wines, and the rarest liqueurs in the utmost abundance.  Measures were so well taken that quantities of game and venison arrived from all sides; and the seas of Normandy, of Holland, of England, of Brittany, even the Mediterranean, furnished all they contained—­the most unheard-of, extraordinary, and most exquisite—­at a given day and hour with inimitable order, and by a prodigious number of horsemen and little express carriages.  Even the water was fetched from Sainte Reine, from the Seine, and from sources the most esteemed; and it is impossible to imagine anything of any kind which was not at once ready for the obscurest as for the most distinguished visitor, the guest most expected, and the guest not expected at all.  Wooden houses and magnificent tents stretched all around, in number sufficient to form a camp of themselves, and were furnished in the most superb manner, like the houses in Paris.  Kitchens and rooms for every purpose were there, and the whole was marked by an order and cleanliness that excited surprise and admiration.  The King, wishing that the magnificence of this camp should be seen by the ambassadors, invited them there, and prepared lodgings for them.  But the ambassadors claimed a silly distinction, which the King would not grant, and they refused his invitation.  This distinction I call silly because it brings no advantage with it of any kind.  I am ignorant of its origin, but this is what it consists in.  When, as upon such an occasion as this, lodgings are allotted to the Court, the quartermaster writes in chalk, “for Monsieur Such-a-one,” upon those intended for Princes of the blood, cardinals, and foreign princes; but for none other.  The King would not allow the “for” to be written upon the lodgings of the ambassadors; and the ambassadors, therefore, kept away.  The King was much piqued at this, and I heard him say at supper, that if he treated them as they deserved, he should only allow them to come to Court at audience times, as was the custom everywhere else.

The King arrived at the camp on Saturday, the 30th of August, and went with the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne and others to the quarters of Marechal de Boufflers, where a magnificent collation was served up to them—­so magnificent that when the King returned, he said it would be useless for the Duc de Bourgogne to attempt anything so splendid; and that whenever he went to the camp he ought to dine with Marechal de Bouffiers.  In effect, the King himself soon after dined there, and led to the Marechal’s table the King of England, who was passing three or four days in the camp.

On these occasions the King pressed Marechal de Boufflers to be seated.  He would never comply, but waited upon the King while the Duc de Grammont, his brother-in-law, waited upon Monseigneur.

The King amused himself much in pointing out the disposition of the troops to the ladies of the Court, and in the evening showed them a grand review.