ptuous robes.
The Nobles glittered with silk and gold lace; jeweled clasps fastened
plumes of feathers in their hats; orders glittered on their breasts; and
many a precious stone sparkled in the hilts of their swords. The
representatives of the Commons were allowed neither feathers, nor
embroidery, nor swords; but were forced to content themselves with plain
black cloaks, and an unadorned homeliness of attire, which seemed as if
intended to exclude all idea of their being the equals of those other
orders of which they had for a moment become the colleagues. And, in a
similar spirit it was arranged that, after the folding-doors of the saloon
in which the sovereigns were awaiting them were thrown wide open to admit
the representatives of the higher orders, the Commons were let in through
a side door. And though in the eyes of persons habituated to the
ceremonious niceties of court life these distinctions seemed matters of
course, and, as such, unworthy of notice, it can hardly be wondered at if
they were galling to men accustomed only to the simpler manners of a
provincial town; and who, proud of their new position and deeply impressed
with its importance, fancied they saw in them a settled intention to
degrade both them and their constituents by thus stamping them with a
badge of inferiority before all the spectators.

The opening of the States-general was fixed for the 5th of May, and on the
day before, which was Sunday, a solemn mass was performed at the principal
church in Versailles, that of Notre Dame; after which the congregation
proceeded to another church, that of St. Louis, to hear a sermon from the
Bishop of Nancy. It was a stately procession that moved from one church to
the other, and it was afterward remembered as the very last in which the
royal pair appeared before their subjects with the undiminished
magnificence of ancient ceremony. First, after a splendid escort of
troops, came the members of the States in their several orders; then the
king marched by himself; the queen followed; and behind her came the
princes and princesses of the royal family of the blood, the officers of
state and of the household, and companies of the Body-guard brought up the
rear. The acclamations of the spectators were loud as the deputies of the
States, and especially as the representatives of the Commons, passed on;
loud, too, as the king; moved forward, bearing himself with unusual
dignity; but, when the queen advanced, thou