a valet took the forhu (the belly of the stag, washed and placed on the end of a forked stick), and called the dogs, crying, ‘Tayaut, tayaut!’ and threw the forhu into the midst of the pack, where it was devoured at once.  At this instant the fanfares redoubled, and finished by sounding the retreat.  The King returned the wand to the grand huntsman, who at the head of all the huntsmen followed His Majesty.”

In his promenades at Versailles and Trianon any courtiers that chose to do so were permitted to follow the King.  On his return from out-door recreation His Majesty, after again changing his costume, remained in his cabinet resting or working.  Frequently he passed some time in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon.

At ten o’clock the captain of the guard announced supper in the chamber between the Hall of the King’s Guards and the antechamber called “Bull’s Eye.”  This meal was always on a pretentious scale, and was attended at table by the royal children and numerous courtiers and ladies.  When the last course had been served the King retired to his bedchamber and there for a few moments received all his Court, before passing into his Cabinet, where he spent something less than an hour in the company of his immediate household, his brother seated in an arm-chair, the princesses upon stools, and the Dauphin and all the other princes standing.

When the King had bid the company goodnight he entered his sleeping-room, where were already the courtiers privileged to attend the ceremony of the coucher, or going-to-bed.  At the grand coucher the King, being formally divested of his hat, gloves, cane and sword, knelt by the balustrade about his bed, while an almoner murmured a prayer as he held a lighted candle above the royal head.  When the King had risen from his knees he gave to the first valet de chambre his watch and the holy relics he was accustomed to wear, and proceeded through the assemblage to his chair.  This was the moment when, with regal mien, the Sun King bestowed the candle upon whomever he wished to honor—­a ceremony brief, trifling, but significant of the Monarch of Monarchs in its gracious portent.

To the Master of the Wardrobe fell the task of removing the King’s coat and vest; the diamond buckles of the right and left garters were unfastened respectively by the first valet de chambre and the first valet of the wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber withdrew with the kingly shoes and breeches while the pages of the Chamber presented slippers and dressing-gown.  The latter was held as a screen while the shirt was removed, and the night-dress was accepted from the hands of a royal prince, or the Grand Chamberlain.

Having put on the dressing-gown, the King, with an inclination of the head, dismissed the courtiers, to whom the ushers cried, “Gentlemen, pass on!”