of Beauties. She enjoyed this royal domain till her death. Agnes loved Charles himfelf, and had no other object than the glory of her lover and the happinefs of the ftate. Diftinguifhing herself by virtues rarely found in the miftreffes of kings, the concerted with the baftard of Orleans (the famous Dunois) the means of arousing the King from the lethargy in which he had fallen, and of awakening his courage by recalling him to his duty. It was by a political artifice that Joan of Arc, called the Maid of Orleans, was prefented to the King as fent from God, raifed up by Heaven to deliver France from the oppreffion of the English. The moft enlightened affected to believe it; the foldier, perfuaded that God had declared for him, marched with confidence; and the valour, prudence, and virtue of this generous girl correfponding with the idea which had been formed of them, the King owed to her his first fuccefs. Francis I evinced his juft efteem for the beautiful Agnes Sorel, in writing the following verfes below the portrait of this celebrated woman: Gentille Agnes! plus d'honneur tu merité, La caufe etant de France recouvrer, Que ce que peut dedans un cloître ouvrer, "The little union which existed between Charles VII and the Dauphin, fince Lewis XI, occafioned Lewis to be fufpected of poifoning Agnes Sorel, who died the 4th of Feb. 1450, in the Caftle of Beauty, aged 40 years, regretted by the King, the Court, and the people. She never abufed favour, and united the rare qualities of tender lover, firm friend, and good citizen. The death of Agnes feemed the prefage of the ruin of the Cattle of Beauty. It had long been found too fmall, and was then abandoned entirely. The falubrity of the fituation, however, rendered it a proper royal refidence, and Philip de Valois, with this view, had an old caftle demolished which was built in 1223, and laid the foundation of that subfifting to our times, and called the Dungeon. It was raised to the ground floor in 1333; twenty-four years after King John carried it to the third ftory, but the work was again interrupted by the captivity of this monarch, who was made prifoner at the battle of Poictiers, and carried to London. The works, notwithstanding the miffortunes of the times, were refumed by his fon Charles, who was declared regent, although the Parifians refufed to receive him. This prince took the old and new calles as well as the wood of Vincennes in 1358, encamped there with 30,000 men, and ravaged the furrounding country. Becoming King, under the title of Charles V, he founded the holy chapel near the caftle of Vincennes. It was in 1290 that Philip-le-Bel, who refided in one of the ancient royal houfes of Vincennes, there iffued an ordinance on the state of his houfe. John Goupil, treasurer, at the expenfe of the royal manor, was paid ten fous per diem, according to the commiffion of King John, given at the wood of Vincennes the 22d April, 1361. "The Dungeon of Vincennes, however Gothic and hideous it now appears to us, was a long time the fuperb dwelling of our kings. It was there that they retired to repofe (foulacier) themfelves, and difpenfe juftice (fefbattre). But this place of comfort (foulas) and polished life (defbaftrement) afterwards became the refidence of anguish and mifery. The Dungeon was even the firft and the only caftle which these monarchs poffeffed during several centuries: they had, indeed, habitations in divers places of their eftates; but Vincennes was the only royal manor out of their capital. It had nevertheless all the external appearance of a fortrefs. Catharine de Medicis, who united to the vices and the prejudices of her age a love of the fine arts, caused a plan to be made in 1560 of a new caftle, which was immediately commenced, as well as the gallery ornamented with paintings. The gardens were furrounded with deep canals full of water and abounding in fish. Maria de Medicis, wishing to have the honour of contributing to this magnificent work, caufed the buildings on the fide of Paris to be erected in a taste truly majeftic, and destined to hold the royal family and all the court. Lewis XIII placed an infcription in 1610 on this new building, and Lewis XIV added the two great piles of building on the fide of the park." The above fketch includes nearly all that is interesting refpecting the origin and progrefs of this celebrated palace and prifon; but there are numerous anecdotes, which although not very rare, are yet amufing. We extract the following characteristic trait of the artift Champagne, who, aided by his nephew, painted the King's apartments, in which are pictures of the peace of the Pyrennees, and the marriage of Lewis XIV with Maria Therefa of Auftria, Infanta of Spain, both of which were executed by the order of Lewis himself. Champagne was born at Bruffels; he added to his talents an exemplary piety, and his attachment to religion connected him intimately with the folitaries of Port Royal. He carried his fcruples and his delicacy fo far as never to paint figures ENTIRELY NAKED in his pictures. He wrought with fuch facility, that finding himself in competition with feveral painters for a picture of St. Nicolas, he executed the painting, and placed it in the chapel for which it was defigned, while his brother artifts had only traced the plan." The The details of the horrid execution of the minifter Enguerrand Lepoitier de Marigny, under Lewis X, through the hatred of the King's uncle, Charles, Count de Valois, bring to our recollection fomething fimilar in the recent events. fame national traits appear, in the difcovery of Mademoiselle de la Valliere's love for Lewis XIV in a thicket in the garden of Vincennes, where fhe was overheard by Lewis telling it to one of her friends, and exclaiming with a figh, "If I adore him in fecret, it is not because he is the moft powerful monarch on earth, but because he is in my eyes the most amiable man. His perfon," faid the in a more animated tone, "ex 4 cites in me fuch a lively emotion, that it is with the greatest difficulty in the world I diffemble it, and I cannot withdraw his image from my heart." This admiration of Lewis's perfon was the moft flattering to the vain monarch, and the refult of this avowal was two children, after which the newly created Duchefs was abandoned for Madam de Montefpan. An anecdote is here recorded of Cromwell on feeing the dungeon of Vincennes, after the fiege of Rochelle. One of his companions faid to him, "Behold the caftle (pointing to the dungeon) which has ferved as a prifon to princes." "I know it," replied Cromwell; "but princes fhould not be touched but by the head." Alchemifts with their pretended philofopher's fione, princes and princeffles, bithops, generals, magicians, jugglers, and the moft atrocious empoifoners, who prepared the moft active drugs for hire to deftroy the lives of innocent perfons, all were imprifoned in Vincennes. The number and anecdotes of thefe empoifoners are truly horrible, and prove that Buonaparte's cup is not a new thing in France. The vengeance of nationality alfo was practifed to the utmost by Richelieu againft the followers of Janfen, many of whom were put to death merely because their chief had written a fatirical book against France under the title of Mars Gallicus! The knight de la Rochegueraut was feized in Amfterdam, contrary to the laws of nations, and kept a prifoner twenty-three years in Vincennes, on fufpicion of being the author of a pamphlet written againft the proftitute Madame Pompadour, without his ever knowing any thing of the pamphlet, or even the alledged caufe of his confinement. Leprevol de Beaumont was alfo confined in five different prifons for no crime, and was at length liberated only by the Revolution. Many of the anecdotes here related are highly curious and affecting; and what renders them more worthy of attention is the fpirit of perfect impartiality in which they are written, as well as their being totally unmixed with any kind of reflection either moral or political. Yet, what is not the leaft extraordinary circumftance in fuch eventful times, the Dungeon of Vincennes ftill exifts undemolished. All thofe who intereft themfelves in ftudying the hiftory of France, or who can be amufed with authentic anecdotes of extraordinary fufferings and confinements, intermingled with occafional repartees, will find thefe volumes worthy of their perufal. 1 Vita di Alejandro Vittorio Papacino d'Antoni, &c. |