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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Volume
+II., by Madame La Marquise De Montespan
+
+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: The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Volume II.
+       Being the Historic Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV.
+
+Author: Madame La Marquise De Montespan
+
+Release Date: September 29, 2006 [EBook #3848]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARQUISE DE MONTESPAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF MADAME LA MARQUISE DE MONTESPAN
+
+Written by Herself
+
+
+Being the Historic Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Monsieur's Jealousy.--Diplomacy.--Discretion.--The Chevalier de
+Lorraine's Revenge.--The King's Suspicions.--His Indignation.--Public
+Version of the Matter.--The Funeral Sermon.
+
+
+After six months of wedlock, Henrietta of England had become so beautiful
+that the King drew every one's attention to this change, as if he were
+not unmindful of the fact that he had given this charming person to his
+brother instead of reserving her for himself by marrying her.
+
+Between cousins german attentions are permissible.  The Court, however,
+was not slow to notice the attentions paid by the King to this young
+English princess, and Monsieur, wholly indifferent though he was as
+regarded his wife, deemed it a point of honour to appear offended
+thereat.  Ever a slave to the laws of good breeding, the King showed much
+self-sacrifice in curbing this violent infatuation of his.  (I was
+Madame's maid of honour at the time.)  As he contemplated a Dutch
+expedition, in which the help of England would have counted for much, he
+resolved to send a negotiator to King Charles.  The young Princess was
+her brother's pet; it was upon her that the King's choice fell.
+
+She crossed the Channel under the pretext of paying a flying visit to her
+native country and her brother, but, in reality, it was to treat of
+matters of the utmost importance.
+
+Upon her return, Monsieur, the most curious and inquisitive of mortals,
+importuned her in a thousand ways, seeking to discover her secret; but
+she was a person both faithful and discreet.  Of her interview and
+journey he got only such news as was already published on the housetops.
+At such reticence he took umbrage; he grumbled, sulked, and would not
+speak to his wife.
+
+The Chevalier de Lorraine, who in that illustrious and luckless household
+was omnipotent, insulted the Princess in the most outrageous manner.
+Finding such daily slights and affronts unbearable, Madame complained to
+the Kings of France and England, who both exiled the Chevalier.
+
+Monsieur de Lorraine d'Armagnac, before leaving, gave instructions to
+Morel, one of Monsieur's kitchen officials, to poison the Princess, and
+this monster promptly executed the order by rubbing poison on her silver
+goblet.
+
+I no longer belonged to Madame's household,--my marriage had caused a
+change in my duties; but ever feeling deep attachment for this adorable
+princess, I hastened to Saint Cloud directly news reached me of her
+illness.  To my horror, I saw the sudden change which had come over her
+countenance; her horrible agony drew tears from the most callous, and
+approaching her I kissed her hand, in spite of her confessor, who sought
+to constrain her to be silent.  She then repeatedly told me that she was
+dying from the effects of poison.
+
+This she also told the King, whom she perceived shed tears of
+consternation and distress.
+
+That evening, at Versailles, the King said to me, "If this crime is my
+brother's handiwork, his head shall fall on the scaffold."
+
+When the body was opened, proof of poison was obtained, and poison of the
+most corrosive sort, for the stomach was eaten into in three places, and
+there was general inflammation.
+
+The King summoned his brother, in order to force him to explain so
+heinous a crime.  On perceiving his mien, Monsieur became pale and
+confused.  Rushing upon him sword in hand, the King was for demolishing
+him on the spot.  The captain of the guard hastened thither, and Monsieur
+swore by the Holy Ghost that he was guiltless of the death of his dear
+wife.
+
+Leaving him a prey to remorse, if guilty he were, the King commanded him
+to withdraw, and then shut himself up in his closet to prepare a
+consolatory message to the English Court.  According to the written
+statement, which was also published in the newspapers, Madame had been
+carried off by an attack of bilious colic.  Five or six bribed physicians
+certified to that effect, and a lying set of depositions, made for mere
+form's sake, bore out their statements in due course.
+
+The Abbe de Bossuet, charged to preach the funeral sermon, was apparently
+desirous of being as obliging as the doctors.  His homily led off with
+such fulsome praise of Monsieur, that, from that day forward, he lost all
+his credit, and sensible people thereafter only looked upon him as a vile
+sycophant, a mere dealer in flattery and fairy-tales.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Madame Scarron.--Her Petition.--The King's Aversion to Her.--She is
+Presented to Madame de Montespan.--The Queen of Portugal Thinks of
+Engaging Her.--Madame de Montespan Keeps Her Back.--The Pension
+Continued.--The King's Graciousness.--Rage of Mademoiselle d'Aumale.
+
+
+As all the pensions granted by the Queen-mother had ceased at her demise,
+the pensioners began to solicit the ministers anew, and all the
+petitions, as is customary, were sent direct to the King.
+
+One day his Majesty said to me, "Have you ever met in society a young
+widow, said to be very pretty, but, at the same time, extremely affected?
+It is to Madame Scarron that I allude, who, both before and after
+widowhood, has resided at the Marais."
+
+I replied that Madame Scarron was an extremely pleasant person, and not
+at all affected.  I had met her at the Richelieus' or the Albrets', where
+her charm of manner and agreeable wit had made her in universal request.
+I added a few words of recommendation concerning her petition, which,
+unfortunately, had just been torn up, and the King curtly rejoined, "You
+surprise me, madame; the portrait I had given to me of her was a totally
+different one."
+
+That same evening, when the young Marquis d'Alincour spoke to me about
+this petition which had never obtained any answer, I requested him to go
+and see Madame Scarron as soon as possible, and tell her that, in her own
+interest, I should be pleased to receive her.
+
+She lost no time in paying me a visit.  Her black attire served only to
+heighten the astounding whiteness of her complexion.  Effusively thanking
+me for interesting myself in her most painful case, she added:
+
+"There is, apparently, some obstacle against me.  I have presented two
+petitions and two memoranda; being unsupported, both have been left
+unanswered, and I have now just made the following resolve, madame, of
+which you will not disapprove.  M. Scarron, apparently well off, had only
+a life interest in his property.  Upon his death, his debts proved in
+excess of his capital, and I, deeming it my duty to respect his
+intentions and his memory, paid off everybody, and left myself nothing.
+To-day, Madame la Princesse de Nemours wishes me to accompany her to
+Lisbon as her secretary, or rather as her friend.
+
+"Being about to acquire supreme power as a sovereign, she intends, by
+some grand marriage, to keep me there, and then appoint me her
+lady-in-waiting."
+
+"And you submit without a murmur to such appalling exile?"  I said to
+Madame Scarron.  "Is such a pretty, charming person as yourself fitted
+for a Court of that kind, and for such an odd sort of climate?"
+
+"Madame, I have sought to shut my eyes to many things, being solely
+conscious of the horribly forlorn condition in which I find myself in my
+native country."
+
+"Have you reckoned the distance?  Did the Princess confess that she was
+going to carry you off to the other end of the world?  For her city of
+Lisbon, surrounded by precipices, is more than three hundred leagues from
+Paris."
+
+"At the age of three I voyaged to America, returning hither when I was
+eleven."
+
+"I am vexed with Mademoiselle d'Aumale for wanting to rob us of so
+charming a treasure.  But has she any right to act in this way?  Do you
+think her capable of contributing to your pleasure or your happiness?
+This young Queen of Portugal, under the guise of good-humour, hides a
+violent and irascible temperament.  I believe her to be thoroughly
+selfish; suppose that she neglects and despises you, after having
+profited by your company to while away the tedium of her journey?  Take
+my word for it, madame, you had better stay here with us; for there is
+no real society but in France, no wit but in our great world, no real
+happiness but in Paris.  Draw up another petition as quickly as
+possible, and send it to me.  I will present it myself, and to tell you
+this is tantamount to a promise that your plea shall succeed."
+
+[Mademoiselle d'Aumale, daughter of the Duc de Nemours, of the House of
+Savoy.  She was a blonde, pleasant-mannered enough, but short of stature.
+Her head was too big for her body; and this head of hers was full of
+conspiracies and coups d'etat.  She dethroned her husband in order to
+marry his brother.--EDITOR'S NOTE.]
+
+Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, all flushed with emotion, assured me of her
+gratitude with the ingenuous eloquence peculiar to herself.  We embraced
+as two friends of the Albret set should do, and three days later, the
+King received a new petition, not signed with the name of Scarron, but
+with that of D'Aubigne.
+
+The pension of two thousand francs, granted three years before her death
+by the Queen-mother, was renewed.  Madame Scarron had the honour of
+making her courtesy to the King, who thought her handsome, but grave in
+demeanour, and in a loud, clear voice, he said to her, "Madame, I kept
+you waiting; I was jealous of your friends."
+
+The Queen of Portugal knew that I had deprived her of her secretary,
+fellow-gossip, reader, Spanish teacher, stewardess, confidante, and
+lady-in-waiting.  She wrote to me complaining about this, and on taking
+leave of the King to go and reign in Portugal, she said, with rather a
+forced air of raillery:
+
+"I shall hate you as long as I live, and if ever you do me the honour of
+paying me a visit some day at Lisbon, I'll have you burned for your
+pains."
+
+Then she wanted to embrace me, as if we were equals, but this I
+deprecated as much from aversion as from respect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+La Fontaine.--Boileau.--Moliere.--Corneille.--Louis XIV.'s Opinion of
+Each of Them.
+
+
+The King's studies with his preceptor, Perefixe, had been of only a
+superficial sort, as, in accordance with the express order of the
+Queen-mother, this prelate had been mainly concerned about the health of
+his pupil, the Queen being, above all, desirous that he should have a
+good constitution.  "The rest comes easily enough, if a prince have but
+nobility of soul and a sense of duty," as the Queen often used to say.
+Her words came true.
+
+I came across several Spanish and Italian books in the library of the
+little apartments.  The "Pastor Fido," "Aminta," and the "Gerusalemme,"
+seemed to me, at first, to be the favourite works.  Then came Voiture's
+letters, the writings of Malherbe and De Balzac, the Fables of La
+Fontaine, the Satires of Boileau, and the delightful comedies of Moliere.
+Corneille's tragedies had been read, but not often.
+
+Until I came to Court, I had always looked upon Corneille as the greatest
+tragic dramatist in the world, and as the foremost of our poets and men
+of letters.  The King saved me from this error.
