diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-8.txt | 13127 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 255026 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 3837902 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/37409-h.htm | 13682 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 57697 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus004.png | bin | 0 -> 88175 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus021.png | bin | 0 -> 58037 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus043.png | bin | 0 -> 80189 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus047.png | bin | 0 -> 93890 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus077.png | bin | 0 -> 80607 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus089.png | bin | 0 -> 104899 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus101.png | bin | 0 -> 97359 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus161.png | bin | 0 -> 393066 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus183.png | bin | 0 -> 535372 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus189.png | bin | 0 -> 75551 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus207.png | bin | 0 -> 101835 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus211.png | bin | 0 -> 94166 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus215.png | bin | 0 -> 98474 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus219.png | bin | 0 -> 89734 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus223.png | bin | 0 -> 80804 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus227.png | bin | 0 -> 83332 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus243.png | bin | 0 -> 84166 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus251.png | bin | 0 -> 64030 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus259.png | bin | 0 -> 91762 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus271.png | bin | 0 -> 105950 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus277.png | bin | 0 -> 75103 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus303.png | bin | 0 -> 93959 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus343.png | bin | 0 -> 84393 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus393.png | bin | 0 -> 95577 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus397.png | bin | 0 -> 96181 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus401.png | bin | 0 -> 98282 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus405.png | bin | 0 -> 94526 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus409.png | bin | 0 -> 61292 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus413.png | bin | 0 -> 299204 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409-h/images/illus469.png | bin | 0 -> 244 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409.txt | 13127 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37409.zip | bin | 0 -> 254260 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
40 files changed, 39952 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37409-8.txt b/37409-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c797561 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13127 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by Arvede Barine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle + 1652-1693 + +Author: Arvede Barine + +Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37409] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _By ARVÈDE BARINE_ + + =The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle + 1627-1652= + + Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully + Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00 + + + =Louis XIV. and La Grande Mademoiselle + 1652-1693= + + Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully + Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00 + + =_G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS_= + + =_New York_= =_London_= + +[Illustration: Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie. =MADEMOISELLE DE +MONTPENSIER= She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston D'Orléans +From the painting by Pierre Bourgnignon in the Musée de Versailles. By +permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.] + + + + + Louis XIV + and + La Grande Mademoiselle + + 1652-1693 + + By + + Arvède Barine + + Author of "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle" + + _Authorised English Version_ + + G. P. Putnam's Sons + + New York and London + The Knickerbocker Press + 1905 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1905 + + BY + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the volume entitled _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_ I have +tried to present the conditions of France during the period in which the +ancient liberties of the people and the turbulent society which had +abused its privileges suffered, in the one case death, in the other +extinction. + +As is always the case, a lack of proper discipline had prepared the way +for absolute rule, and the young King who was about to assume full power +was an enigma to his subjects. The nearest relatives of Louis had always +found him impenetrable. The Grande Mademoiselle had been brought up side +by side with her cousin, but she was entirely ignorant of his real +character, knowing only that he was silent and appeared timid. In her +failure to understand the King, Mademoiselle showed herself again a true +child of her century. + +At the moment in which the Prince assumed full power, his true +disposition, thoughts, and beliefs were entirely hidden from the public, +and Saint-Simon has contributed to this ignorance by prolonging it to +posterity. Louis XIV. was over fifty when this terrible writer appeared +at Court. The _Mémoires_ of Saint-Simon present the portrait of a man +almost old; this portrait however is so powerful, so living that it +obliterates every other. The public sees only the Louis of Saint-Simon; +for it, the youthful King as he lived during the troubled and passionate +period of his career, the period that was most interesting, because most +vital, has never existed. + +The official history of the times aids in giving a false impression of +Louis XIV., figuring him in a sort of hieratic attitude between an idol +and a manikin. The portraits of Versailles again mask the Louis of the +young Court, the man for whose favour Molière and the Libertines fought +with varying chances of success. + +In the present volume I have tried to raise a corner of this mask. + +The _Mémoires_ of Louis XIV., completely edited for the first time +according to any methodical plan in 1860, have greatly aided me in this +task. They abound in confessions, sometimes aside, sometimes direct, of +the matters that occupied the thoughts of the youthful author. The +Grande Mademoiselle, capable of neither reserve nor dissimulation, has +proved the next most valuable guide in the attempt to penetrate into the +intimate life of Louis. As related by her, the perpetual difficulties +with the Prince throw a vivid light upon the kind of incompatibility of +temper which existed at the beginning of the reign between absolute +power and the survivors of the Fronde. + +How the young King succeeded in directing his generation toward new +ideas and sentiments and how the Grande Mademoiselle, too late carried +away by the torrent, became in the end a victim to its force, will be +seen in the course of the present volume, provided, that is, that I have +not overestimated my powers in touching upon a subject very obscure, +very delicate, with facts drawn from a period the most frequently +referred to and yet in some respects the least comprehended of the +entire history of France. + + A. B. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + + PAGE + +Exile--Provincial Life--Conversation at Saint-Fargeau--Sentiment +towards Nature in the Seventeenth Century--Differences +between Mademoiselle and her Father--Mademoiselle Returns +to Court 1-57 + + +CHAPTER II + +The Education of Louis XIV.--Manners--Poverty--Charity--Vincent +de Paul, a Secret Society--Marriage of Louis XIV.--His +Arrival at Power on the Death of Mazarin--He Re-educates +Himself 58-119 + + +CHAPTER III + +Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg--Her Salon--The "Anatomies" +of the Heart--Projects of Marriage, and New Exile--Louis +XIV. and the Libertines--Fragility of Fortune in Land--_Fêtes +Galantes_ 120-184 + + +CHAPTER IV + +Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love--The Corrupters of +Morals--Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence--Love +in Racine--Louis XIV. and the Nobility--The King is +Polygamous 185-236 + + +CHAPTER V + +The Grande Mademoiselle in Love--Sketch of Lauzun and their +Romance--The Court on its Travels--Death of Madame--Announcement +of the Marriage of Mademoiselle--General Consternation--Louis +XIV. Breaks the Affair 237-303 + + +CHAPTER VI + +Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?--Imprisonment of Lauzun--Splendour +and Decadence of France--_La Chambre Ardente_--Mademoiselle +Purchases Lauzun's Freedom--Their Embroilment--Death +of the Grande Mademoiselle--Death of Lauzun--Conclusion 304-377 + + +INDEX 379 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER _Frontispiece_ + She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston d'Orléans. + From the painting by Pierre Bourguignon in the + Musée de Versailles. By permission of Messrs. Hachette + & Co. + +ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLÉANS, DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER 4 + From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum. + +CARDINAL DE RETZ 24 + Showing him in his coadjuteur days. After the painting + by Deveria. + +JULIUS HARDOUIN MANSART 26 + After the painting by Vivien. + +JEAN DE LA FONTAINE 54 + From an engraving by Grevedon. + +LOUIS XIV. AS A BOY, DEDICATING HIS CROWN 62 + After the painting by Greg Huret. + + +LOUIS XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN 72 + From a chalk drawing in the British Museum Print Room. + + +FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD 130 + From the engraving by Hopwood after the painting by Petitot. + +HÉLÈNE LAMBERT, MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE 150 + After the painting by De Largillière. + +LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE 154 + From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by + Petitot. + +JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT 170 + After the painting by Champaign. + +"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." + SCENE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE PLAY, BEFORE + THE KING AT VERSAILLES 172 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre. + +"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SECOND DAY 174 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre. + +GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES 176 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664. + +THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION 178 + From the engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677. + +JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIÈRE 180 + After the painting by Noël Coypel. + +MADAME HENRIETTE D'ORLÉANS 194 + From the painting by Mignard in the National Portrait + Gallery. (Photograph by Walker, London.) + +MADAME DE MONTESPAN 200 + From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Mignard. + +LA VOISIN 206 + From a print in the Bibliothèque Nationale. + +JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI 216 + After a contemporary print by Bonnart. + +BOILEAU 220 + After the painting by H. Rigaud. + +Duc de Lauzun 244 + By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co. + +MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ 282 + From the painting by Pietro Mignard in the Uffizi Gallery, + Florence. (Photograph by Alinari.) + +VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES 330 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673. + +VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT, SHOWING ALSO HIS SEAL 332 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675. + +VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES, SHOWING THE + FOUNTAIN OF THE DRAGON 334 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676. + +DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIÈRE AND HER CHILDREN 336 + From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the + Marquise d'Oilliamson. + +LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE, IN THE GARB OF THE ORDER + OF THE CARMELITES 338 + After the painting by D. Plaats. + +MADAME DE MAINTENON 340 + After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694. + + + + +LOUIS XIV. AND LA GRANDE MADEMOISELLE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Exile--Provincial Life--Conversation at + Saint-Fargeau--Sentiment towards Nature in the Seventeenth + Century--Differences between Mademoiselle and her + Father--Mademoiselle Returns to Court. + + +The Fronde was an abortive revolution. It was condemned in advance, the +leaders having never clearly known what ends they were seeking. The +consequences of its failure proved to be of profound importance to +France. The civil disorders existing between 1648 and 1652 were the last +efforts of the French against the establishing of absolute monarchy, to +the strengthening of which the entire regency of Anne of Austria had +tended. The end of these disorders signified that the nation, wearied +and discouraged, had accepted the new régime. The result was a great +transformation, political and moral, so great that the Fronde may be +considered as clearly marking a separation between two periods of French +history--a deep abyss as it were between the times which precede and +those which follow. + +The leaders of the Fronde had been dispersed by the return of the King +to his capital on October 21, 1652. When the exiles returned, some +sooner, some later, the last after the Peace of the Pyrénées (November +7, 1659), so great a change had taken place in ideas and customs that +more than one exile felt himself in a strange land. + +It was necessary to adjust oneself to the new atmosphere. It was very +much the same situation--though the Frondeurs were under much lighter +accusations--as that experienced by the _émigrés_ returning under the +Consulate. The Princess, the events of whose heroic years have been +related, offers an excellent example of this condition. + +When the Grande Mademoiselle, who had urged on the civil war in order to +force Louis XIV. into marriage with herself, obtained at the end of five +years, permission to return to Court, she brought with her the old +undisciplined habits which were no longer in fashion, and in the end +incurred much that was disagreeable. Exile had not weakened her pride. +According to a celebrated formula, she had learned nothing, she had +forgotten nothing; she remained that person of impulse of whom Mme. de +Sévigné said, "I do not care to mix myself with her impetuosities."[1] + +Far be it from me to reproach Mademoiselle! All honour be to her who +stood firm in the age of servility which succeeded the Fronde! In other +respects exile had been most healthful for her. She had been obliged to +seek in herself resources the finding of which surprised her. +Mademoiselle naïvely admires herself in her _Mémoires_[2] for never +having experienced a single moment of ennui "in the greatest desert in +the world," and surely she deserves praise, as her first experiences at +Saint-Fargeau would have crushed most women. + +The reader will be convinced of this if he imagines himself in her +company the night of arrival in the early days of November, 1652. At the +end of _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_ we left her weeping without +shame before her entire suite. Her dream of glory had evaporated. +Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans would never be queen of France. She would +take no more cities; pass no more troops at review to the sound of +trumpet and cannon. Three weeks previous, the great Condé had treated +her as a companion in arms. She rejoiced the soldiers by her martial +carriage, and any one of them would have been not only surprised but +very indignant if it had been suggested that she was capable of being +almost as cowardly as her father, the "_triste_ Gaston." + +Now all that was finished, even the romantic flight. While playing +hide-and-seek with imaginary pursuers, the Grande Mademoiselle had +fallen into a state of physical and moral prostration. The heroine of +Orléans and of Porte Saint-Antoine sobbed like a little child because +she "had too much grief" and was "too afraid"[3]; the aspect of her +future home had taken away the last remnants of courage. + +The Château of Saint-Fargeau, begun under Hugh Capet and often repaired, +particularly during the fifteenth century, seemed more like a fortress +than a peaceful dwelling. Its heavy mass dominated the valley of the +Loing, a region of great and dense forests, with few clearings. Itself +enveloped with brushwood and protected by deep moats, the château +harmonised well with the surroundings. Its windows opened at a great +height above the ground, and its towers were strong. The body of the +building was massive and bare, united by strong ramparts forming an +_enceinte_ irregular with severe appearance. + +The _ensemble_ was imposing, never smiling. Saint-Fargeau, long +uninhabited, was almost a ruin filled with rats at the time when +Mademoiselle presented herself as a fugitive. She was shown into a room +with a prop in the centre. Coming from the palace of the Tuileries, this +sight overwhelmed her, and made her realise the depth of her fall. She +had an access of despair: "I am most unfortunate to be absent from +Court, to have only a dwelling as ugly as this, and to realise that this +is the best of my châteaux." Her fear became terror when she discovered +that doors and windows were lacking. A report came from a valet that she +was sought for imprisonment, and she was too confused to reflect that +if the King had ordered her arrest locks would have been useless. + +[Illustration: =ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLÉANS, DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER= +From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum] + +She continued her journey to reach a little château, situated two +leagues from Saint-Fargeau, which was reported safer. "Imagine," says +she, "with what pleasure I made the extra journey. I had risen two hours +before daylight; I had ridden twenty-two miles upon a horse already worn +out with previous travel. We arrived at our destination at three in the +morning; I went to bed in haste." The crisis was short. The next day it +was explained to Mademoiselle that Saint-Fargeau had two exits in case +of alarm. She returned in consequence on the fourth day, and there was +no more question of grief, nor even ill-temper; from that moment the +place was "good and strong." + +The Princess adapted herself to the glassless windows, the broken +ceilings, the absence of doors, and all the rest. The great ladies of +the seventeenth century were fortunately not too particular. +Mademoiselle encamped in a cellar while the apartment above was being +repaired, and was forced to borrow a bed. She recovered all her gaiety +before the comicality of the situation: "for the first cousin of the +King of France." "Happily for me," wrote she, "the bailiff of the +château had been recently married; therefore he possessed a new bed." +The bed of Madame the Bailiff was the great resource of the château. It +was returned as soon as the Princess received her own from Paris, but it +was again used to give a resting-place to the Christmas guests, many of +whom appeared--a fact to the credit of the French nobility--as soon as +it was known where the illustrious unfortunate was passing her period of +banishment. + +Mademoiselle did not know how to provide for these guests and the most +important were lodged with the bailiff. The Duchess of Sully and her +sister, the Marquise of Laval, came together for a prolonged sojourn and +performed the office of shuttle between the cellar in which the Grande +Mademoiselle held her court and "the new bed of the city of +Saint-Fargeau." Ladies of quality arriving at this time lodged where +they could with small regard to comfort, and this condition lasted until +the château was put in order. Every one suffered but nobody complained. +There was a certain elegance in this haughty fashion of ignoring +comfort, the importance of which in our own days seems in comparison +rather bourgeois, in the worst sense of the word. + +Gradually all was arranged. The château was restored, the apartments +enlarged.[4] The overgrowth of the approaches gave place to a terrace +from which to the surprise of all a charming view was discovered. The +Saint-Fargeau of the Capets and of the first Valois, "a place so wild," +says Mademoiselle, "that when I arrived, only herbs fit for soup were to +be found," became a beautiful residence, hospitable and animated. + +The mistress of the place loved open air and movement, as did all the +French nobility before an absolute monarchy, in the interest of order +and peace, had trained them to rest tranquilly in the salons of +Versailles. Muscular decadence commenced with the French at the epoch +when it became the fashion to pass the days in silk stockings and +practising bows, under punishment of being excluded from all society. +Violent exercises were abandoned or made more gentle.[5] Attention was +paid only to what gave majestic grace to the body in harmony with the +Versailles "Galerie of Mirrors." + +The bourgeoisie were eager to imitate the people of quality, and the +higher classes paid for their fine manners or their attempts at fine +manners with the headaches and nervous disorders of the eighteenth +century. The taste for sport has only reappeared in France during our +own times. We are now witnessing its resurrection. + +This taste, however, was still lively immediately after the Fronde, and +Mademoiselle abandoned herself to it with passion. She ordered from +England a pack of hounds and hunters. She possessed many equipages. With +a game of marl before the château, indoor games for rainy days, violins +from the Tuileries to play for dancing, it would be difficult to find a +court more brisk, more constantly in joyous movement. + +Mademoiselle, whom nothing tired, set an example, and seasoned these +"games of action" with _causeries_, some of which happily have been +preserved for us by Segrais,[6] her Secretary of the Commandments. +Thanks to him, we know, even admitting that he may have slightly +rearranged his reports, what they talked about at the court of +Saint-Fargeau, and one cannot fail to be somewhat surprised. He tells us +all sorts of things of which we never should have dreamed, things that +we have never imagined as subjects of interest in the seventeenth +century. In this age which believed itself entirely indifferent towards +nature, conversation nevertheless fell ceaselessly upon the beauties of +landscape. People paused to admire "points of view," sought them, and +endeavoured to explain why they were beautiful. The reasons given were, +that those who knew how to enjoy a large forest and "the beautiful +carpet of moss at the feet," actually preferred landscapes made more +intelligible through the intervention of man. A desert pleased them less +than an inhabited country, a wild landscape less than sunny collections +of cultivated fields and orchards symmetrically planted, recalling "the +agreeable variety of parterres made by the ingenuity of man." + +Mademoiselle praises in her _Mémoires_ the view from the end of the +terrace. She attempts to describe it and fails. Segrais also tries in +vain. It was impossible at that epoch. The vocabulary did not exist +which could furnish words to describe a landscape. The creation of our +descriptive vocabulary is one of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's[7] greatest +glories. In compensation, Segrais knew very well how to explain why the +beauty of the view, about which he had so ineffectively written, pleased +him and his companions. He said that, arranged by chance, it conformed +to the rules of classic pictures and in no way appeared the sole work of +nature. Neither the valley of the Loing nor the immense marsh which +closed this side of the château, nor the island in the midst of this +marsh, with clumps of trees, nor the church and small height which could +be perceived, seemed placed without human intervention. "And this," +writes Segrais, "is so well represented in those excellent landscapes of +the great artists, that all who look upon it believe that they have seen +the marsh, church, and little island in a thousand pictures." + +Literature, imaginative literature at least, also held a considerable +place in the conversation. Mademoiselle, who had read nothing before her +sojourn at Saint-Fargeau, was anxious to make up for lost time. "I am a +very ignorant creature," writes she, at the beginning of her exile, +"detesting reading and having seen only the gazettes. Henceforth I am +going to apply myself and see if it be possible to like a thing from +deliberate determination." + +Success surpassed her hopes; she conceived a passion for reading. In the +winter of 1652-1653, during which there were few distractions, and the +château was given over to workmen; when the bad weather and the rough +roads rendered Saint-Fargeau unapproachable, and left the castle +solitary, she read, or listened to reading while plying her needle, +without being bored. + + I laboured from morning till night at my work and descended + from my chamber only to dine or to be present at mass. The + winter weather was so bad that walking was impossible. If there + ever was a moment of fine weather I rode, or if the ground was + too frozen I walked a little to watch my workmen. While I sewed + some one read to me, and it was at this period that I began to + love reading as I have done ever since. + +At the end of some years of banishment her "erudition" struck Dr. Huet, +who met her at the baths of Forges. "She loves history passionately," +says he in his _Mémoires_, "but above all, romances, so-called. While +her women were dressing her hair, she desired me to read aloud, and no +matter what the subject, it provoked a thousand questions on her part. +In this I well recognised the acuteness of her mind." + +The fashionable romances easily pleased a Princess who had a grandeur of +soul and loved to meet it in others. They were the works of +Gomberville,[8] of La Calprenède, and of Mlle. de Scudéry, in which the +sheepfolds and dove-cotes of l'Astrée had yielded to the heroic +adventures and grand sentiments of princes warlike and proud, who, +notwithstanding their exotic names, were the same who resisted under +Richelieu, and lead the Fronde under Mazarin. The generations born in +the first third of the century were charmed with the resemblance to +their own heroes which these tales offered them. They went wild with +delight over Scythe, Oroondate, or the Grand Cyrus, as they were +fascinated with Saint-Preux and Lelia, and many readers remained +faithful till death to these writers who had so well expressed the +ideals of their youth. + +At sixty, La Rochefoucauld re-read La Calprenède. Mme. de Sévigné was a +grandmother when she found herself "glued" to _Cléopâtre_. "The beauty +of the sentiments," writes she, "and the violence of the passions, the +grandeur of the events, and the marvellous successes of the redoubtable +swords, all enchain me as if I were still a little child. The sentiments +are of a perfection which satisfy my conception of beautiful souls."[9] + +Realism and Naturalism have in the present day destroyed the capacity +for enthusiasm for heroes of romance. One's imagination can hardly be +kindled by a Coupeau or a Nana, nor even by a Madame Bovary, whatever +may be the literary value of the works in which they figure. For the +little court of Saint-Fargeau it was hardly possible to speak calmly of +the favourite heroes. One day, followed by a numerous assemblage, +Mademoiselle drove in the fresh valley of the Loing and descended from +her chariot under the tall willows which bordered the little river. It +was spring and the sun was radiant. The new grass and the growing leaves +offered a picture so "laughing" that nothing else could at first be +spoken of. While walking, the conversation finally turned upon romance, +and each fought for the favourite hero. The discussion was waxing warm +when the Princess, who had hardly spoken, intervened to moderate its +ardour. After avowing that she had read but little, she gave an eulogium +upon Roman history, or rather what it might become, better comprehended +in the hands of a learned writer, and criticised the custom of giving +French manners to Greeks, Persians, or Indians. + +Mademoiselle desired greater "historic truth" and what might be +designated as more local colour. Why not frankly take characters from +French contemporaries? "I am astonished," she said in ending, "that so +many people of intelligence who have created for us such worthy +Scythians and such generous Parthians have not taken the same pleasure +in imagining as accomplished French cavaliers or princes: whose +adventures would not have been less pleasing." After a moment's +silence, objections were advanced. The idea of writing a romance upon +the "war of Paris" seemed very daring. One young lady very naïvely urged +that the author would not know how to name his characters. "The French," +said she, "naturally love foreign names. Arabaze, Iphidamante, Crosmane, +are beautiful names; Rohan, Lorraine, Montmorency, are nothing of the +kind." + +The old Mme. de Choissy, with the authority given by her noted +intelligence, tried to prove that in an imaginative recital both time +and space must be distant. One Marquise appeared wearied of the kings +and emperors of romance, and desired heroes taken from the middle class. +Another, Mme. de Mauny, who was supposed[10] to have invented the +expression "_s'encanailler_" asserted that it was forbidden to heroes of +romance to do or say anything derogatory to pure sentiment, which was +possible to those of "high birth only." Mademoiselle maintained the +necessity of observation and truth for the tale, but she admitted that +the author of a great romance, writing as a "poet," had the right to +imagine events, instead of servilely copying them. "The tale," said she, +"relates things as they are, the romance as they should be." + +This distinction neither lacks acuteness nor a certain justice, and we +should like to know how much Segrais had contributed to it. No one +having replied to this last remark, the Princess remounted her carriage, +and gave the order to follow the pack of hounds, which had just started +a hare a few steps off. She was obeyed, in spite of the obstacles which +the country presented, and she returned to the château, very well +satisfied with her afternoon. + +At Saint-Fargeau they talked more frequently of love than of either +literature or the beauties of nature. Love is a subject of which women +never weary, and about which they always have something to say. +Mademoiselle lent herself completely to such conversation; it was she +who one day posed a question the subtlety of which the Hôtel Rambouillet +might have enjoyed. "Whose absence causes the greater anguish, a lover +who should be loved or one who should not be?" + +She consented to admit the ideas of l'Astrée upon the fatality of +passion, on the condition that the effects should be limited to +personages of romance, or in real life to those of humble birth. Segrais +makes her say without protest in a tale[11] ascribed to her "Man is not +free to love or not to love as he pleases." In the depths of her soul, +in her most intimate thoughts, Mademoiselle had never been further from +comprehending love, never had she more energetically refused for it any +beauty, any grandeur. One of her ladies, the gracious Frontenac, with +her eyes "filled with light," had made a marriage of inclination, an act +absurd, base, and shameful in the judgment of Mademoiselle, her +mistress. The marriage turned out badly. M. de Frontenac was eccentric. +His young wife at first feared, then hated him, and at Saint-Fargeau +there passed between the couple tragi-comic scenes, of which no one +could be ignorant. + +Mademoiselle had just commenced her _Mémoires_.[12] She eagerly relates +the conjugal quarrels of M. and Mme. de Frontenac with more details than +it would be suitable to repeat, and this was the opportunity for an +outburst against the folly of trying to found marriage upon the most +fickle of human feelings. She writes: + + I have always had a strong aversion for even legitimate love. + This passion appears to me unworthy of a noble soul; but I am + now confirmed in this opinion, and I comprehend well that + reason has but little to do with affairs of passion. Passion + passes quickly, is never, in fact, of long duration. One may be + unhappy for life in entering upon marriage for so transient a + feeling, but on the other hand, happy if one marries for reason + and other imaginable considerations, even if physical aversion + exists; for I believe that one often loves more with this + aversion conquered. + +The principle may be sage, but the Grande Mademoiselle is too sure of +her fact. This "even if aversion exists" is difficult to digest. The +Princess was nearing her thirtieth year, when she treated love with +contempt, and nothing had yet warned her of the imprudence of defying +nature; so she believed herself well protected. + +In the spring of 1683, the rumour had spread that she and M. le Prince +de Condé had promised to marry, in the expectation and hope of being +soon relieved of the Princess de Condé, now a hopeless invalid, and that +the imagination of Mademoiselle, for lack of heart, pressed her +"furiously" in this affair. The Parisian salons had discovered no other +explanation for the hostile attitude which she persisted in maintaining +towards the Court of France, which she had so much interest in +conciliating. It was inconceivable that without some reason of this kind +she should compromise herself as she did, for a Prince who had become an +alien and whom she might never again see. Why betray news through +letters which always fell into the hands of Mazarin? Why leave to Condé, +now a Spanish General, the companies raised under the Fronde with the +funds of Mademoiselle and bearing her name? Either she had lost her +senses or one might expect some romantic prank, which could only be +unravelled by marriage. + +"Have you told everything?" demanded Mademoiselle of the old Countess de +Fiesque, her former governess, one morning, when this last poured out +the comments of the world. "No," said the good woman. Her mistress let +her proceed, then expressed herself as indignant that she should have +been believed capable of marrying on account of a sudden passion; the +other reproaches had not touched her. + +She declared that M. le Prince had never spoken of marriage, that it +would be time to think of this if Madame la Princesse should die, when +M. le Prince should be pardoned, when he should formally demand her +hand, and the King should approve the affair. + + I believe [continued she] that I should marry him finding in + his personality only what is grand, heroic, and worthy of the + name I bear. But that I should marry like a young lady of + romance, that he should come to seek me upon a palfrey + destroying all barriers in the road; and on the other hand that + I should mount another palfrey like Mme. Oriane[13]; I assure + you this would not suit my temper, and I am very indignant + against those people who have thought it possible. + +At this point the Princess was silent. It would have been the moment to +confess the true key to her conduct; but one must avow that, in spite of +her fine words and her expressed contempt for lovers, she was after all +a true Princess of romance, led by her imagination. + +The idea of making war upon the King from the bottom of a cellar had +amused her, and still more the thinking of herself as the price of peace +between her cousin and Condé, and she had not wished to look further. + +While the tempest gathered over her head, the great preoccupation of +Mademoiselle was the installation of a theatre in her dilapidated +château, in which the country workmen had not yet succeeded in arranging +a suitable bedroom for her. She could no longer live without the comedy; +the theatre must come first. It was ready in February, 1653, and +inaugurated immediately by a wandering troop, engaged for the season. +The hall was commodious, but very cold. The court of Saint-Fargeau +descended from its garrets entirely muffled, the ladies in fur hoods. +The country people, only too delighted to be invited to shiver in such +good company, hastened from distances of ten leagues. Mademoiselle was +perfectly contented: "I listened to the play with more pleasure than +ever before." + +We no longer understand what it means to love truly the theatre. +According to the gazette of Loret, the opening piece was a pastoral, +"half gay, half moral." Mademoiselle loved this sort, slightly out of +fashion; Segrais has preserved an agreeable reminiscence of a summer's +evening passed in the forest, with the natural background of high trees, +listening to an ancient "Amaryllis" repolished and arranged for the +stage by some penny-a-liner. + +Mademoiselle loved, what is more, everything pertaining to the theatre +from tragedy to trained dogs. One reads in a little squib written by her +as a pastime,[14] and printed for the diversion of her friends, +"Comedians are essentials--at least for the French and Italians. +Jugglers, rope dancers, _buveurs d'eau_, without forgetting marionettes +and bell players, dogs trained to leap, and monkeys as examples to our +own; violins and merry-andrews and good dancers." This skit should not +be taken too seriously, but it well accords with the account left us by +an eye-witness of one of the representations at Saint-Fargeau. The piece +was called _Country Pleasures_, an operetta. The greatest applause fell +neither to the Goddess Flora, nor to the "melancholy lover," but to two +children disguised as monkeys, and executing songs with the "cadence +which belongs to those animals." + +Twice a week, the pleasures and cares of Saint-Fargeau were varied by +the arrival of messengers bringing letters and gazettes. News not to be +trusted to the post was received through guests from Paris or by special +messengers. The news consisted mainly of political events, but it fell +to the exiles to discover the springs and to draw the morals from the +facts. This talent of divining, possessed in a high degree by the +Parisians, has never passed the _banlieue_. It cannot be carried away. + +Mademoiselle herself had never attained the art. Even at the Tuileries +she used to say: "I can never guess anything." Once in her place of +refuge, she comprehended nothing of the real significance of passing +events. For those who were not Provincials there was nothing clearer +than the conduct of the Court of France, after its return to the +capital. Mademoiselle had fled from the Tuileries October 21, 1652. The +next day the young King held a _Lit de Justice_, in which the Parliament +was forbidden to occupy itself with the general affairs of the kingdom. +Banishments and pursuits immediately commenced, but the gazettes hardly +referred to them. From their pages one might have gathered that Paris +was entirely absorbed in its pleasures. + +The post of November brought to Saint-Fargeau description of the first +Court ball and some lines on a new _Lit de Justice_ (November 13th), in +which the Prince de Condé and his adherents had been declared criminals +"de lèse majesté." The December number of the _Gazette_ gave news of the +arrest of Retz, who had rallied before the end of the Fronde, and the +account of a great marriage with enumeration of gifts and names of +donors, exactly as in our modern journals. The January number was made +interesting by the accounts of the several successes of Turenne over +Condé and the Spanish troops, and by the news of the death of an ancient +aunt of Mademoiselle who had been in retreat for seven or eight years. +The necrological article took a larger space in the gazette of Loret +than that absorbed by the warlike and political news together. + +The third of the following month the revolutionary era was closed by the +triumphal return of Mazarin. Louis XIV. travelled three leagues to meet +him, + + _Encor qu'il fait un temps étrange + Temps de vent, de pluie et de fange_, + +and took him back in his own carriage to the Louvre, where a sumptuous +festival, fireworks, and homage, more or less sincere, from the crowds +of courtiers, awaited him. + +The attention of the Parisians was at once directed to a grand ballet +with mechanical devices and changes of scene, danced three times by the +King and the flower of his nobility,[15] before a public analogous to +that of the free representations of July 14th in Paris. Places were +reserved for the Court and its guests, who really made part of the +spectacle, but otherwise all entered who desired. The crowd besieged the +doors to see what will probably never again be witnessed: a monarch +sufficiently sure of his prestige to dare to pirouet, costumed as a +mythological divinity, or stagger as a thief who had drunk too much, +before the _canaille_ of his capital. + +The following day, a journalist bitterly bewails in his paper having +seen nothing at all, although he had stood in line three hours and +waited eight hours in the hall. This journalist exacted and obtained +consideration; at the second representation, the chronicler before +carelessly treated was lead in ceremony to the "reserved places." He was +not yet content, not being in front. He showed himself, however, a good +fellow and wrote an article admiring all, even a scene in which the joke +to-day seems somewhat inhuman. It was a dance of cripples, the +contortions of these miserable beings causing much laughter. + +Of the abuses which gave rise to the Fronde, no living soul breathed a +word. Not one of these abuses had disappeared. For the most part they +had been aggravated by the general disorder; but France resembled an +invalid who had so far found only charlatans for physicians; it was +weary of remedies. "The people of Paris," wrote André d'Ormesson, "were +disgusted with Princes and did not longer wish to feed upon war." + +One might say the same of the Provinces. They remained for the most part +troubled and miserable, their hate now turning against the nobility, +with whom the four years of anarchy had brought back the manners of the +feudal brigands. Deceived on all sides, betrayed by all its pretended +saviours, the country began again to put its faith in the central power. +It was only necessary that this last should regain its strength day by +day, and it was clear to the Parisians as well as to the Provinces that +the first use royalty would make of convalescence would be to cripple +the nobility so that a revival of the Fronde would be impossible. + +The period had passed in which the King could be aided by the nobles +according to their own methods not his, as at the time in which they had +fought against him, to deliver him from his first minister. Louis XIV. +wished now to be served in his own way, which was to be obeyed, and he +felt the strength to impose obedience. It required all the naïveté of +Mademoiselle to be able to imagine that she could make the King as an +old Frondeur admit the distinctions between M. le Prince whose success +one had the right to desire, and the Spanish soldiers led by this same +Prince in whom one must not be interested. She had so little realisation +of the change which had taken place in sentiments, from the date of her +exile, that she did not even attempt to conceal her grief at the news of +the victory at Arras brought back by Turenne, August 27, 1654. + +The Grande Mademoiselle believed herself in accord with her King and +country when she wrote in her _Mémoires_: "I have not desired the +Spaniards to gain advantage over the French, but I do wish that M. le +Prince might do so and I cannot persuade myself that this is against the +service of the King." It was then four months since the young monarch +had entered, whip in hand, into his Parliament and forbade it to mix +itself with his affairs; but his cousin had no more comprehended this +warning than the others which had preceded it. It had not once occurred +to her that the cadet branches of the royal family were amongst the +vanquished and that the relations of the King of France, very far from +being in a position to dictate to him, would henceforth be the most +strictly held in leash of all his subjects. Only the approach of the +great revolution gave them an opportunity to regain their importance and +we know how much Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were able to +congratulate themselves over this fact. + +Monsieur Gaston undertook to bring his daughter to a realisation of the +truth. It had been said that as long as he lived bitter experiences +would come to Mademoiselle through this dangerous Prince. + +Gaston d'Orléans had disappeared from the stage at the end of the +Fronde, like a true hero of comedy. His wife said, half weeping, half +laughing, that he seemed to her a Tewlin, a celebrated comic actor who +filled the rôle designated to-day as the "king of operetta." + +The return of the Court to Paris had been announced to the Luxembourg by +a letter from Louis XIV. This news had entirely upset Monsieur and he +blustered with so much appearance of truth that Mademoiselle had once +more been convinced. "He was so completely beside himself," relates de +Retz, "that one would judge from his manner of speaking, that he was +already on horseback, completely armed and ready to cover with blood the +plains of St. Denis and Grenelle." + +Madame was terrified; she endeavoured to pacify him, but the more she +tried the more vigorously he threatened to annihilate everything. His +martial ardour vanished when he received a decree of banishment (October +21, 1652). It was at the date the King was entering Paris, and cannon +were heard on all sides, the populace, according to the custom of the +times, firing in the air as a sign of joy. Nothing, however, could +persuade Monsieur, old Parisian as he was, that these charges did not +come from the King's guards, and that the palace was not being besieged. + +[Illustration: =CARDINAL DE RETZ= Showing him in his Coadjuteur days. +After the painting by Deveria.] + +He was overcome with terror; moved to and fro with agitation; sent +constantly to inquire what was going on, and finally hastened his +departure, which should not have taken place till the next day before +dawn. He drew a free breath only upon arriving at the valley of +Chevreuse. No one dreamed of retaining him--on the contrary, Mazarin, +who governed France from the depths of his exile, was resolved to have +no more trouble with him. "Let his Royal Highness depart with his +appanage,"[16] wrote he. His Royal Highness having arrived at the +Château of Limours, Michel Le Tellier, Secretary of State and War, +hastened to find him, and it was a repetition of the former scenes with +Richelieu. + +In his final adieus to public life, Gaston d'Orléans denounced Retz as +before he had denounced Chalais, Montmorency, Cinq-Mars, and many +others. When he had said all that he wished, thus preparing the arrest +of the Cardinal, who was to astonish Mademoiselle by arriving at +Saint-Fargeau, the King permitted him to retire to Blois.[17] Monsieur +obeyed with ill-grace; he felt that they were burying him alive. + +This was not the first time that he had dwelt at Blois in spite of +himself. The forced sojourn made at that place under Louis XIII. had not +been disagreeable, constraint aside, because he was not definitely +limited, and he succeeded, being young and gay, in living like "a little +king of Yvetot." He had rebuilt according to his own taste (1635-1638) +a portion of the château after the plans of François Mansard, "the +cleverest architect of his times,"[18] the uncle of the builder of the +Palace of Versailles. + +Chambord served him for a country-seat, near at hand, and fruitful for +the kitchen garden, with forests teeming with game for hunting-grounds, +and amiable people for subjects, who had guarded a monarchical faith and +considered themselves much honoured when the brother of the King deigned +to flatter them and their daughters. + +Saint-Fargeau was steep and gloomy; Blois, on the contrary, with its sky +full of caresses, showed itself the worthy forerunner of the Angevine +gentleness: + + Coteaux riants y sont des deux côtés, + Coteaux non pas si voisins de la nue, + Qu'en Limousin, mais coteaux enchantés, + Belles maisons, beaux parcs et bien plantés, + Prés verdoyants donc ce pays abonde, + Vignes et bois, tant de diversités + Qu'on croit d'abord être en un autre monde.[19] + +It is a tourist of the time who so speaks, La Fontaine, who visited +Blois in 1663, and described it to his wife in a letter half prose, half +verse. The city had charmed him on account of its beautiful situation +and the amiable manners of its inhabitants: "Life is very polished +here, possibly has always been so, the climate and the beauty of the +country contributing to its charm; probably the sojourn of Monsieur or +the number of pretty women has caused this politeness." + +[Illustration: =JULIUS HARDOUIN MANSART= After the painting by Vivien] + +As a man of taste, La Fontaine had admired the portion of the château of +Francis I., without regularity and order; as a good liver he had +appreciated the excellent breakfast at the inn. As a good traveller, he +had gossiped sufficiently with the people of the place to realise how +happy they were under the gentle reign of Gaston. + +The traces of the civil wars had been quickly effaced in these fertile +and populous provinces. La Fontaine gaily retook his route towards +Amboise; he saw the smile of France, and he was made to enjoy it. + +In this first time of peaceful enjoyment one of the great pleasures of +Monsieur was to pass through his domains as an idle prince; descending +here from his carriage to chase a stag, stopping there his boat to dine +upon the grass, inviting himself into any dwellings belonging to either +nobles or bourgeoisie in which he found pretty women. + +He embarked one day on one of those covered boats which the pictures of +the seventeenth century show us. They were called "galiotes," and were +used in voyaging upon rivers and canals. "Monsieur," relates an +eye-witness, "had commanded a second boat in which he put a quantity of +provisions, and the officers of his _ménage_, those of the kitchen as +well as the wardrobe; the horses were led along the bank." + +He took ten or twelve of his suite with himself, and when he reached +some beautiful and agreeable island, he disembarked and ordered dinner +and supper to be served under the shade. + +"Certainly one might say that all cares were banished from our society, +that life went on without restraint, playing, drinking, eating, sleeping +at will, that time meant nothing; at last the master, although son and +brother of great kings, had put himself in the rank of his +servants."[20] + +Thus they drifted down the stream as far as Brittany. The weather was +perfect. The châteaux of the Loire defiled before the galiote. These +people travelled as if they were poets. + +As soon, however, as Richelieu permitted, Gaston rushed to Paris and +again plunged into politics; which meant to him only cowardice and +betrayals, but which nevertheless fascinated him. This was his favourite +vice which nothing would have induced him to correct, for politics gave +him a round of new sensations. To hold the life of a friend in one's +hand, knowing in advance that he will be delivered to the executioner, +and at the same time bitterly to bewail his loss; to realise also that +the present grief will surely vanish and that one can joyously take +another life in the hand,--such events evidently make days most +interesting, when neither conscience nor heart are tender. These +excitements had filled the public career of Gaston, and when he found +himself again in his château of Blois, almost twenty years after the +radiant voyage down the Loire, for ever deprived, according to all +probabilities, of the strong emotions whose savour Le Tellier had +permitted him to taste for the last time in the interview at Limours, +existence appeared to him intolerably pale and empty. + +The good which he could do and actually was doing, did not interest him; +he bitterly regretted the evil no longer in his power. + +No one, even amongst his enemies, has ever accused him of being wicked. +Only physicians can analyse such morbid natures. Monsieur had commenced +by struggling against ennui. He had collected a fine library and had +attracted literary people to his court, in the hopes of refinding the +taste for literature which had animated his youth. He recalled his +collections of objects of art and curiosities, continued them and began +new. Nothing, however, really interested him, except a botanical garden +with which he occupied himself with pleasure. + +Everything seemed infinitely puerile to a man who had contributed so +long to the making of history; it had become impossible for him to +attach any importance to the little verses of his "beaux esprits," or to +become impassioned over impaled birds or even an antique medal. + +Weary of war, he threw himself into devotion. The gazette of Loret made +this fact part of the official news of France and kept the country +informed of his progress in the path of piety. The first sign which he +gave of his conversion was to correct himself of a fault which had +formerly brought from Richelieu useless remonstrances. This Prince with +so refined a taste, cursed and swore abominably. The habit had been +caught by those near him; we know that Mademoiselle herself used lively +words in moments of irritation. In December, 1652, oaths and blasphemies +were severely forbidden at the court of Blois, and Monsieur insisted +upon obedience. + +To-day, reports the gazette[21]: + + Aucun de ceux qui sont à lui, + Quelque malheur qui lui survienne, + N'oserait jurer la mordienne. + +One learns, afterwards, that these fine beginnings were not belied, and +that Monsieur was now "less often at home than in the church." The +Parisians and the Court of France had much difficulty in believing that +repentance should have come to a spirit so free and so skeptical. His +piety would have been entirely estimable "if his laziness had not in +some portion aided his virtue." But however this may be, the devotion of +Gaston was not the less sincere. He reformed his life, and succeeded in +finding, at the foot of the altar, not perhaps contentment, but some +patience and resignation. + +This did not come, however, for a long time; the beginning of his +definite exile was filled with miserable agitations and complaints +without dignity. Madame rejoined him with their little flock of +daughters.[22] This Princess did not add to the animation of the +château. Entirely occupied with her own health, she lived shut up, +without any other distraction than that of eating from morning till +night, "in order to cure her melancholies," relates the Grande +Mademoiselle, "but which really increases her ills." She gave no orders, +only sent for her daughters ten minutes in the morning and evening, +never spoke to them except to say "Hold yourselves erect, raise your +head"; this was her sole instruction. She never saw them again during +the day and never inquired what they were doing. + +The governess in her turn neglected her pupils, who were abandoned to +the care of inferiors. Their father found nothing to criticise in these +educational methods; Anne of Austria had not brought up her sons very +differently. Besides, Monsieur was a submissive husband. He considered +his wife's judgment good, and that she possessed much more intelligence +than was indicated by her large, frightened eyes. + +"This one," said Tallemant, "is a poor idiot, who nevertheless has +intelligence." Mme. de Motteville judged her exactly the same. Madame +was not loved because she was not amiable, but no one was astonished at +her ascendancy over her husband. + +Gaston's court, contrary to that of his daughter, was almost deserted. +Disgrace for this couple had been the signal for general abandonment. +During the first years, Gaston took the trouble to entertain his guests; +he became again, for some hours, the incomparable talker, who knew a +thousand beautiful tales and found charming methods of telling them.[23] +Chapelle and Bachaumont were received at the château on their passage to +Blois in 1656, and brought back the pleasantest remembrances of the +dinners of the Duc d'Orléans. + + La d'une obligeante manière, + D'un visage ouvert et riant, + Il nous fit bonne et grande chère, + Nous donnant a son ordinaire + Tout ce que Blois a de friand. + +"The table arrangements were the neatest possible, not even a crumb of +bread was allowed on the table. Well polished glasses of all sorts stood +upon the buffet, and ice was abundant. The hall was prepared for the +evening dance, all the beauties of the neighbouring cities invited, all +the violins from the provinces collected."[24] After a short time, +however, the effort of entertaining became a burden upon Monsieur. He +cared for nothing but repose, and he would have passed the remainder of +his days in sleeping with open eyes, if it had not been for his daughter +of Saint-Fargeau, the terrible Mademoiselle, from whom he had separated +at Paris after a painful explanation, and who had never left him in +peace since that time. + +She had commenced by coming to seek him in spite of frequent commands, +to which she paid not the least attention. The Grande Mademoiselle, +openly allied to Condé, was a compromising guest for a Prince possessed +at this epoch with the desire to retake his place near the throne. In +vain she declared that she had recalled her troops from the army of the +Prince, her father knew very well that she was mocking him, and received +her coldly on the evening of her first arrival (December, 1652). "He +came to meet me at the door of his room, and said, 'I do not dare to +come out because I have a swollen cheek.'" A moment after Monsieur heard +from afar a joyous voice; it was Mademoiselle relating the adventures +during her flight to Saint-Fargeau. Monsieur could hold out no longer. +He approached, made her recommence, and laughed with the others. The ice +was broken. The fourth day, however, he said to Préfontaine, the man of +confidence of Mademoiselle, while walking in the park of Chambord, "I +love my daughter very much, but I have many obligations, and shall be +easier if she stays here but little." + +Mademoiselle departed the next day. The following month (January, 1653), +Monsieur and Madame made a sojourn at Orléans. In spite of new orders, +Mademoiselle came to pass a day with them. "I did not wait for escort," +wrote she, "I departed suddenly from Saint-Fargeau and went to +Orléans." + +This determination to impose herself upon people whom she saw with but +little pleasure, is difficult to explain. Monsieur and Madame, who +feared her, welcomed her, and her father said in bidding her farewell, +"The affairs of your minority have never been settled. I wish to close +this business. Give orders for this to your people." + +Mademoiselle did not wait for a second request. "In consequence I wrote +to Paris, then to Blois, a host of writings which were somewhat +wearisome." Monsieur had his own projects. It was the single opportunity +to extract a little money for the daughters by his second wife. + +These young princesses had nothing to expect from their own mother, and +very little from their father, whose pensions and appointments were +destined to disappear with him. Madame was preoccupied with this +situation. + + For a long time [reports one of their intimates][25] Madame has + skilfully urged Monsieur to think of his affairs, and to put + some solid property aside for her children, telling him that he + possessed nothing in the world not reversible to the crown in + case he had no male children, and that their daughters would be + left to the mercy of the court and the ministers for their + subsistence. + +Until Gaston's disgrace, Madame had obtained nothing, and for cause. Her +husband ruined himself at play; he had been seen to lose a half-million +francs to the famous Chevalier de Gramont. He reformed only at Blois, +too late to begin to save; his debts crushed him, and his pensions were +paid most irregularly. The fortune of Mademoiselle presented itself as +the sole means of floating the House of Orléans, and the accounts of her +minority were the troubled waters in which it was proposed to fish. +Monsieur did not suspect how much the exile and the influence of +Préfontaine had changed his daughter. + +The Préfontaine type has disappeared with the ancient régime. There is +no place in our democratic society for these men at once servants and +friends; friends however who remained in the background. Persons of this +kind were frequently met with in the great families of former times, and +nothing appeared more natural than the dog-like devotion to their +masters, always exacting and often ungrateful. The Grande Mademoiselle +was not ungrateful but she was violent, and it was always upon the +patient Préfontaine that she vented her anger. He was the counsellor, +the factotum shrewd and firm, to whom all affairs came, the confidant +who knew her most secret projects of marriage without ceasing to be the +domestic of no account. + +His mistress could do nothing without him, and she does not even tell +us--she who loses herself in the smallest details when they concerned +people of quality in her suite--at what date this precious man entered +her service. She mentions him for the first time in 1651, without +saying who he is or where he comes from. From that date she never ceased +to speak of him as long as the troubled times lasted, but left him in +the shadow nevertheless in her _Mémoires_. When we have said that he was +a gentleman, that there was no reason for his devotion to Mademoiselle +but his own choice, we have told all we know about him. He had found the +affairs of his mistress in a very bad condition, and so he warned her; +Monsieur, her father, had been a negligent guardian and what is more an +untrustworthy one. At first Mademoiselle would not listen to +Préfontaine. It was at Paris in the midst of the fire of the Fronde, and +she had other things to think of. + +Préfontaine returned to the charge at Saint-Fargeau, where time +abounded, and was better received. A new sentiment had awakened in +Mademoiselle. She commenced to love money. She took interest in her +affairs, and skilfully applied herself to economising with so much +success that she would have soon risen to be a Countess Pimbesche. + +Ideas of order and economy, rarely found with princesses of this epoch, +occurred to her. "It is not sufficient," said she one day to +Préfontaine, "to have an eye upon my legal affairs and the increase of +my revenues; but it is also necessary to supervise the expenses of my +house. I am convinced that I am robbed, and to prevent this, I wish to +be accounted to as if I were a private person." + +This was not beneath a great Princess. Examination proved that she _was_ +robbed by her people. After being assured of this, she took upon herself +the duty of supervising all the accounts twice a week, "even to the +smallest." + +She knew the price of everything; "who could have predicted when I lived +at Court, that I should ever know how much bricks, lime, plaster, +carriages cost, what are the daily wages of the workmen, in fine all the +details of a building, and that every Saturday I should myself settle +the accounts: every one would have been skeptical." And still more the +people at large; it was really almost incredible. She quickly perceived +that Monsieur had not taken his duties as guardian very seriously. It +was in his belief both the right and duty of the chief of the Orléans +family to advance the general interests of the House, even at the +expense of individual members. The daughter by the first marriage was +enormously rich. What could be more just than to use her fortune for the +common good? What more natural than to throw upon her the burden of +debts contracted to add to the éclat of the family? or to give a little +of her superfluity to her young sisters in view of their establishment? + +Gaston sent to his daughter for signature an act conceived in this +spirit, and received the clearest refusal. Very respectfully but with +firmness Mademoiselle assured him that henceforth she intended to hold +to her legal rights, which guaranteed the integrity of her fortune. +Monsieur threw himself into a great rage, but knew not what more to do. +Politics gave him unexpected aid. A gentleman sent as courier by Condé +into France had just been arrested. Among other letters was found one +without address, but evidently destined for Mademoiselle and most +compromising for her. + +Mazarin charged the Archbishop of Embrun to take a copy of this to +Gaston. The dispatch in which the prelate renders account of his mission +has been preserved. Here is one of the significant passages: + + + BLOIS, March 31, 1653. + + MONSEIGNEUR: + + I arrived Sunday evening in this city where I was received most + warmly by Monsieur.... Immediately upon arrival I had a + conference of an hour with him alone in his cabinet. I pointed + out to him through the letter addressed to Mademoiselle her + relations to M. le Prince, the Spaniards, and M. de Lorraine, + which were all visibly marked in the letter. He declared + himself very ill satisfied with Mademoiselle, but that the + Queen knew that they had never been eight hours at a time + together: and that at this moment she was trying to cause + trouble in demanding account of his care of her wealth when he + was guardian, and that it was thus impossible to doubt his + anger. I told him that I had orders to beseech his Royal + Highness to make two observations upon the letter; the first: + that Mademoiselle as long as she enjoyed the free possession of + her immense wealth could assist any party she pleased, and that + the King in order to check this had resolved to place + administrators or a commission over her property to preserve it + for her own use, but without permitting its abuse. His Royal + Highness should be left the choice of these commissioners. + + The second remark was, that it was to be feared, according to + the news in the letter, that if M. le Prince advanced, + Mademoiselle would join him, and that the King in this + difficulty demanded counsel of him as the person most + interested in the conduct of Mademoiselle. Gaston replied: that + he had ordered his daughter to join him at Orléans, Tuesday of + Holy Week; and he would bring her back to Blois, and keep her + near him. + + I have also, my Lord, talked over the same subjects with Madame + as with Monsieur, knowing that she was very intelligent, and + also that Monsieur deferred much to her opinions. + +Mazarin took no action upon this communication of the Archbishop of +Embrun. + +It was sufficient to intimate to Monsieur that he was authorised not to +worry himself about a rebel, and Gaston on his side asked nothing +better. + +Sure of being for the present under Court protection, he poured forth +bitter words and threats against this disobedient and heartless +daughter, who forgot her duty. Sometimes he wrote to her that "if she +did not willingly give everything he demanded he would take possession +of all the property and only give her what he pleased." + +Sometimes he cast fire and flame between her and the public: "She does +not love her sisters; says they are beggars; that after my death she +will see them demand alms, without giving a penny. She wishes to see my +children in the poor-house," and other sentiments of the same kind, +which were repeated at Saint-Fargeau. + +Mademoiselle herself dreamed one day that Monsieur thought of enclosing +her in a convent, "that this was the intention of the King," and that +she must prepare for his coming. At the same time she was warned from +Paris that her father had promised the Court to arrest her as soon as +she arrived at Blois. Things reached such a pass that Gaston could no +longer hear the name of his daughter without flying into a passion. + +The Princess had at first showed herself fearless. Knowing that the +letter of Condé did not have any address, she denied that it was meant +for her and took a high hand with her father; "I assert that they cannot +take away my property unless I am proved either mad or criminal and I +know very well that I am neither one nor the other." + +Reflection, however, diminished her assurance. The idea of "being +arrested" terrified her, and it was this fate, in the opinion of her +ladies, which awaited her at Blois--for which reason Monsieur, having +previously forbidden her to come, now ordered her to meet him. + +She wept torrents of tears; she was ill when she was obliged to obey and +she confesses that on arriving at Blois she quite lost her head from +terror. It was the story of the hare and the frogs. The projects of +Gaston, whatever they may have been, vanished at sight of this agitated +person and he had no other thought than of calming his daughter and +avoiding scenes. + +For this he exerted all his grace, which was much, and forced +Mademoiselle, reassured and calmed, to acknowledge that her father could +be "charming." + +The days rolled by and the question of their differences was not touched +upon. "I wanted one day to speak to him about my affairs and he fled and +would pay no attention." + +Mademoiselle felt the delights of a country covered with superb châteaux +in which she was fêted, and amiable cities which fired cannon in her +honour. She made excursions during a large part of the summer (1653) and +finally separated from her father most amicably. Eight days after, the +situation however was more sombre than before her departure for Blois. +The demands of Monsieur had not diminished, his language became still +more hard and menacing. + +These differences lasted many years. Mademoiselle lets it be understood +that it was a question of considerable sums. She relates sadly the +progress of the ill-will of her father; how painful her sojourn at Blois +had been, so that she wept from morning till night; how without the +influence of Préfontaine she would have retired into a Carmelite +convent; "not to be a religieuse, God having never given me that +vocation, but to live away from the world for some years." The ennui of +the cloister life would have been compensated by the thought that it was +an economical one. "I should save much money," said she; and this +thought consoled her. Once it was believed that an amicable solution was +imminent. The father and daughter had submitted themselves to the +arbitration of the maternal grandmother of Mademoiselle, the old Mme. +de Guise, who had made them promise in writing to sign "all that she +wished without reading the stipulations." + +The only result was a more definite embroilment. Mme. de Guise[26] "was +devoted to her House,"[27] that ambitious and intriguing House of +Lorraine into which she had married, and with which she was again +connected through the second wife of Gaston, sister of the Duke +Henri.[28] When Mademoiselle, after "signing without reading," realised +the force of the "transaction" into which she had been led by her +grandmother, she declared that Mme. de Guise had despoiled her with +shocking bad faith, in order that her half-sisters, the little +Lorraines, should no longer be menaced with the "poor-house." The love +of family had extinguished with Mme. de Guise, as with Monsieur, all +considerations of justice and sense of duty towards her own +granddaughter. All this happened at Orléans in the month of May, 1655. +Mademoiselle, indignant, ran to her grandmother: + + I told her that it was evident that she loved the House of + Lorraine better than the House of Bourbon; that she was right + in seeking to give money to my sisters, that they would have + little from Madame, and this showed me, indeed, to be a lady of + great wealth, enough to provide for others, and that + the fortune of my family should be established upon what could be + seized from me; but as I was so much above them that they could + receive my benefactions, it would serve them better to depend upon + my liberality rather than to attempt to swindle me; that this would + be better before both God and man. + +This scene lasted three hours. The same day Monsieur was warned that +Mademoiselle refused to be "duped." He gave a precipitate order for +departure, and declined to receive his daughter. In the disorder that +ensued Madame almost went dinnerless and appeared much disconcerted. + +The attendants intervened to save appearances at least, and a formal +leave was taken, but this was all; the complete rupture was consummated. +Upon the return to Saint-Fargeau, Mademoiselle at once learned that +Monsieur had taken away her men of business, including the indispensable +Préfontaine, and had left her without even a secretary. This gives a +vision of the authority possessed by the chief of a family, and its +limitations, with the princely houses of this epoch. We perceive how +much better the fortune of Mademoiselle was defended against her father +than her person and her independence. Monsieur did not dare to take away +her money without a free and formal assent; he knew that if things were +not done regularly "in a hundred years the heirs of Mademoiselle could +torment the children of Monsieur." In revenge for this disability he +tyrannised over her household. And here he was in his full right. + +He could shut her up in a convent or in the Château of Amboise, as many +counselled him to do, and this again would be within his legal powers. +If he did nothing of the kind, it was only because, being nervous and +impressionable, he dreaded feminine tears. + +Mademoiselle realised that she was at his mercy; it did not occur to her +to contest the parental authority--outside of the question of money. She +wept, "suffered much," but she did not attempt to save Préfontaine. + +The years which followed were sad ones for her. Until this time she had +had but two days of grief a week, those upon which the courier arrived, +on account of the business letters which must be read and answered. She +confined herself to her study to conceal her red eyes, but her +correspondence once sent off, "I only thought," says she, "of amusing +myself." + +Conditions changed when she was forced to understand that Monsieur, that +father so contemptible, from whom she had suffered so much since her +infancy, but so amiable that she admired and loved him notwithstanding, +had no kind of affection for her. Very sensitive, in spite of her +brusqueness, Mademoiselle experienced a profound grief at this +reflection. Her temper gave way in a moment in which the young ladies of +her suite, commencing to find the exile long, and to regret Paris, were +ill-disposed to patience. There was coldness, frictions, and finally +that domestic war, the account of which fills a large space in the +_Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle. + +Petty griefs, small intrigues, and much gossip rendered insupportable to +one another persons condemned to daily intercourse. Affairs became so +strained between some of the parties that communication was impossible, +and this state of things lasted until the most discontented, Mmes. de +Fiesque and de Frontenac, had formed the determination to return to +Paris. + +These quarrels had the effect of spoiling for Mademoiselle +Saint-Fargeau, inclining her to submission to the Court; but mere +mention is sufficient, and we shall not again refer to them. + +Mademoiselle commenced to be convinced of the imprudence of being at +odds with the Court and her father at the same time. Her obstinacy in +sustaining Condé had ended by seriously vexing Mazarin. The nobility +felt this attitude and showed less fondness for the Princess. In 1655 +she approached to six leagues from Paris. She counted much upon +visitors; very few appeared. "I was responsible for so many illnesses," +says she wittily, "for all those who did not dare to confess that they +feared to embroil themselves with the Court, feigned maladies or +accidents in extraordinary numbers." + +The third day she received an order to "return." This misadventure +enlightened her; Mademoiselle admitted the necessity of making peace +with royalty. Just at this period the Prince de Condé grew less +interesting to her, as his chances of becoming a widower diminished. +Mme. la Princesse became gradually re-established in health, and each of +her steps towards recovery made Mademoiselle a little less warm for M. +le Prince. This latter perceived the change, and at once altered his +tone. "There is no rupture," says the Duc d'Aumale, "but one can +perceive the progress of the coolness and its accordance with _certain_ +news." + +A letter from Condé, received after the journey to the environs of +Paris, gave warning of the end of a friendship which on one side at +least was entirely political. + + BRUSSELS, March 6, 1655. + +... As to this change which you declare to perceive in me, you do me +much injustice and it seems to me that I have more right to reproach you +than you me. Since your long silence the tone of your letters plainly +indicates how different your present sentiments are from those of past +times. This is not true of my own; they remain always the same and if +you believe otherwise and if you lend faith to the rumours which my +enemies start, it is my misfortune, not crime; for I protest there is +nothing in them, that affairs are not in this state, and if they were I +should never listen to a proposition without full consideration for your +interests and satisfaction, also not without your consent and +participation. + +You will recognise the truth of this statement through my conduct and +not one of my actions will ever give the lie to the words which I now +give you, even if you should have forgotten all the fine sentiments you +had when you came to see our army, which I can hardly consider possible +for a generous person like you. + +I knew that you came to Lésigny and that, the Court disapproving +of this, you received orders to return, which fact gave me much +displeasure. + +Mademoiselle did not longer want a pretext for withdrawing her pin from +the game. The embroilment with her father furnished it. She immediately +prayed Condé to write to her no more. "It is necessary to hold back," +said she to herself, "and if I am able without baseness to come into +accord with the Cardinal Mazarin, I will do it in order to withdraw +myself from the persecutions of his Royal Highness." + +Some days later the Comte de Bethune transmitted to the Cardinal +overtures of peace from the Grande Mademoiselle. The Cardinal desired +pledges. She sent a recall for the companies from the Spanish army, upon +which M. le Prince without warning "held the soldiers and put the +officers in prison." + +In vain the indignation of Mademoiselle. "It is seven or eight years," +wrote Condé to one of the agents, "since I have really had the favour of +Mademoiselle; I formerly possessed her good graces, but if she now +wishes to withdraw them I must accept, without desperation."[29] Here is +a man liberated rather than grieved. + +Thus failed, one after the other, the menaces directed by the Fronde +against royalty. The project of alliance between the two cadet branches +of the House of Bourbon had been inspired in Mademoiselle by the desire +to marry. Few of the ideas of all those which menaced the throne which +had entered into the brain of the revolutionary leaders seemed so +dangerous and caused so much care to Mazarin. We must recollect that he +would have been ready, in order to appease the cadet branches, to marry +the little Louis XIV. to his great cousin. + +Reassured at length by the promises of Mademoiselle, who engaged herself +to have nothing more to do with M. le Prince, Mazarin took the trouble +to overcome his wrath and permitted her to expect the recompense for her +submission. + +In general, Mazarin had shown himself easy with the repentant Frondeurs. +The Prince de Conti had been fêted at the Louvre in 1654. It is true +that he accepted the hand of a niece of Mazarin in marriage, Anne Marie +Martinozzi, on conditions which put him in bad odour with the public. +"This marriage," wrote d'Ormesson,[30] "is one of the most signal marks +of the inconsistency of human affairs and the fickleness of the French +character to be seen in our times." + +After Conti, another Prince, Monsieur, in person, entirely submerged as +he was in laziness and devotions, exerted himself sufficiently to come +to Court. The welcome involved conditions which contained nothing hard +nor unusual for Gaston d'Orléans; it cost him nothing but the +abandonment of some last friends. In truth, he received but little in +exchange. When he came to salute the King everyone made him feel that he +was already "in the ranks of the dead," according to the expression of +Mme. de Motteville. The ill-humour caused by this impression quickly +sent him back to Blois, which was precisely what was wished. + +It was the men of business who profited above all by this +reconciliation. They had greater freedom to harass Mademoiselle, and +left her neither time nor repose. Their end was to make her execute the +transaction signed at Orléans, but she held her own, without counsel or +secretary. She only suffered from an enormous labour, of which her +minority accounts were only a chapter, and not the most considerable. +The administration of the immense domains had fallen entirely upon +herself. It was now Mademoiselle who opened the mass of letters arriving +from her registers, foresters, controllers, lawyers, farmers, and single +subjects--in short, from all who in the principalities of Dombes or of +Roche-sur-Yonne, in the duchies of Montpensier or of Catellerault, had +an account to settle with her, an order to demand of her, or a claim to +submit. + +It was Mademoiselle herself who replied; she who followed the numerous +lawsuits necessitated by the paternal management; she who terminated the +great affair of Champigny, of which the echo was wide-spread on account +of the rank of the parties and of the remembrances awakened by the +pleaders. + +Champigny was a productive territory situated in Touraine, and an +inheritance of Mademoiselle. Richelieu had despoiled her of it when she +was only a child, through a forced exchange for the Château of +Bois-le-Vicomte, in the environs of Meaux. + +Become mistress of her own fortune, Mademoiselle summoned the heirs of +the Cardinal to give restitution, and had just gained her suit when +Monsieur took away Préfontaine. The decree returning Champigny to her +allowed her also damages, the amount to be decided by experts, for +buildings destroyed and woods spoiled. Mademoiselle estimated that these +damages might reach a large sum; she knew that with her father at Blois +the rumour ran that she had been placed in cruel embarrassments and that +it would be repeated to all comers that she had obtained almost nothing +from this source. This report excited her to action. The moment arrived; +Mademoiselle went to Champigny, and remained there during several weeks, +spending entire days upon the heels of eighteen experts, procurers, +lawyers, gentlemen, masons, carpenters, wood merchants, collected +together to value the damages. She had long explanations with that "good +soul Madelaine," counsellor of the Parliament, and charged with +directing the investigation, who was confounded at the knowledge of the +Princess. He said to her: "You know our business better than we +ourselves, and you talk of affairs like a lawyer." Operations finished, +Mademoiselle had the pleasure of writing to Blois that this doubtful +affair from which she was supposed to receive only "50,000 francs, +really amounted to 550,000." She came out less generously from her +litigation with her father. Mazarin rendered Mademoiselle the bad +service of having her suit introduced by the King's counsellor. A decree +confirmed the decision of Mme. de Guise, and there was nothing to do but +to obey. Mademoiselle signed, "furiously" weeping, the act which +despoiled her, and submitted with despair to the departure for Blois. + +She was going to visit her father, after having the thought flash +through her mind that he could order her assassination. It is said there +had been some question of this at Blois. "Immersed in melancholy +reveries, I dreamed that his Royal Highness was a son of the Médicis, +and I even reflected that the poison of the Médicis must have already +entered my veins and caused such thoughts." + +Her father, on the other hand, was going to overwhelm her with +tenderness after having permitted it to be said without protest that +Mademoiselle was preparing a trap, with the purpose of poisoning one of +his gentlemen. + +Considering the times and the family, this was a situation only a little +"strained"; but Mademoiselle was so little a "Médicis" that she made her +journey a prey to a poignant grief, which was plainly to be read upon +her countenance by the attendants at her arrival at Blois. + +"Upon my arrival I felt a sudden chill. I went directly to the chamber +of Monsieur; he saluted me and told me he was glad to see me. I replied +that I was delighted to have this honour. He was much embarrassed." +Neither the one nor the other knew what more to say. Mademoiselle +silently forced back her tears. Monsieur, to give himself composure, +caressed the greyhounds of his daughter, La Reine and Madame Souris. +Finally he said: "Let us go to seek Madame." + +"She received me very civilly and made many friendly remarks. As soon as +I was in my own chamber, Monsieur came to see me and talked as if +nothing disagreeable had passed between us." A single quarter of an hour +had sufficed to bring back to him his freedom of spirit, and he made an +effort to regain the affections of his daughter. + +She had never known him to continue to be severe; Monsieur counted upon +this fact. He was attentive, flattered her weaknesses great and small, +amused her with projects of marriage, and treated her greyhounds as +personages of importance; he could be seen at midnight in the lower +court in the midst of the dunghill, inquiring about Madame Souris, who +had met with an accident. He did still better; he wrote to Mazarin +asking for an accommodation with Mademoiselle. + +After the rupture with Condé, it was evident from signs not to be +mistaken that the hour was approaching in which the all-powerful +minister would pardon the heroine of Orléans and of Porte Saint-Antoine. +In the month of July, 1656, Mademoiselle went to the baths of Forges, in +Normandy. She had passed in sight of Paris; had sojourned in the suburbs +without anxiety, and her name this time had not made "every one ill." + +Visitors had flocked. Mademoiselle had entertained at dinner all the +princesses and duchesses then in Paris; and she drew the conclusion, +knowing the Court and the courtiers, that her exile was nearing an end. +"In truth," says she, "I do not feel as much joy at the thought as I +should have believed. When one reaches the end of a misery like mine, +its remembrance lasts so long and the grief forms such a barrier against +joy that it is long before the wall is sufficiently melted to permit +happiness to be again enjoyed." + +Nevertheless the news of the letter from her father to Mazarin put her +in a great agitation. The Court of France was then in the east of France +where Turenne made his annual campaign against M. le Prince and the +Spaniards. Mademoiselle resolved to approach in order to sooner receive +the response of the Cardinal. + +She quitted Blois as she had arrived there, a stranger. One single thing +could have touched her: the recall of Préfontaine and of her other +servitors struck down for having been faithful. This Monsieur had +absolutely refused; his exaggerated politeness and his grimaces of +tenderness had only the result of alienating his daughter. She felt +that he detested her and she no longer loved him. + +Upon the route to Paris she doubled the length between her +stopping-places. Impatience gained as she neared the end and the +"barrier of grief" permitted itself gradually to be penetrated by joy. + +She again saw, in passing, Étampes[31] and its ruins, which already +dated back five years and were found untouched by La Fontaine in 1663. +So long and difficult in certain regions was the uplifting of France, +after the wars of the Fronde, never taken very seriously by historians, +doubtless because too many women were concerned in them. + +"We looked with pity at the environs of Étampes," wrote La Fontaine.[32] +"Imagine rows of houses without roofs, without windows, pierced on all +sides; nothing could be more desolate and hideous." He talked of it +during an entire evening, not having the soul of a heroine of the +Fronde, but Mademoiselle had traversed with indifference these same +ruins in which the grass flourished in default of inhabitants to wear it +away. No remorse, no regret, however light, for her share in the +responsibility for the ruin of this innocent people, had touched her +mind, and yet she was considered to possess a tender heart. + +[Illustration: =JEAN DE LA FONTAINE= From an engraving by Grevedon] + +She learned at Saint-Cloud that she had been invited to rejoin the Court +at Sedan. Mademoiselle took a route through Reims. She thus traversed +Champagne, which had been a battle-field during the more than twenty +years of the wars with Spain[33]; and which appeared the picture of +desolation. The country was depopulated, numbers of villages burned, and +the cities ruined by pillage and forced contributions of war. + +More curious in regard to things which interest _la canaille_, +Mademoiselle might have heard from the mouths of the survivors that of +all the enemies who had trampled upon and oppressed this unfortunate +people, the most cruel and barbarous had been her ally, the Prince de +Condé, with whom were always found her own companies. She would not the +less have written in her _Mémoires_, entirely unconsciously, apropos of +her trouble in obtaining pardon from the Court: "I had really no +difference with the Court, and I was criminal only because I was the +daughter of his Royal Highness." + +We have hardly the right to reproach her with this monstrous phrase. To +betray one's country was a thing of too frequent occurrence to cause +much embarrassment. The only men of this epoch who reached the point of +considering the common people[34] and attaching the least importance to +their sufferings were revolutionary spirits or disciples of St. Vincent +de Paul. + +Mademoiselle had no leaning towards extremes. Neither her birth nor the +slightly superficial cast of her mind fostered free opinions. During her +journey in Champagne, she was delighted to hear again the clink of arms +and the sound of trumpets. Mazarin had sent a large escort. The +skirmishers of the enemy swept the country even to the environs of +Reims. A number of the people of the Court, seizing the occasion, joined +themselves to her, in order to profit by her gens d'armes and light +riders. + +Colbert also placed himself under her protection with chariots loaded +with money which he was taking to Sedan, and this important convoy was +surrounded by the same "military pomp, as if it had guarded the person +of the King." + +The great precautions were, perhaps, on account of the chariots of +money; the honours, however, were for Mademoiselle, and they much +flattered her vanity. The commandant of the escort demanded the order +from her. When she appeared the troops gave the military salute. A +regiment which she met on her route solicited the honour of being +presented to her. She examined it closely, as a warlike Princess who +understood military affairs, and of whom the grand Condé had said one +day, apropos of a movement of troops, that "Gustavus Adolphus could not +have done better." A certain halt upon the grass in a meadow through +which flowed a stream left an indelible impression. Mademoiselle offered +dinner this day to all the escort and almost all the convoy. The sight +of the meadow crowded with uniformed men and horses recalled to her the +campaigns of her fine heroic times. "The trumpets sounded during dinner; +this gave completely the air of a true army march." She arrived at Sedan +intoxicated by the military spectacle of her route, and her entry showed +this. Considering her late exile the lack of modesty might well be +criticised. The Queen, Anne of Austria, driving for pleasure in the +environs of Sedan, saw a chariot appear with horses at full gallop +surrounded by a mass of cavalry: "I arrived in this field at full speed +with gens d'armes and light riders, their trumpets sounding in a manner +sufficiently triumphant." + +The entire Court of France recognised the Grande Mademoiselle before +actually seeing her. Exile had not changed her, and this entrance truly +indicated her weaknesses. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Letter of January 19, 1689.] + +[Footnote 2: _Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier._ Edited by +Chéruel.] + +[Footnote 3: _Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier._ Edited by +Chéruel.] + +[Footnote 4: The Château of Saint-Fargeau still exists, but the interior +has been transformed since a great fire which occurred in 1752; the +apartments of Mademoiselle no longer remain. Cf. _Les Châteaux +d'Ancy-le-Franc, de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., by the Baron Chaillou des +Barres.] + +[Footnote 5: Cf. _Les Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France_, +by J. J. Jusserand.] + +[Footnote 6: LES NOUVELLES FRANÇAISES, ou _Les divertissements de la +princesse Aurélie_, by Segrais, Paris, 2 vols., 1656-1657. The last of +the "Nouvelles françaises," _Floridon, ou l'amour imprudent_, is the +history of the intrigues in the harem which led to the death of Bajazet. +Racine had certainly read it when he wrote his tragedy.] + +[Footnote 7: See _Bernardin de Saint-Pierre_, in the Collection of +Grands écrivains. Paris, Hochette.] + +[Footnote 8: His _Polexandre_ had appeared, 1629-1637; his last romance, +_La Jeune Alcidiane_, in 1651; _Cassandre_ and _Cléopâtre_, by La +Calprenède, in 1642-1647. _Arlamène, ou le Grand Cyrus_, by Mlle. de +Scudéry, was published 1649-1653.] + +[Footnote 9: Letters of the 12th and 15th of July, 1671, to Mme. de +Grignan.] + +[Footnote 10: See _Le dictionnaire des Précieuses_, by Somaize.] + +[Footnote 11: _Eugénie, ou la force du destin._] + +[Footnote 12: Mademoiselle commenced her _Mémoires_ shortly after her +arrival at Saint-Fargeau. She interrupted them in 1660, resumed them in +1677, and definitely abandoned them in 1688, five years before her +death.] + +[Footnote 13: Oriane was the mistress of Amadis.] + +[Footnote 14: _La relation de l'Isle imaginaire_, printed in 1659, also +_L'histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_. We shall again refer to +them.] + +[Footnote 15: These representations took place in the grand hall of the +Petit Bourbon, near the Louvre. (Cf. _L'Histoire de Paris_, by +Delaure.)] + +[Footnote 16: Letter of October 12th, to the Abbé Foucquet.] + +[Footnote 17: _Mémoires de Montglat._] + +[Footnote 18: _Mémoires du Marquis de Sourches._ Cf. _L'Histoire du +château de Blois_, by La Saussaye.] + +[Footnote 19: Letter of September 3, 1663.] + +[Footnote 20: Nicolas Goulas, _Mémoires_.] + +[Footnote 21: Gazette of August 22, 1654.] + +[Footnote 22: Four, but the last died at an early age.] + +[Footnote 23: _Mémoires de Bussy-Rabutin._] + +[Footnote 24: _Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont._] + +[Footnote 25: _Mémoires de Nicolas Goulas._] + +[Footnote 26: Saint-Simon, _Écrits inédits_.] + +[Footnote 27: Henriette-Catherine, Duchesse de Joyeuse, first married to +Henri de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, by whom she had Marie de Bourbon, +mother of Mademoiselle; married for the second time to Charles de +Lorraine, Duc de Guise, by whom she had several children.] + +[Footnote 28: Henri de Lorraine reigned from 1608 to 1624.] + +[Footnote 29: Letter of August 10, 1657, to the Comte d'Auteuil.] + +[Footnote 30: André d'Ormesson died in 1665, dean of the Council of +State. Some fragments of his memoirs have been published by Chéruel, in +the course of the Journal of his son, Olivier d'Ormesson.] + +[Footnote 31: Turenne had conquered the troops of the Prince at Étampes +(May, 1652), upon the occasion of a review in honour of Mademoiselle and +of the disorder which resulted. See _The Youth of La Grande +Mademoiselle_. Some weeks later, he besieged the town.] + +[Footnote 32: Letter to his wife, August 3, 1663.] + +[Footnote 33: Richelieu had declared war with Spain March 26, 1635.] + +[Footnote 34: The phrase is by Bussy-Rabutin.] + + + + +Chapter II + + The Education of Louis XIV.--Manners--Poverty--Charity--Vincent + de Paul, a Secret Society--Marriage of Louis XIV.--His Arrival + at Power, on the Death of Mazarin--He Re-educates himself. + + +The remembrance of the Fronde was destined to remain a heavy weight +during the remainder of the reign of Louis XIV. Its shadow dominated for +more than half a century interior politics and decided the fate, good +and bad, of the great families. + +The word "Liberty" had become synonymous with "Licence, Confusion, +Disorder,"[35] and the ancient Frondeurs passed the remainder of their +lives in disgrace, or at least in disfavour. The Grande Mademoiselle was +never pardoned, although she did not wish to avow this, even to herself. +She might have realised the fact at once upon her return to Court, if +she had not decided to believe the contrary. Warnings were not wanting. +The first was her encounter with the Queen Mother in the field of Sedan. + +When Anne of Austria saw arrive to sound of trumpets, with manner at +ease and triumphant, this insolent Princess who had drawn her cannon +upon the King, hardly embracing her niece, the Queen Mother burst into +reproaches, and declared that after the battle of Saint-Antoine, "if she +had held her, she would have strangled her."[36] Mademoiselle wept; the +Court looked on. "I have forgotten everything," said the Queen at +length, and her niece was eager to believe her. The meeting with the +King was still more significant. He arrived on horseback, soaked and +muddy, from the city of Montmédy, taken that same day from the Spaniards +(August 7, 1657). + +His mother said to him, "Behold a young lady, whom I present to you and +who is very sorry to have been so naughty; she will be 'very good' in +future." The young King only laughed and replied by talking of the siege +of Montmédy. + +Mademoiselle nevertheless departed from Sedan filled with joyous +thoughts. She imagined reading in all eyes the news of marriage with the +brother of the King, the little Monsieur. He was seventeen, she thirty, +with hair already partially white. + +Some months ensued, passed in a half retreat, and the Grande +Mademoiselle remained with the Court during the years of transition in +which the personal government of Louis XIV. was maturing. A new régime +was being born and a new world with it. + +One could gradually see this new formation relegating to the shadow of +the past the old spirit of independence, and stifling the confused +aspirations of the country towards any legal liberties. Mazarin +incarnated this great political movement. On the eve of disappearance, +this unpopular minister had become all France. + +He was master; no one thought any longer of resisting him; but he was +always detested, never admired. France having at this date neither +journals nor parliamentary debates, the foreign policy of Mazarin, which +in our eyes did him so much honour, remained very little known even at +Paris. This explains why his glory has been in large part posthumous. It +has increased in measure as it has been possible to judge of his entire +policy, from documents contained in our national archives or in those of +other countries. His correspondence displays so fine a diplomatic +genius, that the historians have turned aside from the evil side of the +man, his littlenesses, in order to give full weight to his services as +minister. Precisely a contrary course had been taken in the seventeenth +century. Little besides the Cardinal's defects, open to all eyes, were +realised. Bad fortune had redoubled his rapacity. Mazarin had guarded in +his heart the experience of poverty at the time in which he was expelled +from the kingdom. He had sworn to himself that he would not again be +taken without "ammunition." He had worked industriously since his return +in putting aside millions in safe keeping. Everything aided him in +raising this kind of war treasure. He sold high functions of State, and +also those belonging to low degree, even to that of laundress to the +Queen. He shared the benefits with the corsairs to whom he gave letters +of marque. He undertook contracts for public service, pocketed the +money, left our ambassadors without salaries, our vessels and +fortifications without means of subsistence. The army was crying with +hunger and thirst as soon as he made himself its sutler and its +commissariat. He furnished bread of diminished purity and even found +means, said the courtiers, to make the soldiers, so rarely paid +themselves, pay for the water they drank. Turenne once broke up his +plate to distribute the pieces to his troops, who were perishing from +want. + +Comical scenes mingled with these tragic ones. Bussy-Rabutin, who served +in the army of Turenne, had been fortunate at play. The Cardinal had +learned of this, and ordered it to be represented to Bussy that his pay +which had been pledged in the game would be guarded by the Cardinal as +his portion of the gain. He had extended his traffic into the royal +palace. It was he who furnished furniture and utensils. He undertook to +provide the Court mourning, and costumes for the fêtes: when the King +danced a ballet, his first minister gained by the decorations and +accessories. The housekeeping accounts passed through his hands. During +the campaign of 1658, he suppressed the King's cook, in order to +appropriate to himself what the table would have cost. Louis XIV. was +forced to invite himself to dine with this one and that one. Mazarin +touched even his pocket money and the young King permitted it with a +patience which was a constant source of astonishment to the courtiers. +His mother was neither better treated nor less submissive. + +The Cardinal was as jealous of his authority as of his money. The King +had no voice in his council; when he accorded a pardon, however trivial, +his first minister revoked it, "scolding him like a schoolboy."[37] + +It was said of the Queen Mother that her influence was only worth a +hundred crowns, and she agreed. Still more, she was scolded from morning +till night. Age had rendered Mazarin insupportable. He had no delicacy +with the King, still less with the King's mother: the courtiers shrugged +their shoulders in hearing him speak to Anne of Austria "as to a +chambermaid."[38] + +The Queen was not insensible to this rudeness. She confessed to the +faithful Motteville "that the Cardinal had become so bad tempered and so +avaricious that she did not know how in the future it was going to be +possible to live with him." But it did not seem to occur to her that it +might be possible to live without the Cardinal. Can it be believed that +Anne of Austria and Mazarin were married, as La Palatine,[39] mother of +the Regent, asserted? As they gradually grew old, one is tempted to +believe it, so strongly the spectacle offered by these illustrious +persons, he so disagreeable, she so submissive, gives the impression +of two destinies "united together," according to the expression of the +Cardinal himself,[40] "by bonds which could not be broken." The question +to be solved is, could Mazarin marry? According to tradition he was not +a priest. According to the Euridite that point is open to +discussion.[41] Until this matter is fixed, the marriage of Anne of +Austria with her minister will remain among historical enigmas, for +everything said will be words in the air. + +PRIÈRE DU ROY. + + Jesus-Christ Roy du Ciel et de la Terre, ie vous adore et + reconnois pour le Roy des Roys. C'est de vostre Majesté Diuine + que ie tiens ma Couronne: mon Dieu ie vous l'offre, pour la + Gloire de la trés Saincte Trinité, et pour l'honneur de la + Reine des Agnes la Sacrée Vierge Marie que iay choisy pour ma + Protectrice, et des Estats que vous m'auez donné; Seigneur + baillez moy vostre crainte et une si grande Sagesse et + humilité, que ie puisse deuenir un homme selon vostre coeur; en + sorte que ie merite efficacement le tiltre aimable de Louis + Dieu donné le Pacifique pour maintenir vostre Peuple en Paix, + afin qu'il vous serve avec tranquilité, et l'acomplissement de + toutes les Vertus. + + +VOEU ET PRIÈRE DES PEUPLES POUR LE ROY. + + Adorable Redempteur Jesus-Christ, qui estes le distributeur des + Couronnes, receuez la pieté du Roy tres-Crestien, et exaucez + ses Prieres respectueses faites par l'entremise de vostre + Saincte Mere Vierge, que linfluence des Graces du St. Esprit + luy soit donnée, afin croissant en aage, it croisse aussi en + telle Sagesse, qu'il puisse maintenir vostre peuple in Paix, + pour mieux obseruer vos saincts commandemens. + + +(Translation of the above.) + +PRAYER OF THE KING. + + Jesus Christ, King of the Heavens and the Earth, I adore Thee + and recognize Thee for the King of Kings, the divine majesty + from whom I receive my crown, which I offer to Thee for the + Glory of the Most Holy Trinity, and for the honor of the Queen + of Angels, the blessed Virgin Mary, whom I have chosen as my + Protector, and also of the States which Thou hast given me. + Lord grant me due reverence and that I may possess so much + wisdom and humility that I may become a man after Thine own + heart, so that I may truly merit the title of the Beloved + Louis, the God-given and peaceful, and be able to maintain Thy + people in peace that they may live in tranquillity and + virtuously serve Thee. + + +VOW AND PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE. + + Adorable Redeemer Jesus Christ; who art the giver of crowns; + regard the piety of the most Christian King and listen to his + prayers for the intervention of the most blessed Mother Virgin; + and grant that the influence of the Holy Spirit may so be + poured out upon him that as he increases in years he may also + grow in wisdom; and that he may keep Thy people in peace that + they may better be able to preserve Thy commands. + +[Illustration: =LOUIS XIV. AS A BOY, DEDICATING HIS CROWN= After the +painting by Greg Huret] + +The patience of Louis XIV. can only be explained by his entire bringing +up and by the state of mind which had been its fruit. + +Louis's cradle had been surrounded by a crowd of servitors charged to +watch over his least movement. His mother adored him and, for a queen, +occupied herself much with him. Nevertheless, there could hardly a child +be found throughout the entire kingdom so badly cared for as the son of +the King. + +Louis XIV. had never forgotten this neglect and spoke of it all his life +with bitterness. + +"The King always surprises me," relates Mme. de Maintenon at Saint Cyr, +"when he speaks to me of his education. His governesses gossiped the +entire day, and left him in the hands of their maids without paying any +attention to the young Prince." The maids abandoned him to his own +devices and he was once found in the basin of the fountain in the Palais +Royal. One of his greatest pleasures was to prowl in the kitchens with +his brother, the little Monsieur. "He ate everything he could lay his +hands on without paying attention to its healthfulness. If they were +frying an omelette, he would break off a piece, which he and Monsieur +devoured in some corner."[42] One day when the two little Princes thus +put their fingers into the prepared dishes, the cooks impatiently drove +them away with blows from dishcloths. He played with any one. "His most +frequent companion," again relates Mme. de Maintenon, "was the daughter +of the Queen's own maid." When he was withdrawn from such surroundings, +to be led to his mother, or to figure in some ceremony, he appeared a +bashful boy who looked at people with embarrassment without knowing what +to say, and who cruelly suffered from this shyness. + +One day after they had given him a lesson, his timidity prevented him +from remembering the right words and he burst into tears with rage and +anger. The King of France to make a fool of himself! + +At five and a half years, they gave him a tutor and many masters,[43] +but he learned nothing. Mazarin for reasons known to himself would not +force him to work; and circumstances favoured the views of the first +minister. The Fronde came, and rendered any study impossible on account +of the complete upsetting of the daily life of the Court of France, +which was only encamped when it was not actually on the move. Louis XIV. +was fourteen at the date of the reinstallation of the Court at the +Louvre and there was no question of making him recover the lost time; he +thenceforth passed his days in hunting, in studying steps for the +ballet, and in amusing himself with the nieces of the Cardinal. The +political world believed that it divined the reason for this limited +education and severely expressed its opinion about it. "The King," wrote +the Ambassador from Venice,[44] "applies himself the entire day to +learning the ballet.... Games, dances, and comedies are the only +subjects of conversation with the King, the intention being to turn him +aside from affairs more solid and important." The Ambassador returns to +the same subject upon the occasion of an Italian opera,[45] in which the +King exhibited himself as Apollo surrounded by beautiful persons +representing the nine muses: + + Certain people blame this affair, but these do not understand the + politics of the Cardinal, who keeps the King expressly occupied + with pastimes, in order to turn his attention from solid and + important pursuits, and whilst the King is concerned in rolling + machines of wood upon the stage, the Cardinal moves and rolls at + his good pleasure, upon the theatre of France, all the machines of + state. + +Some few observers, of whom Mazarin himself was one, divined that this +youth, with his air of being absorbed in tomfooleries, secretly +reflected upon his profession of King, and upon the means of rendering +himself capable of sustaining it. Nature had endowed him with the +instinct of command, joined to a very lively sentiment of the duties of +his rank. Louis says in his _Mémoires_, "even from infancy the names +alone of the kings _fainéants_ and mayors of the palace gave me pain if +pronounced in my presence."[46] + +His preceptor, the Abbé of Péréfixe, had encouraged this sentiment, at +the same time, however, permitting his pupil, by a contradiction for +which perhaps he was not responsible, to take the road which leads in +the direction of idleness, and thus making it possible for Louis to +become a true King _fainéant_ himself. + +Péréfixe had written for the young King a history of King Henry the +Great in which one reads + + that royalty is not the trade of a do-nothing, that it consists + almost entirely of action, that a King should make a pleasure + of his duty, that his enjoyment should be in reigning and he + only should know how to reign, that is, he should himself hold + the helm of the state. His glory is interested in this. + In truth, who does not know that there can be no honour in bearing + a title whose functions one does not fulfil-- + +a doctrine which would suppress the first ministers and by which Louis +XIV. profited later. + +Chance came to the aid of the preceptor. On June 19, 1651, the ancient +governess of the King, Mme. de Lansac, disturbed him in the midst of a +lesson, in order to make a gift of "three letters written by Catherine +de Médicis to Henry III.,[47] her son, for his edification." Péréfixe +took the letters and read them aloud, the King listening "with much +attention." One of them was almost a memorial.[48] In it, Catherine gave +to her son the same precept as Péréfixe to his pupil: "a king must +reign," that is to say, carry out the functions belonging to his title. +In order to "reign," one must begin to work at once upon awakening, read +all the dispatches and afterwards the replies, speak personally to the +agents, receive every morning accounts of receipts and expenditures; +pursue this course from morning till night, and every day of one's life. +It was the programme for a slave to power. Louis XIV. made it his own, +in the bottom of his soul; he was not yet thirteen. + +Such beautiful resolutions however, were destined to remain dead so long +as Mazarin lived. They could only be executed to the detriment of his +authority, and the idea of entering into a struggle with the Cardinal +was repugnant to the young King, partially on account of old affection, +partially on account of timidity and the habit of obedience. + +The mind of Louis XIV. had however been awakened and the fruits of this +awakening were later visible, but for a time he was content to find good +excuses for leaving affairs alone. He explains in his _Mémoires_ that he +was arrested by political reasons; as he had too much experience also +(however strange this word may appear when applied to a child so +foolishly brought up) not to realise the danger of a revolution in the +royal palace in the present condition of France after the devastations +of the civil wars. + +In default of the science which one draws from books, Louis XIV. had +received lessons in realities from the Fronde: The riots and barricades, +the vehement discourse of the Parliament to his mother, the humiliating +flights with the Court, the periods of poverty in which his servants had +no dinner and he himself slept with his sheets full of holes, and wore +clothes too short, the battles in which his subjects fired upon him, the +treasons of his relations and of his nobility and their shameful +bargains; nothing of all this had been lost upon the young King. + +With a surface order re-established, he perceived how troubled the +situation remained at bottom, how precarious, and he judged it prudent +to defer what he both "wished" and "feared," says very clearly his +_Mémoires_. He queries if this were an error: + + It is necessary [says he] to represent to one's self the state + of affairs: Agitations throughout the entire kingdom were at + their height; a foreign war continued in which a thousand + advantages had been lost to France owing to these domestic + troubles; a Prince of my own blood and a very great name at the + head of my enemies; many cabals in the state; the Parliaments + still in possession of usurped authority; in my own Court very + little of either fidelity or interest, and above all my + subjects, apparently the most submissive, were as great a care + and as much to be suspected as those most openly rebellious. + +Was this the moment in which to expose the country to new shocks? + +Louis XIV. had remained convinced[49] to the contrary, avowing, however, +that he had much to criticise in the fashions of Mazarin, + + a minister [pursued he] re-established in spite of so many + factions, very able, very adroit, who loved me and whom I + loved, and who had rendered me great services, but whose + thoughts and manners were naturally very different from mine, + and whom I could not always contradict nor discredit without + anew exciting, by that image, however erroneous, of disgrace, + the same tempests which had been so difficult to calm. + +The King had also to take into consideration his own extreme youth, and +his ignorance of affairs. He relates in regard to this point his ardent +desire for glory, his fear of beginning ill, "for one can never retrieve +one's self"; his attention to the course of events "in secret and +without a confidant"; his joy when he discovered that people both able +and consummate shared his fashion of thinking. + +Considering everything, had there ever been a being urged forward and +retarded so equally, in his design to take upon himself "the guidance of +the state"? + +This curious page has no other defect than that of having been dictated +by a man matured, in whose thoughts things have taken a clearness not +existing in the mind of the youth, and who believes himself to recollect +"determinations" when there existed in reality only "desires." + +Louis XIV. would be unpardonable if full credit were given to his +_Mémoires_. Why, if he saw so clearly, did he grumble at any kind of +work? When Louis was sixteen, Mazarin had arranged with him some days in +which he might be present at a council. The King was bored and retired +to talk of the next ballet and to play the guitar with his intimates. +Mazarin was obliged to scold him to force him to return and remain at +the council. + +With a capacity for trifling, he cared for nothing serious, and there +was much laziness contained in his resolution to leave all to his +minister. The Court had formed its own opinion: it considered the young +King incapable of application. It was also said that he lacked +intelligence, and in this belief there was no error. Louis himself +alluded to this and said with simplicity, "I am very stupid." + +The libertine youth who surrounded him, and whom his solemn air +restrained, did not conceal the fact that they found him a great bore, +as probably did also Madame de Maintenon a half-century later. The +Guiche and the Vardes believed him doomed to insignificance and did not +trouble themselves much about him. The city was less convinced that he +was a cipher, perhaps because otherwise it could not so easily have +taken his part. Paris was commencing to fear those princes with whom, +for one reason or another, first ministers were necessary, and the +Parisian bourgeoisie was on the watch for some proof of intelligence in +the young monarch. "It is said that the mind of the King is awakening," +wrote Guy Patin in 1654; "God be thanked!" + +This first light not having an apparent development, Paris, whilst +waiting for something better, admired the looks of the sovereign. "I +have to-day seen the King on his way to the chase," again wrote Guy +Patin four years later. "A fine Prince, strong and healthy; he is tall +and graceful; it is a pity that he does not better understand his +duties."[50] His serious air was also lauded, his dislike to debauchery +in any form, and the modesty which made him bravely reply before the +entire Court, to a question about a new play: "I never judge a subject +about which I know nothing."[51] + +This was not the response of a fool. + +In fine, as he was very cold, very capable of dissimulation, as he spoke +little, through calculation as much as through instinct, and generally +confined his conversation to trifles, this youth upon whom all France +had its eyes fixed remained an unknown quantity to his subjects. + +In September, 1657, two strangers crossing the Pont Neuf found +themselves in the midst of a pressure of people. The crowd precipitated +itself with cries of joy towards a carriage whose livery had been +recognised. + +It was the Grande Mademoiselle returning from exile, and coming to take +possession of the palace of the Luxembourg, in which her father +permitted her to lodge, feeling certain that he himself should never +return to it. The two strangers noted in their _Journal de Voyage_[52] +that the Parisians bore a "particular affection" for this Princess, +because she had behaved like a "true amazon" during the civil war. + +The Court had resigned itself to the inevitable. Mademoiselle had +remained popular in Paris, and her exploits during the Fronde and her +fine bearing at the head of her regiment were remembered with +enthusiasm. She only passed through the city at this time, having +affairs to regulate in the Provinces. Upon her definite return on +December 31st, the Court and the city crowded to see her. The Luxembourg +overflowed during several days, after which, when society had convinced +itself that Mademoiselle had no longer a face "fresh as a fully blown +rose,"[53] its curiosity was satisfied and it occupied itself with +something else. + +[Illustration: =LOUIS XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN= From a chalk drawing in the +British Museum Print Room] + +Mademoiselle herself had much to do. The idea of marrying the little +Monsieur had not left her mind since the meeting at Sedan. She was +assured that the Prince was dying of desire for her, and Mademoiselle +naïvely responded that she very well perceived this. "This does not +displease me," adds she; "a young Prince, handsome, well-made, brother +of the King, appears a good match." + +In expectation of the betrothal, she stopped her pursuits of the happy +interval at Saint-Fargeau in which she had loved intellectual pleasures, +in order to make herself the comrade of a child only absorbed in +pastimes belonging to his age, and passed the winter in dancing, in +masquerading, in rushing through the promenades and the booths of the +fair of Saint-Germain.[54] + +The public remarked that the little Monsieur appeared "not very gay" +with his tall cousin, and troubled himself but little to entertain +her,[55] and that he would have preferred other companions better suited +to his seventeen years. + +Mademoiselle did not perceive this. Philip, Duke of Anjou, had a face of +insipid beauty posed upon a little round body. He did not lack _esprit_, +had not an evil disposition, and would have made an amiable prince if +reasons of state had not tended to reduce him to the condition of a +marionette. + +His mother and Mazarin had brought him up as a girl, for fear of his +later troubling his elder brother, and this education had only too well +succeeded. By means of sending him to play with the future Abbé de +Choisy, who put on a robe and patches to receive him; by means of having +him dressed and barbered by the Queen's maids of honour and putting him +in petticoats and occupying him with dolls, he had been made an +ambiguous being, a species of defective girl having only the weaknesses +of his own sex. Monsieur had a new coat every day and it worried him to +spot it, and to be seen with his hair undressed or in profile when he +believed himself handsomer in full face. Paris possessed no greater +gossip; he babbled, he meddled, he embroiled people by repeating +everything, and this amused him. + +Mademoiselle considered it her duty to "preach" to him of "noble deeds," +but she wasted her time. He was laziness and weakness itself. The two +cousins were ill-adapted to each other in every way. + +When they entered a salon together, Monsieur short and full, attired in +the costume of a hunter, his garments sewed from head to foot with +precious stones, Mademoiselle a little masculine of figure and manner +and negligent in her dress, they were a singular couple. Those who did +not know them opened their eyes wide, and they were often seen together +in the winter at least, for the society was at this date most mixed, +even in the most élite circles. + +From Epiphany to Ash-Wednesday, the Parisians had no greater pleasure +than to promenade masked at night, and to enter without invitation into +any house where an entertainment was taking place. Louis XIV. gladly +joined in these gaieties. Upon one evening of Mardi-Gras, when he was +thus running the streets with Mademoiselle, they met Monsieur dressed as +a girl with blond hair.[56] Keepers of inns sent their guests to profit +by this chance of free entry. A young Dutchman related that he went the +same night "with those of his inn" to five great balls, the first at the +house of Mme. de Villeroy, the last with the Duchess of Valentinois, and +that he had seen at each place more than two hundred masks.[57] + +The crowd would not permit that entrance should be refused on any +pretext. + +The same Dutchman reports with a note of bitterness that on another +evening it had been impossible to penetrate into the house of the +Maréchal de l'Hôpital, because the King being there, measures had been +taken to avoid too great a crowd. Custom obliged every one to submit to +receiving society, choice or not. At a grand fête given by the Duc de +Lesdiguières, which in the bottom of his heart he was offering to Mme. +de Sévigné, "The King had hardly departed when the crowd commenced to +scuffle and to pillage every thing, until, as it was stated, it became +necessary to replace the candles of the chandeliers four or five times +and this single article cost M. de Lesdiguières more than a hundred +pistoles."[58] + +Such domestic manners had the encouragement of the King, who also left +his doors open upon the evenings on which he danced a ballet. He did +better still. He went officially to sup "with the Sieur de la +Bazinière," ancient lackey become financier and millionaire, and having +the bearing, the manners, and the ribbon cascades of the Marquis de +Mascarille. He desired that Mademoiselle should invite to the +Luxembourg, Mme. de l'Hôpital, ancient laundress married twice for her +beautiful eyes; the first time by a _partisan_, the second by a Marshal +of France. These lessons were not lost upon the nobility. Mésalliances +were no more discredited, even the lowest, the most shameful, provided +that the dot was sufficient. A Duke and Peer had married the daughter of +an old charioteer. The Maréchal d'Estrées was the son-in-law of a +_partisan_ known under the name of Morin the Jew. Many others could be +cited, for the tendency increased from year to year. + +In 1665, the King having entered Parliament,[59] in order to confirm an +edict, a group of men amongst whom was Olivier d'Ormesson were regarding +the Tribune in which were seated the ladies of the Court. Some one +thought of counting how many of these were daughters of parvenues or of +business men; he found three out of six. Two others were nieces of +Mazarin, married to French nobles.[60] The single one of aristocratic +descent was Mlle. d'Alençon, a half-sister of the Grande Mademoiselle. +One could hardly have anticipated such figures, even allowing for +chance. + +The King, however, approved of this state of affairs and the nobility +was ruined; every one seized on what support he could. The general +course of affairs was favourable to this confusion of rank. From the +triumphal re-entry of Mazarin in 1653, until his death in 1661, a kind +of universal freedom continued at the Court which surprised the ancient +Frondeurs on their return from exile. The young monarch himself +encouraged familiarities and lack of etiquette. + +It was the nieces of the Cardinal who were largely responsible for these +changes in manners and who gained their own profit through the +additional freedom, since Marie, the third of the Mancini, was soon to +almost touch the crown with the tip of her finger. Mademoiselle had some +trouble in accustoming herself to the new manners towards the King. + + For me [says she], brought up to have great respect, this is + most astonishing, and I have remained long time without + habituating myself to this new freedom. But when I saw how + others acted, when the Queen told me one day that the + King hated ceremony, then I yielded; for without this high + authority the faults of manner could not be possible with others. + +The pompous Louis XIV. wearing the great wig of the portraits did not +yet exist, and the Louvre of 1658 but little resembled the particular +and formal Versailles of the time of Saint-Simon.[61] + +The licence extended to morals. Numbers of women of rank behaved badly, +some incurred the suspicion of venality, and no faults were novelties; +but vice keeps low company and it was this result which proud people +like Mademoiselle could not suffer. + +When it was related to her that the Duchesse de Châtillon, daughter of +Montmorency-Boutteville, had received money from the Abbé Foucquet[62] +and wiped out the debt by permitting such lackey-like jokes as breaking +her mirrors with blows of the foot, she was revolted. "It is a strange +thing," wrote she, "this difference of time; who would have said to the +Admiral Coligny, 'The wife of your grandson will be maltreated by the +Abbé Foucquet'?--he would not have believed it, and there was no mention +at all of this name of Foucquet in his time." + +In the mind of Mademoiselle, who had lived through so many periods, it +was the low birth of the Abbé which would have affected the Admiral. +"Whatever may be said," added she, "I can never believe that persons of +quality abandon themselves to the point which their slanderers say. For +even if they did not consider their own safety, worldly honour is in my +opinion so beautiful a thing that I do not comprehend how any one can +despise it." + +Mademoiselle did not transgress upon the respect due to the hierarchy of +rank; for the rest, she contented herself with what are called the +morals of respectable people, which have always been sufficiently +lenient. She understood, however, all the difference between this +morality and Christian principles. + +The _Provinciales_ (1656) had made it clear to the blindest that it was +necessary to choose between the two. Mademoiselle had under this +influence made a visit to Port Royal des Champs[63] and had been +entirely won by these "admirable people" who lived like saints and who +spoke and wrote "the finest eloquence," while the Jesuits would have +done better to remain silent, "having nothing good to say and saying it +very badly," "for assuredly there were never fewer preachers amongst +them than at present nor fewer good writers, as appears by their +letters. This is why for all sorts of reasons they would have done +better not to write." + +Seeing Mademoiselle so favourably impressed, one of the Monsieurs of +Port Royal, Arnauld d'Andilly, said upon her departure, "You are going +to the Court; you can give to the Queen account of what you have +seen."--"I assure you that I will willingly do this." + +Knowing her disposition, there is but little doubt that she kept her +word; but this was all. The worthy Mademoiselle, incapable of anything +low or base, did not dream for a second of allowing the austere +morality, ill fitted for the needs of a court, to intervene in +influencing her judgments upon others, or in the choice of her friends. +She blamed the Duchesse de Châtillon for reasons with which virtue, +properly named, had nothing to do. We see her soon after meeting Mme. de +Montespan, because common morality has nothing to blame in a King's +mistress. + +Mme. de Sévigné agreed with Mademoiselle and they were not alone. This +attitude gave a kind of revenge to the Jesuits. + +Tastes became as common as sentiments; those of the King were not yet +formed, and the pleasure taken in the ballet in the theatre of the +Louvre injured the taste for what was, in fact, no longer tragedy. +Corneille had given up writing for the first time in 1652, after the +failure of his _Pertharite_. The following year, Quinault made his debut +and pleased. He taught in his tragi-comedies, flowery and tender, that +"Love makes everything permissible," which had been said by Honoré +d'Urfé in _l'Astrée_, a half-century previous, and he retied, without +difficulty, after the Corneillian parenthesis, the thread of a doctrine +which has been transmitted without interruption to our own days. + +Love justifies everything, for the right of passion is sacred, nothing +subsists before it. + + Dans l'empire amoureux, + Le devoir n'a point de puissance. + + L'éclat de beaux yeux adoucit bien un crime; + Au regard des amants tout parait légitime.[64] + +The idea which this verse expresses can be found throughout the works of +Quinault. He has said it again and again, with the same langourous, +insinuating sweetness, for a period which lasted more than thirty years, +and in the beginning no one very seriously divided with him the +attention of the public. + +At the appearance of his first piece in 1653, Racine was fourteen; +Molière did not return to Paris until 1658. Corneille, in truth, was +preparing his return to the theatre; but he found when his last +tragedies were played, that he had done well to study Quinault, and in +doing this he had not wasted his time;--a decisive proof of the echo to +which souls responded,[65] and of the increasing immorality of the new +era. + +Thus the Court of France lost its prestige. The éclat cast by the Fronde +upon the men and women seeking great adventures had been replaced by no +new enthusiasms. The pleasures to which entire lives were devoted had +not always been refining, as we have seen above, and people had not +grown in intelligence. The bold crowd of the Mazarins gave the tone to +the Louvre, and this tone lacked delicacy. The Queen, Anne of Austria, +groaned internally, but she had loosed the reins; except in the affair +of her son's marriage she had nothing to refuse to the nieces of +Cardinal Mazarin. + +Because the Court was in general lazy and frivolous, a hasty opinion of +the remainder of France should not be formed. The Court did not fairly +represent the entire nation; outside of it there was room for other +opinions and sentiments. It was during the years of 1650 to 1656, which +appear to us at first sight almost a moral desert, that private charity +made in the midst of France one of its greatest efforts, an effort very +much to the honour of all concerned in it. + +I have noticed elsewhere[66] the frightful poverty of the country during +the Fronde. This distress which was changing into desert places one +strip after another of French territory, must be relieved, and amongst +those in authority no one was found capable of doing it. + +It is hardly possible to represent to one's self to-day the condition +left by the simple passage of an army belonging to a civilised people, +through a French or German land, two or three hundred years ago. + +The idea of restricting the sufferings caused by war to those which are +inevitable is a novel one. In the seventeenth century, on the contrary, +the effort was to increase them. The chiefs for the most part showed a +savage desire to excite the mania for destruction which is so easily +aroused with soldiers during a campaign. Towards the end of the Fronde, +some troops belonging to Condé, then in the service of the King of +Spain, occupied his old province of Bourgogne. If any district of France +could have hoped to be respected by the Prince, it was this one; his +father had possessed it before him and it was full of their friends. +Ties of this kind, however, were of no advantage. March 23, 1652, the +States of Bourgogne wrote to M. de Bielle, their deputy at Court: + + The enemies having already burned fourteen villages [the names + follow], besides others since burned, these fire-fiends are + still in campaign and continuing these horrible ravages, all + which has been under the express order of M. le Prince, which + the commandant [de la ville] de Seurre has received, to burn + the entire Province if it be possible. The same Sieur de Bielle + can judge by the account of these fires, to which there has so + far been no impediment presented, in what state the Province + will be in a short time. + +The common soldier troubled himself little whether the sacked region was +on the one or the other side of the frontier. He made hardly any +difference. + +Some weeks after the fires in Bourgogne, two armies tortured the Brie. +The one belonged to the King, the other to the Duc de Lorraine, and +there was only a shade less of cruelty with the French forces than with +the others. When all the troops had passed, the country was filled with +charnel houses, and there are charnel houses and charnel houses. + +That of Rampillon,[67] particularly atrocious, must be placed to the +account of the Lorraines: "at each step one met mutilated people, with +scattered limbs; women cut in four quarters after violation; men +expiring under the ruins of burning houses, others spitted."[68] No +trouble was taken to suppress these hells of infection. + +It would be difficult to find any fashion of carrying on a war both more +ferocious and more stupid. Some chiefs of divisions, precursers of +humanitarian ideas, timidly protested, in the name of interest only, +against a system which always gave to campaigning armies the plague, +famine, and universal hatred. A letter addressed to Mazarin, and signed +by four of these, Fabert at the head, supplicates him to arrest the +ravages of a foreigner in the services of France, M. de Rosen. Mazarin +took care to pay no attention to this protest: it would have been +necessary first to pay Rosen and his soldiers. If it is expected to find +any sense of responsibility in the State, in the opinion of +contemporaries, for saving the survivors, left without bread, animals, +nor harvests, without roof and without working tools, there is +disappointment; the State held itself no more responsible for public +disasters than for the poor, always with it. + +The conception of social duty was not yet born. Public assistance was in +its infancy, and the little which existed had been completely +disorganised by the general disorders; like everything else. Each city +took care of its beggars or neglected them according to its own +resources and circumstances. On the other hand, the idea of Christian +charity had taken a strong hold upon some circles, under the combined +influence of the Jansenism which exacted from its devotees a living +faith; of a secret Catholic society whose existence is one of the most +curious historical discoveries of these last years[69]; and of a poor +saint whose peasant airs and whose patched _soutane_ caused much +laughter when he presented himself before the Queen. Vincent de Paul is +easily recognised. Relations with great people had not changed him. It +was said of him after years of Court society, "M. Vincent is always M. +Vincent," and this was true: men of this calibre never change, happily +for the world. + +He became the keynote of the impulse which caused the regeneration of +provincial life, almost ruined by the wars of the Fronde. Even after the +work was ended it would be difficult to decide upon the share of each of +these bodies in this colossal enterprise. The society to which allusion +has been made was founded in 1627, by the Duc de Ventadour, whose +mystical thought had led him, as often happens, to essentially practical +works. The name of Compagnie du Saint Sacrement was given it, and +without doubt its supreme end was "to make honoured the Holy Sacrament." + +Precisely on account of this, the society sought to "procure" for itself +"all the good" in its power, for nothing is more profitable to religion +than support, material as well as spiritual and moral, distributed under +its inspiration and as one might say on its own part. + +One passes easily from the practice of charity, a source of precious +teaching, to the correction of manners. After comes the desire to +control souls, which naturally leads to the destruction of heresies, +with or without gentleness. + +This programme was responsible for many admirable charitable works, two +centuries in advance of current ideas, and, at the same time, for +cruelties, infamies, all the vices inseparable from the sectarian spirit +in which the end justifies the means. + +Once started, the society rapidly increased, always hidden, and +multiplying precautions not to be discovered, since neither clergy nor +royalty were well disposed towards this mysterious force, from which +they were constantly receiving shocks without being able to discover +whence came the blows. + +It was an occult power, analogous in its extent and its intolerance, and +even in the ways and means employed, to the Free Masonry of the present. + +The Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement had links throughout France and in all +classes. Anne of Austria was included in its sacred band and a shoemaker +played in it an important rôle. Vincent de Paul enrolled himself in the +ranks towards the year 1635, contributed to the good, and probably was +ignorant of the evil to be found in its folds. Dating from his +affiliation, his charitable works so mingled with those of the society +that it was no longer to be recognised. The society brought to the Saint +powerful succour, and aided him effectively in finding the support of +which he had need; it would be difficult to say from whom came the first +idea of many good works. + +As for what at present concerns us, however, the point of departure is +known. It was neither Vincent de Paul nor the Compagnie du +Saint-Sacrement which conceived and put in train the prodigious work of +relieving the Provinces. The first committee of relief was founded in +Paris, in 1649, by a Janséniste, M. de Bernières, who was also +responsible for the invention of the printed "Relations" which were +informing all France of the miseries to be relieved. It was the first +time that Charity had aided itself through publicity. It soon found the +value of this. M. de Bernières and his committee, in which the wives of +members of Parliament dominated, were soon able to commence in Picardie +and Champagne the distribution of bread, clothing, grain, and working +implements. Hospitals were established. They put an end to the frightful +feeling of desolation of these unfortunate populations, pillaged during +so many years by mercenaries of all races and tongues. But the number of +workers was small even if their zeal was great, and the Janséniste +community was not equipped for a task of this dimension. From the end of +the following year, the direction of the enterprise passed entirely into +the hands of Vincent de Paul, who led with him his army of sisters of +charity, his mission priests, and an entire contingent of allies, secret +but absolutely devoted. + +It does not seem as if at first there was any conflict. Mme. de +Lamoignon and the Présidente de Herse were the right arms of M. Vincent +as they had been of M. de Bernières. When the Queen of Poland,[70] a +spiritual daughter of Port-Royal and brought up in France, wished to +subscribe to the work, she sent her money to the Mother Angélique, +telling her to communicate with M. Vincent. But this harmony was of +short duration. The members of what the public were going to baptise +with the sobriquet of "Cabale des Dévots," not being able to discover +the real name, could not suffer the Janséniste concurrence in charitable +works. They showered upon M. de Bernières a mass of odious calumnies and +denunciations which resulted in the exile of this good man. + +This was one of the most abominable of the bad actions to which a +sectarian spirit has pushed human beings. + +The "Relations" were continued under the direction of Vincent de Paul. +One knows through them and through the documents of the time, the +details of the task undertaken. The first necessity for the public +health was the clearing the surface of the ground, in the provinces in +which there had been fighting, of the putrifying bodies, and of the +filthiness left by the armies. There was one village from which such an +odour exhaled that no one would approach it. A "Relation" of 1652 +describes in these terms the environs of Paris: + + At Étréchy, the living are mingled with the dead, and the + country is full of the latter. At Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, + Crosne, Limay, one hundred and seventy-four ill people were + found in the last extremity, with neither beds, clothes, nor + bread. + + It was necessary to commence by taking away the seeds of + infection which increased the maladies, by interring the + corpses of men, of dead horses and cattle, and removing the + heaps of dirt which the armies had left behind. The cleansing + of the soil was the specialty of M. Vincent and one of his most + signal benefits. He employed for this work his mission priests + and his sisters of charity. The missionaries placed themselves + at the head of the workmen, the sisters sought the abandoned + sick. Cloth and cap died at need "the arms in the hand," said + their chief, but their work was good; and finally the work was + taken hold of in the right way. + +After the dead the living: + + The curé of Boult[71] [reports another "Relation"] assures us + that he buried three of his parishioners dead from hunger; + others were living only upon cut-up straw mixed with earth, of + which was composed a food called bread. Five tainted and + decaying horses were devoured; an old man aged seventy-five years + had entered the presbytery to roast a piece of horse-flesh, the + animal having died of scab fifteen days previously, was infected + with worms, and had been found cast into a foul ditch.... At + Saint-Quentin, in the faubourgs, in which the houses had been + demolished, the missionaries discovered the last inhabitants in + miserable huts, "in each of which," wrote one of them, "I found one + or two sick, in one single hut ten; two widows, each having four + children, slept together on the ground, having nothing whatever, + not even a sheet." Another Ecclesiastic, in his visit, having met + with many closed doors, upon forcing them open discovered that the + sick were too feeble to open them having eaten nothing during two + days, and having beneath them only a little half rotten straw; the + number of these poor was so great that without succour from Paris, + the citizens under the apprehension of a siege, not being able to + nourish them, had resolved to cast them over the walls. + +Millions were needed to relieve such distress, but Vincent de Paul and +his associates had a better dream; they wished to put these dying +populations in a condition to work again and to undertake the reparation +of the ruins themselves. The enterprise was organised in spite of +obstacles which appeared insurmountable, the exhaustion of France and +the difficulty of communication being the principal. The Parisians +raised enormous sums and sent gifts of all kinds of materials, and found +the means of transporting provisions. The committee divided the environs +of Paris; Mme. Joly took the care of one village; the Présidente de +Nesmond, four villages; and so on. Missionaries were sent outside the +boundaries. One of the later biographers of Vincent de Paul[72] values +at twelve millions of francs, at this date worth about sixty millions, +the sums distributed, without counting money spent directly for the work +of piety nor for the support of those engaged in it. However this may +be, this latter body certainly consumed a large portion. The immensity +of the enterprise, and its apparent boldness, gives us an idea of the +wealth and power of the middle classes of the seventeenth century. After +Vincent de Paul and M. de Bernières, the honour for this work of relief +belongs to the parliamentary world and the Parisian bourgeoisie; the +aristocracy only playing a very secondary rôle. The middle classes +provided for this enormous effort, at a period in which all revenues +failed at once. We are told that many were forced to borrow, that others +sold their jewels and articles of silver; still this supposes luxury and +credit. In one way or another, the citizen was in a position to give, +while the small noble of Lorraine or of Beauce was obliged to receive; +and this emphasises an historic lesson. Gentlemen as well as peasants +lacked bread. After remaining two days without eating, one is ready to +accept alms; at the end of three days, to demand them on account of the +children. The decadence of the one class, the ascension of the other +until their turn comes; it has always been the same since the world +began. + +One last detail, and perhaps the most significant: + +There is no reference in the Memoirs of the times[73] to the principal +work of Vincent de Paul. Their authors would have made it a matter of +conscience not to forget a Court intrigue or a scandalous adventure; but +what can be interesting in people who are naked and hungry? One avoids +speaking of them. It is even better not to think of them. In 1652, the +year in which poverty was at its height in oppressed Paris, the Mother +Angélique wrote from Port-Royal, to the Queen of Poland (June 28th): + + With the exception of the few actually engaged in charity, the + rest of the world live in as much luxury as ever. The Court and + the Tuileries are as thronged as ever, collations and the rest + of the superfluities go on as always. Paris amuses itself with + the same fury as if its streets were not filled with frightful + spectacles. And, what is more horrible, fashion will not suffer + the priests to preach penitence (Letter of July 12th). + +The lack of pity for the poor was almost general among the so-called +higher classes. There is no need of too carefully inquiring as to what +is passing in hovels. + +Vincent de Paul and his allies struggled six years. Not once did the +government come to their aid, and the war always continued; for one ruin +relieved, the armies made ten others. The group of the "good souls" who +had made these prodigious sacrifices was at length used up, as one might +say, and was never reinforced, in spite of the inexhaustible source of +devotion offered by the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement. This body had been +composed of men and women so exceptional in character, as well as in +intelligence, that its ranks, emptied by death, and by the exhaustion of +means and courage, could not be filled up. In 1655, the receipts of the +committee were visibly diminished. Two years later, the resources were +entirely exhausted and the work of relief remained unfinished. + +It was well that it was attempted; a leven of good has remained from it +in the national soul. + +The actual benefits however, were promptly effaced; the famine of 1659 +to 1662, especially in the latter year, counts amongst the most +frightful of the century, perhaps in our entire history. The excess of +material poverty engendered immense moral misery, particularly in the +large cities, in which luxury stood side by side with the most frightful +conditions, and Paris became both excitable and evil, as always when it +suffers. + +The Carnival of 1660 was the most noisy and disorderly which old +Parisians had ever known. Great and small sought amusement with a kind +of rage, and dissensions and quarrels abounded from the top to the +bottom of the social scale. Public places were noisy with riots and +affrays. During the nights, masks were masters of the streets, and as +has been seen above, no security existed with these composite crowds, +which stole candles from the houses into which they had surged. + +One ball alone received in a single evening the visit of sixty-five +masks, who ran through the city three nights in succession. These +hysterics in Paris, while France was dying with hunger, are so much the +more striking, inasmuch as the Court was not there to communicate to the +outer world its eternal need of agitation and amusement. Louis XIV. +spent a large portion of these critical years in journeying through his +kingdom. One of the first journeys, lasting from October 27th to the +following January 27th, had for its end the meeting of the Princess of +Savoie at Lyons. There had been some question of marrying this Princess +to the young King. On passing to Dijon, the Court stopped more than +fifteen days. Mademoiselle tells us the reason for this delay; it is not +very glorious for royalty. The Parliament of Dijon refused to register +certain edicts which aggravated the burdens of the province. Le Tellier, +"on the part of the King," promised that there should be no more +difficulty if the states of Bourgogne would bring their subsidy to a sum +which was indicated. "Upon which they agreed to what was demanded and +presented themselves to account to the King." + +Upon the next day, with a cynical contempt for the royal promise, "Her +Majesty went to the Dijon Parliament to register the deeds."[74] +Mademoiselle had the curiosity to be present at the session. The first +president did the only thing in his power. He courageously expressed his +"regrets" and was praised by all those who heard him. + +The Court hastily departed the following day, leaving Dijon and the +entire province "in a certain consternation." Mademoiselle blamed only +the manner of action. At the bottom of her heart, she had the belief of +her times: that the sovereign owed only control to his people, and that +there was no question of giving them happiness. + +Some weeks after the incident at Lyons, the vicinity of the principality +of Dombes[75] gave her the desire to visit this place, which she had +never seen. Dombes did not pay any impost to the King, and this fact +alone sufficed to render it prosperous. Mademoiselle was scandalised at +this prosperity. The peasants were well clothed, "they ate meat four +times a day," and there were "no really poor people" in the country; +"also," pursued Mademoiselle, "they, up to this time, have paid no +duties, and it would perhaps be better that they should do so, for they +are do-nothings, taking no interest in either work or trade." + +The people had left everything and dressed themselves in their fine +clothes to receive Mademoiselle. In order to thank them, Mademoiselle +drew from them all the money she could. It is necessary to recollect, +however, that in the eyes of the great, even those of the better sort, a +peasant was hardly a man. It would hardly be worth while for us to be +indignant at this attitude. We now admit that the so-called superior +races have the right to exploit those considered inferior, and thus at +need destroy them. It was the habit of our fathers to treat a lower +class as to-day we treat a less advanced race; the sentiment is +precisely the same. + +Upon her return from Dombes, Mademoiselle found the Court again at +Lyons. Every one was all eyes and ears for a spectacle which might +derange the admitted ideas of kings. Marie Mancini was trying to make +Louis XIV. marry her, and the attempt had not so absurd an air as might +be imagined. The Savoie project had failed under painful conditions, +which gave subject of thought to the courtiers. The King had conducted +himself like an ill-bred man to the Princess Marguerite. + +People were demanding whether the Spanish marriage was also going to +fail, and with it the so greatly desired peace, because it pleased two +lovers, one of whom ought not to have forgotten his kingly duties, to +proclaim the sovereign rights of passion. Anne of Austria became uneasy. +Mazarin, yielding to temptation, left the field to his niece, who "took +possession" of the young King with looks and speech. She fascinated him, +and he swore all that she wished. The contest was not an equal one +between the passionate Italian and the timid and somewhat unformed Louis +XIV. + +On his return from Lyons, Louis knelt down before his mother and +Mazarin, supplicating them to permit him to marry the one he loved. He +found them inflexible. The Queen realised that such a _mésalliance_ +would cast disrepute on royalty. The Cardinal was torn by conflicting +emotions, but in the end sent away his niece. + +A second journey lasted more than a year. The Court set out on June 29, +1659, and passed through Blois. It stopped with Gaston. We owe to the +_Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle a last glimpse of this Prince, formerly so +brilliant, now become a lazy good-for-nothing in his provincial life, +where nothing of Parisian fashion was found; neither toilettes nor +cooking, nor household elegance, nor even Monsieur himself, who no +longer knew how to receive, and was vexed that the King should kill his +pheasants. He permitted it to be seen that he was put out, and this +became so plain that every one was eager to depart, and there was a +sudden scattering. + +The eldest of his daughters by his last marriage, Marguerite d'Orléans, +had a great reputation for beauty. Her parents had for a long time +anticipated seeing her Queen of France. + +On the night of the King's arrival at Blois, this damsel was disfigured +with mosquito bites. Her dancing was much extolled, but on this special +evening, she danced very badly. Gaston had announced that this little +girl of ten "would astonish every one with her brilliant conversation." +No one could draw a single word from her. In short, nothing succeeded. +Mademoiselle was not especially vexed at this failure; she had trembled +at the thought of seeing her younger sister "above her." + +Hardly had the Court remounted their carriages, before the royal +cavalcade, according to the universal custom, commenced to mock its +hosts. The King joked at the sight of his uncle's face on seeing the +pheasants fall dead. Mademoiselle laughed with the others. She had, +however, been moved by a tender scene played by her father. + +He had come to awaken her at four o'clock in the morning: + + He seated himself on my bed and said: "I believe that you will + not be vexed at being waked since I shall not soon have the + chance of again seeing you. You are going to take a long + journey. I am old, exhausted; I may die during your absence. If + I do die, I recommend your sisters to you. I know very well + that you do not love Madame: that her behaviour towards you has + not been all it should be; but her children have had nothing to + do with this, for my sake take care of them. They will have + need of you; as for Madame, she will be of little help to + them." + + He embraced me three or four times. I received all this with + much tenderness; for I have a good heart. We separated on the + best terms, and I went again to sleep. + +Mademoiselle believed that at length they again loved each other. Six +weeks later a scandal broke out at the Court of France, then at +Bordeaux. + +The Duc de Savoie had refused to marry the Princess Marguerite +d'Orléans, and Mademoiselle was accused of having secretly written to +him that her sister was a humpback. The accusation came from Gaston +himself, who said that he had proof of it. This was a most disagreeable +incident for Mademoiselle and further illusion was impossible; Gaston +was always Gaston, the most dangerous man in France. + +From Bordeaux, the Court went to Toulouse; there it was rejoined by +Mazarin, who had just signed the peace of the Pyrénées (November 7, 1659). + +All histories give the articles of this peace. The results for Europe +have been summed up in some brilliant lines written by the great German +historian, Leopold Ranke, who had been struck with the advantages which +this treaty gave France over Germany: + + If it were necessary to characterise in a general fashion the + results of this peace ... we would say that the importance of + the treaty consisted in the formation and extension of the + great (geographically) military system of the French monarchy. + On all sides, to the Pyrénées, to the Alps, above all, to the + frontiers of the German Empire and of the Netherlands, France + acquired new fortified points ... many positions as important + for defence as favourable for attack. The position of France + upon the upper Rhine, which it owes to the peace of Westphalia, + received by this new treaty its greatest extension.[76] + +Mazarin found that he had done well in himself following the +campaigning armies. He knew the military importance of most of the +places. The Spanish negotiator could not have said as much. In the +interior, the first comer could easily comprehend the political benefits +of a treaty which should as far as possible abolish the past. Condé had +been included in the terms of the peace and returned to France, well +resolved to keep quiet. He rejoined the Court at Aix, January 27, 1660, +and found there was a certain curiosity exhibited as to how he would be +received. + +Mademoiselle hastened to Anne of Austria: "My niece," said the Queen to +her, "return to your own dwelling; M. le Prince has especially asked +that I should be absolutely alone when I first receive him." + + I began to smile with vexation, but said: "I am nobody; I + believe that M. le Prince will be very astonished if he does + not find me here." The Queen insisted in a very sharp tone; I + went away resolved to complain to M. le Cardinal; this I did on + the following day, saying that if such a thing happened again, + I should leave the Court. He made many excuses. This was + Mazarin's system. He poured forth explanations but in no way + changed his methods in the future. + +It is known that M. le Prince demanded pardon on his knees, and that he +found before him in Louis XIV. a judge grave and cold, who held himself +"very straight."[77] To fight against the King was decidedly no more to +be considered a joke; it could not be overlooked, even if one were the +conqueror of Rocroy. + +Mademoiselle did not succeed in comprehending the real situation. Condé, +surprised and deceived, felt his way. One evening at a dance, when +talking with Mademoiselle, the King joined them. The conversation fell +upon the Fronde. On the part of a man of as much _esprit_ as M. le +Prince, one can well believe that this was not by chance: "The war was +much spoken of," relates Mademoiselle, "and we joked at all the follies +of which we had been guilty, the King with the best grace in the world +joining in these pleasantries. Although I was suffering with a severe +headache, I was not in the least bored." Mademoiselle had laughed +without any second thoughts. Condé, clearer sighted, trembled during the +remainder of his days, before this monarch so capable of dissimulation, +and so perfectly master of himself. + +Almost at the same moment there expired another of those belated feudal +ideas, which neither royalty nor manners could any longer suffer among +the nobility. Gaston d'Orléans died at Blois, February 2nd,[78] his +death being caused by an attack of apoplexy. They had heard him murmur +from his bed regarding his wife and children, _Domus mea domus +desolationis vocabitur_ ("My house will be called the House of +Desolation"). He spoke better than he knew. Madame surpassed herself in +blunders, and still more. She went to dinner while her husband was +receiving the last unction, sent away the servants of Monsieur +immediately after the final sigh, locked up everything, and concerned +herself no more. Her women refused a sheet in which to wrap the body; it +was necessary to beg one from the ladies of the Court. Some priests came +to sit up with the dead, but finding neither "light nor fire" they +returned, and the corpse remained alone, more completely abandoned than +had been that of his brother, the King, Louis XIII. The body was borne +without "pomp or expense"[79] to Saint-Denis, and the widow hastened to +Paris, to take possession of the Palace of the Luxembourg, in the +absence of Mademoiselle. + +The Court did not take the trouble to feign regrets. The King gave the +tone in saying to his cousin, gaily, after the first formal compliments: +"You will see my brother to-morrow in a training mantle. I believe that +he is delighted at the news of your father's death. He believes that he +is heir to all his belongings and state; he can talk of nothing else; +but he must wait awhile." + +Anne of Austria heard this, and smiled. "It is true," pursues +Mademoiselle, "that Monsieur appeared the next day in a wonderful +mantle." Mademoiselle had great difficulty in keeping her own +countenance. Her grief was, however, very real, notwithstanding the +past, or rather, perhaps, on account of what had gone before; it was, +however, only an impulse affected by the impression of the moment. She +exhibited this sorrow a little too effectively: + + I wished to wear the most formal and deepest mourning. Every + one of my household was clad in black, even to the cooks, the + servants, and the valets; the coverings of the mules, all the + caparisons of my horses and of the other beasts of burden. + Nothing could be more beautiful the first time we marched than + to see this grand train, expressive of grief. It had an air + very magnificent and of real grandeur. Everybody says how much + wealth she must possess! + +The mules' mourning is well worth the training mantle of the little +Monsieur. This magnificent funeral pomp had the one inconvenience of +recalling to all comers that Mademoiselle must resign other pleasures. +At the end of some weeks, she would have willingly resumed her share in +Court gaieties; Anne of Austria kindly commanded her to return to life. + +The summer was, however, approaching. The Court continued to drag itself +from city to city, waiting until it should please the King of Spain to +bring his daughter, and the time seemed long. Mazarin shut himself up to +work. Louis drilled the soldiers of his guard. The Queen Mother spent +long days in convents. Mademoiselle wrote, or worked tapestry. A large +number of the courtiers, no longer able to stand the ennui, had returned +to Paris; those who remained, lived lives of complete idleness. The King +had at this time a fine occasion to study the condition of his +provinces; but he did not possess an investigating mind. He spent long +months in front of the Pyrénées, without seeking to know anything of +their formation, showing an unusual indifference to knowledge, even for +this period. One of the few persons who risked themselves in the +Pyrénées, Mme. de Motteville, relates her astonishment at discovering +valleys, torrents, cultivated fields, and inhabitants. She had believed +that she should only find a great wall of rock, "deserted and untilled." + +The journey went on; but nature had not yet the right of entrance into +literature, and society spoke but rarely of its charms. Of the vast +world, only what came directly under the eyes of the individual was +known. + +At length, on June 2d (1660), the Court of France, "kicking its heels" +at Saint-Jean-de-Luz during an entire month, received news of the +arrival at Fontarabia of Philip IV. and of the Infanta Marie Thérèse. +The next day, the marriage ceremonies commenced. + +Six long days and the best intentions on both sides were needed to +consummate this great affair without offending etiquette. The problem +presented was this: How to marry the King of France with the daughter of +the King of Spain, without permitting the King of France to put his foot +on Spanish territory, nor the King of Spain on that belonging to France, +and at the same time not to allow the Infanta to quit her father before +the ceremony had actually taken place? + +On the side of the French Court, whose discipline left much to be +desired, difficulties of detail arose constantly to complicate affairs. +The little Monsieur wept for desire to go to Fontarabia to see a Spanish +ceremony; but etiquette made it necessary to consider this brother of +the King the present heir presumptive to the crown, and, alleged Louis +XIV., "the heir presumptive of Spain could not enter France to see a +ceremony."[80] + +After consideration of this point, the heir was forbidden to pass the +frontier. Then Mademoiselle arrived, who wished to be of the party. She +represented that the order was not applicable to her, and cited the +Salic law which gave her the right to traverse the Bidassoa: "I do not +inherit," said she; "I should have some compensation. Since daughters +are of no value in France, they should at least be permitted to enjoy +spectacles." + +Mazarin convoked the ministers to submit this argument. The discussion +lasted "three or four hours." Finally, Mademoiselle gained her cause, +although the King himself was rather against her. The important question +of "trains" gave also some embarrassment to the Cardinal. A duke had +offered to bear the train of Mademoiselle in the nuptial cortége. +Mazarin was obliged to seek two other dukes for the younger sisters of +Mademoiselle, two children whom the lady of honour of their mother had +led to the marriage. He could only find a marquis and a count; the dukes +hid themselves. The lady of honour uttered loud protests; "her +Princesses must have 'tail-bearers' as titled as those of their tall +sister, or they should not go at all." "I will do what I can," replied +the Cardinal; "but no one wishes the task." + +Mademoiselle had the good grace to sacrifice her duke, and Mazarin +believed the affair terminated, when the Princess Palatine[81] caused a +novel incident, upon the day of the ceremony, and even when the last +moment was approaching. She appeared in the Queen's chamber, wearing a +train, to which, being a foreign Princess, she had no right. La Palatine +had counted upon the general confusion to smuggle herself in and to +create a precedent. It was needful to delay matters. The train had been +reported to Mademoiselle, and no marriage should prevent her protest. +The Cardinal and after him the King were forced to listen to a discourse +upon the limitations of foreign princesses. "I believe," writes +Mademoiselle, "that I was very eloquent." She proved herself at least +very convincing, for La Palatine received the order to take off her +train. + +But it is necessary to retrace our steps; trains have carried us too +far. The relations between the two monarchs had been regulated with a +minutia worthy of Asiatic courts. They met only in a hall, built +expressly for the purpose upon the Isle des Faisans, and on horseback +upon the frontier. The building was half in French, half in Spanish +territory. The decorations of the two sides were different. Louis XIV. +must walk upon French carpets, Philip IV. upon Spanish ones. The one +must only sit upon a French chair, write only upon a French table with +French ink, seek the time only from a French clock, placed in his half +of the hall; the other guarded himself with the same care from every +object not Spanish. Two opposite doors gave passage at precisely the +same instant. An equal number of steps led them to the place where the +red carpet of France joined the gold and silver one of Spain; and the +two Kings addressed each other and embraced over the frontier. Thus +demanded the laws of ceremonial monarchy. Their rigour commenced to +astonish the good people of France. The interviews upon the Isle des +Faisans became legendary. La Fontaine has alluded to them in one of his +last fables, _Les Deux Chèvres_,[82] in which he has found no better +comparison for the solemnity with which the two goats, equally "tainted" +with their rank, equally curbed, advanced towards each other upon the +fragile and narrow bridge. + + Je m'imagine voir, avec Louis le Grand, + Philippe quatre qui s'avance + Dans l'isle de la Conférence[83] + Ainsi s'avançaient pas à pas, + Nez à nez, nos aventurières. + +When all was arranged, on June 3rd, neither the bride and bridegroom nor +their parents having seen each other, the King of France, represented by +Don Luis de Haro, was married by proxy in the church of Fontarabia to +the Infanta Marie-Thérèse. + +This was the expedient which saved the dignity of the two crowns. After +the ceremony, the new Queen returned to her father. She wrote the next +day a letter of official compliment to her husband. We possess the +response of Louis XIV., in which he has well performed a somewhat +difficult task. + + SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ, June 4, 1660. + + To receive at the same time a letter from your Majesty, and the + news of the celebration of our marriage, and to be on the eve + of seeing you, these are assuredly causes of indelible joy for + me. + + My cousin, the Duke of Créqui, first gentleman of my chamber, + whom I am sending expressly to your Majesty, will communicate + to you the sentiments of my heart, in which you will remark + always increasingly an extreme impatience to convey these + sentiments in person. + + He will also present to you some trifles on my part. + +The same day, in the afternoon, Anne of Austria met for the first time +with her brother and niece together. The interview took place in the +hall of the Isle des Faisans. Philip IV. astonished the French, +decidedly less bound up in tradition than the Spanish. Philip dwelt so +immobile in his gravity that one would have hardly taken him for a +living man.[84] + +Anne of Austria wishing to embrace her brother, whom she had not seen +for forty-five years, he decided to make a movement, but it was only "to +withdraw his head so far that she could not catch it."[85] The Queen +Mother had forgotten the customs of her own land. To embrace in Spain +was not to kiss; it only consisted in giving a greeting without touching +the lips, as we see done at the Comédie Française by personages of the +classic repertoire. Kissing was, as we read in Molière only permitted in +certain rare cases. In the _Malade Imaginaire_, Thomas Diafoirus +consults his father before kissing his fiancée: "Shall I kiss her?" +"Yes," replies M. Diafoirus. + +The evening of the interview, June 4th, Mademoiselle was curious to know +whether the King of Spain had kissed the Queen Mother. "I asked her; she +told me 'no'; that they had embraced according to the fashion of their +own country." + +How was this strange fashion established at the Court of France, and +from there transferred to our theatres? Was it after the marriage of +Louis XIV.? I leave to the amateurs of the theatre the solving of this +little problem in dramatic history. + +They brought a French chair for the Queen Mother, a Spanish one for +Philip IV., and they seated themselves nearly "upon the line which +separated the two kingdoms."[86] + +Marie-Thérèse, Infanta of Spain and bride by proxy of the King of +France, was still to be seated. Should this be done in France or Spain? +upon a Spanish or French chair? They brought one Spanish and two French +cushions; piled them upon Spanish territory, and the young Queen found +herself seated in a mixed fashion, suitable to her ambiguous situation. + +Louis XIV. did not accompany his mother. Etiquette did not yet permit +the new couple to address a word to each other. It had been arranged +that the King of France should ride along the banks of the Bidassoa and +that the Infanta should regard him from afar through the window. A +romantic impatience which seized the husband with longing to become +acquainted with his wife caused this part of the programme to fail. +Louis XIV. looked at Marie-Thérèse through a half-open door. They +regarded each other some seconds, and then returned, she to Fontarabia, +he to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. + +On Sunday, the sixth, they saw each other officially at the Isle des +Faisans. Affairs were but little further advanced; Philip IV. had +declared that the Infanta must conceal her impressions until she arrived +on French territory. On the seventh, Anne of Austria brought her +daughter-in-law to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where the young people could at +length converse together, awaiting the definite celebration of the +marriage, which took place June 9th in the church of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. + +Some days later, the Court retook the road to Paris. Marie-Thérèse made +her solemn entrance into the capital, August 20th. The procession +departed from Vincennes. "It was necessary to rise at four o'clock in +the morning," reports Mademoiselle, who had a frightful sick headache. +At five o'clock, every one was in gala costume, and they reached the +Louvre at seven in the evening. Mademoiselle was at the end of her +endurance; but a Princess of the blood had no right to be ill on the day +of a Queen's entrance. Sometimes ridiculous and sometimes ferocious; +such appears ancient etiquette to our democratic generation. Monarchs +formerly felt the value of its services too keenly to shrink from +submitting to its dictates. They knew that a demi-god never descends +with impunity from his pedestal. It is impossible to witness his efforts +at remounting without laughter. To-day the Princes themselves desire +less etiquette. The monarchical sentiment is not sufficiently strong to +make them willing to support the ennui of ceremonial; they are capable +of any sacrifice of dignity to escape it. We see them resign to others +their rank and privileges in the hope of finding in obscurity the +happiness which they have missed in the King's palace. + +The present lack of form makes it difficult for the mass to take royalty +seriously, and thus vanish together the respect for formal courtesies +and for aristocracies. Louis XIV. and Philip IV. in spite of La +Fontaine, were in the right in attaching capital importance to the +placing their feet upon the right carpets. This precision of etiquette +prolonged the existence of the monarchy. + +Life retook its habitual course in the Palace of the Louvre. The King +was studying a new ballet. Very few persons remarked that he found time +also to make long visits upon Mazarin. The Cardinal, feeling himself in +the clutches of death, was preparing his pupil for his "great trade" of +sovereign. He made him acquainted with affairs, spoke to him in +confidence of the people connected with the administration of the +kingdom; discussed political questions, and recommended him to have no +longer a first minister.[87] The one thing which he could not yet +resolve to do was to permit the King to give a direct order. His dying +hands would not let fall a half-crown or relax an atom of authority. + +The young Queen was astonished at the money restrictions which had +oppressed her since her sojourn in France; Mazarin supervised her +household through the intermediary of Colbert, "who saved upon +everything,"[88] and he (Mazarin) pocketed the savings. On New Year's +day, he absorbed for himself three-fourths of the gifts of +Marie-Thérèse. The Queen Mother having shown some discontent, "the poor +Monsieur the Cardinal," as she called him, cried out boldly, "Alas! if +she knew from whence comes this money and that it is the blood of the +people, she would not be so liberal." + +In vain Mazarin hastened; he did not have time to finish his task. +February 11, 1661, the King, realising that his minister was lost, began +to weep and to say that he did not know what he should do. All France +experienced the same fears. It did not occur to any that the King was +capable of governing, or that he would take the trouble to do so. The +doubt was only as to the name of the one who should take the helm in +place of the Cardinal. Anne of Austria believed in chance; Condé had one +party amongst the nobility. The Parisian bourgeoisie said to itself that +Retz was perhaps going to return from over sea "for necessity."[89] The +ministers admitted that there was only one man fitted for the position. + +While these various intrigues were progressing, Mazarin expired (March +6th), and some hours later there came that _coup de théâtre_ of which +one reads in all histories. Louis XIV. signified to his ministers and +grandees his intention of himself governing. Those who knew him well, +beginning with his own mother, did nothing but laugh, persuaded that it +was only a fire of straw. Louis at first shut himself up entirely alone +during two hours, in order to establish a "rule of life"[90] as an +effective monarch. The programme resulting from this meditation +surprisingly resembles the one given by Catherine de Médicis in the +letter already cited. It exacts the qualities of a great worker. From +that day, Louis showed these qualities. "For above all," says he in his +_Mémoires_, "I resolved not to have a first minister, and not to permit +to be filled by another the functions belonging to the King, as long as +I bear the title." + +The passage in which he describes his "wedding" with the joy of work is +moving and beautiful. It is even poetical. + + I felt immediately my spirit and courage elevated. I found + myself a different individual. I discovered in myself a mind + which I did not know existed, and I reproached myself for + having so long ignored this joy. The timidity which judgment at + first gave caused me pain, above all when it was necessary to + speak in public a little lengthily. This timidity, however, was + dissipated little by little. + + At length it seemed to me I was really King and born to rule. I + experienced a sense of well-being difficult to express. + +Louis would now have need of all his courage. In measure as his mind +became "elevated," shame for his gross ignorance overcame him. "When +reason," says he, "commences to become solid, one feels a cutting and +just chagrin in finding oneself ignorant of what all others know." + +The practical utility of his neglected studies was realised by him. Not +to know history with his "trade" was a difficulty felt every instant. +Not to be capable of deciphering alone a Latin letter when Rome and the +Empire wrote their dispatches only in Latin, was an insupportable +slavery to others. Never to have read anything upon the "art of war" +when the ambition was aroused to become an expert in this art and to +acquire glory through it, "was to put brakes on one's own wheels." The +young King's education must be remade; the only difficulty was the +finding sufficient leisure. He would not allow himself to be hindered by +other difficulties, of which the principal one was the danger of +hazarding the newly acquired authority by returning to the schoolroom. + +Louis XIV. braved public opinion with remarkable courage. This is one of +the finest periods of his life. He proved himself truly great by his +sentiment of professional duty, and by his empire over himself, the day +upon which he dared to say to himself as the bourgeois gentleman of +Molière was forced to say, knowing well the ridicule to which he was +exposed: "I wish ... to be able to reason among intelligent people." + +In order to do him full justice, it is necessary to remember the foolish +effect at that date produced by a scholar of twenty-three.[91] Classes +were then finished at fifteen or sixteen, and the memory of them was +inseparably connected with birch rods, without whose aid there was no +teaching in the seventeenth century. When it was known that the King was +again taking Latin lessons from his ancient preceptor, and that he +passed hours in writing themes, the courtiers might easily have had it +upon the end of their tongues to demand as Mme. Jourdain of M. Jourdain: +"Are you at your age going to college to be whipped?" + +He did not console himself with the illusion that his rank would save +him from such railleries. He confesses _à propos_ of history, which he +wished to study again, how keenly sensitive he was to the thought of +what might be said. "One single scruple embarrassed me, which was, that +I had a certain shame, considering my position in the world, of +redescending into an occupation to which I should earlier have devoted +myself." Everything had yielded to the desire "not to be deprived of the +knowledge that every worthy man should have." + +In spite of these efforts, Louis was never educated; he never knew +Latin, which was deemed the real knowledge of the seventeenth century, +in which century the language was well taught. Too much business or too +many pleasures prevented the young King from pursuing his design during +a sufficiently long period. It is possible, also, that his lack of +natural facility may have discouraged him. Louis XIV. had memory and +judgment, but his intelligence was slow. In short, he abandoned his +studies too soon; he felt, and repeated till the day of his death the +confession, "I am ignorant." + +But Louis never relaxed the labours belonging to him as chief of the +State. His days were regulated once for all. Mme. de Motteville tells +the arrangement the day following the death of Mazarin. Saint-Simon +gives it again a half-century later, and it is identical. Apart from +extraordinary and unexpected business, and formal functions, so numerous +and important at this epoch, the King regularly devoted six to eight +hours daily to ordinary business. Add to these hours the time for +sleeping and eating, for seeing his family and taking the fresh air, and +but little time would have been left for diversion if the King had not +had the capacity of doing without sleep almost at will. It was this +physical gift which permitted him to provide as largely for pleasure as +for work. Nevertheless, the Court had trouble in adapting itself to the +new régime. It did not know what to do while the King worked. + +"It is more wearisome here than can be imagined," wrote the Duc +d'Enghien, son of the great Condé, in 1664. "The King is shut up almost +the entire afternoon."[92] Outside the Court, the people could have +cried with joy. It had been a delightful surprise to discover a great +worker in this ballet dancer. Paris was ready to permit him to indulge +in his little weaknesses, provided that he would govern, that he himself +would use his power. The bourgeoisie Frondeuse was disarmed. + + It is necessary [wrote Guy Patin to a friend] that I should + share with you a thought which I find very amusing. M. de + Vendome has said that our good King resembles a young doctor + who has much ardour for his profession, but who demands some + _quid pro quo_. I know those who see him intimately, who have + assured me that he has very good intentions and, that as soon + as he is _completely the master_, he will persuade all the + world of them. Amen.[93] + +The italicised words are significant of the opinion of Guy Patin. In +establishing absolute monarchy, Louis XIV. had the good wishes of all. +Other testimony quite as remarkable exists to confirm this statement. +After the death of Mazarin, Olivier d'Ormesson, who had been of the +opposition party in the Parliament, and whose independence would soon +cost him his career, let three entire years roll by before admitting any +statement in his journal to the detriment of the King. This writer also +believes in Louis, and, on the whole, approves of the compensations +(_quid pro quo_) demanded by the governing novice. + +After the first astonishment, the sudden change in Louis's methods +provoked but few commentaries in the immediate surroundings of the King. +Anne of Austria had a fit of vexation in realising that she would never +again have any influence; after which, indolence aiding, her course was +taken. The Queen Mother had no objection on principle to absolute +monarchy: she had always favoured it. She could not, as a Spanish +Princess, conceive of royalty being the least limited. Once resigned to +the new situation, she became a truly maternal old Queen, who preached +virtue to youth, and endeavoured to lighten the monotony of her +daughter-in-law's life. + +Marie-Thérèse had only one single political opinion; good government was +that under which a king could pass much time with his wife. This poor +little wife died without having ever really lived with her husband. + +Mademoiselle had no reason to regret the first ministers; there had been +too little reason to enjoy the two with whom she had had intercourse. +She imagined herself liberated from all dependence through the death of +the Cardinal, succeeding that of her father, and this thought was most +agreeable to her. She did not perceive that she had only changed +masters, and that the new one would prove himself infinitely more +difficult to please, more exacting, than that sceptical Italian who +confined himself to watching that she did not carry away her millions to +strangers and who simply mocked at everything else. + +Mademoiselle finally passed through the state of apprenticeship to +absolute monarchy. Her eyes were opened only on the day on which the +thunder cloud burst upon her. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 35: See the _Mémoires de Louis XIV._, edited by Charles +Dreyss. The _Mémoires_ of Louis XIV. were not written by himself. He +dictated them to his secretaries afterward adding notes in his own +handwriting and correcting the proofs. See the _Introduction_ by M. +Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 36: _Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Mémoires de +Montglat._] + +[Footnote 37: Montglat.] + +[Footnote 38: _Id._] + +[Footnote 39: Letters of January 3, 1717, of September 27, 1718, and of +July, 1722. Madame adds in this last: "Now, all the circumstances are +known."] + +[Footnote 40: Letter to the Queen, Anne of Austria, October 27, 1651.] + +[Footnote 41: March 23, 1865, Père Theiner, Guardian of the Secret +Archives of the Vatican, replied to some one who had pressed the +question: "Our acts of December 16, 1641, in which Jules Mazarin was +created Cardinal, do not say whether or not he was a priest. How could +he then have been admitted to the order of Cardinal-priest? No doubt he +was a priest." The letter of Père Theiner has been published by M. Jules +Loiseleur in his _Problèmes historiques_.] + +[Footnote 42: _Letters of Madame de Maintenon_ edited by Geoffroy.] + +[Footnote 43: For further details see the excellent volume of M. +Lacour-Gayet, _L'éducation politique de Louis XIV._] + +[Footnote 44: December 24th, _Relations des ambassadeurs vénitiens_.] + +[Footnote 45: The letter is dated April 21, 1654. Louis XIV. was then +fifteen and a half years of age.] + +[Footnote 46: Mme. de Motteville had heard him express the same idea. +_Cf._ his _Mémoires_, v., 101, ed. Petitot.] + +[Footnote 47: _Les fragments des mémoires inédits_ by Dubois, valet of +Louis XIV., published by Léon Aubineau in the _Biblothéque de l'École +des Chartes_, and in his _Notices littéraires_ upon the 17th century.] + +[Footnote 48: _Cf._ Lacour-Gayet, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 49: M. Dreyss dates the writing of this portion of the +_Mémoires_ about 1670.] + +[Footnote 50: Letters of June 9, 1654, and April 9, 1658.] + +[Footnote 51: _Segraisiana._ Louis XIV. was seventeen when he made this +remark.] + +[Footnote 52: _Journal de voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais à Paris_ +(1656-1658).] + +[Footnote 53: _Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 54: The fair of Saint-Germain was held between Saint-Sulpice +and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, from February 3d to the evening before Palm +Sunday. The Court and the populace elbowed each other there.] + +[Footnote 55: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 56: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 57: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 58: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 59: April 29th.] + +[Footnote 60: To the Duc de Bouillon and to the son of the Marshal Duc +de La Meilleraye, who took the title of Duc de Mazarin.] + +[Footnote 61: It must not be forgotten that Saint-Simon was presented at +Court in 1692. Louis XIV. was then fifty-four, and had reigned +forty-nine years. Saint-Simon only knew the end of the reign.] + +[Footnote 62: Brother of the Superintendent of Finances.] + +[Footnote 63: In the summer of 1657.] + +[Footnote 64: _Vers d'Atys_, opera played in 1676, and _d'Astrate_, +tragedy of 1663.] + +[Footnote 65: The phrase is M. Jules Lemâitre's.] + +[Footnote 66: See _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_. For this +chapter _cf._ _La misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint-Vincent de +Paul_, by Feillet; _La cabale des dévots_, by Raoul Allier; +_Saint-Vincent de Paul_, by Emanuel Broglie; _Saint-Vincent de Paul et +les Goudi_, by Chantelauze; _Port-Royal_, by Sainte-Beuve.] + +[Footnote 67: Village of the arrondissement of Provins.] + +[Footnote 68: Feillet, _La misère au temps de la Fronde_.] + +[Footnote 69: See the volume of Raoul Allier, _La cabale des dévots_.] + +[Footnote 70: Marie de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 71: En Picardie.] + +[Footnote 72: M. Emanuel de Broglie.] + +[Footnote 73: Saul in the _Journal des guerres civiles de +Dubuisson-Aubenay_. He mentions the date of December 2, 1650, upon which +"large donations" were sent into Champagne, by Mmes. de Lamoignon and de +Herse, Messieurs de Bernières, Lenain, etc.] + +[Footnote 74: The Parliament of Dijon had a bad reputation with the +ministers, who accused it of refusing all reform. This does not excuse +such a lack of good faith.] + +[Footnote 75: Dombes was a small independent principality which had only +been definitely united to France on March 28, 1782; its capital was +Trévoux.] + +[Footnote 76: _Histoire de France._ Tr. by Jacques Porchat and Miot. +Paris, 1886.] + +[Footnote 77: _Mémoires de Montglat; Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 78: The ball took place on the 3rd. Several days elapsed +before the news of the death reached Aix.] + +[Footnote 79: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 80: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 81: Anne de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 82: This appeared in 1691.] + +[Footnote 83: Isle des Faisans was also called _Isle de la Conférence_, +since Mazarin had there discussed the treaty of the Pyrénées with Luis +de Haro.] + +[Footnote 84: _Mémoires de Montglat._] + +[Footnote 85: _Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 86: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 87: There exists in the _Archives d'Affaires étrangères_ a +fragment of the instructions of Mazarin to Louis XIV., written under the +dictation of the King. M. Chantelauze, who discovered it, published it +in the _Correspondant_ of August 10, 1881.] + +[Footnote 88: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 89: Guy Patin. Letter of January 28, 1661.] + +[Footnote 90: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 91: He was even twenty-four when he asked Péréfixe again to +give him Latin lessons.] + +[Footnote 92: Letter of June 27th to the Queen of Poland (_Archives de +Chantilly_). The King dined at one o'clock.] + +[Footnote 93: Letter of July 15, 1661.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg--Her Salon--The "Anatomies" of + the Heart--Projects of Marriage, and New Exile--Louis XIV. and + the Libertines--Fragility of Fortune in Land--_Fêtes Galantes_. + + +With the approach of her thirty-fifth year, the Grande Mademoiselle +perceived by diverse signs that she was no longer young. She was forced +to recognise that her strength had its limitations, which fact had never +before been forced upon her. On February 7, 1662, Louis XIV. danced for +the first time a grand ballet entitled the "Amours of Hercules," and his +cousin of Montpensier took part. She was ill from fatigue. Another kind +of weariness overcame her; she became bored with fêtes. She had been +present at so many gala occasions since her entrance into the world, and +had seen so many festivals and fireworks, garlands of flowers and +allegorical chariots, that she was now quickly satiated. + +The King still loved this kind of abundant pleasure; those which he +offered to his Court sometimes lasted successive days and nights, +without giving time to breathe, and all being expected to feel continued +amusement. Mademoiselle was no longer capable of this. She was beginning +to long for the repose of home. Her sick headaches contributed to this +disability; age had increased them, and all women know that it is better +to suffer a headache in solitude. After a lively struggle, she had +returned to the palace of the Luxembourg and was lodging under the same +roof as her stepmother. The old Madame would have gladly relinquished a +neighbour whose presence presaged nothing good, but no one had sustained +the contention as no one was in the least interested in her welfare. One +reads in a fugitive leaf of the times issued on July 21, 1660: "This +affair was deliberated upon in the Court, and it was found that +Mademoiselle had the right to demand one of the apartments free, and +that Madame could not refuse it." It is said that the King wrote to +Madame in order to soften the blow; it was necessary to drain the bitter +cup to the dregs, and at a time in which Madame had great need of +tranquillity to install at her very door this tempestuous stepdaughter, +with whom no peace was possible. + +Madame had "vapours," otherwise called a nervous malady. She was afraid +of noise, of movement, and of being forced to speak, and Mademoiselle +insisted upon making "scenes." "I teased her often," says the Princess +in her _Mémoires_, "and very much despised her (in which I was wrong), +and she always responded as one who feared me, and with much +submission." The public did not consider it worth while to waste pity +upon Madame, because she bored every one; a fault never pardoned. Anne +of Austria, herself a very amiable woman, when not opposed, could never +suffer her inoffensive sister-in-law. The Queen Mother said to +Mademoiselle, who did not need this encouragement: "Her person, her +temper, and her manners are odious to me." The public was fundamentally +right in its antipathy. Madame was one of those people who render virtue +hateful, and in thus doing are very injurious to humanity. + +The Luxembourg was commodious and gay. Mademoiselle enjoyed it, and it +pleased her to arrange for herself a grand existence as a Princess, rich +and independent. Nothing could be more displeasing to the Court. As soon +as Louis XIV. had assumed full power, he let it be seen that he wished +no social centre in his kingdom other than his own palace. His cousin +did not take this fact into account. This was not bravado. It was due to +the impossibility of comprehending that "a person of her quality" could +be reduced to the rôle of satellite. + +It is certain that nature had not prepared her for this rôle. "I would +rather pass my life in solitude," wrote she, "than restrain in any way +my proud humour, even at the expense of my fortune. I have no +complaisance, and I demand a great deal from others."[94] She also adds: +"I do not willingly praise others and very rarely blame myself." With +this avowed disposition, it would perhaps have been wiser not to go too +often to the Louvre. It was a great imprudence to attract the crowd to +herself as she had done at the time in which she was openly opposing the +Tuileries. + +The salon of Mademoiselle became the first in Paris, the most +interesting and select. Since Paris had tasted the pleasures of clever +conversation and discovered, under the direction of Mme. de Rambouillet, +the genius of this delicate art, it could not do without it. The +initiator was still living, but she was old and ill, and her circle had +long been dispersed.[95] + +Mlle. de Scudéry had collected together as many of the remnants of her +first salon as she could, and had thus laid the foundation for the +famous Saturdays, at which wit and knowledge were dispensed in +abundance. Nevertheless, it was not the same. The Saturdays of "Sapho" +brought back the literary people to the pedantry from which Mme. de +Rambouillet had more or less delivered them. They were left too much to +themselves, and, thus isolated, they had lost a certain intellectual +grace acquired by the friction between the aristocrats and the +blue-stockings. + +The mind as well as the body has its own manners, and they may be bad or +good. In 1661, the Court alone had breeding. There existed no other +society in which the first comer understood how to speak a language easy +and _galant_, well adapted to plumed hats and elegant bows. These +belonged to the traditions of the place. Such courtesies were lacking +with the learned friends of Mlle. de Scudéry, who no longer felt +themselves spurred on by the fine gentlemen, so alert, capable of such +light railleries, and detesting pedants. + +The feminine society of the Saturdays had also too little intercourse +with duchesses and marquises to replace the Hôtel Rambouillet. Mlle. +Bocquet, who filled a large place in the chronicles of the Saturdays, +was very amiable and played the lute "marvellously,"[96] but she +belonged to the small bourgeoisie. Mlle. Dupré, another intimate, was an +intelligent and educated girl, who had made a special study of +philosophy. She quoted Descartes too often to have "the air _galant_" in +conversation. As much could be said of others. Mlle. de Scudéry herself, +who had been received in the best company and who had formally combated +the "Blue-stockingism" with admirable good sense, had not written +thirty-two octavo volumes with impunity. There still remained a little +ink on the end of her fingers. It seemed as if all the pedants of France +held their classes in her house. Plays upon words filled the papers +scattered about, upon which "Prosecutions" were held. The "Illustrious +Sapho" had truly inspired Molière when he wrote _Les Précieuses +Ridicules_; in vain, M. Cousin refuses to believe it.[97] I do not +myself think that she escaped. + +Mademoiselle rendered to the wits of the day the service of sending them +back to the Court for lessons in language and manners. We are well +informed of this, thanks to the fantasy of a Princess which produced a +little literature upon the model offered by the Luxembourg. + +In 1657, Mademoiselle, being at Champigny for the Richelieu lawsuit, the +Princess of Tarente[98] and Mlle. de la Trémouille[99] showed her their +literary portraits written by themselves.[100] These were imitations of +those which Mlle. de Scudéry, creator of the kind, gave in her +romances,--the personalities to be divined with a key. "I had never +before seen anything of the kind; I found them very _galants_, and wrote +my own." After her own, she made others, and exacted them from those +about her. + +From this resulted a repertoire unique of its kind, in which noble +personages, of both sexes and all ages, have been so obliging as not to +leave us ignorant of themselves, from the state of their teeth to their +opinions upon love, nor have they omitted to present similar details +concerning their friends. + +The collection of these _Portraits_[101] reveals to us how the +aristocracy then viewed itself, or, at least, how it wished to be +estimated by others. The ordinary beginning was to picture the face and +bearing. The fashion was to do this with sincerity, which by no means +indicates modesty. The famous Duchesse de Châtillon warned readers that +she was going to speak with a naïveté "the greatest possible." + + This is why [continues she] I can say that I have the most + beautiful and best formed figure which has ever been seen. + There is none so regular, so free, so easy. My bearing is + entirely agreeable, and in all my actions I have an air + infinitely _spirituel_. My face is a most perfect oval, + according to all standards; my forehead is slightly elevated, + which aids the regularity of the oval. My eyes are brown, very + brilliant, and very deeply set; the gaze is very gentle and, at + the same time, full of fire and spirit. I have a well-made + nose, and as for the mouth, it is not only fine and well + coloured, but infinitely agreeable, made so by a thousand + little natural expressions not to be seen in any other mouths. + My teeth are very beautiful and regular. I have a very small + chin. I have not a very white skin. My hair is a clear + chestnut, and very lustrous. My neck is more beautiful than + ugly. As for my arms and hands, I am not proud of them; but the + skin is very soft and smooth. It would be impossible to find a + thigh better made than mine or a foot better turned. + +The description of the physique was a rule of the Portraits, not even +the _religieuses_ believing that it should be dispensed with. + +Among the Portraits is found one of an Abbess who visited Mademoiselle, +the inspiring Marie-Éléonore de Rohan, a person much esteemed on account +of her mother, the famous Duchesse de Montbazon, but very disconcerting, +notwithstanding, for our modern ideals of monastic life. + +She divided herself between the cloister and the world, sufficiently +edifying when it was needful, lively and brilliant the remainder of the +time, and as natural in the one rôle as in the other. The Abbess +composed works of piety for her nuns,--among others _La Morale de +Salomon_, many times re-edited, and the _Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de +la Pénitence_. The lady of society placed herself before her mirror and +wrote without a shade of embarrassment: "I have some haughtiness in my +physiognomy and some modesty. I have too large a nose, a mouth not +disagreeable, lips suitable, and teeth neither beautiful nor ugly." This +"nose too large" shocked the savant Huet. In reproducing the portrait of +Mme. l'Abbesse, he wrote: "As the beauty of the nose is one to which I +am very sensitive, permit, Madame, that I should begin with yours. It is +large; it is white, slightly aquiline, and gives something _spirituel_ +to your smile." + +Another phrase of Huet's gives us a vision of how these +pseudo-religieuses, whose species was destined to disappear with the +reform of convents, a not regrettable fact, accommodated the convent +garb with coquetry: "One cannot imagine," pursued the future bishop, +"more beautiful hair than yours; it is ash colour, blond, curls in a +very agreeable manner, and admirably suits your face, as far as I have +been able to judge, when it has escaped by chance, in spite of your care +to conceal it." + +After the body comes the temper, tastes, qualities, and defects of the +mind. Here lies the lasting interest of the Portraits. It is valuable to +know from first hand, through its own confidences, that this +aristocratic society, from which the King exacted the complete sacrifice +of its independence, hated nothing more than restraint, and did not +hesitate to say so. Men and women, speaking for themselves, return +constantly to this point, and always in the same terms: "I hate +restraint. Restraint is insupportable to me." "I have an aversion for +all that is called restraint." "I suffer oppression impatiently and I +passionately love liberty." + +From the point of view of absolute monarchy and the discipline which it +wished to impose upon the Court, the French nobility had very bad +habits. This nobility professed love of the chivalric virtues, and +hatred of anything resembling baseness or disloyalty. In this, it was +sincere, only we must admit that opinions are constantly changing even +in relation to morals, and that to-day, we might have difficulty in +agreeing with a gentleman of 1660 as to what is loyal or base and what +is not. Honour commanded the gentleman to avenge offences against +himself without too closely examining into the methods of so doing. +Custom authorised him to be unjust and to act with bad faith towards the +lowly, common, and feeble, in particular when money was owed. Honesty +was a bourgeois virtue. Mademoiselle considered it unworthy that people +of quality should abuse their authority to "ruin miserable creditors," +but she was an exception. + +The obligations of "honour" were extending to all conditions. Vatel was +praised for having killed himself because the fish did not rise. "It +was said," wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "that this sort of honour was a +strength." + +It was not the same with another sentiment which filled the plays of +Corneille and which is constantly referred to in all the writings of the +time. General consent reserved for people of quality the privilege of +having ideas of "Glory and of the 'Beautiful' or the True," which led, +according to Huet's definition, to the desire for grand things. The +desire for "true glory," which is carefully distinguished from what he +called the "halo of glory," was the aristocratic sentiment "par +excellence." Even among the authors of the _Portraits_, every one was +not considered to possess the high capacity for strongly feeling this +longing. + +In spite of the prevailing licentiousness of the Court, there still +remained in this brilliant society many pure women. At the same time, +virtue was not particularly honoured. It was a matter of personal taste, +the nobility only attaching a secondary and conventional importance to +its practice. The women "pure," or those who were supposed so to be, +received praise from friendly pens. The others were not looked at +askance, except by the Jansenists and other sombre spirits. + +The young Comtesse de Fiesque, with whom Mademoiselle had been embroiled +at Saint-Fargeau, had a well-established reputation for gallantry. The +anonymous author of her Portrait makes allusion to this, and hastens to +add, "Truly this does her no harm." No harm at all! Mademoiselle did +not think of it when Mme. de Fiesque came to demand pardon for her +impertinences: "She threw herself on her knees before me; I raised her +up and embraced her; she wept with joy. She is a worthy woman, only too +easily led away, but good at heart." + +Naturally men spoke very freely of women; it was like the crowing of +cocks. An anonymous writer, who might have been the poet Racan,[102] +represents himself as "very ugly, very stammering, and very +disagreeable, very grumbling besides and untruthful," and goes on, "I am +very bold with women and quite as successful as if I were good-looking +and possessed the most agreeable qualities in the world to make myself +well received. I have indeed found myself sometimes as you see me..." +There is still greater contempt expressed for women in the following +passage from the Portrait of La Rochefoucauld by himself: "Formerly I +was a little _galant_; now not at all, although still youthful. I have +renounced all flirtations. I am only astonished that there should still +be so many worthy people who occupy themselves in culling these 'little +flowers.'" Considering Mme. de Longueville, this statement is rather +hard. I would remark in passing, that La Rochefoucauld was +forty-five[103] at the moment in which he found himself somewhat +"young to renounce flirtations." Molière, however, was soon to make all +Paris laugh at the expense of Arnolphe,[104] who indulged in love +affairs at the age of forty-two. Shall we conclude that Molière +attempted to lessen the limit of the age of love, or was it only in the +theatre that fashion exacted young lovers? I leave this question to the +clever. It is not without importance in the history of sentiments. + +[Illustration: =FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD= From the engraving by +Hopwood after the painting by Petitot] + +The fashion of Portraits lasted but little more than two years with +those who were its sponsors; as soon as the custom reached the +bourgeoisie, the people of quality abandoned it. The very lively taste +developed in the middle class, in their turn, for this diversion proved +of real service to literature. The imitators of the "Galerie" learned, +as previously the creators of the game had done, to know the "interior +of people."[105] "The anatomies" of their own hearts, imperfect as they +were, habituated them to discern the "qualities and temper of +people,"[106] and thus a large public was prepared to comprehend the +women of Racine. + +Mademoiselle was one of the first to profit by the "soul studies" which +she had brought into favour. There remains a little passage in a portion +of her _Mémoires_, written after 1660, which clearly indicates this. +Progress is equally marked in a little romance with a key, entitled +_Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_, which was composed and +printed at Bordeaux in 1659, during the prolonged sojourn of the Court +at that place. + +This is not the only imaginative work for which this facile pen[107] is +responsible, but it is the only one worthy of notice. The subject is +without interest; Mademoiselle has incorporated in a literary tale the +absurd quarrels of her household: "I made a little history which was +finished in three days, by writing in the evening after returning from +the Queen." In compensation, there are in the _Princesse de Paphlagonie_ +some sketches after nature, written with a firm and live touch, a +novelty with Mademoiselle. A passage upon the blue room of Mme. de +Rambouillet will prove a great aid in any attempt to reconstruct an +elegant interior under Louis XIV., if the experiment should ever be made +as has been suggested of playing the comedies of Molière in the true +"chamber" of Philaminte or of Célimène. Others have spoken of the rooms +in which Mme. de Rambouillet received. The harmonious decoration and the +scholarly disorder have been before described, yet no one but +Mademoiselle has given us the intimate atmosphere of the sanctuary, with +its measured and discreet light, its luxury of flowers, its objects of +art, and its small but choice library betraying the tastes and the +preferences of the divinity of the place. The description resembles +more nearly the salon of an intelligent woman of the twentieth century +than a suite of the Château of Versailles. + +The guests of Mademoiselle profited also by the refinement of her +tastes. She enforced one single rule in her salon: cards were banished. +No one was exposed to the danger of being ruined, as was the case in the +circle of the King, who encouraged heavy play. It did not displease +Louis XIV. to be the Providence of the losers, this again being a method +of keeping his nobles in hand. His cousin in no way shared in such +considerations. She said: "I hate to play cards," and only played when +it was impossible to avoid doing so. She did not at all like to lose. It +was remarked that the Luxembourg had gained in gaiety with the exclusion +of gambling games. "There is a hundred times as much laughter," relates +the Abbé de Choisy,[108] at this date very young and a frequent guest at +the palace of the Luxembourg, where he met numerous companions of his +own age. + +The three daughters of the old Madame, Mlles. d'Orléans, d'Alençon, and +de Valois,[109] were always with their step-sister. They escaped from +their deserted apartment to run towards the noise and movement; their +life was too sad with Madame and her eternal "vapours." Relegated to +their chambers as at Blois, with some childish companions, among whom +was Louise de La Vallière,[110] still unknown, they lived in a state of +distrust of their almost invisible mother, who never addressed a word to +them except in scolding. + +At least, with Mademoiselle one had the right to move. Young people had +great freedom. Little games were organised. Parties of hide and seek and +blind-man's-buff were enjoyed. "As I had violin players, it was easy to +dance in any room sufficiently distant from Madame." The Abbé de Choisy +adds a gracious detail: "There were violinists, but ordinarily they were +silent and we danced to singing. It is so charming to dance to the sound +of the voice." While the young moved gaily about, their elders had also +their little games. + +Everything yielded, however, to the unequalled pleasure of conversation. +Among those who gave éclat to the Luxembourg, the names of La +Rochefoucauld, Segrais, Mme. de Lafayette, and Mme. de Sévigné may be +mentioned. Mademoiselle herself often led the conversation, beating the +drums a little, her fashion in everything, but also with a certain +spontaneity which she always displayed. + +Conversation was, during more than a century, even to the time of the +Revolution, to be the great delight of intelligent France, and this +pleasure rendered incomparable service to the French language, which had +rather deteriorated during the first periods of the seventeenth century. +It was immediately perceived that the worst fault for a talker was to +speak like a book, and the French owe to this simple observation the +lesson which taught them to become the first in the world for vivacity +and naturalness in the art of conversation. The habitués of the +Luxembourg only regretted that the conversation did not oftener turn +upon love. But, in this respect, Mademoiselle was not as complaisant as +at Saint-Fargeau. We have seen that, in practice, she closed her eyes; +this simplified life. For her own pleasure, she preferred other topics; +this particular one became at length insupportable to her. "I am much +criticised," says she in her _Portrait_, "because the verses I like the +least, are those which are passionate, for I have not a tender soul." +Besides, she had really nothing more to say upon the subject of love. +She had just made her profession of faith in a correspondence with Mme. +de Motteville, who, while awaiting something better, circulated a +manuscript in which one reads, "Its conditions are shameful; it is +robbery and unjust, without faith and without equity. It is an impiety; +it mocks the holy sacrament. Marriage adjusts nothing: everything is +given to man." + +"Let us escape from slavery," cried Mademoiselle. "Let there be at least +one corner of the globe in which one can say that women are their own +mistresses." Every one has the right to despise love and marriage, +provided only that one does not insist on applying this sentiment only +to others. The youth of the Luxembourg knew too well that Mademoiselle +sought with an increasing ardour that "slavery" against which in +conversation or in writing she called her sex to revolt. Her intimate +friends realised that she was inventing illusions, under the influence +of a possible possession which induced a belief in their reality. She +had believed in an eager tenderness on the part of the little Monsieur +who had married some one else. After the restoration of the Stuarts +(April, 1660), she imagined (the recital is fully given in her +_Mémoires_) that the King, Charles II., whom she had refused with +disdain when he was only a poor pretender, had no other intention in +remounting the throne than again to demand her hand, and that she would +nobly respond: "I do not deserve this, having rejected your suit when +you were in disgrace. The remembrance of this would always rest on our +two hearts and would prevent true happiness." This fine response has +been quoted a hundred times. Unfortunately, it is very clearly proved +through the testimony of English documents[111] that Mademoiselle had no +occasion to make it. + +Advances, alas! had come from one side only and had been ill received. +"I very much desire the marriage of Mademoiselle," wrote Lady +Derby[112] to her sister-in-law, Mme. de la Trémouille, through whom +passed the "insinuations," "but the King has a great aversion to it on +account of the contempt which she has shown him. I have spoken of her to +Marquis d'Ormond, but I have met with little encouragement." In another +letter: "I have proposed Mademoiselle, but I have little hope. If the +King looks for wealth, we can hardly expect greater than with +Mademoiselle. But I fear that having been despised in his poverty, he +may be little disposed to regard such a marriage." Charles II. would +listen to nothing; he had guarded a grudge against his cousin. On the +other hand, there is every appearance of truth when she states that the +old Duc Charles III. de Lorraine,[113] had demanded her "on his knees" +for a youth of eighteen, Prince Charles de Lorraine, his nephew, who +became afterwards one of the most famous Austrian generals. It was a +question, as can well be understood, of a political combination. + +Unfortunately, Prince Charles himself had another project, better suited +to his age. He was in love with the eldest daughter of Madame, +Marguerite d'Orléans, who returned his affection with all her heart. The +youthful society of the Luxembourg accuses Mademoiselle of having, +through jealousy, caused this project to fail. "The affair had been +advanced," relates that gossip, the Abbé de Choisy, "but the old +Mademoiselle had talked and cackled so much that she spoiled +everything." She was desperate at the thought of her younger sisters, +beggars compared to herself, marrying under her very eyes. Marguerite +d'Orléans made, out of spite, a marriage which turned out badly,[114] +but through which Mademoiselle in no way profited. Owing to a singular +change of desire, from the day on which it had depended upon herself to +marry Prince Charles, she had only felt contempt for this little prince +"_sans forts_."[115] + +These caprices made the King impatient, who ended by making negotiations +with Lorraine without any longer occupying himself with his cousin. +Louis XIV. still retained the old monarchical principles in relation to +the marriage of princesses. He regarded them simply from the point of +view of politics; questions to be settled by governments and into which +sentiments must not be permitted to intrude. The idea that every human +being has a right to happiness did not belong to his times, and if it +had been suggested, the King would have surely condemned it, for it +insisted upon individual interests as opposed to those of the community, +the rights of which appeared specially sacred to the people of the +seventeenth century. + +Louis XIV. did not believe for himself that he had the right to accept +only the agreeable duties belonging to his "trade of king," since he had +undertaken an existence devoted to strenuous labour, when it would have +been so pleasant to do nothing. According to his principle, the higher +the position of an individual, the more it was fitting that he should +sacrifice his own desires to the public good. Mademoiselle had the +honour of being his first cousin; he had firmly resolved to marry her, +or not to marry her, to bestow her hand upon a hero or a monster, +according as he should judge it useful to "the service of the King." +There was a certain grandeur in this fashion of recognising +relationship. + +It had not occurred to the King that Mademoiselle would ever have the +audacity to resist him. It can be said that any real understanding +between the two was an impossibility. Mademoiselle had lived too long in +the midst of the opposition to yield to the notion of absolute royal +power without limitations and including all possible persons. Louis XIV. +had a too profound faith in the doctrine of the divine right of kings to +refuse for himself any of the prerogatives devolving upon him. Both +these opinions represented Frenchmen at large; but for the moment +Mademoiselle was being borne along by the ebbing tide, Louis XIV. by the +rising one. + +This Prince had entered the world at an opportune moment to profit by a +doctrine which, according to a happy expression, seemed made for him as +he for it. After the Reform, the enforcing the old theory of the divine +origin of power had a beneficial result. The populace in many a country +and province had found themselves as much interested as the sovereigns +in suppressing the political power of the Pope outside of his own +States, and resenting his interference in the affairs of other +countries. + +In France, in the sixteenth century, one meets with Calvinist +theologians amongst the writers who claimed that princes received their +power directly from God, and from God alone. The immediate consequence +of this doctrine was to heighten the éclat of royalty. Princes became +images of divinity, and even something more; Louis XIV., not yet five, +heard himself spoken of as the "Divinity made visible." Two years later, +the Royal Catechism[116] explained to him that he was "Vice-Dieu." +Twenty years later Louis XIV. was "Dieu," without any qualification, and +Bossuet himself declared it from the pulpit. On April 2, 1662, preaching +at the Louvre and speaking of the duties of kings, Bossuet cried: "O +Gods of nations and of lands, you must die like mortals; nevertheless, +until Death, you are Gods." + +When a man hears such statements without shrinking, he is quite ready to +accept all the consequences. "Kings," writes an anonymous person, "are +absolute lords of all who breathe in any portion of their empire."[117] + +Louis XIV. has very clearly formulated the same thought in his +_Mémoires_: "The one who has given kings to men has wished that they +should be respected as his lieutenants, reserving for himself alone the +right to examine their conduct. It is the divine wish that any one born +a subject should obey without question."[118] It must be added that +Louis had arrived at these conclusions under a pressure of public +opinion, which had become impatiently desirous of giving to monarchy the +strength needed to place the shattered land again in a condition of +order. + +On the death of Mazarin, France resembled a large establishment whose +cupboards, confided to a negligent steward, had not during an entire +generation been put in order. A flash of vivid hope passed through +France on seeing its young monarch, vigorously aided by Colbert, put the +broom to the mass of abuses and inequities which bore the name of +administration, and show himself resolved, in spite of resistance, to +introduce into the great public services order and moral cleanliness. + +This was not finished without tears and grinding of teeth, not without +some injustice also, as in the case of Foucquet, assuredly culpable, but +paying for many others, of whom Mazarin was the first. But this +cleansing _was_ accomplished. First, the finances were attacked, with +the happy result that people paid less and that the imposts returned +more; then justice,--law reform was commenced in 1665, and the "grands +jours" of Auvergne were opened the same year; the army,--the soldiers, +paid regularly, committed fewer disorders, and the nobility learned, +willingly or not, military obedience. + +At the same time, industry and commerce increased to such an extent +that, from 1668, orders flooded Paris "from the entire world" for a vast +number of articles which ten years previous had been imported. The +ambassador from Venice, Giustiniani, writes this statement to his +government. + +The strong will of the master had put the country in motion. Louis XIV. +was confirmed in his high opinion of absolute monarchy. The same year in +which Bossuet had encouraged him to believe himself above ordinary +humanity, the King decided, with a perfectly equable conscience, to +marry the Grande Mademoiselle to a veritable monster, in the interest of +a political combination which he held at heart, for he returns to it +several times in his _Mémoires_. His father-in-law, Philippe IV., +menaced the independence of Portugal.[119] Louis XIV. hesitated to +assist Portugal openly, on account of the treaty of the Pyrénées.[120] +On the other hand, he considered double-dealing more honest to the +Spaniards than their conduct might be to him if opportunity permitted. +"I cannot doubt that they would have been the first to violate the +treaty of the Pyrénées on a thousand points, and I should believe myself +failing in my duty to the State, if, through being more scrupulous, I +should permit them freely to ruin Portugal, and to fall back upon me +with their entire strength." + +It seemed to him that he could conciliate all by aiding Portugal +secretly, and Turenne had no repugnance to this course. This kind of +action was then called, and is often still designated, sagacious +statesmanship. + +Such being the situation, Turenne came one afternoon to seek +Mademoiselle in her cabinet. The account of this interview has been +preserved for us by the Princess, and we can this time trust her +accuracy. Her _Mémoires_ are in accord with contemporary witnesses. It +was towards the end of the winter of 1662. Turenne seated himself at the +corner of the fireplace and began with tender protestations. "As I am +somewhat brusque, I at once demanded of him, 'What is the question?' He +replied: 'I wish to marry you.' I interrupted him, saying: 'That is not +easy; I am content with my condition.' + +"'I will make you Queen. Listen to me. Let me tell you everything, and +afterward you can speak. I wish to make you Queen of Portugal.' 'Fi!' +cried I to myself, 'I do not wish it.' He went on: 'Maidens of your +quality have no desires; they must act as the King wills.'" + +The monarch whose mention makes Mademoiselle cry "Fi!" was called +Alphonse VI., and was not yet twenty. At twenty-three, the Abbé de +Saint-Romain,[121] our envoy to Portugal, reported that he could +neither read nor write. In compensation, he pulled the ears and tore out +the hair of those who approached him, and this was in his "good days"; +in the bad ones, he struck, indifferently with his feet, hands, or +sword, any one who vexed him. His subjects no longer dared to pass +through the streets at night, because one of his diversions was to +charge at them suddenly in the "darkness and to try to spit them." + +In person, Alphonse VI. was a fat little barrel, paralysed in one limb, +"gluttonous and dirty," almost always drunk, and vomiting after his +meals. He wore six or seven coats one over the other, amongst which "a +petticoat of three hundred taffetas, embroidered with pistol shots"; +upon his head, a hood falling over his eyes, several caps over this, one +of which covered the ears, and an "English bonnet" over all. "His body," +pursues the Abbé, "smells horribly, and he has always bad ulcers in the +softer portions ... and these offences could not be supported if he did +not bathe once daily in winter, twice in other seasons." Fear obliged +him to make "seventeen people always sleep in his chamber." + +Turenne, however, forced himself to gild this rather bitter pill. He +pointed out to Mademoiselle how useful it would be and for what reasons +to have a French princess on the throne of Portugal. He promised her, +knowing her special weakness, that she should be absolute mistress of +the "great and powerful army"; that the King would give it entirely +over to her by degrees. Without doubt, Alphonse VI. was a paralytic, +"but," asserted Turenne, "this does not appear when he is dressed; he +only slightly drags one leg, and is a little awkward with his arm. So +much the better, if his intelligence also is a little slow. It is not +known whether or not he has any wit; after all, it is only good form for +husbands to be gay." + +"But," replied Mademoiselle, "to be the link of a perpetual war between +France and Spain seems to me a very undesirable position." The situation +would be still worse if, as she was convinced would be the case, the two +crowns should arrive at an accommodation. + +"A truly beautiful future: to have a drunken and paralytic husband, whom +the Spaniards would chase from his kingdom, and to return to France to +demand alms, when all my wealth has been dissipated, and to remain only +the queen of some little village. It is good to be Mademoiselle in +France with five hundred thousand francs of income, and nothing to +demand of the Court. Thus placed, it is foolish to move. If the Court +becomes weariness, one can retire to one's château in the country, in +which a little private court of one's own can be held. It is very +diverting also to build new houses. Finally, as mistress of one's own +wishes one is happy, for one does what one wills." + +"But," returned Turenne, "remaining Mademoiselle, even admitting all +that you have said, you are still subject to the King. He commands what +he wills; when his wishes are refused, he scolds; a thousand +disagreeable things are felt at Court; often the King goes farther, he +chases people away. When they are content in one place, he sends them to +another. He orders journeys from one end of the kingdom to the other. +Sometimes, he imprisons recalcitrants in their own homes, or sends them +into convents, and in the end, obedience must come. What can you reply +to this?" + +"That people of your station do not menace those of mine," cried +Mademoiselle in anger; "that I know what I must do; that if the King +says anything contrary, I will see what I shall respond to him." + +She forbade Turenne to mention this affair again, and withdrew. "Five or +six days later, he again addressed me." At this time, some common +friends were present. Mademoiselle grew anxious. How far was Turenne the +authorised messenger of the King? She wrote to the latter to provoke an +explanation. No response. She confided her trouble to the Queen Mother, +who confined herself to these words: "If the King wishes this, it is a +terrible pity; he is master; as for me, I have nothing to say in the +matter." + +"I was in frightful haste," adds Mademoiselle, "that the time for the +Baths of Forges should come, and that I might go away." The season +arrived. It was needful to take leave of the King. She wished to have +the Court plainly understand her intention: "'Sire, if your Majesty is +thinking of my establishment, here is M. de Béziers, who will go to +Turin; he can negotiate my marriage with M. de Savoie.'--'I will think +of you when it suits me, and marry you when it will be of service to +me,' in a dry tone which much frightened me. After this, he saluted me +very coldly, and I went away and I took my waters." + +Mademoiselle had the imprudence both to talk and write. Bussy-Rabutin +even pretends that "she had written a letter to the King of Spain, which +was intercepted," suggesting a fête in his neighbourhood; but this is +difficult to believe, however inconsiderate Mademoiselle sometimes was. + +From Forges, Mademoiselle went to the Château d'Eu, which she had bought +a short time before. It was at this place, October 15, 1662, that she +received from the King commands to return to Saint-Fargeau, "until new +orders." Upon the route she met letters from every one. + +To be banished for having refused to marry Alphonse VI.,--the country +was not yet ready for these consequences of the new régime. It was soon +known that Mademoiselle had ordered from Paris "needles, canvas, and +silk," as if she expected to have on her hands plenty of spare time. But +if affairs remained at this point, she was not paying too dearly for the +pleasure of escaping being made Queen of Portugal. This was her own +opinion, and she became very amiable. + + * * * * * + +The departure of Mademoiselle did not leave a large vacuum in the young +Court; there was at the official ceremonies one princess the less, and +this was all. For the new generation had passed with the King to the +front ranks; the Grande Mademoiselle was now only the "old +Mademoiselle," as Abbé de Choisy called her. The youthful loves and the +pleasures belonging to twenty years had nothing to do with her, nor, +what is more, with the Queen Mother, who had in old age become a +preacher, and who now belonged to the "dévots" grouped under her +protection. + +Molière by his impiety scandalised these pious people who considered it +wicked for the King to have mistresses. + +The question still waiting to be solved was, on which side the master +would definitely range himself. For the moment, Louis XIV. leaned very +strongly towards the friends of good-nature and of his joyous freedom. +Would he be gained over by these? Would the logic of events and ideas +lead him to shake off the trammel of religious practices, then that of +belief, in the fashion of Hugues de Lionne, of the Bussy-Rabutins, of +the Guiche, of the Roquelaure, of the Vardes, and a hundred other +"Libertins," who only saw in the practices of religion a collection of +silly tricks? The obtaining an answer to this query was really the +important affair of the year 1662, a much more serious interest than any +preoccupation in regard to the chronicle of the doings at the Luxembourg +or at Saint-Fargeau. + +The young Queen was anxious; she scented danger, but she knew only how +to groan and weep, without comprehending that red eyes and a grumbling +tone were not the best attractions for retaining a husband. She had not +even the consolation of being pitied, having only made the one friend, +Anne of Austria, who in default of something better, forced herself to +preserve some illusions upon the melancholy of the little Queen's +destiny. + +It would have been hard to find a better creature than Marie-Thérèse, +fresh and round, who leapt with joy the day following her marriage, and +related ingenuously to Mme. de Motteville her little romance. +Marie-Thérèse had always remembered that her mother,[122] who died when +she was only six, had repeated that she desired to see her Queen of +France; that this was the only possible happiness, or, if not attained, +nothing remained but a convent. The little Princess had grown up with +the thought of France. Louis XIV. had been the _Prince Charmant_ of her +infant dreams. When she knew that a French lord came "post haste" to +demand her hand for his master, it seemed to her entirely natural. She +had spied from a window the arrival of M. de Gramont.[123] He had passed +by very quickly, followed by many other Frenchmen, decorated with gold +and silver, and covered with feathers and ribbons of all colours. One +might have said, "a _parterre_ of flowers, bearing the royal demand," +related the young Queen, becoming poetical for the first and last time +in her life. + +Once married, Marie-Thérèse had demanded of her husband the promise that +they should never be separated, either by day or night, if it possibly +could be avoided. Louis XIV. promised and kept his word, but it was a +useless precaution. + +According to Mme. de Motteville and Mme. de Maintenon,[124] the Queen +did not know how to conduct herself toward her husband. She was stupid +in her manner of showing her devotion; if the King wanted her, she would +refuse to sacrifice a prayer in order to be with him. She had also an +"ill-directed" jealousy; if the King did not desire her company, she did +not sufficiently distinguish, in her complaints, against those who wiled +him away, between Mlle. de La Vallière and the Council of Ministers. Her +ill temper was discouraging. If the King led her with him, she +complained of everything; if he did not, there were floods of tears. If +the dinner was not to her taste she sulked; if it pleased her, tormented +herself: "Everything will be eaten, nothing will be left for me." "And +the King jeered at her," added Mademoiselle, having the honour, +through her birth, of being often found amongst those who "eat +everything." + +[Illustration: =HÉLÈNE LAMBERT, MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE= After the painting +by De Largillière] + +Marie-Thérèse was good, generous, virtue itself, she had a violent +passion for her husband, and with all this she was a person to be +avoided. Mme. de Maintenon summed up the situation in saying that "the +Queen knew how to love but not how to please; the reverse of the King, +who possessed qualities for pleasing all, without being capable of a +strong affection. All women except his own wife were agreeable to him." + +Free-thinkers and debauchees did not have to consider Marie-Thérèse; she +had not a shadow of influence over her husband. For different reasons, +neither Monsieur, the brother of the King, nor the wife of Monsieur were +any obstacles. Much has been said of the seductive power of Mme. +Henrietta of England[125]; of her irresistible grace, her delicate +beauty, and her special charm. These characteristics, very rare with a +great princess, had proved of great value during her youth of +humiliating poverty, when she was reduced to living as a "private +person." She had then met with "all celebrities, all civility, and all +humanity, even upon ordinary conditions,[126] and nothing perhaps had +contributed more to make her love men and adore women." Her faults were +great, but they were not weighed against her, on account of that gift of +pleasing which was in her and which circumstances had developed. Madame +was a hidden evil influence, and an openly dangerous one. She could +become the centre of low Court intrigues, without losing, or even +risking, the loss of her empire over hearts. To this first good fortune +was united that of having Bossuet to shelter her memory. + +Henrietta of England has traversed "centuries protected by his +[Bossuet's] funeral oration," as she passed through her life protected +by the fascination with which nature endows certain women, by no means +always the best ones. + +Monsieur since our last encounter with him had not improved. He had, as +might be said, publicly and without shame, established himself in vice, +and in vice of the worst kind. Marriage had done nothing for him. "The +miracle of inflaming the heart of this prince," discreetly explains Mme. +de La Fayette, "was reserved for no woman belonging to the social +world."[127] Delivered over to a crowd of very exacting favourites who +never left him a moment free from domestic complications, Monsieur had, +according to the expressive word of his mother, become indisputably an +intriguer. Between Madame and himself, their court was a place of +inconceivable agitation, a sink of lies and calumnies, of small +perfidies, and little treasons, which make one sick, even when related +by Mme. de La Fayette. + +Truly, I hardly know whether or not in writing her _Histoire de Madame +Henriette_ this latter has rendered a service to her dear Princess. +With the exception of the first pages, before the marriage, and of the +beautiful death scene at the end, the rest is a tissue of nothings so +contemptible in every respect that the book falls from one's hands: and +this is all that the author of the _Princesse de Clèves_ has found to +say about a person so prominent; of a sister-in-law to whom Louis XIV. +confided political secrets and whom he loved almost _too_ dearly. + +Among all the personages belonging to the royal family, the Libertins +had only to consider the Queen Mother, their declared enemy, and the +King himself, as yet too reserved for it to be divined how he +contemplated accommodating pleasure and religion. It had not taken long +to perceive that he would not restrain himself in pleasure. He was +married, June 9, 1660. A year later commenced the series of mistresses +imposed upon the royal household and upon France, they and their +children, in a fashion which recalls Oriental polygamy rather than the +manners of the Occident. Louis XIV. had felt himself incapable of a +virtuous life. One day, when his mother, profiting by the tenderness +awakened by a reconciliation--they had not spoken for some time to each +other--represented the scandal of his liaison with Mlle. de La Vallière, +he responded cordially with tears of grief which proceeded from the +bottom of his heart, where were still some remains of his former +piety,--"that he knew his wrong; that he felt sometimes the pain and +shame of it; that he had tried his best not to offend God and not to +yield to his passions, but he was forced to confess that they were +stronger than his reason, that he could not resist their violence, and +that he no longer felt any desire so to do."[128] + +This conversation took place in July, 1664. The following autumn, the +King having found the Queen, his wife, in tears in her oratoire on +account of a too-well founded jealousy, he gave her the hope of finding +him at thirty "a good husband,"--a somewhat cynical suggestion. + +He not only had "violent passions," but he had not discovered any +reasons for restraining himself in regard to women. One reads in his +_Mémoires_, which were written for the dauphin to see, a passage worthy +of Lord Chesterfield, in which he gives his son his ideas upon the +subject of kings' mistresses. + +The page referred to relates to the year 1667, in which commenced the +war of the _Dévolution_:[129] + + Before departing for the army, I sent an edict to Parliament. I + raised to a Duchy the territory of Vaujours in favour of Mlle. + de La Vallière and recognised a daughter of mine by her. For, + resolving in accompanying the army not to remain apart from + possible perils, I thought it just to assure to the child the + honour of her birth, and to give to her mother an establishment + suitable to the affection which since her sixth year I had felt + for her. I might have done well not to mention this attachment, + the example of which is not good to follow; but having drawn + much instruction from the failings + of others, I have not wished to deprive you of the lessons you may + learn from mine. + +[Illustration: =LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE= From the engraving by Flameng +after the painting by Petitot] [Blank Page] + +The first instruction to draw from his failings was that it was not +needful to waste time on women; "that the time devoted to love should +never be taken to the prejudice of other duties." The second +consideration was that in abandoning the heart it was necessary to +remain absolute master of one's mind: that the tenderness of a lover +should be separated from the resolutions of a sovereign; that the fair +one who gives pleasure should never be permitted to speak of affairs, or +of those who serve us, and that the two portions of life should be kept +entirely apart. "You will remember how I have warned you on various +occasions of the harmful influence of favourites; that of a mistress is +still more dangerous." + +Louis XIV. insisted at length upon the mental weakness which makes women +dangerous. He had studied them from an intimate point of view, and he +judged "these animals" almost as did Arnolphe. "They are," said he to +the Dauphin, "eloquent in their expressions, pressing in their prayers, +obstinate in their sentiments. No secret can be safe with them. They +always act with calculation, and consequently use 'cunning and +artifice.' However much it may cost to a loving heart, a Prince cannot +take too many 'precautions' with his mistresses. This is a duty imposed +upon him by the throne itself." + +Poor La Vallière, so disinterested, so little of an intriguer! What +grief if she had read these cruel pages! + +The counsels we have just read are very politic, very prudent; they have +nothing to do with either morality or religion. The royal _Mémoires_, in +another part indeed, add that "the Prince should always be a perfect +model of virtue," and also that it is a Christian duty to abstain from +all illicit commerce, "which is _almost never innocent_." + +As a matter of fact, Louis XIV. had not extracted much in regard to +moral discipline from a cult of which he knew only the forms. During his +infancy, his mother had reserved to herself his religious education. She +had led him at an early age into the churches, where she passed a +portion of each day, and she had communicated to him a little of her +narrow and mechanical piety. Louis XIV. never understood any other kind. +He knew his catechism but little better than his Latin grammar. This +ignorance was, perhaps, aggravated by the fact of his realising the need +of a knowledge of Latin in order to read diplomatic despatches, while he +could see no use whatever in knowing the facts of religion. + +He never changed in this respect; Mme. de Maintenon herself made vain +efforts. The second Madame, La Palatine, did not succeed better. She +wrote: "If he only believed that he should listen to his confessor and +recite his _Pater Noster_, all would go well and his devotion would be +perfect."[130] + +Holding these ideas, the King was very vexed, deified as he was by a +crowd of adulators, to meet among his subjects men sufficiently bold to +blame his conduct and to frankly tell him so. Some prelates showed +severity. It belonged to their profession to do so. But that courtiers, +and even, as it was related, a simple bourgeois of Paris, should dare to +address remonstrances to their sovereign,--this could not be +tolerated,--especially as their reproaches excited his mother against +him,--at the risk of an embroilment, which in fact occurred. + +As good politics, if for no other reason, Louis XIV. was resolved not to +permit any interference in his affairs. He felt somewhat vaguely that +all these people were uniting to teach him a lesson. He suspected a +considerable organised force behind this _Cabale des Dévots_, who +represented austerity at Court, and whom the Libertins of the Louvre +ridiculed. + +We know this organised force. We have seen it at work in a former +chapter under the name of _The Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, when it +was engaged with Vincent de Paul in the great charitable undertakings of +the century.[131] The malevolent nickname of _Cabale des Dévots_ had +been given, towards the year 1658, by the many who abominated the +society without knowing its true title or its organisation, simply +because it disturbed the course of their own existence. + +Since the date at which we last saw the organisation at work, the +management had been offering the same mixture of good and evil. + +Everything that it had done for the relief of the poor, the prisoners, +the galley slaves, and other miserable beings, to protect them against +abuse and tyranny, and to raise them morally, had been above all praise; +as had also its efforts to assure a certain amount of decency in the +streets, or to combat in the higher classes the two curses of the time, +duels and gambling. As much cannot be said of the narrow and fanatical +opinions which rendered it a persecutor and police agent, of its taste +for spying or accusing, of its barbarity in regard to heretics and men +of genius. It easily became dangerous and malignant, and it was +difficult to find defence against this occult power which had "eyes and +ears everywhere." Mazarin, whom it secretly tormented through anonymous +letters, had sought and pursued it with eagerness, and during the last +months of his life the society was forced to hide itself. After the +death of the Cardinal, the _Compagnie_ again put itself in motion, and +it is evident that it had regained confidence, for with only the Queen +Mother for its friend it dared to attack the King. + +At this epoch, Anne of Austria is a very interesting person. The +_Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_ had become a political party since it +tried to make sure of the King, and if it had succeeded, the history of +the entire reign would have been altered. Delivered to its influence, +the State would not have delayed until the Great Revolution to trouble +its conscience about the duties towards the people at large. + +The imprudence of the conduct of the society towards the King, and his +indiscretions, gave the game to the Libertins. They did not despair, +considering the discontent of the King, of attracting him to themselves, +to their incredulity, their lack of docility towards religious belief, +and in truth, without going to the point of regretting their final +check, we can hardly be sorry that this "routine intelligence" should +have received a slight shock. + +The mind of Louis XIV., so remarkable for its justice and solidity, was +the opposite of the modern mind in its total absence of curiosity and in +the difficulty of changing its point of view. The King had need of +skeptical reading. As he never read, the assaults of the Libertins +rendered him the service of slightly moving his ideas; they deranged him +in his habits of mechanical practices. + +Olivier d'Ormesson, who was of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, +wrote, after the Pentecost of 1664, "that the King had not performed his +devotions at the fête, and that Monsieur having demanded if he intended +to 'practice,' he had replied that he was no longer going to be a +hypocrite like himself, who was confessing only to please the Queen +Mother."[132] + +The conscience of the King was passing through a crisis; every one felt +this. In the presence of an event of such importance, the misfortunes +of the Grande Mademoiselle, already but little in the thoughts of the +rising generation, completely lost interest. Everything was forgotten. + +During the first months of her exile, Mademoiselle was occupied in +opposing the King. Louis XIV. had not abandoned the idea of marrying her +to Alphonse VI., and Turenne was endeavouring to make her "reasonable," +from which resulted an "interchange of letters" and of official visits +which had the good side of breaking the monotony at Saint-Fargeau. This +time, the life there was very dull. The old animation had not returned. +Too proud to avow it, Mademoiselle expressed herself cheerfully in her +letters. On November 9, 1662, she wrote to Bussy-Rabutin: "I believe +that the sojourn which I shall make here will be longer than you desire. +If I were not afraid of appearing too indifferent, I should say that I +care but little. Perhaps this would be true; but it is not well to +always speak the truth."[133] + +Her _Mémoires_ are more sincere. She relates that at the end of five +months, she wrote to the King that she should die if she remained +longer; that it was an unhealthy place on account of the marshes by +which the château was surrounded; that she "did not believe herself to +have done anything which merited death, and such a death, ... and if he +wished her to make a long penitence for the crimes which she had _not_ +committed, she supplicated him to permit her to go to Eu." Louis XIV. +permitted Eu, but made Mademoiselle understand that he had not renounced +the project of marriage with the King of Portugal, and that he hoped to +lead her, through his kindness, "to the sentiments she should have." She +did not delay to discuss the matter. "I departed at once and quitted +Saint-Fargeau without regret." This was a final adieu. + +Mademoiselle had just bought the Comté d'Eu, under circumstances which +show how the landed and manorial estates of the ancient régime, which +from a distance appear so solid, were in reality held by the most +fragile tenure and at the mercy of any accident. The Comté d'Eu was the +property of the illustrious and powerful family of Guise. In 1654, the +proprietor of the moment, Louis de Lorraine, duc de Joyeuse, was killed +at the siege of Arras, leaving an only son of youthful age, Louis Joseph +de Lorraine, Prince de Joinville. This child had for guardian his aunt, +Mlle. de Guise, an intelligent and important person, the oracle of the +family, says Saint-Simon. He had also two other guardians, one of whom, +Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de Montresor, had secretly married Mlle. de +Guise. These three guardians soon perceived that they were powerless to +defend the interests confided to them. The Comté d'Eu was burdened with +two million francs of debt, a figure which would not have led to +disaster if the Duc de Joyeuse had been there to make his rights +respected and to reclaim his share of the monarchical manna; such as +pensions, gratifications of the King, benefices, governments, Court +charges. But he was dead, and the property of the minor had been put to +the quarry, by the people of affairs on the one hand, and the Norman +peasants on the other. Against these business sharks, the guardians were +obliged, after years of struggle, to invoke the aid of Parliament. They +addressed a petition[134] in which they stated that their ward, because +he was a child "destitute of the powerful means" which his father would +have possessed, had become the victim of usurers and rogues. The two +million debt of the Comté d'Eu had been largely bought up by artificial +and suspicious creditors, with whom it was impossible to arrive at any +settlement. + +These fishers in troubled waters had brought the disorder to its height +in practising seizures. The entire revenue was exhausted by expenses. +The guardians besought Parliament to extricate them from this slough in +ordering a replevin "of all the seizures and judgments, and in according +that there should be a reprieve from all prosecutions and executions +against them during two years." They hoped with this respite to arrive +at a general liquidation. + +Against the Norman peasants no one saw anything to do but quickly to +outwit them through the sale of the Comté d'Eu to a master capable of +overawing them. The difficulty, under the conditions in France at that +time, was to find a person of quality able to dispose of several +millions. + +Mademoiselle, who always had money, had at once been thought of. At +first, she was too occupied in fighting her father, but the idea struck +her favourably, and as soon as her hands were free she remembered the +suggestion. The bargain was concluded in 1657. This affair did not suit +the pettifoggers. There were so many opposing clauses, so many legal +complications, so many lawsuits, and so many decrees needed in order to +place Mademoiselle in power, and to make it possible for her to possess +Eu in due form, that years rolled by, as the petition of the two +guardians testifies, before the peasants of Eu were deranged in their +work of moles. During the delay, they had continued to devour the +substance of the princely orphan, aided it must be said by other Normans +not peasants, who did not show themselves more scrupulous or less +avaricious. + +How both gentles and peasants acted can be exactly known through the +Archives of Eu. At the time of the guardian petition, Mademoiselle had +sent one of her men to take account of the state of affairs. + +The report of the agent, completed by other business papers,[135] +establishes that the Comté of Eu drew more than half its revenue from +its forest. This forest, which still exists, contains from ten to eleven +thousand acres,[136] is eight to nine leagues long, and should have been +formed of trees of all ages, if the inhabitants had not worked so +industriously that it was difficult to find a "piece of timber." It was, +at the date of which we are speaking, only underwood, and often only +scrub bushes, on account of the cattle which "damaged it." The entire +neigbourhood had contributed to this extraordinary destruction of a +forest of eight leagues. + +The inhabitants of twenty villages, several abbeys, gentlemen, priests, +simple private people had come, under pretext of "ancient rights," to +take the wood as if it belonged to them. The guards of the forest and +their relatives and friends had likewise helped themselves. The +officials of the domain had cut, wrongly or rightly, what the public had +left, and to complete the ruin of the woods, every one had sent cows or +pigs to run through the young bushes. + +The agent of Mademoiselle concluded that it was absolutely needful to +stop this pillage, or even "fifty thousand francs' worth of wood could +never be secured annually." He pointed out other abuses; in the absence +of a firm hand the nature of seignorial privilege rendered these +inevitable. I have myself seen many tables of the revenues of the Comté +Eu in the seventeenth century. The frauds must have been easy and +tempting, the collecting of imposts most costly. One notes a payment +due at Christmas, in money and material, by inhabitants, possessors of +any real estate, "house or hovel," field or garden: + + "Francis Guignon of the village of Cyrel owes 40 sols 2 capons, + on account of a house in the said Cyrel." "François de Buc ... + owes 8 sols a third of a capon, on account of a house." + "Guillaume Fumechon ... owes 43 sols and 2 capons on account of + half an acre of land." "The heirs of Jean Dree owe 8 sols and + the half of a capon." "Jean Rose 31 sols, 2 fowls and 11 eggs, + on account of meadow lands." "The Sieur de Saint-Igny of Mesnil + at Caux owes 4 francs 9 sols, 10 bushels of wheat and the same + quantity of oats." "Alizon owes 3 sols, 6 deniers and one third + of a capon." A cultivator owes "78 quarts of wheat, 15 bushels + of oats and a fowl." Another "2 bushels 1 quart of oats and a + quarter of a goose." Another "5 quarters of a goose," + +and so on through 350 folio pages. + +The impost called "_du travers_" was enforced upon merchandise entering +Eu by the gate of Picardy. So much was paid by chariot or loaded horse. +Butchers paid for "every head of cattle, sow, or pig, one denier, for +each white beast, an obole"; vendors of fish for each basket borne upon +the arm, "2 deniers"; furriers for each skin, an obole. + +Then comes the impost "upon the 'old clothes,' or 'dyed materials' for +which is due for every bed sold in the city of Eu, new or old, 4 +deniers; and for each robe, doublet, or pair of stockings, or any other +article for the use of man or woman, when sold, 1 denier." + +The linen merchant also owed one denier, upon pain of amend, for each +cut sold. There was levied a tax upon the measuring of grain and the +weighing of merchandise. The mills were the property of the Lord of Eu, +and grinding was not permitted except for him. The agent of Mademoiselle +recommended the enforcing of this, which had been neglected, with the +result of diminished revenue. + +The fishers of Tréport paid 500 herrings at each drawing of the nets; +outsiders who came to fish in the Tréport, 100 herrings. All stray +animals not reclaimed before one year belonged to the Lord of Eu, and +all royal fish, like sturgeons, whales, porpoises, 8 "_oues de mer_," +and other large fish. + +This is not all, but it is sufficient to explain the rapidity with which +the revenue of a seignorial property melted away when the master was not +there to make the little world afraid, to solicit judges, in case of +lawsuits, according to the usage, and to apply to the King in need, for +an important person, having, according to the popular expression, "the +long arm." + +Both evil and possible remedy were known. The deplorable state in which +affairs had been found had not at all disturbed the agent of +Mademoiselle. Knowing his mistress, he did not doubt that she would get +the better of the Normans, and he predicted success. "When everything is +put in order," said he, "(as appears will easily be accomplished) the +Comté of Eu will be a profitable estate yielding a great revenue." The +use of the word "easily" was a slight exaggeration. The Comté of Eu was +finally "adjudged" to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, by "decree" of the +Parliament of Paris, August 20, 1660, for the sum of 2,550,000 francs. +She undertook at once to save the remnants of the forest and found the +population leagued against her to guard its prey. + +At the end of six months, Mademoiselle felt that she was hardly strong +enough for the task, and addressed herself to the King.[137] She +explained to him that for the surveillance of her forest she had +established a numerous guard which "cost much to support," but that the +inhabitants had + + formed the habit of entering boldly into the said forest and of + committing all sorts of misdemeanours, boasting that they would + continue so to do; that they had just killed with a gun shot in + his stomach, one of her guards for having tried to prevent a + theft of wood; that they were threatening others to have them + appointed collectors of imposts, which would leave them no time + to guard; that they taxed them as peasants, also with other + impositions; that, in one word, the best was done to render the + position of guard untenable. + +Mademoiselle consequently begged the King that he would particularly +forbid the inhabitants to carry arms or to have them in their homes, +and, on the other hand, that he would permit her guards to be armed. She +reclaimed for them also certain privileges which would enable them to +punish delinquents. Louis XIV. accorded all, and it proved possible to +stop the depredations. On the death of Mademoiselle, the forest of Eu +was again filled with full-grown trees. + +As to suppressing the "rights," it was useless to be first cousin to the +King; this could not be accomplished. All that could be done was to +prevent these rights multiplying and to limit as far as practicable +their exactions. Between the possessors of these "rights" and the +proprietor, there was a chronic state of hostility. + +There still exist special "rights" in France; every one can for himself +observe the inconvenience of the system. The only one of those +interested who derived no profits from the game was the little Prince de +Joinville, his creditors having continued their man[oe]uvres to avoid +any settlement. + +On March 27, 1661, the Parliament of Paris rendered a decree which +obliged them to accept payment. Eight years had elapsed since the death +of the Duc de Joyeuse. The budget of debts had reached the sum of two +millions of francs.[138] When all was finally settled, instead of having +a balance for their ward, the guardians found themselves in face of a +deficit of more than 150,000 francs. + +We have already seen how Gaston, in his position as chief of the House, +had boldly pillaged the fortune of his minor daughter. In the present +case, on the contrary, it was the loss of the father which had given +opportunity for the spoliation of a child. Mazarin had left Gaston +alone as a punishment to Mademoiselle for her conduct during the Fronde. +Louis XIV. seems to have taken little interest in the offshoot of the +turbulent and ambitious family of Guise. In both cases, the favourable +or unfavourable attitude of royalty had decided the issue of an affair +of money. + +Mademoiselle took official possession of Eu on August 24, 1661. An entry +such as she loved had been arranged, with procession, banners, Venetian +lanterns, speeches, musket salutes, and the firing of cannon from all +the artillery in the city[139]--one dozen pieces of cannon and forty +_boëtes_ upon the ramparts and eight cannon and forty _boëtes_ upon the +terrace of the château. Mademoiselle returned the following year, but +only actually installed herself at Eu in 1663 after having obtained +permission to leave Saint-Fargeau: "I am resolved to pass my winter +here, without any chagrin at the thought." She watched her workmen, +walked a great deal, and busied herself in the domestic offices. She +also received visits: "There were many provincial people, reasonable +enough; a number of persons of rank; but my heart was heavy. Comedians +came to offer themselves; but I was in no humour for them. I began to be +discouraged. I read; I worked; days were occupied in writing; all these +things made the time pass insensibly." + +This page of the _Mémoires_ permits a glimpse of a rather restricted +life. A letter from Mademoiselle to Bussy-Rabutin confirms and +accentuates the impression: + + EU, November 28, 1663. + + Here is the single response to your letters. I claim that you + should write four to my one, and I believe that this will be + better for you; for what can one send from a desert like this, + in which one sees no one all winter, the roads being + impracticable for people from a distance, from Paris for + instance, and the winds being so strong on the plains through + which neighbours must pass that the north-west wind is feared + by all as a furious beast. + +The situation of the Château d'Eu is melancholy enough, the sea wind +truly "ferocious" in the environs. The gazettes from Paris were filled +with descriptions of fêtes and visions of glory, which contrasted with +the mediocrity of a provincial court. Mademoiselle had in vain decided +not to be bored. She discovered that she, like the rest of France, had +no life far from the King; there was nothing left but shadow. + +In the memorable conversation in which Louis XIV. avowed to his mother +that he was no longer master of his passions, Anne of Austria had warned +him that he was "too intoxicated with his own grandeur."[140] She spoke +truly; the infatuation had been rapid. The excuse for the King was the +fact that the entire world shared in his self-admiration. It is not our +plan to give any account of the internal government, or of diplomatic +action, which relates to the early attempts of Louis XIV., so +fruitful in great results and so glorious for himself. We limit +ourselves to stating the fact. The superiority of France is manifested +in the first contact with England and Spain, and was not less clearly +felt on the other side of the Rhine. Louis, says a German historian, +possessed an influence in the German Empire, at least in its western +portions, equal if not superior to the authority of the Emperor.[141] + +Strangers were almost always struck by the solicitude of his government +for artisans and commercial people. + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT= After the painting by Champaign] + +Without doubt, sentimental reasons did not count for much; when Colbert +forbade the collectors of taxes to take the cattle from the labourers, +he was simply applying in the name of the King the principles of a good +business man who considers his debtor. But the benefit was no less +great. From whatever point of view one looked, France gave to other +nations the impression of a progressive people. It was recognised that +she had taken the position of head of Europe. The country at large felt +this. It very justly considered this upward flight due to the personal +efforts of its young King, and was grateful for his enormous labour. + +Louis well understood this. It was a "party cry" to insist on all +occasions upon the trouble which he took in his "trade of King" and the +great fatigues which he endured for the public good. The _Gazette_, as +an official journal, never failed to emphasise this. Every event was +coloured to this end. + +Apropos of a trip of eight days, the journal wrote[142]: "This Prince, +as indefatigable as Hercules in his labours," etc. It justified the +royal ballets, which were most costly, by the excuse of the excessive +brain work of the chief of state. + +"On the eighth [January, 1663], the King, wearied with the pains with +which His Majesty works so indefatigably for the welfare of his +subjects, enjoyed in the palace of the Cardinal the diversion of a +ballet of seven acts, called the _Ballet des Arts_." + +Louis XIV. danced in the _Ballet des Arts_ three times; Mlles. de +Vallière, de Sévigné, and de Mortemart had a lively success in it; the +latter was on the eve of becoming Mme. de Montespan.[143] The accounts +of the representations of the new ballet alternate in the _Gazette_ with +the funeral ceremonies in honour of a daughter of the King and Queen, +who died at six weeks of age on December 30th. + +Louis XIV. had wept over his loss with that superficial sensibility in +which he resembles, strange as it seems, the philosophers of the +seventeenth century. He could have given points to Diderot in regard to +the facility of pouring out torrents of tears, and he often astonished +the Court by his emotion. He deceived the Queen from morning till +evening, and he cried to see her weep when he quitted her. He brought +forth crocodile tears for the death of his father-in-law.[144] In a turn +of the hand, again like Diderot, he forgot his existence, and lost on +his account neither a step in the dance nor a _galant rendezvous_. + +[Illustration: ="PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SCENE ON THE +FIRST DAY OF THE PLAY, BEFORE THE KING AT VERSAILLES= From the engraving +by Israel Silvestre +] + +To the ballet succeeded other "relaxations," and it is curious to see +the _Gazette_ taking the pains to explain that the King had well earned +a simple trip for pleasure (April 7, 1663): "This week the King, in +order to gain some relief from the continual application for the +establishing the felicity of his subjects, has enjoyed the diversion of +a little journey to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and to Versailles." + +The mundane chronicles[145] falling into line, Louis XIV. saw his +"glory" as a great worker ascending into the clouds, together with his +"glory" as a man of war, and in one word as "universal hero." He could +not even exercise his musketeers without the _Gazette's_ issuing an +extra leaf upon the "admiration of all spectators."[146] + +All France struck the same note. When he went to take possession of +Dunkerque,[147] he passed before a plaster Olympus, fabricated for the +occasion. "He witnessed Neptune, who respectfully lowered his trident; +the spirits of the Earth and Sea prostrated before this mighty +Prince"--that is to say, himself, and he permitted his official journal +to regale the country with these follies; it was clear in his eyes that +Neptune and his Court only did their duty. Every one was prepared to +deify him, and he received this homage with pleasure. This atmosphere of +worship was very harmful to a man born with much good sense and with +many superior parts. The brilliancy of his Court, for which he was +considered responsible, contributed also to the general dazzle. + +The surging crowd of twenty years later did not yet exist, when the +Château of Versailles was finished, and Louis XIV. held his nobility +lodged under his own hand,[148] only moving from his side to make a +campaign. The young Court was only numerous at intervals. It will +shortly be seen how much it had increased in May, 1664. On the 27th of +the following month, the Duc d'Enghien wrote from Fontainebleau: "There +are almost no women here, and but few men. Never has the Court been so +small."[149] On August 16th, also at Fontainebleau, the Queen Mother gave +a ball; she had only sixteen ladies and as many men.[150] In October, +the Court is at Paris, and the King gives a fête: "The ball was not +fine," writes the grand Condé, "the greater number of the ladies +being still in the country. In all Paris, only fourteen could be +found."[151] + +[Illustration: ="PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SECOND DAY= +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre] + +During these first years, the nobility was not yet encouraged to leave +all, to come to live under the shadow of the throne. Those having +provincial charges "obtained with difficulty leave of absence."[152] +Those lacking money to appear with fitting magnificence had little aid +to expect from royalty; the shower of gold did not begin to fall until +later, and Louis XIV. even passed for being close-fisted. + +"Besides his natural temperament," said Condé, "which is not given to +lavishness, he is held back by M. Colbert, who is still less given to +spending, particularly when he is not persuaded of the advantage of the +affair for which money must be scattered."[153] It is well known that +Colbert did not love waste; but he did know how to be liberal, even for +expenses of luxury. No one was more convinced of the advantage of +display for a sovereign, and he spared neither pains nor state pennies +in making the grand festivals with which his master entertained the +Court and city, unrivalled in Europe. And they were unparalleled, +especially in the early years when tastes, like everything else, were +young. Even the faults, by which perhaps the tastes were benefited, were +youthful. + +What is called impulse with the very young man takes the name of vice +with the mature, and, whatever may be said, the one is much uglier than +the other. + +Louis XIV. was only twenty-three when he fell in love with Mlle. de La +Vallière, and the festivities which he offered in her honour expressed +this freshness. There were exquisite fairy scenes with the light +decorations of flowers and leaves. The most famous, on account of +Molière's partial authorship, was called the _Plaisirs de l'Ile +enchantée_, which was given at Versailles in May, 1664. It lasted three +days, and was prolonged three days more, in spite of the great number of +invitations and the difficulties occasioned by the immense crowd. The +Court, says a "Relation,"[154] arrived the fifth of May, and the King +entertained till the fourteenth six hundred guests, beside a quantity of +people needed for the dance and comedy, and of artisans of all sorts +from Paris, so numerous that it appeared a small army. + +All now known of Versailles must be forgotten if we wish to picture it +in 1664. Versailles was then a small village surrounded on three sides +by fields and marshes.[155] The fourth side was occupied by a château +which would have been spacious for a private person, but which meant +little for a court; a few dependencies; the beginning of a garden +planted by Le Nôtre. That was all. + +[Illustration: =GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES= From the +engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664] + +Colbert considered Versailles already too large, as soon as Louis XIV. +decided to offer anything more to his guests than the four walls of +their chambers. It will be remembered[156] that when Mademoiselle came +to Saint-Germain to visit the Queen Mother she brought her own furniture +and cook. Not even food was provided. This was the general rule. + +Louis XIV. aspired to great hospitality, and commenced his reform at +Versailles. "What is very peculiar in this house," wrote Colbert in +1663, "is that his Majesty has desired all apartments given to guests to +be furnished. He also orders every one to be fed and provided with all +necessities, even to the wood and candles in the chambers, which has +never been the custom in royal establishments." + +Colbert was evidently in a bad humour. There were, however, but few +apartments to offer in the Château of Versailles; the 600 guests soon +perceived this fact themselves. + +The journal of Olivier d'Ormesson contains on the date of May 13 the +following lines: "This same day, Mme. de Sévigné has related to us the +diversions of Versailles, which have lasted from Wednesday till +Sunday[157]: courses of bague, ballets, comedies, fireworks, and other +beautiful inventions; but all the courtiers were enraged, for the King +took no care of them, and Monsieurs de Guise and d'Elbeuf could hardly +find a hole in which to shelter themselves." It is to be noted that the +Duc de Guise must costume himself and all his lackeys. + +The thême of the fête had been drawn from _Roland furieux_, and had been +made to accord with up-to-date episodes, by a courtier expert in this +kind of work, the Duc de Saint-Aignan. During three days and three +nights, a volunteer company, composed of Louis XIV., Molière, and the +greatest nobles of France, with the prettiest actresses of Paris, +embellished the imaginations of Ariosto, in the presence of two queens +and of an immense Court which seemed, says the _Gazette_, to have +"exhausted the Indies"[158] in order to cover itself with precious +stones. Halls of verdure, arches of flowers, and the vault of heaven +formed the frame in which deployed the mythological processions, the +games of chivalry, the ballets, the festivities for the "little army," +and the first two representations of Molière, of which one was to be the +striking literary event of the century. In the evening, lamps hung upon +the trees were lighted and the fête continued during the night. Gentle +and tender music softened this apotheosis of love, of which the +heroine--and this gave an added charm--remained hidden in the crowd; +Louise de La Vallière was still neither "recognised" nor duchess. + +The first of the great days of the fête was open to all. The King of +France and the flower of the nobility as Paladins of Charlemagne, +clothed and armed "à la grecque," according to the seventeenth century +ideas of local colour, took part in a tournament before a sumptuous +assembly who, at the appearance of the master, uttered "cries of joy and +admiration."[159] + +[Illustration: =THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION= From the +engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677] + +Louis XIV. sought these exhibitions. He shone in them and attributed to +them an importance which in his _Mémoires_ he explains to his son. He +believed them very efficacious for binding together the affections of +the people, above all those of high rank, and the sovereign. The +populace have always loved spectacles, and for the nobility, the more +closely the King keeps it at Court, the more pains he must take to show +that there is no aversion between sovereign and subject, but simply a +question of reason and duty. Nothing serves better for this than +carrousels and other diversions of the same nature: "This society of +pleasure, which gives to the courtiers an honest familiarity with us, +touches and charms them more than can be told." + +The partakers in the "Tournament" of 1664 had in reality been very proud +of the honour done them. They appeared covered with gold, silver, and +jewelry, escorted by pages and gentlemen gallantly equipped. After them, +defiled allegorical chariots, personages of fable, and strange animals, +Molière as the god Pan, one of his comrades mounted upon an elephant, +another upon a camel. + +At the supper in the open air, which terminated the day, the royal table +was served by the _corps de ballet_, who, dancing and whirling bore in +the different dishes. The cavaliers of the tournament, with their +helmets covered with feathers of various colours, and wearing the +mantles of the course, stood erect behind the guests. Two hundred masks, +bearing torches of white wax illumined this admirable living picture, +worthy of the great poet who inspired it. + +The next day was occupied in giving to the two hundred guests a lesson +in natural philosophy, no longer symbolical and veiled, but clear and +direct; it was perfectly comprehended and the spectators were convinced. +The lesson was from Molière, who had written his _Princesse +d'Elide_[160] in the design well formed of "celebrating" and +"justifying" the loves of the King and La Vallière. The _Récit de +l'Aurore_ will be recalled which opens the piece. + + Dans l'âge où l'on est amiable, + Rien n'est si beau que d'aimer. + + Soupirer librement pour un amant fidèle, + Et braver ceux qui voudraient vous blâmer. + +It will also be recollected that the five acts which follow are only the +development, full of insistence, of that invitation to the ladies of the +Court not to merit the "name of cruel." After serious affairs, +innocent pleasures followed, the most applauded of which was a piece of +fireworks which embraced "the heavens, the earth, and the waters." + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIÈRE= After the painting by +Noël Coypel] + +Every one was already thinking of departure, when on Monday, May 12th, +Molière presented the first act of _Tartuffe_. + +The connivance of the King appears well established. Father Rapin +relates that the "sect of the _Dévots_" had, since the time of Mazarin, +rendered itself so insupportable by its indiscreet advice, that the +King, "in order to ridicule them, had permitted Molière to represent +them on the stage." The _Dévots_ had seen the blow coming, and did their +best to avoid it; the annals of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_ +affirm this.[161] They report that there was "strong talk" in the séance +of April 17th, in the attempt to accomplish the suppression of the +wicked comedy _Tartuffe_. + +Each member of the _Compagnie_ charged himself to speak to any friends +who had credit at Court, "begging aid in preventing its representation." +The effort was vain. _Tartuffe_ was acted. The spectators divined +without difficulty whom Molière had in view, and the _Dévots_ heard with +emotion this openly significant expression of contempt of religious +forms, in less than one week after the _Princesse d'Elide_ had thrown +its weight upon the side of questionable morals. + +From the point of view of a general principle, the two pieces naturally +followed each other; they were two chapters of the same gospel. The King +had the air of being about to pass to the enemy and of uniting himself +with the Libertins. The Cabal made a desperate effort and _Tartuffe_ was +forbidden; at the same time no one imagined that the battle was +terminated. + +An extraordinary agitation around the King might have been seen during +the weeks which followed the fêtes of Versailles. The Court at once +departed for Fontainebleau; the two parties disputed the entire summer +over the young monarch. + +Louis himself had skirmished with both. The King felt at the same time a +personal revolt against the constraints of the Church, and the need of a +politic catholicity which would sustain the practices of religion for +State reasons, because he could not do without their aid. These two +fashions of thinking can easily be accommodated together, and the King +was in train to learn how to do this. After a little delay, the +conciliation between the two points of view was completed in his mind. + +While waiting, he lived in the midst of floods of tears. The summer was +a very troubled one. + +Such events held the attention of Paris, but the poor Mademoiselle, +forgotten in the Château d'Eu, fretted so much that at length her pride +was conquered. "Upon the news of the pregnancy of the Queen," says the +_Mémoires_, "I decided to write, dreaming that perhaps the King wished +to be besought," and she abased herself to do this. She at first +expressed the hope that the child might be a son. "I exaggerated with +good faith the desire which I had, and I showed the grief I felt in +being forced to remain so long without the honour of seeing him [the +King]. I said everything I could to oblige him to permit me to return." + +She wrote at the same time to Colbert, who was considered the powerful +man of the ministry: + + EU, March 23, 1664. + + MONSIEUR COLBERT: + + In bearing testimony to the King of the joy which I have in the + pregnancy of the Queen, I am daring to command his good graces, + and the permission for an audience to ask them in person. + + I trust that you will assist me with your good offices to + obtain so precious a favour. If I cannot succeed in obtaining + this, I beg to be permitted to pass through Paris before + May,[162] having three considerable lawsuits at this date. I + look, on this occasion, for the continuation of your good + offices. + + ANNE-MARIE-LOUISE D'ORLÉANS. + +The King waited two months before responding: + + TO MY COUSIN MADEMOISELLE, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF THE + LATE MONSEIGNEUR DUC D'ORLÉANS + + MY COUSIN: + + It consoles me much to find you in the state of mind which your + letter shows. I willingly forget the past and permit you not + only to pass through Paris, but also either to dwell there, or + to choose any other place of residence which may be agreeable + to you, and even to come here in case you wish it, if you + assure me that your conduct will always give me reason for + cherishing you and for treating you properly as a personage so + nearly related. + + I thank you for the affection with which you write to me of the + Queen's pregnancy and pray, etc. + + LOUIS. + +Some days later Mademoiselle was _en route_ for Fontainebleau, well +resolved to show herself. She was transported with joy at having +recovered liberty of movement, but the Court at this time inspired her +with terror. The ground had become too slippery for a person of her +temperament, loving so much her independence and rebellious to all +discipline. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 94: "_Portrait de Mademoiselle fait par elle-même_" (Nov., +1657) in _La Galerie des Portraits de Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, +edited by Éduard de Barthélemy (Paris, 1860).] + +[Footnote 95: Mme. de Rambouillet died very aged in 1665. Her influence +ended in 1650.] + +[Footnote 96: _Le Grand Cyrus._ The greater part of the friends of Mlle. +de Scudéry are given assumed names. Mlle. Bocquet is called Agélaste.] + +[Footnote 97: Cf. _La Société française au XVII{e}. siècle_, vol., ch. +xv.] + +[Footnote 98: This is the friend of Mme. de Sévigné.] + +[Footnote 99: Sister-in-law of the preceding. She married, in 1662, +Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Jena.] + +[Footnote 100: Mademoiselle says in her _Mémoires_ that they "_had_" them +written. This is an error.] + +[Footnote 101: _La Galerie des Portraits._] + +[Footnote 102: M. de Barthélemy, editor of the _Galerie des Portraits_, +called Honorat de Bueil, marquis de Racan; born in 1589, died in 1670.] + +[Footnote 103: Or forty-six, depending upon the date of the Portrait, +1658 or 1659.] + +[Footnote 104: _L'École des Femmes_ was issued in 1662.] + +[Footnote 105: The expression is from the beautiful Marquise de Mauny, +who formed part of the little Court of Saint-Fargeau.] + +[Footnote 106: From Mme. de Sainctôt, wife of the master of ceremonies +and introducer of ambassadors under Louis XIV. She was a friend of +Voiture.] + +[Footnote 107: The others are, _Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles_, supposed +autobiography of a lady mixed up with Fronde intrigues (MS. exists in +the library of the Arsenal), and _La Relation de l'Isle imaginaire_ +(1658), badinage upon an episode in _Don Quixote_.] + +[Footnote 108: _Mémoires._ François-Timoléon de Choisy was born in 1644. +There is some question as to who was his mother.] + +[Footnote 109: Marguerite Louise d'Orléans was born July 28, 1645; +Elisabeth, called Mlle. d'Alençon, December 26, 1646; +Françoise-Madeleine, called Mlle. de Valois, October 13, 1648.] + +[Footnote 110: Born at Tours in 1644. Her father, Laurent de La Baume Le +Blanc, Seigneur de La Vallière, dying in 1654, her mother remarried +Jacques de Courtavel, marquis de Saint-Remi, maître d'hôtel de Gaston +d'Orléans.] + +[Footnote 111: Cf. _Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans_, +by Julia Cartwright (London, 1894).] + +[Footnote 112: Lady Derby was a La Trémouille. The sister-in-law to whom +the letters are addressed was the sister of Turenne.] + +[Footnote 113: Or Charles IV.; there are two methods of counting the +Dukes of Lorraine.] + +[Footnote 114: See the very curious volume by M. Rodocanachi, _Les +Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV._ The marriage of the Princess +Marguerite with the Duke of Tuscany took place April 19, 1661.] + +[Footnote 115: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 116: Par Fortin de la Hoguete (1645).] + +[Footnote 117: _L'Image du Souverain_ (1649).] + +[Footnote 118: _Mémoires pour 1667._ Ed. by Charles Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 119: Portugal had again become independent in 1640.] + +[Footnote 120: _Mémoires_ for the year 1661.] + +[Footnote 121: Mignet, _Négociations relatives à la succession +d'Espagne_.] + +[Footnote 122: Élisabeth de France, daughter of Henry IV., born in 1602. +She married Philip IV., in 1615, gave birth to Marie-Thérèse in 1638, +and died in 1644.] + +[Footnote 123: This was the Marshal de Gramont, father of the Comte de +Guiche. The "magnificence" and the "_galanterie_" of his journey to +Madrid to demand the Infanta have left lively memories.] + +[Footnote 124: _Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus_, _Mémoires de Mme. de +Motteville_, _Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon_, published by the Comte +de Haussonville and M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 125: Married on April 1, 1661, at seventeen. Monsieur +(Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans) was then twenty-one.] + +[Footnote 126: _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_, by Mme. de +La Fayette.] + +[Footnote 127: _Histoire de Madame de Henriette_, etc.] + +[Footnote 128: _Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 129: War between relations in regard to property.] + +[Footnote 130: Letter of July 9, 1749, and _passim_, in his +correspondence.] + +[Footnote 131: Cf. _La Cabale des Dévots_, by M. Raoul Allier.] + +[Footnote 132: _Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 133: _Mémoires de Bussy-Rabutin._] + +[Footnote 134: _À nos Seigneurs de Parlement._--Archives of the Château +of Eu. Mgr. le Duc d'Orléans has thrown open to me the Archives of Eu +with a liberality for which I here heartily express my gratitude.] + +[Footnote 135: _Déclaration par le Menu du Comté d'Eu_ (May 8, 1660), +and _Inventoire général du Comté d'Eu_ (July 1, 1663).] + +[Footnote 136: The Norman acre contains 81 acres and 71 _centiares._] + +[Footnote 137: Her request to the King was dated February 9, 1661 +(Archives of Eu).] + +[Footnote 138: The debts amounted exactly to 2,700,718 frs. 18 sols. +(_Liste des Créanciers_ in Archives of the Château of Eu). It will be +remembered that Mademoiselle paid for Eu 2,550,000 frs.] + +[Footnote 139: The account of the entry of Mademoiselle is in the +Archives of the Château of Eu.] + +[Footnote 140: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 141: _Histoire de France_, by Leopold Ranke.] + +[Footnote 142: _Numéro_ of September 14, 1663.] + +[Footnote 143: The marriage took place on January 28th.] + +[Footnote 144: Philippe IV. died September 17, 1665.] + +[Footnote 145: Cf. _La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés +aux Reines_, etc., by Marigny (June, 1664).] + +[Footnote 146: Number of July, 21, 1663, and _passim_.] + +[Footnote 147: Louis XIV. had bought Dunkerque from the King of England. +The city was delivered November 27, 1662. For account of the entrance of +the King, see the _Gazette_.] + +[Footnote 148: Louis XIV. was installed at Versailles, as a residence, +May 6, 1682.] + +[Footnote 149: Letter to the Queen of Poland, Marie de Gonzague +(Archives of Chantilly). The Duc d'Enghien had married, December 11, +1663, Anne de Barière, daughter of the Princess Palatine and niece of +Marie de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 150: _Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 151: Letter of October 31st to the Queen of Poland (Archives +of Chantilly).] + +[Footnote 152: Cf. _De La Vallière à Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and +André Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 153: Letter dated December 28, 1663, to the Queen of Poland +(Archives of Chantilly).] + +[Footnote 154: See the _Molière_ of the _Grands Écrivains_, v., iv.] + +[Footnote 155: See the contemporary engravings. Some reproductions will +be found in the beautiful work of M. de Nolhac, _La Création de +Versailles_.] + +[Footnote 156: See the _Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_.] + +[Footnote 157: From the 7th to the 11th of May, the first two days and +the last two not counted.] + +[Footnote 158: Number of February 3, 1663, apropos of a ball given at +the Louvre by the King on January 31st.] + +[Footnote 159: For this portion, see the _Gazette_ of May 17th, the +letters from Loret of the 10th and 17th, various _Relations du temps_, +the _Molière_ of the _Grands Écrivains_, etc.] + +[Footnote 160: _Louise de La Vallière_, by J. Lair.] + +[Footnote 161: See _La Cabale des Dévots_, by M. Raoul Allier.] + +[Footnote 162: A doubtful phrase.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love--The Corrupters of + Morals--Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence--Love in + Racine--Louis XIV. and the Nobility--The King is Polygamous. + +It was neither through compassion nor through friendship that Louis XIV. +had recalled from exile a second time his cousin Mlle. de Montpensier. +He had renounced the idea of marrying her to Alphonse VI. since she +persisted in her refusal, but he pursued the plan of giving her in +marriage "where it would be useful to his service." + +And there was reason for entertaining another project. While she was in +penitence at Eu, one of the little sisters, Mlle. de Valois, had married +the Duc de Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., and had died (January 14, +1664), at the end of some months of wedded life. The widowhood of +princes is rarely a matter of long duration. The King had immediately +arranged to offer the millions of the Grande Mademoiselle to the Duc de +Savoie, it being of first importance to bring back this territory to +France, and to recompense the King of Portugal by giving him one of the +princesses of Nemours.[163] + +The new combination was well known in the political world. One reads in +the journal of Olivier d'Ormesson on the date of June 4, 1664: "M. Le +Pelletier[164] tells me of the return of Mlle. d'Orléans, and that the +King had written to her with his own hand, permitting her to come back, +without saying anything to the Queen Mother; but this was with the +Savoie marriage in sight." Louis XIV. had not resigned himself without +effort to the idea of procuring so fine an establishment for an ancient +Frondeuse. It may be seen through a letter from the grand Condé to the +Queen of Poland that the royal rancour had yielded for reasons of State: + + Fontainebleau, June 3, 1664. + + Mademoiselle having written to the King about the pregnancy of + the Queen, his Majesty has himself responded, which is a mark + of softened feelings, and every one believes that she will + return and that his Majesty will consent to her marriage with + M. de Savoie, which up to this time he has not desired, because + he preferred that of Mlle. d'Alençon[165]: but as she is very + ugly, and as an additional distinction is badly marked with + small-pox, he has reason to believe that M. de Savoie will not + be willing to espouse her; and he fears that there may be a + question of a union with the Austrian House, and thus I + believe, in spite of his own dislikes, he will wish to hasten + the marriage of Mademoiselle which, however, is not so certain + as it appears.[166] + +There was no danger of pouts in regard to this prospective husband; +this the King well understood. Mademoiselle arrived at Fontainebleau +during the first fortnight of June, 1664. The entire Court had met her +upon the highway. + +Mademoiselle was the first to whom the King had yielded since assuming +the reins of government. This was a glory; she, indeed, felt it and held +her head high. Louis XIV. had the good taste to ignore this attitude. He +greeted her graciously and limited his vengeance to teasing her during +the few days she passed with him. "Confess," said he to her, "that you +are very bored." She cried, "I assure you not at all, and I often think +that the Court is very much deceived if it believes me disenchanted, for +I have not experienced a moment's dulness." + +The King, however, believed only what pleased him. One evening, after +the play, he led her upon a little terrace and spoke in these terms: +"The past must be forgotten. Be persuaded that you will receive all good +treatment from me in the future, and that I am contemplating your +establishment. Naturally, M. de Savoie is a better match than formerly; +his mother is dead. He will recognise the difference between your sister +and yourself. Thus you will be very happy and I shall work seriously to +accomplish this." The King's discourse was followed by an exchange of +effusions. "We embraced each other, my cousin and I," said the King in +reappearing before his Court, and the signal word was at once +comprehended. + +The Grande Mademoiselle passed an almost triumphal week at Fontainebleau. +The repose of provincial life was hard to bear in comparison. The King, +the ministers, and the ambassadors all worked for the marriage. There +was nothing to do but to leave them to act. Mademoiselle wished to aid. +To commence she undertook to reduce to silence the old Madame, who was +outraged by her eagerness to replace her younger sister. + +Dissatisfactions grew into quarrels and Louis XIV. was forced to +intervene, and to silence all these women. He wrote to Mademoiselle: + + TO MY COUSIN + + MY COUSIN: + + I cannot prevent my aunt's people from talking, but I hardly + believe that she would say that I have promised her protection + against you. + + I love you and consider you, as much as the most pressing + desires which pass through your brain are capable of inspiring + me, and assuredly it is my intention to give you pleasure in + every degree possible. I only avow that you can do much on your + part in facilitating things a little; this is my only request, + and having nothing to add to so sincere an explanation of my + sentiments, I finish this letter, praying God, etc. + + Written at Fontainebleau, July 12, 1664. + + Signed: Louis.[167] + +It was beyond the strength of Mademoiselle to abstain from interference. +Her anxiety to be the fly on the wheel drew upon her a new letter from +the King. The tone is that of a very impatient man. + + TO MY COUSIN + + MY COUSIN: + + I see clearly by your last letter that you are not accurately + informed of what is passing in Piedmont; for I have been + obliged to be very badly satisfied with my ambassador, in that + he has executed my orders with so much warmth that the Duc de + Savoie complains through his despatches to Count Carrocio of + apparently being forced into an action which should be the + freest, even to the smallest particular. Judge by this fact if + the conduct proposed and suggested to you is wise? + + I perceive even malice in those who give you such advice; for + their desire is to put you in such a state of mind that if the + affair fail it is I who am to blame. + + I see that you are already persuaded that success depends upon + my simple wish expressing my desire on one side or the other, + but I am not resolved to conduct myself according to the + caprices of those people. + + I have told you that I sincerely wish your satisfaction and I + again affirm it. The friendship alone which I have for you + would give me this feeling, and I realise also that the scheme + is beneficial for me. + + You must not doubt, therefore, that I will do all which will be + really useful in furthering the affair; as for the means, it is + not too much to say that I see better what should be done than + those who speak and write to you. However, I pray God, etc. + + At Vincennes, September 2, 1664. + + Signed; Louis. + +The King spoke the truth: the Duc de Savoie did not want the Grande +Mademoiselle. Charles Emmanuel had never digested the affront received +upon the journey to Lyons, from which he had seen his sister return +Duchess of Parma when he had imagined to receive her as Queen of +France.[168] He was not averse to revenging himself on Louis XIV. by +refusing a princess of his family whose age above all "made him afraid, +for he desired children."[169] + +He had also an account to regulate with Mademoiselle, who had disdained +him at the time in which she was young and beautiful. At this distant +date, Charles Emmanuel, although her junior by seventeen years, had not +concealed the fact that he would have been ready to marry her, "so much +did he esteem her person and also her great wealth."[170] + +But it was with the Duc de Savoie as with the Prince of Wales, and later +with the Prince de Lorraine: + + Quoi? moi! quoi? ces gens-là! l'on radote, je pense, + A moi les proposer! hélas! ils font pitié: + Voyez un peu la belle espèce.[171] + +Having become less exacting with years, Mademoiselle at length found a +man who did not disdain to play the part of substitute for his betters. + +The Duke remained firm, and it was again a Nemours,[172] sister of the +Queen of Portugal, who inherited the husband destined for the Grande +Mademoiselle. + +Equally difficult, the same fate fell upon Mademoiselle as upon the +marriageable daughter in La Fontaine: she was to be reduced to wed a +cadet of Gascony, the _malotru_ of the fable. I believe that La +Fontaine had Mademoiselle in his mind when writing _La Fille_. It has +been queried whether this subject was not borrowed from the _Epigram_ of +Martial. There is no need for so distant a search. On July 8, 1664, La +Fontaine had been appointed "gentleman-in-waiting to the dowager +Duchesse d'Orléans."[173] He was, therefore, in a position to be well +informed concerning the projects for marriage which failed, and the +ridiculous actions of the daughter of the house. We possess his +confidences upon the household of the Luxembourg, on the one side of the +apartments of Madame, on the other those of Mademoiselle, in an epistle +dedicated to Mignon, the little dog of his mistress. + +For La Fontaine, the Luxembourg was the palace in which there was no +place for lovers. The tender passion was forbidden _chez_ Madame, where +it was necessary to be contented with the "pious smiles" of Mme. de +Crissé, the original of the Countess de Pimbesche, and to bear in mind +the presence of an old Capuchin become Bishop of Bethléem in +Nivernais,[174] who supervised the conversations. "Speak low," says the +letter _Pour Mignon_. + + Si l'évêque de Bethléem + Nous entendait, Dieu sait la vie. + +There was not even the resource of fleeing to the "Divinity" opposite. +Under that shelter, lovers were less well regarded year by year, and La +Fontaine divined why: the antipathy always evinced by Mademoiselle was +now doubled by envy. + +The check in regard to the Savoie marriage had brought on a painful +crisis in the life of this poor unattached heroine. For the first time, +she had been made to feel that she had passed the marriageable age, and +she was one of those unfortunates who cannot easily resign themselves to +the fall from the purely feminine portion of existence. + +The revolt against nature frequently causes whimsicalities; a terrible +injustice toward those doleful creatures who often have asked no better +than to obey nature's laws in becoming wives and mothers. Nervous +maladies give to the soul-tragedy a burlesque outside, and the world +laughs without comprehending. Mademoiselle was one of these +unfortunates. La Fontaine had well discovered it when he wrote: + + Son miroir lui disait: "Prenez vite un mari." + Je ne sais quel désir le lui disait aussi: + Le désir peut loger chez une précieuse. + +It is very difficult to relate the decline of the Grande Mademoiselle +without provoking a smile at least, and it would be a pity, however, if +this proud figure should leave the even slight impression of that of +Bélise. She was left disabled, without aim in life, at the very moment +in which women in general were being excluded from action, after having +been slightly intoxicated with power under Anne of Austria. Men had at +that time encouraged women to enter into public life. Thanks to +masculine complicity, feminine influence and power had mounted high, and +the weaker sex enjoyed one of the most romantic moments of its entire +history. + +The habit of treating women as the equals of men had been fully formed +when the will of a monarch who distrusted them precipitated the sex from +its giddy height. + +It has been seen _à propos_ of La Vallière with what contempt Louis XIV. +spoke of women in his _Mémoires_. Upon this subject he had truly +Oriental ideas, approaching those held by his Spanish ancestors, +inherited by them from the Moors. Louis could not do without women, but +he wanted them only for amusement. He did not really believe them +capable of giving anything else, judging them inferior and dangerous, +perhaps in remembrance of Marie Mancini, who had almost enticed him into +a crime against royalty. + +Hardly had the King come to power when all who had issued from their +sphere must re-enter it. Love was the only affair of importance in which +women were permitted to share. Louis XIV. made no exception in favour of +his mistresses. Mme. de Montespan tyrannised a little over him in spite +of his fine theories. The others, however, were looked upon only in the +light of beautiful and amusing creatures. + +When, towards the end of the reign, Mme. de Maintenon had the glory of +again raising the sex to the position of being esteemed by the King, +she alone benefited. In general, nothing was gained for women at large; +the impression in regard to their true position had been too deep. +Suddenly reduced to an existence with a narrow horizon, women found it +colourless and mean. They demanded love, since this was all that was +left to them to supply those violent emotions to which they had become +accustomed in the camps and councils. As the result of this new attitude +many strange events occurred, but they were little noticed as long as +the Queen Mother remained of this world. Anne of Austria succeeded in +saving appearances, if in nothing else. Once dead, there came the +downfall, and strange things became frightful ones. + +It was at Versailles in the midst of the Bengal fires of the "Île +enchantée" that the Queen Mother felt the first pangs of the cancer +which finally caused her death. + +Paris followed with grief the course of her illness. Anne of Austria, +remaining without influence, had again become popular. "She preserves +harmony," wrote d'Ormesson, "and although she cannot be credited with +much good, she still prevents much that is evil" (June 5, 1665). It is +known that it was owing to her that a certain decency was maintained at +the Court of France; that without her, Louis XIV. and his sister-in-law +Henrietta would not have perceived in time that they already cared too +much for each other and that the rumour of this was "making much noise +at Court."[175] + +[Illustration: =MADAME HENRIETTE D'ORLÉANS= From the painting by Mignard +in the National Portrait Gallery (Photograph by Walker, London)] + +The Queen Mother was forced to open eyes which wished to remain closed. +She had spoken frankly, and her plainness had perhaps saved the kingdom +of France from an ineffaceable stain. Such service cannot be forgotten +by honest people. To gratitude was added a sincere admiration for her +courage under suffering. The poor woman endured without complaint, and +with an incredible tranquillity, nine months of sharp pain increased by +the barbarous remedies applied by a crowd of quacks. + +In the royal family, the sentiments were mixed. Louis XIV., as Mme. de +Motteville had well remarked, was a man full of "contradictions." He +cherished his mother. During a previous malady, a short time before the +cancer declared itself, he had cared for her night and day with a +devotion and also a skill which astonished the attendants. + +The thought of now losing her gave him seasons of stifling sobs. At the +same time, his mother was a little too much of a personage. She troubled +him by her clairvoyance. He experienced a certain relief at the +knowledge that the time was approaching when she would no longer be able +to watch his course of life. In all probability, he was himself ignorant +of this feeling, but it was apparent to observers. When she was actually +dying, affection bore away all other considerations, and the King almost +fainted. Hardly was she interred when the pleasure of feeling himself +entirely free again became ascendant. + +The attachment of Monsieur for his mother was his best emotion. His +grief possessed no hidden relief and forced him to be always near the +invalid's bed. "The odour was so frightful," reports Mademoiselle, "that +after seeing the wound dressed it was impossible to sup." Monsieur +passed all his time in the chamber and tried to demonstrate his +tenderness. Sometimes most ridiculous ideas occurred to him; but he was +not the less touching, through his never-failing tears, on account of +his sincerity. + +At length, Anne of Austria herself sent her son away. Monsieur returned +to his pleasures and forgot his grief in them; he would not have been +Philippe Duc d'Anjou if he had acted differently. When the end drew +near, timid and submissive as he was, he would not be sent away. The +King withdrew, obeying the custom which forbids princes, as formerly +gods, to witness death. Louis twice told his brother not to remain +longer, and only received the response "that he could not obey him in +this, but he promised that it was the only point, during his entire +life, on which he would ever disobey."[176] + +A cry of Monsieur piercing the walls announced to Louis that the end had +come. + +The young Queen Marie-Thérèse, who was losing all, justified the +reputation of "fool" which the Court gave her. She permitted herself to +be persuaded that her position would be made higher, through all the +privileges left to her by the death of the Queen Mother, and she was +more than half consoled by this chimera. + +Mademoiselle scrupulously observed the proprieties; which is all that +can be said. Anne of Austria had emphasised in a solemn hour the +tenacity of the rancour against her niece. The evening before death, she +took farewell of all. Two only appeared forgotten; "I was astonished, +after all that had passed," relates Mademoiselle, "that she did not say +a word to M. le Prince or to me, who were both there, especially +slighting me who was brought up near her." It was precisely on account +of "all that had passed." Anne of Austria gave a good example to the +King: she expired without pardoning the leaders of the Fronde. + +Great changes followed this death. Louis XIV. lost his mother January +20, 1660; on the 27th of the same month, a deputation came from +Parliament "to pay their compliments to the King." d'Ormesson was of +this body. "I went afterwards," says his Journal, "to mass with the +King, at which there were present the Queen, M. le Dauphin, Monsieur and +Mlle. de La Vallière, whom the Queen has taken near her, through +complaisance for the King, in which she shows her wisdom." Louis XIV. +officially presented his mistress to the people, and assigned her rank +immediately below that of his legitimate wife. During his mother's life +he would not have dared to do this. + +Two months later he was delivered from the _Cabale des Dévots_, and +from its intrusive observations, through the disappearance of the +_Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_. It does not appear impossible that the +death of the Queen may have slightly hastened this event. Anne of +Austria had been acquainted with the society for a long period,[177] and +had testified for it during many years of absolute devotion. She had +guarded it from Mazarin. She did more: there is proof that she deceived +her minister for the sake of the _Compagnie_. The situation changed with +the death of the Cardinal. There is nothing to warrant the belief that +Anne of Austria, whether restrained by fear or by some scruple, was +willing, after the death of Mazarin, to deceive Louis XIV. for the sake +of a secret society. + +Actively pursued by Colbert, who divined an occult force behind the +adversaries to his power, the _Compagnie_ fell back upon its habitual +protector, and had the bitter disappointment of beseeching in vain. The +devotion of Anne of Austria was henceforth to be a silent one. As long +as she remained on earth, all hope was not lost; she might be brought +back to the bosom of the fold, and better success might be looked for +another time. Her death caused the final disorganisation. The society +had not, during a long period, dared to reunite. Deprived of the mother +of the King, it practically yielded. It dissolves and vanishes into thin +air. Its register stops April 8, 1666. Have the records of the various +prosecutions been destroyed or scattered? Have all the documents been +destroyed through prudence? Suppositions are free. It is with this +mysterious brotherhood as with those water-courses which disappear under +the ground. Their traces are lost. It even happens that they bear +another name when they again spring to the surface. Such without doubt +has been the fate of the "Compagnie du Saint Sacrement," for the +sectarian spirit which has been its most significant mark has never lost +its rights in the land; in our own days we still see it placing itself +in France at the service of very different schools of thought and +belief. + +In this beginning of April (1666) in which the _Cabale des Dévots_ had +avowed itself vanquished, the Court was struck with the animation of the +King. + +"A journey was made to Mouchy," wrote Mademoiselle, "where three days +were passed in reviews. The King ordered a quantity of troops to be +assembled; he also invited many ladies. All these were in mourning. +There was much diversion; the King was in gay spirits; he sang and made +verses during the progress." Although these were not the only ones, +Louis did not compose many songs during his life. + +He enjoyed feeling free from those wearisome persons who had abused the +patronage of his mother in creating themselves censors of their +sovereign. No one except his confessor and his preachers concerned +themselves further with his sins. When Bossuet and Bourdaloue were +appointed Court preachers they restrained themselves but little; but +Louis XIV. bore their reproaches with equanimity. It was their duty, and +Christians of that date, even bad ones, recognised what they owed to the +Church, and bent their heads before the pulpit. Bossuet cried out in the +presence of the entire Court that "immoral manners are always bad +manners," and that "there is a God in heaven who avenges the sins of the +people, and who, above all, avenges the sins of Kings."[178] He launched +apostrophies at Mlle. de La Vallière: "O creatures, shameful idols, +withdraw from this Court. Shadows, phantoms, dissipate yourselves in the +presence of the truth; false love, deceitful love, canst thou stand +before it?" + +Bourdaloue, who found Mme. de Montespan in the place of Mlle. de La +Vallière, reproached the King for his "debauches," and openly demanded +of him in his sermon if he had kept his promise of rupture: "Have you +not again seen this person fatal to your firmness and constancy? Have +you no more sought occasions so _dangerous_ for you?" + +Mme. de Sévigné went one day to hear him at Saint-Germain, where he +preached a Lenten sermon before the King and Queen. She returned +confounded and angry at his boldness: "We heard after dinner the sermon +of Bourdaloue, who speaks with all his force, launching truths with +lowered bridle, attacking adultery on every side; regardless +of all, he rides straight on."[179] Louis XIV. accepted these +public reproaches without protest; there was, however, but little +result. + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE MONTESPAN= From the engraving by Flameng after +the painting by Mignard] + +One effect of the death of the Queen Mother was that rivals to Mlle. de +La Vallière were free to appear; also there was a great increase in the +number of charlatans and alchemists, who found more easily an +aristocratic clientèle. Diviners and sorcerers also played an important +rôle in the love life of this society--the most polished in the world. + +The practice of the magic arts was at that date considered one of the +most flourishing Parisian industries. The inhabitants of the streets +little frequented, or of the suburbs, were accustomed to the movement +which took place in the early morning, or in the evening at dusk, around +certain isolated houses.[180] People of all ranks, on foot, in carriages +or in chairs, women masked or muffled, succeeded each other before a +closed door, which only opened at a particular sign. + +The state of mind which led this crowd to the clairvoyant was to be +found in all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest. Public +credulity was passing through a period of expansion, apparently very +much at odds with the splendid intellect of France at that date, at +which, however, those who believe the simple formulas of history will +not be astonished. Two of our grand classic writers have left pages +which bear witness to the extent of the evil, existing at the very +moment in which France became the actual head of Europe. + +Molière mocks at occult science and its adepts, through a long play, or +rather a libretto for a ballet,[181] which he wrote for the King in +1670, named as we already know, _Les Amants Magnifiques_. The _dramatis +personæ_ are divided into two camps according to a rule of his own, in a +fashion very unpleasant for the grandees of this world, Molière allowing +them the precedence in folly. It was sufficient for his heroes to be +illustrious through rank, to endow them with a blind faith in all +conjurers. "The truth of astrology," says the Prince Iphicrate, "is an +incontestable fact, and no one can dispute against the certitude of its +predictions." This is also the opinion of the Prince Timoclès: "I am +sufficiently incredulous in regard to many things, but as for astrology, +there is nothing more certain and more constant than the success with +which horoscopes may be drawn." The Princess Aristione also agrees, and +is anxious in finding that her daughter is less convinced. + +This is a commencement of a freedom of thought, and one cannot know to +what it may lead: "My daughter," says the mother, "you have a little +incredulity which never leaves you." + +Disbelief in astrology and sorcery is represented in the play of +Molière, figuring in the name of "Clitidas, court jester," and of +another person of obscure birth, "Sostrate, general of the army," who +takes the part of Clitidas against the calmer prophets and other +exploiters of human folly. + + There is nothing more agreeable [says he] than all the great + promises of this sublime knowledge. To transform everything + into gold; to find immortal life; to heal by words; to make + oneself beloved by the person of one's desires; to know all the + secrets of the future; to call down from the sky at will + impressions upon metals which bear happiness to mortals[182]; + to command demons; to render armies invisible and soldiers + invulnerable--all this is doubtless charming, and there are + people who have no trouble in believing in the possibility; it + is the easiest thing in the world for some men to be convinced, + but for me, I avow that my grosser mind has some difficulty in + comprehending and in believing. + +La Fontaine has treated the same subject in three of his fables. It is +in one of these, _Les Devineresses_, published in 1678, consequently +before the famous drama _Les Poisons_, in which he shows himself very +well acquainted with what the police had not yet been sufficiently +clever to discover. He knew marvellously well the existence of the +_poudre de succession_ and of the _poudre pour l'amour_: + + Une femme, à Paris, faisait la pythonisse. + On l'allait consulter sur chaque événement; + Perdait-on un chiffon, avait-on un amant, + Un mari vivant trop, au gré de son épouse, + Une mère fâcheuse, une femme jalouse, + Chez la Devineuse on courait, + Pour se faire annoncer ce que l'on désirait. + +The warning was not heeded, and it needed the "burning chamber" of 1680 +to make honest people comprehend that "clairvoyant" was too often +another name for "seller of poisons." La Fontaine had, however, given no +new information about the confidence inspired. This fact was already too +well known. + +This dangerous agency, of which we have already had a glimpse on the +occasion of the first search for Lesage and Mariette, merits some +descriptive details. In Paris, during a period of twenty years, it was +so mixed up with intrigues and crimes that it exercised a real influence +over the morals of the Parisian world and through it over the affairs at +Court. + +Like a wave of madness it swept over the heads especially of the women. +Many of these, even those not directly mingling in political life, were +in a state of revolt, inconsolable for having lost the importance +acquired during the civil troubles. + +Women had been emancipated by the force of affairs. During the actual +fighting and the general disorders which ensued, the habit of remaining +in the shade of obedience was lost; also the considering themselves only +as objects of luxury. + +Louis XIV. had undertaken the task of bringing the sex back to the +playing of a decorative or utilitarian rôle. It was almost as if to-day +we should demand of our daughters, so free, so mingled with the general +movement, to return suddenly to the self-effacement and the thousand +restraints of our own youth. They would be transported with rage. + +In 1666, the larger portion of the clients of the necromancer sought +above everything else a secret by the aid of which they might shake off +the yoke that had again fallen upon their shoulders. The husband was the +natural incarnation of this yoke. It was therefore against him that the +revolt was habitually directed. The wives addressed themselves to a +clairvoyant. The first consultation was generally innocent enough. + +The clairvoyant counselled new-comers to go to the good Saint Denis, +always a succour for women unhappy in their domestic life, and to the +indefatigable Saint Antoine de Padua. She reserved until later the +giving of certain powders, only hinting at their existence, the secret +of which had been brought from Italy and which were sought at Paris by +both provincials and strangers. + +It is now known through contemporaneous documents that arsenic was an +element in these powders, and that so many persons accused themselves in +confession of having "poisoned some one" that the priests of Nôtre-Dame +at length gave warning to the authorities (1673). Did the penitents, +especially the women, always speak the truth? Popular imagination is so +quickly fired when poisoning is suggested, that it may well be queried +whether a portion of the unfortunates were not rather hysterical and +victims of hallucinations. It is probable that the true answer will +never be known. Physicians at that time were the doctors of Molière, and +the science of chemistry did not exist. + +With the husband softened or suppressed, the women demanded love to +replace emotion in their contracted and faded existence. The task of the +necromancer thus consisted in interesting God or the devil in the heart +pangs of her client and of arousing an affection in the breast of the +man she designated. This was the beginning for the new clients; the end +was the black mass with its obscene rites or the bloody mass, for which +a small infant was strangled. + +All the forms of conjuration were used between the two, every charm, +every talisman and many "kinds of powders," not always inoffensive. The +consultations were paid for according to the rank or fortune of the +clients. In default of money, a jewel was given or even a signed note, +the imprudence of which last proceeding it is hardly needful to point +out. + +In the year of the death of Anne of Austria, one of the clairvoyants +most frequented was the wife of a hosier named Antoine Montvoisin, whose +shop was situated upon the Pont Marie, which to-day still unites the +right bank of the Seine with the isle Saint-Louis. The Pont Marie, as +almost all the bridges of Paris at that date, had a double row of +houses, with shops beneath, which formed a very animated street. The +affairs of Montvoisin, however, had not prospered. He had tried several +commercial undertakings without success. He had been dry-goods merchant +and jeweller, and had always "lost his shops," according to the +expression of his wife, Catherine Montvoisin, familiarly called "the +neighbour." + +[Illustration: =LA VOISIN= From a print in the Bibliothèque Nationale] + +It is under this latter name that she became celebrated in the annals of +crime. La Voisin the fortune-teller is the same as La Voisin the +poisoner. At the date of the hosiery shop, she had not yet attracted the +attention of justice, in spite of her installation, but ill-assured, on +the Pont Marie, which obliged her to have a double domicile, or to give +rendezvous at the house of her confrère. She gained large sums of money. +The price for consultation varied from a single piece to several +thousand francs, or from an old rag to a necklace of precious stones, +and again she drew something from the acolytes of both sexes who +assisted in her wicked works. It was known from herself that her +property was held in her own right, her husband having been always +unfortunate in business. In spite of this precaution, the money slipped +through her fingers. It is true that she had expenses, children to bring +up and relatives to support. She said: "I have ten persons to feed," but +she was economical for others. La Voisin gave a crown a week to her +mother and brought up her daughter as a small shop-keeper. It was she +herself who, in company with other miserables of her own kind, spent +madly. The position of husband of a poisoner seems to have been a +precarious one. Antoine Montvoisin was familiar with the nature of his +wife's industry, but his conscience did not forbid his profiting by it +for his own comfort. His conscience also permitted him to appropriate +to himself money entrusted to him by his wife to execute the orders for +the _neuvaines_. He was as much a free-thinker as any of the Vardes or +Guiches, and convinced that the _neuvaines_ were absolutely useless. As +to going further, to putting his own "paw in the dish," he was +successfully prudent. He was never anxious; but he was actually daily in +danger of being poisoned, for La Voisin could not suffer this coward. +She would have liked to replace him by a veritable associate, and +between the pair, there were perpetual fights for pre-eminence in +deceit. + +The good man Antoine would certainly have died through poisoning in +spite of all his care, if he had not conceived the ingenious idea of +uniting himself with an executioner, to whom he confided the situation. +It was agreed between the two that, if Montvoisin should die before his +wife, the hangman should speak and demand an autopsy. La Voisin became +afraid. She tried to poison her husband on a journey, but did not +succeed, and finally considered it safer to keep him with her. + +She had benefited, as had also the entire corporation, by the hopes +awakened in the breasts of many of the pretty women among the +aristocracy by the death of the Queen Mother. + +Anne of Austria had taken so ill the first digression of her son from +the paths of virtue that the aspirants for the succession to Mlle. de La +Vallière had preserved a certain discretion. When the rebuffs of the old +Queen were no longer to be feared, the passions were unchained and a +flock of youthful, ambitious women addressed themselves to the "duties +of fashion" in order to arrive at the good graces of the King.[183] The +boldest demanded at the same time "something against Mlle. de La +Vallière." Amongst these young women was found the Marquise de +Montespan, who loved neither her husband nor the King, but who was +harrassed by her creditors, was very conscious of her own value, and +determined to be "recognised mistress," since this was now a position +admitted and classified. + +She was as "beautiful as the day," says Saint-Simon, without being +"perfectly agreeable";--the correction is by Mme. de La Fayette. She had +all the wit possible, was delicious in eccentricities and courtesies. In +spite of so much brilliancy, the King rather avoided her and she was +reduced to amusing Marie-Thérèse, who admitted her freely, having full +confidence in her virtue. The Queen had been deceived by the pious +austerities of the young Marquise, by her frequent communions, and by a +mass of religious practices which were really actuated by a sincere +sentiment, and which Mme. de Montespan preserved as far as she could, +notwithstanding the scandals of her after life. Understood in this +manner, a sense of duty towards religion did not prevent resorting to +sorceresses. It rather led in this direction in giving to the perverse +soul "the vague consciousness of something beyond."[184] + +Mme. de Montespan became one of the best clients of La Voisin, regarding +neither the expense nor the decency of the ceremonies, provided that the +devil would make her the beloved of Louis XIV. Faring better than her +rivals, she received the value of her money. She began her campaign in +the course of the year 1666. The _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle, very full +on this subject, and elsewhere confirmed, inform us that in the spring +of 1667, Mme. de Montespan had supplanted La Vallière; it was the young +Queen alone who was ignorant of this fact. + +Less than two years after, La Voisin had the imprudence to make a +disturbance because two of her aids had not acted honestly toward her. +One of these was a priest, called Mariette, attached to the Church of +Saint Severin. La Voisin made use of him in sacrilegious practices. The +other, Lesage, was a sort of Jack of all trades, who recoiled before no +abomination. La Voisin accused them of having assaulted one of her +clients, Mme. de Montespan, a fact true enough, but useless to proclaim +from the housetops. + +"The quarrel having made some noise," reports La Reynie, "and the King, +having learned that these people were practising impieties and +sacrileges, had them watched." Mariette and Lesage were arrested. The +examinations have been preserved for us. Here is an essential passage: +Mariette avowed without hesitation to having spoken the Gospels "over +the heads of various persons," a form of conjuration relatively +innocent. The names were demanded. "Over the heads of the Lady de Bougy, +Mme. de Montespan, la Duverger, M. de Ravetot, all of which persons +Lesage had led to him."[185] + +With this information secured, Louis XIV. ordered prosecution: + + SAINT-GERMAIN, August 16, 1668. + + I write this letter to tell you that it is my intention to have + the said Mariette and Dubuisson[186] conducted from my château + to the Châtelet of the City of Paris, for the continuation of + their prosecution. + +One may be sure that the King did not lose this inquest from view. Louis +XIV. was most eager for police details and this affair touched him too +nearly to be forgotten. + +At the beginning of the investigation, it was discovered that Mariette +was first cousin to the wife of the judge. On account of this +connection, the Châtelet estimated that it was for the honour of the +magistracy to stifle the affair. He brought every effort to accomplish +this and evidently met with practical approbation from the powerful of +this world, for history permits us to see numerous irregularities. + +La Voisin, returning to her senses, heartily seconded the Justice in his +efforts to obtain succour from those in high positions. Mariette and +Lesage, after a period of trials and difficulties, were left in peace to +occupy themselves with their ambiguous trade. Both of these men figured +again in the monster process of 1680, in which they were among those who +spread details concerning the abominable practices with which the Mme. de +Montespan had been connected during long years. It does not matter here +whether these details are additions to the truth or not, for it is only +Louis XIV. who interests us, not Mme. de Montespan. + +The letter cited above proves all that is necessary, that the King knew, +from the year 1668, that his new mistress had connection with the +criminal world, and that she had intimate interviews with ignoble +persons, submitted to degrading contact, and had practised in their +company sacrilegious rites. This monarch who passed for being so +delicately keen in matters of punishment showed himself singularly +little moved. + +Surrounded by free-thinkers without prejudices, himself more or less of +a free-thinker, he resembles so little, either morally or physically, +the bewigged figure of the end of the reign, and of the _Mémoires_ of +Saint-Simon, that he appears as another individual. How easily both +proprieties and punishments are put on one side when passion reigns, +but how much more alive, how much more of a natural human being, +compared to the wooden figure of the portraits of Versailles, is the +King as now seen; Louis XIV. is decidedly an enigmatical quantity. + +It would be inexact to state that passions had become more lively than +they were during the wars of the Fronde, an epoch especially ardent; but +they had certainly changed their character, as had the tastes, ideas, +literature, and fashions in general. This is the usual course of events, +and, as we have seen, the movement was precipitated under the influence +of a monarch all-powerful, determined to efface the past. + +An artistic event which should not be overlooked had favoured the +designs of Louis XIV., in opening unknown perspectives to the curious +after new sensations, already numerous in the seventeenth century. +Dramatic music made its entry into the modern world. It brought with it, +according to the phrase of one of its historians, M. Romain +Rolland,[187] an "unlimited power for expressing passion, and with +passionate emotion all that remains incommunicable through the medium of +language alone." We may or may not love music, but it must be admitted +that a creation of this nature will certainly exercise a strong +influence over the refined portion of a nation. + +French society could not escape. The new art was in train to modify the +nervous system, if I dare thus speak, of the world in which flourished, +under the royal protection, those rather perilous ideas upon the rights +of nature and the fatality of passion. Day by day, new chords were +struck upon impressionable hearts. Dramatic music was born in Italy; as +might well be. In the year 1597, upon a carnival evening, a rich +Florentine entertained a choice audience with a musical tragedy called +_Dafné_, of which the score is lost. According to one of the guests, +"the pleasure and astonishment which seized the soul of the auditors +before so novel a spectacle could hardly be expressed." + +M. Romain Rolland confirms this testimony: "It was like a thunderbolt. +All felt themselves in the presence of a new art." In ten years Italian +opera reached its full growth, thanks chiefly to a composer of genius, +Monteverde, whose _Ariane_ caused an audience of more than six thousand +persons to burst into sobs on its first representation. + +The art of singing had marched side by side with dramatic music and +attained its height almost at once. A famous soprano, Vittori, threw the +public into almost inconceivable transports. "Many persons were suddenly +forced to loosen their garments in order to breathe, so suffocated were +they with emotion." + +Everywhere musical theatres were erected. The large cities built +several; Venice alone had five, and this number was not sufficient. The +opera was given in palaces and private salons; "Bologna possessed more +than sixty private theatres, without mentioning the convents and +colleges." The clergy were caught in the whirlwind; monks and nuns +chanted operas, cardinals became stage managers of scenes, a future pope +wrote librettos. It was an epidemic, a frenzy, and Italy did not go mad +with impunity. In its beginning, the opera is responsible for grave +disorders, both nervous and moral; it became _too_ much of a passion. +Mazarin already possessed this taste before his establishment in France. +He wished to initiate his adopted country into the joys, almost to be +dreaded, which had so suddenly enriched human life, and he brought from +Italy one after the other four Italian troupes, the first in 1645, the +last a short time before his death. + +The result was easy to predict. A spectacle patronised by the Cardinal +became a matter of politics. Applauded by the partisans of the minister, +derided by his adversaries, the Italian opera met with so strong an +opposition that it was necessary to renounce it for the time, but the +lesson was not lost. + +French composers heretofore devoted to ballets and masquerades had not +received unheedingly the revelation of the dramatic style; their +ambition was also aroused to express the tempests of the soul, and they +began to grope along the new path. + +The attempt was not at once successful; but their efforts familiarised +the public with the idea of a musical language of passion. In 1664, the +song was considered the natural interpreter of love. Molière fixes the +date in his _Princesse d'Elide_, in which Moron does not succeed in +gaining the ear of Philis because he speaks, instead of singing his +declaration. Philis flees and Moron cries out: "Behold how it is: if I +had been able to sing, I should have done better. Most women of to-day +only let themselves be courted through the ears; this is the reason that +the entire world has become musical, and one can succeed with the fair +only by making them listen to little songs and verses. I must learn to +sing like others." + +It was indeed somewhat different in 1671, when French opera arrived +on the scene.[188] It had hardly seen the light when it became, as a +result of the association of Quinault with Lulli, a counsellor of +voluptuousness. + +While the decorations and the dances charmed the eyes, as the "machines" +amused by their complications, the words and music, outdoing the +_Princesse d'Elide_,[189] murmured unceasingly with the same caressing +languor that no youthful beings have the right, for any motive whatever, +to deny to themselves the duty of loving. "Yield, give yourselves up to +transports," chants a chorus of _Amadis_. The thirteen "lyrical +tragedies" given by Quinault and Lulli from 1673 to 1686 are all +constructed upon this one theme. They gave expression to the one +single idea; "Yield! surrender yourselves!" and resulted in producing a +certain eloquence from their monotony. When these lyrics are played on +the piano,[190] a better means of hearing them failing, one cannot but +feel that in spite of their insipidity the continuous appeal to the +senses might produce in the end, particularly in the atmosphere of a +theatre, a strong effect. + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI= After a contemporary print by +Bonnart] + +Moralists recognised this. All will remember the violent attack of +Boileau upon the opera. To-day we consider this attack as having been +too narrowly virtuous, even a little ridiculous. It can be explained, +however, in considering what a novelty it was to see people seized with +nervous attacks and fits of weeping while listening to singing. Was it +the "loose morals" of Quinault which caused these? Was it the new music? +In either case, the worthy Boileau was excusable for his alarm. + +France had not yet reached the point of excitability which existed in +Italy. The French are not a sufficiently musical race for this; but in a +less degree, the country submitted to the extraordinary power of the +dramatic style. It is known through Mme. de Sévigné that if the French +listeners did not invariably "burst into sobs" or "suffocate with +emotion," more than one auditor, including herself, wept silently in +hearing the fine passages. + +Fashion also swayed affairs, and we know of what fashion is capable in +France. + +Saint Evremond has written a comedy entitled _The Operas_. In the list +of _dramatis personæ_, one reads: "Mlle. Crisotine become mad through +the hearing of operas. Tirsolet, a young man from Lyons, also became mad +through operas." A third person relates that "nothing else is spoken of +in Paris. Women and even young children knew the operas by heart, and +there is hardly a house in which entire scenes are not sung." How nearly +France and Italy are approached in this. The Louvre party caught the +fashion, the courtiers, being eager to imitate the King, a great admirer +of Lulli. + +It had happened that Louis remarked during the rehearsals of _Alceste_ +"that if he were at Paris when the opera should be played, he would go +every day." "This phrase," adds Mme. de Sévigné "is worth a hundred +thousand francs to Baptiste."[191] This was no affectation on the part +of the King; he really loved music, as can be recognised through +unmistakable signs. Louis XIV. had throughout his life the taste and +more than a taste for music; to which he added a longing to be himself a +performer, a desire that can never be satisfied with the most skilled +professional entertainments. As a youth, he played the guitar and took +part in ensemble playing. As a man, he found that he had a good voice, +and knew how to use it in amateur reunions. + +It can even be said that he sang not only at suitable but also at +unsuitable moments: the day after the death of his son, the Grand +Dauphin, the ladies of the Palace heard with surprise the King singing +opera prologues. During his later years, when it was difficult to amuse +him, Mme. de Maintenon organized musicales in her salon and Louis always +enjoyed these. One evening when she substituted vespers[192] for the +scores of Lulli, the King made no criticism and even intoned the +vespers. Provided it was music, all kinds were good; but the King showed +a certain predilection for the kind which he had seen created, already +so rich in new emotions and which bore rare promise for the future of +the artistic world, and the monarch possessed all the qualities needed +to enjoy it profoundly. + +The reader cannot fail to perceive through the witness of his frequent +bursts of tears that Louis was of a nervous disposition, somewhat +concealed under the cold and calm exterior which he had imposed upon +himself. In advancing age, this tendency to tears became almost a +malady. Mme. de Maintenon, in a letter dated 1705, writing to a friend +of the "vapours" of the King and of his sombre humour, makes the remark +that he is "sometimes overcome with weeping which he cannot restrain." + +He was a sensualist to whom themes of love were always attractive. +"Yield! Surrender!" the King never ceased to repeat on his own behalf +to the pretty women of his Court. For the rest, Quinault and Lulli made +him choose the subjects for their operas; and Louis had therefore a +responsibility for the voluptuousness which exhaled from their works. + +Dramatic music has now established itself. The civilised world discovers +with delight that this art has an unlimited capacity for expressing +passion, and all the passions, even the highest, the purest, and this +latter includes love. It has also been recognised that music can speak +in its own words outside of the theatre, in a symphony, in a simple +sonata, and that there exists no art so benevolent, so reposeful, and so +reassuring to troubled souls. In spite of this, in spite of all, +moralists have never been willing to throw down their weapons before +music. Emanuel Kant was clearly hostile to it; he said, "It enervates +man,"[193] and he turned away his disciples from its joys. Tolstoi has +been unkind to it in the _Kreutzer Sonata_. + +All forces can become dangerous; it depends on the "use made of +them,"[194] and also upon the souls which receive the impulse; they must +be of the calibre to support its force. + +The action of music upon French society has never, so far as I know, +been methodically studied in relation to its effects, both physical and +moral. If a historian be found, he will issue from the psychological +laboratories, scientifically equipped, in which the observer conceals +the physician: on this condition only can he speak with authority. + +[Illustration: =BOILEAU= After the painting by H. Rigaud] + +The Grande Mademoiselle cared but little for music. Nevertheless she +extols Lulli in her _Mémoires_: "He makes the most beatific airs in the +world." The glory of Baptiste touched her because he was "her own," +arriving from Italy some time before the Fronde. "He came to France with +my late uncle the Chevalier de Guise. I had prayed him to bring me an +Italian, with whom I could speak and learn the language." + +Lulli was only a boy of thirteen at the time that he was brought to +France. Between the Italian lessons, he filled the office of cook. +Later, admitted among the violins of Mademoiselle, it is related that he +was chased away for having satirised his mistress in song. This recalls +other events: + + I was exiled: he did not wish to live in the country: he + demanded leave to go away: I accorded it, and since he has made + his fortune, for he is a great merry-andrew. + +Lulli always remained a buffoon in the mind of Mademoiselle, although +she assisted at his triumphs and survived him. + +Mademoiselle preserved the taste for literature formed at Saint-Fargeau. +Her name is associated with several incidents, great and small, of the +literary history of the times. In 1669, when _Tartuffe_ was definitely +authorised, she wished to have it performed in her salon. This fact is +noteworthy as the Church still forbade its representation. On August +21, Mademoiselle gave a fête. When most of the guests had departed, +"_Tartuffe_, the fashionable piece, was played before twenty women and +numbers of men."[195] Did the end of the phrase contain a slight +excuse--"which was the fashionable piece"? However this may be, +Mademoiselle could boast to her confessor that she had been "economical" +with Molière. The entertainment at the Luxembourg was paid for with +three hundred francs given to the actors, the current price being for +such a performance five hundred and fifty francs. Thus the virtuous +homes evidenced their piety! + +On another occasion, Mademoiselle had the honour, if the Abbé d'Olivet +may be believed, of supplying Molière with an entire scene ready made: +and what a scene! Among the _habitués_ of the salon figured one of the +victims of Boileau, the impudent Abbé Cotin, who not finding himself +sufficiently _étrillé_ (thrashed) had provoked new retaliations in +gossiping about Molière. + +One day he brought some verses of his own composition to the palace of +the Luxembourg to read them to Mademoiselle. In the midst of her +admiration another writer, supposed to be Ménage, entered. Mademoiselle +committed the error of showing the verses of the Abbé and, without +mentioning the name of the author, of defending the expressed opinions. +The result was the scene between Vadius and Trissotin (at first named +"Tricotin" lest one should be deceived). It was only needful for +Molière to give the touch of genius as in the sonnet to the Princess +Uranie and in the verses upon the _Carosse Amarante_. In these two +cases, it is well known that the lines are copied word for word from a +volume written by the Abbé Cotin.[196] + +Many echoes of the grand literary battle of the century[197] still +resounded in the Luxembourg. The success of the first tragedies of +Racine irritated that portion of the public, always large, which has a +horror of being disturbed in its habits of thought by importunate +novelties. Such a disturbance is a punishment to many persons, whether +the moving force comes from literature, science, or art. There are many +examples of this fixed state of mind to be found in the past century: it +will suffice to recall the struggles hardly yet quieted between Pasteur +and Wagner. + +Racine appeared on the scene as a revolutionary force. He and Molière, +sustained by their friend Boileau, presented a dramatic art absolutely +new, which was separated by a gulf from that of Corneille and for which +nothing had prepared the way. Corneille's predecessors were Mairet, the +du Ryers and many others: Racine stood alone. He was the first and the +last to make tragedy realistic, with the subject simple, the characters +scrupulously true to nature, and the language often audaciously +familiar. + +Louis XIV. applauded. Racine and the King well comprehended each other. +Heinrich Heine has given the reason for this in one of those phrases +which throw light upon an entire period: "Racine is the first modern +poet, as Louis XIV. was the first modern King." + +The young Court applauded cordially with the King. It also belonged to +the new régime; but for the old Court, for the survivors of the Hôtel +Rambouillet, the tragedy of Racine was as shocking, as displeasing, as +were the first realistic romances to the faithful adherents of +romanticism, and for the same reasons. In spite of the difficulty so +many have, of sympathising with the ideas of the one called a little +disdainfully "the gentle Racine," "the elegant Racine," this writer +appeared neither gentle nor elegant to three-fourths of the salon, to +the "old Court" of the Grande Mademoiselle. The _Pyrrhus_ seemed to them +"brutal," the Phèdre, a "madwoman" "the blackness" of Nero or Narcisse +entirely beyond what should be permitted on the stage. + +Not that the personages of Corneille or of his predecessors acted less +wickedly, but their brutes and villains were nevertheless "heroes" and +that made all the difference. The personages created by Racine were only +"men," simple men, who used words "low and grovelling," bourgeois +words, expressions such as "Quoi qu'il en soit, que fais je, que +dis-je!"[198] and did not even realise the sense: more than three +hundred improper terms have been counted in _Andromaque_. Racine would +have fared better if his poetic methods had not been in some way a +criticism upon the cleverness of Corneille. This was the real grievance, +obliging the adorers of the old poet to condemn the insolent one. + +Mme. de Sévigné, who could not always prevent herself, although "mad +with Corneille," from admiring Racine, or from letting him perceive it, +hastened to correct herself when this happened. She wrote to her +daughter, "_Bajazet_ is beautiful," and added six lines further on, as a +person who has a reproach to make, "Believe me, nothing will approach (I +do not say surpass) some divine passages of Corneille." Having thus +regulated her conscience, she returned to _Bajazet_ to avow that she had +"wept more than twenty tears" (letter dated January 15, 1672), but her +letter evidently left her with a slight feeling of discomfort. Two +months later, she attenuated the praise of the new piece, to which she +now accorded only "agreeable things," and declared Corneille to be +another order of genius: "My daughter, let us take care not to compare +Racine with him, let us well perceive the difference!" + +Almost all of Mademoiselle's generation showed themselves as jealous as +Mme. de Sévigné for the glory of Corneille. To the admiration inspired +by his genius is added the tender gratitude that we guard for works in +which live again the ideals of our youth. It is our own thoughts, our +fine dreams of early days, that we love in these productions. + +The tragedy of Racine signified that the day of Corneille had passed; +its success indicated the inroad of new ideas and pointed definitely to +the fact that those faithful to the ancient worship had really been +relegated to the position of old fogies. This is never an agreeable +position when one feels still alive and with no very active realisation +that old age is approaching. People of letters are the first to suffer +from these revolutions of taste which leave surviving only works of the +first rank while the rest are cast away into oblivion. + +As we know, the _litterateurs_ who frequented the salon of Mademoiselle +were all enemies of Racine, half on account of loyalty to Corneille, +half on their own behalf, through an instinct of self-preservation. +Besides Ménage and the Abbé Cotin, whom we have lately encountered +speaking frankly to each other, besides the amiable Segrais whose +literary powers were too light to lead him far, there was the Abbé +Boyer, whose tragedies Segrais desired to be pardoned, because he was a +"sufficiently good academician," and that worthy old man De Chapelain, +illustrious until the day upon which his verses went to press. There was +some reason for accusing Mademoiselle of having been the "centre of the +opposition to the new poetry."[199] To say this is, however, to +exaggerate her rôle. We shall see later that she was far too occupied in +living through her own tragedy to be actively interested in those being +enacted upon the boards. Loaded with injuries and calumnies by the +Vadius and the Trissotins, menaced with thrashings by the aristocratic +protectors of these great men of the salon, Racine ran the risk of being +crushed, and was saved only by the signal favour of the King. Neither he +nor Molière would have accomplished their work if Louis XIV. had not +sustained them against all critics. This is a service for which we +should not limit our gratitude. The reflection upon this great debt +arouses a tenderness towards a Prince with whom we are otherwise not +always sympathetic. + +It is possible that there was some politics in his attitude. The success +of writers so new fell in well with his design of making a _tabula rasa_ +of the detested past: but after all the main reason for which protection +was accorded was affection. + +When Louis XIV. laughed "even till his sides ached"[200] over the _École +des Femmes_, at which amusement the dévots and prudes were indignant, +when he saved the _Plaideurs_, almost hissed in the Hôtel de Bourgogne, +by "bursts of laughter, so great that the Court was astonished,"[201] +there was no calculation: he was honestly amused, like any one else. It +was also a true and frank admiration which caused him to dry his tears +at _Iphigenie_, and to order the repetition of _Mithridate_. He loved +the "new" for two reasons: because he had good taste, and because the +heroes of the later writers were of the kind needful for his generation. +It has been seen how marvellously Molière and the King understood each +other, and the mention of Racine recalls to us the profound phrase of +Heine. Racine revealed himself in the _Andromaque_ as the "first modern +poet." Hermione and Oreste have only a distant relationship with the +heroes of Corneille. They are already "those possessed by love, the +great passionates with whom love becomes a malady, who love to the brink +of crime, and even till death." + +With these characters, it can be said that modern love, profound, +tender, melancholy, impregnated with soul, and at the same time troubled +by the obscure influences of the nervous life, makes its entrance into +French literature. Oreste shows a sadness, a despair, a madness, which a +century and a half later burst forth in love romances. Louis XIV. had +not waited for Racine for his education in passion. When Marie Mancini +fascinated him, he was one of the first examples of the modern type of +those "possessed by love," and he had never forgotten this crisis; in +fact he never forgot anything. This episode in the life of the young +King had been a good apprenticeship for the comprehending of the love of +Oreste or of Phédre as the true love malady, as a fatality against which +our single will is only a feeble weapon. + +Around the King, Mme. Henriette, Mme. de Montespan, all the young Court +and some shrewd spirits of the old, with Condé at the head, rendered +justice to the truth of the "anatomies of the heart," in the tragedy of +Racine. Mademoiselle was incapable of this; she believed too firmly in +the superhuman strength of the heroes of Corneille, with whom the will +laughs at resistance, whether the opposition arises in the soul or in +the exterior world, to admit the fatality of passion. Nevertheless, it +was the Grande Mademoiselle herself who was going to demonstrate clearly +to all France that it was impossible to escape fate, when this fate +points to love. Here we meet the great misfortune of her life! + +An atmosphere of passion, and an intimacy with people whose sole +occupation was to render themselves attractive, was somewhat dangerous +for an old maid, sensitive without realising it. Mademoiselle had the +singular desire, which later cost her dearly, to make an ally of Mme. de +Montespan and thus to form a part of the chosen society of the Court. + +She sought the company of the mistress and received service from her. +Mme. de Montespan was her interpreter with the King. In return +Mademoiselle endeavoured to calm M. de Montespan who, for serious or for +trivial reasons[202] "flew into passions," like a "madman" or "wild +person," against Madame his wife. "He is my relative and I scolded +him," says the _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle. As a connoisseur, +Mademoiselle hugely enjoyed the original wit of Mme. de Montespan. The +pleasure found in returning the ball in conversation was the foundation +of the intimacy. + +With the growing idleness of the Court, pleasure in pure cleverness +increased. The play of the mind was the sole resource against ennui. +Wit, no matter at whose expense, became the enjoyment. The wise and +prudent Mme. de Maintenon succumbed like Mademoiselle, when her turn +came, to the irresistible charm of a conversation which "renders +agreeable the most serious matters, and ennobles the most trivial."[203] + +During the sharpest quarrel between Mademoiselle and Mme. de Montespan, +the enjoyment of the opponent's wit was so keen that they parted with +pain. "Mme. de Montespan and I," wrote Mme. de Maintenon in 1681,[204] +"have to-day taken a walk, holding each other's arms and laughing +heartily; we are not more in accord for this." There can never be too +much cleverness, but there is an inconvenience in there being nothing +behind the wit, and this is one of the rocks towards which Louis XIV. +was pushing the French nobility. He made it impossible for those pacing +his antechambers to indulge in any intellectual effort other than that +of seeking pretty phrases to amuse the listeners. + +A gentleman of quality commences his day at eight in the morning +standing in waiting before the door of the king. Salutes are given and +returned. The elegants comb their locks, glancing out of the corner of +their eyes at those entering. Molière permits us to be present at the +"final assault" through verses but little known: + + Grattez du peigne a la porte[205] + De la chambre du Roi; + Ou si, comme je prévoi, + La presse s'y trouve forte, + Montrez de loin vôtre chapeau, + Ou montez sur quelque chose + Pour faire voir votre museau, + Et criez sans aucune pause, + D'un ton rien moins que naturel; + "Monsieur l'huissier, pour le marquis un tel" + Jetez-vous dans la foule, et tranchez du notable, + Coudoyez un chacun, point du tout quartier, + Pressez, poussez, faites le diable + Pour vous mettre le premier.[206] + +M. le Marquis enters. The chamber is already crowded. He "gains ground +step by step," succeeds in seeing the King put on his shoes, for Louis +performs this act with his own royal hands, and thus passes the first +hour. The exciting event is repeated in the evening when the King takes +off his shoes. The Marquis had already, at one o'clock, witnessed the +consumption of the royal soup, and two or three times in the course of +the day had delighted his eyes with the sight of the King passing to +and fro on his way to mass or to take the fresh air. + +During the intervals, the courtiers were charged with certain puerile +occupations. The round of homages were made to the various members of +the royal family and the prominent personages of the day, and there was +gambling and other pleasures. The only relief for this complete idleness +was to be found in an active campaign if there happened to be a war on +hand. Let the courtier be admired for being able under such adverse +circumstances to keep his wit awake and alert for attack and response, +and also for the capacity of finding the military virtues when again +called upon to exercise them. + +Fortunately, the latter virtues were deeply ingrained in the breasts of +the French gentlemen of this period, and it is not to their discredit if +the other faculties, mental and physical, the exercise of which was +plainly discouraged by the King, should have so fallen into disuse that +their children suffered. The final descendants of four or five +generations of those living this absurd life were the _émigrés_ of the +great Revolution, all heroes, almost all clever, or at least appearing +so, and in general people of wit, but without character. This fact can +hardly be too much emphasised: never has a monarch laboured with greater +skill and method than Louis XIV. in the successful attempt to annihilate +the nobility and to ruin its reputation. This is one of the most serious +souvenirs of the wars of the Fronde. + +It was with the women as with the men--the same subjection, the same +emptiness of life, from which arose the weakness of Mademoiselle for +Mme. de Montespan. The situation of recognised mistress "affects +nothing"; Mademoiselle had never considered that the virtue of others +concerned her. The novelty of the situation, the unexpected prerogatives +accruing to the new position, and the habits resulting, gave rise to +some of the most curious incidents of the reign, and also strengthened +an intimacy which survived many shocks. + +As soon as Louis XIV. formally established his mistresses at Court, it +had been needful to frame new rules of etiquette. At first these rules +were understood rather than formulated, but contemporary writers give +evidence of their existence. It was the new regulations which gave +scandal, rather than the fact of a weakness too common to all men of all +times. The people had found the phrase suitable enough when it ran to +gaze on "the three queens" in one carriage; Mlle. de La Vallière and +Mme. de Montespan were publicly at the same time occupying the rank of +secondary wives to the King. When the royal family made its solemn +visits to any of its members who were mortally ill, these two ladies +arrived after the King and Queen. Mademoiselle met them at the death-bed +of Mme. Henriette; "Mme. de Montespan and La Vallière came." She met +them again over the cradle of a daughter of Louis XIV. and of +Marie-Thérèse, who died as an infant. "I found her in the last +extremity.... We staid almost the entire night watching her die; Mme. +de Montespan and Mme. de La Vallière were also there." The latter +escaped from such honours as often as she could. Mme. de Montespan liked +them better, and added to them. She had placed herself upon the footing +of the Queen in regard to ordinary visits, which she never returned. +"Never," says Saint-Simon, "not even to Monsieur or Madame or to the +Grande Mademoiselle, or to the Hôtel de Condé." + +The same hauteur was displayed in the manner of receiving the princes +and princesses of the blood, and this "exterior of Queen" followed her +into the retreat! All were accustomed to it. + +"The habit of respect was preserved without murmur," says again +Saint-Simon, who recalled Mme. de Montespan, disgraced and passing her +time in penitence, nevertheless continuing to hold court in her +convent,[207] with as royal an etiquette as at Saint-Germain or +Versailles: + + The back of her armchair was formed by the foot-piece of the + bed, and there was no other chair in the room. Monsieur and the + Grande Mademoiselle had always loved her, and often went to see + her; for these, chairs were brought, and also for Madame la + Princesse; but Mme. de Montespan did not dream of deranging + herself for her own people nor for those they brought with + them.... One can judge by this how she received "all the + world." + +The "all the world," which included some of the most distinguished, +contented themselves with small "chairs with backs," or simple camp +stools. No one was offended, and "all France came"; I do not know by +what fantasy it was considered a duty to make visits from time to +time. She spoke to each like a queen holding her court, who honours in +"addressing." Marie-Thérèse herself, in the time in which Mme. de +Montespan was the actual sovereign, had submitted to the long empire of +custom. In 1675, the fourth year of the war in Holland, Louis XIV. being +with the army while Mme. de Montespan was at her château at Clagny, one +of their sons was "slightly ill."[208] The Queen considered it her duty +to visit the child and to comfort the mother. She went to seek Mme. de +Montespan, and led her one day to the Trianon, another to dine in some +favourite convent, an example which brought the crowd to Clagny and made +an end of hesitancy. "The wife of her firm (_solide_) friend," wrote +Mme. de Sévigné, "visited her, and afterward the entire family in turn. +She takes precedence of all the Duchesses." (July 3, 1675.) + +There had been a time in which this fashion of ignoring rank would have +excited the indignation of Mademoiselle; but this time was far distant, +farther than she herself realised. In 1667 she had cried very loud +because her second sister, Mademoiselle d'Alençon, had made a +_mésalliance_ in marrying a simple seigneur, the Duc de Guise, and she +had looked very gloomily at the pair. The time had passed for such +pride, as the poor woman was herself ready for a worse _mésalliance_. +Her patience was at an end. Her agitation while Louis XIV. was +attempting marriage negotiations with the Duc de Savoie must not be +forgotten. No prince had thought of her since this affront. She was +considered too old. She would not confess this to be the case, but she +felt it, and a tempest gathered in the depths of her heart. The storm +burst in 1669. It is impossible to say in what measure nature alone was +responsible, and what was due to the atmosphere of moral disorder and +voluptuousness which Mademoiselle was now inhaling at the Court in the +frequent companionship of the favourite. One thing is certain, the +Grande Mademoiselle did not try to struggle against the passion which +seized her; her attitude was rather that of a person who sought its +sway. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 163: The Mlles. de Nemours were daughters of Elisabeth de +Vendôme, sister of the Duc de Beaufort, and of Henri de Savoie, Duc de +Nemours, who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law (July 30, 1652). +The younger sister married Alphonse VI. June 28, 1666.] + +[Footnote 164: Claude Le Pelletier, then President of Inquests. After, +he was Minister of State and Controller-General of Finances.] + +[Footnote 165: Mlle. d'Alençon, the second of the half-sisters of +Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 166: _Archives de Chantilly._] + +[Footnote 167: _[OE]uvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulières_, Paris, +1806.] + +[Footnote 168: _L'ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne_; Paris, +January 27, 1664. (_Archives de la Bastile._) The Princesse de Savoie +refused by Louis XIV; had decided to marry the Duc de Parma.] + +[Footnote 169: _Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 170: The Archbishop of Embrun to Father Brienne; Turin Aug. 1, +1659.] + +[Footnote 171: La Fontaine: _La Fille_, fable, published for the first +time in the edition 1679.] + +[Footnote 172: Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste de Nemours married Charles Emmanuel +II., May 11, 1665.] + +[Footnote 173: And not Madame Henriette, as has been said in error.] + +[Footnote 174: Bethléem was a suburb of Clamecy.] + +[Footnote 175: Mme. de La Fayette, _Histoire de Madame Henriette_.] + +[Footnote 176: _Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 177: See Raoul Allier, _La Cabale des Dévots_.] + +[Footnote 178: Lenten sermons for the year 1662.] + +[Footnote 179: Letter of March 29, 1680.] + +[Footnote 180: _Archives de la Bastille_, by François Ravaisson, vols. +iv., v., and vi., _passim_.] + +[Footnote 181: See the review of the play in _Molière_ of the _Grands +Écrivains de la France_ (Hachette).] + +[Footnote 182: Allusion to certain talismans.] + +[Footnote 183: _Archives de la Bastille_: Rapport de la Reynie, +lieutenant-general of police, à Louvois (1680, no other date).] + +[Footnote 184: _La Magie dans l'Inde antique_, by Victor Henry.] + +[Footnote 185: Interrogatory of June 30, 1668. Mme. de Bougy was the +widow of the Marquis of this name, lieutenant-general. La Duverger was +occupied with magic. The Marquis de Ravetot had married Catherine de +Grammont, daughter of the Marshal.] + +[Footnote 186: Another name for Lesage.] + +[Footnote 187: _Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe_, by M. Romain Rolland. +Cf. _Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_, by Chouquet, _Les +Origines de l'Opéra français_, by Nuitter and Thoinan.] + +[Footnote 188: The first opera worthy of the name was _Pomone_, by +Cambert. It will be learned in special works how French opera differed +from Italian and through what a chain of circumstances it occurred that +a Florentine, Baptiste Lulli, was the true founder.] + +[Footnote 189: See above.] + +[Footnote 190: A selection of the operas of Lulli, for piano and voice, +has appeared in the Collection Michaelis.] + +[Footnote 191: Letter dated December 1, 1673.] + +[Footnote 192: _Introduction par M. le Comte d' Haussonville, aux +Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._] + +[Footnote 193: _Kant als Mensch_, by Erich Adickes.] + +[Footnote 194: Romain Rolland.] + +[Footnote 195: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 196: _OEuvres galantes en vers et en prose_, by M. Cotin.] + +[Footnote 197: For this see _Les Ennemis de Racine_, by F. Deltour; _Les +Époques du Théâtre français_, and _Les Études critiques sur l'Histoire +de la Littérature française_ by M. F. Brunetière; the memoirs and +correspondence of the times; the collection of _Mercure galant_; _les +préfaces de Racine_, etc.] + +[Footnote 198: Criticism by Boursault.] + +[Footnote 199: Deltour, _Les Ennemies de Racine_.] + +[Footnote 200: _Gazette de Loret_, January 13, 1663.] + +[Footnote 201: _Mémoires sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jean Racine_, by +Louis Racine.] + +[Footnote 202: See the volume by MM. Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger, _De La Vallière à Montespan_.] + +[Footnote 203: _Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._--_Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale_, with an _Introduction_ by M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 204: May 27, to M. de Montchevreuil.] + +[Footnote 205: "_Frappez_" would have been misunderstood.] + +[Footnote 206: _Remerciement au Roi_ (1663).] + +[Footnote 207: The Convent of Saint-Joseph, rue Saint Dominique; Mme. de +Montespan had constructed in it an apartment for herself.] + +[Footnote 208: The Comte de Vexin, who died young.--Mme. de Sévigné, +letter dated June 14, 1675.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + + The Grande Mademoiselle in Love--Sketch of Lauzun and their + Romance--The Court on its Travels--Death of + Madame--Announcement of the Marriage of Mademoiselle--General + Consternation--Louis XIV. Breaks the Affair. + + +In the spring of 1669, Louis XIV. one day was listening to the Comtesse +de Soissons sing. She was the second of the Mazarin nieces, and the only +really wicked one in the family. She sang a new song containing many +naughty couplets, in which mud was thrown upon some of the courtiers. +Men and women received their packet under the guise of mock praise, +according to a fashion much in vogue. The phrase "mock praise" had +become the name of a form of satire, which made an almost unique +literature. The King permitted the couplets to pass in silence. He did +not even protest at this one: + + Et pour M. Le Grand,[209] + Il est tout mystère; + Quand il est galant, + Il a comme La Vallière + L'esprit pénétrant. + +The Countess then arrived at a couplet on Puyguilhem, better known under +the name of Lauzun.[210] + + De la cour + La vertu la plus pure + Est en Péguilin.... + +At this place the King interrupted: "If it is wished to vex him, they +are wrong, but when people act as he has done, they must be let alone; +as for others, they are badly treated." The sudden displeasure of the +King at the mention of Puyguilhem caused a general silence, and the song +stopped at this point. + +The Grande Mademoiselle was present at this scene, and was surprised to +discover that she was not indifferent to its import. Up to this time, +she had scarcely known Lauzun, who did not belong to her coterie. "It +pleased me," says her _Mémoires_, "to hear the manner in which the King +spoke of him; I felt some instinct of the future." This was the first +warning of the passion which had already insinuated itself into the +depths of her heart; but she did not yet comprehend it. The idea came to +her, however, of seizing an occasion to converse with Lauzun. She felt +an inclination for this at once. "He has," said she, "a manner of +explaining himself which is very extraordinary." Mademoiselle was +interested, but she still believed that it was only the conversational +capacity which pleased her in the little cadet of Gascony. She began to +query, however, why, having been sufficiently content during her five +years of exile, she was now so willing to remain a fixture. The year had +ended before she found a satisfactory response to this question: "I went +in the month of December (the 6th) to Saint-Germain, from which I did +not depart. I soon accustomed myself to it. Ordinarily, I only stayed +three or four days, and my present long sojourn surprised every one." + +On the 31st, she decided at length to return to Paris: "I was very bored +there, and could not discover what I had done at Saint-Germain which had +so much diverted me." She hastened to rejoin the Court, without knowing +why, and commenced again her conversations with Lauzun, but still +remained unconscious of any sentiment. She only knew that she was +troubled and agitated, and discontented with her condition, and that she +felt a desire to marry. The desire dated back a long time, but of late +it had become so insistent that Mademoiselle was forced to examine +herself seriously. + +The passage in which she relates her discovery is charmingly natural and +significantly true: + + I reasoned with myself (for I did not speak to any one) and I + said, 'this is no longer a vague thought; it must have some + object.' I did not discover who it was. I sought, I dreamed, + but could not find out. Finally, after some days of anxiety, I + perceived that it was M. de Lauzun whom I loved, who had glided + into my heart. I thought him the most worthy man in the world, + the most agreeable; nothing was lacking to make me happy but a + husband like him, whom I should love and who would love me + devotedly; that heretofore I had never been loved; that it was + necessary once in life to taste the sweetness of being adored by + some one, which would make worth while the sufferings caused by + the pangs of love. + +This explanation of her own heart was followed by days of intoxication. +Mademoiselle lived in a dream, and all was easy, all was arranged: "It +appeared to me that I found more pleasure in seeing him and in talking +to him than heretofore; that the days in which he was absent, I was +bored, and I believe that the same feeling came to him; that he did not +care to confess this, but the pains he took to come wherever he was +likely to meet me made the fact clear." In the absence of Lauzun, she +sought solitude in order to think of him freely. "I was delighted to be +alone in my chamber; I formed plans of what I could do for him which +would give him a higher position." + +One single thought, characteristic of her generation, came to trouble +her happiness; she queried of herself if the great princesses of the +theatre of Corneille would have married a cadet of Gascogne. Assuredly, +passion blows where it listeth. Corneille had never denied this; but he +had maintained that the will should render us masters of our affections, +and his plays bear witness that love, even when founded in a just +feeling of admiration, can efface itself before the sentiment of the +duty owed to rank. Happily, poets, even when they are named Corneille, +sometimes contradict themselves, and Mademoiselle, who had seen plays +since the days of swaddling clothes, well knew her _répertoire_. She now +recalled for her comfort a passage in the _Suite du Menteur_ which +clearly established the "predestination of marriage, and the foresight +of God," so that it was a Christian duty to submit without resistance to +sentiments sent to us "from the sky." + +Although sure of her own memory, which was indeed excellent, +Mademoiselle sent in great haste to Paris to secure a copy of the play, +and found the page (Act IV.) in which Mélisse confides to Lise his love +for Dorante: + + Quand les ordres du ciel nous ont faits l'un pour l'autre, + Lise, c'est un accord bientôt fait que le nôtre. + Sa main entre les c[oe]urs, par un secret pouvoir, + Sème l'intelligence avant que de se voir; + Il prépare si bien l'amant et la maîtresse, + Que leur âme au seul nom s'émeut et s'intéresse. + On s'estime, on se cherche, on s'aime en un moment; + Tout ce qu'on s'entredit persuade aisément; + Et, sans s'inquiéter de mille peurs frivoles, + La foi semble courir au-devant des paroles. + +How was it possible to doubt for a single instant after having read +these verses that there is impiety in disobeying the "commands" to love +which come to us from on high? Nevertheless, serious conflicts took +place in the soul of the royal pupil of Corneille. Sometimes she +represented to herself with vivacity the joys of marriage, among the +keenest of which would be the witnessing the vexation of her heirs, who +were already beginning to find that she was making them wait too long, +and whom she longed to disappoint. Sometimes her mind could only dwell +upon the scandal which such a _mésalliance_ would cause, the reprobation +of some, and the laughter of others, and then her pride rose in arms. +She thus on one day desired the marriage eagerly, while on the next she +detested the thought of it, the vacillation depending upon the fact of +her having between times seen or not seen M. de Lauzun. + +This struggle between the head and the heart was prolonged during +several weeks; + + finally, after having often passed and repassed the pro and con + through my brain, my heart decided the affair, and it was in + the Church of Recollects in which I took my final resolution. + Never had I felt so much devotion in church, and those who + regarded me perceived that I was much absorbed; I believe that + God surprised me with His commands. The next day, which was the + second of March, I was very gay. + +If Mademoiselle had been of the age of Juliet, this would have been a +pretty romance. But she was perhaps slightly too mature to play with the +grand passion. + +The man who was the cause of these agitations is one of the best-known +figures of his times. Traces of him are found in all the contemporary +writings. The singularity of his personality joined to the prodigies of +his luck, good and bad, had made him an object of interest to his +contemporaries. It was of him that La Bruyère said: "No one can guess +how he lives."[211] The political world, the ministers at the head, +observed him with an anxious attention, because he had accomplished the +miracle of becoming the favourite of the King, while possessing +precisely the defects which Louis XIV. feared the most. Lauzun did not +attain the position of such a favourite as the Constable de Luynes under +Louis XIII., but he secured sufficient influence to accumulate offices +and honours. + +Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, later Comte de Lauzun, +was born in 1633 (or 1632) of an ancient family of Périgord. His parents +had nine children and nothing to give to the younger ones; but their +birth assured to this youthful throng access to the Court and hope of +aid from it. The third of the boys resembled Poucet in form and also +possessed his keenness of mind. It was decided to send him to seek his +fortune, not in the forest, as with the hero of the tale, but in the +vicinity of the Court of France, the parents being convinced that with +his acuteness he would not permit himself to be eaten by the ogre, but +would rather succeed in devouring others. + +The Maréchal de Gramont, first cousin of the old Lauzun, saw arrive at +his mansion a very little man, with the face of "a flayed cat,"[212] +surrounded with flaxen hair, who claimed to be fourteen years of age. +This grotesque person was as lively as a sparrow and Gascon to the tips +of his fingers. + +The Marshal kept him and provided for his education. In winter the +little man went to the "academy" to learn to dance, to shoot, and to +ride. In the summer he campaigned with a cavalry regiment belonging to +his uncle. There was apparently no plan for serious study of any kind, +nor even any attention paid to making the youth read. Complete ignorance +was still accepted among the nobility without remark; there had been +little change for the better in this respect since the previous century. +The parents of Lauzun had well judged. In a short time the boy had +wormed himself into the most imposing mansions, the most sacred +chambers. He was seen with the King, he was met in the company of +beautiful ladies. The Court and the city became familiar with his +furtive and impudent physiognomy, which soon grew haughty and insolent. +At eighteen, his father gave him his first military charge. At +twenty-four, he possessed a regiment; then suddenly, when the King came +to power, he received advancements, favours, an always increasing and +inexplicable credit, which aroused for him the hatred of Louvois, for in +the frequent discussions in relation to the service, "the favourite +always conquered." One of his tricks, which was unparalleled for +impudence, and the discovery of which might well have crushed him for +ever, ended in proving his strength. + +[Illustration: + +Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie. + +=DUC DE LAUZUN= + +By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.] + +At about the time when he attracted the attention of the Grande +Mademoiselle, the insatiable little man extracted from his master (under +the condition of secrecy for fear of Louvois) the promise of being +shortly made Grand Master of Artillery. Lauzun was foolish enough not to +be silent. Louvois, once warned, made such strong and convincing +opposition that the King was aroused, and the favourite heard no more of +the appointment. In his anxiety he appealed to Mme. de Montespan. She +was his great friend and promised her aid; but he was distrustful and +wished to "have his mind clear"; then occurred a scene which outraged +Saint-Simon himself, as he related it long after. This writer avows in +his _Mémoires_ that it would have been incredible "if the truth had not +been attested by all the Court." + +Like most great workers, Louis XIV. was orderly and methodical in +everything. He had fixed hours for his ministers and for appearing in +public, hours for his wife and for his mistresses. It could always be +known where he was and what he was doing. Mme. de Montespan's hour was +in the afternoon. With the complicity of a chambermaid Lauzun was +introduced into the room, concealed himself under the bed, and by +keeping his ears open soon "cleared his mind." Mme. de Montespan did not +forget him in her conversation, but he heard himself severely criticised +and his bad character exploited; the slight dependence which could be +placed upon him and his arrogance towards Louvois were also emphasised. +All these charges were made with so much wit that the King, carried +away, replied with almost as little charity. + +The listener under the bed, through rage and constraint, was thrown into +a "great perspiration." Finally the King returned to his own affairs and +Mme. de Montespan to hers, which were to attire themselves for a ballet. +After her toilet, Madame found Lauzun at her door. He offered +his hand and demanded if he dared flatter himself that she had +remembered him with the King. She assured him that she had not failed to +do so, and expatiated upon "all the services which she had just rendered +him." M. de Lauzun permitted her to finish, only forcing her to walk +slowly, and then softly in a low voice repeated, word for word, all that +had passed between the King and herself, without leaving out a single +phrase; and always retaining the sweet and gentle voice, he proceeded to +call her the most infamous names, assured her that he would "spoil her +face," and led her most unwillingly to the ballet, more dead than alive, +and almost without consciousness. + +The King and Mme. de Montespan both believed that it was only the devil +himself who could have so accurately reported what had been said. +Royalty and the mistress were in trouble, and in a "horrible rage"; they +had not yet recovered their equanimity when the favourite recommenced +his intrigues. + +Three days after this apparently inexplicable event, he came to break +his sword before the King, declaiming that he would no longer serve a +prince who forswore his word for a ---- (the word cannot be repeated). +The conduct of Louis XIV. at this juncture has remained famous. He +opened the window and threw out his cane, saying that he should regret +having struck a gentleman. + +The next day Lauzun found himself in the Bastile, and it might have been +supposed for a long sojourn, under a monarch who never as a child had +pardoned a lack of respect. The public was still more astonished to +learn, at the end of the second month, that it was the King who sought +pardon, and Lauzun who held his head high, refusing recompense and +asserting that the prison was preferable to the Court. + +The feelings of Louvois and others can be imagined during the strange +interchange of visits between Saint-Germain and the Bastile, for the +purpose of obtaining from this dangerous personage the acceptance of the +much-desired charge of Captain of the Body Guard; also the alarm at the +prompt[213] return of the favourite, more of a spoiled child than before +the punishment. + +Whence came this credit with a prince so little susceptible to +influence, who had always pretended to be as opposed to the rule of +favourites as of prime ministers? In what did this little Lauzun show +special merit? and what attracted women who pursued and sought his +favour through cajoleries and gifts? Little Poucet he still was; for he +had not increased in stature. "He is," wrote Bussy-Rabutin, "one of the +smallest men God has ever made."[214] He had not become more beautiful. +We can on this point believe the testimony of Mademoiselle herself. +However strong her passion, she is yet able to paint Lauzun in these +terms, writing to Mme. de Noailles: "He is a small man. No one can say +that his figure is not the straightest, prettiest, most agreeable. The +limbs are fine; he has good presence in all that he does; but little +hair, blond mixed with grey, ill-combed, and often somewhat greasy; fine +blue eyes, but generally red; a shrewd air; a pretty countenance. His +smile pleases. The end of his nose is pointed and red; something +elevated in his physiognomy; very negligent in attire; when, however, it +appeals to him to be careful, he looks very well. Behold the man!" + +This is not an alluring picture. There was but little to attract. It was +murmured that he possessed secret methods of making himself beloved. "As +for his temper and manners," continues Mademoiselle, "I defy any one to +understand them, to explain or to imitate them." The world was not +entirely of this opinion. It could recognise at least that M. de Lauzun +was "the most insolent little man born in the century,"[215] also the +most malicious. Many cruel traits were ascribed to him, and his fashion +of turning on his heel and plunging into the crowd before his victims +had regained their composure was well known. + +The world was also well assured that the favourite was an intriguer. +Lauzun was always occupied with some machination, even against those to +whom he was indifferent; this kept his hand in. For the rest, +Mademoiselle was right; he was _not_ understood. He was very +intelligent. His clever phrases were repeated. For example, his response +to the wife of a minister who said rather foolishly, in emphasising the +trouble her husband gave himself: "There is nothing more embarrassing +than the position of the one who holds _la queue de la poêle_, is +there?" "Pardon, Madame, there are those who are within." + +But Lauzun also loved to play the imbecile and to utter with the tone of +a simpleton phrases without sense; he indulged in this singular taste +even before the King. The contrast was great between his pretensions to +the "haughty air" and the desire to be imposing and the habit of +adorning himself in grotesque costumes in order to see whether any one +dared to laugh at M. de Lauzun. He was once found at home arrayed in a +dressing gown and great wig, his mantle over the gown, a nightcap upon +his wig, and a plumed hat above all. Thus attired, he walked up and down +scanning his domestics, and woe to him who did not keep his countenance. + +He was at once avaricious and lavish, ungrateful and the reverse, +delighting in evil but at the same time loyal as relative or friend +while not ceasing to be dangerous. He undertook at one time to advance +in the world his nephew, lately come from Périgord. He furnished him +with a purse and took the trouble to present him at Court, at which +their apparition was an event. They were pointed out to every one, and +no one, not even the King, composed as he was by profession, could help +laughing; Lauzun had indulged in the fantasy of dressing his nephew in +the costume of his grandfather. The poor lad felt so ridiculous that he +almost died from shame, and fled from Paris without daring to show +himself again. + +In this freak, his uncle had not acted maliciously: he had simply +disregarded consequences. There was certainly a strain of madness in +Lauzun. If not too large, a tinge of this kind often gives to people a +certain fascination. It had captivated Mademoiselle, who in trying to +define her attraction for Lauzun was forced to conclude, "Finally, he +pleased me; and I love him passionately." + +The King had also not been insensible to this indefinable charm, but it +must be said that he had been slightly dazzled by the perfection of the +qualities of a courtier which were shown by this half-madman. The Court +of France possessed no more servile being bowing down before the master +than "the most insolent little man seen during the century." This Gascon +played comedies of devotion for the benefit of Louis XIV. and flattered +him in the most shameful manner, which succeeded only too well. + +The King was persuaded that M. de Lauzun loved him alone, lived but for +him, and had no thought apart, and the King was touched by this +illusion. He found such absolute devotion delightful, and was ready to +pardon much to the man who gave so good an example to other courtiers. + +But even in giving full weight to the originality and the +unscrupulousness of this man, which undoubtedly added to his force, and +also bearing in mind that Louis XIV. did not entirely escape a certain +terror which his favourite inspired, it is still difficult to account +for a success so disproportioned to the merit. Lauzun had almost reached +the heights when the mad strain became ascendant and ruined him. Once +decided upon her desires, Mademoiselle became completely absorbed in +finding the best means of satisfying these. The first steps appeared to +be the most difficult. Considering her rank, the advances must be made +by her, and it fell to the Grande Mademoiselle to demand the hand of M. +de Lauzun. Everything had been prepared and the Princess did not +anticipate a refusal. But it was not sufficient to be married; she +wished to live her romance, to be loved, and to be told so, and this +delight was not easy to attain. "I do not know," says she, "if he +perceived what was in my heart. I was dying of desire to give him an +opportunity to tell me what his feelings were to me. I knew not how to +accomplish this." + +Probably in all the Court there did not exist another woman so naïve as +Mademoiselle in regard to the manipulation of a lover! After having +seriously thought over the matter, she decided upon a classic expedient. +She resolved to tell Lauzun that it was a question of an alliance, and +that she wished to ask his advice. If he loved her, he would certainly +betray himself. She entered upon the attempt, on the same second of +March on which she had awakened so gaily, and met her lover in the +palace of the Queen, at the time when that lady retired to her +_oratoire_ to "pray God." + +While Marie-Thérèse was prolonging her devotions a certain freedom was +permitted in the anteroom. + +"I went to him and led him near a window. With his pride and his haughty +air, he appeared to me the Emperor of all the world. I commenced: 'You +have testified so much friendship for me during so long a time, that I +have the utmost confidence in you, and I do not wish to act without your +advice.'" Lauzun protested, as was fitting, his gratitude and his +devotion, and Mademoiselle continued: "It is plainly to be seen that the +King wishes to marry me to the Prince de Lorraine; have you heard this +mentioned?" No, he had "heard nothing of it." Mademoiselle poured out +some confused explanations as to her reasons for wishing to remain in +France, in the hope of finding at length true happiness. "For myself," +concluded she, "I cannot love what I do not esteem." Lauzun approved +all and demanded: "Do you think of marrying?" She responded naïvely, "I +become enraged when I hear people calculating upon my succession." "Ah," +said he, "nothing would give me greater delight than to marry." At this +moment, the Queen came out of the _oratoire_ and it was necessary to +part. Lauzun had betrayed nothing. Nevertheless, Mademoiselle felt very +happy: "I thought, there is one important step taken, and he can no +longer mistake my sentiments; on the first occasion, I will learn his. I +was well content with myself and with what I had done." + +Lauzun had in fact really comprehended that the Grande Mademoiselle was +throwing herself at his head, and he was well pleased to enter into the +game at all risks, in order to gain what he could. Without actually +reaching the marriage ceremony, the love of a grand princess can be of +advantage in many ways. He took pains, therefore, to renew the +conversation, and employed all his art, all his wit, in default of +feeling, in keeping the flame alight in the breast of the old maid and +in flattering the weaknesses which united with the movements of her +heart in increasing the desire for marriage. Mademoiselle could not +support the vision of the heirs always on the watch; Lauzun accentuated +and sympathised with her annoyance at overhearing such phrases as "This +one will have that territory, another will inherit this land." "I find +your vexation very reasonable," said he, "for one should live as long +as possible and not love those who desire our death." + +Mademoiselle could not resign herself to growing old. This was not +coquetry, of which she could not be accused; it was the conviction that +on account of her high birth she was a privileged creature. She said +very seriously, "People of my quality are always young," and she dressed +as at twenty, and continued to dance. + +Lauzun attacked this delicate subject and did not hesitate to speak +unpleasant truths before offering the soothing balm held in reserve. It +was his habit to treat women brutally in order to make them submissive, +and in this case there were double reasons for doing so. "His maxim," +relates Saint-Simon, "was that the Bourbons must be rudely treated and +the rod must be held high over their heads, without which no empire +could be preserved over them." This system had succeeded tolerably well +with Louis XIV. Lauzun could well believe, in these early times, that it +would also be successful with his cousin, so humbly did she accept his +harshness. + +He said to her: "I find that you are right to take a husband, nothing in +the world being so ridiculous, no matter what may be the rank, as to see +a woman of forty wrapped up in the pleasures of the world, like a girl +of fifteen, who thinks of nothing else. At this age, a woman should be a +nun or at least a _dévote_, or she should remain at home modestly +dressed." + +He admitted that Mademoiselle, on account of her high rank, might +constitute an exception, and that she might be permitted at long +intervals to hear one or two acts of the opera; but her duty as old maid +was "to attend vespers, and to listen to sermons, to receive the +benediction, to go to assemblies for the poor, and to the hospitals." Or +else to marry; this was the alternative which pointed his moral. "For +once married," continued he, "a woman can go anywhere at any age; she +dresses like others, to please her husband, and goes to amusements +because he wishes his wife not to appear peculiar." + +Every word impressed itself on the mind of the loving Princess. When +Saint-Simon, who was intimate with Lauzun, read the _Mémoires_ of +Mademoiselle, he found the account of this adventure so true and lively +that he renounced the attempt to relate it himself. "Whoever knew Lauzun +will at once recognise him in all that Mademoiselle relates, and his +voice can almost be heard." Through a very natural contradiction, the +Grande Mademoiselle, even at the height of her passion, preserved "some +regret that she would no longer be queen in foreign lands." Lauzun tried +to banish this regret. He represented to her that the trouble of playing +at royalty + + surpassed the pleasure. If you had been really Queen or Empress + you would soon have been bored.... You can now dwell here all + your life.... If you desire to marry you can raise a man to be + the equal in grandeur and power to sovereigns. Above all, he + will realise that you have taken pleasure in bringing him to + prominence; he will be deeply grateful. It would not be needful + to describe the man who may possess so much honour; for in pleasing + you and in being your choice, he must of necessity be an estimable + being. He will lack nothing; but where is he? + +This language, so clear in its import to the reader, did not entirely +satisfy Mademoiselle. The poor Princess was ever expecting an avowal or +caresses which never came. Lauzun acted the disinterested friend, the +person who was entirely out of the running, and he detailed all the +reasons which made an unequal marriage distasteful to him. Far from +seeking her, he held himself at a respectful distance when he met her. +"It was I," says she, "who sought him." His reserve and his reticence +added fuel to the flames, and this diverted him, but for the moment he +did not dare to promise himself anything more than greater credit at +Court. + +In the meantime, the Duchesse de Longueville[216] wished to establish +the Count de Saint-Paul, the one of her sons who resembled "infinitely" +La Rochefoucauld. In spite of the great difference in age--her son was +only twenty--she thought of Mademoiselle, who remained by far the best +match in the kingdom, and commenced overtures. These were eluded, but +with a gentleness which astonished the social world. Mademoiselle had +her reasons: "For myself, who had my own desires buried in my heart, it +did not at all vex me that the report should be spread that there was +question of marrying me to M. de Longueville.[217] It occurred to me +that this might in some measure accustom people to my future action." + +For once, the diplomacy of Mademoiselle did not prove a failure, and her +calculations were found to be justified. Some days later, when the +affair was being discussed before Lauzun, one of his friends, who had +perceived that the Princess was listening with pleasure, asked him why +he did not try his fortune.[218] Others joined in the suggestion and all +assured him that nothing was impossible for a man so advanced in the +good graces of the King. Lauzun expressed himself shocked at the idea of +an alliance with Mademoiselle; but on returning to his lodging, he +ruminated the entire night upon this conversation, and from that time +the thought did not appear to him so chimerical. It was necessary, +however, to delay the assurance; the King led the Court into Flanders +and gave the command of the escort to his favourite. + +This was a political journey. Spain had been vanquished almost without +resistance in the war of Dévolution[219] (1667-1668). Louis XIV. deemed +it useful to display French royalty in all its pomp to the populations +lately united with his kingdom, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (May 2, +1668), and all prepared to make a fine figure in a spectacle whose +strangeness finds nothing analogous in modern life. + +In 1658, Loret the journalist had valued at about twelve hundred souls +(the servitors were not included) the convoy formed by the Court at its +departure for Lyons. This figure was certainly surpassed in 1670, when +the royal family alone, more than complete, since it included Mme. de +Montespan and Mlle. de La Vallière, took in their train a suite of +several thousand persons, not counting the army of escorts. + +This suite was composed of ladies and maids of honour, gentlemen, pages, +domestics of all orders and of both sexes, footmen and valets of valets. +The King even brought his nurse with him. On the other hand, the +nobility were better disciplined than in the times of Mazarin and Anne +of Austria, and no one had dared to remain behind. The departure was +from Saint-Germain, April 28. Pellison wrote the next day to his friend +Mlle. de Scudéry: "It is impossible to tell you how numerous the Court +is; it is much larger than at Saint-Germain or Paris. Every one has +followed."[220] + +The quantity of luggage gave to this crowd the appearance of a wandering +nomadic tribe. All the personages of high rank took with them complete +sets of furniture. Louis XIV. had on this journey "a chamber of crimson +damask," for ordinary use, and another "very magnificent" where greater +accommodation would be had. The bed of the last was "of green velvet +embroidered with gold, immensely large, which could of itself fill +several small rooms." There were also entire suites of needful furniture +when the King lodged at his ease, and the same for the Queen, beautiful +Gobelin tapestries and a quantity of silver plaques,[221] chandeliers of +silver, and other pieces. + +The commissary department carried a monster cooking apparatus and +necessary utensils to supply, morning and evening, several large tables +with food served on plated dishes. When all was unpacked, their +Majesties were "almost as at the Tuileries." + +Monsieur could not do without pretty things nor infinite variation of +toilet; he was much encumbered on a journey. Mademoiselle, demanding +little, had nevertheless her rank to maintain, and her "campaign +chamber" was imposing. On one journey, she was obliged to lodge ten days +in a peasant's hut where the ceilings were so low that it was necessary +to increase the height of the room by digging out the ground which +formed the floor, in order to erect the canopy of her bed. Those of the +courtiers obliged, from their rank as chiefs of _Commandments_, to keep +open table led with them a staff of domestics and enough material for an +itinerant inn. Others wished to make themselves conspicuous by the +fineness of their equipage. That of Lauzun had been much admired at his +departure from Paris. "He passed through the St. Honoré," wrote +Mademoiselle, who had come across him by chance; "he was very splendid +and magnificent." The most modest carried at least a camp-bed, under +pain of sleeping upon mother earth during the entire trip. + +The train of chariots, carts, and horses, or mules with pack-saddles, +which rolled along the route to Flanders in 1670, can be pictured; also +the difficulty of uniting luggage and owner when the resting-places were +scattered over an entire village or group of villages; the accidents of +all sorts which happened to the caravan, on roads almost always in a +frightful condition, and in traversing rivers often without bridges; the +indifference of some, the impatience of others, and the universal +disorder; the anguish of losing one's cooks if one were a Marie-Thérèse, +the desolation of not finding the rouge and powder if one were Monsieur +or some pretty woman! Surely those who preserved their equanimity +through such trials and under excessive fatigue deserve praise. + +Louis XIV. was a good traveller, arranged everything for himself, and +expected others to do as much. He detested groans, timid women, and +those to whom a bed was important. The Queen Marie-Thérèse began to +grumble before actually stepping into her coach, and the fact that she +was in a placid frame of mind during a trip was spread far and wide as +a piece of good news. The frugal suppers and the nights passed in a +waggon, while awaiting the carriage which had missed the way, appeared +to her frightful calamities. The bad condition of the roads made her +weep, and she uttered loud cries in traversing fords. She was once found +in tears, stopping the horses in the open plain and refusing to go on or +to turn back. An intelligent interest in new surroundings did not give +her compensation for her woes, for she possessed no curiosity. The +conferences with which the King entertained the ladies along the route, +upon military tactics and fortifications, mortally bored and wearied the +poor Queen, and she did not know how to conceal her feelings. + +To tell the truth, among all the women who pressed behind the King upon +the ramparts of the cities or on the fortifications of old +battle-fields, appearing to absorb his words and explanations, +Mademoiselle was the only one who really listened with pleasure. Since +the exploits during the Fronde, the Princess had always considered +herself as belonging to the profession of arms. + +Monsieur had one great resource in travelling. When he joined the King, +he brought with him some choice bits of gossip which entertained the +entire coach. In the evening, when the beds were being anxiously +awaited, he started games, or ordered the King's violins and gave a +dance. If no other place offered, the company would use a barn for the +impromptu ball. Monsieur, however, was much annoyed at any mishaps which +might interfere with his toilet, and could never take accidents of this +kind lightly. + +The journey of 1670 was made more difficult by torrents of rain, and the +one who was generally drenched was the Commander-in-chief of the troops, +who was obliged to stand with uncovered head to receive the King's +orders. Monsieur looked with a sort of indignation upon the piteous +countenance of Lauzun, his hair uncurled and dripping, and once said: +"Nothing would induce me to show myself in such a condition. He does not +look at all well with his wet hair; I have never seen a man so +hideous."[222] + +Mademoiselle was more indignant than Monsieur; chiefly over the fact +that any one could consider M. de Lauzun ugly "in any state," and that +the King should gaily expose him to the risk of catching cold. "M. de +Lauzun is always without a hat and has his head drenched. I said to the +King, 'Sire, command him to cover his head; he will be ill.' I said this +so repeatedly that I was afraid my solicitude would be noticed." + +Mademoiselle cared but little on her own account for the discomforts of +the journey. No woman made fewer grimaces at a bad supper, or for being +forced to make a bedchamber of her carriage, and sometimes to sleep upon +a chair. She did not, however, enjoy the reputation of being a good +traveller, on account of the insurmountable terror which water +inspired. During a ford, she cried out as loudly as the Queen; the signs +of the King's impatience could not restrain her; "as soon as I see it," +said she, of the water, "I no longer know what I am doing." + +The rest of the party belonging to the caravan resigned themselves to +the discomforts of camping through "the grace of God." It was realised +that any expression of discontent caused the danger of incurring the +royal displeasure, and discomfort was expected as a necessary +accompaniment of a royal progress. + +In 1667, Court had passed one night at the Château of Mailly near +Amiens. The Abbé de Montigny, Almoner of the Queen, wrote the next day +to some friends, "Mailly, ladies, is a caravansary. There was such a +crowd that Mme. de Montausier slept upon a heap of straw in a cupboard, +the daughters of the Queen in a barn on some wheat, and your humble +servant on a pile of charcoal."[223] In 1670 the account of the night of +the 3d of May filled many letters. May 3d had been a painful day. The +immense convoy had departed from Saint-Quentin for Landrecies at an +early hour, during a beating rain, which had visibly increased the +water-courses and swamps. Hour by hour the vehicles sank deeper in the +mud and the roads were encumbered with horses and mules, dead or +overcome, with carts sunk in the mire, and with overturned baggage. It +was not long before the chariots met the same fate. The Maréchal de +Bellefonte was forced to abandon his in a slough, and make the remainder +of his way to the resting-place on foot, in the company of Benserade and +two others. M. de Crussol[224] met the water above the doors of the +carriage in traversing the Sambre, and M. de Bouligneux,[225] who +followed him, was forced to unharness in the middle of the stream and to +save himself on one of the horses. When it came to the Queen and +Mademoiselle, it was in vain to promise to conduct them to another ford +reported as "very safe." Their cries and agitation were such that the +attempt was abandoned. They sought shelter in the single habitation on +the bank. It was a poor hut composed of two connecting rooms with only +the ground for floor; on entering, Mademoiselle sank up to the knees in +a muddy hole. Landrecies was upon the other bank of the Sambre. The +night fell and all were dying with hunger, for there had been no meal +since Saint-Quentin. The King, very discontented, declared that no +further attempt should be made to proceed and the night should be passed +in the carriages. Mademoiselle remounted into hers, put on her nightcap +and undressed. She could not, however, close her eyes; "for there was +such a frightful noise." Some one said, "The King and Queen are going to +sup." Mademoiselle ordered herself borne through the mud into the hut, +and found the Queen very sulky. Marie-Thérèse had no bed and was +lamenting, saying "that she would be ill if she did not sleep," and +demanding what was the pleasure in such journeyings. + +Louis XIV. added the last touch to her vexation in proposing that the +entire royal family and some intimates should sleep in the largest of +the two rooms, letting the other serve as a military headquarters for +Lauzun. "Look," said the King, "they are bringing mattresses; +Romecourt[226] has an entirely new bed upon which you can sleep." +"What!" cried the Queen, "sleep all together in one room? that will be +horrible!" "But," rejoined the King, "you'll be completely dressed. +There can be no harm. I find none." Mademoiselle, chosen as arbitrator, +found no impropriety, and the Queen yielded. + +The city of Landrecies had provided their sovereigns with a "bouillon +very thin," the distasteful appearance of which alarmed Marie-Thérèse. +She refused it with disgust. When it was well understood that she would +not touch it, the King and Mademoiselle, aided by Monsieur and Madame, +devoured it in an instant; as soon as it was all gone, the Queen said, +"I wanted some soup and you have eaten it all." Every one began to +laugh, in spite of etiquette; when there appeared a large dish of +chicken cutlets, also sent from Landrecies, which was eaten with +avidity, soothing the injured feelings of the Queen. "The dish +contained," relates Mademoiselle, "meat so hard that it took all one's +strength to pull a chicken apart." + +When the company retired for the night, those not yet prepared arrayed +themselves in nightcaps and dressing-gowns,[227] and French royalty for +this memorable night must be represented in the apparel of Argan. + +In the corner of the chimney, upon the bed of Romecourt, lay the Queen, +turned so that she might see all that was passing. "You have only to +keep open your curtain," suggested the King; "you will be able to see us +all." + +Near to the Queen, upon a mattress, lay Mme. de Bethune, the lady of +honour, and Mme. de Thianges, sister of Mme. de Montespan, pressed +together for lack of space. Monsieur and Madame, Louis XIV. and the +Grande Mademoiselle, Mlle. de La Vallière, and Mme. de Montespan, a +duchess and a maid of honour were crowded on the remaining mattresses, +placed at right angles and proving a most troublesome obstruction to the +officers going and coming on official business to the headquarters in +the other room. Happily, the King at length ordered Lauzun to use a hole +in the outer wall for his commands. The royal dormitory was at last left +in peace, and the occupants could slumber. + +At four in the morning, Louvois gave warning that a bridge had been +built. Mademoiselle awakened the King and all got up. It was not a +beautiful spectacle. Locks were hanging in disorder and countenances +were wrinkled. Mademoiselle believed herself less disfigured than the +others, because she felt very red, and she rejoiced, as she found it +impossible to avoid the glance of Lauzun. The royal party mounted into +their carriages and attended mass at Landrecies, after which these +august personages went to bed and reposed a portion of the day. + +The same evening Mademoiselle, only half aroused, was severely scolded +by Lauzun for her ridiculous dread of the water. This was very sweet to +her; it being the first time he had taken such a liberty, and the most +passionate women in the early days of love adore the masterful tone. The +two saw each other less often than at Saint-Germain, but with more +freedom. The chances of travel gave, from time to time, the opportunity +for long tête-à-têtes, by which they profited; she, to become more +pressing, he, to make himself more keenly desired. + +Lauzun said one day that he thought of retiring from the world. "I am +having a vision of such beautiful and great hopes; and if they are only +delusions I shall die of grief." + +"But," said Mademoiselle, "do you never think of marrying?" + +"The one thing of importance in marriage," replied he, "would be belief +in the virtue of the lady, for if there had been the slightest lapse I +would have none of her; even if it were a question of yourself, far +above others as you are!" + +He said this because there was a rumour that the King had the plan of +marrying Mlle. de La Vallière to his favourite. + +Mademoiselle cried out ingenuously: "But you would wish me; for I am +good. 'Do not talk even delightful nonsense, when we are speaking +seriously.' But return then to me." + +This was precisely what he did not wish. He recollected all at once that +the Venetian Ambassador was expecting him. + +On another occasion, Mademoiselle said to him, in confessing the fact +that she was "entirely resolved to marry," and that her choice was made: +"I intend to speak to the King, and to have the wedding in Flanders; +that will make less stir than at Paris." + +"Ah, I beseech you not to do this!" cried Lauzun alarmed, for he did not +consider the ground sufficiently prepared, "I do not wish it; ... I am +absolutely opposed to it." Some days after, they were together looking +through a window and exchanging impressions upon the persons of quality +who were passing, "their forms, their bearing, their appearance, their +wit." At length, Lauzun remarked, "Judging by what I hear, none of these +would suit you?" "Assuredly not," replied Mademoiselle, "I wish that the +person of my choice might go by, that I could point him out to you." + +As every one had now passed, she continued: "He must be sought, there is +still some one else." After this, relates her _Mémoires_, "he smiled and +we talked of something else." + +They had arrived at the point of smiles and mutual intelligence. +Nevertheless the Court returned to Saint-Germain (June 7th) without +Mademoiselle having obtained the decisive word for which she was meekly +begging. Lauzun opposed some barriers to every advance. Acting through +prudence or calculation, he was to have cause to congratulate himself. + +Fifteen days elapsed in _détours_ and feigned flights. Mademoiselle was +exasperated. Comprehending perfectly well that a Gascony cadet could not +say bluntly, "Take me!" she still was so little capable of subterfuge +that she found the "manners of M. de Lauzun towards her extraordinary." +Lauzun was too subtle for one so simple. La Bruyère himself was going to +renounce the hope of penetrating into his motives, and to avow it in the +passage in which he paints him under the name of Straton: "A character +equivocal, unintelligible; an enigma; a problem never solved." + +Persuaded that her lover held back through respect, Mademoiselle +resolved to attack affairs boldly. On June 20th, she went to enjoy the +diversions of the fine season[228] at Versailles. Monsieur and Madame +were at their château at Saint-Cloud. Mademoiselle followed the Court. +Lauzun was absent, but he took pains from time to time to appear in the +Queen's salon. One evening, when he had met Mademoiselle and when he was +chaffing her on the subject of the Duc de Longueville, the Princess said +to him vivaciously: "Assuredly I shall marry; but it will not be with +that person. I pray that I may speak with you to-morrow, for I am +resolved to address the King and I desire that all should be finished +before July 1st." He replied: "I am going to-morrow to Paris, and Sunday +without fail I shall be here, and we will then talk over everything; I +begin also to desire to have all ended." + +On Sunday (June 29th), towards evening, Lauzun had not yet arrived. +Mademoiselle was notified that the Queen was awaiting her for the daily +drive. She went out quickly, and ran across the Comte d'Ayen,[229] who +had also an appearance of being in haste, and who said to her in +passing, "Madame is dying; I am seeking M. Vallot,[230] whom the King +has commanded me to lead to her!" Below in her carriage the Queen +related the tale of the glass of chicory water and the fact that Madame +believed herself to be poisoned. All were astonished and exclaimed, "Ah, +what a horror!" People looked at each other and did not know what to do. +Marie-Thérèse descended from her carriage and was peacefully entering a +boat on the grand canal, when a gentleman arrived in haste; Madame was +in extremity and besought the Queen not to delay if she wished to see +her alive. The château was speedily regained, where the confusion +recommenced. The Queen demanded every instant: "What shall I do? What +shall I do?" She could not decide to go herself, and she prevented +Mademoiselle from departing without her. Finally, the King appeared. He +took the Queen in his coach with Mademoiselle and the Comtesse de +Soissons. Mlle. de La Vallière and Mme. de Montespan followed. It was +eleven o'clock when the royal family descended at the gate of the +Château Saint-Cloud. + +The spectacle which awaited it has been described a hundred times. A +poor little dishevelled figure, pathetic from suffering, and already +drawn by the approach of the dying agony, lay upon the bed. The +unfastened chemise permitted her emaciation to be seen, and she was so +pale that if it had not been for her cries it might have been thought +that the end had already come. We know through Mme. de La Fayette[231] +that the first sentiments of the spectators had been those of pity, +natural in such a case, and here doubled by the sight of the frightful +sufferings and the gentleness of this young and charming being in the +presence of death. The state of Madame had touched even her husband, so +embittered against her by her frivolities, and only the sound of +"weeping was heard in the chamber." + +With the entrance of the sovereigns and their suite the aspect of the +room was at once altered. Louis was indeed sincerely affected, +Mademoiselle much moved, and many of the others felt "that they were +losing with Madame all the joy, all the agreeableness, all the pleasures +of the Court."[232] But egotism and intrigue marched on the heels of +their Majesties. Even while weeping, each began to dream over the +consequences of this death. Who would inherit the prestige of Madame? +Whom would Monsieur marry? Would it be the Grande Mademoiselle? How +would this affect the interests of each? The dying woman felt a sudden +chill in the atmosphere. "She perceived with pain the tranquillity of +every one," reports Mademoiselle, "and I have never seen any sight so +pitiable as her state when she realised the real attitude of those +surrounding her bed. The crowd kept on talking, moving about in the +room, almost laughing." + +Monsieur was only "astonished" at what was happening. Mademoiselle +having urged him to send for a priest, he said, "Whom shall we call? +Whose name will appear well in the _Gazette_?" This preoccupation truly +reveals Monsieur. + +After the departure of the King, who took away others in his train, the +scene again changed. Monsieur had sent for Bossuet, who, in a letter to +one of his brothers, has related details of these last hours. To judge +from this letter, it appears that the presence of the priest at the +bedside of Madame turned all minds from terrestrial preoccupations and +banished all thoughts except those impressed by the grandeur of death. +Madame herself gave the example, proving with her last sigh that she +felt she was accomplishing "the most important action of life."[233] "I +found her fully conscious," said Bossuet, "speaking and acting without +ostentation, without effort, without violence; but so well, so suitably, +with so much courage and piety, that I was completely overcome." Thus +God had the last word! + +On returning to Versailles, the Queen quietly ate her supper. +Mademoiselle perceived Lauzun among those present. "In rising from +table, I said to him, 'This is very disconcerting.' He replied, 'Very, +and I am afraid that it may spoil our plans.' I responded, 'Ah, no. No +matter what may happen.'" + +The poor woman could not sleep during the night: how rid herself of +Monsieur, if the King should wish "the marriage"? At six in the morning, +word came from Saint-Cloud that Madame was dead. "At this news," +continues Mademoiselle, "the King resolved to take medicine," and +Mademoiselle, arriving with the Queen, found him in a dressing-gown, +weeping bitterly over the loss of Madame, and very tenderly pitying his +own woe. He said to Mademoiselle: "Come, watch me take medicine; let us +make no more fuss; better act as I am doing." After his draught he +retired, and the morning was passed in his bedchamber speaking of the +dead. + +In the afternoon, the King dressed and went to consult Mademoiselle, as +the great authority in matters of Court etiquette, upon the proper +arrangements for the funeral ceremony. After these details had been +discussed, the King spoke the word she was expecting and dreading: "'My +cousin, here is a vacant place, will you fill it?' I became pale as +death, and said, 'You are the master, your wish is mine.' He urged me to +speak frankly. I said, 'I can say nothing about this.' 'But have you any +aversion to the idea?' I was silent; he went on, 'I will further the +affair and report to you.'" + +In the salons, the crowd of courtiers was busily engaged in remarrying +Monsieur. The question was, "To whom?" and every one looked at the +Grande Mademoiselle. Lauzun bore the situation like a man of spirit, +without troubling himself with useless regrets or feigning a loving +despair which was very foreign to his nature. His manner was free, very +gay, too easy to please Mademoiselle when he congratulated her and +refused to listen to her protestations that "it would never be." "The +King said that he wished you would marry Monsieur; it will be necessary +to obey." He besought her not to hesitate, and dilated on the joys of +grandeur, and the happiness she might have with Monsieur. She responded, +"I am more than fifteen, and I do not propose to accept a life fit only +for children." + +Of all the honours attached to the rank of sister-in-law to the King, +one alone appealed to her,--that she would then have a good place in the +royal carriage, instead of being always on the basket seat, and she +represented to Lauzun that the "good place would not long remain +vacant." It would be assigned to the children of the King as soon as +they should be grown up. Once he added: "The past must be forgotten. I +remember nothing of what you have told me; I have lately forgotten all." + +Another time, he showed that he was not ignorant of what he was losing. +She had just repeated, "Ah, this shall never be!" "But yes," rejoined +Lauzun, "I shall be glad; for I prefer your grandeur to my own joy and +fortune; I owe you too much to feel otherwise." "He had never before +admitted as much," remarks Mademoiselle. After such delightful +conversations, she shut herself up to weep. The idea of marrying +Monsieur was odious to her, for other reasons besides the desires +aroused by her passion. + +Not that she suspected him of having poisoned his wife. Mademoiselle +considered her cousin incapable of such a crime. But she could not bear +the thought of the many favourites of Monsieur and of their power. One +of these, M. de Beuvron,[234] had confirmed this repugnance by coming +insolently and inopportunely to assure her of his protection and of that +of the Chevalier de Lorraine. He frankly told her: "It will be more to +our advantage to have you than a German princess without a sou, who +would only be an expense, while you have so much that the allowance of +Monsieur can be spent for his liberalities; thus we shall come off +better." This was not a clever address to a princess who sincerely loved +money. The following displayed even less tact: "If we aid in making your +marriage, you will be under obligation to us, and you will realise our +power." + +Mademoiselle heard all and recounted the conversation to the King. "He +has spoken like a fool," said Louis with his shrewd common-sense. +Mademoiselle could not resign herself to this alliance, and Lauzun +trembled lest he should be held responsible. He came once again, to find +the Princess with the Queen, and said to her: + + I come very humbly to supplicate, that you will speak no more + to me. I am most unhappy at displeasing Monsieur. He might + believe that all the difficulties you are making come from me. + Thus I shall no longer enjoy the honour of addressing you. Do + not summon me, for I shall not respond. Do not write to me, nor + address me in any way. I am in despair to be forced to act in + this fashion; but I must do so for love of you. + +She equivocated, tried to retain him. He repeated to her his accustomed +refrain that he must obey, and coldly took leave while she cried out: +"Do not go away! What, shall I speak to you no more?" From that day +Lauzun carefully avoided her. One day, when Mademoiselle requested him +to re-knot her muff ribbon, he replied "that he was not sufficiently +adroit," and yielded to Mlle. de La Vallière. He even avoided glancing +in her direction. + +Louis XIV. had found his brother well convinced of the advantage of +marrying many millions; Monsieur only demanded delay, not wishing, with +the rumours which were circulating, to appear too eager to replace the +dead. Mademoiselle also on her side was endeavouring to hinder the +progress of affairs. Success crowned the efforts of both, and the month +of September was well advanced when the King said to his cousin in the +presence of the Queen: "My brother has spoken to me; he wishes in case +you have no children that you should make his daughter your heir,[235] +and he says he will be well content not to have any more offspring, +provided he is assured that my daughter shall marry his son. I +counselled him to desire children, because this could not be a +certainty." + +Monsieur was thirteen years younger than Mademoiselle, and the latter +very well understood the significance of words. She began to laugh. "I +have never heard persons on the brink of marriage say that they did not +wish children, and I hardly know whether this is a courteous +proposition. What does your Majesty think?" The King also laughed. "My +brother has said so many ridiculous things on this subject that I have +advised silence." + +The joking continued in spite of the Queen, who cried out, "This is +really disagreeable!" Finally, Mademoiselle concluded in a serious tone: +"Although I am no longer young, I have not reached the age at which +children are impossible.... Such suggestions are most disagreeable to +me." The King also became serious, and warned his cousin that she could +never expect from him the gift of any government or any appointment +which would permit the exercise of power, but only precious stones and +furniture and other playthings. This again was a lesson from the Fronde, +and in his _Mémoires_[236] Louis confirms this same resolution. +Mademoiselle thanked her cousin somewhat ironically for what he had done +to render Monsieur desirable, and, realising by the questions of the +King that some hints had reached his ears, she pictured in covered words +the future of which she had had a glimpse. The Queen demanded her +meaning, but the King remained silent. "I do hope," observed +Mademoiselle in ending, "that I may be permitted to act as I wish and +that the King will not force me against my desires." "No, surely," +replied Louis, "I will leave you free and will never constrain any one"; +he added an instant after, "Let us go to dinner," and they separated. +Some weeks rolled by. The favourites of Monsieur were cold about an +alliance which the temper of Mademoiselle might make somewhat difficult, +and which might in the end prove _not_ to their advantage.[237] + +Events moved quietly enough when the Princess one evening in October +supplicated the King that there should be no more said of the project. +Louis XIV. appeared to be indifferent. Monsieur was at first vexed and +then dismissed the subject from his thoughts. Marie-Thérèse alone, +interested neither in her brother-in-law nor in her cousin, "was in +despair," relates Mademoiselle, "for she wishes that we should marry and +have children." But no one paid much attention to the despair of +Marie-Thérèse. Lauzun approved the course of Mademoiselle and ceased to +avoid her. That was all. For an ambitious man, he was not a really +clever schemer; he had too great a fear of being duped. He again assumed +a sombre attitude and refused to hear the name of the one chosen by +Mademoiselle. On a certain Thursday evening, when she had menaced him +with the threat of breathing against the mirror and of writing the name +of the man she loved, midnight sounded during this contest. "Nothing +more can be said," observed Mademoiselle, "for it is already Friday." +The next day, taking a sheet of paper, she wrote distinctly, "It is +you," and sealed it. "That day I met him only on the way to supper. I +said: 'I have the name in my pocket, but I do not wish to give it to you +on Friday.' He responded: 'Give it to me! I promise that I will put it +under my pillow and that I will not open the paper until midnight has +passed.'" She did not trust him, and it did not occur to him to +sacrifice a race that had been arranged for the Saturday. "Ah, well, I +will wait until Sunday," said Mademoiselle with inconceivable patience, +and her only vengeance was to let herself be implored a little, before +giving up the paper. The couple were alone in a corner of the fireplace, +in the salon of the Queen. "I drew forth the leaf, upon which only a +single word was written, which, however, told much; I showed it to him, +and then replaced it in my pocket, afterward in my muff. He urged me +very strongly to give it to him, saying that his heart was beating +rapidly.... Before yielding I said, 'You will reply on the same +leaf.'"... In the evening she did not dare to raise her eyes; he +declared that she was mocking him, that "he was not sufficiently foolish +to be deceived," and this was the theme of the letter which he remitted +to her. At the same time, he thought of the prodigious elevation which +he was beginning to realise was a possibility before him. He was at last +aroused, and could not always refrain from responding seriously to +Mademoiselle. She spoke of the happiness which awaited them, and of her +plans to make him the greatest lord in the kingdom. He counselled her +always to bow before fate, but one day he added: "In marrying, the +temperament of those throwing their fates together should be known. I +will disclose mine." He said that he possessed a nature bizarre and +unsociable, being able to live only in the wake of the King; "thus I +shall be a peculiar and not very diverting husband." Later, he amplified +a little, affirming that he was cured of desire for women, and had no +more ambition. "When a post was proposed to me I refused it. After all, +do you really want me?"--"Yes; I wish you."--"Do you find nothing in my +person which is disgusting?" This question was reasonable enough. Lauzun +was decidedly "unclean"[238]--but it roused the indignation of +Mademoiselle: "When you say that you are afraid of not pleasing, you are +simply mocking; you have pleased too easily in your life; but now about +me, do you find anything unpleasant in my face? I believe that my only +exterior fault is my teeth, which are not fine. That is a defect of my +race, which fact bears its own compensations." "Assuredly" replied he, +and she could not extract the expected compliment. + +In the course of these events, the Court returned to the Louvre and the +Tuileries, Mademoiselle to the Luxembourg. After much hesitation Lauzun +consented that Mademoiselle should write a letter in which she should +supplicate the King to forget all that he had said against mixed +marriages, and permit her to be happy. The contemporaneous opinion was +that Lauzun had made the first move. The Spanish _Chargé d'Affaires_ +wrote from Paris, December 21: "It is certain, as every one says, that +he has arrived at this point with the authorisation and permission of +the King."[239] The public voice, whose echo has been preserved for us +by the novelists of the period, added that Mme. de Montespan had been +mixed up in the affair, a version which two of her letters to Lauzun +confirm,[240] and that she had obtained the consent of the King by +saying: "Ah, Sire, let him alone. He has merit enough for this."[241] + +There was evidently some secret bond between the mistress and Lauzun +which united them when any mischief was at hand. The King had responded +to Mademoiselle without actually saying yes, or no; he confessed that +her letter had astonished him and asked her to reflect again. He +repeated the advice three days later, during a _tête-à-tête_ which took +place behind closed doors at two o'clock in the morning. "I neither +counsel you nor forbid you; but I pray you to consider well." He added +that the affair was being discussed and that many people disliked M. de +Lauzun. "Think over this fact and take your own measures." + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ= From the painting by Pietro Mignard +in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (Photograph by Alinari)] + +The couple profited by the warning. On Monday, December 15, 1670, in the +afternoon, the Ducs de Montausier and de Crégny, the Maréchal d'Albret +and the Marquis de Guitry presented themselves before Louis XIV., and +demanded the hand of the Grande Mademoiselle for M. de Lauzun, "as +deputies from the French nobility, who would consider it a great +honour and grace if the King would permit a simple gentleman to marry a +Princess of the blood."[242] This proceeding was a plan of Lauzun's. It +succeeded with the King, and after he had been thanked in the name of +the entire nobility of the kingdom, Mademoiselle, who was apparently +listening to the reading of a sermon, behind the chair of the Queen, was +notified that M. de Montausier was asking for her. The Duke reported the +good reception which they had received and ended in these terms: "Your +affair is accomplished, but I counsel you not to let things lag; if you +follow my advice, you will marry this very night." + +"I was convinced that he was right" adds Mademoiselle, "and I prayed him +to give the same advice to M. de Lauzun if he should see him before I +did." + +There is no clearer fact in history than the evidence of the +consternation into which France was thrown by the news that the Duchesse +de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henri IV., was to marry the Comte de +Lauzun, "a simple (qualified) gentleman." To-day, an alliance of this +kind, provided it does not concern the heir to the throne, is only a +piece of society gossip, even in lands still profoundly loyal to +monarchical sentiments. In the seventeenth century such an event touched +so nearly the social hierarchy upon which all rested that Mademoiselle, +in thus confusing social ranks, appeared to have failed seriously in +her duty as Princess. + +Louis, as King, had not considered it his duty to oppose. The criticism +was more severe inasmuch as custom, encouraged by illustrious examples, +offered to lovers separated by birth easy means for completing their +private happiness, sustaining at the same time public decorum. +"Marriages of conscience" had been invented for such cases; why not be +content with this means of doing your duty and of satisfying at the same +time conscience and passion? Paris sought a reply to this question, and +the whole city was whispering and busying itself in a manner not easily +to be forgotten. + +Ten years later, when the trials of the "Corrupters" disturbed the +community, some one wrote to Mme. de Sévigné that "the last two days +have been as agitated as during the time when the news of the projected +marriage between the Grande Mademoiselle and M. de Lauzun was announced. +All were seeking news and, eager with curiosity, were running from one +house to another to gather details."[243] + +The princes and princesses of the blood considered themselves insulted, +and rebelled, a boldness so unexpected, on account of their habitual +submission, that even Louis XIV. was somewhat moved. The timid +Marie-Thérèse gave the example. Mademoiselle came to announce formally +the proposed marriage. "I entirely disapprove," said the Queen in a very +sharp tone, "and the King will never sanction it." "He does approve it, +Madame, that is settled." "You would do better never to marry, to keep +your wealth for my son Anjou."[244] Anger gave the Queen courage to +address the King, who was vexed, and the result was a scene, tears, a +night of despair; but also nothing gained, and finally the Queen was +forced into a public declaration that she would sign the contract. + +Monsieur loudly protested. He heaped abuses on the "deputies of French +nobility," reproached Mademoiselle in the presence of the King for being +"without heart," and said that she was a person who should be "placed in +an insane asylum,"[245] and also declared that he would _not_ sign the +contract. The gravest accusation made by Monsieur was a statement, +repeated to all, that Mademoiselle had said that the King had himself +counselled the marriage. In vain Mademoiselle asserted that she had said +nothing of the kind; the charge made a great impression upon Louis, and +he expressed his first regret over the affair. The Prince de Condé, +sometimes taunted with having become, somewhat late in life, an +accomplished courtier, remonstrated respectfully but firmly with the +King. + +The old Madame, forgotten in her corner of the Luxembourg, never really +felt the wave of disgust and protest, but she was sufficiently aroused +from her apathy to sign a letter to the King, written in her name by M. +Le Pelletier, President of the Department of Inquests. Outside the Court +circle, Louis XIV. felt himself blamed by all classes of society. The +nobles in general refused to ratify the "Mandate" that the deputies had +given in their name. Without doubt, the honour of this marriage would be +great: the permission given to a princess of the blood to marry so far +beneath her rank, a most unexpected favour from a monarch who had worked +so systematically to undermine the power of the aristocracy; but the +larger portion of the French nobility was so much impressed with the +danger of insulting royalty, and weakening the sentiment of the sanctity +of the Heaven-sent rulers, that it joined in the criticism of the rest +of the nation. + +The Parliamentary world and the society of the higher middle class were +equally outraged. It was plain that the marriage could be made only with +the King's consent, and the giving of this was considered a "shame." The +bourgeoisie showed an inconceivable irritation; Segrais heard Guilloire, +Intendant of Mademoiselle, say to his mistress in an excited tone, +knowing very well that he was risking his position, "You are derided and +hated by all Europe." As to the common people, their attitude was +touching. "They were," reports a witness,[246] "in a state of +consternation." They grieved as if their Prince had deceived them. + +The enemies of Lauzun increased the discontent and endeavoured to gain +time. Louvois was credited with having persuaded the Archbishop of Paris +to forbid the bans. The minister felt himself directly menaced, and this +was also the opinion of the political world, in which many believed that +the projected marriage was a stroke directed "against M. de Louvois, an +avowed enemy of M. de Lauzun,"[247] by Colbert and Mme. de Montespan. + +While the tempest was gathering, the friends of the two lovers pressed +them to hasten the end. "In the name of God," said Rochefort, Captain of +the Guards, "Marry to-day rather than to-morrow!" Montausier "scolded" +them for dallying. Mme. de Sévigné represented to Mademoiselle that they +"were tempting God and the King."[248] + +Nothing can be done for people who are walking in the clouds. Lauzun, +"intoxicated with vanity,"[249] believed himself already safe in port, +sheltered from all trouble, with the King and Mme. de Montespan on his +side. Mademoiselle, "dazzled by love," permitted herself to be guided. +Her first desire had been to marry upon the evening of the deputation to +the King, without saying anything about it, but Lauzun refused. "He was +persuaded that Mme. de Montespan would not fail him, and that nothing +could now turn the King against him, and considered everything secure, +saying, "I distrust only you." To marry thus clandestinely would not +satisfy his vanity. He wished that the deed should be done as "from +crown to crown, openly and with all forms observed." He desired the +chapel of the Tuileries, pomp, a crowd, rows of astonished and envious +faces, "rich livery" that he had hastened to order for the occasion. In +short, he longed for the moon and he did not succeed in seizing it. + +Tuesday, December 16th, was passed in talking, in expressing +astonishment, in paying compliments. A multitude came to the Luxembourg, +among whom the Archbishop of Reims, brother of Louvois, who said to +Mademoiselle: "Would you do me the injury of choosing any other than +myself to perform the marriage ceremony?" Another had already solicited +the honour, a proof that so far a rupture had not been thought of. +Mademoiselle replied: "M. the Archbishop of Paris has said that he +desired the office." + +Wednesday, there was a fresh crowd, Louvois in person and all the +ministers; but there was no longer the same cordiality, and Mademoiselle +herself perceived the difference. "They made low bows, they conversed, +but no longer about the affair." The evening of the same day, the +Princess gave to Lauzun ("awaiting something better," said Mme. de +Sévigné), the Comté of Eu, which represented the first peerage of +France, assuring the first rank, the Principality of Dombes and the +Duchy of Montpensier, of which last Lauzun assumed the title and name. +It was agreed that the ceremony should take place the next day at noon. +On Thursday, the 18th, the contract was not yet prepared; the lawyers +had delayed on purpose. Towards evening, Lauzun, who was losing his +assurance, offered to break with Mademoiselle. + +She was offended and tried once more to make him declare his love, but +he responded, "I will say I love you only when we issue from church." +There was no longer question of the Tuileries chapel, nor even of +dazzling the Parisians, and Friday found a new delay, Mademoiselle +having herself wavered. + +After consideration, a rendezvous was arranged at Charenton, in the +house of a friend, where the wedding was to be secretly solemnised the +next evening at midnight, without even an archbishop. The Parisian offer +began to inspire distrust: "The curé of the place would do well enough." + +When all was settled, Mademoiselle amused herself with showing to her +intimates the chamber that she had arranged for the future Duc de +Montpensier. "It was magnificently furnished," relates the Abbé de +Choisy. "'Do not you think,' said Mademoiselle to us, 'that a Gascony +cadet will be sufficiently well lodged?'" Lauzun took leave early to +pass the night in a "bath house," as was the custom before a wedding. +Mademoiselle opposed this, because he was suffering from a bad cold. He +had also "trouble with his eyes." I said to him, "Your eyes are very +red." He replied, "Do they make you ill?" I said, "No; for they are in +no way disgusting." It may be noticed that these illustrious lovers did +not possess the light graces of conversation; their phrases were +singularly heavy. "These ladies are mocking us," pursued the Princess. +"I do not know, however, what caused me to have a presentiment. I began +to weep in seeing him depart; he, too, was sad; we were ridiculed. The +ladies also departed, only Mme. de Nogent remaining." + +This last was the sister of Lauzun, and Mademoiselle had, during the +past months, been very intimate with her. + +While time was thus being wasted at the Luxembourg, Louis submitted to +the almost universal antagonism and withdrew his authorisation to the +alliance. "The Queen and the princes of the blood redoubled their +entreaties; the Maréchal de Villeroy[250] threw himself upon his knees, +with tears in his eyes; the ministers and all those approaching the King +expressed the voice of the people. At length God touched the King's +heart."[251] God? No, but a creature of flesh; Mme. de Montespan for the +second time betrayed Lauzun. + +La Fare affirms the statement that it was the counsel of Mme. de +Maintenon (still only Mme. Scarron) painfully earning her bread in +bringing up in obscurity the children of Mme. de Montespan and the +King. Mme. Scarron had cleverness and prudence, and at that time was far +from any thought of rivalry; the King could not suffer her. She said +later that he had taken her for a "learned woman," only caring for +"sublime things"[252]; and Louis distrusted Philimantes. It was, +therefore, as a disinterested friend that she "pointed out to Mme. de +Montespan the tempest which she would draw down upon her head in +sustaining Lauzun in this affair; that the royal family and the King +himself would reproach her for the steps she had urged. Mme. Scarron +succeeded so well that the one who urged the marriage was responsible +for preventing it."[253] + +Louis XIV. yielded to the urgency of Mme. de Montespan and sent to the +Luxembourg for Mademoiselle. It was eight o'clock in the evening. +Mademoiselle uttered a cry on hearing that the King commanded her +presence. "I am in despair; my marriage is broken." On reaching the +Tuileries, the Princess was led to the King by the back staircase, and +quickly perceived that something was being concealed from her. In fact, +Louis had hidden Condé behind a door, that he might listen and be +witness to what passed. + + The door was closed behind me. I found the King alone, moved + and sad. "I am in despair at the thought of what I must tell + you. I am told that the world is saying that I am + sacrificing you to make Lauzun's fortune; that this would injure me + in foreign lands, and that I must not permit the affair to be + consummated. You are right in complaining of me; beat me if you + wish. I will bear the weight of any expression of anger in which + you may indulge, and feel that I merit your indignation." "Ah!" + cried I, "Sire, what do you tell me? What cruelty!" + +She mingled protestations with reproaches, sobbed out her despair on her +knees, and pleaded to know the fate of Lauzun. "Where is he, Sire, M. de +Lauzun?" "Do not be troubled! No harm shall come to him." + +True sorrow is always eloquent, and Louis XIV. let his own emotion be +visible without shame: + + He threw himself on his knees and embraced me. We wept together + three quarters of an hour, his cheek pressed against mine, he + weeping bitterly as I did: "Ah! why have you wasted time in + reflection? why did you not hasten?"--"Alas, Sire! who could + have distrusted your Majesty's word? You have never failed any + one before, and you now begin with me and M. de Lauzun! I shall + die, and be happy in dying. I had never loved any one before in + all my life; I now love, and love passionately and in good + faith, the most worthy man in your kingdom; my only joy and + pleasure will be in his elevation. I hoped to pass the + remainder of my days agreeably with him, and in honouring and + loving you as warmly as my husband. You gave him to me; you now + take him away; it is tearing out my heart." + +Some one coughed behind the door. "To whom are you betraying me, Sire? +Can it be M. le Prince?" Mademoiselle grew bitter, and the King wished +to end the scene; but she continued to supplicate him: "What, Sire, will +you not yield to my tears?" He replied, raising his voice so that he +might be heard, "Kings must satisfy the public"; and added, an instant +after, "It is late; I can say no more nor differently, even if you +remained longer." "He embraced me and conducted me to the door." + +Such is the recital of Mademoiselle. Another account of the interview +exists, dictated the same evening by Louis to his Minister of Foreign +Affairs, as the following letter, written the next morning, testifies. +Before the King had risen, M. de Lyonne wrote in haste to M. de +Pomponne, the French Ambassador to Holland: + + I am overwhelmed with business, and have no time for details, + but I do not doubt that every letter from Paris has brought + news of the projected marriage of the Grande Mademoiselle with + Comte de Lauzun. I must now warn you that the King broke this + off yesterday at eleven o'clock in the evening, so that few + people could be aware of the fact before the departure of the + post. I have already outlined a circular letter from his + Majesty, to be sent to all the Foreign Ministers, to inform + them of what has passed in regard to this affair during the + past seven or eight days; but as the King does not wake before + nine o'clock, and as the courier will by that time have + departed, his Majesty will not be able to sign in time for the + letters to be forwarded to-day, and you must be contented with + the simple news, that the affair is ended. I pray you to send a + copy of this note to M. le Chevalier de Terlon and to the Sieur + Rousseau,[254] and to advise them that I have requested you so + to do. + +Before referring to the circular letter of His Majesty upon the subject +which caused the cries and tears of his poor cousin, it should be noted +that it seemed perfectly natural, to judge by the documents of the +times, to advise officially foreign powers of events with which they +were actually but little concerned. In the opinion of the seventeenth +century, the man was inseparable from the sovereign, and France was +deeply impressed with the universal importance of Louis XIV. and by +consequence of the obligations devolving upon him. "He must account to +all Europe for his actions," says, in regard to the "Affair Lauzun," the +"relation" already quoted.[255] + +It is also well to recollect, in order to understand the text of the +letter, that one of the half-sisters of Mademoiselle had married the Duc +de Guise, cadet of the House of Lorraine; an alliance hardly less +unequal in the eyes of the French aristocracy than that of Lauzun with +the Princess. This marriage had excited but little attention, there +being a wide difference between the importance of the sisters. Referring +to this event, the "Deputies of the nobility of France" had not failed +to assert that the nobles of France and the officers of the Crown were +quite equal to foreign princes, and in particular to the "Lorraines" in +spite of their pretensions. With this explanation, the text of the long +despatch addressed to the ambassadors is given. It begins in these +terms: + + As what has taken place during the past five or six days in + regard to a plan formed by my cousin for marrying the Comte de + Lauzun, one of the Captains of the Body Guard, will probably make a + great noise everywhere, and as my conduct in the matter is liable + to be interpreted malignantly, and to be blamed by those who may be + incorrectly informed of the facts, I believe it a duty to instruct + all my Foreign Ministers." + +The King then explains in detail the affair, and this explanation +exactly accords with the recital of Mademoiselle, save that Louis XIV. +states that he was opposed to the marriage from the beginning, and only +yielded because he was weary of the discussion, being constantly +harassed by his cousin and the Deputies of the nobility: "She +[Mademoiselle] continued ... through notes and every other available +means to press me urgently to give the consent she demanded of me, as +this alone could, as she said, give the happiness and repose of her +life." The Deputies had also represented to him + + that after having consented to the marriage of my cousin de + Guise, not only without making the least difficulty but with + pleasure, I should resist this, so ardently desired by her + sister, I should clearly show that I made a great distinction + between the cadets of royal houses and the Officers of my + Crown. Such a distinction Spain did not make, but on the other + hand, gave precedence to its own Grandees over any foreign + Princes, and it was impossible that the making of this + difference in France should not greatly mortify the entire + nobility of the kingdom. In conclusion, the urgency of these + four persons was so strong, and their reasons so convincing, + especially that emphasising the danger of insulting the French + nobility, that I yielded, and gave consent to the marriage, + shrugging my shoulders at the folly of my cousin, and only + saying that as she was forty-three, she might do as she pleased. + +He continued, "From this moment it was considered that the affair was +concluded." Then follow the details already known, preparations for the +ceremony, the crowd at the Luxembourg; rumours "very injurious" that the +King was responsible for the marriage, wishing to favour Lauzun; and +finally, the resolve to break off the affair. + +This is the single point on which Louis XIV. believed it to be his duty +to restrict his confidences to the universe. He passes over in silence +the supplications of Mme de Montespan and the fact of Condé being hidden +behind the door: + + I sent for my cousin. I declared to her, that I would not + suffer her to cross the frontier for marriage, and that I could + not consent that she should marry any Prince who was my + subject,[256] but that she might choose among the (qualified) + nobles of France, with the exception of Lauzun, and that I + myself would conduct her to church. + +It is superfluous to tell you with what grief she received this +announcement, how she wept and sobbed. She threw herself upon her knees. +"I had pierced her heart with a hundred dagger strokes; she wished to +die"; I remained firm. + +The King added that he made the same communication to Lauzun, "and I may +say that he received it with all the self-control, submission, and +resignation which I could desire."[257] It is with the unfavourable +comparison to Mademoiselle that this curious document terminates. Louis +displayed but little generosity before a grief so deep. + +The Princess regained her chamber in a pitiable state. She went into +hysterics and broke the windows of the carriage. At the Luxembourg, the +salon was filled with a curious crowd awaiting her return. "Two of her +footmen entered into the room, saying in loud voices, 'Depart at once, +by degrees.' Every one scattered immediately; but I remained the last, +and saw Mademoiselle advance from the hall of the Guards like a +dishevelled fury, menacing heaven and earth with extended arms." She had +barely time to regain a slight degree of calm, when Lauzun entered, +accompanied by Messieurs de Montausier, Créqui, and Guitry. "On seeing +him, I uttered loud cries, and he could hardly restrain himself from +weeping." The nobles of France came at the command of the King to thank +the granddaughter of Henri IV. for the honour that she wished to confer +upon them. M. de Montausier bore the address. + +Mademoiselle sobbed. M. de Lauzun had, with full understanding, taken +the expected attitude, of a man who blesses the most cruel blows coming +from the hand of his King. "M. de Lauzun," wrote Mme de Sévigné, "has +played his rôle to perfection; he has sustained his misfortune with +firmness and courage, and has nevertheless displayed a grief, mingled +with profound respect, which has won the admiration of all."[258] + +The Princess would have been contented with something less admirable. +She said to him: "'You show such strength of mind, that all will believe +you to be indifferent to me. What do you say?' and I sobbed with each +word." He responded very coolly: "If you take my counsel, you will go +to-morrow to dine at the Tuileries, and will thank the King for the +honour that he has done you, in having prevented an action of which you +would have repented all your life." She led her lover aside and had the +pleasure of seeing him weep. "He could not speak, nor could I. I could +only say: 'What! I am never to see you more? I shall certainly die.' +Then we turned around.... These gentlemen departed; I went to bed; I +remained twenty-four hours almost without consciousness." She forbade +any one to be admitted. Her door was, however, opened on Friday morning +for Mme. de Sévigné. Just twenty-four hours had elapsed since +Mademoiselle had overflowed with joy before her friend and despised any +warnings. "I found her in bed[259]; she redoubled her cries on seeing +me; called me, embraced me, and deluged me with her tears. She said: +'Alas! do you remember what you said yesterday? Ah! what cruel +prudence!' I wept through sympathy with her woe." A little later the +King was announced. "When he entered," reports Mademoiselle, "I began to +cry with all my strength; he embraced me and placed his cheek against +mine. I said, 'Your Majesty acts like monkeys who stifle their children +embracing them.'" As he was promising all kinds of wonderful things to +console her, among others "that he would do fine things for M. de +Lauzun," she had the presence of mind, in spite of her anguish, to +demand if she might not see her friend again. The reply of the King +should be remembered, as it brought serious results for his cousin. He +said: "I do not forbid you to see him; ... and assuredly you cannot take +advice of a worthier man in regard to any of your affairs than Lauzun." +She hastened to confirm the permission. "It is my intention, Sire, and I +am very happy that you desire that he should continue to be my best +friend; but at least, Sire, you will not change as you did before? I +cannot help reproaching you." + +The succeeding days she was obliged to reopen her doors, and the same +crowd which had feigned to rejoice with her now pretended to pity her. +It was necessary to see again the same faces, to submit to curious +looks, glances filled with raillery, and to reply to _banal_ remarks. +There was much joking in Paris at her having received condolences in +bed, after the fashion of widows. "I have heard in the salon of Mme. de +Maintenon," relates Mme. de Caylus,[260] "that she cried out in her +despair, 'He should be there beside me!'" + +A grand Princess, to be dying of love and for a simple cadet from +Gascogne, almost a country fellow; this was a novel spectacle, which so +shocked all ideas of decorum that the public could not take to heart +very seriously this slightly theatrical grief. It was pretended that +Louis had said, "This is only a fantasy born in three days and which +will pass as rapidly." True or false, the King wished to believe this, +and the phrase received general approbation. It relieved the fashionable +world from the duty of sympathising with the unfortunate, who was eating +out her own heart, and visibly fading away. + +"I grew thin, with hollow cheeks, as a person who neither eats nor +sleeps, and I wept the minute that I was alone, or when I met any +friends of M. de Lauzun and they talked of events which had any +connection with him. I always desired to speak of him." The hope of a +speedy death was her sole consolation, for no one, she was convinced had +so deeply suffered. "My state was pitiable, and it must have been +experienced to be appreciated, for such feelings cannot be expressed. It +is necessary to know one's self, in order to judge, and no one can have +felt a grief equal to mine; there is nothing which can compare with it." +This is the universal language of disappointed lovers; but the +expressive phrase below is not at the disposal of all souls. It is only +applicable to moments in which the excess of grief renders it almost +unconscious: "On account of feeling too much, I felt nothing." + +The fifth day, etiquette exacted that she should find herself consoled. +Her duties as Princess were recalled to her. "It was needful to go to +Court, it was not well to pass eight days without seeing the King." + +In vain she fought against such cruel exactions; she was forced to make +a spectacle of herself, still with "discomposed face, red and swollen +eyes, with constant floods of tears, at proper or improper moments, with +sharp cries at sight of Lauzun." + +Lauzun opened his eyes wide upon her as upon a naughty child, and +severely menaced her: "If you act in this manner, I will never be found +again in the same room with you!" But she could not compose herself. One +evening, at a great Court ball, she stopped in the middle of a dance and +began to weep. The King rose and placed his hat before her face, leading +her out of the room and explaining, "My cousin has vapours." The public +did not pity her. It would have liked to celebrate her defeat. "All have +praised the King for this action," wrote Olivier d'Ormesson. + +Louis XIV. was again popular, a transient popularity which lasted only a +few days. "It may be said that not only the Court, but the entire +kingdom has rejoiced in the rupture of the proposed marriage."[261] The +sentiment of approval was unanimous. As to the Princess, who was guilty +of asserting the right to "personal happiness," opinion judged her +severely. The seventeenth century did not admit, as has been seen, that +individual sentiments or the interests of the heart could predominate +over the exactions of rank or society, and the age of the lovers and +disparity of their appearance, she so tall, he almost a dwarf, aroused +ridicule instead of sympathy. The Grande Mademoiselle was suddenly +rewarded "with contempt," "for," says La Fare, "if this contemplated +alliance appeared extraordinary as soon as the news was made public, it +became ridiculous as soon as it was broken." + +It is agreeable to meet among these people, who were right in the main, +but who were malicious and uncharitable, one good Samaritan. + +While Mme. de Sévigné wrote gaily, "All is finished,"[262] the tears of +Mademoiselle inspired kind and courageous words from a person +comparatively obscure, and who excused herself from corresponding +because she did not have enough "wit." A letter, dated January 21, 1671, +addressed to Bussy-Rabutin by Mme. de Scudéry, sister-in-law of the +illustrious Madeleine, contains this paragraph: + + I will say nothing of the affair of Mademoiselle. You are no + doubt acquainted with all that has passed. I will only add + that, if you realise what a great passion can be, in the heart + of a pure woman like the Princess, you will not wonder, but + will have sympathy. For myself, who know nothing of love + through experience, I comprehend that Mademoiselle is much + to be pitied; for she has become sleepless. During the day she + is agitated and weeps, and in fact is leading the most miserable + existence possible.[263] + +Bussy-Rabutin replied (A Chaseu, January 29, 1671): + + I comprehend what passion means in a woman of the age and + temperament of Mademoiselle, who has preserved her heart + hitherto untouched, and I confess that this tale arouses my + pity. Love seems to me a malady like the small-pox; the later + it attacks the victim, the more severe the illness. + +The writer had indeed well understood the characteristics of late love +on only its displeasing side. But his attitude was, unfortunately, the +one adopted by almost every one. + +Regarded half-pityingly, but with an undercurrent of ridicule, the +Grande Mademoiselle ceased to be interesting to the fickle French +public. The fall from favour was very definite. The heroine of the +Fronde was effaced in the eyes of contemporaries, and remained only a +ridiculous old maid, whose woes amused the gallery. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 209: The Grande Equerry, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d' Armagnac.] + +[Footnote 210: The Marquis de Puyguilhem (written Péguilin) had taken +the name of Comte de Lauzun the following January. The latter title will +be used in this volume.] + +[Footnote 211: See the portrait of Straton in the chapter entitled "De +la Cour."] + +[Footnote 212: Saint-Simon, _Écrits inédits_.] + +[Footnote 213: Lauzun became Captain of the Body Guard in July, 1669.] + +[Footnote 214: Letter to Mme. de Sévigné, dated February 2, 1669.] + +[Footnote 215: _Mémoires et Réflexions_ of the Marquis de la Fare.] + +[Footnote 216: The sister of the Grand Condé. Upon her part in the +Fronde, see _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_.] + +[Footnote 217: M. de Saint-Paul began toward this time to bear the name +of de Longueville.] + +[Footnote 218: This conversation, which gives the key to the conduct of +Lauzun, is reported in _Le Perroquet or Les amours de Mademoiselle_, an +anonymous recital printed by M. Livet following the _Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules_ (Paris, Jannet, 1857); and in the _Histoire de Mademoiselle +et du Comte de Losun_ (Bibl. Saint-Geneviève MS. 3208), not always +sources to be relied on, but to be trusted here.] + +[Footnote 219: War between relatives for the succession.] + +[Footnote 220: _Lettres historiques._ Pellison accompanied the Court as +historiographer.] + +[Footnote 221: Plaques: pieces of embossed silver, at the lower part of +which was placed a chandelier.] + +[Footnote 222: _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 223: _De La Vallière à Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 224: Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d'Uzès. He married the +daughter of the Duc de Montausier and of Julie d'Angennes.] + +[Footnote 225: Probably the uncle by marriage of Bussy-Rabutin.] + +[Footnote 226: Romecourt was Lieutenant of the King's Guards.] + +[Footnote 227: It is evident that these last were carried in the private +carriages, ready for any accident.] + +[Footnote 228: _Gazette de Renaudot._] + +[Footnote 229: Captain of the Body Guard. Afterward, Duc de Noailles, +and Marshal of France.] + +[Footnote 230: First physician to the King.] + +[Footnote 231: _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre._] + +[Footnote 232: Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin. Letter of July 6, +1670.] + +[Footnote 233: Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin (letter dated January +15, 1687), speaking of Condé's death.] + +[Footnote 234: Charles d'Harcourt, chevalier, afterward Comte de +Beuvron, was one of those whom rumour accused of having contributed to +the death of Madame.] + +[Footnote 235: Monsieur had two daughters by his first marriage; +Marie-Louise d'Orléans, who married, in 1679, Charles II. of Spain, and +Anne-Marie de Valois, married, in 1684, to Victor-Amédée II., Duc de +Savoie.] + +[Footnote 236: Cf. _Mémoires de Louis XIV_. "for the year 1666." Edited +by Charles Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 237: Cf. _Segraisiana._] + +[Footnote 238: _Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy._] + +[Footnote 239: Don Miguel de Iturrieta to Don Diego de la Torre. +_Archives de la Bastille._] + +[Footnote 240: _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._, by P. Clément.] + +[Footnote 241: _Histoire_ etc. (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS. 3208). The +same version is found with slight variations in _Le Perroquet_, etc.] + +[Footnote 242: _Mémoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 243: Letter dated January 26, 1680.] + +[Footnote 244: Second son of Louis XIV. He died young.] + +[Footnote 245: _Cf._ for this chapter, the _Mélanges_ of Philibert +Delamare (Bibl. Nationale, French MS. 23,251), the _Journal_ of +d'Ormesson, and generally the memoirs, correspondences, pamphlets, and +songs of the period.] + +[Footnote 246: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 247: _Journal_ of Olivier d'Ormesson.] + +[Footnote 248: Letter to Coulanges, December 31st. The letter announcing +the marriage, too well known to quote, is dated the 15th.] + +[Footnote 249: _Mémoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 250: Ancient Governor of the King, who had kept a strong +affection for his pupil.] + +[Footnote 251: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 252: Mme. de Maintenon, _Lettres historiques et édifiantes_; +_cf. Mémoire de Mlle. d'Aumale_, published by M. le Comte +d'Haussonville.] + +[Footnote 253: The Abbé de Choisy relates the same scene, but attributes +it to the Princesse de Carignan (Marie de Bourbon-Soissons, +1666-1692).] + +[Footnote 254: The French Chargé d'Affaires in Sweden and Germany, +_Archives de la Bastille_.] + +[Footnote 255: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 256: This exclusion probably refers to the Prince de Condé, +with whom an alliance would have been considered a danger to the peace +of France.] + +[Footnote 257: _La Correspondance de Pomponne_ (Bibl. de l'Arsenal, +4712, 1598, 11. F.), fol. 373. M. Chéruel in the appendix to volume iv. +of _the Mémoires de Mademoiselle_, and M. Livet in _l'Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules_, have published this letter after an inexact copy.] + +[Footnote 258: Letter dated December 24, 1670.] + +[Footnote 259: Letter dated December 31, ----.] + +[Footnote 260: _Souvenirs et Correspondance._] + +[Footnote 261: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 262: Letter dated December 24, 1670.] + +[Footnote 263: _Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin_, published by Ludovic +Lalanne.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?--Imprisonment of + Lauzun--Splendour and Decadence of France--_La Chambre + Ardente_--Mademoiselle purchases Lauzun's Freedom--Their + Embroilment--Death of the Grande Mademoiselle--Death of + Lauzun--Conclusion. + + +Many of the events remaining to be recorded are very obscure. If they +had any importance, they would have figured in the collections of +historic enigmas and problems waiting to be solved; but they hardly +merit the honour, as few of them have had any such influence over the +destinies of France as had, for instance, the fact of the subjection of +Anne of Austria to Mazarin. Nor do any possess the romantic attraction +which attached to the legend of the "Man with the Iron Mask" before its +explanation. Petty details, however, bring the French society of this +period near to us, and the fact that events cannot always be interpreted +makes them seem more like real life. It is only in romances that all is +explained. + +The most obscure of these smaller problems is the question of the +marriage of Mademoiselle with the "little man," as she herself called +him. + +Contemporary opinion has been almost unanimous in its belief in this +marriage. Neither date nor place nor names of the possible witnesses +have ever been satisfactorily established, as was done in the case of +the union of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Maintenon. There is no written proof +of the fact; Mademoiselle had the habit of burning her letters, and made +no exception in favour of those from Lauzun. She states this fact with +regret, in her _Mémoires_. We are thus reduced to moral proofs. It is +true that these are strong in favour of the event having taken place; +but they are not altogether unanswerable. + +The belief that a secret bond had remained, after the official rupture, +rested in the mind of most people interested. One of the +correspondents[264] of Bussy-Rabutin wrote to him, February 17, 1671: +"Mademoiselle sometimes still weeps when she reflects, but often she +laughs and is at her ease. Her lover continues to see her and no one +opposes it. I do not know what will happen." Three weeks later, Mme. de +Scudéry made allusion to the same rumour (Paris, March 6, 1671): +"Mademoiselle is always conversing with M. de Lauzun. Their +conversations begin and end with tears. I assure you, however, that +there will be no result." Bussy was among those who believed that it +"would come to something." He replied on the 13th to Mme. de Scudéry: "I +am convinced that the affair of Mademoiselle and Lauzun will have a +happy issue, not in the manner they at first hoped, but in a more secret +method to which the King will consent." + +Would Mademoiselle accept this other way? Doubt is permissible. +_Marriages of conscience_, if fashionable in the seventeenth century, +created false situations, sometimes very humiliating ones, to a person +not an absolute sovereign accountable to no one, and in a position to +let the truth come out or not as it pleased him. For the rest of +mortals, secret marriages must actually remain concealed, or there would +result endless difficulties. On this account, the married pair could +only meet through a happy chance, which is not agreeable, while it was +also almost impossible to escape suspicious commentaries and the +uncomfortable dependence upon the fidelity of servants. Segrais would +never believe that Mademoiselle had married Lauzun, and one of the +reasons given was "that she sent away Madelon, her chambermaid, and she +would not have done this if Madelon had been able to gossip." Segrais +might have added that his mistress had always severely criticised the +equivocations arising from _marriages of conscience_. + +But all was changed after the serious conversation between the King and +Mademoiselle behind the closed doors. Mademoiselle encouraged Lauzun to +assume airs of authority, and she was meekly submissive. "He regarded me +with such a look that I no longer dared to weep, the power that he had +over me retaining my tears. It is much wiser not to lose self-control!" + +It was by his advice that she cleared her palace of all who had blamed +their first plan. M. de Montausier and Mme. de Sévigné tried in vain to +save Segrais, who "was their special friend." "She cannot be touched," +wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "upon a subject which approaches to within nine +hundred leagues of a certain cape."[265] It was Lauzun who designated +the successor of Guillore, her Intendant, and who submitted the choice +to the King. This might give rise to remark. Lauzun warned Mademoiselle +of this danger. "It may be said in the world that I wish to rule you +completely." She responded: "Please God that you should; that is what I +profoundly desire." Mademoiselle had confirmed through new acts the +lavish gifts assured by the contract, and the King rivalled his cousin +in generosity. If the courtiers can be believed, Louis had promised +Lauzun that he should lose nothing by _not_ marrying Mademoiselle. In +any case, he heaped favours upon him. The first gift was the government +of Berri, with fifty thousand francs to pay his debts and the hope that +Fortune would continue her benedictions. Louvois grew anxious and +amassed shiploads of hatred against the favourite. + +The winter passed in this manner. In the spring, the Court returned to +Flanders. During a sojourn at Dunkerque so much was said of the intimacy +of the "dwarf" with the Grande Mademoiselle, that the report reached the +ears of the Princess: "The rumour is circulating that we were married +before leaving Paris, and the _Gazette de Hollande_ confirms this. Some +one brought the paper to me; I showed it to Lauzun, who laughed." Two +pages further on, another conversation proves that the news was at least +premature; but the public had the right to be deceived, so tender and +familiar was the intercourse between the couple. + +There was a question in this same spring of a trip to Fontainebleau: + + I said to M. de Lauzun, "Take care to wear a cap when you are + in the forest; the evening dew is bad for the teeth, and + further you are subject to weak eyes and to catching cold. The + air of Fontainebleau makes the hair fall out." He replied: "I + certainly must try to preserve my teeth. I also fear cold; but + as for the red eyes with which you are constantly reproaching + me, they are caused by wakefulness, with which I have been + troubled for some time. As for my hair, I have too little left + to take further pains about it." + +She preached neatness to him. "If you are slovenly, it will be said that +I have bad taste. For my sake, you must be careful." Lauzun only +laughed. Indeed, she scolded him through jealousy, fearing that he was +escaping from her influence and going she did not know where, and +perceiving this, he cajoled her. "As soon as he saw that I wished to +scold him, he had unequalled methods for putting me in a good humour." +All this folly resembled a honeymoon, and the _Mémoires_ of Mademoiselle +for this same year include a passage which is almost a confession. "It +is still said that we are married. We neither of us say anything, it +being only our particular friends who would dare to address us, and it +is easy to laugh at them, only saying, 'The King knows all.'" + +The conduct of Mademoiselle during the ten years following being a +perpetual and striking confirmation of this half-confession, the fact of +the secret marriage would seem to be assured, and the date would be +placed between May and November, 1671, if it were not for a last +quotation, to be given at its proper date, which again throws doubt upon +the event. + +Whatever the truth may be, it would appear that Mademoiselle had known +how to reunite the broken fragments of her happiness; but Lauzun, for a +second time, lost everything. He had easily learned that he owed the +rupture of the first plan to Mme. de Montespan, and had conceived so +furious a hate against this false friend that he lost his head. + +After a scene worthy of fishwives, in which he had called her names +impossible to print, he would proceed to declaim against her in the +salons, with the utmost violence, and sometimes at only a few steps from +her ears. The courtiers marvelled at the excessive insolence on the one +side and the curious patience on the other, for Mme. de Montespan +endured these outrages without whispering a single protest. It was +rumoured that she had once been his mistress, and that his power was +derived from this fact. + +It is to this enforced penitence of the all-powerful favourite that Mme. +Scarron alluded when at a supper, the account of which is given by Mme. +de Sévigné[266]: "she dilated upon the horrible agitations in a country +very well known, the continual rage of the little Lauzun, and the black +chagrin or the sad boredom of the ladies of Saint-Germain; and suggested +that the most envied was perhaps not always exempt." Mme. Scarron had +seen the "horrible agitations" very near, for it was she who had +intervened against Lauzun; it was upon her representations that Mme. de +Montespan had ended by saying to the King that "she did not believe that +her life was safe as long as this man was free."[267] + +Lauzun was arrested at Saint-Germain, in his chamber, the evening of +November 25, 1671. The evening previous, Mademoiselle had departed for +Paris declaring: "I do not know what is the matter; I am in such +dreadful apprehension that I cannot remain here." She wept on the way. +She very well knew the cause. One of her friends had been asked, "if M. +de Lauzun had been arrested," and this query had worried her. + +Delayed by chance or by precaution, the news of the arrest did not reach +the Luxembourg until twenty-four hours later. Lauzun was already on the +road to Pignerol. Before him hastened M. de Nallot, a man of confidence +despatched by Louvois, who certainly felt a ferocious joy in the action, +to bear the instructions of his master to the Sieur de Saint-Mars, +governor of the prison of Pignerol, and of those enclosed within its +walls. Foucquet had been during seven years under the care of +Saint-Mars, who had followed orders with such fidelity that Louvois did +not doubt that he would be obeyed as blindly in any commands it might +please him to give regarding Lauzun. The instructions gave orders to +imprison him with one valet, and never to permit him to leave the +fortress nor to have any communication with the outer world. + +Saint-Mars thus responded: + + + PIGNEROL, December 9, 1671. + + Monseigneur, M. de Nallot arrived here on the fifth instant, + conveying the note of instructions you have been pleased to + send me.... He will report to you my haste in preparing the + apartment for M. de Lauzun; he will tell you, Monseigneur, that + I will lodge him in the two low vaulted chambers which are over + those of M. Foucquet: these are the ones with the barred + windows you yourself[268] examined. From the way in which I + have arranged the place, I can respond with my life for the + safety of the person of M. de Lauzun, and also the certainty of + intercepting any news sent or received. + + I engage upon my honour, Monseigneur, that as long as this + gentleman is under my care you will hear no further word about + him, it will be as if he already lay _in pace_. + + The place prepared is so constructed that I can have holes + made, through which I can spy into the apartment. I shall also + know all that he does and says through the reports of a valet + whom I will furnish as you have ordered; I have found one with + much trouble, because the clever ones do not wish to pass their + life in prison. You order that mass shall be celebrated for M. + de Lauzun only on fête days and Sundays and I will scrupulously + follow the letter of your instructions.... The Confessor of M. + Foucquet will attend the new prisoner on Easter and at no other + time, whatever may happen. My only desire is to carry out exactly + the orders with which you have honoured me: I shall always endeavour + to do this with zeal, passion, and fidelity, so I trust that you + may be content with my small services.[269] + +All the officials of the citadel had written to Louvois after the +arrival of his agent, so great an impression had been made. It was said +that M. de Lauzun was a great criminal and a very dangerous one to +necessitate such precautions. Each wished to show his special zeal. +Louis XIV. was also well informed about the prison destined for his old +favourite. + +Louvois showed the King the plan he had received. The apartment +consisted of two low vaulted rooms facing a deserted court, through +which no one ever passed. The windows were darkened by iron bars and +were covered with a sort of basket-work used in prisons, to prevent the +occupant seeing or being seen. Noises from without, even those from the +guards and the kitchen, did not penetrate into this remote place, the +most "noiseless" of all the citadel, on account of the enormous +thickness of the walls and of the vaulting. "Never," said one of the +letters, "will M. Foucquet know that he has a companion." The +correspondents of Louvois unanimously insisted upon the necessity of +preventing any risk of escape. A screen of iron was placed in the +embrasure of the windows and a _vissante_ inserted in the chimney to +prevent M. de Lauzun and M. de Foucquet from communicating with each +other. + +When this new command left Saint-Germain, Lauzun was already locked up +at Pignerol. He appeared very sad and depressed during the journey. His +grief was changed into fury at sight of the dungeon which awaited him. +Saint-Mars wrote to Louvois (December 22, 1671): "Monseigneur, my +prisoner is in so profound a grief, that I can hardly describe it. He +said to me that I had made him a lodging _sæcula sæculorum_." Lauzun +declared that he would lose his reason, and his agitation seemed to +point to this danger. + + [December 30] I do not believe, Monseigneur, that I can send + you any news of my prisoner's being more tranquil; he is in so + profound a grief that he does nothing but sigh and beat the + ground with his feet. He asked me once if I knew the cause of + his detention; I replied that I never received any news of this + sort lest I should be tempted to tell it. + +Lauzun had well divined the cause of his arrest, but he had not been +told. All explanation had been refused at Saint-Germain, and the +condemning him to such a dungeon with the most rigorous secrecy, with no +declared reason, seemed a crying and tyrannical act of injustice. +Saint-Mars began to fear a tragic ending. + + [January 12, 1672] Monseigneur ... he is overwhelmed with so + extraordinary a grief that I fear he may lose his reason, or + kill himself, which last he has threatened several times.... As + I do not stop to listen to his ravings, he accuses me of having + grown hard and pitiless through my long occupation as jailer; + and repeats that he has never been judged and that his worst + suffering is caused by the fact that he is ignorant of his + crime. + +He had never been judged! This was the refrain during ten long years! +Foucquet, his neighbour, had judges, _indépendants_ or not; he had known +the cause of his accusation, and his defence had been heard. Lauzun was +in his vault through the good pleasure of the King without having had a +chance to justify himself, and this grievance caused his revolt. + +When Mademoiselle was told of the arrest of Lauzun, she was so overcome +that she was astonished "that she did not die." She remained in a most +pitiable state until the next day. She was counselled not to delay an +appeal to the King, and it was needful to form some plan. If there had +been only herself to consider, Mademoiselle would have been ready to bid +adieu to the world; but there was Lauzun, who was, according to the +custom then legal, to be accused when he could not defend himself, and +there was only herself to plead his cause with the King. + +It was impossible to abandon her lover, and Mademoiselle found strength +to rise and to go to Saint-Germain. She only reached the King in the +evening at supper. "He regarded me with a sad and embarrassed air. I +looked at him with tears in my eyes, but said nothing; I know what he +said in returning after to the ladies[270]: 'My cousin has been very +courteous, she has been silent.' He would have been imprudent to address +me, as I was prepared to reply to all." + +The Court of France was at that date very gay and animated. Monsieur had +just remarried (November 16), with Elisabeth Charlotte de Bavière, +Princess Palatine, famed for the originality of her mind and the +freshness of her language. The King, who, without wit, had good taste, +was charmed with his new sister-in-law, and was lavish with fêtes in her +honour. At first, Mademoiselle considered it a duty to be present. She +pathetically relates the history of an abominable evening during which +she was obliged to appear to be enjoying the spectacle of a ballet, +while her thoughts were far distant, following a coach surrounded by +musketeers: + + To think that he was absent; that it was bitterly cold and was + snowing heavily, and that my dear one was on the open road on + his way to prison; to picture his sufferings and his pitiable + appearance made my heart ache. I believe that it would deceive + those who should have been there with him to see me here, not + realising the torture it gives me. My single consolation is + that these constant sacrifices I am making for the King, + may in the end arouse his pity for M. de Lauzun and renew his + tenderness, for I am not able to persuade myself that he no longer + loves him. I should be only too content if my sacrifices can + accomplish any results. This is my motive for remaining near the + Court since Lauzun's imprisonment, and forces me from a sense of + duty to do many things which I should have avoided if I had only + consulted my inclinations. With a heart pierced with tender grief, + I should have so willingly remained at home in solitude rather than + to drag myself through the gay scenes of the Court festivities." + +After each effort, she allowed herself slight relaxation and retired to +weep in some corner, then returning to the King with red and swollen +eyes. "I am persuaded" wrote she, apropos of a trip with the Court, +"that my presence has recalled the memory of M. de Lauzun; this is the +reason why I wish to be always before the eyes of the King.... I cannot +believe that he will not feel that my looks are ever supplicating him." +Mademoiselle was very ingenious in her efforts to refer constantly to +the absent one. If a grated window was passed she began to sigh and to +pity those in prison. If there was a rumour that Lauzun was ill, she +solicited by letter the softening of the régime. Louis never responded, +but he did not show any displeasure. The enemies of the disgraced one +endeavoured to detach the Princess from her lover. They knew her +weakness; she was very jealous, and there might easily be occasion in +regard to Lauzun, known as the greatest libertine of this licentious +Court. At the moment of arrest his papers had been seized. There were +many letters; locks of hair and other love tokens, carefully ticketed, +and a sort of secret museum enclosing portraits that Louis XIV. ordered +to be destroyed,--not promptly enough, however, as many persons enjoyed +a glimpse of them, and were able to identify the originals. + +The "caskets" of Lauzun were the great social scandal of the winter, and +there were people enough to exploit the contents to Mademoiselle. They +gained nothing for their pains; she had the wisdom not to listen. They +belonged to the past. The same kind friends endeavoured to open her eyes +to the fact that she had been deceived in giving her heart to a man who +only desired her millions. They said: "He did not love you; when he was +promised wealth, appointments, he readily left you; the day on which the +King broke the marriage, Lauzun gambled all the evening with the +greatest tranquility; he cares nothing about you." Mademoiselle allows +in her _Mémoires_ that she began to be disturbed when she was forced to +hear such statements from morning till night during a series of years. +Her own remembrances only too well confirmed the truth. She had never +received a word of tenderness from Lauzun, not even a truly gracious +word. But misfortune is an invincible safeguard with generous souls. +Mademoiselle relates that her heart "fought against itself" in favour of +her lover, and the heart conquered, since each new year found her still +devoted, still indefatigable in her efforts to obtain his release. + +At the end of eight years there could be no more doubt. Contemporaries +and those of the next generation have tried in vain to discover why +Louis XIV. attached so serious an importance to preventing Lauzun from +receiving news. Of what was he afraid? Was it essential for the safety +of France to insist upon such minute precautions? + +One day, fresh linen was to be forwarded to Lauzun from Saint-Germain. +Louvois wrote to Saint-Mars (February 2, 1672): "Have this washed two or +three times before giving it to him." Saint-Mars signified that he +comprehended and replied (February 20): + + I shall not fail to have the linen you are sending to Lauzun + thoroughly wet after having every seam examined, any writing + which may be upon the linen will thus vanish. Everything which + is brought out of his room is put at once in a tub of water + after being examined, and the laundress bringing it from the + river dries it before the fire in the presence of my officers, + who take turn at this duty, week by week. I also take the same + precautions with the towels, napkins, etc. + +Another time, an ancient servant of Lauzun was arrested near Pignerol, +who, realising that he was a prisoner, killed himself, and letters were +found on the body. Had there been any intercourse with the prisoner? +This thought cast Louvois into an inconceivable agitation. He wished at +every cost to clear up the affair, and he found time even during the war +with Holland to write letter after letter to Pignerol to order that +trace of accomplices should be sought. + +Men, presumably companions of the dead, were arrested. Two of them, who +had fled to Turin, were delivered up through diplomatic action. It was +necessary to make them speak "through any means, no matter what"; the +question as to whether M. de Lauzun had received news must be solved. +The attendants at Pignerol were much perturbed. An officer wrote to +Louvois to "conjure" him to denounce the suspected among the soldiers +under his orders, that I may arrest them and attach them as villains." +And if his two nephews, who were in the citadel, should be found to be +the guilty ones he "would be their first executioner." Saint-Mars was +humiliated and offended that he should be suspected of being hoodwinked. +He became ferocious against the "miserable beings" who had drawn down +upon him this insult, and he willingly put them to the torture; "for, to +tell the truth," wrote he to Louvois, "I have only to find the smallest +charge against a soldier or domestic, and I would hang him at once" +(August 20). Some weeks later he summed up the result of the inquest in +these terms (October 7): "I cannot swear that an attempt has not been +made to communicate with Lauzun, but I can pledge my life in the +assurance that the effort has not been successful." + +Saint-Mars had another grief. Louvois recommended to him incessantly to +make his prisoner talk and to report every word, even the most trivial, +but Lauzun would not utter a syllable. "I do not know why," wrote +Saint-Mars, naïvely, "but he distrusts me, and hardly dares to speak to +me" (February 10, 1672). On March 19: "He is always in a state of +extraordinary distrust of me." Louvois insisted, and received +discouraged letters. (March 30:) "When I make a visit, our conversation +is so dry and difficult that we often pace the room a hundred times +without interchanging a word." Saint-Mars in vain sought innocent +topics. He tried to converse about the weather. M. de Lauzun interrupted +him under the pretext that the state of the weather was a matter of +indifference to him, since, from his dungeon, he could see "neither moon +nor sun." + +Saint-Mars inquired about his health. M. de Lauzun cut him short, in +declaring that "his health was a matter of no consequence to any one, +and that he was really only too well." Saint-Mars did not know what more +to say. He became furious. Lauzun perceived this, and grew even more +taciturn. It was a fair and even fight. At the end of a year, Saint-Mars +had not advanced an inch. + + [January 7, 1673] When I said good morning or good evening, and + when I asked him how he felt, he made low bows, saying that he + was well enough to offer his most humble respects; after having + thanked him, we walked some time together without speaking to + each other, and, as I wished to retire, I asked him if he had + anything to demand. He made again a very low bow and conducted + me to the door of the room; this is the point at which we have + arrived, and I am afraid that we shall make no further + progress. + +Saint-Mars tried to force the situation. It was he who furnished the +prisoner with everything; who gave him clothes, furniture, bought his +eye-glasses, or ordered a wig. He thought that a method of making him +speak would be to give him nothing that he did not demand. Lauzun +invented a mute language. + +Saint-Mars would perceive, in entering, some wornout or broken object +placed in a conspicuous position, having the air of saying something. +"Sometimes," wrote the governor of the citadel, "I feign not to notice, +and in order to oblige me to speak, Lauzun will direct his steps so as +to pass the object again and again until I am forced to comprehend." +(May 6, 1672.) + +The valet was almost as close as his master. Saint-Mars did not cease to +lament the trouble which "these people" gave him. Prisoners' valets +shared the fate of their masters. Once confined, they passed the sill of +the prison only with the culprit; that is to say, in many cases never, +which fact rendered it extremely difficult to procure servants. The one +with Lauzun was a "wicked rascal" who had been bribed, but who at the +end of three months refused to do his duty as spy. + +Saint-Mars was indignant (February 20, 1672): "With your permission, I +will put him [the valet] in a place that I reserve, which makes the dumb +speak after a month's sojourn. I shall learn all from him, and I am +certain that he will not forget the least trifle." Upon reflection, +however, Saint-Mars ended by being patient. How was he to replace the +fellow? "No one of the valets attached to the citadel would enter this +dungeon if I paid him millions. They have noticed that those whom I have +placed with M. Foucquet never come out." Louvois never knew, in spite of +earnest desire, what thoughts the fallen favourite was conceiving in his +prison. + +There was a slight recompense, however, on the days on which Lauzun fell +into a rage, which often happened. The prisoner could not digest the +fact that his questions remained unanswered. This might be reasonable +enough if he asked if France were at war, or if Mademoiselle were +married; but why refuse news of his own affairs? Why conceal from him +the fact of his mother being alive or dead? His vexation became rage. He +poured out a torrent of imprecations and bitter complaints, and Louvois +had the pleasure of hearing by the next mail that silence did not +indicate absence of suffering. + +One day (January 28, 1673), after giving an account of one of these +explosions, Saint-Mars added: "He said all this, weeping hot tears and +crying that he detested his miserable life; he complained loudly of the +horrible dungeon which I have given him, where he has lost his sight and +his health." The wails of grief echoed even through Paris, leaking out +from the cabinet of Louvois and the chamber of Mme. de Montespan, and +the public demanded with curiosity what Lauzun had done to deserve a +punishment so rigorous. "I can never believe," wrote Mademoiselle, +"that it is by the orders of the King." It was easily guessed that +Louvois was avenging his frights and Mme. de Montespan her humiliations; +but why did the King permit such severity? for Louis had never appeared +to take very much to heart the entanglements of these two Court powers +with his favourite. + +It is needful to recollect that the seventeenth century had no greater +respect for human liberty than for human life. Only rank and birth were +of value, and these were honoured in a greater degree than it is +possible now to comprehend. This same Louvois, who was tormenting Lauzun +almost to the point of insanity, had hastened to send him a +silver-service, and had asked him to complain if his guards were +impolite. + +"M. de Saint-Mars," wrote the Minister, "has orders never to fail in +according the respect due to your birth and to the position which you +have held at Court" (December 12, 1672). From like considerations, the +birth of Lauzun had brought him new furniture, but not a single object +of any kind which could aid him in inventing occupation or employment. + +This was the real punishment: a complete inaction with not a single echo +from the outer world which might prevent his mind from continually +turning inward upon itself. Lauzun only obtained a few books at long +intervals, and always with great difficulty, after every page had been +examined in detail; messages written in invisible ink were feared, and +phrases which might throw light upon the events of the day. When the +choice of literature was left to Saint-Mars, he confined himself to _Le +Tableau de la Pénitence_ or the _Pédagogue chrétien_. The contents of +these were well known and, also, "they might be useful to lighten his +despair." + +It will be remembered that Mademoiselle had scolded the "little man" to +make him take greater care of his person and toilet. In prison, Lauzun +had grown very careless. (April 20, 1672:) "He grows so negligent that +for three weeks he has worn a handkerchief knotted around his neck in +place of a cravat." From note of July 30, 1672, more than seven months +after his arrival: "He has not had his room swept, nor his glass rinsed; +he is extremely negligent." Lauzun had permitted his beard to grow, +which contributed to his neglected appearance. Saint-Mars declared that +it was a half-yard long. (February 11, 1673:) "He is as disorderly at +his meals as in his person and in his apartment." + +Years passed. In 1673, they pruned the trees which cut off the light. +This was the only change. In 1674, the prisoner almost died. His health +was shattered and his temper changed. He became tranquil, except for an +occasional access of anger, and was very polite to his jailer, who +attributed this metamorphosis to the effects of the books of piety and +the holy water freely supplied. Saint-Mars found him "very often" on his +knees, saying his prayers before an image of the Virgin, and had much +joy in the change. + +In 1676, in the month of February, Louvois received a letter,[271] the +contents of which passed through Paris like a flash of lightning. M. de +Lauzun had almost succeeded in effecting his escape; and neither by door +nor window, the ordinary method in romances. He had made a hole in the +dungeon of Pignerol by scratching with old knives, pieces of kitchen +utensils, etc., and had succeeded in piercing the thick vault below his +chamber. Lauzun rolled through this opening, and found himself between +four walls, before a barred window. He began again to scrape; he +demolished one of the corners of the window, unfastened one of the bars, +and saw that he was several fathoms above the ground. His foresight had +caused him to collect a quantity of napkins, from which he made a rope +ladder; "the best made in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, with +admiration for the sample sent to Louvois. + +He descended by this ladder to the moat surrounding the fortress, +"pierced the wall on the side of the moat,"[272] encountered a rock, and +recommenced at a short distance from the place of the first attempt"; +the new passage led into a court of the citadel. Lauzun reached the +ground one morning at daybreak. He had passed three days in scraping; it +was this occupation which had kept him tranquil. Only an open door, and +he would have been saved. He would well have deserved success as a +reward for his industry and patience. But all was firmly closed, and he +was stopped by an incorruptible sentinel. + +The poor prisoner was brought back to his dungeon, and Louvois stormed +at the authorities of Pignerol, who permitted walls and windows to be +demolished without perceiving that anything strange was occurring. +Repairs and numerous new measures of precaution were ordered, and +Saint-Mars, very much abashed, swore by all the gods that such a thing +should never again happen. + +In spite of these oaths, many of the prisoners succeeded in gaining +access to their neighbours, according to the account of +Saint-Simon.[273] It seems that the open chimneys of ancient times had +become an ordinary means of communication between the dungeons of +Pignerol. "A hole was made in the pipe, which was carefully closed +during the day," and with mutual aid the prisoners ascended and +descended. Lauzun was placed in relation with various prisoners, of whom +one was Foucquet, who believed him to be mad when listening to his +account of the failure of the plan of marriage with the Grande +Mademoiselle. These gentlemen must have resembled chimney sweeps. + +Saint-Mars, however, only knew of these practices after the death of +Foucquet; the troubles of Lauzun were then at an end. The death of the +eldest brother, which occurred in 1677, had brought new conditions. +Lauzun became head of the family. His sister, Mme. de Nogent, +represented to the King that it was needful for the preservation of the +"House" that M. de Lauzun should be permitted to put his affairs in +order, and she had no difficulty in obtaining a hearing. Although the +individual counted for little, the "House" was a thing sacred, even in +the eyes of Louis XIV. Saint-Mars was ordered to receive Mme. de Nogent, +another of the brothers, Chevalier de Lauzun, and their advocate, M. +Isarn, and to permit them to meet with his prisoner, exacting the +promise that only business should be discussed. He forbade a single +word, "under any pretext whatever," of Mlle. de Montpensier. An account +of these interviews, sketched by Isarn, remains. It must not be +forgotten in reading this document that Lauzun had a great interest in +inspiring a lively pity in the hearts of these people who were returning +to Paris. After long preliminaries, Isarn arrived for the first +interview with Lauzun, whom no one had seen for six years. + + [October 29, 1667] Two o'clock having come, M. de Saint-Mars, + after sending away all the attendants, asked M. Isarn to enter + his room where six chairs were arranged around a table, and M. + de Saint-Mars retiring, returned after a moment leading M. le + Comte de Lauzun, supporting him by the arm, for the Comte could + hardly sustain himself, it may be on account of the open air, + the bright light, or the weakness caused by his illness. + + At this sight, I confess, Monsieur, that we were moved with + pity, for we remarked his haggard face and the extreme pallor + of the countenance, as much as could be seen under the long + beard and moustaches, the eyes subdued with sadness and + languor, so that it would be impossible not to be moved with + compassion. I can hardly express the grief of Madame his sister + and Monsieur his brother. A chair near the fire was given to + him, facing the window, but he shrank back, saying in a low + voice, and coughing, that the bright light made his eyes and + head burn. M. de Saint-Mars turned his prisoner away from the + window, placing himself on one side and M. the Commissioner on + the other. I was at the side of M. de Saint-Mars, having my + papers before me on the table. Mme. de Nogent could not + restrain her tears, and we remained some time without speaking. + +When they were all somewhat composed, Isarn entered into a summary of +the affairs to be regulated. At the first pause, Lauzun interrupted. "He +said coldly, that having been kept for six years and a portion of a +seventh in a very restricted prison, and not having heard any business +details for so long a time, and having met no one, his mind had become +so 'sealed,' and his intelligence so clouded, that it was impossible for +him to comprehend anything I was saying." He added affectionate words +for his sister, touching sentiments upon his grief at having displeased +the King, and, as if overcome by the remembrance of his much-loved +master, he carried his handkerchief to his eyes, "where it remained a +long time." + +This spectacle provoked such an outburst of tears and groans that it was +impossible to continue the conference. Lauzun "withdrew with Saint-Mars +without speaking." The sister was carried away in a dead faint. The +Chevalier de Lauzun, ill with emotion, retired for the night, and Isarn +shared in the general affliction. At the following sessions, Lauzun +repeated that he comprehended nothing that his advocate said, but he +gave him at the same time some instructions, "with much judgment and +clearness." Touching scenes followed. One day, after having obtained +permission, the prisoner asked if his mother were living, and there was, +in this case, no need of pretence to make the scene impressive. At the +last interview, he charged his sister to implore the pity of the King +and the pardon of Louvois, in humble and submissive terms, which showed +a man conquered, crushed, and henceforth inoffensive. + +It may be through compassion, it may be, as was hinted, through some new +and mysterious combination, that this appeal produced a relaxation in +the prison discipline, which ended in a half-freedom. Lauzun was +permitted to give dinners, to buy saddle horses, "to ride in the court +and on the bastions."[274] At length arrived a detachment of musketeers, +charged to conduct him to the baths of Bourbon, under pretext that he +was suffering with one of his arms. + +He quitted Pignerol April 22, 1681. Foucquet had died March 23, 1680. +This left to Saint-Mars only a single man of note; the Man with the Iron +Mask had been in the fortress some time at this date. + +Robinson Crusoe, leaving his island, was not more of a stranger to the +course of events than a state prisoner after years of life in a dungeon. +Foucquet had believed in listening to Lauzun that he was mentally +deranged. When it was the fate of the latter to again come in contact +with ordinary life, he found much difficulty in placing himself in the +current. The history of France had been lengthened by a chapter while he +was raging in his dungeon. The intimate story of Court life, the most +important for an ancient favourite desirous of regaining a foothold, +would have filled a volume with its tragi-comic complications. At first +glance, the chapter of national history was dazzling. The war with +Holland had given to France, Franche-Comté; to Louis XIV., a glory and +power which had raised him in European opinion above all other +sovereigns. + +In the eyes of strangers, he was more than a king, he was _the_ King, +the incarnation of the monarchical idea, the Prince who had made France +the mistress of the civilised world. + + Never, in modern Europe [says a German historian[275] who + always considers the interests of France as opposed to those of + Germany] has there been a development of military power over + land and sea, for attack and defence, so extraordinary as that + to which France had attained during the war, and preserved + during the ensuing peace; never before had a single will + exercised so extended a command over troops so well trained and + yet so submissive. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES= From an +engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673] + +France was admired and feared. "Louis XIV.," says Ranke again, "reduced +several of the German princes individually, and the Empire at large, to +a degree of abasement to which they had not fallen during centuries." +Spain itself was menaced with the loss of its independence. Europe +recognised that in "the history of the world there were few periods in +which civilisation had so rapidly advanced and literature was so +brilliant as that under Louis XIV." + +Such was France viewed from without, during the years which separated +the peace of Nimèguen (1679) from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes +(1685). This brilliant picture showed, however, some shadows; the +vanquished guarded a deep resentment, and the former allies were +detached without always being replaced by new ones; but the country +considered itself sufficiently strong to support its isolation. + +Seen from within, France presented to the superficial observer an +appearance of prosperity. Upon a closer examination, however, it could +be predicted that the lean years were approaching. Many provinces had +fallen back into misery. There was a general discontent, the +disaffection made rapid progress; the idea of centralised and absolute +power, so well received at first, was beginning to pall upon the +community. Four years after the death of Mazarin and the arrival to +power of Louis XIV. keen-sighted men became anxious. + +Olivier d'Ormesson, like all the world at first under the influence of +the charm of the young King, wrote in 1665 (March): "No one dares +protest, although all suffer and have their hearts filled with despair; +every one says that it is impossible for this state of things to last, +the conduct of affairs being too unjust and violent."[276] Olivier +d'Ormesson had personal griefs. He had been disgraced for having shown +himself too independent at the time of the prosecution of Foucquet, and +he was also one of those old politicians, liberal after their own +fashion, who held firmly to the privileges belonging to their class, and +who were not accustomed to see criticisms of the King punished more +severely than blasphemies against the Deity. In 1668, a poor old man +from Saint-Germain was accused "of having said that the King was a +tyrant, and that there still existed some Ravaillacs and people of +courage and virtue." He was condemned to have his tongue cut out and to +be sent to the galleys. "It is said," adds d'Ormesson, "that +cutting out the tongue is a new punishment, and that it was formerly the +custom simply to pierce the tongue of blasphemers." From the point of +view of the times, the opinion of d'Ormesson is a little +too advanced. + +But the same criticism cannot be made of Colbert, then enjoying great +favour and naturally a man of severity. In 1666 Colbert warned Louis +XIV., in an almost brutal memorial, that through his extravagances he +was leading France to ruin. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT, SHOWING ALSO HIS SEAL= + +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675] + +The memorial commenced by declaring that he (Colbert) did not wish +stinginess where it was a matter concerning a good army or fleet, or in +sustaining the suitable magnificence of his master in foreign lands, or +in any useful expenditures, among which he included the proper +representation of a great sovereign. He affirmed that in all these +matters he would rather urge a certain lavishness, and this was the +truth. But he could not share in the responsibility for the enormous +leakage by which the public wealth was being exhausted, for the millions +squandered in fantastic camps, in fêtes costing incredible sums,[277] +and in insane gambling debts.[278] + +The memorial mentions also pensions and other gratifications given out +freely, and makes other specifications, of which one merits some +details, for it is curious, but rarely referred to, and according to +Colbert led to the most dangerous consequences. As will be understood, +nothing other than actual war cost France so dearly under Louis XIV., as +the monarch's passion for playing at soldier in the presence of +beautiful ladies. This mania at first glance appears innocent enough, +only rather childish. + +Colbert pointed out the inevitable effects. The King assembled armies to +afford to the "_ladies_" the spectacle of a camp or the simulation of a +siege, or the troops were reviewed in places agreeable for women, +instead of awaiting him in their barracks. + +The result was, that the perpetual marching of troops to and fro was +causing the exhaustion of the provinces, for "it is sufficient to say +that such a city or halting-place has suffered within six months a +hundred different impositions of troops, and that there are but few +places which have not been obliged to stand at least fifty." + +The troops lived as they liked, entering and departing from their +various lodging-places. "It can be affirmed distinctly that these places +were left in a condition to which they would have been brought by a long +war." If the King knew "how many peasants of Champagne, and the other +provinces lying near the frontier, are passing and arranging to pass to +other countries," he would comprehend that this state of affairs could +not last. + +The most delicate reproof was yet to be made, and Colbert approached it +courageously. Serious ridicule had fallen upon the great monarch for +these fantastic games for the benefit of his "_ladies_," not only with +the French, but also among foreigners only too ready to seize an +occasion for unfriendly comment. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES, SHOWING THE FOUNTAIN +OF THE DRAGON= + +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676] + +Louis had just installed a camp at Moret, motley and smart, with pretty +tents for the Amazons. "It is said," wrote d'Ormesson, "that the siege +of Moret will be made in due form, in order to show the '_ladies_' the +method of taking places by assault. People in general, disgusted and +annoyed, treat this review as childish trifling for a King, and it is +badly thought of in foreign countries." + +Olivier d'Ormesson did not display great merit in writing his comments +in his journal for his eyes alone, but Colbert wrote for the King and +had still many criticisms to add. + +"It is further advisable for your Majesty to know two things which no +one has before dared to report: one that there has been a poster in +Paris, bearing the words _Louis XIV. will give an exhibition of +Marionettes in the plain at Moret_; the other, the publication of a +libel, still more bitter, upon the distinguished deeds of the fantastic +captains." The King read the memorial and re-read it in the presence of +Colbert, but the following year saw a new camp, in which the royal tent, +composed of six sumptuous rooms, "was filled with cavaliers gorgeously +attired, and better fitted to attract the enemy than to make him +flee."