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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of the Louis XIV. and The
+Regency, Complete, by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Memoirs of the Louis XIV. and The Regency, Complete
+
+Author: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+
+Release Date: September 29, 2006 [EBook #3859]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF THE LOUIS XIV ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. AND OF THE REGENCY
+
+
+
+Being the Secret Memoirs of the Mother of the Regent,
+MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS.
+
+Complete
+
+
+[Illustration: Bookcover]
+
+
+[Illustration: Titlepage]
+
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The Duchesse d'Orleans, commonly though incorrectly styled the Princess
+of Bavaria, was known to have maintained a very extensive correspondence
+with her relations and friends in different parts of Europe.  Nearly
+eight hundred of her letters, written to the Princess Wilhelmina
+Charlotte of Wales and the Duke Antoine-Ulric of Brunswick, were found
+amongst the papers left by the Duchess Elizabeth of Brunswick at her
+death, in 1767.  These appeared to be so curious that the Court of
+Brunswick ordered De Praun, a Privy Councillor, to make extracts of such
+parts as were most interesting.  A copy of his extracts was sent to
+France, where it remained a long time without being published.
+In 1788, however, an edition appeared, but so mutilated and disfigured,
+either through the prudence of the editor or the scissors of the censor,
+that the more piquant traits of the correspondence had entirely
+disappeared.  The bold, original expressions of the German were modified
+and enfeebled by the timid translator, and all the names of individuals
+and families were suppressed, except when they carried with them no sort
+of responsibility.  A great many passages of the original correspondence
+were omitted, while, to make up for the deficiencies, the editor inserted
+a quantity of pedantic and useless notes.  In spite of all these faults
+and the existence of more faithful editions, this translation was
+reprinted in 1807.  The existence of any other edition being unknown to
+its editor, it differed in nothing from the preceding, except that the
+dates of some of the letters were suppressed, a part of the notes cut
+out, and some passages added from the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, together
+with a life, or rather panegyric, of the Princess, which bore no slight
+resemblance to a village homily.
+
+A copy of the extracts made by M. de Praun fell by some chance into the
+hands of Count de Veltheim, under whose direction they were published at
+Strasburg, in 1789, with no other alterations than the correction of the
+obsolete and vicious orthography of the Princess.
+
+In 1789 a work was published at Dantzick, in Germany, entitled,
+Confessions of the Princess Elizabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, extracted
+from her letters addressed, between the years 1702 and 1722, to her
+former governess, Madame de Harling, and her husband.  The editor asserts
+that this correspondence amounted to nearly four hundred letters.  A
+great part of these are only repetitions of what she had before written
+to the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Brunswick.  Since that period no
+new collections have appeared, although it is sufficiently well known
+that other manuscripts are in existence.
+
+In 1820 M. Schutz published at Leipsig the Life and Character of
+Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, with an Extract of the more
+remarkable parts of her Correspondence.  This is made up of the two
+German editions of 1789 and 1791; but the editor adopted a new
+arrangement, and suppressed such of the dates and facts as he considered
+useless.  His suppressions, however, were not very judicious; without
+dates one is at a loss to know to what epoch the facts related by the
+Princess ought to be referred, and the French proper names are as
+incorrect as in the edition of Strasburg.
+
+Feeling much surprise that in France there should have been no more
+authentic edition of the correspondence of the Regent-mother than the
+miserable translation of 1788 and 1807, we have set about rendering a
+service to the history of French manners by a new and more faithful
+edition.  The present is a translation of the Strasburg edition, arranged
+in a more appropriate order, with the addition of such other passages as
+were contained in the German collections.  The dates have been inserted
+wherever they appeared necessary, and notes have been added wherever the
+text required explanation, or where we wished to compare the assertions
+of the Princess with other testimonies.  The Princess, in the salons of
+the Palais Royal, wrote in a style not very unlike that which might be
+expected in the present day from the tenants of its garrets.  A more
+complete biography than any which has hitherto been drawn up is likewise
+added to the present edition.  In other respects we have faithfully
+followed the original Strasburg edition.  The style of the Duchess will
+be sometimes found a little singular, and her chit-chat indiscreet and
+often audacious; but we cannot refuse our respect to the firmness and
+propriety with which she conducted herself in the midst of a hypocritical
+and corrupt Court.  The reader, however, must form his own judgment on
+the correspondence of this extraordinary woman; our business is, not to
+excite a prejudice in favour of or against her, but merely to present him
+with a faithful copy of her letters.
+
+Some doubts were expressed about the authenticity of the correspondence
+when the mutilated edition of 1788 appeared; but these have long since
+subsided, and its genuineness is no longer questioned.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+BOOK 1.
+Preface
+Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+Louis XIV
+Mademoiselle de Fontange
+Madame de la Valliere
+Madame de Montespan
+Madame de Maintenon
+The Queen-Consort of Louis XIV.
+
+BOOK 2.
+Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans
+Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France
+The Affairs of the Regency
+The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent
+The Dauphine, Princess of Bavaria.
+Adelaide of Savoy, the Second Dauphine
+The First Dauphin
+The Duke of Burgundy, the Second Dauphin
+Petite Madame
+
+BOOK 3.
+Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort
+The Due de Berri
+The Duchesse de Berri
+Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres
+Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the Prince of Modena
+The Illegitimate Children of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans
+The Chevalier de Lorraine
+Philip V., King of Spain
+The Duchess, Consort of the Duc de Bourbon
+The Younger Duchess
+Duc Louis de Bourbon
+Francois-Louis, Prince de Conti
+La Grande Princesse de Conti
+The Princess Palatine, Consort of Prince Francois-Louis de Conti
+The Princesse de Conti, Louise-Elizabeth, Consort of Louis-Armand
+Louis-Armand, Prince de Conti
+The Abbe Dubois
+Mr. Law
+
+BOOK 4.
+Victor Amadeus II.
+The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence
+The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans
+The Duc du Maine
+The Duchesse du Maine
+Louvois
+Louis XV.
+Anecdotes and Historical Particulars of Various Persons
+Explanatory Notes
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SECRET COURT MEMOIRS.
+
+MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D' ORLEANS.
+
+
+[Illustration: Duchesse d'Orleans and Her Children--116]
+
+
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+
+If my father had loved me as well as I loved him he would never have sent
+me into a country so dangerous as this, to which I came through pure
+obedience and against my own inclination.  Here duplicity passes for wit,
+and frankness is looked upon as folly.  I am neither cunning nor
+mysterious.  I am often told I lead too monotonous a life, and am asked
+why I do not take a part in certain affairs.  This is frankly the reason:
+I am old; I stand more in need of repose than of agitation, and I will
+begin nothing that I cannot, easily finish.  I have never learned to
+govern; I am not conversant with politics, nor with state affairs, and I
+am now too far advanced in years to learn things so difficult.  My son, I
+thank God, has sense enough, and can direct these things without
+me; besides, I should excite too much the jealousy of his
+wife--[Marie-Francoise de Bourbon, the legitimate daughter of Louis XIV.
+and of Madame de Montespan, Duchesse d'Orleans.]--and his eldest
+daughter,--[Marie-Louise-Elizabeth d'Orleans, married on the 17th of
+July, 1710, to Charles of France, Duc de Berri.]--whom he loves better
+than me; eternal quarrels would ensue, which would not at all suit my
+views.  I have been tormented enough, but I have always forborne, and
+have endeavoured to set a proper example to my son's wife and his
+daughter; for this kingdom has long had the misfortune to be too much
+governed by women, young and old.  It is high time that men should now
+assume the sway, and this is the reason which has determined me not to
+intermeddle.  In England, perhaps, women may reign without
+inconvenience; in France, men alone should do so, in order that things
+may go on well.  Why should I torment myself by day and by night?  I
+seek only peace and repose; all that were mine are dead. For whom should
+I care?  My time is past.  I must try to live smoothly that I may die
+tranquilly; and in great public affairs it is difficult, indeed, to
+preserve one's conscience spotless.
+
+I was born at Heidelberg (1652), in the seventh month.  I am
+unquestionably very ugly; I have no features; my eyes are small, my nose
+is short and thick, my lips long and flat.  These do not constitute much
+of a physiognomy.  I have great hanging cheeks and a large face; my
+stature is short and stout; my body and my thighs, too, are short, and,
+upon the whole, I am truly a very ugly little object.  If I had not a
+good heart, no one could endure me.  To know whether my eyes give tokens
+of my possessing wit, they must be examined with a microscope, or it will
+be difficult to judge.  Hands more ugly than mine are not perhaps to be
+found on the whole globe.  The King has often told me so, and has made me
+laugh at it heartily; for, not being able to flatter even myself that I
+possessed any one thing which could be called pretty, I resolved to be
+the first to laugh at my own ugliness; this has succeeded as well as I
+could have wished, and I must confess that I have seldom been at a loss
+for something to laugh at.  I am naturally somewhat melancholy; when
+anything happens to afflict me, my left side swells up as if it were
+filled with water.  I am not good at lying in bed; as soon as I awake
+I must get up.  I seldom breakfast, and then only on bread and butter.
+I take neither chocolate, nor coffee, nor tea, not being able to endure
+those foreign drugs.  I am German in all my habits, and like nothing in
+eating or drinking which is not conformable to our old customs.  I eat no
+soup but such as I can take with milk, wine, or beer.  I cannot bear
+broth; whenever I eat anything of which it forms a part, I fall sick
+instantly, my body swells, and I am tormented with colics.  When I take
+broth alone, I am compelled to vomit, even to blood, and nothing can
+restore the tone to my stomach but ham and sausages.
+
+I never had anything like French manners, and I never could assume them,
+because I always considered it an honour to be born a German, and always
+cherished the maxims of my own country, which are seldom in favor here.
+In my youth I loved swords and guns much better than toys.  I wished to
+be a boy, and this desire nearly cost me my life; for, having heard that
+Marie Germain had become a boy by dint of jumping, I took such terrible
+jumps that it is a miracle I did not, on a hundred occasions, break my
+neck.  I was very gay in my youth, for which reason I was called, in
+German, Rauschenplatten-gnecht.  The Dauphins of Bavaria used to say, "My
+poor dear mamma" (so she used always to address me), "where do you pick
+up all the funny things you know?"
+
+I remember the birth of the King of England
+
+     [George Louis, Duke of Brunswick Hanover, born the 28th of May,
+     1660; proclaimed King of England the 12th of August, 1714, by the
+     title of George I.]
+
+as well as if it were only yesterday (1720).  I was curious and
+mischievous.  They had put a doll in a rosemary bush for the purpose of
+making me believe it was the child of which my aunt
+
+     [Sophia of Bavaria, married, in 1658, to the Elector of Hanover, was
+     the paternal aunt of Madame.  She was the granddaughter of James I,
+     and was thus declared the first in succession to the crown of
+     England, by Act of Parliament, 23rd March, 1707.]
+
+had just lain in; at the same moment I heard the cries of the Electress,
+who was then in the pains of childbirth.  This did not agree with the
+story which I had been told of the baby in the rosemary bush; I
+pretended, however, to believe it, but crept to my aunt's chamber as if I
+was playing at hide-and-seek with little Bulau and Haxthausen, and
+concealed myself behind a screen which was placed before the door and
+near the chimney.  When the newly born infant was brought to the fire I
+issued from my hiding-place.  I deserved to be flogged, but in honour of
+the happy event I got quit for a scolding.
+
+The monks of the Convent of Ibourg, to revenge themselves for my having
+unintentionally betrayed them by telling their Abbot that they had been
+fishing in a pond under my window, a thing expressly forbidden by the
+Abbot, once poured out white wine for me instead of water.  I said, "I do
+not know what is the matter with this water; the more of it I put into my
+wine the stronger it becomes."  The monks replied that it was very good
+wine.  When I got up from the table to go into the garden, I should have
+fallen into the pond if I had not been held up; I threw myself upon the
+ground and fell fast asleep immediately.  I was then carried into my
+chamber and put to bed.  I did not awake until nine o'clock in the
+evening, when I remembered all that had passed.  It was on a Holy
+Thursday; I complained to the Abbot of the trick which had been played me
+by the monks, and they were put into prison.  I have often been laughed
+at about this Holy Thursday.
+
+My aunt, our dear Electress (of Hanover), being at the Hague, did not
+visit the Princess Royal;
+
+     [Maria-Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and of
+     Henriette-Marie of France, married, in 1660, to William of Nassau,
+     Prince of Orange; she lost her husband in 1660, and was left
+     pregnant with William-Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and
+     afterwards, by the Revolution of 1688, King of England.  This
+     Princess was then preceptress of her son, the Stadtholder of
+     Holland.]
+
+but the Queen of Bohemia
+
+     [Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England, widow of
+     Frederic V., Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, King of
+     Bohemia until the year 1621, mother of the Duchess of Hanover.]
+
+did, and took me with her.  Before I set out, my aunt said to me,
+"Lizette, now take care not to behave as you do in general, and do not
+wander away so that you cannot be found; follow the Queen step by step,
+so that she may not have to wait for you."
+
+I replied, "Oh, aunt, you shall hear how well I will behave myself."
+
+When we arrived at the Princess Royal's, whom I did not know, I saw her
+son, whom I had often played with; after having gazed for a long time at
+his mother without knowing who she was, I went back to see if I could
+find any one to tell me what was this lady's name.  Seeing only the
+Prince of Orange, I accosted him thus,--
+
+"Pray, tell me who is that woman with so tremendous a nose?"
+
+He laughed and answered, "That is the Princess Royal, my mother."
+
+I was quite stupefied.  That I might compose myself, Mademoiselle Heyde
+took me with the Prince into the Princess's bedchamber, where we played
+at all sorts of games.  I had told them to call me when the Queen should
+be ready to go, and we were rolling upon a Turkey carpet when I was
+summoned; I arose in great haste and ran into the hall; the Queen was
+already in the antechamber.  Without losing a moment, I seized the robe
+of the Princess Royal, and, making her a low curtsey, at the same moment
+I placed myself directly before her, and followed the Queen step by step
+to her carriage; everybody was laughing, but I had no notion of what it
+was at.  When we returned home, the Queen went to find my aunt, and,
+seating herself upon the bed, burst into a loud laugh.
+
+"Lizette," said she, "has made a delightful visit."  And then she told
+all that I had done, which made the Electress laugh even more than the
+Queen.  She called me to her and said,--
+
+"Lizette, you have done right; you have revenged us well for the
+haughtiness of the Princess."
+
+My brother would have had me marry the Margrave of Dourlach, but I had no
+inclination towards him because he was affected, which I never could
+bear.  He knew very well that I was not compelled to refuse him, for he
+was married long before they thought of marrying me to Monsieur.  Still
+he thought fit to send to me a Doctor of Dourlach, for the purpose of
+asking me whether he ought to obey his father and marry the Princess of
+Holstein.  I replied that he could not do better than to obey his father;
+that he had promised me nothing, nor had I pledged myself to him; but
+that, nevertheless, I was obliged to him for the conduct he had thought
+fit to adopt.  This is all that passed between us.
+
+Once they wanted to give me to the Duke of Courlande; it was my aunt
+d'Hervod who wished to make that match.  He was in love with Marianne,
+the daughter of Duke Ulric of Wurtemberg; but his father and mother would
+not allow him to marry her because they had fixed their eyes on me.
+When, however, he came back from France on his way home, I made such an
+impression on him that he would not hear of marriage, and requested
+permission to join the army.
+
+I once received a very sharp scolding in a short journey from Mannheim to
+Heidelberg.  I was in the carriage with my late father, who had with him
+an envoy, from the Emperor, the Count of Konigseck.  At this time I was
+as thin and light as I am now fat and heavy.  The jolting of the carriage
+threw me from my seat, and I fell upon the Count; it was not my fault,
+but I was nevertheless severely rebuked for it, for my father was not a
+man to be trifled with, and it was always necessary to be very
+circumspect in his presence.
+
+When I think of conflagrations I am seized with a shivering fit, for I
+remember how the Palatinate was ravaged for more than three months.
+Whenever I went to sleep I used to think I saw Heidelberg all in flames;
+then I used to wake with a start, and I very narrowly escaped an illness
+in consequence of those outrages.
+
+     [The burning of the Palatinate in 1674--a horrible devastation
+     commanded by Louis, and executed by Turenne.]
+
+Upon my arrival in France I was made to hold a conference with three
+bishops.  They all differed in their creeds, and so, taking the
+quintessence of their opinions, I formed a religion of my own.
+
+It was purely from the affection I bore to her that I refused to take
+precedence of our late Electress; but making always a wide distinction
+between her aid and the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, as well as our Electress
+of Hanover, I did not hesitate to do so with respect to both the latter.
+I also would not take precedence of my mother.  In my childhood I wished
+to bear her train, but she would never permit me.
+
+I have been treated ill ever since my marriage this is in some degree the
+fault of the Princess Palatine,--[Anne de Gonzague, Princess Palatine,
+who took so active a part in the troubles of the Fronde.]--who prepared
+my marriage contract; and it is by the contract that the inheritance is
+governed.  All persons bearing the title of Madame have pensions from the
+King; but as they have been of the same amount for a great many years
+past they are no longer sufficient.
+
+I would willingly have married the Prince of Orange, for by that union I
+might have hoped to remain near my dear Electress (of Hanover).
+
+Upon my arrival at Saint-Germain I felt as if I had fallen from the
+clouds.  The Princess Palatine went to Paris and there fixed me.  I put
+as good a face upon the affair as was possible; I saw very well that I
+did not please my husband much, and indeed that could not be wondered at,
+considering my ugliness; however, I resolved to conduct myself in such a
+manner towards Monsieur that he should become accustomed to me by my
+attentions, and eventually should be enabled to endure me.  Immediately
+upon my arrival, the King came to see me at the Chateau Neuf, where
+Monsieur and I lived; he brought with him the Dauphin, who was then a
+child of about ten years old.  As soon as I had finished my toilette the
+King returned to the old Chateau, where he received me in the Guards'
+hall, and led me to the Queen, whispering at the same time,--"Do not be
+frightened, Madame; she will be more afraid of you than you of her."  The
+King felt so much the embarrassment of my situation that he would not
+quit me; he sat by my side, and whenever it was necessary for me to rise,
+that is to say, whenever a Duke or a Prince entered the apartment, he
+gave me a gentle push in the side without being perceived.
+
+According to the custom of Paris, when a marriage is made, all property
+is in common; but the husband has the entire control over it.  That only
+which has been brought by way of dowry is taken into the account; for
+this reason I never knew how much my husband received with me.  After his
+death, when I expected to gain my cause at Rome and to receive some
+money, the disagreeable old Maintenon asked me in the King's name to
+promise that if I gained the cause I would immediately cede the half of
+the property to my son; and in case of refusal I was menaced with the
+King's displeasure.  I laughed at this, and replied that I did not know
+why they threatened me, for that my son was in the course of nature my
+heir, but that it was at least just that he should stay until my death
+before he took possession of my property, and that I knew the King was
+too equitable to require of me anything but what was consistent with
+justice.  I soon afterwards received the news of the loss of my cause,
+and I was not sorry for it, on account of the circumstance I have just
+related.
+
+When the Abby de Tesse had convinced the Pope that his people had decided
+without having read our papers, and that they had accepted 50,000 crowns
+from the Grand Duke to pronounce against me, he began weeping, and said,
+"Am I not an unhappy man to be obliged to trust such persons?"  This will
+show what sort of a character the Pope was.
+
+When I arrived in France I had only an allowance of a hundred louis d'or
+for my pocket-money; and this money was always consumed in advance.
+After my mother's death, when my husband received money from the
+Palatinate, he increased this allowance to two hundred louis; and once,
+when I was in his good graces, he gave me a thousand louis.  Besides
+this, the King had given me annually one thousand louis up to the year
+before the marriage of my son.  That supported me, but as I would not
+consent to the marriage I was deprived of this sum, and it has never been
+restored to me.  On my first journey to Fontainebleau, the King would
+have given me 2,000 pistoles, but that Monsieur begged him to keep half
+of them for Madame, afterwards the Queen of Spain.--[Marie-Louise
+d'Orleans, born in 1662, married, in 1679, to Charles IL, King of Spain.]
+
+I cared very little about it, and, nevertheless, went to Fontainebleau,
+where I lost all my money at Hoca.  Monsieur told me, for the purpose of
+vexing me, of the good office he had done me with the King; I only
+laughed at it, and told him that, if Madame had chosen to accept the
+thousand pistoles from my hands, I would very freely have given them to
+her.  Monsieur was quite confused at this, and, by way of repairing the
+offence he had committed, he took upon himself the payment of 600 louis
+d'or, which I had lost over and above the thousand pistoles.
+
+I receive now only 456,000 francs, which is exactly consumed within the
+year; if, they could have given me any less they would.  I would not be
+thought to make claims to which I am not entitled, but it should be
+remembered that Monsieur has had the money of my family.
+
+I was very glad when, after the birth of my daughter,
+
+     [Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans, born in 1676, married, in 1697, to
+     the Duc de Lorraine.  Philippe d'Orleans, afterwards Regent of
+     France, was born in 1674; there were no other children by this
+     marriage.]
+
+my husband proposed separate beds; for, to tell the truth, I was never
+very fond of having children.  When he proposed it to me, I answered,
+"Yes, Monsieur, I shall be very well contented with the arrangement,
+provided you do not hate me, and that you will continue to behave with
+some kindness to me."  He promised, and we were very well satisfied with
+each other.  It was, besides, very disagreeable to sleep with Monsieur;
+he could not bear any one to touch him when he was asleep, so that I was
+obliged to lie on the very edge of the bed; whence it sometimes happened
+that I fell out like a sack.  I was therefore enchanted when Monsieur
+proposed to me in friendly terms, and without any anger, to lie in
+separate rooms.
+
+I obeyed the late Monsieur by not troubling him with my embraces, and
+always conducted myself towards him with respect and submission.
+
+He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses, which, indeed,
+oftener excited my pity than my anger.  I must confess that I did
+occasionally express some impatience, but when he begged pardon, it was
+all forgotten.
+
+Madame de Fiennes had a considerable stock of wit, and was a great joker;
+her tongue spared no one but me.  Perceiving that she treated the King
+and Monsieur with as little ceremony as any other persons, I took her by
+the hand one day, and, leading her apart, I said to her, "Madame, you are
+very agreeable; you have a great deal of wit, and the manner in which you
+display it is pleasant to the King and Monsieur, because they are
+accustomed to you; but to me, who am but just arrived, I cannot say that
+I like it.  When any persons entertain themselves at my expense, I cannot
+help being very angry, and it is for this reason that I am going to give
+you a little advice.  If you spare me we shall be mighty good friends;
+but if you treat me as I see you treat others, I shall say nothing to
+you; I shall, nevertheless, complain of you to your husband, and if he
+does not restrain you I shall dismiss him."
+
+He was my Equerry-in-Ordinary.
+
+She promised never to speak of me, and she kept her word.
+
+Monsieur often said to me, "How does it happen that Madame de Fiennes
+never says anything severe of you?"
+
+I answered, "Because she loves me."
+
+I would not tell him what I had done, for he would immediately have
+excited her to attack me.
+
+I was called sometimes 'Soeur Pacifique', because I did all in my power
+to maintain harmony between Monsieur and his cousins, La Grande
+Mademoiselle,
+
+     [Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, Duchesse de Montpensier, and
+     Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans, Duchess of Tuscany, daughters of
+     Gaston, Duc d'Orleans, but by different wives.]
+
+and La Grande Duchesse:
+
+     [Charlotte-Eleonore-Maddleine de la Motte Houdancourt, Duchesse de
+     Ventadour; she was gouvernante to Louis XV.]
+
+they quarrelled very frequently, and always like children, for the
+slightest trifles.
+
+Madame de Ventadour was my Maid of Honour for at least sixteen years.
+She did not quit me until two years after the death of my husband, and
+then it was by a contrivance of old Maintenon; she wished to annoy me
+because she knew I was attached to this lady, who was good and amiable,
+but not very cunning.  Old Maintenon succeeded in depriving me of her by
+means of promises and threats, which were conveyed by Soubise, whose son
+had married Madame de Ventadour's daughter, and who was an artful woman.
+By way of recompense she was made gouvernante.  They tried, also, to
+deprive me of Madame de Chateau Thiers; the old woman employed all her
+power there, too, but Madame de Chateau Thiers remained faithful to me,
+without telling of these attempts, which I learnt from another source.
+
+Madame de Monaco might, perhaps, be fond of forming very close
+attachments of her own sex, and Madame de Maintenon would have put me on
+the same footing; but she did not succeed, and was so much vexed at her
+disappointment that she wept.  Afterwards she wanted to make me in love
+with the Chevalier de Vendome, and this project succeeded no better than
+the other.  She often said she could not think of what disposition I must
+be, since I cared neither for men nor women, and that the German nation
+must be colder than any other.
+
+I like persons of that cool temperament.  The poor Dauphine of Bavaria
+used to send all the young coxcombs of the Court to me, knowing that I
+detested such persons, and would be nearly choked with laughter at seeing
+the discontented air with which I talked to them.
+
+Falsehood and superstition were never to my taste.
+
+The King was in the habit of saying, "Madame cannot endure unequal
+marriages; she always ridicules them."
+
+Although there are some most delightful walks at Versailles, no one went
+out either on foot or in carriages but myself; the King observed this,
+and said, "You are the only one who enjoys the beauties of Versailles."
+
+All my life, even from my earliest years, I thought myself so ugly that I
+did not like to be looked at.  I therefore cared little for dress,
+because jewels and decoration attract attention.  As Monsieur loved to be
+covered with diamonds, it was fortunate that I did not regard them, for,
+otherwise, we should have quarrelled about who was to wear them.  On
+grand occasions Monsieur used formerly to make me dress in red; I did so,
+but much against my inclination, for I always hated whatever was
+inconvenient to me.  He always ordered my dresses, and even used to paint
+my cheeks himself.
+
+I made the Countess of Soissons laugh very heartily once.  She said to
+me, "How is it, Madame, that you never look in a mirror when you pass it,
+as everybody else does?"
+
+I answered, "Because I have too great a regard for myself to be fond of
+seeing myself look as ugly as I really am."
+
+I was always attached to the King; and when he did anything disagreeable
+to me it was generally to please Monsieur, whose favourites and my
+enemies did all they could to embroil me with him, and through his means
+with the King, that I might not be able to denounce them.  It was natural
+enough that the King should be more inclined to please his brother than
+me; but when Monsieur's conscience reproached him, he repented of having
+done me ill offices with the King, and he confessed this to the King; His
+Majesty would then come to us again immediately, notwithstanding the
+malicious contrivances of old Maintenon.
+
+I have always had my own household, although during Monsieur's life I was
+not the mistress of it, because all his favourites derived a share of
+profit from it.  Thus no one could buy any employment in my establishment
+without a bribe to Grancey, to the Chevalier de Lorraine, to Cocard, or
+to M. Spied.  I troubled myself little about these persons; so long as
+they continued to behave with proper respect towards me, I let them
+alone; but when they presumed to ridicule me, or to give me any trouble,
+I set them to rights without hesitation and as they deserved.
+
+Finding that Madame la Marechale de Clerambault was attached to me, they
+removed her, and they placed my daughter under the care of Madame la
+Marechale de Grancey, the creature of my bitterest enemy, the Chevalier
+de Lorraine, whose mistress was the elder sister of this very Grancei.
+It may be imagined how fit an example such a woman was for my daughter;
+but all my prayers, all my remonstrances, were in vain.
+
+Madame de Montespan said to me one day that it was a shame I had no
+ambition, and would not take part in anything.
+
+I replied, "If a person should have intrigued assiduously to become
+Madame, could not her son permit her to enjoy that rank peaceably?  Well,
+then, fancy that I have become so by such means, and leave me to repose."
+
+"You are obstinate," said she.
+
+"No, Madame," I answered; "but I love quiet, and I look upon all your
+ambition to be pure vanity."
