the fact that the forest of Montegnac furnished all the necessary wood
and clay for its fabrication. The framework of wood and the stone for
the foundations also came from the forest; otherwise the cost of the
restorations would have been ruinous. The chief expenses had been
those of transportation, labor, and salaries. Thus the money laid out
was kept in the village, and greatly benefited it.

At first sight, and from a distance, the chateau presents an enormous
red mass, threaded by black lines produced by the pointing, and edged
with gray; for the window and door casings, the entablatures, corner
stones, and courses between the stories, are of granite, cut in facets
like a diamond. The courtyard, which forms a sloping oval like that of
the Chateau de Versailles, is surrounded by brick walls divided into
panels by projecting buttresses. At the foot of these walls are groups
of rare shrubs, remarkable for the varied color of their greens. Two
fine iron gates placed opposite to each other lead on one side to a
terrace which overlooks Montegnac, on the other to the offices and a
farm-house.

The grand entrance-gate, to which the road just constructed led, is
flanked by two pretty lodges in the style of the sixteenth century.
The facade on the courtyard looking east has three towers,--one in the
centre, separated from the two others by the main building of the
house. The facade on the gardens, which is absolutely the same as the
others, looks westward. The towers have but one window on the facade;
the main building has three on either side of the middle tower. The
latter, which is square like a _campanile_, the corners being
vermiculated, is noticeable for the elegance of a few carvings
sparsely distributed. Art is timid in the provinces, and though, since
1829, ornamentation has made some progress at the instigation of