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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14857-8.txt b/14857-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e62653a --- /dev/null +++ b/14857-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4083 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Story of Versailles, by Francis Loring Payne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Versailles + +Author: Francis Loring Payne + +Release Date: February 1, 2005 [EBook #14857] +[Last updated: September 25, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Statue of Louis XIV, the Builder of Versailles.] + + + + + + +The Story of Versailles + +BY + +FRANCIS LORING PAYNE + + + + + + + + + +NEW YORK + +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY + +1919 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY + +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY. + + + + + + + +Press of + +J.J. Little & Ives Co. + +New York + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + +Chapter + + I. THE BEGINNING OF VERSAILLES + + II. THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES. THE LUXURIOUS CHATEAU + AND PARKLAND OF LOUIS XIV + + III. THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES + + IV. THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON + + V. A DAY WITH THE SUN KING + + VI. GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS + + VII. THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES + + VIII. THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV + + IX. THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS + + X. THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, THE + SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS + + + + +FOREWORD + + +THE HALL OF MIRRORS + + I + + If you could speak what tales your tongues could tell, + You voiceless mirrors of the storied past! + Do you remember when the curtain fell + On him who learned he was not God at last? + + + II + + Do you still see the shadows of the great? + On powdered wigs and velvets, silks and lace; + Or dream at night a feted queen, in state, + Accepts men's homage with a haughty face? + + + III + + A thousand names come tumbling to the mind. + Of dead who gazed upon themselves through you. + And went their way, each one his end to find + In paths that glory or red terror knew. + + + IV + + Voltaire and Rousseau and Ben Franklin here, + You've seen hobnobbing with the highly-born; + Seen Genius smile, while, with a hint of fear, + It gave to Birth not homage but its scorn. + + + V + + Do you remember that Teutonic jaw + Of him who crowned an emperor, that you + Might know that Bismarck was above all law + And free to do what victor vandals do? + + + VI + + Oh, Hall of Visions, now shall come anon + A grander sight than you have ever seen; + You've mirrored kings, but you shall look upon + The mighty men whose edicts freedom mean + + + VII + + To races and to peoples sore oppressed; + The men who mould the future for a race + That breathes a wind that's blowing from the West-- + And you'll forget the Bourbon's evil face! + + --EDWARD S. VAN ZILE. + _N. Y. Eve. Sun., Nov. 25_ + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Builder of Versailles . . . Frontispiece + +Versailles + +The Hall of Mirrors + +The Fountain at Versailles + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +A TRAVELER'S REFLECTIONS ON VERSAILLES + +From the low heights of Satory we get a complete view of the plains of +Versailles--the woods, the town and the sumptuous chateau. The palace +on its dais rules the scene. The village and ornamental environment +have been constructed to augment its majesty. Even the soil has been +"molded into new forms" at a monarch's caprice. Versailles is the +expression of monarchy, as conceived by Louis XIV. It is the only epic +produced in his reign--a reign so fertile in the other forms of poetry, +and in talent of all kinds. What epic ever chronicled the destiny of +an epoch in a manner more brilliant and complete? In this poem of +stone the manners of heroic and familiar life mingle at every step. +Besides the halls and galleries, the theaters of royal estate, there +are mysterious passages and sequestered nooks that whisper a thousand +secret histories. The palace has two voices, one grave and one gay and +trifling. It is full of truths and fictions, tears and smiles. The +personages of its drama are as various as life itself; kings, poets, +ministers, courtiers, confessors, courtesans, queens without power, and +queens with too much power; ambassadors, generals, little abbés and +great ladies; nobles, clergy, even the people. For two centuries did +this crowd continue to pass and re-pass over these marble floors and +under these gilded vaults; and every day its flood became more +impetuous, every day it gave way more and more to the whims and +passions. And the palace heard all, saw all, spied all--and has +retained all, each action in its acted hour, each word in its place. +During the two centuries of absolute monarchy, nothing took place that +Versailles did not either originate or answer. Every shot that was +fired in Flanders, Germany and Spain awakened here an echo. Richelieu +was here, the first statesman of the monarchy, and Necker, the last. +French literary history is inscribed on its walls, which received +within them the great writers of France from Molière to Beaumarchais. +Art erected especially for Versailles the schools and systems whose +influence has been felt through the succeeding centuries. For +Versailles, Lebrun became a painter, Coysevox a sculptor, and Mansard +an architect. But it was not France alone that depended on Versailles. +Foreign nations sent their representatives to this famous center; the +choice spirits of Europe came to visit it. + +The history of Versailles was for two centuries the history of +civilization. From Versailles may be seen the movement of manners, +wars, diplomacy, literature, arts and energies that agitated Europe. + +On entering Versailles by the Paris avenue, we see the palace on the +summit of the horizon. The houses, scattered here and there and +concealed among the trees, appear less to form a town than to accompany +the monument raised beyond and above them. Approaching the Place +d'Armes, we distinguish the different parts of which the imposing mass +of buildings is composed. In the center is a singular bit of +architecture. In vain the neighboring masses extend their circle +around it: their great arms are unable to stifle it; but it possesses a +seriousness of character that attracts the eye more strongly than their +high white walls. This is the remains of the château built by Louis +XIII at Versailles. Louis XIV did not wish to bury his father's +dwelling. + + + + +THE STORY OF VERSAILLES + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BEGINNINGS OF VERSAILLES + +A dreary expanse of low-lying marsh-land, dismal, gloomy and full of +quicksands, where the only objects that relieved the eye were the +crumbling walls of old farm buildings, and a lonely windmill, standing +on a roll of higher ground and stretching its gaunt arms toward the sky +as if in mute appeal against its desolate surroundings--such was +Versailles in 1624. This uninviting spot was situated eleven miles +southwest of Paris, the capital city of France, the royal city, the +seat, during a century before, of the splendid court of the brilliant +Francis I and of the stout-hearted Henry II, the scene of the masterful +rule of Catherine de Medici, of the career of the engaging and +beautiful Marguerite de Valois and of the exploits of the gallant Henry +of Navarre. + +The desolate stretch of marshland, with its lonely windmill, meant +nothing then to the court nor to the busy fortune-hunting and +pleasure-seeking inhabitants of Paris. No one had reason to go to +Versailles, except perhaps the poor farmers and the owner of the +isolated mill--least of all the nobility and fashionable folk of the +glittering capital. No exercise of the imagination could then have +conjured up the picture of the splendor in store for the barren waste +of Versailles. The mention of the name in 1600 would have brought +nothing more from the lips of royalty and nobility than an indifferent +inquiry: "And what, pray, is Versailles and where may it be?" You, my +lord, who raise your eyebrows interrogatingly, and you, my lady, who +flick your fan so carelessly, will some day behold your grandchildren +paying humble and obsequious court to the reigning favorites at +Versailles--yes, out there on this very moorland where you see nothing +but marshy hollows and ruined walls, there will your lord and master, +your glorious Sun King, the Grand Monarch, Louis the Fourteenth, build +a palace home that Belshazzar might justly have envied: there will he +hold high court and set the whole world agape at his prodigal outlay +and magnificent festivities. And well may we inquire to-day: how came +this dreary waste to be the wondrous Versailles, the seat and scene of +so much in the making and the making-over of the world? + +Ancient records of France indicate that in 1065 the priory of St. +Julien was established on the estates of the house of Versaliïs--a +grant under royal protection. A poor farm community grew up about the +ecclesiastical retreat. Here, also, on the estates of the barony of +Versailles, was a repair of lepers, destroyed in the sixteenth century. + +The origin of the name is said by some to be derived from the fact that +the plains thereabouts were exposed to such high winds that the grain +in the poor land was frequently overturned (_versés_). The lord of +these acres first named in history is Hugues (Hugo) de Versaliïs, who +lived early in the eleventh century and was a contemporary of the first +kings of the Capet dynasty. A long line of nobles of this family +succeeded him. In 1561 Martial de Léomenie, Secretary of Finance under +Charles IX, became master of Versailles. The farming village being on +the route between Paris and Brittany, he obtained from the king +permission to establish here four annual fairs and a weekly market on +Thursdays. Martial perished in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in +1572. Henry IV, as a prince, when hunting the stag with Martial often +swept across the low plains of Versailles. The rights to the lands of +the barony were acquired by Maréchal de Retz from the children of +Martial de Léomenie, and inherited from the noble duke by his son, +Jean-François de Gondi, first archbishop of France. It was this +prelate that sold to Louis XIII in 1632, for 66,000 pounds (about +$27,400), the land and barony of Versailles, consisting, in the phrase +of the original deed, "of an old house in ruins and a farm with several +buildings." + +In 1624, Louis XIII, who had hunted in the vicinity of Versailles since +childhood and in later life had sought relief there from ennui and +melancholy, often slept in a low inn or in the hill-top windmill after +long hunts in the forest of St. Leger. It occurred to him that it +would be convenient for him to have a pavilion or hunting-lodge in this +unattractive place, and accordingly he ordered one erected at +Versailles, on the road that led to the forest of St. Leger. In 1627, +concluding that in no other domain of its limited acreage could he find +so great variety of land over which to hunt on foot and horse-back, he +bought a small piece of property at Versailles. Immediately +afterwards he caused to be erected what Saint-Simon called "a little +house of cards" on the isolated hill that rolled up in the heart of the +valley, where the windmill had stood. + +Louis' architect was Philbert Le Roy, and the new villa was about two +hundred feet from the lodge first constructed. Its form was a complete +square, each corner being terminated by a tower. The building was of +brick, ornamented with columns and gilded balustrades; it was +surrounded by a park adorned with statues sculptured after designs by +the artist Poussin. Ambitious addition! A villa on the old mill site, +decorated by the favorite court artist of the day, Nicolas Poussin! +The court resented the enterprise, the nobility despised it. It was +the King's fancy; nothing else excused it. A noble of the court, +Bassompierre, exclaimed that "it was a wretched château in the +construction of which no private gentleman could be vain." + +Scarcely was his new chateau finished (1630) when the King took up his +residence there for the hunt. In this place were terminated in +November, 1630, the autocratic services of Cardinal Richelieu to the +King--the first of many significant historical events to take place +there. + +The King's sojourns at Versailles during the hunting season, however, +had their effect. Many of the royal intimates were influenced to build +on land given to them by the sovereign. So before Louis XIII died his +chateau was surrounded by many charming country houses. On April 8, +1632, Louis came into possession of the feudal dwelling of +Jean-François de Gondi and its lands. Versailles then began to acquire +distinction. It was the King's resort. Could any one afford to +question its character, or location, or the standing of those that, at +the King's behest, took up their residence there? Not we surely, who +can now view Versailles in the light of history. All aside from its +splendid court life and its magnificent festivities, we know it as the +scene of three epoch-making events in the world's history. During and +shortly after the American Revolution, Versailles was the scene of +treaty negotiations in which France, England and America were the +active parties. About a century later, in 1871, the treaty was +consummated there that ended the Franco-Prussian War, by which France +lost Alsace and Lorraine and was forced to pay to Germany +$1,000,000,000. And now, in our day, the most superb irony of history +has brought about a treaty in the same Hall of Mirrors by which Germany +repays, and the map of Europe undergoes radical changes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES + +The Luxurious Château and Parkland of Louis XIV + +At the death of Louis XIII, in 1643, the little château of Versailles was +abandoned as a dwelling. Then followed a fall in values at Versailles +and a great flutter of uncertainty among those that had followed the King +there. This feeling of doubt lasted for seven years. The faces of the +court favorites were turned back toward Paris, and individual fortunes +were speculatively weighed in the balance with the possibilities of the +new King's whims and fancies. But when the twelve-year-old Louis XIV +came to hunt in the vicinity of Versailles for the first time, he found +the suburban dwelling of his father attractive from the start. The +Gazette noted this visit, in 1651, and described the supper that the +royal boy shared with the officials of the chateau. Two months later the +King supped again at Versailles, and was so delighted with the estate and +the hunting to be had thereabouts that, thereafter, he made it a yearly +custom to visit Versailles once or twice in the hunting season, sometimes +with his brother, sometimes with his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin. + +Returning in 1652 from an interview at Corbeil with Charles II of +England, then seeking refuge in France, Louis XIV dined at Versailles +with his mother, Anne of Austria. In October, 1660, four months after +his marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain, he brought his young queen there. +The future of Versailles was assured. The King had decided to set his +star and make his palace home where his father had established a hunting +lodge. + +The year 1661 was one of the most important in the history of the +monarch. On March fifteenth, eight days after the death of Mazarin, the +great Colbert was named Superintendent of Finances. It was he who was to +give to the reign of Louis XIV its definite direction; his name was to be +lastingly associated with the founding of the greater Versailles, and +with the construction of the Louvre, the Tuileries, Fontainebleau and +Saint-Germain. But Colbert's task in the enlargement of Versailles was +no easy one, nor did he approve of it. He opposed the young King's +purpose obstinately and expressed himself on the subject without reserve. +"Your majesty knows," he wrote to the King, "that, apart from brilliant +actions in war, nothing marks better the grandeur and genius of princes +than their buildings, and that posterity measures them by the standard of +the superb edifices that they erect during their lives. Oh, what a pity +that the greatest king, and the most virtuous, should be measured by the +standard of Versailles! And there is always this misfortune to fear." + +But the King, like many another great monarch, had dreamed a dream. He +was not satisfied with Paris as a residence. So he told Colbert to make +his dream of Versailles come true--and Colbert had to find some way to +pay the cost. + +An irritating cause of the King's purpose lay in the fact that he was +incited by the splendors of the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, built by his +ill-fated minister, Fouquet. Louis determined to surpass that mansion by +one so much more elaborate as to crush it into insignificance. Nicholas +Fouquet had employed the most renowned masters of this period--among them +Louis Le Vau, the architect, André Le Nôtre, the landscape gardener, and +Charles Lebrun, the decorator. These were the men the King summoned to +transform the modest hunting villa of his father. At the truly gorgeous +chateau of his minister, he had witnessed the full measure of their +genius. On August 17, 1661, Fouquet gave an elaborate fête to celebrate +the completion of the chateau, which the King attended. Within three +weeks the host was a prisoner of State, accused of peculation in office. +Acting immediately upon his resolution to out-do the glories of +Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis engaged Le Nôtre to plan gardens and Le Vau to +submit proposals for the enlargement and decoration of the chateau. One +of the first apartments completed was the chamber of the infant +Dauphin--heir to the throne, who was born in November, 1661. Colbert +reported in September, 1663, that in two years he had spent 1,500,000 +pounds, and a good part of this sum was for the construction of the +gardens. Builders and decorators suggested one elaborate project after +another, without regard to the cost, despite the protest of Colbert to +the King that they were exceeding all estimates and provisions. It was a +paradise period for profiteers. + +Versailles became a favorite retreat of the extravagant young sovereign. +He frequently drove out from Paris, and on sundry occasions gave splendid +balls and dinners. + +For periods of increasing frequency the King was in residence at +Versailles. He urged on the builders who had in hand the construction of +the living-rooms, kitchens, stables; he supervised the placing of +pictures and other decorative works in various parts of the expanded +chateau; impatiently he chided the superintendents for delay and +feverishly they strove to meet his demands for greater haste. And though +every hour of haste cost the King of France a substantial sum, he cared +for nothing but the fulfillment of his luxurious plans. Hundreds of +laborers were engaged in laying out the orangery, the grand terrace, the +fruit and vegetable gardens. The original entrance court was greatly +enlarged. Long wings terminated by pavilions bordered it. On the right +were the kitchens, with quarters for the domestics; on the left, the +stables, where there were stalls for fifty-four horses. At the main +entrance to the court were pavilions used by the musketeers as +guard-houses. Those were bustling times at Versailles, and every day +disclosed a new development and opened the way to new miracles of +construction. + +And the miracles were wrought, one after another--all by order of the +King. On the site of the park a great terrace was bordered by a parterre +in the shape of a half-moon, where a waterfall was later installed. A +long promenade, now called the Allée Royale, extended to a vast basin +named the Lake of Apollo. Streamlets were diverted to feed fountains. +Twelve hundred and fifty orange trees were transported from the fallen +estate of Vaux to fill the long arcades of the orangery. + +In the midst of the activities of masons, carpenters, gardeners, the King +was dominant, directing minute details--the laying of floors, the hanging +of draperies, the installation of art works in the chapel. The restive +master of the estate was impatient to enjoy his creation, and to invite +his Court there to celebrate its completion with fêtes both brilliant and +costly. Colbert wrote in a letter dated September, 1663, of the beauty +of the chateau's adornments--its Chinese filigree of gold and silver. + +"Never," he swore, "had China itself seen so many examples of this work +together--nor had all Italy seen so many flowers." Colbert suffered, but +the King found royal satisfaction. The splendid scene of the Sun King +must be set--the people had to pay. It was Colbert's affair to finance +it. + +The King commanded a series of fêtes to be arranged. For eight days +every diversion appropriate to the autumn season was enjoyed by the royal +family and all the Court. Every day there were balls, ballets, comedies, +concerts, promenades, hunts. Molière and his troupe were commanded to +appear in a new piece called "_Impromptu de Versailles_." + +Colbert regretted the absorption of his sovereign in Versailles, "to the +neglect of the Louvre--assuredly the most superb palace in the world." +Louis tolerantly gave ear and inspected the Louvre, but to the building +of Versailles he devoted all his enthusiasm. + +The appearance of the villa erected by Louis XIII had been vastly altered +as to its roofs, chimneys, facades. In 1665 the court was ornamented by +the placing of the pedestals and busts that still surround it. In +addition to the main edifice, the King gave orders for the building of +small dwellings to be occupied by favorites of his entourage, and by +musicians, actors and cooks. Three broad tree-lined avenues were laid +out and the highway to Paris--the Cours-la-Reine--commenced. Already +Versailles took on a more imposing aspect than ancient Fontainebleau. +Workmen were constantly busy with the building of reservoirs, the laying +of sod, the planting of labyrinths, hedges, secret paths and bosky +retreats, with the setting out of hundreds of trees brought from +Normandy, and the seeding of flower gardens of surpassing beauty. Ponds, +fountains, grottoes, waterfalls and straying brooks came into being at +the command of the ambitious young ruler. At some distance from the +chateau courts and cages were constructed to shelter rare birds and +animals. It was designed that this should be "the most splendid palace +of animals in the world." The King decided the details of building and +decoration and supervised the installation of the furred and feathered +tenants of the palatial menagerie. This was the enclosure so greatly +admired by La Fontaine, Racine and Boileau, during a visit to Versailles +in 1668. + +The first epoch of the construction of Louis XIV coincided with the first +sculptural decoration of Versailles. A great number of works of art were +ordered for the adornment of the walks and gardens. Many statues and +busts of mythological subjects that were made at Rome to the order of +Fouquet, after models by Nicolas Poussin, were removed from Vaux to +Versailles. That was a thriving period for sculptors of France and +adjacent countries. Records faithfully kept by Colbert detail +expenditures of thousands of pounds of the nation's money for bronze +vases, stone figures of nymphs and dryads and dancing fauns that were +placed among the trees and fountains of Versailles. Much of the +ornamental sculpture ordered at this time disappeared from the royal +domain, as Louis XIV constantly demanded the work of the newest artists +and all the novelties of the moment. + +By the year 1668 Versailles apparently approached completion. It had +then been seven years in building. But in 1669 the general character of +the chateau was again changed. In the embellishments proposed by Le Vau, +the architect, the royal domain became the scene of renewed activity, +engendered by the King, then just turned thirty years of age, and eager +to achieve still greater improvements at Versailles to mark the +increasing prosperity of his reign. Half-finished buildings were +demolished and begun anew. Immense structures arose, and once again +artists flocked to Versailles. Inside the palace and in the park they +wrought an elaborate scheme of decoration that made this the most +sumptuous dwelling of the monarchy. In the words of Madame Scudery, an +annalist of that epoch, Versailles, under the new orders of the King, +became "incomparably more beautiful." Another Versailles was born; at +the same time there was created a town on the vast acres purchased by the +King, in the midst of which three great avenues were built, converging +toward the chateau. In addition to the enlargement and improvement of +the palace, the King ordered the erection of houses for the use of +Colbert, now superintendent of the royal buildings, and for the officers +of the Chancellery. From this time he interested himself particularly in +the advancement of the infant town; he bought the village of "Old +Versailles" and made liberal grants of land to individuals who agreed to +build houses there. Opposite the chateau arose the mansions of +illustrious nobles of the Court. + +As the King remained obstinate in his determination that the "little +chateau" of his father should not be removed to make room for a structure +more in harmony with the surrounding ostentation, Le Vau covered over the +moats and built around the lodge of Louis XIII with imposing effect. The +new buildings containing the state apartments of the King and Queen and +public salons were separated by great courts from the insignificant +beginning of all this mounting splendor. Le Vau did not live to see the +completion of the palace. He died in 1670. The work of reconstruction, +in which the King maintained a lively interest whether at home or abroad, +was continued by the architect's pupils at a cost of thousands of pounds. +Eagerly Louis read plans and listened to reports. With still greater +interest he attended the proposals of the great Mansard--nephew of the +designer and builder who in 1650 revived the use of the "Mansard roof." +When he succeeded as "first architect," Jules Mansard (or Mansart) first +undertook the erection of quarters for the Bourbon princes. In the same +year (1679) that he began the immense south wing for their use, he gave +instructions for the building of the now historic Hall of Mirrors between +two pavilions named--most appropriately in the light of after events--the +Salon of Peace and the Salon of War. From the high arched windows of +this glittering Grand Gallery great personages of past and present epochs +have surveyed the gardens, fountains and broad walks that are the +crowning glory of Versailles. + +In the time of the Grand Monarque more than a thousand jets of water cast +their silver spray against the greenery of hedge and grove. "Nothing is +more surprising," said a chronicler of Louis the Fourteenth's reign, +"than the immense quantity of water thrown up by the fountains when they +all play together at the promenades of the King. These jets are capable +of using up a river." A writer of our day bids us pause for a moment at +the viewpoint in the gardens most admired by the King--at the end of the +Allée of Latona. "To the east, beyond the brilliant parterre of Latona, +with its fountains, its flowers, and its orange-trees, rise the +vine-covered walls of the terraces, with their spacious flights of steps +and their vividly green clipped yews. Turn to the west and survey the +Royal Allée, the Basin of Apollo, and the Grand Canal, or look to the +north to the Allée of Ceres, or to the south to that of Bacchus, and you +realize the harmony that existed between Mansard and Le Nôtre in the +decoration of the chateau and in the plan of the gardens." Beyond the +palace and the surrounding gardens lay the park in which the Grand +Trianon was built, of marble, near the bank of the Grand Canal. Madame +de Maintenon, who became the King's second wife, was housed within these +sumptuous walls, which were completed in 1688. + +And so the construction of this miracle work of the Great Monarch went +on. In Versailles, Louis was bent on realizing himself, and nothing but +himself. The Pharaoh of Egypt built his pyramids with as little +consideration of what it meant in tribute from his subjects. Each year +took its toll in money and men to make this home of Louis the +Magnificent. "The King," wrote Madame de Sévigné on the twelfth of +October, 1678, "wishes to go on Saturday to Versailles, but it seems that +God does not wish it, by the impossibility of putting the buildings in a +state to receive him, and by the great mortality among the workmen." But +the work had continued, as the King commanded, and when he finally +entered into possession of his new palace in 1682 with all his Court, +thirty-six thousand men and six thousand horses were still engaged in +making matters comfortable and satisfactory for His Glorious Majesty. +"The State," exclaimed the Sun King, "it is I!" and in the same mood he +might have added, "Versailles--it is the State!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES + +The Splendors of the Château--its Apartments and Gardens, the Hall of +Mirrors + +In planning the interior decorations at Versailles, the numerous +company of artists employed by the sovereign devised a scheme of +ornamentation inspired by the arts of ancient Rome. Mythological and +historical subjects were utilized for the glorification of the Grand +Monarch. A _Description_ of the château, officially printed in 1674, +gives us the key to the interpretation of the allegories. "As the Sun +is the device of the King, and poets represent the Sun and Apollo as +one, nothing exists in this superb dwelling that does not bear relation +to the Sun divinity." + +The emblem of Apollo was in evidence everywhere; signs of the month +ornamented facades and walls; and inside the palace and out were +symbols of the seasons and the hours of the day. The King's apartment +bore on its ceiling and walls paintings depicting deeds of seven heroes +of Antiquity, supported by Louis' planet emblem. All the interior +decoration was Italian in style--marble wainscoting in window +embrasures, floors of marble, panels of marble, doors of repoussé +bronze. The apartments of Anne of Austria and the Gallery of Apollo at +the Louvre offered the first examples in France of this decorative +style, and guided the artists at Versailles in making their plans. + +Upon the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen alone, a dozen painters +were engaged between the years 1671 and 1680. Charles Lebrun directed +the artists, most of whom, be it said, were poor colorists. He himself +worked on the vault above the Stairway of the Ambassadors and in the +Hall of Mirrors. To imitate Italian works of art was at that time the +avowed ideal of French decorators. At Rome the King's purse paid the +expenses of a group of young artists who were allotted the task of +copying designs that were later evolved at Versailles. To some was +assigned the copying of ornaments made of metal, mosaic and inlay. +Others specialized on bronze and wood-carving designs. There were +painters who made only sketches of battle scenes and sieges. There +were sculptors on the King's staff of copyists, and goldsmiths, and +enamel workers. Flemish, Dutch, French, but principally Italian, +craftsmen were recruited from the art centers of Europe, "for the glory +of the King." At the Gobelin Tapestry Factory--a royal +establishment--the workers were directed by Charles Lebrun, who for +many years had been head of the "Royal Manufactory of Crown Furniture." + +It was in the year 1677 that Louis XIV formally proclaimed Versailles +his residence and the seat of Government. It was for the purpose of +providing quarters for the Court and its attendants that Mansard was +commanded to enlarge the château. Versailles now became, in truth, the +temple of royalty. The newly appointed architect gave to the chateau +its final aspect; the stamp of his genius rests upon the exterior +design and interior embellishment of the most remarkable dwelling in +the history of French architecture. + +[Illustration: Versailles] + +When the Court came to live at Versailles in May, 1682, Mansard and his +builders were still feverishly occupied in the work of construction and +reconstruction. The year 1684 saw the end of the ornamentation of the +interior in the completion of the Hall of Mirrors. Mansard's style is +particularly impressed upon the Marble Stairway, and the adjacent Hall +of the Queen's Guards, and, above all, on the Grand Gallery of the +Mirrors and the Salons (Peace and War) that flank it--works truly +impressive in their proportions, adornment and arrangement. + +Disposed about three sides of the main court, the red château was set +low on a slight rise of land. The main entrance was flanked by the +North Wing and the South Wing, interrupted throughout their length by +lesser courts. The domed chapel upreared to the right of the gate was +the fourth one to serve the palace. After a period of building lasting +ten years it was consecrated in the year 1710. The exquisite white +stone edifice is still regarded as an architectural gem. Its interior +embellishments were carried out by some of the best artists of the Sun +King's epoch. Here during the last years of his long and spectacular +reign, Louis the Great worshiped. Here Marie Antoinette was married to +the Sixteenth Louis. + +Arrivals at the palace were admitted from the Place d'Armes to the +court designated for their reception. Only the King and his family +might enter by the central gate. Nobles passed through the gates at +the side. Privileged persons were permitted to alight in the Royal +Court; those of inferior prestige in the Court of the Ministers, which +gave entrance to the offices and living quarters of the palace +executives and the hundreds of minions composing the King's retinue. +On the left of the enclosure called the Marble Court was the vestibule +to the Marble Stairway; opposite was the doorway leading to the +renowned Stairway of the Ambassadors, later removed by command of Louis +XV. The royal suites, except those of the Dauphin and his attendants, +were on the second floor. These rooms beneath the ornate Mansard attic +were the scene of all the potent events and ceremonies that have +distinguished Versailles above the palaces of the world. + +Grouped above the Marble Court at the far end of the main court of the +château, were the State Apartments of the King. Though, in later +times, the sequence of some of these salons was changed, in the years +when the Sun King occupied them they comprised the Salon of Venus, +opening upon the Ambassadors' Staircase, the Salon of Diana, the Salon +of Mars, and the Salon of Mercury. These halls formed a magnificent +prelude to the still greater magnificence of the Salon of Apollo,--the +Throne Room where guests came into the presence of the King himself. +The Salon of Venus was most admired for its marble mosaics and its +ceiling painting representing Venus subduing all the other deities. In +Louis' day, as now, the royal master of all this grandeur was here +portrayed in white marble, garbed in the robes of a Roman emperor. +Diana and her nymphs were depicted on the ceiling of the salon named +for the Goddess of the Hunt. Here under candles glimmering in sconces +of silver and crystal the courtiers engaged in games of billiards, +while their ladies disposed themselves gracefully upon tapestried +seats. And there were orange trees in silver tubs to add brilliance to +the scene. In the Salon of Mars dancing parties and concerts were +given. Silver punchbowls set on silver tables offered refreshment to +the gay throng that coquetted and danced and applauded beneath the +triumphant picture of Mars limned upon the ceiling. This room was +a-glitter with silver, cut glass and gold embroidered draperies. In +the crimson-hung Salon of Mercury was the King's bed of state, before +which was a balustrade of silver. In all the Grand Apartments were +hangings and furniture of extraordinary richness. There were tables of +gilded wood and mosaic, Florentine marbles, pedestals of porphyry for +vases of precious metal, ebony cabinets inlaid with copper, columns of +jasper, agate and lapis lazuli, silver chandeliers, branched +candle-sticks, baskets, vessels for liqueurs, silver perfuming pans. +Windows were draped with silver brocade worked in gold thread, with +Venetian silks and satins, or embroideries from the Gobelin studios. +On the floors, originally of marble, were spread carpets woven in +designs symbolical of kingly power. + +The Throne Room known as the Salon of Apollo--the seat of the Sun +King--was of the utmost richness. The throne itself was of silver and +stood eight feet high. Tapestries represented scenes of splendor in +the life of Louis the Great and on the walls were masterpieces by +Italian artists of the first rank, which were later deemed worthy of a +place in the Louvre. Much of the treasure vanished in the years +1689-1690 when the King was constrained to raise money for his depleted +treasury. In December, 1682, the _Mercure Galant_, desirous of +pleasing its readers, always avid of details about everything that +concerned their King, published a long description of the furnishings +of the State Apartments--the velvet hangings, the marble walls enriched +with gold relief, the chimney-pieces bossed with silver. + +Yet the glory of these apartments was outdone by the later achievements +of architect and decorators in the Salons of War and Peace and the Hall +of Mirrors that joins them. In the cupola of the Salon of War the +great Lebrun painted an allegorical picture of France hurling +thunderbolts and carrying a shield blazoned with the portrait of King +Louis, while Bellona, Spain, Holland and Germany are shown crouching in +awe. The colored marbles of the walls contrasted brilliantly with +gilded copper bas-reliefs. Six portraits of Roman emperors contributed +to the impressiveness of the Salon, and on the wall was a stucco relief +of the King of France on horseback, clad like a Roman. The Salon of +Peace was also decorated by Lebrun's adept brush. A ceiling piece +portrays France and her conquered enemies rejoicing in the fruits of +Peace. And, again, there are portraits of the ever-present Louis and +the Caesars of Rome. Both these splendid halls remain to-day much as +they were in the time of their creator. + +Most lavish is the decoration of the Grand Hall of Mirrors--"the +epitome of absolutism and divine right and the grandeur of the House of +Bourbon." For two hundred and forty feet it extends along the terrace +that surveys the gardens where Louis XIV and his successors delighted +to ordain fêtes of unimaginable gayety. Gorgeously costumed courtiers, +women that dictated the fate of dynasties, diplomats of our day bent +upon the solution of world-rocking problems, all have gazed from this +resplendent gallery upon the fountains and allées that beautify the +scene below. Seventeen lofty windows are matched by as many Venetian +framed mirrors. Between each window and each mirror are pilasters +designed by Coyzevox, Tubi and Caffieri--reigning masters of their +time. Walls are of marble embellished with bronze-gilt trophies; large +niches contain statues in the antique style. The gilded cornice is by +Coyzevox, the ceiling by Lebrun. The conception of the latter +comprises more than a score of paintings representing events that had +to do with wars waged by Louis the Great against Holland, Germany and +Spain. In the period when Versailles was the residence of kings--not a +museum, alone, and the assembly-place of international Councils--the +tables in the Grand Gallery, the benches between the windows, the +many-branched candelabra, the tubs in which orange trees grew, were all +of heavy silver. Thousands of wax candles lighted the salon, some of +them set in immense chandeliers, others in lusters of silver and +crystal. But Louis the Fourteenth's reign was not yet over when he was +compelled to send many hundred pieces of his precious furniture to the +mint, and the superb appointments of the Hall of Mirrors were partially +substituted by furnishings of wood and damask. + +[Illustration: The Hall of Mirrors] + +Visitors to Versailles view the private or "little" apartments of King +Louis the Great, Louis XV and Louis XVI. The superb bedchamber of +Louis XIV contains the bed in which the French Monarch died on +September 1, 1715. In an ante-chamber, later called the Bull's Eye by +reason of its unique oval window, courtiers were wont to gossip and +intrigue while they awaited the King's rising. A quaint painting by a +French artist presents Louis XIV and his family in the character of +pagan deities. Next to the Bull's Eye was the room in which the King +dined on occasion. The Hall of the King's Guards was near of approach +to the Marble Staircase and to the ample and ornate apartments of +Madame de Maintenon. The wonders of this Hall are also departed. In a +group of small rooms were rich stores of objects of art, medals, +cameos, onyx, bronzes, and gems of great value. + +The State Apartments of the Queens of France were entirely altered in +their decoration as one queen succeeded another. Marie Thérèse was the +first to occupy them. We are told that before her bed there stood a +railing of silver, that later gave way, for economical reasons, to one +carved in wood. In the Grand Cabinet the wife of Louis the Great +received in audience those that the King commanded. Here, at the end +of a short and insignificant period as mistress of Versailles, Marie +Thérèse died, July 30, 1683. + +One of the few apartments that still retains the aspect it bore in King +Louis the Fourteenth's reign is the Hall of the Queen's Guards, which +had a door on the landing of the marble stair, also called the Queen's +Staircase. This was the flight of steps most used in the time of +Louis, since it led to the apartments of the sovereign, the Queen +Madame de Maintenon. + +The Ambassadors' Staircase, across the court, was of the richest +possible decoration, but like the glory of the Kings of France, it has +passed into oblivion. Louis commanded that it be paved and walled in +marble from the choicest quarries, vaulted with bronze, graced by +fountains. Amazing frescoes representing a brilliant assemblage of +people of all nations adorned the walls. Of this staircase a reporter +of the epoch wrote, "When full of light it vies in magnificence with +the richest apartments of the most beautiful palace in the world." +Which palace was, of course, Versailles. + +The Grand Hall of the Guards, the apartments of the Children of France +and their governess, the ten rooms that composed the suite of the +Dauphin, the Grand Hall of Battles--each had its special decoration. +"At the house of Monseigneur," wrote an old chronicler of the Court, +"one sees in the cabinets an exquisite collection of all that is most +rare and precious, not only in respect to the necessary furniture, +tables, porcelains, mirrors, chandeliers, but also paintings by the +most famous masters, bronzes, vases of agate, jewels and cameos." For +one dazzling table of carved silver in the apartment of the King's son, +the silversmith that fashioned it was paid thirty thousand dollars. + +Beneath the state apartments of the King was the Hall of the Baths +lined with marble and adorned with beautiful paintings. Upon the +marble tubs, the tessellated floors, the gilded columns and mirrors of +this apartment a great sum was expended. + + * * * * * + +Versailles at last was finished--and what a spectacle and monument to +selfish exaltation it was! "There is an intimate relation between the +King and his château," wrote Imbert de Saint-Amand. "The idol is +worthy of the temple, the temple of the idol. There is always +something immaterial, something moral so to speak, in monuments, and +they derive their poesy from the thought connected with them. For a +cathedral, it is the idea of God. For Versailles, it is the idea of +the King. Its mythology is but a magnificent allegory of which Louis +XIV is the reality. It is he always and everywhere. Fabulous heroes +and divinities impart their attributes to him or mingle with his +courtiers. In honor of him, Neptune sheds broadcast the waters that +cross in air in sparkling arches. Apollo, his favorite symbol, +presides over this enchanted world as the god of light, the inspirer of +the muses; the sun of the god seems to pale before that of the great +King. Nature and art combine to celebrate the glory of the sovereign +by a perpetual hosannah. All that generations of kings have amassed in +pictures, statues and precious movables is distributed as mere +furniture in the glittering apartments of the chateau. The +intoxicating perfumes of luxury and power throw one into a sort of +ecstasy that makes comprehensible the exaltation of this monarch, +enthusiastic over himself, who, in chanting the hymns composed in his +praise, shed tears of admiration." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON + +The first gardens of Versailles--those +that gave a modest setting to the villa +constructed for Louis XIII, comprised a few +parterres of flowers and shrubs bounded by +well trimmed box hedges, and two groves +planted on each side of the _Allée Royale_. +To Jacques Boyceau is accredited the first +plan of the gardens of Versailles, but Andre +Le Nôtre greatly amplified and improved +the original scheme. Le Nôtre's +achievements at Versailles gave him rank as the +most distinguished landscape gardener of +his time, and of all time. + +Besides the luxurious and symmetrical +gardens at Versailles, he originated the +designs of those at the royal houses at Trianon, +Saint-Cloud, Merly, Clagny, Chantilly and +the Tuileries. The Parterre of the Tiber +at Fontainebleau also added to his high +reputation. For a long period the style of +garden perfected by Le Nôtre was taken as a +model and imitated throughout Europe. In +1678 he went to Italy on a mission for the +King, who desired him to make researches +there. While at Rome the eminent artist +from France was commissioned to plan the +gardens of the Quirinal, the Vatican and +the villas Ludovisi and Albani. The +Elector of Brandenburg summoned him to +design the garden at Oranienburg; Kensington +Park in London is still another example of +Le Nôtre's skill. In his genius were +reflected the qualities that distinguished the +art of his century: regularity of design, +harmony, dignity and richness of materials. +Louis XIV had an enduring admiration for +the work and character of the Chief +Gardener--a man at all times honest, retiring, +and inspired by enthusiasm for his calling. + +We are told by a French chronicler that +"when Le Nôtre had traced out his ideas, he +brought Louis XIV to the spot to judge the +distribution of the principal parts of their +ornamentation. He began with two grand +basins which are on the terrace in front +of the chateau, with their magnificent +decorations. He explained next his idea of +the double flight of stairs, which is opposite +the center of the palace, adorned with +yew-trees and with statues, and gave in detail +all the pieces that were to enrich the space +that it included. He passed then to the +_Allée du Tapis Vert_, and to that grand place +where we see the head of the canal, of which +he described the size and shape, and at the +extremities of whose arms he placed the +Trianon and the Menagerie. At each of +the grand pieces whose position Le Nôtre +marked, and whose future beauties he +described, Louis XIV interrupted him, saying, +'Le Nôtre, I give you twenty thousand +francs.' This magnificent approbation was +so frequently repeated that it annoyed Le +Nôtre, whose soul was as noble and +disinterested as that of his master was +generous. At the fourth interruption he stopped, +and said brusquely to the King, 'Sire, Your +Majesty shall hear no more. I shall ruin you.'" + +In 1695 the King ennobled Le Nôtre and +bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. +Later, Le Nôtre presented to his sovereign +his collection of pictures and bronzes, for +which he had previously received an offer +of 80,000 francs, or about $16,000. This +collection was placed in one of the King's +intimate rooms among the rarest objects in +his possession. On occasion, when about to +make a tour of the gardens, Louis liked to +command a rolling chair similar to his own +for the aged Le Nôtre. Discussing new +projects, appraising those that were finished, +they made the promenade together. + +One of the first garden decorations +undertaken was the Grotto of Thetis, a green +alcove beautified by exquisite marbles and a +fountain that stirred the muse of La +Fontaine to sing. This graceful conceit, +dominated by Apollo seated among the nymphs +of Venus, was destroyed when Mansard +built the north wing of the palace; the +groups were removed to adorn other sites. +While the vast pleasure-house was in course +of construction, each year marked the +creation of new fountains and woods. In 1664, +the _Parterre du Nord_ was laid out below the +windows of the north wing; in 1667 and +1668 the _Théâtre d'Eau_, the Maze, the Star, +the Grand Canal, the Avenue of Waters, +the Cascade of Diana and the Pyramid on +the North Parterre, and the Green Carpet +(_Tapis-Vert_) spread out in view of the +windows of the rear facade of the palace. In +1670 and the three succeeding years the +low-lying _Marais_ (fen) was constructed next to +the Parterre of the Fountain of Latona, to +meet the wishes of the King's favorite, +Madame de Montespan. While she was in +power "people spoke of the _Marais_ as one +of the marvels of the gardens, but it was +undoubtedly considered less wonderful after +her fall," a writer comments. "In the +center stood a large oak surounded by an +artificial marsh, bordered with reeds and grasses, +and containing plants and a number of white +swans. From the swans, from the reeds and +grasses, and from the leaves and branches of +the oak, thousands of little jets of water +leaped forth, falling like fine rain upon the +masses of natural vegetation that flourished +amid the artificial. At the sides of the +bosquet there were two tables of marble, on +which a collation was served when the +marquise came to her grove to see the waters +play. In 1704 the King ordered Mansard +to destroy the _Marais_ and transform the +bosquet into the Baths of Apollo." + +In 1674 the Royal Isle came into being; +and the next year the Arch of Triumph and +the Three Fountains, between the Avenue +of Waters and the château. In the thicket +of the Three Fountains were "an immense +number of small jets of water, leaping from +basins at the sides and forming an arch of +water overhead, beneath which one could +walk without being wet. . . . The Arch of +Triumph filled the end of the bosquet; it +was placed on an estrade with marble steps, +and was preceded by four lofty obelisks of +gilded iron in which the water leaped and +fell in sheets of crystal. The fountain +itself was composed of three porticos of gilded +iron, with large jets in the center of each, +while seven jets leaped up from the basins +above the porticos, and all the waters rushed +down over the steps of marble. In addition, +twenty-two vases at the sides of the bosquet +threw jets into the air. 'Without having +seen it,' says Blondel, 'it is impossible to +imagine the wonderful effect produced by this +decoration.'" + +The Orangery was the chief work begun +in 1678, and in the following year the superb +Basin of Neptune and the Lake of the Swiss +Guards were commenced. In the years +1680-1685 workmen were busy digging, laying +pipes, planting and decorating the _Salle de +Bal_, or outdoor salon of festivities, the +Parterre of Fountains, and the Colonnade, +where amid marble columns and balustrades +the Court often came to sup and make merry. + +In all, fourteen hundred gushing fountain +jets animated the gardens. Le Nôtre, the +author of these amazing water-works, died +in the year 1700, when almost ninety years +of age. Saint-Simon declared him justly +renowned in that he had given to France +gardens of so unique and ravishing a design +that they completely outran in beauty the +famous gardens of Italy. European +landscape decorators counted it part of their +education to journey to France for the +purpose of studying the handiwork of the supreme craftsman. + +An illustrated guide, printed at +Amsterdam in 1682, contains the following quaint +description of the Labyrinth, or Maze: +"Courteous Reader," it begins, "it is +sufficiently known how eminently France and +especially the Royal Court doth excel above +other places with all manner of delights. +The admirable faire Buildings and Gardens +with all imaginable ornaments and +delightful spectacles represent to the eye of the +beholder such abundant and rich objects as +verily to ravish the spectator. Amongst all +these works there is nothing more admirable +and praiseworthy than the Royal Garden at +Versailles, and, in it, the Labyrinth. Other +representations are commonly esteemed +because they please the eye, but this because it +not only delights the ear and eye, but also +instructs and edifies. This Labyrinth is +situated in a wood so pleasant that Daedalus +himself would have stood amazed to behold +it. The Turnings and Windings, edged on +both sides with green cropt hedges, are not +at all tedious, by reason that at every hand +there are figures and water-works +representing the mysterious and instructive fables +of Aesop, with an explanation of what Fable +each Fountain representeth carved on each +in black marble. Among all the Groves in +the Park at Versailles the Labyrinth is the +most to be recommended, as well for the +novelty of the design as the number and +diversity of the fountains that with +ingenuity and _naïveté_ express the philosophies, of +the sage Aesop. The animals of colored +bronze are so modeled that they seem truly +to be in action. And the streams of water +that come from their mouths may be +imagined as bearing the words of the fable they +represent. There are a great number of +fountains, forty in all, each different in +subject, and of a style of decoration that blends +with the surrounding verdure. At the +entrance to the Maze is a bronze statue of +Aesop himself--the famous Mythologist of Phrygia." + +[Illustration: The Fountain of Versailles] + +To appreciate the engineering skill of the +directors of fountain construction at +Versailles it must be remembered that it was +from an arid plateau that hundreds of +streams were made to spring from the earth. +Thousands of laborers were employed to lay +beneath the surface of the ground a net-work +of canals and aqueducts to receive the tribute +of water-courses directed hither from distant +sources. The waters were finally pumped +into immense reservoirs adroitly dissembled +on the roofs of buildings overlooking the +park. From these tanks a maze of pipes +carried the water to thickets, grottoes, +basins, fountains and canals. Nothing could +surpass the ingenuity with which all this was +contrived. The play of water directed to +the Basin of the Mirrors reappeared later +in the Baths of Apollo and the Fountain of +the Dragon. Flowing in turn among +successive pools and ornamental groups--branching +hither and yon in the gardens, the +stream attained its full display in the most +majestic effect of all, the Basin of Neptune. + +"Here again is the hand of Le Nôtre," +remarks James Farmer, author of +"Versailles and the Court Under Louis XIV." "The +basin of Neptune, called at first the +Grand Cascades, was constructed from 1679 +to 1684, in accordance with his designs. This +immense basin, surrounded on the side +toward the chateau by a handsome wall of +stone, and on the other by an amphitheater +of turf and trees,--a vast half-circle, in the +center of which stands a marble statue of +Renown, is simple in conception and imposing +from its size. The richly carved lead vases +which adorn the wall were gilded under the +Grand Monarch, and each throws a jet of +water to a great height. Dangeau tells us +that His Majesty saw the waters play here +for the first time on the 17th of May, 1685, +and that he was quite content. However, +Neptune had not then appeared in the basin +that now bears his name; for the large +groups of Neptune, the Ocean, and the +Tritons, which ornament the base of the wall at +present, were not put in place until 1739, in +the reign of Louis XV. This majestic basin +at the foot of the _Allée d'Eau_ is a striking +contrast to Perrault's ugly Pyramid at the +head of it. Le Nôtre knew what was fitting +for the gardens of a Sun King." + +A vast avenue, interrupted by many fair +reaches of water, stretched its level length +before the windows of the Grand Gallery. +It was prolonged to the outer bounds of the +gardens by the Grand Canal, on whose +gleaming surface the sky was mirrored in +the dusk of dawn, the golden glow of noon, +or the sunset of declining day. This has ever +been the supreme view from the palace of +Versailles. Standing at one of the great +windows of the Hall of Mirrors, the _Galerie +des Glaces_, it often pleased the ruler of +France to admire the Fountain of Latona, +casting its fifty jets of water from the +circular pool below the twin terraces. Beyond, +the Green Carpet glowed in its emerald +beauty among the clear waters of Versailles. +The furthest fountain that met the eye was +the Basin of Apollo, with its plunging +bronze horses. In the outer park, that held +the Trianon and the Menagerie, the royal +gaze beheld the cross-shaped Canal which so +often, in the revels that marked the first part +of this reign, bore gay Venetian barges +between the scintillating lights and fireworks +that illumined the shore. At the right side, +still looking from the rear of the chateau, the +King's beauty-loving eyes dwelt upon the +North Terrace, with its rich growth of +greenery, on the graceful Fountains of the +Pyramid and the Dragon, and above all on +the magnificently soaring fountains of +Neptune's Basin. At his left were the Terrace +of Flowers, the two stairways that flanked +the Orangery, chief work of Mansard and +especial pride of Louis, and the lake in the +small park named for the Swiss Guards. +Nowhere, it is safe to say, could a place be +found that embraced so many beautiful +garden views at one time. + +Bordering the avenue that Le Nôtre +opened through the primitive groves where +Louis XIII once came to hunt--on either +side the broad lane of trees and leaping +waters--groves were laid out, varied in +design and decoration--delectable retreats +where lovers, traitors, diplomats might vow +and plot, beneath the discreet ears of marble +nymphs and goddesses. + +Many of the groups and marble figures +that beautified the walks and bowers of +Versailles were conceived by the gifted +Lebrun. Among his designs were the Four +Seasons, the Four Quarters of the Globe, +the Four Kinds of Poetry (Heroic, Satiric, +Lyric and Pastoral), the Four Periods of +the Day (Morning, Noon, Twilight, +Night), the Four Elements (Earth, Air, +Fire, Water), the Four Temperaments +(Phlegmatic, Melancholy, Coleric and +Sanguine). Mythological figures, vases +ornamented with bas-reliefs of Louis XIV and +great men of his reign, fountain groups +representing the chief rivers of France, +water nymphs, sportive babies, beasts in +combat--sculpture massive, graceful, +grotesque--all added their individual lure to +the dells, the walks and the terraces of the +magic palace. + +Tile-workers from Flanders, marble-cutters +from the Pyrenees, Italy and Greece, +masons, sculptors, castmen, metal-workers, +bronze colorists--innumerable artisans +trained to meet the exacting tastes of that +Silver Age of Art--lent their skill to the +construction of fountains whose ingenuity and +variety have set a standard for all time for +the makers of kingly estates. A hundred +sculptors of highest reputation were engaged +to model groups, statues, busts and low +reliefs for the Versailles park, under the +supervision of Lebrun and Mignard. + +Ladies of the Court sometimes claimed +the ear of the compliant André Le Nôtre +to suggest fancies that he graciously evolved +with greenery and marbles, with tinkling +streams and bright-winged birds. + +The new Orangery, begun by Mansard +on plans submitted by Le Nôtre, consumed +nearly ten years in building, from 1678 to +1687. Twin stairways, one hundred and +three steps high, united the South Parterre +with the Parterre of the Orangery. The +shelter erected for the protection of +hundreds of orange trees, which often +blossomed and came to fruit, contained a main +gallery and two lateral galleries, lighted by +twelve large windows. In the center stood +a huge statue of Louis the Great. During +warm weather the tubs containing the +orange trees were set out on the Orange +Parterre between the lofty stone stairways. +The Orangery was one of the favorite +retreats of the King. Besides the royal family, +only those were permitted to stroll among +the fragrant trees that had been granted +special permission to do so. + +It was in 1688, after more than a quarter +of a century's labor, the sacrifice of hundreds +of lives, and the expenditure of over fifty +million francs, that the splendid parks and +gardens with their buildings and fountains +were finally achieved. Le Nôtre's +successors rearranged some of the fountains and +groves; others were renamed. In +1739-1740 there were placed near the Basin of +Neptune three groups that still lend +adornment to this spot. This was the final +attempt to decorate the gardens during +the reign of the House of the Bourbons. +Strangers from every clime marveled at the +beauty of the fountains. The ambassadors +from the Court of Siam were astounded +"that so much of bronze, marble and gilded +metal could find place in a single garden." A +member of the train of the Ambassador +from England described the park, in 1698, +as "a whole province traced by avenues, +paths, canals, and ornamented in all ways +possible by masterpieces of ancient and +modern art." + +The avenues were of white sand, with +grassy by-ways on either side bordered by +elms and iron railings six or seven feet +high. Beyond these were thickets and +niches where statues, sculptured urns and +benches of white carved stone were placed. +Occasional archways of green led down dim +arbors to new enchantments. Here and +there were round or star-shaped retreats +whose carpets of grass were sprayed by +murmuring fountains. In each recess were +marble pedestals, busts, a long bench that +invited repose. + +Trees of mature growth were brought in +great numbers from distant parts of France +and Flanders. Despite difficulties of +transportation, twenty-five thousand trees were +carried on wagons from Artois alone. The +forests of Normandy were denuded of +yew-trees; from the mountains of _Dauphiné_ the +King's emissaries brought _epicea_ trees, and +India sent chestnut trees for the adornment +of Versailles. + +Among these groves Louis delighted to +promenade in the evening, sometimes, in the +_belle saison_, until midnight. Often he went +on foot, but oftener in a light carriage drawn +by a team of small black horses that had +been given him by the Duke of Tuscany. + + +THE GRAND TRIANON + +This palace decorated with pilasters of +pink marble was not the first building chosen +by the Grand Monarch to occupy the site +at the end of the north arm of the canal of +Versailles. Ambitious to extend his domain, +the King had purchased and razed a shabby +little village named Trianon, and on its +somewhat dreary site erected for Madame +de Montespan a villa so unpretentious as to +arouse the comment of courtiers accustomed +to the ruler's profligacy at Versailles. The +vases of faïence that shone among the figures +of gilded lead, the walk ornamented with +Dutch tiles, the cornices of blue and white +stucco, in the Chinese fashion, gave the little +house the name, the Porcelain Trianon. +Poets called it the Palace of Flora because +of the wondrous gardens where rare flowers +perfumed the pleasaunce in summer. Built +in 1670, probably on designs of Francois +Le Vau, the Porcelain Trianon was +demolished toward the end of the year 1686. + +There remains to-day nothing to remind +us of the Villa of Flowers but the gardens +and a fountain for horses near the canal, +where a terrace planted with beautiful trees +overlooks it. Here Louis XIV often came +in a gondola on summer evenings, when the +Marble Trianon had replaced the Trianon +of Porcelain. The latter's demolition was +inspired, no doubt, by the urging of the new +favorite, Madame de Maintenon, who found +distasteful this reminder of another's +supremacy in the King's affections. + +Moreover, this site continued to please +the King for he recognized its convenience +to the palace, and its accessibility by barge +or carriage. He determined to build in the +midst of these enchanting woods and blooms +a dwelling less formal than the one at +Versailles, smaller even than the one at Marly, +but more habitable than the porcelain +_maisonette_--a retreat, in short, where, without +wearisome ceremony, he could retire with +certain favored ones of his Court and while +the summer hours away. + +The accounts of the King's treasurer +show that the building of the edifice and the +gardens proceeded rapidly during the year +1687. By the end of November the royal +master found his new residence "well +advanced and very beautiful." Soon after the +New Year he heard the opera "Roland" +performed here, and was pleased to dine for +the first time within the new walls. He gave +orders on recurring visits for the embellishment +of the summer palace. The Trianon +of marble and porphyry, "the most graceful +production of Mansard," was finally +completed in the autumn of 1688. But the work +of decoration went on under the hands of a +horde of artists almost until the end of the +monarch's reign. + +Says an English author of a century ago: +"In the midst of all the austerities imposed +upon him by the ambition of Madame de +Maintenon, the King went to Trianon to +inhale the breath of the flowers which he had +planted there, of the rarest and most +odoriferous kind. On the infrequent occasions +when the Court was permitted to accompany +him thither to share in his evening collation, +it was a beautiful spectacle to see so many +charming women wandering in the midst of +the flowers on the terrace rising from the +banks of the canal. The air was so rich +with the mingled perfume of violets, orange +flowers, jessamines, tuberoses, hyacinths +and narcissuses that the King and his +visitors were sometimes obliged to fly from the +overpowering sweets. The flowers in the +parterres were arranged in a thousand +different figures, which were constantly +changed, so that one might have supposed +it to be the work of some fairy, who, passing +over the gardens, threw upon them each time +a new robe aglow with color." + +In the salons and copses where Louis the +Great basked in the somewhat chary smiles +of his latest (and last) favorite, his +grandson, the fifteenth of his name, was to install +the fascinating Madame de Pompadour. +The very apartments once dedicated to the +use of Madame de Maintenon, and later to +Queen Marie Leczinska, became the living-rooms +of the reigning mistress of the heart +of Louis XV. + +The Revolution spared the Grand Trianon. +But under pretext of restoring it and +rendering it, according to their tastes, more +habitable, Napoleon First and Louis +Philippe spared it less. The last king of France +commanded in 1836 the architectural changes +necessary to convert the Trianon into the +royal residence, in place of the chateau of +Versailles. He stayed here for the last time +in the winter of 1848, before departing for +Dreux. But, despite changes and mutilations, +the facade and the interior of the +rose-colored palace retain the stamp of the +Great King who sponsored the Gallery of +Mirrors, the Antechamber of the Bull's Eye, +and the Chapel at Versailles. