decorated, stands the Little Castle of
which I have spoken. This edifice, and the ground about it, formerly
belonged to the celebrated Le Brun, who amused himself in building and
decorating it in the exquisite taste of architectual ornaments which that
great painter had formed to himself. The castle has since been rebuilt,
but still, according to the plan and design of its first master. It is
little and simple, but elegant. As it stands in a hollow between the
orangery and the large piece of water, and consequently is liable to be
damp, it is open in the middle by a peristyle between two rows of
columns, by which means the air circulating throughout the whole edifice
keeps it dry, notwithstanding its unfavorable situation. When the
building is seen from the opposite elevation, which is a point of view,
it appears absolutely surrounded with water, and we imagine we have
before our eyes an enchanted island, or the most beautiful of the three
Boromeans, called Isola Bella, in the greater lake.

In this solitary edifice I was offered the choice of four complete
apartments it contains, besides the ground floor, consisting of a dancing
room, billiard room and a kitchen. I chose the smallest over the
kitchen, which also I had with it. It was charmingly neat, with blue and
white furniture. In this profound and delicious solitude, in the midst
of the woods, the singing of birds of every kind, and the perfume of
orange flowers, I composed, in a continual ecstasy, the fifth book of
Emilius, the coloring of which I owe in a great measure to the lively
impression I received from the place I inhabited.

With what eagerness did I run every morning at sunrise to respire the
perfumed air in the peristyle! What excellent coffee I took there
tete-a-tete with my Theresa. My cat and dog were our company. This
retinue alone would have been sufficient for me during my whole life,
in which I should not have had one weary moment. I was there in a
terrestrial paradise; I lived in innocence and tasted of happiness.

At the journey of July, M. and Madam de Luxembourg showed me so much
attention, and were so extremely kind, that, lodged in their house, and
overwhelmed with their goodness, I could not do less than make them a
proper return in assiduous respect near their persons; I scarcely quitted
them; I went in the morning to pay my court to Madam la Marechale; after
dinner I walked with the marechal; but did not sup at the castle on