[279] Colbert did not succeed, even in time of war, in preventing +a single trip to the frontier with a long train of women in rare +apparel, and mistresses for whose accommodation it was necessary to put +masons at work at every halting-place. + +From Louvois, March 7, 1671: + +"Arrange chamber marked V for Mme. de Montespan, opening a door in the +place marked 1.... Mme. de La Vallière will lodge in the chamber marked +Y, in which a door must be made in the place marked 3N...." The expense +of the numerous doors, with many others equally irregular, entered into +the budget of the Minister of War. + +How was it possible to keep the budget accounts? How reduce unnecessary +expenses? Colbert himself was obliged in his budget of the Marine to +give space to the "_ladies_." In 1678, Mme. de Montespan conceived the +fantasy of fitting out a privateer, a vessel belonging to the King, be +it understood, manned with the royal sailors. Some weeks later, a second +and third vessel were sent out in the same manner as privateers, always +at the King's expense, "by Mme. de Montespan and the Comtesse de +Soissons."[280] Including everything, the taste of Louis XIV. for +conversation and the society of women, without mentioning the rest of +his follies, probably cost France more than all the buildings erected by +the Grand Monarch, but the one outlay can be calculated, and the other +not. + +The large expenses of Versailles and of Marly are often alluded to, +while the unfortunate peasants, who fled across the frontier after every +military spectacle offered to the "_ladies_," are forgotten. Louis XIV. +was incapable of keeping accounts; that is his sole excuse. It is +strange, however, that a man so methodical, having a mind so steady, so +well regulated, had never been able to comprehend that figures are +figures, and that no one is able to make two crowns out of one. Colbert +never succeeded in controlling the waste of his master, even in cases +when the added profusion in no way increased the pleasure, and appears +to us as a mere barbarous lavishness. + +[Illustration: =DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIÈRE AND HER CHILDREN= + +From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the Marquise +d'Oilliamson] + +It is known that in the seventeenth century the repasts were abundant. +Those of Louis XIV. were excessively so. In 1664, the King, having +invited the Pope's legate to dine with him _tête-à-tête_, those in +attendance counted the dishes; there were eighty, not including +thirty-eight for dessert. This was certainly excessive, and Colbert had +said in the Memorial of 1660, "I declare to your Majesty ... that a +useless meal, costing a thousand crowns, gives me an incredible pain." + +But the lavishness of fifteen years later was far greater. On January +16, 1680, the King married Mlle. de Blois, his daughter by La Vallière, +to Prince Louis-Armand de Conti, nephew of the great Condé. "The wedding +festival was royal," wrote Bussy-Rabutin; "there were seven hundred +dishes on a single table, served in five courses, that is to say, one +hundred and forty dishes to each course." Mme. de Sévigné points the +moral. "The young husband was ill the entire night. It would be a +temptation to say 'Well deserved!'" + +If, from the incensed and suffering people, the attention is turned +towards the Court, the difference between without and within is perhaps +as clearly marked, although more difficult to define. Without, there is +splendour, adulations given and received; within, a profound moral +misery; with some, debauch and poverty; with others, discouragement and +bitterness. Mme. de Sévigné, in a letter of 1680, has unconsciously +painted, in six lines, the state of degradation to which the King had +systematically reduced the nobility of France, lined up, as it were, to +catch purses thrown to them January 12: "The King is enormously liberal +in truth; it is not needful to despair; one may not be a valet, but in +making one's court, something may fall upon one's head. What is certain +is that far from him [the King], all seems valueless; formerly it was +otherwise." + +If souls were debased under Louis, he must be held in large part +responsible. The same can be said in regard to the deterioration of +manners and morals. France, before the time of Louis XIV., was +accustomed enough to both mistresses and bastards, but not to the +prerogatives of second wives conferred on the first, nor the +legitimatising of adulteries which encouraged his subjects to consider +no longer seriously either law or morality. The example of the master +ended in deadening consciences already somewhat feeble, and husbands +might be seen encouraging their wives, the mothers of their daughters, +to imitate La Vallière and de Montespan. + +[Illustration: =LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE, IN THE GARB OF THE ORDER OF THE +CARMELITES= + +After the painting by D. Plaats] + +Louis had been in some degree punished for having played sultan. +Polygamy cannot exist without some discomfort, in a land in which women +have any position. Few men, even upon the stage, have had so many +quarrels with their mistresses, quarrels often violent, humiliating, as +well as painful, as this majestic monarch, before whom the universe +trembled. Royalty does not exist before a jealous mistress, and Louis +XIV. was faithful only to one, Mme. de Maintenon. + +The young King had been spoiled by Louise de La Vallière, who was +gentleness itself, and whom love inclined to pardon all. None of the +other mistresses really loved Louis, except perhaps Marie Mancini. Louis +did not really please women; it was only the King for whose favour they +disputed. + +Mlle. de La Vallière had entered the Carmelite convent in 1674. Left +alone upon the "breach," Mme. de Montespan defended the situation like a +lioness. She was naturally sharp-tempered, and her fits of anger were +often ungovernable,[281] as witnesses say, and Louis did not possess the +force which innocence alone gives. Among the rivals who contended with +Mme. de Montespan, many, in spite of her efforts, succeeded in enjoying +their year, or at least their day. When she became enraged, and the King +was forced to bend his neck under the tempest, "she often scolded him +and he did not assert himself."[282] This was his method of expiation. +The ephemeral reign of Mlle. de Fontanges came. She also was +passionate, and she treated the King with "more authority than the +others."[283] Louis called Mme. de Maintenon to his aid, and charged her +to appease these furies. Stormy scenes began to weary him. + +It had been remarked since 1675 that Louis aspired to moments of "repose +and of liberty." Mme. de Montespan, with all her intelligence, could not +comprehend that there comes a time of life at which men can no longer +live in the midst of tempests, and this error was the cause of her ruin. + +The King acquired the habit of fleeing for refuge to Mme. de Maintenon, +where he found an atmosphere of peace and enjoyed refreshing +conversation. + +It was the first time that an intelligent woman had spoken seriously to +him, without seeking to attract a declaration of love, nor to divert him +with trifles, but to distract him agreeably from his work, and also to +make him reflect upon certain subjects which did not always appeal to +him. For example, what the sinner who had taken the wife of another +might expect in the next world. She recalled to him the fact that there +was a police in heaven as in the palaces of the King of France, and she +asked him: "What would you say if some one should tell your Majesty that +one of the musketeers you love had seduced a married woman, and that +this woman was actually living with him? I am certain that before +evening this man would depart from the palace, never to return, +however late it might be."[284] + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE MAINTENON= + +After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694] + +The King laughed. He had never been more in love with Mme. de +Montespan,--this happened in 1675, before the Jubilee, which separated +them three or four months,--but he was not vexed with Mme. de Maintenon; +already he "could not live without her."[285] One may or may not feel +sympathy with this last, but it is certain that without her, without the +empire that she knew how to gain over a prince ardent for pleasure, but +by no means a veritable libertine, Louis XIV. might have ended +shamefully. To every one their deserts. The Queen Marie-Thérèse was +right in according her friendship to Mme. de Maintenon, who secured for +her, somewhat late it is true, a certain consideration and some +affectionate demonstration to which the poor Queen was not accustomed. + +When the King had passed forty, tranquillity became a need. He believed +he had assured it by giving to Mme. de Montespan her official dismissal +as the recognised mistress. The date of this event is known. March 29, +1679, the Comtesse de Soissons was prayed to yield to the ancient +favourite her charge as superintendent of the palace of the Queen, a +position which afforded a kind of regulated retreat. The next day, Mme. +de Montespan wrote to the Duc de Noailles to announce to him this +arrangement, and she added: "Truly this is very bearable. The King only +comes into my room after mass and after supper. It is much better to see +each other rarely with pleasure than often with boredom." The world was +not deceived: "I really believe," wrote Bussy (April 11th), "that the +King, just as he is, has given this position for past favours." + +From Mme. de Scudéry to Bussy, October 29, 1679: "A diversion has been +established for Mme. de Montespan for this winter, and provided that she +can do without love, she will retain the consideration of the King. This +is all that an honest man can do when he ceases to love." Bussy +responded, November 4th: "If Mme. de Montespan is wise she will dream +only of cards and will leave the King in peace on the subject of love; +for it is impossible through complaints and scoldings to lure back +unfaithful lovers." + +Mme. de Montespan was _not_ wise. In the hope of bringing the King back +to her arms by force, she redoubled the disagreeable scenes. At this +moment, an obscure past, filled with vague and frightful events, rose +against her, and the expiation for having too much loved became almost +tragic in its character. + +La Voisin, the poisoner, cannot be forgotten, nor the prosecution in +1668, which had revealed to the young King the connection of his new +mistress with the world of malefactors. This affair was stifled, but the +evil continued in its subterranean influence. The merchants of love +philters and of poisons and the priests of satanic rites saw their +clients increasing in number year by year. When the crimes finally came +to the surface, and Louis established (March 7, 1679) the "_Chambre +ardente_" to purify France from the gangrene, so many Parisians were +connected in one way or another with the accused that the King had +against him a powerful current of opinion. This is, perhaps, the most +significant feature of the sad affair. Instead of being crushed with +shame in learning how many were compromised, the higher classes were +indignant against the equal justice which refused to give them special +consideration. They murmured loudly, and for once the people were with +them, for the populace remained staunch to the sorcerers. The clamours +were so menacing that the judges of the "_Chambre ardente_" felt +themselves in danger: "I know," wrote Bussy-Rabutin on April 1st, "the +chamber instituted to examine the 'corrupters,' and also know that +Messieurs de Bezons and de La Reynie do not pass from Paris to Vincennes +without an escort of the Kings Guards."[286] Louis XIV. was obliged +several times to strengthen the resolution of these judges; sometimes in +openly commanding them to "judge truly"[287] without any distinction of +person, condition, or sex; sometimes by assuring them through official +letter of his "protection."[288] + +The first executions before the _Chambre ardente_ took place in +February, 1679, and the list of the names of those arrested or of those +to whom notices of warrants to appear as witnesses had been served, a +list which made so great an excitement on account of the aristocrats +included,[289] is dated January 23, 1680. It had been at least four +months before,[290] that there had come to the ears of the King, as some +one was reading to him the account of the last examinations, two +familiar names. Who is Mlle. des [OE]illets, ancient "follower" of Mme. +de Montespan? Who is Cato, her maid, and what had they to do with La +Voisin and with those like her? These same names again appearing in the +list of January 6, 1680, the King, while declaring that the witnesses +must certainly have lied,[291] ordered the Procurer-General, M. Robert, +"to pay strict attention to this particular case." + +This was done, with the result that Louis was forced to ask himself if +the woman whom he adored above all others, and who had borne him seven +children, was a vile "corrupter"; if this perfect body for which he had +risked the safety of his soul had taken part in the ignoble ceremonies +of the infamous Guibourg? If, discontented with the thought of sharing +his favours with rivals, she might not in an access of jealousy have +tried to poison him, the King? He sought the truth, but did not find it. +In waiting further developments, Louis led his mistress with him +wherever he might go, and she was always making a disturbance of some +sort. The King grew less patient; that was the only difference. + +From Bussy-Rabutin, May 18, 1680: + +"The King ... as he was mounting into his carriage with the Queen had +some rough words with Mme. de Montespan, about the scents with which she +deluged herself, which made his Majesty ill. The King at first spoke +politely, but as she responded sharply, his Majesty grew warm." On the +25th, Mme. de Sévigné noted another "serious embroilment." This time +Colbert succeeded in reconciling them. The situation grew painful. A +long series of letters and _mémoires_ have been found in which La Reynie +discusses for the King the charges accumulated against Mme. de +Montespan. The picture is given of the doubts and fluctuations of an +honest man whose responsibilities somewhat rankle in his breast, and who +sees an equal peril in dishonouring the throne and in permitting a +guilty woman to remain near the King. Louis passed through many +successive stages of conviction during the prosecution. The further the +examination proceeded, the stronger became the presumption of guilt, +without, however, bringing positive proofs. + +On July 12, 1680, La Reynie summed up for his master the history of the +"petition to be used in poisoning the King." On October 11th he declared +that he should be ruined in the affair, and supplicated his Majesty to +reflect whether it would be for the "welfare of the State," to make +these "horrors" public. In the month of May following, he avowed that he +had erred on some points and that there was more evil than at first +appeared. The marvellous control that Louis possessed over himself +prevented outward betrayal; but certainly these uncertainties, these +inferior conflicts, and it is to be hoped some sense of shame and +remorse, became chastisements for his faults. On her side, Mme. de +Montespan, in spite of the secret of her possible guilt being well +guarded both at Court and by the judges and police, could not be +ignorant that Mlle. des [OE]illets had been interrogated, confronted +with witnesses, and imprisoned for life in the general Hospital at +Tours.[292] Mme. de Montespan then knew that she had been denounced, but +with what proof? What did the King think? What curious meetings between +these two beings must have taken place. What conversations during which +the King and his mistress were closely observing each other. + +Court life, nevertheless, pursued its monotonous course, and Mme. de +Montespan continued to figure in positions of honour. In March, 1689, +she goes to meet the Dauphin[293] with the rest of the Court, and it is +she who has charge of the choice and arrangement of the wedding +presents, "being the woman in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, "who knows +the best forms." In July, the King led her to Versailles with her +sister, Mme. de Thianges, and her niece, the beautiful Duchesse de +Nevers. This lady the mother and aunt were cynically offering to the +Monarch.[294] In February, 1681, "a lottery was opened at Mme. de +Montespan's, of which the largest prize was one hundred thousand francs, +and there were a hundred others offered of one hundred pistoles each." +In July, 1682, the _Chambre ardente_ was suddenly suppressed. Of the +three hundred accused, thirty-six people of no importance had been +executed, one hundred sent to the galleys, or to prisons, or convents, +or exiled; the noted among them always gaining some concessions. The +dungeons of Paris and Vincennes were crowded. The smaller fry were +released, and the remainder were scattered, without any other trial, +through the provincial prisons, to await a death rarely slow in coming +to relieve their misery. + +From Louvois to M. de Chauvelin, Intendant, December 16, 1682, +announcing the arrival of one of these convoys: + + Above all, please take care to prevent any of these gentlemen + from proclaiming aloud, a thing which has already occurred, any + of the absurd statements connected with Mme. de Montespan, + which have been proved to be absolutely without foundation. + Threaten a punishment so severe at the first utterance that + they will not dare to breathe a word further. + +This letter ended the connection of Mme. de Montespan with the affair of +the "corrupters of morals" or the poisoners. She was saved, but was this +due to proofs of innocence or to reasons of State, to the refusal of +Louis to credit the testimony of an Abbé Guibourg or Lesage, or to the +remnants of an old tenderness? The few men with whom it had been +necessary to share the secrets which would respond to these questions +were so perfectly mute that contemporaries suspected nothing. They saw +the ancient favourite a little neglected, but always dreaming of the +possibility of reasserting herself, as the many pages of the _Mémoires_ +of Mademoiselle testify. All this was in the natural course of events. + +One single indication of what Louis XIV. thought at the bottom of his +soul is possessed; a letter from the King to Colbert, who knew all. +Mademoiselle had prayed Mme. de Montespan to solicit some favour for +Lauzun. The King charged Colbert to reply for him (October, 1681): "You +will politely explain to her that I always receive the marks of her +friendship and confidence with pleasure, and that I am very vexed when +it is not possible to do what she desires, but at this time I can do no +more than I have already done."[295] Did he believe the mistress +innocent or had he pardoned her? + +The first preoccupation of Lauzun, in returning to the world, must have +been to make clear to himself through legitimate or illegitimate means +the chronology of the King's love affairs, a history so essential for +the comprehension of the interior life of the Court. + +The main facts for this record have been already given in the preceding +chapter. The returned prisoner had afterwards to learn all that +Mademoiselle had accomplished for him during his captivity, and of what +the public thought of her efforts, and he recognised that no one in +France except Segrais doubted the fact of their marriage. That the +marriage had taken place before his imprisonment was the prevalent +belief, which was never really shaken. It again came to light in the +eighteenth century. The historian Anquetil saw at Tréport, in 1744, an +old person of more than seventy years of age, who resembled the +portraits of the Grande Mademoiselle and did not know from whence came +her pension.[296] This person believed herself to be the daughter of the +Duchesse de Montpensier, and local tradition confirmed this conviction. +There were, however, no absolute proofs, and it will be seen further on +how this question of the marriage with Lauzun is brought up over and +over again in the biography of the Grande Mademoiselle, with a monotony +slightly fatiguing and without it being possible to ever obtain a clear +response. + +Whatever the fact may be, the Princess gave a very fine example of +constancy and fidelity. She lived for ten years absorbed in a single +thought. The _Mémoires_ for the year 1673 say: "I remember nothing which +has taken place during the past winter. My grief occupies me so much +that I have but little interest in the actions of others." To liberate +Lauzun had become a fixed idea, and she attached herself to the steps of +the King and to those of Mme. de Montespan, without permitting herself +to remember the ill that they had committed, as it was they alone who +could loosen the bonds. The more they showed themselves inexorable, the +more Mademoiselle redoubled her assiduities. In 1676 she enjoyed for the +brief space of two hours the delusion that Louis XIV. at length, at the +end of ten years, was moved with a feeling of compassion. The news of +the attempted escape of Lauzun had just been received. "I learned that +the King had listened to the account with some sign of humanity, I can +hardly say of pity. If he had felt this, would he [Lauzun] still be +there?" + +The Princess wrote to the King, but received no response; and again four +years rolled by. Mme. de Montespan was no longer favourite. The +courtiers considered it shrewd to neglect her. Better inspired, +Mademoiselle continued to stand fast by her, and the result proved the +wisdom of this course, in the dramatic moment, for Louis, of the affair +of the corrupters. It was in the spring of 1680, while denunciations +were falling upon the fallen favourite as upon all those connected with +La Voisin, that Mademoiselle remarked by certain movements and a change +of tone that something was stirring between Mme. de Montespan and the +fortress of Pignerol: + + I went to her daily and she appeared touched by the thought of + M. de Lauzun.... She often said to me: "But think how you can + make yourself agreeable to the King, that he may accord to you + what you desire so dearly." She threw out such suggestions from + time to time, which advised me that they were thinking of my + fortune. + +The phrase of a friend came back to her: "But you should let them hope +that you will make M. de Maine your heir." She recalled other hints +which at first had passed unnoticed, and understood that a bargain was +offered. + +The monarch and his ancient favourite had agreed between them to sell to +Mademoiselle the freedom of the man she loved so deeply. What was to be +the price? This was not yet disclosed. It was some time before +Mademoiselle comprehended, and then she was so disconcerted that she +said nothing. She felt that the combat was not an equal one between +herself, from whom passion had taken away all judgment, and Mme. de +Montespan, who was perfectly calm, and she hesitated, fearing some +snare: "Finally, I resolved to make M. de Maine my heir, provided that +the King would send for Lauzun and consent that I should marry him." +Some third person brought these conditions to Mme. de Montespan and was +received with open arms. Louis XIV. thanked his cousin graciously +without making any allusion to the condition; he could always assert +that he had made no promise. + +Mademoiselle wished that he would at least give her some news of Lauzun. +Mme. de Montespan responded to her insistence: "It is necessary to have +patience," and affairs remained at this point. + +At the end of some weeks, Mademoiselle perceived that she was no longer +free. She had counted upon taking her time and having sureties before +proceeding further. An immediate execution of the deed of gift was +insisted upon, and she was so harassed that she no longer felt at +liberty to breathe freely. + +"The King must not be played with," declared Mme. de Montespan; "when a +promise is made it must be kept." "But," objected Mademoiselle, "I wish +the freedom of M. de Lauzun, and suppose that after what I have done I +should find myself deceived, and my friend should not be liberated?" +Louvois was then sent to frighten her, or Colbert in order to compass +some concession. It was no longer a matter of testament. + +A donation while living[297] was exacted, of the Principality of Dombes +and of the Comté of Eu without reference to the rest, and this +assignment was obtained, in spite of complaints and the bitterest tears; +"for they were demanding precisely what had been given to Lauzun, and +Mademoiselle could not without difficulty resolve to despoil her lover." +She finally comprehended that the King would not cease persecuting her +until she consented, and, feeling no hope of diminishing the +demands,[298] she yielded. + +The gift to the Duc de Maine was signed February 2, 1681. It gave some +agreeable days to Mademoiselle. The King assured her of his gratitude. +"At supper he regarded me pleasantly and conversed with me; this was +most charming." Nevertheless, Lauzun did not appear. One day Mme. de +Montespan informed the Princess that the King would never permit Lauzun +to be Duc de Montpensier, and that it would be necessary to have a +secret marriage. The Princess cried out: "What! Madame, I am to permit +him to live with me as my husband with no marriage ceremony! Of what +will the world think me capable?" + +This passage in the _Mémoires_ apparently fixes the date of marriage +after the return of Lauzun from his captivity. There exist, however, a +number of moral proofs against this later date. + +Some time after this conversation, in the beginning of April, 1681, the +Court being at Saint-Germain, Mme. de Montespan announced to +Mademoiselle the immediate departure of Lauzun for the Baths of +Bourbon, and she then drew her, slightly against her will, to the end of +the terrace, far from indiscreet ears. "When we were in the Val, which +is a garden at the end of the Park of Saint-Germain, she said to me, +'The King has asked me to tell you that he does not wish you to dream of +ever marrying M. de Lauzun, at least, officially.'" + +Mademoiselle had been tricked. + +"Upon this, I began to weep and to talk about the gifts I had made, only +on the one condition. Mme. de Montespan said, 'I have promised nothing.' +She had gained what she wished, and was willing enough to bear anything +I might say." In the evening it was necessary to assume a delighted air +and thank the King for Lauzun's freedom; a single sign of ill-humour and +Mademoiselle ran the risk of receiving nothing in exchange for her +millions. + +There remained the task of forcing Lauzun to renounce the gifts formerly +presented to him. Mme. de Montespan took the route to Bourbon, where +"she found greater difficulty than she had anticipated." Her demands so +surpassed the expectations of the late prisoner that he revolted. There +were many disputes, many despatches, and many delays,[299] at the end of +which the obstinate one, having been reimprisoned,[300] was so harassed +with threats and promises that he finally yielded. His signature was +given; he believed himself free. Instead of liberty, he received an +order of exile to Amboise. He also had been duped. This affair is +odious from beginning to end. + +Mademoiselle was Lauzun's resource and providence. She compensated him +as far as might be with a fresh devotion, in which Saint-Fargeau figured +as an item, and found means to pay him nearly 300,000 francs[301] over +what the King would have been obliged to give him if he had not been +sent to Pignerol. With much difficulty, the importunities of +Mademoiselle obtained the desired permission for the ex-prisoner to +salute the King and afterward to dwell where it pleased him, on the +single condition that he would not approach the Court. Access to this +was strictly forbidden; but what would it have mattered, when he would +have humbled himself before his master? + +Alas! the charm was broken, and for ever. In March, 1682, at the single +interview granted, Lauzun threw himself ten times, consecutively, at the +feet of Louis XIV.--the King himself relates this--and employed all his +grace, all his flatteries, without succeeding in breaking the ice. + +Received coolly and dismissed without delay, there was nothing left but +to fall back upon Mademoiselle. They had not yet met, and it is a +terrible test of devotion to meet after eleven years, and to endeavour +to again open the page closed by misfortune. The Grande Mademoiselle of +the time previous to the imprisonment at Pignerol singularly resembled +the Hermione of Racine, in her jealousy and violence. The one of 1682 +was not yet a tranquil person, but Hermione was an old woman, and +Pyrrhus a licentious greybeard, who was endeavouring to recompense +himself for the time lost in prison. + +Years had not made Lauzun in love with his benefactress, and he arrived +to meet her well resolved to finish simply with expressions of gratitude +and of love. Mademoiselle was well aware of his infidelities. The grief, +mingled with irritation, which she felt displayed itself in a sort of +stiffness and embarrassment. The great joy she had anticipated in again +seeing her lover, she did not realise. + +She had existed ten long years for this moment, and when it came, she +desired to escape. She went to await Lauzun at Mme. de Montespan's, a +first piece of absurdity. "M. de Lauzun," say her _Mémoires_, "arrived +after his interview with the King; he wore an old undress uniform with +short waistcoat, almost in rags, and a very ugly wig.[302] He sank at my +feet with much grace. Then Mme. de Montespan led us into a cabinet, and +said, 'You will be glad to speak together.' She then went away, and I +followed her." A second ridiculous action! Lauzun profited by the delay +to salute the rest of the royal family. On returning, he found his +Princess with Mme. de Montespan and did not see her an instant alone: +"He told me that he had been cordially received, and that this he owed +to me; that I was his only source of good, the one from which he +received all. He made certain amiable propositions, and in thus acting +he was only wise. I was silent; I was astonished." + +This interview finished, Lauzun considered himself free from his +obligations and returned to Paris with a peaceful conscience. +Mademoiselle dared not follow him too quickly. The fourth day they were +at Choisy, a new mansion that Mademoiselle had built two leagues from +Sceaux. Lauzun regarded the Princess while she was having her head +adorned with flame-coloured ribbons. "He said, 'I was astonished to see +the Queen with many-coloured ribbons on her head.' 'You must find it +wrong, then, that I should wear them, who am older?' He did not reply. I +told him that rank permitted the decoration for a longer period." +Mademoiselle had at first written, "People of my rank are always young," +but had effaced the phrase. Lauzun knew well how to restore her to a +good-humour, and he let himself be scolded, escaping towards evening to +return to his pleasures. + +The fifth day they again disputed. Lauzun was in the wrong; he had +spoken of his visits to Choisy as duties. Mademoiselle, however, injured +her cause with sharpness. "I see clearly," said she, "that in this world +people who do good are mocked, as they are bores." Lauzun, vexed, +demanded, "How much longer is this pleasantry to last?" "As long as I +please; I have the right to say all I wish, and you are bound to +listen." Lauzun showed "much impatience to depart," and this was not +altogether unnatural, considering the nature of man. At another +interview, it was the lover who was the first to show irritation. To be +no longer of any importance in the world of society, to be two steps +from the Court without being free to enter, this was more than he could +bear. He accused Mademoiselle of having managed very badly and having +only done harm; "if she had not interfered with his affairs," he would +have come out of prison under better conditions. Mme. de Montespan +overheard the accusation and was very indignant at this injustice and +ingratitude, and the Princess united with her in reproaches. It would be +difficult to find a clear moment in the midst of these frequent +quarrels, in which the pair would have desired to marry, if they had not +done so before Pignerol. Here is again a moral proof to add to the +others. + +About every two days, Lauzun became metamorphosed, and was again for +some hours, or at least minutes, for Mademoiselle the former "little +man" whose eccentricities gave an indescribable charm, difficult to +explain, but impossible to deny. He had not the least trouble in again +captivating his mistress. As soon as he assumed the sweet and submissive +air and the enigmatical smile which she had so dearly loved (even +combined with the manners which she sometimes distrusted, "of being +acquainted with everything without speaking or copying"), Mademoiselle +fell anew under the charm and could refuse nothing. But this happy state +of affairs never lasted. The time to obtain from her some new +concession, another service, and the exaggerated manner of the convict +dragging his chain reappeared. He loved to exasperate her jealousy. If +nothing better offered, "he amused himself with grisettes,"[303] even +after the royal family had received him as cousin "understood," if not +avowed, and when all Paris was congratulating Mademoiselle on his happy +release. + +Other serious difficulties arose from the fact of Lauzun considering the +money of Mademoiselle as his own. Choisy appeared to him a useless +expense; he found much fault with its management. "The terraces cost +immense sums," said he one day while walking in the grounds; "what good +are they?" The Princess had sold in his absence a chain of pearls. +"Where is the money?" demanded Lauzun. He wished to hold the purse +strings, and no longer to be a "beggar." It astonished him that +Mademoiselle had not thought of preparing for him, before his arrival, +"a beautiful apartment," of organising his establishment, of placing one +of her carriages at his disposal. + +He complained openly in the social world that she left him without a +penny; that she had only given him some diamonds, worth perhaps one +thousand pistoles in all--and what stones, so "ugly"!--and that he had +immediately sold them to obtain means of "subsistence." This is the +perpetual complaint of the youthful husband, who wishes to be +recompensed for the devotion lavished upon an elderly wife. The +"beautiful apartment" existed and awaited him, but it was at the Château +of Eu; the King would not tolerate his presence at the Luxembourg. + +Those who had the good fortune to visit Eu before the fire of 1902 will +not have forgotten the flight of Loves on the ceiling of a chamber +situated above that belonging to Mademoiselle. The Chamber of the Loves +was the one designed for Lauzun, who failed, however, to honour the +symbol. After a delay of three weeks, he no sooner arrived than he +committed the unpardonable imprudence of running after the village +girls, under the very eyes of Mademoiselle. This was too much. The +mistress of the château beat Lauzun, scratched his face, and turned him +out of doors. There he should stay. He was sufficiently shrewd to desire +an accommodation. The Comtesse de Fiesque served as intermediary. + +In the Château of Eu there was a long gallery filled with family +portraits. Mademoiselle appeared at one end; "he [Lauzun] was at the +other, and he crept along on his knees the entire length of the gallery, +till he reached the feet of Mademoiselle."[304] Possibly they forgave +each other sincerely, but when friction once exists between married +couples it continues, whether in the palace of princes or in the huts of +charcoal burners. Such scenes, more or less stormy, occurred again in +the future. Lauzun grew weary of being beaten, and in his turn used +force with the Princess, and this happened several times. In the end, +disgusted with each other, they fought for the last time and separated, +never to meet again. + +The final quarrel is related in detail in the _Mémoires_ of +Mademoiselle. It happened in the spring of 1684. France was at war with +Spain. On April 22d the King departed to join his army, refusing to +permit Lauzun to accompany him, who imagined, rightly or wrongly, that +Mademoiselle was responsible for the prohibition, and was indignant. He +went to the Luxembourg, where a reception of raillery exasperated him +still further: + + I met him laughing, and said: "You must retire to + Saint-Fargeau; you will be a laughing stock if you remain at + Paris, as you were not permitted to go with the King, and I + shall be very vexed if it is believed that it is I who have + caused you to remain behind." He replied: "I am going away, and + bid you farewell; I shall never see you again." I said: "It + would have been better if we had never met; but better late + than never." "You have ruined my career," replied he; "you + might as well have cut my throat; it is your fault that I am + not with the King; you asked him to leave me behind." "Oh, that + is false; he will tell you so himself." Lauzun grew more and + more angry, and I remained very calm. I said to him: "Adieu, + then"; and I entered my boudoir. I remained there some time; on + returning, I found him still there. The ladies present said: + "Do you not wish to play cards?" I approached him, + saying: "This is too much; keep your promise; + go away." He finally withdrew. + +This rupture made a great scandal. Dangeau, who had followed the King to +the frontier, noted on May 6th, in his journal: "The news comes from +Paris that Mademoiselle has forbidden M. de Lauzun to appear again +before her." Thus ends meanly and miserably, with a scene worthy of +Dickens, the most famous passion of the century, after that of Chimène +and Rodrigue. The first interest in the affair abated, the hero of the +romance sank into obscurity. Mademoiselle cast herself into an ecstasy +of pious devotion, from which the virtue of pardoning the offences of +others was apparently excluded. + +Lauzun sought some support to which to attach himself, and did not +easily find it. He realised too late that one could not quarrel with +impunity with a princess of the blood. He made attempts at +reconciliation, which Mademoiselle repulsed; she had loved with too much +ardour not to be capable of furious hate. The career of both lovers +appeared to be finished, when the fantastic star which had guided Lauzun +towards so many adventures, marvellous if not always agreeable, led him +to England during the autumn of 1688. He sought a more hospitable court, +he found a revolution and glory. "I admire the star of M. de Lauzun," +wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "which again brings its light over the horizon +when it was supposed to be for ever extinguished" (December 24, 1688). + +The name of Lauzun was actually again on the lips of all. He had saved +the Queen of England and her son, and had brought them to Calais at +great risk, and suddenly assumed the pose of a true hero, wrongly +despised and persecuted. "It is long," at once said Louis, "since Lauzun +has seen my writing. I believe that he will rejoice at receiving a +letter from me." The royal missive bore to the former favourite more +than the pardon for the past; it spoke of "impatience to see him +again."[305] Mademoiselle considered this an outrage against herself; +the ministers and courtiers, a menace. (December 27th): "He [Lauzun] has +found the road again to Versailles by way of London; but he alone is +joyful." The Princess is indignant at the thought that the King is again +content with him, and that he can return to Court.[306] + +In vain the King sent Seignelay to say to his cousin, as a sort of +excuse and consolation: "After such services rendered by Lauzun, it is +my duty to see him." Mademoiselle grew angry, and said, "This is then +the gratitude I receive for having despoiled myself for the sake of the +King's children." One of the friends of M. de Lauzun was charged to +present her with a letter. She threw it into the fire unread.[307] When +it was realised that she was not to be appeased, people ceased to +concern themselves with her and her bad temper. Lauzun re-entered in +triumph the Court of France, and Bussy-Rabutin, in a letter to Mme. de +Sévigné,[308] summed up the record of his career (February 2, 1689): "We +have seen him in favour, we have seen him submerged, and now behold he +is again riding the waves. Do you remember a childish game in which one +says, 'I have seen him alive, I have seen him dead, I have seen him +alive after his death'? This tells his history." + +The "second volume of the romance" offers to those interested an account +of the solemn conferring upon the little Lauzun, in the church of Notre +Dame, by King James II., of the Order of the Garter. To this chapter +succeeds one less brilliant. Lauzun received the appointment as +commander of the French troops sent to Ireland to sustain the cause of +legitimate monarchy. He lacked the necessary qualifications for this +post. He astonished his officers with his incapacity, and made them +blush by displaying "a longing to return to France,"[309] which was not +heroic. + +Louis XIV. consented to make Lauzun Duke, upon "the urgent prayer"[310] +of their Britannic Majesties, but his opinion once formed never changed. +The King never again employed the new Duke in any official capacity, and +this omission was always bitterly resented. + +As a result of many years of reflection, Mademoiselle at length arrived +at the conviction, an accepted commonplace, that happiness is not for +the prominent upon this earth. Without actually compensating her for her +troubles, this discovery brought a certain consolation. She had, at this +period, as neighbour in Normandy, a young and charming woman called the +Comtesse de Bayard, who became in the following century the godmother of +Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and who furnished her godson with +material[311] afterwards woven into tales made charming by his +delicately sentimental language. One of these tales by Saint-Pierre is +founded upon the romance of the Grande Mademoiselle. Mme. de Bayard +liked to recall how, in their lonely walks, the Princess would linger to +make the villagers relate the tales of their loves and marriages; how +her eyes would fill with tears, and how, returning into the Château of +Eu, she would say that she would have been happier in a hut. + +To tears succeeded a certain childishness; the execrable Court life had +educated her only for a puerile old age, and she hastened to Versailles +from time to time, fearing to miss a tournament or some spectacle of +this kind. On March 15, 1693, she was seized at Paris with a disease of +the bladder which rapidly increased in severity.[312] The Luxembourg +was besieged with seekers after news; the fear of losing the Grande +Mademoiselle had aroused anew her popularity. Monsieur and Madame, who +loved her, came to nurse her. Lauzun begged to be admitted, but was +refused. The condition grew rapidly worse, and the physicians, not +knowing what to do, administered five doses of an emetic, the +fashionable remedy that winter for all diseases, with the result that +she soon saw the mournful procession of the royal family defile around +her bed, the sure sign that all hope had passed. + +The Princess died on April 15th, at the age of sixty-six years, and was +buried at Saint-Denis with much pomp. In the midst of the ceremony, an +urn, in which through a curious arrangement the entrails were enclosed, +"broke with a frightful noise and emitted a sudden and intolerable +odour."[313] Some women fainted, while the rest of those present gained +the open air by running. "All was soon perfumed and decorum was +re-established," but this occurrence became the jest of Paris. It was +fated that the Grande Mademoiselle should always arouse a little +ridicule, even at her interment. + +Lauzun went into deep mourning, and made, on the day of the funeral, an +offer of marriage, to prove that he was really a widower. Having, on +this occasion, been refused, he married (1695) the younger daughter of +the Maréchal de Lorges and became the brother-in-law of Saint-Simon. + +Mme. de Lauzun was a child of fourteen,[314] to whom Lauzun, with his +sixty-three years, appeared so old that she had accepted him in the +expectation of being quickly a widow. + +She flattered herself that at the end of "two or three years at +most"[315] she would find herself independent, rich, and, above all, a +duchess, and this idea captivated her. But Lauzun could never be counted +upon. His wife was obliged to endure him for nearly thirty years, passed +in suffering torments from morning till night from the loving husband. +The King had said to the Maréchal de Lorges, in learning of the marriage +of his youngest daughter: "You are bold to take Lauzun into your family; +I trust that you may not repent it." Repentance was prompt and bitter. +Mademoiselle was right, it was impossible to live with Lauzun. It was +through miracles of patience that his new wife bore to the end, and +miracles should never be exacted in wedded life. The mean little +calculation at the beginning had been amply expiated by the time that +Mme. de Lauzun finally became a widow. Even to the end, Lauzun had +remained one of the ornaments and curiosities of the Court of France, +noted for his grand manner, the eccentricities of his habits, the +splendour of his habitation, and for the indescribable elegance and ease +of conversation and bearing, which at that time was not to be acquired +at Versailles. + +At ninety he himself drove, and sometimes with fiery animals. One day, +when he was training a fresh colt in the Bois de Boulogne, the King, +Louis XIV., passed. Lauzun executed before him a "hundred capers" and +filled the spectators with admiration, by his "address, his strength, +and his grace."[316] He still often enjoyed "pretty" moments. But there +was a reverse side to the medal: the malignant dwarf "frightened all who +approached him with his wicked wit and his hateful tricks." From afar, +Lauzun is very amusing under this aspect; he excelled in buffoonery. In +extreme age, he suffered from a malady which almost killed him. One day, +when he was very ill, he perceived reflected in a mirror the forms of +two of his heirs who entered the chamber on tiptoe, fancying themselves +concealed behind the curtains, to ascertain with their own eyes how long +they were to be forced to wait. Lauzun feigned to perceive nothing and +began to pray in a loud voice as one who believes himself alone. He +demanded pardon of God for his past life, and lamented that his time for +repentance was so short. He exclaimed that there was only a single way +to secure his safety, which was to devote the wealth which God had given +him to paying for his sins, and this he engaged to do with all his +heart. He promised to leave to the hospital all that he possessed, +without abstracting a single penny. He made this declaration with so +much fervour and with so penetrating an accent that his heirs fled away +in despair, to relate the misfortune to Mme. de Lauzun. This scene +properly terminates the career of this extraordinary personage, +unscrupulous and malignant to the last. Lauzun died in 1723, at over +ninety years of age. + +Mademoiselle was the last to disappear of the grand figures belonging to +the time of the Fronde. Retz, Condé, Turenne, La Rochefoucauld, Mme. de +Chevreuse, Mme. de Longueville, had departed before her. + +The only one of the ancient rebels which could not perish, the Hôtel de +Ville of Paris, had been suppressed from history by royal ordinance for +the period corresponding to the Fronde. The accounts of the prosecutions +of the Council recorded the revolutionary sentiments which prevailed at +the capital during the civil war. The King ordered all the +registers[317] to be destroyed, and the destruction included every +record relating to public affairs for the years 1646-1653. + +It may be said without too much calumniating the heart of Louis XIV. +that the death of his cousin afforded a certain relief. She was too +lively a reminder of the execrable period which he did his best to +banish from his own memory as well as from that of the public. +Saint-Simon, newly arrived at the Court at the date of the death of +Mademoiselle, had time to convince himself that she was in the eyes of +the King always the unpardoned and unpardonable heroine of the combat of +the Porte Saint-Antoine. "I heard him reproach his cousin once at +supper, joking it is true, but a little roughly, for having turned the +cannon of the Bastile upon his troops." + +The royal rancour extended to the city of Paris, eternal cradle of +French revolutions. Not being able to suppress the capital, Louis XIV. +banished himself from its gates. On May 6, 1682, unfortunate date for +the French monarchy, the Court installed itself definitely at +Versailles, and henceforth left this place only for sojourns at the +various country seats, as Fontainebleau and Marly. Paris was abandoned, +left to do penance. Not only did Louis XIV. desert this city as a place +of residence, but he visited it rarely. It was remarked that he often +made long detours rather than to pass through Paris. The nobility and +ministers followed the King to Versailles. Royalty and the capital +turned their backs on each other. + +Another important event influenced the ideas of Court decorum and +propriety. The Queen Marie-Thérèse dying in 1683 (July 30), Louis XIV. +in the course of the winter following formally married Mme. de +Maintenon. The physiognomy of the Court, what Saint-Simon would have +called the bark (_écorce_), entirely changed its character. At the +moment of ending this long study it is, then, a different world to which +adieu must be said from the one which was found at the beginning, and +the transformation did not end with the "bark." The principal cause of +the change, the establishment of absolute monarchy, had acted violently +upon France in shaking the nation to its depths, as do all changes not +developing from national tradition. + +Absolute monarchy was not a French tradition. It was an importation from +Spain. Anne of Austria, who did not understand any other régime, had +educated her son to accept her ideas and habits of thought, and the +substitution of king for minister was, at the death of Mazarin, +accomplished without shock. It was, however, a real _coup d'état_. + +Before Louis XIV. the royal power, without being submitted to precise +limitations, from time to time hurled itself against certain rights, +themselves often loosely defined. There existed privileges of the +Parliament, others of the State, together with those of the nobles, and +others belonging to bodies and individuals, which when united left the +King of France in a situation resembling that in which Gulliver found +himself, when the Liliputians bound him with hundreds of minute threads. +Each single thread was of no consequence; through the compression of all +together every movement was paralysed. Louis XIV. resolutely broke the +numerous threads which had trammelled the power of his predecessors. He +freed himself in suppressing the ancient liberties of France. No student +of history can be ignorant of the material results, so splendid at +first, so disastrous in the end; but certain moral consequences of his +government have been perhaps less clearly remarked. + +The French aristocracy ceased from the second generation to be a nursery +for men of action. This was the result desired from the policy of +keeping it chained to the steps of the throne. The end had been attained +at the date of the King's death. Saint-Simon, who cannot be suspected of +hostility towards the nobility, certifies to this. When the Duke arrived +at power under the Regent, his brain swarming with projects for +replacing the aristocrats in positions of importance, and when he sought +great names with which to fill great posts, he realised that he was too +late. The "nursery" was empty. The difficulty, say the _Mémoires_ + + lay in the ignorance, the frivolity, and the lack of + application of a nobility which had been accustomed to lives of + frivolity and uselessness; a nobility that was good for nothing + but to let itself be killed, and that reached the battle-field + itself only through the force of heredity. For the remainder of + the time, it was content to stagnate in an existence without a + purpose. It had delivered itself over to idleness and felt keen + disgust for all education, excepting that relating to military + matters. The result was a general incapacity and unfitness for + affairs. + +It is proper to render to Cæsar what belongs to Cæsar. The effacement of +the French aristocracy is not to be laid at the door of the great +Revolution, which acted only upon an accomplished fact; it was the +personal work of Louis XIV. + +The higher classes also, contrary to the generally received opinion, +suffered from a serious moral abasement. This fact is the more striking, +as at no other period has France possessed so many elements for giving +to life decorum and dignity. Through a deplorable misfortune, social +groups which ought, through their solid principles, to have served as +the support of public morality had incurred, one after the other, the +serious displeasure of royalty. Among the Catholics, the disciples of +Bérulle and of Vincent de Paul had compromised themselves in the affair +of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_. No government worthy of the name +can suffer itself to be led by a secret society, whatever the purpose or +character of such society may be. The Jansenists had shared with the +reformers in the discontent that the least expression of a desire for +independence, no matter in what domain, inspired in Louis XIV. + +His distrust even reached the interior life of his subjects. Every one, +under penalty of being considered a rebel, must feel and think like the +King. This was with Louis a fixed idea, and during his reign gave a +peculiar character to the religious persecutions. Jansenists and +Protestants were pursued much oftener as enemies of the King than as +enemies of God. + +The hostility of the Prince to the three principal seats of the French +conscience, and the destruction of two of these, left the field clear +for the licentiousness which marked the end of the reign. Excessive +dissipation is always supposed to belong particularly to the time of +the Regency, but the abscess had existed for a long time before the +death of Louis XIV. caused it to break. A letter as early as 1680 +states, "Our fathers were not more chaste than we are; but ... now the +vices are decorated and refined."[318] The evil had made rapid progress +under the mantle of hypocrisy, which covered the Court of France from +the time of the rule of Mme. de Maintenon. This last well perceived the +danger and groaned over it to no purpose. Strangers were struck with the +conditions. "All is more concentrated," wrote one of them in 1690, "more +reserved, more restrained, than the peculiar genius of the nation can +bear."[319] + +The real misfortune was that Louis, who had been brought up and matured +in an entirely formal religion, had permitted himself to be imposed upon +by scoffers, who came disguised as believers, in order to make their +court. The King, who had permitted the representation of _Tartuffe_, had +not sufficiently meditated upon its import. + +A final misdeed, and not the least for which the absolute régime is +responsible, was the launching of the nation in pursuit of one of the +most dangerous of political chimeras, that of the need of spiritual +unity. Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes in the name of the fetich +that a good Frenchman must be of his King's faith. A century later, the +Terror cut off heads in the name of a unity of opinion, because a +Frenchman ought to be virtuous in the fashion of Rousseau and of +Robespierre. The reader may continue for himself the series, and count +the acts of oppression committed in the nineteenth century, while even +the twentieth century, young as it still is, presents examples of the +attempt to enforce upon the nation a uniformity of thought which, if +once attained, would signify intellectual death. For in politics, as in +religion, as in art, in literature, in all, diversity is life. + +It is through this capital error that the reign of Louis XIV., so +glorious in many respects, was the precursor of the great Revolution and +really made its coming inevitable. The Jacobins are in some measure the +heirs of the great King. Fundamentally, the mania for spiritual and +moral unity is simply, under a less odious name, the horror of liberty; +a sentiment old as the world, but which in the earlier portion of the +seventeenth century had been far from dominant. The word "liberty" +occurs again and again in the writings of many people of that period, +theorists, jurists, and great nobles, at every point in which they touch +politics. The expression contained for them nothing revolutionary. What +they were demanding was rather a return to past methods, and, above all, +it did not enter their thoughts to associate with liberty the word +"equality." It is the eighteenth century, more philosophical, if perhaps +less reasonable, that first conceived the idea of uniting two really +incompatible things, without perceiving that one of the two was destined +to annihilate the other. + +If absolute royalty had remained at Paris, it would have clearly +realised the point at which the nation no longer was in sympathy with +its rule. At Versailles it saw nothing; it shut itself up in its own +tomb. The divorce was consummated between the Court and the Capital, one +contenting itself with being figurative and ornamental, the other +actively controlling opinions, since royalty had renounced the office of +directing the public mind and thoughts. + +It will be recollected that the rôle of universal arbitrator was played +by the "young Court," the youthful King at its head, at the time in +which there was daily contact with Paris, and when the Court was always +in the advance in ideas as in fashions. The residence at Versailles +ended the possibility of these times ever returning; there was no longer +any bond between the King of France and the merchant of the rue St. +Denis. In consequence, Paris employed itself in the eighteenth century +in the evolution of minds. The Court had decided upon the success of the +plays of Molière, the Parisian parquet criticised those of Beaumarchais. + +If it be considered that the interior politics of Louis XIV. were +constantly dominated by a horror of the Fronde, it will be recognised +that this abortive revolution brought in its train consequences almost +as grave as if it had been successful. This is the reason it has seemed +permissible to make the history of the ideas and sentiments existing +during the wars of the Fronde and the succeeding forty years circle +around the incidents in the life of the Grande Mademoiselle. She was a +truly representative figure of this generation, and on this account will +always merit the attention of historians, and by a double claim, through +the interest in her proud conception of life, and through the importance +of the evil for which she was partly responsible and by the results of +which she was herself overwhelmed. No one possessed in a higher degree +than this Princess the great qualities belonging to her epoch, and no +one preserved them so intact without thought of the danger after the +retaining of such opinions had become a cause of disgrace. + +Neither Retz nor the great Condé showed signs in their old age of their +characteristics displayed under the Fronde; both had become calmed. The +Grande Mademoiselle remained always the Grande Mademoiselle, and this +steadfastness, while sometimes a difficulty, was more often her real +title to glory. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 264: M. du Honsett, Ancient Intendant of Finance. He had just +purchased the office of Chancellor of Monsieur.] + +[Footnote 265: Letter dated April 1, 1671.] + +[Footnote 266: Letter dated January 13, 1672.] + +[Footnote 267: _Mémoires de La Fare._ _Cf._ the _Mémoires de Choisy, +Segraisiana_, etc.] + +[Footnote 268: Louvois had visited Pignerol the preceding year.] + +[Footnote 269: The authorities quoted in this and the following chapter, +upon the captivity of Lauzun, are in part unpublished and drawn from the +Archives of the Minister of War, in part borrowed from the _Archives de +la Bastille_, by M. Ravaisson. See also a collection of historic +documents of 1829: _Histoire de la Détention des Philosophes_, by J. +Delort.] + +[Footnote 270: Mme. de Montespan and Mlle. de La Vallière were +designated briefly "_les Dames_."] + +[Footnote 271: This letter has been lost or destroyed.] + +[Footnote 272: Louvois to Saint-Mars, March 2, 1676.] + +[Footnote 273: The letter from Saint-Mars (March 23, 1680) giving an +account of the communications between the dungeons has never been found, +any more than that telling of the flight of Lauzun.] + +[Footnote 274: Louvois to Saint-Mars, November 28, 1679.] + +[Footnote 275: Leopold von Ranke, _Histoire de France_.] + +[Footnote 276: _Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 277: Two years after this warning Louis XIV. gave at +Versailles, in honour of Mme. de Montespan, a fête for which special +buildings were created. The ballroom, only used _one night_, was marble +and porphyry; the rest in accordance.] + +[Footnote 278: A loss of more than 100,000 crowns was not rare at the +gaming table of the King. March 6, 1670, Mme. de Montespan lost 400,000 +pistoles in one night; at eight in the morning she regained 500,000. The +pistole is worth about ten francs. In 1682, three years after her +disgrace, she lost at one time 700,000 crowns which she did not regain. +The King paid her debts.] + +[Footnote 279: Letter of Mme. de Châtrier, attached to the House of +Condé; _De La Vallière à Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 280: Letter from Colbert to the Intendant de Rochefort (April +16, 1678).] + +[Footnote 281: _Mémoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 282: _Mémoires de Mlle. de Montpensier._] + +[Footnote 283: _Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy._] + +[Footnote 284: _Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._--_Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale_, with an introduction by M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 285: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 286: Letter to the Marquis de Trichateau.] + +[Footnote 287: Note by La Reynie (December 27, 1679). The documents of +the _Affaire des poisons_ form more than 1300 pages of the _Archives de +la Bastille_, and they are not complete. Certain especial depositions, +particularly compromising for Mme. de Montespan, are lacking, and were +probably burned by order of Louis XIV.] + +[Footnote 288: Louvois to Boucherat, President of the _Chambre_, +February 4, 1680.] + +[Footnote 289: It included the Comtesse de Soissons, the Marquise +d'Alluye (the King saved both), the Duc de Luxembourg (victim of an +error), the Vicomtesse de Polignac, the Marquis de Feuquières, the +Princesse de Tingry, the Maréchale de la Ferté, the Duchesse de +Bouillon, etc.] + +[Footnote 290: Cf. _Archives de la Bastille_, the "_Note autographe_" of +La Reynie, dated September 17, 1679. Was this the first time that these +names had appeared? The destruction of portions of the testimony through +the orders of the King does not permit the real truth to be disclosed.] + +[Footnote 291: Louvois to M. Robert, January 15, 1680.] + +[Footnote 292: She died there September 8, 1686. Cato seems to have been +dismissed, although she had been placed with Mme. de Montespan by La +Voisin.] + +[Footnote 293: Marie-Anne-Christine de Bavière, coming to marry the +Grand Dauphin.] + +[Footnote 294: Cf. _Les souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus_ and--among +others--the letter of Mme. de Sévigné dated July 17, 1680.] + +[Footnote 295: _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._] + +[Footnote 296: _Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Régent_, by Anquetil (Paris, +1789).] + +[Footnote 297: The gift to be enjoyed only after the death of +Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 298: _Mémoires de Saint-Simon._] + +[Footnote 299: Saint-Simon, _Écrits inédits_.] + +[Footnote 300: At Chalon-sur-Saône.] + +[Footnote 301: Exactly, according to the official figures, 284,940 +francs.] + +[Footnote 302: The coat called a _brevet_, because it could only be worn +with a _brevet_ from the King, was changed every year. It was thus very +out of fashion at the end of twelve years. Lauzun had worn a wig at +Pignerol, to protect his head against the dampness of his dungeon.] + +[Footnote 303: _Écrits inédits_, Saint-Simon.] + +[Footnote 304: Saint-Simon, _Mémoires_. Saint-Simon takes his details +from an eye-witness.] + +[Footnote 305: Saint-Simon, _Écrits inédits_.] + +[Footnote 306: Sévigné.] + +[Footnote 307: _Mémoires de la Cour de France_, by Mme. de La Fayette.] + +[Footnote 308: Sévigné, January 6, 1689.] + +[Footnote 309: Letter of M. d'Amfreville, general-officer of the marine +to Seignelay, in the _Histoire de Louvois_, by Camille Rousset.] + +[Footnote 310: Saint-Simon, _Écrits inédits_.] + +[Footnote 311: _[Oe]uvres completes_, of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre +(Paris, 1830), vol. i.; _Essai sur la Vie_ by Aimé-Martin.] + +[Footnote 312: Cf. the _Gazette_ for 1693, and the series of the +_Mercure Galant_ monthly periodical, founded in 1672 by Donneau de +Visé.] + +[Footnote 313: Saint-Simon, _Mémoires_.] + +[Footnote 314: Saint-Simon says fifteen. He is mistaken; the act of +marriage says fourteen.] + +[Footnote 315: _Mémoires_, Saint-Simon.] + +[Footnote 316: Saint-Simon, _Mémoires_.] + +[Footnote 317: The royal ordinance is dated July 7, 1668. Louis XIV. was +ever ignorant of the fact that the councillors of the Hôtel de Ville had +passed nights in copying what was to be burned, so that the documents +supposed to be destroyed still exist.] + +[Footnote 318: From La Rivière to Bussy-Rabutin.] + +[Footnote 319: _Relation de la Cour de France_, by Ézéchiel Spanheim, +envoy extraordinary from Brandenbourg.] + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Absolute monarchy, establishment of, in France, 7, 118, 142; + a Spanish importation, 371 + +Adickes, Erich, _Kant als Mensch_ by, 220 + +Aimé-Martin, _Essai sur la Vie_, by, 365 + +Aix, Court at, 100-102 + +Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 258 + +Albret, Maréchal d', 282 + +_Alceste_ (Lulli), 218 + +Alençon, Elisabeth, Mlle, d', daughter of Monsieur, 77, 133, 186; + marriage of, 235, 294 + +Allier, Raoul, _La Cabale des Dévots_, by, 83, 85, 157, 181, 198 + +Alluye, Marquise d', 344 + +Alphonse VI., King of Portugal, 142-145, 160, 185 + +_Amadis_, 216 + +_Amants Magnifiques, Les_ (Molière), 202 + +_Amaryllis_, 18 + +_Ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne, L'_, 189 + +Amboise, Château of, 27, 44, 354 + +Amfreville, M. d', 364 + +Amiens, 263 + +"Amours of Hercules," 120 + +Andilly, Arnauld, d', 79 + +_Andromaque_ (Racine), 225, 228 + +Angélique, Mother, 88, 92 + +Angennes, Julie d', 264 + +Anjou, Philippe, Duc d' (the little Monsieur), proposed marriage of, + with Mademoiselle, 59, 73, 272-278; + character of, 74, 102, 105, 152, 196, 261, 262, 271, 272; + becomes Duc d'Orléans, 102; + marries Henrietta of England, 136, 151, 152; + marries Princess Palatine, 156, 315; + daughters of, 277; + opposed to mésalliance of Mlle., 285 + +Anjou, son of Louis XIV., 285 + +Anne of Austria, regency of, 1; + education of her sons, 31, 63-65, 74, 371; + relations of, with Mazarin, 62, 63, 82, 112, 304; + reception of Mademoiselle, 57-59, and lack of Court etiquette, 76-79, + 82; + member of Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, 87, 103, 148, 158, 198; + prevents marriage of Louis and Marie Mancini, 82, 97; + receives Condé, 100; + interview of, with Philip IV., 108-110; + favours absolute monarchy, 118, 146, 371; + be friends Marie-Thérèse, 118, 149; + detests Madame, 122; + reproaches Louis, 153, 170; + influence of, 153, 159, 192, 194, 195, 208; + illness and death of, 194-197; + effect of death of, 195, 197, 200, 201, 206, 208, 209 + +Anquetil, _Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Régent_, by, 349 + +_Archives de la Bastille_ (Ravaisson), 189, 201, 209, 282, 293, 312, + 343, 344 +_Archives de Chantilly_, 117, 174, 175, 186 + +_Archives_ of Eu. _See_ Eu + +_Ariane_ (Monteverde), 214 + +Armagnac, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d', 237 + +Arras, siege of, 23, 161 + +_Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus_ (Scudéry), 11 + +_Astrate_, 81 + +_Astrée, L'_(d'Urfé), 11, 14, 80 + +Aubineau, Léon, 67 + +Aumale, Duc d', 46 + +Aumale, Mlle. d', _Mémoires_ of, 291 + +Auteuil, Comte d', 47 + +Ayen, Comte d' (Duc de Noailles), 270 + + +B + +Bachaumont, 32 + +_Bajazet_ (Racine), 8, 225 + +_Ballet des Arts_, 172 + +Bartélemy, Eduard de (Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de Racan), editor + _La Galerie des Portraits_, etc., 122, 130 + +Bastile, the, 247, 370 + +_Bastille, Archives de la._ _See Archives_ + +Bavière, Anne de. _See_ Palatine + +Bavière, Elisabeth Charlotte de (Madame). _See_ Palatine + +Bavière, Marie Anne Christine de, 347 + +Bayard, Comtesse de, 365 + +Bazinière, Sieur de la, 76 + +Beaufort, Duc de, 185 + +Bellefonte, Marshal of, 264 + +Bernières, M. de, 87, 88, 91, 92; + _Relations_ of, 87-90 + +Berri, government of, 307 + +Bérulle, 373 + +Bethléem, Bishop of, 191 + +Béthune, Comte de, 47 + +Béthune, Mme. de, 266 + +Beuvron, Charles d'Harcourt, Comte de, 275 + +Béziers, M. de, 147 + +Bezon, M. de, 343 + +Bidassoa, river, 105, 110 + +Bielle, Sieur de, 83 + +Blois, forced sojourn of Monsieur at, 25-35, 39-41, 49-53, 97, 98, 134; + court at, 97 + +Blois, Mlle. de, marriage of, 337 + +Bocquet, Mlle. (Agélaste), 124 + +Boileau, 217, 222, 223 + +Bois-le-Vicomte, Château of, 50 + +Bologna, theatres in, 215 + +Bordeaux, Court at, 98, 99, 132 + +Bossuet, Court preacher, 140, 142, 200; + funeral oration of, 152; + at death-bed of Madame, 272, 273 + +Boucherat, 344 + +Bougy, Lady de, 211 + +Bouillon, Duc de, 77 + +Bouillon, Duchesse de, 344 + +Bouligneux, M. de, 264 + +Boult, 89 + +Bourbon, Baths of, 329, 354 + +Bourbon, Henri de. _See_ Montpensier + +Bourbon, House of, 42, 47 + +Bourbon, Marie de, 42 + +Bourdaloue, Court preacher, 200 + +Bourgogne, Hôtel de, 227 + +Bourgogne, province of, 83, 94 + +Boursault, 225 + +Boyer, Abbé, tragedies of, 226 + +Brandenbourg, 374 + +Brie, province of, 83, 84 + +Brienne, Father, 190 + +Broglie, Emmanuel de, _Saint Vincent de Paul_, by, 82, 91 + +Brunetière, M. F., _Les Époques du Théâtre français_; + _Les Études critiques sur l'Histoire de la Littérature française_, + by, 223 + +Bussy-Rabutin, _Mémoires_ of, cited, 32, 55, 61, 147, 148, 160, 248, 337, + 342, 343, 345; + letters to, 272, 273, 302, 305, 342, 374; + _Correspondance de_, 303, 364 + + +C + +_Cabale des Dévots, La_ (Allier), 83, 85, 88, 148, 157, 181, 198, 199 + +_Cahiers de Mlle. d'Aumale, Les_, 230, 341 + +Cambert, _Pomone_, opera by, 216 + +Carignan, Princesse de, 291 + +Carrosse _Amarante_, 223 + +Cartwright, Julia, _Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchesse of Orleans_, + by, 136 + +_Cassandre_ (La Calprenède), 11 + +Cato, Mme. de Montespan's maid, 344, 346 + +Caylus, Mme. de, _Souvenirs et Correspondance_ of, 300; + _Souvenirs de_, 150, 347 + +Chaillou des Barres, Baron, _Les Châteaux d'Ancy-le-France, + de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., by, 6 + +Chalais, 25 + +Chalon-sur-Saône, 354 + +Chambord, 26, 33 + +_Chambre ardente_, established by Louis, 204, 343, 344; + suppression of, 347 + +Champagne, province of, 55, 56, 87, 92, 334 + +Champigny lawsuit, 49, 50, 125 + +Chantelauze, _Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi_, by, 82, 112 + +Chantilly, _see Archives_ of + +Chapelle, 32 + +Charenton, 289 + +Charles II. (of England), 136 + +Charles II. (of Spain), marriage of, 277 + +_Châteaux d'Ancy-le-France, de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., _Les_ + (Chaillou des Barres), 6 + +Châtelet, the, 211 + +Châtellerault, duchy of, 49 + +Châtillon, Duchesse de, 78, 80, 126 + +Châtrier, Mme. de, 335 + +Chauvelin, M. de, 347 + +Chéruel, editor, 3, 48, 297 + +Chevreuse, Mme. de, 369 + +Choisy, Mlle.'s mansion at, 357, 359 + +Choisy, François-Timoléon, Abbé de, _Mémoires_ of, 74, 133, 134, + 138, 281, 289, 291, 310, 340 + +Choisy, Mme. de, 13 + +Chouquet, _Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_, by, 213 + +Cinq-Mars, 25 + +Clagny, Château of, 235 + +Clairvoyants, 201-207 + +Clamecy, 191 + +Clément, P., _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._, by, 282 + +_Cléopâtre_ (La Calprenède), 11 + +Colbert, protected by Mademoiselle's escort, 56; + reorganises finances, 141, 171, 177; + letters to, 183, 348; + enemy of _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 198; + opposes Louvois, 287; + protests against King's extravagance, 332-337; + mediation of, 345, 352 + +Coligny, Admiral de, 78 + +Comédie Française, 109 + +Condé, Prince de (the Great), 3, 56, 117, 256, 377; + alliance of, with Mademoiselle, 3, 16, 17, 33, 45, 56, 369; + defeat of, 20, 23, 54; + letters of, 38-40, 46, 147, 174, 186; + rupture of, with Mlle., 46, 47, 52; + cruelty of army of, 55, 83; + pardoned, 100, 101, 113; + son of, 117; + appreciation of Racine, 229; + opposes Mlle.'s marriage, 285, 291, 292, 296 + +Condé, Princesse de, 16, 17, 46 + +Conti, Louis Armand, Prince de, marriage of, 48, 337 + +Corneille, 80, 81, 129, 223-226, 228, 240, 241 + +_Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin_, 303 + +_Correspondance de Pomponne, La_, 297 + +_Correspondant_, the, 112 + +Cotin, Abbé, _[OE]uvres galantes en vers et en prose_, by, 220, 223, 226 + +Coulanges, 287 + +_Country Pleasures_, operetta, 19 + +Court of France, Mademoiselle returns to, 2, 57-59, 72; + in disgrace with, 16, 19, 45, 55; + returns to Paris, 19-21, 65, 110, 281; + Monsieur under protection of, 39, 40, 48; + journeys of, 53, 68, 94-104, 108, 110, 132, 257, 258, 307; + manners and morals of, 76-79, 81, 82, 123-125, 128-131, 338; + etiquette of, 78, 104-111, 233; + occupations of, 103, 230-232; + the young, 148, 174, 224, 229, 376; + brilliancy of, 174, 258-260, 315; + size of, 174, 175, 258; + at Versailles, 174, 176-182, 333, 365, 370, 376; + at Fontainebleau, 182, 184; + literary tastes of, 224, 227, 229, 376; + at Saint-Germain, 269, 353, 354; + changed character of, 370, 371, 374 + +Court of Saint-Fargeau, 6-10, 17-20, 129-131, 135 + +Cousin, _La Société française au XVIIème siècle_, by, 124 + +_Création de Versailles, la_ (de Nolhac), 176 + +Crégny, Duc de, 282 + +Crequi, 297 + +Crissé, Mme. de, original of Countess de Pimbesche, 191 + +Crosné, 89 + +Crussol, Emmanuel II., de. _See_ Uzès + + +D + +_Dafné_, musical tragedy, 214 + +_Dames, les_ (the "ladies"), 315, 334-336 + +Dauphin, the Grand, 154, 155, 179; + marriage of, 347; + death of, 219 + +De Chapelain, 226 + +_Déclaration par le Menu du Comté d'Eu_, 163 + +Delamare, Philibert, _Mélanges_, by, 285, 286, 290, 294, 301 + +Delaure, _Histoire de Paris_, by, 21 + +_De La Vallière à Montespan_ (Lemoine and Lichtenberger), 175, 229, + 263, 335 + +Delort, J., _Histoire de la Détention des Philosophes_, by, 312 + +Deltour, F., _Les Ennemis de Racine_, by, 223, 226 + +Derby, Lady, 137 + +_Deux Chèvres_ (La Fontaine), _Les_, 107 + +_Devineresses, Les_ (La Fontaine), 203 + +_Dévolution_, war of the, 154, 257 + +Diafoirus, Thomas, 109 + +_Dictionnaire des Précieuses, Le_ (Somaize), 13 + +Diderot, 172 + +Dijon, Court at, 94, 95 + +Divine Right of Kings, doctrine of, 139-142 + +Dombes, principality of, 49, 95; + given to Lauzun, 288; + demanded for Duc du Maine, 352 + +Dreyss, Charles, editor of _Mémoires_ of Louis XIV., 58, 69, 141, 278 + +Dubois, _Les Fragments des Mémoires inédits_, by, 67 + +Dubuisson (Lesage). _See_ Lesage + +Dubuisson-Aubenay, _Journal des Guerres civiles_, by, 92 + +Dunkerque, 173, 307 + +Dupré, Mlle., 124 + + +E + +_École des Femmes_ (Molière),131, 227 + +_Écrits inédits_ (Saint-Simon), 354, 359, 363, 364 + +_Éducation politique de Louis XIV., L'_ (Lacour-Gayet) 64 + +Elbeuf, M. d', 178 + +Elisabeth de France, mother of Marie-Thérèse, 149 + +Embrun, Archbishop of, 38, 39 190 + +Enghien, Duc d', 117; + marriage of, 174 + +_Ennemis de Racine, Les_ (Deltour), 223, 226 + +_Époques du Théâtre français, Les_ (Brunetière), 223 + +_Essai sur la Vie_ (Aimé-Martin), 365 + +Estrées, Maréchal d', 76 + +Étampes, 54 + +Étrechy, 89 + +_Études critiques sur l'Histoire de la Littérature française, + Les_ (Brunetière), 223 + +Eu, Château d', 147, 170; + _Archives_ of, 162, 163, 167-169; + Mademoiselle at, 169, 182, 183, 360-363, 365 + +Eu, Comté d', property of the Guise, 161; + sale of, 161-167; + revenue from, 162-166; + given to Lauzun, 288; + given to Duc du Maine, 352, 353 + +_Eugénie, ou la force du destin_, 14 + + +F + +Fabert, 84 + +Famine of 1659-1662, 93 + +Feillet, _La misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul_, by, + 82, 84 + +Ferté, Maréchale de la, 344 + +Feuquieres, Marquis de, 344 + +Fiesque, Comtesse de, 16, 45, 129, 360 + +_Fille, la_, fable of (La Fontaine), 190-191 + +Flanders, Court in, 257, 307 + +Fontainebleau, Court at, 174, 182-188, 308 + +Fontanges, Mlle. de, 339, 340 + +Fontarabia, marriage of Louis XIV. at, 104, 105, 110 + +Forges, Baths of, 10, 53, 146 + +Foucquet, Abbé, 25, 78; + punishment of, 141; + imprisonment of, 311-313, 326, 330; + death of, 326, 329 + +_Fragments des Mémoires inédits, Les_ (Dubois), 67 + +France, failure of Fronde important to, 1; + fondness for sport in, 7; + results of absolute monarchy in, 7, 371, 372; + wars of with Spain, 16, 20, 55, 59, 145, 361; + famine and misery in, 54, 55, 82-94, 331, 334; + advantages to, from peace of the Pyrénées, 99; + conversation, the delight of intelligent, 123, 135; + reforms of Louis and Colbert in, 141, 142, 171; + increase of industry and commerce, 142; + "rights" in, 168; + growing power and influence of, 171; + influence of women in, 193, 194; + belief in astrology and sorcery, 201-212; + introduction of dramatic music into, 213-217; + war of, with Holland, 235, 318, 330; + consternation in, over projected marriage of Mademoiselle, 283, 284, + 286, 290, 292, 294, 295, 297; + mistress of the world, 330, 331; + moral deterioration of, 338, 372-374 + +France, Court of. _See_ Court + +Franche-Comté, 330 + +Francis I., 27 + +Fronde, the, failure of, 1, 47; + effect of, 1, 58, 65, 68, 376; + leaders of, 2, 11, 81, 369; + Mademoiselle the heroine of, 3, 53, 59, 72, 370; + wars of, 16, 20, 36, 54, 82-85, 213, 221, 232, 377; + abuses giving rise to, 21, 22 + +Frondeurs, the, 2, 47, 58, 77, 369 + +Frontenac, Mme. de, 14, 15, 45 + + +G + +_Galerie des Portraits de Mlle. de Montpensier, la_, 122, 125-127, + 129-131, 135 + +Gaston, Duc d'Orléans. _See_ Orléans + +_Gazette de Hollande_, 307 + +_Gazette_ of Loret, 18, 20, 30, 171-174, 178, 179, 227, 272, 365 + +_Gazette de Renaudot_, 269 + +Geoffroy, editor of _Letters of Mme. de Maintenon_, 64 + +Germany, peace of the Pyrénées unfavourable to, 99; + humiliated by Louis XIV., 171, 331 + +Giustiniani, Venetian Ambassador, 142 + +Gomberville, works of, 11 + +Gonzague, Anne de. _See_ Palatine + +Gonzague, Marie de. _See_ Poland + +Goulas, Nicolas, _Mémoires_ of, 28, 34 + +Gramont, Catherine de, 211 + +Gramont, Chevalier de, 35 + +Gramont, Maréchal de, 149, 211 + +_Grand Cyrus, Le_ (Scudéry), 11, 124 + +Grignan, Mme. de, 11 + +Guibourg, Abbé, 345, 348 + +Guiche, Comte de, 71, 148, 149 + +Guilloire, 286, 307 + +Guise, Charles de Lorraine, Duc de, 42 + +Guise, Chevalier de, 221 + +Guise, Duc de, 177, 178; + married Mlle. d'Orléans, 294, 295 + +Guise, Duchesse de (grandmother of Mademoiselle), 42, 51 + +Guise, family of, 161. _See also_ Lorraine + +Guise, Mlle. de, marriage of, 161 + +Guitry, Marquis de, 282, 297 + + +H + +Hachette, 202 + +Hanotaux, M. G., 150, 230, 341 + +Haro, Don Luis de, 107, 108 + +Haussonville, Comte d', 150, 219, 291 + +Heine, Heinrich, 224, 228 + +Henrietta of England (Madame) wife of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, 130, + 151-153, 191; + relations of, with Louis XIV., 194, 228; + death of, 233, 270-273, 275; + daughters of, 277 + +Henry III., 67 + +Henry IV., 149, 283 + +Henry, Victor, _La Magie dans l'Inde antique_, by, 210 + +Herse, Présidente de, 88, 92 + +_Histoire amoureuse des Gaules L'_, 297 + +_Histoire du Château de Blois, L'_, (La Saussaye), 26 + +_Histoire de France_ (Porchat and Miot, trs.), 99 + +_Histoire de France_ (von Ranke), 330 + +_Histoire de Louvois_ (Rousset), 364 + +_Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_ (La Fayette), 151-153, 194, + 271 + +_Histoire de Mlle. et du Comte de Losun_, 257 + +_Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_ (Chouquet), 213 + +_Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe_ (Rolland), 213 + +_Histoire de Paris, L'_ (Delaure), 21 + +_Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_ (Mademoiselle), 132 + +_Histoires de la Détention des Philosophes_ (Delort), 312 + +Hoguete, Fortin de la, 140 + +Holland, war between France and, 235, 318, 330 + +Honsett, M. du, 305 + +Hôpital, Maréchal de l', 75 + +Hôpital, Mme. de l', 76 + +Hospitals, establishment of, 87 + +Hôtel Rambouillet, 14, 124 + +Hôtel de Ville, the, 369 + +Huet, Dr., _Mémoires_ of, 10, 127, 129 + + +I + +_Image du Souverain, L'_, 140 + +_Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV., Les_ (Rodocanachi), 138 + +_Inventaire général du Comté d'Eu_, 163 + +_Iphigénie_ (Racine), 227 + +Isarn, M., 327-329 + +Isle des Faisans (_Isle de la Conférence_), 106-110 + +Isle Saint-Louis, 206 + +Iturrieta, Don Miguel de, 282 + + +J + +Jacobins, the, 375 + +Jansenism, 85 + +Jansenists, 87, 88, 129, 373 + +Jesuits, the, 79, 80, 83 + +_Jeune Alcidiane, La_ (Gomberville), 11 + +Joinville, Prince de. _See_ Lorraine + +Joly, Mme., 90 + +Jourdain, Mme., 115 + +_Journal des Guerres civiles_ (Dubuisson-Aubenay), 92 + +_Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson_, 159, 174, 177, 186, 194, 197, + 285, 287, 301, 332, 335 + +_Journal de Voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais à Paris_, 72, 73, 75, 76 + +Joyeuse, Duc de. _See_ Lorraine + +Joyeuse, Henriette Catherine, Duchesse de. _See_ Montpensier + +Jusserand, J. J., _Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France_, + by, 7 + + +K + +Kant, Emanuel, 220 + +_Kant als Mensch_ (Adickes), 220 + +_Kreutzer Sonata_ (Tolstoi), 220 + + +L + +La Bruyère, 269 + +La Calprenède, _Cassandre_ and _Cléopâtre_, by, 11 + +Lacour-Gayet, _L'Éducation politique de Louis XIV._, by, 64, 67 + +La Duverger, 211 + +La Fare, Marquis de, _Mémoires et Réflexions_ of, 248, 283, 287, 290, + 302, 310, 339 + +La Fayette, Mme. de, 134; + _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_, 151-153, 194, 271; + _Princesse de Clèves_, by, 153; + _Mémoires de la Cour de France_, 209, 363 + +La Fontaine, letters of, 26, 27, 54; + fables of, 107, 111, 109, 203; + appointment of, 191 + +Lair, J. _Louise de La Vallière_, by, 180 + +Lalanne, Ludovic, 303 + +Lamoignon, Mme. de, 88, 92 + +Landrecies, 263-265 + +Lansac, Mme. de, 67 + +La Reynie, Lieut.-General of Police, 209, 210, 343-346 + +La Rivière, 374 + +La Rochefoucauld, 11, 130, 134, 256, 369 + +La Saussaye, _L'Histoire du Château de Blois_, by, 26 + +Lauzun, Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, Comte de, 238; + career of, 243-247; + intrigues of, 245, 246, 249-251; + relations of with Mme. de Montespan, 245, 246, 282, 287, 290, 309; + description of, 243, 244, 248, 262, 324, 356; + in the Bastile, 247; + character of, 248-251, 269, 287, 356-359, 367-369; + projected marriage of Mademoiselle with, 251-257, 267-270, 276, + 279-281, 284, 293; + tacit consent of Louis to marriage, 281-283; + generous gifts of Mademoiselle to, 288, 289, 355; + marriage broken off, 290-297, 317, 326; + question of secret marriage with Mlle., 304-308, 349; + arrest and imprisonment of, 310-324, 350; + the "caskets" of, 317; + attempted escape of, 325, 326, 350; + communicates with Foucquet, 326; + interview of, with his family, 327-329; + released from prison, 329, 349, 354, 359; + forced to renounce gifts of Mlle., 353, 354; + reimprisoned, 354; + forbidden to return to Court, 354, 355, 360, 361; + saves Queen of England, 363; + Order of the Garter and title conferred upon, 364; + marriage of, 366; + death of, 369 + +Lauzun, Chevalier de, 327 + +Lauzun, Mme. de, married life of, 366-369 + +Laval, Marquise of, 6 + +La Vallière, Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc, Seigneur de, 134 + +La Vallière, Louise de, youth of, 134; + relations of, with Louis XIV., 150, 153-156, 172, 176, 178, 193; + made Duchess, 154; + position of, officially recognised, 197, 233, 234, 258, 315, 334, 336; + attacked by Bossuet, 200; + successor to, 208-210; + marriage of daughter, 337; + character of, 339; + retires to convent, 339 + +La Voisin, the poisoner, 207, 208, 210, 212; + clients of, 207, 208, 210-212, 342, 344-346, 351 + +Lemaître, Jules, 81 + +Lemoine, Jean, and André Lichtenberger, _De La Vallière à Montespan_, by, + 175, 229, 263, 335 + +Le Nôtre, 176 + +Le Pelletier, Claude, 186, 286 + +Lesage (Dubuisson), 204; + arrest and trial of, 210-212, 348 + +Lesdiguières, Duc de, 75, 76 + +Lésigny, 46 + +Le Tellier, Michel, 25, 94 + +_Lettres historiques et édifiantes._ _See_ Maintenon + +Libertins, the, 148, 153, 157, 159, 182 + +Lichtenberger, André. _See_ Lemoine + +Limay, 89 + +Limours, Château of, 25 + +Lionne, Hugues de, 148 + +_Lit de Justice_, 19, 20 + +Livet, 257, 297 + +Loing, valley of the, 4, 9, 12 + +Loire, the, 28, 29 + +Loiseleur, Jules, _Problèmes historiques_, by, 63 + +Longueville, Duc de (Count de Saint-Paul), 256, 257, 270 + +Longueville, Duchesse de, 256, 369 + +Loret, _Gazette_ of, 18, 20, 30, 171-174, 178, 179, 227, 258, 272, 365 + +Lorges, Maréchal de, daughter of, marries Lauzun, 366-369 + +Lorraine, Charles III., Duc de, 137 + +Lorraine, Chevalier de, 275 + +Lorraine, Duc de, cruelty of army of, 38, 84 + +Lorraine, Henri de, 42 + +Lorraine, House of, 42, 294 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Comte d'Armagnac, 237 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Guise, 294, 295 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Joyeuse, death of, 161, 168 + +Lorraine, Louis Joseph de, Prince de Joinville, 161, 168 + +Lorraine, Marguerite de (Madame). _See_ Orléans + +Lorraine, Prince Charles de, 137 + +Lorraine, Prince de, 252 + +Louis XIII., 25, 243; + death of, 102 + +Louis XIV., returns to Paris, 2, 19, 24; + occupations of Court of, 7, 230-232; + dictates to Parliament, 19, 23; + holds _Lit de Justice_, 19, 20; + escorts Mazarin to Paris, 20; + fondness of, for fêtes and ballets, 21, 75, 120, 172, 176, 178-181, + 315; + growing power of, 22-24, 59, 170, 171; + education of, 31, 63-68, 371; + proposed marriages of, 48, 77, 94, 96; + permits Mademoiselle to return to Court, 57-59; + effect of Fronde upon, 58, 65, 68, 278, 370; + character of, 68-72, 101; + lack of etiquette at Court, in youth of, 77, 78; + infatuation of, for Marie Mancini, 77, 97, 193, 228; + cruelty of armies of, 84; + journeys of, 94, 97-100, 103, 104, 199, 257; + pardons Condé, 100, 101; + ignorance of, 103, 104, 112-116; + marriage of, with Marie-Thérèse, 103-111; + interviews of, with Philip IV., 106, 107; + letters of, 108, 183, 184, 188, 189; + begins to govern without minister, 113, 114; + systematic regulation of his time, 116, 117; + growth of absolute monarchy, 118, 119, 128, 138-142, 371; + fondness of, for gaming, 133, 333; + reforms abuses with Colbert, 141, 142; + proposes marriage of Mlle. with King of Portugal, 142-146, 160, 185; + banishes Mlle. for refusing marriage, 147, 148, 161; + Queen's lack of influence over, 149-151, 154; + passionate temperament of, 153-155, 170, 193, 219, 220; + relations of, with Madame, 153, 194, 228; + strained relations with his mother, 153, 157; + relations of, with La Vallière, 153-156, 172, 176, 193, 197; + _Mémoires_ written for Dauphin, 154-156, 179; + opinion of women, 155, 193, 194; + conduct of, disapproved, 157-159; + religious opinions of, 156, 212, 213, 374; + influence of Mme. de Maintenon upon, 156, 193, 219, 339; + acquires Dunkerque, 173; + takes up permanent residence at Versailles, 174, 370; + size of Court, 174, 175, 258; + hospitality of, 175-177; + plans Savoie marriage for Mademoiselle, 185-190, 236; + effect of mother's death on, 195-197, 199; + relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, 193, 209, 210, 212, 229, 333, + 338-342; + frames rules of etiquette relating to position of mistresses, 197, + 233-235, 315, 334-336; + boldness of Court preachers, 200, 201; + orders prosecution of Mariette and Lesage, 210-212; + lover of music, 218-220; + sustains Racine and Molière, 224, 227, 228; + death of infant daughter, 233; + with the army, 235, 361; + Lauzun a favourite of, 243-247, 250, 251, 254, 257; + discomforts of travelling in 1670, 258-267; + plans marriage of Mlle. with Monsieur, 274, 276-278; + tacitly consents to marriage of Mademoiselle with Lauzun, 282, 283, + 286; + withdraws consent, 290-293, 295, 296; + treatment of Mademoiselle, 299-301; + Lauzun's imprisonment, 312-315, 323; + charmed with new sister-in-law, 315; + brilliancy of reign of, 330, 331, 375; + power and importance of, 330-332; + extravagance of, 332-339; + love of martial display, 333-336; + marriage of Mlle. de Blois, 337; + responsible for deterioration of manners and morals, 338-341, 372; + finds presumptive proof of guilt of Madame de Montespan, 343-347, 349; + orders destruction of records, 343, 344, 369; + turns to Mme. de Maintenon, 339-341; + dismisses Mme. de Montespan, 341, 342; + establishes the _Chambre ardente_, 343; + suppresses the _Chambre ardente_, 347; + marriage of, with Mme. de Maintenon, 305, 370; + effect of reign of, upon France, 371-373; + _Mémoires_ of, 58, 66, 68-70, 114, 141, 142, 154-156, 179, 193, 278, + 355 + +_Louise de La Vallière_ (Lair), 180 + +Louvois, letters to, 209, 311, 325; + enemy of Lauzun, 244, 245, 247, 287, 288; + instructions of, concerning Lauzun, 310-313, 318-323, 325; + letters of, 344, 347; + sent to coerce Mademoiselle, 352 + +Louvre, Palace of the, Mazarin returns to, 20; + Court at, 65, 78, 82, 111, 112, 122; + fête at, 178 + +Lulli, Baptiste, operas of, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221 + +Luxembourg, Duc de, 344 + +Luxembourg, palace of the, Monsieur at, 24; + Mademoiselle returns to, 72, 76, 121; + Madame occupies, 102, 121, 191, 285; + salon of Mademoiselle at, 122, 123, 125, 133-136, 148, 222, 223, 288, + 296, 297, 361 + +Luynes, Constable de, 243 + +Lyonne, M. de, 293 + +Lyons, Court at, 94, 96, 258 + + +M + +Madame. See Orléans, Henrietta, and Palatine + +_Madame de Montespan et Louis XIV._ (Clément), 282, 349 + +_Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans_ (Cartwright), 136 + +Madelaine, 50 + +Mademoiselle, La Grande. See Montpensier + +_Magie dans l'Inde antique, La_ (Henry), 210 + +Mailly, Château of, 263 + +Maine, Duc du, 351, 352 + +Maintenon, Mme. de (Mme. Scarron), _Letters of_ (Geoffroy, ed.), 63, 64; + _Souvenirs sur_, 150, 151, 230; + influence of, over Louis XIV., 71, 156, 193, 219, 339-341, 374; + governess to King's children, 290, 309, 310; + _Lettres historiques et édifiantes_, of, 291; + King marries, 305, 370 + +Mairet, 223 + +_Malade Imaginaire_ (Molière), 109 + +Mancini, Marie, niece of Mazarin, 77, 96, 193, 228, 339 + +"Mandate," the, 286 + +Mansard, François, 26 + +Man with the Iron Mask, the, 304, 329 + +Marie Antoinette, 23 + +Marie Thérèse, Infanta of Spain, marriage of, with Louis XIV., 103-111; + political opinions of, 118; + unhappy married life of, 149-151, 154, 172; + character of, 149-151, 196, 252, 260, 261, 264-266, 271; + friendly relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, 209, 210, 233-235; + friendship of, for Mme. de Maintenon, 341; + death of, 370 + +Mariette, priest, 204, 210; + arrest and trial of, 210-212 + +Marigny, _La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés aux + Reines_, by, 173 + +Marly, 336 + +Martinozzi, Anne Marie, niece of Mazarin, 48 + +Mascarille, Marquis de, 76 + +Mauny, Marquise de, 13, 131 + +Mazarin, Cardinal, power of, 11, 16, 25, 38, 39, 45, 47; + triumphal return of, 20; + obtains pardon for Mademoiselle, 48, 52, 53, 56; + detestation of, 60, 61; + rapacity of, 60-62, 112; + relations of, with Anne of Austria, 62, 63, 304; + created Cardinal, 63; + treatment of Louis XIV., 65-67, 69, 70, 74; + nieces of, 77, 82, 96, 97, 237; + letter of protest to, 84; + signs peace of Pyrénées, 99, 107; + difficulties of, in settling points of etiquette relating to King's + marriage, 105, 106; + instructions of, to Louis, 112, 113; + death of, 113, 116, 141; + opposition of, to _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 158, 198; + introduces Italian opera into France, 215 + +Médicis, Catherine de', 67, 113 + +Meilleraye, Duc de la (Duc de Mazarin), 77 + +_Mélanges_ (Delamare), 285 + +_Mémoires._ _See_ Aumale, Bussy-Rabutin, Choisy, Goulas, Huet, La Fare, + La Fayette, Montpensier, Motteville, Saint-Simon, Sourches, etc. + +_Mémoires_ of Louis XIV. _See_ under Louis (editors, Dreyss and Petitot). + +_Mémoires de Montglat_, 25, 59, 62, 100, 108 + +_Mémoires-Relations du temps_, 179 + +_Mémoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine_ (Racine), 227 + +Ménage, 222, 226 + +_Mercure Galant_, 365 + +Mignet, _Négociations relatives à la succession d'Espagne_, by, 143 + +Miot. _See_ Porchat. + +_Misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul, La_ (Feillet), + 82, 84 + +_Mithridate_ (Racine), 228 + +Molière, returns to Paris, 81; + plays of, 109, 124, 131, 132, 180, 181, 202, 216, 231, 374, 376; + representations of, given at Versailles and the Luxembourg, 178, 180, + 181, 221, 222; + opposition to Racine and, 223-227; + King sustains, 227, 228 + +"Molière," of the _Grands Écrivains de la France_ (Hachette), 176, 179, + 202 + +Monsieur, _See_ Orléans, Gaston, Duc d'. + +Monsieur, the little. _See_ Anjou, Philippe, Duc d'. + +Montausier, Duc de, 264, 282, 287, 297, 306 + +Montausier, Mme. de, 263 + +Montbazon, Duchesse de, 126 + +Montchevreuil, M. de, 230 + +Montespan, Marquis de, 229 + +Montespan, Marquise de, supplants La Vallière, 80, 193, 209, 210; + marriage of, 172, 209, 229; + description of, 209, 230; + client of La Voisin, 210, 212, 342; + criminal charges against, 212, 344-348; + position of, 233, 258-271, 315, 334-336; + assumes habits of royalty, 233-235; + relations of, with Lauzun, 245, 246, 282, 287, 354; + betrays Lauzun, 290, 291, 296, 309, 310, 322, 323; + children of, 290, 344, 351, 352; + extravagance of, 333, 336; + character of, 339, 340, 342; + dismissal of, 341, 342, 350, 351; + evidence against destroyed, 343 + +Monteverde, _Ariane_, by, 214 + +Montigny, Abbé de, 263 + +Montmédy, 59 + +Montmorency-Boutteville, 78 + +Montmorency, 25 + +Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of, La Grande + Mademoiselle, + possible marriage of, with Louis XIV., 2, 48; + character of, 2, 56, 59, 184 + +Montpensier, Mlle., alliance of, with Condé, 3, 16, 17, 33, 38, 45, + 55, 56; + exiled to Saint-Fargeau, 3-20, 32-39, 43-48; + heroine of Porte Saint-Antoine, 3, 53, 58, 59, 72, 261, 370; + amusements at court of St.-Fargeau, 7-10, 17-20, 148; + literary tastes of, 8-10, 15, 18, 73, 132, 221, 224-226, 229; + begins her _Mémoires_, 15; + rumoured marriage of, with Condé, 16; + litigation of, with father, 34, 37, 41-44, 51-54; + wealth of, 35-38, 145, 163, 185, 256; + skilful management of her affairs, 36, 37, 49; + breaks with Condé, 46, 47, 52; + makes overtures to Mazarin, 47, 48; + wins Champigny lawsuit, 49-51, 125; + permitted to return to Court, 54, 55, 57-59; + never fully forgiven, 58, 59, 101, 169, 186, 197, 370; + proposed marriage of, with little Monsieur, 59, 73, 272-278; + takes up residence in the Luxembourg, 72, 121, 122; + popularity of, in Paris, 72, 366; + description of, 72-74; + astonished at lack of etiquette at Court, 75-79; + visits Port-Royal, 79, 80; + visits Dombes, 95, 96; + Monsieur's duplicity towards, 98, 99; + grieves at death of Monsieur, 102, 103; + present at marriage of Louis XIV., 105-111; + ill-health of, 120; + salon of, 122-125, 131-136, 148, 223, 224, 226; + describes blue room of Mme. de Rambouillet, 132, 133; + letters of, 160, 170, 183; + letters to, 183, 188, 189, 348; + proposed marriages of, 136-138; + grudge of Charles II. against, 136, 137; + King plans marriage of, with King of Portugal, 142-146, 160, 161; + refuses to marry Alphonse, 145-147, 160, 185; + second exile of, 147, 160-170, 182, 184; + proposed marriage of, with Duc de Savoie, 147, 185-190, 236; + buys Comté d'Eu, 161-168; + installed at Eu, 169, 170; + recalled to Court, 184-187; + failure of proposed marriages of, 189-192; + patroness of Lulli, 221; + cultivates Mme. de Montespan, 229, 230, 233-236; + change in sentiments of, 235; + advancing age of, 236, 254, 277, 278; + infatuation of, for Lauzun, 238-242, 250, 262, 279-281, 359, 360; + describes Lauzun, 248; + makes proposals of marriage to, 251-256, 267-270, 279, 280; + Lauzun's treatment of, 253-256, 261, 275-277, 279, 281, 357-360; + proposed de Longueville marriage of, 256, 257, 270; + as a traveller, 262-267; + at death-bed of Madame, 270-272; + King's tacit consent to marriage with Lauzun, 281-283, 286; + criticism of projected marriage by all classes, 285, 286; + bestows principalities and titles upon Lauzun, 288, 307; + preparing for marriage, 289, 290, 296; + King refuses consent, 290-293, 295, 296, 353, 354; + marriage with Lauzun broken off, 291-293, 296, 297, 317, 326; + appeals in vain to King, 291-293, 315, 316; + grief and despair of, 296-303; + wide-spread belief in secret marriage of, 304-309, 349, 353, 358; + learns of Lauzun's arrest and imprisonment, 310-314; + efforts of, to obtain release of Lauzun, 317, 318, 348-352; + traditional daughter of, 349; + price demanded from, for liberation of Lauzun, 351, 352; + makes Duc du Maine her heir, 351, 352; + tricked by Louis and Mme. de Montespan, 354; + Lauzun forced to renounce gifts of, 354; + compensates Lauzun, 355; + devotion of, to Lauzun after his liberation, 356-360; + constant quarrels with Lauzun, 357-361; + final break with Lauzun, 362, 363, 366; + illness and death of, 365, 366; + burial of, at St. Denis, 366; + last of actors in the Fronde, 369; + great qualities of, 377 + +Montpensier, Mlle., _Mémoires_ of, 3, 4, 8, 15, 23, 36, 45, 55, 59, + 79, 97, 98, 102, 105, 106, 121, 125, 131, 136, 138, 143, 160, 169, + 182, 210, 221, 222, 230, 238-240, 255, 256, 262, 269, 297, 305, 308, + 315-317, 339, 347, 348, 350, 353, 356, 361 + +Montpensier, duchy of, 49; + given to Lauzun, 288 + +Montpensier, Henri de Bourbon, Duc de, 42 + +Montpensier, Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, Duchesse de, 42 + +Montresor, Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de, 161 + +Montvoisin, Antoine, 206-208 + +Montvoisin, Catherine "La Voisin" the poisoner, 207, 208, 210, 212 + +_Morale de Salomon, La_, 127 + +Moret, mock siege of, 334, 335 + +Morin the Jew, 76 + +Mortemart, Mlle. de (Mme. de Montespan), 172 + +Motteville, Mme. de, 31, 49, 62, 66, 116, 135, 149, 150, 195; + _Mémoires_ of, 73, 100, 104, 109, 112, 113, 116, 135, 149, 150, 154, + 170, 190, 195 + +Mouchy, 199 + + +N + +Nallot, M. de, 310, 311 + +Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, 331, 374 + +Necromancy, 202-207 + +_Négociations relatives à la succession d'Espagne_ (Mignet), 143 + +Nemours, Henri de Savoie, Duc de, 185 + +Nemours, Marie-Jeanne Baptiste de, 190 + +Nemours, the Mesdemoiselles de, 185, 190 + +Nesmond, Présidente de, 90 + +Nevers, Duchesse de, 347 + +Nimeguen, peace of, 331 + +Noailles, Duc de(Comte d' Ayen), 270 + +Noailles, Mme. de, 248 + +Nogent, Mme. de, 290, 327-329 + +Nolhac, M. de, _La Création de Versailles_, by, 176 + +_Nouvelles Françaises, Les_ (Segrais), 8 + +Nuitter and Thoinan, _Les Origines de l'Opéra Français_, by, 213 + + +O + +Oeillets, Mlle. des, 346 + +_Oeuvres complètes_ (Saint-Pierre), 365 + +_Oeuvres galantes en vers et en prose_ (Cotin), 223 + +_Oeuvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulières_, 188 + +Olivet, Abbé d', 222 + +Opera, Italian, birth of, 214-216; + French, 215, 216 + +_Origines de l'Opéra Français, Les_ (Nuitter and Thoinan), 213 + +Orléans, city of, 33, 34, 39, 42, 49, 53 + +Orléans, House of, 35, 37 + +Orléans, Gaston, Duc d' (Monsieur), character of, 3, 23-25, 28-30, + 44, 52, 97-99; + exiled to Blois, 24-33; + piety of, 29, 30; + children of, 31, 34, 37, 39, 42, 77, 97-99, 105, 106, 133, 134, 137, + 138, 186, 235, 294; + pillages daughter's fortune, 35-37, 39-44, 168; + under Court protection, 38-40, 48, 49; + litigation of, with Mademoiselle, 37, 41-44, 51-54; + death and burial of, 101, 102 + +Orléans, Henrietta of England (Madame), wife of Philippe Duc d'. + _See_ Henrietta + +Orléans, Marguerite de Lorraine (Madame), second wife of Gaston, Duc d', + 24, 43, 191, 285, 286; + daughters of, 31, 34, 37, 39, 42, 77, 97-99, 105, 106, 133, 134, 137, + 138, 186, 188, 235, 294; + character of, 101, 102, 121, 122, 133, 134 + +Orléans, Marguerite Louise, Mlle. d', daughter of Monsieur, 97, 98, 133; + marriage of, 137, 138 + +Orléans, Marie Louise d', daughter of little Monsieur, 277; + marriage of, 277 + +Orléans, Mgr. Duc d', 162 + +Orléans, Philippe, Duc d'. _See_ Anjou + +Ormesson, André d', 22, 48 + +Ormesson, Olivier Lefèvre d', _Journal_ of, 48, 76, 118, 159, 174, + 177, 186, 194, 197, 285, 287, 301, 331, 332, 335; + disgrace of, 118, 332 + +Ormond, Marquis d', 137 + + +P + +Palatine, Anne de Bavière, Princesse, 174 + +Palatine, Anne de Gonzague, Princesse, 106 + +Palatine, Elisabeth Charlotte de Bavière, Princesse (Madame), second + wife of Philippe Duc d'Orléans, 62, 156, 315 + +_Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de la Pénitence_, 127 + +Paris, Archbishop of, 287, 288 + +Paris, King and Court return to, 2, 19-21, 24, 65, 110, 174, 281; + opinion of King in, 71; + committee of relief founded in, 87-93; + carnival in, 93, 94; + Queen's entrance into, 111; + commerce in, 142; + magic arts in, 201-206, 342-344; + bridges of, 206; + lampoons against Louis in, 335; + dungeons of, 347; + cradle of French revolutions, 370, 376 + +Parliament, the, Louis XIV. dictates to, 19, 20, 23, 76; + dictates to royalty, 68, 69; + petition to, 162; + decrees of, 167, 168; + privileges of, 371 + +Parma, Duc de, 189 + +Patin, Guy, letters of, 71, 113, 117 + +_Pédagogue chrétien_, 324 + +Pellison, _Lettres historiques_, by, 258 + +Péréfixe, Abbé de, 66, 67, 115 + +_Perroquet ou Les Amours de Mademoiselle_, Le 257, 282 + +_Pertharite_ (Corneille), 80 + +Petitot, editor _Mémoires_ of Louis XIV., 66 + +_Phèdre_ (Racine), 224 + +Philip IV. of Spain, 103, 104, 142, 149; + interviews of, with Louis XIV. and Anne of Austria, 106-110; + death of, 173 + +Picardy, 87, 165 + +Pignerol, fortress of, 310, 311, 318, 319, 325, 329, 351, 355, 356, 358 + +Pimbesche, Countess of, original of, 36, 191 + +_Plaideurs_ (Racine), 227 + +_Plaisirs de l'Ile enchantée_, 176 + +_Poisons, Les_ (La Fontaine), 203 + +Poland, Marie de Gonzague, Queen of, and Port-Royal, 88, 92; + letters to, 117, 174, 175, 186 + +_Polexandre_ (Gomberville), 11 + +Polignac, Vicomtesse de, 344 + +Pomponne, M. de, 293, 297; + _La Correspondance de Pomponne_, 297 + +Pont Marie, 206 + +Porchat, Jacques, and Miot, _Histoire de France_, tr. by, 99 + +Porte Saint-Antoine, heroine of, 3, 53, 59, 72, 370 + +Port Royal des Champs, 79, 88, 92 + +_Port-Royal_ (Sainte-Beuve), 82 + +Portugal, independence of, threatened, 142; + King of, 143-145, 160, 185 + +Portugal, Queen of, 190 + +_Précieuses Ridicules, Les_ (Molière), 124 + +Préfontaine, 33, 35, 36, 41, 43, 44, 50, 53 + +_Princesse de Clèves_ (La Fayette), 153 + +_Princesse d'Elide_ (Molière), 180, 216 + +_Problèmes Historiques_ (Loiseleur), 63 + +_Provinciales_, the, 79 + +Provins, 84 + +Puyguilhem, Marquis de. See Lauzun + +Pyrénées, peace of the, 2, 99, 100, 107 + +_Pyrrhus_ (Racine), 224 + + +Q + +"Queens, the three," 233 + +Quinault, tragedies of, 80, 81, 216, 217, 220 + + +R + +Racan, Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de. _See_ Barthélemy + +Racine, Jean, tragedies of, 8, 81, 223-229; + and Corneille compared, 223-227; + King's appreciation of, 224, 227, 228 + +Racine, Louis, _Mémoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine_, + by, 227 + +Rambouillet, Hôtel, 14, 224 + +Rambouillet, Mme. de, salon of, 123 + +Rampillon, 84 + +Ranke, Leopold von, _Histoire de France_, by, 99, 330 + +Rapin, Father, 181 + +Ravaisson, François, _Archives de la Bastille_, by, 201, 312 + +Ravetot, Marquis de, 211 + +Regent, the, 62, 372, 374 + +Reims, 55, 56 + +Reims, Archbishop of, 288 + +_Relation de la Cour de France_ (Spanheim), 374 + +_Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés aux Reines, + La_ (Marigny), 173 + +_Relation de l'Ile imaginaire, La_ (Mademoiselle), 18, 132 + +_Relations des Ambassadeurs Venitiens_, 65 + +_Relations_ of de Bernières, 87-90 + +_Remerciement au Roi_ (Molière), 231 + +Retz, Cardinal de, 20, 24, 25, 113, 369, 377 + +Richelieu, 11, 25, 28, 30, 50, 55 + +Robert, Procurer-General, 344 + +Robespierre, 375 + +Rochefort, 287, 336 + +Roche-sur-Yon, 49 + +Rocroy, 101 + +Rodocanachi, M., _Les Infortunes d'une petite-fille d' Henri IV._, by, + 138 + +Rohan, Marie-Eleonore de, Abbess, 126, 127 + +_Roland furieux_, 178 + +Rolland, Romain, _Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe_, by, 213, 220 + +Romecourt, 265, 266 + +Roquelaure, 148 + +Rosen, de, 84 + +Rousseau, Sieur, 293 + +Rousset, Camille, _Histoire de Louvois_, by, 364 + + +S + +Sainctôt, Mme. de, 131 + +Saint-Aignan, Duc de, 178 + +Saint Antoine de Padua, 205 + +Saint-Cloud, Château of, 54, 269 + +Saint-Cyr, 63 + +Saint-Denis, burial of Monsieur at, 102; + burial of Mademoiselle at, 366 + +Sainte-Beuve, _Port-Royal_, by, 82 + +Saint Evremond, _The Operas_, by, 218 + +Saint-Fargeau, Château of, Mademoiselle exiled to, 3-6, 36, 73; + Mademoiselle's Court at, 6-10, 12, 17-20, 129-131, 135; + Mademoiselle again exiled to, 147, 148, 160, 169 + +Saint-Geneviève MS., 257 + +Saint-Germain-des Prés, 73 + +Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Court at, 173, 177, 239, 247, 258, 269, 310, + 313, 318, 353, 354 + +Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Court at, 104, 108; + marriage of Louis XIV., at, 110 + +Saint-Joseph, Convent of, 234 + +Saint-Mars, Sieur de, 310, 311; + letter of, 313; + letters to, 318-321, 325-327, 329 + +Saint-Paul, Comte de (Duc de Longueville), 256, 257 + +Saint-Pierre, Bernardin de, 9; + _[OE]uvres complètes_ of, 365 + +Saint Quentin, 263 + +Saint-Rémi, Jacques de Courtavel, Marquis de, 134 + +Saint-Romain, Abbé de, 143 + +_Saint Sacrement, Compagnie du_, founding of, 85-87, 93; + charitable work of, 157, 158; + nicknamed, 157; + disapproves of King's conduct, 157-159, 373; + blow aimed at, 181; + disorganisation of, 198, 199 + +Saint-Severin, Church of, 210 + +Saint-Simon, Duc de, at Court, 78, 116, 369, 370, 372; + _Mémoires_ of, 116, 161, 209, 212, 234, 245, 255, 326, 353, 360, + 366-368, 372; + _Écrits inédits_ of, 354, 359, 363, 364 + +Saint-Sulpice, 73 + +Saint Vincent de Paul, character and influence of, 85; + joins _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 87, 373; + head of relief work, 88-90, 157 + +_Saint Vincent de Paul_ (Broglie), 82, 91 + +_Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi_ (Chantelauze), 82 + +Salic law, the, 105 + +Sambre, the, 264 + +Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., Duc de, marriages of, 99, 147, 185, + 186, 190, 236; + revenges himself on Louis and Mlle., 189, 190 + +Savoie, Marguerite, Princesse de, Louis XIV. refused to marry, 94, + 96, 189; + marries Duc de Parma, 189 + +Savoie, Victor-Amédée II., Duc de, marriage of, 277 + +Saxe-Jena, Bernard, Duke of, 125 + +Scarron, Mme. de. _See_ Maintenon + +Sceaux, 357 + +Scudéry, Madeleine, Mlle. de, 258, 302; + _Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus_, by, 11, 125; + Saturdays of, 123, 124 + +Scudéry, Mme. de, 302, 342 + +Sedan, 55-59, 73 + +Segrais, Mademoiselle's secretary, 8, 9, 13, 134, 226, 286, 306, 307, + 349; + _Les Nouvelles Françaises_, by, 8, 9 + +_Segraisiana_, 71, 279, 310 + +Seignelay, 363, 364 + +Seine, the, 206 + +Sévigné, Mme. de, 75, 80, 134, 177, 200; + letters of, 2, 11, 129, 217, 218, 225, 235, 287, 288, 307, 310, 337, + 338, 345, 347, 362; + letters to, 248, 284, 364 + +Soissons, Comtesse de, 237, 271, 336, 341, 344 + +Soissons, Marie de Bourbon-, 291 + +Somaize, _Le Dictionnaire des Précieuses_, by, 13 + +Sourches, Marquis de, _Mémoires_ of, 26 + +_Souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus_, 150, 347 + +_Souvenirs et Correspondance_ of Mme. de Caylus, 300 + +_Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon_, 150, 219, 230, 341 + +Spain, wars of, with France, 16, 20, 23, 38, 55, 59, 83, 361; + King of, 103, 104, 142, 149, 173; + etiquette of Court of, 104-111; + absolute monarchy an importation from, 118, 371; + war of Dévolution in, 154, 257; + marriage of Infanta of,--_see_ Marie-Thérèse; + power of France over, 171, 331 + +Spanheim, Ézéchiel, _Relation de la Cour de France_, by, 374 + +_Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France, Les_ (Jusserand), 7 + +_Suite du Menteur_ (Corneille), 241 + + +T + +_Tableau de la Pénitence, Le_, 324 + +Tallemant, 31 + +Tarente, Princess of, 125 + +_Tartuffe_ (Molière), 181, 182, 221, 222, 374 + +Terlon, Chevalier de, 293 + +Theiner, Père, 63 + +_The Operas_ (Saint Evremond), 218 + +Thianges, Mme. de, 266, 347 + +Thoinan. _See_ Nuitter + +Tingry, Princesse de, 344 + +Tolstoi, _Kreutzer Sonata_, by, 220 + +Torre, Don Diego de la, 282 + +Toulouse, Court at, 99 + +Tourraine, 50 + +Tours, 346 + +Trémouille, Mlle. de la, 125, 137 + +Tréport, 166, 349 + +Trévoux, 95 + +Trianon, 235 + +Trichateau, Marquis de, 343 + +Tuileries, palace of the, 4, 19, 123 + +Turenne, 20, 23, 53, 54, 61, 137, 369; + visits and letters of, to Mademoiselle, 143-146, 160 + +Turin, 147, 319 + +Tuscany, Duke of, 138 + + +U + +Urfé, Honoré d', _l'Astrée_, by, 14, 80 + +Uzès, Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d', 264 + + +V + +Valentinois, Duchess of, 75 + +Vallot, 270 + +Valois, Anne Marie de, daughter of the little Monsieur, 277; + marriage of, 277 + +Valois, Françoise-Madeleine, Mlle. de, daughter of Monsieur, 133; + marriage and death of, 185, 188 + +Vardes, 71, 148 + +Vatel 128 + +Vaujours, duchy of, 154 + +Vendôme, Elisabeth de, 185 + +Vendôme, M. de, 117 + +Venice, opera houses of, 214 + +Ventadour, Duc de, 85, 86 + +Versailles, palace of, 26; + Louis XIV. takes up residence at, 174, 370, 376; + fêtes, 176-182, 269, 333, 365, etc.; + expenses of, 336, 337 + +_Vers d'Atys_, 81 + +Vexin, Comte de, 235 + +_Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles_ (Mademoiselle), 132 + +Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, 89 + +Villeroy, Maréchal de, 290 + +Villeroy, Mme. de, 75 + +Vincennes, 111, 347 + +Visé, Donneau de _Mecure Galant_, 365 + +Vittori, 214 + +Voiture, 131 + +_Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont_, 32 + + +W + +Westphalia, peace of, 99 + + + + +_A Selection from the Catalogue of_ + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +[Illustration] + +Complete Catalogues sent on application [Blank Page] + + +By ARVEDE BARINE + +The Youth _of_ La Grande Mademoiselle + +1627-1652 + +_Authorized English Version_ + +Octavo. With 25 illustrations from contemporaneous sources. Net, $3.00. +(By mail, $3.25.) + +"A book that is decidedly interesting and that is well worth reading. +The subject and the heroine is enough to make the volume attractive.... +The volume is handsomely printed, and the illustrations are +representative as well as accurate."--_The London Spectator._ + +"This brilliant biography sparkles and intoxicates with literary +vivacity. In connection with the career of the astonishing heroine, the +author presents a picture that has hardly been surpassed of Court life +and politics in France in the seventeenth century. The illustrations +from contemporary prints add greatly to the attractiveness of this +fascinating volume."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + +Louis XIV _and_ La Grande Mademoiselle + +1652-1693 + +_Authorized English Version_ + +Octavo. With 30 illustrations. Net, $3.00. (By mail, $3.25) + +(Uniform with "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle") + +"A new work on La Grande Mademoiselle by Arvède Barine is a promise of +delight to all who love wit and wisdom.... It is bewildering to think of +the many crowns and coronets that might have rested on the brow of the +dramatic heroine, a heroine who appears and disappears in clouds of +dust, with regiments of cavalry wheeling and whirling around her to the +sound of the trumpets--the stern devotee of reason who dismissed one of +her maids because she married for love--the philosopher who debated in +her mimic court whether an accepted lover is more unhappy than a +rejected lover in the absence of the beloved.... The story of this +heroine is told by Barine with that art which conceals art.... It forms +a fitting supplement to the equally delightful volume which preceded it +describing "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle."--_London Times._ + + +_New York_ · G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS · _London_ + + + + + Portraits of + the Seventeenth Century + + By C. A. Sainte-Beuve + + TRANSLATED BY KATHARINE P. WORMELEY + + Two Parts. Octavo. With about 30 Illustrations + Sold separately. Each, $2.50 net + + +_CONTENTS OF PART ONE_ + + Cardinal Richelieu + Duc de Rohan + Cardinal Mazarin + Duc de la Rochefoucauld + Duchesse de Longueville + Cardinal de Retz + Ninon de l'Enclos + Bussy-Rabutin + Tallemant des Réaux + Abbé de Rancé + La Grande Mademoiselle + Comtesse de la Fayette + Duchesse d'Orléans + Louis XIV. + Louise de la Valliere + + +_CONTENTS OF PART TWO_ + + History of the French Academy + Corneille + Mlle. de Scudéry + Molière + La Fontaine + Pascal + Mme. de Sévigné + Bossuet + Boileau + Racine + Mme. de Caylus + Fénelon + Comte Antoine Hamilton + The Princesse des Ursins + +"The translator is a true servant and friend, not the proverbial +traducer; none but Miss Wormeley could have been selected for the task, +and she has given of her best, her indefatigable, conscientious, +intellectual best, which has made her the mistress of a difficult +art."--_The N. Y. Evening Mail._ + +=Send for Descriptive Circular= + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + + + + +Little French Masterpieces + +Representative Tales by the Best +French Authors + +Edited by +=ALEXANDER JESSUP= + +Translations by +=GEORGE BURNHAM IVES= + + With portraits in Photogravure. Issued in a small + and attractive form + +_Six volumes, 16{o}, in a box, cloth, $6.00_ + _Limp leather, $7.50_ +_Also sold separately_ _Cloth, $1.00_ _Leather, $1.25_ + + =I. Prosper Mérimée.= Introduction by Grace King. + + =II. Gustave Flaubert.= Introduction by Frank Thomas + Marzials. + +=III. Théophile Gautier.= Introduction by Frédéric-César de + Sumichrast. + + =IV. Alphonse Daudet.= Introduction by William P. Trent. + + =V. Guy de Maupassant.= Introduction by Arthur Symons. + + =VI. Honoré de Balzac.= Introduction by F. Brunetière. + +"A capital idea is here admirably carried out. The supremacy of the +French in the delicately finished short story is undisputed, and the six +authors here represented are the finest flowers of this development of +French literature. The little volumes are all that is charming in +outward appearance, are literally volumes for the pocket, have portraits +of the authors, and each is introduced by a competent critic. The +stories themselves are well chosen and carefully translated."--_The +Outlook._ + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + + + + +By ELIZABETH W. CHAMPNEY + + +=Romance of the French Abbeys= + + Octavo. With 2 Coloured, 9 Photogravure, 50 other + Illustrations, and Ornamental Headpieces + + "A delightful blending of history, art and romance.... Many of + the stories related are thrilling and none the less exciting + because they belong to history."--_Chicago Dial._ + + "The book fully carries out the suggestion of Guizot, 'If you + are fond of romance, read history.'"--_Boston Transcript._ + + +=Romance of the Feudal Châteaux= + + Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations + +"The author has retold the legends and traditions which cluster about +the châteaux and castles, which have come down from the Middle Ages, +with the skillful touch of the artist and the grace of the practiced +writer.... The story of France takes on a new light as studied in +connection with the architecture of these fortified homes."--_Christian +Intelligencer._ + + +=Romance of the Renaissance Châteaux= + + Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations + +"The romances of those beautiful châteaux are placed by the author on +the lips of the people who lived in them. She gives us a feeling of +intimacy with characters whose names belong to history."--_N. Y. Mail +and Express._ + +"A book of high merit.... Good history, good story, and good +art."--_Hartford Courant._ + + +=Romance of the Bourbon Châteaux= + + Octavo. With Coloured Frontispiece and 47 Photogravure and + other Illustrations + +"Told with a keen eye to the romantic elements, and a clear +understanding of historical significance."--_Boston Transcript._ + +"It is a book that will be read with interest this year or ten or twenty +years hence."--_Hartford Courant._ + +=Four volumes. Illustrated. Each, in a box, net, $3.00 (By mail, $3.25.) +The set, 4 volumes in a box, net, $12.00= + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Note: Tags that surround the word =G. P.= indicate bold. + Tags that surround the word _Hartford Courant._ indicate italics. + ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + Transcriber's notes: + + Letters surrounded with {e} represent supertext. + + P.26. 'Qu'en croit' should be .Qu'on croit'. + P. 62. cammandemens should be commandemens. Changed. + P.62. 'voster' should be 'vostre'. Changed. + P.91. 'bourgeosie' should be 'bourgeoisie'. Changed. + Fontainbleau changed with Fontainebleau throughout the text. + P.187. vengance should be vengeance. Changed. + Footnote [187] < index. 'l'Opera' should be Histoire de 'l'Opéra'. + P.132. Footnote 107: 'l'Île' shoulde be 'l'Isle', changed. + Took out 'Court of France continued' in index. P. 382. + P.212, 'de' Mme. de changed to 'the' Mme. de. + P.229 'trival'. changed to 'trivial'. + Footone [269]. 'Historie' should be 'Histoire'. + P.329, 'Lauzon' should be 'Lauzun'. + P.347, 'suddently'should be 'suddenly'. + P.379. Arras, 'seige' of, should be 'siege'. + P.383. conversation, the delight of intelligent, + P.369. arrived 'a' the court should be 'at'. + + These correction are not indicated. + + Fixed multiple instances of: + + Fontainbleau to Fontainebleau. + d'Ormesson. + d'Aumale + d'Haussonville + d'Ormesson + Blois, Mlle. de + Princesse + + Accents that have been fixed: + + HÉLÈNE. + SÉVIGNÉ. + Prés. + Péréfixe. + Angélique. + Problèmes. + Béziers. + événement + Phèdre + Condé + Littérature + nôtre + Opéra + Marie-Thérèse + indépendants + Pédagogue + Écrits + Molière + misère + édifiantes + Pédagogue + Saint-Geneviève + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by +Arvede Barine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + +***** This file should be named 37409-8.txt or 37409-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/0/37409/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37409-8.zip b/37409-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62fbd4a --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-8.zip diff --git a/37409-h.zip b/37409-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb3a78d --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h.zip diff --git a/37409-h/37409-h.htm b/37409-h/37409-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f877e --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/37409-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13682 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle 1652-1693, by Arvède Barine. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5{ + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent : 0; +} + +.dropcap { + text-indent: 0; +} + +p.dropcap:first-letter { + float: left; + padding-right: 3px; + font-size: 285%; + line-height: 90%; + width: auto; + font-weight: bold; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr1 { + width: 45%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr2 { + width: 55%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr3 { + width: 65%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr4 { + width: 80%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr5 { + width: 100%; + border: 2px solid #868686; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr6 { + width: 100%; + border: 5px solid #868686; + padding: 2px; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +h1 {font-size: 250%;} + +h2 {font-size: 200%;} + +h3 {font-size: 160%;} + +h4 {font-size: 130%;} + +h5 {font-size: 100%; font-family: "Old English Text MT", sans-serif; +} + +ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + +.tnote {border: dashed 1px; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 12%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.bord1 { border: 3px solid #868686; + padding: 10px; + margin: 10%; + text-align: justify; + width: 565px; + height: 460px; + font-size: 18px; +} + +.bord2 { border: 3px solid #868686; + padding: 10px; + margin: 10%; + text-align: justify; + width: 565px; + height: 1400px; + font-size: 18px; +} + +.bord3 { border: 3px solid #868686; + padding: 10px; + margin: 10%; + text-align: justify; + width: 565px; + height: 1120px; + font-size: 18px; +} + +.bord4 { border: 3px solid #868686; + padding: 10px; + margin: 10%; + text-align: justify; + width: 565px; + height: 1480px; + font-size: 18px; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.rightalign { + position: absolute; + left: 90%; + font-size: 1em; + text-align: right; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i1 { + display: block; + margin-left: 1em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i3 { + display: block; + margin-left: 3em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by Arvede Barine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle + 1652-1693 + +Author: Arvede Barine + +Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37409] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 506px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="506" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a></span></p> + +<div class="bord1"> +<h3><i>By ARVÈDE BARINE</i></h3> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<p class="center"><b>The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle +1627-1652</b></p> + +<p class="center">Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully +Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Louis XIV. and La Grande Mademoiselle +1652-1693</b></p> + +<p class="center">Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully +Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00</p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<p class="center"><b><i>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</i></b></p> + +<p class="center"><b><i>New York</i></b><span style="margin-left: 5em;"> <b><i>London</i></b></span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 476px;"> +<img src="images/illus004.png" width="476" height="600" alt="Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie.</span> +</div> + +<h3>MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER</h3> + +<div class="center">She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston d'Orléans</div> + +<div class="center">From the painting by Pierre Bourgnignon in the Musée de Versailles</div> + +<div class="center">By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h1>Louis XIV</h1> + +<h3><b>and</b></h3> + +<h2>La Grande Mademoiselle</h2> + +<h3><b>By</b></h3> + +<h2>Arvède Barine</h2> + +<div class="center">Author of "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle"</div> + +<hr class="hr" /> +<div class="center"><i>Authorised English Version</i></div> + +<hr class="hr1" /> +<p class="center">G. P. Putnam's Sons</p> + +<p class="center">New York and London</p> +<h5>The Knickerbocker Press</h5> + +<hr class="hr2" /> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905</span></p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</p> + +<h5>The Knickerbocker Press, New York</h5> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">iii</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p class="dropcap">IN the volume entitled <i>The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle</i> I have +tried to present the conditions of France during the period in which the +ancient liberties of the people and the turbulent society which had +abused its privileges suffered, in the one case death, in the other +extinction.</p> + +<p>As is always the case, a lack of proper discipline had prepared the way +for absolute rule, and the young King who was about to assume full power +was an enigma to his subjects. The nearest relatives of Louis had always +found him impenetrable. The Grande Mademoiselle had been brought up side +by side with her cousin, but she was entirely ignorant of his real +character, knowing only that he was silent and appeared timid. In her +failure to understand the King, Mademoiselle showed herself again a true +child of her century.</p> + +<p>At the moment in which the Prince assumed full power, his true +disposition, thoughts, and beliefs were entirely hidden from the public, +and Saint-Simon has contributed to this ignorance by prolonging it to +posterity. Louis XIV. was over fifty when this terrible writer appeared +at Court. The <i>Mémoires</i> of Saint-Simon present the portrait of a man +almost old; this portrait however is so powerful, so living that it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span> +obliterates every other. The public sees only the Louis of Saint-Simon; +for it, the youthful King as he lived during the troubled and passionate +period of his career, the period that was most interesting, because most +vital, has never existed.</p> + +<p>The official history of the times aids in giving a false impression of +Louis XIV., figuring him in a sort of hieratic attitude between an idol +and a manikin. The portraits of Versailles again mask the Louis of the +young Court, the man for whose favour Molière and the Libertines fought +with varying chances of success.</p> + +<p>In the present volume I have tried to raise a corner of this mask.</p> + +<p>The <i>Mémoires</i> of Louis XIV., completely edited for the first time +according to any methodical plan in 1860, have greatly aided me in this +task. They abound in confessions, sometimes aside, sometimes direct, of +the matters that occupied the thoughts of the youthful author. The +Grande Mademoiselle, capable of neither reserve nor dissimulation, has +proved the next most valuable guide in the attempt to penetrate into the +intimate life of Louis. As related by her, the perpetual difficulties +with the Prince throw a vivid light upon the kind of incompatibility of +temper which existed at the beginning of the reign between absolute +power and the survivors of the Fronde.</p> + +<p>How the young King succeeded in directing his generation toward new +ideas and sentiments and how the Grande Mademoiselle, too late carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span> +away by the torrent, became in the end a victim to its force, will be +seen in the course of the present volume, provided, that is, that I have +not overestimated my powers in touching upon a subject very obscure, +very delicate, with facts drawn from a period the most frequently +referred to and yet in some respects the least comprehended of the +entire history of France.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">A. B.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></h3> + +<p><span class="rightalign">PAGE</span><br /></p> + +<blockquote><p>Exile—Provincial Life—Conversation at +Saint-Fargeau—Sentiment towards Nature in the Seventeenth +Century—Differences between Mademoiselle and her +Father—Mademoiselle Returns to Court<span class="rightalign">1-57</span></p></blockquote> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></h3> + +<blockquote><p>The Education of Louis +XIV.—Manners—Poverty—Charity—Vincent de Paul, a +Secret Society—Marriage of Louis XIV.—His Arrival at Power +on the Death of Mazarin—He Re-educates Himself<span class="rightalign">58-119</span></p></blockquote> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></h3> + +<blockquote><p>Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg—Her Salon—The "Anatomies" of +the Heart—Projects of Marriage, and New Exile—Louis XIV. +and the Libertines—Fragility of Fortune in Land—<i>Fêtes</i> +<i>Galantes</i><span class="rightalign">120-184</span></p></blockquote> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></h3> + +<blockquote><p>Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love—The Corrupters of +Morals—Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence—Love in +Racine—Louis XIV. and the Nobility—The King is Polygamous<span class="rightalign">185-236</span></p></blockquote> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></h3> + +<blockquote><p>The Grande Mademoiselle in Love—Sketch of Lauzun and +their Romance—The Court on its Travels—Death of +Madame—Announcement of the Marriage of Mademoiselle—General +Consternation—Louis XIV. Breaks the Affair<span class="rightalign">237-303</span></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></h3> + +<blockquote><p>Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?—Imprisonment of +Lauzun—Splendour Purchases Lauzun's Freedom—Their +Embroilment—Death of the Grande Mademoiselle—Death of +Lauzun—Conclusion<span class="rightalign">304-377</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"><a href="#INDEX"><b>Index </b></a><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_379">379</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p><span class="rightalign">PAGE</span><br /></p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Mademoiselle de Montpensier</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_i"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></span><br /> +She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston d'Orléans. From the +painting by Pierre Bourguignon in the Musée de Versailles. By permission +of Messrs. Hachette & Co.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_05">4</a></span><br /> +From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Cardinal de Retz</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_025">24</a></span><br /> +Showing him in his coadjuteur days. After the painting by Deveria.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Julius Hardouin Mansart</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_027">26</a></span><br /> +After the painting by Vivien.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Jean de la Fontaine</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_054">54</a></span><br /> +From an engraving by Grevedon.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Louis XIV. as a Boy, Dedicating his Crown</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_063">62</a></span><br /> +After the painting by Greg Huret.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Louis XIV. as a Young Man</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0073">72</a></span><br /> +From a chalk drawing in the British Museum Print Room.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">François de la Rochefoucauld</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Hopwood after the painting by Petitot.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Hélenè Lambert, Madame de Motteville</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0151">150</a></span><br /> +After the painting by De Largillière.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Louise de la Vallière</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0155">154</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Petitot.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Jean Baptiste Colbert</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0170">170</a></span><br /> +After the painting by Champaign.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">"Pleasures of the Island of Enchantment."</span><br /> +Scene on the First Day of the Play, before the King at +Versailles<span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0173">172</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">"Pleasures of the Island of Enchantment." Second Day</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0175">174</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">General View of the Château of Versailles</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0177">176</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">The Front of the Louvre in Course of Erection</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0179">178</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Jean Baptiste Poquelin Molière</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0181">180</a></span><br /> +After the painting by Noël Coypel.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Madame Henriette d'Orléans</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0195">194</a></span><br /> +From the painting by Mignard in the National Portrait Gallery.<br /> +(Photograph by Walker, London.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Madame de Montespan</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0201">200</a></span><br /> +From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Mignard.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">La Voisin</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0207">206</a></span><br /> +From a print in the Bibliothèque Nationale.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Jean Baptiste de Lulli</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0217">216</a></span><br /> +After a contemporary print by Bonnart.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Boileau</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0221">220</a></span><br /> +After the painting by H. Rigaud.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Duc de Lauzun</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0245">244</a></span><br /> +By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Madame de Sévigné</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0283">282</a></span><br /> +From the painting by Pietro Mignard in the Uffizi Gallery,<br /> +Florence. (Photograph by Alinari.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">View of the Palace and Gardens of the Tuileries</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0331">330</a></span><br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">View of the Residence of Colbert, Showing also his Seal</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0333">332</a></span><br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">View of the Château of Versailles, Showing The</span><br /> +Fountain of the Dragon<span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0335">334</a></span><br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Duchesse de la Vallière and her Children</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0337">336</a></span><br /> +From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the<br /> +Marquise d'Oilliamson.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Louise de la Vallière, in the Garb of the Order</span><br /> +of the Carmelites<span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0339">338</a></span><br /> +After the painting by D. Plaats.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Madame de Maintenon</span><span class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_0341">340</a></span><br /> +After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="LOUIS_XIV" id="LOUIS_XIV"></a>LOUIS XIV. AND LA GRANDE MADEMOISELLE</h2> + +<hr class="hr1" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<blockquote><p>Exile—Provincial Life—Conversation at Saint-Fargeau—Sentiment +towards Nature in the Seventeenth Century—Differences between +Mademoiselle and her Father—Mademoiselle Returns to Court.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">THE Fronde was an abortive revolution. It was condemned in advance, the +leaders having never clearly known what ends they were seeking. The +consequences of its failure proved to be of profound importance to +France. The civil disorders existing between 1648 and 1652 were the last +efforts of the French against the establishing of absolute monarchy, to +the strengthening of which the entire regency of Anne of Austria had +tended. The end of these disorders signified that the nation, wearied +and discouraged, had accepted the new régime. The result was a great +transformation, political and moral, so great that the Fronde may be +considered as clearly marking a separation between two periods of French +history—a deep abyss as it were between the times which precede and +those which follow.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<p>The leaders of the Fronde had been dispersed by the return of the King +to his capital on October 21, 1652. When the exiles returned, some +sooner, some later, the last after the Peace of the Pyrénées (November +7, 1659), so great a change had taken place in ideas and customs that +more than one exile felt himself in a strange land.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to adjust oneself to the new atmosphere. It was very +much the same situation—though the Frondeurs were under much lighter +accusations—as that experienced by the <i>émigrés</i> returning under the +Consulate. The Princess, the events of whose heroic years have been +related, offers an excellent example of this condition.</p> + +<p>When the Grande Mademoiselle, who had urged on the civil war in order to +force Louis XIV. into marriage with herself, obtained at the end of five +years, permission to return to Court, she brought with her the old +undisciplined habits which were no longer in fashion, and in the end +incurred much that was disagreeable. Exile had not weakened her pride. +According to a celebrated formula, she had learned nothing, she had +forgotten nothing; she remained that person of impulse of whom Mme. de +Sévigné said, "I do not care to mix myself with her impetuosities."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Far be it from me to reproach Mademoiselle! All honour be to her who +stood firm in the age of servility which succeeded the Fronde! In other +respects exile had been most healthful for her. She had been obliged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +to seek in herself resources the finding of which surprised her. +Mademoiselle naïvely admires herself in her <i>Mémoires</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> for never +having experienced a single moment of ennui "in the greatest desert in +the world," and surely she deserves praise, as her first experiences at +Saint-Fargeau would have crushed most women.</p> + +<p>The reader will be convinced of this if he imagines himself in her +company the night of arrival in the early days of November, 1652. At the +end of <i>The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle</i> we left her weeping without +shame before her entire suite. Her dream of glory had evaporated. +Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans would never be queen of France. She would +take no more cities; pass no more troops at review to the sound of +trumpet and cannon. Three weeks previous, the great Condé had treated +her as a companion in arms. She rejoiced the soldiers by her martial +carriage, and any one of them would have been not only surprised but +very indignant if it had been suggested that she was capable of being +almost as cowardly as her father, the "<i>triste</i> Gaston."</p> + +<p>Now all that was finished, even the romantic flight. While playing +hide-and-seek with imaginary pursuers, the Grande Mademoiselle had +fallen into a state of physical and moral prostration. The heroine of +Orléans and of Porte Saint-Antoine sobbed like a little child because +she "had too much grief" and was "too afraid"<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>; the aspect of her +future home had taken away the last remnants of courage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Château of Saint-Fargeau, begun under Hugh Capet and often repaired, +particularly during the fifteenth century, seemed more like a fortress +than a peaceful dwelling. Its heavy mass dominated the valley of the +Loing, a region of great and dense forests, with few clearings. Itself +enveloped with brushwood and protected by deep moats, the château +harmonised well with the surroundings. Its windows opened at a great +height above the ground, and its towers were strong. The body of the +building was massive and bare, united by strong ramparts forming an +<i>enceinte</i> irregular with severe appearance.</p> + +<p>The <i>ensemble</i> was imposing, never smiling. Saint-Fargeau, long +uninhabited, was almost a ruin filled with rats at the time when +Mademoiselle presented herself as a fugitive. She was shown into a room +with a prop in the centre. Coming from the palace of the Tuileries, this +sight overwhelmed her, and made her realise the depth of her fall. She +had an access of despair: "I am most unfortunate to be absent from +Court, to have only a dwelling as ugly as this, and to realise that this +is the best of my châteaux." Her fear became terror when she discovered +that doors and windows were lacking. A report came from a valet that she +was sought for imprisonment, and she was too confused to reflect that if +the King had ordered her arrest locks would have been useless.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_05" id="Page_05"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 389px;"> +<img src="images/illus021.png" width="389" height="450" alt="ANNE_MARIE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLÉANS, DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER<br /> +From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +She continued her journey to reach a little château, situated two +leagues from Saint-Fargeau, which was reported safer. "Imagine," says +she, "with what pleasure I made the extra journey. I had risen two hours +before daylight; I had ridden twenty-two miles upon a horse already worn +out with previous travel. We arrived at our destination at three in the +morning; I went to bed in haste." The crisis was short. The next day it +was explained to Mademoiselle that Saint-Fargeau had two exits in case +of alarm. She returned in consequence on the fourth day, and there was +no more question of grief, nor even ill-temper; from that moment the +place was "good and strong."</p> + +<p>The Princess adapted herself to the glassless windows, the broken +ceilings, the absence of doors, and all the rest. The great ladies of +the seventeenth century were fortunately not too particular. +Mademoiselle encamped in a cellar while the apartment above was being +repaired, and was forced to borrow a bed. She recovered all her gaiety +before the comicality of the situation: "for the first cousin of the +King of France." "Happily for me," wrote she, "the bailiff of the +château had been recently married; therefore he possessed a new bed." +The bed of Madame the Bailiff was the great resource of the château. It +was returned as soon as the Princess received her own from Paris, but it +was again used to give a resting-place to the Christmas guests, +many of whom appeared—a fact to the credit of the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +nobility—as soon as it was known where the illustrious unfortunate +was passing her period of banishment.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not know how to provide for these guests and the most +important were lodged with the bailiff. The Duchess of Sully and her +sister, the Marquise of Laval, came together for a prolonged sojourn and +performed the office of shuttle between the cellar in which the Grande +Mademoiselle held her court and "the new bed of the city of +Saint-Fargeau." Ladies of quality arriving at this time lodged where +they could with small regard to comfort, and this condition lasted until +the château was put in order. Every one suffered but nobody complained. +There was a certain elegance in this haughty fashion of ignoring +comfort, the importance of which in our own days seems in comparison +rather bourgeois, in the worst sense of the word.</p> + +<p>Gradually all was arranged. The château was restored, the apartments +enlarged.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The overgrowth of the approaches gave place to a terrace +from which to the surprise of all a charming view was discovered. The +Saint-Fargeau of the Capets and of the first Valois, "a place so wild," +says Mademoiselle, "that when I arrived, only herbs fit for soup were to +be found," became a beautiful residence, hospitable and animated.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mistress of the place loved open air and movement, as did all the +French nobility before an absolute monarchy, in the interest of order +and peace, had trained them to rest tranquilly in the salons of +Versailles. Muscular decadence commenced with the French at the epoch +when it became the fashion to pass the days in silk stockings and +practising bows, under punishment of being excluded from all society. +Violent exercises were abandoned or made more gentle.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Attention was +paid only to what gave majestic grace to the body in harmony with the +Versailles "Galerie of Mirrors."</p> + +<p>The bourgeoisie were eager to imitate the people of quality, and the +higher classes paid for their fine manners or their attempts at fine +manners with the headaches and nervous disorders of the eighteenth +century. The taste for sport has only reappeared in France during our +own times. We are now witnessing its resurrection.</p> + +<p>This taste, however, was still lively immediately after the Fronde, and +Mademoiselle abandoned herself to it with passion. She ordered from +England a pack of hounds and hunters. She possessed many equipages. With +a game of marl before the château, indoor games for rainy days, violins +from the Tuileries to play for dancing, it would be difficult to find a +court more brisk, more constantly in joyous movement.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle, whom nothing tired, set an example, and seasoned these +"games of action" with <i>causeries</i>, some of which happily have been +preserved for us by Segrais,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> her Secretary of the Commandments. +Thanks to him, we know, even admitting that he may have slightly +rearranged his reports, what they talked about at the court of +Saint-Fargeau, and one cannot fail to be somewhat surprised. He tells us +all sorts of things of which we never should have dreamed, things that +we have never imagined as subjects of interest in the seventeenth +century. In this age which believed itself entirely indifferent towards +nature, conversation nevertheless fell ceaselessly upon the beauties of +landscape. People paused to admire "points of view," sought them, and +endeavoured to explain why they were beautiful. The reasons given were, +that those who knew how to enjoy a large forest and "the beautiful +carpet of moss at the feet," actually preferred landscapes made more +intelligible through the intervention of man. A desert pleased them less +than an inhabited country, a wild landscape less than sunny collections +of cultivated fields and orchards symmetrically planted, recalling "the +agreeable variety of parterres made by the ingenuity of man."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle praises in her <i>Mémoires</i> the view from the end of the +terrace. She attempts to describe it and fails. Segrais also tries in +vain. It was impossible at that epoch. The vocabulary did not exist +which could furnish words to describe a landscape. The creation of our +descriptive vocabulary is one of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> greatest +glories. In compensation, Segrais knew very well how to explain why the +beauty of the view, about which he had so ineffectively written, pleased +him and his companions. He said that, arranged by chance, it conformed +to the rules of classic pictures and in no way appeared the sole work of +nature. Neither the valley of the Loing nor the immense marsh which +closed this side of the château, nor the island in the midst of this +marsh, with clumps of trees, nor the church and small height which could +be perceived, seemed placed without human intervention. "And this," +writes Segrais, "is so well represented in those excellent landscapes of +the great artists, that all who look upon it believe that they have seen +the marsh, church, and little island in a thousand pictures."</p> + +<p>Literature, imaginative literature at least, also held a considerable +place in the conversation. Mademoiselle, who had read nothing before her +sojourn at Saint-Fargeau, was anxious to make up for lost time. "I am a +very ignorant creature," writes she, at the beginning of her exile, +"detesting reading and having seen only the gazettes. Henceforth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +I am going to apply myself and see if it be possible to like a thing +from deliberate determination."</p> + +<p>Success surpassed her hopes; she conceived a passion for reading. In the +winter of 1652-1653, during which there were few distractions, and the +château was given over to workmen; when the bad weather and the rough +roads rendered Saint-Fargeau unapproachable, and left the castle +solitary, she read, or listened to reading while plying her needle, +without being bored.</p> + +<blockquote><p>I laboured from morning till night at my work and descended from my +chamber only to dine or to be present at mass. The winter weather was so +bad that walking was impossible. If there ever was a moment of fine +weather I rode, or if the ground was too frozen I walked a little to +watch my workmen. While I sewed some one read to me, and it was at this +period that I began to love reading as I have done ever since.</p></blockquote> + +<p>At the end of some years of banishment her "erudition" struck Dr. Huet, +who met her at the baths of Forges. "She loves history passionately," +says he in his <i>Mémoires</i>, "but above all, romances, so-called. While +her women were dressing her hair, she desired me to read aloud, and no +matter what the subject, it provoked a thousand questions on her part. +In this I well recognised the acuteness of her mind."</p> + +<p>The fashionable romances easily pleased a Princess who had a grandeur of +soul and loved to meet it in others. They were the works of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +Gomberville,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> of La Calprenède, and of Mlle. de Scudéry, in which the +sheepfolds and dove-cotes of l'Astrée had yielded to the heroic +adventures and grand sentiments of princes warlike and proud, who, +notwithstanding their exotic names, were the same who resisted under +Richelieu, and lead the Fronde under Mazarin. The generations born in +the first third of the century were charmed with the resemblance to +their own heroes which these tales offered them. They went wild with +delight over Scythe, Oroondate, or the Grand Cyrus, as they were +fascinated with Saint-Preux and Lelia, and many readers remained +faithful till death to these writers who had so well expressed the +ideals of their youth.</p> + +<p>At sixty, La Rochefoucauld re-read La Calprenède. Mme. de Sévigné was a +grandmother when she found herself "glued" to <i>Cléopâtre</i>. "The beauty +of the sentiments," writes she, "and the violence of the passions, the +grandeur of the events, and the marvellous successes of the redoubtable +swords, all enchain me as if I were still a little child. The sentiments +are of a perfection which satisfy my conception of beautiful souls."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Realism and Naturalism have in the present day destroyed the capacity +for enthusiasm for heroes of romance. One's imagination can hardly be +kindled by a Coupeau or a Nana, nor even by a Madame Bovary, whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +may be the literary value of the works in which they figure. For the +little court of Saint-Fargeau it was hardly possible to speak calmly of +the favourite heroes. One day, followed by a numerous assemblage, +Mademoiselle drove in the fresh valley of the Loing and descended from +her chariot under the tall willows which bordered the little river. It +was spring and the sun was radiant. The new grass and the growing leaves +offered a picture so "laughing" that nothing else could at first be +spoken of. While walking, the conversation finally turned upon romance, +and each fought for the favourite hero. The discussion was waxing warm +when the Princess, who had hardly spoken, intervened to moderate its +ardour. After avowing that she had read but little, she gave an eulogium +upon Roman history, or rather what it might become, better comprehended +in the hands of a learned writer, and criticised the custom of giving +French manners to Greeks, Persians, or Indians.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle desired greater "historic truth" and what might be +designated as more local colour. Why not frankly take characters from +French contemporaries? "I am astonished," she said in ending, "that so +many people of intelligence who have created for us such worthy +Scythians and such generous Parthians have not taken the same pleasure +in imagining as accomplished French cavaliers or princes: whose +adventures would not have been less pleasing." After a moment's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +silence, objections were advanced. The idea of writing a romance upon +the "war of Paris" seemed very daring. One young lady very naïvely urged +that the author would not know how to name his characters. "The French," +said she, "naturally love foreign names. Arabaze, Iphidamante, Crosmane, +are beautiful names; Rohan, Lorraine, Montmorency, are nothing of the +kind."</p> + +<p>The old Mme. de Choissy, with the authority given by her noted +intelligence, tried to prove that in an imaginative recital both time +and space must be distant. One Marquise appeared wearied of the kings +and emperors of romance, and desired heroes taken from the middle class. +Another, Mme. de Mauny, who was supposed<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> to have invented the +expression "<i>s'encanailler</i>" asserted that it was forbidden to heroes of +romance to do or say anything derogatory to pure sentiment, which was +possible to those of "high birth only." Mademoiselle maintained the +necessity of observation and truth for the tale, but she admitted that +the author of a great romance, writing as a "poet," had the right to +imagine events, instead of servilely copying them. "The tale," said she, +"relates things as they are, the romance as they should be."</p> + +<p>This distinction neither lacks acuteness nor a certain justice, and we +should like to know how much Segrais had contributed to it. No one +having replied to this last remark, the Princess remounted her carriage, +and gave the order to follow the pack of hounds, which had just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +started a hare a few steps off. She was obeyed, in spite of the +obstacles which the country presented, and she returned to the château, +very well satisfied with her afternoon.</p> + +<p>At Saint-Fargeau they talked more frequently of love than of either +literature or the beauties of nature. Love is a subject of which women +never weary, and about which they always have something to say. +Mademoiselle lent herself completely to such conversation; it was she +who one day posed a question the subtlety of which the Hôtel Rambouillet +might have enjoyed. "Whose absence causes the greater anguish, a lover +who should be loved or one who should not be?"</p> + +<p>She consented to admit the ideas of l'Astrée upon the fatality of +passion, on the condition that the effects should be limited to +personages of romance, or in real life to those of humble birth. Segrais +makes her say without protest in a tale<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> ascribed to her "Man is not +free to love or not to love as he pleases." In the depths of her soul, +in her most intimate thoughts, Mademoiselle had never been further from +comprehending love, never had she more energetically refused for it any +beauty, any grandeur. One of her ladies, the gracious Frontenac, with +her eyes "filled with light," had made a marriage of inclination, an act +absurd, base, and shameful in the judgment of Mademoiselle, her +mistress. The marriage turned out badly. M. de Frontenac was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +eccentric. His young wife at first feared, then hated him, and at +Saint-Fargeau there passed between the couple tragi-comic scenes, of +which no one could be ignorant.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had just commenced her <i>Mémoires</i>.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> She eagerly relates +the conjugal quarrels of M. and Mme. de Frontenac with more details than +it would be suitable to repeat, and this was the opportunity for an +outburst against the folly of trying to found marriage upon the most +fickle of human feelings. She writes:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I have always had a strong aversion for even legitimate love. This +passion appears to me unworthy of a noble soul; but I am now confirmed +in this opinion, and I comprehend well that reason has but little to do +with affairs of passion. Passion passes quickly, is never, in fact, of +long duration. One may be unhappy for life in entering upon marriage for +so transient a feeling, but on the other hand, happy if one marries for +reason and other imaginable considerations, even if physical aversion +exists; for I believe that one often loves more with this aversion +conquered.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The principle may be sage, but the Grande Mademoiselle is too sure of +her fact. This "even if aversion exists" is difficult to digest. The +Princess was nearing her thirtieth year, when she treated love with +contempt, and nothing had yet warned her of the imprudence of defying +nature; so she believed herself well protected.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1683, the rumour had spread that she and M. le<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +Prince de Condé had promised to marry, in the expectation and hope of +being soon relieved of the Princess de Condé, now a hopeless invalid, +and that the imagination of Mademoiselle, for lack of heart, pressed her +"furiously" in this affair. The Parisian salons had discovered no other +explanation for the hostile attitude which she persisted in maintaining +towards the Court of France, which she had so much interest in +conciliating. It was inconceivable that without some reason of this kind +she should compromise herself as she did, for a Prince who had become an +alien and whom she might never again see. Why betray news through +letters which always fell into the hands of Mazarin? Why leave to Condé, +now a Spanish General, the companies raised under the Fronde with the +funds of Mademoiselle and bearing her name? Either she had lost her +senses or one might expect some romantic prank, which could only be +unravelled by marriage.</p> + +<p>"Have you told everything?" demanded Mademoiselle of the old Countess de +Fiesque, her former governess, one morning, when this last poured out +the comments of the world. "No," said the good woman. Her mistress let +her proceed, then expressed herself as indignant that she should have +been believed capable of marrying on account of a sudden passion; the +other reproaches had not touched her.</p> + +<p>She declared that M. le Prince had never spoken of marriage, that it +would be time to think of this if Madame la Princesse should die,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +when M. le Prince should be pardoned, when he should formally demand her +hand, and the King should approve the affair.</p> + +<blockquote><p>I believe [continued she] that I should marry him finding in his +personality only what is grand, heroic, and worthy of the name I +bear. But that I should marry like a young lady of romance, that he +should come to seek me upon a palfrey destroying all barriers in +the road; and on the other hand that I should mount another palfrey +like Mme. Oriane<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>; I assure you this would not suit my temper, +and I am very indignant against those people who have thought it +possible.</p></blockquote> + +<p>At this point the Princess was silent. It would have been the moment to +confess the true key to her conduct; but one must avow that, in spite of +her fine words and her expressed contempt for lovers, she was after all +a true Princess of romance, led by her imagination.</p> + +<p>The idea of making war upon the King from the bottom of a cellar had +amused her, and still more the thinking of herself as the price of peace +between her cousin and Condé, and she had not wished to look further.</p> + +<p>While the tempest gathered over her head, the great preoccupation of +Mademoiselle was the installation of a theatre in her dilapidated +château, in which the country workmen had not yet succeeded in arranging +a suitable bedroom for her. She could no longer live without the comedy; +the theatre must come first. It was ready in February, 1653, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +inaugurated immediately by a wandering troop, engaged for the season. +The hall was commodious, but very cold. The court of Saint-Fargeau +descended from its garrets entirely muffled, the ladies in fur hoods. +The country people, only too delighted to be invited to shiver in such +good company, hastened from distances of ten leagues. Mademoiselle was +perfectly contented: "I listened to the play with more pleasure than +ever before."</p> + +<p>We no longer understand what it means to love truly the theatre. +According to the gazette of Loret, the opening piece was a pastoral, +"half gay, half moral." Mademoiselle loved this sort, slightly out of +fashion; Segrais has preserved an agreeable reminiscence of a summer's +evening passed in the forest, with the natural background of high trees, +listening to an ancient "Amaryllis" repolished and arranged for the +stage by some penny-a-liner.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle loved, what is more, everything pertaining to the theatre +from tragedy to trained dogs. One reads in a little squib written by her +as a pastime,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and printed for the diversion of her friends, +"Comedians are essentials—at least for the French and Italians. +Jugglers, rope dancers, <i>buveurs d'eau</i>, without forgetting marionettes +and bell players, dogs trained to leap, and monkeys as examples to our +own; violins and merry-andrews and good dancers." This skit should not +be taken too seriously, but it well accords with the account left us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +by an eye-witness of one of the representations at Saint-Fargeau. The +piece was called <i>Country Pleasures</i>, an operetta. The greatest applause +fell neither to the Goddess Flora, nor to the "melancholy lover," but to +two children disguised as monkeys, and executing songs with the "cadence +which belongs to those animals."</p> + +<p>Twice a week, the pleasures and cares of Saint-Fargeau were varied by +the arrival of messengers bringing letters and gazettes. News not to be +trusted to the post was received through guests from Paris or by special +messengers. The news consisted mainly of political events, but it fell +to the exiles to discover the springs and to draw the morals from the +facts. This talent of divining, possessed in a high degree by the +Parisians, has never passed the <i>banlieue</i>. It cannot be carried away.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle herself had never attained the art. Even at the Tuileries +she used to say: "I can never guess anything." Once in her place of +refuge, she comprehended nothing of the real significance of passing +events. For those who were not Provincials there was nothing clearer +than the conduct of the Court of France, after its return to the +capital. Mademoiselle had fled from the Tuileries October 21, 1652. The +next day the young King held a <i>Lit de Justice</i>, in which the Parliament +was forbidden to occupy itself with the general affairs of the kingdom. +Banishments and pursuits immediately commenced, but the gazettes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +hardly referred to them. From their pages one might have gathered +that Paris was entirely absorbed in its pleasures.</p> + +<p>The post of November brought to Saint-Fargeau description of the first +Court ball and some lines on a new <i>Lit de Justice</i> (November 13th), in +which the Prince de Condé and his adherents had been declared criminals +"de lèse majesté." The December number of the <i>Gazette</i> gave news of the +arrest of Retz, who had rallied before the end of the Fronde, and the +account of a great marriage with enumeration of gifts and names of +donors, exactly as in our modern journals. The January number was made +interesting by the accounts of the several successes of Turenne over +Condé and the Spanish troops, and by the news of the death of an ancient +aunt of Mademoiselle who had been in retreat for seven or eight years. +The necrological article took a larger space in the gazette of Loret +than that absorbed by the warlike and political news together.</p> + +<p>The third of the following month the revolutionary era was closed by the +triumphal return of Mazarin. Louis XIV. travelled three leagues to meet +him,</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0"><i>Encor qu'il fait un temps étrange</i></span> + <span class="i0"><i>Temps de vent, de pluie et de fange,</i></span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>and took him back in his own carriage to the Louvre, where a sumptuous +festival, fireworks, and homage, more or less sincere, from the crowds +of courtiers, awaited him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>The attention of the Parisians was at once directed to a grand ballet +with mechanical devices and changes of scene, danced three times by the +King and the flower of his nobility,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> before a public analogous to +that of the free representations of July 14th in Paris. Places were +reserved for the Court and its guests, who really made part of the +spectacle, but otherwise all entered who desired. The crowd besieged the +doors to see what will probably never again be witnessed: a monarch +sufficiently sure of his prestige to dare to pirouet, costumed as a +mythological divinity, or stagger as a thief who had drunk too much, +before the <i>canaille</i> of his capital.</p> + +<p>The following day, a journalist bitterly bewails in his paper having +seen nothing at all, although he had stood in line three hours and +waited eight hours in the hall. This journalist exacted and obtained +consideration; at the second representation, the chronicler before +carelessly treated was lead in ceremony to the "reserved places." He was +not yet content, not being in front. He showed himself, however, a good +fellow and wrote an article admiring all, even a scene in which the joke +to-day seems somewhat inhuman. It was a dance of cripples, the +contortions of these miserable beings causing much laughter.</p> + +<p>Of the abuses which gave rise to the Fronde, no living soul breathed a +word. Not one of these abuses had disappeared. For the most part they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +had been aggravated by the general disorder; but France resembled an +invalid who had so far found only charlatans for physicians; it was +weary of remedies. "The people of Paris," wrote André d'Ormesson, "were +disgusted with Princes and did not longer wish to feed upon war."</p> + +<p>One might say the same of the Provinces. They remained for the most part +troubled and miserable, their hate now turning against the nobility, +with whom the four years of anarchy had brought back the manners of the +feudal brigands. Deceived on all sides, betrayed by all its pretended +saviours, the country began again to put its faith in the central power. +It was only necessary that this last should regain its strength day by +day, and it was clear to the Parisians as well as to the Provinces that +the first use royalty would make of convalescence would be to cripple +the nobility so that a revival of the Fronde would be impossible.</p> + +<p>The period had passed in which the King could be aided by the nobles +according to their own methods not his, as at the time in which they had +fought against him, to deliver him from his first minister. Louis XIV. +wished now to be served in his own way, which was to be obeyed, and he +felt the strength to impose obedience. It required all the naïveté of +Mademoiselle to be able to imagine that she could make the King as an +old Frondeur admit the distinctions between M. le Prince whose success +one had the right to desire, and the Spanish soldiers led by this same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +Prince in whom one must not be interested. She had so little realisation +of the change which had taken place in sentiments, from the date of her +exile, that she did not even attempt to conceal her grief at the news of +the victory at Arras brought back by Turenne, August 27, 1654.</p> + +<p>The Grande Mademoiselle believed herself in accord with her King and +country when she wrote in her <i>Mémoires</i>: "I have not desired the +Spaniards to gain advantage over the French, but I do wish that M. le +Prince might do so and I cannot persuade myself that this is against the +service of the King." It was then four months since the young monarch +had entered, whip in hand, into his Parliament and forbade it to mix +itself with his affairs; but his cousin had no more comprehended this +warning than the others which had preceded it. It had not once occurred +to her that the cadet branches of the royal family were amongst the +vanquished and that the relations of the King of France, very far from +being in a position to dictate to him, would henceforth be the most +strictly held in leash of all his subjects. Only the approach of the +great revolution gave them an opportunity to regain their importance and +we know how much Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were able to +congratulate themselves over this fact.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Gaston undertook to bring his daughter to a realisation of the +truth. It had been said that as long as he lived bitter experiences +would come to Mademoiselle through this dangerous Prince.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gaston d'Orléans had disappeared from the stage at the end of the +Fronde, like a true hero of comedy. His wife said, half weeping, half +laughing, that he seemed to her a Tewlin, a celebrated comic actor who +filled the rôle designated to-day as the "king of operetta."</p> + +<p>The return of the Court to Paris had been announced to the Luxembourg by +a letter from Louis XIV. This news had entirely upset Monsieur and he +blustered with so much appearance of truth that Mademoiselle had once +more been convinced. "He was so completely beside himself," relates de +Retz, "that one would judge from his manner of speaking, that he was +already on horseback, completely armed and ready to cover with blood the +plains of St. Denis and Grenelle."</p> + +<p>Madame was terrified; she endeavoured to pacify him, but the more she +tried the more vigorously he threatened to annihilate everything. His +martial ardour vanished when he received a decree of banishment (October +21, 1652). It was at the date the King was entering Paris, and cannon +were heard on all sides, the populace, according to the custom of the +times, firing in the air as a sign of joy. Nothing, however, could +persuade Monsieur, old Parisian as he was, that these charges did not +come from the King's guards, and that the palace was not being besieged.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_025" id="Page_025"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;"> +<img src="images/illus043.png" width="380" height="550" alt="CARDINAL_DE_RETZ." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CARDINAL DE RETZ<br /> +Showing him in his Coadjuteur days<br /> +After the painting by Deveria.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was overcome with terror; moved to and fro with agitation; sent +constantly to inquire what was going on, and finally hastened his +departure, which should not have taken place till the next day before +dawn. He drew a free breath only upon arriving at the valley of +Chevreuse. No one dreamed of retaining him—on the contrary, Mazarin, +who governed France from the depths of his exile, was resolved to have +no more trouble with him. "Let his Royal Highness depart with his +appanage,"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> wrote he. His Royal Highness having arrived at the +Château of Limours, Michel Le Tellier, Secretary of State and War, +hastened to find him, and it was a repetition of the former scenes with +Richelieu.</p> + +<p>In his final adieus to public life, Gaston d'Orléans denounced Retz as +before he had denounced Chalais, Montmorency, Cinq-Mars, and many +others. When he had said all that he wished, thus preparing the arrest +of the Cardinal, who was to astonish Mademoiselle by arriving at +Saint-Fargeau, the King permitted him to retire to Blois.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Monsieur +obeyed with ill-grace; he felt that they were burying him alive.</p> + +<p>This was not the first time that he had dwelt at Blois in spite of +himself. The forced sojourn made at that place under Louis XIII. had not +been disagreeable, constraint aside, because he was not definitely +limited, and he succeeded, being young and gay, in living like "a little +king of Yvetot." He had rebuilt according to his own taste (1635-1638)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +a portion of the château after the plans of François Mansard, "the +cleverest architect of his times,"<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> the uncle of the builder of the +Palace of Versailles.</p> + +<p>Chambord served him for a country-seat, near at hand, and fruitful for +the kitchen garden, with forests teeming with game for hunting-grounds, +and amiable people for subjects, who had guarded a monarchical faith and +considered themselves much honoured when the brother of the King deigned +to flatter them and their daughters.</p> + +<p>Saint-Fargeau was steep and gloomy; Blois, on the contrary, with its sky +full of caresses, showed itself the worthy forerunner of the Angevine +gentleness:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Coteaux riants y sont des deux côtés,</span> + <span class="i2">Coteaux non pas si voisins de la nue,</span> + <span class="i2">Qu'en Limousin, mais coteaux enchantés,</span> + <span class="i2">Belles maisons, beaux parcs et bien plantés,</span> + <span class="i2">Prés verdoyants donc ce pays abonde,</span> + <span class="i2">Vignes et bois, tant de diversités</span> + <span class="i2"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Qu'en'">Qu'on</ins> croit d'abord être en un autre monde.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is a tourist of the time who so speaks, La Fontaine, who visited +Blois in 1663, and described it to his wife in a letter half prose, half +verse. The city had charmed him on account of its beautiful situation +and the amiable manners of its inhabitants: "Life is very polished here, +possibly has always been so, the climate and the beauty of the country +contributing to its charm; probably the sojourn of Monsieur or the +number of pretty women has caused this politeness."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_027" id="Page_027"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 418px;"> +<img src="images/illus047.png" width="418" height="550" alt="JULIUS_HARDOUIN_MANSART" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JULIUS HARDOUIN MANSART<br /> +After the painting by Vivien</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>As a man of taste, La Fontaine had admired the portion of the château of +Francis I., without regularity and order; as a good liver he had +appreciated the excellent breakfast at the inn. As a good traveller, he +had gossiped sufficiently with the people of the place to realise how +happy they were under the gentle reign of Gaston.</p> + +<p>The traces of the civil wars had been quickly effaced in these fertile +and populous provinces. La Fontaine gaily retook his route towards +Amboise; he saw the smile of France, and he was made to enjoy it.</p> + +<p>In this first time of peaceful enjoyment one of the great pleasures of +Monsieur was to pass through his domains as an idle prince; descending +here from his carriage to chase a stag, stopping there his boat to dine +upon the grass, inviting himself into any dwellings belonging to either +nobles or bourgeoisie in which he found pretty women.</p> + +<p>He embarked one day on one of those covered boats which the pictures of +the seventeenth century show us. They were called "galiotes," and were +used in voyaging upon rivers and canals. "Monsieur," relates an +eye-witness, "had commanded a second boat in which he put a quantity of +provisions, and the officers of his <i>ménage</i>, those of the kitchen as +well as the wardrobe; the horses were led along the bank."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>He took ten or twelve of his suite with himself, and when he reached +some beautiful and agreeable island, he disembarked and ordered dinner +and supper to be served under the shade.</p> + +<p>"Certainly one might say that all cares were banished from our society, +that life went on without restraint, playing, drinking, eating, sleeping +at will, that time meant nothing; at last the master, although son and +brother of great kings, had put himself in the rank of his +servants."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>Thus they drifted down the stream as far as Brittany. The weather was +perfect. The châteaux of the Loire defiled before the galiote. These +people travelled as if they were poets.</p> + +<p>As soon, however, as Richelieu permitted, Gaston rushed to Paris and +again plunged into politics; which meant to him only cowardice and +betrayals, but which nevertheless fascinated him. This was his favourite +vice which nothing would have induced him to correct, for politics gave +him a round of new sensations. To hold the life of a friend in one's +hand, knowing in advance that he will be delivered to the executioner, +and at the same time bitterly to bewail his loss; to realise also that +the present grief will surely vanish and that one can joyously take +another life in the hand,—such events evidently make days most +interesting, when neither conscience nor heart are tender. These +excitements had filled the public career of Gaston, and when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +found himself again in his château of Blois, almost twenty years after +the radiant voyage down the Loire, for ever deprived, according to all +probabilities, of the strong emotions whose savour Le Tellier had +permitted him to taste for the last time in the interview at Limours, +existence appeared to him intolerably pale and empty.</p> + +<p>The good which he could do and actually was doing, did not interest him; +he bitterly regretted the evil no longer in his power.</p> + +<p>No one, even amongst his enemies, has ever accused him of being wicked. +Only physicians can analyse such morbid natures. Monsieur had commenced +by struggling against ennui. He had collected a fine library and had +attracted literary people to his court, in the hopes of refinding the +taste for literature which had animated his youth. He recalled his +collections of objects of art and curiosities, continued them and began +new. Nothing, however, really interested him, except a botanical garden +with which he occupied himself with pleasure.</p> + +<p>Everything seemed infinitely puerile to a man who had contributed so +long to the making of history; it had become impossible for him to +attach any importance to the little verses of his "beaux esprits," or to +become impassioned over impaled birds or even an antique medal.</p> + +<p>Weary of war, he threw himself into devotion. The gazette of Loret<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +made this fact part of the official news of France and kept the country +informed of his progress in the path of piety. The first sign which he +gave of his conversion was to correct himself of a fault which had +formerly brought from Richelieu useless remonstrances. This Prince with +so refined a taste, cursed and swore abominably. The habit had been +caught by those near him; we know that Mademoiselle herself used lively +words in moments of irritation. In December, 1652, oaths and blasphemies +were severely forbidden at the court of Blois, and Monsieur insisted +upon obedience.</p> + +<p>To-day, reports the gazette<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i1">Aucun de ceux qui sont à lui,</span> + <span class="i1">Quelque malheur qui lui survienne,</span> + <span class="i1">N'oserait jurer la mordienne.</span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>One learns, afterwards, that these fine beginnings were not belied, and +that Monsieur was now "less often at home than in the church." The +Parisians and the Court of France had much difficulty in believing that +repentance should have come to a spirit so free and so skeptical. His +piety would have been entirely estimable "if his laziness had not in +some portion aided his virtue." But however this may be, the devotion of +Gaston was not the less sincere. He reformed his life, and succeeded in +finding, at the foot of the altar, not perhaps contentment, but some +patience and resignation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<p>This did not come, however, for a long time; the beginning of his +definite exile was filled with miserable agitations and complaints +without dignity. Madame rejoined him with their little flock of +daughters.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> This Princess did not add to the animation of the +château. Entirely occupied with her own health, she lived shut up, +without any other distraction than that of eating from morning till +night, "in order to cure her melancholies," relates the Grande +Mademoiselle, "but which really increases her ills." She gave no orders, +only sent for her daughters ten minutes in the morning and evening, +never spoke to them except to say "Hold yourselves erect, raise your +head"; this was her sole instruction. She never saw them again during +the day and never inquired what they were doing.</p> + +<p>The governess in her turn neglected her pupils, who were abandoned to +the care of inferiors. Their father found nothing to criticise in these +educational methods; Anne of Austria had not brought up her sons very +differently. Besides, Monsieur was a submissive husband. He considered +his wife's judgment good, and that she possessed much more intelligence +than was indicated by her large, frightened eyes.</p> + +<p>"This one," said Tallemant, "is a poor idiot, who nevertheless has +intelligence." Mme. de Motteville judged her exactly the same. Madame +was not loved because she was not amiable, but no one was astonished at +her ascendancy over her husband.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gaston's court, contrary to that of his daughter, was almost deserted. +Disgrace for this couple had been the signal for general abandonment. +During the first years, Gaston took the trouble to entertain his guests; +he became again, for some hours, the incomparable talker, who knew a +thousand beautiful tales and found charming methods of telling them.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> +Chapelle and Bachaumont were received at the château on their passage to +Blois in 1656, and brought back the pleasantest remembrances of the +dinners of the Duc d'Orléans.</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">La d'une obligeante manière,</span> + <span class="i2">D'un visage ouvert et riant,</span> + <span class="i2">Il nous fit bonne et grande chère,</span> + <span class="i2">Nous donnant a son ordinaire</span> + <span class="i2">Tout ce que Blois a de friand.</span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>"The table arrangements were the neatest possible, not even a crumb of +bread was allowed on the table. Well polished glasses of all sorts stood +upon the buffet, and ice was abundant. The hall was prepared for the +evening dance, all the beauties of the neighbouring cities invited, all +the violins from the provinces collected."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> After a short time, +however, the effort of entertaining became a burden upon Monsieur. He +cared for nothing but repose, and he would have passed the remainder of +his days in sleeping with open eyes, if it had not been for his daughter +of Saint-Fargeau, the terrible Mademoiselle, from whom he had separated +at Paris after a painful explanation, and who had never left him in +peace since that time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>She had commenced by coming to seek him in spite of frequent commands, +to which she paid not the least attention. The Grande Mademoiselle, +openly allied to Condé, was a compromising guest for a Prince possessed +at this epoch with the desire to retake his place near the throne. In +vain she declared that she had recalled her troops from the army of the +Prince, her father knew very well that she was mocking him, and received +her coldly on the evening of her first arrival (December, 1652). "He +came to meet me at the door of his room, and said, 'I do not dare to +come out because I have a swollen cheek.'" A moment after Monsieur heard +from afar a joyous voice; it was Mademoiselle relating the adventures +during her flight to Saint-Fargeau. Monsieur could hold out no longer. +He approached, made her recommence, and laughed with the others. The ice +was broken. The fourth day, however, he said to Préfontaine, the man of +confidence of Mademoiselle, while walking in the park of Chambord, "I +love my daughter very much, but I have many obligations, and shall be +easier if she stays here but little."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle departed the next day. The following month (January, 1653), +Monsieur and Madame made a sojourn at Orléans. In spite of new orders, +Mademoiselle came to pass a day with them. "I did not wait for escort," +wrote she, "I departed suddenly from Saint-Fargeau and went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +to Orléans."</p> + +<p>This determination to impose herself upon people whom she saw with but +little pleasure, is difficult to explain. Monsieur and Madame, who +feared her, welcomed her, and her father said in bidding her farewell, +"The affairs of your minority have never been settled. I wish to close +this business. Give orders for this to your people."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not wait for a second request. "In consequence I wrote +to Paris, then to Blois, a host of writings which were somewhat +wearisome." Monsieur had his own projects. It was the single opportunity +to extract a little money for the daughters by his second wife.</p> + +<p>These young princesses had nothing to expect from their own mother, and +very little from their father, whose pensions and appointments were +destined to disappear with him. Madame was preoccupied with this +situation.</p> + +<blockquote><p>For a long time [reports one of their intimates]<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +Madame has skilfully urged Monsieur to think of his affairs, and to put +some solid property aside for her children, telling him that he +possessed nothing in the world not reversible to the crown in case he +had no male children, and that their daughters would be left to the +mercy of the court and the ministers for their subsistence.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Until Gaston's disgrace, Madame had obtained nothing, and for cause. Her +husband ruined himself at play; he had been seen to lose a half-million +francs to the famous Chevalier de Gramont. He reformed only at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +Blois, too late to begin to save; his debts crushed him, and his +pensions were paid most irregularly. The fortune of Mademoiselle +presented itself as the sole means of floating the House of Orléans, and +the accounts of her minority were the troubled waters in which it was +proposed to fish. Monsieur did not suspect how much the exile and the +influence of Préfontaine had changed his daughter.</p> + +<p>The Préfontaine type has disappeared with the ancient régime. There is +no place in our democratic society for these men at once servants and +friends; friends however who remained in the background. Persons of this +kind were frequently met with in the great families of former times, and +nothing appeared more natural than the dog-like devotion to their +masters, always exacting and often ungrateful. The Grande Mademoiselle +was not ungrateful but she was violent, and it was always upon the +patient Préfontaine that she vented her anger. He was the counsellor, +the factotum shrewd and firm, to whom all affairs came, the confidant +who knew her most secret projects of marriage without ceasing to be the +domestic of no account.</p> + +<p>His mistress could do nothing without him, and she does not even tell +us—she who loses herself in the smallest details when they concerned +people of quality in her suite—at what date this precious man entered +her service. She mentions him for the first time in 1651, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +saying who he is or where he comes from. From that date she never ceased +to speak of him as long as the troubled times lasted, but left him in +the shadow nevertheless in her <i>Mémoires</i>. When we have said that +he was a gentleman, that there was no reason for his devotion to +Mademoiselle but his own choice, we have told all we know about him. He +had found the affairs of his mistress in a very bad condition, and so he +warned her; Monsieur, her father, had been a negligent guardian and what +is more an untrustworthy one. At first Mademoiselle would not listen to +Préfontaine. It was at Paris in the midst of the fire of the Fronde, and +she had other things to think of.</p> + +<p>Préfontaine returned to the charge at Saint-Fargeau, where time +abounded, and was better received. A new sentiment had awakened in +Mademoiselle. She commenced to love money. She took interest in her +affairs, and skilfully applied herself to economising with so much +success that she would have soon risen to be a Countess Pimbesche.</p> + +<p>Ideas of order and economy, rarely found with princesses of this epoch, +occurred to her. "It is not sufficient," said she one day to +Préfontaine, "to have an eye upon my legal affairs and the increase of +my revenues; but it is also necessary to supervise the expenses of my +house. I am convinced that I am robbed, and to prevent this, I wish to +be accounted to as if I were a private person."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was not beneath a great Princess. Examination proved that she <i>was</i> +robbed by her people. After being assured of this, she took upon herself +the duty of supervising all the accounts twice a week, "even to the +smallest."</p> + +<p>She knew the price of everything; "who could have predicted when I lived +at Court, that I should ever know how much bricks, lime, plaster, +carriages cost, what are the daily wages of the workmen, in fine all the +details of a building, and that every Saturday I should myself settle +the accounts: every one would have been skeptical." And still more the +people at large; it was really almost incredible. She quickly perceived +that Monsieur had not taken his duties as guardian very seriously. It +was in his belief both the right and duty of the chief of the Orléans +family to advance the general interests of the House, even at the +expense of individual members. The daughter by the first marriage was +enormously rich. What could be more just than to use her fortune for the +common good? What more natural than to throw upon her the burden of +debts contracted to add to the éclat of the family? or to give a little +of her superfluity to her young sisters in view of their establishment?</p> + +<p>Gaston sent to his daughter for signature an act conceived in this +spirit, and received the clearest refusal. Very respectfully but with +firmness Mademoiselle assured him that henceforth she intended to hold +to her legal rights, which guaranteed the integrity of her fortune.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Monsieur threw himself into a great rage, but knew not what more to do. +Politics gave him unexpected aid. A gentleman sent as courier by Condé +into France had just been arrested. Among other letters was found one +without address, but evidently destined for Mademoiselle and most +compromising for her.</p> + +<p>Mazarin charged the Archbishop of Embrun to take a copy of this to +Gaston. The dispatch in which the prelate renders account of his mission +has been preserved. Here is one of the significant passages:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Blois</span>, March 31, 1653.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Monseigneur</span>:</p> + +<p>I arrived Sunday evening in this city where I was received most +warmly by Monsieur.... Immediately upon arrival I had a conference +of an hour with him alone in his cabinet. I pointed out to him +through the letter addressed to Mademoiselle her relations to M. le +Prince, the Spaniards, and M. de Lorraine, which were all visibly +marked in the letter. He declared himself very ill satisfied with +Mademoiselle, but that the Queen knew that they had never been +eight hours at a time together: and that at this moment she was +trying to cause trouble in demanding account of his care of her +wealth when he was guardian, and that it was thus impossible to +doubt his anger. I told him that I had orders to beseech his Royal +Highness to make two observations upon the letter; the first: that +Mademoiselle as long as she enjoyed the free possession of her +immense wealth could assist any party she pleased, and that the +King in order to check this had resolved to place administrators or +a commission over her property to preserve it for her own use, but +without permitting its abuse. His Royal Highness should be left the +choice of these commissioners.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The second remark was, that it was to be feared, according to the +news in the letter, that if M. le Prince advanced, Mademoiselle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +would join him, and that the King in this difficulty demanded +counsel of him as the person most interested in the conduct of +Mademoiselle. Gaston replied: that he had ordered his daughter to +join him at Orléans, Tuesday of Holy Week; and he would bring her +back to Blois, and keep her near him.</p> + +<p>I have also, my Lord, talked over the same subjects with Madame as +with Monsieur, knowing that she was very intelligent, and also that +Monsieur deferred much to her opinions.</p> + +<p>Mazarin took no action upon this communication of the Archbishop of +Embrun.</p> + +<p>It was sufficient to intimate to Monsieur that he was authorised not to +worry himself about a rebel, and Gaston on his side asked nothing +better.</p> + +<p>Sure of being for the present under Court protection, he poured forth +bitter words and threats against this disobedient and heartless +daughter, who forgot her duty. Sometimes he wrote to her that "if she +did not willingly give everything he demanded he would take possession +of all the property and only give her what he pleased."</p> + +<p>Sometimes he cast fire and flame between her and the public: "She does +not love her sisters; says they are beggars; that after my death she +will see them demand alms, without giving a penny. She wishes to see my +children in the poor-house," and other sentiments of the same kind, +which were repeated at Saint-Fargeau.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle herself dreamed one day that Monsieur thought of enclosing +her in a convent, "that this was the intention of the King," and that +she must prepare for his coming. At the same time she was warned from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +Paris that her father had promised the Court to arrest her as soon as +she arrived at Blois. Things reached such a pass that Gaston could no +longer hear the name of his daughter without flying into a passion.</p> + +<p>The Princess had at first showed herself fearless. Knowing that the +letter of Condé did not have any address, she denied that it was meant +for her and took a high hand with her father; "I assert that they cannot +take away my property unless I am proved either mad or criminal and I +know very well that I am neither one nor the other."</p> + +<p>Reflection, however, diminished her assurance. The idea of "being +arrested" terrified her, and it was this fate, in the opinion of her +ladies, which awaited her at Blois—for which reason Monsieur, having +previously forbidden her to come, now ordered her to meet him.</p> + +<p>She wept torrents of tears; she was ill when she was obliged to obey and +she confesses that on arriving at Blois she quite lost her head from +terror. It was the story of the hare and the frogs. The projects of +Gaston, whatever they may have been, vanished at sight of this agitated +person and he had no other thought than of calming his daughter and +avoiding scenes.</p> + +<p>For this he exerted all his grace, which was much, and forced +Mademoiselle, reassured and calmed, to acknowledge that her father could +be "charming."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>The days rolled by and the question of their differences was not touched +upon. "I wanted one day to speak to him about my affairs and he fled and +would pay no attention."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle felt the delights of a country covered with superb châteaux +in which she was fêted, and amiable cities which fired cannon in her +honour. She made excursions during a large part of the summer (1653) and +finally separated from her father most amicably. Eight days after, the +situation however was more sombre than before her departure for Blois. +The demands of Monsieur had not diminished, his language became still +more hard and menacing.</p> + +<p>These differences lasted many years. Mademoiselle lets it be understood +that it was a question of considerable sums. She relates sadly the +progress of the ill-will of her father; how painful her sojourn at Blois +had been, so that she wept from morning till night; how without the +influence of Préfontaine she would have retired into a Carmelite +convent; "not to be a religieuse, God having never given me that +vocation, but to live away from the world for some years." The ennui of +the cloister life would have been compensated by the thought that it was +an economical one. "I should save much money," said she; and this +thought consoled her. Once it was believed that an amicable solution was +imminent. The father and daughter had submitted themselves to the +arbitration of the maternal grandmother of Mademoiselle, the old Mme. +de Guise, who had made them promise in writing to sign "all that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +she wished without reading the stipulations."</p> + +<p>The only result was a more definite embroilment. Mme. de Guise<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> "was +devoted to her House,"<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> that ambitious and intriguing House of +Lorraine into which she had married, and with which she was again +connected through the second wife of Gaston, sister of the Duke +Henri.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> When Mademoiselle, after "signing without reading," realised +the force of the "transaction" into which she had been led by her +grandmother, she declared that Mme. de Guise had despoiled her with +shocking bad faith, in order that her half-sisters, the little +Lorraines, should no longer be menaced with the "poor-house." The love +of family had extinguished with Mme. de Guise, as with Monsieur, all +considerations of justice and sense of duty towards her own +granddaughter. All this happened at Orléans in the month of May, 1655. +Mademoiselle, indignant, ran to her grandmother:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I told her that it was evident that she loved the House of Lorraine +better than the House of Bourbon; that she was right in seeking to +give money to my sisters, that they would have little from Madame, +and this showed me, indeed, to be a lady of great wealth, enough to +provide for others, and that the fortune of my family should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +established upon what could be seized from me; but as I was so much +above them that they could receive my benefactions, it would serve +them better to depend upon my liberality rather than to attempt to +swindle me; that this would be better before both God and man.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This scene lasted three hours. The same day Monsieur was warned that +Mademoiselle refused to be "duped." He gave a precipitate order for +departure, and declined to receive his daughter. In the disorder that +ensued Madame almost went dinnerless and appeared much disconcerted.</p> + +<p>The attendants intervened to save appearances at least, and a formal +leave was taken, but this was all; the complete rupture was consummated. +Upon the return to Saint-Fargeau, Mademoiselle at once learned that +Monsieur had taken away her men of business, including the indispensable +Préfontaine, and had left her without even a secretary. This gives a +vision of the authority possessed by the chief of a family, and its +limitations, with the princely houses of this epoch. We perceive how +much better the fortune of Mademoiselle was defended against her father +than her person and her independence. Monsieur did not dare to take away +her money without a free and formal assent; he knew that if things were +not done regularly "in a hundred years the heirs of Mademoiselle could +torment the children of Monsieur." In revenge for this disability he +tyrannised over her household. And here he was in his full right.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>He could shut her up in a convent or in the Château of Amboise, as many +counselled him to do, and this again would be within his legal powers. +If he did nothing of the kind, it was only because, being nervous and +impressionable, he dreaded feminine tears.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle realised that she was at his mercy; it did not occur to her +to contest the parental authority—outside of the question of money. She +wept, "suffered much," but she did not attempt to save Préfontaine.</p> + +<p>The years which followed were sad ones for her. Until this time she had +had but two days of grief a week, those upon which the courier arrived, +on account of the business letters which must be read and answered. She +confined herself to her study to conceal her red eyes, but her +correspondence once sent off, "I only thought," says she, "of amusing +myself."</p> + +<p>Conditions changed when she was forced to understand that Monsieur, that +father so contemptible, from whom she had suffered so much since her +infancy, but so amiable that she admired and loved him notwithstanding, +had no kind of affection for her. Very sensitive, in spite of her +brusqueness, Mademoiselle experienced a profound grief at this +reflection. Her temper gave way in a moment in which the young ladies of +her suite, commencing to find the exile long, and to regret Paris, were +ill-disposed to patience. There was coldness, frictions, and finally +that domestic war, the account of which fills a large space in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +<i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>Petty griefs, small intrigues, and much gossip rendered insupportable to +one another persons condemned to daily intercourse. Affairs became so +strained between some of the parties that communication was impossible, +and this state of things lasted until the most discontented, Mmes. de +Fiesque and de Frontenac, had formed the determination to return to +Paris.</p> + +<p>These quarrels had the effect of spoiling for Mademoiselle +Saint-Fargeau, inclining her to submission to the Court; but mere +mention is sufficient, and we shall not again refer to them.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle commenced to be convinced of the imprudence of being at +odds with the Court and her father at the same time. Her obstinacy in +sustaining Condé had ended by seriously vexing Mazarin. The nobility +felt this attitude and showed less fondness for the Princess. In 1655 +she approached to six leagues from Paris. She counted much upon +visitors; very few appeared. "I was responsible for so many illnesses," +says she wittily, "for all those who did not dare to confess that they +feared to embroil themselves with the Court, feigned maladies or +accidents in extraordinary numbers."</p> + +<p>The third day she received an order to "return." This misadventure +enlightened her; Mademoiselle admitted the necessity of making peace +with royalty. Just at this period the Prince de Condé grew less +interesting to her, as his chances of becoming a widower diminished.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +Mme. la Princesse became gradually re-established in health, and each of +her steps towards recovery made Mademoiselle a little less warm for M. +le Prince. This latter perceived the change, and at once altered his +tone. "There is no rupture," says the Duc d'Aumale, "but one can +perceive the progress of the coolness and its accordance with <i>certain</i> +news."</p> + +<p>A letter from Condé, received after the journey to the environs of +Paris, gave warning of the end of a friendship which on one side at +least was entirely political.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Brussels</span>, March 6, 1655.</p> + +<p>... As to this change which you declare to perceive in me, you do me +much injustice and it seems to me that I have more right to reproach you +than you me. Since your long silence the tone of your letters plainly +indicates how different your present sentiments are from those of past +times. This is not true of my own; they remain always the same and if +you believe otherwise and if you lend faith to the rumours which my +enemies start, it is my misfortune, not crime; for I protest there is +nothing in them, that affairs are not in this state, and if they were I +should never listen to a proposition without full consideration for your +interests and satisfaction, also not without your consent and +participation.</p> + +<p>You will recognise the truth of this statement through my conduct and +not one of my actions will ever give the lie to the words which I now +give you, even if you should have forgotten all the fine sentiments you +had when you came to see our army, which I can hardly consider possible +for a generous person like you.</p> + +<p>I knew that you came to Lésigny and that, the Court disapproving of +this, you received orders to return, which fact gave me much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +displeasure.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not longer want a pretext for withdrawing her pin from +the game. The embroilment with her father furnished it. She immediately +prayed Condé to write to her no more. "It is necessary to hold back," +said she to herself, "and if I am able without baseness to come into +accord with the Cardinal Mazarin, I will do it in order to withdraw +myself from the persecutions of his Royal Highness."</p> + +<p>Some days later the Comte de Bethune transmitted to the Cardinal +overtures of peace from the Grande Mademoiselle. The Cardinal desired +pledges. She sent a recall for the companies from the Spanish army, upon +which M. le Prince without warning "held the soldiers and put the +officers in prison."</p> + +<p>In vain the indignation of Mademoiselle. "It is seven or eight years," +wrote Condé to one of the agents, "since I have really had the favour of +Mademoiselle; I formerly possessed her good graces, but if she now +wishes to withdraw them I must accept, without desperation."<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +Here is a man liberated rather than grieved.</p> + +<p>Thus failed, one after the other, the menaces directed by the Fronde +against royalty. The project of alliance between the two cadet branches +of the House of Bourbon had been inspired in Mademoiselle by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +desire to marry. Few of the ideas of all those which menaced the throne +which had entered into the brain of the revolutionary leaders seemed so +dangerous and caused so much care to Mazarin. We must recollect that he +would have been ready, in order to appease the cadet branches, to marry +the little Louis XIV. to his great cousin.</p> + +<p>Reassured at length by the promises of Mademoiselle, who engaged herself +to have nothing more to do with M. le Prince, Mazarin took the trouble +to overcome his wrath and permitted her to expect the recompense for her +submission.</p> + +<p>In general, Mazarin had shown himself easy with the repentant Frondeurs. +The Prince de Conti had been fêted at the Louvre in 1654. It is true +that he accepted the hand of a niece of Mazarin in marriage, Anne Marie +Martinozzi, on conditions which put him in bad odour with the public. +"This marriage," wrote d'Ormesson,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> "is one of the most signal marks +of the inconsistency of human affairs and the fickleness of the French +character to be seen in our times."</p> + +<p>After Conti, another Prince, Monsieur, in person, entirely submerged as +he was in laziness and devotions, exerted himself sufficiently to come +to Court. The welcome involved conditions which contained nothing hard +nor unusual for Gaston d'Orléans; it cost him nothing but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +abandonment of some last friends. In truth, he received but little in +exchange. When he came to salute the King everyone made him feel that he +was already "in the ranks of the dead," according to the expression of +Mme. de Motteville. The ill-humour caused by this impression quickly +sent him back to Blois, which was precisely what was wished.</p> + +<p>It was the men of business who profited above all by this +reconciliation. They had greater freedom to harass Mademoiselle, and +left her neither time nor repose. Their end was to make her execute the +transaction signed at Orléans, but she held her own, without counsel or +secretary. She only suffered from an enormous labour, of which her +minority accounts were only a chapter, and not the most considerable. +The administration of the immense domains had fallen entirely upon +herself. It was now Mademoiselle who opened the mass of letters arriving +from her registers, foresters, controllers, lawyers, farmers, and single +subjects—in short, from all who in the principalities of Dombes or of +Roche-sur-Yonne, in the duchies of Montpensier or of Catellerault, had +an account to settle with her, an order to demand of her, or a claim to +submit.</p> + +<p>It was Mademoiselle herself who replied; she who followed the numerous +lawsuits necessitated by the paternal management; she who terminated the +great affair of Champigny, of which the echo was wide-spread on account +of the rank of the parties and of the remembrances awakened by the +pleaders.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Champigny was a productive territory situated in Touraine, and an +inheritance of Mademoiselle. Richelieu had despoiled her of it when she +was only a child, through a forced exchange for the Château of +Bois-le-Vicomte, in the environs of Meaux.</p> + +<p>Become mistress of her own fortune, Mademoiselle summoned the heirs of +the Cardinal to give restitution, and had just gained her suit when +Monsieur took away Préfontaine. The decree returning Champigny to her +allowed her also damages, the amount to be decided by experts, for +buildings destroyed and woods spoiled. Mademoiselle estimated that these +damages might reach a large sum; she knew that with her father at Blois +the rumour ran that she had been placed in cruel embarrassments and that +it would be repeated to all comers that she had obtained almost nothing +from this source. This report excited her to action. The moment arrived; +Mademoiselle went to Champigny, and remained there during several weeks, +spending entire days upon the heels of eighteen experts, procurers, +lawyers, gentlemen, masons, carpenters, wood merchants, collected +together to value the damages. She had long explanations with that "good +soul Madelaine," counsellor of the Parliament, and charged with +directing the investigation, who was confounded at the knowledge of the +Princess. He said to her: "You know our business better than we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +ourselves, and you talk of affairs like a lawyer." Operations finished, +Mademoiselle had the pleasure of writing to Blois that this doubtful +affair from which she was supposed to receive only "50,000 francs, +really amounted to 550,000." She came out less generously from her +litigation with her father. Mazarin rendered Mademoiselle the bad +service of having her suit introduced by the King's counsellor. A decree +confirmed the decision of Mme. de Guise, and there was nothing to do but +to obey. Mademoiselle signed, "furiously" weeping, the act which +despoiled her, and submitted with despair to the departure for Blois.</p> + +<p>She was going to visit her father, after having the thought flash +through her mind that he could order her assassination. It is said there +had been some question of this at Blois. "Immersed in melancholy +reveries, I dreamed that his Royal Highness was a son of the Médicis, +and I even reflected that the poison of the Médicis must have already +entered my veins and caused such thoughts."</p> + +<p>Her father, on the other hand, was going to overwhelm her with +tenderness after having permitted it to be said without protest that +Mademoiselle was preparing a trap, with the purpose of poisoning one of +his gentlemen.</p> + +<p>Considering the times and the family, this was a situation only a little +"strained"; but Mademoiselle was so little a "Médicis" that she made her +journey a prey to a poignant grief, which was plainly to be read upon +her countenance by the attendants at her arrival at Blois.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Upon my arrival I felt a sudden chill. I went directly to the chamber +of Monsieur; he saluted me and told me he was glad to see me. I replied +that I was delighted to have this honour. He was much embarrassed." +Neither the one nor the other knew what more to say. Mademoiselle +silently forced back her tears. Monsieur, to give himself composure, +caressed the greyhounds of his daughter, La Reine and Madame Souris. +Finally he said: "Let us go to seek Madame."</p> + +<p>"She received me very civilly and made many friendly remarks. As soon as +I was in my own chamber, Monsieur came to see me and talked as if +nothing disagreeable had passed between us." A single quarter of an hour +had sufficed to bring back to him his freedom of spirit, and he made an +effort to regain the affections of his daughter.</p> + +<p>She had never known him to continue to be severe; Monsieur counted upon +this fact. He was attentive, flattered her weaknesses great and small, +amused her with projects of marriage, and treated her greyhounds as +personages of importance; he could be seen at midnight in the lower +court in the midst of the dunghill, inquiring about Madame Souris, who +had met with an accident. He did still better; he wrote to Mazarin +asking for an accommodation with Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>After the rupture with Condé, it was evident from signs not to be +mistaken that the hour was approaching in which the all-powerful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +minister would pardon the heroine of Orléans and of Porte Saint-Antoine. +In the month of July, 1656, Mademoiselle went to the baths of Forges, in +Normandy. She had passed in sight of Paris; had sojourned in the suburbs +without anxiety, and her name this time had not made "every one ill."</p> + +<p>Visitors had flocked. Mademoiselle had entertained at dinner all the +princesses and duchesses then in Paris; and she drew the conclusion, +knowing the Court and the courtiers, that her exile was nearing an end. +"In truth," says she, "I do not feel as much joy at the thought as I +should have believed. When one reaches the end of a misery like mine, +its remembrance lasts so long and the grief forms such a barrier against +joy that it is long before the wall is sufficiently melted to permit +happiness to be again enjoyed."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the news of the letter from her father to Mazarin put her +in a great agitation. The Court of France was then in the east of France +where Turenne made his annual campaign against M. le Prince and the +Spaniards. Mademoiselle resolved to approach in order to sooner receive +the response of the Cardinal.</p> + +<p>She quitted Blois as she had arrived there, a stranger. One single thing +could have touched her: the recall of Préfontaine and of her other +servitors struck down for having been faithful. This Monsieur had +absolutely refused; his exaggerated politeness and his grimaces of +tenderness had only the result of alienating his daughter. She felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +that he detested her and she no longer loved him.</p> + +<p>Upon the route to Paris she doubled the length between her +stopping-places. Impatience gained as she neared the end and the +"barrier of grief" permitted itself gradually to be penetrated by joy.</p> + +<p>She again saw, in passing, Étampes<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and its ruins, which already +dated back five years and were found untouched by La Fontaine in 1663. +So long and difficult in certain regions was the uplifting of France, +after the wars of the Fronde, never taken very seriously by historians, +doubtless because too many women were concerned in them.</p> + +<p>"We looked with pity at the environs of Étampes," wrote La Fontaine.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +"Imagine rows of houses without roofs, without windows, pierced on all +sides; nothing could be more desolate and hideous." He talked of it +during an entire evening, not having the soul of a heroine of the +Fronde, but Mademoiselle had traversed with indifference these same +ruins in which the grass flourished in default of inhabitants to wear it +away. No remorse, no regret, however light, for her share in the +responsibility for the ruin of this innocent people, had touched her +mind, and yet she was considered to possess a tender heart.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_054" id="Page_054"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 514px;"> +<img src="images/illus077.png" width="514" height="550" alt="JEAN_FONTAINE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JEAN DE LA FONTAINE<br /> +From an engraving by Grevedon.</span> +</div> + +<p>She learned at Saint-Cloud that she had been invited to rejoin the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +Court at Sedan. Mademoiselle took a route through Reims. She thus +traversed Champagne, which had been a battle-field during the more than +twenty years of the wars with Spain<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>; and which appeared the picture +of desolation. The country was depopulated, numbers of villages burned, +and the cities ruined by pillage and forced contributions of war.</p> + +<p>More curious in regard to things which interest <i>la canaille</i>, +Mademoiselle might have heard from the mouths of the survivors that of +all the enemies who had trampled upon and oppressed this unfortunate +people, the most cruel and barbarous had been her ally, the Prince de +Condé, with whom were always found her own companies. She would not the +less have written in her <i>Mémoires</i>, entirely unconsciously, apropos of +her trouble in obtaining pardon from the Court: "I had really no +difference with the Court, and I was criminal only because I was the +daughter of his Royal Highness."</p> + +<p>We have hardly the right to reproach her with this monstrous phrase. To +betray one's country was a thing of too frequent occurrence to cause +much embarrassment. The only men of this epoch who reached the point of +considering the common people<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> and attaching the least importance to +their sufferings were revolutionary spirits or disciples of St. Vincent +de Paul.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had no leaning towards extremes. Neither her birth nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +the slightly superficial cast of her mind fostered free opinions. During +her journey in Champagne, she was delighted to hear again the clink of +arms and the sound of trumpets. Mazarin had sent a large escort. The +skirmishers of the enemy swept the country even to the environs of +Reims. A number of the people of the Court, seizing the occasion, joined +themselves to her, in order to profit by her gens d'armes and light +riders.</p> + +<p>Colbert also placed himself under her protection with chariots loaded +with money which he was taking to Sedan, and this important convoy was +surrounded by the same "military pomp, as if it had guarded the person +of the King."</p> + +<p>The great precautions were, perhaps, on account of the chariots of +money; the honours, however, were for Mademoiselle, and they much +flattered her vanity. The commandant of the escort demanded the order +from her. When she appeared the troops gave the military salute. A +regiment which she met on her route solicited the honour of being +presented to her. She examined it closely, as a warlike Princess who +understood military affairs, and of whom the grand Condé had said one +day, apropos of a movement of troops, that "Gustavus Adolphus could not +have done better." A certain halt upon the grass in a meadow through +which flowed a stream left an indelible impression. Mademoiselle offered +dinner this day to all the escort and almost all the convoy. The sight +of the meadow crowded with uniformed men and horses recalled to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +the campaigns of her fine heroic times. "The trumpets sounded during +dinner; this gave completely the air of a true army march." She arrived +at Sedan intoxicated by the military spectacle of her route, and her +entry showed this. Considering her late exile the lack of modesty might +well be criticised. The Queen, Anne of Austria, driving for pleasure in +the environs of Sedan, saw a chariot appear with horses at full gallop +surrounded by a mass of cavalry: "I arrived in this field at full speed +with gens d'armes and light riders, their trumpets sounding in a manner +sufficiently triumphant."</p> + +<p>The entire Court of France recognised the Grande Mademoiselle before +actually seeing her. Exile had not changed her, and this entrance truly +indicated her weaknesses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<blockquote><p>The Education of Louis XIV.—Manners—Poverty—Charity—Vincent +de Paul, a Secret Society—Marriage of Louis XIV.—His Arrival +at Power, on the Death of Mazarin—He Re-educates himself.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">THE remembrance of the Fronde was destined to remain a heavy weight +during the remainder of the reign of Louis XIV. Its shadow dominated for +more than half a century interior politics and decided the fate, good +and bad, of the great families.</p> + +<p>The word "Liberty" had become synonymous with "Licence, Confusion, +Disorder,"<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and the ancient Frondeurs passed the remainder of their +lives in disgrace, or at least in disfavour. The Grande Mademoiselle was +never pardoned, although she did not wish to avow this, even to herself. +She might have realised the fact at once upon her return to Court, if +she had not decided to believe the contrary. Warnings were not wanting. +The first was her encounter with the Queen Mother in the field of Sedan.</p> + +<p>When Anne of Austria saw arrive to sound of trumpets, with manner at +ease and triumphant, this insolent Princess who had drawn her cannon +upon the King, hardly embracing her niece, the Queen Mother burst into +reproaches, and declared that after the battle of Saint-Antoine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +"if she had held her, she would have strangled her."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Mademoiselle wept; +the Court looked on. "I have forgotten everything," said the Queen at +length, and her niece was eager to believe her. The meeting with the +King was still more significant. He arrived on horseback, soaked and +muddy, from the city of Montmédy, taken that same day from the Spaniards +(August 7, 1657).</p> + +<p>His mother said to him, "Behold a young lady, whom I present to you and +who is very sorry to have been so naughty; she will be 'very good' in +future." The young King only laughed and replied by talking of the siege +of Montmédy.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle nevertheless departed from Sedan filled with joyous +thoughts. She imagined reading in all eyes the news of marriage with the +brother of the King, the little Monsieur. He was seventeen, she thirty, +with hair already partially white.</p> + +<p>Some months ensued, passed in a half retreat, and the Grande +Mademoiselle remained with the Court during the years of transition in +which the personal government of Louis XIV. was maturing. A new régime +was being born and a new world with it.</p> + +<p>One could gradually see this new formation relegating to the shadow of +the past the old spirit of independence, and stifling the confused +aspirations of the country towards any legal liberties. Mazarin +incarnated this great political movement. On the eve of disappearance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +this unpopular minister had become all France.</p> + +<p>He was master; no one thought any longer of resisting him; but he was +always detested, never admired. France having at this date neither +journals nor parliamentary debates, the foreign policy of Mazarin, which +in our eyes did him so much honour, remained very little known even at +Paris. This explains why his glory has been in large part posthumous. It +has increased in measure as it has been possible to judge of his entire +policy, from documents contained in our national archives or in those of +other countries. His correspondence displays so fine a diplomatic +genius, that the historians have turned aside from the evil side of the +man, his littlenesses, in order to give full weight to his services as +minister. Precisely a contrary course had been taken in the seventeenth +century. Little besides the Cardinal's defects, open to all eyes, were +realised. Bad fortune had redoubled his rapacity. Mazarin had guarded in +his heart the experience of poverty at the time in which he was expelled +from the kingdom. He had sworn to himself that he would not again be +taken without "ammunition." He had worked industriously since his return +in putting aside millions in safe keeping. Everything aided him in +raising this kind of war treasure. He sold high functions of State, and +also those belonging to low degree, even to that of laundress to the +Queen. He shared the benefits with the corsairs to whom he gave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +letters of marque. He undertook contracts for public service, pocketed +the money, left our ambassadors without salaries, our vessels and +fortifications without means of subsistence. The army was crying with +hunger and thirst as soon as he made himself its sutler and its +commissariat. He furnished bread of diminished purity and even found +means, said the courtiers, to make the soldiers, so rarely paid +themselves, pay for the water they drank. Turenne once broke up his +plate to distribute the pieces to his troops, who were perishing from +want.</p> + +<p>Comical scenes mingled with these tragic ones. Bussy-Rabutin, who served +in the army of Turenne, had been fortunate at play. The Cardinal had +learned of this, and ordered it to be represented to Bussy that his pay +which had been pledged in the game would be guarded by the Cardinal as +his portion of the gain. He had extended his traffic into the royal +palace. It was he who furnished furniture and utensils. He undertook to +provide the Court mourning, and costumes for the fêtes: when the King +danced a ballet, his first minister gained by the decorations and +accessories. The housekeeping accounts passed through his hands. During +the campaign of 1658, he suppressed the King's cook, in order to +appropriate to himself what the table would have cost. Louis XIV. was +forced to invite himself to dine with this one and that one. Mazarin +touched even his pocket money and the young King permitted it with a +patience which was a constant source of astonishment to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +courtiers. His mother was neither better treated nor less submissive.</p> + +<p>The Cardinal was as jealous of his authority as of his money. The King +had no voice in his council; when he accorded a pardon, however trivial, +his first minister revoked it, "scolding him like a schoolboy."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>It was said of the Queen Mother that her influence was only worth a +hundred crowns, and she agreed. Still more, she was scolded from morning +till night. Age had rendered Mazarin insupportable. He had no delicacy +with the King, still less with the King's mother: the courtiers shrugged +their shoulders in hearing him speak to Anne of Austria "as to a +chambermaid."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>The Queen was not insensible to this rudeness. She confessed to the +faithful Motteville "that the Cardinal had become so bad tempered and so +avaricious that she did not know how in the future it was going to be +possible to live with him." But it did not seem to occur to her that it +might be possible to live without the Cardinal. Can it be believed that +Anne of Austria and Mazarin were married, as La Palatine,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> +mother of the Regent, asserted? As they gradually grew old, one is tempted +to believe it, so strongly the spectacle offered by these illustrious +persons, he so disagreeable, she so submissive, gives the impression +of two destinies "united together," according to the expression of the +Cardinal himself,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> "by bonds which could not be broken." The question +to be solved is, could Mazarin marry? According to tradition he was not +a priest. According to the Euridite that point is open to +discussion.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Until this matter is fixed, the marriage of Anne of +Austria with her minister will remain among historical enigmas, for +everything said will be words in the air.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_062" id="Page_062"></a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><b>PRIÈRE DU ROY.</b></div> + +<blockquote><p>Jesus-Christ Roy du Ciel et de la Terre, ie vous adore et reconnois +pour le Roy des Roys. C'est de vostre Majesté Diuine que ie tiens +ma Couronne: mon Dieu ie vous l'offre, pour la Gloire de la trés +Saincte Trinité, et pour l'honneur de la Reine des Agnes la Sacrée +Vierge Marie que iay choisy pour ma Protectrice, et des Estats que +vous m'auez donné; Seigneur baillez moy vostre crainte et une si +grande Sagesse et humilité, que ie puisse deuenir un homme selon +vostre coeur; en sorte que ie merite efficacement le tiltre aimable +de Louis Dieu donné le Pacifique pour maintenir vostre Peuple en +Paix, afin qu'il vous serve avec tranquilité, et l'acomplissement +de toutes les Vertus.</p></blockquote> + +<div class="center"><b>VŒU ET PRIÈRE DES PEUPLES POUR LE ROY.</b></div> + +<blockquote><p>Adorable Redempteur Jesus-Christ, qui estes le distributeur des +Couronnes, receuez la pieté du Roy tres-Crestien, et exaucez ses +Prieres respectueses faites par l'entremise de vostre Saincte Mere +Vierge, que linfluence des Graces du St. Esprit luy soit donnée, +afin croissant en aage, it croisse aussi en telle Sagesse, qu'il +puisse maintenir <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'voster'">vostre</ins> peuple in Paix, pour mieux obseruer vos +saincts <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'cammandemens'">commandemens.</ins></p></blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2" /> +<p class="center"><b>(Translation of the above.)</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>PRAYER OF THE KING.</b></p> + +<blockquote><p>Jesus Christ, King of the Heavens and the Earth, I adore Thee and +recognize Thee for the King of Kings, the divine majesty from whom +I receive my crown, which I offer to Thee for the Glory of the Most +Holy Trinity, and for the honor of the Queen of Angels, the blessed +Virgin Mary, whom I have chosen as my Protector, and also of the +States which Thou hast given me. Lord grant me due reverence and +that I may possess so much wisdom and humility that I may become a +man after Thine own heart, so that I may truly merit the title of +the Beloved Louis, the God-given and peaceful, and be able to +maintain Thy people in peace that they may live in tranquillity and +virtuously serve Thee.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"><b>VOW AND PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE.</b></p> + +<blockquote><p>Adorable Redeemer Jesus Christ; who art the giver of crowns; regard +the piety of the most Christian King and listen to his prayers for +the intervention of the most blessed Mother Virgin; and grant that +the influence of the Holy Spirit may so be poured out upon him that +as he increases in years he may also grow in wisdom; and that he +may keep Thy people in peace that they may better be able to +preserve Thy commands.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_063" id="Page_063"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 463px;"> +<img src="images/illus089.png" width="463" height="550" alt="LOUIS_XIV. AS A BOY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOUIS XIV. AS A BOY, DEDICATING HIS CROWN<br /> +After the painting by Greg Huret</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>The patience of Louis XIV. can only be explained by his entire bringing +up and by the state of mind which had been its fruit.</p> + +<p>Louis's cradle had been surrounded by a crowd of servitors charged to +watch over his least movement. His mother adored him and, for a queen, +occupied herself much with him. Nevertheless, there could hardly a child +be found throughout the entire kingdom so badly cared for as the son of +the King.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. had never forgotten this neglect and spoke of it all his life +with bitterness.</p> + +<p>"The King always surprises me," relates Mme. de Maintenon at Saint Cyr, +"when he speaks to me of his education. His governesses gossiped the +entire day, and left him in the hands of their maids without paying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +any attention to the young Prince." The maids abandoned him to his own +devices and he was once found in the basin of the fountain in the Palais +Royal. One of his greatest pleasures was to prowl in the kitchens with +his brother, the little Monsieur. "He ate everything he could lay his +hands on without paying attention to its healthfulness. If they were +frying an omelette, he would break off a piece, which he and Monsieur +devoured in some corner."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> One day when the two little Princes thus +put their fingers into the prepared dishes, the cooks impatiently drove +them away with blows from dishcloths. He played with any one. "His most +frequent companion," again relates Mme. de Maintenon, "was the daughter +of the Queen's own maid." When he was withdrawn from such surroundings, +to be led to his mother, or to figure in some ceremony, he appeared a +bashful boy who looked at people with embarrassment without knowing what +to say, and who cruelly suffered from this shyness.</p> + +<p>One day after they had given him a lesson, his timidity prevented him +from remembering the right words and he burst into tears with rage and +anger. The King of France to make a fool of himself!</p> + +<p>At five and a half years, they gave him a tutor and many masters,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +but he learned nothing. Mazarin for reasons known to himself would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +not force him to work; and circumstances favoured the views of the first +minister. The Fronde came, and rendered any study impossible on account +of the complete upsetting of the daily life of the Court of France, +which was only encamped when it was not actually on the move. Louis XIV. +was fourteen at the date of the reinstallation of the Court at the +Louvre and there was no question of making him recover the lost time; he +thenceforth passed his days in hunting, in studying steps for the +ballet, and in amusing himself with the nieces of the Cardinal. The +political world believed that it divined the reason for this limited +education and severely expressed its opinion about it. "The King," wrote +the Ambassador from Venice,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> "applies himself the entire day to +learning the ballet.... Games, dances, and comedies are the only +subjects of conversation with the King, the intention being to turn him +aside from affairs more solid and important." The Ambassador returns to +the same subject upon the occasion of an Italian opera,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> in which the +King exhibited himself as Apollo surrounded by beautiful persons +representing the nine muses:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Certain people blame this affair, but these do not understand the +politics of the Cardinal, who keeps the King expressly occupied +with pastimes, in order to turn his attention from solid and +important pursuits, and whilst the King is concerned in rolling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +machines of wood upon the stage, the Cardinal moves and rolls at +his good pleasure, upon the theatre of France, all the machines of +state.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some few observers, of whom Mazarin himself was one, divined that this +youth, with his air of being absorbed in tomfooleries, secretly +reflected upon his profession of King, and upon the means of rendering +himself capable of sustaining it. Nature had endowed him with the +instinct of command, joined to a very lively sentiment of the duties of +his rank. Louis says in his <i>Mémoires</i>, "even from infancy the names +alone of the kings <i>fainéants</i> and mayors of the palace gave me pain if +pronounced in my presence."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>His preceptor, the Abbé of Péréfixe, had encouraged this sentiment, at +the same time, however, permitting his pupil, by a contradiction for +which perhaps he was not responsible, to take the road which leads in +the direction of idleness, and thus making it possible for Louis to +become a true King <i>fainéant</i> himself.</p> + +<p>Péréfixe had written for the young King a history of King Henry the +Great in which one reads</p> + +<blockquote><p>that royalty is not the trade of a do-nothing, that it consists +almost entirely of action, that a King should make a pleasure of +his duty, that his enjoyment should be in reigning and he only +should know how to reign, that is, he should himself hold the helm +of the state. His glory is interested in this. In truth, who does +not know that there can be no honour in bearing a title whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +functions one does not fulfil—</p></blockquote> + +<p>a doctrine which would suppress the first ministers and by which Louis +XIV. profited later.</p> + +<p>Chance came to the aid of the preceptor. On June 19, 1651, the ancient +governess of the King, Mme. de Lansac, disturbed him in the midst of a +lesson, in order to make a gift of "three letters written by Catherine +de Médicis to Henry III.,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> her son, for his edification." Péréfixe +took the letters and read them aloud, the King listening "with much +attention." One of them was almost a memorial.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> In it, Catherine gave +to her son the same precept as Péréfixe to his pupil: "a king must +reign," that is to say, carry out the functions belonging to his title. +In order to "reign," one must begin to work at once upon awakening, read +all the dispatches and afterwards the replies, speak personally to the +agents, receive every morning accounts of receipts and expenditures; +pursue this course from morning till night, and every day of one's life. +It was the programme for a slave to power. Louis XIV. made it his own, +in the bottom of his soul; he was not yet thirteen.</p> + +<p>Such beautiful resolutions however, were destined to remain dead so long +as Mazarin lived. They could only be executed to the detriment of his +authority, and the idea of entering into a struggle with the Cardinal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +was repugnant to the young King, partially on account of old affection, +partially on account of timidity and the habit of obedience.</p> + +<p>The mind of Louis XIV. had however been awakened and the fruits of this +awakening were later visible, but for a time he was content to find good +excuses for leaving affairs alone. He explains in his <i>Mémoires</i> that he +was arrested by political reasons; as he had too much experience also +(however strange this word may appear when applied to a child so +foolishly brought up) not to realise the danger of a revolution in the +royal palace in the present condition of France after the devastations +of the civil wars.</p> + +<p>In default of the science which one draws from books, Louis XIV. had +received lessons in realities from the Fronde: The riots and barricades, +the vehement discourse of the Parliament to his mother, the humiliating +flights with the Court, the periods of poverty in which his servants had +no dinner and he himself slept with his sheets full of holes, and wore +clothes too short, the battles in which his subjects fired upon him, the +treasons of his relations and of his nobility and their shameful +bargains; nothing of all this had been lost upon the young King.</p> + +<p>With a surface order re-established, he perceived how troubled the +situation remained at bottom, how precarious, and he judged it prudent +to defer what he both "wished" and "feared," says very clearly his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +<i>Mémoires</i>. He queries if this were an error:</p> + +<blockquote><p>It is necessary [says he] to represent to one's self the state of +affairs: Agitations throughout the entire kingdom were at their +height; a foreign war continued in which a thousand advantages had +been lost to France owing to these domestic troubles; a Prince of +my own blood and a very great name at the head of my enemies; many +cabals in the state; the Parliaments still in possession of usurped +authority; in my own Court very little of either fidelity or +interest, and above all my subjects, apparently the most +submissive, were as great a care and as much to be suspected as +those most openly rebellious.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Was this the moment in which to expose the country to new shocks?</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. had remained convinced<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> to the contrary, avowing, however, +that he had much to criticise in the fashions of Mazarin,</p> + +<blockquote><p>a minister [pursued he] re-established in spite of so many +factions, very able, very adroit, who loved me and whom I loved, +and who had rendered me great services, but whose thoughts and +manners were naturally very different from mine, and whom I could +not always contradict nor discredit without anew exciting, by that +image, however erroneous, of disgrace, the same tempests which had +been so difficult to calm.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The King had also to take into consideration his own extreme youth, and +his ignorance of affairs. He relates in regard to this point his ardent +desire for glory, his fear of beginning ill, "for one can never retrieve +one's self"; his attention to the course of events "in secret and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +without a confidant"; his joy when he discovered that people both able +and consummate shared his fashion of thinking.</p> + +<p>Considering everything, had there ever been a being urged forward and +retarded so equally, in his design to take upon himself "the guidance of +the state"?</p> + +<p>This curious page has no other defect than that of having been dictated +by a man matured, in whose thoughts things have taken a clearness not +existing in the mind of the youth, and who believes himself to recollect +"determinations" when there existed in reality only "desires."</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. would be unpardonable if full credit were given to his +<i>Mémoires</i>. Why, if he saw so clearly, did he grumble at any kind of +work? When Louis was sixteen, Mazarin had arranged with him some days in +which he might be present at a council. The King was bored and retired +to talk of the next ballet and to play the guitar with his intimates. +Mazarin was obliged to scold him to force him to return and remain at +the council.</p> + +<p>With a capacity for trifling, he cared for nothing serious, and there +was much laziness contained in his resolution to leave all to his +minister. The Court had formed its own opinion: it considered the young +King incapable of application. It was also said that he lacked +intelligence, and in this belief there was no error. Louis himself +alluded to this and said with simplicity, "I am very stupid."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>The libertine youth who surrounded him, and whom his solemn air +restrained, did not conceal the fact that they found him a great bore, +as probably did also Madame de Maintenon a half-century later. The +Guiche and the Vardes believed him doomed to insignificance and did not +trouble themselves much about him. The city was less convinced that he +was a cipher, perhaps because otherwise it could not so easily have +taken his part. Paris was commencing to fear those princes with whom, +for one reason or another, first ministers were necessary, and the +Parisian bourgeoisie was on the watch for some proof of intelligence in +the young monarch. "It is said that the mind of the King is awakening," +wrote Guy Patin in 1654; "God be thanked!"</p> + +<p>This first light not having an apparent development, Paris, whilst +waiting for something better, admired the looks of the sovereign. "I +have to-day seen the King on his way to the chase," again wrote Guy +Patin four years later. "A fine Prince, strong and healthy; he is tall +and graceful; it is a pity that he does not better understand his +duties."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> His serious air was also lauded, his dislike to debauchery +in any form, and the modesty which made him bravely reply before the +entire Court, to a question about a new play: "I never judge a subject +about which I know nothing."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>This was not the response of a fool.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>In fine, as he was very cold, very capable of dissimulation, as he spoke +little, through calculation as much as through instinct, and generally +confined his conversation to trifles, this youth upon whom all France +had its eyes fixed remained an unknown quantity to his subjects.</p> + +<p>In September, 1657, two strangers crossing the Pont Neuf found +themselves in the midst of a pressure of people. The crowd precipitated +itself with cries of joy towards a carriage whose livery had been +recognised.</p> + +<p>It was the Grande Mademoiselle returning from exile, and coming to take +possession of the palace of the Luxembourg, in which her father +permitted her to lodge, feeling certain that he himself should never +return to it. The two strangers noted in their <i>Journal de Voyage</i><a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> +that the Parisians bore a "particular affection" for this Princess, +because she had behaved like a "true amazon" during the civil war.</p> + +<p>The Court had resigned itself to the inevitable. Mademoiselle had +remained popular in Paris, and her exploits during the Fronde and her +fine bearing at the head of her regiment were remembered with +enthusiasm. She only passed through the city at this time, having +affairs to regulate in the Provinces. Upon her definite return on +December 31st, the Court and the city crowded to see her. The Luxembourg +overflowed during several days, after which, when society had convinced +itself that Mademoiselle had no longer a face "fresh as a fully blown +rose,"<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> its curiosity was satisfied and it occupied itself with +something else.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0073" id="Page_0073"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;"> +<img src="images/illus101.png" width="398" height="550" alt="A_YOUNG_MAN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOUIS XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN<br /> +From a chalk drawing in the British Museum Print Room</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle herself had much to do. The idea of marrying the +little Monsieur had not left her mind since the meeting at Sedan. She was +assured that the Prince was dying of desire for her, and Mademoiselle +naïvely responded that she very well perceived this. "This does not +displease me," adds she; "a young Prince, handsome, well-made, brother +of the King, appears a good match."</p> + +<p>In expectation of the betrothal, she stopped her pursuits of the happy +interval at Saint-Fargeau in which she had loved intellectual pleasures, +in order to make herself the comrade of a child only absorbed in +pastimes belonging to his age, and passed the winter in dancing, in +masquerading, in rushing through the promenades and the booths of the +fair of Saint-Germain.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>The public remarked that the little Monsieur appeared "not very gay" +with his tall cousin, and troubled himself but little to entertain +her,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> and that he would have preferred other companions better suited +to his seventeen years.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not perceive this. Philip, Duke of Anjou, had a face of +insipid beauty posed upon a little round body. He did not lack <i>esprit</i>, +had not an evil disposition, and would have made an amiable prince if +reasons of state had not tended to reduce him to the condition of a +marionette.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>His mother and Mazarin had brought him up as a girl, for fear of his +later troubling his elder brother, and this education had only too well +succeeded. By means of sending him to play with the future Abbé de +Choisy, who put on a robe and patches to receive him; by means of having +him dressed and barbered by the Queen's maids of honour and putting him +in petticoats and occupying him with dolls, he had been made an +ambiguous being, a species of defective girl having only the weaknesses +of his own sex. Monsieur had a new coat every day and it worried him to +spot it, and to be seen with his hair undressed or in profile when he +believed himself handsomer in full face. Paris possessed no greater +gossip; he babbled, he meddled, he embroiled people by repeating +everything, and this amused him.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle considered it her duty to "preach" to him of "noble deeds," +but she wasted her time. He was laziness and weakness itself. The two +cousins were ill-adapted to each other in every way.</p> + +<p>When they entered a salon together, Monsieur short and full, attired in +the costume of a hunter, his garments sewed from head to foot with +precious stones, Mademoiselle a little masculine of figure and manner +and negligent in her dress, they were a singular couple. Those who did +not know them opened their eyes wide, and they were often seen together +in the winter at least, for the society was at this date most mixed, +even in the most élite circles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>From Epiphany to Ash-Wednesday, the Parisians had no greater pleasure +than to promenade masked at night, and to enter without invitation into +any house where an entertainment was taking place. Louis XIV. gladly +joined in these gaieties. Upon one evening of Mardi-Gras, when he was +thus running the streets with Mademoiselle, they met Monsieur dressed as +a girl with blond hair.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Keepers of inns sent their guests to profit +by this chance of free entry. A young Dutchman related that he went the +same night "with those of his inn" to five great balls, the first at the +house of Mme. de Villeroy, the last with the Duchess of Valentinois, and +that he had seen at each place more than two hundred masks.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>The crowd would not permit that entrance should be refused on any +pretext.</p> + +<p>The same Dutchman reports with a note of bitterness that on another +evening it had been impossible to penetrate into the house of the +Maréchal de l'Hôpital, because the King being there, measures had been +taken to avoid too great a crowd. Custom obliged every one to submit to +receiving society, choice or not. At a grand fête given by the Duc de +Lesdiguières, which in the bottom of his heart he was offering to Mme. +de Sévigné, "The King had hardly departed when the crowd commenced to +scuffle and to pillage every thing, until, as it was stated, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +became necessary to replace the candles of the chandeliers four or five +times and this single article cost M. de Lesdiguières more than a hundred +pistoles."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>Such domestic manners had the encouragement of the King, who also left +his doors open upon the evenings on which he danced a ballet. He did +better still. He went officially to sup "with the Sieur de la +Bazinière," ancient lackey become financier and millionaire, and having +the bearing, the manners, and the ribbon cascades of the Marquis de +Mascarille. He desired that Mademoiselle should invite to the +Luxembourg, Mme. de l'Hôpital, ancient laundress married twice for her +beautiful eyes; the first time by a <i>partisan</i>, the second by a Marshal +of France. These lessons were not lost upon the nobility. Mésalliances +were no more discredited, even the lowest, the most shameful, provided +that the dot was sufficient. A Duke and Peer had married the daughter of +an old charioteer. The Maréchal d'Estrées was the son-in-law of a +<i>partisan</i> known under the name of Morin the Jew. Many others could be +cited, for the tendency increased from year to year.</p> + +<p>In 1665, the King having entered Parliament,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> in order to confirm an +edict, a group of men amongst whom was Olivier d'Ormesson were regarding +the Tribune in which were seated the ladies of the Court. Some one +thought of counting how many of these were daughters of parvenues or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +of business men; he found three out of six. Two others were nieces of +Mazarin, married to French nobles.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> The single one of aristocratic +descent was Mlle. d'Alençon, a half-sister of the Grande Mademoiselle. +One could hardly have anticipated such figures, even allowing for +chance.</p> + +<p>The King, however, approved of this state of affairs and the nobility +was ruined; every one seized on what support he could. The general +course of affairs was favourable to this confusion of rank. From the +triumphal re-entry of Mazarin in 1653, until his death in 1661, a kind +of universal freedom continued at the Court which surprised the ancient +Frondeurs on their return from exile. The young monarch himself +encouraged familiarities and lack of etiquette.</p> + +<p>It was the nieces of the Cardinal who were largely responsible for these +changes in manners and who gained their own profit through the +additional freedom, since Marie, the third of the Mancini, was soon to +almost touch the crown with the tip of her finger. Mademoiselle had some +trouble in accustoming herself to the new manners towards the King.</p> + +<blockquote><p>For me [says she], brought up to have great respect, this is most +astonishing, and I have remained long time without habituating +myself to this new freedom. But when I saw how others acted, when +the Queen told me one day that the King hated ceremony, then I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +yielded; for without this high authority the faults of manner +could not be possible with others.