of the
demolished tenements to his English subjects. In choosing this material,
they may have been guided partly by choice, as being a domestic fashion,
and partly by necessity; for the use of stone was restricted by Henry,
to the building and repairing of 'eglises, chasteaulx, et forteresses.'
The king, by letters-patent, declared that the 'quarries of white stone'
were to remain to him and his heirs for ever: this monopoly proves the
value in which the Caen stone was held."

[Illustration: Plate 63. CHATEAU OF FONTAINE-LE-HENRI, NEAR CAEN.
_Elevation of Central Compartment._]

Some account has already been given, under the preceding article, of the
changes of proprietors which the domain of Fontaine-le-Henri underwent,
during the reigns of the Norman Dukes, and down to the conclusion of the
fourteenth century. The estate then passed into the possession of the
Harcourts, in whose hands it continued a considerable length of time: it
has since been subject to various owners, and has now finally become the
property of the Viscount de Canisy. The _Chateau_ (see _plates
sixty-two_ and _sixty-three_) is a noble building, and a very
characteristic specimen of the residences of the French noblesse,
during the latter part of the fifteenth century, at which period there
is no doubt of its having been erected, although no records whatever are
left upon the subject. Fontaine-le-Henri was then still in the
possession of the family of Harcourt, whose fortune and consequence
might naturally be expected to give rise to a similar building.--As
compared with the mansions of the English nobility, the chateau at
Fontaine-le-Henri may be advantageously viewed in conjunction with
Longleat, in Wiltshire,[130] the noble seat of the Marquess of Bath. The
erection of the latter was not commenced till the year 1567, thus
leaving an interval of at least half a century between them; a period,
probably, much the same as may be presumed from other documents to have
intervened between the introduction of the Italian style of architecture
in France and in England. Longleat was built by John of Padua, who is
stated by Mr. Britton, "to have been an architect of some note at the
time; as is evinced by his being termed _Devizor of his Majesty's
buildings_, and by the grant made him by Henry VIII. and renewed in the
third year of Edward VI." Fontaine-le-Henri was also the production of
trans-alpine architects. Both of them bear decided marks of the n