The Story of Versailles (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Story of Versailles<br><br>The Hall Of Mirrors<br><br>If you could speak what tales your tongues could tell,<br>You voiceless mirrors of the storied past!<br>Do you remember when the curtain fell<br>On him who learned he was not God at last<br><br>Do you still see the shadows of the great<br>On powdered wigs and velvets, silks and lace;<br>Or dream at night a feted queen, in state,<br>Accepts men's homage with a haughty face<br><br>A thousand names come tumbling to the mind,<br>Of dead who gazed upon themselves through you,<br>And went their way, each one his end to find<br>In paths that glory or red terror knew.<br><br>Voltaire and Rousseau and Ben Franklin here,<br>You've seen hobnobbing with the highly-born;<br>Seen Genius smile, while, with a hint of fear,<br>It gave to Birth not homage but its scorn.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.