vases of flowers, that their falling should not interrupt the voices of
those on the stage. Artificial waters, silver-sconced tapers, bowers
of fragrant shrubs united to create the richest of settings for this
outdoor theater.

It was the King's wish that the grounds of the little "porcelain house"
at Trianon be chosen as the scene of the second fête, which took place
a week later. In an open-air enclosure, decorated by "a prodigious
quantity of flowers," the guests listened to the "_Êglogue de
Versailles_," composed for the occasion by Lully, leader of the
_Petits-Violons_, Louis' favorite Court orchestra. Afterwards all the
nobles and their fair companions returned to sup at Versailles in a
wood where the Basin of the Obelisk now is.

Seven days later, at the third fete of the series, the King gave a
banquet to ladies in the pavilion at the Menagerie. The guests were
conveyed in superbly decorated gondolas down the Grand Canal. In a
large boat were violinists and hautboy-players that made sweet music.
Finally, in a theater arranged this time before the Grotto, all the
ladies were regaled with a performance of "_La Malade Imaginaire_," the
last of Molière's comedies.

For the fourth festal day, the twenty-eighth of July, the King
commanded a fête of surpassing beauty. The feast was laid in the
center of the _Théâtre-d'Eau_. The steps forming the amphitheater
served as tables for the arrangement of the viands. Orange trees heavy
with blossoms and golden fruit, apple trees, apricot trees, trees laden
with peaches, and tall oleanders--all set out in ornamental tubs; three
hundred vessels of fine porcelain filled with fruit; one hundred and
twenty baskets of dried preserves; four hundred crystal cups containing