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+The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency, v3
+#3 in our series by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+#20 in our series Historic Court Memoirs
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+Title: The Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency, v3
+
+Author: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+
+Official Release Date: March, 2003  [Etext #3857]
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+
+MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. AND OF THE REGENCY, v3
+
+Being the Secret Memoirs of the Mother of the Regent,
+MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS.
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+CONTENTS:
+
+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
+
+
+
+SECTION XVII.
+
+HENRIETTA OF ENGLAND, THE FIRST WIFE OF MONSIEUR, BROTHER OF LOUIS XIV.
+
+It is true that the late Madame was extremely unhappy; she confided too
+much in people who betrayed her: she was more to be pitied than blamed,
+being connected with very wicked persons, about whom I could give some
+particulars.  Young, pretty and gay, she was surrounded by some of the
+greatest coquettes in the world, the mistresses of her bitterest foes,
+and who sought only to thrust her into some unfortunate situation and to
+embroil her with Monsieur.  Madame de Coetquen was the Chevalier de
+Lorraine's mistress, although Madame did not know it; and she contrived
+that the Marechal de Turenne should become attached to her.  Madame
+having told the Marshal all her secrets respecting the negotiations with
+England, he repeated them to his mistress, Madame de Coetquen, whom he
+believed to be devoted to his mistress.  This woman went every night to
+the Chevalier de Lorraine and betrayed them all.  The Chevalier used this
+opportunity to stir up Monsieur's indignation against Madame, telling him
+that he passed with the King for a simpleton, who could not hold his
+tongue; that he would lose all confidence, and that his wife would have
+everything in her own hand.  Monsieur wished to know all the particulars
+from Madame; but she refused to tell him her brother's secrets, and this
+widened the breach between them.  She became enraged, and had the
+Chevalier de Lorraine and his brother driven away, which in the end cost
+her own life; she, however, died with the consciousness of never having
+done her husband any harm.  She was the confidante of the King, to whom
+it had been hinted that it might be expedient to give some employment to
+Monsieur, who might otherwise make himself beloved in the Court and in
+the city.  For this reason the King assisted Madame in her affairs of
+gallantry, in order to occupy his brother.  I have this from the King
+himself.  Madame was besides in great credit with her brother, Charles
+II. (of England).  Louis XIV. wished to gain him over through his sister,
+wherefore it was necessary to take part with her, and she was always
+better treated than I have been.  The late Monsieur never suspected his
+wife of infidelity with the King, her brother-in-law, he told me, all her
+life, and would not have been silent with respect to this intrigue if he
+had believed it.  I think that with respect to this great injustice is
+done to Madame.  It would have been too much to deceive at once the
+brother and the nephew, the father and the son.
+
+The late Monsieur was very much disturbed at his wife's coquetry; but he
+dared not behave ill to her, because she was protected by the King.
+
+The Queen-mother of England had not brought up her children well: she at
+first left them in the society of femmes de chambre, who gratified all
+their caprices; and having afterwards married them at a very early age,
+they followed the bad example of their mother.  Both of them met with
+unhappy deaths; the one was poisoned, and the other died in child-birth.
+
+Monsieur was himself the cause of Madame's intrigue with the Comte de
+Guiche.  He was one of the favourites of the late Monsieur, and was said
+to have been handsome once.  Monsieur earnestly requested Madame to shew
+some favour to the Comte de Guiche, and to permit him to wait upon her at
+all times.  The Count, who was brutal to every one else, but full of
+vanity, took great pains to be agreeable to Madame, and to make her love
+him.  In fact, he succeeded, being seconded by his aunt, Madame de
+Chaumont, who was the gouvernante of Madame's children.  One day Madame
+went to this lady's chamber, under the pretence of seeing her children,
+but in fact to meet De Guiche, with whom she had an assignation.  She had
+a valet de chambre named Launois, whom I have since seen in the service
+of Monsieur; he had orders to stand sentinel on the staircase, to give
+notice in case Monsieur should approach.  This Launois suddenly ran into
+the room, saying, "Monsieur is coming downstairs."
+
+The lovers were terrified to death.  The Count could not escape by the
+antechamber on account of Monsieur's people who were there.  Launois
+said, "I know a way, which I will put into practice immediately; hide
+yourself," he said to the Count, "behind the door."  He then ran his head
+against Monsieur's nose as he was entering, and struck him so violently
+that he began to bleed.  At the same moment he cried out, "I beg your
+pardon, Monsieur, I did not think you were so near, and I ran to open you
+the door."
+
+Madame and Madame de Chaumont ran in great alarm to Monsieur, and covered
+his face with their handkerchiefs, so that the Comte de Guiche had time
+to get out of the room, and escape by the staircase.  Monsieur saw some
+one run away, but he thought it was Launois, who was escaping through
+fear.  He never learnt the truth.
+
+What convinces me of the late Madame's innocence is that, after having
+received the last sacraments, she begged pardon of Monsieur for all
+disquiets she had occasioned, and said that she hoped to reach heaven
+because she had committed no crime against her husband.
+
+I think M. de Monmouth was much worse than the Comte de Guiche; because,
+although a bastard, he was the son of Madame's own brother; and this
+incest doubled the crime.  Madame de Thiange, sister of Madame de
+Montespan, conducted the intrigue between the Duke of Monmouth and
+Madame.
+
+It is said here that Madame was not a beauty, but that she had so
+graceful a manner as to make all she did very agreeable.  She never
+forgave.  She would have the Chevalier de Lorraine dismissed; he was so,
+but he was amply revenged of her.  He sent the poison by which she was
+destroyed from Italy by a nobleman of Provence, named Morel: this man was
+afterwards given to me as chief maitre d'hotel, and after he had
+sufficiently robbed me they made him sell his place at a high price.
+This Morel was very clever, but he was a man totally void of moral or
+religious principle; he confessed to me that he did not believe in
+anything.  At the point of death he would not hear talk of God.  He said,
+speaking of himself, "Let this carcass alone, it is now good for
+nothing."  He would steal, lie and swear; he was an atheist and.....
+
+                    ........................
+
+It is too true that the late Madame was poisoned, but without the
+knowledge of Monsieur.  While the villains were arranging the plan of
+poisoning the poor lady, they deliberated whether they should acquaint
+Monsieur with it or not.  The Chevalier de Lorraine said "No, don't tell
+him, for he cannot hold his tongue.  If he does not tell it the first
+year he may have us hanged ten years afterwards;" and it is well known
+that the wretches said, "Let us not tell Monsieur, for he would tell the
+King, who would certainly hang us all."  They therefore made Monsieur
+believe that Madame had taken poison in Holland, which did not act until
+she arrived here.
+
+     [It is said that the King sent for the maitre d'hotel, and that,
+     being satisfied that Monsieur had not been a party to the crime, he
+     said, "Then I am relieved; you may retire."  The Memoirs of the day
+     state also that the King employed the Chevalier de Lorraine to
+     persuade Monsieur to obey his brother's wishes.]
+
+It appears, therefore, that the wicked Gourdon took no part in this
+affair; but she certainly accused Madame to Monsieur, and calumniated and
+disparaged her to everybody.
+
+It was not Madame's endive-water that D'Effial had poisoned; that report
+must have been a mere invention, for other persons might have tasted it
+had Madame alone drank from her own glass.  A valet de chambre who was
+with Madame, and who afterwards was in my service (he is dead now), told
+me that in the morning, while Monsieur and Madame were at Mass, D'Effial
+went to the sideboard and, taking the Queen's cup, rubbed the inside of
+it with a paper.  The valet said to him, "Monsieur, what do you do in
+this room, and why do you touch Madame's cup?"  He answered, "I am dying
+with thirst; I wanted something to drink, and the cup being dirty, I was
+wiping it with some paper."  In the afternoon Madame asked for some
+endive-water; but no sooner had she swallowed it than she exclaimed she
+was poisoned.  The persons present drank some of the same water, but not
+the same that was in the cup, for which reason they were not
+inconvenienced by it.  It was found necessary to carry Madame to bed.
+She grew worse, and at two o'clock in the morning she died in great pain.
+When the cup was sought for it had disappeared, and was not found until
+long after.  It seems it had been necessary to pass it through the fire
+before it could be cleaned.
+
+A report prevailed at St. Cloud for several years that the ghost of the
+late Madame appeared near a fountain where she had been accustomed to sit
+during the great heats, for it was a very cool spot.  One evening a
+servant of the Marquis de Clerambault, having gone thither to draw water
+from the fountain, saw something white sitting there without a head.  The
+phantom immediately arose to double its height.  The poor servant fled in
+great terror, and said when he entered the house that he had seen Madame.
+He fell sick and died.  Then the captain of the Chateau, thinking there
+was something hidden beneath this affair, went to the fountain some days
+afterwards, and, seeing the phantom, he threatened it with a sound
+drubbing if it did not declare what it was.
+
+The phantom immediately said, "Ah, M. de Lastera, do me no harm; I am
+poor old Philipinette."
+
+This was an old woman in the village, seventy-seven years old, who had
+lost her teeth, had blear eyes, a great mouth and large nose; in short,
+was a very hideous figure.  They were going to take her to prison, but I
+interceded for her.  When she came to thank me I asked her what fancy it
+was that had induced her to go about playing the ghost instead of
+sleeping.
+
+She laughed and said, "I cannot much repent what I have done.  At my time
+of life one sleeps little; but one wants something to amuse one's mind.
+In all the sports of my youth nothing diverted me so much as to play the
+ghost.  I was very sure that if I could not frighten folks with my white
+dress I could do so with my ugly face.  The cowards made so many grimaces
+when they saw it that I was ready to die with laughing.  This nightly
+amusement repaid me for the trouble of carrying a pannier by day."
+
+If the late Madame was better treated than I was it was for the purpose
+of pleasing the King of England, who was very fond of his sister.
+
+                    ...........................
+
+Madame de La Fayette, who has written the life of the late Madame, was
+her intimate friend; but she was still more intimately the friend of M.
+de La Rochefoucauld, who remained with her to the day of his death.  It
+is said that these two friends wrote together the romance of the
+Princesse de Cloves.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XVIII.
+
+THE DUC DE BERRI.
+
+It is not surprising that the manners of the Duc de Berri were not very
+elegant, since he was educated by Madame de Maintenon and the Dauphine as
+a valet de chambre.  He was obliged to wait upon the old woman at table,
+and at all other times upon the Dauphine's ladies, with whom he was by
+day and night.  They made a mere servant of him, and used to talk to him
+in a tone of very improper familiarity, saying, "Berri, go and fetch me
+my work; bring me that table; give me my scissors."
+
+Their manner of behaving to him was perfectly shameful.  This had the
+effect of degrading his disposition, and of giving him base propensities;
+so that it is not surprising he should have been violently in love with
+an ugly femme de chambre.  His good father was naturally of rather a
+coarse disposition.
+
+But for that old Maintenon, the Duc de Berri would have been humpbacked,
+like the rest who had been made to carry iron crosses.
+
+The Duc de Berri's character seemed to undergo a total change; it is said
+to be the ordinary lot of the children in Paris that, if they display any
+sense in their youth, they become stupid as they grow older.
