It consists of a
ground floor and two stories, decorated with fluted Corinthian columns
and pilasters crowned by a balustrade. The gardens are delightful: here
is a temple of love; there an artificial rock from which water rushes
into a lake; there a picturesque wooden bridge, a rural hamlet, grottoes,
cottages embowered in groves of trees, diversified with statues and
seats--and above all, the fascinating MAZE, the plan of which is
represented in the Engraving.
Versailles, its magnificent palace and gardens, are altogether fraught
with melancholy associations. When we last saw them, the grounds and
buildings presented a sorry picture of neglect and decay. The mimic lakes
and ponds were green and slimy, the grottoes and shell-work crumbling
away, the fountains still, and the cascades dry. But the latter are
exhibited on certain days during the summer, when the gardens are
thronged with gay Parisians. The most interesting object however, is, the
orange-tree planted by Francis I. in 1421, which is in full health and
bearing: alas! we halted beside it, and thought of the wonderful
revolutions and uprootings that France had suffered since this tree was
planted.
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