Daily American telegraph., 1852-03-06
Letter from Paris.
PARIS, February IL,

AXIS I<OTuuIy IL, loO<.
have spent day or two at Versailles,
where the famous chateau and garden of Louis
XIV are, and which are generally conceded to
be the most extensive and magnificent monu-
ments of the splendors of monarchy in Europe.
ties and princely residences of the nobility in
Of the Luxembourg and the Louvre but it was
left for the palace at Versailles to oyerwhelm
and bewilder me with its gorgeousness.
The palace, over a half mile in length, is q
wonder of artistic effect both. within and with
out; and though nice eye might find some
thing to object to in the uniformity of its inter-
nal architecture the variety and wealth of its
ornaments and the munifcence and exquisite
taste of all its details would more than com.
pensate for any defects 1t is built of the fine
and delicately tinted stone which abounds in
the basin of Paris in the richest Ionic order,
with floors of variegated marble or polished
wood, and walls and ceilings which are either
painted in fresco or adorned with the most
costly pictures. AS you wander from room to
room, and from story to story amid the gilded
columns and statues and pictures, multiplied a
thousand times by the mirrors and lustres, you
are positively dazzled with the sight, and often
sit down to recover your equanimity
| 1t must have been world in ITSELF this
mighty structure it embraces within its walls,
kitchens, game-courts, eating rooms libraries,
parlors sleeping apartments, galleries, beau
tful theatre and a still more beautiful chapel
Its ecuries had stabling for thousand horses
and court of three thousand persons could be
easily entertained in its large saloon. That stu
pendous yet not altogether unscientifc dreamer,
Fourier, when he projected his grand Phalanste-
rie, which might hold an entire township, and
furnish to each person the completest salts
faction of all his wants, amid glorious land
scapes and magnificent treasures Of art, must
have derived his suggestions from Versailles,
and imagined for the whole people of the fu-
ture, what was once the glory Of the monarchs
Of the past
The park and grounds Of the chateau are
| little too trim and mathematical, according to
French taste, in their arrangements, TO suit
one accustomed to the rural scenes of England,
or the grand old woods of our own country !;
but in their extent their variety their fine
trees their flower gardens their fountains, and
their myriads of statues and vases, are highly
pleasing and impressive. One can easily figure
how the brilliant satellites Of Louis Quatorze
disported themselves, during the illuminated
nights, in the shadows Of these lofty trees along
the sparkling walks, amid the deeply y-embow-
cred groves, or around mirroring waters. In
deed, picture such as Watteau used to paint
Is recalled at every STEP and particularly of an
evening when the lamps are lighted and the
jets deau are in play.
But, after all, it is not admiration and won
der, so much as n thoughtful and wise sadness,
that we carry away from these splendid resi-
dences of the oden times. In the midst of the
brilliancy there is desolation that is melan-
choly but instructive. We remember that all
the gay and brilliant people who once thronged
these rooms are no more--the Louises, the
Pompadours, Marie Antoinette, have passed
away Bossuet and Masllon do not thunder
from the pulpit any more; nor do Voltare or
Moliere delight the crowds Of the ante-cham-
bers with their sly sarcasm, or convulse them
with their fine art on the stage. Il is all still
in these halls. The football Of visters, or Of the
superannuated old soldiers who attend them,
are all the sounds that wake the echoes along
the vaulted ceilings, Even the pictures, which
seem so animated, make the silence greater by
the contrast and in their enduring loyeliness
and beauty rebuke the evanescence and moth
ingness Of human life
This is the saddening part of a thought
which on the other side has a deep significance.
The people of those days have gone, and with
them the whole spirit of society in which they
were born. Monarchy has gone with them
not only its splendor but its naughty oppres-
sion. The palaces of the proud old kings are
no longer occupied they are no longer of prac-
teal use; they are show-rooms and museums,
and galleries The Besallee is brilliant Gu
riosity the Louvre museum, the Luxembourg
gallery, and the Tuilories public offices and
barracks It is nearly the same all over Eu-
rope. Society finds no need now for the state
and parade of former days The glory Of
monarchy has departed; and it lived only if it
lived at all, like magnificent old debauchee
on the little flittering life that repentance has
left in its withered and wasted body. The
monuments Of its former wealth are around it,
but they are almost idle and empty Of uses
This was the work of the first French Reyo-
Iution--thanks to it! And it will be impossi.
BILE to revive the old splendors of royalty in