made in the days and hours for visiting the Trianons.)

It is advisable to give at least two days to Versailles-one to the Galleries and Apartments, the other to the Park and the Tri

anons.

By starting early from Paris, and going in a cab from the railway station at Versailles to the Park and the Trianons, one might see in one day, without too much fatigue, in a hasty manner, all that is to be seen at Versailles. Persons who find it necessary to do this should drive about the Park before the Galleries are open, and should, after seeing the Palace, take a cab to the Trianons.

Authorised guides, who speak English, are always to be found in front of the Palace.

Excellent catalogues of the paintings and statuary are sold at the entrance.

VERSAILLES, now a handsome and well built town, containing about 30,000 inhabitants, was, before the time of Louis XIV., a small village, to the neighbourhood of which Louis XIII. frequently went for the purpose of hunting in the forests which surrounded it. He built here a hunting-lodge, around which ultimately grew up the village. The town is crossed by several fine avenues bordered with trees, and has numerous handsome squares. The Church of Nôtre Dame is the work of Mansard, who was also the architect of the Palace. In 1661 Louis XIV. determined to make his permanent residence at Versailles.

The building of the Palace occupied eleven years, and it was finally completed in 1672, but the court was not removed there until 1680. The interior was decorated by Lebrun, and the gardens and parks are the chefs d'œuvres of Le Nôtre. The site was a most un

favourable one for the creation of pleasure grounds, and vast sums of money were necessarily expended before the original design was completed. "The genius of man was forced to struggle against nature. Rivers were turned from their courses that their waters might be conducted to the fountains, and an army was employed upon the work. All the Arts vied with each other in their zeal to carry out the design of a palace which should be the most splendid of all royal residences.' amount expended was little short of 40 millions sterling. Here, for many years, Louis XIV. held his brilliant court, attracted by the magnificence of which, people flocked to Versailles from all parts of France. The population of the town was estimated, at one time, at 100,000.

The

Louis XV. resided here for some time after 1725, and the unfortunate Louis XVI. made it his constant abode until he was taken to Paris, at the beginning of the Revolution in 1792. Under the Convention the Palace became a branch of the Invalides, and the question of destroying it altogether was considered, when, in 1799, it was saved by the advent of Napoleon I. to power. The latter contemplated its restoration, but the campaign in Russia prevented the execution of his design. The work was left to Louis Philippe, who conceived and carried out the scheme of converting it into a great national gallery for works of art illustrative of the military glory of France.

In front of the Palace is the Grande Cour, formerly La Cour des Ministres. In the centre of the Court is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV., and, on the sides, colossal statues of Duguesclin, Bayard, Duquesne, Dugay-Trouin, Tourville, Suffren, Suger Sully, Richelieu, Colbert, Jour

dan, Massena, Montebello, and Mortier. Beyond the Place d'Armes, and on each side of the Avenue de Paris, are a range of buildings, formerly the Royal stables, and now used as barracks. In the rear of the Palace are the parks and gardens, charming views of which may be had from many points in and about the building.

The interior of the Palace is reached by a door near the chapel, by which we enter the Historical Museum. On the walls is an alto-relievo representing Louis XIV. crossing the Rhine in 1672. A suite of eleven apartments, containing pictures illustrative of the history of France down to the revolution of 1789, lead to the Salle de Spectacles, where the senate held their sittings from 1871 to 1879. Behind the Historical Museum is a gallery leading to the

Salles des Croisades, which are a series of fine salons containing a collection of pictures illustrating the crusades. The ceilings and walls are ornamented with the armorial bearings of the knights who fought in the Holy Land. A staircase leading down past the chapel brings us to the vestibule of the first floor.

The chapel, which has a beautifully decorated interior, owes its restoration to Louis Philippe. The ceiling is finely painted in frescoes by Coypel, Jouvenet, and Lafosse. The balustrades are of silver and gilt bronze. The seven altars in the aisles are richly decorated with costly marbles, pictures, and bronzes, among them a Last Supper, by Paul Veronese. From the vestibule we enter a series of seven salons containing a collection of pictures, chiefly of military subjects, by Horace Vernet and other celebrated artists. Returning by the Statue Gallery, we pass through ten

salons containing pictures representing the history of France from 1795 to 1830. Re-entering the vestibule, we come to the Salon d'Hercule, which serves as a sort of entrance to the Grand apartments. The ceiling is decorated with a picture of the Apotheosis of Hercules.

