Chap. IV. 
through France, 
Dntchefs of Orleans, lies entomb’d here. The Altar 
and CupU are exceeding fine, and upon the Portal you 
fee thefe Words, 
Jefu nafcenti Virginlque Matru 
All the Nuns are of noble Extraftion, and chufe a La- 
dy Abbefs every three Years : Madam la Valliere, once 
the King’s Miftrefs, retreated to this Nunnery, to do 
Pennance for her paft Mifcarriages. 
In the ancient Abbey of St. Germain are the Tombs of 
many of their ancient Kings, who us’d to be buried here, 
before the Time of the Inroads made by the Northern 
Nations, as of late at St. Dennis. That of Chilperio 
has only thefe few Words, in a very old Charader, on a 
plain Stone, 
Ren Chilpericus hoc tegitur Lapide. 
But that this was but Part of his Tomb, is evident from 
the Infcription on a broken Tombftone dug up fince in 
another Place 5 which fhew how much in thofe Days, 
they were afraid of being difturb’d in their Graves. 
Hie jacet Chilpericus Franc or urn Rex. 
Ego Chilpericus Francorum Rex precor ut inde in jEternum 
non aufferentur ojja mea. 
Queen Fredigonde, who died in 601, is alfo entomb’d 
here ; and Clotharius, and the fecond Son to Chilperic, 
of the fame Name with his Father, with their Wives. 
Among the modern Monuments chiefly remarkable are 
that of the Duke of Vernouil, Prince of Bourbon, natu- 
ral Son of King Henry IV, who was Bifliop and Abbot 
of Sc, Germain, but afterwards relinquifhing the monaf- 
tical State, married the Dutchefs of Sully. Here is alfo 
interr’d the young Duke of Bourbon, Son of the prefent 
King of France, and Cafimir King of Poland, who af- 
ter having refign’d his Crown, died Abbot of this Place ; 
their Epitaphs and Inferiptions are too long to be infert- 
ed. Here are buried alfo fome of the Family of Dou- 
glas of Scotland. They have a very good Library here, 
formerly accounted one of the beft in Paris, and which 
ftill has the Reputation of excelling all the reft in Ma- 
nuferipts, except the King’s. They pretend to have the 
Pfalter of St. Germain, which he generally ufed at di- 
vine Service, and a Miflfal of nine hundred Years old, 
written with a Stile on little Tables of Cedar. They 
Ihew you a great Volume brought by a French Ambaf- 
fador from Conjlantinople, with Atteftations of moft of 
the Bifliops of the Greek Church, concerning their Be- 
lief of Tranfubftantiation, which they produce as an 
undeniable Proof againft the Opinion of the Proteftants ; 
though to fpeak the Truth, it is very probable that thefe 
good Fathers might do much out of Complaifance 
both to the King and the AmbalTador, nothing being 
more obfervable among the Greeks than to accommo- 
date themfelves, both in Difeipline and Dodlrine, to 
thofe among whom they live *, as is particularly remark- 
able at Rome and Venice. 
The Fathers of this Abbey formerly publifti’d a very 
good Edition of Si. Aujiin^s, Works, from the beft Ma- 
niifcripts in Europe ', and Father Dachiery, of this Houfe, 
has fent Abroad divers Volumes of his Specilegium, con- 
t<iining many Curiofities and Antiquities taken out of 
their Manuferipts. They tell you, that the Church be- 
ing built in the fame Place where flood anciently the 
Temple of IJis, a Statue of which Goddels remains on 
Parc of the Walls, a Ample old Woman was feen to 
worfhip it for a Saint, which the Fathers having had 
'Notice of, they broke it to Pieces. 
6. Another of their publick Struclures is. what they 
call le Palais, becaufe in old Times it was the Refidence 
of their Kings, but by King Philip the Fair appropria- 
ted for the Affembly of their Parliament. The Hall 
in which anciently their Kings ufed to perform their 
greateft Solemnities is very fpacious, and arch’d, with 
the feveral Courts of Juftice in particular Chambers 
about it ; the ancient Chamber of private Audience is 
now the Room where the Remainders of their ancient 
Parliaments afiTemble when the King has any Thing of* 
Moment to propofe to them ; it opens always on Su 
Martinis Day, when the Members attend in the Great- 
Hall in their Scarlet Robes. Here is alfo kept the 
Court of Aids, which has a feparate jurifdidlion froni 
the Parliament ; their Court of Chancery t, and the Cham- 
ber of Accounts are the fame as our Exchequer Court % 
they plead by Way of Bill and Anfwer, Plaintiff and 
Defendant, but in a more fummary Way than in ouf 
Court of Chancery, much like our Civil Law Courts of Judi- 
cature-, though at the fame Time there are not wanting 
Inftances, that their Suits have been protradled for a 
great many Years. Here all the Patents of the 
Peers are regiftred, as well as their Charters and other 
Records. 
