All those that were entitled to remain for the petit coucher—­princes, clergymen, officers, chosen intimates—­then disposed themselves about the bedchamber while the King submitted to the hands of his coiffeur and received from the Grand Master of the Wardrobe the night-cap and handkerchiefs.  After bathing his face and hands in a silver basin held by a royal prince or grand master, the petit coucher was at an end.  The bathing apartments of Versailles were numerous and luxuriously 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 fete at which a troupe headed by Moliere was heard in a piece by the great dramatist called Impromptu de Versailles, In the month of May, 1664, Louis commanded a performance of “Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle,” in which his favorite actor and playwright furnished the comedy, Lully the music and the ballets, and an Italian mechanician the decorations and illuminations.  On the first day there was tilting at the ring, in which pastime Louis XIV played a part, wearing a diamond-embroidered costume.  The next day, on an outdoor stage, Moliere and his company played the “Princesse d’Elide.”  There followed ballets, races, tourneys and a lottery, “in which the prizes were pieces of furniture, silverware and precious stones.”