The next is the Salon de l'Abondance, so called from a painting on the ceiling. Then follows the Salle des Etats Généraux, deriving its name from a picture of the opening of the States General at Versailles on the 5th of May 1789. Les Petits apartments reservés occupy the north side of the Cour de Marbre. The first was the billiard-room of Louis XIV. From this we pass into the Salle des Pendules, in which is a fine old clock, showing the hours, days, and months, and motions of the earth and planets. On the floor is a meridian line traced by Louis XVI. Next we come to the Cabinets des Chasses, from the windows of which the court watched the return of the hunting parties, and saw the game counted in the Cour des Cerfs below. Passing through the Salon du Déjeuner, Salle à Manger, Cabinet, and Confessional of Louis XIV., in the latter of which Père Letellier induced the King to revoke the Edict of Nantes, we come into the salles des amiraux et Marchaux de France. Next we enter, in succession, the Salons of Venus, Diana, Mars, Mercury, and Apollo; from which latter we enter the Salon de la Guerre, which looks into the magnificent Galerie des Glaces, one of the finest halls in the world, 239 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 43 feet high. It is lighted by seventeen windows, from which may be had the finest views of the park. The ceiling is painted by Lebrun, with allegorical representations of the

principal events in the life of Louis XIV. The niches contain marble statues of Minerva, Venus, Adonis, and Mercury.

In the rear of the Galerie des Glaces, and entered from it, is a suite of three rooms, the first of which is the Salle du Conseil, where Louis XIV. usually met his ministers. It was to this room that M. de Brézé came to announce to Louis XVI. the refusal of the deputies to disperse, and the memorable words of Mirabeau, "We are here by the will of the people, and we will only disperse at the point of the bayonet." From this room a door leads to the bed-chamber of Louis XIV., in which "Le Grand Monarque" died. It is splendidly decorated, and the furniture has been restored to the condition in which it was at the death of the King. The bed is that on which he died. Next to the last named is the Salle de l'Eil de Bouf, so called from the oval window at the end. This was the King's ante- chamber where his courtiers used to await him, and in which he and Marie Antoinette dined in public on Sundays.

Next, in the rear of the latter, is the Salle des Gardes.

Returning to the Galerie des Glaces through the King's antechamber and the Eil de Boeuf, we enter, at the south end, the Salon de la Paix, which was the card-room, in which Madame de Montespan is said to have lost in one night 400,000 pistoles (value 16s. each). A door leads from this room to the Queen's bed-chamber, which was occupied by the three queens, Marie Thérèse, Marie Leczinska, and Marie Antoinette, and in which the Duchess d'Angoulême was born. At six o'clock on the morning of the 6th of October 1789, the Queen, being asleep in this cham

ber, was roused by the cries of the guard that her life was in danger. Escaping from the room by the passage which leads to the Eil de Boeuf, she hastened to join the King, whom she found in the Salle du Conseil. They at once appeared, with their children, on the balcony of the King's bed-chamber, from which the King addressed the infuriated mob which crowded the court below.

We next visit, in succession, the Salon de la Reine, the Antichambre, the Salle des Gardes, and the Salle du Sacre, the latter deriving its name from the painting, by David, of the Coronation of Napoleon; the Salle de 1792, containing many interesting portraits; the Galerie de l'Empire, forming a suite of fourteen rooms, hung with pictures of military subjects. The last room contains the celebrated pictures of the Battle of Marengo and the Passage of the Alps.

From the Galerie de l'Empire we finally enter the Grande Galerie des Batailles, which is an immense gallery, 393 feet long and 42 feet broad. In it are pictures representing the military triumphs of France. Leading out of this gallery is the Salon de 1830, which is hung with pictures illustrating the events of the revolution of that date.

The Orangerie was constructed by Mansard in 1685, and is 150 yards long, by 13 yards wide. Before it, in fine weather, are ranged more than 1200 orange trees. The oldest of these is known as the Grand Bourbon.

The circumference of the Park is nearly 50 miles. It is divided into the large and the small Park, the latter being that immediately in the rear of the Palace, which includes the beautiful gardens. We remark in the gardens the