_June 3rd._--In the morning we were informed by the porter's wife
that the waters were to play. In the afternoon we accordingly walked
in the palace garden, and were very glad to find it was the case. The
gardens were very full, as a great many people had come from Paris to
see the waters play. Some of the large waterworks did not play, such
as Neptune's Bath; and some of the others only partly. Latona's basin
was beautiful; it was playing very little at first, but while we were
looking at it all the frogs began to spout water, which formed a bower
of water over Latona's head, and covered her and her children. The
frogs, lizards, etc., at the bottom, spouted water the contrary way,
which did not look so well. In the same basin at each side were two
pipes, which sent out a column of water. Apollo's Bath was playing a
little out of the horses' mouths. Two smaller pieces of water had a
very good effect: in the middle was a _jet d'eau_; on each side of one
was a lion tearing a wolf, and another lion killing a wild boar; on the
other was a tiger tearing a bear, and a blood-hound killing a stag--out
of the mouths of these figures came streams of water. The figures are
bronze. One of the large waterworks, called Le Basin de l'Obélisque,
consists of a number of pipes in imitation of reeds in the middle of
the basin, which send out a column of water to the height of 75 feet:
this waterwork was playing very little when we were there--it appeared
like a basket of froth. Some of the smaller waters are quite as pretty
as the large ones: one represents Ceres seated on some sheaves and
surrounded by children. Another, a number of children, some holding
masks, shells, and one a pair of bellows. The one that I liked best
was a small basin, in the middle of which there is a little island
which appears to be made of bronze: on this are six little children
playing with flowers, and one on each side which seems to swim or
float. Out of the island rises a column of water. The waters looked
particularly pretty among the trees. There were a great many people
in the gardens, and the variety of colours resembled a bed of tulips.
Some of the people were very oddly dressed. One woman had on a most
extraordinary cap composed of pink satin and very pretty lace; she had
a gold chain round her neck, a white gown, and pink cotton apron. (Her
cap was not at all common.) The French are very fond of colours, and
put them on with very bad taste. We saw some people with perhaps a pink
handkerchief, a blue sash, a coarse cotton gown, a yellow bonnet, and
green shoes. We saw one lady in church with a yellow bonnet spotted
with every colour; and another lady with one side of her bonnet one
colour, and the other another colour. The ladies are in general very
plain. We were told that a lady having tried to persuade an English
gentleman that the French ladies were pretty, he took her to one of
the great waterworks, where she could see ten thousand people, and
told her that he would give her a gown worth five hundred francs if
she could find three handsome women. The lady tried, but was obliged
to acknowledge that she could not. The French women have not good
figures: the old women are very fat, and the others are as flat as two
boards.[18] Many of the ladies were attended by _bonnes_, some of whom
were dressed more neatly than the French women generally are:--with
light cotton gowns, muslin handkerchiefs, and caps trimmed with
lace over blue or pink paper. The children that were with them were
queer-looking little things. The French children are old-fashioned,
dull, grave, and ugly: like little old women in their appearance. The
babies are wrapt up in swaddling-clothes like mummies, and they wear
queer little cotton hats. The nurses carry them very carefully hanging
on their arms; they say that nursing them, or tossing them about, makes
them mad. Some of the children have long hair hanging down their backs
and little hats stuck on the tops of their heads and little ridicules
in their hands. We stayed in the gardens this evening later than usual
looking at the waters, which from the terrace had a very pretty effect.
[Illustration: A BONNE AND CHILDREN]