+
+Book in hand, he pointed out to me numberless faults of style, incoherent
+and fantastic imagery, sentiment alike exaggerated and a thousand leagues
+removed from nature.  He considered, and still considers, Pierre
+Corneille to be a blind enthusiast of the ancients, whom we deem great
+since we do not know them.  In his eyes, this declamatory poet was a
+republican more by virtue of his head than his heart or his
+intention,--one of those men more capricious than morose, who cannot
+reconcile themselves to what exists, and prefer to fall back upon bygone
+generations, not knowing how to live like friendly folk among their
+contemporaries.
+
+He liked La Fontaine better, by reason of his extreme naturalness, but
+his unbecoming conduct at the time of the Fouquet trial proved painful to
+his Majesty, who considered the following verses passing strange:
+
+".  .  .  .  Trust not in kings Their favour is but slippery; worse than
+that, It costs one dear, and errors such as these Full oft bring shame
+and scandal in their wake."
+
+"Long live Moliere!" added his Majesty; "there you have talent without
+artifice, poetry without rhapsody, satire without bitterness, pleasantry
+that is always apt, great knowledge of the human heart, and perpetual
+raillery that yet is not devoid of delicacy and compassion.  Moliere is a
+most charming man in every respect; I gave him a few hints for his
+'Tartuffe,' and such is his gratitude that he wants to make out that,
+without me, he would never have written that masterpiece."
+
+"You helped him, Sire, to produce it, and above all things, to carry out
+his main idea; and Moliere is right in thinking that, without a mind free
+from error, such as is yours, his masterpiece would never have been
+created."
+
+"It struck me," continued the King, "that some such thing was
+indispensable as a counterbalance in the vast machinery of my government,
+and I shall ever be the friend and supporter, not of Tartuffes, but of
+the 'Tartuffe,' as long as I live."
+
+"And Boileau, Sire?" I continued; "what place among your favourites does
+he fill?"
+
+"I like Boileau," replied the prince, "as a necessary scourge, which one
+can pit against the bad taste of second-rate authors.  His satires, of
+too personal, a nature, and consequently iniquitous, do not please me. He
+knows it, and, despite himself, he will amend this.  He is at work upon
+an 'Ars Poetica,' after the manner of Horace.  The little that he has
+read to me of this poem leads me to expect that it will be an important
+work.  The French language will continue to perfect itself by the help of
+literature like this, and Boileau, cruel though he be, is going to confer
+a great benefit upon all those who have to do with letters."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Birth of the Comte de Vegin.--Madame Scarron as Governess.--The King's
+Continued Dislike of Her.--Birth of the Duc du Maine.--Marriage of the
+Nun.
+
+
+The King became ever more attached to me personally, as also to the
+peculiarities of my temperament.  He had witnessed with satisfaction the
+birth of Madame de la Valliere's two children, and I thought that he
+would have the same affection for mine.  But I was wrong.  It was with
+feelings of trepidation and alarm that he contemplated my approaching
+confinement.  Had I given birth to a daughter, I am perfectly certain
+that, in his eyes, I should have been done for.
+
+I gave birth to the first Comte de Vegin, and, grasping my hand
+affectionately, the King said to me, "Be of good courage, madame; present
+princes to the Crown, and let those be scandalised who will!"  A few
+moments later he came back, and gave me a million for my expenses.
+
+It was, however, mutually arranged that the newborn Infant should be
+recognised later on, and that, for the time being, I was to have him
+brought up in secrecy and mystery.
+
+When dissuading Madame Scarron from undertaking a journey to Lisbon, I
+had my own private ends in view.  I considered her peculiarly fitted to
+superintend the education of the King's children, and to maintain with
+success the air of mysterious reserve which for a while was indispensable
+to me.  I deputed my brother, M. de Vivonne, to acquaint her with my
+proposals,--proposals which came from the King as well,--nor did I doubt
+for one moment as regarded her consent and complacency, being, as she
+was, alone in Paris.
+
+"Madame," said M. de Vivonne to her, "the Marquise is overjoyed at being
+able to offer you an important position of trust, which will change your
+life once for all."
+
+"The gentle, quiet life which, thanks to the kindness of the King, I now
+lead, is all that my ambition can desire," replied the widow, concealing
+her trouble from my brother; "but since the King wishes and commands it,
+I will renounce the liberty so dear to me, and will not hesitate to
+obey."
+
+Accordingly she came.  The King had a few moments' parley with her, in
+order to explain to her all his intentions relative to the new life upon
+which she was about to enter, and M. Bontems--[First Groom of the
+Chamber, and Keeper of the Privy Purse.]--furnished her with the
+necessary funds for establishing her household in suitable style.
+
+A month afterwards, I went incognito to her lonely residence, situate
+amid vast kitchen-gardens between Vaugirard and the Luxembourg.  The
+house was clean, commodious, thoroughly well appointed, and, not being
+overlooked by neighbours, the secret could but be safely kept.  Madame
+Scarron's domestics included two nurses, a waiting-maid, a physician, a
+courier, two footmen, a coachman, a postilion, and two cooks.
+
+Being provided with an excellent coach, she came to Saint Germain every
+week, to bring me my son, or else news of his welfare.
+
+Her habitually sad expression somewhat pained the King.  As I soon
+noticed their mutual embarrassment, I used to let Madame Scarron stay in
+an inner room all the time that his Majesty remained with me.
+
+In the following year, I gave birth to the Duc du Maine.  Mademoiselle
+d'Aubigne, who was waiting in the drawing-room, wrapped the child up
+carefully, and took it away from Paris with all speed.
+
+On her way she met with an adventure, comic in itself, and which
+mortified her much.  When told of it, I laughed not a little; and, in
+spite of all my excuses and expressions of regret, she always felt
+somewhat sore about this; in fact, she never quite got over it.
+
+Between Marly and Ruel, two mounted police officers, in pursuit of a nun
+who had escaped from a convent, bethought themselves of looking inside
+Madame Scarron's carriage.  Such inquisitiveness surprised her, and she
+put on her mask, and drew down the blinds.  Observing that she was
+closely followed by these soldiers, she gave a signal to her coachman,
+who instantly whipped up his horses, and drove at a furious rate.
+
+At Nanterre the gendarmes, being reinforced, cried out to the coachman to
+stop, and obliged Madame Scarron to get out.  She was taken to a tavern
+close by, where they asked her to remove her mask.  She made various
+excuses for not doing so, but at the mention of the lieutenant-general of
+police, she had to give in.
+
+"Madame," inquired the brigadier, "have you not been in a nunnery?"
+
+"Pray, monsieur, why do you ask?"
+
+"Be good enough to answer me, madame; repeat my question, and I insist
+upon a reply.  I have received instructions that I shall not hesitate to
+carry out."
+
+"I have lived with nuns, but that, monsieur, was a long while ago."
+
+"It is not a question of time.  What was your motive for leaving these
+ladies, and who enabled you to do so?"
+
+"I left the convent after my first communion.  I left it openly, and of
+my own free will.  Pray be good enough to allow me to continue my
+journey."
+
+"On leaving the convent, where did you go?"
+
+"First to one of my relatives, then to another, and at last to Paris,
+where I got married."
+
+"Married?  What, madame, are you married?  Oh, young lady, what behaviour
+is this?  Your simple, modest mien plainly shows what you were before
+this marriage.  But why did you want to get married?"
+
+As he said this, the little Duc du Maine, suffering, perhaps, from a
+twinge of colic, began to cry.  The brigadier, more amazed than ever,
+ordered the infant to be shown as well.
+
+Seeing that she could make no defence, Madame Scarron began to shed
+tears, and the officer, touched to pity, said:
+
+"Madame, I am sorry for your fault, for, as I see, you are a good mother.
+My orders are to take you to prison, and thence to the convent specified
+by the archbishop, but I warn you that if we catch the father of your
+child, he will hang.  As for you, who have been seduced, and who belong
+to a good family, tell me one of your relatives with whom you are on
+friendly terms, and I will undertake to inform them of your predicament."
+
+Madame Scarron, busy in soothing the Duc du Maine, durst not explain for
+fear of aggravating matters, but begged the brigadier to take her back to
+Saint Germain.
+
+At this juncture my brother arrived on his way back to Paris.  He
+recognised the carriage, which stood before the inn, with a crowd of
+peasants round it, and hastened to rescue the governess, for he soon
+succeeded in persuading these worthy police officers that the sobbing
+dame was not a runaway nun, and that the new-born infant came of a good
+stock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Saint Denis View.--Superstitions, Apparitions.--Projected Enlargement
+of Versailles.--Fresh Victims for Saint Denis.
+
+
+One evening I was walking at the far end of the long terrace of Saint
+Germain.  The King soon came thither, and pointing to Saint Denis, said,
+"That, madame, is a gloomy, funereal view, which makes me displeased and
+disgusted with this residence, fine though it be."
+
+"Sire," I replied, "in no other spot could a more magnificent view be
+found.  Yonder river winding afar through the vast plain, that noble
+forest divided by hunting roads into squares, that Calvary poised high in
+air, those bridges placed here and there to add to the attractiveness of
+the landscape, those flowery meadows set in the foreground as a rest to
+the eye, the broad stream of the Seine, which seemingly is fain to flow
+at a slower rate below your palace windows,--I do not think that any more
+charming combination of objects could be met with elsewhere, unless one
+went a long way from the capital."
+
+"The chateau of Saint Germain no longer pleases me," replied the King. "I
+shall enlarge Versailles and withdraw thither.  What I am going to say
+may astonish you, perhaps, as it comes from me, who am neither a
+whimsical female nor a prey to superstition.  A few days before the
+Queen, my mother, had her final seizure, I was walking here alone in this
+very spot.  A reddish light appeared above the monastery of Saint Denis,
+and a cloud which rose out of the ruddy glare assumed the shape of a
+hearse bearing the arms of Austria.  A few days afterwards my poor mother
+was removed to Saint Denis.  Four or five days before the horrible death
+of our adorable Henrietta, the arrows of Saint Denis appeared to me in a
+dream covered in dusky flames, and amid them I saw the spectre of Death,
+holding in his hand the necklaces and bracelets of a young lady.  The
+appalling death of my cousin followed close upon this presage.
+Henceforth, the view of Saint Denis spoils all these pleasant landscapes
+for me.  At Versailles fewer objects confront the eye; a park of that
+sort has its own wealth of natural beauty, which suffices.  I shall make
+Versailles a delightful resort, for which France will be grateful to me,
+and which my successors can neither neglect nor destroy without bringing
+to themselves dishonour."