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The pompous Louis XIV. wearing the great wig of the portraits did not +yet exist, and the Louvre of 1658 but little resembled the particular +and formal Versailles of the time of Saint-Simon.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>The licence extended to morals. Numbers of women of rank behaved badly, +some incurred the suspicion of venality, and no faults were novelties; +but vice keeps low company and it was this result which proud people +like Mademoiselle could not suffer.</p> + +<p>When it was related to her that the Duchesse de Châtillon, daughter of +Montmorency-Boutteville, had received money from the Abbé Foucquet<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> +and wiped out the debt by permitting such lackey-like jokes as breaking +her mirrors with blows of the foot, she was revolted. "It is a strange +thing," wrote she, "this difference of time; who would have said to the +Admiral Coligny, 'The wife of your grandson will be maltreated by the +Abbé Foucquet'?—he would not have believed it, and there was no mention +at all of this name of Foucquet in his time."</p> + +<p>In the mind of Mademoiselle, who had lived through so many periods, it +was the low birth of the Abbé which would have affected the Admiral. +"Whatever may be said," added she, "I can never believe that persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +of quality abandon themselves to the point which their slanderers say. +For even if they did not consider their own safety, worldly honour is in +my opinion so beautiful a thing that I do not comprehend how any one can +despise it."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not transgress upon the respect due to the hierarchy of +rank; for the rest, she contented herself with what are called the +morals of respectable people, which have always been sufficiently +lenient. She understood, however, all the difference between this +morality and Christian principles.</p> + +<p>The <i>Provinciales</i> (1656) had made it clear to the blindest that it was +necessary to choose between the two. Mademoiselle had under this +influence made a visit to Port Royal des Champs<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> and had been +entirely won by these "admirable people" who lived like saints and who +spoke and wrote "the finest eloquence," while the Jesuits would have +done better to remain silent, "having nothing good to say and saying it +very badly," "for assuredly there were never fewer preachers amongst +them than at present nor fewer good writers, as appears by their +letters. This is why for all sorts of reasons they would have done +better not to write."</p> + +<p>Seeing Mademoiselle so favourably impressed, one of the Monsieurs of +Port Royal, Arnauld d'Andilly, said upon her departure, "You are going +to the Court; you can give to the Queen account of what you have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +seen."—"I assure you that I will willingly do this."</p> + +<p>Knowing her disposition, there is but little doubt that she kept her +word; but this was all. The worthy Mademoiselle, incapable of anything +low or base, did not dream for a second of allowing the austere +morality, ill fitted for the needs of a court, to intervene in +influencing her judgments upon others, or in the choice of her friends. +She blamed the Duchesse de Châtillon for reasons with which virtue, +properly named, had nothing to do. We see her soon after meeting Mme. de +Montespan, because common morality has nothing to blame in a King's +mistress.</p> + +<p>Mme. de Sévigné agreed with Mademoiselle and they were not alone. This +attitude gave a kind of revenge to the Jesuits.</p> + +<p>Tastes became as common as sentiments; those of the King were not yet +formed, and the pleasure taken in the ballet in the theatre of the +Louvre injured the taste for what was, in fact, no longer tragedy. +Corneille had given up writing for the first time in 1652, after the +failure of his <i>Pertharite</i>. The following year, Quinault made his debut +and pleased. He taught in his tragi-comedies, flowery and tender, that +"Love makes everything permissible," which had been said by Honoré +d'Urfé in <i>l'Astrée</i>, a half-century previous, and he retied, without +difficulty, after the Corneillian parenthesis, the thread of a doctrine +which has been transmitted without interruption to our own days.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>Love justifies everything, for the right of passion is sacred, nothing +subsists before it.</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i1">Dans l'empire amoureux,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Le devoir n'a point de puissance.</span><br /> + <div class="stanza"> + </div> + <span class="i1">L'éclat de beaux yeux adoucit bien un crime;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Au regard des amants tout parait légitime.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The idea which this verse expresses can be found throughout the works of +Quinault. He has said it again and again, with the same langourous, +insinuating sweetness, for a period which lasted more than thirty years, +and in the beginning no one very seriously divided with him the +attention of the public.</p> + +<p>At the appearance of his first piece in 1653, Racine was fourteen; +Molière did not return to Paris until 1658. Corneille, in truth, was +preparing his return to the theatre; but he found when his last +tragedies were played, that he had done well to study Quinault, and in +doing this he had not wasted his time;—a decisive proof of the echo to +which souls responded,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> and of the increasing immorality of the new +era.</p> + +<p>Thus the Court of France lost its prestige. The éclat cast by the Fronde +upon the men and women seeking great adventures had been replaced by no +new enthusiasms. The pleasures to which entire lives were devoted had +not always been refining, as we have seen above, and people had not +grown in intelligence. The bold crowd of the Mazarins gave the tone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +to the Louvre, and this tone lacked delicacy. The Queen, Anne of +Austria, groaned internally, but she had loosed the reins; except in the +affair of her son's marriage she had nothing to refuse to the nieces of +Cardinal Mazarin.</p> + +<p>Because the Court was in general lazy and frivolous, a hasty opinion of +the remainder of France should not be formed. The Court did not fairly +represent the entire nation; outside of it there was room for other +opinions and sentiments. It was during the years of 1650 to 1656, which +appear to us at first sight almost a moral desert, that private charity +made in the midst of France one of its greatest efforts, an effort very +much to the honour of all concerned in it.</p> + +<p>I have noticed elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> the frightful poverty of the country during +the Fronde. This distress which was changing into desert places one +strip after another of French territory, must be relieved, and amongst +those in authority no one was found capable of doing it.</p> + +<p>It is hardly possible to represent to one's self to-day the condition +left by the simple passage of an army belonging to a civilised people, +through a French or German land, two or three hundred years ago.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>The idea of restricting the sufferings caused by war to those which are +inevitable is a novel one. In the seventeenth century, on the contrary, +the effort was to increase them. The chiefs for the most part showed a +savage desire to excite the mania for destruction which is so easily +aroused with soldiers during a campaign. Towards the end of the Fronde, +some troops belonging to Condé, then in the service of the King of +Spain, occupied his old province of Bourgogne. If any district of France +could have hoped to be respected by the Prince, it was this one; his +father had possessed it before him and it was full of their friends. +Ties of this kind, however, were of no advantage. March 23, 1652, the +States of Bourgogne wrote to M. de Bielle, their deputy at Court:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The enemies having already burned fourteen villages [the names +follow], besides others since burned, these fire-fiends are still +in campaign and continuing these horrible ravages, all which has +been under the express order of M. le Prince, which the commandant +[de la ville] de Seurre has received, to burn the entire Province +if it be possible. The same Sieur de Bielle can judge by the +account of these fires, to which there has so far been no +impediment presented, in what state the Province will be in a short +time.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The common soldier troubled himself little whether the sacked region was +on the one or the other side of the frontier. He made hardly any +difference.</p> + +<p>Some weeks after the fires in Bourgogne, two armies tortured the Brie. +The one belonged to the King, the other to the Duc de Lorraine, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +there was only a shade less of cruelty with the French forces than with +the others. When all the troops had passed, the country was filled with +charnel houses, and there are charnel houses and charnel houses.</p> + +<p>That of Rampillon,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> particularly atrocious, must be placed to the +account of the Lorraines: "at each step one met mutilated people, with +scattered limbs; women cut in four quarters after violation; men +expiring under the ruins of burning houses, others spitted."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> No +trouble was taken to suppress these hells of infection.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to find any fashion of carrying on a war both more +ferocious and more stupid. Some chiefs of divisions, precursers of +humanitarian ideas, timidly protested, in the name of interest only, +against a system which always gave to campaigning armies the plague, +famine, and universal hatred. A letter addressed to Mazarin, and signed +by four of these, Fabert at the head, supplicates him to arrest the +ravages of a foreigner in the services of France, M. de Rosen. Mazarin +took care to pay no attention to this protest: it would have been +necessary first to pay Rosen and his soldiers. If it is expected to find +any sense of responsibility in the State, in the opinion of +contemporaries, for saving the survivors, left without bread, animals, +nor harvests, without roof and without working tools, there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +disappointment; the State held itself no more responsible for public +disasters than for the poor, always with it.</p> + +<p>The conception of social duty was not yet born. Public assistance was in +its infancy, and the little which existed had been completely +disorganised by the general disorders; like everything else. Each city +took care of its beggars or neglected them according to its own +resources and circumstances. On the other hand, the idea of Christian +charity had taken a strong hold upon some circles, under the combined +influence of the Jansenism which exacted from its devotees a living +faith; of a secret Catholic society whose existence is one of the most +curious historical discoveries of these last years<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>; and of a poor +saint whose peasant airs and whose patched <i>soutane</i> caused much +laughter when he presented himself before the Queen. Vincent de Paul is +easily recognised. Relations with great people had not changed him. It +was said of him after years of Court society, "M. Vincent is always M. +Vincent," and this was true: men of this calibre never change, happily +for the world.</p> + +<p>He became the keynote of the impulse which caused the regeneration of +provincial life, almost ruined by the wars of the Fronde. Even after the +work was ended it would be difficult to decide upon the share of each of +these bodies in this colossal enterprise. The society to which allusion +has been made was founded in 1627, by the Duc de Ventadour, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +mystical thought had led him, as often happens, to essentially practical +works. The name of Compagnie du Saint Sacrement was given it, and +without doubt its supreme end was "to make honoured the Holy Sacrament."</p> + +<p>Precisely on account of this, the society sought to "procure" for itself +"all the good" in its power, for nothing is more profitable to religion +than support, material as well as spiritual and moral, distributed under +its inspiration and as one might say on its own part.</p> + +<p>One passes easily from the practice of charity, a source of precious +teaching, to the correction of manners. After comes the desire to +control souls, which naturally leads to the destruction of heresies, +with or without gentleness.</p> + +<p>This programme was responsible for many admirable charitable works, two +centuries in advance of current ideas, and, at the same time, for +cruelties, infamies, all the vices inseparable from the sectarian spirit +in which the end justifies the means.</p> + +<p>Once started, the society rapidly increased, always hidden, and +multiplying precautions not to be discovered, since neither clergy nor +royalty were well disposed towards this mysterious force, from which +they were constantly receiving shocks without being able to discover +whence came the blows.</p> + +<p>It was an occult power, analogous in its extent and its intolerance, and +even in the ways and means employed, to the Free Masonry of the present.</p> + +<p>The Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement had links throughout France and in +all classes. Anne of Austria was included in its sacred band and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +shoemaker played in it an important rôle. Vincent de Paul enrolled +himself in the ranks towards the year 1635, contributed to the good, and +probably was ignorant of the evil to be found in its folds. Dating from +his affiliation, his charitable works so mingled with those of the +society that it was no longer to be recognised. The society brought to +the Saint powerful succour, and aided him effectively in finding the +support of which he had need; it would be difficult to say from whom +came the first idea of many good works.</p> + +<p>As for what at present concerns us, however, the point of departure is +known. It was neither Vincent de Paul nor the Compagnie du +Saint-Sacrement which conceived and put in train the prodigious work of +relieving the Provinces. The first committee of relief was founded in +Paris, in 1649, by a Janséniste, M. de Bernières, who was also +responsible for the invention of the printed "Relations" which were +informing all France of the miseries to be relieved. It was the first +time that Charity had aided itself through publicity. It soon found the +value of this. M. de Bernières and his committee, in which the wives of +members of Parliament dominated, were soon able to commence in Picardie +and Champagne the distribution of bread, clothing, grain, and working +implements. Hospitals were established. They put an end to the frightful +feeling of desolation of these unfortunate populations, pillaged during<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +so many years by mercenaries of all races and tongues. But the number of +workers was small even if their zeal was great, and the Janséniste +community was not equipped for a task of this dimension. From the end of +the following year, the direction of the enterprise passed entirely into +the hands of Vincent de Paul, who led with him his army of sisters of +charity, his mission priests, and an entire contingent of allies, secret +but absolutely devoted.</p> + +<p>It does not seem as if at first there was any conflict. Mme. de +Lamoignon and the Présidente de Herse were the right arms of M. Vincent +as they had been of M. de Bernières. When the Queen of Poland,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> a +spiritual daughter of Port-Royal and brought up in France, wished to +subscribe to the work, she sent her money to the Mother Angélique, +telling her to communicate with M. Vincent. But this harmony was of +short duration. The members of what the public were going to baptise +with the sobriquet of "Cabale des Dévots," not being able to discover +the real name, could not suffer the Janséniste concurrence in charitable +works. They showered upon M. de Bernières a mass of odious calumnies and +denunciations which resulted in the exile of this good man.</p> + +<p>This was one of the most abominable of the bad actions to which a +sectarian spirit has pushed human beings.</p> + +<p>The "Relations" were continued under the direction of Vincent de Paul. +One knows through them and through the documents of the time, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +details of the task undertaken. The first necessity for the public +health was the clearing the surface of the ground, in the provinces in +which there had been fighting, of the putrifying bodies, and of the +filthiness left by the armies. There was one village from which such an +odour exhaled that no one would approach it. A "Relation" of 1652 +describes in these terms the environs of Paris:</p> + +<blockquote><p>At Étréchy, the living are mingled with the dead, and the country +is full of the latter. At Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Crosne, Limay, +one hundred and seventy-four ill people were found in the last +extremity, with neither beds, clothes, nor bread.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to commence by taking away the seeds of infection +which increased the maladies, by interring the corpses of men, of +dead horses and cattle, and removing the heaps of dirt which the +armies had left behind. The cleansing of the soil was the specialty +of M. Vincent and one of his most signal benefits. He employed for +this work his mission priests and his sisters of charity. The +missionaries placed themselves at the head of the workmen, the +sisters sought the abandoned sick. Cloth and cap died at need "the +arms in the hand," said their chief, but their work was good; and +finally the work was taken hold of in the right way.</p></blockquote> + +<p>After the dead the living:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The curé of Boult<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> [reports another "Relation"] assures us that +he buried three of his parishioners dead from hunger; others were living +only upon cut-up straw mixed with earth, of which was composed a food +called bread. Five tainted and decaying horses were devoured; an old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +man aged seventy-five years had entered the presbytery to roast a piece +of horse-flesh, the animal having died of scab fifteen days previously, +was infected with worms, and had been found cast into a foul ditch.... At +Saint-Quentin, in the faubourgs, in which the houses had been +demolished, the missionaries discovered the last inhabitants in +miserable huts, "in each of which," wrote one of them, "I found one or +two sick, in one single hut ten; two widows, each having four children, +slept together on the ground, having nothing whatever, not even a +sheet." Another Ecclesiastic, in his visit, having met with many closed +doors, upon forcing them open discovered that the sick were too feeble +to open them having eaten nothing during two days, and having beneath +them only a little half rotten straw; the number of these poor was so +great that without succour from Paris, the citizens under the +apprehension of a siege, not being able to nourish them, had resolved to +cast them over the walls.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Millions were needed to relieve such distress, but Vincent de Paul and +his associates had a better dream; they wished to put these dying +populations in a condition to work again and to undertake the reparation +of the ruins themselves. The enterprise was organised in spite of +obstacles which appeared insurmountable, the exhaustion of France and +the difficulty of communication being the principal. The Parisians +raised enormous sums and sent gifts of all kinds of materials, and found +the means of transporting provisions. The committee divided the environs +of Paris; Mme. Joly took the care of one village; the Présidente de +Nesmond, four villages; and so on. Missionaries were sent outside the +boundaries. One of the later biographers of Vincent de Paul<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> values +at twelve millions of francs, at this date worth about sixty millions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +the sums distributed, without counting money spent directly for the work +of piety nor for the support of those engaged in it. However this may +be, this latter body certainly consumed a large portion. The immensity +of the enterprise, and its apparent boldness, gives us an idea of the +wealth and power of the middle classes of the seventeenth century. After +Vincent de Paul and M. de Bernières, the honour for this work of relief +belongs to the parliamentary world and the Parisian <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'bourgeosie'">bourgeoisie</ins>; the +aristocracy only playing a very secondary rôle. The middle classes +provided for this enormous effort, at a period in which all revenues +failed at once. We are told that many were forced to borrow, that others +sold their jewels and articles of silver; still this supposes luxury and +credit. In one way or another, the citizen was in a position to give, +while the small noble of Lorraine or of Beauce was obliged to receive; +and this emphasises an historic lesson. Gentlemen as well as peasants +lacked bread. After remaining two days without eating, one is ready to +accept alms; at the end of three days, to demand them on account of the +children. The decadence of the one class, the ascension of the other +until their turn comes; it has always been the same since the world +began.</p> + +<p>One last detail, and perhaps the most significant: There is no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +reference in the Memoirs of the times<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> to the principal work of +Vincent de Paul. Their authors would have made it a matter of conscience +not to forget a Court intrigue or a scandalous adventure; but what can +be interesting in people who are naked and hungry? One avoids speaking +of them. It is even better not to think of them. In 1652, the year in +which poverty was at its height in oppressed Paris, the Mother Angélique +wrote from Port-Royal, to the Queen of Poland (June 28th):</p> + +<blockquote><p>With the exception of the few actually engaged in charity, the rest +of the world live in as much luxury as ever. The Court and the +Tuileries are as thronged as ever, collations and the rest of the +superfluities go on as always. Paris amuses itself with the same +fury as if its streets were not filled with frightful spectacles. +And, what is more horrible, fashion will not suffer the priests to +preach penitence (Letter of July 12th).</p></blockquote> + +<p>The lack of pity for the poor was almost general among the so-called +higher classes. There is no need of too carefully inquiring as to what +is passing in hovels.</p> + +<p>Vincent de Paul and his allies struggled six years. Not once did the +government come to their aid, and the war always continued; for one ruin +relieved, the armies made ten others. The group of the "good souls"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +who had made these prodigious sacrifices was at length used up, as one +might say, and was never reinforced, in spite of the inexhaustible +source of devotion offered by the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement. This +body had been composed of men and women so exceptional in character, as +well as in intelligence, that its ranks, emptied by death, and by the +exhaustion of means and courage, could not be filled up. In 1655, the +receipts of the committee were visibly diminished. Two years later, the +resources were entirely exhausted and the work of relief remained +unfinished.</p> + +<p>It was well that it was attempted; a leven of good has remained from it +in the national soul.</p> + +<p>The actual benefits however, were promptly effaced; the famine of 1659 +to 1662, especially in the latter year, counts amongst the most +frightful of the century, perhaps in our entire history. The excess of +material poverty engendered immense moral misery, particularly in the +large cities, in which luxury stood side by side with the most frightful +conditions, and Paris became both excitable and evil, as always when it +suffers.</p> + +<p>The Carnival of 1660 was the most noisy and disorderly which old +Parisians had ever known. Great and small sought amusement with a kind +of rage, and dissensions and quarrels abounded from the top to the +bottom of the social scale. Public places were noisy with riots and +affrays. During the nights, masks were masters of the streets, and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +has been seen above, no security existed with these composite crowds, +which stole candles from the houses into which they had surged.</p> + +<p>One ball alone received in a single evening the visit of sixty-five +masks, who ran through the city three nights in succession. These +hysterics in Paris, while France was dying with hunger, are so much the +more striking, inasmuch as the Court was not there to communicate to the +outer world its eternal need of agitation and amusement. Louis XIV. +spent a large portion of these critical years in journeying through his +kingdom. One of the first journeys, lasting from October 27th to the +following January 27th, had for its end the meeting of the Princess of +Savoie at Lyons. There had been some question of marrying this Princess +to the young King. On passing to Dijon, the Court stopped more than +fifteen days. Mademoiselle tells us the reason for this delay; it is not +very glorious for royalty. The Parliament of Dijon refused to register +certain edicts which aggravated the burdens of the province. Le Tellier, +"on the part of the King," promised that there should be no more +difficulty if the states of Bourgogne would bring their subsidy to a sum +which was indicated. "Upon which they agreed to what was demanded and +presented themselves to account to the King."</p> + +<p>Upon the next day, with a cynical contempt for the royal promise, "Her +Majesty went to the Dijon Parliament to register the deeds."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> +Mademoiselle had the curiosity to be present at the session. The first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +president did the only thing in his power. He courageously expressed his +"regrets" and was praised by all those who heard him.</p> + +<p>The Court hastily departed the following day, leaving Dijon and the +entire province "in a certain consternation." Mademoiselle blamed only +the manner of action. At the bottom of her heart, she had the belief of +her times: that the sovereign owed only control to his people, and that +there was no question of giving them happiness.</p> + +<p>Some weeks after the incident at Lyons, the vicinity of the principality +of Dombes<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> gave her the desire to visit this place, which she had +never seen. Dombes did not pay any impost to the King, and this fact +alone sufficed to render it prosperous. Mademoiselle was scandalised at +this prosperity. The peasants were well clothed, "they ate meat four +times a day," and there were "no really poor people" in the country; +"also," pursued Mademoiselle, "they, up to this time, have paid no +duties, and it would perhaps be better that they should do so, for they +are do-nothings, taking no interest in either work or trade."</p> + +<p>The people had left everything and dressed themselves in their fine +clothes to receive Mademoiselle. In order to thank them, Mademoiselle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +drew from them all the money she could. It is necessary to recollect, +however, that in the eyes of the great, even those of the better sort, a +peasant was hardly a man. It would hardly be worth while for us to be +indignant at this attitude. We now admit that the so-called superior +races have the right to exploit those considered inferior, and thus at +need destroy them. It was the habit of our fathers to treat a lower +class as to-day we treat a less advanced race; the sentiment is +precisely the same.</p> + +<p>Upon her return from Dombes, Mademoiselle found the Court again at +Lyons. Every one was all eyes and ears for a spectacle which might +derange the admitted ideas of kings. Marie Mancini was trying to make +Louis XIV. marry her, and the attempt had not so absurd an air as might +be imagined. The Savoie project had failed under painful conditions, +which gave subject of thought to the courtiers. The King had conducted +himself like an ill-bred man to the Princess Marguerite.</p> + +<p>People were demanding whether the Spanish marriage was also going to +fail, and with it the so greatly desired peace, because it pleased two +lovers, one of whom ought not to have forgotten his kingly duties, to +proclaim the sovereign rights of passion. Anne of Austria became uneasy. +Mazarin, yielding to temptation, left the field to his niece, who "took +possession" of the young King with looks and speech. She fascinated him, +and he swore all that she wished. The contest was not an equal one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +between the passionate Italian and the timid and somewhat unformed Louis +XIV.</p> + +<p>On his return from Lyons, Louis knelt down before his mother and +Mazarin, supplicating them to permit him to marry the one he loved. He +found them inflexible. The Queen realised that such a <i>mésalliance</i> +would cast disrepute on royalty. The Cardinal was torn by conflicting +emotions, but in the end sent away his niece.</p> + +<p>A second journey lasted more than a year. The Court set out on June 29, +1659, and passed through Blois. It stopped with Gaston. We owe to the +<i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle a last glimpse of this Prince, formerly so +brilliant, now become a lazy good-for-nothing in his provincial life, +where nothing of Parisian fashion was found; neither toilettes nor +cooking, nor household elegance, nor even Monsieur himself, who no +longer knew how to receive, and was vexed that the King should kill his +pheasants. He permitted it to be seen that he was put out, and this +became so plain that every one was eager to depart, and there was a +sudden scattering.</p> + +<p>The eldest of his daughters by his last marriage, Marguerite d'Orléans, +had a great reputation for beauty. Her parents had for a long time +anticipated seeing her Queen of France.</p> + +<p>On the night of the King's arrival at Blois, this damsel was disfigured +with mosquito bites. Her dancing was much extolled, but on this special +evening, she danced very badly. Gaston had announced that this little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +girl of ten "would astonish every one with her brilliant conversation." +No one could draw a single word from her. In short, nothing succeeded. +Mademoiselle was not especially vexed at this failure; she had trembled +at the thought of seeing her younger sister "above her."</p> + +<p>Hardly had the Court remounted their carriages, before the royal +cavalcade, according to the universal custom, commenced to mock its +hosts. The King joked at the sight of his uncle's face on seeing the +pheasants fall dead. Mademoiselle laughed with the others. She had, +however, been moved by a tender scene played by her father.</p> + +<p>He had come to awaken her at four o'clock in the morning:</p> + +<blockquote><p>He seated himself on my bed and said: "I believe that you will not +be vexed at being waked since I shall not soon have the chance of +again seeing you. You are going to take a long journey. I am old, +exhausted; I may die during your absence. If I do die, I recommend +your sisters to you. I know very well that you do not love Madame: +that her behaviour towards you has not been all it should be; but +her children have had nothing to do with this, for my sake take +care of them. They will have need of you; as for Madame, she will +be of little help to them."</p> + +<p>He embraced me three or four times. I received all this with much +tenderness; for I have a good heart. We separated on the best +terms, and I went again to sleep.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mademoiselle believed that at length they again loved each other. Six +weeks later a scandal broke out at the Court of France, then at +Bordeaux.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Duc de Savoie had refused to marry the Princess Marguerite +d'Orléans, and Mademoiselle was accused of having secretly written to +him that her sister was a humpback. The accusation came from Gaston +himself, who said that he had proof of it. This was a most disagreeable +incident for Mademoiselle and further illusion was impossible; Gaston +was always Gaston, the most dangerous man in France.</p> + +<p>From Bordeaux, the Court went to Toulouse; there it was rejoined by +Mazarin, who had just signed the peace of the Pyrénées (November +7, 1659).</p> + +<p>All histories give the articles of this peace. The results for Europe +have been summed up in some brilliant lines written by the great German +historian, Leopold Ranke, who had been struck with the advantages which +this treaty gave France over Germany:</p> + +<blockquote><p>If it were necessary to characterise in a general fashion the +results of this peace ... we would say that the importance of the +treaty consisted in the formation and extension of the great +(geographically) military system of the French monarchy. On all +sides, to the Pyrénées, to the Alps, above all, to the frontiers of +the German Empire and of the Netherlands, France acquired new +fortified points ... many positions as important for defence as +favourable for attack. The position of France upon the upper Rhine, +which it owes to the peace of Westphalia, received by this new +treaty its greatest extension.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Mazarin found that he had done well in himself following the +campaigning armies. He knew the military importance of most of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +places. The Spanish negotiator could not have said as much. In the +interior, the first comer could easily comprehend the political benefits +of a treaty which should as far as possible abolish the past. Condé had +been included in the terms of the peace and returned to France, well +resolved to keep quiet. He rejoined the Court at Aix, January 27, 1660, +and found there was a certain curiosity exhibited as to how he would be +received.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle hastened to Anne of Austria: "My niece," said the Queen to +her, "return to your own dwelling; M. le Prince has especially asked +that I should be absolutely alone when I first receive him."</p> + +<blockquote><p>I began to smile with vexation, but said: "I am nobody; I believe +that M. le Prince will be very astonished if he does not find me +here." The Queen insisted in a very sharp tone; I went away +resolved to complain to M. le Cardinal; this I did on the following +day, saying that if such a thing happened again, I should leave the +Court. He made many excuses. This was Mazarin's system. He poured +forth explanations but in no way changed his methods in the future.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is known that M. le Prince demanded pardon on his knees, and that he +found before him in Louis XIV. a judge grave and cold, who held himself +"very straight."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> To fight against the King was decidedly no more to +be considered a joke; it could not be overlooked, even if one were the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +conqueror of Rocroy.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle did not succeed in comprehending the real situation. Condé, +surprised and deceived, felt his way. One evening at a dance, when +talking with Mademoiselle, the King joined them. The conversation fell +upon the Fronde. On the part of a man of as much <i>esprit</i> as M. le +Prince, one can well believe that this was not by chance: "The war was +much spoken of," relates Mademoiselle, "and we joked at all the follies +of which we had been guilty, the King with the best grace in the world +joining in these pleasantries. Although I was suffering with a severe +headache, I was not in the least bored." Mademoiselle had laughed +without any second thoughts. Condé, clearer sighted, trembled during the +remainder of his days, before this monarch so capable of dissimulation, +and so perfectly master of himself.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same moment there expired another of those belated feudal +ideas, which neither royalty nor manners could any longer suffer among +the nobility. Gaston d'Orléans died at Blois, February 2nd,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> his +death being caused by an attack of apoplexy. They had heard him murmur +from his bed regarding his wife and children, <i>Domus mea domus +desolationis vocabitur</i> ("My house will be called the House of +Desolation"). He spoke better than he knew. Madame surpassed herself in +blunders, and still more. She went to dinner while her husband was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +receiving the last unction, sent away the servants of Monsieur +immediately after the final sigh, locked up everything, and concerned +herself no more. Her women refused a sheet in which to wrap the body; it +was necessary to beg one from the ladies of the Court. Some priests came +to sit up with the dead, but finding neither "light nor fire" they +returned, and the corpse remained alone, more completely abandoned than +had been that of his brother, the King, Louis XIII. The body was borne +without "pomp or expense"<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> to Saint-Denis, and the widow hastened to +Paris, to take possession of the Palace of the Luxembourg, in the +absence of Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>The Court did not take the trouble to feign regrets. The King gave the +tone in saying to his cousin, gaily, after the first formal compliments: +"You will see my brother to-morrow in a training mantle. I believe that +he is delighted at the news of your father's death. He believes that he +is heir to all his belongings and state; he can talk of nothing else; +but he must wait awhile."</p> + +<p>Anne of Austria heard this, and smiled. "It is true," pursues +Mademoiselle, "that Monsieur appeared the next day in a wonderful +mantle." Mademoiselle had great difficulty in keeping her own +countenance. Her grief was, however, very real, notwithstanding the +past, or rather, perhaps, on account of what had gone before; it was, +however, only an impulse affected by the impression of the moment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +She exhibited this sorrow a little too effectively:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I wished to wear the most formal and deepest mourning. Every one of +my household was clad in black, even to the cooks, the servants, +and the valets; the coverings of the mules, all the caparisons of +my horses and of the other beasts of burden. Nothing could be more +beautiful the first time we marched than to see this grand train, +expressive of grief. It had an air very magnificent and of real +grandeur. Everybody says how much wealth she must possess!</p></blockquote> + +<p>The mules' mourning is well worth the training mantle of the little +Monsieur. This magnificent funeral pomp had the one inconvenience of +recalling to all comers that Mademoiselle must resign other pleasures. +At the end of some weeks, she would have willingly resumed her share in +Court gaieties; Anne of Austria kindly commanded her to return to life.</p> + +<p>The summer was, however, approaching. The Court continued to drag itself +from city to city, waiting until it should please the King of Spain to +bring his daughter, and the time seemed long. Mazarin shut himself up to +work. Louis drilled the soldiers of his guard. The Queen Mother spent +long days in convents. Mademoiselle wrote, or worked tapestry. A large +number of the courtiers, no longer able to stand the ennui, had returned +to Paris; those who remained, lived lives of complete idleness. The King +had at this time a fine occasion to study the condition of his +provinces; but he did not possess an investigating mind. He spent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +long months in front of the Pyrénées, without seeking to know anything +of their formation, showing an unusual indifference to knowledge, even +for this period. One of the few persons who risked themselves in the +Pyrénées, Mme. de Motteville, relates her astonishment at discovering +valleys, torrents, cultivated fields, and inhabitants. She had believed +that she should only find a great wall of rock, "deserted and untilled."</p> + +<p>The journey went on; but nature had not yet the right of entrance into +literature, and society spoke but rarely of its charms. Of the vast +world, only what came directly under the eyes of the individual was +known.</p> + +<p>At length, on June 2d (1660), the Court of France, "kicking its heels" +at Saint-Jean-de-Luz during an entire month, received news of the +arrival at Fontarabia of Philip IV. and of the Infanta Marie Thérèse. +The next day, the marriage ceremonies commenced.</p> + +<p>Six long days and the best intentions on both sides were needed to +consummate this great affair without offending etiquette. The problem +presented was this: How to marry the King of France with the daughter of +the King of Spain, without permitting the King of France to put his foot +on Spanish territory, nor the King of Spain on that belonging to France, +and at the same time not to allow the Infanta to quit her father before +the ceremony had actually taken place?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the side of the French Court, whose discipline left much to be +desired, difficulties of detail arose constantly to complicate affairs. +The little Monsieur wept for desire to go to Fontarabia to see a Spanish +ceremony; but etiquette made it necessary to consider this brother of +the King the present heir presumptive to the crown, and, alleged Louis +XIV., "the heir presumptive of Spain could not enter France to see a +ceremony."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>After consideration of this point, the heir was forbidden to pass the +frontier. Then Mademoiselle arrived, who wished to be of the party. She +represented that the order was not applicable to her, and cited the +Salic law which gave her the right to traverse the Bidassoa: "I do not +inherit," said she; "I should have some compensation. Since daughters +are of no value in France, they should at least be permitted to enjoy +spectacles."</p> + +<p>Mazarin convoked the ministers to submit this argument. The discussion +lasted "three or four hours." Finally, Mademoiselle gained her cause, +although the King himself was rather against her. The important question +of "trains" gave also some embarrassment to the Cardinal. A duke had +offered to bear the train of Mademoiselle in the nuptial cortége. +Mazarin was obliged to seek two other dukes for the younger sisters of +Mademoiselle, two children whom the lady of honour of their mother had +led to the marriage. He could only find a marquis and a count; the dukes +hid themselves. The lady of honour uttered loud protests; "her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +Princesses must have 'tail-bearers' as titled as those of their tall +sister, or they should not go at all." "I will do what I can," replied +the Cardinal; "but no one wishes the task."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had the good grace to sacrifice her duke, and Mazarin +believed the affair terminated, when the Princess Palatine<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> caused a +novel incident, upon the day of the ceremony, and even when the last +moment was approaching. She appeared in the Queen's chamber, wearing a +train, to which, being a foreign Princess, she had no right. La Palatine +had counted upon the general confusion to smuggle herself in and to +create a precedent. It was needful to delay matters. The train had been +reported to Mademoiselle, and no marriage should prevent her protest. +The Cardinal and after him the King were forced to listen to a discourse +upon the limitations of foreign princesses. "I believe," writes +Mademoiselle, "that I was very eloquent." She proved herself at least +very convincing, for La Palatine received the order to take off her +train.</p> + +<p>But it is necessary to retrace our steps; trains have carried us too +far. The relations between the two monarchs had been regulated with a +minutia worthy of Asiatic courts. They met only in a hall, built +expressly for the purpose upon the Isle des Faisans, and on horseback +upon the frontier. The building was half in French, half in Spanish +territory. The decorations of the two sides were different. Louis XIV.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +must walk upon French carpets, Philip IV. upon Spanish ones. The one +must only sit upon a French chair, write only upon a French table with +French ink, seek the time only from a French clock, placed in his half +of the hall; the other guarded himself with the same care from every +object not Spanish. Two opposite doors gave passage at precisely the +same instant. An equal number of steps led them to the place where the +red carpet of France joined the gold and silver one of Spain; and the +two Kings addressed each other and embraced over the frontier. Thus +demanded the laws of ceremonial monarchy. Their rigour commenced to +astonish the good people of France. The interviews upon the Isle des +Faisans became legendary. La Fontaine has alluded to them in one of his +last fables, <i>Les Deux Chèvres</i>,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> in which he has found no better +comparison for the solemnity with which the two goats, equally "tainted" +with their rank, equally curbed, advanced towards each other upon the +fragile and narrow bridge.</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Je m'imagine voir, avec Louis le Grand,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Philippe quatre qui s'avance</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Dans l'isle de la Conférence<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></span><br /> + <span class="i2">Ainsi s'avançaient pas à pas,</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Nez à nez, nos aventurières.</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>When all was arranged, on June 3rd, neither the bride and bridegroom nor +their parents having seen each other, the King of France, represented by +Don Luis de Haro, was married by proxy in the church of Fontarabia to +the Infanta Marie-Thérèse.</p> + +<p>This was the expedient which saved the dignity of the two crowns. After +the ceremony, the new Queen returned to her father. She wrote the next +day a letter of official compliment to her husband. We possess the +response of Louis XIV., in which he has well performed a somewhat +difficult task.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 12em;"><span class="smcap">Saint-Jean-de-Luz</span>, June 4, 1660.</span></p> + +<blockquote><p>To receive at the same time a letter from your Majesty, and the +news of the celebration of our marriage, and to be on the eve of +seeing you, these are assuredly causes of indelible joy for me.</p> + +<p>My cousin, the Duke of Créqui, first gentleman of my chamber, whom +I am sending expressly to your Majesty, will communicate to you the +sentiments of my heart, in which you will remark always +increasingly an extreme impatience to convey these sentiments in +person.</p> + +<p>He will also present to you some trifles on my part.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The same day, in the afternoon, Anne of Austria met for the first time +with her brother and niece together. The interview took place in the +hall of the Isle des Faisans. Philip IV. astonished the French, +decidedly less bound up in tradition than the Spanish. Philip dwelt so +immobile in his gravity that one would have hardly taken him for a +living man.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Anne of Austria wishing to embrace her brother, whom she had not seen +for forty-five years, he decided to make a movement, but it was only "to +withdraw his head so far that she could not catch it."<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> The Queen +Mother had forgotten the customs of her own land. To embrace in Spain +was not to kiss; it only consisted in giving a greeting without touching +the lips, as we see done at the Comédie Française by personages of the +classic repertoire. Kissing was, as we read in Molière only permitted in +certain rare cases. In the <i>Malade Imaginaire</i>, Thomas Diafoirus +consults his father before kissing his fiancée: "Shall I kiss her?" +"Yes," replies M. Diafoirus.</p> + +<p>The evening of the interview, June 4th, Mademoiselle was curious to know +whether the King of Spain had kissed the Queen Mother. "I asked her; she +told me 'no'; that they had embraced according to the fashion of their +own country."</p> + +<p>How was this strange fashion established at the Court of France, and +from there transferred to our theatres? Was it after the marriage of +Louis XIV.? I leave to the amateurs of the theatre the solving of this +little problem in dramatic history.</p> + +<p>They brought a French chair for the Queen Mother, a Spanish one for +Philip IV., and they seated themselves nearly "upon the line which +separated the two kingdoms."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>Marie-Thérèse, Infanta of Spain and bride by proxy of the King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +France, was still to be seated. Should this be done in France or Spain? +upon a Spanish or French chair? They brought one Spanish and two French +cushions; piled them upon Spanish territory, and the young Queen found +herself seated in a mixed fashion, suitable to her ambiguous situation.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. did not accompany his mother. Etiquette did not yet permit +the new couple to address a word to each other. It had been arranged +that the King of France should ride along the banks of the Bidassoa and +that the Infanta should regard him from afar through the window. A +romantic impatience which seized the husband with longing to become +acquainted with his wife caused this part of the programme to fail. +Louis XIV. looked at Marie-Thérèse through a half-open door. They +regarded each other some seconds, and then returned, she to Fontarabia, +he to Saint-Jean-de-Luz.</p> + +<p>On Sunday, the sixth, they saw each other officially at the Isle des +Faisans. Affairs were but little further advanced; Philip IV. had +declared that the Infanta must conceal her impressions until she arrived +on French territory. On the seventh, Anne of Austria brought her +daughter-in-law to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where the young people could at +length converse together, awaiting the definite celebration of the +marriage, which took place June 9th in the church of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.</p> + +<p>Some days later, the Court retook the road to Paris. Marie-Thérèse made +her solemn entrance into the capital, August 20th. The procession<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +departed from Vincennes. "It was necessary to rise at four o'clock in +the morning," reports Mademoiselle, who had a frightful sick headache. +At five o'clock, every one was in gala costume, and they reached the +Louvre at seven in the evening. Mademoiselle was at the end of her +endurance; but a Princess of the blood had no right to be ill on the day +of a Queen's entrance. Sometimes ridiculous and sometimes ferocious; +such appears ancient etiquette to our democratic generation. Monarchs +formerly felt the value of its services too keenly to shrink from +submitting to its dictates. They knew that a demi-god never descends +with impunity from his pedestal. It is impossible to witness his efforts +at remounting without laughter. To-day the Princes themselves desire +less etiquette. The monarchical sentiment is not sufficiently strong to +make them willing to support the ennui of ceremonial; they are capable +of any sacrifice of dignity to escape it. We see them resign to others +their rank and privileges in the hope of finding in obscurity the +happiness which they have missed in the King's palace.</p> + +<p>The present lack of form makes it difficult for the mass to take royalty +seriously, and thus vanish together the respect for formal courtesies +and for aristocracies. Louis XIV. and Philip IV. in spite of La +Fontaine, were in the right in attaching capital importance to the +placing their feet upon the right carpets. This precision of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +etiquette prolonged the existence of the monarchy.</p> + +<p>Life retook its habitual course in the Palace of the Louvre. The King +was studying a new ballet. Very few persons remarked that he found time +also to make long visits upon Mazarin. The Cardinal, feeling himself in +the clutches of death, was preparing his pupil for his "great trade" of +sovereign. He made him acquainted with affairs, spoke to him in +confidence of the people connected with the administration of the +kingdom; discussed political questions, and recommended him to have no +longer a first minister.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> The one thing which he could not yet +resolve to do was to permit the King to give a direct order. His dying +hands would not let fall a half-crown or relax an atom of authority.</p> + +<p>The young Queen was astonished at the money restrictions which had +oppressed her since her sojourn in France; Mazarin supervised her +household through the intermediary of Colbert, "who saved upon +everything,"<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> and he (Mazarin) pocketed the savings. On New Year's +day, he absorbed for himself three-fourths of the gifts of +Marie-Thérèse. The Queen Mother having shown some discontent, "the poor +Monsieur the Cardinal," as she called him, cried out boldly, "Alas! if +she knew from whence comes this money and that it is the blood of the +people, she would not be so liberal."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<p>In vain Mazarin hastened; he did not have time to finish his task. +February 11, 1661, the King, realising that his minister was lost, began +to weep and to say that he did not know what he should do. All France +experienced the same fears. It did not occur to any that the King was +capable of governing, or that he would take the trouble to do so. The +doubt was only as to the name of the one who should take the helm in +place of the Cardinal. Anne of Austria believed in chance; Condé had one +party amongst the nobility. The Parisian bourgeoisie said to itself that +Retz was perhaps going to return from over sea "for necessity."<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> The +ministers admitted that there was only one man fitted for the position.</p> + +<p>While these various intrigues were progressing, Mazarin expired (March +6th), and some hours later there came that <i>coup de théâtre</i> of which +one reads in all histories. Louis XIV. signified to his ministers and +grandees his intention of himself governing. Those who knew him well, +beginning with his own mother, did nothing but laugh, persuaded that it +was only a fire of straw. Louis at first shut himself up entirely alone +during two hours, in order to establish a "rule of life"<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> as an +effective monarch. The programme resulting from this meditation +surprisingly resembles the one given by Catherine de Médicis in the +letter already cited. It exacts the qualities of a great worker. From +that day, Louis showed these qualities. "For above all," says he in his +<i>Mémoires</i>, "I resolved not to have a first minister, and not to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +permit to be filled by another the functions belonging to the King, as +long as I bear the title."</p> + +<p>The passage in which he describes his "wedding" with the joy of work is +moving and beautiful. It is even poetical.</p> + +<blockquote><p>I felt immediately my spirit and courage elevated. I found myself a +different individual. I discovered in myself a mind which I did not +know existed, and I reproached myself for having so long ignored +this joy. The timidity which judgment at first gave caused me pain, +above all when it was necessary to speak in public a little +lengthily. This timidity, however, was dissipated little by little.</p> + +<p>At length it seemed to me I was really King and born to rule. I +experienced a sense of well-being difficult to express.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Louis would now have need of all his courage. In measure as his mind +became "elevated," shame for his gross ignorance overcame him. "When +reason," says he, "commences to become solid, one feels a cutting and +just chagrin in finding oneself ignorant of what all others know."</p> + +<p>The practical utility of his neglected studies was realised by him. Not +to know history with his "trade" was a difficulty felt every instant. +Not to be capable of deciphering alone a Latin letter when Rome and the +Empire wrote their dispatches only in Latin, was an insupportable +slavery to others. Never to have read anything upon the "art of war" +when the ambition was aroused to become an expert in this art and to +acquire glory through it, "was to put brakes on one's own wheels."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +The young King's education must be remade; the only difficulty was the +finding sufficient leisure. He would not allow himself to be hindered by +other difficulties, of which the principal one was the danger of +hazarding the newly acquired authority by returning to the schoolroom.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. braved public opinion with remarkable courage. This is one of +the finest periods of his life. He proved himself truly great by his +sentiment of professional duty, and by his empire over himself, the day +upon which he dared to say to himself as the bourgeois gentleman of +Molière was forced to say, knowing well the ridicule to which he was +exposed: "I wish ... to be able to reason among intelligent people."</p> + +<p>In order to do him full justice, it is necessary to remember the foolish +effect at that date produced by a scholar of twenty-three.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Classes +were then finished at fifteen or sixteen, and the memory of them was +inseparably connected with birch rods, without whose aid there was no +teaching in the seventeenth century. When it was known that the King was +again taking Latin lessons from his ancient preceptor, and that he +passed hours in writing themes, the courtiers might easily have had it +upon the end of their tongues to demand as Mme. Jourdain of M. Jourdain: +"Are you at your age going to college to be whipped?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>He did not console himself with the illusion that his rank would save +him from such railleries. He confesses <i>à propos</i> of history, which he +wished to study again, how keenly sensitive he was to the thought of +what might be said. "One single scruple embarrassed me, which was, that +I had a certain shame, considering my position in the world, of +redescending into an occupation to which I should earlier have devoted +myself." Everything had yielded to the desire "not to be deprived of the +knowledge that every worthy man should have."</p> + +<p>In spite of these efforts, Louis was never educated; he never knew +Latin, which was deemed the real knowledge of the seventeenth century, +in which century the language was well taught. Too much business or too +many pleasures prevented the young King from pursuing his design during +a sufficiently long period. It is possible, also, that his lack of +natural facility may have discouraged him. Louis XIV. had memory and +judgment, but his intelligence was slow. In short, he abandoned his +studies too soon; he felt, and repeated till the day of his death the +confession, "I am ignorant."</p> + +<p>But Louis never relaxed the labours belonging to him as chief of the +State. His days were regulated once for all. Mme. de Motteville tells +the arrangement the day following the death of Mazarin. Saint-Simon +gives it again a half-century later, and it is identical. Apart from +extraordinary and unexpected business, and formal functions, so numerous +and important at this epoch, the King regularly devoted six to eight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +hours daily to ordinary business. Add to these hours the time for +sleeping and eating, for seeing his family and taking the fresh air, and +but little time would have been left for diversion if the King had not +had the capacity of doing without sleep almost at will. It was this +physical gift which permitted him to provide as largely for pleasure as +for work. Nevertheless, the Court had trouble in adapting itself to the +new régime. It did not know what to do while the King worked.</p> + +<p>"It is more wearisome here than can be imagined," wrote the Duc +d'Enghien, son of the great Condé, in 1664. "The King is shut up almost +the entire afternoon."<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Outside the Court, the people could have +cried with joy. It had been a delightful surprise to discover a great +worker in this ballet dancer. Paris was ready to permit him to indulge +in his little weaknesses, provided that he would govern, that he himself +would use his power. The bourgeoisie Frondeuse was disarmed.</p> + +<blockquote><p>It is necessary [wrote Guy Patin to a friend] that I should share +with you a thought which I find very amusing. M. de Vendome has +said that our good King resembles a young doctor who has much +ardour for his profession, but who demands some <i>quid pro quo</i>. I +know those who see him intimately, who have assured me that he has +very good intentions and, that as soon as he is <i>completely the +master</i>, he will persuade all the world of them. Amen.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>The italicised words are significant of the opinion of Guy Patin. In +establishing absolute monarchy, Louis XIV. had the good wishes of all. +Other testimony quite as remarkable exists to confirm this statement. +After the death of Mazarin, Olivier d'Ormesson, who had been of the +opposition party in the Parliament, and whose independence would soon +cost him his career, let three entire years roll by before admitting any +statement in his journal to the detriment of the King. This writer also +believes in Louis, and, on the whole, approves of the compensations +(<i>quid pro quo</i>) demanded by the governing novice.</p> + +<p>After the first astonishment, the sudden change in Louis's methods +provoked but few commentaries in the immediate surroundings of the King. +Anne of Austria had a fit of vexation in realising that she would never +again have any influence; after which, indolence aiding, her course was +taken. The Queen Mother had no objection on principle to absolute +monarchy: she had always favoured it. She could not, as a Spanish +Princess, conceive of royalty being the least limited. Once resigned to +the new situation, she became a truly maternal old Queen, who preached +virtue to youth, and endeavoured to lighten the monotony of her +daughter-in-law's life.</p> + +<p>Marie-Thérèse had only one single political opinion; good government was +that under which a king could pass much time with his wife. This poor +little wife died without having ever really lived with her husband.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had no reason to regret the first ministers; there had been +too little reason to enjoy the two with whom she had had intercourse. +She imagined herself liberated from all dependence through the death of +the Cardinal, succeeding that of her father, and this thought was most +agreeable to her. She did not perceive that she had only changed +masters, and that the new one would prove himself infinitely more +difficult to please, more exacting, than that sceptical Italian who +confined himself to watching that she did not carry away her millions to +strangers and who simply mocked at everything else.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle finally passed through the state of apprenticeship to +absolute monarchy. Her eyes were opened only on the day on which the +thunder cloud burst upon her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<blockquote><p>Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg—Her Salon—The "Anatomies" of the +Heart—Projects of Marriage, and New Exile—Louis XIV. and the +Libertines—Fragility of Fortune in Land—<i>Fêtes Galantes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">WITH the approach of her thirty-fifth year, the Grande Mademoiselle +perceived by diverse signs that she was no longer young. She was forced +to recognise that her strength had its limitations, which fact had never +before been forced upon her. On February 7, 1662, Louis XIV. danced for +the first time a grand ballet entitled the "Amours of Hercules," and his +cousin of Montpensier took part. She was ill from fatigue. Another kind +of weariness overcame her; she became bored with fêtes. She had been +present at so many gala occasions since her entrance into the world, and +had seen so many festivals and fireworks, garlands of flowers and +allegorical chariots, that she was now quickly satiated.</p> + +<p>The King still loved this kind of abundant pleasure; those which he +offered to his Court sometimes lasted successive days and nights, +without giving time to breathe, and all being expected to feel continued +amusement. Mademoiselle was no longer capable of this. She was beginning +to long for the repose of home. Her sick headaches contributed to this +disability; age had increased them, and all women know that it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +better to suffer a headache in solitude. After a lively struggle, she +had returned to the palace of the Luxembourg and was lodging under the +same roof as her stepmother. The old Madame would have gladly +relinquished a neighbour whose presence presaged nothing good, but no +one had sustained the contention as no one was in the least interested +in her welfare. One reads in a fugitive leaf of the times issued on July +21, 1660: "This affair was deliberated upon in the Court, and it was +found that Mademoiselle had the right to demand one of the apartments +free, and that Madame could not refuse it." It is said that the King +wrote to Madame in order to soften the blow; it was necessary to drain +the bitter cup to the dregs, and at a time in which Madame had great +need of tranquillity to install at her very door this tempestuous +stepdaughter, with whom no peace was possible.</p> + +<p>Madame had "vapours," otherwise called a nervous malady. She was afraid +of noise, of movement, and of being forced to speak, and Mademoiselle +insisted upon making "scenes." "I teased her often," says the Princess +in her <i>Mémoires</i>, "and very much despised her (in which I was wrong), +and she always responded as one who feared me, and with much +submission." The public did not consider it worth while to waste pity +upon Madame, because she bored every one; a fault never pardoned. Anne +of Austria, herself a very amiable woman, when not opposed, could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +never suffer her inoffensive sister-in-law. The Queen Mother said to +Mademoiselle, who did not need this encouragement: "Her person, her +temper, and her manners are odious to me." The public was fundamentally +right in its antipathy. Madame was one of those people who render virtue +hateful, and in thus doing are very injurious to humanity.</p> + +<p>The Luxembourg was commodious and gay. Mademoiselle enjoyed it, and it +pleased her to arrange for herself a grand existence as a Princess, rich +and independent. Nothing could be more displeasing to the Court. As soon +as Louis XIV. had assumed full power, he let it be seen that he wished +no social centre in his kingdom other than his own palace. His cousin +did not take this fact into account. This was not bravado. It was due to +the impossibility of comprehending that "a person of her quality" could +be reduced to the rôle of satellite.</p> + +<p>It is certain that nature had not prepared her for this rôle. "I would +rather pass my life in solitude," wrote she, "than restrain in any way +my proud humour, even at the expense of my fortune. I have no +complaisance, and I demand a great deal from others."<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> She also adds: +"I do not willingly praise others and very rarely blame myself." With +this avowed disposition, it would perhaps have been wiser not to go too +often to the Louvre. It was a great imprudence to attract the crowd to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +herself as she had done at the time in which she was openly opposing the +Tuileries.</p> + +<p>The salon of Mademoiselle became the first in Paris, the most +interesting and select. Since Paris had tasted the pleasures of clever +conversation and discovered, under the direction of Mme. de Rambouillet, +the genius of this delicate art, it could not do without it. The +initiator was still living, but she was old and ill, and her circle had +long been dispersed.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>Mlle. de Scudéry had collected together as many of the remnants of her +first salon as she could, and had thus laid the foundation for the +famous Saturdays, at which wit and knowledge were dispensed in +abundance. Nevertheless, it was not the same. The Saturdays of "Sapho" +brought back the literary people to the pedantry from which Mme. de +Rambouillet had more or less delivered them. They were left too much to +themselves, and, thus isolated, they had lost a certain intellectual +grace acquired by the friction between the aristocrats and the +blue-stockings.</p> + +<p>The mind as well as the body has its own manners, and they may be bad or +good. In 1661, the Court alone had breeding. There existed no other +society in which the first comer understood how to speak a language easy +and <i>galant</i>, well adapted to plumed hats and elegant bows. These +belonged to the traditions of the place. Such courtesies were lacking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +with the learned friends of Mlle. de Scudéry, who no longer felt +themselves spurred on by the fine gentlemen, so alert, capable of such +light railleries, and detesting pedants.</p> + +<p>The feminine society of the Saturdays had also too little intercourse +with duchesses and marquises to replace the Hôtel Rambouillet. Mlle. +Bocquet, who filled a large place in the chronicles of the Saturdays, +was very amiable and played the lute "marvellously,"<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> but she +belonged to the small bourgeoisie. Mlle. Dupré, another intimate, was an +intelligent and educated girl, who had made a special study of +philosophy. She quoted Descartes too often to have "the air <i>galant</i>" in +conversation. As much could be said of others. Mlle. de Scudéry herself, +who had been received in the best company and who had formally combated +the "Blue-stockingism" with admirable good sense, had not written +thirty-two octavo volumes with impunity. There still remained a little +ink on the end of her fingers. It seemed as if all the pedants of France +held their classes in her house. Plays upon words filled the papers +scattered about, upon which "Prosecutions" were held. The "Illustrious +Sapho" had truly inspired Molière when he wrote <i>Les Précieuses +Ridicules</i>; in vain, M. Cousin refuses to believe it.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> I do not +myself think that she escaped.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle rendered to the wits of the day the service of sending them +back to the Court for lessons in language and manners. We are well +informed of this, thanks to the fantasy of a Princess which produced a +little literature upon the model offered by the Luxembourg.</p> + +<p>In 1657, Mademoiselle, being at Champigny for the Richelieu lawsuit, the +Princess of Tarente<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> and Mlle. de la Trémouille<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> showed her their +literary portraits written by themselves.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> These were imitations of +those which Mlle. de Scudéry, creator of the kind, gave in her +romances,—the personalities to be divined with a key. "I had never +before seen anything of the kind; I found them very <i>galants</i>, and wrote +my own." After her own, she made others, and exacted them from those +about her.</p> + +<p>From this resulted a repertoire unique of its kind, in which noble +personages, of both sexes and all ages, have been so obliging as not to +leave us ignorant of themselves, from the state of their teeth to their +opinions upon love, nor have they omitted to present similar details +concerning their friends.</p> + +<p>The collection of these <i>Portraits</i><a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> reveals to us how the +aristocracy then viewed itself, or, at least, how it wished to be +estimated by others. The ordinary beginning was to picture the face and +bearing. The fashion was to do this with sincerity, which by no means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +indicates modesty. The famous Duchesse de Châtillon warned readers that +she was going to speak with a naïveté "the greatest possible."</p> + +<blockquote><p>This is why [continues she] I can say that I have the most +beautiful and best formed figure which has ever been seen. There is +none so regular, so free, so easy. My bearing is entirely +agreeable, and in all my actions I have an air infinitely +<i>spirituel</i>. My face is a most perfect oval, according to all +standards; my forehead is slightly elevated, which aids the +regularity of the oval. My eyes are brown, very brilliant, and very +deeply set; the gaze is very gentle and, at the same time, full of +fire and spirit. I have a well-made nose, and as for the mouth, it +is not only fine and well coloured, but infinitely agreeable, made +so by a thousand little natural expressions not to be seen in any +other mouths. My teeth are very beautiful and regular. I have a +very small chin. I have not a very white skin. My hair is a clear +chestnut, and very lustrous. My neck is more beautiful than ugly. +As for my arms and hands, I am not proud of them; but the skin is +very soft and smooth. It would be impossible to find a thigh better +made than mine or a foot better turned.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The description of the physique was a rule of the Portraits, not even +the <i>religieuses</i> believing that it should be dispensed with.</p> + +<p>Among the Portraits is found one of an Abbess who visited Mademoiselle, +the inspiring Marie-Éléonore de Rohan, a person much esteemed on account +of her mother, the famous Duchesse de Montbazon, but very disconcerting, +notwithstanding, for our modern ideals of monastic life.</p> + +<p>She divided herself between the cloister and the world, sufficiently +edifying when it was needful, lively and brilliant the remainder of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +the time, and as natural in the one rôle as in the other. The Abbess +composed works of piety for her nuns,—among others <i>La Morale de +Salomon</i>, many times re-edited, and the <i>Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de +la Pénitence</i>. The lady of society placed herself before her mirror and +wrote without a shade of embarrassment: "I have some haughtiness in my +physiognomy and some modesty. I have too large a nose, a mouth not +disagreeable, lips suitable, and teeth neither beautiful nor ugly." This +"nose too large" shocked the savant Huet. In reproducing the portrait of +Mme. l'Abbesse, he wrote: "As the beauty of the nose is one to which I +am very sensitive, permit, Madame, that I should begin with yours. It is +large; it is white, slightly aquiline, and gives something <i>spirituel</i> +to your smile."</p> + +<p>Another phrase of Huet's gives us a vision of how these +pseudo-religieuses, whose species was destined to disappear with the +reform of convents, a not regrettable fact, accommodated the convent +garb with coquetry: "One cannot imagine," pursued the future bishop, +"more beautiful hair than yours; it is ash colour, blond, curls in a +very agreeable manner, and admirably suits your face, as far as I have +been able to judge, when it has escaped by chance, in spite of your care +to conceal it."</p> + +<p>After the body comes the temper, tastes, qualities, and defects of the +mind. Here lies the lasting interest of the Portraits. It is valuable to +know from first hand, through its own confidences, that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +aristocratic society, from which the King exacted the complete sacrifice +of its independence, hated nothing more than restraint, and did not +hesitate to say so. Men and women, speaking for themselves, return +constantly to this point, and always in the same terms: "I hate +restraint. Restraint is insupportable to me." "I have an aversion for +all that is called restraint." "I suffer oppression impatiently and I +passionately love liberty."</p> + +<p>From the point of view of absolute monarchy and the discipline which it +wished to impose upon the Court, the French nobility had very bad +habits. This nobility professed love of the chivalric virtues, and +hatred of anything resembling baseness or disloyalty. In this, it was +sincere, only we must admit that opinions are constantly changing even +in relation to morals, and that to-day, we might have difficulty in +agreeing with a gentleman of 1660 as to what is loyal or base and what +is not. Honour commanded the gentleman to avenge offences against +himself without too closely examining into the methods of so doing. +Custom authorised him to be unjust and to act with bad faith towards the +lowly, common, and feeble, in particular when money was owed. Honesty +was a bourgeois virtue. Mademoiselle considered it unworthy that people +of quality should abuse their authority to "ruin miserable creditors," +but she was an exception.</p> + +<p>The obligations of "honour" were extending to all conditions. Vatel was +praised for having killed himself because the fish did not rise. "It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +was said," wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "that this sort of honour was a +strength."</p> + +<p>It was not the same with another sentiment which filled the plays of +Corneille and which is constantly referred to in all the writings of the +time. General consent reserved for people of quality the privilege of +having ideas of "Glory and of the 'Beautiful' or the True," which led, +according to Huet's definition, to the desire for grand things. The +desire for "true glory," which is carefully distinguished from what he +called the "halo of glory," was the aristocratic sentiment "par +excellence." Even among the authors of the <i>Portraits</i>, every one was +not considered to possess the high capacity for strongly feeling this +longing.</p> + +<p>In spite of the prevailing licentiousness of the Court, there still +remained in this brilliant society many pure women. At the same time, +virtue was not particularly honoured. It was a matter of personal taste, +the nobility only attaching a secondary and conventional importance to +its practice. The women "pure," or those who were supposed so to be, +received praise from friendly pens. The others were not looked at +askance, except by the Jansenists and other sombre spirits.</p> + +<p>The young Comtesse de Fiesque, with whom Mademoiselle had been embroiled +at Saint-Fargeau, had a well-established reputation for gallantry. The +anonymous author of her Portrait makes allusion to this, and hastens to +add, "Truly this does her no harm." No harm at all! Mademoiselle did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +not think of it when Mme. de Fiesque came to demand pardon for her +impertinences: "She threw herself on her knees before me; I raised her +up and embraced her; she wept with joy. She is a worthy woman, only too +easily led away, but good at heart."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0129" id="Page_0129"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"> +<img src="images/illus161.png" width="467" height="520" alt="ROCHEFOUCAULD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD<br /> +From the engraving by Hopwood after the painting by Petitot</span> +</div> + +<p>Naturally men spoke very freely of women; it was like the crowing of +cocks. An anonymous writer, who might have been the poet Racan,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +represents himself as "very ugly, very stammering, and very +disagreeable, very grumbling besides and untruthful," and goes on, "I am +very bold with women and quite as successful as if I were good-looking +and possessed the most agreeable qualities in the world to make myself +well received. I have indeed found myself sometimes as you see me..." +There is still greater contempt expressed for women in the following +passage from the Portrait of La Rochefoucauld by himself: "Formerly I +was a little <i>galant</i>; now not at all, although still youthful. I have +renounced all flirtations. I am only astonished that there should still +be so many worthy people who occupy themselves in culling these 'little +flowers.'" Considering Mme. de Longueville, this statement is rather +hard. I would remark in passing, that La Rochefoucauld was +forty-five<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> at the moment in which he found himself somewhat +"young to renounce flirtations." Molière, however, was soon to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +all Paris laugh at the expense of Arnolphe,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> who indulged in love +affairs at the age of forty-two. Shall we conclude that Molière +attempted to lessen the limit of the age of love, or was it only in the +theatre that fashion exacted young lovers? I leave this question to the +clever. It is not without importance in the history of sentiments.</p> + +<p>The fashion of Portraits lasted but little more than two years with +those who were its sponsors; as soon as the custom reached the +bourgeoisie, the people of quality abandoned it. The very lively taste +developed in the middle class, in their turn, for this diversion proved +of real service to literature. The imitators of the "Galerie" learned, +as previously the creators of the game had done, to know the "interior +of people."<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> "The anatomies" of their own hearts, imperfect as they +were, habituated them to discern the "qualities and temper of +people,"<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> and thus a large public was prepared to comprehend the +women of Racine.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was one of the first to profit by the "soul studies" which +she had brought into favour. There remains a little passage in a portion +of her <i>Mémoires</i>, written after 1660, which clearly indicates this. +Progress is equally marked in a little romance with a key, entitled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +<i>Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie</i>, which was composed and +printed at Bordeaux in 1659, during the prolonged sojourn of the Court +at that place.</p> + +<p>This is not the only imaginative work for which this facile pen<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> is +responsible, but it is the only one worthy of notice. The subject is +without interest; Mademoiselle has incorporated in a literary tale the +absurd quarrels of her household: "I made a little history which was +finished in three days, by writing in the evening after returning from +the Queen." In compensation, there are in the <i>Princesse de Paphlagonie</i> +some sketches after nature, written with a firm and live touch, a +novelty with Mademoiselle. A passage upon the blue room of Mme. de +Rambouillet will prove a great aid in any attempt to reconstruct an +elegant interior under Louis XIV., if the experiment should ever be made +as has been suggested of playing the comedies of Molière in the true +"chamber" of Philaminte or of Célimène. Others have spoken of the rooms +in which Mme. de Rambouillet received. The harmonious decoration and the +scholarly disorder have been before described, yet no one but +Mademoiselle has given us the intimate atmosphere of the sanctuary, with +its measured and discreet light, its luxury of flowers, its objects of +art, and its small but choice library betraying the tastes and the +preferences of the divinity of the place. The description resembles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +more nearly the salon of an intelligent woman of the twentieth century +than a suite of the Château of Versailles.</p> + +<p>The guests of Mademoiselle profited also by the refinement of her +tastes. She enforced one single rule in her salon: cards were banished. +No one was exposed to the danger of being ruined, as was the case in the +circle of the King, who encouraged heavy play. It did not displease +Louis XIV. to be the Providence of the losers, this again being a method +of keeping his nobles in hand. His cousin in no way shared in such +considerations. She said: "I hate to play cards," and only played when +it was impossible to avoid doing so. She did not at all like to lose. It +was remarked that the Luxembourg had gained in gaiety with the exclusion +of gambling games. "There is a hundred times as much laughter," relates +the Abbé de Choisy,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> at this date very young and a frequent guest at +the palace of the Luxembourg, where he met numerous companions of his +own age.</p> + +<p>The three daughters of the old Madame, Mlles. d'Orléans, d'Alençon, and +de Valois,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> were always with their step-sister. They escaped from +their deserted apartment to run towards the noise and movement; their +life was too sad with Madame and her eternal "vapours." Relegated to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +their chambers as at Blois, with some childish companions, among whom +was Louise de La Vallière,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> still unknown, they lived in a state of +distrust of their almost invisible mother, who never addressed a word to +them except in scolding.</p> + +<p>At least, with Mademoiselle one had the right to move. Young people had +great freedom. Little games were organised. Parties of hide and seek and +blind-man's-buff were enjoyed. "As I had violin players, it was easy to +dance in any room sufficiently distant from Madame." The Abbé de Choisy +adds a gracious detail: "There were violinists, but ordinarily they were +silent and we danced to singing. It is so charming to dance to the sound +of the voice." While the young moved gaily about, their elders had also +their little games.</p> + +<p>Everything yielded, however, to the unequalled pleasure of conversation. +Among those who gave éclat to the Luxembourg, the names of La +Rochefoucauld, Segrais, Mme. de Lafayette, and Mme. de Sévigné may be +mentioned. Mademoiselle herself often led the conversation, beating the +drums a little, her fashion in everything, but also with a certain +spontaneity which she always displayed.</p> + +<p>Conversation was, during more than a century, even to the time of the +Revolution, to be the great delight of intelligent France, and this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +pleasure rendered incomparable service to the French language, which had +rather deteriorated during the first periods of the seventeenth century. +It was immediately perceived that the worst fault for a talker was to +speak like a book, and the French owe to this simple observation the +lesson which taught them to become the first in the world for vivacity +and naturalness in the art of conversation. The habitués of the +Luxembourg only regretted that the conversation did not oftener turn +upon love. But, in this respect, Mademoiselle was not as complaisant as +at Saint-Fargeau. We have seen that, in practice, she closed her eyes; +this simplified life. For her own pleasure, she preferred other topics; +this particular one became at length insupportable to her. "I am much +criticised," says she in her <i>Portrait</i>, "because the verses I like the +least, are those which are passionate, for I have not a tender soul." +Besides, she had really nothing more to say upon the subject of love. +She had just made her profession of faith in a correspondence with Mme. +de Motteville, who, while awaiting something better, circulated a +manuscript in which one reads, "Its conditions are shameful; it is +robbery and unjust, without faith and without equity. It is an impiety; +it mocks the holy sacrament. Marriage adjusts nothing: everything is +given to man."</p> + +<p>"Let us escape from slavery," cried Mademoiselle. "Let there be at least +one corner of the globe in which one can say that women are their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +mistresses." Every one has the right to despise love and marriage, +provided only that one does not insist on applying this sentiment only +to others. The youth of the Luxembourg knew too well that Mademoiselle +sought with an increasing ardour that "slavery" against which in +conversation or in writing she called her sex to revolt. Her intimate +friends realised that she was inventing illusions, under the influence +of a possible possession which induced a belief in their reality. She +had believed in an eager tenderness on the part of the little Monsieur +who had married some one else. After the restoration of the Stuarts +(April, 1660), she imagined (the recital is fully given in her +<i>Mémoires</i>) that the King, Charles II., whom she had refused with +disdain when he was only a poor pretender, had no other intention in +remounting the throne than again to demand her hand, and that she would +nobly respond: "I do not deserve this, having rejected your suit when +you were in disgrace. The remembrance of this would always rest on our +two hearts and would prevent true happiness." This fine response has +been quoted a hundred times. Unfortunately, it is very clearly proved +through the testimony of English documents<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> that Mademoiselle had no +occasion to make it.</p> + +<p>Advances, alas! had come from one side only and had been ill received. +"I very much desire the marriage of Mademoiselle," wrote Lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +Derby<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> to her sister-in-law, Mme. de la Trémouille, through whom +passed the "insinuations," "but the King has a great aversion to it on +account of the contempt which she has shown him. I have spoken of her to +Marquis d'Ormond, but I have met with little encouragement." In another +letter: "I have proposed Mademoiselle, but I have little hope. If the +King looks for wealth, we can hardly expect greater than with +Mademoiselle. But I fear that having been despised in his poverty, he +may be little disposed to regard such a marriage." Charles II. would +listen to nothing; he had guarded a grudge against his cousin. On the +other hand, there is every appearance of truth when she states that the +old Duc Charles III. de Lorraine,<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> had demanded her "on his knees" +for a youth of eighteen, Prince Charles de Lorraine, his nephew, who +became afterwards one of the most famous Austrian generals. It was a +question, as can well be understood, of a political combination.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, Prince Charles himself had another project, better suited +to his age. He was in love with the eldest daughter of Madame, +Marguerite d'Orléans, who returned his affection with all her heart. The +youthful society of the Luxembourg accuses Mademoiselle of having, +through jealousy, caused this project to fail. "The affair had been +advanced," relates that gossip, the Abbé de Choisy, "but the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +Mademoiselle had talked and cackled so much that she spoiled +everything." She was desperate at the thought of her younger sisters, +beggars compared to herself, marrying under her very eyes. Marguerite +d'Orléans made, out of spite, a marriage which turned out badly,<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +but through which Mademoiselle in no way profited. Owing to a singular +change of desire, from the day on which it had depended upon herself to +marry Prince Charles, she had only felt contempt for this little prince +"<i>sans forts</i>."<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>These caprices made the King impatient, who ended by making negotiations +with Lorraine without any longer occupying himself with his cousin. +Louis XIV. still retained the old monarchical principles in relation to +the marriage of princesses. He regarded them simply from the point of +view of politics; questions to be settled by governments and into which +sentiments must not be permitted to intrude. The idea that every human +being has a right to happiness did not belong to his times, and if it +had been suggested, the King would have surely condemned it, for it +insisted upon individual interests as opposed to those of the community, +the rights of which appeared specially sacred to the people of the +seventeenth century.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. did not believe for himself that he had the right to accept +only the agreeable duties belonging to his "trade of king," since he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +had undertaken an existence devoted to strenuous labour, when it would +have been so pleasant to do nothing. According to his principle, the +higher the position of an individual, the more it was fitting that he +should sacrifice his own desires to the public good. Mademoiselle had +the honour of being his first cousin; he had firmly resolved to marry +her, or not to marry her, to bestow her hand upon a hero or a monster, +according as he should judge it useful to "the service of the King." +There was a certain grandeur in this fashion of recognising +relationship.</p> + +<p>It had not occurred to the King that Mademoiselle would ever have the +audacity to resist him. It can be said that any real understanding +between the two was an impossibility. Mademoiselle had lived too long in +the midst of the opposition to yield to the notion of absolute royal +power without limitations and including all possible persons. Louis XIV. +had a too profound faith in the doctrine of the divine right of kings to +refuse for himself any of the prerogatives devolving upon him. Both +these opinions represented Frenchmen at large; but for the moment +Mademoiselle was being borne along by the ebbing tide, Louis XIV. by the +rising one.</p> + +<p>This Prince had entered the world at an opportune moment to profit by a +doctrine which, according to a happy expression, seemed made for him as he +for it. After the Reform, the enforcing the old theory of the divine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +origin of power had a beneficial result. The populace in many a country +and province had found themselves as much interested as the sovereigns +in suppressing the political power of the Pope outside of his own +States, and resenting his interference in the affairs of other +countries.</p> + +<p>In France, in the sixteenth century, one meets with Calvinist +theologians amongst the writers who claimed that princes received their +power directly from God, and from God alone. The immediate consequence +of this doctrine was to heighten the éclat of royalty. Princes became +images of divinity, and even something more; Louis XIV., not yet five, +heard himself spoken of as the "Divinity made visible." Two years later, +the Royal Catechism<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> explained to him that he was "Vice-Dieu." +Twenty years later Louis XIV. was "Dieu," without any qualification, and +Bossuet himself declared it from the pulpit. On April 2, 1662, preaching +at the Louvre and speaking of the duties of kings, Bossuet cried: "O +Gods of nations and of lands, you must die like mortals; nevertheless, +until Death, you are Gods."</p> + +<p>When a man hears such statements without shrinking, he is quite ready to +accept all the consequences. "Kings," writes an anonymous person, "are +absolute lords of all who breathe in any portion of their empire."<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>Louis XIV. has very clearly formulated the same thought in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +<i>Mémoires</i>: "The one who has given kings to men has wished that they +should be respected as his lieutenants, reserving for himself alone the +right to examine their conduct. It is the divine wish that any one born +a subject should obey without question."<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> It must be added that +Louis had arrived at these conclusions under a pressure of public +opinion, which had become impatiently desirous of giving to monarchy the +strength needed to place the shattered land again in a condition of +order.</p> + +<p>On the death of Mazarin, France resembled a large establishment whose +cupboards, confided to a negligent steward, had not during an entire +generation been put in order. A flash of vivid hope passed through +France on seeing its young monarch, vigorously aided by Colbert, put the +broom to the mass of abuses and inequities which bore the name of +administration, and show himself resolved, in spite of resistance, to +introduce into the great public services order and moral cleanliness.</p> + +<p>This was not finished without tears and grinding of teeth, not without +some injustice also, as in the case of Foucquet, assuredly culpable, but +paying for many others, of whom Mazarin was the first. But this +cleansing <i>was</i> accomplished. First, the finances were attacked, with +the happy result that people paid less and that the imposts returned +more; then justice,—law reform was commenced in 1665, and the "grands +jours" of Auvergne were opened the same year; the army,—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +soldiers, paid regularly, committed fewer disorders, and the nobility +learned, willingly or not, military obedience.</p> + +<p>At the same time, industry and commerce increased to such an extent +that, from 1668, orders flooded Paris "from the entire world" for a vast +number of articles which ten years previous had been imported. The +ambassador from Venice, Giustiniani, writes this statement to his +government.</p> + +<p>The strong will of the master had put the country in motion. Louis XIV. +was confirmed in his high opinion of absolute monarchy. The same year in +which Bossuet had encouraged him to believe himself above ordinary +humanity, the King decided, with a perfectly equable conscience, to +marry the Grande Mademoiselle to a veritable monster, in the interest of +a political combination which he held at heart, for he returns to it +several times in his <i>Mémoires</i>. His father-in-law, Philippe IV., +menaced the independence of Portugal.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> Louis XIV. hesitated to +assist Portugal openly, on account of the treaty of the Pyrénées.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> +On the other hand, he considered double-dealing more honest to the +Spaniards than their conduct might be to him if opportunity permitted. +"I cannot doubt that they would have been the first to violate the +treaty of the Pyrénées on a thousand points, and I should believe myself +failing in my duty to the State, if, through being more scrupulous, I +should permit them freely to ruin Portugal, and to fall back upon me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +with their entire strength."</p> + +<p>It seemed to him that he could conciliate all by aiding Portugal +secretly, and Turenne had no repugnance to this course. This kind of +action was then called, and is often still designated, sagacious +statesmanship.</p> + +<p>Such being the situation, Turenne came one afternoon to seek +Mademoiselle in her cabinet. The account of this interview has been +preserved for us by the Princess, and we can this time trust her +accuracy. Her <i>Mémoires</i> are in accord with contemporary witnesses. It +was towards the end of the winter of 1662. Turenne seated himself at the +corner of the fireplace and began with tender protestations. "As I am +somewhat brusque, I at once demanded of him, 'What is the question?' He +replied: 'I wish to marry you.' I interrupted him, saying: 'That is not +easy; I am content with my condition.'</p> + +<p>"'I will make you Queen. Listen to me. Let me tell you everything, and +afterward you can speak. I wish to make you Queen of Portugal.' 'Fi!' +cried I to myself, 'I do not wish it.' He went on: 'Maidens of your +quality have no desires; they must act as the King wills.'"</p> + +<p>The monarch whose mention makes Mademoiselle cry "Fi!" was called +Alphonse VI., and was not yet twenty. At twenty-three, the Abbé de +Saint-Romain,<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> our envoy to Portugal, reported that he could +neither read nor write. In compensation, he pulled the ears and tore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +out the hair of those who approached him, and this was in his "good +days"; in the bad ones, he struck, indifferently with his feet, hands, +or sword, any one who vexed him. His subjects no longer dared to pass +through the streets at night, because one of his diversions was to +charge at them suddenly in the "darkness and to try to spit them."</p> + +<p>In person, Alphonse VI. was a fat little barrel, paralysed in one limb, +"gluttonous and dirty," almost always drunk, and vomiting after his +meals. He wore six or seven coats one over the other, amongst which "a +petticoat of three hundred taffetas, embroidered with pistol shots"; +upon his head, a hood falling over his eyes, several caps over this, one +of which covered the ears, and an "English bonnet" over all. "His body," +pursues the Abbé, "smells horribly, and he has always bad ulcers in the +softer portions ... and these offences could not be supported if he did +not bathe once daily in winter, twice in other seasons." Fear obliged +him to make "seventeen people always sleep in his chamber."</p> + +<p>Turenne, however, forced himself to gild this rather bitter pill. He +pointed out to Mademoiselle how useful it would be and for what reasons +to have a French princess on the throne of Portugal. He promised her, +knowing her special weakness, that she should be absolute mistress of +the "great and powerful army"; that the King would give it entirely +over to her by degrees. Without doubt, Alphonse VI. was a paralytic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +"but," asserted Turenne, "this does not appear when he is dressed; he +only slightly drags one leg, and is a little awkward with his arm. So +much the better, if his intelligence also is a little slow. It is not +known whether or not he has any wit; after all, it is only good form for +husbands to be gay."</p> + +<p>"But," replied Mademoiselle, "to be the link of a perpetual war between +France and Spain seems to me a very undesirable position." The situation +would be still worse if, as she was convinced would be the case, the two +crowns should arrive at an accommodation.</p> + +<p>"A truly beautiful future: to have a drunken and paralytic husband, whom +the Spaniards would chase from his kingdom, and to return to France to +demand alms, when all my wealth has been dissipated, and to remain only +the queen of some little village. It is good to be Mademoiselle in +France with five hundred thousand francs of income, and nothing to +demand of the Court. Thus placed, it is foolish to move. If the Court +becomes weariness, one can retire to one's château in the country, in +which a little private court of one's own can be held. It is very +diverting also to build new houses. Finally, as mistress of one's own +wishes one is happy, for one does what one wills."</p> + +<p>"But," returned Turenne, "remaining Mademoiselle, even admitting all +that you have said, you are still subject to the King. He commands what +he wills; when his wishes are refused, he scolds; a thousand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +disagreeable things are felt at Court; often the King goes farther, he +chases people away. When they are content in one place, he sends them to +another. He orders journeys from one end of the kingdom to the other. +Sometimes, he imprisons recalcitrants in their own homes, or sends them +into convents, and in the end, obedience must come. What can you reply +to this?"</p> + +<p>"That people of your station do not menace those of mine," cried +Mademoiselle in anger; "that I know what I must do; that if the King +says anything contrary, I will see what I shall respond to him."</p> + +<p>She forbade Turenne to mention this affair again, and withdrew. "Five or +six days later, he again addressed me." At this time, some common +friends were present. Mademoiselle grew anxious. How far was Turenne the +authorised messenger of the King? She wrote to the latter to provoke an +explanation. No response. She confided her trouble to the Queen Mother, +who confined herself to these words: "If the King wishes this, it is a +terrible pity; he is master; as for me, I have nothing to say in the +matter."</p> + +<p>"I was in frightful haste," adds Mademoiselle, "that the time for the +Baths of Forges should come, and that I might go away." The season +arrived. It was needful to take leave of the King. She wished to have +the Court plainly understand her intention: "'Sire, if your Majesty is +thinking of my establishment, here is M. de Béziers, who will go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +Turin; he can negotiate my marriage with M. de Savoie.'—'I will think +of you when it suits me, and marry you when it will be of service to +me,' in a dry tone which much frightened me. After this, he saluted me +very coldly, and I went away and I took my waters."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had the imprudence both to talk and write. Bussy-Rabutin +even pretends that "she had written a letter to the King of Spain, which +was intercepted," suggesting a fête in his neighbourhood; but this is +difficult to believe, however inconsiderate Mademoiselle sometimes was.</p> + +<p>From Forges, Mademoiselle went to the Château d'Eu, which she had bought +a short time before. It was at this place, October 15, 1662, that she +received from the King commands to return to Saint-Fargeau, "until new +orders." Upon the route she met letters from every one.</p> + +<p>To be banished for having refused to marry Alphonse VI.,—the country +was not yet ready for these consequences of the new régime. It was soon +known that Mademoiselle had ordered from Paris "needles, canvas, and +silk," as if she expected to have on her hands plenty of spare time. But +if affairs remained at this point, she was not paying too dearly for the +pleasure of escaping being made Queen of Portugal. This was her own +opinion, and she became very amiable.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The departure of Mademoiselle did not leave a large vacuum in the young +Court; there was at the official ceremonies one princess the less, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +this was all. For the new generation had passed with the King to the +front ranks; the Grande Mademoiselle was now only the "old +Mademoiselle," as Abbé de Choisy called her. The youthful loves and the +pleasures belonging to twenty years had nothing to do with her, nor, +what is more, with the Queen Mother, who had in old age become a +preacher, and who now belonged to the "dévots" grouped under her +protection.</p> + +<p>Molière by his impiety scandalised these pious people who considered it +wicked for the King to have mistresses.</p> + +<p>The question still waiting to be solved was, on which side the master +would definitely range himself. For the moment, Louis XIV. leaned very +strongly towards the friends of good-nature and of his joyous freedom. +Would he be gained over by these? Would the logic of events and ideas +lead him to shake off the trammel of religious practices, then that of +belief, in the fashion of Hugues de Lionne, of the Bussy-Rabutins, of +the Guiche, of the Roquelaure, of the Vardes, and a hundred other +"Libertins," who only saw in the practices of religion a collection of +silly tricks? The obtaining an answer to this query was really the +important affair of the year 1662, a much more serious interest than any +preoccupation in regard to the chronicle of the doings at the Luxembourg +or at Saint-Fargeau.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>The young Queen was anxious; she scented danger, but she knew only how +to groan and weep, without comprehending that red eyes and a grumbling +tone were not the best attractions for retaining a husband. She had not +even the consolation of being pitied, having only made the one friend, +Anne of Austria, who in default of something better, forced herself to +preserve some illusions upon the melancholy of the little Queen's +destiny.</p> + +<p>It would have been hard to find a better creature than Marie-Thérèse, +fresh and round, who leapt with joy the day following her marriage, and +related ingenuously to Mme. de Motteville her little romance. +Marie-Thérèse had always remembered that her mother,<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> who died when +she was only six, had repeated that she desired to see her Queen of +France; that this was the only possible happiness, or, if not attained, +nothing remained but a convent. The little Princess had grown up with +the thought of France. Louis XIV. had been the <i>Prince Charmant</i> of her +infant dreams. When she knew that a French lord came "post haste" to +demand her hand for his master, it seemed to her entirely natural. She +had spied from a window the arrival of M. de Gramont.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> He had passed +by very quickly, followed by many other Frenchmen, decorated with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +gold and silver, and covered with feathers and ribbons of all colours. +One might have said, "a <i>parterre</i> of flowers, bearing the royal +demand," related the young Queen, becoming poetical for the first and +last time in her life.</p> + +<p>Once married, Marie-Thérèse had demanded of her husband the promise that +they should never be separated, either by day or night, if it possibly +could be avoided. Louis XIV. promised and kept his word, but it was a +useless precaution.</p> + +<p>According to Mme. de Motteville and Mme. de Maintenon,<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> the Queen +did not know how to conduct herself toward her husband. She was stupid +in her manner of showing her devotion; if the King wanted her, she would +refuse to sacrifice a prayer in order to be with him. She had also an +"ill-directed" jealousy; if the King did not desire her company, she did +not sufficiently distinguish, in her complaints, against those who wiled +him away, between Mlle. de La Vallière and the Council of Ministers. Her +ill temper was discouraging. If the King led her with him, she +complained of everything; if he did not, there were floods of tears. If +the dinner was not to her taste she sulked; if it pleased her, tormented +herself: "Everything will be eaten, nothing will be left for me." "And +the King jeered at her," added Mademoiselle, having the honour, through +her birth, of being often found amongst those who "eat everything."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0151" id="Page_0151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 430px;"> +<img src="images/illus183.png" width="430" height="550" alt="HÉLÈNE LAMBERT," title="" /> +<span class="caption">HÉLÈNE LAMBERT, MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE<br /> +After the painting by De Largillière</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>Marie-Thérèse was good, generous, virtue itself, she had a violent +passion for her husband, and with all this she was a person to be +avoided. Mme. de Maintenon summed up the situation in saying that "the +Queen knew how to love but not how to please; the reverse of the King, +who possessed qualities for pleasing all, without being capable of a +strong affection. All women except his own wife were agreeable to him."</p> + +<p>Free-thinkers and debauchees did not have to consider Marie-Thérèse; she +had not a shadow of influence over her husband. For different reasons, +neither Monsieur, the brother of the King, nor the wife of Monsieur were +any obstacles. Much has been said of the seductive power of Mme. +Henrietta of England<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a>; of her irresistible grace, her delicate +beauty, and her special charm. These characteristics, very rare with a +great princess, had proved of great value during her youth of +humiliating poverty, when she was reduced to living as a "private +person." She had then met with "all celebrities, all civility, and all +humanity, even upon ordinary conditions,<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> and nothing perhaps had +contributed more to make her love men and adore women." Her faults were +great, but they were not weighed against her, on account of that gift of +pleasing which was in her and which circumstances had developed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +Madame was a hidden evil influence, and an openly dangerous one. She +could become the centre of low Court intrigues, without losing, or even +risking, the loss of her empire over hearts. To this first good fortune +was united that of having Bossuet to shelter her memory.</p> + +<p>Henrietta of England has traversed "centuries protected by his +[Bossuet's] funeral oration," as she passed through her life protected +by the fascination with which nature endows certain women, by no means +always the best ones.</p> + +<p>Monsieur since our last encounter with him had not improved. He had, as +might be said, publicly and without shame, established himself in vice, +and in vice of the worst kind. Marriage had done nothing for him. "The +miracle of inflaming the heart of this prince," discreetly explains Mme. +de La Fayette, "was reserved for no woman belonging to the social +world."<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> Delivered over to a crowd of very exacting favourites who +never left him a moment free from domestic complications, Monsieur had, +according to the expressive word of his mother, become indisputably an +intriguer. Between Madame and himself, their court was a place of +inconceivable agitation, a sink of lies and calumnies, of small +perfidies, and little treasons, which make one sick, even when related +by Mme. de La Fayette.</p> + +<p>Truly, I hardly know whether or not in writing her <i>Histoire de Madame +Henriette</i> this latter has rendered a service to her dear Princess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +With the exception of the first pages, before the marriage, and of the +beautiful death scene at the end, the rest is a tissue of nothings so +contemptible in every respect that the book falls from one's hands: and +this is all that the author of the <i>Princesse de Clèves</i> has found to +say about a person so prominent; of a sister-in-law to whom Louis XIV. +confided political secrets and whom he loved almost <i>too</i> dearly.</p> + +<p>Among all the personages belonging to the royal family, the Libertins +had only to consider the Queen Mother, their declared enemy, and the +King himself, as yet too reserved for it to be divined how he +contemplated accommodating pleasure and religion. It had not taken long +to perceive that he would not restrain himself in pleasure. He was +married, June 9, 1660. A year later commenced the series of mistresses +imposed upon the royal household and upon France, they and their +children, in a fashion which recalls Oriental polygamy rather than the +manners of the Occident. Louis XIV. had felt himself incapable of a +virtuous life. One day, when his mother, profiting by the tenderness +awakened by a reconciliation—they had not spoken for some time to each +other—represented the scandal of his liaison with Mlle. de La Vallière, +he responded cordially with tears of grief which proceeded from the +bottom of his heart, where were still some remains of his former +piety,—"that he knew his wrong; that he felt sometimes the pain and +shame of it; that he had tried his best not to offend God and not to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +yield to his passions, but he was forced to confess that they were +stronger than his reason, that he could not resist their violence, and +that he no longer felt any desire so to do."<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>This conversation took place in July, 1664. The following autumn, the +King having found the Queen, his wife, in tears in her oratoire on +account of a too-well founded jealousy, he gave her the hope of finding +him at thirty "a good husband,"—a somewhat cynical suggestion.</p> + +<p>He not only had "violent passions," but he had not discovered any +reasons for restraining himself in regard to women. One reads in his +<i>Mémoires</i>, which were written for the dauphin to see, a passage worthy +of Lord Chesterfield, in which he gives his son his ideas upon the +subject of kings' mistresses.</p> + +<p>The page referred to relates to the year 1667, in which commenced the +war of the <i>Dévolution</i>:<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<blockquote><p>Before departing for the army, I sent an edict to Parliament. I +raised to a Duchy the territory of Vaujours in favour of Mlle. de +La Vallière and recognised a daughter of mine by her. For, +resolving in accompanying the army not to remain apart from +possible perils, I thought it just to assure to the child the +honour of her birth, and to give to her mother an establishment +suitable to the affection which since her sixth year I had felt for +her. I might have done well not to mention this attachment, the +example of which is not good to follow; but having drawn much +instruction from the failings of others, I have not wished to +deprive you of the lessons you may learn from mine.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0155" id="Page_0155"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> +<img src="images/illus189.png" width="448" height="530" alt="LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE<br /> +From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Petitot</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>The first instruction to draw from his failings was that it was not +needful to waste time on women; "that the time devoted to love should +never be taken to the prejudice of other duties." The second +consideration was that in abandoning the heart it was necessary to +remain absolute master of one's mind: that the tenderness of a lover +should be separated from the resolutions of a sovereign; that the fair +one who gives pleasure should never be permitted to speak of affairs, or +of those who serve us, and that the two portions of life should be kept +entirely apart. "You will remember how I have warned you on various +occasions of the harmful influence of favourites; that of a mistress is +still more dangerous."</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. insisted at length upon the mental weakness which makes women +dangerous. He had studied them from an intimate point of view, and he +judged "these animals" almost as did Arnolphe. "They are," said he to +the Dauphin, "eloquent in their expressions, pressing in their prayers, +obstinate in their sentiments. No secret can be safe with them. They +always act with calculation, and consequently use 'cunning and +artifice.' However much it may cost to a loving heart, a Prince cannot +take too many 'precautions' with his mistresses. This is a duty imposed +upon him by the throne itself."</p> + +<p>Poor La Vallière, so disinterested, so little of an intriguer! What +grief if she had read these cruel pages!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>The counsels we have just read are very politic, very prudent; they have +nothing to do with either morality or religion. The royal <i>Mémoires</i>, in +another part indeed, add that "the Prince should always be a perfect +model of virtue," and also that it is a Christian duty to abstain from +all illicit commerce, "which is <i>almost never innocent</i>."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Louis XIV. had not extracted much in regard to +moral discipline from a cult of which he knew only the forms. During his +infancy, his mother had reserved to herself his religious education. She +had led him at an early age into the churches, where she passed a +portion of each day, and she had communicated to him a little of her +narrow and mechanical piety. Louis XIV. never understood any other kind. +He knew his catechism but little better than his Latin grammar. This +ignorance was, perhaps, aggravated by the fact of his realising the need +of a knowledge of Latin in order to read diplomatic despatches, while he +could see no use whatever in knowing the facts of religion.</p> + +<p>He never changed in this respect; Mme. de Maintenon herself made vain +efforts. The second Madame, La Palatine, did not succeed better. She +wrote: "If he only believed that he should listen to his confessor and +recite his <i>Pater Noster</i>, all would go well and his devotion would be +perfect."<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>Holding these ideas, the King was very vexed, deified as he was by a +crowd of adulators, to meet among his subjects men sufficiently bold to +blame his conduct and to frankly tell him so. Some prelates showed +severity. It belonged to their profession to do so. But that courtiers, +and even, as it was related, a simple bourgeois of Paris, should dare to +address remonstrances to their sovereign,—this could not be +tolerated,—especially as their reproaches excited his mother against +him,—at the risk of an embroilment, which in fact occurred.</p> + +<p>As good politics, if for no other reason, Louis XIV. was resolved not to +permit any interference in his affairs. He felt somewhat vaguely that +all these people were uniting to teach him a lesson. He suspected a +considerable organised force behind this <i>Cabale des Dévots</i>, who +represented austerity at Court, and whom the Libertins of the Louvre +ridiculed.</p> + +<p>We know this organised force. We have seen it at work in a former +chapter under the name of <i>The Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>, when it +was engaged with Vincent de Paul in the great charitable undertakings of +the century.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> The malevolent nickname of <i>Cabale des Dévots</i> had +been given, towards the year 1658, by the many who abominated the +society without knowing its true title or its organisation, simply +because it disturbed the course of their own existence.</p> + +<p>Since the date at which we last saw the organisation at work, the +management had been offering the same mixture of good and evil.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>Everything that it had done for the relief of the poor, the prisoners, +the galley slaves, and other miserable beings, to protect them against +abuse and tyranny, and to raise them morally, had been above all praise; +as had also its efforts to assure a certain amount of decency in the +streets, or to combat in the higher classes the two curses of the time, +duels and gambling. As much cannot be said of the narrow and fanatical +opinions which rendered it a persecutor and police agent, of its taste +for spying or accusing, of its barbarity in regard to heretics and men +of genius. It easily became dangerous and malignant, and it was +difficult to find defence against this occult power which had "eyes and +ears everywhere." Mazarin, whom it secretly tormented through anonymous +letters, had sought and pursued it with eagerness, and during the last +months of his life the society was forced to hide itself. After the +death of the Cardinal, the <i>Compagnie</i> again put itself in motion, and +it is evident that it had regained confidence, for with only the Queen +Mother for its friend it dared to attack the King.</p> + +<p>At this epoch, Anne of Austria is a very interesting person. The +<i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i> had become a political party since it +tried to make sure of the King, and if it had succeeded, the history of +the entire reign would have been altered. Delivered to its influence, +the State would not have delayed until the Great Revolution to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +trouble its conscience about the duties towards the people at large.</p> + +<p>The imprudence of the conduct of the society towards the King, and his +indiscretions, gave the game to the Libertins. They did not despair, +considering the discontent of the King, of attracting him to themselves, +to their incredulity, their lack of docility towards religious belief, +and in truth, without going to the point of regretting their final +check, we can hardly be sorry that this "routine intelligence" should +have received a slight shock.</p> + +<p>The mind of Louis XIV., so remarkable for its justice and solidity, was +the opposite of the modern mind in its total absence of curiosity and in +the difficulty of changing its point of view. The King had need of +skeptical reading. As he never read, the assaults of the Libertins +rendered him the service of slightly moving his ideas; they deranged him +in his habits of mechanical practices.</p> + +<p>Olivier d'Ormesson, who was of the <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>, +wrote, after the Pentecost of 1664, "that the King had not performed his +devotions at the fête, and that Monsieur having demanded if he intended +to 'practice,' he had replied that he was no longer going to be a +hypocrite like himself, who was confessing only to please the Queen +Mother."<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>The conscience of the King was passing through a crisis; every one felt +this. In the presence of an event of such importance, the misfortunes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +of the Grande Mademoiselle, already but little in the thoughts of the +rising generation, completely lost interest. Everything was forgotten.</p> + +<p>During the first months of her exile, Mademoiselle was occupied in +opposing the King. Louis XIV. had not abandoned the idea of marrying her +to Alphonse VI., and Turenne was endeavouring to make her "reasonable," +from which resulted an "interchange of letters" and of official visits +which had the good side of breaking the monotony at Saint-Fargeau. This +time, the life there was very dull. The old animation had not returned. +Too proud to avow it, Mademoiselle expressed herself cheerfully in her +letters. On November 9, 1662, she wrote to Bussy-Rabutin: "I believe +that the sojourn which I shall make here will be longer than you desire. +If I were not afraid of appearing too indifferent, I should say that I +care but little. Perhaps this would be true; but it is not well to +always speak the truth."<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<p>Her <i>Mémoires</i> are more sincere. She relates that at the end of five +months, she wrote to the King that she should die if she remained +longer; that it was an unhealthy place on account of the marshes by +which the château was surrounded; that she "did not believe herself to +have done anything which merited death, and such a death, ... and if he +wished her to make a long penitence for the crimes which she had <i>not</i> +committed, she supplicated him to permit her to go to Eu." Louis XIV.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +permitted Eu, but made Mademoiselle understand that he had not renounced +the project of marriage with the King of Portugal, and that he hoped to +lead her, through his kindness, "to the sentiments she should have." She +did not delay to discuss the matter. "I departed at once and quitted +Saint-Fargeau without regret." This was a final adieu.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had just bought the Comté d'Eu, under circumstances which +show how the landed and manorial estates of the ancient régime, which +from a distance appear so solid, were in reality held by the most +fragile tenure and at the mercy of any accident. The Comté d'Eu was the +property of the illustrious and powerful family of Guise. In 1654, the +proprietor of the moment, Louis de Lorraine, duc de Joyeuse, was killed +at the siege of Arras, leaving an only son of youthful age, Louis Joseph +de Lorraine, Prince de Joinville. This child had for guardian his aunt, +Mlle. de Guise, an intelligent and important person, the oracle of the +family, says Saint-Simon. He had also two other guardians, one of whom, +Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de Montresor, had secretly married Mlle. de +Guise. These three guardians soon perceived that they were powerless to +defend the interests confided to them. The Comté d'Eu was burdened with +two million francs of debt, a figure which would not have led to +disaster if the Duc de Joyeuse had been there to make his rights +respected and to reclaim his share of the monarchical manna; such as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +pensions, gratifications of the King, benefices, governments, Court +charges. But he was dead, and the property of the minor had been put to +the quarry, by the people of affairs on the one hand, and the Norman +peasants on the other. Against these business sharks, the guardians were +obliged, after years of struggle, to invoke the aid of Parliament. They +addressed a petition<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> in which they stated that their ward, because +he was a child "destitute of the powerful means" which his father would +have possessed, had become the victim of usurers and rogues. The two +million debt of the Comté d'Eu had been largely bought up by artificial +and suspicious creditors, with whom it was impossible to arrive at any +settlement.</p> + +<p>These fishers in troubled waters had brought the disorder to its height +in practising seizures. The entire revenue was exhausted by expenses. +The guardians besought Parliament to extricate them from this slough in +ordering a replevin "of all the seizures and judgments, and in according +that there should be a reprieve from all prosecutions and executions +against them during two years." They hoped with this respite to arrive +at a general liquidation.</p> + +<p>Against the Norman peasants no one saw anything to do but quickly to +outwit them through the sale of the Comté d'Eu to a master capable of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +overawing them. The difficulty, under the conditions in France at that +time, was to find a person of quality able to dispose of several +millions.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle, who always had money, had at once been thought of. At +first, she was too occupied in fighting her father, but the idea struck +her favourably, and as soon as her hands were free she remembered the +suggestion. The bargain was concluded in 1657. This affair did not suit +the pettifoggers. There were so many opposing clauses, so many legal +complications, so many lawsuits, and so many decrees needed in order to +place Mademoiselle in power, and to make it possible for her to possess +Eu in due form, that years rolled by, as the petition of the two +guardians testifies, before the peasants of Eu were deranged in their +work of moles. During the delay, they had continued to devour the +substance of the princely orphan, aided it must be said by other Normans +not peasants, who did not show themselves more scrupulous or less +avaricious.</p> + +<p>How both gentles and peasants acted can be exactly known through the +Archives of Eu. At the time of the guardian petition, Mademoiselle had +sent one of her men to take account of the state of affairs.</p> + +<p>The report of the agent, completed by other business papers,<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> +establishes that the Comté of Eu drew more than half its revenue from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +its forest. This forest, which still exists, contains from ten to eleven +thousand acres,<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> is eight to nine leagues long, and should have been +formed of trees of all ages, if the inhabitants had not worked so +industriously that it was difficult to find a "piece of timber." It was, +at the date of which we are speaking, only underwood, and often only +scrub bushes, on account of the cattle which "damaged it." The entire +neigbourhood had contributed to this extraordinary destruction of a +forest of eight leagues.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of twenty villages, several abbeys, gentlemen, priests, +simple private people had come, under pretext of "ancient rights," to +take the wood as if it belonged to them. The guards of the forest and +their relatives and friends had likewise helped themselves. The +officials of the domain had cut, wrongly or rightly, what the public had +left, and to complete the ruin of the woods, every one had sent cows or +pigs to run through the young bushes.</p> + +<p>The agent of Mademoiselle concluded that it was absolutely needful to +stop this pillage, or even "fifty thousand francs' worth of wood could +never be secured annually." He pointed out other abuses; in the absence +of a firm hand the nature of seignorial privilege rendered these +inevitable. I have myself seen many tables of the revenues of the Comté +Eu in the seventeenth century. The frauds must have been easy and +tempting, the collecting of imposts most costly. One notes a payment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +due at Christmas, in money and material, by inhabitants, possessors of +any real estate, "house or hovel," field or garden:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Francis Guignon of the village of Cyrel owes 40 sols 2 capons, on +account of a house in the said Cyrel." "François de Buc ... owes 8 +sols a third of a capon, on account of a house." "Guillaume +Fumechon ... owes 43 sols and 2 capons on account of half an acre +of land." "The heirs of Jean Dree owe 8 sols and the half of a +capon." "Jean Rose 31 sols, 2 fowls and 11 eggs, on account of +meadow lands." "The Sieur de Saint-Igny of Mesnil at Caux owes 4 +francs 9 sols, 10 bushels of wheat and the same quantity of oats." +"Alizon owes 3 sols, 6 deniers and one third of a capon." A +cultivator owes "78 quarts of wheat, 15 bushels of oats and a +fowl." Another "2 bushels 1 quart of oats and a quarter of a +goose." Another "5 quarters of a goose,"</p></blockquote> + +<p>and so on through 350 folio pages.</p> + +<p>The impost called "<i>du travers</i>" was enforced upon merchandise entering +Eu by the gate of Picardy. So much was paid by chariot or loaded horse. +Butchers paid for "every head of cattle, sow, or pig, one denier, for +each white beast, an obole"; vendors of fish for each basket borne upon +the arm, "2 deniers"; furriers for each skin, an obole.</p> + +<p>Then comes the impost "upon the 'old clothes,' or 'dyed materials' for +which is due for every bed sold in the city of Eu, new or old, 4 +deniers; and for each robe, doublet, or pair of stockings, or any other +article for the use of man or woman, when sold, 1 denier."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> + +<p>The linen merchant also owed one denier, upon pain of amend, for each +cut sold. There was levied a tax upon the measuring of grain and the +weighing of merchandise. The mills were the property of the Lord of Eu, +and grinding was not permitted except for him. The agent of Mademoiselle +recommended the enforcing of this, which had been neglected, with the +result of diminished revenue.</p> + +<p>The fishers of Tréport paid 500 herrings at each drawing of the nets; +outsiders who came to fish in the Tréport, 100 herrings. All stray +animals not reclaimed before one year belonged to the Lord of Eu, and +all royal fish, like sturgeons, whales, porpoises, 8 "<i>oues de mer</i>," +and other large fish.</p> + +<p>This is not all, but it is sufficient to explain the rapidity with which +the revenue of a seignorial property melted away when the master was not +there to make the little world afraid, to solicit judges, in case of +lawsuits, according to the usage, and to apply to the King in need, for +an important person, having, according to the popular expression, "the +long arm."</p> + +<p>Both evil and possible remedy were known. The deplorable state in which +affairs had been found had not at all disturbed the agent of +Mademoiselle. Knowing his mistress, he did not doubt that she would get +the better of the Normans, and he predicted success. "When everything is +put in order," said he, "(as appears will easily be accomplished) the +Comté of Eu will be a profitable estate yielding a great revenue." The +use of the word "easily" was a slight exaggeration. The Comté of Eu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +was finally "adjudged" to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, by "decree" of +the Parliament of Paris, August 20, 1660, for the sum of 2,550,000 +francs. She undertook at once to save the remnants of the forest and +found the population leagued against her to guard its prey.</p> + +<p>At the end of six months, Mademoiselle felt that she was hardly strong +enough for the task, and addressed herself to the King.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> She +explained to him that for the surveillance of her forest she had +established a numerous guard which "cost much to support," but that the +inhabitants had</p> + +<blockquote><p>formed the habit of entering boldly into the said forest and of +committing all sorts of misdemeanours, boasting that they would +continue so to do; that they had just killed with a gun shot in his +stomach, one of her guards for having tried to prevent a theft of +wood; that they were threatening others to have them appointed +collectors of imposts, which would leave them no time to guard; +that they taxed them as peasants, also with other impositions; +that, in one word, the best was done to render the position of +guard untenable.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mademoiselle consequently begged the King that he would particularly +forbid the inhabitants to carry arms or to have them in their homes, +and, on the other hand, that he would permit her guards to be armed. She +reclaimed for them also certain privileges which would enable them to +punish delinquents. Louis XIV. accorded all, and it proved possible to +stop the depredations. On the death of Mademoiselle, the forest of Eu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +was again filled with full-grown trees.</p> + +<p>As to suppressing the "rights," it was useless to be first cousin to the +King; this could not be accomplished. All that could be done was to +prevent these rights multiplying and to limit as far as practicable +their exactions. Between the possessors of these "rights" and the +proprietor, there was a chronic state of hostility.</p> + +<p>There still exist special "rights" in France; every one can for himself +observe the inconvenience of the system. The only one of those +interested who derived no profits from the game was the little Prince de +Joinville, his creditors having continued their manœuvres to avoid +any settlement.</p> + +<p>On March 27, 1661, the Parliament of Paris rendered a decree which +obliged them to accept payment. Eight years had elapsed since the death +of the Duc de Joyeuse. The budget of debts had reached the sum of two +millions of francs.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> When all was finally settled, instead of having +a balance for their ward, the guardians found themselves in face of a +deficit of more than 150,000 francs.</p> + +<p>We have already seen how Gaston, in his position as chief of the House, +had boldly pillaged the fortune of his minor daughter. In the present +case, on the contrary, it was the loss of the father which had given +opportunity for the spoliation of a child. Mazarin had left Gaston<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +alone as a punishment to Mademoiselle for her conduct during the Fronde. +Louis XIV. seems to have taken little interest in the offshoot of the +turbulent and ambitious family of Guise. In both cases, the favourable +or unfavourable attitude of royalty had decided the issue of an affair +of money.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle took official possession of Eu on August 24, 1661. An entry +such as she loved had been arranged, with procession, banners, Venetian +lanterns, speeches, musket salutes, and the firing of cannon from all +the artillery in the city<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a>—one dozen pieces of cannon and forty +<i>boëtes</i> upon the ramparts and eight cannon and forty <i>boëtes</i> upon the +terrace of the château. Mademoiselle returned the following year, but +only actually installed herself at Eu in 1663 after having obtained +permission to leave Saint-Fargeau: "I am resolved to pass my winter +here, without any chagrin at the thought." She watched her workmen, +walked a great deal, and busied herself in the domestic offices. She +also received visits: "There were many provincial people, reasonable +enough; a number of persons of rank; but my heart was heavy. Comedians +came to offer themselves; but I was in no humour for them. I began to be +discouraged. I read; I worked; days were occupied in writing; all these +things made the time pass insensibly."</p> + +<p>This page of the <i>Mémoires</i> permits a glimpse of a rather restricted +life. A letter from Mademoiselle to Bussy-Rabutin confirms and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +accentuates the impression:</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Eu</span>, November 28, 1663.<br /> +</p> + +<blockquote><p>Here is the single response to your letters. I claim that you +should write four to my one, and I believe that this will be better +for you; for what can one send from a desert like this, in which +one sees no one all winter, the roads being impracticable for +people from a distance, from Paris for instance, and the winds +being so strong on the plains through which neighbours must pass +that the north-west wind is feared by all as a furious beast.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The situation of the Château d'Eu is melancholy enough, the sea wind +truly "ferocious" in the environs. The gazettes from Paris were filled +with descriptions of fêtes and visions of glory, which contrasted with +the mediocrity of a provincial court. Mademoiselle had in vain decided +not to be bored. She discovered that she, like the rest of France, had +no life far from the King; there was nothing left but shadow.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0170" id="Page_0170"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 474px;"> +<img src="images/illus207.png" width="474" height="600" alt="JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT<br /> +After the painting by Champaign</span> +</div> + +<p>In the memorable conversation in which Louis XIV. avowed to his mother +that he was no longer master of his passions, Anne of Austria had warned +him that he was "too intoxicated with his own grandeur."<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> She spoke +truly; the infatuation had been rapid. The excuse for the King was the +fact that the entire world shared in his self-admiration. It is not our +plan to give any account of the internal government, or of diplomatic +action, which relates to the early attempts of Louis XIV., so fruitful +in great results and so glorious for himself. We limit ourselves to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +stating the fact. The superiority of France is manifested in the first +contact with England and Spain, and was not less clearly felt on the +other side of the Rhine. Louis, says a German historian, possessed an +influence in the German Empire, at least in its western portions, equal +if not superior to the authority of the Emperor.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>Strangers were almost always struck by the solicitude of his government +for artisans and commercial people.</p> + +<p>Without doubt, sentimental reasons did not count for much; when Colbert +forbade the collectors of taxes to take the cattle from the labourers, +he was simply applying in the name of the King the principles of a good +business man who considers his debtor. But the benefit was no less +great. From whatever point of view one looked, France gave to other +nations the impression of a progressive people. It was recognised that +she had taken the position of head of Europe. The country at large felt +this. It very justly considered this upward flight due to the personal +efforts of its young King, and was grateful for his enormous labour.</p> + +<p>Louis well understood this. It was a "party cry" to insist on all +occasions upon the trouble which he took in his "trade of King" and the +great fatigues which he endured for the public good. The <i>Gazette</i>, as +an official journal, never failed to emphasise this. Every event was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +coloured to this end.</p> + +<p>Apropos of a trip of eight days, the journal wrote<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a>: "This Prince, +as indefatigable as Hercules in his labours," etc. It justified the +royal ballets, which were most costly, by the excuse of the excessive +brain work of the chief of state.</p> + +<p>"On the eighth [January, 1663], the King, wearied with the pains with +which His Majesty works so indefatigably for the welfare of his +subjects, enjoyed in the palace of the Cardinal the diversion of a +ballet of seven acts, called the <i>Ballet des Arts</i>."</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. danced in the <i>Ballet des Arts</i> three times; Mlles. de +Vallière, de Sévigné, and de Mortemart had a lively success in it; the +latter was on the eve of becoming Mme. de Montespan.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> The accounts +of the representations of the new ballet alternate in the <i>Gazette</i> with +the funeral ceremonies in honour of a daughter of the King and Queen, +who died at six weeks of age on December 30th.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0173" id="Page_0173"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus211.png" width="600" height="395" alt="PLEASURES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SCENE ON THE +FIRST DAY OF THE PLAY, BEFORE THE KING AT VERSAILLES<br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre</span> +</div> + +<p>Louis XIV. had wept over his loss with that superficial sensibility in +which he resembles, strange as it seems, the philosophers of the +seventeenth century. He could have given points to Diderot in regard to +the facility of pouring out torrents of tears, and he often astonished +the Court by his emotion. He deceived the Queen from morning till +evening, and he cried to see her weep when he quitted her. He brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +forth crocodile tears for the death of his father-in-law.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> In a turn +of the hand, again like Diderot, he forgot his existence, and lost on +his account neither a step in the dance nor a <i>galant rendezvous</i>.</p> + +<p>To the ballet succeeded other "relaxations," and it is curious to see +the <i>Gazette</i> taking the pains to explain that the King had well earned +a simple trip for pleasure (April 7, 1663): "This week the King, in +order to gain some relief from the continual application for the +establishing the felicity of his subjects, has enjoyed the diversion of +a little journey to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and to Versailles."</p> + +<p>The mundane chronicles<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> falling into line, Louis XIV. saw his +"glory" as a great worker ascending into the clouds, together with his +"glory" as a man of war, and in one word as "universal hero." He could +not even exercise his musketeers without the <i>Gazette's</i> issuing an +extra leaf upon the "admiration of all spectators."<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> + +<p>All France struck the same note. When he went to take possession of +Dunkerque,<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> he passed before a plaster Olympus, fabricated for the +occasion. "He witnessed Neptune, who respectfully lowered his trident; +the spirits of the Earth and Sea prostrated before this mighty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Prince"—that is to say, himself, and he permitted his official journal +to regale the country with these follies; it was clear in his eyes that +Neptune and his Court only did their duty. Every one was prepared to +deify him, and he received this homage with pleasure. This atmosphere of +worship was very harmful to a man born with much good sense and with +many superior parts. The brilliancy of his Court, for which he was +considered responsible, contributed also to the general dazzle.</p> + +<p>The surging crowd of twenty years later did not yet exist, when the +Château of Versailles was finished, and Louis XIV. held his nobility +lodged under his own hand,<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> only moving from his side to make a +campaign. The young Court was only numerous at intervals. It will +shortly be seen how much it had increased in May, 1664. On the 27th of +the following month, the Duc d'Enghien wrote from Fontainebleau: "There +are almost no women here, and but few men. Never has the Court been so +small."<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> On August 16th, also at Fontainebleau, the Queen Mother +gave a ball; she had only sixteen ladies and as many men.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> In +October, the Court is at Paris, and the King gives a fête: "The ball was +not fine," writes the grand Condé, "the greater number of the ladies +being still in the country. In all Paris, only fourteen could be +found."<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0175" id="Page_0175"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus215.png" width="600" height="405" alt="ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SECOND DAY<br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<p>During these first years, the nobility was not yet encouraged to leave +all, to come to live under the shadow of the throne. Those having +provincial charges "obtained with difficulty leave of absence."<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +Those lacking money to appear with fitting magnificence had little aid +to expect from royalty; the shower of gold did not begin to fall until +later, and Louis XIV. even passed for being close-fisted.</p> + +<p>"Besides his natural temperament," said Condé, "which is not given to +lavishness, he is held back by M. Colbert, who is still less given to +spending, particularly when he is not persuaded of the advantage of the +affair for which money must be scattered."<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> It is well known that +Colbert did not love waste; but he did know how to be liberal, even for +expenses of luxury. No one was more convinced of the advantage of +display for a sovereign, and he spared neither pains nor state pennies +in making the grand festivals with which his master entertained the +Court and city, unrivalled in Europe. And they were unparalleled, +especially in the early years when tastes, like everything else, were +young. Even the faults, by which perhaps the tastes were benefited, were +youthful.</p> + +<p>What is called impulse with the very young man takes the name of vice +with the mature, and, whatever may be said, the one is much uglier than +the other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<p>Louis XIV. was only twenty-three when he fell in love with Mlle. de La +Vallière, and the festivities which he offered in her honour expressed +this freshness. There were exquisite fairy scenes with the light +decorations of flowers and leaves. The most famous, on account of +Molière's partial authorship, was called the <i>Plaisirs de l'Ile +enchantée</i>, which was given at Versailles in May, 1664. It lasted three +days, and was prolonged three days more, in spite of the great number of +invitations and the difficulties occasioned by the immense crowd. The +Court, says a "Relation,"<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> arrived the fifth of May, and the King +entertained till the fourteenth six hundred guests, beside a quantity of +people needed for the dance and comedy, and of artisans of all sorts +from Paris, so numerous that it appeared a small army.</p> + +<p>All now known of Versailles must be forgotten if we wish to picture it +in 1664. Versailles was then a small village surrounded on three sides +by fields and marshes.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> The fourth side was occupied by a château +which would have been spacious for a private person, but which meant +little for a court; a few dependencies; the beginning of a garden +planted by Le Nôtre. That was all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0177" id="Page_0177"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus219.png" width="600" height="408" alt="GENERAL VIEW" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES<br /> +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>Colbert considered Versailles already too large, as soon as Louis XIV. +decided to offer anything more to his guests than the four walls of +their chambers. It will be remembered<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> that when Mademoiselle came +to Saint-Germain to visit the Queen Mother she brought her own furniture +and cook. Not even food was provided. This was the general rule.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. aspired to great hospitality, and commenced his reform at +Versailles. "What is very peculiar in this house," wrote Colbert in +1663, "is that his Majesty has desired all apartments given to guests to +be furnished. He also orders every one to be fed and provided with all +necessities, even to the wood and candles in the chambers, which has +never been the custom in royal establishments."</p> + +<p>Colbert was evidently in a bad humour. There were, however, but few +apartments to offer in the Château of Versailles; the 600 guests soon +perceived this fact themselves.</p> + +<p>The journal of Olivier d'Ormesson contains on the date of May 13 the +following lines: "This same day, Mme. de Sévigné has related to us the +diversions of Versailles, which have lasted from Wednesday till +Sunday<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a>: courses of bague, ballets, comedies, fireworks, and other +beautiful inventions; but all the courtiers were enraged, for the King +took no care of them, and Monsieurs de Guise and d'Elbeuf could hardly +find a hole in which to shelter themselves." It is to be noted that +the Duc de Guise must costume himself and all his lackeys.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>The thême of the fête had been drawn from <i>Roland furieux</i>, and had been +made to accord with up-to-date episodes, by a courtier expert in this +kind of work, the Duc de Saint-Aignan. During three days and three +nights, a volunteer company, composed of Louis XIV., Molière, and the +greatest nobles of France, with the prettiest actresses of Paris, +embellished the imaginations of Ariosto, in the presence of two queens +and of an immense Court which seemed, says the <i>Gazette</i>, to have +"exhausted the Indies"<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> in order to cover itself with precious +stones. Halls of verdure, arches of flowers, and the vault of heaven +formed the frame in which deployed the mythological processions, the +games of chivalry, the ballets, the festivities for the "little army," +and the first two representations of Molière, of which one was to be the +striking literary event of the century. In the evening, lamps hung upon +the trees were lighted and the fête continued during the night. Gentle +and tender music softened this apotheosis of love, of which the +heroine—and this gave an added charm—remained hidden in the crowd; +Louise de La Vallière was still neither "recognised" nor duchess.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0179" id="Page_0179"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus223.png" width="600" height="346" alt="THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION<br /> +From the engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> + +<p>The first of the great days of the fête was open to all. The +King of France and the flower of the nobility as Paladins of +Charlemagne, clothed and armed "à la grecque," according to the +seventeenth century ideas of local colour, took part in a tournament +before a sumptuous assembly who, at the appearance of the master, +uttered "cries of joy and admiration."<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>Louis XIV. sought these exhibitions. He shone in them and attributed to +them an importance which in his <i>Mémoires</i> he explains to his son. He +believed them very efficacious for binding together the affections of +the people, above all those of high rank, and the sovereign. The +populace have always loved spectacles, and for the nobility, the more +closely the King keeps it at Court, the more pains he must take to show +that there is no aversion between sovereign and subject, but simply a +question of reason and duty. Nothing serves better for this than +carrousels and other diversions of the same nature: "This society of +pleasure, which gives to the courtiers an honest familiarity with us, +touches and charms them more than can be told."</p> + +<p>The partakers in the "Tournament" of 1664 had in reality been very proud +of the honour done them. They appeared covered with gold, silver, and +jewelry, escorted by pages and gentlemen gallantly equipped. After them, +defiled allegorical chariots, personages of fable, and strange animals, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +Molière as the god Pan, one of his comrades mounted upon an elephant, +another upon a camel.</p> + +<p>At the supper in the open air, which terminated the day, the royal table +was served by the <i>corps de ballet</i>, who, dancing and whirling bore in +the different dishes. The cavaliers of the tournament, with their +helmets covered with feathers of various colours, and wearing the +mantles of the course, stood erect behind the guests. Two hundred masks, +bearing torches of white wax illumined this admirable living picture, +worthy of the great poet who inspired it.</p> + +<p>The next day was occupied in giving to the two hundred guests a lesson +in natural philosophy, no longer symbolical and veiled, but clear and +direct; it was perfectly comprehended and the spectators were convinced. +The lesson was from Molière, who had written his <i>Princesse +d'Elide</i><a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> in the design well formed of "celebrating" and +"justifying" the loves of the King and La Vallière. The <i>Récit de +l'Aurore</i> will be recalled which opens the piece.</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Dans l'âge où l'on est amiable,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Rien n'est si beau que d'aimer.</span><br /> + <div class="stanza"> + </div> + <span class="i0">Soupirer librement pour un amant fidèle,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Et braver ceux qui voudraient vous blâmer.</span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It will also be recollected that the five acts which follow are only the +development, full of insistence, of that invitation to the ladies of the +Court not to merit the "name of cruel." After serious affairs, +innocent pleasures followed, the most applauded of which was a piece of +fireworks which embraced "the heavens, the earth, and the waters."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0181" id="Page_0181"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 478px;"> +<img src="images/illus227.png" width="478" height="600" alt="JEAN BAPTISTE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIÈRE<br /> +After the painting by Noël Coypel</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>Every one was already thinking of departure, when on Monday, May 12th, +Molière presented the first act of <i>Tartuffe</i>.</p> + +<p>The connivance of the King appears well established. Father Rapin +relates that the "sect of the <i>Dévots</i>" had, since the time of Mazarin, +rendered itself so insupportable by its indiscreet advice, that the +King, "in order to ridicule them, had permitted Molière to represent +them on the stage." The <i>Dévots</i> had seen the blow coming, and did their +best to avoid it; the annals of the <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i> +affirm this.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> They report that there was "strong talk" in the séance +of April 17th, in the attempt to accomplish the suppression of the +wicked comedy <i>Tartuffe</i>.</p> + +<p>Each member of the <i>Compagnie</i> charged himself to speak to any friends +who had credit at Court, "begging aid in preventing its representation." +The effort was vain. <i>Tartuffe</i> was acted. The spectators divined +without difficulty whom Molière had in view, and the <i>Dévots</i> heard with +emotion this openly significant expression of contempt of religious +forms, in less than one week after the <i>Princesse d'Elide</i> had thrown +its weight upon the side of questionable morals.</p> + +<p>From the point of view of a general principle, the two pieces naturally +followed each other; they were two chapters of the same gospel. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +King had the air of being about to pass to the enemy and of uniting +himself with the Libertins. The Cabal made a desperate effort and +<i>Tartuffe</i> was forbidden; at the same time no one imagined that the +battle was terminated.</p> + +<p>An extraordinary agitation around the King might have been seen during +the weeks which followed the fêtes of Versailles. The Court at once +departed for Fontainebleau; the two parties disputed the entire summer +over the young monarch.</p> + +<p>Louis himself had skirmished with both. The King felt at the same time a +personal revolt against the constraints of the Church, and the need of a +politic catholicity which would sustain the practices of religion for +State reasons, because he could not do without their aid. These two +fashions of thinking can easily be accommodated together, and the King +was in train to learn how to do this. After a little delay, the +conciliation between the two points of view was completed in his mind.</p> + +<p>While waiting, he lived in the midst of floods of tears. The summer was +a very troubled one.</p> + +<p>Such events held the attention of Paris, but the poor Mademoiselle, +forgotten in the Château d'Eu, fretted so much that at length her pride +was conquered. "Upon the news of the pregnancy of the Queen," says the +<i>Mémoires</i>, "I decided to write, dreaming that perhaps the King wished +to be besought," and she abased herself to do this. She at first +expressed the hope that the child might be a son. "I exaggerated with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +good faith the desire which I had, and I showed the grief I felt in +being forced to remain so long without the honour of seeing him [the +King]. I said everything I could to oblige him to permit me to return."</p> + +<p>She wrote at the same time to Colbert, who was considered the powerful +man of the ministry:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 16em;"><span class="smcap">Eu</span>, March 23, 1664.</span></p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Monsieur Colbert:</span></p> + +<p>In bearing testimony to the King of the joy which I have in the +pregnancy of the Queen, I am daring to command his good graces, and +the permission for an audience to ask them in person.</p> + +<p>I trust that you will assist me with your good offices to obtain so +precious a favour. If I cannot succeed in obtaining this, I beg to +be permitted to pass through Paris before May,<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> having three +considerable lawsuits at this date. I look, on this occasion, for +the continuation of your good offices.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>The King waited two months before responding:</p> + +<div class="center">TO MY COUSIN MADEMOISELLE, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF THE</div> +<div class="center">LATE MONSEIGNEUR DUC D'ORLÉANS</div> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">My Cousin:</span></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>It consoles me much to find you in the state of mind which your letter +shows. I willingly forget the past and permit you not only to pass +through Paris, but also either to dwell there, or to choose any other +place of residence which may be agreeable to you, and even to come here +in case you wish it, if you assure me that your conduct will always give +me reason for cherishing you and for treating you properly as a +personage so nearly related.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>I thank you for the affection with which you write to me of the +Queen's pregnancy and pray, etc.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Louis.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p>Some days later Mademoiselle was <i>en route</i> for Fontainebleau, well +resolved to show herself. She was transported with joy at having +recovered liberty of movement, but the Court at this time inspired her +with terror. The ground had become too slippery for a person of her +temperament, loving so much her independence and rebellious to all +discipline.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<blockquote><p>Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love—The Corrupters of +Morals—Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence—Love in +Racine—Louis XIV. and the Nobility—The King is Polygamous.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">IT was neither through compassion nor through friendship that Louis XIV. +had recalled from exile a second time his cousin Mlle. de Montpensier. +He had renounced the idea of marrying her to Alphonse VI. since she +persisted in her refusal, but he pursued the plan of giving her in +marriage "where it would be useful to his service."</p> + +<p>And there was reason for entertaining another project. While she was in +penitence at Eu, one of the little sisters, Mlle. de Valois, had married +the Duc de Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., and had died (January 14, +1664), at the end of some months of wedded life. The widowhood of +princes is rarely a matter of long duration. The King had immediately +arranged to offer the millions of the Grande Mademoiselle to the Duc de +Savoie, it being of first importance to bring back this territory to +France, and to recompense the King of Portugal by giving him one of the +princesses of Nemours.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>The new combination was well known in the political world. One reads in +the journal of Olivier d'Ormesson on the date of June 4, 1664: "M. Le +Pelletier<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> tells me of the return of Mlle. d'Orléans, and that the +King had written to her with his own hand, permitting her to come back, +without saying anything to the Queen Mother; but this was with the +Savoie marriage in sight." Louis XIV. had not resigned himself without +effort to the idea of procuring so fine an establishment for an ancient +Frondeuse. It may be seen through a letter from the grand Condé to the +Queen of Poland that the royal rancour had yielded for reasons of State:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span style="margin-left: 12em;"><span class="smcap">Fontainebleau</span>, June 3, 1664.</span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle having written to the King about the pregnancy of the +Queen, his Majesty has himself responded, which is a mark of +softened feelings, and every one believes that she will return and +that his Majesty will consent to her marriage with M. de Savoie, +which up to this time he has not desired, because he preferred that +of Mlle. d'Alençon<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a>: but as she is very ugly, and as an +additional distinction is badly marked with small-pox, he has +reason to believe that M. de Savoie will not be willing to espouse +her; and he fears that there may be a question of a union with the +Austrian House, and thus I believe, in spite of his own dislikes, +he will wish to hasten the marriage of Mademoiselle which, however, +is not so certain as it appears.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>There was no danger of pouts in regard to this prospective husband; +this the King well understood. Mademoiselle arrived at Fontainebleau +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +during the first fortnight of June, 1664. The entire Court had met her +upon the highway.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was the first to whom the King had yielded since assuming +the reins of government. This was a glory; she, indeed, felt it and held +her head high. Louis XIV. had the good taste to ignore this attitude. He +greeted her graciously and limited his <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'vengance'">vengeance</ins> to teasing her during +the few days she passed with him. "Confess," said he to her, "that you +are very bored." She cried, "I assure you not at all, and I often think +that the Court is very much deceived if it believes me disenchanted, for +I have not experienced a moment's dulness."</p> + +<p>The King, however, believed only what pleased him. One evening, after +the play, he led her upon a little terrace and spoke in these terms: +"The past must be forgotten. Be persuaded that you will receive all good +treatment from me in the future, and that I am contemplating your +establishment. Naturally, M. de Savoie is a better match than formerly; +his mother is dead. He will recognise the difference between your sister +and yourself. Thus you will be very happy and I shall work seriously to +accomplish this." The King's discourse was followed by an exchange of +effusions. "We embraced each other, my cousin and I," said the King in +reappearing before his Court, and the signal word was at once +comprehended.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Grande Mademoiselle passed an almost triumphal week at Fontainebleau. +The repose of provincial life was hard to bear in comparison. The King, +the ministers, and the ambassadors all worked for the marriage. There +was nothing to do but to leave them to act. Mademoiselle wished to aid. +To commence she undertook to reduce to silence the old Madame, who was +outraged by her eagerness to replace her younger sister.</p> + +<p>Dissatisfactions grew into quarrels and Louis XIV. was forced to +intervene, and to silence all these women. He wrote to Mademoiselle:</p> + +<div class="center">TO MY COUSIN</div> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My Cousin:</span></p> + +<p>I cannot prevent my aunt's people from talking, but I hardly +believe that she would say that I have promised her protection +against you.</p> + +<p>I love you and consider you, as much as the most pressing desires +which pass through your brain are capable of inspiring me, and +assuredly it is my intention to give you pleasure in every degree +possible. I only avow that you can do much on your part in +facilitating things a little; this is my only request, and having +nothing to add to so sincere an explanation of my sentiments, I +finish this letter, praying God, etc.</p> + +<p>Written at Fontainebleau, July 12, 1664.</p> + +<p>Signed: Louis.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>It was beyond the strength of Mademoiselle to abstain from interference. +Her anxiety to be the fly on the wheel drew upon her a new letter from +the King. The tone is that of a very impatient man.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center">TO MY COUSIN</div> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My Cousin:</span></p> + +<p>I see clearly by your last letter that you are not accurately +informed of what is passing in Piedmont; for I have been obliged to +be very badly satisfied with my ambassador, in that he has executed +my orders with so much warmth that the Duc de Savoie complains +through his despatches to Count Carrocio of apparently being forced +into an action which should be the freest, even to the smallest +particular. Judge by this fact if the conduct proposed and +suggested to you is wise?</p> + +<p>I perceive even malice in those who give you such advice; for their +desire is to put you in such a state of mind that if the affair +fail it is I who am to blame.</p> + +<p>I see that you are already persuaded that success depends upon my +simple wish expressing my desire on one side or the other, but I am +not resolved to conduct myself according to the caprices of those +people.</p> + +<p>I have told you that I sincerely wish your satisfaction and I again +affirm it. The friendship alone which I have for you would give me +this feeling, and I realise also that the scheme is beneficial for +me.</p> + +<p>You must not doubt, therefore, that I will do all which will be +really useful in furthering the affair; as for the means, it is not +too much to say that I see better what should be done than those +who speak and write to you. However, I pray God, etc.</p> + +<p>At Vincennes, September 2, 1664.</p> + +<p>Signed; Louis.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The King spoke the truth: the Duc de Savoie did not want the Grande +Mademoiselle. Charles Emmanuel had never digested the affront received +upon the journey to Lyons, from which he had seen his sister return +Duchess of Parma when he had imagined to receive her as Queen of +France.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> He was not averse to revenging himself on Louis XIV. by +refusing a princess of his family whose age above all "made him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +afraid, for he desired children."<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> + +<p>He had also an account to regulate with Mademoiselle, who had disdained +him at the time in which she was young and beautiful. At this distant +date, Charles Emmanuel, although her junior by seventeen years, had not +concealed the fact that he would have been ready to marry her, "so much +did he esteem her person and also her great wealth."<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + +<p>But it was with the Duc de Savoie as with the Prince of Wales, and later +with the Prince de Lorraine:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Quoi? moi! quoi? ces gens-là! l'on radote, je pense,</span><br /> + <span class="i2">A moi les proposer! hélas! ils font pitié:</span><br /> + <span class="i4">Voyez un peu la belle espèce.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Having become less exacting with years, Mademoiselle at length found a +man who did not disdain to play the part of substitute for his betters.</p> + +<p>The Duke remained firm, and it was again a Nemours,<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> sister of the +Queen of Portugal, who inherited the husband destined for the Grande +Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>Equally difficult, the same fate fell upon Mademoiselle as upon the +marriageable daughter in La Fontaine: she was to be reduced to wed a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +cadet of Gascony, the <i>malotru</i> of the fable. I believe that La Fontaine +had Mademoiselle in his mind when writing <i>La Fille</i>. It has been +queried whether this subject was not borrowed from the <i>Epigram</i> of +Martial. There is no need for so distant a search. On July 8, 1664, La +Fontaine had been appointed "gentleman-in-waiting to the dowager +Duchesse d'Orléans."<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> He was, therefore, in a position to be well +informed concerning the projects for marriage which failed, and the +ridiculous actions of the daughter of the house. We possess his +confidences upon the household of the Luxembourg, on the one side of the +apartments of Madame, on the other those of Mademoiselle, in an epistle +dedicated to Mignon, the little dog of his mistress.</p> + +<p>For La Fontaine, the Luxembourg was the palace in which there was no +place for lovers. The tender passion was forbidden <i>chez</i> Madame, where +it was necessary to be contented with the "pious smiles" of Mme. de +Crissé, the original of the Countess de Pimbesche, and to bear in mind +the presence of an old Capuchin become Bishop of Bethléem in +Nivernais,<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> who supervised the conversations. "Speak low," says the +letter <i>Pour Mignon</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Si l'évêque de Bethléem</span> + <span class="i3">Nous entendait, Dieu sait la vie.</span> + </div> +</div> + +<p>There was not even the resource of fleeing to the "Divinity" opposite. +Under that shelter, lovers were less well regarded year by year, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +La Fontaine divined why: the antipathy always evinced by Mademoiselle +was now doubled by envy.</p> + +<p>The check in regard to the Savoie marriage had brought on a painful +crisis in the life of this poor unattached heroine. For the first time, +she had been made to feel that she had passed the marriageable age, and +she was one of those unfortunates who cannot easily resign themselves to +the fall from the purely feminine portion of existence.</p> + +<p>The revolt against nature frequently causes whimsicalities; a terrible +injustice toward those doleful creatures who often have asked no better +than to obey nature's laws in becoming wives and mothers. Nervous +maladies give to the soul-tragedy a burlesque outside, and the world +laughs without comprehending. Mademoiselle was one of these +unfortunates. La Fontaine had well discovered it when he wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Son miroir lui disait: "Prenez vite un mari."</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Je ne sais quel désir le lui disait aussi:</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Le désir peut loger chez une précieuse.</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>It is very difficult to relate the decline of the Grande Mademoiselle +without provoking a smile at least, and it would be a pity, however, if +this proud figure should leave the even slight impression of that of +Bélise. She was left disabled, without aim in life, at the very moment +in which women in general were being excluded from action, after having +been slightly intoxicated with power under Anne of Austria. Men had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +at that time encouraged women to enter into public life. Thanks to +masculine complicity, feminine influence and power had mounted high, and +the weaker sex enjoyed one of the most romantic moments of its entire +history.</p> + +<p>The habit of treating women as the equals of men had been fully formed +when the will of a monarch who distrusted them precipitated the sex from +its giddy height.</p> + +<p>It has been seen <i>à propos</i> of La Vallière with what contempt Louis XIV. +spoke of women in his <i>Mémoires</i>. Upon this subject he had truly +Oriental ideas, approaching those held by his Spanish ancestors, +inherited by them from the Moors. Louis could not do without women, but +he wanted them only for amusement. He did not really believe them +capable of giving anything else, judging them inferior and dangerous, +perhaps in remembrance of Marie Mancini, who had almost enticed him into +a crime against royalty.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the King come to power when all who had issued from their +sphere must re-enter it. Love was the only affair of importance in which +women were permitted to share. Louis XIV. made no exception in favour of +his mistresses. Mme. de Montespan tyrannised a little over him in spite +of his fine theories. The others, however, were looked upon only in the +light of beautiful and amusing creatures.</p> + +<p>When, towards the end of the reign, Mme. de Maintenon had the glory of +again raising the sex to the position of being esteemed by the King, +she alone benefited. In general, nothing was gained for women at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +large; the impression in regard to their true position had been too +deep. Suddenly reduced to an existence with a narrow horizon, women +found it colourless and mean. They demanded love, since this was all +that was left to them to supply those violent emotions to which they had +become accustomed in the camps and councils. As the result of this new +attitude many strange events occurred, but they were little noticed as +long as the Queen Mother remained of this world. Anne of Austria +succeeded in saving appearances, if in nothing else. Once dead, there +came the downfall, and strange things became frightful ones.</p> + +<p>It was at Versailles in the midst of the Bengal fires of the "Île +enchantée" that the Queen Mother felt the first pangs of the cancer +which finally caused her death.</p> + +<p>Paris followed with grief the course of her illness. Anne of Austria, +remaining without influence, had again become popular. "She preserves +harmony," wrote d'Ormesson, "and although she cannot be credited with +much good, she still prevents much that is evil" (June 5, 1665). It is +known that it was owing to her that a certain decency was maintained at +the Court of France; that without her, Louis XIV. and his sister-in-law +Henrietta would not have perceived in time that they already cared too +much for each other and that the rumour of this was "making much noise +at Court."<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0195" id="Page_0195"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 493px;"> +<img src="images/illus243.png" width="493" height="600" alt="MADAME HENRIETTE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MADAME HENRIETTE D'ORLÉANS<br /> +From the painting by Mignard in the National Portrait Gallery<br /> +(Photograph by Walker, London)</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Queen Mother was forced to open eyes which wished to remain closed. +She had spoken frankly, and her plainness had perhaps saved the kingdom +of France from an ineffaceable stain. Such service cannot be forgotten +by honest people. To gratitude was added a sincere admiration for her +courage under suffering. The poor woman endured without complaint, and +with an incredible tranquillity, nine months of sharp pain increased by +the barbarous remedies applied by a crowd of quacks.</p> + +<p>In the royal family, the sentiments were mixed. Louis XIV., as Mme. de +Motteville had well remarked, was a man full of "contradictions." He +cherished his mother. During a previous malady, a short time before the +cancer declared itself, he had cared for her night and day with a +devotion and also a skill which astonished the attendants.</p> + +<p>The thought of now losing her gave him seasons of stifling sobs. At the +same time, his mother was a little too much of a personage. She troubled +him by her clairvoyance. He experienced a certain relief at the +knowledge that the time was approaching when she would no longer be able +to watch his course of life. In all probability, he was himself ignorant +of this feeling, but it was apparent to observers. When she was actually +dying, affection bore away all other considerations, and the King almost +fainted. Hardly was she interred when the pleasure of feeling himself +entirely free again became ascendant.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>The attachment of Monsieur for his mother was his best emotion. His +grief possessed no hidden relief and forced him to be always near the +invalid's bed. "The odour was so frightful," reports Mademoiselle, "that +after seeing the wound dressed it was impossible to sup." Monsieur +passed all his time in the chamber and tried to demonstrate his +tenderness. Sometimes most ridiculous ideas occurred to him; but he was +not the less touching, through his never-failing tears, on account of +his sincerity.</p> + +<p>At length, Anne of Austria herself sent her son away. Monsieur returned +to his pleasures and forgot his grief in them; he would not have been +Philippe Duc d'Anjou if he had acted differently. When the end drew +near, timid and submissive as he was, he would not be sent away. The +King withdrew, obeying the custom which forbids princes, as formerly +gods, to witness death. Louis twice told his brother not to remain +longer, and only received the response "that he could not obey him in +this, but he promised that it was the only point, during his entire +life, on which he would ever disobey."<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>A cry of Monsieur piercing the walls announced to Louis that the end had +come.</p> + +<p>The young Queen Marie-Thérèse, who was losing all, justified the +reputation of "fool" which the Court gave her. She permitted herself to +be persuaded that her position would be made higher, through all the +privileges left to her by the death of the Queen Mother, and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +was more than half consoled by this chimera.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle scrupulously observed the proprieties; which is all that +can be said. Anne of Austria had emphasised in a solemn hour the +tenacity of the rancour against her niece. The evening before death, she +took farewell of all. Two only appeared forgotten; "I was astonished, +after all that had passed," relates Mademoiselle, "that she did not say +a word to M. le Prince or to me, who were both there, especially +slighting me who was brought up near her." It was precisely on account +of "all that had passed." Anne of Austria gave a good example to the +King: she expired without pardoning the leaders of the Fronde.</p> + +<p>Great changes followed this death. Louis XIV. lost his mother January +20, 1660; on the 27th of the same month, a deputation came from +Parliament "to pay their compliments to the King." D'Ormesson was of +this body. "I went afterwards," says his Journal, "to mass with the +King, at which there were present the Queen, M. le Dauphin, Monsieur and +Mlle. de La Vallière, whom the Queen has taken near her, through +complaisance for the King, in which she shows her wisdom." Louis XIV. +officially presented his mistress to the people, and assigned her rank +immediately below that of his legitimate wife. During his mother's life +he would not have dared to do this.</p> + +<p>Two months later he was delivered from the <i>Cabale des Dévots</i>, and +from its intrusive observations, through the disappearance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +<i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>. It does not appear impossible that the +death of the Queen may have slightly hastened this event. Anne of +Austria had been acquainted with the society for a long period,<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> and +had testified for it during many years of absolute devotion. She had +guarded it from Mazarin. She did more: there is proof that she deceived +her minister for the sake of the <i>Compagnie</i>. The situation changed with +the death of the Cardinal. There is nothing to warrant the belief that +Anne of Austria, whether restrained by fear or by some scruple, was +willing, after the death of Mazarin, to deceive Louis XIV. for the sake +of a secret society.</p> + +<p>Actively pursued by Colbert, who divined an occult force behind the +adversaries to his power, the <i>Compagnie</i> fell back upon its habitual +protector, and had the bitter disappointment of beseeching in vain. The +devotion of Anne of Austria was henceforth to be a silent one. As long +as she remained on earth, all hope was not lost; she might be brought +back to the bosom of the fold, and better success might be looked for +another time. Her death caused the final disorganisation. The society +had not, during a long period, dared to reunite. Deprived of the mother +of the King, it practically yielded. It dissolves and vanishes into thin +air. Its register stops April 8, 1666. Have the records of the various +prosecutions been destroyed or scattered? Have all the documents been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +destroyed through prudence? Suppositions are free. It is with this +mysterious brotherhood as with those water-courses which disappear under +the ground. Their traces are lost. It even happens that they bear +another name when they again spring to the surface. Such without doubt +has been the fate of the "Compagnie du Saint Sacrement," for the +sectarian spirit which has been its most significant mark has never lost +its rights in the land; in our own days we still see it placing itself +in France at the service of very different schools of thought and +belief.</p> + +<p>In this beginning of April (1666) in which the <i>Cabale des Dévots</i> had +avowed itself vanquished, the Court was struck with the animation of the +King.</p> + +<p>"A journey was made to Mouchy," wrote Mademoiselle, "where three days +were passed in reviews. The King ordered a quantity of troops to be +assembled; he also invited many ladies. All these were in mourning. +There was much diversion; the King was in gay spirits; he sang and made +verses during the progress." Although these were not the only ones, +Louis did not compose many songs during his life.</p> + +<p>He enjoyed feeling free from those wearisome persons who had abused the +patronage of his mother in creating themselves censors of their +sovereign. No one except his confessor and his preachers concerned +themselves further with his sins. When Bossuet and Bourdaloue were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +appointed Court preachers they restrained themselves but little; but +Louis XIV. bore their reproaches with equanimity. It was their duty, and +Christians of that date, even bad ones, recognised what they owed to the +Church, and bent their heads before the pulpit. Bossuet cried out in the +presence of the entire Court that "immoral manners are always bad +manners," and that "there is a God in heaven who avenges the sins of the +people, and who, above all, avenges the sins of Kings."<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> He launched +apostrophies at Mlle. de La Vallière: "O creatures, shameful idols, +withdraw from this Court. Shadows, phantoms, dissipate yourselves in the +presence of the truth; false love, deceitful love, canst thou stand +before it?"</p> + +<p>Bourdaloue, who found Mme. de Montespan in the place of Mlle. de La +Vallière, reproached the King for his "debauches," and openly demanded +of him in his sermon if he had kept his promise of rupture: "Have you +not again seen this person fatal to your firmness and constancy? Have +you no more sought occasions so <i>dangerous</i> for you?"</p> + +<p>Mme. de Sévigné went one day to hear him at Saint-Germain, where he +preached a Lenten sermon before the King and Queen. She returned +confounded and angry at his boldness: "We heard after dinner the sermon +of Bourdaloue, who speaks with all his force, launching truths with +lowered bridle, attacking adultery on every side; regardless of all, he +rides straight on."<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> Louis XIV. accepted these public reproaches +without protest; there was, however, but little result.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0201" id="Page_0201"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 424px;"> +<img src="images/illus251.png" width="424" height="530" alt="MADAME DE MONTESPAN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MADAME DE MONTESPAN<br /> +From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Mignard</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>One effect of the death of the Queen Mother was that rivals to Mlle. de +La Vallière were free to appear; also there was a great increase in the +number of charlatans and alchemists, who found more easily an +aristocratic clientèle. Diviners and sorcerers also played an important +rôle in the love life of this society—the most polished in the world.</p> + +<p>The practice of the magic arts was at that date considered one of the +most flourishing Parisian industries. The inhabitants of the streets +little frequented, or of the suburbs, were accustomed to the movement +which took place in the early morning, or in the evening at dusk, around +certain isolated houses.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> People of all ranks, on foot, in carriages +or in chairs, women masked or muffled, succeeded each other before a +closed door, which only opened at a particular sign.</p> + +<p>The state of mind which led this crowd to the clairvoyant was to be +found in all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest. Public +credulity was passing through a period of expansion, apparently very +much at odds with the splendid intellect of France at that date, at +which, however, those who believe the simple formulas of history will +not be astonished. Two of our grand classic writers have left pages +which bear witness to the extent of the evil, existing at the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +moment in which France became the actual head of Europe.</p> + +<p>Molière mocks at occult science and its adepts, through a long play, or +rather a libretto for a ballet,<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> which he wrote for the King in +1670, named as we already know, <i>Les Amants Magnifiques</i>. The <i>dramatis +personæ</i> are divided into two camps according to a rule of his own, in a +fashion very unpleasant for the grandees of this world, Molière allowing +them the precedence in folly. It was sufficient for his heroes to be +illustrious through rank, to endow them with a blind faith in all +conjurers. "The truth of astrology," says the Prince Iphicrate, "is an +incontestable fact, and no one can dispute against the certitude of its +predictions." This is also the opinion of the Prince Timoclès: "I am +sufficiently incredulous in regard to many things, but as for astrology, +there is nothing more certain and more constant than the success with +which horoscopes may be drawn." The Princess Aristione also agrees, and +is anxious in finding that her daughter is less convinced.</p> + +<p>This is a commencement of a freedom of thought, and one cannot know to +what it may lead: "My daughter," says the mother, "you have a little +incredulity which never leaves you."</p> + +<p>Disbelief in astrology and sorcery is represented in the play of +Molière, figuring in the name of "Clitidas, court jester," and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +another person of obscure birth, "Sostrate, general of the army," who +takes the part of Clitidas against the calmer prophets and other +exploiters of human folly.</p> + +<blockquote><p>There is nothing more agreeable [says he] than all the great +promises of this sublime knowledge. To transform everything into +gold; to find immortal life; to heal by words; to make oneself +beloved by the person of one's desires; to know all the secrets of +the future; to call down from the sky at will impressions upon +metals which bear happiness to mortals<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a>; to command demons; to +render armies invisible and soldiers invulnerable—all this is +doubtless charming, and there are people who have no trouble in +believing in the possibility; it is the easiest thing in the world +for some men to be convinced, but for me, I avow that my grosser +mind has some difficulty in comprehending and in believing.</p></blockquote> + +<p>La Fontaine has treated the same subject in three of his fables. It is +in one of these, <i>Les Devineresses</i>, published in 1678, consequently +before the famous drama <i>Les Poisons</i>, in which he shows himself very +well acquainted with what the police had not yet been sufficiently +clever to discover. He knew marvellously well the existence of the +<i>poudre de succession</i> and of the <i>poudre pour l'amour</i>:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Une femme, à Paris, faisait la pythonisse.</span><br /> + <span class="i1">On l'allait consulter sur chaque événement;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Perdait-on un chiffon, avait-on un amant,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Un mari vivant trop, au gré de son épouse,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Une mère fâcheuse, une femme jalouse,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Chez la Devineuse on courait,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Pour se faire annoncer ce que l'on désirait.</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>The warning was not heeded, and it needed the "burning chamber" of 1680 +to make honest people comprehend that "clairvoyant" was too often +another name for "seller of poisons." La Fontaine had, however, given no +new information about the confidence inspired. This fact was already too +well known.</p> + +<p>This dangerous agency, of which we have already had a glimpse on the +occasion of the first search for Lesage and Mariette, merits some +descriptive details. In Paris, during a period of twenty years, it was +so mixed up with intrigues and crimes that it exercised a real influence +over the morals of the Parisian world and through it over the affairs at +Court.</p> + +<p>Like a wave of madness it swept over the heads especially of the women. +Many of these, even those not directly mingling in political life, were +in a state of revolt, inconsolable for having lost the importance +acquired during the civil troubles.</p> + +<p>Women had been emancipated by the force of affairs. During the actual +fighting and the general disorders which ensued, the habit of remaining +in the shade of obedience was lost; also the considering themselves only +as objects of luxury.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. had undertaken the task of bringing the sex back to the +playing of a decorative or utilitarian rôle. It was almost as if to-day +we should demand of our daughters, so free, so mingled with the general +movement, to return suddenly to the self-effacement and the thousand +restraints of our own youth. They would be transported with rage.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1666, the larger portion of the clients of the necromancer sought +above everything else a secret by the aid of which they might shake off +the yoke that had again fallen upon their shoulders. The husband was the +natural incarnation of this yoke. It was therefore against him that the +revolt was habitually directed. The wives addressed themselves to a +clairvoyant. The first consultation was generally innocent enough.</p> + +<p>The clairvoyant counselled new-comers to go to the good Saint Denis, +always a succour for women unhappy in their domestic life, and to the +indefatigable Saint Antoine de Padua. She reserved until later the +giving of certain powders, only hinting at their existence, the secret +of which had been brought from Italy and which were sought at Paris by +both provincials and strangers.</p> + +<p>It is now known through contemporaneous documents that arsenic was an +element in these powders, and that so many persons accused themselves in +confession of having "poisoned some one" that the priests of Nôtre-Dame +at length gave warning to the authorities (1673). Did the penitents, +especially the women, always speak the truth? Popular imagination is so +quickly fired when poisoning is suggested, that it may well be queried +whether a portion of the unfortunates were not rather hysterical and +victims of hallucinations. It is probable that the true answer will +never be known. Physicians at that time were the doctors of Molière, and +the science of chemistry did not exist.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the husband softened or suppressed, the women demanded love to +replace emotion in their contracted and faded existence. The task of the +necromancer thus consisted in interesting God or the devil in the heart +pangs of her client and of arousing an affection in the breast of the +man she designated. This was the beginning for the new clients; the end +was the black mass with its obscene rites or the bloody mass, for which +a small infant was strangled.</p> + +<p>All the forms of conjuration were used between the two, every charm, +every talisman and many "kinds of powders," not always inoffensive. The +consultations were paid for according to the rank or fortune of the +clients. In default of money, a jewel was given or even a signed note, +the imprudence of which last proceeding it is hardly needful to point +out.</p> + +<p>In the year of the death of Anne of Austria, one of the clairvoyants +most frequented was the wife of a hosier named Antoine Montvoisin, whose +shop was situated upon the Pont Marie, which to-day still unites the +right bank of the Seine with the isle Saint-Louis. The Pont Marie, as +almost all the bridges of Paris at that date, had a double row of +houses, with shops beneath, which formed a very animated street. The +affairs of Montvoisin, however, had not prospered. He had tried several +commercial undertakings without success. He had been dry-goods merchant +and jeweller, and had always "lost his shops," according to the +expression of his wife, Catherine Montvoisin, familiarly called "the +neighbour."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0207" id="Page_0207"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;"> +<img src="images/illus259.png" width="405" height="580" alt="LA VOISIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LA VOISIN<br /> +From a print in the Bibliothèque Nationale</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is under this latter name that she became celebrated in the annals of +crime. La Voisin the fortune-teller is the same as La Voisin the +poisoner. At the date of the hosiery shop, she had not yet attracted the +attention of justice, in spite of her installation, but ill-assured, on +the Pont Marie, which obliged her to have a double domicile, or to give +rendezvous at the house of her confrère. She gained large sums of money. +The price for consultation varied from a single piece to several +thousand francs, or from an old rag to a necklace of precious stones, +and again she drew something from the acolytes of both sexes who +assisted in her wicked works. It was known from herself that her +property was held in her own right, her husband having been always +unfortunate in business. In spite of this precaution, the money slipped +through her fingers. It is true that she had expenses, children to bring +up and relatives to support. She said: "I have ten persons to feed," but +she was economical for others. La Voisin gave a crown a week to her +mother and brought up her daughter as a small shop-keeper. It was she +herself who, in company with other miserables of her own kind, spent +madly. The position of husband of a poisoner seems to have been a +precarious one. Antoine Montvoisin was familiar with the nature of his +wife's industry, but his conscience did not forbid his profiting by it +for his own comfort. His conscience also permitted him to appropriate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +to himself money entrusted to him by his wife to execute the orders for +the <i>neuvaines</i>. He was as much a free-thinker as any of the Vardes or +Guiches, and convinced that the <i>neuvaines</i> were absolutely useless. As +to going further, to putting his own "paw in the dish," he was +successfully prudent. He was never anxious; but he was actually daily in +danger of being poisoned, for La Voisin could not suffer this coward. +She would have liked to replace him by a veritable associate, and +between the pair, there were perpetual fights for pre-eminence in +deceit.</p> + +<p>The good man Antoine would certainly have died through poisoning in +spite of all his care, if he had not conceived the ingenious idea of +uniting himself with an executioner, to whom he confided the situation. +It was agreed between the two that, if Montvoisin should die before his +wife, the hangman should speak and demand an autopsy. La Voisin became +afraid. She tried to poison her husband on a journey, but did not +succeed, and finally considered it safer to keep him with her.</p> + +<p>She had benefited, as had also the entire corporation, by the hopes +awakened in the breasts of many of the pretty women among the +aristocracy by the death of the Queen Mother.</p> + +<p>Anne of Austria had taken so ill the first digression of her son from +the paths of virtue that the aspirants for the succession to Mlle. de La +Vallière had preserved a certain discretion. When the rebuffs of the old +Queen were no longer to be feared, the passions were unchained and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +flock of youthful, ambitious women addressed themselves to the "duties +of fashion" in order to arrive at the good graces of the King.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> The +boldest demanded at the same time "something against Mlle. de La +Vallière." Amongst these young women was found the Marquise de +Montespan, who loved neither her husband nor the King, but who was +harrassed by her creditors, was very conscious of her own value, and +determined to be "recognised mistress," since this was now a position +admitted and classified.</p> + +<p>She was as "beautiful as the day," says Saint-Simon, without being +"perfectly agreeable";—the correction is by Mme. de La Fayette. She had +all the wit possible, was delicious in eccentricities and courtesies. In +spite of so much brilliancy, the King rather avoided her and she was +reduced to amusing Marie-Thérèse, who admitted her freely, having full +confidence in her virtue. The Queen had been deceived by the pious +austerities of the young Marquise, by her frequent communions, and by a +mass of religious practices which were really actuated by a sincere +sentiment, and which Mme. de Montespan preserved as far as she could, +notwithstanding the scandals of her after life. Understood in this +manner, a sense of duty towards religion did not prevent resorting to +sorceresses. It rather led in this direction in giving to the perverse +soul "the vague consciousness of something beyond."<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mme. de Montespan became one of the best clients of La Voisin, regarding +neither the expense nor the decency of the ceremonies, provided that the +devil would make her the beloved of Louis XIV. Faring better than her +rivals, she received the value of her money. She began her campaign in +the course of the year 1666. The <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle, very full +on this subject, and elsewhere confirmed, inform us that in the spring +of 1667, Mme. de Montespan had supplanted La Vallière; it was the young +Queen alone who was ignorant of this fact.</p> + +<p>Less than two years after, La Voisin had the imprudence to make a +disturbance because two of her aids had not acted honestly toward her. +One of these was a priest, called Mariette, attached to the Church of +Saint Severin. La Voisin made use of him in sacrilegious practices. The +other, Lesage, was a sort of Jack of all trades, who recoiled before no +abomination. La Voisin accused them of having assaulted one of her +clients, Mme. de Montespan, a fact true enough, but useless to proclaim +from the housetops.</p> + +<p>"The quarrel having made some noise," reports La Reynie, "and the King, +having learned that these people were practising impieties and +sacrileges, had them watched." Mariette and Lesage were arrested. The +examinations have been preserved for us. Here is an essential passage:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +Mariette avowed without hesitation to having spoken the Gospels "over +the heads of various persons," a form of conjuration relatively +innocent. The names were demanded. "Over the heads of the Lady de Bougy, +Mme. de Montespan, la Duverger, M. de Ravetot, all of which persons +Lesage had led to him."<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> + +<p>With this information secured, Louis XIV. ordered prosecution:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Saint-Germain</span>, August 16, 1668.</p> + +<p>I write this letter to tell you that it is my intention to have the +said Mariette and Dubuisson<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> conducted from my château to the +Châtelet of the City of Paris, for the continuation of their +prosecution.</p></blockquote> + +<p>One may be sure that the King did not lose this inquest from view. Louis +XIV. was most eager for police details and this affair touched him too +nearly to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the investigation, it was discovered that Mariette +was first cousin to the wife of the judge. On account of this +connection, the Châtelet estimated that it was for the honour of the +magistracy to stifle the affair. He brought every effort to accomplish +this and evidently met with practical approbation from the powerful of +this world, for history permits us to see numerous irregularities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>La Voisin, returning to her senses, heartily seconded the Justice in his +efforts to obtain succour from those in high positions. Mariette and +Lesage, after a period of trials and difficulties, were left in peace to +occupy themselves with their ambiguous trade. Both of these men figured +again in the monster process of 1680, in which they were among those who +spread details concerning the abominable practices with which <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'de'">the</ins> Mme. +de Montespan had been connected during long years. It does not matter +here whether these details are additions to the truth or not, for it is +only Louis XIV. who interests us, not Mme. de Montespan.</p> + +<p>The letter cited above proves all that is necessary, that the King knew, +from the year 1668, that his new mistress had connection with the +criminal world, and that she had intimate interviews with ignoble +persons, submitted to degrading contact, and had practised in their +company sacrilegious rites. This monarch who passed for being so +delicately keen in matters of punishment showed himself singularly +little moved.</p> + +<p>Surrounded by free-thinkers without prejudices, himself more or less of +a free-thinker, he resembles so little, either morally or physically, +the bewigged figure of the end of the reign, and of the <i>Mémoires</i> of +Saint-Simon, that he appears as another individual. How easily both +proprieties and punishments are put on one side when passion reigns,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +but how much more alive, how much more of a natural human being, +compared to the wooden figure of the portraits of Versailles, is the +King as now seen; Louis XIV. is decidedly an enigmatical quantity.</p> + +<p>It would be inexact to state that passions had become more lively than +they were during the wars of the Fronde, an epoch especially ardent; but +they had certainly changed their character, as had the tastes, ideas, +literature, and fashions in general. This is the usual course of events, +and, as we have seen, the movement was precipitated under the influence +of a monarch all-powerful, determined to efface the past.</p> + +<p>An artistic event which should not be overlooked had favoured the +designs of Louis XIV., in opening unknown perspectives to the curious +after new sensations, already numerous in the seventeenth century. +Dramatic music made its entry into the modern world. It brought with it, +according to the phrase of one of its historians, M. Romain +Rolland,<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> an "unlimited power for expressing passion, and with +passionate emotion all that remains incommunicable through the medium of +language alone." We may or may not love music, but it must be admitted +that a creation of this nature will certainly exercise a strong +influence over the refined portion of a nation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + +<p>French society could not escape. The new art was in train to modify the +nervous system, if I dare thus speak, of the world in which flourished, +under the royal protection, those rather perilous ideas upon the rights +of nature and the fatality of passion. Day by day, new chords were +struck upon impressionable hearts. Dramatic music was born in Italy; as +might well be. In the year 1597, upon a carnival evening, a rich +Florentine entertained a choice audience with a musical tragedy called +<i>Dafné</i>, of which the score is lost. According to one of the guests, +"the pleasure and astonishment which seized the soul of the auditors +before so novel a spectacle could hardly be expressed."</p> + +<p>M. Romain Rolland confirms this testimony: "It was like a thunderbolt. +All felt themselves in the presence of a new art." In ten years Italian +opera reached its full growth, thanks chiefly to a composer of genius, +Monteverde, whose <i>Ariane</i> caused an audience of more than six thousand +persons to burst into sobs on its first representation.</p> + +<p>The art of singing had marched side by side with dramatic music and +attained its height almost at once. A famous soprano, Vittori, threw the +public into almost inconceivable transports. "Many persons were suddenly +forced to loosen their garments in order to breathe, so suffocated were +they with emotion."</p> + +<p>Everywhere musical theatres were erected. The large cities built +several; Venice alone had five, and this number was not sufficient. The +opera was given in palaces and private salons; "Bologna possessed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +more than sixty private theatres, without mentioning the convents and +colleges." The clergy were caught in the whirlwind; monks and nuns +chanted operas, cardinals became stage managers of scenes, a future pope +wrote librettos. It was an epidemic, a frenzy, and Italy did not go mad +with impunity. In its beginning, the opera is responsible for grave +disorders, both nervous and moral; it became <i>too</i> much of a passion. +Mazarin already possessed this taste before his establishment in France. +He wished to initiate his adopted country into the joys, almost to be +dreaded, which had so suddenly enriched human life, and he brought from +Italy one after the other four Italian troupes, the first in 1645, the +last a short time before his death.</p> + +<p>The result was easy to predict. A spectacle patronised by the Cardinal +became a matter of politics. Applauded by the partisans of the minister, +derided by his adversaries, the Italian opera met with so strong an +opposition that it was necessary to renounce it for the time, but the +lesson was not lost.</p> + +<p>French composers heretofore devoted to ballets and masquerades had not +received unheedingly the revelation of the dramatic style; their +ambition was also aroused to express the tempests of the soul, and they +began to grope along the new path.</p> + +<p>The attempt was not at once successful; but their efforts familiarised +the public with the idea of a musical language of passion. In 1664, the +song was considered the natural interpreter of love. Molière fixes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +the date in his <i>Princesse d'Elide</i>, in which Moron does not succeed in +gaining the ear of Philis because he speaks, instead of singing his +declaration. Philis flees and Moron cries out: "Behold how it is: if I +had been able to sing, I should have done better. Most women of to-day +only let themselves be courted through the ears; this is the reason that +the entire world has become musical, and one can succeed with the fair +only by making them listen to little songs and verses. I must learn to +sing like others."</p> + +<p>It was indeed somewhat different in 1671, when French opera arrived on +the scene.<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> It had hardly seen the light when it became, as a result +of the association of Quinault with Lulli, a counsellor of +voluptuousness.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0217" id="Page_0217"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"> +<img src="images/illus271.png" width="467" height="600" alt="JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI<br /> +After a contemporary print by Bonnart</span> +</div> + +<p>While the decorations and the dances charmed the eyes, as the "machines" +amused by their complications, the words and music, outdoing the +<i>Princesse d'Elide</i>,<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> murmured unceasingly with the same caressing +languor that no youthful beings have the right, for any motive whatever, +to deny to themselves the duty of loving. "Yield, give yourselves up to +transports," chants a chorus of <i>Amadis</i>. The thirteen "lyrical +tragedies" given by Quinault and Lulli from 1673 to 1686 are all +constructed upon this one theme. They gave expression to the one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +single idea; "Yield! surrender yourselves!" and resulted in producing a +certain eloquence from their monotony. When these lyrics are played on +the piano,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> a better means of hearing them failing, one cannot but +feel that in spite of their insipidity the continuous appeal to the +senses might produce in the end, particularly in the atmosphere of a +theatre, a strong effect.</p> + +<p>Moralists recognised this. All will remember the violent attack of +Boileau upon the opera. To-day we consider this attack as having been +too narrowly virtuous, even a little ridiculous. It can be explained, +however, in considering what a novelty it was to see people seized with +nervous attacks and fits of weeping while listening to singing. Was it +the "loose morals" of Quinault which caused these? Was it the new music? +In either case, the worthy Boileau was excusable for his alarm.</p> + +<p>France had not yet reached the point of excitability which existed in +Italy. The French are not a sufficiently musical race for this; but in a +less degree, the country submitted to the extraordinary power of the +dramatic style. It is known through Mme. de Sévigné that if the French +listeners did not invariably "burst into sobs" or "suffocate with +emotion," more than one auditor, including herself, wept silently in +hearing the fine passages.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>Fashion also swayed affairs, and we know of what fashion is capable in +France.</p> + +<p>Saint Evremond has written a comedy entitled <i>The Operas</i>. In the list +of <i>dramatis personæ</i>, one reads: "Mlle. Crisotine become mad through +the hearing of operas. Tirsolet, a young man from Lyons, also became mad +through operas." A third person relates that "nothing else is spoken of +in Paris. Women and even young children knew the operas by heart, and +there is hardly a house in which entire scenes are not sung." How nearly +France and Italy are approached in this. The Louvre party caught the +fashion, the courtiers, being eager to imitate the King, a great admirer +of Lulli.</p> + +<p>It had happened that Louis remarked during the rehearsals of <i>Alceste</i> +"that if he were at Paris when the opera should be played, he would go +every day." "This phrase," adds Mme. de Sévigné "is worth a hundred +thousand francs to Baptiste."<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> This was no affectation on the part +of the King; he really loved music, as can be recognised through +unmistakable signs. Louis XIV. had throughout his life the taste and +more than a taste for music; to which he added a longing to be himself a +performer, a desire that can never be satisfied with the most skilled +professional entertainments. As a youth, he played the guitar and took +part in ensemble playing. As a man, he found that he had a good voice, +and knew how to use it in amateur reunions.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<p>It can even be said that he sang not only at suitable but also at +unsuitable moments: the day after the death of his son, the Grand +Dauphin, the ladies of the Palace heard with surprise the King singing +opera prologues. During his later years, when it was difficult to amuse +him, Mme. de Maintenon organized musicales in her salon and Louis always +enjoyed these. One evening when she substituted vespers<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> for the +scores of Lulli, the King made no criticism and even intoned the +vespers. Provided it was music, all kinds were good; but the King showed +a certain predilection for the kind which he had seen created, already +so rich in new emotions and which bore rare promise for the future of +the artistic world, and the monarch possessed all the qualities needed +to enjoy it profoundly.</p> + +<p>The reader cannot fail to perceive through the witness of his frequent +bursts of tears that Louis was of a nervous disposition, somewhat +concealed under the cold and calm exterior which he had imposed upon +himself. In advancing age, this tendency to tears became almost a +malady. Mme. de Maintenon, in a letter dated 1705, writing to a friend +of the "vapours" of the King and of his sombre humour, makes the remark +that he is "sometimes overcome with weeping which he cannot restrain."</p> + +<p>He was a sensualist to whom themes of love were always attractive. +"Yield! Surrender!" the King never ceased to repeat on his own behalf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +to the pretty women of his Court. For the rest, Quinault and Lulli made +him choose the subjects for their operas; and Louis had therefore a +responsibility for the voluptuousness which exhaled from their works.</p> + +<p>Dramatic music has now established itself. The civilised world discovers +with delight that this art has an unlimited capacity for expressing +passion, and all the passions, even the highest, the purest, and this +latter includes love. It has also been recognised that music can speak +in its own words outside of the theatre, in a symphony, in a simple +sonata, and that there exists no art so benevolent, so reposeful, and so +reassuring to troubled souls. In spite of this, in spite of all, +moralists have never been willing to throw down their weapons before +music. Emanuel Kant was clearly hostile to it; he said, "It enervates +man,"<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> and he turned away his disciples from its joys. Tolstoi has +been unkind to it in the <i>Kreutzer Sonata</i>.</p> + +<p>All forces can become dangerous; it depends on the "use made of +them,"<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> and also upon the souls which receive the impulse; they must +be of the calibre to support its force.</p> + +<p>The action of music upon French society has never, so far as I know, +been methodically studied in relation to its effects, both physical and +moral. If a historian be found, he will issue from the psychological +laboratories, scientifically equipped, in which the observer conceals +the physician: on this condition only can he speak with authority.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0221" id="Page_0221"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/illus277.png" width="386" height="550" alt="BOILEAU" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOILEAU<br /> +After the painting by H. Rigaud</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Grande Mademoiselle cared but little for music. Nevertheless she +extols Lulli in her <i>Mémoires</i>: "He makes the most beatific airs in the +world." The glory of Baptiste touched her because he was "her own," +arriving from Italy some time before the Fronde. "He came to France with +my late uncle the Chevalier de Guise. I had prayed him to bring me an +Italian, with whom I could speak and learn the language."</p> + +<p>Lulli was only a boy of thirteen at the time that he was brought to +France. Between the Italian lessons, he filled the office of cook. +Later, admitted among the violins of Mademoiselle, it is related that he +was chased away for having satirised his mistress in song. This recalls +other events:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I was exiled: he did not wish to live in the country: he demanded +leave to go away: I accorded it, and since he has made his fortune, +for he is a great merry-andrew.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Lulli always remained a buffoon in the mind of Mademoiselle, although +she assisted at his triumphs and survived him.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle preserved the taste for literature formed at Saint-Fargeau. +Her name is associated with several incidents, great and small, of the +literary history of the times. In 1669, when <i>Tartuffe</i> was definitely +authorised, she wished to have it performed in her salon. This fact is +noteworthy as the Church still forbade its representation. On August +21, Mademoiselle gave a fête. When most of the guests had departed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +"<i>Tartuffe</i>, the fashionable piece, was played before twenty women and +numbers of men."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> Did the end of the phrase contain a slight +excuse—"which was the fashionable piece"? However this may be, +Mademoiselle could boast to her confessor that she had been "economical" +with Molière. The entertainment at the Luxembourg was paid for with +three hundred francs given to the actors, the current price being for +such a performance five hundred and fifty francs. Thus the virtuous +homes evidenced their piety!</p> + +<p>On another occasion, Mademoiselle had the honour, if the Abbé d'Olivet +may be believed, of supplying Molière with an entire scene ready made: +and what a scene! Among the <i>habitués</i> of the salon figured one of the +victims of Boileau, the impudent Abbé Cotin, who not finding himself +sufficiently <i>étrillé</i> (thrashed) had provoked new retaliations in +gossiping about Molière.</p> + +<p>One day he brought some verses of his own composition to the palace of +the Luxembourg to read them to Mademoiselle. In the midst of her +admiration another writer, supposed to be Ménage, entered. Mademoiselle +committed the error of showing the verses of the Abbé and, without +mentioning the name of the author, of defending the expressed opinions. +The result was the scene between Vadius and Trissotin (at first named +"Tricotin" lest one should be deceived). It was only needful for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +Molière to give the touch of genius as in the sonnet to the Princess +Uranie and in the verses upon the <i>Carosse Amarante</i>. In these two +cases, it is well known that the lines are copied word for word from a +volume written by the Abbé Cotin.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> + +<p>Many echoes of the grand literary battle of the century<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> still +resounded in the Luxembourg. The success of the first tragedies of +Racine irritated that portion of the public, always large, which has a +horror of being disturbed in its habits of thought by importunate +novelties. Such a disturbance is a punishment to many persons, whether +the moving force comes from literature, science, or art. There are many +examples of this fixed state of mind to be found in the past century: it +will suffice to recall the struggles hardly yet quieted between Pasteur +and Wagner.</p> + +<p>Racine appeared on the scene as a revolutionary force. He and Molière, +sustained by their friend Boileau, presented a dramatic art absolutely +new, which was separated by a gulf from that of Corneille and for which +nothing had prepared the way. Corneille's predecessors were Mairet, the +du Ryers and many others: Racine stood alone. He was the first and the +last to make tragedy realistic, with the subject simple, the characters +scrupulously true to nature, and the language often audaciously familiar.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>Louis XIV. applauded. Racine and the King well comprehended each other. +Heinrich Heine has given the reason for this in one of those phrases +which throw light upon an entire period: "Racine is the first modern +poet, as Louis XIV. was the first modern King."</p> + +<p>The young Court applauded cordially with the King. It also belonged to +the new régime; but for the old Court, for the survivors of the Hôtel +Rambouillet, the tragedy of Racine was as shocking, as displeasing, as +were the first realistic romances to the faithful adherents of +romanticism, and for the same reasons. In spite of the difficulty so +many have, of sympathising with the ideas of the one called a little +disdainfully "the gentle Racine," "the elegant Racine," this writer +appeared neither gentle nor elegant to three-fourths of the salon, to +the "old Court" of the Grande Mademoiselle. The <i>Pyrrhus</i> seemed to them +"brutal," the Phèdre, a "madwoman" "the blackness" of Nero or Narcisse +entirely beyond what should be permitted on the stage.</p> + +<p>Not that the personages of Corneille or of his predecessors acted less +wickedly, but their brutes and villains were nevertheless "heroes" and +that made all the difference. The personages created by Racine were only +"men," simple men, who used words "low and grovelling," bourgeois +words, expressions such as "Quoi qu'il en soit, que fais je, que<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +dis-je!"<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> and did not even realise the sense: more than three +hundred improper terms have been counted in <i>Andromaque</i>. Racine would +have fared better if his poetic methods had not been in some way a +criticism upon the cleverness of Corneille. This was the real grievance, +obliging the adorers of the old poet to condemn the insolent one.</p> + +<p>Mme. de Sévigné, who could not always prevent herself, although "mad +with Corneille," from admiring Racine, or from letting him perceive it, +hastened to correct herself when this happened. She wrote to her +daughter, "<i>Bajazet</i> is beautiful," and added six lines further on, as a +person who has a reproach to make, "Believe me, nothing will approach (I +do not say surpass) some divine passages of Corneille." Having thus +regulated her conscience, she returned to <i>Bajazet</i> to avow that she had +"wept more than twenty tears" (letter dated January 15, 1672), but her +letter evidently left her with a slight feeling of discomfort. Two +months later, she attenuated the praise of the new piece, to which she +now accorded only "agreeable things," and declared Corneille to be +another order of genius: "My daughter, let us take care not to compare +Racine with him, let us well perceive the difference!"</p> + +<p>Almost all of Mademoiselle's generation showed themselves as jealous as +Mme. de Sévigné for the glory of Corneille. To the admiration inspired +by his genius is added the tender gratitude that we guard for works<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +in which live again the ideals of our youth. It is our own thoughts, our +fine dreams of early days, that we love in these productions.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of Racine signified that the day of Corneille had passed; +its success indicated the inroad of new ideas and pointed definitely to +the fact that those faithful to the ancient worship had really been +relegated to the position of old fogies. This is never an agreeable +position when one feels still alive and with no very active realisation +that old age is approaching. People of letters are the first to suffer +from these revolutions of taste which leave surviving only works of the +first rank while the rest are cast away into oblivion.</p> + +<p>As we know, the <i>litterateurs</i> who frequented the salon of Mademoiselle +were all enemies of Racine, half on account of loyalty to Corneille, +half on their own behalf, through an instinct of self-preservation. +Besides Ménage and the Abbé Cotin, whom we have lately encountered +speaking frankly to each other, besides the amiable Segrais whose +literary powers were too light to lead him far, there was the Abbé +Boyer, whose tragedies Segrais desired to be pardoned, because he was a +"sufficiently good academician," and that worthy old man De Chapelain, +illustrious until the day upon which his verses went to press. There was +some reason for accusing Mademoiselle of having been the "centre of the +opposition to the new poetry."<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> To say this is, however, to +exaggerate her rôle. We shall see later that she was far too occupied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +in living through her own tragedy to be actively interested in those +being enacted upon the boards. Loaded with injuries and calumnies by the +Vadius and the Trissotins, menaced with thrashings by the aristocratic +protectors of these great men of the salon, Racine ran the risk of being +crushed, and was saved only by the signal favour of the King. Neither he +nor Molière would have accomplished their work if Louis XIV. had not +sustained them against all critics. This is a service for which we +should not limit our gratitude. The reflection upon this great debt +arouses a tenderness towards a Prince with whom we are otherwise not +always sympathetic.</p> + +<p>It is possible that there was some politics in his attitude. The success +of writers so new fell in well with his design of making a <i>tabula rasa</i> +of the detested past: but after all the main reason for which protection +was accorded was affection.</p> + +<p>When Louis XIV. laughed "even till his sides ached"<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> over the <i>École +des Femmes</i>, at which amusement the dévots and prudes were indignant, +when he saved the <i>Plaideurs</i>, almost hissed in the Hôtel de Bourgogne, +by "bursts of laughter, so great that the Court was astonished,"<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> +there was no calculation: he was honestly amused, like any one else. It +was also a true and frank admiration which caused him to dry his tears +at <i>Iphigenie</i>, and to order the repetition of <i>Mithridate</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +He loved the "new" for two reasons: because he had good taste, and +because the heroes of the later writers were of the kind needful for his +generation. It has been seen how marvellously Molière and the King +understood each other, and the mention of Racine recalls to us the +profound phrase of Heine. Racine revealed himself in the <i>Andromaque</i> as +the "first modern poet." Hermione and Oreste have only a distant +relationship with the heroes of Corneille. They are already "those +possessed by love, the great passionates with whom love becomes a +malady, who love to the brink of crime, and even till death."</p> + +<p>With these characters, it can be said that modern love, profound, +tender, melancholy, impregnated with soul, and at the same time troubled +by the obscure influences of the nervous life, makes its entrance into +French literature. Oreste shows a sadness, a despair, a madness, which a +century and a half later burst forth in love romances. Louis XIV. had +not waited for Racine for his education in passion. When Marie Mancini +fascinated him, he was one of the first examples of the modern type of +those "possessed by love," and he had never forgotten this crisis; in +fact he never forgot anything. This episode in the life of the young +King had been a good apprenticeship for the comprehending of the love of +Oreste or of Phédre as the true love malady, as a fatality against which +our single will is only a feeble weapon.</p> + +<p>Around the King, Mme. Henriette, Mme. de Montespan, all the young Court +and some shrewd spirits of the old, with Condé at the head, rendered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +justice to the truth of the "anatomies of the heart," in the tragedy of +Racine. Mademoiselle was incapable of this; she believed too firmly in +the superhuman strength of the heroes of Corneille, with whom the will +laughs at resistance, whether the opposition arises in the soul or in +the exterior world, to admit the fatality of passion. Nevertheless, it +was the Grande Mademoiselle herself who was going to demonstrate clearly +to all France that it was impossible to escape fate, when this fate +points to love. Here we meet the great misfortune of her life!</p> + +<p>An atmosphere of passion, and an intimacy with people whose sole +occupation was to render themselves attractive, was somewhat dangerous +for an old maid, sensitive without realising it. Mademoiselle had the +singular desire, which later cost her dearly, to make an ally of Mme. de +Montespan and thus to form a part of the chosen society of the Court.</p> + +<p>She sought the company of the mistress and received service from her. +Mme. de Montespan was her interpreter with the King. In return +Mademoiselle endeavoured to calm M. de Montespan who, for serious or for +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'trival'">trivial</ins> reasons<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> "flew into passions," like a "madman" or "wild +person," against Madame his wife. "He is my relative and I scolded +him," says the <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle. As a connoisseur,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +Mademoiselle hugely enjoyed the original wit of Mme. de Montespan. The +pleasure found in returning the ball in conversation was the foundation +of the intimacy.</p> + +<p>With the growing idleness of the Court, pleasure in pure cleverness +increased. The play of the mind was the sole resource against ennui. +Wit, no matter at whose expense, became the enjoyment. The wise and +prudent Mme. de Maintenon succumbed like Mademoiselle, when her turn +came, to the irresistible charm of a conversation which "renders +agreeable the most serious matters, and ennobles the most trivial."<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>During the sharpest quarrel between Mademoiselle and Mme. de Montespan, +the enjoyment of the opponent's wit was so keen that they parted with +pain. "Mme. de Montespan and I," wrote Mme. de Maintenon in 1681,<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> +"have to-day taken a walk, holding each other's arms and laughing +heartily; we are not more in accord for this." There can never be too +much cleverness, but there is an inconvenience in there being nothing +behind the wit, and this is one of the rocks towards which Louis XIV. +was pushing the French nobility. He made it impossible for those pacing +his antechambers to indulge in any intellectual effort other than that +of seeking pretty phrases to amuse the listeners.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>A gentleman of quality commences his day at eight in the morning +standing in waiting before the door of the king. Salutes are given and +returned. The elegants comb their locks, glancing out of the corner of +their eyes at those entering. Molière permits us to be present at the +"final assault" through verses but little known:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i1">Grattez du peigne a la porte<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></span><br /> + <span class="i1">De la chambre du Roi;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Ou si, comme je prévoi,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">La presse s'y trouve forte,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Montrez de loin vôtre chapeau,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Ou montez sur quelque chose</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Pour faire voir votre museau,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Et criez sans aucune pause,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">D'un ton rien moins que naturel;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">"Monsieur l'huissier, pour le marquis un tel"</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Jetez-vous dans la foule, et tranchez du notable,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Coudoyez un chacun, point du tout quartier,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Pressez, poussez, faites le diable</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Pour vous mettre le premier.<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a></span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>M. le Marquis enters. The chamber is already crowded. He "gains ground +step by step," succeeds in seeing the King put on his shoes, for Louis +performs this act with his own royal hands, and thus passes the first +hour. The exciting event is repeated in the evening when the King takes +off his shoes. The Marquis had already, at one o'clock, witnessed the +consumption of the royal soup, and two or three times in the course of +the day had delighted his eyes with the sight of the King passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +to and fro on his way to mass or to take the fresh air.</p> + +<p>During the intervals, the courtiers were charged with certain puerile +occupations. The round of homages were made to the various members of +the royal family and the prominent personages of the day, and there was +gambling and other pleasures. The only relief for this complete idleness +was to be found in an active campaign if there happened to be a war on +hand. Let the courtier be admired for being able under such adverse +circumstances to keep his wit awake and alert for attack and response, +and also for the capacity of finding the military virtues when again +called upon to exercise them.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the latter virtues were deeply ingrained in the breasts of +the French gentlemen of this period, and it is not to their discredit if +the other faculties, mental and physical, the exercise of which was +plainly discouraged by the King, should have so fallen into disuse that +their children suffered. The final descendants of four or five +generations of those living this absurd life were the <i>émigrés</i> of the +great Revolution, all heroes, almost all clever, or at least appearing +so, and in general people of wit, but without character. This fact can +hardly be too much emphasised: never has a monarch laboured with greater +skill and method than Louis XIV. in the successful attempt to annihilate +the nobility and to ruin its reputation. This is one of the most serious +souvenirs of the wars of the Fronde.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was with the women as with the men—the same subjection, the same +emptiness of life, from which arose the weakness of Mademoiselle for +Mme. de Montespan. The situation of recognised mistress "affects +nothing"; Mademoiselle had never considered that the virtue of others +concerned her. The novelty of the situation, the unexpected prerogatives +accruing to the new position, and the habits resulting, gave rise to +some of the most curious incidents of the reign, and also strengthened +an intimacy which survived many shocks.</p> + +<p>As soon as Louis XIV. formally established his mistresses at Court, it +had been needful to frame new rules of etiquette. At first these rules +were understood rather than formulated, but contemporary writers give +evidence of their existence. It was the new regulations which gave +scandal, rather than the fact of a weakness too common to all men of all +times. The people had found the phrase suitable enough when it ran to +gaze on "the three queens" in one carriage; Mlle. de La Vallière and +Mme. de Montespan were publicly at the same time occupying the rank of +secondary wives to the King. When the royal family made its solemn +visits to any of its members who were mortally ill, these two ladies +arrived after the King and Queen. Mademoiselle met them at the death-bed +of Mme. Henriette; "Mme. de Montespan and La Vallière came." She met +them again over the cradle of a daughter of Louis XIV. and of +Marie-Thérèse, who died as an infant. "I found her in the last +extremity.... We staid almost the entire night watching her die; Mme.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +de Montespan and Mme. de La Vallière were also there." The latter +escaped from such honours as often as she could. Mme. de Montespan liked +them better, and added to them. She had placed herself upon the footing +of the Queen in regard to ordinary visits, which she never returned. +"Never," says Saint-Simon, "not even to Monsieur or Madame or to the +Grande Mademoiselle, or to the Hôtel de Condé."</p> + +<p>The same hauteur was displayed in the manner of receiving the princes +and princesses of the blood, and this "exterior of Queen" followed her +into the retreat! All were accustomed to it.</p> + +<p>"The habit of respect was preserved without murmur," says again +Saint-Simon, who recalled Mme. de Montespan, disgraced and passing her +time in penitence, nevertheless continuing to hold court in her +convent,<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> with as royal an etiquette as at Saint-Germain or +Versailles:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The back of her armchair was formed by the foot-piece of the bed, +and there was no other chair in the room. Monsieur and the Grande +Mademoiselle had always loved her, and often went to see her; for +these, chairs were brought, and also for Madame la Princesse; but +Mme. de Montespan did not dream of deranging herself for her own +people nor for those they brought with them.... One can judge by +this how she received "all the world."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "all the world," which included some of the most distinguished,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +contented themselves with small "chairs with backs," or simple camp +stools. No one was offended, and "all France came"; I do not know by +what fantasy it was considered a duty to make visits from time to time. +She spoke to each like a queen holding her court, who honours in +"addressing." Marie-Thérèse herself, in the time in which Mme. de +Montespan was the actual sovereign, had submitted to the long empire of +custom. In 1675, the fourth year of the war in Holland, Louis XIV. being +with the army while Mme. de Montespan was at her château at Clagny, one +of their sons was "slightly ill."<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> The Queen considered it her duty +to visit the child and to comfort the mother. She went to seek Mme. de +Montespan, and led her one day to the Trianon, another to dine in some +favourite convent, an example which brought the crowd to Clagny and made +an end of hesitancy. "The wife of her firm (<i>solide</i>) friend," wrote +Mme. de Sévigné, "visited her, and afterward the entire family in turn. +She takes precedence of all the Duchesses." (July 3, 1675.)</p> + +<p>There had been a time in which this fashion of ignoring rank would have +excited the indignation of Mademoiselle; but this time was far distant, +farther than she herself realised. In 1667 she had cried very loud +because her second sister, Mademoiselle d'Alençon, had made a +<i>mésalliance</i> in marrying a simple seigneur, the Duc de Guise, and she +had looked very gloomily at the pair. The time had passed for such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +pride, as the poor woman was herself ready for a worse <i>mésalliance</i>. +Her patience was at an end. Her agitation while Louis XIV. was +attempting marriage negotiations with the Duc de Savoie must not be +forgotten. No prince had thought of her since this affront. She was +considered too old. She would not confess this to be the case, but she +felt it, and a tempest gathered in the depths of her heart. The storm +burst in 1669. It is impossible to say in what measure nature alone was +responsible, and what was due to the atmosphere of moral disorder and +voluptuousness which Mademoiselle was now inhaling at the Court in the +frequent companionship of the favourite. One thing is certain, the +Grande Mademoiselle did not try to struggle against the passion which +seized her; her attitude was rather that of a person who sought its +sway.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<blockquote><p>The Grande Mademoiselle in Love—Sketch of Lauzun and their +Romance—The Court on its Travels—Death of Madame—Announcement of +the Marriage of Mademoiselle—General Consternation—Louis XIV. +Breaks the Affair.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">IN the spring of 1669, Louis XIV. one day was listening to the Comtesse +de Soissons sing. She was the second of the Mazarin nieces, and the only +really wicked one in the family. She sang a new song containing many +naughty couplets, in which mud was thrown upon some of the courtiers. +Men and women received their packet under the guise of mock praise, +according to a fashion much in vogue. The phrase "mock praise" had +become the name of a form of satire, which made an almost unique +literature. The King permitted the couplets to pass in silence. He did +not even protest at this one:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Et pour M. Le Grand,<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></span><br /> + <span class="i2">Il est tout mystère;</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Quand il est galant,</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Il a comme La Vallière</span><br /> + <span class="i2">L'esprit pénétrant.</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Countess then arrived at a couplet on Puyguilhem, better known under +the name of Lauzun.<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">De la cour</span><br /> + <span class="i2">La vertu la plus pure</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Est en Péguilin....</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>At this place the King interrupted: "If it is wished to vex him, they +are wrong, but when people act as he has done, they must be let alone; +as for others, they are badly treated." The sudden displeasure of the +King at the mention of Puyguilhem caused a general silence, and the song +stopped at this point.</p> + +<p>The Grande Mademoiselle was present at this scene, and was surprised to +discover that she was not indifferent to its import. Up to this time, +she had scarcely known Lauzun, who did not belong to her coterie. "It +pleased me," says her <i>Mémoires</i>, "to hear the manner in which the King +spoke of him; I felt some instinct of the future." This was the first +warning of the passion which had already insinuated itself into the +depths of her heart; but she did not yet comprehend it. The idea came to +her, however, of seizing an occasion to converse with Lauzun. She felt +an inclination for this at once. "He has," said she, "a manner of +explaining himself which is very extraordinary." Mademoiselle was +interested, but she still believed that it was only the conversational +capacity which pleased her in the little cadet of Gascony. She began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +to query, however, why, having been sufficiently content during her five +years of exile, she was now so willing to remain a fixture. The year had +ended before she found a satisfactory response to this question: "I went +in the month of December (the 6th) to Saint-Germain, from which I did +not depart. I soon accustomed myself to it. Ordinarily, I only stayed +three or four days, and my present long sojourn surprised every one."</p> + +<p>On the 31st, she decided at length to return to Paris: "I was very bored +there, and could not discover what I had done at Saint-Germain which had +so much diverted me." She hastened to rejoin the Court, without knowing +why, and commenced again her conversations with Lauzun, but still +remained unconscious of any sentiment. She only knew that she was +troubled and agitated, and discontented with her condition, and that she +felt a desire to marry. The desire dated back a long time, but of late +it had become so insistent that Mademoiselle was forced to examine +herself seriously.</p> + +<p>The passage in which she relates her discovery is charmingly natural and +significantly true:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I reasoned with myself (for I did not speak to any one) and I said, +'this is no longer a vague thought; it must have some object.' I did not +discover who it was. I sought, I dreamed, but could not find out. +Finally, after some days of anxiety, I perceived that it was M. de +Lauzun whom I loved, who had glided into my heart. I thought him the +most worthy man in the world, the most agreeable; nothing was lacking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +to make me happy but a husband like him, whom I should love and who +would love me devotedly; that heretofore I had never been loved; that it +was necessary once in life to taste the sweetness of being adored by +some one, which would make worth while the sufferings caused by the +pangs of love.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This explanation of her own heart was followed by days of intoxication. +Mademoiselle lived in a dream, and all was easy, all was arranged: "It +appeared to me that I found more pleasure in seeing him and in talking +to him than heretofore; that the days in which he was absent, I was +bored, and I believe that the same feeling came to him; that he did not +care to confess this, but the pains he took to come wherever he was +likely to meet me made the fact clear." In the absence of Lauzun, she +sought solitude in order to think of him freely. "I was delighted to be +alone in my chamber; I formed plans of what I could do for him which +would give him a higher position."</p> + +<p>One single thought, characteristic of her generation, came to trouble +her happiness; she queried of herself if the great princesses of the +theatre of Corneille would have married a cadet of Gascogne. Assuredly, +passion blows where it listeth. Corneille had never denied this; but he +had maintained that the will should render us masters of our affections, +and his plays bear witness that love, even when founded in a just +feeling of admiration, can efface itself before the sentiment of the +duty owed to rank. Happily, poets, even when they are named Corneille,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +sometimes contradict themselves, and Mademoiselle, who had seen plays +since the days of swaddling clothes, well knew her <i>répertoire</i>. She now +recalled for her comfort a passage in the <i>Suite du Menteur</i> which +clearly established the "predestination of marriage, and the foresight +of God," so that it was a Christian duty to submit without resistance to +sentiments sent to us "from the sky."</p> + +<p>Although sure of her own memory, which was indeed excellent, +Mademoiselle sent in great haste to Paris to secure a copy of the play, +and found the page (Act IV.) in which Mélisse confides to Lise his love +for Dorante:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i1">Quand les ordres du ciel nous ont faits l'un pour l'autre,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Lise, c'est un accord bientôt fait que le nôtre.</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Sa main entre les cœurs, par un secret pouvoir,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Sème l'intelligence avant que de se voir;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Il prépare si bien l'amant et la maîtresse,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Que leur âme au seul nom s'émeut et s'intéresse.</span><br /> + <span class="i1">On s'estime, on se cherche, on s'aime en un moment;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Tout ce qu'on s'entredit persuade aisément;</span><br /> + <span class="i1">Et, sans s'inquiéter de mille peurs frivoles,</span><br /> + <span class="i1">La foi semble courir au-devant des paroles.</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<p>How was it possible to doubt for a single instant after having read +these verses that there is impiety in disobeying the "commands" to love +which come to us from on high? Nevertheless, serious conflicts took +place in the soul of the royal pupil of Corneille. Sometimes she +represented to herself with vivacity the joys of marriage, among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +keenest of which would be the witnessing the vexation of her heirs, who +were already beginning to find that she was making them wait too long, +and whom she longed to disappoint. Sometimes her mind could only dwell +upon the scandal which such a <i>mésalliance</i> would cause, the reprobation +of some, and the laughter of others, and then her pride rose in arms. +She thus on one day desired the marriage eagerly, while on the next she +detested the thought of it, the vacillation depending upon the fact of +her having between times seen or not seen M. de Lauzun.