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the august monarch, let us add, of the selfish, spoilt 

 Sultan of glittering Versailles. 



It was a happy idea which inspired Louis Philippe, 

 in 1832, to re people, with the names, glory and sou- 

 venirs of the great men, who in the past had lit up this 

 evanescent pageantry, by gathering there, the portraits 

 of these worthies, the views of the battles they had 

 fought for their country. Thanks to Philippe Cham- 

 pagne, Lebrun, Puget, Ary-Scheffer, Paul Delaroche, 

 Horace Vernet, the Muste historique de Versailles, 

 formed of selections from the Louvre and other public 

 galleries bring you face to face with the famous writers 

 and artists of the past, as well as with the warriors 

 whose fame is the patrimony of the nation : Vendome, 

 Schomberg, La Feuillade, Luxembourg, Villeroy, Tour- 

 ville, d'Estrees, Catinat, Vauban, Eichelieu, Biron, 

 Villars, Turenne, Conde, as well as the Generals of the 

 Eepublic and Empire. The Palace Chapel, a tasteful 

 edifice, dates from 1699. The interior is remarkable for 

 its gorgeous old French decorative style ; the ' exterior 

 is adorned with twenty-eight statues of apostles and 

 saints. Over the entrance of the door is the royal gal- 

 lery, above which Jouvenet painted, in 1709, a Descent 

 of the Holy Ghost. It took the painter, Charles de la 

 Fosse, four months to paint the Eesurrection, over the 

 High Altar. The decorations of the altar and of the side 

 chapels are striking. 



Saint Simon, in connection with the King's devotions 

 at the Koyal Chapel, tells a little joke, which Major 

 Brissac, who commanded the King's Guards, played on 

 the fashionoble and pretty devotes of the period. The 

 beau sexe round the palace were in the habit of crowding 

 the chapel seats on Sunday afternoons, bringing with 

 them handsome little tapers to throw light on the text 

 of their prayer books, as well as on their pretty faces, 

 so that each might be recognized. It was easy to know 

 whether the King would attend by the presence of the 

 Guards, who preceded the entrance of Eoyalty. Brissac 

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