Chapter 6

[1]Cf.Les amateurs de l'ancienne France: Le surintendant Foucquet,by Edmond Bonnaffé.Librairie de l'Art,1882. The book contains particulars drawn from Peiresc's unpublished manuscript. During the course of this work we shall have frequent occasion to quote from this excellent study of an accomplished connoisseur.

[2]Mémoires de Choisy,Ed. Petitot et Monmerqué, p. 262.

[3]Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson,Vol. II, p. 60. The unknown author of the dialogues attributed to Molière by M. Louis Auguste Ménard brings Mme. Foucquet on to the stage and makes her utter words in keeping with those pious sentiments which were well known to her contemporaries. The fictitious scene which confronts her with Anne of Austria is a paraphrase of the words I have quoted in my text from theMémoires de Choisy.

[4]Histoire du Dauphiné,by M. le baron de Chapuys-Montlaville. Paris, Dupont, 1828, 2 vols. Vol. II, pp. 460et seq.

[5]Cf.Les premiers intendants de justice,by S. Hanotaux, inLa Revue Historique,1882 and 1883.

[6]Of Fronde.—Trans.

[7]Mazarin's note-book, XI, fol. 85, Biblioth. Nat.

[8]Unpublished Diary of Dubuisson-Aubenay, cited by M. Chéruel in theMémoires sur N. Foucquet,Vol. I, p. 7.

[9]Histoire de Colbert et de son administration,by Pierre Clement. Paris, Didier, 1874, Vol. I, p. 15.

[10]Mémoires sur la vie publique et privée de Foucquet,by A. Chéruel, Inspector-General of Education. Paris, Charpentier, 1862, Vol. I, pp. 86-88.

[11]Bibliothèque Nationale, MSS. collection Gaignieres. This letter is quoted by Chéruel, I, p. 183.

[12]Histoire financière de la France,by A. Bailly. Paris, 1830, Vol. I, p. 357.

[13]In 1651, Foucquet received from Marie-Madeleine de Castille, the daughter of François de Castille, his wife, one hundred thousand livres, the house in the Rue du Temple, the abode of the Castille family, as well as the buildings adjoining, which were let at 2200 livres. (Cf. Jal,Dictionnaire,article on Foucquet)

[14]Cf. Eug. Grésy,Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.Melun, 1861.

[15]Archives de la Bastille, Vol. II, p, 171et seq.

[16]Anne of Austria (trans.)

[17]Her son, Louis XIV (trans.)

[18]And are now in Austria, Germany and elsewhere.—Editor.

[19]Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art français,note by M. Guiffrey, July, 1876, p. 38.

[20]Saint-Simon adds: "She was the widow of Nicolas Foucquet, famous for his misfortunes, who, after being Superintendent of Finance for eight years, paid for the millions which Cardinal Mazarin had taken, for the jealousy of MM. Le Tellier and Colbert, and for a slightly excessive gallantry and love of splendour, with thirty-four years of imprisonment at Pignerol, because that was the utmost that could be inflicted on him, despite all the influence of Ministers and the authority of the King."—Mémoires du duc de Saint-Simon,éd. Chéruel, Vol. XIV, p. 112.

[21]Mémoires.Collection Petitot, Vol. LX, p. 142.

