Charenton Temple Benches
A - Door at the end of the bottom.
B - Door at the middle
C - Door at the end of the top.
D - Passages
E - Benches of the lowest rank at right and left all equal where women were seated randomly.
F - Four other benches of the lowest rank at right and left of similar eminence as the ones in E, but armoried [decorated with their coat-of-arms] and a little wider where Ladies Tarente, Rohan, La Force, Schomberg, Duras and other ladies were seated randomly, as many as the benches would hold.
G - Parquet (Wooden floor) around which are MM. de Ruvigny (deputy general of Churches), the ministers and elders, and in the middle of the Parquet are two benches for those who marry and the children who are being baptized, the first of equal length (or height) with the other benches at the base of the pulpit of the minister.
All these benches are about a half higher than the others that are further away from the pulpit and are enclosed at the rear by small railings of six inches high built into the carpentry, which seems practical to enable one to see and hear the minister.
Those to the left side of the parquet, H, I, K, L are all higher by three or four inches, entered by the door at the bottom end. These 4 benches are armoried where men are seated randomly.
H - Bench without registration where M. the duke de la Force is seated randomly with others.
I - Bench with inscription for foreign princes where M. the marshal de Schomberg is seated randomly with others.
K - Bench designated for the ambassadors of Great Britain.
L - Bench where the advisors to the Parlement (court) are seated with the inscription: "For messieurs the public officials."
M - Bench where all kinds of people sit randomly.
N - Another bench where all kinds of people sit randomly, at the end of which is an inscription: "For Mr. d'Hervart".
O - Another where there is an inscription: "For Messieurs the ambassadors of Holland."
P - Another bench where all kinds of people sit randomly, at the end of which there is an inscription: "For Mr. de l'Orme" (It is an ordinary bench but wider by 1/2.)
Q - A bench with two pillars, of the same form as the previous ones, with inscription: "For messieurs the ambassadors of the Swiss republic and for the agent of Geneva.
R - A bench like the others with the inscription: "For the ambassadors and envoys from Germany."
S - Behind the pulpit, to the right and left are several armoried benches for women.
Between the pillars and under the galleries around the temple there are several equal benches where all people can sit randomly, but across TT the benches are armoried and wider than the others and each can hold eight persons. There Mme the countess de Roye and several other foreign ladies sit randomly.
In the first gallery there are five benches. A passage between two goes around the temple. The first bench at the front of the gallery is a few places wider than the others. All people are seated randomly.
In the second gallery there are four benches at the front and a passage in the rear which goes around the temple where everyone is seated randomly.
The benches in the rear of the two gallery floors are wider and higher which seems practical in order to see and hear the minister.
A member of the Anglican Church, Evelyn, son-in-law of Ambassador Richard Brown, wrote of his visit on Sunday, March 6, 1644:
"I went to Charenton see the service of the Protestant Church of France. The meeting place is called a 'temple'. It is a spacious and lovely room, built of hewn stone, appropriately adorned with paintings of the Tablets of the Law; The Lord's Prayer; and the Apostle's Creed. The pulpit is at the top end. In the middle is an enclosure of seats for the elders, the upper class and foreign dignitaries. The rest of the congregation sits on benches and bleachers unlike the pews in our churches, and everything is done with much less order and decency because here you take away the seats and benches after the service. I found the harmonious singing of the psalms to be charming which everyone partook of very well. They also learned the catechism carefully."