</p> + +<p>This struggle between the head and the heart was prolonged during +several weeks;</p> + +<blockquote><p>finally, after having often passed and repassed the pro and con +through my brain, my heart decided the affair, and it was in the +Church of Recollects in which I took my final resolution. Never had +I felt so much devotion in church, and those who regarded me +perceived that I was much absorbed; I believe that God surprised me +with His commands. The next day, which was the second of March, I +was very gay.</p></blockquote> + +<p>If Mademoiselle had been of the age of Juliet, this would have been a +pretty romance. But she was perhaps slightly too mature to play with the +grand passion.</p> + +<p>The man who was the cause of these agitations is one of the best-known +figures of his times. Traces of him are found in all the contemporary +writings. The singularity of his personality joined to the prodigies of +his luck, good and bad, had made him an object of interest to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +contemporaries. It was of him that La Bruyère said: "No one can guess +how he lives."<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> The political world, the ministers at the head, +observed him with an anxious attention, because he had accomplished the +miracle of becoming the favourite of the King, while possessing +precisely the defects which Louis XIV. feared the most. Lauzun did not +attain the position of such a favourite as the Constable de Luynes under +Louis XIII., but he secured sufficient influence to accumulate offices +and honours.</p> + +<p>Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, later Comte de Lauzun, +was born in 1633 (or 1632) of an ancient family of Périgord. His parents +had nine children and nothing to give to the younger ones; but their +birth assured to this youthful throng access to the Court and hope of +aid from it. The third of the boys resembled Poucet in form and also +possessed his keenness of mind. It was decided to send him to seek his +fortune, not in the forest, as with the hero of the tale, but in the +vicinity of the Court of France, the parents being convinced that with +his acuteness he would not permit himself to be eaten by the ogre, but +would rather succeed in devouring others.</p> + +<p>The Maréchal de Gramont, first cousin of the old Lauzun, saw arrive at +his mansion a very little man, with the face of "a flayed cat,"<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> +surrounded with flaxen hair, who claimed to be fourteen years of age. +This grotesque person was as lively as a sparrow and Gascon to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +tips of his fingers.</p> + +<p>The Marshal kept him and provided for his education. In winter the +little man went to the "academy" to learn to dance, to shoot, and to +ride. In the summer he campaigned with a cavalry regiment belonging to +his uncle. There was apparently no plan for serious study of any kind, +nor even any attention paid to making the youth read. Complete ignorance +was still accepted among the nobility without remark; there had been +little change for the better in this respect since the previous century. +The parents of Lauzun had well judged. In a short time the boy had +wormed himself into the most imposing mansions, the most sacred +chambers. He was seen with the King, he was met in the company of +beautiful ladies. The Court and the city became familiar with his +furtive and impudent physiognomy, which soon grew haughty and insolent. +At eighteen, his father gave him his first military charge. At +twenty-four, he possessed a regiment; then suddenly, when the King came +to power, he received advancements, favours, an always increasing and +inexplicable credit, which aroused for him the hatred of Louvois, for in +the frequent discussions in relation to the service, "the favourite +always conquered." One of his tricks, which was unparalleled for +impudence, and the discovery of which might well have crushed him for +ever, ended in proving his strength.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0245" id="Page_0245"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 444px;"> +<img src="images/illus303.png" width="444" height="600" alt="Cliché Braun, DUC DE LAUZUN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie.<br /> +<br /> +DUC DE LAUZUN<br /> +By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>At about the time when he attracted the attention of the Grande +Mademoiselle, the insatiable little man extracted from his master (under +the condition of secrecy for fear of Louvois) the promise of being +shortly made Grand Master of Artillery. Lauzun was foolish enough not to +be silent. Louvois, once warned, made such strong and convincing +opposition that the King was aroused, and the favourite heard no more of +the appointment. In his anxiety he appealed to Mme. de Montespan. She +was his great friend and promised her aid; but he was distrustful and +wished to "have his mind clear"; then occurred a scene which outraged +Saint-Simon himself, as he related it long after. This writer avows in +his <i>Mémoires</i> that it would have been incredible "if the truth had not +been attested by all the Court."</p> + +<p>Like most great workers, Louis XIV. was orderly and methodical in +everything. He had fixed hours for his ministers and for appearing in +public, hours for his wife and for his mistresses. It could always be +known where he was and what he was doing. Mme. de Montespan's hour was +in the afternoon. With the complicity of a chambermaid Lauzun was +introduced into the room, concealed himself under the bed, and by +keeping his ears open soon "cleared his mind." Mme. de Montespan did not +forget him in her conversation, but he heard himself severely criticised +and his bad character exploited; the slight dependence which could be +placed upon him and his arrogance towards Louvois were also emphasised. +All these charges were made with so much wit that the King, carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +away, replied with almost as little charity.</p> + +<p>The listener under the bed, through rage and constraint, was thrown into +a "great perspiration." Finally the King returned to his own affairs and +Mme. de Montespan to hers, which were to attire themselves for a ballet. +After her toilet, Madame found Lauzun at her door. He offered +his hand and demanded if he dared flatter himself that she had +remembered him with the King. She assured him that she had not failed to +do so, and expatiated upon "all the services which she had just rendered +him." M. de Lauzun permitted her to finish, only forcing her to walk +slowly, and then softly in a low voice repeated, word for word, all that +had passed between the King and herself, without leaving out a single +phrase; and always retaining the sweet and gentle voice, he proceeded to +call her the most infamous names, assured her that he would "spoil her +face," and led her most unwillingly to the ballet, more dead than alive, +and almost without consciousness.</p> + +<p>The King and Mme. de Montespan both believed that it was only the devil +himself who could have so accurately reported what had been said. +Royalty and the mistress were in trouble, and in a "horrible rage"; they +had not yet recovered their equanimity when the favourite recommenced +his intrigues.</p> + +<p>Three days after this apparently inexplicable event, he came to break<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +his sword before the King, declaiming that he would no longer serve a +prince who forswore his word for a —— (the word cannot be repeated). +The conduct of Louis XIV. at this juncture has remained famous. He +opened the window and threw out his cane, saying that he should regret +having struck a gentleman.</p> + +<p>The next day Lauzun found himself in the Bastile, and it might have been +supposed for a long sojourn, under a monarch who never as a child had +pardoned a lack of respect. The public was still more astonished to +learn, at the end of the second month, that it was the King who sought +pardon, and Lauzun who held his head high, refusing recompense and +asserting that the prison was preferable to the Court.</p> + +<p>The feelings of Louvois and others can be imagined during the strange +interchange of visits between Saint-Germain and the Bastile, for the +purpose of obtaining from this dangerous personage the acceptance of the +much-desired charge of Captain of the Body Guard; also the alarm at the +prompt<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> return of the favourite, more of a spoiled child than before +the punishment.</p> + +<p>Whence came this credit with a prince so little susceptible to +influence, who had always pretended to be as opposed to the rule of +favourites as of prime ministers? In what did this little Lauzun show +special merit? and what attracted women who pursued and sought his +favour through cajoleries and gifts? Little Poucet he still was; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +he had not increased in stature. "He is," wrote Bussy-Rabutin, "one of +the smallest men God has ever made."<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> He had not become more +beautiful. We can on this point believe the testimony of Mademoiselle +herself. However strong her passion, she is yet able to paint Lauzun in +these terms, writing to Mme. de Noailles: "He is a small man. No one can +say that his figure is not the straightest, prettiest, most agreeable. +The limbs are fine; he has good presence in all that he does; but little +hair, blond mixed with grey, ill-combed, and often somewhat greasy; fine +blue eyes, but generally red; a shrewd air; a pretty countenance. His +smile pleases. The end of his nose is pointed and red; something +elevated in his physiognomy; very negligent in attire; when, however, it +appeals to him to be careful, he looks very well. Behold the man!"</p> + +<p>This is not an alluring picture. There was but little to attract. It was +murmured that he possessed secret methods of making himself beloved. "As +for his temper and manners," continues Mademoiselle, "I defy any one to +understand them, to explain or to imitate them." The world was not +entirely of this opinion. It could recognise at least that M. de Lauzun +was "the most insolent little man born in the century,"<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> also the +most malicious. Many cruel traits were ascribed to him, and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +fashion of turning on his heel and plunging into the crowd before his +victims had regained their composure was well known.</p> + +<p>The world was also well assured that the favourite was an intriguer. +Lauzun was always occupied with some machination, even against those to +whom he was indifferent; this kept his hand in. For the rest, +Mademoiselle was right; he was <i>not</i> understood. He was very +intelligent. His clever phrases were repeated. For example, his response +to the wife of a minister who said rather foolishly, in emphasising the +trouble her husband gave himself: "There is nothing more embarrassing +than the position of the one who holds <i>la queue de la poêle</i>, is +there?" "Pardon, Madame, there are those who are within."</p> + +<p>But Lauzun also loved to play the imbecile and to utter with the tone of +a simpleton phrases without sense; he indulged in this singular taste +even before the King. The contrast was great between his pretensions to +the "haughty air" and the desire to be imposing and the habit of +adorning himself in grotesque costumes in order to see whether any one +dared to laugh at M. de Lauzun. He was once found at home arrayed in a +dressing gown and great wig, his mantle over the gown, a nightcap upon +his wig, and a plumed hat above all. Thus attired, he walked up and down +scanning his domestics, and woe to him who did not keep his countenance.</p> + +<p>He was at once avaricious and lavish, ungrateful and the reverse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +delighting in evil but at the same time loyal as relative or friend +while not ceasing to be dangerous. He undertook at one time to advance +in the world his nephew, lately come from Périgord. He furnished him +with a purse and took the trouble to present him at Court, at which +their apparition was an event. They were pointed out to every one, and +no one, not even the King, composed as he was by profession, could help +laughing; Lauzun had indulged in the fantasy of dressing his nephew in +the costume of his grandfather. The poor lad felt so ridiculous that he +almost died from shame, and fled from Paris without daring to show +himself again.</p> + +<p>In this freak, his uncle had not acted maliciously: he had simply +disregarded consequences. There was certainly a strain of madness in +Lauzun. If not too large, a tinge of this kind often gives to people a +certain fascination. It had captivated Mademoiselle, who in trying to +define her attraction for Lauzun was forced to conclude, "Finally, he +pleased me; and I love him passionately."</p> + +<p>The King had also not been insensible to this indefinable charm, but it +must be said that he had been slightly dazzled by the perfection of the +qualities of a courtier which were shown by this half-madman. The Court +of France possessed no more servile being bowing down before the master +than "the most insolent little man seen during the century." This Gascon +played comedies of devotion for the benefit of Louis XIV. and flattered +him in the most shameful manner, which succeeded only too well.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<p>The King was persuaded that M. de Lauzun loved him alone, lived but for +him, and had no thought apart, and the King was touched by this +illusion. He found such absolute devotion delightful, and was ready to +pardon much to the man who gave so good an example to other courtiers.</p> + +<p>But even in giving full weight to the originality and the +unscrupulousness of this man, which undoubtedly added to his force, and +also bearing in mind that Louis XIV. did not entirely escape a certain +terror which his favourite inspired, it is still difficult to account +for a success so disproportioned to the merit. Lauzun had almost reached +the heights when the mad strain became ascendant and ruined him. Once +decided upon her desires, Mademoiselle became completely absorbed in +finding the best means of satisfying these. The first steps appeared to +be the most difficult. Considering her rank, the advances must be made +by her, and it fell to the Grande Mademoiselle to demand the hand of M. +de Lauzun. Everything had been prepared and the Princess did not +anticipate a refusal. But it was not sufficient to be married; she +wished to live her romance, to be loved, and to be told so, and this +delight was not easy to attain. "I do not know," says she, "if he +perceived what was in my heart. I was dying of desire to give him an +opportunity to tell me what his feelings were to me. I knew not how to +accomplish this."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<p>Probably in all the Court there did not exist another woman so naïve as +Mademoiselle in regard to the manipulation of a lover! After having +seriously thought over the matter, she decided upon a classic expedient. +She resolved to tell Lauzun that it was a question of an alliance, and +that she wished to ask his advice. If he loved her, he would certainly +betray himself. She entered upon the attempt, on the same second of +March on which she had awakened so gaily, and met her lover in the +palace of the Queen, at the time when that lady retired to her +<i>oratoire</i> to "pray God."</p> + +<p>While Marie-Thérèse was prolonging her devotions a certain freedom was +permitted in the anteroom.</p> + +<p>"I went to him and led him near a window. With his pride and his haughty +air, he appeared to me the Emperor of all the world. I commenced: 'You +have testified so much friendship for me during so long a time, that I +have the utmost confidence in you, and I do not wish to act without your +advice.'" Lauzun protested, as was fitting, his gratitude and his +devotion, and Mademoiselle continued: "It is plainly to be seen that the +King wishes to marry me to the Prince de Lorraine; have you heard this +mentioned?" No, he had "heard nothing of it." Mademoiselle poured out +some confused explanations as to her reasons for wishing to remain in +France, in the hope of finding at length true happiness. "For myself," +concluded she, "I cannot love what I do not esteem." Lauzun approved +all and demanded: "Do you think of marrying?" She responded naïvely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +"I become enraged when I hear people calculating upon my succession." +"Ah," said he, "nothing would give me greater delight than to marry." At +this moment, the Queen came out of the <i>oratoire</i> and it was necessary +to part. Lauzun had betrayed nothing. Nevertheless, Mademoiselle felt +very happy: "I thought, there is one important step taken, and he can no +longer mistake my sentiments; on the first occasion, I will learn his. I +was well content with myself and with what I had done."</p> + +<p>Lauzun had in fact really comprehended that the Grande Mademoiselle was +throwing herself at his head, and he was well pleased to enter into the +game at all risks, in order to gain what he could. Without actually +reaching the marriage ceremony, the love of a grand princess can be of +advantage in many ways. He took pains, therefore, to renew the +conversation, and employed all his art, all his wit, in default of +feeling, in keeping the flame alight in the breast of the old maid and +in flattering the weaknesses which united with the movements of her +heart in increasing the desire for marriage. Mademoiselle could not +support the vision of the heirs always on the watch; Lauzun accentuated +and sympathised with her annoyance at overhearing such phrases as "This +one will have that territory, another will inherit this land." "I find +your vexation very reasonable," said he, "for one should live as long +as possible and not love those who desire our death."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle could not resign herself to growing old. This was not +coquetry, of which she could not be accused; it was the conviction that +on account of her high birth she was a privileged creature. She said +very seriously, "People of my quality are always young," and she dressed +as at twenty, and continued to dance.</p> + +<p>Lauzun attacked this delicate subject and did not hesitate to speak +unpleasant truths before offering the soothing balm held in reserve. It +was his habit to treat women brutally in order to make them submissive, +and in this case there were double reasons for doing so. "His maxim," +relates Saint-Simon, "was that the Bourbons must be rudely treated and +the rod must be held high over their heads, without which no empire +could be preserved over them." This system had succeeded tolerably well +with Louis XIV. Lauzun could well believe, in these early times, that it +would also be successful with his cousin, so humbly did she accept his +harshness.</p> + +<p>He said to her: "I find that you are right to take a husband, nothing in +the world being so ridiculous, no matter what may be the rank, as to see +a woman of forty wrapped up in the pleasures of the world, like a girl +of fifteen, who thinks of nothing else. At this age, a woman should be a +nun or at least a <i>dévote</i>, or she should remain at home modestly +dressed."</p> + +<p>He admitted that Mademoiselle, on account of her high rank, might +constitute an exception, and that she might be permitted at long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +intervals to hear one or two acts of the opera; but her duty as old maid +was "to attend vespers, and to listen to sermons, to receive the +benediction, to go to assemblies for the poor, and to the hospitals." Or +else to marry; this was the alternative which pointed his moral. "For +once married," continued he, "a woman can go anywhere at any age; she +dresses like others, to please her husband, and goes to amusements +because he wishes his wife not to appear peculiar."</p> + +<p>Every word impressed itself on the mind of the loving Princess. When +Saint-Simon, who was intimate with Lauzun, read the <i>Mémoires</i> of +Mademoiselle, he found the account of this adventure so true and lively +that he renounced the attempt to relate it himself. "Whoever knew Lauzun +will at once recognise him in all that Mademoiselle relates, and his +voice can almost be heard." Through a very natural contradiction, the +Grande Mademoiselle, even at the height of her passion, preserved "some +regret that she would no longer be queen in foreign lands." Lauzun tried +to banish this regret. He represented to her that the trouble of playing +at royalty</p> + +<blockquote><p>surpassed the pleasure. If you had been really Queen or Empress +you would soon have been bored.... You can now dwell here all your +life.... If you desire to marry you can raise a man to be the equal +in grandeur and power to sovereigns. Above all, he will realise that +you have taken pleasure in bringing him to prominence; he will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +deeply grateful. It would not be needful to describe the man who may +possess so much honour; for in pleasing you and in being your choice, +he must of necessity be an estimable being. He will lack nothing; +but where is he?</p></blockquote> + +<p>This language, so clear in its import to the reader, did not entirely +satisfy Mademoiselle. The poor Princess was ever expecting an avowal or +caresses which never came. Lauzun acted the disinterested friend, the +person who was entirely out of the running, and he detailed all the +reasons which made an unequal marriage distasteful to him. Far from +seeking her, he held himself at a respectful distance when he met her. +"It was I," says she, "who sought him." His reserve and his reticence +added fuel to the flames, and this diverted him, but for the moment he +did not dare to promise himself anything more than greater credit at +Court.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the Duchesse de Longueville<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> wished to establish +the Count de Saint-Paul, the one of her sons who resembled "infinitely" +La Rochefoucauld. In spite of the great difference in age—her son was +only twenty—she thought of Mademoiselle, who remained by far the best +match in the kingdom, and commenced overtures. These were eluded, but +with a gentleness which astonished the social world. Mademoiselle had +her reasons: "For myself, who had my own desires buried in my heart, it +did not at all vex me that the report should be spread that there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +question of marrying me to M. de Longueville.<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> It occurred to me +that this might in some measure accustom people to my future action."</p> + +<p>For once, the diplomacy of Mademoiselle did not prove a failure, and her +calculations were found to be justified. Some days later, when the +affair was being discussed before Lauzun, one of his friends, who had +perceived that the Princess was listening with pleasure, asked him why +he did not try his fortune.<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> Others joined in the suggestion and all +assured him that nothing was impossible for a man so advanced in the +good graces of the King. Lauzun expressed himself shocked at the idea of +an alliance with Mademoiselle; but on returning to his lodging, he +ruminated the entire night upon this conversation, and from that time +the thought did not appear to him so chimerical. It was necessary, +however, to delay the assurance; the King led the Court into Flanders +and gave the command of the escort to his favourite.</p> + +<p>This was a political journey. Spain had been vanquished almost without +resistance in the war of Dévolution<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> (1667-1668). Louis XIV. deemed it +useful to display French royalty in all its pomp to the populations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +lately united with his kingdom, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (May 2, +1668), and all prepared to make a fine figure in a spectacle whose +strangeness finds nothing analogous in modern life.</p> + +<p>In 1658, Loret the journalist had valued at about twelve hundred souls +(the servitors were not included) the convoy formed by the Court at its +departure for Lyons. This figure was certainly surpassed in 1670, when +the royal family alone, more than complete, since it included Mme. de +Montespan and Mlle. de La Vallière, took in their train a suite of +several thousand persons, not counting the army of escorts.</p> + +<p>This suite was composed of ladies and maids of honour, gentlemen, pages, +domestics of all orders and of both sexes, footmen and valets of valets. +The King even brought his nurse with him. On the other hand, the +nobility were better disciplined than in the times of Mazarin and Anne +of Austria, and no one had dared to remain behind. The departure was +from Saint-Germain, April 28. Pellison wrote the next day to his friend +Mlle. de Scudéry: "It is impossible to tell you how numerous the Court +is; it is much larger than at Saint-Germain or Paris. Every one has +followed."<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>The quantity of luggage gave to this crowd the appearance of a wandering +nomadic tribe. All the personages of high rank took with them complete<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +sets of furniture. Louis XIV. had on this journey "a chamber of crimson +damask," for ordinary use, and another "very magnificent" where greater +accommodation would be had. The bed of the last was "of green velvet +embroidered with gold, immensely large, which could of itself fill +several small rooms." There were also entire suites of needful furniture +when the King lodged at his ease, and the same for the Queen, beautiful +Gobelin tapestries and a quantity of silver plaques,<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> chandeliers of +silver, and other pieces.</p> + +<p>The commissary department carried a monster cooking apparatus and +necessary utensils to supply, morning and evening, several large tables +with food served on plated dishes. When all was unpacked, their +Majesties were "almost as at the Tuileries."</p> + +<p>Monsieur could not do without pretty things nor infinite variation of +toilet; he was much encumbered on a journey. Mademoiselle, demanding +little, had nevertheless her rank to maintain, and her "campaign +chamber" was imposing. On one journey, she was obliged to lodge ten days +in a peasant's hut where the ceilings were so low that it was necessary +to increase the height of the room by digging out the ground which +formed the floor, in order to erect the canopy of her bed. Those of the +courtiers obliged, from their rank as chiefs of <i>Commandments</i>, to keep +open table led with them a staff of domestics and enough material for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +an itinerant inn. Others wished to make themselves conspicuous by the +fineness of their equipage. That of Lauzun had been much admired at his +departure from Paris. "He passed through the St. Honoré," wrote +Mademoiselle, who had come across him by chance; "he was very splendid +and magnificent." The most modest carried at least a camp-bed, under +pain of sleeping upon mother earth during the entire trip.</p> + +<p>The train of chariots, carts, and horses, or mules with pack-saddles, +which rolled along the route to Flanders in 1670, can be pictured; also +the difficulty of uniting luggage and owner when the resting-places were +scattered over an entire village or group of villages; the accidents of +all sorts which happened to the caravan, on roads almost always in a +frightful condition, and in traversing rivers often without bridges; the +indifference of some, the impatience of others, and the universal +disorder; the anguish of losing one's cooks if one were a Marie-Thérèse, +the desolation of not finding the rouge and powder if one were Monsieur +or some pretty woman! Surely those who preserved their equanimity +through such trials and under excessive fatigue deserve praise.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. was a good traveller, arranged everything for himself, and +expected others to do as much. He detested groans, timid women, and +those to whom a bed was important. The Queen Marie-Thérèse began to +grumble before actually stepping into her coach, and the fact that she +was in a placid frame of mind during a trip was spread far and wide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +as a piece of good news. The frugal suppers and the nights passed in a +waggon, while awaiting the carriage which had missed the way, appeared +to her frightful calamities. The bad condition of the roads made her +weep, and she uttered loud cries in traversing fords. She was once found +in tears, stopping the horses in the open plain and refusing to go on or +to turn back. An intelligent interest in new surroundings did not give +her compensation for her woes, for she possessed no curiosity. The +conferences with which the King entertained the ladies along the route, +upon military tactics and fortifications, mortally bored and wearied the +poor Queen, and she did not know how to conceal her feelings.</p> + +<p>To tell the truth, among all the women who pressed behind the King upon +the ramparts of the cities or on the fortifications of old +battle-fields, appearing to absorb his words and explanations, +Mademoiselle was the only one who really listened with pleasure. Since +the exploits during the Fronde, the Princess had always considered +herself as belonging to the profession of arms.</p> + +<p>Monsieur had one great resource in travelling. When he joined the King, +he brought with him some choice bits of gossip which entertained the +entire coach. In the evening, when the beds were being anxiously +awaited, he started games, or ordered the King's violins and gave a +dance. If no other place offered, the company would use a barn for the +impromptu ball. Monsieur, however, was much annoyed at any mishaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +which might interfere with his toilet, and could never take accidents of +this kind lightly.</p> + +<p>The journey of 1670 was made more difficult by torrents of rain, and the +one who was generally drenched was the Commander-in-chief of the troops, +who was obliged to stand with uncovered head to receive the King's +orders. Monsieur looked with a sort of indignation upon the piteous +countenance of Lauzun, his hair uncurled and dripping, and once said: +"Nothing would induce me to show myself in such a condition. He does not +look at all well with his wet hair; I have never seen a man so +hideous."<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was more indignant than Monsieur; chiefly over the fact +that any one could consider M. de Lauzun ugly "in any state," and that +the King should gaily expose him to the risk of catching cold. "M. de +Lauzun is always without a hat and has his head drenched. I said to the +King, 'Sire, command him to cover his head; he will be ill.' I said this +so repeatedly that I was afraid my solicitude would be noticed."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle cared but little on her own account for the discomforts of +the journey. No woman made fewer grimaces at a bad supper, or for being +forced to make a bedchamber of her carriage, and sometimes to sleep upon +a chair. She did not, however, enjoy the reputation of being a good +traveller, on account of the insurmountable terror which water inspired. +During a ford, she cried out as loudly as the Queen; the signs of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +King's impatience could not restrain her; "as soon as I see it," said +she, of the water, "I no longer know what I am doing."</p> + +<p>The rest of the party belonging to the caravan resigned themselves to +the discomforts of camping through "the grace of God." It was realised +that any expression of discontent caused the danger of incurring the +royal displeasure, and discomfort was expected as a necessary +accompaniment of a royal progress.</p> + +<p>In 1667, Court had passed one night at the Château of Mailly near +Amiens. The Abbé de Montigny, Almoner of the Queen, wrote the next day +to some friends, "Mailly, ladies, is a caravansary. There was such a +crowd that Mme. de Montausier slept upon a heap of straw in a cupboard, +the daughters of the Queen in a barn on some wheat, and your humble +servant on a pile of charcoal."<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> In 1670 the account of the night of +the 3d of May filled many letters. May 3d had been a painful day. The +immense convoy had departed from Saint-Quentin for Landrecies at an +early hour, during a beating rain, which had visibly increased the +water-courses and swamps. Hour by hour the vehicles sank deeper in the +mud and the roads were encumbered with horses and mules, dead or +overcome, with carts sunk in the mire, and with overturned baggage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +It was not long before the chariots met the same fate. The Maréchal de +Bellefonte was forced to abandon his in a slough, and make the remainder +of his way to the resting-place on foot, in the company of Benserade and +two others. M. de Crussol<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> met the water above the doors of the +carriage in traversing the Sambre, and M. de Bouligneux,<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> who +followed him, was forced to unharness in the middle of the stream and to +save himself on one of the horses. When it came to the Queen and +Mademoiselle, it was in vain to promise to conduct them to another ford +reported as "very safe." Their cries and agitation were such that the +attempt was abandoned. They sought shelter in the single habitation on +the bank. It was a poor hut composed of two connecting rooms with only +the ground for floor; on entering, Mademoiselle sank up to the knees in +a muddy hole. Landrecies was upon the other bank of the Sambre. The +night fell and all were dying with hunger, for there had been no meal +since Saint-Quentin. The King, very discontented, declared that no +further attempt should be made to proceed and the night should be passed +in the carriages. Mademoiselle remounted into hers, put on her nightcap +and undressed. She could not, however, close her eyes; "for there was +such a frightful noise." Some one said, "The King and Queen are going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +to sup." Mademoiselle ordered herself borne through the mud into the +hut, and found the Queen very sulky. Marie-Thérèse had no bed and was +lamenting, saying "that she would be ill if she did not sleep," and +demanding what was the pleasure in such journeyings.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. added the last touch to her vexation in proposing that the +entire royal family and some intimates should sleep in the largest of +the two rooms, letting the other serve as a military headquarters for +Lauzun. "Look," said the King, "they are bringing mattresses; +Romecourt<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> has an entirely new bed upon which you can sleep." +"What!" cried the Queen, "sleep all together in one room? that will be +horrible!" "But," rejoined the King, "you'll be completely dressed. +There can be no harm. I find none." Mademoiselle, chosen as arbitrator, +found no impropriety, and the Queen yielded.</p> + +<p>The city of Landrecies had provided their sovereigns with a "bouillon +very thin," the distasteful appearance of which alarmed Marie-Thérèse. +She refused it with disgust. When it was well understood that she would +not touch it, the King and Mademoiselle, aided by Monsieur and Madame, +devoured it in an instant; as soon as it was all gone, the Queen said, +"I wanted some soup and you have eaten it all." Every one began to +laugh, in spite of etiquette; when there appeared a large dish of +chicken cutlets, also sent from Landrecies, which was eaten with avidity, +soothing the injured feelings of the Queen. "The dish contained,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +relates Mademoiselle, "meat so hard that it took all one's strength to +pull a chicken apart."</p> + +<p>When the company retired for the night, those not yet prepared arrayed +themselves in nightcaps and dressing-gowns,<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> and French royalty for +this memorable night must be represented in the apparel of Argan.</p> + +<p>In the corner of the chimney, upon the bed of Romecourt, lay the Queen, +turned so that she might see all that was passing. "You have only to +keep open your curtain," suggested the King; "you will be able to see us +all."</p> + +<p>Near to the Queen, upon a mattress, lay Mme. de Bethune, the lady of +honour, and Mme. de Thianges, sister of Mme. de Montespan, pressed +together for lack of space. Monsieur and Madame, Louis XIV. and the +Grande Mademoiselle, Mlle. de La Vallière, and Mme. de Montespan, a +duchess and a maid of honour were crowded on the remaining mattresses, +placed at right angles and proving a most troublesome obstruction to the +officers going and coming on official business to the headquarters in +the other room. Happily, the King at length ordered Lauzun to use a hole +in the outer wall for his commands. The royal dormitory was at last left +in peace, and the occupants could slumber.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> + +<p>At four in the morning, Louvois gave warning that a bridge had been +built. Mademoiselle awakened the King and all got up. It was not a +beautiful spectacle. Locks were hanging in disorder and countenances +were wrinkled. Mademoiselle believed herself less disfigured than the +others, because she felt very red, and she rejoiced, as she found it +impossible to avoid the glance of Lauzun. The royal party mounted into +their carriages and attended mass at Landrecies, after which these +august personages went to bed and reposed a portion of the day.</p> + +<p>The same evening Mademoiselle, only half aroused, was severely scolded +by Lauzun for her ridiculous dread of the water. This was very sweet to +her; it being the first time he had taken such a liberty, and the most +passionate women in the early days of love adore the masterful tone. The +two saw each other less often than at Saint-Germain, but with more +freedom. The chances of travel gave, from time to time, the opportunity +for long tête-à-têtes, by which they profited; she, to become more +pressing, he, to make himself more keenly desired.</p> + +<p>Lauzun said one day that he thought of retiring from the world. "I am +having a vision of such beautiful and great hopes; and if they are only +delusions I shall die of grief."</p> + +<p>"But," said Mademoiselle, "do you never think of marrying?"</p> + +<p>"The one thing of importance in marriage," replied he, "would be belief +in the virtue of the lady, for if there had been the slightest lapse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +I would have none of her; even if it were a question of yourself, far +above others as you are!"</p> + +<p>He said this because there was a rumour that the King had the plan of +marrying Mlle. de La Vallière to his favourite.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle cried out ingenuously: "But you would wish me; for I am +good. 'Do not talk even delightful nonsense, when we are speaking +seriously.' But return then to me."</p> + +<p>This was precisely what he did not wish. He recollected all at once that +the Venetian Ambassador was expecting him.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, Mademoiselle said to him, in confessing the fact +that she was "entirely resolved to marry," and that her choice was made: +"I intend to speak to the King, and to have the wedding in Flanders; +that will make less stir than at Paris."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I beseech you not to do this!" cried Lauzun alarmed, for he did not +consider the ground sufficiently prepared, "I do not wish it; ... I am +absolutely opposed to it." Some days after, they were together looking +through a window and exchanging impressions upon the persons of quality +who were passing, "their forms, their bearing, their appearance, their +wit." At length, Lauzun remarked, "Judging by what I hear, none of these +would suit you?" "Assuredly not," replied Mademoiselle, "I wish that the +person of my choice might go by, that I could point him out to you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>As every one had now passed, she continued: "He must be sought, there is +still some one else." After this, relates her <i>Mémoires</i>, "he smiled and +we talked of something else."</p> + +<p>They had arrived at the point of smiles and mutual intelligence. +Nevertheless the Court returned to Saint-Germain (June 7th) without +Mademoiselle having obtained the decisive word for which she was meekly +begging. Lauzun opposed some barriers to every advance. Acting through +prudence or calculation, he was to have cause to congratulate himself.</p> + +<p>Fifteen days elapsed in <i>détours</i> and feigned flights. Mademoiselle was +exasperated. Comprehending perfectly well that a Gascony cadet could not +say bluntly, "Take me!" she still was so little capable of subterfuge +that she found the "manners of M. de Lauzun towards her extraordinary." +Lauzun was too subtle for one so simple. La Bruyère himself was going to +renounce the hope of penetrating into his motives, and to avow it in the +passage in which he paints him under the name of Straton: "A character +equivocal, unintelligible; an enigma; a problem never solved."</p> + +<p>Persuaded that her lover held back through respect, Mademoiselle +resolved to attack affairs boldly. On June 20th, she went to enjoy the +diversions of the fine season<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> at Versailles. Monsieur and Madame +were at their château at Saint-Cloud. Mademoiselle followed the Court. +Lauzun was absent, but he took pains from time to time to appear in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +the Queen's salon. One evening, when he had met Mademoiselle and when he +was chaffing her on the subject of the Duc de Longueville, the Princess +said to him vivaciously: "Assuredly I shall marry; but it will not be +with that person. I pray that I may speak with you to-morrow, for I am +resolved to address the King and I desire that all should be finished +before July 1st." He replied: "I am going to-morrow to Paris, and Sunday +without fail I shall be here, and we will then talk over everything; I +begin also to desire to have all ended."</p> + +<p>On Sunday (June 29th), towards evening, Lauzun had not yet arrived. +Mademoiselle was notified that the Queen was awaiting her for the daily +drive. She went out quickly, and ran across the Comte d'Ayen,<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> who +had also an appearance of being in haste, and who said to her in +passing, "Madame is dying; I am seeking M. Vallot,<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> whom the King +has commanded me to lead to her!" Below in her carriage the Queen +related the tale of the glass of chicory water and the fact that Madame +believed herself to be poisoned. All were astonished and exclaimed, "Ah, +what a horror!" People looked at each other and did not know what to do. +Marie-Thérèse descended from her carriage and was peacefully entering a +boat on the grand canal, when a gentleman arrived in haste; Madame<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +was in extremity and besought the Queen not to delay if she wished to +see her alive. The château was speedily regained, where the confusion +recommenced. The Queen demanded every instant: "What shall I do? What +shall I do?" She could not decide to go herself, and she prevented +Mademoiselle from departing without her. Finally, the King appeared. He +took the Queen in his coach with Mademoiselle and the Comtesse de +Soissons. Mlle. de La Vallière and Mme. de Montespan followed. It was +eleven o'clock when the royal family descended at the gate of the +Château Saint-Cloud.</p> + +<p>The spectacle which awaited it has been described a hundred times. A +poor little dishevelled figure, pathetic from suffering, and already +drawn by the approach of the dying agony, lay upon the bed. The +unfastened chemise permitted her emaciation to be seen, and she was so +pale that if it had not been for her cries it might have been thought +that the end had already come. We know through Mme. de La Fayette<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> +that the first sentiments of the spectators had been those of pity, +natural in such a case, and here doubled by the sight of the frightful +sufferings and the gentleness of this young and charming being in the +presence of death. The state of Madame had touched even her husband, so +embittered against her by her frivolities, and only the sound of +"weeping was heard in the chamber."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the entrance of the sovereigns and their suite the aspect of +the room was at once altered. Louis was indeed sincerely affected, +Mademoiselle much moved, and many of the others felt "that they were +losing with Madame all the joy, all the agreeableness, all the pleasures +of the Court."<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> But egotism and intrigue marched on the heels of +their Majesties. Even while weeping, each began to dream over the +consequences of this death. Who would inherit the prestige of Madame? +Whom would Monsieur marry? Would it be the Grande Mademoiselle? How +would this affect the interests of each? The dying woman felt a sudden +chill in the atmosphere. "She perceived with pain the tranquillity of +every one," reports Mademoiselle, "and I have never seen any sight so +pitiable as her state when she realised the real attitude of those +surrounding her bed. The crowd kept on talking, moving about in the +room, almost laughing."</p> + +<p>Monsieur was only "astonished" at what was happening. Mademoiselle +having urged him to send for a priest, he said, "Whom shall we call? +Whose name will appear well in the <i>Gazette</i>?" This preoccupation truly +reveals Monsieur.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the King, who took away others in his train, the +scene again changed. Monsieur had sent for Bossuet, who, in a letter to +one of his brothers, has related details of these last hours. To judge +from this letter, it appears that the presence of the priest at the +bedside of Madame turned all minds from terrestrial preoccupations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +and banished all thoughts except those impressed by the grandeur of +death. Madame herself gave the example, proving with her last sigh that +she felt she was accomplishing "the most important action of life."<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> +"I found her fully conscious," said Bossuet, "speaking and acting without +ostentation, without effort, without violence; but so well, so suitably, +with so much courage and piety, that I was completely overcome." Thus +God had the last word!</p> + +<p>On returning to Versailles, the Queen quietly ate her supper. +Mademoiselle perceived Lauzun among those present. "In rising from +table, I said to him, 'This is very disconcerting.' He replied, 'Very, +and I am afraid that it may spoil our plans.' I responded, 'Ah, no. No +matter what may happen.'"</p> + +<p>The poor woman could not sleep during the night: how rid herself of +Monsieur, if the King should wish "the marriage"? At six in the morning, +word came from Saint-Cloud that Madame was dead. "At this news," +continues Mademoiselle, "the King resolved to take medicine," and +Mademoiselle, arriving with the Queen, found him in a dressing-gown, +weeping bitterly over the loss of Madame, and very tenderly pitying his +own woe. He said to Mademoiselle: "Come, watch me take medicine; let us +make no more fuss; better act as I am doing." After his draught he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +retired, and the morning was passed in his bedchamber speaking of the +dead.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, the King dressed and went to consult Mademoiselle, as +the great authority in matters of Court etiquette, upon the proper +arrangements for the funeral ceremony. After these details had been +discussed, the King spoke the word she was expecting and dreading: "'My +cousin, here is a vacant place, will you fill it?' I became pale as +death, and said, 'You are the master, your wish is mine.' He urged me to +speak frankly. I said, 'I can say nothing about this.' 'But have you any +aversion to the idea?' I was silent; he went on, 'I will further the +affair and report to you.'"</p> + +<p>In the salons, the crowd of courtiers was busily engaged in remarrying +Monsieur. The question was, "To whom?" and every one looked at the +Grande Mademoiselle. Lauzun bore the situation like a man of spirit, +without troubling himself with useless regrets or feigning a loving +despair which was very foreign to his nature. His manner was free, very +gay, too easy to please Mademoiselle when he congratulated her and +refused to listen to her protestations that "it would never be." "The +King said that he wished you would marry Monsieur; it will be necessary +to obey." He besought her not to hesitate, and dilated on the joys of +grandeur, and the happiness she might have with Monsieur. She responded, +"I am more than fifteen, and I do not propose to accept a life fit only +for children."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of all the honours attached to the rank of sister-in-law to the King, +one alone appealed to her,—that she would then have a good place in +the royal carriage, instead of being always on the basket seat, and she +represented to Lauzun that the "good place would not long remain vacant." +It would be assigned to the children of the King as soon as they should +be grown up. Once he added: "The past must be forgotten. I remember +nothing of what you have told me; I have lately forgotten all."</p> + +<p>Another time, he showed that he was not ignorant of what he was losing. +She had just repeated, "Ah, this shall never be!" "But yes," rejoined +Lauzun, "I shall be glad; for I prefer your grandeur to my own joy and +fortune; I owe you too much to feel otherwise." "He had never before +admitted as much," remarks Mademoiselle. After such delightful +conversations, she shut herself up to weep. The idea of marrying +Monsieur was odious to her, for other reasons besides the desires +aroused by her passion.</p> + +<p>Not that she suspected him of having poisoned his wife. Mademoiselle +considered her cousin incapable of such a crime. But she could not bear +the thought of the many favourites of Monsieur and of their power. One +of these, M. de Beuvron,<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> had confirmed this repugnance by coming +insolently and inopportunely to assure her of his protection and of that +of the Chevalier de Lorraine. He frankly told her: "It will be more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +to our advantage to have you than a German princess without a sou, who +would only be an expense, while you have so much that the allowance of +Monsieur can be spent for his liberalities; thus we shall come off +better." This was not a clever address to a princess who sincerely loved +money. The following displayed even less tact: "If we aid in making your +marriage, you will be under obligation to us, and you will realise our +power."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle heard all and recounted the conversation to the King. "He +has spoken like a fool," said Louis with his shrewd common-sense. +Mademoiselle could not resign herself to this alliance, and Lauzun +trembled lest he should be held responsible. He came once again, to find +the Princess with the Queen, and said to her:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I come very humbly to supplicate, that you will speak no more to +me. I am most unhappy at displeasing Monsieur. He might believe +that all the difficulties you are making come from me. Thus I shall +no longer enjoy the honour of addressing you. Do not summon me, for +I shall not respond. Do not write to me, nor address me in any way. +I am in despair to be forced to act in this fashion; but I must do +so for love of you.</p></blockquote> + +<p>She equivocated, tried to retain him. He repeated to her his accustomed +refrain that he must obey, and coldly took leave while she cried out: +"Do not go away! What, shall I speak to you no more?" From that day +Lauzun carefully avoided her. One day, when Mademoiselle requested him +to re-knot her muff ribbon, he replied "that he was not sufficiently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +adroit," and yielded to Mlle. de La Vallière. He even avoided glancing +in her direction.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. had found his brother well convinced of the advantage of +marrying many millions; Monsieur only demanded delay, not wishing, with +the rumours which were circulating, to appear too eager to replace the +dead. Mademoiselle also on her side was endeavouring to hinder the +progress of affairs. Success crowned the efforts of both, and the month +of September was well advanced when the King said to his cousin in the +presence of the Queen: "My brother has spoken to me; he wishes in case +you have no children that you should make his daughter your heir,<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> +and he says he will be well content not to have any more offspring, +provided he is assured that my daughter shall marry his son. I +counselled him to desire children, because this could not be a +certainty."</p> + +<p>Monsieur was thirteen years younger than Mademoiselle, and the latter +very well understood the significance of words. She began to laugh. "I +have never heard persons on the brink of marriage say that they did not +wish children, and I hardly know whether this is a courteous +proposition. What does your Majesty think?" The King also laughed. "My +brother has said so many ridiculous things on this subject that I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +have advised silence."</p> + +<p>The joking continued in spite of the Queen, who cried out, "This is +really disagreeable!" Finally, Mademoiselle concluded in a serious tone: +"Although I am no longer young, I have not reached the age at which +children are impossible.... Such suggestions are most disagreeable to +me." The King also became serious, and warned his cousin that she could +never expect from him the gift of any government or any appointment +which would permit the exercise of power, but only precious stones and +furniture and other playthings. This again was a lesson from the Fronde, +and in his <i>Mémoires</i><a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Louis confirms this same resolution. +Mademoiselle thanked her cousin somewhat ironically for what he had done +to render Monsieur desirable, and, realising by the questions of the +King that some hints had reached his ears, she pictured in covered words +the future of which she had had a glimpse. The Queen demanded her +meaning, but the King remained silent. "I do hope," observed +Mademoiselle in ending, "that I may be permitted to act as I wish and +that the King will not force me against my desires." "No, surely," +replied Louis, "I will leave you free and will never constrain any one"; +he added an instant after, "Let us go to dinner," and they separated. +Some weeks rolled by. The favourites of Monsieur were cold about an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +alliance which the temper of Mademoiselle might make somewhat difficult, +and which might in the end prove <i>not</i> to their advantage.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> + +<p>Events moved quietly enough when the Princess one evening in October +supplicated the King that there should be no more said of the project. +Louis XIV. appeared to be indifferent. Monsieur was at first vexed and +then dismissed the subject from his thoughts. Marie-Thérèse alone, +interested neither in her brother-in-law nor in her cousin, "was in +despair," relates Mademoiselle, "for she wishes that we should marry and +have children." But no one paid much attention to the despair of +Marie-Thérèse. Lauzun approved the course of Mademoiselle and ceased to +avoid her. That was all. For an ambitious man, he was not a really +clever schemer; he had too great a fear of being duped. He again assumed +a sombre attitude and refused to hear the name of the one chosen by +Mademoiselle. On a certain Thursday evening, when she had menaced him +with the threat of breathing against the mirror and of writing the name +of the man she loved, midnight sounded during this contest. "Nothing +more can be said," observed Mademoiselle, "for it is already Friday." +The next day, taking a sheet of paper, she wrote distinctly, "It is +you," and sealed it. "That day I met him only on the way to supper. I +said: 'I have the name in my pocket, but I do not wish to give it to you +on Friday.' He responded: 'Give it to me! I promise that I will put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +it under my pillow and that I will not open the paper until midnight +has passed.'" She did not trust him, and it did not occur to him to +sacrifice a race that had been arranged for the Saturday. "Ah, well, I +will wait until Sunday," said Mademoiselle with inconceivable patience, +and her only vengeance was to let herself be implored a little, before +giving up the paper. The couple were alone in a corner of the fireplace, +in the salon of the Queen. "I drew forth the leaf, upon which only a +single word was written, which, however, told much; I showed it to him, +and then replaced it in my pocket, afterward in my muff. He urged me +very strongly to give it to him, saying that his heart was beating +rapidly.... Before yielding I said, 'You will reply on the same +leaf.'"... In the evening she did not dare to raise her eyes; he +declared that she was mocking him, that "he was not sufficiently foolish +to be deceived," and this was the theme of the letter which he remitted +to her. At the same time, he thought of the prodigious elevation which +he was beginning to realise was a possibility before him. He was at last +aroused, and could not always refrain from responding seriously to +Mademoiselle. She spoke of the happiness which awaited them, and of her +plans to make him the greatest lord in the kingdom. He counselled her +always to bow before fate, but one day he added: "In marrying, the +temperament of those throwing their fates together should be known. I +will disclose mine." He said that he possessed a nature bizarre and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +unsociable, being able to live only in the wake of the King; "thus I +shall be a peculiar and not very diverting husband." Later, he amplified +a little, affirming that he was cured of desire for women, and had no +more ambition. "When a post was proposed to me I refused it. After all, +do you really want me?"—"Yes; I wish you."—"Do you find nothing in my +person which is disgusting?" This question was reasonable enough. Lauzun +was decidedly "unclean"<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a>—but it roused the indignation of +Mademoiselle: "When you say that you are afraid of not pleasing, you are +simply mocking; you have pleased too easily in your life; but now about +me, do you find anything unpleasant in my face? I believe that my only +exterior fault is my teeth, which are not fine. That is a defect of my +race, which fact bears its own compensations." "Assuredly" replied he, +and she could not extract the expected compliment.</p> + +<p>In the course of these events, the Court returned to the Louvre and the +Tuileries, Mademoiselle to the Luxembourg. After much hesitation Lauzun +consented that Mademoiselle should write a letter in which she should +supplicate the King to forget all that he had said against mixed +marriages, and permit her to be happy. The contemporaneous opinion was +that Lauzun had made the first move. The Spanish <i>Chargé d'Affaires</i> +wrote from Paris, December 21: "It is certain, as every one says, that +he has arrived at this point with the authorisation and permission of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +the King."<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> The public voice, whose echo has been preserved for us by +the novelists of the period, added that Mme. de Montespan had been mixed +up in the affair, a version which two of her letters to Lauzun +confirm,<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> and that she had obtained the consent of the King by +saying: "Ah, Sire, let him alone. He has merit enough for this."<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> + +<p>There was evidently some secret bond between the mistress and Lauzun +which united them when any mischief was at hand. The King had responded +to Mademoiselle without actually saying yes, or no; he confessed that +her letter had astonished him and asked her to reflect again. He +repeated the advice three days later, during a <i>tête-à-tête</i> which took +place behind closed doors at two o'clock in the morning. "I neither +counsel you nor forbid you; but I pray you to consider well." He added +that the affair was being discussed and that many people disliked M. de +Lauzun. "Think over this fact and take your own measures."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0283" id="Page_0283"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"> +<img src="images/illus343.png" width="433" height="600" alt="MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ<br /> +From the painting by Pietro Mignard in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence<br /> +(Photograph by Alinari)</span> +</div> + +<p>The couple profited by the warning. On Monday, December 15, 1670, in the +afternoon, the Ducs de Montausier and de Crégny, the Maréchal d'Albret +and the Marquis de Guitry presented themselves before Louis XIV., and +demanded the hand of the Grande Mademoiselle for M. de Lauzun, "as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +deputies from the French nobility, who would consider it a great honour +and grace if the King would permit a simple gentleman to marry a +Princess of the blood."<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> This proceeding was a plan of Lauzun's. It +succeeded with the King, and after he had been thanked in the name of +the entire nobility of the kingdom, Mademoiselle, who was apparently +listening to the reading of a sermon, behind the chair of the Queen, was +notified that M. de Montausier was asking for her. The Duke reported the +good reception which they had received and ended in these terms: "Your +affair is accomplished, but I counsel you not to let things lag; if you +follow my advice, you will marry this very night."</p> + +<p>"I was convinced that he was right" adds Mademoiselle, "and I prayed him +to give the same advice to M. de Lauzun if he should see him before I +did."</p> + +<p>There is no clearer fact in history than the evidence of the +consternation into which France was thrown by the news that the Duchesse +de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henri IV., was to marry the Comte de +Lauzun, "a simple (qualified) gentleman." To-day, an alliance of this +kind, provided it does not concern the heir to the throne, is only a +piece of society gossip, even in lands still profoundly loyal to +monarchical sentiments. In the seventeenth century such an event touched +so nearly the social hierarchy upon which all rested that Mademoiselle, +in thus confusing social ranks, appeared to have failed seriously in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +her duty as Princess.</p> + +<p>Louis, as King, had not considered it his duty to oppose. The criticism +was more severe inasmuch as custom, encouraged by illustrious examples, +offered to lovers separated by birth easy means for completing their +private happiness, sustaining at the same time public decorum. +"Marriages of conscience" had been invented for such cases; why not be +content with this means of doing your duty and of satisfying at the same +time conscience and passion? Paris sought a reply to this question, and +the whole city was whispering and busying itself in a manner not easily +to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Ten years later, when the trials of the "Corrupters" disturbed the +community, some one wrote to Mme. de Sévigné that "the last two days +have been as agitated as during the time when the news of the projected +marriage between the Grande Mademoiselle and M. de Lauzun was announced. +All were seeking news and, eager with curiosity, were running from one +house to another to gather details."<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> + +<p>The princes and princesses of the blood considered themselves insulted, +and rebelled, a boldness so unexpected, on account of their habitual +submission, that even Louis XIV. was somewhat moved. The timid +Marie-Thérèse gave the example. Mademoiselle came to announce formally +the proposed marriage. "I entirely disapprove," said the Queen in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +very sharp tone, "and the King will never sanction it." "He does approve +it, Madame, that is settled." "You would do better never to marry, to +keep your wealth for my son Anjou."<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> Anger gave the Queen courage to +address the King, who was vexed, and the result was a scene, tears, a +night of despair; but also nothing gained, and finally the Queen was +forced into a public declaration that she would sign the contract.</p> + +<p>Monsieur loudly protested. He heaped abuses on the "deputies of French +nobility," reproached Mademoiselle in the presence of the King for being +"without heart," and said that she was a person who should be "placed in +an insane asylum,"<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> and also declared that he would <i>not</i> sign the +contract. The gravest accusation made by Monsieur was a statement, +repeated to all, that Mademoiselle had said that the King had himself +counselled the marriage. In vain Mademoiselle asserted that she had said +nothing of the kind; the charge made a great impression upon Louis, and +he expressed his first regret over the affair. The Prince de Condé, +sometimes taunted with having become, somewhat late in life, an +accomplished courtier, remonstrated respectfully but firmly with the +King.</p> + +<p>The old Madame, forgotten in her corner of the Luxembourg, never really +felt the wave of disgust and protest, but she was sufficiently aroused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +from her apathy to sign a letter to the King, written in her name by M. +Le Pelletier, President of the Department of Inquests. Outside the Court +circle, Louis XIV. felt himself blamed by all classes of society. The +nobles in general refused to ratify the "Mandate" that the deputies had +given in their name. Without doubt, the honour of this marriage would be +great: the permission given to a princess of the blood to marry so far +beneath her rank, a most unexpected favour from a monarch who had worked +so systematically to undermine the power of the aristocracy; but the +larger portion of the French nobility was so much impressed with the +danger of insulting royalty, and weakening the sentiment of the sanctity +of the Heaven-sent rulers, that it joined in the criticism of the rest +of the nation.</p> + +<p>The Parliamentary world and the society of the higher middle class were +equally outraged. It was plain that the marriage could be made only with +the King's consent, and the giving of this was considered a "shame." The +bourgeoisie showed an inconceivable irritation; Segrais heard Guilloire, +Intendant of Mademoiselle, say to his mistress in an excited tone, +knowing very well that he was risking his position, "You are derided and +hated by all Europe." As to the common people, their attitude was +touching. "They were," reports a witness,<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> "in a state of +consternation." They grieved as if their Prince had deceived them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p> + +<p>The enemies of Lauzun increased the discontent and endeavoured to gain +time. Louvois was credited with having persuaded the Archbishop of Paris +to forbid the bans. The minister felt himself directly menaced, and this +was also the opinion of the political world, in which many believed that +the projected marriage was a stroke directed "against M. de Louvois, an +avowed enemy of M. de Lauzun,"<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> by Colbert and Mme. de Montespan.</p> + +<p>While the tempest was gathering, the friends of the two lovers pressed +them to hasten the end. "In the name of God," said Rochefort, Captain of +the Guards, "Marry to-day rather than to-morrow!" Montausier "scolded" +them for dallying. Mme. de Sévigné represented to Mademoiselle that they +"were tempting God and the King."<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> + +<p>Nothing can be done for people who are walking in the clouds. Lauzun, +"intoxicated with vanity,"<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> believed himself already safe in port, +sheltered from all trouble, with the King and Mme. de Montespan on his +side. Mademoiselle, "dazzled by love," permitted herself to be guided. +Her first desire had been to marry upon the evening of the deputation to +the King, without saying anything about it, but Lauzun refused. "He was +persuaded that Mme. de Montespan would not fail him, and that nothing +could now turn the King against him, and considered everything secure, +saying, "I distrust only you." To marry thus clandestinely would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +satisfy his vanity. He wished that the deed should be done as "from +crown to crown, openly and with all forms observed." He desired the +chapel of the Tuileries, pomp, a crowd, rows of astonished and envious +faces, "rich livery" that he had hastened to order for the occasion. In +short, he longed for the moon and he did not succeed in seizing it.</p> + +<p>Tuesday, December 16th, was passed in talking, in expressing +astonishment, in paying compliments. A multitude came to the Luxembourg, +among whom the Archbishop of Reims, brother of Louvois, who said to +Mademoiselle: "Would you do me the injury of choosing any other than +myself to perform the marriage ceremony?" Another had already solicited +the honour, a proof that so far a rupture had not been thought of. +Mademoiselle replied: "M. the Archbishop of Paris has said that he +desired the office."</p> + +<p>Wednesday, there was a fresh crowd, Louvois in person and all the +ministers; but there was no longer the same cordiality, and Mademoiselle +herself perceived the difference. "They made low bows, they conversed, +but no longer about the affair." The evening of the same day, the +Princess gave to Lauzun ("awaiting something better," said Mme. de +Sévigné), the Comté of Eu, which represented the first peerage of +France, assuring the first rank, the Principality of Dombes and the +Duchy of Montpensier, of which last Lauzun assumed the title and name.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +It was agreed that the ceremony should take place the next day at noon. +On Thursday, the 18th, the contract was not yet prepared; the lawyers +had delayed on purpose. Towards evening, Lauzun, who was losing his +assurance, offered to break with Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>She was offended and tried once more to make him declare his love, but +he responded, "I will say I love you only when we issue from church." +There was no longer question of the Tuileries chapel, nor even of +dazzling the Parisians, and Friday found a new delay, Mademoiselle +having herself wavered.</p> + +<p>After consideration, a rendezvous was arranged at Charenton, in the +house of a friend, where the wedding was to be secretly solemnised the +next evening at midnight, without even an archbishop. The Parisian offer +began to inspire distrust: "The curé of the place would do well enough."</p> + +<p>When all was settled, Mademoiselle amused herself with showing to her +intimates the chamber that she had arranged for the future Duc de +Montpensier. "It was magnificently furnished," relates the Abbé de +Choisy. "'Do not you think,' said Mademoiselle to us, 'that a Gascony +cadet will be sufficiently well lodged?'" Lauzun took leave early to +pass the night in a "bath house," as was the custom before a wedding. +Mademoiselle opposed this, because he was suffering from a bad cold. He +had also "trouble with his eyes." I said to him, "Your eyes are very +red." He replied, "Do they make you ill?" I said, "No; for they are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +in no way disgusting." It may be noticed that these illustrious lovers +did not possess the light graces of conversation; their phrases were +singularly heavy. "These ladies are mocking us," pursued the Princess. +"I do not know, however, what caused me to have a presentiment. I began +to weep in seeing him depart; he, too, was sad; we were ridiculed. The +ladies also departed, only Mme. de Nogent remaining."</p> + +<p>This last was the sister of Lauzun, and Mademoiselle had, during the +past months, been very intimate with her.</p> + +<p>While time was thus being wasted at the Luxembourg, Louis submitted to +the almost universal antagonism and withdrew his authorisation to the +alliance. "The Queen and the princes of the blood redoubled their +entreaties; the Maréchal de Villeroy<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> threw himself upon his knees, +with tears in his eyes; the ministers and all those approaching the King +expressed the voice of the people. At length God touched the King's +heart."<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> God? No, but a creature of flesh; Mme. de Montespan for the +second time betrayed Lauzun.</p> + +<p>La Fare affirms the statement that it was the counsel of Mme. de +Maintenon (still only Mme. Scarron) painfully earning her bread in +bringing up in obscurity the children of Mme. de Montespan and the +King. Mme. Scarron had cleverness and prudence, and at that time was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +far from any thought of rivalry; the King could not suffer her. She said +later that he had taken her for a "learned woman," only caring for +"sublime things"<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a>; and Louis distrusted Philimantes. It was, +therefore, as a disinterested friend that she "pointed out to Mme. de +Montespan the tempest which she would draw down upon her head in +sustaining Lauzun in this affair; that the royal family and the King +himself would reproach her for the steps she had urged. Mme. Scarron +succeeded so well that the one who urged the marriage was responsible +for preventing it."<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<p>Louis XIV. yielded to the urgency of Mme. de Montespan and sent to the +Luxembourg for Mademoiselle. It was eight o'clock in the evening. +Mademoiselle uttered a cry on hearing that the King commanded her +presence. "I am in despair; my marriage is broken." On reaching the +Tuileries, the Princess was led to the King by the back staircase, and +quickly perceived that something was being concealed from her. In fact, +Louis had hidden Condé behind a door, that he might listen and be +witness to what passed.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The door was closed behind me. I found the King alone, moved and +sad. "I am in despair at the thought of what I must tell you. I am +told that the world is saying that I am sacrificing you to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +Lauzun's fortune; that this would injure me in foreign lands, and +that I must not permit the affair to be consummated. You are right +in complaining of me; beat me if you wish. I will bear the weight +of any expression of anger in which you may indulge, and feel that +I merit your indignation." "Ah!" cried I, "Sire, what do you tell +me? What cruelty!"</p></blockquote> + +<p>She mingled protestations with reproaches, sobbed out her despair on her +knees, and pleaded to know the fate of Lauzun. "Where is he, Sire, M. de +Lauzun?" "Do not be troubled! No harm shall come to him."</p> + +<p>True sorrow is always eloquent, and Louis XIV. let his own emotion be +visible without shame:</p> + +<blockquote><p>He threw himself on his knees and embraced me. We wept together +three quarters of an hour, his cheek pressed against mine, he +weeping bitterly as I did: "Ah! why have you wasted time in +reflection? why did you not hasten?"—"Alas, Sire! who could have +distrusted your Majesty's word? You have never failed any one +before, and you now begin with me and M. de Lauzun! I shall die, +and be happy in dying. I had never loved any one before in all my +life; I now love, and love passionately and in good faith, the most +worthy man in your kingdom; my only joy and pleasure will be in his +elevation. I hoped to pass the remainder of my days agreeably with +him, and in honouring and loving you as warmly as my husband. You +gave him to me; you now take him away; it is tearing out my heart."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Some one coughed behind the door. "To whom are you betraying me, Sire? +Can it be M. le Prince?" Mademoiselle grew bitter, and the King wished +to end the scene; but she continued to supplicate him: "What, Sire, will +you not yield to my tears?" He replied, raising his voice so that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +might be heard, "Kings must satisfy the public"; and added, an instant +after, "It is late; I can say no more nor differently, even if you +remained longer." "He embraced me and conducted me to the door."</p> + +<p>Such is the recital of Mademoiselle. Another account of the interview +exists, dictated the same evening by Louis to his Minister of Foreign +Affairs, as the following letter, written the next morning, testifies. +Before the King had risen, M. de Lyonne wrote in haste to M. de +Pomponne, the French Ambassador to Holland:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I am overwhelmed with business, and have no time for details, but I +do not doubt that every letter from Paris has brought news of the +projected marriage of the Grande Mademoiselle with Comte de Lauzun. +I must now warn you that the King broke this off yesterday at +eleven o'clock in the evening, so that few people could be aware of +the fact before the departure of the post. I have already outlined +a circular letter from his Majesty, to be sent to all the Foreign +Ministers, to inform them of what has passed in regard to this +affair during the past seven or eight days; but as the King does +not wake before nine o'clock, and as the courier will by that time +have departed, his Majesty will not be able to sign in time for the +letters to be forwarded to-day, and you must be contented with the +simple news, that the affair is ended. I pray you to send a copy of +this note to M. le Chevalier de Terlon and to the Sieur +Rousseau,<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> and to advise them that I have requested you so to +do.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Before referring to the circular letter of His Majesty upon the subject +which caused the cries and tears of his poor cousin, it should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +noted that it seemed perfectly natural, to judge by the documents of the +times, to advise officially foreign powers of events with which they +were actually but little concerned. In the opinion of the seventeenth +century, the man was inseparable from the sovereign, and France was +deeply impressed with the universal importance of Louis XIV. and by +consequence of the obligations devolving upon him. "He must account to +all Europe for his actions," says, in regard to the "Affair Lauzun," the +"relation" already quoted.<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>It is also well to recollect, in order to understand the text of the +letter, that one of the half-sisters of Mademoiselle had married the Duc +de Guise, cadet of the House of Lorraine; an alliance hardly less +unequal in the eyes of the French aristocracy than that of Lauzun with +the Princess. This marriage had excited but little attention, there +being a wide difference between the importance of the sisters. Referring +to this event, the "Deputies of the nobility of France" had not failed +to assert that the nobles of France and the officers of the Crown were +quite equal to foreign princes, and in particular to the "Lorraines" in +spite of their pretensions. With this explanation, the text of the long +despatch addressed to the ambassadors is given. It begins in these +terms:</p> + +<blockquote><p>As what has taken place during the past five or six days in +regard to a plan formed by my cousin for marrying the Comte de Lauzun,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +one of the Captains of the Body Guard, will probably make a great noise +everywhere, and as my conduct in the matter is liable to be interpreted +malignantly, and to be blamed by those who may be incorrectly informed +of the facts, I believe it a duty to instruct all my Foreign Ministers."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The King then explains in detail the affair, and this explanation +exactly accords with the recital of Mademoiselle, save that Louis XIV. +states that he was opposed to the marriage from the beginning, and only +yielded because he was weary of the discussion, being constantly +harassed by his cousin and the Deputies of the nobility: "She +[Mademoiselle] continued ... through notes and every other available +means to press me urgently to give the consent she demanded of me, as +this alone could, as she said, give the happiness and repose of her +life." The Deputies had also represented to him</p> + +<blockquote><p>that after having consented to the marriage of my cousin de Guise, not +only without making the least difficulty but with pleasure, I should +resist this, so ardently desired by her sister, I should clearly show +that I made a great distinction between the cadets of royal houses and +the Officers of my Crown. Such a distinction Spain did not make, but on +the other hand, gave precedence to its own Grandees over any foreign +Princes, and it was impossible that the making of this difference in +France should not greatly mortify the entire nobility of the kingdom. In +conclusion, the urgency of these four persons was so strong, and their +reasons so convincing, especially that emphasising the danger of +insulting the French nobility, that I yielded, and gave consent to the +marriage, shrugging my shoulders at the folly of my cousin, and only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +saying that as she was forty-three, she might do as she pleased.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He continued, "From this moment it was considered that the affair was +concluded." Then follow the details already known, preparations for the +ceremony, the crowd at the Luxembourg; rumours "very injurious" that the +King was responsible for the marriage, wishing to favour Lauzun; and +finally, the resolve to break off the affair.</p> + +<p>This is the single point on which Louis XIV. believed it to be his duty +to restrict his confidences to the universe. He passes over in silence +the supplications of Mme de Montespan and the fact of Condé being hidden +behind the door:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I sent for my cousin. I declared to her, that I would not suffer +her to cross the frontier for marriage, and that I could not +consent that she should marry any Prince who was my subject,<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> +but that she might choose among the (qualified) nobles of France, +with the exception of Lauzun, and that I myself would conduct her +to church.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is superfluous to tell you with what grief she received this +announcement, how she wept and sobbed. She threw herself upon her knees. +"I had pierced her heart with a hundred dagger strokes; she wished to +die"; I remained firm.</p> + +<p>The King added that he made the same communication to Lauzun, "and I may +say that he received it with all the self-control, submission, and +resignation which I could desire."<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> It is with the unfavourable +comparison to Mademoiselle that this curious document terminates.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +Louis displayed but little generosity before a grief so deep.</p> + +<p>The Princess regained her chamber in a pitiable state. She went into +hysterics and broke the windows of the carriage. At the Luxembourg, the +salon was filled with a curious crowd awaiting her return. "Two of her +footmen entered into the room, saying in loud voices, 'Depart at once, +by degrees.' Every one scattered immediately; but I remained the last, +and saw Mademoiselle advance from the hall of the Guards like a +dishevelled fury, menacing heaven and earth with extended arms." She had +barely time to regain a slight degree of calm, when Lauzun entered, +accompanied by Messieurs de Montausier, Créqui, and Guitry. "On seeing +him, I uttered loud cries, and he could hardly restrain himself from +weeping." The nobles of France came at the command of the King to thank +the granddaughter of Henri IV. for the honour that she wished to confer +upon them. M. de Montausier bore the address.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle sobbed. M. de Lauzun had, with full understanding, taken +the expected attitude, of a man who blesses the most cruel blows coming +from the hand of his King. "M. de Lauzun," wrote Mme de Sévigné, "has +played his rôle to perfection; he has sustained his misfortune with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +firmness and courage, and has nevertheless displayed a grief, mingled +with profound respect, which has won the admiration of all."<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a></p> + +<p>The Princess would have been contented with something less admirable. +She said to him: "'You show such strength of mind, that all will believe +you to be indifferent to me. What do you say?' and I sobbed with each +word." He responded very coolly: "If you take my counsel, you will go +to-morrow to dine at the Tuileries, and will thank the King for the +honour that he has done you, in having prevented an action of which you +would have repented all your life." She led her lover aside and had the +pleasure of seeing him weep. "He could not speak, nor could I. I could +only say: 'What! I am never to see you more? I shall certainly die.' +Then we turned around.... These gentlemen departed; I went to bed; I +remained twenty-four hours almost without consciousness." She forbade +any one to be admitted. Her door was, however, opened on Friday morning +for Mme. de Sévigné. Just twenty-four hours had elapsed since +Mademoiselle had overflowed with joy before her friend and despised any +warnings. "I found her in bed<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a>; she redoubled her cries on seeing +me; called me, embraced me, and deluged me with her tears. She said: +'Alas! do you remember what you said yesterday? Ah! what cruel +prudence!' I wept through sympathy with her woe." A little later the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +King was announced. "When he entered," reports Mademoiselle, "I began to +cry with all my strength; he embraced me and placed his cheek against +mine. I said, 'Your Majesty acts like monkeys who stifle their children +embracing them.'" As he was promising all kinds of wonderful things to +console her, among others "that he would do fine things for M. de +Lauzun," she had the presence of mind, in spite of her anguish, to +demand if she might not see her friend again. The reply of the King +should be remembered, as it brought serious results for his cousin. He +said: "I do not forbid you to see him; ... and assuredly you cannot take +advice of a worthier man in regard to any of your affairs than Lauzun." +She hastened to confirm the permission. "It is my intention, Sire, and I +am very happy that you desire that he should continue to be my best +friend; but at least, Sire, you will not change as you did before? I +cannot help reproaching you."</p> + +<p>The succeeding days she was obliged to reopen her doors, and the same +crowd which had feigned to rejoice with her now pretended to pity her. +It was necessary to see again the same faces, to submit to curious +looks, glances filled with raillery, and to reply to <i>banal</i> remarks. +There was much joking in Paris at her having received condolences in +bed, after the fashion of widows. "I have heard in the salon of Mme. de +Maintenon," relates Mme. de Caylus,<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> "that she cried out in her +despair, 'He should be there beside me!'"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> + +<p>A grand Princess, to be dying of love and for a simple cadet from +Gascogne, almost a country fellow; this was a novel spectacle, which so +shocked all ideas of decorum that the public could not take to heart +very seriously this slightly theatrical grief. It was pretended that +Louis had said, "This is only a fantasy born in three days and which +will pass as rapidly." True or false, the King wished to believe this, +and the phrase received general approbation. It relieved the fashionable +world from the duty of sympathising with the unfortunate, who was eating +out her own heart, and visibly fading away.</p> + +<p>"I grew thin, with hollow cheeks, as a person who neither eats nor +sleeps, and I wept the minute that I was alone, or when I met any +friends of M. de Lauzun and they talked of events which had any +connection with him. I always desired to speak of him." The hope of a +speedy death was her sole consolation, for no one, she was convinced had +so deeply suffered. "My state was pitiable, and it must have been +experienced to be appreciated, for such feelings cannot be expressed. It +is necessary to know one's self, in order to judge, and no one can have +felt a grief equal to mine; there is nothing which can compare with it." +This is the universal language of disappointed lovers; but the +expressive phrase below is not at the disposal of all souls. It is only +applicable to moments in which the excess of grief renders it almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +unconscious: "On account of feeling too much, I felt nothing."</p> + +<p>The fifth day, etiquette exacted that she should find herself consoled. +Her duties as Princess were recalled to her. "It was needful to go to +Court, it was not well to pass eight days without seeing the King."</p> + +<p>In vain she fought against such cruel exactions; she was forced to make +a spectacle of herself, still with "discomposed face, red and swollen +eyes, with constant floods of tears, at proper or improper moments, with +sharp cries at sight of Lauzun."</p> + +<p>Lauzun opened his eyes wide upon her as upon a naughty child, and +severely menaced her: "If you act in this manner, I will never be found +again in the same room with you!" But she could not compose herself. One +evening, at a great Court ball, she stopped in the middle of a dance and +began to weep. The King rose and placed his hat before her face, leading +her out of the room and explaining, "My cousin has vapours." The public +did not pity her. It would have liked to celebrate her defeat. "All have +praised the King for this action," wrote Olivier d'Ormesson.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. was again popular, a transient popularity which lasted only a +few days. "It may be said that not only the Court, but the entire +kingdom has rejoiced in the rupture of the proposed marriage."<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> The +sentiment of approval was unanimous. As to the Princess, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +guilty of asserting the right to "personal happiness," opinion judged +her severely. The seventeenth century did not admit, as has been seen, +that individual sentiments or the interests of the heart could +predominate over the exactions of rank or society, and the age of the +lovers and disparity of their appearance, she so tall, he almost a +dwarf, aroused ridicule instead of sympathy. The Grande Mademoiselle was +suddenly rewarded "with contempt," "for," says La Fare, "if this +contemplated alliance appeared extraordinary as soon as the news was +made public, it became ridiculous as soon as it was broken."</p> + +<p>It is agreeable to meet among these people, who were right in the main, +but who were malicious and uncharitable, one good Samaritan.</p> + +<p>While Mme. de Sévigné wrote gaily, "All is finished,"<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> the tears +of Mademoiselle inspired kind and courageous words from a person +comparatively obscure, and who excused herself from corresponding +because she did not have enough "wit." A letter, dated January 21, 1671, +addressed to Bussy-Rabutin by Mme. de Scudéry, sister-in-law of the +illustrious Madeleine, contains this paragraph:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I will say nothing of the affair of Mademoiselle. You are no doubt +acquainted with all that has passed. I will only add that, if you +realise what a great passion can be, in the heart of a pure woman +like the Princess, you will not wonder, but will have sympathy. For +myself, who know nothing of love through experience, I comprehend +that Mademoiselle is much to be pitied; for she has become sleepless.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +During the day she is agitated and weeps, and in fact is leading the +most miserable existence possible.<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Bussy-Rabutin replied (A Chaseu, January 29, 1671):</p> + +<blockquote><p>I comprehend what passion means in a woman of the age and +temperament of Mademoiselle, who has preserved her heart hitherto +untouched, and I confess that this tale arouses my pity. Love seems +to me a malady like the small-pox; the later it attacks the victim, +the more severe the illness.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The writer had indeed well understood the characteristics of late love +on only its displeasing side. But his attitude was, unfortunately, the +one adopted by almost every one.</p> + +<p>Regarded half-pityingly, but with an undercurrent of ridicule, the +Grande Mademoiselle ceased to be interesting to the fickle French +public. The fall from favour was very definite. The heroine of the +Fronde was effaced in the eyes of contemporaries, and remained only a +ridiculous old maid, whose woes amused the gallery.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<blockquote><p>Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?—Imprisonment of +Lauzun—Splendour and Decadence of France—<i>La Chambre +Ardente</i>—Mademoiselle purchases Lauzun's Freedom—Their +Embroilment—Death of the Grande Mademoiselle—Death of +Lauzun—Conclusion.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="dropcap">MANY of the events remaining to be recorded are very obscure. If they +had any importance, they would have figured in the collections of +historic enigmas and problems waiting to be solved; but they hardly +merit the honour, as few of them have had any such influence over the +destinies of France as had, for instance, the fact of the subjection of +Anne of Austria to Mazarin. Nor do any possess the romantic attraction +which attached to the legend of the "Man with the Iron Mask" before its +explanation. Petty details, however, bring the French society of this +period near to us, and the fact that events cannot always be interpreted +makes them seem more like real life. It is only in romances that all is +explained.</p> + +<p>The most obscure of these smaller problems is the question of the +marriage of Mademoiselle with the "little man," as she herself called +him.</p> + +<p>Contemporary opinion has been almost unanimous in its belief in this +marriage. Neither date nor place nor names of the possible witnesses +have ever been satisfactorily established, as was done in the case of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +the union of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Maintenon. There is no written proof +of the fact; Mademoiselle had the habit of burning her letters, and made +no exception in favour of those from Lauzun. She states this fact with +regret, in her <i>Mémoires</i>. We are thus reduced to moral proofs. It is +true that these are strong in favour of the event having taken place; +but they are not altogether unanswerable.</p> + +<p>The belief that a secret bond had remained, after the official +rupture, rested in the mind of most people interested. One of the +correspondents<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> of Bussy-Rabutin wrote to him, February 17, 1671: +"Mademoiselle sometimes still weeps when she reflects, but often she +laughs and is at her ease. Her lover continues to see her and no one +opposes it. I do not know what will happen." Three weeks later, Mme. de +Scudéry made allusion to the same rumour (Paris, March 6, 1671): +"Mademoiselle is always conversing with M. de Lauzun. Their +conversations begin and end with tears. I assure you, however, that +there will be no result." Bussy was among those who believed that it +"would come to something." He replied on the 13th to Mme. de Scudéry: "I +am convinced that the affair of Mademoiselle and Lauzun will have a +happy issue, not in the manner they at first hoped, but in a more secret +method to which the King will consent."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>Would Mademoiselle accept this other way? Doubt is permissible. +<i>Marriages of conscience</i>, if fashionable in the seventeenth century, +created false situations, sometimes very humiliating ones, to a person +not an absolute sovereign accountable to no one, and in a position to +let the truth come out or not as it pleased him. For the rest of +mortals, secret marriages must actually remain concealed, or there would +result endless difficulties. On this account, the married pair could +only meet through a happy chance, which is not agreeable, while it was +also almost impossible to escape suspicious commentaries and the +uncomfortable dependence upon the fidelity of servants. Segrais would +never believe that Mademoiselle had married Lauzun, and one of the +reasons given was "that she sent away Madelon, her chambermaid, and she +would not have done this if Madelon had been able to gossip." Segrais +might have added that his mistress had always severely criticised the +equivocations arising from <i>marriages of conscience</i>.</p> + +<p>But all was changed after the serious conversation between the King and +Mademoiselle behind the closed doors. Mademoiselle encouraged Lauzun to +assume airs of authority, and she was meekly submissive. "He regarded me +with such a look that I no longer dared to weep, the power that he had +over me retaining my tears. It is much wiser not to lose self-control!"</p> + +<p>It was by his advice that she cleared her palace of all who had blamed +their first plan. M. de Montausier and Mme. de Sévigné tried in vain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +to save Segrais, who "was their special friend." "She cannot be touched," +wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "upon a subject which approaches to within nine +hundred leagues of a certain cape."<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> It was Lauzun who designated +the successor of Guillore, her Intendant, and who submitted the choice +to the King. This might give rise to remark. Lauzun warned Mademoiselle +of this danger. "It may be said in the world that I wish to rule you +completely." She responded: "Please God that you should; that is what I +profoundly desire." Mademoiselle had confirmed through new acts the +lavish gifts assured by the contract, and the King rivalled his cousin +in generosity. If the courtiers can be believed, Louis had promised +Lauzun that he should lose nothing by <i>not</i> marrying Mademoiselle. In +any case, he heaped favours upon him. The first gift was the government +of Berri, with fifty thousand francs to pay his debts and the hope that +Fortune would continue her benedictions. Louvois grew anxious and +amassed shiploads of hatred against the favourite.</p> + +<p>The winter passed in this manner. In the spring, the Court returned to +Flanders. During a sojourn at Dunkerque so much was said of the intimacy +of the "dwarf" with the Grande Mademoiselle, that the report reached the +ears of the Princess: "The rumour is circulating that we were married +before leaving Paris, and the <i>Gazette de Hollande</i> confirms this. Some +one brought the paper to me; I showed it to Lauzun, who laughed." Two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +pages further on, another conversation proves that the news was at least +premature; but the public had the right to be deceived, so tender and +familiar was the intercourse between the couple.</p> + +<p>There was a question in this same spring of a trip to Fontainebleau:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I said to M. de Lauzun, "Take care to wear a cap when you are in +the forest; the evening dew is bad for the teeth, and further you +are subject to weak eyes and to catching cold. The air of +Fontainebleau makes the hair fall out." He replied: "I certainly +must try to preserve my teeth. I also fear cold; but as for the red +eyes with which you are constantly reproaching me, they are caused +by wakefulness, with which I have been troubled for some time. As +for my hair, I have too little left to take further pains about it."</p></blockquote> + +<p>She preached neatness to him. "If you are slovenly, it will be said that +I have bad taste. For my sake, you must be careful." Lauzun only +laughed. Indeed, she scolded him through jealousy, fearing that he was +escaping from her influence and going she did not know where, and +perceiving this, he cajoled her. "As soon as he saw that I wished to +scold him, he had unequalled methods for putting me in a good humour." +All this folly resembled a honeymoon, and the <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle +for this same year include a passage which is almost a confession. "It +is still said that we are married. We neither of us say anything, it +being only our particular friends who would dare to address us, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +it is easy to laugh at them, only saying, 'The King knows all.'"</p> + +<p>The conduct of Mademoiselle during the ten years following being a +perpetual and striking confirmation of this half-confession, the fact of +the secret marriage would seem to be assured, and the date would be +placed between May and November, 1671, if it were not for a last +quotation, to be given at its proper date, which again throws doubt upon +the event.</p> + +<p>Whatever the truth may be, it would appear that Mademoiselle had known +how to reunite the broken fragments of her happiness; but Lauzun, for a +second time, lost everything. He had easily learned that he owed the +rupture of the first plan to Mme. de Montespan, and had conceived so +furious a hate against this false friend that he lost his head.</p> + +<p>After a scene worthy of fishwives, in which he had called her names +impossible to print, he would proceed to declaim against her in the +salons, with the utmost violence, and sometimes at only a few steps from +her ears. The courtiers marvelled at the excessive insolence on the one +side and the curious patience on the other, for Mme. de Montespan +endured these outrages without whispering a single protest. It was +rumoured that she had once been his mistress, and that his power was +derived from this fact.</p> + +<p>It is to this enforced penitence of the all-powerful favourite that Mme. +Scarron alluded when at a supper, the account of which is given by Mme. +de Sévigné<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a>: "she dilated upon the horrible agitations in a +country very well known, the continual rage of the little Lauzun, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +the black chagrin or the sad boredom of the ladies of Saint-Germain; and +suggested that the most envied was perhaps not always exempt." Mme. +Scarron had seen the "horrible agitations" very near, for it was she who +had intervened against Lauzun; it was upon her representations that Mme. +de Montespan had ended by saying to the King that "she did not believe +that her life was safe as long as this man was free."<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a></p> + +<p>Lauzun was arrested at Saint-Germain, in his chamber, the evening of +November 25, 1671. The evening previous, Mademoiselle had departed for +Paris declaring: "I do not know what is the matter; I am in such +dreadful apprehension that I cannot remain here." She wept on the way. +She very well knew the cause. One of her friends had been asked, "if M. +de Lauzun had been arrested," and this query had worried her.</p> + +<p>Delayed by chance or by precaution, the news of the arrest did not reach +the Luxembourg until twenty-four hours later. Lauzun was already on the +road to Pignerol. Before him hastened M. de Nallot, a man of confidence +despatched by Louvois, who certainly felt a ferocious joy in the action, +to bear the instructions of his master to the Sieur de Saint-Mars, +governor of the prison of Pignerol, and of those enclosed within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +its walls. Foucquet had been during seven years under the care of +Saint-Mars, who had followed orders with such fidelity that Louvois did +not doubt that he would be obeyed as blindly in any commands it might +please him to give regarding Lauzun. The instructions gave orders to +imprison him with one valet, and never to permit him to leave the +fortress nor to have any communication with the outer world.</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars thus responded:</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Pignerol</span>, December 9, 1671.</p> + +<p>Monseigneur, M. de Nallot arrived here on the fifth instant, conveying +the note of instructions you have been pleased to send me.... He will +report to you my haste in preparing the apartment for M. de Lauzun; he +will tell you, Monseigneur, that I will lodge him in the two low vaulted +chambers which are over those of M. Foucquet: these are the ones with +the barred windows you yourself<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> examined. From the way in which I +have arranged the place, I can respond with my life for the safety of +the person of M. de Lauzun, and also the certainty of intercepting any +news sent or received.</p> + +<p>I engage upon my honour, Monseigneur, that as long as this gentleman is +under my care you will hear no further word about him, it will be as if +he already lay <i>in pace</i>.</p> + +<p>The place prepared is so constructed that I can have holes made, through +which I can spy into the apartment. I shall also know all that he does +and says through the reports of a valet whom I will furnish as you have +ordered; I have found one with much trouble, because the clever ones do +not wish to pass their life in prison. You order that mass shall be +celebrated for M. de Lauzun only on fête days and Sundays and I will +scrupulously follow the letter of your instructions.... The Confessor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +of M. Foucquet will attend the new prisoner on Easter and at no other +time, whatever may happen. My only desire is to carry out exactly the +orders with which you have honoured me: I shall always endeavour to do +this with zeal, passion, and fidelity, so I trust that you may be +content with my small services.<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>All the officials of the citadel had written to Louvois after the +arrival of his agent, so great an impression had been made. It was said +that M. de Lauzun was a great criminal and a very dangerous one to +necessitate such precautions. Each wished to show his special zeal. +Louis XIV. was also well informed about the prison destined for his old +favourite.</p> + +<p>Louvois showed the King the plan he had received. The apartment +consisted of two low vaulted rooms facing a deserted court, through +which no one ever passed. The windows were darkened by iron bars and +were covered with a sort of basket-work used in prisons, to prevent the +occupant seeing or being seen. Noises from without, even those from the +guards and the kitchen, did not penetrate into this remote place, the +most "noiseless" of all the citadel, on account of the enormous +thickness of the walls and of the vaulting. "Never," said one of the +letters, "will M. Foucquet know that he has a companion." The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +correspondents of Louvois unanimously insisted upon the necessity of +preventing any risk of escape. A screen of iron was placed in the +embrasure of the windows and a <i>vissante</i> inserted in the chimney to +prevent M. de Lauzun and M. de Foucquet from communicating with each +other.</p> + +<p>When this new command left Saint-Germain, Lauzun was already locked up +at Pignerol. He appeared very sad and depressed during the journey. His +grief was changed into fury at sight of the dungeon which awaited him. +Saint-Mars wrote to Louvois (December 22, 1671): "Monseigneur, my +prisoner is in so profound a grief, that I can hardly describe it. He +said to me that I had made him a lodging <i>sæcula sæculorum</i>." Lauzun +declared that he would lose his reason, and his agitation seemed to +point to this danger.</p> + +<blockquote><p>[December 30] I do not believe, Monseigneur, that I can send you +any news of my prisoner's being more tranquil; he is in so profound +a grief that he does nothing but sigh and beat the ground with his +feet. He asked me once if I knew the cause of his detention; I +replied that I never received any news of this sort lest I should +be tempted to tell it.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Lauzun had well divined the cause of his arrest, but he had not been +told. All explanation had been refused at Saint-Germain, and the +condemning him to such a dungeon with the most rigorous secrecy, with no +declared reason, seemed a crying and tyrannical act of injustice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +Saint-Mars began to fear a tragic ending.</p> + +<blockquote><p>[January 12, 1672] Monseigneur ... he is overwhelmed with so +extraordinary a grief that I fear he may lose his reason, or kill +himself, which last he has threatened several times.... As I do not +stop to listen to his ravings, he accuses me of having grown hard +and pitiless through my long occupation as jailer; and repeats that +he has never been judged and that his worst suffering is caused by +the fact that he is ignorant of his crime.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He had never been judged! This was the refrain during ten long years! +Foucquet, his neighbour, had judges, <i>indépendants</i> or not; he had known +the cause of his accusation, and his defence had been heard. Lauzun was +in his vault through the good pleasure of the King without having had a +chance to justify himself, and this grievance caused his revolt.</p> + +<p>When Mademoiselle was told of the arrest of Lauzun, she was so overcome +that she was astonished "that she did not die." She remained in a most +pitiable state until the next day. She was counselled not to delay an +appeal to the King, and it was needful to form some plan. If there had +been only herself to consider, Mademoiselle would have been ready to bid +adieu to the world; but there was Lauzun, who was, according to the +custom then legal, to be accused when he could not defend himself, and +there was only herself to plead his cause with the King.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to abandon her lover, and Mademoiselle found strength +to rise and to go to Saint-Germain. She only reached the King in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +evening at supper. "He regarded me with a sad and embarrassed air. I +looked at him with tears in my eyes, but said nothing; I know what he +said in returning after to the ladies<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a>: 'My cousin has been very +courteous, she has been silent.' He would have been imprudent to address +me, as I was prepared to reply to all."</p> + +<p>The Court of France was at that date very gay and animated. Monsieur had +just remarried (November 16), with Elisabeth Charlotte de Bavière, +Princess Palatine, famed for the originality of her mind and the +freshness of her language. The King, who, without wit, had good taste, +was charmed with his new sister-in-law, and was lavish with fêtes in her +honour. At first, Mademoiselle considered it a duty to be present. She +pathetically relates the history of an abominable evening during which +she was obliged to appear to be enjoying the spectacle of a ballet, +while her thoughts were far distant, following a coach surrounded by +musketeers:</p> + +<blockquote><p>To think that he was absent; that it was bitterly cold and was snowing +heavily, and that my dear one was on the open road on his way to prison; +to picture his sufferings and his pitiable appearance made my heart +ache. I believe that it would deceive those who should have been there +with him to see me here, not realising the torture it gives me. My +single consolation is that these constant sacrifices I am making for the +King, may in the end arouse his pity for M. de Lauzun and renew his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +tenderness, for I am not able to persuade myself that he no longer loves +him. I should be only too content if my sacrifices can accomplish any +results. This is my motive for remaining near the Court since Lauzun's +imprisonment, and forces me from a sense of duty to do many things which +I should have avoided if I had only consulted my inclinations. With a +heart pierced with tender grief, I should have so willingly remained at +home in solitude rather than to drag myself through the gay scenes of +the Court festivities."</p></blockquote> + +<p>After each effort, she allowed herself slight relaxation and retired to +weep in some corner, then returning to the King with red and swollen +eyes. "I am persuaded" wrote she, apropos of a trip with the Court, +"that my presence has recalled the memory of M. de Lauzun; this is the +reason why I wish to be always before the eyes of the King.... I cannot +believe that he will not feel that my looks are ever supplicating him." +Mademoiselle was very ingenious in her efforts to refer constantly to +the absent one. If a grated window was passed she began to sigh and to +pity those in prison. If there was a rumour that Lauzun was ill, she +solicited by letter the softening of the régime. Louis never responded, +but he did not show any displeasure. The enemies of the disgraced one +endeavoured to detach the Princess from her lover. They knew her +weakness; she was very jealous, and there might easily be occasion in +regard to Lauzun, known as the greatest libertine of this licentious +Court. At the moment of arrest his papers had been seized. There were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +many letters; locks of hair and other love tokens, carefully ticketed, +and a sort of secret museum enclosing portraits that Louis XIV. ordered +to be destroyed,—not promptly enough, however, as many persons enjoyed +a glimpse of them, and were able to identify the originals.</p> + +<p>The "caskets" of Lauzun were the great social scandal of the winter, and +there were people enough to exploit the contents to Mademoiselle. They +gained nothing for their pains; she had the wisdom not to listen. They +belonged to the past. The same kind friends endeavoured to open her eyes +to the fact that she had been deceived in giving her heart to a man who +only desired her millions. They said: "He did not love you; when he was +promised wealth, appointments, he readily left you; the day on which the +King broke the marriage, Lauzun gambled all the evening with the +greatest tranquility; he cares nothing about you." Mademoiselle allows +in her <i>Mémoires</i> that she began to be disturbed when she was forced to +hear such statements from morning till night during a series of years. +Her own remembrances only too well confirmed the truth. She had never +received a word of tenderness from Lauzun, not even a truly gracious +word. But misfortune is an invincible safeguard with generous souls. +Mademoiselle relates that her heart "fought against itself" in favour of +her lover, and the heart conquered, since each new year found her still +devoted, still indefatigable in her efforts to obtain his release.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the end of eight years there could be no more doubt. Contemporaries +and those of the next generation have tried in vain to discover why +Louis XIV. attached so serious an importance to preventing Lauzun from +receiving news. Of what was he afraid? Was it essential for the safety +of France to insist upon such minute precautions?</p> + +<p>One day, fresh linen was to be forwarded to Lauzun from Saint-Germain. +Louvois wrote to Saint-Mars (February 2, 1672): "Have this washed two or +three times before giving it to him." Saint-Mars signified that he +comprehended and replied (February 20):</p> + +<blockquote><p>I shall not fail to have the linen you are sending to Lauzun +thoroughly wet after having every seam examined, any writing which +may be upon the linen will thus vanish. Everything which is brought +out of his room is put at once in a tub of water after being +examined, and the laundress bringing it from the river dries it +before the fire in the presence of my officers, who take turn at +this duty, week by week. I also take the same precautions with the +towels, napkins, etc.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Another time, an ancient servant of Lauzun was arrested near Pignerol, +who, realising that he was a prisoner, killed himself, and letters were +found on the body. Had there been any intercourse with the prisoner? +This thought cast Louvois into an inconceivable agitation. He wished at +every cost to clear up the affair, and he found time even during the war +with Holland to write letter after letter to Pignerol to order that +trace of accomplices should be sought.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span></p> + +<p>Men, presumably companions of the dead, were arrested. Two of them, who +had fled to Turin, were delivered up through diplomatic action. It was +necessary to make them speak "through any means, no matter what"; the +question as to whether M. de Lauzun had received news must be solved. +The attendants at Pignerol were much perturbed. An officer wrote to +Louvois to "conjure" him to denounce the suspected among the soldiers +under his orders, that I may arrest them and attach them as villains." +And if his two nephews, who were in the citadel, should be found to be +the guilty ones he "would be their first executioner." Saint-Mars was +humiliated and offended that he should be suspected of being hoodwinked. +He became ferocious against the "miserable beings" who had drawn down +upon him this insult, and he willingly put them to the torture; "for, to +tell the truth," wrote he to Louvois, "I have only to find the smallest +charge against a soldier or domestic, and I would hang him at once" +(August 20). Some weeks later he summed up the result of the inquest in +these terms (October 7): "I cannot swear that an attempt has not been +made to communicate with Lauzun, but I can pledge my life in the +assurance that the effort has not been successful."</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars had another grief. Louvois recommended to him incessantly to +make his prisoner talk and to report every word, even the most trivial, +but Lauzun would not utter a syllable. "I do not know why," wrote +Saint-Mars, naïvely, "but he distrusts me, and hardly dares to speak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +to me" (February 10, 1672). On March 19: "He is always in a state of +extraordinary distrust of me." Louvois insisted, and received discouraged +letters. (March 30:) "When I make a visit, our conversation is so dry +and difficult that we often pace the room a hundred times without +interchanging a word." Saint-Mars in vain sought innocent topics. He +tried to converse about the weather. M. de Lauzun interrupted him under +the pretext that the state of the weather was a matter of indifference +to him, since, from his dungeon, he could see "neither moon nor sun."</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars inquired about his health. M. de Lauzun cut him short, in +declaring that "his health was a matter of no consequence to any one, +and that he was really only too well." Saint-Mars did not know what more +to say. He became furious. Lauzun perceived this, and grew even more +taciturn. It was a fair and even fight. At the end of a year, Saint-Mars +had not advanced an inch.</p> + +<blockquote><p>[January 7, 1673] When I said good morning or good evening, and +when I asked him how he felt, he made low bows, saying that he was +well enough to offer his most humble respects; after having thanked +him, we walked some time together without speaking to each other, +and, as I wished to retire, I asked him if he had anything to +demand. He made again a very low bow and conducted me to the door +of the room; this is the point at which we have arrived, and I am +afraid that we shall make no further progress.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Saint-Mars tried to force the situation. It was he who furnished the +prisoner with everything; who gave him clothes, furniture, bought his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +eye-glasses, or ordered a wig. He thought that a method of making him +speak would be to give him nothing that he did not demand. Lauzun +invented a mute language.</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars would perceive, in entering, some wornout or broken object +placed in a conspicuous position, having the air of saying something. +"Sometimes," wrote the governor of the citadel, "I feign not to notice, +and in order to oblige me to speak, Lauzun will direct his steps so as +to pass the object again and again until I am forced to comprehend." +(May 6, 1672.)</p> + +<p>The valet was almost as close as his master. Saint-Mars did not cease to +lament the trouble which "these people" gave him. Prisoners' valets +shared the fate of their masters. Once confined, they passed the sill of +the prison only with the culprit; that is to say, in many cases never, +which fact rendered it extremely difficult to procure servants. The one +with Lauzun was a "wicked rascal" who had been bribed, but who at the +end of three months refused to do his duty as spy.</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars was indignant (February 20, 1672): "With your permission, I +will put him [the valet] in a place that I reserve, which makes the dumb +speak after a month's sojourn. I shall learn all from him, and I am +certain that he will not forget the least trifle." Upon reflection, +however, Saint-Mars ended by being patient. How was he to replace the +fellow? "No one of the valets attached to the citadel would enter this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +dungeon if I paid him millions. They have noticed that those whom I have +placed with M. Foucquet never come out." Louvois never knew, in spite of +earnest desire, what thoughts the fallen favourite was conceiving in his +prison.</p> + +<p>There was a slight recompense, however, on the days on which Lauzun fell +into a rage, which often happened. The prisoner could not digest the +fact that his questions remained unanswered. This might be reasonable +enough if he asked if France were at war, or if Mademoiselle were +married; but why refuse news of his own affairs? Why conceal from him +the fact of his mother being alive or dead? His vexation became rage. He +poured out a torrent of imprecations and bitter complaints, and Louvois +had the pleasure of hearing by the next mail that silence did not +indicate absence of suffering.</p> + +<p>One day (January 28, 1673), after giving an account of one of these +explosions, Saint-Mars added: "He said all this, weeping hot tears and +crying that he detested his miserable life; he complained loudly of the +horrible dungeon which I have given him, where he has lost his sight and +his health." The wails of grief echoed even through Paris, leaking out +from the cabinet of Louvois and the chamber of Mme. de Montespan, and +the public demanded with curiosity what Lauzun had done to deserve a +punishment so rigorous. "I can never believe," wrote Mademoiselle, +"that it is by the orders of the King." It was easily guessed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +Louvois was avenging his frights and Mme. de Montespan her humiliations; +but why did the King permit such severity? for Louis had never appeared +to take very much to heart the entanglements of these two Court powers +with his favourite.</p> + +<p>It is needful to recollect that the seventeenth century had no greater +respect for human liberty than for human life. Only rank and birth were +of value, and these were honoured in a greater degree than it is +possible now to comprehend. This same Louvois, who was tormenting Lauzun +almost to the point of insanity, had hastened to send him a +silver-service, and had asked him to complain if his guards were +impolite.</p> + +<p>"M. de Saint-Mars," wrote the Minister, "has orders never to fail in +according the respect due to your birth and to the position which you +have held at Court" (December 12, 1672). From like considerations, the +birth of Lauzun had brought him new furniture, but not a single object +of any kind which could aid him in inventing occupation or employment.</p> + +<p>This was the real punishment: a complete inaction with not a single echo +from the outer world which might prevent his mind from continually +turning inward upon itself. Lauzun only obtained a few books at long +intervals, and always with great difficulty, after every page had been +examined in detail; messages written in invisible ink were feared, and +phrases which might throw light upon the events of the day. When the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +choice of literature was left to Saint-Mars, he confined himself to <i>Le +Tableau de la Pénitence</i> or the <i>Pédagogue chrétien</i>. The contents of +these were well known and, also, "they might be useful to lighten his +despair."</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that Mademoiselle had scolded the "little man" to +make him take greater care of his person and toilet. In prison, Lauzun +had grown very careless. (April 20, 1672:) "He grows so negligent that +for three weeks he has worn a handkerchief knotted around his neck in +place of a cravat." From note of July 30, 1672, more than seven months +after his arrival: "He has not had his room swept, nor his glass rinsed; +he is extremely negligent." Lauzun had permitted his beard to grow, +which contributed to his neglected appearance. Saint-Mars declared that +it was a half-yard long. (February 11, 1673:) "He is as disorderly at +his meals as in his person and in his apartment."</p> + +<p>Years passed. In 1673, they pruned the trees which cut off the light. +This was the only change. In 1674, the prisoner almost died. His health +was shattered and his temper changed. He became tranquil, except for an +occasional access of anger, and was very polite to his jailer, who +attributed this metamorphosis to the effects of the books of piety and +the holy water freely supplied. Saint-Mars found him "very often" on his +knees, saying his prayers before an image of the Virgin, and had much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +joy in the change.</p> + +<p>In 1676, in the month of February, Louvois received a letter,<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> the +contents of which passed through Paris like a flash of lightning. M. de +Lauzun had almost succeeded in effecting his escape; and neither by door +nor window, the ordinary method in romances. He had made a hole in the +dungeon of Pignerol by scratching with old knives, pieces of kitchen +utensils, etc., and had succeeded in piercing the thick vault below his +chamber. Lauzun rolled through this opening, and found himself between +four walls, before a barred window. He began again to scrape; he +demolished one of the corners of the window, unfastened one of the bars, +and saw that he was several fathoms above the ground. His foresight had +caused him to collect a quantity of napkins, from which he made a rope +ladder; "the best made in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, with +admiration for the sample sent to Louvois.</p> + +<p>He descended by this ladder to the moat surrounding the fortress, +"pierced the wall on the side of the moat,"<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> encountered a rock, and +recommenced at a short distance from the place of the first attempt"; +the new passage led into a court of the citadel. Lauzun reached the +ground one morning at daybreak. He had passed three days in scraping; it +was this occupation which had kept him tranquil. Only an open door, and +he would have been saved. He would well have deserved success as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +reward for his industry and patience. But all was firmly closed, and he +was stopped by an incorruptible sentinel.</p> + +<p>The poor prisoner was brought back to his dungeon, and Louvois stormed +at the authorities of Pignerol, who permitted walls and windows to be +demolished without perceiving that anything strange was occurring. +Repairs and numerous new measures of precaution were ordered, and +Saint-Mars, very much abashed, swore by all the gods that such a thing +should never again happen.</p> + +<p>In spite of these oaths, many of the prisoners succeeded in gaining +access to their neighbours, according to the account of +Saint-Simon.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> It seems that the open chimneys of ancient times had +become an ordinary means of communication between the dungeons of +Pignerol. "A hole was made in the pipe, which was carefully closed +during the day," and with mutual aid the prisoners ascended and +descended. Lauzun was placed in relation with various prisoners, of whom +one was Foucquet, who believed him to be mad when listening to his +account of the failure of the plan of marriage with the Grande +Mademoiselle. These gentlemen must have resembled chimney sweeps.</p> + +<p>Saint-Mars, however, only knew of these practices after the death of +Foucquet; the troubles of Lauzun were then at an end. The death of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +the eldest brother, which occurred in 1677, had brought new conditions. +Lauzun became head of the family. His sister, Mme. de Nogent, +represented to the King that it was needful for the preservation of the +"House" that M. de Lauzun should be permitted to put his affairs in +order, and she had no difficulty in obtaining a hearing. Although the +individual counted for little, the "House" was a thing sacred, even in +the eyes of Louis XIV. Saint-Mars was ordered to receive Mme. de Nogent, +another of the brothers, Chevalier de Lauzun, and their advocate, M. +Isarn, and to permit them to meet with his prisoner, exacting the +promise that only business should be discussed. He forbade a single +word, "under any pretext whatever," of Mlle. de Montpensier. An account +of these interviews, sketched by Isarn, remains. It must not be +forgotten in reading this document that Lauzun had a great interest in +inspiring a lively pity in the hearts of these people who were returning +to Paris. After long preliminaries, Isarn arrived for the first +interview with Lauzun, whom no one had seen for six years.</p> + +<blockquote><p>[October 29, 1667] Two o'clock having come, M. de Saint-Mars, after +sending away all the attendants, asked M. Isarn to enter his room +where six chairs were arranged around a table, and M. de Saint-Mars +retiring, returned after a moment leading M. le Comte de Lauzun, +supporting him by the arm, for the Comte could hardly sustain +himself, it may be on account of the open air, the bright light, or +the weakness caused by his illness.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p> + +<p>At this sight, I confess, Monsieur, that we were moved with pity, +for we remarked his haggard face and the extreme pallor of the +countenance, as much as could be seen under the long beard and +moustaches, the eyes subdued with sadness and languor, so that it +would be impossible not to be moved with compassion. I can hardly +express the grief of Madame his sister and Monsieur his brother. A +chair near the fire was given to him, facing the window, but he +shrank back, saying in a low voice, and coughing, that the bright +light made his eyes and head burn. M. de Saint-Mars turned his +prisoner away from the window, placing himself on one side and M. +the Commissioner on the other. I was at the side of M. de +Saint-Mars, having my papers before me on the table. Mme. de Nogent +could not restrain her tears, and we remained some time without +speaking.</p></blockquote> + +<p>When they were all somewhat composed, Isarn entered into a summary of +the affairs to be regulated. At the first pause, Lauzun interrupted. "He +said coldly, that having been kept for six years and a portion of a +seventh in a very restricted prison, and not having heard any business +details for so long a time, and having met no one, his mind had become +so 'sealed,' and his intelligence so clouded, that it was impossible for +him to comprehend anything I was saying." He added affectionate words +for his sister, touching sentiments upon his grief at having displeased +the King, and, as if overcome by the remembrance of his much-loved +master, he carried his handkerchief to his eyes, "where it remained a +long time."</p> + +<p>This spectacle provoked such an outburst of tears and groans that it was +impossible to continue the conference. Lauzun "withdrew with Saint-Mars +without speaking." The sister was carried away in a dead faint. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +Chevalier de Lauzun, ill with emotion, retired for the night, and Isarn +shared in the general affliction. At the following sessions, Lauzun +repeated that he comprehended nothing that his advocate said, but he +gave him at the same time some instructions, "with much judgment and +clearness." Touching scenes followed. One day, after having obtained +permission, the prisoner asked if his mother were living, and there was, +in this case, no need of pretence to make the scene impressive. At the +last interview, he charged his sister to implore the pity of the King +and the pardon of Louvois, in humble and submissive terms, which showed +a man conquered, crushed, and henceforth inoffensive.</p> + +<p>It may be through compassion, it may be, as was hinted, through some new +and mysterious combination, that this appeal produced a relaxation in +the prison discipline, which ended in a half-freedom. <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Lauzon'">Lauzun</ins> was +permitted to give dinners, to buy saddle horses, "to ride in the court +and on the bastions."<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> At length arrived a detachment of musketeers, +charged to conduct him to the baths of Bourbon, under pretext that he +was suffering with one of his arms.</p> + +<p>He quitted Pignerol April 22, 1681. Foucquet had died March 23, 1680. +This left to Saint-Mars only a single man of note; the Man with the Iron +Mask had been in the fortress some time at this date.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> + +<p>Robinson Crusoe, leaving his island, was not more of a stranger to the +course of events than a state prisoner after years of life in a dungeon. +Foucquet had believed in listening to Lauzun that he was mentally +deranged. When it was the fate of the latter to again come in contact +with ordinary life, he found much difficulty in placing himself in the +current. The history of France had been lengthened by a chapter while he +was raging in his dungeon. The intimate story of Court life, the most +important for an ancient favourite desirous of regaining a foothold, +would have filled a volume with its tragi-comic complications. At first +glance, the chapter of national history was dazzling. The war with +Holland had given to France, Franche-Comté; to Louis XIV., a glory and +power which had raised him in European opinion above all other +sovereigns.</p> + +<p>In the eyes of strangers, he was more than a king, he was <i>the</i> King, +the incarnation of the monarchical idea, the Prince who had made France +the mistress of the civilised world.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Never, in modern Europe [says a German historian<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> who always +considers the interests of France as opposed to those of Germany] +has there been a development of military power over land and sea, +for attack and defence, so extraordinary as that to which France +had attained during the war, and preserved during the ensuing +peace; never before had a single will exercised so extended a +command over troops so well trained and yet so submissive.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0331" id="Page_0331"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus393.png" width="600" height="411" alt="VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES<br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> + +<p>France was admired and feared. "Louis XIV.," says Ranke again, "reduced +several of the German princes individually, and the Empire at large, to +a degree of abasement to which they had not fallen during centuries." +Spain itself was menaced with the loss of its independence. Europe +recognised that in "the history of the world there were few periods in +which civilisation had so rapidly advanced and literature was so +brilliant as that under Louis XIV."</p> + +<p>Such was France viewed from without, during the years which separated +the peace of Nimèguen (1679) from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes +(1685). This brilliant picture showed, however, some shadows; the +vanquished guarded a deep resentment, and the former allies were +detached without always being replaced by new ones; but the country +considered itself sufficiently strong to support its isolation.</p> + +<p>Seen from within, France presented to the superficial observer an +appearance of prosperity. Upon a closer examination, however, it could +be predicted that the lean years were approaching. Many provinces had +fallen back into misery. There was a general discontent, the +disaffection made rapid progress; the idea of centralised and absolute +power, so well received at first, was beginning to pall upon the +community. Four years after the death of Mazarin and the arrival to +power of Louis XIV. keen-sighted men became anxious.</p> + +<p>Olivier d'Ormesson, like all the world at first under the influence of +the charm of the young King, wrote in 1665 (March): "No one dares<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +protest, although all suffer and have their hearts filled with despair; +every one says that it is impossible for this state of things to last, +the conduct of affairs being too unjust and violent."<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> Olivier +d'Ormesson had personal griefs. He had been disgraced for having shown +himself too independent at the time of the prosecution of Foucquet, and +he was also one of those old politicians, liberal after their own +fashion, who held firmly to the privileges belonging to their class, and +who were not accustomed to see criticisms of the King punished more +severely than blasphemies against the Deity. In 1668, a poor old man +from Saint-Germain was accused "of having said that the King was a +tyrant, and that there still existed some Ravaillacs and people of +courage and virtue." He was condemned to have his tongue cut out and to +be sent to the galleys. "It is said," adds d'Ormesson, "that +cutting out the tongue is a new punishment, and that it was formerly the +custom simply to pierce the tongue of blasphemers." From the point of +view of the times, the opinion of d'Ormesson is a little +too advanced.</p> + +<p>But the same criticism cannot be made of Colbert, then enjoying great +favour and naturally a man of severity. In 1666 Colbert warned Louis +XIV., in an almost brutal memorial, that through his extravagances he +was leading France to ruin.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0333" id="Page_0333"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus397.png" width="600" height="425" alt="VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT, SHOWING ALSO HIS SEAL<br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span></p> + +<p>The memorial commenced by declaring that he (Colbert) did not wish +stinginess where it was a matter concerning a good army or fleet, or in +sustaining the suitable magnificence of his master in foreign lands, or +in any useful expenditures, among which he included the proper +representation of a great sovereign. He affirmed that in all these +matters he would rather urge a certain lavishness, and this was the +truth. But he could not share in the responsibility for the enormous +leakage by which the public wealth was being exhausted, for the millions +squandered in fantastic camps, in fêtes costing incredible sums,<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> +and in insane gambling debts.<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> + +<p>The memorial mentions also pensions and other gratifications given out +freely, and makes other specifications, of which one merits some +details, for it is curious, but rarely referred to, and according to +Colbert led to the most dangerous consequences. As will be understood, +nothing other than actual war cost France so dearly under Louis XIV., as +the monarch's passion for playing at soldier in the presence of +beautiful ladies. This mania at first glance appears innocent enough, +only rather childish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p> + +<p>Colbert pointed out the inevitable effects. The King assembled armies to +afford to the "<i>ladies</i>" the spectacle of a camp or the simulation of a +siege, or the troops were reviewed in places agreeable for women, +instead of awaiting him in their barracks.</p> + +<p>The result was, that the perpetual marching of troops to and fro was +causing the exhaustion of the provinces, for "it is sufficient to say +that such a city or halting-place has suffered within six months a +hundred different impositions of troops, and that there are but few +places which have not been obliged to stand at least fifty."</p> + +<p>The troops lived as they liked, entering and departing from their +various lodging-places. "It can be affirmed distinctly that these places +were left in a condition to which they would have been brought by a long +war." If the King knew "how many peasants of Champagne, and the other +provinces lying near the frontier, are passing and arranging to pass to +other countries," he would comprehend that this state of affairs could +not last.</p> + +<p>The most delicate reproof was yet to be made, and Colbert approached it +courageously. Serious ridicule had fallen upon the great monarch for +these fantastic games for the benefit of his "<i>ladies</i>," not only with +the French, but also among foreigners only too ready to seize an +occasion for unfriendly comment.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0335" id="Page_0335"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus401.png" width="600" height="421" alt="VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">VIEW OF THE CHÂTEAU OF VERSAILLES, SHOWING THE FOUNTAIN OF +THE DRAGON<br /> +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676</span> +</div> + +<p>Louis had just installed a camp at Moret, motley and smart, with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +pretty tents for the Amazons. "It is said," wrote d'Ormesson, "that the +siege of Moret will be made in due form, in order to show the '<i>ladies</i>' +the method of taking places by assault. People in general, disgusted and +annoyed, treat this review as childish trifling for a King, and it is +badly thought of in foreign countries."</p> + +<p>Olivier d'Ormesson did not display great merit in writing his comments +in his journal for his eyes alone, but Colbert wrote for the King and +had still many criticisms to add.</p> + +<p>"It is further advisable for your Majesty to know two things which no +one has before dared to report: one that there has been a poster in +Paris, bearing the words <i>Louis XIV. will give an exhibition of +Marionettes in the plain at Moret</i>; the other, the publication of a +libel, still more bitter, upon the distinguished deeds of the fantastic +captains." The King read the memorial and re-read it in the presence of +Colbert, but the following year saw a new camp, in which the royal tent, +composed of six sumptuous rooms, "was filled with cavaliers gorgeously +attired, and better fitted to attract the enemy than to make him +flee."<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> Colbert did not succeed, even in time of war, in preventing +a single trip to the frontier with a long train of women in rare +apparel, and mistresses for whose accommodation it was necessary to put +masons at work at every halting-place.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span></p> + +<p>From Louvois, March 7, 1671:</p> + +<p>"Arrange chamber marked V for Mme. de Montespan, opening a door in the +place marked 1. ... Mme. de La Vallière will lodge in the chamber marked +Y, in which a door must be made in the place marked 3N...." The expense +of the numerous doors, with many others equally irregular, entered into +the budget of the Minister of War.</p> + +<p>How was it possible to keep the budget accounts? How reduce unnecessary +expenses? Colbert himself was obliged in his budget of the Marine to +give space to the "<i>ladies</i>." In 1678, Mme. de Montespan conceived the +fantasy of fitting out a privateer, a vessel belonging to the King, be +it understood, manned with the royal sailors. Some weeks later, a second +and third vessel were sent out in the same manner as privateers, always +at the King's expense, "by Mme. de Montespan and the Comtesse de +Soissons."<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> Including everything, the taste of Louis XIV. for +conversation and the society of women, without mentioning the rest of +his follies, probably cost France more than all the buildings erected by +the Grand Monarch, but the one outlay can be calculated, and the other +not.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0337" id="Page_0337"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus405.png" width="600" height="457" alt="DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIÈRE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIÈRE AND HER CHILDREN<br /> +From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the Marquise +d'Oilliamson.</span> +</div> + +<p>The large expenses of Versailles and of Marly are often alluded to, +while the unfortunate peasants, who fled across the frontier after every +military spectacle offered to the "<i>ladies</i>," are forgotten. Louis +XIV. was incapable of keeping accounts; that is his sole excuse. It +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +is strange, however, that a man so methodical, having a mind so steady, +so well regulated, had never been able to comprehend that figures are +figures, and that no one is able to make two crowns out of one. Colbert +never succeeded in controlling the waste of his master, even in cases +when the added profusion in no way increased the pleasure, and appears +to us as a mere barbarous lavishness.</p> + +<p>It is known that in the seventeenth century the repasts were abundant. +Those of Louis XIV. were excessively so. In 1664, the King, having +invited the Pope's legate to dine with him <i>tête-à-tête</i>, those in +attendance counted the dishes; there were eighty, not including +thirty-eight for dessert. This was certainly excessive, and Colbert had +said in the Memorial of 1660, "I declare to your Majesty ... that a +useless meal, costing a thousand crowns, gives me an incredible pain."</p> + +<p>But the lavishness of fifteen years later was far greater. On January +16, 1680, the King married Mlle. de Blois, his daughter by La Vallière, +to Prince Louis-Armand de Conti, nephew of the great Condé. "The wedding +festival was royal," wrote Bussy-Rabutin; "there were seven hundred +dishes on a single table, served in five courses, that is to say, one +hundred and forty dishes to each course." Mme. de Sévigné points the +moral. "The young husband was ill the entire night. It would be a +temptation to say 'Well deserved!'"</p> + +<p>If, from the incensed and suffering people, the attention is turned +towards the Court, the difference between without and within is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +perhaps as clearly marked, although more difficult to define. +Without, there is splendour, adulations given and received; within, a +profound moral misery; with some, debauch and poverty; with others, +discouragement and bitterness. Mme. de Sévigné, in a letter of 1680, has +unconsciously painted, in six lines, the state of degradation to which +the King had systematically reduced the nobility of France, lined up, as +it were, to catch purses thrown to them January 12: "The King is +enormously liberal in truth; it is not needful to despair; one may not +be a valet, but in making one's court, something may fall upon one's +head. What is certain is that far from him [the King], all seems +valueless; formerly it was otherwise."</p> + +<p>If souls were debased under Louis, he must be held in large part +responsible. The same can be said in regard to the deterioration of +manners and morals. France, before the time of Louis XIV., was +accustomed enough to both mistresses and bastards, but not to the +prerogatives of second wives conferred on the first, nor the +legitimatising of adulteries which encouraged his subjects to consider +no longer seriously either law or morality. The example of the master +ended in deadening consciences already somewhat feeble, and husbands +might be seen encouraging their wives, the mothers of their daughters, +to imitate La Vallière and de Montespan.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0339" id="Page_0339"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;"> +<img src="images/illus409.png" width="436" height="530" alt="LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOUISE DE LA VALLIÈRE, IN THE GARB OF THE ORDER OF THE +CARMELITES.<br /> +After the painting by D. Plaats</span> +</div> + +<p>Louis had been in some degree punished for having played sultan. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +Polygamy cannot exist without some discomfort, in a land in which +women have any position. Few men, even upon the stage, have had so many +quarrels with their mistresses, quarrels often violent, humiliating, as +well as painful, as this majestic monarch, before whom the universe +trembled. Royalty does not exist before a jealous mistress, and Louis +XIV. was faithful only to one, Mme. de Maintenon.</p> + +<p>The young King had been spoiled by Louise de La Vallière, who was +gentleness itself, and whom love inclined to pardon all. None of the +other mistresses really loved Louis, except perhaps Marie Mancini. Louis +did not really please women; it was only the King for whose favour they +disputed.</p> + +<p>Mlle. de La Vallière had entered the Carmelite convent in 1674. Left +alone upon the "breach," Mme. de Montespan defended the situation like a +lioness. She was naturally sharp-tempered, and her fits of anger were +often ungovernable,<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> as witnesses say, and Louis did not possess the +force which innocence alone gives. Among the rivals who contended with +Mme. de Montespan, many, in spite of her efforts, succeeded in enjoying +their year, or at least their day. When she became enraged, and the King +was forced to bend his neck under the tempest, "she often scolded him +and he did not assert himself."<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> This was his method of expiation. +The ephemeral reign of Mlle. de Fontanges came. She also was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +passionate, and she treated the King with "more authority than the +others."<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> Louis called Mme. de Maintenon to his aid, and charged her +to appease these furies. Stormy scenes began to weary him.</p> + +<p>It had been remarked since 1675 that Louis aspired to moments of "repose +and of liberty." Mme. de Montespan, with all her intelligence, could not +comprehend that there comes a time of life at which men can no longer +live in the midst of tempests, and this error was the cause of her ruin.</p> + +<p>The King acquired the habit of fleeing for refuge to Mme. de Maintenon, +where he found an atmosphere of peace and enjoyed refreshing +conversation.</p> + +<p>It was the first time that an intelligent woman had spoken seriously to +him, without seeking to attract a declaration of love, nor to divert him +with trifles, but to distract him agreeably from his work, and also to +make him reflect upon certain subjects which did not always appeal to +him. For example, what the sinner who had taken the wife of another +might expect in the next world. She recalled to him the fact that there +was a police in heaven as in the palaces of the King of France, and she +asked him: "What would you say if some one should tell your Majesty that +one of the musketeers you love had seduced a married woman, and that +this woman was actually living with him? I am certain that before +evening this man would depart from the palace, never to return, however +late it might be."<a name="FNanchor_284_286" id="FNanchor_284_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_286" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0341" id="Page_0341"></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 418px;"> +<img src="images/illus413.png" width="418" height="600" alt="MADAME DE MAINTENON" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MADAME DE MAINTENON<br /> +After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span></p> + +<p>The King laughed. He had never been more in love with Mme. de +Montespan,—this happened in 1675, before the Jubilee, which separated +them three or four months,—but he was not vexed with Mme. de Maintenon; +already he "could not live without her."<a name="FNanchor_285_287" id="FNanchor_285_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_287" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> One may or may not feel +sympathy with this last, but it is certain that without her, without the +empire that she knew how to gain over a prince ardent for pleasure, but +by no means a veritable libertine, Louis XIV. might have ended +shamefully. To every one their deserts. The Queen Marie-Thérèse was +right in according her friendship to Mme. de Maintenon, who secured for +her, somewhat late it is true, a certain consideration and some +affectionate demonstration to which the poor Queen was not accustomed.</p> + +<p>When the King had passed forty, tranquillity became a need. He believed +he had assured it by giving to Mme. de Montespan her official dismissal +as the recognised mistress. The date of this event is known. March 29, +1679, the Comtesse de Soissons was prayed to yield to the ancient +favourite her charge as superintendent of the palace of the Queen, a +position which afforded a kind of regulated retreat. The next day, Mme. +de Montespan wrote to the Duc de Noailles to announce to him this +arrangement, and she added: "Truly this is very bearable. The King only +comes into my room after mass and after supper. It is much better to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +see each other rarely with pleasure than often with boredom." The world +was not deceived: "I really believe," wrote Bussy (April 11th), "that +the King, just as he is, has given this position for past favours."</p> + +<p>From Mme. de Scudéry to Bussy, October 29, 1679: "A diversion has been +established for Mme. de Montespan for this winter, and provided that she +can do without love, she will retain the consideration of the King. This +is all that an honest man can do when he ceases to love." Bussy +responded, November 4th: "If Mme. de Montespan is wise she will dream +only of cards and will leave the King in peace on the subject of love; +for it is impossible through complaints and scoldings to lure back +unfaithful lovers."</p> + +<p>Mme. de Montespan was <i>not</i> wise. In the hope of bringing the King back +to her arms by force, she redoubled the disagreeable scenes. At this +moment, an obscure past, filled with vague and frightful events, rose +against her, and the expiation for having too much loved became almost +tragic in its character.</p> + +<p>La Voisin, the poisoner, cannot be forgotten, nor the prosecution in +1668, which had revealed to the young King the connection of his new +mistress with the world of malefactors. This affair was stifled, but the +evil continued in its subterranean influence. The merchants of love +philters and of poisons and the priests of satanic rites saw their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +clients increasing in number year by year. When the crimes finally came +to the surface, and Louis established (March 7, 1679) the "<i>Chambre +ardente</i>" to purify France from the gangrene, so many Parisians were +connected in one way or another with the accused that the King had +against him a powerful current of opinion. This is, perhaps, the most +significant feature of the sad affair. Instead of being crushed with +shame in learning how many were compromised, the higher classes were +indignant against the equal justice which refused to give them special +consideration. They murmured loudly, and for once the people were with +them, for the populace remained staunch to the sorcerers. The clamours +were so menacing that the judges of the "<i>Chambre ardente</i>" felt +themselves in danger: "I know," wrote Bussy-Rabutin on April 1st, "the +chamber instituted to examine the 'corrupters,' and also know that +Messieurs de Bezons and de La Reynie do not pass from Paris to Vincennes +without an escort of the Kings Guards."<a name="FNanchor_286_288" id="FNanchor_286_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_288" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> Louis XIV. was obliged +several times to strengthen the resolution of these judges; sometimes in +openly commanding them to "judge truly"<a name="FNanchor_287_289" id="FNanchor_287_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_289" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> without any distinction +of person, condition, or sex; sometimes by assuring them through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +official letter of his "protection."<a name="FNanchor_288_290" id="FNanchor_288_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_290" class="fnanchor">[288]</a></p> + +<p>The first executions before the <i>Chambre ardente</i> took place in +February, 1679, and the list of the names of those arrested or of those +to whom notices of warrants to appear as witnesses had been served, a +list which made so great an excitement on account of the aristocrats +included,<a name="FNanchor_289_291" id="FNanchor_289_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_291" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> is dated January 23, 1680. It had been at least four +months before,<a name="FNanchor_290_292" id="FNanchor_290_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_292" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> that there had come to the ears of the King, as some +one was reading to him the account of the last examinations, two +familiar names. Who is Mlle. des Œillets, ancient "follower" of Mme. +de Montespan? Who is Cato, her maid, and what had they to do with La +Voisin and with those like her? These same names again appearing in the +list of January 6, 1680, the King, while declaring that the witnesses +must certainly have lied,<a name="FNanchor_291_293" id="FNanchor_291_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_293" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> ordered the Procurer-General, M. Robert, +"to pay strict attention to this particular case."</p> + +<p>This was done, with the result that Louis was forced to ask himself if +the woman whom he adored above all others, and who had borne him seven +children, was a vile "corrupter"; if this perfect body for which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +had risked the safety of his soul had taken part in the ignoble +ceremonies of the infamous Guibourg? If, discontented with the thought +of sharing his favours with rivals, she might not in an access of +jealousy have tried to poison him, the King? He sought the truth, but +did not find it. In waiting further developments, Louis led his mistress +with him wherever he might go, and she was always making a disturbance +of some sort. The King grew less patient; that was the only difference.</p> + +<p>From Bussy-Rabutin, May 18, 1680:</p> + +<p>"The King ... as he was mounting into his carriage with the Queen had +some rough words with Mme. de Montespan, about the scents with which she +deluged herself, which made his Majesty ill. The King at first spoke +politely, but as she responded sharply, his Majesty grew warm." On the +25th, Mme. de Sévigné noted another "serious embroilment." This time +Colbert succeeded in reconciling them. The situation grew painful. A +long series of letters and <i>mémoires</i> have been found in which La Reynie +discusses for the King the charges accumulated against Mme. de +Montespan. The picture is given of the doubts and fluctuations of an +honest man whose responsibilities somewhat rankle in his breast, and who +sees an equal peril in dishonouring the throne and in permitting a +guilty woman to remain near the King. Louis passed through many +successive stages of conviction during the prosecution. The further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +the examination proceeded, the stronger became the presumption of guilt, +without, however, bringing positive proofs.</p> + +<p>On July 12, 1680, La Reynie summed up for his master the history of the +"petition to be used in poisoning the King." On October 11th he declared +that he should be ruined in the affair, and supplicated his Majesty to +reflect whether it would be for the "welfare of the State," to make +these "horrors" public. In the month of May following, he avowed that he +had erred on some points and that there was more evil than at first +appeared. The marvellous control that Louis possessed over himself +prevented outward betrayal; but certainly these uncertainties, these +inferior conflicts, and it is to be hoped some sense of shame and +remorse, became chastisements for his faults. On her side, Mme. de +Montespan, in spite of the secret of her possible guilt being well +guarded both at Court and by the judges and police, could not be +ignorant that Mlle. des Œillets had been interrogated, confronted +with witnesses, and imprisoned for life in the general Hospital at +Tours.<a name="FNanchor_292_294" id="FNanchor_292_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_294" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> Mme. de Montespan then knew that she had been denounced, but +with what proof? What did the King think? What curious meetings between +these two beings must have taken place. What conversations during which +the King and his mistress were closely observing each other.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p> + +<p>Court life, nevertheless, pursued its monotonous course, and Mme. de +Montespan continued to figure in positions of honour. In March, 1689, +she goes to meet the Dauphin<a name="FNanchor_293_295" id="FNanchor_293_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_295" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> with the rest of the Court, and it is +she who has charge of the choice and arrangement of the wedding +presents, "being the woman in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, "who knows +the best forms." In July, the King led her to Versailles with her +sister, Mme. de Thianges, and her niece, the beautiful Duchesse de +Nevers. This lady the mother and aunt were cynically offering to the +Monarch.<a name="FNanchor_294_296" id="FNanchor_294_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_296" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> In February, 1681, "a lottery was opened at Mme. de +Montespan's, of which the largest prize was one hundred thousand francs, +and there were a hundred others offered of one hundred pistoles each." +In July, 1682, the <i>Chambre ardente</i> was <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'suddently'">suddenly</ins> suppressed. Of the +three hundred accused, thirty-six people of no importance had been +executed, one hundred sent to the galleys, or to prisons, or convents, +or exiled; the noted among them always gaining some concessions. The +dungeons of Paris and Vincennes were crowded. The smaller fry were +released, and the remainder were scattered, without any other trial, +through the provincial prisons, to await a death rarely slow in coming +to relieve their misery.</p> + +<p>From Louvois to M. de Chauvelin, Intendant, December 16, 1682,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +announcing the arrival of one of these convoys:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Above all, please take care to prevent any of these gentlemen from +proclaiming aloud, a thing which has already occurred, any of the +absurd statements connected with Mme. de Montespan, which have been +proved to be absolutely without foundation. Threaten a punishment +so severe at the first utterance that they will not dare to breathe +a word further.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This letter ended the connection of Mme. de Montespan with the affair of +the "corrupters of morals" or the poisoners. She was saved, but was this +due to proofs of innocence or to reasons of State, to the refusal of +Louis to credit the testimony of an Abbé Guibourg or Lesage, or to the +remnants of an old tenderness? The few men with whom it had been +necessary to share the secrets which would respond to these questions +were so perfectly mute that contemporaries suspected nothing. They saw +the ancient favourite a little neglected, but always dreaming of the +possibility of reasserting herself, as the many pages of the <i>Mémoires</i> +of Mademoiselle testify. All this was in the natural course of events.</p> + +<p>One single indication of what Louis XIV. thought at the bottom of his +soul is possessed; a letter from the King to Colbert, who knew all. +Mademoiselle had prayed Mme. de Montespan to solicit some favour for +Lauzun. The King charged Colbert to reply for him (October, 1681): "You +will politely explain to her that I always receive the marks of her +friendship and confidence with pleasure, and that I am very vexed when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +it is not possible to do what she desires, but at this time I can do no +more than I have already done."<a name="FNanchor_295_297" id="FNanchor_295_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_297" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> Did he believe the mistress +innocent or had he pardoned her?</p> + +<p>The first preoccupation of Lauzun, in returning to the world, must have +been to make clear to himself through legitimate or illegitimate means +the chronology of the King's love affairs, a history so essential for +the comprehension of the interior life of the Court.</p> + +<p>The main facts for this record have been already given in the preceding +chapter. The returned prisoner had afterwards to learn all that +Mademoiselle had accomplished for him during his captivity, and of what +the public thought of her efforts, and he recognised that no one in +France except Segrais doubted the fact of their marriage. That the +marriage had taken place before his imprisonment was the prevalent +belief, which was never really shaken. It again came to light in the +eighteenth century. The historian Anquetil saw at Tréport, in 1744, an +old person of more than seventy years of age, who resembled the +portraits of the Grande Mademoiselle and did not know from whence came +her pension.<a name="FNanchor_296_298" id="FNanchor_296_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_298" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> This person believed herself to be the daughter of the +Duchesse de Montpensier, and local tradition confirmed this conviction. +There were, however, no absolute proofs, and it will be seen further on +how this question of the marriage with Lauzun is brought up over and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +over again in the biography of the Grande Mademoiselle, with a monotony +slightly fatiguing and without it being possible to ever obtain a clear +response.</p> + +<p>Whatever the fact may be, the Princess gave a very fine example of +constancy and fidelity. She lived for ten years absorbed in a single +thought. The <i>Mémoires</i> for the year 1673 say: "I remember nothing which +has taken place during the past winter. My grief occupies me so much +that I have but little interest in the actions of others." To liberate +Lauzun had become a fixed idea, and she attached herself to the steps of +the King and to those of Mme. de Montespan, without permitting herself +to remember the ill that they had committed, as it was they alone who +could loosen the bonds. The more they showed themselves inexorable, the +more Mademoiselle redoubled her assiduities. In 1676 she enjoyed for the +brief space of two hours the delusion that Louis XIV. at length, at the +end of ten years, was moved with a feeling of compassion. The news of +the attempted escape of Lauzun had just been received. "I learned that +the King had listened to the account with some sign of humanity, I can +hardly say of pity. If he had felt this, would he [Lauzun] still be +there?"</p> + +<p>The Princess wrote to the King, but received no response; and again four +years rolled by. Mme. de Montespan was no longer favourite. The +courtiers considered it shrewd to neglect her. Better inspired, +Mademoiselle continued to stand fast by her, and the result proved the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +wisdom of this course, in the dramatic moment, for Louis, of the affair +of the corrupters. It was in the spring of 1680, while denunciations +were falling upon the fallen favourite as upon all those connected with +La Voisin, that Mademoiselle remarked by certain movements and a change +of tone that something was stirring between Mme. de Montespan and the +fortress of Pignerol:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I went to her daily and she appeared touched by the thought of M. +de Lauzun.... She often said to me: "But think how you can make +yourself agreeable to the King, that he may accord to you what you +desire so dearly." She threw out such suggestions from time to +time, which advised me that they were thinking of my fortune.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The phrase of a friend came back to her: "But you should let them hope +that you will make M. de Maine your heir." She recalled other hints +which at first had passed unnoticed, and understood that a bargain was +offered.</p> + +<p>The monarch and his ancient favourite had agreed between them to sell to +Mademoiselle the freedom of the man she loved so deeply. What was to be +the price? This was not yet disclosed. It was some time before +Mademoiselle comprehended, and then she was so disconcerted that she +said nothing. She felt that the combat was not an equal one between +herself, from whom passion had taken away all judgment, and Mme. de +Montespan, who was perfectly calm, and she hesitated, fearing some +snare: "Finally, I resolved to make M. de Maine my heir, provided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +that the King would send for Lauzun and consent that I should marry +him." Some third person brought these conditions to Mme. de Montespan +and was received with open arms. Louis XIV. thanked his cousin graciously +without making any allusion to the condition; he could always assert +that he had made no promise.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle wished that he would at least give her some news of Lauzun. +Mme. de Montespan responded to her insistence: "It is necessary to have +patience," and affairs remained at this point.</p> + +<p>At the end of some weeks, Mademoiselle perceived that she was no longer +free. She had counted upon taking her time and having sureties before +proceeding further. An immediate execution of the deed of gift was +insisted upon, and she was so harassed that she no longer felt at +liberty to breathe freely.</p> + +<p>"The King must not be played with," declared Mme. de Montespan; "when a +promise is made it must be kept." "But," objected Mademoiselle, "I wish +the freedom of M. de Lauzun, and suppose that after what I have done I +should find myself deceived, and my friend should not be liberated?" +Louvois was then sent to frighten her, or Colbert in order to compass +some concession. It was no longer a matter of testament.</p> + +<p>A donation while living<a name="FNanchor_297_299" id="FNanchor_297_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_299" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> was exacted, of the Principality of Dombes +and of the Comté of Eu without reference to the rest, and this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> +assignment was obtained, in spite of complaints and the bitterest tears; +"for they were demanding precisely what had been given to Lauzun, and +Mademoiselle could not without difficulty resolve to despoil her lover." +She finally comprehended that the King would not cease persecuting her +until she consented, and, feeling no hope of diminishing the +demands,<a name="FNanchor_298_300" id="FNanchor_298_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_300" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> she yielded.</p> + +<p>The gift to the Duc de Maine was signed February 2, 1681. It gave some +agreeable days to Mademoiselle. The King assured her of his gratitude. +"At supper he regarded me pleasantly and conversed with me; this was +most charming." Nevertheless, Lauzun did not appear. One day Mme. de +Montespan informed the Princess that the King would never permit Lauzun +to be Duc de Montpensier, and that it would be necessary to have a +secret marriage. The Princess cried out: "What! Madame, I am to permit +him to live with me as my husband with no marriage ceremony! Of what +will the world think me capable?"</p> + +<p>This passage in the <i>Mémoires</i> apparently fixes the date of marriage +after the return of Lauzun from his captivity. There exist, however, a +number of moral proofs against this later date.</p> + +<p>Some time after this conversation, in the beginning of April, 1681, +the Court being at Saint-Germain, Mme. de Montespan announced to +Mademoiselle the immediate departure of Lauzun for the Baths of Bourbon, +and she then drew her, slightly against her will, to the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +terrace, far from indiscreet ears. "When we were in the Val, which is a +garden at the end of the Park of Saint-Germain, she said to me, 'The +King has asked me to tell you that he does not wish you to dream of ever +marrying M. de Lauzun, at least, officially.'"</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle had been tricked.</p> + +<p>"Upon this, I began to weep and to talk about the gifts I had made, only +on the one condition. Mme. de Montespan said, 'I have promised nothing.' +She had gained what she wished, and was willing enough to bear anything +I might say." In the evening it was necessary to assume a delighted air +and thank the King for Lauzun's freedom; a single sign of ill-humour and +Mademoiselle ran the risk of receiving nothing in exchange for her +millions.</p> + +<p>There remained the task of forcing Lauzun to renounce the gifts formerly +presented to him. Mme. de Montespan took the route to Bourbon, where +"she found greater difficulty than she had anticipated." Her demands so +surpassed the expectations of the late prisoner that he revolted. There +were many disputes, many despatches, and many delays,<a name="FNanchor_299_301" id="FNanchor_299_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_301" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> at the end of +which the obstinate one, having been reimprisoned,<a name="FNanchor_300_302" id="FNanchor_300_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_302" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> was so harassed +with threats and promises that he finally yielded. His signature was +given; he believed himself free. Instead of liberty, he received an +order of exile to Amboise. He also had been duped. This affair is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> +odious from beginning to end.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was Lauzun's resource and providence. She compensated him +as far as might be with a fresh devotion, in which Saint-Fargeau figured +as an item, and found means to pay him nearly 300,000 francs<a name="FNanchor_301_303" id="FNanchor_301_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_303" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> over +what the King would have been obliged to give him if he had not been +sent to Pignerol. With much difficulty, the importunities of +Mademoiselle obtained the desired permission for the ex-prisoner to +salute the King and afterward to dwell where it pleased him, on the +single condition that he would not approach the Court. Access to this +was strictly forbidden; but what would it have mattered, when he would +have humbled himself before his master?</p> + +<p>Alas! the charm was broken, and for ever. In March, 1682, at the single +interview granted, Lauzun threw himself ten times, consecutively, at the +feet of Louis XIV.—the King himself relates this—and employed all his +grace, all his flatteries, without succeeding in breaking the ice.</p> + +<p>Received coolly and dismissed without delay, there was nothing left but +to fall back upon Mademoiselle. They had not yet met, and it is a +terrible test of devotion to meet after eleven years, and to endeavour +to again open the page closed by misfortune. The Grande Mademoiselle of +the time previous to the imprisonment at Pignerol singularly resembled +the Hermione of Racine, in her jealousy and violence. The one of 1682<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +was not yet a tranquil person, but Hermione was an old woman, and +Pyrrhus a licentious greybeard, who was endeavouring to recompense +himself for the time lost in prison.</p> + +<p>Years had not made Lauzun in love with his benefactress, and he arrived +to meet her well resolved to finish simply with expressions of gratitude +and of love. Mademoiselle was well aware of his infidelities. The grief, +mingled with irritation, which she felt displayed itself in a sort of +stiffness and embarrassment. The great joy she had anticipated in again +seeing her lover, she did not realise.</p> + +<p>She had existed ten long years for this moment, and when it came, she +desired to escape. She went to await Lauzun at Mme. de Montespan's, a +first piece of absurdity. "M. de Lauzun," say her <i>Mémoires</i>, "arrived +after his interview with the King; he wore an old undress uniform with +short waistcoat, almost in rags, and a very ugly wig.<a name="FNanchor_302_304" id="FNanchor_302_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_304" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> He sank at my +feet with much grace. Then Mme. de Montespan led us into a cabinet, and +said, 'You will be glad to speak together.' She then went away, and I +followed her." A second ridiculous action! Lauzun profited by the delay +to salute the rest of the royal family. On returning, he found his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +Princess with Mme. de Montespan and did not see her an instant alone: +"He told me that he had been cordially received, and that this he owed +to me; that I was his only source of good, the one from which he +received all. He made certain amiable propositions, and in thus acting +he was only wise. I was silent; I was astonished."</p> + +<p>This interview finished, Lauzun considered himself free from his +obligations and returned to Paris with a peaceful conscience. +Mademoiselle dared not follow him too quickly. The fourth day they were +at Choisy, a new mansion that Mademoiselle had built two leagues from +Sceaux. Lauzun regarded the Princess while she was having her head +adorned with flame-coloured ribbons. "He said, 'I was astonished to see +the Queen with many-coloured ribbons on her head.' 'You must find it +wrong, then, that I should wear them, who am older?' He did not reply. I +told him that rank permitted the decoration for a longer period." +Mademoiselle had at first written, "People of my rank are always young," +but had effaced the phrase. Lauzun knew well how to restore her to a +good-humour, and he let himself be scolded, escaping towards evening to +return to his pleasures.</p> + +<p>The fifth day they again disputed. Lauzun was in the wrong; he had +spoken of his visits to Choisy as duties. Mademoiselle, however, injured +her cause with sharpness. "I see clearly," said she, "that in this world +people who do good are mocked, as they are bores." Lauzun, vexed, +demanded, "How much longer is this pleasantry to last?" "As long as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +I please; I have the right to say all I wish, and you are bound to +listen." Lauzun showed "much impatience to depart," and this was not +altogether unnatural, considering the nature of man. At another +interview, it was the lover who was the first to show irritation. To be +no longer of any importance in the world of society, to be two steps +from the Court without being free to enter, this was more than he could +bear. He accused Mademoiselle of having managed very badly and having +only done harm; "if she had not interfered with his affairs," he would +have come out of prison under better conditions. Mme. de Montespan +overheard the accusation and was very indignant at this injustice and +ingratitude, and the Princess united with her in reproaches. It would be +difficult to find a clear moment in the midst of these frequent +quarrels, in which the pair would have desired to marry, if they had not +done so before Pignerol. Here is again a moral proof to add to the +others.</p> + +<p>About every two days, Lauzun became metamorphosed, and was again for +some hours, or at least minutes, for Mademoiselle the former "little +man" whose eccentricities gave an indescribable charm, difficult to +explain, but impossible to deny. He had not the least trouble in again +captivating his mistress. As soon as he assumed the sweet and submissive +air and the enigmatical smile which she had so dearly loved (even +combined with the manners which she sometimes distrusted, "of being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> +acquainted with everything without speaking or copying"), Mademoiselle +fell anew under the charm and could refuse nothing. But this happy state +of affairs never lasted. The time to obtain from her some new +concession, another service, and the exaggerated manner of the convict +dragging his chain reappeared. He loved to exasperate her jealousy. If +nothing better offered, "he amused himself with grisettes,"<a name="FNanchor_303_305" id="FNanchor_303_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_305" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> even +after the royal family had received him as cousin "understood," if not +avowed, and when all Paris was congratulating Mademoiselle on his happy +release.</p> + +<p>Other serious difficulties arose from the fact of Lauzun considering the +money of Mademoiselle as his own. Choisy appeared to him a useless +expense; he found much fault with its management. "The terraces cost +immense sums," said he one day while walking in the grounds; "what good +are they?" The Princess had sold in his absence a chain of pearls. +"Where is the money?" demanded Lauzun. He wished to hold the purse +strings, and no longer to be a "beggar." It astonished him that +Mademoiselle had not thought of preparing for him, before his arrival, +"a beautiful apartment," of organising his establishment, of placing one +of her carriages at his disposal.</p> + +<p>He complained openly in the social world that she left him without a +penny; that she had only given him some diamonds, worth perhaps one +thousand pistoles in all—and what stones, so "ugly"!—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +that he had immediately sold them to obtain means of "subsistence." This +is the perpetual complaint of the youthful husband, who wishes to be +recompensed for the devotion lavished upon an elderly wife. The +"beautiful apartment" existed and awaited him, but it was at the Château +of Eu; the King would not tolerate his presence at the Luxembourg.</p> + +<p>Those who had the good fortune to visit Eu before the fire of 1902 will +not have forgotten the flight of Loves on the ceiling of a chamber +situated above that belonging to Mademoiselle. The Chamber of the Loves +was the one designed for Lauzun, who failed, however, to honour the +symbol. After a delay of three weeks, he no sooner arrived than he +committed the unpardonable imprudence of running after the village +girls, under the very eyes of Mademoiselle. This was too much. The +mistress of the château beat Lauzun, scratched his face, and turned him +out of doors. There he should stay. He was sufficiently shrewd to desire +an accommodation. The Comtesse de Fiesque served as intermediary.</p> + +<p>In the Château of Eu there was a long gallery filled with family +portraits. Mademoiselle appeared at one end; "he [Lauzun] was at the +other, and he crept along on his knees the entire length of the gallery, +till he reached the feet of Mademoiselle."<a name="FNanchor_304_306" id="FNanchor_304_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_306" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> Possibly they forgave +each other sincerely, but when friction once exists between married<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +couples it continues, whether in the palace of princes or in the huts of +charcoal burners. Such scenes, more or less stormy, occurred again in +the future. Lauzun grew weary of being beaten, and in his turn used +force with the Princess, and this happened several times. In the end, +disgusted with each other, they fought for the last time and separated, +never to meet again.</p> + +<p>The final quarrel is related in detail in the <i>Mémoires</i> of +Mademoiselle. It happened in the spring of 1684. France was at war with +Spain. On April 22d the King departed to join his army, refusing to +permit Lauzun to accompany him, who imagined, rightly or wrongly, that +Mademoiselle was responsible for the prohibition, and was indignant. He +went to the Luxembourg, where a reception of raillery exasperated him +still further:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I met him laughing, and said: "You must retire to Saint-Fargeau; +you will be a laughing stock if you remain at Paris, as you were +not permitted to go with the King, and I shall be very vexed if it +is believed that it is I who have caused you to remain behind." He +replied: "I am going away, and bid you farewell; I shall never see +you again." I said: "It would have been better if we had never met; +but better late than never." "You have ruined my career," replied +he; "you might as well have cut my throat; it is your fault that I +am not with the King; you asked him to leave me behind." "Oh, that +is false; he will tell you so himself." Lauzun grew more and more +angry, and I remained very calm. I said to him: "Adieu, then"; and +I entered my boudoir. I remained there some time; on returning, I +found him still there. The ladies present said: "Do you not wish to +play cards?" I approached him, saying: "This is too much; keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +your promise; go away." He finally withdrew.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This rupture made a great scandal. Dangeau, who had followed the King to +the frontier, noted on May 6th, in his journal: "The news comes from +Paris that Mademoiselle has forbidden M. de Lauzun to appear again +before her." Thus ends meanly and miserably, with a scene worthy of +Dickens, the most famous passion of the century, after that of Chimène +and Rodrigue. The first interest in the affair abated, the hero of the +romance sank into obscurity. Mademoiselle cast herself into an ecstasy +of pious devotion, from which the virtue of pardoning the offences of +others was apparently excluded.</p> + +<p>Lauzun sought some support to which to attach himself, and did not +easily find it. He realised too late that one could not quarrel with +impunity with a princess of the blood. He made attempts at +reconciliation, which Mademoiselle repulsed; she had loved with too much +ardour not to be capable of furious hate. The career of both lovers +appeared to be finished, when the fantastic star which had guided Lauzun +towards so many adventures, marvellous if not always agreeable, led him +to England during the autumn of 1688. He sought a more hospitable court, +he found a revolution and glory. "I admire the star of M. de Lauzun," +wrote Mme. de Sévigné, "which again brings its light over the horizon +when it was supposed to be for ever extinguished" (December 24, 1688).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span></p> + +<p>The name of Lauzun was actually again on the lips of all. He had saved +the Queen of England and her son, and had brought them to Calais at +great risk, and suddenly assumed the pose of a true hero, wrongly +despised and persecuted. "It is long," at once said Louis, "since Lauzun +has seen my writing. I believe that he will rejoice at receiving a +letter from me." The royal missive bore to the former favourite more +than the pardon for the past; it spoke of "impatience to see him +again."<a name="FNanchor_305_307" id="FNanchor_305_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_307" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> Mademoiselle considered this an outrage against herself; +the ministers and courtiers, a menace. (December 27th): "He [Lauzun] has +found the road again to Versailles by way of London; but he alone is +joyful." The Princess is indignant at the thought that the King is again +content with him, and that he can return to Court.<a name="FNanchor_306_308" id="FNanchor_306_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_308" class="fnanchor">[306]</a></p> + +<p>In vain the King sent Seignelay to say to his cousin, as a sort of +excuse and consolation: "After such services rendered by Lauzun, it is +my duty to see him." Mademoiselle grew angry, and said, "This is then +the gratitude I receive for having despoiled myself for the sake of the +King's children." One of the friends of M. de Lauzun was charged to +present her with a letter. She threw it into the fire unread.<a name="FNanchor_307_309" id="FNanchor_307_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_309" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> When +it was realised that she was not to be appeased, people ceased to +concern themselves with her and her bad temper. Lauzun re-entered in +triumph the Court of France, and Bussy-Rabutin, in a letter to Mme. de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +Sévigné,<a name="FNanchor_308_310" id="FNanchor_308_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_310" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> summed up the record of his career (February 2, 1689): "We +have seen him in favour, we have seen him submerged, and now behold he +is again riding the waves. Do you remember a childish game in which one +says, 'I have seen him alive, I have seen him dead, I have seen him +alive after his death'? This tells his history."</p> + +<p>The "second volume of the romance" offers to those interested an account +of the solemn conferring upon the little Lauzun, in the church of Notre +Dame, by King James II., of the Order of the Garter. To this chapter +succeeds one less brilliant. Lauzun received the appointment as +commander of the French troops sent to Ireland to sustain the cause of +legitimate monarchy. He lacked the necessary qualifications for this +post. He astonished his officers with his incapacity, and made them +blush by displaying "a longing to return to France,"<a name="FNanchor_309_311" id="FNanchor_309_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_311" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> which was not +heroic.</p> + +<p>Louis XIV. consented to make Lauzun Duke, upon "the urgent prayer"<a name="FNanchor_310_312" id="FNanchor_310_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_312" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> +of their Britannic Majesties, but his opinion once formed never changed. +The King never again employed the new Duke in any official capacity, and +this omission was always bitterly resented.</p> + +<p>As a result of many years of reflection, Mademoiselle at length arrived +at the conviction, an accepted commonplace, that happiness is not for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +the prominent upon this earth. Without actually compensating her for +her troubles, this discovery brought a certain consolation. She had, at +this period, as neighbour in Normandy, a young and charming woman called +the Comtesse de Bayard, who became in the following century the +godmother of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and who furnished her godson +with material<a name="FNanchor_311_313" id="FNanchor_311_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_313" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> afterwards woven into tales made charming by his +delicately sentimental language. One of these tales by Saint-Pierre is +founded upon the romance of the Grande Mademoiselle. Mme. de Bayard +liked to recall how, in their lonely walks, the Princess would linger to +make the villagers relate the tales of their loves and marriages; how +her eyes would fill with tears, and how, returning into the Château of +Eu, she would say that she would have been happier in a hut.</p> + +<p>To tears succeeded a certain childishness; the execrable Court life had +educated her only for a puerile old age, and she hastened to Versailles +from time to time, fearing to miss a tournament or some spectacle of +this kind. On March 15, 1693, she was seized at Paris with a disease of +the bladder which rapidly increased in severity.<a name="FNanchor_312_314" id="FNanchor_312_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_314" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> The Luxembourg +was besieged with seekers after news; the fear of losing the Grande<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +Mademoiselle had aroused anew her popularity. Monsieur and Madame, who +loved her, came to nurse her. Lauzun begged to be admitted, but was +refused. The condition grew rapidly worse, and the physicians, not +knowing what to do, administered five doses of an emetic, the +fashionable remedy that winter for all diseases, with the result that +she soon saw the mournful procession of the royal family defile around +her bed, the sure sign that all hope had passed.</p> + +<p>The Princess died on April 15th, at the age of sixty-six years, and was +buried at Saint-Denis with much pomp. In the midst of the ceremony, an +urn, in which through a curious arrangement the entrails were enclosed, +"broke with a frightful noise and emitted a sudden and intolerable +odour."<a name="FNanchor_313_315" id="FNanchor_313_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_315" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> Some women fainted, while the rest of those present gained +the open air by running. "All was soon perfumed and decorum was +re-established," but this occurrence became the jest of Paris. It was +fated that the Grande Mademoiselle should always arouse a little +ridicule, even at her interment.</p> + +<p>Lauzun went into deep mourning, and made, on the day of the funeral, an +offer of marriage, to prove that he was really a widower. Having, on +this occasion, been refused, he married (1695) the younger daughter of +the Maréchal de Lorges and became the brother-in-law of Saint-Simon.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mme. de Lauzun was a child of fourteen,<a name="FNanchor_314_316" id="FNanchor_314_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_316" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> to whom Lauzun, with his +sixty-three years, appeared so old that she had accepted him in the +expectation of being quickly a widow.</p> + +<p>She flattered herself that at the end of "two or three years at +most"<a name="FNanchor_315_317" id="FNanchor_315_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_317" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> she would find herself independent, rich, and, above all, a +duchess, and this idea captivated her. But Lauzun could never be counted +upon. His wife was obliged to endure him for nearly thirty years, passed +in suffering torments from morning till night from the loving husband. +The King had said to the Maréchal de Lorges, in learning of the marriage +of his youngest daughter: "You are bold to take Lauzun into your family; +I trust that you may not repent it." Repentance was prompt and bitter. +Mademoiselle was right, it was impossible to live with Lauzun. It was +through miracles of patience that his new wife bore to the end, and +miracles should never be exacted in wedded life. The mean little +calculation at the beginning had been amply expiated by the time that +Mme. de Lauzun finally became a widow. Even to the end, Lauzun had +remained one of the ornaments and curiosities of the Court of France, +noted for his grand manner, the eccentricities of his habits, the +splendour of his habitation, and for the indescribable elegance and ease +of conversation and bearing, which at that time was not to be acquired +at Versailles.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span></p> + +<p>At ninety he himself drove, and sometimes with fiery animals. One day, +when he was training a fresh colt in the Bois de Boulogne, the King, +Louis XIV., passed. Lauzun executed before him a "hundred capers" and +filled the spectators with admiration, by his "address, his strength, +and his grace."<a name="FNanchor_316_318" id="FNanchor_316_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_318" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> He still often enjoyed "pretty" moments. But there +was a reverse side to the medal: the malignant dwarf "frightened all who +approached him with his wicked wit and his hateful tricks." From afar, +Lauzun is very amusing under this aspect; he excelled in buffoonery. In +extreme age, he suffered from a malady which almost killed him. One day, +when he was very ill, he perceived reflected in a mirror the forms of +two of his heirs who entered the chamber on tiptoe, fancying themselves +concealed behind the curtains, to ascertain with their own eyes how long +they were to be forced to wait. Lauzun feigned to perceive nothing and +began to pray in a loud voice as one who believes himself alone. He +demanded pardon of God for his past life, and lamented that his time for +repentance was so short. He exclaimed that there was only a single way +to secure his safety, which was to devote the wealth which God had given +him to paying for his sins, and this he engaged to do with all his +heart. He promised to leave to the hospital all that he possessed, +without abstracting a single penny. He made this declaration with so much +fervour and with so penetrating an accent that his heirs fled away in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +despair, to relate the misfortune to Mme. de Lauzun. This scene properly +terminates the career of this extraordinary personage, unscrupulous and +malignant to the last. Lauzun died in 1723, at over ninety years of age.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was the last to disappear of the grand figures belonging to +the time of the Fronde. Retz, Condé, Turenne, La Rochefoucauld, Mme. de +Chevreuse, Mme. de Longueville, had departed before her.</p> + +<p>The only one of the ancient rebels which could not perish, the Hôtel de +Ville of Paris, had been suppressed from history by royal ordinance for +the period corresponding to the Fronde. The accounts of the prosecutions +of the Council recorded the revolutionary sentiments which prevailed at +the capital during the civil war. The King ordered all the +registers<a name="FNanchor_317_319" id="FNanchor_317_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_319" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> to be destroyed, and the destruction included every +record relating to public affairs for the years 1646-1653.</p> + +<p>It may be said without too much calumniating the heart of Louis XIV. +that the death of his cousin afforded a certain relief. She was too +lively a reminder of the execrable period which he did his best to +banish from his own memory as well as from that of the public. +Saint-Simon, newly arrived <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'a'">at</ins> the Court at the date of the death of +Mademoiselle, had time to convince himself that she was in the eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +of the King always the unpardoned and unpardonable heroine of the combat +of the Porte Saint-Antoine. "I heard him reproach his cousin once at +supper, joking it is true, but a little roughly, for having turned the +cannon of the Bastile upon his troops."</p> + +<p>The royal rancour extended to the city of Paris, eternal cradle of +French revolutions. Not being able to suppress the capital, Louis XIV. +banished himself from its gates. On May 6, 1682, unfortunate date for +the French monarchy, the Court installed itself definitely at +Versailles, and henceforth left this place only for sojourns at the +various country seats, as Fontainebleau and Marly. Paris was abandoned, +left to do penance. Not only did Louis XIV. desert this city as a place +of residence, but he visited it rarely. It was remarked that he often +made long detours rather than to pass through Paris. The nobility and +ministers followed the King to Versailles. Royalty and the capital +turned their backs on each other.</p> + +<p>Another important event influenced the ideas of Court decorum and +propriety. The Queen Marie-Thérèse dying in 1683 (July 30), Louis XIV. +in the course of the winter following formally married Mme. de +Maintenon. The physiognomy of the Court, what Saint-Simon would have +called the bark (<i>écorce</i>), entirely changed its character. At the +moment of ending this long study it is, then, a different world to which +adieu must be said from the one which was found at the beginning, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +the transformation did not end with the "bark." The principal cause of +the change, the establishment of absolute monarchy, had acted violently +upon France in shaking the nation to its depths, as do all changes not +developing from national tradition.</p> + +<p>Absolute monarchy was not a French tradition. It was an importation from +Spain. Anne of Austria, who did not understand any other régime, had +educated her son to accept her ideas and habits of thought, and the +substitution of king for minister was, at the death of Mazarin, +accomplished without shock. It was, however, a real <i>coup d'état</i>.</p> + +<p>Before Louis XIV. the royal power, without being submitted to precise +limitations, from time to time hurled itself against certain rights, +themselves often loosely defined. There existed privileges of the +Parliament, others of the State, together with those of the nobles, and +others belonging to bodies and individuals, which when united left the +King of France in a situation resembling that in which Gulliver found +himself, when the Liliputians bound him with hundreds of minute threads. +Each single thread was of no consequence; through the compression of all +together every movement was paralysed. Louis XIV. resolutely broke the +numerous threads which had trammelled the power of his predecessors. He +freed himself in suppressing the ancient liberties of France. No student +of history can be ignorant of the material results, so splendid at +first, so disastrous in the end; but certain moral consequences of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +his government have been perhaps less clearly remarked.</p> + +<p>The French aristocracy ceased from the second generation to be a nursery +for men of action. This was the result desired from the policy of +keeping it chained to the steps of the throne. The end had been attained +at the date of the King's death. Saint-Simon, who cannot be suspected of +hostility towards the nobility, certifies to this. When the Duke arrived +at power under the Regent, his brain swarming with projects for +replacing the aristocrats in positions of importance, and when he sought +great names with which to fill great posts, he realised that he was too +late. The "nursery" was empty. The difficulty, say the <i>Mémoires</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>lay in the ignorance, the frivolity, and the lack of application of +a nobility which had been accustomed to lives of frivolity and +uselessness; a nobility that was good for nothing but to let itself +be killed, and that reached the battle-field itself only through +the force of heredity. For the remainder of the time, it was +content to stagnate in an existence without a purpose. It had +delivered itself over to idleness and felt keen disgust for all +education, excepting that relating to military matters. The result +was a general incapacity and unfitness for affairs.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is proper to render to Cæsar what belongs to Cæsar. The effacement of +the French aristocracy is not to be laid at the door of the great +Revolution, which acted only upon an accomplished fact; it was the +personal work of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>The higher classes also, contrary to the generally received opinion, +suffered from a serious moral abasement. This fact is the more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +striking, as at no other period has France possessed so many elements +for giving to life decorum and dignity. Through a deplorable misfortune, +social groups which ought, through their solid principles, to have +served as the support of public morality had incurred, one after the +other, the serious displeasure of royalty. Among the Catholics, the +disciples of Bérulle and of Vincent de Paul had compromised themselves +in the affair of the <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>. No government +worthy of the name can suffer itself to be led by a secret society, +whatever the purpose or character of such society may be. The Jansenists +had shared with the reformers in the discontent that the least +expression of a desire for independence, no matter in what domain, +inspired in Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>His distrust even reached the interior life of his subjects. Every one, +under penalty of being considered a rebel, must feel and think like the +King. This was with Louis a fixed idea, and during his reign gave a +peculiar character to the religious persecutions. Jansenists and +Protestants were pursued much oftener as enemies of the King than as +enemies of God.</p> + +<p>The hostility of the Prince to the three principal seats of the French +conscience, and the destruction of two of these, left the field clear +for the licentiousness which marked the end of the reign. Excessive +dissipation is always supposed to belong particularly to the time of +the Regency, but the abscess had existed for a long time before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +death of Louis XIV. caused it to break. A letter as early as 1680 +states, "Our fathers were not more chaste than we are; but ... now the +vices are decorated and refined."<a name="FNanchor_318_320" id="FNanchor_318_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_320" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> The evil had made rapid progress +under the mantle of hypocrisy, which covered the Court of France from +the time of the rule of Mme. de Maintenon. This last well perceived the +danger and groaned over it to no purpose. Strangers were struck with the +conditions. "All is more concentrated," wrote one of them in 1690, "more +reserved, more restrained, than the peculiar genius of the nation can +bear."<a name="FNanchor_319_321" id="FNanchor_319_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_321" class="fnanchor">[319]</a></p> + +<p>The real misfortune was that Louis, who had been brought up and matured +in an entirely formal religion, had permitted himself to be imposed upon +by scoffers, who came disguised as believers, in order to make their +court. The King, who had permitted the representation of <i>Tartuffe</i>, had +not sufficiently meditated upon its import.</p> + +<p>A final misdeed, and not the least for which the absolute régime is +responsible, was the launching of the nation in pursuit of one of the +most dangerous of political chimeras, that of the need of spiritual +unity. Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes in the name of the fetich +that a good Frenchman must be of his King's faith. A century later, +the Terror cut off heads in the name of a unity of opinion, because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +a Frenchman ought to be virtuous in the fashion of Rousseau and of +Robespierre. The reader may continue for himself the series, and count +the acts of oppression committed in the nineteenth century, while even +the twentieth century, young as it still is, presents examples of the +attempt to enforce upon the nation a uniformity of thought which, if +once attained, would signify intellectual death. For in politics, as in +religion, as in art, in literature, in all, diversity is life.</p> + +<p>It is through this capital error that the reign of Louis XIV., so +glorious in many respects, was the precursor of the great Revolution and +really made its coming inevitable. The Jacobins are in some measure the +heirs of the great King. Fundamentally, the mania for spiritual and +moral unity is simply, under a less odious name, the horror of liberty; +a sentiment old as the world, but which in the earlier portion of the +seventeenth century had been far from dominant. The word "liberty" +occurs again and again in the writings of many people of that period, +theorists, jurists, and great nobles, at every point in which they touch +politics. The expression contained for them nothing revolutionary. What +they were demanding was rather a return to past methods, and, above all, +it did not enter their thoughts to associate with liberty the word +"equality." It is the eighteenth century, more philosophical, if perhaps +less reasonable, that first conceived the idea of uniting two really +incompatible things, without perceiving that one of the two was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +destined to annihilate the other.</p> + +<p>If absolute royalty had remained at Paris, it would have clearly +realised the point at which the nation no longer was in sympathy with +its rule. At Versailles it saw nothing; it shut itself up in its own +tomb. The divorce was consummated between the Court and the Capital, one +contenting itself with being figurative and ornamental, the other +actively controlling opinions, since royalty had renounced the office of +directing the public mind and thoughts.</p> + +<p>It will be recollected that the rôle of universal arbitrator was played +by the "young Court," the youthful King at its head, at the time in +which there was daily contact with Paris, and when the Court was always +in the advance in ideas as in fashions. The residence at Versailles +ended the possibility of these times ever returning; there was no longer +any bond between the King of France and the merchant of the rue St. +Denis. In consequence, Paris employed itself in the eighteenth century +in the evolution of minds. The Court had decided upon the success of the +plays of Molière, the Parisian parquet criticised those of Beaumarchais.</p> + +<p>If it be considered that the interior politics of Louis XIV. were +constantly dominated by a horror of the Fronde, it will be recognised +that this abortive revolution brought in its train consequences almost +as grave as if it had been successful. This is the reason it has seemed +permissible to make the history of the ideas and sentiments existing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +during the wars of the Fronde and the succeeding forty years circle +around the incidents in the life of the Grande Mademoiselle. She was a +truly representative figure of this generation, and on this account will +always merit the attention of historians, and by a double claim, through +the interest in her proud conception of life, and through the importance +of the evil for which she was partly responsible and by the results of +which she was herself overwhelmed. No one possessed in a higher degree +than this Princess the great qualities belonging to her epoch, and no +one preserved them so intact without thought of the danger after the +retaining of such opinions had become a cause of disgrace.</p> + +<p>Neither Retz nor the great Condé showed signs in their old age of their +characteristics displayed under the Fronde; both had become calmed. The +Grande Mademoiselle remained always the Grande Mademoiselle, and this +steadfastness, while sometimes a difficulty, was more often her real +title to glory.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<h4>A</h4> + +<p>Absolute monarchy, establishment of, in France, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Spanish importation, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></span></p> + +<p>Adickes, Erich, <i>Kant als Mensch</i> by, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<p>Aimé-Martin, <i>Essai sur la Vie</i>, by, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Aix, Court at, <a href="#Page_100">100-102</a></p> + +<p>Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></p> + +<p>Albret, Maréchal d', <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<p><i>Alceste</i> (Lulli), <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p> + +<p>Alençon, Elisabeth, Mlle, d', daughter of Monsieur, <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294</a></span></p> + +<p>Allier, Raoul, <i>La Cabale des Dévots</i>, by, <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_85">85,</a> <a href="#Page_157">157,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_198">198</a></p> + +<p>Alluye, Marquise d', <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Alphonse VI., King of Portugal, <a href="#Page_142">142-145,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185</a></p> + +<p><i>Amadis</i>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></p> + +<p><i>Amants Magnifiques, Les</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_202">202</a></p> + +<p><i>Amaryllis</i>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p> + +<p><i>Ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne, L'</i>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></p> + +<p>Amboise, Château of, <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354</a></p> + +<p>Amfreville, M. d', <a href="#Page_364">364</a></p> + +<p>Amiens, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> + +<p>"Amours of Hercules," <a href="#Page_120">120</a></p> + +<p>Andilly, Arnauld, d', <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> + +<p><i>Andromaque</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_225">225,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a></p> + +<p>Angélique, Mother, <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p>Angennes, Julie d', <a href="#Page_264">264</a></p> + +<p>Anjou, Philippe, Duc d' (the little Monsieur), proposed marriage of, with Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272-278;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_74">74,</a> <a href="#Page_102">102,</a> <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_152">152,</a> <a href="#Page_196">196,</a> <a href="#Page_261">261,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262,</a> <a href="#Page_271">271,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes Duc d'Orléans, <a href="#Page_102">102;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries Henrietta of England, <a href="#Page_136">136,</a> <a href="#Page_151">151,</a> <a href="#Page_152">152;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries Princess Palatine, <a href="#Page_156">156,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughters of, <a href="#Page_277">277;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to mésalliance of Mlle., <a href="#Page_285">285</a></span></p> + +<p>Anjou, son of Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_285">285</a></p> + +<p>Anne of Austria, regency of, <a href="#Page_1">1;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education of her sons, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_63">63-65,</a> <a href="#Page_74">74,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Mazarin, <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_63">63,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112,</a> <a href="#Page_304">304;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_57">57-59,</a> and lack of Court etiquette, <a href="#Page_76">76-79,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_158">158,</a> <a href="#Page_198">198;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevents marriage of Louis and Marie Mancini, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Condé, <a href="#Page_100">100;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview of, with Philip IV., <a href="#Page_108">108-110;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours absolute monarchy, <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_146">146,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">be friends Marie-Thérèse, <a href="#Page_2">118,</a> <a href="#Page_2">149;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detests Madame, <a href="#Page_122">122;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reproaches Louis, <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_159">159,</a> <a href="#Page_192">192,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_195">195,</a> <a href="#Page_208">208;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death of, <a href="#Page_194">194-197;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of death of, <a href="#Page_195">195,</a> <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200,</a> <a href="#Page_201">201,</a> <a href="#Page_206">206,</a> <a href="#Page_208">208,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span></p> + +<p>Anquetil, <i>Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Régent</i>, by, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></p> + +<p><i>Archives de la Bastille</i> (Ravaisson), <a href="#Page_189">189,</a> <a href="#Page_201">201,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_312">293,</a> <a href="#Page_312">312,</a> <a href="#Page_343">343,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p><i>Archives de Chantilly</i>, <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186</a></p> + +<p><i>Archives</i> of Eu. <i>See</i> Eu</p> + +<p><i>Ariane</i> (Monteverde), <a href="#Page_214">214</a></p> + +<p>Armagnac, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d', <a href="#Page_237">237</a></p> + +<p>Arras, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'seige'">siege</ins> of, <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_161">161</a></p> + +<p><i>Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus</i> (Scudéry), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p><i>Astrate</i>, 81<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Astrée, L'</i>(d'Urfé), <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a></p> + +<p>Aubineau, Léon, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>Aumale, Duc d', <a href="#Page_46">46</a></p> + +<p>Aumale, Mlle. d', <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></p> + +<p>Auteuil, Comte d', <a href="#Page_47">47</a></p> + +<p>Ayen, Comte d' (Duc de Noailles), <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p> + +<h4>B</h4> + +<p>Bachaumont, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></p> + +<p><i>Bajazet</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_8">8,</a> <a href="#Page_225">225</a></p> + +<p><i>Ballet des Arts</i>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></p> + +<p>Bartélemy, Eduard de (Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de Racan), editor <i>La Galerie des Portraits</i>, etc., <a href="#Page_122">122,</a> <a href="#Page_130">130</a></p> + +<p>Bastile, the, <a href="#Page_2">247,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a></p> + +<p><i>Bastille, Archives de la.</i> <i>See Archives</i></p> + +<p>Bavière, Anne de. <i>See</i> Palatine</p> + +<p>Bavière, Elisabeth Charlotte de (Madame). <i>See</i> Palatine</p> + +<p>Bavière, Marie Anne Christine de, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p>Bayard, Comtesse de, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Bazinière, Sieur de la, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Beaufort, Duc de, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></p> + +<p>Bellefonte, Marshal of, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></p> + +<p>Bernières, M. de, <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_91">91,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Relations</i> of, <a href="#Page_87">87-90</a></span></p> + +<p>Berri, government of, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></p> + +<p>Bérulle, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></p> + +<p>Bethléem, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></p> + +<p>Béthune, Comte de, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></p> + +<p>Béthune, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></p> + +<p>Beuvron, Charles d'Harcourt, Comte de, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></p> + +<p>Béziers, M. de, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></p> + +<p>Bezon, M. de, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></p> + +<p>Bidassoa, river, <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_110">110</a></p> + +<p>Bielle, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p> + +<p>Blois, forced sojourn of Monsieur at, <a href="#Page_25">25-35,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39-41,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49-53,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_98">98,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court at, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></span></p> + +<p>Blois, Mlle. de, marriage of, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></p> + +<p>Bocquet, Mlle. (Agélaste), <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<p>Boileau, <a href="#Page_217">217,</a> <a href="#Page_222">222,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p>Bois-le-Vicomte, Château of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></p> + +<p>Bologna, theatres in, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></p> + +<p>Bordeaux, Court at, <a href="#Page_98">98,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a></p> + +<p>Bossuet, Court preacher, <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral oration of, <a href="#Page_152">152;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at death-bed of Madame, <a href="#Page_272">272,</a> <a href="#Page_273">273</a></span></p> + +<p>Boucherat, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Bougy, Lady de, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p>Bouillon, Duc de, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></p> + +<p>Bouillon, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Bouligneux, M. de, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></p> + +<p>Boult, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> + +<p>Bourbon, Baths of, <a href="#Page_329">329,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354</a></p> + +<p>Bourbon, Henri de. <i>See</i> Montpensier</p> + +<p>Bourbon, House of, <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47</a></p> + +<p>Bourbon, Marie de, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> + +<p>Bourdaloue, Court preacher, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></p> + +<p>Bourgogne, Hôtel de, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p>Bourgogne, province of, <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p> + +<p>Boursault, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></p> + +<p>Boyer, Abbé, tragedies of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p>Brandenbourg, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p>Brie, province of, <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Brienne, Father, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> + +<p>Broglie, Emmanuel de, <i>Saint Vincent de Paul</i>, by, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_91">91</a></p> + +<p>Brunetière, M. F., <i>Les Époques du Théâtre français</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Les Études critiques sur l'Histoire de la Littérature française</i>, by, <a href="#Page_2">223</a></span></p> + +<p>Bussy-Rabutin, <i>Mémoires</i> of, cited, <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> + <a href="#Page_337">337,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342,</a> <a href="#Page_343">343,</a> <a href="#Page_345">345;</a> +<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_272">272,</a> <a href="#Page_273">273,</a> <a href="#Page_302">302,</a> <a href="#Page_345">305,</a> +<a href="#Page_342">342,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374;</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Correspondance de</i>, <a href="#Page_303">303,</a> <a href="#Page_364">364</a></span></p> + +<h4>C</h4> + +<p><i>Cabale des Dévots, La</i> (Allier), <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_85">85,</a> <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_157">157,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_198">198,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199</a></p> + +<p><i>Cahiers de Mlle. d'Aumale, Les</i>, <a href="#Page_230">230,</a> <a href="#Page_341">341</a></p> + +<p>Cambert, <i>Pomone</i>, opera by, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></p> + +<p>Carignan, Princesse de, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></p> + +<p>Carrosse <i>Amarante</i>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p>Cartwright, Julia, <i>Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchesse of Orleans</i>, by, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></p> + +<p><i>Cassandre</i> (La Calprenède), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Cato, Mme. de Montespan's maid, <a href="#Page_344">344,</a> <a href="#Page_346">346</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span></p> + +<p>Caylus, Mme. de, <i>Souvenirs et Correspondance</i> of, <a href="#Page_300">300;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Souvenirs de</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span></p> + +<p>Chaillou des Barres, Baron, <i>Les Châteaux d'Ancy-le-France, de Saint-Fargeau</i>, etc., by, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p> + +<p>Chalais, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></p> + +<p>Chalon-sur-Saône, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></p> + +<p>Chambord, <a href="#Page_26">26,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33</a></p> + +<p><i>Chambre ardente</i>, established by Louis, <a href="#Page_2">204,</a> <a href="#Page_343">343,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppression of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></span></p> + +<p>Champagne, province of, <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56,</a> <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334</a></p> + +<p>Champigny lawsuit, <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_50">50,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125</a></p> + +<p>Chantelauze, <i>Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi</i>, by, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112</a></p> + +<p>Chantilly, <i>see Archives</i> of</p> + +<p>Chapelle, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></p> + +<p>Charenton, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></p> + +<p>Charles II. (of England), <a href="#Page_136">136</a></p> + +<p>Charles II. (of Spain), marriage of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p> + +<p><i>Châteaux d'Ancy-le-France, de Saint-Fargeau</i>, etc., <i>Les</i> (Chaillou des Barres), <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p> + +<p>Châtelet, the, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p>Châtellerault, duchy of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></p> + +<p>Châtillon, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_78">78,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_126">126</a></p> + +<p>Châtrier, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></p> + +<p>Chauvelin, M. de, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p>Chéruel, editor, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<p>Chevreuse, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></p> + +<p>Choisy, Mlle.'s mansion at, <a href="#Page_357">357,</a> <a href="#Page_359">359</a></p> + +<p>Choisy, François-Timoléon, Abbé de, <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_74">74,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_281">281,</a> <a href="#Page_289">289,</a> <a href="#Page_291">291,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_340">340</a></p> + +<p>Choisy, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> + +<p>Chouquet, <i>Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France</i>, by, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p> + +<p>Cinq-Mars, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></p> + +<p>Clagny, Château of, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></p> + +<p>Clairvoyants, <a href="#Page_201">201-207</a></p> + +<p>Clamecy, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></p> + +<p>Clément, P., <i>Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV.</i>, by, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<p><i>Cléopâtre</i> (La Calprenède), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Colbert, protected by Mademoiselle's escort, <a href="#Page_56">56;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganises finances, <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_171">171,</a> <a href="#Page_177">177;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enemy of <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Louvois, <a href="#Page_287">287;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against King's extravagance, <a href="#Page_332">332-337;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mediation of, <a href="#Page_345">345,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span></p> + +<p>Coligny, Admiral de, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></p> + +<p>Comédie Française, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></p> + +<p>Condé, Prince de (the Great), <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_377">377;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alliance of, with Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_54">54;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of, <a href="#Page_38">38-40,</a> <a href="#Page_46">46,</a> <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rupture of, with Mlle., <a href="#Page_46">46,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cruelty of army of, <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_83">83;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pardoned, <a href="#Page_100">100,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son of, <a href="#Page_117">117;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appreciation of Racine, <a href="#Page_229">229;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Mlle.'s marriage, <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_291">291,</a> <a href="#Page_292">292,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296</a></span></p> + +<p>Condé, Princesse de, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17,</a> <a href="#Page_46">46</a></p> + +<p>Conti, Louis Armand, Prince de, marriage of, <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_337">337</a></p> + +<p>Corneille, <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223-226,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228,</a> <a href="#Page_240">240,</a> <a href="#Page_241">241</a></p> + +<p><i>Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin</i>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></p> + +<p><i>Correspondance de Pomponne, La</i>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<p><i>Correspondant</i>, the, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></p> + +<p>Cotin, Abbé, <i>Œuvres galantes en vers et en prose</i>, by, <a href="#Page_220">220,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p>Coulanges, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></p> + +<p><i>Country Pleasures</i>, operetta, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></p> + +<p>Court of France, Mademoiselle returns to, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_57">57-59,</a> <a href="#Page_72">72;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in disgrace with, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Paris, <a href="#Page_19">19-21,</a> <a href="#Page_65">65,</a> <a href="#Page_110">110,</a> <a href="#Page_281">281;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monsieur under protection of, <a href="#Page_39">39,</a> <a href="#Page_40">40,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journeys of, <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94-104,</a> <a href="#Page_108">108,</a> <a href="#Page_110">110,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_2">258,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners and morals of, <a href="#Page_76">76-79,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_123">123-125,</a> <a href="#Page_128">128-131,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etiquette of, <a href="#Page_78">78,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104-111,</a> <a href="#Page_233">233;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occupations of, <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230-232;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the young, <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliancy of, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258-260,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">size of, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Versailles, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176-182,</a> <a href="#Page_333">333,</a> <a href="#Page_365">365,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Fontainebleau, <a href="#Page_2">182,</a> <a href="#Page_2">184;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary tastes of, <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Saint-Germain, <a href="#Page_269">269,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changed character of, <a href="#Page_370">370,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a></span></p> + +<p>Court of Saint-Fargeau, <a href="#Page_6">6-10,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17-20,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129-131,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135</a></p> + +<p>Cousin, <i>La Société française au XVIIème siècle</i>, by, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<p><i>Création de Versailles, la</i> (de Nolhac), <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p> + +<p>Crégny, Duc de, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<p>Crequi, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<p>Crissé, Mme. de, original of Countess de Pimbesche, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></p> + +<p>Crosné, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> + +<p>Crussol, Emmanuel II., de. <i>See</i> Uzès</p> + +<h4>D</h4> + +<p><i>Dafné</i>, musical tragedy, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></p> + +<p><i>Dames, les</i> (the "ladies"), <a href="#Page_315">315,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334-336</a></p> + +<p>Dauphin, the Grand, <a href="#Page_154">154,</a> <a href="#Page_155">155,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_347">347;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></span></p> + +<p>De Chapelain, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p><i>Déclaration par le Menu du Comté d'Eu</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></p> + +<p>Delamare, Philibert, <i>Mélanges</i>, by, <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294,</a> <a href="#Page_301">301</a></p> + +<p>Delaure, <i>Histoire de Paris</i>, by, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></p> + +<p><i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i> (Lemoine and Lichtenberger), <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_263">263,</a> <a href="#Page_335">335</a></p> + +<p>Delort, J., <i>Histoire de la Détention des Philosophes</i>, by, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></p> + +<p>Deltour, F., <i>Les Ennemis de Racine</i>, by, <a href="#Page_2">223,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p>Derby, Lady, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></p> + +<p><i>Deux Chèvres</i> (La Fontaine), <i>Les</i>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> + +<p><i>Devineresses, Les</i> (La Fontaine), <a href="#Page_203">203</a></p> + +<p><i>Dévolution</i>, war of the, <a href="#Page_154">154,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257</a></p> + +<p>Diafoirus, Thomas, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></p> + +<p><i>Dictionnaire des Précieuses, Le</i> (Somaize), <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> + +<p>Diderot, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></p> + +<p>Dijon, Court at, <a href="#Page_2">94,</a> <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p> + +<p>Divine Right of Kings, doctrine of, <a href="#Page_139">139-142</a></p> + +<p>Dombes, principality of, <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_95">95;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given to Lauzun, <a href="#Page_288">288;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demanded for Duc du Maine, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span></p> + +<p>Dreyss, Charles, editor of <i>Mémoires</i> of Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_69">69,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278</a></p> + +<p>Dubois, <i>Les Fragments des Mémoires inédits</i>, by, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>Dubuisson (Lesage). <i>See</i> Lesage</p> + +<p>Dubuisson-Aubenay, <i>Journal des Guerres civiles</i>, by, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p>Dunkerque, <a href="#Page_2">173,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307</a></p> + +<p>Dupré, Mlle., <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<h4>E</h4> + +<p><i>École des Femmes</i> (Molière),<a href="#Page_2">131,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p><i>Écrits inédits</i> (Saint-Simon), <a href="#Page_354">354,</a> <a href="#Page_359">359,</a> <a href="#Page_363">363,</a> <a href="#Page_363">364</a></p> + +<p><i>Éducation politique de Louis XIV., L'</i> (Lacour-Gayet) <a href="#Page_64">64</a></p> + +<p>Elbeuf, M. d', <a href="#Page_178">178</a></p> + +<p>Elisabeth de France, mother of Marie-Thérèse, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></p> + +<p>Embrun, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_38">38,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> + +<p>Enghien, Duc d', <a href="#Page_117">117;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Ennemis de Racine, Les</i> (Deltour), <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p><i>Époques du Théâtre français, Les</i> (Brunetière), <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p><i>Essai sur la Vie</i> (Aimé-Martin), <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Estrées, Maréchal d', <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Étampes, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></p> + +<p>Étrechy, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> + +<p><i>Études critiques sur l'Histoire de la Littérature française, Les</i> (Brunetière), <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p>Eu, Château d', <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Archives</i> of, <a href="#Page_162">162,</a> <a href="#Page_163">163,</a> <a href="#Page_167">167-169;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mademoiselle at, <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182,</a> <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_360">360-363,</a> <a href="#Page_365">365</a></span></p> + +<p>Eu, Comté d', property of the Guise, <a href="#Page_161">161;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, <a href="#Page_161">161-167;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revenue from, <a href="#Page_162">162-166;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given to Lauzun, <a href="#Page_288">288;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given to Duc du Maine, <a href="#Page_352">352,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Eugénie, ou la force du destin</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span></p> + +<h4>F</h4> + +<p>Fabert, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Famine of 1659-1662, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p> + +<p>Feillet, <i>La misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul</i>, by, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Ferté, Maréchale de la, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Feuquieres, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_34">344</a></p> + +<p>Fiesque, Comtesse de, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_360">360</a></p> + +<p><i>Fille, la</i>, fable of (La Fontaine), <a href="#Page_190">190-191</a></p> + +<p>Flanders, Court in, <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307</a></p> + +<p>Fontainebleau, Court at, <a href="#Page_2">174,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182-188,</a> <a href="#Page_308">308</a></p> + +<p>Fontanges, Mlle. de, <a href="#Page_339">339,</a> <a href="#Page_340">340</a></p> + +<p>Fontarabia, marriage of Louis XIV. at, <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_110">110</a></p> + +<p>Forges, Baths of, <a href="#Page_10">10,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_146">146</a></p> + +<p>Foucquet, Abbé, <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_78">78;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punishment of, <a href="#Page_141">141;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisonment of, <a href="#Page_311">311-313,</a> <a href="#Page_326">326,</a> <a href="#Page_330">330;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_326">326,</a> <a href="#Page_329">329</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Fragments des Mémoires inédits, Les</i> (Dubois), <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>France, failure of Fronde important to, <a href="#Page_1">1;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fondness for sport in, <a href="#Page_7">7;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of absolute monarchy in, <a href="#Page_7">7,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wars of with Spain, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_145">145,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">famine and misery in, <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82-94,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advantages to, from peace of the Pyrénées, <a href="#Page_99">99;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversation, the delight of intelligent, <a href="#Page_123">123,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms of Louis and Colbert in, <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_171">171;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">increase of industry and commerce, <a href="#Page_142">142;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"rights" in, <a href="#Page_168">168;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growing power and influence of, <a href="#Page_171">171;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of women in, <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">belief in astrology and sorcery, <a href="#Page_201">201-212;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduction of dramatic music into, <a href="#Page_213">213-217;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of, with Holland, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318,</a> <a href="#Page_330">330;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consternation in, over projected marriage of Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_283">283,</a> <a href="#Page_284">284,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_292">292,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294,</a> <a href="#Page_295">295,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistress of the world, <a href="#Page_330">330,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moral deterioration of, <a href="#Page_338">338,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372-374</a></span></p> + +<p>France, Court of. <i>See</i> Court</p> + +<p>Franche-Comté, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></p> + +<p>Francis I., <a href="#Page_27">27</a></p> + +<p>Fronde, the, failure of, <a href="#Page_1">1,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, <a href="#Page_1">1,</a> <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_65">65,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mademoiselle the heroine of, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wars of, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82-85,</a> <a href="#Page_213">213,</a> <a href="#Page_221">221,</a> <a href="#Page_232">232,</a> <a href="#Page_377">377;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abuses giving rise to, <a href="#Page_21">21,</a> <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span></p> + +<p>Frondeurs, the, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47,</a> <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369</a></p> + +<p>Frontenac, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p> + +<h4>G</h4> + +<p><i>Galerie des Portraits de Mlle. de Montpensier, la</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125-127,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129-131,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135</a></p> + +<p>Gaston, Duc d'Orléans. <i>See</i> Orléans</p> + +<p><i>Gazette de Hollande</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></p> + +<p><i>Gazette</i> of Loret, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_171">171-174,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272,</a> <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p><i>Gazette de Renaudot</i>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></p> + +<p>Geoffroy, editor of <i>Letters of Mme. de Maintenon</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></p> + +<p>Germany, peace of the Pyrénées unfavourable to, <a href="#Page_99">99;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humiliated by Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_171">171,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331</a></span></p> + +<p>Giustiniani, Venetian Ambassador, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></p> + +<p>Gomberville, works of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Gonzague, Anne de. <i>See</i> Palatine</p> + +<p>Gonzague, Marie de. <i>See</i> Poland</p> + +<p>Goulas, Nicolas, <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_34">34</a></p> + +<p>Gramont, Catherine de, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p>Gramont, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></p> + +<p>Gramont, Maréchal de, <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p><i>Grand Cyrus, Le</i> (Scudéry), <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<p>Grignan, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Guibourg, Abbé, <a href="#Page_345">345,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348</a></p> + +<p>Guiche, Comte de, <a href="#Page_71">71,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149</a></p> + +<p>Guilloire, <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307</a></p> + +<p>Guise, Charles de Lorraine, Duc de, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> + +<p>Guise, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></p> + +<p>Guise, Duc de, <a href="#Page_177">177,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married Mlle. d'Orléans, <a href="#Page_294">294,</a> <a href="#Page_295">295</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span></p> + +<p>Guise, Duchesse de (grandmother of Mademoiselle), <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_51">51</a></p> + +<p>Guise, family of, <a href="#Page_161">161.</a> <i>See also</i> Lorraine</p> + +<p>Guise, Mlle. de, marriage of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></p> + +<p>Guitry, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<h4>H</h4> + +<p>Hachette, <a href="#Page_2">202</a></p> + +<p>Hanotaux, M. G., <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230,</a> <a href="#Page_341">341</a></p> + +<p>Haro, Don Luis de, <a href="#Page_107">107,</a> <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> + +<p>Haussonville, Comte d', <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_219">219,</a> <a href="#Page_291">291</a></p> + +<p>Heine, Heinrich, <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a></p> + +<p>Henrietta of England (Madame) wife of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, <a href="#Page_130">130,</a> <a href="#Page_151">151-153,</a> <a href="#Page_191">191;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_233">233,</a> <a href="#Page_270">270-273,</a> <a href="#Page_275">275;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughters of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span></p> + +<p>Henry III., <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>Henry IV., <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_283">283</a></p> + +<p>Henry, Victor, <i>La Magie dans l'Inde antique</i>, by, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></p> + +<p>Herse, Présidente de, <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire amoureuse des Gaules L'</i>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire du Château de Blois, L'</i>, (La Saussaye), <a href="#Page_26">26</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de France</i> (Porchat and Miot, trs.), <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de France</i> (von Ranke), <a href="#Page_330">330</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de Louvois</i> (Rousset), <a href="#Page_364">364</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre</i> (La Fayette), <a href="#Page_151">151-153,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_271">271</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de Mlle. et du Comte de Losun</i>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France</i> (Chouquet), <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe</i> (Rolland), <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de Paris, L'</i> (Delaure), <a href="#Page_21">21</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie</i> (Mademoiselle), <a href="#Page_132">132</a></p> + +<p><i>Histoires de la Détention des Philosophes</i> (Delort), <a href="#Page_312">312</a></p> + +<p>Hoguete, Fortin de la, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></p> + +<p>Holland, war between France and, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318,</a> <a href="#Page_330">330</a></p> + +<p>Honsett, M. du, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></p> + +<p>Hôpital, Maréchal de l', <a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> + +<p>Hôpital, Mme. de l', <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Hospitals, establishment of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p> + +<p>Hôtel Rambouillet, <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<p>Hôtel de Ville, the, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></p> + +<p>Huet, Dr., <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_10">10,</a> <a href="#Page_127">127,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129</a></p> + +<h4>I</h4> + +<p><i>Image du Souverain, L'</i>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></p> + +<p><i>Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV., Les</i> (Rodocanachi), <a href="#Page_138">138</a></p> + +<p><i>Inventaire général du Comté d'Eu</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></p> + +<p><i>Iphigénie</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p>Isarn, M., <a href="#Page_327">327-329</a></p> + +<p>Isle des Faisans (<i>Isle de la Conférence</i>), <a href="#Page_106">106-110</a></p> + +<p>Isle Saint-Louis, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></p> + +<p>Iturrieta, Don Miguel de, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<h4>J</h4> + +<p>Jacobins, the, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></p> + +<p>Jansenism, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></p> + +<p>Jansenists, <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_373">373</a></p> + +<p>Jesuits, the, <a href="#Page_79">79,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p> + +<p><i>Jeune Alcidiane, La</i> (Gomberville), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Joinville, Prince de. <i>See</i> Lorraine</p> + +<p>Joly, Mme., <a href="#Page_90">90</a></p> + +<p>Jourdain, Mme., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p> + +<p><i>Journal des Guerres civiles</i> (Dubuisson-Aubenay), <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p><i>Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_177">177,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_301">301,</a> <a href="#Page_332">332,</a> <a href="#Page_335">335</a></p> + +<p><i>Journal de Voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais à Paris</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73,</a> <a href="#Page_75">75,</a> <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Joyeuse, Duc de. <i>See</i> Lorraine</p> + +<p>Joyeuse, Henriette Catherine, Duchesse de. <i>See</i> Montpensier</p> + +<p>Jusserand, J. J., <i>Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France</i>, by, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span></p> + +<h4>K</h4> + +<p>Kant, Emanuel, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<p><i>Kant als Mensch</i> (Adickes), <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<p><i>Kreutzer Sonata</i> (Tolstoi), <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<h4>L</h4> + +<p>La Bruyère, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></p> + +<p>La Calprenède, <i>Cassandre</i> and <i>Cléopâtre</i>, by, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Lacour-Gayet, <i>L'Éducation politique de Louis XIV.</i>, by, <a href="#Page_64">64,</a> <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>La Duverger, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p>La Fare, Marquis de, <i>Mémoires et Réflexions</i> of, <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_283">283,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_302">302,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_339"></a>339</p> + +<p>La Fayette, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_134">134;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre</i>, <a href="#Page_151">151-153,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_271">271;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princesse de <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Clives'">Clèves</ins></i>, by, <a href="#Page_153">153;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mémoires de la Cour de France</i>, <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_363">363</a></span></p> + +<p>La Fontaine, letters of, <a href="#Page_26">26,</a> <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_54">54;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fables of, <a href="#Page_107">107,</a> <a href="#Page_111">111,</a> <a href="#Page_109">109,</a> <a href="#Page_203">203;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span></p> + +<p>Lair, J. <i>Louise de La Vallière</i>, by, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></p> + +<p>Lalanne, Ludovic, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></p> + +<p>Lamoignon, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p>Landrecies, <a href="#Page_263">263-265</a></p> + +<p>Lansac, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> + +<p>La Reynie, Lieut.