_belle saison_, until midnight. Often he went
on foot, but oftener in a light carriage drawn
by a team of small black horses that had
been given him by the Duke of Tuscany.


THE GRAND TRIANON

This palace decorated with pilasters of
pink marble was not the first building chosen
by the Grand Monarch to occupy the site
at the end of the north arm of the canal of
Versailles. Ambitious to extend his domain,
the King had purchased and razed a shabby
little village named Trianon, and on its
somewhat dreary site erected for Madame
de Montespan a villa so unpretentious as to
arouse the comment of courtiers accustomed
to the ruler's profligacy at Versailles. The
vases of faïence that shone among the figures
of gilded lead, the walk ornamented with
Dutch tiles, the cornices of blue and white
stucco, in the Chinese fashion, gave the little
house the name, the Porcelain Trianon.
Poets called it the Palace of Flora because
of the wondrous gardens where rare flowers
perfumed the pleasaunce in summer. Built
in 1670, probably on designs of Francois
Le Vau, the Porcelain Trianon was
demolished toward the end of the year 1686.