and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
hundred horse."[21]

This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
slipped off alone to church.

Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.

The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]

Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
arm with the returned exile through Paris.

The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
whom he had liked.

For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
Parisians with the fetes he offered. Equally astonished were they
with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight an