opening of States General of lySp i 3 



on the right, seats for the princes ; at the foot of the throne, on 

 the left, there was an arm-chair for the guard of the seals ; at the 

 right, a chair for the grand chamberlain. At the foot of the 

 platform, there had been placed seats for the secretaries of state, 

 and in front of them a large table covered with violet velvet; at 

 the right and at the left of that table were seats covered with 

 violet velvet, decorated with fleur de lis of gold ; those at the 

 right were for the fifteen counsellors and the twenty maitres de 

 requetes, invited to the session; those at the left, for the gover- 

 nors and lieutenant-generals of the provinces. Running length- 

 wise of the hall, at the right, were the seats for the deputies of 

 the clergy, at the left, those for the nobility, and at the back, 

 facing the throne, those for the commons. The floor of the hall 

 was covered with the most beautiful carpets of Savonnerie. 



" By nine o'clock there were no more seats, no galleries which 

 were not occupied. One would probably not be far wrong in 

 estimating that those places contained more than two thousand 

 spectators. Except the seats between the columns, reserved for 

 the foreign ministers, all the front seats had been reserved for 

 the ladies, and they contributed not a little to the pomp of the 

 spectacle by the elegance and richness of their attire."*- The 

 deputies were again in their ceremonial costumes, the nobles in 

 their garments faced with gold cloth, with white plumes in their 

 hats; the clergy in full regalia; the deputies of the third estate 

 again noticeable by their black garments in the midst of this 

 brilliant company.*^ Necker is said to have been the only one in 

 the assembly not in ceremonial dress.** 



As certain distinguished persons arrived, they were met with 

 signs of approval or of disapproval, according to the position 

 they held in the estimation of the people. The Due d'Orleans, the 



^2 Grimm, I, 125-126; Biauzat, II, 29; Mercure de France, III, 16 mat, 

 Journal politique de Bruxelles, 133. The Mercure de France contains a 

 description of the hall that is plainly dependent on Grimm's account. The 

 description, for the most part, follows exactly the one given by Grimm, a 

 few omissions having been made in such a way as to indicate that Grimm 

 is the original source. 



*3 Grimm, I, 127; Rabaut, Precis, 72. 



44 Grimm, I, 127. 



215 



