I omit other services in haste to reach the most
important,- that of the table; a fine house and good housekeeping
being known by the table.
There are three sections of the table service;[19] the first for
the king and his younger children; the second, called the little
ordinary, for the table of the grand-master, the grand-chamberlain and
the princes and princesses living with the king; the third, called the
great ordinary, for the grand-master's second table, that of the
butlers of the king's household, the almoners, the gentlemen in
waiting, and that of the valets-de-chambre, in all three hundred and
eighty-three officers of the table and one hundred and three waiters,
at an expense of 2,177,771 livres; besides this there are 389,173
livres appropriated to the table of Madame Elisabeth, and 1,093,547
livres for that of Mesdames, the total being 3,660,491 livres for the
table. The wine-merchant furnished wine to the amount of 300,000
francs per annum, and the purveyor game, meat and fish at a cost of
1,000,000 livres. Only to fetch water from Ville-d'Avray, and to
convey servants, waiters and provisions, required fifty horses hired
at the rate of 70,591 francs per annum.
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