Eleanor F. Jourdain

“ Even in happy times some natural impatience in the Queen’s nature made it imperative to her to run away and be alone sometimes. It was at the Petit Trianon that she had found relief from tiresome restrictions, importunities of etiquette, and obsequious crowds. ”

“ It did not seem to be the place where we had met the garden officials.
We spent a long time looking for the old paths. Not only was there no trace of them, but the distances were contracted, and all was on a smaller scale than I recollected. The kiosk was gone; so was the ravine and the little cascade which had fallen from a height above our heads, and the little bridge over the ravine was, of course, gone too. The large bridge with the rocher over it, crossing one side of the lake at the foot of the Belvédère, had no resemblance to it. ”

“ VISITS TO THE PETIT TRIANON Miss Morison’s Account of the First Visit to the Petit Trianon
August, 1901 After some days of sight-seeing in Paris, to which we were almost strangers, on an August afternoon, 1901, Miss Lamont and I went to Versailles. We had very hazy ideas as to where it was or what there was to be seen. Both of us thought it might prove to be a dull expedition. We went by train, and walked through the rooms and galleries of the Palace with interest, though we constantly regretted our inability through ignorance to feel properly the charm of the place. ”

“ Well-known bars of Monsigny’s music mingled with reminiscences of Sacchini’s and Grétry’s operas. Was it not on an August day, twelve years ago, that she first acted herself in the charming little newly-built theatre? [103] It was in a play of Sedaine (Le Roi et le Fermier) for which Monsigny had written music, especially for the Trianon; and with pain it was remembered that the plot of the play was the favourite one at Trianon, viz. the superiority of the farmer’s condition over that of the King. Vaudreuil had acted the part of the farmer lover to her Jenny. ”

“ We walked on, crossing a small bridge that went across a green bank, high on our right hand and shelving down below as to a very small overshadowed pool of water glimmering some way off. A tiny stream descended from above us, so small as to seem to lose itself before reaching the little pool. We then followed a narrow path till almost immediately we 20came upon the English garden front of the Petit Trianon. The place was deserted; but as we approached the terrace I remember drawing my skirt away with a feeling as though someone were near and I had to make room, and then wondering why I did it. ”

“ During the last five or six years much research into topographical and archæological details has been made by the newly-formed “Société des amis de Versailles,” probably from the same archives examined by Miss Lamont, so that many points of likeness to what we saw may soon reappear. Old music with old-fashioned instruments is now frequently introduced at summer fêtes at Trianon. Even the water arrangements in our part of the garden seem likely to be altered, and the little cascade may yet be seen again. ”

“ At present the pathway which curves towards the house, and is very likely the old one, has a large bare space on the right hand with one beautiful old tree growing on the edge of it; 77and from some way off one can easily see across it to the chapel beyond the French garden. A long piece of wall extends westward from the terrace, round which one has to go into the French garden in order to find the staircase; whilst the whole length of wall, including part of the north terrace, is hidden by a large old spreading bush, completely covering the place where the lady sat. ”

“ When we were first asked whether the man from the side building was real or not, we laughed at the idea of any unreality; all was so quietly natural that we are still uncertain whether the tall gardener belonged to another century or not. ”

“ The Man by the Kiosk On our first visit a dark-complexioned man, marked by smallpox, was sitting close to the kiosk; he wore a large dark cloak and a slouch hat.
51Though we were assured in 1908 by a very good authority, that no gentleman now living at Versailles would wear a large cloak either in winter or summer, there might be nothing surprising in what we saw if the kiosk could be found. But considering that it is gone, it is historically interesting that we discovered in 1904 that there is one man in the story of Trianon who exactly suits the description. ”

“ It is not our business to explain or to understand—nor do we pretend to understand—what happened to put us into communication with so many true facts, which, nine viyears ago, no one could have told us of in their entirety. ”

“ The creation of the Escargot hill would have made the “ravin” on the north side of the Belvédère, which is still visible, and leads to the greater lake.
There are several reasons why we think that the Queen’s grotto (the second made) was on the theatre side of the Belvédère.
1. D’Hezecques’ description of it in 1789 shows that, though a “ruisseau” passed through it, persons could go freely out at both ends; [45] whereas when water was passing down through the upper entrance of the “escargot” grotto, no one could have used it at the same time: there is only room for the water. ”

“ In response to our enquiry for the Petit Trianon they coldly directed us forward.
There are no officials so dressed at Trianon now. At present they wear black, with tricolour rosettes in their hats; in summer they have white trousers.
In 1904 we were told by fully-informed persons at Versailles that it was “impossible” that we should have seen such uniforms, “unless they were worn by masqueraders,” for green was a royal livery, and no one wore it now at Trianon. ”

“ Miss Lamont expected to have to turn back to the present grotto, and when she remarked that they were going past the Belvédère, he replied firmly that they must go past the Belvédère, and said that it was necessary to have been born and bred in the place to know the way so that “personne ne pourrait vous tromper.”
It appears that from 1870 onwards the gardeners at Trianon have been selected from the technical schools, and that it is now a matter of competition, no one being appointed simply because he was born and bred there. We do not know whether this is the case with the under-gardeners ”

