diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3855.txt | 2759 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3855.zip | bin | 0 -> 55847 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/cm18b10.txt | 2745 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/cm18b10.zip | bin | 0 -> 56121 bytes |
7 files changed, 5520 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3855.txt b/3855.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05386dc --- /dev/null +++ b/3855.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2759 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency, +Book I., by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans + +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 Louis XIV. and the Regency, Book I. + +Author: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans + +Release Date: September 29, 2006 [EBook #3855] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. AND OF THE REGENCY + + + +Being the Secret Memoirs of the Mother of the Regent, +MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS. + +Complete + + +[Illustration: Bookcover] + + +[Illustration: Titlepage] + + + +BOOK 1. + + +PREFACE. + +The Duchesse d'Orleans, commonly though incorrectly styled the Princess +of Bavaria, was known to have maintained a very extensive correspondence +with her relations and friends in different parts of Europe. Nearly +eight hundred of her letters, written to the Princess Wilhelmina +Charlotte of Wales and the Duke Antoine-Ulric of Brunswick, were found +amongst the papers left by the Duchess Elizabeth of Brunswick at her +death, in 1767. These appeared to be so curious that the Court of +Brunswick ordered De Praun, a Privy Councillor, to make extracts of such +parts as were most interesting. A copy of his extracts was sent to +France, where it remained a long time without being published. +In 1788, however, an edition appeared, but so mutilated and disfigured, +either through the prudence of the editor or the scissors of the censor, +that the more piquant traits of the correspondence had entirely +disappeared. The bold, original expressions of the German were modified +and enfeebled by the timid translator, and all the names of individuals +and families were suppressed, except when they carried with them no sort +of responsibility. A great many passages of the original correspondence +were omitted, while, to make up for the deficiencies, the editor inserted +a quantity of pedantic and useless notes. In spite of all these faults +and the existence of more faithful editions, this translation was +reprinted in 1807. The existence of any other edition being unknown to +its editor, it differed in nothing from the preceding, except that the +dates of some of the letters were suppressed, a part of the notes cut +out, and some passages added from the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, together +with a life, or rather panegyric, of the Princess, which bore no slight +resemblance to a village homily. + +A copy of the extracts made by M. de Praun fell by some chance into the +hands of Count de Veltheim, under whose direction they were published at +Strasburg, in 1789, with no other alterations than the correction of the +obsolete and vicious orthography of the Princess. + +In 1789 a work was published at Dantzick, in Germany, entitled, +Confessions of the Princess Elizabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, extracted +from her letters addressed, between the years 1702 and 1722, to her +former governess, Madame de Harling, and her husband. The editor asserts +that this correspondence amounted to nearly four hundred letters. A +great part of these are only repetitions of what she had before written +to the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Brunswick. Since that period no +new collections have appeared, although it is sufficiently well known +that other manuscripts are in existence. + +In 1820 M. Schutz published at Leipsig the Life and Character of +Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, with an Extract of the more +remarkable parts of her Correspondence. This is made up of the two +German editions of 1789 and 1791; but the editor adopted a new +arrangement, and suppressed such of the dates and facts as he considered +useless. His suppressions, however, were not very judicious; without +dates one is at a loss to know to what epoch the facts related by the +Princess ought to be referred, and the French proper names are as +incorrect as in the edition of Strasburg. + +Feeling much surprise that in France there should have been no more +authentic edition of the correspondence of the Regent-mother than the +miserable translation of 1788 and 1807, we have set about rendering a +service to the history of French manners by a new and more faithful +edition. The present is a translation of the Strasburg edition, arranged +in a more appropriate order, with the addition of such other passages as +were contained in the German collections. The dates have been inserted +wherever they appeared necessary, and notes have been added wherever the +text required explanation, or where we wished to compare the assertions +of the Princess with other testimonies. The Princess, in the salons of +the Palais Royal, wrote in a style not very unlike that which might be +expected in the present day from the tenants of its garrets. A more +complete biography than any which has hitherto been drawn up is likewise +added to the present edition. In other respects we have faithfully +followed the original Strasburg edition. The style of the Duchess will +be sometimes found a little singular, and her chit-chat indiscreet and +often audacious; but we cannot refuse our respect to the firmness and +propriety with which she conducted herself in the midst of a hypocritical +and corrupt Court. The reader, however, must form his own judgment on +the correspondence of this extraordinary woman; our business is, not to +excite a prejudice in favour of or against her, but merely to present him +with a faithful copy of her letters. + +Some doubts were expressed about the authenticity of the correspondence +when the mutilated edition of 1788 appeared; but these have long since +subsided, and its genuineness is no longer questioned. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +BOOK 1. +Preface +Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans +Louis XIV +Mademoiselle de Fontange +Madame de la Valliere +Madame de Montespan +Madame de Maintenon +The Queen-Consort of Louis XIV. + +BOOK 2. +Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans +Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France +The Affairs of the Regency +The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent +The Dauphine, Princess of Bavaria. +Adelaide of Savoy, the Second Dauphine +The First Dauphin +The Duke of Burgundy, the Second Dauphin +Petite Madame + +BOOK 3. +Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort +The Due de Berri +The Duchesse de Berri +Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres +Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the Prince of Modena +The Illegitimate Children of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans +The Chevalier de Lorraine +Philip V., King of Spain +The Duchess, Consort of the Duc de Bourbon +The Younger Duchess +Duc Louis de Bourbon +Francois-Louis, Prince de Conti +La Grande Princesse de Conti +The Princess Palatine, Consort of Prince Francois-Louis de Conti +The Princesse de Conti, Louise-Elizabeth, Consort of Louis-Armand +Louis-Armand, Prince de Conti +The Abbe Dubois +Mr. Law + +BOOK 4. +Victor Amadeus II. +The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence +The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans +The Duc du Maine +The Duchesse du Maine +Louvois +Louis XV. +Anecdotes and Historical Particulars of Various Persons +Explanatory Notes + + + + + + +SECRET COURT MEMOIRS. + +MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D' ORLEANS. + + +[Illustration: Duchesse d'Orleans and Her Children--116] + + + + +SECTION I. + + +If my father had loved me as well as I loved him he would never have sent +me into a country so dangerous as this, to which I came through pure +obedience and against my own inclination. Here duplicity passes for wit, +and frankness is looked upon as folly. I am neither cunning nor +mysterious. I am often told I lead too monotonous a life, and am asked +why I do not take a part in certain affairs. This is frankly the reason: +I am old; I stand more in need of repose than of agitation, and I will +begin nothing that I cannot, easily finish. I have never learned to +govern; I am not conversant with politics, nor with state affairs, and I +am now too far advanced in years to learn things so difficult. My son, I +thank God, has sense enough, and can direct these things without +me; besides, I should excite too much the jealousy of his +wife--[Marie-Francoise de Bourbon, the legitimate daughter of Louis XIV. +and of Madame de Montespan, Duchesse d'Orleans.]--and his eldest +daughter,--[Marie-Louise-Elizabeth d'Orleans, married on the 17th of +July, 1710, to Charles of France, Duc de Berri.]--whom he loves better +than me; eternal quarrels would ensue, which would not at all suit my +views. I have been tormented enough, but I have always forborne, and +have endeavoured to set a proper example to my son's wife and his +daughter; for this kingdom has long had the misfortune to be too much +governed by women, young and old. It is high time that men should now +assume the sway, and this is the reason which has determined me not to +intermeddle. In England, perhaps, women may reign without +inconvenience; in France, men alone should do so, in order that things +may go on well. Why should I torment myself by day and by night? I +seek only peace and repose; all that were mine are dead. For whom should +I care? My time is past. I must try to live smoothly that I may die +tranquilly; and in great public affairs it is difficult, indeed, to +preserve one's conscience spotless. + +I was born at Heidelberg (1652), in the seventh month. I am +unquestionably very ugly; I have no features; my eyes are small, my nose +is short and thick, my lips long and flat. These do not constitute much +of a physiognomy. I have great hanging cheeks and a large face; my +stature is short and stout; my body and my thighs, too, are short, and, +upon the whole, I am truly a very ugly little object. If I had not a +good heart, no one could endure me. To know whether my eyes give tokens +of my possessing wit, they must be examined with a microscope, or it will +be difficult to judge. Hands more ugly than mine are not perhaps to be +found on the whole globe. The King has often told me so, and has made me +laugh at it heartily; for, not being able to flatter even myself that I +possessed any one thing which could be called pretty, I resolved to be +the first to laugh at my own ugliness; this has succeeded as well as I +could have wished, and I must confess that I have seldom been at a loss +for something to laugh at. I am naturally somewhat melancholy; when +anything happens to afflict me, my left side swells up as if it were +filled with water. I am not good at lying in bed; as soon as I awake +I must get up. I seldom breakfast, and then only on bread and butter. +I take neither chocolate, nor coffee, nor tea, not being able to endure +those foreign drugs. I am German in all my habits, and like nothing in +eating or drinking which is not conformable to our old customs. I eat no +soup but such as I can take with milk, wine, or beer. I cannot bear +broth; whenever I eat anything of which it forms a part, I fall sick +instantly, my body swells, and I am tormented with colics. When I take +broth alone, I am compelled to vomit, even to blood, and nothing can +restore the tone to my stomach but ham and sausages. + +I never had anything like French manners, and I never could assume them, +because I always considered it an honour to be born a German, and always +cherished the maxims of my own country, which are seldom in favor here. +In my youth I loved swords and guns much better than toys. I wished to +be a boy, and this desire nearly cost me my life; for, having heard that +Marie Germain had become a boy by dint of jumping, I took such terrible +jumps that it is a miracle I did not, on a hundred occasions, break my +neck. I was very gay in my youth, for which reason I was called, in +German, Rauschenplatten-gnecht. The Dauphins of Bavaria used to say, "My +poor dear mamma" (so she used always to address me), "where do you pick +up all the funny things you know?" + +I remember the birth of the King of England + + [George Louis, Duke of Brunswick Hanover, born the 28th of May, + 1660; proclaimed King of England the 12th of August, 1714, by the + title of George I.] + +as well as if it were only yesterday (1720). I was curious and +mischievous. They had put a doll in a rosemary bush for the purpose of +making me believe it was the child of which my aunt + + [Sophia of Bavaria, married, in 1658, to the Elector of Hanover, was + the paternal aunt of Madame. She was the granddaughter of James I, + and was thus declared the first in succession to the crown of + England, by Act of Parliament, 23rd March, 1707.] + +had just lain in; at the same moment I heard the cries of the Electress, +who was then in the pains of childbirth. This did not agree with the +story which I had been told of the baby in the rosemary bush; I +pretended, however, to believe it, but crept to my aunt's chamber as if I +was playing at hide-and-seek with little Bulau and Haxthausen, and +concealed myself behind a screen which was placed before the door and +near the chimney. When the newly born infant was brought to the fire I +issued from my hiding-place. I deserved to be flogged, but in honour of +the happy event I got quit for a scolding. + +The monks of the Convent of Ibourg, to revenge themselves for my having +unintentionally betrayed them by telling their Abbot that they had been +fishing in a pond under my window, a thing expressly forbidden by the +Abbot, once poured out white wine for me instead of water. I said, "I do +not know what is the matter with this water; the more of it I put into my +wine the stronger it becomes." The monks replied that it was very good +wine. When I got up from the table to go into the garden, I should have +fallen into the pond if I had not been held up; I threw myself upon the +ground and fell fast asleep immediately. I was then carried into my +chamber and put to bed. I did not awake until nine o'clock in the +evening, when I remembered all that had passed. It was on a Holy +Thursday; I complained to the Abbot of the trick which had been played me +by the monks, and they were put into prison. I have often been laughed +at about this Holy Thursday. + +My aunt, our dear Electress (of Hanover), being at the Hague, did not +visit the Princess Royal; + + [Maria-Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and of + Henriette-Marie of France, married, in 1660, to William of Nassau, + Prince of Orange; she lost her husband in 1660, and was left + pregnant with William-Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and + afterwards, by the Revolution of 1688, King of England. This + Princess was then preceptress of her son, the Stadtholder of + Holland.] + +but the Queen of Bohemia + + [Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England, widow of + Frederic V., Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, King of + Bohemia until the year 1621, mother of the Duchess of Hanover.] + +did, and took me with her. Before I set out, my aunt said to me, +"Lizette, now take care not to behave as you do in general, and do not +wander away so that you cannot be found; follow the Queen step by step, +so that she may not have to wait for you." + +I replied, "Oh, aunt, you shall hear how well I will behave myself." + +When we arrived at the Princess Royal's, whom I did not know, I saw her +son, whom I had often played with; after having gazed for a long time at +his mother without knowing who she was, I went back to see if I could +find any one to tell me what was this lady's name. Seeing only the +Prince of Orange, I accosted him thus,-- + +"Pray, tell me who is that woman with so tremendous a nose?" + +He laughed and answered, "That is the Princess Royal, my mother." + +I was quite stupefied. That I might compose myself, Mademoiselle Heyde +took me with the Prince into the Princess's bedchamber, where we played +at all sorts of games. I had told them to call me when the Queen should +be ready to go, and we were rolling upon a Turkey carpet when I was +summoned; I arose in great haste and ran into the hall; the Queen was +already in the antechamber. Without losing a moment, I seized the robe +of the Princess Royal, and, making her a low curtsey, at the same moment +I placed myself directly before her, and followed the Queen step by step +to her carriage; everybody was laughing, but I had no notion of what it +was at. When we returned home, the Queen went to find my aunt, and, +seating herself upon the bed, burst into a loud laugh. + +"Lizette," said she, "has made a delightful visit." And then she told +all that I had done, which made the Electress laugh even more than the +Queen. She called me to her and said,-- + +"Lizette, you have done right; you have revenged us well for the +haughtiness of the Princess." + +My brother would have had me marry the Margrave of Dourlach, but I had no +inclination towards him because he was affected, which I never could +bear. He knew very well that I was not compelled to refuse him, for he +was married long before they thought of marrying me to Monsieur. Still +he thought fit to send to me a Doctor of Dourlach, for the purpose of +asking me whether he ought to obey his father and marry the Princess of +Holstein. I replied that he could not do better than to obey his father; +that he had promised me nothing, nor had I pledged myself to him; but +that, nevertheless, I was obliged to him for the conduct he had thought +fit to adopt. This is all that passed between us. + +Once they wanted to give me to the Duke of Courlande; it was my aunt +d'Hervod who wished to make that match. He was in love with Marianne, +the daughter of Duke Ulric of Wurtemberg; but his father and mother would +not allow him to marry her because they had fixed their eyes on me. +When, however, he came back from France on his way home, I made such an +impression on him that he would not hear of marriage, and requested +permission to join the army. + +I once received a very sharp scolding in a short journey from Mannheim to +Heidelberg. I was in the carriage with my late father, who had with him +an envoy, from the Emperor, the Count of Konigseck. At this time I was +as thin and light as I am now fat and heavy. The jolting of the carriage +threw me from my seat, and I fell upon the Count; it was not my fault, +but I was nevertheless severely rebuked for it, for my father was not a +man to be trifled with, and it was always necessary to be very +circumspect in his presence. + +When I think of conflagrations I am seized with a shivering fit, for I +remember how the Palatinate was ravaged for more than three months. +Whenever I went to sleep I used to think I saw Heidelberg all in flames; +then I used to wake with a start, and I very narrowly escaped an illness +in consequence of those outrages. + + [The burning of the Palatinate in 1674--a horrible devastation + commanded by Louis, and executed by Turenne.] + +Upon my arrival in France I was made to hold a conference with three +bishops. They all differed in their creeds, and so, taking the +quintessence of their opinions, I formed a religion of my own. + +It was purely from the affection I bore to her that I refused to take +precedence of our late Electress; but making always a wide distinction +between her aid and the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, as well as our Electress +of Hanover, I did not hesitate to do so with respect to both the latter. +I also would not take precedence of my mother. In my childhood I wished +to bear her train, but she would never permit me. + +I have been treated ill ever since my marriage this is in some degree the +fault of the Princess Palatine,--[Anne de Gonzague, Princess Palatine, +who took so active a part in the troubles of the Fronde.]--who prepared +my marriage contract; and it is by the contract that the inheritance is +governed. All persons bearing the title of Madame have pensions from the +King; but as they have been of the same amount for a great many years +past they are no longer sufficient. + +I would willingly have married the Prince of Orange, for by that union I +might have hoped to remain near my dear Electress (of Hanover). + +Upon my arrival at Saint-Germain I felt as if I had fallen from the +clouds. The Princess Palatine went to Paris and there fixed me. I put +as good a face upon the affair as was possible; I saw very well that I +did not please my husband much, and indeed that could not be wondered at, +considering my ugliness; however, I resolved to conduct myself in such a +manner towards Monsieur that he should become accustomed to me by my +attentions, and eventually should be enabled to endure me. Immediately +upon my arrival, the King came to see me at the Chateau Neuf, where +Monsieur and I lived; he brought with him the Dauphin, who was then a +child of about ten years old. As soon as I had finished my toilette the +King returned to the old Chateau, where he received me in the Guards' +hall, and led me to the Queen, whispering at the same time,--"Do not be +frightened, Madame; she will be more afraid of you than you of her." The +King felt so much the embarrassment of my situation that he would not +quit me; he sat by my side, and whenever it was necessary for me to rise, +that is to say, whenever a Duke or a Prince entered the apartment, he +gave me a gentle push in the side without being perceived. + +According to the custom of Paris, when a marriage is made, all property +is in common; but the husband has the entire control over it. That only +which has been brought by way of dowry is taken into the account; for +this reason I never knew how much my husband received with me. After his +death, when I expected to gain my cause at Rome and to receive some +money, the disagreeable old Maintenon asked me in the King's name to +promise that if I gained the cause I would immediately cede the half of +the property to my son; and in case of refusal I was menaced with the +King's displeasure. I laughed at this, and replied that I did not know +why they threatened me, for that my son was in the course of nature my +heir, but that it was at least just that he should stay until my death +before he took possession of my property, and that I knew the King was +too equitable to require of me anything but what was consistent with +justice. I soon afterwards received the news of the loss of my cause, +and I was not sorry for it, on account of the circumstance I have just +related. + +When the Abby de Tesse had convinced the Pope that his people had decided +without having read our papers, and that they had accepted 50,000 crowns +from the Grand Duke to pronounce against me, he began weeping, and said, +"Am I not an unhappy man to be obliged to trust such persons?" This will +show what sort of a character the Pope was. + +When I arrived in France I had only an allowance of a hundred louis d'or +for my pocket-money; and this money was always consumed in advance. +After my mother's death, when my husband received money from the +Palatinate, he increased this allowance to two hundred louis; and once, +when I was in his good graces, he gave me a thousand louis. Besides +this, the King had given me annually one thousand louis up to the year +before the marriage of my son. That supported me, but as I would not +consent to the marriage I was deprived of this sum, and it has never been +restored to me. On my first journey to Fontainebleau, the King would +have given me 2,000 pistoles, but that Monsieur begged him to keep half +of them for Madame, afterwards the Queen of Spain.--[Marie-Louise +d'Orleans, born in 1662, married, in 1679, to Charles IL, King of Spain.] + +I cared very little about it, and, nevertheless, went to Fontainebleau, +where I lost all my money at Hoca. Monsieur told me, for the purpose of +vexing me, of the good office he had done me with the King; I only +laughed at it, and told him that, if Madame had chosen to accept the +thousand pistoles from my hands, I would very freely have given them to +her. Monsieur was quite confused at this, and, by way of repairing the +offence he had committed, he took upon himself the payment of 600 louis +d'or, which I had lost over and above the thousand pistoles. + +I receive now only 456,000 francs, which is exactly consumed within the +year; if, they could have given me any less they would. I would not be +thought to make claims to which I am not entitled, but it should be +remembered that Monsieur has had the money of my family. + +I was very glad when, after the birth of my daughter, + + [Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans, born in 1676, married, in 1697, to + the Duc de Lorraine. Philippe d'Orleans, afterwards Regent of + France, was born in 1674; there were no other children by this + marriage.] + +my husband proposed separate beds; for, to tell the truth, I was never +very fond of having children. When he proposed it to me, I answered, +"Yes, Monsieur, I shall be very well contented with the arrangement, +provided you do not hate me, and that you will continue to behave with +some kindness to me." He promised, and we were very well satisfied with +each other. It was, besides, very disagreeable to sleep with Monsieur; +he could not bear any one to touch him when he was asleep, so that I was +obliged to lie on the very edge of the bed; whence it sometimes happened +that I fell out like a sack. I was therefore enchanted when Monsieur +proposed to me in friendly terms, and without any anger, to lie in +separate rooms. + +I obeyed the late Monsieur by not troubling him with my embraces, and +always conducted myself towards him with respect and submission. + +He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses, which, indeed, +oftener excited my pity than my anger. I must confess that I did +occasionally express some impatience, but when he begged pardon, it was +all forgotten. + +Madame de Fiennes had a considerable stock of wit, and was a great joker; +her tongue spared no one but me. Perceiving that she treated the King +and Monsieur with as little ceremony as any other persons, I took her by +the hand one day, and, leading her apart, I said to her, "Madame, you are +very agreeable; you have a great deal of wit, and the manner in which you +display it is pleasant to the King and Monsieur, because they are +accustomed to you; but to me, who am but just arrived, I cannot say that +I like it. When any persons entertain themselves at my expense, I cannot +help being very angry, and it is for this reason that I am going to give +you a little advice. If you spare me we shall be mighty good friends; +but if you treat me as I see you treat others, I shall say nothing to +you; I shall, nevertheless, complain of you to your husband, and if he +does not restrain you I shall dismiss him." + +He was my Equerry-in-Ordinary. + +She promised never to speak of me, and she kept her word. + +Monsieur often said to me, "How does it happen that Madame de Fiennes +never says anything severe of you?" + +I answered, "Because she loves me." + +I would not tell him what I had done, for he would immediately have +excited her to attack me. + +I was called sometimes 'Soeur Pacifique', because I did all in my power +to maintain harmony between Monsieur and his cousins, La Grande +Mademoiselle, + + [Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, Duchesse de Montpensier, and + Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans, Duchess of Tuscany, daughters of + Gaston, Duc d'Orleans, but by different wives.] + +and La Grande Duchesse: + + [Charlotte-Eleonore-Maddleine de la Motte Houdancourt, Duchesse de + Ventadour; she was gouvernante to Louis XV.] + +they quarrelled very frequently, and always like children, for the +slightest trifles. + +Madame de Ventadour was my Maid of Honour for at least sixteen years. +She did not quit me until two years after the death of my husband, and +then it was by a contrivance of old Maintenon; she wished to annoy me +because she knew I was attached to this lady, who was good and amiable, +but not very cunning. Old Maintenon succeeded in depriving me of her by +means of promises and threats, which were conveyed by Soubise, whose son +had married Madame de Ventadour's daughter, and who was an artful woman. +By way of recompense she was made gouvernante. They tried, also, to +deprive me of Madame de Chateau Thiers; the old woman employed all her +power there, too, but Madame de Chateau Thiers remained faithful to me, +without telling of these attempts, which I learnt from another source. + +Madame de Monaco might, perhaps, be fond of forming very close +attachments of her own sex, and Madame de Maintenon would have put me on +the same footing; but she did not succeed, and was so much vexed at her +disappointment that she wept. Afterwards she wanted to make me in love +with the Chevalier de Vendome, and this project succeeded no better than +the other. She often said she could not think of what disposition I must +be, since I cared neither for men nor women, and that the German nation +must be colder than any other. + +I like persons of that cool temperament. The poor Dauphine of Bavaria +used to send all the young coxcombs of the Court to me, knowing that I +detested such persons, and would be nearly choked with laughter at seeing +the discontented air with which I talked to them. + +Falsehood and superstition were never to my taste. + +The King was in the habit of saying, "Madame cannot endure unequal +marriages; she always ridicules them." + +Although there are some most delightful walks at Versailles, no one went +out either on foot or in carriages but myself; the King observed this, +and said, "You are the only one who enjoys the beauties of Versailles." + +All my life, even from my earliest years, I thought myself so ugly that I +did not like to be looked at. I therefore cared little for dress, +because jewels and decoration attract attention. As Monsieur loved to be +covered with diamonds, it was fortunate that I did not regard them, for, +otherwise, we should have quarrelled about who was to wear them. On +grand occasions Monsieur used formerly to make me dress in red; I did so, +but much against my inclination, for I always hated whatever was +inconvenient to me. He always ordered my dresses, and even used to paint +my cheeks himself. + +I made the Countess of Soissons laugh very heartily once. She said to +me, "How is it, Madame, that you never look in a mirror when you pass it, +as everybody else does?" + +I answered, "Because I have too great a regard for myself to be fond of +seeing myself look as ugly as I really am." + +I was always attached to the King; and when he did anything disagreeable +to me it was generally to please Monsieur, whose favourites and my +enemies did all they could to embroil me with him, and through his means +with the King, that I might not be able to denounce them. It was natural +enough that the King should be more inclined to please his brother than +me; but when Monsieur's conscience reproached him, he repented of having +done me ill offices with the King, and he confessed this to the King; His +Majesty would then come to us again immediately, notwithstanding the +malicious contrivances of old Maintenon. + +I have always had my own household, although during Monsieur's life I was +not the mistress of it, because all his favourites derived a share of +profit from it. Thus no one could buy any employment in my establishment +without a bribe to Grancey, to the Chevalier de Lorraine, to Cocard, or +to M. Spied. I troubled myself little about these persons; so long as +they continued to behave with proper respect towards me, I let them +alone; but when they presumed to ridicule me, or to give me any trouble, +I set them to rights without hesitation and as they deserved. + +Finding that Madame la Marechale de Clerambault was attached to me, they +removed her, and they placed my daughter under the care of Madame la +Marechale de Grancey, the creature of