that the greatest king, and the most virtuous, should be measured by the
standard of Versailles! And there is always this misfortune to fear."

But the King, like many another great monarch, had dreamed a dream. He
was not satisfied with Paris as a residence. So he told Colbert to make
his dream of Versailles come true--and Colbert had to find some way to
pay the cost.

An irritating cause of the King's purpose lay in the fact that he was
incited by the splendors of the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, built by his
ill-fated minister, Fouquet. Louis determined to surpass that mansion by
one so much more elaborate as to crush it into insignificance. Nicholas
Fouquet had employed the most renowned masters of this period--among them
Louis Le Vau, the architect, André Le Nôtre, the landscape gardener, and
Charles Lebrun, the decorator. These were the men the King summoned to
transform the modest hunting villa of his father. At the truly gorgeous
chateau of his minister, he had witnessed the full measure of their
genius. On August 17, 1661, Fouquet gave an elaborate fête to celebrate
the completion of the chateau, which the King attended. Within three
weeks the host was a prisoner of State, accused of peculation in office.
Acting immediately upon his resolution to out-do the glories of
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis engaged Le Nôtre to plan gardens and Le Vau to
submit proposals for the enlargement and decoration of the chateau. One
of the first apartments completed was the chamber of the infant
Dauphin--heir to the throne, who was born in November, 1661. Colbert
reported in September, 1663, that in two years he had spent 1,500,000
pounds, and a good part of this sum was for the construction of the
gardens. Builders and decorators suggested one elaborate project after
another, without regard to the cost, despite the protest of Colbert to
the King that they were exceeding all estimates and provisions. It was a