Project Gutenberg's The Story of Versailles, by Francis Loring Payne

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Title: The Story of Versailles

Author: Francis Loring Payne

Release Date: February 1, 2005 [EBook #14857]

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 wh