d his Bed of
Justice, the ordinary place of meeting being still encumbered with the
costly preparations which had been made for the state-reception of the
Queen. This ceremonial was essential to the legal tenure of the regency
by his mother, which required the ratification of the sovereign; and his
assent in the presence of his princes, dukes, peers, and officers of the
Crown, to her assumption of entire and complete control over his own
education, and the administration of the government during his minority,
as well as his approval of the decree delivered on the previous day by
the Parliament.[33]

Then arrived in rapid succession the Duc de Mayenne, the Connetable de
Montmorency, the cardinals, prelates, and other great dignitaries; who
were finally succeeded by the King himself, habited in a suit of violet
velvet, and surrounded and followed by a numerous retinue of princes,
dukes, nobles, and high officers of the Court. Louis himself was mounted
on a white palfrey, but all the members of his suite, whatever their
rank, were on foot. The Queen came next in her coach, attended by the
Princesses of the Blood and the other great ladies of her household; not
as she had anticipated only two days previously, blazing with jewels and
clad in royal robes, but covered with an ample mourning drapery of
black crape.

The necessary ceremonies having been observed, the King at length took
his place upon the Bed of Justice, having the Queen upon his right hand;
while below their Majesties were seated the Prince de Conti, the Comte
d'Enghien, who represented his father, M. de Soissons, the Duc de Guise,
the Duc de Montmorency, the Duc d'Epernon, the Duc de Sully, all peers
of France, and the Marechaux de Brissac,[34] de Lavardin, and de
Bois-Dauphin;[35] while the other dignitaries of the State and Church
were arranged upon either hand of the young monarch, and the body of the
hall was occupied by the members of the several Courts.

When all had taken their places, and silence was restored, the Queen,
rising from her seat, and throwing back her veil, proceeded to address
the assembly, but for a time her voice was inaudible, and choked with
sobs. At length, however, she mastered her emotion, and with a gesture
full of mournful dignity, she besought all present to continue to her
son and to herself the same loyalty and devotion which they had
exhibited towards the monarch of whom the state had been so cruelly
bereft; assuring them