[22]It is the portrait which is reproduced at the beginning of the French edition, because it seems to us at once both the truest and the happiest picture of the extraordinary man who, both in letters and in art, inaugurated the century of Louis XIV. The head, three-quarter profile, is turned to the left. It is a medallion inscribed with the words: "Messire Nicolas Foucquet, chevalier, vicomte de Melun et de Vaux, Conseiller du Roy, Ministre d'État, Surintendant des Finances et Procureur général de Sa Majesté." Signed "R. Nanteuil ad vivum ping. et sculpebat, 1661." The style is at once soft and firm, the workmanship pure and finished, the rendering of the colours excellent. This engraving was executed after a drawing or a pastel which Nanteuil had done from life, and which is lost. This work, and the engraving which perpetuates it, seem to me to form the origin of a whole family of portraits, of which we will mention several.(1) A shaded bust, on a piedouche, bearing Foucquet's arms. The arrangement is bad, the inscription:Ne faut-il que l'on avouëQu'on trouve en luytous ce qu'on espérait.C'est un surintendant tel que l'on désirait.Personne ne s'en plaint, tout le monde s'en louë.Signed: "Van Schupper faciebat. P. de la Serre."(2) The head in an oval border. Raised hangings which reveal a country scene, with dogs coursing. The inscription:"Messire Nicolas Foucquet, chevalier, vicomte de Melun et de Vaux, Ministre d'État, Surintendant des finances de Sa Majesté et son procureur général au Parlement de Paris."(3) A much damaged copy. The face is pale and elongated, the expression melancholy and sanctimonious. It is an oval medallion, 1654, without signature, Paris, chez Daret.(4) The same, chez Louis Boissevin, in the Rue Saint-Jacques.(5) The same, with this quatrain:Si sa fidélité parut incomparableEn conservant l'Estat,Sa prudence aujourd'huy n'est pas moins admirableD'en augmenter l'éclat.(6) Medallion. The picture is much disfigured; the inscription:Qu'il a de probité, de sçavoir et de zelle,Qu'il paroit généreux, magnanime et prudent,Que son esprit est fort, que son cœur est fidelle,Toutes ces qualités l'on fait Surintendant.(7) Medallion, with drapery. Very bad. Signature: "Baltazar Moncornet, excud."(8) The same, with a frame of foliage, 1658.(9) A small copy, reversed, executed after Foucquet's death, the date of which is indicated, 23rd March, 1680. It is old, hard, dark and damaged. Signature: "Nanteuil, pinxit, Gaillard, sculpt."A portrait of Lebrun deserves honourable mention after that of Nanteuil. The features are practically the same as in the engraving by Eugène Reims; but the expression is not so keen, nor so cheerful. The head, three-quarter profile, is turned to the right. This picture is the original of the three following engravings:(1) A large oval. Signature: "C. Lebrun pinx, F. Poilly sculpt." Inscription:Illustrissimus vir Nicolaus FoucquetGeneralis in Supremo regii ÆrariiPræfectus: V. Comes Melodunensis, etc.In a later copy, Foucquet's arms replace the Latin inscription.(2) A spoiled and softened copy, very careless workmanship. Signature: "C. Mellan del. et F."(3) An imitation. Foucquet, seated in a straight-backed armchair, with large wrought nail-heads, with a casket on the table beside him. He holds a pen in his right hand, and paper in his left. Inscription:Magna videt, majora latent; ecce aspicis artisClarum opus, et virtus clarior arte latet,Umbra est et fulget, solem miraris in umbraQuid sol ipse micat, cujus et umbra micat.Signature: "Œgid. Rousselet, sculpt., 1659."(4) An imitation. Signature: "Larmessin, 1661." Finally, we must mention a full-length portrait, which seems inspired by the foregoing. The Superintendent is standing, wearing a long robe; he holds in his right hand a small bag, in his left a paper. A raised curtain displays, on the right, a country scene, with a torrent, a rock and a fortified château. In the sky, Renown puts a trumpet to her mouth. In her left hand she holds another trumpet with a bannerette on which is written: "Quo non ascendet?" Inscription:A quel degré d'honneur ne peut-il pas monterS'il s'élève tousjours par son propre courage?Son nom et sa vertu lui donnent l'advantageDe pouvoir tout prétendre et de tout mériter.

(1) A shaded bust, on a piedouche, bearing Foucquet's arms. The arrangement is bad, the inscription:

Ne faut-il que l'on avouëQu'on trouve en luytous ce qu'on espérait.C'est un surintendant tel que l'on désirait.Personne ne s'en plaint, tout le monde s'en louë.

Signed: "Van Schupper faciebat. P. de la Serre."

(2) The head in an oval border. Raised hangings which reveal a country scene, with dogs coursing. The inscription:

"Messire Nicolas Foucquet, chevalier, vicomte de Melun et de Vaux, Ministre d'État, Surintendant des finances de Sa Majesté et son procureur général au Parlement de Paris."

(3) A much damaged copy. The face is pale and elongated, the expression melancholy and sanctimonious. It is an oval medallion, 1654, without signature, Paris, chez Daret.

(4) The same, chez Louis Boissevin, in the Rue Saint-Jacques.

(5) The same, with this quatrain:

Si sa fidélité parut incomparableEn conservant l'Estat,Sa prudence aujourd'huy n'est pas moins admirableD'en augmenter l'éclat.

(6) Medallion. The picture is much disfigured; the inscription:

Qu'il a de probité, de sçavoir et de zelle,Qu'il paroit généreux, magnanime et prudent,Que son esprit est fort, que son cœur est fidelle,Toutes ces qualités l'on fait Surintendant.

(7) Medallion, with drapery. Very bad. Signature: "Baltazar Moncornet, excud."

