There is a good deal of interesting and eventful history connected with Fontainebleau. Philip' the Fourth, Henri Trois, and Louis Ireize were all born here} Francis the First received the Emperor here, when Charles the Fifth made seemingly rash passage through the domitions of his brother sovereign, More than one counsellor, Madame d'Etampes among the number, urged Francis to. imprison the Emperor in return for the bad treatment he had received from Charles while he was a prisoner at Madrid, but Franci ferned these suggestions, and re his imperial guest with royal magnificence, In 1685, Louis Quatorze signed the Reve: cation of the Edict of Nantes, at Fontainebleau, a signature which was the death warrant of thousands of the most industrious and deserving of his subjects. was at Fontainebleau that Napoleon Bona-in I8L1 signed his abdication before his departure for Elba; and here, on hiy return in 1814, he reviewed his troops.
There are many handsome rooms in the plice, beautifully furnished and decorated. "The Galerie de Francois Premier, built in his time, and decorated by the artists already mentioned, shows his device, the salamander, frequently mong the ornament; then comes the vast Galerie de Diane, over two hundred and fifty feet long, made during the reign of Henri Quatre, below it is the Galerie des Cerfs, no longer shown to the public, In this room Christina, the ex-Queen of Sweden, caused her High Chamberlain, the Marquis of Monaldeschi, to be assassmoted. She lived here for some time after her abdication, as the guest of Louis Qua-terzo, who appears to have offered a slight remonstrance to his sister sovereign when he learned of the murder, but did not take any further steps.
The Galerie Henri Deux, or the Salle des Fetes, is wonderful—an exquisite example of the purest Renaissance work; the crescent of Diane de Poitiers, and her D, is everywhere to be seen interlaced with the H of her royal lover. sides these, one is shown the rooms of Napoleon the First, the Salle clu Conseil, the Salle clu Trone, and the far more in: teresting apartments of Marie Antoinette, where the beautifully worked window fas: tenings, ete., are said to be the work of her husband, Louis the Sixteenth.
_The furniture of these rooms is of the richest description; many of the hangings are in beatttifully worked Cordovan leather and Gobelins tapestry, besides other rich stuffs. There is un interesting Chinese museum, containing enamels, jas: pers, lacquer, jewels, ete, The celebrated forest. of Fontainebleau is one of the finest in France, and extends over more than forty-two thousand acres. There are many picturesque and beautiful spots here, and some of the old oaks and beeches are enormous in size. For years past it has been a favourite studying ground for French landscape painters, who camp chiefly in the villages of Barbizon on the north-west side, or at Marlotte, which lies to the south. The most interesting parts of the forest are the rocky Gorges de Houx, and the Rochers et Gorges de Frauchard, west of the town. There are also the wild gorges and Vallon d'Appre-mont, with the Caverne des Brigands; two or three kilometres away is the Rocher St. Germain, and the Valle de la Sole; east of these, and near the forest boundary, is the Tour Deecourt, from which in clear weather, it is said the grand view reached
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.