316).] The arrangement beforehand of his movements was also a matter of great importance with Louis XV.

On the first day of the year he noted down in his almanac the days of departure for Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Choisy, etc.

The weightiest matters, the most serious events, never deranged this distribution of his time.
Since the death of the Marquise de Pompadour, the King had no titled mistress; he contented himself with his seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs.

It is well known that the monarch found the separation of Louis de Bourbon from the King of France the most animating feature of his royal existence.
"They would have it so; they thought it for the best," was his way of expressing himself when the measures of his ministers were unsuccessful.
The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points of his private expenses himself; he one day sold to a head clerk in the War Department a house in which one of his mistresses had lodged; the contract ran in the name of Louis de Bourbon, and the purchaser himself took in a bag the price of the house in gold to the King in his private closet.
[Until recently little was known about the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and it was believed that a great number of young women had been maintained there at enormous expense.

The investigations of M.J.A.Le Roi, given in his interesting work, "Curiosites Historiques sur Louis XIII., Louis XIV., Louis XV.," etc., Paris, Plon, 1864, have thrown fresh light upon the matter.