+
+I thought she would have burst with spite, so angry was she.  She,
+however, continued,--
+
+"But make the attempt and we will assist you."
+
+"No," I replied, "Madame, when I think that you, who have a hundred times
+more wit than I, have not been able to maintain your consequence in that
+Court which you love so much, what hope can I, a poor foreigner, have of
+succeeding, who know nothing of intrigue, and like it as little?"
+
+She was quite mortified.  "Go along," she said, "you are good for
+nothing."
+
+Old Maintenon and her party had instilled into the Dauphine a deep hatred
+against me; by their direction she often said very impertinent things to
+me.  They hoped that I should resent them to the Dauphine in such manner
+as to afford her reason to complain to the King of me, and thus draw his
+displeasure upon me.  But as I knew the tricks of the old woman and her
+coterie, I resolved not to give them that satisfaction; I only laughed at
+the disobliging manner in which they treated me, and I gave them to
+understand that I thought the ill behaviour of the Dauphine was but a
+trick of her childhood, which she would correct as she grew older.  When
+I spoke to her she made me no reply, and laughed at me with the ladies
+attendant upon her.
+
+"Ladies," she once said to them, "amuse me; I am tired;" and at the same
+time looked at me disdainfully.  I only smiled at her, as if her
+behaviour had no effect upon me.
+
+I said, however, to old Maintenon, in a careless tone, "Madame la
+Dauphine receives me ungraciously; I do not intend to quarrel with her,
+but if she should become too rude I shall ask the King if he approves of
+her behaviour."
+
+The old woman was alarmed, because she knew very well that the King had
+enjoined the Dauphine always to behave politely to me; she begged me
+immediately not to say a word to the King, assuring me that I should soon
+see the Dauphine's behaviour changed; and indeed, from that time, the
+Dauphine altered her conduct, and lived upon much better terms with me.
+If I had complained to the King of the ill treatment I received from the
+Dauphine he would have been very angry; but she would not have hated me
+the less, and she and her old aunt would have formed means to repay me
+double.
+
+Ratzenhausen has the good fortune to be sprung from a very good family;
+the King was always glad to see her, because she made him laugh; she also
+diverted the Dauphine, and Madame de Berri liked her much, and made her
+visit her frequently.  It is not surprising that we should be good
+friends; we have been so since our infancy, for I was not nine years old
+when I first became acquainted with her.  Of all the old women I know,
+there is not one who keeps up her gaiety like Linor.
+
+I often visited Madame de Maintenon, and did all in my power to gain her
+affections, but could never succeed.  The Queen of Sicily asked me one
+day if I did not go out with the King in his carriage, as when she was
+with us.  I replied to her by some verses (from Racine's Phedre).
+
+Madame de Torci told this again to old Maintenon, as if it applied to
+her, which indeed it did, and the King was obliged to look coldly on me
+for some time.
+
+During the last three years of his life I had entirely gained my husband
+to myself, so that he laughed at his own weaknesses, and was no longer
+displeased at being joked with.  I had suffered dreadfully before; but
+from this period he confided in me entirely, and, always took my part.
+By his death I saw the result of the care and pains of thirty years
+vanish.  After Monsieur's decease, the King sent to ask me whither I
+wished to retire, whether to a convent in Paris, or to Maubuisson, or
+elsewhere.  I replied that as I had the honour to be of the royal house
+I could not live but where the King was, and that I intended to go
+directly to Versailles.  The King was pleased at this, and came to see
+me.  He somewhat mortified me by saying that he sent to ask me whither I
+wished to go because he had not imagined that I should choose to stay
+where he was.  I replied that I did not know who could have told His
+Majesty anything so false and injurious, and that I had a much more
+sincere respect and attachment for His Majesty than those who had thus
+falsely accused me.  The King then dismissed all the persons present,
+and we had a long explanation, in the course of which the King told me
+I hated Madame de Maintenon.  I confessed that I did hate her, but only
+through my attachment for him, and because she did me wrong to His
+Majesty; nevertheless, I added that, if it were agreeable to him that I
+should be reconciled to her, I was ready to become so.  The good lady was
+not prepared for this, or she would not have suffered the King to come to
+me; he was, however, so satisfied that he remained favourable to me up to
+his last hour.  He made old Maintenon come, and said to her, "Madame is
+willing to make friends with you."  He then caused us to embrace, and
+there the scene ended.  He required her also to live upon good terms with
+me, which she did in appearance, but secretly played me all sorts of
+tricks.  It was at this time a matter of indifference to me whether I
+went to live at Montargis or not, but I would not have the appearance of
+doing so in consequence of any disgrace, and as if I had committed some
+offence for which I was driven from the Court.  I had reason to fear,
+besides, that at the end of two days' journey I might be left to die of
+hunger, and to avoid this risk I chose rather to be reconciled to the
+King.  As to going into a convent, I never once thought of it, although
+it was that which old Maintenon most desired.  The Castle of Montargis is
+my jointure; at Orleans there is no house.  St. Cloud is not a part of
+the hereditary property, but was bought by Monsieur with his own money.
+Therefore my jointure produces nothing; all that I have to live on comes
+from the King and my son.  At the commencement of my widowhood I was left
+unpaid, and there was an arrear of 300,000 francs due to me, which were
+not paid until after the death of Louis XIV.  What, then, would have
+become of me if I had chosen to retire to Montargis?  My household
+expenses amounted annually to 298,758 livres.
+
+Although Monsieur received considerable wealth with me, I was obliged,
+after his death, to give up to my son the jewels, movables, pictures--in
+short, all that had come from my family; otherwise I should not have had
+enough to live according to my rank and to keep up my establishment,
+which is large.  In my opinion, to do this is much better than to wear
+diamonds.
+
+My income is not more than 456,000 livres; and yet, if it please God, I
+will not leave a farthing of debt.  My son has just made me more rich by
+adding 150,000 livres to my pension (1719).  The cause of almost all the
+evil which prevails here is the passion of women for play.  I have often
+been told to my face, "You are good for nothing; you do not like play."
+
+If by my influence I can serve any unfortunate persons with the different
+branches of the Government, I always do so willingly; in case of success
+I rejoice; in a less fortunate event I console myself by the belief that
+it was not the will of God.
+
+After the King's death I repaired to St. Cyr to pay a visit to Madame de
+Maintenon.  On my entering the room she said to me, "Madame, what do you
+come here for?"
+
+I replied, "I come to mingle my tears with those of her whom the King I
+so much deplore loved most.--that is yourself, Madame."
+
+"Yes, indeed," she said, "he loved me well; but he loved you, also."
+
+I replied, "He did me the honour to say that, he would always distinguish
+me by his friendship, although everything was done to make him hate me."
+
+I wished thus to let her understand that I was, quite aware of her
+conduct, but that, being a Christian, I could pardon my enemies.  If she
+possessed any sensibility she must have felt some pain at thus.
+receiving the forgiveness of one whom she had incessantly persecuted.
+
+The affair of Loube is only a small part of what I have suffered here.
+
+I have now no circle, for ladies a tabouret--[Ladies having the
+privilege of seats upon small stools in the presence.]--seldom come to
+me, not liking to appear but in full dress.  I begged them to be present
+as usual at an audience, which I was to give to the ambassador of Malta,
+but not one of them came.  When the late Monsieur and the King were
+alive, they were more assiduous; they were not then so much accustomed to
+full dresses, and when they did not come in sufficient numbers Monsieur
+threatened to tell the King of it.
+
+But this is enough, as M. Biermann said, after having preached four hours
+together.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION II.--LOUIS XIV.
+
+[Illustration: Louis XIV.]
+
+
+
+When the King pleased he could be one of the most agreeable and amiable
+men in the world; but it was first necessary that he should be intimately
+acquainted with persons.  He used to joke in a very comical and amusing
+manner.
+
+The King, though by no means perfect, possessed some great and many fine
+qualities; and by no means deserved to be defamed and despised by his
+subjects after his death.
+
+While he lived he was flattered, even to idolatry.
+
+He was so much tormented on my account that I could not have wondered if
+he had hated me most cordially.  However, he did not; but, on the
+contrary, he discovered that all which was said against me sprang from
+malice and jealousy.
+
+If he had not been so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of two of the
+worst women in the world Montespan, and that old Maintenon, who was even
+worse than the other, he would have been one of the best kings that ever
+lived; for all the evil that he ever did proceeded from those two women,
+and not from himself.
+
+Although I approved of many things he did, I could not agree with him
+when he maintained that it was vulgar to love one's relations.  Montespan
+had instilled this into him, in order that she might get rid of all his
+legitimate blood connections, and might suffer none about him but her
+bastards; she had even carried matters so far as to seek to confine the
+royal favour to her offspring or her creatures.
+
+Our King loved the chase passionately; particularly hawking and stag
+hunting.
+
+One day all the world came to Marly to offer their compliments of
+condolence; Louis XIV., to get rid of the ceremony, ordered that no
+harangues should be made, but that all the Court should enter without
+distinction and together at one door, and go out by the other.  Among
+them came the Bishop of Gap, in a sort of dancing step, weeping large,
+hot tears, and smiling at the same moment, which gave to his face the
+most grotesque appearance imaginable.  Madame, the Dauphine, and I, were
+the first who could not restrain ourselves; then the Dauphin and the Duc
+de Berri, and at last the King, and everybody who was in the chamber
+burst out into loud laughter.
+
+The King, it must be allowed, gave occasion to great scandal on account
+of his mistresses; but then he very sincerely repented of these offences.
+
+He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant; and was so much
+ashamed of it that it became the fashion for his courtiers to turn
+learned men into ridicule.  Louis XIV. could not endure to hear politics
+talked; he was what they call in this country, 'franc du collier'.
+
+At Marly he did not wish the slightest ceremony to prevail.  Neither
+ambassadors nor other envoys were ever permitted to come here; he never
+gave audience; there was no etiquette, and the people went about
+'pele-mele'.  Out of doors the King made all the men wear their hats; and
+in the drawing-room, everybody, even to the captains, lieutenants, and
+sublieutenants of the foot-guards, were permitted to be seated.  This
+custom so disgusted me with the drawing-room that I never went to it.
+
+The King used to take off his hat to women of all descriptions, even, the
+common peasants.
+
+When he liked people he would tell them everything he had heard; and for
+this reason it was always dangerous to talk to him of that old Maintenon.
+
+Although he loved flattery, he was very often ready to ridicule it.
+Montespan and the old woman had spoiled him and hardened his heart
+against his relations, for he was naturally of a very affectionate
+disposition.
+
+Louis XIV., as well as all the rest of his family, with the exception of
+my son, hated reading.  Neither the King nor Monsieur had been taught
+anything; they scarcely knew how to read and write.  The King was the
+most polite man in his kingdom, but his son and his grandchildren were
+the most rude.
+
+In his youth he had played in the comedy of 'Les Visionnaires', which he
+knew by heart, and in which he acted better than the comedians.  He did
+not know a note of music; but his ear was so correct that he could play
+in a masterly style on the guitar, and execute whatever he chose.
+
+It is not astonishing that the King and Monsieur were brought up in
+ignorance.  The Cardinal (Mazarin) wished to reign absolutely; if the
+princes had been better instructed, he would neither have been trusted
+nor employed, and this it was his object to prevent, hoping that he
+should live much longer than he did.  The Queen-mother found all that the
+Cardinal did perfectly right; and, besides, it suited her purpose that he
+should be indispensable.  It is almost a miracle that the King should
+have become what he afterwards was.
+
+I never saw the King beat but two men, and they both well deserved it.
+The first was a valet, who would not let him enter the garden during one
+of his own fetes.  The other was a pickpocket, whom the King saw emptying
+the pocket of M. de Villars.  Louis XIV., who was on horseback, rode
+towards the thief and struck him with his cane; the rascal cried out,
+"Murder! I shall be killed!" which made us all laugh, and the King
+laughed, also.  He had the thief taken, and made him give up the purse,
+but he did not have him hanged.
+
+The Duchesse de Schomberg was a good deal laughed at because she asked
+the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion here.  The King
+was not well pleased to be talked to; but he never laughed in any one's
+face.
+
+When Louvois proposed to the King for the first time that he should
+appoint Madame Dufresnoy, his mistress, a lady of the Queen's bedchamber,
+His Majesty replied, "Would you, then, have them laugh at both of us?"
+Louvois, however, persisted so earnestly in his request that the King at
+length granted it.
+
+The Court of France was extremely agreeable until the King had the
+misfortune to marry that old Maintenon; she withdrew him from company,
+filled him with ridiculous scruples respecting plays, and told him that
+he ought not to see excommunicated persons.  In consequence of this she
+had a small theatre erected in her own apartments, where plays were acted
+twice a week before the King.  Instead of the dismissed comedians,
+
+     [These dismissed comedians had, as appears by the edition of 1788,
+     renounced their profession, and had been admitted to the communion.
+     After that, Madame de Maintenon no longer saw any sin in them.]
+
+she had the Dauphine, my son, the Duc de Berri, and her own nieces, to
+play; in her opinion this was much better than the real comedians.  The
+King, instead of occupying his usual place, was seated behind me in a
+corner, near Madame de Maintenon.  This arrangement spoilt all, for the
+consequence was that few people saw him, and the Court was almost
+deserted.
+
+Maintenon told me that the King said to her, "Now that I am old my
+children get tired of me and are delighted to find any opportunity of
+fixing me here and going elsewhere for their own amusement; Madame alone
+stays, and I see that she is glad to be with me still."  But she did not
+tell me that she had done all in her power to persuade him of the
+contrary, and that the King spoke thus by way of reproaching her for the
+lies she had invented about me.  I learned that afterwards from others.
+If the King had been my father I could not have loved him more than I
+did; I was always pleased to be with him.
+
+He was fond of the German soldiers, and said that the German horsemen
+displayed more grace in the saddle than those of any other nation.
+
+When the King had a design to punish certain libertines, Fagon--[Guy
+Crescent Fagon, appointed the King's chief physician in 1693, died in
+1718.]--had an amusing conversation with him.  He said,--
+
+"Folks made love long before you came into the world, and they will
+always continue to do so.  You cannot prevent them; and when I hear
+preachers talking in the pulpit and railing against such as yield to the
+influence of passion, I think it is very much as if I should say to my
+phthisical patients, 'You must not cough; it is very wrong to spit.'
+Young folks are full of humours, which must be dispersed by one way or
+another."
+
+The King could not refrain from laughing.
+
+He was only superstitious in religious matters; for example, with respect
+to the miracles of the Virgin, etc.
+
+He had been taught to believe that to make friends with his brother was a
+great political stroke and a fine State device; that it made a part of
+what is called to reign well.
+
+Since the time of this King it has not been the custom for ladies to talk
+of the affairs of the State.
+
+If the King heard that any one had spoken ill of him, he displayed a
+proud resentment towards the offender; otherwise it was impossible to be
+more polite and affable than he was.  His conversation was pleasing in a
+high degree.  He had the skill of giving an agreeable turn to everything.
+His manner of talking was natural, without the least affectation, amiable
+and obliging.  Although he had not so much courage as Monsieur, he was
+still no coward.  His brother said that he had always behaved well in
+occasions of danger; but his chief fault lay in being soon tired of war,
+and wishing to return home.
+
+From the time of his becoming so outrageously devout, all amusements were
+suspended for three weeks (at Easter); and before, they were only
+discontinued a fortnight.
+
+The King had a peculiarity of disposition which led him easily to behave
+harshly to persons who were disagreeable to such as he loved.  It was
+thus that La Valliere was so ill-treated at the instigation of Montespan.
+
+He was much amused with the Comte de Grammont,--[Philibert, Comte de
+Grammont, St. Evremond's hero, and so well known by means of the Memoirs
+of Count Antoine Hamilton, his brother-in-law.]--who was very pleasant.
+He loaded him with proofs of his kindness, and invited him to join in all
+the excursions to Marly, a decided mark of great favour.
+
+The King frequently complained that in his youth he had not been allowed
+to converse with people generally, but it was the fault of his natural
+temper; for Monsieur, who had been brought up with him, used to talk to
+everybody.
+
+Louis XIV. used to say, laughingly, to Monsieur that his eternal
+chattering had put him out of conceit with talking.  "Ah, mon Dieu!"  he
+would say, "must I, to please everybody, say as many silly things as my
+brother?"
+
+In general, they would not have been taken for brothers.  The King was a
+large man, and my husband a small one: the latter had very effeminate
+inclinations; he loved dress, was very careful of his complexion, and
+took great interest in feminine employments and in ceremonies.  The King,
+on the contrary, cared little about dress, loved the chase and shooting,
+was fond of talking of war, and had all manly tastes and habits.
+Monsieur behaved well in battle, but never talked of it; he loved women
+as companions, and was pleased to be with them.  The King loved to see
+them somewhat nearer, and not entirely en honneur, as Monsieur did.
+
+     [Madame is not a good authority on this point.  The memoirs of the
+     time will show either that she cannot have known or must have
+     wilfully concealed the intrigues of various kinds in which her
+     husband was engaged.]
+
+They nevertheless loved one another much, and it was very interesting to
+see them together.  They joked each other sensibly and pleasantly, and
+without ever quarrelling.
+
+I was never more amused than in a journey which I took with the King to
+Flanders.  The Queen and the Dauphine were then alive.  As soon as we
+reached a city, each of us retired to our own quarters for a short time,
+and afterwards we went to the theatre, which was commonly so bad that we
+were ready to die with laughing.  Among others, I remember that at
+Dunkirk we saw a company playing Mithridates.  In speaking to Monimia,
+Mithridates said something which I forget, but which was very absurd.
+He turned round immediately to the Dauphine and said, "I very humbly beg
+pardon, Madame, I assure you it was a slip of the tongue."  The laugh
+which followed this apology may be imagined, but it became still greater
+when the Prince of Conti,
+
+     [Louis-Armaud de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, married in 1780 to
+     Marie-Anne, commonly called Mademoiselle de Blois, one of the
+     legitimated daughters of Louis XIV. by Madame de la Valliere.  She
+     was called at Court La Grande Princesse, on account of her beauty
+     and her stature.]
+
+the husband of La Grande Princesse, who was sitting above the orchestra,
+in a fit of laughing, fell into it.  He tried to save himself by the
+cord, and, in doing so, pulled down the curtain over the lamps, set it on
+fire, and burnt a great hole in it.  The flames were soon extinguished,
+and the actors, as if they were perfectly indifferent, or unconscious of
+the accident, continued to play on, although we could only see them
+through the hole.  When there was no play, we took airings and had
+collations; in short, every day brought something new.  After the King's
+supper we went to see magnificent artificial fireworks given by the
+cities of Flanders.  Everybody was gay; the Court was in perfect
+unanimity, and no one thought of anything but to laugh and seek
+amusement.
+
+If the King had known the Duchess of Hanover, he would not have been
+displeased at her calling him "Monsieur."  As she was a Sovereign
+Princess, he thought it was through pride that she would not call him
+"Sire," and this mortified him excessively, for he was very sensitive on
+such subjects.
+
+One day, before Roquelaure was made a Duke, he was out when it rained
+violently, and he ordered his coachman to drive to the Louvre, where the
+entrance was permitted to none but Ambassadors, Princes and Dukes.  When
+his carriage arrived at the gate they asked who it was.
+
+"A Duke," replied he.
+
+"What Duke?" repeated the sentinel.
+
+"The Duc d'Epernon," said he.
+
+"Which of them?"
+
+"The one who died last."  And upon this they let him enter.  Fearing
+afterwards that he might get into a scrape about it, he went directly to
+the King.  "Sire," said he, "it rains so hard that I came in my coach
+even to the foot of your staircase."
+
+The King was displeased.  "What fool let you enter?" he asked.
+
+"A greater fool than your Majesty can imagine," replied Roquelaure, "for
+he admitted me in the name of the Duc d'Epernon who died last."
+
+This ended the King's anger and made him laugh very heartily.
+
+So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King that he not only
+thought everybody who did not profess the faith of the Jesuits would be
+damned, but he even thought he was in some danger himself by speaking to
+such persons.  If any one was to be ruined with the King, it was only
+necessary to say, "He is a Huguenot or a Jansenist," and his business was
+immediately settled.  My son was about to take into his service a
+gentleman whose mother was a professed Jansenist.  The Jesuits, by way of
+embroiling my son with the King, represented that he was about to engage
+a Jansenist on his establishment.
+
+The King immediately sent for him and said "How is this, nephew?
+I understand you think of employing a Jansenist in your service."
+
+"Oh, no!" replied my son, laughing, "I can assure your Majesty that he is
+not a Jansenist, and I even doubt whether he believes in the existence of
+a God."
+
+"Oh, well, then!" said the King, "if that be the case, and you are sure
+that he is no Jansenist, you may take him."
+
+It is impossible for a man to be more ignorant of religion than the King
+was.  I cannot understand how his mother, the Queen, could have brought
+him up with so little knowledge on this subject.  He believed all that
+the priests said to him, as if it came from God Himself.  That old
+Maintenon and Pere la Chaise had persuaded him that all the sins he had
+committed with Madame de Montespan would be pardoned if he persecuted and
+extirpated the professors of the reformed religion, and that this was the
+only path to heaven.  The poor King believed it fervently, for he had
+never seen a Bible in his life; and immediately after this the
+persecution commenced.  He knew no more of religion than what his
+confessors chose to tell him, and they had made him believe that it was
+not lawful to investigate in matters of religion, but that the reason
+should be prostrated in order to gain heaven.  He was, however, earnest
+enough himself, and it was not his fault that hypocrisy reigned at Court.
+The old Maintenon had forced people to assume it.
+
+It was formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions; the King
+detested this practice, and soon abolished it.
+
+He was very capable of gratitude, but neither his children nor his
+grandchildren were.  He could not bear to be made to wait for anything.
+
+He said that by means of chains of gold he could obtain anything he
+wished from the ministers at Vienna.
+
+He could not forgive the French ladies for affecting English fashions.
+He used often to joke about it, and particularly in the conversation
+which he addressed to me, expecting that I would take it up and tease the
+Princesses.  To amuse him, I sometimes said whatever came into my head,
+without the least ceremony, and often made him laugh heartily.
+
+Reversi was the only game at which the King played, and which he liked.
+
+When he did not like openly to reprove any person, he would address
+himself to me; for he knew that I never restrained myself in
+conversation, and that amused him infinitely.  At table, he was almost
+obliged to talk to me, for the others scarcely said a word.  In the
+cabinet, after supper, there were none but the Duchess--[Anne of
+Bavaria, wife of Henri-Jules, Duc de Bourbon, son of the great Conde; she
+bore the title of Madame la Princesse after his death.]--and I who spoke
+to him.  I do not know whether the Dauphine used to converse with the
+King in the cabinets, for while she was alive I was never permitted to
+enter them, thanks to Madame de Maintenon's interference; the Dauphine
+objected to it; the King would willingly have had it so; but he dare not
+assert his will for fear of displeasing the Dauphine and the old woman.
+I was not therefore suffered to enter until after the death of the
+Dauphine, and then only because the King wished to have some one who
+would talk to him in the evening, to dissipate his melancholy thoughts,
+in which I did my best.  He was dissatisfied with his daughters on both
+sides, who, instead of trying to console him in his grief, thought only
+of amusing themselves, and the good King might often have remained alone
+the whole evening if I had not visited his cabinet.  He was very sensible
+of this, and said to Maintenon, "Madame is the only one who does not
+abandon me."
+
+Louis XIV. spoiled the Jesuits; he thought whatever came from them must
+be admirable, whether it was right or wrong.
+
+The King did not like living in town; he was convinced that the people
+did not love him, and that there was no security for him among them.
+Maintenon had him, besides, more under her sway at Versailles than at
+Paris, where there was certainly no security for her.  She was
+universally detested there; and whenever she went out in a carriage the
+populace shouted loud threats against her, so that at last she dared not
+appear in public.
+
+At first the King was in the habit of dining with Madame de Montespan and
+his children, and then no person went to visit him but the Dauphin and
+Monsieur.  When Montespan was dismissed, the King had all his
+illegitimate children in his cabinet: this continued until the arrival of
+the last Dauphine; she intruded herself among the bastards to their great
+affliction.  When the Duchess--
+
+     [Louise-Francoise, commonly called Mademoiselle de Nantes, the
+     legitimated daughter of Madame de Montespan and the King, was
+     married to the Duc de Bourbon in 1685.]
+
+became the favourite of the Dauphin, she begged that no other persons of
+the royal house might have access to the cabinet; and therefore my
+request for admission, although not refused, was never granted until
+after the death of the Dauphin and Dauphine.  The latter accompanied the
+King to places where I did not, and could not go, for she even, went with
+him upon occasions when decency ought to have forbidden her presence.
+Maintenon did the same thing, for the purpose of having an opportunity of
+talking to the King in secret.
+
+Louis XIV. loved the young Dauphine so well that he dared refuse her
+nothing; and Maintenon had so violent a hatred against me that she was
+ready to do me all the mischief in her power.  What could the King do
+against the inclinations of his son and his granddaughter?  They would
+have looked cross, and that would have grieved him.  I had no inclination
+to cause him any vexation, and therefore preferred exercising my own
+patience.  When I had anything to say to the King, I requested a private
+audience, which threw them all into despair, and furnished me with a good
+laugh in my sleeve.
+
+The King was so much devoted to the old usages of the Royal Palace that
+he would not for the world have departed from them.  Madame de Fiennes
+was in the habit of saying that the Royal Family adhered so strictly to
+their habits and customs that the Queen of England died with a toguet on
+her head; that is, a little cap which is put upon children when they go
+to bed.
+
+When the King denied anything it was not permitted to argue with him;
+what he commanded must be done quickly and without reply.  He was too
+much accustomed to "such is our good pleasure," to endure any
+contradiction.
+
+He was always kind and generous when he acted from his own impulses.
+He never thought that his last will would be observed; and he said to
+several people, "They have made me sign a will and some other papers;
+I have done it for the sake of being quiet, but I know very well that it
+will not stand good."
+
+The good King was old; he stood in need of repose, and he could not enjoy
+it by any other means than by doing whatever that old Maintenon wished;
+thus it was that this artful hussy always accomplished her ends.
+
+The King used always to call the Duc de Verneuil his uncle.
+
+It has been said and believed that Louis XIV. retired from the war
+against Holland through pure generosity; but I know, as well as I know my
+own name that he came back solely for the purpose of seeing Madame de
+Montespan, and to stay with her.  I know also many examples of great
+events, which in history have been attributed to policy or ambition, but
+which have originated from the most insignificant trifles.  It has been
+said it was our King's ambition that made him resolve to become the
+master of the world, and that it was for this he commenced the Dutch war;
+but I know from an indisputable source that it was entered upon only
+because M. de Lionne, then Minister of State, was jealous of Prince
+William of Furstenberg, who had an intrigue with his wife, of which he
+had been apprised.  It was this that caused him to engage in those
+quarrels which afterwards produced the war.
+
+It was not surprising that the King was insensible to the scarcity which
+prevailed, for in the first place he had seen nothing of it, and, in the
+second, he had been told that all the reports which had reached him were
+falsehoods, and that they were in no respect true.  Old Maintenon
+invented this plan for getting money, for she had bought up all the corn,
+for the purpose of retailing it at a high price. [This does not sound
+like M. Maintenon.  D.W.] Everybody had been requested to say nothing
+about it to the King, lest it should kill him with vexation.
+
+The King loved my son as well as his own, but he cared little for the
+girls.  He was very fond of Monsieur, and he had reason to be so; never
+did a child pay a more implicit obedience to its parents than did
+Monsieur to the King; it was a real veneration; and the Dauphin, too, had
+for him a veneration, affection and submission such as never son had for
+a father.  The King was inconsolable for his death.  He never had much
+regard for the Duke of Burgundy; the old sorceress (Maintenon) had
+slandered him to the King, and made the latter believe that he was of an
+ambitious temper, and was impatient at the King's living so long.  She
+did this in order that if the Prince should one day open his eyes, and
+perceive the manner in which his wife had been educated, his complaints
+might have no effect with the King, which really took place.  Louis XIV.