+
+It was in compliance with the King's will that he married.  At first he
+was passionately fond of his wife; but at the end of three months he fell
+in love with a little, ugly, black femme de chambre.  The Duchess, who
+had sufficient penetration, was not slow in discovering this, and told
+her husband immediately that, if he continued to live upon good terms
+with her, as he had done at first, she would say nothing about it, and
+act as if she were not acquainted with it; but if he behaved ill, she
+would tell the whole affair to the King, and have the femme de chambre
+sent away, so that he should never hear of her again.  By this threat she
+held the Duke, who was a very simple man, so completely in check, that he
+lived very well with her up to his death, leaving her to do as she
+pleased, and dying himself as fond as ever of the femme de chambre.  A
+year before his death he had her married, but upon condition that the
+husband should not exercise his marital rights.  He left her pregnant as
+well as his wife, both of whom lay-in after his decease.  Madame de
+Berri, who was not jealous, retained this woman, and took care of her and
+her child.
+
+The Duke abridged his life by his extreme intemperance in eating and
+drinking.  He had concealed, besides, that in falling from his horse he
+had burst a blood-vessel.  He threatened to dismiss any of his servants
+who should say that he had lost blood.  A number of plates were found in
+the ruelle of his bed after his death.  When he disclosed the accident it
+was too late to remedy it.  As far as could be judged his illness
+proceeded from gluttony, in consequence of which emetics were so
+frequently administered to him that they hastened his death.
+
+He himself said to his confessor, the Pere de la Rue, "Ah, father, I am
+myself the cause of my death!"
+
+He repented of it, but not until too late.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XIX.
+
+THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI.
+
+My son loves his eldest daughter better than all the rest of his
+children, because he has had the care of her since she was seven years
+old.  She was at that time seized with an illness which the physicians
+did not know how to cure.  My son resolved to treat her in his own way.
+He succeeded in restoring her to health, and from that moment his love
+seemed to increase with her years.  She was very badly educated, having
+been always left with femmes de chambre.  She is not very capricious, but
+she is haughty and absolute in all her wishes.
+
+     [Her pride led her into all sorts of follies.  She once went through
+     Paris preceded by trumpets and drama; and on another occasion she
+     appeared at the theatre under a canopy.  She received the Venetian
+     Ambassador sitting in a chair elevated upon a sort of a platform.
+     This haughtiness, however, did not prevent her from keeping very bad
+     company, and she would sometimes lay aside her singularities and
+     break up her orgies to pass some holy days at the Carmelites.]
+
+From the age of eight years she has had entirely her own way, so that it
+is not surprising she should be like a headstrong horse.  If she had been
+well brought up, she would have been a worthy character, for she has very
+good sense and a good natural disposition, and is not at all like her
+mother, to whom, although she was very severely treated, she always did
+her duty.  During her mother's last illness, she watched her like a hired
+nurse.  If Madame de Berri had been surrounded by honest people, who
+thought more of her honour than of their own interest, she would have
+been a very admirable person.  She had excellent feelings; but as that
+old woman (Maintenon) once said, "bad company spoils good manners."  To
+be pleasing she had only to speak, for she possessed natural eloquence,
+and could express herself very well.
+
+Her complexion is very florid, for which she often lets blood, but
+without effect; she uses a great quantity of paint, I believe for the
+purpose of hiding the marks of the small-pox.  She cannot dance, and
+hates it; but she is well-grounded in music.  Her voice is neither strong
+nor agreeable, and yet she sings very correctly.  She takes as much
+diversion as possible; one day she hunts, another day she goes out in a
+carriage, on a third she will go to a fair; at other times she frequents
+the rope-dancers, the plays, and the operas, and she goes everywhere
+'en echarpe', and without stays.  I often rally her, and say that she
+fancies she is fond of the chase, but in fact she only likes changing her
+place.  She cares little about the result of the chase, but she likes
+boar-hunting better than stag-hunting, because the former furnishes her
+table with black puddings and boars' heads.
+
+I do not reckon the Duchesse de Berri among my grandchildren.  She is
+separated from me, we live like strangers to each other, she does not
+disturb herself about me, nor I about her.  (7th January, 1716.)
+
+Madame de Maintenon was so dreadfully afraid lest the King should take a
+fancy to the Duchesse de Berri while the Dauphine was expected, that she
+did her all sorts of ill offices.  After the Dauphine's death she
+repaired the wrong; but then, to tell the truth, the King's inclination
+was not so strong.
+
+If the Duchesse de Berri was not my daughter-in-law, I should have no
+reason to be dissatisfied with her; she behaves politely to me, which is
+all that I can say.  (25th Sept., 1716.)
+
+She often laughs at her own figure and shape.  She has certainly good
+sense, and is not very punctilious.  Her flesh is firm and healthy, her
+cheeks are as hard as stone.  I should be ungrateful not to love her, for
+she does all sorts of civil things towards me, and displays so great a
+regard for me that I am often quite amazed at it.  (12th April, 1718.)
+
+She is magnificent in her expenditure; to be sure she can afford to be
+so, for her income amounts to 600,000 livres.  Amboise was her jointure,
+but she preferred Meudon.
+
+She fell sick on the 28th March, 1719.  I went to see her last Sunday,
+the 23rd May, and found her in a sad state, suffering from pains in her
+toes and the soles of her feet until the tears came into her eyes.  I
+went away because I saw that she refrained from crying out on my account.
+I thought she was in a bad way.  A consultation was held by her three
+physicians, the result of which was that they determined to bleed her in
+the feet.  They had some difficulty in persuading her to submit to it,
+because the pain in her feet was so great that she uttered the most
+piercing screams if the bedclothes only rubbed against them.  The
+bleeding, however, succeeded, and she was in some degree relieved.  It
+was the gout in both feet.
+
+The feet are now covered with swellings filled with water, which cause
+her as much pain as if they were ulcers; she suffers day and night.
+Whatever they may say, there has been no other swelling of the feet since
+those blisters appeared.  (13th June.)
+
+The swelling has now entirely disappeared, but the pain is greater than
+before.  All the toes are covered with transparent blisters; she cries
+out so that she may be heard three rooms off.  The doctors now confess
+they do not know what the disorder is.  (20th June.) The King's surgeon
+says it is rheumatic gout.  (11th July.) I believe that frequent and
+excessive bathing and gluttony have undermined her health.  She has two
+fits of fever daily, and the disease does not abate.  She is not
+impatient nor peevish; the emetic given to her the day before yesterday
+causes her much pain; it seems that from time to time rheumatic pains
+have affected her shoulders without her taking much notice of them.  From
+being very fat, as she was, she has become thin and meagre.  Yesterday
+she confessed, and received the communion.  (18th July.) She was bled
+thrice before she took the emetic.  (Tuesday, 18th July.) She received
+the last Sacrament with a firmness which deeply affected her attendants.
+Between two and three o'clock this night (19th July) she died.  Her end
+was a very easy one; they say she died as if she had gone to sleep.  My
+son remained with her until she lost all consciousness, which was about
+an hour before her death.  She was his favourite daughter.  The poor
+Duchesse de Berri was as much the cause of her own death as if she had
+blown her brains out, for she secretly ate melons, figs and milk; she
+herself confessed, and her doctor told me, that she had closed her room
+to him and to the other medical attendants for a fortnight that she might
+indulge in this way.  Immediately after the storm she began to die.
+Yesterday evening she said to me: "Oh, Madame!  that clap of thunder has
+done me great harm;" and it was evident that it had made her worse.
+
+My son has not been able to sleep.  The poor Duchesse de Berri could not
+have been saved; her brain was filled with water; she had an ulcer in the
+stomach and another in the groin; her liver was affected, and her spleen
+full of disease.  She was taken by night to St.  Denis, whither all her
+household accompanied her corse.  They were so much embarrassed about her
+funeral oration that it was resolved ultimately not to pronounce one.
+
+With all her wealth she has left my son 400,000 livres of debt to pay.
+This poor Princess was horribly robbed and pillaged.  You may imagine
+what a race these favourites are; Mouchi, who enjoyed the greatest
+favour, did not grieve for her mistress a single moment; she was playing
+the flute at her window on the very day that the Princess was borne to
+St. Denis, and went to a large dinner party in Paris, where she ate and
+drank as if nothing had happened, at the same time talking in so
+impertinent a manner as disgusted all the guests.  My son desired her and
+her husband to quit Paris.
+
+My son's affliction is so much the greater since he perceives that,
+if he had been less complying with his beloved daughter, and if he had
+exercised somewhat more of a parent's authority, she would have been
+alive and well at this time.
+
+That Mouchi and her lover Riom have been playing fine tricks; they had
+duplicate keys, and left the poor Duchess without a sou.  I cannot
+conceive what there is to love in this Riom; he has neither face nor
+figure; he looks, with his green-and-yellow complexion, like a water
+fiend; his mouth, nose and eyes are like those of a Chinese.  He is more
+like a baboon than a Gascon, which he is.  He is a very dull person,
+without the least pretensions to wit; he has a large head, which is sunk
+between a pair of very broad shoulders, and his appearance is that of a
+low-minded person; in short, he is a very ugly rogue.
+
+And yet the toad does not come of bad blood; he is related to some of
+the best families.  The Duc de Lauzun is his uncle, and Biron his nephew.
+He is, nevertheless, unworthy of the honour which was conferred on him;
+for he was only a captain in the King's Guard.  The women all ran after
+him; but, for my part, I find him extremely disagreeable; he has an
+unhealthy air and looks like one of the Indian figures upon a screen.
+
+He was not here when Madame de Berri died, but was with the army, in the
+regiment which had been bought for him.  When the news of the Duchess's
+death reached him the Prince de Conti went to seek Riom, and sang a
+ridiculous song, my son was a little vexed at this, but he did not take
+any notice of it.
+
+There can be no doubt that the Duchess was secretly married to Riom; this
+has consoled me in some degree for her loss.  I had heard it said before,
+and I made a representation upon the subject to my granddaughter.
+
+She laughed, and replied: "Ah, Madame, I thought I had the honour of
+being so well known to you that you could not believe me guilty of so
+great a folly; I who am so much blamed for my pride."
+
+This answer lulled my suspicions, and I no longer believed the story.
+The father and mother would never have consented to this marriage; and
+even if they had sanctioned such an impertinence I never would!
+
+     [The Duchess, with her usual violence, teased her father to have her
+     marriage made public; this was also Riom's most ardent desire, who
+     had married her solely from ambitious motives.  The Regent had
+     despatched Riom to the army for the purpose of gaining time.  One
+     daughter was the result of the connection between Riom and the
+     Duchesse de Berri, who was afterwards sent into a convent at
+     Pontoisse.]
+
+The toad had made the Princess believe that he was a Prince of the House
+of Aragon, and that the King of Spain unjustly withheld from him his
+kingdom; but that if she would marry him he could sue for his claim
+through the treaties of peace.  Mouchi used to talk about this to the
+Duchess from morning to night; and it was for this reason that she was so
+greatly in favour.
