oodnight he entered his sleeping-room,
where were already the courtiers privileged to attend the ceremony of the
_coucher_, or going-to-bed. At the _grand coucher_ the King, being
formally divested of his hat, gloves, cane and sword, knelt by the
balustrade about his bed, while an almoner murmured a prayer as he held a
lighted candle above the royal head. When the King had risen from his
knees he gave to the first _valet de chambre_ his watch and the holy
relics he was accustomed to wear, and proceeded through the assemblage to
his chair. This was the moment when, with regal mien, the Sun King
bestowed the candle upon whomever he wished to honor--a ceremony brief,
trifling, but significant of the Monarch of Monarchs in its gracious
portent.

To the Master of the Wardrobe fell the task of removing the King's coat
and vest; the diamond buckles of the right and left garters were
unfastened respectively by the first _valet de chambre_ and the first
valet of the wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber withdrew with the
kingly shoes and breeches while the pages of the Chamber presented
slippers and dressing-gown. The latter was held as a screen while the
shirt was removed, and the night-dress was accepted from the hands of a
royal prince, or the Grand Chamberlain.

Having put on the dressing-gown, the King, with an inclination of the
head, dismissed the courtiers, to whom the ushers cried, "Gentlemen, pass
on!"

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