+at last thought everything that the Dauphine of Burgundy did was quite
+charming; old Maintenon made him believe that her only aim was to divert
+him.  This old woman was to him both the law and the prophets; all that
+she approved was good, and what she condemned was bad, no matter how
+estimable it really was.  The most innocent actions of the first Dauphine
+were represented as crimes, and all the impertinences of the second were
+admired.
+
+A person who had been for many years in immediate attendance upon the
+King, who had been engaged with him every evening at Maintenon's, and
+who must consequently have heard everything that was said, is one of my
+very good friends, and he has told me that although while the old lady
+was living he dare not say a word, yet, she being dead, he was at liberty
+to tell me that the King had always professed a real friendship for me.
+This person has often heard with his own ears Maintenon teasing the King,
+and speaking ill of me for the purpose of rendering me hateful in his
+eyes, but the King always took my part.  It was in reference to this,
+I have no doubt, that the King said to me on his death-bed:
+
+"They have done all they could to make me hate you, Madame, but they have
+not succeeded."  He added that he had always known me too well to believe
+their calumnies.  While he spoke thus, the old woman stood by with so
+guilty an air that I could not doubt they had proceeded from her.
+
+Monsieur often took a pleasure in diminishing or depriving me of the
+King's favour, and the King was not sorry for some little occasions to
+blame Monsieur.  He told me once that he had embroiled me with Monsieur
+by policy.
+
+I was alarmed, and said immediately, "Perhaps your Majesty may do the
+same thing again."
+
+The King laughed, and said, "No, if I had intended to do so I should not
+have told you of it; and, to say the truth, I had some scruples about it,
+and have resolved never to do so again."
+
+Upon the death of one of his children, the King asked of his old medical
+attendant, M. Gueneau: "Pray, how does it happen that my illegitimate
+children are healthy and live, while all the Queen's children are so
+delicate and always die?"  "Sire," replied Gueneau, "it is because the
+Queen has only the rinsings of the glass."
+
+He always slept in the Queen's bed, but did not always accommodate
+himself to the Spanish temperament of that Princess; so that the Queen
+knew he had been elsewhere.  The King, nevertheless, had always great
+consideration for her, and made his mistresses treat her with all
+becoming respect.  He loved her for her virtue, and for the sincere
+affection she bore to him, notwithstanding his infidelity.  He was much
+affected at her death; but four days afterwards, by the chattering of old
+Maintenon, he was consoled.  A few days afterwards we went to
+Fontainebleau, and expected to find the King in an ill-humour, and that
+we should be scolded; but, on the contrary, he was very gay.
+
+When the King returned from a journey we were all obliged to be at the
+carriage as he got out, for the purpose of accompanying him to his
+apartments.
+
+While Louis XIV. was young all the women were running after him; but he
+renounced this sort of life when he flattered himself that he had grown
+devout.  His motive was, Madame de Maintenon watched him so narrowly that
+he could not, dare not, look at any one.  She disgusted him with
+everybody else that she might have him to herself; and this, too, under
+the pretext of taking care of his soul.
+
+Madame de Colonne had a great share of wit, and our King was so much in
+love with her, that, if her uncle, the Cardinal, had consented, he would
+certainly have married her.  Cardinal Mazarin, although in every other
+respect a worthless person, deserved to be praised for having opposed
+this marriage.  He sent his niece into Italy.  When she was setting out,
+the King wept violently.  Madame de Colonne said to him, "You are a King;
+you weep, and yet I go."  This was saying a great deal in a few words.
+As to the Comtesse de Soissons, the King had always more of friendship
+than of love for her.  He made her very considerable presents, the least
+of which was to the amount of 2,000 louis.
+
+Madame de Ludres, the King's mistress, was an agreeable person;
+she had been Maid of Honour to Monsieur's first wife,--[Henrietta of
+England.]--and after her death she entered the Queen's service, but when
+these places were afterwards abolished, Monsieur took back Ludres and
+Dampierre, the two Ladies of Honour he had given to the Queen.  The
+former was called Madame, because she was canoness of a chapter at
+Lorraine.
+
+It is said that the King never observed her beauty while she was with the
+Queen, and that it was not until she was with me that he fell in love
+with her.  Her reign lasted only two years.  Montespan told the King that
+Ludres had certain ringworms upon her body, caused by a poison that had
+been given her in her youth by Madame de Cantecroix.  At twelve or
+thirteen years of age, she had inspired the old Duc de Lorraine with so
+violent a passion that he resolved to marry her at all events.  The
+poison caused eruptions, covered her with ringworms from head to foot,
+and prevented the marriage.  She was cured so well as to preserve the
+beauty of her figure, but she was always subject to occasional eruptions.
+Although now (1718) more than seventy years old, she is still beautiful;
+she has as fine features as can be seen, but a very disagreeable manner
+of speaking; she lisps horribly.  She is, however, a good sort of person.
+Since she has been converted she thinks of nothing but the education of
+her nieces, and limits her own expenses that she may give the more to her
+brother's children.  She is in a convent at Nancy, which she is at
+liberty to quit when she pleases.  She, as well as her nieces, enjoy
+pensions from the King.
+
+I have seen Beauvais, that femme de chambre of the Queen-mother, a
+one-eyed creature, who is said to have first taught the King the art of
+intriguing.  She was perfectly acquainted with all its mysteries, and had
+led a very profligate life; she lived several years after my arrival in
+France.
+
+Louis XIV. carried his gallantries to debauchery.  Provided they were
+women, all were alike to him peasants, gardeners' girls, femmes de
+chambre, or ladies of quality.  All that they had to do was to seem to be
+in love with him.
+
+For a long time before his death, however, he had ceased to run after
+women; he even exiled the Duchesse de la Ferte, because she pretended to
+be dying for him.  When she could not see him, she had his portrait in
+her carriage to contemplate it.  The King said that it made him
+ridiculous, and desired her to retire to her own estate.  The Duchesse de
+Roquelaure, of the house of Laval, was also suspected of wishing to
+captivate the King; but his Majesty was not so severe with her as with La
+Ferte.  There was great talk in the scandalous circles about this
+intrigue; but I did not thrust my nose into the affair.
+
+I am convinced that the Duchesse de la Valliere always loved the King
+very much.  Montespan loved him for ambition, La Soubise for interest,
+and Maintenon for both.  La Fontange loved him also, but only like the
+heroine of a romance; she was a furiously romantic person.  Ludres was
+also very much attached to him, but the King soon got tired of her.  As
+for Madame de Monaco, I would not take an oath that she never intrigued
+with the King.  While the King was fond of her, Lauzun, who had a regular
+though a secret arrangement with his cousin, fell into disgrace for the
+first time.  He had forbidden his fair one to see the King; but finding
+her one day sitting on the ground, and talking with His Majesty, Lauzun,
+who, in his place as Captain of the guard, was in the chamber, was so
+transported with jealousy that he could not restrain himself, and,
+pretending to pass, he trod so violently on the hand which Madame de
+Monaco had placed upon the ground, that he nearly crushed it.  The King,
+who thus guessed at their intrigue, reprimanded him.  Lauzun replied
+insolently, and was sent for the first time to the Bastille.
+
+Madame de Soubise was cunning, full of dissimulation, and very wicked.
+She deceived the good Queen cruelly; but the latter rewarded her for this
+in exposing her falsehood and in unmasking her to the world.  As soon as
+the King had undeceived Her Majesty with respect to this woman, her
+history became notorious, and the Queen amused herself in relating her
+triumph, as she called it, to everybody.
+
+The King and Monsieur had been accustomed from their childhood to great
+filthiness in the interior of their houses; so much so, that they did not
+know it ought to be otherwise, and yet, in their persons, they, were
+particularly neat.
+
+Madame de la Motte, who had been at Chaillot, preferred the old Marquis
+de Richelieu to the King.  She declared to His Majesty that her heart was
+no longer disposable, but that it was at length fixed.
+
+I can never think, without anger, of the evil which has been spoken of
+the late King, and how little His Majesty has been regretted by those to
+whom he had done so much good.
+
+I hardly dare repeat what the King said to me on his death-bed.  All
+those who were usually in his cabinet were present, with the exception of
+the Princess, his daughter, the Princesse de Conti, and Madame de
+Vendome, who, alone, did not see the King.  The whole of the Royal Family
+was assembled.  He recommended his legitimated daughters to live together
+in concord, and I was the innocent cause of his saying something
+disagreeable to them.  When the King said, "I recommend you all to be
+united," I thought he alluded to me and my son's daughter; and I said,
+"Yes, Monsieur, you shall be obeyed."  He turned towards me, and said in
+a stern voice, "Madame, you thought I spoke of you.  No, no; you are a
+sensible person, and I know you; it is to the Princesses, who are not so,
+that I speak:"
+
+Louis XIV. proved at his death that he was really a great man, for it
+would be impossible to die with more courage than he displayed.  For
+eight days he had incessantly the approach of death before his eyes
+without betraying fear or apprehension; he arranged everything as if he
+had only been going to make a journey.
+
+Eight or ten days before his death a disease had appeared in his leg; a
+gangrene ensued, and it was this which caused his death.  But for three
+months preceding he had been afflicted with a slow fever, which had
+reduced him so much that he looked like a lath.  That old rogue, Fagon,
+had brought him to this condition, by administering purgatives and
+sudorifics of the most violent kind.  At the instigation of
+Pere Letellier, he had been tormented to death by the cursed
+constitution,--[The affair of the Bull Unigenitus]--and had not been
+allowed to rest day or night.  Fagon was a wicked old scoundrel, much
+more attached to Maintenon than to the King.  When I perceived how much
+it was sought to exault the Duc du Maine, and that the old woman cared
+so little for the King's death, I could not help entertaining
+unfavourable notions of this old rascal.
+
+It cannot be denied that Louis XIV. was the finest man in his kingdom.
+No person had a better appearance than he.  His figure was agreeable, his
+legs well made, his feet small, his voice pleasant; he was lusty in
+proportion; and, in short, no fault could be found with his person.
+Some folks thought he was too corpulent for his height, and that Monsieur
+was too stout; so that it was said, by way of a joke at Court, that there
+had been a mistake, and that one brother had received what had been
+intended for the other.  The King was in the habit of keeping his mouth
+open in an awkward way.
+
+An English gentleman, Mr. Hammer, found him an expert fencer.
+
+He preserved his good looks up to his death, although some of my ladies,
+who saw him afterwards, told me that he could scarcely be recognized.
+Before his death, his stature had been diminished by a head, and he
+perceived this himself.
+
+His pronunciation was very distinct, but all his children, from the
+Dauphin to the Comte de Toulouse, lisped.  They used to say, Pahi,
+instead of Paris.
+
+In general, the King would have no persons at his table but members of
+the Royal Family.  As for the Princesses of the blood, there were so many
+of them that the ordinary table would not have held them; and, indeed,
+when we were all there, it was quite full.
+
+The King used to sit in the middle, and had the Dauphin and the Duke of
+Burgundy at his right, and the Dauphine and the Duchesse de Berri on his
+left; on one of the sides Monsieur and I sat; and on the other, my son
+and his wife; the other parts of the table were reserved for the noblemen
+in waiting, who did not take their places behind the King, but opposite
+to him.  When the Princesses of the blood or any other ladies were
+received at the King's table, we were waited on, not by noblemen, but by
+other officers of the King's household, who stood behind like pages.
+The King upon such occasions was waited on by his chief Maitre d'Hotel.
+The pages never waited at the King's table, but on journeys; and then
+upon no person but the King.  The Royal Family had persons to attend them
+who were not noble.  Formerly all the King's officers, such as the
+butler, the cupbearer, etc., etc., were persons of rank; but afterwards,
+the nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices; and
+they fell, of necessity, into the hands of more wealthy citizens who
+could pay for them.
+
+The King, the late Monsieur, the Dauphin, and the Duc de Berri were great
+eaters.  I have often seen the King eat four platefuls of different
+soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plateful of salad, mutton hashed
+with garlic, two good-sized slices of ham, a dish of pastry, and
+afterwards fruit and sweetmeats.  The King and Monsieur were very fond of
+hard eggs.
+
+Louis XIV. understood perfectly the art of satisfying people even while
+he reproved their requests.  His manners were most affable, and he spoke
+with so much politeness as to win all hearts.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION III.--MADEMOISELLE DE FONTANGE.
+
+I had a Maid of Honour whose name was Beauvais; she was a very
+well-disposed person: the King fell in love with her, but she remained
+firm against all his attempts.  He then turned his attention to her
+companion, Fontange, who was also very pretty, but not very sensible.
+When he first saw her he said, "There is a wolf that will not eat me;"
+and yet he became very fond of her soon afterwards.  Before she came to
+me she had dreamt all that was to befall her, and a pious Capuchin
+explained her dream to her.  She told me of it herself long before she
+became the King's mistress.  She dreamt that she had ascended a high
+mountain, and, having reached the summit, she was dazzled by an
+exceedingly bright cloud; then on a sudden she found herself in such
+profound darkness that her terror at this accident awoke her.  When she
+told her confessor he said to her: "Take care of yourself; that mountain
+is the Court, where some distinction awaits you; it will, however, be
+but of short duration; if you abandon your God He will forsake you and
+you will fall into eternal darkness."
+
+There is no doubt that Fontange died by poison; she accused Montespan of
+being the cause of her death.  A servant who had been bribed by that
+favourite destroyed her and some of her people by means of poison mixed
+with milk.  Two of them died with her, and said publicly that they had
+been poisoned.
+
+Fontange was a stupid little creature, but she had a very good heart.
+She was very red-haired, but, beautiful as an angel from head to foot.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION IV.-MADAME DE LA VALLIERE.
+
+When one of Madame de Montespan's children died, the King was deeply
+affected; but he was not so at the death of the poor Comte de Vermandois
+(the son of La Valliere).  He could not bear him, because Montespan and
+that old Maintenon had made him believe the youth was not his but the Duc
+de Lauzun's child.  It had been well if all the King's reputed children
+had been as surely his as this was.  Madame de La Valliere was no light
+mistress, as her unwavering penitence sufficiently proved.  She was an
+amiable, gentle, kind and tender woman.  Ambition formed no part of her
+love for the King; she had a real passion for him, and never loved any
+other person.  It was at Montespan's instigation that the King behaved so
+ill to her.  The poor creature's heart was broken, but she imagined that
+she could not make a sacrifice more agreeable to God than that which had
+been the cause of her errors; and thought that her repentance ought to
+proceed from the same source as her crime.  She therefore remained, by
+way of self-mortification, with Montespan, who, having a great portion of
+wit, did not scruple to ridicule her publicly, behaved extremely ill to
+her, and obliged the King to do the same.
+
+He used to pass through La Valliere's chamber to go to Montespan's; and
+one day, at the instigation of the latter, he threw a little spaniel,
+which he had called Malice, at the Duchesse de La Valliere, saying:
+"There, Madam, is your companion; that's all."
+
+This was the more cruel, as he was then going direct to Montespan's
+chamber.  And yet La Valliere bore everything patiently; she was as
+virtuous as Montespan was vicious.  Her connection with the King might be
+pardoned, when it was remembered that everybody had not only advised her
+to it, but had even assisted to bring it about.  The King was young,
+handsome and gallant; she was, besides, very young; she was naturally
+modest, and had a very good heart.  She was very much grieved when she
+was made a Duchess, and her children legitimated; before that she thought
+no one knew she had had children.  There was an inexpressible charm in
+her countenance, her figure was elegant, her eyes were always in my
+opinion much finer than Montespan's, and her whole deportment was
+unassuming.  She was slightly lame, but not so much as to impair her
+appearance.
+
+When I first arrived in France she had not retired to the convent, but
+was still in the Court.  We became and continued very intimate until she
+took the veil.  I was deeply affected when this charming person took that
+resolution; and, at the moment when the funeral pall was thrown over her,
+I shed so many tears that I could see no more.  She visited me after the
+ceremony, and told me that I should rather congratulate than weep for
+her, for that from that moment her happiness was to begin: she added that
+she should never forget the kindness and friendship I had displayed
+towards her, and which was so much more than she deserved.  A short time
+afterwards I went to see her.  I was curious to know why she had remained
+so long in the character of an attendant to Montespan.  She told me that
+God had touched her heart, and made her sensible of her crimes; that she
+felt she ought to perform a penitence, and suffer that which would be
+most painful to her, which was to love the King, and to be despised by
+him; that for the three years after the King had ceased to love her she
+had suffered the torments of the damned, and that she offered her sorrows
+to Heaven as the expiation of her sins; and as her sins had been public,
+so should be her repentance.  She said she knew very well that she had
+been taken for a fool, who was not sensible of anything; but that at the
+very period she alluded to she suffered most, and continued to do so
+until God inspired her with the resolution to abandon everything, and to
+serve Him alone, which she had since put into execution; but that now she
+considered herself unworthy, on account of her past life, to live in the
+society of persons as pure and pious as the Carmelite Sisters.  All this
+evidently came from the heart.
+
+From the time she became professed, she was entirely devoted to Heaven.
+I often told her that she had only transposed her love, and had given to
+God that which had formerly been the King's.  She has said frequently
+that if the King should come into the convent she would refuse to see
+him, and would hide herself so that he could not find her.  She was,
+however, spared this pain, for the King not only never went, but seemed
+to have forgotten her, as if he had never known her.
+
+To accuse La Valliere of loving any one besides the King was wicked to
+the last degree, but falsehoods cost Montespan but little.  The Comte de
+Vermandois was a good sort of young man, and loved me as if I had been
+his mother.  When his irregularities were first discovered,--[A more
+particular account of these will be found hereafter.]--I was very angry
+with him; and I had caused him to be told very seriously that if he had
+behaved ill I should cease to have any regard for him.  This grieved him
+to the heart; he sent to me daily, and begged permission to say only a
+few words to me.  I was firm during four weeks; at length I permitted him
+to come, when he threw himself at my feet, begged my pardon, promising to
+amend his conduct, and beseeching me to restore him my friendship
+(without which he said he could not exist), and to assist him again with
+my advice.  He told me the whole history of his follies, and convinced me
+that he had been most grossly deluded.
+
+When the Dauphine lay in of the Duke of Burgundy, I said to the King,
+"I hope your Majesty will not upon this occasion refuse a humble request
+I have to make to you."
+
+He smiled and said, "What have you to ask, then?"
+
+I replied, "The pardon, Monsieur, of the poor Comte de Vermandois."
+
+He smiled once more, and said, "You are a very good friend; but as for M.
+Vermandois, he has not been sufficiently punished for his crimes."
+
+"The poor lad," I rejoined, "is so very penitent for his offence."
+
+The King replied, "I do not yet feel myself inclined to see him; I am too
+angry with him still."
+
+Several months elapsed before the King would see him; but the young man
+was very grateful to me for having spoken in his behalf; and my own
+children could not be more attached to me than he was.  He was well made,
+but his appearance, though not disagreeable, was not remarkably good; he
+squinted a little.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION V.--MADAME DE MONTESPAN
+
+The King at first could not bear Madame de Montespan,--[Daughter of
+Gabriel de Roche Chouart, first Duc de Mortemart.]--and blamed Monsieur
+and even the Queen for associating with her; yet, eventually, he fell
+deeply in love with her himself.
+
+She was more of an ambitious than a libertine woman, but as wicked as the
+devil himself.  Nothing could stand between her and the gratification of
+her ambition, to which she would have made any sacrifice.  Her figure was
+ugly and clumsy, but her eyes bespoke great intelligence, though they
+were somewhat too bright.  Her mouth was very pretty and her smile
+uncommonly agreeable.  Her complexion was fairer than La Valliere's, her
+look was more bold, and her general appearance denoted her intriguing
+temper.  She had very beautiful light hair, fine arms, and pretty hands,
+which La Valliere had not.  But the latter was always very neat, and
+Montespan was filthy to the last degree.  She was very amusing in
+conversation, and it was impossible to be tired in talking with her.
+
+The King did not regret Montespan more than he did La Fontange.  The Duc
+d'Antin, her only legitimate child, was also the only one who wept at her
+death.  When the King had the others legitimated, the mother's name was
+not mentioned, so that it might appear Madame de Montespan was not their
+mother.
+
+     [Madame de Montespan had eight children by Louis XIV.  The Duc du
+     Maine; Comte Vegin; Mademoiselle de Nantes, married to the Duc de
+     Bourbon; Mademoiselle de Tours, married to the Regent Duc d'Orleans;
+     the Comte de Toulouse, and two other sons who died young.]
+
+She was once present at a review, and as she passed before the German
+soldiers they called out:
+
+"Konigs Hure! Hure!"  When the King asked her in the evening how she
+liked the review, she said: "Very well, but only those German soldiers
+are so simple as not to call things by their proper names, for I had
+their shouts explained to me."
+
+Madame de Montespan and her eldest daughter could drink a large quantity
+of wine without being affected by it.  I have seen them drink six bumpers
+of the strong Turin Rosa Solis, besides the wine which they had taken
+before.  I expected to see them fall under the table, but, on the
+contrary, it affected them no more than a draught of water.
+
+It was Madame de Montespan who invented the 'robes battantes' for the
+purpose of concealing her pregnancy, because it was impossible to
+discover the shape in those robes.  But when she wore them, it was
+precisely as if she had publicly announced that which she affected to
+conceal, for everybody at the Court used to say, "Madame de Montespan has
+put on her robe battante, therefore she must be pregnant."  I believe she
+did it on purpose, hoping that it commanded more attention for her at
+Court, as it really did.
+
+It is quite true that she always had a Royal bodyguard, and it was fit
+that she should, because the King was always in her apartments by day and
+night.  He transacted business there with his Ministers, but, as there
+were several chambers, the lady was, nevertheless, quite at liberty to do
+as she pleased, and the Marshal de Noailles, though a devout person, was
+still a man.  When she went out in a carriage, she had guards, lest her
+husband should, as he had threatened, offer her some insult.
+
+She caused the Queen great vexation, and it is quite true that she used
+to ridicule her; but then she did the same to everybody besides.  She,
+however, never ventured upon any direct or remarkable impertinence to Her
+Majesty, for the King would not have suffered it.
+
+She had married one of her cousins, M. de Montpipeau, to Mademoiselle
+Aubry, the daughter of a private citizen who was exceedingly rich.  To
+convince her that she had made a good match, Madame de Montespan had her
+brought into her own small private room.  The young lady was not
+accustomed to very refined society, and the first time she went she
+seated herself upon the table, and, crossing her legs, sat swinging there
+as if she had been in her own chamber.  The laugh which this excited
+cannot be conceived, nor the comical manner in which Madame de Montespan
+turned it to the King's amusement.  The young lady thought that her new
+relation was inclined to be favourable to her, and loaded her with
+compliments.  In general, Montespan had the skill of representing things
+so humourously that it was impossible not to laugh at her.
+
+According to the law of the land, all her children were supposed to be
+Monsieur de Montespan's.  When her husband was dangerously ill, Madame de
+Montespan, who in some degree affected devotion, sent to ask him if he
+would allow her to nurse him in his sickness.  He replied that he would
+very willingly, provided she would bring all his children home with her,
+but if she left one behind he would not receive her.  After this answer,
+she took care not to go, for her husband was a great brute, and would
+have said whatever he pleased as soon as she presented herself to him.
+
+With the exception of the Comte de Toulouse, all the children she had by
+the King are marked.  The Duc du Maine is paralytic, Madame d'Orleans is
+crooked, and Madame la Duchesse is lame.
+
+M. de Montespan was not a very estimable person; he did nothing but play.
+He was a very sordid man, and I believe if the King had chosen to give
+him a good round sum he would have been very quiet.  It was amusing
+enough to see him and his son, d'Antin, playing with Madame d'Orleans and
+Madame la Duchesse, and presenting the cards very politely, and kissing
+his hand to the Princesses, who were called his own daughters.  He
+thought it a joke himself, and always turned aside a little to laugh in
+his sleeve.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VI.--MADAME DE MAINTENON.
+
+The marriage of Louis XIV. with old Maintenon proves how impossible it is
+to escape one's fate.  The King said one day to the Duc de Crequi and to
+M. de La Rochefoucauld, long before he knew Mistress Scarron, "I am
+convinced that astrology is false.  I had my nativity cast in Italy, and
+I was told that, after living to an advanced age, I should be in love
+with an old ----- to the last moment of my existence.  I do not think
+there is any great likelihood of that."  He laughed most heartily as he
+said this; and yet the thing has taken place.
+
+The history of Theodora, in Procopius, bears a singular resemblance to
+that of Maintenon.  In the history of Sweden, too, there is a similar
+character in the person of Sigbritta, a Dutch woman, who lived during the
+reign of Christian IL, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, who bears so
+great a likeness to Maintenon that I was struck with it as soon as I read
+it.  I cannot imagine how they came to permit its publication.  It is
+fortunate for the Abbe Vertot, who is the author, that the King does not
+love reading, otherwise he would certainly have been sent to the
+Bastille.  Several persons thought that the Abbe had invented it by way
+of a joke, but he swears by all that is good that he found it in the
+annals of Sweden.  The old woman cannot have read it either, for she is
+too much occupied in reading the letters written to her from Paris,
+relating all that is going on there and at the Court.  Sometimes the
+packets have consisted of twenty or thirty sheets; she kept them or
+showed them to the King, according as she liked or disliked the persons.
+
+She was not deficient in wit, and could talk very well whenever she
+chose.  She did not like to be called La Marquise, but preferred the
+simpler and shorter title of Madame de Maintenon.
+
+She did not scruple to display openly the hatred she had for me.  For
+example, when the Queen of England came to Marly, and went out on foot or
+in the carriage with the King, on their return the Queen, the Dauphine,
+the Princess of England, and all the Princesses, went into the King's
+room; I alone was excluded.
+
+It was with great regret that I gave up my Maids of Honour.  I had four,
+sometimes five of them, with their governess and sub-governess; they
+amused me very much, for they were all very gay.  The old woman feared
+there might be some among them to whom the King might take a fancy, as he
+had done to Ludre and Fontange.  I only kept my Maids of Honour a year
+after the death of Monsieur.--[1702]--The King was always fond of the
+sex, and if the old woman had not watched him very narrowly he would have
+slipped through her fingers in spite of all his devotion.
+
+She hated the Dauphine because the latter would not let her treat her
+like a child, but wished to keep a Court and live as became her rank.
+This the old woman could not and would not endure.  She loved to set all
+things in confusion, as she did afterwards with the second Dauphine, in
+the hope of compelling the King to recognize and proclaim her as Queen;
+but this the King never would do, notwithstanding all her artifices.--
+
+[Other writers including Madame de Montespan put it just the opposite way
+that the King wished to proclaim Maintenon Queen and she refused.   D.W.]
+
+Nobody at Court used perfumery except that old woman; her gloves were
+always scented with jessamine.  The King could not bear scent on any
+other person, and only endured it in her because she made him believe
+that it was somebody else who was perfumed.
+
+If Madame des Ursins had not been protected by Madame de Maintenon, she
+would have been ruined at Court long before the Queen of Spain dismissed
+her, for in his heart the King disliked her excessively; but all those
+who were supported by Madame de Maintenon were sure to triumph.
+
+The old woman took great pains to conceal from the King all that could
+give him pain; but she did not scruple to torment him incessantly about
+the Constitution and those illegitimate children, whom she wished to
+raise higher than the King desired.  She teased him also with her hatred
+of my son and myself, for he had no dislike to us.
+
+Neither the Queen nor the first Dauphine nor myself ever received a
+farthing; but this old Maintenon took money on all sides, and taught the
+second Dauphine to do the same.  Her example was followed by all the
+others.
+
+In the time of the Queen and the first Dauphine, everything at Court was
+conducted with modesty and dignity.  Those persons who indulged in secret
+debaucheries at least kept up a respect for appearances; but from the
+time that Maintenon's reign began, and the King's illegitimate children
+were made a part of the Royal Family, all was turned topsy-turvy.
