416 
firiking point of view, or make a more 
profound and affliétive impreffion on the 
beholder, than at Verfailles in its prefent 
ftate of defolation. What, in the ordi- 
nary courfe of events, a long fucceffion of 
years would have been unable to effect, 
the hand of devaftation rapidly accom- 
plithed and deftroyed in a few years what 
ages had {pared. 
Verfaiiics has loft thirty thoufand of its 
inhabitants : it is poor and deferted: the 
palace is uninhabited. The greater por- 
tion of that park where art had fo favour- 
ably lent her hand to nature, now lies neg- 
deGted. The lodge and other buildings 
of Trianon, are empty, ruined, or deftroy- 
ed. Numerous ee ftatues, bufts, 
baffo-relievos, and vates, are either en- 
tirely broken to pieces, or at leaft muti- 
lated. A gloomy folitude, fimilar to that 
of the tombs which pieferve the remains 
of thofe who formerly fat here on the 
throne, environs the man who directs his 
wandering fteps through thefe places 
which lately were the {cenes of fuch lively 
animation. 
Already has time begun to fpread the 
confolatory veil of ‘oblivion over the epoch 
which gave date to this frightful devatta- 
tion. "The government itfelf beftows the 
greatef attention in repal iring the ravages 
ied by anarchy,—in fu ipplying the 
lofles,—ana ioft tening here and there by 
new inftitutions the painful fpeétacle of 
this total deftruGtion. 
The little Trianon, that building con- 
fruéted with as comlpiceols delicacy of 
tafte, as inventivenefs of senius—together 
with its gardens, where art had See 
lithed nature, and where were affembled 
the moft accomplifhed produétions of 
creative talents—is no longer in exiitence. 
A bill, pofed over the front gate, with 
thefe words, ‘* Property to be fold, “kan 
nounces, lot the fale, but the dilapdation, 
of that national property. It has already 
been Boe for : trifling fum, The 
doors of the voluptuous pavilion, formerly 
inhabited by the ne are dried up and 
cracked by the weather: the grafs grows 
on the fair-cale ; ae ivy creeps along the 
Pee 24 the halls and chambers are in a 
flate of devaftaticn ; the dcors and win- 
dovs have been firs ipped of their locks and 
faftenings, which were fuperbly wrought 
in bronze; the glafles have been ‘broken, 
the contoles fhattered, the painted orna- 
thents torn away from over the doors; a 
vapour like that of a confined cellar ex- 
ha ie from the unventilated apartments ; 
altpetre exfudes from the damp and 
naked wa In the thr ee cabinets of the 
Ise 
Pidture of Verfailles fince the Revolution. 
“boxes and orcheftra, has been ftripp 
[Dec. 
queen, formerly arranged and ornamented 
with fo much art and tafte, oppofite 
to the T Femple of Love half concealed in 
a grove in a manner fo picturefque, the 
richly-wrought wainfcoting has been fuf- 
fered to remain, together with the win- 
dows of plate-glafs, whofe tran{parency 
is fo delufive th at no difference is per- 
ceivable, whether the windows be open or 
fhut. No moveables are to be feen in the 
houfe but the fhattered remains of the 
apparatus of different games, breken cars, 
and fragments of fantattic figures of ani-_ 
mals which have been ufed to ornament 
fledges ; they lie ina egninied heap in the 
dining parlour. In another apartment 
are a group of figures in wax, of the na- 
tural fize, repreienting the ambaffadors 
fent to the king of France in 1787 by 
Tippoo Saib, and whom that eaftern de- 
{pot caufed to be ftrangled on their return, 
as a reward for their fervices. The queen 
had their figures executed, and arrayed in 
the drefs oF their country. Afterwards” 
the infpeétor of the lodge bought them at 
aucticn, in order to make a profit by ex- 
Erbicing them as a fhow. Such is the 
wreck of that edifice, once the Hoe of 
refined enjoyments and fleeting pleafures. 
A fimall theatre in the park of Trianon, 
which was decorated with equal tafte and 
Juxury, ftill difplays in its rich gildings 
and beautiful ftuccoes the traces of its 
former magnificence, But whatever was 
capable of “inviting the hand of theft b 
difappeared. Even the blue velvet sich 
eovered the feats and leaning-rails 1 * the 
ed off; 
though certainly the value of ihe {craps 
thus obtained was not fufficient to pa 
for a day’s labour, which mutt have been 
employed in this work of defiruétion, 
Over two groups of the three. Graces 
placed on the forepart of the flage to fup- 
port magnificent sc S, are > inferibed 
thefe words: * In requifition for the mu- 
feum.”? At leaft, this circumftance has 
faved them. 
Through a labyrinth, a winding~path 
leads up to a little hill: all the planta- 
tions are negleéted, and the fhrubs are 
ftified by a Pia crop of weeds, 
which impede the paffage.° Nature has 
here degenerated to her favage ftate ; but 
the view of fome detached parts is’ fill 
beautitul and pigturefque; and, with 
very little labour, the whole mignt be rey 
flored to its priftine condition.” 
On the hill, a temple of Flora rifes 
in a bower of ae trees, jeffamines, and 
myrtles ; it is a charming pavilion. In 
front of 3 it, at the foot of the hill, re rer 
9 | 

