For the rest, however, the Abbe likes places where many
alleys meet; or which, like the Belle-Etoile, are kept up 'by a
special gardener,' and admires at the Table du Roi the labours of the
Grand Master of Woods and Waters, the Sieur de la Falure, 'qui a fait
faire ce magnifique endroit.'
But indeed, it is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a
claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality
of the air, that emanation from the old trees, that so wonderfully
changes and renews a weary spirit. Disappointed men, sick Francis
Firsts and vanquished Grand Monarchs, time out of mind have come here
for consolation. Hither perplexed folk have retired out of the press
of life, as into a deep bay-window on some night of masquerade, and
here found quiet and silence, and rest, the mother of wisdom. It is
the great moral spa; this forest without a fountain is itself the
great fountain of Juventius. It is the best place in the world to
bring an old sorrow that has been a long while your friend and enemy;
and if, like Beranger's your gaiety has run away from home and left
open the door for sorrow to come in, of all covers in Europe, it is
here you may expect to find the truant hid.
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