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.
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