Ladies were always invited in great numbers to such
parties. Sometimes they walked among the orange trees or made a tour
of the gardens in light carriages, or repaired to the stables to watch
the trainers putting the royal mounts through their paces. And always
there were games of chance, for gambling was the ruling passion of the
Court.
From the record of Dangeau we read a description of a gay tournament
that took place in the riding-school of the Great Stables of Versailles
on two successive June days:
"The King and Mme. la Dauphine (wife of the heir to the throne) dined
at an early hour, and on leaving table, the King and Monseigneur
entered a carriage. Mme. la Dauphine and many ladies followed in other
carriages. In the court of the ministers, they found all the cavaliers
of the tournament drawn up in two lines; the pages and lackeys were
there also. Monseigneur mounted a horse at the head of one company; M.
le Duc de Bourbon was at the head of the other. The King took his seat
in the place prepared for him.
"The cavaliers first rode round the courtyard of the chateau, passing
under the windows of the young Duc de Bourgogne (grandson of the King)
who was on the balcony. Then they rode out of the gate and down the
Avenue de Paris, and entered the riding-school of the Great Stables by
a gate made near the Kennels. After riding in procession before the
raised seats of the court, they took their posts, twenty cavaliers in
each corner, with their pages and grooms behind them; the drums and
trumpets at the barrier.
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