+
+That Mouchi is the granddaughter of Monsieur's late surgeon.  Her mother,
+La Forcade, had been appointed by my son the gouvernante of his daughter
+and son, and thus the young Forcade was brought up with the Duchesse de
+Berri, who married her to Monsieur Mouchi, Master of the Wardrobe to the
+Duke, and gave her a large marriage-portion.  While the King lived the
+Princess could not visit her much; and it was not until after his death
+that she became the favourite, and was appointed by the Duchess second
+dame d'atour.
+
+
+
+SECTION XX.
+
+MADEMOISELLE D'ORLEANS, LOUISE-ADELAIDE DE CHARTRES.
+
+Mademoiselle de Chartres, Madame d'Orleans' second daughter, is well
+made, and is the handsomest of my granddaughters.  She has a fine skin, a
+superb complexion, very white teeth, good eyes, and a faultless shape,
+but she stammers a little; her hands are extremely delicate, the red and
+white are beautifully and naturally mingled in her skin.  I never saw
+finer teeth; they are like a row of pearls; and her gums are no less
+beautiful.  A Prince of Auhalt who is here is very much in love with her;
+but the good gentleman is ugly enough, so that there is no danger.  She
+dances well, and sings better; reads music at sight, and understands the
+accompaniment perfectly; and she sings without any grimace.  She persists
+in her project of becoming a nun; but I think she would be better in the
+world, and do all in my power to change her determination: it seems,
+however, to be a folly which there is no eradicating.  Her tastes are all
+masculine; she loves dogs, horses, and riding; all day long she is
+playing with gunpowder, making fusees and other artificial fireworks.
+She has a pair of pistols, which she is incessantly firing; she fears
+nothing in the world, and likes nothing which women in general like; she
+cares little about her person, and for this reason I think she will make
+a good nun.
+
+She does not become a nun through jealousy of her sister, but from the
+fear of being tormented by her mother and sister, whom she loves very
+much, and in this she is right.  She and her sister are not fond of their
+mother's favourites, and cannot endure to flatter them.  They have no
+very reverent notions, either, of their mother's brother, and this is the
+cause of dissensions.  I never saw my granddaughter in better spirits
+than on Sunday last; she was with her sister, on horseback, laughing, and
+apparently in great glee.  At eight o'clock in the evening her mother
+arrived; we played until supper; I thought we were afterwards going to
+play again, but Madame d'Orleans begged me to go into the cabinet with
+her and Mademoiselle d'Orleans; the child there fell on her knees, and
+begged my permission, and her mother's, to go to Chelles to perform her
+devotions.  I said she might do that anywhere, that the place mattered
+not, but that all depended upon her own heart, and the preparation which
+she made.  She, however, persisted in her desire to go to Chelles.  I
+said to her mother:
+
+"You must decide whether your daughter shall go to Chelles or not."
+
+She replied, "We cannot hinder her performing her devotions."
+
+     [In the Memoirs of the time it is said that Mademoiselle de
+     Chartres, being at the Opera with her mother, exclaimed, while
+     Caucherau was singing a very tender air," Ah! my dear Caucherau!"
+     and that her mother, thinking this rather too expressive, resolved
+     to send her to a convent.]
+
+So yesterday morning at seven o'clock she set off in a coach; she
+afterwards sent back the carriage, with a letter to her father, her
+mother, and myself, declaring that she will never more quit that accursed
+cloister.  Her mother, who has a liking for convents, is not very deeply
+afflicted; she looks upon it as a great blessing to be a nun, but, for my
+part, I think it is one of the greatest misfortunes.
+
+My son went yesterday to Chelles, and took with him the Cardinal de
+Noailles, to try for the last time to bring his daughter away from the
+convent.  (20th July, 1718.)
+
+My heart is full when I think that our poor Mademoiselle d'Orleans has
+made the profession of her vows.  I said to her all I could, in the hope
+of diverting her from this diabolical project, but all has been useless.
+(23rd August, 1718.) I should not have restrained my tears if I had been
+present at the ceremony of her profession.  My son dreaded it also.  I
+cannot tell for what reason Mademoiselle d'Orleans resolved to become a
+nun.  Mademoiselle de Valois wanted to do the same thing, but she could
+not prevail upon her mother.  In the convent they assume the names of
+saints.  My granddaughter has taken that of Sister Bathilde; she is of
+the Benedictine order.
+
+Madame d'Orleans has long wished her daughter to take this step, and it
+was on her account that the former Abbess, Villars' sister, was prevailed
+upon to quit the convent.  He is in the interest of the Duc du Maine.  I
+do not see, however, that his sister has much to complain of, for they
+gave her a pension of 12,000 livres until the first abbey should become
+vacant.  Madame d'Orleans is, however, vexed at the idea of Villars'
+sister being obliged to yield to my son's daughter, which is,
+nevertheless, as it should be.
+
+Our Abbess is upon worse terms than ever with her mother.  She complains
+that the latter never comes but to scold her.  She does not envy her
+sister her marriage, for she finds herself very happy, and in this she
+displays great good sense.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXI.
+
+MADEMOISELLE DE VALOIS, CHARLOTTE-AGLAE, CONSORT OF THE PRINCE OF MODENA.
+
+Mademoiselle de Valois is not, in my opinion, pretty, and yet
+occasionally she does not look ugly.  She has something like charms,
+for her eyes, her colour and her skin are good.  She has white teeth,
+a large, ill-looking nose, and one prominent tooth, which when she laughs
+has a bad effect.  Her figure is drawn up, her head is sunk between her
+shoulders, and what, in my opinion, is the worst part of her appearance,
+is the ill grace with which she does everything.  She walks like an old
+woman of eighty.  If she were a person not very anxious to please, I
+should not be surprised at the negligence of her gait; but she likes to
+be thought pretty.  She is fond of dress, and yet she does not understand
+that a good mien and graceful manners are the most becoming dress, and
+that where these are wanting all the ornaments in the world are good for
+nothing.  She has a good deal of the Mortemart family in her, and is as
+much like the Duchess of Sforza, the sister of Montespan, as if she were
+her daughter; the falsehood of the Mortemarts displays itself in her
+eyes.  Madame d'Orleans would be the most indolent woman in the world but
+for Madame de Valois, her daughter, who is worse than she.  To me nothing
+is more disgusting than a young person so indolent.  She cares little for
+me, or rather cannot bear me, and, for my part, I care as little for a
+person so educated.
+
+She is not upon good terms with her mother, because she wanted to marry
+her to the Prince de Dombes, the Duc du Maine's eldest son.  The mother
+says now reproachfully to her daughter that, if she had married her
+nephew, neither his father's nor his own misfortunes would have taken
+place.  She cannot bear to have her daughter in her sight, and has begged
+me to keep her with me.
+
+My son has agreed to give his daughter to the Prince of Modem, at which I
+very sincerely rejoice.  On the day before yesterday (28th November,
+1719) she came hither with her mother to tell me that the courier had
+arrived.  Her eyes were swollen and red, and she looked very miserable.
+The Duchess of Hanover tells me that the intended husband fell in love
+with Mademoiselle de Valois at the mere sight of her portrait.  I think
+her rather pretty than agreeable.  Her hawk nose spoils all, in my
+opinion.  Her legs are long, her body stout and short, and her gait
+shows that she has not learnt to dance; in fact, she never would learn.
+Still, if the interior was as good as the exterior, all might pass; but
+she has as much of the father as of the mother in her, and this it is
+that I dislike.
+
+Our bride-elect is putting, as we say here, as good a face as she can
+upon a bad bargain; although her language is gay her eyes are swollen,
+and it is suspected that she has been weeping all night.  The Grand
+Prior, who is also General of the Galleys, will escort his sister into
+Italy.  The Grand Duchess of Tuscany says that she will not see
+Mademoiselle de Valois nor speak to her, knowing very well what Italy is,
+and believing that Mademoiselle de Valois will not be able to reconcile
+herself to it.  She is afraid that if her niece should ever return to
+France they will say, "There is the second edition of the Grand Duchess;
+"and that for every folly she may commit towards her father-in-law and
+husband they will add, "Such are the instructions which her aunt, the
+Grand Duchess, has given her."  For this reason she said she would not go
+to see her.
+
+The present has come from Modena; it does not consist of many pieces;
+there is a large jewel for the bride, with some very fine diamonds, in
+the midst of which is the portrait of the Prince of Modena, but it is
+badly executed.  This present is to be given on the day of the marriage
+and at the signature of the contract in the King's presence; this
+ceremony will take place on the 11th (of February, 1720).  The nuptial
+benediction will be pronounced on Monday, and on Thursday she will set
+off.  I never in my life saw a bride more sorrowful; for the last three
+days she has neither eaten nor drunk, and her eyes are filled with tears.
+
+I have been the prophetess of evil, but I have prophesied too truly.
+When our Princess of Modena told me that she wished to go to Chelles to
+bid her sister farewell, I told her that the measles had been in the
+convent a short time before, that the Abbess herself had been attacked by
+this disease, which was contagious.  She replied that she would seek it.
+I said such things are more easily found than anything good; you run a
+risk of your life, and I recommend you to take care.  Notwithstanding my
+advice, she went on Sunday morning to Chelles, and passed the whole of
+the day with her sister.  Soon afterwards she found herself unwell, and
+was laid up with the measles.  Her consolation is that this illness
+retards her journey.
+
+On the 12th of March (1720) my son brought his daughter to bid me
+farewell.  She could not articulate a word.  She took my hands, kissed
+and pressed them, and then clasped her own.  My son was much affected
+when he brought her.  They thought at first of marrying her to the Prince
+of Piedmont.  Her father had given her some reason to hope for this
+union, but he afterwards retracted.
+
+     [According to Duclos it was Madame herself who prevented this
+     marriage by writing to the Queen of Sicily that she was too much her
+     friend to make her so worthless a present as Mademoiselle de Valois.
+     Duclos adds that the Regent only laughed at this German blunder of
+     his mother's.]
+
+She would have preferred marrying the Duke or the Comte de Charolois,
+because then she would have remained with her friends.  Her father has
+given her several jewels.  The King's present is superb.  It consists of
+fourteen very large and fine diamonds, to each of which are fastened
+round pearls of the first water, and together they form a necklace.  The
+Grand Duchess advised her niece well in telling her not to follow her
+example, but to endeavour to please her husband and father-in-law.
+
+     [The same author (Duclos) says, on the contrary, that the Duchess
+     had given her niece the following advice: "My dear, do as I have
+     done.  Have one or two children and try to get back to France; there
+     is nothing good for us out of that country."]
+
+The Prince of Modena will repair to Genoa incognito, because the Republic
+has declared that they will pay due honours to his bride as a Princess of
+the blood, but not as Princess of Modena.  They have already begun to
+laugh here at the amusements of Modena.  She has sent to her father from
+Lyons an harangue which was addressed to her by a curate.  In spite of
+her father, she will visit the whole of Provence.  She will go to Toulon,
+La Ste. Beaume, and I know not what.  I believe she wishes to see
+everything or anything except her husband.
+
+     [She performed her journey so slowly that the Prince complained of
+     it, and the Regent was obliged to order his daughter to go directly
+     to the husband, who was expecting her.]
+
+It may truly be said of this Princess that she has eaten her white bread
+first.
