It was at different times the residence of Louis XIII.[17] of Anne of
Austria, Christiana of Sweden, and of Madame La Valiere, when Madame
de Montespan rivalled her in the affections of Louis XIV. After the
former had retired to the Convent of the Carmelites at Paris, it was
assigned in 1689 to the unfortunate James the Second, whose bigotry
had driven him from the throne of England. Here, together with his
Queen, and those of his court who fled with him to seek an asylum in
France, and surrounded by those priests and monks, whose pernicious
councils had led to his fall, the unhappy James remained until his
death, the 16th Sept. 1701. The apartment in which he breathed his
last is still preserved; but the whole of the interior has been very
much neglected. It served as a quarter for a body of Prussians in
1815, and the following year was a barrack for the English troops
quartered at St. Germain. A French poet of his time wrote these lines
descriptive of the life he led in his retirement.
"C'est ici que Jacques second,
Sans Ministres et sans maitresse,
Le matin allait a la Messe,
Et le soir allait au sermon".
[Footnote 16: On the top of this height is the Pavilion de Lucienne,
built by Madame Dubarry, Mistress to Louis XV. afterwards the property
of Madame La Princesse de Conti, now the residence of M. de Puy: at
the foot is the village of Lucienne, surrounded by numerous villas:
among the most remarkable is the residence of General Comte Campon.
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