(8) The same, with a frame of foliage, 1658.

(9) A small copy, reversed, executed after Foucquet's death, the date of which is indicated, 23rd March, 1680. It is old, hard, dark and damaged. Signature: "Nanteuil, pinxit, Gaillard, sculpt."

A portrait of Lebrun deserves honourable mention after that of Nanteuil. The features are practically the same as in the engraving by Eugène Reims; but the expression is not so keen, nor so cheerful. The head, three-quarter profile, is turned to the right. This picture is the original of the three following engravings:

(1) A large oval. Signature: "C. Lebrun pinx, F. Poilly sculpt." Inscription:

Illustrissimus vir Nicolaus FoucquetGeneralis in Supremo regii ÆrariiPræfectus: V. Comes Melodunensis, etc.

In a later copy, Foucquet's arms replace the Latin inscription.

(2) A spoiled and softened copy, very careless workmanship. Signature: "C. Mellan del. et F."

(3) An imitation. Foucquet, seated in a straight-backed armchair, with large wrought nail-heads, with a casket on the table beside him. He holds a pen in his right hand, and paper in his left. Inscription:

Magna videt, majora latent; ecce aspicis artisClarum opus, et virtus clarior arte latet,Umbra est et fulget, solem miraris in umbraQuid sol ipse micat, cujus et umbra micat.

Signature: "Œgid. Rousselet, sculpt., 1659."

(4) An imitation. Signature: "Larmessin, 1661." Finally, we must mention a full-length portrait, which seems inspired by the foregoing. The Superintendent is standing, wearing a long robe; he holds in his right hand a small bag, in his left a paper. A raised curtain displays, on the right, a country scene, with a torrent, a rock and a fortified château. In the sky, Renown puts a trumpet to her mouth. In her left hand she holds another trumpet with a bannerette on which is written: "Quo non ascendet?" Inscription:

A quel degré d'honneur ne peut-il pas monterS'il s'élève tousjours par son propre courage?Son nom et sa vertu lui donnent l'advantageDe pouvoir tout prétendre et de tout mériter.

[23]A summary of the inventory at Saint-Mandé: MS. of the Bibliothèque Nat. Manusc. Suppl, fr. 10958, cited by M. Edm. Bonnaffé,Les Amateurs de l'ancienne France.—Le Surintendant Foucquet, librairie de l'Art, 1882.

[24]Loc. cit., pp. 61et seq.

[25]Description of the city of Paris, 1713, p. 60.

[26]Mémoire des Académiciens, Vol. I, p. 21. Bonnaffé, loc. cit., p. 15.

[27]Preface toŒdipe, Collect. des grands écrivains,Vol. VI, p. 103.

[28]With great pomp.

[29]The original edition hasplainte.

[30]Œuvres complètes de La Fontaine, published by Ch. Marty Laveaux, Vol. III (1866), p. 26et seq.

[31]The inventory of the 26th February, 1666 (Bonnaffé, loc. cit., p. 61), classes them as follows: "Two antique mausoleums representing a king and queen of Egypt, 800 livres."

[32]At least, this is the hypothesis propounded by M. Bonnaffe. It is founded on the fact that an anonymous document of 1648, published inLes Collectionneurs de l'ancienne France(Aubry, ed. 1873), mentions le sieur Chamblon, of Marseilles, as a professor "of Egyptian idols to enclose mummies." But it seems as if the anonymous document referred not to sarcophagi of marble or basalt, but rather to those boxes of painted and gilt pasteboard, with human faces, which abound in the necropolises of ancient Egypt. The port of Marseilles must at that time have received a fairly large number of such. We must remember that the mummy was in those days considered as a remedy, and was widely sold by druggists.

[33]Cf. Mlle, de Scudéry,Clélie."Méléandre (Lebrun) had caused to be built, on a small, somewhat uneven plot of ground, two small pyramids in imitation of those which are near Memphis."

[34]See note, p. 10.**

[35]Description of the city of Paris, by Germain Brice, ed. of 1698, Vol. I, p. 124et seg.

[36]Recueil d'antiquités dans les Gaules,by La Sauvagère, Paris, 1770, p. 329et seq.

[37]D.5.D. 78.

[38]In this story, I have followed M. Bonnaffé. Loc. cit., p. 57.

[39]Inventory and valuation of the books found at Saint-Mandé on the 30th July, 1665. Biblio. Nat. MSS., p. 9438. The whole was valued at 38,544 livres.

[40]Conseils de la Sagesse,p. x.

