t, about a dozen princely
courts. Each prince or princess of the blood royal, like the king, has
his house fitted up, paid for, in whole or in part, out of the treasury,
its service divided into special departments, with gentlemen, pages, and
ladies in waiting, in brief, fifty, one hundred, two hundred, and even
five hundred appointments. There is a household of this kind for the
queen, one for Madame Victoire, one for Madame Elisabeth, one for
Monsieur, one for Madame, one for the Comte d'Artois, and one for the
Comtesse d'Artois. There will be one for Madame Royale, one for the
little Dauphin, one for the Duc de Normandie, all three children of the
king, one for the Duc d'Angouleme, one for the Duc de Berry, both sons
of the Comte d'Artois: children six or seven years of age receive and
make a parade of themselves. On referring to a particular date, in
1771,[2155] I find still another for the Duc d'Orleans, one for the Duc
de Bourbon, one for the Duchesse, one for the Prince de Conde, one for
the Comte de Clermont, one for the Princess dowager de Conti, one for
the Prince de Conti, one for the Comte de la Marche, one for the Duc
de Penthievre.--Each personage, besides his or her apartment under
the king's roof has his or her chateau and palace with his or her own
circle, the queen at Trianon and at Saint-Cloud, Mesdames at Bellevue,
Monsieur at the Luxembourg and at Brunoy, the Comte d'Artois at Meudon
and at Bagatelle, the Duc d'Orleans at the Palais Royal, at Monceaux, at
Rancy and at Villers-Cotterets, the Prince de Conti at the Temple and at
Ile-Adam, the Condes at the Palais-Bourbon and at Chantilly, the Duc de
Penthievre at Sceaux, Anet and Chateauvilain. I omit one-half of these
residences. At the Palais-Royal those who are presented may come to the
supper on opera days. At Chateauvilain all those who come to pay court
are invited to dinner, the nobles at the duke's table and the rest at
the table of his first gentleman. At the Temple one hundred and fifty
guests attend the Monday suppers. Forty or fifty persons, said the
Duchesse de Maine, constitute "a prince's private company."[2156] The
princes' train is so inseparable from their persons that it follows them
even into camp. "The Prince de Conde," says M. de Luynes, "sets out
for the army to-morrow with a large suite: he has two hundred and
twenty-five horses, and the Comte de la Marche one hundred. M. le duc
d'Orleans leaves on Monday; he has three hundred an