distinguished Versailles above the palaces of the world.

Grouped above the Marble Court at the far end of the main court of the
château, were the State Apartments of the King. Though, in later
times, the sequence of some of these salons was changed, in the years
when the Sun King occupied them they comprised the Salon of Venus,
opening upon the Ambassadors' Staircase, the Salon of Diana, the Salon
of Mars, and the Salon of Mercury. These halls formed a magnificent
prelude to the still greater magnificence of the Salon of Apollo,--the
Throne Room where guests came into the presence of the King himself.
The Salon of Venus was most admired for its marble mosaics and its
ceiling painting representing Venus subduing all the other deities. In
Louis' day, as now, the royal master of all this grandeur was here
portrayed in white marble, garbed in the robes of a Roman emperor.
Diana and her nymphs were depicted on the ceiling of the salon named
for the Goddess of the Hunt. Here under candles glimmering in sconces
of silver and crystal the courtiers engaged in games of billiards,
while their ladies disposed themselves gracefully upon tapestried
seats. And there were orange trees in silver tubs to add brilliance to
the scene. In the Salon of Mars dancing parties and concerts were
given. Silver punchbowls set on silver tables offered refreshment to
the gay throng that coquetted and danced and applauded beneath the
triumphant picture of Mars limned upon the ceiling. This room was
a-glitter with silver, cut glass and gold embroidered draperies. In
the crimson-hung Salon of Mercury was the King's bed of state, before
which was a balustrade of silver. In all the Grand Apartments were
hangings and furniture of extraordinary richness. There were tables of
gilded wood and mosaic, Florentine marbles, pedestals of porphyry for
vases of precious metal, ebony cabinets inlaid with copper, columns of
jasper, agate and lapis lazuli, silver chandeliers, branched