[41]Lines presented to Monseigneur le procureur général Foucquet, Superintendent of Finance, at the opening of the tragedy ofŒdipe,1659.

[42]One of the earliest French theatres. It was founded by the Confrères de la Passion in 1548.

[43]Cf.La Vie de Corneille,by Fontenelle.

[44]Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de La Fontaine,by Mathieu Marais, 1811, p. 125.

[45]Ouvrages de prose et de poésie des sieurs de Mancroix et La Fontaine,Vol. I, p. 99.

[46]There are two blank spaces in the 1685 edition. I have filled them with the two names in brackets. For the first I have put the name of Foucquet, which is given in theŒuvres diverses(Vol. I, p. 19). To fill the second space I have followed the suggestion of Mathieu Marais. Walkenaer puts Pellisson, which is not admissible.

[47]Edit Marty-Laveaux, VOL V, pp. 15-17.

[48]No one can answer for the correctness of the text of these two poems. Chardon de La Rochette published them from memory in 1811 (Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de La Fontaine,by Mathieu Marais, p. 125). He had possessed the receipts for both in Pellisson's own hand-writing, but had not kept it, because, he said, he did not think "that it was worth it." This sagacious Hellenist set little store by a Pellisson autograph, in comparison with the Palatine MS. of the Anthologia. And he was right. But it is odd that he should have known the verses by heart, and that, having neglected to preserve them in his desk, he should have retained them in his memory.

[49]Promettre est un, et tenir promesse est un autre.

[50]Mémoires de Choisy,coll. Petitot, p. 211.

[51]Ibid.,loc. cit., p. 230.

[52]Bussy, II, p. 50.

[53]"Jamais surintendant ne trouva de cruelle."

[54]Bussy, II, p. 50.

[55]Letter of the 25th May, 1658.

[56]Letter of 18th January, 1660.

[57]Loret, Muse historique, letter of the 28th of December, 1652.

[58]In 1661 (?)Papiers de Foucquet(F. Baluze), Vol. I, pp. 31-32.

[59]Maurepas Collection. Vol. II, p. 271.

[60]Letter of the 11th November, 1661.

[61]Gourville, inMonmerqué,Vol. II, p. 342.

[62]Mémoires de l'abbé de Choisy,p. 579.

[63]Mémoires de Brienne,Vol. II, p. 52.

[64]Mémoires de Choisy,p. 581. Chéruel,Mémoires sur Nicolas Foucquet,Vol. II, p. 97.

[65]Mémoires de Choisy,p. 249.

[66]Mémoires de Choisy,p. 249.

[67]Choisy,p. 586. "I learnt these details," said Choisy, "from Perrault, to whom Colbert related them more than once."

[68]Ibid.,p. 586. Cf. also Guy Patin, letter to Falconnet, 2nd September, 1661.

[69]Histoire d'Henriette d'Angleterre,by Mme de Lafayette. Paris, Charavay frères, 1882, p. 53.

[70]See Part II for the story of this entertainment.

[71]Cf.Mémoires sur Nicolas Foucquet,by Chéruel, Vol. II, pp. 179-180.

[72]Mémoires de Brienne,Vol. II, p. 153.

[73]La Fontaine, letter to his wife, Ed. Marty-Laveaux, Vol. III, p. 311et seq.

[74]This letter was published for the first time inLes Causeries d'un curieux,VOL II, p. 518.

[75]Dictionnaire Antique.Article on Hesnault.

[76]Letter of the 10th of September, 1661.

[77]Letter of the 2nd October, 1661.

[78]Second Speech to the King, inLes Œuvres diverses,p. 109.

[79]Cf.Mélanges,by Vigneul de Marville.

[80]Such is the title of the original edition, printed in italics, without date or address, on three quarto pages.

[81]"The Anqueil is a little river which flows near Vaux." (Note by La Fontaine.)

[82]Variant:La Cabale est contente, Oronte est malheureux.

[82]Variant:

La Cabale est contente, Oronte est malheureux.

[83]Variant:Du grand, du grand Henri qu'il contemple la vie.(Original edition.)

[83]Variant:

Du grand, du grand Henri qu'il contemple la vie.(Original edition.)

[84]Edition quoted, Vol. V, pp. 43-46. One contemporary copy, preserved in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, contains a text altered by one of Foucquet's enemies.Instead of the two lines:Voilà le précipice où l'ont enfin jetéLes attraits enchanteurs de la prospérité,we read in this copy:Il se hait de tant vivre après un tel malheur,Et, s'il espère encor, ce n'est qu'en sa douleur,C'est là le seul plaisir qui flatte son courage,Car des autres plaisirs on lui défend l'usage.Voilà, voilà l'effet de cette ambitionQui fait de ses pareils l'unique passion.