my, bitterest enemy, the Chevalier +de Lorraine, whose mistress was the elder sister of this very, Grancei. +It may be imagined how fit an example such a woman was for my daughter; +but all my prayers, all my remonstrances, were in vain. + +Madame de Montespan said to me one day that it was a shame I had no +ambition, and would not take part in anything. + +I replied, "If a person should have intrigued assiduously to become +Madame, could not her son permit her to enjoy that rank peaceably? Well, +then, fancy that I have become so by such means, and leave me to repose." + +"You are obstinate," said she. + +"No, Madame," I answered; "but I love quiet, and I look upon all your +ambition to be pure vanity." + +I thought she would have burst with spite, so angry was she. She, +however, continued,-- + +"But make the attempt and we will assist you." + +"No," I replied, "Madame, when I think that you, who have a hundred times +more wit than I, have not been able to maintain your consequence in that +Court which you love so much, what hope can I, a poor foreigner, have of +succeeding, who know nothing of intrigue, and like it as little?" + +She was quite mortified. "Go along," she said, "you are good for +nothing." + +Old Maintenon and her party had instilled into the Dauphine a deep hatred +against me; by their direction she often said very impertinent things to +me. They hoped that I should resent them to the Dauphine in such manner +as to afford her reason to complain to the King of me, and thus draw his +displeasure upon me. But as I knew the tricks of the old woman and her +coterie, I resolved not to give them that satisfaction; I only laughed at +the disobliging manner in which they treated me, and I gave them to +understand that I thought the ill behaviour of the Dauphine was but a +trick of her childhood, which she would correct as she grew older. When +I spoke to her she made me no reply, and laughed at me with the ladies +attendant upon her. + +"Ladies," she once said to them, "amuse me; I am tired;" and at the same +time looked at me disdainfully. I only smiled at her, as if her +behaviour had no effect upon me. + +I said, however, to old Maintenon, in a careless tone, "Madame la +Dauphine receives me ungraciously; I do not intend to quarrel with her, +but if she should become too rude I shall ask the King if he approves of +her behaviour." + +The old woman was alarmed, because she knew very well that the King had +enjoined the Dauphine always to behave politely to me; she begged me +immediately not to say a word to the King, assuring me that I should soon +see the Dauphine's behaviour changed; and indeed, from that time, the +Dauphine altered her conduct, and lived upon much better terms with me. +If I had complained to the King of the ill treatment I received from the +Dauphine he would have been very angry; but she would not have hated me +the less, and she and her old aunt would have formed means to repay me +double. + +Ratzenhausen has the good fortune to be sprung from a very good family; +the King was always glad to see her, because she made him laugh; she also +diverted the Dauphine, and Madame de Berri liked her much, and made her +visit her frequently. It is not surprising that we should be good +friends; we have been so since our infancy, for I was not nine years old +when I first became acquainted with her. Of all the old women I know, +there is not one who keeps up her gaiety like Linor. + +I often visited Madame de Maintenon, and did all in my power to gain her +affections, but could never succeed. The Queen of Sicily asked me one +day if I did not go out with the King in his carriage, as when she was +with us. I replied to her by some verses (from Racine's Phedre). + +Madame de Torci told this again to old Maintenon, as if it applied to +her, which indeed it did, and the King was obliged to look coldly on me +for some time. + +During the last three years of his life I had entirely gained my husband +to myself, so that he laughed at his own weaknesses, and was no longer +displeased at being joked with. I had suffered dreadfully before; but +from this period he confided in me entirely, and, always took my part. +By his death I saw the result of the care and pains of thirty years +vanish. After Monsieur's decease, the King sent to ask me whither I +wished to retire, whether to a convent in Paris, or to Maubuisson, or +elsewhere. I replied that as I had the honour to be of the royal house +I could not live but where the King was, and that I intended to go +directly to Versailles. The King was pleased at this, and came to see +me. He somewhat mortified me by saying that he sent to ask me whither I +wished to go because he had not imagined that I should choose to stay +where he was. I replied that I did not know who could have told His +Majesty anything so false and injurious, and that I had a much more +sincere respect and attachment for His Majesty than those who had thus +falsely accused me. The King then dismissed all the persons present, +and we had a long explanation, in the course of which the King told me +I hated Madame de Maintenon. I confessed that I did hate her, but only +through my attachment for him, and because she did me wrong to His +Majesty; nevertheless, I added that, if it were agreeable to him that I +should be reconciled to her, I was ready to become so. The good lady was +not prepared for this, or she would not have suffered the King to come to +me; he was, however, so satisfied that he remained favourable to me up to +his last hour. He made old Maintenon come, and said to her, "Madame is +willing to make friends with you." He then caused us to embrace, and +there the scene ended. He required her also to live upon good terms with +me, which she did in appearance, but secretly played me all sorts of +tricks. It was at this time a matter of indifference to me whether I +went to live at Montargis or not, but I would not have the appearance of +doing so in consequence of any disgrace, and as if I had committed some +offence for which I was driven from the Court. I had reason to fear, +besides, that at the end of two days' journey I might be left to die of +hunger, and to avoid this risk I chose rather to be reconciled to the +King. As to going into a convent, I never once thought of it, although +it was that which old Maintenon most desired. The Castle of Montargis is +my jointure; at Orleans there is no house. St. Cloud is not a part of +the hereditary property, but was bought by Monsieur with his own money. +Therefore my jointure produces nothing; all that I have to live on comes +from the King and my son. At the commencement of my widowhood I was left +unpaid, and there was an arrear of 300,000 francs due to me, which were +not paid until after the death of Louis XIV. What, then, would have +become of me if I had chosen to retire to Montargis? My household +expenses amounted annually to 298,758 livres. + +Although Monsieur received considerable wealth with me, I was obliged, +after his death, to give up to my son the jewels, movables, pictures--in +short, all that had come from my family; otherwise I should not have had +enough to live according to my rank and to keep up my establishment, +which is large. In my opinion, to do this is much better than to wear +diamonds. + +My income is not more than 456,000 livres; and yet, if it please God, I +will not leave a farthing of debt. My son has just made me more rich by +adding 150,000 livres to my pension (1719). The cause of almost all the +evil which prevails here is the passion of women for play. I have often +been told to my face, "You are good for nothing; you do not like play." + +If by my influence I can serve any unfortunate persons with the different +branches of the Government, I always do so willingly; in case of success +I rejoice; in a less fortunate event I console myself by the belief that +it was not the will of God. + +After the King's death I repaired to St. Cyr to pay a visit to Madame de +Maintenon. On my entering the room she said to me, "Madame, what do you +come here for?" + +I replied, "I come to mingle my tears with those of her whom the King I +so much deplore loved most.--that is yourself, Madame." + +"Yes, indeed," she said, "he loved me well; but he loved you, also." + +I replied, "He did me the honour to say that, he would always distinguish +me by his friendship, although everything was done to make him hate me." + +I wished thus to let her understand that I was, quite aware of her +conduct, but that, being a Christian, I could pardon my enemies. If she +possessed any sensibility she must have felt some pain at thus. +receiving the forgiveness of one whom she had incessantly persecuted. + +The affair of Loube is only a small part of what I have suffered here. + +I have now no circle, for ladies a tabouret--[Ladies having the +privilege of seats upon small stools in the presence.]--seldom come to +me, not liking to appear but in full dress. I begged them to be present +as usual at an audience, which I was to give to the ambassador of Malta, +but not one of them came. When the late Monsieur and the King were +alive, they were more assiduous; they were not then so much accustomed to +full dresses, and when they did not come in sufficient numbers Monsieur +threatened to tell the King of it. + +But this is enough, as M. Biermann said, after having preached four hours +together. + + + + +SECTION II.--LOUIS XIV. + +[Illustration: Louis XIV.] + + + +When the King pleased he could be one of the most agreeable and amiable +men in the world; but it was first necessary that he should be intimately +acquainted with persons. He used to joke in a very comical and amusing +manner. + +The King, though by no means perfect, possessed some great and many fine +qualities; and by no means deserved to be defamed and despised by his +subjects after his death. + +While he lived he was flattered, even to idolatry. + +He was so much tormented on my account that I could not have wondered if +he had hated me most cordially. However, he did not; but, on the +contrary, he discovered that all which was said against me sprang from +malice and jealousy. + +If he had not been so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of two of the +worst women in the world Montespan, and that old Maintenon, who was even +worse than the other, he would have been one of the best kings that ever +lived; for all the evil that he ever did proceeded from those two women, +and not from himself. + +Although I approved of many things he did, I could not agree with him +when he maintained that it was vulgar to love one's relations. Montespan +had instilled this into him, in order that she might get rid of all his +legitimate blood connections, and might suffer none about him but her +bastards; she had even carried matters so far as to seek to confine the +royal favour to her offspring or her creatures. + +Our King loved the chase passionately; particularly hawking and stag +hunting. + +One day all the world came to Marly to offer their compliments of +condolence; Louis XIV., to get rid of the ceremony, ordered that no +harangues should be made, but that all the Court should enter without +distinction and together at one door, and go out by the other. Among +them came the Bishop of Gap, in a sort of dancing step, weeping large, +hot tears, and smiling at the same moment, which gave to his face the +most grotesque appearance imaginable. Madame, the Dauphine, and I, were +the first who could not restrain ourselves; then the Dauphin and the Duc +de Berri, and at last the King, and everybody who was in the chamber +burst out into loud laughter. + +The King, it must be allowed, gave occasion to great scandal on account +of his mistresses; but then he very sincerely repented of these offences. + +He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant; and was so much +ashamed of it that it became the fashion for his courtiers to turn +learned men into ridicule. Louis XIV. could not endure to hear politics +talked; he was what they call in this country, 'franc du collier'. + +At Marly he did not wish the slightest ceremony to prevail. Neither +ambassadors nor other envoys were ever permitted to come here; he never +gave audience; there was no etiquette, and the people went about +'pele-mele'. Out of doors the King made all the men wear their hats; and +in the drawing-room, everybody, even to the captains, lieutenants, and +sublieutenants of the foot-guards, were permitted to be seated. This +custom so disgusted me with the drawing-room that I never went to it. + +The King used to take off his hat to women of all descriptions, even, the +common peasants. + +When he liked people he would tell them everything he had heard; and for +this reason it was always dangerous to talk to him of that old Maintenon. + +Although he loved flattery, he was very often ready to ridicule it. +Montespan and the old woman had spoiled him and hardened his heart +against his relations, for he was naturally of a very affectionate +disposition. + +Louis XIV., as well as all the rest of his family, with the exception of +my son, hated reading. Neither the King nor Monsieur had been taught +anything; they scarcely knew how to read and write. The King was the +most polite man in his kingdom, but his son and his grandchildren were +the most rude. + +In his youth he had played in the comedy of 'Les Visionnaires', which he +knew by heart, and in which he acted better than the comedians. He did +not know a note of music; but his ear was so correct that he could play +in a masterly style on the guitar, and execute whatever he chose. + +It is not astonishing that the King and Monsieur were brought up in +ignorance. The Cardinal (Mazarin) wished to reign absolutely; if the +princes had been better instructed, he would neither have been trusted +nor employed, and this it was his object to prevent, hoping that he +should live much longer than he did. The Queen-mother found all that the +Cardinal did perfectly right; and, besides, it suited her purpose that he +should be indispensable. It is almost a miracle that the King should +have become what he afterwards was. + +I never saw the King beat but two men, and they both well deserved it. +The first was a valet, who would not let him enter the garden during one +of his own fetes. The other was a pickpocket, whom the King saw emptying +the pocket of M. de Villars. Louis XIV., who was on horseback, rode +towards the thief and struck him with his cane; the rascal cried out, +"Murder! I shall be killed!" which made us all laugh, and the King +laughed, also. He had the thief taken, and made him give up the purse, +but he did not have him hanged. + +The Duchesse de Schomberg was a good deal laughed at because she asked +the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion here. The King +was not well pleased to be talked to; but he never laughed in any one's +face. + +When Louvois proposed to the King for the first time that he should +appoint Madame Dufresnoy, his mistress, a lady of the Queen's bedchamber, +His Majesty replied, "Would you, then, have them laugh at both of us?" +Louvois, however, persisted so earnestly in his request that the King at +length granted it. + +The Court of France was extremely agreeable until the King had the +misfortune to marry that old Maintenon; she withdrew him from company, +filled him with ridiculous scruples respecting plays, and told him that +he ought not to see excommunicated persons. In consequence of this she +had a small theatre erected in her own apartments, where plays were acted +twice a week before the King. Instead of the dismissed comedians, + + [These dismissed comedians had, as appears by the edition of 1788, + renounced their profession, and had been admitted to the communion. + After that, Madame de Maintenon no longer saw any sin in them.] + +she had the Dauphine, my son, the Duc de Berri, and her own nieces, to +play; in her opinion this was much better than the real comedians. The +King, instead of occupying his usual place, was seated behind me in a +corner, near Madame de Maintenon. This arrangement spoilt all, for the +consequence was that few people saw him, and the Court was almost +deserted. + +Maintenon told me that the King said to her, "Now that I am old my +children get tired of me and are delighted to find any opportunity of +fixing me here and going elsewhere for their own amusement; Madame alone +stays, and I see that she is glad to be with me still." But she did not +tell me that she had done all in her power to persuade him of the +contrary, and that the King spoke thus by way of reproaching her for the +lies she had invented about me. I learned that afterwards from others. +If the King had been my father I could not have loved him more than I +did; I was always pleased to be with him. + +He was fond of the German soldiers, and said that the German horsemen +displayed more grace in the saddle than those of any other nation. + +When the King had a design to punish certain libertines, Fagon--[Guy +Crescent Fagon, appointed the King's chief physician in 1693, died in +1718.]--had an amusing conversation with him. He said,-- + +"Folks made love long before you came into the world, and they will +always continue to do so. You cannot prevent them; and when I hear +preachers talking in the pulpit and railing against such as yield to the +influence of passion, I think it is very much as if I should say to my +phthisical patients, 'You must not cough; it is very wrong to spit.' +Young folks are full of humours, which must be dispersed by one way or +another." + +The King could not refrain from laughing. + +He was only superstitious in religious matters; for example, with respect +to the miracles of the Virgin, etc. + +He had been taught to believe that to make friends with his brother was a +great political stroke and a fine State device; that it made a part of +what is called to reign well. + +Since the time of this King it has not been the custom for ladies to talk +of the affairs of the State. + +If the King heard that any one had spoken ill of him, he displayed a +proud resentment towards the offender; otherwise it was impossible to be +more polite and affable than he was. His conversation was pleasing in a +high degree. He had the skill of giving an agreeable turn to everything. +His manner of talking was natural, without the least affectation, amiable +and obliging. Although he had not so much courage as Monsieur, he was +still no coward. His brother said that he had always behaved well in +occasions of danger; but his chief fault lay in being soon tired of war, +and wishing to return home. + +From the time of his becoming so outrageously devout, all amusements were +suspended for three weeks (at Easter); and before, they were only +discontinued a fortnight. + +The King had a peculiarity of disposition which led him easily to behave +harshly to persons who were disagreeable to such as he loved. It was +thus that La Valliere was so ill-treated at the instigation of Montespan. + +He was much amused with the Comte de Grammont,--[Philibert, Comte de +Grammont, St. Evremond's hero, and so well known by means of the Memoirs +of Count Antoine Hamilton, his brother-in-law.]--who was very pleasant. +He loaded him with proofs of his kindness, and invited him to join in all +the excursions to Marly, a decided mark of great favour. + +The King frequently complained that in his youth he had not been allowed +to converse with people generally, but it was the fault of his natural +temper; for Monsieur, who had been brought up with him, used to talk to +everybody. + +Louis XIV. used to say, laughingly, to Monsieur that his eternal +chattering had put him out of conceit with talking. "Ah, mon Dieu!" he +would say, "must I, to please everybody, say as many silly things as my +brother?" + +In general, they would not have been taken for brothers. The King was a +large man, and my husband a small one: the latter had very effeminate +inclinations; he loved dress, was very careful of his complexion, and +took great interest in feminine employments and in ceremonies. The King, +on the contrary, cared little about dress, loved the chase and shooting, +was fond of talking of war, and had all manly tastes and habits. +Monsieur behaved well in battle, but never talked of it; he loved women +as companions, and was pleased to be with them. The King loved to see +them somewhat nearer, and not entirely en honneur, as Monsieur did. + + [Madame is not a good authority on this point. The memoirs of the + time will show either that she cannot have known or must have + wilfully concealed the intrigues of various kinds in which her + husband was engaged.] + +They nevertheless loved one another much, and it was very interesting to +see them together. They joked each other sensibly and pleasantly, and +without ever quarrelling. + +I was never more amused than in a journey which I took with the King to +Flanders. The Queen and the Dauphine were then alive. As soon as we +reached a city, each of us retired to our own quarters for a short time, +and afterwards we went to the theatre, which was commonly so bad that we +were ready to die with laughing. Among others, I remember that at +Dunkirk we saw a company playing Mithridates. In speaking to Monimia, +Mithridates said something which I forget, but which was very absurd. +He turned round immediately to the Dauphine and said, "I very humbly beg +pardon, Madame, I assure you it was a slip of the tongue." The laugh +which followed this apology may be imagined, but it became still greater +when the Prince of Conti, + + [Louis-Armaud de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, married in 1780 to + Marie-Anne, commonly called Mademoiselle de Blois, one of the + legitimated daughters of Louis XIV. by Madame de la Valliere. She + was called at Court La Grande Princesse, on account of her beauty + and her stature.] + +the husband of La Grande Princesse, who was sitting above the orchestra, +in a fit of laughing, fell into it. He tried to save himself by the +cord, and, in doing so, pulled down the curtain over the lamps, set it on +fire, and burnt a great hole in it. The flames were soon extinguished, +and the actors, as if they were perfectly indifferent, or unconscious of +the accident, continued to play on, although we could only see them +through the hole. When there was no play, we took airings and had +collations; in short, every day brought something new. After the King's +supper we went to see magnificent artificial fireworks given by the +cities of Flanders. Everybody was gay; the Court was in perfect +unanimity, and no one thought of anything but to laugh and seek +amusement. + +If the King had known the Duchess of Hanover, he would not have been +displeased at her calling him "Monsieur." As she was a Sovereign +Princess, he thought it was through pride that she would not call him +"Sire," and this mortified him excessively, for he was very sensitive on +such subjects. + +One day, before Roquelaure was made a Duke, he was out when it rained +violently, and he ordered his coachman to drive to the Louvre, where the +entrance was permitted to none but Ambassadors, Princes and Dukes. When +his carriage arrived at the gate they asked who it was. + +"A Duke," replied he. + +"What Duke?" repeated the sentinel. + +"The Duc d'Epernon," said he. + +"Which of them?" + +"The one who died last." And upon this they let him enter. Fearing +afterwards that he might get into a scrape about it, he went directly to +the King. "Sire," said he, "it rains so hard that I came in my coach +even to the foot of your staircase." + +The King was displeased. "What fool let you enter?" he asked. + +"A greater fool than your Majesty can imagine," replied Roquelaure, "for +he admitted me in the name of the Duc d'Epernon who died last." + +This ended the King's anger and made him laugh very heartily. + +So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King that he not only +thought everybody who did not profess the faith of the Jesuits would be +damned, but he even thought he was in some danger himself by speaking to +such persons. If any one was to be ruined with the King, it was only +necessary to say, "He is a Huguenot or a Jansenist," and his business was +immediately settled. My son was about to take into his service a +gentleman whose mother was a professed Jansenist. The Jesuits, by way of +embroiling my son with the King, represented that he was about to engage +a Jansenist on his establishment. + +The King immediately sent for him and said "How is this, nephew? +I understand you think of employing a Jansenist in your service." + +"Oh, no!" replied my son, laughing, "I can assure your Majesty that he is +not a Jansenist, and I even doubt whether he believes in the existence of +a God." + +"Oh, well, then!" said the King, "if that be the case, and you are sure +that he is no Jansenist, you may take him." + +It is impossible for a man to be more ignorant of religion than the King +was. I cannot understand how his mother, the Queen, could have brought +him up with so little knowledge on this subject. He believed all that +the priests said to him, as if it came from God Himself. That old +Maintenon and Pere la Chaise had persuaded him that all the sins he had +committed with Madame de Montespan would be pardoned if he persecuted and +extirpated the professors of the reformed religion, and that this was the +only path to heaven. The poor King believed it fervently, for he had +never seen a Bible in his life; and immediately after this the +persecution commenced. He knew no more of religion than what his +confessors chose to tell him, and they had made him believe that it was +not lawful to investigate in matters of religion, but that the reason +should be prostrated in order to gain heaven. He was, however, earnest +enough himself, and it was not his fault that hypocrisy reigned at Court. +The old Maintenon had forced people to assume it. + +It was formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions; the King +detested this practice, and soon abolished it. + +He was very capable of gratitude, but neither his children nor his +grandchildren were. He could not bear to be made to wait for anything. + +He said that by means of chains of gold he could obtain anything he +wished from the ministers at Vienna. + +He could not forgive the French ladies for affecting English fashions. +He used often to joke about it, and particularly in the conversation +which he addressed to me, expecting that I would take it up and tease the +Princesses. To amuse him, I sometimes said whatever came into my head, +without the least ceremony, and often made him laugh heartily. + +Reversi was the only game at which the King played, and which he liked. + +When he did not like openly to reprove any person, he would address +himself to me; for he knew that I never restrained myself in +conversation, and that amused him infinitely. At table, he was almost +obliged to talk to me, for the others scarcely said a word. In the +cabinet, after supper, there were none but the Duchess--[Anne of +Bavaria, wife of Henri-Jules, Duc de Bourbon, son of the great Conde; she +bore the title of Madame la Princesse after his death.]--and I who spoke +to him. I do not know whether the Dauphine used to converse with the +King in the cabinets, for while she was alive I was never permitted to +enter them, thanks to Madame de Maintenon's interference; the Dauphine +objected to it; the King would willingly have had it so; but he dare not +assert his will for fear of displeasing the Dauphine and the old woman. +I was not therefore suffered to enter until after the death of the +Dauphine, and then only because the King wished to have some one who +would talk to him in the evening, to dissipate his melancholy thoughts, +in which I did my best. He was dissatisfied with his daughters on both +sides, who, instead of trying to console him in his grief, thought only +of amusing themselves, and the good King might often have remained alone +the whole evening if I had not visited his cabinet. He was very sensible +of this, and said to Maintenon, "Madame is the only one who does not +abandon me." + +Louis XIV. spoiled the Jesuits; he thought whatever came from them must +be admirable, whether it was right or wrong. + +The King did not like living in town; he was convinced that the people +did not love him, and that there was no security for him among them. +Maintenon had him, besides, more under her sway at Versailles than at +Paris, where there was certainly no security for her. She was +universally detested there; and whenever she went out in a carriage the +populace shouted loud threats against her, so that at last she dared not +appear in public. + +At first the King was in the habit of dining with Madame de Montespan and +his children, and then no person went to visit him but the Dauphin and +Monsieur. When Montespan was dismissed, the King had all his +illegitimate children in his cabinet: this continued until the arrival of +the last Dauphine; she intruded herself among the bastards to their great +affliction. When the Duchess-- + + [Louise-Francoise, commonly called Mademoiselle de Nantes, the + legitimated daughter of Madame de Montespan and the King, was + married to the Duc de Bourbon in 1685.] + +became the favourite of the Dauphin, she begged that no other persons of +the royal house might have access to the cabinet; and therefore my +request for admission, although not refused, was never granted until +after the death of the Dauphin and Dauphine. The latter accompanied the +King to places where I did not, and could not go, for she even, went with +him upon occasions when decency ought to have forbidden her presence. +Maintenon did the same thing, for the purpose of having an opportunity of +talking to the King in secret. + +Louis XIV. loved the young Dauphine so well that he dared refuse her +nothing; and Maintenon had so violent a hatred against me that she was +ready to do me all the mischief in her power. What could the King do +against the inclinations of his son and his granddaughter? They would +have looked cross, and that would have grieved him. I had no inclination +to cause him any vexation, and therefore preferred exercising my own +patience. When I had anything to say to the King, I requested a private +audience, which threw them all into despair, and furnished me with a good +laugh in my sleeve. + +The King was so much devoted to the old usages of the Royal Palace that +he would not for the world have departed from them. Madame de Fiennes +was in the habit of saying that the Royal Family adhered so strictly to +their habits and customs that the Queen of England died with a toguet on +her head; that is, a little cap which is put upon children when they go +to bed. + +When the King denied anything it was not permitted to argue with him; +what he commanded must be done quickly and without reply. He was too +much accustomed to "such is our good pleasure," to endure any +contradiction. + +He was always kind and generous when he acted from his own impulses. +He never thought that his last will would be observed; and he said to +several people, "They have made me sign a will and some other papers; +I have done it for the sake of being quiet, but I know very well that it +will not stand good." + +The good King was old; he stood in need of repose, and he could not enjoy +it by any other means than by doing whatever that old Maintenon wished; +thus it was that this artful hussy always accomplished her ends. + +The King used always to call the Duc de Verneuil his uncle. + +It has been said and believed that Louis XIV. retired from the war +against Holland through pure generosity; but I know, as well as I know my +own name that he came back solely for the purpose of seeing Madame de +Montespan, and to stay with her. I know also many examples of great +events, which in history have been attributed to policy or ambition, but +which have originated from the most insignificant trifles. It has been +said it was our King's ambition that made him resolve to become the +master of the world, and that it was for this he commenced the Dutch war; +but I know from an indisputable source that it was entered upon only +because M. de Lionne, then Minister of State, was jealous of Prince +William of Furstenberg, who had an intrigue with his wife, of which he +had been apprised. It was this that caused him to engage in those +quarrels which afterwards produced the war. + +It was not surprising that the King was insensible to the scarcity which +prevailed, for in the first place he had seen