And this appearance of domestic felicity was augmented by the introduction of what may be called private parties, with which, at the queen’s instigation, Louis consented to vary the cold formality of the ordinary entertainments of the court.  In the autumn they followed the example of Louis xv. by exchanging for a few weeks the grandeur of Versailles for the comparative quiet of some of their smaller palaces; and, while they were at Choisy, they issued invitations once or twice a week to several of the Parisian ladies to come out and spend the day at the palace, when, as the principal officers of the household were not on duty, they themselves did the honors to their guests, the queen conversing with every one with her habitual graciousness, while the king also threw off his ordinary reserve, and seemed to enter into the pleasures of the day with a gayety and cordiality which surprised the party, and which, from the contrast that it presented to his manner when he was by himself, was very generally attributed to the influence of the queen’s example.

And these quiet festivities were so much to his taste that afterward, when the court moved to Fontainebleau, and when they settled at Versailles for the winter, he cheerfully agreed to a proposal of Marie Antoinette to have a weekly supper party; adopting also another suggestion of hers which was indispensable to render such reunions agreeable, or even, it may be said, practicable.  At her request he abolished the ridiculous rule which, under the last two kings, had forbidden gentlemen to be admitted to sit at table with any princess of the royal family.  But natural as the idea seemed, it was not carried out without opposition on the part of Madame Adelaide and her sisters, who remonstrated against it as an infraction of all the old observances of the court, till it became a contest for superiority between the queen and themselves.  Marie Antoinette took counsel with Mercy, and, by his advice, pointed out to her husband that to abandon the plan after it had been announced, in submission to an opposition which the princesses had no right to make, would be to humiliate her in the eyes of the whole court.  Louis had not yet shaken off all fear of his aunts; but they were luckily absent, so he yielded to the influence which was nearest.  The suppers took place.  He and the queen themselves made out the lists of the guests to be invited, the men being named by him, and the ladies being selected by the queen.  They were a great success; and, as the history of the affair became known, the court and the Parisians generally rejoiced in the queen’s triumph, and were grateful to her for this as for every other innovation which had a tendency to break down the haughty barrier which, during the last two reigns, had been established between the sovereign and his subjects.  Nor were these pleasant informal parties the only instances in which, great inroads were made on the old etiquette.  The Comte de Mirabeau,