The Greatest Palace and Garden of France 
The treatment which M. Gille accords the 
subject is naturally an extended one, since 
he has some six hundred pages at his com¬ 
mand, yet so great is the wealth of artistic 
objects to be described and so many are the 
historic memories demanding recognition 
that at times much compression is needed to 
keep the work within its by no means narrow 
limits. M. Gille goes at his work con amore. 
H is enthusiasm for Versailles is contagious. 
When he makes the palace exclaim “ there 
is not another such palace, no, not in the 
whole world ” we wonder whether he does 
not in secret long to have us believe that there 
is no building of any kind to equal his 
palace, “ no, not in the whole world.” For 
him its stones speak with the voices of 
Bossuet, Moliere, Racine ; its mirrors reflect 
Maintenon, Pompadour, Dubarry, while 
over all hovers the image of Louis XIV. 
But in spite of this ardor, our author 
displays the judicial mind of the historian and 
the research of the archaeologist. He carries 
us from the founding of the chateau under 
Louis XIII, through its transformations 
and shows us all its vast additions under 
Louis XIV, and by means of many plans 
makes very plain the often complex changes. 
C&MMI 
ElLSAiLLILS 
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ACTVEL 
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PLAN OK THE DOMAIN, BY MARCEL LAMBERT 
VERSAILLES 
36 
