376-430, by the Abbe de Sade, whose prolixity has never been blamed by any reader of taste and curiosity.] From this humiliating scene, let us turn to the apparent majesty of the same Charles in the diets of the empire.

The golden bull, which fixes the Germanic constitution, is promulgated in the style of a sovereign and legislator.

A hundred princes bowed before his throne, and exalted their own dignity by the voluntary honors which they yielded to their chief or minister.

At the royal banquet, the hereditary great officers, the seven electors, who in rank and title were equal to kings, performed their solemn and domestic service of the palace.

The seals of the triple kingdom were borne in state by the archbishops of Mentz, Cologne, and Treves, the perpetual arch-chancellors of Germany, Italy, and Arles.
The great marshal, on horseback, exercised his function with a silver measure of oats, which he emptied on the ground, and immediately dismounted to regulate the order of the guests The great steward, the count palatine of the Rhine, place the dishes on the table.