Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)Alger, Horatio, Jr.
General
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
Forrest, Edwin, 1806-1872
"By the way, I was presented to Louis Philippe on the third and last
evening of the usual presentations. I was accompanied by Mr. ----,
of Boston. We crossed over to the palace of the Tuileries (which is
nearly opposite to our hotel) about nine o'clock in the evening,
passed unquestioned by the numerous guards who throng the avenues of
the great court-yard, and entered the vestibule of the palace, filled
with an army of servants in rich liveries, standing in form, with all
the stiffness of militia officers on drill. We next ascended to an
elevated mosaic pavement, where we encountered two secretaries prepared
to receive the names of visitors. On entering the palace, we ascended
a grand staircase, the stone balustrade of which is beautifully
ornamented with lyres and snakes, under suns,--the crests of Colbert
and Louis XIV. On the first landing is the Salon of the Hundred Swiss,
which has four Ionic columns, and is ornamented with four statues of
Silence, two sitting and two erect. We next passed into the state
apartments. The first is the Salon of the Marshals, occupying the
whole of the centre pavilion, and having a graceful balcony on each
side. The walls are hung with portraits of the marshals of France
by the most eminent artists, and it also contains busts of several
distinguished French generals. In the next room, which is called the
Salon of the Nobles, we found a concourse of ladies and gentlemen,
comprising the orders of nobility, and all richly and appropriately
attired. This apartment is set off with gold, representing battles,
marches, triumphs, surrounded with ornaments and allegorical figures.
The Salon of Peace, which is the next room, contains also many costly
decorations; but I had less opportunity to observe these, as the crowd
became each moment denser and denser, and to make our way through it
demanded all our attention. This human current at last débouched
in the Salle du Trône, and, diffusing itself quickly around it, its
waves subsided like those of an impetuous torrent when it pauses in
the valley and spreads itself out, as if in homage, at the mountain's
foot. I need not tell you of the beauty of the throne, the richness
of its carved work, the profusion of gold ornaments with which it is
sprinkled, the gorgeousness of the crimson canopy which overhangs it,
or the pride-kindling trophies which are dispersed in picturesque
clusters at its sides. These things, and numerous like accessories,
your fancy will present to you with sufficient accuracy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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