The Grand Hall of the Guards, the apartments of the Children of France and their governess, the ten rooms that composed the suite of the Dauphin, the Grand Hall of Battles—­each had its special decoration.  “At the house of Monseigneur,” wrote an old chronicler of the Court, “one sees in the cabinets an exquisite collection of all that is most rare and precious, not only in respect to the necessary furniture, tables, porcelains, mirrors, chandeliers, but also paintings by the most famous masters, bronzes, vases of agate, jewels and cameos.”  For one dazzling table of carved silver in the apartment of the King’s son, the silversmith that fashioned it was paid thirty thousand dollars.

Beneath the state apartments of the King was the Hall of the Baths lined with marble and adorned with beautiful paintings.  Upon the marble tubs, the tessellated floors, the gilded columns and mirrors of this apartment a great sum was expended.

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Versailles at last was finished—­and what a spectacle and monument to selfish exaltation it was!  “There is an intimate relation between the King and his chateau,” wrote Imbert de Saint-Amand.  “The idol is worthy of the temple, the temple of the idol.  There is always something immaterial, something moral so to speak, in monuments, and they derive their poesy from the thought connected with them.  For a cathedral, it is the idea of God.  For Versailles, it is the idea of the King.  Its mythology is but a magnificent allegory of which Louis XIV is the reality.  It is he always and everywhere.  Fabulous heroes and divinities impart their attributes to him or mingle with his courtiers.  In honor of him, Neptune sheds broadcast the waters that cross in air in sparkling arches.  Apollo, his favorite symbol, presides over this enchanted world as the god of light, the inspirer of the muses; the sun of the god seems to pale before that of the great King.  Nature and art combine to celebrate the glory of the sovereign by a perpetual hosannah.  All that generations of kings have amassed in pictures, statues and precious movables is distributed as mere furniture in the glittering apartments of the chateau.  The intoxicating perfumes of luxury and power throw one into a sort of ecstasy that makes comprehensible the exaltation of this monarch, enthusiastic over himself, who, in chanting the hymns composed in his praise, shed tears of admiration.”

CHAPTER IV

THE GARDENS, THE FOUNTAINS AND THE GRAND TRIANON

The first gardens of Versailles—­those that gave a modest setting to the villa constructed for Louis XIII, comprised a few parterres of flowers and shrubs bounded by well trimmed box hedges, and two groves planted on each side of the Allee Royale.  To Jacques Boyceau is accredited the first plan of the gardens of Versailles, but Andre Le Notre greatly amplified and improved the original scheme.  Le Notre’s achievements at Versailles gave him rank as the most distinguished landscape gardener of his time, and of all time.