ausses_ (breeches), to which silk stockings were
attached; the king drew them on; another gentleman put on his shoes;
another gentleman buckled them. Two pages, richly dressed in crimson
velvet embroidered with gold, removed the slippers which the king had
laid aside.

And now came the royal breakfast. Two officers of the household
entered, in picturesque attire, one bearing a loaf of bread on an
enameled salver, and another a folded napkin between two enameled
plates. The royal cup-bearer handed a golden vase, richly decorated,
to one of the lords. He poured into it a small quantity of wine and
water. Another lord tasted of it, to prove that it contained no
poison. The vase was then carefully rinsed, and being again filled
with the wine and water, was presented to the king on a gold salver.

His majesty drank. Then the dauphin, who was always present at these
solemnities, handed his hat and gloves to the first lord in waiting,
and presented the monarch with a napkin with which to wipe his lips.
Breakfast was a very frugal repast. Having partaken of these slight
refreshments, the king laid aside his dressing-gown. One of his lordly
attendants then assisted him in removing his night-shirt by the left
sleeve. It was Bontems's peculiar privilege to draw it off by the
right sleeve.

The royal shirt, which had been carefully warmed, was then given to
the first lord. He presented it to the dauphin, who approached and
presented it to the king. Some one of the higher lords, previously
designated for the honor, assisted the king in the arrangement of his
shirt and breeches. A duke enjoyed the honor of putting on his inner
waistcoat. Two valets presented the king with his sword, vest, and
blue ribbon. A nobleman then stepped forward and buckled on the sword,
assisted in putting on the vest, and placed over his shoulders a
scarf bearing the cross of the Holy Ghost in diamonds, and the cross
of St. Louis.

The king then drew on his under coat, with the assistance of the grand
master of the robes, adjusted his cravat of rich lace, which was
folded round his neck by a favorite courtier, and finally emptied into
the pockets of the loose outer coat, which was presented to him for
that purpose, the contents of those which he had worn the previous
day. He then received two handkerchiefs of costly point from another
attendant, by whom they were carried on an enameled saucer of oval
shape called salve. His toilet once completed, Louis