nothing of it, and, in the +second, he had been told that all the reports which had reached him were +falsehoods, and that they were in no respect true. Old Maintenon +invented this plan for getting money, for she had bought up all the corn, +for the purpose of retailing it at a high price. [This does not sound +like M. Maintenon. D.W.] Everybody had been requested to say nothing +about it to the King, lest it should kill him with vexation. + +The King loved my son as well as his own, but he cared little for the +girls. He was very fond of Monsieur, and he had reason to be so; never +did a child pay a more implicit obedience to its parents than did +Monsieur to the King; it was a real veneration; and the Dauphin, too, had +for him a veneration, affection and submission such as never son had for +a father. The King was inconsolable for his death. He never had much +regard for the Duke of Burgundy; the old sorceress (Maintenon) had +slandered him to the King, and made the latter believe that he was of an +ambitious temper, and was impatient at the King's living so long. She +did this in order that if the Prince should one day open his eyes, and +perceive the manner in which his wife had been educated, his complaints +might have no effect with the King, which really took place. Louis XIV. +at last thought everything that the Dauphine of Burgundy did was quite +charming; old Maintenon made him believe that her only aim was to divert +him. This old woman was to him both the law and the prophets; all that +she approved was good, and what she condemned was bad, no matter how +estimable it really was. The most innocent actions of the first Dauphine +were represented as crimes, and all the impertinences of the second were +admired. + +A person who had been for many years in immediate attendance upon the +King, who had been engaged with him every evening at Maintenon's, and +who must consequently have heard everything that was said, is one of my +very good friends, and he has told me that although while the old lady +was living he dare not say a word, yet, she being dead, he was at liberty +to tell me that the King had always professed a real friendship for me. +This person has often heard with his own ears Maintenon teasing the King, +and speaking ill of me for the purpose of rendering me hateful in his +eyes, but the King always took my part. It was in reference to this, +I have no doubt, that the King said to me on his death-bed: + +"They have done all they could to make me hate you, Madame, but they have +not succeeded." He added that he had always known me too well to believe +their calumnies. While he spoke thus, the old woman stood by with so +guilty an air that I could not doubt they had proceeded from her. + +Monsieur often took a pleasure in diminishing or depriving me of the +King's favour, and the King was not sorry for some little occasions to +blame Monsieur. He told me once that he had embroiled me with Monsieur +by policy. + +I was alarmed, and said immediately, "Perhaps your Majesty may do the +same thing again." + +The King laughed, and said, "No, if I had intended to do so I should not +have told you of it; and, to say the truth, I had some scruples about it, +and have resolved never to do so again." + +Upon the death of one of his children, the King asked of his old medical +attendant, M. Gueneau: "Pray, how does it happen that my illegitimate +children are healthy and live, while all the Queen's children are so +delicate and always die?" "Sire," replied Gueneau, "it is because the +Queen has only the rinsings of the glass." + +He always slept in the Queen's bed, but did not always accommodate +himself to the Spanish temperament of that Princess; so that the Queen +knew he had been elsewhere. The King, nevertheless, had always great +consideration for her, and made his mistresses treat her with all +becoming respect. He loved her for her virtue, and for the sincere +affection she bore to him, notwithstanding his infidelity. He was much +affected at her death; but four days afterwards, by the chattering of old +Maintenon, he was consoled. A few days afterwards we went to +Fontainebleau, and expected to find the King in an ill-humour, and that +we should be scolded; but, on the contrary, he was very gay. + +When the King returned from a journey we were all obliged to be at the +carriage as he got out, for the purpose of accompanying him to his +apartments. + +While Louis XIV. was young all the women were running after him; but he +renounced this sort of life when he flattered himself that he had grown +devout. His motive was, Madame de Maintenon watched him so narrowly that +he could not, dare not, look at any one. She disgusted him with +everybody else that she might have him to herself; and this, too, under +the pretext of taking care of his soul. + +Madame de Colonne had a great share of wit, and our King was so much in +love with her, that, if her uncle, the Cardinal, had consented, he would +certainly have married her. Cardinal Mazarin, although in every other +respect a worthless person, deserved to be praised for having opposed +this marriage. He sent his niece into Italy. When she was setting out, +the King wept violently. Madame de Colonne said to him, "You are a King; +you weep, and yet I go." This was saying a great deal in a few words. +As to the Comtesse de Soissons, the King had always more of friendship +than of love for her. He made her very considerable presents, the least +of which was to the amount of 2,000 louis. + +Madame de Ludres, the King's mistress, was an agreeable person; +she had been Maid of Honour to Monsieur's first wife,--[Henrietta of +England.]--and after her death she entered the Queen's service, but when +these places were afterwards abolished, Monsieur took back Ludres and +Dampierre, the two Ladies of Honour he had given to the Queen. The +former was called Madame, because she was canoness of a chapter at +Lorraine. + +It is said that the King never observed her beauty while she was with the +Queen, and that it was not until she was with me that he fell in love +with her. Her reign lasted only two years. Montespan told the King that +Ludres had certain ringworms upon her body, caused by a poison that had +been given her in her youth by Madame de Cantecroix. At twelve or +thirteen years of age, she had inspired the old Duc de Lorraine with so +violent a passion that he resolved to marry her at all events. The +poison caused eruptions, covered her with ringworms from head to foot, +and prevented the marriage. She was cured so well as to preserve the +beauty of her figure, but she was always subject to occasional eruptions. +Although now (1718) more than seventy years old, she is still beautiful; +she has as fine features as can be seen, but a very disagreeable manner +of speaking; she lisps horribly. She is, however, a good sort of person. +Since she has been converted she thinks of nothing but the education of +her nieces, and limits her own expenses that she may give the more to her +brother's children. She is in a convent at Nancy, which she is at +liberty to quit when she pleases. She, as well as her nieces, enjoy +pensions from the King. + +I have seen Beauvais, that femme de chambre of the Queen-mother, a +one-eyed creature, who is said to have first taught the King the art of +intriguing. She was perfectly acquainted with all its mysteries, and had +led a very profligate life; she lived several years after my arrival in +France. + +Louis XIV. carried his gallantries to debauchery. Provided they were +women, all were alike to him peasants, gardeners' girls, femmes de +chambre, or ladies of quality. All that they had to do was to seem to be +in love with him. + +For a long time before his death, however, he had ceased to run after +women; he even exiled the Duchesse de la Ferte, because she pretended to +be dying for him. When she could not see him, she had his portrait in +her carriage to contemplate it. The King said that it made him +ridiculous, and desired her to retire to her own estate. The Duchesse de +Roquelaure, of the house of Laval, was also suspected of wishing to +captivate the King; but his Majesty was not so severe with her as with La +Ferte. There was great talk in the scandalous circles about this +intrigue; but I did not thrust my nose into the affair. + +I am convinced that the Duchesse de la Valliere always loved the King +very much. Montespan loved him for ambition, La Soubise for interest, +and Maintenon for both. La Fontange loved him also, but only like the +heroine of a romance; she was a furiously romantic person. Ludres was +also very much attached to him, but the King soon got tired of her. As +for Madame de Monaco, I would not take an oath that she never intrigued +with the King. While the King was fond of her, Lauzun, who had a regular +though a secret arrangement with his cousin, fell into disgrace for the +first time. He had forbidden his fair one to see the King; but finding +her one day sitting on the ground, and talking with His Majesty, Lauzun, +who, in his place as Captain of the guard, was in the chamber, was so +transported with jealousy that he could not restrain himself, and, +pretending to pass, he trod so violently on the hand which Madame de +Monaco had placed upon the ground, that he nearly crushed it. The King, +who thus guessed at their intrigue, reprimanded him. Lauzun replied +insolently, and was sent for the first time to the Bastille. + +Madame de Soubise was cunning, full of dissimulation, and very wicked. +She deceived the good Queen cruelly; but the latter rewarded her for this +in exposing her falsehood and in unmasking her to the world. As soon as +the King had undeceived Her Majesty with respect to this woman, her +history became notorious, and the Queen amused herself in relating her +triumph, as she called it, to everybody. + +The King and Monsieur had been accustomed from their childhood to great +filthiness in the interior of their houses; so much so, that they did not +know it ought to be otherwise, and yet, in their persons, they, were +particularly neat. + +Madame de la Motte, who had been at Chaillot, preferred the old Marquis +de Richelieu to the King. She declared to His Majesty that her heart was +no longer disposable, but that it was at length fixed. + +I can never think, without anger, of the evil which has been spoken of +the late King, and how little His Majesty has been regretted by those to +whom he had done so much good. + +I hardly dare repeat what the King said to me on his death-bed. All +those who were usually in his cabinet were present, with the exception of +the Princess, his daughter, the Princesse de Conti, and Madame de +Vendome, who, alone, did not see the King. The whole of the Royal Family +was assembled. He recommended his legitimated daughters to live together +in concord, and I was the innocent cause of his saying something +disagreeable to them. When the King said, "I recommend you all to be +united," I thought he alluded to me and my son's daughter; and I said, +"Yes, Monsieur, you shall be obeyed." He turned towards me, and said in +a stern voice, "Madame, you thought I spoke of you. No, no; you are a +sensible person, and I know you; it is to the Princesses, who are not so, +that I speak:" + +Louis XIV. proved at his death that he was really a great man, for it +would be impossible to die with more courage than he displayed. For +eight days he had incessantly the approach of death before his eyes +without betraying fear or apprehension; he arranged everything as if he +had only been going to make a journey. + +Eight or ten days before his death a disease had appeared in his leg; a +gangrene ensued, and it was this which caused his death. But for three +months preceding he had been afflicted with a slow fever, which had +reduced him so much that he looked like a lath. That old rogue, Fagon, +had brought him to this condition, by administering purgatives and +sudorifics of the most violent kind. At the instigation of +Pere Letellier, he had been tormented to death by the cursed +constitution,--[The affair of the Bull Unigenitus]--and had not been +allowed to rest day or night. Fagon was a wicked old scoundrel, much +more attached to Maintenon than to the King. When I perceived how much +it was sought to exault the Duc du Maine, and that the old woman cared +so little for the King's death, I could not help entertaining +unfavourable notions of this old rascal. + +It cannot be denied that Louis XIV. was the finest man in his kingdom. +No person had a better appearance than he. His figure was agreeable, his +legs well made, his feet small, his voice pleasant; he was lusty in +proportion; and, in short, no fault could be found with his person. +Some folks thought he was too corpulent for his height, and that Monsieur +was too stout; so that it was said, by way of a joke at Court, that there +had been a mistake, and that one brother had received what had been +intended for the other. The King was in the habit of keeping his mouth +open in an awkward way. + +An English gentleman, Mr. Hammer, found him an expert fencer. + +He preserved his good looks up to his death, although some of my ladies, +who saw him afterwards, told me that he could scarcely be recognized. +Before his death, his stature had been diminished by a head, and he +perceived this himself. + +His pronunciation was very distinct, but all his children, from the +Dauphin to the Comte de Toulouse, lisped. They used to say, Pahi, +instead of Paris. + +In general, the King would have no persons at his table but members of +the Royal Family. As for the Princesses of the blood, there were so many +of them that the ordinary table would not have held them; and, indeed, +when we were all there, it was quite full. + +The King used to sit in the middle, and had the Dauphin and the Duke of +Burgundy at his right, and the Dauphine and the Duchesse de Berri on his +left; on one of the sides Monsieur and I sat; and on the other, my son +and his wife; the other parts of the table were reserved for the noblemen +in waiting, who did not take their places behind the King, but opposite +to him. When the Princesses of the blood or any other ladies were +received at the King's table, we were waited on, not by noblemen, but by +other officers of the King's household, who stood behind like pages. +The King upon such occasions was waited on by his chief Maitre d'Hotel. +The pages never waited at the King's table, but on journeys; and then +upon no person but the King. The Royal Family had persons to attend them +who were not noble. Formerly all the King's officers, such as the +butler, the cupbearer, etc., etc., were persons of rank; but afterwards, +the nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices; and +they fell, of necessity, into the hands of more wealthy citizens who +could pay for them. + +The King, the late Monsieur, the Dauphin, and the Duc de Berri were great +eaters. I have often seen the King eat four platefuls of different +soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plateful of salad, mutton hashed +with garlic, two good-sized slices of ham, a dish of pastry, and +afterwards fruit and sweetmeats. The King and Monsieur were very fond of +hard eggs. + +Louis XIV. understood perfectly the art of satisfying people even while +he reproved their requests. His manners were most affable, and he spoke +with so much politeness as to win all hearts. + + + + +SECTION III.--MADEMOISELLE DE FONTANGE. + +I had a Maid of Honour whose name was Beauvais; she was a very +well-disposed person: the King fell in love with her, but she remained +firm against all his attempts. He then turned his attention to her +companion, Fontange, who was also very pretty, but not very sensible. +When he first saw her he said, "There is a wolf that will not eat me;" +and yet he became very fond of her soon afterwards. Before she came to +me she had dreamt all that was to befall her, and a pious Capuchin +explained her dream to her. She told me of it herself long before she +became the King's mistress. She dreamt that she had ascended a high +mountain, and, having reached the summit, she was dazzled by an +exceedingly bright cloud; then on a sudden she found herself in such +profound darkness that her terror at this accident awoke her. When she +told her confessor he said to her: "Take care of yourself; that mountain +is the Court, where some distinction awaits you; it will, however, be +but of short duration; if you abandon your God He will forsake you and +you will fall into eternal darkness." + +There is no doubt that Fontange died by poison; she accused Montespan of +being the cause of her death. A servant who had been bribed by that +favourite destroyed her and some of her people by means of poison mixed +with milk. Two of them died with her, and said publicly that they had +been poisoned. + +Fontange was a stupid little creature, but she had a very good heart. +She was very red-haired, but, beautiful as an angel from head to foot. + + + + +SECTION IV.-MADAME DE LA VALLIERE. + +When one of Madame de Montespan's children died, the King was deeply +affected; but he was not so at the death of the poor Comte de Vermandois +(the son of La Valliere). He could not bear him, because Montespan and +that old Maintenon had made him believe the youth was not his but the Duc +de Lauzun's child. It had been well if all the King's reputed children +had been as surely his as this was. Madame de La Valliere was no light +mistress, as her unwavering penitence sufficiently proved. She was an +amiable, gentle, kind and tender woman. Ambition formed no part of her +love for the King; she had a real passion for him, and never loved any +other person. It was at Montespan's instigation that the King behaved so +ill to her. The poor creature's heart was broken, but she imagined that +she could not make a sacrifice more agreeable to God than that which had +been the cause of her errors; and thought that her repentance ought to +proceed from the same source as her crime. She therefore remained, by +way of self-mortification, with Montespan, who, having a great portion of +wit, did not scruple to ridicule her publicly, behaved extremely ill to +her, and obliged the King to do the same. + +He used to pass through La Valliere's chamber to go to Montespan's; and +one day, at the instigation of the latter, he threw a little spaniel, +which he had called Malice, at the Duchesse de La Valliere, saying: +"There, Madam, is your companion; that's all." + +This was the more cruel, as he was then going direct to Montespan's +chamber. And yet La Valliere bore everything patiently; she was as +virtuous as Montespan was vicious. Her connection with the King might be +pardoned, when it was remembered that everybody had not only advised her +to it, but had even assisted to bring it about. The King was young, +handsome and gallant; she was, besides, very young; she was naturally +modest, and had a very good heart. She was very much grieved when she +was made a Duchess, and her children legitimated; before that she thought +no one knew she had had children. There was an inexpressible charm in +her countenance, her figure was elegant, her eyes were always in my +opinion much finer than Montespan's, and her whole deportment was +unassuming. She was slightly lame, but not so much as to impair her +appearance. + +When I first arrived in France she had not retired to the convent, but +was still in the Court. We became and continued very intimate until she +took the veil. I was deeply affected when this charming person took that +resolution; and, at the moment when the funeral pall was thrown over her, +I shed so many tears that I could see no more. She visited me after the +ceremony, and told me that I should rather congratulate than weep for +her, for that from that moment her happiness was to begin: she added that +she should never forget the kindness and friendship I had displayed +towards her, and which was so much more than she deserved. A short time +afterwards I went to see her. I was curious to know why she had remained +so long in the character of an attendant to Montespan. She told me that +God had touched her heart, and made her sensible of her crimes; that she +felt she ought to perform a penitence, and suffer that which would be +most painful to her, which was to love the King, and to be despised by +him; that for the three years after the King had ceased to love her she +had suffered the torments of the damned, and that she offered her sorrows +to Heaven as the expiation of her sins; and as her sins had been public, +so should be her repentance. She said she knew very well that she had +been taken for a fool, who was not sensible of anything; but that at the +very period she alluded to she suffered most, and continued to do so +until God inspired her with the resolution to abandon everything, and to +serve Him alone, which she had since put into execution; but that now she +considered herself unworthy, on account of her past life, to live in the +society of persons as pure and pious as the Carmelite Sisters. All this +evidently came from the heart. + +From the time she became professed, she was entirely devoted to Heaven. +I often told her that she had only transposed her love, and had given to +God that which had formerly been the King's. She has said frequently +that if the King should come into the convent she would refuse to see +him, and would hide herself so that he could not find her. She was, +however, spared this pain, for the King not only never went, but seemed +to have forgotten her, as if he had never known her. + +To accuse La Valliere of loving any one besides the King was wicked to +the last degree, but falsehoods cost Montespan but little. The Comte de +Vermandois was a good sort of young man, and loved me as if I had been +his mother. When his irregularities were first discovered,--[A more +particular account of these will be found hereafter.]--I was very angry +with him; and I had caused him to be told very seriously that if he had +behaved ill I should cease to have any regard for him. This grieved him +to the heart; he sent to me daily, and begged permission to say only a +few words to me. I was firm during four weeks; at length I permitted him +to come, when he threw himself at my feet, begged my pardon, promising to +amend his conduct, and beseeching me to restore him my friendship +(without which he said he could not exist), and to assist him again with +my advice. He told me the whole history of his follies, and convinced me +that he had been most grossly deluded. + +When the Dauphine lay in of the Duke of Burgundy, I said to the King, +"I hope your Majesty will not upon this occasion refuse a humble request +I have to make to you." + +He smiled and said, "What have you to ask, then?" + +I replied, "The pardon, Monsieur, of the poor Comte de Vermandois." + +He smiled once more, and said, "You are a very good friend; but as for M. +Vermandois, he has not been sufficiently punished for his crimes." + +"The poor lad," I rejoined, "is so very penitent for his offence." + +The King replied, "I do not yet feel myself inclined to see him; I am too +angry with him still." + +Several months elapsed before the King would see him; but the young man +was very grateful to me for having spoken in his behalf; and my own +children could not be more attached to me than he was. He was well made, +but his appearance, though not disagreeable, was not remarkably good; he +squinted a little. + + + + +SECTION V.--MADAME DE MONTESPAN + +The King at first could not bear Madame de Montespan,--[Daughter of +Gabriel de Roche Chouart, first Duc de Mortemart.]--and blamed Monsieur +and even the Queen for associating with her; yet, eventually, he fell +deeply in love with her himself. + +She was more of an ambitious than a libertine woman, but as wicked as the +devil himself. Nothing could stand between her and the gratification of +her ambition, to which she would have made any sacrifice. Her figure was +ugly and clumsy, but her eyes bespoke great intelligence, though they +were somewhat too bright. Her mouth was very pretty and her smile +uncommonly agreeable. Her complexion was fairer than La Valliere's, her +look was more bold, and her general appearance denoted her intriguing +temper. She had very beautiful light hair, fine arms, and pretty hands, +which La Valliere had not. But the latter was always very neat, and +Montespan was filthy to the last degree. She was very amusing in +conversation, and it was impossible to be tired in talking with her. + +The King did not regret Montespan more than he did La Fontange. The Duc +d'Antin, her only legitimate child, was also the only one who wept at her +death. When the King had the others legitimated, the mother's name was +not mentioned, so that it might appear Madame de Montespan was not their +mother. + + [Madame de Montespan had eight children by Louis XIV. The Duc du + Maine; Comte Vegin; Mademoiselle de Nantes, married to the Duc de + Bourbon; Mademoiselle de Tours, married to the Regent Duc d'Orleans; + the Comte de Toulouse, and two other sons who died young.] + +She was once present at a review, and as she passed before the German +soldiers they called out: + +"Konigs Hure! Hure!" When the King asked her in the evening how she +liked the review, she said: "Very well, but only those German soldiers +are so simple as not to call things by their proper names, for I had +their shouts explained to me." + +Madame de Montespan and her eldest daughter could drink a large quantity +of wine without being affected by it. I have seen them drink six bumpers +of the strong Turin Rosa Solis, besides the wine which they had taken +before. I expected to see them fall under the table, but, on the +contrary, it affected them no more than a draught of water. + +It was Madame de Montespan who invented the 'robes battantes' for the +purpose of concealing her pregnancy, because it was impossible to +discover the shape in those robes. But when she wore them, it was +precisely as if she had publicly announced that which she affected to +conceal, for everybody at the Court used to say, "Madame de Montespan has +put on her robe battante, therefore she must be pregnant." I believe she +did it on purpose, hoping that it commanded more attention for her at +Court, as it really did. + +It is quite true that she always had a Royal bodyguard, and it was fit +that she should, because the King was always in her apartments by day and +night. He transacted business there with his Ministers, but, as there +were several chambers, the lady was, nevertheless, quite at liberty to do +as she pleased, and the Marshal de Noailles, though a devout person, was +still a man. When she went out in a carriage, she had guards, lest her +husband should, as he had threatened, offer her some insult. + +She caused the Queen great vexation, and it is quite true that she used +to ridicule her; but then she did the same to everybody besides. She, +however, never ventured upon any direct or remarkable impertinence to Her +Majesty, for the King would not have suffered it. + +She had married one of her cousins, M. de Montpipeau, to Mademoiselle +Aubry, the daughter of a private citizen who was exceedingly rich. To +convince her that she had made a good match, Madame de Montespan had her +brought into her own small private room. The young lady was not +accustomed to very refined society, and the first time she went she +seated herself upon the table, and, crossing her legs, sat swinging there +as if she had been in her own chamber. The laugh which this excited +cannot be conceived, nor the comical manner in which Madame de Montespan +turned it to the King's amusement. The young lady thought that her new +relation was inclined to be favourable to her, and loaded her with +compliments. In general, Montespan had the skill of representing things +so humourously that it was impossible not to laugh at her. + +According to the law of the land, all her children were supposed to be +Monsieur de Montespan's. When her husband was dangerously ill, Madame de +Montespan, who in some degree affected devotion, sent to ask him if he +would allow her to nurse him in his sickness. He replied that he would +very willingly, provided she would bring all his children home with her, +but if she left one behind he would not receive her. After this answer, +she took care not to go, for her husband was a great brute, and would +have said whatever he pleased as soon as she presented herself to him. + +With the exception of the Comte de Toulouse, all the children she had by +the King are marked. The Duc du Maine is paralytic, Madame d'Orleans is +crooked, and Madame la Duchesse is lame. + +M. de Montespan was not a very estimable person; he did nothing but play. +He was a very sordid man, and I believe if the King had chosen to give +him a good round sum he would have been very quiet. It was amusing +enough to see him and his son, d'Antin, playing with Madame d'Orleans and +Madame la Duchesse, and presenting the cards very politely, and kissing +his hand to the Princesses, who were called his own daughters. He +thought it a joke himself, and always turned aside a little to laugh in +his sleeve. + + + + +SECTION VI.--MADAME DE MAINTENON. + +The marriage of Louis XIV. with old Maintenon proves how impossible it is +to escape one's fate. The King said one day to the Duc de Crequi and to +M. de La Rochefoucauld, long before he knew Mistress Scarron, "I am +convinced that astrology is false. I had my nativity cast in Italy, and +I was told that, after living to an advanced age, I should be in love +with an old ----- to the last moment of my existence. I do not think +there is any great likelihood of that." He laughed most heartily as he +said this; and yet the thing has taken place. + +The history of Theodora, in Procopius, bears a singular resemblance to +that of Maintenon. In the history of Sweden, too, there is a similar +character in the person of Sigbritta, a Dutch woman, who lived during the +reign of Christian IL, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, who bears so +great a likeness to Maintenon that I was struck with it as soon as I read +it. I cannot imagine how they came to permit its publication. It is +fortunate for the Abbe Vertot, who is the author, that the King does not +love reading, otherwise he would certainly have been sent to the +Bastille. Several persons thought that the Abbe had invented it by way +of a joke, but he swears by all that is good that he found it in the +annals of Sweden. The old woman cannot have read it either, for she is +too much occupied in reading the letters written to her from Paris, +relating all that is going on there and at the Court. Sometimes the +packets have consisted of twenty or thirty sheets; she kept them or +showed them to the King, according as she liked or disliked the persons. + +She was not deficient in wit, and could talk very well whenever she +chose. She did not like to be called La Marquise, but preferred the +simpler and shorter title of Madame de Maintenon. + +She did not scruple to display openly the hatred she had for me. For +example, when the Queen of England came to Marly, and went out on foot or +in the carriage with the King, on their return the Queen, the Dauphine, +the Princess of England, and all the Princesses, went into the King's +room; I alone was excluded. + +It was with great regret that I gave up my Maids of Honour. I had four, +sometimes five of them, with their governess and sub-governess; they +amused me very much, for they were all very gay. The old woman feared +there might be some among them to whom the King might take a fancy, as he +had done to Ludre and Fontange. I only kept my Maids of Honour a year +after the death of Monsieur.--[1702]--The King was always fond of the +sex, and if the old woman had not watched him very narrowly he would have +slipped through her fingers in spite of all his devotion. + +She hated the Dauphine because the latter would not let her treat her +like a child, but wished to keep a Court and live as became her rank. +This the old woman could not and would not endure. She loved to set all +things in confusion, as she did afterwards with the second Dauphine, in +the hope of compelling the King to recognize and proclaim her as Queen; +but this the King never would do, notwithstanding all her artifices.