+
+When she once conceived a hatred against any person it was for life, and
+she never ceased secretly to persecute them, as I have personally
+experienced.  She has laid many snares for me, which by the help of
+Providence I have always avoided.  She was terribly annoyed by her first
+husband, who kept her always shut up in his chamber.  Many people say,
+too, that she hastened the passage of poor Mansart into the other world.
+It is quite certain that he was poisoned by means of green peas, and that
+he died within three hours of eating them.  She had learnt that on the
+same day M. de Torcy  was going to show the King certain papers
+containing an account of the money which she had received from the post
+unknown to His Majesty.  The King never knew anything of this adventure
+nor of that of Louvois, because, as people had no fancy for being
+poisoned, they held their tongues.
+
+Before she got into power, the Church of France was very reasonable;
+but she spoiled everything by encouraging such follies and superstitions
+as the rosaries and other things.  When any reasonable men appeared, the
+old woman and the Confessor had them banished or imprisoned.  These two
+persons were the causes of all the persecutions which the Lutherans and
+those of the reformed religion underwent in France.  Pere La Chaise, with
+his long ears, began this worthy enterprise, and Pere Letellier completed
+it; France was thus ruined in every way.
+
+The Duchesse de Bourbon was taught by her mother and her aunt, Mesdames
+de Montespan and De Thiange, to ridicule everybody, under the pretext of
+diverting the King.  The children, who were always present, learnt
+nothing else; and this practice was the universal dread of all persons in
+the Court; but not more so than that of the gouvernante of the children
+(Madame de Maintenon).  Her habit was to treat things very seriously, and
+without the least appearance of jesting.  She used to speak ill of
+persons to the King through charity and piety, for the sole purpose of
+correcting the faults of her neighbours; and under this pretext she
+filled the King with a bad opinion of the whole Court, solely that he
+might have no desire for any other company than that of herself and her
+creatures, who were alone perfect and without the slightest defect.  What
+rendered her disclosures the more dangerous was that they were frequently
+followed by banishment, by 'lettres-de-cachet', and by imprisonment.
+When Montespan was in power, at least there was nothing of this sort.
+Provided she could amuse herself at the expense of all around her, she
+was content.
+
+I have often heard Madame de Maintenon say, jestingly, "I have always
+been either too far from, or too near to, greatness, to know exactly what
+it is."
+
+She could not forgive the King for not having proclaimed her Queen.  She
+put on such an appearance of humility and piety to the Queen of England
+that she passed for a saint with her.  The old woman knew very well that
+I was a right German, and that I never could endure unequal alliances.
+She fancied, therefore, that it was on my account the King was reluctant
+to acknowledge his marriage with her, and this it was that made her hate
+me so profoundly.  From the time of the King's death and our departure
+from Versailles my son has never once seen her.
+
+She would never allow me to meddle with anything, because she feared it
+would give me an opportunity of talking to the King.  It was not that she
+was jealous lest he should be fond of me, but she feared that, in
+speaking according to my usual custom, freely and without restraint,
+I should open the King's eyes and point out to him the folly of the life
+he was leading.  I had, however, no such intention.
+
+All the mistresses the King had did not tarnish his reputation so much as
+the old woman he married; from her proceeded all the calamities which
+have since befallen France.  It was she who excited the persecution
+against the Protestants, invented the heavy taxes which raised the price
+of grain so high, and caused the scarcity.  She helped the Ministers to
+rob the King; by means of the Constitution she hastened his death; she
+brought about my son's marriage; she wanted to place bastards upon the
+throne; in short, she ruined and confused everything.
+
+Formerly the Court never went into mourning for children younger than six
+years of age; but the Duc du Maine having lost a daughter only one year
+old, the old woman persuaded the King to order a mourning, and since that
+time it has been always worn for children of a year old.
+
+The King always hated or loved as she chose to direct; it was not,
+therefore, surprising that he could not bear Montespan, for all her
+failings were displayed to him by the old woman, who was materially
+assisted in this office by Montespan's eldest son, the Duc du Maine.
+In her latter years she enjoyed a splendour which she could never have
+dreamed of before; the Court looked upon her as a sort of divinity.
+
+The old lady never failed to manifest her hatred of my son on all
+occasions.  She liked my husband no better than myself; and my son and my
+daughter and her husband were equally objects of her detestation.  She
+told a lady once that her greatest fault was that of being attached to
+me.  Neither my son nor I had ever done her any injury.  If Monsieur
+thought fit to tell his niece, the Duchess of Burgundy, a part of
+Maintenon's history, in the vexation he felt at her having estranged the
+Princess from him, and not choosing that she should behave affectionately
+to her great-uncle, that was not our fault.  She was as jealous of the
+Dauphine as a lover is of his mistress.
+
+She was in the habit of saying, "I perceive there is a sort of vertigo at
+present affecting the whole world."  When she perceived that the harvest
+had failed, she bought up all the corn she could get in the markets, and
+gained by this means an enormous sum of money, while the poor people were
+dying of famine.  Not having a sufficient number of granaries, a large
+quantity of this corn became rotten in the boats loaded with it, and it
+was necessary to throw it into the river.  The people said this was a
+just judgment from Heaven.
+
+My son made me laugh the other day.  I asked him how Madame de Maintenon
+was.
+
+"Wonderfully well," he replied.
+
+"That is surprising at her age," I said.
+
+"Yes," he rejoined, "but do you not know that God has, by way, of
+punishing the devil, doomed him to exist a certain number of years in
+that ugly body?"
+
+Montespan was the cause of the King's love for old Maintenon.  In the
+first place, when she wished to have her near her children, she shut her
+ears to the stories which were told of the irregular life which the hussy
+had been leading; she made everybody who spoke to the King about her,
+praise her; her virtue and piety were cried up until the King was made to
+think that all he had heard of her light conduct were lies, and in the
+end he most firmly believed it.  In the second place, Montespan was a
+creature full of caprice, who had no control over herself, was
+passionately fond of amusement, was tired whenever she was alone with the
+King, whom she loved only, for the purposes of her own interest or
+ambition, caring very little for him personally.  To occupy him, and to
+prevent him from observing her fondness for play and dissipation, she
+brought Maintenon.  The King was fond of a retired life, and would
+willingly have passed his time alone with Montespan; he often reproached
+her with not loving him sufficiently, and they quarrelled a great deal
+occasionally.  Goody Scarron then appeared, restored peace between them,
+and consoled the King.  She, however, made him remark more and more the
+bitter temper of Montespan; and, affecting great devotion, she told the
+King that his affliction was sent him by Heaven, as a punishment for the
+sins he had committed with Montespan.  She was eloquent, and had very
+fine eyes; by degrees the King became accustomed to her, and thought she
+would effect his salvation.  He then made a proposal to her; but she
+remained firm, and gave him to understand that, although he was very
+agreeable to her, she would not for the whole world offend Heaven.  This
+excited in the King so great an admiration for her, and such a disgust to
+Madame de Montespan, that he began to think of being converted.  The old
+woman then employed her creature, the Duc du Maine, to insinuate to his
+mother that, since the King had taken other mistresses, for example,
+Ludres and Fontange, she had lost her authority, and would become an
+object of contempt at Court.  This irritated her, and she was in a very
+bad humour when the King came.  In the meantime, Maintenon was
+incessantly censuring the King; she told him that he would be damned if
+he did not live on better terms with the Queen.  Louis XIV. repeated this
+to his wife, who considered herself much obliged to Madame de Maintenon:
+she treated her with marks of distinction, and consented to her being
+appointed second dame d'atour to the Dauphine of Bavaria; so that she had
+now nothing to do with Montespan.  The latter became furious, and related
+to the King all the particulars of the life of Dame Scarron.  But the
+King, knowing her to be an arrant fiend, who would spare no one in her
+passion, would not believe anything she said to him.  The Duc du Maine
+persuaded his mother to retire from Court for a short time in order that
+the King might recall her.  Being fond of her son, and believing him to
+be honest in the advice he gave her, she went to Paris, and wrote to the
+King that she would never come back.  The Duc du Maine immediately sent
+off all her packages after her without her knowledge; he even had her
+furniture thrown out of the window, so that she could not come back to
+Versailles.  She had treated the King so ill and so unkindly that he was
+delighted at being rid of her, and he did not care by what means.  If she
+had remained longer, the King, teased as he was, would hardly have been
+secure against the transports of her passion.  The Queen was extremely
+grateful to Maintenon for having been the means of driving away Montespan
+and bringing back the King to the marriage-bed; an arrangement to which,
+like an honest Spanish lady, she had no sort of objection.  With that
+goodness of heart which was so remarkable in her, she thought she was
+bound to do something for Madame de Maintenon, and therefore consented to
+her being appointed dame d'atour.  It was not until shortly before her
+death that she learnt she had been deceived by her.  After the Queen's
+death, Louis XIV. thought he had gained a triumph over the very
+personification of virtue in overcoming the old lady's scruples; he used
+to visit her every afternoon, and she gained such an influence over him
+as to induce him to marry.
+
+Madame la Marechale de Schomberg had a niece, Mademoiselle d'Aumale, whom
+her parents had placed at St. Cyr during the King's life.  She was ugly,
+but possessed great wit, and succeeded in amusing the King so well that
+the old Maintenon became disturbed at it.  She picked a quarrel with her,
+and wanted to send her again to the convent.  But the King opposed this,
+and made the old lady bring her back.  When the King died, Mademoiselle
+d'Aumale would not stay any longer with Madame de Maintenon.
+
+When the Dauphine first arrived, she did not know a soul.  Her household
+was formed before she came.  She did not know who Maintenon was; and when
+Monsieur explained it to her a year or two afterwards, it was too late to
+resist.  The Dauphin used at first to laugh at the old woman, but as he
+was amorous of one of the Dauphine's Maids of Honour, and consequently
+was acquainted with the gouvernante of the Maids of Honour,
+Montchevreuil, a creature of Maintenon's, that old fool set her out in
+very fair colours.  Madame de Maintenon did not scruple to estrange the
+Dauphin from the Dauphine, and very piously to sell him first Rambure and
+afterwards La Force.
+
+
+18th April, 1719--To-day I will begin my letter with the story of Madame
+de Ponikau, in Saxony.  One day during her lying-in, as she was quite
+alone, a little woman dressed in the ancient French fashion came into the
+room and begged her to permit a party to celebrate a wedding, promising
+that they would take care it should be when she was alone.  Madame de
+Ponikau having consented, one day a company of dwarfs of both sexes
+entered her chamber.  They brought with them a little table, upon which a
+good dinner, consisting of a great number of dishes, was placed, and
+round which all the wedding guests took their seats.  In the midst of the
+banquet, one of the little waiting-maids ran in, crying,
+
+"Thank Heaven, we have escaped great perplexity. The old ----- is dead."
+
+It is the same here, the old is dead.  She quitted this world at St.
+Cyr, on Saturday last, the 15th day of April, between four and five
+o'clock in the evening.  The news of the Duc du Maine and his wife being
+arrested made her faint, and was probably the cause of her death, for
+from that time she had not a moment's repose or content.  Her rage, and
+the annihilation of her hopes of reigning with him, turned her blood.
+She fell sick of the measles, and was for twenty days in great fever.
+The disorder then took an unfavourable turn, and she died.  She had
+concealed two years of her age, for she pretended to be only eighty-four,
+while she was really eighty-six years old.  I believe that what grieved
+her most in dying was to quit the world, and leave me and my son behind
+her in good health.  When her approaching death was announced to her, she
+said, "To die is the least event of my life."  The sums which her nephew
+and niece De Noailles inherited from her were immense; but the amount
+cannot be ascertained, because she had concealed a large part of her
+wealth.
+
+A cousin of hers, the Archbishop of Rouen, who created so much trouble
+with respect to the Constitution, followed his dear cousin into the other
+world exactly a week afterwards, on the same day, and at the same hour.
+
+Nobody, knows what the King said to Maintenon on his death bed.  She had
+retired to St. Cyr before he died.  They fetched her back, but she did
+not stay, to the end.  I think the King repented of his folly in having
+married her, and, indeed, notwithstanding all her contrivances, she could
+not persuade him to declare their marriage.  She wept for the King's
+death, but was not so deeply afflicted as she ought to have been.  She
+always flattered herself with the hope of reigning together with the Duc
+du Maine.
+
+From the beginning to the end of their connection, the King's society was
+always irksome to her, and she did not scruple to say so to her own
+relations.  She had before been much accustomed to the company of men,
+but afterwards dared see none but the King, whom she never loved, and his
+Ministers.  This made her ill-tempered, and she did not fail to make
+those persons who were within her power feel its effects.  My son and I
+have had our share of it.  She thought only of two things, her ambition
+and her amusement.  The old sorceress never loved any one but her
+favourite, the Duc du Maine.  Perceiving that the Dauphine was desirous
+of acting for herself and profiting by the king's favour, that she
+ridiculed her to her attendants, and seemed not disposed to yield to her
+domination, she withdrew her attention from her; and if the Dauphine had
+not possessed great influence with the King, Maintenon would have turned
+round upon her former favourite; she was therefore very soon consoled for
+this Princess's death.  She thought to have the King entirely at her
+disposal through the Duc du Maine, and it was for this reason that she
+relied so much upon him, and was so deeply afflicted at his imprisonment.
+
+She was not always so malicious, but her wickedness increased with her
+years.  For us it had been well that she had died twenty years before,
+but for the honour of the late King that event ought to have taken place
+thirty-three years back, for, if I do not mistake, she was married to the
+King two years after the Queen's death, which happened five-and-thirty
+years ago.
+
+If she had not been so outrageously inveterate against me, she could have
+done me much more injury with the King, but she set about it too
+violently; this caused the King to perceive that it was mere malice, and
+therefore it had no effect.  There were three reasons why she hated me
+horribly.  The first was, that the King treated me favourably.  I was
+twenty-five years of age when she came into power; she saw that, instead
+of suffering myself to be governed by her, I would have my own way, and,
+as the King was kind to me, that I should undeceive him and counsel him
+not to suffer himself to be blindly led by so worthless a person.  The
+second reason was that, knowing how much I must disapprove of her
+marriage with the King, she imagined I should always be an obstacle to
+her being proclaimed Queen; and the third was, that I had always taken
+the Dauphine's part whenever Maintenon had mortified her.  The poor
+Dauphine did not know what to do with Maintenon, who possessed the King's
+heart, and was acquainted with all his intentions.  Notwithstanding all
+the favour she enjoyed, the old lady was somewhat timid.  If the Dauphine
+could have summoned courage to threaten Maintenon, as I advised her, to
+hint that her previous life was well known, and that unless she behaved
+better to the Dauphine the latter would expose her to the King, but that
+if, on the contrary, she would live quietly and on good terms, silence
+should be kept, then Maintenon would have pursued a very different
+conduct.  That wicked Bessola always prevented this, because then she
+would have had no more tales to tell.
+
+One day I found the Dauphine in the greatest distress and drowned in
+tears, because the old woman had threatened to make her miserable, to
+have Madame du Maine preferred to her, to make her odious to the whole
+Court and to the King besides.  I laughed when she told me all this.
+
+"Is it possible," I said, "with so much sense and courage as you possess
+that you will suffer this old hag to frighten you thus?  You can have
+nothing to fear: you are the Dauphine, the first person in the kingdom;
+no one can do you any mischief without the most serious cause.  When,
+therefore, they threaten you, answer boldly: 'I do not fear pour menaces;
+Madame de Maintenon is too much beneath me, and the King is too just to
+condemn without hearing me.  If you compel me I will speak to him myself,
+and we shall see whether he will protect me or not.'"
+
+The Dauphine was not backward in repeating this word for word.  The old
+woman immediately said, "This is not your own speech; this proceeds from
+Madame's bad advice; you have not courage enough to think thus for
+yourself; however, we shall see whether Madame's friendship will be
+profitable to you or not."  But from that time forth she never threatened
+the Princess.  She had introduced the name of the Duchesse du Maine
+adroitly enough in her threats to the Dauphine, because, having educated
+the Duke, she thought her power at Court unlimited, and wished to chew
+that she could prefer the last Princess of the blood before the first
+person in France, and that therefore it was expedient to submit to her
+and obey her.  But Bessola, who was jealous of me, and could not bear
+that the Dauphine should confide in me, had been bought over by the old
+woman, to whom she betrayed us, and told her all that I had said to
+console the Princess; she was commissioned, besides, to torment and
+intimidate her mistress as much as possible, and acquitted herself to
+a miracle, terrifying her to death, and at the same time seeming to act
+only from attachment, and to be entirely devoted to her.  The poor
+Dauphine never distrusted this woman, who had been educated with her, and
+had accompanied her to France; she did not imagine that falsehood and
+perfidy existed to such an extent as this infernal creature carried them.
+I was perfectly amazed at it.  I opposed Bessola, and did all I could to
+console the Dauphine and to alleviate her vexation.  She told me when she
+was dying that I had prolonged her life by two years by inspiring her
+with courage.  My exertions, however, procured for me Maintenon's cordial
+hatred, which lasted to the end of her life.  Although the Dauphine might
+have something to reproach herself with, she was not to be taken to task
+for it by that old woman, for who had ever led a less circumspect life
+than she?  In public, or when we were together, she never said anything
+unpleasant to me, for she knew that I would not have failed to answer her
+properly, as I knew her whole life.  Villarceaux had told me more of her
+than I desired to know.
+
+When the King was talking to me on his death-bed she turned as red as
+fire.
+
+"Go away, Madame," said she; "the King is too much affected while he
+talks to you; it may do him harm.  Pray go away."
+
+As I went out she followed me and said, "Do not think, Madame, that I
+have ever done you an ill turn with the King."
+
+I answered her with tears, for I thought I should choke with grief:
+"Madame, do not let us talk upon that subject," and so quitted her.
+
+That humpbacked old Fagon, her favourite, used to say that he disliked
+Christianity because it would not allow him to build a temple to
+Maintenon and an altar to worship her.
+
+The only trait in her character that I can find to praise is her conduct
+to Montchevreuil; although she was a wicked old devil, Maintenon had
+reason to love her and be kind to her, for she had fed and clothed her
+when Maintenon was in great want.
+
+I believe the old woman would not procure for Madame de Dangeau the
+privilege of the tabouret, only because she was a German and of good
+family.  She once had two young girls from Strasbourg brought to Court,
+and made them pass for Countesses Palatine, placing them in the office of
+attendants upon her nieces.  I did not know a word of it until the
+Dauphine came to tell it me with tears in her eyes.
+
+I said to her, "Do not disturb yourself, leave me alone to act; when I
+have a good reason for what I do, I despise the old witch."
+
+When I saw from my window the niece walking with these German girls,
+I went into the garden and met them.  I called one of them, and asked her
+who she was.  She told me, boldly, that she was a Countess Palatine of
+Lutzelstein.
+
+"By the left hand?" I asked.
+
+"No," she replied, "I am not illegitimate; the young Count Palatine
+married my mother, who is of the house of Gehlen."
+
+"In that case," I said, "you cannot be Countess Palatine; for we never
+allow such unequal marriages to hold good.  I will tell you, moreover,
+that you lie when you say that the Count Palatine married your mother;
+she is a -----, and the Count has married her no more than a hundred
+others have done; I know her lawful husband is a hautboy-player.  If you
+presume, in future, to pass yourself off as a Countess Palatine I will
+have you stripped; let me never again hear anything of this; but if you
+will follow my advice, and take your proper name, I shall not reproach
+you.  And now you see what you have to choose between."
+
+The girl took this so much to heart that she died some days afterwards.
+As for the second, she was sent to a boarding-house in Paris, where she
+became as bad as her mother; but as she changed her name I did not
+trouble myself any further about her.
+
+I told the Dauphine what I had done, who was very much obliged to me,
+and confessed she should not have had courage enough to do it herself.
+She feared that the King would be displeased with me; but he only said
+to me, jestingly, "One must not play tricks with you about your family,
+for it seems to be a matter of life or death with you."
+
+I replied, "I hate lies."
+
+There was a troop of Italian players who had got up a comedy called "The
+Pretended Prude."  When I learnt they were going to represent it, I sent
+for them and told them not to do so.  It was in vain; they played it, and
+got a great deal of money by it; but they were afterwards sent away in
+consequence.  They then came to me and wanted me to intercede for them;
+but I said, "Why did you not take my advice?"  It was said they hit off
+the character of Maintenon with the most amusing fidelity.  I should have
+liked to see it, but I would not go lest the old woman should have told
+the King that I had planned it out of ill-will to her.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VII.--THE QUEEN--CONSORT OF LOUIS XIV.
+
+Our Queen was excessively ignorant, but the kindest and most virtuous
+woman in the world; she had a certain greatness in her manner, and knew
+how to hold a Court extremely well.  She believed everything the King
+told her, good or bad.  Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken.
+It was said that this proceeded from her being in the constant habit of
+taking chocolate; she also frequently ate garlic.  She was short and fat,
+and her skin was very white.  When she was not walking or dancing she
+seemed much taller.  She ate frequently and for a long time; but her food
+was always cut in pieces as small as if they were for a singing bird.
+She could not forget her country, and her manners were always remarkably
+Spanish.  She was very fond of play; she played basset, reversis, ombre,
+and sometimes a little primero; but she never won because she did not
+know how to play.
+
+She had such as affection for the King that she used to watch his eyes to
+do whatever might be agreeable to him; if he only looked at her kindly
+she was in good spirits for the rest of the day.  She was very glad when
+the King quitted his mistresses for her, and displayed so much
+satisfaction that it was commonly remarked.  She had no objection to
+being joked upon this subject, and upon such occasions used to laugh and
+wink and rub her little hands.
+
+One day the Queen, after having conversed for half-an-hour with the
+Prince Egon de Furstemberg,--[Cardinal Furstemberg, Bishop of
+Strasbourg.]--took me aside and said to me, "Did you know what M. de
+Strasbourg has been saying?  I have not understood him at all."
+
+A few minutes afterwards the Bishop said to me, "Did your Royal Highness
+hear what the Queen said to me?  I have not comprehended a single word."
+
+"Then," said I, "why did you answer her."
+
+"I thought," he replied, "that it would have been indecorous to have
+appeared not to understand Her Majesty."
+
+This made me laugh so much that I was obliged precipitately to quit the
+Chamber.
+
+The Queen died of an abscess under her arm.  Instead of making it burst,
+Fagon, who was unfortunately then her physician, had her blooded; this
+drove in the abscess, the disorder attacked her internally, and an
+emetic, which was administered after her bleeding, had the effect of
+killing the Queen.
+
+The surgeon who blooded her said, "Have you considered this well, Sir?
+It will be the death of my Mistress!"
+
+Fagon replied, "Do as I bid you."
+
+Gervais, the surgeon, wept, and said to Fagon, "You have resolved, then,
+that my Mistress shall die by my hand!"
+
+Fagon had her blooded at eleven o'clock; at noon he gave her an emetic,
+and three hours afterwards she was dead.  It may be truly said that with
+her died all the happiness of France.  The King was deeply grieved by
+this event, which that old villain Fagon brought about expressly for the
+purpose of confirming that mischievous old woman's fortune.
+
+After the Queen's death I also happened to have an abscess.  Fagon did
+all he could to make the King recommend me to be blooded; but I said to
+him, in His Majesty's presence, "No, I shall do no such thing.  I shall
+treat myself according to my own method; and if you had done the same to
+the Queen she would have been alive now.  I shall suffer the abscess to
+gather, and then I shall have it opened."  I did so, and soon got well.
+
+The King said very kindly to me, "Madame, I am afraid you will kill
+yourself."
+
+I replied, laughing, "Your Majesty is too good to me, but I am quite
+satisfied with not having followed my physician's advice, and you will
+soon see that I shall do very well."
+
+After my convalescence I said at table, in presence of my two doctors,
+Daguin, who was then first physician, and Fagon, who succeeded him upon
+his being disgraced, "Your Majesty sees that I was right to have my own
+way; for I am quite well, notwithstanding all the wise sayings and
+arguments of these gentlemen."
+
+They were a little confused, but put it off with a laugh; and Fagon said
+to me,--
+
+"When folks are as robust as you, Madame, they may venture to risk
+somewhat."
+
+I replied, "If I am robust, it is because I never take medicine but on
+urgent occasions."
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans
+Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France
+The Affairs of the Regency
+The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent
+The Dauphine, Princess of Bavaria.
+Adelaide of Savoy, the Second Dauphine
+The First Dauphin
+The Duke of Burgundy, the Second Dauphin
+Petite Madame
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VIII.--PHILIPPE I., DUC D'ORLEANS.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin perceiving that the King had less readiness than his
+brother, was apprehensive lest the latter should become too learned; he
+therefore enjoined the preceptor to let him play, and not to suffer him
+to apply to his studies.
+
+"What can you be thinking of, M. la Mothe le Vayer," said the Cardinal;
+"would you try to make the King's brother a clever man?  If he should be
+more wise than his brother, he would not be qualified for implicit
+obedience."
+
+Never were two brothers more totally different in their appearance than
+the King and Monsieur.  The King was tall, with light hair; his mien was
+good and his deportment manly.  Monsieur, without having a vulgar air,
+was very small; his hair and eye-brows were quite black, his eyes were
+dark, his face long and narrow, his nose large, his mouth small, and his
+teeth very bad; he was fond of play, of holding drawing-rooms, of eating,
+dancing and dress; in short, of all that women are fond of.  The King
+loved the chase, music and the theatre; my husband rather affected large
+parties and masquerades: his brother was a man of great gallantry, and I
+do not believe my husband was ever in love during his life.  He danced
+well, but in a feminine manner; he could not dance like a man because his
+shoes were too high-heeled.  Excepting when he was with the army, he
+would never get on horseback.  The soldiers used to say that he was more
+afraid of being sun-burnt and of the blackness of the powder than of the
+musket-balls; and it was very true.  He was very fond of building.
+Before he had the Palais Royal completed, and particularly the grand
+apartment, the place was, in my opinion, perfectly horrible, although in
+the Queen-mother's time it had been very much admired.  He was so fond of
+the ringing of bells that he used to go to Paris on All Souls' Day for
+the purpose of hearing the bells, which are rung during the whole of the
+vigils on that day he liked no other music, and was often laughed at for
+it by his friends.  He would join in the joke, and confess that a peal of
+bells delighted him beyond all expression.  He liked Paris better than
+any other place, because his secretary was there, and he lived under less
+restraint than at Versailles.  He wrote so badly that he was often
+puzzled to read his own letters, and would bring them to me to decipher
+them.
+
+"Here, Madame," he used to say, laughing, "you are accustomed to my
+writing; be so good as to read me this, for I really cannot tell what I
+have been writing."  We have often laughed at it.
+
+He was of a good disposition enough, and if he had not yielded so
+entirely to the bad advice of his favourites, he would have been the best
+master in the world.  I loved him, although he had caused me a great deal
+of pain; but during the last three years of his life that was totally
+altered.  I had brought him to laugh at his own weakness, and even to
+take jokes without caring for them.  From the period that I had been
+calumniated and accused, he would suffer no one again to annoy me; he had
+the most perfect confidence in me, and took my part so decidedly, that
+his favourites dared not practise against me.  But before that I had
+suffered terribly.  I was just about to be happy, when Providence thought
+fit to deprive me of my poor husband.  For thirty years I had been
+labouring to gain him to myself, and, just as my design seemed to be
+accomplished, he died.  He had been so much importuned upon the subject
+of my affection for him that he begged me for Heaven's sake not to love
+him any longer, because it was so troublesome.  I never suffered him to
+go alone anywhere without his express orders.
+
+The King often complained that he had not been allowed to converse
+sufficiently with people in his youth; but taciturnity was a part of his
+character, for Monsieur, who was brought up with him, conversed with
+everybody.  The King often laughed, and said that Monsieur's chattering
+had put him out of conceit with talking.  We used to joke Monsieur upon
+his once asking questions of a person who came to see him.
