The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at St. Germain-en-Laye, in France, 1518. Died in Paris, 1559. Aged 41.] The son of Francis I. He pursued the policy of his sire, carried war into Italy, and strenuously opposed the House of Austria under Charles V. and Philip II. He also took arms against England, and was bitter in his persecution of Protestants. In his reign France recovered from England the towns of Boulogne and Calais, the latter of which England had held for the space of 210 years. Henry II. was an average king of the time. He was the slave of his mistress, the celebrated Diana of Poitiers, upon whom, and upon his favourites, he lavished his wealth; he cultivated libertinism at Court, he robbed the people, he overstepped his legitimate rights, and he left his country largely in debt. Historians thank Providence that it was no worse. This monarch died of an accidental wound, in a tournament, from the hand of Montgomery, the chief of his Scotch guards. [From a marble in the Louvre, by Jean Goujon. A very interesting relic, formerly part of a beautiful chimney-piece brought from the Château de Villeroy, and now in the Louvre, the work of Germain Pilon. No 302A is from the marble by Germain Pilon, the celebrated sculptor of the French Renaissance. The marble is very much decayed, but the general character of the head is preserved, as well as the costume. The head is crowned with laurel. The mantle is ornamented with the fleur-de-lys, and the Order is that of St. Michel. The magnificent tomb of this king in St. Denis is by Pilon.] 302A. HENRY II. _King of France._