hen stood, in a rectangular garden, which was bounded by
straight canals, and divided into formal woods, flower beds and melon
beds, a seat of the Princes of Orange. The house seemed to have been
built expressly for the accommodation of such a set of diplomatists as
were to meet there. In the centre was a large hall painted by Honthorst.
On the right hand and on the left were wings exactly corresponding to
each other. Each wing was accessible by its own bridge, its own gate and
its own avenue. One wing was assigned to the Allies, the other to the
French, the hall in the centre to the mediator. [804] Some preliminary
questions of etiquette were, not without difficulty, adjusted; and
at length, on the ninth of May, many coaches and six, attended by
harbingers, footmen and pages, approached the mansion by different
roads. The Swedish Minister alighted at the grand entrance. The
procession from the Hague came up the side alley on the right. The
procession from Delft came up the side alley on the left. At the first
meeting, the full powers of the representatives of the belligerent
governments were delivered to the mediator. At the second meeting,
forty-eight hours later, the mediator performed the ceremony of
exchanging these full powers. Then several meetings were spent in
settling how many carriages, how many horses, how many lacqueys, how
many pages, each minister should be entitled to bring to Ryswick;
whether the serving men should carry canes; whether they should wear
swords; whether they should have pistols in their holsters; who should
take the upper hand in the public walks, and whose carriage should break
the way in the streets. It soon appeared that the mediator would have to
mediate, not only between the coalition and the French, but also between
the different members of the coalition. The Imperial Ambassadors claimed
a right to sit at the head of the table. The Spanish Ambassador would
not admit this pretension, and tried to thrust himself in between two
of them. The Imperial Ambassadors refused to call the Ambassadors of
Electors and Commonwealths by the title of Excellency. "If I am not
called Excellency," said the Minister of the Elector of Brandenburg, "my
master will withdraw his troops from Hungary." The Imperial Ambassadors
insisted on having a room to themselves in the building, and on having
a special place assigned to their carriages in the court. All the
other Ministers of the Confederacy pronounced thi