-- + +[Other writers including Madame de Montespan put it just the opposite way +that the King wished to proclaim Maintenon Queen and she refused. D.W.] + +Nobody at Court used perfumery except that old woman; her gloves were +always scented with jessamine. The King could not bear scent on any +other person, and only endured it in her because she made him believe +that it was somebody else who was perfumed. + +If Madame des Ursins had not been protected by Madame de Maintenon, she +would have been ruined at Court long before the Queen of Spain dismissed +her, for in his heart the King disliked her excessively; but all those +who were supported by Madame de Maintenon were sure to triumph. + +The old woman took great pains to conceal from the King all that could +give him pain; but she did not scruple to torment him incessantly about +the Constitution and those illegitimate children, whom she wished to +raise higher than the King desired. She teased him also with her hatred +of my son and myself, for he had no dislike to us. + +Neither the Queen nor the first Dauphine nor myself ever received a +farthing; but this old Maintenon took money on all sides, and taught the +second Dauphine to do the same. Her example was followed by all the +others. + +In the time of the Queen and the first Dauphine, everything at Court was +conducted with modesty and dignity. Those persons who indulged in secret +debaucheries at least kept up a respect for appearances; but from the +time that Maintenon's reign began, and the King's illegitimate children +were made a part of the Royal Family, all was turned topsy-turvy. + +When she once conceived a hatred against any person it was for life, and +she never ceased secretly to persecute them, as I have personally +experienced. She has laid many snares for me, which by the help of +Providence I have always avoided. She was terribly annoyed by her first +husband, who kept her always shut up in his chamber. Many people say, +too, that she hastened the passage of poor Mansart into the other world. +It is quite certain that he was poisoned by means of green peas, and that +he died within three hours of eating them. She had learnt that on the +same day M. de Torcy was going to show the King certain papers +containing an account of the money which she had received from the post +unknown to His Majesty. The King never knew anything of this adventure +nor of that of Louvois, because, as people had no fancy for being +poisoned, they held their tongues. + +Before she got into power, the Church of France was very reasonable; +but she spoiled everything by encouraging such follies and superstitions +as the rosaries and other things. When any reasonable men appeared, the +old woman and the Confessor had them banished or imprisoned. These two +persons were the causes of all the persecutions which the Lutherans and +those of the reformed religion underwent in France. Pere La Chaise, with +his long ears, began this worthy enterprise, and Pere Letellier completed +it; France was thus ruined in every way. + +The Duchesse de Bourbon was taught by her mother and her aunt, Mesdames +de Montespan and De Thiange, to ridicule everybody, under the pretext of +diverting the King. The children, who were always present, learnt +nothing else; and this practice was the universal dread of all persons in +the Court; but not more so than that of the gouvernante of the children +(Madame de Maintenon). Her habit was to treat things very seriously, and +without the least appearance of jesting. She used to speak ill of +persons to the King through charity and piety, for the sole purpose of +correcting the faults of her neighbours; and under this pretext she +filled the King with a bad opinion of the whole Court, solely that he +might have no desire for any other company than that of herself and her +creatures, who were alone perfect and without the slightest defect. What +rendered her disclosures the more dangerous was that they were frequently +followed by banishment, by 'lettres-de-cachet', and by imprisonment. +When Montespan was in power, at least there was nothing of this sort. +Provided she could amuse herself at the expense of all around her, she +was content. + +I have often heard Madame de Maintenon say, jestingly, "I have always +been either too far from, or too near to, greatness, to know exactly what +it is." + +She could not forgive the King for not having proclaimed her Queen. She +put on such an appearance of humility and piety to the Queen of England +that she passed for a saint with her. The old woman knew very well that +I was a right German, and that I never could endure unequal alliances. +She fancied, therefore, that it was on my account the King was reluctant +to acknowledge his marriage with her, and this it was that made her hate +me so profoundly. From the time of the King's death and our departure +from Versailles my son has never once seen her. + +She would never allow me to meddle with anything, because she feared it +would give me an opportunity of talking to the King. It was not that she +was jealous lest he should be fond of me, but she feared that, in +speaking according to my usual custom, freely and without restraint, +I should open the King's eyes and point out to him the folly of the life +he was leading. I had, however, no such intention. + +All the mistresses the King had did not tarnish his reputation so much as +the old woman he married; from her proceeded all the calamities which +have since befallen France. It was she who excited the persecution +against the Protestants, invented the heavy taxes which raised the price +of grain so high, and caused the scarcity. She helped the Ministers to +rob the King; by means of the Constitution she hastened his death; she +brought about my son's marriage; she wanted to place bastards upon the +throne; in short, she ruined and confused everything. + +Formerly the Court never went into mourning for children younger than six +years of age; but the Duc du Maine having lost a daughter only one year +old, the old woman persuaded the King to order a mourning, and since that +time it has been always worn for children of a year old. + +The King always hated or loved as she chose to direct; it was not, +therefore, surprising that he could not bear Montespan, for all her +failings were displayed to him by the old woman, who was materially +assisted in this office by Montespan's eldest son, the Duc du Maine. +In her latter years she enjoyed a splendour which she could never have +dreamed of before; the Court looked upon her as a sort of divinity. + +The old lady never failed to manifest her hatred of my son on all +occasions. She liked my husband no better than myself; and my son and my +daughter and her husband were equally objects of her detestation. She +told a lady once that her greatest fault was that of being attached to +me. Neither my son nor I had ever done her any injury. If Monsieur +thought fit to tell his niece, the Duchess of Burgundy, a part of +Maintenon's history, in the vexation he felt at her having estranged the +Princess from him, and not choosing that she should behave affectionately +to her great-uncle, that was not our fault. She was as jealous of the +Dauphine as a lover is of his mistress. + +She was in the habit of saying, "I perceive there is a sort of vertigo at +present affecting the whole world." When she perceived that the harvest +had failed, she bought up all the corn she could get in the markets, and +gained by this means an enormous sum of money, while the poor people were +dying of famine. Not having a sufficient number of granaries, a large +quantity of this corn became rotten in the boats loaded with it, and it +was necessary to throw it into the river. The people said this was a +just judgment from Heaven. + +My son made me laugh the other day. I asked him how Madame de Maintenon +was. + +"Wonderfully well," he replied. + +"That is surprising at her age," I said. + +"Yes," he rejoined, "but do you not know that God has, by way, of +punishing the devil, doomed him to exist a certain number of years in +that ugly body?" + +Montespan was the cause of the King's love for old Maintenon. In the +first place, when she wished to have her near her children, she shut her +ears to the stories which were told of the irregular life which the hussy +had been leading; she made everybody who spoke to the King about her, +praise her; her virtue and piety were cried up until the King was made to +think that all he had heard of her light conduct were lies, and in the +end he most firmly believed it. In the second place, Montespan was a +creature full of caprice, who had no control over herself, was +passionately fond of amusement, was tired whenever she was alone with the +King, whom she loved only, for the purposes of her own interest or +ambition, caring very little for him personally. To occupy him, and to +prevent him from observing her fondness for play and dissipation, she +brought Maintenon. The King was fond of a retired life, and would +willingly have passed his time alone with Montespan; he often reproached +her with not loving him sufficiently, and they quarrelled a great deal +occasionally. Goody Scarron then appeared, restored peace between them, +and consoled the King. She, however, made him remark more and more the +bitter temper of Montespan; and, affecting great devotion, she told the +King that his affliction was sent him by Heaven, as a punishment for the +sins he had committed with Montespan. She was eloquent, and had very +fine eyes; by degrees the King became accustomed to her, and thought she +would effect his salvation. He then made a proposal to her; but she +remained firm, and gave him to understand that, although he was very +agreeable to her, she would not for the whole world offend Heaven. This +excited in the King so great an admiration for her, and such a disgust to +Madame de Montespan, that he began to think of being converted. The old +woman then employed her creature, the Duc du Maine, to insinuate to his +mother that, since the King had taken other mistresses, for example, +Ludres and Fontange, she had lost her authority, and would become an +object of contempt at Court. This irritated her, and she was in a very +bad humour when the King came. In the meantime, Maintenon was +incessantly censuring the King; she told him that he would be damned if +he did not live on better terms with the Queen. Louis XIV. repeated this +to his wife, who considered herself much obliged to Madame de Maintenon: +she treated her with marks of distinction, and consented to her being +appointed second dame d'atour to the Dauphine of Bavaria; so that she had +now nothing to do with Montespan. The latter became furious, and related +to the King all the particulars of the life of Dame Scarron. But the +King, knowing her to be an arrant fiend, who would spare no one in her +passion, would not believe anything she said to him. The Duc du Maine +persuaded his mother to retire from Court for a short time in order that +the King might recall her. Being fond of her son, and believing him to +be honest in the advice he gave her, she went to Paris, and wrote to the +King that she would never come back. The Duc du Maine immediately sent +off all her packages after her without her knowledge; he even had her +furniture thrown out of the window, so that she could not come back to +Versailles. She had treated the King so ill and so unkindly that he was +delighted at being rid of her, and he did not care by what means. If she +had remained longer, the King, teased as he was, would hardly have been +secure against the transports of her passion. The Queen was extremely +grateful to Maintenon for having been the means of driving away Montespan +and bringing back the King to the marriage-bed; an arrangement to which, +like an honest Spanish lady, she had no sort of objection. With that +goodness of heart which was so remarkable in her, she thought she was +bound to do something for Madame de Maintenon, and therefore consented to +her being appointed dame d'atour. It was not until shortly before her +death that she learnt she had been deceived by her. After the Queen's +death, Louis XIV. thought he had gained a triumph over the very +personification of virtue in overcoming the old lady's scruples; he used +to visit her every afternoon, and she gained such an influence over him +as to induce him to marry. + +Madame la Marechale de Schomberg had a niece, Mademoiselle d'Aumale, whom +her parents had placed at St. Cyr during the King's life. She was ugly, +but possessed great wit, and succeeded in amusing the King so well that +the old Maintenon became disturbed at it. She picked a quarrel with her, +and wanted to send her again to the convent. But the King opposed this, +and made the old lady bring her back. When the King died, Mademoiselle +d'Aumale would not stay any longer with Madame de Maintenon. + +When the Dauphine first arrived, she did not know a soul. Her household +was formed before she came. She did not know who Maintenon was; and when +Monsieur explained it to her a year or two afterwards, it was too late to +resist. The Dauphin used at first to laugh at the old woman, but as he +was amorous of one of the Dauphine's Maids of Honour, and consequently +was acquainted with the gouvernante of the Maids of Honour, +Montchevreuil, a creature of Maintenon's, that old fool set her out in +very fair colours. Madame de Maintenon did not scruple to estrange the +Dauphin from the Dauphine, and very piously to sell him first Rambure and +afterwards La Force. + + +18th April, 1719--To-day I will begin my letter with the story of Madame +de Ponikau, in Saxony. One day during her lying-in, as she was quite +alone, a little woman dressed in the ancient French fashion came into the +room and begged her to permit a party to celebrate a wedding, promising +that they would take care it should be when she was alone. Madame de +Ponikau having consented, one day a company of dwarfs of both sexes +entered her chamber. They brought with them a little table, upon which a +good dinner, consisting of a great number of dishes, was placed, and +round which all the wedding guests took their seats. In the midst of the +banquet, one of the little waiting-maids ran in, crying, + +"Thank Heaven, we have escaped great perplexity. The old ----- is dead." + +It is the same here, the old is dead. She quitted this world at St. +Cyr, on Saturday last, the 15th day of April, between four and five +o'clock in the evening. The news of the Duc du Maine and his wife being +arrested made her faint, and was probably the cause of her death, for +from that time she had not a moment's repose or content. Her rage, and +the annihilation of her hopes of reigning with him, turned her blood. +She fell sick of the measles, and was for twenty days in great fever. +The disorder then took an unfavourable turn, and she died. She had +concealed two years of her age, for she pretended to be only eighty-four, +while she was really eighty-six years old. I believe that what grieved +her most in dying was to quit the world, and leave me and my son behind +her in good health. When her approaching death was announced to her, she +said, "To die is the least event of my life." The sums which her nephew +and niece De Noailles inherited from her were immense; but the amount +cannot be ascertained, because she had concealed a large part of her +wealth. + +A cousin of hers, the Archbishop of Rouen, who created so much trouble +with respect to the Constitution, followed his dear cousin into the other +world exactly a week afterwards, on the same day, and at the same hour. + +Nobody, knows what the King said to Maintenon on his death bed. She had +retired to St. Cyr before he died. They fetched her back, but she did +not stay, to the end. I think the King repented of his folly in having +married her, and, indeed, notwithstanding all her contrivances, she could +not persuade him to declare their marriage. She wept for the King's +death, but was not so deeply afflicted as she ought to have been. She +always flattered herself with the hope of reigning together with the Duc +du Maine. + +From the beginning to the end of their connection, the King's society was +always irksome to her, and she did not scruple to say so to her own +relations. She had before been much accustomed to the company of men, +but afterwards dared see none but the King, whom she never loved, and his +Ministers. This made her ill-tempered, and she did not fail to make +those persons who were within her power feel its effects. My son and I +have had our share of it. She thought only of two things, her ambition +and her amusement. The old sorceress never loved any one but her +favourite, the Duc du Maine. Perceiving that the Dauphine was desirous +of acting for herself and profiting by the king's favour, that she +ridiculed her to her attendants, and seemed not disposed to yield to her +domination, she withdrew her attention from her; and if the Dauphine had +not possessed great influence with the King, Maintenon would have turned +round upon her former favourite; she was therefore very soon consoled for +this Princess's death. She thought to have the King entirely at her +disposal through the Duc du Maine, and it was for this reason that she +relied so much upon him, and was so deeply afflicted at his imprisonment. + +She was not always so malicious, but her wickedness increased with her +years. For us it had been well that she had died twenty years before, +but for the honour of the late King that event ought to have taken place +thirty-three years back, for, if I do not mistake, she was married to the +King two years after the Queen's death, which happened five-and-thirty +years ago. + +If she had not been so outrageously inveterate against me, she could have +done me much more injury with the King, but she set about it too +violently; this caused the King to perceive that it was mere malice, and +therefore it had no effect. There were three reasons why she hated me +horribly. The first was, that the King treated me favourably. I was +twenty-five years of age when she came into power; she saw that, instead +of suffering myself to be governed by her, I would have my own way, and, +as the King was kind to me, that I should undeceive him and counsel him +not to suffer himself to be blindly led by so worthless a person. The +second reason was that, knowing how much I must disapprove of her +marriage with the King, she imagined I should always be an obstacle to +her being proclaimed Queen; and the third was, that I had always taken +the Dauphine's part whenever Maintenon had mortified her. The poor +Dauphine did not know what to do with Maintenon, who possessed the King's +heart, and was acquainted with all his intentions. Notwithstanding all +the favour she enjoyed, the old lady was somewhat timid. If the Dauphine +could have summoned courage to threaten Maintenon, as I advised her, to +hint that her previous life was well known, and that unless she behaved +better to the Dauphine the latter would expose her to the King, but that +if, on the contrary, she would live quietly and on good terms, silence +should be kept, then Maintenon would have pursued a very different +conduct. That wicked Bessola always prevented this, because then she +would have had no more tales to tell. + +One day I found the Dauphine in the greatest distress and drowned in +tears, because the old woman had threatened to make her miserable, to +have Madame du Maine preferred to her, to make her odious to the whole +Court and to the King besides. I laughed when she told me all this. + +"Is it possible," I said, "with so much sense and courage as you possess +that you will suffer this old hag to frighten you thus? You can have +nothing to fear: you are the Dauphine, the first person in the kingdom; +no one can do you any mischief without the most serious cause. When, +therefore, they threaten you, answer boldly: 'I do not fear pour menaces; +Madame de Maintenon is too much beneath me, and the King is too just to +condemn without hearing me. If you compel me I will speak to him myself, +and we shall see whether he will protect me or not.'" + +The Dauphine was not backward in repeating this word for word. The old +woman immediately said, "This is not your own speech; this proceeds from +Madame's bad advice; you have not courage enough to think thus for +yourself; however, we shall see whether Madame's friendship will be +profitable to you or not." But from that time forth she never threatened +the Princess. She had introduced the name of the Duchesse du Maine +adroitly enough in her threats to the Dauphine, because, having educated +the Duke, she thought her power at Court unlimited, and wished to chew +that she could prefer the last Princess of the blood before the first +person in France, and that therefore it was expedient to submit to her +and obey her. But Bessola, who was jealous of me, and could not bear +that the Dauphine should confide in me, had been bought over by the old +woman, to whom she betrayed us, and told her all that I had said to +console the Princess; she was commissioned, besides, to torment and +intimidate her mistress as much as possible, and acquitted herself to +a miracle, terrifying her to death, and at the same time seeming to act +only from attachment, and to be entirely devoted to her. The poor +Dauphine never distrusted this woman, who had been educated with her, and +had accompanied her to France; she did not imagine that falsehood and +perfidy existed to such an extent as this infernal creature carried them. +I was perfectly amazed at it. I opposed Bessola, and did all I could to +console the Dauphine and to alleviate her vexation. She told me when she +was dying that I had prolonged her life by two years by inspiring her +with courage. My exertions, however, procured for me Maintenon's cordial +hatred, which lasted to the end of her life. Although the Dauphine might +have something to reproach herself with, she was not to be taken to task +for it by that old woman, for who had ever led a less circumspect life +than she? In public, or when we were together, she never said anything +unpleasant to me, for she knew that I would not have failed to answer her +properly, as I knew her whole life. Villarceaux had told me more of her +than I desired to know. + +When the King was talking to me on his death-bed she turned as red as +fire. + +"Go away, Madame," said she; "the King is too much affected while he +talks to you; it may do him harm. Pray go away." + +As I went out she followed me and said, "Do not think, Madame, that I +have ever done you an ill turn with the King." + +I answered her with tears, for I thought I should choke with grief: +"Madame, do not let us talk upon that subject," and so quitted her. + +That humpbacked old Fagon, her favourite, used to say that he disliked +Christianity because it would not allow him to build a temple to +Maintenon and an altar to worship her. + +The only trait in her character that I can find to praise is her conduct +to Montchevreuil; although she was a wicked old devil, Maintenon had +reason to love her and be kind to her, for she had fed and clothed her +when Maintenon was in great want. + +I believe the old woman would not procure for Madame de Dangeau the +privilege of the tabouret, only because she was a German and of good +family. She once had two young girls from Strasbourg brought to Court, +and made them pass for Countesses Palatine, placing them in the office of +attendants upon her nieces. I did not know a word of it until the +Dauphine came to tell it me with tears in her eyes. + +I said to her, "Do not disturb yourself, leave me alone to act; when I +have a good reason for what I do, I despise the old witch." + +When I saw from my window the niece walking with these German girls, +I went into the garden and met them. I called one of them, and asked her +who she was. She told me, boldly, that she was a Countess Palatine of +Lutzelstein. + +"By the left hand?" I asked. + +"No," she replied, "I am not illegitimate; the young Count Palatine +married my mother, who is of the house of Gehlen." + +"In that case," I said, "you cannot be Countess Palatine; for we never +allow such unequal marriages to hold good. I will tell you, moreover, +that you lie when you say that the Count Palatine married your mother; +she is a -----, and the Count has married her no more than a hundred +others have done; I know her lawful husband is a hautboy-player. If you +presume, in future, to pass yourself off as a Countess Palatine I will +have you stripped; let me never again hear anything of this; but if you +will follow my advice, and take your proper name, I shall not reproach +you. And now you see what you have to choose between." + +The girl took this so much to heart that she died some days afterwards. +As for the second, she was sent to a boarding-house in Paris, where she +became as bad as her mother; but as she changed her name I did not +trouble myself any further about her. + +I told the Dauphine what I had done, who was very much obliged to me, +and confessed she should not have had courage enough to do it herself. +She feared that the King would be displeased with me; but he only said +to me, jestingly, "One must not play tricks with you about your family, +for it seems to be a matter of life or death with you." + +I replied, "I hate lies." + +There was a troop of Italian players who had got up a comedy called "The +Pretended Prude." When I learnt they were going to represent it, I sent +for them and told them not to do so. It was in vain; they played it, and +got a great deal of money by it; but they were afterwards sent away in +consequence. They then came to me and wanted me to intercede for them; +but I said, "Why did you not take my advice?" It was said they hit off +the character of Maintenon with the most amusing fidelity. I should have +liked to see it, but I would not go lest the old woman should have told +the King that I had planned it out of ill-will to her. + + + + +SECTION VII.--THE QUEEN--CONSORT OF LOUIS XIV. + +Our Queen was excessively ignorant, but the kindest and most virtuous +woman in the world; she had a certain greatness in her manner, and knew +how to hold a Court extremely well. She believed everything the King +told her, good or bad. Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken. +It was said that this proceeded from her being in the constant habit of +taking chocolate; she also frequently ate garlic. She was short and fat, +and her skin was very white. When she was not walking or dancing she +seemed much taller. She ate frequently and for a long time; but her food +was always cut in pieces as small as if they were for a singing bird. +She could not forget her country, and her manners were always remarkably +Spanish. She was very fond of play; she played basset, reversis, ombre, +and sometimes a little primero; but she never won because she did not +know how to play. + +She had such as affection for the King that she used to watch his eyes to +do whatever might be agreeable to him; if he only looked at her kindly +she was in good spirits for the rest of the day. She was very glad when +the King quitted his mistresses for her, and displayed so much +satisfaction that it was commonly remarked. She had no objection to +being joked upon this subject, and upon such occasions used to laugh and +wink and rub her little hands. + +One day the Queen, after having conversed for half-an-hour with the +Prince Egon de Furstemberg,--[Cardinal Furstemberg, Bishop of +Strasbourg.]--took me aside and said to me, "Did you know what M. de +Strasbourg has been saying? I have not understood him at all." + +A few minutes afterwards the Bishop said to me, "Did your Royal Highness +hear what the Queen said to me? I have not comprehended a single word." + +"Then," said I, "why did you answer her." + +"I thought," he replied, "that it would have been indecorous to have +appeared not to understand Her Majesty." + +This made me laugh so much that I was obliged precipitately to quit the +Chamber. + +The Queen died of an abscess under her arm. Instead of making it burst, +Fagon, who was unfortunately then her physician, had her blooded; this +drove in the abscess, the disorder attacked her internally, and an +emetic, which was administered after her bleeding, had the effect of +killing the Queen. + +The surgeon who blooded her said, "Have you considered this well, Sir? +It will be the death of my Mistress!" + +Fagon replied, "Do as I bid you." + +Gervais, the surgeon, wept, and said to Fagon, "You have resolved, then, +that my Mistress shall die by my hand!" + +Fagon had her blooded at eleven o'clock; at noon he gave her an emetic, +and three hours afterwards she was dead. It may be truly said that with +her died all the happiness of France. The King was deeply grieved by +this event, which that old villain Fagon brought about expressly for the +purpose of confirming that mischievous old woman's fortune. + +After the Queen's death I also happened to have an abscess. Fagon did +all he could to make the King recommend me to be blooded; but I said to +him, in His Majesty's presence, "No, I shall do no such thing. I shall +treat myself according to my own method; and if you had done the same to +the Queen she would have been alive now. I shall suffer the abscess to +gather, and then I shall have it opened." I did so, and soon got well. + +The King said very kindly to me, "Madame, I am afraid you will kill +yourself." + +I replied, laughing, "Your Majesty is too good to me, but I am quite +satisfied with not having followed my physician's advice, and you will +soon see that I shall do very well." + +After my convalescence I said at table, in presence of my two doctors, +Daguin, who was then first physician, and Fagon, who succeeded him upon +his being disgraced, "Your Majesty sees that I was right to have my own +way; for I am quite well, notwithstanding all the wise sayings and +arguments of these gentlemen." + +They were a little confused, but put it off with a laugh; and Fagon said +to me,-- + +"When folks are as robust as you, Madame, they may venture to risk +somewhat." + +I replied, "If I am robust, it is because I never take medicine but on +urgent occasions." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A pious Capuchin explained her dream to her +Art of satisfying people even while he reproved their requests +Asked the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion +Because the Queen has only the rinsings of the glass +Duplicity passes for wit, and frankness is looked upon as folly +Even doubt whether he believes in the existence of a God +Follies and superstitions as the rosaries and other things +Formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions +Great filthiness in the interior of their houses +Great things originated from the most insignificant trifles +He always slept in the Queen's bed +He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant +He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses +Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken (Queen) +I am unquestionably very ugly +I formed a religion of my own +I have seldom been at a loss for something to laugh at +I never take medicine but on urgent occasions +It was not permitted to argue with him +Jewels and decoration attract attention (to the ugly) +Louis XIV. scarcely knew how to read and write +Made his mistresses treat her with all becoming respect +My husband proposed separate beds +No man more ignorant of religion than the King was +Nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices +Not lawful to investigate in matters of religion +Robes battantes for the purpose of concealing her pregnancy +Seeing myself look as ugly as I really am (in a mirror) +So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King +Soon tired of war, and wishing to return home (Louis XIV) +The old woman (Madame Maintenon) +To die is the least event of my life (Maintenon) +To tell the truth, I was never very fond of having children +You are a King; you weep, and yet I go +You never look in a mirror when you pass it + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the +Regency, Book I., by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS *** + +***** This file should be named 3855.txt or 3855.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/3855/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3855.zip b/3855.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b880ad --- /dev/null +++ b/3855.