ult of acquisition than at the present time.

For seven years an army of workmen was employed on the palace, parks,
and gardens. No expense was spared to carry into effect the king's
designs. The park and gardens were laid out by the celebrated
landscape gardener Lenotre. The plans for the palace were furnished by
the distinguished architect Mansard. Over thirty thousand soldiers
were called from their garrisons to assist the swarms of ordinary
workmen in digging the vast excavations and constructing the immense
terraces. "It is estimated that not less than forty millions
sterling--two hundred million dollars--were exhausted upon the laying
out of these vast domains and the erection of this superb chateau.
Such was the extraordinary vigor with which the works were pushed,
that in 1685, hardly twenty-five years after its commencement, the
whole was in readiness to receive its royal occupants. Here the royal
family and the court resided until the Revolution of 1789. Every part
of the interior as well as the exterior was ornamented with the works
of the most eminent masters of the times."[L]

[Footnote L: Bradshaw's Guide through Paris and its Environs.]

The most magnificent room in the palace, called the grand gallery of
Louis XIV., was two hundred and forty-two feet long, thirty-five feet
broad, and forty-three feet high. The splendors of the court of Louis
XIV. may be inferred from the fact that this vast apartment was daily
crowded with courtiers. The characteristic vanity of the king is
conspicuously developed in that he instituted an order of nobility as
a reward for personal services. The one great and only privilege of
its members was that they were permitted to wear a blue coat
embroidered with gold and silver precisely like that worn by the king,
and to follow the king in his hunting-parties and drives.

The position of Mademoiselle de la Valliere was a very painful one.
Though the austere queen-mother was so ill in her chamber that she
could do but little to harass Louise, Madame Henrietta, who had been
constrained to receive her as one of her maids of honor, did every
thing in her power to keep her in a state of perpetual anxiety. The
courtiers generally were hostile to her, from the partiality with
which she was openly regarded by the king. The poor child was alone
and desolate in the court, and scarcely knew an hour of joy.

[Illustration: CONVENT OF VAL DE GRACE.]

The queen-mother was rapidly sinking