art of France. At the
same time he put in order all the public buildings of Anizy, and had the
roads carefully paved throughout the borough. He was followed by a
prelate of a like mind, Louis de Sabran, the last bishop-duke of Laon,
who is still remembered in his episcopal city for his public spirit and
his benevolence, and who made the park of Anizy his special care.

Then came the Revolution.

In 1790, the local 'directory' of the district of Chauny laid violent
hands upon the chateau. It was in great part demolished, and what was
left of it defaced. It was robbed of its precious furniture, pictures,
and ornaments, its valuable chimney-pieces, its elaborate iron and brass
work. The old trees were cut down in the park, and the railings
destroyed. The fine old church of Ste.-Genevieve at the same time was
first turned into a hall of meeting for the electors, who distrusted
each other so profoundly that when their first meeting was held, May 3,
1790, the documents relating to the elections were locked up in a
confessional, lest they should be stolen, and then deliberately wrecked
and looted by the 'friends of Liberty,' or, in other words, by a squad
of ruffians from Chauny and the neighbourhood, who, after putting on
the sacerdotal vestments, marched about the church carrying the dais,
beat the crosses and the carved stalls to pieces, smashed and defaced
the monuments and the altars, broke open the poor-box, and carried off
all that was worth stealing. The stone slabs from the graves were sold,
a saltpetre factory was established in the church, the presbytery was
made a town-hall, and the 'worship of Reason,' in the person of a young
woman of Chauny, was solemnly inaugurated at Anizy! The chateau and the
park were sold by the self-constituted dictators of Anizy to one M. Orry
de Sainte-Marie on August 7, 1792, for a nominal price. This M. Orry
seems to have been an 'operator.' For in June, 1793, he sold the chateau
to the 'ci-devant Vicomtesse de Courval,' the mother of the then owner
of the Chateau of Pinon, about which I shall presently have something to
say, and bought it back from her again in March 1795, leaving her the
right to enjoy it until her death, which took place in 1806. All this
curiously illustrates the perils and uncertainties of land-ownership in
such times! In 1808, Orry de Sainte-Marie, having by that time become a
justice of the peace at Anizy, and doubtless a fervent Imperialist, sold
the chateau t