Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-09-25

Ahio, OCPo lElu, 1910
With what feelings must not the patri-
otto French. during the ominous days from
October 9th, 1870. till the 9th of March
following, when Versailles was the head
quarters for Emperor William and his
army, have read the proud inscription
over each Of the two pavilions that face
the large courts by which one enters the
palace: "a toutes les gloires de Ia France !"
What mockery must not that inscription
have seemed, and how Prince Bismarck
must have chuckled within himself every
morning when from his windows, nearly
opposite, he looked upon and read those
words! There they stand, however, and
now, when the war is long past, and
France has shown what she could do in the
matter of the enormous indemnity that
was exacted of her, this inscription is even
more appropriate than when Louis the
Fourteenth first placed it there
The tourist who visits Versailles for the
first lime is, however. likely to be disap-
pointed, for it is only through repeated
visits that its real grandeur and magnit-
cence is impressed upon the mind. The
palace consists of a congregation of build.
ings differing considerably in style, as
they have been erected at different periods
and by different architects, so that one
misses the tout ensemble, that grand total
Of the impression, which is so striking at
Windsor Castle, for instance, where all the
buildings though erected at widely differ
ent periods, are held in the same general
style. 1t is not until after one has entered
the large courts which face the Place
d'ArnieS from which the palace is APP
preached, crossed the Cour Royale and
entered the garden. that the size and
| grandeur of the structure becomes appa-
rent; viewed from the reservoir known as
the Piece des Saisses, the grand facade of
more than thirteen hundred feet in length
is truly magnificent and striking; and
when, turning round, we look over the
vast extent Of park and garden, with its
numberless statues, fountains, basins and
cascades, one can well understand that
Louis XIV, alone, kept employed constant
| ly more than $4,000 laborers and 5000
horses and carts in the construction of the
place, and Mt his death the work was only
about half finished, though sufficiently far
advanced to serve us an abode for himself
and favorite Madame de Maintenon.
To go into detailed description of the
wonders of Versailles in The space of one
brief letter, is simply impossible. Its
greatest attraction, and the wonder of the
world, are its fountains, or "GrandeS
Eaur," which are not surpassed by any
works of like nature, but stand rs n
magnificent monument of the splendor of
Louis XIV and his extravagant court. As
it costs ten thousand francs per diem to let
these fountains play, the more economical
republican court which now holds its sit
tings at Versailles has limited this exhibit
ton to the first Sunday of each month, so
that the fountains now play only twelve
times year. instead of every day, as in
the time of Louis the Magnificent. Hence
| selected last Sunday for my visit to Ver-
sailles, and, taking the railroad on the
western bank (rire gauche] arrived there,
amid dense concourse of Parisians
and provincialists, after about an hours
drive.
As the fountains were not to commence
playing till four o'clock, there was ample
time TO look about the gardens, which are
! kept in excellent condition. and precisely
in the same style in which they were orig
inally laid out This straight, cut-and-
dried, so called French style of landscape
gardening, with its carefully trimmed
shrubbery and rectangular flower beds. is
not generally pleasing to an American or
English eye; yet it cannot be denied that,
when carried out on larger scale, MS here,
there is a certain grandeur about it, which
would be unattainable by any other
method. The lavishness with which stat
ues, of marble and bronze, are scattered
everywhere, and often in the most hidden
and unsupported places, is also striking
in our modern gardens one or two statues
are deemed treasure and an evidence of
wealth, while at Versailles they may be
counted by hundreds. That all of these
statues are, strictly speaking, works of art,
I do not pretend to say; but many Of them
are, especially those which owe their ORR
gin to such artists as Marcy La Perdrix,
ruby, Girardon and others. Nearly all
have suffered more or less from exposure,
especially the finest work of all, the grea,
circular colonnade with its thirty-two
fountains encircling a group by Girardou
representing the Rape of Proserpina; this
place, which is delightfully."- cool and
shady, was favorite resort of Marie An.
toinette when she resided at Versailles
and it Was close to this place, in tho B0s.
quet de In Refine, that the famous adven-
| buio Will tlc uoChiuCcs III WuiCi Sue anu
Cardinal Rohan played so conspicuous a
role, and which, whether true or false, has
become historical, is said to have take n
place.
The largest of the fountains Is the Basin
de Neptune. at the north end of the palace.
do not know how many separate foun-
-
when they all play, some of them sending
a column of water more than hundred
feet high and as thick as a mans leg, the
effect is truly superb, and the noise of the
falling water deafening. The effect was
heightened when. after dark. the fountains
we're illuminated by colored lights; the
water seemed liquid fire, and the huge