[84]Edition quoted, Vol. V, pp. 43-46. One contemporary copy, preserved in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, contains a text altered by one of Foucquet's enemies.

Instead of the two lines:

Voilà le précipice où l'ont enfin jetéLes attraits enchanteurs de la prospérité,

we read in this copy:

Il se hait de tant vivre après un tel malheur,Et, s'il espère encor, ce n'est qu'en sa douleur,C'est là le seul plaisir qui flatte son courage,Car des autres plaisirs on lui défend l'usage.Voilà, voilà l'effet de cette ambitionQui fait de ses pareils l'unique passion.

[85]Edition cited: Vol. V, pp. 46-49. Published for the first time by La Fontaine in his collectionPoésies chrétinnes et diverses,1671, Vol. Ill, p. 34.

[86]La Fontaine, Letter to Monsieur Foucquet. Edition cited: Vol. Ill, pp. 307-308. This letter was published for the first time in 1729.

[87]Cf. Le procès de Foucquet, a speech pronounced at the opening of Conférence des Avocats, Monday, 27th November, 1882, by Léon Deroy, advocate in the Court of Appeal. Paris, Alcan Lévy, 1882.

[88]Recueil des arrêtés de G. de Lamoignon, Paris, 1781.Vie de M. le premier président,by Girard, p. 14. (The fleur-de-Iys was very largely employed in the decoration of the walls, floors, ceiling, etc., of the Parliaments, etc.—Ed.)

[89]Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson, Vol. II, p. 26.

[90]Recueil des arrêtés,already cited.

[91]Madame de Sévigné, letter of the 27th November, 1664.

[92]Ibid.,letter of the 2nd December.

[93]"The Duc de Sully, the son-in-law of the Chancellor, Séguier, had, in 1652, yielded the crossing of the bridge of Mantes to the Spanish Army." (Note by M. Chéruel.)

[94]Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson,Vol. II, p. 263. Letter from Mme. de Sévigné, 9th December.

[95]Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson,VOL II, p. 282. Letter from Mme. de Sévigné, 9th December.

[96]Ibid.,Vol. II, p. 283.

[97]Ibid.,Vol. II, p. 286.

[98]The Comte de Vaux, Foucquet's eldest son, having obtained his father's MSS. from Pignerol, published extracts entitled:Conseils de la SagesseouRecueil des Maximes de Salomon.Paris, 1683, 2 vols.

[99]The Duc de Lauzun, said to have married La Grande Mademoiselle, Mlle, de Montpensier, cousin of Louis XIV. (Trans.)

[100]Delort,Détention des Philosophes,Vol. I, p. 53.

During his trial Foucquet declared that he had begun the building of his house at Vaux as early as 1640. On this point his memory betrayed him. Reference to the inscription on an engraving by Pérelle, after Israël Silvestre, assigns the commencement of work upon the house to the year 1653, but there is no doubt that Israël Silvestre planned the château on lines which were not absolutely final. Nor was thene varieturplan, signed in 1666, exactly followed.[1]

It is not until 1657 that the registers of the parish of Maincy attest the presence of foreign workmen who had come to undertake certain building operations on the estate of Vaux.

The architect, Louis Levau, employed by Foucquet, was not a beginner. He had already built "a house at the apex of the island of Notre-Dame,"[2]which is none other than the Hôtel Lambert,[3]the ingenious novelties of which were greatly admired. Especially noteworthy was the chamber of Madame de Torigny, on the second floor, which Le Sueur had decorated with a grace which recalls the mural paintings of Herculaneum. This chamber was called the Italian room, "Because," said Guillet de Saint-Georges, "the beauty of the woodwork and the richness of the panelling took the place of tapestry."

Levau, born in 1612, was forty-three years of age when he signed thene varieturplan. We know little about the life of this man whose work is so famous. A document of the 23rd March, 1651,[4]describes him as "a man of noble birth, Councillor and Secretary to the King, House and Crown of France." He then lived in Paris, in the Rue du Roi-de-Sicile, with his wife and his three young children, Jean, Louis and Nicolas.

