Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/130

 122 NOTES AND QUERIES. (lie. VIL Fas. 15.1913 generally lknoin as “ L’Ami dies Hommes.” Aparent te Marquis, wo was then ligmg in Paris, never occupied the house, and almost immediately after its purchase he commissioned his brother, the Bailli de Mirabeau, who held a high position in the Order of Malta, to sell or let the proIperty if he could find an opportunity. t re- mained, however, for a considerable time in the Marquis’s hands, and there is a tradi- tion--a groundless one, I believe-that his more celebrated son, Honore Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, after his marriage at Aix on 23° June, 1772, with Emilie de Covet de Marignane, spent there a portion of his honeymoon. It seems, however, to be an established fact that, for a short period, the Marquis had as a tenant Anne Pitt, the sister of the great Earl of Chatham. In 1775 the house was occupied by the Genevese savant De Luc, who was one of Queen Charlotte’s readers, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. After several changes of ownership the roperty at last came into the hands of garon Stulz, who very soon identified himself with the life of thqalplace. His wealth was great, and his libe ty was in- exhaustible. Old inhabitants, not so many years ago, recalled how, as he drove across the Esplanade in his magnificent equipage, he used to be acclaimed with the rude patois time- “ Vivo moussu d’Estu Qu'a lou cabrioulet plen' d’escut ! ” Shortly before his death the town of Hyeres, in grateful recognition of his many benefactions, erected a stone obelisk upon the Place des Palmiers, on the base of which the following inscription may still be read :- A nt. LE autos nn srcnz L.; VILLE n`HYEi2;;32 nncoumalssazvm Though a strict Protestant, Stulz recog- nized no distinctions of race or creed m his boundless charity. When the Govern- ment, during his residence at Hgéres, pre- sented the town with a line mar le bust of the great orator Massillon, it was the Baron who provided the funds for erecting it on a beautiful stone column, which was placed in the Place de la Républi ue, opposite the ancient church of the Colleliers-now the Church of St. Louis. This bust and column passed through many vicissitudes. The former has found a resting - place in the Museum, and the latter forms a portion of the cenotaph which was erected in the new cemetery in memory of the sailors who were drowned when L’Arrogante, a vessel of the French Navy, was wrecked on the coast of Giens, near Hyeres, in 1879. More recently a bronze statue of Massillon, who was bom at Hyéres in 1663, has been erected gsashe north-east corner of t-he Place de la e. Baron Stulz died in his house at Hyeres in 1832 at the of 70 and as he left no d0B¢;BD.dPIll58,°%B_ propbrty was divided between his two sisters, who had both married Baden gentlemen. The elder, Bar- bara, was the wife of John Metzger of Keip- penheim, and the yo, Marie Madeleine, of Andrew Sohn of U. The latter had five daughters, one of whom, Marie Made- leine, married M. Alghonse Denis, an avooat and publicist of yeres. A short time previously, on 26 Feb., 1833, by a family arrangzment, the Hyéresh$perty had come into t e possession of ame Sohn, and on her death her daughter, Madame Denis, succeeded to it. The Baron had spent large sums of money in improving the o d mansion. The decora- tion of the principal salon cost him 50,000fr. It was fumished entirely in the Empire style, and was dominated biaan enormous mirror, which was said to ve no equal in Provence. This mansion, thenceforward known as the Chateau Denis, became cele- brated for the entertainments given by its new owners. M. Denis, who was a man of considerable culture and learning, was Mayor of Hyeres and Deputy for the Depart- ment of the Var. He was devoted to archa- ology, and was one of the first to encourage excavations on the site of the old Roman town of Pomponiana. He was also instru- mental in procuring the sanction of the Government to the ancient castle and the Church of St. Louis being classed as public monuments. He is, perhaps, best remem- bered now by his admirable book, ‘ H ares Ancien et Modeme,’ which is a storehouse of information on everyt-hing connected with this venerable town. During his occupancy of the house it was occasionally let to some distinguished tenants. Among these were Queen Chris-- tina of Spain and her husband, the Duke of Rianzares, and some men distinguished in science and literature-Ampere, Philarete Chasles, and Jules Michelet. Michelet was much attached to Hyeres, and wintered there for the last ten years of his life. He died on 9 Feb., 1874, in the house now num- bered 1, Avenue Alphonse Denis, the principal business thoroughfare of the town, which was named by the municipality after its former head.