+
+I sympathised with the reasons which made Saint Germain disagreeable to
+his Majesty.  Next summer the causes for such aversion became more
+numerous, as the King had the misfortune to lose the daughters which the
+Queen bore him, and they were carried to Saint Denis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+M. de Lauzun.--His Pretensions.--Erroneous Ideas of the Public.--The War
+in Candia.--M. de Lauzun Thinks He Will Secure a Throne for Himself.--The
+King Does Not Wish This.
+
+
+The Marquis de Guilain de Lauzun was, and still is, one of the handsomest
+men at Court.  Before my marriage, vanity prompted him to belong to the
+list of my suitors, but as his reputation in Paris was that of a man who
+had great success with the ladies, my family requested him either to come
+to the point or to retire, and he withdrew, though unwilling to break
+matters off altogether.
+
+When he saw me in the bonds of matrimony, and enjoying its liberty, he
+recommenced his somewhat equivocal pursuit of me, and managed to get
+himself talked about at my expense.  Society was unjust; M. de Lauzun
+only dared to pay me homage of an insipid sort.  He had success enough in
+other quarters, and I knew what I owed to some one as well as what I owed
+to myself.
+
+Ambition is the Marquis's ruling passion.  The simple role of a fine
+gentleman is, in his eyes, but a secondary one; his Magnificency requires
+a far more exalted platform than that.
+
+When he knew that war in Candia had broken out, and which side the kings
+of Christendom would necessarily take, his ideas became more exalted
+still.  He bethought himself of the strange fortunes of certain valiant
+warriors in the time of the Crusades.  He saw that the Lorraines, the
+Bouillons, and the Lusignans had won sceptres and crowns, and he
+flattered himself that the name of Lauzun might in this vast adventurous
+career gain glory too.
+
+He begged me to get him a command in this army of Candia, wherein the
+King had just permitted his own kinsmen to go and win laurels for
+themselves.  He was already a full colonel of dragoons, and one of the
+captains of the guard.  The King, who till then liked him well enough,
+considered such a proposition indecent, and, gauging or not gauging his
+intentions, he postponed until a later period these aspirations of Lauzun
+to the post of prince or sovereign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The Abbe d'Estrees.--Singular Offers of Service.--Madame de Montespan
+Declines His Offer of Intercession at the Vatican.--He Revenges Himself
+upon the King of Portugal.--Difference between a Fair Man and a Dark.
+
+
+Since the reign of Gabrielle d'Estrees, who died just as she was about to
+espouse her King, the D'Estrees family were treated at Court more with
+conventional favour than with esteem.  The first of that name was
+lieutenant-general, destined to wield the baton of a French marshal, on
+account of his ancestry as well as his own personal merit.  The Abbe
+d'Estrees passed for being in the Church what M. de Lauzun was in
+society,--a man who always met with success, and who also was madly
+ambitious.
+
+While still very young, he had been appointed to the bishopric of Laon,
+which, in conjunction with two splendid abbeys, brought him in a handsome
+revenue.  The Duc and Duchesse de Vendome were as fond of him as one of
+their own kin, doing nothing without first consulting him, everywhere
+praising and extolling his abilities, which were worthy of a ministry.
+
+This prelate desired above all things to be made a cardinal.  Under Henri
+IV. he could easily have had his wish, but at that time he was not yet
+born.  He imagined that on the strength of my credit he could procure the
+biretta for himself.
+
+As soon as he saw me recognised as a mistress, he paid assiduous court to
+me, never losing an opportunity of everywhere sounding my praise. One day
+he said to me: "Madame, every one pities you on account of the vexation
+and grief which the Marquis de Montespan has caused you.  If you will
+confide in me,--that is, if you will let me represent your interests with
+the Cardinals and the Holy Father,--I heartily offer you my services as
+mediator and advocate with regard to the question of nullity.  At an
+early age I studied theology and ecclesiastical law.  Your marriage may
+be considered null and void, according to this or that point of view. You
+know that upon the death of the Princesse de Nemours, Mademoiselle de
+Nemours and Mademoiselle d'Aumale, her two daughters, came to reside with
+Madame de Vendome, my cousin, a relative and a friend of their mother.
+The eldest I first of all married to Duc Charles de Lorraine, heir to the
+present Duc de Lorraine.  His Majesty did not approve of this marriage,
+which was contrary to his politics.  His Majesty deigned to explain
+himself and open out to me upon the subject.  I at once consulted my
+books, and found all the means necessary for dissolving such a marriage.
+So true, indeed is this, that I forthwith remarried Mademoiselle de
+Nemours to the Duc de Savoie.  This took place under your very eyes. Soon
+afterwards I married her younger sister to the King of Portugal, and
+accompanied her to Lisbon, where the Portuguese gave her a fairly warm
+reception.  Her young husband is tall and fair, with a pleasant,
+distinguished face; he loves his wife, and is only moderately beloved in
+return.  Is she wrong or is she right?  Now, I will tell you.  The
+monarch is well-made, but a childish infirmity has left one whole side of
+him somewhat weak, and he limps.  Mademoiselle d'Aumale, or to speak more
+correctly, the Queen of Portugal, writes letter upon letter to me,
+describing her situation.  She believed herself pregnant, and had even
+announced the news to Madame de Vendome, as well as to Madame de Savoie,
+her sister.  Now it appears that this is not the case.  She is vexed and
+disgusted.  I am about to join her at Lisbon.  She is inclined to place
+the crown upon the young brother of the King, requesting the latter to
+seek the seclusion of a monastery.  I can see that this new idea of the
+youthful Queen's will necessitate my visiting the Vatican.  Allow me,
+madame, to have charge of your interests.  Do not have the slightest fear
+but that I shall protect them zealously and intelligently, killing thus
+two birds with one stone."
+
+"Pray accept my humble thanks," I replied to the Bishop.  "The reigning
+Sovereign Pontiff has never shown me any favour whatever, and is in
+nowise one of my friends.  What you desire to do for me at Rome deserves
+some signal mark of gratitude in return, but I cannot get you a
+cardinal's hat, for a thousand reasons.
+
+"Mademoiselle de Nemours, when leaving us, promised to hate me as long as
+she lived, and to have me burnt at an 'auto da fe' whenever she got the
+chance.  Do not let her know that you have any regard for me, or you
+might lose her affection.
+
+"I hope that the weak side of her husband, the King, may get stronger,
+and that you will not help to put the young monarch in a convent of
+monks.
+
+"In any case, my lord Bishop, do not breathe it to a living soul that you
+have told me of such strange resolutions as these; for my own part, I
+will safely keep your secret, and pray God to have you in his holy
+keeping."
+
+The Bishop of Laon was not a man to be rebuffed by pleasantry such as
+this.  He declared the King of Portugal to be impotent, after what the
+Queen had expressly stated.  The Pope annulled the marriage, and the
+Queen courageously wedded her husband's brother, who had no congenital
+weakness of any sort, and who was, as every one knew, of dark complexion.
+
+At the request of the Queen, the Bishop of Laon was afterwards presented
+with the hat, and is, today, my lord Cardinal d'Estrees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Mademoiselle de Valois.--Mademoiselle d'Orleans.--Mademoiselle
+d'Alencon.--M. de Savoie.--His Love-letters.--His Marriage with
+Mademoiselle de Valois.--M. de Guise and Mademoiselle d'Alencon.--Their
+Marriage Ceremony.--Madame de Montespan's Dog.--Mademoiselle
+d'Orleans.--Her Marriage with the Duke of Tuscany.--The Bishop de Bonzy.
+
+
+By his second wife, Marguerite de Lorraine, Gaston de France had three
+daughters, and being devoid of energy, ability, or greatness of
+character, they did not object when the King married them to sovereigns
+of the third-rate order.
+
+Upon these three marriages I should like to make some remarks, on account
+of certain singular details connected therewith, and because of the
+joking to which they gave rise.
+
+Mademoiselle de Montpensier had flatly refused the Duc de Savoie, because
+Madame de Savoie, daughter of Henri IV., was still living, ruling her
+estate like a woman of authority; and therefore, to this stepmother, a
+king's daughter, Mademoiselle had to give way, she being but the daughter
+of a French prince who died in disgrace and was forgotten.
+
+Being refused by the elder princess, M. de Savoie, still quite young,
+sought the hand of her sister, Mademoiselle de Valois.  He wrote her a
+letter which, unfortunately, was somewhat singular in style, and which,
+unfortunately too, fell into the hands of Mademoiselle de Montpensier.
+Like her late father, Gaston, she plumed herself upon her wit and
+eloquence; she caused several copies of the effusion to be printed and
+circulated at Court.  I will include it in these Memoirs, as it cannot
+but prove entertaining.  The heroes of Greece, and even of Troy, possibly
+delivered their compliments in somewhat better fashion, if we may judge
+by the version preserved for us by Homer.
+
+FROM HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUC DE SAVOIE TO HIS MOST HONOURED COUSIN,
+MADEMOISELLE DE VALOIS.
+
+MY DEAR COUSIN:--As the pen must needs perform the office of the tongue,
+and as it expresses the feelings of my heart, I doubt not but that I am
+at great disadvantage, since the depth of these feelings it cannot
+express, nor rightly convince you that, having given all myself to you,
+nothing remains either to give or to desire, save to find such affection
+pleasantly reciprocated.  Thus, in these lines, I earnestly beseech you
+to return my love,--lines which give you the first hints of that fire
+which your many lovely qualities have lighted in my soul.  They create in
+me an inconceivable impatience closely to contemplate that which now I
+admire at a distance, and to convince you by various proofs that, with
+matchless loyalty and passion,
+
+I am, dear Cousin, Your most humble slave and servant, EMMANUEL.
+
+Gentle as an angel, Mademoiselle de Valois desired just what everybody
+else did.  The youngest of the three princesses was named Mademoiselle
+d'Alencon.  With a trifle more wit and dash, she could have maintained
+her position at Court, where so charming a face as hers was fitted to
+make its mark; but her fine dark eyes did but express indifference and
+vacuity, seemingly unconscious of the pleasure to be got in this world
+when one is young, good-looking, shapely, a princess of the blood, and
+cousin german of the King besides.
+
+Marguerite de Lorraine, her mother, married her to the Duc de Guise,
+their near relative, who, without ambition or pretension, seemed almost
+astonished to see that the King gave, not a dowry, but a most lovely
+verdure--[Drawing-room tapestry, much in vogue at that time]--, and an
+enamelled dinner-service.