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae91147 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3855 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3855) diff --git a/old/cm18b10.txt b/old/cm18b10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2225d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm18b10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2745 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency, v1 +#1 in our series by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans +#18 in our series Historic Court Memoirs + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: The Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency, v1 + +Author: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans + +Official Release Date: March, 2003 [Etext #3855] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 07/08/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Louis XIV. and The Regency, v1 +**********This file should be named cm18b10.txt or cm18b10.zip********** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, cm18b11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cm18b10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of June 16, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, +Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, +Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, +Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, +Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in nearly all states now, and these are the ones +that have responded as of the date above. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of +each file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before +making an entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. AND OF THE REGENCY, v1 + +Being the Secret Memoirs of the Mother of the Regent, +MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS. + + + +BOOK 1. + + +PREFACE. + +The Duchesse d'Orleans, commonly though incorrectly styled the Princess +of Bavaria, was known to have maintained a very extensive correspondence +with her relations and friends in different parts of Europe. Nearly +eight hundred of her letters, written to the Princess Wilhelmina +Charlotte of Wales and the Duke Antoine-Ulric of Brunswick, were found +amongst the papers left by the Duchess Elizabeth of Brunswick at her +death, in 1767. These appeared to be so curious that the Court of +Brunswick ordered De Praun, a Privy Councillor, to make extracts of such +parts as were most interesting. A copy of his extracts was sent to +France, where it remained a long time without being published. +In 1788, however, an edition appeared, but so mutilated and disfigured, +either through the prudence of the editor or the scissors of the censor, +that the more piquant traits of the correspondence had entirely +disappeared. The bold, original expressions of the German were modified +and enfeebled by the timid translator, and all the names of individuals +and families were suppressed, except when they carried with them no sort +of responsibility. A great many passages of the original correspondence +were omitted, while, to make up for the deficiencies, the editor inserted +a quantity of pedantic and useless notes. In spite of all these faults +and the existence of more faithful editions, this translation was +reprinted in 1807. The existence of any other edition being unknown to +its editor, it differed in nothing from the preceding, except that the +dates of some of the letters were suppressed, a part of the notes cut +out, and some passages added from the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, together +with a life, or rather panegyric, of the Princess, which bore no slight +resemblance to a village homily. + +A copy of the extracts made by M. de Praun fell by some chance into the +hands of Count de Veltheim, under whose direction they were published at +Strasburg, in 1789, with no other alterations than the correction of the +obsolete and vicious orthography of the Princess. + +In 1789 a work was published at Dantzick, in Germany, entitled, +Confessions of the Princess Elizabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, extracted +from her letters addressed, between the years 1702 and 1722, to her +former governess, Madame de Harling, and her husband. The editor asserts +that this correspondence amounted to nearly four hundred letters. A +great part of these are only repetitions of what she had before written +to the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Brunswick. Since that period no +new collections have appeared, although it is sufficiently well known +that other manuscripts are in existence. + +In 1820 M. Schutz published at Leipsig the Life and Character of +Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, with an Extract of the more +remarkable parts of her Correspondence. This is made up of the two +German editions of 1789 and 1791; but the editor adopted a new +arrangement, and suppressed such of the dates and facts as he considered +useless. His suppressions, however, were not very judicious; without +dates one is at a loss to know to what epoch the facts related by the +Princess ought to be referred, and the French proper names are as +incorrect as in the edition of Strasburg. + +Feeling much surprise that in France there should have been no more +authentic edition of the correspondence of the Regent-mother than the +miserable translation of 1788 and 1807, we have set about rendering a +service to the history of French manners by a new and more faithful +edition. The present is a translation of the Strasburg edition, arranged +in a more appropriate order, with the addition of such other passages as +were contained in the German collections. The dates have been inserted +wherever they appeared necessary, and notes have been added wherever the +text required explanation, or where we wished to compare the assertions +of the Princess with other testimonies. The Princess, in the salons of +the Palais Royal, wrote in a style not very unlike that which might be +expected in the present day from the tenants of its garrets. A more +complete biography than any which has hitherto been drawn up is likewise +added to the present edition. In other respects we have faithfully +followed the original Strasburg edition. The style of the Duchess will +be sometimes found a little singular, and her chit-chat indiscreet and +often audacious; but we cannot refuse our respect to the firmness and +propriety with which she conducted herself in the midst of a hypocritical +and corrupt Court. The reader, however, must form his own judgment on +the correspondence of this extraordinary woman; our business is, not to +excite a prejudice in favour of or against her, but merely to present him +with a faithful copy of her letters. + +Some doubts were expressed about the authenticity of the correspondence +when the mutilated edition of 1788 appeared; but these have long since +subsided, and its genuineness is no longer questioned. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE ENTIRE SET: + +BOOK 1. +Preface +Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans +Louis XIV +Mademoiselle de Fontange +Madame de la Valliere +Madame de Montespan +Madame de Maintenon +The Queen-Consort of Louis XIV. + +BOOK 2. +Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans +Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France +The Affairs of the Regency +The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent +The Dauphine, Princess of Bavaria. +Adelaide of Savoy, the Second Dauphine +The First Dauphin +The Duke of Burgundy, the Second Dauphin +Petite Madame + +BOOK 3. +Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort +The Due de Berri +The Duchesse de Berri +Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres +Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the Prince of Modena +The Illegitimate Children of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans +The Chevalier de Lorraine +Philip V., King of Spain +The Duchess, Consort of the Duc de Bourbon +The Younger Duchess +Duc Louis de Bourbon +Francois-Louis, Prince de Conti +La Grande Princesse de Conti +The Princess Palatine, Consort of Prince Francois-Louis de Conti +The Princesse de Conti, Louise-Elizabeth, Consort of Louis-Armand +Louis-Armand, Prince de Conti +The Abbe Dubois +Mr. Law + +BOOK 4. +Victor Amadeus II. +The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence +The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans +The Duc du Maine +The Duchesse du Maine +Louvois +Louis XV. +Anecdotes and Historical Particulars of Various Persons +Explanatory Notes + + + + + + +SECRET COURT MEMOIRS. + +MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D' ORLEANS. + + +SECTION I. + + +If my father had loved me as well as I loved him he would never have sent +me into a country so dangerous as this, to which I came through pure +obedience and against my own inclination. Here duplicity passes for wit, +and frankness is looked upon as folly. I am neither cunning nor +mysterious. I am often told I lead too monotonous a life, and am asked +why I do not take a part in certain affairs. This is frankly the reason: +I am old; I stand more in need of repose than of agitation, and I will +begin nothing that I cannot, easily finish. I have never learned to +govern; I am not conversant with politics, nor with state affairs, and I +am now too far advanced in years to learn things so difficult. My son, I +thank God, has sense enough, and can direct these things without me; +besides, I should excite too much the jealousy of his wife--[Marie- +Francoise de Bourbon, the legitimate daughter of Louis XIV. and of Madame +de Montespan, Duchesse d'Orleans.]--and his eldest daughter,--[Marie- +Louise-Elizabeth d'Orleans, married on the 17th of July, 1710, to Charles +of France, Duc de Berri.]--whom he loves better than me; eternal quarrels +would ensue, which would not at all suit my views. I have been tormented +enough, but I have always forborne, and have endeavoured to set a proper +example to my, son's wife and his daughter; for this kingdom has long had +the misfortune to be too much governed by women, young and old. It is +high time that men should now assume the sway, and this is the reason +which has determined me not to intermeddle. In England, perhaps, women +may reign without inconvenience; in France, men alone should do so, in +order that things may go on well. Why should I torment myself by day and +by night? I seek only peace and repose; all that were mine are dead. +For whom should I care? My time is past. I must try to live smoothly +that I may die tranquilly; and in great public affairs it is difficult, +indeed, to preserve one's conscience spotless. + +I was born at Heidelberg (1652), in the seventh month. I am +unquestionably very ugly; I have no features; my eyes are small, my nose +is short and thick, my lips long and flat. These do not constitute much +of a physiognomy. I have great hanging cheeks and a large face; my +stature is short and stout; my body and my thighs, too, are short, and, +upon the whole, I am truly a very ugly little object. If I had not a +good heart, no one could endure me. To know whether my eyes give tokens +of my possessing wit, they must be examined with a microscope, or it will +be difficult to judge. Hands more ugly than mine are not perhaps to be +found on the whole globe. The King has often told me so, and has made me +laugh at it heartily; for, not being able to flatter even myself that I +possessed any one thing which could be called pretty, I resolved to be +the first to laugh at my own ugliness; this has succeeded as well as I +could have wished, and I must confess that I have seldom been at a loss +for something to laugh at. I am naturally somewhat melancholy; when +anything happens to afflict me, my left side swells up as if it were +filled with water. I am not good at lying in bed; as soon as I awake +I must get up. I seldom breakfast, and then only on bread and butter. +I take neither chocolate, nor coffee, nor tea, not being able to endure +those foreign drugs. I am German in all my habits, and like nothing in +eating or drinking which is not conformable to our old customs. I eat no +soup but such as I can take with milk, wine, or beer. I cannot bear +broth; whenever I eat anything of which it forms a part, I fall sick +instantly, my body swells, and I am tormented with colics. When I take +broth alone, I am compelled to vomit, even to blood, and nothing can +restore the tone to my stomach but ham and sausages. + +I never had anything like French manners, and I never could assume them, +because I always considered it an honour to be born a German, and always +cherished the maxims of my own country, which are seldom in favor here. +In my youth I loved swords and guns much better than toys. I wished to +be a boy, and this desire nearly cost me my life; for, having heard that +Marie Germain had become a boy by dint of jumping, I took such terrible +jumps that it is a miracle I did not, on a hundred occasions, break my +neck. I was very gay in my youth, for which reason I was called, in +German, Rauschenplatten-gnecht. The Dauphins of Bavaria used to say, "My +poor dear mamma" (so she used always to address me), "where do you pick +up all the funny things you know?" + +I remember the birth of the King of England + + [George Louis, Duke of Brunswick Hanover, born the 28th of May, + 1660; proclaimed King of England the 12th of August, 1714, by the + title of George I.] + +as well as if it were only yesterday (1720). I was curious and +mischievous. They had put a doll in a rosemary bush for the purpose of +making me believe it was the child of which my aunt + + [Sophia of Bavaria, married, in 1658, to the Elector of Hanover, was + the paternal aunt of Madame. She was the granddaughter of James I, + and was thus declared the first in succession to the crown of + England, by Act of Parliament, 23rd March, 1707.] + +had just lain in; at the same moment I heard the cries of the Electress, +who was then in the pains of childbirth. This did not agree with the +story which I had been told of the baby in the rosemary bush; I +pretended, however, to believe it, but crept to my aunt's chamber as if I +was playing at hide-and-seek with little Bulau and Haxthausen, and +concealed myself behind a screen which was placed before the door and +near the chimney. When the newly born infant was brought to the fire I +issued from my hiding-place. I deserved to be flogged, but in honour of +the happy event I got quit for a scolding. + +The monks of the Convent of Ibourg, to revenge themselves for my having +unintentionally betrayed them by telling their Abbot that they had been +fishing in a pond under my window, a thing expressly forbidden by the +Abbot, once poured out white wine for me instead of water. I said, "I do +not know what is the matter with this water; the more of it I put into my +wine the stronger it becomes." The monks replied that it was very good +wine. When I got up from the table to go into the garden, I should have +fallen into the pond if I had not been held up; I threw myself upon the +ground and fell fast asleep immediately. I was then carried into my +chamber and put to bed. I did not awake until nine o'clock in the +evening, when I remembered all that had passed. It was on a Holy +Thursday; I complained to the Abbot of the trick which had been played me +by the monks, and they were put into prison. I have often been laughed +at about this Holy Thursday. + +My aunt, our dear Electress (of Hanover), being at the Hague, did not +visit the Princess Royal; + + [Maria-Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and of + Henriette-Marie of France, married, in 1660, to William of Nassau, + Prince of Orange; she lost her husband in 1660, and was left + pregnant with William-Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and + afterwards, by the Revolution of 1688, King of England. This + Princess was then preceptress of her son, the Stadtholder of + Holland.] + +but the Queen of Bohemia + + [Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England, widow of + Frederic V., Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, King of + Bohemia until the year 1621, mother of the Duchess of Hanover.] + +did, and took me with her. Before I set out, my aunt said to me, +"Lizette, now take care not to behave as you do in general, and do not +wander away so that you cannot be found; follow the Queen step by step, +so that she may not have to wait for you." + +I replied, "Oh, aunt, you shall hear how well I will behave myself." + +When we arrived at the Princess Royal's, whom I did not know, I saw her +son, whom I had often played with; after having gazed for a long time at +his mother without knowing who she was, I went back to see if I could +find any one to tell me what was this lady's name. Seeing only the +Prince of Orange, I accosted him thus,-- + +"Pray, tell me who is that woman with so tremendous a nose?" + +He laughed and answered, "That is the Princess Royal, my mother." + +I was quite stupefied. That I might compose myself, Mademoiselle Heyde +took me with the Prince into the Princess's bedchamber, where we played +at all sorts of games. I had told them to call me when the Queen should +be ready to go, and we were rolling upon a Turkey carpet when I was +summoned; I arose in great haste and ran into the hall; the Queen was +already in the antechamber. Without losing a moment, I seized the robe +of the Princess Royal, and, making her a low curtsey, at the same moment +I placed myself directly before her, and followed the Queen step by step +to her carriage; everybody was laughing, but I had no notion of what it +was at. When we returned home, the Queen went to find my aunt, and, +seating herself upon the bed, burst into a loud laugh. + +"Lizette," said she, "has made a delightful visit." And then she told +all that I had done, which made the Electress laugh even more than the +Queen. She called me to her and said,-- + +"Lizette, you have done right; you have revenged us well for the +haughtiness of the Princess." + +My brother would have had me marry the Margrave of Dourlach, but I had no +inclination towards him because he was affected, which I never could +bear. He knew very well that I was not compelled to refuse him, for he +was married long before they thought of marrying me to Monsieur. Still +he thought fit to send to me a Doctor of Dourlach, for the purpose of +asking me whether he ought to obey his father and marry the Princess of +Holstein. I replied that he could not do better than to obey his father; +that he had promised me nothing, nor had I pledged myself to him; but +that, nevertheless, I was obliged to him for the conduct he had thought +fit to adopt. This is all that passed between us. + +Once they wanted to give me to the Duke of Courlande; it was my aunt +d'Hervod who wished to make that match. He was in love with Marianne, +the daughter of Duke Ulric of Wurtemberg; but his father and mother would +not allow him to marry her because they had fixed their eyes on me. +When, however, he came back from France on his way home, I made such an +impression on him that he would not hear of marriage, and requested +permission to join the army. + +I once received a very sharp scolding in a short journey from Mannheim to +Heidelberg. I was in the carriage with my late father, who had with him +an envoy, from the Emperor, the Count of Konigseck. At this time I was +as thin and light as I am now fat and heavy. The jolting of the carriage +threw me from my seat, and I fell upon the Count; it was not my fault, +but I was nevertheless severely rebuked for it, for my father was not a +man to be trifled with, and it was always necessary to be very +circumspect in his presence. + +When I think of conflagrations I am seized with a shivering fit, for I +remember how the Palatinate was ravaged for more than three months. +Whenever I went to sleep I used to think I saw Heidelberg all in flames; +then I used to wake with a start, and I very narrowly escaped an illness +in consequence of those outrages. + + [The burning of the Palatinate in 1674--a horrible devastation + commanded by Louis, and executed by Turenne.] + +Upon my arrival in France I was made to hold a conference with three +bishops. They all differed in their creeds, and so, taking the +quintessence of their opinions, I formed a religion of my own. + +It was purely from the affection I bore to her that I refused to take +precedence of our late Electress; but making always a wide distinction +between her aid and the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, as well as our Electress +of Hanover, I did not hesitate to do so with respect to both the latter. +I also would not take precedence of my mother. In my childhood I wished +to bear her train, but she would never permit me. + +I have been treated ill ever since my marriage this is in some degree the +fault of the Princess Palatine,--[Anne de Gonzague, Princess Palatine, +who took so active a part in the troubles of the Fronde.]--who prepared +my marriage contract; and it is by the contract that the inheritance is +governed. All persons bearing the title of Madame have pensions from the +King; but as they have been of the same amount for a great many years +past they are no longer sufficient. + +I would willingly have married the Prince of Orange, for by that union I +might have hoped to remain near my dear Electress (of Hanover). + +Upon my arrival at Saint-Germain I felt as if I had fallen from the +clouds. The Princess Palatine went to Paris and there fixed me. I put +as good a face upon the affair as was possible; I saw very well that I +did not please my husband much, and indeed that could not be wondered at, +considering my ugliness; however, I resolved to conduct myself in such a +manner towards Monsieur that he should become accustomed to me by my +attentions, and eventually should be enabled to endure me. Immediately +upon my arrival, the King came to see me at the Chateau Neuf, where +Monsieur and I lived; he brought with him the Dauphin, who was then a +child of about ten years old. As soon as I had finished my toilette the +King returned to the old Chateau, where he received me in the Guards' +hall, and led me to the Queen, whispering at the same time,--"Do not be +frightened, Madame; she will be more afraid of you than you of her." The +King felt so much the embarrassment of my situation that he would not +quit me; he sat by my side, and whenever it was necessary for me to rise, +that is to say, whenever a Duke or a Prince entered the apartment, he +gave me a gentle push in the side without being perceived. + +According to the custom of Paris, when a marriage is made, all property +is in common; but the husband has the entire control over it. That only +which has been brought by way of dowry is taken into the account; for +this reason I never knew how much my husband received with me. After his +death, when I expected to gain my cause at Rome and to receive some +money, the disagreeable old Maintenon asked me in the King's name to +promise that if I gained the cause I would immediately cede the half of +the property to my son; and in case of refusal I was menaced with the +King's displeasure. I laughed at this, and replied that I did not know +why they threatened me, for that my son was in the course of nature my +heir, but that it was at least just that he should stay until my death +before he took possession of my property, and that I knew the King was +too equitable to require of me anything but what was consistent with +justice. I soon afterwards received the news of the loss of my cause, +and I was not sorry for it, on account of the circumstance I have just +related. + +When the Abby de Tesse had convinced the Pope that his people had decided +without having read our papers, and that they had accepted 50,000 crowns +from the Grand Duke to pronounce against me, he began weeping, and said, +"Am I not an unhappy man to be obliged to trust such persons?" This will +show what sort of a character the Pope was. + +When I arrived in France I had only an allowance of a hundred louis d'or +for my pocket-money; and this money was always consumed in advance. +After my mother's death, when my husband received money from the +Palatinate, he increased this allowance to two hundred louis; and once, +when I was in his good graces, he gave me a thousand louis. Besides +this, the King had given me annually one thousand louis up to the year +before the marriage of my son. That supported me, but as I would not +consent to the marriage I was deprived of this sum, and it has never been +restored to me. On my first journey to Fontainebleau, the King would +have given me 2,000 pistoles, but that Monsieur begged him to keep half +of them for Madame, afterwards the Queen of Spain.--[Marie-Louise +d'Orleans, born in 1662, married, in 1679, to Charles IL, King of Spain.] + +I cared very little about it, and, nevertheless, went to Fontainebleau, +where I lost all my money at Hoca. Monsieur told me, for the purpose of +vexing me, of the good office he had done me with the King; I only +laughed at it, and told him that, if Madame had chosen to accept the +thousand pistoles from my hands, I would very freely have given them to +her. Monsieur was quite confused at this, and, by way of repairing the +offence he had committed, he took upon himself the payment of 600 louis +d'or, which I had lost over and above the thousand pistoles. + +I receive now only 456,000 francs, which is exactly consumed within the +year; if, they could have given me any less they would. I would not be +thought to make claims to which I am not entitled, but it should be +remembered that Monsieur has had the money of my family. + +I was very glad when, after the birth of my daughter, + + [Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans, born in 1676, married, in 1697, to + the Duc de Lorraine. Philippe d'Orleans, afterwards Regent of + France, was born in 1674; there were no other children by this + marriage.] + +my husband proposed separate beds; for, to tell the truth, I was never +very fond of having children. When he proposed it to me, I answered, +"Yes, Monsieur, I shall be very well contented with the arrangement, +provided you do not hate me, and that you will continue to behave with +some kindness to me." He promised, and we were very well satisfied with +each other. It was, besides, very disagreeable to sleep with Monsieur; +he could not bear any one to touch him when he was asleep, so that I was +obliged to lie on the very edge of the bed; whence it sometimes happened +that I fell out like a sack. I was therefore enchanted when Monsieur +proposed to me in friendly terms, and without any anger, to lie in +separate rooms. + +I obeyed the late Monsieur by not troubling him with my embraces, and +always conducted myself towards him with respect and submission. + +He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses, which, indeed, +oftener excited my pity than my anger. I must confess that I did +occasionally express some impatience, but when he begged pardon, it was +all forgotten. + +Madame de Fiennes had a considerable stock of wit, and was a great joker; +her tongue spared no one but me. Perceiving that she treated the King +and Monsieur with as little ceremony as any other persons, I took her by +the hand one day, and, leading her apart, I said to her, "Madame, you are +very agreeable; you have a great deal of wit, and the manner in which you +display it is pleasant to the King and Monsieur, because they are +accustomed to you; but to me, who am but just arrived, I cannot say that +I like it. When any persons entertain themselves at my expense, I cannot +help being very angry, and it is for this reason that I am going to give +you a little advice. If you spare me we shall be mighty good friends; +but if you treat me as I see you treat others, I shall say nothing to +you; I shall, nevertheless, complain of you to your husband, and if he +does not restrain you I shall dismiss him." + +He was my Equerry-in-Ordinary. + +She promised never to speak of me, and she kept her word. + +Monsieur often said to me, "How does it happen that Madame de Fiennes +never says anything severe of you?" + +I answered, "Because she loves me." + +I would not tell him what I had done, for he would immediately have +excited her to attack me. + +I was called sometimes 'Soeur Pacifique', because I did all in my power +to maintain harmony between Monsieur and his cousins, La Grande +Mademoiselle, + + [Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, Duchesse de Montpensier, and + Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans, Duchess of Tuscany, daughters of + Gaston, Duc d'Orleans, but by different wives.] + +and La Grande Duchesse: + + [Charlotte-Eleonore-Maddleine de la Motte Houdancourt, Duchesse de + Ventadour; she was gouvernante to Louis XV.] + +they quarrelled very frequently, and always like children, for the +slightest trifles. + +Madame de Ventadour was my Maid of Honour for at least sixteen years. +She did not quit me until two years after the death of my husband, and +then it was by a contrivance of old Maintenon; she wished to annoy me +because she knew I was attached to this lady, who was good and amiable, +but not very cunning. Old Maintenon succeeded in depriving me of her by +means of promises and threats, which were conveyed by Soubise, whose son +had married Madame de Ventadour's daughter, and who was an artful woman. +By way of recompense she was made gouvernante. They tried, also, to +deprive me of Madame de Chateau Thiers; the old woman employed all her +power there, too, but Madame de Chateau Thiers remained faithful to me, +without telling of these attempts, which I learnt from another source. + +Madame de Monaco might, perhaps, be fond of forming very close +attachments of her own sex, and Madame de Maintenon would have put me on +the same footing; but she did not succeed, and was so much vexed at her +disappointment that she wept. Afterwards she wanted to make me in love +with the Chevalier de Vendome, and this project succeeded no better than +the other. She often said she could not think of what disposition I must +be, since I cared neither for men nor women, and that the German nation +must be colder than any other. + +I like persons of that cool temperament. The poor Dauphine of Bavaria +used to send all the young coxcombs of the Court to me, knowing that I +detested such persons, and would be nearly choked with laughter at seeing +the discontented air with which I talked to them. + +Falsehood and superstition were never to my taste. + +The King was in the habit of saying, "Madame cannot endure unequal +marriages; she always ridicules them." + +Although there are some most delightful walks at Versailles, no one went +out either on foot or in carriages but myself; the King observed this, +and said, "You are the only one who enjoys the beauties of Versailles." + +All my life, even from my earliest years, I thought myself so ugly that I +did not like to be looked at. I therefore cared little for dress, +because jewels and decoration attract attention. As Monsieur loved to be +covered with diamonds, it was fortunate that I did not regard them, for, +otherwise, we should have quarrelled about who was to wear them. On +grand occasions Monsieur used formerly to make me dress in red; I did so, +but much against my inclination, for I always hated whatever was +inconvenient to me. He always ordered my dresses, and even used to paint +my cheeks himself. + +I made the Countess of Soissons laugh very heartily once. She said to +me, "How is it, Madame, that you never look in a mirror when you pass it, +as everybody else does?" + +I answered, "Because I have too great a regard for myself to be fond of +seeing myself look as ugly as I really am." + +I was always attached to the King; and when he did anything disagreeable +to me it was generally to please Monsieur, whose favourites and my +enemies did all they could to embroil me with him, and through his means +with the King, that I might not be able to denounce them. It was natural +enough that the King should be more inclined to please his brother than +me; but when Monsieur's conscience reproached him, he repented of having +done me ill offices with the King, and he confessed this to the King; His +Majesty would then come to us again immediately, notwithstanding the +malicious contrivances of old Maintenon. + +I have always had my own household, although during Monsieur's life I was +not the mistress of it, because all his favourites derived a share of +profit from it. Thus no one could buy any employment in my establishment +without a bribe to Grancey, to the Chevalier de Lorraine, to Cocard, or +to M. Spied. I troubled myself little about these