empty stomach is, of all amusements, the
least satisfactory. Having taken this wise precaution, we drove to the
chateau at half after five, it not being seemly to enter the room after
the king, and, as we discovered, for females impossible.

Magnificence and comfort seldom have much in common. We were struck with
this truth on entering the palace of the king of France. The room into
which we were first admitted was filled with tall, lounging foot
soldiers, richly attired, but who lolled about the place with their caps
on, and with a barrack-like air that seemed to us singularly in contrast
with the prompt and respectful civility with which one is received in
the ante-chamber of a private hotel. It is true that we had nothing to
do with the soldiers and lackeys who thronged the place; but if their
presence was intended to impress visitors with the importance of their
master, I think a more private entrance would have been most likely to
produce that effect; for I confess, that it appeared to me has a mark of
poverty, that troops being necessary to the state and security of the
monarch, he was obliged to keep them in the vestibule by which his
guests entered. But this is royal state. Formerly, the executioner was
present; and in the semi-barbarous courts of the East, such is the fact
even now. The soldiers were a party of the Hundred Swiss; men chosen for
their great stature, and remarkable for the perfection of their musket.
Two of them were posted as sentinels at the foot of the great staircase
by which we ascended, and we passed several more on the landings.

We were soon in the Salle des Gardes, or the room which the _gardes du
corps_ on service occupied. Two of these _quasi_ soldiers were also
acting as sentinels here, while others lounged about the room. Their
apartment communicated with the Salle de Diane, the hall or gallery
prepared for the entertainment. I had no other means but the eye of
judging of the dimensions of this room; but its length considerably
exceeds a hundred feet, and its breadth is probably forty, or more. It
is of the proper height, and the ceiling is painted in imitation of
those of the celebrated Farnese Palace at Rome.

We found this noble room divided, by a low railing, into three
compartments. The centre, an area of some thirty feet by forty,
contained the table, and was otherwise prepared for the reception of the
court. On one side of it were raised benches for the ladies, who were
all