At the supper in the open air, which terminated the day, the royal table was served by the _corps de ballet_, who, dancing and whirling bore in the different dishes. The cavaliers of the tournament, with their helmets covered with feathers of various colours, and wearing the mantles of the course, stood erect behind the guests. Two hundred masks, bearing torches of white wax illumined this admirable living picture, worthy of the great poet who inspired it. The next day was occupied in giving to the two hundred guests a lesson in natural philosophy, no longer symbolical and veiled, but clear and direct; it was perfectly comprehended and the spectators were convinced. The lesson was from Moliere, who had written his _Princesse d'Elide_[160] in the design well formed of "celebrating" and "justifying" the loves of the King and La Valliere. The _Recit de l'Aurore_ will be recalled which opens the piece. Dans l'age ou l'on est amiable, Rien n'est si beau que d'aimer. Soupirer librement pour un amant fidele, Et braver ceux qui voudraient vous blamer. It will also be recollected that the five acts which follow are only the development, full of insistence, of that invitation to the ladies of the Court not to merit the "name of cruel." After serious affairs, innocent pleasures followed, the most applauded of which was a piece of fireworks which embraced "the heavens, the earth, and the waters." [Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIERE= After the painting by Noel Coypel] Every one was already thinking of departure, when on Monday, May 12th, Moliere presented the first act of _Tartuffe_. The connivance of the King appears well established. Father Rapin relates that the "sect of the _Devots_" had, since the time of Mazarin, rendered itself so insupportable by its indiscreet advice, that the King, "in order to ridicule them, had permitted Moliere to represent them on the stage." The _Devots_ had seen the blow coming, and did their best to avoid it; the annals of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_ affirm this.[161] They report that there was "strong talk" in the seance of April 17th, in the attempt to accomplish the suppression of the wicked comedy _Tartuffe_. Each member of the _Compagnie_ charged himself to speak to any friends who had credit at Court, "begging aid in preventing its representation." The effort was vain. _Tartuffe_ was acted. The spectators divined without difficulty whom Moliere had in view, and the _Devots_ heard with emotion this openly significant expression of contempt of religious forms, in less than one week after the _Princesse d'Elide_ had thrown its weight upon the side of questionable morals.