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DAY WITH THE SUN KING + +Louis the Magnificent, we must agree with that profuse and sharp-witted +chronicler, the Duke of Saint-Simon, was made for a brilliant Court. "In +the midst of other men, his figure, his courage, his grace, his beauty, +his grand mien, even the tone of his voice and the majestic and natural +charm of all his person, distinguished him till his death as the King +Bee, and showed that if he had been born only a simple private gentleman, +he would have excelled in fetes, pleasures and gallantry. . . . He +liked splendor, magnificence and profusion in everything. Nobody ever +approached his magnificence." + +With sumptuous detail the King's day progressed at Versailles, from the +formal "rising" to the hour when, with equal pomp, the monarch went to +bed. Before eight o'clock in the morning the waiting-room next the +King's bedchamber was the gathering-place of princes, nobles and officers +of the Court, each fresh from his own laving and be-wigging. While they +passed the time in low converse, the formal ceremony of the King's +awakening took place behind the gold and white doors of the royal +sleeping-room. "The Chamber," one of the eleven offices in the service +of the King, comprised four first gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four +gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four pages of the Chamber, four first +valets of the Chamber, sixteen ushers, thirty-two valets of the Chamber, +two cloak-bearers, two gun-bearers, eight barbers, three watch-makers, +one dentist, and many minor attendants--all under the direction of the +Grand Chamberlain. + +A few minutes before eight o'clock it was the duty of the chief _valet de +chambre_ to see that a fire was laid in the King's chamber (if the +weather required one), that blinds were drawn, and candles snuffed. As +the clock chimed the hour of eight, he approached the embroidered red +velvet curtains of the royal bed with the announcement, "Sire, it is the +hour." + +When the curtains were drawn and the royal eyelids lifted upon a new day, +the children of the King were admitted to make their morning obeisance. +The chief physician and surgeon and the King's old nurse then entered to +greet the waking monarch. While they performed certain offices allotted +them, the Grand Chamberlain was summoned. The first _valet de chambre_ +took his place by the bed and, holding a silver basin beneath the King's +hands, poured on them spirits of wine from a flagon. The Grand +Chamberlain next presented the vase of Holy Water to the King, who +accepted it and made the Sign of the Cross. Opportunity was given at +this moment for the princes, or any one having the _grande entrée_, to +speak to the King, after which the Grand Chamberlain offered to His +Majesty a prayer-book, and all present passed from the room except those +privileged to stay for the brief religious service that followed. + +Surrounded by princes, nobles and high officers attached to his person, +the King chose his wig for the day, put on the slippers and dressing-gown +presented by the appointed attendant, and stepped outside the massive +balustrade that surrounded his bed. Now the doors opened to admit those +that had the right to be present while the King donned his silk stockings +and diamond-buckled garters and shoes--acts that he performed "with +address and grace." On alternate days, when his night-cap had been +removed, the nobles and courtiers were privileged to see the King shave +himself, while a mirror, and, if the morning was dull, lighted candles +were held before his face by the first _valet de chambre_. Occasionally +His Majesty briefly addressed some one in the room. The assemblage was, +by this time, augmented by the admission of secretaries and officers +attached to the palace, whose position entitled them to the "first +_entrée_." When his wig was in place and the dressing of the royal +person had proceeded at the hands of officers of the Wardrobe (there +were, in all, sixty persons attached to this service), the King spoke the +word that opened the ante-chamber doors to the cardinals, ambassadors and +government officials that awaited the ceremony of the _grand lever_, or +"grand rising," so-called in distinction to the more intimate _petit +lever_. Altogether, no less than one hundred and fifty persons were +present while the King went through the daily ceremony of the rising and +the toilet. + +When the Sovereign of France had breakfasted on a service of porcelain +and gold, had permitted his sword and his jeweled orders to be fastened +on, and, from proffered baskets of cravats and handkerchiefs, had made +his choice; when he had prayed by his bedside with cardinals and clergy +in attendance; had granted brief informal interviews, and had attended +mass in the chapel of Versailles, it was his custom to ask for the +Council. Thrice a week there was a council of State, and twice a week a +finance council. Thus the mornings passed, with the exception of +Thursday morning, when His Majesty gave "back-stair" audiences known to +but a few, and Friday morning, which was spent with his confessor. + +Louis was always a busy man of affairs and never shirked his kingly +duties. It was a principle of his life to place duty first and pleasure +after. He told his son in his memoirs that an idle king showed +ingratitude toward God and injustice toward man. "The requirements and +demands of royalty," he wrote, "which may, at times, appear hard and +irksome, you should find easy and agreeable in high places. Nothing will +exhaust you more than idleness. If you tire of great affairs, and give +up to pleasures, you will soon be disgusted with your own idleness. To +take in the whole world with intelligent eyes, to be learning constantly +what is going on in the provinces and among other nations--the court +secrets, the habits, the weaknesses of princes and foreign ministers, to +see clearly what all people are trying, to their utmost, to conceal, to +fathom the most deep-seated thoughts and convictions of those that attend +us in our own court--what greater pleasure and satisfaction could there +be, if we were simply prompted by curiosity?" + +Ordinarily, when at Versailles, the King dined alone at one o'clock, +seated by the middle window of his chamber, overlooking the courtyards, +the Place d'Armes, and the long avenue that led to Paris. More than +three hundred persons,--stewards, chefs, butlers, gentlemen servants, +carvers, cup-bearers, table-setters, cellarers, gardeners,--were charged +with the care of the kitchens, pantries, cellars, fruit-lofts, +store-rooms, linen closets, and treasuries of gold and silver plate +belonging to the King's immediate household--the _Maison du Roi_. The +Officers of the Goblet were present when the King was served, having +first, with attendant ceremonies, "made the trial" of napkins and table +implements as a safeguard from evil designs against his life. Even the +simplest repast served to the King comprised many dishes, for the Grand +Monarch ate heartily, though with discriminating appetite. + +Unless the Sovereign dined in the privacy of his bed-chamber, he was +surrounded by princes and courtiers. At "public dinners" a procession of +well-dressed persons continually passed through the room to observe the +King at his dining. + +It was ordained that the King's meat should be brought to the table from +the kitchens in the Grand Commune after this manner: "Two of His +Majesty's guards will march first, followed by the usher of the hall, the +_maître d'hôtel_ with his baton, the gentleman servant of the pantry, the +controller-general, the controller clerk of the Office, and others who +carry the Meat, the equerry of the kitchen and the guard of the plates +and dishes, and behind them two other guards of His Majesty, who are to +allow no one to approach the Meat. + +"In the Office called the _Bouche_, the equerry of the Kitchen arranges +the dishes upon a table, and presents two trials of bread to the _maître +d'hôtel_, who makes the trial of the first course, and who, having placed +the meats for the trial upon these two trials of bread, gives one to the +equerry of the Kitchen, who eats it, while the other is eaten by the +_maître d'hôtel_. Afterward the gentleman servant takes the first dish, +the second is taken by the controller, and the other officers of the +Kitchen take the rest. They advance in this order: the _maître d'hôtel_, +having his baton, marches at the head, preceded some steps by the usher +of the hall, carrying his wand, which is the sign of his office, and in +the evening bearing a torch as well. When the Meat, accompanied by three +of the body-guards with carbines on their shoulders, has arrived (that +is, in the first antechamber, where the King is to dine), the _maître +d'hôtel_ makes a reverence to the _nef_. The gentleman servant, holding +the first dish, places it upon the table where the _nef_ is, and having +received a trial portion from the gentleman servant in charge of the +trial table, he makes the trial himself and places his dish upon the +trial table. The gentleman servant having charge of this table takes the +other dishes from the hands of those who carry them, and places them also +on the trial table. After the trial of them has been made they are +carried by the other gentlemen servants to the table of the King. + +"The first course being on the table, the _maître d'hôtel_ with his +baton, preceded by the usher of the hall with his wand, goes to inform +the King; and when His Majesty has arrived at table the _maître d'hôtel_ +presents a wet napkin to him, of which trial has been made in the +presence of the officer of the Goblet, and takes it again from the King's +hands. During the dinner the gentleman servant in charge of the trial +table continues to make trial in the presence of the officers of the +Goblet and of the Kitchen of all that they bring for each course. + +"When His Majesty desires to drink, the cup-hearer cries at once in a +loud tone, 'The drink for the King!' makes a reverence to the King, and +goes to the sideboard to take from the hands of the chief of the +Wine-cellars the salver and cup of gold, and the two crystal decanters of +wine and water. He returns, preceded by the chiefs of the Goblet and the +Wine-cellars, and the three, having reached the King's table, make a +reverence to His Majesty. The chief of the Goblet, standing near the +King, holds a little trial cup of silver-gilt, into which a gentleman +servant pours a small quantity of wine and water from the decanters. A +portion of this the chief of the Goblet pours into a second trial cup +which is presented by his assistant, who, in turn, hands it to the +gentleman servant. The chief and the gentleman servant make the trial, +and when the latter has handed his cup to the chief, that officer returns +both cups to his assistant. When the trial has been made in this manner +in the King's sight, the gentleman servant, making a reverence to the +King, presents to His Majesty the cup of gold and the golden salver on +which are the decanters. The King pours out the wine and water, and +having drunk, replaces the cup upon the salver. The gentleman servant +makes another reverence to the King, and returns the salver and all upon +it to the chief of the Wine-cellars, who carried it to the side-board." + +The ceremony of tasting the King's wine was most impressive, and it was +regarded as a necessary and effective safeguard against poisonous attacks +or deleterious effects on His Majesty's august health. The thought is +suggested, however, that the test could have been effective only in case +of immediate or quick-working poison. A slow and insidious drug--and +there were experts in such concoctions in those days--would surely have +passed the taster's test and affected the King in time. The test was but +a mere formality, however, for Louis was the Most Adored Monarch. As one +chronicler has observed, "He was not only majestic, he was amiable. +Those that surrounded him, the members of his family, his ministers, his +domestics, loved him." Poison played no part in his career. That subtle +method of attack was reserved for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, on both +of whom it was attempted more than once. + +The carver, having taken his place before the table of the King, +presented and uncovered all the dishes, and when His Majesty told him to +do so, or made him a sign, he removed them, handing them to the +plate-changer or to his assistants. He changed the King's plate and +napkin from time to time, and cut the meats when the King did not cut +them himself. + +On rare occasions, when the King was in residence at Versailles, his +brother dined with him. But large, formal dinners were rare, and women +were seldom at the King's table except on grand occasions. + +Upon leaving the table, Saint-Simon tells us, "the King immediately +entered his cabinet. That was the time for distinguished people to speak +to him. He stopped at the door a moment to listen, then entered; very +rarely did any one follow him, never without asking permission to do so; +and for this few had the courage. . . . The King amused himself by +feeding his dogs, and remained with them more or less time, then asked +for his wardrobe, changed before the very few distinguished people it +pleased the first gentleman of the Chamber to admit there, and +immediately went out by the back stairs into the court of marble to get +the air. . . . He went out for three objects: stag-hunting, once or more +each week; shooting in his parks (and no man handled a gun with more +grace or skill), once or twice each week; and walking in his gardens, and +to see his workmen." + +The King was fond of hunting and the chase held an important part in the +service of the royal household. The conditions of the sport were +determined with a formality in keeping with the other affairs of +Versailles. There were two divisions of the chase--the hunting and the +shooting. The first had to do with the chase of the stag, deer, wild +boar, wolf, fox and the hare. The shooting had to do with smaller game. +Here was also falconry, though in this Louis was not particularly +interested. The chase was conducted by the Grand Huntsman of France, and +his duties were enormous and varied. Under him the Captain General of +the Toils kept the woods of Versailles well stocked with stag, deer, +boars, and other animals caught in the forests of France. Some idea of +the pomp and ceremony of the hunt may be obtained from the following +account which was printed in the _Mercure Galant_ in 1707: + +"The toils were placed in the glades of Bombon. In the inclosure there +were a large number of stags, wild boars, roebucks, and foxes. The court +arrived there. The King, the Queen of England (the wife of James II, +then in exile), her son, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and Madame (the +Duchesse d'Orleans, wife of Monsieur) were in the same carriage, and all +the princesses and the ladies followed in the carriages and _calèches_ of +the king. A very large number of noblemen on horseback accompanied the +carriages. Within the inclosure there were platforms, arranged with +seats covered with tapestry for the ladies, and many riding-horses for +the nobles who wished to attack the game with swords or darts. They +killed sixteen of the largest beasts, and some foxes. Mgr. le Duc de +Berry slew several. This chase gave much pleasure on account of the +brilliancy of the spectacle, and the large number of nobles who +surrounded the toils. A multitude of people had climbed into the trees, +and by their diversity they formed an admirable background." + +Stag hunting was even more impressive in ceremonial details. After the +chase the "quarry" was usually held by torchlight at Versailles, in one +of the inner courts, and the ceremony of the quarry was as follows: "When +His Majesty had made known his intentions on the subject, all the +huntsmen with their horns and in hunting-dress came to the place where +the quarry was to be made. On the arrival of the King, who was also in +hunting-dress, the grand huntsman, who had received two wands of office, +gave one to the King, and retained the other. The dogs were held under +the whip about the carcass of the stag until the grand huntsman, having +received the order from the King, gave the sign with his wand that they +should be set at liberty. The horns sounded, and the huntsmen, who while +the hounds were held under the whip had cried, 'Back, dogs! Back!' +shouted now, 'Hallali, valets! Hallali!' When the quarry had been made, +that is to say, when the flesh had been torn from the bones, a valet took +the _forhu_ (the belly of the stag, washed and placed on the end of a +forked stick), and called the dogs, crying, '_Tayaut, tayaut_!' and threw +the _forhu_ into the midst of the pack, where it was devoured at once. +At this instant the fanfares redoubled, and finished by sounding the +retreat. The King returned the wand to the grand huntsman, who at the +head of all the huntsmen followed His Majesty." + +In his promenades at Versailles and Trianon any courtiers that chose to +do so were permitted to follow the King. On his return from out-door +recreation His Majesty, after again changing his costume, remained in his +cabinet resting or working. Frequently he passed some time in the +apartments of Madame de Maintenon. + +At ten o'clock the captain of the guard announced supper in the chamber +between the Hall of the King's Guards and the antechamber called "Bull's +Eye." This meal was always on a pretentious scale, and was attended at +table by the royal children and numerous courtiers and ladies. When the +last course had been served the King retired to his bedchamber and there +for a few moments received all his Court, before passing into his +Cabinet, where he spent something less than an hour in the company of his +immediate household, his brother seated in an arm-chair, the princesses +upon stools, and the Dauphin and all the other princes standing. + +When the King had bid the company goodnight he entered his sleeping-room, +where were already the courtiers privileged to attend the ceremony of the +_coucher_, or going-to-bed. At the _grand coucher_ the King, being +formally divested of his hat, gloves, cane and sword, knelt by the +balustrade about his bed, while an almoner murmured a prayer as he held a +lighted candle above the royal head. When the King had risen from his +knees he gave to the first _valet de chambre_ his watch and the holy +relics he was accustomed to wear, and proceeded through the assemblage to +his chair. This was the moment when, with regal mien, the Sun King +bestowed the candle upon whomever he wished to honor--a ceremony brief, +trifling, but significant of the Monarch of Monarchs in its gracious +portent. + +To the Master of the Wardrobe fell the task of removing the King's coat +and vest; the diamond buckles of the right and left garters were +unfastened respectively by the first _valet de chambre_ and the first +valet of the wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber withdrew with the +kingly shoes and breeches while the pages of the Chamber presented +slippers and dressing-gown. The latter was held as a screen while the +shirt was removed, and the night-dress was accepted from the hands of a +royal prince, or the Grand Chamberlain. + +Having put on the dressing-gown, the King, with an inclination of the +head, dismissed the courtiers, to whom the ushers cried, "Gentlemen, pass +on!" + +All those that were entitled to remain for the _petit coucher_--princes, +clergymen, officers, chosen intimates--then disposed themselves about the +bedchamber while the King submitted to the hands of his coiffeur and +received from the Grand Master of the Wardrobe the night-cap and +handkerchiefs. After bathing his face and hands in a silver basin held +by a royal prince or grand master, the _petit coucher_ was at an end. +The bathing apartments of Versailles were numerous and luxuriously +appointed, but, though the most trivial details in the daily life of His +Majesty were attended with imposing circumstance, there is no record of a +Ceremony of the King's Bath, nor do we know of any noble order at the +Grand Monarch's court that held the title of Knights of the Bath. + +When the assemblage that witnessed the _petit coucher_ in the royal +apartment had dwindled one by one, according to precedent, the Master of +Versailles was, at last, free to do as he chose,--to play with his dogs +in an adjoining cabinet, or take his ease in pleasing solitude. Then, in +the familiar words of Samuel Pepys' immortal diary, "Home, and to bed." +Outside the gilded balustrade the first _valet de chambre_ slept on a +folding cot. "Beyond that balustrade, by the faint candle-light, there +loomed among the shadows a white-plumed canopy and crimson curtains. The +Grand Monarch slept." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS + +_The Gayety and Fashion of Versailles Life. The Prodigal Frivolities +and Diversions of the Court._ + +The ceremonious routine of the days at Versailles was enlivened at +certain times of the year by festivities of astounding brilliance, and, +on occasion, by gorgeous receptions offered to visiting rulers and +ambassadors, It has already been related that the arrival of Louis XIV +and his family at Versailles in the fall of 1663 was celebrated by a +fete at which a troupe headed by Molière was heard in a piece by the +great dramatist called Impromptu de Versailles, In the month of May, +1664, Louis commanded a performance of "Pleasures of the Enchanted +Isle," in which his favorite actor and playwright furnished the comedy, +Lully the music and the ballets, and an Italian mechanician the +decorations and illuminations. On the first day there was tilting at +the ring, in which pastime Louis XIV played a part, wearing a +diamond-embroidered costume. The next day, on an outdoor stage, +Molière and his company played the "_Princesse d'Élide_." There +followed ballets, races, tourneys and a lottery, "in which the prizes +were pieces of furniture, silverware and precious stones." + +In September, 1665, a hunt was organized in the woods of Versailles, at +which the royal ladies wore Amazonian habits. A mid-winter day in the +year 1667 was chosen for a tournament "that over-passed the limits of +magnificence." The Queen herself led a cortege of Court beauties on a +white horse that was set off by brocaded and gem-sewn trappings. The +_Gazette_ of 1667 described the appearance of the youthful Master of +Versailles at this tournament, he being "not less easily recognized by +the lofty mien peculiar to him than by his rich Hungarian habit covered +with gold and precious stones, his helmet with waving plumes, his horse +that was arrayed in magnificent accouterments and a jeweled +saddle-cloth." + +Again in the summers of 1668 and 1672 Molière and Lully entertained the +guests at the King's chateau, while in the gardens there were statues, +vases and chandeliers so lighted as to give the impression that they +glowed with interior names. + +In the summer of 1674, Molière "was no longer alive to arrange dramatic +performances among the green and flowery coppices of Versailles. But +there was no lack of entertainment at the splendid fêtes that marked +that year. We have the recital of Félebien, a fastidious chronicler of +Court doings, referring to this period of merry-making, which lasted +during most of the summer and fall. + +"The King," says Félebien, "ordained as soon as he arrived at +Versailles that festivities be arranged at once, and that, at +intervals, new diversions should be prepared for the pleasure of the +Court. The things most noticeable at such times as these were the +promptitude, minute pains and silent ease with which the King's orders +were invariably executed. Like a miracle--all in a moment--theaters +rose, wooded places were made gay with fountains, collations were +spread, and a thousand other things were accomplished that one would +have supposed would require a long time and a vast bustle of workers." + +The "Grand Fêtes" occupied six days of the months of July and August. +The celebrations of the fourth of July began with a feast laid on the +verdant site later usurped by the basin called the Baths of Apollo. +Here the beauty of nature was enhanced by an infinity of ornate vases +filled with garlands of flowers. Fruits of every clime were served on +platters of porcelain, in silver baskets and in bowls of priceless +glass. In the evening the Court attended a production of +_"Alceste_"--an opera by Quinault and Lully, executed by artists from +the Royal Academy of Music. The stage was set in the Marble Court. +The windows facing the court were ablaze with two rows of candles. The +walls of the chateau were screened with orange trees, festooned with +flowers, illumined by candelabra made of silver and crystal. The +marble fountain in the center of the court was surrounded by tall +candlesticks and blossoming urns. The spraying waters escaped through +vases of flowers, that their falling should not interrupt the voices of +those on the stage. Artificial waters, silver-sconced tapers, bowers +of fragrant shrubs united to create the richest of settings for this +outdoor theater. + +It was the King's wish that the grounds of the little "porcelain house" +at Trianon be chosen as the scene of the second fête, which took place +a week later. In an open-air enclosure, decorated by "a prodigious +quantity of flowers," the guests listened to the "_Êglogue de +Versailles_," composed for the occasion by Lully, leader of the +_Petits-Violons_, Louis' favorite Court orchestra. Afterwards all the +nobles and their fair companions returned to sup at Versailles in a +wood where the Basin of the Obelisk now is. + +Seven days later, at the third fete of the series, the King gave a +banquet to ladies in the pavilion at the Menagerie. The guests were +conveyed in superbly decorated gondolas down the Grand Canal. In a +large boat were violinists and hautboy-players that made sweet music. +Finally, in a theater arranged this time before the Grotto, all the +ladies were regaled with a performance of "_La Malade Imaginaire_," the +last of Molière's comedies. + +For the fourth festal day, the twenty-eighth of July, the King +commanded a fête of surpassing beauty. The feast was laid in the +center of the _Théâtre-d'Eau_. The steps forming the amphitheater +served as tables for the arrangement of the viands. Orange trees heavy +with blossoms and golden fruit, apple trees, apricot trees, trees laden +with peaches, and tall oleanders--all set out in ornamental tubs; three +hundred vessels of fine porcelain filled with fruit; one hundred and +twenty baskets of dried preserves; four hundred crystal cups containing +ices, an uncounted number of carafes sparkling with rare liqueurs--all +created a picture of colorful luxury, which, we are assured, struck +those that looked upon it as "most agreeable." Threading their musical +murmurings through all the laughter and badinage, the tossing jets of +the pyramidal fountains fell away to pools and green-bordered streams. + +Lully's opera, "_Cadmus et Hermione_" Was sung in a theater arranged at +the end of the Allée of the Dragon. At its close every one made a tour +of the park in open vehicles, lighted by torches carried by lackeys, +and all assisted at an exhibition of fire-works on the canal. The +evening ended with a supper in the Marble Court. Here an illuminated +column was placed on an immense pedestal, while around it was disposed +a table with seats for fifty persons. + +The fifth gala day was marked by the presentation to the King of one +hundred and seven flags and standards that Condé, the illustrious +general, had taken at the battle of Senef. In the evening the company +toured the park of Versailles, occupying thirty six-horse carriages. +After a supper served in a forest retreat the invited ones witnessed a +performance of "Iphigénie," a new tragedy by Racine, which was most +admirably played by the royal troupe, and much applauded by the Court. +There followed a grand illumination of the great fountain at the head +of the canal--a display whose beauty and ingenuity "surprised every +one"--even the luxury-surfeited guests of Versailles. Besides an +encircling balustrade six feet in height and ornamented with _fleurs de +lys_ and the arms of the King (all of which glowed with a golden light +most lovely to look upon), there were high pedestals that appeared to +be of transparent marble, with ornaments representing Apollo and the +Sun, whose device Louis, instigator of all the splendor of Versailles, +had adopted as his own insignia. These decorations were made after +designs by Lebrun. + +On the night of the thirty-first of August, the sixth and last day of +the fêtes, the Court witnessed what seemed to be indeed a magic +spectacle. "His Majesty," it is recorded, "coming out of the château +at one o'clock in the morning, beneath a starless sky, suddenly beheld +about him a miraculous rain of lights. All the parterres glittered. +The grand terrace in front of the château was bordered by a double row +of lights. The steps and railings of the horseshoe, all the walls, all +the fountains, all the reservoirs, shone with myriad flames. The +borders of the Grand Canal were adorned with statues and architectural +decorations, behind which lights had been placed to make them +transparent. The King, the Queen, and all the Court took their seats +in richly ornamented gondolas. Boats filled with musicians followed +them, and Echo repeated the sounds of an enchanted harmony." + +Thus ended the fêtes of 1674--the last of their kind that were given by +Louis XIV. + +The Versailles calendar of events was divided into three periods: the +season of the winter carnival, the pious observances of Easter, and the +summer-time festivities. Ordinarily, in the winter months, there was a +hunt on foot or horseback almost every day. In the warm season the +Court often took part in a promenade by boat on the Grand Canal, +followed by a concert and a feast for the ladies at Trianon or at the +Menagerie. Ladies were always invited in great numbers to such +parties. Sometimes they walked among the orange trees or made a tour +of the gardens in light carriages, or repaired to the stables to watch +the trainers putting the royal mounts through their paces. And always +there were games of chance, for gambling was the ruling passion of the +Court. + +From the record of Dangeau we read a description of a gay tournament +that took place in the riding-school of the Great Stables of Versailles +on two successive June days: + +"The King and Mme. la Dauphine (wife of the heir to the throne) dined +at an early hour, and on leaving table, the King and Monseigneur +entered a carriage. Mme. la Dauphine and many ladies followed in other +carriages. In the court of the ministers, they found all the cavaliers +of the tournament drawn up in two lines; the pages and lackeys were +there also. Monseigneur mounted a horse at the head of one company; M. +le Duc de Bourbon was at the head of the other. The King took his seat +in the place prepared for him. + +"The cavaliers first rode round the courtyard of the chateau, passing +under the windows of the young Duc de Bourgogne (grandson of the King) +who was on the balcony. Then they rode out of the gate and down the +Avenue de Paris, and entered the riding-school of the Great Stables by +a gate made near the Kennels. After riding in procession before the +raised seats of the court, they took their posts, twenty cavaliers in +each corner, with their pages and grooms behind them; the drums and +trumpets at the barrier. The subject of the tournament was the Wars of +Granada, and the cavaliers represented the Spaniards and the Moors. +Monseigneur rode a tilt with the Due de Bourbon, and Messieurs de +Vendôme and de Brionne rode at the same time to make the figure. . . . +There were three courses run for the prize, which was won by the Prince +de Lorraine. It was a sword ornamented with diamonds, and he received +it from the hand of the King. After the tournament all the cavaliers +conducted the King to the courtyard of the château, lance in hand, and +the heads of the companies saluted him with their swords. + +"On the fifth, a second tournament was held, and, in spite of the bad +weather, the King found it more beautiful than the first. Many ladies +were present. The Russian envoys, who had not seen the previous fête, +occupied seats at the King's right. During a shower, the spectators +retired quickly, but as soon as it had passed, all the seats were +filled again. The Marquis de Plumartin won the prize. It was a sword +adorned with diamonds, but more costly than that won by the Prince de +Lorraine." + +The Fête of Kings celebrated each year was a brilliant affair at +Versailles. Then the Hall of Mirrors and Salons of War and Peace were +illumined by hundreds upon hundreds of twinkling tapers, while over the +floor glided a throng of slippered feet to the beat of strings and +hautboys. At the suppers, which preceded and followed the dancing, +seventy-two Swiss guards served the guests, each one distinguished by a +ribbon corresponding with the color of the table to whose service he +was assigned. It was the King's custom to retire from the revel with +regal formalities at one hour after midnight. But the feasting and +dancing continued many times until rosy dawn stole in the windows and +paled the candle-light. Besides balls, concerts, plays, games of +chance, masquerades, all the Court was invited every week--between +October and Easter--to take part in the _appartements_ or receptions +given by the King. These soirées began at seven o'clock and lasted +till ten. The chief diversion was card-playing. The King, the Queen +and all the princes so far unbent as to play with their guests at the +same tables, and move about without ceremony, conversing, listening to +the music of Lully's band, watching a minuet or a gavotte, eating and +drinking, or bestowing special favors upon courtiers that engaged their +momentary fancy. + +Sometimes the losses of the players at the tables were enormous; again, +nobles counted their gains by the hundred thousands. The youthful +granddaughter of the King, the Duchess of Bourgogne, lost at one time a +sum equaling 600,000 francs, which her doting grandfather paid, as he +also paid debts of the Duke of Bourgogne. During one night's play the +King himself lost a sum totaling "many millions." On occasion the +courtiers were entertained at festivities arranged for the heir to the +throne, or by the cardinal that was in residence at the chateau. +During masked balls held in the carnival season dancers sometimes +changed their costumes two or three times in an evening--one worn under +another being revealed by pulling a silken cord. Often well-tempered +confusion was caused by gay subterfuges--an exchange of masks, or the +imposing of one mask on another. The costumes were sumptuous beyond +words. "It is impossible to witness at one time more jewelry," naïvely +recited the _Mercure_ in setting forth the richness of a _cercle_ at +which the Court was present in 1707. + +Let us read further from the _Mercure_ of the diversions that drove +dull care away at a Court carnival: "There have been this winter five +balls in five different apartments at Versailles, all so grand and so +beautiful that no other royal house in the world can show the like. +Entrance was given to masks only, and no persons presented themselves +without being disguised, unless they were of very high rank. . . . +People invent grotesque disguises, they revive old fashions, they +choose the most ridiculous things, and seek to make them as amusing as +possible. . . . Mgr. le Dauphin changed his disguise eight or ten +times each evening. M. Bérain had need of all his wit to furnish these +disguises, and of all his ingenuity to get them made up, since there +was so little time between one ball and another. The prince did not +wish to be recognized, and all sorts of extraordinary disguises were +invented for him; frequently under the figures that concealed him, one +could not have told whether the person thus masked was tall or short, +fat or thin. Sometimes he had double masks, and under the first a mask +of wax so well made that, when he took off his first mask, people +fancied they saw the natural face, and he deceived everybody. Nothing +can equal the enjoyment which Mgr. le Dauphin takes in all these +diversions, nor the rapidity with which he changes his disguises. He +leaves all his officers without being fatigued, although he works +harder at dressing and undressing himself than they do, and he danced +much. This prince shows in the least things, in his horsemanship, and +in the ardor with which he follows the chase, what pleasure he will +take some day in commanding armies. But could one expect less from the +son of Louis the Great! + +"The first of the five balls," continues the correspondent, "was given +by M. le Grand, in his apartments in the new wing of Versailles. The +ball commenced with a masquerade. They danced a minuet and a jig; but +only Mlle. de Nantes danced in the latter. Mlle. de Nantes was +especially admired when she danced, and made so great an impression +that people stood on chairs to see her better, Mgr. le Dauphin came to +the masquerade with M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and many other +notables. He was in a sedan-chair, accompanied by a number of +merry-andrews and dwarfs. He changed his disguise four or five times +during the ball, which lasted until four o'clock in the morning. . . . +The second ball was given by Mgr. le Dauphin in the hall of his Guards, +which forms the entrance to his apartments. M. le Duc gave the third, +which was magnificent. Some days after it was the turn of the Cardinal +de Bouillon to receive the court." + +"From just before Candlemas day to Easter of the year 1700," wrote +Saint-Simon, "nothing was heard of but balls and pleasures of the +Court. The King gave at Versailles and Marly several masquerades, by +which he was much amused under pretext of amusing the Duchesse de +Bourgogne. + +"No evening passed on which there was not a ball. The chancellor's +wife gave one--which was a fête the most gallant and the most +magnificent possible. There were different rooms for the fancy-dress +ball, for the masqueraders, for a superb collation, for shops of all +countries, Chinese, Japanese, etc., where many singular and beautiful +things were sold, but no money taken; there were presents for the +Duchesse de Bourgogne and the ladies. Everybody was especially +diverted at this entertainment, which did not finish until eight +o'clock in the morning. Madame de Saint-Simon and I passed the last +three weeks of this time without ever seeing the day. Certain dancers +were allowed to leave off dancing only at the same time as the Duchesse +de Bourgogne. One morning, when I wished to escape too early, the +duchesse caused me to be forbidden to pass the doors of the salon; +several of us had the same fate. I was delighted when Ash Wednesday +arrived, and I remained a day or two dead-beat." + +The _Mercure_ describes the fête given by the wife of the Chancellor of +France at her mansion beyond the palace grounds: + +"Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, learning that Mme. la Chancelière +wished to give her a ball, received the proposition with much joy. +Although there were but eight days in which to prepare for it, Mme. la +Chancelière resolved to give the princess in one evening all the +diversions that people usually take during all the carnival +period--namely, comedy, fair, and ball. When the evening came, +detachments of Swiss were posted in the street and in the courtyard, +with many servants of Mme. la Chancelière, so that there was no +confusion at the gates or in the court, which was brightly lighted with +torches. . . . The ball-room was lighted by ten chandeliers and by +magnificent gilded candelabra. At one end, on raised seats, were the +musicians, hautboys and violins, in fancy dress with plumed caps. In +front of the velvet-covered benches for the courtiers were three +arm-chairs, one for Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the others for +Monsieur and the Madame. Beyond the ball-room, across the landing of +the staircase, was another hall, brilliantly lighted, in which were +hautboys and violins, and this hall was for the masks, who came in such +numbers that the ball-room could not have contained them all. + +". . . After remaining about an hour at the ball, Mme. la Chancelière +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne +into another hall, filled with lights and mirrors, where a theater had +been erected to furnish the diversion of a comedy. Only about one +hundred people were allowed to enter the hall of comedy, and the +princes and princesses of the blood, being masked, took no rank there. +Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne and Madame had arm-chairs in the center +of the hall. The Duchesse de Bourgogne was surprised to see a splendid +theater, adorned with her arms and monogram. . . . As soon as the +princess was seated, Bari, the famous mountebank of Paris, came forward +and asked her protection against the doctors, and having extolled the +excellence of his remedies, and the marvels of his secrets, he offered +to the princess as a little diversion a comedy such as they sometimes +played at Paris. There was given then a little comedy which Mme. le +Chancelière had got M. Dancourt to write expressly for that fête. All +the actors were from the company of the comedians of the king. They +played to perfection, and received much praise. . . . At the end of +the comedy, Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was conducted into another +hall, where a superb collation had been prepared in an ingenious +manner. At one end of the hall, in a half-circle, were five booths, in +which were merchants, clad in the costumes of different countries; a +French pastry-cook, a seller of oranges and lemons, an Italian +lemonade-seller, a seller of sweetmeats, a vendor of coffee, tea and +chocolate. They were from the king's musicians, and sung their wares, +accompanied by music, at the sides of the booths, and had pages to +serve the guests. The booths were splendidly painted and gilded, +adorned with lusters and flowers, and bore the arms and cipher of Mme. +la Duchesse de Bourgogne. At the back of each booth a large mirror +reflected the whole. . . . The Duchesse de Bourgogne left this hall, +after the collation, delighted with all that she had seen and heard. +Since the ball-room was so crowded with masks, the princess returned to +the hall of comedy, where they held a smaller court ball until two +o'clock, when she went to the grand ball to see the masks. She was +much amused there until four in the morning. When Mme. la Chancelière +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted her to the foot of the +staircase, she thanked them much for the pleasure they had given her. +This fete brought many congratulations to Mme. la Chancelière." + +La Palatine, Duchess of Orleans, has left among her letters a +description of her costume on a day of august ceremonies. "The crowd +was so great," she wrote, "that we had to wait a quarter of an hour at +the door of each salon before entering, and I was wearing a robe and an +overskirt so intolerably heavy that I could scarcely stand erect. My +costume was of gold woven with black chenille flowers, and my jewels +were pearls and diamonds. Monsieur had on a coat of black velour +embroidered with gold, and wore all his great diamonds. The coat of my +son was embroidered with gold and a variety of other colors and it was +covered with gems. The robe my daughter wore was made of green velour +threaded with gold and garnished with rubies and diamonds. In her hair +was an ornament designed in brilliants and sprays of rubies." + +For these extraordinary functions the King and his entourage bedecked +themselves with priceless ornaments. When in 1714 the Sun King +received the ambassador of Siam, he chose a habit of black and gold +bordered with diamonds, valued at 12,500,000 _livres_, or about +$2,500,000. The weight was so great that he was compelled to change it +soon after dinner. Besides the jewelry he wore on his own person, the +royal host loaned for this event a garniture of diamonds and pearls to +the Duke of Maine and another garniture of colored stones to the Count +of Toulouse. + +When the King of France received foreign ambassadors, or celebrated, +with pomp befitting his tastes, marriages and births in the royal +family, the Court, weightily, stiffly, sumptuously appareled, thronged +through the Hall of Mirrors--the Grand Gallery--in spectacular defile. + +These brilliant tableaux, the most brilliant of all Europe, had their +source in the King's love of splendor and profusion. It was to please +him that his courtiers and favorites staked fortunes at the gaming +tables, outran each other in devising costly dresses, contrived novel +equipages and unique dwellings. In his superb Court he found all the +elements required to satisfy his pride, and glorify his reign. The Sun +King was the most profligate host in all history. Determined to outdo +the fabulous luxury of the feasts of Lucullus in early Roman times, and +to outshine the storied splendor of Oriental princes, he entertained +his Court and guests with lavish liberality, superbly indifferent to +the cost of his boundless extravagance and considering not at all the +day of reckoning that must come later for the Bourbon dynasty in +France. To glow with commanding brilliance, like the Sun, in the +center of his royal firmament, to overwhelm his subjects with his +grandeur, and to dazzle the eyes of other nations--that was the +ambition that Louis cherished and achieved. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES + +We have pictured the Sun King and his imposing Court. We have told the +story of the founding and construction of his luxurious palace, and +described the spectacles and entertainments that made Versailles the +most brilliant spot in Europe. We have said nothing of the women of +Versailles and the part they played in the life of the Court and the +influence they exerted in the affairs of France. Some of these women, +though occupying the Queen's apartments and sharing the crown, lived an +existence of bitter disappointment and thwarted affection--Queens in +name only, and serving only as mothers of princes and future monarchs. +Such were Marie Thérèse, the heart-sick wife of Louis XIV, and Marie +Leczinska, the sad consort of Louis XV. About them were many brilliant +women that graced the palace with their beauty and charm and made +romantic court history that the chroniclers of the time fed on eagerly, +and that the world has devoured eagerly ever since. Rich were those +years in intrigue and adventure, and many and rapid were the changing +fortunes of favorites. No one could tell what a day might bring forth. +The woman of one hour might go the next. Self-interest stimulated the +ambitious seekers of favors to constant endeavor. Grim, determined +strugglers for social preference frequented the salons with smiling +faces that sometimes glowed with pride and satisfaction, but more often +veiled rankling disappointment and carking care. + +Even the great Madame de Maintenon, who successfully weathered the +storms of the social struggle for so many years, once exclaimed: "I can +hold out no longer. I wish that I were dead." And a short time before +her demise, she observed bitterly, "One atones in full for youthful +joys and gratification. I can see, as I review my life, that since I +was twenty-two years of age--when my good fortune began--I have not +been free from suffering for a moment; and through my life my +sufferings increased." + +If Madame de Maintenon confessed so much in her last days, what must +the other favorites of Versailles have experienced and felt? Each wore +the mask of Comedy, with Tragedy gnawing beneath. These brilliant +women, who seemed at times to be so happy, were little more than +slaves, and we find them disclosed in the memoirs of the time as +"penitents who make their apologies to history and lay bare to future +generations their miseries, vexations and the remorse of their souls." +The demands of Court life were constant and relentlessly exacting. The +favorites, each one striving to outdo the others, knew not, from day to +day, what way their destinies were leading them. + +"If," exclaimed Saint-Amand, "among these favorites of the King, there +were a single one that had enjoyed her shameful triumphs in peace, that +could have recalled herself happy in the midst of her luxury and +splendor, one might have concluded that, from a merely human point of +view, it is possible to find happiness in vice. But no; there was not +even one. The Duchesse de Châteauroux and Marquise de Pompadour were +no happier than the Duchesse de la Vallière and the Marquise de +Montespan." + +The Sun King built Versailles and established his Court there. It was +the women that made the life of Versailles--and gave their lives to it. +The Court was a dazzling spider's web, and many a beautiful favorite +became fatally entangled in its glittering meshes. + +Louis XIV, when twenty-two years of age, married Marie Thérèse, +daughter of Philip IV of Spain. If he had been a simple, respectable +young man of France, he might then have settled down and finished the +story by "living happily ever after." But he was not. He was the King +of France; so he pursued the royal road that his antecedents had blazed +before him; and the way was made easy and pleasant for him. In +treading the "primrose path of dalliance" he allowed no grass to grow +under his feet. + +Louis made Marie Thérèse his Queen and consort in 1660, and it was only +a year later when his fancy was caught by the dainty and attractive +little Françoise Louise La Vallière. She was scarcely more than +seventeen years of age when she became the favorite of the King. She +was a delicate little creature, slightly lame, but most feminine in her +appeal, and she caught the King by her very girlishness, as she played +like a child with him in the parks of the palace. She was a simple +maid of honor to Queen Marie Thérèse when she first attracted the +notice of the King. A few years afterward she was created a duchess +and, as such, retained the royal favor for a time. Then remorse seized +upon La Vallière; she took the veil, and, as Sister Louise of Mercy, +entered a convent, and gave her life in religious solitude to expiate +the grief that she had caused the good Queen. The atonement was only +just, for Louise de Vallière had made Marie Thérèse suffer bitterly the +tortures of jealousy and offended conjugal affection. The Queen was +not a woman of unusual intelligence, but she was sensible, tactful, and +had a certain native dignity that compelled respect. She was, +moreover, devoutly religious and devotedly attached to her children. +She shared her royal Husband's conviction as to the divine right of +kings, and what he did she considered could not be wrong. Of all the +women that were associated with Louis, no one more truly admired him +nor was more ardently devoted to him than his Queen. When they were +first married, Louis treated Marie Thérèse with kindly consideration. +He shed tears of sympathy and anguish while she suffered in giving +birth to her first child. During the following dozen years, Marie +Thérèse bore six sons and daughters, but all were lost except the +Dauphin, and he died before ascending the throne. These bereavements +sank deep into her heart and left a wound there that never healed. +Added to this was the spectacle that she was called on repeatedly to +witness of the King's infidelities with a succession of favorites. She +was compelled to take these women into her household and make +companions of them, knowing the while that they were really her rivals +and persecutors. She was often heard to cry out concerning one or +other of the favorites, "That woman will be the death of me." La +Vallière she could afford to forgive, for the first mistress paid for +the brief royal favor that she enjoyed by thirty-six years of rigid and +austere penitence. Other favorites, however, pursued a path of pride, +lowering their heads only under the "bludgeonings of Fate." Yet most +of them, while Marie Thérèse lived, respected and honored her and felt +a certain sense of shame in her presence. The brilliant and beautiful +Madame de Montespan said, some time before her scandalous relations +with the King had fairly begun, "God preserve me from being the King's +mistress. If I were so I should feel ashamed to face the Queen." And +yet Madame de Montespan, within a short time, assumed the role of +favorite, and carried it out with great pride and arrogant assurance. +The conviction is forced upon us, however, by the evidence of those +that witnessed her ascendancy, that Montespan frequently felt the +stings of self-reproach when she met the Queen, and that her haughty +bearing concealed a genuine sense of shame. In the midst of luxury, +power and brilliant success she seemed at times a small and mean +character in the presence of the pious Marie Thérèse. As Louis' +infidelities increased in number, his sense of guilt toward his consort +was stamped deeper on his consciousness. He endeavored to make amends +by paying her marked respect and treating her at times with +distinguished tenderness and consideration. But Versailles was the +high seat of elaborate and elegant insincerity, and no one was deceived +by the formal courtesies paid by the Sun King to his unhappy wife. The +deference that he displayed toward her in public appeared to the eyes +of the world to be simply a cloak for essential neglect. And she, poor +creature, with all the prestige of the Queen of France, was but a +pitiful thing in the presence of the King. She tried to do her best to +please him. The thought of offense to the Monarch beset her with fear. +The Princess Palatine wrote of her once: "When the King came to her she +was so gay that people remarked it. She would laugh and twinkle and +rub her little hands. She had such a love for the King that she tried +to catch in his eyes every hint of the things that would give him +pleasure. If he ever looked at her kindly, that day was bright." +Madame De Caylus tells us that the Queen had such a dread of her royal +husband and such an inborn timidity that she hardly dared speak to him. +Madame de Maintenon relates that the King, having once sent for the +Queen, asked Madame to accompany Her Majesty so that she might not have +to appear alone in the presence of her royal husband, and that when +Madame de Maintenon conducted the Queen to the door of the King's room, +and there took the liberty of pushing her ahead so as to force her to +enter, she observed that Marie Therese fell into such a great tremble +that her very hands shook with fright. And why should not the Queen +tremble with unhappy apprehension when even the greatest favorite of +all, Madame de Maintenon, found nothing in the life of the Court but +bitter striving and heart misery? In the very midst of her splendor +she exclaimed to a friend, "If I could only make clear to you the +hideous _ennui_ that devours all of us, the troubles that fill our +days! Do you not see that I am dying of sadness in the midst of a +fortune that passes all imagination? I have had youth and beauty, I +have sated myself with pleasure, I have had my hours of intellectual +satisfaction, I have enjoyed royal favor, and yet I protest to you, my +good friend, that all these conditions leave only a dreadful void." + +Marie Thérèse took up her abode at Versailles only when the palace was +pronounced complete. She entered her apartments there in 1682, and +breathed her last in July of the following year. The Queen's bedroom +is filled with historic memories. The walls could whisper many tragic +secrets and the halls might assemble by invocation innumerable ghostly +figures of fair women that once stood close to the throne, wore royal +robes, and nursed breaking hearts. In the Queen's bed chamber died +Marie Therese and, later, Marie Leczinska, the Queen of Louis XV. +There also the Dauphiness of Bavaria and the Duchess of Burgundy passed +away; and, in that chamber, nineteen princes and princesses of the +royal blood were born, among whom were King Philip V of Spain and Louis +XV of France. The chamber was occupied first by the pious and devoted +Marie Therese; after that by the Bavarian Dauphiness, who died in 1690 +at the early age of twenty-nine; then by the Duchess of Burgundy, the +mother of Louis XV. She died in 1712 at the age of twenty-six. Then +Mary Anne Victoire, the Infanta of Spain, occupied the apartment for a +brief time; after that, in 1725, came Marie Leczinska, the wife of +Louis XV, who lived there for forty-three years, during which she gave +birth to ten children. And, finally, the most appealing figure of all +entered that fateful apartment--she who has been characterized as "the +most poetic of women, who combined in herself all majesties and all +sorrows, all triumphs and all humiliations, all feminine joys and +tears, she whose very name inspires the emotion, tenderness and respect +of the world"--Marie Antoinette. + +During the hundred years that followed the entrance of Marie Thérèse on +the scene at Versailles, many extraordinary women came, shone and +passed away. The Hall of Mirrors, had it the power to reflect the +past, would afford a gallery of brilliant portraits. There would be, +first, the devout Queen herself, virtuous, kind, considerate, loved by +all her people and gently resigned to her fate. Then would follow a +glittering train of proud and brilliant mistresses, some compelling by +their beauty and gayety, others by their wit and sense. Sweet Madame +de La Vallière had scarcely passed into obscurity when the haughty and +imperious Marquise de Montespan assumed supremacy and became "the +center of pleasures, of fortune, of hope and of terror to all that were +dependent on the Court." No one could rightly claim to be an intimate +of Montespan except the King, and at times he did not understand her. +While apparently frank and free in her enjoyment of life and in her +dealings with associates in the Court, Montespan always withheld enough +to keep her best friends guessing. No one knew all her romance. She +had experienced both extremes of fortune and when she gained favor with +Louis she had acquired a confidence and a command of herself that +influenced the King to a degree that even he would not have +acknowledged. But the Court knew well the influence of Montespan and +also the ministers, generals of the army and foreign ambassadors. +Montespan succeeded Madame de La Vallière in favor about 1667 and she +held her supremacy for ten years. Then came the turn of her fortunes, +for Madame de Maintenon, fascinating in all that makes feminine charm +and with an extraordinary mind in addition, supplanted Montespan and +became the companion of the King until his dying day. Montespan, who +had eight children by the King, left the Court in bitterness and +humiliation and, like La Vallière, ended her life in a convent. + +Madame de Maintenon was the most distinguished woman in the history of +Versailles. As a girl, in abject poverty, she married in 1652 the good +old poet Scarron. There was no love lost there. She merely took the +gentle-hearted man because he offered either to pay for her entrance +into a convent or to make her his wife, and she found the latter +alternative more acceptable. During the nine years she lived with +Scarron, she maintained a brilliant salon, in which gathered the great +intelluctual figures of the time. In 1669 Madame de Montespan gave +Madame de Maintenon the charge of one of her sons. In that manner +Montespan brought her governess in touch with her King, and, in so +doing, sealed her own fate. + +Madame de Maintenon was a very wise woman. She did not entertain any +sincere affection for the King, and, during all the years of his +devotion to her, she never really loved him. She found a monarch much +sated with the luxurious pleasures of the Court, and beginning to tire +of his latest mistress, and she saw in the situation an opportunity +that appealed to her ambition. With shrewd judgment she measured the +character of Madame de Montespan, and she forecast in her mind the +inevitable downfall of the proud and arrogant favorite. She was the +very opposite in nature of Madame de Montespan. Her self-possession, +poise, skill and tact, virtue and piety made an irresistible appeal to +the tired King. That her piety was scarcely more than a cloak is +betrayed by many of her own utterances. "Nothing is more clever than +irreproachable behavior," she said at one time to close friends. Her +behavior was both irreproachable and clever, and it obtained for her +the satisfaction of her highest ambitions. She fascinated and lured +the King, playing the coquette to him, but evading him with a baffling +assumption of virtue, yielding just enough to draw the Monarch on; then +playing the part of a prude, until, finally, she became in the eyes of +the fascinated Louis the most desired of women. It was not long before +Madame de Maintenon was so advanced in the King's favor that the affair +was the gossip of the Court, and Madame de Montespan was compelled to +stand by, a silent and bitter witness of her own defeat. It was a +humiliating blow to Madame de Montespan to see the King with eyes only +for Madame de Maintenon, saying witty and agreeable things to her, and +ignoring his former favorite completely. It was not long before Madame +de Montespan received her dismissal and, trembling with rage, descended +the great staircase of Versailles never again to mount it. Madame de +Maintenon was installed in special apartments at the head of the Marble +Staircase, opposite the Hall of the King's Guards, and a new spirit +dominated the halls of the palace. Under Madame de Montespan a +"haughtiness in everything that reached to the clouds" had held the +Court and attendants in fear, made the lives of all uneasy, and kept +the atmosphere of the palace astir. With the entrance of Madame de +Maintenon into favor a quieter tone pervaded Versailles. Madame was a +woman of great intelligence and wit, and made all feel the gracious +influence of her fine companionship. There was nothing ascetic in her +piety, but, on the other hand, frivolity, immorality, and unworthy +intrigue had no place in her circle. And all those that attended her +held her in esteem and profound respect. With all her incomparable +grace, she was in mind and spirit more truly the queen than mistress. +She was older than the King and her influence was stronger on that +account. She had comprehended the situation at Versailles with +characteristic shrewdness. The King needed her. The Court of France +needed her--and she needed both the King and the Court for the +fulfillment of her supreme ambitions. As one writer has ironically put +it, "With her gracious bearing and her calm, even temper, she must have +seemed to a king of forty-six, who had buried his queen and cast off +his mistress, the ideal wife for his old age. Then, too, she was pious +and devout, she wished to withdraw the King from the world and give him +to God; she had no ambitions (!), she desired to meddle in nothing, she +was grateful when her husband took her into his confidence, but she +longed only to save his soul. It seemed almost too wonderful to be +true. It was not true." + +Madame de Maintenon was determined to be Queen of France, and she +became so in soul as well as in fact. During her latter years she +ruled, and the King was content to follow her advice and do her will. +When the King was dying and she could gain no more at his hands, Madame +de Maintenon effected a most satisfactory settlement for herself at St. +Cyr, where she ended her days in piety and serene repose. + +Saint-Amand has observed truly that the women of Versailles were +interesting not only from the moral point of view and as subjects of +study, but on account of what he called the "symbolical importance of +their relations to the history of France." Each seemed to be the +living expression of the spirit of her day. Madame de Montespan was +just such a superb, luxurious and magnificent beauty as Versailles +needed to display to all the ambassadors that came to bask in the +glitter of the Sun King's Court. She was the dazzling mistress that +ruled imperiously over the gay and brilliant life of the palace, the +very incarnation of haughty and triumphant France at the culminating +point of the reign of Louis XIV. + +Then came Madame de Maintenon who, with her discreet and temperate +nature, restored order, and was, for years, the living symbol of a +changed condition in the Court in which piety and religious observance +displaced licentious and voluptuous pleasure. And, along with this +"wisdom of a repentant age," as Saint-Amand observes, "this reaction of +austerity against pleasure, there was still the contrast of youth." It +was the Duchess of Burgundy who was the living embodiment of this +protest of joy against sadness, of springtime against cold winter, of +licentiousness against the exacting restrictions of etiquette. Affairs +in the Court had reached a turning point, and it was the logical mind +of Madame de Maintenon that saw it. When Madame de Montespan was in +the ascendancy, the Court had reached a condition of voluptuous +indulgence that could not continue long. The Princess Palatine, wife +of the brother of Louis XIV, wrote: "I hear and see every day so many +villainous things that it disgusts me with life. You have good reason +to say that the good Queen is now happier than we are, and if any one +would do me, as to her and her mother, the service of sending me in +twenty-four hours from this world to the other, I would certainly bear +him no ill will." + +However we may question the soul sincerity of Madame de Maintenon, to +her at least we must give credit for checking the corrupt tendencies of +the Court and, with correcting finger, pointing the way toward better +things. After Louis XIV, as Saint-Amand points out, the conditions of +the Court of France were reflected even more vividly in the characters +of the women of Versailles. "With compression and reserve," he +observes, "there followed scandal. During the regency and the reign of +Louis XV the morals of the Court fast deteriorated. A new epoch +opened--troublous, lewd, dissolute. And was not the Duchess of Berry +eccentric, capricious, passionate, the very image of the time? The +favorites of Louis XV indicate to us in their own sad history the +conditions of debasing humiliation and moral decadence of monarchical +power. At first Louis XV chose his favorites from among ladies of +quality--after that, from the middle classes, and, finally, from the +common women of the people." He did not stop at the low-born shop girl +or the frequenter of evil resorts. + +Louis began with the Duchesse de Châteauroux, the exquisite, who +lasted, as we might say, but a day. From that he turned to the +Marquise de Pompadour, a descent sufficiently significant, but it was +only the beginning of decadence. The King's feeling for the Marquise +was wholly unworthy, and it soon wore itself out. Her death caused him +no regret. On the day of her funeral, during a heavy rainstorm, the +King, standing at one of the windows of Versailles, watched the +carriage bearing the body of his former favorite to Paris, and observed +carelessly: "The Marquise will not have fine weather for her journey." +Louis soon turned to Madame Dubarry--and a lower step was taken. The +prestige and dignity of the Court suffered. "Vice," as Saint-Amand +observes, "threw off all semblance of disguise" and yet, while the King +slowly submerged his nature in a slough of corruption, and his +associates made of the Court a carnival of immorality, there was still +one figure in whom the traditional morals and manners were +maintained--the Queen Marie Leczinska. She was the one pure and +virtuous figure in the Court life. "Her domestic hearth," writes +Saint-Amand, "was near the boudoir of the favorites, but it was she +that preserved for the Court the traditions of decency and decorum. + +"Last of all of the women of Versailles, came Marie Antoinette, the +woman who, in the most striking and tragic of all destinies, represents +not solely the majesty and the griefs of royalty, but all the graces +and all the agonies, all the joys and all the sufferings, of her sex." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV + +Louis the Great, in commanding immense and costly edifices to rise out +of the earth, was moved, at least in part, by a desire to assure the +monarchy and its established ceremonial a worthy background. Louis XV, +in the numerous graceful additions to the chateau made by him, sought +only to satisfy his own caprice and convenience. + +When the Court returned from Vincennes to Versailles in 1722, seven +years after the death of Louis XIV, one of the new King's first +undertakings was the construction of the Salon of Hercules, adjoining +the chapel court. This splendid hall, which to-day serves as the +entrance to the _grand appartements_, owed its design to Robert de +Cotte. As in the time of Louis XIV and Mansard, marble was chosen as +the main decorative medium. All the sculptural ornaments are in bronze +and marble. The bases of the pilasters are of gilded bronze. Carvings +in wood and stucco were contributed by a Flemish artist named +Verberckt, to whom Louis XV assigned most of the sculptural work done +at the chateau during his reign. It was he that modeled the two doors +placed on either side the bronze and marble chimney-piece, and the +sculptures of the cornice. The painting on the ceiling--the Apotheosis +of Hercules--was first seen by His Majesty as he passed through the +room on his way to mass on a day in September, 1736. He examined it +with much attention (some one has taken the trouble to record), and +demonstrated his satisfaction by forthwith naming Sire Le Moine, the +creator of the work, his chief painter. And thereon hangs a tragic +tale. So great was Le Moine's pride in the honor thus done him that he +determined to bring his work to still higher perfection. He resolved +to finish each detail with the same exactitude as though he were +painting a canvas that was to be observed at close range. But the more +he applied his brush to bring out intricate effects, the less the +design pleased him. In a sudden revulsion for the completed work, he +effaced it and began the entire painting anew. This time he was better +satisfied, though critics attached to the Court esteemed the second +canvas not so good as the one destroyed. Upon the completion of the +decorative scheme, the Sovereign bestowed upon Le Moine 5,000 _livres_ +for the _Salon d'Hercule_. Then, to his chagrin, the over-careful +artist discovered that he was out of pocket 24,000 _livres_ by the +transaction. The loss turned his head; seized by grief and +disappointment he committed suicide. + +This salon served during the reign of Louis XV as a ball-room, and here +in March, 1749, the Monarch was formally presented with two young +ostriches, brought from Egypt and destined for the Menagerie. + +In contrast to the passion for ostentation exhibited by Louis XIV, his +great-grandson and successor was chiefly occupied in finding ways to +evade his gilded prison. When the demand of the Court necessitated his +presence at Versailles, he sought diversion in changing the apartments, +making them over, demolishing here, reconstructing there--expending +vast sums at all times. In 1738, finding the chamber of Louis XIV cold +and inconvenient, he ordered another suite to be arranged for him on +the second floor of the chateau above the Marble Court, and here he +lived at his ease, untrammeled by etiquette and far from the curious +gaze of courtiers. Small living rooms, kitchens, grills and bakeries +were built on the Court of the Stags, and above the private apartments +of Louis XIV rooms were added for the favorites of the King. + +The storied Staircase of the Ambassadors, by which ceremonious visitors +were admitted to the presence of the Sun King, was leveled by the whim +of Louis XV. Little mattered it to him that this superb entrance +filled an essential role in the life of the royal residence. Forgetful +of the scenes that had been enacted on the triumphal stair, the +great-grandson of the builder of Versailles commanded the destruction +of one of the noblest architectural works of the time. Its +bas-reliefs, its incomparable marbles, its paintings on which Lebrun +had exercised all the resources of his decorative genius--all +disappeared at the nod of the ambitious Madame de Pompadour, who +desired a theater to be erected on this site. In later years the +theater disappeared to make room for the apartments of the King's fair +daughter, Madame Adelaïde. + +The project to build another flight of steps ending in the Salon of +Hercules was never carried out. Future guests were therefore admitted +to the reception rooms by a dark, narrow entrance, or they made a long +roundabout tour by way of the Queen's staircase across the Marble +Court. The demolition of the stairway of honor was an irreparable +loss. No other piece of wantonness equaled it in the tumultuous +history of Versailles. + +However, there remain in the château a number of memorials to the +judgment and good taste of the third master of the chateau, among them, +the exquisitely decorated rooms of the King, re-made on the site of +those dedicated to Louis XIV; the seven rooms of Madame Adelaide, and +the suites set apart for the mistresses that succeeded one another in +the favor of Louis the Fifteenth. These apartments, evolved out of the +confusion of orders and counter-orders, remain to-day as examples of +the pure and elegant decorative styles of the eighteenth century. +Especially admired is the Council Room. Richly adorned, but always in +charming taste, it represents the transition period between the more +severe ornamental art peculiar to the reign of Louis XIV and the warmer +effects beloved by Louis XV. Behind the Council Room were installed, +on the west side of the Court of the Stags, a _cabinet de bains_ +(bath-room) and a little room called the Salon of the Wigs. By these +rooms access was gained to the Salon of Apollo. + +The billiard-room, where King Louis XIV was wont to play with his +hounds before retiring, became the bed-room of his heir. After the +year 1738, Louis XV occupied this chamber, and here he died thirty-six +years later. It then became the sleeping-room of the ill-starred Louis +XVI--who died in no bed. Locks, door-knobs, chimney ornaments--each +detail in gilded bronze reflected rare taste and workmanship. The bed +stood in an alcove enclosed between two columns, railed in by a +balustrade of elaborate design, and curtained by wonderful tapestries. +Ordinarily the King slept in this room; when he wakened in the morning +he put on a robe and passed through the Council Room to the salon where +the "rising" was celebrated with traditional pomp. + +If Louis XV indulged in an orgy of building and repair, it was because +he pined with an _ennui_ that was only relieved by constant diversion. +If at the cost of unnumbered thousands of francs, Madame de Pompadour +urged on her royal lover and contrived new outlets for his craze for +building, it was because she was adroit enough to enliven by this means +an existence that often palled upon him. If, throughout the long +series of decisions and contradictions regarding changes in the +chateau, the Monarch commanded one day that a library and marble bath +be added to the apartments of his daughter, and on another that useful +halls, staircases and offices be removed; if he ordered the +construction of a great Opera House with a facade like a temple, and, +in another mood, made away with insignificant rooms that consumed no +more space than would have filled a remote corner of this great hall of +the theater--the motive was ever the same: to banish for the time-being +the hovering specter of boredom and melancholy. "Louis XV," comments +the author of "France Under Louis XV," "was not a man that sought +relief from ceremony and adulation in any useful work; but, on the +other hand, this dull grandeur was not dear to his heart; he did not +derive from it the majestic satisfaction that it furnished to his +predecessor. From youth to age the King was bored; he wearied of his +throne, his court, himself; he was indifferent to all things, and +unconcerned as to the weal or the woe of his people." + +One of the Salons on which he lavished all the art of his epoch was the +reception-room of the royal Adelaïde. Here all was carved and gilded +in a manner exquisite beyond words--chimney, doors, ceiling, window +embrasures, mirror frames. Musical instruments were employed as +sculpture _motifs_, for in this room the princess liked to sit and play +her violoncello. In the dining-room, the decorative designs were +delicately carved rosettes, arabesques, garlands of fruits and flowers, +crowns and medallions. + +The supreme ruler of Louis XV's affections--the amazing Madame +Dubarry--was lodged "in a suite of delectable boudoirs" facing the +Marble Court, above the private apartments of the King. Everywhere +appeared the initial _L_ linked with the torches of Love. One of the +objects most admired in the drawing-room was an English piano-forte, +with a case adorned with rosewood medallions, blue and white mosaics +and gilded metal. In this room there were chests of drawers of antique +lacquer and ebony, statues of marble, and garnishings of sculptured +bronze. At night all was ablaze with the lights of the great luster of +rock-crystal that hung from the center of the ceiling, and had cost, it +was said, a sum equaling three thousand American dollars. In varying +form, but with equal richness, all the apartments of Dubarry were +beautified at the King's behest. + +In January, 1747, the "theater of the little apartments" of the King +was inaugurated by a representation of "_Tartuffe_" with Madame de +Pompadour in the cast. The King frequently permitted himself to be +distracted with music and the play in this hall in the Little Gallery. +Here was an orchestra of twenty-eight musicians, a ballet, and a chorus +of twenty-six, under the direction of Monsieur de Bury, Lully's +successor as master of the Court music. Actors, singers, dancers, all +were supplied with gorgeous costumes, and given the services of Sire +Notrelle, the most celebrated wig-maker in Paris, who had in his day a +prodigious vogue. One of his advertisements announced his ability to +imitate the coiffures of "gods, demons, heroes and shepherds, tritons, +cyclops, naiads and furies." Astounding were the head-dresses of the +actors and actresses that graced the stage of Versailles. + +Invitations to a dramatic performance were given by the King himself, +and, for many years, to men guests only. Sometimes the Pompadour +played the comedies of Voltaire, whom she favored against the will of +all the royal family. Occasionally, performances were of necessity +postponed out of respect to a member of the Court that had been slain +in a duel; but not for long did the King and his train pause in their +restless pursuit of pleasure. + +A new theater was installed, with more room for auditors, troupe and +musicians. Finally, in 1753, the Opera House was begun according to +designs submitted by Gabriel, first architect to the King. After long +delays the edifice was completed in time for the marriage fêtes of the +Dauphin (Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria. The +hall of the Opera was so surpassingly fine in its dress of fine +woodwork, green marble and gilding that a writer of the period, +addressing a friend in Paris, where all were discontented with the +Opera House just built in the capital, bade him "come with the crowd of +curious folk to Versailles and admire the magnificent building of the +Court Opera. Besides the beautiful outer view it presents," said he, +"and the splendor of its ensemble, the mechanism of the interior is +amazing." In this imposing auditorium the Court of Louis XVI heard the +operas of Lully and Rameau, the tragedies of Racine and Voltaire. Here +at a banquet in October, 1789, Louis XVI called on his supporters at +Versailles to oppose the Revolution. And a short time later, the hall +of the Opera served as a meeting-place for the insurrectionists. + +In 1837, Louis Phillipe, last of the Bourbon kings, restored the +building and redecorated it in red marble. In memory of Louis XIV, the +reigning King commanded his troupe to perform a comedy by Molière. +Extracts from Meyerbeer's opera, _Robert le Diable_, and a piece +written by Auber concluded the fête organized by this monarch to recall +the golden days of Louis the Superb. + +When, in the summer of 1855, Napoleon III entertained Queen Victoria at +Versailles, the supper that terminated a day of brilliant celebrations +was laid in the banquet hall of the Opera. The last theatrical +performance given in this worthy memorial to the building enterprise of +Louis XV was witnessed by Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, and the King +of Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS + +It was on a May morning in the year 1770 that the child-bride of the +Dauphin of France arrived at Versailles--the graceful, winsome, +golden-haired Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, Empress of +Austria. The future Queen of France was then not fifteen years of age, +and her affianced husband was but a few months older. + +A letter in her own hand, dated at Versailles on the 24th of May, 1770, +describes the incidents of her ceremonious journey from Austria, and her +reception by Louis XV and his heir. Other letters to her family give us +glimpses of the wedding in the chapel of Versailles, of the fêtes, the +balls at the palace, the function of distributing bread and wine to the +people, the hunts in nearby forests, the dances, musicales and informal +assemblages of the royal family in the intimate apartments of the chateau. + +"Our life here is perpetual movement," wrote the Dauphine to her sister; +and to her mother she sent this quaint epistle a few weeks after her +arrival in France: "You wish to know how I spend my time habitually. I +will say, therefore, that I rise at ten o'clock or nine, or half-past +nine, and after dressing I say my prayers; then I breakfast, after which +I go to my aunts' (Madame Adelaïde, Victoire and Sophie), where I usually +meet the King. At eleven I go to have my hair dressed. At noon the +Chambre is called, and any one of sufficient rank may come in. I put on +my rouge and wash my hands before everybody; then the gentlemen go out; +the ladies stay, and I dress before them. At twelve is mass; when the +King is at Versailles I go to mass with him and my husband and my aunts. +After mass we dine together before everybody, but it is over by half-past +one, as we both eat quickly. (Marie Antoinette always found the custom +of eating in public most distasteful.) I then go to Monsieur the +Dauphin; if he is busy I return to my own apartments, where I read, I +write, or I work, for I am embroidering a vest for the King, which does +not get on quickly, but I trust that, with God's help, it will be +finished in a few years! At three I go to my aunts', where the King +usually comes at that time. At four the Abbé (her literary mentor) comes +to me; at five the master for the harpsichord, or the singing-master, +till six. At half-past six I generally go to my aunts' when I do not go +out. You must know that my husband almost always comes with me to my +aunts'. At seven, card-playing till nine. When the weather is fine I go +out; then the card-playing takes place in my aunts' apartments instead of +mine. At nine, supper; when the King is absent my aunts come to take +supper with us; if the King is there, we go to them after supper, and we +wait for the King, who comes usually at a quarter before eleven; but I +lie on a large sofa and sleep till his arrival; when he is not expected +we go to bed at eleven. Such is my day. + +"I entreat you, my very dear mother, to, forgive me if my letter is too +long. I ask pardon also for the blotted letter, but I have had to write +two days running at my toilet, having no other time at my disposal." + +In the winter the Court made merry with sleighing, skating and dancing +parties, and formal affairs in honor of foreign princes. "There is too +much etiquette here to live the family life," lamented the child to her +mother. "Altogether, the Court at Versailles is a little dull, the +formalities are so fatiguing. But I am happy, for Monsieur the Dauphin +is very polite to me and always attentive." In another letter she +recounted the triumph attending the first presentation of the opera +_Iphigénie_, by Gluck. "The Dauphin applauded everything and Gluck +showed himself very well pleased. . . . He has written me some pieces +that I sing to the harpsichord." + +Several times a week, the awkward, bashful boy who was to become Louis +XVI of France pleased his light-hearted wife by taking dancing lessons +with her. Hours were spent with him in the park at Versailles, skipping +about, laughing, playing pranks like the little girl she was. Sometimes +there were charades, and plays by amateurs and professionals behind the +"closed doors" of their own rooms. + +In 1774, four years after the marriage of Marie Antoinette to the +Dauphin, Louis XV was taken ill of smallpox during a sojourn at the +Little Trianon, and was removed to Versailles. Within a fortnight he was +dead, and a scandalous reign was ended. "The rush of the courtiers, with +a noise like thunder, as they hastened to pay homage to the new +sovereign," says a narrator of the Queen's story, "was the first +announcement of the great event to the young heir and his wife." The new +King had not yet reached his twentieth year. "God help and protect us!" +they both cried on their knees. "We are too young to reign!" + +As Queen of France, Marie Antoinette occupied a series of superbly +appointed rooms in the left wing of the palace. Beyond a dark passageway +were her husband's apartments. Her bed-chamber was the scene of the +formal toilet, a ceremony always irksome to the youthful sovereign. In +this sumptuous room, where queens had borne kings-to-be, and had closed +their eyes forever upon a melancholy existence, she gave birth to four +children. The royal bed was raised on steps and surrounded by a gilt +balustrade; nearby was a gorgeously fitted dressing-table. There were +also armchairs, we are told, with down cushions, "tables for writing, and +two chests of drawers of elaborate workmanship. The curtains and +hangings were of rich but plain blue silk. The stools for those that had +the privilege of being seated in the royal presence, with a sofa for the +Queen's use, were placed against the walls, according to the formal +custom of the time. The canopy of the bed was adorned with Cupids +playing with garlands and holding gilt lilies, the royal flower." + +Other rooms prepared for the Queen faced an inner court, and here with +music, small talk and embroidery she spent contented moments, remote from +the demands of her high estate. + +Usually the mistress of Versailles was wakened at eight o'clock by a lady +of the bedchamber, whose first duty it was to proffer a ponderous volume +containing samples of the dresses that were in the royal wardrobe. Marie +Antoinette marked with pins, taken from an embroidered cushion, the +costumes she wished to put on for the various events of the day--the +brocaded and hooped Court dress for the morning mass, the negligee to be +worn during leisure hours in her own living rooms, and the gown to be +donned for evening festivities. These vital matters determined, the +Queen proceeded with her bath and her breakfast of chocolate and rolls. +She was accustomed then to return to bed, and, with her tapestry-work in +hand, receive various persons attached to her service. Physicians, +reader, secretary, came to ask her wishes and do her bidding. At noon +followed the "rising," and the stately progress of the Queen and her +attendants through the Salon of Peace to the dazzling Hall of Mirrors, +where the King awaited her on his way to chapel. Often at this hour +there were admitted to the Grand Gallery of Mirrors respectful groups of +commoners, who gathered to watch the passing of the gracious Marie +Antoinette beside the husband whose uncouth gait and features were ever +in forbidding contrast to her own comely bearing. + +Amid all the follies and splendors of life at Versailles appeared the +sturdy American figure of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In the year 1767 he was +presented at Court on the occasion of his first visit to Paris. + +"You see," said he, in a letter to Miss Stevenson, daughter of his +landlady in London, "I speak of the Queen as if I had seen her; and so I +have, for you must know I have been at Court. We went to Versailles last +Sunday, and had the honor of being presented to the King, Louis XV. In +the evening we were at the _Grand Convert_, where the family sup in +public. The table was half a hollow square, the service of gold. . . . +An officer of the Court brought us up through the crowd of spectators, +and placed Sir John (Pringle) so as to stand between the Queen and Madame +Victoire. The King talked a good deal to Sir John, and did me, too, the +honor of taking some notice of me. + +"Versailles has had infinite sums laid out in building it and supplying +it with water. Some say the expenses exceeded eighty millions sterling +($400,000,000). The range of buildings is immense; the garden-front most +magnificent, all of hewn stone; the number of statues, figures, urns, +etc., in marble and bronze of exquisite workmanship, is beyond +conception. But the water-works are out of repair, and so is a great +part of the front next the town, looking, with its shabby, half-brick +walls, and broken windows, not much better than the houses in Durham +Yard. There is, in short, both at Versailles and Paris, a prodigious +mixture of magnificence and negligence with every kind of elegance except +that of cleanliness, and what we call tidiness." + +Franklin next appeared at the Court of Versailles upon the momentous +occasion of the ratification of the alliance signed in 1778 by France and +America. Dressed in a black velvet suit with ruffles of snowy white, +white silk stockings and silver buckles, the emissary of the United +States appeared in a gorgeous coach at the portals of Versailles. It is +related that the chamberlain hesitated a moment to admit him, for he was +without the wig and sword Court etiquette demanded, "but it was only for +a moment; and all the Court were captivated at the democratic effrontery +of his conduct." Franklin and the four envoys that accompanied him were +conducted to the dressing-room of Louis XVI, who, without ceremony, +assured them of his friendship for the new-born country they represented. +In the evening the Americans were invited to watch the play of the royal +family at the gaming-table, and Dr. Franklin, so Madame Campan relates, +"was honored by the particular notice of the Queen, who courteously +desired him to stand near to her, and as often as the game did not +require her immediate attention, she took occasion to speak to him in +very obliging terms." + +The _New York Journal_, under date of July 6, 1778, recounted another +picturesque detail of this presentation of the American envoys at +Versailles. When they entered the inner part of the palace, so the +dispatch ran, "they were received by _les Cents Suisses_ (Swiss Guards), +the major of which announced, '_Les Ambassadeurs des treize provinces +unies,' i.e., The Ambassadors from the Thirteen United Provinces." + +During the Revolution in America the newspapers made much of Marie +Antoinette's liking for Benjamin Franklin. Among others, the _New +Hampshire Gazette_ printed this story, which went the rounds of the +States. "Franklin being lately in the gardens of Versailles, showing the +Queen some electrical experiment, she asked him in a fit of raillery if +he did not dread the fate of Prometheus, who was so severely served for +stealing fire from Heaven. 