+
+The marriage was celebrated at the chateau, without any special
+ceremonies or preparations; so much so that two cushions, which had been
+forgotten, had to be hastily fetched.  I saw what was the matter, and
+motioning the two attendants of the royal sacristy, I whispered to them
+to fetch what was wanted from my own apartment.
+
+Not knowing to what use these cushions were to be put, my 'valet de
+chambre' brought the flowered velvet ones, on which my dogs were wont to
+lie.  I noticed this just as their Highnesses were about to kneel down,
+and I felt so irresistibly inclined to laugh that I was obliged to retire
+to my room to avoid bursting out laughing before everybody.
+
+Fortunately the Guises did not get to know of this little detail until
+long after, or they might have imagined that it was a planned piece of
+malicious mockery.  However, it is only fair to admit that the marriage
+was treated in a very off-hand way, and it is that which always happens
+to people whose modesty and candour hinder them from posing and talking
+big when they get the chance.  A strange delusion, truly!
+
+Mademoiselle d'Orleans, the eldest child of the second marriage, is
+considered one of the prettiest and most graceful of blondes.  Her
+endowments were surely all that a princess could need, if one except
+reserve in speaking, and a general dignity of deportment.
+
+When it was a question of giving her to Prince de Medici, Grand Duke of
+Tuscany, she was all the while sincerely attached to handsome Prince
+Charles de Lorraine, her maternal cousin.  But the King, who, in his
+heart of hearts, wanted to get hold of Lorraine for himself, could not
+sanction this union; nay, he did more: he opposed it.  Accordingly the
+Princess, being urged to do so by her mother, consented to go to Italy,
+and as we say at Court, expatriate herself.
+
+The Bishop of Nziers, named De Bonzy, the Tuscan charge d'afaires, came,
+on behalf of the Medici family, to make formal demand of her hand, and
+had undertaken to bring her to her husband with all despatch.  He had
+undertaken an all too difficult task.
+
+"Monsieur de Bonzy," said she to the prelate, "as it is you who here play
+the part of interpreter and cavalier of honour as it is you, moreover,
+who have to drag me away from my native country, I have to inform you
+that it is my intention to leave it as slowly as possible, and to
+contemplate it at my leisure before quitting it forever."
+
+And, indeed, the Princess desired to make a stay more or less long in
+every town en route.  If, on the way, she noticed a convent of any
+importance, she at once asked to be taken thither, and, in default of
+other pastime or pretext, she requested them to say complines with full
+choral accompaniment.
+
+If she saw some castle or other, she inquired the name of its owner, and,
+though she hardly knew the inmates, was wont to invite herself to dinner
+and supper.
+
+The Bishop of Beziers grew disconsolate.  He wrote letters to the Court,
+which he sent by special courier, and I said to the King, "Pray, Sire,
+let her do as she likes; she will surely have time enough to look at her
+husband later on."
+
+Near Saint Fargeau, when the Princess heard that this estate was her
+sister's, Mademoiselle sent a gentleman with her compliments, to ask if
+she would give her shelter for twenty-four hours.  Instead of twenty-four
+hours' stay, she proceeded to take up her abode there; and, provided with
+a gun and dogs, she wandered all over the fields, always accompanied by
+the worthy Bishop, at whose utter exhaustion she was highly amused.
+
+At length she left her native land, and joined her husband, who seemed
+somewhat sulky at all this delay.
+
+"I cannot love you just yet," quoth she, weeping; "my heart is still
+another's, and it is impossible to break off such attachments without
+much time and much pain.  Pray treat me with gentleness, for if you are
+severe, I shall not do you any harm, but I shall go back to the
+Luxembourg to my mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+Random Recollections.--Madame de Montespan Withdraws from Politics.--The
+Queen's Dowry.--First Campaign in Flanders.--The Queen Meets the
+King.--Some One Else Sees Him First.--The Queen's Anger at La Valliere.
+
+
+In compiling these Memoirs, I have never pretended to keep a strictly
+regular diary, where events are set down chronologically and in their
+proper order.  I write as I recollect; some of my recollections are
+chronicled sooner, and others later.  Thus it happens that the King's
+first conquests are only now mentioned in the present chapter, although
+they occurred in the year 1667, at the beginning of my credit and my
+favour.
+
+I was naturally inclined for politics, and should have liked the hazard
+of the game; but I suppose that the King considered me more frivolous and
+giddy than I really was, for, despite the strong friendship with which he
+has honoured me, he has never been gracious enough to initiate me into
+the secrets of the Cabinet and the State.
+
+If this sort of exclusion or ostracism served to wound my self-respect,
+it nevertheless had its special advantage for me, for in epochs less
+glorious or less brilliant (that is to say, in times of failure), they
+could never cavil at advice or counsel which I had given, nor blame me
+for the shortcomings of my proteges or creatures.
+
+The King was born ambitious.  This prince will not admit it; he gives a
+thousand reasons in justification of his conquests.  But the desire for
+conquest proves him to be a conqueror, and one is not a conqueror without
+being ambitious.  I think I can explain myself by mentioning the treaty
+drawn up at the time of his marriage.  It was stipulated that the Infanta
+should have rights over the Netherlands, then possessed by Don Balthazar,
+Prince of Spain.  But it was agreed to give the Princess Maria Theresa a
+handsome dowry, in lieu of which she signed a paper renouncing her
+rights.
+
+Her father, King Philip IV., died at the close of the year 1665, and the
+Queen-mother besought our King not to take advantage of the minority of
+the young Charles II., his brother-in-law, by troubling Spain afresh with
+his pretensions.
+
+Hardly had Anne of Austria been interred, when the King informed the
+Spanish Court of his claims.  In the spring of the following year, he
+himself led an army into Spanish Flanders, where his appearance was not
+expected.  These fine provinces, badly provisioned and badly fortified,
+made but a merely formal resistance to Conde, Turenne, Crequi, and all
+our illustrious generals, who, led by the King in person, wrought the
+troops to a wild pitch of enthusiasm.
+
+The King had left the Infanta, his wife, at Compiegne, and it was there
+that we awaited either news of the army or orders to advance.
+
+From Compiegne we went to La Fere, where we heard that the King was
+coming to receive us.  Suddenly it was rumoured that the Duchesse de la
+Valliere had just arrived, and that she was acting in accordance with
+orders received.
+
+The Queen began to weep, and, sobbing, bewailed her destiny.  She was
+seized by convulsions and violent retching, much to the alarm of her
+ladies and the physicians.
+
+Next day, after mass, the Duchesse and the Marquise de la Valliere came
+to make their courtesy to the Queen, who, staring at them, said not a
+word.  When dinner-time came, she gave orders that no food should be
+served to them, but the officials supplied this to them in secret,
+fearing to be compromised.
+
+In the coach, the Queen complained greatly of Mademoiselle de la
+Valliere, and the Princesse de Bade, one of the ladies-in-waiting, said
+to me, "Could you have believed that, with such gentleness, one could
+also display such impudence?"  The Duchesse de Montausier, I know not
+why, expressed herself to me in the same terms of amazement.  I replied
+that, "Were I in that fair lady's place, I should dare to show myself
+least of all to the Queen, for fear of grieving her Majesty."  I was
+often rebuked afterwards for this speech, which, I admit, I delivered
+somewhat thoughtlessly.
+
+On leaving La Fere, the Queen gave particular orders to let the Duchess
+have no relays, so that she could not follow; but the Master of the Horse
+had caused these to be brought to her from Versailles, so nothing was
+wanting.
+
+On putting my head out of window, when we turned a corner of the road, I
+saw that La Valliere's coach, with six horses, was following quite close
+behind; but I took care not to tell the Queen, who believed those ladies
+were a long way off.
+
+All at once, on a height, we saw a body of horsemen approaching.  The
+King could be plainly distinguished, riding at their head.  La Valliere's
+coach immediately left the main road, and drove across country, while the
+Queen called out to have it stopped; but the King embraced its occupants,
+and then it drove off at a gallop to a chateau already fixed upon for its
+reception.
+
+I like to be just, and it is my duty to be so.  This mark of irreverence
+towards the Queen is the only one for which Mademoiselle de la Valliere
+can be blamed; but she would never have done such a thing of her own
+accord; it was all the fault of the Marquise, blinded as she was by
+ambition.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+The King Contemplates the Conquest of Holland.--The Grand Seignior's
+Embassy.--Madame de Montespan's Chance of Becoming First Lady of the
+Harem.--Anxiety to Conclude Negotiations with so Passionate an
+Ambassador.--Help Sent to Candia.--With Disastrous Results.--Death of the
+Duc de Beaufort.--Why It Is Good to Carry About the Picture of One's
+Lady-love.
+
+
+Having gained possession of the Netherlands in the name of the Infanta,
+his consort, the King seriously contemplated the subjugation of the
+Dutch, and possibly also the invasion of these rich countries. Meanwhile,
+he privately intimated as much to the princes of Europe, promising to
+each of them some personal and particular advantage in exchange for a
+guarantee of assistance or neutrality in this matter.
+
+The Grand Seignior, hearing that the Pope and the Venetians were urging
+our Cabinet to come to the help of Candia, lost no time in sending a
+splendid embassy to Paris, to congratulate the young King upon his
+conquest of Flanders, and to predict for him all success in the paths
+along which ambition might lead him.
+
+[This important island of Candia, the last powerful bulwark of
+Christendom against the Turk, belonged at that time to Venice. EDITOR'S
+NOTE.]
+
+Being naturally fond of show and display, the King left nothing undone
+which might give brilliance to the reception of so renowned an embassy.
+The Court wore an air of such splendour and magnificence that these
+Mussulmans, used though they were to Asiatic pomp, seemed surprised and
+amazed at so brilliant a reception, at which nothing, indeed, had been
+forgotten.
+
+The ambassador-in-chief was a pleasant young man, tall, shapely, and
+almost as good-looking as the King.  This Turk had splendidly shaped
+hands, and eyes that shone with extraordinary brilliance.  He conceived
+an ardent passion for me, a passion that went to such lengths that he
+sacrificed thereto all his gravity, all his stately Ottoman demeanour.
+
+When I passed by, he saluted me, placing his hand to his heart, stopping
+to gaze at me intently, and watch me as long as possible.  Being
+introduced (either by chance or design) to my Paris jeweller, he seized a
+gold box upon which he saw my portrait, and, giving the jeweller a
+considerable sum, refused to part with the picture, however much they
+begged him to do so.