Besides the Hôtel Lambert and the Château de Vaux, we are indebted to him for the design for the Collège des Quatre-Nations, now the Palace of the Institute; the Maison Bautru, called by Sauvai "La Gentille," and engraved by Marot; the Hôtel de Pons, in the Rue du Colombier (to-day the Rue du Vieux-Colombier), built for President Tambruneau; the Hôtel Deshameaux, which, according to Sauvai, had an Italian room; the Hôtel d'Hesselin in the He Saint-Louis; the Hôtel de Rohan, in the Rue de l'Université; the Château de Livry, since known as Le Rainey, built for the Intendant of Finances, Bordier; the Château de Seignelay; a château near Troyes; and the Château de Bercy.[5]

We may add that Louis Levau, having become first architect to the King, succeeded Gamard in directing the works of the church of Saint-Sulpice, and that he, in his turn, was succeeded by Daniel Gillard in 1660.[6]

Louis Levau died in Paris. His body was carried to the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, his parish church, on Saturday, the nth October, 1670, as attested by the register of this church. There, under the above date, may be read: "On the said day was buried Messire Louys Levau, aged 57 or thereabouts, who died this morning at three o'clock. In his life a Councillor of the King in his Council, general Superintendent of His Majesty's buildings, first Architect of his buildings, Secretary to His Majesty and the House and Crown of France, etc., taken from the Rue des Fossés, from the ancient Hôtel de Longueville."[7]

In theArchives de l'Art français(Vol. I) there is a document relating to Louis Levau:

"There has been submitted to us the plan and elevation of the building of the Cathedral Church of Saint-Pierre of Nantes, of which the part not already constructed is marked in red. This church is one hundred and eleven feet high from the floor to the keystones of the vaults at the meeting of the diagonals, and the lower aisles and chapels are fifty-six feet, measured also from the floor.

"It is desired to finish the said church, and to respect its symmetry as far as may be, and to make the lower aisles and chapels around the choir like those which are on the right of the nave.

"The difficulty is that, in order to finish this work, it is necessary to pull down the walls of the town, and to carry it out into the moat, and it is desirable to take as little ground as can be, in order not to diminish too greatly the breadth of the moat. Wherefore it is proposed to do away with the three chapels behind the choir, marked by the letter H.

"But, if those three chapels are removed, it will be seen that the flying buttresses which support the choir will not have the same thrust as those which support the nave; the strength of these buttresses will be diminished, and the symmetry of the church destroyed, in a place where the church is most visible.

"With this plan we send the elevation of the pillars and buttresses to show how they are constructed in the neighborhood of the nave.

"The whole of this is in order to ascertain whether the three chapels can be dispensed with, and the safety of the choir and the whole edifice secured."

To create the estate of Vaux in its prodigious magnificence, it was necessary to destroy three villages: Vaux-le-Vicomte, with its church and its mill, the hamlet of Maison-Rouge and that of Jumeau. The gigantic works which were necessary are hardly imaginable; immense rocks were carried away; deep canals were excavated.

Foucquet hurried on the work with all the impatience of his intemperate mind. As early as 1657 the animation which prevailed in the works was so great that it was spoken of as something immoderate, as though more befitting royalty. Foucquet felt that it was of importance to conceal proceedings

The following is in Levau's own hand:—

"In order to reply to the above questions I, Le Vau, architect in ordinary of the King's buildings, certify that, having inspected the plan and the elevation of the flying buttresses of the church of Nantes, which have been sent me, having carefully examined and considered the whole, and having even made some designs for altering and dispensing with the chapels H H H; after having considered all that can be done in this matter, I have come to the conclusion that it cannot be accomplished without weakening and considerably damaging the pillars of the choir, and the other aisles, and destroying all symmetry; in a word, ruining it. I therefore do not submit the design that I have made, for my opinion is that the original design should be followed, and that the church should be finished as it was begun; as nothing else can be done save to the great prejudice of the said church. In attestation of which I sign.'LE VAU.'"

'LE VAU.'"

which gave the impression of enormous expenditure. He wrote on the 8th of February, 1657:

"A gentleman of the neighbourhood, who is called Villevessin, told the Queen that he was lately at Vaux, and that in the workshop he counted nine hundred men. In order to avoid this as far as may be, you must carry out my design of putting up screens, and keeping the doors shut. I should be glad if you would advance all the work as far as possible before the season when everybody goes into the country, and I want you to avoid, as far as possible, having a large number of workpeople together."[7]

If we compare the statement made by M. de Villevessin with a note written by Foucquet on the 21st November, 1660, we may conclude that at one time there were eighteen thousand workmen occupied on the buildings and the gardens.[8]