persons; so long as +they continued to behave with proper respect towards me, I let them +alone; but when they presumed to ridicule me, or to give me any trouble, +I set them to rights without hesitation and as they deserved. + +Finding that Madame la Marechale de Clerambault was attached to me, they +removed her, and they placed my daughter under the care of Madame la +Marechale de Grancey, the creature of my, bitterest enemy, the Chevalier +de Lorraine, whose mistress was the elder sister of this very, Grancei. +It may be imagined how fit an example such a woman was for my daughter; +but all my prayers, all my, remonstrances, were in vain. + +Madame de Montespan said to me one day that it was a shame I had no +ambition, and would not take part in anything. + +I replied, "If a person should have intrigued assiduously to become +Madame, could not her son permit her to enjoy that rank peaceably? Well, +then, fancy that I have become so by such means, and leave me to repose." + +"You are obstinate," said she. + +"No, Madame," I answered; "but I love quiet, and I look upon all your +ambition to be pure vanity." + +I thought she would have burst with spite, so angry was she. She, +however, continued,-- + +"But make the attempt and we will assist you." + +"No," I replied, "Madame, when I think that you, who have a hundred times +more wit than I, have not been able to maintain your consequence in that +Court which you love so much, what hope can I, a poor foreigner, have of +succeeding, who know nothing of intrigue, and like it as little?" + +She was quite mortified. "Go along," she said, "you are good for +nothing." + +Old Maintenon and her party had instilled into the Dauphine a deep hatred +against me; by their direction she often said very impertinent things to +me. They hoped that I should resent them to the Dauphine in such manner +as to afford her reason to complain to the King of me, and thus draw his +displeasure upon me. But as I knew the tricks of the old woman and her +coterie, I resolved not to give them that satisfaction; I only laughed at +the disobliging manner in which they treated me, and I gave them to +understand that I thought the ill behaviour of the Dauphine was but a +trick of her childhood, which she would correct as she grew older. When +I spoke to her she made me no reply, and laughed at me with the ladies +attendant upon her. + +"Ladies," she once said to them, "amuse me; I am tired;" and at the same +time looked at me disdainfully. I only smiled at her, as if her +behaviour had no effect upon me. + +I said, however, to old Maintenon, in a careless tone, "Madame la +Dauphine receives me ungraciously; I do not intend to quarrel with her, +but if she should become too rude I shall ask the King if he approves of +her behaviour." + +The old woman was alarmed, because she knew very well that the King had +enjoined the Dauphine always to behave politely to me; she begged me +immediately not to say a word to the King, assuring me that I should soon +see the Dauphine's behaviour changed; and indeed, from that time, the +Dauphine altered her conduct, and lived upon much better terms with me. +If I had complained to the King of the ill treatment I received from the +Dauphine he would have been very angry; but she would not have hated me +the less, and she and her old aunt would have formed means to repay me +double. + +Ratzenhausen has the good fortune to be sprung from a very good family; +the King was always glad to see her, because she made him laugh; she also +diverted the Dauphine, and Madame de Berri liked her much, and made her +visit her frequently. It is not surprising that we should be good +friends; we have been so since our infancy, for I was not nine years old +when I first became acquainted with her. Of all the old women I know, +there is not one who keeps up her gaiety like Linor. + +I often visited Madame de Maintenon, and did all in my power to gain her +affections, but could never succeed. The Queen of Sicily asked me one +day if I did not go out with the King in his carriage, as when she was +with us. I replied to her by some verses (from Racine's Phedre). + +Madame de Torci told this again to old Maintenon, as if it applied to +her, which indeed it did, and the King was obliged to look coldly on me +for some time. + +During the last three years of his life I had entirely gained my husband +to myself, so that he laughed at his own weaknesses, and was no longer +displeased at being joked with. I had suffered dreadfully before; but +from this period he confided in me entirely, and, always took my part. +By his death I saw the result of the care and pains of thirty years +vanish. After Monsieur's decease, the King sent to ask me whither I +wished to retire, whether to a convent in Paris, or to Maubuisson, or +elsewhere. I replied that as I had the honour to be of the royal house +I could not live but where the King was, and that I intended to go +directly to Versailles. The King was pleased at this, and came to see +me. He somewhat mortified me by saying that he sent to ask me whither I +wished to go because he had not imagined that I should choose to stay +where he was. I replied that I did not know who could have told His +Majesty anything so false and injurious, and that I had a much more +sincere respect and attachment for His Majesty than those who had thus +falsely accused me. The King then dismissed all the persons present, +and we had a long explanation, in the course of which the King told me +I hated Madame de Maintenon. I confessed that I did hate her, but only +through my attachment for him, and because she did me wrong to His +Majesty; nevertheless, I added that, if it were agreeable to him that I +should be reconciled to her, I was ready to become so. The good lady was +not prepared for this, or she would not have suffered the King to come to +me; he was, however, so satisfied that he remained favourable to me up to +his last hour. He made old Maintenon come, and said to her, "Madame is +willing to make friends with you." He then caused us to embrace, and +there the scene ended. He required her also to live upon good terms with +me, which she did in appearance, but secretly played me all sorts of +tricks. It was at this time a matter of indifference to me whether I +went to live at Montargis or not, but I would not have the appearance of +doing so in consequence of any disgrace, and as if I had committed some +offence for which I was driven from the Court. I had reason to fear, +besides, that at the end of two days' journey I might be left to die of +hunger, and to avoid this risk I chose rather to be reconciled to the +King. As to going into a convent, I never once thought of it, although +it was that which old Maintenon most desired. The Castle of Montargis is +my jointure; at Orleans there is no house. St. Cloud is not a part of +the hereditary property, but was bought by Monsieur with his own money. +Therefore my jointure produces nothing; all that I have to live on comes +from the King and my son. At the commencement of my widowhood I was left +unpaid, and there was an arrear of 300,000 francs due to me, which were +not paid until after the death of Louis XIV. What, then, would have +become of me if I had chosen to retire to Montargis? My household +expenses amounted annually to 298,758 livres. + +Although Monsieur received considerable wealth with me, I was obliged, +after his death, to give up to my son the jewels, movables, pictures--in +short, all that had come from my family; otherwise I should not have had +enough to live according to my rank and to keep up my establishment, +which is large. In my opinion, to do this is much better than to wear +diamonds. + +My income is not more than 456,000 livres; and yet, if it please God, I +will not leave a farthing of debt. My son has just made me more rich by +adding 150,000 livres to my pension (1719). The cause of almost all the +evil which prevails here is the passion of women for play. I have often +been told to my face, "You are good for nothing; you do not like play." + +If by my influence I can serve any unfortunate persons with the different +branches of the Government, I always do so willingly; in case of success +I rejoice; in a less fortunate event I console myself by the belief that +it was not the will of God. + +After the King's death I repaired to St. Cyr to pay a visit to Madame de +Maintenon. On my entering the room she said to me, "Madame, what do you +come here for?" + +I replied, "I come to mingle my tears with those of her whom the King I +so much deplore loved most.--that is yourself, Madame." + +"Yes, indeed," she said, "he loved me well; but he loved you, also." + +I replied, "He did me the honour to say that, he would always distinguish +me by his friendship, although everything was done to make him hate me." + +I wished thus to let her understand that I was, quite aware of her +conduct, but that, being a Christian, I could pardon my enemies. If she +possessed any sensibility she must have felt some pain at thus. +receiving the forgiveness of one whom she had incessantly persecuted. + +The affair of Loube is only a small part of what I have suffered here. + +I have now no circle, for ladies a tabouret--[Ladies having the +privilege of seats upon small stools in the presence.]--seldom come to +me, not liking to appear but in full dress. I begged them to be present +as usual at an audience, which I was to give to the ambassador of Malta, +but not one of them came. When the late Monsieur and the King were +alive, they were more assiduous; they were not then so much accustomed to +full dresses, and when they did not come in sufficient numbers Monsieur +threatened to tell the King of it. + +But this is enough, as M. Biermann said, after having preached four hours +together. + + + + +SECTION II. + +LOUIS XIV. + +When the King pleased he could be one of the most agreeable and amiable +men in the world; but it was first necessary that he should be intimately +acquainted with persons. He used to joke in a very comical and amusing +manner. + +The King, though by no means perfect, possessed some great and many fine +qualities; and by no means deserved to be defamed and despised by his +subjects after his death. + +While he lived he was flattered, even to idolatry. + +He was so much tormented on my account that I could not have wondered if +he had hated me most cordially. However, he did not; but, on the +contrary, he discovered that all which was said against me sprang from +malice and jealousy. + +If he had not been so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of two of the +worst women in the world Montespan, and that old Maintenon, who was even +worse than the other, he would have been one of the best kings that ever +lived; for all the evil that he ever did proceeded from those two women, +and not from himself. + +Although I approved of many things he did, I could not agree with him +when he maintained that it was vulgar to love one's relations. Montespan +had instilled this into him, in order that she might get rid of all his +legitimate blood connections, and might suffer none about him but her +bastards; she had even carried matters so far as to seek to confine the +royal favour to her offspring or her creatures. + +Our King loved the chase passionately; particularly hawking and stag +hunting. + +One day all the world came to Marly to offer their compliments of +condolence; Louis XIV., to get rid of the ceremony, ordered that no +harangues should be made, but that all the Court should enter without +distinction and together at one door, and go out by the other. Among +them came the Bishop of Gap, in a sort of dancing step, weeping large, +hot tears, and smiling at the same moment, which gave to his face the +most grotesque appearance imaginable. Madame, the Dauphine, and I, were +the first who could not restrain ourselves; then the Dauphin and the Duc +de Berri, and at last the King, and everybody who was in the chamber +burst out into loud laughter. + +The King, it must be allowed, gave occasion to great scandal on account +of his mistresses; but then he very sincerely repented of these offences. + +He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant; and was so much +ashamed of it that it became the fashion for his courtiers to turn +learned men into ridicule. Louis XIV. could not endure to hear politics +talked; he was what they call in this country, 'franc du collier'. + +At Marly he did not wish the slightest ceremony to prevail. Neither +ambassadors nor other envoys were ever permitted to come here; he never +gave audience; there was no etiquette, and the people went about 'pele- +mele'. Out of doors the King made all the men wear their hats; and in +the drawing-room, everybody, even to the captains, lieutenants, and +sublieutenants of the foot-guards, were permitted to be seated. This +custom so disgusted me with the drawing-room that I never went to it. + +The King used to take off his hat to women of all descriptions, even, the +common peasants. + +When he liked people he would tell them everything he had heard; and for +this reason it was always dangerous to talk to him of that old Maintenon. + +Although he loved flattery, he was very often ready to ridicule it. +Montespan and the old woman had spoiled him and hardened his heart +against his relations, for he was naturally of a very affectionate +disposition. + +Louis XIV., as well as all the rest of his family, with the exception of +my son, hated reading. Neither the King nor Monsieur had been taught +anything; they scarcely knew how to read and write. The King was the +most polite man in his kingdom, but his son and his grandchildren were +the most rude. + +In his youth he had played in the comedy of 'Les Visionnaires', which he +knew by heart, and in which he acted better than the comedians. He did +not know a note of music; but his ear was so correct that he could play +in a masterly style on the guitar, and execute whatever he chose. + +It is not astonishing that the King and Monsieur were brought up in +ignorance. The Cardinal (Mazarin) wished to reign absolutely; if the +princes had been better instructed, he would neither have been trusted +nor employed, and this it was his object to prevent, hoping that he +should live much longer than he did. The Queen-mother found all that the +Cardinal did perfectly right; and, besides, it suited her purpose that he +should be indispensable. It is almost a miracle that the King should +have become what he afterwards was. + +I never saw the King beat but two men, and they both well deserved it. +The first was a valet, who would not let him enter the garden during one +of his own fetes. The other was a pickpocket, whom the King saw emptying +the pocket of M. de Villars. Louis XIV., who was on horseback, rode +towards the thief and struck him with his cane; the rascal cried out, +"Murder! I shall be killed!" which made us all laugh, and the King +laughed, also. He had the thief taken, and made him give up the purse, +but he did not have him hanged. + +The Duchesse de Schomberg was a good deal laughed at because she asked +the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion here. The King +was not well pleased to be talked to; but he never laughed in any one's +face. + +When Louvois proposed to the King for the first time that he should +appoint Madame Dufresnoy, his mistress, a lady of the Queen's bedchamber, +His Majesty replied, "Would you, then, have them laugh at both of us?" +Louvois, however, persisted so earnestly in his request that the King at +length granted it. + +The Court of France was extremely agreeable until the King had the +misfortune to marry that old Maintenon; she withdrew him from company, +filled him with ridiculous scruples respecting plays, and told him that +he ought not to see excommunicated persons. In consequence of this she +had a small theatre erected in her own apartments, where plays were acted +twice a week before the King. Instead of the dismissed comedians, + + [These dismissed comedians had, as appears by the edition of 1788, + renounced their profession, and had been admitted to the communion. + After that, Madame de Maintenon no longer saw any sin in them.] + +she had the Dauphine, my son, the Duc de Berri, and her own nieces, to +play; in her opinion this was much better than the real comedians. The +King, instead of occupying his usual place, was seated behind me in a +corner, near Madame de Maintenon. This arrangement spoilt all, for the +consequence was that few people saw him, and the Court was almost +deserted. + +Maintenon told me that the King said to her, "Now that I am old my +children get tired of me and are delighted to find any opportunity of +fixing me here and going elsewhere for their own amusement; Madame alone +stays, and I see that she is glad to be with me still." But she did not +tell me that she had done all in her power to persuade him of the +contrary, and that the King spoke thus by way of reproaching her for the +lies she had invented about me. I learned that afterwards from others. +If the King had been my father I could not have loved him more than I +did; I was always pleased to be with him. + +He was fond of the German soldiers, and said that the German horsemen +displayed more grace in the saddle than those of any other nation. + +When the King had a design to punish certain libertines, Fagon--[Guy +Crescent Fagon, appointed the King's chief physician in 1693, died in +1718.]--had an amusing conversation with him. He said,-- + +"Folks made love long before you came into the world, and they will +always continue to do so. You cannot prevent them; and when I hear +preachers talking in the pulpit and railing against such as yield to the +influence of passion, I think it is very much as if I should say to my +phthisical patients, 'You must not cough; it is very wrong to spit.' +Young folks are full of humours, which must be dispersed by one way or +another." + +The King could not refrain from laughing. + +He was only superstitious in religious matters; for example, with respect +to the miracles of the Virgin, etc. + +He had been taught to believe that to make friends with his brother was a +great political stroke and a fine State device; that it made a part of +what is called to reign well. + +Since the time of this King it has not been the custom for ladies to talk +of the affairs of the State. + +If the King heard that any one had spoken ill of him, he displayed a +proud resentment towards the offender; otherwise it was impossible to be +more polite and affable than he was. His conversation was pleasing in a +high degree. He had the skill of giving an agreeable turn to everything. +His manner of talking was natural, without the least affectation, amiable +and obliging. Although he had not so much courage as Monsieur, he was +still no coward. His brother said that he had always behaved well in +occasions of danger; but his chief fault lay in being soon tired of war, +and wishing to return home. + +From the time of his becoming so outrageously devout, all amusements were +suspended for three weeks (at Easter); and before, they were only +discontinued a fortnight. + +The King had a peculiarity of disposition which led him easily to behave +harshly to persons who were disagreeable to such as he loved. It was +thus that La Valliere was so ill-treated at the instigation of Montespan. + +He was much amused with the Comte de Grammont,--[Philibert, Comte de +Grammont, St. Evremond's hero, and so well known by means of the Memoirs +of Count Antoine Hamilton, his brother-in-law.]--who was very pleasant. +He loaded him with proofs of his kindness, and invited him to join in all +the excursions to Marly, a decided mark of great favour. + +The King frequently complained that in his youth he had not been allowed +to converse with people generally, but it was the fault of his natural +temper; for Monsieur, who had been brought up with him, used to talk to +everybody. + +Louis XIV. used to say, laughingly, to Monsieur that his eternal +chattering had put him out of conceit with talking. "Ah, mon Dieu!" he +would say, "must I, to please everybody, say as many silly things as my +brother?" + +In general, they would not have been taken for brothers. The King was a +large man, and my husband a small one: the latter had very effeminate +inclinations; he loved dress, was very careful of his complexion, and +took great interest in feminine employments and in ceremonies. The King, +on the contrary, cared little about dress, loved the chase and shooting, +was fond of talking of war, and had all manly tastes and habits. +Monsieur behaved well in battle, but never talked of it; he loved women +as companions, and was pleased to be with them. The King loved to see +them somewhat nearer, and not entirely en honneur, as Monsieur + + [Madame is not a good authority on this point. The memoirs of the + time will show either that she cannot have known or must have + wilfully concealed the intrigues of various kinds in which her + husband was engaged.] + +did. They nevertheless loved one another much, and it was very +interesting to see them together. They joked each other sensibly and +pleasantly, and without ever quarrelling. + +I was never more amused than in a journey which I took with the King to +Flanders. The Queen and the Dauphine were then alive. As soon as we +reached a city, each of us retired to our own quarters for a short time, +and afterwards we went to the theatre, which was commonly so bad that we +were ready to die with laughing. Among others, I remember that at +Dunkirk we saw a company playing Mithridates. In speaking to Monimia, +Mithridates said something which I forget, but which was very absurd. +He turned round immediately to the Dauphine and said, "I very humbly beg +pardon, Madame, I assure you it was a slip of the tongue." The laugh +which followed this apology may be imagined, but it became still greater +when the Prince of Conti, + + [Louis-Armaud de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, married in 1780 to Marie- + Anne, commonly called Mademoiselle de Blois, one of the legitimated + daughters of Louis XIV. by Madame de la Valliere. She was called at + Court La Grande Princesse, on account of her beauty and her + stature.] + +the husband of La Grande Princesse, who was sitting above the orchestra, +in a fit of laughing, fell into it. He tried to save himself by the +cord, and, in doing so, pulled down the curtain over the lamps, set it on +fire, and burnt a great hole in it. The flames were soon extinguished, +and the actors, as if they were perfectly indifferent, or unconscious of +the accident, continued to play on, although we could only see them +through the hole. When there was no play, we took airings and had +collations; in short, every day brought something new. After the King's +supper we went to see magnificent artificial fireworks given by the +cities of Flanders. Everybody was gay; the Court was in perfect +unanimity, and no one thought of anything but to laugh and seek +amusement. + +If the King had known the Duchess of Hanover, he would not have been +displeased at her calling him "Monsieur." As she was a Sovereign +Princess, he thought it was through pride that she would not call him +"Sire," and this mortified him excessively, for he was very sensitive on +such subjects. + +One day, before Roquelaure was made a Duke, he was out when it rained +violently, and he ordered his coachman to drive to the Louvre, where the +entrance was permitted to none but Ambassadors, Princes and Dukes. When +his carriage arrived at the gate they asked who it was. + +"A Duke," replied he. + +"What Duke?" repeated the sentinel. + +"The Duc d'Epernon," said he. + +"Which of them?" + +"The one who died last." And upon this they let him enter. Fearing +afterwards that he might get into a scrape about it, he went directly to +the King. "Sire," said he, "it rains so hard that I came in my coach +even to the foot of your staircase." + +The King was displeased. "What fool let you enter?" he asked. + +"A greater fool than your Majesty can imagine," replied Roquelaure, "for +he admitted me in the name of the Duc d'Epernon who died last." + +This ended the King's anger and made him laugh very heartily. + +So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King that he not only +thought everybody who did not profess the faith of the Jesuits would be +damned, but he even thought he was in some danger himself by speaking to +such persons. If any one was to be ruined with the King, it was only +necessary to say, "He is a Huguenot or a Jansenist," and his business was +immediately settled. My son was about to take into his service a +gentleman whose mother was a professed Jansenist. The Jesuits, by way of +embroiling my son with the King, represented that he was about to engage +a Jansenist on his establishment. + +The King immediately sent for him and said "How is this, nephew? +I understand you think of employing a Jansenist in your service." + +"Oh, no!" replied my son, laughing, "I can assure your Majesty that he is +not a Jansenist, and I even doubt whether he believes in the existence of +a God." + +"Oh, well, then!" said the King, "if that be the case, and you are sure +that he is no Jansenist, you may take him." + +It is impossible for a man to be more ignorant of religion than the King +was. I cannot understand how his mother, the Queen, could have brought +him up with so little knowledge on this subject. He believed all that +the priests said to him, as if it came from God Himself. That old +Maintenon and Pere la Chaise had persuaded him that all the sins he had +committed with Madame de Montespan would be pardoned if he persecuted and +extirpated the professors of the reformed religion, and that this was the +only path to heaven. The poor King believed it fervently, for he had +never seen a Bible in his life; and immediately after this the +persecution commenced. He knew no more of religion than what his +confessors chose to tell him, and they had made him believe that it was +not lawful to investigate in matters of religion, but that the reason +should be prostrated in order to gain heaven. He was, however, earnest +enough himself, and it was not his fault that hypocrisy reigned at Court. +The old Maintenon had forced people to assume it. + +It was formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions; the King +detested this practice, and soon abolished it. + +He was very capable of gratitude, but neither his children nor his +grandchildren were. He could not bear to be made to wait for anything. + +He said that by means of chains of gold he could obtain anything he +wished from the ministers at Vienna. + +He could not forgive the French ladies for affecting English fashions. +He used often to joke about it, and particularly in the conversation +which he addressed to me, expecting that I would take it up and tease the +Princesses. To amuse him, I sometimes said whatever came into my head, +without the least ceremony, and often made him laugh heartily. + +Reversi was the only game at which the King played, and which he liked. + +When he did not like openly to reprove any person, he would address +himself to me; for he knew that I never restrained myself in +conversation, and that amused him infinitely. At table, he was almost +obliged to talk to me, for the others scarcely said a word. In the +cabinet, after supper, there were none but the Duchess--[Anne of +Bavaria, wife of Henri-Jules, Duc de Bourbon, son of the great Conde; she +bore the title of Madame la Princesse after his death.]--and I who spoke +to him. I do not know whether the Dauphine used to converse with the +King in the cabinets, for while she was alive I was never permitted to +enter them, thanks to Madame de Maintenon's interference; the Dauphine +objected to it; the King would willingly have had it so; but he dare not +assert his will for fear of displeasing the Dauphine and the old woman. +I was not therefore suffered to enter until after the death of the +Dauphine, and then only because the King wished to have some one who +would talk to him in the evening, to dissipate his melancholy thoughts, +in which I did my best. He was dissatisfied with his daughters on both +sides, who, instead of trying to console him in his grief, thought only +of amusing themselves, and the good King might often have remained alone +the whole evening if I had not visited his cabinet. He was very sensible +of this, and said to Maintenon, "Madame is the only one who does not +abandon me." + +Louis XIV. spoiled the Jesuits; he thought whatever came from them must +be admirable, whether it was right or wrong. + +The King did not like living in town; he was convinced that the people +did not love him, and that there was no security for him among them. +Maintenon had him, besides, more under her sway at Versailles than at +Paris, where there was certainly no security for her. She was +universally detested there; and whenever she went out in a carriage the +populace shouted loud threats against her, so that at last she dared not +appear in public. + +At first the King was in the habit of dining with Madame de Montespan and +his children, and then no person went to visit him but the Dauphin and +Monsieur. When Montespan was dismissed, the King had all his +illegitimate children in his cabinet: this continued until the arrival of +the last Dauphine; she intruded herself among the bastards to their great +affliction. When the Duchess-- + + [Louise-Francoise, commonly called Mademoiselle de Nantes, the + legitimated daughter of Madame de Montespan and the King, was + married to the Duc de Bourbon in 1685.] + +became the favourite of the Dauphin, she begged that no other persons of +the royal house might have access to the cabinet; and therefore my +request for admission, although not refused, was never granted until +after the death of the Dauphin and Dauphine. The latter accompanied the +King to places where I did not, and could not go, for she even, went with +him upon occasions when decency ought to have forbidden her presence. +Maintenon did the same thing, for the purpose of having an opportunity of +talking to the King in secret. + +Louis XIV. loved the young Dauphine so well that he dared refuse her +nothing; and Maintenon had so violent a hatred against me that she was +ready to do me all the mischief in her power. What could the King do +against the inclinations of his son and his granddaughter? They would +have looked cross, and that would have grieved him. I had no inclination +to cause him any vexation, and therefore preferred exercising my own +patience. When I had anything to say to the King, I requested a private +audience, which threw them all into despair, and furnished me with a good +laugh in my sleeve. + +The King was so much devoted to the old usages of the Royal Palace that +he would not for the world have departed from them. Madame de Fiennes +was in the habit of saying that the Royal Family adhered so strictly to +their habits and customs that the Queen of England died with a toguet on +her head; that is, a little cap which is put upon children when they go +to bed. + +When the King denied anything it was not permitted to argue with him; +what he commanded must be done quickly and without reply. He was too +much accustomed to "such is our good pleasure," to endure any +contradiction. + +He was always kind and generous when he acted from his own impulses. +He never thought that his last will would be observed; and he said to +several people, "They have made me sign a will and some other papers; +I have done it for the sake of being quiet, but I know very well that it +will not stand good." + +The good King was old; he stood in need of repose, and he could not enjoy +it by any other means than by doing whatever that old Maintenon wished; +thus it was that this artful hussy always accomplished her ends. + +The King used always to call the Duc de Verneuil his uncle. + +It has been said and believed that Louis XIV. retired from the war +against Holland through pure generosity; but I know, as well as I know my +own name that he came back solely for the purpose of seeing Madame de +Montespan, and to stay with her. I know also many examples of great +events, which in history have been attributed to policy or ambition, but +which have originated from the most insignificant trifles. It has been +said it was our King's ambition that made him resolve to become the +master of the world, and that it was for this he commenced the Dutch war; +but I know from an indisputable source that it was entered upon