In the Chapel of St. Lewis, belonging to the Law- 
yers, they fliew you Abundance of Relicks, which they 
vouch for authentick •, as, the Sponge dipt in Vinegar 
and Gall ; the Head of the Spear wherewith they pierc’d 
our Saviour’s Side, and the Purple Robe entire, though 
at Rome they fhew with the fame Affurance a Piece of 
it. Near this Palace is the Square call’d la Place Dau-- 
phin, of a triangular Form, built immediately after the 
Birth of Lewis the Xlllth, which gave it the Name 
Dauphin. 
The Palais de Luxembough, ox Palais d^Orleans, built by 
Mary de Medicis, is one of the moft regular and mag- 
nificent Strudfures in Paris -, Madamoifelle ddOrleans has 
her Lodgings on one Side, and the Dutchefs of Guife 
on the other, in whofe is that famous Gallery of Paint- 
ings of Mary de Medicis, reprefenting her whole Lifej 
from her Nativity to the End of her Goverment, the 
Work of the excellent Paul Reuben, who, they Iky, be- 
ftow’d two whole Years upon it *, her Meeting with 
Henry IV, juft before Marriage, he all in Armour, and 
fbe drefled with all imaginable Advantage, and the 
moft beautiful and amorous Looks in the World, is a 
moft exquifite Piece : The fame Dutchefs has moft of 
her other Apartments curioufly furnifh’d with the 
choiceft Italian Pidtures, among thefe the wandring 
David, by the Hand of Guido Reni, is raoft excellent. 
The Gardens pe fuitable to the Magnificence of the 
Palace, and open for publick Walks. 
The Obfervatory, built by the prefent King for Aftro- 
nomical Obfervations, is a vaulted Fabrick, without ei- 
ther Wood or Iron-work, three Stories high befides 
which, you defeend by two hundred Steps into a Cave 
with little Alleys, from whence there is a Profpedl thro’ 
the very Top of the Houfe to the Sky, in Order to 
obferve the Motions of the Stars by Day *, but this 
Contrivance has not anfwer’d Expedfation, no Stars be- 
ing to be feen there, but the Light only, which they 
impute to the not palTing of any Stars through the Ze^ 
nith of Paris-, but it is fomething ftrange that this 
Defedt fhould not have been forefeen by their Artifts ; 
though otherwife the Building is better contriv’d than 
ours at Greenwich. 
Near it is the Four de Charpente or iht Fimher Fower, 
all of Carpenter s-work, for the fixing of their Tubes 
and Telefcopes; M. Caffini is the chief Supervifor of all 
this Bufinefs, the fame who was Profeffor of Bolognia, 
and made that famous Meridian Fine in one of the 
Churches of that- City he has a very good Salary al- 
low’d him by the King, and deferves that Reputation he 
is in with the Publick, and if poflible a greater. 
7. Among the Bridges of there are only three 
worth taking Notice of; the firft is, the Pont-Royal, 
OX' Royal Bridge, ' 2i ftrong plain Piece of Stone-work, 
but lately built crofs the Sein to the Fhuilleries 5 in 16855 
a Silk Bag of Medals was lodg’d in fome of the Ma- 
fonry of it, to perpetuate the Memory of their Lewis 
le Grand -, it was included in a Cedar-Box, with a blue 
Sattin, and the Arms of France upon it : One of thefe 
Medals was very large, of Copper gilt, befides twelve 
others of Gold and Silver *, one among them had for 
its Motto, Germania jervata another, Juffit ^iefeere 
another Rheno Batavfque und fuperatis -, and on another 
is reprefented Jupiter, with this Motto, Vibrata in fu- 
perbos Fulmina, and underneath. Genua emendata. What 
Vanity ! 
The 
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