Show etiquette in the of louis XIV the etiquette which prevailed at vei the most minutely elaborate character and governed every movement of the king and those about him from the very moment he opened his august eyes until he closed them in sleep he was the center of the whole it was a drama daily repeated the same characters the same scenes the same details oppressive in its sameness fatiguing in its pressure I 1 havo neither the space nor the inclination to dwell on all the extraordinary ceremonial of the state dinner the twenty or thirty grandeas grandees gran dees fluttering around the kings plates and glasses the sacramental utterances of the occasion the gaudy procession of the retinue the arrival of la nef that is the center piece of plate which contained between scented cushions the kings napkins and bessai des plats the tasting of each dish by the gentlemen servants and officers of the table before the king partook of it the same custom was observed with the beverages it took four persons to serve tho king with a glass of wine and water well might frederick the great on bearing an account of all this tyranny of etiquette exclaim that if he were king of france bia first edict would be to appoint another king court in hia place all the year round |