Council. Thrice a week there was a council of State, and twice a week a
finance council. Thus the mornings passed, with the exception of
Thursday morning, when His Majesty gave "back-stair" audiences known to
but a few, and Friday morning, which was spent with his confessor.

Louis was always a busy man of affairs and never shirked his kingly
duties. It was a principle of his life to place duty first and pleasure
after. He told his son in his memoirs that an idle king showed
ingratitude toward God and injustice toward man. "The requirements and
demands of royalty," he wrote, "which may, at times, appear hard and
irksome, you should find easy and agreeable in high places. Nothing will
exhaust you more than idleness. If you tire of great affairs, and give
up to pleasures, you will soon be disgusted with your own idleness. To
take in the whole world with intelligent eyes, to be learning constantly
what is going on in the provinces and among other nations--the court
secrets, the habits, the weaknesses of princes and foreign ministers, to
see clearly what all people are trying, to their utmost, to conceal, to
fathom the most deep-seated thoughts and convictions of those that attend
us in our own court--what greater pleasure and satisfaction could there
be, if we were simply prompted by curiosity?"

Ordinarily, when at Versailles, the King dined alone at one o'clock,
seated by the middle window of his chamber, overlooking the courtyards,
the Place d'Armes, and the long avenue that led to Paris. More than
three hundred persons,--stewards, chefs, butlers, gentlemen servants,
carvers, cup-bearers, table-setters, cellarers, gardeners,--were charged
with the care of the kitchens, pantries, cellars, fruit-lofts,
store-rooms, linen closets, and treasuries of gold and silver plate
belonging to the King's immediate household--the _Maison du Roi_. The
Officers of the Goblet were present when the King was served, having