es; large
niches contain statues in the antique style. The gilded cornice is by
Coyzevox, the ceiling by Lebrun. The conception of the latter
comprises more than a score of paintings representing events that had
to do with wars waged by Louis the Great against Holland, Germany and
Spain. In the period when Versailles was the residence of kings--not a
museum, alone, and the assembly-place of international Councils--the
tables in the Grand Gallery, the benches between the windows, the
many-branched candelabra, the tubs in which orange trees grew, were all
of heavy silver. Thousands of wax candles lighted the salon, some of
them set in immense chandeliers, others in lusters of silver and
crystal. But Louis the Fourteenth's reign was not yet over when he was
compelled to send many hundred pieces of his precious furniture to the
mint, and the superb appointments of the Hall of Mirrors were partially
substituted by furnishings of wood and damask.

[Illustration: The Hall of Mirrors]

Visitors to Versailles view the private or "little" apartments of King
Louis the Great, Louis XV and Louis XVI. The superb bedchamber of
Louis XIV contains the bed in which the French Monarch died on
September 1, 1715. In an ante-chamber, later called the Bull's Eye by
reason of its unique oval window, courtiers were wont to gossip and
intrigue while they awaited the King's rising. A quaint painting by a
French artist presents Louis XIV and his family in the character of
pagan deities. Next to the Bull's Eye was the room in which the King
dined on occasion. The Hall of the King's Guards was near of approach
to the Marble Staircase and to the ample and ornate apartments of
Madame de Maintenon. The wonders of this Hall are also departed. In a
group of small rooms were rich stores of objects of art, medals,
cameos, onyx, bronzes, and gems of great value.

The State Apartments of the Queens of France were entirely altered in
their decoration as one queen succeeded another. Marie Therese was the
first to occupy them. We are told that before her bed there stood a
railing of silver, that later gave way, for economical reasons, to one
carved in wood. In the Grand Cabinet the wife of Louis the Great
received in audience those that the King commanded. Here, at the end
of a short and insignificant period as mistress of Versailles, Marie
Therese died, July 30, 1683.

One of the few apartments that still retains the aspect it bore in King