The theme of the fete had been drawn from _Roland furieux_, and had been made to accord with up-to-date episodes, by a courtier expert in this kind of work, the Duc de Saint-Aignan. During three days and three nights, a volunteer company, composed of Louis XIV., Moliere, and the greatest nobles of France, with the prettiest actresses of Paris, embellished the imaginations of Ariosto, in the presence of two queens and of an immense Court which seemed, says the _Gazette_, to have "exhausted the Indies"[158] in order to cover itself with precious stones. Halls of verdure, arches of flowers, and the vault of heaven formed the frame in which deployed the mythological processions, the games of chivalry, the ballets, the festivities for the "little army," and the first two representations of Moliere, of which one was to be the striking literary event of the century. In the evening, lamps hung upon the trees were lighted and the fete continued during the night. Gentle and tender music softened this apotheosis of love, of which the heroine--and this gave an added charm--remained hidden in the crowd; Louise de La Valliere was still neither "recognised" nor duchess. The first of the great days of the fete was open to all. The King of France and the flower of the nobility as Paladins of Charlemagne, clothed and armed "a la grecque," according to the seventeenth century ideas of local colour, took part in a tournament before a sumptuous assembly who, at the appearance of the master, uttered "cries of joy and admiration."[159] [Illustration: =THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION= From the engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677] Louis XIV. sought these exhibitions. He shone in them and attributed to them an importance which in his _Memoires_ he explains to his son. He believed them very efficacious for binding together the affections of the people, above all those of high rank, and the sovereign. The populace have always loved spectacles, and for the nobility, the more closely the King keeps it at Court, the more pains he must take to show that there is no aversion between sovereign and subject, but simply a question of reason and duty. Nothing serves better for this than carrousels and other diversions of the same nature: "This society of pleasure, which gives to the courtiers an honest familiarity with us, touches and charms them more than can be told." The partakers in the "Tournament" of 1664 had in reality been very proud of the honour done them. They appeared covered with gold, silver, and jewelry, escorted by pages and gentlemen gallantly equipped. After them, defiled allegorical chariots, personages of fable, and strange animals, Moliere as the god Pan, one of his comrades mounted upon an elephant, another upon a camel.