+
+One fine morning, in spite of his turban, he got into the large chapel of
+the chateau during mass, and while the Court of France was adoring the
+true God, Ibrahim knelt down in front of me, which made every one laugh,
+including the King.
+
+All such absurdities caused the ministers to give him the required reply
+with all speed, and they were not backward in granting him a farewell
+audience.
+
+When the time came for him to go, Ibrahim burst into tears, exclaiming
+that, in his country, I should be in the first rank, whereas at Saint
+Germain I was only in the second; and he charged his interpreter to tell
+the King of France that the unhappy Ibrahim would never get over this
+visit to his Court.
+
+The King replied, with a smile, that he had "better become a Christian,
+and stay with us."
+
+At these words the ambassador turned pale, and glancing downwards,
+withdrew, forgetting to salute his Majesty.
+
+Then he returned, and made all his bows quite nicely; nor would he quit
+the capital before he had sent me his portrait, some pretty verses in
+Italian, which he had caused to be composed, and besides this, a set of
+amber ornaments, the most beautiful of any worn by ladies of the harem.
+
+Despite this imposing and costly embassy, despite the ambassador's
+compliment, who referred to the King as "Eldest Son of the Sun," this
+same Son of the Sun despatched seven thousand picked troops to help
+Venice against the Turks.  To this detachment the Venetian Republic sent
+fourteen vessels laden with their own soldiers, under the leadership of
+our Duc de Beaufort, Grand Admiral of France, and Lieutenant-General Duc
+de Navailles.
+
+Had these troops arrived in the nick of time, they would have saved
+Candia, but by a sudden accident all was lost, and after so terrible a
+reverse, the Isle of Candia, wrested from the potentates of Europe and
+Christendom, fell a prey to the infidels.
+
+A pistol-shot fired at a Turk blew up several barrels of gunpowder
+belonging to a large magazine captured from the enemy.  Our troops,
+thinking that a mine had been sprung, fled in headlong confusion, never
+even caring to save their muskets.  The Turks butchered them in the most
+frightful manner.  In this huge massacre, some of our most promising
+officers perished, and the Duc de Beaufort was never found either among
+the wounded or the slain.
+
+The young Comte de Guiche, of whom I shall presently speak, had his hand
+smashed, and if on his breast he had not worn a portrait of Madame,--[The
+ill-fated Duchesse d'Orleans.]--the sword of a Turk would have struck him
+to the heart.
+
+The King felt sorry that he had only despatched seven thousand men
+thither.  But when M. de Louvois informed him that the whole detachment
+had been almost annihilated, he regretted having sent so many.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+Danger of Harbouring a Malcontent.--The King's Policy with Regard to
+Lorraine.--Advice of Madame de Thianges.--Conquest of Lorraine.--The
+Lorraines Surrender to the Emperor.
+
+
+The petty princes placed too near a great potentate are just like the
+shrubs that grow beside an old oak tree, whose broad shade blights them,
+while its roots undermine and sap them, till at last they are weakened
+and destroyed.
+
+When young Gaston, son of Henri IV., seeking to get free from Richelieu's
+insolent despotism, withdrew to the Duc de Lorraine, the Cardinal uttered
+a cry of joy, and remarked to Louis XIII., that vindictive, jealous
+prince, "Oh, what a good turn the Duc d'Orleans has just done you to-day!
+By going to stay with M. de Lorraine, he will oust him!"
+
+The Court soon got to know that M. de Lorraine had given Monsieur a most
+cordial reception, and that the latter, who, like his father, was very
+susceptible, had proposed for the hand of the Princesse Marguerite, a
+charming person, and sister to the reigning Duke.
+
+King Louis XIII. openly opposed this marriage, which nevertheless was
+arranged for, and celebrated partly at Nancy and partly at Luneville.
+
+Such complacence earned for M. de Lorraine the indignation of the King
+and his minister, the Cardinal.  They waged against him a war of revenge,
+or rather of spoliation, and as the prince, being unable then to offer
+any serious resistance, was sensible enough to surrender, he got off with
+the sacrifice of certain portions of his territory.  He also had to
+witness the demolition by France of the fine fortifications of Nancy.
+
+Things were at this juncture when our young King assumed the management
+of affairs.  The policy pursued by Louis XIII. and his Cardinal seemed to
+him an advantageous one, also; he lured to his capital M. de Lorraine,
+who was still young and a widower, and by every conceivable pretext he
+was prevented from marrying again.  Lorraine had a nephew,--[Prince
+Charles.]--a young man of great promise, to whom the uncle there and then
+offered to make over all his property and rights, if the King would
+honour him with his protection and marry him to whomsoever he fancied.
+The King would not consent to a marriage of any kind, having a firm,
+persistent desire in this way to make the line of these two princes
+extinct.
+
+I was talking about this one day in the King's chamber, when my sister De
+Thianges had the hardihood to say:
+
+"I hear that the Messieurs de Lorraine are about to take their departure,
+and that, having lost all hope of making themselves beloved, they have
+resolved to make themselves feared."
+
+The King looked impassively at my sister, showing not a sign of emotion,
+and he said to her:
+
+"Do you visit there?"
+
+"Sire," replied Madame de Thianges, unabashed, "augment the number, not
+of your enemies, but of your friends; of all policies that is the best."
+The King never said a word.
+
+Soon afterwards, the Lorraines appealed secretly to the Empire and the
+Emperor.  The King was only waiting for such an opportunity; he forthwith
+sent Marshal de Crequi at the head of twenty thousand men, who invaded
+Lorraine, which had already been ravaged, and the Duchy of Bar, which had
+not.
+
+The manifesto stated the motives for such complaint, alleging that the
+Duke had not been at the pains to observe the Treaty of Metz with regard
+to the surrender of Harsal, and, as a punishment, his entire sovereignty
+would be confiscated.
+
+A large army then marched upon Peronne; it had been formed at Saint
+Germain, and was divided into two columns.  The first went to join the
+Duc de Crequi, who occupied Lorraine; the other took up its position near
+Sedan, to keep the Flemish and Dutch in check in case of any attempted
+rebellion.
+
+The Lorraines, in despair, gave themselves up to the Emperor, who, aware
+of their fine soldierly qualities, bestowed upon both high posts of
+command.  They caused great losses to France and keen anxiety to her
+King.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+Embassy of the King of Arda.--Political Influence Exercised by the Good
+Looks of Madame de Montespan.--Gifts of the Envoys.--What the Comte de
+Vegin Takes for a Horse.--Madame de Montespan Entertains Them in Her Own
+House.--Three Missionaries Recommend Her to Them.
+
+
+From the wilds of Africa, the King of Arda sent an embassy no less
+brilliant and far more singular than that of the Turks.  This African
+prince, hearing of the French King's noble character and of his recent
+conquests, proposed to form with him a political and commercial alliance,
+and sought his support against the English and the Dutch, his near
+neighbours.
+
+The King said to me; "Madame, I believe Ibrahim has proclaimed your
+charms even to the Africans; you bring embassies to me from the other end
+of the globe.  For Heaven's sake, don't show yourself, or these new
+envoys will utterly lose their heads, too."
+
+The envoys referred to were notable for their rich, semibarbaric dress,
+but not one of them was like Ibrahim.  They brought the King a present,
+in the shape of a tiger, a panther, and two splendid lions.  To the Queen
+they gave a sort of pheasant covered with gold and blue feathers, which
+burst out laughing while looking intensely grave, to the great diversion
+of every one.  They also brought to the princess a little blackamoor,
+extremely well-made, who could never grow any bigger, and of which she,
+unfortunately, grew very fond.--[Later on the writer explains herself
+more fully.--EDITOR'S NOTE.]
+
+These Africans also came in ceremonious fashion to present their respects
+to me.  They greeted me as the "second spouse of the King" (which greatly
+offended the Queen), and in the name of the King of Arda, they presented
+me with a necklace of large pearls, and two bracelets of priceless
+value,--splendid Oriental sapphires, the finest in the world.
+
+I gave orders for my children to be brought to them.  On seeing these,
+they prostrated themselves.  The little Comte de Vein, profiting by their
+attitude, began to ride pick-a-back on one of them, who did not seem
+offended at this, but carried the child about for a little while.
+
+The ceremony of their presentation will, doubtless, have been described
+in various other books; but I cannot forbear mentioning one incident.  As
+soon as the curtains of the throne were drawn aside, and they saw the
+King wearing all his decorations and ablaze with jewels, they put their
+hands up to their eyes, pretending to be dazzled by the splendour of his
+presence, and then they flung themselves down at full length upon the
+ground, the better to express their adoration.
+
+I invited them to visit me at the Chateau de Clagny, my favourite
+country-seat, and there I caused a sumptuous collation to be served to
+them in accordance with their tastes.  Plain roast meat they ate with
+avidity; other dishes seemed to inspire them with distrust,--they looked
+closely at them, and then went off to something else.
+
+I do not interfere in affairs of State, but I wanted to know from what
+source in so remote a country they could have obtained any positive
+information as to the secrets of the Court of France.  Through the
+interpreter, they replied that three travellers--missionaries--had stayed
+for a couple of months with their master, the King of Arda, and the good
+fathers had told them "that Madame de Montespan was the second spouse of
+the great King."  These same missionaries had chosen the sort of presents
+which they were to give me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+Comte de Vegin, Abbe of Saint Germain des Pres.--Revenues Required, but
+Not the Cowl.--Discussion between the King and the Marquise.--Madame
+Scarron Chosen as Arbiter.--An Unanswerable Argument.
+
+
+The wealthy abbey of Saint Germain des Pres--[Yielding a revenue of five
+hundred thousand livres.]--was vacant; the King appointed thereto his
+son, the Comte de Vegin, and as the Benedictine monks secretly complained
+that they should have given to them as chief a child almost still in its
+cradle, the King instructed the grand almoner to remind them that they
+had had as abbes in preceding reigns princes who were married and of
+warlike tastes.  "Such abuses," said the prelate, "were more than
+reprehensible; his Majesty is incapable of wishing to renew them. As to
+the Prince's extreme youth, that is in no way prejudicial to you, my
+brethren, as monseigneur will be suitably represented by his
+vicar-general until such time as he is able to assume the governorship
+himself."
+
+"Is it your intention to condemn my son to be an ecclesiastic?"  I asked
+the King, in amazement.