+
+All goes well at Modena at present, but the too charming brother-in-law
+is not permitted to be at the petite soupers of his sister.  The husband,
+it is said, is delighted with his wife; but she has told him that he must
+not be too fond of her, for that is not the fashion in France, and would
+seem ridiculous.  This declaration has not, as might be guessed, given
+very great satisfaction in this country.
+
+The Grand Duchess says, in the time of the Queen-mother's regency, when
+the Prince and his brother, the Prince de Conti, were taken to the
+Bastille, they were asked what books they would have to amuse themselves
+with?  The Prince de Conti said he should like to have "The Imitation of
+Jesus Christ;" and the Prince de Condo said he would rather like "The
+Imitation of the Duc de Beaufort," who had then just left the Bastille.
+
+"I think," added the Duchess, "that the Princess of Modena will soon be
+inclined to ask for 'The Imitation of the Grand Duchess.'"
+
+     [The Princess of Modena did, in fact, go back to France, and
+     remained there for the rest of her life.]
+
+Our Princess of Modena has found her husband handsomer and likes him
+better than she thought she should; she has even become so fond of him,
+that she has twice kissed his hands; a great condescension for a person
+so proud as she is, and who fancies that, there is not her equal on the
+earth.
+
+The Duke of Modena is a very strange person in all matters.  His son and
+his son's wife have requested him to get rid of Salvatico, who has been
+here in the quality of envoy.  This silly person made on the journey a
+declaration in form of his love for the Princess, and threatened her with
+all sorts of misfortune if she did not accept his love.  He began his
+declaration with,
+
+"Ah!  ah!  ah!  Madame, ah!  ah!  ah!  Madame."
+
+The Princess interrupted him: "What do you mean with your ah's?"
+
+He replied, "Ah!  the Prince of Modena is under great obligations; I have
+made him happy."
+
+He had begun the same follies here, and was in the habit of entering the
+Princess's chamber at all times, and he even had the impudence to be
+jealous.  The Princess complained of him to her husband, and he told his
+father of it, begging him to send the rogue away; but the father was so
+far from complying that he wanted to make Salvatico his major-domo.  Upon
+the whole, I think that Salvatico's love for our Princess of Modena is
+fortunate for her; for, having learnt all that had passed here,
+
+     [Mademoiselle de Valois had an amorous intrigue with the Duc de
+     Richelieu; and it is said that she only consented to marry the
+     Prince of Modena upon condition that her father, the Regent, would
+     set her husband at liberty.  Madame had intimated to the Duc de
+     Richelieu that, if he approached the places where her granddaughter
+     was with her, his life would be in great peril.]
+
+he might have made inconvenient reports: he would, however, perhaps have
+done it in vain, for the Prince would not have believed him.  Salvatico
+is quite crazy.  He is the declared favourite of the Duke of Modena,
+which verifies the German proverb, "Like will to like, as the devil said
+to the collier."
+
+The Prince and Princess are very fond of each other; but it is said they
+join in ridiculing the old father (2nd August, 1720).  The Princess goes
+about all day from room to room, crying, "How tired I am, how tiresome
+everything is here!  "She, however, lives a little better with her
+husband than at the beginning.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXII.
+
+THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN OF THE REGENT, DUC D'ORLEANS.
+
+My son has three illegitimate children, two boys and a girl; but only one
+of them is legitimated, that is, his son by Mademoiselle de Seri, a lady
+of noble family, and who was my Maid of Honour.  The younger Margrave of
+Anspach was also in love with her.  This son is called the Chevalier
+d'Orleans.  The other, who is now (1716) about eighteen years old, is an
+Abbe; he is the son of La Florence, a dancer at the Opera House.  The
+daughter is by Desmarets, the actress.  My son says that the Chevalier
+d'Orleans is more unquestionably his than any of the others; but, to tell
+the truth, I think the Abbe has a stronger family likeness to my son than
+the Chevalier, who is like none of them.  I do not know where my son
+found him; he is a good sort of person, but he has neither elegance nor
+beauty.  It is a great pity that the Abbe is illegitimate: he is well
+made; his features are not bad; he has very good talents, and has studied
+much.--[Duclos says that this 'eleve' of the Jesuits was, nevertheless,
+the most zealous ignoramus that ever their school produced.]--He is a
+good deal like the portraits of the late Monsieur in his youth, only that
+he is bigger.  When he stands near Mademoiselle de Valois it is easy to
+see that they belong to the same father.  My son purchased for the
+Chevalier d'Orleans the office of General of the Galleys from the
+Marechal de Tasse.  He intends to make him a Knight of Malta, so that he
+may live unmarried, for my son does not wish to have the illegitimate
+branches of his family extended.  The Chevalier does not want wit; but he
+is a little satirical, a habit which he takes from his mother.
+
+My son will not recognize the Abbe Saint-Albin, on account of the
+irregular life which his mother, La Florence, has led.  He fears being
+laughed at for acknowledging children so different.  The Abbe Dubois was
+a chief cause, too, why my son would not acknowledge this son.  It was
+because the Abbe, aspiring to the Cardinal's hat, was jealous of every
+one who might be a competitor with him.  I love this Abbe Saint-Albin, in
+the first place, because he is attached to me, and, in the second,
+because he is really very clever; he has wit and sense, with none of the
+mummery of priests.  My son does not esteem him half so much as he
+deserves, for he is one of the best persons in the world; he is pious and
+virtuous, learned in every point, and not vain.  It is in vain for my son
+to deny him; any one may see of what race he comes, and I am sorry that
+he is not legitimated.  My son is much more fond of Seri's Son.
+
+The poor Abbe de Saint-Albin is grieved to death at not being
+acknowledged; while Fortune smiles upon his elder brother, he is
+forgotten, despised, and has no rank; he seeks only to be legitimated.
+I console him as well as I can; but why should I tease my son about the
+business?
+
+     [The Abbe de Saint-Albin was appointed Bishop of Laon, and, after
+     Dubois' death, Archbishop of Cambrai.  When he wished to become a
+     member of the Parliament he could not give the names either of his
+     father or mother; he had been baptized in the name of Cauche, the
+     Regent's valet de chambre and purveyor.]
+
+It would only put him in the way of greater inconveniences, for, as he
+has also several children by Parabere, she would be no less desirous that
+he should legitimate hers.  This consideration ties my tongue.
+
+The daughter of the actress Desmarets is somewhat like her mother, but
+she is like no one else.  She was educated in a convent at Saint Denis,
+but had no liking for a nun's life.  When my son had her first brought to
+him she did not know who she was.  When my son told her he was her
+father, she was transported with joy, fancying that she was the daughter
+of Seri and sister to the Chevalier; she thought, too, that she would be
+legitimated immediately.  When my son told her that could not be done,
+and that she was Desmarets' daughter, she wept excessively.  Her mother
+had never been permitted to see her in the convent; the nuns would not
+have allowed it, and her presence would have been injurious to the child.
+From the time she was born, her mother had not seen her until the present
+year (1719), when she saw her in a box at the theatre, and wept for joy.
+My son married this girl to the Marquis de Segur.
+
+An actress at the Opera House, called Mdlle. d'Usg, who is since dead,
+was in great favour with my son, but that did not last long.  At her
+death it appeared that, although she had had several children, neither
+she nor her mother nor her grandmother had ever been married.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXIII.
+
+THE CHEVALIER DE LORRAINE.
+
+The Chevalier de Lorraine looked very ill, but it was in consequence of
+his excessive debauchery, for he had once been a handsome man.  He had a
+well-made person, and if the interior had answered to the exterior I
+should have had nothing to say against him.  He was, however, a very bad
+man, and his friends were no better than he.  Three or four years before
+my husband's death, and for his satisfaction, I was reconciled with the
+Chevalier, and from that time he did me no mischief.  He was always
+before so much afraid of being sent away that he used to tell Monsieur he
+ought to know what I was saying and doing, that he might be apprised of
+any attempt that should be made against the Chevalier or his creatures.
+
+He died so poor that his friends were obliged to bury him; yet he had
+100,000 crowns of revenue, but he was so bad a manager that his people
+always robbed him.  Provided they would supply him when he wanted them
+with a thousand pistoles for his pleasures or his play, he let them
+dispose of his property as they thought fit.  That Grancey drew large
+sums from him.  He met with a shocking death.  He was standing near
+Madame de Mare, Grancey's sister, and telling her that he had been
+sitting up at some of his extravagant pleasures all night, and was
+uttering the most horrible expressions, when suddenly he was stricken
+with apoplexy, lost the power of speech, and shortly afterwards expired.
+
+     [He died suddenly in his own house, playing at ombre, as many of his
+     family had done, and was regretted by no person except Mdlle. de
+     Lillebonne, to whom he was believed to have been privately married.
+
+     --Note to Dangeau's Journal.  This man, who was suspected of having
+     poisoned the King's sister-in-law, was nevertheless in possession of
+     four abbeys, the revenues of which defrayed the expenses of his
+     debaucheries.]
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXIV.
+
+PHILIP V., KING OF SPAIN.
+
+Louis XIV. wept much when his grandson set out for Spain.  I could not
+help weeping, too.  The King accompanied him as far as Sceaux.  The tears
+and lamentations in the drawing-room were irresistible.  The Dauphin was
+also deeply affected.
+
+The King of Spain is very hunchbacked, and is not in other respects well
+made; but he is bigger than his brothers.  He has the best mien, good
+features, and fine hair.  What is somewhat singular, although his hair is
+very light, his eyes are quite black; his complexion is clear red and
+white; he has an Austrian mouth; his voice is deep, and he is singularly
+slow in speaking.  He is a good and peaceable sort of a person, but a
+little obstinate when he takes it in his head.  He loves his wife above
+all things, leaves all affairs to her, and never interferes in anything.
+He is very pious, and believes he should be damned if he committed any
+matrimonial infidelity.  But for his devotion he would be a libertine,
+for he is addicted to women, and it is for this reason he is so fond of
+his wife.  He has a very humble opinion of his own merit.  He is very
+easily led, and for this reason the Queen will not lose sight of him.  He
+receives as current truths whatever is told him by persons to whom he is
+accustomed, and never thinks of doubting.  The good gentleman ought to be
+surrounded by competent persons, for his own wit would not carry him far;
+but he is of a good disposition, and is one of the quietest men in the
+world.  He is a little melancholy, and there is nothing in Spain to make
+him gay.
+
+He must know people before he will speak to them at all.  If you desire
+him to talk you must tease him and rally him a little, or he will not
+open his mouth.  I have seen Monsieur very impatient at his talking to
+me while he could not get a word from him.  Monsieur did not take the
+trouble to talk to him before he was a King, and then he wished him to
+speak afterwards; that did not suit the King.  He was not the same with
+me.  In the apartment, at table, or at the play, he used to sit beside
+me.  He was very fond of hearing tales, and I used to tell them to him
+for whole evenings: this made him well accustomed to me, and he had
+always something to ask me.  I have often laughed at the answer he made
+me when I said to him,  "Come, Monsieur, why do not you talk to your
+uncle, who is quite distressed that you never speak to him."
+
+"What shall I say to him?" he replied, "I scarcely know him."
