The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-10-12
OUR PARIS LETTER.


be RoHAS WORKS OF ART IN STONE
AND WATER. WHAT LAToSA DID
FOR SPITE, ETC., ETC.
From cur regular correspondent
PARIS, Sept. IL. 1878.
Ed. IyTELLIGENcER With what
feelings must not the patriotic French,
during the ominous days from October
5th. 1870. till the.6th of March follow
ing. when Versailles was the beadquar
ters of 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 g'aires de "a France."
What . mockery must not that inscrip-
ton have seemed, and how Prince Bis
marck must have chuckled to 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
passed and France has shown what she
could do in the matter of the enormous
indemnity that was exacted of her, this
inscription il 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 though re-
peated visits that ita real grandeur and
magnifcence is impressed upon the
mind. The palace consists of consre.
cation of buildings. differing considsra-
bly, in style Is they have been erected
at different periods and by different az
lists, 80 that one misses that tout ensemble
that grand total of the impression,
which is 50 striking at Winsor castle,
for instance. when all the buildings,
though erected at widely different Pc
RODS, are held in the same general
style. 1t is not until after one has en-
tered the large courts which face the
Place d Armes from which the Palace 10
approached. crossed at the Cour Royale
and entered the garden, that the size
ana grandeur of the structure becomes
apparent, viewed from the reservoir
known a. the Piece des Suisses; the grand
facade of more than thirteen hundred
feet in length 10 truly magnificent and
striking; and when turni:g round we
look over the vast extent of park and
garden, with its numberless statues,
fountains. basins and cascades, we can
we'll understand that Louis the XIV,
alone, kept constantly employed &c.
600 IL borers aud 5000 horses and
carts in the construction of the place;
at his death, the work was only about
half finished. though sufficiently far
advanced to serve as an abode for him
self and favorite Madame de Mainten-
on.
To 60 into detailed description of
the wonders of Versailles in one brief
letter. is simply impossible. Its great.
est attraction, and the wonder of the
world, arc its fountains or Grands
Eour." which are not surpassed by any
works of q like nature, but stand as
magnificent monument of the splendor
Of Louis XIV and his extravagant
court. Az it costs about ten thousand
francs per diem to let these fountains
play. the more economical Court which
now holds it, sittings at Versailles has
limited this exhibition to the first Sun
day OF each month, 20 that the foun-
tains now only play twelve times .
year, instead Of every day. a. in the
time Of Louis the Magnificent. Hence,
selected last Sunday for my visit to
Versailles, and. taking the railroad on
the western bank (rirs gauche) arrived
there, amid dense concourse of Paris
ians and provincislists, after about IN
hours drive.
Al the fountains were not to com.
mence playing till four o'clock, there
wss ample time to look about the gar
dens, which are kept in excellent con-
dition. and precisely in the same style
in which they were originally laid out. |
This straight, cut and dried, so-called
French style Of landscape gardening,
with it, carefully trimmed shrubbery
and rectangular flower beds, 10 not |
generally pleasing to an American or
English eye; yet it cannot be denied |
that, when carried out on larger scale
o. here, there 10 . certain grandeur
about L. which would be unatt.in. he hv
anv other method The l.v;.hne.. v;th
which statues of marble and bronze ~. |
catered eyeryvhere and often n the |
most hidden and unexpected places, Is
also afrik;no. in our modern r.rd.n.
ana or fro st.tue. ara d.smaa : 80.
sure And an evi6ence If Wealth vb;I. - |
Ver,ailies thew NAV hs counted IL
the hnndreda That ALI If thee st.t,:.
Are str;ctlv sneaL;no vorls IF at AZ
not pretend to cav: but many Of them