+
+"Madame, these are my views," he answered: "If the Comte de Vegin as he
+grows up should continue to show pluck and a taste for things military,
+as by birth he is bound to do, we will relieve him of the abbey on the
+eve of his marriage, while he will have profited thereby up to that time.
+If, on the contrary, my son should show but inferior mental capacity, and
+a pusillanimous character, there will be no harm in his remaining among
+the Church folk; he will be far better off there than elsewhere.  The
+essential thing for a parent is to study carefully and in good time the
+proper vocation for his children; the essential thing for the ruler of an
+Empire is to employ the right people to do the work in hand."
+
+"Will my son, on receiving this abbey, have to wear the dress of his
+office?"  I asked.  "Imagine the Comte de Vegin an abbe!"
+
+"Do not feel the slightest repugnance on that score," added the King.
+"The Electors of the German Empire are nearly all of them ecclesiastics;
+our own history of France will show you that the sons of kings were
+bishops or mere abbes; the grandson of the Duc de Savoie is a cardinal
+and an archbishop, and King Charles X., my grandfather's paternal uncle,
+nearly became King of France and cardinal at one and the same time."
+
+At this moment Madame Scarron came in.  "Madame, we will make you our
+judge in the argument that we are now having," said his Majesty.  "Do you
+think there is any objection to our giving to little Vegin the dress of
+an abbe?"
+
+"On the contrary, Sire," replied the governess, smiling, "such a dress
+will inspire him betimes with reserve and modesty, strengthening his
+principles, and making far more profitable to him the excellent education
+which he is now receiving."
+
+"I am obliged to you for your opinion," said the King, "and I flatter
+myself, madame, that you see things in the same light that I do."
+
+When the King had gone, Madame Scarron asked me why I disapproved of this
+abbey.
+
+"I do not wish to deny so rich a benefice to my son," I replied, "but it
+seems to me that he might enjoy the revenues therefrom, without being
+obliged to wear the livery.  Is not the King powerful enough to effect
+this?"
+
+"You are hardly just, madame," replied the governess, in a serious tone.
+"If our religion be a true one, God himself is at the head of it, and for
+so supreme a Chief the sons of kings are but of small account."
+
+With an argument such as this she closed my mouth, leaving me quite
+amazed, and next day she smiled with delight when she presented the
+little Comte de Vegin dressed as a little abbe.
+
+She was careful to see that the crozier, mitre, and cross were painted on
+the panels of his carriage, and let the post of vicar-general be given to
+one of her pious friends who was presented to me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Once a Queen, Always a Queen.--An Anonymous Letter.--The Queen's
+Confidence.--She Has a Sermon Preached against Madame de Montespan.--Who
+the Preacher was.--One Scandal May Avert Another.
+
+
+I related how, near La Fere, at the time of the Flanders campaign, Madame
+de la Valliere's coach, at the risk of offending the Queen, left the main
+road and took a short cut across country, so as to get on ahead, and
+arrive before anybody else.  By this the Duchess thought to give her
+royal friend a great mark of her attachment.  On the contrary, it was the
+first cause for that coolness which the King afterwards displayed.
+
+"Fain would he be beloved, yet loved with tact."
+
+The very next day his Majesty, prevailed upon La Valliere to say that
+such a style of travelling was too fatiguing for her.  She had the honour
+of dining with the Queen, and then she returned to the little chateau of
+Versailles, so as to be near her children.
+
+The King arranged with Madame de Montausier, lady-in-waiting to the
+Queen, that I should use her rooms to dress and write in, and that his
+Majesty should be free to come there when he liked, and have a quiet chat
+with me about matters of interest.
+
+The Queen, whom I had managed to please by my amusing talk, always kept
+me close to her side, both when taking long walks or playing cards. At a
+given signal, a knock overhead, I used to leave the Queen, excusing
+myself on the score of a headache, or arrears of correspondence; in
+short, I managed to get away as best I could.
+
+The King left us in order to capture Douai, then Tournay, and finally the
+whole of Flanders; while the Queen continued to show me every sign of her
+sincere and trustful friendship.
+
+In August, on the Day of Our Lady, while the King was besieging Lille, a
+letter came to the Queen, informing her that her husband had forsaken
+Madame de la Valliere for her Majesty's lady-in-waiting, the Marquise de
+Montespan.  Moreover, the anonymous missive named "the prudent Duchesse
+de Montausier" as confidante and accomplice.
+
+"It is horrible--it is infamous!" cried the Queen, as she flung aside the
+letter.  "I shall never be persuaded that such is the case.  My dear
+little Montespan enjoys my friendship and my esteem; others are jealous
+of her, but they shall not succeed.  Perhaps the King may know the
+handwriting; he shall see it at once!"  And that same evening she
+forwarded the letter to him.
+
+The Comte de Vegin had been born, and the Queen was absolutely ignorant
+of his existence.  My pregnancy with the Duc du Maine had likewise
+escaped her notice, owing to the large paniers which I took to wearing,
+and thus made the fashion.  But the Court is a place where the best of
+friends are traitors.  The Queen was at length convinced, after long
+refusing to be so, and from that day forward she cordially detested me.
+
+While the King was conquering Holland, she instructed her chief almoner
+to have a sermon of a scandalous sort to be preached, which, delivered
+with all due solemnity in her presence, should grieve and wound me as
+much as possible.
+
+On the day appointed, a preacher, totally unknown to us, gets into the
+pulpit, makes a long prayer for the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and then,
+rising gracefully, bows low to the Queen.  Raising his eyes to heaven, he
+makes the sign of the cross and gives out the following text: "Woman,
+arise and sin no more.  Go hence; I forgive thee."
+
+As he uttered these words, he looked hard at my pew, and soon made me
+understand by his egordium how interesting his discourse would be to me.
+Written with rare grace of style, it was merely a piece of satire from
+beginning to end,--of satire so audacious that it was constantly levelled
+at the King.
+
+The orator brought before us in succession lifelike portraits of the
+Queen, of her august spouse, of my children, of M. de Montespan, and of
+myself.  Upon some he lavished praise; others he vehemently rebuked;
+while to others he gave tender pity.  Anon he caused the lips of his
+hearers to curl in irony, and again, roused their indignation or touched
+them to tears.
+
+Any one else would have been bored by such a rigmarole; it rather amused
+me.
+
+That evening, and for a week afterwards, nothing else but this sermon was
+talked of at Versailles.  The Queen had received complete satisfaction.
+Before me she was at pains not to laugh, and I was pleased to see that
+her resentment had almost disappeared.
+
+Upon his return, the King was for punishing such an offence as this.
+Things are not easily hidden from him; his Majesty desired to know the
+name and rank of the ecclesiastic.  The entire Court replied that he was
+a good-looking young Franciscan.
+
+The chief almoner, being forced to state the monastery from which the
+preacher came, mentioned the Cordeliers of Paris.  There it transpired
+that the monk told off by the prior for this enterprise had been too
+frightened to execute it, and had sent, as his deputy, a young actor from
+Orleans,--a brother of his, who thus could not say no.
+
+So, as it happened, Queen Maria Theresa and her chief almoner (an
+exemplary person) had caused virtue to be preached to me by a young
+play-actor!  The King dared not take further proceedings in so strange a
+matter, for fear lest one scandal might beget a far greater one.  It was
+this that caused Madame Cornuel to remark, "The pulpit is in want of
+comedians; they work wonders there!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+The King Alters His Opinion about Madame Scarron.--He Wants Her to Assume
+Another Name.--He Gives Her the Maintenon Estates.--She and Madame de
+Montespan Visit These.--A Strange Story.
+
+
+At first the King used to feel afraid of Madame Scarron, and seemingly
+laughed at me when I endeavoured to persuade him that there was nothing
+affected or singular about her.  The Marquis de Beringhen, for some
+reason or other, had prejudiced his Majesty against her, so that very
+often, when the King heard that she was visiting me, he never got beyond
+the vestibule, but at once withdrew.  One day she was telling me, in her
+pleasant, original way, a funny tale about the famous Brancas, and I
+laughed till I cried again,--in fact, until I nearly made myself quite
+ill.
+
+The King, who was listening at the door, was greatly tickled by the
+story.  He came in smiling and thoroughly self-possessed.  Then,
+addressing the governess, he said, "Madame, allow me to compliment you
+and to thank you at the same time.  I thought you were of a serious,
+melancholy disposition, but as I listened to you through the keyhole, I
+am no longer surprised that you have such long talks with the Marquise.
+Will you do me the favour of being as amusing some other time, if I
+venture to make one of the party?"
+
+The governess, courtesying, blushed somewhat; and the King continued,
+"Madame, I am aware of your affection for my children; that is a great
+recommendation to me; banish all restraint; I take the greatest pleasure
+in your company."
+
+She replied, "It was the fear of displeasing you which, despite myself,
+caused me to incur your displeasure."
+
+The King continued, "Madame, I know that the late M. de Scarron was a man
+of much wit and also of agreeable manners.  My cousin, De Beaufort, used
+to rave about him, but on account of his somewhat free poems, his name
+lacks weight and dignity.  In fact, his name in no way fits so charming a
+personality as yours; would it grieve you to change it?"
+
+The governess cleverly replied that all that she owed to the memory of
+her defunct husband was gratitude and esteem.
+
+"Allow me, then, to arrange matters," added the King.  "I am fond of
+sonorous names; in this I agree with Boileau."
+
+A few days afterwards we heard that the splendid Maintenon estates were
+for sale.  The King himself came to inform the widow of this, and, giving
+her in advance the fee for education, he counted out a hundred thousand
+crowns wherewith instantly to purchase the property.
+
+Forthwith the King compelled her to discard this truly ridiculous
+author's name, and styled her before everybody Madame de Maintenon.
+
+I must do her the justice to state that her gratitude for the King's
+liberality was well-nigh exaggerated, while no change was perceptible in
+her manners and bearing.  She had, naturally, a grand, dignified air,
+which was in strange contrast to the grotesque buffoonery of her
+poet-husband.  Now she is exactly in her proper place, representing to
+perfection the governess of a king's children.
+
+Spiteful persons were wont to say that I appeared jealous on seeing her
+made a marquise like myself.  Good gracious, no!  On the contrary, I was
+delighted; her parentage was well known to me.  The Duchesse de
+Navailles, my protectress, was a near relative of hers, and M. d'Aubigne,
+her grandfather, was one of King Henri's two Chief Gentlemen of the
+Chamber.
