d never been seen since the time
of the King's coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking
merrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of
the gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that
he had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal
afterwards.

[Illustration]

And the nice things there were to eat! There were:

Force-meat balls flavoured with rare spices from the East;
Sardines from Sardinia;
Tunny fish from the Mediterranean and Sturgeon from Russia;
Steaming boars' heads with lemons in their mouths;
Turkeys, peacocks and swans;
Ortolans;
Wonderful roasts and delicious stews;
Roe deer and Bears' hams;

[Illustration]

Sweets in all sorts of curious shapes, as, for
instance, cakes like castles with little men
made of sweet-stuff for sentries on the
battlements, each complete in gilded armour and
with a halberd over his shoulder. (A rare
sight!) And eagles carved of ice hovering over
silver dishes filled with apricots.

Then followed the smaller dishes:

Tiny cakes as white and delicate as ladies'
fingers;

Birds' nests made of spun sugar (and in the
nests were eggs of marsh-mallow, and in each
egg was a tiny chicken made of caramel!);

Figs and dates from the desert;

Other fruits, in and out of season;

Syrups and preserves fetched from the four
corners of the world;

Wines cooled in snow from the distant
mountains.

One might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the
delicacies.

[Illustration]

Each dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed
by the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he
was a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great
responsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble
birth, dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed
the dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had
been taught to do.

So the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King
laughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good
humour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western
windows, lighted up the rich hangings on