Such were the Court regulations, and so long as Louis XIV. reigned they were, no doubt, strictly enforced; but later on, under the Régence and Louis XV., a general laxity prevailed, indicative of the coming storm. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF L. J. M. DE BOURBON, ADMIRAL OF FRANCE.] Mention is frequently found on old book-plates of various offices held under _Parlement_. In France, before the Revolution, there were twelve _Parlements_, namely, those of Paris, Toulouse, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Dijon, Rouen, Aix, Rennes, Pau, Metz, Douay, and Besançon, besides some local councils for the colonies. These _Parlements_ were simply local Courts of Justice, entitled to deal both with civil and criminal cases, and their functions in no way resembled those of the British Houses of Parliament. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF M. HURSON.] The officers connected with these Courts were very numerous, and those of the higher grades were entitled to carry certain distinctive badges with their arms, and head-dresses denoting their rank. In ex-libris printed before the Revolution it is not unusual to find the collars and insignia of the several orders of French knighthood, the principal of which were the order of Saint Denis, instituted in 1267; of Saint Michel, instituted by Louis XI. at the Château d’Amboise, August 1, 1469; of the Saint Esprit (Holy Ghost), instituted in 1578; of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel, instituted in 1607; and of Saint Louis, instituted in 1693. The chevaliers de Saint Michel wore a collar from which was pendent a medal, representing the archangel overthrowing the dragon; the collar of the Saint Esprit was formed of alternate _fleurs-de-lis_ and the letter H interlaced, from which depended either a dove or a cross, according to the rank of the bearer. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE COMTE DE MONDESIR.] The Knights of the Royal and Military order of Saint Louis carried a star with eight points, on which was the motto of the order: _Bellicae virtutis praemium_. There was also a very ancient order, that of St. Lazare de Jerusalem, which was united by Henri IV. with that of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel. Although the order of the Toison d’Or (Golden Fleece) was founded by a French prince, Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, in 1429, it passed into the hands of the House of Austria, and thence again into the possession of the kings of Spain, who became the sovereigns of the order. Owing, no doubt, to the close family relations existing between the royal houses of France and Spain, the order of the Golden Fleece was conferred upon many of the French nobles (by permission of their king), and the collar, with the well-known badge of the pendent lamb, is to be found on many French achievements. The motto of the order is _Pretium non vile laborum_.