The King attended mass and from mass he went to the Jesuits' college, where he saw the collegians play and recite a pastoral. After dinner he returned to the college of the Jesuits, where in the great hall, the tragedy of _Godefroy de Bouillon_ was represented; then in the grand alley of the park, at four o'clock, the comedy of _Clorínde_ was played before the Queen.
When Gaston d'Orléans took his young wife to Chantilly immediately after his marriage, he sent for a troupe of comedians, who went to the château with their band and with violins,--"thus," reports a contemporary, "rendering the little journey very diverting." On the occasion already mentioned, when the same Prince conducted his daughter to Tours so that he might present Louison Roger to her, he did not permit the little Princess to languish for the theatre. "Monsieur sent for the comedians," wrote Mademoiselle, "and we had the comedy nearly every day."[60] When Monsieur returned to his château in Blois his troupe followed him. When Mademoiselle returned to the Tuileries (November, 1637) she found a private theatre in every house to which she was invited.
Actors worked without respite; they had no vacations; they played in the French, in the Spanish, and in the Italian languages; and English comedy also, played by English actors, was seen in Paris. Richelieu's theatre in the Hôtel de Richelieu[61] "was provided with two audience halls,--one large, the other small. Both were luxuriously mounted. The decorations and the costumes of the actors displayed such magnificence that the audience murmured with delight."
The _Gazette de France_, which bestowed nothing but an occasional casual notice upon the royal theatre of the King's palace, dilated admiringly upon the Théâtre de Richelieu and the marvels with which the Cardinal regaled his guests. The _Gazette_ reported the occasion of the presentation of "the excellent comedy written by Sieur Baro," and the ballet which followed it.
The ballet was interlaced by a double collation. One part of the collation was composed of the rarest and most delicious of fruits; the other part was composed of confitures in little baskets, which eighteen dancing pages presented to the guests. The baskets were all trimmed with English ribands and with golden and silvern tissue. The pages presented the baskets to the lords and then the lords distributed them among the ladies.