only +because M. de Lionne, then Minister of State, was jealous of Prince +William of Furstenberg, who had an intrigue with his wife, of which he +had been apprised. It was this that caused him to engage in those +quarrels which afterwards produced the war. + +It was not surprising that the King was insensible to the scarcity which +prevailed, for in the first place he had seen nothing of it, and, in the +second, he had been told that all the reports which had reached him were +falsehoods, and that they were in no respect true. Old Maintenon +invented this plan for getting money, for she had bought up all the corn, +for the purpose of retailing it at a high price. [This does not sound +like M. Maintenon. D.W.] Everybody had been requested to say nothing +about it to the King, lest it should kill him with vexation. + +The King loved my son as well as his own, but he cared little for the +girls. He was very fond of Monsieur, and he had reason to be so; never +did a child pay a more implicit obedience to its parents than did +Monsieur to the King; it was a real veneration; and the Dauphin, too, had +for him a veneration, affection and submission such as never son had for +a father. The King was inconsolable for his death. He never had much +regard for the Duke of Burgundy; the old sorceress (Maintenon) had +slandered him to the King, and made the latter believe that he was of an +ambitious temper, and was impatient at the King's living so long. She +did this in order that if the Prince should one day open his eyes, and +perceive the manner in which his wife had been educated, his complaints +might have no effect with the King, which really took place. Louis XIV. +at last thought everything that the Dauphine of Burgundy did was quite +charming; old Maintenon made him believe that her only aim was to divert +him. This old woman was to him both the law and the prophets; all that +she approved was good, and what she condemned was bad, no matter how +estimable it really was. The most innocent actions of the first Dauphine +were represented as crimes, and all the impertinences of the second were +admired. + +A person who had been for many years in immediate attendance upon the +King, who had been engaged with him every evening at Maintenon's, and +who must consequently have heard everything that was said, is one of my +very good friends, and he has told me that although while the old lady +was living he dare not say a word, yet, she being dead, he was at liberty +to tell me that the King had always professed a real friendship for me. +This person has often heard with his own ears Maintenon teasing the King, +and speaking ill of me for the purpose of rendering me hateful in his +eyes, but the King always took my part. It was in reference to this, +I have no doubt, that the King said to me on his death-bed: + +"They have done all they could to make me hate you, Madame, but they have +not succeeded." He added that he had always known me too well to believe +their calumnies. While he spoke thus, the old woman stood by with so +guilty an air that I could not doubt they had proceeded from her. + +Monsieur often took a pleasure in diminishing or depriving me of the +King's favour, and the King was not sorry for some little occasions to +blame Monsieur. He told me once that he had embroiled me with Monsieur +by policy. + +I was alarmed, and said immediately, "Perhaps your Majesty may do the +same thing again." + +The King laughed, and said, "No, if I had intended to do so I should not +have told you of it; and, to say the truth, I had some scruples about it, +and have resolved never to do so again." + +Upon the death of one of his children, the King asked of his old medical +attendant, M. Gueneau: "Pray, how does it happen that my illegitimate +children are healthy and live, while all the Queen's children are so +delicate and always die?" "Sire," replied Gueneau, "it is because the +Queen has only the rinsings of the glass." + +He always slept in the Queen's bed, but did not always accommodate +himself to the Spanish temperament of that Princess; so that the Queen +knew he had been elsewhere. The King, nevertheless, had always great +consideration for her, and made his mistresses treat her with all +becoming respect. He loved her for her virtue, and for the sincere +affection she bore to him, notwithstanding his infidelity. He was much +affected at her death; but four days afterwards, by the chattering of old +Maintenon, he was consoled. A few days afterwards we went to +Fontainebleau, and expected to find the King in an ill-humour, and that +we should be scolded; but, on the contrary, he was very gay. + +When the King returned from a journey we were all obliged to be at the +carriage as he got out, for the purpose of accompanying him to his +apartments. + +While Louis XIV. was young all the women were running after him; but he +renounced this sort of life when he flattered himself that he had grown +devout. His motive was, Madame de Maintenon watched him so narrowly that +he could not, dare not, look at any one. She disgusted him with +everybody else that she might have him to herself; and this, too, under +the pretext of taking care of his soul. + +Madame de Colonne had a great share of wit, and our King was so much in +love with her, that, if her uncle, the Cardinal, had consented, he would +certainly have married her. Cardinal Mazarin, although in every other +respect a worthless person, deserved to be praised for having opposed +this marriage. He sent his niece into Italy. When she was setting out, +the King wept violently. Madame de Colonne said to him, "You are a King; +you weep, and yet I go." This was saying a great deal in a few words. +As to the Comtesse de Soissons, the King had always more of friendship +than of love for her. He made her very considerable presents, the least +of which was to the amount of 2,000 louis. + +Madame de Ludres, the King's mistress, was an agreeable person; she had +been Maid of Honour to Monsieur's first wife,--[Henrietta of England.]-- +and after her death she entered the Queen's service, but when these +places were afterwards abolished, Monsieur took back Ludres and +Dampierre, the two Ladies of Honour he had given to the Queen. The +former was called Madame, because she was canoness of a chapter at +Lorraine. + +It is said that the King never observed her beauty while she was with the +Queen, and that it was not until she was with me that he fell in love +with her. Her reign lasted only two years. Montespan told the King that +Ludres had certain ringworms upon her body, caused by a poison that had +been given her in her youth by Madame de Cantecroix. At twelve or +thirteen years of age, she had inspired the old Duc de Lorraine with so +violent a passion that he resolved to marry her at all events. The +poison caused eruptions, covered her with ringworms from head to foot, +and prevented the marriage. She was cured so well as to preserve the +beauty of her figure, but she was always subject to occasional eruptions. +Although now (1718) more than seventy years old, she is still beautiful; +she has as fine features as can be seen, but a very disagreeable manner +of speaking; she lisps horribly. She is, however, a good sort of person. +Since she has been converted she thinks of nothing but the education of +her nieces, and limits her own expenses that she may give the more to her +brother's children. She is in a convent at Nancy, which she is at +liberty to quit when she pleases. She, as well as her nieces, enjoy +pensions from the King. + +I have seen Beauvais, that femme de chambre of the Queen-mother, a one- +eyed creature, who is said to have first taught the King the art of +intriguing. She was perfectly acquainted with all its mysteries, and had +led a very profligate life; she lived several years after my arrival in +France. + +Louis XIV. carried his gallantries to debauchery. Provided they were +women, all were alike to him peasants, gardeners' girls, femmes de +chambre, or ladies of quality. All that they had to do was to seem to be +in love with him. + +For a long time before his death, however, he had ceased to run after +women; he even exiled the Duchesse de la Ferte, because she pretended to +be dying for him. When she could not see him, she had his portrait in +her carriage to contemplate it. The King said that it made him +ridiculous, and desired her to retire to her own estate. The Duchesse de +Roquelaure, of the house of Laval, was also suspected of wishing to +captivate the King; but his Majesty was not so severe with her as with La +Ferte. There was great talk in the scandalous circles about this +intrigue; but I did not thrust my nose into the affair. + +I am convinced that the Duchesse de la Valliere always loved the King +very much. Montespan loved him for ambition, La Soubise for interest, +and Maintenon for both. La Fontange loved him also, but only like the +heroine of a romance; she was a furiously romantic person. Ludres was +also very much attached to him, but the King soon got tired of her. As +for Madame de Monaco, I would not take an oath that she never intrigued +with the King. While the King was fond of her, Lauzun, who had a regular +though a secret arrangement with his cousin, fell into disgrace for the +first time. He had forbidden his fair one to see the King; but finding +her one day sitting on the ground, and talking with His Majesty, Lauzun, +who, in his place as Captain of the guard, was in the chamber, was so +transported with jealousy that he could not restrain himself, and, +pretending to pass, he trod so violently on the hand which Madame de +Monaco had placed upon the ground, that he nearly crushed it. The King, +who thus guessed at their intrigue, reprimanded him. Lauzun replied +insolently, and was sent for the first time to the Bastille. + +Madame de Soubise was cunning, full of dissimulation, and very wicked. +She deceived the good Queen cruelly; but the latter rewarded her for this +in exposing her falsehood and in unmasking her to the world. As soon as +the King had undeceived Her Majesty with respect to this woman, her +history became notorious, and the Queen amused herself in relating her +triumph, as she called it, to everybody. + +The King and Monsieur had been accustomed from their childhood to great +filthiness in the interior of their houses; so much so, that they did not +know it ought to be otherwise, and yet, in their persons, they, were +particularly neat. + +Madame de la Motte, who had been at Chaillot, preferred the old Marquis +de Richelieu to the King. She declared to His Majesty that her heart was +no longer disposable, but that it was at length fixed. + +I can never think, without anger, of the evil which has been spoken of +the late King, and how little His Majesty has been regretted by those to +whom he had done so much good. + +I hardly dare repeat what the King said to me on his death-bed. All +those who were usually in his cabinet were present, with the exception of +the Princess, his daughter, the Princesse de Conti, and Madame de +Vendome, who, alone, did not see the King. The whole of the Royal Family +was assembled. He recommended his legitimated daughters to live together +in concord, and I was the innocent cause of his saying something +disagreeable to them. When the King said, "I recommend you all to be +united," I thought he alluded to me and my son's daughter; and I said, +"Yes, Monsieur, you shall be obeyed." He turned towards me, and said in +a stern voice, "Madame, you thought I spoke of you. No, no; you are a +sensible person, and I know you; it is to the Princesses, who are not so, +that I speak:" + +Louis XIV. proved at his death that he was really a great man, for it +would be impossible to die with more courage than he displayed. For +eight days he had incessantly the approach of death before his eyes +without betraying fear or apprehension; he arranged everything as if he +had only been going to make a journey. + +Eight or ten days before his death a disease had appeared in his leg; a +gangrene ensued, and it was this which caused his death. But for three +months preceding he had been afflicted with a slow fever, which had +reduced him so much that he looked like a lath. That old rogue, Fagon, +had brought him to this condition, by administering purgatives and +sudorifics of the most violent kind. At the instigation of Pere +Letellier, he had been tormented to death by the cursed constitution, +--[The affair of the Bull Unigenitus]-- and had not been allowed to rest +day or night. Fagon was a wicked old scoundrel, much more attached to +Maintenon than to the King. When I perceived how much it was sought to +exault the Duc du Maine, and that the old woman cared so little for the +King's death, I could not help entertaining unfavourable notions of this +old rascal. + +It cannot be denied that Louis XIV. was the finest man in his kingdom. +No person had a better appearance than he. His figure was agreeable, his +legs well made, his feet small, his voice pleasant; he was lusty in +proportion; and, in short, no fault could be found with his person. +Some folks thought he was too corpulent for his height, and that Monsieur +was too stout; so that it was said, by way of a joke at Court, that there +had been a mistake, and that one brother had received what had been +intended for the other. The King was in the habit of keeping his mouth +open in an awkward way. + +An English gentleman, Mr. Hammer, found him an expert fencer. + +He preserved his good looks up to his death, although some of my ladies, +who saw him afterwards, told me that he could scarcely be recognized. +Before his death, his stature had been diminished by a head, and he +perceived this himself. + +His pronunciation was very distinct, but all his children, from the +Dauphin to the Comte de Toulouse, lisped. They used to say, Pahi, +instead of Paris. + +In general, the King would have no persons at his table but members of +the Royal Family. As for the Princesses of the blood, there were so many +of them that the ordinary table would not have held them; and, indeed, +when we were all there, it was quite full. + +The King used to sit in the middle, and had the Dauphin and the Duke of +Burgundy at his right, and the Dauphine and the Duchesse de Berri on his +left; on one of the sides Monsieur and I sat; and on the other, my son +and his wife; the other parts of the table were reserved for the noblemen +in waiting, who did not take their places behind the King, but opposite +to him. When the Princesses of the blood or any other ladies were +received at the King's table, we were waited on, not by noblemen, but by +other officers of the King's household, who stood behind like pages. +The King upon such occasions was waited on by his chief Maitre d'Hotel. +The pages never waited at the King's table, but on journeys; and then +upon no person but the King. The Royal Family had persons to attend them +who were not noble. Formerly all the King's officers, such as the +butler, the cupbearer, etc., etc., were persons of rank; but afterwards, +the nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices; and +they fell, of necessity, into the hands of more wealthy citizens who +could pay for them. + +The King, the late Monsieur, the Dauphin, and the Duc de Berri were great +eaters. I have often seen the King eat four platefuls of different +soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plateful of salad, mutton hashed +with garlic, two good-sized slices of ham, a dish of pastry, and +afterwards fruit and sweetmeats. The King and Monsieur were very fond of +hard eggs. + +Louis XIV. understood perfectly the art of satisfying people even while +he reproved their requests. His manners were most affable, and he spoke +with so much politeness as to win all hearts. + + + + +SECTION III. + +MADEMOISELLE DE FONTANGE. + +I had a Maid of Honour whose name was Beauvais; she was a very well- +disposed person: the King fell in love with her, but she remained firm +against all his attempts. He then turned his attention to her companion, +Fontange, who was also very pretty, but not very sensible. When he first +saw her he said, "There is a wolf that will not eat me;" and yet he +became very fond of her soon afterwards. Before she came to me she had +dreamt all that was to befall her, and a pious Capuchin explained her +dream to her. She told me of it herself long before she became the +King's mistress. She dreamt that she had ascended a high mountain, and, +having reached the summit, she was dazzled by an exceedingly bright +cloud; then on a sudden she found herself in such profound darkness that +her terror at this accident awoke her. When she told her confessor he +said to her: "Take care of yourself; that mountain is the Court, where +some distinction awaits you; it will, however, be but of short duration; +if you abandon your God He will forsake you and you will fall into +eternal darkness." + +There is no doubt that Fontange died by poison; she accused Montespan of +being the cause of her death. A servant who had been bribed by that +favourite destroyed her and some of her people by means of poison mixed +with milk. Two of them died with her, and said publicly that they had +been poisoned. + +Fontange was a stupid little creature, but she had a very good heart. +She was very red-haired, but, beautiful as an angel from head to foot. + + + + +SECTION IV. + +MADAME DE LA VALLIERE. + +When one of Madame de Montespan's children died, the King was deeply +affected; but he was not so at the death of the poor Comte de Vermandois +(the son of La Valliere). He could not bear him, because Montespan and +that old Maintenon had made him believe the youth was not his but the Duc +de Lauzun's child. It had been well if all the King's reputed children +had been as surely his as this was. Madame de La Valliere was no light +mistress, as her unwavering penitence sufficiently proved. She was an +amiable, gentle, kind and tender woman. Ambition formed no part of her +love for the King; she had a real passion for him, and never loved any +other person. It was at Montespan's instigation that the King behaved so +ill to her. The poor creature's heart was broken, but she imagined that +she could not make a sacrifice more agreeable to God than that which had +been the cause of her errors; and thought that her repentance ought to +proceed from the same source as her crime. She therefore remained, by +way of self-mortification, with Montespan, who, having a great portion of +wit, did not scruple to ridicule her publicly, behaved extremely ill to +her, and obliged the King to do the same. + +He used to pass through La Valliere's chamber to go to Montespan's; and +one day, at the instigation of the latter, he threw a little spaniel, +which he had called Malice, at the Duchesse de La Valliere, saying: +"There, Madam, is your companion; that's all." + +This was the more cruel, as he was then going direct to Montespan's +chamber. And yet La Valliere bore everything patiently; she was as +virtuous as Montespan was vicious. Her connection with the King might be +pardoned, when it was remembered that everybody had not only advised her +to it, but had even assisted to bring it about. The King was young, +handsome and gallant; she was, besides, very young; she was naturally +modest, and had a very good heart. She was very much grieved when she +was made a Duchess, and her children legitimated; before that she thought +no one knew she had had children. There was an inexpressible charm in +her countenance, her figure was elegant, her eyes were always in my +opinion much finer than Montespan's, and her whole deportment was +unassuming. She was slightly lame, but not so much as to impair her +appearance. + +When I first arrived in France she had not retired to the convent, but +was still in the Court. We became and continued very intimate until she +took the veil. I was deeply affected when this charming person took that +resolution; and, at the moment when the funeral pall was thrown over her, +I shed so many tears that I could see no more. She visited me after the +ceremony, and told me that I should rather congratulate than weep for +her, for that from that moment her happiness was to begin: she added that +she should never forget the kindness and friendship I had displayed +towards her, and which was so much more than she deserved. A short time +afterwards I went to see her. I was curious to know why she had remained +so long in the character of an attendant to Montespan. She told me that +God had touched her heart, and made her sensible of her crimes; that she +felt she ought to perform a penitence, and suffer that which would be +most painful to her, which was to love the King, and to be despised by +him; that for the three years after the King had ceased to love her she +had suffered the torments of the damned, and that she offered her sorrows +to Heaven as the expiation of her sins; and as her sins had been public, +so should be her repentance. She said she knew very well that she had +been taken for a fool, who was not sensible of anything; but that at the +very period she alluded to she suffered most, and continued to do so +until God inspired her with the resolution to abandon everything, and to +serve Him alone, which she had since put into execution; but that now she +considered herself unworthy, on account of her past life, to live in the +society of persons as pure and pious as the Carmelite Sisters. All this +evidently came from the heart. + +From the time she became professed, she was entirely devoted to Heaven. +I often told her that she had only transposed her love, and had given to +God that which had formerly been the King's. She has said frequently +that if the King should come into the convent she would refuse to see +him, and would hide herself so that he could not find her. She was, +however, spared this pain, for the King not only never went, but seemed +to have forgotten her, as if he had never known her. + +To accuse La Valliere of loving any one besides the King was wicked to +the last degree, but falsehoods cost Montespan but little. The Comte de +Vermandois was a good sort of young man, and loved me as if I had been +his mother. When his irregularities were first discovered,--[A more +particular account of these will be found hereafter.]--I was very angry +with him; and I had caused him to be told very seriously that if he had +behaved ill I should cease to have any regard for him. This grieved him +to the heart; he sent to me daily, and begged permission to say only a +few words to me. I was firm during four weeks; at length I permitted him +to come, when he threw himself at my feet, begged my pardon, promising to +amend his conduct, and beseeching me to restore him my friendship +(without which he said he could not exist), and to assist him again with +my advice. He told me the whole history of his follies, and convinced me +that he had been most grossly deluded. + +When the Dauphine lay in of the Duke of Burgundy, I said to the King, +"I hope your Majesty will not upon this occasion refuse a humble request +I have to make to you." + +He smiled and said, "What have you to ask, then?" + +I replied, "The pardon, Monsieur, of the poor Comte de Vermandois." + +He smiled once more, and said, "You are a very good friend; but as for M. +Vermandois, he has not been sufficiently punished for his crimes." + +"The poor lad," I rejoined, "is so very penitent for his offence." + +The King replied, "I do not yet feel myself inclined to see him; I am too +angry with him still." + +Several months elapsed before the King would see him; but the young man +was very grateful to me for having spoken in his behalf; and my own +children could not be more attached to me than he was. He was well made, +but his appearance, though not disagreeable, was not remarkably good; he +squinted a little. + + + + +SECTION V. + +MADAME DE MONTESPAN + +The King at first could not bear Madame de Montespan,--[Daughter of +Gabriel de Roche Chouart, first Duc de Mortemart.]--and blamed Monsieur +and even the Queen for associating with her; yet, eventually, he fell +deeply in love with her himself. + +She was more of an ambitious than a libertine woman, but as wicked as the +devil himself. Nothing could stand between her and the gratification of +her ambition, to which she would have made any sacrifice. Her figure was +ugly and clumsy, but her eyes bespoke great intelligence, though they +were somewhat too bright. Her mouth was very pretty and her smile +uncommonly agreeable. Her complexion was fairer than La Valliere's, her +look was more bold, and her general appearance denoted her intriguing +temper. She had very beautiful light hair, fine arms, and pretty hands, +which La Valliere had not. But the latter was always very neat, and +Montespan was filthy to the last degree. She was very amusing in +conversation, and it was impossible to be tired in talking with her. + +The King did not regret Montespan more than he did La Fontange. The Duc +d'Antin, her only legitimate child, was also the only one who wept at her +death. When the King had the others legitimated, the mother's name was +not mentioned, so that it might appear Madame de Montespan was not their +mother. + + [Madame de Montespan had eight children by Louis XIV. The Duc du + Maine; Comte Vegin; Mademoiselle de Nantes, married to the Duc de + Bourbon; Mademoiselle de Tours, married to the Regent Duc d'Orleans; + the Comte de Toulouse, and two other sons who died young.] + +She was once present at a review, and as she passed before the German +soldiers they called out: + +"Konigs Hure! Hure!" When the King asked her in the evening how she +liked the review, she said: "Very well, but only those German soldiers +are so simple as not to call things by their proper names, for I had +their shouts explained to me." + +Madame de Montespan and her eldest daughter could drink a large quantity +of wine without being affected by it. I have seen them drink six bumpers +of the strong Turin Rosa Solis, besides the wine which they had taken +before. I expected to see them fall under the table, but, on the +contrary, it affected them no more than a draught of water. + +It was Madame de Montespan who invented the 'robes battantes' for the +purpose of concealing her pregnancy, because it was impossible to +discover the shape in those robes. But when she wore them, it was +precisely as if she had publicly announced that which she affected to +conceal, for everybody at the Court used to say, "Madame de Montespan has +put on her robe battante, therefore she must be pregnant." I believe she +did it on purpose, hoping that it commanded more attention for her at +Court, as it really did. + +It is quite true that she always had a Royal bodyguard, and it was fit +that she should, because the King was always in her apartments by day and +night. He transacted business there with his Ministers, but, as there +were several chambers, the lady was, nevertheless, quite at liberty to do +as she pleased, and the Marshal de Noailles, though a devout person, was +still a man. When she went out in a carriage, she had guards, lest her +husband should, as he had threatened, offer her some insult. + +She caused the Queen great vexation, and it is quite true that she used +to ridicule her; but then she did the same to everybody besides. She, +however, never ventured upon any direct or remarkable impertinence to Her +Majesty, for the King would not have suffered it. + +She had married one of her cousins, M. de Montpipeau, to Mademoiselle +Aubry, the daughter of a private citizen who was exceedingly rich. To +convince her that she had made a good match, Madame de Montespan had her +brought into her own small private room. The young lady was not +accustomed to very refined society, and the first time she went she +seated herself upon the table, and, crossing her legs, sat swinging there +as if she had been in her own chamber. The laugh which this excited +cannot be conceived, nor the comical manner in which Madame de Montespan +turned it to the King's amusement. The young lady thought that her new +relation was inclined to be favourable to her, and loaded her with +compliments. In general, Montespan had the skill of representing things +so humourously that it was impossible not to laugh at her. + +According to the law of the land, all her children were supposed to be +Monsieur de Montespan's. When her husband was dangerously ill, Madame de +Montespan, who in some degree affected devotion, sent to ask him if he +would allow her to nurse him in his sickness. He replied that he would +very willingly, provided she would bring all his children home with her, +but if she left one behind he would not receive her. After this answer, +she took care not to go, for her husband was a great brute, and would +have said whatever he pleased as soon as she presented herself to him. + +With the exception of the Comte de Toulouse, all the children she had by +the King are marked. The Duc du Maine is paralytic, Madame d'Orleans is +crooked, and Madame la Duchesse is lame. + +M. de Montespan was not a very estimable person; he did nothing but play. +He was a very sordid man, and I believe if the King had chosen to give +him a good round sum he would have been very quiet. It was amusing +enough to see him and his son, d'Antin, playing with Madame d'Orleans and +Madame la Duchesse, and presenting the cards very politely, and kissing +his hand to the Princesses, who were called his own daughters. He +thought it a joke himself, and always turned aside a little to laugh in +his sleeve. + + + + +SECTION VI. + +MADAME DE MAINTENON. + +The marriage of Louis XIV. with old Maintenon proves how impossible it is +to escape one's fate. The King said one day to the Duc de Crequi and to +M. de La Rochefoucauld, long before he knew Mistress Scarron, "I am +convinced that astrology is false. I had my nativity cast in Italy, and +I was told that, after living to an advanced age, I should be in love +with an old ----- to the last moment of my existence. I do not think +there is any great likelihood of that." He laughed most heartily as he +said this; and yet the thing has taken place. + +The history of Theodora, in Procopius, bears a singular resemblance to +that of Maintenon. In the history of Sweden, too, there is a similar +character in the person of Sigbritta, a Dutch woman, who lived during the +reign of Christian IL, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, who bears so +great a likeness to Maintenon that I was struck with it as soon as I read +it. I cannot imagine how they came to permit its publication. It is +fortunate for the Abbe Vertot, who is the author, that the King does not +love reading, otherwise he would certainly have been sent to the +Bastille. Several persons thought that the Abbe had invented it by way +of a joke, but he swears by all that is good that he found it in the +annals of Sweden. The old woman cannot have read it either, for she is +too much occupied in reading the letters written to her from Paris, +relating all that is going on there and at the Court. Sometimes the +packets have consisted of twenty or thirty sheets; she kept them or +showed them to the King, according as she liked or disliked the persons. + +She was not deficient in wit, and could talk very well whenever she +chose. She did not like to be called La Marquise, but preferred the +simpler and shorter title of Madame de Maintenon. + +She did not scruple to display openly the hatred she had for me. For +example, when the Queen of England came to Marly, and went out on foot or +in the carriage with the King, on their return the Queen, the Dauphine, +the Princess of England, and all the Princesses, went into the King's +room; I alone was excluded. + +It was with great regret that I gave up my Maids of Honour. I had four, +sometimes five of them, with their governess and sub-governess; they +amused me very much, for they were all very gay. The old woman feared +there might be some among them to whom the King might take a fancy, as he +had done to Ludre and Fontange. I only kept my Maids of Honour a year +after the death of Monsieur.--[1702]-- The King was always fond of the +sex, and if the old woman had not watched him very narrowly he would have +slipped through her fingers in spite of all his devotion. + +She hated the Dauphine because the latter would not let her treat her +like a child, but wished to keep a Court and live as became her rank. +This the old woman could not and would not endure. She loved to set all +things in confusion, as she did afterwards with the second Dauphine, in +the hope of compelling the King to recognize and proclaim her as Queen; +but this the King never would do, notwithstanding all her artifices.