CHANTILLY, a small town of France, in the department of Oise, 25 miles north of Paris by the main line of the great northern railway. It is .finely situated near the River Nonette, and is one of the favourite Parisian resorts. Its name has long been associated with the manufacture of lace and blonde, and it is still more celebrated for its chateaux and pleasure grounds, and as the scene of the great annual races of the French Jockey Club. The old castle must have been in existence in the 13th century, and in the reign of Charles VI. the lordship belonged to Pierre d’Orgemont, Chancellor of France. In 1484 it was transferred by his grandson to the house of Montmorency, and in 1632 it passed from that family to the house of Condé. The Prince de Condé, surnamed the Great, was specially attached to the spot, and did a great deal to enhance its beauty and splendour. Here he enjoyed the society of La Bruyère, Racine, Molière, La Fontaine, Boileau, and other great men of his time; and here his steward Vatel killed himself in despair, because something had gone wrong with the preparations for the reception of his majesty Louis XIV. Of the two splendid mansions that then existed, and were known as the Grand Chateau and the Petit Château, the former was destroyed about the time of the Revolution, but the latter still remains as one of the finest specimens of the Renaissance architecture in France. On the death of the duke of Bourbon, the last representative of the house of Condé, the estate passed into the hands of the Duc d’Aumale, fourth son of Louis Philippe. In 1853 the house of Orleans was declared incapable of possessing property in France, and Chantilly was accordingly sold by auction. Purchased by the English bankers Coutts & Co. for the sum of 11,000,000 ...