+
+It is quite true that the Queen of Spain was at first very fond of the
+Princesse des Ursins, and that she grieved much when that Princess was
+dismissed for the first time.  The story that is told of the Confessor is
+also very true; only one circumstance is wanting in it, that is, that the
+Duc de Grammont, then Ambassador, played the part of the Confessor, and
+it was for this reason he was recalled.
+
+The Queen had one certain means of making the King do whatever she
+wished.  The good gentleman was exceedingly fond of her, and this
+fondness she turned to good account.  She had a small truckle-bed in her
+room, and when the King would not comply with any of her requests she
+used to make him sleep in this bed; but when she was pleased with him he
+was admitted to her own bed; which was the very summit of happiness to
+the poor King.  After the Princesse des Ursins had departed, the King
+recalled the Confessor from Rome, and kept him near his own person
+(1718).
+
+The King of Spain can never forgive, and Madame des Ursins has told him
+so many lies to my son's disadvantage that the King can never, while he
+lives, be reconciled to him.
+
+Rebenac's--[Francois de Feuquieres, Called the Comte de Rebenac,
+Extraordinary Ambassador to Spain.]--passion for the late Queen of Spain
+was of no disadvantage to her; she only laughed at it, and did not care
+for him.  It was the Comte de Mansfeld, the man with the pointed nose,
+who poisoned her.  He bought over two of her French femmes de chambre to
+give her poison in raw oysters; and they afterwards withheld from her the
+antidote which had been entrusted to their care.
+
+The Queen of Spain, daughter of the first Madame,--[Henrietta of
+England.]--died in precisely the same manner as she did, and at the same
+age, but in a much more painful manner, for the violence of the poison
+was such as to make her nails fall off.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXV.
+
+THE DUCHESSE LOUISE-FRANCISQUE, CONSORT OF LOUIS III., DUC DE BOURBON.
+
+I knew a German gentleman who has now been dead a long time (1718), who
+has sworn to me positively that the Duchess is not the daughter of the
+King, but of Marechal de Noailles.  He noted the time at which he saw the
+Marshal go into Montespan's apartment, and it was precisely nine months
+from that time that the Duchess came into the world.  This German, whose
+name was Bettendorf, was a brigadier in the Body Guard; and he was on
+guard at Montespan's when the captain of the first company paid this
+visit to the King's mistress.
+
+The Duchess is not prettier than her daughters, but she has more grace;
+her manners are more fascinating and agreeable; her wit shines in her
+eyes, but there is some malignity in them also.  I always say she is like
+a very pretty cat, which, while you play with it, lets you feel it has
+claws.  No person has a better carriage of the head.  It is impossible to
+dance better than the Duchess and her daughters can; but the mother
+dances the best.  I do not know how it is, but even her lameness is
+becoming to her.  The Duchess has the talent of saying things in so
+pleasant a manner that one cannot help laughing.  She is very amusing and
+uncommonly good company; her notions are so very comical.  When she
+wishes to make herself agreeable to any one she is very insinuating, and
+can take all shapes; if she were not also treacherous, one might say
+truly that nobody is more amiable than the Duchess; she understands so
+well how to accommodate herself to people's peculiar habits that one
+would believe she takes a real interest in them; but there is nothing
+certain about her.  Although her sense is good, her heart is not.
+Notwithstanding her ambition, she seems at first as if she thought only
+of amusing and diverting herself and others; and she can feign so
+skilfully that one would think she had been very agreeably entertained in
+the society of persons, whom immediately upon her return home she will
+ridicule in all possible ways.
+
+La Mailly complained to her aunt, old Maintenon, that her husband was in
+love with the Duchess; but this husband, having afterwards been
+captivated by an actress named Bancour, gave up to her all the Duchess's
+letters, for which he was an impertinent rascal.  The Duchess wrote a
+song upon Mailly, in which she reproached her, notwithstanding her airs
+of prudery, with an infidelity with Villeroi, a sergeant of the Guard.
+
+In the Duchess's house malice passes for wit, and therefore they are
+under no restraint.  The three sisters--the Duchess, the Princesse de
+Conti, and Madame d'Orleans--behave to each other as if they were not
+sisters.
+
+The Princess is a very virtuous person, and is much displeased at her
+daughter-in-law's manner of life, for Lasso is with her by day and by
+night; at the play, at the Opera, in visits, everywhere Lasso is seen
+with her.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXVI.
+
+THE YOUNGER DUCHESS.
+
+The Duke's wife is not an ill-looking person: she has good eyes, and
+would be very well if she had not a, habit of stretching and poking out
+her neck.  Her shape is horrible; she is quite crooked; her back is
+curved into the form of an S.  I observed her one day, through curiosity,
+when the Dauphine was helping her to dress.
+
+She is a wicked devil; treacherous in every way, and of a very dangerous
+temper.  Upon the whole, she is not good for much.  Her falsehood was the
+means of preventing the Duke from marrying one of my granddaughters.
+Being the intimate friend of Madame de Berri, who was very desirous that
+one of her sisters should marry the Duke and the other the Prince de
+Conti, she promised to bring about the marriage, provided Madame de Berri
+would say nothing of it to the King or to me.  After having imposed this
+condition, she told the King that Madame de Berri and my son were
+planning a marriage without his sanction; in order to punish them she
+begged the King to marry the Duke to herself, which was actually done.
+
+Thanks to her good sense, she lives upon tolerable terms with her
+husband, although he has not much affection for her.  They follow each
+their own inclinations; they are not at all jealous of each other, and it
+is said they have separate beds.
+
+She causes a great many troubles and embarrassments to her relation, the
+young Princesse de Conti, and perfectly understands tormenting folks.
+
+The young Duchess died yesterday evening (22nd March, 1720).  The Duke's
+joy at the death of his wife will be greatly diminished when he learns
+that she has bequeathed to her sister, Mademoiselle de la Roche-sur-Yon,
+all her property; and as the husband and wife lived according to the
+custom of Paris, 'en communaute', the Duke will be obliged to refund the
+half of all he gained by Law's bank.
+
+After the death of the younger Duchess, the Princesse de Conti, her
+mother, wrote to a Chevalier named Du Challar, who was the lover of the
+deceased, to beg him to come and see her, as he was the only object left
+connected with her daughter, and assuring him that he might reckon upon
+her services in everything that depended upon her.  It was the younger
+Duchess who was so fond of Lasse, and who had been so familiar with him
+at a masked ball.
+
+I recognized only two good qualities in her: her respect and affection
+for her grandmother, the Princess, and the skill with which she concealed
+her faults.  Beside this, she was good for nothing, in whatever way her
+character is regarded.  That she was treacherous is quite certain; and
+she shortened her life by her improper conduct.  She neither loved nor
+hated her husband, and they lived together more like brother and sister
+than husband and wife.
+
+The Elector of Bavaria, during his stay at Paris, instead of visiting his
+nephews and nieces, passed all his time, by day and by night, with the
+Duchess and her daughters.  As to me, he fled me as he would fly the
+plague, and never spoke to me but in the company of M. de Torcy.  The
+Duchess had three of the handsomest daughters in the world: the one
+called Mademoiselle de Clermont is extremely beautiful; but I think her
+sister, the Princesse de Conti, more amiable.  The Duchess can drink very
+copiously without being affected; her daughters would fain imitate her,
+but they soon get tipsy, and cannot control themselves as their mother
+can.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXVII.
+
+LOUIS III., DUC DE BOURBON.
+
+It is said that the Duke has solid parts; he does everything with a
+certain nobility; he has a good person, but the loss of that eye, which
+the Duc de Berri struck out, disfigures him much.  He is certainly very
+politic, and this quality he has from his mother.  He is polite and well-
+bred; his mind is not very comprehensive, and he has been badly
+instructed.  They say he is unfit for business for three reasons:
+first, on account of his ignorance; secondly, for his want of
+application; and, thirdly, for his impatience.  I can see that in
+examining him narrowly one would find many defects in him; but he has
+also many praiseworthy qualities, and he possesses many friends.  He has
+a greatness and nobility of soul, and a good deportment.
+
+The Prince is in love with Madame de Polignac; but she is fond of the
+Duke, who cannot yet forget Madame de Nesle, although she has dismissed
+him to make room for that great calf, the Prince of Soubise.  The latter
+person is reported to have said, "Why does the Duke complain?  Have I not
+consented to share Madame de Nesle's favours with him whenever he
+chooses?"
+
+Such is the delicacy which prevails here in affairs of love.
+
+The Duke is very passionate.  When Madame de Nesle dismissed him he
+almost died of vexation; he looked as if he was about to give up the
+ghost, and for six months he did not know what to do.
+
+The Marquis de Villequier, the Duc d'Aumont's son, one day visited the
+Marquise de Nesle.  She took it into her head to ask him if he was very
+fond of his wife.  Villequier replied, "I am not in love with her; I see
+her very little; our humours differ greatly.  She is serious, and for my
+part I like pleasure and gaiety.  I feel for her a friendship founded on
+esteem, for she is one of the most virtuous women in France."
+
+Madame de Nesle, of whom no man could say so much, took this for an
+insult, and complained of it to the Duke, who promised to avenge her.
+Some days afterwards he invited young Villequier to dine with him at the
+Marquis de Nesle's; there were, besides Madame de Nesle, the Marquis de
+Gevres, Madame de Coligny, and others.  During dinner the Duke began
+thus:
+
+"A great many men fancy they are sure of the fidelity of their wives, but
+it is a mistake.  I thought to protect myself from this common fate by
+marrying a monster, but it served me nought; for a villain named Du
+Challar, who was more ugly than I am, played me false.  As to the Marquis
+de Gevres, as he will never marry * * * , he will be exempt; but you,
+Monsieur de Nesle, you are so and so."  Nesle, who did not believe it,
+although it was very true, only laughed.  Then addressing himself to
+Villequier, he said, "And you, Villequier, don't you think you are so?"
+He was silent.  The Duke continued, "Yes, you are befooled by the
+Chevalier de Pesay."
+
+Villequier blushed, but at last said, "I confess that up to this moment I
+had no reason to believe it; but since you put me into such good company
+I have no right to complain."
+
+I do not think Madame de Nesle was well revenged.
+
+I remember that the Duke, who was terribly ill-made, said one day to the
+late Monsieur, who was a straight, well-formed person, that a mask had
+taken him for Monsieur.  The latter, somewhat mortified at such a
+mistake, replied, "I lay that, with all other wrongs done to me, at the
+foot of the Cross."
+
+Ever since the Duchess espoused the party of her son against her brother
+and his nephews, the Duke has displayed a great fondness for his mother,
+about whom he never disturbed himself before.
+
+Mdlle. de Polignac made the Duke believe she was very fond of him.  He
+entertained great suspicions of her, and had her watched, and learnt that
+she was carrying on a secret intrigue with the Chevalier of Bavaria.  He
+reproached her with it, and she denied the accusation.  The Duke
+cautioned her not to think that she could deceive him.  She protested
+that he had been imposed upon.  As soon, however, as she had quitted him
+she went to the Chevalier's house; and the Duke, who had her dogged, knew
+whither she had gone.  The next day he appointed her to visit him; she
+went directly to the bedroom, believing that his suspicions were entirely
+lulled.  The Duke then opened the door wide, so that she might be seen
+from the cabinet, which was full of men; and calling the Chevalier of
+Bavaria, he said to him: "Here, Sir Chevalier, come and see your
+mistress, who will now have no occasion to go so far to find you."
