Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-26

Sunday. I have stood in that room and
looked down the long perspective, and
pictures have risen up before me of
GALLANT MEN, RICHLY DRESSED,
with one hand clasping the hilt of the sword
while the other raised their plumed hats to
grand ladies in flowing gowns. 1 could see
the Swiss Guards standing with their
halberds, guards with helmets, sparkling
with precious stones favorite courtiers
waiting for the King to come; officers of the
palace in gorgeous uniforms; the monarch
listening to the diplomatic speech OF some
ambassador; duchesses and danes of lesser
rank sitting in superb robes on footstools at
the Queens feet. Then 1 could see these
people moving slowly and majestically
through the minuet or the pavain, and the
royal personages, princes and princesses,
ladies and gentlemen of rank and high de-
gree taking part in stately movements.
There is nowhere else vaster hall SO
sumptuously decorated; it is gallery of
mirrors 80 yards long, 15 wide and with a
very high ceiling. There are II arched win
dows looking on lawn of waters, green
grass and well-kept trees, and on the other
side of the room there are as many CORE
spending arcades covered the whole length
with mirrors framed and ornamented with
plated gold. Marble pillars, richly adorned
and gilded too, stand between each mirror.
The gilded cornice is decorated with the
crowns of France, cocks heads, suns and
feur-de-lis. The panels of the arches and
arcades are painted in sort of cradle-form
and hold 80 pictures by Lebrun, of big and
little size, the whole representing the his
tory of Louis XIV. from 1861 to 1878, and
these paintings still preserve all their or
iginal effect.
CURIoSITIES OF VERSAILLES.
This gallery of mirrors has been the
theater of several important events. More
than 200 years ago this very month Louis
XIV. received in it the Doge Lescari, ac-
companied by three Senators, who had been
sent to make the excuses of the Republic of
Genoa to the King of France. Louis de-
clared himself quite satisfied with the Doge's
explanation, and then good naturedly asked
his republican visitor what he thought the
most curious thing in Versailles.
''To see myself here" replied the ruler Of
Genoa.
Last Sunday afternoon, as we were watch
ing the waters, asked lady in our party
what she thought was the most curious
thing at Versailles, and she made precisely
that same answer. In this magnificent hall
were held the fetes of the marriage of the
Duke of Burgundy with the Princess Of
Savoy, and on that occasion king and
courtiers donned costumes of a sumptuous
kind never before known, and which have
never been equaled since. Persian mon
archs have promenaded on its well-waxed
floors, and Peter the Great honored it with
m yicif of ri 0f
Austrian Emperor, and Russian Grand
Duke who succeeded his mother to the i'm
perial throne, have been within its walls.
But perhaps the grandest ruler who has ever
stepped foot in it since the days of Louis
Quartorze was oneWilhelm, for it was there
they crowned the Emperor of Germany in
1870. 1t was after that that President
Theirs gave therea banquet in honor of the
Queen of England and the Prince and
Princess of Wales; and it was there Presi-
dent MacMahon gave the ball during the
Exposition of 1873, to which too many per-
sons were invited, and where nearly thou
sand of US lost our hats and overcoats.
A GRAND SPECTACLE.
After President Carnot and his guests had
lunched and the speeches were over every
body went out into the park to see the foun-
tains play, especially that of the Neptune
basin, which had not been so worked in
many years. For long while the superb
basin was almost mass of ruins. The bas-
reliefs were broken, the stones disjointed,
the statues cracked-it presented d lamenta-
BILE appearance. 1t took eight years of
skillful work to restore it as it was origi-
nally, and last Sunday afternoon we all had
the pleasure of seeing this grand fountain
in full play. In it there are % enormous
bases of bronzed lead, each containing little
fountains, and over go other fountains from
which the waters fall into the grand central
basin. This fountain fete stretched all over
the park, and it was of such. grandeur the
other day as would have delighted the heart
of Louis XIV, could he but have come
back to life again and seen it as did our
little party. Many of the crocodiles, the
tortoises, crabs, nymphs, gods and goddesses
have been re-gilded, the marbles have been
cleaned and the borders of the fountain re-
paired; and as the rays of bright May-day
sun fell athwart the falling cascades, the
jets and streams the effect was wondrously
beautiful.
In the evening we went into the open
court before the old chateau to see the fire.
works. These were set off and sent up in
the Place d 'Armes, and there was no one in
our group, either those from New York,
who have seen many brilliant exhibitions
of this sort, nor those from the Pacific coast,
who are used to grand things, who had ever
before looked on such marvellous display.
Their EXPLANATIONS of establishment and de-
light were as hearty as if they had been so
many children. Finally we hurried back
to our mail coach, made good speed to Paris,
and before midnight were home again.
HENRY HAYNIE.