Situation--Climate--Stillness of the air--Castle--Abd-el-Kader-- Thackeray on his imprisonment--View of the Pyrenees--Henry II of Navarre--His escape from Pavia--Marguerite des Marguerites--What Henry II did for Béarn--Refugee Huguenot preachers--Solon and his many wives--Clement Marot--His Psalms--The Queen an odd mixture--Story of Mlle. de la Roche--Jeanne d’Albret--Marries the Duke of Cleves--Then Antoine de Bourbon--His murder planned--Birth of Henry IV--Cradle--Bilhère--Reared at Coarraze --Death of Antoine--Intolerance of Jeanne--Meeting with Charles IX--Gondin’s unfortunate pleasantry--Marguerite de France’s visit to Pau--The Count of Moret--A mysterious hermit--Henry IV tolerant--The Baron d’Arros--Demand for the columns of Bielle-- La Poule au Pot--Lescar--Mosaics--A Roman villa--Gassion-- Bernadotte--Morlaas--Pont-long--Legend--Coarraze--Betharam-- A flying Virgin--Jurançon wine. The situation of Pau is singularly favoured, and one can appreciate the judgment of Henry II of Navarre in transferring thither the court residence from Orthez. Pau occupies the back of a rubble ridge stretching east and west, facing the south, and drinking in the sunlight and warmth. It does not suffer from cold winds. The land rises behind it to the north, and one may see the clouds fly overhead without feeling the air stir at Pau. The calmness of the atmosphere often persists for weeks together. [Illustration: PAU] In this it has an advantage over some of the towns of the French Riviera, where the mistral cuts like a knife that has been frozen in an ice-pail. The bitter winds that sweep down on the Riviera are produced by the snows of the Maritime Alps. But there are no snows at the back of Pau. When there is no breeding ground for icy winds, no icy winds are hatched. But, on the other hand, a good deal of rain is brought up and discharged over Pau, coming from the Atlantic; and a whole month may elapse without the promenaders on the terrace being able to catch a glimpse of the Pic du Midi d’Ossau. The Girondin climate is notoriously rainy, especially in spring; but nothing can surpass the splendour of the days in summer and autumn. Mrs. Ellis, who wrote her _Summer and Winter in the Pyrenees_ in 1841, says:--