-General of Police, <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_343">343-346</a></p> + +<p>La Rivière, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p>La Rochefoucauld, <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_130">130,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369</a></p> + +<p>La Saussaye, <i>L'Histoire du Château de Blois</i>, by, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></p> + +<p>Lauzun, Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, Comte de, <a href="#Page_238">238;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#Page_243">243-247;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intrigues of, <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_246">246,</a> <a href="#Page_249">249-251;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of with Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_246">246,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_309">309;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_243">243,</a> <a href="#Page_244">244,</a> <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262,</a> <a href="#Page_324">324,</a> <a href="#Page_356">356;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Bastile, <a href="#Page_247">247;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_248">248-251,</a> <a href="#Page_269">269,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_356">356-359,</a> <a href="#Page_369">367-369;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">projected marriage of Mademoiselle with, <a href="#Page_251">251-257,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267-270,</a> <a href="#Page_276">276,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279-281,</a> <a href="#Page_284">284,</a> <a href="#Page_293">293;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tacit consent of Louis to marriage, <a href="#Page_281">281-283;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generous gifts of Mademoiselle to, <a href="#Page_288">288,</a> <a href="#Page_289">289,</a> <a href="#Page_355">355;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage broken off, <a href="#Page_290">290-297,</a> <a href="#Page_317">317,</a> <a href="#Page_326">326;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of secret marriage with Mlle., <a href="#Page_304">304-308,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrest and imprisonment of, <a href="#Page_310">310-324,</a> <a href="#Page_350">350;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "caskets" of, <a href="#Page_317">317;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempted escape of, <a href="#Page_325">325,</a> <a href="#Page_326">326,</a> <a href="#Page_350">350;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">communicates with Foucquet, <a href="#Page_326">326;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview of, with his family, <a href="#Page_329">327-329;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">released from prison, <a href="#Page_329">329,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354,</a> <a href="#Page_359">359;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced to renounce gifts of Mlle., <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reimprisoned, <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forbidden to return to Court, <a href="#Page_354">354,</a> <a href="#Page_355">355,</a> <a href="#Page_360">360,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">saves Queen of England, <a href="#Page_363">363;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Order of the Garter and title conferred upon, <a href="#Page_364">364;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_366">366;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></span></p> + +<p>Lauzun, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></p> + +<p>Lauzun, Mme. de, married life of, <a href="#Page_366">366-369</a></p> + +<p>Laval, Marquise of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p> + +<p>La Vallière, Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc, Seigneur de, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></p> + +<p>La Vallière, Louise de, youth of, <a href="#Page_134">134;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_153">153-156,</a> <a href="#Page_172">172,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made Duchess, <a href="#Page_154">154;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of, officially recognised, <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_233">233,</a> <a href="#Page_234">234,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334,</a> <a href="#Page_336">336;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Bossuet, <a href="#Page_200">200;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor to, <a href="#Page_208">208-210;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of daughter, <a href="#Page_337">337;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_339">339;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to convent, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></span></p> + +<p>La Voisin, the poisoner, <a href="#Page_207">207,</a> <a href="#Page_208">208,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clients of, <a href="#Page_207">207,</a> <a href="#Page_208">208,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210-212,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344-346,</a> <a href="#Page_351">351</a></span></p> + +<p>Lemaître, Jules, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></p> + +<p>Lemoine, Jean, and André Lichtenberger, <i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i>, by, <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_263">263,</a> <a href="#Page_335">335</a></p> + +<p>Le Nôtre, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p> + +<p>Le Pelletier, Claude, <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286</a></p> + +<p>Lesage (Dubuisson), <a href="#Page_204">204;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrest and trial of, <a href="#Page_210">210-212,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lesdiguières, Duc de, <a href="#Page_75">75,</a> <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Lésigny, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></p> + +<p>Le Tellier, Michel, <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p> + +<p><i>Lettres historiques et édifiantes.</i> <i>See</i> Maintenon</p> + +<p>Libertins, the, <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_157">157,</a> <a href="#Page_159">159,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182</a></p> + +<p>Lichtenberger, André. <i>See</i> Lemoine</p> + +<p>Limay, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> + +<p>Limours, Château of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></p> + +<p>Lionne, Hugues de, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></p> + +<p><i>Lit de Justice</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20</a></p> + +<p>Livet, <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p> + +<p>Loing, valley of the, <a href="#Page_4">4,</a> <a href="#Page_9">9,</a> <a href="#Page_12">12</a></p> + +<p>Loire, the, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_29">29</a></p> + +<p>Loiseleur, Jules, <i>Problêmes historiques</i>, by, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></p> + +<p>Longueville, Duc de (Count de Saint-Paul), <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p> + +<p>Longueville, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369</a></p> + +<p>Loret, <i>Gazette</i> of, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_174">171-174,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272,</a> <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Lorges, Maréchal de, daughter of, marries Lauzun, <a href="#Page_366">366-369</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Charles III., Duc de, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Duc de, cruelty of army of, <a href="#Page_38">38,</a> <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Henri de, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, House of, <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Louis de, Comte d'Armagnac, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Guise, <a href="#Page_294">294,</a> <a href="#Page_295">295</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Joyeuse, death of, <a href="#Page_161">161,</a> <a href="#Page_168">168</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Louis Joseph de, Prince de Joinville, <a href="#Page_161">161,</a> <a href="#Page_168">168</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Marguerite de (Madame). <i>See</i> Orléans</p> + +<p>Lorraine, Prince Charles de, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></p> + +<p>Lorraine, Prince de, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></p> + +<p>Louis XIII., <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_243">243;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span></p> + +<p>Louis XIV., returns to Paris, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_24">24;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occupations of Court of, <a href="#Page_7">7,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230-232;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dictates to Parliament, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds <i>Lit de Justice</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">escorts Mazarin to Paris, <a href="#Page_20">20;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fondness of, for fêtes and ballets, <a href="#Page_21">21,</a> <a href="#Page_75">75,</a> <a href="#Page_120">120,</a> <a href="#Page_172">172,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178-181,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growing power of, <a href="#Page_22">22-24,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_171">171;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education of, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_63">63-68,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriages of, <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">permits Mademoiselle to return to Court, <a href="#Page_57">57-59;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Fronde upon, <a href="#Page_2">58,</a> <a href="#Page_65">65,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_68">68-72,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of etiquette at Court, in youth of, <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_78">78;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">infatuation of, for Marie Mancini, <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cruelty of armies of, <a href="#Page_84">84;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journeys of, <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97-100,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pardons Condé, <a href="#Page_100">100,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignorance of, <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112-116;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, with Marie-Thérèse, <a href="#Page_103">103-111;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interviews of, with Philip IV., <a href="#Page_106">106,</a> <a href="#Page_107">107;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of, <a href="#Page_108">108,</a> <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184,</a> <a href="#Page_188">188,</a> <a href="#Page_189">189;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins to govern without minister, <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_114">114;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">systematic regulation of his time, <a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of absolute monarchy, <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_119">119,</a> <a href="#Page_128">128,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138-142,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fondness of, for gaming, <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_333">333;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms abuses with Colbert, <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes marriage of Mlle. with King of Portugal, <a href="#Page_142">142-146,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">banishes Mlle. for refusing marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_161">161;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Queen's lack of influence over, <a href="#Page_149">149-151,</a> <a href="#Page_154">154;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passionate temperament of, <a href="#Page_153">153-155,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_219">219,</a> <a href="#Page_220">220;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Madame, <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strained relations with his mother, <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_157">157;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with La Vallière, <a href="#Page_153">153-156,</a> <a href="#Page_172">172,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_197">197;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mémoires</i> written for Dauphin, <a href="#Page_154">154-156,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of women, <a href="#Page_155">155,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conduct of, disapproved, <a href="#Page_157">157-159;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious opinions of, <a href="#Page_156">156,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_213">213,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Mme. de Maintenon upon, <a href="#Page_156">156,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_219">219,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acquires Dunkerque, <a href="#Page_173">173;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes up permanent residence at Versailles, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">size of Court, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hospitality of, <a href="#Page_175">175-177;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans Savoie marriage for Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_185">185-190,</a> <a href="#Page_236">236;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of mother's death on, <a href="#Page_195">195-197,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_333">333,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338-342;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frames rules of etiquette relating to position of mistresses, <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_233">233-235,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334-336;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">boldness of Court preachers, <a href="#Page_200">200,</a> <a href="#Page_201">201;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders prosecution of Mariette and Lesage, <a href="#Page_210">210-212;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lover of music, <a href="#Page_218">218-220;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustains Racine and Molière, <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of infant daughter, <a href="#Page_233">233;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with the army, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lauzun a favourite of, <a href="#Page_243">243-247,</a> <a href="#Page_250">250,</a> <a href="#Page_251">251,</a> <a href="#Page_254">254,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discomforts of travelling in 1670, <a href="#Page_258">258-267;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans marriage of Mlle. with Monsieur, <a href="#Page_274">274,</a> <a href="#Page_276">276-278;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tacitly consents to marriage of Mademoiselle with Lauzun, <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_283">283,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws consent, <a href="#Page_290">290-293,</a> <a href="#Page_295">295,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_299">299-301;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lauzun's imprisonment, <a href="#Page_312">312-315,</a> <a href="#Page_323">323;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charmed with new sister-in-law, <a href="#Page_315">315;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliancy of reign of, <a href="#Page_330">330,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331,</a> <a href="#Page_375">375;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">power and importance of, <a href="#Page_330">330-332;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extravagance of, <a href="#Page_332">332-339;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of martial display, <a href="#Page_333">333-336;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of Mlle. de Blois, <a href="#Page_337">337;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">responsible for deterioration of manners and morals, <a href="#Page_338">338-341,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finds presumptive proof of guilt of Madame de Montespan, <a href="#Page_343">343-347,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders destruction of records, <a href="#Page_343">343,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns to Mme. de Maintenon, <a href="#Page_339">339-341;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismisses Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_341">341,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes the <i>Chambre ardente</i>, <a href="#Page_343">343;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses the <i>Chambre ardente</i>, <a href="#Page_347">347;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, with Mme. de Maintenon, <a href="#Page_305">305,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of reign of, upon France, <a href="#Page_371">371-373;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68-70,</a> <a href="#Page_114">114,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_154">154-156,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278,</a> <a href="#Page_355">355</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Louise de La Vallière</i> (Lair), <a href="#Page_180">180</a></p> + +<p>Louvois, letters to, <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enemy of Lauzun, <a href="#Page_244">244,</a> <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_247">247,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_288">288;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instructions of, concerning Lauzun, <a href="#Page_310">310-313,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318-323,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of, <a href="#Page_344">344,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to coerce Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></span></p> + +<p>Louvre, Palace of the, Mazarin returns to, <a href="#Page_20">20;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Court at, <a href="#Page_65">65,</a> <a href="#Page_78">78,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_111">111,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112,</a> <a href="#Page_122">122;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fête at, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span></p> + +<p>Lulli, Baptiste, operas of, <a href="#Page_216">216,</a> <a href="#Page_217">217,</a> <a href="#Page_218">218,</a> <a href="#Page_220">220,</a> <a href="#Page_221">221</a></p> + +<p>Luxembourg, Duc de, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Luxembourg, palace of the, Monsieur at, <a href="#Page_24">24;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mademoiselle returns to, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_76">76,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame occupies, <a href="#Page_102">102,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_191">191,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">salon of Mademoiselle at, <a href="#Page_122">122,</a> <a href="#Page_123">123,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133-136,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_222">222,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_288">288,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361</a></span></p> + +<p>Luynes, Constable de, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></p> + +<p>Lyonne, M. de, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></p> + +<p>Lyons, Court at, <a href="#Page_2">94,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258</a></p> + +<h4>M</h4> + +<p>Madame. See Orléans, Henrietta, and Palatine</p> + +<p><i>Madame de Montespan et Louis XIV.</i> (Clément), <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349</a></p> + +<p><i>Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans</i> (Cartwright), <a href="#Page_136">136</a></p> + +<p>Madelaine, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></p> + +<p>Mademoiselle, La Grande. See Montpensier</p> + +<p><i>Magie dans l'Inde antique, La</i> (Henry), <a href="#Page_210">210</a></p> + +<p>Mailly, Château of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> + +<p>Maine, Duc du, <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352</a></p> + +<p>Maintenon, Mme. de (Mme. Scarron), <i>Letters of</i> (Geoffroy, ed.), <a href="#Page_63">63,</a> <a href="#Page_64">64;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Souvenirs sur</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_151">151,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, over Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_71">71,</a> <a href="#Page_156">156,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_219">219,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339-341,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">governess to King's children, <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_309">309,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310;</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Lettres historiques et édifiantes</i>, of, <a href="#Page_291">291;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King marries, <a href="#Page_305">305,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a></span></p> + +<p>Mairet, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p><i>Malade Imaginaire</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_109">109</a></p> + +<p>Mancini, Marie, niece of Mazarin, <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339</a></p> + +<p>"Mandate," the, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></p> + +<p>Mansard, François, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></p> + +<p>Man with the Iron Mask, the, <a href="#Page_304">304,</a> <a href="#Page_329">329</a></p> + +<p>Marie Antoinette, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></p> + +<p>Marie Thérèse, Infanta of Spain, marriage of, with Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_103">103-111;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political opinions of, <a href="#Page_118">118;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unhappy married life of, <a href="#Page_149">149-151,</a> <a href="#Page_154">154,</a> <a href="#Page_172">172;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_149">149-151,</a> <a href="#Page_196">196,</a> <a href="#Page_252">252,</a> <a href="#Page_260">260,</a> <a href="#Page_261">261,</a> <a href="#Page_264">264-266,</a> <a href="#Page_271">271;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_233">233-235;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship of, for Mme. de Maintenon, <a href="#Page_341">341;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></span></p> + +<p>Mariette, priest, <a href="#Page_204">204,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrest and trial of, <a href="#Page_210">210-212</a></span></p> + +<p>Marigny, <i>La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés aux Reines</i>, by, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></p> + +<p>Marly, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></p> + +<p>Martinozzi, Anne Marie, niece of Mazarin, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></p> + +<p>Mascarille, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Mauny, Marquise de, <a href="#Page_13">13,</a> <a href="#Page_131">131</a></p> + +<p>Mazarin, Cardinal, power of, <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_38">38,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">triumphal return of, <a href="#Page_20">20;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains pardon for Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detestation of, <a href="#Page_60">60,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rapacity of, <a href="#Page_60">60-62,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Anne of Austria, <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_63">63,</a> <a href="#Page_304">304;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created Cardinal, <a href="#Page_63">63;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_65">65-67,</a> <a href="#Page_69">69,</a> <a href="#Page_70">70,</a> <a href="#Page_74">74;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nieces of, <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_237">237;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of protest to, <a href="#Page_84">84;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs peace of Pyrénées, <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_107">107;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties of, in settling points of etiquette relating to King's marriage, <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instructions of, to Louis, <a href="#Page_112">112,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition of, to <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>, <a href="#Page_158">158,</a> <a href="#Page_198">198;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduces Italian opera into France, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></span></p> + +<p>Médicis, Catherine de', <a href="#Page_67">67,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113</a></p> + +<p>Meilleraye, Duc de la (Duc de Mazarin), <a href="#Page_77">77</a></p> + +<p><i>Mélanges</i> (Delamare), <a href="#Page_285">285</a></p> + +<p><i>Mémoires.</i> <i>See</i> Aumale, Bussy-Rabutin, Choisy, Goulas, Huet, La Fare, La Fayette, Montpensier, Motteville, Saint-Simon, Sourches, etc.</p> + +<p><i>Mémoires</i> of Louis XIV. <i>See</i> under Louis (editors, Dreyss and Petitot).</p> + +<p><i>Mémoires de Montglat</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_100">100,</a> <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> + +<p><i>Mémoires-Relations du temps</i>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></p> + +<p><i>Mémoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p>Ménage, <a href="#Page_222">222,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p> + +<p><i>Mercure Galant</i>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Mignet, <i>Négociations relatives à la succession d'Espagne</i>, by, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></p> + +<p>Miot. <i>See</i> Porchat.</p> + +<p><i>Misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul, La</i> (Feillet), <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p><i>Mithridate</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_228">228</a></p> + +<p>Molière, returns to Paris, <a href="#Page_81">81;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plays of, <a href="#Page_109">109,</a> <a href="#Page_124">124,</a> <a href="#Page_131">131,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_180">180,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_202">202,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216,</a> <a href="#Page_231">231,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representations of, given at Versailles and the Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_178">178,</a> <a href="#Page_180">180,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_221">221,</a> <a href="#Page_222">222;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to Racine and, <a href="#Page_223">223-227;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King sustains, <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span></p> + +<p>"Molière," of the <i>Grands Écrivains de la France</i> (Hachette), <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_179">179,</a> <a href="#Page_202">202</a></p> + +<p>Monsieur, <i>See</i> Orléans, Gaston, Duc d'.</p> + +<p>Monsieur, the little. <i>See</i> Anjou, Philippe, Duc d'.</p> + +<p>Montausier, Duc de, <a href="#Page_264">264,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297,</a> <a href="#Page_306">306</a></p> + +<p>Montausier, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> + +<p>Montbazon, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></p> + +<p>Montchevreuil, M. de, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p> + +<p>Montespan, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></p> + +<p>Montespan, Marquise de,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supplants La Vallière, <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_193">193,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_172">172,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">client of La Voisin, <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criminal charges against, <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344-348;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of, <a href="#Page_233">233,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258-271,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315,</a> <a href="#Page_334">334-336;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assumes habits of royalty, <a href="#Page_233">233-235;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Lauzun, <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_246">246,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrays Lauzun, <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_291">291,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296,</a> <a href="#Page_309">309,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_322">322,</a> <a href="#Page_323">323;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">children of, <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344,</a> <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extravagance of, <a href="#Page_333">333,</a> <a href="#Page_336">336;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_339">339,</a> <a href="#Page_340">340,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissal of, <a href="#Page_341">341,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342,</a> <a href="#Page_350">350,</a> <a href="#Page_351">351;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidence against destroyed, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></span></p> + +<p>Monteverde, <i>Ariane</i>, by, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></p> + +<p>Montigny, Abbé de, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> + +<p>Montmédy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></p> + +<p>Montmorency-Boutteville, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></p> + +<p>Montmorency, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></p> + +<p>Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of, La Grande Mademoiselle,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">possible marriage of, with Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span></p> + +<p>Montpensier, Mlle., alliance of, with Condé, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_38">38,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled to Saint-Fargeau, <a href="#Page_3">3-20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32-39,</a> <a href="#Page_43">43-48;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heroine of Porte Saint-Antoine, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_59">"59,</a> <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_261">261,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amusements at court of St.-Fargeau, <a href="#Page_10">7-10,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17-20,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary tastes of, <a href="#Page_8">8-10,</a> <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_221">221,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224-226,</a> <a href="#Page_229">229;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins her <i>Mémoires</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rumoured marriage of, with Condé, <a href="#Page_16">16;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">litigation of, with father, <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41-44,</a> <a href="#Page_51">51-54;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealth of, <a href="#Page_35">35-38,</a> <a href="#Page_145">145,</a> <a href="#Page_163">163,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185,</a> <a href="#Page_256">256;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">skilful management of her affairs, <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Condé, <a href="#Page_46">46,</a> <a href="#Page_47">47,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes overtures to Mazarin, <a href="#Page_47">47,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wins Champigny lawsuit, <a href="#Page_49">49-51,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">permitted to return to Court, <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_57">57-59;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">never fully forgiven, <a href="#Page_58">58,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101,</a> <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriage of, with little Monsieur, <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272-278;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes up residence in the Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_122">122;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, in Paris, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_72">72-74;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">astonished at lack of etiquette at Court, <a href="#Page_75">75-79;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Port-Royal, <a href="#Page_79">79,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Dombes, <a href="#Page_95">95,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monsieur's duplicity towards, <a href="#Page_98">98,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grieves at death of Monsieur, <a href="#Page_102">102,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at marriage of Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_105">105-111;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-health of, <a href="#Page_120">120;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">salon of, <a href="#Page_122">122-125,</a> <a href="#Page_133">131-136,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes blue room of Mme. de Rambouillet, <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of, <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_183">183;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_188">188,</a> <a href="#Page_189">189,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriages of, <a href="#Page_136">136-138;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grudge of Charles II. against, <a href="#Page_136">136,</a> <a href="#Page_137">137;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King plans marriage of, with King of Portugal, <a href="#Page_142">142-146,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_161">161;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to marry Alphonse, <a href="#Page_145">145-147,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second exile of, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160-170,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriage of, with Duc de Savoie, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185-190,</a> <a href="#Page_236">236;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buys Comté d'Eu, <a href="#Page_161">161-168;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">installed at Eu, <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled to Court, <a href="#Page_184">184-187;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of proposed marriages of, <a href="#Page_189">189-192;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patroness of Lulli, <a href="#Page_221">221;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cultivates Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_229">229,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230,</a> <a href="#Page_233">233-236;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change in sentiments of, <a href="#Page_235">235;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advancing age of, <a href="#Page_236">236,</a> <a href="#Page_254">254,</a> <a href="#Page_277">277,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">infatuation of, for Lauzun, <a href="#Page_238">238-242,</a> <a href="#Page_250">250,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279-281,</a> <a href="#Page_359">359,</a> <a href="#Page_360">360;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes Lauzun, <a href="#Page_248">248;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes proposals of marriage to, <a href="#Page_251">251-256,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267-270,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279,</a> <a href="#Page_280">280;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lauzun's treatment of, <a href="#Page_253">253-256,</a> <a href="#Page_261">261,</a> <a href="#Page_275">275-277,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279,</a> <a href="#Page_281">281,</a> <a href="#Page_357">357-360;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed de Longueville marriage of, <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_270">270;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a traveller, <a href="#Page_262">262-267;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at death-bed of Madame, <a href="#Page_270">270-272;</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's tacit consent to marriage with Lauzun, <a href="#Page_281">281-283,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of projected marriage by all classes, <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bestows principalities and titles upon Lauzun, <a href="#Page_288">288,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparing for marriage, <a href="#Page_289">289,</a> <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King refuses consent, <a href="#Page_290">290-293,</a> <a href="#Page_295">295,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Lauzun broken off, <a href="#Page_291">291-293,</a> <a href="#Page_296">296,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297,</a> <a href="#Page_317">317,</a> <a href="#Page_326">326;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals in vain to King, <a href="#Page_291">291-293,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315,</a> <a href="#Page_316">316;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grief and despair of, <a href="#Page_296">296-303;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wide-spread belief in secret marriage of, <a href="#Page_304">304-309,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_358">358;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">learns of Lauzun's arrest and imprisonment, <a href="#Page_310">310-314;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts of, to obtain release of Lauzun, <a href="#Page_317">317,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348-352;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traditional daughter of, <a href="#Page_349">349;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">price demanded from, for liberation of Lauzun, <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Duc du Maine her heir, <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tricked by Louis and Mme. de Montespan, <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lauzun forced to renounce gifts of, <a href="#Page_354">354;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compensates Lauzun, <a href="#Page_355">355;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">devotion of, to Lauzun after his liberation, <a href="#Page_356">356-360;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constant quarrels with Lauzun, <a href="#Page_357">357-361;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">final break with Lauzun, <a href="#Page_362">362,</a> <a href="#Page_363">363,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death of, <a href="#Page_365">365,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial of, at St. Denis, <a href="#Page_366">366;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last of actors in the Fronde, <a href="#Page_369">369;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great qualities of, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></span></p> + +<p>Montpensier, Mlle., <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_4">4,</a> <a href="#Page_8">8,</a> <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, +<a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_98">98,</a> <a href="#Page_102">102,</a> <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125,</a> <a href="#Page_131">131,</a> <a href="#Page_136">136,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> +<a href="#Page_221">221,</a> <a href="#Page_222">222,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230,</a> <a href="#Page_238">238-240,</a> <a href="#Page_255">255,</a> <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262,</a> <a href="#Page_269">269,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297,</a> <a href="#Page_305">305,</a> <a href="#Page_308">308,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315-317,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339,</a> +<a href="#Page_347">347,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348,</a> <a href="#Page_350">350,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_356">356,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361</a></p> + +<p>Montpensier, duchy of, <a href="#Page_49">49;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given to Lauzun, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></span></p> + +<p>Montpensier, Henri de Bourbon, Duc de, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> + +<p>Montpensier, Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> + +<p>Montresor, Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></p> + +<p>Montvoisin, Antoine, <a href="#Page_206">206-208</a></p> + +<p>Montvoisin, Catherine "La Voisin" the poisoner, <a href="#Page_207">207,</a> <a href="#Page_208">208,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212</a></p> + +<p><i>Morale de Salomon, La</i>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></p> + +<p>Moret, mock siege of, <a href="#Page_334">334,</a> <a href="#Page_335">335</a></p> + +<p>Morin the Jew, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> + +<p>Mortemart, Mlle. de (Mme. de Montespan), <a href="#Page_172">172</a></p> + +<p>Motteville, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_195">195;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_73">73,</a> <a href="#Page_100">100,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_109">109,</a> <a href="#Page_112">112,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> +<a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_154">154,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_190">190,</a> <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span></p> + +<p>Mouchy, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></p> + +<h4>N</h4> + +<p>Nallot, M. de, <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311</a></p> + +<p>Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, <a href="#Page_331">331,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p>Necromancy, <a href="#Page_207">202-207</a></p> + +<p><i>Négociations relatives à la succession d'Espagne</i> (Mignet), <a href="#Page_143">143</a></p> + +<p>Nemours, Henri de Savoie, Duc de, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></p> + +<p>Nemours, Marie-Jeanne Baptiste de, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> + +<p>Nemours, the Mesdemoiselles de, <a href="#Page_185">185,</a> <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> + +<p>Nesmond, Présidente de, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></p> + +<p>Nevers, Duchesse de, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p>Nimeguen, peace of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></p> + +<p>Noailles, Duc de(Comte d' Ayen), <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p> + +<p>Noailles, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></p> + +<p>Nogent, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_290">290,</a> <a href="#Page_327">327-329</a></p> + +<p>Nolhac, M. de, <i>La Création de Versailles</i>, by, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p> + +<p><i>Nouvelles Françaises, Les</i> (Segrais), <a href="#Page_8">8</a></p> + +<p>Nuitter and Thoinan, <i>Les Origines de l'Opéra Français</i>, by, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p> + +<h4>O</h4> + +<p>Œillets, Mlle. des, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></p> + +<p><i>Œuvres complètes</i> (Saint-Pierre), <a href="#Page_365">365</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Œuvres galantes en vers et en prose</i> (Cotin), <a href="#Page_223">223</a></p> + +<p><i>Œuvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulières</i>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></p> + +<p>Olivet, Abbé d', <a href="#Page_222">222</a></p> + +<p>Opera, Italian, birth of, <a href="#Page_214">214-216;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, <a href="#Page_2">215,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Origines de l'Opéra Français, Les</i> (Nuitter and Thoinan), <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p> + +<p>Orléans, city of, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39,</a> <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> + +<p>Orléans, House of, <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37</a></p> + +<p>Orléans, Gaston, Duc d' (Monsieur), character of, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23-25,</a> <a href="#Page_28">28-30,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97-99;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled to Blois, <a href="#Page_24">24-33;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piety of, <a href="#Page_29">29,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">children of, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39,</a> <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97-99,</a> <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_137">137,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pillages daughter's fortune, <a href="#Page_35">35-37,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39-44,</a> <a href="#Page_168">168;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Court protection, <a href="#Page_38">38-40,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">litigation of, with Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41-44,</a> <a href="#Page_51">51-54;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and burial of, <a href="#Page_101">101,</a> <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span></p> + +<p>Orléans, Henrietta of England (Madame), wife of Philippe Duc d'. <i>See</i> Henrietta</p> + +<p>Orléans, Marguerite de Lorraine (Madame), second wife of Gaston, Duc d', <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_43">43,</a> <a href="#Page_191">191,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughters of, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_39">39,</a> <a href="#Page_42">42,</a> <a href="#Page_77">77,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97-99,</a> <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_137">137,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_188">188,</a> <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_294">294;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_101">101,</a> <a href="#Page_102">102,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_122">122,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134</a></span></p> + +<p>Orléans, Marguerite Louise, Mlle. d', daughter of Monsieur, <a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_98">98,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_137">137,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138</a></span></p> + +<p>Orléans, Marie Louise d', daughter of little Monsieur, <a href="#Page_277">277;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span></p> + +<p>Orléans, Mgr. Duc d', <a href="#Page_162">162</a></p> + +<p>Orléans, Philippe, Duc d'. <i>See</i> Anjou</p> + +<p>Ormesson, André d', <a href="#Page_22">22,</a> <a href="#Page_48">48</a></p> + +<p>Ormesson, Olivier Lefèvre d', <i>Journal</i> of, <a href="#Page_48">48,</a> <a href="#Page_76">76,</a> <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_159">159,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_177">177,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_194">194,</a> <a href="#Page_197">197,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_301">301,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331,</a> <a href="#Page_332">332,</a> <a href="#Page_335">335;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disgrace of, <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_332">332</a></span></p> + +<p>Ormond, Marquis d', <a href="#Page_137">137</a></p> + +<h4>P</h4> + +<p>Palatine, Anne de Bavière, Princesse, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></p> + +<p>Palatine, Anne de Gonzague, Princesse, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></p> + +<p>Palatine, Elisabeth Charlotte de Bavière, Princesse (Madame), second wife of Philippe Duc d'Orléans, <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_156">156,</a> <a href="#Page_315">315</a></p> + +<p><i>Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de la Pénitence</i>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></p> + +<p>Paris, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_288">288</a></p> + +<p>Paris, King and Court return to, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19-21,</a> <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_65">65,</a> <a href="#Page_110">110,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_281">281;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of King in, <a href="#Page_71">71;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">committee of relief founded in, <a href="#Page_87">87-93;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carnival in, <a href="#Page_93">93,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Queen's entrance into, <a href="#Page_111">111;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commerce in, <a href="#Page_142">142;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">magic arts in, <a href="#Page_201">201-206,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342-344;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bridges of, <a href="#Page_206">206;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lampoons against Louis in, <a href="#Page_335">335;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dungeons of, <a href="#Page_347">347;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cradle of French revolutions, <a href="#Page_370">370,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376</a></span></p> + +<p>Parliament, the, Louis XIV. dictates to, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_76">76;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dictates to royalty, <a href="#Page_68">68,</a> <a href="#Page_69">69;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">petition to, <a href="#Page_162">162;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decrees of, <a href="#Page_167">167,</a> <a href="#Page_168">168;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privileges of, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></span></p> + +<p>Parma, Duc de, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></p> + +<p>Patin, Guy, letters of, <a href="#Page_71">71,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117</a></p> + +<p><i>Pédagogue chrétien</i>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p> + +<p>Pellison, <i>Lettres historiques</i>, by, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></p> + +<p>Péréfixe, Abbé de, <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_67">67,</a> <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p> + +<p><i>Perroquet ou Les Amours de Mademoiselle</i>, Le <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<p><i>Pertharite</i> (Corneille), <a href="#Page_80">80</a></p> + +<p>Petitot, editor <i>Mémoires</i> of Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_66">66</a></p> + +<p><i>Phèdre</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_224">224</a></p> + +<p>Philip IV. of Spain, <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interviews of, with Louis XIV. and Anne of Austria, <a href="#Page_106">106-110;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span></p> + +<p>Picardy, <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_165">165</a></p> + +<p>Pignerol, fortress of, <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318,</a> <a href="#Page_319">319,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325,</a> <a href="#Page_329">329,</a> <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_355">355,</a> <a href="#Page_356">356,</a> <a href="#Page_358">358</a></p> + +<p>Pimbesche, Countess of, original of, <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Plaideurs</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p><i>Plaisirs de l'Ile enchantée</i>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p> + +<p><i>Poisons, Les</i> (La Fontaine), <a href="#Page_203">203</a></p> + +<p>Poland, Marie de Gonzague, Queen of, and Port-Royal, <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Polexandre</i> (Gomberville), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p> + +<p>Polignac, Vicomtesse de, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Pomponne, M. de, <a href="#Page_293">293,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>La Correspondance de Pomponne</i>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></span></p> + +<p>Pont Marie, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></p> + +<p>Porchat, Jacques, and Miot, <i>Histoire de France</i>, tr. by, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> + +<p>Porte Saint-Antoine, heroine of, <a href="#Page_3">3,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370</a></p> + +<p>Port Royal des Champs, <a href="#Page_79">79,</a> <a href="#Page_88">88,</a> <a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> + +<p><i>Port-Royal</i> (Sainte-Beuve), <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> + +<p>Portugal, independence of, threatened, <a href="#Page_142">142;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King of, <a href="#Page_143">143-145,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span></p> + +<p>Portugal, Queen of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p> + +<p><i>Précieuses Ridicules, Les</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_124">124</a></p> + +<p>Préfontaine, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41,</a> <a href="#Page_43">43,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44,</a> <a href="#Page_50">50,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> + +<p><i>Princesse de Clèves</i> (La Fayette), <a href="#Page_153">153</a></p> + +<p><i>Princesse d'Elide</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_180">180,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216</a></p> + +<p><i>Problêmes Historiques</i> (Loiseleur), <a href="#Page_63">63</a></p> + +<p><i>Provinciales</i>, the, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> + +<p>Provins, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Puyguilhem, Marquis de. See Lauzun</p> + +<p>Pyrénées, peace of the, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_100">100,</a> <a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> + +<p><i>Pyrrhus</i> (Racine), <a href="#Page_24">224</a></p> + +<h4>Q</h4> + +<p>"Queens, the three," <a href="#Page_233">233</a></p> + +<p>Quinault, tragedies of, <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216,</a> <a href="#Page_217">217,</a> <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<h4>R</h4> + +<p>Racan, Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de. <i>See</i> Barthélemy</p> + +<p>Racine, Jean, tragedies of, <a href="#Page_8">8,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223-229;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Corneille compared, <a href="#Page_223">223-227;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's appreciation of, <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span></p> + +<p>Racine, Louis, <i>Mémoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine</i>, by, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></p> + +<p>Rambouillet, Hôtel, <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224</a></p> + +<p>Rambouillet, Mme. de, salon of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></p> + +<p>Rampillon, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Ranke, Leopold von, <i>Histoire de France</i>, by, <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_330">330</a></p> + +<p>Rapin, Father, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></p> + +<p>Ravaisson, François, <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>, by, <a href="#Page_201">201,</a> <a href="#Page_312">312</a></p> + +<p>Ravetot, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p> + +<p>Regent, the, <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p>Reims, <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56</a></p> + +<p>Reims, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></p> + +<p><i>Relation de la Cour de France</i> (Spanheim), <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p><i>Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés aux Reines, La</i> (Marigny), <a href="#Page_173">173</a></p> + +<p><i>Relation de l'Ile imaginaire, La</i> (Mademoiselle), <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132</a></p> + +<p><i>Relations des Ambassadeurs Venitiens</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></p> + +<p><i>Relations</i> of de Bernières, <a href="#Page_87">87-90</a></p> + +<p><i>Remerciement au Roi</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_231">231</a></p> + +<p>Retz, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369,</a> <a href="#Page_377">377</a></p> + +<p>Richelieu, <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_50">50,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55</a></p> + +<p>Robert, Procurer-General, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Robespierre, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></p> + +<p>Rochefort, <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_336">336</a></p> + +<p>Roche-sur-Yon, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></p> + +<p>Rocroy, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> + +<p>Rodocanachi, M., <i>Les Infortunes d'une petite-fille d' Henri IV.</i>, by, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></p> + +<p>Rohan, Marie-Eleonore de, Abbess, <a href="#Page_126">126,</a> <a href="#Page_127">127</a></p> + +<p><i>Roland furieux</i>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></p> + +<p>Rolland, Romain, <i>Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe</i>, by, <a href="#Page_213">213,</a> <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<p>Romecourt, <a href="#Page_265">265,</a> <a href="#Page_266">266</a></p> + +<p>Roquelaure, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></p> + +<p>Rosen, de, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> + +<p>Rousseau, Sieur, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></p> + +<p>Rousset, Camille, <i>Histoire de Louvois</i>, by, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span></p> + +<h4>S</h4> + +<p>Sainctôt, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Aignan, Duc de, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></p> + +<p>Saint Antoine de Padua, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Cloud, Château of, <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_269">269</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Cyr, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Denis, burial of Monsieur at, <a href="#Page_102">102;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial of Mademoiselle at, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></span></p> + +<p>Sainte-Beuve, <i>Port-Royal</i>, by, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> + +<p>Saint Evremond, <i>The Operas</i>, by, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Fargeau, Château of, Mademoiselle exiled to, <a href="#Page_3">3-6,</a> <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mademoiselle's Court at, <a href="#Page_6">6-10,</a> <a href="#Page_12">12,</a> <a href="#Page_17">17-20,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129-131,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mademoiselle again exiled to, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160,</a> <a href="#Page_169">169</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint-Geneviève MS., <a href="#Page_257">257</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Germain-des Prés, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Court at, <a href="#Page_173">173,</a> <a href="#Page_177">177,</a> <a href="#Page_239">239,</a> <a href="#Page_247">247,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_269">269,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_313">313,</a> <a href="#Page_318">318,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_354">354</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Court at, <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_108">108;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of Louis XIV., at, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint-Joseph, Convent of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Mars, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of, <a href="#Page_313">313;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_318">318-321,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325-327,</a> <a href="#Page_329">329</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint-Paul, Comte de (Duc de Longueville), <a href="#Page_256">256,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Pierre, Bernardin de, <a href="#Page_9">9;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Œuvres complètes</i> of, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint Quentin, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Rémi, Jacques de Courtavel, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Romain, Abbé de, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></p> + +<p><i>Saint Sacrement, Compagnie du</i>, founding of, <a href="#Page_85">85-87,</a> <a href="#Page_93">93;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charitable work of, <a href="#Page_157">157,</a> <a href="#Page_158">158;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nicknamed, <a href="#Page_157">157;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves of King's conduct, <a href="#Page_157">157-159,</a> <a href="#Page_373">373;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blow aimed at, <a href="#Page_181">181;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disorganisation of, <a href="#Page_198">198,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint-Severin, Church of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></p> + +<p>Saint-Simon, Duc de, at Court, <a href="#Page_78">78,</a> <a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_116">116,</a> <a href="#Page_161">161,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209,</a> <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_234">234,</a> <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_255">255,</a> <a href="#Page_326">326,</a> <a href="#Page_353">353,</a> <a href="#Page_360">360,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366-368,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Écrits inédits</i> of, <a href="#Page_354">354,</a> <a href="#Page_359">359,</a> <a href="#Page_363">363,</a> <a href="#Page_364">364</a></span></p> + +<p>Saint-Sulpice, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> + +<p>Saint Vincent de Paul, character and influence of, <a href="#Page_85">85;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins <i>Compagnie du Saint Sacrement</i>, <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_373">373;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of relief work, <a href="#Page_88">88-90,</a> <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Saint Vincent de Paul</i> (Broglie), <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_91">91</a></p> + +<p><i>Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi</i> (Chantelauze), <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> + +<p>Salic law, the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></p> + +<p>Sambre, the, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></p> + +<p>Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., Duc de, marriages of, <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_185">185,</a> <a href="#Page_186">186,</a> <a href="#Page_190">190,</a> <a href="#Page_236">236;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revenges himself on Louis and Mlle., <a href="#Page_189">189,</a> <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span></p> + +<p>Savoie, Marguerite, Princesse de, Louis XIV. refused to marry, <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_189">189;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries Duc de Parma, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span></p> + +<p>Savoie, Victor-Amédée II., Duc de, marriage of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p> + +<p>Saxe-Jena, Bernard, Duke of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></p> + +<p>Scarron, Mme. de. <i>See</i> Maintenon</p> + +<p>Sceaux, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></p> + +<p>Scudéry, Madeleine, Mlle. de, <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_302">302;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus</i>, by, <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_125">125;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saturdays of, <a href="#Page_123">123,</a> <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span></p> + +<p>Scudéry, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_302">302,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342</a></p> + +<p>Sedan, <a href="#Page_55">55-59,</a> <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> + +<p>Segrais, Mademoiselle's secretary, <a href="#Page_8">8,</a> <a href="#Page_9">9,</a> <a href="#Page_13">13,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_306">306,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Les Nouvelles Françaises</i>, by, <a href="#Page_8">8,</a> <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Segraisiana</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310</a></p> + +<p>Seignelay, <a href="#Page_363">363,</a> <a href="#Page_364">364</a></p> + +<p>Seine, the, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></p> + +<p>Sévigné, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_75">75,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_177">177,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of, <a href="#Page_2">2,</a> <a href="#Page_11">11,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_217">217,</a> <a href="#Page_218">218,</a> <a href="#Page_225">225,</a> <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_287">287,</a> <a href="#Page_288">288,</a> <a href="#Page_307">307,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_337">337,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338,</a> <a href="#Page_345">345,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347,</a> <a href="#Page_362">362;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to, <a href="#Page_2">248,</a> <a href="#Page_2">284,</a> <a href="#Page_2">364</a></span></p> + +<p>Soissons, Comtesse de, <a href="#Page_237">237,</a> <a href="#Page_271">271,</a> <a href="#Page_336">336,</a> <a href="#Page_341">341,</a> <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Soissons, Marie de Bourbon-, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></p> + +<p>Somaize, <i>Le Dictionnaire des Précieuses</i>, by, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> + +<p>Sourches, Marquis de, <i>Mémoires</i> of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p><i>Souvenirs et Correspondance</i> of Mme. de Caylus, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></p> + +<p><i>Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_219">219,</a> <a href="#Page_230">230,</a> <a href="#Page_341">341</a></p> + +<p>Spain, wars of, with France, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_38">38,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_59">59,</a> <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_361">361;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King of, <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_104">104,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_173">173;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etiquette of Court of, <a href="#Page_104">104-111;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absolute monarchy an importation from, <a href="#Page_118">118,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of Dévolution in, <a href="#Page_154">154,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of Infanta of,—<i>see</i> Marie-Thérèse;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">power of France over, <a href="#Page_171">171,</a> <a href="#Page_331">331</a></span></p> + +<p>Spanheim, Ézéchiel, <i>Relation de la Cour de France</i>, by, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p><i>Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France, Les</i> (Jusserand), <a href="#Page_7">7</a></p> + +<p><i>Suite du Menteur</i> (Corneille), <a href="#Page_241">241</a></p> + +<h4>T</h4> + +<p><i>Tableau de la Pénitence, Le</i>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p> + +<p>Tallemant, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></p> + +<p>Tarente, Princess of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></p> + +<p><i>Tartuffe</i> (Molière), <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_182">182,</a> <a href="#Page_221">221,</a> <a href="#Page_222">222,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374</a></p> + +<p>Terlon, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></p> + +<p>Theiner, Père, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></p> + +<p><i>The Operas</i> (Saint Evremond), <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p> + +<p>Thianges, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_266">266,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p>Thoinan. <i>See</i> Nuitter</p> + +<p>Tingry, Princesse de, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></p> + +<p>Tolstoi, <i>Kreutzer Sonata</i>, by, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p> + +<p>Torre, Don Diego de la, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p> + +<p>Toulouse, Court at, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> + +<p>Tourraine, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></p> + +<p>Tours, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></p> + +<p>Trémouille, Mlle. de la, <a href="#Page_125">125,</a> <a href="#Page_137">137</a></p> + +<p>Tréport, <a href="#Page_166">166,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349</a></p> + +<p>Trévoux, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p> + +<p>Trianon, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></p> + +<p>Trichateau, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></p> + +<p>Tuileries, palace of the, <a href="#Page_4">4,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_123">123</a></p> + +<p>Turenne, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_53">53,</a> <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_137">137,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits and letters of, to Mademoiselle, <a href="#Page_143">143-146,</a> <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span></p> + +<p>Turin, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_319">319</a></p> + +<p>Tuscany, Duke of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></p> + +<h4>U</h4> + +<p>Urfé, Honoré d', <i>l'Astrée</i>, by, <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80</a></p> + +<p>Uzès, Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d',<a href="#Page_264"> 264</a></p> + +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>Valentinois, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> + +<p>Vallot, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p> + +<p>Valois, Anne Marie de, daughter of the little Monsieur, <a href="#Page_277">277;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></span></p> + +<p>Valois, Françoise-Madeleine, Mlle. de, daughter of Monsieur, <a href="#Page_133">133;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage and death of, <a href="#Page_185">185,</a> <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span></p> + +<p>Vardes, <a href="#Page_71">71,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148</a></p> + +<p>Vatel <a href="#Page_128">128</a></p> + +<p>Vaujours, duchy of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></p> + +<p>Vendôme, Elisabeth de, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></p> + +<p>Vendôme, M. de, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></p> + +<p>Venice, opera houses of, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></p> + +<p>Ventadour, Duc de, <a href="#Page_85">85,</a> <a href="#Page_86">86</a></p> + +<p>Versailles, palace of, <a href="#Page_26">26;</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis XIV. takes up residence at, <a href="#Page_174">174,</a> <a href="#Page_370">370,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376;</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fêtes, <a href="#Page_176">176-182,</a> <a href="#Page_269">269,</a> <a href="#Page_333">333,</a> <a href="#Page_365">365,</a> etc.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">expenses of, <a href="#Page_336">336,</a> <a href="#Page_337">337</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Vers d'Atys</i>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></p> + +<p>Vexin, Comte de, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></p> + +<p><i>Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles</i> (Mademoiselle), <a href="#Page_132">132</a></p> + +<p>Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> + +<p>Villeroy, Maréchal de, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></p> + +<p>Villeroy, Mme. de, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> + +<p>Vincennes, <a href="#Page_111">111,</a> <a href="#Page_347">347</a></p> + +<p>Visé, Donneau de <i>Mecure Galant</i>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></p> + +<p>Vittori, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></p> + +<p>Voiture, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></p> + +<p><i>Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont</i>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></p> + +<h4>W</h4> + +<p>Westphalia, peace of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> + +<hr class="hr4" /> +<div class="center"><a name="Catalogue" id="Catalogue"></a><i><b>A Selection from the<br /> +Catalogue of</b></i></div> + +<h2>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 25px;"> +<img src="images/illus469.png" width="25" height="20" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="center"><b>Complete Catalogues sent<br /> +on application</b></div> + +<hr class="hr5" /> +<h3>By ARVEDE BARINE</h3> + +<hr class="hr5" /> +<h3>The Youth <i>of</i></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 25px;"> +<img src="images/illus469.png" width="25" height="20" alt="s:" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>La Grande Mademoiselle</h3> + +<div class="center"><b>1627-1652</b></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Authorized English Version</i></div> + +<div class="center">Octavo. With 25 illustrations from contemporaneous sources.<br /> +Net, $3.00. (By mail, $3.25.)</div> + +<p>"A book that is decidedly interesting and that is well worth reading. +The subject and the heroine is enough to make the volume attractive.... +The volume is handsomely printed, and the illustrations are +representative as well as accurate."—<i>The London Spectator.</i></p> + +<p>"This brilliant biography sparkles and intoxicates with literary +vivacity. In connection with the career of the astonishing heroine, the +author presents a picture that has hardly been surpassed of Court life +and politics in France in the seventeenth century. The illustrations +from contemporary prints add greatly to the attractiveness of this +fascinating volume."—<i>Chicago Evening Post.</i></p> + +<hr class="hr6" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 25px;"> +<img src="images/illus469.png" width="25" height="20" alt="s:" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>Louis XIV</h3> + +<div class="center"><b><i>and</i></b></div> + +<h3>La Grande Mademoiselle</h3> + +<div class="center"><b>1652-1693</b></div> + +<div class="center"><i>Authorized English Version</i></div> + +<div class="center">Octavo. With 30 illustrations. Net, $3.00. (By mail, $3.25)</div> + +<div class="center">(Uniform with "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle")</div> + +<p>"A new work on La Grande Mademoiselle by Arvède Barine is a promise of +delight to all who love wit and wisdom.... It is bewildering to think of +the many crowns and coronets that might have rested on the brow of the +dramatic heroine, a heroine who appears and disappears in clouds of +dust, with regiments of cavalry wheeling and whirling around her to the +sound of the trumpets—the stern devotee of reason who dismissed one of +her maids because she married for love—the philosopher who debated in +her mimic court whether an accepted lover is more unhappy than a +rejected lover in the absence of the beloved.... The story of this +heroine is told by Barine with that art which conceals art.... It forms +a fitting supplement to the equally delightful volume which preceded it +describing "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle."—<i>London Times.</i></p> + +<hr class="hr5" /> +<h4><i>New York</i> · G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS · <i>London</i></h4> +<hr class="hr5" /> + +<div class="bord2"> +<h3>Portraits of<br /> +the Seventeenth Century</h3> + +<h4>By C. A. Sainte-Beuve</h4> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Translated by Katharine P. Wormeley</span></p> + +<p class="center">Two Parts. Octavo. With about 30 Illustrations<br /> +Sold separately. Each, $2.50 net</p> + +<p class="center"><i>CONTENTS OF PART ONE</i></p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">Cardinal Richelieu</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Duc de Rohan</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Cardinal Mazarin</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Duc de la Rochefoucauld</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Duchesse de Longueville</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Cardinal de Retz</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Ninon de l'Enclos</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Bussy-Rabutin</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Tallemant des Réaux</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Abbé de Rancé</span><br /> + <span class="i2">La Grande Mademoiselle</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Comtesse de la Fayette</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Duchesse d'Orléans</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Louis XIV.</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Louise de la Valliere</span> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>CONTENTS OF PART TWO</i></p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i2">History of the French Academy</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Corneille</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Mlle. de Scudéry</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Molière</span><br /> + <span class="i2">La Fontaine</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Pascal</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Mme. de Sévigné</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Bossuet</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Boileau</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Racine</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Mme. de Caylus</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Fénelon</span><br /> + <span class="i2">Comte Antoine Hamilton</span><br /> + <span class="i2">The Princesse des Ursins</span><br /> + </div> +</div> + +<blockquote><p>"The translator is a true servant and friend, not the proverbial +traducer; none but Miss Wormeley could have been selected for the task, +and she has given of her best, her indefatigable, conscientious, +intellectual best, which has made her the mistress of a difficult +art."—<i>The N. Y. Evening Mail.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"><b>Send for Descriptive Circular</b></p> + +<hr class="hr" /> +<h4>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h4> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>New York</b></span><span style="margin-left: 15em;"><b>London</b></span><br /></p> +</div> + +<div class="bord3"> +<h3>Little French Masterpieces</h3> + +<p class="center">Representative Tales by the Best<br /> +French Authors</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Edited by</b></p> + +<h4>ALEXANDER JESSUP</h4> + +<p class="center"><b>Translations by</b></p> + +<h4>GEORGE BURNHAM IVES</h4> + +<p class="center">With portraits in Photogravure. Issued in a small<br /> +and attractive form<br /></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Six volumes, 16^{o}, in a box, cloth, $6.00</i><br /> +<i>Limp leather, $7.50</i></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Also sold separately</i></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>Cloth, $1.00</i></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>Leather, $1.25</i></span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>I. Prosper Mérimée.</b> Introduction by Grace King.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><b>II. Gustave Flaubert.</b> Introduction by Frank Thomas Marzials.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><b>III. Théophile Gautier.</b> Introduction by Frédéric-César de Sumichrast.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><b>IV. Alphonse Daudet.</b> Introduction by William P. Trent.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>V. Guy de Maupassant.</b> Introduction by Arthur Symons.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><b>VI. Honoré de Balzac.</b> Introduction by F. Brunetière.</span></p> + +<blockquote><p>"A capital idea is here admirably carried out. The supremacy of the +French in the delicately finished short story is undisputed, and the six +authors here represented are the finest flowers of this development of +French literature. The little volumes are all that is charming in +outward appearance, are literally volumes for the pocket, have portraits +of the authors, and each is introduced by a competent critic. The +stories themselves are well chosen and carefully translated."—<i>The +Outlook.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<hr class="hr" /> +<h4>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h4> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>New York</b></span><span style="margin-left: 15em;"><b>London</b></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="bord4"> +<h3><a name="By_ELIZABETH_W_CHAMPNEY" id="By_ELIZABETH_W_CHAMPNEY"></a>By ELIZABETH W. CHAMPNEY</h3> +<hr class="hr4" /> + +<h3>Romance of the French Abbeys</h3> + +<p class="center">Octavo. With 2 Coloured, 9 Photogravure, 50 other Illustrations, +and Ornamental Headpieces</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A delightful blending of history, art and romance.... Many of the +stories related are thrilling and none the less exciting because +they belong to history."—<i>Chicago Dial.</i></p> + +<p>"The book fully carries out the suggestion of Guizot, 'If you are +fond of romance, read history.'"—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p></blockquote> + +<h3>Romance of the Feudal Châteaux</h3> + +<p class="center">Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The author has retold the legends and traditions which cluster about +the châteaux and castles, which have come down from the Middle Ages, +with the skillful touch of the artist and the grace of the practiced +writer.... The story of France takes on a new light as studied in +connection with the architecture of these fortified homes."—<i>Christian +Intelligencer.</i></p></blockquote> + +<h3>Romance of the Renaissance Châteaux</h3> + +<p class="center">Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The romances of those beautiful châteaux are placed by the author on +the lips of the people who lived in them. She gives us a feeling of +intimacy with characters whose names belong to history."—<i>N. Y. Mail +and Express.</i></p> + +<p>"A book of high merit.... Good history, good story, and good +art."—<i>Hartford Courant.</i></p></blockquote> + +<h3>Romance of the Bourbon Châteaux</h3> + +<p class="center">Octavo. With Coloured Frontispiece and 47 Photogravure and other +Illustrations</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Told with a keen eye to the romantic elements, and a clear +understanding of historical significance."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>"It is a book that will be read with interest this year or ten or twenty +years hence."—<i>Hartford Courant.</i></p> + +<p><b>Four volumes. Illustrated. Each, in a box, net, $3.00 (By mail, $3.25.) +The set, 4 volumes in a box, net, $12.00</b></p></blockquote> + +<hr class="hr3" /> +<h4>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h4> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>New York</b></span><span style="margin-left: 15em;"><b>London</b></span></p> +</div> + +<h4>Footnotes:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Letter of January 19, 1689.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier.</i> Edited by +Chéruel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier.</i> Edited by +Chéruel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The Château of Saint-Fargeau still exists, but the interior +has been transformed since a great fire which occurred in 1752; the +apartments of Mademoiselle no longer remain. Cf. <i>Les Châteaux +d'Ancy-le-Franc, de Saint-Fargeau</i>, etc., by the Baron Chaillou des +Barres.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Cf. <i>Les Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France</i>, +by J. J. Jusserand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Les nouvelles françaises</span>, ou <i>Les divertissements de la +princesse Aurélie</i>, by Segrais, Paris, 2 vols., 1656-1657. The last of +the "Nouvelles françaises," <i>Floridon, ou l'amour imprudent</i>, is the +history of the intrigues in the harem which led to the death of Bajazet. +Racine had certainly read it when he wrote his tragedy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See <i>Bernardin de Saint-Pierre</i>, in the Collection of +Grands écrivains. Paris, Hochette.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> His <i>Polexandre</i> had appeared, 1629-1637; his last romance, +<i>La Jeune Alcidiane</i>, in 1651; <i>Cassandre</i> and <i>Cléopâtre</i>, by La +Calprenède, in 1642-1647. <i>Arlamène, ou le Grand Cyrus</i>, by Mlle. de +Scudéry, was published 1649-1653.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Letters of the 12th and 15th of July, 1671, to Mme. de +Grignan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> See <i>Le dictionnaire des Précieuses</i>, by Somaize.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Eugénie, ou la force du destin.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Mademoiselle commenced her <i>Mémoires</i> shortly after her +arrival at Saint-Fargeau. She interrupted them in 1660, resumed them in +1677, and definitely abandoned them in 1688, five years before her +death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Oriane was the mistress of Amadis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>La relation de l'Isle imaginaire</i>, printed in 1659, also +<i>L'histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie</i>. We shall again refer to +them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> These representations took place in the grand hall of the +Petit Bourbon, near the Louvre. (Cf. <i>L'Histoire de Paris</i>, by +Delaure.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Letter of October 12th, to the Abbé Foucquet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Montglat.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Mémoires du Marquis de Sourches.</i> Cf. <i>L'Histoire du +château de Blois</i>, by La Saussaye.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Letter of September 3, 1663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Nicolas Goulas, <i>Mémoires</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Gazette of August 22, 1654.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Four, but the last died at an early age.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Bussy-Rabutin.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Nicolas Goulas.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Écrits inédits</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Henriette-Catherine, Duchesse de Joyeuse, first married to +Henri de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, by whom she had Marie de Bourbon, +mother of Mademoiselle; married for the second time to Charles de +Lorraine, Duc de Guise, by whom she had several children.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Henri de Lorraine reigned from 1608 to 1624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Letter of August 10, 1657, to the Comte d'Auteuil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> André d'Ormesson died in 1665, dean of the Council of +State. Some fragments of his memoirs have been published by Chéruel, in +the course of the Journal of his son, Olivier d'Ormesson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Turenne had conquered the troops of the Prince at Étampes +(May, 1652), upon the occasion of a review in honour of Mademoiselle and +of the disorder which resulted. See <i>The Youth of La Grande +Mademoiselle</i>. Some weeks later, he besieged the town.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Letter to his wife, August 3, 1663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Richelieu had declared war with Spain March 26, 1635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The phrase is by Bussy-Rabutin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See the <i>Mémoires de Louis XIV.</i>, edited by Charles +Dreyss. The <i>Mémoires</i> of Louis XIV. were not written by himself. He +dictated them to his secretaries afterward adding notes in his own +handwriting and correcting the proofs. See the <i>Introduction</i> by M. +Dreyss.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Mémoires de +Montglat.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Montglat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Id.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Letters of January 3, 1717, of September 27, 1718, and of +July, 1722. Madame adds in this last: "Now, all the circumstances are +known."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Letter to the Queen, Anne of Austria, October 27, 1651.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> March 23, 1865, Père Theiner, Guardian of the Secret +Archives of the Vatican, replied to some one who had pressed the +question: "Our acts of December 16, 1641, in which Jules Mazarin was +created Cardinal, do not say whether or not he was a priest. How could +he then have been admitted to the order of Cardinal-priest? No doubt he +was a priest." The letter of Père Theiner has been published by M. Jules +Loiseleur in his <i>Problêmes historiques</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Letters of Madame de Maintenon</i> edited by Geoffroy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> For further details see the excellent volume of M. +Lacour-Gayet, <i>L'éducation politique de Louis XIV.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> December 24th, <i>Relations des ambassadeurs vénitiens</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> The letter is dated April 21, 1654. Louis XIV. was then +fifteen and a half years of age.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Mme. de Motteville had heard him express the same idea. +<i>Cf.</i> his <i>Mémoires</i>, v., 101, ed. Petitot.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Les fragments des mémoires inédits</i> by Dubois, valet of +Louis XIV., published by Léon Aubineau in the <i>Biblothéque de l'École +des Chartes</i>, and in his <i>Notices littéraires</i> upon the 17th century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> Lacour-Gayet, p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> M. Dreyss dates the writing of this portion of the +<i>Mémoires</i> about 1670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Letters of June 9, 1654, and April 9, 1658.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Segraisiana.</i> Louis XIV. was seventeen when he made this +remark.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Journal de voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais à Paris</i> +(1656-1658).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> The fair of Saint-Germain was held between Saint-Sulpice +and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, from February 3d to the evening before Palm +Sunday. The Court and the populace elbowed each other there.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> April 29th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> To the Duc de Bouillon and to the son of the Marshal Duc +de La Meilleraye, who took the title of Duc de Mazarin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> It must not be forgotten that Saint-Simon was presented at +Court in 1692. Louis XIV. was then fifty-four, and had reigned +forty-nine years. Saint-Simon only knew the end of the reign.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Brother of the Superintendent of Finances.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> In the summer of 1657.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Vers d'Atys</i>, opera played in 1676, and <i>d'Astrate</i>, +tragedy of 1663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The phrase is M. Jules Lemâitre's.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> See <i>The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle</i>. For this +chapter <i>cf.</i> <i>La misère au temps de la Fronde et Saint-Vincent de +Paul</i>, by Feillet; <i>La cabale des dévots</i>, by by Raoul Allier; +<i>Saint-Vincent de Paul</i>, by Emanuel Broglie; <i>Saint-Vincent de Paul et +les Goudi</i>, by Chantelauze; <i>Port-Royal</i>, by Sainte-Beuve.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Village of the arrondissement of Provins.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Feillet, <i>La misère au temps de la Fronde</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See the volume of Raoul Allier, <i>La cabale des dévots</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Marie de Gonzague.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> En Picardie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> M. Emanuel de Broglie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Saul in the <i>Journal des guerres civiles de +Dubuisson-Aubenay</i>. He mentions the date of December 2, 1650, upon which +"large donations" were sent into Champagne, by Mmes. de Lamoignon and de +Herse, Messieurs de Bernières, Lenain, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> The Parliament of Dijon had a bad reputation with the +ministers, who accused it of refusing all reform. This does not excuse +such a lack of good faith.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Dombes was a small independent principality which had only +been definitely united to France on March 28, 1782; its capital was +Trévoux.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> <i>Histoire de France.</i> Tr. by Jacques Porchat and Miot. +Paris, 1886.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Montglat; Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> The ball took place on the 3rd. Several days elapsed +before the news of the death reached Aix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Anne de Gonzague.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> This appeared in 1691.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Isle des Faisans was also called <i>Isle de la Conférence</i>, +since Mazarin had there discussed the treaty of the Pyrénées with Luis +de Haro.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Montglat.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> There exists in the <i>Archives d'Affaires étrangères</i> a +fragment of the instructions of Mazarin to Louis XIV., written under the +dictation of the King. M. Chantelauze, who discovered it, published it +in the <i>Correspondant</i> of August 10, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Motteville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Guy Patin. Letter of January 28, 1661.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Motteville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> He was even twenty-four when he asked Péréfixe again to +give him Latin lessons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Letter of June 27th to the Queen of Poland (<i>Archives de +Chantilly</i>). The King dined at one o'clock.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Letter of July 15, 1661.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> "<i>Portrait de Mademoiselle fait par elle-même</i>" (Nov., +1657) in <i>La Galerie des Portraits de Mademoiselle de Montpensier</i>, +edited by Éduard de Barthélemy (Paris, 1860).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Mme. de Rambouillet died very aged in 1665. Her influence +ended in 1650.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Le Grand Cyrus.</i> The greater part of the friends of Mlle. +de Scudéry are given assumed names. Mlle. Bocquet is called Agélaste.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Cf. <i>La Société française au XVII<sup>e</sup>. siècle</i>, vol., ch. +xv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> This is the friend of Mme. de Sévigné.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Sister-in-law of the preceding. She married, in 1662, +Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Jena.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Mademoiselle says in her <i>Mémoires</i> that they "<i>had</i>" +them written. This is an error.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>La Galerie des Portraits.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> M. de Barthélemy, editor of the <i>Galerie des Portraits</i>, +called Honorat de Bueil, marquis de Racan; born in 1589, died in 1670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Or forty-six, depending upon the date of the Portrait, +1658 or 1659.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> <i>L'École des Femmes</i> was issued in 1662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> The expression is from the beautiful Marquise de Mauny, +who formed part of the little Court of Saint-Fargeau.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> From Mme. de Sainctôt, wife of the master of ceremonies +and introducer of ambassadors under Louis XIV. She was a friend of +Voiture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> The others are, <i>Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles</i>, supposed +autobiography of a lady mixed up with Fronde intrigues (MS. exists in +the library of the Arsenal), and <i>La Relation de <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'l'Île'">l'Isle</ins> imaginaire</i> +(1658), badinage upon an episode in <i>Don Quixote</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Mémoires.</i> François-Timoléon de Choisy was born in 1644. +There is some question as to who was his mother.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Marguerite Louise d'Orléans was born July 28, 1645; +Elisabeth, called Mlle. d'Alençon, December 26, 1646; +Françoise-Madeleine, called Mlle. de Valois, October 13, 1648.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Born at Tours in 1644. Her father, Laurent de La Baume Le +Blanc, Seigneur de La Vallière, dying in 1654, her mother remarried +Jacques de Courtavel, marquis de Saint-Remi, maître d'hôtel de Gaston +d'Orléans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Cf. <i>Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans</i>, +by Julia Cartwright (London, 1894).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Lady Derby was a La Trémouille. The sister-in-law to whom +the letters are addressed was the sister of Turenne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Or Charles IV.; there are two methods of counting the +Dukes of Lorraine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> See the very curious volume by M. Rodocanachi, <i>Les +Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV.</i> The marriage of the Princess +Marguerite with the Duke of Tuscany took place April 19, 1661.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Par Fortin de la Hoguete (1645).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>L'Image du Souverain</i> (1649).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> <i>Mémoires pour 1667.</i> Ed. by Charles Dreyss.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Portugal had again become independent in 1640.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> for the year 1661.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Mignet, <i>Négociations relatives à la succession +d'Espagne</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Élisabeth de France, daughter of Henry IV., born in 1602. +She married Philip IV., in 1615, gave birth to Marie-Thérèse in 1638, +and died in 1644.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> This was the Marshal de Gramont, father of the Comte de +Guiche. The "magnificence" and the "<i>galanterie</i>" of his journey to +Madrid to demand the Infanta have left lively memories.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> <i>Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus</i>, <i>Mémoires de Mme. de +Motteville</i>, <i>Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon</i>, published by the Comte +de Haussonville and M. G. Hanotaux.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Married on April 1, 1661, at seventeen. Monsieur +(Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans) was then twenty-one.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> <i>Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre</i>, by Mme. de +La Fayette.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> <i>Histoire de Madame de Henriette</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> War between relations in regard to property.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Letter of July 9, 1749, and <i>passim</i>, in his +correspondence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Cf. <i>La Cabale des Dévots</i>, by M. Raoul Allier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> <i>Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Bussy-Rabutin.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> <i>À nos Seigneurs de Parlement.</i>—Archives of the Château +of Eu. Mgr. le Duc d'Orléans has thrown open to me the Archives of Eu +with a liberality for which I here heartily express my gratitude.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>Déclaration par le Menu du Comté d'Eu</i> (May 8, 1660), +and <i>Inventoire général du Comté d'Eu</i> (July 1, 1663).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> The Norman acre contains 81 acres and 71 <i>centiares.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Her request to the King was dated February 9, 1661 +(Archives of Eu).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> The debts amounted exactly to 2,700,718 frs. 18 sols. +(<i>Liste des Créanciers</i> in Archives of the Château of Eu). It will be +remembered that Mademoiselle paid for Eu 2,550,000 frs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> The account of the entry of Mademoiselle is in the +Archives of the Château of Eu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Motteville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> <i>Histoire de France</i>, by Leopold Ranke.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Numéro</i> of September 14, 1663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> The marriage took place on January 28th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Philippe IV. died September 17, 1665.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Cf. <i>La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés +aux Reines</i>, etc., by Marigny (June, 1664).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Number of July, 21, 1663, and <i>passim</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Louis XIV. had bought Dunkerque from the King of England. +The city was delivered November 27, 1662. For account of the entrance of +the King, see the <i>Gazette</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Louis XIV. was installed at Versailles, as a residence, +May 6, 1682.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Letter to the Queen of Poland, Marie de Gonzague +(Archives of Chantilly). The Duc d'Enghien had married, December 11, +1663, Anne de Barière, daughter of the Princess Palatine and niece of +Marie de Gonzague.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Letter of October 31st to the Queen of Poland (Archives +of Chantilly).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Cf. <i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i>, by Jean Lemoine and +André Lichtenberger.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Letter dated December 28, 1663, to the Queen of Poland +(Archives of Chantilly).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> See the <i>Molière</i> of the <i>Grands Écrivains</i>, v., iv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> See the contemporary engravings. Some reproductions will +be found in the beautiful work of M. de Nolhac, <i>La Création de +Versailles</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> See the <i>Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> From the 7th to the 11th of May, the first two days and +the last two not counted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Number of February 3, 1663, apropos of a ball given at +the Louvre by the King on January 31st.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> For this portion, see the <i>Gazette</i> of May 17th, the +letters from Loret of the 10th and 17th, various <i>Relations du temps</i>, +the <i>Molière</i> of the <i>Grands Écrivains</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> <i>Louise de La Vallière</i>, by J. Lair.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> See <i>La Cabale des Dévots</i>, by M. Raoul Allier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> A doubtful phrase.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> The Mlles. de Nemours were daughters of Elisabeth de +Vendôme, sister of the Duc de Beaufort, and of Henri de Savoie, Duc de +Nemours, who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law (July 30, 1652). +The younger sister married Alphonse VI. June 28, 1666.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Claude Le Pelletier, then President of Inquests. After, +he was Minister of State and Controller-General of Finances.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Mlle. d'Alençon, the second of the half-sisters of +Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> <i>Archives de Chantilly.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulières</i>, Paris, +1806.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> <i>L'ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne</i>; Paris, +January 27, 1664. (<i>Archives de la Bastile.</i>) The Princesse de Savoie +refused by Louis XIV; had decided to marry the Duc de Parma.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> The Archbishop of Embrun to Father Brienne; Turin Aug. 1, +1659.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> La Fontaine: <i>La Fille</i>, fable, published for the first +time in the edition 1679.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste de Nemours married Charles Emmanuel +II., May 11, 1665.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> And not Madame Henriette, as has been said in error.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Bethléem was a suburb of Clamecy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Mme. de La Fayette, <i>Histoire de Madame Henriette</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> See Raoul Allier, <i>La Cabale des Dévots</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Lenten sermons for the year 1662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Letter of March 29, 1680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>, by François Ravaisson, vols. +iv., v., and vi., <i>passim</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> See the review of the play in <i>Molière</i> of the <i>Grands +Écrivains de la France</i> (Hachette).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Allusion to certain talismans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>: Rapport de la Reynie, +lieutenant-general of police, à Louvois (1680, no other date).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> <i>La Magie dans l'Inde antique</i>, by Victor Henry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Interrogatory of June 30, 1668. Mme. de Bougy was the +widow of the Marquis of this name, lieutenant-general. La Duverger was +occupied with magic. The Marquis de Ravetot had married Catherine de +Grammont, daughter of the Marshal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Another name for Lesage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> <i>Histoire de <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'l'Opera'">l'Opéra</ins> en Europe</i>, by M. Romain Rolland. +Cf. <i>Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France</i>, by Chouquet, <i>Les +Origines de <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'l'Opera'">l'Opéra</ins> français</i>, by Nuitter and Thoinan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> The first opera worthy of the name was <i>Pomone</i>, by +Cambert. It will be learned in special works how French opera differed +from Italian and through what a chain of circumstances it occurred that +a Florentine, Baptiste Lulli, was the true founder.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> See above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> A selection of the operas of Lulli, for piano and voice, +has appeared in the Collection Michaelis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Letter dated December 1, 1673.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> <i>Introduction par M. le Comte d' Haussonville, aux +Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> <i>Kant als Mensch</i>, by Erich Adickes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Romain Rolland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> <i>Œuvres galantes en vers et en prose</i>, by M. Cotin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> For this see <i>Les Ennemis de Racine</i>, by F. Deltour; <i>Les +Époques du Théâtre français</i>, and <i>Les Études critiques sur l'Histoire +de la Littérature française</i> by M. F. Brunetière; the memoirs and +correspondence of the times; the collection of <i>Mercure galant</i>; <i>les +préfaces de Racine</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Criticism by Boursault.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Deltour, <i>Les Ennemies de Racine</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> <i>Gazette de Loret</i>, January 13, 1663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> <i>Mémoires sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jean Racine</i>, by +Louis Racine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> See the volume by MM. Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger, <i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> <i>Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.</i>—<i>Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale</i>, with an <i>Introduction</i> by M. G. Hanotaux.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> May 27, to M. de Montchevreuil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> "<i>Frappez</i>" would have been misunderstood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> <i>Remerciement au Roi</i> (1663).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> The Convent of Saint-Joseph, rue Saint Dominique; Mme. de +Montespan had constructed in it an apartment for herself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> The Comte de Vexin, who died young.—Mme. de Sévigné, +letter dated June 14, 1675.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> The Grande Equerry, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d' Armagnac.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> The Marquis de Puyguilhem (written Péguilin) had taken +the name of Comte de Lauzun the following January. The latter title will +be used in this volume.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> See the portrait of Straton in the chapter entitled "De +la Cour."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Écrits inédits</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Lauzun became Captain of the Body Guard in July, 1669.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Letter to Mme. de Sévigné, dated February 2, 1669.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> <i>Mémoires et Réflexions</i> of the Marquis de la Fare.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> The sister of the Grand Condé. Upon her part in the +Fronde, see <i>The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> M. de Saint-Paul began toward this time to bear the name +of de Longueville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> This conversation, which gives the key to the conduct of +Lauzun, is reported in <i>Le Perroquet or Les amours de Mademoiselle</i>, an +anonymous recital printed by M. Livet following the <i>Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules</i> (Paris, Jannet, 1857); and in the <i>Histoire de Mademoiselle +et du Comte de Losun</i> (Bibl. Saint-Geneviève MS. 3208), not always +sources to be relied on, but to be trusted here.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> War between relatives for the succession.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> <i>Lettres historiques.</i> Pellison accompanied the Court as +historiographer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Plaques: pieces of embossed silver, at the lower part of +which was placed a chandelier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i> of Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i>, by Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d'Uzès. He married the +daughter of the Duc de Montausier and of Julie d'Angennes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Probably the uncle by marriage of Bussy-Rabutin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Romecourt was Lieutenant of the King's Guards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> It is evident that these last were carried in the private +carriages, ready for any accident.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> <i>Gazette de Renaudot.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Captain of the Body Guard. Afterward, Duc de Noailles, +and Marshal of France.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> First physician to the King.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin. Letter of July 6, +1670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin (letter dated January +15, 1687), speaking of Condé's death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> Charles d'Harcourt, chevalier, afterward Comte de +Beuvron, was one of those whom rumour accused of having contributed to +the death of Madame.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Monsieur had two daughters by his first marriage; +Marie-Louise d'Orléans, who married, in 1679, Charles II. of Spain, and +Anne-Marie de Valois, married, in 1684, to Victor-Amédée II., Duc de +Savoie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Cf. <i>Mémoires de Louis XIV</i>. "for the year 1666." Edited +by Charles Dreyss.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Cf. <i>Segraisiana.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Don Miguel de Iturrieta to Don Diego de la Torre. +<i>Archives de la Bastille.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> <i>Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV.</i>, by P. Clément.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> <i>Histoire</i> etc. (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS. 3208). The +same version is found with slight variations in <i>Le Perroquet</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de la Fare.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Letter dated January 26, 1680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Second son of Louis XIV. He died young.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> for this chapter, the <i>Mélanges</i> of Philibert +Delamare (Bibl. Nationale, French MS. 23,251), the <i>Journal</i> of +d'Ormesson, and generally the memoirs, correspondences, pamphlets, and +songs of the period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Philibert Delamare, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> <i>Journal</i> of Olivier d'Ormesson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Letter to Coulanges, December 31st. The letter announcing +the marriage, too well known to quote, is dated the 15th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de la Fare.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Ancient Governor of the King, who had kept a strong +affection for his pupil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Philibert Delamare, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Mme. de Maintenon, <i>Lettres historiques et édifiantes</i>; +<i>cf. Mémoire de Mlle. d'Aumale</i>, published by M. le Comte +d'Haussonville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> The Abbé de Choisy relates the same scene, but attributes +it to the Princesse de Carignan (Marie de Bourbon-Soissons, +1666-1692).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> The French Chargé d'Affaires in Sweden and Germany, +<i>Archives de la Bastille</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Philibert Delamare, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> This exclusion probably refers to the Prince de Condé, +with whom an alliance would have been considered a danger to the peace +of France.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> <i>La Correspondance de Pomponne</i> (Bibl. de l'Arsenal, +4712, 1598, 11. F.), fol. 373. M. Chéruel in the appendix to volume iv. +of <i>the Mémoires de Mademoiselle</i>, and M. Livet in <i>l'Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules</i>, have published this letter after an inexact copy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Letter dated December 24, 1670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Letter dated December 31, ——.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> <i>Souvenirs et Correspondance.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Philibert Delamare, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Letter dated December 24, 1670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> <i>Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin</i>, published by Ludovic +Lalanne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> M. du Honsett, Ancient Intendant of Finance. He had just +purchased the office of Chancellor of Monsieur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Letter dated April 1, 1671.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Letter dated January 13, 1672.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de La Fare.</i> <i>Cf.</i> the <i>Mémoires de Choisy, +Segraisiana</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Louvois had visited Pignerol the preceding year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> The authorities quoted in this and the following chapter, +upon the captivity of Lauzun, are in part unpublished and drawn from the +Archives of the Minister of War, in part borrowed from the <i>Archives de +la Bastille</i>, by M. Ravaisson. See also a collection of historic +documents of 1829: <i><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Historie'">Histoire</ins> de la Détention des Philosophes</i>, by J. +Delort.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> Mme. de Montespan and Mlle. de La Vallière were +designated briefly "<i>les Dames</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> This letter has been lost or destroyed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Louvois to Saint-Mars, March 2, 1676.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> The letter from Saint-Mars (March 23, 1680) giving an +account of the communications between the dungeons has never been found, +any more than that telling of the flight of Lauzun.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Louvois to Saint-Mars, November 28, 1679.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Leopold von Ranke, <i>Histoire de France</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> <i>Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Two years after this warning Louis XIV. gave at +Versailles, in honour of Mme. de Montespan, a fête for which special +buildings were created. The ballroom, only used <i>one night</i>, was marble +and porphyry; the rest in accordance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> A loss of more than 100,000 crowns was not rare at the +gaming table of the King. March 6, 1670, Mme. de Montespan lost 400,000 +pistoles in one night; at eight in the morning she regained 500,000. The +pistole is worth about ten francs. In 1682, three years after her +disgrace, she lost at one time 700,000 crowns which she did not regain. +The King paid her debts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Letter of Mme. de Châtrier, attached to the House of +Condé; <i>De La Vallière à Montespan</i>, by Jean Lemoine and André +Lichtenberger.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Letter from Colbert to the Intendant de Rochefort (April +16, 1678).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de la Fare.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Mlle. de Montpensier.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_286" id="Footnote_284_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_286"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> <i>Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.</i>—<i>Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale</i>, with an introduction by M. G. Hanotaux.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_287" id="Footnote_285_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_287"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_288" id="Footnote_286_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_288"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Letter to the Marquis de Trichateau.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_289" id="Footnote_287_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_289"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Note by La Reynie (December 27, 1679). The documents of +the <i>Affaire des poisons</i> form more than 1300 pages of the <i>Archives de +la Bastille</i>, and they are not complete. Certain especial depositions, +particularly compromising for Mme. de Montespan, are lacking, and were +probably burned by order of Louis XIV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_290" id="Footnote_288_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_290"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> Louvois to Boucherat, President of the <i>Chambre</i>, +February 4, 1680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_291" id="Footnote_289_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_291"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> It included the Comtesse de Soissons, the Marquise +d'Alluye (the King saved both), the Duc de Luxembourg (victim of an +error), the Vicomtesse de Polignac, the Marquis de Feuquières, the +Princesse de Tingry, the Maréchale de la Ferté, the Duchesse de +Bouillon, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_292" id="Footnote_290_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_292"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> Cf. <i>Archives de la Bastille</i>, the "<i>Note autographe</i>" of +La Reynie, dated September 17, 1679. Was this the first time that these +names had appeared? The destruction of portions of the testimony through +the orders of the King does not permit the real truth to be disclosed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_293" id="Footnote_291_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_293"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> Louvois to M. Robert, January 15, 1680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_294" id="Footnote_292_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_294"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> She died there September 8, 1686. Cato seems to have been +dismissed, although she had been placed with Mme. de Montespan by La +Voisin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_295" id="Footnote_293_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_295"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> Marie-Anne-Christine de Bavière, coming to marry the +Grand Dauphin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_296" id="Footnote_294_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_296"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Cf. <i>Les souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus</i> and—among +others—the letter of Mme. de Sévigné dated July 17, 1680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_297" id="Footnote_295_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_297"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> <i>Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_298" id="Footnote_296_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_298"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> <i>Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Régent</i>, by Anquetil (Paris, +1789).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_299" id="Footnote_297_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_299"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> The gift to be enjoyed only after the death of +Mademoiselle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_300" id="Footnote_298_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_300"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Saint-Simon.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_301" id="Footnote_299_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_301"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Écrits inédits</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_302" id="Footnote_300_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_302"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> At Chalon-sur-Saône.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_303" id="Footnote_301_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_303"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> Exactly, according to the official figures, 284,940 +francs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_304" id="Footnote_302_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_304"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> The coat called a <i>brevet</i>, because it could only be worn +with a <i>brevet</i> from the King, was changed every year. It was thus very +out of fashion at the end of twelve years. Lauzun had worn a wig at +Pignerol, to protect his head against the dampness of his dungeon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_305" id="Footnote_303_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_305"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> <i>Écrits inédits</i>, Saint-Simon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_306" id="Footnote_304_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_306"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Mémoires</i>. Saint-Simon takes his details +from an eye-witness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_307" id="Footnote_305_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_307"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Écrits inédits</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_306_308" id="Footnote_306_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_308"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> Sévigné.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_307_309" id="Footnote_307_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_309"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de la Cour de France</i>, by Mme. de La Fayette.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_308_310" id="Footnote_308_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_310"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> Sévigné, January 6, 1689.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_309_311" id="Footnote_309_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_311"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> Letter of M. d'Amfreville, general-officer of the marine +to Seignelay, in the <i>Histoire de Louvois</i>, by Camille Rousset.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_310_312" id="Footnote_310_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_312"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Écrits inédits</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_311_313" id="Footnote_311_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_313"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> <i>Œuvres completes</i>, of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre +(Paris, 1830), vol. i.; <i>Essai sur la Vie</i> by Aimé-Martin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_312_314" id="Footnote_312_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_314"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Cf. the <i>Gazette</i> for 1693, and the series of the +<i>Mercure Galant</i> monthly periodical, founded in 1672 by Donneau de +Visé.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_313_315" id="Footnote_313_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_315"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Mémoires</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_314_316" id="Footnote_314_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_316"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Saint-Simon says fifteen. He is mistaken; the act of +marriage says fourteen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_315_317" id="Footnote_315_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_317"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i>, Saint-Simon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_316_318" id="Footnote_316_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_318"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Saint-Simon, <i>Mémoires</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_317_319" id="Footnote_317_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_319"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> The royal ordinance is dated July 7, 1668. Louis XIV. was +ever ignorant of the fact that the councillors of the Hôtel de Ville had +passed nights in copying what was to be burned, so that the documents +supposed to be destroyed still exist.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_318_320" id="Footnote_318_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_320"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> From La Rivière to Bussy-Rabutin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_319_321" id="Footnote_319_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_321"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> <i>Relation de la Cour de France</i>, by Ézéchiel Spanheim, +envoy extraordinary from Brandenbourg.</p></div> + +<hr class="hr5" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's notes:</h3> + +<p>These corrections are indicated by dotted lines under the +corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> + +<p>P.26. 'Qu'en croit' should be .Qu'on croit'.<br /> +P. 62. cammandemens should be commandemens. Changed.<br /> +P.62. 'voster' should be 'vostre'. Changed.<br /> +P.91. 'bourgeosie' should be 'bourgeoisie'. Changed.<br /> +Fontainbleau changed with Fontainebleau throughout the text.<br /> +P.187. vengance should be vengeance. Changed.<br /> +Footnote [187] < index. 'l'Opera' should be Histoire de 'l'Opéra'.<br /> +P.132. Footnote 107: 'l'Île' shoulde be 'l'Isle', changed.<br /> +Took out 'Court of France continued' in index. P. 382.<br /> +P.212, 'de' Mme. de changed to 'the' Mme. de.<br /> +P.229 'trival'. changed to 'trivial'.<br /> +Footone [269]. 'Historie' should be 'Histoire'.<br /> +P.329, 'Lauzon' should be 'Lauzun'.<br /> +P.347, 'suddently'should be 'suddenly'.<br /> +P.379. Arras, 'seige' of, should be 'siege'.<br /> +P.383. conversation, the delight of intelligent,<br /> +P.369. arrived 'a' the court should be 'at'.</p> + +<p>These correction are not indicated.</p> + +<p>Fixed multiple instances of:</p> + +<p>Fontainbleau to Fontainebleau.<br /> +d'Ormesson.<br /> +d'Aumale<br /> +d'Haussonville<br /> +d'Ormesson<br /> +Blois, Mlle. de<br /> +Princesse</p> + +<p>Accents that have been fixed:</p> + +<p>HÉLÈNE.<br /> +SÉVIGNÉ.<br /> +Prés.<br /> +Péréfixe.<br /> +Angélique.<br /> +Problèmes.<br /> +Béziers.<br /> +événement<br /> +Phèdre<br /> +Condé<br /> +Littérature<br /> +nôtre<br /> +Opéra<br /> +Marie-Thérèse<br /> +indépendants<br /> +Pédagogue<br /> +Écrits<br /> +Molière<br /> +misère<br /> +édifiantes<br /> +Pédagogue<br /> +Saint-Geneviève</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by +Arvede Barine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + +***** This file should be named 37409-h.htm or 37409-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/0/37409/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/37409-h/images/cover.jpg b/37409-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4de7a9d --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus004.png b/37409-h/images/illus004.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62ea776 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus004.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus021.png b/37409-h/images/illus021.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2216cc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus021.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus043.png b/37409-h/images/illus043.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..965e1f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus043.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus047.png b/37409-h/images/illus047.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea3a33d --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus047.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus077.png b/37409-h/images/illus077.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2f0563 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus077.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus089.png b/37409-h/images/illus089.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b04aa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus089.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus101.png b/37409-h/images/illus101.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e069cec --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus101.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus161.png b/37409-h/images/illus161.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d8c7a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus161.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus183.png b/37409-h/images/illus183.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c63e4ee --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus183.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus189.png b/37409-h/images/illus189.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..433bbad --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus189.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus207.png b/37409-h/images/illus207.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7be57b --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus207.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus211.png b/37409-h/images/illus211.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..311f405 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus211.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus215.png b/37409-h/images/illus215.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c155664 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus215.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus219.png b/37409-h/images/illus219.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe7464c --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus219.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus223.png b/37409-h/images/illus223.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..450527c --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus223.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus227.png b/37409-h/images/illus227.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9fcc19 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus227.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus243.png b/37409-h/images/illus243.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8adab3 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus243.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus251.png b/37409-h/images/illus251.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3767eb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus251.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus259.png b/37409-h/images/illus259.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d2cd30 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus259.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus271.png b/37409-h/images/illus271.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4efe6c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus271.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus277.png b/37409-h/images/illus277.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15b9717 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus277.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus303.png b/37409-h/images/illus303.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6628171 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus303.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus343.png b/37409-h/images/illus343.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..280e692 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus343.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus393.png b/37409-h/images/illus393.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2cd987 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus393.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus397.png b/37409-h/images/illus397.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aea7261 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus397.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus401.png b/37409-h/images/illus401.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35fb0d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus401.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus405.png b/37409-h/images/illus405.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15409a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus405.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus409.png b/37409-h/images/illus409.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9deb273 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus409.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus413.png b/37409-h/images/illus413.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5b6932 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus413.png diff --git a/37409-h/images/illus469.png b/37409-h/images/illus469.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32d767e --- /dev/null +++ b/37409-h/images/illus469.png diff --git a/37409.txt b/37409.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff8ee5e --- /dev/null +++ b/37409.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13127 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by Arvede Barine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle + 1652-1693 + +Author: Arvede Barine + +Release Date: September 12, 2011 [EBook #37409] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _By ARVEDE BARINE_ + + =The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle + 1627-1652= + + Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully + Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00 + + + =Louis XIV. and La Grande Mademoiselle + 1652-1693= + + Authorized English Version. Octavo. Fully + Illustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00 + + =_G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS_= + + =_New York_= =_London_= + +[Illustration: Cliche Braun, Clement & Cie. =MADEMOISELLE DE +MONTPENSIER= She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston D'Orleans +From the painting by Pierre Bourgnignon in the Musee de Versailles. By +permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.] + + + + + Louis XIV + and + La Grande Mademoiselle + + 1652-1693 + + By + + Arvede Barine + + Author of "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle" + + _Authorised English Version_ + + G. P. Putnam's Sons + + New York and London + The Knickerbocker Press + 1905 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1905 + + BY + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the volume entitled _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_ I have +tried to present the conditions of France during the period in which the +ancient liberties of the people and the turbulent society which had +abused its privileges suffered, in the one case death, in the other +extinction. + +As is always the case, a lack of proper discipline had prepared the way +for absolute rule, and the young King who was about to assume full power +was an enigma to his subjects. The nearest relatives of Louis had always +found him impenetrable. The Grande Mademoiselle had been brought up side +by side with her cousin, but she was entirely ignorant of his real +character, knowing only that he was silent and appeared timid. In her +failure to understand the King, Mademoiselle showed herself again a true +child of her century. + +At the moment in which the Prince assumed full power, his true +disposition, thoughts, and beliefs were entirely hidden from the public, +and Saint-Simon has contributed to this ignorance by prolonging it to +posterity. Louis XIV. was over fifty when this terrible writer appeared +at Court. The _Memoires_ of Saint-Simon present the portrait of a man +almost old; this portrait however is so powerful, so living that it +obliterates every other. The public sees only the Louis of Saint-Simon; +for it, the youthful King as he lived during the troubled and passionate +period of his career, the period that was most interesting, because most +vital, has never existed. + +The official history of the times aids in giving a false impression of +Louis XIV., figuring him in a sort of hieratic attitude between an idol +and a manikin. The portraits of Versailles again mask the Louis of the +young Court, the man for whose favour Moliere and the Libertines fought +with varying chances of success. + +In the present volume I have tried to raise a corner of this mask. + +The _Memoires_ of Louis XIV., completely edited for the first time +according to any methodical plan in 1860, have greatly aided me in this +task. They abound in confessions, sometimes aside, sometimes direct, of +the matters that occupied the thoughts of the youthful author. The +Grande Mademoiselle, capable of neither reserve nor dissimulation, has +proved the next most valuable guide in the attempt to penetrate into the +intimate life of Louis. As related by her, the perpetual difficulties +with the Prince throw a vivid light upon the kind of incompatibility of +temper which existed at the beginning of the reign between absolute +power and the survivors of the Fronde. + +How the young King succeeded in directing his generation toward new +ideas and sentiments and how the Grande Mademoiselle, too late carried +away by the torrent, became in the end a victim to its force, will be +seen in the course of the present volume, provided, that is, that I have +not overestimated my powers in touching upon a subject very obscure, +very delicate, with facts drawn from a period the most frequently +referred to and yet in some respects the least comprehended of the +entire history of France. + + A. B. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + + PAGE + +Exile--Provincial Life--Conversation at Saint-Fargeau--Sentiment +towards Nature in the Seventeenth Century--Differences +between Mademoiselle and her Father--Mademoiselle Returns +to Court 1-57 + + +CHAPTER II + +The Education of Louis XIV.--Manners--Poverty--Charity--Vincent +de Paul, a Secret Society--Marriage of Louis XIV.--His +Arrival at Power on the Death of Mazarin--He Re-educates +Himself 58-119 + + +CHAPTER III + +Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg--Her Salon--The "Anatomies" +of the Heart--Projects of Marriage, and New Exile--Louis +XIV. and the Libertines--Fragility of Fortune in Land--_Fetes +Galantes_ 120-184 + + +CHAPTER IV + +Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love--The Corrupters of +Morals--Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence--Love +in Racine--Louis XIV. and the Nobility--The King is +Polygamous 185-236 + + +CHAPTER V + +The Grande Mademoiselle in Love--Sketch of Lauzun and their +Romance--The Court on its Travels--Death of Madame--Announcement +of the Marriage of Mademoiselle--General Consternation--Louis +XIV. Breaks the Affair 237-303 + + +CHAPTER VI + +Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?--Imprisonment of Lauzun--Splendour +and Decadence of France--_La Chambre Ardente_--Mademoiselle +Purchases Lauzun's Freedom--Their Embroilment--Death +of the Grande Mademoiselle--Death of Lauzun--Conclusion 304-377 + + +INDEX 379 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER _Frontispiece_ + She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston d'Orleans. + From the painting by Pierre Bourguignon in the + Musee de Versailles. By permission of Messrs. Hachette + & Co. + +ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLEANS, DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER 4 + From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum. + +CARDINAL DE RETZ 24 + Showing him in his coadjuteur days. After the painting + by Deveria. + +JULIUS HARDOUIN MANSART 26 + After the painting by Vivien. + +JEAN DE LA FONTAINE 54 + From an engraving by Grevedon. + +LOUIS XIV. AS A BOY, DEDICATING HIS CROWN 62 + After the painting by Greg Huret. + + +LOUIS XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN 72 + From a chalk drawing in the British Museum Print Room. + + +FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD 130 + From the engraving by Hopwood after the painting by Petitot. + +HELENE LAMBERT, MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE 150 + After the painting by De Largilliere. + +LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE 154 + From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by + Petitot. + +JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT 170 + After the painting by Champaign. + +"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." + SCENE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE PLAY, BEFORE + THE KING AT VERSAILLES 172 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre. + +"PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SECOND DAY 174 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre. + +GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHATEAU OF VERSAILLES 176 + From the engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664. + +THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION 178 + From the engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677. + +JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIERE 180 + After the painting by Noel Coypel. + +MADAME HENRIETTE D'ORLEANS 194 + From the painting by Mignard in the National Portrait + Gallery. (Photograph by Walker, London.) + +MADAME DE MONTESPAN 200 + From the engraving by Flameng after the painting by Mignard. + +LA VOISIN 206 + From a print in the Bibliotheque Nationale. + +JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI 216 + After a contemporary print by Bonnart. + +BOILEAU 220 + After the painting by H. Rigaud. + +Duc de Lauzun 244 + By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co. + +MADAME DE SEVIGNE 282 + From the painting by Pietro Mignard in the Uffizi Gallery, + Florence. (Photograph by Alinari.) + +VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES 330 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673. + +VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT, SHOWING ALSO HIS SEAL 332 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675. + +VIEW OF THE CHATEAU OF VERSAILLES, SHOWING THE + FOUNTAIN OF THE DRAGON 334 + From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676. + +DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIERE AND HER CHILDREN 336 + From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the + Marquise d'Oilliamson. + +LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE, IN THE GARB OF THE ORDER + OF THE CARMELITES 338 + After the painting by D. Plaats. + +MADAME DE MAINTENON 340 + After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694. + + + + +LOUIS XIV. AND LA GRANDE MADEMOISELLE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Exile--Provincial Life--Conversation at + Saint-Fargeau--Sentiment towards Nature in the Seventeenth + Century--Differences between Mademoiselle and her + Father--Mademoiselle Returns to Court. + + +The Fronde was an abortive revolution. It was condemned in advance, the +leaders having never clearly known what ends they were seeking. The +consequences of its failure proved to be of profound importance to +France. The civil disorders existing between 1648 and 1652 were the last +efforts of the French against the establishing of absolute monarchy, to +the strengthening of which the entire regency of Anne of Austria had +tended. The end of these disorders signified that the nation, wearied +and discouraged, had accepted the new regime. The result was a great +transformation, political and moral, so great that the Fronde may be +considered as clearly marking a separation between two periods of French +history--a deep abyss as it were between the times which precede and +those which follow. + +The leaders of the Fronde had been dispersed by the return of the King +to his capital on October 21, 1652. When the exiles returned, some +sooner, some later, the last after the Peace of the Pyrenees (November +7, 1659), so great a change had taken place in ideas and customs that +more than one exile felt himself in a strange land. + +It was necessary to adjust oneself to the new atmosphere. It was very +much the same situation--though the Frondeurs were under much lighter +accusations--as that experienced by the _emigres_ returning under the +Consulate. The Princess, the events of whose heroic years have been +related, offers an excellent example of this condition. + +When the Grande Mademoiselle, who had urged on the civil war in order to +force Louis XIV. into marriage with herself, obtained at the end of five +years, permission to return to Court, she brought with her the old +undisciplined habits which were no longer in fashion, and in the end +incurred much that was disagreeable. Exile had not weakened her pride. +According to a celebrated formula, she had learned nothing, she had +forgotten nothing; she remained that person of impulse of whom Mme. de +Sevigne said, "I do not care to mix myself with her impetuosities."[1] + +Far be it from me to reproach Mademoiselle! All honour be to her who +stood firm in the age of servility which succeeded the Fronde! In other +respects exile had been most healthful for her. She had been obliged to +seek in herself resources the finding of which surprised her. +Mademoiselle naively admires herself in her _Memoires_[2] for never +having experienced a single moment of ennui "in the greatest desert in +the world," and surely she deserves praise, as her first experiences at +Saint-Fargeau would have crushed most women. + +The reader will be convinced of this if he imagines himself in her +company the night of arrival in the early days of November, 1652. At the +end of _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_ we left her weeping without +shame before her entire suite. Her dream of glory had evaporated. +Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans would never be queen of France. She would +take no more cities; pass no more troops at review to the sound of +trumpet and cannon. Three weeks previous, the great Conde had treated +her as a companion in arms. She rejoiced the soldiers by her martial +carriage, and any one of them would have been not only surprised but +very indignant if it had been suggested that she was capable of being +almost as cowardly as her father, the "_triste_ Gaston." + +Now all that was finished, even the romantic flight. While playing +hide-and-seek with imaginary pursuers, the Grande Mademoiselle had +fallen into a state of physical and moral prostration. The heroine of +Orleans and of Porte Saint-Antoine sobbed like a little child because +she "had too much grief" and was "too afraid"[3]; the aspect of her +future home had taken away the last remnants of courage. + +The Chateau of Saint-Fargeau, begun under Hugh Capet and often repaired, +particularly during the fifteenth century, seemed more like a fortress +than a peaceful dwelling. Its heavy mass dominated the valley of the +Loing, a region of great and dense forests, with few clearings. Itself +enveloped with brushwood and protected by deep moats, the chateau +harmonised well with the surroundings. Its windows opened at a great +height above the ground, and its towers were strong. The body of the +building was massive and bare, united by strong ramparts forming an +_enceinte_ irregular with severe appearance. + +The _ensemble_ was imposing, never smiling. Saint-Fargeau, long +uninhabited, was almost a ruin filled with rats at the time when +Mademoiselle presented herself as a fugitive. She was shown into a room +with a prop in the centre. Coming from the palace of the Tuileries, this +sight overwhelmed her, and made her realise the depth of her fall. She +had an access of despair: "I am most unfortunate to be absent from +Court, to have only a dwelling as ugly as this, and to realise that this +is the best of my chateaux." Her fear became terror when she discovered +that doors and windows were lacking. A report came from a valet that she +was sought for imprisonment, and she was too confused to reflect that +if the King had ordered her arrest locks would have been useless. + +[Illustration: =ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLEANS, DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER= +From the enamel by Petitot in the South Kensington Museum] + +She continued her journey to reach a little chateau, situated two +leagues from Saint-Fargeau, which was reported safer. "Imagine," says +she, "with what pleasure I made the extra journey. I had risen two hours +before daylight; I had ridden twenty-two miles upon a horse already worn +out with previous travel. We arrived at our destination at three in the +morning; I went to bed in haste." The crisis was short. The next day it +was explained to Mademoiselle that Saint-Fargeau had two exits in case +of alarm. She returned in consequence on the fourth day, and there was +no more question of grief, nor even ill-temper; from that moment the +place was "good and strong." + +The Princess adapted herself to the glassless windows, the broken +ceilings, the absence of doors, and all the rest. The great ladies of +the seventeenth century were fortunately not too particular. +Mademoiselle encamped in a cellar while the apartment above was being +repaired, and was forced to borrow a bed. She recovered all her gaiety +before the comicality of the situation: "for the first cousin of the +King of France." "Happily for me," wrote she, "the bailiff of the +chateau had been recently married; therefore he possessed a new bed." +The bed of Madame the Bailiff was the great resource of the chateau. It +was returned as soon as the Princess received her own from Paris, but it +was again used to give a resting-place to the Christmas guests, many of +whom appeared--a fact to the credit of the French nobility--as soon as +it was known where the illustrious unfortunate was passing her period of +banishment. + +Mademoiselle did not know how to provide for these guests and the most +important were lodged with the bailiff. The Duchess of Sully and her +sister, the Marquise of Laval, came together for a prolonged sojourn and +performed the office of shuttle between the cellar in which the Grande +Mademoiselle held her court and "the new bed of the city of +Saint-Fargeau." Ladies of quality arriving at this time lodged where +they could with small regard to comfort, and this condition lasted until +the chateau was put in order. Every one suffered but nobody complained. +There was a certain elegance in this haughty fashion of ignoring +comfort, the importance of which in our own days seems in comparison +rather bourgeois, in the worst sense of the word. + +Gradually all was arranged. The chateau was restored, the apartments +enlarged.[4] The overgrowth of the approaches gave place to a terrace +from which to the surprise of all a charming view was discovered. The +Saint-Fargeau of the Capets and of the first Valois, "a place so wild," +says Mademoiselle, "that when I arrived, only herbs fit for soup were to +be found," became a beautiful residence, hospitable and animated. + +The mistress of the place loved open air and movement, as did all the +French nobility before an absolute monarchy, in the interest of order +and peace, had trained them to rest tranquilly in the salons of +Versailles. Muscular decadence commenced with the French at the epoch +when it became the fashion to pass the days in silk stockings and +practising bows, under punishment of being excluded from all society. +Violent exercises were abandoned or made more gentle.[5] Attention was +paid only to what gave majestic grace to the body in harmony with the +Versailles "Galerie of Mirrors." + +The bourgeoisie were eager to imitate the people of quality, and the +higher classes paid for their fine manners or their attempts at fine +manners with the headaches and nervous disorders of the eighteenth +century. The taste for sport has only reappeared in France during our +own times. We are now witnessing its resurrection. + +This taste, however, was still lively immediately after the Fronde, and +Mademoiselle abandoned herself to it with passion. She ordered from +England a pack of hounds and hunters. She possessed many equipages. With +a game of marl before the chateau, indoor games for rainy days, violins +from the Tuileries to play for dancing, it would be difficult to find a +court more brisk, more constantly in joyous movement. + +Mademoiselle, whom nothing tired, set an example, and seasoned these +"games of action" with _causeries_, some of which happily have been +preserved for us by Segrais,[6] her Secretary of the Commandments. +Thanks to him, we know, even admitting that he may have slightly +rearranged his reports, what they talked about at the court of +Saint-Fargeau, and one cannot fail to be somewhat surprised. He tells us +all sorts of things of which we never should have dreamed, things that +we have never imagined as subjects of interest in the seventeenth +century. In this age which believed itself entirely indifferent towards +nature, conversation nevertheless fell ceaselessly upon the beauties of +landscape. People paused to admire "points of view," sought them, and +endeavoured to explain why they were beautiful. The reasons given were, +that those who knew how to enjoy a large forest and "the beautiful +carpet of moss at the feet," actually preferred landscapes made more +intelligible through the intervention of man. A desert pleased them less +than an inhabited country, a wild landscape less than sunny collections +of cultivated fields and orchards symmetrically planted, recalling "the +agreeable variety of parterres made by the ingenuity of man." + +Mademoiselle praises in her _Memoires_ the view from the end of the +terrace. She attempts to describe it and fails. Segrais also tries in +vain. It was impossible at that epoch. The vocabulary did not exist +which could furnish words to describe a landscape. The creation of our +descriptive vocabulary is one of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's[7] greatest +glories. In compensation, Segrais knew very well how to explain why the +beauty of the view, about which he had so ineffectively written, pleased +him and his companions. He said that, arranged by chance, it conformed +to the rules of classic pictures and in no way appeared the sole work of +nature. Neither the valley of the Loing nor the immense marsh which +closed this side of the chateau, nor the island in the midst of this +marsh, with clumps of trees, nor the church and small height which could +be perceived, seemed placed without human intervention. "And this," +writes Segrais, "is so well represented in those excellent landscapes of +the great artists, that all who look upon it believe that they have seen +the marsh, church, and little island in a thousand pictures." + +Literature, imaginative literature at least, also held a considerable +place in the conversation. Mademoiselle, who had read nothing before her +sojourn at Saint-Fargeau, was anxious to make up for lost time. "I am a +very ignorant creature," writes she, at the beginning of her exile, +"detesting reading and having seen only the gazettes. Henceforth I am +going to apply myself and see if it be possible to like a thing from +deliberate determination." + +Success surpassed her hopes; she conceived a passion for reading. In the +winter of 1652-1653, during which there were few distractions, and the +chateau was given over to workmen; when the bad weather and the rough +roads rendered Saint-Fargeau unapproachable, and left the castle +solitary, she read, or listened to reading while plying her needle, +without being bored. + + I laboured from morning till night at my work and descended + from my chamber only to dine or to be present at mass. The + winter weather was so bad that walking was impossible. If there + ever was a moment of fine weather I rode, or if the ground was + too frozen I walked a little to watch my workmen. While I sewed + some one read to me, and it was at this period that I began to + love reading as I have done ever since. + +At the end of some years of banishment her "erudition" struck Dr. Huet, +who met her at the baths of Forges. "She loves history passionately," +says he in his _Memoires_, "but above all, romances, so-called. While +her women were dressing her hair, she desired me to read aloud, and no +matter what the subject, it provoked a thousand questions on her part. +In this I well recognised the acuteness of her mind." + +The fashionable romances easily pleased a Princess who had a grandeur of +soul and loved to meet it in others. They were the works of +Gomberville,[8] of La Calprenede, and of Mlle. de Scudery, in which the +sheepfolds and dove-cotes of l'Astree had yielded to the heroic +adventures and grand sentiments of princes warlike and proud, who, +notwithstanding their exotic names, were the same who resisted under +Richelieu, and lead the Fronde under Mazarin. The generations born in +the first third of the century were charmed with the resemblance to +their own heroes which these tales offered them. They went wild with +delight over Scythe, Oroondate, or the Grand Cyrus, as they were +fascinated with Saint-Preux and Lelia, and many readers remained +faithful till death to these writers who had so well expressed the +ideals of their youth. + +At sixty, La Rochefoucauld re-read La Calprenede. Mme. de Sevigne was a +grandmother when she found herself "glued" to _Cleopatre_. "The beauty +of the sentiments," writes she, "and the violence of the passions, the +grandeur of the events, and the marvellous successes of the redoubtable +swords, all enchain me as if I were still a little child. The sentiments +are of a perfection which satisfy my conception of beautiful souls."[9] + +Realism and Naturalism have in the present day destroyed the capacity +for enthusiasm for heroes of romance. One's imagination can hardly be +kindled by a Coupeau or a Nana, nor even by a Madame Bovary, whatever +may be the literary value of the works in which they figure. For the +little court of Saint-Fargeau it was hardly possible to speak calmly of +the favourite heroes. One day, followed by a numerous assemblage, +Mademoiselle drove in the fresh valley of the Loing and descended from +her chariot under the tall willows which bordered the little river. It +was spring and the sun was radiant. The new grass and the growing leaves +offered a picture so "laughing" that nothing else could at first be +spoken of. While walking, the conversation finally turned upon romance, +and each fought for the favourite hero. The discussion was waxing warm +when the Princess, who had hardly spoken, intervened to moderate its +ardour. After avowing that she had read but little, she gave an eulogium +upon Roman history, or rather what it might become, better comprehended +in the hands of a learned writer, and criticised the custom of giving +French manners to Greeks, Persians, or Indians. + +Mademoiselle desired greater "historic truth" and what might be +designated as more local colour. Why not frankly take characters from +French contemporaries? "I am astonished," she said in ending, "that so +many people of intelligence who have created for us such worthy +Scythians and such generous Parthians have not taken the same pleasure +in imagining as accomplished French cavaliers or princes: whose +adventures would not have been less pleasing." After a moment's +silence, objections were advanced. The idea of writing a romance upon +the "war of Paris" seemed very daring. One young lady very naively urged +that the author would not know how to name his characters. "The French," +said she, "naturally love foreign names. Arabaze, Iphidamante, Crosmane, +are beautiful names; Rohan, Lorraine, Montmorency, are nothing of the +kind." + +The old Mme. de Choissy, with the authority given by her noted +intelligence, tried to prove that in an imaginative recital both time +and space must be distant. One Marquise appeared wearied of the kings +and emperors of romance, and desired heroes taken from the middle class. +Another, Mme. de Mauny, who was supposed[10] to have invented the +expression "_s'encanailler_" asserted that it was forbidden to heroes of +romance to do or say anything derogatory to pure sentiment, which was +possible to those of "high birth only." Mademoiselle maintained the +necessity of observation and truth for the tale, but she admitted that +the author of a great romance, writing as a "poet," had the right to +imagine events, instead of servilely copying them. "The tale," said she, +"relates things as they are, the romance as they should be." + +This distinction neither lacks acuteness nor a certain justice, and we +should like to know how much Segrais had contributed to it. No one +having replied to this last remark, the Princess remounted her carriage, +and gave the order to follow the pack of hounds, which had just started +a hare a few steps off. She was obeyed, in spite of the obstacles which +the country presented, and she returned to the chateau, very well +satisfied with her afternoon. + +At Saint-Fargeau they talked more frequently of love than of either +literature or the beauties of nature. Love is a subject of which women +never weary, and about which they always have something to say. +Mademoiselle lent herself completely to such conversation; it was she +who one day posed a question the subtlety of which the Hotel Rambouillet +might have enjoyed. "Whose absence causes the greater anguish, a lover +who should be loved or one who should not be?" + +She consented to admit the ideas of l'Astree upon the fatality of +passion, on the condition that the effects should be limited to +personages of romance, or in real life to those of humble birth. Segrais +makes her say without protest in a tale[11] ascribed to her "Man is not +free to love or not to love as he pleases." In the depths of her soul, +in her most intimate thoughts, Mademoiselle had never been further from +comprehending love, never had she more energetically refused for it any +beauty, any grandeur. One of her ladies, the gracious Frontenac, with +her eyes "filled with light," had made a marriage of inclination, an act +absurd, base, and shameful in the judgment of Mademoiselle, her +mistress. The marriage turned out badly. M. de Frontenac was eccentric. +His young wife at first feared, then hated him, and at Saint-Fargeau +there passed between the couple tragi-comic scenes, of which no one +could be ignorant. + +Mademoiselle had just commenced her _Memoires_.[12] She eagerly relates +the conjugal quarrels of M. and Mme. de Frontenac with more details than +it would be suitable to repeat, and this was the opportunity for an +outburst against the folly of trying to found marriage upon the most +fickle of human feelings. She writes: + + I have always had a strong aversion for even legitimate love. + This passion appears to me unworthy of a noble soul; but I am + now confirmed in this opinion, and I comprehend well that + reason has but little to do with affairs of passion. Passion + passes quickly, is never, in fact, of long duration. One may be + unhappy for life in entering upon marriage for so transient a + feeling, but on the other hand, happy if one marries for reason + and other imaginable considerations, even if physical aversion + exists; for I believe that one often loves more with this + aversion conquered. + +The principle may be sage, but the Grande Mademoiselle is too sure of +her fact. This "even if aversion exists" is difficult to digest. The +Princess was nearing her thirtieth year, when she treated love with +contempt, and nothing had yet warned her of the imprudence of defying +nature; so she believed herself well protected. + +In the spring of 1683, the rumour had spread that she and M. le Prince +de Conde had promised to marry, in the expectation and hope of being +soon relieved of the Princess de Conde, now a hopeless invalid, and that +the imagination of Mademoiselle, for lack of heart, pressed her +"furiously" in this affair. The Parisian salons had discovered no other +explanation for the hostile attitude which she persisted in maintaining +towards the Court of France, which she had so much interest in +conciliating. It was inconceivable that without some reason of this kind +she should compromise herself as she did, for a Prince who had become an +alien and whom she might never again see. Why betray news through +letters which always fell into the hands of Mazarin? Why leave to Conde, +now a Spanish General, the companies raised under the Fronde with the +funds of Mademoiselle and bearing her name? Either she had lost her +senses or one might expect some romantic prank, which could only be +unravelled by marriage. + +"Have you told everything?" demanded Mademoiselle of the old Countess de +Fiesque, her former governess, one morning, when this last poured out +the comments of the world. "No," said the good woman. Her mistress let +her proceed, then expressed herself as indignant that she should have +been believed capable of marrying on account of a sudden passion; the +other reproaches had not touched her. + +She declared that M. le Prince had never spoken of marriage, that it +would be time to think of this if Madame la Princesse should die, when +M. le Prince should be pardoned, when he should formally demand her +hand, and the King should approve the affair. + + I believe [continued she] that I should marry him finding in + his personality only what is grand, heroic, and worthy of the + name I bear. But that I should marry like a young lady of + romance, that he should come to seek me upon a palfrey + destroying all barriers in the road; and on the other hand that + I should mount another palfrey like Mme. Oriane[13]; I assure + you this would not suit my temper, and I am very indignant + against those people who have thought it possible. + +At this point the Princess was silent. It would have been the moment to +confess the true key to her conduct; but one must avow that, in spite of +her fine words and her expressed contempt for lovers, she was after all +a true Princess of romance, led by her imagination. + +The idea of making war upon the King from the bottom of a cellar had +amused her, and still more the thinking of herself as the price of peace +between her cousin and Conde, and she had not wished to look further. + +While the tempest gathered over her head, the great preoccupation of +Mademoiselle was the installation of a theatre in her dilapidated +chateau, in which the country workmen had not yet succeeded in arranging +a suitable bedroom for her. She could no longer live without the comedy; +the theatre must come first. It was ready in February, 1653, and +inaugurated immediately by a wandering troop, engaged for the season. +The hall was commodious, but very cold. The court of Saint-Fargeau +descended from its garrets entirely muffled, the ladies in fur hoods. +The country people, only too delighted to be invited to shiver in such +good company, hastened from distances of ten leagues. Mademoiselle was +perfectly contented: "I listened to the play with more pleasure than +ever before." + +We no longer understand what it means to love truly the theatre. +According to the gazette of Loret, the opening piece was a pastoral, +"half gay, half moral." Mademoiselle loved this sort, slightly out of +fashion; Segrais has preserved an agreeable reminiscence of a summer's +evening passed in the forest, with the natural background of high trees, +listening to an ancient "Amaryllis" repolished and arranged for the +stage by some penny-a-liner. + +Mademoiselle loved, what is more, everything pertaining to the theatre +from tragedy to trained dogs. One reads in a little squib written by her +as a pastime,[14] and printed for the diversion of her friends, +"Comedians are essentials--at least for the French and Italians. +Jugglers, rope dancers, _buveurs d'eau_, without forgetting marionettes +and bell players, dogs trained to leap, and monkeys as examples to our +own; violins and merry-andrews and good dancers." This skit should not +be taken too seriously, but it well accords with the account left us by +an eye-witness of one of the representations at Saint-Fargeau. The piece +was called _Country Pleasures_, an operetta. The greatest applause fell +neither to the Goddess Flora, nor to the "melancholy lover," but to two +children disguised as monkeys, and executing songs with the "cadence +which belongs to those animals." + +Twice a week, the pleasures and cares of Saint-Fargeau were varied by +the arrival of messengers bringing letters and gazettes. News not to be +trusted to the post was received through guests from Paris or by special +messengers. The news consisted mainly of political events, but it fell +to the exiles to discover the springs and to draw the morals from the +facts. This talent of divining, possessed in a high degree by the +Parisians, has never passed the _banlieue_. It cannot be carried away. + +Mademoiselle herself had never attained the art. Even at the Tuileries +she used to say: "I can never guess anything." Once in her place of +refuge, she comprehended nothing of the real significance of passing +events. For those who were not Provincials there was nothing clearer +than the conduct of the Court of France, after its return to the +capital. Mademoiselle had fled from the Tuileries October 21, 1652. The +next day the young King held a _Lit de Justice_, in which the Parliament +was forbidden to occupy itself with the general affairs of the kingdom. +Banishments and pursuits immediately commenced, but the gazettes hardly +referred to them. From their pages one might have gathered that Paris +was entirely absorbed in its pleasures. + +The post of November brought to Saint-Fargeau description of the first +Court ball and some lines on a new _Lit de Justice_ (November 13th), in +which the Prince de Conde and his adherents had been declared criminals +"de lese majeste." The December number of the _Gazette_ gave news of the +arrest of Retz, who had rallied before the end of the Fronde, and the +account of a great marriage with enumeration of gifts and names of +donors, exactly as in our modern journals. The January number was made +interesting by the accounts of the several successes of Turenne over +Conde and the Spanish troops, and by the news of the death of an ancient +aunt of Mademoiselle who had been in retreat for seven or eight years. +The necrological article took a larger space in the gazette of Loret +than that absorbed by the warlike and political news together. + +The third of the following month the revolutionary era was closed by the +triumphal return of Mazarin. Louis XIV. travelled three leagues to meet +him, + + _Encor qu'il fait un temps etrange + Temps de vent, de pluie et de fange_, + +and took him back in his own carriage to the Louvre, where a sumptuous +festival, fireworks, and homage, more or less sincere, from the crowds +of courtiers, awaited him. + +The attention of the Parisians was at once directed to a grand ballet +with mechanical devices and changes of scene, danced three times by the +King and the flower of his nobility,[15] before a public analogous to +that of the free representations of July 14th in Paris. Places were +reserved for the Court and its guests, who really made part of the +spectacle, but otherwise all entered who desired. The crowd besieged the +doors to see what will probably never again be witnessed: a monarch +sufficiently sure of his prestige to dare to pirouet, costumed as a +mythological divinity, or stagger as a thief who had drunk too much, +before the _canaille_ of his capital. + +The following day, a journalist bitterly bewails in his paper having +seen nothing at all, although he had stood in line three hours and +waited eight hours in the hall. This journalist exacted and obtained +consideration; at the second representation, the chronicler before +carelessly treated was lead in ceremony to the "reserved places." He was +not yet content, not being in front. He showed himself, however, a good +fellow and wrote an article admiring all, even a scene in which the joke +to-day seems somewhat inhuman. It was a dance of cripples, the +contortions of these miserable beings causing much laughter. + +Of the abuses which gave rise to the Fronde, no living soul breathed a +word. Not one of these abuses had disappeared. For the most part they +had been aggravated by the general disorder; but France resembled an +invalid who had so far found only charlatans for physicians; it was +weary of remedies. "The people of Paris," wrote Andre d'Ormesson, "were +disgusted with Princes and did not longer wish to feed upon war." + +One might say the same of the Provinces. They remained for the most part +troubled and miserable, their hate now turning against the nobility, +with whom the four years of anarchy had brought back the manners of the +feudal brigands. Deceived on all sides, betrayed by all its pretended +saviours, the country began again to put its faith in the central power. +It was only necessary that this last should regain its strength day by +day, and it was clear to the Parisians as well as to the Provinces that +the first use royalty would make of convalescence would be to cripple +the nobility so that a revival of the Fronde would be impossible. + +The period had passed in which the King could be aided by the nobles +according to their own methods not his, as at the time in which they had +fought against him, to deliver him from his first minister. Louis XIV. +wished now to be served in his own way, which was to be obeyed, and he +felt the strength to impose obedience. It required all the naivete of +Mademoiselle to be able to imagine that she could make the King as an +old Frondeur admit the distinctions between M. le Prince whose success +one had the right to desire, and the Spanish soldiers led by this same +Prince in whom one must not be interested. She had so little realisation +of the change which had taken place in sentiments, from the date of her +exile, that she did not even attempt to conceal her grief at the news of +the victory at Arras brought back by Turenne, August 27, 1654. + +The Grande Mademoiselle believed herself in accord with her King and +country when she wrote in her _Memoires_: "I have not desired the +Spaniards to gain advantage over the French, but I do wish that M. le +Prince might do so and I cannot persuade myself that this is against the +service of the King." It was then four months since the young monarch +had entered, whip in hand, into his Parliament and forbade it to mix +itself with his affairs; but his cousin had no more comprehended this +warning than the others which had preceded it. It had not once occurred +to her that the cadet branches of the royal family were amongst the +vanquished and that the relations of the King of France, very far from +being in a position to dictate to him, would henceforth be the most +strictly held in leash of all his subjects. Only the approach of the +great revolution gave them an opportunity to regain their importance and +we know how much Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were able to +congratulate themselves over this fact. + +Monsieur Gaston undertook to bring his daughter to a realisation of the +truth. It had been said that as long as he lived bitter experiences +would come to Mademoiselle through this dangerous Prince. + +Gaston d'Orleans had disappeared from the stage at the end of the +Fronde, like a true hero of comedy. His wife said, half weeping, half +laughing, that he seemed to her a Tewlin, a celebrated comic actor who +filled the role designated to-day as the "king of operetta." + +The return of the Court to Paris had been announced to the Luxembourg by +a letter from Louis XIV. This news had entirely upset Monsieur and he +blustered with so much appearance of truth that Mademoiselle had once +more been convinced. "He was so completely beside himself," relates de +Retz, "that one would judge from his manner of speaking, that he was +already on horseback, completely armed and ready to cover with blood the +plains of St. Denis and Grenelle." + +Madame was terrified; she endeavoured to pacify him, but the more she +tried the more vigorously he threatened to annihilate everything. His +martial ardour vanished when he received a decree of banishment (October +21, 1652). It was at the date the King was entering Paris, and cannon +were heard on all sides, the populace, according to the custom of the +times, firing in the air as a sign of joy. Nothing, however, could +persuade Monsieur, old Parisian as he was, that these charges did not +come from the King's guards, and that the palace was not being besieged. + +[Illustration: =CARDINAL DE RETZ= Showing him in his Coadjuteur days. +After the painting by Deveria.] + +He was overcome with terror; moved to and fro with agitation; sent +constantly to inquire what was going on, and finally hastened his +departure, which should not have taken place till the next day before +dawn. He drew a free breath only upon arriving at the valley of +Chevreuse. No one dreamed of retaining him--on the contrary, Mazarin, +who governed France from the depths of his exile, was resolved to have +no more trouble with him. "Let his Royal Highness depart with his +appanage,"[16] wrote he. His Royal Highness having arrived at the +Chateau of Limours, Michel Le Tellier, Secretary of State and War, +hastened to find him, and it was a repetition of the former scenes with +Richelieu. + +In his final adieus to public life, Gaston d'Orleans denounced Retz as +before he had denounced Chalais, Montmorency, Cinq-Mars, and many +others. When he had said all that he wished, thus preparing the arrest +of the Cardinal, who was to astonish Mademoiselle by arriving at +Saint-Fargeau, the King permitted him to retire to Blois.[17] Monsieur +obeyed with ill-grace; he felt that they were burying him alive. + +This was not the first time that he had dwelt at Blois in spite of +himself. The forced sojourn made at that place under Louis XIII. had not +been disagreeable, constraint aside, because he was not definitely +limited, and he succeeded, being young and gay, in living like "a little +king of Yvetot." He had rebuilt according to his own taste (1635-1638) +a portion of the chateau after the plans of Francois Mansard, "the +cleverest architect of his times,"[18] the uncle of the builder of the +Palace of Versailles. + +Chambord served him for a country-seat, near at hand, and fruitful for +the kitchen garden, with forests teeming with game for hunting-grounds, +and amiable people for subjects, who had guarded a monarchical faith and +considered themselves much honoured when the brother of the King deigned +to flatter them and their daughters. + +Saint-Fargeau was steep and gloomy; Blois, on the contrary, with its sky +full of caresses, showed itself the worthy forerunner of the Angevine +gentleness: + + Coteaux riants y sont des deux cotes, + Coteaux non pas si voisins de la nue, + Qu'en Limousin, mais coteaux enchantes, + Belles maisons, beaux parcs et bien plantes, + Pres verdoyants donc ce pays abonde, + Vignes et bois, tant de diversites + Qu'on croit d'abord etre en un autre monde.[19] + +It is a tourist of the time who so speaks, La Fontaine, who visited +Blois in 1663, and described it to his wife in a letter half prose, half +verse. The city had charmed him on account of its beautiful situation +and the amiable manners of its inhabitants: "Life is very polished +here, possibly has always been so, the climate and the beauty of the +country contributing to its charm; probably the sojourn of Monsieur or +the number of pretty women has caused this politeness." + +[Illustration: =JULIUS HARDOUIN MANSART= After the painting by Vivien] + +As a man of taste, La Fontaine had admired the portion of the chateau of +Francis I., without regularity and order; as a good liver he had +appreciated the excellent breakfast at the inn. As a good traveller, he +had gossiped sufficiently with the people of the place to realise how +happy they were under the gentle reign of Gaston. + +The traces of the civil wars had been quickly effaced in these fertile +and populous provinces. La Fontaine gaily retook his route towards +Amboise; he saw the smile of France, and he was made to enjoy it. + +In this first time of peaceful enjoyment one of the great pleasures of +Monsieur was to pass through his domains as an idle prince; descending +here from his carriage to chase a stag, stopping there his boat to dine +upon the grass, inviting himself into any dwellings belonging to either +nobles or bourgeoisie in which he found pretty women. + +He embarked one day on one of those covered boats which the pictures of +the seventeenth century show us. They were called "galiotes," and were +used in voyaging upon rivers and canals. "Monsieur," relates an +eye-witness, "had commanded a second boat in which he put a quantity of +provisions, and the officers of his _menage_, those of the kitchen as +well as the wardrobe; the horses were led along the bank." + +He took ten or twelve of his suite with himself, and when he reached +some beautiful and agreeable island, he disembarked and ordered dinner +and supper to be served under the shade. + +"Certainly one might say that all cares were banished from our society, +that life went on without restraint, playing, drinking, eating, sleeping +at will, that time meant nothing; at last the master, although son and +brother of great kings, had put himself in the rank of his +servants."[20] + +Thus they drifted down the stream as far as Brittany. The weather was +perfect. The chateaux of the Loire defiled before the galiote. These +people travelled as if they were poets. + +As soon, however, as Richelieu permitted, Gaston rushed to Paris and +again plunged into politics; which meant to him only cowardice and +betrayals, but which nevertheless fascinated him. This was his favourite +vice which nothing would have induced him to correct, for politics gave +him a round of new sensations. To hold the life of a friend in one's +hand, knowing in advance that he will be delivered to the executioner, +and at the same time bitterly to bewail his loss; to realise also that +the present grief will surely vanish and that one can joyously take +another life in the hand,--such events evidently make days most +interesting, when neither conscience nor heart are tender. These +excitements had filled the public career of Gaston, and when he found +himself again in his chateau of Blois, almost twenty years after the +radiant voyage down the Loire, for ever deprived, according to all +probabilities, of the strong emotions whose savour Le Tellier had +permitted him to taste for the last time in the interview at Limours, +existence appeared to him intolerably pale and empty. + +The good which he could do and actually was doing, did not interest him; +he bitterly regretted the evil no longer in his power. + +No one, even amongst his enemies, has ever accused him of being wicked. +Only physicians can analyse such morbid natures. Monsieur had commenced +by struggling against ennui. He had collected a fine library and had +attracted literary people to his court, in the hopes of refinding the +taste for literature which had animated his youth. He recalled his +collections of objects of art and curiosities, continued them and began +new. Nothing, however, really interested him, except a botanical garden +with which he occupied himself with pleasure. + +Everything seemed infinitely puerile to a man who had contributed so +long to the making of history; it had become impossible for him to +attach any importance to the little verses of his "beaux esprits," or to +become impassioned over impaled birds or even an antique medal. + +Weary of war, he threw himself into devotion. The gazette of Loret made +this fact part of the official news of France and kept the country +informed of his progress in the path of piety. The first sign which he +gave of his conversion was to correct himself of a fault which had +formerly brought from Richelieu useless remonstrances. This Prince with +so refined a taste, cursed and swore abominably. The habit had been +caught by those near him; we know that Mademoiselle herself used lively +words in moments of irritation. In December, 1652, oaths and blasphemies +were severely forbidden at the court of Blois, and Monsieur insisted +upon obedience. + +To-day, reports the gazette[21]: + + Aucun de ceux qui sont a lui, + Quelque malheur qui lui survienne, + N'oserait jurer la mordienne. + +One learns, afterwards, that these fine beginnings were not belied, and +that Monsieur was now "less often at home than in the church." The +Parisians and the Court of France had much difficulty in believing that +repentance should have come to a spirit so free and so skeptical. His +piety would have been entirely estimable "if his laziness had not in +some portion aided his virtue." But however this may be, the devotion of +Gaston was not the less sincere. He reformed his life, and succeeded in +finding, at the foot of the altar, not perhaps contentment, but some +patience and resignation. + +This did not come, however, for a long time; the beginning of his +definite exile was filled with miserable agitations and complaints +without dignity. Madame rejoined him with their little flock of +daughters.[22] This Princess did not add to the animation of the +chateau. Entirely occupied with her own health, she lived shut up, +without any other distraction than that of eating from morning till +night, "in order to cure her melancholies," relates the Grande +Mademoiselle, "but which really increases her ills." She gave no orders, +only sent for her daughters ten minutes in the morning and evening, +never spoke to them except to say "Hold yourselves erect, raise your +head"; this was her sole instruction. She never saw them again during +the day and never inquired what they were doing. + +The governess in her turn neglected her pupils, who were abandoned to +the care of inferiors. Their father found nothing to criticise in these +educational methods; Anne of Austria had not brought up her sons very +differently. Besides, Monsieur was a submissive husband. He considered +his wife's judgment good, and that she possessed much more intelligence +than was indicated by her large, frightened eyes. + +"This one," said Tallemant, "is a poor idiot, who nevertheless has +intelligence." Mme. de Motteville judged her exactly the same. Madame +was not loved because she was not amiable, but no one was astonished at +her ascendancy over her husband. + +Gaston's court, contrary to that of his daughter, was almost deserted. +Disgrace for this couple had been the signal for general abandonment. +During the first years, Gaston took the trouble to entertain his guests; +he became again, for some hours, the incomparable talker, who knew a +thousand beautiful tales and found charming methods of telling them.[23] +Chapelle and Bachaumont were received at the chateau on their passage to +Blois in 1656, and brought back the pleasantest remembrances of the +dinners of the Duc d'Orleans. + + La d'une obligeante maniere, + D'un visage ouvert et riant, + Il nous fit bonne et grande chere, + Nous donnant a son ordinaire + Tout ce que Blois a de friand. + +"The table arrangements were the neatest possible, not even a crumb of +bread was allowed on the table. Well polished glasses of all sorts stood +upon the buffet, and ice was abundant. The hall was prepared for the +evening dance, all the beauties of the neighbouring cities invited, all +the violins from the provinces collected."[24] After a short time, +however, the effort of entertaining became a burden upon Monsieur. He +cared for nothing but repose, and he would have passed the remainder of +his days in sleeping with open eyes, if it had not been for his daughter +of Saint-Fargeau, the terrible Mademoiselle, from whom he had separated +at Paris after a painful explanation, and who had never left him in +peace since that time. + +She had commenced by coming to seek him in spite of frequent commands, +to which she paid not the least attention. The Grande Mademoiselle, +openly allied to Conde, was a compromising guest for a Prince possessed +at this epoch with the desire to retake his place near the throne. In +vain she declared that she had recalled her troops from the army of the +Prince, her father knew very well that she was mocking him, and received +her coldly on the evening of her first arrival (December, 1652). "He +came to meet me at the door of his room, and said, 'I do not dare to +come out because I have a swollen cheek.'" A moment after Monsieur heard +from afar a joyous voice; it was Mademoiselle relating the adventures +during her flight to Saint-Fargeau. Monsieur could hold out no longer. +He approached, made her recommence, and laughed with the others. The ice +was broken. The fourth day, however, he said to Prefontaine, the man of +confidence of Mademoiselle, while walking in the park of Chambord, "I +love my daughter very much, but I have many obligations, and shall be +easier if she stays here but little." + +Mademoiselle departed the next day. The following month (January, 1653), +Monsieur and Madame made a sojourn at Orleans. In spite of new orders, +Mademoiselle came to pass a day with them. "I did not wait for escort," +wrote she, "I departed suddenly from Saint-Fargeau and went to +Orleans." + +This determination to impose herself upon people whom she saw with but +little pleasure, is difficult to explain. Monsieur and Madame, who +feared her, welcomed her, and her father said in bidding her farewell, +"The affairs of your minority have never been settled. I wish to close +this business. Give orders for this to your people." + +Mademoiselle did not wait for a second request. "In consequence I wrote +to Paris, then to Blois, a host of writings which were somewhat +wearisome." Monsieur had his own projects. It was the single opportunity +to extract a little money for the daughters by his second wife. + +These young princesses had nothing to expect from their own mother, and +very little from their father, whose pensions and appointments were +destined to disappear with him. Madame was preoccupied with this +situation. + + For a long time [reports one of their intimates][25] Madame has + skilfully urged Monsieur to think of his affairs, and to put + some solid property aside for her children, telling him that he + possessed nothing in the world not reversible to the crown in + case he had no male children, and that their daughters would be + left to the mercy of the court and the ministers for their + subsistence. + +Until Gaston's disgrace, Madame had obtained nothing, and for cause. Her +husband ruined himself at play; he had been seen to lose a half-million +francs to the famous Chevalier de Gramont. He reformed only at Blois, +too late to begin to save; his debts crushed him, and his pensions were +paid most irregularly. The fortune of Mademoiselle presented itself as +the sole means of floating the House of Orleans, and the accounts of her +minority were the troubled waters in which it was proposed to fish. +Monsieur did not suspect how much the exile and the influence of +Prefontaine had changed his daughter. + +The Prefontaine type has disappeared with the ancient regime. There is +no place in our democratic society for these men at once servants and +friends; friends however who remained in the background. Persons of this +kind were frequently met with in the great families of former times, and +nothing appeared more natural than the dog-like devotion to their +masters, always exacting and often ungrateful. The Grande Mademoiselle +was not ungrateful but she was violent, and it was always upon the +patient Prefontaine that she vented her anger. He was the counsellor, +the factotum shrewd and firm, to whom all affairs came, the confidant +who knew her most secret projects of marriage without ceasing to be the +domestic of no account. + +His mistress could do nothing without him, and she does not even tell +us--she who loses herself in the smallest details when they concerned +people of quality in her suite--at what date this precious man entered +her service. She mentions him for the first time in 1651, without +saying who he is or where he comes from. From that date she never ceased +to speak of him as long as the troubled times lasted, but left him in +the shadow nevertheless in her _Memoires_. When we have said that he was +a gentleman, that there was no reason for his devotion to Mademoiselle +but his own choice, we have told all we know about him. He had found the +affairs of his mistress in a very bad condition, and so he warned her; +Monsieur, her father, had been a negligent guardian and what is more an +untrustworthy one. At first Mademoiselle would not listen to +Prefontaine. It was at Paris in the midst of the fire of the Fronde, and +she had other things to think of. + +Prefontaine returned to the charge at Saint-Fargeau, where time +abounded, and was better received. A new sentiment had awakened in +Mademoiselle. She commenced to love money. She took interest in her +affairs, and skilfully applied herself to economising with so much +success that she would have soon risen to be a Countess Pimbesche. + +Ideas of order and economy, rarely found with princesses of this epoch, +occurred to her. "It is not sufficient," said she one day to +Prefontaine, "to have an eye upon my legal affairs and the increase of +my revenues; but it is also necessary to supervise the expenses of my +house. I am convinced that I am robbed, and to prevent this, I wish to +be accounted to as if I were a private person." + +This was not beneath a great Princess. Examination proved that she _was_ +robbed by her people. After being assured of this, she took upon herself +the duty of supervising all the accounts twice a week, "even to the +smallest." + +She knew the price of everything; "who could have predicted when I lived +at Court, that I should ever know how much bricks, lime, plaster, +carriages cost, what are the daily wages of the workmen, in fine all the +details of a building, and that every Saturday I should myself settle +the accounts: every one would have been skeptical." And still more the +people at large; it was really almost incredible. She quickly perceived +that Monsieur had not taken his duties as guardian very seriously. It +was in his belief both the right and duty of the chief of the Orleans +family to advance the general interests of the House, even at the +expense of individual members. The daughter by the first marriage was +enormously rich. What could be more just than to use her fortune for the +common good? What more natural than to throw upon her the burden of +debts contracted to add to the eclat of the family? or to give a little +of her superfluity to her young sisters in view of their establishment? + +Gaston sent to his daughter for signature an act conceived in this +spirit, and received the clearest refusal. Very respectfully but with +firmness Mademoiselle assured him that henceforth she intended to hold +to her legal rights, which guaranteed the integrity of her fortune. +Monsieur threw himself into a great rage, but knew not what more to do. +Politics gave him unexpected aid. A gentleman sent as courier by Conde +into France had just been arrested. Among other letters was found one +without address, but evidently destined for Mademoiselle and most +compromising for her. + +Mazarin charged the Archbishop of Embrun to take a copy of this to +Gaston. The dispatch in which the prelate renders account of his mission +has been preserved. Here is one of the significant passages: + + + BLOIS, March 31, 1653. + + MONSEIGNEUR: + + I arrived Sunday evening in this city where I was received most + warmly by Monsieur.... Immediately upon arrival I had a + conference of an hour with him alone in his cabinet. I pointed + out to him through the letter addressed to Mademoiselle her + relations to M. le Prince, the Spaniards, and M. de Lorraine, + which were all visibly marked in the letter. He declared + himself very ill satisfied with Mademoiselle, but that the + Queen knew that they had never been eight hours at a time + together: and that at this moment she was trying to cause + trouble in demanding account of his care of her wealth when he + was guardian, and that it was thus impossible to doubt his + anger. I told him that I had orders to beseech his Royal + Highness to make two observations upon the letter; the first: + that Mademoiselle as long as she enjoyed the free possession of + her immense wealth could assist any party she pleased, and that + the King in order to check this had resolved to place + administrators or a commission over her property to preserve it + for her own use, but without permitting its abuse. His Royal + Highness should be left the choice of these commissioners. + + The second remark was, that it was to be feared, according to + the news in the letter, that if M. le Prince advanced, + Mademoiselle would join him, and that the King in this + difficulty demanded counsel of him as the person most + interested in the conduct of Mademoiselle. Gaston replied: that + he had ordered his daughter to join him at Orleans, Tuesday of + Holy Week; and he would bring her back to Blois, and keep her + near him. + + I have also, my Lord, talked over the same subjects with Madame + as with Monsieur, knowing that she was very intelligent, and + also that Monsieur deferred much to her opinions. + +Mazarin took no action upon this communication of the Archbishop of +Embrun. + +It was sufficient to intimate to Monsieur that he was authorised not to +worry himself about a rebel, and Gaston on his side asked nothing +better. + +Sure of being for the present under Court protection, he poured forth +bitter words and threats against this disobedient and heartless +daughter, who forgot her duty. Sometimes he wrote to her that "if she +did not willingly give everything he demanded he would take possession +of all the property and only give her what he pleased." + +Sometimes he cast fire and flame between her and the public: "She does +not love her sisters; says they are beggars; that after my death she +will see them demand alms, without giving a penny. She wishes to see my +children in the poor-house," and other sentiments of the same kind, +which were repeated at Saint-Fargeau. + +Mademoiselle herself dreamed one day that Monsieur thought of enclosing +her in a convent, "that this was the intention of the King," and that +she must prepare for his coming. At the same time she was warned from +Paris that her father had promised the Court to arrest her as soon as +she arrived at Blois. Things reached such a pass that Gaston could no +longer hear the name of his daughter without flying into a passion. + +The Princess had at first showed herself fearless. Knowing that the +letter of Conde did not have any address, she denied that it was meant +for her and took a high hand with her father; "I assert that they cannot +take away my property unless I am proved either mad or criminal and I +know very well that I am neither one nor the other." + +Reflection, however, diminished her assurance. The idea of "being +arrested" terrified her, and it was this fate, in the opinion of her +ladies, which awaited her at Blois--for which reason Monsieur, having +previously forbidden her to come, now ordered her to meet him. + +She wept torrents of tears; she was ill when she was obliged to obey and +she confesses that on arriving at Blois she quite lost her head from +terror. It was the story of the hare and the frogs. The projects of +Gaston, whatever they may have been, vanished at sight of this agitated +person and he had no other thought than of calming his daughter and +avoiding scenes. + +For this he exerted all his grace, which was much, and forced +Mademoiselle, reassured and calmed, to acknowledge that her father could +be "charming." + +The days rolled by and the question of their differences was not touched +upon. "I wanted one day to speak to him about my affairs and he fled and +would pay no attention." + +Mademoiselle felt the delights of a country covered with superb chateaux +in which she was feted, and amiable cities which fired cannon in her +honour. She made excursions during a large part of the summer (1653) and +finally separated from her father most amicably. Eight days after, the +situation however was more sombre than before her departure for Blois. +The demands of Monsieur had not diminished, his language became still +more hard and menacing. + +These differences lasted many years. Mademoiselle lets it be understood +that it was a question of considerable sums. She relates sadly the +progress of the ill-will of her father; how painful her sojourn at Blois +had been, so that she wept from morning till night; how without the +influence of Prefontaine she would have retired into a Carmelite +convent; "not to be a religieuse, God having never given me that +vocation, but to live away from the world for some years." The ennui of +the cloister life would have been compensated by the thought that it was +an economical one. "I should save much money," said she; and this +thought consoled her. Once it was believed that an amicable solution was +imminent. The father and daughter had submitted themselves to the +arbitration of the maternal grandmother of Mademoiselle, the old Mme. +de Guise, who had made them promise in writing to sign "all that she +wished without reading the stipulations." + +The only result was a more definite embroilment. Mme. de Guise[26] "was +devoted to her House,"[27] that ambitious and intriguing House of +Lorraine into which she had married, and with which she was again +connected through the second wife of Gaston, sister of the Duke +Henri.[28] When Mademoiselle, after "signing without reading," realised +the force of the "transaction" into which she had been led by her +grandmother, she declared that Mme. de Guise had despoiled her with +shocking bad faith, in order that her half-sisters, the little +Lorraines, should no longer be menaced with the "poor-house." The love +of family had extinguished with Mme. de Guise, as with Monsieur, all +considerations of justice and sense of duty towards her own +granddaughter. All this happened at Orleans in the month of May, 1655. +Mademoiselle, indignant, ran to her grandmother: + + I told her that it was evident that she loved the House of + Lorraine better than the House of Bourbon; that she was right + in seeking to give money to my sisters, that they would have + little from Madame, and this showed me, indeed, to be a lady of + great wealth, enough to provide for others, and that + the fortune of my family should be established upon what could be + seized from me; but as I was so much above them that they could + receive my benefactions, it would serve them better to depend upon + my liberality rather than to attempt to swindle me; that this would + be better before both God and man. + +This scene lasted three hours. The same day Monsieur was warned that +Mademoiselle refused to be "duped." He gave a precipitate order for +departure, and declined to receive his daughter. In the disorder that +ensued Madame almost went dinnerless and appeared much disconcerted. + +The attendants intervened to save appearances at least, and a formal +leave was taken, but this was all; the complete rupture was consummated. +Upon the return to Saint-Fargeau, Mademoiselle at once learned that +Monsieur had taken away her men of business, including the indispensable +Prefontaine, and had left her without even a secretary. This gives a +vision of the authority possessed by the chief of a family, and its +limitations, with the princely houses of this epoch. We perceive how +much better the fortune of Mademoiselle was defended against her father +than her person and her independence. Monsieur did not dare to take away +her money without a free and formal assent; he knew that if things were +not done regularly "in a hundred years the heirs of Mademoiselle could +torment the children of Monsieur." In revenge for this disability he +tyrannised over her household. And here he was in his full right. + +He could shut her up in a convent or in the Chateau of Amboise, as many +counselled him to do, and this again would be within his legal powers. +If he did nothing of the kind, it was only because, being nervous and +impressionable, he dreaded feminine tears. + +Mademoiselle realised that she was at his mercy; it did not occur to her +to contest the parental authority--outside of the question of money. She +wept, "suffered much," but she did not attempt to save Prefontaine. + +The years which followed were sad ones for her. Until this time she had +had but two days of grief a week, those upon which the courier arrived, +on account of the business letters which must be read and answered. She +confined herself to her study to conceal her red eyes, but her +correspondence once sent off, "I only thought," says she, "of amusing +myself." + +Conditions changed when she was forced to understand that Monsieur, that +father so contemptible, from whom she had suffered so much since her +infancy, but so amiable that she admired and loved him notwithstanding, +had no kind of affection for her. Very sensitive, in spite of her +brusqueness, Mademoiselle experienced a profound grief at this +reflection. Her temper gave way in a moment in which the young ladies of +her suite, commencing to find the exile long, and to regret Paris, were +ill-disposed to patience. There was coldness, frictions, and finally +that domestic war, the account of which fills a large space in the +_Memoires_ of Mademoiselle. + +Petty griefs, small intrigues, and much gossip rendered insupportable to +one another persons condemned to daily intercourse. Affairs became so +strained between some of the parties that communication was impossible, +and this state of things lasted until the most discontented, Mmes. de +Fiesque and de Frontenac, had formed the determination to return to +Paris. + +These quarrels had the effect of spoiling for Mademoiselle +Saint-Fargeau, inclining her to submission to the Court; but mere +mention is sufficient, and we shall not again refer to them. + +Mademoiselle commenced to be convinced of the imprudence of being at +odds with the Court and her father at the same time. Her obstinacy in +sustaining Conde had ended by seriously vexing Mazarin. The nobility +felt this attitude and showed less fondness for the Princess. In 1655 +she approached to six leagues from Paris. She counted much upon +visitors; very few appeared. "I was responsible for so many illnesses," +says she wittily, "for all those who did not dare to confess that they +feared to embroil themselves with the Court, feigned maladies or +accidents in extraordinary numbers." + +The third day she received an order to "return." This misadventure +enlightened her; Mademoiselle admitted the necessity of making peace +with royalty. Just at this period the Prince de Conde grew less +interesting to her, as his chances of becoming a widower diminished. +Mme. la Princesse became gradually re-established in health, and each of +her steps towards recovery made Mademoiselle a little less warm for M. +le Prince. This latter perceived the change, and at once altered his +tone. "There is no rupture," says the Duc d'Aumale, "but one can +perceive the progress of the coolness and its accordance with _certain_ +news." + +A letter from Conde, received after the journey to the environs of +Paris, gave warning of the end of a friendship which on one side at +least was entirely political. + + BRUSSELS, March 6, 1655. + +... As to this change which you declare to perceive in me, you do me +much injustice and it seems to me that I have more right to reproach you +than you me. Since your long silence the tone of your letters plainly +indicates how different your present sentiments are from those of past +times. This is not true of my own; they remain always the same and if +you believe otherwise and if you lend faith to the rumours which my +enemies start, it is my misfortune, not crime; for I protest there is +nothing in them, that affairs are not in this state, and if they were I +should never listen to a proposition without full consideration for your +interests and satisfaction, also not without your consent and +participation. + +You will recognise the truth of this statement through my conduct and +not one of my actions will ever give the lie to the words which I now +give you, even if you should have forgotten all the fine sentiments you +had when you came to see our army, which I can hardly consider possible +for a generous person like you. + +I knew that you came to Lesigny and that, the Court disapproving +of this, you received orders to return, which fact gave me much +displeasure. + +Mademoiselle did not longer want a pretext for withdrawing her pin from +the game. The embroilment with her father furnished it. She immediately +prayed Conde to write to her no more. "It is necessary to hold back," +said she to herself, "and if I am able without baseness to come into +accord with the Cardinal Mazarin, I will do it in order to withdraw +myself from the persecutions of his Royal Highness." + +Some days later the Comte de Bethune transmitted to the Cardinal +overtures of peace from the Grande Mademoiselle. The Cardinal desired +pledges. She sent a recall for the companies from the Spanish army, upon +which M. le Prince without warning "held the soldiers and put the +officers in prison." + +In vain the indignation of Mademoiselle. "It is seven or eight years," +wrote Conde to one of the agents, "since I have really had the favour of +Mademoiselle; I formerly possessed her good graces, but if she now +wishes to withdraw them I must accept, without desperation."[29] Here is +a man liberated rather than grieved. + +Thus failed, one after the other, the menaces directed by the Fronde +against royalty. The project of alliance between the two cadet branches +of the House of Bourbon had been inspired in Mademoiselle by the desire +to marry. Few of the ideas of all those which menaced the throne which +had entered into the brain of the revolutionary leaders seemed so +dangerous and caused so much care to Mazarin. We must recollect that he +would have been ready, in order to appease the cadet branches, to marry +the little Louis XIV. to his great cousin. + +Reassured at length by the promises of Mademoiselle, who engaged herself +to have nothing more to do with M. le Prince, Mazarin took the trouble +to overcome his wrath and permitted her to expect the recompense for her +submission. + +In general, Mazarin had shown himself easy with the repentant Frondeurs. +The Prince de Conti had been feted at the Louvre in 1654. It is true +that he accepted the hand of a niece of Mazarin in marriage, Anne Marie +Martinozzi, on conditions which put him in bad odour with the public. +"This marriage," wrote d'Ormesson,[30] "is one of the most signal marks +of the inconsistency of human affairs and the fickleness of the French +character to be seen in our times." + +After Conti, another Prince, Monsieur, in person, entirely submerged as +he was in laziness and devotions, exerted himself sufficiently to come +to Court. The welcome involved conditions which contained nothing hard +nor unusual for Gaston d'Orleans; it cost him nothing but the +abandonment of some last friends. In truth, he received but little in +exchange. When he came to salute the King everyone made him feel that he +was already "in the ranks of the dead," according to the expression of +Mme. de Motteville. The ill-humour caused by this impression quickly +sent him back to Blois, which was precisely what was wished. + +It was the men of business who profited above all by this +reconciliation. They had greater freedom to harass Mademoiselle, and +left her neither time nor repose. Their end was to make her execute the +transaction signed at Orleans, but she held her own, without counsel or +secretary. She only suffered from an enormous labour, of which her +minority accounts were only a chapter, and not the most considerable. +The administration of the immense domains had fallen entirely upon +herself. It was now Mademoiselle who opened the mass of letters arriving +from her registers, foresters, controllers, lawyers, farmers, and single +subjects--in short, from all who in the principalities of Dombes or of +Roche-sur-Yonne, in the duchies of Montpensier or of Catellerault, had +an account to settle with her, an order to demand of her, or a claim to +submit. + +It was Mademoiselle herself who replied; she who followed the numerous +lawsuits necessitated by the paternal management; she who terminated the +great affair of Champigny, of which the echo was wide-spread on account +of the rank of the parties and of the remembrances awakened by the +pleaders. + +Champigny was a productive territory situated in Touraine, and an +inheritance of Mademoiselle. Richelieu had despoiled her of it when she +was only a child, through a forced exchange for the Chateau of +Bois-le-Vicomte, in the environs of Meaux. + +Become mistress of her own fortune, Mademoiselle summoned the heirs of +the Cardinal to give restitution, and had just gained her suit when +Monsieur took away Prefontaine. The decree returning Champigny to her +allowed her also damages, the amount to be decided by experts, for +buildings destroyed and woods spoiled. Mademoiselle estimated that these +damages might reach a large sum; she knew that with her father at Blois +the rumour ran that she had been placed in cruel embarrassments and that +it would be repeated to all comers that she had obtained almost nothing +from this source. This report excited her to action. The moment arrived; +Mademoiselle went to Champigny, and remained there during several weeks, +spending entire days upon the heels of eighteen experts, procurers, +lawyers, gentlemen, masons, carpenters, wood merchants, collected +together to value the damages. She had long explanations with that "good +soul Madelaine," counsellor of the Parliament, and charged with +directing the investigation, who was confounded at the knowledge of the +Princess. He said to her: "You know our business better than we +ourselves, and you talk of affairs like a lawyer." Operations finished, +Mademoiselle had the pleasure of writing to Blois that this doubtful +affair from which she was supposed to receive only "50,000 francs, +really amounted to 550,000." She came out less generously from her +litigation with her father. Mazarin rendered Mademoiselle the bad +service of having her suit introduced by the King's counsellor. A decree +confirmed the decision of Mme. de Guise, and there was nothing to do but +to obey. Mademoiselle signed, "furiously" weeping, the act which +despoiled her, and submitted with despair to the departure for Blois. + +She was going to visit her father, after having the thought flash +through her mind that he could order her assassination. It is said there +had been some question of this at Blois. "Immersed in melancholy +reveries, I dreamed that his Royal Highness was a son of the Medicis, +and I even reflected that the poison of the Medicis must have already +entered my veins and caused such thoughts." + +Her father, on the other hand, was going to overwhelm her with +tenderness after having permitted it to be said without protest that +Mademoiselle was preparing a trap, with the purpose of poisoning one of +his gentlemen. + +Considering the times and the family, this was a situation only a little +"strained"; but Mademoiselle was so little a "Medicis" that she made her +journey a prey to a poignant grief, which was plainly to be read upon +her countenance by the attendants at her arrival at Blois. + +"Upon my arrival I felt a sudden chill. I went directly to the chamber +of Monsieur; he saluted me and told me he was glad to see me. I replied +that I was delighted to have this honour. He was much embarrassed." +Neither the one nor the other knew what more to say. Mademoiselle +silently forced back her tears. Monsieur, to give himself composure, +caressed the greyhounds of his daughter, La Reine and Madame Souris. +Finally he said: "Let us go to seek Madame." + +"She received me very civilly and made many friendly remarks. As soon as +I was in my own chamber, Monsieur came to see me and talked as if +nothing disagreeable had passed between us." A single quarter of an hour +had sufficed to bring back to him his freedom of spirit, and he made an +effort to regain the affections of his daughter. + +She had never known him to continue to be severe; Monsieur counted upon +this fact. He was attentive, flattered her weaknesses great and small, +amused her with projects of marriage, and treated her greyhounds as +personages of importance; he could be seen at midnight in the lower +court in the midst of the dunghill, inquiring about Madame Souris, who +had met with an accident. He did still better; he wrote to Mazarin +asking for an accommodation with Mademoiselle. + +After the rupture with Conde, it was evident from signs not to be +mistaken that the hour was approaching in which the all-powerful +minister would pardon the heroine of Orleans and of Porte Saint-Antoine. +In the month of July, 1656, Mademoiselle went to the baths of Forges, in +Normandy. She had passed in sight of Paris; had sojourned in the suburbs +without anxiety, and her name this time had not made "every one ill." + +Visitors had flocked. Mademoiselle had entertained at dinner all the +princesses and duchesses then in Paris; and she drew the conclusion, +knowing the Court and the courtiers, that her exile was nearing an end. +"In truth," says she, "I do not feel as much joy at the thought as I +should have believed. When one reaches the end of a misery like mine, +its remembrance lasts so long and the grief forms such a barrier against +joy that it is long before the wall is sufficiently melted to permit +happiness to be again enjoyed." + +Nevertheless the news of the letter from her father to Mazarin put her +in a great agitation. The Court of France was then in the east of France +where Turenne made his annual campaign against M. le Prince and the +Spaniards. Mademoiselle resolved to approach in order to sooner receive +the response of the Cardinal. + +She quitted Blois as she had arrived there, a stranger. One single thing +could have touched her: the recall of Prefontaine and of her other +servitors struck down for having been faithful. This Monsieur had +absolutely refused; his exaggerated politeness and his grimaces of +tenderness had only the result of alienating his daughter. She felt +that he detested her and she no longer loved him. + +Upon the route to Paris she doubled the length between her +stopping-places. Impatience gained as she neared the end and the +"barrier of grief" permitted itself gradually to be penetrated by joy. + +She again saw, in passing, Etampes[31] and its ruins, which already +dated back five years and were found untouched by La Fontaine in 1663. +So long and difficult in certain regions was the uplifting of France, +after the wars of the Fronde, never taken very seriously by historians, +doubtless because too many women were concerned in them. + +"We looked with pity at the environs of Etampes," wrote La Fontaine.[32] +"Imagine rows of houses without roofs, without windows, pierced on all +sides; nothing could be more desolate and hideous." He talked of it +during an entire evening, not having the soul of a heroine of the +Fronde, but Mademoiselle had traversed with indifference these same +ruins in which the grass flourished in default of inhabitants to wear it +away. No remorse, no regret, however light, for her share in the +responsibility for the ruin of this innocent people, had touched her +mind, and yet she was considered to possess a tender heart. + +[Illustration: =JEAN DE LA FONTAINE= From an engraving by Grevedon] + +She learned at Saint-Cloud that she had been invited to rejoin the Court +at Sedan. Mademoiselle took a route through Reims. She thus traversed +Champagne, which had been a battle-field during the more than twenty +years of the wars with Spain[33]; and which appeared the picture of +desolation. The country was depopulated, numbers of villages burned, and +the cities ruined by pillage and forced contributions of war. + +More curious in regard to things which interest _la canaille_, +Mademoiselle might have heard from the mouths of the survivors that of +all the enemies who had trampled upon and oppressed this unfortunate +people, the most cruel and barbarous had been her ally, the Prince de +Conde, with whom were always found her own companies. She would not the +less have written in her _Memoires_, entirely unconsciously, apropos of +her trouble in obtaining pardon from the Court: "I had really no +difference with the Court, and I was criminal only because I was the +daughter of his Royal Highness." + +We have hardly the right to reproach her with this monstrous phrase. To +betray one's country was a thing of too frequent occurrence to cause +much embarrassment. The only men of this epoch who reached the point of +considering the common people[34] and attaching the least importance to +their sufferings were revolutionary spirits or disciples of St. Vincent +de Paul. + +Mademoiselle had no leaning towards extremes. Neither her birth nor the +slightly superficial cast of her mind fostered free opinions. During her +journey in Champagne, she was delighted to hear again the clink of arms +and the sound of trumpets. Mazarin had sent a large escort. The +skirmishers of the enemy swept the country even to the environs of +Reims. A number of the people of the Court, seizing the occasion, joined +themselves to her, in order to profit by her gens d'armes and light +riders. + +Colbert also placed himself under her protection with chariots loaded +with money which he was taking to Sedan, and this important convoy was +surrounded by the same "military pomp, as if it had guarded the person +of the King." + +The great precautions were, perhaps, on account of the chariots of +money; the honours, however, were for Mademoiselle, and they much +flattered her vanity. The commandant of the escort demanded the order +from her. When she appeared the troops gave the military salute. A +regiment which she met on her route solicited the honour of being +presented to her. She examined it closely, as a warlike Princess who +understood military affairs, and of whom the grand Conde had said one +day, apropos of a movement of troops, that "Gustavus Adolphus could not +have done better." A certain halt upon the grass in a meadow through +which flowed a stream left an indelible impression. Mademoiselle offered +dinner this day to all the escort and almost all the convoy. The sight +of the meadow crowded with uniformed men and horses recalled to her the +campaigns of her fine heroic times. "The trumpets sounded during dinner; +this gave completely the air of a true army march." She arrived at Sedan +intoxicated by the military spectacle of her route, and her entry showed +this. Considering her late exile the lack of modesty might well be +criticised. The Queen, Anne of Austria, driving for pleasure in the +environs of Sedan, saw a chariot appear with horses at full gallop +surrounded by a mass of cavalry: "I arrived in this field at full speed +with gens d'armes and light riders, their trumpets sounding in a manner +sufficiently triumphant." + +The entire Court of France recognised the Grande Mademoiselle before +actually seeing her. Exile had not changed her, and this entrance truly +indicated her weaknesses. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Letter of January 19, 1689.] + +[Footnote 2: _Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier._ Edited by +Cheruel.] + +[Footnote 3: _Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier._ Edited by +Cheruel.] + +[Footnote 4: The Chateau of Saint-Fargeau still exists, but the interior +has been transformed since a great fire which occurred in 1752; the +apartments of Mademoiselle no longer remain. Cf. _Les Chateaux +d'Ancy-le-Franc, de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., by the Baron Chaillou des +Barres.] + +[Footnote 5: Cf. _Les Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France_, +by J. J. Jusserand.] + +[Footnote 6: LES NOUVELLES FRANCAISES, ou _Les divertissements de la +princesse Aurelie_, by Segrais, Paris, 2 vols., 1656-1657. The last of +the "Nouvelles francaises," _Floridon, ou l'amour imprudent_, is the +history of the intrigues in the harem which led to the death of Bajazet. +Racine had certainly read it when he wrote his tragedy.] + +[Footnote 7: See _Bernardin de Saint-Pierre_, in the Collection of +Grands ecrivains. Paris, Hochette.] + +[Footnote 8: His _Polexandre_ had appeared, 1629-1637; his last romance, +_La Jeune Alcidiane_, in 1651; _Cassandre_ and _Cleopatre_, by La +Calprenede, in 1642-1647. _Arlamene, ou le Grand Cyrus_, by Mlle. de +Scudery, was published 1649-1653.] + +[Footnote 9: Letters of the 12th and 15th of July, 1671, to Mme. de +Grignan.] + +[Footnote 10: See _Le dictionnaire des Precieuses_, by Somaize.] + +[Footnote 11: _Eugenie, ou la force du destin._] + +[Footnote 12: Mademoiselle commenced her _Memoires_ shortly after her +arrival at Saint-Fargeau. She interrupted them in 1660, resumed them in +1677, and definitely abandoned them in 1688, five years before her +death.] + +[Footnote 13: Oriane was the mistress of Amadis.] + +[Footnote 14: _La relation de l'Isle imaginaire_, printed in 1659, also +_L'histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_. We shall again refer to +them.] + +[Footnote 15: These representations took place in the grand hall of the +Petit Bourbon, near the Louvre. (Cf. _L'Histoire de Paris_, by +Delaure.)] + +[Footnote 16: Letter of October 12th, to the Abbe Foucquet.] + +[Footnote 17: _Memoires de Montglat._] + +[Footnote 18: _Memoires du Marquis de Sourches._ Cf. _L'Histoire du +chateau de Blois_, by La Saussaye.] + +[Footnote 19: Letter of September 3, 1663.] + +[Footnote 20: Nicolas Goulas, _Memoires_.] + +[Footnote 21: Gazette of August 22, 1654.] + +[Footnote 22: Four, but the last died at an early age.] + +[Footnote 23: _Memoires de Bussy-Rabutin._] + +[Footnote 24: _Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont._] + +[Footnote 25: _Memoires de Nicolas Goulas._] + +[Footnote 26: Saint-Simon, _Ecrits inedits_.] + +[Footnote 27: Henriette-Catherine, Duchesse de Joyeuse, first married to +Henri de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, by whom she had Marie de Bourbon, +mother of Mademoiselle; married for the second time to Charles de +Lorraine, Duc de Guise, by whom she had several children.] + +[Footnote 28: Henri de Lorraine reigned from 1608 to 1624.] + +[Footnote 29: Letter of August 10, 1657, to the Comte d'Auteuil.] + +[Footnote 30: Andre d'Ormesson died in 1665, dean of the Council of +State. Some fragments of his memoirs have been published by Cheruel, in +the course of the Journal of his son, Olivier d'Ormesson.] + +[Footnote 31: Turenne had conquered the troops of the Prince at Etampes +(May, 1652), upon the occasion of a review in honour of Mademoiselle and +of the disorder which resulted. See _The Youth of La Grande +Mademoiselle_. Some weeks later, he besieged the town.] + +[Footnote 32: Letter to his wife, August 3, 1663.] + +[Footnote 33: Richelieu had declared war with Spain March 26, 1635.] + +[Footnote 34: The phrase is by Bussy-Rabutin.] + + + + +Chapter II + + The Education of Louis XIV.--Manners--Poverty--Charity--Vincent + de Paul, a Secret Society--Marriage of Louis XIV.--His Arrival + at Power, on the Death of Mazarin--He Re-educates himself. + + +The remembrance of the Fronde was destined to remain a heavy weight +during the remainder of the reign of Louis XIV. Its shadow dominated for +more than half a century interior politics and decided the fate, good +and bad, of the great families. + +The word "Liberty" had become synonymous with "Licence, Confusion, +Disorder,"[35] and the ancient Frondeurs passed the remainder of their +lives in disgrace, or at least in disfavour. The Grande Mademoiselle was +never pardoned, although she did not wish to avow this, even to herself. +She might have realised the fact at once upon her return to Court, if +she had not decided to believe the contrary. Warnings were not wanting. +The first was her encounter with the Queen Mother in the field of Sedan. + +When Anne of Austria saw arrive to sound of trumpets, with manner at +ease and triumphant, this insolent Princess who had drawn her cannon +upon the King, hardly embracing her niece, the Queen Mother burst into +reproaches, and declared that after the battle of Saint-Antoine, "if she +had held her, she would have strangled her."[36] Mademoiselle wept; the +Court looked on. "I have forgotten everything," said the Queen at +length, and her niece was eager to believe her. The meeting with the +King was still more significant. He arrived on horseback, soaked and +muddy, from the city of Montmedy, taken that same day from the Spaniards +(August 7, 1657). + +His mother said to him, "Behold a young lady, whom I present to you and +who is very sorry to have been so naughty; she will be 'very good' in +future." The young King only laughed and replied by talking of the siege +of Montmedy. + +Mademoiselle nevertheless departed from Sedan filled with joyous +thoughts. She imagined reading in all eyes the news of marriage with the +brother of the King, the little Monsieur. He was seventeen, she thirty, +with hair already partially white. + +Some months ensued, passed in a half retreat, and the Grande +Mademoiselle remained with the Court during the years of transition in +which the personal government of Louis XIV. was maturing. A new regime +was being born and a new world with it. + +One could gradually see this new formation relegating to the shadow of +the past the old spirit of independence, and stifling the confused +aspirations of the country towards any legal liberties. Mazarin +incarnated this great political movement. On the eve of disappearance, +this unpopular minister had become all France. + +He was master; no one thought any longer of resisting him; but he was +always detested, never admired. France having at this date neither +journals nor parliamentary debates, the foreign policy of Mazarin, which +in our eyes did him so much honour, remained very little known even at +Paris. This explains why his glory has been in large part posthumous. It +has increased in measure as it has been possible to judge of his entire +policy, from documents contained in our national archives or in those of +other countries. His correspondence displays so fine a diplomatic +genius, that the historians have turned aside from the evil side of the +man, his littlenesses, in order to give full weight to his services as +minister. Precisely a contrary course had been taken in the seventeenth +century. Little besides the Cardinal's defects, open to all eyes, were +realised. Bad fortune had redoubled his rapacity. Mazarin had guarded in +his heart the experience of poverty at the time in which he was expelled +from the kingdom. He had sworn to himself that he would not again be +taken without "ammunition." He had worked industriously since his return +in putting aside millions in safe keeping. Everything aided him in +raising this kind of war treasure. He sold high functions of State, and +also those belonging to low degree, even to that of laundress to the +Queen. He shared the benefits with the corsairs to whom he gave letters +of marque. He undertook contracts for public service, pocketed the +money, left our ambassadors without salaries, our vessels and +fortifications without means of subsistence. The army was crying with +hunger and thirst as soon as he made himself its sutler and its +commissariat. He furnished bread of diminished purity and even found +means, said the courtiers, to make the soldiers, so rarely paid +themselves, pay for the water they drank. Turenne once broke up his +plate to distribute the pieces to his troops, who were perishing from +want. + +Comical scenes mingled with these tragic ones. Bussy-Rabutin, who served +in the army of Turenne, had been fortunate at play. The Cardinal had +learned of this, and ordered it to be represented to Bussy that his pay +which had been pledged in the game would be guarded by the Cardinal as +his portion of the gain. He had extended his traffic into the royal +palace. It was he who furnished furniture and utensils. He undertook to +provide the Court mourning, and costumes for the fetes: when the King +danced a ballet, his first minister gained by the decorations and +accessories. The housekeeping accounts passed through his hands. During +the campaign of 1658, he suppressed the King's cook, in order to +appropriate to himself what the table would have cost. Louis XIV. was +forced to invite himself to dine with this one and that one. Mazarin +touched even his pocket money and the young King permitted it with a +patience which was a constant source of astonishment to the courtiers. +His mother was neither better treated nor less submissive. + +The Cardinal was as jealous of his authority as of his money. The King +had no voice in his council; when he accorded a pardon, however trivial, +his first minister revoked it, "scolding him like a schoolboy."[37] + +It was said of the Queen Mother that her influence was only worth a +hundred crowns, and she agreed. Still more, she was scolded from morning +till night. Age had rendered Mazarin insupportable. He had no delicacy +with the King, still less with the King's mother: the courtiers shrugged +their shoulders in hearing him speak to Anne of Austria "as to a +chambermaid."[38] + +The Queen was not insensible to this rudeness. She confessed to the +faithful Motteville "that the Cardinal had become so bad tempered and so +avaricious that she did not know how in the future it was going to be +possible to live with him." But it did not seem to occur to her that it +might be possible to live without the Cardinal. Can it be believed that +Anne of Austria and Mazarin were married, as La Palatine,[39] mother of +the Regent, asserted? As they gradually grew old, one is tempted to +believe it, so strongly the spectacle offered by these illustrious +persons, he so disagreeable, she so submissive, gives the impression +of two destinies "united together," according to the expression of the +Cardinal himself,[40] "by bonds which could not be broken." The question +to be solved is, could Mazarin marry? According to tradition he was not +a priest. According to the Euridite that point is open to +discussion.[41] Until this matter is fixed, the marriage of Anne of +Austria with her minister will remain among historical enigmas, for +everything said will be words in the air. + +PRIERE DU ROY. + + Jesus-Christ Roy du Ciel et de la Terre, ie vous adore et + reconnois pour le Roy des Roys. C'est de vostre Majeste Diuine + que ie tiens ma Couronne: mon Dieu ie vous l'offre, pour la + Gloire de la tres Saincte Trinite, et pour l'honneur de la + Reine des Agnes la Sacree Vierge Marie que iay choisy pour ma + Protectrice, et des Estats que vous m'auez donne; Seigneur + baillez moy vostre crainte et une si grande Sagesse et + humilite, que ie puisse deuenir un homme selon vostre coeur; en + sorte que ie merite efficacement le tiltre aimable de Louis + Dieu donne le Pacifique pour maintenir vostre Peuple en Paix, + afin qu'il vous serve avec tranquilite, et l'acomplissement de + toutes les Vertus. + + +VOEU ET PRIERE DES PEUPLES POUR LE ROY. + + Adorable Redempteur Jesus-Christ, qui estes le distributeur des + Couronnes, receuez la piete du Roy tres-Crestien, et exaucez + ses Prieres respectueses faites par l'entremise de vostre + Saincte Mere Vierge, que linfluence des Graces du St. Esprit + luy soit donnee, afin croissant en aage, it croisse aussi en + telle Sagesse, qu'il puisse maintenir vostre peuple in Paix, + pour mieux obseruer vos saincts commandemens. + + +(Translation of the above.) + +PRAYER OF THE KING. + + Jesus Christ, King of the Heavens and the Earth, I adore Thee + and recognize Thee for the King of Kings, the divine majesty + from whom I receive my crown, which I offer to Thee for the + Glory of the Most Holy Trinity, and for the honor of the Queen + of Angels, the blessed Virgin Mary, whom I have chosen as my + Protector, and also of the States which Thou hast given me. + Lord grant me due reverence and that I may possess so much + wisdom and humility that I may become a man after Thine own + heart, so that I may truly merit the title of the Beloved + Louis, the God-given and peaceful, and be able to maintain Thy + people in peace that they may live in tranquillity and + virtuously serve Thee. + + +VOW AND PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE. + + Adorable Redeemer Jesus Christ; who art the giver of crowns; + regard the piety of the most Christian King and listen to his + prayers for the intervention of the most blessed Mother Virgin; + and grant that the influence of the Holy Spirit may so be + poured out upon him that as he increases in years he may also + grow in wisdom; and that he may keep Thy people in peace that + they may better be able to preserve Thy commands. + +[Illustration: =LOUIS XIV. AS A BOY, DEDICATING HIS CROWN= After the +painting by Greg Huret] + +The patience of Louis XIV. can only be explained by his entire bringing +up and by the state of mind which had been its fruit. + +Louis's cradle had been surrounded by a crowd of servitors charged to +watch over his least movement. His mother adored him and, for a queen, +occupied herself much with him. Nevertheless, there could hardly a child +be found throughout the entire kingdom so badly cared for as the son of +the King. + +Louis XIV. had never forgotten this neglect and spoke of it all his life +with bitterness. + +"The King always surprises me," relates Mme. de Maintenon at Saint Cyr, +"when he speaks to me of his education. His governesses gossiped the +entire day, and left him in the hands of their maids without paying any +attention to the young Prince." The maids abandoned him to his own +devices and he was once found in the basin of the fountain in the Palais +Royal. One of his greatest pleasures was to prowl in the kitchens with +his brother, the little Monsieur. "He ate everything he could lay his +hands on without paying attention to its healthfulness. If they were +frying an omelette, he would break off a piece, which he and Monsieur +devoured in some corner."[42] One day when the two little Princes thus +put their fingers into the prepared dishes, the cooks impatiently drove +them away with blows from dishcloths. He played with any one. "His most +frequent companion," again relates Mme. de Maintenon, "was the daughter +of the Queen's own maid." When he was withdrawn from such surroundings, +to be led to his mother, or to figure in some ceremony, he appeared a +bashful boy who looked at people with embarrassment without knowing what +to say, and who cruelly suffered from this shyness. + +One day after they had given him a lesson, his timidity prevented him +from remembering the right words and he burst into tears with rage and +anger. The King of France to make a fool of himself! + +At five and a half years, they gave him a tutor and many masters,[43] +but he learned nothing. Mazarin for reasons known to himself would not +force him to work; and circumstances favoured the views of the first +minister. The Fronde came, and rendered any study impossible on account +of the complete upsetting of the daily life of the Court of France, +which was only encamped when it was not actually on the move. Louis XIV. +was fourteen at the date of the reinstallation of the Court at the +Louvre and there was no question of making him recover the lost time; he +thenceforth passed his days in hunting, in studying steps for the +ballet, and in amusing himself with the nieces of the Cardinal. The +political world believed that it divined the reason for this limited +education and severely expressed its opinion about it. "The King," wrote +the Ambassador from Venice,[44] "applies himself the entire day to +learning the ballet.... Games, dances, and comedies are the only +subjects of conversation with the King, the intention being to turn him +aside from affairs more solid and important." The Ambassador returns to +the same subject upon the occasion of an Italian opera,[45] in which the +King exhibited himself as Apollo surrounded by beautiful persons +representing the nine muses: + + Certain people blame this affair, but these do not understand the + politics of the Cardinal, who keeps the King expressly occupied + with pastimes, in order to turn his attention from solid and + important pursuits, and whilst the King is concerned in rolling + machines of wood upon the stage, the Cardinal moves and rolls at + his good pleasure, upon the theatre of France, all the machines of + state. + +Some few observers, of whom Mazarin himself was one, divined that this +youth, with his air of being absorbed in tomfooleries, secretly +reflected upon his profession of King, and upon the means of rendering +himself capable of sustaining it. Nature had endowed him with the +instinct of command, joined to a very lively sentiment of the duties of +his rank. Louis says in his _Memoires_, "even from infancy the names +alone of the kings _faineants_ and mayors of the palace gave me pain if +pronounced in my presence."[46] + +His preceptor, the Abbe of Perefixe, had encouraged this sentiment, at +the same time, however, permitting his pupil, by a contradiction for +which perhaps he was not responsible, to take the road which leads in +the direction of idleness, and thus making it possible for Louis to +become a true King _faineant_ himself. + +Perefixe had written for the young King a history of King Henry the +Great in which one reads + + that royalty is not the trade of a do-nothing, that it consists + almost entirely of action, that a King should make a pleasure + of his duty, that his enjoyment should be in reigning and he + only should know how to reign, that is, he should himself hold + the helm of the state. His glory is interested in this. + In truth, who does not know that there can be no honour in bearing + a title whose functions one does not fulfil-- + +a doctrine which would suppress the first ministers and by which Louis +XIV. profited later. + +Chance came to the aid of the preceptor. On June 19, 1651, the ancient +governess of the King, Mme. de Lansac, disturbed him in the midst of a +lesson, in order to make a gift of "three letters written by Catherine +de Medicis to Henry III.,[47] her son, for his edification." Perefixe +took the letters and read them aloud, the King listening "with much +attention." One of them was almost a memorial.[48] In it, Catherine gave +to her son the same precept as Perefixe to his pupil: "a king must +reign," that is to say, carry out the functions belonging to his title. +In order to "reign," one must begin to work at once upon awakening, read +all the dispatches and afterwards the replies, speak personally to the +agents, receive every morning accounts of receipts and expenditures; +pursue this course from morning till night, and every day of one's life. +It was the programme for a slave to power. Louis XIV. made it his own, +in the bottom of his soul; he was not yet thirteen. + +Such beautiful resolutions however, were destined to remain dead so long +as Mazarin lived. They could only be executed to the detriment of his +authority, and the idea of entering into a struggle with the Cardinal +was repugnant to the young King, partially on account of old affection, +partially on account of timidity and the habit of obedience. + +The mind of Louis XIV. had however been awakened and the fruits of this +awakening were later visible, but for a time he was content to find good +excuses for leaving affairs alone. He explains in his _Memoires_ that he +was arrested by political reasons; as he had too much experience also +(however strange this word may appear when applied to a child so +foolishly brought up) not to realise the danger of a revolution in the +royal palace in the present condition of France after the devastations +of the civil wars. + +In default of the science which one draws from books, Louis XIV. had +received lessons in realities from the Fronde: The riots and barricades, +the vehement discourse of the Parliament to his mother, the humiliating +flights with the Court, the periods of poverty in which his servants had +no dinner and he himself slept with his sheets full of holes, and wore +clothes too short, the battles in which his subjects fired upon him, the +treasons of his relations and of his nobility and their shameful +bargains; nothing of all this had been lost upon the young King. + +With a surface order re-established, he perceived how troubled the +situation remained at bottom, how precarious, and he judged it prudent +to defer what he both "wished" and "feared," says very clearly his +_Memoires_. He queries if this were an error: + + It is necessary [says he] to represent to one's self the state + of affairs: Agitations throughout the entire kingdom were at + their height; a foreign war continued in which a thousand + advantages had been lost to France owing to these domestic + troubles; a Prince of my own blood and a very great name at the + head of my enemies; many cabals in the state; the Parliaments + still in possession of usurped authority; in my own Court very + little of either fidelity or interest, and above all my + subjects, apparently the most submissive, were as great a care + and as much to be suspected as those most openly rebellious. + +Was this the moment in which to expose the country to new shocks? + +Louis XIV. had remained convinced[49] to the contrary, avowing, however, +that he had much to criticise in the fashions of Mazarin, + + a minister [pursued he] re-established in spite of so many + factions, very able, very adroit, who loved me and whom I + loved, and who had rendered me great services, but whose + thoughts and manners were naturally very different from mine, + and whom I could not always contradict nor discredit without + anew exciting, by that image, however erroneous, of disgrace, + the same tempests which had been so difficult to calm. + +The King had also to take into consideration his own extreme youth, and +his ignorance of affairs. He relates in regard to this point his ardent +desire for glory, his fear of beginning ill, "for one can never retrieve +one's self"; his attention to the course of events "in secret and +without a confidant"; his joy when he discovered that people both able +and consummate shared his fashion of thinking. + +Considering everything, had there ever been a being urged forward and +retarded so equally, in his design to take upon himself "the guidance of +the state"? + +This curious page has no other defect than that of having been dictated +by a man matured, in whose thoughts things have taken a clearness not +existing in the mind of the youth, and who believes himself to recollect +"determinations" when there existed in reality only "desires." + +Louis XIV. would be unpardonable if full credit were given to his +_Memoires_. Why, if he saw so clearly, did he grumble at any kind of +work? When Louis was sixteen, Mazarin had arranged with him some days in +which he might be present at a council. The King was bored and retired +to talk of the next ballet and to play the guitar with his intimates. +Mazarin was obliged to scold him to force him to return and remain at +the council. + +With a capacity for trifling, he cared for nothing serious, and there +was much laziness contained in his resolution to leave all to his +minister. The Court had formed its own opinion: it considered the young +King incapable of application. It was also said that he lacked +intelligence, and in this belief there was no error. Louis himself +alluded to this and said with simplicity, "I am very stupid." + +The libertine youth who surrounded him, and whom his solemn air +restrained, did not conceal the fact that they found him a great bore, +as probably did also Madame de Maintenon a half-century later. The +Guiche and the Vardes believed him doomed to insignificance and did not +trouble themselves much about him. The city was less convinced that he +was a cipher, perhaps because otherwise it could not so easily have +taken his part. Paris was commencing to fear those princes with whom, +for one reason or another, first ministers were necessary, and the +Parisian bourgeoisie was on the watch for some proof of intelligence in +the young monarch. "It is said that the mind of the King is awakening," +wrote Guy Patin in 1654; "God be thanked!" + +This first light not having an apparent development, Paris, whilst +waiting for something better, admired the looks of the sovereign. "I +have to-day seen the King on his way to the chase," again wrote Guy +Patin four years later. "A fine Prince, strong and healthy; he is tall +and graceful; it is a pity that he does not better understand his +duties."[50] His serious air was also lauded, his dislike to debauchery +in any form, and the modesty which made him bravely reply before the +entire Court, to a question about a new play: "I never judge a subject +about which I know nothing."