Such works could not be kept secret. Colbert, jealous for his King and perhaps for himself, came to visit them in secret. Watel, Foucquet's steward—he who later entered the King's service, the story of whose death is well known—Watel, faithful servant, surprised Colbert making his inspection, and told his master. Foucquet took some precautions, but none the less the matter created a bad impression at Court. One day when the King, with Monsieur, was inspecting the building operations at the Louvre, he complained to his brother that he had no money to complete this great building. Whereupon Monsieur replied jokingly: "Sire, Your Majesty need only become Superintendent of Finance for a single year, and then you will have plenty of money for building."[9]

These immense works necessitated great institutions. Foucquet founded at Maincy a hospital called La Charité, where the workmen were received when they were ill.[10]

Tapestry rooms were also established at Maincy. There, according to Le Brun's designs, were executedLes Chasses de Méléagreandl'Histoire de Constantin.[11]

Le Brun himself settled at Maincy, with his wife Suzanne, in the autumn of 1658.

This great artist did not merely provide cartoons for tapestry; he decorated the ceilings of the halls of the château with allegorical paintings. Several pieces of sculpture also were executed from his drawings. Thus the four lions which are still seen at the foot of the staircase leading to the great Terrace des Grottes were designed by the painter; or, at least, so Mlle, de Scudéry says. These lions have almost human countenances. We know that the art of the eighteenth century was very free in its treatment of wild animals. The face expresses pride as well as gentleness. Lying in its innocent claws is a squirrel, pursued by a viper. Colbert again!

Now I must recall the great days of Vaux. They were not many, and the most brilliant was the last.

After the marriage of the King and the Infanta at Saint-Jean-de-Luz,[12]the Court took the road to Paris. It halted at Fontainbleau, and Foucquet received it at Vaux with that audacious magnificence which he preferred even to the realities of power. The courtiers walked in the gardens, where the fountains were playing, and a wonderful supper was served. The gazetteer Press has preserved for us a list of the fruits and flowers which adorned the tables, as well as "preserves of every colour, the fritters and pastries and other dishes which were served there."[13]

A year later the Château de Vaux received the widow of Charles I, Henriette of France, Queen of England. She was accompanied by her daughter, Henrietta of England, and the Duc d'Orléans, her son-in-law. Henrietta, or, to give her her title, Madame, was in all the brilliance of her youth, had a genius both for affairs of gallantry and matters of State. She lived as though in haste, consuming in coquetry and in intrigue a life which was not fated to be a lone one. A woman of this character, so nearly related to the King, was bound to interest the ambitious Foucquet. He received her with all the refinements of magnificence. After dinner he had a Comedy played before her. The piece was by Molière himself, who was already greatly admired for his naturalness and truth to life. The play was then completely new; it had not been seen either by the town or the Court, it wasL'École des Maris.[14]

Shortly afterwards the Château of Vaux was to witness a yet more brilliant festivity—the last of all. When Foucquet invited the King, he was possessed by a spirit of unwisdom and of error; all about him, men and things alike, cried out to him in vain: Blind! blind!

The King set out from Fontainbleau on the 17th August, 1661, and came to Vaux in a coach, in which he was accompanied by Monsieur, the Comtesse d'Armagnac, the Duchesse de Valentinois and the Comtesse de Guiche. The Queen-Mother came in her own coach, and Madame in her litter. The young Queen, detained at Fontainebleau by her pregnancy, was not present at that cruel festivity. More than six thousand persons were invited. The King and the Court began by visiting the park. All were loud in their admiration of the great fountains. "There was," says La Fontaine,[15]"great discussion as to which was the best, the Cascade, the Wheat-Sheaf Jet, the Fountain of the Crown or the Animals." The château also was inspected and Le Brun's pictures greatly admired.

The King could ill contain his wrath at a display of luxury which seemed stolen from him, and which he was later on to imitate at Versailles, with all the diligence of a good pupil. He was angered, so it is said,[16]by an allegorical picture into which Le Brun had obviously introduced the portrait of Mademoiselle de la Vallière. The fact may be doubted, but it is certain that the courtiers, with eyes sharpened by envy, remarked on all the panelling Foucquet's device:"Quo non ascendant,"orQuo non ascendet?accompanying a squirrel (or foucquet) climbing up a tree. Louis XIV, according to Choisy, conceived the idea of arresting his insolent subject on the spot, and it was the Queen-Mother, who had long been Foucquet's friend, who prevented him from doing so. But such impatience is not consistent with that patient duplicity which the King displayed in this connection. Almost at that very moment, did he not ask his hospitable subject for another festival to celebrate the churching of the young Queen?[17]

After the château and grounds had been visited, there was a lottery in which every guest won something: the ladies jewels, the men weapons. Then a supper was served, provided by Watel, the cost of which was valued at one hundred and twenty thousand livres. "Great were the delicacy and the rarity of the dishes," says La Fontaine, "but greater still the grace with which Monsieur le Surintendant and Madame la Surintendante did the honours of their house." The pantry of the château then contained at least thirty-six dozen plates of solid gold and a service of the same metal.[18]After supper the guests went to the Allée des Sapins, where a stage had been erected.