+
+Although the Duke and the Prince de Conti are brothers-in-law in two
+ways, they cannot bear each other.
+
+The Duke is at this moment (1718) very strongly attached to Madame de
+Prie.  She has already received a good beating on his account from her
+husband, but this does not deter her.  She is said to have a good deal of
+sense; she entirely governs the Duke, who is solely occupied with making
+her unfaithful to M. de Prie.  She has consoled the Duke for his
+dismissal from Madame de Nesle; but it is said that she is unfaithful to
+him, and that she has two other lovers.  One is the Prince of Carignan,
+and the other Lior, the King's first maitre d'hotel, which latter is the
+handsomest of the three.
+
+It is impossible that the Duke can now inspire any woman with affection
+for him.  He is tall, thin as a lath; his legs are like those of a crane;
+his body is bent and short, and he has no calves to his legs; his eyes
+are so red that it is impossible to distinguish the bad eye from the good
+one; his cheeks are hollow; his chin so long that one would not suppose
+it belonged to the face; his lips uncommonly large: in short, I hardly
+ever saw a man before so ugly.  It is said that the inconstancy of his
+mistress, Madame de Prie, afflicts him profoundly.
+
+     The Marchioness was extremely beautiful, and her whole person was
+     very captivating.  Possessing as many mental as personal charms, she
+     concealed beneath an apparent simplicity the most dangerous
+     treachery.  Without the least conception of virtue, which, according
+     to her ideas, was a word void of sense, she affected innocence in
+     vice, was violent under an appearance of meekness, and libertine by
+     constitution.  She deceived her lover with perfect impunity, who
+     would believe what she said even against the evidence of his own
+     eyes.  I could mention several instances of this, if they were not
+     too indecent.  It is, however, sufficient to say that she had one
+     day to persuade him that he was the cause of a libertinism of which
+     he was really the victim.--Memoires de Duclos, tome ii.  It is well
+     known that, after the Duke assumed the Regency, upon the death of
+     the Regent, the Marchioness du Prie governed in his name; and that
+     she was exiled, and died two years afterwards of ennui and vexation.
+
+The Princess of Modena takes nothing by the death of the Duchess; the
+Duke has said that he never would have married that Princess, and that
+now he will not marry at all.
+
+In order that Mademoiselle de la Roche-sur-Yon may enjoy the millions
+that belong to her of right, in consequence of her sister's death, it is
+necessary first for her to receive them; but the Duke, it is reported, as
+the good Duc de Crequi used to say, "Holds back as tight as the trigger
+of the Cognac cross-bow;" and in fact he has not only refused to give up
+to his sister what she should take under her sister's will, but he
+disputes her right to the bank-notes which she had given to the Duchess
+to take care of for her, when she herself was dangerously ill.
+
+The Duke and his mother are said to have gained each two hundred and
+fifty millions.
+
+The Duke, who is looked upon as Law's very good friend, has been ill-
+treated by the people, who have passed all kinds of insults upon him,
+calling him even a dog.  His brother, the Marquis de Clermont, too, has
+fared little better; for they cried after him at the Port Royal, "Go
+along, dog!  you are not much better than your brother."  His tutor
+alighted for the purpose of haranguing the mob; but they picked up some
+stones, and he soon found it expedient to get into the carriage again,
+and make off with all speed.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXVIII.
+
+FRANCOIS-LOUIS, PRINCE DE CONTI.
+
+The Prince de Conti, who died lately (in 1709), had good sense, courage,
+and so many agreeable qualities as to make himself generally beloved.
+But he had also some bad points in his character, for he was false, and
+loved no person but himself.
+
+It is said that he caused his own death by taking stimulating medicines,
+which destroyed a constitution naturally feeble.  There had been some
+talk of making him King of Poland.--[In 1696, after the death of John
+Sobiesky.]
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXIX.
+
+THE GREAT PRINCESSE DE CONTI, DAUGHTER OF LA VALLIERE.
+
+This is of all the King's illegitimate daughters the one he most loves.
+She is by far the most polite and well-bred, but she is now totally
+absorbed by devotion.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXX.
+
+THE PRINCESS PALATINE, MARIE-THERESE DE BOURBON, WIFE OF FRANCOIS-LOUIS,
+PRINCE DE CONTI.
+
+This Princess is the only one of the House of Conde who is good for
+anything.  I think she must have some German blood in her veins.  She is
+little, and somewhat on one side, but she is not hunchbacked.  She has
+fine eyes, like her father; with this exception, she has no pretensions
+to beauty, but she is virtuous and pious.  What she has suffered on
+account of her husband has excited general compassion; he was as jealous
+as a fiend, though without the slightest cause.  She never knew where she
+was to pass the night.  When she had made arrangements to sleep at
+Versailles, he would take her from Paris to Chantilly, where she supposed
+she was going to stay; then she was obliged to set out for Versailles.
+He tormented her incessantly in all possible ways, and he looked,
+moreover, like a little ape.  The late Queen had two paroquets, one of
+which was the very picture of the Prince, while the other was as much
+like the Marechal de Luxembourg as one drop of water is like another.
+
+Notwithstanding all that the Princess has suffered, she daily regrets the
+loss of her husband.  I am often quite angry to see her bewailing her
+widowhood instead of enjoying the repose which it affords her; she wishes
+that her husband were alive again, even although he should torment her
+again as much as before.
+
+She was desirous that Mademoiselle de Conde should marry the late
+Margrave; this lady was incomparably more handsome than her sister; but I
+think he had a greater inclination for Mademoiselle de Vendome, because
+she seemed to be more modest and quiet.
+
+The Princess, who has been born and educated here, had not the same
+dislike that I felt to her son's marrying an illegitimate child, and yet
+she has repented it no less.  She is exceedingly unhappy with respect to
+her children.  The Princesse de Conti, mother of the Prince de Conti, who
+is rather virtuous than otherwise, is nevertheless a little simpleton,
+and is something like the Comtesse Pimbeche Orbeche, for she is always
+wishing to be engaged in lawsuits against her mother; who, on her part,
+has used all possible means, but without success, to be reconciled to
+her.  On Thursday last (10th March, 1720) she lost her cause, and I am
+very glad of it, for it was an unjust suit.  The younger Princess wished
+the affair to be referred to arbitration; but the son would have the
+business carried through, and made his counsel accuse his mother of
+falsehood.  The advocate of the Princess replied as follows:
+
+"The sincerity of the Princesse de Conti and of the Princess her daughter
+are so well known that all the world can judge of them."  This has amused
+the whole palace.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXI.
+
+LOUISE-ELIZABETH, PRINCESSE DE CONTI, CONSORT OF LOUIE-ARMAND DE CONTI.
+
+She is a person full of charms, and a striking proof that grace is
+preferable to beauty.  When she chooses to make herself agreeable, it is
+impossible to resist her.  Her manners are most fascinating; she is full
+of gentleness, never displaying the least ill-humour, and always saying
+something kind and obliging.  It is greatly to be regretted that she is
+not in the society of more virtuous persons, for she is herself naturally
+very good; but she is spoiled by bad company.  She has an ugly fool for
+her husband, who has been badly brought up; and the examples which are
+constantly before her eyes are so pernicious that they have corrupted her
+and made her careless of her reputation.  Her amiable, unaffected manners
+are highly delightful to foreigners.  Among others, some Bavarians have
+fallen in love with her, as well as the Prince Ragotzky; but she
+disgusted him with her coquetry.
+
+She does not love her husband, and cannot do so, no less on account of
+his ugly person than for his bad temper.  It is not only his face that is
+hideous, but his whole person is frightful and deformed.  She terrified
+him by placing some muskets and swords near her bed, and assuring him
+that if he came there again with his pistols charged, she would take the
+gun and fire upon him, and if she missed, she would fall upon him with
+the sword.  Since this time he has left off carrying his pistols.
+
+Her husband teased her, and made her weep so much that she has lost her
+child, and her health is again injured.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXII.
+
+LOUIE-ARMAND, PRINCE DE CONTI.
+
+It cannot be denied that his whole appearance is extremely repulsive.  He
+is a horribly ill-made little man, and is always absent-minded, which
+gives him a distracted air, as if he were really crazy.  When it could be
+the least expected, too, he will fall over his own walking-stick.  The
+folks in the palace were so much accustomed to this in the late King's
+time, that they used always to say, when they heard anything fall,
+
+"It's nothing; only the Prince de Conti tumbling down."
+
+He has sense, but he has been brought up like a scullion boy; he has
+strange whimsies, of which he is quite aware himself, but which he cannot
+control.  His wife is a charming woman, and is much to be pitied for
+being in fear of her life from this madman, who often threatens her with
+loaded pistols.  Fortunately, she has plenty of courage and does not fear
+him.  Notwithstanding this, he is very fond of her; and this is the more
+surprising, because his love for the sex is not very strong; and although
+he visits improper places occasionally, it is only for the purpose of
+tormenting the poor wretches who are to be found there.  Before he was
+married he felt no, affection for any woman but his mother, who also
+loved him very tenderly.  She is now vexed at having no longer the same
+ascendency over her son, and is jealous of her daughter-in-law because
+the Prince loves her alone.  This occasions frequent disturbances in the
+house.  The mother has had a house: built at some distance from her son.
+When they are good friends, she dismisses the workmen; but when they
+quarrel, she doubles the number and hastens the work, so that one may
+always tell, upon a mere inspection of the building, upon what terms the
+Princesse de Conti and her son are living.  The mother wished to have her
+grandson to educate; her daughter-in-law opposed it because she preferred
+taking care of him herself; and then ensued a dog-and-cat quarrel.  The
+wife, who is cunning enough, governs her husband entirely, and has gained
+over his favourites to be her creatures.  She is the idol of the-whole
+house.
+
+In order to prevent the Prince de Conti from going to Hungary, the
+government of Poitou has been bought for him, and a place in the Council
+of the Regency allotted to him; by this means they have retained the wild
+beast.
+
+Our young Princess says her husband has a rheum in his eyes.
+
+To amuse her, he reads aloud Ovid in the original; and although she does
+not understand one word of Latin, she is obliged to listen and to remain
+silent, even though any one should come in; for if anybody interrupts him
+he is angry, and scolds all who are in the apartment.
+
+At the last masked ball (4th March, 1718) some one who had dressed
+himself like the Prince de Conti, and wore a hump on his back, went and
+sat beside him.  "Who are you, mask?"  asked the Prince.
+
+The other replied, "I am the Prince de Conti."
+
+Without the least ill-temper, the Prince took off his mask, and,
+laughing, said, "See how a man may be deceived.  I have been fancying for
+the last twenty years that I was the Prince de Conti."  To keep one's
+temper on such an occasion is really an uncommon thing.
