noon
Meantime one of the ladies warmed the bed with a silver warming-pan , and the queen returned to it , sitting up in her white taffeta dressing-gown , and reading ; or if any one who had permission to visit her at that hour wished to see her , she took up her embroidery . This kind of visit , at a person 's rising , is customary abroad ; and it had been so long so at the court of France , that certain classes of persons were understood to have a right to visit the queen at the hour of her levee , as it was called . These persons were the physicians and surgeons of the court ; any messengers from the king ; the queen 's secretary and others ; so that there were often , besides the ladies in waiting , ten or a dozen persons visiting the queen as she sat up in bed , at work , or taking her breakfast . The great visiting hour , however , was noon , when the queen went into another room to have her hair dressed . We see in prints , how the hair was dressed at that time , -- frizzed and powdered , and piled up with silk cushions , and ribbons and flowers , till the wonder was how any head could bear such a weight . It took a long time to dress a lady 's hair in those days . The queen sat before a most splendid toilet-table , in the middle of the room .