waters--groves were laid out, varied in
design and decoration--delectable retreats
where lovers, traitors, diplomats might vow
and plot, beneath the discreet ears of marble
nymphs and goddesses.

Many of the groups and marble figures
that beautified the walks and bowers of
Versailles were conceived by the gifted
Lebrun. Among his designs were the Four
Seasons, the Four Quarters of the Globe,
the Four Kinds of Poetry (Heroic, Satiric,
Lyric and Pastoral), the Four Periods of
the Day (Morning, Noon, Twilight,
Night), the Four Elements (Earth, Air,
Fire, Water), the Four Temperaments
(Phlegmatic, Melancholy, Coleric and
Sanguine). Mythological figures, vases
ornamented with bas-reliefs of Louis XIV and
great men of his reign, fountain groups
representing the chief rivers of France,
water nymphs, sportive babies, beasts in
combat--sculpture massive, graceful,
grotesque--all added their individual lure to
the dells, the walks and the terraces of the
magic palace.

Tile-workers from Flanders, marble-cutters
from the Pyrenees, Italy and Greece,
masons, sculptors, castmen, metal-workers,