+
+"I suppose, Monsieur," said he, "you come from the army?"
+
+"No, Monsieur," replied the visitor, "I have never joined it."
+
+"You arrive here, then, from your country house?"
+
+"Monsieur, I have no country house."
+
+"In that case, I imagine you are living at Paris with your family?"
+
+"Monsieur, I am not married."
+
+Everybody present at this burst into a laugh, and Monsieur in some
+confusion had nothing more to say.  It is true that Monsieur was more
+generally liked at Paris than the King, on account of his affability.
+When the King, however, wished to make himself agreeable to any person,
+his manners were the most engaging possible, and he won people's hearts
+much more readily than my husband; for the latter, as well as my son, was
+too generally civil.  He did not distinguish people sufficiently, and
+behaved very well only to those who were attached to the Chevalier de
+Lorraine and his favourites.
+
+Monsieur was not of a temper to feel any sorrow very deeply.  He loved
+his children too well even to reprove them when they deserved it; and if
+he had occasion to make complaints of them, he used to come to me with
+them.
+
+"But, Monsieur," I have said, "they are your children as well as mine,
+why do you not correct them?"
+
+He replied, "I do not know how to scold, and besides they would not care
+for me if I did; they fear no one but you."
+
+By always threatening the children with me, he kept them in constant fear
+of me.  He estranged them from me as much as possible, but he left me to
+exercise more authority over my elder daughter and over the Queen of
+Sicily than over my son; he could not, however, prevent my occasionally
+telling them what I thought.  My daughter never gave me any cause to
+complain of her.  Monsieur was always jealous of the children, and was
+afraid they would love me better than him: it was for this reason that he
+made them believe I disapproved of almost all they did.  I generally
+pretended not to see this contrivance.
+
+Without being really fond of any woman, Monsieur used to amuse himself
+all day in the company of old and young ladies to please the King: in
+order not to be out of the Court fashion, he even pretended to be
+amorous; but he could not keep up a deception so contrary to his natural
+inclination.  Madame de Fiennes said to him one day, "You are in much
+more danger from the ladies you visit, than they are from you."  It was
+even said that Madame de Monaco had attempted to give him some violent
+proofs of her affection.  He pretended to be in love with Madame de
+Grancey; but if she had had no other lover than Monsieur she might have
+preserved her reputation.  Nothing culpable ever passed between them; and
+he always endeavoured to avoid being alone with her.  She herself said
+that whenever they happened to be alone he was in the greatest terror,
+and pretended to have the toothache or the headache.  They told a story
+of the lady asking him to touch her, and that he put on his gloves before
+doing so.  I have often heard him rallied about this anecdote, and have
+often laughed at it.
+
+Madame de Grancey was one of the most foolish women in the world.  She
+was very handsome at the time of my arrival in France, and her figure was
+as good as her face; besides, she was not so much disregarded by others
+as by my husband; for, before the Chevalier de Lorraine became her lover,
+she had had a child.  I knew well that nothing had passed between
+Monsieur and Grancey, and I was never jealous of them; but I could not
+endure that she should derive a profit from my household, and that no
+person could purchase an employment in it without paying a douceur to
+her.  I was also often indignant at her insolence to me, and at her
+frequently embroiling me with Monsieur.  It was for these reasons, and
+not from jealousy, as was fancied by those who knew nothing about it,
+that I sometimes sharply reprimanded her.  The Chevalier de Lorraine,
+upon his return from Rome, became her declared lover.  It was through his
+contrivances, and those of D'Effiat, that she was brought into the house
+of Monsieur, who really cared nothing about her.  Her continued
+solicitations and the behaviour of the Chevalier de Lorraine had so much
+disgusted Monsieur, that if he had lived he would have got rid of them
+both.
+
+He had become tired of the Chevalier de Lorraine because he had found out
+that his attachment to him proceeded from interested motives.  When
+Monsieur, misled by his favourites, did something which was neither just
+nor expedient, I used to say to him, "Out of complaisance to the
+Chevalier de Lorraine, you put your good sense into your pocket, and
+button it up so tight that it cannot be seen."
+
+After my husband's death I saw Grancey only once; I met her in the
+garden.  When she ceased to be handsome, she fell into utter despair;
+and so great a change took place in her appearance that no one would have
+known her.  Her nose, before so beautiful, grew long and large, and was
+covered with pimples, over each of which she put a patch; this had a very
+singular effect; the red and white paint, too, did not adhere to her
+face.  Her eyes were hollow and sunken, and the alteration which this had
+caused in her face cannot be imagined.  In Spain they, lock up all the
+ladies at night, even to the septuagenary femmes de chambre.  When
+Grancey followed our Queen to Spain as dame d'atour, she was locked up in
+the evening, and was in great grief about it.
+
+When she was dying, she cried, "Ah, mon Dieu, must I die, who have never
+once thought of death?"
+
+She had never done anything but sit at play with her lovers until five or
+six o'clock in the morning, feast, and smoke tobacco, and follow
+uncontrolled her natural inclinations.
+
+When she reached her climacteric, she said, in despair, "Alas, I am
+growing old, I shall have no more children."
+
+This was exceedingly amusing; and her friends, as well as her enemies,
+laughed at it.  She once had a high dispute with Madame de Bouillon.  One
+evening, Grancey chose to hide herself in one of the recesses formed by
+the windows in the chamber of the former lady, who, not thinking she was
+heard, conversed very freely with the Marquise d'Allure, respecting the
+libertine life of Grancey; in the course of which she said several
+strange things respecting the treatment which her lovers had experienced
+from her.  Grancey at length rushed out, and fell to abusing Madame de
+Bouillon like a Billingsgate.  The latter was not silent, and some
+exceedingly elegant discourse passed between them.  Madame de Bouillon
+made a complaint against Grancey; in the first place, for having listened
+to her conversation; and in the second, for having insulted her in her
+own house.  Monsieur reproved Grancey; told her that she had brought this
+inconvenience upon herself by her own indiscretion, and ordered her to be
+reconciled with her adversary.
+
+"How can I," said Grancey, "be reconciled to Madame de Bouillon, after
+all the wicked things she has said about me?"  But after a moment's
+reflection she added, "Yes, I can, for she did not say I was ugly."
+
+They afterwards embraced, and made it up.
+
+          .........................................
+
+Monsieur was taken ill at ten o'clock at night, but he did not die until
+the next day at noon.  I can never think of this night without horror.
+I remained with him from ten at night until five the next morning, when
+he lost all consciousness.--[The Duc d'Orleans died of apoplexy on the
+9th June, 1701]
+
+The Electors of Germany would not permit Monsieur to write to them in the
+same style as the King did.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION IX.--PHILIPPE II., DUC D' ORLEANS, REGENT OF FRANCE.
+
+From the age of fourteen to that of fifteen years, my son was not ugly;
+but after that time he became very much sun-burnt in Italy and Spain.
+Now, however, he is too ruddy; he is fat, but not tall, and yet he does
+not seem disagreeable to me.  The weakness of his eyes causes him
+sometimes to squint.  When he dances or is on horseback he looks very
+well, but he walks horridly ill.  In his childhood he was so delicate
+that he could not even kneel without falling, through weakness; by
+degrees, however, his strength improved.  He loads his stomach too much
+at table; he has a notion that it is good to make only one meal; instead
+of dinner, he takes only one cup of chocolate, so that by supper he is
+extremely hungry and thirsty.  In answer to whatever objections are made
+to this regimen, he says he cannot do business after eating.  When he
+gets tipsy, it is not with strong potations, but with Champagne or Tokay.
+He is not very fond of the chase.  The weakness of his sight arose from
+an accident which befell him at the age of four years, and which was
+something like an apoplexy.  He sees well enough near, and can read the
+smallest writing; but at the distance of half the room he cannot
+distinguish persons without a glass.  He had an application of a powder
+to that eye which is worst, and, although it had caused intolerable pain
+to every other person who had used it, it seemed to have no effect upon
+him, for he laughed and chatted as usual.  He found some benefit from
+this; but W. Gendron was too severe for him.  That physician forbade the
+petits-soupers and the amusements which usually followed them; this was
+not agreeable to my son, and those who used to frequent them to their own
+advantage; they therefore persuaded him to adopt some other remedies
+which almost deprived him of sight.  For the last forty years (1719),
+that is to say since the accident happened, the month of October has
+never elapsed without his health and eyesight being affected towards the
+21st in some way or other.
+
+He was only seventeen years old when he was married.  If he had not been
+threatened with imprisonment in the old castle of Villers-Cotterets, and
+if hopes had not been given him of seeing the Duchesse de Bourbon as he
+wished, they could not have induced him to form this accursed marriage.
+It is my son's unlucky destiny to have for a wife a woman who is desirous
+of ruling everything with her brothers.  It is commonly said, that where
+one sins there one suffers; and thus it has happened to my son with
+respect to his wife and his brothers-in-law.  If he had not inflicted
+upon me the deepest vexation by uniting himself with this low race, he
+might now speak to them boldly.  I never quarrelled with my son; but he
+was angry with me about this marriage, which he had contracted against my
+inclination.
+
+As I sincerely love him, I have forgotten it; and I do not believe that
+we shall ever quarrel in future.  When I have anything to say about his
+conduct, I say it openly, and there is an end of it.  He behaves to me
+very respectfully.  I did all in my power to prevent his marriage; but
+since it did take place, and with his consent, though without mine, I
+wish now only for his tranquillity.  His wife fancies that she has done
+him an honour in marrying him, because he is only the son of the brother
+of a king, while she is the daughter of a king; but she will not perceive
+that she is also the daughter of a -----.  He was obliged to put down all
+his feelings of nobility; and if I had a hundred crowns for as many times
+as he has since repented it, I could almost buy France for the King, and
+pay his debts.  My son visits his wife every day, and when she is in good
+humour he stays with her a long time; but when she is ill-tempered,
+which, unfortunately, happens too often, he goes away without saying
+anything.  I have every reason to be satisfied with him; he lives on very
+good terms with me, and I have no right to complain of his conduct; but I
+see that he does not repose much confidence in me, and I know many
+persons to whom he is more communicative.
+
+I love my son with all my heart; but I cannot see how any one else can,
+for his manners are little calculated to inspire love.  In the first
+place, he is incapable of the passion, or of being attached to any one
+for a long time; in the second, he is not sufficiently polished and
+gallant to make love, but sets about it rudely and coarsely; in the
+third, he is very indiscreet, and tells plainly all that he has done.
+
+I have said to him a hundred times, "I wonder how any woman can run after
+you, whom they ought rather to fly from."
+
+He would reply, laughing, "Ah! you do not know the libertine women of the
+present day; provided they are talked of, they are satisfied."
+
+There was an affair of gallantry, but a perfectly honourable one, between
+him and the Queen of Spain.  I do not know whether he had the good
+fortune to be agreeable to her, but I know he was not at all in love with
+her.  He thought her mien and figure good, but neither her manners nor
+her face were agreeable to him.
+
+He was not in any degree romantic, and, not knowing how to conduct
+himself in this affair, he said to the Duc de Grammont, "You understand
+the manner of Spanish gallantry; pray tell me a little what I ought to
+say and do."
+
+He could not, however, suit the fancy of the Queen, who was for pure
+gallantry; those who were less delicate he was better suited for, and for
+this reason it was said that libertine women used to run after him.
+
+               ...............................
+
+He never denied that he was indiscreet and inconstant.  Being one day
+with me at the theatre, and hearing Valere say he was tired of his
+mistress, "That has been my case often," he cried.  I told him he never
+was in love in his life, and that what he called love was mere
+debauchery.
+
+He replied, "It is very true that I am not a hero of romance, and that I
+do not make love like a Celadon, but I love in my way."
+
+"Your way," I said, "is an extremely gross one."  .  .  .  This made him
+laugh.
+
+He likes the business of his gallantry to be conducted with beat of drum,
+without the least refinement.  He reminds me of the old Patriarchs, who
+were surrounded by women.
+
+                    ............................
+
+All women do not please him alike.  He does not like fine airs so well as
+profligate manners: the opera-house dancers are his favourites.  The
+women run after him from mere interest, for he pays them well.  A
+pleasant enough adventure happened last winter:
+
+A young and pretty woman visited my son in his cabinet; he presented her
+with a diamond of the value of 2,000 Louis and a box worth 200.  This
+woman had a jealous husband, but she had effrontery enough to shew him
+the jewels which she said had been offered to her a great bargain by
+persons who wanted the money, and she begged him not to let such an
+opportunity slip.  The credulous husband gave her the money she asked
+for.  She thanked him, put the box in her dressing-case and the diamond
+on her finger, and displayed it in the best company.
+
+When she was asked where she got the ring and the bog, "M. de Parabere
+gave them to me," she said; and he, who happened to be present, added,
+"Yes, I gave them to her; can one do less when one has for a wife a lady
+of quality who loves none but her husband?"
+
+This caused some mirth; for other people were not so simple as the
+husband, and knew very well where the presents came from.  If my son has
+a queen-sultana, it is this Madame de Parabere.  Her mother, Madame de la
+Vieuville, was dame d'atour to the Duchesse de Berri.--[Marie-Madeline de
+la Vieuville, Comtesse de la Parabere; it was she whom the Regent used to
+call "his little black crow."]--It was there that my son first became
+acquainted with the daughter, who is now a widow: she is of a slight
+figure, dark complexion, and never paints; her eyes and mouth are pretty;
+she is not very sensible, but is a desirable little person.  My son says
+he likes her because she thinks of nothing but amusing herself, and never
+interferes with other affairs.  That would be very well if she were not a
+drunkard, and if she did not make my son eat and drink so much, and take
+him to a farm which she has at Anieres, and where he sometimes sups with
+her and the country folks.  It is said that he becomes a little jealous
+of Parabere, in which case he must love her more than he has done yet.
+I often tell him that, if he really loved, he would not suffer his
+mistresses to run after others, and to commit such frequent infidelities.
+He replied that there was no such thing as love except in romances.  He
+broke with Seri, because, as he said, she wanted him to love her like an
+Arcadian.  He has often made me laugh at his complaining of this
+seriously, and with an air of great affliction.
+
+"Why do you disturb yourself?" I have said to him; "if that is not
+agreeable to you, leave her alone.  You are not obliged to feign a love
+which you do not feel."
+
+This convinces me, however, that my son is incapable of love.  He
+willingly eats, drinks, sings, and amuses himself with his mistresses,
+but to love one of them more than another is not his way.  He is not
+afraid of application; but when he has been actively engaged from morning
+till night he is glad to divert himself at supper with such persons.  It
+is for this reason that Parabere, who is said to be a great fool, is so
+agreeable to him.  She eats and drinks astonishingly, and plays absurd
+tricks, which divert him and make him forget his labour.
+
+My son, it must be allowed, possesses some great qualities.  He has good
+sense, understands several languages, is fond of reading, speaks well,
+has studied much, is learned and acquainted with most of the arts,
+however difficult.  He is a musician, and does not compose badly; he
+paints well, he understands chemistry, is well versed in history, and is
+quick of comprehension.  He soon, however, gets tired of everything.  He
+has an excellent memory, is expert in war, and fears nothing in the
+world; his intentions are always just and fair, and if his actions are
+ever otherwise, it is the fault of others.  His only faults are that he
+is too kind, not sufficiently reserved, and apt to believe people who
+have less sense than himself; he is, therefore, often deceived, for the
+knaves who know his easiness of temper will run all risks with him.  All
+the misfortunes and inconveniences which befall him spring from that
+cause.  His other fault is one not common to Frenchmen, the easiness with
+which women can persuade him, and this often brings him into domestic
+quarrels.  He can refuse them nothing, and even carries his complaisance
+so far as to give them marks of affection without really liking them.
+When I tell him that he is too good, he says, "Is it not better to be
+good than bad?"
+
+He was always extremely weak, too, with respect to lovers, who chose to
+make him their confidant.
+
+The Duc de Saint Simon was one day exceedingly annoyed at this weakness
+of my son, and said to him, angrily, "Ah! there you are; since the days
+of Louis le Debonnaire there has been nobody so debonnaire as yourself."
+
+My son was much amused at it.
+
+When he is under the necessity of saying anything harsh, he is much more
+pained at it than the person who experiences the disgrace.
+
+He is not fond of the country, but prefers living in town.  He is in this
+respect like Madame de Longueville, who was tired to death of being in
+Normandy, where her husband was.
+
+     [The Duc de Longueville was Governor of Normandy; and after the
+     reduction of Bordeaux, in 1652, the Duchesse de Longueville received
+     an order from the Court to repair to her husband.]
+
+Those who were about her said, "Mon Dieu, Madame, you are eaten up with
+ennui; will you not take some amusement?  There are dogs and a beautiful
+forest; will you hunt?"
+
+"No," she replied, "I don't like hunting."
+
+"Will you work?"
+
+"No, I don't like work."
+
+"Will you take a walk, or play at some game?"
+
+"No, I like neither the one nor the other."
+
+"What will you do, then?"  they asked.
+
+"What can I do?"  she said; "I hate innocent pleasures."
+
+My son understands music well, as all the musicians agree.  He has
+composed two or three operas, which are pretty.  La Fare, his Captain of
+the guards, wrote the words.  He had them played in his palace, but never
+would permit them to be represented on the public stage.
+
+When he had nothing to do he painted for one of the Duchess's cabinets
+all the pastoral romance of "Daphnis and Chloe."
+
+     [The designs for the romance of "Daphnis and Chloe" were composed by
+     the Regent, with the advice, and probably the assistance, of Claude
+     Audran, a distinguished painter, whom Lebrun often employed to help
+     him with his large pictures.  He painted a part of the battles of
+     Alexander.  These designs were engraved by Benoit Audran; they
+     embellish what is called "the Regent's edition" of the Pastoral of
+     Longus, which was printed under his inspection in the year 1718.  It
+     is somewhat surprising that Madame should speak so disdainfully of
+     so eminent an artist as Benoit Audran.]
+
+With the exception of the first, he invented and painted all the
+subjects.  They have been engraved by one Audran.  The Duchess thought
+them so pretty that she had them worked in a larger size in tapestry; and
+these, I think, are better than the engravings.
+
+My son's learning has not the least tinge of pedantry.  He knows a
+quantity of facetious stories, which he learnt in Italy and in Spain.
+He does not tell them badly, but I like him better in his more serious
+moods, because they are more natural to him.  When he talks upon learned
+topics it is easy to see that they are rather troublesome to him than
+otherwise.  I often blamed him for this; but he used to reply that it was
+not his fault, that he was ready enough to learn anything, but that when
+he once knew it he no longer took pleasure in it.
+
+He is eloquent enough, and when he chooses he can talk with dignity.  He
+has a Jesuit for his confessor, but he does not suffer himself to be
+ruled by him.  He pretends that his daughter has no influence over him.
+He was delighted when he obtained the command of the Spanish army, and
+was pleased with everything in that country; this procured him the hatred
+of the Princesse des Ursins, who feared that my son would diminish her
+authority and gain more of the confidence of the Spaniards than she
+possessed.
+
+He learned to cook during his stay with the army in Spain.
+
+I cannot tell where he learned so much patience; I am sure it was neither
+from Monsieur nor from me.
+
+When he acted from himself I always found him reasonable; but he too
+often confided in rogues, who had not half his sense, and then all went
+wrong.
+
+My son is like all the rest of his family; when they had become
+accustomed to a thing they suffered it to go its own way.  It was for
+this reason he could not persuade himself to shake off the Abbe Dubois,
+although he knew him to be a rascal.  This Abbe had the impudence to try
+to persuade even me that the marriage he had brought about was an
+excellent one.
+
+"But the honour which is lost in it," said I, "how will you repair that?"
+
+Old Maintenon had made immense promises to him, as well as to my son;
+but, thank God, she kept neither the one nor the other.
+
+It is intolerable that my son will go about day and night with that
+wicked and impertinent Noce I hate that Noce as I hate the devil.  He and
+Brogue run all risks, because they are thus enabled to sponge upon my
+son.  It is said that Noce is jealous of Parabere, who has fallen in love
+with some one else.  This proves that my son is not jealous.  The person
+with whom she has fallen in love has long been a sort of adventurer: it
+is Clermont, a captain in my son's Swiss Guard; the same who preferred
+Chouin to the great Princesse de Conti.  It is said that Noce utters
+whatever comes into his head, and about any persons; this makes my son
+laugh, and amuses him, for Noce has wit and can do this pleasantly,
+enough.  His father was under-governor to my son, who has thus been
+accustomed from his infancy to this wicked rascal, and who is very fond
+of him.  I do not know for what reason, for he is a person who fears
+neither God nor man, and has not a single good point about him; he is
+green, black, and deep yellow; he is ten years older than my son; it is
+incredible how many, millions this mercenary rogue has drawn from him.
+Madame de Berri has told me that Broglie's jokes consist only in saying
+openly, the most horrible things.  The Broglii are of Italian extraction,
+but have been long settled in France.  There were three brothers, the
+elder of whom died in the army; the second was an Abbe, but he cast aside
+his gown, and he is the knave of whom I have been speaking.  The third is
+still serving in the army, and, according to common report, is one of the
+best gentlemen in the world.  My son does not like him so well as his
+good-for-nothing brother, because he is too serious, and would not become
+his buffoon.  My son excuses himself by saying that when he quits
+business he wants something to make him laugh, and that young Broglie is
+not old enough for this; that if he had a confidential business, or a
+warlike expedition to perform, he would prefer him; but that for laughing
+and dissipation of all sorts, his elder brother is more fit.
+
+My son has three natural children, two boys and a girl, of whom only one
+has been legitimated; that is his son by Mademoiselle de Seri,
+
+     [N. de Seri de la Boissiere; the father had been ambassador in
+     Holland.  Mademoiselle de Seri was the Regent's first mistress; he
+     gave her the title of Comtesse d'Argenton.  Her son, the Chevalier
+     d'Orleans, was Grand-Prieur of France.]
+
+who was my Maid of Honour; she was genteel and gay, but not pretty nor of
+a good figure.  This son was called the Chevalier d'Orleans.  The other,
+who is now a lad of eighteen years, is the Abbe de Saint Albin; he had
+this child by Florence, an opera dancer, of a very neat figure, but a
+fool; although to look at her pretty face one would not have thought so.
+She is since dead.  The third of my son's illegitimate children is a girl
+of fourteen years old, whom he had by Desmarets, an actress, who is still
+on the stage.  This child has been educated at a convent at Saint Denis,
+but has not much inclination for a monastic life.  When my son sent for
+her she did not know who she was.
+
+Desmarets wanted to lay another child to my son's account; but he
+replied, "No, that child is too much of a harlequin."
+
+When some one asked him what he meant, he said it was of so many
+different pieces, and therefore he renounced it.
+
+I do not know whether the mother did not afterwards give it to the
+Elector of Bavaria, who had some share in it, and who sacrificed to her
+the most beautiful snuff-box that ever was seen; it was covered with
+large diamonds.
+
+My first son was called the Duc de Valois; but as this name was one of
+evil omen, Monsieur would not suffer my other son to be called so; he
+took, therefore, the title of Duc de Chartres.  After Monsieur's death
+my son took the name of Orleans, and his son that of Chartres.
+
+     [Alesandre-Louis d'Orleans, Duc de Valois, died an infant on the
+     16th of March, 1676; the Regent was born on the 4th of August, 1674.
+     It is unnecessary to mention the unhappy ends of Henri III. and of
+     the three Kings, his sons, who all died without issue.]
+
+My son is too much prejudiced in favour of his nation; and although he
+sees daily that his countrymen are false and treacherous, he believes
+there is no nation comparable to them.  He is not very lavish of his
+praise; and when he does approve of anything his sincerity gives it an
+additional value.
+
+As he is now in his forty-second year the people of Paris do not forgive
+him for running about at balls, like a young fool, for the amusement of
+women, when he has the cares of the kingdom upon his shoulders.  When the
+late King ascended the throne he had reason to take his diversion; it is
+not so now.  Night and day it is necessary to labour in order to repair
+the mischief which the late King, or rather his Ministers, did to the
+country.
+
+When my son gently reproached that old Maintenon for having maligned him,
+and asked her to put her hand upon her heart, and say whether her
+calumnies were true, she replied, "I said it because I believed it."
+
+My son replied, "You could not believe it, because you knew the
+contrary."
+
+She said arrogantly, and yet my son kept his temper, "Is not the Dauphine
+dead?"
+
+"Is it my fault," he rejoined, "that she is dead?  Was she immortal?"
+
+"Well," she replied, "I was so much distressed at the loss that I could
+not help detesting him whom I was told was the cause of it."
+
+"But, Madame," said my son, "you know, from the report which has been
+made to the King, that I was not the cause, and that the Dauphine was not
+poisoned."
+
+"I do know it," she replied, "and I will say nothing more about it."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION X.--THE AFFAIRS OF THE REGENCY.
+
+The old Maintenon wished to have the Duc du Maine made Regent; but my
+son's harangue to the Parliament frustrated her intention.
+
+He was very angry with Lord Stair because he believed that he had done
+him an ill office with the King of England, and prevented the latter from
+entering into the alliance with France and Holland.  If that alliance had
+taken place my son could have prevented the Pretender from beginning his
+journey; but as England refused to do so, the Regent was obliged to do
+nothing but what was stipulated for by the treaty of peace: that is to
+say, not to succour the Pretender with money nor arms, which he
+faithfully performed.  He sent wherever Lord Stair requested.
+
+     [The Duc d'Orleans ordered, in Lord Stair's presence, Contades,
+     Major of the Guard, to arrest the Pretender on his passage through
+     Chateau-Thierry; but, adds Duclos, Contades was an intelligent man,
+     and well acquainted with the Regent's secret intentions, and so he
+     set out resolved not to find what he went in search of.]
+
+He believed that the English people would not be well pleased to see
+their King allied to the Crown of France.
+
+
+                                   1717
+
+The Baron Goertz thought to entrap my son, who, however, did not trust
+him; he would not permit him to purchase a single ship, and it was upon
+this that the Baron had built all his hopes of success.
+
+That tall Goertz, whom I have seen, has an unlucky physiognomy; I do not
+believe that he will die a fair death.
+
+The Memoir of the thirty noblemen has so much angered my son that he will
+hasten to pronounce sentence.
+
+     [Goertz was the Swedish minister, and had been sent into Holland and
+     France to favour the cause of the Pretender.  He was arrested in
+     Holland in 1717, and remained in prison for several months.  He was
+     a very cunning person, and a great political intriguer.  On the
+     death of Charles XII.  he was taken before an extraordinary
+     tribunal, and condemned in an unjust and arbitrary manner to be
+     beheaded, which sentence was executed in, May, 1719.]
+
+
+                                   1718
+
+The whole of the Parliament was influenced against him.  He made a
+remonstrance against this, which was certainly effected at the
+instigation of the eldest bastard and his wife.--[The Duc and Duchesse du
+Maine.]--If any one spoke ill of my son, and seemed dissatisfied, the
+Duchesse du Maine: invited them to Sceaux, and pitied and caressed them
+to hear them abuse my son.  I wondered at his patience.  He has great
+courage, and went steadily on without disturbing himself about anything.
+Although the Parliament of Paris sent to all the other parliaments in the
+kingdom to solicit them to unite with it, none of them did so, but all
+remained faithful to my son.  The libels which were dispersed for the
+purpose of exciting the people against him had scarcely any effect.  I
+believe the plot would have succeeded better if the bastard and his wife
+had not engaged in it, for they were extraordinarily hated at Paris.  My
+son told the Parliament they had nothing to do with the coinage; that he
+would maintain the royal authority, and deliver it to the King when he
+should be of age in the same state as he had found it on his becoming
+Regent.
+
+The Marechale d'Uxelles hated my son mortally, but after the King's
+death he played the fawning dog so completely that my son forgave him and
+took him into favour again.  In the latter affair he was disposed once
+more to follow his natural inclination, but my son, having little value
+for whatever he could do, said, "Well, if he will not sign he may let it
+alone."
