ospels spread out on
the knees of the monarch, and took the oath. The King decorated each
with his own hand. He passed over their coats, from right to left, the
cordon bleu with the cross of gold suspended from it, placed the collar
on the mantle, gave a book of hours and a decastich to each one, who
kissed his hand, rose, and returned to his place.

By a curious coincidence, M. de Chateaubriand and M. de Villele, two
inveterate adversaries, were one in the column on the right, the other
in that on the left, and the herald-at-arms of the order called both at
once to the foot of the throne. Listen to the author of the Memoires
d'Outre--Tombe:--

"I found myself kneeling at the feet of the King at the moment that M.
de Villdle was taking the oath. I exchanged a few words of politeness
with my companion in knighthood, apropos of a plume detached from my
hat. We quitted the knees of the King, and all was finished. The King,
having had some trouble in removing his gloves to take my hands in his,
had said to me, laughing, 'A gloved cat catches no mice.' It was
thought that he had spoken to me for a long time, and the rumor spread
of my nascent favor. It is likely that Charles X., thinking that the
Archbishop had told me of his favorable sentiments, expected a word of
thanks and that he was shocked at my silence."

The ceremony of the reception of the knights once finished, the King
quitted his throne in the sanctuary, after having made the required
obeisances. The completory was next sung. Then all the members of the
order re-escorted the monarch to his apartments in the same order and
with the same ceremony that he had been escorted to the Cathedral.

After the ceremony, Charles X. held a chapter of the order, in which he
named twenty-one cordons bleus: the Dukes d'Uzes, de Chevreuse, de
Boissac, de Mortemart, de Fitz-James, de Lorges, de Polignac, de
Maille, de Castries, de Narbonne, the Marshal Count Jordan, the Marshal
Duke of Dalmatia, the Marshal Duke of Treviso, the Marquis de la Suze,
the Marquis de Bre'ze', Marquis de Pastoret, Count de La Ferronays,
Viscount d'Agoult, Marquis d'Autichamp, Ravez, Count Juste de Noailles.
By an ordinance of the same day he named to be Dukes, the Count Charles
de Damas, Count d'Escars, and the Marquis de Riviere.

The next day, May 31, the King after having heard Mass in his
apartments,--left the palace at ten o'clock with a brilliant cortege.
Preceded by the hussars of the guard,