'Yes, please your Majesty' (replied old +Franklin, with infinite gallantry), 'if I did not behold a pair of eyes +pass unpunished which have stolen infinitely more fire from Jove than I +ever did, though they do more mischief in a week than I have done in all +my experiments.'" + +On January 20, 1783, at the office of the Count de Vergennes at +Versailles, in the presence of Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, the +representatives of England, France and Spain affixed their signatures to +the preliminary documents declaring war at an end between America and +England. A little over seven months later, on September 3, 1783, at the +Hotel de York in Paris, the final treaty between Great Britain and the +United States was signed. Later on the same day, the definitive treaty +between England and France was concluded at Versailles. When Franklin +was about to take leave of France and return to Philadelphia, Louis XVI +presented to him the royal portrait, framed by 408 diamonds, the value of +which was estimated at $10,000. + +No less than his predecessor had the new Monarch of Versailles and his +gay, ease-loving, oft-times imprudent young wife disregarded the +traditions and dignity of the Sun King's palace. If Louis XV demolished +the Staircase of the Ambassadors and mutilated the _grands appartements_, +Marie Antoinette imitated his desecrations in the royal dwelling by +commanding any change that pleased her fancy, by reducing rooms of state +to mere private chambers, and shutting herself off from the irritating +claims of Court life. Many of the trees in the park died that had been +set out at the proud command of Louis XIV. The gardens became neglected +and desolate. The famous Labyrinth of Aesop's fountains disappeared. + +A grove planted on the place formerly beautified by the Grotto of Thetis +(or Tethys) gave sanctuary to the impious scheming of that Madame de +Lamotte, whose intrigue and evil ambition brought upon the Queen in 1785 +the scandal of the Diamond Necklace, with the subsequent dramatic arrest +of Cardinal de Rohan in the fateful Hall of Mirrors, and the humiliating +trial of Marie Antoinette. + +Bored by incessant publicity, finding no pleasure in the formal +promenades of the palace park, the Queen pleaded for "a house of her +own," where she could find recreation after her own tastes, unobserved by +the curious and the critical. Louis XV had built near the Grand Trianon +a small villa for Madame de Pompadour. On the modest estate were several +small outbuildings, to which were added a pavilion for open-air pastimes +and a "French garden." It was Gabriel, architect of the Opera House, +that drew the plans for the little chateau, begun in 1762. But Madame de +Pompadour died before the villa of her fancy was completed. Dubarry +succeeded her as chatelaine, and richly embellished the interior of the +delectable retreat. + +When Marie Antoinette desired to possess a _maison de plaisance_ of which +she should be sole mistress, the King, always eager to satisfy her whims, +bade her accept for her own use both the Grand and the Petit Trianon. +Said he, graciously, "These charming houses have always been the repair +of favorites of the reigning king--consequently they should now be +yours." The Queen was much pleased with the gift and with her husband's +gallantry. She responded, laughingly, that she would accept the Little +Trianon on condition that he would not come there except when invited! + +During the tenancy of Marie Antoinette, some of the rooms of the Petit +Trianon were altered according to the elaborate style that received the +name of Louis XVI. Sculptures, wood-work, gilded chimneys, staircases, +were fashioned by the hands of master artists. No sooner was she +possessor of her new domain than the Queen desired a garden after the +pastoral English style that was then coming in favor. A lake, a stream +with ornamental bridges, clusters of trees, supplanted the symmetrical +design of a botanical garden that had been much admired. A gallant +attached to the Court wrote an _Elégie_ in praise of the Petit Trianon, +its flowers, tulip trees and fragrant walks. At one end of the lake a +hamlet was created, with a picture-mill and a dairy, fitted with marble +tables and cream jugs of rare porcelain. There was also a farm where the +Queen pastured a splendid herd of Swiss cattle. Among these bucolic +surroundings the King of France, forgetful of his people and their +growing anguish, played shepherd to his shepherdess Queen. In the Temple +of Love they basked on summer days among rosy vines, while the music of +Court players wafted through the trees from a nearby pavilion. Every +Sunday during the summer season there was a ball in the park, where any +one might dance whose clothes and behavior were respectable. The Queen, +sensing the need to propitiate a disgruntled populace, shared in the +afternoon's revelries, petted the children that flocked about her knees, +chatted with their nurses and parents. Often, Marie Antoinette resided +for weeks at a time at her favorite dwelling, fishing in the lake, +tending her herd, picking berries in her garden patch. The King and the +princes came every day for supper, and were received by a Queen dressed +in white with a fichu of net--sometimes in a "rumpled gown of cotton." A +score of favorites composed the Court of the Little Trianon. All others +were excluded. Heavy silks and towering head-dresses were forgotten in +the simple life of the Petit Trianon. Tiresome etiquette was banished, +together with thoughts of international matters of portent and impending +calamity. Occasionally, comedies were given, or groves and canal were +illuminated in honor of a visitor of high degree--the Emperor Joseph of +Austria (brother of the Queen), the King of Sweden, ambassadors, princes, +archduchesses. + +Surrounded by the persons and the objects she most loved--free to go and +come unattended by a train of attendants--those were the least unhappy +days in the life of Marie Antoinette at Versailles. + +At the Little Trianon, Madame Vigée Lebrun made, in 1787, the painting of +Marie Antoinette with her children, which the Queen's intimates counted +the truest likeness among all her portraits. Two years later, on the +fifth day of October, the Queen was at Trianon when news came of the +approach of the mob of starving, angry women that stormed the road from +Paris, swept across the Place d'Armes, and surged about the doors of the +despised palace. On that day, Marie Antoinette left her "little house," +never to see it again. + +For many months the clouds had been gathering on the horizon of the +Bourbon King, whose extravagance and weak will were matched by the +childish indiscretions of his Austrian consort. + +In November, 1787, the Notables assembled at Versailles in the grand hall +of the palace guards. In May, 1789, the Salon of Hercules witnessed the +presentation of the twelve hundred deputies elected by the people in all +parts of France to the States-General. The Assembly, "the true era of +the birth of the French people," opened on May fifth in the immense +_Salle des Menus_, on the Paris Avenue, outside the gates of the palace. +During the thirty days that the deputies sat inactive under the oratory +of the King, of Necker, Mirabeau and Robespierre, work ceased throughout +the kingdom. "He who had but his hands, his daily labor, to supply the +day, went to look for work, found none, begged, got nothing, robbed. +Starving gangs over-ran the country; wherever they found any resistance, +they became furious, killed, and burned. Horror spread far and near; +communications ceased, and famine went on increasing." At last the +Assembly was founded, but the nation remained in tumult, the King +vacillating, the Queen in retirement, mourning the death of the little +Dauphin. On June twentieth, the people's representatives gathered, in +spite of the King, in the bare tennis-court, without the walls of the +chateau, and made oath as citizens of France never to adjourn until they +had given their country a constitution. On the same day Marie Antoinette +inscribed a letter from Versailles whose import was in piteous contrast +to the prattling epistles of her girlhood. "The Chambre Nationale is +declared," she wrote. "They are deliberating, but I am in despair to see +nothing come of their deliberations; every one is greatly alarmed. The +nobility may be wiped out forever. But the kingdom will be calm; if not, +one cannot estimate the evils by which we shall be menaced. . . . Not +far away civil war exists, and, besides, bread is lacking. God give us +courage!" Three days later the King read to the deputies an arbitrary +declaration that had been composed by interested advisers. He commanded +the assembly to disperse, and met a calm and silent resistance. Workmen +entered to demolish the amphitheater, but laid down their tools on the +declaration of Mirabeau that "whoever laid hands on a deputy was a +traitor, infamous and worthy of death." At last the King, wearied and +confused, commanded, "Let them alone." + +The parterres, the courts, even the salons of the palace swarmed with +ruffians that had marched out from Paris to menace Versailles. By June +25th there was open revolt in the capital. "A stormy, heavy, gloomy +time, like a feverish, painful dream," prefaced the furious deeds of the +14th of July. Every day witnessed some new outbreak. July was a month +of insurrections and murders. The Bastille was assailed by rioters. +News came to the King that the ancient fortress had fallen. "Sire," +announced the Duke of Orleans to the sleepy Monarch in his bedchamber, +"it is a Revolution!" + +Lafayette, back from the war across the sea, became the unwilling leader +of the National Guard. On the evening of the first of October occurred +the fatal banquet of the King's guard, held, not in the Orangery or in +some other informal hall, but in the palace theater, where no fête had +been given since the visit of the Emperor Joseph II of Austria. A French +writer describes the scene. "The doors open. Behold the King and the +Queen! The King has been prevailed on to visit them on his return from +the chase. The Queen walks round to every table, looking beautiful, and +adorned with the child she bears in her arms. + +"So beautiful and yet so unfortunate! As she was departing with the +King, the band played the affecting air: 'O Richard, O my King, abandoned +by the whole world!' Every heart melted at that appeal. Several tore +off their cockades, and took that of the Queen, the black Austrian +cockade, devoting themselves to her service. . . . + +"On the 3rd of October, another dinner; they grow more daring, their +tongues are untied, and the counter-revolution showed itself boldly. In +the long gallery, and in the apartments, the ladies no longer allow the +tricolor cockade to circulate. With their handkerchiefs and ribands they +make white cockades, and tie them themselves." + +Stories of royalist revels and open insults to the cockade of the +Revolutionists still further inflamed starving Paris. On the fifth of +October there were thousands of inhabitants that had tasted no food for +thirty hours. And then the ravenous women of Paris arose--mothers, +shop-girls, courtesans--and, gathering recruits as they swept through the +restless city streets, they rolled like an angry flood out the +eleven-mile road to Versailles. The King was hunting at Meudon; a +courier was sent for him. The Queen Consort was in her retreat at +Trianon. The messenger found her, sad and contemplative, seated in her +grotto. Hastily she was brought back to the palace. Later, she and the +King would have fled the anger of the crowd whose shouts of "Bread! +Bread!" echoed across the Marble Court to the windows of the royal +apartments. But their decision, put off from moment to moment, came too +late. The gates were closed. They were prisoners within the walls of +Versailles. + +"It was a rainy night," relates a French historian of the Revolution. +"The crowd took shelter where they could; some burst open the gates of +the great stables, where the regiment of Flanders was stationed, and +mixed pell-mell with the soldiers. Others, about four thousand in +number, had remained in the Assembly. The men were quiet enough, but the +women were impatient at that state of inaction; they talked, shouted, and +made an uproar. + +"The King's heart was beginning to fail him; he perceived that the Queen +was in peril. However agonizing it was to his conscience to consecrate +the legislative work of philosophy, at ten o'clock in the evening he +signed the Declaration of Rights. + +"Mounier was at last able to depart. He hastened to resume his place as +president before the arrival of that vast army from Paris, whose projects +were not yet known. He reentered the hall; but there was no longer any +Assembly; it had broken up; the crowd, ever growing more clamorous and +exacting, had demanded that the prices of bread and meat should be +lowered. Mounier found in his place, in the president's chair, a tall, +fine, well-behaved woman, holding the bell in her hand, who left the +chair with reluctance. He gave orders that they were to try to collect +the deputies again; meanwhile, he announced to the people that the King +had just accepted the constitutional article. The women, crowding about +him, then entreated him to give them copies of them; others said: 'But, +Monsieur President, will this be very advantageous? Will this give bread +to the poor people of Paris?' Others exclaimed: 'We are very hungry. We +have eaten nothing to-day.' Mounier ordered bread to be fetched from the +bakers. Provisions then came in on all sides. They all began eating in +the hall with much clamour." + +At midnight Lafayette arrived at the head of twenty thousand men of the +National Guard. To the amazement of the soldiers and onlookers, he dared +to pass unattended through the palace doors to the Bull's Eye. "He +appeared very calm," says Madame de Staël, Necker's observant daughter. +"Nobody ever saw him otherwise." When he had reported his arrival to the +King, Lafayette stationed guards about the palace, and, worn with hours +of marching in the rain and mud, so far forgot his duty to his Sovereign +and his command that he retired to his house in the town of Versailles to +seek sleep. In the masses of people outside the gates were thieves and +men of violence. "What a delightful prospect was opened for pillage in +the wonderful palace of Versailles, where the riches of France had been +amassed for more than a century!" exclaims the commentator, Michelet. +Here follows a dramatic account of what followed, based on the story of +Madame de Staël, who witnessed many of the bloody scenes in person. "At +five in the morning, before daylight, a large crowd was already prowling +about the gates, armed with pikes, spits, and scythes. About six +o'clock, this crowd, composed of Parisians and people of Versailles, +scale or force the gates, and advance into the courts with fear and +hesitation. The first who was killed, if we believe the Royalists, died +from a fall, having slipped in the Marble Court. According to another +and a more likely version, he was shot dead by the body-guard. + +"Some took to the left, toward the Queen's apartment, others to the +right, toward the chapel stairs, nearer the King's apartment. On the +left, a Parisian running unarmed, among the foremost, met one of the body +guard, who stabbed him with a knife. The guardsman was killed. On the +right, the foremost was a militia-man of the guard of Versailles, a +diminutive locksmith, with sunken eyes, almost bald, and his hands +chapped by the heat of the forge. This man and another, without +answering the guard, who had come down a few steps and was speaking to +him on the stairs, strove to pull him down by his belt, and hand him over +to the crowd rushing behind. The guards pulled him towards them; but two +of them were killed. They all fled along the Grand Gallery, as far as +the _Oeil-de-boeuf_ (Bull's Eye), between the apartments of the King and +the Queen. Other guards were already there. + +"The most furious attack had been made in the direction of the Queen's +apartment. The sister of her _femme de chambre_, Madame de Campan, +having half opened the door, saw a guardsman covered with blood, trying +to stop the furious rabble. She quickly bolted that door and the next, +put a petticoat on the Queen, and tried to lead her to the King. An +awful moment! The door was bolted on the other side! They knock again +and again. The King was not within; he had gone round by another passage +to reach the Queen. At that moment a pistol was fired, and then a gun +close to them. 'My friends, my dear friends,' cried the Queen, bursting +into tears, 'save me and my children!' At length the door was opened, +and she rushed into the King's apartment. + +"The crowd was knocking louder and louder to enter the _Oeil-de-boeuf_. +The guards barricaded the place, piling up benches, stools, and other +pieces of furniture; the lower panel was burst in. They expected nothing +but death; but suddenly the uproar ceased, and a kind clear voice +exclaimed: 'Open!' As they did not obey, the same voice repeated: 'Come, +open to us, body-guard; we have not forgotten that you men saved us +French Guards at Fontenoy.' + +"It was indeed the French Guards, now become National Guards, with the +brave and generous Hoche, then a simple sergeant-major--it was the +people, who had come to save the nobility. They opened, threw themselves +into one another's arms, and wept. + +"At that moment, the King, believing the passage forced, and mistaking +his saviors for his assassins, opened his door himself, by an impulse of +courageous humanity, saying to those without: 'Do not hurt my guards.' + +"The danger was past, and the crowd dispersed; the thieves alone were +unwilling to be inactive. Wholly engaged in their own business, they +were pillaging and moving away the furniture. The grenadiers turned that +rabble out of the castle. + +"Lafayette, awakened but too late, then arrived on horseback. He saw one +of the body-guards whom they had taken and dragged near the body of one +of those killed by the guards, in order to kill him by way of +retaliation. 'I have given my word to the King,' cried Lafayette, 'to +save his men. Cause my word to be respected.' + +"He then entered the castle. Madame Adelaïde, the King's aunt, went up +to him and embraced him: 'It is you,' cried she, 'who have saved us.' He +ran to the King's cabinet. Who would believe that etiquette still +subsisted? A grand officer stopped him for a moment, and then allowed +him to pass: 'Sir,' said he seriously, 'the King grants you _les grandes +entrées_.' + +"The King showed himself at the balcony, and was welcomed with the +unanimous shout of 'God save the King.' 'Vive le Roi!' + +"At that moment several voices raised a formidable shout: 'The Queen!' +The people wanted to see her in the balcony. She hesitated: 'What!' said +she, 'all alone?' 'Madame, be not afraid,' said Lafayette. She went, +but not alone, holding an admirable safeguard--in one hand her daughter, +in the other her son. The Court of Marble was terrible, in awful +commotion, like the sea in its fury; the National Guards, lining every +side, could not answer for the center; there were fire-arms, and men +blind with rage. Lafayette's conduct was admirable; for that trembling +woman, he risked his popularity, his destiny, his very life; he appeared +with her on the balcony, and kissed her hand. + +"The crowd felt all that; the emotion was unanimous. They saw there the +woman and the mother, nothing more. 'Oh! how beautiful she is! What! is +that the Queen? How she fondles her children!'" + +The King, overcome by dread, was forced to agree to the demand of the +people that he go to Paris. In leaving his palace, he realized that he +was finally surrendering all his claims to royalty. About noon on the +sixth day of October, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, under the +protection of the Marquis de Lafayette, turned their faces forever from +Versailles. Little they knew that they were even then traveling the long +road to the guillotine. A rabble of men and women surrounded them, some +on foot, some in carts and carriages. "All were very merry and amiable +in their own fashion, except a few jokes addressed to the Queen." + +Such was the end of royal Versailles. Who can contest its tragic +grandeur? In these halls, these gardens, these secluded villas the +supreme destiny of the Bourbon monarchy was achieved. They witnessed the +apogee, the decline, and the ruin of the dynasty. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, THE SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS + +It was not long after the enforced departure of Louis XVI and the Court +that the immense sepulcher of regal glory was dismantled and forsaken. +During the Revolution some of the furnishings were taken to Paris to +supply the needs of the king and his family at the Tuileries. A number +of pictures and objects of art contained in the palace and the two +Trianons were removed to the Museum of the Louvre, which had been +founded in 1775. Some of these paintings, including the _Joconde_ by +da Vinci, and famous canvases by Titian, del Sarto, Rubens and Van +Dyck, still hang on the walls of the first national gallery of France. +Agitated discussions arose as to the final destiny of the palace and +its contents. A group of law-makers would have sold the building +outright. But in July, 1793, the Convention decreed the establishment +at Versailles of a provincial school, a museum of art objects taken +from the houses of those that had emigrated from troublous France, a +public library, a French museum for painting and sculpture, and a +natural history exhibition. There were, however, Revolutionaries that +so despised the relics of royalty that they continued to urge from time +to time the complete demolition of the palace and park--chief works of +Louis XIV's reign. The most diligent defenders of the chateau were the +inhabitants of the town of Versailles, who were keenly aware that the +continued existence of the palace would insure a measure of prosperity +to the community. They protested, that, just object of the people's +venom as the edifice was, it nevertheless stood as a monument to the +arts and crafts of France during two centuries. The assailants that +made hideous the days of October fifth and sixth, 1789, had done +comparatively little material damage within the palace precincts. Gun +shots of the Paris mob had disfigured two statues at the main entry to +the courtyard, had destroyed the grill that separated the Royal Court +from the Court of the Ministers; lunges of their bayonets had broken +the mirrors in the Grand Gallery, while pursuing the Guards to massacre +them. Otherwise, the historic walls and gardens bore no evidence of +Revolutionary fury. + +After several years of contention, plan and counter-plan, the +Convention definitely saved Versailles for the nation by the decrees of +1794 and 1795. During this epoch of violence and revolt, thousands of +articles were offered for sale at the stables of Versailles, in the +presence of appointed representatives of the people. Linen, utensils, +mirrors, clocks, cabinets, chandeliers, stoves, damask curtains, +carriages, wines of Madeira, Malaga and Corinth, coffee, Sevres +porcelains, engravings, paintings, drawings, and some fine furniture +went for a song at this colossal auction. In 1796 the Minister of +finance ordered that remaining pieces of furniture of great beauty and +value be put on sale. In this way were summarily dispersed chairs of +tapestry and gilt that would to-day command extravagant sums; desks of +exquisite marquetry, at which kingly documents and _billets doux_ had +been penned; dressing-tables whose mirrors had reflected the faces, sad +or gay, frank or subtle, of queens and mistresses; wardrobes that had +held the linens and brocades of princes and courtiers; clocks of gold +and enamel that had registered the hours of portentous births and +marriages. Tables of mosaic and satinwood, cushions of gold brocade, +cameo medallions, porcelain panels, plaques of lacquer and bronze were +included on the list of articles to be disposed of. In the original +inventory, discovered in the library at Versailles, were included +pieces of Saxony ware, Watteau figures, Sevres vases, dishes and cups, +Beauvais tapestries, clocks made by Robin and de Sotian, candelabra of +crystal, chandeliers of silver--all from the apartments of the King, +the Queen and the Dauphin. For 20,000 francs there was sold a tapestry +emblematic of the American Revolution. Creditors of the new Government +were paid in furniture and art works whose value they estimated to +please their own purses. A brochure published at Paris by Charles +Davillier recites the romance of "The Sale of the Furnishings of +Versailles during the Terror." To a certain Monsieur Lanchère, a +former cab driver who had undertaken the conduct of military convoys +and transports for the State, were assigned clocks, carpets, statuary, +chests, secretaries and consoles that embarrassed every nook and corner +of the spacious Paris mansion of which he became proprietor. + +"Paris," narrates Monsieur Davillier, "was gorged after the sale at the +chateau of Versailles with priceless furniture and objects of _vertu_." +Newspapers were filled with the advertisements of second-hand dealers +offering to the public these souvenirs--redolent, splendid, tragic--of +a dead-and-gone dynasty, of an epoch vanished never to return. + +The institutions whose establishment at Versailles definitely saved the +chateau and its dependencies for posterity, were, at the Palace, a +conservatory of arts and sciences and a library of 30,000 volumes; in +the Kitchen Garden a school of gardening and husbandry; at the Grand +Commune, a manufactory of arms; at the Menagerie, a school of +agriculture. Halls that had echoed to the dance and the clink of gold +at gaming-tables now heard profound lectures on history, ancient +languages, mathematics, chemistry, and political economy! Classic +exercises beneath the painted ceilings of these memoried rooms! +Scholastic discourse where music and laughter had vibrated for a +hundred extravagant years! + +The galleries at the Louvre contributed to the new Versailles museum +all the canvases of French artists that it possessed. Fragonard and +Greuze, Lebrun, Claude Lorrain, Mignard, Poussin, Rigaud, Vanloo, +Vernet--all were represented, some of them by numerous examples of +their graceful art. Besides, there was a Rubens Gallery, and two +salons filled with the works of Paul Veronese. Some of these treasures +were later removed to the Luxembourg Palace, where the French Senate +was sitting, and to the palace of Saint-Cloud, residence of Napoleon +Bonaparte, First Consul. Little by little the canvases were dispersed, +until, at the end of the Empire, the Versailles Museum of French Art +ceased to be. + +At the beginning of the year 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte established at +Versailles a branch of the _Hôtel des Invalides_ in Paris, and wounded +veterans of the Revolution to the number of 2,000 were installed for +two years in the vast apartments of Louis XV and in rooms overlooking +the garden and the Court of Ministers. During this period several of +the salons were opened to the people for exhibitions and assemblies, +and the public were free to enjoy the park, the Orangery and the +fragrant bosques of Trianon. Fêtes of the Republic frequently took +place about a national altar raised near the Lake of the Swiss Guards, +and a Tree of Liberty was planted with great solemnity in the court of +the château, where the equestrian statue of Louis XIV now stands. In +illuminating contrast to the regal celebrations it succeeded was this +latter ceremony, which was inaugurated by a meeting in the historic +Tennis Court, where loyal republicans took a new oath of hatred for all +things royal, and swore devotion to the constitution. Into the +dwelling of former sovereigns the people then crowded to witness the +ceremony of breaking a scepter and crown into a thousand pieces. Next, +they gathered around the Liberty Oak to consecrate it; they hung it +with ribbons of the tricolor of France, a band played "a republican +air," and an orator delivered a speech in commemoration of the glorious +anniversary of the day on which "the last tyrant of the French" had +been guillotined. Fortunately for the peace of mind of the Sixteenth +Louis, he had no gift of prevision! + +With the beginning of Napoleon's reign, Versailles and the Trianon +became once more part of the Crown lands. The Emperor ordered +necessary repairs to be made. In the theater the royal troupe of +comedians was sometimes heard. The canal, which had nearly dried up +during the neglectful rule of the Republic, was again filled with +water. The park and the facades of the palace were restored, and in +the Gallery and State Apartments artists renewed the colors of the +mural decorations. Many of the repairs and changes made by Dufour, +Napoleon's architect, have remained to the present time. Certain parts +of the palace giving on the courts were in ruins, Louis XV and his heir +having had no money to spare for their restoration. In 1811, after the +Peace of Vienna, Napoleon, then in residence at the Grand Trianon, took +under advisement the complete reconstruction of the palace. In +consternation he surveyed the tumbling walls and the general confusion +that confronted him during one of his promenades in the park and +Orangery. "Why," cried he, "did the Revolution, which destroyed +everything else, spare the chateau of Versailles! Then I would not +have had on my hands this embarrassing legacy from Louis XIV--an old +chateau poorly built--one much favored without just cause." + +Architects busied themselves with innumerable plans for re-making the +shabby pile. Some would have torn down the Council Hall, the +bed-chamber of Louis XIV, the antechamber of the Bull's Eye, and all +the rest of the palace except the apartments of the King and Queen, the +Gallery with the salons at either end, the Chapel and the Opera House. +Napoleon was willing to spend 6,000 francs on the construction of +suites for himself and his family "and fifty others." "Then," said he, +"we could perhaps come to Versailles to pass a summer." The disasters +of the year 1812 and the fall of the Empire saved the palace from the +threatened renovation. + +When Louis XVIII ascended the throne of his Bourbon ancestors after the +extinction of Napoleon's Star of Hope, he conceived a new plan "to put +the chateau of Versailles in a habitable state." During the next six +years (1814-1820) the King restored the Hall of Mirrors and all that +was especially associated with Louis XIV. He finished the facade on +the Paris side, begun by Gabriel under Louis XV, and built a pavilion +corresponding to the one designed and erected by this same architect. +He did away with a maze of small apartments, cleaned and simplified the +interior, restored painted ceilings and gilt embellishments, and with +great care put in order the entire palace and its surroundings. The +chapel was repaired and blessed anew by the Bishop of Strassbourg. + +Many State visitors came to see Versailles, even in the days when it +was shorn of its glory. Pope Pius VII was there in 1805. From the +balcony outside the Gallery of Mirrors he bestowed his benediction upon +a crowd that stood below on the terraces. Two days later the Salon of +Hercules was the scene of a ball in celebration of the coronation of +the first Emperor of France. In May, 1814, Czar Alexander I of Russia +visited Versailles with his two brothers, following the example of +Peter the Great, who had been there when Louis XV was on the throne. +Another historic cortège was composed of Frederick William III of +Prussia and his two sons, one of whom, Prince William, was to return to +Versailles in the year 1870 on a mission less peaceful. The gates of +Versailles opened to the Duke of Wellington in 1818. + +Other visitors there were that came to Versailles and, by the good will +of Louis XVIII, lodged there--homeless dependents, who dried their +laundry at the stately windows of the palace and installed goats and +cows on the roofs overlooking the inert bronze fountains. + +After the reign of Charles X all the occupants at the chateau left, +following the Revolution of July, 1830. Once more the question arose +as to the disposition of the palace. Empty, abandoned, "What shall we +do with it?" cried the ministers. The answer was found in the project +proposed to Louis Philippe that Versailles should become a national +depository for souvenirs of French history, surrounded by the splendors +of Louis the Great. This suggestion had the king's approval and +cooperation. A confusion of offices, rooms, staircases and passages +was simplified in the two wings, and the main body of the chateau and +long galleries were created for the reception of thousands of battle +pictures, portraits and pieces of sculpture, reflecting events and +personalities concerned with the story of France. + +The Queen's bed-chamber, the apartments of Madame de Maintenon and of +the daughters of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour were among those that +were altered. In the entrance court of the chateau were placed a group +of statues from the Paris bridge _de la Concorde_, all of them so +massive that they were out of proportion to the low surrounding walls. + +On the face of the north and south wings Louis Philippe caused to be +engraved the dedication of the huge pile and its contents "To all the +Glories of France." The sum expended under the direction of the +architect, Nepveu, for the creation of the National Museum of +Versailles, exceeded 20,000,000 francs (about $4,000,000). The +inauguration of the museum in June, 1837, was attended by Louis +Philippe and his Queen, by officers of the Army and Government and +representatives of French Law, Commerce, Art and Education. Arriving +from Trianon, where they had been in residence, the King and his wife +entered the palace by the Marble Stairway, traversed the Grand Hall of +the Guards (to-day called the Hall of Napoleon) and the halls leading +to the Grand Gallery of Battles, where they saw portrayed on canvas all +the important military engagements of French armies, from Tolbiac to +Wagram. In the Chamber of Louis XIV the King and Queen examined the +restorations of the furniture, and found them well done. A royal +banquet was laid in the Grand Gallery and in adjacent salons. At eight +o'clock His Majesty, the royal family and 1500 guests assembled in the +brilliantly illuminated Opera House, where they witnessed a performance +of Molière's _Misanthrope_ and extracts from the opera, _Robert le +Diable_, by Meyerbeer. The spectacle was concluded by a piece written +by Eugene Scribe, the famous French librettist, in celebration of the +founding of the Museum. At midnight the King and his family led a +procession through the galleries of the palace, lighted by footmen +carrying torches. At two o'clock in the morning the festivities were +at an end and the royal party left for Trianon. + +Says a French author, writing two years after the opening of the +museum. "When Louis Philippe first cast his eye upon Versailles, he +saw at once the impiety of allowing such a monument to sink into utter +ruin. . . . He determined that the palace of Louis XIV, without losing +its individuality, should become a palace of the entire people; and +that the bygone spirit of absolutism should give shelter to the spirit +of modern liberty. Versailles, therefore, erected as a homage to +individual pride, has become, under the Orleans regime, a great +national monument--and certainly the most complete and splendid of its +class in all Europe. The temple of luxury was converted into a temple +of the arts, and French valor was recorded in immortal colors upon the +walls, by French genius." + +In the vast edifice Louis Philippe created a pictorial record that +embraced not only the great battles from the beginning of the monarchy +down to his own day, but the chief incidents that distinguished the +reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI; the victories of the Republic; the +campaigns of Napoleon; the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X; the +Revolution of 1830, and the reign of Louis Philippe. The kings of +France, the members of their families and immediate entourage, great +French warriors, statesmen, artists, men of letters and science are +depicted on canvases that line the immense halls of Versailles. The +Gallery of Warriors was arranged by Louis Philippe in that part of the +palace formerly occupied by Madame de Montespan. The Gallery of +Napoleon, created by removing the partition from a dozen rooms +belonging to various members of the royal family, presents a complete +history of the Emperor's life. More than a hundred apartments, large +and small, were obliterated to make room for the galleries of +portraits--a most engrossing exhibition to students of French history. +Carlyle said, "I have found that the Portrait was a small lighted +candle by which the Biographies could for the first time be read, and +some human interpretation be made of them." + +Unfortunately a considerable number of paintings hung in the new museum +suffered in quality through the desire of Louis Philippe to bring his +achievement to immediate completion. He gave commissions right and +left, always with the stipulation that the artists _make haste_. But +many canvases of high merit, artistically and historically, still grace +the walls of these galleries. + +Portraits of the four unmarried daughters of Louis XV have been +appropriately arranged by the present curator of Versailles, Monsieur +de Nolhac, in the apartments on the ground floor where Mesdames passed +most of their dull, insignificant lives. Nattier made flattering +representations of all of them, sometimes in the costume of +mythological characters. Both Nattier and the great La Tour portrayed +Marie Leczinska, the mother of Louis XV's ten children. Nattier's +likeness shows a smiling, matronly lady with sweet-tempered brown eyes, +seated in a chair, the face softened by a frill and a black lace scarf. +Many of the portraits at Versailles painted by Charles Lebrun, Madame +Vigée Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste and Michel Vanloo, Boucher, Largillière, +Pierre Mignard, Rigaud, are familiar to us through frequent +reproduction. + +In the years following the inauguration of the National Museum, +Versailles was once again the scene of ostentatious fêtes in the halls, +gardens and splendid Opera House. When Louis Napoleon succeeded Louis +Philippe as head of the French nation, he came to Versailles with his +bride of three days, the beautiful Eugénie, to see the portraits of +Marie Antoinette, for whom the young Empress cherished a special +admiration. + +On an August night in 1855, "the grand court of the château shone with +a brilliance resembling day. The profile of the great edifice was +outlined in small lights. In the gardens, arches and columns were +raised and the fountains showered rainbow torrents. The Hall of +Mirrors presented a spectacle whose splendor recalled nights when Louis +XIV strolled here in brocade and ruffles. Garlands hung from the +ceiling, thousands of lights reproduced themselves in the lofty mirrors +and shed scintillating floods upon the handsome costumes of the invited +ones." Thus the _Moniteur Universel_ described to its readers the +reception offered by the Emperor of France to Queen Victoria, the +Prince Consort and the future King of England. A few years later +Emperor Napoleon III commanded another fête amid the grandeurs of +Versailles, this time in honor of the King of Spain. + +But the days and nights of royal spectacles at last came to an end--and +for all time. In the month of September, 1870, the chateau offered +refuge to German soldiers wounded in the short but bitter war with +France. In the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_, the Council Hall, the little +apartments of Louis XV and those of Marie Antoinete were placed four +hundred invalid cots. By October, Bismarck arrived in the town of +Versailles. During the next five months he resided on the Rue de +Provence, in the villa of Madame Jessé, widow of a prosperous cloth +manufacturer. His quarters were the center of diplomatic action during +the period that preceded the signing of the shameful peace terms. +January 18, 1871, the anniversary of the day on which the first king of +Prussia had crowned himself at Konigsberg (1701), was fixed for the +proclamation of William II as German Emperor, in the Hall of Mirrors. +In the phrase of a chronicler of that time, "It was impossible for the +boldest imagination to picture a more thorough revenge on the +traditional foes of Germany than the proclamation of the German Empire +in the storied palace of the Kings of France. With the shades of +Richelieu and the Grand Monarch looking down upon them did the Teutonic +chieftains raise as it were, their leader on their shields, and with +clash of arms and martial music acclaim him kaiser of a re-united +Germany." King William passed from the altar in the middle of the +Gallery to a platform at the end of the hall and there took his place +before the colors, surrounded "by a brilliant multitude of princes, +generals, officers and troops." When he had announced the +re-establishment of the Empire, and when Bismarck, "looking pale, but +calm and self-possessed," had read to the assemblage the Proclamation +to the German people, "the bands burst forth with the national anthem, +colors and helmets were wildly waved, and the Hall of Mirrors shook +with a tremendous shout that was taken up and swelled till the rippling +thunder-roll of cheers struck the ears of the startled watchers on the +walls of Paris," where roar of cannon night and day summoned the French +to surrender. Thus the German Empire was born at the very seat of +French Monarchy. + +The armistice terms were signed at Versailles on the twenty-eighth day +of January. One month later the representative of stricken France and +Bismarck, sitting in the Chancellor's headquarters, affixed their +signatures to the Peace Preliminaries, by which France surrendered +Alsace (except Belfort) and Lorraine, and agreed to pay within three +years a war indemnity of five thousand million francs.[*] + +After the departure of the Prussians from Versailles (March 12, 1871), +the Deputies of France arrived from Bordeaux, the temporary capital, +and lodged in the Hall of Mirrors, which then became a dormitory, as it +had on occasion been a hospital ward, a ball-room and the banqueting +hall of royalty. + +The insurrection of the Commune of Paris compelled the ministers to +seek a place of security at Versailles. Once more the palace was +chosen as the seat of Government. The ground floor, the upper floor +and the attic, the picture galleries, even the vestibule of the Queen's +Stairway and the servants' quarters served as offices for ministers and +secretaries. The Department of Justice was installed in the Guards' +Hall, the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_ and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The +Secretary of Public Works directed his affairs within walls that had +sheltered the nefarious Dubarry. The official _Journal_ was printed in +the palace kitchens. For several years the Opera House, the north +wing, and the intimate apartments of Louis XV were given over to the +National Assembly. + +A Republican fête offered in 1878 by the president, Marshal MacMahon, +was attended by twelve thousand guests. Once more the fountains of the +north parterre were illuminated, but this time with electric bulbs +instead of oil lanterns. There were ingenious fireworks on the +_Tapis-Vert_ that would have astounded even the courtiers of the Grand +Monarch. In the _Galerie des Glaces_, Dussieux tells us, there was a +ball "not exclusively aristocratic, but nevertheless very gay and +animated." + +Within the past forty years the treasury of the French Republic has not +infrequently been taxed for repairs at Versailles and Trianon. More +than a million francs were spent on the chapel alone. Improvements in +the park, including the restoration of the Basin of Neptune, the +Orangery and the Colonnade, cost another million. + +"This Versailles," exclaims a French author, "does it not attract to +our country strangers without number, does it not lend lasting prestige +to the land of France? . . . Outside of the Invalides and the Louvre, +what edifices equal it in evoking the memorable periods with which they +are associated? What lasting respect do these annals of stone and +bronze merit from men of taste! These salons, gardens, statues, works +of art, attached irrevocably to the Past, bid us pause and ponder long +upon the matchless Story of Versailles." + + +[*]The final treaty of peace between France and Germany was signed in +the Swan Hotel at Frankfort, Germany, on May 10, 1871. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Versailles, by Francis Loring Payne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + +***** This file should be named 14857-8.txt or 14857-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/8/5/14857/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Versailles + +Author: Francis Loring Payne + +Release Date: February 1, 2005 [EBook #14857] +[Last updated: September 25, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Frontispiece" BORDER="2" WIDTH="371" HEIGHT="543"> +<H5> +[Frontispiece: Statue of Louis XIV, the Builder of Versailles.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Story of Versailles +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +FRANCIS LORING PAYNE +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +1919 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY +</H5> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Press of +</H5> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +J.J. Little & Ives Co. +</H5> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +New York +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<a href="#introduction"> +INTRODUCTION +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter +</P> + +<TABLE CLASS="noindent"> +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">I.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap01">THE BEGINNING OF VERSAILLES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">II.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap02"> THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES. +THE LUXURIOUS CHATEAU AND PARKLAND OF LOUIS XIV</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">III.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap03">THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">IV.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap04"> THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">V.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap05">A DAY WITH THE SUN KING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">VI.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap06">GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">VII.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap07"> THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">VIII.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap08"> THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">IX.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap09">THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR VALIGN="top"> +<TD ALIGN="right">X.</TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap10">THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, +THE SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HALL OF MIRRORS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +I +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +If you could speak what tales your tongues could tell,<BR> + You voiceless mirrors of the storied past!<BR> +Do you remember when the curtain fell<BR> + On him who learned he was not God at last? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +II +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Do you still see the shadows of the great?<BR> + On powdered wigs and velvets, silks and lace;<BR> +Or dream at night a feted queen, in state,<BR> + Accepts men's homage with a haughty face? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +III +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A thousand names come tumbling to the mind.<BR> + Of dead who gazed upon themselves through you.<BR> +And went their way, each one his end to find<BR> + In paths that glory or red terror knew. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +IV +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Voltaire and Rousseau and Ben Franklin here,<BR> + You've seen hobnobbing with the highly-born;<BR> +Seen Genius smile, while, with a hint of fear,<BR> + It gave to Birth not homage but its scorn. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +V +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Do you remember that Teutonic jaw<BR> + Of him who crowned an emperor, that you<BR> +Might know that Bismarck was above all law<BR> + And free to do what victor vandals do? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VI +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Oh, Hall of Visions, now shall come anon<BR> + A grander sight than you have ever seen;<BR> +You've mirrored kings, but you shall look upon<BR> + The mighty men whose edicts freedom mean +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VII +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +To races and to peoples sore oppressed;<BR> + The men who mould the future for a race<BR> +That breathes a wind that's blowing from the West--<BR> + And you'll forget the Bourbon's evil face! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + --EDWARD S. VAN ZILE.<BR> + _N. Y. Eve. Sun., Nov. 25_ +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +The Builder of Versailles . . . Frontispiece +</A> +</P> + +<P> +<A HREF="#img-028"> +Versailles +</A> +</P> + +<P> +<A HREF="#img-092"> +The Hall of Mirrors +</A> +</P> + +<P> +<A HREF="#img-152"> +The Fountain at Versailles +</A> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="introduction"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A TRAVELER'S REFLECTIONS ON VERSAILLES +</H4> + +<P> +From the low heights of Satory we get a complete view of the plains of +Versailles--the woods, the town and the sumptuous chateau. The palace +on its dais rules the scene. The village and ornamental environment +have been constructed to augment its majesty. Even the soil has been +"molded into new forms" at a monarch's caprice. Versailles is the +expression of monarchy, as conceived by Louis XIV. It is the only epic +produced in his reign--a reign so fertile in the other forms of poetry, +and in talent of all kinds. What epic ever chronicled the destiny of +an epoch in a manner more brilliant and complete? In this poem of +stone the manners of heroic and familiar life mingle at every step. +Besides the halls and galleries, the theaters of royal estate, there +are mysterious passages and sequestered nooks that whisper a thousand +secret histories. The palace has two voices, one grave and one gay and +trifling. It is full of truths and fictions, tears and smiles. The +personages of its drama are as various as life itself; kings, poets, +ministers, courtiers, confessors, courtesans, queens without power, and +queens with too much power; ambassadors, generals, little abbés and +great ladies; nobles, clergy, even the people. For two centuries did +this crowd continue to pass and re-pass over these marble floors and +under these gilded vaults; and every day its flood became more +impetuous, every day it gave way more and more to the whims and +passions. And the palace heard all, saw all, spied all--and has +retained all, each action in its acted hour, each word in its place. +During the two centuries of absolute monarchy, nothing took place that +Versailles did not either originate or answer. Every shot that was +fired in Flanders, Germany and Spain awakened here an echo. Richelieu +was here, the first statesman of the monarchy, and Necker, the last. +French literary history is inscribed on its walls, which received +within them the great writers of France from Molière to Beaumarchais. +Art erected especially for Versailles the schools and systems whose +influence has been felt through the succeeding centuries. For +Versailles, Lebrun became a painter, Coysevox a sculptor, and Mansard +an architect. But it was not France alone that depended on Versailles. +Foreign nations sent their representatives to this famous center; the +choice spirits of Europe came to visit it. +</P> + +<P> +The history of Versailles was for two centuries the history of +civilization. From Versailles may be seen the movement of manners, +wars, diplomacy, literature, arts and energies that agitated Europe. +</P> + +<P> +On entering Versailles by the Paris avenue, we see the palace on the +summit of the horizon. The houses, scattered here and there and +concealed among the trees, appear less to form a town than to accompany +the monument raised beyond and above them. Approaching the Place +d'Armes, we distinguish the different parts of which the imposing mass +of buildings is composed. In the center is a singular bit of +architecture. In vain the neighboring masses extend their circle +around it: their great arms are unable to stifle it; but it possesses a +seriousness of character that attracts the eye more strongly than their +high white walls. This is the remains of the château built by Louis +XIII at Versailles. Louis XIV did not wish to bury his father's +dwelling. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE STORY OF VERSAILLES +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BEGINNINGS OF VERSAILLES +</H4> + +<P> +A dreary expanse of low-lying marsh-land, dismal, gloomy and full of +quicksands, where the only objects that relieved the eye were the +crumbling walls of old farm buildings, and a lonely windmill, standing +on a roll of higher ground and stretching its gaunt arms toward the sky +as if in mute appeal against its desolate surroundings--such was +Versailles in 1624. This uninviting spot was situated eleven miles +southwest of Paris, the capital city of France, the royal city, the +seat, during a century before, of the splendid court of the brilliant +Francis I and of the stout-hearted Henry II, the scene of the masterful +rule of Catherine de Medici, of the career of the engaging and +beautiful Marguerite de Valois and of the exploits of the gallant Henry +of Navarre. +</P> + +<P> +The desolate stretch of marshland, with its lonely windmill, meant +nothing then to the court nor to the busy fortune-hunting and +pleasure-seeking inhabitants of Paris. No one had reason to go to +Versailles, except perhaps the poor farmers and the owner of the +isolated mill--least of all the nobility and fashionable folk of the +glittering capital. No exercise of the imagination could then have +conjured up the picture of the splendor in store for the barren waste +of Versailles. The mention of the name in 1600 would have brought +nothing more from the lips of royalty and nobility than an indifferent +inquiry: "And what, pray, is Versailles and where may it be?" You, my +lord, who raise your eyebrows interrogatingly, and you, my lady, who +flick your fan so carelessly, will some day behold your grandchildren +paying humble and obsequious court to the reigning favorites at +Versailles--yes, out there on this very moorland where you see nothing +but marshy hollows and ruined walls, there will your lord and master, +your glorious Sun King, the Grand Monarch, Louis the Fourteenth, build +a palace home that Belshazzar might justly have envied: there will he +hold high court and set the whole world agape at his prodigal outlay +and magnificent festivities. And well may we inquire to-day: how came +this dreary waste to be the wondrous Versailles, the seat and scene of +so much in the making and the making-over of the world? +</P> + +<P> +Ancient records of France indicate that in 1065 the priory of St. +Julien was established on the estates of the house of Versaliïs--a +grant under royal protection. A poor farm community grew up about the +ecclesiastical retreat. Here, also, on the estates of the barony of +Versailles, was a repair of lepers, destroyed in the sixteenth century. +</P> + +<P> +The origin of the name is said by some to be derived from the fact that +the plains thereabouts were exposed to such high winds that the grain +in the poor land was frequently overturned (_versés_). The lord of +these acres first named in history is Hugues (Hugo) de Versaliïs, who +lived early in the eleventh century and was a contemporary of the first +kings of the Capet dynasty. A long line of nobles of this family +succeeded him. In 1561 Martial de Léomenie, Secretary of Finance under +Charles IX, became master of Versailles. The farming village being on +the route between Paris and Brittany, he obtained from the king +permission to establish here four annual fairs and a weekly market on +Thursdays. Martial perished in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in +1572. Henry IV, as a prince, when hunting the stag with Martial often +swept across the low plains of Versailles. The rights to the lands of +the barony were acquired by Maréchal de Retz from the children of +Martial de Léomenie, and inherited from the noble duke by his son, +Jean-François de Gondi, first archbishop of France. It was this +prelate that sold to Louis XIII in 1632, for 66,000 pounds (about +$27,400), the land and barony of Versailles, consisting, in the phrase +of the original deed, "of an old house in ruins and a farm with several +buildings." +</P> + +<P> +In 1624, Louis XIII, who had hunted in the vicinity of Versailles since +childhood and in later life had sought relief there from ennui and +melancholy, often slept in a low inn or in the hill-top windmill after +long hunts in the forest of St. Leger. It occurred to him that it +would be convenient for him to have a pavilion or hunting-lodge in this +unattractive place, and accordingly he ordered one erected at +Versailles, on the road that led to the forest of St. Leger. In 1627, +concluding that in no other domain of its limited acreage could he find +so great variety of land over which to hunt on foot and horse-back, he +bought a small piece of property at Versailles. Immediately +afterwards he caused to be erected what Saint-Simon called "a little +house of cards" on the isolated hill that rolled up in the heart of the +valley, where the windmill had stood. +</P> + +<P> +Louis' architect was Philbert Le Roy, and the new villa was about two +hundred feet from the lodge first constructed. Its form was a complete +square, each corner being terminated by a tower. The building was of +brick, ornamented with columns and gilded balustrades; it was +surrounded by a park adorned with statues sculptured after designs by +the artist Poussin. Ambitious addition! A villa on the old mill site, +decorated by the favorite court artist of the day, Nicolas Poussin! +The court resented the enterprise, the nobility despised it. It was +the King's fancy; nothing else excused it. A noble of the court, +Bassompierre, exclaimed that "it was a wretched château in the +construction of which no private gentleman could be vain." +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely was his new chateau finished (1630) when the King took up his +residence there for the hunt. In this place were terminated in +November, 1630, the autocratic services of Cardinal Richelieu to the +King--the first of many significant historical events to take place +there. +</P> + +<P> +The King's sojourns at Versailles during the hunting season, however, +had their effect. Many of the royal intimates were influenced to build +on land given to them by the sovereign. So before Louis XIII died his +chateau was surrounded by many charming country houses. On April 8, +1632, Louis came into possession of the feudal dwelling of +Jean-François de Gondi and its lands. Versailles then began to acquire +distinction. It was the King's resort. Could any one afford to +question its character, or location, or the standing of those that, at +the King's behest, took up their residence there? Not we surely, who +can now view Versailles in the light of history. All aside from its +splendid court life and its magnificent festivities, we know it as the +scene of three epoch-making events in the world's history. During and +shortly after the American Revolution, Versailles was the scene of +treaty negotiations in which France, England and America were the +active parties. About a century later, in 1871, the treaty was +consummated there that ended the Franco-Prussian War, by which France +lost Alsace and Lorraine and was forced to pay to Germany +$1,000,000,000. And now, in our day, the most superb irony of history +has brought about a treaty in the same Hall of Mirrors by which Germany +repays, and the map of Europe undergoes radical changes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I> +The Luxurious Château and Parkland of Louis XIV +</I> +</P> + +<P> +At the death of Louis XIII, in 1643, the little château of Versailles +was abandoned as a dwelling. Then followed a fall in values at +Versailles and a great flutter of uncertainty among those that had +followed the King there. This feeling of doubt lasted for seven years. +The faces of the court favorites were turned back toward Paris, and +individual fortunes were speculatively weighed in the balance with the +possibilities of the new King's whims and fancies. But when the +twelve-year-old Louis XIV came to hunt in the vicinity of Versailles +for the first time, he found the suburban dwelling of his father +attractive from the start. The Gazette noted this visit, in 1651, and +described the supper that the royal boy shared with the officials of +the chateau. Two months later the King supped again at Versailles, and +was so delighted with the estate and the hunting to be had thereabouts +that, thereafter, he made it a yearly custom to visit Versailles once +or twice in the hunting season, sometimes with his brother, sometimes +with his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin. +</P> + +<P> +Returning in 1652 from an interview at Corbeil with Charles II of +England, then seeking refuge in France, Louis XIV dined at Versailles +with his mother, Anne of Austria. In October, 1660, four months after +his marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain, he brought his young queen +there. The future of Versailles was assured. The King had decided to +set his star and make his palace home where his father had established +a hunting lodge. +</P> + +<P> +The year 1661 was one of the most important in the history of the +monarch. On March fifteenth, eight days after the death of Mazarin, +the great Colbert was named Superintendent of Finances. It was he who +was to give to the reign of Louis XIV its definite direction; his name +was to be lastingly associated with the founding of the greater +Versailles, and with the construction of the Louvre, the Tuileries, +Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain. But Colbert's task in the enlargement +of Versailles was no easy one, nor did he approve of it. He opposed +the young King's purpose obstinately and expressed himself on the +subject without reserve. "Your majesty knows," he wrote to the King, +"that, apart from brilliant actions in war, nothing marks better the +grandeur and genius of princes than their buildings, and that posterity +measures them by the standard of the superb edifices that they erect +during their lives. Oh, what a pity that the greatest king, and the +most virtuous, should be measured by the standard of Versailles! And +there is always this misfortune to fear." +</P> + +<P> +But the King, like many another great monarch, had dreamed a dream. He +was not satisfied with Paris as a residence. So he told Colbert to +make his dream of Versailles come true--and Colbert had to find some +way to pay the cost. +</P> + +<P> +An irritating cause of the King's purpose lay in the fact that he was +incited by the splendors of the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, built by +his ill-fated minister, Fouquet. Louis determined to surpass that +mansion by one so much more elaborate as to crush it into +insignificance. Nicholas Fouquet had employed the most renowned +masters of this period--among them Louis Le Vau, the architect, André +Le Nôtre, the landscape gardener, and Charles Lebrun, the decorator. +These were the men the King summoned to transform the modest hunting +villa of his father. At the truly gorgeous chateau of his minister, he +had witnessed the full measure of their genius. On August 17, 1661, +Fouquet gave an elaborate fête to celebrate the completion of the +chateau, which the King attended. Within three weeks the host was a +prisoner of State, accused of peculation in office. Acting immediately +upon his resolution to out-do the glories of Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis +engaged Le Nôtre to plan gardens and Le Vau to submit proposals for the +enlargement and decoration of the chateau. One of the first apartments +completed was the chamber of the infant Dauphin--heir to the throne, +who was born in November, 1661. Colbert reported in September, 1663, +that in two years he had spent 1,500,000 pounds, and a good part of +this sum was for the construction of the gardens. Builders and +decorators suggested one elaborate project after another, without +regard to the cost, despite the protest of Colbert to the King that +they were exceeding all estimates and provisions. It was a paradise +period for profiteers. +</P> + +<P> +Versailles became a favorite retreat of the extravagant young +sovereign. He frequently drove out from Paris, and on sundry occasions +gave splendid balls and dinners. +</P> + +<P> +For periods of increasing frequency the King was in residence at +Versailles. He urged on the builders who had in hand the construction +of the living-rooms, kitchens, stables; he supervised the placing of +pictures and other decorative works in various parts of the expanded +chateau; impatiently he chided the superintendents for delay and +feverishly they strove to meet his demands for greater haste. And +though every hour of haste cost the King of France a substantial sum, +he cared for nothing but the fulfillment of his luxurious plans. +Hundreds of laborers were engaged in laying out the orangery, the grand +terrace, the fruit and vegetable gardens. The original entrance court +was greatly enlarged. Long wings terminated by pavilions bordered it. +On the right were the kitchens, with quarters for the domestics; on the +left, the stables, where there were stalls for fifty-four horses. At +the main entrance to the court were pavilions used by the musketeers as +guard-houses. Those were bustling times at Versailles, and every day +disclosed a new development and opened the way to new miracles of +construction. +</P> + +<P> +And the miracles were wrought, one after another--all by order of the +King. On the site of the park a great terrace was bordered by a +parterre in the shape of a half-moon, where a waterfall was later +installed. A long promenade, now called the Allée Royale, extended to +a vast basin named the Lake of Apollo. Streamlets were diverted to +feed fountains. Twelve hundred and fifty orange trees were transported +from the fallen estate of Vaux to fill the long arcades of the orangery. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of the activities of masons, carpenters, gardeners, the +King was dominant, directing minute details--the laying of floors, the +hanging of draperies, the installation of art works in the chapel. The +restive master of the estate was impatient to enjoy his creation, and +to invite his Court there to celebrate its completion with fêtes both +brilliant and costly. Colbert wrote in a letter dated September, 1663, +of the beauty of the chateau's adornments--its Chinese filigree of gold +and silver. +</P> + +<P> +"Never," he swore, "had China itself seen so many examples of this work +together--nor had all Italy seen so many flowers." Colbert suffered, +but the King found royal satisfaction. The splendid scene of the Sun +King must be set--the people had to pay. It was Colbert's affair to +finance it. +</P> + +<P> +The King commanded a series of fêtes to be arranged. For eight days +every diversion appropriate to the autumn season was enjoyed by the +royal family and all the Court. Every day there were balls, ballets, +comedies, concerts, promenades, hunts. Molière and his troupe were +commanded to appear in a new piece called "_Impromptu de Versailles_." +</P> + +<P> +Colbert regretted the absorption of his sovereign in Versailles, "to +the neglect of the Louvre--assuredly the most superb palace in the +world." Louis tolerantly gave ear and inspected the Louvre, but to the +building of Versailles he devoted all his enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +The appearance of the villa erected by Louis XIII had been vastly +altered as to its roofs, chimneys, facades. In 1665 the court was +ornamented by the placing of the pedestals and busts that still +surround it. In addition to the main edifice, the King gave orders for +the building of small dwellings to be occupied by favorites of his +entourage, and by musicians, actors and cooks. Three broad tree-lined +avenues were laid out and the highway to Paris--the +Cours-la-Reine--commenced. Already Versailles took on a more imposing +aspect than ancient Fontainebleau. Workmen were constantly busy with +the building of reservoirs, the laying of sod, the planting of +labyrinths, hedges, secret paths and bosky retreats, with the setting +out of hundreds of trees brought from Normandy, and the seeding of +flower gardens of surpassing beauty. Ponds, fountains, grottoes, +waterfalls and straying brooks came into being at the command of the +ambitious young ruler. At some distance from the chateau courts and +cages were constructed to shelter rare birds and animals. It was +designed that this should be "the most splendid palace of animals in +the world." The King decided the details of building and decoration +and supervised the installation of the furred and feathered tenants of +the palatial menagerie. This was the enclosure so greatly admired by +La Fontaine, Racine and Boileau, during a visit to Versailles in 1668. +</P> + +<P> +The first epoch of the construction of Louis XIV coincided with the +first sculptural decoration of Versailles. A great number of works of +art were ordered for the adornment of the walks and gardens. Many +statues and busts of mythological subjects that were made at Rome to +the order of Fouquet, after models by Nicolas Poussin, were removed +from Vaux to Versailles. That was a thriving period for sculptors of +France and adjacent countries. Records faithfully kept by Colbert +detail expenditures of thousands of pounds of the nation's money for +bronze vases, stone figures of nymphs and dryads and dancing fauns that +were placed among the trees and fountains of Versailles. Much of the +ornamental sculpture ordered at this time disappeared from the royal +domain, as Louis XIV constantly demanded the work of the newest artists +and all the novelties of the moment. +</P> + +<P> +By the year 1668 Versailles apparently approached completion. It had +then been seven years in building. But in 1669 the general character +of the chateau was again changed. In the embellishments proposed by Le +Vau, the architect, the royal domain became the scene of renewed +activity, engendered by the King, then just turned thirty years of age, +and eager to achieve still greater improvements at Versailles to mark +the increasing prosperity of his reign. Half-finished buildings were +demolished and begun anew. Immense structures arose, and once again +artists flocked to Versailles. Inside the palace and in the park they +wrought an elaborate scheme of decoration that made this the most +sumptuous dwelling of the monarchy. In the words of Madame Scudery, an +annalist of that epoch, Versailles, under the new orders of the King, +became "incomparably more beautiful." Another Versailles was born; at +the same time there was created a town on the vast acres purchased by +the King, in the midst of which three great avenues were built, +converging toward the chateau. In addition to the enlargement and +improvement of the palace, the King ordered the erection of houses for +the use of Colbert, now superintendent of the royal buildings, and for +the officers of the Chancellery. From this time he interested himself +particularly in the advancement of the infant town; he bought the +village of "Old Versailles" and made liberal grants of land to +individuals who agreed to build houses there. Opposite the chateau +arose the mansions of illustrious nobles of the Court. +</P> + +<P> +As the King remained obstinate in his determination that the "little +chateau" of his father should not be removed to make room for a +structure more in harmony with the surrounding ostentation, Le Vau +covered over the moats and built around the lodge of Louis XIII with +imposing effect. The new buildings containing the state apartments of +the King and Queen and public salons were separated by great courts +from the insignificant beginning of all this mounting splendor. Le Vau +did not live to see the completion of the palace. He died in 1670. +The work of reconstruction, in which the King maintained a lively +interest whether at home or abroad, was continued by the architect's +pupils at a cost of thousands of pounds. Eagerly Louis read plans and +listened to reports. With still greater interest he attended the +proposals of the great Mansard--nephew of the designer and builder who +in 1650 revived the use of the "Mansard roof." When he succeeded as +"first architect," Jules Mansard (or Mansart) first undertook the +erection of quarters for the Bourbon princes. In the same year (1679) +that he began the immense south wing for their use, he gave +instructions for the building of the now historic Hall of Mirrors +between two pavilions named--most appropriately in the light of after +events--the Salon of Peace and the Salon of War. From the high arched +windows of this glittering Grand Gallery great personages of past and +present epochs have surveyed the gardens, fountains and broad walks +that are the crowning glory of Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +In the time of the Grand Monarque more than a thousand jets of water +cast their silver spray against the greenery of hedge and grove. +"Nothing is more surprising," said a chronicler of Louis the +Fourteenth's reign, "than the immense quantity of water thrown up by +the fountains when they all play together at the promenades of the +King. These jets are capable of using up a river." A writer of our +day bids us pause for a moment at the viewpoint in the gardens most +admired by the King--at the end of the Allée of Latona. "To the east, +beyond the brilliant parterre of Latona, with its fountains, its +flowers, and its orange-trees, rise the vine-covered walls of the +terraces, with their spacious flights of steps and their vividly green +clipped yews. Turn to the west and survey the Royal Allée, the Basin +of Apollo, and the Grand Canal, or look to the north to the Allée of +Ceres, or to the south to that of Bacchus, and you realize the harmony +that existed between Mansard and Le Nôtre in the decoration of the +chateau and in the plan of the gardens." Beyond the palace and the +surrounding gardens lay the park in which the Grand Trianon was built, +of marble, near the bank of the Grand Canal. Madame de Maintenon, who +became the King's second wife, was housed within these sumptuous walls, +which were completed in 1688. +</P> + +<P> +And so the construction of this miracle work of the Great Monarch went +on. In Versailles, Louis was bent on realizing himself, and nothing +but himself. The Pharaoh of Egypt built his pyramids with as little +consideration of what it meant in tribute from his subjects. Each year +took its toll in money and men to make this home of Louis the +Magnificent. "The King," wrote Madame de Sévigné on the twelfth of +October, 1678, "wishes to go on Saturday to Versailles, but it seems +that God does not wish it, by the impossibility of putting the +buildings in a state to receive him, and by the great mortality among +the workmen." But the work had continued, as the King commanded, and +when he finally entered into possession of his new palace in 1682 with +all his Court, thirty-six thousand men and six thousand horses were +still engaged in making matters comfortable and satisfactory for His +Glorious Majesty. "The State," exclaimed the Sun King, "it is I!" and +in the same mood he might have added, "Versailles--it is the State!