+
+When the Marshal saw my son was serious and did not care at all for his
+bravadoes, he became submissive and did what my son desired.
+
+The wife of the cripple, the Duchesse du Maine, resolved to have an
+explanation with my son.  She made a sententious speech, just as if she
+had been on the stage; she asked how he could think that the answer to
+Fitz-Morris's book should have proceeded from her, or that a Princess of
+the blood would degrade herself by composing libels?  She told him, too,
+that the Cardinal de Polignac was engaged in affairs of too much
+importance to busy himself in trifles like this, and M. de Malezieux was
+too much a philosopher to think of anything but the sciences.  For her
+own part, she said she had sufficient employment in educating her
+children as became that royal dignity of which she had been wrongfully
+deprived.  My son only replied to her thus:--
+
+"I have reason to believe that these libels have been got up at your
+house, and by you, because that fact has been attested by persons who
+have been in your service, and who have seen them in progress; beyond
+this no one makes me believe or disbelieve anything."
+
+He made no reply to her last observation, and so she went away.  She
+afterwards boasted everywhere of the firmness with which she had spoken
+to my son.
+
+My son this day (26th of August) assembled the Council of the Regency.
+He had summoned the Parliament by a 'lettre-de-cachet': they repaired to
+the Tuileries in a procession on foot, dressed in scarlet robes, hoping
+by this display to excite the people in their favour; but the mob only
+called out, "Where are these lobsters going?"  The King had caused the
+Keeper of the Seals to make a remonstrance to the Parliament for having
+infringed upon his authority in publishing decrees without his sanction.
+He commanded them to quash the decree, which was done; and to confirm the
+authority of the Keeper of the Seals, which they did also.  He then
+ordered them with some sternness not to interfere with the affairs of the
+Government beyond their province; and as the Duc du Maine had excited the
+Parliament against the King, he was deprived of the care of His Majesty's
+education, and he with his brothers were degraded from the rank of
+Princes of the blood, which had been granted to them.  They will in
+future have no other rank than that of their respective peerages; but the
+Duc du Maine alone, for the fidelity he has always manifested towards the
+King, will retain his rank for his life, although his issue, if he should
+have any, will not inherit it.
+
+[Saint-Simon reports that it was the Comte de Toulouse who was allowed
+to retain his rank.--See The Memoirs of Saint-Simon, Chapter XCIII.--D.W.]
+
+Madame d'Orleans was in the greatest despair, and came to Paris in such a
+condition as moved my pity for her.  Madame du Maine is reported to have
+said, three weeks ago, at a grand dinner, "I am accused of having caused
+the Parliament to revolt against the Duc d'Orleans, but I despise him too
+much to take so noble a vengeance; I will be revenged in another manner."
+
+The Parliament had very notable projects in hand.  If my son had delayed
+four-and-twenty hours longer in removing the Duc du Maine from the King
+it would have been decided to declare His Majesty of full age; but my son
+frustrated this by dismissing the Duke, and degrading him at the same
+time.  The Chief President is said to have been so frightened that he
+remained motionless, as if he had been petrified by a gaze at the head of
+Medusa.  That celebrated personage of antiquity could not have been more
+a fury than Madame du Maine; she threatened dreadfully, and did not
+scruple to say, in the presence of her household, that she would yet find
+means to give the Regent such a blow as should make him bite the dust.
+That old Maintenon and her pupil have also had a finger in the pie.
+
+The Parliament asked pardon of my son, which proves that the Duc and
+Duchesse du Maine were the mainsprings of the plot.
+
+There is reason to believe that the old woman and the former Chancellor
+were also implicated in it.  The Chancellor, who would have betrayed my
+son in so shameful a manner, was under the heaviest obligations to him.
+What has happened is a great mortification to Maintenon, and yet she has
+not given up all hopes.  This makes me very anxious, for I know how
+expertly she can manage poison.  My son, instead of being cautious, goes
+about the town at night in strange carriages, sometimes supping with one
+or another of his people, none of whom are worthy of being trusted, and
+who, excepting their wit, have not one good quality.
+
+Different reports respecting the Duchesse du Maine are abroad; some say
+she has beaten her husband and broken the glasses and everything brittle
+in her room.  Others say she has not spoken a word, and has done nothing
+but weep.  The Duc de Bourbon has undertaken the King's education.  He
+said that, not being himself of age, he did not demand this office
+before, but that being so now he should solicit it, and it was
+immediately given to him.
+
+One president and two counsellors have been arrested.  Before the close
+of the session, the Parliament implored my son to use his good offices
+with the King for the release of their members, and promised that they
+should, if found culpable, be punished by the Parliament itself.  My son
+replied that they could not doubt he should always advise the King to the
+most lenient measures; that His Majesty would not only be gracious to
+them as a body, while they merited it, but also to each individual; that,
+as to the prisoners, they would in good time be released.
+
+That old Maintenon has fallen sick of grief that her project for the Duc
+du Maine has miscarried.
+
+The Duke and the Parliament had resolved to have a bed of justice held,
+where my son should be dismissed, and the Regency be committed to the
+Duke, while at the same time the King's household should be under arms.
+The Duke and the Prince de Conti had long been urging my son without
+knowing all the particulars.  The Duc du Maine has not been banished to
+the country, but has permission to go with his family wherever he
+pleases; he will not, however, remain at Paris, because he no longer
+enjoys his rank; he chooses rather to live at Sceaux, where he has an
+elegant mansion and a fine park.
+
+The little dwarf (the Duchesse du Maine) says she has more courage than
+her husband, her son, and her brother-in-law put together; and that, like
+another Jael, she would kill my son with her own hand, and would drive a
+nail into his head.  When I implored my son to be on his guard against
+her, and told him this, he laughed at my fears and shook his head
+incredulously.
+
+I do not believe that the Devil, in his own person, is more wicked than
+that old Maintenon, the Duc du Maine, and the Duchess.  The latter said
+openly that her husband and her brother-in-law were no better than
+cowards; that, woman as she was, she was ready to demand an audience of
+my son and to plunge a dagger in his heart.  Let any one judge whether I
+have not reason to fear such persons, and particularly, when they, have
+so strong a party.  Their cabal is very considerable; there are a dozen
+persons of consideration, all great noblemen at Court.  The richest part
+of the people favour the Spanish pretensions, as well as the Duc and
+Duchesse du Maine; they wish to call in the King of Spain.  My brother
+has too much sense for them; they want a person who will suffer himself
+to be led as they, please; the King of Spain is their man; and, for this
+reason, they are trying all means to induce him to come.  It is for these
+reasons that I think my son is in so great danger.
+
+My son has not yet released the three rogues of the Parliament, although
+their liberation has been twice petitioned for.
+
+The Duc du Maine and the cabal have made his sister believe that if my
+son should die they would make her Regent, and would aid her with their
+counsel to enable her to become one of the greatest persons in the world.
+They say they mean no violence towards my son, who cannot live long on
+account of his irregularities; that he must soon die or lose his sight;
+and in the latter event he would consent to her becoming Regent.  I know
+a person to whom the Duc du Maine said so.  This put an end to one's
+astonishment, that she should have wished to force her daughter to marry
+the Duc du Maine.
+
+All this gave me great anxiety.  I foresaw it all and said to my son,
+"You are committing a folly, for which I shall have to suffer all my
+life."
+
+He has made great changes; instead of a great number of Councils he has
+appointed Secretaries of State.  M. d'Armenouville is Secretary of State
+for the Navy; M. le Blanc, for the Army; M. de la Vrilliere, for the Home
+Department; the Abbe Dubois, for Foreign Affairs; M. de Maurepas, for the
+Royal Household; and a Bishop for the Church Benefices.
+
+Malezieux and the Cardinal de Polignac had probably as great a share in
+the answer to Fitz-Morris as the Duchesse du Maine.
+
+The Duc de Bourbon and the Prince de Conti assisted very zealously in the
+disgrace of the Duc du Maine.  My son could not bring himself to resolve
+upon it until the treachery had been clearly demonstrated to him, and he
+saw that he should lend himself to his own dishonour if he did not
+prevent the blow.
+
+My son is very fond of the Comte de Toulouse, whom he finds a sensible
+person on all occasions: if the latter had followed the advice of the Duc
+du Maine he would have shared his fate; but he despised his brother's
+advice and followed that of his wife.
+
+My son believes as firmly in predestination as if he had been, like me, a
+Calvinist, for nineteen years.  I do not know how he learnt the affair of
+the Duc du Maine; he has always kept it a great secret.  But what appears
+the most singular to me is that he does not hate his brother-in-law, who
+has endeavoured to procure his death and dishonour.  I do not believe his
+like was ever seen: he has no gall in his composition; I never knew him
+to hate any one.
+
+He says he will take as much care as he can; but that if God has ordained
+that he shall perish by the hands of his enemies he cannot change his
+destiny, and that therefore he shall go on tranquilly.
+
+He has earnestly requested Lord Stair to speak to the King of England
+on your account.--[This passage is addressed to the Princess of
+Wales.]--He says no one can be more desirous than he is that you should
+be reinstated in your father's affection, and that he will neglect no
+opportunity of bringing it about, being persuaded that it is to the
+advantage of the King of England, as well as of yourself, that you should
+be reconciled.
+
+M. Law must be praised for his talent, but there is an astonishing number
+of persons who envy him in this country.  My son is delighted with his
+cleverness in business.
+
+He has been compelled to arrest the Spanish Ambassador, the Prince of
+Cellamara, because letters were found upon his courier, the Abbe Porto
+Carero, who was his nephew, and who has also been arrested, containing
+evidence of a plot against the King and against my son.  The Ambassador
+was arrested by two Counsellors of State.  It was time that this
+treachery should be made public.  A valet of the Abbe Porto Carero having
+a bad horse, and not being able to get on so quick as his master, stayed
+two relays behind, and met on his way the ordinary courier from Poitiers.
+The valet asked him, "What news?"
+
+"I don't know any," replied the postilion, "except that they have
+arrested at Poitiers an English bankrupt and a Spanish Abbe who was
+carrying a packet."
+
+When the valet heard this he instantly took a fresh horse, and, instead
+of following his master, he came back full gallop to Paris.  So great was
+his speed, that he fell sick upon his arrival in consequence of the
+exertion.  He outstripped my son's courier by twelve hours, and so had
+time to apprise the Prince of Cellamara twelve hours before his arrest,
+which gave him time to burn his most important letters and papers.  My
+son's enemies pretend to treat this affair as insignificant to the last
+degree; but I cannot see anything insignificant in an Ambassador's
+attempting to cause a revolt in a whole kingdom, and among the
+Parliament, against my son, and meditating his assassination as well as
+that of his son and daughter.  I alone was to have been let live.
+
+That Des Ursins must have the devil in her to have stirred up Pompadour
+against my son.  He is not any very great personage; but his wife is a
+daughter of the Duc de Navailles, who was my son's governor.  Madame de
+Pompadour was the governess of the young Duc d'Alencon, the son of Madame
+de Berri.  As to the Abbe Brigaut, I know him very well.  Madame de
+Ventadour was his godmother, and he was baptized at the same time with
+the first Dauphin, when he received the name of Tillio.  He has talent,
+but he is an intriguer and a knave.  He pretended at first to be very
+devout, and was appointed Pere de l'Oratoire; but, getting tired of this
+life, he took up the trade of catering for the vices of the Court, and
+afterwards became the secretary and factotum of Madame du Maine, for whom
+he used to assist in all the libels and pasquinades which were written
+against my son.  It would be difficult to say which prated most, he or
+Pompadour.
+
+Madame d'Orleans has great influence over my son.  He loves all his
+children, but particularly his eldest daughter.  While still a child, she
+fell dangerously ill, and was given over by her physicians.  My son was
+in deep affliction at this, and resolved to attempt her cure by treating
+her in his own way, which succeeded so well that he saved her life, and
+from that moment has loved her better than all his other children.
+
+                    ............................
+
+The Abbe Dubois has an insinuating manner towards every one; but more
+particularly towards those of whom he had the care in their childhood.
+
+Two Germans were implicated in the conspiracy; but I am only surprised at
+one of them, the Brigadier Sandrazky, who was with me daily, and in whose
+behalf I have often spoken, because his father served my brother as
+commandant at Frankendahl; he died in the present year.  The other is the
+Count Schlieben, who has only one arm.  I am not astonished at him; for,
+in the first place, I know how he lost his arm; and, in the second, he is
+a friend and servant of the Princesse des Ursins: they expect to take him
+at Lyons.  Sandrazky was at my toilette the day before yesterday; as he
+looked melancholy, I asked him what was the matter?  He replied, "I am
+ill with vexation: I love my wife, who is an Englishwoman, very tenderly,
+and she is no less fond of me; but, as we have not the means of keeping
+up an establishment, she must go into a convent.  This distresses me so
+much that I am really very unwell."
+
+I was grieved to hear this, and resolved to solicit my son for him.
+
+My son sometimes does as is said in Atys,--[The opera of Atys, act ii.,
+scene 3.]--"Vous pourriez aimer et descendre moins bas;" for when Jolis
+was his rival, he became attached to one of his daughter's 'filles de
+chambre', who hoped to marry Jolis because he was rich; for this reason
+she received him better than my son, who, however, at last gained her
+favour.  He afterwards took her away from his daughter, and had her
+taught to sing, for she had a fine voice.
+
+The printed letters of Cellamara disclose the whole of the conspiracy.
+The Abbe Brigaut, too, it is said, begins to chatter about it.  This
+affair has given me so much anxiety that I only sleep through mere
+exhaustion.  My heart beats incessantly; but my son has not the least
+care about it.  I beseech him, for God's sake, not to go about in coaches
+at night, and he promises me he will not; but he will no more keep that
+promise than he did when he made it to me before.
+
+It is now eight days since the Duc du Maine and his wife were arrested
+(29th December).  She was at Paris, and her husband at Sceaux in his
+chateau.  One of the four captains of the King's Guard arrested the
+Duchess, the Duke was arrested only by a lieutenant of the Body Guard.
+The Duchess was immediately taken to Dijon and her husband to the
+fortress of Doullens.  I found Madame d'Orleans much more calm than I had
+expected.  She was much grieved, and wept bitterly; but she said that,
+since her brother was convicted, she must confess he had done wrong; that
+he was, with his wife, the cause of his own misfortune, but that it was
+no less painful to her to know that her own brother had thus been
+plotting against her husband.  His guilt was proved upon three points:
+first, in a paper under the hand of the Spanish Ambassador, the Prince of
+Cellamara, in which he imparted to Alberoni that the Duchesse and the Duc
+du Maine were at the head of the conspiracy; he tells him how many times
+he has seen them, by whose means, and in what place; then he says that he
+has given money to the Duc du Maine to bribe certain persons, and he
+mentions the sum.  There are already two men in the Bastille who confess
+to have received money, and others who have voluntarily stated that they
+conducted the Ambassador to the Duke and Duchess, and negotiated
+everything between the parties.  The greater part of their servants have
+been sent to the Bastille.  The Princess is deeply afflicted; and,
+although the clearest proofs are given of her children's crime, she
+throws all the blame upon the Duke, her grandson, who, she says, has
+accused them falsely, because he hates them, and she has refused to see
+him.  The Duchess is more moderate in her grief.  The little Princesse de
+Conti heartily pities her sister and weeps copiously, but the elder
+Princess does not trouble herself about her uncle and aunt.
+
+The Cardinals cannot be arrested, but they may be exiled; therefore the
+Cardinal de Polignac has been ordered to retire to one of his abbeys and
+to remain there.  It was love that turned his head.  He was formerly a
+great friend of my son's, and he did not change until he became attached
+to that little hussy.
+
+Magni
+
+     [Foucault de Magni, introducteur des ambassadeurs, and son of a
+     Counsellor of State.  Duclos says he was a silly fellow, who never
+     did but, one wise thing, which was to run away.]
+
+has not yet been taken; he flies from one convent to another.  He stayed
+with the Jesuits a long time.
+
+
+
+                                   1719
+
+They say that the Duchesse du Maine used all her persuasions to induce
+her husband to fly; but that he replied, as neither of them had written
+anything with their own hands, nothing could be proved against them;
+while, by flying, they would confess their guilt.  They did not consider
+that M. de Pompadour could say enough to cause their arrest.
+
+The Duchess's fraternal affection is a much stronger passion than her
+love for her children.
+
+A letter of Alberoni's to the lame bastard has been intercepted, in which
+is the following passage: "As soon as you declare war in France spring
+all your mines at once."
+
+What enrages me is that Madame d'Orleans and the Princess would still
+make one believe that the Duc and Duchesse du Maine are totally innocent,
+although proofs of their guilt are daily appearing.  The Duchess came to
+me to beg I would procure an order for her daughter's people, that is,
+her dames d'honneur, her femmes de chambre, and her hair-dresser, to be
+sent to her.  I could not help laughing, and I said, "Mademoiselle de
+Launay is an intriguer and one of the persons by whom the whole affair
+was conducted."
+
+But she replied, "The Princess is at the Bastille."--"I know it," I said;
+"and well she has deserved it."  This almost offended the Princess.
+
+The Duchesse du Maine said openly that she should never be happy until
+she had made an end of my son.  When her mother reproached her with it,
+she did not deny it, but only replied, "One says things in a passion
+which one does not mean to do."
+
+Although the plot has been discovered, the conspirators have not yet been
+all taken.  My son says, jokingly, "I have hold of the monster's head and
+tail, but I have not yet got his body."
+
+I can guess how it happened that the mercantile letters stated my son to
+have been arrested; it is because the conspirators intended to have done
+so, and two days later it would have taken place.  It must have been
+persons of this party, therefore, who wrote to England.
+
+When Schlieben was seized, he said, "If Monsieur the Regent does not take
+pity upon me, I am ruined."
+
+He was for a long time at the Spanish Court, where he was protected by
+the Princesse des Ursins.  He has some wit, can chatter well, and is an
+excellent spy for such a lady.  The persons who had arrested him took him
+to Paris by the diligence, without saying a word.  On reaching Paris the
+diligence was ordered to the Bastille; the poor travellers not knowing
+why, were in a great fright, and expected all to be locked up, but were
+not a little pleased at being set free.  Sandrazky is not very clever; he
+is a Silesian.  He married an Englishwoman, whose fortune he soon
+dissipated, for he is a great gambler.
+
+The Duchesse du Maine has fallen sick with rage, and that old Maintenon
+is said to be afflicted by the affair more than any other person.  It was
+by her fault that they fell into this scrape, for she put it into their
+heads that it was unjust they should not reign, and that the kingdom
+belonged as much to them as King Solomon's did to him.
+
+Madame d'Orleans weeps for her brother by day and night.
+
+They tried to arrest the Duc de Saint-Aignan at Pampeluna; but he
+effected his escape with his wife, and in disguise.
+
+When they carried away the Duc du Maine, he said, "I shall soon return,
+for my innocence will be speedily manifested; but I only speak for
+myself, my wife may not come back quite so soon."
+
+Madame d'Orleans cannot believe that her brother has been engaged in a
+conspiracy; she says it must have been his wife who acted in his name.
+The Princess, on the other hand, believes that her daughter is innocent,
+and that the Duc du Maine alone has carried on the plot.
+
+The factum is not badly drawn up.  Our priest can write well enough when
+he likes; he drew it up, and my son corrected it.
+
+The more the affair is examined, the more clearly does the guilt of the
+Duke and Duchess appear; for three days ago, Malezieux, who is in the
+Bastille, gave up his writing-desk.  The first thing that was found in it
+was a projet, which Malezieux had written at the Duchess's bedside, and
+which Cardinal de Polignac had corrected with his own hand.  Malezieux
+pretends that it is a Spanish letter, addressed to the Duchess, and that
+he had translated it for her, with the assistance of the Cardinal de
+Polignac; and yet the letters of Alberoni to the Prince de Cellamara
+refer so directly to this projet that it is easy to see that they spring
+from the same source.
+
+The Duchesse du Maine has made the Princess believe that the Duke (of
+Bourbon) was the cause of all this business, so that now he dare not
+appear before the latter, although he has always behaved with great
+respect and friendship towards her; while the Duc and Duchesse du Maine,
+on the contrary, have been engaged in a law-suit against her for five
+years.  It was not until after the Princess had inherited the property of
+Monsieur de Vendome, that this worthy couple insinuated themselves into
+her good graces.
+
+The Parliament is reconciled to my son, and has pronounced its decree,
+which is favourable to him, and which is another proof that the Duc du
+Maine had excited it against him.
+
+The Jesuits have probably been also against my son; for all those who
+have declared against the Constitution cannot be friendly to him; they
+have, however, kept so quiet that nothing can be brought against them.
+They are cunning old fellows.
+
+Madame d'Orleans begins to recover her spirits and to laugh again,
+particularly since I learn she has consulted the Premier President and
+other persons, to know whether, upon my son's death, she would become the
+Regent.  They told her that could not be, but that the office would fall
+upon the Duke.  This answer is said to have been very unpalatable to her.
+
+If my son would have paid a price high enough to the Cardinal de
+Polignac, he would have betrayed them all.  He is now consoling himself
+in his Abbey with translating Lucretius.
+
+The King of Spain's manifesto, instead of injuring my son, has been
+useful to him, because it was too violent and partial.  Alberoni must
+needs be a brutal and an intemperate person.  But how could a journeyman
+gardener know the language which ought to be addressed to crowned heads?
+Several thousand copies of this manifesto have been transmitted to Paris,
+addressed to all the persons in the Court, to all the Bishops, in short,
+to everybody; even to the Parliament, which has taken the affair up very
+properly, from Paris to Bordeaux, as the decree shows.  I thought it
+would have been better to burn this manifesto in the post-office instead
+of suffering it to be spread about; but my son said they should all be
+delivered, for the express purpose of discovering the feelings of the
+parties to whom they were addressed, and a register of them was kept at
+the post-office.  Those who were honest brought them of their own accord;
+the others kept them, and they are marked, without the public knowing
+anything about it.  The manifesto is the work of Malezieux and the
+Cardinal de Polignac.
+
+A pamphlet has been cried about the streets, entitled, "Un arret contre
+les poules d'Inde."  Upon looking at it, however, it seems to be a decree
+against the Jesuits, who had lost a cause respecting a priory, of which
+they had taken possession.  Everybody bought it except the partisans of
+the Constitution and of the Spanish faction.
+
+My son is more fond of his daughters, legitimate and illegitimate, than
+his son.
+
+The Duc and Duchesse du Maine rely upon nothing having been found in
+their writing; but Mademoiselle de Montauban and Malezieux have written.
+in their name; and is not what Pompadour has acknowledged voluntarily
+quite as satisfactory a proof as even their own writing?
+
+They have got the pieces of all the mischievous Spanish letters written
+by the same hand, and corrected by that of the Cardinal de Polignac, so
+that there can be no doubt of his having composed them.
+
+A manifesto, too, has been found in Malezieux's papers.  It is well
+written, but not improved by the translation.  Malezieux pretends that he
+only translated it before it was sent hence to Spain.
+
+Mademoiselle de Montauban and Mademoiselle de Launay, a person of some
+wit, who has kept up a correspondence with Fontenelle, and who was 'femme
+de chambre' to the Duchesse du Maine, have both been sent to the
+Bastille.
+
+The Duc du Maine now repents that he followed his wife's advice; but it
+seems that he only followed the worst part of it.
+
+The Duchesse d'Orleans has been for some days past persuading my son to
+go masked to a ball.  She says that his daughter, the Duchesse de Berri,
+and I, make him pass for a coward by preventing him from going to balls
+and running about the town by night as he used to do before; and that he
+ought not to manifest the least symptom of fear.  He replied that he knew
+he should give me great pain by doing so, and that the least he could do
+was to tranquillize my mind by living prudently.  She then said that the
+Duchesse de Berri filled me with unfounded fears in order that she might
+have more frequent opportunities of being with him, and of governing him
+entirely.  Can the Devil himself be worse than this bastard?  It teaches
+me, however, that my son is not secure with her.  I must do violence to
+myself that my suspicions may not be apparent.
+
+My son has not kept his word; he went to this ball, although he denies
+it.
+
+Although it is well known that Maintenon has had a hand in all these
+affairs, nothing can be said to her, for her name does not appear in any
+way.
+
+When my son is told of persons who hate him and who seek his life, he
+laughs and says, "They dare not; I am not so weak that I cannot defend
+myself."  This makes me very angry.
+
+If the proofs against Malezieux are not manifest, and if they do not put
+the rogue upon his trial, it will be because his crime is so closely
+connected with that of the Duchesse du Maine that, in order to convict
+him before the Parliament, he must be confronted with her.  Besides, as
+the Parliament is better disposed towards the Duc and Duchesse du Maine
+than to my son, they might be acquitted and taken out of his hands, which
+would make them worse than they are now.  For this reason it is that they
+are looking for proofs so clear that the Parliament cannot refuse to
+pronounce upon them.
+
+The Duc du Maine writes thus to his sister:
+
+"They ought not to have put me in prison; but they ought to have stripped
+me and put me into petticoats for having been thus led by my wife;" and
+he wrote to Madame de Langeron that he enjoyed perfect repose, for which
+he thanked God; that he was glad to be no longer exposed to the contempt
+of his family; and that his sons ought to be happy to be no longer with
+him.
+
+The King of Spain and Alberoni have a personal hatred against my son,
+which is the work of the Princesse des Ursins.
+
+My son is naturally brave, and fears nothing: death is not at all
+terrible to him.
+
+On the 29th of March the young Duc de Richelieu was taken to the
+Bastille: this caused a great number of tears to be shed, for he is
+universally loved.  He had kept up a correspondence with Alberoni, and
+had got his regiment placed at Bayonne, together with that of his friend,
+M. de Saillant, for the purpose of delivering the town to the Spaniards.
+He went on Wednesday last to the Marquis de Biron, and urged him to
+despatch him as promptly as possible to join his regiment at Bayonne, and
+so prove the zeal which attached him to my son.  His comrade, who passes
+for a coward and a sharper at play, has also been shut up in the
+Bastille.
+
+     [On the day that they were arrested, the Regent said he had that in
+     his pocket which would cut off four heads, if the Duke had so many.
+     --Memoires de Duclos.]
+
+The Duc de Richelieu had the portraits of his mistresses painted in all
+sorts of monastic habits: Mademoiselle de Charolais as a Recollette nun,
+and it is said to be very like her.  The Marechales de Villars and
+d'Estrees are, it is said, painted as Capuchin nuns.
+
+When the Duc de Richelieu was shown his letter to Alberoni, he confessed
+all that concerned himself, but would not disclose his accomplices.
+
+Nothing but billets-doux were found in his writing-case.  Alberoni in
+this affair trusted a man who had formerly been in his service, but who
+is now a spy of my son's.  He brought Alberoni's letter to the Regent;
+who opened it, read it, had a copy made, resealed it, and sent it on to
+its destination.  The young Duc de Richelieu answered it, but my son can
+make no use of this reply because the words in which it is written have a
+concealed sense.
+
+The Princess has strongly urged my son to permit the Duchesse du Maine to
+quit Dijon, under the pretext that the air was unwholesome for her.  My
+son consented upon condition that she should be conducted in her own
+carriage, but under the escort of the King's Guard, from Dijon to
+Chalons-sur-Saone.
+
+Here she thought she should enjoy comparative liberty, and that the town
+would be her prison: she was much astonished to find that she was as
+closely confined at Chalons as at Dijon.  When she asked the reason for
+this rigour she was told that all was discovered, and that the prisoners
+had disclosed the particulars of the conspiracy.  She was immediately
+struck with this; but recovering her self-possession, she said, "The Duc
+de Orleans thinks that I hate him; but if he would take my advice, I
+would counsel him better than any other person."  My son's wife remains
+very tranquil.
