A, the door from which the knights issued, and then went along the terrace marked B, out at the door marked C, and so to the place where the new knights were initiated. D, trumpets. E, drums. F, fifes and hautboys. G, four heralds, walking two and two. H, king-at-arms of France, walking by himself. I, the Sieur de Bourgneuf, usher of the order, walking by himself. K, the Sieur du Pont, herald of the order, walking by himself. L, three officers of the order walking abreast--viz., MM. d’Achères, provost and master of the ceremonies; Bouthillier, grand treasurer; and Duret-Chevry, secretary. M, M. de Bullion, keeper of the seals of the order, walking by himself. N, the knights novices, walking two and two, each according to his rank. O, the commanders, walking also two and two, each according to his rank. P, the king, walking by himself, his train carried by M. le Marquis de Gesvres; behind his majesty walks M. le Cardinal Duc de Richelieu, by himself, an almoner carrying his train. Fig. 157. Procession of the Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost crossing the courtyard of the Palace of Fontainebleau on their way to the chapel, for the ceremony of the initiation of new knights.] [Illustration: Fig. 158.--State Gloves of embroidered silk, gold, and silver, with the Monogram of Christ, formerly belonging to Louis XIII.--From the originals in the Collection of M. Jubinal.] The Order of the Holy Ghost was the last military order that the sovereigns of France themselves conferred towards the close of the sixteenth century. Both this and the Order of St. Michael were termed orders of the king. Henry III., in 1579, created the order in honour of God, and particularly in that of the Holy Ghost, under whose inspiration he had accomplished “his best and most fortunate exploits,” to use the exact words of the statutes of the order. From the day of his ascending the throne he had always intended to found this order, which had been suggested to him in his childhood by the perusal of the statutes of the first Order of the Holy Ghost, instituted at Naples, in 1352, by one of his ancestors, Louis of Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Sicily. These statutes were carefully preserved in a precious manuscript, the miniature of which represented with marvellous art all the ceremonies of the order. The manuscript was a present from the nobility of Venice to Henry III. on his return from Poland. This prince, however, borrowed but little from these ancient statutes, which had been drawn up in view of the military services which the knights of the order, three hundred in number, might be able to render towards the Crusades in Palestine. The new order of the Holy Ghost, although a military one, was destined to gather round the king, who was its supreme head, a body of a hundred knights, selected from among the most