-- + +[Other writers including Madame de Montespan put it just the opposite way +that the King wished to proclaim Maintenon Queen and she refused. D.W.] + +Nobody at Court used perfumery except that old woman; her gloves were +always scented with jessamine. The King could not bear scent on any +other person, and only endured it in her because she made him believe +that it was somebody else who was perfumed. + +If Madame des Ursins had not been protected by Madame de Maintenon, she +would have been ruined at Court long before the Queen of Spain dismissed +her, for in his heart the King disliked her excessively; but all those +who were supported by Madame de Maintenon were sure to triumph. + +The old woman took great pains to conceal from the King all that could +give him pain; but she did not scruple to torment him incessantly about +the Constitution and those illegitimate children, whom she wished to +raise higher than the King desired. She teased him also with her hatred +of my son and myself, for he had no dislike to us. + +Neither the Queen nor the first Dauphine nor myself ever received a +farthing; but this old Maintenon took money on all sides, and taught the +second Dauphine to do the same. Her example was followed by all the +others. + +In the time of the Queen and the first Dauphine, everything at Court was +conducted with modesty and dignity. Those persons who indulged in secret +debaucheries at least kept up a respect for appearances; but from the +time that Maintenon's reign began, and the King's illegitimate children +were made a part of the Royal Family, all was turned topsy-turvy. + +When she once conceived a hatred against any person it was for life, and +she never ceased secretly to persecute them, as I have personally +experienced. She has laid many snares for me, which by the help of +Providence I have always avoided. She was terribly annoyed by her first +husband, who kept her always shut up in his chamber. Many people say, +too, that she hastened the passage of poor Mansart into the other world. +It is quite certain that he was poisoned by means of green peas, and that +he died within three hours of eating them. She had learnt that on the +same day M. de Torcy was going to show the King certain papers +containing an account of the money which she had received from the post +unknown to His Majesty. The King never knew anything of this adventure +nor of that of Louvois, because, as people had no fancy for being +poisoned, they held their tongues. + +Before she got into power, the Church of France was very reasonable; +but she spoiled everything by encouraging such follies and superstitions +as the rosaries and other things. When any reasonable men appeared, the +old woman and the Confessor had them banished or imprisoned. These two +persons were the causes of all the persecutions which the Lutherans and +those of the reformed religion underwent in France. Pere La Chaise, with +his long ears, began this worthy enterprise, and Pere Letellier completed +it; France was thus ruined in every way. + +The Duchesse de Bourbon was taught by her mother and her aunt, Mesdames +de Montespan and De Thiange, to ridicule everybody, under the pretext of +diverting the King. The children, who were always present, learnt +nothing else; and this practice was the universal dread of all persons in +the Court; but not more so than that of the gouvernante of the children +(Madame de Maintenon). Her habit was to treat things very seriously, and +without the least appearance of jesting. She used to speak ill of +persons to the King through charity and piety, for the sole purpose of +correcting the faults of her neighbours; and under this pretext she +filled the King with a bad opinion of the whole Court, solely that he +might have no desire for any other company than that of herself and her +creatures, who were alone perfect and without the slightest defect. What +rendered her disclosures the more dangerous was that they were frequently +followed by banishment, by 'lettres-de-cachet', and by imprisonment. +When Montespan was in power, at least there was nothing of this sort. +Provided she could amuse herself at the expense of all around her, she +was content. + +I have often heard Madame de Maintenon say, jestingly, "I have always +been either too far from, or too near to, greatness, to know exactly what +it is." + +She could not forgive the King for not having proclaimed her Queen. She +put on such an appearance of humility and piety to the Queen of England +that she passed for a saint with her. The old woman knew very well that +I was a right German, and that I never could endure unequal alliances. +She fancied, therefore, that it was on my account the King was reluctant +to acknowledge his marriage with her, and this it was that made her hate +me so profoundly. From the time of the King's death and our departure +from Versailles my son has never once seen her. + +She would never allow me to meddle with anything, because she feared it +would give me an opportunity of talking to the King. It was not that she +was jealous lest he should be fond of me, but she feared that, in +speaking according to my usual custom, freely and without restraint, +I should open the King's eyes and point out to him the folly of the life +he was leading. I had, however, no such intention. + +All the mistresses the King had did not tarnish his reputation so much as +the old woman he married; from her proceeded all the calamities which +have since befallen France. It was she who excited the persecution +against the Protestants, invented the heavy taxes which raised the price +of grain so high, and caused the scarcity. She helped the Ministers to +rob the King; by means of the Constitution she hastened his death; she +brought about my son's marriage; she wanted to place bastards upon the +throne; in short, she ruined and confused everything. + +Formerly the Court never went into mourning for children younger than six +years of age; but the Duc du Maine having lost a daughter only one year +old, the old woman persuaded the King to order a mourning, and since that +time it has been always worn for children of a year old. + +The King always hated or loved as she chose to direct; it was not, +therefore, surprising that he could not bear Montespan, for all her +failings were displayed to him by the old woman, who was materially +assisted in this office by Montespan's eldest son, the Duc du Maine. +In her latter years she enjoyed a splendour which she could never have +dreamed of before; the Court looked upon her as a sort of divinity. + +The old lady never failed to manifest her hatred of my son on all +occasions. She liked my husband no better than myself; and my son and my +daughter and her husband were equally objects of her detestation. She +told a lady once that her greatest fault was that of being attached to +me. Neither my son nor I had ever done her any injury. If Monsieur +thought fit to tell his niece, the Duchess of Burgundy, a part of +Maintenon's history, in the vexation he felt at her having estranged the +Princess from him, and not choosing that she should behave affectionately +to her great-uncle, that was not our fault. She was as jealous of the +Dauphine as a lover is of his mistress. + +She was in the habit of saying, "I perceive there is a sort of vertigo at +present affecting the whole world." When she perceived that the harvest +had failed, she bought up all the corn she could get in the markets, and +gained by this means an enormous sum of money, while the poor people were +dying of famine. Not having a sufficient number of granaries, a large +quantity of this corn became rotten in the boats loaded with it, and it +was necessary to throw it into the river. The people said this was a +just judgment from Heaven. + +My son made me laugh the other day. I asked him how Madame de Maintenon +was. + +"Wonderfully well," he replied. + +"That is surprising at her age," I said. + +"Yes," he rejoined, "but do you not know that God has, by way, of +punishing the devil, doomed him to exist a certain number of years in +that ugly body?" + +Montespan was the cause of the King's love for old Maintenon. In the +first place, when she wished to have her near her children, she shut her +ears to the stories which were told of the irregular life which the hussy +had been leading; she made everybody who spoke to the King about her, +praise her; her virtue and piety were cried up until the King was made to +think that all he had heard of her light conduct were lies, and in the +end he most firmly believed it. In the second place, Montespan was a +creature full of caprice, who had no control over herself, was +passionately fond of amusement, was tired whenever she was alone with the +King, whom she loved only, for the purposes of her own interest or +ambition, caring very little for him personally. To occupy him, and to +prevent him from observing her fondness for play and dissipation, she +brought Maintenon. The King was fond of a retired life, and would +willingly have passed his time alone with Montespan; he often reproached +her with not loving him sufficiently, and they quarrelled a great deal +occasionally. Goody Scarron then appeared, restored peace between them, +and consoled the King. She, however, made him remark more and more the +bitter temper of Montespan; and, affecting great devotion, she told the +King that his affliction was sent him by Heaven, as a punishment for the +sins he had committed with Montespan. She was eloquent, and had very +fine eyes; by degrees the King became accustomed to her, and thought she +would effect his salvation. He then made a proposal to her; but she +remained firm, and gave him to understand that, although he was very +agreeable to her, she would not for the whole world offend Heaven. This +excited in the King so great an admiration for her, and such a disgust to +Madame de Montespan, that he began to think of being converted. The old +woman then employed her creature, the Duc du Maine, to insinuate to his +mother that, since the King had taken other mistresses, for example, +Ludres and Fontange, she had lost her authority, and would become an +object of contempt at Court. This irritated her, and she was in a very +bad humour when the King came. In the meantime, Maintenon was +incessantly censuring the King; she told him that he would be damned if +he did not live on better terms with the Queen. Louis XIV. repeated this +to his wife, who considered herself much obliged to Madame de Maintenon: +she treated her with marks of distinction, and consented to her being +appointed second dame d'atour to the Dauphine of Bavaria; so that she had +now nothing to do with Montespan. The latter became furious, and related +to the King all the particulars of the life of Dame Scarron. But the +King, knowing her to be an arrant fiend, who would spare no one in her +passion, would not believe anything she said to him. The Duc du Maine +persuaded his mother to retire from Court for a short time in order that +the King might recall her. Being fond of her son, and believing him to +be honest in the advice he gave her, she went to Paris, and wrote to the +King that she would never come back. The Duc du Maine immediately sent +off all her packages after her without her knowledge; he even had her +furniture thrown out of the window, so that she could not come back to +Versailles. She had treated the King so ill and so unkindly that he was +delighted at being rid of her, and he did not care by what means. If she +had remained longer, the King, teased as he was, would hardly have been +secure against the transports of her passion. The Queen was extremely +grateful to Maintenon for having been the means of driving away Montespan +and bringing back the King to the marriage-bed; an arrangement to which, +like an honest Spanish lady, she had no sort of objection. With that +goodness of heart which was so remarkable in her, she thought she was +bound to do something for Madame de Maintenon, and therefore consented to +her being appointed dame d'atour. It was not until shortly before her +death that she learnt she had been deceived by her. After the Queen's +death, Louis XIV. thought he had gained a triumph over the very +personification of virtue in overcoming the old lady's scruples; he used +to visit her every afternoon, and she gained such an influence over him +as to induce him to marry. + +Madame la Marechale de Schomberg had a niece, Mademoiselle d'Aumale, whom +her parents had placed at St. Cyr during the King's life. She was ugly, +but possessed great wit, and succeeded in amusing the King so well that +the old Maintenon became disturbed at it. She picked a quarrel with her, +and wanted to send her again to the convent. But the King opposed this, +and made the old lady bring her back. When the King died, Mademoiselle +d'Aumale would not stay any longer with Madame de Maintenon. + +When the Dauphine first arrived, she did not know a soul. Her household +was formed before she came. She did not know who Maintenon was; and when +Monsieur explained it to her a year or two afterwards, it was too late to +resist. The Dauphin used at first to laugh at the old woman, but as he +was amorous of one of the Dauphine's Maids of Honour, and consequently +was acquainted with the gouvernante of the Maids of Honour, +Montchevreuil, a creature of Maintenon's, that old fool set her out in +very fair colours. Madame de Maintenon did not scruple to estrange the +Dauphin from the Dauphine, and very piously to sell him first Rambure and +afterwards La Force. + + +18th April, 1719--To-day I will begin my letter with the story of Madame +de Ponikau, in Saxony. One day during her lying-in, as she was quite +alone, a little woman dressed in the ancient French fashion came into the +room and begged her to permit a party to celebrate a wedding, promising +that they would take care it should be when she was alone. Madame de +Ponikau having consented, one day a company of dwarfs of both sexes +entered her chamber. They brought with them a little table, upon which a +good dinner, consisting of a great number of dishes, was placed, and +round which all the wedding guests took their seats. In the midst of the +banquet, one of the little waiting-maids ran in, crying, + +"Thank Heaven, we have escaped great perplexity. The old ----- is dead." + +It is the same here, the old is dead. She quitted this world at St. +Cyr, on Saturday last, the 15th day of April, between four and five +o'clock in the evening. The news of the Duc du Maine and his wife being +arrested made her faint, and was probably the cause of her death, for +from that time she had not a moment's repose or content. Her rage, and +the annihilation of her hopes of reigning with him, turned her blood. +She fell sick of the measles, and was for twenty days in great fever. +The disorder then took an unfavourable turn, and she died. She had +concealed two years of her age, for she pretended to be only eighty-four, +while she was really eighty-six years old. I believe that what grieved +her most in dying was to quit the world, and leave me and my son behind +her in good health. When her approaching death was announced to her, she +said, "To die is the least event of my life." The sums which her nephew +and niece De Noailles inherited from her were immense; but the amount +cannot be ascertained, because she had concealed a large part of her +wealth. + +A cousin of hers, the Archbishop of Rouen, who created so much trouble +with respect to the Constitution, followed his dear cousin into the other +world exactly a week afterwards, on the same day, and at the same hour. + +Nobody, knows what the King said to Maintenon on his death bed. She had +retired to St. Cyr before he died. They fetched her back, but she did +not stay, to the end. I think the King repented of his folly in having +married her, and, indeed, notwithstanding all her contrivances, she could +not persuade him to declare their marriage. She wept for the King's +death, but was not so deeply afflicted as she ought to have been. She +always flattered herself with the hope of reigning together with the Duc +du Maine. + +From the beginning to the end of their connection, the King's society was +always irksome to her, and she did not scruple to say so to her own +relations. She had before been much accustomed to the company of men, +but afterwards dared see none but the King, whom she never loved, and his +Ministers. This made her ill-tempered, and she did not fail to make +those persons who were within her power feel its effects. My son and I +have had our share of it. She thought only of two things, her ambition +and her amusement. The old sorceress never loved any one but her +favourite, the Duc du Maine. Perceiving that the Dauphine was desirous +of acting for herself and profiting by the king's favour, that she +ridiculed her to her attendants, and seemed not disposed to yield to her +domination, she withdrew her attention from her; and if the Dauphine had +not possessed great influence with the King, Maintenon would have turned +round upon her former favourite; she was therefore very soon consoled for +this Princess's death. She thought to have the King entirely at her +disposal through the Duc du Maine, and it was for this reason that she +relied so much upon him, and was so deeply afflicted at his imprisonment. + +She was not always so malicious, but her wickedness increased with her +years. For us it had been well that she had died twenty years before, +but for the honour of the late King that event ought to have taken place +thirty-three years back, for, if I do not mistake, she was married to the +King two years after the Queen's death, which happened five-and-thirty +years ago. + +If she had not been so outrageously inveterate against me, she could have +done me much more injury with the King, but she set about it too +violently; this caused the King to perceive that it was mere malice, and +therefore it had no effect. There were three reasons why she hated me +horribly. The first was, that the King treated me favourably. I was +twenty-five years of age when she came into power; she saw that, instead +of suffering myself to be governed by her, I would have my own way, and, +as the King was kind to me, that I should undeceive him and counsel him +not to suffer himself to be blindly led by so worthless a person. The +second reason was that, knowing how much I must disapprove of her +marriage with the King, she imagined I should always be an obstacle to +her being proclaimed Queen; and the third was, that I had always taken +the Dauphine's part whenever Maintenon had mortified her. The poor +Dauphine did not know what to do with Maintenon, who possessed the King's +heart, and was acquainted with all his intentions. Notwithstanding all +the favour she enjoyed, the old lady was somewhat timid. If the Dauphine +could have summoned courage to threaten Maintenon, as I advised her, to +hint that her previous life was well known, and that unless she behaved +better to the Dauphine the latter would expose her to the King, but that +if, on the contrary, she would live quietly and on good terms, silence +should be kept, then Maintenon would have pursued a very different +conduct. That wicked Bessola always prevented this, because then she +would have had no more tales to tell. + +One day I found the Dauphine in the greatest distress and drowned in +tears, because the old woman had threatened to make her miserable, to +have Madame du Maine preferred to her, to make her odious to the whole +Court and to the King besides. I laughed when she told me all this. + +"Is it possible," I said, "with so much sense and courage as you possess +that you will suffer this old hag to frighten you thus? You can have +nothing to fear: you are the Dauphine, the first person in the kingdom; +no one can do you any mischief without the most serious cause. When, +therefore, they threaten you, answer boldly: 'I do not fear pour menaces; +Madame de Maintenon is too much beneath me, and the King is too just to +condemn without hearing me. If you compel me I will speak to him myself, +and we shall see whether he will protect me or not.'" + +The Dauphine was not backward in repeating this word for word. The old +woman immediately said, "This is not your own speech; this proceeds from +Madame's bad advice; you have not courage enough to think thus for +yourself; however, we shall see whether Madame's friendship will be +profitable to you or not." But from that time forth she never threatened +the Princess. She had introduced the name of the Duchesse du Maine +adroitly enough in her threats to the Dauphine, because, having educated +the Duke, she thought her power at Court unlimited, and wished to chew +that she could prefer the last Princess of the blood before the first +person in France, and that therefore it was expedient to submit to her +and obey her. But Bessola, who was jealous of me, and could not bear +that the Dauphine should confide in me, had been bought over by the old +woman, to whom she betrayed us, and told her all that I had said to +console the Princess; she was commissioned, besides, to torment and +intimidate her mistress as much as possible, and acquitted herself to +a miracle, terrifying her to death, and at the same time seeming to act +only from attachment, and to be entirely devoted to her. The poor +Dauphine never distrusted this woman, who had been educated with her, and +had accompanied her to France; she did not imagine that falsehood and +perfidy existed to such an extent as this infernal creature carried them. +I was perfectly amazed at it. I opposed Bessola, and did all I could to +console the Dauphine and to alleviate her vexation. She told me when she +was dying that I had prolonged her life by two years by inspiring her +with courage. My exertions, however, procured for me Maintenon's cordial +hatred, which lasted to the end of her life. Although the Dauphine might +have something to reproach herself with, she was not to be taken to task +for it by that old woman, for who had ever led a less circumspect life +than she? In public, or when we were together, she never said anything +unpleasant to me, for she knew that I would not have failed to answer her +properly, as I knew her whole life. Villarceaux had told me more of her +than I desired to know. + +When the King was talking to me on his death-bed she turned as red as +fire. + +"Go away, Madame," said she; "the King is too much affected while he +talks to you; it may do him harm. Pray go away." + +As I went out she followed me and said, "Do not think, Madame, that I +have ever done you an ill turn with the King." + +I answered her with tears, for I thought I should choke with grief: +"Madame, do not let us talk upon that subject," and so quitted her. + +That humpbacked old Fagon, her favourite, used to say that he disliked +Christianity because it would not allow him to build a temple to +Maintenon and an altar to worship her. + +The only trait in her character that I can find to praise is her conduct +to Montchevreuil; although she was a wicked old devil, Maintenon had +reason to love her and be kind to her, for she had fed and clothed her +when Maintenon was in great want. + +I believe the old woman would not procure for Madame de Dangeau the +privilege of the tabouret, only because she was a German and of good +family. She once had two young girls from Strasbourg brought to Court, +and made them pass for Countesses Palatine, placing them in the office of +attendants upon her nieces. I did not know a word of it until the +Dauphine came to tell it me with tears in her eyes. + +I said to her, "Do not disturb yourself, leave me alone to act; when I +have a good reason for what I do, I despise the old witch." + +When I saw from my window the niece walking with these German girls, +I went into the garden and met them. I called one of them, and asked her +who she was. She told me, boldly, that she was a Countess Palatine of +Lutzelstein. + +"By the left hand?" I asked. + +"No," she replied, "I am not illegitimate; the young Count Palatine +married my mother, who is of the house of Gehlen." + +"In that case," I said, "you cannot be Countess Palatine; for we never +allow such unequal marriages to hold good. I will tell you, moreover, +that you lie when you say that the Count Palatine married your mother; +she is a -----, and the Count has married her no more than a hundred +others have done; I know her lawful husband is a hautboy-player. If you +presume, in future, to pass yourself off as a Countess Palatine I will +have you stripped; let me never again hear anything of this; but if you +will follow my advice, and take your proper name, I shall not reproach +you. And now you see what you have to choose between." + +The girl took this so much to heart that she died some days afterwards. +As for the second, she was sent to a boarding-house in Paris, where she +became as bad as her mother; but as she changed her name I did not +trouble myself any further about her. + +I told the Dauphine what I had done, who was very much obliged to me, +and confessed she should not have had courage enough to do it herself. +She feared that the King would be displeased with me;, but he only said +to me, jestingly, "One must not play tricks with you about your family, +for it seems to be a matter of life or death with you." + +I replied, "I hate lies." + +There was a troop of Italian players who had got up a comedy called "The +Pretended Prude." When I learnt they were going to represent it, I sent +for them and told them not to do so. It was in vain; they played it, and +got a great deal of money by it; but they were afterwards sent away in +consequence. They then came to me and wanted me to intercede for them; +but I said, "Why did you not take my advice?" It was said they hit off +the character of Maintenon with the most amusing fidelity. I should have +liked to see it, but I would not go lest the old woman should have told +the King that I had planned it out of ill-will to her. + + + + +SECTION VII. + +THE QUEEN--CONSORT OF LOUIS XIV. + +Our Queen was excessively ignorant, but the kindest and most virtuous +woman in the world; she had a certain greatness in her manner, and knew +how to hold a Court extremely well. She believed everything the King +told her, good or bad. Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken. +It was said that this proceeded from her being in the constant habit of +taking chocolate; she also frequently ate garlic. She was short and fat, +and her skin was very white. When she was not walking or dancing she +seemed much taller. She ate frequently and for a long time; but her food +was always cut in pieces as small as if they were for a singing bird. +She could not forget her country, and her manners were always remarkably +Spanish. She was very fond of play; she played basset, reversis, ombre, +and sometimes a little primero; but she never won because she did not +know how to play. + +She had such as affection for the King that she used to watch his eyes to +do whatever might be agreeable to him; if he only looked at her kindly +she was in good spirits for the rest of the day. She was very glad when +the King quitted his mistresses for her, and displayed so much +satisfaction that it was commonly remarked. She had no objection to +being joked upon this subject, and upon such occasions used to laugh and +wink and rub her little hands. + +One day the Queen, after having conversed for half-an-hour with the +Prince Egon de Furstemberg,--[Cardinal Furstemberg, Bishop of +Strasbourg.]--took me aside and said to me, "Did you know what M. de +Strasbourg has been saying? I have not understood him at all." + +A few minutes afterwards the Bishop said to me, "Did your Royal Highness +hear what the Queen said to me? I have not comprehended a single word." + +"Then," said I, "why did you answer her." + +"I thought," he replied, "that it would have been indecorous to have +appeared not to understand Her Majesty." + +This made me laugh so much that I was obliged precipitately to quit the +Chamber. + +The Queen died of an abscess under her arm. Instead of making it burst, +Fagon, who was unfortunately then her physician, had her blooded; this +drove in the abscess, the disorder attacked her internally, and an +emetic, which was administered after her bleeding, had the effect of +killing the Queen. + +The surgeon who blooded her said, "Have you considered this well, Sir? +It will be the death of my Mistress!" + +Fagon replied, "Do as I bid you." + +Gervais, the surgeon, wept, and said to Fagon, "You have resolved, then, +that my Mistress shall die by my hand!" + +Fagon had her blooded at eleven o'clock; at noon he gave her an emetic, +and three hours afterwards she was dead. It may be truly said that with +her died all the happiness of France. The King was deeply grieved by +this event, which that old villain Fagon brought about expressly for the +purpose of confirming that mischievous old woman's fortune. + +After the Queen's death I also happened to have an abscess. Fagon did +all he could to make the King recommend me to be blooded; but I said to +him, in His Majesty's presence, "No, I shall do no such thing. I shall +treat myself according to my own method; and if you had done the same to +the Queen she would have been alive now. I shall suffer the abscess to +gather, and then I shall have it opened." I did so, and soon got well. + +The King said very kindly to me, "Madame, I am afraid you will kill +yourself." + +I replied, laughing, "Your Majesty is too good to me, but I am quite +satisfied with not having followed my physician's advice, and you will +soon see that I shall do very well." + +After my convalescence I said at table, in presence of my two doctors, +Daguin, who was then first physician, and Fagon, who succeeded him upon +his being disgraced, "Your Majesty sees that I was right to have my own +way; for I am quite well, notwithstanding all the wise sayings and +arguments of these gentlemen." + +They were a little confused, but put it off with a laugh; and Fagon said +to me,-- + +"When folks are as robust as you, Madame, they may venture to risk +somewhat." + +I replied, "If I am robust, it is because I never take medicine but on +urgent occasions." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A pious Capuchin explained her dream to her +Art of satisfying people even while he reproved their requests +Asked the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion +Because the Queen has only the rinsings of the glass +Duplicity passes for wit, and frankness is looked upon as folly +Even doubt whether he believes in the existence of a God +Follies and superstitions as the rosaries and other things +Formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions +Great filthiness in the interior of their houses +Great things originated from the most insignificant trifles +He always slept in the Queen's bed +He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant +He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses +Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken (Queen) +I am unquestionably very ugly +I formed a religion of my own +I have seldom been at a loss for something to laugh at +I never take medicine but on urgent occasions +It was not permitted to argue with him +Jewels and decoration attract attention (to the ugly) +Louis XIV. scarcely knew how to read and write +Made his mistresses treat her with all becoming respect +My husband proposed separate beds +No man more ignorant of religion than the King was +Nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices +Not lawful to investigate in matters of religion +Robes battantes for the purpose of concealing her pregnancy +Seeing myself look as ugly as I really am (in a mirror) +So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King +Soon tired of war, and wishing to return home (Louis XIV) +The old woman (Madame Maintenon) +To die is the least event of my life (Maintenon) +To tell the truth, I was never very fond of having children +You are a King; you weep, and yet I go +You never look in a mirror when you pass it + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XIV. and Regency, +v1, by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans + diff --git a/old/cm18b10.zip b/old/cm18b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11d2c9f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm18b10.zip |