the courts were numerous and various; it was only at the
Prussian Court, and those connected with it, that the simple military
coat of home-made cloth was the usual dress. Elsewhere, not only the
gala dresses, but also the special costumes and fancy dresses for the
high festivals, were subjects for great consideration, and it was no
trifle for the chamberlain to ascertain accurately how the wardrobe at
the different entertainments should be fittingly arranged; as when, for
example, at the Turkish garden near Dresden the whole court appeared as
Mussulmen, or when an extraordinary coronation dress was to be
invented, as for the Elector Friedrich August of Saxony at the
coronation at Cracow.[56] Even the stable became noble; it was under
the master of the horse, as the hunt was under the grandmaster of the
chase. As ceremonial had become the peculiar science of court, it was
represented at most of the great courts by a grandmaster of the
ceremonies. None watched more jealously than the princes themselves the
marks of honour which they were to give and receive at visits; if on a
visit sufficient respect was not shown to them, they rode away in
anger, and threatened reprisals. Endless, therefore, were the
complaints and grievances laid before the Emperor and Aulic Council;
and yet this jealous watch over externals was not the result of
self-respect, for in dealing with the powerful they were but too
deficient in this. Regulations concerning precedence were always being
renewed; almost every new ruler had pleasure in thus showing his
supremacy, but, in spite of all ordinances, the disputes about rank,
offices, and titles were endless--worse than the men, were the ladies.
In 1750, at one of the royal courts, all the ladies of the nobility
left their places in church because the daughter of one of the newly
ennobled officials--a "_wirklichen Geheimerath_"--sought for a place in
their choir.

This wide sphere of trifling interests gave great importance to the
nobility, calculating from the Imperial Court at Vienna down to the
household of the baron of the Empire, who always maintained one or more
poor _Junkers_ in his circle; together with the collateral and lateral
branches of the greater families, it might be estimated that there were
somewhere about 5 or 600 court households in Germany, besides 1500
households of "Knights of the Empire;" so that, undoubtedly, there were
more than 5000 court offices and employments. The enormo