+
+On the 17th of April a rascal was brought in who was near surprising my
+son in the Bois de Boulogne a year ago.  He is a dismissed colonel; his
+name is La Jonquiere.  He had written to my son demanding enormous
+pensions and rewards; but meeting with a refusal, he went into Spain,
+where he promised Alberoni to carry off my son, and deliver him into his
+hands, dead or alive.  He brought one hundred men with him, whom he put
+in ambuscade near Paris.  He missed my son only by a quarter of an hour
+in the Bois de Boulogne, which the latter had passed through in his way
+to La Muette, where he went to dine with his daughter.  La Jonquiere
+having thus failed, retired in great vexation to the Low Countries, where
+he boasted that, although he had missed this once, he would take his
+measures so much better in future that people should soon hear of a great
+blow being struck.  This was luckily repeated to my son, who had him
+arrested at Liege.  He sent a clever fellow to him, who caught him, and
+leading him out of the house where they were, he clapped a pistol to his
+throat, and threatened to shoot him on the spot if he did not go with him
+and without speaking a word.  The rascal, overcome with terror, suffered
+himself to be taken to the boat, but when he saw that they were
+approaching the French territory he did not wish to go any further; he
+said he was ruined, and should be drawn and quartered.  They bound him
+and carried him to the Bastille.
+
+I have exhorted my son to take care of himself, and not to go out but in
+a carriage.  He has promised that he will not, but I cannot trust him.
+
+The late Monsieur was desirous that his son's wife should not be a
+coquette.  This was not the particular which I so much disapproved of;
+but I wished the husband not to be informed of it, or that it should get
+abroad, which would have had no other effect than that of convincing my
+son that his wife had dishonoured him.
+
+I must never talk to my son about the conspiracy in the presence of
+Madame d'Orleans; it would be wounding her in the tenderest place; for
+all that concerns her brother is to her the law and the prophets.
+
+My son has so satisfactorily disproved the accusations of that old
+Maintenon and the Duc du Maine, that the King has believed him, and,
+after a minute examination, has done my son justice.  But Madame
+d'Orleans has not conducted herself well in this affair; she has spread
+by means of her creatures many calumnies against my son, and has even
+said that he wanted to poison her.  By such means she has made her peace
+with old Maintenon, who could not endure her before.  I have often
+admired the patience with which my son suffers all this, when he knows it
+just as well as I do.  If things had remained as Madame de Maintenon had
+arranged them at the death of the King, my son would only have been
+nominally Regent, and the Duc du Maine would actually have enjoyed all
+the power.  She thought because my son was in the habit of running after
+women a little that he would be afraid of the labour, and that he would
+be contented with the title and a large pension, leaving her and the Duc
+du Maine to have their own way.  This was her plan, and she fancied that
+her calumnies had so far succeeded in making my son generally despised
+that no person would be found to espouse his cause.  But my son was not
+so unwise as to suffer all this; he pleaded his cause so well to the
+Parliament that the Government was entrusted to him, and yet the old
+woman did not relinquish her hopes until my son had the Duc du Maine
+arrested; then she fainted.
+
+The Pope's nuncio thrusts his nose into all the plots against my son; he
+may be a good priest, but he is nevertheless a wicked devil.
+
+On the 25th of April M. de Laval, the Duchesse de Roquelaure's brother,
+was arrested.
+
+M. de Pompadour has accused the Duc de Laval of acting in concert with
+the Prince de Cellamara, to whom, upon one occasion, he acted as
+coachman, and drove him to the Duchesse du Maine at the Arsenal.  This
+Comte de Laval is always sick and covered with wounds; he wears a plaster
+which reaches from ear to ear; he is lame, and often has his arm in a
+sling; nevertheless, he is full of intrigue, and is engaged night and day
+in writing against my son.
+
+Madame de Maintenon is said to have sent large sums of money into the
+provinces for the purpose of stirring up the people against my son; but,
+thank God, her plan has not succeeded.
+
+The old woman has spread about the report that my son poisoned all the
+members of the Royal Family who have died lately.  She hired one of the
+King's physicians first to spread this report.  If Marechal, the King's
+surgeon, who was present at the opening of the bodies, had not stated
+that there was no appearance of poison, and confirmed that statement to
+the King, this infamous creature would have plunged my innocent son into
+a most deplorable situation.
+
+Mademoiselle de Charolais says that the affair of Bayonne cannot be true,
+for that the Duc de Richelieu did not tell her of it, and he never
+concealed anything from her.  She says, too, that she will not see my
+son, for his having put the Duke into the Bastille.
+
+The Duke walks about on the top of the terrace at the Bastille, with his
+hair dressed, and in an embroidered coat.  All the ladies who pass stop
+their carriages to look at the pretty fellow.
+
+     [This young man, says Duclos, thought himself of some consequence
+     when he was made a State prisoner, and endured his confinement with
+     the same levity which he had always displayed in love, in business,
+     or in war.  The Regent was much amused with him, and suffered him to
+     have all he wanted-his valet de chambre, two footmen, music, cards,
+     etc.; so that, although he was deprived of his liberty, he might be
+     as licentious as ever.]
+
+Madame d'Orleans has been so little disposed to undertake her husband's
+defence in public, that she has pretended to believe the charges against
+him, although no person in the world knows better than she does that the
+whole is a lie.  She sent to her brothers for a counter-poison, so that
+my son should not take her off by those means; and thus she reconciled
+Maintenon, who was at enmity with her.  I learnt this story during the
+year, and I do not know whether my son is aware of it.  I would not say
+anything to him about it, for I did not wish to embroil man and wife.
+
+
+The Abbe Dubois--[Madame probably means the Duc du Maine]--seems to
+think that we do not know how many times he went by night to Madame de
+Maintenon's, to help this fine affair.
+
+My son has been dissuaded from issuing the manifesto.
+
+Madame d'Orleans has at length quite regained her husband; and, following
+her advice, he goes about by night in a coach.  On Wednesday night he set
+off for Anieres, where Parabere has a house.  He supped there, and,
+getting into his carriage again, after midnight, he put his foot into a
+hole and sprained it.
+
+I am very much afraid my son will be attacked by the small-pox.  He eats
+heavy suppers; he is short and fat, and just one of those persons whom
+the disease generally attacks.
+
+The Cardinal de Noailles has been pestering my son in favour of the Duc
+de Richelieu; and as it cannot be positively proved that he addressed the
+letter to Alberoni, they can do no more to him than banish him to
+Conflans, after six months' imprisonment.  Mademoiselle de Charolais
+procured some one to ask my son secretly by what means she could see the
+Duc de Richelieu, and speak with him, before he set off for Conflans.
+
+     [This must have been a joke of Mademoiselle de Charolais; for she
+     had already, together with Mademoiselle Valois, paid the Duke
+     several visits in the Bastille.  When the Duke was sent to Conflans
+     to the Cardinal de Noailles, he used to escape almost every night,
+     and come to see his mistresses.  It was this that determined the
+     Regent to send him to Saint-Germain en Laye; but, soon afterwards,
+     Mademoiselle de Valois obtained from her father a pardon for her
+     lover.---Memoirs de Richelieu, tome iii., p. 171]
+
+My son replied, "that she had better speak to the Cardinal de Noailles;
+for as he was to conduct the Duke to Conflans, and keep him in his own
+house, he would know better than any other person how he might be spoken
+with."  When she learnt that the Duke had arrived at Saint-Germain, she
+hastened thither immediately.
+
+I never doubted for a moment that my son's marriage was in every respect
+unfortunate; but my advice was not listened to.  If the union had been a
+good one, that old Maintenon would not have insisted on it.
+
+Nothing less than millions are talked of on all sides: my sun has made me
+also richer by adding 130,000 livres to my pension.
+
+By what we hear daily of the insurrection in Bretagne, it seems that my
+son's enemies are more inveterate against him than ever.  I do not know
+whether it is true, as has been said, that there was a conspiracy at
+Rochelle, and that the governor intended to give up the place to the
+Spaniards, but has fled; that ten officers were engaged in the plot, some
+of whom have been arrested, and the others have fled to Spain.
+
+I always took the Bishop of Soissons for an honest man.  I knew him when
+he was only an Abbe, and the Duchess of Burgundy's almoner; but the
+desire to obtain a Cardinal's hat drives most of the Bishops mad.  There
+is not one of them who does not believe that the more impertinently he
+behaves to my son about the Constitution, the more he will improve his
+credit with the Court of Rome, and the sooner become a Cardinal.
+
+My son, although he is Regent, never comes to see me, and never quits me,
+without kissing my hand before he embraces me; and he will not even take
+a chair if I hand it to him.  He is not, however, at all timid, but chats
+familiarly with me, and we laugh and talk together like good friends.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Regent and His Mother--166]
+
+
+While the Dauphin was alive La Chouin behaved very ill to my son; she
+embroiled him with the Dauphin, and would neither speak to nor see him;
+in short, she was constantly opposed to him.  And yet, when he learnt
+that she had fallen into poverty, he sent her money, and secured her a
+pension sufficient to live upon.
+
+My son gave me actions to the amount of two millions, which I distributed
+among my household.  The King also took several millions for his own,
+household; all the Royal Family have had them; all the enfans and petits
+enfans de France, and the Princes of the blood.
+
+[This may be stock the M. Law floated in the Mississippi Company.  D.W.]
+
+The old Court is doing its utmost to put people, out of conceit with
+Law's bank.
+
+I do not think that Lord Stair praises my son so much as he used to do,
+for they do not seem to be very good friends.  After having received all
+kinds of civilities from my son, who has made him richer than ever he
+expected to be in his life, he has turned his back upon him, caused him
+numerous little troubles, and annoys him so much that my son would gladly
+be rid of him.
+
+My son was obliged to make a speech at the Bank, which was applauded.
+
+
+                                   1720
+
+They have been obliged to adopt severe measures in Bretagne; four persons
+of quality have been beheaded. One of them, who might have escaped by
+flying to Spain, would not go.  When he was asked why, he said it had
+been predicted that he should die by sea (de la mer).  Just before he was
+executed he asked the headsman what his name was.
+
+"My name is Sea (La Mer)," replied the man.
+
+"Then," said the nobleman, "I am undone."
+
+All Paris has been mourning at the cursed decree which Law has persuaded
+my son to make.  I have received anonymous letters, stating that I have
+nothing to fear on my own account, but that my son shall be pursued with
+fire and sword; that the plan is laid and the affair determined on.  From
+another quarter I have learnt that knives are sharpening for my son's
+assassination.  The most dreadful news is daily reaching me.  Nothing
+could appease the discontent until, the Parliament having assembled, two
+of its members were deputed to wait upon my son, who received them
+graciously, and, following their advice, annulled the decree, and so
+restored things to their former condition.  This proceeding has not only
+quieted all Paris, but has reconciled my son (thank God) to the
+Parliament.
+
+My son wished by sending an embassy to give a public proof how much he
+wished for a reconciliation between the members of the Royal Family of
+England, but it was declined.
+
+The goldsmiths will work no longer, for they charge their goods at three
+times more than they are worth, on account of the bank-notes.  I have
+often wished those bank-notes were in the depths of the infernal regions;
+they have given my son much more trouble than relief.  I know not how
+many inconveniences they have caused him.  Nobody in France has a penny;
+but, saving your presence, and to speak in plain palatine, there is
+plenty of paper.
+
+                    ..........................
+
+
+It is singular enough that my son should only become so firmly attached
+to his black Parabere, when she had preferred another and had formally
+dismissed him.
+
+Excepting the affair with Parabere, my son lives upon very good terms
+with his wife, who for her part cares very little about it; nothing is so
+near to her heart as her brother, the Duc du Maine.  In a recent quarrel
+which she had with my son on this subject, she said she would retire to
+Rambouillet or Montmartre.  "Wherever you please," he replied; "or
+wherever you think you will be most comfortable."  This vexed her so mach
+that she wept day and night about it.
+
+On the 17th of June, while I was at the Carmelites, Madame de
+Chateau-Thiers came to see me, and said to me, "M. de Simiane is come
+from the Palais Royal; and he thinks it fit you should know that on your
+return you will find all the courts filled with the people who, although
+they do not say anything, will not disperse.  At six o'clock this
+morning they brought in three dead bodies which M. Le Blanc has had
+removed.  M. Law has taken refuge in the Palais Royal: they have done
+him no harm; but his coach man was stoned as he returned, and the
+carriage broken to pieces. It was the coachman's fault, who told them
+'they were a rabble, and ought to be hanged.'" I saw at once that it
+would not do to seem to be intimidated, so I ordered the coach to be
+driven to the Palais Royal. There was such a press of carriages that I
+was obliged to wait a full hour before I reached the rue Saint-Honore;
+then I heard the people talking: they did not say anything against my
+son; they gave me several benedictions, and demanded that Law should be
+hanged.  When I reached the Palais Royal all was calm again.  My son
+came to me, and in the midst of my anxiety he was perfectly tranquil,
+and even made me laugh.
+
+M. Le Blanc went with great boldness into the midst of the irritated
+populace and harangued them.  He had the bodies of the men who had been
+crushed to death in the crowd brought away, and succeeded in quieting
+them.
+
+My son is incapable of being serious and acting like a father with his
+children; he lives with them more like a brother than a father.
+
+The Parliament not only opposed the edict, and would not allow it to
+pass, but also refused to give any opinion, and rejected the affair
+altogether.  For this reason my son had a company of the footguard placed
+on Sunday morning at the entrance of the palace to prevent their
+assembling; and, at the same time, he addressed a letter to the
+Premier-President, and to the Parliament a 'lettre-de-cachet', ordering
+them to repair to Pontoise to hold their sittings.  The next day, when
+the musketeers had relieved the guards, the young fellows, not knowing
+what to do to amuse themselves, resolved to play at a parliament.  They
+elected a chief and other presidents, the King's ministers, and the
+advocates.  These things being settled, and having received a sausage
+and a pie for breakfast, they pronounced a sentence, in which they
+condemned the sausage to be cooked and the pie to be cut up.
+
+All these things make me tremble for my son.  I receive frequently
+anonymous letters full of dreadful menaces against him, assuring me that
+two hundred bottles of wine have been poisoned for him, and, if this
+should fail, that they will make use of a new artificial fire to burn him
+alive in the Palais Royal.
+
+It is too true that Madame d'Orleans loves her brother better than her
+husband.
+
+The Duc du Maine says that if, by his assistance, the King should obtain
+the direction of his own affairs, he would govern him entirely, and would
+be more a monarch than the King, and that after my son's death he would
+reign with his sister.
+
+A week ago I received letters in which they threatened to burn my son at
+the Palais Royal and me at Saint Cloud.  Lampoons are circulated in
+Paris.
+
+My son has already slept several times at the Tuileries, but I fear that
+the King will not be able to accustom himself to his ways, for my son
+could never in his life play with children: he does not like them.
+
+He was once beloved, but since the arrival of that cursed Law he is hated
+more and more.  Not a week passes without my receiving by the post
+letters filled with frightful threats, in which my son is spoken of as a
+bad man and a tyrant.
+
+I have just now received a letter in which he is threatened with poison.
+When I showed it to him he did nothing but laugh, and said the Persian
+poison could not be given to him, and that all that was said about it was
+a fable.
+
+To-morrow the Parliament will return to Paris, which will delight the
+Parisians as much as the departure of Law.
+
+That old Maintenon has sent the Duc du Maine about to tell the members of
+the Royal Family that my son poisoned the Dauphin, the Dauphine, and the
+Duc de Berri.  The old woman has even done more she has hinted to the
+Duchess that she is not secure in her husband's house, and that she
+should ask her brother for a counter-poison, as she herself was obliged
+to do during the latter days of the King's life.
+
+The old woman lives very retired.  No one can say that any imprudent
+expressions have escaped her.  This makes me believe that she has some
+plan in her head, but I cannot guess what it is.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XI.--THE DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS, WIFE OF THE REGENT.
+
+If, by shedding my own blood, I could have prevented my son's marriage,
+I would willingly have done so; but since the thing was done, I have had
+no other wish than to preserve harmony.  Monsieur behaved to her with
+great attention during the first month, but as soon as he suspected that
+she looked with too favourable an eye upon the Chevalier du Roye,
+
+     [Bartholemi de La Rochefoucauld, at first Chevalier de Roye, but
+     afterwards better known by the title of Marquis de La Rochefoucauld.
+     He was Captain of the Duchesse de Berri's Body-Guards, and he died
+     in 1721.]
+
+he hated her as the Devil.  To prevent an explosion, I was obliged daily
+to represent to him that he would dishonour himself, as well as his son,
+by exposing her conduct, and would infallibly bring upon himself the
+King's displeasure.  As no person had been less favourable to this
+marriage than I, he could not suspect but that I was moved, not from any
+love for my daughter-in-law, but from the wish to avoid scandal and out
+of affection to my son and the whole family.  While all eclat was
+avoided, the public were at least in doubt about the matter; by an
+opposite proceeding their suspicions would have been confirmed.
+
+Madame d'Orleans looks older than she is; for she paints beyond all
+measure, so that she is often quite red.  We frequently joke her on this
+subject, and she even laughs at it herself.  Her nose and cheeks are
+somewhat pendant, and her head shakes like an old woman: this is in
+consequence of the small-pox.  She is often ill, and always has a
+fictitious malady in reserve.  She has a true and a false spleen;
+whenever she complains, my son and I frequently rally her about it.
+I believe that all the indispositions and weaknesses she has proceed from
+her always lying in bed or on a sofa; she eats and drinks reclining,
+through mere idleness; she has not worn stays since the King's death;
+she never could bring herself to eat with the late King, her own father,
+still less would she with me.  It would then be necessary for her to sit
+upon a stool, and she likes better to loll upon a sofa or sit in an
+arm-chair at a small table with her favourite, the Duchess of Sforza.  She
+admits her son, and sometimes Mademoiselle d'Orleans.  She is so indolent
+that she will not stir; she would like larks ready roasted to drop into
+her mouth; she eats and walks slowly, but eats enormously.  It is
+impossible to be more idle than she is: she admits this herself; but she
+does not attempt to correct it: she goes to bed early that she may lie
+the longer.  She never reads herself, but when she has the spleen she
+makes her women read her to sleep.  Her complexion is good, but less so
+than her second daughter's.  She walks a little on one side, which Madame
+de Ratzenhausen calls walking by ear.  She does not think that there is
+her equal in the world for beauty, wit, and perfection of all kinds.  I
+always compare her to Narcissus, who died of self-admiration.  She is so
+vain as to think she has more sense than her husband, who has a great
+deal; while her notions are not in the slightest degree elevated.  She
+lives much in the femme-de-chambre style; and, indeed, loves this society
+better than that of persons of birth.  The ladies are often a week
+together without seeing her; for without being summoned they cannot
+approach her.  She does not know how to live as the wife of a prince
+should, having been educated like the daughter of a citizen.  A long time
+had elapsed before she and her younger brother were legitimated by the
+King; I do not know for what reason.
+
+
+     [This legitimation presented great difficulties during the life of
+     the Marquis de Montespan.  M. Achille de Harlai, Procureur-General
+     du Parliament, helped to remove them by having the Chevalier de
+     Longueville, son of the Duke of that name and of the Marechale de la
+     Feste, recognized without naming his mother.  This once done, the
+     children of the King and of Madame de Montespan were legitimated in
+     the same manner.]
+
+When they arrived at Court their conversation was exactly like that of
+the common people.
+
+In my opinion my son's wife has no charms at all; her physiognomy does
+not please me.  I don't know whether my son loves her much, but I know
+she does what she pleases with him.  The populace and the femmes de
+chambre are fond of her; but she is not liked elsewhere.  She often goes
+to the Salut at the Quinze Vingts; and her women are ordered to say that.
+she is a saint, who suffers my son to be surrounded by mistresses without
+complaining.  This secures the pity of the populace and makes her pass
+for one of the best of wives, while, in fact; she is, like her elder
+brother, full of artifice.
+
+She is very superstitious.  Some years ago a nun of Fontevrault, called
+Madame de Boitar, died.  Whenever Madame d'Orleans loses anything she
+promises to this nun prayers for the redemption of her soul from
+purgatory, and then does not doubt that she shall find what she has lost.
+She piques herself upon being extremely pious; but does not consider
+lying and deceit are the works of the Devil and not of God.  Ambition,
+pride and selfishness have entirely spoilt her.  I fear she will not make
+a good end.  That I may live in peace I seem to shut my eyes to these
+things.  My son often, in allusion to her pride, calls her Madame
+Lucifer.  She is not backward in believing everything complimentary that
+is said to her.  Montespan, old Maintenon, and all the femmes de chambre
+have made her believe that she did my son honour in marrying him; and she
+is so vain of her own birth and that of her brothers and sisters that she
+will not hear a word said against them; she will not see any difference
+between legitimate and illegitimate children.
+
+She wishes to reign; but she knows nothing of true grandeur, having been
+educated in too low a manner.  She might live well as a simple duchess;
+but not as one of the Royal Family of France.  It is too true that she
+has always been ambitious of possessing, not my son's heart, but his
+power; she is always in fear lest some one else should govern him.  Her
+establishment is well regulated; my son has always let her be mistress in
+this particular.  As to her children, I let them go on in their own way;
+they were brought here without my consent, and it is for others to take
+care of them.  Sometimes she displays more affection for her brother than
+even for her children.  An ambitious woman as she is, having it put into
+her head by her brother that she ought to be the Regent, can love none
+but him.  She would like to see him Regent better than her husband,
+because he has persuaded her that she shall reign with him; she believes
+it firmly, although every one else knows that his own wife is too
+ambitious to permit any one but herself to reign.  Besides her ambition
+she has a great deal of ill-temper.  She will never pardon either the nun
+of Chelles or Mademoiselle de Valois, because they did not like her
+nephew with the long lips.  Her anger is extremely bitter, and she will
+never forgive.  She loves only her relations on the maternal side.
+Madame de Sforza, her favourite, is the daughter of Madame de Thianges,
+Madame de Montespan's sister, and therefore a cousin of Madame d'Orleans,
+who hates her sister and her nephew worse than the Devil.
+
+I could forgive her all if she were not so treacherous.  She flatters me
+when I am present, but behind my back she does all in her power to set
+the Duchesse de Berri against me; she tells her not to believe that I
+love her, but that I wish to have her sister with me.  Madame d'Orleans
+believes that her daughter, Madame de Berri, loves her less than her
+father.  It is true that the daughter has not a very warm attachment to
+her mother, but she does her duty to her; and yet the more they are full
+of mutual civilities the more they quarrel.  On the 4th of October, 1718,
+Madame de Berri having invited her father to go and sleep at La Muette,
+to see the vintage feast and dance which were to be held on the next day.
+Madame d'Orleans wrote to Madame de Berri, and asked her if she thought
+it consistent with the piety of the Carmelites that she should ask her
+father to sleep in her house.  Madame de Berri replied that it had never
+been thought otherwise than pious that a parent should sleep in his
+daughter's house.  The mother did this only to annoy her husband and
+daughter, and when she chooses she has a very cutting way.  It may be
+imagined how this letter was received by the father and daughter.  I
+arrived at La Muette just as it had come.  My son dare not complain to
+me, for as often as he does, I say to him, "George Dandin, you would have
+it so:"--[Moliere]--he therefore only laughed and said nothing.  I did
+not wish to add to the bitterness which this had occasioned, for that
+would have been to blow a fire already too hot; I confined myself,
+therefore, to observing that when she wrote it she probably had the
+spleen.
+
+She is not very fond of her children, and, as I think, she carries her
+indifference too far; for the children see she does not love them, and
+this makes them fond of being with me.  This angers the mother, and she
+reproaches them for it, which only makes them like her less.
+
+Although she loves her son, she does not in general care so much for her
+children as for her brothers, and all who belong to the House of
+Mortemart.
+
+I was the unintentional cause of making a quarrel between her and the nun
+of Chelles.  At the commencement of the affair of the Duc du Maine, I
+received a letter from my daughter addressed to Madame d'Orleans; and not
+thinking that it was for the Abbess, who bears the same title with her
+mother, I sent it to the latter.  This letter happened, unluckily, to be
+an answer to one of our Nun's, in which she had very plainly said what
+she thought of the Duc and Duchesse du Maine, and ended by pitying her
+father for being the Duke's brother-in-law, and for having contracted an
+alliance so absurd and injurious.  It may be guessed whether my
+daughter's answer was palatable to my daughter-in-law.  I am very sorry
+that I made the mistake; but what right had she to read a letter which
+was not meant for her?
+
+The new Abbess of Chelles has had a great difference with her mother,
+who says she will never forgive her for having agreed with her father to
+embrace the religious profession without her knowledge.  The daughter
+said that, as her mother had always taken the side of the former Abbess
+against her, she had not confided this secret to her, from a conviction
+that she would oppose it to please the Abbess.  This threw the mother
+into a paroxysm of grief.  She said she was very unhappy both in her
+husband and her children; that her husband was the most unjust person in
+the world, for that he kept her brother-in-law in prison, who was one of
+the best and most pious of men--in short, a perfect saint; and that God
+would punish such wickedness.  The daughter replied it was respect for
+her mother that kept her silent; and the latter became quite furious.
+This shows that she hates us like the very Devil, and that she loves none
+but her lame brother, and those who love him or are nearly connected with
+him.
+
+She thinks there never was so perfect a being in the world as her mother.
+She cannot quite persuade herself that she was ever Queen, because she
+knew the Queen too well, who always called her daughter, and treated her
+better than her sisters; I cannot tell why, because she was not the most
+amiable of them.
+
+It is quite true that there is little sympathy between my son's wife and
+me; but we live together as politely as possible.  Her singular conduct
+shall never prevent me from keeping that promise which I made to the late
+King in his last moments.  He gave some good Christian exhortations to
+Madame d'Orleans; but, as the proverb says, it is useless to preach to
+those who have no heart to act.
+
+In the spring of this year (1718) her brothers and relations said that
+but for the antidotes which had been administered to Madame d'Orleans,
+without the knowledge of me or my son, she must have perished.
+
+I had resolved not to interfere with anything respecting this affair; but
+had the satisfaction of speaking my mind a little to Madame du Maine.
+I said to her: "Niece" (by which appellation I always addressed her),
+"I beg you will let me know who told you that Madame d'Orleans had taken
+a counterpoison unknown to us.  It is the greatest falsehood that ever
+was uttered, and you may say so from me to whoever told it you."
+
+She looked red, and said, "I never said it was so."
+
+"I am very glad of it, niece," I replied; "for it would be very
+disgraceful to you to have said so, and you ought not to allow people to
+bring you such tales."  When she heard this she went off very quickly.
+
+Madame d'Orleans is a little inconstant in her friendship.  She is very
+fond of jewels, and once wept for four-and-twenty hours because my son
+gave a pair of beautiful pendants to Madame de Berri.
+
+My son has this year (1719) increased his wife's income by 160,000
+livres, the arrears of which have been paid to her from 1716, so that she
+received at once the sum of 480,000 livres.  I do not envy her this
+money, but I cannot bear the idea that she is thus paid for her
+infidelity.  One must, however, be silent.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XII.--MARIE-ANNE CHRISTINE VICTOIRE OF BAVARIA, THE FIRST DAUPHINE.
+
+She was ugly, but her extreme politeness made her very agreeable.  She
+loved the Dauphin more like a son than a husband.  Although he loved her
+very well, he wished to live with her in an unceremonious manner, and she
+agreed to it to please him.  I used often to laugh at her superstitious
+devotion, and undeceived her upon many of her strange opinions.  She
+spoke Italian very well, but her German was that of the peasants of the
+country.  At first, when she and Bessola were talking together, I could
+not understand a word.
+
+She always manifested the greatest friendship and confidence in me to the
+end of her days.  She was not haughty, but as it had become the custom to
+blame everything she did, she was somewhat disdainful.  She had a
+favourite called Bessola--a false creature, who had sold her to
+Maintenon.  But for the infatuated liking she had for this woman, the
+Dauphine would have been much happier.  Through her, however, she was
+made one of the most wretched women in the world.
