King. At that time middle-class folk supped at six o'clock,
and men of rank at seven; but people of exquisite fashion
supped between eight and nine; it was the meal we nowadays
call dinner.

Some people have supposed that etiquette was the inven-
tion of Louis XIV.; but this is a mistake; it was introduced
into France by Catherine de' Medici, who was so exacting
that the Connétable Anne de Montmorency had more diffi-
culty in obtaining leave to ride into the courtyard of the
Louvre than in winning his sword, and even then the per-
mission was granted only on the score of his great age.
Etiquette was slightly relaxed under the first three Bourbon
kings, but assumed an Oriental character under Louis the
Great, for it was derived from the Lower Empire, which
borrowed it from Persia. In 1573 not only had very few
persons a right to enter the courtyard of the Louvre with
their attendants and torches, just as in Louis XIV.'s time
only dukes and peers might drive under the porch, but the
functions which gave the privilege of attending their Majes-
ties after supper could easily be counted. The Maréchal de
Retz, whom we have just seen keeping watch on the gutter,
once offered a thousand crowns of that day to the clerk
of the closet to get speech of Henri III. at an hour when
he had no right to entrée. And how a certain venerable
historian mocks at a view of the courtyard of the château
of Blois, into which the draughtsman introduced the figure of
a man on horseback!

At this hour, then, there were at the Louvre none but
the most eminent persons in the kingdom. Queen Elizabeth
of Austria and her mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici, were
seated to the left of the fireplace. In the opposite corner
the King, sunk in his armchair, affected an apathy excusable
on the score of digestion, for he had eaten like a prince
returned from hunting. Possibly, too, he wished to avoid
speech in the presence of so many persons whose interest
it was to detect his thoughts.

The courtiers stood, hat in hand, at the further end of
the room. Some conversed in undertones; others kept an
eye on the King, hoping for a glance or a word. One,

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