File:Versailles and the court under Louis XIV (1905) (14743171466).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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tainebleau the spectacle is magnificent.Four trumpeters in front and four behind, the Swiss guardson one side and the French guards on the other, form a lineas far as it can reach. The Cent-Suisses march ahead of thehorsemen in the costume of the sixteenth century, wearingthe halberd, ruff, plumed hat, and the ample party-coloredstriped doublet; alongside of these are the provost-guardswith scarlet facings and gold frogs, and companies of yeo-manry, bristling with gold and silver. The officers of thevarious corps, the trumpeters and the musicians, covered withgold and silver lace, are dazzling to look at; the kettledrumsuspended at the saddle-bow, overcharged with painted andgilded ornaments, is a curiosity for a glass case; the negrocymbal-player of the French guards resembles the sultan of afairy-tale. Behind the carriage and alongside of it trot thebody-guards, with sword and carbine, wearing red breeches,1 Saint-Simon, II, p. 13.10 iV-.,:lv ■> Jr.* > \ ft. . v . V. I7if**?
Text Appearing After Image:
The Courtyards high black boots, and blue coats laced with silver; all of themunquestionable gentlemen. * The courtyards, however, wererendered brilliant not only by military pomp but by fetes aswell, and in this connection we are brought to the marblecourt. Here in the center of the chateau, where the windows of theSun Kings chamber face the rising sun, is that small court-yard, surrounded on three sides by the brick walls of LouisXIIFs palace, which time has turned to a soft yellow, andwhich the Grand Monarch preserved carefully in the midstof his magnificence. There are marble busts on stone brack-ets between all the windows, and a wealth of ornamentation,sculptures and balustrades, about the roofs; but the chiefinterest and significance of this courtyard lies in the fact thatbehind its walls Louis lived and worked. The marble courtis the center of Versailles; it was once the center of France,and the Grand Monarch sought to make it, and nearly suc-ceeded in making it, the center of

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