These gardens communicated, by a bridge of a fine, bold construction
(which the old men of Blois may still remember to have seen
demolished) with a pleasure-ground on the other side of the chateau,
which, by the lay of the land, was on the same level. The nobles
attached to the Court of Anne de Bretagne, or those of that province
who came to solicit favors, or to confer with the queen as to the fate
and condition of Brittany, awaited in this pleasure-ground the
opportunity for an audience, either at the queen's rising, or at her
coming out to walk. Consequently, history has given the name of
"Perchoir aux Bretons" to this piece of ground, which, in our day, is
the fruit-garden of a worthy bourgeois, and forms a projection into
the place des Jesuites. The latter place was included in the gardens
of this beautiful royal residence, which had, as we have said, its
upper and its lower gardens. Not far from the place des Jesuites may
still be seen a pavilion built by Catherine de' Medici, where,
according to the historians of Blois, warm mineral baths were placed
for her to use. This detail enables us to trace the very irregular
disposition of the gardens, which went up or down according to the
undulations of the ground, becoming extremely intricate around the
chateau,--a fact which helped to give it strength, and caused, as we
shall see, the discomfiture of the Duc de Guise.

The gardens were reached from the chateau through external and
internal galleries, the most important of which was called the
"Galerie des Cerfs" on account of its decoration. This gallery led to
the magnificent staircase which, no doubt, inspired the famous double
staircase of Chambord. It led, from floor to floor, to all the
apartments of the castle.