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I> +The Splendors of the Château--its Apartments and Gardens, the Hall of +Mirrors +</I> +</P> + +<P> +In planning the interior decorations at Versailles, the numerous +company of artists employed by the sovereign devised a scheme of +ornamentation inspired by the arts of ancient Rome. Mythological and +historical subjects were utilized for the glorification of the Grand +Monarch. A _Description_ of the château, officially printed in 1674, +gives us the key to the interpretation of the allegories. "As the Sun +is the device of the King, and poets represent the Sun and Apollo as +one, nothing exists in this superb dwelling that does not bear relation +to the Sun divinity." +</P> + +<P> +The emblem of Apollo was in evidence everywhere; signs of the month +ornamented facades and walls; and inside the palace and out were +symbols of the seasons and the hours of the day. The King's apartment +bore on its ceiling and walls paintings depicting deeds of seven heroes +of Antiquity, supported by Louis' planet emblem. All the interior +decoration was Italian in style--marble wainscoting in window +embrasures, floors of marble, panels of marble, doors of repoussé +bronze. The apartments of Anne of Austria and the Gallery of Apollo at +the Louvre offered the first examples in France of this decorative +style, and guided the artists at Versailles in making their plans. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen alone, a dozen painters +were engaged between the years 1671 and 1680. Charles Lebrun directed +the artists, most of whom, be it said, were poor colorists. He himself +worked on the vault above the Stairway of the Ambassadors and in the +Hall of Mirrors. To imitate Italian works of art was at that time the +avowed ideal of French decorators. At Rome the King's purse paid the +expenses of a group of young artists who were allotted the task of +copying designs that were later evolved at Versailles. To some was +assigned the copying of ornaments made of metal, mosaic and inlay. +Others specialized on bronze and wood-carving designs. There were +painters who made only sketches of battle scenes and sieges. There +were sculptors on the King's staff of copyists, and goldsmiths, and +enamel workers. Flemish, Dutch, French, but principally Italian, +craftsmen were recruited from the art centers of Europe, "for the glory +of the King." At the Gobelin Tapestry Factory--a royal +establishment--the workers were directed by Charles Lebrun, who for +many years had been head of the "Royal Manufactory of Crown Furniture." +</P> + +<P> +It was in the year 1677 that Louis XIV formally proclaimed Versailles +his residence and the seat of Government. It was for the purpose of +providing quarters for the Court and its attendants that Mansard was +commanded to enlarge the château. Versailles now became, in truth, the +temple of royalty. The newly appointed architect gave to the chateau +its final aspect; the stamp of his genius rests upon the exterior +design and interior embellishment of the most remarkable dwelling in +the history of French architecture. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-028"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-028.jpg" ALT="Versailles" BORDER="2" WIDTH="543" HEIGHT="333"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Versailles] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +When the Court came to live at Versailles in May, 1682, Mansard and his +builders were still feverishly occupied in the work of construction and +reconstruction. The year 1684 saw the end of the ornamentation of the +interior in the completion of the Hall of Mirrors. Mansard's style is +particularly impressed upon the Marble Stairway, and the adjacent Hall +of the Queen's Guards, and, above all, on the Grand Gallery of the +Mirrors and the Salons (Peace and War) that flank it--works truly +impressive in their proportions, adornment and arrangement. +</P> + +<P> +Disposed about three sides of the main court, the red château was set +low on a slight rise of land. The main entrance was flanked by the +North Wing and the South Wing, interrupted throughout their length by +lesser courts. The domed chapel upreared to the right of the gate was +the fourth one to serve the palace. After a period of building lasting +ten years it was consecrated in the year 1710. The exquisite white +stone edifice is still regarded as an architectural gem. Its interior +embellishments were carried out by some of the best artists of the Sun +King's epoch. Here during the last years of his long and spectacular +reign, Louis the Great worshiped. Here Marie Antoinette was married to +the Sixteenth Louis. +</P> + +<P> +Arrivals at the palace were admitted from the Place d'Armes to the +court designated for their reception. Only the King and his family +might enter by the central gate. Nobles passed through the gates at +the side. Privileged persons were permitted to alight in the Royal +Court; those of inferior prestige in the Court of the Ministers, which +gave entrance to the offices and living quarters of the palace +executives and the hundreds of minions composing the King's retinue. +On the left of the enclosure called the Marble Court was the vestibule +to the Marble Stairway; opposite was the doorway leading to the +renowned Stairway of the Ambassadors, later removed by command of Louis +XV. The royal suites, except those of the Dauphin and his attendants, +were on the second floor. These rooms beneath the ornate Mansard attic +were the scene of all the potent events and ceremonies that have +distinguished Versailles above the palaces of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Grouped above the Marble Court at the far end of the main court of the +château, were the State Apartments of the King. Though, in later +times, the sequence of some of these salons was changed, in the years +when the Sun King occupied them they comprised the Salon of Venus, +opening upon the Ambassadors' Staircase, the Salon of Diana, the Salon +of Mars, and the Salon of Mercury. These halls formed a magnificent +prelude to the still greater magnificence of the Salon of Apollo,--the +Throne Room where guests came into the presence of the King himself. +The Salon of Venus was most admired for its marble mosaics and its +ceiling painting representing Venus subduing all the other deities. In +Louis' day, as now, the royal master of all this grandeur was here +portrayed in white marble, garbed in the robes of a Roman emperor. +Diana and her nymphs were depicted on the ceiling of the salon named +for the Goddess of the Hunt. Here under candles glimmering in sconces +of silver and crystal the courtiers engaged in games of billiards, +while their ladies disposed themselves gracefully upon tapestried +seats. And there were orange trees in silver tubs to add brilliance to +the scene. In the Salon of Mars dancing parties and concerts were +given. Silver punchbowls set on silver tables offered refreshment to +the gay throng that coquetted and danced and applauded beneath the +triumphant picture of Mars limned upon the ceiling. This room was +a-glitter with silver, cut glass and gold embroidered draperies. In +the crimson-hung Salon of Mercury was the King's bed of state, before +which was a balustrade of silver. In all the Grand Apartments were +hangings and furniture of extraordinary richness. There were tables of +gilded wood and mosaic, Florentine marbles, pedestals of porphyry for +vases of precious metal, ebony cabinets inlaid with copper, columns of +jasper, agate and lapis lazuli, silver chandeliers, branched +candle-sticks, baskets, vessels for liqueurs, silver perfuming pans. +Windows were draped with silver brocade worked in gold thread, with +Venetian silks and satins, or embroideries from the Gobelin studios. +On the floors, originally of marble, were spread carpets woven in +designs symbolical of kingly power. +</P> + +<P> +The Throne Room known as the Salon of Apollo--the seat of the Sun +King--was of the utmost richness. The throne itself was of silver and +stood eight feet high. Tapestries represented scenes of splendor in +the life of Louis the Great and on the walls were masterpieces by +Italian artists of the first rank, which were later deemed worthy of a +place in the Louvre. Much of the treasure vanished in the years +1689-1690 when the King was constrained to raise money for his depleted +treasury. In December, 1682, the _Mercure Galant_, desirous of +pleasing its readers, always avid of details about everything that +concerned their King, published a long description of the furnishings +of the State Apartments--the velvet hangings, the marble walls enriched +with gold relief, the chimney-pieces bossed with silver. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the glory of these apartments was outdone by the later achievements +of architect and decorators in the Salons of War and Peace and the Hall +of Mirrors that joins them. In the cupola of the Salon of War the +great Lebrun painted an allegorical picture of France hurling +thunderbolts and carrying a shield blazoned with the portrait of King +Louis, while Bellona, Spain, Holland and Germany are shown crouching in +awe. The colored marbles of the walls contrasted brilliantly with +gilded copper bas-reliefs. Six portraits of Roman emperors contributed +to the impressiveness of the Salon, and on the wall was a stucco relief +of the King of France on horseback, clad like a Roman. The Salon of +Peace was also decorated by Lebrun's adept brush. A ceiling piece +portrays France and her conquered enemies rejoicing in the fruits of +Peace. And, again, there are portraits of the ever-present Louis and +the Caesars of Rome. Both these splendid halls remain to-day much as +they were in the time of their creator. +</P> + +<P> +Most lavish is the decoration of the Grand Hall of Mirrors--"the +epitome of absolutism and divine right and the grandeur of the House of +Bourbon." For two hundred and forty feet it extends along the terrace +that surveys the gardens where Louis XIV and his successors delighted +to ordain fêtes of unimaginable gayety. Gorgeously costumed courtiers, +women that dictated the fate of dynasties, diplomats of our day bent +upon the solution of world-rocking problems, all have gazed from this +resplendent gallery upon the fountains and allées that beautify the +scene below. Seventeen lofty windows are matched by as many Venetian +framed mirrors. Between each window and each mirror are pilasters +designed by Coyzevox, Tubi and Caffieri--reigning masters of their +time. Walls are of marble embellished with bronze-gilt trophies; large +niches contain statues in the antique style. The gilded cornice is by +Coyzevox, the ceiling by Lebrun. The conception of the latter +comprises more than a score of paintings representing events that had +to do with wars waged by Louis the Great against Holland, Germany and +Spain. In the period when Versailles was the residence of kings--not a +museum, alone, and the assembly-place of international Councils--the +tables in the Grand Gallery, the benches between the windows, the +many-branched candelabra, the tubs in which orange trees grew, were all +of heavy silver. Thousands of wax candles lighted the salon, some of +them set in immense chandeliers, others in lusters of silver and +crystal. But Louis the Fourteenth's reign was not yet over when he was +compelled to send many hundred pieces of his precious furniture to the +mint, and the superb appointments of the Hall of Mirrors were partially +substituted by furnishings of wood and damask. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-092"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-092.jpg" ALT="The Hall of Mirrors" BORDER="2" WIDTH="542" HEIGHT="319"> +<H5> +[Illustration: The Hall of Mirrors] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Visitors to Versailles view the private or "little" apartments of King +Louis the Great, Louis XV and Louis XVI. The superb bedchamber of +Louis XIV contains the bed in which the French Monarch died on +September 1, 1715. In an ante-chamber, later called the Bull's Eye by +reason of its unique oval window, courtiers were wont to gossip and +intrigue while they awaited the King's rising. A quaint painting by a +French artist presents Louis XIV and his family in the character of +pagan deities. Next to the Bull's Eye was the room in which the King +dined on occasion. The Hall of the King's Guards was near of approach +to the Marble Staircase and to the ample and ornate apartments of +Madame de Maintenon. The wonders of this Hall are also departed. In a +group of small rooms were rich stores of objects of art, medals, +cameos, onyx, bronzes, and gems of great value. +</P> + +<P> +The State Apartments of the Queens of France were entirely altered in +their decoration as one queen succeeded another. Marie Thérèse was the +first to occupy them. We are told that before her bed there stood a +railing of silver, that later gave way, for economical reasons, to one +carved in wood. In the Grand Cabinet the wife of Louis the Great +received in audience those that the King commanded. Here, at the end +of a short and insignificant period as mistress of Versailles, Marie +Thérèse died, July 30, 1683. +</P> + +<P> +One of the few apartments that still retains the aspect it bore in King +Louis the Fourteenth's reign is the Hall of the Queen's Guards, which +had a door on the landing of the marble stair, also called the Queen's +Staircase. This was the flight of steps most used in the time of +Louis, since it led to the apartments of the sovereign, the Queen +Madame de Maintenon. +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassadors' Staircase, across the court, was of the richest +possible decoration, but like the glory of the Kings of France, it has +passed into oblivion. Louis commanded that it be paved and walled in +marble from the choicest quarries, vaulted with bronze, graced by +fountains. Amazing frescoes representing a brilliant assemblage of +people of all nations adorned the walls. Of this staircase a reporter +of the epoch wrote, "When full of light it vies in magnificence with +the richest apartments of the most beautiful palace in the world." +Which palace was, of course, Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +The Grand Hall of the Guards, the apartments of the Children of France +and their governess, the ten rooms that composed the suite of the +Dauphin, the Grand Hall of Battles--each had its special decoration. +"At the house of Monseigneur," wrote an old chronicler of the Court, +"one sees in the cabinets an exquisite collection of all that is most +rare and precious, not only in respect to the necessary furniture, +tables, porcelains, mirrors, chandeliers, but also paintings by the +most famous masters, bronzes, vases of agate, jewels and cameos." For +one dazzling table of carved silver in the apartment of the King's son, +the silversmith that fashioned it was paid thirty thousand dollars. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath the state apartments of the King was the Hall of the Baths +lined with marble and adorned with beautiful paintings. Upon the +marble tubs, the tessellated floors, the gilded columns and mirrors of +this apartment a great sum was expended. +</P> + +<P> + * * * * * +</P> + +<P> +Versailles at last was finished--and what a spectacle and monument to +selfish exaltation it was! "There is an intimate relation between the +King and his château," wrote Imbert de Saint-Amand. "The idol is +worthy of the temple, the temple of the idol. There is always +something immaterial, something moral so to speak, in monuments, and +they derive their poesy from the thought connected with them. For a +cathedral, it is the idea of God. For Versailles, it is the idea of +the King. Its mythology is but a magnificent allegory of which Louis +XIV is the reality. It is he always and everywhere. Fabulous heroes +and divinities impart their attributes to him or mingle with his +courtiers. In honor of him, Neptune sheds broadcast the waters that +cross in air in sparkling arches. Apollo, his favorite symbol, +presides over this enchanted world as the god of light, the inspirer of +the muses; the sun of the god seems to pale before that of the great +King. Nature and art combine to celebrate the glory of the sovereign +by a perpetual hosannah. All that generations of kings have amassed in +pictures, statues and precious movables is distributed as mere +furniture in the glittering apartments of the chateau. The +intoxicating perfumes of luxury and power throw one into a sort of +ecstasy that makes comprehensible the exaltation of this monarch, +enthusiastic over himself, who, in chanting the hymns composed in his +praise, shed tears of admiration." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON +</H4> + +<P> +The first gardens of Versailles--those +that gave a modest setting to the villa +constructed for Louis XIII, comprised a few +parterres of flowers and shrubs bounded by +well trimmed box hedges, and two groves +planted on each side of the _Allée Royale_. +To Jacques Boyceau is accredited the first +plan of the gardens of Versailles, but Andre +Le Nôtre greatly amplified and improved +the original scheme. Le Nôtre's +achievements at Versailles gave him rank as the +most distinguished landscape gardener of +his time, and of all time. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the luxurious and symmetrical +gardens at Versailles, he originated the +designs of those at the royal houses at Trianon, +Saint-Cloud, Merly, Clagny, Chantilly and +the Tuileries. The Parterre of the Tiber +at Fontainebleau also added to his high +reputation. For a long period the style of +garden perfected by Le Nôtre was taken as a +model and imitated throughout Europe. In +1678 he went to Italy on a mission for the +King, who desired him to make researches +there. While at Rome the eminent artist +from France was commissioned to plan the +gardens of the Quirinal, the Vatican and +the villas Ludovisi and Albani. The +Elector of Brandenburg summoned him to +design the garden at Oranienburg; Kensington +Park in London is still another example of +Le Nôtre's skill. In his genius were +reflected the qualities that distinguished the +art of his century: regularity of design, +harmony, dignity and richness of materials. +Louis XIV had an enduring admiration for +the work and character of the Chief +Gardener--a man at all times honest, retiring, +and inspired by enthusiasm for his calling. +</P> + +<P> +We are told by a French chronicler that +"when Le Nôtre had traced out his ideas, he +brought Louis XIV to the spot to judge the +distribution of the principal parts of their +ornamentation. He began with two grand +basins which are on the terrace in front +of the chateau, with their magnificent +decorations. He explained next his idea of +the double flight of stairs, which is opposite +the center of the palace, adorned with +yew-trees and with statues, and gave in detail +all the pieces that were to enrich the space +that it included. He passed then to the +_Allée du Tapis Vert_, and to that grand place +where we see the head of the canal, of which +he described the size and shape, and at the +extremities of whose arms he placed the +Trianon and the Menagerie. At each of +the grand pieces whose position Le Nôtre +marked, and whose future beauties he +described, Louis XIV interrupted him, saying, +'Le Nôtre, I give you twenty thousand +francs.' This magnificent approbation was +so frequently repeated that it annoyed Le +Nôtre, whose soul was as noble and +disinterested as that of his master was +generous. At the fourth interruption he stopped, +and said brusquely to the King, 'Sire, Your +Majesty shall hear no more. I shall ruin you.'" +</P> + +<P> +In 1695 the King ennobled Le Nôtre and +bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. +Later, Le Nôtre presented to his sovereign +his collection of pictures and bronzes, for +which he had previously received an offer +of 80,000 francs, or about $16,000. This +collection was placed in one of the King's +intimate rooms among the rarest objects in +his possession. On occasion, when about to +make a tour of the gardens, Louis liked to +command a rolling chair similar to his own +for the aged Le Nôtre. Discussing new +projects, appraising those that were finished, +they made the promenade together. +</P> + +<P> +One of the first garden decorations +undertaken was the Grotto of Thetis, a green +alcove beautified by exquisite marbles and a +fountain that stirred the muse of La +Fontaine to sing. This graceful conceit, +dominated by Apollo seated among the nymphs +of Venus, was destroyed when Mansard +built the north wing of the palace; the +groups were removed to adorn other sites. +While the vast pleasure-house was in course +of construction, each year marked the +creation of new fountains and woods. In 1664, +the _Parterre du Nord_ was laid out below the +windows of the north wing; in 1667 and +1668 the _Théâtre d'Eau_, the Maze, the Star, +the Grand Canal, the Avenue of Waters, +the Cascade of Diana and the Pyramid on +the North Parterre, and the Green Carpet +(_Tapis-Vert_) spread out in view of the +windows of the rear facade of the palace. In +1670 and the three succeeding years the +low-lying _Marais_ (fen) was constructed next to +the Parterre of the Fountain of Latona, to +meet the wishes of the King's favorite, +Madame de Montespan. While she was in +power "people spoke of the _Marais_ as one +of the marvels of the gardens, but it was +undoubtedly considered less wonderful after +her fall," a writer comments. "In the +center stood a large oak surounded by an +artificial marsh, bordered with reeds and grasses, +and containing plants and a number of white +swans. From the swans, from the reeds and +grasses, and from the leaves and branches of +the oak, thousands of little jets of water +leaped forth, falling like fine rain upon the +masses of natural vegetation that flourished +amid the artificial. At the sides of the +bosquet there were two tables of marble, on +which a collation was served when the +marquise came to her grove to see the waters +play. In 1704 the King ordered Mansard +to destroy the _Marais_ and transform the +bosquet into the Baths of Apollo." +</P> + +<P> +In 1674 the Royal Isle came into being; +and the next year the Arch of Triumph and +the Three Fountains, between the Avenue +of Waters and the château. In the thicket +of the Three Fountains were "an immense +number of small jets of water, leaping from +basins at the sides and forming an arch of +water overhead, beneath which one could +walk without being wet. . . . The Arch of +Triumph filled the end of the bosquet; it +was placed on an estrade with marble steps, +and was preceded by four lofty obelisks of +gilded iron in which the water leaped and +fell in sheets of crystal. The fountain +itself was composed of three porticos of gilded +iron, with large jets in the center of each, +while seven jets leaped up from the basins +above the porticos, and all the waters rushed +down over the steps of marble. In addition, +twenty-two vases at the sides of the bosquet +threw jets into the air. 'Without having +seen it,' says Blondel, 'it is impossible to +imagine the wonderful effect produced by this +decoration.'" +</P> + +<P> +The Orangery was the chief work begun +in 1678, and in the following year the superb +Basin of Neptune and the Lake of the Swiss +Guards were commenced. In the years +1680-1685 workmen were busy digging, laying +pipes, planting and decorating the _Salle de +Bal_, or outdoor salon of festivities, the +Parterre of Fountains, and the Colonnade, +where amid marble columns and balustrades +the Court often came to sup and make merry. +</P> + +<P> +In all, fourteen hundred gushing fountain +jets animated the gardens. Le Nôtre, the +author of these amazing water-works, died +in the year 1700, when almost ninety years +of age. Saint-Simon declared him justly +renowned in that he had given to France +gardens of so unique and ravishing a design +that they completely outran in beauty the +famous gardens of Italy. European +landscape decorators counted it part of their +education to journey to France for the +purpose of studying the handiwork of the supreme craftsman. +</P> + +<P> +An illustrated guide, printed at +Amsterdam in 1682, contains the following quaint +description of the Labyrinth, or Maze: +"Courteous Reader," it begins, "it is +sufficiently known how eminently France and +especially the Royal Court doth excel above +other places with all manner of delights. +The admirable faire Buildings and Gardens +with all imaginable ornaments and +delightful spectacles represent to the eye of the +beholder such abundant and rich objects as +verily to ravish the spectator. Amongst all +these works there is nothing more admirable +and praiseworthy than the Royal Garden at +Versailles, and, in it, the Labyrinth. Other +representations are commonly esteemed +because they please the eye, but this because it +not only delights the ear and eye, but also +instructs and edifies. This Labyrinth is +situated in a wood so pleasant that Daedalus +himself would have stood amazed to behold +it. The Turnings and Windings, edged on +both sides with green cropt hedges, are not +at all tedious, by reason that at every hand +there are figures and water-works +representing the mysterious and instructive fables +of Aesop, with an explanation of what Fable +each Fountain representeth carved on each +in black marble. Among all the Groves in +the Park at Versailles the Labyrinth is the +most to be recommended, as well for the +novelty of the design as the number and +diversity of the fountains that with +ingenuity and _naïveté_ express the philosophies, of +the sage Aesop. The animals of colored +bronze are so modeled that they seem truly +to be in action. And the streams of water +that come from their mouths may be +imagined as bearing the words of the fable they +represent. There are a great number of +fountains, forty in all, each different in +subject, and of a style of decoration that blends +with the surrounding verdure. At the +entrance to the Maze is a bronze statue of +Aesop himself--the famous Mythologist of Phrygia." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-152"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-152.jpg" ALT="The Fountain of Versailles" BORDER="2" WIDTH="546" HEIGHT="322"> +<H5> +[Illustration: The Fountain of Versailles] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +To appreciate the engineering skill of the +directors of fountain construction at +Versailles it must be remembered that it was +from an arid plateau that hundreds of +streams were made to spring from the earth. +Thousands of laborers were employed to lay +beneath the surface of the ground a net-work +of canals and aqueducts to receive the tribute +of water-courses directed hither from distant +sources. The waters were finally pumped +into immense reservoirs adroitly dissembled +on the roofs of buildings overlooking the +park. From these tanks a maze of pipes +carried the water to thickets, grottoes, +basins, fountains and canals. Nothing could +surpass the ingenuity with which all this was +contrived. The play of water directed to +the Basin of the Mirrors reappeared later +in the Baths of Apollo and the Fountain of +the Dragon. Flowing in turn among +successive pools and ornamental groups--branching +hither and yon in the gardens, the +stream attained its full display in the most +majestic effect of all, the Basin of Neptune. +</P> + +<P> +"Here again is the hand of Le Nôtre," +remarks James Farmer, author of +"Versailles and the Court Under Louis XIV." "The +basin of Neptune, called at first the +Grand Cascades, was constructed from 1679 +to 1684, in accordance with his designs. This +immense basin, surrounded on the side +toward the chateau by a handsome wall of +stone, and on the other by an amphitheater +of turf and trees,--a vast half-circle, in the +center of which stands a marble statue of +Renown, is simple in conception and imposing +from its size. The richly carved lead vases +which adorn the wall were gilded under the +Grand Monarch, and each throws a jet of +water to a great height. Dangeau tells us +that His Majesty saw the waters play here +for the first time on the 17th of May, 1685, +and that he was quite content. However, +Neptune had not then appeared in the basin +that now bears his name; for the large +groups of Neptune, the Ocean, and the +Tritons, which ornament the base of the wall at +present, were not put in place until 1739, in +the reign of Louis XV. This majestic basin +at the foot of the _Allée d'Eau_ is a striking +contrast to Perrault's ugly Pyramid at the +head of it. Le Nôtre knew what was fitting +for the gardens of a Sun King." +</P> + +<P> +A vast avenue, interrupted by many fair +reaches of water, stretched its level length +before the windows of the Grand Gallery. +It was prolonged to the outer bounds of the +gardens by the Grand Canal, on whose +gleaming surface the sky was mirrored in +the dusk of dawn, the golden glow of noon, +or the sunset of declining day. This has ever +been the supreme view from the palace of +Versailles. Standing at one of the great +windows of the Hall of Mirrors, the _Galerie +des Glaces_, it often pleased the ruler of +France to admire the Fountain of Latona, +casting its fifty jets of water from the +circular pool below the twin terraces. Beyond, +the Green Carpet glowed in its emerald +beauty among the clear waters of Versailles. +The furthest fountain that met the eye was +the Basin of Apollo, with its plunging +bronze horses. In the outer park, that held +the Trianon and the Menagerie, the royal +gaze beheld the cross-shaped Canal which so +often, in the revels that marked the first part +of this reign, bore gay Venetian barges +between the scintillating lights and fireworks +that illumined the shore. At the right side, +still looking from the rear of the chateau, the +King's beauty-loving eyes dwelt upon the +North Terrace, with its rich growth of +greenery, on the graceful Fountains of the +Pyramid and the Dragon, and above all on +the magnificently soaring fountains of +Neptune's Basin. At his left were the Terrace +of Flowers, the two stairways that flanked +the Orangery, chief work of Mansard and +especial pride of Louis, and the lake in the +small park named for the Swiss Guards. +Nowhere, it is safe to say, could a place be +found that embraced so many beautiful +garden views at one time. +</P> + +<P> +Bordering the avenue that Le Nôtre +opened through the primitive groves where +Louis XIII once came to hunt--on either +side the broad lane of trees and leaping +waters--groves were laid out, varied in +design and decoration--delectable retreats +where lovers, traitors, diplomats might vow +and plot, beneath the discreet ears of marble +nymphs and goddesses. +</P> + +<P> +Many of the groups and marble figures +that beautified the walks and bowers of +Versailles were conceived by the gifted +Lebrun. Among his designs were the Four +Seasons, the Four Quarters of the Globe, +the Four Kinds of Poetry (Heroic, Satiric, +Lyric and Pastoral), the Four Periods of +the Day (Morning, Noon, Twilight, +Night), the Four Elements (Earth, Air, +Fire, Water), the Four Temperaments +(Phlegmatic, Melancholy, Coleric and +Sanguine). Mythological figures, vases +ornamented with bas-reliefs of Louis XIV and +great men of his reign, fountain groups +representing the chief rivers of France, +water nymphs, sportive babies, beasts in +combat--sculpture massive, graceful, +grotesque--all added their individual lure to +the dells, the walks and the terraces of the +magic palace. +</P> + +<P> +Tile-workers from Flanders, marble-cutters +from the Pyrenees, Italy and Greece, +masons, sculptors, castmen, metal-workers, +bronze colorists--innumerable artisans +trained to meet the exacting tastes of that +Silver Age of Art--lent their skill to the +construction of fountains whose ingenuity and +variety have set a standard for all time for +the makers of kingly estates. A hundred +sculptors of highest reputation were engaged +to model groups, statues, busts and low +reliefs for the Versailles park, under the +supervision of Lebrun and Mignard. +</P> + +<P> +Ladies of the Court sometimes claimed +the ear of the compliant André Le Nôtre +to suggest fancies that he graciously evolved +with greenery and marbles, with tinkling +streams and bright-winged birds. +</P> + +<P> +The new Orangery, begun by Mansard +on plans submitted by Le Nôtre, consumed +nearly ten years in building, from 1678 to +1687. Twin stairways, one hundred and +three steps high, united the South Parterre +with the Parterre of the Orangery. The +shelter erected for the protection of +hundreds of orange trees, which often +blossomed and came to fruit, contained a main +gallery and two lateral galleries, lighted by +twelve large windows. In the center stood +a huge statue of Louis the Great. During +warm weather the tubs containing the +orange trees were set out on the Orange +Parterre between the lofty stone stairways. +The Orangery was one of the favorite +retreats of the King. Besides the royal family, +only those were permitted to stroll among +the fragrant trees that had been granted +special permission to do so. +</P> + +<P> +It was in 1688, after more than a quarter +of a century's labor, the sacrifice of hundreds +of lives, and the expenditure of over fifty +million francs, that the splendid parks and +gardens with their buildings and fountains +were finally achieved. Le Nôtre's +successors rearranged some of the fountains and +groves; others were renamed. In +1739-1740 there were placed near the Basin of +Neptune three groups that still lend +adornment to this spot. This was the final +attempt to decorate the gardens during +the reign of the House of the Bourbons. +Strangers from every clime marveled at the +beauty of the fountains. The ambassadors +from the Court of Siam were astounded +"that so much of bronze, marble and gilded +metal could find place in a single garden." A +member of the train of the Ambassador +from England described the park, in 1698, +as "a whole province traced by avenues, +paths, canals, and ornamented in all ways +possible by masterpieces of ancient and +modern art." +</P> + +<P> +The avenues were of white sand, with +grassy by-ways on either side bordered by +elms and iron railings six or seven feet +high. Beyond these were thickets and +niches where statues, sculptured urns and +benches of white carved stone were placed. +Occasional archways of green led down dim +arbors to new enchantments. Here and +there were round or star-shaped retreats +whose carpets of grass were sprayed by +murmuring fountains. In each recess were +marble pedestals, busts, a long bench that +invited repose. +</P> + +<P> +Trees of mature growth were brought in +great numbers from distant parts of France +and Flanders. Despite difficulties of +transportation, twenty-five thousand trees were +carried on wagons from Artois alone. The +forests of Normandy were denuded of +yew-trees; from the mountains of _Dauphiné_ the +King's emissaries brought _epicea_ trees, and +India sent chestnut trees for the adornment +of Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +Among these groves Louis delighted to +promenade in the evening, sometimes, in the +_belle saison_, until midnight. Often he went +on foot, but oftener in a light carriage drawn +by a team of small black horses that had +been given him by the Duke of Tuscany. +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GRAND TRIANON +</H3> + +<P> +This palace decorated with pilasters of +pink marble was not the first building chosen +by the Grand Monarch to occupy the site +at the end of the north arm of the canal of +Versailles. Ambitious to extend his domain, +the King had purchased and razed a shabby +little village named Trianon, and on its +somewhat dreary site erected for Madame +de Montespan a villa so unpretentious as to +arouse the comment of courtiers accustomed +to the ruler's profligacy at Versailles. The +vases of faïence that shone among the figures +of gilded lead, the walk ornamented with +Dutch tiles, the cornices of blue and white +stucco, in the Chinese fashion, gave the little +house the name, the Porcelain Trianon. +Poets called it the Palace of Flora because +of the wondrous gardens where rare flowers +perfumed the pleasaunce in summer. Built +in 1670, probably on designs of Francois +Le Vau, the Porcelain Trianon was +demolished toward the end of the year 1686. +</P> + +<P> +There remains to-day nothing to remind +us of the Villa of Flowers but the gardens +and a fountain for horses near the canal, +where a terrace planted with beautiful trees +overlooks it. Here Louis XIV often came +in a gondola on summer evenings, when the +Marble Trianon had replaced the Trianon +of Porcelain. The latter's demolition was +inspired, no doubt, by the urging of the new +favorite, Madame de Maintenon, who found +distasteful this reminder of another's +supremacy in the King's affections. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, this site continued to please +the King for he recognized its convenience +to the palace, and its accessibility by barge +or carriage. He determined to build in the +midst of these enchanting woods and blooms +a dwelling less formal than the one at +Versailles, smaller even than the one at Marly, +but more habitable than the porcelain +_maisonette_--a retreat, in short, where, without +wearisome ceremony, he could retire with +certain favored ones of his Court and while +the summer hours away. +</P> + +<P> +The accounts of the King's treasurer +show that the building of the edifice and the +gardens proceeded rapidly during the year +1687. By the end of November the royal +master found his new residence "well +advanced and very beautiful." Soon after the +New Year he heard the opera "Roland" +performed here, and was pleased to dine for +the first time within the new walls. He gave +orders on recurring visits for the embellishment +of the summer palace. The Trianon +of marble and porphyry, "the most graceful +production of Mansard," was finally +completed in the autumn of 1688. But the work +of decoration went on under the hands of a +horde of artists almost until the end of the +monarch's reign. +</P> + +<P> +Says an English author of a century ago: +"In the midst of all the austerities imposed +upon him by the ambition of Madame de +Maintenon, the King went to Trianon to +inhale the breath of the flowers which he had +planted there, of the rarest and most +odoriferous kind. On the infrequent occasions +when the Court was permitted to accompany +him thither to share in his evening collation, +it was a beautiful spectacle to see so many +charming women wandering in the midst of +the flowers on the terrace rising from the +banks of the canal. The air was so rich +with the mingled perfume of violets, orange +flowers, jessamines, tuberoses, hyacinths +and narcissuses that the King and his +visitors were sometimes obliged to fly from the +overpowering sweets. The flowers in the +parterres were arranged in a thousand +different figures, which were constantly +changed, so that one might have supposed +it to be the work of some fairy, who, passing +over the gardens, threw upon them each time +a new robe aglow with color." +</P> + +<P> +In the salons and copses where Louis the +Great basked in the somewhat chary smiles +of his latest (and last) favorite, his +grandson, the fifteenth of his name, was to install +the fascinating Madame de Pompadour. +The very apartments once dedicated to the +use of Madame de Maintenon, and later to +Queen Marie Leczinska, became the living-rooms +of the reigning mistress of the heart +of Louis XV. +</P> + +<P> +The Revolution spared the Grand Trianon. +But under pretext of restoring it and +rendering it, according to their tastes, more +habitable, Napoleon First and Louis +Philippe spared it less. The last king of France +commanded in 1836 the architectural changes +necessary to convert the Trianon into the +royal residence, in place of the chateau of +Versailles. He stayed here for the last time +in the winter of 1848, before departing for +Dreux. But, despite changes and mutilations, +the facade and the interior of the +rose-colored palace retain the stamp of the +Great King who sponsored the Gallery of +Mirrors, the Antechamber of the Bull's Eye, +and the Chapel at Versailles. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DAY WITH THE SUN KING +</H4> + +<P> +Louis the Magnificent, we must agree with that profuse and sharp-witted +chronicler, the Duke of Saint-Simon, was made for a brilliant Court. "In +the midst of other men, his figure, his courage, his grace, his beauty, +his grand mien, even the tone of his voice and the majestic and natural +charm of all his person, distinguished him till his death as the King +Bee, and showed that if he had been born only a simple private gentleman, +he would have excelled in fetes, pleasures and gallantry. . . . He +liked splendor, magnificence and profusion in everything. Nobody ever +approached his magnificence." +</P> + +<P> +With sumptuous detail the King's day progressed at Versailles, from the +formal "rising" to the hour when, with equal pomp, the monarch went to +bed. Before eight o'clock in the morning the waiting-room next the +King's bedchamber was the gathering-place of princes, nobles and officers +of the Court, each fresh from his own laving and be-wigging. While they +passed the time in low converse, the formal ceremony of the King's +awakening took place behind the gold and white doors of the royal +sleeping-room. "The Chamber," one of the eleven offices in the service +of the King, comprised four first gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four +gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four pages of the Chamber, four first +valets of the Chamber, sixteen ushers, thirty-two valets of the Chamber, +two cloak-bearers, two gun-bearers, eight barbers, three watch-makers, +one dentist, and many minor attendants--all under the direction of the +Grand Chamberlain. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes before eight o'clock it was the duty of the chief _valet de +chambre_ to see that a fire was laid in the King's chamber (if the +weather required one), that blinds were drawn, and candles snuffed. As +the clock chimed the hour of eight, he approached the embroidered red +velvet curtains of the royal bed with the announcement, "Sire, it is the +hour." +</P> + +<P> +When the curtains were drawn and the royal eyelids lifted upon a new day, +the children of the King were admitted to make their morning obeisance. +The chief physician and surgeon and the King's old nurse then entered to +greet the waking monarch. While they performed certain offices allotted +them, the Grand Chamberlain was summoned. The first _valet de chambre_ +took his place by the bed and, holding a silver basin beneath the King's +hands, poured on them spirits of wine from a flagon. The Grand +Chamberlain next presented the vase of Holy Water to the King, who +accepted it and made the Sign of the Cross. Opportunity was given at +this moment for the princes, or any one having the _grande entrée_, to +speak to the King, after which the Grand Chamberlain offered to His +Majesty a prayer-book, and all present passed from the room except those +privileged to stay for the brief religious service that followed. +</P> + +<P> +Surrounded by princes, nobles and high officers attached to his person, +the King chose his wig for the day, put on the slippers and dressing-gown +presented by the appointed attendant, and stepped outside the massive +balustrade that surrounded his bed. Now the doors opened to admit those +that had the right to be present while the King donned his silk stockings +and diamond-buckled garters and shoes--acts that he performed "with +address and grace." On alternate days, when his night-cap had been +removed, the nobles and courtiers were privileged to see the King shave +himself, while a mirror, and, if the morning was dull, lighted candles +were held before his face by the first _valet de chambre_. Occasionally +His Majesty briefly addressed some one in the room. The assemblage was, +by this time, augmented by the admission of secretaries and officers +attached to the palace, whose position entitled them to the "first +_entrée_." When his wig was in place and the dressing of the royal +person had proceeded at the hands of officers of the Wardrobe (there +were, in all, sixty persons attached to this service), the King spoke the +word that opened the ante-chamber doors to the cardinals, ambassadors and +government officials that awaited the ceremony of the _grand lever_, or +"grand rising," so-called in distinction to the more intimate _petit +lever_. Altogether, no less than one hundred and fifty persons were +present while the King went through the daily ceremony of the rising and +the toilet. +</P> + +<P> +When the Sovereign of France had breakfasted on a service of porcelain +and gold, had permitted his sword and his jeweled orders to be fastened +on, and, from proffered baskets of cravats and handkerchiefs, had made +his choice; when he had prayed by his bedside with cardinals and clergy +in attendance; had granted brief informal interviews, and had attended +mass in the chapel of Versailles, it was his custom to ask for the +Council. Thrice a week there was a council of State, and twice a week a +finance council. Thus the mornings passed, with the exception of +Thursday morning, when His Majesty gave "back-stair" audiences known to +but a few, and Friday morning, which was spent with his confessor. +</P> + +<P> +Louis was always a busy man of affairs and never shirked his kingly +duties. It was a principle of his life to place duty first and pleasure +after. He told his son in his memoirs that an idle king showed +ingratitude toward God and injustice toward man. "The requirements and +demands of royalty," he wrote, "which may, at times, appear hard and +irksome, you should find easy and agreeable in high places. Nothing will +exhaust you more than idleness. If you tire of great affairs, and give +up to pleasures, you will soon be disgusted with your own idleness. To +take in the whole world with intelligent eyes, to be learning constantly +what is going on in the provinces and among other nations--the court +secrets, the habits, the weaknesses of princes and foreign ministers, to +see clearly what all people are trying, to their utmost, to conceal, to +fathom the most deep-seated thoughts and convictions of those that attend +us in our own court--what greater pleasure and satisfaction could there +be, if we were simply prompted by curiosity?" +</P> + +<P> +Ordinarily, when at Versailles, the King dined alone at one o'clock, +seated by the middle window of his chamber, overlooking the courtyards, +the Place d'Armes, and the long avenue that led to Paris. More than +three hundred persons,--stewards, chefs, butlers, gentlemen servants, +carvers, cup-bearers, table-setters, cellarers, gardeners,--were charged +with the care of the kitchens, pantries, cellars, fruit-lofts, +store-rooms, linen closets, and treasuries of gold and silver plate +belonging to the King's immediate household--the _Maison du Roi_. The +Officers of the Goblet were present when the King was served, having +first, with attendant ceremonies, "made the trial" of napkins and table +implements as a safeguard from evil designs against his life. Even the +simplest repast served to the King comprised many dishes, for the Grand +Monarch ate heartily, though with discriminating appetite. +</P> + +<P> +Unless the Sovereign dined in the privacy of his bed-chamber, he was +surrounded by princes and courtiers. At "public dinners" a procession of +well-dressed persons continually passed through the room to observe the +King at his dining. +</P> + +<P> +It was ordained that the King's meat should be brought to the table from +the kitchens in the Grand Commune after this manner: "Two of His +Majesty's guards will march first, followed by the usher of the hall, the +_maître d'hôtel_ with his baton, the gentleman servant of the pantry, the +controller-general, the controller clerk of the Office, and others who +carry the Meat, the equerry of the kitchen and the guard of the plates +and dishes, and behind them two other guards of His Majesty, who are to +allow no one to approach the Meat. +</P> + +<P> +"In the Office called the _Bouche_, the equerry of the Kitchen arranges +the dishes upon a table, and presents two trials of bread to the _maître +d'hôtel_, who makes the trial of the first course, and who, having placed +the meats for the trial upon these two trials of bread, gives one to the +equerry of the Kitchen, who eats it, while the other is eaten by the +_maître d'hôtel_. Afterward the gentleman servant takes the first dish, +the second is taken by the controller, and the other officers of the +Kitchen take the rest. They advance in this order: the _maître d'hôtel_, +having his baton, marches at the head, preceded some steps by the usher +of the hall, carrying his wand, which is the sign of his office, and in +the evening bearing a torch as well. When the Meat, accompanied by three +of the body-guards with carbines on their shoulders, has arrived (that +is, in the first antechamber, where the King is to dine), the _maître +d'hôtel_ makes a reverence to the _nef_. The gentleman servant, holding +the first dish, places it upon the table where the _nef_ is, and having +received a trial portion from the gentleman servant in charge of the +trial table, he makes the trial himself and places his dish upon the +trial table. The gentleman servant having charge of this table takes the +other dishes from the hands of those who carry them, and places them also +on the trial table. After the trial of them has been made they are +carried by the other gentlemen servants to the table of the King. +</P> + +<P> +"The first course being on the table, the _maître d'hôtel_ with his +baton, preceded by the usher of the hall with his wand, goes to inform +the King; and when His Majesty has arrived at table the _maître d'hôtel_ +presents a wet napkin to him, of which trial has been made in the +presence of the officer of the Goblet, and takes it again from the King's +hands. During the dinner the gentleman servant in charge of the trial +table continues to make trial in the presence of the officers of the +Goblet and of the Kitchen of all that they bring for each course. +</P> + +<P> +"When His Majesty desires to drink, the cup-hearer cries at once in a +loud tone, 'The drink for the King!' makes a reverence to the King, and +goes to the sideboard to take from the hands of the chief of the +Wine-cellars the salver and cup of gold, and the two crystal decanters of +wine and water. He returns, preceded by the chiefs of the Goblet and the +Wine-cellars, and the three, having reached the King's table, make a +reverence to His Majesty. The chief of the Goblet, standing near the +King, holds a little trial cup of silver-gilt, into which a gentleman +servant pours a small quantity of wine and water from the decanters. A +portion of this the chief of the Goblet pours into a second trial cup +which is presented by his assistant, who, in turn, hands it to the +gentleman servant. The chief and the gentleman servant make the trial, +and when the latter has handed his cup to the chief, that officer returns +both cups to his assistant. When the trial has been made in this manner +in the King's sight, the gentleman servant, making a reverence to the +King, presents to His Majesty the cup of gold and the golden salver on +which are the decanters. The King pours out the wine and water, and +having drunk, replaces the cup upon the salver. The gentleman servant +makes another reverence to the King, and returns the salver and all upon +it to the chief of the Wine-cellars, who carried it to the side-board." +</P> + +<P> +The ceremony of tasting the King's wine was most impressive, and it was +regarded as a necessary and effective safeguard against poisonous attacks +or deleterious effects on His Majesty's august health. The thought is +suggested, however, that the test could have been effective only in case +of immediate or quick-working poison. A slow and insidious drug--and +there were experts in such concoctions in those days--would surely have +passed the taster's test and affected the King in time. The test was but +a mere formality, however, for Louis was the Most Adored Monarch. As one +chronicler has observed, "He was not only majestic, he was amiable. +Those that surrounded him, the members of his family, his ministers, his +domestics, loved him." Poison played no part in his career. That subtle +method of attack was reserved for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, on both +of whom it was attempted more than once. +</P> + +<P> +The carver, having taken his place before the table of the King, +presented and uncovered all the dishes, and when His Majesty told him to +do so, or made him a sign, he removed them, handing them to the +plate-changer or to his assistants. He changed the King's plate and +napkin from time to time, and cut the meats when the King did not cut +them himself. +</P> + +<P> +On rare occasions, when the King was in residence at Versailles, his +brother dined with him. But large, formal dinners were rare, and women +were seldom at the King's table except on grand occasions. +</P> + +<P> +Upon leaving the table, Saint-Simon tells us, "the King immediately +entered his cabinet. That was the time for distinguished people to speak +to him. He stopped at the door a moment to listen, then entered; very +rarely did any one follow him, never without asking permission to do so; +and for this few had the courage. . . . The King amused himself by +feeding his dogs, and remained with them more or less time, then asked +for his wardrobe, changed before the very few distinguished people it +pleased the first gentleman of the Chamber to admit there, and +immediately went out by the back stairs into the court of marble to get +the air. . . . He went out for three objects: stag-hunting, once or more +each week; shooting in his parks (and no man handled a gun with more +grace or skill), once or twice each week; and walking in his gardens, and +to see his workmen." +</P> + +<P> +The King was fond of hunting and the chase held an important part in the +service of the royal household. The conditions of the sport were +determined with a formality in keeping with the other affairs of +Versailles. There were two divisions of the chase--the hunting and the +shooting. The first had to do with the chase of the stag, deer, wild +boar, wolf, fox and the hare. The shooting had to do with smaller game. +Here was also falconry, though in this Louis was not particularly +interested. The chase was conducted by the Grand Huntsman of France, and +his duties were enormous and varied. Under him the Captain General of +the Toils kept the woods of Versailles well stocked with stag, deer, +boars, and other animals caught in the forests of France. Some idea of +the pomp and ceremony of the hunt may be obtained from the following +account which was printed in the _Mercure Galant_ in 1707: +</P> + +<P> +"The toils were placed in the glades of Bombon. In the inclosure there +were a large number of stags, wild boars, roebucks, and foxes. The court +arrived there. The King, the Queen of England (the wife of James II, +then in exile), her son, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and Madame (the +Duchesse d'Orleans, wife of Monsieur) were in the same carriage, and all +the princesses and the ladies followed in the carriages and _calèches_ of +the king. A very large number of noblemen on horseback accompanied the +carriages. Within the inclosure there were platforms, arranged with +seats covered with tapestry for the ladies, and many riding-horses for +the nobles who wished to attack the game with swords or darts. They +killed sixteen of the largest beasts, and some foxes. Mgr. le Duc de +Berry slew several. This chase gave much pleasure on account of the +brilliancy of the spectacle, and the large number of nobles who +surrounded the toils. A multitude of people had climbed into the trees, +and by their diversity they formed an admirable background." +</P> + +<P> +Stag hunting was even more impressive in ceremonial details. After the +chase the "quarry" was usually held by torchlight at Versailles, in one +of the inner courts, and the ceremony of the quarry was as follows: "When +His Majesty had made known his intentions on the subject, all the +huntsmen with their horns and in hunting-dress came to the place where +the quarry was to be made. On the arrival of the King, who was also in +hunting-dress, the grand huntsman, who had received two wands of office, +gave one to the King, and retained the other. The dogs were held under +the whip about the carcass of the stag until the grand huntsman, having +received the order from the King, gave the sign with his wand that they +should be set at liberty. The horns sounded, and the huntsmen, who while +the hounds were held under the whip had cried, 'Back, dogs! Back!' +shouted now, 'Hallali, valets! Hallali!' When the quarry had been made, +that is to say, when the flesh had been torn from the bones, a valet took +the _forhu_ (the belly of the stag, washed and placed on the end of a +forked stick), and called the dogs, crying, '_Tayaut, tayaut_!' and threw +the _forhu_ into the midst of the pack, where it was devoured at once. +At this instant the fanfares redoubled, and finished by sounding the +retreat. The King returned the wand to the grand huntsman, who at the +head of all the huntsmen followed His Majesty." +</P> + +<P> +In his promenades at Versailles and Trianon any courtiers that chose to +do so were permitted to follow the King. On his return from out-door +recreation His Majesty, after again changing his costume, remained in his +cabinet resting or working. Frequently he passed some time in the +apartments of Madame de Maintenon. +</P> + +<P> +At ten o'clock the captain of the guard announced supper in the chamber +between the Hall of the King's Guards and the antechamber called "Bull's +Eye." This meal was always on a pretentious scale, and was attended at +table by the royal children and numerous courtiers and ladies. When the +last course had been served the King retired to his bedchamber and there +for a few moments received all his Court, before passing into his +Cabinet, where he spent something less than an hour in the company of his +immediate household, his brother seated in an arm-chair, the princesses +upon stools, and the Dauphin and all the other princes standing. +</P> + +<P> +When the King had bid the company goodnight he entered his sleeping-room, +where were already the courtiers privileged to attend the ceremony of the +_coucher_, or going-to-bed. At the _grand coucher_ the King, being +formally divested of his hat, gloves, cane and sword, knelt by the +balustrade about his bed, while an almoner murmured a prayer as he held a +lighted candle above the royal head. When the King had risen from his +knees he gave to the first _valet de chambre_ his watch and the holy +relics he was accustomed to wear, and proceeded through the assemblage to +his chair. This was the moment when, with regal mien, the Sun King +bestowed the candle upon whomever he wished to honor--a ceremony brief, +trifling, but significant of the Monarch of Monarchs in its gracious +portent. +</P> + +<P> +To the Master of the Wardrobe fell the task of removing the King's coat +and vest; the diamond buckles of the right and left garters were +unfastened respectively by the first _valet de chambre_ and the first +valet of the wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber withdrew with the +kingly shoes and breeches while the pages of the Chamber presented +slippers and dressing-gown. The latter was held as a screen while the +shirt was removed, and the night-dress was accepted from the hands of a +royal prince, or the Grand Chamberlain. +</P> + +<P> +Having put on the dressing-gown, the King, with an inclination of the +head, dismissed the courtiers, to whom the ushers cried, "Gentlemen, pass +on!" +</P> + +<P> +All those that were entitled to remain for the _petit coucher_--princes, +clergymen, officers, chosen intimates--then disposed themselves about the +bedchamber while the King submitted to the hands of his coiffeur and +received from the Grand Master of the Wardrobe the night-cap and +handkerchiefs. After bathing his face and hands in a silver basin held +by a royal prince or grand master, the _petit coucher_ was at an end. +The bathing apartments of Versailles were numerous and luxuriously +appointed, but, though the most trivial details in the daily life of His +Majesty were attended with imposing circumstance, there is no record of a +Ceremony of the King's Bath, nor do we know of any noble order at the +Grand Monarch's court that held the title of Knights of the Bath. +</P> + +<P> +When the assemblage that witnessed the _petit coucher_ in the royal +apartment had dwindled one by one, according to precedent, the Master of +Versailles was, at last, free to do as he chose,--to play with his dogs +in an adjoining cabinet, or take his ease in pleasing solitude. Then, in +the familiar words of Samuel Pepys' immortal diary, "Home, and to bed." +Outside the gilded balustrade the first _valet de chambre_ slept on a +folding cot. "Beyond that balustrade, by the faint candle-light, there +loomed among the shadows a white-plumed canopy and crimson curtains. The +Grand Monarch slept." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I> +_The Gayety and Fashion of Versailles Life. The Prodigal Frivolities +and Diversions of the Court._ +</I> +</P> + +<P> +The ceremonious routine of the days at Versailles was enlivened at +certain times of the year by festivities of astounding brilliance, and, +on occasion, by gorgeous receptions offered to visiting rulers and +ambassadors, It has already been related that the arrival of Louis XIV +and his family at Versailles in the fall of 1663 was celebrated by a +fete at which a troupe headed by Molière was heard in a piece by the +great dramatist called Impromptu de Versailles, In the month of May, +1664, Louis commanded a performance of "Pleasures of the Enchanted +Isle," in which his favorite actor and playwright furnished the comedy, +Lully the music and the ballets, and an Italian mechanician the +decorations and illuminations. On the first day there was tilting at +the ring, in which pastime Louis XIV played a part, wearing a +diamond-embroidered costume. The next day, on an outdoor stage, +Molière and his company played the "_Princesse d'Élide_." There +followed ballets, races, tourneys and a lottery, "in which the prizes +were pieces of furniture, silverware and precious stones." +</P> + +<P> +In September, 1665, a hunt was organized in the woods of Versailles, at +which the royal ladies wore Amazonian habits. A mid-winter day in the +year 1667 was chosen for a tournament "that over-passed the limits of +magnificence." The Queen herself led a cortege of Court beauties on a +white horse that was set off by brocaded and gem-sewn trappings. The +_Gazette_ of 1667 described the appearance of the youthful Master of +Versailles at this tournament, he being "not less easily recognized by +the lofty mien peculiar to him than by his rich Hungarian habit covered +with gold and precious stones, his helmet with waving plumes, his horse +that was arrayed in magnificent accouterments and a jeweled +saddle-cloth." +</P> + +<P> +Again in the summers of 1668 and 1672 Molière and Lully entertained the +guests at the King's chateau, while in the gardens there were statues, +vases and chandeliers so lighted as to give the impression that they +glowed with interior names. +</P> + +<P> +In the summer of 1674, Molière "was no longer alive to arrange dramatic +performances among the green and flowery coppices of Versailles. But +there was no lack of entertainment at the splendid fêtes that marked +that year. We have the recital of Félebien, a fastidious chronicler of +Court doings, referring to this period of merry-making, which lasted +during most of the summer and fall. +</P> + +<P> +"The King," says Félebien, "ordained as soon as he arrived at +Versailles that festivities be arranged at once, and that, at +intervals, new diversions should be prepared for the pleasure of the +Court. The things most noticeable at such times as these were the +promptitude, minute pains and silent ease with which the King's orders +were invariably executed. Like a miracle--all in a moment--theaters +rose, wooded places were made gay with fountains, collations were +spread, and a thousand other things were accomplished that one would +have supposed would require a long time and a vast bustle of workers." +</P> + +<P> +The "Grand Fêtes" occupied six days of the months of July and August. +The celebrations of the fourth of July began with a feast laid on the +verdant site later usurped by the basin called the Baths of Apollo. +Here the beauty of nature was enhanced by an infinity of ornate vases +filled with garlands of flowers. Fruits of every clime were served on +platters of porcelain, in silver baskets and in bowls of priceless +glass. In the evening the Court attended a production of +_"Alceste_"--an opera by Quinault and Lully, executed by artists from +the Royal Academy of Music. The stage was set in the Marble Court. +The windows facing the court were ablaze with two rows of candles. The +walls of the chateau were screened with orange trees, festooned with +flowers, illumined by candelabra made of silver and crystal. The +marble fountain in the center of the court was surrounded by tall +candlesticks and blossoming urns. The spraying waters escaped through +vases of flowers, that their falling should not interrupt the voices of +those on the stage. Artificial waters, silver-sconced tapers, bowers +of fragrant shrubs united to create the richest of settings for this +outdoor theater. +</P> + +<P> +It was the King's wish that the grounds of the little "porcelain house" +at Trianon be chosen as the scene of the second fête, which took place +a week later. In an open-air enclosure, decorated by "a prodigious +quantity of flowers," the guests listened to the "_Êglogue de +Versailles_," composed for the occasion by Lully, leader of the +_Petits-Violons_, Louis' favorite Court orchestra. Afterwards all the +nobles and their fair companions returned to sup at Versailles in a +wood where the Basin of the Obelisk now is. +</P> + +<P> +Seven days later, at the third fete of the series, the King gave a +banquet to ladies in the pavilion at the Menagerie. The guests were +conveyed in superbly decorated gondolas down the Grand Canal. In a +large boat were violinists and hautboy-players that made sweet music. +Finally, in a theater arranged this time before the Grotto, all the +ladies were regaled with a performance of "_La Malade Imaginaire_," the +last of Molière's comedies. +</P> + +<P> +For the fourth festal day, the twenty-eighth of July, the King +commanded a fête of surpassing beauty. The feast was laid in the +center of the _Théâtre-d'Eau_. The steps forming the amphitheater +served as tables for the arrangement of the viands. Orange trees heavy +with blossoms and golden fruit, apple trees, apricot trees, trees laden +with peaches, and tall oleanders--all set out in ornamental tubs; three +hundred vessels of fine porcelain filled with fruit; one hundred and +twenty baskets of dried preserves; four hundred crystal cups containing +ices, an uncounted number of carafes sparkling with rare liqueurs--all +created a picture of colorful luxury, which, we are assured, struck +those that looked upon it as "most agreeable." Threading their musical +murmurings through all the laughter and badinage, the tossing jets of +the pyramidal fountains fell away to pools and green-bordered streams. +</P> + +<P> +Lully's opera, "_Cadmus et Hermione_" Was sung in a theater arranged at +the end of the Allée of the Dragon. At its close every one made a tour +of the park in open vehicles, lighted by torches carried by lackeys, +and all assisted at an exhibition of fire-works on the canal. The +evening ended with a supper in the Marble Court. Here an illuminated +column was placed on an immense pedestal, while around it was disposed +a table with seats for fifty persons. +</P> + +<P> +The fifth gala day was marked by the presentation to the King of one +hundred and seven flags and standards that Condé, the illustrious +general, had taken at the battle of Senef. In the evening the company +toured the park of Versailles, occupying thirty six-horse carriages. +After a supper served in a forest retreat the invited ones witnessed a +performance of "Iphigénie," a new tragedy by Racine, which was most +admirably played by the royal troupe, and much applauded by the Court. +There followed a grand illumination of the great fountain at the head +of the canal--a display whose beauty and ingenuity "surprised every +one"--even the luxury-surfeited guests of Versailles. Besides an +encircling balustrade six feet in height and ornamented with _fleurs de +lys_ and the arms of the King (all of which glowed with a golden light +most lovely to look upon), there were high pedestals that appeared to +be of transparent marble, with ornaments representing Apollo and the +Sun, whose device Louis, instigator of all the splendor of Versailles, +had adopted as his own insignia. These decorations were made after +designs by Lebrun. +</P> + +<P> +On the night of the thirty-first of August, the sixth and last day of +the fêtes, the Court witnessed what seemed to be indeed a magic +spectacle. "His Majesty," it is recorded, "coming out of the château +at one o'clock in the morning, beneath a starless sky, suddenly beheld +about him a miraculous rain of lights. All the parterres glittered. +The grand terrace in front of the château was bordered by a double row +of lights. The steps and railings of the horseshoe, all the walls, all +the fountains, all the reservoirs, shone with myriad flames. The +borders of the Grand Canal were adorned with statues and architectural +decorations, behind which lights had been placed to make them +transparent. The King, the Queen, and all the Court took their seats +in richly ornamented gondolas. Boats filled with musicians followed +them, and Echo repeated the sounds of an enchanted harmony." +</P> + +<P> +Thus ended the fêtes of 1674--the last of their kind that were given by +Louis XIV. +</P> + +<P> +The Versailles calendar of events was divided into three periods: the +season of the winter carnival, the pious observances of Easter, and the +summer-time festivities. Ordinarily, in the winter months, there was a +hunt on foot or horseback almost every day. In the warm season the +Court often took part in a promenade by boat on the Grand Canal, +followed by a concert and a feast for the ladies at Trianon or at the +Menagerie. Ladies were always invited in great numbers to such +parties. Sometimes they walked among the orange trees or made a tour +of the gardens in light carriages, or repaired to the stables to watch +the trainers putting the royal mounts through their paces. And always +there were games of chance, for gambling was the ruling passion of the +Court. +</P> + +<P> +From the record of Dangeau we read a description of a gay tournament +that took place in the riding-school of the Great Stables of Versailles +on two successive June days: +</P> + +<P> +"The King and Mme. la Dauphine (wife of the heir to the throne) dined +at an early hour, and on leaving table, the King and Monseigneur +entered a carriage. Mme. la Dauphine and many ladies followed in other +carriages. In the court of the ministers, they found all the cavaliers +of the tournament drawn up in two lines; the pages and lackeys were +there also. Monseigneur mounted a horse at the head of one company; M. +le Duc de Bourbon was at the head of the other. The King took his seat +in the place prepared for him. +</P> + +<P> +"The cavaliers first rode round the courtyard of the chateau, passing +under the windows of the young Duc de Bourgogne (grandson of the King) +who was on the balcony. Then they rode out of the gate and down the +Avenue de Paris, and entered the riding-school of the Great Stables by +a gate made near the Kennels. After riding in procession before the +raised seats of the court, they took their posts, twenty cavaliers in +each corner, with their pages and grooms behind them; the drums and +trumpets at the barrier. The subject of the tournament was the Wars of +Granada, and the cavaliers represented the Spaniards and the Moors. +Monseigneur rode a tilt with the Due de Bourbon, and Messieurs de +Vendôme and de Brionne rode at the same time to make the figure. . . . +There were three courses run for the prize, which was won by the Prince +de Lorraine. It was a sword ornamented with diamonds, and he received +it from the hand of the King. After the tournament all the cavaliers +conducted the King to the courtyard of the château, lance in hand, and +the heads of the companies saluted him with their swords. +</P> + +<P> +"On the fifth, a second tournament was held, and, in spite of the bad +weather, the King found it more beautiful than the first. Many ladies +were present. The Russian envoys, who had not seen the previous fête, +occupied seats at the King's right. During a shower, the spectators +retired quickly, but as soon as it had passed, all the seats were +filled again. The Marquis de Plumartin won the prize. It was a sword +adorned with diamonds, but more costly than that won by the Prince de +Lorraine." +</P> + +<P> +The Fête of Kings celebrated each year was a brilliant affair at +Versailles. Then the Hall of Mirrors and Salons of War and Peace were +illumined by hundreds upon hundreds of twinkling tapers, while over the +floor glided a throng of slippered feet to the beat of strings and +hautboys. At the suppers, which preceded and followed the dancing, +seventy-two Swiss guards served the guests, each one distinguished by a +ribbon corresponding with the color of the table to whose service he +was assigned. It was the King's custom to retire from the revel with +regal formalities at one hour after midnight. But the feasting and +dancing continued many times until rosy dawn stole in the windows and +paled the candle-light. Besides balls, concerts, plays, games of +chance, masquerades, all the Court was invited every week--between +October and Easter--to take part in the _appartements_ or receptions +given by the King. These soirées began at seven o'clock and lasted +till ten. The chief diversion was card-playing. The King, the Queen +and all the princes so far unbent as to play with their guests at the +same tables, and move about without ceremony, conversing, listening to +the music of Lully's band, watching a minuet or a gavotte, eating and +drinking, or bestowing special favors upon courtiers that engaged their +momentary fancy. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes the losses of the players at the tables were enormous; again, +nobles counted their gains by the hundred thousands. The youthful +granddaughter of the King, the Duchess of Bourgogne, lost at one time a +sum equaling 600,000 francs, which her doting grandfather paid, as he +also paid debts of the Duke of Bourgogne. During one night's play the +King himself lost a sum totaling "many millions." On occasion the +courtiers were entertained at festivities arranged for the heir to the +throne, or by the cardinal that was in residence at the chateau. +During masked balls held in the carnival season dancers sometimes +changed their costumes two or three times in an evening--one worn under +another being revealed by pulling a silken cord. Often well-tempered +confusion was caused by gay subterfuges--an exchange of masks, or the +imposing of one mask on another. The costumes were sumptuous beyond +words. "It is impossible to witness at one time more jewelry," naïvely +recited the _Mercure_ in setting forth the richness of a _cercle_ at +which the Court was present in 1707. +</P> + +<P> +Let us read further from the _Mercure_ of the diversions that drove +dull care away at a Court carnival: "There have been this winter five +balls in five different apartments at Versailles, all so grand and so +beautiful that no other royal house in the world can show the like. +Entrance was given to masks only, and no persons presented themselves +without being disguised, unless they were of very high rank. . . . +People invent grotesque disguises, they revive old fashions, they +choose the most ridiculous things, and seek to make them as amusing as +possible. . . . Mgr. le Dauphin changed his disguise eight or ten +times each evening. M. Bérain had need of all his wit to furnish these +disguises, and of all his ingenuity to get them made up, since there +was so little time between one ball and another. The prince did not +wish to be recognized, and all sorts of extraordinary disguises were +invented for him; frequently under the figures that concealed him, one +could not have told whether the person thus masked was tall or short, +fat or thin. Sometimes he had double masks, and under the first a mask +of wax so well made that, when he took off his first mask, people +fancied they saw the natural face, and he deceived everybody. Nothing +can equal the enjoyment which Mgr. le Dauphin takes in all these +diversions, nor the rapidity with which he changes his disguises. He +leaves all his officers without being fatigued, although he works +harder at dressing and undressing himself than they do, and he danced +much. This prince shows in the least things, in his horsemanship, and +in the ardor with which he follows the chase, what pleasure he will +take some day in commanding armies. But could one expect less from the +son of Louis the Great! +</P> + +<P> +"The first of the five balls," continues the correspondent, "was given +by M. le Grand, in his apartments in the new wing of Versailles. The +ball commenced with a masquerade. They danced a minuet and a jig; but +only Mlle. de Nantes danced in the latter. Mlle. de Nantes was +especially admired when she danced, and made so great an impression +that people stood on chairs to see her better, Mgr. le Dauphin came to +the masquerade with M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and many other +notables. He was in a sedan-chair, accompanied by a number of +merry-andrews and dwarfs. He changed his disguise four or five times +during the ball, which lasted until four o'clock in the morning. . . . +The second ball was given by Mgr. le Dauphin in the hall of his Guards, +which forms the entrance to his apartments. M. le Duc gave the third, +which was magnificent. Some days after it was the turn of the Cardinal +de Bouillon to receive the court." +</P> + +<P> +"From just before Candlemas day to Easter of the year 1700," wrote +Saint-Simon, "nothing was heard of but balls and pleasures of the +Court. The King gave at Versailles and Marly several masquerades, by +which he was much amused under pretext of amusing the Duchesse de +Bourgogne. +</P> + +<P> +"No evening passed on which there was not a ball. The chancellor's +wife gave one--which was a fête the most gallant and the most +magnificent possible. There were different rooms for the fancy-dress +ball, for the masqueraders, for a superb collation, for shops of all +countries, Chinese, Japanese, etc., where many singular and beautiful +things were sold, but no money taken; there were presents for the +Duchesse de Bourgogne and the ladies. Everybody was especially +diverted at this entertainment, which did not finish until eight +o'clock in the morning. Madame de Saint-Simon and I passed the last +three weeks of this time without ever seeing the day. Certain dancers +were allowed to leave off dancing only at the same time as the Duchesse +de Bourgogne. One morning, when I wished to escape too early, the +duchesse caused me to be forbidden to pass the doors of the salon; +several of us had the same fate. I was delighted when Ash Wednesday +arrived, and I remained a day or two dead-beat." +</P> + +<P> +The _Mercure_ describes the fête given by the wife of the Chancellor of +France at her mansion beyond the palace grounds: +</P> + +<P> +"Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, learning that Mme. la Chancelière +wished to give her a ball, received the proposition with much joy. +Although there were but eight days in which to prepare for it, Mme. la +Chancelière resolved to give the princess in one evening all the +diversions that people usually take during all the carnival +period--namely, comedy, fair, and ball. When the evening came, +detachments of Swiss were posted in the street and in the courtyard, +with many servants of Mme. la Chancelière, so that there was no +confusion at the gates or in the court, which was brightly lighted with +torches. . . . The ball-room was lighted by ten chandeliers and by +magnificent gilded candelabra. At one end, on raised seats, were the +musicians, hautboys and violins, in fancy dress with plumed caps. In +front of the velvet-covered benches for the courtiers were three +arm-chairs, one for Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the others for +Monsieur and the Madame. Beyond the ball-room, across the landing of +the staircase, was another hall, brilliantly lighted, in which were +hautboys and violins, and this hall was for the masks, who came in such +numbers that the ball-room could not have contained them all. +</P> + +<P> +". . . After remaining about an hour at the ball, Mme. la Chancelière +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne +into another hall, filled with lights and mirrors, where a theater had +been erected to furnish the diversion of a comedy. Only about one +hundred people were allowed to enter the hall of comedy, and the +princes and princesses of the blood, being masked, took no rank there. +Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne and Madame had arm-chairs in the center +of the hall. The Duchesse de Bourgogne was surprised to see a splendid +theater, adorned with her arms and monogram. . . . As soon as the +princess was seated, Bari, the famous mountebank of Paris, came forward +and asked her protection against the doctors, and having extolled the +excellence of his remedies, and the marvels of his secrets, he offered +to the princess as a little diversion a comedy such as they sometimes +played at Paris. There was given then a little comedy which Mme. le +Chancelière had got M. Dancourt to write expressly for that fête. All +the actors were from the company of the comedians of the king. They +played to perfection, and received much praise. . . . At the end of +the comedy, Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was conducted into another +hall, where a superb collation had been prepared in an ingenious +manner. At one end of the hall, in a half-circle, were five booths, in +which were merchants, clad in the costumes of different countries; a +French pastry-cook, a seller of oranges and lemons, an Italian +lemonade-seller, a seller of sweetmeats, a vendor of coffee, tea and +chocolate. They were from the king's musicians, and sung their wares, +accompanied by music, at the sides of the booths, and had pages to +serve the guests. The booths were splendidly painted and gilded, +adorned with lusters and flowers, and bore the arms and cipher of Mme. +la Duchesse de Bourgogne. At the back of each booth a large mirror +reflected the whole. . . . The Duchesse de Bourgogne left this hall, +after the collation, delighted with all that she had seen and heard. +Since the ball-room was so crowded with masks, the princess returned to +the hall of comedy, where they held a smaller court ball until two +o'clock, when she went to the grand ball to see the masks. She was +much amused there until four in the morning. When Mme. la Chancelière +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted her to the foot of the +staircase, she thanked them much for the pleasure they had given her. +This fete brought many congratulations to Mme. la Chancelière." +</P> + +<P> +La Palatine, Duchess of Orleans, has left among her letters a +description of her costume on a day of august ceremonies. "The crowd +was so great," she wrote, "that we had to wait a quarter of an hour at +the door of each salon before entering, and I was wearing a robe and an +overskirt so intolerably heavy that I could scarcely stand erect. My +costume was of gold woven with black chenille flowers, and my jewels +were pearls and diamonds. Monsieur had on a coat of black velour +embroidered with gold, and wore all his great diamonds. The coat of my +son was embroidered with gold and a variety of other colors and it was +covered with gems. The robe my daughter wore was made of green velour +threaded with gold and garnished with rubies and diamonds. In her hair +was an ornament designed in brilliants and sprays of rubies." +</P> + +<P> +For these extraordinary functions the King and his entourage bedecked +themselves with priceless ornaments. When in 1714 the Sun King +received the ambassador of Siam, he chose a habit of black and gold +bordered with diamonds, valued at 12,500,000 _livres_, or about +$2,500,000. The weight was so great that he was compelled to change it +soon after dinner. Besides the jewelry he wore on his own person, the +royal host loaned for this event a garniture of diamonds and pearls to +the Duke of Maine and another garniture of colored stones to the Count +of Toulouse. +</P> + +<P> +When the King of France received foreign ambassadors, or celebrated, +with pomp befitting his tastes, marriages and births in the royal +family, the Court, weightily, stiffly, sumptuously appareled, thronged +through the Hall of Mirrors--the Grand Gallery--in spectacular defile. +</P> + +<P> +These brilliant tableaux, the most brilliant of all Europe, had their +source in the King's love of splendor and profusion. It was to please +him that his courtiers and favorites staked fortunes at the gaming +tables, outran each other in devising costly dresses, contrived novel +equipages and unique dwellings. In his superb Court he found all the +elements required to satisfy his pride, and glorify his reign. The Sun +King was the most profligate host in all history. Determined to outdo +the fabulous luxury of the feasts of Lucullus in early Roman times, and +to outshine the storied splendor of Oriental princes, he entertained +his Court and guests with lavish liberality, superbly indifferent to +the cost of his boundless extravagance and considering not at all the +day of reckoning that must come later for the Bourbon dynasty in +France. To glow with commanding brilliance, like the Sun, in the +center of his royal firmament, to overwhelm his subjects with his +grandeur, and to dazzle the eyes of other nations--that was the +ambition that Louis cherished and achieved. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES +</H4> + +<P> +We have pictured the Sun King and his imposing Court. We have told the +story of the founding and construction of his luxurious palace, and +described the spectacles and entertainments that made Versailles the +most brilliant spot in Europe. We have said nothing of the women of +Versailles and the part they played in the life of the Court and the +influence they exerted in the affairs of France. Some of these women, +though occupying the Queen's apartments and sharing the crown, lived an +existence of bitter disappointment and thwarted affection--Queens in +name only, and serving only as mothers of princes and future monarchs. +Such were Marie Thérèse, the heart-sick wife of Louis XIV, and Marie +Leczinska, the sad consort of Louis XV. About them were many brilliant +women that graced the palace with their beauty and charm and made +romantic court history that the chroniclers of the time fed on eagerly, +and that the world has devoured eagerly ever since. Rich were those +years in intrigue and adventure, and many and rapid were the changing +fortunes of favorites. No one could tell what a day might bring forth. +The woman of one hour might go the next. Self-interest stimulated the +ambitious seekers of favors to constant endeavor. Grim, determined +strugglers for social preference frequented the salons with smiling +faces that sometimes glowed with pride and satisfaction, but more often +veiled rankling disappointment and carking care. +</P> + +<P> +Even the great Madame de Maintenon, who successfully weathered the +storms of the social struggle for so many years, once exclaimed: "I can +hold out no longer. I wish that I were dead." And a short time before +her demise, she observed bitterly, "One atones in full for youthful +joys and gratification. I can see, as I review my life, that since I +was twenty-two years of age--when my good fortune began--I have not +been free from suffering for a moment; and through my life my +sufferings increased." +</P> + +<P> +If Madame de Maintenon confessed so much in her last days, what must +the other favorites of Versailles have experienced and felt? Each wore +the mask of Comedy, with Tragedy gnawing beneath. These brilliant +women, who seemed at times to be so happy, were little more than +slaves, and we find them disclosed in the memoirs of the time as +"penitents who make their apologies to history and lay bare to future +generations their miseries, vexations and the remorse of their souls." +The demands of Court life were constant and relentlessly exacting. The +favorites, each one striving to outdo the others, knew not, from day to +day, what way their destinies were leading them. +</P> + +<P> +"If," exclaimed Saint-Amand, "among these favorites of the King, there +were a single one that had enjoyed her shameful triumphs in peace, that +could have recalled herself happy in the midst of her luxury and +splendor, one might have concluded that, from a merely human point of +view, it is possible to find happiness in vice. But no; there was not +even one. The Duchesse de Châteauroux and Marquise de Pompadour were +no happier than the Duchesse de la Vallière and the Marquise de +Montespan." +</P> + +<P> +The Sun King built Versailles and established his Court there. It was +the women that made the life of Versailles--and gave their lives to it. +The Court was a dazzling spider's web, and many a beautiful favorite +became fatally entangled in its glittering meshes. +</P> + +<P> +Louis XIV, when twenty-two years of age, married Marie Thérèse, +daughter of Philip IV of Spain. If he had been a simple, respectable +young man of France, he might then have settled down and finished the +story by "living happily ever after." But he was not. He was the King +of France; so he pursued the royal road that his antecedents had blazed +before him; and the way was made easy and pleasant for him. In +treading the "primrose path of dalliance" he allowed no grass to grow +under his feet. +</P> + +<P> +Louis made Marie Thérèse his Queen and consort in 1660, and it was only +a year later when his fancy was caught by the dainty and attractive +little Françoise Louise La Vallière. She was scarcely more than +seventeen years of age when she became the favorite of the King. She +was a delicate little creature, slightly lame, but most feminine in her +appeal, and she caught the King by her very girlishness, as she played +like a child with him in the parks of the palace. She was a simple +maid of honor to Queen Marie Thérèse when she first attracted the +notice of the King. A few years afterward she was created a duchess +and, as such, retained the royal favor for a time. Then remorse seized +upon La Vallière; she took the veil, and, as Sister Louise of Mercy, +entered a convent, and gave her life in religious solitude to expiate +the grief that she had caused the good Queen. The atonement was only +just, for Louise de Vallière had made Marie Thérèse suffer bitterly the +tortures of jealousy and offended conjugal affection. The Queen was +not a woman of unusual intelligence, but she was sensible, tactful, and +had a certain native dignity that compelled respect. She was, +moreover, devoutly religious and devotedly attached to her children. +She shared her royal Husband's conviction as to the divine right of +kings, and what he did she considered could not be wrong. Of all the +women that were associated with Louis, no one more truly admired him +nor was more ardently devoted to him than his Queen. When they were +first married, Louis treated Marie Thérèse with kindly consideration. +He shed tears of sympathy and anguish while she suffered in giving +birth to her first child. During the following dozen years, Marie +Thérèse bore six sons and daughters, but all were lost except the +Dauphin, and he died before ascending the throne. These bereavements +sank deep into her heart and left a wound there that never healed. +Added to this was the spectacle that she was called on repeatedly to +witness of the King's infidelities with a succession of favorites. She +was compelled to take these women into her household and make +companions of them, knowing the while that they were really her rivals +and persecutors. She was often heard to cry out concerning one or +other of the favorites, "That woman will be the death of me." La +Vallière she could afford to forgive, for the first mistress paid for +the brief royal favor that she enjoyed by thirty-six years of rigid and +austere penitence. Other favorites, however, pursued a path of pride, +lowering their heads only under the "bludgeonings of Fate." Yet most +of them, while Marie Thérèse lived, respected and honored her and felt +a certain sense of shame in her presence. The brilliant and beautiful +Madame de Montespan said, some time before her scandalous relations +with the King had fairly begun, "God preserve me from being the King's +mistress. If I were so I should feel ashamed to face the Queen." And +yet Madame de Montespan, within a short time, assumed the role of +favorite, and carried it out with great pride and arrogant assurance. +The conviction is forced upon us, however, by the evidence of those +that witnessed her ascendancy, that Montespan frequently felt the +stings of self-reproach when she met the Queen, and that her haughty +bearing concealed a genuine sense of shame. In the midst of luxury, +power and brilliant success she seemed at times a small and mean +character in the presence of the pious Marie Thérèse. As Louis' +infidelities increased in number, his sense of guilt toward his consort +was stamped deeper on his consciousness. He endeavored to make amends +by paying her marked respect and treating her at times with +distinguished tenderness and consideration. But Versailles was the +high seat of elaborate and elegant insincerity, and no one was deceived +by the formal courtesies paid by the Sun King to his unhappy wife. The +deference that he displayed toward her in public appeared to the eyes +of the world to be simply a cloak for essential neglect. And she, poor +creature, with all the prestige of the Queen of France, was but a +pitiful thing in the presence of the King. She tried to do her best to +please him. The thought of offense to the Monarch beset her with fear. +The Princess Palatine wrote of her once: "When the King came to her she +was so gay that people remarked it. She would laugh and twinkle and +rub her little hands. She had such a love for the King that she tried +to catch in his eyes every hint of the things that would give him +pleasure. If he ever looked at her kindly, that day was bright." +Madame De Caylus tells us that the Queen had such a dread of her royal +husband and such an inborn timidity that she hardly dared speak to him. +Madame de Maintenon relates that the King, having once sent for the +Queen, asked Madame to accompany Her Majesty so that she might not have +to appear alone in the presence of her royal husband, and that when +Madame de Maintenon conducted the Queen to the door of the King's room, +and there took the liberty of pushing her ahead so as to force her to +enter, she observed that Marie Therese fell into such a great tremble +that her very hands shook with fright. And why should not the Queen +tremble with unhappy apprehension when even the greatest favorite of +all, Madame de Maintenon, found nothing in the life of the Court but +bitter striving and heart misery? In the very midst of her splendor +she exclaimed to a friend, "If I could only make clear to you the +hideous _ennui_ that devours all of us, the troubles that fill our +days! Do you not see that I am dying of sadness in the midst of a +fortune that passes all imagination? I have had youth and beauty, I +have sated myself with pleasure, I have had my hours of intellectual +satisfaction, I have enjoyed royal favor, and yet I protest to you, my +good friend, that all these conditions leave only a dreadful void." +</P> + +<P> +Marie Thérèse took up her abode at Versailles only when the palace was +pronounced complete. She entered her apartments there in 1682, and +breathed her last in July of the following year. The Queen's bedroom +is filled with historic memories. The walls could whisper many tragic +secrets and the halls might assemble by invocation innumerable ghostly +figures of fair women that once stood close to the throne, wore royal +robes, and nursed breaking hearts. In the Queen's bed chamber died +Marie Therese and, later, Marie Leczinska, the Queen of Louis XV. +There also the Dauphiness of Bavaria and the Duchess of Burgundy passed +away; and, in that chamber, nineteen princes and princesses of the +royal blood were born, among whom were King Philip V of Spain and Louis +XV of France. The chamber was occupied first by the pious and devoted +Marie Therese; after that by the Bavarian Dauphiness, who died in 1690 +at the early age of twenty-nine; then by the Duchess of Burgundy, the +mother of Louis XV. She died in 1712 at the age of twenty-six. Then +Mary Anne Victoire, the Infanta of Spain, occupied the apartment for a +brief time; after that, in 1725, came Marie Leczinska, the wife of +Louis XV, who lived there for forty-three years, during which she gave +birth to ten children. And, finally, the most appealing figure of all +entered that fateful apartment--she who has been characterized as "the +most poetic of women, who combined in herself all majesties and all +sorrows, all triumphs and all humiliations, all feminine joys and +tears, she whose very name inspires the emotion, tenderness and respect +of the world"--Marie Antoinette. +</P> + +<P> +During the hundred years that followed the entrance of Marie Thérèse on +the scene at Versailles, many extraordinary women came, shone and +passed away. The Hall of Mirrors, had it the power to reflect the +past, would afford a gallery of brilliant portraits. There would be, +first, the devout Queen herself, virtuous, kind, considerate, loved by +all her people and gently resigned to her fate. Then would follow a +glittering train of proud and brilliant mistresses, some compelling by +their beauty and gayety, others by their wit and sense. Sweet Madame +de La Vallière had scarcely passed into obscurity when the haughty and +imperious Marquise de Montespan assumed supremacy and became "the +center of pleasures, of fortune, of hope and of terror to all that were +dependent on the Court." No one could rightly claim to be an intimate +of Montespan except the King, and at times he did not understand her. +While apparently frank and free in her enjoyment of life and in her +dealings with associates in the Court, Montespan always withheld enough +to keep her best friends guessing. No one knew all her romance. She +had experienced both extremes of fortune and when she gained favor with +Louis she had acquired a confidence and a command of herself that +influenced the King to a degree that even he would not have +acknowledged. But the Court knew well the influence of Montespan and +also the ministers, generals of the army and foreign ambassadors. +Montespan succeeded Madame de La Vallière in favor about 1667 and she +held her supremacy for ten years. Then came the turn of her fortunes, +for Madame de Maintenon, fascinating in all that makes feminine charm +and with an extraordinary mind in addition, supplanted Montespan and +became the companion of the King until his dying day. Montespan, who +had eight children by the King, left the Court in bitterness and +humiliation and, like La Vallière, ended her life in a convent. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Maintenon was the most distinguished woman in the history of +Versailles. As a girl, in abject poverty, she married in 1652 the good +old poet Scarron. There was no love lost there. She merely took the +gentle-hearted man because he offered either to pay for her entrance +into a convent or to make her his wife, and she found the latter +alternative more acceptable. During the nine years she lived with +Scarron, she maintained a brilliant salon, in which gathered the great +intelluctual figures of the time. In 1669 Madame de Montespan gave +Madame de Maintenon the charge of one of her sons. In that manner +Montespan brought her governess in touch with her King, and, in so +doing, sealed her own fate. +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Maintenon was a very wise woman. She did not entertain any +sincere affection for the King, and, during all the years of his +devotion to her, she never really loved him. She found a monarch much +sated with the luxurious pleasures of the Court, and beginning to tire +of his latest mistress, and she saw in the situation an opportunity +that appealed to her ambition. With shrewd judgment she measured the +character of Madame de Montespan, and she forecast in her mind the +inevitable downfall of the proud and arrogant favorite. She was the +very opposite in nature of Madame de Montespan. Her self-possession, +poise, skill and tact, virtue and piety made an irresistible appeal to +the tired King. That her piety was scarcely more than a cloak is +betrayed by many of her own utterances. "Nothing is more clever than +irreproachable behavior," she said at one time to close friends. Her +behavior was both irreproachable and clever, and it obtained for her +the satisfaction of her highest ambitions. She fascinated and lured +the King, playing the coquette to him, but evading him with a baffling +assumption of virtue, yielding just enough to draw the Monarch on; then +playing the part of a prude, until, finally, she became in the eyes of +the fascinated Louis the most desired of women. It was not long before +Madame de Maintenon was so advanced in the King's favor that the affair +was the gossip of the Court, and Madame de Montespan was compelled to +stand by, a silent and bitter witness of her own defeat. It was a +humiliating blow to Madame de Montespan to see the King with eyes only +for Madame de Maintenon, saying witty and agreeable things to her, and +ignoring his former favorite completely. It was not long before Madame +de Montespan received her dismissal and, trembling with rage, descended +the great staircase of Versailles never again to mount it. Madame de +Maintenon was installed in special apartments at the head of the Marble +Staircase, opposite the Hall of the King's Guards, and a new spirit +dominated the halls of the palace. Under Madame de Montespan a +"haughtiness in everything that reached to the clouds" had held the +Court and attendants in fear, made the lives of all uneasy, and kept +the atmosphere of the palace astir. With the entrance of Madame de +Maintenon into favor a quieter tone pervaded Versailles. Madame was a +woman of great intelligence and wit, and made all feel the gracious +influence of her fine companionship. There was nothing ascetic in her +piety, but, on the other hand, frivolity, immorality, and unworthy +intrigue had no place in her circle. And all those that attended her +held her in esteem and profound respect. With all her incomparable +grace, she was in mind and spirit more truly the queen than mistress. +She was older than the King and her influence was stronger on that +account. She had comprehended the situation at Versailles with +characteristic shrewdness. The King needed her. The Court of France +needed her--and she needed both the King and the Court for the +fulfillment of her supreme ambitions. As one writer has ironically put +it, "With her gracious bearing and her calm, even temper, she must have +seemed to a king of forty-six, who had buried his queen and cast off +his mistress, the ideal wife for his old age. Then, too, she was pious +and devout, she wished to withdraw the King from the world and give him +to God; she had no ambitions (!), she desired to meddle in nothing, she +was grateful when her husband took her into his confidence, but she +longed only to save his soul. It seemed almost too wonderful to be +true. It was not true." +</P> + +<P> +Madame de Maintenon was determined to be Queen of France, and she +became so in soul as well as in fact. During her latter years she +ruled, and the King was content to follow her advice and do her will. +When the King was dying and she could gain no more at his hands, Madame +de Maintenon effected a most satisfactory settlement for herself at St. +Cyr, where she ended her days in piety and serene repose. +</P> + +<P> +Saint-Amand has observed truly that the women of Versailles were +interesting not only from the moral point of view and as subjects of +study, but on account of what he called the "symbolical importance of +their relations to the history of France." Each seemed to be the +living expression of the spirit of her day. Madame de Montespan was +just such a superb, luxurious and magnificent beauty as Versailles +needed to display to all the ambassadors that came to bask in the +glitter of the Sun King's Court. She was the dazzling mistress that +ruled imperiously over the gay and brilliant life of the palace, the +very incarnation of haughty and triumphant France at the culminating +point of the reign of Louis XIV. +</P> + +<P> +Then came Madame de Maintenon who, with her discreet and temperate +nature, restored order, and was, for years, the living symbol of a +changed condition in the Court in which piety and religious observance +displaced licentious and voluptuous pleasure. And, along with this +"wisdom of a repentant age," as Saint-Amand observes, "this reaction of +austerity against pleasure, there was still the contrast of youth." It +was the Duchess of Burgundy who was the living embodiment of this +protest of joy against sadness, of springtime against cold winter, of +licentiousness against the exacting restrictions of etiquette. Affairs +in the Court had reached a turning point, and it was the logical mind +of Madame de Maintenon that saw it. When Madame de Montespan was in +the ascendancy, the Court had reached a condition of voluptuous +indulgence that could not continue long. The Princess Palatine, wife +of the brother of Louis XIV, wrote: "I hear and see every day so many +villainous things that it disgusts me with life. You have good reason +to say that the good Queen is now happier than we are, and if any one +would do me, as to her and her mother, the service of sending me in +twenty-four hours from this world to the other, I would certainly bear +him no ill will." +</P> + +<P> +However we may question the soul sincerity of Madame de Maintenon, to +her at least we must give credit for checking the corrupt tendencies of +the Court and, with correcting finger, pointing the way toward better +things. After Louis XIV, as Saint-Amand points out, the conditions of +the Court of France were reflected even more vividly in the characters +of the women of Versailles. "With compression and reserve," he +observes, "there followed scandal. During the regency and the reign of +Louis XV the morals of the Court fast deteriorated. A new epoch +opened--troublous, lewd, dissolute. And was not the Duchess of Berry +eccentric, capricious, passionate, the very image of the time? The +favorites of Louis XV indicate to us in their own sad history the +conditions of debasing humiliation and moral decadence of monarchical +power. At first Louis XV chose his favorites from among ladies of +quality--after that, from the middle classes, and, finally, from the +common women of the people." He did not stop at the low-born shop girl +or the frequenter of evil resorts. +</P> + +<P> +Louis began with the Duchesse de Châteauroux, the exquisite, who +lasted, as we might say, but a day. From that he turned to the +Marquise de Pompadour, a descent sufficiently significant, but it was +only the beginning of decadence. The King's feeling for the Marquise +was wholly unworthy, and it soon wore itself out. Her death caused him +no regret. On the day of her funeral, during a heavy rainstorm, the +King, standing at one of the windows of Versailles, watched the +carriage bearing the body of his former favorite to Paris, and observed +carelessly: "The Marquise will not have fine weather for her journey." +Louis soon turned to Madame Dubarry--and a lower step was taken. The +prestige and dignity of the Court suffered. "Vice," as Saint-Amand +observes, "threw off all semblance of disguise" and yet, while the King +slowly submerged his nature in a slough of corruption, and his +associates made of the Court a carnival of immorality, there was still +one figure in whom the traditional morals and manners were +maintained--the Queen Marie Leczinska. She was the one pure and +virtuous figure in the Court life. "Her domestic hearth," writes +Saint-Amand, "was near the boudoir of the favorites, but it was she +that preserved for the Court the traditions of decency and decorum. +</P> + +<P> +"Last of all of the women of Versailles, came Marie Antoinette, the +woman who, in the most striking and tragic of all destinies, represents +not solely the majesty and the griefs of royalty, but all the graces +and all the agonies, all the joys and all the sufferings, of her sex." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV +</H4> + +<P> +Louis the Great, in commanding immense and costly edifices to rise out +of the earth, was moved, at least in part, by a desire to assure the +monarchy and its established ceremonial a worthy background. Louis XV, +in the numerous graceful additions to the chateau made by him, sought +only to satisfy his own caprice and convenience. +</P> + +<P> +When the Court returned from Vincennes to Versailles in 1722, seven +years after the death of Louis XIV, one of the new King's first +undertakings was the construction of the Salon of Hercules, adjoining +the chapel court. This splendid hall, which to-day serves as the +entrance to the _grand appartements_, owed its design to Robert de +Cotte. As in the time of Louis XIV and Mansard, marble was chosen as +the main decorative medium. All the sculptural ornaments are in bronze +and marble. The bases of the pilasters are of gilded bronze. Carvings +in wood and stucco were contributed by a Flemish artist named +Verberckt, to whom Louis XV assigned most of the sculptural work done +at the chateau during his reign. It was he that modeled the two doors +placed on either side the bronze and marble chimney-piece, and the +sculptures of the cornice. The painting on the ceiling--the Apotheosis +of Hercules--was first seen by His Majesty as he passed through the +room on his way to mass on a day in September, 1736. He examined it +with much attention (some one has taken the trouble to record), and +demonstrated his satisfaction by forthwith naming Sire Le Moine, the +creator of the work, his chief painter. And thereon hangs a tragic +tale. So great was Le Moine's pride in the honor thus done him that he +determined to bring his work to still higher perfection. He resolved +to finish each detail with the same exactitude as though he were +painting a canvas that was to be observed at close range. But the more +he applied his brush to bring out intricate effects, the less the +design pleased him. In a sudden revulsion for the completed work, he +effaced it and began the entire painting anew. This time he was better +satisfied, though critics attached to the Court esteemed the second +canvas not so good as the one destroyed. Upon the completion of the +decorative scheme, the Sovereign bestowed upon Le Moine 5,000 _livres_ +for the _Salon d'Hercule_. Then, to his chagrin, the over-careful +artist discovered that he was out of pocket 24,000 _livres_ by the +transaction. The loss turned his head; seized by grief and +disappointment he committed suicide. +</P> + +<P> +This salon served during the reign of Louis XV as a ball-room, and here +in March, 1749, the Monarch was formally presented with two young +ostriches, brought from Egypt and destined for the Menagerie. +</P> + +<P> +In contrast to the passion for ostentation exhibited by Louis XIV, his +great-grandson and successor was chiefly occupied in finding ways to +evade his gilded prison. When the demand of the Court necessitated his +presence at Versailles, he sought diversion in changing the apartments, +making them over, demolishing here, reconstructing there--expending +vast sums at all times. In 1738, finding the chamber of Louis XIV cold +and inconvenient, he ordered another suite to be arranged for him on +the second floor of the chateau above the Marble Court, and here he +lived at his ease, untrammeled by etiquette and far from the curious +gaze of courtiers. Small living rooms, kitchens, grills and bakeries +were built on the Court of the Stags, and above the private apartments +of Louis XIV rooms were added for the favorites of the King. +</P> + +<P> +The storied Staircase of the Ambassadors, by which ceremonious visitors +were admitted to the presence of the Sun King, was leveled by the whim +of Louis XV. Little mattered it to him that this superb entrance +filled an essential role in the life of the royal residence. Forgetful +of the scenes that had been enacted on the triumphal stair, the +great-grandson of the builder of Versailles commanded the destruction +of one of the noblest architectural works of the time. Its +bas-reliefs, its incomparable marbles, its paintings on which Lebrun +had exercised all the resources of his decorative genius--all +disappeared at the nod of the ambitious Madame de Pompadour, who +desired a theater to be erected on this site. In later years the +theater disappeared to make room for the apartments of the King's fair +daughter, Madame Adelaïde. +</P> + +<P> +The project to build another flight of steps ending in the Salon of +Hercules was never carried out. Future guests were therefore admitted +to the reception rooms by a dark, narrow entrance, or they made a long +roundabout tour by way of the Queen's staircase across the Marble +Court. The demolition of the stairway of honor was an irreparable +loss. No other piece of wantonness equaled it in the tumultuous +history of Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +However, there remain in the château a number of memorials to the +judgment and good taste of the third master of the chateau, among them, +the exquisitely decorated rooms of the King, re-made on the site of +those dedicated to Louis XIV; the seven rooms of Madame Adelaide, and +the suites set apart for the mistresses that succeeded one another in +the favor of Louis the Fifteenth. These apartments, evolved out of the +confusion of orders and counter-orders, remain to-day as examples of +the pure and elegant decorative styles of the eighteenth century. +Especially admired is the Council Room. Richly adorned, but always in +charming taste, it represents the transition period between the more +severe ornamental art peculiar to the reign of Louis XIV and the warmer +effects beloved by Louis XV. Behind the Council Room were installed, +on the west side of the Court of the Stags, a _cabinet de bains_ +(bath-room) and a little room called the Salon of the Wigs. By these +rooms access was gained to the Salon of Apollo. +</P> + +<P> +The billiard-room, where King Louis XIV was wont to play with his +hounds before retiring, became the bed-room of his heir. After the +year 1738, Louis XV occupied this chamber, and here he died thirty-six +years later. It then became the sleeping-room of the ill-starred Louis +XVI--who died in no bed. Locks, door-knobs, chimney ornaments--each +detail in gilded bronze reflected rare taste and workmanship. The bed +stood in an alcove enclosed between two columns, railed in by a +balustrade of elaborate design, and curtained by wonderful tapestries. +Ordinarily the King slept in this room; when he wakened in the morning +he put on a robe and passed through the Council Room to the salon where +the "rising" was celebrated with traditional pomp. +</P> + +<P> +If Louis XV indulged in an orgy of building and repair, it was because +he pined with an _ennui_ that was only relieved by constant diversion. +If at the cost of unnumbered thousands of francs, Madame de Pompadour +urged on her royal lover and contrived new outlets for his craze for +building, it was because she was adroit enough to enliven by this means +an existence that often palled upon him. If, throughout the long +series of decisions and contradictions regarding changes in the +chateau, the Monarch commanded one day that a library and marble bath +be added to the apartments of his daughter, and on another that useful +halls, staircases and offices be removed; if he ordered the +construction of a great Opera House with a facade like a temple, and, +in another mood, made away with insignificant rooms that consumed no +more space than would have filled a remote corner of this great hall of +the theater--the motive was ever the same: to banish for the time-being +the hovering specter of boredom and melancholy. "Louis XV," comments +the author of "France Under Louis XV," "was not a man that sought +relief from ceremony and adulation in any useful work; but, on the +other hand, this dull grandeur was not dear to his heart; he did not +derive from it the majestic satisfaction that it furnished to his +predecessor. From youth to age the King was bored; he wearied of his +throne, his court, himself; he was indifferent to all things, and +unconcerned as to the weal or the woe of his people." +</P> + +<P> +One of the Salons on which he lavished all the art of his epoch was the +reception-room of the royal Adelaïde. Here all was carved and gilded +in a manner exquisite beyond words--chimney, doors, ceiling, window +embrasures, mirror frames. Musical instruments were employed as +sculpture _motifs_, for in this room the princess liked to sit and play +her violoncello. In the dining-room, the decorative designs were +delicately carved rosettes, arabesques, garlands of fruits and flowers, +crowns and medallions. +</P> + +<P> +The supreme ruler of Louis XV's affections--the amazing Madame +Dubarry--was lodged "in a suite of delectable boudoirs" facing the +Marble Court, above the private apartments of the King. Everywhere +appeared the initial _L_ linked with the torches of Love. One of the +objects most admired in the drawing-room was an English piano-forte, +with a case adorned with rosewood medallions, blue and white mosaics +and gilded metal. In this room there were chests of drawers of antique +lacquer and ebony, statues of marble, and garnishings of sculptured +bronze. At night all was ablaze with the lights of the great luster of +rock-crystal that hung from the center of the ceiling, and had cost, it +was said, a sum equaling three thousand American dollars. In varying +form, but with equal richness, all the apartments of Dubarry were +beautified at the King's behest. +</P> + +<P> +In January, 1747, the "theater of the little apartments" of the King +was inaugurated by a representation of "_Tartuffe_" with Madame de +Pompadour in the cast. The King frequently permitted himself to be +distracted with music and the play in this hall in the Little Gallery. +Here was an orchestra of twenty-eight musicians, a ballet, and a chorus +of twenty-six, under the direction of Monsieur de Bury, Lully's +successor as master of the Court music. Actors, singers, dancers, all +were supplied with gorgeous costumes, and given the services of Sire +Notrelle, the most celebrated wig-maker in Paris, who had in his day a +prodigious vogue. One of his advertisements announced his ability to +imitate the coiffures of "gods, demons, heroes and shepherds, tritons, +cyclops, naiads and furies." Astounding were the head-dresses of the +actors and actresses that graced the stage of Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +Invitations to a dramatic performance were given by the King himself, +and, for many years, to men guests only. Sometimes the Pompadour +played the comedies of Voltaire, whom she favored against the will of +all the royal family. Occasionally, performances were of necessity +postponed out of respect to a member of the Court that had been slain +in a duel; but not for long did the King and his train pause in their +restless pursuit of pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +A new theater was installed, with more room for auditors, troupe and +musicians. Finally, in 1753, the Opera House was begun according to +designs submitted by Gabriel, first architect to the King. After long +delays the edifice was completed in time for the marriage fêtes of the +Dauphin (Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria. The +hall of the Opera was so surpassingly fine in its dress of fine +woodwork, green marble and gilding that a writer of the period, +addressing a friend in Paris, where all were discontented with the +Opera House just built in the capital, bade him "come with the crowd of +curious folk to Versailles and admire the magnificent building of the +Court Opera. Besides the beautiful outer view it presents," said he, +"and the splendor of its ensemble, the mechanism of the interior is +amazing." In this imposing auditorium the Court of Louis XVI heard the +operas of Lully and Rameau, the tragedies of Racine and Voltaire. Here +at a banquet in October, 1789, Louis XVI called on his supporters at +Versailles to oppose the Revolution. And a short time later, the hall +of the Opera served as a meeting-place for the insurrectionists. +</P> + +<P> +In 1837, Louis Phillipe, last of the Bourbon kings, restored the +building and redecorated it in red marble. In memory of Louis XIV, the +reigning King commanded his troupe to perform a comedy by Molière. +Extracts from Meyerbeer's opera, _Robert le Diable_, and a piece +written by Auber concluded the fête organized by this monarch to recall +the golden days of Louis the Superb. +</P> + +<P> +When, in the summer of 1855, Napoleon III entertained Queen Victoria at +Versailles, the supper that terminated a day of brilliant celebrations +was laid in the banquet hall of the Opera. The last theatrical +performance given in this worthy memorial to the building enterprise of +Louis XV was witnessed by Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, and the King +of Spain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS +</H4> + +<P> +It was on a May morning in the year 1770 that the child-bride of the +Dauphin of France arrived at Versailles--the graceful, winsome, +golden-haired Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, Empress of +Austria. The future Queen of France was then not fifteen years of age, +and her affianced husband was but a few months older. +</P> + +<P> +A letter in her own hand, dated at Versailles on the 24th of May, 1770, +describes the incidents of her ceremonious journey from Austria, and her +reception by Louis XV and his heir. Other letters to her family give us +glimpses of the wedding in the chapel of Versailles, of the fêtes, the +balls at the palace, the function of distributing bread and wine to the +people, the hunts in nearby forests, the dances, musicales and informal +assemblages of the royal family in the intimate apartments of the chateau. +</P> + +<P> +"Our life here is perpetual movement," wrote the Dauphine to her sister; +and to her mother she sent this quaint epistle a few weeks after her +arrival in France: "You wish to know how I spend my time habitually. I +will say, therefore, that I rise at ten o'clock or nine, or half-past +nine, and after dressing I say my prayers; then I breakfast, after which +I go to my aunts' (Madame Adelaïde, Victoire and Sophie), where I usually +meet the King. At eleven I go to have my hair dressed. At noon the +Chambre is called, and any one of sufficient rank may come in. I put on +my rouge and wash my hands before everybody; then the gentlemen go out; +the ladies stay, and I dress before them. At twelve is mass; when the +King is at Versailles I go to mass with him and my husband and my aunts. +After mass we dine together before everybody, but it is over by half-past +one, as we both eat quickly. (Marie Antoinette always found the custom +of eating in public most distasteful.) I then go to Monsieur the +Dauphin; if he is busy I return to my own apartments, where I read, I +write, or I work, for I am embroidering a vest for the King, which does +not get on quickly, but I trust that, with God's help, it will be +finished in a few years! At three I go to my aunts', where the King +usually comes at that time. At four the Abbé (her literary mentor) comes +to me; at five the master for the harpsichord, or the singing-master, +till six. At half-past six I generally go to my aunts' when I do not go +out. You must know that my husband almost always comes with me to my +aunts'. At seven, card-playing till nine. When the weather is fine I go +out; then the card-playing takes place in my aunts' apartments instead of +mine. At nine, supper; when the King is absent my aunts come to take +supper with us; if the King is there, we go to them after supper, and we +wait for the King, who comes usually at a quarter before eleven; but I +lie on a large sofa and sleep till his arrival; when he is not expected +we go to bed at eleven. Such is my day. +</P> + +<P> +"I entreat you, my very dear mother, to, forgive me if my letter is too +long. I ask pardon also for the blotted letter, but I have had to write +two days running at my toilet, having no other time at my disposal." +</P> + +<P> +In the winter the Court made merry with sleighing, skating and dancing +parties, and formal affairs in honor of foreign princes. "There is too +much etiquette here to live the family life," lamented the child to her +mother. "Altogether, the Court at Versailles is a little dull, the +formalities are so fatiguing. But I am happy, for Monsieur the Dauphin +is very polite to me and always attentive." In another letter she +recounted the triumph attending the first presentation of the opera +_Iphigénie_, by Gluck. "The Dauphin applauded everything and Gluck +showed himself very well pleased. . . . He has written me some pieces +that I sing to the harpsichord." +</P> + +<P> +Several times a week, the awkward, bashful boy who was to become Louis +XVI of France pleased his light-hearted wife by taking dancing lessons +with her. Hours were spent with him in the park at Versailles, skipping +about, laughing, playing pranks like the little girl she was. Sometimes +there were charades, and plays by amateurs and professionals behind the +"closed doors" of their own rooms. +</P> + +<P> +In 1774, four years after the marriage of Marie Antoinette to the +Dauphin, Louis XV was taken ill of smallpox during a sojourn at the +Little Trianon, and was removed to Versailles. Within a fortnight he was +dead, and a scandalous reign was ended. "The rush of the courtiers, with +a noise like thunder, as they hastened to pay homage to the new +sovereign," says a narrator of the Queen's story, "was the first +announcement of the great event to the young heir and his wife." The new +King had not yet reached his twentieth year. "God help and protect us!" +they both cried on their knees. "We are too young to reign!" +</P> + +<P> +As Queen of France, Marie Antoinette occupied a series of superbly +appointed rooms in the left wing of the palace. Beyond a dark passageway +were her husband's apartments. Her bed-chamber was the scene of the +formal toilet, a ceremony always irksome to the youthful sovereign. In +this sumptuous room, where queens had borne kings-to-be, and had closed +their eyes forever upon a melancholy existence, she gave birth to four +children. The royal bed was raised on steps and surrounded by a gilt +balustrade; nearby was a gorgeously fitted dressing-table. There were +also armchairs, we are told, with down cushions, "tables for writing, and +two chests of drawers of elaborate workmanship. The curtains and +hangings were of rich but plain blue silk. The stools for those that had +the privilege of being seated in the royal presence, with a sofa for the +Queen's use, were placed against the walls, according to the formal +custom of the time. The canopy of the bed was adorned with Cupids +playing with garlands and holding gilt lilies, the royal flower." +</P> + +<P> +Other rooms prepared for the Queen faced an inner court, and here with +music, small talk and embroidery she spent contented moments, remote from +the demands of her high estate. +</P> + +<P> +Usually the mistress of Versailles was wakened at eight o'clock by a lady +of the bedchamber, whose first duty it was to proffer a ponderous volume +containing samples of the dresses that were in the royal wardrobe. Marie +Antoinette marked with pins, taken from an embroidered cushion, the +costumes she wished to put on for the various events of the day--the +brocaded and hooped Court dress for the morning mass, the negligee to be +worn during leisure hours in her own living rooms, and the gown to be +donned for evening festivities. These vital matters determined, the +Queen proceeded with her bath and her breakfast of chocolate and rolls. +She was accustomed then to return to bed, and, with her tapestry-work in +hand, receive various persons attached to her service. Physicians, +reader, secretary, came to ask her wishes and do her bidding. At noon +followed the "rising," and the stately progress of the Queen and her +attendants through the Salon of Peace to the dazzling Hall of Mirrors, +where the King awaited her on his way to chapel. Often at this hour +there were admitted to the Grand Gallery of Mirrors respectful groups of +commoners, who gathered to watch the passing of the gracious Marie +Antoinette beside the husband whose uncouth gait and features were ever +in forbidding contrast to her own comely bearing. +</P> + +<P> +Amid all the follies and splendors of life at Versailles appeared the +sturdy American figure of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In the year 1767 he was +presented at Court on the occasion of his first visit to Paris. +</P> + +<P> +"You see," said he, in a letter to Miss Stevenson, daughter of his +landlady in London, "I speak of the Queen as if I had seen her; and so I +have, for you must know I have been at Court. We went to Versailles last +Sunday, and had the honor of being presented to the King, Louis XV. In +the evening we were at the _Grand Convert_, where the family sup in +public. The table was half a hollow square, the service of gold. . . . +An officer of the Court brought us up through the crowd of spectators, +and placed Sir John (Pringle) so as to stand between the Queen and Madame +Victoire. The King talked a good deal to Sir John, and did me, too, the +honor of taking some notice of me. +</P> + +<P> +"Versailles has had infinite sums laid out in building it and supplying +it with water. Some say the expenses exceeded eighty millions sterling +($400,000,000). The range of buildings is immense; the garden-front most +magnificent, all of hewn stone; the number of statues, figures, urns, +etc., in marble and bronze of exquisite workmanship, is beyond +conception. But the water-works are out of repair, and so is a great +part of the front next the town, looking, with its shabby, half-brick +walls, and broken windows, not much better than the houses in Durham +Yard. There is, in short, both at Versailles and Paris, a prodigious +mixture of magnificence and negligence with every kind of elegance except +that of cleanliness, and what we call tidiness." +</P> + +<P> +Franklin next appeared at the Court of Versailles upon the momentous +occasion of the ratification of the alliance signed in 1778 by France and +America. Dressed in a black velvet suit with ruffles of snowy white, +white silk stockings and silver buckles, the emissary of the United +States appeared in a gorgeous coach at the portals of Versailles. It is +related that the chamberlain hesitated a moment to admit him, for he was +without the wig and sword Court etiquette demanded, "but it was only for +a moment; and all the Court were captivated at the democratic effrontery +of his conduct." Franklin and the four envoys that accompanied him were +conducted to the dressing-room of Louis XVI, who, without ceremony, +assured them of his friendship for the new-born country they represented. +In the evening the Americans were invited to watch the play of the royal +family at the gaming-table, and Dr. Franklin, so Madame Campan relates, +"was honored by the particular notice of the Queen, who courteously +desired him to stand near to her, and as often as the game did not +require her immediate attention, she took occasion to speak to him in +very obliging terms." +</P> + +<P> +The _New York Journal_, under date of July 6, 1778, recounted another +picturesque detail of this presentation of the American envoys at +Versailles. When they entered the inner part of the palace, so the +dispatch ran, "they were received by _les Cents Suisses_ (Swiss Guards), +the major of which announced, '_Les Ambassadeurs des treize provinces +unies,' i.e., The Ambassadors from the Thirteen United Provinces." +</P> + +<P> +During the Revolution in America the newspapers made much of Marie +Antoinette's liking for Benjamin Franklin. Among others, the _New +Hampshire Gazette_ printed this story, which went the rounds of the +States. "Franklin being lately in the gardens of Versailles, showing the +Queen some electrical experiment, she asked him in a fit of raillery if +he did not dread the fate of Prometheus, who was so severely served for +stealing fire from Heaven. 'Yes, please your Majesty' (replied old +Franklin, with infinite gallantry), 'if I did not behold a pair of eyes +pass unpunished which have stolen infinitely more fire from Jove than I +ever did, though they do more mischief in a week than I have done in all +my experiments.'" +</P> + +<P> +On January 20, 1783, at the office of the Count de Vergennes at +Versailles, in the presence of Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, the +representatives of England, France and Spain affixed their signatures to +the preliminary documents declaring war at an end between America and +England. A little over seven months later, on September 3, 1783, at the +Hotel de York in Paris, the final treaty between Great Britain and the +United States was signed. Later on the same day, the definitive treaty +between England and France was concluded at Versailles. When Franklin +was about to take leave of France and return to Philadelphia, Louis XVI +presented to him the royal portrait, framed by 408 diamonds, the value of +which was estimated at $10,000. +</P> + +<P> +No less than his predecessor had the new Monarch of Versailles and his +gay, ease-loving, oft-times imprudent young wife disregarded the +traditions and dignity of the Sun King's palace. If Louis XV demolished +the Staircase of the Ambassadors and mutilated the _grands appartements_, +Marie Antoinette imitated his desecrations in the royal dwelling by +commanding any change that pleased her fancy, by reducing rooms of state +to mere private chambers, and shutting herself off from the irritating +claims of Court life. Many of the trees in the park died that had been +set out at the proud command of Louis XIV. The gardens became neglected +and desolate. The famous Labyrinth of Aesop's fountains disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +A grove planted on the place formerly beautified by the Grotto of Thetis +(or Tethys) gave sanctuary to the impious scheming of that Madame de +Lamotte, whose intrigue and evil ambition brought upon the Queen in 1785 +the scandal of the Diamond Necklace, with the subsequent dramatic arrest +of Cardinal de Rohan in the fateful Hall of Mirrors, and the humiliating +trial of Marie Antoinette. +</P> + +<P> +Bored by incessant publicity, finding no pleasure in the formal +promenades of the palace park, the Queen pleaded for "a house of her +own," where she could find recreation after her own tastes, unobserved by +the curious and the critical. Louis XV had built near the Grand Trianon +a small villa for Madame de Pompadour. On the modest estate were several +small outbuildings, to which were added a pavilion for open-air pastimes +and a "French garden." It was Gabriel, architect of the Opera House, +that drew the plans for the little chateau, begun in 1762. But Madame de +Pompadour died before the villa of her fancy was completed. Dubarry +succeeded her as chatelaine, and richly embellished the interior of the +delectable retreat. +</P> + +<P> +When Marie Antoinette desired to possess a _maison de plaisance_ of which +she should be sole mistress, the King, always eager to satisfy her whims, +bade her accept for her own use both the Grand and the Petit Trianon. +Said he, graciously, "These charming houses have always been the repair +of favorites of the reigning king--consequently they should now be +yours." The Queen was much pleased with the gift and with her husband's +gallantry. She responded, laughingly, that she would accept the Little +Trianon on condition that he would not come there except when invited! +</P> + +<P> +During the tenancy of Marie Antoinette, some of the rooms of the Petit +Trianon were altered according to the elaborate style that received the +name of Louis XVI. Sculptures, wood-work, gilded chimneys, staircases, +were fashioned by the hands of master artists. No sooner was she +possessor of her new domain than the Queen desired a garden after the +pastoral English style that was then coming in favor. A lake, a stream +with ornamental bridges, clusters of trees, supplanted the symmetrical +design of a botanical garden that had been much admired. A gallant +attached to the Court wrote an _Elégie_ in praise of the Petit Trianon, +its flowers, tulip trees and fragrant walks. At one end of the lake a +hamlet was created, with a picture-mill and a dairy, fitted with marble +tables and cream jugs of rare porcelain. There was also a farm where the +Queen pastured a splendid herd of Swiss cattle. Among these bucolic +surroundings the King of France, forgetful of his people and their +growing anguish, played shepherd to his shepherdess Queen. In the Temple +of Love they basked on summer days among rosy vines, while the music of +Court players wafted through the trees from a nearby pavilion. Every +Sunday during the summer season there was a ball in the park, where any +one might dance whose clothes and behavior were respectable. The Queen, +sensing the need to propitiate a disgruntled populace, shared in the +afternoon's revelries, petted the children that flocked about her knees, +chatted with their nurses and parents. Often, Marie Antoinette resided +for weeks at a time at her favorite dwelling, fishing in the lake, +tending her herd, picking berries in her garden patch. The King and the +princes came every day for supper, and were received by a Queen dressed +in white with a fichu of net--sometimes in a "rumpled gown of cotton." A +score of favorites composed the Court of the Little Trianon. All others +were excluded. Heavy silks and towering head-dresses were forgotten in +the simple life of the Petit Trianon. Tiresome etiquette was banished, +together with thoughts of international matters of portent and impending +calamity. Occasionally, comedies were given, or groves and canal were +illuminated in honor of a visitor of high degree--the Emperor Joseph of +Austria (brother of the Queen), the King of Sweden, ambassadors, princes, +archduchesses. +</P> + +<P> +Surrounded by the persons and the objects she most loved--free to go and +come unattended by a train of attendants--those were the least unhappy +days in the life of Marie Antoinette at Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +At the Little Trianon, Madame Vigée Lebrun made, in 1787, the painting of +Marie Antoinette with her children, which the Queen's intimates counted +the truest likeness among all her portraits. Two years later, on the +fifth day of October, the Queen was at Trianon when news came of the +approach of the mob of starving, angry women that stormed the road from +Paris, swept across the Place d'Armes, and surged about the doors of the +despised palace. On that day, Marie Antoinette left her "little house," +never to see it again. +</P> + +<P> +For many months the clouds had been gathering on the horizon of the +Bourbon King, whose extravagance and weak will were matched by the +childish indiscretions of his Austrian consort. +</P> + +<P> +In November, 1787, the Notables assembled at Versailles in the grand hall +of the palace guards. In May, 1789, the Salon of Hercules witnessed the +presentation of the twelve hundred deputies elected by the people in all +parts of France to the States-General. The Assembly, "the true era of +the birth of the French people," opened on May fifth in the immense +_Salle des Menus_, on the Paris Avenue, outside the gates of the palace. +During the thirty days that the deputies sat inactive under the oratory +of the King, of Necker, Mirabeau and Robespierre, work ceased throughout +the kingdom. "He who had but his hands, his daily labor, to supply the +day, went to look for work, found none, begged, got nothing, robbed. +Starving gangs over-ran the country; wherever they found any resistance, +they became furious, killed, and burned. Horror spread far and near; +communications ceased, and famine went on increasing." At last the +Assembly was founded, but the nation remained in tumult, the King +vacillating, the Queen in retirement, mourning the death of the little +Dauphin. On June twentieth, the people's representatives gathered, in +spite of the King, in the bare tennis-court, without the walls of the +chateau, and made oath as citizens of France never to adjourn until they +had given their country a constitution. On the same day Marie Antoinette +inscribed a letter from Versailles whose import was in piteous contrast +to the prattling epistles of her girlhood. "The Chambre Nationale is +declared," she wrote. "They are deliberating, but I am in despair to see +nothing come of their deliberations; every one is greatly alarmed. The +nobility may be wiped out forever. But the kingdom will be calm; if not, +one cannot estimate the evils by which we shall be menaced. . . . Not +far away civil war exists, and, besides, bread is lacking. God give us +courage!" Three days later the King read to the deputies an arbitrary +declaration that had been composed by interested advisers. He commanded +the assembly to disperse, and met a calm and silent resistance. Workmen +entered to demolish the amphitheater, but laid down their tools on the +declaration of Mirabeau that "whoever laid hands on a deputy was a +traitor, infamous and worthy of death." At last the King, wearied and +confused, commanded, "Let them alone." +</P> + +<P> +The parterres, the courts, even the salons of the palace swarmed with +ruffians that had marched out from Paris to menace Versailles. By June +25th there was open revolt in the capital. "A stormy, heavy, gloomy +time, like a feverish, painful dream," prefaced the furious deeds of the +14th of July. Every day witnessed some new outbreak. July was a month +of insurrections and murders. The Bastille was assailed by rioters. +News came to the King that the ancient fortress had fallen. "Sire," +announced the Duke of Orleans to the sleepy Monarch in his bedchamber, +"it is a Revolution!" +</P> + +<P> +Lafayette, back from the war across the sea, became the unwilling leader +of the National Guard. On the evening of the first of October occurred +the fatal banquet of the King's guard, held, not in the Orangery or in +some other informal hall, but in the palace theater, where no fête had +been given since the visit of the Emperor Joseph II of Austria. A French +writer describes the scene. "The doors open. Behold the King and the +Queen! The King has been prevailed on to visit them on his return from +the chase. The Queen walks round to every table, looking beautiful, and +adorned with the child she bears in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"So beautiful and yet so unfortunate! As she was departing with the +King, the band played the affecting air: 'O Richard, O my King, abandoned +by the whole world!' Every heart melted at that appeal. Several tore +off their cockades, and took that of the Queen, the black Austrian +cockade, devoting themselves to her service. . . . +</P> + +<P> +"On the 3rd of October, another dinner; they grow more daring, their +tongues are untied, and the counter-revolution showed itself boldly. In +the long gallery, and in the apartments, the ladies no longer allow the +tricolor cockade to circulate. With their handkerchiefs and ribands they +make white cockades, and tie them themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Stories of royalist revels and open insults to the cockade of the +Revolutionists still further inflamed starving Paris. On the fifth of +October there were thousands of inhabitants that had tasted no food for +thirty hours. And then the ravenous women of Paris arose--mothers, +shop-girls, courtesans--and, gathering recruits as they swept through the +restless city streets, they rolled like an angry flood out the +eleven-mile road to Versailles. The King was hunting at Meudon; a +courier was sent for him. The Queen Consort was in her retreat at +Trianon. The messenger found her, sad and contemplative, seated in her +grotto. Hastily she was brought back to the palace. Later, she and the +King would have fled the anger of the crowd whose shouts of "Bread! +Bread!" echoed across the Marble Court to the windows of the royal +apartments. But their decision, put off from moment to moment, came too +late. The gates were closed. They were prisoners within the walls of +Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a rainy night," relates a French historian of the Revolution. +"The crowd took shelter where they could; some burst open the gates of +the great stables, where the regiment of Flanders was stationed, and +mixed pell-mell with the soldiers. Others, about four thousand in +number, had remained in the Assembly. The men were quiet enough, but the +women were impatient at that state of inaction; they talked, shouted, and +made an uproar. +</P> + +<P> +"The King's heart was beginning to fail him; he perceived that the Queen +was in peril. However agonizing it was to his conscience to consecrate +the legislative work of philosophy, at ten o'clock in the evening he +signed the Declaration of Rights. +</P> + +<P> +"Mounier was at last able to depart. He hastened to resume his place as +president before the arrival of that vast army from Paris, whose projects +were not yet known. He reentered the hall; but there was no longer any +Assembly; it had broken up; the crowd, ever growing more clamorous and +exacting, had demanded that the prices of bread and meat should be +lowered. Mounier found in his place, in the president's chair, a tall, +fine, well-behaved woman, holding the bell in her hand, who left the +chair with reluctance. He gave orders that they were to try to collect +the deputies again; meanwhile, he announced to the people that the King +had just accepted the constitutional article. The women, crowding about +him, then entreated him to give them copies of them; others said: 'But, +Monsieur President, will this be very advantageous? Will this give bread +to the poor people of Paris?' Others exclaimed: 'We are very hungry. We +have eaten nothing to-day.' Mounier ordered bread to be fetched from the +bakers. Provisions then came in on all sides. They all began eating in +the hall with much clamour." +</P> + +<P> +At midnight Lafayette arrived at the head of twenty thousand men of the +National Guard. To the amazement of the soldiers and onlookers, he dared +to pass unattended through the palace doors to the Bull's Eye. "He +appeared very calm," says Madame de Staël, Necker's observant daughter. +"Nobody ever saw him otherwise." When he had reported his arrival to the +King, Lafayette stationed guards about the palace, and, worn with hours +of marching in the rain and mud, so far forgot his duty to his Sovereign +and his command that he retired to his house in the town of Versailles to +seek sleep. In the masses of people outside the gates were thieves and +men of violence. "What a delightful prospect was opened for pillage in +the wonderful palace of Versailles, where the riches of France had been +amassed for more than a century!" exclaims the commentator, Michelet. +Here follows a dramatic account of what followed, based on the story of +Madame de Staël, who witnessed many of the bloody scenes in person. "At +five in the morning, before daylight, a large crowd was already prowling +about the gates, armed with pikes, spits, and scythes. About six +o'clock, this crowd, composed of Parisians and people of Versailles, +scale or force the gates, and advance into the courts with fear and +hesitation. The first who was killed, if we believe the Royalists, died +from a fall, having slipped in the Marble Court. According to another +and a more likely version, he was shot dead by the body-guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Some took to the left, toward the Queen's apartment, others to the +right, toward the chapel stairs, nearer the King's apartment. On the +left, a Parisian running unarmed, among the foremost, met one of the body +guard, who stabbed him with a knife. The guardsman was killed. On the +right, the foremost was a militia-man of the guard of Versailles, a +diminutive locksmith, with sunken eyes, almost bald, and his hands +chapped by the heat of the forge. This man and another, without +answering the guard, who had come down a few steps and was speaking to +him on the stairs, strove to pull him down by his belt, and hand him over +to the crowd rushing behind. The guards pulled him towards them; but two +of them were killed. They all fled along the Grand Gallery, as far as +the _Oeil-de-boeuf_ (Bull's Eye), between the apartments of the King and +the Queen. Other guards were already there. +</P> + +<P> +"The most furious attack had been made in the direction of the Queen's +apartment. The sister of her _femme de chambre_, Madame de Campan, +having half opened the door, saw a guardsman covered with blood, trying +to stop the furious rabble. She quickly bolted that door and the next, +put a petticoat on the Queen, and tried to lead her to the King. An +awful moment! The door was bolted on the other side! They knock again +and again. The King was not within; he had gone round by another passage +to reach the Queen. At that moment a pistol was fired, and then a gun +close to them. 'My friends, my dear friends,' cried the Queen, bursting +into tears, 'save me and my children!' At length the door was opened, +and she rushed into the King's apartment. +</P> + +<P> +"The crowd was knocking louder and louder to enter the _Oeil-de-boeuf_. +The guards barricaded the place, piling up benches, stools, and other +pieces of furniture; the lower panel was burst in. They expected nothing +but death; but suddenly the uproar ceased, and a kind clear voice +exclaimed: 'Open!' As they did not obey, the same voice repeated: 'Come, +open to us, body-guard; we have not forgotten that you men saved us +French Guards at Fontenoy.' +</P> + +<P> +"It was indeed the French Guards, now become National Guards, with the +brave and generous Hoche, then a simple sergeant-major--it was the +people, who had come to save the nobility. They opened, threw themselves +into one another's arms, and wept. +</P> + +<P> +"At that moment, the King, believing the passage forced, and mistaking +his saviors for his assassins, opened his door himself, by an impulse of +courageous humanity, saying to those without: 'Do not hurt my guards.' +</P> + +<P> +"The danger was past, and the crowd dispersed; the thieves alone were +unwilling to be inactive. Wholly engaged in their own business, they +were pillaging and moving away the furniture. The grenadiers turned that +rabble out of the castle. +</P> + +<P> +"Lafayette, awakened but too late, then arrived on horseback. He saw one +of the body-guards whom they had taken and dragged near the body of one +of those killed by the guards, in order to kill him by way of +retaliation. 