“ The Queen calculated that the girl, who had then been fourteen years old, [118] must now be a young woman of seventeen, and with her promise of beauty [119] would soon marry: probably, she thought, to young Charpentier, [120] who was 149already, she knew, attached to the girl. The Queen’s intimacy with her servants at Trianon had been a never-failing happiness, and she thought with infinite tenderness of the troubles their loyal sympathy for her must be causing them now.
Passing through the gardeners’ enclosure and the porte d’entrée she had come into the English garden. ”

“ The traditional dress of those royal servants who filled the minor parts in the Royal Theatre at Versailles is still to be seen at the acting of the Barbier de Séville in the Comédie Française, which is the descendant of the Royal Theatre. This dress (except for the added red stockings) is the same as the one we saw in 1901.
In 1908 we learned that the porte du jardinier at the Petit Trianon was always guarded 46‘dans le temps,’ and that on October 5th, 1789, the guards were two of the three Bersy brothers who, with Bréval, were generally on duty whenever the Queen was in residence at Trianon. ”

“ Marie Antoinette would have sternly punished the crime of killing the King’s officials; [82] she would have upheld the sovereign office as long as there were those who prized it. The country could never have reached the present point of rebellion if the taking of the Bastille, for instance, had not been condoned and the murders and outrages connected with it had not been allowed to pass without adequate punishment. ”

“ The cavern-like mouth at the lower end of the Queen’s grotto, close to the Rocher bridge, is shown in L’Espinasse’s picture of 1783. It is to be observed that in this picture no large rock (such as there is now) was over the long bridge which stood upon low rocks between the two lakes. The picture suggests that the rock opening of the grotto has been lifted away from its original place to its present position over the long Rocher bridge.
134. D’Hezecques describes the grotto as dark on first entering, lined with moss, and as having a staircase within it leading to the summit of the rocks. ”

“ We are quite certain that neither of us exerted any conscious influence over the other; for though we saw much in common, yet each had independent vision. We should think it wrong either to exercise, or to submit to, influence of that nature. ”

“ A RÊVERIE A Possible Historical Clue To find the causes of the universal movement, which for convenience we call the French Revolution, one should be a trained historian, philosopher, and theologian, and be able to pass in review and justly estimate the aspirations for political consolidation, greater individual responsibility, and the revolt against Papal tyranny over consciences, as they had been working in all European countries for many centuries. ”

“ Pour la posterité, au contraire, il a le plus grand mérite; celui de la ressemblance. Au dire de Madame Campan, il n’existe de bon portrait de la reine que cette toile de Wertmüller et celle que Madame Lebrun peignit en 1787” (page 282) .
In January, 1904, Miss Lamont went to the Comédie Française to see the “Barbier de Séville,” and noticed that the Alguazils standing round were dressed exactly like our garden officials, but had red stockings added. ”

“ Perhaps it had been added to the stone terrace in the time of Louis Philippe. If the present staircase is old, we could have reached it easily from the English garden in the absence of the wall, but if it is not old, and it is not indicated in Mique’s map, there may have been something quite different—even steps turned northward towards the English garden. ”

“ In September, 1908, Miss Lamont found in the archives a paper (without signature or date) giving the estimate for a “ruine” having seven Ionic columns, walls, and a dome roof. (A “ruine” seems only to mean a copy of an older building.) If the walls of this building were low it would correspond in appearance with our recollection of the kiosk. This “ruine” is said to have formed a “naissance de la rivière,” suggesting its position above the small 49lake which fed the principal river. ”

“ If this “ruine” and two others of those alluded to in the archives were one and the same, there is additional reason for placing the columned building in this part of the garden. I. In 1788 it is stated that rocks were placed at intervals on a path leading from “la ruine” to the “2ième source du ravin” beyond the wooden bridge. [17] Desjardins considers one of the “sources” to have been close to the theatre which was at our right hand; this might have been the second spring. [18] II. Mique states that in 1780 he placed a small architectural “ruine” above the grotto. ”

“ It has 111taken us nine years to work out all the details which bear witness to the strangeness of what we saw and did, and to justify us in our present conviction, that from the moment of our leaving the lane until we emerged into the avenue we were on enchanted ground. ”

“ These stories are told to us as being the property of persons we have never heard of. We have constantly enquired on what authority they rest, and, if there is any at all, we have not infrequently been able to discover the track they have followed from us back to us again. ”

“ He was at one time one of the Queen’s innermost circle of friends, but acted an enemy’s part in persuading her to gain the King’s permission for the acting of the politically dangerous play of Le Mariage de Figaro. The King had long refused to allow it, saying that it would cause the Bastille to be taken. The earlier version of the same play, Le Barbier de Séville, [21] was last acted at 52Trianon (August 19th, 1785) , just at the beginning of the diamond necklace episode, when Vaudreuil took the part of Almaviva and was dressed for it in a large dark cloak and Spanish hat. ”