VERSAILLES, a celebrated city of France, and long the residence of the French court, capital of the dep. of Seine-et-Oise, stands on a plain, 11 m. s.w. of Paris by rail way. A fine avenue, which forms part of the road from Paris, divides the town into two parts. The town covers a large area in proportion to its population, and is of remark. ably regular construction, consisting of long and straight streets, crossing at right angles. Versailles, a city more of pleasure than of industry,—long accustomed to find its sus tenance in the expenditure of a luxurious court, and subsequently a place of residence for many foreigners attracted hither by the salubrity of the climate, the fine promenades, and the economy of living, as compared with that in Paris—has few manufactures, and little trade. It is the see of a bishop, and contains a public library of 50,000 vols., many palatial edifices, public fountains, spacious squares, and elm-planted avenues; and when taste in architecture and in landscape-gardening was more formal than at the present time, the town was esteemed the handsomest in Europe. The great attraction of Ver sailles is its palace, and the history of this structure may be said to be the history of the town. The site occupied by the palace is known to have been that of the ancient priory of St. Julien, the chronicles of which place the date of the building in the early times of the Capetan monarchy. Later, the priory became a feudal stronghold, and its first superior, Hugo de Versaliis, lived in the 11th century. In 1570 the manor belonged to Martial de Lenmenie, one of the victims of St. Bartholomew. The building was con verted by Louis XIII. into a château; and Louis XIV. devoted enormous sums to its
embellishment, or rather reconstruction. Louis XV. altered the arrangement of the interior, and meditated alterations that would have changed the whole character of the edifice, but which he was unable to carry out from want of money. Under Louis XVI., Versailles continued to be one of the usual residences of the court down to the period of the revolution, which great event had its beginning here in the meethig of the states general, in May, 1789. Louis Philippe transformed the palace of Louis XIV. into a museum, to contain trophies of the victories of France. The approach to the palace is by the Place d' Armes and the Cour d'Honneur, in the latter of which is a large eques trian figure of Louis XIV., and other statues. The entire length of the palace is nearly 1400 feet. The collections embrace pictures of events in French history, portraits of French heroes, etc. The most interesting are the pictures of David which illustrate the career of Napoleon, and those by Horace Vernet. The gardens, with their broad terraces and long alleys, are imposing, but formal; the fountains are on the grandest scale. From the middle of Sept., 1870, till the conclusion of peace in 1871, Versailles was the center of all the operations of the Germans. On Sept. 20, king William and the crown-prince entered the town; and there, on Jan. 18, 1871, the former was proclaimed emperor of Germany. On Jan. 28, the capitulation of Paris was signed in Versailles; after the peace, it became the seat of the national assembly and government of the republic, and was the headquarters of the army under gen. Mac Mahon. Pop. '76, 49,522.