'I have given my word to the King,' cried Lafayette, 'to +save his men. Cause my word to be respected.' +</P> + +<P> +"He then entered the castle. Madame Adelaïde, the King's aunt, went up +to him and embraced him: 'It is you,' cried she, 'who have saved us.' He +ran to the King's cabinet. Who would believe that etiquette still +subsisted? A grand officer stopped him for a moment, and then allowed +him to pass: 'Sir,' said he seriously, 'the King grants you _les grandes +entrées_.' +</P> + +<P> +"The King showed himself at the balcony, and was welcomed with the +unanimous shout of 'God save the King.' 'Vive le Roi!' +</P> + +<P> +"At that moment several voices raised a formidable shout: 'The Queen!' +The people wanted to see her in the balcony. She hesitated: 'What!' said +she, 'all alone?' 'Madame, be not afraid,' said Lafayette. She went, +but not alone, holding an admirable safeguard--in one hand her daughter, +in the other her son. The Court of Marble was terrible, in awful +commotion, like the sea in its fury; the National Guards, lining every +side, could not answer for the center; there were fire-arms, and men +blind with rage. Lafayette's conduct was admirable; for that trembling +woman, he risked his popularity, his destiny, his very life; he appeared +with her on the balcony, and kissed her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"The crowd felt all that; the emotion was unanimous. They saw there the +woman and the mother, nothing more. 'Oh! how beautiful she is! What! is +that the Queen? How she fondles her children!'" +</P> + +<P> +The King, overcome by dread, was forced to agree to the demand of the +people that he go to Paris. In leaving his palace, he realized that he +was finally surrendering all his claims to royalty. About noon on the +sixth day of October, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, under the +protection of the Marquis de Lafayette, turned their faces forever from +Versailles. Little they knew that they were even then traveling the long +road to the guillotine. A rabble of men and women surrounded them, some +on foot, some in carts and carriages. "All were very merry and amiable +in their own fashion, except a few jokes addressed to the Queen." +</P> + +<P> +Such was the end of royal Versailles. Who can contest its tragic +grandeur? In these halls, these gardens, these secluded villas the +supreme destiny of the Bourbon monarchy was achieved. They witnessed the +apogee, the decline, and the ruin of the dynasty. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, THE SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS +</H4> + +<P> +It was not long after the enforced departure of Louis XVI and the Court +that the immense sepulcher of regal glory was dismantled and forsaken. +During the Revolution some of the furnishings were taken to Paris to +supply the needs of the king and his family at the Tuileries. A number +of pictures and objects of art contained in the palace and the two +Trianons were removed to the Museum of the Louvre, which had been +founded in 1775. Some of these paintings, including the _Joconde_ by +da Vinci, and famous canvases by Titian, del Sarto, Rubens and Van +Dyck, still hang on the walls of the first national gallery of France. +Agitated discussions arose as to the final destiny of the palace and +its contents. A group of law-makers would have sold the building +outright. But in July, 1793, the Convention decreed the establishment +at Versailles of a provincial school, a museum of art objects taken +from the houses of those that had emigrated from troublous France, a +public library, a French museum for painting and sculpture, and a +natural history exhibition. There were, however, Revolutionaries that +so despised the relics of royalty that they continued to urge from time +to time the complete demolition of the palace and park--chief works of +Louis XIV's reign. The most diligent defenders of the chateau were the +inhabitants of the town of Versailles, who were keenly aware that the +continued existence of the palace would insure a measure of prosperity +to the community. They protested, that, just object of the people's +venom as the edifice was, it nevertheless stood as a monument to the +arts and crafts of France during two centuries. The assailants that +made hideous the days of October fifth and sixth, 1789, had done +comparatively little material damage within the palace precincts. Gun +shots of the Paris mob had disfigured two statues at the main entry to +the courtyard, had destroyed the grill that separated the Royal Court +from the Court of the Ministers; lunges of their bayonets had broken +the mirrors in the Grand Gallery, while pursuing the Guards to massacre +them. Otherwise, the historic walls and gardens bore no evidence of +Revolutionary fury. +</P> + +<P> +After several years of contention, plan and counter-plan, the +Convention definitely saved Versailles for the nation by the decrees of +1794 and 1795. During this epoch of violence and revolt, thousands of +articles were offered for sale at the stables of Versailles, in the +presence of appointed representatives of the people. Linen, utensils, +mirrors, clocks, cabinets, chandeliers, stoves, damask curtains, +carriages, wines of Madeira, Malaga and Corinth, coffee, Sevres +porcelains, engravings, paintings, drawings, and some fine furniture +went for a song at this colossal auction. In 1796 the Minister of +finance ordered that remaining pieces of furniture of great beauty and +value be put on sale. In this way were summarily dispersed chairs of +tapestry and gilt that would to-day command extravagant sums; desks of +exquisite marquetry, at which kingly documents and _billets doux_ had +been penned; dressing-tables whose mirrors had reflected the faces, sad +or gay, frank or subtle, of queens and mistresses; wardrobes that had +held the linens and brocades of princes and courtiers; clocks of gold +and enamel that had registered the hours of portentous births and +marriages. Tables of mosaic and satinwood, cushions of gold brocade, +cameo medallions, porcelain panels, plaques of lacquer and bronze were +included on the list of articles to be disposed of. In the original +inventory, discovered in the library at Versailles, were included +pieces of Saxony ware, Watteau figures, Sevres vases, dishes and cups, +Beauvais tapestries, clocks made by Robin and de Sotian, candelabra of +crystal, chandeliers of silver--all from the apartments of the King, +the Queen and the Dauphin. For 20,000 francs there was sold a tapestry +emblematic of the American Revolution. Creditors of the new Government +were paid in furniture and art works whose value they estimated to +please their own purses. A brochure published at Paris by Charles +Davillier recites the romance of "The Sale of the Furnishings of +Versailles during the Terror." To a certain Monsieur Lanchère, a +former cab driver who had undertaken the conduct of military convoys +and transports for the State, were assigned clocks, carpets, statuary, +chests, secretaries and consoles that embarrassed every nook and corner +of the spacious Paris mansion of which he became proprietor. +</P> + +<P> +"Paris," narrates Monsieur Davillier, "was gorged after the sale at the +chateau of Versailles with priceless furniture and objects of _vertu_." +Newspapers were filled with the advertisements of second-hand dealers +offering to the public these souvenirs--redolent, splendid, tragic--of +a dead-and-gone dynasty, of an epoch vanished never to return. +</P> + +<P> +The institutions whose establishment at Versailles definitely saved the +chateau and its dependencies for posterity, were, at the Palace, a +conservatory of arts and sciences and a library of 30,000 volumes; in +the Kitchen Garden a school of gardening and husbandry; at the Grand +Commune, a manufactory of arms; at the Menagerie, a school of +agriculture. Halls that had echoed to the dance and the clink of gold +at gaming-tables now heard profound lectures on history, ancient +languages, mathematics, chemistry, and political economy! Classic +exercises beneath the painted ceilings of these memoried rooms! +Scholastic discourse where music and laughter had vibrated for a +hundred extravagant years! +</P> + +<P> +The galleries at the Louvre contributed to the new Versailles museum +all the canvases of French artists that it possessed. Fragonard and +Greuze, Lebrun, Claude Lorrain, Mignard, Poussin, Rigaud, Vanloo, +Vernet--all were represented, some of them by numerous examples of +their graceful art. Besides, there was a Rubens Gallery, and two +salons filled with the works of Paul Veronese. Some of these treasures +were later removed to the Luxembourg Palace, where the French Senate +was sitting, and to the palace of Saint-Cloud, residence of Napoleon +Bonaparte, First Consul. Little by little the canvases were dispersed, +until, at the end of the Empire, the Versailles Museum of French Art +ceased to be. +</P> + +<P> +At the beginning of the year 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte established at +Versailles a branch of the _Hôtel des Invalides_ in Paris, and wounded +veterans of the Revolution to the number of 2,000 were installed for +two years in the vast apartments of Louis XV and in rooms overlooking +the garden and the Court of Ministers. During this period several of +the salons were opened to the people for exhibitions and assemblies, +and the public were free to enjoy the park, the Orangery and the +fragrant bosques of Trianon. Fêtes of the Republic frequently took +place about a national altar raised near the Lake of the Swiss Guards, +and a Tree of Liberty was planted with great solemnity in the court of +the château, where the equestrian statue of Louis XIV now stands. In +illuminating contrast to the regal celebrations it succeeded was this +latter ceremony, which was inaugurated by a meeting in the historic +Tennis Court, where loyal republicans took a new oath of hatred for all +things royal, and swore devotion to the constitution. Into the +dwelling of former sovereigns the people then crowded to witness the +ceremony of breaking a scepter and crown into a thousand pieces. Next, +they gathered around the Liberty Oak to consecrate it; they hung it +with ribbons of the tricolor of France, a band played "a republican +air," and an orator delivered a speech in commemoration of the glorious +anniversary of the day on which "the last tyrant of the French" had +been guillotined. Fortunately for the peace of mind of the Sixteenth +Louis, he had no gift of prevision! +</P> + +<P> +With the beginning of Napoleon's reign, Versailles and the Trianon +became once more part of the Crown lands. The Emperor ordered +necessary repairs to be made. In the theater the royal troupe of +comedians was sometimes heard. The canal, which had nearly dried up +during the neglectful rule of the Republic, was again filled with +water. The park and the facades of the palace were restored, and in +the Gallery and State Apartments artists renewed the colors of the +mural decorations. Many of the repairs and changes made by Dufour, +Napoleon's architect, have remained to the present time. Certain parts +of the palace giving on the courts were in ruins, Louis XV and his heir +having had no money to spare for their restoration. In 1811, after the +Peace of Vienna, Napoleon, then in residence at the Grand Trianon, took +under advisement the complete reconstruction of the palace. In +consternation he surveyed the tumbling walls and the general confusion +that confronted him during one of his promenades in the park and +Orangery. "Why," cried he, "did the Revolution, which destroyed +everything else, spare the chateau of Versailles! Then I would not +have had on my hands this embarrassing legacy from Louis XIV--an old +chateau poorly built--one much favored without just cause." +</P> + +<P> +Architects busied themselves with innumerable plans for re-making the +shabby pile. Some would have torn down the Council Hall, the +bed-chamber of Louis XIV, the antechamber of the Bull's Eye, and all +the rest of the palace except the apartments of the King and Queen, the +Gallery with the salons at either end, the Chapel and the Opera House. +Napoleon was willing to spend 6,000 francs on the construction of +suites for himself and his family "and fifty others." "Then," said he, +"we could perhaps come to Versailles to pass a summer." The disasters +of the year 1812 and the fall of the Empire saved the palace from the +threatened renovation. +</P> + +<P> +When Louis XVIII ascended the throne of his Bourbon ancestors after the +extinction of Napoleon's Star of Hope, he conceived a new plan "to put +the chateau of Versailles in a habitable state." During the next six +years (1814-1820) the King restored the Hall of Mirrors and all that +was especially associated with Louis XIV. He finished the facade on +the Paris side, begun by Gabriel under Louis XV, and built a pavilion +corresponding to the one designed and erected by this same architect. +He did away with a maze of small apartments, cleaned and simplified the +interior, restored painted ceilings and gilt embellishments, and with +great care put in order the entire palace and its surroundings. The +chapel was repaired and blessed anew by the Bishop of Strassbourg. +</P> + +<P> +Many State visitors came to see Versailles, even in the days when it +was shorn of its glory. Pope Pius VII was there in 1805. From the +balcony outside the Gallery of Mirrors he bestowed his benediction upon +a crowd that stood below on the terraces. Two days later the Salon of +Hercules was the scene of a ball in celebration of the coronation of +the first Emperor of France. In May, 1814, Czar Alexander I of Russia +visited Versailles with his two brothers, following the example of +Peter the Great, who had been there when Louis XV was on the throne. +Another historic cortège was composed of Frederick William III of +Prussia and his two sons, one of whom, Prince William, was to return to +Versailles in the year 1870 on a mission less peaceful. The gates of +Versailles opened to the Duke of Wellington in 1818. +</P> + +<P> +Other visitors there were that came to Versailles and, by the good will +of Louis XVIII, lodged there--homeless dependents, who dried their +laundry at the stately windows of the palace and installed goats and +cows on the roofs overlooking the inert bronze fountains. +</P> + +<P> +After the reign of Charles X all the occupants at the chateau left, +following the Revolution of July, 1830. Once more the question arose +as to the disposition of the palace. Empty, abandoned, "What shall we +do with it?" cried the ministers. The answer was found in the project +proposed to Louis Philippe that Versailles should become a national +depository for souvenirs of French history, surrounded by the splendors +of Louis the Great. This suggestion had the king's approval and +cooperation. A confusion of offices, rooms, staircases and passages +was simplified in the two wings, and the main body of the chateau and +long galleries were created for the reception of thousands of battle +pictures, portraits and pieces of sculpture, reflecting events and +personalities concerned with the story of France. +</P> + +<P> +The Queen's bed-chamber, the apartments of Madame de Maintenon and of +the daughters of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour were among those that +were altered. In the entrance court of the chateau were placed a group +of statues from the Paris bridge _de la Concorde_, all of them so +massive that they were out of proportion to the low surrounding walls. +</P> + +<P> +On the face of the north and south wings Louis Philippe caused to be +engraved the dedication of the huge pile and its contents "To all the +Glories of France." The sum expended under the direction of the +architect, Nepveu, for the creation of the National Museum of +Versailles, exceeded 20,000,000 francs (about $4,000,000). The +inauguration of the museum in June, 1837, was attended by Louis +Philippe and his Queen, by officers of the Army and Government and +representatives of French Law, Commerce, Art and Education. Arriving +from Trianon, where they had been in residence, the King and his wife +entered the palace by the Marble Stairway, traversed the Grand Hall of +the Guards (to-day called the Hall of Napoleon) and the halls leading +to the Grand Gallery of Battles, where they saw portrayed on canvas all +the important military engagements of French armies, from Tolbiac to +Wagram. In the Chamber of Louis XIV the King and Queen examined the +restorations of the furniture, and found them well done. A royal +banquet was laid in the Grand Gallery and in adjacent salons. At eight +o'clock His Majesty, the royal family and 1500 guests assembled in the +brilliantly illuminated Opera House, where they witnessed a performance +of Molière's _Misanthrope_ and extracts from the opera, _Robert le +Diable_, by Meyerbeer. The spectacle was concluded by a piece written +by Eugene Scribe, the famous French librettist, in celebration of the +founding of the Museum. At midnight the King and his family led a +procession through the galleries of the palace, lighted by footmen +carrying torches. At two o'clock in the morning the festivities were +at an end and the royal party left for Trianon. +</P> + +<P> +Says a French author, writing two years after the opening of the +museum. "When Louis Philippe first cast his eye upon Versailles, he +saw at once the impiety of allowing such a monument to sink into utter +ruin. . . . He determined that the palace of Louis XIV, without losing +its individuality, should become a palace of the entire people; and +that the bygone spirit of absolutism should give shelter to the spirit +of modern liberty. Versailles, therefore, erected as a homage to +individual pride, has become, under the Orleans regime, a great +national monument--and certainly the most complete and splendid of its +class in all Europe. The temple of luxury was converted into a temple +of the arts, and French valor was recorded in immortal colors upon the +walls, by French genius." +</P> + +<P> +In the vast edifice Louis Philippe created a pictorial record that +embraced not only the great battles from the beginning of the monarchy +down to his own day, but the chief incidents that distinguished the +reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI; the victories of the Republic; the +campaigns of Napoleon; the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X; the +Revolution of 1830, and the reign of Louis Philippe. The kings of +France, the members of their families and immediate entourage, great +French warriors, statesmen, artists, men of letters and science are +depicted on canvases that line the immense halls of Versailles. The +Gallery of Warriors was arranged by Louis Philippe in that part of the +palace formerly occupied by Madame de Montespan. The Gallery of +Napoleon, created by removing the partition from a dozen rooms +belonging to various members of the royal family, presents a complete +history of the Emperor's life. More than a hundred apartments, large +and small, were obliterated to make room for the galleries of +portraits--a most engrossing exhibition to students of French history. +Carlyle said, "I have found that the Portrait was a small lighted +candle by which the Biographies could for the first time be read, and +some human interpretation be made of them." +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately a considerable number of paintings hung in the new museum +suffered in quality through the desire of Louis Philippe to bring his +achievement to immediate completion. He gave commissions right and +left, always with the stipulation that the artists _make haste_. But +many canvases of high merit, artistically and historically, still grace +the walls of these galleries. +</P> + +<P> +Portraits of the four unmarried daughters of Louis XV have been +appropriately arranged by the present curator of Versailles, Monsieur +de Nolhac, in the apartments on the ground floor where Mesdames passed +most of their dull, insignificant lives. Nattier made flattering +representations of all of them, sometimes in the costume of +mythological characters. Both Nattier and the great La Tour portrayed +Marie Leczinska, the mother of Louis XV's ten children. Nattier's +likeness shows a smiling, matronly lady with sweet-tempered brown eyes, +seated in a chair, the face softened by a frill and a black lace scarf. +Many of the portraits at Versailles painted by Charles Lebrun, Madame +Vigée Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste and Michel Vanloo, Boucher, Largillière, +Pierre Mignard, Rigaud, are familiar to us through frequent +reproduction. +</P> + +<P> +In the years following the inauguration of the National Museum, +Versailles was once again the scene of ostentatious fêtes in the halls, +gardens and splendid Opera House. When Louis Napoleon succeeded Louis +Philippe as head of the French nation, he came to Versailles with his +bride of three days, the beautiful Eugénie, to see the portraits of +Marie Antoinette, for whom the young Empress cherished a special +admiration. +</P> + +<P> +On an August night in 1855, "the grand court of the château shone with +a brilliance resembling day. The profile of the great edifice was +outlined in small lights. In the gardens, arches and columns were +raised and the fountains showered rainbow torrents. The Hall of +Mirrors presented a spectacle whose splendor recalled nights when Louis +XIV strolled here in brocade and ruffles. Garlands hung from the +ceiling, thousands of lights reproduced themselves in the lofty mirrors +and shed scintillating floods upon the handsome costumes of the invited +ones." Thus the _Moniteur Universel_ described to its readers the +reception offered by the Emperor of France to Queen Victoria, the +Prince Consort and the future King of England. A few years later +Emperor Napoleon III commanded another fête amid the grandeurs of +Versailles, this time in honor of the King of Spain. +</P> + +<P> +But the days and nights of royal spectacles at last came to an end--and +for all time. In the month of September, 1870, the chateau offered +refuge to German soldiers wounded in the short but bitter war with +France. In the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_, the Council Hall, the little +apartments of Louis XV and those of Marie Antoinete were placed four +hundred invalid cots. By October, Bismarck arrived in the town of +Versailles. During the next five months he resided on the Rue de +Provence, in the villa of Madame Jessé, widow of a prosperous cloth +manufacturer. His quarters were the center of diplomatic action during +the period that preceded the signing of the shameful peace terms. +January 18, 1871, the anniversary of the day on which the first king of +Prussia had crowned himself at Konigsberg (1701), was fixed for the +proclamation of William II as German Emperor, in the Hall of Mirrors. +In the phrase of a chronicler of that time, "It was impossible for the +boldest imagination to picture a more thorough revenge on the +traditional foes of Germany than the proclamation of the German Empire +in the storied palace of the Kings of France. With the shades of +Richelieu and the Grand Monarch looking down upon them did the Teutonic +chieftains raise as it were, their leader on their shields, and with +clash of arms and martial music acclaim him kaiser of a re-united +Germany." King William passed from the altar in the middle of the +Gallery to a platform at the end of the hall and there took his place +before the colors, surrounded "by a brilliant multitude of princes, +generals, officers and troops." When he had announced the +re-establishment of the Empire, and when Bismarck, "looking pale, but +calm and self-possessed," had read to the assemblage the Proclamation +to the German people, "the bands burst forth with the national anthem, +colors and helmets were wildly waved, and the Hall of Mirrors shook +with a tremendous shout that was taken up and swelled till the rippling +thunder-roll of cheers struck the ears of the startled watchers on the +walls of Paris," where roar of cannon night and day summoned the French +to surrender. Thus the German Empire was born at the very seat of +French Monarchy. +</P> + +<A NAME="fn1"></A> +<P> +The armistice terms were signed at Versailles on the twenty-eighth day +of January. One month later the representative of stricken France and +Bismarck, sitting in the Chancellor's headquarters, affixed their +signatures to the Peace Preliminaries, by which France surrendered +Alsace (except Belfort) and Lorraine, and agreed to pay within three +years a war indemnity of five thousand million francs.[<A HREF="#fn1a">*</A>] +</P> + +<P> +After the departure of the Prussians from Versailles (March 12, 1871), +the Deputies of France arrived from Bordeaux, the temporary capital, +and lodged in the Hall of Mirrors, which then became a dormitory, as it +had on occasion been a hospital ward, a ball-room and the banqueting +hall of royalty. +</P> + +<P> +The insurrection of the Commune of Paris compelled the ministers to +seek a place of security at Versailles. Once more the palace was +chosen as the seat of Government. The ground floor, the upper floor +and the attic, the picture galleries, even the vestibule of the Queen's +Stairway and the servants' quarters served as offices for ministers and +secretaries. The Department of Justice was installed in the Guards' +Hall, the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_ and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The +Secretary of Public Works directed his affairs within walls that had +sheltered the nefarious Dubarry. The official _Journal_ was printed in +the palace kitchens. For several years the Opera House, the north +wing, and the intimate apartments of Louis XV were given over to the +National Assembly. +</P> + +<P> +A Republican fête offered in 1878 by the president, Marshal MacMahon, +was attended by twelve thousand guests. Once more the fountains of the +north parterre were illuminated, but this time with electric bulbs +instead of oil lanterns. There were ingenious fireworks on the +_Tapis-Vert_ that would have astounded even the courtiers of the Grand +Monarch. In the _Galerie des Glaces_, Dussieux tells us, there was a +ball "not exclusively aristocratic, but nevertheless very gay and +animated." +</P> + +<P> +Within the past forty years the treasury of the French Republic has not +infrequently been taxed for repairs at Versailles and Trianon. More +than a million francs were spent on the chapel alone. Improvements in +the park, including the restoration of the Basin of Neptune, the +Orangery and the Colonnade, cost another million. +</P> + +<P> +"This Versailles," exclaims a French author, "does it not attract to +our country strangers without number, does it not lend lasting prestige +to the land of France? . . . Outside of the Invalides and the Louvre, +what edifices equal it in evoking the memorable periods with which they +are associated? What lasting respect do these annals of stone and +bronze merit from men of taste! These salons, gardens, statues, works +of art, attached irrevocably to the Past, bid us pause and ponder long +upon the matchless Story of Versailles." +</P> + +<A NAME="fn1a"></A> +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[<A HREF="#fn1">*</A>]The final treaty of peace between France and Germany was signed in +the Swan Hotel at Frankfort, Germany, on May 10, 1871. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Versailles, by Francis Loring Payne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + +***** This file should be named 14857-h.htm or 14857-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/8/5/14857/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Versailles + +Author: Francis Loring Payne + +Release Date: February 1, 2005 [EBook #14857] +[Last updated: September 25, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Statue of Louis XIV, the Builder of Versailles.] + + + + + + +The Story of Versailles + +BY + +FRANCIS LORING PAYNE + + + + + + + + + +NEW YORK + +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY + +1919 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY + +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY. + + + + + + + +Press of + +J.J. Little & Ives Co. + +New York + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + +Chapter + + I. THE BEGINNING OF VERSAILLES + + II. THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES. THE LUXURIOUS CHATEAU + AND PARKLAND OF LOUIS XIV + + III. THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES + + IV. THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON + + V. A DAY WITH THE SUN KING + + VI. GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS + + VII. THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES + + VIII. THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV + + IX. THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS + + X. THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, THE + SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS + + + + +FOREWORD + + +THE HALL OF MIRRORS + + I + + If you could speak what tales your tongues could tell, + You voiceless mirrors of the storied past! + Do you remember when the curtain fell + On him who learned he was not God at last? + + + II + + Do you still see the shadows of the great? + On powdered wigs and velvets, silks and lace; + Or dream at night a feted queen, in state, + Accepts men's homage with a haughty face? + + + III + + A thousand names come tumbling to the mind. + Of dead who gazed upon themselves through you. + And went their way, each one his end to find + In paths that glory or red terror knew. + + + IV + + Voltaire and Rousseau and Ben Franklin here, + You've seen hobnobbing with the highly-born; + Seen Genius smile, while, with a hint of fear, + It gave to Birth not homage but its scorn. + + + V + + Do you remember that Teutonic jaw + Of him who crowned an emperor, that you + Might know that Bismarck was above all law + And free to do what victor vandals do? + + + VI + + Oh, Hall of Visions, now shall come anon + A grander sight than you have ever seen; + You've mirrored kings, but you shall look upon + The mighty men whose edicts freedom mean + + + VII + + To races and to peoples sore oppressed; + The men who mould the future for a race + That breathes a wind that's blowing from the West-- + And you'll forget the Bourbon's evil face! + + --EDWARD S. VAN ZILE. + _N. Y. Eve. Sun., Nov. 25_ + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Builder of Versailles . . . Frontispiece + +Versailles + +The Hall of Mirrors + +The Fountain at Versailles + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +A TRAVELER'S REFLECTIONS ON VERSAILLES + +From the low heights of Satory we get a complete view of the plains of +Versailles--the woods, the town and the sumptuous chateau. The palace +on its dais rules the scene. The village and ornamental environment +have been constructed to augment its majesty. Even the soil has been +"molded into new forms" at a monarch's caprice. Versailles is the +expression of monarchy, as conceived by Louis XIV. It is the only epic +produced in his reign--a reign so fertile in the other forms of poetry, +and in talent of all kinds. What epic ever chronicled the destiny of +an epoch in a manner more brilliant and complete? In this poem of +stone the manners of heroic and familiar life mingle at every step. +Besides the halls and galleries, the theaters of royal estate, there +are mysterious passages and sequestered nooks that whisper a thousand +secret histories. The palace has two voices, one grave and one gay and +trifling. It is full of truths and fictions, tears and smiles. The +personages of its drama are as various as life itself; kings, poets, +ministers, courtiers, confessors, courtesans, queens without power, and +queens with too much power; ambassadors, generals, little abbes and +great ladies; nobles, clergy, even the people. For two centuries did +this crowd continue to pass and re-pass over these marble floors and +under these gilded vaults; and every day its flood became more +impetuous, every day it gave way more and more to the whims and +passions. And the palace heard all, saw all, spied all--and has +retained all, each action in its acted hour, each word in its place. +During the two centuries of absolute monarchy, nothing took place that +Versailles did not either originate or answer. Every shot that was +fired in Flanders, Germany and Spain awakened here an echo. Richelieu +was here, the first statesman of the monarchy, and Necker, the last. +French literary history is inscribed on its walls, which received +within them the great writers of France from Moliere to Beaumarchais. +Art erected especially for Versailles the schools and systems whose +influence has been felt through the succeeding centuries. For +Versailles, Lebrun became a painter, Coysevox a sculptor, and Mansard +an architect. But it was not France alone that depended on Versailles. +Foreign nations sent their representatives to this famous center; the +choice spirits of Europe came to visit it. + +The history of Versailles was for two centuries the history of +civilization. From Versailles may be seen the movement of manners, +wars, diplomacy, literature, arts and energies that agitated Europe. + +On entering Versailles by the Paris avenue, we see the palace on the +summit of the horizon. The houses, scattered here and there and +concealed among the trees, appear less to form a town than to accompany +the monument raised beyond and above them. Approaching the Place +d'Armes, we distinguish the different parts of which the imposing mass +of buildings is composed. In the center is a singular bit of +architecture. In vain the neighboring masses extend their circle +around it: their great arms are unable to stifle it; but it possesses a +seriousness of character that attracts the eye more strongly than their +high white walls. This is the remains of the chateau built by Louis +XIII at Versailles. Louis XIV did not wish to bury his father's +dwelling. + + + + +THE STORY OF VERSAILLES + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BEGINNINGS OF VERSAILLES + +A dreary expanse of low-lying marsh-land, dismal, gloomy and full of +quicksands, where the only objects that relieved the eye were the +crumbling walls of old farm buildings, and a lonely windmill, standing +on a roll of higher ground and stretching its gaunt arms toward the sky +as if in mute appeal against its desolate surroundings--such was +Versailles in 1624. This uninviting spot was situated eleven miles +southwest of Paris, the capital city of France, the royal city, the +seat, during a century before, of the splendid court of the brilliant +Francis I and of the stout-hearted Henry II, the scene of the masterful +rule of Catherine de Medici, of the career of the engaging and +beautiful Marguerite de Valois and of the exploits of the gallant Henry +of Navarre. + +The desolate stretch of marshland, with its lonely windmill, meant +nothing then to the court nor to the busy fortune-hunting and +pleasure-seeking inhabitants of Paris. No one had reason to go to +Versailles, except perhaps the poor farmers and the owner of the +isolated mill--least of all the nobility and fashionable folk of the +glittering capital. No exercise of the imagination could then have +conjured up the picture of the splendor in store for the barren waste +of Versailles. The mention of the name in 1600 would have brought +nothing more from the lips of royalty and nobility than an indifferent +inquiry: "And what, pray, is Versailles and where may it be?" You, my +lord, who raise your eyebrows interrogatingly, and you, my lady, who +flick your fan so carelessly, will some day behold your grandchildren +paying humble and obsequious court to the reigning favorites at +Versailles--yes, out there on this very moorland where you see nothing +but marshy hollows and ruined walls, there will your lord and master, +your glorious Sun King, the Grand Monarch, Louis the Fourteenth, build +a palace home that Belshazzar might justly have envied: there will he +hold high court and set the whole world agape at his prodigal outlay +and magnificent festivities. And well may we inquire to-day: how came +this dreary waste to be the wondrous Versailles, the seat and scene of +so much in the making and the making-over of the world? + +Ancient records of France indicate that in 1065 the priory of St. +Julien was established on the estates of the house of Versaliis--a +grant under royal protection. A poor farm community grew up about the +ecclesiastical retreat. Here, also, on the estates of the barony of +Versailles, was a repair of lepers, destroyed in the sixteenth century. + +The origin of the name is said by some to be derived from the fact that +the plains thereabouts were exposed to such high winds that the grain +in the poor land was frequently overturned (_verses_). The lord of +these acres first named in history is Hugues (Hugo) de Versaliis, who +lived early in the eleventh century and was a contemporary of the first +kings of the Capet dynasty. A long line of nobles of this family +succeeded him. In 1561 Martial de Leomenie, Secretary of Finance under +Charles IX, became master of Versailles. The farming village being on +the route between Paris and Brittany, he obtained from the king +permission to establish here four annual fairs and a weekly market on +Thursdays. Martial perished in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in +1572. Henry IV, as a prince, when hunting the stag with Martial often +swept across the low plains of Versailles. The rights to the lands of +the barony were acquired by Marechal de Retz from the children of +Martial de Leomenie, and inherited from the noble duke by his son, +Jean-Francois de Gondi, first archbishop of France. It was this +prelate that sold to Louis XIII in 1632, for 66,000 pounds (about +$27,400), the land and barony of Versailles, consisting, in the phrase +of the original deed, "of an old house in ruins and a farm with several +buildings." + +In 1624, Louis XIII, who had hunted in the vicinity of Versailles since +childhood and in later life had sought relief there from ennui and +melancholy, often slept in a low inn or in the hill-top windmill after +long hunts in the forest of St. Leger. It occurred to him that it +would be convenient for him to have a pavilion or hunting-lodge in this +unattractive place, and accordingly he ordered one erected at +Versailles, on the road that led to the forest of St. Leger. In 1627, +concluding that in no other domain of its limited acreage could he find +so great variety of land over which to hunt on foot and horse-back, he +bought a small piece of property at Versailles. Immediately +afterwards he caused to be erected what Saint-Simon called "a little +house of cards" on the isolated hill that rolled up in the heart of the +valley, where the windmill had stood. + +Louis' architect was Philbert Le Roy, and the new villa was about two +hundred feet from the lodge first constructed. Its form was a complete +square, each corner being terminated by a tower. The building was of +brick, ornamented with columns and gilded balustrades; it was +surrounded by a park adorned with statues sculptured after designs by +the artist Poussin. Ambitious addition! A villa on the old mill site, +decorated by the favorite court artist of the day, Nicolas Poussin! +The court resented the enterprise, the nobility despised it. It was +the King's fancy; nothing else excused it. A noble of the court, +Bassompierre, exclaimed that "it was a wretched chateau in the +construction of which no private gentleman could be vain." + +Scarcely was his new chateau finished (1630) when the King took up his +residence there for the hunt. In this place were terminated in +November, 1630, the autocratic services of Cardinal Richelieu to the +King--the first of many significant historical events to take place +there. + +The King's sojourns at Versailles during the hunting season, however, +had their effect. Many of the royal intimates were influenced to build +on land given to them by the sovereign. So before Louis XIII died his +chateau was surrounded by many charming country houses. On April 8, +1632, Louis came into possession of the feudal dwelling of +Jean-Francois de Gondi and its lands. Versailles then began to acquire +distinction. It was the King's resort. Could any one afford to +question its character, or location, or the standing of those that, at +the King's behest, took up their residence there? Not we surely, who +can now view Versailles in the light of history. All aside from its +splendid court life and its magnificent festivities, we know it as the +scene of three epoch-making events in the world's history. During and +shortly after the American Revolution, Versailles was the scene of +treaty negotiations in which France, England and America were the +active parties. About a century later, in 1871, the treaty was +consummated there that ended the Franco-Prussian War, by which France +lost Alsace and Lorraine and was forced to pay to Germany +$1,000,000,000. And now, in our day, the most superb irony of history +has brought about a treaty in the same Hall of Mirrors by which Germany +repays, and the map of Europe undergoes radical changes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAKING OF VERSAILLES + +The Luxurious Chateau and Parkland of Louis XIV + +At the death of Louis XIII, in 1643, the little chateau of Versailles was +abandoned as a dwelling. Then followed a fall in values at Versailles +and a great flutter of uncertainty among those that had followed the King +there. This feeling of doubt lasted for seven years. The faces of the +court favorites were turned back toward Paris, and individual fortunes +were speculatively weighed in the balance with the possibilities of the +new King's whims and fancies. But when the twelve-year-old Louis XIV +came to hunt in the vicinity of Versailles for the first time, he found +the suburban dwelling of his father attractive from the start. The +Gazette noted this visit, in 1651, and described the supper that the +royal boy shared with the officials of the chateau. Two months later the +King supped again at Versailles, and was so delighted with the estate and +the hunting to be had thereabouts that, thereafter, he made it a yearly +custom to visit Versailles once or twice in the hunting season, sometimes +with his brother, sometimes with his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin. + +Returning in 1652 from an interview at Corbeil with Charles II of +England, then seeking refuge in France, Louis XIV dined at Versailles +with his mother, Anne of Austria. In October, 1660, four months after +his marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain, he brought his young queen there. +The future of Versailles was assured. The King had decided to set his +star and make his palace home where his father had established a hunting +lodge. + +The year 1661 was one of the most important in the history of the +monarch. On March fifteenth, eight days after the death of Mazarin, the +great Colbert was named Superintendent of Finances. It was he who was to +give to the reign of Louis XIV its definite direction; his name was to be +lastingly associated with the founding of the greater Versailles, and +with the construction of the Louvre, the Tuileries, Fontainebleau and +Saint-Germain. But Colbert's task in the enlargement of Versailles was +no easy one, nor did he approve of it. He opposed the young King's +purpose obstinately and expressed himself on the subject without reserve. +"Your majesty knows," he wrote to the King, "that, apart from brilliant +actions in war, nothing marks better the grandeur and genius of princes +than their buildings, and that posterity measures them by the standard of +the superb edifices that they erect during their lives. Oh, what a pity +that the greatest king, and the most virtuous, should be measured by the +standard of Versailles! And there is always this misfortune to fear." + +But the King, like many another great monarch, had dreamed a dream. He +was not satisfied with Paris as a residence. So he told Colbert to make +his dream of Versailles come true--and Colbert had to find some way to +pay the cost. + +An irritating cause of the King's purpose lay in the fact that he was +incited by the splendors of the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, built by his +ill-fated minister, Fouquet. Louis determined to surpass that mansion by +one so much more elaborate as to crush it into insignificance. Nicholas +Fouquet had employed the most renowned masters of this period--among them +Louis Le Vau, the architect, Andre Le Notre, the landscape gardener, and +Charles Lebrun, the decorator. These were the men the King summoned to +transform the modest hunting villa of his father. At the truly gorgeous +chateau of his minister, he had witnessed the full measure of their +genius. On August 17, 1661, Fouquet gave an elaborate fete to celebrate +the completion of the chateau, which the King attended. Within three +weeks the host was a prisoner of State, accused of peculation in office. +Acting immediately upon his resolution to out-do the glories of +Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis engaged Le Notre to plan gardens and Le Vau to +submit proposals for the enlargement and decoration of the chateau. One +of the first apartments completed was the chamber of the infant +Dauphin--heir to the throne, who was born in November, 1661. Colbert +reported in September, 1663, that in two years he had spent 1,500,000 +pounds, and a good part of this sum was for the construction of the +gardens. Builders and decorators suggested one elaborate project after +another, without regard to the cost, despite the protest of Colbert to +the King that they were exceeding all estimates and provisions. It was a +paradise period for profiteers. + +Versailles became a favorite retreat of the extravagant young sovereign. +He frequently drove out from Paris, and on sundry occasions gave splendid +balls and dinners. + +For periods of increasing frequency the King was in residence at +Versailles. He urged on the builders who had in hand the construction of +the living-rooms, kitchens, stables; he supervised the placing of +pictures and other decorative works in various parts of the expanded +chateau; impatiently he chided the superintendents for delay and +feverishly they strove to meet his demands for greater haste. And though +every hour of haste cost the King of France a substantial sum, he cared +for nothing but the fulfillment of his luxurious plans. Hundreds of +laborers were engaged in laying out the orangery, the grand terrace, the +fruit and vegetable gardens. The original entrance court was greatly +enlarged. Long wings terminated by pavilions bordered it. On the right +were the kitchens, with quarters for the domestics; on the left, the +stables, where there were stalls for fifty-four horses. At the main +entrance to the court were pavilions used by the musketeers as +guard-houses. Those were bustling times at Versailles, and every day +disclosed a new development and opened the way to new miracles of +construction. + +And the miracles were wrought, one after another--all by order of the +King. On the site of the park a great terrace was bordered by a parterre +in the shape of a half-moon, where a waterfall was later installed. A +long promenade, now called the Allee Royale, extended to a vast basin +named the Lake of Apollo. Streamlets were diverted to feed fountains. +Twelve hundred and fifty orange trees were transported from the fallen +estate of Vaux to fill the long arcades of the orangery. + +In the midst of the activities of masons, carpenters, gardeners, the King +was dominant, directing minute details--the laying of floors, the hanging +of draperies, the installation of art works in the chapel. The restive +master of the estate was impatient to enjoy his creation, and to invite +his Court there to celebrate its completion with fetes both brilliant and +costly. Colbert wrote in a letter dated September, 1663, of the beauty +of the chateau's adornments--its Chinese filigree of gold and silver. + +"Never," he swore, "had China itself seen so many examples of this work +together--nor had all Italy seen so many flowers." Colbert suffered, but +the King found royal satisfaction. The splendid scene of the Sun King +must be set--the people had to pay. It was Colbert's affair to finance +it. + +The King commanded a series of fetes to be arranged. For eight days +every diversion appropriate to the autumn season was enjoyed by the royal +family and all the Court. Every day there were balls, ballets, comedies, +concerts, promenades, hunts. Moliere and his troupe were commanded to +appear in a new piece called "_Impromptu de Versailles_." + +Colbert regretted the absorption of his sovereign in Versailles, "to the +neglect of the Louvre--assuredly the most superb palace in the world." +Louis tolerantly gave ear and inspected the Louvre, but to the building +of Versailles he devoted all his enthusiasm. + +The appearance of the villa erected by Louis XIII had been vastly altered +as to its roofs, chimneys, facades. In 1665 the court was ornamented by +the placing of the pedestals and busts that still surround it. In +addition to the main edifice, the King gave orders for the building of +small dwellings to be occupied by favorites of his entourage, and by +musicians, actors and cooks. Three broad tree-lined avenues were laid +out and the highway to Paris--the Cours-la-Reine--commenced. Already +Versailles took on a more imposing aspect than ancient Fontainebleau. +Workmen were constantly busy with the building of reservoirs, the laying +of sod, the planting of labyrinths, hedges, secret paths and bosky +retreats, with the setting out of hundreds of trees brought from +Normandy, and the seeding of flower gardens of surpassing beauty. Ponds, +fountains, grottoes, waterfalls and straying brooks came into being at +the command of the ambitious young ruler. At some distance from the +chateau courts and cages were constructed to shelter rare birds and +animals. It was designed that this should be "the most splendid palace +of animals in the world." The King decided the details of building and +decoration and supervised the installation of the furred and feathered +tenants of the palatial menagerie. This was the enclosure so greatly +admired by La Fontaine, Racine and Boileau, during a visit to Versailles +in 1668. + +The first epoch of the construction of Louis XIV coincided with the first +sculptural decoration of Versailles. A great number of works of art were +ordered for the adornment of the walks and gardens. Many statues and +busts of mythological subjects that were made at Rome to the order of +Fouquet, after models by Nicolas Poussin, were removed from Vaux to +Versailles. That was a thriving period for sculptors of France and +adjacent countries. Records faithfully kept by Colbert detail +expenditures of thousands of pounds of the nation's money for bronze +vases, stone figures of nymphs and dryads and dancing fauns that were +placed among the trees and fountains of Versailles. Much of the +ornamental sculpture ordered at this time disappeared from the royal +domain, as Louis XIV constantly demanded the work of the newest artists +and all the novelties of the moment. + +By the year 1668 Versailles apparently approached completion. It had +then been seven years in building. But in 1669 the general character of +the chateau was again changed. In the embellishments proposed by Le Vau, +the architect, the royal domain became the scene of renewed activity, +engendered by the King, then just turned thirty years of age, and eager +to achieve still greater improvements at Versailles to mark the +increasing prosperity of his reign. Half-finished buildings were +demolished and begun anew. Immense structures arose, and once again +artists flocked to Versailles. Inside the palace and in the park they +wrought an elaborate scheme of decoration that made this the most +sumptuous dwelling of the monarchy. In the words of Madame Scudery, an +annalist of that epoch, Versailles, under the new orders of the King, +became "incomparably more beautiful." Another Versailles was born; at +the same time there was created a town on the vast acres purchased by the +King, in the midst of which three great avenues were built, converging +toward the chateau. In addition to the enlargement and improvement of +the palace, the King ordered the erection of houses for the use of +Colbert, now superintendent of the royal buildings, and for the officers +of the Chancellery. From this time he interested himself particularly in +the advancement of the infant town; he bought the village of "Old +Versailles" and made liberal grants of land to individuals who agreed to +build houses there. Opposite the chateau arose the mansions of +illustrious nobles of the Court. + +As the King remained obstinate in his determination that the "little +chateau" of his father should not be removed to make room for a structure +more in harmony with the surrounding ostentation, Le Vau covered over the +moats and built around the lodge of Louis XIII with imposing effect. The +new buildings containing the state apartments of the King and Queen and +public salons were separated by great courts from the insignificant +beginning of all this mounting splendor. Le Vau did not live to see the +completion of the palace. He died in 1670. The work of reconstruction, +in which the King maintained a lively interest whether at home or abroad, +was continued by the architect's pupils at a cost of thousands of pounds. +Eagerly Louis read plans and listened to reports. With still greater +interest he attended the proposals of the great Mansard--nephew of the +designer and builder who in 1650 revived the use of the "Mansard roof." +When he succeeded as "first architect," Jules Mansard (or Mansart) first +undertook the erection of quarters for the Bourbon princes. In the same +year (1679) that he began the immense south wing for their use, he gave +instructions for the building of the now historic Hall of Mirrors between +two pavilions named--most appropriately in the light of after events--the +Salon of Peace and the Salon of War. From the high arched windows of +this glittering Grand Gallery great personages of past and present epochs +have surveyed the gardens, fountains and broad walks that are the +crowning glory of Versailles. + +In the time of the Grand Monarque more than a thousand jets of water cast +their silver spray against the greenery of hedge and grove. "Nothing is +more surprising," said a chronicler of Louis the Fourteenth's reign, +"than the immense quantity of water thrown up by the fountains when they +all play together at the promenades of the King. These jets are capable +of using up a river." A writer of our day bids us pause for a moment at +the viewpoint in the gardens most admired by the King--at the end of the +Allee of Latona. "To the east, beyond the brilliant parterre of Latona, +with its fountains, its flowers, and its orange-trees, rise the +vine-covered walls of the terraces, with their spacious flights of steps +and their vividly green clipped yews. Turn to the west and survey the +Royal Allee, the Basin of Apollo, and the Grand Canal, or look to the +north to the Allee of Ceres, or to the south to that of Bacchus, and you +realize the harmony that existed between Mansard and Le Notre in the +decoration of the chateau and in the plan of the gardens." Beyond the +palace and the surrounding gardens lay the park in which the Grand +Trianon was built, of marble, near the bank of the Grand Canal. Madame +de Maintenon, who became the King's second wife, was housed within these +sumptuous walls, which were completed in 1688. + +And so the construction of this miracle work of the Great Monarch went +on. In Versailles, Louis was bent on realizing himself, and nothing but +himself. The Pharaoh of Egypt built his pyramids with as little +consideration of what it meant in tribute from his subjects. Each year +took its toll in money and men to make this home of Louis the +Magnificent. "The King," wrote Madame de Sevigne on the twelfth of +October, 1678, "wishes to go on Saturday to Versailles, but it seems that +God does not wish it, by the impossibility of putting the buildings in a +state to receive him, and by the great mortality among the workmen." But +the work had continued, as the King commanded, and when he finally +entered into possession of his new palace in 1682 with all his Court, +thirty-six thousand men and six thousand horses were still engaged in +making matters comfortable and satisfactory for His Glorious Majesty. +"The State," exclaimed the Sun King, "it is I!" and in the same mood he +might have added, "Versailles--it is the State!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES + +The Splendors of the Chateau--its Apartments and Gardens, the Hall of +Mirrors + +In planning the interior decorations at Versailles, the numerous +company of artists employed by the sovereign devised a scheme of +ornamentation inspired by the arts of ancient Rome. Mythological and +historical subjects were utilized for the glorification of the Grand +Monarch. A _Description_ of the chateau, officially printed in 1674, +gives us the key to the interpretation of the allegories. "As the Sun +is the device of the King, and poets represent the Sun and Apollo as +one, nothing exists in this superb dwelling that does not bear relation +to the Sun divinity." + +The emblem of Apollo was in evidence everywhere; signs of the month +ornamented facades and walls; and inside the palace and out were +symbols of the seasons and the hours of the day. The King's apartment +bore on its ceiling and walls paintings depicting deeds of seven heroes +of Antiquity, supported by Louis' planet emblem. All the interior +decoration was Italian in style--marble wainscoting in window +embrasures, floors of marble, panels of marble, doors of repousse +bronze. The apartments of Anne of Austria and the Gallery of Apollo at +the Louvre offered the first examples in France of this decorative +style, and guided the artists at Versailles in making their plans. + +Upon the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen alone, a dozen painters +were engaged between the years 1671 and 1680. Charles Lebrun directed +the artists, most of whom, be it said, were poor colorists. He himself +worked on the vault above the Stairway of the Ambassadors and in the +Hall of Mirrors. To imitate Italian works of art was at that time the +avowed ideal of French decorators. At Rome the King's purse paid the +expenses of a group of young artists who were allotted the task of +copying designs that were later evolved at Versailles. To some was +assigned the copying of ornaments made of metal, mosaic and inlay. +Others specialized on bronze and wood-carving designs. There were +painters who made only sketches of battle scenes and sieges. There +were sculptors on the King's staff of copyists, and goldsmiths, and +enamel workers. Flemish, Dutch, French, but principally Italian, +craftsmen were recruited from the art centers of Europe, "for the glory +of the King." At the Gobelin Tapestry Factory--a royal +establishment--the workers were directed by Charles Lebrun, who for +many years had been head of the "Royal Manufactory of Crown Furniture." + +It was in the year 1677 that Louis XIV formally proclaimed Versailles +his residence and the seat of Government. It was for the purpose of +providing quarters for the Court and its attendants that Mansard was +commanded to enlarge the chateau. Versailles now became, in truth, the +temple of royalty. The newly appointed architect gave to the chateau +its final aspect; the stamp of his genius rests upon the exterior +design and interior embellishment of the most remarkable dwelling in +the history of French architecture. + +[Illustration: Versailles] + +When the Court came to live at Versailles in May, 1682, Mansard and his +builders were still feverishly occupied in the work of construction and +reconstruction. The year 1684 saw the end of the ornamentation of the +interior in the completion of the Hall of Mirrors. Mansard's style is +particularly impressed upon the Marble Stairway, and the adjacent Hall +of the Queen's Guards, and, above all, on the Grand Gallery of the +Mirrors and the Salons (Peace and War) that flank it--works truly +impressive in their proportions, adornment and arrangement. + +Disposed about three sides of the main court, the red chateau was set +low on a slight rise of land. The main entrance was flanked by the +North Wing and the South Wing, interrupted throughout their length by +lesser courts. The domed chapel upreared to the right of the gate was +the fourth one to serve the palace. After a period of building lasting +ten years it was consecrated in the year 1710. The exquisite white +stone edifice is still regarded as an architectural gem. Its interior +embellishments were carried out by some of the best artists of the Sun +King's epoch. Here during the last years of his long and spectacular +reign, Louis the Great worshiped. Here Marie Antoinette was married to +the Sixteenth Louis. + +Arrivals at the palace were admitted from the Place d'Armes to the +court designated for their reception. Only the King and his family +might enter by the central gate. Nobles passed through the gates at +the side. Privileged persons were permitted to alight in the Royal +Court; those of inferior prestige in the Court of the Ministers, which +gave entrance to the offices and living quarters of the palace +executives and the hundreds of minions composing the King's retinue. +On the left of the enclosure called the Marble Court was the vestibule +to the Marble Stairway; opposite was the doorway leading to the +renowned Stairway of the Ambassadors, later removed by command of Louis +XV. The royal suites, except those of the Dauphin and his attendants, +were on the second floor. These rooms beneath the ornate Mansard attic +were the scene of all the potent events and ceremonies that have +distinguished Versailles above the palaces of the world. + +Grouped above the Marble Court at the far end of the main court of the +chateau, were the State Apartments of the King. Though, in later +times, the sequence of some of these salons was changed, in the years +when the Sun King occupied them they comprised the Salon of Venus, +opening upon the Ambassadors' Staircase, the Salon of Diana, the Salon +of Mars, and the Salon of Mercury. These halls formed a magnificent +prelude to the still greater magnificence of the Salon of Apollo,--the +Throne Room where guests came into the presence of the King himself. +The Salon of Venus was most admired for its marble mosaics and its +ceiling painting representing Venus subduing all the other deities. In +Louis' day, as now, the royal master of all this grandeur was here +portrayed in white marble, garbed in the robes of a Roman emperor. +Diana and her nymphs were depicted on the ceiling of the salon named +for the Goddess of the Hunt. Here under candles glimmering in sconces +of silver and crystal the courtiers engaged in games of billiards, +while their ladies disposed themselves gracefully upon tapestried +seats. And there were orange trees in silver tubs to add brilliance to +the scene. In the Salon of Mars dancing parties and concerts were +given. Silver punchbowls set on silver tables offered refreshment to +the gay throng that coquetted and danced and applauded beneath the +triumphant picture of Mars limned upon the ceiling. This room was +a-glitter with silver, cut glass and gold embroidered draperies. In +the crimson-hung Salon of Mercury was the King's bed of state, before +which was a balustrade of silver. In all the Grand Apartments were +hangings and furniture of extraordinary richness. There were tables of +gilded wood and mosaic, Florentine marbles, pedestals of porphyry for +vases of precious metal, ebony cabinets inlaid with copper, columns of +jasper, agate and lapis lazuli, silver chandeliers, branched +candle-sticks, baskets, vessels for liqueurs, silver perfuming pans. +Windows were draped with silver brocade worked in gold thread, with +Venetian silks and satins, or embroideries from the Gobelin studios. +On the floors, originally of marble, were spread carpets woven in +designs symbolical of kingly power. + +The Throne Room known as the Salon of Apollo--the seat of the Sun +King--was of the utmost richness. The throne itself was of silver and +stood eight feet high. Tapestries represented scenes of splendor in +the life of Louis the Great and on the walls were masterpieces by +Italian artists of the first rank, which were later deemed worthy of a +place in the Louvre. Much of the treasure vanished in the years +1689-1690 when the King was constrained to raise money for his depleted +treasury. In December, 1682, the _Mercure Galant_, desirous of +pleasing its readers, always avid of details about everything that +concerned their King, published a long description of the furnishings +of the State Apartments--the velvet hangings, the marble walls enriched +with gold relief, the chimney-pieces bossed with silver. + +Yet the glory of these apartments was outdone by the later achievements +of architect and decorators in the Salons of War and Peace and the Hall +of Mirrors that joins them. In the cupola of the Salon of War the +great Lebrun painted an allegorical picture of France hurling +thunderbolts and carrying a shield blazoned with the portrait of King +Louis, while Bellona, Spain, Holland and Germany are shown crouching in +awe. The colored marbles of the walls contrasted brilliantly with +gilded copper bas-reliefs. Six portraits of Roman emperors contributed +to the impressiveness of the Salon, and on the wall was a stucco relief +of the King of France on horseback, clad like a Roman. The Salon of +Peace was also decorated by Lebrun's adept brush. A ceiling piece +portrays France and her conquered enemies rejoicing in the fruits of +Peace. And, again, there are portraits of the ever-present Louis and +the Caesars of Rome. Both these splendid halls remain to-day much as +they were in the time of their creator. + +Most lavish is the decoration of the Grand Hall of Mirrors--"the +epitome of absolutism and divine right and the grandeur of the House of +Bourbon." For two hundred and forty feet it extends along the terrace +that surveys the gardens where Louis XIV and his successors delighted +to ordain fetes of unimaginable gayety. Gorgeously costumed courtiers, +women that dictated the fate of dynasties, diplomats of our day bent +upon the solution of world-rocking problems, all have gazed from this +resplendent gallery upon the fountains and allees that beautify the +scene below. Seventeen lofty windows are matched by as many Venetian +framed mirrors. Between each window and each mirror are pilasters +designed by Coyzevox, Tubi and Caffieri--reigning masters of their +time. Walls are of marble embellished with bronze-gilt trophies; large +niches contain statues in the antique style. The gilded cornice is by +Coyzevox, the ceiling by Lebrun. The conception of the latter +comprises more than a score of paintings representing events that had +to do with wars waged by Louis the Great against Holland, Germany and +Spain. In the period when Versailles was the residence of kings--not a +museum, alone, and the assembly-place of international Councils--the +tables in the Grand Gallery, the benches between the windows, the +many-branched candelabra, the tubs in which orange trees grew, were all +of heavy silver. Thousands of wax candles lighted the salon, some of +them set in immense chandeliers, others in lusters of silver and +crystal. But Louis the Fourteenth's reign was not yet over when he was +compelled to send many hundred pieces of his precious furniture to the +mint, and the superb appointments of the Hall of Mirrors were partially +substituted by furnishings of wood and damask. + +[Illustration: The Hall of Mirrors] + +Visitors to Versailles view the private or "little" apartments of King +Louis the Great, Louis XV and Louis XVI. The superb bedchamber of +Louis XIV contains the bed in which the French Monarch died on +September 1, 1715. In an ante-chamber, later called the Bull's Eye by +reason of its unique oval window, courtiers were wont to gossip and +intrigue while they awaited the King's rising. A quaint painting by a +French artist presents Louis XIV and his family in the character of +pagan deities. Next to the Bull's Eye was the room in which the King +dined on occasion. The Hall of the King's Guards was near of approach +to the Marble Staircase and to the ample and ornate apartments of +Madame de Maintenon. The wonders of this Hall are also departed. In a +group of small rooms were rich stores of objects of art, medals, +cameos, onyx, bronzes, and gems of great value. + +The State Apartments of the Queens of France were entirely altered in +their decoration as one queen succeeded another. Marie Therese was the +first to occupy them. We are told that before her bed there stood a +railing of silver, that later gave way, for economical reasons, to one +carved in wood. In the Grand Cabinet the wife of Louis the Great +received in audience those that the King commanded. Here, at the end +of a short and insignificant period as mistress of Versailles, Marie +Therese died, July 30, 1683. + +One of the few apartments that still retains the aspect it bore in King +Louis the Fourteenth's reign is the Hall of the Queen's Guards, which +had a door on the landing of the marble stair, also called the Queen's +Staircase. This was the flight of steps most used in the time of +Louis, since it led to the apartments of the sovereign, the Queen +Madame de Maintenon. + +The Ambassadors' Staircase, across the court, was of the richest +possible decoration, but like the glory of the Kings of France, it has +passed into oblivion. Louis commanded that it be paved and walled in +marble from the choicest quarries, vaulted with bronze, graced by +fountains. Amazing frescoes representing a brilliant assemblage of +people of all nations adorned the walls. Of this staircase a reporter +of the epoch wrote, "When full of light it vies in magnificence with +the richest apartments of the most beautiful palace in the world." +Which palace was, of course, Versailles. + +The Grand Hall of the Guards, the apartments of the Children of France +and their governess, the ten rooms that composed the suite of the +Dauphin, the Grand Hall of Battles--each had its special decoration. +"At the house of Monseigneur," wrote an old chronicler of the Court, +"one sees in the cabinets an exquisite collection of all that is most +rare and precious, not only in respect to the necessary furniture, +tables, porcelains, mirrors, chandeliers, but also paintings by the +most famous masters, bronzes, vases of agate, jewels and cameos." For +one dazzling table of carved silver in the apartment of the King's son, +the silversmith that fashioned it was paid thirty thousand dollars. + +Beneath the state apartments of the King was the Hall of the Baths +lined with marble and adorned with beautiful paintings. Upon the +marble tubs, the tessellated floors, the gilded columns and mirrors of +this apartment a great sum was expended. + + * * * * * + +Versailles at last was finished--and what a spectacle and monument to +selfish exaltation it was! "There is an intimate relation between the +King and his chateau," wrote Imbert de Saint-Amand. "The idol is +worthy of the temple, the temple of the idol. There is always +something immaterial, something moral so to speak, in monuments, and +they derive their poesy from the thought connected with them. For a +cathedral, it is the idea of God. For Versailles, it is the idea of +the King. Its mythology is but a magnificent allegory of which Louis +XIV is the reality. It is he always and everywhere. Fabulous heroes +and divinities impart their attributes to him or mingle with his +courtiers. In honor of him, Neptune sheds broadcast the waters that +cross in air in sparkling arches. Apollo, his favorite symbol, +presides over this enchanted world as the god of light, the inspirer of +the muses; the sun of the god seems to pale before that of the great +King. Nature and art combine to celebrate the glory of the sovereign +by a perpetual hosannah. All that generations of kings have amassed in +pictures, statues and precious movables is distributed as mere +furniture in the glittering apartments of the chateau. The +intoxicating perfumes of luxury and power throw one into a sort of +ecstasy that makes comprehensible the exaltation of this monarch, +enthusiastic over himself, who, in chanting the hymns composed in his +praise, shed tears of admiration." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON + +The first gardens of Versailles--those +that gave a modest setting to the villa +constructed for Louis XIII, comprised a few +parterres of flowers and shrubs bounded by +well trimmed box hedges, and two groves +planted on each side of the _Allee Royale_. +To Jacques Boyceau is accredited the first +plan of the gardens of Versailles, but Andre +Le Notre greatly amplified and improved +the original scheme. Le Notre's +achievements at Versailles gave him rank as the +most distinguished landscape gardener of +his time, and of all time. + +Besides the luxurious and symmetrical +gardens at Versailles, he originated the +designs of those at the royal houses at Trianon, +Saint-Cloud, Merly, Clagny, Chantilly and +the Tuileries. The Parterre of the Tiber +at Fontainebleau also added to his high +reputation. For a long period the style of +garden perfected by Le Notre was taken as a +model and imitated throughout Europe. In +1678 he went to Italy on a mission for the +King, who desired him to make researches +there. While at Rome the eminent artist +from France was commissioned to plan the +gardens of the Quirinal, the Vatican and +the villas Ludovisi and Albani. The +Elector of Brandenburg summoned him to +design the garden at Oranienburg; Kensington +Park in London is still another example of +Le Notre's skill. In his genius were +reflected the qualities that distinguished the +art of his century: regularity of design, +harmony, dignity and richness of materials. +Louis XIV had an enduring admiration for +the work and character of the Chief +Gardener--a man at all times honest, retiring, +and inspired by enthusiasm for his calling. + +We are told by a French chronicler that +"when Le Notre had traced out his ideas, he +brought Louis XIV to the spot to judge the +distribution of the principal parts of their +ornamentation. He began with two grand +basins which are on the terrace in front +of the chateau, with their magnificent +decorations. He explained next his idea of +the double flight of stairs, which is opposite +the center of the palace, adorned with +yew-trees and with statues, and gave in detail +all the pieces that were to enrich the space +that it included. He passed then to the +_Allee du Tapis Vert_, and to that grand place +where we see the head of the canal, of which +he described the size and shape, and at the +extremities of whose arms he placed the +Trianon and the Menagerie. At each of +the grand pieces whose position Le Notre +marked, and whose future beauties he +described, Louis XIV interrupted him, saying, +'Le Notre, I give you twenty thousand +francs.' This magnificent approbation was +so frequently repeated that it annoyed Le +Notre, whose soul was as noble and +disinterested as that of his master was +generous. At the fourth interruption he stopped, +and said brusquely to the King, 'Sire, Your +Majesty shall hear no more. I shall ruin you.'" + +In 1695 the King ennobled Le Notre and +bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. +Later, Le Notre presented to his sovereign +his collection of pictures and bronzes, for +which he had previously received an offer +of 80,000 francs, or about $16,000. This +collection was placed in one of the King's +intimate rooms among the rarest objects in +his possession. On occasion, when about to +make a tour of the gardens, Louis liked to +command a rolling chair similar to his own +for the aged Le Notre. Discussing new +projects, appraising those that were finished, +they made the promenade together. + +One of the first garden decorations +undertaken was the Grotto of Thetis, a green +alcove beautified by exquisite marbles and a +fountain that stirred the muse of La +Fontaine to sing. This graceful conceit, +dominated by Apollo seated among the nymphs +of Venus, was destroyed when Mansard +built the north wing of the palace; the +groups were removed to adorn other sites. +While the vast pleasure-house was in course +of construction, each year marked the +creation of new fountains and woods. In 1664, +the _Parterre du Nord_ was laid out below the +windows of the north wing; in 1667 and +1668 the _Theatre d'Eau_, the Maze, the Star, +the Grand Canal, the Avenue of Waters, +the Cascade of Diana and the Pyramid on +the North Parterre, and the Green Carpet +(_Tapis-Vert_) spread out in view of the +windows of the rear facade of the palace. In +1670 and the three succeeding years the +low-lying _Marais_ (fen) was constructed next to +the Parterre of the Fountain of Latona, to +meet the wishes of the King's favorite, +Madame de Montespan. While she was in +power "people spoke of the _Marais_ as one +of the marvels of the gardens, but it was +undoubtedly considered less wonderful after +her fall," a writer comments. "In the +center stood a large oak surounded by an +artificial marsh, bordered with reeds and grasses, +and containing plants and a number of white +swans. From the swans, from the reeds and +grasses, and from the leaves and branches of +the oak, thousands of little jets of water +leaped forth, falling like fine rain upon the +masses of natural vegetation that flourished +amid the artificial. At the sides of the +bosquet there were two tables of marble, on +which a collation was served when the +marquise came to her grove to see the waters +play. In 1704 the King ordered Mansard +to destroy the _Marais_ and transform the +bosquet into the Baths of Apollo." + +In 1674 the Royal Isle came into being; +and the next year the Arch of Triumph and +the Three Fountains, between the Avenue +of Waters and the chateau. In the thicket +of the Three Fountains were "an immense +number of small jets of water, leaping from +basins at the sides and forming an arch of +water overhead, beneath which one could +walk without being wet. . . . The Arch of +Triumph filled the end of the bosquet; it +was placed on an estrade with marble steps, +and was preceded by four lofty obelisks of +gilded iron in which the water leaped and +fell in sheets of crystal. The fountain +itself was composed of three porticos of gilded +iron, with large jets in the center of each, +while seven jets leaped up from the basins +above the porticos, and all the waters rushed +down over the steps of marble. In addition, +twenty-two vases at the sides of the bosquet +threw jets into the air. 