Mechanical stage effects were then much in vogue. Those of Vaux were wonderful. The mechanism was the work of Torelli, and the scenery was painted by Le Brun.

Deux enchanteurs pleins de savoirFirent tant, par leur imposture,Qu'on crut qu'ils avaient le pouvoirDe commander à la nature.L'un de ces enchanteurs est le sieur Torelli,Magicien expert et faiseur de miracles;Et l'autre, c'est Lebrun, par qui Vaux embelliPrésente aux regardants mille rares spectacles.[19]

Rocks were seen to open, and statues moved.

The scene represented a grim rock in a lonely desert. Suddenly the rock changed to a shell, and, the shell having opened, there came forth a nymph. This was Béjart, who recited a prologue by Pellisson. "In this prologue, Béjart, who represents the nymph of the fountain where the action is taking place, commands the divinities, who are subject to her, to leave the statues in which they are enshrined, and to contribute with all their power to His Majesty's amusement. Straightway the pedestals and the statues which adorn the stage move, and there emerge from them, I know not how, fauns and bacchantes, who form a ballet. It is very amusing to see a god of boundaries delivered of a child which comes into the world dancing."

The ballet was followed by the play which had been conceived, written and rehearsed in a fortnight. It was Molière'sLes Fâcheux.The play, as we know, has interludes of dancing, and concludes with a ballet. "It is Terence," was the verdict. No doubt, but it is a devilish bad Terence.

The night was one of those fiery nights of which Racine writes in the most worldly of his tragedies. Fireworks shot into the air. There was a rain of stars; then, when the King departed, the lantern on the dome which surmounted the château burst into flames, vomiting sheaves of rockets and fiery serpents. We know what a sad morrow succeeded that splendid night.

My task is completed.

Madame Foucquet, of whose biography we have already given an outline, obtained a legal separation of her property from her husband's before the sentence of the 19th December, 1664. She was able to retain a considerable part of her fortune. "On the 19th March, 1673, she bought back from the creditors, for one million two hundred and fifty thousand livres, the Viscounty of Melun, with the estate of Vaux, and made a donation thereof to her son, Louis-Nicolas Fouquet, by various deeds, dated 1683, 1689, 1703. Her son having died with out posterity in 1705, she sold the estate on the 29th August, 1705, to Louis-Hector, Duc de Villars, Marshal of France, who parted with it on the 27th August, 1764, to C.-Gabriel de Choiseul, Duc de Praslin and peer of France, for one million six hundred thousand livres."[20]The château remained in the family of Choiseul-Parslin until the 6th July, 1875.

By a piece of good fortune it then passed into the hands of M. A. Sommier. From that day one may say that art and letters have been vigilant in its preservation, for M. Sommier combines the most perfect taste with a love of art, and Madame Sommier is the daughter of M. de Barante, the famous historian.[21]

But for M. Sommier it was not enough to preserve this historical monument. His artistic munificence was prepared for any sacrifice in order to restore those cascades and grottos at which La Fontaine had marvelled, and which had fallen into ruins, been overgrown with brushwood, in which vipers lurked and rabbits burrowed. In this noble task M. Sommier was fortunately aided by a learned architect, M. Destailleurs. M. Rodolphe Pfnor, my collaborator and friend, holds it an honour to associate himself with the praises which I here bestow upon the understanding liberality of M. Sommier. M. Pfnor, by reason of his skill in architecture and the arts of design, is competent to give these praises a real and absolute value. Be it understood that I speak for him as well as for myself.

It is just that art and letters should unite in congratulating M. Sommier. The restorer of the Château de Vaux has deserved well of both. It was reserved for him to realize in all its splendourLe Songe Vaux.He has uttered the command in a voice which has been obeyed:

Fontaines, jaillissez,Herbe tendre, croissezLe long de ces rivages.Venez, petits oiseaux,Accorder vos ramagesAu doux bruit de leurs eaux.

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