In practically all types of maze it became the fashion to relieve the monotony of the walks by placing statues, vases, seats, fountains, and other ornaments at various points. This kind of thing reached a climax of extravagance in the latter part of the seventeenth century, when J. Hardouin-Mansart constructed for Louis XIV the famous labyrinth in the smaller park at Versailles. This labyrinth is described in a book, now very rare, entitled "Labyrinte de Versailles," by C. Perrault, printed at the royal press, Paris, in 1677, and illustrated by Sebastien le Clerc. Our illustrations, [Figs. 88], [89], [90] and [91], are selected from the book in question and show respectively the plan of the labyrinth and three of the thirty-nine groups of hydraulic statuary representing the fables of Aesop. At the entrance to the labyrinth were placed symbolical statues of Aesop and Cupid, the latter holding in one hand a ball of thread. Each of the speaking characters represented in the fable groups emitted a jet of water, representing speech, and each group was accompanied by an engraved plate displaying more or less appropriate verses by the poet de Benserade.
Fig. 89.—Labyrinth of Versailles. Fable Group:
"The Hare and the Tortoise." (Perrault.)
Fig. 88. Labyrinth of Versailles. (Perrault)
Fig. 90.—Labyrinth of Versailles. Fable Group:
"The Fox and the Crow." (Perrault.)
Fig. 91.—Labyrinth of Versailles. Fable Group:
"The Snake and the Porcupine." (Perrault.)
We reproduce le Clerc's engravings of the groups illustrating respectively the fables of "The Hare and the Tortoise," "The Fox and the Crow," and "The Snake and the Porcupine." The water for all these elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by a wonderful contrivance called the "Machine de Marli," constructed by Swalm Renkin between 1675 and 1682. It is said to have cost the equivalent of £8,000,000 and contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.