'Without having +seen it,' says Blondel, 'it is impossible to +imagine the wonderful effect produced by this +decoration.'" + +The Orangery was the chief work begun +in 1678, and in the following year the superb +Basin of Neptune and the Lake of the Swiss +Guards were commenced. In the years +1680-1685 workmen were busy digging, laying +pipes, planting and decorating the _Salle de +Bal_, or outdoor salon of festivities, the +Parterre of Fountains, and the Colonnade, +where amid marble columns and balustrades +the Court often came to sup and make merry. + +In all, fourteen hundred gushing fountain +jets animated the gardens. Le Notre, the +author of these amazing water-works, died +in the year 1700, when almost ninety years +of age. Saint-Simon declared him justly +renowned in that he had given to France +gardens of so unique and ravishing a design +that they completely outran in beauty the +famous gardens of Italy. European +landscape decorators counted it part of their +education to journey to France for the +purpose of studying the handiwork of the supreme craftsman. + +An illustrated guide, printed at +Amsterdam in 1682, contains the following quaint +description of the Labyrinth, or Maze: +"Courteous Reader," it begins, "it is +sufficiently known how eminently France and +especially the Royal Court doth excel above +other places with all manner of delights. +The admirable faire Buildings and Gardens +with all imaginable ornaments and +delightful spectacles represent to the eye of the +beholder such abundant and rich objects as +verily to ravish the spectator. Amongst all +these works there is nothing more admirable +and praiseworthy than the Royal Garden at +Versailles, and, in it, the Labyrinth. Other +representations are commonly esteemed +because they please the eye, but this because it +not only delights the ear and eye, but also +instructs and edifies. This Labyrinth is +situated in a wood so pleasant that Daedalus +himself would have stood amazed to behold +it. The Turnings and Windings, edged on +both sides with green cropt hedges, are not +at all tedious, by reason that at every hand +there are figures and water-works +representing the mysterious and instructive fables +of Aesop, with an explanation of what Fable +each Fountain representeth carved on each +in black marble. Among all the Groves in +the Park at Versailles the Labyrinth is the +most to be recommended, as well for the +novelty of the design as the number and +diversity of the fountains that with +ingenuity and _naivete_ express the philosophies, of +the sage Aesop. The animals of colored +bronze are so modeled that they seem truly +to be in action. And the streams of water +that come from their mouths may be +imagined as bearing the words of the fable they +represent. There are a great number of +fountains, forty in all, each different in +subject, and of a style of decoration that blends +with the surrounding verdure. At the +entrance to the Maze is a bronze statue of +Aesop himself--the famous Mythologist of Phrygia." + +[Illustration: The Fountain of Versailles] + +To appreciate the engineering skill of the +directors of fountain construction at +Versailles it must be remembered that it was +from an arid plateau that hundreds of +streams were made to spring from the earth. +Thousands of laborers were employed to lay +beneath the surface of the ground a net-work +of canals and aqueducts to receive the tribute +of water-courses directed hither from distant +sources. The waters were finally pumped +into immense reservoirs adroitly dissembled +on the roofs of buildings overlooking the +park. From these tanks a maze of pipes +carried the water to thickets, grottoes, +basins, fountains and canals. Nothing could +surpass the ingenuity with which all this was +contrived. The play of water directed to +the Basin of the Mirrors reappeared later +in the Baths of Apollo and the Fountain of +the Dragon. Flowing in turn among +successive pools and ornamental groups--branching +hither and yon in the gardens, the +stream attained its full display in the most +majestic effect of all, the Basin of Neptune. + +"Here again is the hand of Le Notre," +remarks James Farmer, author of +"Versailles and the Court Under Louis XIV." "The +basin of Neptune, called at first the +Grand Cascades, was constructed from 1679 +to 1684, in accordance with his designs. This +immense basin, surrounded on the side +toward the chateau by a handsome wall of +stone, and on the other by an amphitheater +of turf and trees,--a vast half-circle, in the +center of which stands a marble statue of +Renown, is simple in conception and imposing +from its size. The richly carved lead vases +which adorn the wall were gilded under the +Grand Monarch, and each throws a jet of +water to a great height. Dangeau tells us +that His Majesty saw the waters play here +for the first time on the 17th of May, 1685, +and that he was quite content. However, +Neptune had not then appeared in the basin +that now bears his name; for the large +groups of Neptune, the Ocean, and the +Tritons, which ornament the base of the wall at +present, were not put in place until 1739, in +the reign of Louis XV. This majestic basin +at the foot of the _Allee d'Eau_ is a striking +contrast to Perrault's ugly Pyramid at the +head of it. Le Notre knew what was fitting +for the gardens of a Sun King." + +A vast avenue, interrupted by many fair +reaches of water, stretched its level length +before the windows of the Grand Gallery. +It was prolonged to the outer bounds of the +gardens by the Grand Canal, on whose +gleaming surface the sky was mirrored in +the dusk of dawn, the golden glow of noon, +or the sunset of declining day. This has ever +been the supreme view from the palace of +Versailles. Standing at one of the great +windows of the Hall of Mirrors, the _Galerie +des Glaces_, it often pleased the ruler of +France to admire the Fountain of Latona, +casting its fifty jets of water from the +circular pool below the twin terraces. Beyond, +the Green Carpet glowed in its emerald +beauty among the clear waters of Versailles. +The furthest fountain that met the eye was +the Basin of Apollo, with its plunging +bronze horses. In the outer park, that held +the Trianon and the Menagerie, the royal +gaze beheld the cross-shaped Canal which so +often, in the revels that marked the first part +of this reign, bore gay Venetian barges +between the scintillating lights and fireworks +that illumined the shore. At the right side, +still looking from the rear of the chateau, the +King's beauty-loving eyes dwelt upon the +North Terrace, with its rich growth of +greenery, on the graceful Fountains of the +Pyramid and the Dragon, and above all on +the magnificently soaring fountains of +Neptune's Basin. At his left were the Terrace +of Flowers, the two stairways that flanked +the Orangery, chief work of Mansard and +especial pride of Louis, and the lake in the +small park named for the Swiss Guards. +Nowhere, it is safe to say, could a place be +found that embraced so many beautiful +garden views at one time. + +Bordering the avenue that Le Notre +opened through the primitive groves where +Louis XIII once came to hunt--on either +side the broad lane of trees and leaping +waters--groves were laid out, varied in +design and decoration--delectable retreats +where lovers, traitors, diplomats might vow +and plot, beneath the discreet ears of marble +nymphs and goddesses. + +Many of the groups and marble figures +that beautified the walks and bowers of +Versailles were conceived by the gifted +Lebrun. Among his designs were the Four +Seasons, the Four Quarters of the Globe, +the Four Kinds of Poetry (Heroic, Satiric, +Lyric and Pastoral), the Four Periods of +the Day (Morning, Noon, Twilight, +Night), the Four Elements (Earth, Air, +Fire, Water), the Four Temperaments +(Phlegmatic, Melancholy, Coleric and +Sanguine). Mythological figures, vases +ornamented with bas-reliefs of Louis XIV and +great men of his reign, fountain groups +representing the chief rivers of France, +water nymphs, sportive babies, beasts in +combat--sculpture massive, graceful, +grotesque--all added their individual lure to +the dells, the walks and the terraces of the +magic palace. + +Tile-workers from Flanders, marble-cutters +from the Pyrenees, Italy and Greece, +masons, sculptors, castmen, metal-workers, +bronze colorists--innumerable artisans +trained to meet the exacting tastes of that +Silver Age of Art--lent their skill to the +construction of fountains whose ingenuity and +variety have set a standard for all time for +the makers of kingly estates. A hundred +sculptors of highest reputation were engaged +to model groups, statues, busts and low +reliefs for the Versailles park, under the +supervision of Lebrun and Mignard. + +Ladies of the Court sometimes claimed +the ear of the compliant Andre Le Notre +to suggest fancies that he graciously evolved +with greenery and marbles, with tinkling +streams and bright-winged birds. + +The new Orangery, begun by Mansard +on plans submitted by Le Notre, consumed +nearly ten years in building, from 1678 to +1687. Twin stairways, one hundred and +three steps high, united the South Parterre +with the Parterre of the Orangery. The +shelter erected for the protection of +hundreds of orange trees, which often +blossomed and came to fruit, contained a main +gallery and two lateral galleries, lighted by +twelve large windows. In the center stood +a huge statue of Louis the Great. During +warm weather the tubs containing the +orange trees were set out on the Orange +Parterre between the lofty stone stairways. +The Orangery was one of the favorite +retreats of the King. Besides the royal family, +only those were permitted to stroll among +the fragrant trees that had been granted +special permission to do so. + +It was in 1688, after more than a quarter +of a century's labor, the sacrifice of hundreds +of lives, and the expenditure of over fifty +million francs, that the splendid parks and +gardens with their buildings and fountains +were finally achieved. Le Notre's +successors rearranged some of the fountains and +groves; others were renamed. In +1739-1740 there were placed near the Basin of +Neptune three groups that still lend +adornment to this spot. This was the final +attempt to decorate the gardens during +the reign of the House of the Bourbons. +Strangers from every clime marveled at the +beauty of the fountains. The ambassadors +from the Court of Siam were astounded +"that so much of bronze, marble and gilded +metal could find place in a single garden." A +member of the train of the Ambassador +from England described the park, in 1698, +as "a whole province traced by avenues, +paths, canals, and ornamented in all ways +possible by masterpieces of ancient and +modern art." + +The avenues were of white sand, with +grassy by-ways on either side bordered by +elms and iron railings six or seven feet +high. Beyond these were thickets and +niches where statues, sculptured urns and +benches of white carved stone were placed. +Occasional archways of green led down dim +arbors to new enchantments. Here and +there were round or star-shaped retreats +whose carpets of grass were sprayed by +murmuring fountains. In each recess were +marble pedestals, busts, a long bench that +invited repose. + +Trees of mature growth were brought in +great numbers from distant parts of France +and Flanders. Despite difficulties of +transportation, twenty-five thousand trees were +carried on wagons from Artois alone. The +forests of Normandy were denuded of +yew-trees; from the mountains of _Dauphine_ the +King's emissaries brought _epicea_ trees, and +India sent chestnut trees for the adornment +of Versailles. + +Among these groves Louis delighted to +promenade in the evening, sometimes, in the +_belle saison_, until midnight. Often he went +on foot, but oftener in a light carriage drawn +by a team of small black horses that had +been given him by the Duke of Tuscany. + + +THE GRAND TRIANON + +This palace decorated with pilasters of +pink marble was not the first building chosen +by the Grand Monarch to occupy the site +at the end of the north arm of the canal of +Versailles. Ambitious to extend his domain, +the King had purchased and razed a shabby +little village named Trianon, and on its +somewhat dreary site erected for Madame +de Montespan a villa so unpretentious as to +arouse the comment of courtiers accustomed +to the ruler's profligacy at Versailles. The +vases of faience that shone among the figures +of gilded lead, the walk ornamented with +Dutch tiles, the cornices of blue and white +stucco, in the Chinese fashion, gave the little +house the name, the Porcelain Trianon. +Poets called it the Palace of Flora because +of the wondrous gardens where rare flowers +perfumed the pleasaunce in summer. Built +in 1670, probably on designs of Francois +Le Vau, the Porcelain Trianon was +demolished toward the end of the year 1686. + +There remains to-day nothing to remind +us of the Villa of Flowers but the gardens +and a fountain for horses near the canal, +where a terrace planted with beautiful trees +overlooks it. Here Louis XIV often came +in a gondola on summer evenings, when the +Marble Trianon had replaced the Trianon +of Porcelain. The latter's demolition was +inspired, no doubt, by the urging of the new +favorite, Madame de Maintenon, who found +distasteful this reminder of another's +supremacy in the King's affections. + +Moreover, this site continued to please +the King for he recognized its convenience +to the palace, and its accessibility by barge +or carriage. He determined to build in the +midst of these enchanting woods and blooms +a dwelling less formal than the one at +Versailles, smaller even than the one at Marly, +but more habitable than the porcelain +_maisonette_--a retreat, in short, where, without +wearisome ceremony, he could retire with +certain favored ones of his Court and while +the summer hours away. + +The accounts of the King's treasurer +show that the building of the edifice and the +gardens proceeded rapidly during the year +1687. By the end of November the royal +master found his new residence "well +advanced and very beautiful." Soon after the +New Year he heard the opera "Roland" +performed here, and was pleased to dine for +the first time within the new walls. He gave +orders on recurring visits for the embellishment +of the summer palace. The Trianon +of marble and porphyry, "the most graceful +production of Mansard," was finally +completed in the autumn of 1688. But the work +of decoration went on under the hands of a +horde of artists almost until the end of the +monarch's reign. + +Says an English author of a century ago: +"In the midst of all the austerities imposed +upon him by the ambition of Madame de +Maintenon, the King went to Trianon to +inhale the breath of the flowers which he had +planted there, of the rarest and most +odoriferous kind. On the infrequent occasions +when the Court was permitted to accompany +him thither to share in his evening collation, +it was a beautiful spectacle to see so many +charming women wandering in the midst of +the flowers on the terrace rising from the +banks of the canal. The air was so rich +with the mingled perfume of violets, orange +flowers, jessamines, tuberoses, hyacinths +and narcissuses that the King and his +visitors were sometimes obliged to fly from the +overpowering sweets. The flowers in the +parterres were arranged in a thousand +different figures, which were constantly +changed, so that one might have supposed +it to be the work of some fairy, who, passing +over the gardens, threw upon them each time +a new robe aglow with color." + +In the salons and copses where Louis the +Great basked in the somewhat chary smiles +of his latest (and last) favorite, his +grandson, the fifteenth of his name, was to install +the fascinating Madame de Pompadour. +The very apartments once dedicated to the +use of Madame de Maintenon, and later to +Queen Marie Leczinska, became the living-rooms +of the reigning mistress of the heart +of Louis XV. + +The Revolution spared the Grand Trianon. +But under pretext of restoring it and +rendering it, according to their tastes, more +habitable, Napoleon First and Louis +Philippe spared it less. The last king of France +commanded in 1836 the architectural changes +necessary to convert the Trianon into the +royal residence, in place of the chateau of +Versailles. He stayed here for the last time +in the winter of 1848, before departing for +Dreux. But, despite changes and mutilations, +the facade and the interior of the +rose-colored palace retain the stamp of the +Great King who sponsored the Gallery of +Mirrors, the Antechamber of the Bull's Eye, +and the Chapel at Versailles. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DAY WITH THE SUN KING + +Louis the Magnificent, we must agree with that profuse and sharp-witted +chronicler, the Duke of Saint-Simon, was made for a brilliant Court. "In +the midst of other men, his figure, his courage, his grace, his beauty, +his grand mien, even the tone of his voice and the majestic and natural +charm of all his person, distinguished him till his death as the King +Bee, and showed that if he had been born only a simple private gentleman, +he would have excelled in fetes, pleasures and gallantry. . . . He +liked splendor, magnificence and profusion in everything. Nobody ever +approached his magnificence." + +With sumptuous detail the King's day progressed at Versailles, from the +formal "rising" to the hour when, with equal pomp, the monarch went to +bed. Before eight o'clock in the morning the waiting-room next the +King's bedchamber was the gathering-place of princes, nobles and officers +of the Court, each fresh from his own laving and be-wigging. While they +passed the time in low converse, the formal ceremony of the King's +awakening took place behind the gold and white doors of the royal +sleeping-room. "The Chamber," one of the eleven offices in the service +of the King, comprised four first gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four +gentlemen of the Chamber, twenty-four pages of the Chamber, four first +valets of the Chamber, sixteen ushers, thirty-two valets of the Chamber, +two cloak-bearers, two gun-bearers, eight barbers, three watch-makers, +one dentist, and many minor attendants--all under the direction of the +Grand Chamberlain. + +A few minutes before eight o'clock it was the duty of the chief _valet de +chambre_ to see that a fire was laid in the King's chamber (if the +weather required one), that blinds were drawn, and candles snuffed. As +the clock chimed the hour of eight, he approached the embroidered red +velvet curtains of the royal bed with the announcement, "Sire, it is the +hour." + +When the curtains were drawn and the royal eyelids lifted upon a new day, +the children of the King were admitted to make their morning obeisance. +The chief physician and surgeon and the King's old nurse then entered to +greet the waking monarch. While they performed certain offices allotted +them, the Grand Chamberlain was summoned. The first _valet de chambre_ +took his place by the bed and, holding a silver basin beneath the King's +hands, poured on them spirits of wine from a flagon. The Grand +Chamberlain next presented the vase of Holy Water to the King, who +accepted it and made the Sign of the Cross. Opportunity was given at +this moment for the princes, or any one having the _grande entree_, to +speak to the King, after which the Grand Chamberlain offered to His +Majesty a prayer-book, and all present passed from the room except those +privileged to stay for the brief religious service that followed. + +Surrounded by princes, nobles and high officers attached to his person, +the King chose his wig for the day, put on the slippers and dressing-gown +presented by the appointed attendant, and stepped outside the massive +balustrade that surrounded his bed. Now the doors opened to admit those +that had the right to be present while the King donned his silk stockings +and diamond-buckled garters and shoes--acts that he performed "with +address and grace." On alternate days, when his night-cap had been +removed, the nobles and courtiers were privileged to see the King shave +himself, while a mirror, and, if the morning was dull, lighted candles +were held before his face by the first _valet de chambre_. Occasionally +His Majesty briefly addressed some one in the room. The assemblage was, +by this time, augmented by the admission of secretaries and officers +attached to the palace, whose position entitled them to the "first +_entree_." When his wig was in place and the dressing of the royal +person had proceeded at the hands of officers of the Wardrobe (there +were, in all, sixty persons attached to this service), the King spoke the +word that opened the ante-chamber doors to the cardinals, ambassadors and +government officials that awaited the ceremony of the _grand lever_, or +"grand rising," so-called in distinction to the more intimate _petit +lever_. Altogether, no less than one hundred and fifty persons were +present while the King went through the daily ceremony of the rising and +the toilet. + +When the Sovereign of France had breakfasted on a service of porcelain +and gold, had permitted his sword and his jeweled orders to be fastened +on, and, from proffered baskets of cravats and handkerchiefs, had made +his choice; when he had prayed by his bedside with cardinals and clergy +in attendance; had granted brief informal interviews, and had attended +mass in the chapel of Versailles, it was his custom to ask for the +Council. Thrice a week there was a council of State, and twice a week a +finance council. Thus the mornings passed, with the exception of +Thursday morning, when His Majesty gave "back-stair" audiences known to +but a few, and Friday morning, which was spent with his confessor. + +Louis was always a busy man of affairs and never shirked his kingly +duties. It was a principle of his life to place duty first and pleasure +after. He told his son in his memoirs that an idle king showed +ingratitude toward God and injustice toward man. "The requirements and +demands of royalty," he wrote, "which may, at times, appear hard and +irksome, you should find easy and agreeable in high places. Nothing will +exhaust you more than idleness. If you tire of great affairs, and give +up to pleasures, you will soon be disgusted with your own idleness. To +take in the whole world with intelligent eyes, to be learning constantly +what is going on in the provinces and among other nations--the court +secrets, the habits, the weaknesses of princes and foreign ministers, to +see clearly what all people are trying, to their utmost, to conceal, to +fathom the most deep-seated thoughts and convictions of those that attend +us in our own court--what greater pleasure and satisfaction could there +be, if we were simply prompted by curiosity?" + +Ordinarily, when at Versailles, the King dined alone at one o'clock, +seated by the middle window of his chamber, overlooking the courtyards, +the Place d'Armes, and the long avenue that led to Paris. More than +three hundred persons,--stewards, chefs, butlers, gentlemen servants, +carvers, cup-bearers, table-setters, cellarers, gardeners,--were charged +with the care of the kitchens, pantries, cellars, fruit-lofts, +store-rooms, linen closets, and treasuries of gold and silver plate +belonging to the King's immediate household--the _Maison du Roi_. The +Officers of the Goblet were present when the King was served, having +first, with attendant ceremonies, "made the trial" of napkins and table +implements as a safeguard from evil designs against his life. Even the +simplest repast served to the King comprised many dishes, for the Grand +Monarch ate heartily, though with discriminating appetite. + +Unless the Sovereign dined in the privacy of his bed-chamber, he was +surrounded by princes and courtiers. At "public dinners" a procession of +well-dressed persons continually passed through the room to observe the +King at his dining. + +It was ordained that the King's meat should be brought to the table from +the kitchens in the Grand Commune after this manner: "Two of His +Majesty's guards will march first, followed by the usher of the hall, the +_maitre d'hotel_ with his baton, the gentleman servant of the pantry, the +controller-general, the controller clerk of the Office, and others who +carry the Meat, the equerry of the kitchen and the guard of the plates +and dishes, and behind them two other guards of His Majesty, who are to +allow no one to approach the Meat. + +"In the Office called the _Bouche_, the equerry of the Kitchen arranges +the dishes upon a table, and presents two trials of bread to the _maitre +d'hotel_, who makes the trial of the first course, and who, having placed +the meats for the trial upon these two trials of bread, gives one to the +equerry of the Kitchen, who eats it, while the other is eaten by the +_maitre d'hotel_. Afterward the gentleman servant takes the first dish, +the second is taken by the controller, and the other officers of the +Kitchen take the rest. They advance in this order: the _maitre d'hotel_, +having his baton, marches at the head, preceded some steps by the usher +of the hall, carrying his wand, which is the sign of his office, and in +the evening bearing a torch as well. When the Meat, accompanied by three +of the body-guards with carbines on their shoulders, has arrived (that +is, in the first antechamber, where the King is to dine), the _maitre +d'hotel_ makes a reverence to the _nef_. The gentleman servant, holding +the first dish, places it upon the table where the _nef_ is, and having +received a trial portion from the gentleman servant in charge of the +trial table, he makes the trial himself and places his dish upon the +trial table. The gentleman servant having charge of this table takes the +other dishes from the hands of those who carry them, and places them also +on the trial table. After the trial of them has been made they are +carried by the other gentlemen servants to the table of the King. + +"The first course being on the table, the _maitre d'hotel_ with his +baton, preceded by the usher of the hall with his wand, goes to inform +the King; and when His Majesty has arrived at table the _maitre d'hotel_ +presents a wet napkin to him, of which trial has been made in the +presence of the officer of the Goblet, and takes it again from the King's +hands. During the dinner the gentleman servant in charge of the trial +table continues to make trial in the presence of the officers of the +Goblet and of the Kitchen of all that they bring for each course. + +"When His Majesty desires to drink, the cup-hearer cries at once in a +loud tone, 'The drink for the King!' makes a reverence to the King, and +goes to the sideboard to take from the hands of the chief of the +Wine-cellars the salver and cup of gold, and the two crystal decanters of +wine and water. He returns, preceded by the chiefs of the Goblet and the +Wine-cellars, and the three, having reached the King's table, make a +reverence to His Majesty. The chief of the Goblet, standing near the +King, holds a little trial cup of silver-gilt, into which a gentleman +servant pours a small quantity of wine and water from the decanters. A +portion of this the chief of the Goblet pours into a second trial cup +which is presented by his assistant, who, in turn, hands it to the +gentleman servant. The chief and the gentleman servant make the trial, +and when the latter has handed his cup to the chief, that officer returns +both cups to his assistant. When the trial has been made in this manner +in the King's sight, the gentleman servant, making a reverence to the +King, presents to His Majesty the cup of gold and the golden salver on +which are the decanters. The King pours out the wine and water, and +having drunk, replaces the cup upon the salver. The gentleman servant +makes another reverence to the King, and returns the salver and all upon +it to the chief of the Wine-cellars, who carried it to the side-board." + +The ceremony of tasting the King's wine was most impressive, and it was +regarded as a necessary and effective safeguard against poisonous attacks +or deleterious effects on His Majesty's august health. The thought is +suggested, however, that the test could have been effective only in case +of immediate or quick-working poison. A slow and insidious drug--and +there were experts in such concoctions in those days--would surely have +passed the taster's test and affected the King in time. The test was but +a mere formality, however, for Louis was the Most Adored Monarch. As one +chronicler has observed, "He was not only majestic, he was amiable. +Those that surrounded him, the members of his family, his ministers, his +domestics, loved him." Poison played no part in his career. That subtle +method of attack was reserved for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, on both +of whom it was attempted more than once. + +The carver, having taken his place before the table of the King, +presented and uncovered all the dishes, and when His Majesty told him to +do so, or made him a sign, he removed them, handing them to the +plate-changer or to his assistants. He changed the King's plate and +napkin from time to time, and cut the meats when the King did not cut +them himself. + +On rare occasions, when the King was in residence at Versailles, his +brother dined with him. But large, formal dinners were rare, and women +were seldom at the King's table except on grand occasions. + +Upon leaving the table, Saint-Simon tells us, "the King immediately +entered his cabinet. That was the time for distinguished people to speak +to him. He stopped at the door a moment to listen, then entered; very +rarely did any one follow him, never without asking permission to do so; +and for this few had the courage. . . . The King amused himself by +feeding his dogs, and remained with them more or less time, then asked +for his wardrobe, changed before the very few distinguished people it +pleased the first gentleman of the Chamber to admit there, and +immediately went out by the back stairs into the court of marble to get +the air. . . . He went out for three objects: stag-hunting, once or more +each week; shooting in his parks (and no man handled a gun with more +grace or skill), once or twice each week; and walking in his gardens, and +to see his workmen." + +The King was fond of hunting and the chase held an important part in the +service of the royal household. The conditions of the sport were +determined with a formality in keeping with the other affairs of +Versailles. There were two divisions of the chase--the hunting and the +shooting. The first had to do with the chase of the stag, deer, wild +boar, wolf, fox and the hare. The shooting had to do with smaller game. +Here was also falconry, though in this Louis was not particularly +interested. The chase was conducted by the Grand Huntsman of France, and +his duties were enormous and varied. Under him the Captain General of +the Toils kept the woods of Versailles well stocked with stag, deer, +boars, and other animals caught in the forests of France. Some idea of +the pomp and ceremony of the hunt may be obtained from the following +account which was printed in the _Mercure Galant_ in 1707: + +"The toils were placed in the glades of Bombon. In the inclosure there +were a large number of stags, wild boars, roebucks, and foxes. The court +arrived there. The King, the Queen of England (the wife of James II, +then in exile), her son, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and Madame (the +Duchesse d'Orleans, wife of Monsieur) were in the same carriage, and all +the princesses and the ladies followed in the carriages and _caleches_ of +the king. A very large number of noblemen on horseback accompanied the +carriages. Within the inclosure there were platforms, arranged with +seats covered with tapestry for the ladies, and many riding-horses for +the nobles who wished to attack the game with swords or darts. They +killed sixteen of the largest beasts, and some foxes. Mgr. le Duc de +Berry slew several. This chase gave much pleasure on account of the +brilliancy of the spectacle, and the large number of nobles who +surrounded the toils. A multitude of people had climbed into the trees, +and by their diversity they formed an admirable background." + +Stag hunting was even more impressive in ceremonial details. After the +chase the "quarry" was usually held by torchlight at Versailles, in one +of the inner courts, and the ceremony of the quarry was as follows: "When +His Majesty had made known his intentions on the subject, all the +huntsmen with their horns and in hunting-dress came to the place where +the quarry was to be made. On the arrival of the King, who was also in +hunting-dress, the grand huntsman, who had received two wands of office, +gave one to the King, and retained the other. The dogs were held under +the whip about the carcass of the stag until the grand huntsman, having +received the order from the King, gave the sign with his wand that they +should be set at liberty. The horns sounded, and the huntsmen, who while +the hounds were held under the whip had cried, 'Back, dogs! Back!' +shouted now, 'Hallali, valets! Hallali!' When the quarry had been made, +that is to say, when the flesh had been torn from the bones, a valet took +the _forhu_ (the belly of the stag, washed and placed on the end of a +forked stick), and called the dogs, crying, '_Tayaut, tayaut_!' and threw +the _forhu_ into the midst of the pack, where it was devoured at once. +At this instant the fanfares redoubled, and finished by sounding the +retreat. The King returned the wand to the grand huntsman, who at the +head of all the huntsmen followed His Majesty." + +In his promenades at Versailles and Trianon any courtiers that chose to +do so were permitted to follow the King. On his return from out-door +recreation His Majesty, after again changing his costume, remained in his +cabinet resting or working. Frequently he passed some time in the +apartments of Madame de Maintenon. + +At ten o'clock the captain of the guard announced supper in the chamber +between the Hall of the King's Guards and the antechamber called "Bull's +Eye." This meal was always on a pretentious scale, and was attended at +table by the royal children and numerous courtiers and ladies. When the +last course had been served the King retired to his bedchamber and there +for a few moments received all his Court, before passing into his +Cabinet, where he spent something less than an hour in the company of his +immediate household, his brother seated in an arm-chair, the princesses +upon stools, and the Dauphin and all the other princes standing. + +When the King had bid the company goodnight he entered his sleeping-room, +where were already the courtiers privileged to attend the ceremony of the +_coucher_, or going-to-bed. At the _grand coucher_ the King, being +formally divested of his hat, gloves, cane and sword, knelt by the +balustrade about his bed, while an almoner murmured a prayer as he held a +lighted candle above the royal head. When the King had risen from his +knees he gave to the first _valet de chambre_ his watch and the holy +relics he was accustomed to wear, and proceeded through the assemblage to +his chair. This was the moment when, with regal mien, the Sun King +bestowed the candle upon whomever he wished to honor--a ceremony brief, +trifling, but significant of the Monarch of Monarchs in its gracious +portent. + +To the Master of the Wardrobe fell the task of removing the King's coat +and vest; the diamond buckles of the right and left garters were +unfastened respectively by the first _valet de chambre_ and the first +valet of the wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber withdrew with the +kingly shoes and breeches while the pages of the Chamber presented +slippers and dressing-gown. The latter was held as a screen while the +shirt was removed, and the night-dress was accepted from the hands of a +royal prince, or the Grand Chamberlain. + +Having put on the dressing-gown, the King, with an inclination of the +head, dismissed the courtiers, to whom the ushers cried, "Gentlemen, pass +on!" + +All those that were entitled to remain for the _petit coucher_--princes, +clergymen, officers, chosen intimates--then disposed themselves about the +bedchamber while the King submitted to the hands of his coiffeur and +received from the Grand Master of the Wardrobe the night-cap and +handkerchiefs. After bathing his face and hands in a silver basin held +by a royal prince or grand master, the _petit coucher_ was at an end. +The bathing apartments of Versailles were numerous and luxuriously +appointed, but, though the most trivial details in the daily life of His +Majesty were attended with imposing circumstance, there is no record of a +Ceremony of the King's Bath, nor do we know of any noble order at the +Grand Monarch's court that held the title of Knights of the Bath. + +When the assemblage that witnessed the _petit coucher_ in the royal +apartment had dwindled one by one, according to precedent, the Master of +Versailles was, at last, free to do as he chose,--to play with his dogs +in an adjoining cabinet, or take his ease in pleasing solitude. Then, in +the familiar words of Samuel Pepys' immortal diary, "Home, and to bed." +Outside the gilded balustrade the first _valet de chambre_ slept on a +folding cot. "Beyond that balustrade, by the faint candle-light, there +loomed among the shadows a white-plumed canopy and crimson curtains. The +Grand Monarch slept." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS + +_The Gayety and Fashion of Versailles Life. The Prodigal Frivolities +and Diversions of the Court._ + +The ceremonious routine of the days at Versailles was enlivened at +certain times of the year by festivities of astounding brilliance, and, +on occasion, by gorgeous receptions offered to visiting rulers and +ambassadors, It has already been related that the arrival of Louis XIV +and his family at Versailles in the fall of 1663 was celebrated by a +fete at which a troupe headed by Moliere was heard in a piece by the +great dramatist called Impromptu de Versailles, In the month of May, +1664, Louis commanded a performance of "Pleasures of the Enchanted +Isle," in which his favorite actor and playwright furnished the comedy, +Lully the music and the ballets, and an Italian mechanician the +decorations and illuminations. On the first day there was tilting at +the ring, in which pastime Louis XIV played a part, wearing a +diamond-embroidered costume. The next day, on an outdoor stage, +Moliere and his company played the "_Princesse d'Elide_." There +followed ballets, races, tourneys and a lottery, "in which the prizes +were pieces of furniture, silverware and precious stones." + +In September, 1665, a hunt was organized in the woods of Versailles, at +which the royal ladies wore Amazonian habits. A mid-winter day in the +year 1667 was chosen for a tournament "that over-passed the limits of +magnificence." The Queen herself led a cortege of Court beauties on a +white horse that was set off by brocaded and gem-sewn trappings. The +_Gazette_ of 1667 described the appearance of the youthful Master of +Versailles at this tournament, he being "not less easily recognized by +the lofty mien peculiar to him than by his rich Hungarian habit covered +with gold and precious stones, his helmet with waving plumes, his horse +that was arrayed in magnificent accouterments and a jeweled +saddle-cloth." + +Again in the summers of 1668 and 1672 Moliere and Lully entertained the +guests at the King's chateau, while in the gardens there were statues, +vases and chandeliers so lighted as to give the impression that they +glowed with interior names. + +In the summer of 1674, Moliere "was no longer alive to arrange dramatic +performances among the green and flowery coppices of Versailles. But +there was no lack of entertainment at the splendid fetes that marked +that year. We have the recital of Felebien, a fastidious chronicler of +Court doings, referring to this period of merry-making, which lasted +during most of the summer and fall. + +"The King," says Felebien, "ordained as soon as he arrived at +Versailles that festivities be arranged at once, and that, at +intervals, new diversions should be prepared for the pleasure of the +Court. The things most noticeable at such times as these were the +promptitude, minute pains and silent ease with which the King's orders +were invariably executed. Like a miracle--all in a moment--theaters +rose, wooded places were made gay with fountains, collations were +spread, and a thousand other things were accomplished that one would +have supposed would require a long time and a vast bustle of workers." + +The "Grand Fetes" occupied six days of the months of July and August. +The celebrations of the fourth of July began with a feast laid on the +verdant site later usurped by the basin called the Baths of Apollo. +Here the beauty of nature was enhanced by an infinity of ornate vases +filled with garlands of flowers. Fruits of every clime were served on +platters of porcelain, in silver baskets and in bowls of priceless +glass. In the evening the Court attended a production of +_"Alceste_"--an opera by Quinault and Lully, executed by artists from +the Royal Academy of Music. The stage was set in the Marble Court. +The windows facing the court were ablaze with two rows of candles. The +walls of the chateau were screened with orange trees, festooned with +flowers, illumined by candelabra made of silver and crystal. The +marble fountain in the center of the court was surrounded by tall +candlesticks and blossoming urns. The spraying waters escaped through +vases of flowers, that their falling should not interrupt the voices of +those on the stage. Artificial waters, silver-sconced tapers, bowers +of fragrant shrubs united to create the richest of settings for this +outdoor theater. + +It was the King's wish that the grounds of the little "porcelain house" +at Trianon be chosen as the scene of the second fete, which took place +a week later. In an open-air enclosure, decorated by "a prodigious +quantity of flowers," the guests listened to the "_Eglogue de +Versailles_," composed for the occasion by Lully, leader of the +_Petits-Violons_, Louis' favorite Court orchestra. Afterwards all the +nobles and their fair companions returned to sup at Versailles in a +wood where the Basin of the Obelisk now is. + +Seven days later, at the third fete of the series, the King gave a +banquet to ladies in the pavilion at the Menagerie. The guests were +conveyed in superbly decorated gondolas down the Grand Canal. In a +large boat were violinists and hautboy-players that made sweet music. +Finally, in a theater arranged this time before the Grotto, all the +ladies were regaled with a performance of "_La Malade Imaginaire_," the +last of Moliere's comedies. + +For the fourth festal day, the twenty-eighth of July, the King +commanded a fete of surpassing beauty. The feast was laid in the +center of the _Theatre-d'Eau_. The steps forming the amphitheater +served as tables for the arrangement of the viands. Orange trees heavy +with blossoms and golden fruit, apple trees, apricot trees, trees laden +with peaches, and tall oleanders--all set out in ornamental tubs; three +hundred vessels of fine porcelain filled with fruit; one hundred and +twenty baskets of dried preserves; four hundred crystal cups containing +ices, an uncounted number of carafes sparkling with rare liqueurs--all +created a picture of colorful luxury, which, we are assured, struck +those that looked upon it as "most agreeable." Threading their musical +murmurings through all the laughter and badinage, the tossing jets of +the pyramidal fountains fell away to pools and green-bordered streams. + +Lully's opera, "_Cadmus et Hermione_" Was sung in a theater arranged at +the end of the Allee of the Dragon. At its close every one made a tour +of the park in open vehicles, lighted by torches carried by lackeys, +and all assisted at an exhibition of fire-works on the canal. The +evening ended with a supper in the Marble Court. Here an illuminated +column was placed on an immense pedestal, while around it was disposed +a table with seats for fifty persons. + +The fifth gala day was marked by the presentation to the King of one +hundred and seven flags and standards that Conde, the illustrious +general, had taken at the battle of Senef. In the evening the company +toured the park of Versailles, occupying thirty six-horse carriages. +After a supper served in a forest retreat the invited ones witnessed a +performance of "Iphigenie," a new tragedy by Racine, which was most +admirably played by the royal troupe, and much applauded by the Court. +There followed a grand illumination of the great fountain at the head +of the canal--a display whose beauty and ingenuity "surprised every +one"--even the luxury-surfeited guests of Versailles. Besides an +encircling balustrade six feet in height and ornamented with _fleurs de +lys_ and the arms of the King (all of which glowed with a golden light +most lovely to look upon), there were high pedestals that appeared to +be of transparent marble, with ornaments representing Apollo and the +Sun, whose device Louis, instigator of all the splendor of Versailles, +had adopted as his own insignia. These decorations were made after +designs by Lebrun. + +On the night of the thirty-first of August, the sixth and last day of +the fetes, the Court witnessed what seemed to be indeed a magic +spectacle. "His Majesty," it is recorded, "coming out of the chateau +at one o'clock in the morning, beneath a starless sky, suddenly beheld +about him a miraculous rain of lights. All the parterres glittered. +The grand terrace in front of the chateau was bordered by a double row +of lights. The steps and railings of the horseshoe, all the walls, all +the fountains, all the reservoirs, shone with myriad flames. The +borders of the Grand Canal were adorned with statues and architectural +decorations, behind which lights had been placed to make them +transparent. The King, the Queen, and all the Court took their seats +in richly ornamented gondolas. Boats filled with musicians followed +them, and Echo repeated the sounds of an enchanted harmony." + +Thus ended the fetes of 1674--the last of their kind that were given by +Louis XIV. + +The Versailles calendar of events was divided into three periods: the +season of the winter carnival, the pious observances of Easter, and the +summer-time festivities. Ordinarily, in the winter months, there was a +hunt on foot or horseback almost every day. In the warm season the +Court often took part in a promenade by boat on the Grand Canal, +followed by a concert and a feast for the ladies at Trianon or at the +Menagerie. Ladies were always invited in great numbers to such +parties. Sometimes they walked among the orange trees or made a tour +of the gardens in light carriages, or repaired to the stables to watch +the trainers putting the royal mounts through their paces. And always +there were games of chance, for gambling was the ruling passion of the +Court. + +From the record of Dangeau we read a description of a gay tournament +that took place in the riding-school of the Great Stables of Versailles +on two successive June days: + +"The King and Mme. la Dauphine (wife of the heir to the throne) dined +at an early hour, and on leaving table, the King and Monseigneur +entered a carriage. Mme. la Dauphine and many ladies followed in other +carriages. In the court of the ministers, they found all the cavaliers +of the tournament drawn up in two lines; the pages and lackeys were +there also. Monseigneur mounted a horse at the head of one company; M. +le Duc de Bourbon was at the head of the other. The King took his seat +in the place prepared for him. + +"The cavaliers first rode round the courtyard of the chateau, passing +under the windows of the young Duc de Bourgogne (grandson of the King) +who was on the balcony. Then they rode out of the gate and down the +Avenue de Paris, and entered the riding-school of the Great Stables by +a gate made near the Kennels. After riding in procession before the +raised seats of the court, they took their posts, twenty cavaliers in +each corner, with their pages and grooms behind them; the drums and +trumpets at the barrier. The subject of the tournament was the Wars of +Granada, and the cavaliers represented the Spaniards and the Moors. +Monseigneur rode a tilt with the Due de Bourbon, and Messieurs de +Vendome and de Brionne rode at the same time to make the figure. . . . +There were three courses run for the prize, which was won by the Prince +de Lorraine. It was a sword ornamented with diamonds, and he received +it from the hand of the King. After the tournament all the cavaliers +conducted the King to the courtyard of the chateau, lance in hand, and +the heads of the companies saluted him with their swords. + +"On the fifth, a second tournament was held, and, in spite of the bad +weather, the King found it more beautiful than the first. Many ladies +were present. The Russian envoys, who had not seen the previous fete, +occupied seats at the King's right. During a shower, the spectators +retired quickly, but as soon as it had passed, all the seats were +filled again. The Marquis de Plumartin won the prize. It was a sword +adorned with diamonds, but more costly than that won by the Prince de +Lorraine." + +The Fete of Kings celebrated each year was a brilliant affair at +Versailles. Then the Hall of Mirrors and Salons of War and Peace were +illumined by hundreds upon hundreds of twinkling tapers, while over the +floor glided a throng of slippered feet to the beat of strings and +hautboys. At the suppers, which preceded and followed the dancing, +seventy-two Swiss guards served the guests, each one distinguished by a +ribbon corresponding with the color of the table to whose service he +was assigned. It was the King's custom to retire from the revel with +regal formalities at one hour after midnight. But the feasting and +dancing continued many times until rosy dawn stole in the windows and +paled the candle-light. Besides balls, concerts, plays, games of +chance, masquerades, all the Court was invited every week--between +October and Easter--to take part in the _appartements_ or receptions +given by the King. These soirees began at seven o'clock and lasted +till ten. The chief diversion was card-playing. The King, the Queen +and all the princes so far unbent as to play with their guests at the +same tables, and move about without ceremony, conversing, listening to +the music of Lully's band, watching a minuet or a gavotte, eating and +drinking, or bestowing special favors upon courtiers that engaged their +momentary fancy. + +Sometimes the losses of the players at the tables were enormous; again, +nobles counted their gains by the hundred thousands. The youthful +granddaughter of the King, the Duchess of Bourgogne, lost at one time a +sum equaling 600,000 francs, which her doting grandfather paid, as he +also paid debts of the Duke of Bourgogne. During one night's play the +King himself lost a sum totaling "many millions." On occasion the +courtiers were entertained at festivities arranged for the heir to the +throne, or by the cardinal that was in residence at the chateau. +During masked balls held in the carnival season dancers sometimes +changed their costumes two or three times in an evening--one worn under +another being revealed by pulling a silken cord. Often well-tempered +confusion was caused by gay subterfuges--an exchange of masks, or the +imposing of one mask on another. The costumes were sumptuous beyond +words. "It is impossible to witness at one time more jewelry," naively +recited the _Mercure_ in setting forth the richness of a _cercle_ at +which the Court was present in 1707. + +Let us read further from the _Mercure_ of the diversions that drove +dull care away at a Court carnival: "There have been this winter five +balls in five different apartments at Versailles, all so grand and so +beautiful that no other royal house in the world can show the like. +Entrance was given to masks only, and no persons presented themselves +without being disguised, unless they were of very high rank. . . . +People invent grotesque disguises, they revive old fashions, they +choose the most ridiculous things, and seek to make them as amusing as +possible. . . . Mgr. le Dauphin changed his disguise eight or ten +times each evening. M. Berain had need of all his wit to furnish these +disguises, and of all his ingenuity to get them made up, since there +was so little time between one ball and another. The prince did not +wish to be recognized, and all sorts of extraordinary disguises were +invented for him; frequently under the figures that concealed him, one +could not have told whether the person thus masked was tall or short, +fat or thin. Sometimes he had double masks, and under the first a mask +of wax so well made that, when he took off his first mask, people +fancied they saw the natural face, and he deceived everybody. Nothing +can equal the enjoyment which Mgr. le Dauphin takes in all these +diversions, nor the rapidity with which he changes his disguises. He +leaves all his officers without being fatigued, although he works +harder at dressing and undressing himself than they do, and he danced +much. This prince shows in the least things, in his horsemanship, and +in the ardor with which he follows the chase, what pleasure he will +take some day in commanding armies. But could one expect less from the +son of Louis the Great! + +"The first of the five balls," continues the correspondent, "was given +by M. le Grand, in his apartments in the new wing of Versailles. The +ball commenced with a masquerade. They danced a minuet and a jig; but +only Mlle. de Nantes danced in the latter. Mlle. de Nantes was +especially admired when she danced, and made so great an impression +that people stood on chairs to see her better, Mgr. le Dauphin came to +the masquerade with M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and many other +notables. He was in a sedan-chair, accompanied by a number of +merry-andrews and dwarfs. He changed his disguise four or five times +during the ball, which lasted until four o'clock in the morning. . . . +The second ball was given by Mgr. le Dauphin in the hall of his Guards, +which forms the entrance to his apartments. M. le Duc gave the third, +which was magnificent. Some days after it was the turn of the Cardinal +de Bouillon to receive the court." + +"From just before Candlemas day to Easter of the year 1700," wrote +Saint-Simon, "nothing was heard of but balls and pleasures of the +Court. The King gave at Versailles and Marly several masquerades, by +which he was much amused under pretext of amusing the Duchesse de +Bourgogne. + +"No evening passed on which there was not a ball. The chancellor's +wife gave one--which was a fete the most gallant and the most +magnificent possible. There were different rooms for the fancy-dress +ball, for the masqueraders, for a superb collation, for shops of all +countries, Chinese, Japanese, etc., where many singular and beautiful +things were sold, but no money taken; there were presents for the +Duchesse de Bourgogne and the ladies. Everybody was especially +diverted at this entertainment, which did not finish until eight +o'clock in the morning. Madame de Saint-Simon and I passed the last +three weeks of this time without ever seeing the day. Certain dancers +were allowed to leave off dancing only at the same time as the Duchesse +de Bourgogne. One morning, when I wished to escape too early, the +duchesse caused me to be forbidden to pass the doors of the salon; +several of us had the same fate. I was delighted when Ash Wednesday +arrived, and I remained a day or two dead-beat." + +The _Mercure_ describes the fete given by the wife of the Chancellor of +France at her mansion beyond the palace grounds: + +"Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, learning that Mme. la Chanceliere +wished to give her a ball, received the proposition with much joy. +Although there were but eight days in which to prepare for it, Mme. la +Chanceliere resolved to give the princess in one evening all the +diversions that people usually take during all the carnival +period--namely, comedy, fair, and ball. When the evening came, +detachments of Swiss were posted in the street and in the courtyard, +with many servants of Mme. la Chanceliere, so that there was no +confusion at the gates or in the court, which was brightly lighted with +torches. . . . The ball-room was lighted by ten chandeliers and by +magnificent gilded candelabra. At one end, on raised seats, were the +musicians, hautboys and violins, in fancy dress with plumed caps. In +front of the velvet-covered benches for the courtiers were three +arm-chairs, one for Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the others for +Monsieur and the Madame. Beyond the ball-room, across the landing of +the staircase, was another hall, brilliantly lighted, in which were +hautboys and violins, and this hall was for the masks, who came in such +numbers that the ball-room could not have contained them all. + +". . . After remaining about an hour at the ball, Mme. la Chanceliere +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne +into another hall, filled with lights and mirrors, where a theater had +been erected to furnish the diversion of a comedy. Only about one +hundred people were allowed to enter the hall of comedy, and the +princes and princesses of the blood, being masked, took no rank there. +Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne and Madame had arm-chairs in the center +of the hall. The Duchesse de Bourgogne was surprised to see a splendid +theater, adorned with her arms and monogram. . . . As soon as the +princess was seated, Bari, the famous mountebank of Paris, came forward +and asked her protection against the doctors, and having extolled the +excellence of his remedies, and the marvels of his secrets, he offered +to the princess as a little diversion a comedy such as they sometimes +played at Paris. There was given then a little comedy which Mme. le +Chanceliere had got M. Dancourt to write expressly for that fete. All +the actors were from the company of the comedians of the king. They +played to perfection, and received much praise. . . . At the end of +the comedy, Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was conducted into another +hall, where a superb collation had been prepared in an ingenious +manner. At one end of the hall, in a half-circle, were five booths, in +which were merchants, clad in the costumes of different countries; a +French pastry-cook, a seller of oranges and lemons, an Italian +lemonade-seller, a seller of sweetmeats, a vendor of coffee, tea and +chocolate. They were from the king's musicians, and sung their wares, +accompanied by music, at the sides of the booths, and had pages to +serve the guests. The booths were splendidly painted and gilded, +adorned with lusters and flowers, and bore the arms and cipher of Mme. +la Duchesse de Bourgogne. At the back of each booth a large mirror +reflected the whole. . . . The Duchesse de Bourgogne left this hall, +after the collation, delighted with all that she had seen and heard. +Since the ball-room was so crowded with masks, the princess returned to +the hall of comedy, where they held a smaller court ball until two +o'clock, when she went to the grand ball to see the masks. She was +much amused there until four in the morning. When Mme. la Chanceliere +and the Comte de Pontchartrain conducted her to the foot of the +staircase, she thanked them much for the pleasure they had given her. +This fete brought many congratulations to Mme. la Chanceliere." + +La Palatine, Duchess of Orleans, has left among her letters a +description of her costume on a day of august ceremonies. "The crowd +was so great," she wrote, "that we had to wait a quarter of an hour at +the door of each salon before entering, and I was wearing a robe and an +overskirt so intolerably heavy that I could scarcely stand erect. My +costume was of gold woven with black chenille flowers, and my jewels +were pearls and diamonds. Monsieur had on a coat of black velour +embroidered with gold, and wore all his great diamonds. The coat of my +son was embroidered with gold and a variety of other colors and it was +covered with gems. The robe my daughter wore was made of green velour +threaded with gold and garnished with rubies and diamonds. In her hair +was an ornament designed in brilliants and sprays of rubies." + +For these extraordinary functions the King and his entourage bedecked +themselves with priceless ornaments. When in 1714 the Sun King +received the ambassador of Siam, he chose a habit of black and gold +bordered with diamonds, valued at 12,500,000 _livres_, or about +$2,500,000. The weight was so great that he was compelled to change it +soon after dinner. Besides the jewelry he wore on his own person, the +royal host loaned for this event a garniture of diamonds and pearls to +the Duke of Maine and another garniture of colored stones to the Count +of Toulouse. + +When the King of France received foreign ambassadors, or celebrated, +with pomp befitting his tastes, marriages and births in the royal +family, the Court, weightily, stiffly, sumptuously appareled, thronged +through the Hall of Mirrors--the Grand Gallery--in spectacular defile. + +These brilliant tableaux, the most brilliant of all Europe, had their +source in the King's love of splendor and profusion. It was to please +him that his courtiers and favorites staked fortunes at the gaming +tables, outran each other in devising costly dresses, contrived novel +equipages and unique dwellings. In his superb Court he found all the +elements required to satisfy his pride, and glorify his reign. The Sun +King was the most profligate host in all history. Determined to outdo +the fabulous luxury of the feasts of Lucullus in early Roman times, and +to outshine the storied splendor of Oriental princes, he entertained +his Court and guests with lavish liberality, superbly indifferent to +the cost of his boundless extravagance and considering not at all the +day of reckoning that must come later for the Bourbon dynasty in +France. To glow with commanding brilliance, like the Sun, in the +center of his royal firmament, to overwhelm his subjects with his +grandeur, and to dazzle the eyes of other nations--that was the +ambition that Louis cherished and achieved. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WOMEN OF VERSAILLES + +We have pictured the Sun King and his imposing Court. We have told the +story of the founding and construction of his luxurious palace, and +described the spectacles and entertainments that made Versailles the +most brilliant spot in Europe. We have said nothing of the women of +Versailles and the part they played in the life of the Court and the +influence they exerted in the affairs of France. Some of these women, +though occupying the Queen's apartments and sharing the crown, lived an +existence of bitter disappointment and thwarted affection--Queens in +name only, and serving only as mothers of princes and future monarchs. +Such were Marie Therese, the heart-sick wife of Louis XIV, and Marie +Leczinska, the sad consort of Louis XV. About them were many brilliant +women that graced the palace with their beauty and charm and made +romantic court history that the chroniclers of the time fed on eagerly, +and that the world has devoured eagerly ever since. Rich were those +years in intrigue and adventure, and many and rapid were the changing +fortunes of favorites. No one could tell what a day might bring forth. +The woman of one hour might go the next. Self-interest stimulated the +ambitious seekers of favors to constant endeavor. Grim, determined +strugglers for social preference frequented the salons with smiling +faces that sometimes glowed with pride and satisfaction, but more often +veiled rankling disappointment and carking care. + +Even the great Madame de Maintenon, who successfully weathered the +storms of the social struggle for so many years, once exclaimed: "I can +hold out no longer. I wish that I were dead." And a short time before +her demise, she observed bitterly, "One atones in full for youthful +joys and gratification. I can see, as I review my life, that since I +was twenty-two years of age--when my good fortune began--I have not +been free from suffering for a moment; and through my life my +sufferings increased." + +If Madame de Maintenon confessed so much in her last days, what must +the other favorites of Versailles have experienced and felt? Each wore +the mask of Comedy, with Tragedy gnawing beneath. These brilliant +women, who seemed at times to be so happy, were little more than +slaves, and we find them disclosed in the memoirs of the time as +"penitents who make their apologies to history and lay bare to future +generations their miseries, vexations and the remorse of their souls." +The demands of Court life were constant and relentlessly exacting. The +favorites, each one striving to outdo the others, knew not, from day to +day, what way their destinies were leading them. + +"If," exclaimed Saint-Amand, "among these favorites of the King, there +were a single one that had enjoyed her shameful triumphs in peace, that +could have recalled herself happy in the midst of her luxury and +splendor, one might have concluded that, from a merely human point of +view, it is possible to find happiness in vice. But no; there was not +even one. The Duchesse de Chateauroux and Marquise de Pompadour were +no happier than the Duchesse de la Valliere and the Marquise de +Montespan." + +The Sun King built Versailles and established his Court there. It was +the women that made the life of Versailles--and gave their lives to it. +The Court was a dazzling spider's web, and many a beautiful favorite +became fatally entangled in its glittering meshes. + +Louis XIV, when twenty-two years of age, married Marie Therese, +daughter of Philip IV of Spain. If he had been a simple, respectable +young man of France, he might then have settled down and finished the +story by "living happily ever after." But he was not. He was the King +of France; so he pursued the royal road that his antecedents had blazed +before him; and the way was made easy and pleasant for him. In +treading the "primrose path of dalliance" he allowed no grass to grow +under his feet. + +Louis made Marie Therese his Queen and consort in 1660, and it was only +a year later when his fancy was caught by the dainty and attractive +little Francoise Louise La Valliere. She was scarcely more than +seventeen years of age when she became the favorite of the King. She +was a delicate little creature, slightly lame, but most feminine in her +appeal, and she caught the King by her very girlishness, as she played +like a child with him in the parks of the palace. She was a simple +maid of honor to Queen Marie Therese when she first attracted the +notice of the King. A few years afterward she was created a duchess +and, as such, retained the royal favor for a time. Then remorse seized +upon La Valliere; she took the veil, and, as Sister Louise of Mercy, +entered a convent, and gave her life in religious solitude to expiate +the grief that she had caused the good Queen. The atonement was only +just, for Louise de Valliere had made Marie Therese suffer bitterly the +tortures of jealousy and offended conjugal affection. The Queen was +not a woman of unusual intelligence, but she was sensible, tactful, and +had a certain native dignity that compelled respect. She was, +moreover, devoutly religious and devotedly attached to her children. +She shared her royal Husband's conviction as to the divine right of +kings, and what he did she considered could not be wrong. Of all the +women that were associated with Louis, no one more truly admired him +nor was more ardently devoted to him than his Queen. When they were +first married, Louis treated Marie Therese with kindly consideration. +He shed tears of sympathy and anguish while she suffered in giving +birth to her first child. During the following dozen years, Marie +Therese bore six sons and daughters, but all were lost except the +Dauphin, and he died before ascending the throne. These bereavements +sank deep into her heart and left a wound there that never healed. +Added to this was the spectacle that she was called on repeatedly to +witness of the King's infidelities with a succession of favorites. She +was compelled to take these women into her household and make +companions of them, knowing the while that they were really her rivals +and persecutors. She was often heard to cry out concerning one or +other of the favorites, "That woman will be the death of me." La +Valliere she could afford to forgive, for the first mistress paid for +the brief royal favor that she enjoyed by thirty-six years of rigid and +austere penitence. Other favorites, however, pursued a path of pride, +lowering their heads only under the "bludgeonings of Fate." Yet most +of them, while Marie Therese lived, respected and honored her and felt +a certain sense of shame in her presence. The brilliant and beautiful +Madame de Montespan said, some time before her scandalous relations +with the King had fairly begun, "God preserve me from being the King's +mistress. If I were so I should feel ashamed to face the Queen." And +yet Madame de Montespan, within a short time, assumed the role of +favorite, and carried it out with great pride and arrogant assurance. +The conviction is forced upon us, however, by the evidence of those +that witnessed her ascendancy, that Montespan frequently felt the +stings of self-reproach when she met the Queen, and that her haughty +bearing concealed a genuine sense of shame. In the midst of luxury, +power and brilliant success she seemed at times a small and mean +character in the presence of the pious Marie Therese. As Louis' +infidelities increased in number, his sense of guilt toward his consort +was stamped deeper on his consciousness. He endeavored to make amends +by paying her marked respect and treating her at times with +distinguished tenderness and consideration. But Versailles was the +high seat of elaborate and elegant insincerity, and no one was deceived +by the formal courtesies paid by the Sun King to his unhappy wife. The +deference that he displayed toward her in public appeared to the eyes +of the world to be simply a cloak for essential neglect. And she, poor +creature, with all the prestige of the Queen of France, was but a +pitiful thing in the presence of the King. She tried to do her best to +please him. The thought of offense to the Monarch beset her with fear. +The Princess Palatine wrote of her once: "When the King came to her she +was so gay that people remarked it. She would laugh and twinkle and +rub her little hands. She had such a love for the King that she tried +to catch in his eyes every hint of the things that would give him +pleasure. If he ever looked at her kindly, that day was bright." +Madame De Caylus tells us that the Queen had such a dread of her royal +husband and such an inborn timidity that she hardly dared speak to him. +Madame de Maintenon relates that the King, having once sent for the +Queen, asked Madame to accompany Her Majesty so that she might not have +to appear alone in the presence of her royal husband, and that when +Madame de Maintenon conducted the Queen to the door of the King's room, +and there took the liberty of pushing her ahead so as to force her to +enter, she observed that Marie Therese fell into such a great tremble +that her very hands shook with fright. And why should not the Queen +tremble with unhappy apprehension when even the greatest favorite of +all, Madame de Maintenon, found nothing in the life of the Court but +bitter striving and heart misery? In the very midst of her splendor +she exclaimed to a friend, "If I could only make clear to you the +hideous _ennui_ that devours all of us, the troubles that fill our +days! Do you not see that I am dying of sadness in the midst of a +fortune that passes all imagination? I have had youth and beauty, I +have sated myself with pleasure, I have had my hours of intellectual +satisfaction, I have enjoyed royal favor, and yet I protest to you, my +good friend, that all these conditions leave only a dreadful void." + +Marie Therese took up her abode at Versailles only when the palace was +pronounced complete. She entered her apartments there in 1682, and +breathed her last in July of the following year. The Queen's bedroom +is filled with historic memories. The walls could whisper many tragic +secrets and the halls might assemble by invocation innumerable ghostly +figures of fair women that once stood close to the throne, wore royal +robes, and nursed breaking hearts. In the Queen's bed chamber died +Marie Therese and, later, Marie Leczinska, the Queen of Louis XV. +There also the Dauphiness of Bavaria and the Duchess of Burgundy passed +away; and, in that chamber, nineteen princes and princesses of the +royal blood were born, among whom were King Philip V of Spain and Louis +XV of France. The chamber was occupied first by the pious and devoted +Marie Therese; after that by the Bavarian Dauphiness, who died in 1690 +at the early age of twenty-nine; then by the Duchess of Burgundy, the +mother of Louis XV. She died in 1712 at the age of twenty-six. Then +Mary Anne Victoire, the Infanta of Spain, occupied the apartment for a +brief time; after that, in 1725, came Marie Leczinska, the wife of +Louis XV, who lived there for forty-three years, during which she gave +birth to ten children. And, finally, the most appealing figure of all +entered that fateful apartment--she who has been characterized as "the +most poetic of women, who combined in herself all majesties and all +sorrows, all triumphs and all humiliations, all feminine joys and +tears, she whose very name inspires the emotion, tenderness and respect +of the world"--Marie Antoinette. + +During the hundred years that followed the entrance of Marie Therese on +the scene at Versailles, many extraordinary women came, shone and +passed away. The Hall of Mirrors, had it the power to reflect the +past, would afford a gallery of brilliant portraits. There would be, +first, the devout Queen herself, virtuous, kind, considerate, loved by +all her people and gently resigned to her fate. Then would follow a +glittering train of proud and brilliant mistresses, some compelling by +their beauty and gayety, others by their wit and sense. Sweet Madame +de La Valliere had scarcely passed into obscurity when the haughty and +imperious Marquise de Montespan assumed supremacy and became "the +center of pleasures, of fortune, of hope and of terror to all that were +dependent on the Court." No one could rightly claim to be an intimate +of Montespan except the King, and at times he did not understand her. +While apparently frank and free in her enjoyment of life and in her +dealings with associates in the Court, Montespan always withheld enough +to keep her best friends guessing. No one knew all her romance. She +had experienced both extremes of fortune and when she gained favor with +Louis she had acquired a confidence and a command of herself that +influenced the King to a degree that even he would not have +acknowledged. But the Court knew well the influence of Montespan and +also the ministers, generals of the army and foreign ambassadors. +Montespan succeeded Madame de La Valliere in favor about 1667 and she +held her supremacy for ten years. Then came the turn of her fortunes, +for Madame de Maintenon, fascinating in all that makes feminine charm +and with an extraordinary mind in addition, supplanted Montespan and +became the companion of the King until his dying day. Montespan, who +had eight children by the King, left the Court in bitterness and +humiliation and, like La Valliere, ended her life in a convent. + +Madame de Maintenon was the most distinguished woman in the history of +Versailles. As a girl, in abject poverty, she married in 1652 the good +old poet Scarron. There was no love lost there. She merely took the +gentle-hearted man because he offered either to pay for her entrance +into a convent or to make her his wife, and she found the latter +alternative more acceptable. During the nine years she lived with +Scarron, she maintained a brilliant salon, in which gathered the great +intelluctual figures of the time. In 1669 Madame de Montespan gave +Madame de Maintenon the charge of one of her sons. In that manner +Montespan brought her governess in touch with her King, and, in so +doing, sealed her own fate. + +Madame de Maintenon was a very wise woman. She did not entertain any +sincere affection for the King, and, during all the years of his +devotion to her, she never really loved him. She found a monarch much +sated with the luxurious pleasures of the Court, and beginning to tire +of his latest mistress, and she saw in the situation an opportunity +that appealed to her ambition. With shrewd judgment she measured the +character of Madame de Montespan, and she forecast in her mind the +inevitable downfall of the proud and arrogant favorite. She was the +very opposite in nature of Madame de Montespan. Her self-possession, +poise, skill and tact, virtue and piety made an irresistible appeal to +the tired King. That her piety was scarcely more than a cloak is +betrayed by many of her own utterances. "Nothing is more clever than +irreproachable behavior," she said at one time to close friends. Her +behavior was both irreproachable and clever, and it obtained for her +the satisfaction of her highest ambitions. She fascinated and lured +the King, playing the coquette to him, but evading him with a baffling +assumption of virtue, yielding just enough to draw the Monarch on; then +playing the part of a prude, until, finally, she became in the eyes of +the fascinated Louis the most desired of women. It was not long before +Madame de Maintenon was so advanced in the King's favor that the affair +was the gossip of the Court, and Madame de Montespan was compelled to +stand by, a silent and bitter witness of her own defeat. It was a +humiliating blow to Madame de Montespan to see the King with eyes only +for Madame de Maintenon, saying witty and agreeable things to her, and +ignoring his former favorite completely. It was not long before Madame +de Montespan received her dismissal and, trembling with rage, descended +the great staircase of Versailles never again to mount it. Madame de +Maintenon was installed in special apartments at the head of the Marble +Staircase, opposite the Hall of the King's Guards, and a new spirit +dominated the halls of the palace. Under Madame de Montespan a +"haughtiness in everything that reached to the clouds" had held the +Court and attendants in fear, made the lives of all uneasy, and kept +the atmosphere of the palace astir. With the entrance of Madame de +Maintenon into favor a quieter tone pervaded Versailles. Madame was a +woman of great intelligence and wit, and made all feel the gracious +influence of her fine companionship. There was nothing ascetic in her +piety, but, on the other hand, frivolity, immorality, and unworthy +intrigue had no place in her circle. And all those that attended her +held her in esteem and profound respect. With all her incomparable +grace, she was in mind and spirit more truly the queen than mistress. +She was older than the King and her influence was stronger on that +account. She had comprehended the situation at Versailles with +characteristic shrewdness. The King needed her. The Court of France +needed her--and she needed both the King and the Court for the +fulfillment of her supreme ambitions. As one writer has ironically put +it, "With her gracious bearing and her calm, even temper, she must have +seemed to a king of forty-six, who had buried his queen and cast off +his mistress, the ideal wife for his old age. Then, too, she was pious +and devout, she wished to withdraw the King from the world and give him +to God; she had no ambitions (!), she desired to meddle in nothing, she +was grateful when her husband took her into his confidence, but she +longed only to save his soul. It seemed almost too wonderful to be +true. It was not true." + +Madame de Maintenon was determined to be Queen of France, and she +became so in soul as well as in fact. During her latter years she +ruled, and the King was content to follow her advice and do her will. +When the King was dying and she could gain no more at his hands, Madame +de Maintenon effected a most satisfactory settlement for herself at St. +Cyr, where she ended her days in piety and serene repose. + +Saint-Amand has observed truly that the women of Versailles were +interesting not only from the moral point of view and as subjects of +study, but on account of what he called the "symbolical importance of +their relations to the history of France." Each seemed to be the +living expression of the spirit of her day. Madame de Montespan was +just such a superb, luxurious and magnificent beauty as Versailles +needed to display to all the ambassadors that came to bask in the +glitter of the Sun King's Court. She was the dazzling mistress that +ruled imperiously over the gay and brilliant life of the palace, the +very incarnation of haughty and triumphant France at the culminating +point of the reign of Louis XIV. + +Then came Madame de Maintenon who, with her discreet and temperate +nature, restored order, and was, for years, the living symbol of a +changed condition in the Court in which piety and religious observance +displaced licentious and voluptuous pleasure. And, along with this +"wisdom of a repentant age," as Saint-Amand observes, "this reaction of +austerity against pleasure, there was still the contrast of youth." It +was the Duchess of Burgundy who was the living embodiment of this +protest of joy against sadness, of springtime against cold winter, of +licentiousness against the exacting restrictions of etiquette. Affairs +in the Court had reached a turning point, and it was the logical mind +of Madame de Maintenon that saw it. When Madame de Montespan was in +the ascendancy, the Court had reached a condition of voluptuous +indulgence that could not continue long. The Princess Palatine, wife +of the brother of Louis XIV, wrote: "I hear and see every day so many +villainous things that it disgusts me with life. You have good reason +to say that the good Queen is now happier than we are, and if any one +would do me, as to her and her mother, the service of sending me in +twenty-four hours from this world to the other, I would certainly bear +him no ill will." + +However we may question the soul sincerity of Madame de Maintenon, to +her at least we must give credit for checking the corrupt tendencies of +the Court and, with correcting finger, pointing the way toward better +things. After Louis XIV, as Saint-Amand points out, the conditions of +the Court of France were reflected even more vividly in the characters +of the women of Versailles. "With compression and reserve," he +observes, "there followed scandal. During the regency and the reign of +Louis XV the morals of the Court fast deteriorated. A new epoch +opened--troublous, lewd, dissolute. And was not the Duchess of Berry +eccentric, capricious, passionate, the very image of the time? The +favorites of Louis XV indicate to us in their own sad history the +conditions of debasing humiliation and moral decadence of monarchical +power. At first Louis XV chose his favorites from among ladies of +quality--after that, from the middle classes, and, finally, from the +common women of the people." He did not stop at the low-born shop girl +or the frequenter of evil resorts. + +Louis began with the Duchesse de Chateauroux, the exquisite, who +lasted, as we might say, but a day. From that he turned to the +Marquise de Pompadour, a descent sufficiently significant, but it was +only the beginning of decadence. The King's feeling for the Marquise +was wholly unworthy, and it soon wore itself out. Her death caused him +no regret. On the day of her funeral, during a heavy rainstorm, the +King, standing at one of the windows of Versailles, watched the +carriage bearing the body of his former favorite to Paris, and observed +carelessly: "The Marquise will not have fine weather for her journey." +Louis soon turned to Madame Dubarry--and a lower step was taken. The +prestige and dignity of the Court suffered. "Vice," as Saint-Amand +observes, "threw off all semblance of disguise" and yet, while the King +slowly submerged his nature in a slough of corruption, and his +associates made of the Court a carnival of immorality, there was still +one figure in whom the traditional morals and manners were +maintained--the Queen Marie Leczinska. She was the one pure and +virtuous figure in the Court life. "Her domestic hearth," writes +Saint-Amand, "was near the boudoir of the favorites, but it was she +that preserved for the Court the traditions of decency and decorum. + +"Last of all of the women of Versailles, came Marie Antoinette, the +woman who, in the most striking and tragic of all destinies, represents +not solely the majesty and the griefs of royalty, but all the graces +and all the agonies, all the joys and all the sufferings, of her sex." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VERSAILLES OF LOUIS XV + +Louis the Great, in commanding immense and costly edifices to rise out +of the earth, was moved, at least in part, by a desire to assure the +monarchy and its established ceremonial a worthy background. Louis XV, +in the numerous graceful additions to the chateau made by him, sought +only to satisfy his own caprice and convenience. + +When the Court returned from Vincennes to Versailles in 1722, seven +years after the death of Louis XIV, one of the new King's first +undertakings was the construction of the Salon of Hercules, adjoining +the chapel court. This splendid hall, which to-day serves as the +entrance to the _grand appartements_, owed its design to Robert de +Cotte. As in the time of Louis XIV and Mansard, marble was chosen as +the main decorative medium. All the sculptural ornaments are in bronze +and marble. The bases of the pilasters are of gilded bronze. Carvings +in wood and stucco were contributed by a Flemish artist named +Verberckt, to whom Louis XV assigned most of the sculptural work done +at the chateau during his reign. It was he that modeled the two doors +placed on either side the bronze and marble chimney-piece, and the +sculptures of the cornice. The painting on the ceiling--the Apotheosis +of Hercules--was first seen by His Majesty as he passed through the +room on his way to mass on a day in September, 1736. He examined it +with much attention (some one has taken the trouble to record), and +demonstrated his satisfaction by forthwith naming Sire Le Moine, the +creator of the work, his chief painter. And thereon hangs a tragic +tale. So great was Le Moine's pride in the honor thus done him that he +determined to bring his work to still higher perfection. He resolved +to finish each detail with the same exactitude as though he were +painting a canvas that was to be observed at close range. But the more +he applied his brush to bring out intricate effects, the less the +design pleased him. In a sudden revulsion for the completed work, he +effaced it and began the entire painting anew. This time he was better +satisfied, though critics attached to the Court esteemed the second +canvas not so good as the one destroyed. Upon the completion of the +decorative scheme, the Sovereign bestowed upon Le Moine 5,000 _livres_ +for the _Salon d'Hercule_. Then, to his chagrin, the over-careful +artist discovered that he was out of pocket 24,000 _livres_ by the +transaction. The loss turned his head; seized by grief and +disappointment he committed suicide. + +This salon served during the reign of Louis XV as a ball-room, and here +in March, 1749, the Monarch was formally presented with two young +ostriches, brought from Egypt and destined for the Menagerie. + +In contrast to the passion for ostentation exhibited by Louis XIV, his +great-grandson and successor was chiefly occupied in finding ways to +evade his gilded prison. When the demand of the Court necessitated his +presence at Versailles, he sought diversion in changing the apartments, +making them over, demolishing here, reconstructing there--expending +vast sums at all times. In 1738, finding the chamber of Louis XIV cold +and inconvenient, he ordered another suite to be arranged for him on +the second floor of the chateau above the Marble Court, and here he +lived at his ease, untrammeled by etiquette and far from the curious +gaze of courtiers. Small living rooms, kitchens, grills and bakeries +were built on the Court of the Stags, and above the private apartments +of Louis XIV rooms were added for the favorites of the King. + +The storied Staircase of the Ambassadors, by which ceremonious visitors +were admitted to the presence of the Sun King, was leveled by the whim +of Louis XV. Little mattered it to him that this superb entrance +filled an essential role in the life of the royal residence. Forgetful +of the scenes that had been enacted on the triumphal stair, the +great-grandson of the builder of Versailles commanded the destruction +of one of the noblest architectural works of the time. Its +bas-reliefs, its incomparable marbles, its paintings on which Lebrun +had exercised all the resources of his decorative genius--all +disappeared at the nod of the ambitious Madame de Pompadour, who +desired a theater to be erected on this site. In later years the +theater disappeared to make room for the apartments of the King's fair +daughter, Madame Adelaide. + +The project to build another flight of steps ending in the Salon of +Hercules was never carried out. Future guests were therefore admitted +to the reception rooms by a dark, narrow entrance, or they made a long +roundabout tour by way of the Queen's staircase across the Marble +Court. The demolition of the stairway of honor was an irreparable +loss. No other piece of wantonness equaled it in the tumultuous +history of Versailles. + +However, there remain in the chateau a number of memorials to the +judgment and good taste of the third master of the chateau, among them, +the exquisitely decorated rooms of the King, re-made on the site of +those dedicated to Louis XIV; the seven rooms of Madame Adelaide, and +the suites set apart for the mistresses that succeeded one another in +the favor of Louis the Fifteenth. These apartments, evolved out of the +confusion of orders and counter-orders, remain to-day as examples of +the pure and elegant decorative styles of the eighteenth century. +Especially admired is the Council Room. Richly adorned, but always in +charming taste, it represents the transition period between the more +severe ornamental art peculiar to the reign of Louis XIV and the warmer +effects beloved by Louis XV. Behind the Council Room were installed, +on the west side of the Court of the Stags, a _cabinet de bains_ +(bath-room) and a little room called the Salon of the Wigs. By these +rooms access was gained to the Salon of Apollo. + +The billiard-room, where King Louis XIV was wont to play with his +hounds before retiring, became the bed-room of his heir. After the +year 1738, Louis XV occupied this chamber, and here he died thirty-six +years later. It then became the sleeping-room of the ill-starred Louis +XVI--who died in no bed. Locks, door-knobs, chimney ornaments--each +detail in gilded bronze reflected rare taste and workmanship. The bed +stood in an alcove enclosed between two columns, railed in by a +balustrade of elaborate design, and curtained by wonderful tapestries. +Ordinarily the King slept in this room; when he wakened in the morning +he put on a robe and passed through the Council Room to the salon where +the "rising" was celebrated with traditional pomp. + +If Louis XV indulged in an orgy of building and repair, it was because +he pined with an _ennui_ that was only relieved by constant diversion. +If at the cost of unnumbered thousands of francs, Madame de Pompadour +urged on her royal lover and contrived new outlets for his craze for +building, it was because she was adroit enough to enliven by this means +an existence that often palled upon him. If, throughout the long +series of decisions and contradictions regarding changes in the +chateau, the Monarch commanded one day that a library and marble bath +be added to the apartments of his daughter, and on another that useful +halls, staircases and offices be removed; if he ordered the +construction of a great Opera House with a facade like a temple, and, +in another mood, made away with insignificant rooms that consumed no +more space than would have filled a remote corner of this great hall of +the theater--the motive was ever the same: to banish for the time-being +the hovering specter of boredom and melancholy. "Louis XV," comments +the author of "France Under Louis XV," "was not a man that sought +relief from ceremony and adulation in any useful work; but, on the +other hand, this dull grandeur was not dear to his heart; he did not +derive from it the majestic satisfaction that it furnished to his +predecessor. From youth to age the King was bored; he wearied of his +throne, his court, himself; he was indifferent to all things, and +unconcerned as to the weal or the woe of his people." + +One of the Salons on which he lavished all the art of his epoch was the +reception-room of the royal Adelaide. Here all was carved and gilded +in a manner exquisite beyond words--chimney, doors, ceiling, window +embrasures, mirror frames. Musical instruments were employed as +sculpture _motifs_, for in this room the princess liked to sit and play +her violoncello. In the dining-room, the decorative designs were +delicately carved rosettes, arabesques, garlands of fruits and flowers, +crowns and medallions. + +The supreme ruler of Louis XV's affections--the amazing Madame +Dubarry--was lodged "in a suite of delectable boudoirs" facing the +Marble Court, above the private apartments of the King. Everywhere +appeared the initial _L_ linked with the torches of Love. One of the +objects most admired in the drawing-room was an English piano-forte, +with a case adorned with rosewood medallions, blue and white mosaics +and gilded metal. In this room there were chests of drawers of antique +lacquer and ebony, statues of marble, and garnishings of sculptured +bronze. At night all was ablaze with the lights of the great luster of +rock-crystal that hung from the center of the ceiling, and had cost, it +was said, a sum equaling three thousand American dollars. In varying +form, but with equal richness, all the apartments of Dubarry were +beautified at the King's behest. + +In January, 1747, the "theater of the little apartments" of the King +was inaugurated by a representation of "_Tartuffe_" with Madame de +Pompadour in the cast. The King frequently permitted himself to be +distracted with music and the play in this hall in the Little Gallery. +Here was an orchestra of twenty-eight musicians, a ballet, and a chorus +of twenty-six, under the direction of Monsieur de Bury, Lully's +successor as master of the Court music. Actors, singers, dancers, all +were supplied with gorgeous costumes, and given the services of Sire +Notrelle, the most celebrated wig-maker in Paris, who had in his day a +prodigious vogue. One of his advertisements announced his ability to +imitate the coiffures of "gods, demons, heroes and shepherds, tritons, +cyclops, naiads and furies." Astounding were the head-dresses of the +actors and actresses that graced the stage of Versailles. + +Invitations to a dramatic performance were given by the King himself, +and, for many years, to men guests only. Sometimes the Pompadour +played the comedies of Voltaire, whom she favored against the will of +all the royal family. Occasionally, performances were of necessity +postponed out of respect to a member of the Court that had been slain +in a duel; but not for long did the King and his train pause in their +restless pursuit of pleasure. + +A new theater was installed, with more room for auditors, troupe and +musicians. Finally, in 1753, the Opera House was begun according to +designs submitted by Gabriel, first architect to the King. After long +delays the edifice was completed in time for the marriage fetes of the +Dauphin (Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria. The +hall of the Opera was so surpassingly fine in its dress of fine +woodwork, green marble and gilding that a writer of the period, +addressing a friend in Paris, where all were discontented with the +Opera House just built in the capital, bade him "come with the crowd of +curious folk to Versailles and admire the magnificent building of the +Court Opera. Besides the beautiful outer view it presents," said he, +"and the splendor of its ensemble, the mechanism of the interior is +amazing." In this imposing auditorium the Court of Louis XVI heard the +operas of Lully and Rameau, the tragedies of Racine and Voltaire. Here +at a banquet in October, 1789, Louis XVI called on his supporters at +Versailles to oppose the Revolution. And a short time later, the hall +of the Opera served as a meeting-place for the insurrectionists. + +In 1837, Louis Phillipe, last of the Bourbon kings, restored the +building and redecorated it in red marble. In memory of Louis XIV, the +reigning King commanded his troupe to perform a comedy by Moliere. +Extracts from Meyerbeer's opera, _Robert le Diable_, and a piece +written by Auber concluded the fete organized by this monarch to recall +the golden days of Louis the Superb. + +When, in the summer of 1855, Napoleon III entertained Queen Victoria at +Versailles, the supper that terminated a day of brilliant celebrations +was laid in the banquet hall of the Opera. The last theatrical +performance given in this worthy memorial to the building enterprise of +Louis XV was witnessed by Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie, and the King +of Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOURBON KINGS + +It was on a May morning in the year 1770 that the child-bride of the +Dauphin of France arrived at Versailles--the graceful, winsome, +golden-haired Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, Empress of +Austria. The future Queen of France was then not fifteen years of age, +and her affianced husband was but a few months older. + +A letter in her own hand, dated at Versailles on the 24th of May, 1770, +describes the incidents of her ceremonious journey from Austria, and her +reception by Louis XV and his heir. Other letters to her family give us +glimpses of the wedding in the chapel of Versailles, of the fetes, the +balls at the palace, the function of distributing bread and wine to the +people, the hunts in nearby forests, the dances, musicales and informal +assemblages of the royal family in the intimate apartments of the chateau. + +"Our life here is perpetual movement," wrote the Dauphine to her sister; +and to her mother she sent this quaint epistle a few weeks after her +arrival in France: "You wish to know how I spend my time habitually. I +will say, therefore, that I rise at ten o'clock or nine, or half-past +nine, and after dressing I say my prayers; then I breakfast, after which +I go to my aunts' (Madame Adelaide, Victoire and Sophie), where I usually +meet the King. At eleven I go to have my hair dressed. At noon the +Chambre is called, and any one of sufficient rank may come in. I put on +my rouge and wash my hands before everybody; then the gentlemen go out; +the ladies stay, and I dress before them. At twelve is mass; when the +King is at Versailles I go to mass with him and my husband and my aunts. +After mass we dine together before everybody, but it is over by half-past +one, as we both eat quickly. (Marie Antoinette always found the custom +of eating in public most distasteful.) I then go to Monsieur the +Dauphin; if he is busy I return to my own apartments, where I read, I +write, or I work, for I am embroidering a vest for the King, which does +not get on quickly, but I trust that, with God's help, it will be +finished in a few years! At three I go to my aunts', where the King +usually comes at that time. At four the Abbe (her literary mentor) comes +to me; at five the master for the harpsichord, or the singing-master, +till six. At half-past six I generally go to my aunts' when I do not go +out. You must know that my husband almost always comes with me to my +aunts'. At seven, card-playing till nine. When the weather is fine I go +out; then the card-playing takes place in my aunts' apartments instead of +mine. At nine, supper; when the King is absent my aunts come to take +supper with us; if the King is there, we go to them after supper, and we +wait for the King, who comes usually at a quarter before eleven; but I +lie on a large sofa and sleep till his arrival; when he is not expected +we go to bed at eleven. Such is my day. + +"I entreat you, my very dear mother, to, forgive me if my letter is too +long. I ask pardon also for the blotted letter, but I have had to write +two days running at my toilet, having no other time at my disposal." + +In the winter the Court made merry with sleighing, skating and dancing +parties, and formal affairs in honor of foreign princes. "There is too +much etiquette here to live the family life," lamented the child to her +mother. "Altogether, the Court at Versailles is a little dull, the +formalities are so fatiguing. But I am happy, for Monsieur the Dauphin +is very polite to me and always attentive." In another letter she +recounted the triumph attending the first presentation of the opera +_Iphigenie_, by Gluck. "The Dauphin applauded everything and Gluck +showed himself very well pleased. . . . He has written me some pieces +that I sing to the harpsichord." + +Several times a week, the awkward, bashful boy who was to become Louis +XVI of France pleased his light-hearted wife by taking dancing lessons +with her. Hours were spent with him in the park at Versailles, skipping +about, laughing, playing pranks like the little girl she was. Sometimes +there were charades, and plays by amateurs and professionals behind the +"closed doors" of their own rooms. + +In 1774, four years after the marriage of Marie Antoinette to the +Dauphin, Louis XV was taken ill of smallpox during a sojourn at the +Little Trianon, and was removed to Versailles. Within a fortnight he was +dead, and a scandalous reign was ended. "The rush of the courtiers, with +a noise like thunder, as they hastened to pay homage to the new +sovereign," says a narrator of the Queen's story, "was the first +announcement of the great event to the young heir and his wife." The new +King had not yet reached his twentieth year. "God help and protect us!" +they both cried on their knees. "We are too young to reign!" + +As Queen of France, Marie Antoinette occupied a series of superbly +appointed rooms in the left wing of the palace. Beyond a dark passageway +were her husband's apartments. Her bed-chamber was the scene of the +formal toilet, a ceremony always irksome to the youthful sovereign. In +this sumptuous room, where queens had borne kings-to-be, and had closed +their eyes forever upon a melancholy existence, she gave birth to four +children. The royal bed was raised on steps and surrounded by a gilt +balustrade; nearby was a gorgeously fitted dressing-table. There were +also armchairs, we are told, with down cushions, "tables for writing, and +two chests of drawers of elaborate workmanship. The curtains and +hangings were of rich but plain blue silk. The stools for those that had +the privilege of being seated in the royal presence, with a sofa for the +Queen's use, were placed against the walls, according to the formal +custom of the time. The canopy of the bed was adorned with Cupids +playing with garlands and holding gilt lilies, the royal flower." + +Other rooms prepared for the Queen faced an inner court, and here with +music, small talk and embroidery she spent contented moments, remote from +the demands of her high estate. + +Usually the mistress of Versailles was wakened at eight o'clock by a lady +of the bedchamber, whose first duty it was to proffer a ponderous volume +containing samples of the dresses that were in the royal wardrobe. Marie +Antoinette marked with pins, taken from an embroidered cushion, the +costumes she wished to put on for the various events of the day--the +brocaded and hooped Court dress for the morning mass, the negligee to be +worn during leisure hours in her own living rooms, and the gown to be +donned for evening festivities. These vital matters determined, the +Queen proceeded with her bath and her breakfast of chocolate and rolls. +She was accustomed then to return to bed, and, with her tapestry-work in +hand, receive various persons attached to her service. Physicians, +reader, secretary, came to ask her wishes and do her bidding. At noon +followed the "rising," and the stately progress of the Queen and her +attendants through the Salon of Peace to the dazzling Hall of Mirrors, +where the King awaited her on his way to chapel. Often at this hour +there were admitted to the Grand Gallery of Mirrors respectful groups of +commoners, who gathered to watch the passing of the gracious Marie +Antoinette beside the husband whose uncouth gait and features were ever +in forbidding contrast to her own comely bearing. + +Amid all the follies and splendors of life at Versailles appeared the +sturdy American figure of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In the year 1767 he was +presented at Court on the occasion of his first visit to Paris. + +"You see," said he, in a letter to Miss Stevenson, daughter of his +landlady in London, "I speak of the Queen as if I had seen her; and so I +have, for you must know I have been at Court. We went to Versailles last +Sunday, and had the honor of being presented to the King, Louis XV. In +the evening we were at the _Grand Convert_, where the family sup in +public. The table was half a hollow square, the service of gold. . . . +An officer of the Court brought us up through the crowd of spectators, +and placed Sir John (Pringle) so as to stand between the Queen and Madame +Victoire. The King talked a good deal to Sir John, and did me, too, the +honor of taking some notice of me. + +"Versailles has had infinite sums laid out in building it and supplying +it with water. Some say the expenses exceeded eighty millions sterling +($400,000,000). The range of buildings is immense; the garden-front most +magnificent, all of hewn stone; the number of statues, figures, urns, +etc., in marble and bronze of exquisite workmanship, is beyond +conception. But the water-works are out of repair, and so is a great +part of the front next the town, looking, with its shabby, half-brick +walls, and broken windows, not much better than the houses in Durham +Yard. There is, in short, both at Versailles and Paris, a prodigious +mixture of magnificence and negligence with every kind of elegance except +that of cleanliness, and what we call tidiness." + +Franklin next appeared at the Court of Versailles upon the momentous +occasion of the ratification of the alliance signed in 1778 by France and +America. Dressed in a black velvet suit with ruffles of snowy white, +white silk stockings and silver buckles, the emissary of the United +States appeared in a gorgeous coach at the portals of Versailles. It is +related that the chamberlain hesitated a moment to admit him, for he was +without the wig and sword Court etiquette demanded, "but it was only for +a moment; and all the Court were captivated at the democratic effrontery +of his conduct." Franklin and the four envoys that accompanied him were +conducted to the dressing-room of Louis XVI, who, without ceremony, +assured them of his friendship for the new-born country they represented. +In the evening the Americans were invited to watch the play of the royal +family at the gaming-table, and Dr. Franklin, so Madame Campan relates, +"was honored by the particular notice of the Queen, who courteously +desired him to stand near to her, and as often as the game did not +require her immediate attention, she took occasion to speak to him in +very obliging terms." + +The _New York Journal_, under date of July 6, 1778, recounted another +picturesque detail of this presentation of the American envoys at +Versailles. When they entered the inner part of the palace, so the +dispatch ran, "they were received by _les Cents Suisses_ (Swiss Guards), +the major of which announced, '_Les Ambassadeurs des treize provinces +unies,' i.e., The Ambassadors from the Thirteen United Provinces." + +During the Revolution in America the newspapers made much of Marie +Antoinette's liking for Benjamin Franklin. Among others, the _New +Hampshire Gazette_ printed this story, which went the rounds of the +States. "Franklin being lately in the gardens of Versailles, showing the +Queen some electrical experiment, she asked him in a fit of raillery if +he did not dread the fate of Prometheus, who was so severely served for +stealing fire from Heaven. 'Yes, please your Majesty' (replied old +Franklin, with infinite gallantry), 'if I did not behold a pair of eyes +pass unpunished which have stolen infinitely more fire from Jove than I +ever did, though they do more mischief in a week than I have done in all +my experiments.'" + +On January 20, 1783, at the office of the Count de Vergennes at +Versailles, in the presence of Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, the +representatives of England, France and Spain affixed their signatures to +the preliminary documents declaring war at an end between America and +England. A little over seven months later, on September 3, 1783, at the +Hotel de York in Paris, the final treaty between Great Britain and the +United States was signed. Later on the same day, the definitive treaty +between England and France was concluded at Versailles. When Franklin +was about to take leave of France and return to Philadelphia, Louis XVI +presented to him the royal portrait, framed by 408 diamonds, the value of +which was estimated at $10,000. + +No less than his predecessor had the new Monarch of Versailles and his +gay, ease-loving, oft-times imprudent young wife disregarded the +traditions and dignity of the Sun King's palace. If Louis XV demolished +the Staircase of the Ambassadors and mutilated the _grands appartements_, +Marie Antoinette imitated his desecrations in the royal dwelling by +commanding any change that pleased her fancy, by reducing rooms of state +to mere private chambers, and shutting herself off from the irritating +claims of Court life. Many of the trees in the park died that had been +set out at the proud command of Louis XIV. The gardens became neglected +and desolate. The famous Labyrinth of Aesop's fountains disappeared. + +A grove planted on the place formerly beautified by the Grotto of Thetis +(or Tethys) gave sanctuary to the impious scheming of that Madame de +Lamotte, whose intrigue and evil ambition brought upon the Queen in 1785 +the scandal of the Diamond Necklace, with the subsequent dramatic arrest +of Cardinal de Rohan in the fateful Hall of Mirrors, and the humiliating +trial of Marie Antoinette. + +Bored by incessant publicity, finding no pleasure in the formal +promenades of the palace park, the Queen pleaded for "a house of her +own," where she could find recreation after her own tastes, unobserved by +the curious and the critical. Louis XV had built near the Grand Trianon +a small villa for Madame de Pompadour. On the modest estate were several +small outbuildings, to which were added a pavilion for open-air pastimes +and a "French garden." It was Gabriel, architect of the Opera House, +that drew the plans for the little chateau, begun in 1762. But Madame de +Pompadour died before the villa of her fancy was completed. Dubarry +succeeded her as chatelaine, and richly embellished the interior of the +delectable retreat. + +When Marie Antoinette desired to possess a _maison de plaisance_ of which +she should be sole mistress, the King, always eager to satisfy her whims, +bade her accept for her own use both the Grand and the Petit Trianon. +Said he, graciously, "These charming houses have always been the repair +of favorites of the reigning king--consequently they should now be +yours." The Queen was much pleased with the gift and with her husband's +gallantry. She responded, laughingly, that she would accept the Little +Trianon on condition that he would not come there except when invited! + +During the tenancy of Marie Antoinette, some of the rooms of the Petit +Trianon were altered according to the elaborate style that received the +name of Louis XVI. Sculptures, wood-work, gilded chimneys, staircases, +were fashioned by the hands of master artists. No sooner was she +possessor of her new domain than the Queen desired a garden after the +pastoral English style that was then coming in favor. A lake, a stream +with ornamental bridges, clusters of trees, supplanted the symmetrical +design of a botanical garden that had been much admired. A gallant +attached to the Court wrote an _Elegie_ in praise of the Petit Trianon, +its flowers, tulip trees and fragrant walks. At one end of the lake a +hamlet was created, with a picture-mill and a dairy, fitted with marble +tables and cream jugs of rare porcelain. There was also a farm where the +Queen pastured a splendid herd of Swiss cattle. Among these bucolic +surroundings the King of France, forgetful of his people and their +growing anguish, played shepherd to his shepherdess Queen. In the Temple +of Love they basked on summer days among rosy vines, while the music of +Court players wafted through the trees from a nearby pavilion. Every +Sunday during the summer season there was a ball in the park, where any +one might dance whose clothes and behavior were respectable. The Queen, +sensing the need to propitiate a disgruntled populace, shared in the +afternoon's revelries, petted the children that flocked about her knees, +chatted with their nurses and parents. Often, Marie Antoinette resided +for weeks at a time at her favorite dwelling, fishing in the lake, +tending her herd, picking berries in her garden patch. The King and the +princes came every day for supper, and were received by a Queen dressed +in white with a fichu of net--sometimes in a "rumpled gown of cotton." A +score of favorites composed the Court of the Little Trianon. All others +were excluded. Heavy silks and towering head-dresses were forgotten in +the simple life of the Petit Trianon. Tiresome etiquette was banished, +together with thoughts of international matters of portent and impending +calamity. Occasionally, comedies were given, or groves and canal were +illuminated in honor of a visitor of high degree--the Emperor Joseph of +Austria (brother of the Queen), the King of Sweden, ambassadors, princes, +archduchesses. + +Surrounded by the persons and the objects she most loved--free to go and +come unattended by a train of attendants--those were the least unhappy +days in the life of Marie Antoinette at Versailles. + +At the Little Trianon, Madame Vigee Lebrun made, in 1787, the painting of +Marie Antoinette with her children, which the Queen's intimates counted +the truest likeness among all her portraits. Two years later, on the +fifth day of October, the Queen was at Trianon when news came of the +approach of the mob of starving, angry women that stormed the road from +Paris, swept across the Place d'Armes, and surged about the doors of the +despised palace. On that day, Marie Antoinette left her "little house," +never to see it again. + +For many months the clouds had been gathering on the horizon of the +Bourbon King, whose extravagance and weak will were matched by the +childish indiscretions of his Austrian consort. + +In November, 1787, the Notables assembled at Versailles in the grand hall +of the palace guards. In May, 1789, the Salon of Hercules witnessed the +presentation of the twelve hundred deputies elected by the people in all +parts of France to the States-General. The Assembly, "the true era of +the birth of the French people," opened on May fifth in the immense +_Salle des Menus_, on the Paris Avenue, outside the gates of the palace. +During the thirty days that the deputies sat inactive under the oratory +of the King, of Necker, Mirabeau and Robespierre, work ceased throughout +the kingdom. "He who had but his hands, his daily labor, to supply the +day, went to look for work, found none, begged, got nothing, robbed. +Starving gangs over-ran the country; wherever they found any resistance, +they became furious, killed, and burned. Horror spread far and near; +communications ceased, and famine went on increasing." At last the +Assembly was founded, but the nation remained in tumult, the King +vacillating, the Queen in retirement, mourning the death of the little +Dauphin. On June twentieth, the people's representatives gathered, in +spite of the King, in the bare tennis-court, without the walls of the +chateau, and made oath as citizens of France never to adjourn until they +had given their country a constitution. On the same day Marie Antoinette +inscribed a letter from Versailles whose import was in piteous contrast +to the prattling epistles of her girlhood. "The Chambre Nationale is +declared," she wrote. "They are deliberating, but I am in despair to see +nothing come of their deliberations; every one is greatly alarmed. The +nobility may be wiped out forever. But the kingdom will be calm; if not, +one cannot estimate the evils by which we shall be menaced. . . . Not +far away civil war exists, and, besides, bread is lacking. God give us +courage!" Three days later the King read to the deputies an arbitrary +declaration that had been composed by interested advisers. He commanded +the assembly to disperse, and met a calm and silent resistance. Workmen +entered to demolish the amphitheater, but laid down their tools on the +declaration of Mirabeau that "whoever laid hands on a deputy was a +traitor, infamous and worthy of death." At last the King, wearied and +confused, commanded, "Let them alone." + +The parterres, the courts, even the salons of the palace swarmed with +ruffians that had marched out from Paris to menace Versailles. By June +25th there was open revolt in the capital. "A stormy, heavy, gloomy +time, like a feverish, painful dream," prefaced the furious deeds of the +14th of July. Every day witnessed some new outbreak. July was a month +of insurrections and murders. The Bastille was assailed by rioters. +News came to the King that the ancient fortress had fallen. "Sire," +announced the Duke of Orleans to the sleepy Monarch in his bedchamber, +"it is a Revolution!" + +Lafayette, back from the war across the sea, became the unwilling leader +of the National Guard. On the evening of the first of October occurred +the fatal banquet of the King's guard, held, not in the Orangery or in +some other informal hall, but in the palace theater, where no fete had +been given since the visit of the Emperor Joseph II of Austria. A French +writer describes the scene. "The doors open. Behold the King and the +Queen! The King has been prevailed on to visit them on his return from +the chase. The Queen walks round to every table, looking beautiful, and +adorned with the child she bears in her arms. + +"So beautiful and yet so unfortunate! As she was departing with the +King, the band played the affecting air: 'O Richard, O my King, abandoned +by the whole world!' Every heart melted at that appeal. Several tore +off their cockades, and took that of the Queen, the black Austrian +cockade, devoting themselves to her service. . . . + +"On the 3rd of October, another dinner; they grow more daring, their +tongues are untied, and the counter-revolution showed itself boldly. In +the long gallery, and in the apartments, the ladies no longer allow the +tricolor cockade to circulate. With their handkerchiefs and ribands they +make white cockades, and tie them themselves." + +Stories of royalist revels and open insults to the cockade of the +Revolutionists still further inflamed starving Paris. On the fifth of +October there were thousands of inhabitants that had tasted no food for +thirty hours. And then the ravenous women of Paris arose--mothers, +shop-girls, courtesans--and, gathering recruits as they swept through the +restless city streets, they rolled like an angry flood out the +eleven-mile road to Versailles. The King was hunting at Meudon; a +courier was sent for him. The Queen Consort was in her retreat at +Trianon. The messenger found her, sad and contemplative, seated in her +grotto. Hastily she was brought back to the palace. Later, she and the +King would have fled the anger of the crowd whose shouts of "Bread! +Bread!" echoed across the Marble Court to the windows of the royal +apartments. But their decision, put off from moment to moment, came too +late. The gates were closed. They were prisoners within the walls of +Versailles. + +"It was a rainy night," relates a French historian of the Revolution. +"The crowd took shelter where they could; some burst open the gates of +the great stables, where the regiment of Flanders was stationed, and +mixed pell-mell with the soldiers. Others, about four thousand in +number, had remained in the Assembly. The men were quiet enough, but the +women were impatient at that state of inaction; they talked, shouted, and +made an uproar. + +"The King's heart was beginning to fail him; he perceived that the Queen +was in peril. However agonizing it was to his conscience to consecrate +the legislative work of philosophy, at ten o'clock in the evening he +signed the Declaration of Rights. + +"Mounier was at last able to depart. He hastened to resume his place as +president before the arrival of that vast army from Paris, whose projects +were not yet known. He reentered the hall; but there was no longer any +Assembly; it had broken up; the crowd, ever growing more clamorous and +exacting, had demanded that the prices of bread and meat should be +lowered. Mounier found in his place, in the president's chair, a tall, +fine, well-behaved woman, holding the bell in her hand, who left the +chair with reluctance. He gave orders that they were to try to collect +the deputies again; meanwhile, he announced to the people that the King +had just accepted the constitutional article. The women, crowding about +him, then entreated him to give them copies of them; others said: 'But, +Monsieur President, will this be very advantageous? Will this give bread +to the poor people of Paris?' Others exclaimed: 'We are very hungry. We +have eaten nothing to-day.' Mounier ordered bread to be fetched from the +bakers. Provisions then came in on all sides. They all began eating in +the hall with much clamour." + +At midnight Lafayette arrived at the head of twenty thousand men of the +National Guard. To the amazement of the soldiers and onlookers, he dared +to pass unattended through the palace doors to the Bull's Eye. "He +appeared very calm," says Madame de Stael, Necker's observant daughter. +"Nobody ever saw him otherwise." When he had reported his arrival to the +King, Lafayette stationed guards about the palace, and, worn with hours +of marching in the rain and mud, so far forgot his duty to his Sovereign +and his command that he retired to his house in the town of Versailles to +seek sleep. In the masses of people outside the gates were thieves and +men of violence. "What a delightful prospect was opened for pillage in +the wonderful palace of Versailles, where the riches of France had been +amassed for more than a century!" exclaims the commentator, Michelet. +Here follows a dramatic account of what followed, based on the story of +Madame de Stael, who witnessed many of the bloody scenes in person. "At +five in the morning, before daylight, a large crowd was already prowling +about the gates, armed with pikes, spits, and scythes. About six +o'clock, this crowd, composed of Parisians and people of Versailles, +scale or force the gates, and advance into the courts with fear and +hesitation. The first who was killed, if we believe the Royalists, died +from a fall, having slipped in the Marble Court. According to another +and a more likely version, he was shot dead by the body-guard. + +"Some took to the left, toward the Queen's apartment, others to the +right, toward the chapel stairs, nearer the King's apartment. On the +left, a Parisian running unarmed, among the foremost, met one of the body +guard, who stabbed him with a knife. The guardsman was killed. On the +right, the foremost was a militia-man of the guard of Versailles, a +diminutive locksmith, with sunken eyes, almost bald, and his hands +chapped by the heat of the forge. This man and another, without +answering the guard, who had come down a few steps and was speaking to +him on the stairs, strove to pull him down by his belt, and hand him over +to the crowd rushing behind. The guards pulled him towards them; but two +of them were killed. They all fled along the Grand Gallery, as far as +the _Oeil-de-boeuf_ (Bull's Eye), between the apartments of the King and +the Queen. Other guards were already there. + +"The most furious attack had been made in the direction of the Queen's +apartment. The sister of her _femme de chambre_, Madame de Campan, +having half opened the door, saw a guardsman covered with blood, trying +to stop the furious rabble. She quickly bolted that door and the next, +put a petticoat on the Queen, and tried to lead her to the King. An +awful moment! The door was bolted on the other side! They knock again +and again. The King was not within; he had gone round by another passage +to reach the Queen. At that moment a pistol was fired, and then a gun +close to them. 'My friends, my dear friends,' cried the Queen, bursting +into tears, 'save me and my children!' At length the door was opened, +and she rushed into the King's apartment. + +"The crowd was knocking louder and louder to enter the _Oeil-de-boeuf_. +The guards barricaded the place, piling up benches, stools, and other +pieces of furniture; the lower panel was burst in. They expected nothing +but death; but suddenly the uproar ceased, and a kind clear voice +exclaimed: 'Open!' As they did not obey, the same voice repeated: 'Come, +open to us, body-guard; we have not forgotten that you men saved us +French Guards at Fontenoy.' + +"It was indeed the French Guards, now become National Guards, with the +brave and generous Hoche, then a simple sergeant-major--it was the +people, who had come to save the nobility. They opened, threw themselves +into one another's arms, and wept. + +"At that moment, the King, believing the passage forced, and mistaking +his saviors for his assassins, opened his door himself, by an impulse of +courageous humanity, saying to those without: 'Do not hurt my guards.' + +"The danger was past, and the crowd dispersed; the thieves alone were +unwilling to be inactive. Wholly engaged in their own business, they +were pillaging and moving away the furniture. The grenadiers turned that +rabble out of the castle. + +"Lafayette, awakened but too late, then arrived on horseback. He saw one +of the body-guards whom they had taken and dragged near the body of one +of those killed by the guards, in order to kill him by way of +retaliation. 'I have given my word to the King,' cried Lafayette, 'to +save his men. Cause my word to be respected.' + +"He then entered the castle. Madame Adelaide, the King's aunt, went up +to him and embraced him: 'It is you,' cried she, 'who have saved us.' He +ran to the King's cabinet. Who would believe that etiquette still +subsisted? A grand officer stopped him for a moment, and then allowed +him to pass: 'Sir,' said he seriously, 'the King grants you _les grandes +entrees_.' + +"The King showed himself at the balcony, and was welcomed with the +unanimous shout of 'God save the King.' 'Vive le Roi!' + +"At that moment several voices raised a formidable shout: 'The Queen!' +The people wanted to see her in the balcony. She hesitated: 'What!' said +she, 'all alone?' 'Madame, be not afraid,' said Lafayette. She went, +but not alone, holding an admirable safeguard--in one hand her daughter, +in the other her son. The Court of Marble was terrible, in awful +commotion, like the sea in its fury; the National Guards, lining every +side, could not answer for the center; there were fire-arms, and men +blind with rage. Lafayette's conduct was admirable; for that trembling +woman, he risked his popularity, his destiny, his very life; he appeared +with her on the balcony, and kissed her hand. + +"The crowd felt all that; the emotion was unanimous. They saw there the +woman and the mother, nothing more. 'Oh! how beautiful she is! What! is +that the Queen? How she fondles her children!'" + +The King, overcome by dread, was forced to agree to the demand of the +people that he go to Paris. In leaving his palace, he realized that he +was finally surrendering all his claims to royalty. About noon on the +sixth day of October, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, under the +protection of the Marquis de Lafayette, turned their faces forever from +Versailles. Little they knew that they were even then traveling the long +road to the guillotine. A rabble of men and women surrounded them, some +on foot, some in carts and carriages. "All were very merry and amiable +in their own fashion, except a few jokes addressed to the Queen." + +Such was the end of royal Versailles. Who can contest its tragic +grandeur? In these halls, these gardens, these secluded villas the +supreme destiny of the Bourbon monarchy was achieved. They witnessed the +apogee, the decline, and the ruin of the dynasty. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHRINE OF ROYAL MEMORIES, THE SCENE OF WORLD ADJUSTMENTS + +It was not long after the enforced departure of Louis XVI and the Court +that the immense sepulcher of regal glory was dismantled and forsaken. +During the Revolution some of the furnishings were taken to Paris to +supply the needs of the king and his family at the Tuileries. A number +of pictures and objects of art contained in the palace and the two +Trianons were removed to the Museum of the Louvre, which had been +founded in 1775. Some of these paintings, including the _Joconde_ by +da Vinci, and famous canvases by Titian, del Sarto, Rubens and Van +Dyck, still hang on the walls of the first national gallery of France. +Agitated discussions arose as to the final destiny of the palace and +its contents. A group of law-makers would have sold the building +outright. But in July, 1793, the Convention decreed the establishment +at Versailles of a provincial school, a museum of art objects taken +from the houses of those that had emigrated from troublous France, a +public library, a French museum for painting and sculpture, and a +natural history exhibition. There were, however, Revolutionaries that +so despised the relics of royalty that they continued to urge from time +to time the complete demolition of the palace and park--chief works of +Louis XIV's reign. The most diligent defenders of the chateau were the +inhabitants of the town of Versailles, who were keenly aware that the +continued existence of the palace would insure a measure of prosperity +to the community. They protested, that, just object of the people's +venom as the edifice was, it nevertheless stood as a monument to the +arts and crafts of France during two centuries. The assailants that +made hideous the days of October fifth and sixth, 1789, had done +comparatively little material damage within the palace precincts. Gun +shots of the Paris mob had disfigured two statues at the main entry to +the courtyard, had destroyed the grill that separated the Royal Court +from the Court of the Ministers; lunges of their bayonets had broken +the mirrors in the Grand Gallery, while pursuing the Guards to massacre +them. Otherwise, the historic walls and gardens bore no evidence of +Revolutionary fury. + +After several years of contention, plan and counter-plan, the +Convention definitely saved Versailles for the nation by the decrees of +1794 and 1795. During this epoch of violence and revolt, thousands of +articles were offered for sale at the stables of Versailles, in the +presence of appointed representatives of the people. Linen, utensils, +mirrors, clocks, cabinets, chandeliers, stoves, damask curtains, +carriages, wines of Madeira, Malaga and Corinth, coffee, Sevres +porcelains, engravings, paintings, drawings, and some fine furniture +went for a song at this colossal auction. In 1796 the Minister of +finance ordered that remaining pieces of furniture of great beauty and +value be put on sale. In this way were summarily dispersed chairs of +tapestry and gilt that would to-day command extravagant sums; desks of +exquisite marquetry, at which kingly documents and _billets doux_ had +been penned; dressing-tables whose mirrors had reflected the faces, sad +or gay, frank or subtle, of queens and mistresses; wardrobes that had +held the linens and brocades of princes and courtiers; clocks of gold +and enamel that had registered the hours of portentous births and +marriages. Tables of mosaic and satinwood, cushions of gold brocade, +cameo medallions, porcelain panels, plaques of lacquer and bronze were +included on the list of articles to be disposed of. In the original +inventory, discovered in the library at Versailles, were included +pieces of Saxony ware, Watteau figures, Sevres vases, dishes and cups, +Beauvais tapestries, clocks made by Robin and de Sotian, candelabra of +crystal, chandeliers of silver--all from the apartments of the King, +the Queen and the Dauphin. For 20,000 francs there was sold a tapestry +emblematic of the American Revolution. Creditors of the new Government +were paid in furniture and art works whose value they estimated to +please their own purses. A brochure published at Paris by Charles +Davillier recites the romance of "The Sale of the Furnishings of +Versailles during the Terror." To a certain Monsieur Lanchere, a +former cab driver who had undertaken the conduct of military convoys +and transports for the State, were assigned clocks, carpets, statuary, +chests, secretaries and consoles that embarrassed every nook and corner +of the spacious Paris mansion of which he became proprietor. + +"Paris," narrates Monsieur Davillier, "was gorged after the sale at the +chateau of Versailles with priceless furniture and objects of _vertu_." +Newspapers were filled with the advertisements of second-hand dealers +offering to the public these souvenirs--redolent, splendid, tragic--of +a dead-and-gone dynasty, of an epoch vanished never to return. + +The institutions whose establishment at Versailles definitely saved the +chateau and its dependencies for posterity, were, at the Palace, a +conservatory of arts and sciences and a library of 30,000 volumes; in +the Kitchen Garden a school of gardening and husbandry; at the Grand +Commune, a manufactory of arms; at the Menagerie, a school of +agriculture. Halls that had echoed to the dance and the clink of gold +at gaming-tables now heard profound lectures on history, ancient +languages, mathematics, chemistry, and political economy! Classic +exercises beneath the painted ceilings of these memoried rooms! +Scholastic discourse where music and laughter had vibrated for a +hundred extravagant years! + +The galleries at the Louvre contributed to the new Versailles museum +all the canvases of French artists that it possessed. Fragonard and +Greuze, Lebrun, Claude Lorrain, Mignard, Poussin, Rigaud, Vanloo, +Vernet--all were represented, some of them by numerous examples of +their graceful art. Besides, there was a Rubens Gallery, and two +salons filled with the works of Paul Veronese. Some of these treasures +were later removed to the Luxembourg Palace, where the French Senate +was sitting, and to the palace of Saint-Cloud, residence of Napoleon +Bonaparte, First Consul. Little by little the canvases were dispersed, +until, at the end of the Empire, the Versailles Museum of French Art +ceased to be. + +At the beginning of the year 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte established at +Versailles a branch of the _Hotel des Invalides_ in Paris, and wounded +veterans of the Revolution to the number of 2,000 were installed for +two years in the vast apartments of Louis XV and in rooms overlooking +the garden and the Court of Ministers. During this period several of +the salons were opened to the people for exhibitions and assemblies, +and the public were free to enjoy the park, the Orangery and the +fragrant bosques of Trianon. Fetes of the Republic frequently took +place about a national altar raised near the Lake of the Swiss Guards, +and a Tree of Liberty was planted with great solemnity in the court of +the chateau, where the equestrian statue of Louis XIV now stands. In +illuminating contrast to the regal celebrations it succeeded was this +latter ceremony, which was inaugurated by a meeting in the historic +Tennis Court, where loyal republicans took a new oath of hatred for all +things royal, and swore devotion to the constitution. Into the +dwelling of former sovereigns the people then crowded to witness the +ceremony of breaking a scepter and crown into a thousand pieces. Next, +they gathered around the Liberty Oak to consecrate it; they hung it +with ribbons of the tricolor of France, a band played "a republican +air," and an orator delivered a speech in commemoration of the glorious +anniversary of the day on which "the last tyrant of the French" had +been guillotined. Fortunately for the peace of mind of the Sixteenth +Louis, he had no gift of prevision! + +With the beginning of Napoleon's reign, Versailles and the Trianon +became once more part of the Crown lands. The Emperor ordered +necessary repairs to be made. In the theater the royal troupe of +comedians was sometimes heard. The canal, which had nearly dried up +during the neglectful rule of the Republic, was again filled with +water. The park and the facades of the palace were restored, and in +the Gallery and State Apartments artists renewed the colors of the +mural decorations. Many of the repairs and changes made by Dufour, +Napoleon's architect, have remained to the present time. Certain parts +of the palace giving on the courts were in ruins, Louis XV and his heir +having had no money to spare for their restoration. In 1811, after the +Peace of Vienna, Napoleon, then in residence at the Grand Trianon, took +under advisement the complete reconstruction of the palace. In +consternation he surveyed the tumbling walls and the general confusion +that confronted him during one of his promenades in the park and +Orangery. "Why," cried he, "did the Revolution, which destroyed +everything else, spare the chateau of Versailles! Then I would not +have had on my hands this embarrassing legacy from Louis XIV--an old +chateau poorly built--one much favored without just cause." + +Architects busied themselves with innumerable plans for re-making the +shabby pile. Some would have torn down the Council Hall, the +bed-chamber of Louis XIV, the antechamber of the Bull's Eye, and all +the rest of the palace except the apartments of the King and Queen, the +Gallery with the salons at either end, the Chapel and the Opera House. +Napoleon was willing to spend 6,000 francs on the construction of +suites for himself and his family "and fifty others." "Then," said he, +"we could perhaps come to Versailles to pass a summer." The disasters +of the year 1812 and the fall of the Empire saved the palace from the +threatened renovation. + +When Louis XVIII ascended the throne of his Bourbon ancestors after the +extinction of Napoleon's Star of Hope, he conceived a new plan "to put +the chateau of Versailles in a habitable state." During the next six +years (1814-1820) the King restored the Hall of Mirrors and all that +was especially associated with Louis XIV. He finished the facade on +the Paris side, begun by Gabriel under Louis XV, and built a pavilion +corresponding to the one designed and erected by this same architect. +He did away with a maze of small apartments, cleaned and simplified the +interior, restored painted ceilings and gilt embellishments, and with +great care put in order the entire palace and its surroundings. The +chapel was repaired and blessed anew by the Bishop of Strassbourg. + +Many State visitors came to see Versailles, even in the days when it +was shorn of its glory. Pope Pius VII was there in 1805. From the +balcony outside the Gallery of Mirrors he bestowed his benediction upon +a crowd that stood below on the terraces. Two days later the Salon of +Hercules was the scene of a ball in celebration of the coronation of +the first Emperor of France. In May, 1814, Czar Alexander I of Russia +visited Versailles with his two brothers, following the example of +Peter the Great, who had been there when Louis XV was on the throne. +Another historic cortege was composed of Frederick William III of +Prussia and his two sons, one of whom, Prince William, was to return to +Versailles in the year 1870 on a mission less peaceful. The gates of +Versailles opened to the Duke of Wellington in 1818. + +Other visitors there were that came to Versailles and, by the good will +of Louis XVIII, lodged there--homeless dependents, who dried their +laundry at the stately windows of the palace and installed goats and +cows on the roofs overlooking the inert bronze fountains. + +After the reign of Charles X all the occupants at the chateau left, +following the Revolution of July, 1830. Once more the question arose +as to the disposition of the palace. Empty, abandoned, "What shall we +do with it?" cried the ministers. The answer was found in the project +proposed to Louis Philippe that Versailles should become a national +depository for souvenirs of French history, surrounded by the splendors +of Louis the Great. This suggestion had the king's approval and +cooperation. A confusion of offices, rooms, staircases and passages +was simplified in the two wings, and the main body of the chateau and +long galleries were created for the reception of thousands of battle +pictures, portraits and pieces of sculpture, reflecting events and +personalities concerned with the story of France. + +The Queen's bed-chamber, the apartments of Madame de Maintenon and of +the daughters of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour were among those that +were altered. In the entrance court of the chateau were placed a group +of statues from the Paris bridge _de la Concorde_, all of them so +massive that they were out of proportion to the low surrounding walls. + +On the face of the north and south wings Louis Philippe caused to be +engraved the dedication of the huge pile and its contents "To all the +Glories of France." The sum expended under the direction of the +architect, Nepveu, for the creation of the National Museum of +Versailles, exceeded 20,000,000 francs (about $4,000,000). The +inauguration of the museum in June, 1837, was attended by Louis +Philippe and his Queen, by officers of the Army and Government and +representatives of French Law, Commerce, Art and Education. Arriving +from Trianon, where they had been in residence, the King and his wife +entered the palace by the Marble Stairway, traversed the Grand Hall of +the Guards (to-day called the Hall of Napoleon) and the halls leading +to the Grand Gallery of Battles, where they saw portrayed on canvas all +the important military engagements of French armies, from Tolbiac to +Wagram. In the Chamber of Louis XIV the King and Queen examined the +restorations of the furniture, and found them well done. A royal +banquet was laid in the Grand Gallery and in adjacent salons. At eight +o'clock His Majesty, the royal family and 1500 guests assembled in the +brilliantly illuminated Opera House, where they witnessed a performance +of Moliere's _Misanthrope_ and extracts from the opera, _Robert le +Diable_, by Meyerbeer. The spectacle was concluded by a piece written +by Eugene Scribe, the famous French librettist, in celebration of the +founding of the Museum. At midnight the King and his family led a +procession through the galleries of the palace, lighted by footmen +carrying torches. At two o'clock in the morning the festivities were +at an end and the royal party left for Trianon. + +Says a French author, writing two years after the opening of the +museum. "When Louis Philippe first cast his eye upon Versailles, he +saw at once the impiety of allowing such a monument to sink into utter +ruin. . . . He determined that the palace of Louis XIV, without losing +its individuality, should become a palace of the entire people; and +that the bygone spirit of absolutism should give shelter to the spirit +of modern liberty. Versailles, therefore, erected as a homage to +individual pride, has become, under the Orleans regime, a great +national monument--and certainly the most complete and splendid of its +class in all Europe. The temple of luxury was converted into a temple +of the arts, and French valor was recorded in immortal colors upon the +walls, by French genius." + +In the vast edifice Louis Philippe created a pictorial record that +embraced not only the great battles from the beginning of the monarchy +down to his own day, but the chief incidents that distinguished the +reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI; the victories of the Republic; the +campaigns of Napoleon; the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X; the +Revolution of 1830, and the reign of Louis Philippe. The kings of +France, the members of their families and immediate entourage, great +French warriors, statesmen, artists, men of letters and science are +depicted on canvases that line the immense halls of Versailles. The +Gallery of Warriors was arranged by Louis Philippe in that part of the +palace formerly occupied by Madame de Montespan. The Gallery of +Napoleon, created by removing the partition from a dozen rooms +belonging to various members of the royal family, presents a complete +history of the Emperor's life. More than a hundred apartments, large +and small, were obliterated to make room for the galleries of +portraits--a most engrossing exhibition to students of French history. +Carlyle said, "I have found that the Portrait was a small lighted +candle by which the Biographies could for the first time be read, and +some human interpretation be made of them." + +Unfortunately a considerable number of paintings hung in the new museum +suffered in quality through the desire of Louis Philippe to bring his +achievement to immediate completion. He gave commissions right and +left, always with the stipulation that the artists _make haste_. But +many canvases of high merit, artistically and historically, still grace +the walls of these galleries. + +Portraits of the four unmarried daughters of Louis XV have been +appropriately arranged by the present curator of Versailles, Monsieur +de Nolhac, in the apartments on the ground floor where Mesdames passed +most of their dull, insignificant lives. Nattier made flattering +representations of all of them, sometimes in the costume of +mythological characters. Both Nattier and the great La Tour portrayed +Marie Leczinska, the mother of Louis XV's ten children. Nattier's +likeness shows a smiling, matronly lady with sweet-tempered brown eyes, +seated in a chair, the face softened by a frill and a black lace scarf. +Many of the portraits at Versailles painted by Charles Lebrun, Madame +Vigee Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste and Michel Vanloo, Boucher, Largilliere, +Pierre Mignard, Rigaud, are familiar to us through frequent +reproduction. + +In the years following the inauguration of the National Museum, +Versailles was once again the scene of ostentatious fetes in the halls, +gardens and splendid Opera House. When Louis Napoleon succeeded Louis +Philippe as head of the French nation, he came to Versailles with his +bride of three days, the beautiful Eugenie, to see the portraits of +Marie Antoinette, for whom the young Empress cherished a special +admiration. + +On an August night in 1855, "the grand court of the chateau shone with +a brilliance resembling day. The profile of the great edifice was +outlined in small lights. In the gardens, arches and columns were +raised and the fountains showered rainbow torrents. The Hall of +Mirrors presented a spectacle whose splendor recalled nights when Louis +XIV strolled here in brocade and ruffles. Garlands hung from the +ceiling, thousands of lights reproduced themselves in the lofty mirrors +and shed scintillating floods upon the handsome costumes of the invited +ones." Thus the _Moniteur Universel_ described to its readers the +reception offered by the Emperor of France to Queen Victoria, the +Prince Consort and the future King of England. A few years later +Emperor Napoleon III commanded another fete amid the grandeurs of +Versailles, this time in honor of the King of Spain. + +But the days and nights of royal spectacles at last came to an end--and +for all time. In the month of September, 1870, the chateau offered +refuge to German soldiers wounded in the short but bitter war with +France. In the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_, the Council Hall, the little +apartments of Louis XV and those of Marie Antoinete were placed four +hundred invalid cots. By October, Bismarck arrived in the town of +Versailles. During the next five months he resided on the Rue de +Provence, in the villa of Madame Jesse, widow of a prosperous cloth +manufacturer. His quarters were the center of diplomatic action during +the period that preceded the signing of the shameful peace terms. +January 18, 1871, the anniversary of the day on which the first king of +Prussia had crowned himself at Konigsberg (1701), was fixed for the +proclamation of William II as German Emperor, in the Hall of Mirrors. +In the phrase of a chronicler of that time, "It was impossible for the +boldest imagination to picture a more thorough revenge on the +traditional foes of Germany than the proclamation of the German Empire +in the storied palace of the Kings of France. With the shades of +Richelieu and the Grand Monarch looking down upon them did the Teutonic +chieftains raise as it were, their leader on their shields, and with +clash of arms and martial music acclaim him kaiser of a re-united +Germany." King William passed from the altar in the middle of the +Gallery to a platform at the end of the hall and there took his place +before the colors, surrounded "by a brilliant multitude of princes, +generals, officers and troops." When he had announced the +re-establishment of the Empire, and when Bismarck, "looking pale, but +calm and self-possessed," had read to the assemblage the Proclamation +to the German people, "the bands burst forth with the national anthem, +colors and helmets were wildly waved, and the Hall of Mirrors shook +with a tremendous shout that was taken up and swelled till the rippling +thunder-roll of cheers struck the ears of the startled watchers on the +walls of Paris," where roar of cannon night and day summoned the French +to surrender. Thus the German Empire was born at the very seat of +French Monarchy. + +The armistice terms were signed at Versailles on the twenty-eighth day +of January. One month later the representative of stricken France and +Bismarck, sitting in the Chancellor's headquarters, affixed their +signatures to the Peace Preliminaries, by which France surrendered +Alsace (except Belfort) and Lorraine, and agreed to pay within three +years a war indemnity of five thousand million francs.[*] + +After the departure of the Prussians from Versailles (March 12, 1871), +the Deputies of France arrived from Bordeaux, the temporary capital, +and lodged in the Hall of Mirrors, which then became a dormitory, as it +had on occasion been a hospital ward, a ball-room and the banqueting +hall of royalty. + +The insurrection of the Commune of Paris compelled the ministers to +seek a place of security at Versailles. Once more the palace was +chosen as the seat of Government. The ground floor, the upper floor +and the attic, the picture galleries, even the vestibule of the Queen's +Stairway and the servants' quarters served as offices for ministers and +secretaries. The Department of Justice was installed in the Guards' +Hall, the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_ and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The +Secretary of Public Works directed his affairs within walls that had +sheltered the nefarious Dubarry. The official _Journal_ was printed in +the palace kitchens. For several years the Opera House, the north +wing, and the intimate apartments of Louis XV were given over to the +National Assembly. + +A Republican fete offered in 1878 by the president, Marshal MacMahon, +was attended by twelve thousand guests. Once more the fountains of the +north parterre were illuminated, but this time with electric bulbs +instead of oil lanterns. There were ingenious fireworks on the +_Tapis-Vert_ that would have astounded even the courtiers of the Grand +Monarch. In the _Galerie des Glaces_, Dussieux tells us, there was a +ball "not exclusively aristocratic, but nevertheless very gay and +animated." + +Within the past forty years the treasury of the French Republic has not +infrequently been taxed for repairs at Versailles and Trianon. More +than a million francs were spent on the chapel alone. Improvements in +the park, including the restoration of the Basin of Neptune, the +Orangery and the Colonnade, cost another million. + +"This Versailles," exclaims a French author, "does it not attract to +our country strangers without number, does it not lend lasting prestige +to the land of France? . . . Outside of the Invalides and the Louvre, +what edifices equal it in evoking the memorable periods with which they +are associated? What lasting respect do these annals of stone and +bronze merit from men of taste! These salons, gardens, statues, works +of art, attached irrevocably to the Past, bid us pause and ponder long +upon the matchless Story of Versailles." + + +[*]The final treaty of peace between France and Germany was signed in +the Swan Hotel at Frankfort, Germany, on May 10, 1871. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Versailles, by Francis Loring Payne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF VERSAILLES *** + +***** This file should be named 14857.txt or 14857.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/8/5/14857/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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