[51] + +This was not the response of a fool. + +In fine, as he was very cold, very capable of dissimulation, as he spoke +little, through calculation as much as through instinct, and generally +confined his conversation to trifles, this youth upon whom all France +had its eyes fixed remained an unknown quantity to his subjects. + +In September, 1657, two strangers crossing the Pont Neuf found +themselves in the midst of a pressure of people. The crowd precipitated +itself with cries of joy towards a carriage whose livery had been +recognised. + +It was the Grande Mademoiselle returning from exile, and coming to take +possession of the palace of the Luxembourg, in which her father +permitted her to lodge, feeling certain that he himself should never +return to it. The two strangers noted in their _Journal de Voyage_[52] +that the Parisians bore a "particular affection" for this Princess, +because she had behaved like a "true amazon" during the civil war. + +The Court had resigned itself to the inevitable. Mademoiselle had +remained popular in Paris, and her exploits during the Fronde and her +fine bearing at the head of her regiment were remembered with +enthusiasm. She only passed through the city at this time, having +affairs to regulate in the Provinces. Upon her definite return on +December 31st, the Court and the city crowded to see her. The Luxembourg +overflowed during several days, after which, when society had convinced +itself that Mademoiselle had no longer a face "fresh as a fully blown +rose,"[53] its curiosity was satisfied and it occupied itself with +something else. + +[Illustration: =LOUIS XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN= From a chalk drawing in the +British Museum Print Room] + +Mademoiselle herself had much to do. The idea of marrying the little +Monsieur had not left her mind since the meeting at Sedan. She was +assured that the Prince was dying of desire for her, and Mademoiselle +naively responded that she very well perceived this. "This does not +displease me," adds she; "a young Prince, handsome, well-made, brother +of the King, appears a good match." + +In expectation of the betrothal, she stopped her pursuits of the happy +interval at Saint-Fargeau in which she had loved intellectual pleasures, +in order to make herself the comrade of a child only absorbed in +pastimes belonging to his age, and passed the winter in dancing, in +masquerading, in rushing through the promenades and the booths of the +fair of Saint-Germain.[54] + +The public remarked that the little Monsieur appeared "not very gay" +with his tall cousin, and troubled himself but little to entertain +her,[55] and that he would have preferred other companions better suited +to his seventeen years. + +Mademoiselle did not perceive this. Philip, Duke of Anjou, had a face of +insipid beauty posed upon a little round body. He did not lack _esprit_, +had not an evil disposition, and would have made an amiable prince if +reasons of state had not tended to reduce him to the condition of a +marionette. + +His mother and Mazarin had brought him up as a girl, for fear of his +later troubling his elder brother, and this education had only too well +succeeded. By means of sending him to play with the future Abbe de +Choisy, who put on a robe and patches to receive him; by means of having +him dressed and barbered by the Queen's maids of honour and putting him +in petticoats and occupying him with dolls, he had been made an +ambiguous being, a species of defective girl having only the weaknesses +of his own sex. Monsieur had a new coat every day and it worried him to +spot it, and to be seen with his hair undressed or in profile when he +believed himself handsomer in full face. Paris possessed no greater +gossip; he babbled, he meddled, he embroiled people by repeating +everything, and this amused him. + +Mademoiselle considered it her duty to "preach" to him of "noble deeds," +but she wasted her time. He was laziness and weakness itself. The two +cousins were ill-adapted to each other in every way. + +When they entered a salon together, Monsieur short and full, attired in +the costume of a hunter, his garments sewed from head to foot with +precious stones, Mademoiselle a little masculine of figure and manner +and negligent in her dress, they were a singular couple. Those who did +not know them opened their eyes wide, and they were often seen together +in the winter at least, for the society was at this date most mixed, +even in the most elite circles. + +From Epiphany to Ash-Wednesday, the Parisians had no greater pleasure +than to promenade masked at night, and to enter without invitation into +any house where an entertainment was taking place. Louis XIV. gladly +joined in these gaieties. Upon one evening of Mardi-Gras, when he was +thus running the streets with Mademoiselle, they met Monsieur dressed as +a girl with blond hair.[56] Keepers of inns sent their guests to profit +by this chance of free entry. A young Dutchman related that he went the +same night "with those of his inn" to five great balls, the first at the +house of Mme. de Villeroy, the last with the Duchess of Valentinois, and +that he had seen at each place more than two hundred masks.[57] + +The crowd would not permit that entrance should be refused on any +pretext. + +The same Dutchman reports with a note of bitterness that on another +evening it had been impossible to penetrate into the house of the +Marechal de l'Hopital, because the King being there, measures had been +taken to avoid too great a crowd. Custom obliged every one to submit to +receiving society, choice or not. At a grand fete given by the Duc de +Lesdiguieres, which in the bottom of his heart he was offering to Mme. +de Sevigne, "The King had hardly departed when the crowd commenced to +scuffle and to pillage every thing, until, as it was stated, it became +necessary to replace the candles of the chandeliers four or five times +and this single article cost M. de Lesdiguieres more than a hundred +pistoles."[58] + +Such domestic manners had the encouragement of the King, who also left +his doors open upon the evenings on which he danced a ballet. He did +better still. He went officially to sup "with the Sieur de la +Baziniere," ancient lackey become financier and millionaire, and having +the bearing, the manners, and the ribbon cascades of the Marquis de +Mascarille. He desired that Mademoiselle should invite to the +Luxembourg, Mme. de l'Hopital, ancient laundress married twice for her +beautiful eyes; the first time by a _partisan_, the second by a Marshal +of France. These lessons were not lost upon the nobility. Mesalliances +were no more discredited, even the lowest, the most shameful, provided +that the dot was sufficient. A Duke and Peer had married the daughter of +an old charioteer. The Marechal d'Estrees was the son-in-law of a +_partisan_ known under the name of Morin the Jew. Many others could be +cited, for the tendency increased from year to year. + +In 1665, the King having entered Parliament,[59] in order to confirm an +edict, a group of men amongst whom was Olivier d'Ormesson were regarding +the Tribune in which were seated the ladies of the Court. Some one +thought of counting how many of these were daughters of parvenues or of +business men; he found three out of six. Two others were nieces of +Mazarin, married to French nobles.[60] The single one of aristocratic +descent was Mlle. d'Alencon, a half-sister of the Grande Mademoiselle. +One could hardly have anticipated such figures, even allowing for +chance. + +The King, however, approved of this state of affairs and the nobility +was ruined; every one seized on what support he could. The general +course of affairs was favourable to this confusion of rank. From the +triumphal re-entry of Mazarin in 1653, until his death in 1661, a kind +of universal freedom continued at the Court which surprised the ancient +Frondeurs on their return from exile. The young monarch himself +encouraged familiarities and lack of etiquette. + +It was the nieces of the Cardinal who were largely responsible for these +changes in manners and who gained their own profit through the +additional freedom, since Marie, the third of the Mancini, was soon to +almost touch the crown with the tip of her finger. Mademoiselle had some +trouble in accustoming herself to the new manners towards the King. + + For me [says she], brought up to have great respect, this is + most astonishing, and I have remained long time without + habituating myself to this new freedom. But when I saw how + others acted, when the Queen told me one day that the + King hated ceremony, then I yielded; for without this high + authority the faults of manner could not be possible with others. + +The pompous Louis XIV. wearing the great wig of the portraits did not +yet exist, and the Louvre of 1658 but little resembled the particular +and formal Versailles of the time of Saint-Simon.[61] + +The licence extended to morals. Numbers of women of rank behaved badly, +some incurred the suspicion of venality, and no faults were novelties; +but vice keeps low company and it was this result which proud people +like Mademoiselle could not suffer. + +When it was related to her that the Duchesse de Chatillon, daughter of +Montmorency-Boutteville, had received money from the Abbe Foucquet[62] +and wiped out the debt by permitting such lackey-like jokes as breaking +her mirrors with blows of the foot, she was revolted. "It is a strange +thing," wrote she, "this difference of time; who would have said to the +Admiral Coligny, 'The wife of your grandson will be maltreated by the +Abbe Foucquet'?--he would not have believed it, and there was no mention +at all of this name of Foucquet in his time." + +In the mind of Mademoiselle, who had lived through so many periods, it +was the low birth of the Abbe which would have affected the Admiral. +"Whatever may be said," added she, "I can never believe that persons of +quality abandon themselves to the point which their slanderers say. For +even if they did not consider their own safety, worldly honour is in my +opinion so beautiful a thing that I do not comprehend how any one can +despise it." + +Mademoiselle did not transgress upon the respect due to the hierarchy of +rank; for the rest, she contented herself with what are called the +morals of respectable people, which have always been sufficiently +lenient. She understood, however, all the difference between this +morality and Christian principles. + +The _Provinciales_ (1656) had made it clear to the blindest that it was +necessary to choose between the two. Mademoiselle had under this +influence made a visit to Port Royal des Champs[63] and had been +entirely won by these "admirable people" who lived like saints and who +spoke and wrote "the finest eloquence," while the Jesuits would have +done better to remain silent, "having nothing good to say and saying it +very badly," "for assuredly there were never fewer preachers amongst +them than at present nor fewer good writers, as appears by their +letters. This is why for all sorts of reasons they would have done +better not to write." + +Seeing Mademoiselle so favourably impressed, one of the Monsieurs of +Port Royal, Arnauld d'Andilly, said upon her departure, "You are going +to the Court; you can give to the Queen account of what you have +seen."--"I assure you that I will willingly do this." + +Knowing her disposition, there is but little doubt that she kept her +word; but this was all. The worthy Mademoiselle, incapable of anything +low or base, did not dream for a second of allowing the austere +morality, ill fitted for the needs of a court, to intervene in +influencing her judgments upon others, or in the choice of her friends. +She blamed the Duchesse de Chatillon for reasons with which virtue, +properly named, had nothing to do. We see her soon after meeting Mme. de +Montespan, because common morality has nothing to blame in a King's +mistress. + +Mme. de Sevigne agreed with Mademoiselle and they were not alone. This +attitude gave a kind of revenge to the Jesuits. + +Tastes became as common as sentiments; those of the King were not yet +formed, and the pleasure taken in the ballet in the theatre of the +Louvre injured the taste for what was, in fact, no longer tragedy. +Corneille had given up writing for the first time in 1652, after the +failure of his _Pertharite_. The following year, Quinault made his debut +and pleased. He taught in his tragi-comedies, flowery and tender, that +"Love makes everything permissible," which had been said by Honore +d'Urfe in _l'Astree_, a half-century previous, and he retied, without +difficulty, after the Corneillian parenthesis, the thread of a doctrine +which has been transmitted without interruption to our own days. + +Love justifies everything, for the right of passion is sacred, nothing +subsists before it. + + Dans l'empire amoureux, + Le devoir n'a point de puissance. + + L'eclat de beaux yeux adoucit bien un crime; + Au regard des amants tout parait legitime.[64] + +The idea which this verse expresses can be found throughout the works of +Quinault. He has said it again and again, with the same langourous, +insinuating sweetness, for a period which lasted more than thirty years, +and in the beginning no one very seriously divided with him the +attention of the public. + +At the appearance of his first piece in 1653, Racine was fourteen; +Moliere did not return to Paris until 1658. Corneille, in truth, was +preparing his return to the theatre; but he found when his last +tragedies were played, that he had done well to study Quinault, and in +doing this he had not wasted his time;--a decisive proof of the echo to +which souls responded,[65] and of the increasing immorality of the new +era. + +Thus the Court of France lost its prestige. The eclat cast by the Fronde +upon the men and women seeking great adventures had been replaced by no +new enthusiasms. The pleasures to which entire lives were devoted had +not always been refining, as we have seen above, and people had not +grown in intelligence. The bold crowd of the Mazarins gave the tone to +the Louvre, and this tone lacked delicacy. The Queen, Anne of Austria, +groaned internally, but she had loosed the reins; except in the affair +of her son's marriage she had nothing to refuse to the nieces of +Cardinal Mazarin. + +Because the Court was in general lazy and frivolous, a hasty opinion of +the remainder of France should not be formed. The Court did not fairly +represent the entire nation; outside of it there was room for other +opinions and sentiments. It was during the years of 1650 to 1656, which +appear to us at first sight almost a moral desert, that private charity +made in the midst of France one of its greatest efforts, an effort very +much to the honour of all concerned in it. + +I have noticed elsewhere[66] the frightful poverty of the country during +the Fronde. This distress which was changing into desert places one +strip after another of French territory, must be relieved, and amongst +those in authority no one was found capable of doing it. + +It is hardly possible to represent to one's self to-day the condition +left by the simple passage of an army belonging to a civilised people, +through a French or German land, two or three hundred years ago. + +The idea of restricting the sufferings caused by war to those which are +inevitable is a novel one. In the seventeenth century, on the contrary, +the effort was to increase them. The chiefs for the most part showed a +savage desire to excite the mania for destruction which is so easily +aroused with soldiers during a campaign. Towards the end of the Fronde, +some troops belonging to Conde, then in the service of the King of +Spain, occupied his old province of Bourgogne. If any district of France +could have hoped to be respected by the Prince, it was this one; his +father had possessed it before him and it was full of their friends. +Ties of this kind, however, were of no advantage. March 23, 1652, the +States of Bourgogne wrote to M. de Bielle, their deputy at Court: + + The enemies having already burned fourteen villages [the names + follow], besides others since burned, these fire-fiends are + still in campaign and continuing these horrible ravages, all + which has been under the express order of M. le Prince, which + the commandant [de la ville] de Seurre has received, to burn + the entire Province if it be possible. The same Sieur de Bielle + can judge by the account of these fires, to which there has so + far been no impediment presented, in what state the Province + will be in a short time. + +The common soldier troubled himself little whether the sacked region was +on the one or the other side of the frontier. He made hardly any +difference. + +Some weeks after the fires in Bourgogne, two armies tortured the Brie. +The one belonged to the King, the other to the Duc de Lorraine, and +there was only a shade less of cruelty with the French forces than with +the others. When all the troops had passed, the country was filled with +charnel houses, and there are charnel houses and charnel houses. + +That of Rampillon,[67] particularly atrocious, must be placed to the +account of the Lorraines: "at each step one met mutilated people, with +scattered limbs; women cut in four quarters after violation; men +expiring under the ruins of burning houses, others spitted."[68] No +trouble was taken to suppress these hells of infection. + +It would be difficult to find any fashion of carrying on a war both more +ferocious and more stupid. Some chiefs of divisions, precursers of +humanitarian ideas, timidly protested, in the name of interest only, +against a system which always gave to campaigning armies the plague, +famine, and universal hatred. A letter addressed to Mazarin, and signed +by four of these, Fabert at the head, supplicates him to arrest the +ravages of a foreigner in the services of France, M. de Rosen. Mazarin +took care to pay no attention to this protest: it would have been +necessary first to pay Rosen and his soldiers. If it is expected to find +any sense of responsibility in the State, in the opinion of +contemporaries, for saving the survivors, left without bread, animals, +nor harvests, without roof and without working tools, there is +disappointment; the State held itself no more responsible for public +disasters than for the poor, always with it. + +The conception of social duty was not yet born. Public assistance was in +its infancy, and the little which existed had been completely +disorganised by the general disorders; like everything else. Each city +took care of its beggars or neglected them according to its own +resources and circumstances. On the other hand, the idea of Christian +charity had taken a strong hold upon some circles, under the combined +influence of the Jansenism which exacted from its devotees a living +faith; of a secret Catholic society whose existence is one of the most +curious historical discoveries of these last years[69]; and of a poor +saint whose peasant airs and whose patched _soutane_ caused much +laughter when he presented himself before the Queen. Vincent de Paul is +easily recognised. Relations with great people had not changed him. It +was said of him after years of Court society, "M. Vincent is always M. +Vincent," and this was true: men of this calibre never change, happily +for the world. + +He became the keynote of the impulse which caused the regeneration of +provincial life, almost ruined by the wars of the Fronde. Even after the +work was ended it would be difficult to decide upon the share of each of +these bodies in this colossal enterprise. The society to which allusion +has been made was founded in 1627, by the Duc de Ventadour, whose +mystical thought had led him, as often happens, to essentially practical +works. The name of Compagnie du Saint Sacrement was given it, and +without doubt its supreme end was "to make honoured the Holy Sacrament." + +Precisely on account of this, the society sought to "procure" for itself +"all the good" in its power, for nothing is more profitable to religion +than support, material as well as spiritual and moral, distributed under +its inspiration and as one might say on its own part. + +One passes easily from the practice of charity, a source of precious +teaching, to the correction of manners. After comes the desire to +control souls, which naturally leads to the destruction of heresies, +with or without gentleness. + +This programme was responsible for many admirable charitable works, two +centuries in advance of current ideas, and, at the same time, for +cruelties, infamies, all the vices inseparable from the sectarian spirit +in which the end justifies the means. + +Once started, the society rapidly increased, always hidden, and +multiplying precautions not to be discovered, since neither clergy nor +royalty were well disposed towards this mysterious force, from which +they were constantly receiving shocks without being able to discover +whence came the blows. + +It was an occult power, analogous in its extent and its intolerance, and +even in the ways and means employed, to the Free Masonry of the present. + +The Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement had links throughout France and in all +classes. Anne of Austria was included in its sacred band and a shoemaker +played in it an important role. Vincent de Paul enrolled himself in the +ranks towards the year 1635, contributed to the good, and probably was +ignorant of the evil to be found in its folds. Dating from his +affiliation, his charitable works so mingled with those of the society +that it was no longer to be recognised. The society brought to the Saint +powerful succour, and aided him effectively in finding the support of +which he had need; it would be difficult to say from whom came the first +idea of many good works. + +As for what at present concerns us, however, the point of departure is +known. It was neither Vincent de Paul nor the Compagnie du +Saint-Sacrement which conceived and put in train the prodigious work of +relieving the Provinces. The first committee of relief was founded in +Paris, in 1649, by a Janseniste, M. de Bernieres, who was also +responsible for the invention of the printed "Relations" which were +informing all France of the miseries to be relieved. It was the first +time that Charity had aided itself through publicity. It soon found the +value of this. M. de Bernieres and his committee, in which the wives of +members of Parliament dominated, were soon able to commence in Picardie +and Champagne the distribution of bread, clothing, grain, and working +implements. Hospitals were established. They put an end to the frightful +feeling of desolation of these unfortunate populations, pillaged during +so many years by mercenaries of all races and tongues. But the number of +workers was small even if their zeal was great, and the Janseniste +community was not equipped for a task of this dimension. From the end of +the following year, the direction of the enterprise passed entirely into +the hands of Vincent de Paul, who led with him his army of sisters of +charity, his mission priests, and an entire contingent of allies, secret +but absolutely devoted. + +It does not seem as if at first there was any conflict. Mme. de +Lamoignon and the Presidente de Herse were the right arms of M. Vincent +as they had been of M. de Bernieres. When the Queen of Poland,[70] a +spiritual daughter of Port-Royal and brought up in France, wished to +subscribe to the work, she sent her money to the Mother Angelique, +telling her to communicate with M. Vincent. But this harmony was of +short duration. The members of what the public were going to baptise +with the sobriquet of "Cabale des Devots," not being able to discover +the real name, could not suffer the Janseniste concurrence in charitable +works. They showered upon M. de Bernieres a mass of odious calumnies and +denunciations which resulted in the exile of this good man. + +This was one of the most abominable of the bad actions to which a +sectarian spirit has pushed human beings. + +The "Relations" were continued under the direction of Vincent de Paul. +One knows through them and through the documents of the time, the +details of the task undertaken. The first necessity for the public +health was the clearing the surface of the ground, in the provinces in +which there had been fighting, of the putrifying bodies, and of the +filthiness left by the armies. There was one village from which such an +odour exhaled that no one would approach it. A "Relation" of 1652 +describes in these terms the environs of Paris: + + At Etrechy, the living are mingled with the dead, and the + country is full of the latter. At Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, + Crosne, Limay, one hundred and seventy-four ill people were + found in the last extremity, with neither beds, clothes, nor + bread. + + It was necessary to commence by taking away the seeds of + infection which increased the maladies, by interring the + corpses of men, of dead horses and cattle, and removing the + heaps of dirt which the armies had left behind. The cleansing + of the soil was the specialty of M. Vincent and one of his most + signal benefits. He employed for this work his mission priests + and his sisters of charity. The missionaries placed themselves + at the head of the workmen, the sisters sought the abandoned + sick. Cloth and cap died at need "the arms in the hand," said + their chief, but their work was good; and finally the work was + taken hold of in the right way. + +After the dead the living: + + The cure of Boult[71] [reports another "Relation"] assures us + that he buried three of his parishioners dead from hunger; + others were living only upon cut-up straw mixed with earth, of + which was composed a food called bread. Five tainted and + decaying horses were devoured; an old man aged seventy-five years + had entered the presbytery to roast a piece of horse-flesh, the + animal having died of scab fifteen days previously, was infected + with worms, and had been found cast into a foul ditch.... At + Saint-Quentin, in the faubourgs, in which the houses had been + demolished, the missionaries discovered the last inhabitants in + miserable huts, "in each of which," wrote one of them, "I found one + or two sick, in one single hut ten; two widows, each having four + children, slept together on the ground, having nothing whatever, + not even a sheet." Another Ecclesiastic, in his visit, having met + with many closed doors, upon forcing them open discovered that the + sick were too feeble to open them having eaten nothing during two + days, and having beneath them only a little half rotten straw; the + number of these poor was so great that without succour from Paris, + the citizens under the apprehension of a siege, not being able to + nourish them, had resolved to cast them over the walls. + +Millions were needed to relieve such distress, but Vincent de Paul and +his associates had a better dream; they wished to put these dying +populations in a condition to work again and to undertake the reparation +of the ruins themselves. The enterprise was organised in spite of +obstacles which appeared insurmountable, the exhaustion of France and +the difficulty of communication being the principal. The Parisians +raised enormous sums and sent gifts of all kinds of materials, and found +the means of transporting provisions. The committee divided the environs +of Paris; Mme. Joly took the care of one village; the Presidente de +Nesmond, four villages; and so on. Missionaries were sent outside the +boundaries. One of the later biographers of Vincent de Paul[72] values +at twelve millions of francs, at this date worth about sixty millions, +the sums distributed, without counting money spent directly for the work +of piety nor for the support of those engaged in it. However this may +be, this latter body certainly consumed a large portion. The immensity +of the enterprise, and its apparent boldness, gives us an idea of the +wealth and power of the middle classes of the seventeenth century. After +Vincent de Paul and M. de Bernieres, the honour for this work of relief +belongs to the parliamentary world and the Parisian bourgeoisie; the +aristocracy only playing a very secondary role. The middle classes +provided for this enormous effort, at a period in which all revenues +failed at once. We are told that many were forced to borrow, that others +sold their jewels and articles of silver; still this supposes luxury and +credit. In one way or another, the citizen was in a position to give, +while the small noble of Lorraine or of Beauce was obliged to receive; +and this emphasises an historic lesson. Gentlemen as well as peasants +lacked bread. After remaining two days without eating, one is ready to +accept alms; at the end of three days, to demand them on account of the +children. The decadence of the one class, the ascension of the other +until their turn comes; it has always been the same since the world +began. + +One last detail, and perhaps the most significant: + +There is no reference in the Memoirs of the times[73] to the principal +work of Vincent de Paul. Their authors would have made it a matter of +conscience not to forget a Court intrigue or a scandalous adventure; but +what can be interesting in people who are naked and hungry? One avoids +speaking of them. It is even better not to think of them. In 1652, the +year in which poverty was at its height in oppressed Paris, the Mother +Angelique wrote from Port-Royal, to the Queen of Poland (June 28th): + + With the exception of the few actually engaged in charity, the + rest of the world live in as much luxury as ever. The Court and + the Tuileries are as thronged as ever, collations and the rest + of the superfluities go on as always. Paris amuses itself with + the same fury as if its streets were not filled with frightful + spectacles. And, what is more horrible, fashion will not suffer + the priests to preach penitence (Letter of July 12th). + +The lack of pity for the poor was almost general among the so-called +higher classes. There is no need of too carefully inquiring as to what +is passing in hovels. + +Vincent de Paul and his allies struggled six years. Not once did the +government come to their aid, and the war always continued; for one ruin +relieved, the armies made ten others. The group of the "good souls" who +had made these prodigious sacrifices was at length used up, as one might +say, and was never reinforced, in spite of the inexhaustible source of +devotion offered by the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement. This body had been +composed of men and women so exceptional in character, as well as in +intelligence, that its ranks, emptied by death, and by the exhaustion of +means and courage, could not be filled up. In 1655, the receipts of the +committee were visibly diminished. Two years later, the resources were +entirely exhausted and the work of relief remained unfinished. + +It was well that it was attempted; a leven of good has remained from it +in the national soul. + +The actual benefits however, were promptly effaced; the famine of 1659 +to 1662, especially in the latter year, counts amongst the most +frightful of the century, perhaps in our entire history. The excess of +material poverty engendered immense moral misery, particularly in the +large cities, in which luxury stood side by side with the most frightful +conditions, and Paris became both excitable and evil, as always when it +suffers. + +The Carnival of 1660 was the most noisy and disorderly which old +Parisians had ever known. Great and small sought amusement with a kind +of rage, and dissensions and quarrels abounded from the top to the +bottom of the social scale. Public places were noisy with riots and +affrays. During the nights, masks were masters of the streets, and as +has been seen above, no security existed with these composite crowds, +which stole candles from the houses into which they had surged. + +One ball alone received in a single evening the visit of sixty-five +masks, who ran through the city three nights in succession. These +hysterics in Paris, while France was dying with hunger, are so much the +more striking, inasmuch as the Court was not there to communicate to the +outer world its eternal need of agitation and amusement. Louis XIV. +spent a large portion of these critical years in journeying through his +kingdom. One of the first journeys, lasting from October 27th to the +following January 27th, had for its end the meeting of the Princess of +Savoie at Lyons. There had been some question of marrying this Princess +to the young King. On passing to Dijon, the Court stopped more than +fifteen days. Mademoiselle tells us the reason for this delay; it is not +very glorious for royalty. The Parliament of Dijon refused to register +certain edicts which aggravated the burdens of the province. Le Tellier, +"on the part of the King," promised that there should be no more +difficulty if the states of Bourgogne would bring their subsidy to a sum +which was indicated. "Upon which they agreed to what was demanded and +presented themselves to account to the King." + +Upon the next day, with a cynical contempt for the royal promise, "Her +Majesty went to the Dijon Parliament to register the deeds."[74] +Mademoiselle had the curiosity to be present at the session. The first +president did the only thing in his power. He courageously expressed his +"regrets" and was praised by all those who heard him. + +The Court hastily departed the following day, leaving Dijon and the +entire province "in a certain consternation." Mademoiselle blamed only +the manner of action. At the bottom of her heart, she had the belief of +her times: that the sovereign owed only control to his people, and that +there was no question of giving them happiness. + +Some weeks after the incident at Lyons, the vicinity of the principality +of Dombes[75] gave her the desire to visit this place, which she had +never seen. Dombes did not pay any impost to the King, and this fact +alone sufficed to render it prosperous. Mademoiselle was scandalised at +this prosperity. The peasants were well clothed, "they ate meat four +times a day," and there were "no really poor people" in the country; +"also," pursued Mademoiselle, "they, up to this time, have paid no +duties, and it would perhaps be better that they should do so, for they +are do-nothings, taking no interest in either work or trade." + +The people had left everything and dressed themselves in their fine +clothes to receive Mademoiselle. In order to thank them, Mademoiselle +drew from them all the money she could. It is necessary to recollect, +however, that in the eyes of the great, even those of the better sort, a +peasant was hardly a man. It would hardly be worth while for us to be +indignant at this attitude. We now admit that the so-called superior +races have the right to exploit those considered inferior, and thus at +need destroy them. It was the habit of our fathers to treat a lower +class as to-day we treat a less advanced race; the sentiment is +precisely the same. + +Upon her return from Dombes, Mademoiselle found the Court again at +Lyons. Every one was all eyes and ears for a spectacle which might +derange the admitted ideas of kings. Marie Mancini was trying to make +Louis XIV. marry her, and the attempt had not so absurd an air as might +be imagined. The Savoie project had failed under painful conditions, +which gave subject of thought to the courtiers. The King had conducted +himself like an ill-bred man to the Princess Marguerite. + +People were demanding whether the Spanish marriage was also going to +fail, and with it the so greatly desired peace, because it pleased two +lovers, one of whom ought not to have forgotten his kingly duties, to +proclaim the sovereign rights of passion. Anne of Austria became uneasy. +Mazarin, yielding to temptation, left the field to his niece, who "took +possession" of the young King with looks and speech. She fascinated him, +and he swore all that she wished. The contest was not an equal one +between the passionate Italian and the timid and somewhat unformed Louis +XIV. + +On his return from Lyons, Louis knelt down before his mother and +Mazarin, supplicating them to permit him to marry the one he loved. He +found them inflexible. The Queen realised that such a _mesalliance_ +would cast disrepute on royalty. The Cardinal was torn by conflicting +emotions, but in the end sent away his niece. + +A second journey lasted more than a year. The Court set out on June 29, +1659, and passed through Blois. It stopped with Gaston. We owe to the +_Memoires_ of Mademoiselle a last glimpse of this Prince, formerly so +brilliant, now become a lazy good-for-nothing in his provincial life, +where nothing of Parisian fashion was found; neither toilettes nor +cooking, nor household elegance, nor even Monsieur himself, who no +longer knew how to receive, and was vexed that the King should kill his +pheasants. He permitted it to be seen that he was put out, and this +became so plain that every one was eager to depart, and there was a +sudden scattering. + +The eldest of his daughters by his last marriage, Marguerite d'Orleans, +had a great reputation for beauty. Her parents had for a long time +anticipated seeing her Queen of France. + +On the night of the King's arrival at Blois, this damsel was disfigured +with mosquito bites. Her dancing was much extolled, but on this special +evening, she danced very badly. Gaston had announced that this little +girl of ten "would astonish every one with her brilliant conversation." +No one could draw a single word from her. In short, nothing succeeded. +Mademoiselle was not especially vexed at this failure; she had trembled +at the thought of seeing her younger sister "above her." + +Hardly had the Court remounted their carriages, before the royal +cavalcade, according to the universal custom, commenced to mock its +hosts. The King joked at the sight of his uncle's face on seeing the +pheasants fall dead. Mademoiselle laughed with the others. She had, +however, been moved by a tender scene played by her father. + +He had come to awaken her at four o'clock in the morning: + + He seated himself on my bed and said: "I believe that you will + not be vexed at being waked since I shall not soon have the + chance of again seeing you. You are going to take a long + journey. I am old, exhausted; I may die during your absence. If + I do die, I recommend your sisters to you. I know very well + that you do not love Madame: that her behaviour towards you has + not been all it should be; but her children have had nothing to + do with this, for my sake take care of them. They will have + need of you; as for Madame, she will be of little help to + them." + + He embraced me three or four times. I received all this with + much tenderness; for I have a good heart. We separated on the + best terms, and I went again to sleep. + +Mademoiselle believed that at length they again loved each other. Six +weeks later a scandal broke out at the Court of France, then at +Bordeaux. + +The Duc de Savoie had refused to marry the Princess Marguerite +d'Orleans, and Mademoiselle was accused of having secretly written to +him that her sister was a humpback. The accusation came from Gaston +himself, who said that he had proof of it. This was a most disagreeable +incident for Mademoiselle and further illusion was impossible; Gaston +was always Gaston, the most dangerous man in France. + +From Bordeaux, the Court went to Toulouse; there it was rejoined by +Mazarin, who had just signed the peace of the Pyrenees (November 7, 1659). + +All histories give the articles of this peace. The results for Europe +have been summed up in some brilliant lines written by the great German +historian, Leopold Ranke, who had been struck with the advantages which +this treaty gave France over Germany: + + If it were necessary to characterise in a general fashion the + results of this peace ... we would say that the importance of + the treaty consisted in the formation and extension of the + great (geographically) military system of the French monarchy. + On all sides, to the Pyrenees, to the Alps, above all, to the + frontiers of the German Empire and of the Netherlands, France + acquired new fortified points ... many positions as important + for defence as favourable for attack. The position of France + upon the upper Rhine, which it owes to the peace of Westphalia, + received by this new treaty its greatest extension.[76] + +Mazarin found that he had done well in himself following the +campaigning armies. He knew the military importance of most of the +places. The Spanish negotiator could not have said as much. In the +interior, the first comer could easily comprehend the political benefits +of a treaty which should as far as possible abolish the past. Conde had +been included in the terms of the peace and returned to France, well +resolved to keep quiet. He rejoined the Court at Aix, January 27, 1660, +and found there was a certain curiosity exhibited as to how he would be +received. + +Mademoiselle hastened to Anne of Austria: "My niece," said the Queen to +her, "return to your own dwelling; M. le Prince has especially asked +that I should be absolutely alone when I first receive him." + + I began to smile with vexation, but said: "I am nobody; I + believe that M. le Prince will be very astonished if he does + not find me here." The Queen insisted in a very sharp tone; I + went away resolved to complain to M. le Cardinal; this I did on + the following day, saying that if such a thing happened again, + I should leave the Court. He made many excuses. This was + Mazarin's system. He poured forth explanations but in no way + changed his methods in the future. + +It is known that M. le Prince demanded pardon on his knees, and that he +found before him in Louis XIV. a judge grave and cold, who held himself +"very straight."[77] To fight against the King was decidedly no more to +be considered a joke; it could not be overlooked, even if one were the +conqueror of Rocroy. + +Mademoiselle did not succeed in comprehending the real situation. Conde, +surprised and deceived, felt his way. One evening at a dance, when +talking with Mademoiselle, the King joined them. The conversation fell +upon the Fronde. On the part of a man of as much _esprit_ as M. le +Prince, one can well believe that this was not by chance: "The war was +much spoken of," relates Mademoiselle, "and we joked at all the follies +of which we had been guilty, the King with the best grace in the world +joining in these pleasantries. Although I was suffering with a severe +headache, I was not in the least bored." Mademoiselle had laughed +without any second thoughts. Conde, clearer sighted, trembled during the +remainder of his days, before this monarch so capable of dissimulation, +and so perfectly master of himself. + +Almost at the same moment there expired another of those belated feudal +ideas, which neither royalty nor manners could any longer suffer among +the nobility. Gaston d'Orleans died at Blois, February 2nd,[78] his +death being caused by an attack of apoplexy. They had heard him murmur +from his bed regarding his wife and children, _Domus mea domus +desolationis vocabitur_ ("My house will be called the House of +Desolation"). He spoke better than he knew. Madame surpassed herself in +blunders, and still more. She went to dinner while her husband was +receiving the last unction, sent away the servants of Monsieur +immediately after the final sigh, locked up everything, and concerned +herself no more. Her women refused a sheet in which to wrap the body; it +was necessary to beg one from the ladies of the Court. Some priests came +to sit up with the dead, but finding neither "light nor fire" they +returned, and the corpse remained alone, more completely abandoned than +had been that of his brother, the King, Louis XIII. The body was borne +without "pomp or expense"[79] to Saint-Denis, and the widow hastened to +Paris, to take possession of the Palace of the Luxembourg, in the +absence of Mademoiselle. + +The Court did not take the trouble to feign regrets. The King gave the +tone in saying to his cousin, gaily, after the first formal compliments: +"You will see my brother to-morrow in a training mantle. I believe that +he is delighted at the news of your father's death. He believes that he +is heir to all his belongings and state; he can talk of nothing else; +but he must wait awhile." + +Anne of Austria heard this, and smiled. "It is true," pursues +Mademoiselle, "that Monsieur appeared the next day in a wonderful +mantle." Mademoiselle had great difficulty in keeping her own +countenance. Her grief was, however, very real, notwithstanding the +past, or rather, perhaps, on account of what had gone before; it was, +however, only an impulse affected by the impression of the moment. She +exhibited this sorrow a little too effectively: + + I wished to wear the most formal and deepest mourning. Every + one of my household was clad in black, even to the cooks, the + servants, and the valets; the coverings of the mules, all the + caparisons of my horses and of the other beasts of burden. + Nothing could be more beautiful the first time we marched than + to see this grand train, expressive of grief. It had an air + very magnificent and of real grandeur. Everybody says how much + wealth she must possess! + +The mules' mourning is well worth the training mantle of the little +Monsieur. This magnificent funeral pomp had the one inconvenience of +recalling to all comers that Mademoiselle must resign other pleasures. +At the end of some weeks, she would have willingly resumed her share in +Court gaieties; Anne of Austria kindly commanded her to return to life. + +The summer was, however, approaching. The Court continued to drag itself +from city to city, waiting until it should please the King of Spain to +bring his daughter, and the time seemed long. Mazarin shut himself up to +work. Louis drilled the soldiers of his guard. The Queen Mother spent +long days in convents. Mademoiselle wrote, or worked tapestry. A large +number of the courtiers, no longer able to stand the ennui, had returned +to Paris; those who remained, lived lives of complete idleness. The King +had at this time a fine occasion to study the condition of his +provinces; but he did not possess an investigating mind. He spent long +months in front of the Pyrenees, without seeking to know anything of +their formation, showing an unusual indifference to knowledge, even for +this period. One of the few persons who risked themselves in the +Pyrenees, Mme. de Motteville, relates her astonishment at discovering +valleys, torrents, cultivated fields, and inhabitants. She had believed +that she should only find a great wall of rock, "deserted and untilled." + +The journey went on; but nature had not yet the right of entrance into +literature, and society spoke but rarely of its charms. Of the vast +world, only what came directly under the eyes of the individual was +known. + +At length, on June 2d (1660), the Court of France, "kicking its heels" +at Saint-Jean-de-Luz during an entire month, received news of the +arrival at Fontarabia of Philip IV. and of the Infanta Marie Therese. +The next day, the marriage ceremonies commenced. + +Six long days and the best intentions on both sides were needed to +consummate this great affair without offending etiquette. The problem +presented was this: How to marry the King of France with the daughter of +the King of Spain, without permitting the King of France to put his foot +on Spanish territory, nor the King of Spain on that belonging to France, +and at the same time not to allow the Infanta to quit her father before +the ceremony had actually taken place? + +On the side of the French Court, whose discipline left much to be +desired, difficulties of detail arose constantly to complicate affairs. +The little Monsieur wept for desire to go to Fontarabia to see a Spanish +ceremony; but etiquette made it necessary to consider this brother of +the King the present heir presumptive to the crown, and, alleged Louis +XIV., "the heir presumptive of Spain could not enter France to see a +ceremony."[80] + +After consideration of this point, the heir was forbidden to pass the +frontier. Then Mademoiselle arrived, who wished to be of the party. She +represented that the order was not applicable to her, and cited the +Salic law which gave her the right to traverse the Bidassoa: "I do not +inherit," said she; "I should have some compensation. Since daughters +are of no value in France, they should at least be permitted to enjoy +spectacles." + +Mazarin convoked the ministers to submit this argument. The discussion +lasted "three or four hours." Finally, Mademoiselle gained her cause, +although the King himself was rather against her. The important question +of "trains" gave also some embarrassment to the Cardinal. A duke had +offered to bear the train of Mademoiselle in the nuptial cortege. +Mazarin was obliged to seek two other dukes for the younger sisters of +Mademoiselle, two children whom the lady of honour of their mother had +led to the marriage. He could only find a marquis and a count; the dukes +hid themselves. The lady of honour uttered loud protests; "her +Princesses must have 'tail-bearers' as titled as those of their tall +sister, or they should not go at all." "I will do what I can," replied +the Cardinal; "but no one wishes the task." + +Mademoiselle had the good grace to sacrifice her duke, and Mazarin +believed the affair terminated, when the Princess Palatine[81] caused a +novel incident, upon the day of the ceremony, and even when the last +moment was approaching. She appeared in the Queen's chamber, wearing a +train, to which, being a foreign Princess, she had no right. La Palatine +had counted upon the general confusion to smuggle herself in and to +create a precedent. It was needful to delay matters. The train had been +reported to Mademoiselle, and no marriage should prevent her protest. +The Cardinal and after him the King were forced to listen to a discourse +upon the limitations of foreign princesses. "I believe," writes +Mademoiselle, "that I was very eloquent." She proved herself at least +very convincing, for La Palatine received the order to take off her +train. + +But it is necessary to retrace our steps; trains have carried us too +far. The relations between the two monarchs had been regulated with a +minutia worthy of Asiatic courts. They met only in a hall, built +expressly for the purpose upon the Isle des Faisans, and on horseback +upon the frontier. The building was half in French, half in Spanish +territory. The decorations of the two sides were different. Louis XIV. +must walk upon French carpets, Philip IV. upon Spanish ones. The one +must only sit upon a French chair, write only upon a French table with +French ink, seek the time only from a French clock, placed in his half +of the hall; the other guarded himself with the same care from every +object not Spanish. Two opposite doors gave passage at precisely the +same instant. An equal number of steps led them to the place where the +red carpet of France joined the gold and silver one of Spain; and the +two Kings addressed each other and embraced over the frontier. Thus +demanded the laws of ceremonial monarchy. Their rigour commenced to +astonish the good people of France. The interviews upon the Isle des +Faisans became legendary. La Fontaine has alluded to them in one of his +last fables, _Les Deux Chevres_,[82] in which he has found no better +comparison for the solemnity with which the two goats, equally "tainted" +with their rank, equally curbed, advanced towards each other upon the +fragile and narrow bridge. + + Je m'imagine voir, avec Louis le Grand, + Philippe quatre qui s'avance + Dans l'isle de la Conference[83] + Ainsi s'avancaient pas a pas, + Nez a nez, nos aventurieres. + +When all was arranged, on June 3rd, neither the bride and bridegroom nor +their parents having seen each other, the King of France, represented by +Don Luis de Haro, was married by proxy in the church of Fontarabia to +the Infanta Marie-Therese. + +This was the expedient which saved the dignity of the two crowns. After +the ceremony, the new Queen returned to her father. She wrote the next +day a letter of official compliment to her husband. We possess the +response of Louis XIV., in which he has well performed a somewhat +difficult task. + + SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ, June 4, 1660. + + To receive at the same time a letter from your Majesty, and the + news of the celebration of our marriage, and to be on the eve + of seeing you, these are assuredly causes of indelible joy for + me. + + My cousin, the Duke of Crequi, first gentleman of my chamber, + whom I am sending expressly to your Majesty, will communicate + to you the sentiments of my heart, in which you will remark + always increasingly an extreme impatience to convey these + sentiments in person. + + He will also present to you some trifles on my part. + +The same day, in the afternoon, Anne of Austria met for the first time +with her brother and niece together. The interview took place in the +hall of the Isle des Faisans. Philip IV. astonished the French, +decidedly less bound up in tradition than the Spanish. Philip dwelt so +immobile in his gravity that one would have hardly taken him for a +living man.[84] + +Anne of Austria wishing to embrace her brother, whom she had not seen +for forty-five years, he decided to make a movement, but it was only "to +withdraw his head so far that she could not catch it."[85] The Queen +Mother had forgotten the customs of her own land. To embrace in Spain +was not to kiss; it only consisted in giving a greeting without touching +the lips, as we see done at the Comedie Francaise by personages of the +classic repertoire. Kissing was, as we read in Moliere only permitted in +certain rare cases. In the _Malade Imaginaire_, Thomas Diafoirus +consults his father before kissing his fiancee: "Shall I kiss her?" +"Yes," replies M. Diafoirus. + +The evening of the interview, June 4th, Mademoiselle was curious to know +whether the King of Spain had kissed the Queen Mother. "I asked her; she +told me 'no'; that they had embraced according to the fashion of their +own country." + +How was this strange fashion established at the Court of France, and +from there transferred to our theatres? Was it after the marriage of +Louis XIV.? I leave to the amateurs of the theatre the solving of this +little problem in dramatic history. + +They brought a French chair for the Queen Mother, a Spanish one for +Philip IV., and they seated themselves nearly "upon the line which +separated the two kingdoms."[86] + +Marie-Therese, Infanta of Spain and bride by proxy of the King of +France, was still to be seated. Should this be done in France or Spain? +upon a Spanish or French chair? They brought one Spanish and two French +cushions; piled them upon Spanish territory, and the young Queen found +herself seated in a mixed fashion, suitable to her ambiguous situation. + +Louis XIV. did not accompany his mother. Etiquette did not yet permit +the new couple to address a word to each other. It had been arranged +that the King of France should ride along the banks of the Bidassoa and +that the Infanta should regard him from afar through the window. A +romantic impatience which seized the husband with longing to become +acquainted with his wife caused this part of the programme to fail. +Louis XIV. looked at Marie-Therese through a half-open door. They +regarded each other some seconds, and then returned, she to Fontarabia, +he to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. + +On Sunday, the sixth, they saw each other officially at the Isle des +Faisans. Affairs were but little further advanced; Philip IV. had +declared that the Infanta must conceal her impressions until she arrived +on French territory. On the seventh, Anne of Austria brought her +daughter-in-law to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where the young people could at +length converse together, awaiting the definite celebration of the +marriage, which took place June 9th in the church of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. + +Some days later, the Court retook the road to Paris. Marie-Therese made +her solemn entrance into the capital, August 20th. The procession +departed from Vincennes. "It was necessary to rise at four o'clock in +the morning," reports Mademoiselle, who had a frightful sick headache. +At five o'clock, every one was in gala costume, and they reached the +Louvre at seven in the evening. Mademoiselle was at the end of her +endurance; but a Princess of the blood had no right to be ill on the day +of a Queen's entrance. Sometimes ridiculous and sometimes ferocious; +such appears ancient etiquette to our democratic generation. Monarchs +formerly felt the value of its services too keenly to shrink from +submitting to its dictates. They knew that a demi-god never descends +with impunity from his pedestal. It is impossible to witness his efforts +at remounting without laughter. To-day the Princes themselves desire +less etiquette. The monarchical sentiment is not sufficiently strong to +make them willing to support the ennui of ceremonial; they are capable +of any sacrifice of dignity to escape it. We see them resign to others +their rank and privileges in the hope of finding in obscurity the +happiness which they have missed in the King's palace. + +The present lack of form makes it difficult for the mass to take royalty +seriously, and thus vanish together the respect for formal courtesies +and for aristocracies. Louis XIV. and Philip IV. in spite of La +Fontaine, were in the right in attaching capital importance to the +placing their feet upon the right carpets. This precision of etiquette +prolonged the existence of the monarchy. + +Life retook its habitual course in the Palace of the Louvre. The King +was studying a new ballet. Very few persons remarked that he found time +also to make long visits upon Mazarin. The Cardinal, feeling himself in +the clutches of death, was preparing his pupil for his "great trade" of +sovereign. He made him acquainted with affairs, spoke to him in +confidence of the people connected with the administration of the +kingdom; discussed political questions, and recommended him to have no +longer a first minister.[87] The one thing which he could not yet +resolve to do was to permit the King to give a direct order. His dying +hands would not let fall a half-crown or relax an atom of authority. + +The young Queen was astonished at the money restrictions which had +oppressed her since her sojourn in France; Mazarin supervised her +household through the intermediary of Colbert, "who saved upon +everything,"[88] and he (Mazarin) pocketed the savings. On New Year's +day, he absorbed for himself three-fourths of the gifts of +Marie-Therese. The Queen Mother having shown some discontent, "the poor +Monsieur the Cardinal," as she called him, cried out boldly, "Alas! if +she knew from whence comes this money and that it is the blood of the +people, she would not be so liberal." + +In vain Mazarin hastened; he did not have time to finish his task. +February 11, 1661, the King, realising that his minister was lost, began +to weep and to say that he did not know what he should do. All France +experienced the same fears. It did not occur to any that the King was +capable of governing, or that he would take the trouble to do so. The +doubt was only as to the name of the one who should take the helm in +place of the Cardinal. Anne of Austria believed in chance; Conde had one +party amongst the nobility. The Parisian bourgeoisie said to itself that +Retz was perhaps going to return from over sea "for necessity."[89] The +ministers admitted that there was only one man fitted for the position. + +While these various intrigues were progressing, Mazarin expired (March +6th), and some hours later there came that _coup de theatre_ of which +one reads in all histories. Louis XIV. signified to his ministers and +grandees his intention of himself governing. Those who knew him well, +beginning with his own mother, did nothing but laugh, persuaded that it +was only a fire of straw. Louis at first shut himself up entirely alone +during two hours, in order to establish a "rule of life"[90] as an +effective monarch. The programme resulting from this meditation +surprisingly resembles the one given by Catherine de Medicis in the +letter already cited. It exacts the qualities of a great worker. From +that day, Louis showed these qualities. "For above all," says he in his +_Memoires_, "I resolved not to have a first minister, and not to permit +to be filled by another the functions belonging to the King, as long as +I bear the title." + +The passage in which he describes his "wedding" with the joy of work is +moving and beautiful. It is even poetical. + + I felt immediately my spirit and courage elevated. I found + myself a different individual. I discovered in myself a mind + which I did not know existed, and I reproached myself for + having so long ignored this joy. The timidity which judgment at + first gave caused me pain, above all when it was necessary to + speak in public a little lengthily. This timidity, however, was + dissipated little by little. + + At length it seemed to me I was really King and born to rule. I + experienced a sense of well-being difficult to express. + +Louis would now have need of all his courage. In measure as his mind +became "elevated," shame for his gross ignorance overcame him. "When +reason," says he, "commences to become solid, one feels a cutting and +just chagrin in finding oneself ignorant of what all others know." + +The practical utility of his neglected studies was realised by him. Not +to know history with his "trade" was a difficulty felt every instant. +Not to be capable of deciphering alone a Latin letter when Rome and the +Empire wrote their dispatches only in Latin, was an insupportable +slavery to others. Never to have read anything upon the "art of war" +when the ambition was aroused to become an expert in this art and to +acquire glory through it, "was to put brakes on one's own wheels." The +young King's education must be remade; the only difficulty was the +finding sufficient leisure. He would not allow himself to be hindered by +other difficulties, of which the principal one was the danger of +hazarding the newly acquired authority by returning to the schoolroom. + +Louis XIV. braved public opinion with remarkable courage. This is one of +the finest periods of his life. He proved himself truly great by his +sentiment of professional duty, and by his empire over himself, the day +upon which he dared to say to himself as the bourgeois gentleman of +Moliere was forced to say, knowing well the ridicule to which he was +exposed: "I wish ... to be able to reason among intelligent people." + +In order to do him full justice, it is necessary to remember the foolish +effect at that date produced by a scholar of twenty-three.[91] Classes +were then finished at fifteen or sixteen, and the memory of them was +inseparably connected with birch rods, without whose aid there was no +teaching in the seventeenth century. When it was known that the King was +again taking Latin lessons from his ancient preceptor, and that he +passed hours in writing themes, the courtiers might easily have had it +upon the end of their tongues to demand as Mme. Jourdain of M. Jourdain: +"Are you at your age going to college to be whipped?" + +He did not console himself with the illusion that his rank would save +him from such railleries. He confesses _a propos_ of history, which he +wished to study again, how keenly sensitive he was to the thought of +what might be said. "One single scruple embarrassed me, which was, that +I had a certain shame, considering my position in the world, of +redescending into an occupation to which I should earlier have devoted +myself." Everything had yielded to the desire "not to be deprived of the +knowledge that every worthy man should have." + +In spite of these efforts, Louis was never educated; he never knew +Latin, which was deemed the real knowledge of the seventeenth century, +in which century the language was well taught. Too much business or too +many pleasures prevented the young King from pursuing his design during +a sufficiently long period. It is possible, also, that his lack of +natural facility may have discouraged him. Louis XIV. had memory and +judgment, but his intelligence was slow. In short, he abandoned his +studies too soon; he felt, and repeated till the day of his death the +confession, "I am ignorant." + +But Louis never relaxed the labours belonging to him as chief of the +State. His days were regulated once for all. Mme. de Motteville tells +the arrangement the day following the death of Mazarin. Saint-Simon +gives it again a half-century later, and it is identical. Apart from +extraordinary and unexpected business, and formal functions, so numerous +and important at this epoch, the King regularly devoted six to eight +hours daily to ordinary business. Add to these hours the time for +sleeping and eating, for seeing his family and taking the fresh air, and +but little time would have been left for diversion if the King had not +had the capacity of doing without sleep almost at will. It was this +physical gift which permitted him to provide as largely for pleasure as +for work. Nevertheless, the Court had trouble in adapting itself to the +new regime. It did not know what to do while the King worked. + +"It is more wearisome here than can be imagined," wrote the Duc +d'Enghien, son of the great Conde, in 1664. "The King is shut up almost +the entire afternoon."[92] Outside the Court, the people could have +cried with joy. It had been a delightful surprise to discover a great +worker in this ballet dancer. Paris was ready to permit him to indulge +in his little weaknesses, provided that he would govern, that he himself +would use his power. The bourgeoisie Frondeuse was disarmed. + + It is necessary [wrote Guy Patin to a friend] that I should + share with you a thought which I find very amusing. M. de + Vendome has said that our good King resembles a young doctor + who has much ardour for his profession, but who demands some + _quid pro quo_. I know those who see him intimately, who have + assured me that he has very good intentions and, that as soon + as he is _completely the master_, he will persuade all the + world of them. Amen.[93] + +The italicised words are significant of the opinion of Guy Patin. In +establishing absolute monarchy, Louis XIV. had the good wishes of all. +Other testimony quite as remarkable exists to confirm this statement. +After the death of Mazarin, Olivier d'Ormesson, who had been of the +opposition party in the Parliament, and whose independence would soon +cost him his career, let three entire years roll by before admitting any +statement in his journal to the detriment of the King. This writer also +believes in Louis, and, on the whole, approves of the compensations +(_quid pro quo_) demanded by the governing novice. + +After the first astonishment, the sudden change in Louis's methods +provoked but few commentaries in the immediate surroundings of the King. +Anne of Austria had a fit of vexation in realising that she would never +again have any influence; after which, indolence aiding, her course was +taken. The Queen Mother had no objection on principle to absolute +monarchy: she had always favoured it. She could not, as a Spanish +Princess, conceive of royalty being the least limited. Once resigned to +the new situation, she became a truly maternal old Queen, who preached +virtue to youth, and endeavoured to lighten the monotony of her +daughter-in-law's life. + +Marie-Therese had only one single political opinion; good government was +that under which a king could pass much time with his wife. This poor +little wife died without having ever really lived with her husband. + +Mademoiselle had no reason to regret the first ministers; there had been +too little reason to enjoy the two with whom she had had intercourse. +She imagined herself liberated from all dependence through the death of +the Cardinal, succeeding that of her father, and this thought was most +agreeable to her. She did not perceive that she had only changed +masters, and that the new one would prove himself infinitely more +difficult to please, more exacting, than that sceptical Italian who +confined himself to watching that she did not carry away her millions to +strangers and who simply mocked at everything else. + +Mademoiselle finally passed through the state of apprenticeship to +absolute monarchy. Her eyes were opened only on the day on which the +thunder cloud burst upon her. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 35: See the _Memoires de Louis XIV._, edited by Charles +Dreyss. The _Memoires_ of Louis XIV. were not written by himself. He +dictated them to his secretaries afterward adding notes in his own +handwriting and correcting the proofs. See the _Introduction_ by M. +Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 36: _Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Memoires de +Montglat._] + +[Footnote 37: Montglat.] + +[Footnote 38: _Id._] + +[Footnote 39: Letters of January 3, 1717, of September 27, 1718, and of +July, 1722. Madame adds in this last: "Now, all the circumstances are +known."] + +[Footnote 40: Letter to the Queen, Anne of Austria, October 27, 1651.] + +[Footnote 41: March 23, 1865, Pere Theiner, Guardian of the Secret +Archives of the Vatican, replied to some one who had pressed the +question: "Our acts of December 16, 1641, in which Jules Mazarin was +created Cardinal, do not say whether or not he was a priest. How could +he then have been admitted to the order of Cardinal-priest? No doubt he +was a priest." The letter of Pere Theiner has been published by M. Jules +Loiseleur in his _Problemes historiques_.] + +[Footnote 42: _Letters of Madame de Maintenon_ edited by Geoffroy.] + +[Footnote 43: For further details see the excellent volume of M. +Lacour-Gayet, _L'education politique de Louis XIV._] + +[Footnote 44: December 24th, _Relations des ambassadeurs venitiens_.] + +[Footnote 45: The letter is dated April 21, 1654. Louis XIV. was then +fifteen and a half years of age.] + +[Footnote 46: Mme. de Motteville had heard him express the same idea. +_Cf._ his _Memoires_, v., 101, ed. Petitot.] + +[Footnote 47: _Les fragments des memoires inedits_ by Dubois, valet of +Louis XIV., published by Leon Aubineau in the _Biblotheque de l'Ecole +des Chartes_, and in his _Notices litteraires_ upon the 17th century.] + +[Footnote 48: _Cf._ Lacour-Gayet, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 49: M. Dreyss dates the writing of this portion of the +_Memoires_ about 1670.] + +[Footnote 50: Letters of June 9, 1654, and April 9, 1658.] + +[Footnote 51: _Segraisiana._ Louis XIV. was seventeen when he made this +remark.] + +[Footnote 52: _Journal de voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais a Paris_ +(1656-1658).] + +[Footnote 53: _Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 54: The fair of Saint-Germain was held between Saint-Sulpice +and Saint-Germain-des-Pres, from February 3d to the evening before Palm +Sunday. The Court and the populace elbowed each other there.] + +[Footnote 55: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 56: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 57: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 58: _Journal de deux jeunes Hollandais._] + +[Footnote 59: April 29th.] + +[Footnote 60: To the Duc de Bouillon and to the son of the Marshal Duc +de La Meilleraye, who took the title of Duc de Mazarin.] + +[Footnote 61: It must not be forgotten that Saint-Simon was presented at +Court in 1692. Louis XIV. was then fifty-four, and had reigned +forty-nine years. Saint-Simon only knew the end of the reign.] + +[Footnote 62: Brother of the Superintendent of Finances.] + +[Footnote 63: In the summer of 1657.] + +[Footnote 64: _Vers d'Atys_, opera played in 1676, and _d'Astrate_, +tragedy of 1663.] + +[Footnote 65: The phrase is M. Jules Lemaitre's.] + +[Footnote 66: See _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_. For this +chapter _cf._ _La misere au temps de la Fronde et Saint-Vincent de +Paul_, by Feillet; _La cabale des devots_, by Raoul Allier; +_Saint-Vincent de Paul_, by Emanuel Broglie; _Saint-Vincent de Paul et +les Goudi_, by Chantelauze; _Port-Royal_, by Sainte-Beuve.] + +[Footnote 67: Village of the arrondissement of Provins.] + +[Footnote 68: Feillet, _La misere au temps de la Fronde_.] + +[Footnote 69: See the volume of Raoul Allier, _La cabale des devots_.] + +[Footnote 70: Marie de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 71: En Picardie.] + +[Footnote 72: M. Emanuel de Broglie.] + +[Footnote 73: Saul in the _Journal des guerres civiles de +Dubuisson-Aubenay_. He mentions the date of December 2, 1650, upon which +"large donations" were sent into Champagne, by Mmes. de Lamoignon and de +Herse, Messieurs de Bernieres, Lenain, etc.] + +[Footnote 74: The Parliament of Dijon had a bad reputation with the +ministers, who accused it of refusing all reform. This does not excuse +such a lack of good faith.] + +[Footnote 75: Dombes was a small independent principality which had only +been definitely united to France on March 28, 1782; its capital was +Trevoux.] + +[Footnote 76: _Histoire de France._ Tr. by Jacques Porchat and Miot. +Paris, 1886.] + +[Footnote 77: _Memoires de Montglat; Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 78: The ball took place on the 3rd. Several days elapsed +before the news of the death reached Aix.] + +[Footnote 79: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 80: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 81: Anne de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 82: This appeared in 1691.] + +[Footnote 83: Isle des Faisans was also called _Isle de la Conference_, +since Mazarin had there discussed the treaty of the Pyrenees with Luis +de Haro.] + +[Footnote 84: _Memoires de Montglat._] + +[Footnote 85: _Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 86: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 87: There exists in the _Archives d'Affaires etrangeres_ a +fragment of the instructions of Mazarin to Louis XIV., written under the +dictation of the King. M. Chantelauze, who discovered it, published it +in the _Correspondant_ of August 10, 1881.] + +[Footnote 88: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 89: Guy Patin. Letter of January 28, 1661.] + +[Footnote 90: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 91: He was even twenty-four when he asked Perefixe again to +give him Latin lessons.] + +[Footnote 92: Letter of June 27th to the Queen of Poland (_Archives de +Chantilly_). The King dined at one o'clock.] + +[Footnote 93: Letter of July 15, 1661.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Mademoiselle at the Luxembourg--Her Salon--The "Anatomies" of + the Heart--Projects of Marriage, and New Exile--Louis XIV. and + the Libertines--Fragility of Fortune in Land--_Fetes Galantes_. + + +With the approach of her thirty-fifth year, the Grande Mademoiselle +perceived by diverse signs that she was no longer young. She was forced +to recognise that her strength had its limitations, which fact had never +before been forced upon her. On February 7, 1662, Louis XIV. danced for +the first time a grand ballet entitled the "Amours of Hercules," and his +cousin of Montpensier took part. She was ill from fatigue. Another kind +of weariness overcame her; she became bored with fetes. She had been +present at so many gala occasions since her entrance into the world, and +had seen so many festivals and fireworks, garlands of flowers and +allegorical chariots, that she was now quickly satiated. + +The King still loved this kind of abundant pleasure; those which he +offered to his Court sometimes lasted successive days and nights, +without giving time to breathe, and all being expected to feel continued +amusement. Mademoiselle was no longer capable of this. She was beginning +to long for the repose of home. Her sick headaches contributed to this +disability; age had increased them, and all women know that it is better +to suffer a headache in solitude. After a lively struggle, she had +returned to the palace of the Luxembourg and was lodging under the same +roof as her stepmother. The old Madame would have gladly relinquished a +neighbour whose presence presaged nothing good, but no one had sustained +the contention as no one was in the least interested in her welfare. One +reads in a fugitive leaf of the times issued on July 21, 1660: "This +affair was deliberated upon in the Court, and it was found that +Mademoiselle had the right to demand one of the apartments free, and +that Madame could not refuse it." It is said that the King wrote to +Madame in order to soften the blow; it was necessary to drain the bitter +cup to the dregs, and at a time in which Madame had great need of +tranquillity to install at her very door this tempestuous stepdaughter, +with whom no peace was possible. + +Madame had "vapours," otherwise called a nervous malady. She was afraid +of noise, of movement, and of being forced to speak, and Mademoiselle +insisted upon making "scenes." "I teased her often," says the Princess +in her _Memoires_, "and very much despised her (in which I was wrong), +and she always responded as one who feared me, and with much +submission." The public did not consider it worth while to waste pity +upon Madame, because she bored every one; a fault never pardoned. Anne +of Austria, herself a very amiable woman, when not opposed, could never +suffer her inoffensive sister-in-law. The Queen Mother said to +Mademoiselle, who did not need this encouragement: "Her person, her +temper, and her manners are odious to me." The public was fundamentally +right in its antipathy. Madame was one of those people who render virtue +hateful, and in thus doing are very injurious to humanity. + +The Luxembourg was commodious and gay. Mademoiselle enjoyed it, and it +pleased her to arrange for herself a grand existence as a Princess, rich +and independent. Nothing could be more displeasing to the Court. As soon +as Louis XIV. had assumed full power, he let it be seen that he wished +no social centre in his kingdom other than his own palace. His cousin +did not take this fact into account. This was not bravado. It was due to +the impossibility of comprehending that "a person of her quality" could +be reduced to the role of satellite. + +It is certain that nature had not prepared her for this role. "I would +rather pass my life in solitude," wrote she, "than restrain in any way +my proud humour, even at the expense of my fortune. I have no +complaisance, and I demand a great deal from others."[94] She also adds: +"I do not willingly praise others and very rarely blame myself." With +this avowed disposition, it would perhaps have been wiser not to go too +often to the Louvre. It was a great imprudence to attract the crowd to +herself as she had done at the time in which she was openly opposing the +Tuileries. + +The salon of Mademoiselle became the first in Paris, the most +interesting and select. Since Paris had tasted the pleasures of clever +conversation and discovered, under the direction of Mme. de Rambouillet, +the genius of this delicate art, it could not do without it. The +initiator was still living, but she was old and ill, and her circle had +long been dispersed.[95] + +Mlle. de Scudery had collected together as many of the remnants of her +first salon as she could, and had thus laid the foundation for the +famous Saturdays, at which wit and knowledge were dispensed in +abundance. Nevertheless, it was not the same. The Saturdays of "Sapho" +brought back the literary people to the pedantry from which Mme. de +Rambouillet had more or less delivered them. They were left too much to +themselves, and, thus isolated, they had lost a certain intellectual +grace acquired by the friction between the aristocrats and the +blue-stockings. + +The mind as well as the body has its own manners, and they may be bad or +good. In 1661, the Court alone had breeding. There existed no other +society in which the first comer understood how to speak a language easy +and _galant_, well adapted to plumed hats and elegant bows. These +belonged to the traditions of the place. Such courtesies were lacking +with the learned friends of Mlle. de Scudery, who no longer felt +themselves spurred on by the fine gentlemen, so alert, capable of such +light railleries, and detesting pedants. + +The feminine society of the Saturdays had also too little intercourse +with duchesses and marquises to replace the Hotel Rambouillet. Mlle. +Bocquet, who filled a large place in the chronicles of the Saturdays, +was very amiable and played the lute "marvellously,"[96] but she +belonged to the small bourgeoisie. Mlle. Dupre, another intimate, was an +intelligent and educated girl, who had made a special study of +philosophy. She quoted Descartes too often to have "the air _galant_" in +conversation. As much could be said of others. Mlle. de Scudery herself, +who had been received in the best company and who had formally combated +the "Blue-stockingism" with admirable good sense, had not written +thirty-two octavo volumes with impunity. There still remained a little +ink on the end of her fingers. It seemed as if all the pedants of France +held their classes in her house. Plays upon words filled the papers +scattered about, upon which "Prosecutions" were held. The "Illustrious +Sapho" had truly inspired Moliere when he wrote _Les Precieuses +Ridicules_; in vain, M. Cousin refuses to believe it.[97] I do not +myself think that she escaped. + +Mademoiselle rendered to the wits of the day the service of sending them +back to the Court for lessons in language and manners. We are well +informed of this, thanks to the fantasy of a Princess which produced a +little literature upon the model offered by the Luxembourg. + +In 1657, Mademoiselle, being at Champigny for the Richelieu lawsuit, the +Princess of Tarente[98] and Mlle. de la Tremouille[99] showed her their +literary portraits written by themselves.[100] These were imitations of +those which Mlle. de Scudery, creator of the kind, gave in her +romances,--the personalities to be divined with a key. "I had never +before seen anything of the kind; I found them very _galants_, and wrote +my own." After her own, she made others, and exacted them from those +about her. + +From this resulted a repertoire unique of its kind, in which noble +personages, of both sexes and all ages, have been so obliging as not to +leave us ignorant of themselves, from the state of their teeth to their +opinions upon love, nor have they omitted to present similar details +concerning their friends. + +The collection of these _Portraits_[101] reveals to us how the +aristocracy then viewed itself, or, at least, how it wished to be +estimated by others. The ordinary beginning was to picture the face and +bearing. The fashion was to do this with sincerity, which by no means +indicates modesty. The famous Duchesse de Chatillon warned readers that +she was going to speak with a naivete "the greatest possible." + + This is why [continues she] I can say that I have the most + beautiful and best formed figure which has ever been seen. + There is none so regular, so free, so easy. My bearing is + entirely agreeable, and in all my actions I have an air + infinitely _spirituel_. My face is a most perfect oval, + according to all standards; my forehead is slightly elevated, + which aids the regularity of the oval. My eyes are brown, very + brilliant, and very deeply set; the gaze is very gentle and, at + the same time, full of fire and spirit. I have a well-made + nose, and as for the mouth, it is not only fine and well + coloured, but infinitely agreeable, made so by a thousand + little natural expressions not to be seen in any other mouths. + My teeth are very beautiful and regular. I have a very small + chin. I have not a very white skin. My hair is a clear + chestnut, and very lustrous. My neck is more beautiful than + ugly. As for my arms and hands, I am not proud of them; but the + skin is very soft and smooth. It would be impossible to find a + thigh better made than mine or a foot better turned. + +The description of the physique was a rule of the Portraits, not even +the _religieuses_ believing that it should be dispensed with. + +Among the Portraits is found one of an Abbess who visited Mademoiselle, +the inspiring Marie-Eleonore de Rohan, a person much esteemed on account +of her mother, the famous Duchesse de Montbazon, but very disconcerting, +notwithstanding, for our modern ideals of monastic life. + +She divided herself between the cloister and the world, sufficiently +edifying when it was needful, lively and brilliant the remainder of the +time, and as natural in the one role as in the other. The Abbess +composed works of piety for her nuns,--among others _La Morale de +Salomon_, many times re-edited, and the _Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de +la Penitence_. The lady of society placed herself before her mirror and +wrote without a shade of embarrassment: "I have some haughtiness in my +physiognomy and some modesty. I have too large a nose, a mouth not +disagreeable, lips suitable, and teeth neither beautiful nor ugly." This +"nose too large" shocked the savant Huet. In reproducing the portrait of +Mme. l'Abbesse, he wrote: "As the beauty of the nose is one to which I +am very sensitive, permit, Madame, that I should begin with yours. It is +large; it is white, slightly aquiline, and gives something _spirituel_ +to your smile." + +Another phrase of Huet's gives us a vision of how these +pseudo-religieuses, whose species was destined to disappear with the +reform of convents, a not regrettable fact, accommodated the convent +garb with coquetry: "One cannot imagine," pursued the future bishop, +"more beautiful hair than yours; it is ash colour, blond, curls in a +very agreeable manner, and admirably suits your face, as far as I have +been able to judge, when it has escaped by chance, in spite of your care +to conceal it." + +After the body comes the temper, tastes, qualities, and defects of the +mind. Here lies the lasting interest of the Portraits. It is valuable to +know from first hand, through its own confidences, that this +aristocratic society, from which the King exacted the complete sacrifice +of its independence, hated nothing more than restraint, and did not +hesitate to say so. Men and women, speaking for themselves, return +constantly to this point, and always in the same terms: "I hate +restraint. Restraint is insupportable to me." "I have an aversion for +all that is called restraint." "I suffer oppression impatiently and I +passionately love liberty." + +From the point of view of absolute monarchy and the discipline which it +wished to impose upon the Court, the French nobility had very bad +habits. This nobility professed love of the chivalric virtues, and +hatred of anything resembling baseness or disloyalty. In this, it was +sincere, only we must admit that opinions are constantly changing even +in relation to morals, and that to-day, we might have difficulty in +agreeing with a gentleman of 1660 as to what is loyal or base and what +is not. Honour commanded the gentleman to avenge offences against +himself without too closely examining into the methods of so doing. +Custom authorised him to be unjust and to act with bad faith towards the +lowly, common, and feeble, in particular when money was owed. Honesty +was a bourgeois virtue. Mademoiselle considered it unworthy that people +of quality should abuse their authority to "ruin miserable creditors," +but she was an exception. + +The obligations of "honour" were extending to all conditions. Vatel was +praised for having killed himself because the fish did not rise. "It +was said," wrote Mme. de Sevigne, "that this sort of honour was a +strength." + +It was not the same with another sentiment which filled the plays of +Corneille and which is constantly referred to in all the writings of the +time. General consent reserved for people of quality the privilege of +having ideas of "Glory and of the 'Beautiful' or the True," which led, +according to Huet's definition, to the desire for grand things. The +desire for "true glory," which is carefully distinguished from what he +called the "halo of glory," was the aristocratic sentiment "par +excellence." Even among the authors of the _Portraits_, every one was +not considered to possess the high capacity for strongly feeling this +longing. + +In spite of the prevailing licentiousness of the Court, there still +remained in this brilliant society many pure women. At the same time, +virtue was not particularly honoured. It was a matter of personal taste, +the nobility only attaching a secondary and conventional importance to +its practice. The women "pure," or those who were supposed so to be, +received praise from friendly pens. The others were not looked at +askance, except by the Jansenists and other sombre spirits. + +The young Comtesse de Fiesque, with whom Mademoiselle had been embroiled +at Saint-Fargeau, had a well-established reputation for gallantry. The +anonymous author of her Portrait makes allusion to this, and hastens to +add, "Truly this does her no harm." No harm at all! Mademoiselle did +not think of it when Mme. de Fiesque came to demand pardon for her +impertinences: "She threw herself on her knees before me; I raised her +up and embraced her; she wept with joy. She is a worthy woman, only too +easily led away, but good at heart." + +Naturally men spoke very freely of women; it was like the crowing of +cocks. An anonymous writer, who might have been the poet Racan,[102] +represents himself as "very ugly, very stammering, and very +disagreeable, very grumbling besides and untruthful," and goes on, "I am +very bold with women and quite as successful as if I were good-looking +and possessed the most agreeable qualities in the world to make myself +well received. I have indeed found myself sometimes as you see me..." +There is still greater contempt expressed for women in the following +passage from the Portrait of La Rochefoucauld by himself: "Formerly I +was a little _galant_; now not at all, although still youthful. I have +renounced all flirtations. I am only astonished that there should still +be so many worthy people who occupy themselves in culling these 'little +flowers.'" Considering Mme. de Longueville, this statement is rather +hard. I would remark in passing, that La Rochefoucauld was +forty-five[103] at the moment in which he found himself somewhat +"young to renounce flirtations." Moliere, however, was soon to make all +Paris laugh at the expense of Arnolphe,[104] who indulged in love +affairs at the age of forty-two. Shall we conclude that Moliere +attempted to lessen the limit of the age of love, or was it only in the +theatre that fashion exacted young lovers? I leave this question to the +clever. It is not without importance in the history of sentiments. + +[Illustration: =FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD= From the engraving by +Hopwood after the painting by Petitot] + +The fashion of Portraits lasted but little more than two years with +those who were its sponsors; as soon as the custom reached the +bourgeoisie, the people of quality abandoned it. The very lively taste +developed in the middle class, in their turn, for this diversion proved +of real service to literature. The imitators of the "Galerie" learned, +as previously the creators of the game had done, to know the "interior +of people."[105] "The anatomies" of their own hearts, imperfect as they +were, habituated them to discern the "qualities and temper of +people,"[106] and thus a large public was prepared to comprehend the +women of Racine. + +Mademoiselle was one of the first to profit by the "soul studies" which +she had brought into favour. There remains a little passage in a portion +of her _Memoires_, written after 1660, which clearly indicates this. +Progress is equally marked in a little romance with a key, entitled +_Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_, which was composed and +printed at Bordeaux in 1659, during the prolonged sojourn of the Court +at that place. + +This is not the only imaginative work for which this facile pen[107] is +responsible, but it is the only one worthy of notice. The subject is +without interest; Mademoiselle has incorporated in a literary tale the +absurd quarrels of her household: "I made a little history which was +finished in three days, by writing in the evening after returning from +the Queen." In compensation, there are in the _Princesse de Paphlagonie_ +some sketches after nature, written with a firm and live touch, a +novelty with Mademoiselle. A passage upon the blue room of Mme. de +Rambouillet will prove a great aid in any attempt to reconstruct an +elegant interior under Louis XIV., if the experiment should ever be made +as has been suggested of playing the comedies of Moliere in the true +"chamber" of Philaminte or of Celimene. Others have spoken of the rooms +in which Mme. de Rambouillet received. The harmonious decoration and the +scholarly disorder have been before described, yet no one but +Mademoiselle has given us the intimate atmosphere of the sanctuary, with +its measured and discreet light, its luxury of flowers, its objects of +art, and its small but choice library betraying the tastes and the +preferences of the divinity of the place. The description resembles +more nearly the salon of an intelligent woman of the twentieth century +than a suite of the Chateau of Versailles. + +The guests of Mademoiselle profited also by the refinement of her +tastes. She enforced one single rule in her salon: cards were banished. +No one was exposed to the danger of being ruined, as was the case in the +circle of the King, who encouraged heavy play. It did not displease +Louis XIV. to be the Providence of the losers, this again being a method +of keeping his nobles in hand. His cousin in no way shared in such +considerations. She said: "I hate to play cards," and only played when +it was impossible to avoid doing so. She did not at all like to lose. It +was remarked that the Luxembourg had gained in gaiety with the exclusion +of gambling games. "There is a hundred times as much laughter," relates +the Abbe de Choisy,[108] at this date very young and a frequent guest at +the palace of the Luxembourg, where he met numerous companions of his +own age. + +The three daughters of the old Madame, Mlles. d'Orleans, d'Alencon, and +de Valois,[109] were always with their step-sister. They escaped from +their deserted apartment to run towards the noise and movement; their +life was too sad with Madame and her eternal "vapours." Relegated to +their chambers as at Blois, with some childish companions, among whom +was Louise de La Valliere,[110] still unknown, they lived in a state of +distrust of their almost invisible mother, who never addressed a word to +them except in scolding. + +At least, with Mademoiselle one had the right to move. Young people had +great freedom. Little games were organised. Parties of hide and seek and +blind-man's-buff were enjoyed. "As I had violin players, it was easy to +dance in any room sufficiently distant from Madame." The Abbe de Choisy +adds a gracious detail: "There were violinists, but ordinarily they were +silent and we danced to singing. It is so charming to dance to the sound +of the voice." While the young moved gaily about, their elders had also +their little games. + +Everything yielded, however, to the unequalled pleasure of conversation. +Among those who gave eclat to the Luxembourg, the names of La +Rochefoucauld, Segrais, Mme. de Lafayette, and Mme. de Sevigne may be +mentioned. Mademoiselle herself often led the conversation, beating the +drums a little, her fashion in everything, but also with a certain +spontaneity which she always displayed. + +Conversation was, during more than a century, even to the time of the +Revolution, to be the great delight of intelligent France, and this +pleasure rendered incomparable service to the French language, which had +rather deteriorated during the first periods of the seventeenth century. +It was immediately perceived that the worst fault for a talker was to +speak like a book, and the French owe to this simple observation the +lesson which taught them to become the first in the world for vivacity +and naturalness in the art of conversation. The habitues of the +Luxembourg only regretted that the conversation did not oftener turn +upon love. But, in this respect, Mademoiselle was not as complaisant as +at Saint-Fargeau. We have seen that, in practice, she closed her eyes; +this simplified life. For her own pleasure, she preferred other topics; +this particular one became at length insupportable to her. "I am much +criticised," says she in her _Portrait_, "because the verses I like the +least, are those which are passionate, for I have not a tender soul." +Besides, she had really nothing more to say upon the subject of love. +She had just made her profession of faith in a correspondence with Mme. +de Motteville, who, while awaiting something better, circulated a +manuscript in which one reads, "Its conditions are shameful; it is +robbery and unjust, without faith and without equity. It is an impiety; +it mocks the holy sacrament. Marriage adjusts nothing: everything is +given to man." + +"Let us escape from slavery," cried Mademoiselle. "Let there be at least +one corner of the globe in which one can say that women are their own +mistresses." Every one has the right to despise love and marriage, +provided only that one does not insist on applying this sentiment only +to others. The youth of the Luxembourg knew too well that Mademoiselle +sought with an increasing ardour that "slavery" against which in +conversation or in writing she called her sex to revolt. Her intimate +friends realised that she was inventing illusions, under the influence +of a possible possession which induced a belief in their reality. She +had believed in an eager tenderness on the part of the little Monsieur +who had married some one else. After the restoration of the Stuarts +(April, 1660), she imagined (the recital is fully given in her +_Memoires_) that the King, Charles II., whom she had refused with +disdain when he was only a poor pretender, had no other intention in +remounting the throne than again to demand her hand, and that she would +nobly respond: "I do not deserve this, having rejected your suit when +you were in disgrace. The remembrance of this would always rest on our +two hearts and would prevent true happiness." This fine response has +been quoted a hundred times. Unfortunately, it is very clearly proved +through the testimony of English documents[111] that Mademoiselle had no +occasion to make it. + +Advances, alas! had come from one side only and had been ill received. +"I very much desire the marriage of Mademoiselle," wrote Lady +Derby[112] to her sister-in-law, Mme. de la Tremouille, through whom +passed the "insinuations," "but the King has a great aversion to it on +account of the contempt which she has shown him. I have spoken of her to +Marquis d'Ormond, but I have met with little encouragement." In another +letter: "I have proposed Mademoiselle, but I have little hope. If the +King looks for wealth, we can hardly expect greater than with +Mademoiselle. But I fear that having been despised in his poverty, he +may be little disposed to regard such a marriage." Charles II. would +listen to nothing; he had guarded a grudge against his cousin. On the +other hand, there is every appearance of truth when she states that the +old Duc Charles III. de Lorraine,[113] had demanded her "on his knees" +for a youth of eighteen, Prince Charles de Lorraine, his nephew, who +became afterwards one of the most famous Austrian generals. It was a +question, as can well be understood, of a political combination. + +Unfortunately, Prince Charles himself had another project, better suited +to his age. He was in love with the eldest daughter of Madame, +Marguerite d'Orleans, who returned his affection with all her heart. The +youthful society of the Luxembourg accuses Mademoiselle of having, +through jealousy, caused this project to fail. "The affair had been +advanced," relates that gossip, the Abbe de Choisy, "but the old +Mademoiselle had talked and cackled so much that she spoiled +everything." She was desperate at the thought of her younger sisters, +beggars compared to herself, marrying under her very eyes. Marguerite +d'Orleans made, out of spite, a marriage which turned out badly,[114] +but through which Mademoiselle in no way profited. Owing to a singular +change of desire, from the day on which it had depended upon herself to +marry Prince Charles, she had only felt contempt for this little prince +"_sans forts_."[115] + +These caprices made the King impatient, who ended by making negotiations +with Lorraine without any longer occupying himself with his cousin. +Louis XIV. still retained the old monarchical principles in relation to +the marriage of princesses. He regarded them simply from the point of +view of politics; questions to be settled by governments and into which +sentiments must not be permitted to intrude. The idea that every human +being has a right to happiness did not belong to his times, and if it +had been suggested, the King would have surely condemned it, for it +insisted upon individual interests as opposed to those of the community, +the rights of which appeared specially sacred to the people of the +seventeenth century. + +Louis XIV. did not believe for himself that he had the right to accept +only the agreeable duties belonging to his "trade of king," since he had +undertaken an existence devoted to strenuous labour, when it would have +been so pleasant to do nothing. According to his principle, the higher +the position of an individual, the more it was fitting that he should +sacrifice his own desires to the public good. Mademoiselle had the +honour of being his first cousin; he had firmly resolved to marry her, +or not to marry her, to bestow her hand upon a hero or a monster, +according as he should judge it useful to "the service of the King." +There was a certain grandeur in this fashion of recognising +relationship. + +It had not occurred to the King that Mademoiselle would ever have the +audacity to resist him. It can be said that any real understanding +between the two was an impossibility. Mademoiselle had lived too long in +the midst of the opposition to yield to the notion of absolute royal +power without limitations and including all possible persons. Louis XIV. +had a too profound faith in the doctrine of the divine right of kings to +refuse for himself any of the prerogatives devolving upon him. Both +these opinions represented Frenchmen at large; but for the moment +Mademoiselle was being borne along by the ebbing tide, Louis XIV. by the +rising one. + +This Prince had entered the world at an opportune moment to profit by a +doctrine which, according to a happy expression, seemed made for him as +he for it. After the Reform, the enforcing the old theory of the divine +origin of power had a beneficial result. The populace in many a country +and province had found themselves as much interested as the sovereigns +in suppressing the political power of the Pope outside of his own +States, and resenting his interference in the affairs of other +countries. + +In France, in the sixteenth century, one meets with Calvinist +theologians amongst the writers who claimed that princes received their +power directly from God, and from God alone. The immediate consequence +of this doctrine was to heighten the eclat of royalty. Princes became +images of divinity, and even something more; Louis XIV., not yet five, +heard himself spoken of as the "Divinity made visible." Two years later, +the Royal Catechism[116] explained to him that he was "Vice-Dieu." +Twenty years later Louis XIV. was "Dieu," without any qualification, and +Bossuet himself declared it from the pulpit. On April 2, 1662, preaching +at the Louvre and speaking of the duties of kings, Bossuet cried: "O +Gods of nations and of lands, you must die like mortals; nevertheless, +until Death, you are Gods." + +When a man hears such statements without shrinking, he is quite ready to +accept all the consequences. "Kings," writes an anonymous person, "are +absolute lords of all who breathe in any portion of their empire."[117] + +Louis XIV. has very clearly formulated the same thought in his +_Memoires_: "The one who has given kings to men has wished that they +should be respected as his lieutenants, reserving for himself alone the +right to examine their conduct. It is the divine wish that any one born +a subject should obey without question."[118] It must be added that +Louis had arrived at these conclusions under a pressure of public +opinion, which had become impatiently desirous of giving to monarchy the +strength needed to place the shattered land again in a condition of +order. + +On the death of Mazarin, France resembled a large establishment whose +cupboards, confided to a negligent steward, had not during an entire +generation been put in order. A flash of vivid hope passed through +France on seeing its young monarch, vigorously aided by Colbert, put the +broom to the mass of abuses and inequities which bore the name of +administration, and show himself resolved, in spite of resistance, to +introduce into the great public services order and moral cleanliness. + +This was not finished without tears and grinding of teeth, not without +some injustice also, as in the case of Foucquet, assuredly culpable, but +paying for many others, of whom Mazarin was the first. But this +cleansing _was_ accomplished. First, the finances were attacked, with +the happy result that people paid less and that the imposts returned +more; then justice,--law reform was commenced in 1665, and the "grands +jours" of Auvergne were opened the same year; the army,--the soldiers, +paid regularly, committed fewer disorders, and the nobility learned, +willingly or not, military obedience. + +At the same time, industry and commerce increased to such an extent +that, from 1668, orders flooded Paris "from the entire world" for a vast +number of articles which ten years previous had been imported. The +ambassador from Venice, Giustiniani, writes this statement to his +government. + +The strong will of the master had put the country in motion. Louis XIV. +was confirmed in his high opinion of absolute monarchy. The same year in +which Bossuet had encouraged him to believe himself above ordinary +humanity, the King decided, with a perfectly equable conscience, to +marry the Grande Mademoiselle to a veritable monster, in the interest of +a political combination which he held at heart, for he returns to it +several times in his _Memoires_. His father-in-law, Philippe IV., +menaced the independence of Portugal.[119] Louis XIV. hesitated to +assist Portugal openly, on account of the treaty of the Pyrenees.[120] +On the other hand, he considered double-dealing more honest to the +Spaniards than their conduct might be to him if opportunity permitted. +"I cannot doubt that they would have been the first to violate the +treaty of the Pyrenees on a thousand points, and I should believe myself +failing in my duty to the State, if, through being more scrupulous, I +should permit them freely to ruin Portugal, and to fall back upon me +with their entire strength." + +It seemed to him that he could conciliate all by aiding Portugal +secretly, and Turenne had no repugnance to this course. This kind of +action was then called, and is often still designated, sagacious +statesmanship. + +Such being the situation, Turenne came one afternoon to seek +Mademoiselle in her cabinet. The account of this interview has been +preserved for us by the Princess, and we can this time trust her +accuracy. Her _Memoires_ are in accord with contemporary witnesses. It +was towards the end of the winter of 1662. Turenne seated himself at the +corner of the fireplace and began with tender protestations. "As I am +somewhat brusque, I at once demanded of him, 'What is the question?' He +replied: 'I wish to marry you.' I interrupted him, saying: 'That is not +easy; I am content with my condition.' + +"'I will make you Queen. Listen to me. Let me tell you everything, and +afterward you can speak. I wish to make you Queen of Portugal.' 'Fi!' +cried I to myself, 'I do not wish it.' He went on: 'Maidens of your +quality have no desires; they must act as the King wills.'" + +The monarch whose mention makes Mademoiselle cry "Fi!" was called +Alphonse VI., and was not yet twenty. At twenty-three, the Abbe de +Saint-Romain,[121] our envoy to Portugal, reported that he could +neither read nor write. In compensation, he pulled the ears and tore out +the hair of those who approached him, and this was in his "good days"; +in the bad ones, he struck, indifferently with his feet, hands, or +sword, any one who vexed him. His subjects no longer dared to pass +through the streets at night, because one of his diversions was to +charge at them suddenly in the "darkness and to try to spit them." + +In person, Alphonse VI. was a fat little barrel, paralysed in one limb, +"gluttonous and dirty," almost always drunk, and vomiting after his +meals. He wore six or seven coats one over the other, amongst which "a +petticoat of three hundred taffetas, embroidered with pistol shots"; +upon his head, a hood falling over his eyes, several caps over this, one +of which covered the ears, and an "English bonnet" over all. "His body," +pursues the Abbe, "smells horribly, and he has always bad ulcers in the +softer portions ... and these offences could not be supported if he did +not bathe once daily in winter, twice in other seasons." Fear obliged +him to make "seventeen people always sleep in his chamber." + +Turenne, however, forced himself to gild this rather bitter pill. He +pointed out to Mademoiselle how useful it would be and for what reasons +to have a French princess on the throne of Portugal. He promised her, +knowing her special weakness, that she should be absolute mistress of +the "great and powerful army"; that the King would give it entirely +over to her by degrees. Without doubt, Alphonse VI. was a paralytic, +"but," asserted Turenne, "this does not appear when he is dressed; he +only slightly drags one leg, and is a little awkward with his arm. So +much the better, if his intelligence also is a little slow. It is not +known whether or not he has any wit; after all, it is only good form for +husbands to be gay." + +"But," replied Mademoiselle, "to be the link of a perpetual war between +France and Spain seems to me a very undesirable position." The situation +would be still worse if, as she was convinced would be the case, the two +crowns should arrive at an accommodation. + +"A truly beautiful future: to have a drunken and paralytic husband, whom +the Spaniards would chase from his kingdom, and to return to France to +demand alms, when all my wealth has been dissipated, and to remain only +the queen of some little village. It is good to be Mademoiselle in +France with five hundred thousand francs of income, and nothing to +demand of the Court. Thus placed, it is foolish to move. If the Court +becomes weariness, one can retire to one's chateau in the country, in +which a little private court of one's own can be held. It is very +diverting also to build new houses. Finally, as mistress of one's own +wishes one is happy, for one does what one wills." + +"But," returned Turenne, "remaining Mademoiselle, even admitting all +that you have said, you are still subject to the King. He commands what +he wills; when his wishes are refused, he scolds; a thousand +disagreeable things are felt at Court; often the King goes farther, he +chases people away. When they are content in one place, he sends them to +another. He orders journeys from one end of the kingdom to the other. +Sometimes, he imprisons recalcitrants in their own homes, or sends them +into convents, and in the end, obedience must come. What can you reply +to this?" + +"That people of your station do not menace those of mine," cried +Mademoiselle in anger; "that I know what I must do; that if the King +says anything contrary, I will see what I shall respond to him." + +She forbade Turenne to mention this affair again, and withdrew. "Five or +six days later, he again addressed me." At this time, some common +friends were present. Mademoiselle grew anxious. How far was Turenne the +authorised messenger of the King? She wrote to the latter to provoke an +explanation. No response. She confided her trouble to the Queen Mother, +who confined herself to these words: "If the King wishes this, it is a +terrible pity; he is master; as for me, I have nothing to say in the +matter." + +"I was in frightful haste," adds Mademoiselle, "that the time for the +Baths of Forges should come, and that I might go away." The season +arrived. It was needful to take leave of the King. She wished to have +the Court plainly understand her intention: "'Sire, if your Majesty is +thinking of my establishment, here is M. de Beziers, who will go to +Turin; he can negotiate my marriage with M. de Savoie.'--'I will think +of you when it suits me, and marry you when it will be of service to +me,' in a dry tone which much frightened me. After this, he saluted me +very coldly, and I went away and I took my waters." + +Mademoiselle had the imprudence both to talk and write. Bussy-Rabutin +even pretends that "she had written a letter to the King of Spain, which +was intercepted," suggesting a fete in his neighbourhood; but this is +difficult to believe, however inconsiderate Mademoiselle sometimes was. + +From Forges, Mademoiselle went to the Chateau d'Eu, which she had bought +a short time before. It was at this place, October 15, 1662, that she +received from the King commands to return to Saint-Fargeau, "until new +orders." Upon the route she met letters from every one. + +To be banished for having refused to marry Alphonse VI.,--the country +was not yet ready for these consequences of the new regime. It was soon +known that Mademoiselle had ordered from Paris "needles, canvas, and +silk," as if she expected to have on her hands plenty of spare time. But +if affairs remained at this point, she was not paying too dearly for the +pleasure of escaping being made Queen of Portugal. This was her own +opinion, and she became very amiable. + + * * * * * + +The departure of Mademoiselle did not leave a large vacuum in the young +Court; there was at the official ceremonies one princess the less, and +this was all. For the new generation had passed with the King to the +front ranks; the Grande Mademoiselle was now only the "old +Mademoiselle," as Abbe de Choisy called her. The youthful loves and the +pleasures belonging to twenty years had nothing to do with her, nor, +what is more, with the Queen Mother, who had in old age become a +preacher, and who now belonged to the "devots" grouped under her +protection. + +Moliere by his impiety scandalised these pious people who considered it +wicked for the King to have mistresses. + +The question still waiting to be solved was, on which side the master +would definitely range himself. For the moment, Louis XIV. leaned very +strongly towards the friends of good-nature and of his joyous freedom. +Would he be gained over by these? Would the logic of events and ideas +lead him to shake off the trammel of religious practices, then that of +belief, in the fashion of Hugues de Lionne, of the Bussy-Rabutins, of +the Guiche, of the Roquelaure, of the Vardes, and a hundred other +"Libertins," who only saw in the practices of religion a collection of +silly tricks? The obtaining an answer to this query was really the +important affair of the year 1662, a much more serious interest than any +preoccupation in regard to the chronicle of the doings at the Luxembourg +or at Saint-Fargeau. + +The young Queen was anxious; she scented danger, but she knew only how +to groan and weep, without comprehending that red eyes and a grumbling +tone were not the best attractions for retaining a husband. She had not +even the consolation of being pitied, having only made the one friend, +Anne of Austria, who in default of something better, forced herself to +preserve some illusions upon the melancholy of the little Queen's +destiny. + +It would have been hard to find a better creature than Marie-Therese, +fresh and round, who leapt with joy the day following her marriage, and +related ingenuously to Mme. de Motteville her little romance. +Marie-Therese had always remembered that her mother,[122] who died when +she was only six, had repeated that she desired to see her Queen of +France; that this was the only possible happiness, or, if not attained, +nothing remained but a convent. The little Princess had grown up with +the thought of France. Louis XIV. had been the _Prince Charmant_ of her +infant dreams. When she knew that a French lord came "post haste" to +demand her hand for his master, it seemed to her entirely natural. She +had spied from a window the arrival of M. de Gramont.[123] He had passed +by very quickly, followed by many other Frenchmen, decorated with gold +and silver, and covered with feathers and ribbons of all colours. One +might have said, "a _parterre_ of flowers, bearing the royal demand," +related the young Queen, becoming poetical for the first and last time +in her life. + +Once married, Marie-Therese had demanded of her husband the promise that +they should never be separated, either by day or night, if it possibly +could be avoided. Louis XIV. promised and kept his word, but it was a +useless precaution. + +According to Mme. de Motteville and Mme. de Maintenon,[124] the Queen +did not know how to conduct herself toward her husband. She was stupid +in her manner of showing her devotion; if the King wanted her, she would +refuse to sacrifice a prayer in order to be with him. She had also an +"ill-directed" jealousy; if the King did not desire her company, she did +not sufficiently distinguish, in her complaints, against those who wiled +him away, between Mlle. de La Valliere and the Council of Ministers. Her +ill temper was discouraging. If the King led her with him, she +complained of everything; if he did not, there were floods of tears. If +the dinner was not to her taste she sulked; if it pleased her, tormented +herself: "Everything will be eaten, nothing will be left for me." "And +the King jeered at her," added Mademoiselle, having the honour, +through her birth, of being often found amongst those who "eat +everything." + +[Illustration: =HELENE LAMBERT, MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE= After the painting +by De Largilliere] + +Marie-Therese was good, generous, virtue itself, she had a violent +passion for her husband, and with all this she was a person to be +avoided. Mme. de Maintenon summed up the situation in saying that "the +Queen knew how to love but not how to please; the reverse of the King, +who possessed qualities for pleasing all, without being capable of a +strong affection. All women except his own wife were agreeable to him." + +Free-thinkers and debauchees did not have to consider Marie-Therese; she +had not a shadow of influence over her husband. For different reasons, +neither Monsieur, the brother of the King, nor the wife of Monsieur were +any obstacles. Much has been said of the seductive power of Mme. +Henrietta of England[125]; of her irresistible grace, her delicate +beauty, and her special charm. These characteristics, very rare with a +great princess, had proved of great value during her youth of +humiliating poverty, when she was reduced to living as a "private +person." She had then met with "all celebrities, all civility, and all +humanity, even upon ordinary conditions,[126] and nothing perhaps had +contributed more to make her love men and adore women." Her faults were +great, but they were not weighed against her, on account of that gift of +pleasing which was in her and which circumstances had developed. Madame +was a hidden evil influence, and an openly dangerous one. She could +become the centre of low Court intrigues, without losing, or even +risking, the loss of her empire over hearts. To this first good fortune +was united that of having Bossuet to shelter her memory. + +Henrietta of England has traversed "centuries protected by his +[Bossuet's] funeral oration," as she passed through her life protected +by the fascination with which nature endows certain women, by no means +always the best ones. + +Monsieur since our last encounter with him had not improved. He had, as +might be said, publicly and without shame, established himself in vice, +and in vice of the worst kind. Marriage had done nothing for him. "The +miracle of inflaming the heart of this prince," discreetly explains Mme. +de La Fayette, "was reserved for no woman belonging to the social +world."[127] Delivered over to a crowd of very exacting favourites who +never left him a moment free from domestic complications, Monsieur had, +according to the expressive word of his mother, become indisputably an +intriguer. Between Madame and himself, their court was a place of +inconceivable agitation, a sink of lies and calumnies, of small +perfidies, and little treasons, which make one sick, even when related +by Mme. de La Fayette. + +Truly, I hardly know whether or not in writing her _Histoire de Madame +Henriette_ this latter has rendered a service to her dear Princess. +With the exception of the first pages, before the marriage, and of the +beautiful death scene at the end, the rest is a tissue of nothings so +contemptible in every respect that the book falls from one's hands: and +this is all that the author of the _Princesse de Cleves_ has found to +say about a person so prominent; of a sister-in-law to whom Louis XIV. +confided political secrets and whom he loved almost _too_ dearly. + +Among all the personages belonging to the royal family, the Libertins +had only to consider the Queen Mother, their declared enemy, and the +King himself, as yet too reserved for it to be divined how he +contemplated accommodating pleasure and religion. It had not taken long +to perceive that he would not restrain himself in pleasure. He was +married, June 9, 1660. A year later commenced the series of mistresses +imposed upon the royal household and upon France, they and their +children, in a fashion which recalls Oriental polygamy rather than the +manners of the Occident. Louis XIV. had felt himself incapable of a +virtuous life. One day, when his mother, profiting by the tenderness +awakened by a reconciliation--they had not spoken for some time to each +other--represented the scandal of his liaison with Mlle. de La Valliere, +he responded cordially with tears of grief which proceeded from the +bottom of his heart, where were still some remains of his former +piety,--"that he knew his wrong; that he felt sometimes the pain and +shame of it; that he had tried his best not to offend God and not to +yield to his passions, but he was forced to confess that they were +stronger than his reason, that he could not resist their violence, and +that he no longer felt any desire so to do."[128] + +This conversation took place in July, 1664. The following autumn, the +King having found the Queen, his wife, in tears in her oratoire on +account of a too-well founded jealousy, he gave her the hope of finding +him at thirty "a good husband,"--a somewhat cynical suggestion. + +He not only had "violent passions," but he had not discovered any +reasons for restraining himself in regard to women. One reads in his +_Memoires_, which were written for the dauphin to see, a passage worthy +of Lord Chesterfield, in which he gives his son his ideas upon the +subject of kings' mistresses. + +The page referred to relates to the year 1667, in which commenced the +war of the _Devolution_:[129] + + Before departing for the army, I sent an edict to Parliament. I + raised to a Duchy the territory of Vaujours in favour of Mlle. + de La Valliere and recognised a daughter of mine by her. For, + resolving in accompanying the army not to remain apart from + possible perils, I thought it just to assure to the child the + honour of her birth, and to give to her mother an establishment + suitable to the affection which since her sixth year I had felt + for her. I might have done well not to mention this attachment, + the example of which is not good to follow; but having drawn + much instruction from the failings + of others, I have not wished to deprive you of the lessons you may + learn from mine. + +[Illustration: =LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE= From the engraving by Flameng +after the painting by Petitot] [Blank Page] + +The first instruction to draw from his failings was that it was not +needful to waste time on women; "that the time devoted to love should +never be taken to the prejudice of other duties." The second +consideration was that in abandoning the heart it was necessary to +remain absolute master of one's mind: that the tenderness of a lover +should be separated from the resolutions of a sovereign; that the fair +one who gives pleasure should never be permitted to speak of affairs, or +of those who serve us, and that the two portions of life should be kept +entirely apart. "You will remember how I have warned you on various +occasions of the harmful influence of favourites; that of a mistress is +still more dangerous." + +Louis XIV. insisted at length upon the mental weakness which makes women +dangerous. He had studied them from an intimate point of view, and he +judged "these animals" almost as did Arnolphe. "They are," said he to +the Dauphin, "eloquent in their expressions, pressing in their prayers, +obstinate in their sentiments. No secret can be safe with them. They +always act with calculation, and consequently use 'cunning and +artifice.' However much it may cost to a loving heart, a Prince cannot +take too many 'precautions' with his mistresses. This is a duty imposed +upon him by the throne itself." + +Poor La Valliere, so disinterested, so little of an intriguer! What +grief if she had read these cruel pages! + +The counsels we have just read are very politic, very prudent; they have +nothing to do with either morality or religion. The royal _Memoires_, in +another part indeed, add that "the Prince should always be a perfect +model of virtue," and also that it is a Christian duty to abstain from +all illicit commerce, "which is _almost never innocent_." + +As a matter of fact, Louis XIV. had not extracted much in regard to +moral discipline from a cult of which he knew only the forms. During his +infancy, his mother had reserved to herself his religious education. She +had led him at an early age into the churches, where she passed a +portion of each day, and she had communicated to him a little of her +narrow and mechanical piety. Louis XIV. never understood any other kind. +He knew his catechism but little better than his Latin grammar. This +ignorance was, perhaps, aggravated by the fact of his realising the need +of a knowledge of Latin in order to read diplomatic despatches, while he +could see no use whatever in knowing the facts of religion. + +He never changed in this respect; Mme. de Maintenon herself made vain +efforts. The second Madame, La Palatine, did not succeed better. She +wrote: "If he only believed that he should listen to his confessor and +recite his _Pater Noster_, all would go well and his devotion would be +perfect."[130] + +Holding these ideas, the King was very vexed, deified as he was by a +crowd of adulators, to meet among his subjects men sufficiently bold to +blame his conduct and to frankly tell him so. Some prelates showed +severity. It belonged to their profession to do so. But that courtiers, +and even, as it was related, a simple bourgeois of Paris, should dare to +address remonstrances to their sovereign,--this could not be +tolerated,--especially as their reproaches excited his mother against +him,--at the risk of an embroilment, which in fact occurred. + +As good politics, if for no other reason, Louis XIV. was resolved not to +permit any interference in his affairs. He felt somewhat vaguely that +all these people were uniting to teach him a lesson. He suspected a +considerable organised force behind this _Cabale des Devots_, who +represented austerity at Court, and whom the Libertins of the Louvre +ridiculed. + +We know this organised force. We have seen it at work in a former +chapter under the name of _The Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, when it +was engaged with Vincent de Paul in the great charitable undertakings of +the century.[131] The malevolent nickname of _Cabale des Devots_ had +been given, towards the year 1658, by the many who abominated the +society without knowing its true title or its organisation, simply +because it disturbed the course of their own existence. + +Since the date at which we last saw the organisation at work, the +management had been offering the same mixture of good and evil. + +Everything that it had done for the relief of the poor, the prisoners, +the galley slaves, and other miserable beings, to protect them against +abuse and tyranny, and to raise them morally, had been above all praise; +as had also its efforts to assure a certain amount of decency in the +streets, or to combat in the higher classes the two curses of the time, +duels and gambling. As much cannot be said of the narrow and fanatical +opinions which rendered it a persecutor and police agent, of its taste +for spying or accusing, of its barbarity in regard to heretics and men +of genius. It easily became dangerous and malignant, and it was +difficult to find defence against this occult power which had "eyes and +ears everywhere." Mazarin, whom it secretly tormented through anonymous +letters, had sought and pursued it with eagerness, and during the last +months of his life the society was forced to hide itself. After the +death of the Cardinal, the _Compagnie_ again put itself in motion, and +it is evident that it had regained confidence, for with only the Queen +Mother for its friend it dared to attack the King. + +At this epoch, Anne of Austria is a very interesting person. The +_Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_ had become a political party since it +tried to make sure of the King, and if it had succeeded, the history of +the entire reign would have been altered. Delivered to its influence, +the State would not have delayed until the Great Revolution to trouble +its conscience about the duties towards the people at large. + +The imprudence of the conduct of the society towards the King, and his +indiscretions, gave the game to the Libertins. They did not despair, +considering the discontent of the King, of attracting him to themselves, +to their incredulity, their lack of docility towards religious belief, +and in truth, without going to the point of regretting their final +check, we can hardly be sorry that this "routine intelligence" should +have received a slight shock. + +The mind of Louis XIV., so remarkable for its justice and solidity, was +the opposite of the modern mind in its total absence of curiosity and in +the difficulty of changing its point of view. The King had need of +skeptical reading. As he never read, the assaults of the Libertins +rendered him the service of slightly moving his ideas; they deranged him +in his habits of mechanical practices. + +Olivier d'Ormesson, who was of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, +wrote, after the Pentecost of 1664, "that the King had not performed his +devotions at the fete, and that Monsieur having demanded if he intended +to 'practice,' he had replied that he was no longer going to be a +hypocrite like himself, who was confessing only to please the Queen +Mother."[132] + +The conscience of the King was passing through a crisis; every one felt +this. In the presence of an event of such importance, the misfortunes +of the Grande Mademoiselle, already but little in the thoughts of the +rising generation, completely lost interest. Everything was forgotten. + +During the first months of her exile, Mademoiselle was occupied in +opposing the King. Louis XIV. had not abandoned the idea of marrying her +to Alphonse VI., and Turenne was endeavouring to make her "reasonable," +from which resulted an "interchange of letters" and of official visits +which had the good side of breaking the monotony at Saint-Fargeau. This +time, the life there was very dull. The old animation had not returned. +Too proud to avow it, Mademoiselle expressed herself cheerfully in her +letters. On November 9, 1662, she wrote to Bussy-Rabutin: "I believe +that the sojourn which I shall make here will be longer than you desire. +If I were not afraid of appearing too indifferent, I should say that I +care but little. Perhaps this would be true; but it is not well to +always speak the truth."[133] + +Her _Memoires_ are more sincere. She relates that at the end of five +months, she wrote to the King that she should die if she remained +longer; that it was an unhealthy place on account of the marshes by +which the chateau was surrounded; that she "did not believe herself to +have done anything which merited death, and such a death, ... and if he +wished her to make a long penitence for the crimes which she had _not_ +committed, she supplicated him to permit her to go to Eu." Louis XIV. +permitted Eu, but made Mademoiselle understand that he had not renounced +the project of marriage with the King of Portugal, and that he hoped to +lead her, through his kindness, "to the sentiments she should have." She +did not delay to discuss the matter. "I departed at once and quitted +Saint-Fargeau without regret." This was a final adieu. + +Mademoiselle had just bought the Comte d'Eu, under circumstances which +show how the landed and manorial estates of the ancient regime, which +from a distance appear so solid, were in reality held by the most +fragile tenure and at the mercy of any accident. The Comte d'Eu was the +property of the illustrious and powerful family of Guise. In 1654, the +proprietor of the moment, Louis de Lorraine, duc de Joyeuse, was killed +at the siege of Arras, leaving an only son of youthful age, Louis Joseph +de Lorraine, Prince de Joinville. This child had for guardian his aunt, +Mlle. de Guise, an intelligent and important person, the oracle of the +family, says Saint-Simon. He had also two other guardians, one of whom, +Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de Montresor, had secretly married Mlle. de +Guise. These three guardians soon perceived that they were powerless to +defend the interests confided to them. The Comte d'Eu was burdened with +two million francs of debt, a figure which would not have led to +disaster if the Duc de Joyeuse had been there to make his rights +respected and to reclaim his share of the monarchical manna; such as +pensions, gratifications of the King, benefices, governments, Court +charges. But he was dead, and the property of the minor had been put to +the quarry, by the people of affairs on the one hand, and the Norman +peasants on the other. Against these business sharks, the guardians were +obliged, after years of struggle, to invoke the aid of Parliament. They +addressed a petition[134] in which they stated that their ward, because +he was a child "destitute of the powerful means" which his father would +have possessed, had become the victim of usurers and rogues. The two +million debt of the Comte d'Eu had been largely bought up by artificial +and suspicious creditors, with whom it was impossible to arrive at any +settlement. + +These fishers in troubled waters had brought the disorder to its height +in practising seizures. The entire revenue was exhausted by expenses. +The guardians besought Parliament to extricate them from this slough in +ordering a replevin "of all the seizures and judgments, and in according +that there should be a reprieve from all prosecutions and executions +against them during two years." They hoped with this respite to arrive +at a general liquidation. + +Against the Norman peasants no one saw anything to do but quickly to +outwit them through the sale of the Comte d'Eu to a master capable of +overawing them. The difficulty, under the conditions in France at that +time, was to find a person of quality able to dispose of several +millions. + +Mademoiselle, who always had money, had at once been thought of. At +first, she was too occupied in fighting her father, but the idea struck +her favourably, and as soon as her hands were free she remembered the +suggestion. The bargain was concluded in 1657. This affair did not suit +the pettifoggers. There were so many opposing clauses, so many legal +complications, so many lawsuits, and so many decrees needed in order to +place Mademoiselle in power, and to make it possible for her to possess +Eu in due form, that years rolled by, as the petition of the two +guardians testifies, before the peasants of Eu were deranged in their +work of moles. During the delay, they had continued to devour the +substance of the princely orphan, aided it must be said by other Normans +not peasants, who did not show themselves more scrupulous or less +avaricious. + +How both gentles and peasants acted can be exactly known through the +Archives of Eu. At the time of the guardian petition, Mademoiselle had +sent one of her men to take account of the state of affairs. + +The report of the agent, completed by other business papers,[135] +establishes that the Comte of Eu drew more than half its revenue from +its forest. This forest, which still exists, contains from ten to eleven +thousand acres,[136] is eight to nine leagues long, and should have been +formed of trees of all ages, if the inhabitants had not worked so +industriously that it was difficult to find a "piece of timber." It was, +at the date of which we are speaking, only underwood, and often only +scrub bushes, on account of the cattle which "damaged it." The entire +neigbourhood had contributed to this extraordinary destruction of a +forest of eight leagues. + +The inhabitants of twenty villages, several abbeys, gentlemen, priests, +simple private people had come, under pretext of "ancient rights," to +take the wood as if it belonged to them. The guards of the forest and +their relatives and friends had likewise helped themselves. The +officials of the domain had cut, wrongly or rightly, what the public had +left, and to complete the ruin of the woods, every one had sent cows or +pigs to run through the young bushes. + +The agent of Mademoiselle concluded that it was absolutely needful to +stop this pillage, or even "fifty thousand francs' worth of wood could +never be secured annually." He pointed out other abuses; in the absence +of a firm hand the nature of seignorial privilege rendered these +inevitable. I have myself seen many tables of the revenues of the Comte +Eu in the seventeenth century. The frauds must have been easy and +tempting, the collecting of imposts most costly. One notes a payment +due at Christmas, in money and material, by inhabitants, possessors of +any real estate, "house or hovel," field or garden: + + "Francis Guignon of the village of Cyrel owes 40 sols 2 capons, + on account of a house in the said Cyrel." "Francois de Buc ... + owes 8 sols a third of a capon, on account of a house." + "Guillaume Fumechon ... owes 43 sols and 2 capons on account of + half an acre of land." "The heirs of Jean Dree owe 8 sols and + the half of a capon." "Jean Rose 31 sols, 2 fowls and 11 eggs, + on account of meadow lands." "The Sieur de Saint-Igny of Mesnil + at Caux owes 4 francs 9 sols, 10 bushels of wheat and the same + quantity of oats." "Alizon owes 3 sols, 6 deniers and one third + of a capon." A cultivator owes "78 quarts of wheat, 15 bushels + of oats and a fowl." Another "2 bushels 1 quart of oats and a + quarter of a goose." Another "5 quarters of a goose," + +and so on through 350 folio pages. + +The impost called "_du travers_" was enforced upon merchandise entering +Eu by the gate of Picardy. So much was paid by chariot or loaded horse. +Butchers paid for "every head of cattle, sow, or pig, one denier, for +each white beast, an obole"; vendors of fish for each basket borne upon +the arm, "2 deniers"; furriers for each skin, an obole. + +Then comes the impost "upon the 'old clothes,' or 'dyed materials' for +which is due for every bed sold in the city of Eu, new or old, 4 +deniers; and for each robe, doublet, or pair of stockings, or any other +article for the use of man or woman, when sold, 1 denier." + +The linen merchant also owed one denier, upon pain of amend, for each +cut sold. There was levied a tax upon the measuring of grain and the +weighing of merchandise. The mills were the property of the Lord of Eu, +and grinding was not permitted except for him. The agent of Mademoiselle +recommended the enforcing of this, which had been neglected, with the +result of diminished revenue. + +The fishers of Treport paid 500 herrings at each drawing of the nets; +outsiders who came to fish in the Treport, 100 herrings. All stray +animals not reclaimed before one year belonged to the Lord of Eu, and +all royal fish, like sturgeons, whales, porpoises, 8 "_oues de mer_," +and other large fish. + +This is not all, but it is sufficient to explain the rapidity with which +the revenue of a seignorial property melted away when the master was not +there to make the little world afraid, to solicit judges, in case of +lawsuits, according to the usage, and to apply to the King in need, for +an important person, having, according to the popular expression, "the +long arm." + +Both evil and possible remedy were known. The deplorable state in which +affairs had been found had not at all disturbed the agent of +Mademoiselle. Knowing his mistress, he did not doubt that she would get +the better of the Normans, and he predicted success. "When everything is +put in order," said he, "(as appears will easily be accomplished) the +Comte of Eu will be a profitable estate yielding a great revenue." The +use of the word "easily" was a slight exaggeration. The Comte of Eu was +finally "adjudged" to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, by "decree" of the +Parliament of Paris, August 20, 1660, for the sum of 2,550,000 francs. +She undertook at once to save the remnants of the forest and found the +population leagued against her to guard its prey. + +At the end of six months, Mademoiselle felt that she was hardly strong +enough for the task, and addressed herself to the King.[137] She +explained to him that for the surveillance of her forest she had +established a numerous guard which "cost much to support," but that the +inhabitants had + + formed the habit of entering boldly into the said forest and of + committing all sorts of misdemeanours, boasting that they would + continue so to do; that they had just killed with a gun shot in + his stomach, one of her guards for having tried to prevent a + theft of wood; that they were threatening others to have them + appointed collectors of imposts, which would leave them no time + to guard; that they taxed them as peasants, also with other + impositions; that, in one word, the best was done to render the + position of guard untenable. + +Mademoiselle consequently begged the King that he would particularly +forbid the inhabitants to carry arms or to have them in their homes, +and, on the other hand, that he would permit her guards to be armed. She +reclaimed for them also certain privileges which would enable them to +punish delinquents. Louis XIV. accorded all, and it proved possible to +stop the depredations. On the death of Mademoiselle, the forest of Eu +was again filled with full-grown trees. + +As to suppressing the "rights," it was useless to be first cousin to the +King; this could not be accomplished. All that could be done was to +prevent these rights multiplying and to limit as far as practicable +their exactions. Between the possessors of these "rights" and the +proprietor, there was a chronic state of hostility. + +There still exist special "rights" in France; every one can for himself +observe the inconvenience of the system. The only one of those +interested who derived no profits from the game was the little Prince de +Joinville, his creditors having continued their man[oe]uvres to avoid +any settlement. + +On March 27, 1661, the Parliament of Paris rendered a decree which +obliged them to accept payment. Eight years had elapsed since the death +of the Duc de Joyeuse. The budget of debts had reached the sum of two +millions of francs.[138] When all was finally settled, instead of having +a balance for their ward, the guardians found themselves in face of a +deficit of more than 150,000 francs. + +We have already seen how Gaston, in his position as chief of the House, +had boldly pillaged the fortune of his minor daughter. In the present +case, on the contrary, it was the loss of the father which had given +opportunity for the spoliation of a child. Mazarin had left Gaston +alone as a punishment to Mademoiselle for her conduct during the Fronde. +Louis XIV. seems to have taken little interest in the offshoot of the +turbulent and ambitious family of Guise. In both cases, the favourable +or unfavourable attitude of royalty had decided the issue of an affair +of money. + +Mademoiselle took official possession of Eu on August 24, 1661. An entry +such as she loved had been arranged, with procession, banners, Venetian +lanterns, speeches, musket salutes, and the firing of cannon from all +the artillery in the city[139]--one dozen pieces of cannon and forty +_boetes_ upon the ramparts and eight cannon and forty _boetes_ upon the +terrace of the chateau. Mademoiselle returned the following year, but +only actually installed herself at Eu in 1663 after having obtained +permission to leave Saint-Fargeau: "I am resolved to pass my winter +here, without any chagrin at the thought." She watched her workmen, +walked a great deal, and busied herself in the domestic offices. She +also received visits: "There were many provincial people, reasonable +enough; a number of persons of rank; but my heart was heavy. Comedians +came to offer themselves; but I was in no humour for them. I began to be +discouraged. I read; I worked; days were occupied in writing; all these +things made the time pass insensibly." + +This page of the _Memoires_ permits a glimpse of a rather restricted +life. A letter from Mademoiselle to Bussy-Rabutin confirms and +accentuates the impression: + + EU, November 28, 1663. + + Here is the single response to your letters. I claim that you + should write four to my one, and I believe that this will be + better for you; for what can one send from a desert like this, + in which one sees no one all winter, the roads being + impracticable for people from a distance, from Paris for + instance, and the winds being so strong on the plains through + which neighbours must pass that the north-west wind is feared + by all as a furious beast. + +The situation of the Chateau d'Eu is melancholy enough, the sea wind +truly "ferocious" in the environs. The gazettes from Paris were filled +with descriptions of fetes and visions of glory, which contrasted with +the mediocrity of a provincial court. Mademoiselle had in vain decided +not to be bored. She discovered that she, like the rest of France, had +no life far from the King; there was nothing left but shadow. + +In the memorable conversation in which Louis XIV. avowed to his mother +that he was no longer master of his passions, Anne of Austria had warned +him that he was "too intoxicated with his own grandeur."[140] She spoke +truly; the infatuation had been rapid. The excuse for the King was the +fact that the entire world shared in his self-admiration. It is not our +plan to give any account of the internal government, or of diplomatic +action, which relates to the early attempts of Louis XIV., so +fruitful in great results and so glorious for himself. We limit +ourselves to stating the fact. The superiority of France is manifested +in the first contact with England and Spain, and was not less clearly +felt on the other side of the Rhine. Louis, says a German historian, +possessed an influence in the German Empire, at least in its western +portions, equal if not superior to the authority of the Emperor.[141] + +Strangers were almost always struck by the solicitude of his government +for artisans and commercial people. + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT= After the painting by Champaign] + +Without doubt, sentimental reasons did not count for much; when Colbert +forbade the collectors of taxes to take the cattle from the labourers, +he was simply applying in the name of the King the principles of a good +business man who considers his debtor. But the benefit was no less +great. From whatever point of view one looked, France gave to other +nations the impression of a progressive people. It was recognised that +she had taken the position of head of Europe. The country at large felt +this. It very justly considered this upward flight due to the personal +efforts of its young King, and was grateful for his enormous labour. + +Louis well understood this. It was a "party cry" to insist on all +occasions upon the trouble which he took in his "trade of King" and the +great fatigues which he endured for the public good. The _Gazette_, as +an official journal, never failed to emphasise this. Every event was +coloured to this end. + +Apropos of a trip of eight days, the journal wrote[142]: "This Prince, +as indefatigable as Hercules in his labours," etc. It justified the +royal ballets, which were most costly, by the excuse of the excessive +brain work of the chief of state. + +"On the eighth [January, 1663], the King, wearied with the pains with +which His Majesty works so indefatigably for the welfare of his +subjects, enjoyed in the palace of the Cardinal the diversion of a +ballet of seven acts, called the _Ballet des Arts_." + +Louis XIV. danced in the _Ballet des Arts_ three times; Mlles. de +Valliere, de Sevigne, and de Mortemart had a lively success in it; the +latter was on the eve of becoming Mme. de Montespan.[143] The accounts +of the representations of the new ballet alternate in the _Gazette_ with +the funeral ceremonies in honour of a daughter of the King and Queen, +who died at six weeks of age on December 30th. + +Louis XIV. had wept over his loss with that superficial sensibility in +which he resembles, strange as it seems, the philosophers of the +seventeenth century. He could have given points to Diderot in regard to +the facility of pouring out torrents of tears, and he often astonished +the Court by his emotion. He deceived the Queen from morning till +evening, and he cried to see her weep when he quitted her. He brought +forth crocodile tears for the death of his father-in-law.[144] In a turn +of the hand, again like Diderot, he forgot his existence, and lost on +his account neither a step in the dance nor a _galant rendezvous_. + +[Illustration: ="PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SCENE ON THE +FIRST DAY OF THE PLAY, BEFORE THE KING AT VERSAILLES= From the engraving +by Israel Silvestre +] + +To the ballet succeeded other "relaxations," and it is curious to see +the _Gazette_ taking the pains to explain that the King had well earned +a simple trip for pleasure (April 7, 1663): "This week the King, in +order to gain some relief from the continual application for the +establishing the felicity of his subjects, has enjoyed the diversion of +a little journey to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and to Versailles." + +The mundane chronicles[145] falling into line, Louis XIV. saw his +"glory" as a great worker ascending into the clouds, together with his +"glory" as a man of war, and in one word as "universal hero." He could +not even exercise his musketeers without the _Gazette's_ issuing an +extra leaf upon the "admiration of all spectators."[146] + +All France struck the same note. When he went to take possession of +Dunkerque,[147] he passed before a plaster Olympus, fabricated for the +occasion. "He witnessed Neptune, who respectfully lowered his trident; +the spirits of the Earth and Sea prostrated before this mighty +Prince"--that is to say, himself, and he permitted his official journal +to regale the country with these follies; it was clear in his eyes that +Neptune and his Court only did their duty. Every one was prepared to +deify him, and he received this homage with pleasure. This atmosphere of +worship was very harmful to a man born with much good sense and with +many superior parts. The brilliancy of his Court, for which he was +considered responsible, contributed also to the general dazzle. + +The surging crowd of twenty years later did not yet exist, when the +Chateau of Versailles was finished, and Louis XIV. held his nobility +lodged under his own hand,[148] only moving from his side to make a +campaign. The young Court was only numerous at intervals. It will +shortly be seen how much it had increased in May, 1664. On the 27th of +the following month, the Duc d'Enghien wrote from Fontainebleau: "There +are almost no women here, and but few men. Never has the Court been so +small."[149] On August 16th, also at Fontainebleau, the Queen Mother gave +a ball; she had only sixteen ladies and as many men.[150] In October, +the Court is at Paris, and the King gives a fete: "The ball was not +fine," writes the grand Conde, "the greater number of the ladies +being still in the country. In all Paris, only fourteen could be +found."[151] + +[Illustration: ="PLEASURES OF THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT." SECOND DAY= +From the engraving by Israel Silvestre] + +During these first years, the nobility was not yet encouraged to leave +all, to come to live under the shadow of the throne. Those having +provincial charges "obtained with difficulty leave of absence."[152] +Those lacking money to appear with fitting magnificence had little aid +to expect from royalty; the shower of gold did not begin to fall until +later, and Louis XIV. even passed for being close-fisted. + +"Besides his natural temperament," said Conde, "which is not given to +lavishness, he is held back by M. Colbert, who is still less given to +spending, particularly when he is not persuaded of the advantage of the +affair for which money must be scattered."[153] It is well known that +Colbert did not love waste; but he did know how to be liberal, even for +expenses of luxury. No one was more convinced of the advantage of +display for a sovereign, and he spared neither pains nor state pennies +in making the grand festivals with which his master entertained the +Court and city, unrivalled in Europe. And they were unparalleled, +especially in the early years when tastes, like everything else, were +young. Even the faults, by which perhaps the tastes were benefited, were +youthful. + +What is called impulse with the very young man takes the name of vice +with the mature, and, whatever may be said, the one is much uglier than +the other. + +Louis XIV. was only twenty-three when he fell in love with Mlle. de La +Valliere, and the festivities which he offered in her honour expressed +this freshness. There were exquisite fairy scenes with the light +decorations of flowers and leaves. The most famous, on account of +Moliere's partial authorship, was called the _Plaisirs de l'Ile +enchantee_, which was given at Versailles in May, 1664. It lasted three +days, and was prolonged three days more, in spite of the great number of +invitations and the difficulties occasioned by the immense crowd. The +Court, says a "Relation,"[154] arrived the fifth of May, and the King +entertained till the fourteenth six hundred guests, beside a quantity of +people needed for the dance and comedy, and of artisans of all sorts +from Paris, so numerous that it appeared a small army. + +All now known of Versailles must be forgotten if we wish to picture it +in 1664. Versailles was then a small village surrounded on three sides +by fields and marshes.[155] The fourth side was occupied by a chateau +which would have been spacious for a private person, but which meant +little for a court; a few dependencies; the beginning of a garden +planted by Le Notre. That was all. + +[Illustration: =GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHATEAU OF VERSAILLES= From the +engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1664] + +Colbert considered Versailles already too large, as soon as Louis XIV. +decided to offer anything more to his guests than the four walls of +their chambers. It will be remembered[156] that when Mademoiselle came +to Saint-Germain to visit the Queen Mother she brought her own furniture +and cook. Not even food was provided. This was the general rule. + +Louis XIV. aspired to great hospitality, and commenced his reform at +Versailles. "What is very peculiar in this house," wrote Colbert in +1663, "is that his Majesty has desired all apartments given to guests to +be furnished. He also orders every one to be fed and provided with all +necessities, even to the wood and candles in the chambers, which has +never been the custom in royal establishments." + +Colbert was evidently in a bad humour. There were, however, but few +apartments to offer in the Chateau of Versailles; the 600 guests soon +perceived this fact themselves. + +The journal of Olivier d'Ormesson contains on the date of May 13 the +following lines: "This same day, Mme. de Sevigne has related to us the +diversions of Versailles, which have lasted from Wednesday till +Sunday[157]: courses of bague, ballets, comedies, fireworks, and other +beautiful inventions; but all the courtiers were enraged, for the King +took no care of them, and Monsieurs de Guise and d'Elbeuf could hardly +find a hole in which to shelter themselves." It is to be noted that the +Duc de Guise must costume himself and all his lackeys. + +The theme of the fete had been drawn from _Roland furieux_, and had been +made to accord with up-to-date episodes, by a courtier expert in this +kind of work, the Duc de Saint-Aignan. During three days and three +nights, a volunteer company, composed of Louis XIV., Moliere, and the +greatest nobles of France, with the prettiest actresses of Paris, +embellished the imaginations of Ariosto, in the presence of two queens +and of an immense Court which seemed, says the _Gazette_, to have +"exhausted the Indies"[158] in order to cover itself with precious +stones. Halls of verdure, arches of flowers, and the vault of heaven +formed the frame in which deployed the mythological processions, the +games of chivalry, the ballets, the festivities for the "little army," +and the first two representations of Moliere, of which one was to be the +striking literary event of the century. In the evening, lamps hung upon +the trees were lighted and the fete continued during the night. Gentle +and tender music softened this apotheosis of love, of which the +heroine--and this gave an added charm--remained hidden in the crowd; +Louise de La Valliere was still neither "recognised" nor duchess. + +The first of the great days of the fete was open to all. The King of +France and the flower of the nobility as Paladins of Charlemagne, +clothed and armed "a la grecque," according to the seventeenth century +ideas of local colour, took part in a tournament before a sumptuous +assembly who, at the appearance of the master, uttered "cries of joy and +admiration."[159] + +[Illustration: =THE FRONT OF THE LOUVRE IN COURSE OF ERECTION= From the +engraving by S. le Clerc, 1677] + +Louis XIV. sought these exhibitions. He shone in them and attributed to +them an importance which in his _Memoires_ he explains to his son. He +believed them very efficacious for binding together the affections of +the people, above all those of high rank, and the sovereign. The +populace have always loved spectacles, and for the nobility, the more +closely the King keeps it at Court, the more pains he must take to show +that there is no aversion between sovereign and subject, but simply a +question of reason and duty. Nothing serves better for this than +carrousels and other diversions of the same nature: "This society of +pleasure, which gives to the courtiers an honest familiarity with us, +touches and charms them more than can be told." + +The partakers in the "Tournament" of 1664 had in reality been very proud +of the honour done them. They appeared covered with gold, silver, and +jewelry, escorted by pages and gentlemen gallantly equipped. After them, +defiled allegorical chariots, personages of fable, and strange animals, +Moliere as the god Pan, one of his comrades mounted upon an elephant, +another upon a camel. + +At the supper in the open air, which terminated the day, the royal table +was served by the _corps de ballet_, who, dancing and whirling bore in +the different dishes. The cavaliers of the tournament, with their +helmets covered with feathers of various colours, and wearing the +mantles of the course, stood erect behind the guests. Two hundred masks, +bearing torches of white wax illumined this admirable living picture, +worthy of the great poet who inspired it. + +The next day was occupied in giving to the two hundred guests a lesson +in natural philosophy, no longer symbolical and veiled, but clear and +direct; it was perfectly comprehended and the spectators were convinced. +The lesson was from Moliere, who had written his _Princesse +d'Elide_[160] in the design well formed of "celebrating" and +"justifying" the loves of the King and La Valliere. The _Recit de +l'Aurore_ will be recalled which opens the piece. + + Dans l'age ou l'on est amiable, + Rien n'est si beau que d'aimer. + + Soupirer librement pour un amant fidele, + Et braver ceux qui voudraient vous blamer. + +It will also be recollected that the five acts which follow are only the +development, full of insistence, of that invitation to the ladies of the +Court not to merit the "name of cruel." After serious affairs, +innocent pleasures followed, the most applauded of which was a piece of +fireworks which embraced "the heavens, the earth, and the waters." + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN MOLIERE= After the painting by +Noel Coypel] + +Every one was already thinking of departure, when on Monday, May 12th, +Moliere presented the first act of _Tartuffe_. + +The connivance of the King appears well established. Father Rapin +relates that the "sect of the _Devots_" had, since the time of Mazarin, +rendered itself so insupportable by its indiscreet advice, that the +King, "in order to ridicule them, had permitted Moliere to represent +them on the stage." The _Devots_ had seen the blow coming, and did their +best to avoid it; the annals of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_ +affirm this.[161] They report that there was "strong talk" in the seance +of April 17th, in the attempt to accomplish the suppression of the +wicked comedy _Tartuffe_. + +Each member of the _Compagnie_ charged himself to speak to any friends +who had credit at Court, "begging aid in preventing its representation." +The effort was vain. _Tartuffe_ was acted. The spectators divined +without difficulty whom Moliere had in view, and the _Devots_ heard with +emotion this openly significant expression of contempt of religious +forms, in less than one week after the _Princesse d'Elide_ had thrown +its weight upon the side of questionable morals. + +From the point of view of a general principle, the two pieces naturally +followed each other; they were two chapters of the same gospel. The King +had the air of being about to pass to the enemy and of uniting himself +with the Libertins. The Cabal made a desperate effort and _Tartuffe_ was +forbidden; at the same time no one imagined that the battle was +terminated. + +An extraordinary agitation around the King might have been seen during +the weeks which followed the fetes of Versailles. The Court at once +departed for Fontainebleau; the two parties disputed the entire summer +over the young monarch. + +Louis himself had skirmished with both. The King felt at the same time a +personal revolt against the constraints of the Church, and the need of a +politic catholicity which would sustain the practices of religion for +State reasons, because he could not do without their aid. These two +fashions of thinking can easily be accommodated together, and the King +was in train to learn how to do this. After a little delay, the +conciliation between the two points of view was completed in his mind. + +While waiting, he lived in the midst of floods of tears. The summer was +a very troubled one. + +Such events held the attention of Paris, but the poor Mademoiselle, +forgotten in the Chateau d'Eu, fretted so much that at length her pride +was conquered. "Upon the news of the pregnancy of the Queen," says the +_Memoires_, "I decided to write, dreaming that perhaps the King wished +to be besought," and she abased herself to do this. She at first +expressed the hope that the child might be a son. "I exaggerated with +good faith the desire which I had, and I showed the grief I felt in +being forced to remain so long without the honour of seeing him [the +King]. I said everything I could to oblige him to permit me to return." + +She wrote at the same time to Colbert, who was considered the powerful +man of the ministry: + + EU, March 23, 1664. + + MONSIEUR COLBERT: + + In bearing testimony to the King of the joy which I have in the + pregnancy of the Queen, I am daring to command his good graces, + and the permission for an audience to ask them in person. + + I trust that you will assist me with your good offices to + obtain so precious a favour. If I cannot succeed in obtaining + this, I beg to be permitted to pass through Paris before + May,[162] having three considerable lawsuits at this date. I + look, on this occasion, for the continuation of your good + offices. + + ANNE-MARIE-LOUISE D'ORLEANS. + +The King waited two months before responding: + + TO MY COUSIN MADEMOISELLE, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF THE + LATE MONSEIGNEUR DUC D'ORLEANS + + MY COUSIN: + + It consoles me much to find you in the state of mind which your + letter shows. I willingly forget the past and permit you not + only to pass through Paris, but also either to dwell there, or + to choose any other place of residence which may be agreeable + to you, and even to come here in case you wish it, if you + assure me that your conduct will always give me reason for + cherishing you and for treating you properly as a personage so + nearly related. + + I thank you for the affection with which you write to me of the + Queen's pregnancy and pray, etc. + + LOUIS. + +Some days later Mademoiselle was _en route_ for Fontainebleau, well +resolved to show herself. She was transported with joy at having +recovered liberty of movement, but the Court at this time inspired her +with terror. The ground had become too slippery for a person of her +temperament, loving so much her independence and rebellious to all +discipline. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 94: "_Portrait de Mademoiselle fait par elle-meme_" (Nov., +1657) in _La Galerie des Portraits de Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, +edited by Eduard de Barthelemy (Paris, 1860).] + +[Footnote 95: Mme. de Rambouillet died very aged in 1665. Her influence +ended in 1650.] + +[Footnote 96: _Le Grand Cyrus._ The greater part of the friends of Mlle. +de Scudery are given assumed names. Mlle. Bocquet is called Agelaste.] + +[Footnote 97: Cf. _La Societe francaise au XVII{e}. siecle_, vol., ch. +xv.] + +[Footnote 98: This is the friend of Mme. de Sevigne.] + +[Footnote 99: Sister-in-law of the preceding. She married, in 1662, +Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Jena.] + +[Footnote 100: Mademoiselle says in her _Memoires_ that they "_had_" them +written. This is an error.] + +[Footnote 101: _La Galerie des Portraits._] + +[Footnote 102: M. de Barthelemy, editor of the _Galerie des Portraits_, +called Honorat de Bueil, marquis de Racan; born in 1589, died in 1670.] + +[Footnote 103: Or forty-six, depending upon the date of the Portrait, +1658 or 1659.] + +[Footnote 104: _L'Ecole des Femmes_ was issued in 1662.] + +[Footnote 105: The expression is from the beautiful Marquise de Mauny, +who formed part of the little Court of Saint-Fargeau.] + +[Footnote 106: From Mme. de Sainctot, wife of the master of ceremonies +and introducer of ambassadors under Louis XIV. She was a friend of +Voiture.] + +[Footnote 107: The others are, _Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles_, supposed +autobiography of a lady mixed up with Fronde intrigues (MS. exists in +the library of the Arsenal), and _La Relation de l'Isle imaginaire_ +(1658), badinage upon an episode in _Don Quixote_.] + +[Footnote 108: _Memoires._ Francois-Timoleon de Choisy was born in 1644. +There is some question as to who was his mother.] + +[Footnote 109: Marguerite Louise d'Orleans was born July 28, 1645; +Elisabeth, called Mlle. d'Alencon, December 26, 1646; +Francoise-Madeleine, called Mlle. de Valois, October 13, 1648.] + +[Footnote 110: Born at Tours in 1644. Her father, Laurent de La Baume Le +Blanc, Seigneur de La Valliere, dying in 1654, her mother remarried +Jacques de Courtavel, marquis de Saint-Remi, maitre d'hotel de Gaston +d'Orleans.] + +[Footnote 111: Cf. _Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans_, +by Julia Cartwright (London, 1894).] + +[Footnote 112: Lady Derby was a La Tremouille. The sister-in-law to whom +the letters are addressed was the sister of Turenne.] + +[Footnote 113: Or Charles IV.; there are two methods of counting the +Dukes of Lorraine.] + +[Footnote 114: See the very curious volume by M. Rodocanachi, _Les +Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV._ The marriage of the Princess +Marguerite with the Duke of Tuscany took place April 19, 1661.] + +[Footnote 115: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 116: Par Fortin de la Hoguete (1645).] + +[Footnote 117: _L'Image du Souverain_ (1649).] + +[Footnote 118: _Memoires pour 1667._ Ed. by Charles Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 119: Portugal had again become independent in 1640.] + +[Footnote 120: _Memoires_ for the year 1661.] + +[Footnote 121: Mignet, _Negociations relatives a la succession +d'Espagne_.] + +[Footnote 122: Elisabeth de France, daughter of Henry IV., born in 1602. +She married Philip IV., in 1615, gave birth to Marie-Therese in 1638, +and died in 1644.] + +[Footnote 123: This was the Marshal de Gramont, father of the Comte de +Guiche. The "magnificence" and the "_galanterie_" of his journey to +Madrid to demand the Infanta have left lively memories.] + +[Footnote 124: _Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus_, _Memoires de Mme. de +Motteville_, _Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon_, published by the Comte +de Haussonville and M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 125: Married on April 1, 1661, at seventeen. Monsieur +(Philippe de France, duc d'Orleans) was then twenty-one.] + +[Footnote 126: _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_, by Mme. de +La Fayette.] + +[Footnote 127: _Histoire de Madame de Henriette_, etc.] + +[Footnote 128: _Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 129: War between relations in regard to property.] + +[Footnote 130: Letter of July 9, 1749, and _passim_, in his +correspondence.] + +[Footnote 131: Cf. _La Cabale des Devots_, by M. Raoul Allier.] + +[Footnote 132: _Journal d'Olivier Lefevre d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 133: _Memoires de Bussy-Rabutin._] + +[Footnote 134: _A nos Seigneurs de Parlement._--Archives of the Chateau +of Eu. Mgr. le Duc d'Orleans has thrown open to me the Archives of Eu +with a liberality for which I here heartily express my gratitude.] + +[Footnote 135: _Declaration par le Menu du Comte d'Eu_ (May 8, 1660), +and _Inventoire general du Comte d'Eu_ (July 1, 1663).] + +[Footnote 136: The Norman acre contains 81 acres and 71 _centiares._] + +[Footnote 137: Her request to the King was dated February 9, 1661 +(Archives of Eu).] + +[Footnote 138: The debts amounted exactly to 2,700,718 frs. 18 sols. +(_Liste des Creanciers_ in Archives of the Chateau of Eu). It will be +remembered that Mademoiselle paid for Eu 2,550,000 frs.] + +[Footnote 139: The account of the entry of Mademoiselle is in the +Archives of the Chateau of Eu.] + +[Footnote 140: Motteville.] + +[Footnote 141: _Histoire de France_, by Leopold Ranke.] + +[Footnote 142: _Numero_ of September 14, 1663.] + +[Footnote 143: The marriage took place on January 28th.] + +[Footnote 144: Philippe IV. died September 17, 1665.] + +[Footnote 145: Cf. _La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnes +aux Reines_, etc., by Marigny (June, 1664).] + +[Footnote 146: Number of July, 21, 1663, and _passim_.] + +[Footnote 147: Louis XIV. had bought Dunkerque from the King of England. +The city was delivered November 27, 1662. For account of the entrance of +the King, see the _Gazette_.] + +[Footnote 148: Louis XIV. was installed at Versailles, as a residence, +May 6, 1682.] + +[Footnote 149: Letter to the Queen of Poland, Marie de Gonzague +(Archives of Chantilly). The Duc d'Enghien had married, December 11, +1663, Anne de Bariere, daughter of the Princess Palatine and niece of +Marie de Gonzague.] + +[Footnote 150: _Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 151: Letter of October 31st to the Queen of Poland (Archives +of Chantilly).] + +[Footnote 152: Cf. _De La Valliere a Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and +Andre Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 153: Letter dated December 28, 1663, to the Queen of Poland +(Archives of Chantilly).] + +[Footnote 154: See the _Moliere_ of the _Grands Ecrivains_, v., iv.] + +[Footnote 155: See the contemporary engravings. Some reproductions will +be found in the beautiful work of M. de Nolhac, _La Creation de +Versailles_.] + +[Footnote 156: See the _Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_.] + +[Footnote 157: From the 7th to the 11th of May, the first two days and +the last two not counted.] + +[Footnote 158: Number of February 3, 1663, apropos of a ball given at +the Louvre by the King on January 31st.] + +[Footnote 159: For this portion, see the _Gazette_ of May 17th, the +letters from Loret of the 10th and 17th, various _Relations du temps_, +the _Moliere_ of the _Grands Ecrivains_, etc.] + +[Footnote 160: _Louise de La Valliere_, by J. Lair.] + +[Footnote 161: See _La Cabale des Devots_, by M. Raoul Allier.] + +[Footnote 162: A doubtful phrase.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Increasing Importance of the Affairs of Love--The Corrupters of + Morals--Birth of Dramatic Music and its Influence--Love in + Racine--Louis XIV. and the Nobility--The King is Polygamous. + +It was neither through compassion nor through friendship that Louis XIV. +had recalled from exile a second time his cousin Mlle. de Montpensier. +He had renounced the idea of marrying her to Alphonse VI. since she +persisted in her refusal, but he pursued the plan of giving her in +marriage "where it would be useful to his service." + +And there was reason for entertaining another project. While she was in +penitence at Eu, one of the little sisters, Mlle. de Valois, had married +the Duc de Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., and had died (January 14, +1664), at the end of some months of wedded life. The widowhood of +princes is rarely a matter of long duration. The King had immediately +arranged to offer the millions of the Grande Mademoiselle to the Duc de +Savoie, it being of first importance to bring back this territory to +France, and to recompense the King of Portugal by giving him one of the +princesses of Nemours.[163] + +The new combination was well known in the political world. One reads in +the journal of Olivier d'Ormesson on the date of June 4, 1664: "M. Le +Pelletier[164] tells me of the return of Mlle. d'Orleans, and that the +King had written to her with his own hand, permitting her to come back, +without saying anything to the Queen Mother; but this was with the +Savoie marriage in sight." Louis XIV. had not resigned himself without +effort to the idea of procuring so fine an establishment for an ancient +Frondeuse. It may be seen through a letter from the grand Conde to the +Queen of Poland that the royal rancour had yielded for reasons of State: + + Fontainebleau, June 3, 1664. + + Mademoiselle having written to the King about the pregnancy of + the Queen, his Majesty has himself responded, which is a mark + of softened feelings, and every one believes that she will + return and that his Majesty will consent to her marriage with + M. de Savoie, which up to this time he has not desired, because + he preferred that of Mlle. d'Alencon[165]: but as she is very + ugly, and as an additional distinction is badly marked with + small-pox, he has reason to believe that M. de Savoie will not + be willing to espouse her; and he fears that there may be a + question of a union with the Austrian House, and thus I + believe, in spite of his own dislikes, he will wish to hasten + the marriage of Mademoiselle which, however, is not so certain + as it appears.[166] + +There was no danger of pouts in regard to this prospective husband; +this the King well understood. Mademoiselle arrived at Fontainebleau +during the first fortnight of June, 1664. The entire Court had met her +upon the highway. + +Mademoiselle was the first to whom the King had yielded since assuming +the reins of government. This was a glory; she, indeed, felt it and held +her head high. Louis XIV. had the good taste to ignore this attitude. He +greeted her graciously and limited his vengeance to teasing her during +the few days she passed with him. "Confess," said he to her, "that you +are very bored." She cried, "I assure you not at all, and I often think +that the Court is very much deceived if it believes me disenchanted, for +I have not experienced a moment's dulness." + +The King, however, believed only what pleased him. One evening, after +the play, he led her upon a little terrace and spoke in these terms: +"The past must be forgotten. Be persuaded that you will receive all good +treatment from me in the future, and that I am contemplating your +establishment. Naturally, M. de Savoie is a better match than formerly; +his mother is dead. He will recognise the difference between your sister +and yourself. Thus you will be very happy and I shall work seriously to +accomplish this." The King's discourse was followed by an exchange of +effusions. "We embraced each other, my cousin and I," said the King in +reappearing before his Court, and the signal word was at once +comprehended. + +The Grande Mademoiselle passed an almost triumphal week at Fontainebleau. +The repose of provincial life was hard to bear in comparison. The King, +the ministers, and the ambassadors all worked for the marriage. There +was nothing to do but to leave them to act. Mademoiselle wished to aid. +To commence she undertook to reduce to silence the old Madame, who was +outraged by her eagerness to replace her younger sister. + +Dissatisfactions grew into quarrels and Louis XIV. was forced to +intervene, and to silence all these women. He wrote to Mademoiselle: + + TO MY COUSIN + + MY COUSIN: + + I cannot prevent my aunt's people from talking, but I hardly + believe that she would say that I have promised her protection + against you. + + I love you and consider you, as much as the most pressing + desires which pass through your brain are capable of inspiring + me, and assuredly it is my intention to give you pleasure in + every degree possible. I only avow that you can do much on your + part in facilitating things a little; this is my only request, + and having nothing to add to so sincere an explanation of my + sentiments, I finish this letter, praying God, etc. + + Written at Fontainebleau, July 12, 1664. + + Signed: Louis.[167] + +It was beyond the strength of Mademoiselle to abstain from interference. +Her anxiety to be the fly on the wheel drew upon her a new letter from +the King. The tone is that of a very impatient man. + + TO MY COUSIN + + MY COUSIN: + + I see clearly by your last letter that you are not accurately + informed of what is passing in Piedmont; for I have been + obliged to be very badly satisfied with my ambassador, in that + he has executed my orders with so much warmth that the Duc de + Savoie complains through his despatches to Count Carrocio of + apparently being forced into an action which should be the + freest, even to the smallest particular. Judge by this fact if + the conduct proposed and suggested to you is wise? + + I perceive even malice in those who give you such advice; for + their desire is to put you in such a state of mind that if the + affair fail it is I who am to blame. + + I see that you are already persuaded that success depends upon + my simple wish expressing my desire on one side or the other, + but I am not resolved to conduct myself according to the + caprices of those people. + + I have told you that I sincerely wish your satisfaction and I + again affirm it. The friendship alone which I have for you + would give me this feeling, and I realise also that the scheme + is beneficial for me. + + You must not doubt, therefore, that I will do all which will be + really useful in furthering the affair; as for the means, it is + not too much to say that I see better what should be done than + those who speak and write to you. However, I pray God, etc. + + At Vincennes, September 2, 1664. + + Signed; Louis. + +The King spoke the truth: the Duc de Savoie did not want the Grande +Mademoiselle. Charles Emmanuel had never digested the affront received +upon the journey to Lyons, from which he had seen his sister return +Duchess of Parma when he had imagined to receive her as Queen of +France.[168] He was not averse to revenging himself on Louis XIV. by +refusing a princess of his family whose age above all "made him afraid, +for he desired children."[169] + +He had also an account to regulate with Mademoiselle, who had disdained +him at the time in which she was young and beautiful. At this distant +date, Charles Emmanuel, although her junior by seventeen years, had not +concealed the fact that he would have been ready to marry her, "so much +did he esteem her person and also her great wealth."[170] + +But it was with the Duc de Savoie as with the Prince of Wales, and later +with the Prince de Lorraine: + + Quoi? moi! quoi? ces gens-la! l'on radote, je pense, + A moi les proposer! helas! ils font pitie: + Voyez un peu la belle espece.[171] + +Having become less exacting with years, Mademoiselle at length found a +man who did not disdain to play the part of substitute for his betters. + +The Duke remained firm, and it was again a Nemours,[172] sister of the +Queen of Portugal, who inherited the husband destined for the Grande +Mademoiselle. + +Equally difficult, the same fate fell upon Mademoiselle as upon the +marriageable daughter in La Fontaine: she was to be reduced to wed a +cadet of Gascony, the _malotru_ of the fable. I believe that La +Fontaine had Mademoiselle in his mind when writing _La Fille_. It has +been queried whether this subject was not borrowed from the _Epigram_ of +Martial. There is no need for so distant a search. On July 8, 1664, La +Fontaine had been appointed "gentleman-in-waiting to the dowager +Duchesse d'Orleans."[173] He was, therefore, in a position to be well +informed concerning the projects for marriage which failed, and the +ridiculous actions of the daughter of the house. We possess his +confidences upon the household of the Luxembourg, on the one side of the +apartments of Madame, on the other those of Mademoiselle, in an epistle +dedicated to Mignon, the little dog of his mistress. + +For La Fontaine, the Luxembourg was the palace in which there was no +place for lovers. The tender passion was forbidden _chez_ Madame, where +it was necessary to be contented with the "pious smiles" of Mme. de +Crisse, the original of the Countess de Pimbesche, and to bear in mind +the presence of an old Capuchin become Bishop of Bethleem in +Nivernais,[174] who supervised the conversations. "Speak low," says the +letter _Pour Mignon_. + + Si l'eveque de Bethleem + Nous entendait, Dieu sait la vie. + +There was not even the resource of fleeing to the "Divinity" opposite. +Under that shelter, lovers were less well regarded year by year, and La +Fontaine divined why: the antipathy always evinced by Mademoiselle was +now doubled by envy. + +The check in regard to the Savoie marriage had brought on a painful +crisis in the life of this poor unattached heroine. For the first time, +she had been made to feel that she had passed the marriageable age, and +she was one of those unfortunates who cannot easily resign themselves to +the fall from the purely feminine portion of existence. + +The revolt against nature frequently causes whimsicalities; a terrible +injustice toward those doleful creatures who often have asked no better +than to obey nature's laws in becoming wives and mothers. Nervous +maladies give to the soul-tragedy a burlesque outside, and the world +laughs without comprehending. Mademoiselle was one of these +unfortunates. La Fontaine had well discovered it when he wrote: + + Son miroir lui disait: "Prenez vite un mari." + Je ne sais quel desir le lui disait aussi: + Le desir peut loger chez une precieuse. + +It is very difficult to relate the decline of the Grande Mademoiselle +without provoking a smile at least, and it would be a pity, however, if +this proud figure should leave the even slight impression of that of +Belise. She was left disabled, without aim in life, at the very moment +in which women in general were being excluded from action, after having +been slightly intoxicated with power under Anne of Austria. Men had at +that time encouraged women to enter into public life. Thanks to +masculine complicity, feminine influence and power had mounted high, and +the weaker sex enjoyed one of the most romantic moments of its entire +history. + +The habit of treating women as the equals of men had been fully formed +when the will of a monarch who distrusted them precipitated the sex from +its giddy height. + +It has been seen _a propos_ of La Valliere with what contempt Louis XIV. +spoke of women in his _Memoires_. Upon this subject he had truly +Oriental ideas, approaching those held by his Spanish ancestors, +inherited by them from the Moors. Louis could not do without women, but +he wanted them only for amusement. He did not really believe them +capable of giving anything else, judging them inferior and dangerous, +perhaps in remembrance of Marie Mancini, who had almost enticed him into +a crime against royalty. + +Hardly had the King come to power when all who had issued from their +sphere must re-enter it. Love was the only affair of importance in which +women were permitted to share. Louis XIV. made no exception in favour of +his mistresses. Mme. de Montespan tyrannised a little over him in spite +of his fine theories. The others, however, were looked upon only in the +light of beautiful and amusing creatures. + +When, towards the end of the reign, Mme. de Maintenon had the glory of +again raising the sex to the position of being esteemed by the King, +she alone benefited. In general, nothing was gained for women at large; +the impression in regard to their true position had been too deep. +Suddenly reduced to an existence with a narrow horizon, women found it +colourless and mean. They demanded love, since this was all that was +left to them to supply those violent emotions to which they had become +accustomed in the camps and councils. As the result of this new attitude +many strange events occurred, but they were little noticed as long as +the Queen Mother remained of this world. Anne of Austria succeeded in +saving appearances, if in nothing else. Once dead, there came the +downfall, and strange things became frightful ones. + +It was at Versailles in the midst of the Bengal fires of the "Ile +enchantee" that the Queen Mother felt the first pangs of the cancer +which finally caused her death. + +Paris followed with grief the course of her illness. Anne of Austria, +remaining without influence, had again become popular. "She preserves +harmony," wrote d'Ormesson, "and although she cannot be credited with +much good, she still prevents much that is evil" (June 5, 1665). It is +known that it was owing to her that a certain decency was maintained at +the Court of France; that without her, Louis XIV. and his sister-in-law +Henrietta would not have perceived in time that they already cared too +much for each other and that the rumour of this was "making much noise +at Court."[175] + +[Illustration: =MADAME HENRIETTE D'ORLEANS= From the painting by Mignard +in the National Portrait Gallery (Photograph by Walker, London)] + +The Queen Mother was forced to open eyes which wished to remain closed. +She had spoken frankly, and her plainness had perhaps saved the kingdom +of France from an ineffaceable stain. Such service cannot be forgotten +by honest people. To gratitude was added a sincere admiration for her +courage under suffering. The poor woman endured without complaint, and +with an incredible tranquillity, nine months of sharp pain increased by +the barbarous remedies applied by a crowd of quacks. + +In the royal family, the sentiments were mixed. Louis XIV., as Mme. de +Motteville had well remarked, was a man full of "contradictions." He +cherished his mother. During a previous malady, a short time before the +cancer declared itself, he had cared for her night and day with a +devotion and also a skill which astonished the attendants. + +The thought of now losing her gave him seasons of stifling sobs. At the +same time, his mother was a little too much of a personage. She troubled +him by her clairvoyance. He experienced a certain relief at the +knowledge that the time was approaching when she would no longer be able +to watch his course of life. In all probability, he was himself ignorant +of this feeling, but it was apparent to observers. When she was actually +dying, affection bore away all other considerations, and the King almost +fainted. Hardly was she interred when the pleasure of feeling himself +entirely free again became ascendant. + +The attachment of Monsieur for his mother was his best emotion. His +grief possessed no hidden relief and forced him to be always near the +invalid's bed. "The odour was so frightful," reports Mademoiselle, "that +after seeing the wound dressed it was impossible to sup." Monsieur +passed all his time in the chamber and tried to demonstrate his +tenderness. Sometimes most ridiculous ideas occurred to him; but he was +not the less touching, through his never-failing tears, on account of +his sincerity. + +At length, Anne of Austria herself sent her son away. Monsieur returned +to his pleasures and forgot his grief in them; he would not have been +Philippe Duc d'Anjou if he had acted differently. When the end drew +near, timid and submissive as he was, he would not be sent away. The +King withdrew, obeying the custom which forbids princes, as formerly +gods, to witness death. Louis twice told his brother not to remain +longer, and only received the response "that he could not obey him in +this, but he promised that it was the only point, during his entire +life, on which he would ever disobey."[176] + +A cry of Monsieur piercing the walls announced to Louis that the end had +come. + +The young Queen Marie-Therese, who was losing all, justified the +reputation of "fool" which the Court gave her. She permitted herself to +be persuaded that her position would be made higher, through all the +privileges left to her by the death of the Queen Mother, and she was +more than half consoled by this chimera. + +Mademoiselle scrupulously observed the proprieties; which is all that +can be said. Anne of Austria had emphasised in a solemn hour the +tenacity of the rancour against her niece. The evening before death, she +took farewell of all. Two only appeared forgotten; "I was astonished, +after all that had passed," relates Mademoiselle, "that she did not say +a word to M. le Prince or to me, who were both there, especially +slighting me who was brought up near her." It was precisely on account +of "all that had passed." Anne of Austria gave a good example to the +King: she expired without pardoning the leaders of the Fronde. + +Great changes followed this death. Louis XIV. lost his mother January +20, 1660; on the 27th of the same month, a deputation came from +Parliament "to pay their compliments to the King." d'Ormesson was of +this body. "I went afterwards," says his Journal, "to mass with the +King, at which there were present the Queen, M. le Dauphin, Monsieur and +Mlle. de La Valliere, whom the Queen has taken near her, through +complaisance for the King, in which she shows her wisdom." Louis XIV. +officially presented his mistress to the people, and assigned her rank +immediately below that of his legitimate wife. During his mother's life +he would not have dared to do this. + +Two months later he was delivered from the _Cabale des Devots_, and +from its intrusive observations, through the disappearance of the +_Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_. It does not appear impossible that the +death of the Queen may have slightly hastened this event. Anne of +Austria had been acquainted with the society for a long period,[177] and +had testified for it during many years of absolute devotion. She had +guarded it from Mazarin. She did more: there is proof that she deceived +her minister for the sake of the _Compagnie_. The situation changed with +the death of the Cardinal. There is nothing to warrant the belief that +Anne of Austria, whether restrained by fear or by some scruple, was +willing, after the death of Mazarin, to deceive Louis XIV. for the sake +of a secret society. + +Actively pursued by Colbert, who divined an occult force behind the +adversaries to his power, the _Compagnie_ fell back upon its habitual +protector, and had the bitter disappointment of beseeching in vain. The +devotion of Anne of Austria was henceforth to be a silent one. As long +as she remained on earth, all hope was not lost; she might be brought +back to the bosom of the fold, and better success might be looked for +another time. Her death caused the final disorganisation. The society +had not, during a long period, dared to reunite. Deprived of the mother +of the King, it practically yielded. It dissolves and vanishes into thin +air. Its register stops April 8, 1666. Have the records of the various +prosecutions been destroyed or scattered? Have all the documents been +destroyed through prudence? Suppositions are free. It is with this +mysterious brotherhood as with those water-courses which disappear under +the ground. Their traces are lost. It even happens that they bear +another name when they again spring to the surface. Such without doubt +has been the fate of the "Compagnie du Saint Sacrement," for the +sectarian spirit which has been its most significant mark has never lost +its rights in the land; in our own days we still see it placing itself +in France at the service of very different schools of thought and +belief. + +In this beginning of April (1666) in which the _Cabale des Devots_ had +avowed itself vanquished, the Court was struck with the animation of the +King. + +"A journey was made to Mouchy," wrote Mademoiselle, "where three days +were passed in reviews. The King ordered a quantity of troops to be +assembled; he also invited many ladies. All these were in mourning. +There was much diversion; the King was in gay spirits; he sang and made +verses during the progress." Although these were not the only ones, +Louis did not compose many songs during his life. + +He enjoyed feeling free from those wearisome persons who had abused the +patronage of his mother in creating themselves censors of their +sovereign. No one except his confessor and his preachers concerned +themselves further with his sins. When Bossuet and Bourdaloue were +appointed Court preachers they restrained themselves but little; but +Louis XIV. bore their reproaches with equanimity. It was their duty, and +Christians of that date, even bad ones, recognised what they owed to the +Church, and bent their heads before the pulpit. Bossuet cried out in the +presence of the entire Court that "immoral manners are always bad +manners," and that "there is a God in heaven who avenges the sins of the +people, and who, above all, avenges the sins of Kings."[178] He launched +apostrophies at Mlle. de La Valliere: "O creatures, shameful idols, +withdraw from this Court. Shadows, phantoms, dissipate yourselves in the +presence of the truth; false love, deceitful love, canst thou stand +before it?" + +Bourdaloue, who found Mme. de Montespan in the place of Mlle. de La +Valliere, reproached the King for his "debauches," and openly demanded +of him in his sermon if he had kept his promise of rupture: "Have you +not again seen this person fatal to your firmness and constancy? Have +you no more sought occasions so _dangerous_ for you?" + +Mme. de Sevigne went one day to hear him at Saint-Germain, where he +preached a Lenten sermon before the King and Queen. She returned +confounded and angry at his boldness: "We heard after dinner the sermon +of Bourdaloue, who speaks with all his force, launching truths with +lowered bridle, attacking adultery on every side; regardless +of all, he rides straight on."[179] Louis XIV. accepted these +public reproaches without protest; there was, however, but little +result. + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE MONTESPAN= From the engraving by Flameng after +the painting by Mignard] + +One effect of the death of the Queen Mother was that rivals to Mlle. de +La Valliere were free to appear; also there was a great increase in the +number of charlatans and alchemists, who found more easily an +aristocratic clientele. Diviners and sorcerers also played an important +role in the love life of this society--the most polished in the world. + +The practice of the magic arts was at that date considered one of the +most flourishing Parisian industries. The inhabitants of the streets +little frequented, or of the suburbs, were accustomed to the movement +which took place in the early morning, or in the evening at dusk, around +certain isolated houses.[180] People of all ranks, on foot, in carriages +or in chairs, women masked or muffled, succeeded each other before a +closed door, which only opened at a particular sign. + +The state of mind which led this crowd to the clairvoyant was to be +found in all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest. Public +credulity was passing through a period of expansion, apparently very +much at odds with the splendid intellect of France at that date, at +which, however, those who believe the simple formulas of history will +not be astonished. Two of our grand classic writers have left pages +which bear witness to the extent of the evil, existing at the very +moment in which France became the actual head of Europe. + +Moliere mocks at occult science and its adepts, through a long play, or +rather a libretto for a ballet,[181] which he wrote for the King in +1670, named as we already know, _Les Amants Magnifiques_. The _dramatis +personae_ are divided into two camps according to a rule of his own, in a +fashion very unpleasant for the grandees of this world, Moliere allowing +them the precedence in folly. It was sufficient for his heroes to be +illustrious through rank, to endow them with a blind faith in all +conjurers. "The truth of astrology," says the Prince Iphicrate, "is an +incontestable fact, and no one can dispute against the certitude of its +predictions." This is also the opinion of the Prince Timocles: "I am +sufficiently incredulous in regard to many things, but as for astrology, +there is nothing more certain and more constant than the success with +which horoscopes may be drawn." The Princess Aristione also agrees, and +is anxious in finding that her daughter is less convinced. + +This is a commencement of a freedom of thought, and one cannot know to +what it may lead: "My daughter," says the mother, "you have a little +incredulity which never leaves you." + +Disbelief in astrology and sorcery is represented in the play of +Moliere, figuring in the name of "Clitidas, court jester," and of +another person of obscure birth, "Sostrate, general of the army," who +takes the part of Clitidas against the calmer prophets and other +exploiters of human folly. + + There is nothing more agreeable [says he] than all the great + promises of this sublime knowledge. To transform everything + into gold; to find immortal life; to heal by words; to make + oneself beloved by the person of one's desires; to know all the + secrets of the future; to call down from the sky at will + impressions upon metals which bear happiness to mortals[182]; + to command demons; to render armies invisible and soldiers + invulnerable--all this is doubtless charming, and there are + people who have no trouble in believing in the possibility; it + is the easiest thing in the world for some men to be convinced, + but for me, I avow that my grosser mind has some difficulty in + comprehending and in believing. + +La Fontaine has treated the same subject in three of his fables. It is +in one of these, _Les Devineresses_, published in 1678, consequently +before the famous drama _Les Poisons_, in which he shows himself very +well acquainted with what the police had not yet been sufficiently +clever to discover. He knew marvellously well the existence of the +_poudre de succession_ and of the _poudre pour l'amour_: + + Une femme, a Paris, faisait la pythonisse. + On l'allait consulter sur chaque evenement; + Perdait-on un chiffon, avait-on un amant, + Un mari vivant trop, au gre de son epouse, + Une mere facheuse, une femme jalouse, + Chez la Devineuse on courait, + Pour se faire annoncer ce que l'on desirait. + +The warning was not heeded, and it needed the "burning chamber" of 1680 +to make honest people comprehend that "clairvoyant" was too often +another name for "seller of poisons." La Fontaine had, however, given no +new information about the confidence inspired. This fact was already too +well known. + +This dangerous agency, of which we have already had a glimpse on the +occasion of the first search for Lesage and Mariette, merits some +descriptive details. In Paris, during a period of twenty years, it was +so mixed up with intrigues and crimes that it exercised a real influence +over the morals of the Parisian world and through it over the affairs at +Court. + +Like a wave of madness it swept over the heads especially of the women. +Many of these, even those not directly mingling in political life, were +in a state of revolt, inconsolable for having lost the importance +acquired during the civil troubles. + +Women had been emancipated by the force of affairs. During the actual +fighting and the general disorders which ensued, the habit of remaining +in the shade of obedience was lost; also the considering themselves only +as objects of luxury. + +Louis XIV. had undertaken the task of bringing the sex back to the +playing of a decorative or utilitarian role. It was almost as if to-day +we should demand of our daughters, so free, so mingled with the general +movement, to return suddenly to the self-effacement and the thousand +restraints of our own youth. They would be transported with rage. + +In 1666, the larger portion of the clients of the necromancer sought +above everything else a secret by the aid of which they might shake off +the yoke that had again fallen upon their shoulders. The husband was the +natural incarnation of this yoke. It was therefore against him that the +revolt was habitually directed. The wives addressed themselves to a +clairvoyant. The first consultation was generally innocent enough. + +The clairvoyant counselled new-comers to go to the good Saint Denis, +always a succour for women unhappy in their domestic life, and to the +indefatigable Saint Antoine de Padua. She reserved until later the +giving of certain powders, only hinting at their existence, the secret +of which had been brought from Italy and which were sought at Paris by +both provincials and strangers. + +It is now known through contemporaneous documents that arsenic was an +element in these powders, and that so many persons accused themselves in +confession of having "poisoned some one" that the priests of Notre-Dame +at length gave warning to the authorities (1673). Did the penitents, +especially the women, always speak the truth? Popular imagination is so +quickly fired when poisoning is suggested, that it may well be queried +whether a portion of the unfortunates were not rather hysterical and +victims of hallucinations. It is probable that the true answer will +never be known. Physicians at that time were the doctors of Moliere, and +the science of chemistry did not exist. + +With the husband softened or suppressed, the women demanded love to +replace emotion in their contracted and faded existence. The task of the +necromancer thus consisted in interesting God or the devil in the heart +pangs of her client and of arousing an affection in the breast of the +man she designated. This was the beginning for the new clients; the end +was the black mass with its obscene rites or the bloody mass, for which +a small infant was strangled. + +All the forms of conjuration were used between the two, every charm, +every talisman and many "kinds of powders," not always inoffensive. The +consultations were paid for according to the rank or fortune of the +clients. In default of money, a jewel was given or even a signed note, +the imprudence of which last proceeding it is hardly needful to point +out. + +In the year of the death of Anne of Austria, one of the clairvoyants +most frequented was the wife of a hosier named Antoine Montvoisin, whose +shop was situated upon the Pont Marie, which to-day still unites the +right bank of the Seine with the isle Saint-Louis. The Pont Marie, as +almost all the bridges of Paris at that date, had a double row of +houses, with shops beneath, which formed a very animated street. The +affairs of Montvoisin, however, had not prospered. He had tried several +commercial undertakings without success. He had been dry-goods merchant +and jeweller, and had always "lost his shops," according to the +expression of his wife, Catherine Montvoisin, familiarly called "the +neighbour." + +[Illustration: =LA VOISIN= From a print in the Bibliotheque Nationale] + +It is under this latter name that she became celebrated in the annals of +crime. La Voisin the fortune-teller is the same as La Voisin the +poisoner. At the date of the hosiery shop, she had not yet attracted the +attention of justice, in spite of her installation, but ill-assured, on +the Pont Marie, which obliged her to have a double domicile, or to give +rendezvous at the house of her confrere. She gained large sums of money. +The price for consultation varied from a single piece to several +thousand francs, or from an old rag to a necklace of precious stones, +and again she drew something from the acolytes of both sexes who +assisted in her wicked works. It was known from herself that her +property was held in her own right, her husband having been always +unfortunate in business. In spite of this precaution, the money slipped +through her fingers. It is true that she had expenses, children to bring +up and relatives to support. She said: "I have ten persons to feed," but +she was economical for others. La Voisin gave a crown a week to her +mother and brought up her daughter as a small shop-keeper. It was she +herself who, in company with other miserables of her own kind, spent +madly. The position of husband of a poisoner seems to have been a +precarious one. Antoine Montvoisin was familiar with the nature of his +wife's industry, but his conscience did not forbid his profiting by it +for his own comfort. His conscience also permitted him to appropriate +to himself money entrusted to him by his wife to execute the orders for +the _neuvaines_. He was as much a free-thinker as any of the Vardes or +Guiches, and convinced that the _neuvaines_ were absolutely useless. As +to going further, to putting his own "paw in the dish," he was +successfully prudent. He was never anxious; but he was actually daily in +danger of being poisoned, for La Voisin could not suffer this coward. +She would have liked to replace him by a veritable associate, and +between the pair, there were perpetual fights for pre-eminence in +deceit. + +The good man Antoine would certainly have died through poisoning in +spite of all his care, if he had not conceived the ingenious idea of +uniting himself with an executioner, to whom he confided the situation. +It was agreed between the two that, if Montvoisin should die before his +wife, the hangman should speak and demand an autopsy. La Voisin became +afraid. She tried to poison her husband on a journey, but did not +succeed, and finally considered it safer to keep him with her. + +She had benefited, as had also the entire corporation, by the hopes +awakened in the breasts of many of the pretty women among the +aristocracy by the death of the Queen Mother. + +Anne of Austria had taken so ill the first digression of her son from +the paths of virtue that the aspirants for the succession to Mlle. de La +Valliere had preserved a certain discretion. When the rebuffs of the old +Queen were no longer to be feared, the passions were unchained and a +flock of youthful, ambitious women addressed themselves to the "duties +of fashion" in order to arrive at the good graces of the King.[183] The +boldest demanded at the same time "something against Mlle. de La +Valliere." Amongst these young women was found the Marquise de +Montespan, who loved neither her husband nor the King, but who was +harrassed by her creditors, was very conscious of her own value, and +determined to be "recognised mistress," since this was now a position +admitted and classified. + +She was as "beautiful as the day," says Saint-Simon, without being +"perfectly agreeable";--the correction is by Mme. de La Fayette. She had +all the wit possible, was delicious in eccentricities and courtesies. In +spite of so much brilliancy, the King rather avoided her and she was +reduced to amusing Marie-Therese, who admitted her freely, having full +confidence in her virtue. The Queen had been deceived by the pious +austerities of the young Marquise, by her frequent communions, and by a +mass of religious practices which were really actuated by a sincere +sentiment, and which Mme. de Montespan preserved as far as she could, +notwithstanding the scandals of her after life. Understood in this +manner, a sense of duty towards religion did not prevent resorting to +sorceresses. It rather led in this direction in giving to the perverse +soul "the vague consciousness of something beyond."[184] + +Mme. de Montespan became one of the best clients of La Voisin, regarding +neither the expense nor the decency of the ceremonies, provided that the +devil would make her the beloved of Louis XIV. Faring better than her +rivals, she received the value of her money. She began her campaign in +the course of the year 1666. The _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle, very full +on this subject, and elsewhere confirmed, inform us that in the spring +of 1667, Mme. de Montespan had supplanted La Valliere; it was the young +Queen alone who was ignorant of this fact. + +Less than two years after, La Voisin had the imprudence to make a +disturbance because two of her aids had not acted honestly toward her. +One of these was a priest, called Mariette, attached to the Church of +Saint Severin. La Voisin made use of him in sacrilegious practices. The +other, Lesage, was a sort of Jack of all trades, who recoiled before no +abomination. La Voisin accused them of having assaulted one of her +clients, Mme. de Montespan, a fact true enough, but useless to proclaim +from the housetops. + +"The quarrel having made some noise," reports La Reynie, "and the King, +having learned that these people were practising impieties and +sacrileges, had them watched." Mariette and Lesage were arrested. The +examinations have been preserved for us. Here is an essential passage: +Mariette avowed without hesitation to having spoken the Gospels "over +the heads of various persons," a form of conjuration relatively +innocent. The names were demanded. "Over the heads of the Lady de Bougy, +Mme. de Montespan, la Duverger, M. de Ravetot, all of which persons +Lesage had led to him."[185] + +With this information secured, Louis XIV. ordered prosecution: + + SAINT-GERMAIN, August 16, 1668. + + I write this letter to tell you that it is my intention to have + the said Mariette and Dubuisson[186] conducted from my chateau + to the Chatelet of the City of Paris, for the continuation of + their prosecution. + +One may be sure that the King did not lose this inquest from view. Louis +XIV. was most eager for police details and this affair touched him too +nearly to be forgotten. + +At the beginning of the investigation, it was discovered that Mariette +was first cousin to the wife of the judge. On account of this +connection, the Chatelet estimated that it was for the honour of the +magistracy to stifle the affair. He brought every effort to accomplish +this and evidently met with practical approbation from the powerful of +this world, for history permits us to see numerous irregularities. + +La Voisin, returning to her senses, heartily seconded the Justice in his +efforts to obtain succour from those in high positions. Mariette and +Lesage, after a period of trials and difficulties, were left in peace to +occupy themselves with their ambiguous trade. Both of these men figured +again in the monster process of 1680, in which they were among those who +spread details concerning the abominable practices with which the Mme. de +Montespan had been connected during long years. It does not matter here +whether these details are additions to the truth or not, for it is only +Louis XIV. who interests us, not Mme. de Montespan. + +The letter cited above proves all that is necessary, that the King knew, +from the year 1668, that his new mistress had connection with the +criminal world, and that she had intimate interviews with ignoble +persons, submitted to degrading contact, and had practised in their +company sacrilegious rites. This monarch who passed for being so +delicately keen in matters of punishment showed himself singularly +little moved. + +Surrounded by free-thinkers without prejudices, himself more or less of +a free-thinker, he resembles so little, either morally or physically, +the bewigged figure of the end of the reign, and of the _Memoires_ of +Saint-Simon, that he appears as another individual. How easily both +proprieties and punishments are put on one side when passion reigns, +but how much more alive, how much more of a natural human being, +compared to the wooden figure of the portraits of Versailles, is the +King as now seen; Louis XIV. is decidedly an enigmatical quantity. + +It would be inexact to state that passions had become more lively than +they were during the wars of the Fronde, an epoch especially ardent; but +they had certainly changed their character, as had the tastes, ideas, +literature, and fashions in general. This is the usual course of events, +and, as we have seen, the movement was precipitated under the influence +of a monarch all-powerful, determined to efface the past. + +An artistic event which should not be overlooked had favoured the +designs of Louis XIV., in opening unknown perspectives to the curious +after new sensations, already numerous in the seventeenth century. +Dramatic music made its entry into the modern world. It brought with it, +according to the phrase of one of its historians, M. Romain +Rolland,[187] an "unlimited power for expressing passion, and with +passionate emotion all that remains incommunicable through the medium of +language alone." We may or may not love music, but it must be admitted +that a creation of this nature will certainly exercise a strong +influence over the refined portion of a nation. + +French society could not escape. The new art was in train to modify the +nervous system, if I dare thus speak, of the world in which flourished, +under the royal protection, those rather perilous ideas upon the rights +of nature and the fatality of passion. Day by day, new chords were +struck upon impressionable hearts. Dramatic music was born in Italy; as +might well be. In the year 1597, upon a carnival evening, a rich +Florentine entertained a choice audience with a musical tragedy called +_Dafne_, of which the score is lost. According to one of the guests, +"the pleasure and astonishment which seized the soul of the auditors +before so novel a spectacle could hardly be expressed." + +M. Romain Rolland confirms this testimony: "It was like a thunderbolt. +All felt themselves in the presence of a new art." In ten years Italian +opera reached its full growth, thanks chiefly to a composer of genius, +Monteverde, whose _Ariane_ caused an audience of more than six thousand +persons to burst into sobs on its first representation. + +The art of singing had marched side by side with dramatic music and +attained its height almost at once. A famous soprano, Vittori, threw the +public into almost inconceivable transports. "Many persons were suddenly +forced to loosen their garments in order to breathe, so suffocated were +they with emotion." + +Everywhere musical theatres were erected. The large cities built +several; Venice alone had five, and this number was not sufficient. The +opera was given in palaces and private salons; "Bologna possessed more +than sixty private theatres, without mentioning the convents and +colleges." The clergy were caught in the whirlwind; monks and nuns +chanted operas, cardinals became stage managers of scenes, a future pope +wrote librettos. It was an epidemic, a frenzy, and Italy did not go mad +with impunity. In its beginning, the opera is responsible for grave +disorders, both nervous and moral; it became _too_ much of a passion. +Mazarin already possessed this taste before his establishment in France. +He wished to initiate his adopted country into the joys, almost to be +dreaded, which had so suddenly enriched human life, and he brought from +Italy one after the other four Italian troupes, the first in 1645, the +last a short time before his death. + +The result was easy to predict. A spectacle patronised by the Cardinal +became a matter of politics. Applauded by the partisans of the minister, +derided by his adversaries, the Italian opera met with so strong an +opposition that it was necessary to renounce it for the time, but the +lesson was not lost. + +French composers heretofore devoted to ballets and masquerades had not +received unheedingly the revelation of the dramatic style; their +ambition was also aroused to express the tempests of the soul, and they +began to grope along the new path. + +The attempt was not at once successful; but their efforts familiarised +the public with the idea of a musical language of passion. In 1664, the +song was considered the natural interpreter of love. Moliere fixes the +date in his _Princesse d'Elide_, in which Moron does not succeed in +gaining the ear of Philis because he speaks, instead of singing his +declaration. Philis flees and Moron cries out: "Behold how it is: if I +had been able to sing, I should have done better. Most women of to-day +only let themselves be courted through the ears; this is the reason that +the entire world has become musical, and one can succeed with the fair +only by making them listen to little songs and verses. I must learn to +sing like others." + +It was indeed somewhat different in 1671, when French opera arrived +on the scene.[188] It had hardly seen the light when it became, as a +result of the association of Quinault with Lulli, a counsellor of +voluptuousness. + +While the decorations and the dances charmed the eyes, as the "machines" +amused by their complications, the words and music, outdoing the +_Princesse d'Elide_,[189] murmured unceasingly with the same caressing +languor that no youthful beings have the right, for any motive whatever, +to deny to themselves the duty of loving. "Yield, give yourselves up to +transports," chants a chorus of _Amadis_. The thirteen "lyrical +tragedies" given by Quinault and Lulli from 1673 to 1686 are all +constructed upon this one theme. They gave expression to the one +single idea; "Yield! surrender yourselves!" and resulted in producing a +certain eloquence from their monotony. When these lyrics are played on +the piano,[190] a better means of hearing them failing, one cannot but +feel that in spite of their insipidity the continuous appeal to the +senses might produce in the end, particularly in the atmosphere of a +theatre, a strong effect. + +[Illustration: =JEAN BAPTISTE DE LULLI= After a contemporary print by +Bonnart] + +Moralists recognised this. All will remember the violent attack of +Boileau upon the opera. To-day we consider this attack as having been +too narrowly virtuous, even a little ridiculous. It can be explained, +however, in considering what a novelty it was to see people seized with +nervous attacks and fits of weeping while listening to singing. Was it +the "loose morals" of Quinault which caused these? Was it the new music? +In either case, the worthy Boileau was excusable for his alarm. + +France had not yet reached the point of excitability which existed in +Italy. The French are not a sufficiently musical race for this; but in a +less degree, the country submitted to the extraordinary power of the +dramatic style. It is known through Mme. de Sevigne that if the French +listeners did not invariably "burst into sobs" or "suffocate with +emotion," more than one auditor, including herself, wept silently in +hearing the fine passages. + +Fashion also swayed affairs, and we know of what fashion is capable in +France. + +Saint Evremond has written a comedy entitled _The Operas_. In the list +of _dramatis personae_, one reads: "Mlle. Crisotine become mad through +the hearing of operas. Tirsolet, a young man from Lyons, also became mad +through operas." A third person relates that "nothing else is spoken of +in Paris. Women and even young children knew the operas by heart, and +there is hardly a house in which entire scenes are not sung." How nearly +France and Italy are approached in this. The Louvre party caught the +fashion, the courtiers, being eager to imitate the King, a great admirer +of Lulli. + +It had happened that Louis remarked during the rehearsals of _Alceste_ +"that if he were at Paris when the opera should be played, he would go +every day." "This phrase," adds Mme. de Sevigne "is worth a hundred +thousand francs to Baptiste."[191] This was no affectation on the part +of the King; he really loved music, as can be recognised through +unmistakable signs. Louis XIV. had throughout his life the taste and +more than a taste for music; to which he added a longing to be himself a +performer, a desire that can never be satisfied with the most skilled +professional entertainments. As a youth, he played the guitar and took +part in ensemble playing. As a man, he found that he had a good voice, +and knew how to use it in amateur reunions. + +It can even be said that he sang not only at suitable but also at +unsuitable moments: the day after the death of his son, the Grand +Dauphin, the ladies of the Palace heard with surprise the King singing +opera prologues. During his later years, when it was difficult to amuse +him, Mme. de Maintenon organized musicales in her salon and Louis always +enjoyed these. One evening when she substituted vespers[192] for the +scores of Lulli, the King made no criticism and even intoned the +vespers. Provided it was music, all kinds were good; but the King showed +a certain predilection for the kind which he had seen created, already +so rich in new emotions and which bore rare promise for the future of +the artistic world, and the monarch possessed all the qualities needed +to enjoy it profoundly. + +The reader cannot fail to perceive through the witness of his frequent +bursts of tears that Louis was of a nervous disposition, somewhat +concealed under the cold and calm exterior which he had imposed upon +himself. In advancing age, this tendency to tears became almost a +malady. Mme. de Maintenon, in a letter dated 1705, writing to a friend +of the "vapours" of the King and of his sombre humour, makes the remark +that he is "sometimes overcome with weeping which he cannot restrain." + +He was a sensualist to whom themes of love were always attractive. +"Yield! Surrender!" the King never ceased to repeat on his own behalf +to the pretty women of his Court. For the rest, Quinault and Lulli made +him choose the subjects for their operas; and Louis had therefore a +responsibility for the voluptuousness which exhaled from their works. + +Dramatic music has now established itself. The civilised world discovers +with delight that this art has an unlimited capacity for expressing +passion, and all the passions, even the highest, the purest, and this +latter includes love. It has also been recognised that music can speak +in its own words outside of the theatre, in a symphony, in a simple +sonata, and that there exists no art so benevolent, so reposeful, and so +reassuring to troubled souls. In spite of this, in spite of all, +moralists have never been willing to throw down their weapons before +music. Emanuel Kant was clearly hostile to it; he said, "It enervates +man,"[193] and he turned away his disciples from its joys. Tolstoi has +been unkind to it in the _Kreutzer Sonata_. + +All forces can become dangerous; it depends on the "use made of +them,"[194] and also upon the souls which receive the impulse; they must +be of the calibre to support its force. + +The action of music upon French society has never, so far as I know, +been methodically studied in relation to its effects, both physical and +moral. If a historian be found, he will issue from the psychological +laboratories, scientifically equipped, in which the observer conceals +the physician: on this condition only can he speak with authority. + +[Illustration: =BOILEAU= After the painting by H. Rigaud] + +The Grande Mademoiselle cared but little for music. Nevertheless she +extols Lulli in her _Memoires_: "He makes the most beatific airs in the +world." The glory of Baptiste touched her because he was "her own," +arriving from Italy some time before the Fronde. "He came to France with +my late uncle the Chevalier de Guise. I had prayed him to bring me an +Italian, with whom I could speak and learn the language." + +Lulli was only a boy of thirteen at the time that he was brought to +France. Between the Italian lessons, he filled the office of cook. +Later, admitted among the violins of Mademoiselle, it is related that he +was chased away for having satirised his mistress in song. This recalls +other events: + + I was exiled: he did not wish to live in the country: he + demanded leave to go away: I accorded it, and since he has made + his fortune, for he is a great merry-andrew. + +Lulli always remained a buffoon in the mind of Mademoiselle, although +she assisted at his triumphs and survived him. + +Mademoiselle preserved the taste for literature formed at Saint-Fargeau. +Her name is associated with several incidents, great and small, of the +literary history of the times. In 1669, when _Tartuffe_ was definitely +authorised, she wished to have it performed in her salon. This fact is +noteworthy as the Church still forbade its representation. On August +21, Mademoiselle gave a fete. When most of the guests had departed, +"_Tartuffe_, the fashionable piece, was played before twenty women and +numbers of men."[195] Did the end of the phrase contain a slight +excuse--"which was the fashionable piece"? However this may be, +Mademoiselle could boast to her confessor that she had been "economical" +with Moliere. The entertainment at the Luxembourg was paid for with +three hundred francs given to the actors, the current price being for +such a performance five hundred and fifty francs. Thus the virtuous +homes evidenced their piety! + +On another occasion, Mademoiselle had the honour, if the Abbe d'Olivet +may be believed, of supplying Moliere with an entire scene ready made: +and what a scene! Among the _habitues_ of the salon figured one of the +victims of Boileau, the impudent Abbe Cotin, who not finding himself +sufficiently _etrille_ (thrashed) had provoked new retaliations in +gossiping about Moliere. + +One day he brought some verses of his own composition to the palace of +the Luxembourg to read them to Mademoiselle. In the midst of her +admiration another writer, supposed to be Menage, entered. Mademoiselle +committed the error of showing the verses of the Abbe and, without +mentioning the name of the author, of defending the expressed opinions. +The result was the scene between Vadius and Trissotin (at first named +"Tricotin" lest one should be deceived). It was only needful for +Moliere to give the touch of genius as in the sonnet to the Princess +Uranie and in the verses upon the _Carosse Amarante_. In these two +cases, it is well known that the lines are copied word for word from a +volume written by the Abbe Cotin.[196] + +Many echoes of the grand literary battle of the century[197] still +resounded in the Luxembourg. The success of the first tragedies of +Racine irritated that portion of the public, always large, which has a +horror of being disturbed in its habits of thought by importunate +novelties. Such a disturbance is a punishment to many persons, whether +the moving force comes from literature, science, or art. There are many +examples of this fixed state of mind to be found in the past century: it +will suffice to recall the struggles hardly yet quieted between Pasteur +and Wagner. + +Racine appeared on the scene as a revolutionary force. He and Moliere, +sustained by their friend Boileau, presented a dramatic art absolutely +new, which was separated by a gulf from that of Corneille and for which +nothing had prepared the way. Corneille's predecessors were Mairet, the +du Ryers and many others: Racine stood alone. He was the first and the +last to make tragedy realistic, with the subject simple, the characters +scrupulously true to nature, and the language often audaciously +familiar. + +Louis XIV. applauded. Racine and the King well comprehended each other. +Heinrich Heine has given the reason for this in one of those phrases +which throw light upon an entire period: "Racine is the first modern +poet, as Louis XIV. was the first modern King." + +The young Court applauded cordially with the King. It also belonged to +the new regime; but for the old Court, for the survivors of the Hotel +Rambouillet, the tragedy of Racine was as shocking, as displeasing, as +were the first realistic romances to the faithful adherents of +romanticism, and for the same reasons. In spite of the difficulty so +many have, of sympathising with the ideas of the one called a little +disdainfully "the gentle Racine," "the elegant Racine," this writer +appeared neither gentle nor elegant to three-fourths of the salon, to +the "old Court" of the Grande Mademoiselle. The _Pyrrhus_ seemed to them +"brutal," the Phedre, a "madwoman" "the blackness" of Nero or Narcisse +entirely beyond what should be permitted on the stage. + +Not that the personages of Corneille or of his predecessors acted less +wickedly, but their brutes and villains were nevertheless "heroes" and +that made all the difference. The personages created by Racine were only +"men," simple men, who used words "low and grovelling," bourgeois +words, expressions such as "Quoi qu'il en soit, que fais je, que +dis-je!"[198] and did not even realise the sense: more than three +hundred improper terms have been counted in _Andromaque_. Racine would +have fared better if his poetic methods had not been in some way a +criticism upon the cleverness of Corneille. This was the real grievance, +obliging the adorers of the old poet to condemn the insolent one. + +Mme. de Sevigne, who could not always prevent herself, although "mad +with Corneille," from admiring Racine, or from letting him perceive it, +hastened to correct herself when this happened. She wrote to her +daughter, "_Bajazet_ is beautiful," and added six lines further on, as a +person who has a reproach to make, "Believe me, nothing will approach (I +do not say surpass) some divine passages of Corneille." Having thus +regulated her conscience, she returned to _Bajazet_ to avow that she had +"wept more than twenty tears" (letter dated January 15, 1672), but her +letter evidently left her with a slight feeling of discomfort. Two +months later, she attenuated the praise of the new piece, to which she +now accorded only "agreeable things," and declared Corneille to be +another order of genius: "My daughter, let us take care not to compare +Racine with him, let us well perceive the difference!" + +Almost all of Mademoiselle's generation showed themselves as jealous as +Mme. de Sevigne for the glory of Corneille. To the admiration inspired +by his genius is added the tender gratitude that we guard for works in +which live again the ideals of our youth. It is our own thoughts, our +fine dreams of early days, that we love in these productions. + +The tragedy of Racine signified that the day of Corneille had passed; +its success indicated the inroad of new ideas and pointed definitely to +the fact that those faithful to the ancient worship had really been +relegated to the position of old fogies. This is never an agreeable +position when one feels still alive and with no very active realisation +that old age is approaching. People of letters are the first to suffer +from these revolutions of taste which leave surviving only works of the +first rank while the rest are cast away into oblivion. + +As we know, the _litterateurs_ who frequented the salon of Mademoiselle +were all enemies of Racine, half on account of loyalty to Corneille, +half on their own behalf, through an instinct of self-preservation. +Besides Menage and the Abbe Cotin, whom we have lately encountered +speaking frankly to each other, besides the amiable Segrais whose +literary powers were too light to lead him far, there was the Abbe +Boyer, whose tragedies Segrais desired to be pardoned, because he was a +"sufficiently good academician," and that worthy old man De Chapelain, +illustrious until the day upon which his verses went to press. There was +some reason for accusing Mademoiselle of having been the "centre of the +opposition to the new poetry."[199] To say this is, however, to +exaggerate her role. We shall see later that she was far too occupied in +living through her own tragedy to be actively interested in those being +enacted upon the boards. Loaded with injuries and calumnies by the +Vadius and the Trissotins, menaced with thrashings by the aristocratic +protectors of these great men of the salon, Racine ran the risk of being +crushed, and was saved only by the signal favour of the King. Neither he +nor Moliere would have accomplished their work if Louis XIV. had not +sustained them against all critics. This is a service for which we +should not limit our gratitude. The reflection upon this great debt +arouses a tenderness towards a Prince with whom we are otherwise not +always sympathetic. + +It is possible that there was some politics in his attitude. The success +of writers so new fell in well with his design of making a _tabula rasa_ +of the detested past: but after all the main reason for which protection +was accorded was affection. + +When Louis XIV. laughed "even till his sides ached"[200] over the _Ecole +des Femmes_, at which amusement the devots and prudes were indignant, +when he saved the _Plaideurs_, almost hissed in the Hotel de Bourgogne, +by "bursts of laughter, so great that the Court was astonished,"[201] +there was no calculation: he was honestly amused, like any one else. It +was also a true and frank admiration which caused him to dry his tears +at _Iphigenie_, and to order the repetition of _Mithridate_. He loved +the "new" for two reasons: because he had good taste, and because the +heroes of the later writers were of the kind needful for his generation. +It has been seen how marvellously Moliere and the King understood each +other, and the mention of Racine recalls to us the profound phrase of +Heine. Racine revealed himself in the _Andromaque_ as the "first modern +poet." Hermione and Oreste have only a distant relationship with the +heroes of Corneille. They are already "those possessed by love, the +great passionates with whom love becomes a malady, who love to the brink +of crime, and even till death." + +With these characters, it can be said that modern love, profound, +tender, melancholy, impregnated with soul, and at the same time troubled +by the obscure influences of the nervous life, makes its entrance into +French literature. Oreste shows a sadness, a despair, a madness, which a +century and a half later burst forth in love romances. Louis XIV. had +not waited for Racine for his education in passion. When Marie Mancini +fascinated him, he was one of the first examples of the modern type of +those "possessed by love," and he had never forgotten this crisis; in +fact he never forgot anything. This episode in the life of the young +King had been a good apprenticeship for the comprehending of the love of +Oreste or of Phedre as the true love malady, as a fatality against which +our single will is only a feeble weapon. + +Around the King, Mme. Henriette, Mme. de Montespan, all the young Court +and some shrewd spirits of the old, with Conde at the head, rendered +justice to the truth of the "anatomies of the heart," in the tragedy of +Racine. Mademoiselle was incapable of this; she believed too firmly in +the superhuman strength of the heroes of Corneille, with whom the will +laughs at resistance, whether the opposition arises in the soul or in +the exterior world, to admit the fatality of passion. Nevertheless, it +was the Grande Mademoiselle herself who was going to demonstrate clearly +to all France that it was impossible to escape fate, when this fate +points to love. Here we meet the great misfortune of her life! + +An atmosphere of passion, and an intimacy with people whose sole +occupation was to render themselves attractive, was somewhat dangerous +for an old maid, sensitive without realising it. Mademoiselle had the +singular desire, which later cost her dearly, to make an ally of Mme. de +Montespan and thus to form a part of the chosen society of the Court. + +She sought the company of the mistress and received service from her. +Mme. de Montespan was her interpreter with the King. In return +Mademoiselle endeavoured to calm M. de Montespan who, for serious or for +trivial reasons[202] "flew into passions," like a "madman" or "wild +person," against Madame his wife. "He is my relative and I scolded +him," says the _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle. As a connoisseur, +Mademoiselle hugely enjoyed the original wit of Mme. de Montespan. The +pleasure found in returning the ball in conversation was the foundation +of the intimacy. + +With the growing idleness of the Court, pleasure in pure cleverness +increased. The play of the mind was the sole resource against ennui. +Wit, no matter at whose expense, became the enjoyment. The wise and +prudent Mme. de Maintenon succumbed like Mademoiselle, when her turn +came, to the irresistible charm of a conversation which "renders +agreeable the most serious matters, and ennobles the most trivial."[203] + +During the sharpest quarrel between Mademoiselle and Mme. de Montespan, +the enjoyment of the opponent's wit was so keen that they parted with +pain. "Mme. de Montespan and I," wrote Mme. de Maintenon in 1681,[204] +"have to-day taken a walk, holding each other's arms and laughing +heartily; we are not more in accord for this." There can never be too +much cleverness, but there is an inconvenience in there being nothing +behind the wit, and this is one of the rocks towards which Louis XIV. +was pushing the French nobility. He made it impossible for those pacing +his antechambers to indulge in any intellectual effort other than that +of seeking pretty phrases to amuse the listeners. + +A gentleman of quality commences his day at eight in the morning +standing in waiting before the door of the king. Salutes are given and +returned. The elegants comb their locks, glancing out of the corner of +their eyes at those entering. Moliere permits us to be present at the +"final assault" through verses but little known: + + Grattez du peigne a la porte[205] + De la chambre du Roi; + Ou si, comme je prevoi, + La presse s'y trouve forte, + Montrez de loin votre chapeau, + Ou montez sur quelque chose + Pour faire voir votre museau, + Et criez sans aucune pause, + D'un ton rien moins que naturel; + "Monsieur l'huissier, pour le marquis un tel" + Jetez-vous dans la foule, et tranchez du notable, + Coudoyez un chacun, point du tout quartier, + Pressez, poussez, faites le diable + Pour vous mettre le premier.[206] + +M. le Marquis enters. The chamber is already crowded. He "gains ground +step by step," succeeds in seeing the King put on his shoes, for Louis +performs this act with his own royal hands, and thus passes the first +hour. The exciting event is repeated in the evening when the King takes +off his shoes. The Marquis had already, at one o'clock, witnessed the +consumption of the royal soup, and two or three times in the course of +the day had delighted his eyes with the sight of the King passing to +and fro on his way to mass or to take the fresh air. + +During the intervals, the courtiers were charged with certain puerile +occupations. The round of homages were made to the various members of +the royal family and the prominent personages of the day, and there was +gambling and other pleasures. The only relief for this complete idleness +was to be found in an active campaign if there happened to be a war on +hand. Let the courtier be admired for being able under such adverse +circumstances to keep his wit awake and alert for attack and response, +and also for the capacity of finding the military virtues when again +called upon to exercise them. + +Fortunately, the latter virtues were deeply ingrained in the breasts of +the French gentlemen of this period, and it is not to their discredit if +the other faculties, mental and physical, the exercise of which was +plainly discouraged by the King, should have so fallen into disuse that +their children suffered. The final descendants of four or five +generations of those living this absurd life were the _emigres_ of the +great Revolution, all heroes, almost all clever, or at least appearing +so, and in general people of wit, but without character. This fact can +hardly be too much emphasised: never has a monarch laboured with greater +skill and method than Louis XIV. in the successful attempt to annihilate +the nobility and to ruin its reputation. This is one of the most serious +souvenirs of the wars of the Fronde. + +It was with the women as with the men--the same subjection, the same +emptiness of life, from which arose the weakness of Mademoiselle for +Mme. de Montespan. The situation of recognised mistress "affects +nothing"; Mademoiselle had never considered that the virtue of others +concerned her. The novelty of the situation, the unexpected prerogatives +accruing to the new position, and the habits resulting, gave rise to +some of the most curious incidents of the reign, and also strengthened +an intimacy which survived many shocks. + +As soon as Louis XIV. formally established his mistresses at Court, it +had been needful to frame new rules of etiquette. At first these rules +were understood rather than formulated, but contemporary writers give +evidence of their existence. It was the new regulations which gave +scandal, rather than the fact of a weakness too common to all men of all +times. The people had found the phrase suitable enough when it ran to +gaze on "the three queens" in one carriage; Mlle. de La Valliere and +Mme. de Montespan were publicly at the same time occupying the rank of +secondary wives to the King. When the royal family made its solemn +visits to any of its members who were mortally ill, these two ladies +arrived after the King and Queen. Mademoiselle met them at the death-bed +of Mme. Henriette; "Mme. de Montespan and La Valliere came." She met +them again over the cradle of a daughter of Louis XIV. and of +Marie-Therese, who died as an infant. "I found her in the last +extremity.... We staid almost the entire night watching her die; Mme. +de Montespan and Mme. de La Valliere were also there." The latter +escaped from such honours as often as she could. Mme. de Montespan liked +them better, and added to them. She had placed herself upon the footing +of the Queen in regard to ordinary visits, which she never returned. +"Never," says Saint-Simon, "not even to Monsieur or Madame or to the +Grande Mademoiselle, or to the Hotel de Conde." + +The same hauteur was displayed in the manner of receiving the princes +and princesses of the blood, and this "exterior of Queen" followed her +into the retreat! All were accustomed to it. + +"The habit of respect was preserved without murmur," says again +Saint-Simon, who recalled Mme. de Montespan, disgraced and passing her +time in penitence, nevertheless continuing to hold court in her +convent,[207] with as royal an etiquette as at Saint-Germain or +Versailles: + + The back of her armchair was formed by the foot-piece of the + bed, and there was no other chair in the room. Monsieur and the + Grande Mademoiselle had always loved her, and often went to see + her; for these, chairs were brought, and also for Madame la + Princesse; but Mme. de Montespan did not dream of deranging + herself for her own people nor for those they brought with + them.... One can judge by this how she received "all the + world." + +The "all the world," which included some of the most distinguished, +contented themselves with small "chairs with backs," or simple camp +stools. No one was offended, and "all France came"; I do not know by +what fantasy it was considered a duty to make visits from time to +time. She spoke to each like a queen holding her court, who honours in +"addressing." Marie-Therese herself, in the time in which Mme. de +Montespan was the actual sovereign, had submitted to the long empire of +custom. In 1675, the fourth year of the war in Holland, Louis XIV. being +with the army while Mme. de Montespan was at her chateau at Clagny, one +of their sons was "slightly ill."[208] The Queen considered it her duty +to visit the child and to comfort the mother. She went to seek Mme. de +Montespan, and led her one day to the Trianon, another to dine in some +favourite convent, an example which brought the crowd to Clagny and made +an end of hesitancy. "The wife of her firm (_solide_) friend," wrote +Mme. de Sevigne, "visited her, and afterward the entire family in turn. +She takes precedence of all the Duchesses." (July 3, 1675.) + +There had been a time in which this fashion of ignoring rank would have +excited the indignation of Mademoiselle; but this time was far distant, +farther than she herself realised. In 1667 she had cried very loud +because her second sister, Mademoiselle d'Alencon, had made a +_mesalliance_ in marrying a simple seigneur, the Duc de Guise, and she +had looked very gloomily at the pair. The time had passed for such +pride, as the poor woman was herself ready for a worse _mesalliance_. +Her patience was at an end. Her agitation while Louis XIV. was +attempting marriage negotiations with the Duc de Savoie must not be +forgotten. No prince had thought of her since this affront. She was +considered too old. She would not confess this to be the case, but she +felt it, and a tempest gathered in the depths of her heart. The storm +burst in 1669. It is impossible to say in what measure nature alone was +responsible, and what was due to the atmosphere of moral disorder and +voluptuousness which Mademoiselle was now inhaling at the Court in the +frequent companionship of the favourite. One thing is certain, the +Grande Mademoiselle did not try to struggle against the passion which +seized her; her attitude was rather that of a person who sought its +sway. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 163: The Mlles. de Nemours were daughters of Elisabeth de +Vendome, sister of the Duc de Beaufort, and of Henri de Savoie, Duc de +Nemours, who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law (July 30, 1652). +The younger sister married Alphonse VI. June 28, 1666.] + +[Footnote 164: Claude Le Pelletier, then President of Inquests. After, +he was Minister of State and Controller-General of Finances.] + +[Footnote 165: Mlle. d'Alencon, the second of the half-sisters of +Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 166: _Archives de Chantilly._] + +[Footnote 167: _[OE]uvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulieres_, Paris, +1806.] + +[Footnote 168: _L'ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne_; Paris, +January 27, 1664. (_Archives de la Bastile._) The Princesse de Savoie +refused by Louis XIV; had decided to marry the Duc de Parma.] + +[Footnote 169: _Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 170: The Archbishop of Embrun to Father Brienne; Turin Aug. 1, +1659.] + +[Footnote 171: La Fontaine: _La Fille_, fable, published for the first +time in the edition 1679.] + +[Footnote 172: Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste de Nemours married Charles Emmanuel +II., May 11, 1665.] + +[Footnote 173: And not Madame Henriette, as has been said in error.] + +[Footnote 174: Bethleem was a suburb of Clamecy.] + +[Footnote 175: Mme. de La Fayette, _Histoire de Madame Henriette_.] + +[Footnote 176: _Memoires de Mme. de Motteville._] + +[Footnote 177: See Raoul Allier, _La Cabale des Devots_.] + +[Footnote 178: Lenten sermons for the year 1662.] + +[Footnote 179: Letter of March 29, 1680.] + +[Footnote 180: _Archives de la Bastille_, by Francois Ravaisson, vols. +iv., v., and vi., _passim_.] + +[Footnote 181: See the review of the play in _Moliere_ of the _Grands +Ecrivains de la France_ (Hachette).] + +[Footnote 182: Allusion to certain talismans.] + +[Footnote 183: _Archives de la Bastille_: Rapport de la Reynie, +lieutenant-general of police, a Louvois (1680, no other date).] + +[Footnote 184: _La Magie dans l'Inde antique_, by Victor Henry.] + +[Footnote 185: Interrogatory of June 30, 1668. Mme. de Bougy was the +widow of the Marquis of this name, lieutenant-general. La Duverger was +occupied with magic. The Marquis de Ravetot had married Catherine de +Grammont, daughter of the Marshal.] + +[Footnote 186: Another name for Lesage.] + +[Footnote 187: _Histoire de l'Opera en Europe_, by M. Romain Rolland. +Cf. _Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_, by Chouquet, _Les +Origines de l'Opera francais_, by Nuitter and Thoinan.] + +[Footnote 188: The first opera worthy of the name was _Pomone_, by +Cambert. It will be learned in special works how French opera differed +from Italian and through what a chain of circumstances it occurred that +a Florentine, Baptiste Lulli, was the true founder.] + +[Footnote 189: See above.] + +[Footnote 190: A selection of the operas of Lulli, for piano and voice, +has appeared in the Collection Michaelis.] + +[Footnote 191: Letter dated December 1, 1673.] + +[Footnote 192: _Introduction par M. le Comte d' Haussonville, aux +Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._] + +[Footnote 193: _Kant als Mensch_, by Erich Adickes.] + +[Footnote 194: Romain Rolland.] + +[Footnote 195: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 196: _OEuvres galantes en vers et en prose_, by M. Cotin.] + +[Footnote 197: For this see _Les Ennemis de Racine_, by F. Deltour; _Les +Epoques du Theatre francais_, and _Les Etudes critiques sur l'Histoire +de la Litterature francaise_ by M. F. Brunetiere; the memoirs and +correspondence of the times; the collection of _Mercure galant_; _les +prefaces de Racine_, etc.] + +[Footnote 198: Criticism by Boursault.] + +[Footnote 199: Deltour, _Les Ennemies de Racine_.] + +[Footnote 200: _Gazette de Loret_, January 13, 1663.] + +[Footnote 201: _Memoires sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jean Racine_, by +Louis Racine.] + +[Footnote 202: See the volume by MM. Jean Lemoine and Andre +Lichtenberger, _De La Valliere a Montespan_.] + +[Footnote 203: _Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._--_Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale_, with an _Introduction_ by M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 204: May 27, to M. de Montchevreuil.] + +[Footnote 205: "_Frappez_" would have been misunderstood.] + +[Footnote 206: _Remerciement au Roi_ (1663).] + +[Footnote 207: The Convent of Saint-Joseph, rue Saint Dominique; Mme. de +Montespan had constructed in it an apartment for herself.] + +[Footnote 208: The Comte de Vexin, who died young.--Mme. de Sevigne, +letter dated June 14, 1675.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + + The Grande Mademoiselle in Love--Sketch of Lauzun and their + Romance--The Court on its Travels--Death of + Madame--Announcement of the Marriage of Mademoiselle--General + Consternation--Louis XIV. Breaks the Affair. + + +In the spring of 1669, Louis XIV. one day was listening to the Comtesse +de Soissons sing. She was the second of the Mazarin nieces, and the only +really wicked one in the family. She sang a new song containing many +naughty couplets, in which mud was thrown upon some of the courtiers. +Men and women received their packet under the guise of mock praise, +according to a fashion much in vogue. The phrase "mock praise" had +become the name of a form of satire, which made an almost unique +literature. The King permitted the couplets to pass in silence. He did +not even protest at this one: + + Et pour M. Le Grand,[209] + Il est tout mystere; + Quand il est galant, + Il a comme La Valliere + L'esprit penetrant. + +The Countess then arrived at a couplet on Puyguilhem, better known under +the name of Lauzun.[210] + + De la cour + La vertu la plus pure + Est en Peguilin.... + +At this place the King interrupted: "If it is wished to vex him, they +are wrong, but when people act as he has done, they must be let alone; +as for others, they are badly treated." The sudden displeasure of the +King at the mention of Puyguilhem caused a general silence, and the song +stopped at this point. + +The Grande Mademoiselle was present at this scene, and was surprised to +discover that she was not indifferent to its import. Up to this time, +she had scarcely known Lauzun, who did not belong to her coterie. "It +pleased me," says her _Memoires_, "to hear the manner in which the King +spoke of him; I felt some instinct of the future." This was the first +warning of the passion which had already insinuated itself into the +depths of her heart; but she did not yet comprehend it. The idea came to +her, however, of seizing an occasion to converse with Lauzun. She felt +an inclination for this at once. "He has," said she, "a manner of +explaining himself which is very extraordinary." Mademoiselle was +interested, but she still believed that it was only the conversational +capacity which pleased her in the little cadet of Gascony. She began to +query, however, why, having been sufficiently content during her five +years of exile, she was now so willing to remain a fixture. The year had +ended before she found a satisfactory response to this question: "I went +in the month of December (the 6th) to Saint-Germain, from which I did +not depart. I soon accustomed myself to it. Ordinarily, I only stayed +three or four days, and my present long sojourn surprised every one." + +On the 31st, she decided at length to return to Paris: "I was very bored +there, and could not discover what I had done at Saint-Germain which had +so much diverted me." She hastened to rejoin the Court, without knowing +why, and commenced again her conversations with Lauzun, but still +remained unconscious of any sentiment. She only knew that she was +troubled and agitated, and discontented with her condition, and that she +felt a desire to marry. The desire dated back a long time, but of late +it had become so insistent that Mademoiselle was forced to examine +herself seriously. + +The passage in which she relates her discovery is charmingly natural and +significantly true: + + I reasoned with myself (for I did not speak to any one) and I + said, 'this is no longer a vague thought; it must have some + object.' I did not discover who it was. I sought, I dreamed, + but could not find out. Finally, after some days of anxiety, I + perceived that it was M. de Lauzun whom I loved, who had glided + into my heart. I thought him the most worthy man in the world, + the most agreeable; nothing was lacking to make me happy but a + husband like him, whom I should love and who would love me + devotedly; that heretofore I had never been loved; that it was + necessary once in life to taste the sweetness of being adored by + some one, which would make worth while the sufferings caused by + the pangs of love. + +This explanation of her own heart was followed by days of intoxication. +Mademoiselle lived in a dream, and all was easy, all was arranged: "It +appeared to me that I found more pleasure in seeing him and in talking +to him than heretofore; that the days in which he was absent, I was +bored, and I believe that the same feeling came to him; that he did not +care to confess this, but the pains he took to come wherever he was +likely to meet me made the fact clear." In the absence of Lauzun, she +sought solitude in order to think of him freely. "I was delighted to be +alone in my chamber; I formed plans of what I could do for him which +would give him a higher position." + +One single thought, characteristic of her generation, came to trouble +her happiness; she queried of herself if the great princesses of the +theatre of Corneille would have married a cadet of Gascogne. Assuredly, +passion blows where it listeth. Corneille had never denied this; but he +had maintained that the will should render us masters of our affections, +and his plays bear witness that love, even when founded in a just +feeling of admiration, can efface itself before the sentiment of the +duty owed to rank. Happily, poets, even when they are named Corneille, +sometimes contradict themselves, and Mademoiselle, who had seen plays +since the days of swaddling clothes, well knew her _repertoire_. She now +recalled for her comfort a passage in the _Suite du Menteur_ which +clearly established the "predestination of marriage, and the foresight +of God," so that it was a Christian duty to submit without resistance to +sentiments sent to us "from the sky." + +Although sure of her own memory, which was indeed excellent, +Mademoiselle sent in great haste to Paris to secure a copy of the play, +and found the page (Act IV.) in which Melisse confides to Lise his love +for Dorante: + + Quand les ordres du ciel nous ont faits l'un pour l'autre, + Lise, c'est un accord bientot fait que le notre. + Sa main entre les c[oe]urs, par un secret pouvoir, + Seme l'intelligence avant que de se voir; + Il prepare si bien l'amant et la maitresse, + Que leur ame au seul nom s'emeut et s'interesse. + On s'estime, on se cherche, on s'aime en un moment; + Tout ce qu'on s'entredit persuade aisement; + Et, sans s'inquieter de mille peurs frivoles, + La foi semble courir au-devant des paroles. + +How was it possible to doubt for a single instant after having read +these verses that there is impiety in disobeying the "commands" to love +which come to us from on high? Nevertheless, serious conflicts took +place in the soul of the royal pupil of Corneille. Sometimes she +represented to herself with vivacity the joys of marriage, among the +keenest of which would be the witnessing the vexation of her heirs, who +were already beginning to find that she was making them wait too long, +and whom she longed to disappoint. Sometimes her mind could only dwell +upon the scandal which such a _mesalliance_ would cause, the reprobation +of some, and the laughter of others, and then her pride rose in arms. +She thus on one day desired the marriage eagerly, while on the next she +detested the thought of it, the vacillation depending upon the fact of +her having between times seen or not seen M. de Lauzun. + +This struggle between the head and the heart was prolonged during +several weeks; + + finally, after having often passed and repassed the pro and con + through my brain, my heart decided the affair, and it was in + the Church of Recollects in which I took my final resolution. + Never had I felt so much devotion in church, and those who + regarded me perceived that I was much absorbed; I believe that + God surprised me with His commands. The next day, which was the + second of March, I was very gay. + +If Mademoiselle had been of the age of Juliet, this would have been a +pretty romance. But she was perhaps slightly too mature to play with the +grand passion. + +The man who was the cause of these agitations is one of the best-known +figures of his times. Traces of him are found in all the contemporary +writings. The singularity of his personality joined to the prodigies of +his luck, good and bad, had made him an object of interest to his +contemporaries. It was of him that La Bruyere said: "No one can guess +how he lives."