+
+The Prince thought himself quite cured, but he has had a relapse in
+Spain, and, although he is a general of cavalry, he cannot mount his
+horse.  I said on Tuesday last (17th July, 1719) to the young Princesse
+de Conti that I heard her husband was not entirely recovered.  She
+laughed and whispered to me,--
+
+"Oh, yes, he is quite well; but he pretends not to be so that he may
+avoid going to the siege, where he may be killed, for he is as cowardly
+as an ape."  I think if I had as little inclination for war as he has, I
+would not engage in the campaign at all; there is nothing to oblige him
+to do so-it is to reap glory, not to encounter shame, that men go into
+the army.  His best friends, Lanoue and Cleremont, for example, have
+remonstrated with him on this subject, and he has quarrelled with them in
+consequence.  It is an unfortunate thing for a man not to know himself.
+
+The Prince is terribly afflicted with a dysentery.  They wanted to carry
+him to Bayonne, but he has so violent a fever that he would not be able
+to support the journey.  He is therefore obliged to stay with the army
+(25th August, 1719).
+
+He has been back nine or ten days, but I have heard nothing of him yet;
+he is constantly engaged in the Rue de Quincampoix, trying to gain money
+among the stock-jobbers (19th September, 1719).
+
+At length he has been to see me.  Perhaps there was this morning less
+stock-jobbing than usual in the Rue de Quincampoix, for there he has been
+ever since his return.  His cousin, the Duke, is engaged in the same
+pursuit.  The Prince de Conti has not brought back much honour from the
+campaign; he is too much addicted to debauchery of all kinds.
+
+Although he can be polite when he chooses, no one can behave more
+brutally than he does occasionally, and he becomes more and more mad
+daily.
+
+At one of the last opera balls he seized a poor little girl just come
+from the country, took her from her mother's side, and, placing her
+between his own legs, amused himself by slapping and filliping her until
+he made her nose and mouth bleed.  The young girl, who had done nothing
+to offend him, and who did not even know him, wept bitterly; but he only
+laughed, and said, "Cannot I give nice fillips?"  All who were witnesses
+of this brutal scene pitied her; but no one dared come to the poor
+child's assistance, for they were afraid of having anything to do with
+this violent madman.  He makes the most frightful grimaces, and I, who am
+extremely frightened at crazy people, tremble whenever I happen to be
+alone with him.
+
+His wicked pranks remind me of my own.  When I was a child I used to take
+touchwood, and, placing pieces of it over my eyes and in my mouth, I hid
+myself upon the staircase for the purpose of terrifying the people; but I
+was then much afraid of ghosts, so that I was always the first to be
+frightened.  It is in the same way that the Prince de Conti does; he
+wishes to make himself feared, and he is the most timid person in the
+world.
+
+The Duke and his mother, as well as Lasse, the friend of the latter, have
+gained several millions.  The Prince has gained less, and yet his
+winnings, they say, amount to millions.
+
+     [He had four wagons loaded with silver carried from Law's bank, in
+     exchange for his paper money; and this it was that accelerated Law's
+     disgrace, and created a kind of popularity for the Prince de Conti.]
+
+The two cousins do not stir from the Rue de Quincampoix, which has given
+rise to the following epigram:
+
+                    Prince dites nous vos exploits
+                    Que faites vous pour votre gloire?
+                    Taisez-vous sots!--Lisez l'histoire
+                    De la rue de Quincampoix.
+
+But the person who had gained most by this affair is Dantin, who is
+horridly avaricious.
+
+The Princesse de Conti told me that she had had her son examined in his
+infancy by Clement, for the purpose of ascertaining whether he was in
+every respect well made; and that he, having found the child perfectly
+well made, went to the Prince de Conti, and said to him: "Monseigneur, I
+have examined the shape of the young Prince who is just born: he is at
+all points well formed, let him sleep without a bolster that he may
+remain so; and only imagine what grief it would occasion to the Princesse
+de Conti, who has brought him into the world straight, if you should make
+him crooked."
+
+The Prince de Conti wished to speak of something else, but Clement still
+returned to the same topic, saying, "Remember, Monseigneur, he is
+straight as a wand, and do not make him crooked and hunchbacked."
+
+The Prince de Conti, not being able to endure this, ran away.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXIII.
+
+THE ABBE DUBOIS.
+
+My son had a sub-governor, and he it was who appointed the Abbe, a very
+learned person, to be his tutor.  The sub-governor's intention was to
+have dismissed the Abbe as soon as he should have taught my son
+sufficiently, and, excepting during the time occupied by the lessons,
+he never suffered him to remain with his pupil.  But this good gentleman
+could not accomplish his design; for being seized with a violent colic,
+he died, unhappily for me, in a few hours.  The Abbe then proposed
+himself to supply his place.  There was no other preceptor near at hand,
+so the Abbe remained with my son, and assumed so adroitly the language of
+an honest man that I took him for one until my son's marriage; then it
+was that I discovered all his knavery.  I had a strong regard for him,
+because I thought he was tenderly attached to my son, and only desired to
+promote his advantage; but when I found that he was a treacherous person,
+who thought only of his own interest, and that, instead of carefully
+trying to preserve my son's honour, he plunged him into ruin by
+permitting him to give himself up to debauchery without seeming to
+perceive it, then my esteem for this artful priest was changed into
+disgust.  I know, from my son himself, that the Abbe, having one day met
+him in the street, just as he was about to enter a house of ill-fame, did
+nothing but laugh at him, instead of taking him by the arm and leading
+him home again.  By this culpable indulgence, and by the part he took in
+my son's marriage, he has proved that there is neither faith nor honesty
+in him.  I know that I do him no wrong in suspecting him to have
+contributed to my son's marriage; what I say I have from my son himself,
+and from people who were living with that old Maintenon at the time, when
+the Abbe used to go nightly for the purpose of arranging that intrigue
+with her, the object of which was to sell and betray his master.  He
+deceives himself if he fancies that I do not know all this.  At first he
+had declared in my favour, but after the old woman had sent for him two
+or three times he suddenly changed his conduct.  It was not, however, on
+this that the King afterwards took a dislike to him, but for a nefarious
+scheme in which he was engaged with the Pere La Chaise.  Monsieur was as
+much vexed as I.  The King and the old woman threatened to dismiss all
+his favourites, which made him consent to everything; he repented
+afterwards, but it was then too late.
+
+I would to God that the Abbe Dubois had as much religion as he has
+talent! but he believes in nothing--he is treacherous and wicked--his
+falsehood may be seen in his very eyes.  He has the look of a fox; and
+his device is an animal of this sort, creeping out of his hole and
+watching a fowl.  He is unquestionably a good scholar, talks well, and
+has instructed my son well; but I wish he had ceased to visit his pupil
+after his tuition was terminated.  I should not then have to regret this
+unfortunate marriage, to which I can never reconcile myself.  Excepting
+the Abbe Dubois there is no priest in my son's favour.  He has a sort of
+indistinctness in his speech, which makes it sometimes necessary for him
+to repeat his words; and this often annoys me.
+
+If there is anything which detracts from the Abbe's good sense it is his
+extreme pride; it is a weak side upon which he may always be successfully
+attacked.  I wish my son had as little confidence in him as I have; but
+what astonishes me most is that, knowing him as he does, better than I
+do, he will still trust him.  My son is like the rest of his family; he
+cannot get rid of persons to whom he is accustomed, and as the Abbe has
+been his tutor, he has acquired a habit of suffering him to say anything
+he chooses.  By his amusing wit, too, he always contrives to restore
+himself to my son's good graces, even when the latter has been displeased
+with him.
+
+If the Abbe had been choked with his first lie he had been dead long ago.
+Lying is an art in which he excels, and the more eminently where his own
+interest is concerned; if I were to enumerate all the lies I have known
+him to utter I should have a long list to write.  He it was who suggested
+to the King all that was necessary to be said to him respecting my son's
+marriage, and for this purpose he had secret interviews with Madame de
+Maintenon.  He affects to think we are upon good terms, and whatever I
+say to him, however disagreeable, he takes it all with a smile.
+
+My son has most amply recompensed the Abbe Dubois; he has given him the
+place of Secretary of the King's Cabinet, which M. Calieres formerly
+held, and which is worth 22,000 livres; he has also given him a seat in
+the Council of Regency for the Foreign Affairs.
+
+My son assures me that it is not his intention to make the Abbe Dubois a
+Cardinal, and that the Abbe himself does not think about it (17th August,
+1717).
+
+On the 6th of March, this disagreeable priest came to me and said,
+"Monseigneur has just nominated me Archbishop of Cambrai."  I replied,
+"I congratulate you upon it; but has this taken place today?  I heard of
+it a week ago; and, since you were seen to take the oaths on your
+appointment, no one has doubted it."  It is said that the Duc de Mazarin
+said, on the Abbe's first Mass, "The Abbe Dubois is gone to his first
+communion;" meaning that he had never before taken the communion in all
+his life.  I embarrassed my son by remarking to him that he had changed
+his opinion since he told me the Abbe should never become Bishop or
+Archbishop, and that he did not think of being Cardinal.  My son blushed
+and answered, "It is very true; but I had good reason for changing my
+intention."  "Heaven grant it may be so," I said, "for it must be by
+God's mercy, and not from the exercise of your own reason."
+
+The Archbishop of Cambrai is the declared enemy of our Abbe Saint-Albin.
+The word arch is applicable to all his qualities; he is an arch-cheat, an
+arch-hypocrite, an arch-flatterer, and, above all, an arch-knave.
+
+It is reported that a servant of the Archbishop of Rheims said to a
+servant of the Archbishop of Cambrai, "Although my master is not a
+Cardinal, he is still a greater lord than yours, for he consecrates the
+Kings."
+
+"Yes," replied the Abbe Dubois' servant, "but my master consecrates the
+real God, who is still greater than all Kings."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXIV.
+
+MR. LAW.
+
+Mr. Law is a very honest and a very sensible man; he is extremely polite
+to everybody, and very well bred.  He does not speak French ill--at
+least, he speaks it much better than Englishmen in general.  It is said
+that when his brother arrived in Paris, Mr. Law made him a present of
+three millions (of livres); he has good talents, and has put the affairs
+of the State in such good order that all the King's debts have been paid.
+He is admirably skilled in all that relates to finance.  The late King
+would have been glad to employ him, but, as Mr. Law was not a Catholic,
+he said he ought not to confide in him (19th Sept., 1719).
+
+He (Law) says that, of all the persons to whom he has explained his
+system, there have been only two who have properly comprehended it, and
+these are the King of Sicily and my son; he was quite astonished at their
+having so readily understood it.  He is so much run after, that he has no
+repose by day or by night.  A Duchess even kissed his hand publicly.
+
+If a Duchess can do this, what will not other ladies do?
+
+Another lady, who pursued him everywhere, heard that he was at Madame de
+Simiane's, and immediately begged the latter to permit her to dine with
+her.  Madame de Simiane went to her and said she must be excused for that
+day, as Mr. Law was to dine with her.  Madame de Bouchu replied that it
+was for this reason expressly she wished to be invited.  Madame de
+Simiane only repeated that she did not choose to have Mr. Law troubled,
+and so quitted her.  Having, however, ascertained the dinner-hour, Madame
+de Bouchu passed before the house in her coach, and made her coachman and
+footman call out "Fire!"  Immediately all the company quitted the table
+to know where the fire was, and among them Mr. Law appeared.  As soon as
+Madame de Bouchu saw him, she jumped out of her carriage to speak to him;
+but he, guessing the trick, instantly disappeared.
