joined the mourners around the royal bedside and heard his
father's confession thus: "My son, I have sinned greatly; I have been
led away by my passions; follow that which I have done that is
accredited good, and ignore the evil; above all, cherish France; be good
to my people."

That was all except the final counsel to "beware of the Guises; they are
traitors." After that he spoke no more. Francis I, the gallant,
art-loving monarch, the father of the Renaissance in France, was dead.

In 1562, Catherine de Medici, accompanied by her son Charles IX, here
awaited the results of the momentous battle of Dreux. In 1588, Henri
III, fleeing Paris after the "_journee des barricades_" came here to
rest, and so fatigued was he on his arrival that he went to bed "_tout
botte_."

The son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan came into possession of
"the palace and lands" and in his honour the property was made, in spite
of its limited area, a Duche-Pairie.

Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, as was but natural, because of its
proximity to Maintenon and to Paris, frequently honoured Rambouillet
with their presence; and, a little later, Louis XV and the beautiful
Comtesse de Toulouse followed suit.

The Duc de Penthievre, to whom the property had by this time descended,
at the instance of Louis XVI, ceded to that monarch the domain of
Rambouillet.

Louis XVI built vast commons and outbuildings, all with some
architectural pretence, to house the appanage of the royal hunt, and
also built the Laiterie de la Reine and the model farm where, in 1786,
he established the first national sheepfold.

[Illustration: _Laiterie de la Reine, Rambouillet_]

To-day this is the famous Ecole de Bergers, where is quartered the
largest flock of _moutons a laine_ (merino sheep) in France, they
having been brought chiefly from Spain.

The Laiterie de la Reine was a tiny sandstone temple with interior
fittings chiefly of white marble, and with a great, round centre-table,
and smaller tables in each corner, equally of marble, as becomes a
hygienically fitted dairy. It was restored by Louis Napoleon during the
Second Empire, and is still to be seen in all its pristine glory.

In addition, Louis XVI had at Rambouillet a private domain of a
considerable extent which only the Constitution of 1791 united to the
Civil List. This property, except the palace, the park and the forest,
was sold later by the State. The Imperial Civil List, formed in 1805 b