I wish I could carry you with me to the palace at Versailles. The
magnificent equestrian statue of Louis XIV., which you can see afar
off as you approach, the noble statues in the grand court yard, and
the ancient regal aspect of the whole scene, with its countless
fountains and its seven miles of pictures, are beyond all
description. As I stood lost in wonder and admiration, my friend,
who introduced me to this world of wonders, pointed to a window in
one corner of the building; there, she said, Louis XVI. passed much
of his time making locks; and there, from that balcony, Marie
Antoinette appeared with her children and the king, when she
addressed the wild, enraged Parisian mob. We saw the private
apartments of the unhappy queen, and the small door through which
she escaped from the fury of the soldiers. We went to see the little
Trianon which she had built for her amusement; a lovely place it is.
Here she tried to put aside state and the queen, and be a happy
human being.

Here Marie Antoinette had a laiterie, a milk house, where she is
said to have made butter and cheese. Here she caused to be built
twelve cottages after the Swiss fashion, and filled them with poor
families whom she tried to make happy.

We went into her dairy. It was fit for a queen to make butter in. In
the centre of the beautifully shaped room was a large oblong, white
marble table; on each side were places for admitting the water, and
under them beautiful marble reservoirs in the shape of shells, and,
underneath, large slabs of white marble. All is still, all so
chaste, so beautiful, all as it once was, and she, the poor
sufferer, what a story of blighted hope and bitter sorrow! See her
the night before her trial, which she knew would end in death,