If one threatened
another by clapping his hand to the hilt of his sword, he was to be
assomme according to the ordinance; which may either mean knocked down, or
soundly mauled--or the two together. If two men came to blows, they were
both assomme. A still more serious breach of politeness, however, was the
importunity of petitioners.
When the king hunted he was accompanied by a hundred pages, two hundred
esquires, and often four or five hundred gentlemen; sometimes by the queen
and princesses, with their hundreds of ladies and maids of honor, mounted
on palfreys saddled with black velvet.
St. Cloud
By Augustus J. C. Hare
[Footnote: From "Days Near Paris."]
Very near the station is the Chateau de St. Cloud, set on fire by the
bombs of Mont-Valerien, in the night of October 13, 1870, and now the most
melancholy of ruins. Sufficient, however, remains to indicate the noble
character of a building partly due to Jules Hardouin and Mansart. The
chateau is more reddened than blackened by the fire, and the beautiful
reliefs of its gables, its statues, and the wrought-iron grilles of its
balconies are still perfect.
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