As I have already explained, the two years of philosophy which serve as an introduction to the study of theology are spent, not in Paris, but at the country house of Issy, situated in the village of that name outside Paris, just beyond the last houses of Vaugirard. The seminary is a very long building at one end of a large park, and the only remarkable feature about it is the central pavilion, which is so delicate and elegant in style that it will at once take the eye of a connoisseur. This pavilion was the suburban residence of Marguerite de Valois, the first wife of Henri IV., between the year 1606 and her death in 1615. This clever but not very strait-laced princess (upon whom, however, we need not be harder than was he who had the best right to be so) gathered around her the clever men of the day, and the Petit Olympe d'Issy, by Michel Bouteroue,[1] gives a good description of this bright and witty court. The verses are as follows:
Je veux d'un excellent ouvrage, Dedans un portrait racourcy, Représenter le païsage Du petit Olympe d'Issy, Pourven que la grande princesse, La perle et fleur de l'univers, A qui cest ouvrage s'addresse, Veuille favoriser mes vers.
Que l'ancienne poésie Ne vante plus en ses écrits Les lauriers du Daphné d'Asie Et les beaux jardins de Cypris, Les promenoirs et le bocage Du Tempé frais et ombragé, Qui parut lors qu'un marescage En la mer se fut deschargé.
Qa'on ne vante plus la Touraine Pour son air doux et gracieux, Ny Chenonceaus, qui d'une reyne Fut le jardin délicieux, Ny le Tivoly magnifique Où, d'un artifice nouveau, Se faict une douce musique Des accords du vent et de l'eau.
Issy, de beauté les surpasse En beaux jardins et prés herbus, Dignes d'estre au lieu de Parnasse Le séjour des soeurs de Phébus. Mainte belle source ondoyante, Découlant de cent lieux divers, Maintient sa terre verdoyante Et ses arbrisseaux toujours verds.
Un vivier est à l'advenüe Près la porte de ce verger, Qui, par une sente cognüe, En l'estang se va descharger; Comme on voit les grandes rivières Se perdre au giron de la mer, Ainsi ces sources fontenières En l'estang se vont renfermer.
Une autre mare plus petite, Si l'on retourne vers le mont, Par l'ombre de son boys invite De passer sur un petit pont, Pour aller au lieu de delices, Au plus doux séjour du plaisir, Des mignardises, des blandices, Du doux repos et du loysir.
After the death of Queen Marguerite, the house was sold and it belonged in turn to several Parisian families which occupied it until 1655. Olier turned it to more pious uses than it had known before, by inhabiting it during the last few years of his life. M. de Bretonvilliers, his successor, gave it to the Company of St. Sulpice as a branch for the Paris house. The little pavilion of Queen Marguerite was not in any way changed, except that the paintings on the walls were slightly modified. The Venuses were changed into Virgins, and the Cupids into angels, while the emblematic paintings with Spanish mottoes in the interstices were left untouched, as they did not shock the proprieties. A very fine room, the walls of which were covered with paintings of a secular character, was whitewashed about half a century ago, but they would perhaps be found uninjured if this was washed off. The park to which Bouteroue refers in his poem is unchanged; except that several statues of holy persons have been placed in it. An arbour with an inscription and two busts marks the spot where Bossuet and Fénelon, M. Tronson and M. de Noailles had long conferences upon the subject of Quietism, and agreed upon the thirty-four articles of the spiritual life, styled the Issy Articles.