thers, and
Delorme, Bullant, Filon, and all the great architects of the day. The
chateau of Ecouen, belonging to Montmorency, situated about twelve miles
from Paris, had been decorated by Palissy before he entered the service
of the queen-mother, and had gained him great fame and many commissions.

At Ecouen the long galleries and the floor of the chapel were paved with
tiles containing pictures of subjects taken out of the Bible. In the
garden was the first 'grotto' the potter ever made, and very proud he
was of it, and still more so of the invention by which, at a signal from
the host, one of the attendants would touch a spring, and streams of
water poured over the guests. It is difficult to imagine the grave
constable, occupied as he was with religious wars, or anxiously
watching affairs of state, playing such rude and silly tricks on the
gentlemen and ladies he was entertaining, and it is pleasanter to think
of them all listening to the songs of birds which, we are told, were
imitated to the life by means of water passing through pipes and reeds.
Altogether, Ecouen was thought a marvel of beauty and fancy, and
everybody who considered they had any claims to good taste made a point
of riding out to visit it.

* * * * *

Safe under royal protection and happy in his work, Palissy did not
trouble himself about the fighting that still raged in the name of
religion. When he was tired of the hot atmosphere of the kiln, he would
wander along the banks of the river, or into the woods and hills about
Paris, and watch the birds and the insects fluttering among the trees.
Then, with his mind full of what he had beheld, he would return to his
workshop, and, calling for clay, would never rise from his chair until
he had made an exact copy of the little scene which had caught his
fancy. First he would form his oval-shaped dish, and in the centre of it
would lie some twisted snakes, with sprays of leaves and flowers
scattered round them, while over the cups of the flowers bees and
butterflies hovered gaily. Or, again, he would fashion a wavy sea,
bordered by shells of all sorts, fishes, frogs, leaves, and butterflies,
and in the middle a great sea-serpent wriggling gracefully across the
dish.

Everything was true to nature and beautifully executed, and in those
days it never seemed to strike anyone that dishes were meant to hold
food and not to be treated as pictures.

* * *