[211] The political world, the ministers at the head, +observed him with an anxious attention, because he had accomplished the +miracle of becoming the favourite of the King, while possessing +precisely the defects which Louis XIV. feared the most. Lauzun did not +attain the position of such a favourite as the Constable de Luynes under +Louis XIII., but he secured sufficient influence to accumulate offices +and honours. + +Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, later Comte de Lauzun, +was born in 1633 (or 1632) of an ancient family of Perigord. His parents +had nine children and nothing to give to the younger ones; but their +birth assured to this youthful throng access to the Court and hope of +aid from it. The third of the boys resembled Poucet in form and also +possessed his keenness of mind. It was decided to send him to seek his +fortune, not in the forest, as with the hero of the tale, but in the +vicinity of the Court of France, the parents being convinced that with +his acuteness he would not permit himself to be eaten by the ogre, but +would rather succeed in devouring others. + +The Marechal de Gramont, first cousin of the old Lauzun, saw arrive at +his mansion a very little man, with the face of "a flayed cat,"[212] +surrounded with flaxen hair, who claimed to be fourteen years of age. +This grotesque person was as lively as a sparrow and Gascon to the tips +of his fingers. + +The Marshal kept him and provided for his education. In winter the +little man went to the "academy" to learn to dance, to shoot, and to +ride. In the summer he campaigned with a cavalry regiment belonging to +his uncle. There was apparently no plan for serious study of any kind, +nor even any attention paid to making the youth read. Complete ignorance +was still accepted among the nobility without remark; there had been +little change for the better in this respect since the previous century. +The parents of Lauzun had well judged. In a short time the boy had +wormed himself into the most imposing mansions, the most sacred +chambers. He was seen with the King, he was met in the company of +beautiful ladies. The Court and the city became familiar with his +furtive and impudent physiognomy, which soon grew haughty and insolent. +At eighteen, his father gave him his first military charge. At +twenty-four, he possessed a regiment; then suddenly, when the King came +to power, he received advancements, favours, an always increasing and +inexplicable credit, which aroused for him the hatred of Louvois, for in +the frequent discussions in relation to the service, "the favourite +always conquered." One of his tricks, which was unparalleled for +impudence, and the discovery of which might well have crushed him for +ever, ended in proving his strength. + +[Illustration: + +Cliche Braun, Clement & Cie. + +=DUC DE LAUZUN= + +By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.] + +At about the time when he attracted the attention of the Grande +Mademoiselle, the insatiable little man extracted from his master (under +the condition of secrecy for fear of Louvois) the promise of being +shortly made Grand Master of Artillery. Lauzun was foolish enough not to +be silent. Louvois, once warned, made such strong and convincing +opposition that the King was aroused, and the favourite heard no more of +the appointment. In his anxiety he appealed to Mme. de Montespan. She +was his great friend and promised her aid; but he was distrustful and +wished to "have his mind clear"; then occurred a scene which outraged +Saint-Simon himself, as he related it long after. This writer avows in +his _Memoires_ that it would have been incredible "if the truth had not +been attested by all the Court." + +Like most great workers, Louis XIV. was orderly and methodical in +everything. He had fixed hours for his ministers and for appearing in +public, hours for his wife and for his mistresses. It could always be +known where he was and what he was doing. Mme. de Montespan's hour was +in the afternoon. With the complicity of a chambermaid Lauzun was +introduced into the room, concealed himself under the bed, and by +keeping his ears open soon "cleared his mind." Mme. de Montespan did not +forget him in her conversation, but he heard himself severely criticised +and his bad character exploited; the slight dependence which could be +placed upon him and his arrogance towards Louvois were also emphasised. +All these charges were made with so much wit that the King, carried +away, replied with almost as little charity. + +The listener under the bed, through rage and constraint, was thrown into +a "great perspiration." Finally the King returned to his own affairs and +Mme. de Montespan to hers, which were to attire themselves for a ballet. +After her toilet, Madame found Lauzun at her door. He offered +his hand and demanded if he dared flatter himself that she had +remembered him with the King. She assured him that she had not failed to +do so, and expatiated upon "all the services which she had just rendered +him." M. de Lauzun permitted her to finish, only forcing her to walk +slowly, and then softly in a low voice repeated, word for word, all that +had passed between the King and herself, without leaving out a single +phrase; and always retaining the sweet and gentle voice, he proceeded to +call her the most infamous names, assured her that he would "spoil her +face," and led her most unwillingly to the ballet, more dead than alive, +and almost without consciousness. + +The King and Mme. de Montespan both believed that it was only the devil +himself who could have so accurately reported what had been said. +Royalty and the mistress were in trouble, and in a "horrible rage"; they +had not yet recovered their equanimity when the favourite recommenced +his intrigues. + +Three days after this apparently inexplicable event, he came to break +his sword before the King, declaiming that he would no longer serve a +prince who forswore his word for a ---- (the word cannot be repeated). +The conduct of Louis XIV. at this juncture has remained famous. He +opened the window and threw out his cane, saying that he should regret +having struck a gentleman. + +The next day Lauzun found himself in the Bastile, and it might have been +supposed for a long sojourn, under a monarch who never as a child had +pardoned a lack of respect. The public was still more astonished to +learn, at the end of the second month, that it was the King who sought +pardon, and Lauzun who held his head high, refusing recompense and +asserting that the prison was preferable to the Court. + +The feelings of Louvois and others can be imagined during the strange +interchange of visits between Saint-Germain and the Bastile, for the +purpose of obtaining from this dangerous personage the acceptance of the +much-desired charge of Captain of the Body Guard; also the alarm at the +prompt[213] return of the favourite, more of a spoiled child than before +the punishment. + +Whence came this credit with a prince so little susceptible to +influence, who had always pretended to be as opposed to the rule of +favourites as of prime ministers? In what did this little Lauzun show +special merit? and what attracted women who pursued and sought his +favour through cajoleries and gifts? Little Poucet he still was; for he +had not increased in stature. "He is," wrote Bussy-Rabutin, "one of the +smallest men God has ever made."[214] He had not become more beautiful. +We can on this point believe the testimony of Mademoiselle herself. +However strong her passion, she is yet able to paint Lauzun in these +terms, writing to Mme. de Noailles: "He is a small man. No one can say +that his figure is not the straightest, prettiest, most agreeable. The +limbs are fine; he has good presence in all that he does; but little +hair, blond mixed with grey, ill-combed, and often somewhat greasy; fine +blue eyes, but generally red; a shrewd air; a pretty countenance. His +smile pleases. The end of his nose is pointed and red; something +elevated in his physiognomy; very negligent in attire; when, however, it +appeals to him to be careful, he looks very well. Behold the man!" + +This is not an alluring picture. There was but little to attract. It was +murmured that he possessed secret methods of making himself beloved. "As +for his temper and manners," continues Mademoiselle, "I defy any one to +understand them, to explain or to imitate them." The world was not +entirely of this opinion. It could recognise at least that M. de Lauzun +was "the most insolent little man born in the century,"[215] also the +most malicious. Many cruel traits were ascribed to him, and his fashion +of turning on his heel and plunging into the crowd before his victims +had regained their composure was well known. + +The world was also well assured that the favourite was an intriguer. +Lauzun was always occupied with some machination, even against those to +whom he was indifferent; this kept his hand in. For the rest, +Mademoiselle was right; he was _not_ understood. He was very +intelligent. His clever phrases were repeated. For example, his response +to the wife of a minister who said rather foolishly, in emphasising the +trouble her husband gave himself: "There is nothing more embarrassing +than the position of the one who holds _la queue de la poele_, is +there?" "Pardon, Madame, there are those who are within." + +But Lauzun also loved to play the imbecile and to utter with the tone of +a simpleton phrases without sense; he indulged in this singular taste +even before the King. The contrast was great between his pretensions to +the "haughty air" and the desire to be imposing and the habit of +adorning himself in grotesque costumes in order to see whether any one +dared to laugh at M. de Lauzun. He was once found at home arrayed in a +dressing gown and great wig, his mantle over the gown, a nightcap upon +his wig, and a plumed hat above all. Thus attired, he walked up and down +scanning his domestics, and woe to him who did not keep his countenance. + +He was at once avaricious and lavish, ungrateful and the reverse, +delighting in evil but at the same time loyal as relative or friend +while not ceasing to be dangerous. He undertook at one time to advance +in the world his nephew, lately come from Perigord. He furnished him +with a purse and took the trouble to present him at Court, at which +their apparition was an event. They were pointed out to every one, and +no one, not even the King, composed as he was by profession, could help +laughing; Lauzun had indulged in the fantasy of dressing his nephew in +the costume of his grandfather. The poor lad felt so ridiculous that he +almost died from shame, and fled from Paris without daring to show +himself again. + +In this freak, his uncle had not acted maliciously: he had simply +disregarded consequences. There was certainly a strain of madness in +Lauzun. If not too large, a tinge of this kind often gives to people a +certain fascination. It had captivated Mademoiselle, who in trying to +define her attraction for Lauzun was forced to conclude, "Finally, he +pleased me; and I love him passionately." + +The King had also not been insensible to this indefinable charm, but it +must be said that he had been slightly dazzled by the perfection of the +qualities of a courtier which were shown by this half-madman. The Court +of France possessed no more servile being bowing down before the master +than "the most insolent little man seen during the century." This Gascon +played comedies of devotion for the benefit of Louis XIV. and flattered +him in the most shameful manner, which succeeded only too well. + +The King was persuaded that M. de Lauzun loved him alone, lived but for +him, and had no thought apart, and the King was touched by this +illusion. He found such absolute devotion delightful, and was ready to +pardon much to the man who gave so good an example to other courtiers. + +But even in giving full weight to the originality and the +unscrupulousness of this man, which undoubtedly added to his force, and +also bearing in mind that Louis XIV. did not entirely escape a certain +terror which his favourite inspired, it is still difficult to account +for a success so disproportioned to the merit. Lauzun had almost reached +the heights when the mad strain became ascendant and ruined him. Once +decided upon her desires, Mademoiselle became completely absorbed in +finding the best means of satisfying these. The first steps appeared to +be the most difficult. Considering her rank, the advances must be made +by her, and it fell to the Grande Mademoiselle to demand the hand of M. +de Lauzun. Everything had been prepared and the Princess did not +anticipate a refusal. But it was not sufficient to be married; she +wished to live her romance, to be loved, and to be told so, and this +delight was not easy to attain. "I do not know," says she, "if he +perceived what was in my heart. I was dying of desire to give him an +opportunity to tell me what his feelings were to me. I knew not how to +accomplish this." + +Probably in all the Court there did not exist another woman so naive as +Mademoiselle in regard to the manipulation of a lover! After having +seriously thought over the matter, she decided upon a classic expedient. +She resolved to tell Lauzun that it was a question of an alliance, and +that she wished to ask his advice. If he loved her, he would certainly +betray himself. She entered upon the attempt, on the same second of +March on which she had awakened so gaily, and met her lover in the +palace of the Queen, at the time when that lady retired to her +_oratoire_ to "pray God." + +While Marie-Therese was prolonging her devotions a certain freedom was +permitted in the anteroom. + +"I went to him and led him near a window. With his pride and his haughty +air, he appeared to me the Emperor of all the world. I commenced: 'You +have testified so much friendship for me during so long a time, that I +have the utmost confidence in you, and I do not wish to act without your +advice.'" Lauzun protested, as was fitting, his gratitude and his +devotion, and Mademoiselle continued: "It is plainly to be seen that the +King wishes to marry me to the Prince de Lorraine; have you heard this +mentioned?" No, he had "heard nothing of it." Mademoiselle poured out +some confused explanations as to her reasons for wishing to remain in +France, in the hope of finding at length true happiness. "For myself," +concluded she, "I cannot love what I do not esteem." Lauzun approved +all and demanded: "Do you think of marrying?" She responded naively, "I +become enraged when I hear people calculating upon my succession." "Ah," +said he, "nothing would give me greater delight than to marry." At this +moment, the Queen came out of the _oratoire_ and it was necessary to +part. Lauzun had betrayed nothing. Nevertheless, Mademoiselle felt very +happy: "I thought, there is one important step taken, and he can no +longer mistake my sentiments; on the first occasion, I will learn his. I +was well content with myself and with what I had done." + +Lauzun had in fact really comprehended that the Grande Mademoiselle was +throwing herself at his head, and he was well pleased to enter into the +game at all risks, in order to gain what he could. Without actually +reaching the marriage ceremony, the love of a grand princess can be of +advantage in many ways. He took pains, therefore, to renew the +conversation, and employed all his art, all his wit, in default of +feeling, in keeping the flame alight in the breast of the old maid and +in flattering the weaknesses which united with the movements of her +heart in increasing the desire for marriage. Mademoiselle could not +support the vision of the heirs always on the watch; Lauzun accentuated +and sympathised with her annoyance at overhearing such phrases as "This +one will have that territory, another will inherit this land." "I find +your vexation very reasonable," said he, "for one should live as long +as possible and not love those who desire our death." + +Mademoiselle could not resign herself to growing old. This was not +coquetry, of which she could not be accused; it was the conviction that +on account of her high birth she was a privileged creature. She said +very seriously, "People of my quality are always young," and she dressed +as at twenty, and continued to dance. + +Lauzun attacked this delicate subject and did not hesitate to speak +unpleasant truths before offering the soothing balm held in reserve. It +was his habit to treat women brutally in order to make them submissive, +and in this case there were double reasons for doing so. "His maxim," +relates Saint-Simon, "was that the Bourbons must be rudely treated and +the rod must be held high over their heads, without which no empire +could be preserved over them." This system had succeeded tolerably well +with Louis XIV. Lauzun could well believe, in these early times, that it +would also be successful with his cousin, so humbly did she accept his +harshness. + +He said to her: "I find that you are right to take a husband, nothing in +the world being so ridiculous, no matter what may be the rank, as to see +a woman of forty wrapped up in the pleasures of the world, like a girl +of fifteen, who thinks of nothing else. At this age, a woman should be a +nun or at least a _devote_, or she should remain at home modestly +dressed." + +He admitted that Mademoiselle, on account of her high rank, might +constitute an exception, and that she might be permitted at long +intervals to hear one or two acts of the opera; but her duty as old maid +was "to attend vespers, and to listen to sermons, to receive the +benediction, to go to assemblies for the poor, and to the hospitals." Or +else to marry; this was the alternative which pointed his moral. "For +once married," continued he, "a woman can go anywhere at any age; she +dresses like others, to please her husband, and goes to amusements +because he wishes his wife not to appear peculiar." + +Every word impressed itself on the mind of the loving Princess. When +Saint-Simon, who was intimate with Lauzun, read the _Memoires_ of +Mademoiselle, he found the account of this adventure so true and lively +that he renounced the attempt to relate it himself. "Whoever knew Lauzun +will at once recognise him in all that Mademoiselle relates, and his +voice can almost be heard." Through a very natural contradiction, the +Grande Mademoiselle, even at the height of her passion, preserved "some +regret that she would no longer be queen in foreign lands." Lauzun tried +to banish this regret. He represented to her that the trouble of playing +at royalty + + surpassed the pleasure. If you had been really Queen or Empress + you would soon have been bored.... You can now dwell here all + your life.... If you desire to marry you can raise a man to be + the equal in grandeur and power to sovereigns. Above all, he + will realise that you have taken pleasure in bringing him to + prominence; he will be deeply grateful. It would not be needful + to describe the man who may possess so much honour; for in pleasing + you and in being your choice, he must of necessity be an estimable + being. He will lack nothing; but where is he? + +This language, so clear in its import to the reader, did not entirely +satisfy Mademoiselle. The poor Princess was ever expecting an avowal or +caresses which never came. Lauzun acted the disinterested friend, the +person who was entirely out of the running, and he detailed all the +reasons which made an unequal marriage distasteful to him. Far from +seeking her, he held himself at a respectful distance when he met her. +"It was I," says she, "who sought him." His reserve and his reticence +added fuel to the flames, and this diverted him, but for the moment he +did not dare to promise himself anything more than greater credit at +Court. + +In the meantime, the Duchesse de Longueville[216] wished to establish +the Count de Saint-Paul, the one of her sons who resembled "infinitely" +La Rochefoucauld. In spite of the great difference in age--her son was +only twenty--she thought of Mademoiselle, who remained by far the best +match in the kingdom, and commenced overtures. These were eluded, but +with a gentleness which astonished the social world. Mademoiselle had +her reasons: "For myself, who had my own desires buried in my heart, it +did not at all vex me that the report should be spread that there was +question of marrying me to M. de Longueville.[217] It occurred to me +that this might in some measure accustom people to my future action." + +For once, the diplomacy of Mademoiselle did not prove a failure, and her +calculations were found to be justified. Some days later, when the +affair was being discussed before Lauzun, one of his friends, who had +perceived that the Princess was listening with pleasure, asked him why +he did not try his fortune.[218] Others joined in the suggestion and all +assured him that nothing was impossible for a man so advanced in the +good graces of the King. Lauzun expressed himself shocked at the idea of +an alliance with Mademoiselle; but on returning to his lodging, he +ruminated the entire night upon this conversation, and from that time +the thought did not appear to him so chimerical. It was necessary, +however, to delay the assurance; the King led the Court into Flanders +and gave the command of the escort to his favourite. + +This was a political journey. Spain had been vanquished almost without +resistance in the war of Devolution[219] (1667-1668). Louis XIV. deemed +it useful to display French royalty in all its pomp to the populations +lately united with his kingdom, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (May 2, +1668), and all prepared to make a fine figure in a spectacle whose +strangeness finds nothing analogous in modern life. + +In 1658, Loret the journalist had valued at about twelve hundred souls +(the servitors were not included) the convoy formed by the Court at its +departure for Lyons. This figure was certainly surpassed in 1670, when +the royal family alone, more than complete, since it included Mme. de +Montespan and Mlle. de La Valliere, took in their train a suite of +several thousand persons, not counting the army of escorts. + +This suite was composed of ladies and maids of honour, gentlemen, pages, +domestics of all orders and of both sexes, footmen and valets of valets. +The King even brought his nurse with him. On the other hand, the +nobility were better disciplined than in the times of Mazarin and Anne +of Austria, and no one had dared to remain behind. The departure was +from Saint-Germain, April 28. Pellison wrote the next day to his friend +Mlle. de Scudery: "It is impossible to tell you how numerous the Court +is; it is much larger than at Saint-Germain or Paris. Every one has +followed."[220] + +The quantity of luggage gave to this crowd the appearance of a wandering +nomadic tribe. All the personages of high rank took with them complete +sets of furniture. Louis XIV. had on this journey "a chamber of crimson +damask," for ordinary use, and another "very magnificent" where greater +accommodation would be had. The bed of the last was "of green velvet +embroidered with gold, immensely large, which could of itself fill +several small rooms." There were also entire suites of needful furniture +when the King lodged at his ease, and the same for the Queen, beautiful +Gobelin tapestries and a quantity of silver plaques,[221] chandeliers of +silver, and other pieces. + +The commissary department carried a monster cooking apparatus and +necessary utensils to supply, morning and evening, several large tables +with food served on plated dishes. When all was unpacked, their +Majesties were "almost as at the Tuileries." + +Monsieur could not do without pretty things nor infinite variation of +toilet; he was much encumbered on a journey. Mademoiselle, demanding +little, had nevertheless her rank to maintain, and her "campaign +chamber" was imposing. On one journey, she was obliged to lodge ten days +in a peasant's hut where the ceilings were so low that it was necessary +to increase the height of the room by digging out the ground which +formed the floor, in order to erect the canopy of her bed. Those of the +courtiers obliged, from their rank as chiefs of _Commandments_, to keep +open table led with them a staff of domestics and enough material for an +itinerant inn. Others wished to make themselves conspicuous by the +fineness of their equipage. That of Lauzun had been much admired at his +departure from Paris. "He passed through the St. Honore," wrote +Mademoiselle, who had come across him by chance; "he was very splendid +and magnificent." The most modest carried at least a camp-bed, under +pain of sleeping upon mother earth during the entire trip. + +The train of chariots, carts, and horses, or mules with pack-saddles, +which rolled along the route to Flanders in 1670, can be pictured; also +the difficulty of uniting luggage and owner when the resting-places were +scattered over an entire village or group of villages; the accidents of +all sorts which happened to the caravan, on roads almost always in a +frightful condition, and in traversing rivers often without bridges; the +indifference of some, the impatience of others, and the universal +disorder; the anguish of losing one's cooks if one were a Marie-Therese, +the desolation of not finding the rouge and powder if one were Monsieur +or some pretty woman! Surely those who preserved their equanimity +through such trials and under excessive fatigue deserve praise. + +Louis XIV. was a good traveller, arranged everything for himself, and +expected others to do as much. He detested groans, timid women, and +those to whom a bed was important. The Queen Marie-Therese began to +grumble before actually stepping into her coach, and the fact that she +was in a placid frame of mind during a trip was spread far and wide as +a piece of good news. The frugal suppers and the nights passed in a +waggon, while awaiting the carriage which had missed the way, appeared +to her frightful calamities. The bad condition of the roads made her +weep, and she uttered loud cries in traversing fords. She was once found +in tears, stopping the horses in the open plain and refusing to go on or +to turn back. An intelligent interest in new surroundings did not give +her compensation for her woes, for she possessed no curiosity. The +conferences with which the King entertained the ladies along the route, +upon military tactics and fortifications, mortally bored and wearied the +poor Queen, and she did not know how to conceal her feelings. + +To tell the truth, among all the women who pressed behind the King upon +the ramparts of the cities or on the fortifications of old +battle-fields, appearing to absorb his words and explanations, +Mademoiselle was the only one who really listened with pleasure. Since +the exploits during the Fronde, the Princess had always considered +herself as belonging to the profession of arms. + +Monsieur had one great resource in travelling. When he joined the King, +he brought with him some choice bits of gossip which entertained the +entire coach. In the evening, when the beds were being anxiously +awaited, he started games, or ordered the King's violins and gave a +dance. If no other place offered, the company would use a barn for the +impromptu ball. Monsieur, however, was much annoyed at any mishaps which +might interfere with his toilet, and could never take accidents of this +kind lightly. + +The journey of 1670 was made more difficult by torrents of rain, and the +one who was generally drenched was the Commander-in-chief of the troops, +who was obliged to stand with uncovered head to receive the King's +orders. Monsieur looked with a sort of indignation upon the piteous +countenance of Lauzun, his hair uncurled and dripping, and once said: +"Nothing would induce me to show myself in such a condition. He does not +look at all well with his wet hair; I have never seen a man so +hideous."[222] + +Mademoiselle was more indignant than Monsieur; chiefly over the fact +that any one could consider M. de Lauzun ugly "in any state," and that +the King should gaily expose him to the risk of catching cold. "M. de +Lauzun is always without a hat and has his head drenched. I said to the +King, 'Sire, command him to cover his head; he will be ill.' I said this +so repeatedly that I was afraid my solicitude would be noticed." + +Mademoiselle cared but little on her own account for the discomforts of +the journey. No woman made fewer grimaces at a bad supper, or for being +forced to make a bedchamber of her carriage, and sometimes to sleep upon +a chair. She did not, however, enjoy the reputation of being a good +traveller, on account of the insurmountable terror which water +inspired. During a ford, she cried out as loudly as the Queen; the signs +of the King's impatience could not restrain her; "as soon as I see it," +said she, of the water, "I no longer know what I am doing." + +The rest of the party belonging to the caravan resigned themselves to +the discomforts of camping through "the grace of God." It was realised +that any expression of discontent caused the danger of incurring the +royal displeasure, and discomfort was expected as a necessary +accompaniment of a royal progress. + +In 1667, Court had passed one night at the Chateau of Mailly near +Amiens. The Abbe de Montigny, Almoner of the Queen, wrote the next day +to some friends, "Mailly, ladies, is a caravansary. There was such a +crowd that Mme. de Montausier slept upon a heap of straw in a cupboard, +the daughters of the Queen in a barn on some wheat, and your humble +servant on a pile of charcoal."[223] In 1670 the account of the night of +the 3d of May filled many letters. May 3d had been a painful day. The +immense convoy had departed from Saint-Quentin for Landrecies at an +early hour, during a beating rain, which had visibly increased the +water-courses and swamps. Hour by hour the vehicles sank deeper in the +mud and the roads were encumbered with horses and mules, dead or +overcome, with carts sunk in the mire, and with overturned baggage. It +was not long before the chariots met the same fate. The Marechal de +Bellefonte was forced to abandon his in a slough, and make the remainder +of his way to the resting-place on foot, in the company of Benserade and +two others. M. de Crussol[224] met the water above the doors of the +carriage in traversing the Sambre, and M. de Bouligneux,[225] who +followed him, was forced to unharness in the middle of the stream and to +save himself on one of the horses. When it came to the Queen and +Mademoiselle, it was in vain to promise to conduct them to another ford +reported as "very safe." Their cries and agitation were such that the +attempt was abandoned. They sought shelter in the single habitation on +the bank. It was a poor hut composed of two connecting rooms with only +the ground for floor; on entering, Mademoiselle sank up to the knees in +a muddy hole. Landrecies was upon the other bank of the Sambre. The +night fell and all were dying with hunger, for there had been no meal +since Saint-Quentin. The King, very discontented, declared that no +further attempt should be made to proceed and the night should be passed +in the carriages. Mademoiselle remounted into hers, put on her nightcap +and undressed. She could not, however, close her eyes; "for there was +such a frightful noise." Some one said, "The King and Queen are going to +sup." Mademoiselle ordered herself borne through the mud into the hut, +and found the Queen very sulky. Marie-Therese had no bed and was +lamenting, saying "that she would be ill if she did not sleep," and +demanding what was the pleasure in such journeyings. + +Louis XIV. added the last touch to her vexation in proposing that the +entire royal family and some intimates should sleep in the largest of +the two rooms, letting the other serve as a military headquarters for +Lauzun. "Look," said the King, "they are bringing mattresses; +Romecourt[226] has an entirely new bed upon which you can sleep." +"What!" cried the Queen, "sleep all together in one room? that will be +horrible!" "But," rejoined the King, "you'll be completely dressed. +There can be no harm. I find none." Mademoiselle, chosen as arbitrator, +found no impropriety, and the Queen yielded. + +The city of Landrecies had provided their sovereigns with a "bouillon +very thin," the distasteful appearance of which alarmed Marie-Therese. +She refused it with disgust. When it was well understood that she would +not touch it, the King and Mademoiselle, aided by Monsieur and Madame, +devoured it in an instant; as soon as it was all gone, the Queen said, +"I wanted some soup and you have eaten it all." Every one began to +laugh, in spite of etiquette; when there appeared a large dish of +chicken cutlets, also sent from Landrecies, which was eaten with +avidity, soothing the injured feelings of the Queen. "The dish +contained," relates Mademoiselle, "meat so hard that it took all one's +strength to pull a chicken apart." + +When the company retired for the night, those not yet prepared arrayed +themselves in nightcaps and dressing-gowns,[227] and French royalty for +this memorable night must be represented in the apparel of Argan. + +In the corner of the chimney, upon the bed of Romecourt, lay the Queen, +turned so that she might see all that was passing. "You have only to +keep open your curtain," suggested the King; "you will be able to see us +all." + +Near to the Queen, upon a mattress, lay Mme. de Bethune, the lady of +honour, and Mme. de Thianges, sister of Mme. de Montespan, pressed +together for lack of space. Monsieur and Madame, Louis XIV. and the +Grande Mademoiselle, Mlle. de La Valliere, and Mme. de Montespan, a +duchess and a maid of honour were crowded on the remaining mattresses, +placed at right angles and proving a most troublesome obstruction to the +officers going and coming on official business to the headquarters in +the other room. Happily, the King at length ordered Lauzun to use a hole +in the outer wall for his commands. The royal dormitory was at last left +in peace, and the occupants could slumber. + +At four in the morning, Louvois gave warning that a bridge had been +built. Mademoiselle awakened the King and all got up. It was not a +beautiful spectacle. Locks were hanging in disorder and countenances +were wrinkled. Mademoiselle believed herself less disfigured than the +others, because she felt very red, and she rejoiced, as she found it +impossible to avoid the glance of Lauzun. The royal party mounted into +their carriages and attended mass at Landrecies, after which these +august personages went to bed and reposed a portion of the day. + +The same evening Mademoiselle, only half aroused, was severely scolded +by Lauzun for her ridiculous dread of the water. This was very sweet to +her; it being the first time he had taken such a liberty, and the most +passionate women in the early days of love adore the masterful tone. The +two saw each other less often than at Saint-Germain, but with more +freedom. The chances of travel gave, from time to time, the opportunity +for long tete-a-tetes, by which they profited; she, to become more +pressing, he, to make himself more keenly desired. + +Lauzun said one day that he thought of retiring from the world. "I am +having a vision of such beautiful and great hopes; and if they are only +delusions I shall die of grief." + +"But," said Mademoiselle, "do you never think of marrying?" + +"The one thing of importance in marriage," replied he, "would be belief +in the virtue of the lady, for if there had been the slightest lapse I +would have none of her; even if it were a question of yourself, far +above others as you are!" + +He said this because there was a rumour that the King had the plan of +marrying Mlle. de La Valliere to his favourite. + +Mademoiselle cried out ingenuously: "But you would wish me; for I am +good. 'Do not talk even delightful nonsense, when we are speaking +seriously.' But return then to me." + +This was precisely what he did not wish. He recollected all at once that +the Venetian Ambassador was expecting him. + +On another occasion, Mademoiselle said to him, in confessing the fact +that she was "entirely resolved to marry," and that her choice was made: +"I intend to speak to the King, and to have the wedding in Flanders; +that will make less stir than at Paris." + +"Ah, I beseech you not to do this!" cried Lauzun alarmed, for he did not +consider the ground sufficiently prepared, "I do not wish it; ... I am +absolutely opposed to it." Some days after, they were together looking +through a window and exchanging impressions upon the persons of quality +who were passing, "their forms, their bearing, their appearance, their +wit." At length, Lauzun remarked, "Judging by what I hear, none of these +would suit you?" "Assuredly not," replied Mademoiselle, "I wish that the +person of my choice might go by, that I could point him out to you." + +As every one had now passed, she continued: "He must be sought, there is +still some one else." After this, relates her _Memoires_, "he smiled and +we talked of something else." + +They had arrived at the point of smiles and mutual intelligence. +Nevertheless the Court returned to Saint-Germain (June 7th) without +Mademoiselle having obtained the decisive word for which she was meekly +begging. Lauzun opposed some barriers to every advance. Acting through +prudence or calculation, he was to have cause to congratulate himself. + +Fifteen days elapsed in _detours_ and feigned flights. Mademoiselle was +exasperated. Comprehending perfectly well that a Gascony cadet could not +say bluntly, "Take me!" she still was so little capable of subterfuge +that she found the "manners of M. de Lauzun towards her extraordinary." +Lauzun was too subtle for one so simple. La Bruyere himself was going to +renounce the hope of penetrating into his motives, and to avow it in the +passage in which he paints him under the name of Straton: "A character +equivocal, unintelligible; an enigma; a problem never solved." + +Persuaded that her lover held back through respect, Mademoiselle +resolved to attack affairs boldly. On June 20th, she went to enjoy the +diversions of the fine season[228] at Versailles. Monsieur and Madame +were at their chateau at Saint-Cloud. Mademoiselle followed the Court. +Lauzun was absent, but he took pains from time to time to appear in the +Queen's salon. One evening, when he had met Mademoiselle and when he was +chaffing her on the subject of the Duc de Longueville, the Princess said +to him vivaciously: "Assuredly I shall marry; but it will not be with +that person. I pray that I may speak with you to-morrow, for I am +resolved to address the King and I desire that all should be finished +before July 1st." He replied: "I am going to-morrow to Paris, and Sunday +without fail I shall be here, and we will then talk over everything; I +begin also to desire to have all ended." + +On Sunday (June 29th), towards evening, Lauzun had not yet arrived. +Mademoiselle was notified that the Queen was awaiting her for the daily +drive. She went out quickly, and ran across the Comte d'Ayen,[229] who +had also an appearance of being in haste, and who said to her in +passing, "Madame is dying; I am seeking M. Vallot,[230] whom the King +has commanded me to lead to her!" Below in her carriage the Queen +related the tale of the glass of chicory water and the fact that Madame +believed herself to be poisoned. All were astonished and exclaimed, "Ah, +what a horror!" People looked at each other and did not know what to do. +Marie-Therese descended from her carriage and was peacefully entering a +boat on the grand canal, when a gentleman arrived in haste; Madame was +in extremity and besought the Queen not to delay if she wished to see +her alive. The chateau was speedily regained, where the confusion +recommenced. The Queen demanded every instant: "What shall I do? What +shall I do?" She could not decide to go herself, and she prevented +Mademoiselle from departing without her. Finally, the King appeared. He +took the Queen in his coach with Mademoiselle and the Comtesse de +Soissons. Mlle. de La Valliere and Mme. de Montespan followed. It was +eleven o'clock when the royal family descended at the gate of the +Chateau Saint-Cloud. + +The spectacle which awaited it has been described a hundred times. A +poor little dishevelled figure, pathetic from suffering, and already +drawn by the approach of the dying agony, lay upon the bed. The +unfastened chemise permitted her emaciation to be seen, and she was so +pale that if it had not been for her cries it might have been thought +that the end had already come. We know through Mme. de La Fayette[231] +that the first sentiments of the spectators had been those of pity, +natural in such a case, and here doubled by the sight of the frightful +sufferings and the gentleness of this young and charming being in the +presence of death. The state of Madame had touched even her husband, so +embittered against her by her frivolities, and only the sound of +"weeping was heard in the chamber." + +With the entrance of the sovereigns and their suite the aspect of the +room was at once altered. Louis was indeed sincerely affected, +Mademoiselle much moved, and many of the others felt "that they were +losing with Madame all the joy, all the agreeableness, all the pleasures +of the Court."[232] But egotism and intrigue marched on the heels of +their Majesties. Even while weeping, each began to dream over the +consequences of this death. Who would inherit the prestige of Madame? +Whom would Monsieur marry? Would it be the Grande Mademoiselle? How +would this affect the interests of each? The dying woman felt a sudden +chill in the atmosphere. "She perceived with pain the tranquillity of +every one," reports Mademoiselle, "and I have never seen any sight so +pitiable as her state when she realised the real attitude of those +surrounding her bed. The crowd kept on talking, moving about in the +room, almost laughing." + +Monsieur was only "astonished" at what was happening. Mademoiselle +having urged him to send for a priest, he said, "Whom shall we call? +Whose name will appear well in the _Gazette_?" This preoccupation truly +reveals Monsieur. + +After the departure of the King, who took away others in his train, the +scene again changed. Monsieur had sent for Bossuet, who, in a letter to +one of his brothers, has related details of these last hours. To judge +from this letter, it appears that the presence of the priest at the +bedside of Madame turned all minds from terrestrial preoccupations and +banished all thoughts except those impressed by the grandeur of death. +Madame herself gave the example, proving with her last sigh that she +felt she was accomplishing "the most important action of life."[233] "I +found her fully conscious," said Bossuet, "speaking and acting without +ostentation, without effort, without violence; but so well, so suitably, +with so much courage and piety, that I was completely overcome." Thus +God had the last word! + +On returning to Versailles, the Queen quietly ate her supper. +Mademoiselle perceived Lauzun among those present. "In rising from +table, I said to him, 'This is very disconcerting.' He replied, 'Very, +and I am afraid that it may spoil our plans.' I responded, 'Ah, no. No +matter what may happen.'" + +The poor woman could not sleep during the night: how rid herself of +Monsieur, if the King should wish "the marriage"? At six in the morning, +word came from Saint-Cloud that Madame was dead. "At this news," +continues Mademoiselle, "the King resolved to take medicine," and +Mademoiselle, arriving with the Queen, found him in a dressing-gown, +weeping bitterly over the loss of Madame, and very tenderly pitying his +own woe. He said to Mademoiselle: "Come, watch me take medicine; let us +make no more fuss; better act as I am doing." After his draught he +retired, and the morning was passed in his bedchamber speaking of the +dead. + +In the afternoon, the King dressed and went to consult Mademoiselle, as +the great authority in matters of Court etiquette, upon the proper +arrangements for the funeral ceremony. After these details had been +discussed, the King spoke the word she was expecting and dreading: "'My +cousin, here is a vacant place, will you fill it?' I became pale as +death, and said, 'You are the master, your wish is mine.' He urged me to +speak frankly. I said, 'I can say nothing about this.' 'But have you any +aversion to the idea?' I was silent; he went on, 'I will further the +affair and report to you.'" + +In the salons, the crowd of courtiers was busily engaged in remarrying +Monsieur. The question was, "To whom?" and every one looked at the +Grande Mademoiselle. Lauzun bore the situation like a man of spirit, +without troubling himself with useless regrets or feigning a loving +despair which was very foreign to his nature. His manner was free, very +gay, too easy to please Mademoiselle when he congratulated her and +refused to listen to her protestations that "it would never be." "The +King said that he wished you would marry Monsieur; it will be necessary +to obey." He besought her not to hesitate, and dilated on the joys of +grandeur, and the happiness she might have with Monsieur. She responded, +"I am more than fifteen, and I do not propose to accept a life fit only +for children." + +Of all the honours attached to the rank of sister-in-law to the King, +one alone appealed to her,--that she would then have a good place in the +royal carriage, instead of being always on the basket seat, and she +represented to Lauzun that the "good place would not long remain +vacant." It would be assigned to the children of the King as soon as +they should be grown up. Once he added: "The past must be forgotten. I +remember nothing of what you have told me; I have lately forgotten all." + +Another time, he showed that he was not ignorant of what he was losing. +She had just repeated, "Ah, this shall never be!" "But yes," rejoined +Lauzun, "I shall be glad; for I prefer your grandeur to my own joy and +fortune; I owe you too much to feel otherwise." "He had never before +admitted as much," remarks Mademoiselle. After such delightful +conversations, she shut herself up to weep. The idea of marrying +Monsieur was odious to her, for other reasons besides the desires +aroused by her passion. + +Not that she suspected him of having poisoned his wife. Mademoiselle +considered her cousin incapable of such a crime. But she could not bear +the thought of the many favourites of Monsieur and of their power. One +of these, M. de Beuvron,[234] had confirmed this repugnance by coming +insolently and inopportunely to assure her of his protection and of that +of the Chevalier de Lorraine. He frankly told her: "It will be more to +our advantage to have you than a German princess without a sou, who +would only be an expense, while you have so much that the allowance of +Monsieur can be spent for his liberalities; thus we shall come off +better." This was not a clever address to a princess who sincerely loved +money. The following displayed even less tact: "If we aid in making your +marriage, you will be under obligation to us, and you will realise our +power." + +Mademoiselle heard all and recounted the conversation to the King. "He +has spoken like a fool," said Louis with his shrewd common-sense. +Mademoiselle could not resign herself to this alliance, and Lauzun +trembled lest he should be held responsible. He came once again, to find +the Princess with the Queen, and said to her: + + I come very humbly to supplicate, that you will speak no more + to me. I am most unhappy at displeasing Monsieur. He might + believe that all the difficulties you are making come from me. + Thus I shall no longer enjoy the honour of addressing you. Do + not summon me, for I shall not respond. Do not write to me, nor + address me in any way. I am in despair to be forced to act in + this fashion; but I must do so for love of you. + +She equivocated, tried to retain him. He repeated to her his accustomed +refrain that he must obey, and coldly took leave while she cried out: +"Do not go away! What, shall I speak to you no more?" From that day +Lauzun carefully avoided her. One day, when Mademoiselle requested him +to re-knot her muff ribbon, he replied "that he was not sufficiently +adroit," and yielded to Mlle. de La Valliere. He even avoided glancing +in her direction. + +Louis XIV. had found his brother well convinced of the advantage of +marrying many millions; Monsieur only demanded delay, not wishing, with +the rumours which were circulating, to appear too eager to replace the +dead. Mademoiselle also on her side was endeavouring to hinder the +progress of affairs. Success crowned the efforts of both, and the month +of September was well advanced when the King said to his cousin in the +presence of the Queen: "My brother has spoken to me; he wishes in case +you have no children that you should make his daughter your heir,[235] +and he says he will be well content not to have any more offspring, +provided he is assured that my daughter shall marry his son. I +counselled him to desire children, because this could not be a +certainty." + +Monsieur was thirteen years younger than Mademoiselle, and the latter +very well understood the significance of words. She began to laugh. "I +have never heard persons on the brink of marriage say that they did not +wish children, and I hardly know whether this is a courteous +proposition. What does your Majesty think?" The King also laughed. "My +brother has said so many ridiculous things on this subject that I have +advised silence." + +The joking continued in spite of the Queen, who cried out, "This is +really disagreeable!" Finally, Mademoiselle concluded in a serious tone: +"Although I am no longer young, I have not reached the age at which +children are impossible.... Such suggestions are most disagreeable to +me." The King also became serious, and warned his cousin that she could +never expect from him the gift of any government or any appointment +which would permit the exercise of power, but only precious stones and +furniture and other playthings. This again was a lesson from the Fronde, +and in his _Memoires_[236] Louis confirms this same resolution. +Mademoiselle thanked her cousin somewhat ironically for what he had done +to render Monsieur desirable, and, realising by the questions of the +King that some hints had reached his ears, she pictured in covered words +the future of which she had had a glimpse. The Queen demanded her +meaning, but the King remained silent. "I do hope," observed +Mademoiselle in ending, "that I may be permitted to act as I wish and +that the King will not force me against my desires." "No, surely," +replied Louis, "I will leave you free and will never constrain any one"; +he added an instant after, "Let us go to dinner," and they separated. +Some weeks rolled by. The favourites of Monsieur were cold about an +alliance which the temper of Mademoiselle might make somewhat difficult, +and which might in the end prove _not_ to their advantage.[237] + +Events moved quietly enough when the Princess one evening in October +supplicated the King that there should be no more said of the project. +Louis XIV. appeared to be indifferent. Monsieur was at first vexed and +then dismissed the subject from his thoughts. Marie-Therese alone, +interested neither in her brother-in-law nor in her cousin, "was in +despair," relates Mademoiselle, "for she wishes that we should marry and +have children." But no one paid much attention to the despair of +Marie-Therese. Lauzun approved the course of Mademoiselle and ceased to +avoid her. That was all. For an ambitious man, he was not a really +clever schemer; he had too great a fear of being duped. He again assumed +a sombre attitude and refused to hear the name of the one chosen by +Mademoiselle. On a certain Thursday evening, when she had menaced him +with the threat of breathing against the mirror and of writing the name +of the man she loved, midnight sounded during this contest. "Nothing +more can be said," observed Mademoiselle, "for it is already Friday." +The next day, taking a sheet of paper, she wrote distinctly, "It is +you," and sealed it. "That day I met him only on the way to supper. I +said: 'I have the name in my pocket, but I do not wish to give it to you +on Friday.' He responded: 'Give it to me! I promise that I will put it +under my pillow and that I will not open the paper until midnight has +passed.'" She did not trust him, and it did not occur to him to +sacrifice a race that had been arranged for the Saturday. "Ah, well, I +will wait until Sunday," said Mademoiselle with inconceivable patience, +and her only vengeance was to let herself be implored a little, before +giving up the paper. The couple were alone in a corner of the fireplace, +in the salon of the Queen. "I drew forth the leaf, upon which only a +single word was written, which, however, told much; I showed it to him, +and then replaced it in my pocket, afterward in my muff. He urged me +very strongly to give it to him, saying that his heart was beating +rapidly.... Before yielding I said, 'You will reply on the same +leaf.'"... In the evening she did not dare to raise her eyes; he +declared that she was mocking him, that "he was not sufficiently foolish +to be deceived," and this was the theme of the letter which he remitted +to her. At the same time, he thought of the prodigious elevation which +he was beginning to realise was a possibility before him. He was at last +aroused, and could not always refrain from responding seriously to +Mademoiselle. She spoke of the happiness which awaited them, and of her +plans to make him the greatest lord in the kingdom. He counselled her +always to bow before fate, but one day he added: "In marrying, the +temperament of those throwing their fates together should be known. I +will disclose mine." He said that he possessed a nature bizarre and +unsociable, being able to live only in the wake of the King; "thus I +shall be a peculiar and not very diverting husband." Later, he amplified +a little, affirming that he was cured of desire for women, and had no +more ambition. "When a post was proposed to me I refused it. After all, +do you really want me?"--"Yes; I wish you."--"Do you find nothing in my +person which is disgusting?" This question was reasonable enough. Lauzun +was decidedly "unclean"[238]--but it roused the indignation of +Mademoiselle: "When you say that you are afraid of not pleasing, you are +simply mocking; you have pleased too easily in your life; but now about +me, do you find anything unpleasant in my face? I believe that my only +exterior fault is my teeth, which are not fine. That is a defect of my +race, which fact bears its own compensations." "Assuredly" replied he, +and she could not extract the expected compliment. + +In the course of these events, the Court returned to the Louvre and the +Tuileries, Mademoiselle to the Luxembourg. After much hesitation Lauzun +consented that Mademoiselle should write a letter in which she should +supplicate the King to forget all that he had said against mixed +marriages, and permit her to be happy. The contemporaneous opinion was +that Lauzun had made the first move. The Spanish _Charge d'Affaires_ +wrote from Paris, December 21: "It is certain, as every one says, that +he has arrived at this point with the authorisation and permission of +the King."[239] The public voice, whose echo has been preserved for us +by the novelists of the period, added that Mme. de Montespan had been +mixed up in the affair, a version which two of her letters to Lauzun +confirm,[240] and that she had obtained the consent of the King by +saying: "Ah, Sire, let him alone. He has merit enough for this."[241] + +There was evidently some secret bond between the mistress and Lauzun +which united them when any mischief was at hand. The King had responded +to Mademoiselle without actually saying yes, or no; he confessed that +her letter had astonished him and asked her to reflect again. He +repeated the advice three days later, during a _tete-a-tete_ which took +place behind closed doors at two o'clock in the morning. "I neither +counsel you nor forbid you; but I pray you to consider well." He added +that the affair was being discussed and that many people disliked M. de +Lauzun. "Think over this fact and take your own measures." + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE SEVIGNE= From the painting by Pietro Mignard +in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (Photograph by Alinari)] + +The couple profited by the warning. On Monday, December 15, 1670, in the +afternoon, the Ducs de Montausier and de Cregny, the Marechal d'Albret +and the Marquis de Guitry presented themselves before Louis XIV., and +demanded the hand of the Grande Mademoiselle for M. de Lauzun, "as +deputies from the French nobility, who would consider it a great +honour and grace if the King would permit a simple gentleman to marry a +Princess of the blood."[242] This proceeding was a plan of Lauzun's. It +succeeded with the King, and after he had been thanked in the name of +the entire nobility of the kingdom, Mademoiselle, who was apparently +listening to the reading of a sermon, behind the chair of the Queen, was +notified that M. de Montausier was asking for her. The Duke reported the +good reception which they had received and ended in these terms: "Your +affair is accomplished, but I counsel you not to let things lag; if you +follow my advice, you will marry this very night." + +"I was convinced that he was right" adds Mademoiselle, "and I prayed him +to give the same advice to M. de Lauzun if he should see him before I +did." + +There is no clearer fact in history than the evidence of the +consternation into which France was thrown by the news that the Duchesse +de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henri IV., was to marry the Comte de +Lauzun, "a simple (qualified) gentleman." To-day, an alliance of this +kind, provided it does not concern the heir to the throne, is only a +piece of society gossip, even in lands still profoundly loyal to +monarchical sentiments. In the seventeenth century such an event touched +so nearly the social hierarchy upon which all rested that Mademoiselle, +in thus confusing social ranks, appeared to have failed seriously in +her duty as Princess. + +Louis, as King, had not considered it his duty to oppose. The criticism +was more severe inasmuch as custom, encouraged by illustrious examples, +offered to lovers separated by birth easy means for completing their +private happiness, sustaining at the same time public decorum. +"Marriages of conscience" had been invented for such cases; why not be +content with this means of doing your duty and of satisfying at the same +time conscience and passion? Paris sought a reply to this question, and +the whole city was whispering and busying itself in a manner not easily +to be forgotten. + +Ten years later, when the trials of the "Corrupters" disturbed the +community, some one wrote to Mme. de Sevigne that "the last two days +have been as agitated as during the time when the news of the projected +marriage between the Grande Mademoiselle and M. de Lauzun was announced. +All were seeking news and, eager with curiosity, were running from one +house to another to gather details."[243] + +The princes and princesses of the blood considered themselves insulted, +and rebelled, a boldness so unexpected, on account of their habitual +submission, that even Louis XIV. was somewhat moved. The timid +Marie-Therese gave the example. Mademoiselle came to announce formally +the proposed marriage. "I entirely disapprove," said the Queen in a very +sharp tone, "and the King will never sanction it." "He does approve it, +Madame, that is settled." "You would do better never to marry, to keep +your wealth for my son Anjou."[244] Anger gave the Queen courage to +address the King, who was vexed, and the result was a scene, tears, a +night of despair; but also nothing gained, and finally the Queen was +forced into a public declaration that she would sign the contract. + +Monsieur loudly protested. He heaped abuses on the "deputies of French +nobility," reproached Mademoiselle in the presence of the King for being +"without heart," and said that she was a person who should be "placed in +an insane asylum,"[245] and also declared that he would _not_ sign the +contract. The gravest accusation made by Monsieur was a statement, +repeated to all, that Mademoiselle had said that the King had himself +counselled the marriage. In vain Mademoiselle asserted that she had said +nothing of the kind; the charge made a great impression upon Louis, and +he expressed his first regret over the affair. The Prince de Conde, +sometimes taunted with having become, somewhat late in life, an +accomplished courtier, remonstrated respectfully but firmly with the +King. + +The old Madame, forgotten in her corner of the Luxembourg, never really +felt the wave of disgust and protest, but she was sufficiently aroused +from her apathy to sign a letter to the King, written in her name by M. +Le Pelletier, President of the Department of Inquests. Outside the Court +circle, Louis XIV. felt himself blamed by all classes of society. The +nobles in general refused to ratify the "Mandate" that the deputies had +given in their name. Without doubt, the honour of this marriage would be +great: the permission given to a princess of the blood to marry so far +beneath her rank, a most unexpected favour from a monarch who had worked +so systematically to undermine the power of the aristocracy; but the +larger portion of the French nobility was so much impressed with the +danger of insulting royalty, and weakening the sentiment of the sanctity +of the Heaven-sent rulers, that it joined in the criticism of the rest +of the nation. + +The Parliamentary world and the society of the higher middle class were +equally outraged. It was plain that the marriage could be made only with +the King's consent, and the giving of this was considered a "shame." The +bourgeoisie showed an inconceivable irritation; Segrais heard Guilloire, +Intendant of Mademoiselle, say to his mistress in an excited tone, +knowing very well that he was risking his position, "You are derided and +hated by all Europe." As to the common people, their attitude was +touching. "They were," reports a witness,[246] "in a state of +consternation." They grieved as if their Prince had deceived them. + +The enemies of Lauzun increased the discontent and endeavoured to gain +time. Louvois was credited with having persuaded the Archbishop of Paris +to forbid the bans. The minister felt himself directly menaced, and this +was also the opinion of the political world, in which many believed that +the projected marriage was a stroke directed "against M. de Louvois, an +avowed enemy of M. de Lauzun,"[247] by Colbert and Mme. de Montespan. + +While the tempest was gathering, the friends of the two lovers pressed +them to hasten the end. "In the name of God," said Rochefort, Captain of +the Guards, "Marry to-day rather than to-morrow!" Montausier "scolded" +them for dallying. Mme. de Sevigne represented to Mademoiselle that they +"were tempting God and the King."[248] + +Nothing can be done for people who are walking in the clouds. Lauzun, +"intoxicated with vanity,"[249] believed himself already safe in port, +sheltered from all trouble, with the King and Mme. de Montespan on his +side. Mademoiselle, "dazzled by love," permitted herself to be guided. +Her first desire had been to marry upon the evening of the deputation to +the King, without saying anything about it, but Lauzun refused. "He was +persuaded that Mme. de Montespan would not fail him, and that nothing +could now turn the King against him, and considered everything secure, +saying, "I distrust only you." To marry thus clandestinely would not +satisfy his vanity. He wished that the deed should be done as "from +crown to crown, openly and with all forms observed." He desired the +chapel of the Tuileries, pomp, a crowd, rows of astonished and envious +faces, "rich livery" that he had hastened to order for the occasion. In +short, he longed for the moon and he did not succeed in seizing it. + +Tuesday, December 16th, was passed in talking, in expressing +astonishment, in paying compliments. A multitude came to the Luxembourg, +among whom the Archbishop of Reims, brother of Louvois, who said to +Mademoiselle: "Would you do me the injury of choosing any other than +myself to perform the marriage ceremony?" Another had already solicited +the honour, a proof that so far a rupture had not been thought of. +Mademoiselle replied: "M. the Archbishop of Paris has said that he +desired the office." + +Wednesday, there was a fresh crowd, Louvois in person and all the +ministers; but there was no longer the same cordiality, and Mademoiselle +herself perceived the difference. "They made low bows, they conversed, +but no longer about the affair." The evening of the same day, the +Princess gave to Lauzun ("awaiting something better," said Mme. de +Sevigne), the Comte of Eu, which represented the first peerage of +France, assuring the first rank, the Principality of Dombes and the +Duchy of Montpensier, of which last Lauzun assumed the title and name. +It was agreed that the ceremony should take place the next day at noon. +On Thursday, the 18th, the contract was not yet prepared; the lawyers +had delayed on purpose. Towards evening, Lauzun, who was losing his +assurance, offered to break with Mademoiselle. + +She was offended and tried once more to make him declare his love, but +he responded, "I will say I love you only when we issue from church." +There was no longer question of the Tuileries chapel, nor even of +dazzling the Parisians, and Friday found a new delay, Mademoiselle +having herself wavered. + +After consideration, a rendezvous was arranged at Charenton, in the +house of a friend, where the wedding was to be secretly solemnised the +next evening at midnight, without even an archbishop. The Parisian offer +began to inspire distrust: "The cure of the place would do well enough." + +When all was settled, Mademoiselle amused herself with showing to her +intimates the chamber that she had arranged for the future Duc de +Montpensier. "It was magnificently furnished," relates the Abbe de +Choisy. "'Do not you think,' said Mademoiselle to us, 'that a Gascony +cadet will be sufficiently well lodged?'" Lauzun took leave early to +pass the night in a "bath house," as was the custom before a wedding. +Mademoiselle opposed this, because he was suffering from a bad cold. He +had also "trouble with his eyes." I said to him, "Your eyes are very +red." He replied, "Do they make you ill?" I said, "No; for they are in +no way disgusting." It may be noticed that these illustrious lovers did +not possess the light graces of conversation; their phrases were +singularly heavy. "These ladies are mocking us," pursued the Princess. +"I do not know, however, what caused me to have a presentiment. I began +to weep in seeing him depart; he, too, was sad; we were ridiculed. The +ladies also departed, only Mme. de Nogent remaining." + +This last was the sister of Lauzun, and Mademoiselle had, during the +past months, been very intimate with her. + +While time was thus being wasted at the Luxembourg, Louis submitted to +the almost universal antagonism and withdrew his authorisation to the +alliance. "The Queen and the princes of the blood redoubled their +entreaties; the Marechal de Villeroy[250] threw himself upon his knees, +with tears in his eyes; the ministers and all those approaching the King +expressed the voice of the people. At length God touched the King's +heart."[251] God? No, but a creature of flesh; Mme. de Montespan for the +second time betrayed Lauzun. + +La Fare affirms the statement that it was the counsel of Mme. de +Maintenon (still only Mme. Scarron) painfully earning her bread in +bringing up in obscurity the children of Mme. de Montespan and the +King. Mme. Scarron had cleverness and prudence, and at that time was far +from any thought of rivalry; the King could not suffer her. She said +later that he had taken her for a "learned woman," only caring for +"sublime things"[252]; and Louis distrusted Philimantes. It was, +therefore, as a disinterested friend that she "pointed out to Mme. de +Montespan the tempest which she would draw down upon her head in +sustaining Lauzun in this affair; that the royal family and the King +himself would reproach her for the steps she had urged. Mme. Scarron +succeeded so well that the one who urged the marriage was responsible +for preventing it."[253] + +Louis XIV. yielded to the urgency of Mme. de Montespan and sent to the +Luxembourg for Mademoiselle. It was eight o'clock in the evening. +Mademoiselle uttered a cry on hearing that the King commanded her +presence. "I am in despair; my marriage is broken." On reaching the +Tuileries, the Princess was led to the King by the back staircase, and +quickly perceived that something was being concealed from her. In fact, +Louis had hidden Conde behind a door, that he might listen and be +witness to what passed. + + The door was closed behind me. I found the King alone, moved + and sad. "I am in despair at the thought of what I must tell + you. I am told that the world is saying that I am + sacrificing you to make Lauzun's fortune; that this would injure me + in foreign lands, and that I must not permit the affair to be + consummated. You are right in complaining of me; beat me if you + wish. I will bear the weight of any expression of anger in which + you may indulge, and feel that I merit your indignation." "Ah!" + cried I, "Sire, what do you tell me? What cruelty!" + +She mingled protestations with reproaches, sobbed out her despair on her +knees, and pleaded to know the fate of Lauzun. "Where is he, Sire, M. de +Lauzun?" "Do not be troubled! No harm shall come to him." + +True sorrow is always eloquent, and Louis XIV. let his own emotion be +visible without shame: + + He threw himself on his knees and embraced me. We wept together + three quarters of an hour, his cheek pressed against mine, he + weeping bitterly as I did: "Ah! why have you wasted time in + reflection? why did you not hasten?"--"Alas, Sire! who could + have distrusted your Majesty's word? You have never failed any + one before, and you now begin with me and M. de Lauzun! I shall + die, and be happy in dying. I had never loved any one before in + all my life; I now love, and love passionately and in good + faith, the most worthy man in your kingdom; my only joy and + pleasure will be in his elevation. I hoped to pass the + remainder of my days agreeably with him, and in honouring and + loving you as warmly as my husband. You gave him to me; you now + take him away; it is tearing out my heart." + +Some one coughed behind the door. "To whom are you betraying me, Sire? +Can it be M. le Prince?" Mademoiselle grew bitter, and the King wished +to end the scene; but she continued to supplicate him: "What, Sire, will +you not yield to my tears?" He replied, raising his voice so that he +might be heard, "Kings must satisfy the public"; and added, an instant +after, "It is late; I can say no more nor differently, even if you +remained longer." "He embraced me and conducted me to the door." + +Such is the recital of Mademoiselle. Another account of the interview +exists, dictated the same evening by Louis to his Minister of Foreign +Affairs, as the following letter, written the next morning, testifies. +Before the King had risen, M. de Lyonne wrote in haste to M. de +Pomponne, the French Ambassador to Holland: + + I am overwhelmed with business, and have no time for details, + but I do not doubt that every letter from Paris has brought + news of the projected marriage of the Grande Mademoiselle with + Comte de Lauzun. I must now warn you that the King broke this + off yesterday at eleven o'clock in the evening, so that few + people could be aware of the fact before the departure of the + post. I have already outlined a circular letter from his + Majesty, to be sent to all the Foreign Ministers, to inform + them of what has passed in regard to this affair during the + past seven or eight days; but as the King does not wake before + nine o'clock, and as the courier will by that time have + departed, his Majesty will not be able to sign in time for the + letters to be forwarded to-day, and you must be contented with + the simple news, that the affair is ended. I pray you to send a + copy of this note to M. le Chevalier de Terlon and to the Sieur + Rousseau,[254] and to advise them that I have requested you so + to do. + +Before referring to the circular letter of His Majesty upon the subject +which caused the cries and tears of his poor cousin, it should be noted +that it seemed perfectly natural, to judge by the documents of the +times, to advise officially foreign powers of events with which they +were actually but little concerned. In the opinion of the seventeenth +century, the man was inseparable from the sovereign, and France was +deeply impressed with the universal importance of Louis XIV. and by +consequence of the obligations devolving upon him. "He must account to +all Europe for his actions," says, in regard to the "Affair Lauzun," the +"relation" already quoted.[255] + +It is also well to recollect, in order to understand the text of the +letter, that one of the half-sisters of Mademoiselle had married the Duc +de Guise, cadet of the House of Lorraine; an alliance hardly less +unequal in the eyes of the French aristocracy than that of Lauzun with +the Princess. This marriage had excited but little attention, there +being a wide difference between the importance of the sisters. Referring +to this event, the "Deputies of the nobility of France" had not failed +to assert that the nobles of France and the officers of the Crown were +quite equal to foreign princes, and in particular to the "Lorraines" in +spite of their pretensions. With this explanation, the text of the long +despatch addressed to the ambassadors is given. It begins in these +terms: + + As what has taken place during the past five or six days in + regard to a plan formed by my cousin for marrying the Comte de + Lauzun, one of the Captains of the Body Guard, will probably make a + great noise everywhere, and as my conduct in the matter is liable + to be interpreted malignantly, and to be blamed by those who may be + incorrectly informed of the facts, I believe it a duty to instruct + all my Foreign Ministers." + +The King then explains in detail the affair, and this explanation +exactly accords with the recital of Mademoiselle, save that Louis XIV. +states that he was opposed to the marriage from the beginning, and only +yielded because he was weary of the discussion, being constantly +harassed by his cousin and the Deputies of the nobility: "She +[Mademoiselle] continued ... through notes and every other available +means to press me urgently to give the consent she demanded of me, as +this alone could, as she said, give the happiness and repose of her +life." The Deputies had also represented to him + + that after having consented to the marriage of my cousin de + Guise, not only without making the least difficulty but with + pleasure, I should resist this, so ardently desired by her + sister, I should clearly show that I made a great distinction + between the cadets of royal houses and the Officers of my + Crown. Such a distinction Spain did not make, but on the other + hand, gave precedence to its own Grandees over any foreign + Princes, and it was impossible that the making of this + difference in France should not greatly mortify the entire + nobility of the kingdom. In conclusion, the urgency of these + four persons was so strong, and their reasons so convincing, + especially that emphasising the danger of insulting the French + nobility, that I yielded, and gave consent to the marriage, + shrugging my shoulders at the folly of my cousin, and only + saying that as she was forty-three, she might do as she pleased. + +He continued, "From this moment it was considered that the affair was +concluded." Then follow the details already known, preparations for the +ceremony, the crowd at the Luxembourg; rumours "very injurious" that the +King was responsible for the marriage, wishing to favour Lauzun; and +finally, the resolve to break off the affair. + +This is the single point on which Louis XIV. believed it to be his duty +to restrict his confidences to the universe. He passes over in silence +the supplications of Mme de Montespan and the fact of Conde being hidden +behind the door: + + I sent for my cousin. I declared to her, that I would not + suffer her to cross the frontier for marriage, and that I could + not consent that she should marry any Prince who was my + subject,[256] but that she might choose among the (qualified) + nobles of France, with the exception of Lauzun, and that I + myself would conduct her to church. + +It is superfluous to tell you with what grief she received this +announcement, how she wept and sobbed. She threw herself upon her knees. +"I had pierced her heart with a hundred dagger strokes; she wished to +die"; I remained firm. + +The King added that he made the same communication to Lauzun, "and I may +say that he received it with all the self-control, submission, and +resignation which I could desire."[257] It is with the unfavourable +comparison to Mademoiselle that this curious document terminates. Louis +displayed but little generosity before a grief so deep. + +The Princess regained her chamber in a pitiable state. She went into +hysterics and broke the windows of the carriage. At the Luxembourg, the +salon was filled with a curious crowd awaiting her return. "Two of her +footmen entered into the room, saying in loud voices, 'Depart at once, +by degrees.' Every one scattered immediately; but I remained the last, +and saw Mademoiselle advance from the hall of the Guards like a +dishevelled fury, menacing heaven and earth with extended arms." She had +barely time to regain a slight degree of calm, when Lauzun entered, +accompanied by Messieurs de Montausier, Crequi, and Guitry. "On seeing +him, I uttered loud cries, and he could hardly restrain himself from +weeping." The nobles of France came at the command of the King to thank +the granddaughter of Henri IV. for the honour that she wished to confer +upon them. M. de Montausier bore the address. + +Mademoiselle sobbed. M. de Lauzun had, with full understanding, taken +the expected attitude, of a man who blesses the most cruel blows coming +from the hand of his King. "M. de Lauzun," wrote Mme de Sevigne, "has +played his role to perfection; he has sustained his misfortune with +firmness and courage, and has nevertheless displayed a grief, mingled +with profound respect, which has won the admiration of all."[258] + +The Princess would have been contented with something less admirable. +She said to him: "'You show such strength of mind, that all will believe +you to be indifferent to me. What do you say?' and I sobbed with each +word." He responded very coolly: "If you take my counsel, you will go +to-morrow to dine at the Tuileries, and will thank the King for the +honour that he has done you, in having prevented an action of which you +would have repented all your life." She led her lover aside and had the +pleasure of seeing him weep. "He could not speak, nor could I. I could +only say: 'What! I am never to see you more? I shall certainly die.' +Then we turned around.... These gentlemen departed; I went to bed; I +remained twenty-four hours almost without consciousness." She forbade +any one to be admitted. Her door was, however, opened on Friday morning +for Mme. de Sevigne. Just twenty-four hours had elapsed since +Mademoiselle had overflowed with joy before her friend and despised any +warnings. "I found her in bed[259]; she redoubled her cries on seeing +me; called me, embraced me, and deluged me with her tears. She said: +'Alas! do you remember what you said yesterday? Ah! what cruel +prudence!' I wept through sympathy with her woe." A little later the +King was announced. "When he entered," reports Mademoiselle, "I began to +cry with all my strength; he embraced me and placed his cheek against +mine. I said, 'Your Majesty acts like monkeys who stifle their children +embracing them.'" As he was promising all kinds of wonderful things to +console her, among others "that he would do fine things for M. de +Lauzun," she had the presence of mind, in spite of her anguish, to +demand if she might not see her friend again. The reply of the King +should be remembered, as it brought serious results for his cousin. He +said: "I do not forbid you to see him; ... and assuredly you cannot take +advice of a worthier man in regard to any of your affairs than Lauzun." +She hastened to confirm the permission. "It is my intention, Sire, and I +am very happy that you desire that he should continue to be my best +friend; but at least, Sire, you will not change as you did before? I +cannot help reproaching you." + +The succeeding days she was obliged to reopen her doors, and the same +crowd which had feigned to rejoice with her now pretended to pity her. +It was necessary to see again the same faces, to submit to curious +looks, glances filled with raillery, and to reply to _banal_ remarks. +There was much joking in Paris at her having received condolences in +bed, after the fashion of widows. "I have heard in the salon of Mme. de +Maintenon," relates Mme. de Caylus,[260] "that she cried out in her +despair, 'He should be there beside me!'" + +A grand Princess, to be dying of love and for a simple cadet from +Gascogne, almost a country fellow; this was a novel spectacle, which so +shocked all ideas of decorum that the public could not take to heart +very seriously this slightly theatrical grief. It was pretended that +Louis had said, "This is only a fantasy born in three days and which +will pass as rapidly." True or false, the King wished to believe this, +and the phrase received general approbation. It relieved the fashionable +world from the duty of sympathising with the unfortunate, who was eating +out her own heart, and visibly fading away. + +"I grew thin, with hollow cheeks, as a person who neither eats nor +sleeps, and I wept the minute that I was alone, or when I met any +friends of M. de Lauzun and they talked of events which had any +connection with him. I always desired to speak of him." The hope of a +speedy death was her sole consolation, for no one, she was convinced had +so deeply suffered. "My state was pitiable, and it must have been +experienced to be appreciated, for such feelings cannot be expressed. It +is necessary to know one's self, in order to judge, and no one can have +felt a grief equal to mine; there is nothing which can compare with it." +This is the universal language of disappointed lovers; but the +expressive phrase below is not at the disposal of all souls. It is only +applicable to moments in which the excess of grief renders it almost +unconscious: "On account of feeling too much, I felt nothing." + +The fifth day, etiquette exacted that she should find herself consoled. +Her duties as Princess were recalled to her. "It was needful to go to +Court, it was not well to pass eight days without seeing the King." + +In vain she fought against such cruel exactions; she was forced to make +a spectacle of herself, still with "discomposed face, red and swollen +eyes, with constant floods of tears, at proper or improper moments, with +sharp cries at sight of Lauzun." + +Lauzun opened his eyes wide upon her as upon a naughty child, and +severely menaced her: "If you act in this manner, I will never be found +again in the same room with you!" But she could not compose herself. One +evening, at a great Court ball, she stopped in the middle of a dance and +began to weep. The King rose and placed his hat before her face, leading +her out of the room and explaining, "My cousin has vapours." The public +did not pity her. It would have liked to celebrate her defeat. "All have +praised the King for this action," wrote Olivier d'Ormesson. + +Louis XIV. was again popular, a transient popularity which lasted only a +few days. "It may be said that not only the Court, but the entire +kingdom has rejoiced in the rupture of the proposed marriage."[261] The +sentiment of approval was unanimous. As to the Princess, who was guilty +of asserting the right to "personal happiness," opinion judged her +severely. The seventeenth century did not admit, as has been seen, that +individual sentiments or the interests of the heart could predominate +over the exactions of rank or society, and the age of the lovers and +disparity of their appearance, she so tall, he almost a dwarf, aroused +ridicule instead of sympathy. The Grande Mademoiselle was suddenly +rewarded "with contempt," "for," says La Fare, "if this contemplated +alliance appeared extraordinary as soon as the news was made public, it +became ridiculous as soon as it was broken." + +It is agreeable to meet among these people, who were right in the main, +but who were malicious and uncharitable, one good Samaritan. + +While Mme. de Sevigne wrote gaily, "All is finished,"[262] the tears of +Mademoiselle inspired kind and courageous words from a person +comparatively obscure, and who excused herself from corresponding +because she did not have enough "wit." A letter, dated January 21, 1671, +addressed to Bussy-Rabutin by Mme. de Scudery, sister-in-law of the +illustrious Madeleine, contains this paragraph: + + I will say nothing of the affair of Mademoiselle. You are no + doubt acquainted with all that has passed. I will only add + that, if you realise what a great passion can be, in the heart + of a pure woman like the Princess, you will not wonder, but + will have sympathy. For myself, who know nothing of love + through experience, I comprehend that Mademoiselle is much + to be pitied; for she has become sleepless. During the day she + is agitated and weeps, and in fact is leading the most miserable + existence possible.[263] + +Bussy-Rabutin replied (A Chaseu, January 29, 1671): + + I comprehend what passion means in a woman of the age and + temperament of Mademoiselle, who has preserved her heart + hitherto untouched, and I confess that this tale arouses my + pity. Love seems to me a malady like the small-pox; the later + it attacks the victim, the more severe the illness. + +The writer had indeed well understood the characteristics of late love +on only its displeasing side. But his attitude was, unfortunately, the +one adopted by almost every one. + +Regarded half-pityingly, but with an undercurrent of ridicule, the +Grande Mademoiselle ceased to be interesting to the fickle French +public. The fall from favour was very definite. The heroine of the +Fronde was effaced in the eyes of contemporaries, and remained only a +ridiculous old maid, whose woes amused the gallery. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 209: The Grande Equerry, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d' Armagnac.] + +[Footnote 210: The Marquis de Puyguilhem (written Peguilin) had taken +the name of Comte de Lauzun the following January. The latter title will +be used in this volume.] + +[Footnote 211: See the portrait of Straton in the chapter entitled "De +la Cour."] + +[Footnote 212: Saint-Simon, _Ecrits inedits_.] + +[Footnote 213: Lauzun became Captain of the Body Guard in July, 1669.] + +[Footnote 214: Letter to Mme. de Sevigne, dated February 2, 1669.] + +[Footnote 215: _Memoires et Reflexions_ of the Marquis de la Fare.] + +[Footnote 216: The sister of the Grand Conde. Upon her part in the +Fronde, see _The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle_.] + +[Footnote 217: M. de Saint-Paul began toward this time to bear the name +of de Longueville.] + +[Footnote 218: This conversation, which gives the key to the conduct of +Lauzun, is reported in _Le Perroquet or Les amours de Mademoiselle_, an +anonymous recital printed by M. Livet following the _Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules_ (Paris, Jannet, 1857); and in the _Histoire de Mademoiselle +et du Comte de Losun_ (Bibl. Saint-Genevieve MS. 3208), not always +sources to be relied on, but to be trusted here.] + +[Footnote 219: War between relatives for the succession.] + +[Footnote 220: _Lettres historiques._ Pellison accompanied the Court as +historiographer.] + +[Footnote 221: Plaques: pieces of embossed silver, at the lower part of +which was placed a chandelier.] + +[Footnote 222: _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 223: _De La Valliere a Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and Andre +Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 224: Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d'Uzes. He married the +daughter of the Duc de Montausier and of Julie d'Angennes.] + +[Footnote 225: Probably the uncle by marriage of Bussy-Rabutin.] + +[Footnote 226: Romecourt was Lieutenant of the King's Guards.] + +[Footnote 227: It is evident that these last were carried in the private +carriages, ready for any accident.] + +[Footnote 228: _Gazette de Renaudot._] + +[Footnote 229: Captain of the Body Guard. Afterward, Duc de Noailles, +and Marshal of France.] + +[Footnote 230: First physician to the King.] + +[Footnote 231: _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre._] + +[Footnote 232: Mme. de Sevigne to Bussy-Rabutin. Letter of July 6, +1670.] + +[Footnote 233: Mme. de Sevigne to Bussy-Rabutin (letter dated January +15, 1687), speaking of Conde's death.] + +[Footnote 234: Charles d'Harcourt, chevalier, afterward Comte de +Beuvron, was one of those whom rumour accused of having contributed to +the death of Madame.] + +[Footnote 235: Monsieur had two daughters by his first marriage; +Marie-Louise d'Orleans, who married, in 1679, Charles II. of Spain, and +Anne-Marie de Valois, married, in 1684, to Victor-Amedee II., Duc de +Savoie.] + +[Footnote 236: Cf. _Memoires de Louis XIV_. "for the year 1666." Edited +by Charles Dreyss.] + +[Footnote 237: Cf. _Segraisiana._] + +[Footnote 238: _Memoires de l'Abbe de Choisy._] + +[Footnote 239: Don Miguel de Iturrieta to Don Diego de la Torre. +_Archives de la Bastille._] + +[Footnote 240: _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._, by P. Clement.] + +[Footnote 241: _Histoire_ etc. (Bibl. Sainte-Genevieve, MS. 3208). The +same version is found with slight variations in _Le Perroquet_, etc.] + +[Footnote 242: _Memoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 243: Letter dated January 26, 1680.] + +[Footnote 244: Second son of Louis XIV. He died young.] + +[Footnote 245: _Cf._ for this chapter, the _Melanges_ of Philibert +Delamare (Bibl. Nationale, French MS. 23,251), the _Journal_ of +d'Ormesson, and generally the memoirs, correspondences, pamphlets, and +songs of the period.] + +[Footnote 246: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 247: _Journal_ of Olivier d'Ormesson.] + +[Footnote 248: Letter to Coulanges, December 31st. The letter announcing +the marriage, too well known to quote, is dated the 15th.] + +[Footnote 249: _Memoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 250: Ancient Governor of the King, who had kept a strong +affection for his pupil.] + +[Footnote 251: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 252: Mme. de Maintenon, _Lettres historiques et edifiantes_; +_cf. Memoire de Mlle. d'Aumale_, published by M. le Comte +d'Haussonville.] + +[Footnote 253: The Abbe de Choisy relates the same scene, but attributes +it to the Princesse de Carignan (Marie de Bourbon-Soissons, +1666-1692).] + +[Footnote 254: The French Charge d'Affaires in Sweden and Germany, +_Archives de la Bastille_.] + +[Footnote 255: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 256: This exclusion probably refers to the Prince de Conde, +with whom an alliance would have been considered a danger to the peace +of France.] + +[Footnote 257: _La Correspondance de Pomponne_ (Bibl. de l'Arsenal, +4712, 1598, 11. F.), fol. 373. M. Cheruel in the appendix to volume iv. +of _the Memoires de Mademoiselle_, and M. Livet in _l'Histoire amoureuse +des Gaules_, have published this letter after an inexact copy.] + +[Footnote 258: Letter dated December 24, 1670.] + +[Footnote 259: Letter dated December 31, ----.] + +[Footnote 260: _Souvenirs et Correspondance._] + +[Footnote 261: Philibert Delamare, _loc. cit._] + +[Footnote 262: Letter dated December 24, 1670.] + +[Footnote 263: _Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin_, published by Ludovic +Lalanne.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + Was Mademoiselle secretly Married?--Imprisonment of + Lauzun--Splendour and Decadence of France--_La Chambre + Ardente_--Mademoiselle purchases Lauzun's Freedom--Their + Embroilment--Death of the Grande Mademoiselle--Death of + Lauzun--Conclusion. + + +Many of the events remaining to be recorded are very obscure. If they +had any importance, they would have figured in the collections of +historic enigmas and problems waiting to be solved; but they hardly +merit the honour, as few of them have had any such influence over the +destinies of France as had, for instance, the fact of the subjection of +Anne of Austria to Mazarin. Nor do any possess the romantic attraction +which attached to the legend of the "Man with the Iron Mask" before its +explanation. Petty details, however, bring the French society of this +period near to us, and the fact that events cannot always be interpreted +makes them seem more like real life. It is only in romances that all is +explained. + +The most obscure of these smaller problems is the question of the +marriage of Mademoiselle with the "little man," as she herself called +him. + +Contemporary opinion has been almost unanimous in its belief in this +marriage. Neither date nor place nor names of the possible witnesses +have ever been satisfactorily established, as was done in the case of +the union of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Maintenon. There is no written proof +of the fact; Mademoiselle had the habit of burning her letters, and made +no exception in favour of those from Lauzun. She states this fact with +regret, in her _Memoires_. We are thus reduced to moral proofs. It is +true that these are strong in favour of the event having taken place; +but they are not altogether unanswerable. + +The belief that a secret bond had remained, after the official rupture, +rested in the mind of most people interested. One of the +correspondents[264] of Bussy-Rabutin wrote to him, February 17, 1671: +"Mademoiselle sometimes still weeps when she reflects, but often she +laughs and is at her ease. Her lover continues to see her and no one +opposes it. I do not know what will happen." Three weeks later, Mme. de +Scudery made allusion to the same rumour (Paris, March 6, 1671): +"Mademoiselle is always conversing with M. de Lauzun. Their +conversations begin and end with tears. I assure you, however, that +there will be no result." Bussy was among those who believed that it +"would come to something." He replied on the 13th to Mme. de Scudery: "I +am convinced that the affair of Mademoiselle and Lauzun will have a +happy issue, not in the manner they at first hoped, but in a more secret +method to which the King will consent." + +Would Mademoiselle accept this other way? Doubt is permissible. +_Marriages of conscience_, if fashionable in the seventeenth century, +created false situations, sometimes very humiliating ones, to a person +not an absolute sovereign accountable to no one, and in a position to +let the truth come out or not as it pleased him. For the rest of +mortals, secret marriages must actually remain concealed, or there would +result endless difficulties. On this account, the married pair could +only meet through a happy chance, which is not agreeable, while it was +also almost impossible to escape suspicious commentaries and the +uncomfortable dependence upon the fidelity of servants. Segrais would +never believe that Mademoiselle had married Lauzun, and one of the +reasons given was "that she sent away Madelon, her chambermaid, and she +would not have done this if Madelon had been able to gossip." Segrais +might have added that his mistress had always severely criticised the +equivocations arising from _marriages of conscience_. + +But all was changed after the serious conversation between the King and +Mademoiselle behind the closed doors. Mademoiselle encouraged Lauzun to +assume airs of authority, and she was meekly submissive. "He regarded me +with such a look that I no longer dared to weep, the power that he had +over me retaining my tears. It is much wiser not to lose self-control!" + +It was by his advice that she cleared her palace of all who had blamed +their first plan. M. de Montausier and Mme. de Sevigne tried in vain to +save Segrais, who "was their special friend." "She cannot be touched," +wrote Mme. de Sevigne, "upon a subject which approaches to within nine +hundred leagues of a certain cape."[265] It was Lauzun who designated +the successor of Guillore, her Intendant, and who submitted the choice +to the King. This might give rise to remark. Lauzun warned Mademoiselle +of this danger. "It may be said in the world that I wish to rule you +completely." She responded: "Please God that you should; that is what I +profoundly desire." Mademoiselle had confirmed through new acts the +lavish gifts assured by the contract, and the King rivalled his cousin +in generosity. If the courtiers can be believed, Louis had promised +Lauzun that he should lose nothing by _not_ marrying Mademoiselle. In +any case, he heaped favours upon him. The first gift was the government +of Berri, with fifty thousand francs to pay his debts and the hope that +Fortune would continue her benedictions. Louvois grew anxious and +amassed shiploads of hatred against the favourite. + +The winter passed in this manner. In the spring, the Court returned to +Flanders. During a sojourn at Dunkerque so much was said of the intimacy +of the "dwarf" with the Grande Mademoiselle, that the report reached the +ears of the Princess: "The rumour is circulating that we were married +before leaving Paris, and the _Gazette de Hollande_ confirms this. Some +one brought the paper to me; I showed it to Lauzun, who laughed." Two +pages further on, another conversation proves that the news was at least +premature; but the public had the right to be deceived, so tender and +familiar was the intercourse between the couple. + +There was a question in this same spring of a trip to Fontainebleau: + + I said to M. de Lauzun, "Take care to wear a cap when you are + in the forest; the evening dew is bad for the teeth, and + further you are subject to weak eyes and to catching cold. The + air of Fontainebleau makes the hair fall out." He replied: "I + certainly must try to preserve my teeth. I also fear cold; but + as for the red eyes with which you are constantly reproaching + me, they are caused by wakefulness, with which I have been + troubled for some time. As for my hair, I have too little left + to take further pains about it." + +She preached neatness to him. "If you are slovenly, it will be said that +I have bad taste. For my sake, you must be careful." Lauzun only +laughed. Indeed, she scolded him through jealousy, fearing that he was +escaping from her influence and going she did not know where, and +perceiving this, he cajoled her. "As soon as he saw that I wished to +scold him, he had unequalled methods for putting me in a good humour." +All this folly resembled a honeymoon, and the _Memoires_ of Mademoiselle +for this same year include a passage which is almost a confession. "It +is still said that we are married. We neither of us say anything, it +being only our particular friends who would dare to address us, and it +is easy to laugh at them, only saying, 'The King knows all.'" + +The conduct of Mademoiselle during the ten years following being a +perpetual and striking confirmation of this half-confession, the fact of +the secret marriage would seem to be assured, and the date would be +placed between May and November, 1671, if it were not for a last +quotation, to be given at its proper date, which again throws doubt upon +the event. + +Whatever the truth may be, it would appear that Mademoiselle had known +how to reunite the broken fragments of her happiness; but Lauzun, for a +second time, lost everything. He had easily learned that he owed the +rupture of the first plan to Mme. de Montespan, and had conceived so +furious a hate against this false friend that he lost his head. + +After a scene worthy of fishwives, in which he had called her names +impossible to print, he would proceed to declaim against her in the +salons, with the utmost violence, and sometimes at only a few steps from +her ears. The courtiers marvelled at the excessive insolence on the one +side and the curious patience on the other, for Mme. de Montespan +endured these outrages without whispering a single protest. It was +rumoured that she had once been his mistress, and that his power was +derived from this fact. + +It is to this enforced penitence of the all-powerful favourite that Mme. +Scarron alluded when at a supper, the account of which is given by Mme. +de Sevigne[266]: "she dilated upon the horrible agitations in a country +very well known, the continual rage of the little Lauzun, and the black +chagrin or the sad boredom of the ladies of Saint-Germain; and suggested +that the most envied was perhaps not always exempt." Mme. Scarron had +seen the "horrible agitations" very near, for it was she who had +intervened against Lauzun; it was upon her representations that Mme. de +Montespan had ended by saying to the King that "she did not believe that +her life was safe as long as this man was free."[267] + +Lauzun was arrested at Saint-Germain, in his chamber, the evening of +November 25, 1671. The evening previous, Mademoiselle had departed for +Paris declaring: "I do not know what is the matter; I am in such +dreadful apprehension that I cannot remain here." She wept on the way. +She very well knew the cause. One of her friends had been asked, "if M. +de Lauzun had been arrested," and this query had worried her. + +Delayed by chance or by precaution, the news of the arrest did not reach +the Luxembourg until twenty-four hours later. Lauzun was already on the +road to Pignerol. Before him hastened M. de Nallot, a man of confidence +despatched by Louvois, who certainly felt a ferocious joy in the action, +to bear the instructions of his master to the Sieur de Saint-Mars, +governor of the prison of Pignerol, and of those enclosed within its +walls. Foucquet had been during seven years under the care of +Saint-Mars, who had followed orders with such fidelity that Louvois did +not doubt that he would be obeyed as blindly in any commands it might +please him to give regarding Lauzun. The instructions gave orders to +imprison him with one valet, and never to permit him to leave the +fortress nor to have any communication with the outer world. + +Saint-Mars thus responded: + + + PIGNEROL, December 9, 1671. + + Monseigneur, M. de Nallot arrived here on the fifth instant, + conveying the note of instructions you have been pleased to + send me.... He will report to you my haste in preparing the + apartment for M. de Lauzun; he will tell you, Monseigneur, that + I will lodge him in the two low vaulted chambers which are over + those of M. Foucquet: these are the ones with the barred + windows you yourself[268] examined. From the way in which I + have arranged the place, I can respond with my life for the + safety of the person of M. de Lauzun, and also the certainty of + intercepting any news sent or received. + + I engage upon my honour, Monseigneur, that as long as this + gentleman is under my care you will hear no further word about + him, it will be as if he already lay _in pace_. + + The place prepared is so constructed that I can have holes + made, through which I can spy into the apartment. I shall also + know all that he does and says through the reports of a valet + whom I will furnish as you have ordered; I have found one with + much trouble, because the clever ones do not wish to pass their + life in prison. You order that mass shall be celebrated for M. + de Lauzun only on fete days and Sundays and I will scrupulously + follow the letter of your instructions.... The Confessor of M. + Foucquet will attend the new prisoner on Easter and at no other + time, whatever may happen. My only desire is to carry out exactly + the orders with which you have honoured me: I shall always endeavour + to do this with zeal, passion, and fidelity, so I trust that you + may be content with my small services.[269] + +All the officials of the citadel had written to Louvois after the +arrival of his agent, so great an impression had been made. It was said +that M. de Lauzun was a great criminal and a very dangerous one to +necessitate such precautions. Each wished to show his special zeal. +Louis XIV. was also well informed about the prison destined for his old +favourite. + +Louvois showed the King the plan he had received. The apartment +consisted of two low vaulted rooms facing a deserted court, through +which no one ever passed. The windows were darkened by iron bars and +were covered with a sort of basket-work used in prisons, to prevent the +occupant seeing or being seen. Noises from without, even those from the +guards and the kitchen, did not penetrate into this remote place, the +most "noiseless" of all the citadel, on account of the enormous +thickness of the walls and of the vaulting. "Never," said one of the +letters, "will M. Foucquet know that he has a companion." The +correspondents of Louvois unanimously insisted upon the necessity of +preventing any risk of escape. A screen of iron was placed in the +embrasure of the windows and a _vissante_ inserted in the chimney to +prevent M. de Lauzun and M. de Foucquet from communicating with each +other. + +When this new command left Saint-Germain, Lauzun was already locked up +at Pignerol. He appeared very sad and depressed during the journey. His +grief was changed into fury at sight of the dungeon which awaited him. +Saint-Mars wrote to Louvois (December 22, 1671): "Monseigneur, my +prisoner is in so profound a grief, that I can hardly describe it. He +said to me that I had made him a lodging _saecula saeculorum_." Lauzun +declared that he would lose his reason, and his agitation seemed to +point to this danger. + + [December 30] I do not believe, Monseigneur, that I can send + you any news of my prisoner's being more tranquil; he is in so + profound a grief that he does nothing but sigh and beat the + ground with his feet. He asked me once if I knew the cause of + his detention; I replied that I never received any news of this + sort lest I should be tempted to tell it. + +Lauzun had well divined the cause of his arrest, but he had not been +told. All explanation had been refused at Saint-Germain, and the +condemning him to such a dungeon with the most rigorous secrecy, with no +declared reason, seemed a crying and tyrannical act of injustice. +Saint-Mars began to fear a tragic ending. + + [January 12, 1672] Monseigneur ... he is overwhelmed with so + extraordinary a grief that I fear he may lose his reason, or + kill himself, which last he has threatened several times.... As + I do not stop to listen to his ravings, he accuses me of having + grown hard and pitiless through my long occupation as jailer; + and repeats that he has never been judged and that his worst + suffering is caused by the fact that he is ignorant of his + crime. + +He had never been judged! This was the refrain during ten long years! +Foucquet, his neighbour, had judges, _independants_ or not; he had known +the cause of his accusation, and his defence had been heard. Lauzun was +in his vault through the good pleasure of the King without having had a +chance to justify himself, and this grievance caused his revolt. + +When Mademoiselle was told of the arrest of Lauzun, she was so overcome +that she was astonished "that she did not die." She remained in a most +pitiable state until the next day. She was counselled not to delay an +appeal to the King, and it was needful to form some plan. If there had +been only herself to consider, Mademoiselle would have been ready to bid +adieu to the world; but there was Lauzun, who was, according to the +custom then legal, to be accused when he could not defend himself, and +there was only herself to plead his cause with the King. + +It was impossible to abandon her lover, and Mademoiselle found strength +to rise and to go to Saint-Germain. She only reached the King in the +evening at supper. "He regarded me with a sad and embarrassed air. I +looked at him with tears in my eyes, but said nothing; I know what he +said in returning after to the ladies[270]: 'My cousin has been very +courteous, she has been silent.' He would have been imprudent to address +me, as I was prepared to reply to all." + +The Court of France was at that date very gay and animated. Monsieur had +just remarried (November 16), with Elisabeth Charlotte de Baviere, +Princess Palatine, famed for the originality of her mind and the +freshness of her language. The King, who, without wit, had good taste, +was charmed with his new sister-in-law, and was lavish with fetes in her +honour. At first, Mademoiselle considered it a duty to be present. She +pathetically relates the history of an abominable evening during which +she was obliged to appear to be enjoying the spectacle of a ballet, +while her thoughts were far distant, following a coach surrounded by +musketeers: + + To think that he was absent; that it was bitterly cold and was + snowing heavily, and that my dear one was on the open road on + his way to prison; to picture his sufferings and his pitiable + appearance made my heart ache. I believe that it would deceive + those who should have been there with him to see me here, not + realising the torture it gives me. My single consolation is + that these constant sacrifices I am making for the King, + may in the end arouse his pity for M. de Lauzun and renew his + tenderness, for I am not able to persuade myself that he no longer + loves him. I should be only too content if my sacrifices can + accomplish any results. This is my motive for remaining near the + Court since Lauzun's imprisonment, and forces me from a sense of + duty to do many things which I should have avoided if I had only + consulted my inclinations. With a heart pierced with tender grief, + I should have so willingly remained at home in solitude rather than + to drag myself through the gay scenes of the Court festivities." + +After each effort, she allowed herself slight relaxation and retired to +weep in some corner, then returning to the King with red and swollen +eyes. "I am persuaded" wrote she, apropos of a trip with the Court, +"that my presence has recalled the memory of M. de Lauzun; this is the +reason why I wish to be always before the eyes of the King.... I cannot +believe that he will not feel that my looks are ever supplicating him." +Mademoiselle was very ingenious in her efforts to refer constantly to +the absent one. If a grated window was passed she began to sigh and to +pity those in prison. If there was a rumour that Lauzun was ill, she +solicited by letter the softening of the regime. Louis never responded, +but he did not show any displeasure. The enemies of the disgraced one +endeavoured to detach the Princess from her lover. They knew her +weakness; she was very jealous, and there might easily be occasion in +regard to Lauzun, known as the greatest libertine of this licentious +Court. At the moment of arrest his papers had been seized. There were +many letters; locks of hair and other love tokens, carefully ticketed, +and a sort of secret museum enclosing portraits that Louis XIV. ordered +to be destroyed,--not promptly enough, however, as many persons enjoyed +a glimpse of them, and were able to identify the originals. + +The "caskets" of Lauzun were the great social scandal of the winter, and +there were people enough to exploit the contents to Mademoiselle. They +gained nothing for their pains; she had the wisdom not to listen. They +belonged to the past. The same kind friends endeavoured to open her eyes +to the fact that she had been deceived in giving her heart to a man who +only desired her millions. They said: "He did not love you; when he was +promised wealth, appointments, he readily left you; the day on which the +King broke the marriage, Lauzun gambled all the evening with the +greatest tranquility; he cares nothing about you." Mademoiselle allows +in her _Memoires_ that she began to be disturbed when she was forced to +hear such statements from morning till night during a series of years. +Her own remembrances only too well confirmed the truth. She had never +received a word of tenderness from Lauzun, not even a truly gracious +word. But misfortune is an invincible safeguard with generous souls. +Mademoiselle relates that her heart "fought against itself" in favour of +her lover, and the heart conquered, since each new year found her still +devoted, still indefatigable in her efforts to obtain his release. + +At the end of eight years there could be no more doubt. Contemporaries +and those of the next generation have tried in vain to discover why +Louis XIV. attached so serious an importance to preventing Lauzun from +receiving news. Of what was he afraid? Was it essential for the safety +of France to insist upon such minute precautions? + +One day, fresh linen was to be forwarded to Lauzun from Saint-Germain. +Louvois wrote to Saint-Mars (February 2, 1672): "Have this washed two or +three times before giving it to him." Saint-Mars signified that he +comprehended and replied (February 20): + + I shall not fail to have the linen you are sending to Lauzun + thoroughly wet after having every seam examined, any writing + which may be upon the linen will thus vanish. Everything which + is brought out of his room is put at once in a tub of water + after being examined, and the laundress bringing it from the + river dries it before the fire in the presence of my officers, + who take turn at this duty, week by week. I also take the same + precautions with the towels, napkins, etc. + +Another time, an ancient servant of Lauzun was arrested near Pignerol, +who, realising that he was a prisoner, killed himself, and letters were +found on the body. Had there been any intercourse with the prisoner? +This thought cast Louvois into an inconceivable agitation. He wished at +every cost to clear up the affair, and he found time even during the war +with Holland to write letter after letter to Pignerol to order that +trace of accomplices should be sought. + +Men, presumably companions of the dead, were arrested. Two of them, who +had fled to Turin, were delivered up through diplomatic action. It was +necessary to make them speak "through any means, no matter what"; the +question as to whether M. de Lauzun had received news must be solved. +The attendants at Pignerol were much perturbed. An officer wrote to +Louvois to "conjure" him to denounce the suspected among the soldiers +under his orders, that I may arrest them and attach them as villains." +And if his two nephews, who were in the citadel, should be found to be +the guilty ones he "would be their first executioner." Saint-Mars was +humiliated and offended that he should be suspected of being hoodwinked. +He became ferocious against the "miserable beings" who had drawn down +upon him this insult, and he willingly put them to the torture; "for, to +tell the truth," wrote he to Louvois, "I have only to find the smallest +charge against a soldier or domestic, and I would hang him at once" +(August 20). Some weeks later he summed up the result of the inquest in +these terms (October 7): "I cannot swear that an attempt has not been +made to communicate with Lauzun, but I can pledge my life in the +assurance that the effort has not been successful." + +Saint-Mars had another grief. Louvois recommended to him incessantly to +make his prisoner talk and to report every word, even the most trivial, +but Lauzun would not utter a syllable. "I do not know why," wrote +Saint-Mars, naively, "but he distrusts me, and hardly dares to speak to +me" (February 10, 1672). On March 19: "He is always in a state of +extraordinary distrust of me." Louvois insisted, and received +discouraged letters. (March 30:) "When I make a visit, our conversation +is so dry and difficult that we often pace the room a hundred times +without interchanging a word." Saint-Mars in vain sought innocent +topics. He tried to converse about the weather. M. de Lauzun interrupted +him under the pretext that the state of the weather was a matter of +indifference to him, since, from his dungeon, he could see "neither moon +nor sun." + +Saint-Mars inquired about his health. M. de Lauzun cut him short, in +declaring that "his health was a matter of no consequence to any one, +and that he was really only too well." Saint-Mars did not know what more +to say. He became furious. Lauzun perceived this, and grew even more +taciturn. It was a fair and even fight. At the end of a year, Saint-Mars +had not advanced an inch. + + [January 7, 1673] When I said good morning or good evening, and + when I asked him how he felt, he made low bows, saying that he + was well enough to offer his most humble respects; after having + thanked him, we walked some time together without speaking to + each other, and, as I wished to retire, I asked him if he had + anything to demand. He made again a very low bow and conducted + me to the door of the room; this is the point at which we have + arrived, and I am afraid that we shall make no further + progress. + +Saint-Mars tried to force the situation. It was he who furnished the +prisoner with everything; who gave him clothes, furniture, bought his +eye-glasses, or ordered a wig. He thought that a method of making him +speak would be to give him nothing that he did not demand. Lauzun +invented a mute language. + +Saint-Mars would perceive, in entering, some wornout or broken object +placed in a conspicuous position, having the air of saying something. +"Sometimes," wrote the governor of the citadel, "I feign not to notice, +and in order to oblige me to speak, Lauzun will direct his steps so as +to pass the object again and again until I am forced to comprehend." +(May 6, 1672.) + +The valet was almost as close as his master. Saint-Mars did not cease to +lament the trouble which "these people" gave him. Prisoners' valets +shared the fate of their masters. Once confined, they passed the sill of +the prison only with the culprit; that is to say, in many cases never, +which fact rendered it extremely difficult to procure servants. The one +with Lauzun was a "wicked rascal" who had been bribed, but who at the +end of three months refused to do his duty as spy. + +Saint-Mars was indignant (February 20, 1672): "With your permission, I +will put him [the valet] in a place that I reserve, which makes the dumb +speak after a month's sojourn. I shall learn all from him, and I am +certain that he will not forget the least trifle." Upon reflection, +however, Saint-Mars ended by being patient. How was he to replace the +fellow? "No one of the valets attached to the citadel would enter this +dungeon if I paid him millions. They have noticed that those whom I have +placed with M. Foucquet never come out." Louvois never knew, in spite of +earnest desire, what thoughts the fallen favourite was conceiving in his +prison. + +There was a slight recompense, however, on the days on which Lauzun fell +into a rage, which often happened. The prisoner could not digest the +fact that his questions remained unanswered. This might be reasonable +enough if he asked if France were at war, or if Mademoiselle were +married; but why refuse news of his own affairs? Why conceal from him +the fact of his mother being alive or dead? His vexation became rage. He +poured out a torrent of imprecations and bitter complaints, and Louvois +had the pleasure of hearing by the next mail that silence did not +indicate absence of suffering. + +One day (January 28, 1673), after giving an account of one of these +explosions, Saint-Mars added: "He said all this, weeping hot tears and +crying that he detested his miserable life; he complained loudly of the +horrible dungeon which I have given him, where he has lost his sight and +his health." The wails of grief echoed even through Paris, leaking out +from the cabinet of Louvois and the chamber of Mme. de Montespan, and +the public demanded with curiosity what Lauzun had done to deserve a +punishment so rigorous. "I can never believe," wrote Mademoiselle, +"that it is by the orders of the King." It was easily guessed that +Louvois was avenging his frights and Mme. de Montespan her humiliations; +but why did the King permit such severity? for Louis had never appeared +to take very much to heart the entanglements of these two Court powers +with his favourite. + +It is needful to recollect that the seventeenth century had no greater +respect for human liberty than for human life. Only rank and birth were +of value, and these were honoured in a greater degree than it is +possible now to comprehend. This same Louvois, who was tormenting Lauzun +almost to the point of insanity, had hastened to send him a +silver-service, and had asked him to complain if his guards were +impolite. + +"M. de Saint-Mars," wrote the Minister, "has orders never to fail in +according the respect due to your birth and to the position which you +have held at Court" (December 12, 1672). From like considerations, the +birth of Lauzun had brought him new furniture, but not a single object +of any kind which could aid him in inventing occupation or employment. + +This was the real punishment: a complete inaction with not a single echo +from the outer world which might prevent his mind from continually +turning inward upon itself. Lauzun only obtained a few books at long +intervals, and always with great difficulty, after every page had been +examined in detail; messages written in invisible ink were feared, and +phrases which might throw light upon the events of the day. When the +choice of literature was left to Saint-Mars, he confined himself to _Le +Tableau de la Penitence_ or the _Pedagogue chretien_. The contents of +these were well known and, also, "they might be useful to lighten his +despair." + +It will be remembered that Mademoiselle had scolded the "little man" to +make him take greater care of his person and toilet. In prison, Lauzun +had grown very careless. (April 20, 1672:) "He grows so negligent that +for three weeks he has worn a handkerchief knotted around his neck in +place of a cravat." From note of July 30, 1672, more than seven months +after his arrival: "He has not had his room swept, nor his glass rinsed; +he is extremely negligent." Lauzun had permitted his beard to grow, +which contributed to his neglected appearance. Saint-Mars declared that +it was a half-yard long. (February 11, 1673:) "He is as disorderly at +his meals as in his person and in his apartment." + +Years passed. In 1673, they pruned the trees which cut off the light. +This was the only change. In 1674, the prisoner almost died. His health +was shattered and his temper changed. He became tranquil, except for an +occasional access of anger, and was very polite to his jailer, who +attributed this metamorphosis to the effects of the books of piety and +the holy water freely supplied. Saint-Mars found him "very often" on his +knees, saying his prayers before an image of the Virgin, and had much +joy in the change. + +In 1676, in the month of February, Louvois received a letter,[271] the +contents of which passed through Paris like a flash of lightning. M. de +Lauzun had almost succeeded in effecting his escape; and neither by door +nor window, the ordinary method in romances. He had made a hole in the +dungeon of Pignerol by scratching with old knives, pieces of kitchen +utensils, etc., and had succeeded in piercing the thick vault below his +chamber. Lauzun rolled through this opening, and found himself between +four walls, before a barred window. He began again to scrape; he +demolished one of the corners of the window, unfastened one of the bars, +and saw that he was several fathoms above the ground. His foresight had +caused him to collect a quantity of napkins, from which he made a rope +ladder; "the best made in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, with +admiration for the sample sent to Louvois. + +He descended by this ladder to the moat surrounding the fortress, +"pierced the wall on the side of the moat,"[272] encountered a rock, and +recommenced at a short distance from the place of the first attempt"; +the new passage led into a court of the citadel. Lauzun reached the +ground one morning at daybreak. He had passed three days in scraping; it +was this occupation which had kept him tranquil. Only an open door, and +he would have been saved. He would well have deserved success as a +reward for his industry and patience. But all was firmly closed, and he +was stopped by an incorruptible sentinel. + +The poor prisoner was brought back to his dungeon, and Louvois stormed +at the authorities of Pignerol, who permitted walls and windows to be +demolished without perceiving that anything strange was occurring. +Repairs and numerous new measures of precaution were ordered, and +Saint-Mars, very much abashed, swore by all the gods that such a thing +should never again happen. + +In spite of these oaths, many of the prisoners succeeded in gaining +access to their neighbours, according to the account of +Saint-Simon.[273] It seems that the open chimneys of ancient times had +become an ordinary means of communication between the dungeons of +Pignerol. "A hole was made in the pipe, which was carefully closed +during the day," and with mutual aid the prisoners ascended and +descended. Lauzun was placed in relation with various prisoners, of whom +one was Foucquet, who believed him to be mad when listening to his +account of the failure of the plan of marriage with the Grande +Mademoiselle. These gentlemen must have resembled chimney sweeps. + +Saint-Mars, however, only knew of these practices after the death of +Foucquet; the troubles of Lauzun were then at an end. The death of the +eldest brother, which occurred in 1677, had brought new conditions. +Lauzun became head of the family. His sister, Mme. de Nogent, +represented to the King that it was needful for the preservation of the +"House" that M. de Lauzun should be permitted to put his affairs in +order, and she had no difficulty in obtaining a hearing. Although the +individual counted for little, the "House" was a thing sacred, even in +the eyes of Louis XIV. Saint-Mars was ordered to receive Mme. de Nogent, +another of the brothers, Chevalier de Lauzun, and their advocate, M. +Isarn, and to permit them to meet with his prisoner, exacting the +promise that only business should be discussed. He forbade a single +word, "under any pretext whatever," of Mlle. de Montpensier. An account +of these interviews, sketched by Isarn, remains. It must not be +forgotten in reading this document that Lauzun had a great interest in +inspiring a lively pity in the hearts of these people who were returning +to Paris. After long preliminaries, Isarn arrived for the first +interview with Lauzun, whom no one had seen for six years. + + [October 29, 1667] Two o'clock having come, M. de Saint-Mars, + after sending away all the attendants, asked M. Isarn to enter + his room where six chairs were arranged around a table, and M. + de Saint-Mars retiring, returned after a moment leading M. le + Comte de Lauzun, supporting him by the arm, for the Comte could + hardly sustain himself, it may be on account of the open air, + the bright light, or the weakness caused by his illness. + + At this sight, I confess, Monsieur, that we were moved with + pity, for we remarked his haggard face and the extreme pallor + of the countenance, as much as could be seen under the long + beard and moustaches, the eyes subdued with sadness and + languor, so that it would be impossible not to be moved with + compassion. I can hardly express the grief of Madame his sister + and Monsieur his brother. A chair near the fire was given to + him, facing the window, but he shrank back, saying in a low + voice, and coughing, that the bright light made his eyes and + head burn. M. de Saint-Mars turned his prisoner away from the + window, placing himself on one side and M. the Commissioner on + the other. I was at the side of M. de Saint-Mars, having my + papers before me on the table. Mme. de Nogent could not + restrain her tears, and we remained some time without speaking. + +When they were all somewhat composed, Isarn entered into a summary of +the affairs to be regulated. At the first pause, Lauzun interrupted. "He +said coldly, that having been kept for six years and a portion of a +seventh in a very restricted prison, and not having heard any business +details for so long a time, and having met no one, his mind had become +so 'sealed,' and his intelligence so clouded, that it was impossible for +him to comprehend anything I was saying." He added affectionate words +for his sister, touching sentiments upon his grief at having displeased +the King, and, as if overcome by the remembrance of his much-loved +master, he carried his handkerchief to his eyes, "where it remained a +long time." + +This spectacle provoked such an outburst of tears and groans that it was +impossible to continue the conference. Lauzun "withdrew with Saint-Mars +without speaking." The sister was carried away in a dead faint. The +Chevalier de Lauzun, ill with emotion, retired for the night, and Isarn +shared in the general affliction. At the following sessions, Lauzun +repeated that he comprehended nothing that his advocate said, but he +gave him at the same time some instructions, "with much judgment and +clearness." Touching scenes followed. One day, after having obtained +permission, the prisoner asked if his mother were living, and there was, +in this case, no need of pretence to make the scene impressive. At the +last interview, he charged his sister to implore the pity of the King +and the pardon of Louvois, in humble and submissive terms, which showed +a man conquered, crushed, and henceforth inoffensive. + +It may be through compassion, it may be, as was hinted, through some new +and mysterious combination, that this appeal produced a relaxation in +the prison discipline, which ended in a half-freedom. Lauzun was +permitted to give dinners, to buy saddle horses, "to ride in the court +and on the bastions."[274] At length arrived a detachment of musketeers, +charged to conduct him to the baths of Bourbon, under pretext that he +was suffering with one of his arms. + +He quitted Pignerol April 22, 1681. Foucquet had died March 23, 1680. +This left to Saint-Mars only a single man of note; the Man with the Iron +Mask had been in the fortress some time at this date. + +Robinson Crusoe, leaving his island, was not more of a stranger to the +course of events than a state prisoner after years of life in a dungeon. +Foucquet had believed in listening to Lauzun that he was mentally +deranged. When it was the fate of the latter to again come in contact +with ordinary life, he found much difficulty in placing himself in the +current. The history of France had been lengthened by a chapter while he +was raging in his dungeon. The intimate story of Court life, the most +important for an ancient favourite desirous of regaining a foothold, +would have filled a volume with its tragi-comic complications. At first +glance, the chapter of national history was dazzling. The war with +Holland had given to France, Franche-Comte; to Louis XIV., a glory and +power which had raised him in European opinion above all other +sovereigns. + +In the eyes of strangers, he was more than a king, he was _the_ King, +the incarnation of the monarchical idea, the Prince who had made France +the mistress of the civilised world. + + Never, in modern Europe [says a German historian[275] who + always considers the interests of France as opposed to those of + Germany] has there been a development of military power over + land and sea, for attack and defence, so extraordinary as that + to which France had attained during the war, and preserved + during the ensuing peace; never before had a single will + exercised so extended a command over troops so well trained and + yet so submissive. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE PALACE AND GARDENS OF THE TUILERIES= From an +engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1673] + +France was admired and feared. "Louis XIV.," says Ranke again, "reduced +several of the German princes individually, and the Empire at large, to +a degree of abasement to which they had not fallen during centuries." +Spain itself was menaced with the loss of its independence. Europe +recognised that in "the history of the world there were few periods in +which civilisation had so rapidly advanced and literature was so +brilliant as that under Louis XIV." + +Such was France viewed from without, during the years which separated +the peace of Nimeguen (1679) from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes +(1685). This brilliant picture showed, however, some shadows; the +vanquished guarded a deep resentment, and the former allies were +detached without always being replaced by new ones; but the country +considered itself sufficiently strong to support its isolation. + +Seen from within, France presented to the superficial observer an +appearance of prosperity. Upon a closer examination, however, it could +be predicted that the lean years were approaching. Many provinces had +fallen back into misery. There was a general discontent, the +disaffection made rapid progress; the idea of centralised and absolute +power, so well received at first, was beginning to pall upon the +community. Four years after the death of Mazarin and the arrival to +power of Louis XIV. keen-sighted men became anxious. + +Olivier d'Ormesson, like all the world at first under the influence of +the charm of the young King, wrote in 1665 (March): "No one dares +protest, although all suffer and have their hearts filled with despair; +every one says that it is impossible for this state of things to last, +the conduct of affairs being too unjust and violent."[276] Olivier +d'Ormesson had personal griefs. He had been disgraced for having shown +himself too independent at the time of the prosecution of Foucquet, and +he was also one of those old politicians, liberal after their own +fashion, who held firmly to the privileges belonging to their class, and +who were not accustomed to see criticisms of the King punished more +severely than blasphemies against the Deity. In 1668, a poor old man +from Saint-Germain was accused "of having said that the King was a +tyrant, and that there still existed some Ravaillacs and people of +courage and virtue." He was condemned to have his tongue cut out and to +be sent to the galleys. "It is said," adds d'Ormesson, "that +cutting out the tongue is a new punishment, and that it was formerly the +custom simply to pierce the tongue of blasphemers." From the point of +view of the times, the opinion of d'Ormesson is a little +too advanced. + +But the same criticism cannot be made of Colbert, then enjoying great +favour and naturally a man of severity. In 1666 Colbert warned Louis +XIV., in an almost brutal memorial, that through his extravagances he +was leading France to ruin. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF COLBERT, SHOWING ALSO HIS SEAL= + +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1675] + +The memorial commenced by declaring that he (Colbert) did not wish +stinginess where it was a matter concerning a good army or fleet, or in +sustaining the suitable magnificence of his master in foreign lands, or +in any useful expenditures, among which he included the proper +representation of a great sovereign. He affirmed that in all these +matters he would rather urge a certain lavishness, and this was the +truth. But he could not share in the responsibility for the enormous +leakage by which the public wealth was being exhausted, for the millions +squandered in fantastic camps, in fetes costing incredible sums,[277] +and in insane gambling debts.[278] + +The memorial mentions also pensions and other gratifications given out +freely, and makes other specifications, of which one merits some +details, for it is curious, but rarely referred to, and according to +Colbert led to the most dangerous consequences. As will be understood, +nothing other than actual war cost France so dearly under Louis XIV., as +the monarch's passion for playing at soldier in the presence of +beautiful ladies. This mania at first glance appears innocent enough, +only rather childish. + +Colbert pointed out the inevitable effects. The King assembled armies to +afford to the "_ladies_" the spectacle of a camp or the simulation of a +siege, or the troops were reviewed in places agreeable for women, +instead of awaiting him in their barracks. + +The result was, that the perpetual marching of troops to and fro was +causing the exhaustion of the provinces, for "it is sufficient to say +that such a city or halting-place has suffered within six months a +hundred different impositions of troops, and that there are but few +places which have not been obliged to stand at least fifty." + +The troops lived as they liked, entering and departing from their +various lodging-places. "It can be affirmed distinctly that these places +were left in a condition to which they would have been brought by a long +war." If the King knew "how many peasants of Champagne, and the other +provinces lying near the frontier, are passing and arranging to pass to +other countries," he would comprehend that this state of affairs could +not last. + +The most delicate reproof was yet to be made, and Colbert approached it +courageously. Serious ridicule had fallen upon the great monarch for +these fantastic games for the benefit of his "_ladies_," not only with +the French, but also among foreigners only too ready to seize an +occasion for unfriendly comment. + +[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE CHATEAU OF VERSAILLES, SHOWING THE FOUNTAIN +OF THE DRAGON= + +From an engraving by Israel Silvestre, 1676] + +Louis had just installed a camp at Moret, motley and smart, with pretty +tents for the Amazons. "It is said," wrote d'Ormesson, "that the siege +of Moret will be made in due form, in order to show the '_ladies_' the +method of taking places by assault. People in general, disgusted and +annoyed, treat this review as childish trifling for a King, and it is +badly thought of in foreign countries." + +Olivier d'Ormesson did not display great merit in writing his comments +in his journal for his eyes alone, but Colbert wrote for the King and +had still many criticisms to add. + +"It is further advisable for your Majesty to know two things which no +one has before dared to report: one that there has been a poster in +Paris, bearing the words _Louis XIV. will give an exhibition of +Marionettes in the plain at Moret_; the other, the publication of a +libel, still more bitter, upon the distinguished deeds of the fantastic +captains." The King read the memorial and re-read it in the presence of +Colbert, but the following year saw a new camp, in which the royal tent, +composed of six sumptuous rooms, "was filled with cavaliers gorgeously +attired, and better fitted to attract the enemy than to make him +flee."[279] Colbert did not succeed, even in time of war, in preventing +a single trip to the frontier with a long train of women in rare +apparel, and mistresses for whose accommodation it was necessary to put +masons at work at every halting-place. + +From Louvois, March 7, 1671: + +"Arrange chamber marked V for Mme. de Montespan, opening a door in the +place marked 1.... Mme. de La Valliere will lodge in the chamber marked +Y, in which a door must be made in the place marked 3N...." The expense +of the numerous doors, with many others equally irregular, entered into +the budget of the Minister of War. + +How was it possible to keep the budget accounts? How reduce unnecessary +expenses? Colbert himself was obliged in his budget of the Marine to +give space to the "_ladies_." In 1678, Mme. de Montespan conceived the +fantasy of fitting out a privateer, a vessel belonging to the King, be +it understood, manned with the royal sailors. Some weeks later, a second +and third vessel were sent out in the same manner as privateers, always +at the King's expense, "by Mme. de Montespan and the Comtesse de +Soissons."[280] Including everything, the taste of Louis XIV. for +conversation and the society of women, without mentioning the rest of +his follies, probably cost France more than all the buildings erected by +the Grand Monarch, but the one outlay can be calculated, and the other +not. + +The large expenses of Versailles and of Marly are often alluded to, +while the unfortunate peasants, who fled across the frontier after every +military spectacle offered to the "_ladies_," are forgotten. Louis XIV. +was incapable of keeping accounts; that is his sole excuse. It is +strange, however, that a man so methodical, having a mind so steady, so +well regulated, had never been able to comprehend that figures are +figures, and that no one is able to make two crowns out of one. Colbert +never succeeded in controlling the waste of his master, even in cases +when the added profusion in no way increased the pleasure, and appears +to us as a mere barbarous lavishness. + +[Illustration: =DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIERE AND HER CHILDREN= + +From the painting by P. Mignard in the possession of the Marquise +d'Oilliamson] + +It is known that in the seventeenth century the repasts were abundant. +Those of Louis XIV. were excessively so. In 1664, the King, having +invited the Pope's legate to dine with him _tete-a-tete_, those in +attendance counted the dishes; there were eighty, not including +thirty-eight for dessert. This was certainly excessive, and Colbert had +said in the Memorial of 1660, "I declare to your Majesty ... that a +useless meal, costing a thousand crowns, gives me an incredible pain." + +But the lavishness of fifteen years later was far greater. On January +16, 1680, the King married Mlle. de Blois, his daughter by La Valliere, +to Prince Louis-Armand de Conti, nephew of the great Conde. "The wedding +festival was royal," wrote Bussy-Rabutin; "there were seven hundred +dishes on a single table, served in five courses, that is to say, one +hundred and forty dishes to each course." Mme. de Sevigne points the +moral. "The young husband was ill the entire night. It would be a +temptation to say 'Well deserved!'" + +If, from the incensed and suffering people, the attention is turned +towards the Court, the difference between without and within is perhaps +as clearly marked, although more difficult to define. Without, there is +splendour, adulations given and received; within, a profound moral +misery; with some, debauch and poverty; with others, discouragement and +bitterness. Mme. de Sevigne, in a letter of 1680, has unconsciously +painted, in six lines, the state of degradation to which the King had +systematically reduced the nobility of France, lined up, as it were, to +catch purses thrown to them January 12: "The King is enormously liberal +in truth; it is not needful to despair; one may not be a valet, but in +making one's court, something may fall upon one's head. What is certain +is that far from him [the King], all seems valueless; formerly it was +otherwise." + +If souls were debased under Louis, he must be held in large part +responsible. The same can be said in regard to the deterioration of +manners and morals. France, before the time of Louis XIV., was +accustomed enough to both mistresses and bastards, but not to the +prerogatives of second wives conferred on the first, nor the +legitimatising of adulteries which encouraged his subjects to consider +no longer seriously either law or morality. The example of the master +ended in deadening consciences already somewhat feeble, and husbands +might be seen encouraging their wives, the mothers of their daughters, +to imitate La Valliere and de Montespan. + +[Illustration: =LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE, IN THE GARB OF THE ORDER OF THE +CARMELITES= + +After the painting by D. Plaats] + +Louis had been in some degree punished for having played sultan. +Polygamy cannot exist without some discomfort, in a land in which women +have any position. Few men, even upon the stage, have had so many +quarrels with their mistresses, quarrels often violent, humiliating, as +well as painful, as this majestic monarch, before whom the universe +trembled. Royalty does not exist before a jealous mistress, and Louis +XIV. was faithful only to one, Mme. de Maintenon. + +The young King had been spoiled by Louise de La Valliere, who was +gentleness itself, and whom love inclined to pardon all. None of the +other mistresses really loved Louis, except perhaps Marie Mancini. Louis +did not really please women; it was only the King for whose favour they +disputed. + +Mlle. de La Valliere had entered the Carmelite convent in 1674. Left +alone upon the "breach," Mme. de Montespan defended the situation like a +lioness. She was naturally sharp-tempered, and her fits of anger were +often ungovernable,[281] as witnesses say, and Louis did not possess the +force which innocence alone gives. Among the rivals who contended with +Mme. de Montespan, many, in spite of her efforts, succeeded in enjoying +their year, or at least their day. When she became enraged, and the King +was forced to bend his neck under the tempest, "she often scolded him +and he did not assert himself."[282] This was his method of expiation. +The ephemeral reign of Mlle. de Fontanges came. She also was +passionate, and she treated the King with "more authority than the +others."[283] Louis called Mme. de Maintenon to his aid, and charged her +to appease these furies. Stormy scenes began to weary him. + +It had been remarked since 1675 that Louis aspired to moments of "repose +and of liberty." Mme. de Montespan, with all her intelligence, could not +comprehend that there comes a time of life at which men can no longer +live in the midst of tempests, and this error was the cause of her ruin. + +The King acquired the habit of fleeing for refuge to Mme. de Maintenon, +where he found an atmosphere of peace and enjoyed refreshing +conversation. + +It was the first time that an intelligent woman had spoken seriously to +him, without seeking to attract a declaration of love, nor to divert him +with trifles, but to distract him agreeably from his work, and also to +make him reflect upon certain subjects which did not always appeal to +him. For example, what the sinner who had taken the wife of another +might expect in the next world. She recalled to him the fact that there +was a police in heaven as in the palaces of the King of France, and she +asked him: "What would you say if some one should tell your Majesty that +one of the musketeers you love had seduced a married woman, and that +this woman was actually living with him? I am certain that before +evening this man would depart from the palace, never to return, +however late it might be."[284] + +[Illustration: =MADAME DE MAINTENON= + +After the painting by P. Mignard in 1694] + +The King laughed. He had never been more in love with Mme. de +Montespan,--this happened in 1675, before the Jubilee, which separated +them three or four months,--but he was not vexed with Mme. de Maintenon; +already he "could not live without her."[285] One may or may not feel +sympathy with this last, but it is certain that without her, without the +empire that she knew how to gain over a prince ardent for pleasure, but +by no means a veritable libertine, Louis XIV. might have ended +shamefully. To every one their deserts. The Queen Marie-Therese was +right in according her friendship to Mme. de Maintenon, who secured for +her, somewhat late it is true, a certain consideration and some +affectionate demonstration to which the poor Queen was not accustomed. + +When the King had passed forty, tranquillity became a need. He believed +he had assured it by giving to Mme. de Montespan her official dismissal +as the recognised mistress. The date of this event is known. March 29, +1679, the Comtesse de Soissons was prayed to yield to the ancient +favourite her charge as superintendent of the palace of the Queen, a +position which afforded a kind of regulated retreat. The next day, Mme. +de Montespan wrote to the Duc de Noailles to announce to him this +arrangement, and she added: "Truly this is very bearable. The King only +comes into my room after mass and after supper. It is much better to see +each other rarely with pleasure than often with boredom." The world was +not deceived: "I really believe," wrote Bussy (April 11th), "that the +King, just as he is, has given this position for past favours." + +From Mme. de Scudery to Bussy, October 29, 1679: "A diversion has been +established for Mme. de Montespan for this winter, and provided that she +can do without love, she will retain the consideration of the King. This +is all that an honest man can do when he ceases to love." Bussy +responded, November 4th: "If Mme. de Montespan is wise she will dream +only of cards and will leave the King in peace on the subject of love; +for it is impossible through complaints and scoldings to lure back +unfaithful lovers." + +Mme. de Montespan was _not_ wise. In the hope of bringing the King back +to her arms by force, she redoubled the disagreeable scenes. At this +moment, an obscure past, filled with vague and frightful events, rose +against her, and the expiation for having too much loved became almost +tragic in its character. + +La Voisin, the poisoner, cannot be forgotten, nor the prosecution in +1668, which had revealed to the young King the connection of his new +mistress with the world of malefactors. This affair was stifled, but the +evil continued in its subterranean influence. The merchants of love +philters and of poisons and the priests of satanic rites saw their +clients increasing in number year by year. When the crimes finally came +to the surface, and Louis established (March 7, 1679) the "_Chambre +ardente_" to purify France from the gangrene, so many Parisians were +connected in one way or another with the accused that the King had +against him a powerful current of opinion. This is, perhaps, the most +significant feature of the sad affair. Instead of being crushed with +shame in learning how many were compromised, the higher classes were +indignant against the equal justice which refused to give them special +consideration. They murmured loudly, and for once the people were with +them, for the populace remained staunch to the sorcerers. The clamours +were so menacing that the judges of the "_Chambre ardente_" felt +themselves in danger: "I know," wrote Bussy-Rabutin on April 1st, "the +chamber instituted to examine the 'corrupters,' and also know that +Messieurs de Bezons and de La Reynie do not pass from Paris to Vincennes +without an escort of the Kings Guards."[286] Louis XIV. was obliged +several times to strengthen the resolution of these judges; sometimes in +openly commanding them to "judge truly"[287] without any distinction of +person, condition, or sex; sometimes by assuring them through official +letter of his "protection."[288] + +The first executions before the _Chambre ardente_ took place in +February, 1679, and the list of the names of those arrested or of those +to whom notices of warrants to appear as witnesses had been served, a +list which made so great an excitement on account of the aristocrats +included,[289] is dated January 23, 1680. It had been at least four +months before,[290] that there had come to the ears of the King, as some +one was reading to him the account of the last examinations, two +familiar names. Who is Mlle. des [OE]illets, ancient "follower" of Mme. +de Montespan? Who is Cato, her maid, and what had they to do with La +Voisin and with those like her? These same names again appearing in the +list of January 6, 1680, the King, while declaring that the witnesses +must certainly have lied,[291] ordered the Procurer-General, M. Robert, +"to pay strict attention to this particular case." + +This was done, with the result that Louis was forced to ask himself if +the woman whom he adored above all others, and who had borne him seven +children, was a vile "corrupter"; if this perfect body for which he had +risked the safety of his soul had taken part in the ignoble ceremonies +of the infamous Guibourg? If, discontented with the thought of sharing +his favours with rivals, she might not in an access of jealousy have +tried to poison him, the King? He sought the truth, but did not find it. +In waiting further developments, Louis led his mistress with him +wherever he might go, and she was always making a disturbance of some +sort. The King grew less patient; that was the only difference. + +From Bussy-Rabutin, May 18, 1680: + +"The King ... as he was mounting into his carriage with the Queen had +some rough words with Mme. de Montespan, about the scents with which she +deluged herself, which made his Majesty ill. The King at first spoke +politely, but as she responded sharply, his Majesty grew warm." On the +25th, Mme. de Sevigne noted another "serious embroilment." This time +Colbert succeeded in reconciling them. The situation grew painful. A +long series of letters and _memoires_ have been found in which La Reynie +discusses for the King the charges accumulated against Mme. de +Montespan. The picture is given of the doubts and fluctuations of an +honest man whose responsibilities somewhat rankle in his breast, and who +sees an equal peril in dishonouring the throne and in permitting a +guilty woman to remain near the King. Louis passed through many +successive stages of conviction during the prosecution. The further the +examination proceeded, the stronger became the presumption of guilt, +without, however, bringing positive proofs. + +On July 12, 1680, La Reynie summed up for his master the history of the +"petition to be used in poisoning the King." On October 11th he declared +that he should be ruined in the affair, and supplicated his Majesty to +reflect whether it would be for the "welfare of the State," to make +these "horrors" public. In the month of May following, he avowed that he +had erred on some points and that there was more evil than at first +appeared. The marvellous control that Louis possessed over himself +prevented outward betrayal; but certainly these uncertainties, these +inferior conflicts, and it is to be hoped some sense of shame and +remorse, became chastisements for his faults. On her side, Mme. de +Montespan, in spite of the secret of her possible guilt being well +guarded both at Court and by the judges and police, could not be +ignorant that Mlle. des [OE]illets had been interrogated, confronted +with witnesses, and imprisoned for life in the general Hospital at +Tours.[292] Mme. de Montespan then knew that she had been denounced, but +with what proof? What did the King think? What curious meetings between +these two beings must have taken place. What conversations during which +the King and his mistress were closely observing each other. + +Court life, nevertheless, pursued its monotonous course, and Mme. de +Montespan continued to figure in positions of honour. In March, 1689, +she goes to meet the Dauphin[293] with the rest of the Court, and it is +she who has charge of the choice and arrangement of the wedding +presents, "being the woman in the world," wrote Mademoiselle, "who knows +the best forms." In July, the King led her to Versailles with her +sister, Mme. de Thianges, and her niece, the beautiful Duchesse de +Nevers. This lady the mother and aunt were cynically offering to the +Monarch.[294] In February, 1681, "a lottery was opened at Mme. de +Montespan's, of which the largest prize was one hundred thousand francs, +and there were a hundred others offered of one hundred pistoles each." +In July, 1682, the _Chambre ardente_ was suddenly suppressed. Of the +three hundred accused, thirty-six people of no importance had been +executed, one hundred sent to the galleys, or to prisons, or convents, +or exiled; the noted among them always gaining some concessions. The +dungeons of Paris and Vincennes were crowded. The smaller fry were +released, and the remainder were scattered, without any other trial, +through the provincial prisons, to await a death rarely slow in coming +to relieve their misery. + +From Louvois to M. de Chauvelin, Intendant, December 16, 1682, +announcing the arrival of one of these convoys: + + Above all, please take care to prevent any of these gentlemen + from proclaiming aloud, a thing which has already occurred, any + of the absurd statements connected with Mme. de Montespan, + which have been proved to be absolutely without foundation. + Threaten a punishment so severe at the first utterance that + they will not dare to breathe a word further. + +This letter ended the connection of Mme. de Montespan with the affair of +the "corrupters of morals" or the poisoners. She was saved, but was this +due to proofs of innocence or to reasons of State, to the refusal of +Louis to credit the testimony of an Abbe Guibourg or Lesage, or to the +remnants of an old tenderness? The few men with whom it had been +necessary to share the secrets which would respond to these questions +were so perfectly mute that contemporaries suspected nothing. They saw +the ancient favourite a little neglected, but always dreaming of the +possibility of reasserting herself, as the many pages of the _Memoires_ +of Mademoiselle testify. All this was in the natural course of events. + +One single indication of what Louis XIV. thought at the bottom of his +soul is possessed; a letter from the King to Colbert, who knew all. +Mademoiselle had prayed Mme. de Montespan to solicit some favour for +Lauzun. The King charged Colbert to reply for him (October, 1681): "You +will politely explain to her that I always receive the marks of her +friendship and confidence with pleasure, and that I am very vexed when +it is not possible to do what she desires, but at this time I can do no +more than I have already done."[295] Did he believe the mistress +innocent or had he pardoned her? + +The first preoccupation of Lauzun, in returning to the world, must have +been to make clear to himself through legitimate or illegitimate means +the chronology of the King's love affairs, a history so essential for +the comprehension of the interior life of the Court. + +The main facts for this record have been already given in the preceding +chapter. The returned prisoner had afterwards to learn all that +Mademoiselle had accomplished for him during his captivity, and of what +the public thought of her efforts, and he recognised that no one in +France except Segrais doubted the fact of their marriage. That the +marriage had taken place before his imprisonment was the prevalent +belief, which was never really shaken. It again came to light in the +eighteenth century. The historian Anquetil saw at Treport, in 1744, an +old person of more than seventy years of age, who resembled the +portraits of the Grande Mademoiselle and did not know from whence came +her pension.[296] This person believed herself to be the daughter of the +Duchesse de Montpensier, and local tradition confirmed this conviction. +There were, however, no absolute proofs, and it will be seen further on +how this question of the marriage with Lauzun is brought up over and +over again in the biography of the Grande Mademoiselle, with a monotony +slightly fatiguing and without it being possible to ever obtain a clear +response. + +Whatever the fact may be, the Princess gave a very fine example of +constancy and fidelity. She lived for ten years absorbed in a single +thought. The _Memoires_ for the year 1673 say: "I remember nothing which +has taken place during the past winter. My grief occupies me so much +that I have but little interest in the actions of others." To liberate +Lauzun had become a fixed idea, and she attached herself to the steps of +the King and to those of Mme. de Montespan, without permitting herself +to remember the ill that they had committed, as it was they alone who +could loosen the bonds. The more they showed themselves inexorable, the +more Mademoiselle redoubled her assiduities. In 1676 she enjoyed for the +brief space of two hours the delusion that Louis XIV. at length, at the +end of ten years, was moved with a feeling of compassion. The news of +the attempted escape of Lauzun had just been received. "I learned that +the King had listened to the account with some sign of humanity, I can +hardly say of pity. If he had felt this, would he [Lauzun] still be +there?" + +The Princess wrote to the King, but received no response; and again four +years rolled by. Mme. de Montespan was no longer favourite. The +courtiers considered it shrewd to neglect her. Better inspired, +Mademoiselle continued to stand fast by her, and the result proved the +wisdom of this course, in the dramatic moment, for Louis, of the affair +of the corrupters. It was in the spring of 1680, while denunciations +were falling upon the fallen favourite as upon all those connected with +La Voisin, that Mademoiselle remarked by certain movements and a change +of tone that something was stirring between Mme. de Montespan and the +fortress of Pignerol: + + I went to her daily and she appeared touched by the thought of + M. de Lauzun.... She often said to me: "But think how you can + make yourself agreeable to the King, that he may accord to you + what you desire so dearly." She threw out such suggestions from + time to time, which advised me that they were thinking of my + fortune. + +The phrase of a friend came back to her: "But you should let them hope +that you will make M. de Maine your heir." She recalled other hints +which at first had passed unnoticed, and understood that a bargain was +offered. + +The monarch and his ancient favourite had agreed between them to sell to +Mademoiselle the freedom of the man she loved so deeply. What was to be +the price? This was not yet disclosed. It was some time before +Mademoiselle comprehended, and then she was so disconcerted that she +said nothing. She felt that the combat was not an equal one between +herself, from whom passion had taken away all judgment, and Mme. de +Montespan, who was perfectly calm, and she hesitated, fearing some +snare: "Finally, I resolved to make M. de Maine my heir, provided that +the King would send for Lauzun and consent that I should marry him." +Some third person brought these conditions to Mme. de Montespan and was +received with open arms. Louis XIV. thanked his cousin graciously +without making any allusion to the condition; he could always assert +that he had made no promise. + +Mademoiselle wished that he would at least give her some news of Lauzun. +Mme. de Montespan responded to her insistence: "It is necessary to have +patience," and affairs remained at this point. + +At the end of some weeks, Mademoiselle perceived that she was no longer +free. She had counted upon taking her time and having sureties before +proceeding further. An immediate execution of the deed of gift was +insisted upon, and she was so harassed that she no longer felt at +liberty to breathe freely. + +"The King must not be played with," declared Mme. de Montespan; "when a +promise is made it must be kept." "But," objected Mademoiselle, "I wish +the freedom of M. de Lauzun, and suppose that after what I have done I +should find myself deceived, and my friend should not be liberated?" +Louvois was then sent to frighten her, or Colbert in order to compass +some concession. It was no longer a matter of testament. + +A donation while living[297] was exacted, of the Principality of Dombes +and of the Comte of Eu without reference to the rest, and this +assignment was obtained, in spite of complaints and the bitterest tears; +"for they were demanding precisely what had been given to Lauzun, and +Mademoiselle could not without difficulty resolve to despoil her lover." +She finally comprehended that the King would not cease persecuting her +until she consented, and, feeling no hope of diminishing the +demands,[298] she yielded. + +The gift to the Duc de Maine was signed February 2, 1681. It gave some +agreeable days to Mademoiselle. The King assured her of his gratitude. +"At supper he regarded me pleasantly and conversed with me; this was +most charming." Nevertheless, Lauzun did not appear. One day Mme. de +Montespan informed the Princess that the King would never permit Lauzun +to be Duc de Montpensier, and that it would be necessary to have a +secret marriage. The Princess cried out: "What! Madame, I am to permit +him to live with me as my husband with no marriage ceremony! Of what +will the world think me capable?" + +This passage in the _Memoires_ apparently fixes the date of marriage +after the return of Lauzun from his captivity. There exist, however, a +number of moral proofs against this later date. + +Some time after this conversation, in the beginning of April, 1681, the +Court being at Saint-Germain, Mme. de Montespan announced to +Mademoiselle the immediate departure of Lauzun for the Baths of +Bourbon, and she then drew her, slightly against her will, to the end of +the terrace, far from indiscreet ears. "When we were in the Val, which +is a garden at the end of the Park of Saint-Germain, she said to me, +'The King has asked me to tell you that he does not wish you to dream of +ever marrying M. de Lauzun, at least, officially.'" + +Mademoiselle had been tricked. + +"Upon this, I began to weep and to talk about the gifts I had made, only +on the one condition. Mme. de Montespan said, 'I have promised nothing.' +She had gained what she wished, and was willing enough to bear anything +I might say." In the evening it was necessary to assume a delighted air +and thank the King for Lauzun's freedom; a single sign of ill-humour and +Mademoiselle ran the risk of receiving nothing in exchange for her +millions. + +There remained the task of forcing Lauzun to renounce the gifts formerly +presented to him. Mme. de Montespan took the route to Bourbon, where +"she found greater difficulty than she had anticipated." Her demands so +surpassed the expectations of the late prisoner that he revolted. There +were many disputes, many despatches, and many delays,[299] at the end of +which the obstinate one, having been reimprisoned,[300] was so harassed +with threats and promises that he finally yielded. His signature was +given; he believed himself free. Instead of liberty, he received an +order of exile to Amboise. He also had been duped. This affair is +odious from beginning to end. + +Mademoiselle was Lauzun's resource and providence. She compensated him +as far as might be with a fresh devotion, in which Saint-Fargeau figured +as an item, and found means to pay him nearly 300,000 francs[301] over +what the King would have been obliged to give him if he had not been +sent to Pignerol. With much difficulty, the importunities of +Mademoiselle obtained the desired permission for the ex-prisoner to +salute the King and afterward to dwell where it pleased him, on the +single condition that he would not approach the Court. Access to this +was strictly forbidden; but what would it have mattered, when he would +have humbled himself before his master? + +Alas! the charm was broken, and for ever. In March, 1682, at the single +interview granted, Lauzun threw himself ten times, consecutively, at the +feet of Louis XIV.--the King himself relates this--and employed all his +grace, all his flatteries, without succeeding in breaking the ice. + +Received coolly and dismissed without delay, there was nothing left but +to fall back upon Mademoiselle. They had not yet met, and it is a +terrible test of devotion to meet after eleven years, and to endeavour +to again open the page closed by misfortune. The Grande Mademoiselle of +the time previous to the imprisonment at Pignerol singularly resembled +the Hermione of Racine, in her jealousy and violence. The one of 1682 +was not yet a tranquil person, but Hermione was an old woman, and +Pyrrhus a licentious greybeard, who was endeavouring to recompense +himself for the time lost in prison. + +Years had not made Lauzun in love with his benefactress, and he arrived +to meet her well resolved to finish simply with expressions of gratitude +and of love. Mademoiselle was well aware of his infidelities. The grief, +mingled with irritation, which she felt displayed itself in a sort of +stiffness and embarrassment. The great joy she had anticipated in again +seeing her lover, she did not realise. + +She had existed ten long years for this moment, and when it came, she +desired to escape. She went to await Lauzun at Mme. de Montespan's, a +first piece of absurdity. "M. de Lauzun," say her _Memoires_, "arrived +after his interview with the King; he wore an old undress uniform with +short waistcoat, almost in rags, and a very ugly wig.[302] He sank at my +feet with much grace. Then Mme. de Montespan led us into a cabinet, and +said, 'You will be glad to speak together.' She then went away, and I +followed her." A second ridiculous action! Lauzun profited by the delay +to salute the rest of the royal family. On returning, he found his +Princess with Mme. de Montespan and did not see her an instant alone: +"He told me that he had been cordially received, and that this he owed +to me; that I was his only source of good, the one from which he +received all. He made certain amiable propositions, and in thus acting +he was only wise. I was silent; I was astonished." + +This interview finished, Lauzun considered himself free from his +obligations and returned to Paris with a peaceful conscience. +Mademoiselle dared not follow him too quickly. The fourth day they were +at Choisy, a new mansion that Mademoiselle had built two leagues from +Sceaux. Lauzun regarded the Princess while she was having her head +adorned with flame-coloured ribbons. "He said, 'I was astonished to see +the Queen with many-coloured ribbons on her head.' 'You must find it +wrong, then, that I should wear them, who am older?' He did not reply. I +told him that rank permitted the decoration for a longer period." +Mademoiselle had at first written, "People of my rank are always young," +but had effaced the phrase. Lauzun knew well how to restore her to a +good-humour, and he let himself be scolded, escaping towards evening to +return to his pleasures. + +The fifth day they again disputed. Lauzun was in the wrong; he had +spoken of his visits to Choisy as duties. Mademoiselle, however, injured +her cause with sharpness. "I see clearly," said she, "that in this world +people who do good are mocked, as they are bores." Lauzun, vexed, +demanded, "How much longer is this pleasantry to last?" "As long as I +please; I have the right to say all I wish, and you are bound to +listen." Lauzun showed "much impatience to depart," and this was not +altogether unnatural, considering the nature of man. At another +interview, it was the lover who was the first to show irritation. To be +no longer of any importance in the world of society, to be two steps +from the Court without being free to enter, this was more than he could +bear. He accused Mademoiselle of having managed very badly and having +only done harm; "if she had not interfered with his affairs," he would +have come out of prison under better conditions. Mme. de Montespan +overheard the accusation and was very indignant at this injustice and +ingratitude, and the Princess united with her in reproaches. It would be +difficult to find a clear moment in the midst of these frequent +quarrels, in which the pair would have desired to marry, if they had not +done so before Pignerol. Here is again a moral proof to add to the +others. + +About every two days, Lauzun became metamorphosed, and was again for +some hours, or at least minutes, for Mademoiselle the former "little +man" whose eccentricities gave an indescribable charm, difficult to +explain, but impossible to deny. He had not the least trouble in again +captivating his mistress. As soon as he assumed the sweet and submissive +air and the enigmatical smile which she had so dearly loved (even +combined with the manners which she sometimes distrusted, "of being +acquainted with everything without speaking or copying"), Mademoiselle +fell anew under the charm and could refuse nothing. But this happy state +of affairs never lasted. The time to obtain from her some new +concession, another service, and the exaggerated manner of the convict +dragging his chain reappeared. He loved to exasperate her jealousy. If +nothing better offered, "he amused himself with grisettes,"[303] even +after the royal family had received him as cousin "understood," if not +avowed, and when all Paris was congratulating Mademoiselle on his happy +release. + +Other serious difficulties arose from the fact of Lauzun considering the +money of Mademoiselle as his own. Choisy appeared to him a useless +expense; he found much fault with its management. "The terraces cost +immense sums," said he one day while walking in the grounds; "what good +are they?" The Princess had sold in his absence a chain of pearls. +"Where is the money?" demanded Lauzun. He wished to hold the purse +strings, and no longer to be a "beggar." It astonished him that +Mademoiselle had not thought of preparing for him, before his arrival, +"a beautiful apartment," of organising his establishment, of placing one +of her carriages at his disposal. + +He complained openly in the social world that she left him without a +penny; that she had only given him some diamonds, worth perhaps one +thousand pistoles in all--and what stones, so "ugly"!--and that he had +immediately sold them to obtain means of "subsistence." This is the +perpetual complaint of the youthful husband, who wishes to be +recompensed for the devotion lavished upon an elderly wife. The +"beautiful apartment" existed and awaited him, but it was at the Chateau +of Eu; the King would not tolerate his presence at the Luxembourg. + +Those who had the good fortune to visit Eu before the fire of 1902 will +not have forgotten the flight of Loves on the ceiling of a chamber +situated above that belonging to Mademoiselle. The Chamber of the Loves +was the one designed for Lauzun, who failed, however, to honour the +symbol. After a delay of three weeks, he no sooner arrived than he +committed the unpardonable imprudence of running after the village +girls, under the very eyes of Mademoiselle. This was too much. The +mistress of the chateau beat Lauzun, scratched his face, and turned him +out of doors. There he should stay. He was sufficiently shrewd to desire +an accommodation. The Comtesse de Fiesque served as intermediary. + +In the Chateau of Eu there was a long gallery filled with family +portraits. Mademoiselle appeared at one end; "he [Lauzun] was at the +other, and he crept along on his knees the entire length of the gallery, +till he reached the feet of Mademoiselle."[304] Possibly they forgave +each other sincerely, but when friction once exists between married +couples it continues, whether in the palace of princes or in the huts of +charcoal burners. Such scenes, more or less stormy, occurred again in +the future. Lauzun grew weary of being beaten, and in his turn used +force with the Princess, and this happened several times. In the end, +disgusted with each other, they fought for the last time and separated, +never to meet again. + +The final quarrel is related in detail in the _Memoires_ of +Mademoiselle. It happened in the spring of 1684. France was at war with +Spain. On April 22d the King departed to join his army, refusing to +permit Lauzun to accompany him, who imagined, rightly or wrongly, that +Mademoiselle was responsible for the prohibition, and was indignant. He +went to the Luxembourg, where a reception of raillery exasperated him +still further: + + I met him laughing, and said: "You must retire to + Saint-Fargeau; you will be a laughing stock if you remain at + Paris, as you were not permitted to go with the King, and I + shall be very vexed if it is believed that it is I who have + caused you to remain behind." He replied: "I am going away, and + bid you farewell; I shall never see you again." I said: "It + would have been better if we had never met; but better late + than never." "You have ruined my career," replied he; "you + might as well have cut my throat; it is your fault that I am + not with the King; you asked him to leave me behind." "Oh, that + is false; he will tell you so himself." Lauzun grew more and + more angry, and I remained very calm. I said to him: "Adieu, + then"; and I entered my boudoir. I remained there some time; on + returning, I found him still there. The ladies present said: + "Do you not wish to play cards?" I approached him, + saying: "This is too much; keep your promise; + go away." He finally withdrew. + +This rupture made a great scandal. Dangeau, who had followed the King to +the frontier, noted on May 6th, in his journal: "The news comes from +Paris that Mademoiselle has forbidden M. de Lauzun to appear again +before her." Thus ends meanly and miserably, with a scene worthy of +Dickens, the most famous passion of the century, after that of Chimene +and Rodrigue. The first interest in the affair abated, the hero of the +romance sank into obscurity. Mademoiselle cast herself into an ecstasy +of pious devotion, from which the virtue of pardoning the offences of +others was apparently excluded. + +Lauzun sought some support to which to attach himself, and did not +easily find it. He realised too late that one could not quarrel with +impunity with a princess of the blood. He made attempts at +reconciliation, which Mademoiselle repulsed; she had loved with too much +ardour not to be capable of furious hate. The career of both lovers +appeared to be finished, when the fantastic star which had guided Lauzun +towards so many adventures, marvellous if not always agreeable, led him +to England during the autumn of 1688. He sought a more hospitable court, +he found a revolution and glory. "I admire the star of M. de Lauzun," +wrote Mme. de Sevigne, "which again brings its light over the horizon +when it was supposed to be for ever extinguished" (December 24, 1688). + +The name of Lauzun was actually again on the lips of all. He had saved +the Queen of England and her son, and had brought them to Calais at +great risk, and suddenly assumed the pose of a true hero, wrongly +despised and persecuted. "It is long," at once said Louis, "since Lauzun +has seen my writing. I believe that he will rejoice at receiving a +letter from me." The royal missive bore to the former favourite more +than the pardon for the past; it spoke of "impatience to see him +again."[305] Mademoiselle considered this an outrage against herself; +the ministers and courtiers, a menace. (December 27th): "He [Lauzun] has +found the road again to Versailles by way of London; but he alone is +joyful." The Princess is indignant at the thought that the King is again +content with him, and that he can return to Court.[306] + +In vain the King sent Seignelay to say to his cousin, as a sort of +excuse and consolation: "After such services rendered by Lauzun, it is +my duty to see him." Mademoiselle grew angry, and said, "This is then +the gratitude I receive for having despoiled myself for the sake of the +King's children." One of the friends of M. de Lauzun was charged to +present her with a letter. She threw it into the fire unread.[307] When +it was realised that she was not to be appeased, people ceased to +concern themselves with her and her bad temper. Lauzun re-entered in +triumph the Court of France, and Bussy-Rabutin, in a letter to Mme. de +Sevigne,[308] summed up the record of his career (February 2, 1689): "We +have seen him in favour, we have seen him submerged, and now behold he +is again riding the waves. Do you remember a childish game in which one +says, 'I have seen him alive, I have seen him dead, I have seen him +alive after his death'? This tells his history." + +The "second volume of the romance" offers to those interested an account +of the solemn conferring upon the little Lauzun, in the church of Notre +Dame, by King James II., of the Order of the Garter. To this chapter +succeeds one less brilliant. Lauzun received the appointment as +commander of the French troops sent to Ireland to sustain the cause of +legitimate monarchy. He lacked the necessary qualifications for this +post. He astonished his officers with his incapacity, and made them +blush by displaying "a longing to return to France,"[309] which was not +heroic. + +Louis XIV. consented to make Lauzun Duke, upon "the urgent prayer"[310] +of their Britannic Majesties, but his opinion once formed never changed. +The King never again employed the new Duke in any official capacity, and +this omission was always bitterly resented. + +As a result of many years of reflection, Mademoiselle at length arrived +at the conviction, an accepted commonplace, that happiness is not for +the prominent upon this earth. Without actually compensating her for her +troubles, this discovery brought a certain consolation. She had, at this +period, as neighbour in Normandy, a young and charming woman called the +Comtesse de Bayard, who became in the following century the godmother of +Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and who furnished her godson with +material[311] afterwards woven into tales made charming by his +delicately sentimental language. One of these tales by Saint-Pierre is +founded upon the romance of the Grande Mademoiselle. Mme. de Bayard +liked to recall how, in their lonely walks, the Princess would linger to +make the villagers relate the tales of their loves and marriages; how +her eyes would fill with tears, and how, returning into the Chateau of +Eu, she would say that she would have been happier in a hut. + +To tears succeeded a certain childishness; the execrable Court life had +educated her only for a puerile old age, and she hastened to Versailles +from time to time, fearing to miss a tournament or some spectacle of +this kind. On March 15, 1693, she was seized at Paris with a disease of +the bladder which rapidly increased in severity.[312] The Luxembourg +was besieged with seekers after news; the fear of losing the Grande +Mademoiselle had aroused anew her popularity. Monsieur and Madame, who +loved her, came to nurse her. Lauzun begged to be admitted, but was +refused. The condition grew rapidly worse, and the physicians, not +knowing what to do, administered five doses of an emetic, the +fashionable remedy that winter for all diseases, with the result that +she soon saw the mournful procession of the royal family defile around +her bed, the sure sign that all hope had passed. + +The Princess died on April 15th, at the age of sixty-six years, and was +buried at Saint-Denis with much pomp. In the midst of the ceremony, an +urn, in which through a curious arrangement the entrails were enclosed, +"broke with a frightful noise and emitted a sudden and intolerable +odour."[313] Some women fainted, while the rest of those present gained +the open air by running. "All was soon perfumed and decorum was +re-established," but this occurrence became the jest of Paris. It was +fated that the Grande Mademoiselle should always arouse a little +ridicule, even at her interment. + +Lauzun went into deep mourning, and made, on the day of the funeral, an +offer of marriage, to prove that he was really a widower. Having, on +this occasion, been refused, he married (1695) the younger daughter of +the Marechal de Lorges and became the brother-in-law of Saint-Simon. + +Mme. de Lauzun was a child of fourteen,[314] to whom Lauzun, with his +sixty-three years, appeared so old that she had accepted him in the +expectation of being quickly a widow. + +She flattered herself that at the end of "two or three years at +most"[315] she would find herself independent, rich, and, above all, a +duchess, and this idea captivated her. But Lauzun could never be counted +upon. His wife was obliged to endure him for nearly thirty years, passed +in suffering torments from morning till night from the loving husband. +The King had said to the Marechal de Lorges, in learning of the marriage +of his youngest daughter: "You are bold to take Lauzun into your family; +I trust that you may not repent it." Repentance was prompt and bitter. +Mademoiselle was right, it was impossible to live with Lauzun. It was +through miracles of patience that his new wife bore to the end, and +miracles should never be exacted in wedded life. The mean little +calculation at the beginning had been amply expiated by the time that +Mme. de Lauzun finally became a widow. Even to the end, Lauzun had +remained one of the ornaments and curiosities of the Court of France, +noted for his grand manner, the eccentricities of his habits, the +splendour of his habitation, and for the indescribable elegance and ease +of conversation and bearing, which at that time was not to be acquired +at Versailles. + +At ninety he himself drove, and sometimes with fiery animals. One day, +when he was training a fresh colt in the Bois de Boulogne, the King, +Louis XIV., passed. Lauzun executed before him a "hundred capers" and +filled the spectators with admiration, by his "address, his strength, +and his grace."[316] He still often enjoyed "pretty" moments. But there +was a reverse side to the medal: the malignant dwarf "frightened all who +approached him with his wicked wit and his hateful tricks." From afar, +Lauzun is very amusing under this aspect; he excelled in buffoonery. In +extreme age, he suffered from a malady which almost killed him. One day, +when he was very ill, he perceived reflected in a mirror the forms of +two of his heirs who entered the chamber on tiptoe, fancying themselves +concealed behind the curtains, to ascertain with their own eyes how long +they were to be forced to wait. Lauzun feigned to perceive nothing and +began to pray in a loud voice as one who believes himself alone. He +demanded pardon of God for his past life, and lamented that his time for +repentance was so short. He exclaimed that there was only a single way +to secure his safety, which was to devote the wealth which God had given +him to paying for his sins, and this he engaged to do with all his +heart. He promised to leave to the hospital all that he possessed, +without abstracting a single penny. He made this declaration with so +much fervour and with so penetrating an accent that his heirs fled away +in despair, to relate the misfortune to Mme. de Lauzun. This scene +properly terminates the career of this extraordinary personage, +unscrupulous and malignant to the last. Lauzun died in 1723, at over +ninety years of age. + +Mademoiselle was the last to disappear of the grand figures belonging to +the time of the Fronde. Retz, Conde, Turenne, La Rochefoucauld, Mme. de +Chevreuse, Mme. de Longueville, had departed before her. + +The only one of the ancient rebels which could not perish, the Hotel de +Ville of Paris, had been suppressed from history by royal ordinance for +the period corresponding to the Fronde. The accounts of the prosecutions +of the Council recorded the revolutionary sentiments which prevailed at +the capital during the civil war. The King ordered all the +registers[317] to be destroyed, and the destruction included every +record relating to public affairs for the years 1646-1653. + +It may be said without too much calumniating the heart of Louis XIV. +that the death of his cousin afforded a certain relief. She was too +lively a reminder of the execrable period which he did his best to +banish from his own memory as well as from that of the public. +Saint-Simon, newly arrived at the Court at the date of the death of +Mademoiselle, had time to convince himself that she was in the eyes of +the King always the unpardoned and unpardonable heroine of the combat of +the Porte Saint-Antoine. "I heard him reproach his cousin once at +supper, joking it is true, but a little roughly, for having turned the +cannon of the Bastile upon his troops." + +The royal rancour extended to the city of Paris, eternal cradle of +French revolutions. Not being able to suppress the capital, Louis XIV. +banished himself from its gates. On May 6, 1682, unfortunate date for +the French monarchy, the Court installed itself definitely at +Versailles, and henceforth left this place only for sojourns at the +various country seats, as Fontainebleau and Marly. Paris was abandoned, +left to do penance. Not only did Louis XIV. desert this city as a place +of residence, but he visited it rarely. It was remarked that he often +made long detours rather than to pass through Paris. The nobility and +ministers followed the King to Versailles. Royalty and the capital +turned their backs on each other. + +Another important event influenced the ideas of Court decorum and +propriety. The Queen Marie-Therese dying in 1683 (July 30), Louis XIV. +in the course of the winter following formally married Mme. de +Maintenon. The physiognomy of the Court, what Saint-Simon would have +called the bark (_ecorce_), entirely changed its character. At the +moment of ending this long study it is, then, a different world to which +adieu must be said from the one which was found at the beginning, and +the transformation did not end with the "bark." The principal cause of +the change, the establishment of absolute monarchy, had acted violently +upon France in shaking the nation to its depths, as do all changes not +developing from national tradition. + +Absolute monarchy was not a French tradition. It was an importation from +Spain. Anne of Austria, who did not understand any other regime, had +educated her son to accept her ideas and habits of thought, and the +substitution of king for minister was, at the death of Mazarin, +accomplished without shock. It was, however, a real _coup d'etat_. + +Before Louis XIV. the royal power, without being submitted to precise +limitations, from time to time hurled itself against certain rights, +themselves often loosely defined. There existed privileges of the +Parliament, others of the State, together with those of the nobles, and +others belonging to bodies and individuals, which when united left the +King of France in a situation resembling that in which Gulliver found +himself, when the Liliputians bound him with hundreds of minute threads. +Each single thread was of no consequence; through the compression of all +together every movement was paralysed. Louis XIV. resolutely broke the +numerous threads which had trammelled the power of his predecessors. He +freed himself in suppressing the ancient liberties of France. No student +of history can be ignorant of the material results, so splendid at +first, so disastrous in the end; but certain moral consequences of his +government have been perhaps less clearly remarked. + +The French aristocracy ceased from the second generation to be a nursery +for men of action. This was the result desired from the policy of +keeping it chained to the steps of the throne. The end had been attained +at the date of the King's death. Saint-Simon, who cannot be suspected of +hostility towards the nobility, certifies to this. When the Duke arrived +at power under the Regent, his brain swarming with projects for +replacing the aristocrats in positions of importance, and when he sought +great names with which to fill great posts, he realised that he was too +late. The "nursery" was empty. The difficulty, say the _Memoires_ + + lay in the ignorance, the frivolity, and the lack of + application of a nobility which had been accustomed to lives of + frivolity and uselessness; a nobility that was good for nothing + but to let itself be killed, and that reached the battle-field + itself only through the force of heredity. For the remainder of + the time, it was content to stagnate in an existence without a + purpose. It had delivered itself over to idleness and felt keen + disgust for all education, excepting that relating to military + matters. The result was a general incapacity and unfitness for + affairs. + +It is proper to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. The effacement of +the French aristocracy is not to be laid at the door of the great +Revolution, which acted only upon an accomplished fact; it was the +personal work of Louis XIV. + +The higher classes also, contrary to the generally received opinion, +suffered from a serious moral abasement. This fact is the more striking, +as at no other period has France possessed so many elements for giving +to life decorum and dignity. Through a deplorable misfortune, social +groups which ought, through their solid principles, to have served as +the support of public morality had incurred, one after the other, the +serious displeasure of royalty. Among the Catholics, the disciples of +Berulle and of Vincent de Paul had compromised themselves in the affair +of the _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_. No government worthy of the name +can suffer itself to be led by a secret society, whatever the purpose or +character of such society may be. The Jansenists had shared with the +reformers in the discontent that the least expression of a desire for +independence, no matter in what domain, inspired in Louis XIV. + +His distrust even reached the interior life of his subjects. Every one, +under penalty of being considered a rebel, must feel and think like the +King. This was with Louis a fixed idea, and during his reign gave a +peculiar character to the religious persecutions. Jansenists and +Protestants were pursued much oftener as enemies of the King than as +enemies of God. + +The hostility of the Prince to the three principal seats of the French +conscience, and the destruction of two of these, left the field clear +for the licentiousness which marked the end of the reign. Excessive +dissipation is always supposed to belong particularly to the time of +the Regency, but the abscess had existed for a long time before the +death of Louis XIV. caused it to break. A letter as early as 1680 +states, "Our fathers were not more chaste than we are; but ... now the +vices are decorated and refined."[318] The evil had made rapid progress +under the mantle of hypocrisy, which covered the Court of France from +the time of the rule of Mme. de Maintenon. This last well perceived the +danger and groaned over it to no purpose. Strangers were struck with the +conditions. "All is more concentrated," wrote one of them in 1690, "more +reserved, more restrained, than the peculiar genius of the nation can +bear."[319] + +The real misfortune was that Louis, who had been brought up and matured +in an entirely formal religion, had permitted himself to be imposed upon +by scoffers, who came disguised as believers, in order to make their +court. The King, who had permitted the representation of _Tartuffe_, had +not sufficiently meditated upon its import. + +A final misdeed, and not the least for which the absolute regime is +responsible, was the launching of the nation in pursuit of one of the +most dangerous of political chimeras, that of the need of spiritual +unity. Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes in the name of the fetich +that a good Frenchman must be of his King's faith. A century later, the +Terror cut off heads in the name of a unity of opinion, because a +Frenchman ought to be virtuous in the fashion of Rousseau and of +Robespierre. The reader may continue for himself the series, and count +the acts of oppression committed in the nineteenth century, while even +the twentieth century, young as it still is, presents examples of the +attempt to enforce upon the nation a uniformity of thought which, if +once attained, would signify intellectual death. For in politics, as in +religion, as in art, in literature, in all, diversity is life. + +It is through this capital error that the reign of Louis XIV., so +glorious in many respects, was the precursor of the great Revolution and +really made its coming inevitable. The Jacobins are in some measure the +heirs of the great King. Fundamentally, the mania for spiritual and +moral unity is simply, under a less odious name, the horror of liberty; +a sentiment old as the world, but which in the earlier portion of the +seventeenth century had been far from dominant. The word "liberty" +occurs again and again in the writings of many people of that period, +theorists, jurists, and great nobles, at every point in which they touch +politics. The expression contained for them nothing revolutionary. What +they were demanding was rather a return to past methods, and, above all, +it did not enter their thoughts to associate with liberty the word +"equality." It is the eighteenth century, more philosophical, if perhaps +less reasonable, that first conceived the idea of uniting two really +incompatible things, without perceiving that one of the two was destined +to annihilate the other. + +If absolute royalty had remained at Paris, it would have clearly +realised the point at which the nation no longer was in sympathy with +its rule. At Versailles it saw nothing; it shut itself up in its own +tomb. The divorce was consummated between the Court and the Capital, one +contenting itself with being figurative and ornamental, the other +actively controlling opinions, since royalty had renounced the office of +directing the public mind and thoughts. + +It will be recollected that the role of universal arbitrator was played +by the "young Court," the youthful King at its head, at the time in +which there was daily contact with Paris, and when the Court was always +in the advance in ideas as in fashions. The residence at Versailles +ended the possibility of these times ever returning; there was no longer +any bond between the King of France and the merchant of the rue St. +Denis. In consequence, Paris employed itself in the eighteenth century +in the evolution of minds. The Court had decided upon the success of the +plays of Moliere, the Parisian parquet criticised those of Beaumarchais. + +If it be considered that the interior politics of Louis XIV. were +constantly dominated by a horror of the Fronde, it will be recognised +that this abortive revolution brought in its train consequences almost +as grave as if it had been successful. This is the reason it has seemed +permissible to make the history of the ideas and sentiments existing +during the wars of the Fronde and the succeeding forty years circle +around the incidents in the life of the Grande Mademoiselle. She was a +truly representative figure of this generation, and on this account will +always merit the attention of historians, and by a double claim, through +the interest in her proud conception of life, and through the importance +of the evil for which she was partly responsible and by the results of +which she was herself overwhelmed. No one possessed in a higher degree +than this Princess the great qualities belonging to her epoch, and no +one preserved them so intact without thought of the danger after the +retaining of such opinions had become a cause of disgrace. + +Neither Retz nor the great Conde showed signs in their old age of their +characteristics displayed under the Fronde; both had become calmed. The +Grande Mademoiselle remained always the Grande Mademoiselle, and this +steadfastness, while sometimes a difficulty, was more often her real +title to glory. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 264: M. du Honsett, Ancient Intendant of Finance. He had just +purchased the office of Chancellor of Monsieur.] + +[Footnote 265: Letter dated April 1, 1671.] + +[Footnote 266: Letter dated January 13, 1672.] + +[Footnote 267: _Memoires de La Fare._ _Cf._ the _Memoires de Choisy, +Segraisiana_, etc.] + +[Footnote 268: Louvois had visited Pignerol the preceding year.] + +[Footnote 269: The authorities quoted in this and the following chapter, +upon the captivity of Lauzun, are in part unpublished and drawn from the +Archives of the Minister of War, in part borrowed from the _Archives de +la Bastille_, by M. Ravaisson. See also a collection of historic +documents of 1829: _Histoire de la Detention des Philosophes_, by J. +Delort.] + +[Footnote 270: Mme. de Montespan and Mlle. de La Valliere were +designated briefly "_les Dames_."] + +[Footnote 271: This letter has been lost or destroyed.] + +[Footnote 272: Louvois to Saint-Mars, March 2, 1676.] + +[Footnote 273: The letter from Saint-Mars (March 23, 1680) giving an +account of the communications between the dungeons has never been found, +any more than that telling of the flight of Lauzun.] + +[Footnote 274: Louvois to Saint-Mars, November 28, 1679.] + +[Footnote 275: Leopold von Ranke, _Histoire de France_.] + +[Footnote 276: _Journal d'Olivier Lefevre d'Ormesson._] + +[Footnote 277: Two years after this warning Louis XIV. gave at +Versailles, in honour of Mme. de Montespan, a fete for which special +buildings were created. The ballroom, only used _one night_, was marble +and porphyry; the rest in accordance.] + +[Footnote 278: A loss of more than 100,000 crowns was not rare at the +gaming table of the King. March 6, 1670, Mme. de Montespan lost 400,000 +pistoles in one night; at eight in the morning she regained 500,000. The +pistole is worth about ten francs. In 1682, three years after her +disgrace, she lost at one time 700,000 crowns which she did not regain. +The King paid her debts.] + +[Footnote 279: Letter of Mme. de Chatrier, attached to the House of +Conde; _De La Valliere a Montespan_, by Jean Lemoine and Andre +Lichtenberger.] + +[Footnote 280: Letter from Colbert to the Intendant de Rochefort (April +16, 1678).] + +[Footnote 281: _Memoires de la Fare._] + +[Footnote 282: _Memoires de Mlle. de Montpensier._] + +[Footnote 283: _Memoires de l'Abbe de Choisy._] + +[Footnote 284: _Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon._--_Les Cahiers de Mlle. +d'Aumale_, with an introduction by M. G. Hanotaux.] + +[Footnote 285: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 286: Letter to the Marquis de Trichateau.] + +[Footnote 287: Note by La Reynie (December 27, 1679). The documents of +the _Affaire des poisons_ form more than 1300 pages of the _Archives de +la Bastille_, and they are not complete. Certain especial depositions, +particularly compromising for Mme. de Montespan, are lacking, and were +probably burned by order of Louis XIV.] + +[Footnote 288: Louvois to Boucherat, President of the _Chambre_, +February 4, 1680.] + +[Footnote 289: It included the Comtesse de Soissons, the Marquise +d'Alluye (the King saved both), the Duc de Luxembourg (victim of an +error), the Vicomtesse de Polignac, the Marquis de Feuquieres, the +Princesse de Tingry, the Marechale de la Ferte, the Duchesse de +Bouillon, etc.] + +[Footnote 290: Cf. _Archives de la Bastille_, the "_Note autographe_" of +La Reynie, dated September 17, 1679. Was this the first time that these +names had appeared? The destruction of portions of the testimony through +the orders of the King does not permit the real truth to be disclosed.] + +[Footnote 291: Louvois to M. Robert, January 15, 1680.] + +[Footnote 292: She died there September 8, 1686. Cato seems to have been +dismissed, although she had been placed with Mme. de Montespan by La +Voisin.] + +[Footnote 293: Marie-Anne-Christine de Baviere, coming to marry the +Grand Dauphin.] + +[Footnote 294: Cf. _Les souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus_ and--among +others--the letter of Mme. de Sevigne dated July 17, 1680.] + +[Footnote 295: _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._] + +[Footnote 296: _Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Regent_, by Anquetil (Paris, +1789).] + +[Footnote 297: The gift to be enjoyed only after the death of +Mademoiselle.] + +[Footnote 298: _Memoires de Saint-Simon._] + +[Footnote 299: Saint-Simon, _Ecrits inedits_.] + +[Footnote 300: At Chalon-sur-Saone.] + +[Footnote 301: Exactly, according to the official figures, 284,940 +francs.] + +[Footnote 302: The coat called a _brevet_, because it could only be worn +with a _brevet_ from the King, was changed every year. It was thus very +out of fashion at the end of twelve years. Lauzun had worn a wig at +Pignerol, to protect his head against the dampness of his dungeon.] + +[Footnote 303: _Ecrits inedits_, Saint-Simon.] + +[Footnote 304: Saint-Simon, _Memoires_. Saint-Simon takes his details +from an eye-witness.] + +[Footnote 305: Saint-Simon, _Ecrits inedits_.] + +[Footnote 306: Sevigne.] + +[Footnote 307: _Memoires de la Cour de France_, by Mme. de La Fayette.] + +[Footnote 308: Sevigne, January 6, 1689.] + +[Footnote 309: Letter of M. d'Amfreville, general-officer of the marine +to Seignelay, in the _Histoire de Louvois_, by Camille Rousset.] + +[Footnote 310: Saint-Simon, _Ecrits inedits_.] + +[Footnote 311: _[Oe]uvres completes_, of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre +(Paris, 1830), vol. i.; _Essai sur la Vie_ by Aime-Martin.] + +[Footnote 312: Cf. the _Gazette_ for 1693, and the series of the +_Mercure Galant_ monthly periodical, founded in 1672 by Donneau de +Vise.] + +[Footnote 313: Saint-Simon, _Memoires_.] + +[Footnote 314: Saint-Simon says fifteen. He is mistaken; the act of +marriage says fourteen.] + +[Footnote 315: _Memoires_, Saint-Simon.] + +[Footnote 316: Saint-Simon, _Memoires_.] + +[Footnote 317: The royal ordinance is dated July 7, 1668. Louis XIV. was +ever ignorant of the fact that the councillors of the Hotel de Ville had +passed nights in copying what was to be burned, so that the documents +supposed to be destroyed still exist.] + +[Footnote 318: From La Riviere to Bussy-Rabutin.] + +[Footnote 319: _Relation de la Cour de France_, by Ezechiel Spanheim, +envoy extraordinary from Brandenbourg.] + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Absolute monarchy, establishment of, in France, 7, 118, 142; + a Spanish importation, 371 + +Adickes, Erich, _Kant als Mensch_ by, 220 + +Aime-Martin, _Essai sur la Vie_, by, 365 + +Aix, Court at, 100-102 + +Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 258 + +Albret, Marechal d', 282 + +_Alceste_ (Lulli), 218 + +Alencon, Elisabeth, Mlle, d', daughter of Monsieur, 77, 133, 186; + marriage of, 235, 294 + +Allier, Raoul, _La Cabale des Devots_, by, 83, 85, 157, 181, 198 + +Alluye, Marquise d', 344 + +Alphonse VI., King of Portugal, 142-145, 160, 185 + +_Amadis_, 216 + +_Amants Magnifiques, Les_ (Moliere), 202 + +_Amaryllis_, 18 + +_Ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne, L'_, 189 + +Amboise, Chateau of, 27, 44, 354 + +Amfreville, M. d', 364 + +Amiens, 263 + +"Amours of Hercules," 120 + +Andilly, Arnauld, d', 79 + +_Andromaque_ (Racine), 225, 228 + +Angelique, Mother, 88, 92 + +Angennes, Julie d', 264 + +Anjou, Philippe, Duc d' (the little Monsieur), proposed marriage of, + with Mademoiselle, 59, 73, 272-278; + character of, 74, 102, 105, 152, 196, 261, 262, 271, 272; + becomes Duc d'Orleans, 102; + marries Henrietta of England, 136, 151, 152; + marries Princess Palatine, 156, 315; + daughters of, 277; + opposed to mesalliance of Mlle., 285 + +Anjou, son of Louis XIV., 285 + +Anne of Austria, regency of, 1; + education of her sons, 31, 63-65, 74, 371; + relations of, with Mazarin, 62, 63, 82, 112, 304; + reception of Mademoiselle, 57-59, and lack of Court etiquette, 76-79, + 82; + member of Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, 87, 103, 148, 158, 198; + prevents marriage of Louis and Marie Mancini, 82, 97; + receives Conde, 100; + interview of, with Philip IV., 108-110; + favours absolute monarchy, 118, 146, 371; + be friends Marie-Therese, 118, 149; + detests Madame, 122; + reproaches Louis, 153, 170; + influence of, 153, 159, 192, 194, 195, 208; + illness and death of, 194-197; + effect of death of, 195, 197, 200, 201, 206, 208, 209 + +Anquetil, _Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Regent_, by, 349 + +_Archives de la Bastille_ (Ravaisson), 189, 201, 209, 282, 293, 312, + 343, 344 +_Archives de Chantilly_, 117, 174, 175, 186 + +_Archives_ of Eu. _See_ Eu + +_Ariane_ (Monteverde), 214 + +Armagnac, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d', 237 + +Arras, siege of, 23, 161 + +_Artamene, ou le Grand Cyrus_ (Scudery), 11 + +_Astrate_, 81 + +_Astree, L'_(d'Urfe), 11, 14, 80 + +Aubineau, Leon, 67 + +Aumale, Duc d', 46 + +Aumale, Mlle. d', _Memoires_ of, 291 + +Auteuil, Comte d', 47 + +Ayen, Comte d' (Duc de Noailles), 270 + + +B + +Bachaumont, 32 + +_Bajazet_ (Racine), 8, 225 + +_Ballet des Arts_, 172 + +Bartelemy, Eduard de (Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de Racan), editor + _La Galerie des Portraits_, etc., 122, 130 + +Bastile, the, 247, 370 + +_Bastille, Archives de la._ _See Archives_ + +Baviere, Anne de. _See_ Palatine + +Baviere, Elisabeth Charlotte de (Madame). _See_ Palatine + +Baviere, Marie Anne Christine de, 347 + +Bayard, Comtesse de, 365 + +Baziniere, Sieur de la, 76 + +Beaufort, Duc de, 185 + +Bellefonte, Marshal of, 264 + +Bernieres, M. de, 87, 88, 91, 92; + _Relations_ of, 87-90 + +Berri, government of, 307 + +Berulle, 373 + +Bethleem, Bishop of, 191 + +Bethune, Comte de, 47 + +Bethune, Mme. de, 266 + +Beuvron, Charles d'Harcourt, Comte de, 275 + +Beziers, M. de, 147 + +Bezon, M. de, 343 + +Bidassoa, river, 105, 110 + +Bielle, Sieur de, 83 + +Blois, forced sojourn of Monsieur at, 25-35, 39-41, 49-53, 97, 98, 134; + court at, 97 + +Blois, Mlle. de, marriage of, 337 + +Bocquet, Mlle. (Agelaste), 124 + +Boileau, 217, 222, 223 + +Bois-le-Vicomte, Chateau of, 50 + +Bologna, theatres in, 215 + +Bordeaux, Court at, 98, 99, 132 + +Bossuet, Court preacher, 140, 142, 200; + funeral oration of, 152; + at death-bed of Madame, 272, 273 + +Boucherat, 344 + +Bougy, Lady de, 211 + +Bouillon, Duc de, 77 + +Bouillon, Duchesse de, 344 + +Bouligneux, M. de, 264 + +Boult, 89 + +Bourbon, Baths of, 329, 354 + +Bourbon, Henri de. _See_ Montpensier + +Bourbon, House of, 42, 47 + +Bourbon, Marie de, 42 + +Bourdaloue, Court preacher, 200 + +Bourgogne, Hotel de, 227 + +Bourgogne, province of, 83, 94 + +Boursault, 225 + +Boyer, Abbe, tragedies of, 226 + +Brandenbourg, 374 + +Brie, province of, 83, 84 + +Brienne, Father, 190 + +Broglie, Emmanuel de, _Saint Vincent de Paul_, by, 82, 91 + +Brunetiere, M. F., _Les Epoques du Theatre francais_; + _Les Etudes critiques sur l'Histoire de la Litterature francaise_, + by, 223 + +Bussy-Rabutin, _Memoires_ of, cited, 32, 55, 61, 147, 148, 160, 248, 337, + 342, 343, 345; + letters to, 272, 273, 302, 305, 342, 374; + _Correspondance de_, 303, 364 + + +C + +_Cabale des Devots, La_ (Allier), 83, 85, 88, 148, 157, 181, 198, 199 + +_Cahiers de Mlle. d'Aumale, Les_, 230, 341 + +Cambert, _Pomone_, opera by, 216 + +Carignan, Princesse de, 291 + +Carrosse _Amarante_, 223 + +Cartwright, Julia, _Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchesse of Orleans_, + by, 136 + +_Cassandre_ (La Calprenede), 11 + +Cato, Mme. de Montespan's maid, 344, 346 + +Caylus, Mme. de, _Souvenirs et Correspondance_ of, 300; + _Souvenirs de_, 150, 347 + +Chaillou des Barres, Baron, _Les Chateaux d'Ancy-le-France, + de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., by, 6 + +Chalais, 25 + +Chalon-sur-Saone, 354 + +Chambord, 26, 33 + +_Chambre ardente_, established by Louis, 204, 343, 344; + suppression of, 347 + +Champagne, province of, 55, 56, 87, 92, 334 + +Champigny lawsuit, 49, 50, 125 + +Chantelauze, _Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi_, by, 82, 112 + +Chantilly, _see Archives_ of + +Chapelle, 32 + +Charenton, 289 + +Charles II. (of England), 136 + +Charles II. (of Spain), marriage of, 277 + +_Chateaux d'Ancy-le-France, de Saint-Fargeau_, etc., _Les_ + (Chaillou des Barres), 6 + +Chatelet, the, 211 + +Chatellerault, duchy of, 49 + +Chatillon, Duchesse de, 78, 80, 126 + +Chatrier, Mme. de, 335 + +Chauvelin, M. de, 347 + +Cheruel, editor, 3, 48, 297 + +Chevreuse, Mme. de, 369 + +Choisy, Mlle.'s mansion at, 357, 359 + +Choisy, Francois-Timoleon, Abbe de, _Memoires_ of, 74, 133, 134, + 138, 281, 289, 291, 310, 340 + +Choisy, Mme. de, 13 + +Chouquet, _Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_, by, 213 + +Cinq-Mars, 25 + +Clagny, Chateau of, 235 + +Clairvoyants, 201-207 + +Clamecy, 191 + +Clement, P., _Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV._, by, 282 + +_Cleopatre_ (La Calprenede), 11 + +Colbert, protected by Mademoiselle's escort, 56; + reorganises finances, 141, 171, 177; + letters to, 183, 348; + enemy of _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 198; + opposes Louvois, 287; + protests against King's extravagance, 332-337; + mediation of, 345, 352 + +Coligny, Admiral de, 78 + +Comedie Francaise, 109 + +Conde, Prince de (the Great), 3, 56, 117, 256, 377; + alliance of, with Mademoiselle, 3, 16, 17, 33, 45, 56, 369; + defeat of, 20, 23, 54; + letters of, 38-40, 46, 147, 174, 186; + rupture of, with Mlle., 46, 47, 52; + cruelty of army of, 55, 83; + pardoned, 100, 101, 113; + son of, 117; + appreciation of Racine, 229; + opposes Mlle.'s marriage, 285, 291, 292, 296 + +Conde, Princesse de, 16, 17, 46 + +Conti, Louis Armand, Prince de, marriage of, 48, 337 + +Corneille, 80, 81, 129, 223-226, 228, 240, 241 + +_Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin_, 303 + +_Correspondance de Pomponne, La_, 297 + +_Correspondant_, the, 112 + +Cotin, Abbe, _[OE]uvres galantes en vers et en prose_, by, 220, 223, 226 + +Coulanges, 287 + +_Country Pleasures_, operetta, 19 + +Court of France, Mademoiselle returns to, 2, 57-59, 72; + in disgrace with, 16, 19, 45, 55; + returns to Paris, 19-21, 65, 110, 281; + Monsieur under protection of, 39, 40, 48; + journeys of, 53, 68, 94-104, 108, 110, 132, 257, 258, 307; + manners and morals of, 76-79, 81, 82, 123-125, 128-131, 338; + etiquette of, 78, 104-111, 233; + occupations of, 103, 230-232; + the young, 148, 174, 224, 229, 376; + brilliancy of, 174, 258-260, 315; + size of, 174, 175, 258; + at Versailles, 174, 176-182, 333, 365, 370, 376; + at Fontainebleau, 182, 184; + literary tastes of, 224, 227, 229, 376; + at Saint-Germain, 269, 353, 354; + changed character of, 370, 371, 374 + +Court of Saint-Fargeau, 6-10, 17-20, 129-131, 135 + +Cousin, _La Societe francaise au XVIIeme siecle_, by, 124 + +_Creation de Versailles, la_ (de Nolhac), 176 + +Cregny, Duc de, 282 + +Crequi, 297 + +Crisse, Mme. de, original of Countess de Pimbesche, 191 + +Crosne, 89 + +Crussol, Emmanuel II., de. _See_ Uzes + + +D + +_Dafne_, musical tragedy, 214 + +_Dames, les_ (the "ladies"), 315, 334-336 + +Dauphin, the Grand, 154, 155, 179; + marriage of, 347; + death of, 219 + +De Chapelain, 226 + +_Declaration par le Menu du Comte d'Eu_, 163 + +Delamare, Philibert, _Melanges_, by, 285, 286, 290, 294, 301 + +Delaure, _Histoire de Paris_, by, 21 + +_De La Valliere a Montespan_ (Lemoine and Lichtenberger), 175, 229, + 263, 335 + +Delort, J., _Histoire de la Detention des Philosophes_, by, 312 + +Deltour, F., _Les Ennemis de Racine_, by, 223, 226 + +Derby, Lady, 137 + +_Deux Chevres_ (La Fontaine), _Les_, 107 + +_Devineresses, Les_ (La Fontaine), 203 + +_Devolution_, war of the, 154, 257 + +Diafoirus, Thomas, 109 + +_Dictionnaire des Precieuses, Le_ (Somaize), 13 + +Diderot, 172 + +Dijon, Court at, 94, 95 + +Divine Right of Kings, doctrine of, 139-142 + +Dombes, principality of, 49, 95; + given to Lauzun, 288; + demanded for Duc du Maine, 352 + +Dreyss, Charles, editor of _Memoires_ of Louis XIV., 58, 69, 141, 278 + +Dubois, _Les Fragments des Memoires inedits_, by, 67 + +Dubuisson (Lesage). _See_ Lesage + +Dubuisson-Aubenay, _Journal des Guerres civiles_, by, 92 + +Dunkerque, 173, 307 + +Dupre, Mlle., 124 + + +E + +_Ecole des Femmes_ (Moliere),131, 227 + +_Ecrits inedits_ (Saint-Simon), 354, 359, 363, 364 + +_Education politique de Louis XIV., L'_ (Lacour-Gayet) 64 + +Elbeuf, M. d', 178 + +Elisabeth de France, mother of Marie-Therese, 149 + +Embrun, Archbishop of, 38, 39 190 + +Enghien, Duc d', 117; + marriage of, 174 + +_Ennemis de Racine, Les_ (Deltour), 223, 226 + +_Epoques du Theatre francais, Les_ (Brunetiere), 223 + +_Essai sur la Vie_ (Aime-Martin), 365 + +Estrees, Marechal d', 76 + +Etampes, 54 + +Etrechy, 89 + +_Etudes critiques sur l'Histoire de la Litterature francaise, + Les_ (Brunetiere), 223 + +Eu, Chateau d', 147, 170; + _Archives_ of, 162, 163, 167-169; + Mademoiselle at, 169, 182, 183, 360-363, 365 + +Eu, Comte d', property of the Guise, 161; + sale of, 161-167; + revenue from, 162-166; + given to Lauzun, 288; + given to Duc du Maine, 352, 353 + +_Eugenie, ou la force du destin_, 14 + + +F + +Fabert, 84 + +Famine of 1659-1662, 93 + +Feillet, _La misere au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul_, by, + 82, 84 + +Ferte, Marechale de la, 344 + +Feuquieres, Marquis de, 344 + +Fiesque, Comtesse de, 16, 45, 129, 360 + +_Fille, la_, fable of (La Fontaine), 190-191 + +Flanders, Court in, 257, 307 + +Fontainebleau, Court at, 174, 182-188, 308 + +Fontanges, Mlle. de, 339, 340 + +Fontarabia, marriage of Louis XIV. at, 104, 105, 110 + +Forges, Baths of, 10, 53, 146 + +Foucquet, Abbe, 25, 78; + punishment of, 141; + imprisonment of, 311-313, 326, 330; + death of, 326, 329 + +_Fragments des Memoires inedits, Les_ (Dubois), 67 + +France, failure of Fronde important to, 1; + fondness for sport in, 7; + results of absolute monarchy in, 7, 371, 372; + wars of with Spain, 16, 20, 55, 59, 145, 361; + famine and misery in, 54, 55, 82-94, 331, 334; + advantages to, from peace of the Pyrenees, 99; + conversation, the delight of intelligent, 123, 135; + reforms of Louis and Colbert in, 141, 142, 171; + increase of industry and commerce, 142; + "rights" in, 168; + growing power and influence of, 171; + influence of women in, 193, 194; + belief in astrology and sorcery, 201-212; + introduction of dramatic music into, 213-217; + war of, with Holland, 235, 318, 330; + consternation in, over projected marriage of Mademoiselle, 283, 284, + 286, 290, 292, 294, 295, 297; + mistress of the world, 330, 331; + moral deterioration of, 338, 372-374 + +France, Court of. _See_ Court + +Franche-Comte, 330 + +Francis I., 27 + +Fronde, the, failure of, 1, 47; + effect of, 1, 58, 65, 68, 376; + leaders of, 2, 11, 81, 369; + Mademoiselle the heroine of, 3, 53, 59, 72, 370; + wars of, 16, 20, 36, 54, 82-85, 213, 221, 232, 377; + abuses giving rise to, 21, 22 + +Frondeurs, the, 2, 47, 58, 77, 369 + +Frontenac, Mme. de, 14, 15, 45 + + +G + +_Galerie des Portraits de Mlle. de Montpensier, la_, 122, 125-127, + 129-131, 135 + +Gaston, Duc d'Orleans. _See_ Orleans + +_Gazette de Hollande_, 307 + +_Gazette_ of Loret, 18, 20, 30, 171-174, 178, 179, 227, 272, 365 + +_Gazette de Renaudot_, 269 + +Geoffroy, editor of _Letters of Mme. de Maintenon_, 64 + +Germany, peace of the Pyrenees unfavourable to, 99; + humiliated by Louis XIV., 171, 331 + +Giustiniani, Venetian Ambassador, 142 + +Gomberville, works of, 11 + +Gonzague, Anne de. _See_ Palatine + +Gonzague, Marie de. _See_ Poland + +Goulas, Nicolas, _Memoires_ of, 28, 34 + +Gramont, Catherine de, 211 + +Gramont, Chevalier de, 35 + +Gramont, Marechal de, 149, 211 + +_Grand Cyrus, Le_ (Scudery), 11, 124 + +Grignan, Mme. de, 11 + +Guibourg, Abbe, 345, 348 + +Guiche, Comte de, 71, 148, 149 + +Guilloire, 286, 307 + +Guise, Charles de Lorraine, Duc de, 42 + +Guise, Chevalier de, 221 + +Guise, Duc de, 177, 178; + married Mlle. d'Orleans, 294, 295 + +Guise, Duchesse de (grandmother of Mademoiselle), 42, 51 + +Guise, family of, 161. _See also_ Lorraine + +Guise, Mlle. de, marriage of, 161 + +Guitry, Marquis de, 282, 297 + + +H + +Hachette, 202 + +Hanotaux, M. G., 150, 230, 341 + +Haro, Don Luis de, 107, 108 + +Haussonville, Comte d', 150, 219, 291 + +Heine, Heinrich, 224, 228 + +Henrietta of England (Madame) wife of Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, 130, + 151-153, 191; + relations of, with Louis XIV., 194, 228; + death of, 233, 270-273, 275; + daughters of, 277 + +Henry III., 67 + +Henry IV., 149, 283 + +Henry, Victor, _La Magie dans l'Inde antique_, by, 210 + +Herse, Presidente de, 88, 92 + +_Histoire amoureuse des Gaules L'_, 297 + +_Histoire du Chateau de Blois, L'_, (La Saussaye), 26 + +_Histoire de France_ (Porchat and Miot, trs.), 99 + +_Histoire de France_ (von Ranke), 330 + +_Histoire de Louvois_ (Rousset), 364 + +_Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_ (La Fayette), 151-153, 194, + 271 + +_Histoire de Mlle. et du Comte de Losun_, 257 + +_Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France_ (Chouquet), 213 + +_Histoire de l'Opera en Europe_ (Rolland), 213 + +_Histoire de Paris, L'_ (Delaure), 21 + +_Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie_ (Mademoiselle), 132 + +_Histoires de la Detention des Philosophes_ (Delort), 312 + +Hoguete, Fortin de la, 140 + +Holland, war between France and, 235, 318, 330 + +Honsett, M. du, 305 + +Hopital, Marechal de l', 75 + +Hopital, Mme. de l', 76 + +Hospitals, establishment of, 87 + +Hotel Rambouillet, 14, 124 + +Hotel de Ville, the, 369 + +Huet, Dr., _Memoires_ of, 10, 127, 129 + + +I + +_Image du Souverain, L'_, 140 + +_Infortunes d'une petite-fille d'Henri IV., Les_ (Rodocanachi), 138 + +_Inventaire general du Comte d'Eu_, 163 + +_Iphigenie_ (Racine), 227 + +Isarn, M., 327-329 + +Isle des Faisans (_Isle de la Conference_), 106-110 + +Isle Saint-Louis, 206 + +Iturrieta, Don Miguel de, 282 + + +J + +Jacobins, the, 375 + +Jansenism, 85 + +Jansenists, 87, 88, 129, 373 + +Jesuits, the, 79, 80, 83 + +_Jeune Alcidiane, La_ (Gomberville), 11 + +Joinville, Prince de. _See_ Lorraine + +Joly, Mme., 90 + +Jourdain, Mme., 115 + +_Journal des Guerres civiles_ (Dubuisson-Aubenay), 92 + +_Journal d'Olivier Lefevre d'Ormesson_, 159, 174, 177, 186, 194, 197, + 285, 287, 301, 332, 335 + +_Journal de Voyage de deux jeunes Hollandais a Paris_, 72, 73, 75, 76 + +Joyeuse, Duc de. _See_ Lorraine + +Joyeuse, Henriette Catherine, Duchesse de. _See_ Montpensier + +Jusserand, J. J., _Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France_, + by, 7 + + +K + +Kant, Emanuel, 220 + +_Kant als Mensch_ (Adickes), 220 + +_Kreutzer Sonata_ (Tolstoi), 220 + + +L + +La Bruyere, 269 + +La Calprenede, _Cassandre_ and _Cleopatre_, by, 11 + +Lacour-Gayet, _L'Education politique de Louis XIV._, by, 64, 67 + +La Duverger, 211 + +La Fare, Marquis de, _Memoires et Reflexions_ of, 248, 283, 287, 290, + 302, 310, 339 + +La Fayette, Mme. de, 134; + _Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre_, 151-153, 194, 271; + _Princesse de Cleves_, by, 153; + _Memoires de la Cour de France_, 209, 363 + +La Fontaine, letters of, 26, 27, 54; + fables of, 107, 111, 109, 203; + appointment of, 191 + +Lair, J. _Louise de La Valliere_, by, 180 + +Lalanne, Ludovic, 303 + +Lamoignon, Mme. de, 88, 92 + +Landrecies, 263-265 + +Lansac, Mme. de, 67 + +La Reynie, Lieut.-General of Police, 209, 210, 343-346 + +La Riviere, 374 + +La Rochefoucauld, 11, 130, 134, 256, 369 + +La Saussaye, _L'Histoire du Chateau de Blois_, by, 26 + +Lauzun, Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, Comte de, 238; + career of, 243-247; + intrigues of, 245, 246, 249-251; + relations of with Mme. de Montespan, 245, 246, 282, 287, 290, 309; + description of, 243, 244, 248, 262, 324, 356; + in the Bastile, 247; + character of, 248-251, 269, 287, 356-359, 367-369; + projected marriage of Mademoiselle with, 251-257, 267-270, 276, + 279-281, 284, 293; + tacit consent of Louis to marriage, 281-283; + generous gifts of Mademoiselle to, 288, 289, 355; + marriage broken off, 290-297, 317, 326; + question of secret marriage with Mlle., 304-308, 349; + arrest and imprisonment of, 310-324, 350; + the "caskets" of, 317; + attempted escape of, 325, 326, 350; + communicates with Foucquet, 326; + interview of, with his family, 327-329; + released from prison, 329, 349, 354, 359; + forced to renounce gifts of Mlle., 353, 354; + reimprisoned, 354; + forbidden to return to Court, 354, 355, 360, 361; + saves Queen of England, 363; + Order of the Garter and title conferred upon, 364; + marriage of, 366; + death of, 369 + +Lauzun, Chevalier de, 327 + +Lauzun, Mme. de, married life of, 366-369 + +Laval, Marquise of, 6 + +La Valliere, Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc, Seigneur de, 134 + +La Valliere, Louise de, youth of, 134; + relations of, with Louis XIV., 150, 153-156, 172, 176, 178, 193; + made Duchess, 154; + position of, officially recognised, 197, 233, 234, 258, 315, 334, 336; + attacked by Bossuet, 200; + successor to, 208-210; + marriage of daughter, 337; + character of, 339; + retires to convent, 339 + +La Voisin, the poisoner, 207, 208, 210, 212; + clients of, 207, 208, 210-212, 342, 344-346, 351 + +Lemaitre, Jules, 81 + +Lemoine, Jean, and Andre Lichtenberger, _De La Valliere a Montespan_, by, + 175, 229, 263, 335 + +Le Notre, 176 + +Le Pelletier, Claude, 186, 286 + +Lesage (Dubuisson), 204; + arrest and trial of, 210-212, 348 + +Lesdiguieres, Duc de, 75, 76 + +Lesigny, 46 + +Le Tellier, Michel, 25, 94 + +_Lettres historiques et edifiantes._ _See_ Maintenon + +Libertins, the, 148, 153, 157, 159, 182 + +Lichtenberger, Andre. _See_ Lemoine + +Limay, 89 + +Limours, Chateau of, 25 + +Lionne, Hugues de, 148 + +_Lit de Justice_, 19, 20 + +Livet, 257, 297 + +Loing, valley of the, 4, 9, 12 + +Loire, the, 28, 29 + +Loiseleur, Jules, _Problemes historiques_, by, 63 + +Longueville, Duc de (Count de Saint-Paul), 256, 257, 270 + +Longueville, Duchesse de, 256, 369 + +Loret, _Gazette_ of, 18, 20, 30, 171-174, 178, 179, 227, 258, 272, 365 + +Lorges, Marechal de, daughter of, marries Lauzun, 366-369 + +Lorraine, Charles III., Duc de, 137 + +Lorraine, Chevalier de, 275 + +Lorraine, Duc de, cruelty of army of, 38, 84 + +Lorraine, Henri de, 42 + +Lorraine, House of, 42, 294 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Comte d'Armagnac, 237 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Guise, 294, 295 + +Lorraine, Louis de, Duc de Joyeuse, death of, 161, 168 + +Lorraine, Louis Joseph de, Prince de Joinville, 161, 168 + +Lorraine, Marguerite de (Madame). _See_ Orleans + +Lorraine, Prince Charles de, 137 + +Lorraine, Prince de, 252 + +Louis XIII., 25, 243; + death of, 102 + +Louis XIV., returns to Paris, 2, 19, 24; + occupations of Court of, 7, 230-232; + dictates to Parliament, 19, 23; + holds _Lit de Justice_, 19, 20; + escorts Mazarin to Paris, 20; + fondness of, for fetes and ballets, 21, 75, 120, 172, 176, 178-181, + 315; + growing power of, 22-24, 59, 170, 171; + education of, 31, 63-68, 371; + proposed marriages of, 48, 77, 94, 96; + permits Mademoiselle to return to Court, 57-59; + effect of Fronde upon, 58, 65, 68, 278, 370; + character of, 68-72, 101; + lack of etiquette at Court, in youth of, 77, 78; + infatuation of, for Marie Mancini, 77, 97, 193, 228; + cruelty of armies of, 84; + journeys of, 94, 97-100, 103, 104, 199, 257; + pardons Conde, 100, 101; + ignorance of, 103, 104, 112-116; + marriage of, with Marie-Therese, 103-111; + interviews of, with Philip IV., 106, 107; + letters of, 108, 183, 184, 188, 189; + begins to govern without minister, 113, 114; + systematic regulation of his time, 116, 117; + growth of absolute monarchy, 118, 119, 128, 138-142, 371; + fondness of, for gaming, 133, 333; + reforms abuses with Colbert, 141, 142; + proposes marriage of Mlle. with King of Portugal, 142-146, 160, 185; + banishes Mlle. for refusing marriage, 147, 148, 161; + Queen's lack of influence over, 149-151, 154; + passionate temperament of, 153-155, 170, 193, 219, 220; + relations of, with Madame, 153, 194, 228; + strained relations with his mother, 153, 157; + relations of, with La Valliere, 153-156, 172, 176, 193, 197; + _Memoires_ written for Dauphin, 154-156, 179; + opinion of women, 155, 193, 194; + conduct of, disapproved, 157-159; + religious opinions of, 156, 212, 213, 374; + influence of Mme. de Maintenon upon, 156, 193, 219, 339; + acquires Dunkerque, 173; + takes up permanent residence at Versailles, 174, 370; + size of Court, 174, 175, 258; + hospitality of, 175-177; + plans Savoie marriage for Mademoiselle, 185-190, 236; + effect of mother's death on, 195-197, 199; + relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, 193, 209, 210, 212, 229, 333, + 338-342; + frames rules of etiquette relating to position of mistresses, 197, + 233-235, 315, 334-336; + boldness of Court preachers, 200, 201; + orders prosecution of Mariette and Lesage, 210-212; + lover of music, 218-220; + sustains Racine and Moliere, 224, 227, 228; + death of infant daughter, 233; + with the army, 235, 361; + Lauzun a favourite of, 243-247, 250, 251, 254, 257; + discomforts of travelling in 1670, 258-267; + plans marriage of Mlle. with Monsieur, 274, 276-278; + tacitly consents to marriage of Mademoiselle with Lauzun, 282, 283, + 286; + withdraws consent, 290-293, 295, 296; + treatment of Mademoiselle, 299-301; + Lauzun's imprisonment, 312-315, 323; + charmed with new sister-in-law, 315; + brilliancy of reign of, 330, 331, 375; + power and importance of, 330-332; + extravagance of, 332-339; + love of martial display, 333-336; + marriage of Mlle. de Blois, 337; + responsible for deterioration of manners and morals, 338-341, 372; + finds presumptive proof of guilt of Madame de Montespan, 343-347, 349; + orders destruction of records, 343, 344, 369; + turns to Mme. de Maintenon, 339-341; + dismisses Mme. de Montespan, 341, 342; + establishes the _Chambre ardente_, 343; + suppresses the _Chambre ardente_, 347; + marriage of, with Mme. de Maintenon, 305, 370; + effect of reign of, upon France, 371-373; + _Memoires_ of, 58, 66, 68-70, 114, 141, 142, 154-156, 179, 193, 278, + 355 + +_Louise de La Valliere_ (Lair), 180 + +Louvois, letters to, 209, 311, 325; + enemy of Lauzun, 244, 245, 247, 287, 288; + instructions of, concerning Lauzun, 310-313, 318-323, 325; + letters of, 344, 347; + sent to coerce Mademoiselle, 352 + +Louvre, Palace of the, Mazarin returns to, 20; + Court at, 65, 78, 82, 111, 112, 122; + fete at, 178 + +Lulli, Baptiste, operas of, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221 + +Luxembourg, Duc de, 344 + +Luxembourg, palace of the, Monsieur at, 24; + Mademoiselle returns to, 72, 76, 121; + Madame occupies, 102, 121, 191, 285; + salon of Mademoiselle at, 122, 123, 125, 133-136, 148, 222, 223, 288, + 296, 297, 361 + +Luynes, Constable de, 243 + +Lyonne, M. de, 293 + +Lyons, Court at, 94, 96, 258 + + +M + +Madame. See Orleans, Henrietta, and Palatine + +_Madame de Montespan et Louis XIV._ (Clement), 282, 349 + +_Madame, Memoirs of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans_ (Cartwright), 136 + +Madelaine, 50 + +Mademoiselle, La Grande. See Montpensier + +_Magie dans l'Inde antique, La_ (Henry), 210 + +Mailly, Chateau of, 263 + +Maine, Duc du, 351, 352 + +Maintenon, Mme. de (Mme. Scarron), _Letters of_ (Geoffroy, ed.), 63, 64; + _Souvenirs sur_, 150, 151, 230; + influence of, over Louis XIV., 71, 156, 193, 219, 339-341, 374; + governess to King's children, 290, 309, 310; + _Lettres historiques et edifiantes_, of, 291; + King marries, 305, 370 + +Mairet, 223 + +_Malade Imaginaire_ (Moliere), 109 + +Mancini, Marie, niece of Mazarin, 77, 96, 193, 228, 339 + +"Mandate," the, 286 + +Mansard, Francois, 26 + +Man with the Iron Mask, the, 304, 329 + +Marie Antoinette, 23 + +Marie Therese, Infanta of Spain, marriage of, with Louis XIV., 103-111; + political opinions of, 118; + unhappy married life of, 149-151, 154, 172; + character of, 149-151, 196, 252, 260, 261, 264-266, 271; + friendly relations of, with Mme. de Montespan, 209, 210, 233-235; + friendship of, for Mme. de Maintenon, 341; + death of, 370 + +Mariette, priest, 204, 210; + arrest and trial of, 210-212 + +Marigny, _La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnes aux + Reines_, by, 173 + +Marly, 336 + +Martinozzi, Anne Marie, niece of Mazarin, 48 + +Mascarille, Marquis de, 76 + +Mauny, Marquise de, 13, 131 + +Mazarin, Cardinal, power of, 11, 16, 25, 38, 39, 45, 47; + triumphal return of, 20; + obtains pardon for Mademoiselle, 48, 52, 53, 56; + detestation of, 60, 61; + rapacity of, 60-62, 112; + relations of, with Anne of Austria, 62, 63, 304; + created Cardinal, 63; + treatment of Louis XIV., 65-67, 69, 70, 74; + nieces of, 77, 82, 96, 97, 237; + letter of protest to, 84; + signs peace of Pyrenees, 99, 107; + difficulties of, in settling points of etiquette relating to King's + marriage, 105, 106; + instructions of, to Louis, 112, 113; + death of, 113, 116, 141; + opposition of, to _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 158, 198; + introduces Italian opera into France, 215 + +Medicis, Catherine de', 67, 113 + +Meilleraye, Duc de la (Duc de Mazarin), 77 + +_Melanges_ (Delamare), 285 + +_Memoires._ _See_ Aumale, Bussy-Rabutin, Choisy, Goulas, Huet, La Fare, + La Fayette, Montpensier, Motteville, Saint-Simon, Sourches, etc. + +_Memoires_ of Louis XIV. _See_ under Louis (editors, Dreyss and Petitot). + +_Memoires de Montglat_, 25, 59, 62, 100, 108 + +_Memoires-Relations du temps_, 179 + +_Memoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine_ (Racine), 227 + +Menage, 222, 226 + +_Mercure Galant_, 365 + +Mignet, _Negociations relatives a la succession d'Espagne_, by, 143 + +Miot. _See_ Porchat. + +_Misere au temps de la Fronde et Saint Vincent de Paul, La_ (Feillet), + 82, 84 + +_Mithridate_ (Racine), 228 + +Moliere, returns to Paris, 81; + plays of, 109, 124, 131, 132, 180, 181, 202, 216, 231, 374, 376; + representations of, given at Versailles and the Luxembourg, 178, 180, + 181, 221, 222; + opposition to Racine and, 223-227; + King sustains, 227, 228 + +"Moliere," of the _Grands Ecrivains de la France_ (Hachette), 176, 179, + 202 + +Monsieur, _See_ Orleans, Gaston, Duc d'. + +Monsieur, the little. _See_ Anjou, Philippe, Duc d'. + +Montausier, Duc de, 264, 282, 287, 297, 306 + +Montausier, Mme. de, 263 + +Montbazon, Duchesse de, 126 + +Montchevreuil, M. de, 230 + +Montespan, Marquis de, 229 + +Montespan, Marquise de, supplants La Valliere, 80, 193, 209, 210; + marriage of, 172, 209, 229; + description of, 209, 230; + client of La Voisin, 210, 212, 342; + criminal charges against, 212, 344-348; + position of, 233, 258-271, 315, 334-336; + assumes habits of royalty, 233-235; + relations of, with Lauzun, 245, 246, 282, 287, 354; + betrays Lauzun, 290, 291, 296, 309, 310, 322, 323; + children of, 290, 344, 351, 352; + extravagance of, 333, 336; + character of, 339, 340, 342; + dismissal of, 341, 342, 350, 351; + evidence against destroyed, 343 + +Monteverde, _Ariane_, by, 214 + +Montigny, Abbe de, 263 + +Montmedy, 59 + +Montmorency-Boutteville, 78 + +Montmorency, 25 + +Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, Duchess of, La Grande + Mademoiselle, + possible marriage of, with Louis XIV., 2, 48; + character of, 2, 56, 59, 184 + +Montpensier, Mlle., alliance of, with Conde, 3, 16, 17, 33, 38, 45, + 55, 56; + exiled to Saint-Fargeau, 3-20, 32-39, 43-48; + heroine of Porte Saint-Antoine, 3, 53, 58, 59, 72, 261, 370; + amusements at court of St.-Fargeau, 7-10, 17-20, 148; + literary tastes of, 8-10, 15, 18, 73, 132, 221, 224-226, 229; + begins her _Memoires_, 15; + rumoured marriage of, with Conde, 16; + litigation of, with father, 34, 37, 41-44, 51-54; + wealth of, 35-38, 145, 163, 185, 256; + skilful management of her affairs, 36, 37, 49; + breaks with Conde, 46, 47, 52; + makes overtures to Mazarin, 47, 48; + wins Champigny lawsuit, 49-51, 125; + permitted to return to Court, 54, 55, 57-59; + never fully forgiven, 58, 59, 101, 169, 186, 197, 370; + proposed marriage of, with little Monsieur, 59, 73, 272-278; + takes up residence in the Luxembourg, 72, 121, 122; + popularity of, in Paris, 72, 366; + description of, 72-74; + astonished at lack of etiquette at Court, 75-79; + visits Port-Royal, 79, 80; + visits Dombes, 95, 96; + Monsieur's duplicity towards, 98, 99; + grieves at death of Monsieur, 102, 103; + present at marriage of Louis XIV., 105-111; + ill-health of, 120; + salon of, 122-125, 131-136, 148, 223, 224, 226; + describes blue room of Mme. de Rambouillet, 132, 133; + letters of, 160, 170, 183; + letters to, 183, 188, 189, 348; + proposed marriages of, 136-138; + grudge of Charles II. against, 136, 137; + King plans marriage of, with King of Portugal, 142-146, 160, 161; + refuses to marry Alphonse, 145-147, 160, 185; + second exile of, 147, 160-170, 182, 184; + proposed marriage of, with Duc de Savoie, 147, 185-190, 236; + buys Comte d'Eu, 161-168; + installed at Eu, 169, 170; + recalled to Court, 184-187; + failure of proposed marriages of, 189-192; + patroness of Lulli, 221; + cultivates Mme. de Montespan, 229, 230, 233-236; + change in sentiments of, 235; + advancing age of, 236, 254, 277, 278; + infatuation of, for Lauzun, 238-242, 250, 262, 279-281, 359, 360; + describes Lauzun, 248; + makes proposals of marriage to, 251-256, 267-270, 279, 280; + Lauzun's treatment of, 253-256, 261, 275-277, 279, 281, 357-360; + proposed de Longueville marriage of, 256, 257, 270; + as a traveller, 262-267; + at death-bed of Madame, 270-272; + King's tacit consent to marriage with Lauzun, 281-283, 286; + criticism of projected marriage by all classes, 285, 286; + bestows principalities and titles upon Lauzun, 288, 307; + preparing for marriage, 289, 290, 296; + King refuses consent, 290-293, 295, 296, 353, 354; + marriage with Lauzun broken off, 291-293, 296, 297, 317, 326; + appeals in vain to King, 291-293, 315, 316; + grief and despair of, 296-303; + wide-spread belief in secret marriage of, 304-309, 349, 353, 358; + learns of Lauzun's arrest and imprisonment, 310-314; + efforts of, to obtain release of Lauzun, 317, 318, 348-352; + traditional daughter of, 349; + price demanded from, for liberation of Lauzun, 351, 352; + makes Duc du Maine her heir, 351, 352; + tricked by Louis and Mme. de Montespan, 354; + Lauzun forced to renounce gifts of, 354; + compensates Lauzun, 355; + devotion of, to Lauzun after his liberation, 356-360; + constant quarrels with Lauzun, 357-361; + final break with Lauzun, 362, 363, 366; + illness and death of, 365, 366; + burial of, at St. Denis, 366; + last of actors in the Fronde, 369; + great qualities of, 377 + +Montpensier, Mlle., _Memoires_ of, 3, 4, 8, 15, 23, 36, 45, 55, 59, + 79, 97, 98, 102, 105, 106, 121, 125, 131, 136, 138, 143, 160, 169, + 182, 210, 221, 222, 230, 238-240, 255, 256, 262, 269, 297, 305, 308, + 315-317, 339, 347, 348, 350, 353, 356, 361 + +Montpensier, duchy of, 49; + given to Lauzun, 288 + +Montpensier, Henri de Bourbon, Duc de, 42 + +Montpensier, Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, Duchesse de, 42 + +Montresor, Claude de Bourdeville, Comte de, 161 + +Montvoisin, Antoine, 206-208 + +Montvoisin, Catherine "La Voisin" the poisoner, 207, 208, 210, 212 + +_Morale de Salomon, La_, 127 + +Moret, mock siege of, 334, 335 + +Morin the Jew, 76 + +Mortemart, Mlle. de (Mme. de Montespan), 172 + +Motteville, Mme. de, 31, 49, 62, 66, 116, 135, 149, 150, 195; + _Memoires_ of, 73, 100, 104, 109, 112, 113, 116, 135, 149, 150, 154, + 170, 190, 195 + +Mouchy, 199 + + +N + +Nallot, M. de, 310, 311 + +Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, 331, 374 + +Necromancy, 202-207 + +_Negociations relatives a la succession d'Espagne_ (Mignet), 143 + +Nemours, Henri de Savoie, Duc de, 185 + +Nemours, Marie-Jeanne Baptiste de, 190 + +Nemours, the Mesdemoiselles de, 185, 190 + +Nesmond, Presidente de, 90 + +Nevers, Duchesse de, 347 + +Nimeguen, peace of, 331 + +Noailles, Duc de(Comte d' Ayen), 270 + +Noailles, Mme. de, 248 + +Nogent, Mme. de, 290, 327-329 + +Nolhac, M. de, _La Creation de Versailles_, by, 176 + +_Nouvelles Francaises, Les_ (Segrais), 8 + +Nuitter and Thoinan, _Les Origines de l'Opera Francais_, by, 213 + + +O + +Oeillets, Mlle. des, 346 + +_Oeuvres completes_ (Saint-Pierre), 365 + +_Oeuvres galantes en vers et en prose_ (Cotin), 223 + +_Oeuvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulieres_, 188 + +Olivet, Abbe d', 222 + +Opera, Italian, birth of, 214-216; + French, 215, 216 + +_Origines de l'Opera Francais, Les_ (Nuitter and Thoinan), 213 + +Orleans, city of, 33, 34, 39, 42, 49, 53 + +Orleans, House of, 35, 37 + +Orleans, Gaston, Duc d' (Monsieur), character of, 3, 23-25, 28-30, + 44, 52, 97-99; + exiled to Blois, 24-33; + piety of, 29, 30; + children of, 31, 34, 37, 39, 42, 77, 97-99, 105, 106, 133, 134, 137, + 138, 186, 235, 294; + pillages daughter's fortune, 35-37, 39-44, 168; + under Court protection, 38-40, 48, 49; + litigation of, with Mademoiselle, 37, 41-44, 51-54; + death and burial of, 101, 102 + +Orleans, Henrietta of England (Madame), wife of Philippe Duc d'. + _See_ Henrietta + +Orleans, Marguerite de Lorraine (Madame), second wife of Gaston, Duc d', + 24, 43, 191, 285, 286; + daughters of, 31, 34, 37, 39, 42, 77, 97-99, 105, 106, 133, 134, 137, + 138, 186, 188, 235, 294; + character of, 101, 102, 121, 122, 133, 134 + +Orleans, Marguerite Louise, Mlle. d', daughter of Monsieur, 97, 98, 133; + marriage of, 137, 138 + +Orleans, Marie Louise d', daughter of little Monsieur, 277; + marriage of, 277 + +Orleans, Mgr. Duc d', 162 + +Orleans, Philippe, Duc d'. _See_ Anjou + +Ormesson, Andre d', 22, 48 + +Ormesson, Olivier Lefevre d', _Journal_ of, 48, 76, 118, 159, 174, + 177, 186, 194, 197, 285, 287, 301, 331, 332, 335; + disgrace of, 118, 332 + +Ormond, Marquis d', 137 + + +P + +Palatine, Anne de Baviere, Princesse, 174 + +Palatine, Anne de Gonzague, Princesse, 106 + +Palatine, Elisabeth Charlotte de Baviere, Princesse (Madame), second + wife of Philippe Duc d'Orleans, 62, 156, 315 + +_Paraphrases des sept Psaumes de la Penitence_, 127 + +Paris, Archbishop of, 287, 288 + +Paris, King and Court return to, 2, 19-21, 24, 65, 110, 174, 281; + opinion of King in, 71; + committee of relief founded in, 87-93; + carnival in, 93, 94; + Queen's entrance into, 111; + commerce in, 142; + magic arts in, 201-206, 342-344; + bridges of, 206; + lampoons against Louis in, 335; + dungeons of, 347; + cradle of French revolutions, 370, 376 + +Parliament, the, Louis XIV. dictates to, 19, 20, 23, 76; + dictates to royalty, 68, 69; + petition to, 162; + decrees of, 167, 168; + privileges of, 371 + +Parma, Duc de, 189 + +Patin, Guy, letters of, 71, 113, 117 + +_Pedagogue chretien_, 324 + +Pellison, _Lettres historiques_, by, 258 + +Perefixe, Abbe de, 66, 67, 115 + +_Perroquet ou Les Amours de Mademoiselle_, Le 257, 282 + +_Pertharite_ (Corneille), 80 + +Petitot, editor _Memoires_ of Louis XIV., 66 + +_Phedre_ (Racine), 224 + +Philip IV. of Spain, 103, 104, 142, 149; + interviews of, with Louis XIV. and Anne of Austria, 106-110; + death of, 173 + +Picardy, 87, 165 + +Pignerol, fortress of, 310, 311, 318, 319, 325, 329, 351, 355, 356, 358 + +Pimbesche, Countess of, original of, 36, 191 + +_Plaideurs_ (Racine), 227 + +_Plaisirs de l'Ile enchantee_, 176 + +_Poisons, Les_ (La Fontaine), 203 + +Poland, Marie de Gonzague, Queen of, and Port-Royal, 88, 92; + letters to, 117, 174, 175, 186 + +_Polexandre_ (Gomberville), 11 + +Polignac, Vicomtesse de, 344 + +Pomponne, M. de, 293, 297; + _La Correspondance de Pomponne_, 297 + +Pont Marie, 206 + +Porchat, Jacques, and Miot, _Histoire de France_, tr. by, 99 + +Porte Saint-Antoine, heroine of, 3, 53, 59, 72, 370 + +Port Royal des Champs, 79, 88, 92 + +_Port-Royal_ (Sainte-Beuve), 82 + +Portugal, independence of, threatened, 142; + King of, 143-145, 160, 185 + +Portugal, Queen of, 190 + +_Precieuses Ridicules, Les_ (Moliere), 124 + +Prefontaine, 33, 35, 36, 41, 43, 44, 50, 53 + +_Princesse de Cleves_ (La Fayette), 153 + +_Princesse d'Elide_ (Moliere), 180, 216 + +_Problemes Historiques_ (Loiseleur), 63 + +_Provinciales_, the, 79 + +Provins, 84 + +Puyguilhem, Marquis de. See Lauzun + +Pyrenees, peace of the, 2, 99, 100, 107 + +_Pyrrhus_ (Racine), 224 + + +Q + +"Queens, the three," 233 + +Quinault, tragedies of, 80, 81, 216, 217, 220 + + +R + +Racan, Honorat de Bueil, Marquis de. _See_ Barthelemy + +Racine, Jean, tragedies of, 8, 81, 223-229; + and Corneille compared, 223-227; + King's appreciation of, 224, 227, 228 + +Racine, Louis, _Memoires sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jean Racine_, + by, 227 + +Rambouillet, Hotel, 14, 224 + +Rambouillet, Mme. de, salon of, 123 + +Rampillon, 84 + +Ranke, Leopold von, _Histoire de France_, by, 99, 330 + +Rapin, Father, 181 + +Ravaisson, Francois, _Archives de la Bastille_, by, 201, 312 + +Ravetot, Marquis de, 211 + +Regent, the, 62, 372, 374 + +Reims, 55, 56 + +Reims, Archbishop of, 288 + +_Relation de la Cour de France_ (Spanheim), 374 + +_Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnes aux Reines, + La_ (Marigny), 173 + +_Relation de l'Ile imaginaire, La_ (Mademoiselle), 18, 132 + +_Relations des Ambassadeurs Venitiens_, 65 + +_Relations_ of de Bernieres, 87-90 + +_Remerciement au Roi_ (Moliere), 231 + +Retz, Cardinal de, 20, 24, 25, 113, 369, 377 + +Richelieu, 11, 25, 28, 30, 50, 55 + +Robert, Procurer-General, 344 + +Robespierre, 375 + +Rochefort, 287, 336 + +Roche-sur-Yon, 49 + +Rocroy, 101 + +Rodocanachi, M., _Les Infortunes d'une petite-fille d' Henri IV._, by, + 138 + +Rohan, Marie-Eleonore de, Abbess, 126, 127 + +_Roland furieux_, 178 + +Rolland, Romain, _Histoire de l'Opera en Europe_, by, 213, 220 + +Romecourt, 265, 266 + +Roquelaure, 148 + +Rosen, de, 84 + +Rousseau, Sieur, 293 + +Rousset, Camille, _Histoire de Louvois_, by, 364 + + +S + +Sainctot, Mme. de, 131 + +Saint-Aignan, Duc de, 178 + +Saint Antoine de Padua, 205 + +Saint-Cloud, Chateau of, 54, 269 + +Saint-Cyr, 63 + +Saint-Denis, burial of Monsieur at, 102; + burial of Mademoiselle at, 366 + +Sainte-Beuve, _Port-Royal_, by, 82 + +Saint Evremond, _The Operas_, by, 218 + +Saint-Fargeau, Chateau of, Mademoiselle exiled to, 3-6, 36, 73; + Mademoiselle's Court at, 6-10, 12, 17-20, 129-131, 135; + Mademoiselle again exiled to, 147, 148, 160, 169 + +Saint-Genevieve MS., 257 + +Saint-Germain-des Pres, 73 + +Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Court at, 173, 177, 239, 247, 258, 269, 310, + 313, 318, 353, 354 + +Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Court at, 104, 108; + marriage of Louis XIV., at, 110 + +Saint-Joseph, Convent of, 234 + +Saint-Mars, Sieur de, 310, 311; + letter of, 313; + letters to, 318-321, 325-327, 329 + +Saint-Paul, Comte de (Duc de Longueville), 256, 257 + +Saint-Pierre, Bernardin de, 9; + _[OE]uvres completes_ of, 365 + +Saint Quentin, 263 + +Saint-Remi, Jacques de Courtavel, Marquis de, 134 + +Saint-Romain, Abbe de, 143 + +_Saint Sacrement, Compagnie du_, founding of, 85-87, 93; + charitable work of, 157, 158; + nicknamed, 157; + disapproves of King's conduct, 157-159, 373; + blow aimed at, 181; + disorganisation of, 198, 199 + +Saint-Severin, Church of, 210 + +Saint-Simon, Duc de, at Court, 78, 116, 369, 370, 372; + _Memoires_ of, 116, 161, 209, 212, 234, 245, 255, 326, 353, 360, + 366-368, 372; + _Ecrits inedits_ of, 354, 359, 363, 364 + +Saint-Sulpice, 73 + +Saint Vincent de Paul, character and influence of, 85; + joins _Compagnie du Saint Sacrement_, 87, 373; + head of relief work, 88-90, 157 + +_Saint Vincent de Paul_ (Broglie), 82, 91 + +_Saint Vincent de Paul et les Gondi_ (Chantelauze), 82 + +Salic law, the, 105 + +Sambre, the, 264 + +Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., Duc de, marriages of, 99, 147, 185, + 186, 190, 236; + revenges himself on Louis and Mlle., 189, 190 + +Savoie, Marguerite, Princesse de, Louis XIV. refused to marry, 94, + 96, 189; + marries Duc de Parma, 189 + +Savoie, Victor-Amedee II., Duc de, marriage of, 277 + +Saxe-Jena, Bernard, Duke of, 125 + +Scarron, Mme. de. _See_ Maintenon + +Sceaux, 357 + +Scudery, Madeleine, Mlle. de, 258, 302; + _Artamene ou le Grand Cyrus_, by, 11, 125; + Saturdays of, 123, 124 + +Scudery, Mme. de, 302, 342 + +Sedan, 55-59, 73 + +Segrais, Mademoiselle's secretary, 8, 9, 13, 134, 226, 286, 306, 307, + 349; + _Les Nouvelles Francaises_, by, 8, 9 + +_Segraisiana_, 71, 279, 310 + +Seignelay, 363, 364 + +Seine, the, 206 + +Sevigne, Mme. de, 75, 80, 134, 177, 200; + letters of, 2, 11, 129, 217, 218, 225, 235, 287, 288, 307, 310, 337, + 338, 345, 347, 362; + letters to, 248, 284, 364 + +Soissons, Comtesse de, 237, 271, 336, 341, 344 + +Soissons, Marie de Bourbon-, 291 + +Somaize, _Le Dictionnaire des Precieuses_, by, 13 + +Sourches, Marquis de, _Memoires_ of, 26 + +_Souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus_, 150, 347 + +_Souvenirs et Correspondance_ of Mme. de Caylus, 300 + +_Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon_, 150, 219, 230, 341 + +Spain, wars of, with France, 16, 20, 23, 38, 55, 59, 83, 361; + King of, 103, 104, 142, 149, 173; + etiquette of Court of, 104-111; + absolute monarchy an importation from, 118, 371; + war of Devolution in, 154, 257; + marriage of Infanta of,--_see_ Marie-Therese; + power of France over, 171, 331 + +Spanheim, Ezechiel, _Relation de la Cour de France_, by, 374 + +_Sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France, Les_ (Jusserand), 7 + +_Suite du Menteur_ (Corneille), 241 + + +T + +_Tableau de la Penitence, Le_, 324 + +Tallemant, 31 + +Tarente, Princess of, 125 + +_Tartuffe_ (Moliere), 181, 182, 221, 222, 374 + +Terlon, Chevalier de, 293 + +Theiner, Pere, 63 + +_The Operas_ (Saint Evremond), 218 + +Thianges, Mme. de, 266, 347 + +Thoinan. _See_ Nuitter + +Tingry, Princesse de, 344 + +Tolstoi, _Kreutzer Sonata_, by, 220 + +Torre, Don Diego de la, 282 + +Toulouse, Court at, 99 + +Tourraine, 50 + +Tours, 346 + +Tremouille, Mlle. de la, 125, 137 + +Treport, 166, 349 + +Trevoux, 95 + +Trianon, 235 + +Trichateau, Marquis de, 343 + +Tuileries, palace of the, 4, 19, 123 + +Turenne, 20, 23, 53, 54, 61, 137, 369; + visits and letters of, to Mademoiselle, 143-146, 160 + +Turin, 147, 319 + +Tuscany, Duke of, 138 + + +U + +Urfe, Honore d', _l'Astree_, by, 14, 80 + +Uzes, Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d', 264 + + +V + +Valentinois, Duchess of, 75 + +Vallot, 270 + +Valois, Anne Marie de, daughter of the little Monsieur, 277; + marriage of, 277 + +Valois, Francoise-Madeleine, Mlle. de, daughter of Monsieur, 133; + marriage and death of, 185, 188 + +Vardes, 71, 148 + +Vatel 128 + +Vaujours, duchy of, 154 + +Vendome, Elisabeth de, 185 + +Vendome, M. de, 117 + +Venice, opera houses of, 214 + +Ventadour, Duc de, 85, 86 + +Versailles, palace of, 26; + Louis XIV. takes up residence at, 174, 370, 376; + fetes, 176-182, 269, 333, 365, etc.; + expenses of, 336, 337 + +_Vers d'Atys_, 81 + +Vexin, Comte de, 235 + +_Vie de Madame de Fouquerolles_ (Mademoiselle), 132 + +Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, 89 + +Villeroy, Marechal de, 290 + +Villeroy, Mme. de, 75 + +Vincennes, 111, 347 + +Vise, Donneau de _Mecure Galant_, 365 + +Vittori, 214 + +Voiture, 131 + +_Voyage de Chapelle et de Bachaumont_, 32 + + +W + +Westphalia, peace of, 99 + + + + +_A Selection from the Catalogue of_ + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +[Illustration] + +Complete Catalogues sent on application [Blank Page] + + +By ARVEDE BARINE + +The Youth _of_ La Grande Mademoiselle + +1627-1652 + +_Authorized English Version_ + +Octavo. With 25 illustrations from contemporaneous sources. Net, $3.00. +(By mail, $3.25.) + +"A book that is decidedly interesting and that is well worth reading. +The subject and the heroine is enough to make the volume attractive.... +The volume is handsomely printed, and the illustrations are +representative as well as accurate."--_The London Spectator._ + +"This brilliant biography sparkles and intoxicates with literary +vivacity. In connection with the career of the astonishing heroine, the +author presents a picture that has hardly been surpassed of Court life +and politics in France in the seventeenth century. The illustrations +from contemporary prints add greatly to the attractiveness of this +fascinating volume."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + +Louis XIV _and_ La Grande Mademoiselle + +1652-1693 + +_Authorized English Version_ + +Octavo. With 30 illustrations. Net, $3.00. (By mail, $3.25) + +(Uniform with "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle") + +"A new work on La Grande Mademoiselle by Arvede Barine is a promise of +delight to all who love wit and wisdom.... It is bewildering to think of +the many crowns and coronets that might have rested on the brow of the +dramatic heroine, a heroine who appears and disappears in clouds of +dust, with regiments of cavalry wheeling and whirling around her to the +sound of the trumpets--the stern devotee of reason who dismissed one of +her maids because she married for love--the philosopher who debated in +her mimic court whether an accepted lover is more unhappy than a +rejected lover in the absence of the beloved.... The story of this +heroine is told by Barine with that art which conceals art.... It forms +a fitting supplement to the equally delightful volume which preceded it +describing "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle."--_London Times._ + + +_New York_ . G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS . _London_ + + + + + Portraits of + the Seventeenth Century + + By C. A. Sainte-Beuve + + TRANSLATED BY KATHARINE P. WORMELEY + + Two Parts. Octavo. With about 30 Illustrations + Sold separately. Each, $2.50 net + + +_CONTENTS OF PART ONE_ + + Cardinal Richelieu + Duc de Rohan + Cardinal Mazarin + Duc de la Rochefoucauld + Duchesse de Longueville + Cardinal de Retz + Ninon de l'Enclos + Bussy-Rabutin + Tallemant des Reaux + Abbe de Rance + La Grande Mademoiselle + Comtesse de la Fayette + Duchesse d'Orleans + Louis XIV. + Louise de la Valliere + + +_CONTENTS OF PART TWO_ + + History of the French Academy + Corneille + Mlle. de Scudery + Moliere + La Fontaine + Pascal + Mme. de Sevigne + Bossuet + Boileau + Racine + Mme. de Caylus + Fenelon + Comte Antoine Hamilton + The Princesse des Ursins + +"The translator is a true servant and friend, not the proverbial +traducer; none but Miss Wormeley could have been selected for the task, +and she has given of her best, her indefatigable, conscientious, +intellectual best, which has made her the mistress of a difficult +art."--_The N. Y. Evening Mail._ + +=Send for Descriptive Circular= + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + + + + +Little French Masterpieces + +Representative Tales by the Best +French Authors + +Edited by +=ALEXANDER JESSUP= + +Translations by +=GEORGE BURNHAM IVES= + + With portraits in Photogravure. Issued in a small + and attractive form + +_Six volumes, 16{o}, in a box, cloth, $6.00_ + _Limp leather, $7.50_ +_Also sold separately_ _Cloth, $1.00_ _Leather, $1.25_ + + =I. Prosper Merimee.= Introduction by Grace King. + + =II. Gustave Flaubert.= Introduction by Frank Thomas + Marzials. + +=III. Theophile Gautier.= Introduction by Frederic-Cesar de + Sumichrast. + + =IV. Alphonse Daudet.= Introduction by William P. Trent. + + =V. Guy de Maupassant.= Introduction by Arthur Symons. + + =VI. Honore de Balzac.= Introduction by F. Brunetiere. + +"A capital idea is here admirably carried out. The supremacy of the +French in the delicately finished short story is undisputed, and the six +authors here represented are the finest flowers of this development of +French literature. The little volumes are all that is charming in +outward appearance, are literally volumes for the pocket, have portraits +of the authors, and each is introduced by a competent critic. The +stories themselves are well chosen and carefully translated."--_The +Outlook._ + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + + + + +By ELIZABETH W. CHAMPNEY + + +=Romance of the French Abbeys= + + Octavo. With 2 Coloured, 9 Photogravure, 50 other + Illustrations, and Ornamental Headpieces + + "A delightful blending of history, art and romance.... Many of + the stories related are thrilling and none the less exciting + because they belong to history."--_Chicago Dial._ + + "The book fully carries out the suggestion of Guizot, 'If you + are fond of romance, read history.'"--_Boston Transcript._ + + +=Romance of the Feudal Chateaux= + + Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations + +"The author has retold the legends and traditions which cluster about +the chateaux and castles, which have come down from the Middle Ages, +with the skillful touch of the artist and the grace of the practiced +writer.... The story of France takes on a new light as studied in +connection with the architecture of these fortified homes."--_Christian +Intelligencer._ + + +=Romance of the Renaissance Chateaux= + + Octavo. With 40 Photogravure and other Illustrations + +"The romances of those beautiful chateaux are placed by the author on +the lips of the people who lived in them. She gives us a feeling of +intimacy with characters whose names belong to history."--_N. Y. Mail +and Express._ + +"A book of high merit.... Good history, good story, and good +art."--_Hartford Courant._ + + +=Romance of the Bourbon Chateaux= + + Octavo. With Coloured Frontispiece and 47 Photogravure and + other Illustrations + +"Told with a keen eye to the romantic elements, and a clear +understanding of historical significance."--_Boston Transcript._ + +"It is a book that will be read with interest this year or ten or twenty +years hence."--_Hartford Courant._ + +=Four volumes. Illustrated. Each, in a box, net, $3.00 (By mail, $3.25.) +The set, 4 volumes in a box, net, $12.00= + + + =G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS= + =New York= =London= + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Note: Tags that surround the word =G. P.= indicate bold. + Tags that surround the word _Hartford Courant._ indicate italics. + ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + Transcriber's notes: + + Letters surrounded with {e} represent supertext. + + P.26. 'Qu'en croit' should be .Qu'on croit'. + P. 62. cammandemens should be commandemens. Changed. + P.62. 'voster' should be 'vostre'. Changed. + P.91. 'bourgeosie' should be 'bourgeoisie'. Changed. + Fontainbleau changed with Fontainebleau throughout the text. + P.187. vengance should be vengeance. Changed. + Footnote [187] < index. 'l'Opera' should be Histoire de 'l'Opera'. + P.132. Footnote 107: 'l'Ile' shoulde be 'l'Isle', changed. + Took out 'Court of France continued' in index. P. 382. + P.212, 'de' Mme. de changed to 'the' Mme. de. + P.229 'trival'. changed to 'trivial'. + Footone [269]. 'Historie' should be 'Histoire'. + P.329, 'Lauzon' should be 'Lauzun'. + P.347, 'suddently'should be 'suddenly'. + P.379. Arras, 'seige' of, should be 'siege'. + P.383. conversation, the delight of intelligent, + P.369. arrived 'a' the court should be 'at'. + + These correction are not indicated. + + Fixed multiple instances of: + + Fontainbleau to Fontainebleau. + d'Ormesson. + d'Aumale + d'Haussonville + d'Ormesson + Blois, Mlle. de + Princesse + + Accents that have been fixed: + + HELENE. + SEVIGNE. + Pres. + Perefixe. + Angelique. + Problemes. + Beziers. + evenement + Phedre + Conde + Litterature + notre + Opera + Marie-Therese + independants + Pedagogue + Ecrits + Moliere + misere + edifiantes + Pedagogue + Saint-Genevieve + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, by +Arvede Barine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV AND LA GRANDE *** + +***** This file should be named 37409.txt or 37409.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/0/37409/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jane Robins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37409.zip b/37409.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8453f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/37409.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c344b54 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #37409 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37409) |