+
+Madame de Maintenon's father was, in many respects, greatly to blame.
+Without being actually dishonest, he squandered a good deal of his
+fortune, the greater part being pounced upon by his family; and had the
+King forced these harpies to disgorge, Madame de Maintenon could have
+lived in opulence, eclipsing several of the personages at Court.
+
+I am glad to be able to do her justice in these Memoirs, to the
+satisfaction of my own self-respect.  I look upon her as my own
+handiwork, and everything assures me that this is her conviction also,
+and that she will always bear it in mind.
+
+The King said to us, "Go and see the Chateau de Maintenon, and then you
+can tell me all about it.  According to an old book, I find that it was
+built in the reign of Henri II.  by Nicolas de Cointerot, the King's
+minister of finance; a 'surintendant's' castle ought to form a noteworthy
+feature of the landscape."
+
+Madame de Maintenon hereupon told us a most extraordinary story.  The
+lady who sold this marquisate had retired two years previously to the
+island of Martinique, where she, at the present moment, owned the
+residence of Constant d'Aubigne, the same house where the new Marquise de
+Maintenon had spent her childhood with her parents, so that while one of
+these ladies had quitted the Chateau de Maintenon in order to live in
+Martinique, the other had come from Martinique in order to reside at the
+Chateau de Maintenon.  Truly, the destinies of some are strange in this
+world.
+
+The chateau appeared to be large, of solid proportions, and built in a
+grandly simple style, befitting a minister of dignity and position.  The
+governess shed tears of emotion when setting foot there for the first
+time.  The six priests, whom the surintendant had appointed, officiated
+in the large chapel or little church attached to the castle.
+
+They approached us in regular procession, presenting holy water, baskets
+of flowers and fruit, an old man, a child, and two little lambs to the
+Marquise.  The villagers, dressed out with flowers and ribbons, also came
+to pay, their respects to her.  They danced in the castle courtyard,
+under our balcony, to the sound of hautbois and bagpipes.
+
+We gave them money, said pleasant things to everybody, and invited all
+the six clerics to sup with us.  These gentry spoke with great respect of
+the other Madame de Maintenon, who had become disgusted with her
+property, and with France generally, because, for two winters running,
+her orange-groves and fig-trees had been frost-bitten.  She herself,
+being a most chilly, person, never left off her furs until August, and in
+order to avoid looking at or walking upon snow and ice, she fled to the
+other end of the world.
+
+"The other extreme will bring her back to us," observed Madame de
+Maintenon to the priests.  "Though his Majesty were to give me Martinique
+or Saint Domingo, I certainly would never go and live there myself."
+
+When we returned, all these little details greatly amused the King.  He,
+too, wanted to go and see the castle of another Fouquet, but, as we
+complained of the bad roads, he ordered these to be mended along the
+entire route.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+The Second Comte de Vexin.--He is made Abbe of Saint Denis.--Priests or
+Devils?--The Coronation Diadem.--Royalty Jokes with the Monks.
+
+
+My poor little Comte de Vegin died.  We all mourned for him as he
+deserved; his pretty face would have made every one love him; his extreme
+gentleness had nothing of the savage warrior about it, but at any rate,
+he was the best-looking cardinal in Christendom.  He made such funny
+speeches that one could not help recollecting them.  He was more of a
+Mortemart than a Bourbon, but that did not prevent the King from
+idolising him.
+
+The King thought of conferring the Abbey of Saint Germain des Pres upon
+his younger brother; to this I was opposed, imagining, perhaps without
+reason, that such succession would bring bad luck.  So the King presented
+him to the Abbey of Saint Denis, the revenue of which was equally
+considerable, and he conferred upon him the title of Comte de Vexin,
+caring nothing for the remarks I made concerning the similarities of such
+names and distinctions.
+
+The second Comte de Vegin bid fair to be a man of reflection and of
+genius.  He obviously disliked his little abbe's dress, and we always
+kept saying, "It's only for the time being, my little fellow."
+
+When, after his nomination, the monks of Saint Denis came to make their
+obeisance to him, he asked if they were devils, and continually covered
+his face so as not to see them.
+
+The King arrived, and with a few flattering words managed to soothe the
+priests' outraged dignity, and when they asked the little prince if he
+would honour them by a visit of inspection to Suger's room, which had
+just been restored, he replied with a sulky smile, "I'll come and see
+you, but with my eyes shut."
+
+[Suger was Abbe of Saint Denis, and a famous minister of Queen Blanche.
+Editor's Note.]
+
+Then the priests mildly remonstrated because the coronation diadem had
+not been brought back to their store of treasures, but was still missing.
+
+"So, in your treasure-house at Saint Denis you keep all the crowns of all
+the reigns?"  asked the prince.
+
+"Yes, Sire, and where could they be better guarded than with us?  Who has
+most may have least."
+
+"With all their rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds?"
+
+"Yes, Sire; and hence the name treasure."
+
+The King replied, "If this be the case, I will send you my coronation
+crown.  At that time my brow was not so big; you will find the crown
+small, I tell you."
+
+Then one of the monks, in the most serious manner, said, "It's not as
+small as it was; your Majesty has enlarged it a good deal."
+
+Madame de Maintenon burst out laughing, and I was not slow to follow her
+example; we saw that the King could hardly maintain his gravity.  He said
+to the priest, "My father, you turn a pretty compliment in a most
+praiseworthy manner; you ought to have belonged to the Jesuits, not to
+the Benedictines."
+
+We burst out laughing anew, and this convent-deputation, the
+gloomiest-looking, most funereal one in the world, managed to cause us
+some diversion, after all.
+
+To make amends for our apparent frivolity, his Majesty himself took them
+to see his splendid cabinet of medals and coins, and sent them back to
+their abbey in Court carriages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+M. de Lauzun Proposes for the Hand of Mademoiselle de Thianges.--Letter
+from the Duc de Lorraine.--Madame de Thianges Thinks that Her Daughter
+Has Married a Reigning Prince.--The King Disposes Otherwise.--The Duc de
+Nevers.
+
+
+The brilliant Marquis de Lauzun, after paying court to myself, suddenly,
+turned his attention to Mademoiselle de Thianges,--my sister's child. If
+a fine figure and a handsome face, as well as the polished manners of a
+great gentleman, constitute a good match, M. de Lauzun was, in all
+respects, worthy of my niece.  But this presumptuous nobleman had but a
+slender fortune.  Extravagant, without the means to be so, his debts grew
+daily greater, and in society one talked of nothing but his lavish
+expenditure and his creditors.  I know that the purses of forty women
+were at his disposal.  I know, moreover, that he used to gamble like a
+prince, and I would never marry my waiting-maid to a gambler and a rake.
+
+Both Madame de Thianges and myself rejected his proposals, and though
+resolved to let him have continued proofs of our good-will, we were
+equally determined never to accept such a man as son-in-law and nephew.
+
+Hereupon the letter which I am about to transcribe was sent to me by a
+messenger:
+
+PRINCE CHARLES DE LORRAINE TO MADAME LA MARQUISE DE MONTESPAN.
+
+MADAME:--My unfortunate uncle and I have always loved France, but France
+has forced us both to break off all relations with her and to become
+exiles!!!  Despite the kindness and generosity wherewith the Imperial
+Court seeks to comfort us in our misfortune, the perpetual cry of our
+hearts calls us back to our fatherland,--to that matchless land where my
+ancestors have ever been beloved.
+
+My uncle is guilty of no crime but that of having formerly received in
+his palace a son of good King Henri IV., after his humiliation by a
+shameless minister.  My dear uncle proposed to resign all his property in
+my favour, and to meet the wishes of his Majesty as to the wife that
+should be mine.
+
+When my uncle asked for the hand of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, on my
+behalf, my cousin replied that a ruined and dismantled throne did not
+augur well for a dowry, and she further remarked that we were not on good
+terms with the King.
+
+When I begged Cardinal Mazarin to grant me the hand of the present Madame
+de Mazarin, his Eminence replied, "Would you like to be a cardinal?  I
+can manage that; but as regards my niece, the Queen is going to get her
+married immediately."
+
+When, before God and man, I wedded Mademoiselle de Nemours, whose worthy
+mother led her to the altar, his Majesty refused to sign the marriage
+contract, and told Madame de Nemours that it would never be considered
+valid.
+
+Soon afterwards the Bishop of Laon, who has complete influence over
+Madame de Vendome, declared as null and void--a marriage negotiated and
+consecrated by himself, and thus a bond made in heaven has been broken on
+earth.
+
+Such treatment as this, I confess, seemed to us to exceed the bounds of
+humanity and of justice.  My uncle and I quitted France,--the France that
+persecutes and harasses us, that desires the destruction of our family
+and the forcible union of our territory with her own.
+
+The late Queen, of illustrious and glorious memory, disapproved of
+Richelieu's injustice towards us.  Under the ministry of the Cardinal,
+his successor, she often, in noble fashion, held out to us a helping
+hand.  How comes it that the King, who in face is her living image, does
+not desire to be like her in heart?
+
+I address myself to you, madame, who by your beauty and Spiritual charm
+hold such imperious sway over his decisions, and I implore you to
+undertake our defence.  My uncle and I, his rightful and duteous heir,
+offer the King devoted homage and unswerving fealty.  We offer to forget
+the past, to put our hearts and our swords at his service. Let him
+withdraw his troops and those standards of his that have brought terror
+and grief to our unhappy Lorraine.  I offer to marry Mademoiselle de
+Thianges, your beautiful and charming niece, and to make her happy, and
+to surrender all any estates to the King of France, if I die without male
+issue or heirs of any sort.
+
+I know your kind-heartedness, madame, by a niece who is your picture.  In
+your hands I place her interests and my fate.  I await your message with
+impatience, and I shall receive it with courage if you fail to obtain
+that which you ought to obtain.
+
+Be assured, madame, of my unbounded admiration and respect.
+
+CHARLES
+
+I at once went to my house at Clagny, whither I privately summoned Madame
+de Thianges.  On reading this letter, my sister was moved to tears, for
+she had always deeply felt how unjustly this family had been treated. She
+was also personally attached to this same Prince Charles, whom to see was
+to love.
+
+We read this letter through thrice, and each time we found it more
+admirable; the embarrassing thing was how to dare to let his Majesty know
+its contents.  However temperate the allusions to himself, there was
+still the reproach of injustice and barbarity, set against the clemency
+of Anne of Austria, and her generous compassion.
