France -- Description and travel; France -- Social life and customs
There were several carriages waiting for the King in case it should
rain, etc.; one of them was gold and red, very gaudy-looking. A
carriage came on first before the King. When the King came, one needed
four eyes: to look at the King on one side and round to Neptune's Bath
at the other, for as soon as ever he came the waters began to play
like fairy-work. The water shot out of each vase, Neptune's horses
spouted, and the whole water seemed covered with spouts and cascades.
In the first open carriage was the King, the Duchess d'Angoulême,
Monsieur, and the Duchess de Berri. Prince Leopold did not come.
Several carriages followed with attendants. The King is a _very_ fat,
contented-looking man. As soon as the carriages had passed the waters
stopped. It was an extremely pretty sight. The King went on to the
Trianons and stayed there for a long while. When he returned the waters
played again. They came back with large bunches of flowers in each
carriage. We saw great numbers of the soldiers returning. Although the
waters played for so short a time, some of the pipes burst. It costs
1200 francs every time the great waters play. The _restaurateurs_ make
a great deal of money when they play, as it brings numbers of people
from Paris. About a week before this the _restaurateurs_ caused it to
be put in the newspapers that the great waters were to play; and this
brought a great many people, who found to their disappointment that it
was all false.
[Illustration: GARDE ROYALE. INFANTERIE CHASSEUR, Ier RÉGIMENT]
SÈVRE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account