Three tables were to be set in
the royal feasting-hall,--that of the King, that of the
Dauphiness, and that of the Duchess of Berry. A gallery enclosed
in glass, where there was a table of one hundred and thirty
covers, had been built as by enchantment. On leaving the feasting-
hall, one entered the covered gallery, which, by a gentle incline,
led to the Cathedral. This gallery was formed of twenty-four
arcades of fifteen feet each, and joined at right angles the porch
erected before the portal. By this arrangement the King could
proceed on a level from his apartment to the Cathedral.
In the middle of the nave was erected a magnificent jube, where
the throne of Charles X. was placed. The cornice of the Corinthian
order was supported by twenty columns. At the four corners there
were gilded angels. The summit was surmounted by a statue of
Religion and an angel bearing the royal crown. This jube,
glittering with gold, was placed about one hundred and fifty feet
from the portal. There was a passage under it to reach the choir,
and the ascent to it was by a staircase of thirty steps. As it was
open, the King upon his throne could be seen from all parts of the
basilica. At the end of the choir, to the right on entering, was
the gallery of the Dauphiness and the Duchess of Berry; to the
left, opposite, was that of the princes and princesses of the
blood; lower, toward the jube, and also on the left, that of the
ambassadors and strangers of distinction; by the side of the jube,
the gallery of the first gentlemen of the chamber of the King.
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