+
+Another lady ordered her carriage to be driven opposite to Mr. Law's
+hotel and then to be overturned.  Addressing herself to the coachman, she
+said, "Overturn here, you blockhead--overturn!"  Mr. Law ran out to her
+assistance, when she confessed to him that she had done this for the sole
+purpose of having an interview with him.
+
+A servant had gained so much in the Rue de Quincampoix, that he was
+enabled to set up his equipage.  When his coach was brought home, he
+forgot who he was, and mounted behind.  His servant cried out, "Ah, sir!
+what are you doing?  this is your own carriage."
+
+"That is true," said the quondam servant; "I had forgotten."
+
+Mr. Law's coachman having also made a very considerable sum, demanded
+permission to retire from his service.  His master gave it him, on
+condition of his procuring him another good coachman.  On the next day,
+the wealthy coachman made his appearance with two persons, both of whom
+were, he said, good coachmen; and that Mr. Law had only to choose which
+of them he liked, while he, the coachman, would take the other.
+
+People of all nations in Europe are daily coming to Paris; and it has
+been remarked that the number of souls in the capital has been increased
+by 250,000 more than usual.  It has been necessary to make granaries into
+bedrooms; there is such a profusion of carriages that the streets are
+choked up with them, and many persons run great danger.
+
+Some ladies of quality seeing a well-dressed woman covered with diamonds,
+and whom nobody knew, alight from a very handsome carriage, were curious
+to know who it was, and sent to enquire of the lackey.  He replied, with
+a sneer, "It is a lady who has recently tumbled from a garret into this
+carriage."  This lady was probably of the same sort as Madame Bejon's
+cook.  That lady, being at the opera, some days back, saw a person in
+a costly dress, and decorated with a great quantity of jewels, but very
+ugly, enter the theatre.  The daughter said, "Mamma, unless I am very
+much deceived, that lady so dressed out is Mary, our cook-maid."
+
+"Hold your tongue, my dear," said the mother, "and don't talk such
+nonsense."
+
+Some of the young people, who were in the amphitheatre, began to cry out,
+"Mary, the cook-maid!  Mary, the cook-maid!"
+
+The lady in the fine dress rose and said, "Yes, madam, I am Mary, the
+cook-maid; I have gained some money in the Rue de Quincampoix; I like to
+be well-dressed; I have bought some fine gowns, and I have paid for them.
+Can you say so much for your own?"
+
+Mr. Law is not the only person who has bought magnificent jewels and
+extensive estates.  The Duke, too, has become immensely rich, as well as
+all those who have held stock.  Mr. Law has made his abjuration at Melun;
+he has embraced the Catholic religion, with his children, and his wife is
+in utter despair at it.
+
+     [The abjuration did not take place at Paris, because the jokes of
+     the Parisians were to be dreaded.  The Abbe Tencin was so fortunate
+     as to have the office of converting Mr. Law.  "He gained by this
+     pious labour," says Duclos, "a large sum in bank-notes and stock."]
+
+It is amusing enough to see how the people run after him in crowds only
+to be looked at by him or his son.  He has had a terrible quarrel with
+the Prince de Conti, who wished Mr. Law to do at the bank a thing which
+my son had forbidden.  The Prince de Conti said to Mr. Law, "Do you know
+who I am?"
+
+"Yes, Prince," replied Law, "or I should not treat you as I have done."
+
+"Then," said the Prince, "you ought to obey me."
+
+"I will obey you," replied Law, "when you shall be Regent;" and he
+withdrew.
+
+The Princesse de Leon would be taken to the bank, and made her footmen
+cry out, "Room for the Princesse de Lion."  At the same time she, who is
+very little, slipped into the place where the bankers and their clerks
+were sitting.
+
+"I want some stock," said she.
+
+The clerk replied, "You must have patience, madame, the certificates are
+delivered in rotation, and you must wait until those who applied before
+you are served."
+
+At the same time he opened the drawer where the stock-papers were kept;
+the Princess snatched at them; the clerk tried to prevent her, and a
+fight ensued.  The clerk was now alarmed at having beaten a lady of
+quality, and ran out to ask the servants who the Princesse de Leon was.
+One of the footmen-said, "She is a lady of high rank, young and
+beautiful."
+
+"Well, then," said the clerk, "it cannot be she."
+
+Another footman said, "The Princesse de Leon is a little woman with a
+hunch before and another behind, and with arms so long that they nearly
+reach the ground."
+
+"Then," replied the clerk, "that is she."
+
+Mr. Law is not avaricious; he gives away large soma in charity, and
+assists many indigent people.
+
+When my son wanted some Duchess to accompany my daughter to Geneva, some
+one, who heard him speaking about it, said, "if, Monsieur, you would like
+to select from a number of Duchesses, send to Mr. Law's; you will find
+them all there."
+
+Lord Stair cannot conceal his hatred of Mr. Law, and yet he has gained at
+least three millions by him.
+
+Mr. Law's son was to have danced in the King's ballet, but he has been
+attacked by the small-pox (9th Feb., 1720).
+
+                    .........................
+
+My son has been obliged to displace Mr. Law.  This person, who was
+formerly worshipped like a god, is now not sure of his life; it is
+astonishing how greatly terrified he is.  He is no longer Comptroller-
+General, but continues to hold the place of Director-General of the Bank
+and of the East India Company; certain members of the Parliamentary
+Council have, however, been joined with him to watch over the business
+of the Bank.
+
+     [In the Council of the Regency, the Duc d'Orleans was obliged to:
+     admit that Law issued papers to the amount of 1,200 millions above
+     the legal sum; and that he (the Regent) had protected him from all
+     responsibility by decrees of the Council which had been ante-dated.
+     The total, amount of bank-notes in circulation was 2,700,000,000
+     livres.]
+
+His friend, the Duc d'Antin wanted to get the place of Director.
+
+The Duke at first spoke strongly against Law; but it is said that a sum
+of four millions, three of which went to him and one to Madame de Prie,
+has engaged him to undertake Law's defence.  My son is not timid,
+although he is threatened on all sides, and is very much amused with
+Law's terrors (25th June, 1720).
+
+At length the latter is somewhat recovered, and continues to be great
+friends with the Duke: this is very pleasant to the Duc de Conti, and
+makes him behave so strangely that his infirmity is observed by the
+people.  It is fortunate for us that Law is so great a coward, otherwise
+he would be very troublesome to my son, who, learning that he was joining
+in a cabal against him, told his wife of it.  "Well, Monsieur," said she,
+"what would you have him do?  He likes to be talked of, and he has no
+other way of accomplishing it.  What would people have to say of him if
+he did not?"
+
+On the 17th of June, while I was at the Carmelites, Madame de Chateau-
+Thiers came to me in my chamber, and said, "M. de Simiane is just come in
+from the Palais Royal, and he thinks it fit you should know that upon
+your return you will find the court of the Palais Royal filled with
+people, who, though they do not say anything, will not disperse."
+
+At six o'clock this morning they brought in three dead bodies, which M.
+Le Blanc ordered to be carried away immediately.
+
+Mr. Law has taken refuge in the Palais Royal.  The populace have done him
+no harm, but his coachman has been pelted on his return, and the carriage
+broken to pieces.  It was the coachman's own fault, who said aloud that
+the people were rabble, and ought to be all hanged.  I saw immediately
+that it would not do to display any fear, and I set off.  There was such
+a stoppage of the carriages that I was obliged to wait half an hour
+before I could get into the Palais Royal.  During this time I heard the
+people talking; they said nothing against my son, and bestowed
+benedictions upon me, but they all wished Law to be hanged.  When I
+reached the Palais Royal all was calm again; my son came to me
+immediately, and, notwithstanding the alarm I had felt, he made me laugh;
+as for himself, he had not the least fear.  He told me that the first
+president had made a good impromptu upon this affair.  Having occasion to
+go down into the court, he heard what the people had done with Law's
+carriage, and, upon returning to the Salon, he said with great gravity:
+
+                   "Messieurs, bonne nouvelle,
+                    Le carrosse de Law est en canelle."
+
+Is not this a becoming jest for such serious personages?  M. Le Blanc
+went into the midst of the people with great firmness, and made a speech
+to them; he afterwards had Law escorted home and all became tranquil.
+
+It is almost impossible that Law should escape, for the same soldiers who
+protect him from the fury of the people will not permit him to go out of
+their hands.  He is by no means at his ease, and yet I think the people
+do not now intend to pursue him any farther, for they have begun to make
+all kinds of songs about him.
+
+Law is said to be in such an agony of fear that he has not been able to
+venture to my son's at Saint Cloud, although he sent a carriage to fetch
+him.  He is a dead man; he is as pale as a sheet, and it is said can
+never get over his last panic.  The people's hatred of the Duke arises
+from his being the friend of Law, whose children he carried to Saint
+Maur, where they are to remain.
+
+M. Boursel, passing through the Rue Saint Antoine in his way from the
+Jesuits' College, had his carriage stopped by a hackney coachman, who
+would neither come on nor go back.  M. Boursel's footman, enraged at his
+obstinacy, struck the coachman, and, M. Boursel getting out of his coach
+to restrain his servant's rage, the coachman resolved to be avenged of
+both master and man, and so began to cry out, "Here is Law going to kill
+me; fall upon him."
+
+The people immediately ran with staves and stones, and attacked Boursel,
+who took refuge in the church of the Jesuits.  He was pursued even to the
+altar, where he found a little door opened which led into the convent.
+He rushed through and shut it after him, by which means he saved his
+life.
+
+M. de Chiverni, the tutor of the Duc de Chartres, was going into the
+Palais Royal in a chair, when a child about eight years old cried out,
+"There goes Law!" and the people immediately assembled.  M. Chiverni, who
+is a little, meagre-faced, ugly old man, said pleasantly enough, "I knew
+very well I had nothing to fear when I should show them my face and
+figure."
+
+As soon as they saw him they suffered him to get quietly into his chair
+and to enter the gates of the palace.
+
+On the 10th of December (1720), Law withdrew; he is now at one of his
+estates about six miles from Paris.  The Duke, who wished to visit him,
+thought proper to take Mdlle. de Prie's post-chaise, and put his footman
+into a grey livery, otherwise the people would have known and have
+maltreated him.
+
+Law is gone to Brussels; Madame de Prie lent him her chaise.  When he
+returned it, he wrote thanking her, and at the same time sent her a ring
+worth 100,000 livres.  The Duke provided him with relays, and made four
+of his own people accompany him.  When he took leave of my son, Law said
+to him, "Monsieur, I have committed several great faults, but they are
+merely such as are incident to humanity; you will find neither malice nor
+dishonesty in my conduct."  His wife would not go away until she had paid
+all their debts; he owed to his rotisseur alone 10,000 livres.
+
+     [Mr. Law retired to Venice, and there ended his days.  Some memoirs
+     state that he was not married to the Englishwoman who passed for his
+     wife.]
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Bad company spoils good manners
+Duc de Grammont, then Ambassador, played the Confessor
+Frequent and excessive bathing have undermined her health
+It is an unfortunate thing for a man not to know himself
+Like will to like
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Louis XIV. and Regency,
+v3, by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+
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