re wainscoted in oak similarly
emblazoned in gold and silver, with the initials of Diane de Poitiers,
and of her admirer, Henri, everywhere interlaced. Again, a colossal
monogram reproduces itself in the chimney-piece with the frescoes of
Nicolo dell' Abbate, and fifty figures of mythological gods and heroes
decorate the window casings.

The chapel dates chiefly from the time of Henri IV, the altar and
numerous embellishments belonging to later reigns.

A certain sentiment, not a little real beauty, and much unauthenticated
history attach themselves to the Salon Louis XIII, the Salle du Trone,
the Apartment of Madame de Maintenon, those of Napoleon I, of Pope Pius
VII and of Marie Antoinette.

The Galerie de Diane is little reminiscent of the day of the huntress,
being a reconstitution under the First Empire, though its decorations
date from the Restoration, and the ceiling, and furniture, apparently of
the best of Renaissance times, are merely copies made by Louis Philippe,
who did not hesitate, on another occasion, to blue-wash the Salon de
Saint Louis, and who hung worthless third-rate paintings, which even
provincial museums of the meanest rank have since refused to house, in
the admirably decorated apartments of the period of Francois and Henri.

Fontainebleau, to-day, is but a memory of what it was, a memory by no
means fragmentary, by no means complete; but all sufficient.

Of later years there is actually little to single out in the way of
remarkable additions or restorations. Under the Second Empire the
Galerie Francois I was repainted, some false antiquities added as
furnishings, and various ranges of books were stored away in the Galerie
de Diane, having been brought from the chapel which had ceased to serve
as the Library. This apartment was now refitted as a chapel, and, to
supplant six wall paintings which had been removed, Napoleon III ordered
seven canvases from the painter Schopin, illustrating the life of Saint
Saturnin.

[Illustration]

Finally, the Salle de Spectacle completes the modern additions, and,
while gaudily striking, is scarcely above the taste of a gilded cafe in
some pompous Prefecture.

Henri IV was the creator of the park of the palace, which extended as
far as the village of Avon and absorbed all the Seigneurie de Montceau,
of which Mi-Voie (the dairy of Catherine de Medici) occupied a part. The
acquisition of the Seigneurie was made in 1609. Across it was cut a
"grand canal"