Such were Christian's public performances in Paris, but his private ones were of the same nature as in London, so far as the genius of the two countries admitted. Ladies of high rank, flattered by the homage of the monarch, while they despised the man, disputed the unenviable notoriety of his attentions; and in the court of Louis XV., which was immersed in gallantry, Christian found an example and sanction for every excess. The two kings frequently supped together _en partie carrée_, laying aside in mutual freedom and convivial mirth all stateliness and majesty. The time fixed for Christian's departure made him forget the trammels of royalty; and, in taking his leave of the French monarch, he declared Versailles and Paris, under his Majesty's auspices, the favourite abode of Apollo, Venus, and Minerva.[84] Accompanied by the Comte de Noailles and the Prince de Poix, Christian witnessed, on Dec. 6, the display of the fountains at the royal palaces of Marly, Trianon, and Versailles; and, at the latter, was magnificently entertained by Louis XV. in farewell. Before he left Paris, Christian VII. offered on his return to his states to raise a new cavalry regiment for the French service, and give the command of it to the Duc de Duras and his descendants _in perpetuum_. When Caroline Matilda heard of this, she wittily remarked that "the king was a very good Frenchman, but a very bad politician." This was communicated to Christian with many aggravating circumstances by the emissaries of the queen dowager. Another observation attributed to the queen on hearing of her husband's successes in Paris, that "if he had travelled _incog._, he would have returned to his dominions with a blank list of _bonnes fortunes_," was doubtless an invention of malice. Probably the offer of the regiment was declined; at any rate, no trace of it is to be found in the Danish archives. All the poets who sang the praises of Chrétien l'adoré--and among the panegyrics I find the following neat exception to the rule of worthlessness, written by M. de Chamfort:-- "Peuple a qui sa présence est chère, Parmi vous retenez ses pas: Une roi qu'on aime et qu'on révère A des sujets en tous climats. Il a beau parcourir la terre, Il est toujours dans ses états"--