s I's greatest pleasures. In their midst, on
the shores of the Etang aux Carpes, was erected a tiny rest-house where
the royal mistresses might come to repose and laugh at the jests of
Triboulet.

The edifice of Francois I is of modest proportions and of perfect unity;
but it is with difficulty that it presents its best appearance,
overpowered as it is by the heavier masses of the time of Henri IV, and
suffering as it does because of the eliminations of Louis XIV and Louis
XV when they made their additions to the palace.

Under the Convention, later on, Fontainebleau's palace again suffered.
Under the Consulate it became a barracks and a prison, and finally, not
less terrible, were the restorations of Napoleon and Louis Philippe. A
castle may sometimes suffer less from a siege than from a restoration.

From every point of view, however, Fontainebleau remains an
architectural document of the most profound interest and value, and,
from the tourists' point of view, it is the most appealing of all
European palaces of this or any other age. The expert, the artist and
the mere curiosity-seeker all unite in their admiration in spite of the
fact that the fabric has been denuded of many of its original beauties.

[Illustration: _Palais de Fontainebleau_]

First, this royal dwelling is of the most ample and effective
proportions; second, it possesses a remarkable series of luxurious
apartments; third, it still contains some of the finest examples of
furniture and furnishings of Renaissance and Napoleonic times; and, in
addition, there is also to be seen that admirable series of paintings
which represent the School of Fontainebleau. With such an array of
charms what does it matter if the unity of the Renaissance masterpiece
of Francois I is qualified by later interpolations? General impression
is the standard by which one judges the workmanship of a noble monument,
and here it is good to an extraordinary degree.

The palace of to-day sits at one end of the aristocratic little town of
Fontainebleau. Beyond is the forest and opposite are many hotels which
depend upon the palace as the source from which they draw their
livelihood.

The principal entrance to the palace opens out from the Place Solferino
and gives access immediately to the Cour du Cheval Blanc of Chambiges,
which, since that eventful day in Napoleonic history nearly a hundred
years ago, has become better known as the Cour des Adieux. At the rear
rises the famou