For periods of increasing frequency the King was in residence at Versailles.  He urged on the builders who had in hand the construction of the living-rooms, kitchens, stables; he supervised the placing of pictures and other decorative works in various parts of the expanded chateau; impatiently he chided the superintendents for delay and feverishly they strove to meet his demands for greater haste.  And though every hour of haste cost the King of France a substantial sum, he cared for nothing but the fulfillment of his luxurious plans.  Hundreds of laborers were engaged in laying out the orangery, the grand terrace, the fruit and vegetable gardens.  The original entrance court was greatly enlarged.  Long wings terminated by pavilions bordered it.  On the right were the kitchens, with quarters for the domestics; on the left, the stables, where there were stalls for fifty-four horses.  At the main entrance to the court were pavilions used by the musketeers as guard-houses.  Those were bustling times at Versailles, and every day disclosed a new development and opened the way to new miracles of construction.

And the miracles were wrought, one after another—­all by order of the King.  On the site of the park a great terrace was bordered by a parterre in the shape of a half-moon, where a waterfall was later installed.  A long promenade, now called the Allee Royale, extended to a vast basin named the Lake of Apollo.  Streamlets were diverted to feed fountains.  Twelve hundred and fifty orange trees were transported from the fallen estate of Vaux to fill the long arcades of the orangery.

In the midst of the activities of masons, carpenters, gardeners, the King was dominant, directing minute details—­the laying of floors, the hanging of draperies, the installation of art works in the chapel.  The restive master of the estate was impatient to enjoy his creation, and to invite his Court there to celebrate its completion with fetes both brilliant and costly.  Colbert wrote in a letter dated September, 1663, of the beauty of the chateau’s adornments—­its Chinese filigree of gold and silver.

“Never,” he swore, “had China itself seen so many examples of this work together—­nor had all Italy seen so many flowers.”  Colbert suffered, but the King found royal satisfaction.  The splendid scene of the Sun King must be set—­the people had to pay.  It was Colbert’s affair to finance it.

The King commanded a series of fetes to be arranged.  For eight days every diversion appropriate to the autumn season was enjoyed by the royal family and all the Court.  Every day there were balls, ballets, comedies, concerts, promenades, hunts.  Moliere and his troupe were commanded to appear in a new piece called “Impromptu de Versailles.”

Colbert regretted the absorption of his sovereign in Versailles, “to the neglect of the Louvre—­assuredly the most superb palace in the world.”  Louis tolerantly gave ear and inspected the Louvre, but to the building of Versailles he devoted all his enthusiasm.