Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-10-03
OUR PARIS LETTER.

ECuRsroN TO vERsAILLEs-rrs woS-
60. GARDEN AND FOUNTAINS,
snro,sr III INT n sPLENDoRs
81 LOUIS xiv-MARIE
CARDINAL DE
AND N wArER-wh-r m STONE
fvn BITE, ~. -oNA DID
lFrom our Regular Correspondent,
PARIS. Sept. II, 1878.
FRIEND WHITE: With what feel
ings must not the patriotic French,
during the ominous days from Octo-
Der 9th, 1870, till the 9th of March
following, when Versailles was the
headquarters for Emperor William
and his army, have read the proud
inscription " each of the two pa
vilions that face the large courts by
which one enters the palace: "a
toutes les gloires de Ia Francei''
What a mockery must not that in
scrlption have seemed, and how Prince
Bismarck must have chuckied 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
mas shown what she could do in the
matter of the enormous indemnify
that was exacted of her, this inscrip-
ton is even more appropriate than
when Louis the Fourteenth first
placed it there.
The tourist who visits Versailles
for the first time is, however, likely
TO be disappointed, for it is only
through repeated visits that its real
grandeur and magnifcence is i'm
pressed upon the mind. The palace
consists Of a congregation of build
ings, differing considerably in style,
rs they have been erected at different
periods and by different architects, |
30 that n misses the tout ensemble,
that grand total of the impression,
which Is 30 striking, at Windsor Cas-
tie, for instance, when all the build
ings, though erected at widely differ
ent periods, are held In the same
general style. It Is not until after
has entered the large courts
which face the Place d'Arnes from
which the palace is appraesAcss51
crossed the Court R0yyysk;s and entered
-.c garden, that the size and grand
u of the structure becomes appar-
ent, viewed from the reservoir known
as the Piece DIES Suisses, the grand
facade of more than thirteen hundred
feet in length, is truly magnificent
and striking; and when, turning
round, we look ove the vast extent
of park and garden, with its number
less statues, fountains, basins and
cascades, one can we'll understand
that Louis the XIV, alone, kept en-
ployed constantly more than SO, 900
laborers and 5000 horses and carts
in the construction of the place; and
at his death the work was only half
finished, though sufficiently far adj
vanced to serve as an abode for him
self and fayorite Madame de Main
tenon.
To go into a detailed description of
the wonders of Versailles, in the space
of one brief letter, is simply impossi-
BILE. It's greatest attraction, and the
wonder of the world, are its foun-
tains, or ''grandes eaux," which are
not surpassed by any works of a like
nature, but stand as a magnificent
monument Of the splendor of Louis
XIV and his ~extravagant court. As
it costs about ten thousand francs
per diem to let these fountains play,
the more economical republican
court, which now holds its sittings at
Versailles, has limited this exhibition
to the first Sunday Of each month, so
that the fountains now play only
twelve times a year, instead of every
day, as in the time of Louis the mag.
nificent. Hence, / selected last sur
day for my visit to Versailles, and
taking the rail- DAD on the western
bank (rive ganche) arrived there,
amid q dense concourse of Parisians
and proyincialists, after about an
hours drive. ~.
As the fountains were not to com.
mence 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 originally
laid out. This straight, cut-and-dri-
ed, so-called French style Of land
scape gardening, With its carefully
trimmed shrubbery and rectanguhr
flower beds Is not generally pleasing
to nm Americas or English eye; yet
1t cannot be denied that, when carried
out on a larger scale, as here, there
is a certain grandeur abo ut it, which
would be unattainable by any other
method. The layishness with which
statues, of marble and bronze, are
scattered everywhere, and often in the
most hidden and unexpected places,
is also striking in our modern gar
dens, one or two statues are deemed
q treasure and an evidence Of wealth,
while at Versailles they may be coun-
ted by hundreds. That all Of these
statues are, strictly speaking, works