The daily gazette., 1878-09-25
OUR PARIS LETTER.
An Excursion TO Versailles.
ifS WONDERFUL GARDEN, AND FoUN1'
AfEs-soME INSIGHT INTO THE
sPLEFDoRs OF THE COURT OF
LOUIS xly-MARIH AEToI-
NBTTE AND CARDINAL DE
RoHAN-woRKs OF
ART INsToNEAND
INwATEh,ErC
From our regular correspondent. !

l. -o'AN ONi iSHoiaI COTTtbDOQu61t.
| PARIS, Sept. 18th, 1873.
With what feelings must not the IA.
triotic French, during the omi nous days
from October 9th, 1870 till the 9Th OF
March following when Versailles was
the headquarters for Emperor William
and his army, have read the proud in.
scription over each of The two pavilions
that face the large courts by which one
enters the palace "o toutes les qloires de
Ia France" What amockery 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 thew
stand, however, and now, when the war
is long past, and France has shown what
she could do in the matter of the enor-
NOUS indemnity that was exacted of her
this inscription, is even more appropri.
ate, than when Louis the Fourteenth
first placed it there!
The tourist who visits Versailles for the
first time is however, likely to be disap.
pointed, for it is only through repeated
visits that its real grandeur and magnifi.
cence is impressed upon the mind. The
palace consists of congregation of build.
ings, differing considerably in style, as
they have been erected at di fferentperiods
! and by different architects SO that one
misses that tout ensemble, that grand total
| of the impression, which Is so striking
at Windsor Castle, for instance, when all
the buildings though erected at widely
| different periods, are held in the same
general style. 1t is not until after one has
entered the large courts which face the
Place a. Arms from which the palace is
| approached, 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 Suisses, 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, oasins
| and cascades. one can we'll understand
| constantly more than 5000 laborers and
5000 horses and carts In the construction
| OF the place and at his death, the work
was only about half finished though suffi-
| clently far advanced to serve as an abode
1 for himself and favorite Madame de
Maintenox.
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 "Grdndes
Edu1, whic are net surpassed by any
| works of like nature, but stand as .
magnificent monument of the splendor
OF Louis XIV and his extravagant court.
As 1t 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 ofeach
month, so that the fountains now play
only twelve times year instead of every
day, as in the time of "Louis the magni-
fcent." Hence, Il selected last Sunday for
my visit to Versailles, and taking the rail-
road on the western bank (rtpe grdnche)
arrived there, amid dense concourse of
Parisians and provinciaists after about
an hours drive.
AS the fountains were not to commence
playing until fouro'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 andidried, so-called French style of
Landscape gardening, with its carefully
trimmed shrubbery and rectangular flow
er beds is not generallynpleasing to an
American or English eye; yet it cannot
be denied that, when carried out ON q
larger scale, as here, there is q certain
grandeur about 1t, which would be unat-
tainabls by any other method. The
lAvishness with which statues, of marble
and bronze, are scattered everywhere,
and often in the most hidden and unex-
peeted places, Is also striking; in our
modern gardens, one or two statues are
deemed a treasure and an evidence of
wealth, while at Versailles they may be
counted by the hundreds. That all of
these statues are, strictly speaking, works
of art, do not pretend to say but many
of them are, especially those which owe
their origin to such artists as Marcy La
Perdrix, Tuby, Girardon, and others.
Nearly all have suffered more or less from
exposure, especially the finest work of
all, the great circular Colonndde with its
thirty-two fountains encircling a group
by Girardon representing the Rape OF
Proserpina, this place, which is delight
fully cool and shady, was favorite re-
sort of Marie Antoinette wheu she resid-
ed at Versailles and it was close to this
place, in the Basquet de la Refine, that
the famous adventure with the necklace,
in which she and Cardinal Rohan played
so conspicuous role, and which, whether
true or false, has become historical, is
said to have taken place. ,
The largest of the fountains is the BdS-
sin de Neptune, at the north end of the
palace. / do not know how many sep
arate fountains are comprised in this one
basin but when they all play, some of
them sending a column of water more
than hundred feet high and as thick
as mans leg, the effect is truly superb,
and the noise of the falling water deaf
ening. The effect was heightened when,
after dark, the fountains were illumi nat
ed by colored Lights the water seemed
their liquid fire, and the huge statues OF
Neptune, Oceanus and Proteus, in the
background, looked in the fierce red
glare like veritable demons from the do
mains of Pluto, ready to burst forth
through the splashing fire at the word
Of command to destroy and sub bdue.
Perhaps the finest of the fountains, as
work of art considered, is that of Lato-
ma, which is just at the foot of the first