into immense reservoirs adroitly dissembled
on the roofs of buildings overlooking the
park. From these tanks a maze of pipes
carried the water to thickets, grottoes,
basins, fountains and canals. Nothing could
surpass the ingenuity with which all this was
contrived. The play of water directed to
the Basin of the Mirrors reappeared later
in the Baths of Apollo and the Fountain of
the Dragon. Flowing in turn among
successive pools and ornamental groups--branching
hither and yon in the gardens, the
stream attained its full display in the most
majestic effect of all, the Basin of Neptune.

"Here again is the hand of Le Nôtre,"
remarks James Farmer, author of
"Versailles and the Court Under Louis XIV." "The
basin of Neptune, called at first the
Grand Cascades, was constructed from 1679
to 1684, in accordance with his designs. This
immense basin, surrounded on the side
toward the chateau by a handsome wall of
stone, and on the other by an amphitheater
of turf and trees,--a vast half-circle, in the
center of which stands a marble statue of
Renown, is simple in conception and imposing
from its size. The richly carved lead vases
which adorn the wall were gilded under the
Grand Monarch, and each throws a jet of