686 Outlines of European History Life at Louis XIV's court over a century Versailles continued to be the home of the French kings and the seat of their government. This splendor and luxury helped to attract the nobility, who no longer lived on their estates in well-fortified castles, plan- ning how they might escape the royal control. They now dwelt in the effulgence of the king's countenance. They saw him to bed at night and in stately procession they greeted him in the morning. It was deemed a high honor to hand him his shirt as Fig. 237. Facade of the Palace of Versailles toward THE Gardens The reforms of Colbert he was being dressed or, at dinner, to provide him with a fresh napkin. Only by living close to the king could the courtiers hope to gain favors, pensions, and lucrative offices for them- selves and their friends, and perhaps occasionally to exercise some little influence upon the policy of the government. For they were now entirely dependent upon the good will of their monarch. The reforms which Louis XIV carried out in the earlier part of his reign were largely the work of the great financier Colbert, to whom France still looks back with gratitude. He early
