66 Travels in France 



well contrived. I admired particularly the stone staircase in the 

 centre of the house, which, being in a double spiral line, con- 

 tains two distinct staircases one above another, by which means 

 people are going up and down at the same time without seeing 

 each other. The four apartments in the attic, with arched stone 

 roofs, were in no mean taste. One of these Count Saxe turned 

 into a neat, well-contrived theatre. We were shown the apart- 

 ment which that great soldier occupied, and the room in which 

 he died. Whether in his bed or not is yet a problem for anecdote 

 hunters to solve. A report not uncommon in France was that 

 he was run through the heart in a duel with the Prince of Conti, 

 who came to Chambord for that purpose, and great care was 

 taken to conceal it from the king (Louis XV.), who had such a 

 friendship for the marechal that he would certainly have driven 

 the prince out of the kingdom. There are several apartments 

 modernised, either for the marechal or for the governors that 

 have resided here since. In one there is a fine picture of 

 Louis XIV. on horseback. Near the castle are the barracks 

 for the regiment of 1500 horse, formed by Marechal de Saxe, 

 and which Louis XV. gave him by appointing them to garrison 

 Chambord while their colonel made it his residence. He lived 

 here in great splendour, and highly respected by his sovereign 

 and the whole kingdom. — The situation of the castle is bad; it 

 is low and without the least prospect that is interesting ; indeed 

 the whole country is so fiat that a high ground is hardly to be 

 found in it. From the battlements we saw the environs, of 

 which the park or forest forms three-fourths; it contains within 

 a wall about 20,000 arpents, and abounds with all sorts of game 

 to a degree of profusion. Great tracts of this park are waste or 

 under heath, etc., or at least a very imperfect cultivation; I 

 could not help thinking that if the King of France ever formed 

 the idea of establishing one complete and perfect farm under 

 the turnip culture of England, here is the place for it. Let him 

 assign the chateau for the residence of the director and all his 

 attendants ; and the barracks, which are now applied to no use 

 whatever, for stalls for cattle, and the profits of the wood would 

 be sufficient to stock and support the whole undertaking. What 

 comparison between the utility of such an establishment and 

 that of a much greater expense applied here at present for 

 supporting a wretched haras (stud), which has not a tendency 

 but to mischief ! I may, however, recommend such agricultural 

 establishments, but they never were made in any country, and 

 never will be till mankind are governed on principles absolutely 



