In the case of Prince Otto of Bavaria madness had broken out suddenly: in the case of Ludwig it came unnoticed and insidiously, not even the specialists being quite alive to the danger. There can be no doubt that he himself knew that he was periodically insane; but he was determined at any cost to prevent the outside world from seeing him in this condition. In February 1884 he caused a dentist to be summoned to him. The latter has written down his reminiscences from his visit. The King was exceedingly gracious. He spoke first of the suffering caused him by his teeth. Although he could not bear his servants to look at him he endured this strange dentist for hours, without a look or a word betraying the dislike he must undoubtedly have felt of his presence. When the dentist contradicted him a couple of times he took it with calmness and good-humour. He adduced new reasons for his opinions, and showed admirable self-possession. With his whole strength he fought to free himself from the fatal web which was being spun closer and closer around him. He sought to keep himself in balance by restless activity, building castles in three different localities. Many of the objects which filled his residences were constructed after his own designs, and he tested them carefully and selected the places where they were to stand. Ludwig was particularly interested in French literature, and was seized with a violent admiration for the court of Versailles. Louis XIV. became his ideal. At first he contented himself with copying his buildings. Later he endeavoured to imitate his gait, his carriage, and his daily habits. He surrounded himself with pictures of him and his court; he wore cuff-studs on which were fleurs-de-lys, and the same emblem was embroidered in gold on chairs, sofas, and cushions in his apartments. He longed to be an absolute autocrat; and the countless books and writings which he perused treating of Louis XIV. provided his distorted imagination with continual food. During the latter years of his life he was completely under the sway of megalomania, thinking that he was receiving visits from and conversing with le Roi Soleil. At times he was even under the hallucination that he was that powerful autocrat. For Marie Antoinette also he cherished a morbid admiration, losing himself in dreams about that unhappy Queen, and causing Masses to be said on the day of her and Louis XVI.'s execution. Round the table in the great dining-hall chairs were placed for the ladies and gentlemen of the French court. At times he believed that they really sat there, and conversed animatedly with them in French. Apt as he often could be in his remarks, he was heard to observe that this society was so agreeable to him because "they came when they were wanted and disappeared at the first hint."