File:Versailles and the court under Louis XIV (1905) (14579549529).jpg

Identifier: versaillescourtu00farm (find matches)
Title: Versailles and the court under Louis XIV
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Farmer, James Eugene, 1867-1915
Subjects: Versailles (France) -- Description France -- Court and courtiers
Publisher: New York, The Century co.
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Wellesley College Library

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e replaced at once byothers. The director of the planting of the trees in the parkand avenues of Versailles was the Sieur Ballon. But the question of the water-supply was the most seriousproblem to be solved in connection with the gardens. Thedirector of the waters, or commander of the fountains, togive him the title then in use, was Pierre de Francine. Heand his assistant Denis placed the conduits for the water tosupply the basins, the bosquets, the cascades, and the jets. Inthat particular the resources of Versailles were limited, andas the king constantly changed his fountains and increasedtheir number, the work of Francine was soon found insuffi-cient. Louis XIV and Colbert then sought other means toobtain the necessary volume of water. Riquet had a planto bring the waters of the Loire to Versailles, but, on exam-ination, the project was found to be impossible. Anotherscheme, which unfortunately was adopted, was that of Vau-ban and Lahire to bring the waters of the Eure. At the 84
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The Gardens lever of the king, says Dangeau, under date of October 19,1684, they talked much of the river Eure, which the kingwishes to bring to Versailles. Thirty thousand soldierswere employed on the works at the Eure, and in July, 1686,the king reviewed twenty-two battalions that were engagedthere. A canal was dug and a large aqueduct reared, but thewar of 1688 and the state of the finances stopped the enter-prise. This work, which proved useless in the end, cost thelives of several thousand soldiers, who caught contagionfrom the upturned earth, and nearly forty millions of francs.But even before the project for the Eure failed, water wasbeing sought in other directions. The machine of Marly wasconstructed from 1681 to 1687, and about the same timePicard and Romer had in operation a vast system of trenchesand aqueducts to drain the plateau of Satory of the waterwhich collected there from rain and from melting snow.This water was drained into six ponds, those of St. Hubert,Mesnil-St

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