Seeing Europe with Famous Authors Volume III Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paris: Interior of the Grand Opera House]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paris Front of the Grand Opera House]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arc de Triomphe]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arch Erected by Napoleon, Near the Louvre]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paris: Church of St. Vincent de Paul]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paris: Church of St. Sulpice]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Picture Gallery at Versailles]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Versailles: Bed-Room of Louis XIV]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Grand Trianon at Versailles]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Little Trianon at Versailles]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bed-Room of Catherine de Medici at Chaumont]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Marie Antoinette's Dairy at Versailles]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tours From Turner's "Rivers of France"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Saint Denis From Turner's "Rivers of France"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Havre From Turner's "Rivers of France"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Bridge of St. Cloud From Turner's "Rivers of France"]

The Two Trianons

By Augustus J. C. Hare

[Footnote: From "Days Near Paris."]

The Trianons may be reached in half an hour from the railway station, but the distance is considerable, and a carriage very desirable, considering all the walking inside of the palaces to be accomplished. Carriages take the straight avenue from Ba.s.sin de Neptune. The pleasantest way for foot- pa.s.sengers is to follow the gardens of Versailles as far as the Ba.s.sin d'Apollon, and then turn to the right. At the end of the right branch of the grand ca.n.a.l, staircases lead to the park of the Grand Trianon; but these staircases are railed in, and it is necessary to make a detour to the Grille de la Grande Entree, whence an avenue leads directly to the Grand Trianon, while the Pet.i.t Trianon lies immediately to the right, behind the buildings of the Concierge and Corps de Garde.

The original palace of the Grand Trianon was a little chateau built by Louis XIV., in 1670, as a refuge from the fatigues of the Court, on land bought from the monks of St. Genevieve, and belonging to the parish of Trianon. But in 1687 the humble chateau was pulled down, and the present palace erected by Mansart in its place.

Louis XIV. constantly visited the Grand Trianon, with which for many years he was much delighted. But, after 1700, he never slept at Trianon, and, weary of his plaything here, turned all his attention to Marly. Under Louis XV., however, the palace was again frequently inhabited.

Being entirely on one floor, the Grand Trianon continued to be a most uncomfortable residence, till subterranean pa.s.sages for service were added under Louis Philippe, who made great use of the palace. The buildings are without character or distinction. Visitors have to wait in the vestibule till a large party is formed, and are then hurried full speed round the rooms, without being allowed to linger for an instant.

The Pet.i.t Trianon was built by Gabriel for Louis XV. in the botanical garden which Louis XIV. had formed at the instigation of the Duc d'Ayen.

It was intended as a miniature of the Grand Trianon, as that palace had been a miniature of Versailles. The palace was often used by Louis XV., who was here first attacked by the smallpox, of which he died. Louis XVI.

gave it to Marie Antoinette, who made its gardens, and whose happiest days were spent here.

The Pet.i.t Trianon is a very small and very una.s.suming country house. Mme.

de Maintenon describes it in June as "a palace enchanted and perfumed."

Its pretty simple rooms are only interesting from their a.s.sociations. The furniture is mostly of the times of Louis XVI. The stone stair has a handsome iron bal.u.s.trade; the salons are paneled in white.

Here Marie Antoinette st to Mme. Lebrun for the picture in which she is represented with her children. In the dining-room is a secretaire given to Louis XVI. by the States of Burgundy, and portraits of the King and Marie Antoinette. The Cabinet de Travail of the queen was a cabinet given to her on her marriage by the town of Paris; in the Salle de Reception are four pictures by Watteau; the Boudoir has a Sevres bust of the queen; in the Chambre-a-coucher is the queen's bed, and a portrait of the Dauphin by Lebrun. These simple rooms are a standing defense of the queen from the false accusations brought against her at the Revolution as to her extravagance in the furnishing of the Pet.i.t Trianon. Speaking of her happy domestic life, Mme. Lebrun says: "I do not believe Queen Marie Antoinette ever allowed an occasion to pa.s.s by without saying an agreeable thing to those who had the honor of being near her."

Malmaison

By Augustus J. C. Hare

[Footnote: From "Days Near Paris."]

The station is opposite a short avenue, at the end of which on the right, is the princ.i.p.al entrance to Malmaison. A little higher up the road at the right is a gate leading to the park and gardens, freely open to the public, and being sold (1887) in lots by the Stat. There is a melancholy charm in the old house of many recollections--grim, empty, and desolate; approached on this side by a bridge over the dry moat. A short distance off, rather to the left, as you look from the house, is a very pretty little temple--the Temple of Love--with a front of columns of red Givet marble brought from the chateau of Richelieu, and a clear stream bursting from the rocks beneath it.

Malmaison is supposed to derive its name from having been inhabited in the XI century by the Norman brigand Odon, and afterward by evil spirits, exorcised by the monks of St. Denis. Josephine bought the villa with its gardens, which had been much praised by Delille, from M. Lecouteulx de Canteleu for 160,000 francs.... Josephine retired to Malmaison at the time of her divorce, and seldom left it afterward.... In 1814, the unhappy Josephine, whose heart was always with Napoleon, was forced to receive a visit from the allied sovereigns at Malmaison, and died of a chill which she caught in doing the honors of her grounds to the Emperor Alexander on May 26, by a water excursion on the pool of Cucufa. After his return from Elba, Napoleon revisited the place....

After the loss of the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon once more retired to Malmaison, then the property of the children of Josephine, Eugene and Hortense. There he pa.s.sed June 25, 1815, a day of terrible agitation. That evening at five o'clock he put on a brown suit of civilian clothes, tenderly embraced Queen Hortense and the other persons present, gave a long lingering look at the house and gardens connected with his happiest hours, and left them for ever.

After the second Restoration Prince Eugene sold Malmaison, removing its gallery of pictures to Munich. There is now nothing remarkable in the desolate rooms, tho the Salle des Marechaux, the bedroom of Josephine, and the grand salon, with a chimney-piece given by the Pope are pointed out.

In later years the house was for some time inhabited by Queen Christina of Spain. It will be a source of European regret if at least the building connected with so many historic souvenirs, and the immediate grounds are not preserved.

St. Germain

By Leitch Ritchie

[Footnote: From "The Rivers of France." Pictures by J. M.

W. Turner, R.A. Text by Leitch Ritchie.]

The view from the terrace of Saint Germain is one of the finest in France.