PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ELABORATE MONUMENTAL FOUNTAINS OF PARIS 
FOUNTAIN OF THK DRAGONS AT VKRSAILI.KS, 
'fhe Palace and Gardens of Ver- 
sailles are among the wonders of the 
world. No other nation has a memorial 
that so fully illustrates the extravagance 
of monarchy at its zenith, for at no 
other time have wealth, power and the 
passion for displa}' been so centered in 
one person as during the reign of "The 
Grand Monarch,” Louis XIV of France. 
In his desire to glorify himself liy cre- 
ating upon an isolated plain apart from 
Paris, that it might more fully be iden- 
tified with himself and his reign alone, 
a jialace and a court that would sur- 
pass in splendor an3-thing the world 
had ever known, Versailles had its ori- 
gin. To this purpose he devoted an 
army of workmen, sacrificed hundreds 
to the unhealthful conditions under 
which they labored, and spent over one 
hundred million dollars. 
The extensive gardens of Versailles 
were laid out in 1667 under the direc- 
tion of LeNotre, the most famous land- 
scape architect of his time. To vary 
the effect of the forest scenery every 
kind of decorative art that would har- 
monize with the natural surroundings 
was brought into use, and they are con- 
sidered a masterpiece of the .symmetri- 
cal plan of gardening, the most popular 
form of the time. 
Under the direction of LeBrun and 
Mignard, nearly one hundred sculptors 
worked on the figures and groups in 
marble, bronze and gilded lead, while 
large numbers of copies of the anticpies 
Avere imported from Greece and Rome. 
Though mail}- features have been de- 
stroyed or modified since the time of 
Louis XIV, enough remains to give 
some idea of the effect produced by 
such elaborate schemes of decoration. 
The view from the terrace of the pal- 
ace overlooking the great avenues, 
bright basins and sparkling fountains, 
all finished with a profusion of decora- 
tive statuary, and reaching far in every 
direction until lost in the distant groves 
of graceful forest trees, is magnificent 
lieyond description. 
The founts were designed upon the 
same elaborate plan as the other 
features of Versailles and are the larg- 
est system of their kind in the world. 
There were originally^ 1,400 jets, some 
of which rose to a height of 75 feet. 
and the problem of a water supply wuis 
finally solved by draining the immense 
plateau of Satory and leading the w'ater 
in large conduits to Versailles. Owing 
to the e.xpense, the main fountains now 
|il;iy only on special occasions and then 
for a very limited time. The display is 
advertised in advance and always at- 
tracts large crow'ds. 
The Fountain of Latona is at the 
foot of the marble steps leading from 
GROTTO OP APODDO AT VERS.\1I,DES. 
the Irroad terrace in front of the palace 
to the lower level of the gardens. It 
represents the mythological story of 
Latona who besought Jupiter to punish 
the peasants of Lycia for having re- 
fused her a draught of water, upon 
which the god turned the peasants into 
frogs. In the center is an excellent 
group in wdiite marble of Latona with 
her children Apollo and Diana, while 
around the border of red marble are 
gilded frogs, lizards and tortoises, from 
whose mouths issue many^ jets of water 
which cross above and around the 
central group, producing a beautiful ef- 
fect. The sculptures are the work of 
the brothers Marsy. 
The F'ountain of Neptune is the larg- 
est on the grounds^ and is decorated 
with man_v colossal statues of deities, 
the most prominent of which are Nep- 
tune and Amphitrite, by the elder Adam, 
the Ocean by LeMoyne, and Proteus 
guarding the flocks of Neptune by 
Bouchardon. This fountain is the 
greatest attraction at the time of a dis- 
play, when there is a wonderful effect 
of complicated streams of water splash- 
ing and sparkling in the sunlight while 
great columns rise high in the air to 
fall in a dazzling spray over every part 
of the immense basin. Some idea of 
the enormous size of this fountain may 
be secured by comparing it with the 
FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE AT VERSAIDLES. 
