High upon its plateau sits this historic wildwood, for the most part of a soil dry and sandy, with here and there some great _mamelon_ (Druidical or Pagan, as the case may be) rising somewhat above the average level. Francis I, huntsman and lover of art and nature, did much to preserve this great forest, and Louis XIV in his time developed its system of roads and paths, "chiefly to make hunting easy," says history, though it is difficult to follow this. At all events the forest remains to-day the most extensive unspoiled breathing-spot of its class near Paris. Within this maze of paths and alleys are many famed historic spots, the Chene Saint Fiacre, the Croix de Noailles, the Croix Saint Simon, the Croix du Main (erected in 1709 in honour of the son of Louis XIV), the Etoile des Amazones, the Patte d'Oie, the Chene du Capitaine and many more which are continually referred to in the history of the palace, the forest of Saint Germain-en-Laye, and of the Abbaye de Poissy. The forest is not wholly separated from the mundane world for occasionally a faint echo of the Rouen railway is heard, a toot from a river tug-boat bringing coal up-river to Paris, the strident notes of automobile horns, or that of a hooting steam-tram which scorches along the principal roadway over which state coaches of kings and courtiers formerly rolled. The contrast is not particularly offensive, but the railway threatens to make further inroads, so one hardly knows the future that may be in store for the patriarch oaks and elms and chestnuts which make up this secular wildwood. Their ages may not in all cases approach those of the great Fontainebleau trees, and in point of fact the forest is by no means as solitary, nor ever was. One of the most celebrated, certainly one of the most spectacular, duels of history took place in the park at Saint Germain-en-Laye. Gui Chabot de Jarnac lived a prodigal and profligate life at the expense--it was said--of the favours of the Duchesse d'Etampes. The dauphin, Henri, making an accusation, deemed wholly uncalled for, a "_duel judiciaire_" took place, with La Chataigneraie as the dauphin's substitute as adversary of de Jarnac who sought no apology but combat. It was because Henri meantime had become king and issued his first Letters Patent to his council concerning the "_duel judiciaire_," whereby he absolved himself of the right to partake, that he appointed his dear friend Francois de Vivonne, "Seigneur de la Chataigneraie," to play the role for him. Unfortunately the young man could not justify by victory the honour of his king and before the monarch and the assembled court he was laid low by his adversary. This was one of the last of the "_duels judiciaires_" in France. What Saint Louis and Philippe-le-Bel had vainly sought to suppress, the procedure having cost at least a hundred thousand _livres_, was practically accomplished by Henri II by a stroke of the pen. CHAPTER XVIII MAINTENON