[Illustration: Fig. 396.--"How the King-at-Arms presents the Sword to the
Duke of Bourbon."--From a Miniature in "Tournois du Roi Rene," Manuscript
of the Fifteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris).]
In their everyday intercourse with one another, kings, princes, dukes, and
duchesses called one another _monsieur_ and _madame_, adding the Christian
name or that of the estate. A superior speaking or writing to an inferior,
might prefix to his or her title of relationship _beau_ or _belle_; for
instance, _mon bel oncle, ma belle cousine_. People in a lower sphere of
life, on being introduced to one another, did not say, "Monsieur Jean, ma
belle tante"--"Mr. John, allow me to introduce you to my aunt"--but
simply, "Jean, ma tante." The head of a house had his seat under a canopy
or _dosseret_ (Fig. 396), which he only relinquished to his sovereign,
when he had the honour of entertaining him. "Such," says Alienor, in
conclusion, "are the points of etiquette which are observed in Germany, in
France, in Naples, in Italy, and in all other civilised countries and
kingdoms." We may here remark, that etiquette, after having originated in
France, spread throughout all Christian nations, and when it had become
naturalised, as it were, amongst the latter, it acquired a settled
position, which it retained more firmly than it did in France. In this
latter country, it was only from the seventeenth century, and particularly
under Louis XIV., that court etiquette really became a science, and almost
a species of religions observance, whose minutiae were attended to as much
as if they were sacramental rites, though they were not unfrequently of
the most childish character, and whose pomp and precision often caused the
most insufferable annoyance. But notwithstanding the perpetual changes of
times and customs, the French nation has always been distinguished for
nobility and dignity, tempered with good sense and elegance.
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