etera, which her majesty would want that day. Great
wrappers of green taffeta were thrown over these things, and footmen
carried them to the queen's dressing-room. Sometimes the queen took her
breakfast in bed, and sometimes in her bath. Her linen dress was
trimmed with the richest lace; her dressing-gown was of white taffeta;
and the slippers in which she stepped to the bath were of white dimity,
trimmed with lace.

Two women were kept for the sole business of attending to the bath,
which was usually rolled into the room upon castors. The bathing-gown
was of fine flannel, with collar and cuffs, and lining throughout of
fine linen. The breakfast, of coffee or chocolate, was served on a tray
which stood on the cover of the bath. Meantime one of the ladies warmed
the bed with a silver warming-pan, and the queen returned to it, sitting
up in her white taffeta dressing-gown, and reading; or if any one who
had permission to visit her at that hour wished to see her, she took up
her embroidery. This kind of visit, at a person's rising, is customary
abroad; and it had been so long so at the court of France, that certain
classes of persons were understood to have a right to visit the queen at
the hour of her levee, as it was called. These persons were the
physicians and surgeons of the court; any messengers from the king; the
queen's secretary and others; so that there were often, besides the
ladies in waiting, ten or a dozen persons visiting the queen as she sat
up in bed, at work, or taking her breakfast.

The great visiting hour, however, was noon, when the queen went into
another room to have her hair dressed. We see in prints, how the hair
was dressed at that time,--frizzed and powdered, and piled up with silk
cushions, and ribbons and flowers, till the wonder was how any head
could bear such a weight. It took a long time to dress a lady's hair in
those days. The queen sat before a most splendid toilet-table, in the
middle of the room. The ladies who had been in waiting for twenty-four
hours now went out, and gave place to others in full dress, with
rose-coloured brocade petticoats, wide hoops, and high head-dresses with
lappets, and all the finery of a court. The usher took his place before
the folding-doors; great chairs and stools were set in a circle for such
visitors as had a right to sit down in the presence of royalty. Then
entered the ladies of the palace, the governess of the royal children,
the prin