The Eve of the French Revolution | Page 9

power
was in the ascendant. The lasting influences were that of Maurepas, an
old man who cared for nothing but himself, whose great object in

government was to be without a rival, and whose art was made up of
tact and gayety; and that of the rival factions of Lamballe and Polignac,
guiding the queen, which were simply rapacious.
The courtiers and the numerous people who were drawn to Versailles
by business or curiosity were governed by a system of rules of gradual
growth, constituting what was known as "Étiquette." The word has
passed into common speech. In this country it is an unpopular word,
and there is an impression in many people's minds that the thing which
it represents is unnecessary. This, however, is a great delusion.
Étiquette is that code of rules, not necessarily connected with morals,
by which mutual intercourse is regulated. Every society, whether
civilized or barbarous, has such a code of its own. Without it social life
would be impossible, for no man would know what to expect of his
neighbors, nor be able promptly to interpret the words and actions of
his fellow-men. It is in obedience to an unwritten law of this kind that
an American takes off his hat when he goes into a church, and an
Asiatic, when he enters a mosque, takes off his shoes; that Englishmen
shake hands, and Africans rub noses. Where étiquette is well
understood and well adapted to the persons whom it governs, men are
at ease, for they know what they may do without offense. Where it is
too complicated it hampers them, making spontaneous action difficult,
and there is no doubt that the étiquette that governed the French court
was antiquated, unadvisable and cumbrous. Its rules had been devised
to prevent confusion and to regulate the approach of the courtiers to the
king. As all honors and emoluments came from the royal pleasure,
people were sure to crowd about the monarch, and to jostle each other
with unmannerly and dangerous haste, unless they were strictly held in
check. Every one, therefore, must have his place definitely assigned to
him. To be near the king at all times, to have the opportunity of
slipping a timely word into his ear, was an invaluable privilege. To be
employed in menial offices about his person was a mark of confidence.
Rules could not easily be revised, for each of them concerned a vested
right. Those in force in the reign of Louis XVI. had been established by
his predecessors when manners were different.
At the close of the Middle Ages privacy may be said to have been a

luxury almost unknown to any man. There was not room for it in the
largest castle. Solitude was seldom either possible or safe. People were
crowded together without means of escape from each other. The
greatest received their dependents, and often ate their meals, in their
bedrooms. A confidential interview would be held in the embrasure of
a window. Such customs disappeared but gradually from the sixteenth
century to our own. But by the latter part of the eighteenth, modern
ways and ideas were coming in. Yet the étiquette of the French court
was still old-fashioned. It infringed too much on the king's privacy; it
interfered seriously with his freedom. It exposed him too familiarly to
the eyes of a nation overprone to ridicule. A man who is to inspire awe
should not dress and undress in public. A woman who is to be regarded
with veneration should be allowed to take her bath and give birth to her
children in private.[Footnote: See the account of the birth of Marie
Antoinette's first child, when she was in danger from the mixed crowd
that filled her room, stood on chairs, etc., 19th Dec. 1778. Campan, i.
201. At her later confinements only princes of the blood, the chancellor
and the ministers, and a few other persons were admitted. Ibid., 203.]
Madame Campan, long a waiting-woman of Marie Antoinette, has left
an account of the toilet of the queen and of the little occurrences that
might interrupt it. The whole performance, she says, was a masterpiece
of étiquette; everything about it was governed by rules. The Lady of
Honor and the Lady of the Bedchamber, both if they were there
together, assisted by the First Woman and the two other women, did the
principal service; but there were distinctions among them. The Lady of
the Bedchamber put on the skirt and presented the gown. The Lady of
Honor poured out the water to wash the queen's hands and put on the
chemise. When a Princess of the Royal Family or a Princess of the
Blood was present at the toilet, the Lady of Honor gave up the latter
function to her. To a