The _parterre_, extending before the main building, is of an ampleness scarcely conceivable until once viewed. It is purely French in design and is of the epoch of the tenancy of the Comte de Toulouse. Before the admirably grouped lindens was a boathouse, and off in every direction ran alleys of acacias, while here and there tulip beds, rose gardens and hedges of rhododendrons flanked the very considerable ornamental waters. This body of water, in the form of a trapezoid, is divided by four grass-grown islets and separates the Jardin Anglais from the Jardin Francais. One of the islets is known as the Ile des Roches and contains the Grotte de Rabelais, so named in honour of the Cure of Meudon, when he was presented at Rambouillet by the Cardinal du Bellay. It was on this isle that were given those famous fetes in honour of the "_beaux esprits_" who formed the assiduous cortege of Catherine de Vivonne, mythological, pagan and _outre_. The Jardin Anglais at Rambouillet is the final expression of the species in France. Designed under the Duc de Penthievre, it was restored and considerably enlarged by Napoleon and, following the contours of an artificial rivulet, it fulfils the description that its name implies. More remote, and half hidden from the precincts of the chateau, are the Chaumiere and the Ermitage and they recall the background of a Fragonard or a Watteau. It is all very "stagy"--but, since it exists, can hardly be called unreal. The park proper, containing more than twelve hundred hectares, is one of the largest and most thickly wooded in France. Between the _parterre_ and the French and English garden and the park lie the Farm and the Laiterie de la Reine, the caprice of Louis XVI when he would content Marie Antoinette and give her something to think about besides her troubles. Napoleon stripped it of its furnishings to install them, for a great part, at Malmaison, for that other unhappy woman--Josephine. Later, to give pleasure to Marie Louise, he ordered them brought back again to Rambouillet, but it was to Napoleon III that the restoration of this charming conceit was due. In the neighbourhood of Rambouillet was the famous Chateau de Chasse, or royal shooting-box, which Louis XV was fond of making a place of rendezvous. On the banks of the Etang de Pourras stood this Chateau de Saint Hubert, named for the patron saint of huntsmen, and within its walls was passed many a happy evening by king and courtiers after a busy day with stag and hound. The hunt in France was perhaps at the most picturesque phase of its existence at this time. The hunt of to-day is but a pale, though bloody, imitation of the real sport of the days when monarchs and their seigneurs in slashed doublet and hose and velvet cloaks pursued the deer of the forest to his death, and knew not the _maitre d'equipage_ of to-day. CHAPTER XX CHANTILLY