+
+My sister said to me, "Go boldly to work in the matter.  Despite your
+three children, the King leaves you merely a marquise; and for my own
+part, if my daughter becomes Duchesse do Lorraine, I promise you the
+Principality of Vaudemont."
+
+"It is quite true," I replied; "his conduct is inexplicable.  To Madame
+Scarron, who was only the governess of his children, he gives one of the
+first marquisates of France, while to me, who have borne these three
+children (with infinite pain), I admit he has only given some jewelry,
+some money, and this pretty castle of Clagny."
+
+"You are as clever as can be, my dear Athenais," said Madame de Thianges,
+"but, as a matter of fact, your cleverness is not of a business kind. You
+don't look after yourself, but let yourself be neglected; you don't push
+yourself forward enough, nor stand upon your dignity as you ought to do.
+
+"The little lame woman had hardly been brought to bed of Mademoiselle de
+Blois, when she was made Duchesse de Vaujours and de la Valliere.
+
+"Gabrielle d'Estrees, directly she appeared, was proclaimed Duchesse de
+Beaufort.
+
+"Diane de Poitiers was Duchesse de Valentinois and a princess.  It's only
+you who are nobody, and your relations also are about the same!  Make the
+most of this grand opportunity; help the Prince of Lorraine, and the
+Prince of Lorraine will help you."
+
+On our return from the chateau, while our resolution was yet firm, we
+went laughing to the King.  He asked the reason of our gaiety.  My sister
+said with her wonted ease, "Sire, I have come to invite you to my
+daughter's wedding."
+
+"Your daughter?  Don't you think I am able to get her properly married?"
+cried the King.
+
+"Sire, you cannot do it better than I can myself.  I am giving her a
+sovereign as husband, a sovereign in every sense of the term."
+
+It seemed to me the King flushed slightly as he rejoined, "A sovereign on
+his feet, or a sovereign overthrown?"
+
+"How do you mean, Sire?" said my sister.
+
+"Madame de Thianges," replied the King, "pray, let us be friends.  I was
+informed two days ago of the proposals of the Messieurs de Lorraine; it
+is not, yet time to give them a definite reply.  It behoves, me to give
+your daughter in marriage, and I have destined her for the Duc de Nevers,
+who is wealthy, and my friend."
+
+"The Duc de Nevers!" cried my sister; "why, he's cracked for six months
+in the year."
+
+"Those who are cracked for a whole twelvemonth deserve far more pity,"
+replied the King.
+
+Then, turning to me, he observed, "You make no remark, madame?  Does your
+niece's coronation provide you also with illusions?"
+
+I easily perceived that we had been cherishing an utterly fantastic
+scheme, and I counselled Madame de Thianges to prefer to please the King;
+and, as she was never able to control her feelings, she sharply replied,
+"Madame la Marquise, good day or good night!"
+
+The King, however, did not relax his persistence in giving us the Duc de
+Nevers as son-in-law and nephew; and as this young gentleman's one fault
+is to require perpetual amusement, partly derived from poetry and partly
+from incessant travelling, my niece is as happy with him as a woman who
+takes her husband's place well can be.  As soon as he gets to Paris, he
+wants to return to Rome, and hardly has he reached Rome, when he has the
+horses put to for Paris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Mademoiselle de Mortemart, Abbess of Fontevrault.--She Comes to
+Court.--The Cloister.--Her Success at Court.--Her Opinion Respecting
+Madame de Montespan's Intimacy with the King.
+
+
+My second sister, Mademoiselle de Mortemart, was so unfortunate as to
+fall in love with a young Knight of Malta, doomed from his birth and by
+his family to celibacy.  Having set out upon his caravans,--[Sea-fights
+against the Turks and the pirates of the Mediterranean.]--he was killed
+in combat by the Algerians.
+
+Such was Mademoiselle de Mortemart's grief that life became unbearable to
+her.  Beautiful, witty, and accomplished, she quitted the world where she
+was beloved, and, at the age of seventeen, took the veil at Fontevrault.
+
+So severely had she blamed the conduct of Mademoiselle de la Valliere,
+while often vehemently denouncing that which she termed the disorder at
+Court, that, since the birth of the Duc du Maine, I had not gone to the
+convent to see her.  We were like unto persons both most anxious to break
+off an intimacy and yet who had not done so.
+
+The Duc de Lorraine was known to her.  He wrote to her, begging her to
+make it up with me, so as to further his own ends.  To gratify him, and
+mainly because of her attachment to Prince Charles, my sister actually
+wrote to me, asking for my intervention and what she termed my support.
+
+Nuns always profess to be, and think that they are, cut off from the
+world.  But the fact is, they care far more for mundane grandeur than we
+do.  Madame de Thianges and her sister would have given their very
+heart's blood to see my niece the bride of a royal prince.
+
+One day the King said to me, "The Marquise de Thianges complains that I
+have as yet done nothing for your family; there is a wealthy abbey that
+has just become vacant; I am going to give it to your sister, the nun;
+since last night she is the Abbess of Fontevrault."
+
+I thanked the King, as it behoved me to do, and he added, "Your brother
+shall be made a duke at once.  I am going to appoint him general of Royal
+Galleys, and after one or two campaigns he will have a marshal's baton."
+
+"And what about me, Sire?"  said I.  "What, may it please your Majesty,
+shall I get from the distribution of all these favours and emoluments?" I
+laughingly asked the question.
+
+"You, madame?" he replied.  "To you I made a present of my heart, which
+is not altogether worthless; yet, as it is possible that, when this heart
+shall have ceased to beat, you may have to maintain your rank, I will
+give you the charming retreat of Petit-Bourg, near Fontainebleau."
+
+Saying this, his face wore a sad look, and I was sorry that I asked him
+for anything.  He is fond of giving, and of giving generously, but of his
+own accord, without the least prompting.  Had I refrained from committing
+this indiscretion, he might, possibly, have made me a duchess there and
+then, renaming Petit-Bourg Royal-Bourg.
+
+The new abbess of Fontevrault, caring less now for claustral seclusion,
+equipped her new residence in very sumptuous style.  In a splendid
+carriage she came to thank the King and kiss hands.  With much tact and
+dignity she encountered the scrutiny of the royal family and of the
+Court.  Her manners showed her to have been a person brought up in the
+great world, and possessed of all the tact and delicacy which her
+position as well as mine required.
+
+As she embraced me, she sighed; yet, instantly recovering herself, she
+made the excuse that so many ceremonious greetings and compliments had
+fatigued her.
+
+It was not long before the King joined us, who said, "Madame, I never
+thought that there was much amusement to be got by wearing the veil. Now,
+you must admit that days in a convent seem very long to any one who has
+wit and intelligence."
+
+"Sire," replied my sister, "the first fifteen or twenty months are
+wearisome, I readily confess.  Then comes discouragement; after that,
+habit; and then one grows resigned to one's fetters from the mere
+pleasure of existence."
+
+"Did you meet with any good friends among your associates?"
+
+"In such assemblies," rejoined the Abbess, "one can form no attachment or
+durable friendship.  The reason for this is simple.  If the companion you
+choose is religious in all sincerity, she is perforce a slave to every
+little rule and regulation, and to her it would seem like defrauding the
+Deity to give affection to any one but to Him.  If, by mischance, you
+meet with some one of sensitive temperament, with a bright intellect that
+matches your own, you lay yourself open to be the mournful sharer of her
+griefs, doubts, and regrets, and her depression reacts upon you; her
+sorrow makes your melancholy return.  Privation conjures up countless
+illusions and every chimera imaginable, so that the peaceful retreat of
+virgins of the Lord becomes a veritable hell, peopled by phantoms that
+groan in torture!"
+
+"Oh, madame!" exclaimed the King.  "What a picture is this!  What a
+spectacle you present to our view!"
+
+"Fortunately," continued Mademoiselle de Mortemart, "in convents girls of
+intelligence are all too rare.  The greater number of them are colourless
+persons, devoid of imagination or fire.  To exiles like these, any
+country, any climate would seem good; to flaccid, crushed natures of this
+type, every belief would seem authoritative, every religion holy and
+divine.  Fifteen hundred years ago these nuns would have made excellent
+vestal virgins, watchful and resigned.  What they need is abstinence,
+prohibitions, thwartings, things contrary to nature.  By conforming to
+most rigorous rules, they consider themselves suffering beings who
+deserve heavy recompense; and the Carmelite or Trappist sister, who
+macerates herself by the hair-shirt or the cilex, would look upon God as
+a false or wicked Being, if, after such cruel torment, He did not
+promptly open to her the gates of Paradise.
+
+"Sire," added the Abbess de Fontevrault, "I have three nuns in my convent
+who take the Holy Communion every other day, and whom my predecessor
+could never bring herself to absolve for some old piece of nonsense of
+twenty years back."
+
+"Do you think you will be able to manage them, madame?"  asked the King,
+laughing.
+
+"I am afraid not," replied my sister.  "Those are three whom one could
+never manage, and your Majesty on the throne may possibly have fewer
+difficulties to deal with than the abbess or the prior of a convent."
+
+The King was obliged to quit us to go and see one of the ministers, but
+he honoured the Abbess by telling her that she was excellent company, of
+which he could never have too much.
+
+My sister wished to see Madame de Maintenon and the Duc du Maine; so we
+visited that lady, who took a great liking to the Abbess, which was
+reciprocated.
+
+When my sister saw the young Duc du Maine, she exclaimed, "How handsome
+he is!  Oh, sister, how fond I shall be of such a nephew!"
+
+"Then," said I, "you will forgive me, won't you, for having given birth
+to him?"
+
+"When I reproached you," she answered, "I had not yet seen the King. When
+one has seen him, everything is excusable and everything is right.
+Embrace me, my dear sister, and do not let us forget that I owe my abbey
+to you, as well as my independence, fortune, and liberty."
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Cannot reconcile themselves to what exists
+Domestics included two nurses, a waiting-maid, a physician
+Extravagant, without the means to be so
+Happy with him as a woman who takes her husband's place can be
+Poetry without rhapsody
+Present princes and let those be scandalised who will!
+Satire without bitterness
+Talent without artifice
+The pulpit is in want of comedians; they work wonders there
+Then comes discouragement; after that, habit
+Trust not in kings
+What they need is abstinence, prohibitions, thwartings
+When one has seen him, everything is excusable
+Would you like to be a cardinal?  I can manage that
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan,
+Volume II., by Madame La Marquise De Montespan
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