appointed, but, though the most trivial details in the daily life of His
Majesty were attended with imposing circumstance, there is no record of a
Ceremony of the King's Bath, nor do we know of any noble order at the
Grand Monarch's court that held the title of Knights of the Bath.

When the assemblage that witnessed the _petit coucher_ in the royal
apartment had dwindled one by one, according to precedent, the Master of
Versailles was, at last, free to do as he chose,--to play with his dogs
in an adjoining cabinet, or take his ease in pleasing solitude. Then, in
the familiar words of Samuel Pepys' immortal diary, "Home, and to bed."
Outside the gilded balustrade the first _valet de chambre_ slept on a
folding cot. "Beyond that balustrade, by the faint candle-light, there
loomed among the shadows a white-plumed canopy and crimson curtains. The
Grand Monarch slept."




CHAPTER VI

GOLDEN DAYS AND RED LETTER NIGHTS

_The Gayety and Fashion of Versailles Life. The Prodigal Frivolities
and Diversions of the Court._

The ceremonious routine of the days at Versailles was enlivened at
certain times of the year by festivities of astounding brilliance, and,
on occasion, by gorgeous receptions offered to visiting rulers and
ambassadors, It has already been related that the arrival of Louis XIV
and his family at Versailles in the fall of 1663 was celebrated by a