+
+This Bessola could not bear that the Dauphine should speak to any person
+but herself: she was mercenary and jealous, and feared that the
+friendship of the Dauphine for any one else would discredit her with
+Maintenon, and that her mistress's liberality to others would diminish
+that which she hoped to experience herself.  I told this person the truth
+once, as she deserved to be told, in the presence of the Dauphine; from
+which period she has neither done nor said anything troublesome to me.
+I told the Dauphine in plain German that it was a shame that she should
+submit to be governed by Bessola to such a degree that she could not
+speak to whom she chose.  I said this was not friendship, but a slavery,
+which was the derision of the Court.
+
+Instead of being vexed at this, she laughed, and said, "Has not everybody
+some weakness?  Bessola is mine."
+
+This wench often put me in an ill-humour: at last I lost all patience,
+and could no longer restrain myself.  I would often have told her what I
+thought, but that I saw it would really distress the poor Dauphine: I
+therefore restrained myself, and said to her, "Out of complaisance to
+you, I will be silent; but give such orders that Bessola may not again
+rouse me, otherwise I cannot promise but that I may say something she
+will not like."
+
+The Dauphine thanked me affectionately, and thus more than ever engaged
+my silence.
+
+When the Dauphine arrived from Bavaria, the fine Court of France was on
+the decline: it was at the commencement of Maintenon's reign, which
+spoilt and degraded everything.  It was not, therefore, surprising that
+the poor Dauphine should regret her own country.  Maintenon annoyed her
+immediately after her marriage in such a manner as must have excited
+pity.  The Dauphine had made her own marriage; she had hoped to be
+uncontrolled, and to become her own mistress; but she was placed in that
+Maintenon's hands, who wanted to govern her like a child of seven years
+old, although she was nineteen.  That old Maintenon, piqued at the
+Dauphine for wishing to hold a Court, as she should have done, turned the
+King against her.  Bessola finished this work by betraying and selling
+her; and thus was the Dauphine's misery accomplished!  By selecting me
+for her friend, she filled up the cup of Maintenon's hatred, who was
+paying Bessola; because she knew she was jealous of me, and that I had
+advised the Dauphine not to keep her, for I was quite aware that she had
+secret interviews with Maintenon.
+
+That lady had also another creature in the Dauphine's household: this was
+Madame de Montchevreuil, the gouvernante of the Dauphine's filles
+d'honneur.  Madame de Maintenon had engaged her to place the Dauphin upon
+good terms with the filles d'honneur, and she finished by estranging him
+altogether from his wife.  During her pregnancy, which, as well as her
+lying-in, was extremely painful, the Dauphine could not go out; and this
+Montchevreuil took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded her to
+introduce the filles d'honneur to the Dauphin to hunt and game with him.
+He became fond, in his way, of the sister of La Force, who was afterwards
+compelled to marry young Du Roure.  The attachment continued,
+notwithstanding this marriage; and she procured the Dauphin's written
+promise to marry her in case of the death of the Dauphine and her
+husband.  I do not know how the late King became acquainted with this
+fact; but it is certain that he was seriously angered at it, and that he
+banished Du Roure to Gascony, his native country.  The Dauphin had an
+affair of gallantry with another of his wife's filles d'honneur called
+Rambures.  He did not affect any dissimulation with his wife; a great
+uproar ensued; and that wicked Bessola, following the directions of old
+Maintenon, who planned everything, detached the Dauphin from his wife
+more and more.  The latter was not very fond of him; but what displeased
+her in his amours was that they exposed her to be openly and constantly
+ridiculed and insulted.  Montchevreuil made her pay attention to all that
+passed, and Bessola kept up her anger against her husband.
+
+Maintenon had caused it to be reported among the people by her agents
+that the Dauphine hated France, and that she urged the imposition of new
+taxes.
+
+The Dauphine was so ill-treated in her accouchement of the Duc de Berri
+that she became quite deformed, although previous to this her figure had
+been remarkably good.  On the evening before she died, as the little Duke
+was sitting on her bed, she said to him, "My dear Berri, I love you very
+much, but I have paid dearly for you."  The Dauphin was not grieved at
+her death; old Montchevreuil had told him so many lies of his wife that
+he could not love her.  That old Maintenon hoped, when this event
+happened, that she should be able to govern the Duke by means of his
+mistresses, which could not have been if he had continued to be attached
+to his wife.  This old woman had conceived so violent a hatred against
+the poor Princess, that I do believe she prevailed on Clement, the
+accoucheur, to treat her ill in her confinement; and what confirms me in
+this is that she almost killed her by visiting her at that time in
+perfumed gloves.  She said it was I who wore them, which was untrue.
+I would not swear that the Dauphine did not love Bessola better than her
+husband; she deserved no such attachment.  I often apprised her mistress
+of her perfidy, but she would not believe me.
+
+The Dauphine used to say, "We are two unhappy persons, but there is this
+difference between us: you endeavoured, as much as you could, to avoid
+coming here; while I resolved to do so at all events.  I have therefore
+deserved my misery more than you."
+
+They wanted to make her pass for crazy, because she was always
+complaining.  Some hours before her death she said to me, "I shall
+convince them to-day that I was not mad in complaining of my sufferings."
+She died calmly and easily; but she was as much put to death as if she
+had been killed by a pistol-shot.
+
+When her funeral service was performed I carried the taper (nota bene)
+and some pieces of gold to the Bishop who performed the grand mass, and
+who was sitting in an arm-chair near the altar.  The prelate intended to
+have given them to his assistants, the priests of the King's chapel; but
+the monks of Saint Denis ran to him with great eagerness, exclaiming that
+the taper and the gold belonged to them.  They threw themselves upon the
+Bishop, whose chair began to totter, and made his mitre fall from his
+head.  If I had stayed there a moment longer the Bishop, with all the
+monks, would have fallen upon me.  I descended the four steps of the
+altar in great haste, for I was nimble enough at that time, and looked on
+the battle at a distance, which appeared so comical that I could not but
+laugh, and everybody present did the same.
+
+That wicked Bessola, who had tormented the Dauphine day and night, and
+had made her distrust every one who approached her, and thus separated
+her from all the world, returned home a year after her mistress's death.
+Before her departure she played another trick by having a box made with a
+double bottom, in which she concealed jewels and ready money to the
+amount of 100,000 francs; and all this time she went about weeping and
+complaining that, after so many years of faithful service, she was
+dismissed as poor as a beggar.  She did not know that her contrivance had
+been discovered at the Customhouse and that the King had been apprised of
+it.  He ordered her to be sent for, showed her the things which she had
+prepared to carry away, and said he thought she had little reason to
+complain of the Dauphine's parsimony.  It may be imagined how foolish she
+looked.  The King added that, although he might withhold them from her,
+yet to show her that she had done wrong in acting clandestinely, and in
+complaining as she had done, he chose to restore her the whole.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XIII.--ADELAIDE OF SAVOY, THE SECOND DAUPHINE.
+
+The Queen of Spain stayed longer with her mother than our Dauphine, and
+therefore was better educated.  Maintenon, who understood nothing about
+education, permitted her to do whatever she pleased, that she might gain
+her affections and keep her to herself.  This young lady had been well
+brought up by her virtuous mother; she was genteel and humorous, and
+could joke very pleasantly: when she had a colour she did not look ugly.
+No one can imagine what mad-headed people were about this Princess, and
+among the number was the Marechale d'Estrees.  Maintenon was very
+properly recompensed for having given her these companions; for the
+consequence was that the Dauphine no longer liked her society.  Maintenon
+was very desirous to know the reason of this, and teased the Princess to
+tell her.  At length she did; and said that the Marechale d'Estrees was
+continually asking her, "What are you always doing with that old woman?
+Why do you not associate with folks who would amuse you more than that
+old skeleton?"  and that she said many other uncivil things of her.
+Maintenon told me this herself, since the death of the Dauphine, to prove
+that it was only the Marechale's fault that the Dauphine had been on such
+bad terms with me.  This may be partly true; but it is no less certain
+that Maintenon had strongly prepossessed her against me.  Almost all the
+foolish people who were about her were relations or friends of the old
+woman; and it was by her order that they endeavoured to amuse her and
+employ her, so that she might want no other society.
+
+The young Dauphine was full of pantomime tricks.  * * * * She was fond,
+too, of collecting a quantity of young persons about her for the King's
+amusement, who liked to see their sports; they, however, took care never
+to display any but innocent diversions before him: he did not learn the
+rest until after her death.  The Dauphine used to call old Maintenon her
+aunt, but only in jest; the fines d'honneur called her their gouvernante,
+and the Marechale de La Mothe, mamma; if the Dauphine had also called
+the old woman her mamma, it would have been regarded as a declaration of
+the King's marriage; for this reason she only called her aunt.
+
+It is not surprising that the Dauphine, even when she was Duchess of
+Burgundy, should have been a coquette.  One of Maintenon's maxims was
+that there was no harm in coquetry, but that a grande passion only was a
+sin.  In the second place, she never took care that the Duchess of
+Burgundy behaved conformably to her rank; she was often left quite alone
+in her chateau with the exception of her people; she was permitted to run
+about arm-in-arm with one of her young ladies, without esquires, or dames
+d'honneur or d'atour.  At Marly and Versailles she was obliged to go to
+chapel on foot and without her stays, and seat herself near the femmes de
+chambre.  At Madame de Maintenon's there was no observance of ranks;
+every one sat down there promiscuously; she did this for the purpose of
+avoiding all discussion respecting her own rank.  At Marly the Dauphine
+used to run about the garden at night with the young people until two or
+three o'clock in the morning.  The King knew nothing of these nocturnal
+sports.  Maintenon had forbidden the Duchesse de Lude to tease the
+Duchess of Burgundy, or to put her out of temper, because then she would
+not be able to divert the King.  Maintenon had threatened, too, with her
+eternal vengeance whoever should be bold enough to complain of the
+Dauphine to the King.  It was for this reason that no one dared tell the
+King what the whole Court and even strangers were perfectly well
+acquainted with.  The Dauphine liked to be dragged along the ground by
+valets, who held her feet.  These servants were in the habit of saying to
+each other, "Come, shall we go and play with the Duchess of Burgundy?"
+for so she was at this time.  She was dreadfully nasty,
+
+                    .............................
+
+She made the Dauphin believe whatever she chose, and he was so fond of
+her that one of her glances would throw him into an ecstacy and make him
+forget everything.  When the King intended to scold her she would put on
+an air of such deep dejection that he was obliged to console her instead;
+the aunt, too, used to affect similar sorrow, so that the King had enough
+to do with consoling them both.  Then, for quietness' sake, he used to
+lean upon the old aunt, and think nothing more about the matter.
+
+The Dauphine never cared for the Duc de Richelieu, although he boasted of
+the contrary, and was sent to the Bastille for it.  She was a coquette,
+and chatted with all the young men; but if she loved any of them it was
+Nangis, who commanded the King's regiment.  She had commanded him to
+pretend to be in love with little La Vrilliere, who, though not so pretty
+nor with so good a presence as the Dauphine, had a better figure and was
+a great coquette.  This badinage, it is said, afterwards became reality.
+The good Dauphin was like the husbands of all frail wives, the last to
+perceive it.  The Duke of Burgundy never imagined that his wife thought
+of Nangis, although it was visible to all the world besides that she did.
+As he was very much attached to Nangis, he believed firmly that his wife
+only behaved civilly to him on his account; and he was besides convinced
+that his favourite had at the same time an affair of gallantry with
+Madame la Vrilliere.
+
+The Dauphin had good sense, but he suffered his wife to govern him; he
+loved only such persons as she loved, and he hated all who were
+disagreeable to her.  It was for this reason that Nangia enjoyed so much
+of his favour, that he, with all his sense, became so perfectly
+ridiculous.
+
+The Dauphine of Burgundy was the person whom the King loved above all
+others, and whom Maintenon had taught to do whatever was agreeable to
+him.  Her natural wit made her soon learn and practise everything.  The
+King was inconsolable for her death; and when La Maintenon saw that all
+she could say had no effect upon his grief, it is said that she told the
+King all that she had before concealed with respect to the Dauphine's
+life, and by this means dissipated his great affliction.
+
+     [This young lady, so fascinating and so dear to the King, betrayed,
+     nevertheless, the secrets of the State by informing her father, then
+     Duke of Savoy, and our enemy, of all the military projects which she
+     found means to read.  The King had the proofs of this by the letters
+     which were found in the Princess's writing case after her death.
+     "That little slut," said he to Madame Maintenon, "has deceived us."
+     Memoires de Duclos, tome i.]
+
+Three years before her death, however, the Dauphine changed greatly for
+the better; she played no more foolish tricks, and left off drinking to
+excess.  Instead of that untameable manner which she had before, she
+became polite and sensible, kept up her dignity, and did not permit the
+younger ladies to be too familiar with her, by dipping their fingers into
+her dish, rolling upon the bed, and other similar elegancies.  She used
+to converse with people, and could talk very well.  It was the marriage
+of Madame de Berri that effected this surprising change in the Dauphine.
+Seeing that young lady did not make herself beloved, and began things in
+the wrong way, she was desirous to make herself more liked and esteemed
+than she was.  She therefore changed her behaviour entirely; she became
+reserved and reasonable, and, having sense enough to discover her
+defects, she set about correcting them, in which she succeeded so as to
+excite general surprise.  Thus she continued until her death, and often
+expressed regret that she had led so irregular a life.  She used to
+excuse herself by saying it was mere childishness, and that she had
+little to thank those young ladies for who had given her such bad advice
+and set her such bad examples.  She publicly manifested her contempt for
+them, and prevailed on the King not to invite them to Marly in future.
+By this conduct she gained everybody's affection.
+
+She was delicate and of rather a weak constitution.  Dr. Chirac said in
+her last illness that she would recover; and so she probably would have
+done if they had not permitted her to get up when the measles had broken
+out upon her, and she was in a copious perspiration.  Had they not
+blooded her in the foot she might have been alive now (1716).
+Immediately after the bleeding, her skin, before as red as fire, changed
+to the paleness of death, and she became very ill.  When they were
+lifting her out of bed I told them it was better to let the perspiration
+subside before they blooded her.  Chirac and Fagon, however, were
+obstinate and laughed at me.
+
+Old Maintenon said to me angrily, "Do you think you know better than all
+these medical men?"
+
+"No, Madame," I replied; "and one need not know much to be sure that the
+inclination of nature ought to be followed; and since that has displayed
+itself it would be better to let it have way, than to make a sick person
+get up in the midst of a perspiration to be blooded."
+
+She shrugged up her shoulders ironically.  I went to the other side and
+said nothing.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XIV.--THE FIRST DAUPHIN.
+
+All that was good in the first Dauphin came from his preceptor; all that
+was bad from himself.  He never either loved or hated any one much, and
+yet he was very wicked.  His greatest pleasure was to do something to vex
+a person; and immediately afterwards, if he could do something very
+pleasing to the same person, he would set about it with great
+willingness.  In every respect he was of the strangest temper possible:
+when one thought he was good-humoured, he was angry; and when one
+supposed him to be ill-humoured, he was in an amiable mood.  No one could
+ever guess him rightly, and I do not believe that his like ever was or
+ever will be born.  It cannot be said that he had much wit; but still
+less was he a fool.  Nobody was ever more prompt to seize the ridiculous
+points of anything in himself or in others; he told stories agreeably;
+he was a keen observer, and dreaded nothing so much as to be one day
+King: not so much from affection for his father, as from a dread of the
+trouble of reigning, for he was so extremely idle that he neglected all
+things; and he would have preferred his ease to all the kingdoms and
+empires of the earth.  He could remain for a whole day, sitting on a sofa
+or in an arm-chair, beating his cane against his shoes, without saying a
+word; he never gave an opinion upon any subject; but when once, in the
+course of the year, he did speak, he could express himself in terms
+sufficiently noble.  Sometimes when he spoke one would say he was
+stupidity itself; at another time he would deliver himself with
+astonishing sense.  At one time you would think he was the best Prince in
+the world; at another he would do all he could to give people pain.
+Nobody seemed to be so ill with him but he would take the trouble of
+making them laugh at the expense of those most dear to him.  His maxim
+was, never to seem to like one man in the Court better than another.
+He had a perfect horror of favourites, and yet he sought favour himself
+as much as the commonest courtier could do.  He did not pride himself
+upon his politeness, and was enraged when any one penetrated his
+intentions.  As I had known him from his infancy I could sometimes guess
+his meaning, which angered him excessively.  He was not very fond of
+being treated respectfully; he liked better not to be put to any trouble.
+He was rather partial than just, as may be shown by the regulations he
+made as to the rank of my son's daughter.  He never liked or hated any
+Minister.  He laughed often and heartily.  He was a very obedient son,
+and never opposed the King's will in any way, and was more submissive to
+Maintenon than any other person.  Those who say that he would have
+retired, if the King had declared his marriage with that old woman, did
+not know him; had he not an old mistress of his own, to whom he was
+believed to be privately married?  What prevented Maintenon from being
+declared Queen was the wise reasons which the Archbishop of Cambray, M.
+de Fenelon, urged to the King, and for which she persecuted that worthy
+man to the day of his death.
+
+If the Dauphin had chosen, he might have enjoyed greater credit with his
+father.  The King had offered him permission to go to the Royal Treasury
+to bestow what favours he chose upon the persons of his own Court; and at
+the Treasury orders were given that he should have whatever he asked for.
+The Dauphin replied that it would give him so much trouble.  He would
+never know anything about State affairs lest he should be obliged to
+attend the Privy Councils, and have no more time to hunt.  Some persons
+thought he did this from motives of policy and to make the King believe
+he had no ambition; but I am persuaded it was from nothing but indolence
+and laziness; he loved to live a slothful life, and to interfere with
+nothing.
+
+At the King of Spain's departure our King wept a good deal; the Dauphin
+also wept much, although he had never before manifested the least
+affection for his children.  They were never seen in his apartment
+morning and evening.  When he was not at the chase the Dauphin passed his
+time with the great Princesse de Conti, and latterly with the Duchess.
+One must have guessed that the children belonged to him, for he lived
+like a stranger among them.  He never called them his sons, but the Duke
+of Burgundy, the Duc d'Anjou, the Duc de Berri; and they, in turn, always
+called him Monseigneur.
+
+I lived upon a very good understanding with him for more than twenty
+years, and he had great confidence in me until the Duchess got possession
+of him; then everything with regard to me was changed: and as, after my
+husband's death, I never went to the chase with the Dauphin, I had no
+further relation with him, and he behaved as if he had never seen or
+known me.  If he had been wise he would have preferred the society of the
+Princesse de Conti to that of the Duchess, because the first, having a
+good heart, loved him for himself; while the other loved nothing in the
+world, and listened to nothing but her taste for pleasure, her interest,
+and her ambition.  So that, provided she attained her ends, she cared
+little for the Dauphin, who by his condescension for this Princess gave a
+great proof of weakness.
+
+In general, his heart was not correct enough to discern what real
+friendship was; he loved only those who afforded him amusement, and
+despised all others.  The Duchess was very agreeable and had some
+pleasant notions; she was fond of eating, which was the very thing for
+the Dauphin, because he found a good breakfast at her house every morning
+and a collation in the afternoon.  The Duchess's daughters were of the
+same character as their mother; so that the Dauphin might be all the day
+in the company of gay people.
+
+He was strongly attached to his son's wife; but when she quarrelled with
+the Duchess her father-in-law changed his opinion of her.  What
+displeased him besides was that the Duchess of Burgundy married his
+younger son, the Duc de Berri, against his inclination.  He was not wrong
+in that, because, although the marriage was to our advantage, I must
+confess that the Dauphin was not even treated with decency in the
+business.
+
+Neither of the two Dauphins or the Dauphines ever interested themselves
+much about their children.  The King had them educated without consulting
+them, appointed all their servants, and was even displeased if they
+interfered with them in any way.  The Dauphin knows nothing of good
+breeding; he and his sons are perfect clowns.
+
+The women of La Halle had a real passion for the first Dauphin; they had
+been made to believe that he would take the part of the people of Paris,
+in which there was not a word of truth.  The people believed that he was
+better hearted than he was.  He would not, in fact, have been wicked if
+the Marechal d'Uxelles, La Chouin and Montespan, with whom he was in his
+youth, as well as the Duchess, had not spoiled him, and made him believe
+that malice was a proof of wit.
+
+He did not grieve more than a quarter of an hour at the death of his
+mother or of his wife; and when he wrapped himself up in his long
+mourning cloak he was ready to choke with laughter.
+
+He had followed his father's example in taking an ugly, nasty mistress,
+who had been fille d'honneur to the elder Princess de Conti: her name is
+Mademoiselle de Chouin, and she is still living at Paris (1719).  It was
+generally believed that he had married her clandestinely; but I would lay
+a wager he never did.  She had the figure of a duenna; was of very small
+stature; had very short legs; large rolling eyes; a round face; a short
+turned-up nose; a large mouth filled with decayed teeth, which made her
+breath so bad that the room in which she sat could hardly be endured.
+
+                    .........................
+
+And yet this short, fat woman had a great deal of wit; and I believe the
+Dauphin accustomed himself to take snuff that he might not be annoyed by
+her bad teeth.  He was very civil to the Marechal d'Uxelles, because he
+pretended to be the intimate with this lady; but as soon as the Dauphin
+was caught, the Marechal ceased to see her, and never once set foot in
+her house, although before that he had been in the habit of visiting her
+daily.
+
+The Dauphin had a daughter by Raisin the actress, but he would never
+acknowledge her, and after his death the Princess Conti took care of her,
+and married her to a gentleman of Vaugourg.  The Dauphin was so tired of
+the Duc du Maine that he had sworn never to acknowledge any of his
+illegitimate children.  This Raisin must have had very peculiar charms to
+make an impression upon a heart so thick as that of the Dauphin, who
+really loved her.  One day he sent for her to Choisy, and hid her in a
+mill without anything to eat or drink; for it was a fast day, and the
+Dauphin thought there was no greater sin than to eat meat on a fast day.
+After the Court had departed, all that he gave her for supper was some
+salad and toast with oil.  Raisin laughed at this very much herself, and
+told several persons of it.  When I heard of it I asked the Dauphin what
+he meant by making his mistress fast in this manner.
+
+"I had a mind," he said, "to commit one sin, but not two."
+
+I cannot bear that any one should touch me behind; it makes me so angry
+that I do not know what I do.  I was very near giving the Dauphin a blow
+one day, for he had a wicked trick of coming behind one for a joke, and
+putting his fist in the chair just where one was going to sit down.  I
+begged him, for God's sake, to leave off this habit, which was so
+disagreeable to me that I would not answer for not one day giving him a
+sound blow, without thinking of what I was doing.  From that time he left
+me alone.
+
+The Dauphin was very much like the Queen; he was not tall, but
+good-looking enough.  Our King was accustomed to say: "Monseigneur (for
+so he always called him) has the look of a German prince."  He had,
+indeed, something of a German air; but it was only the air; for he had
+nothing German besides.  He did not dance well.  The Queen-Dowager of
+Spain flattered herself with the hope of marrying him.
+
+He thought he should recommend himself to the King by not appearing to
+care what became of his brothers.
+
+When the Dauphin was lying sick of the small-pox, I went on the Wednesday
+to the King.
+
+He said to me, sarcastically, "You have been frightening us with the
+great pain which Monseigneur would have to endure when the suppuration
+commences; but I can tell you that he will not suffer at all, for the
+pustules have already begun to dry."
+
+I was alarmed at this, and said, "So much the worse; if he is not in pain
+his state is the more dangerous, and he soon will be."
+
+"What!" said the King, "do you know better than the doctors?"
+
+"I know," I replied, "what the small-pox is by my own experience, which
+is better than all the doctors; but I hope from my heart that I may be
+mistaken."
+
+On the same night, soon after midnight, the Dauphin died.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XV.--THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY, THE SECOND DAUPHIN.
+
+He was quite humpbacked.  I think this proceeded from his having been
+made to carry a bar of iron for the purpose of keeping himself upright,
+but the weight and inconvenience of which had had a contrary effect.
+I often said to the Duke de Beauvilliers he had very good parts, and was
+sincerely pious, but so weak as to let his wife rule him like a child.
+In spite of his good sense, she made him believe whatever she chose.
+She lived upon very good terms with him, but was not outrageously fond,
+and did not love him better than many other persons; for the good
+gentleman had a very disagreeable person, and his face was not the most
+beautiful.  I believe, however, she was touched with his great affection
+for her; and indeed it would be impossible for a man to entertain a more
+fervent passion than he did for his wife.  Her wit was agreeable, and she
+could be very pleasant when she chose: her gaiety dissipated the
+melancholy which sometimes seized upon the devout Dauphin.  Like almost
+all humpbacked men, he had a great passion for women; but at the same
+time was so pious that he feared he committed a grievous sin in looking
+at any other than his own wife; and he was truly in love with her.
+I saw him once, when a lady had told him that he had good eyes, squint
+immediately that he might appear ugly.  This was really an unnecessary
+trouble; for the good man was already sufficiently plain, having a very
+ill-looking mouth, a sickly appearance, small stature, and a hump at his
+back.
+
+He had many good qualities: he was charitable, and had assisted several
+officers unknown to any one.  He certainly died of grief for the loss of
+his wife, as he had predicted.  A learned astrologer of Turin, having
+cast the nativity of the Dauphine, told her that she would die in her
+twenty-seventh year.
+
+She often spoke of it, and said one day to her husband, "The time is
+approaching when I shall die; you cannot remain without a wife as well on
+account of your rank as your piety; tell me, then, I beg of you, whom you
+will marry?"
+
+"I hope," he replied, "that God will not inflict so severe a punishment
+on me as to deprive me of you; but if this calamity should befall me, I
+shall not marry again, for I shall follow you to the grave in a week."
+
+This happened exactly as he said it would; for, on the seventh day after
+his wife's death, he died also.  This is not a fiction, but perfectly
+true.
+
+While the Dauphine was in good health and spirits she often said, "I must
+enjoy myself now.  I shall not be able to do so long, for I shall die
+this year."
+
+I thought it was only a joke, but it turned out to be too true.  When she
+fell sick she said she should never recover.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XVI.--PETITE MADAME.
+
+A cautery which had been improperly made in the nape of the neck had
+drawn her mouth all on one side, so that it was almost entirely in her
+left cheek.  For this reason talking was very painful to her, and she
+said very little.  It was necessary to be accustomed to her way of
+speaking to understand her.  Just when she was about to die her mouth
+resumed its proper place, and she did not seem at all ugly.  I was
+present at her death.  She did not say a word to her father, although a
+convulsion had restored her mouth.  The King, who had a good heart and
+was very fond of his children, wept excessively and made me weep also.
+The Queen was not present, for, being pregnant, they would not let her
+come.
+
+It is totally false that the Queen was delivered of a black child.  The
+late Monsieur, who was present, said that the young Princess was ugly,
+but not black. The people cannot be persuaded that the child is not still
+alive, and say that it is in a convent at Moret, near Fontainebleau.  It
+is, however, quite certain that the ugly child is dead, for all the Court
+saw it die.
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort
+The Due de Berri
+The Duchesse de Berri
+Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres
+Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the Prince of Modena
+The Illegitimate Children of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans
+The Chevalier de Lorraine
+Philip V., King of Spain
+The Duchess, Consort of the Duc de Bourbon
+The Younger Duchess
+Duc Louis de Bourbon
+Francois-Louis, Prince de Conti
+La Grande Princesse de Conti
+The Princess Palatine, Consort of Prince Francois-Louis de Conti
+The Princesse de Conti, Louise-Elizabeth, Consort of Louis-Armand
+Louis-Armand, Prince de Conti
+The Abbe Dubois
+Mr. Law
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: Princesse de Conti--276]
+
+
+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.
+
+
+[Illustration: Overturn here, you blockhead--290]
+
+
+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.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 4.
+
+
+Victor Amadeus II.
+The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence
+The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans
+The Duc du Maine
+The Duchesse du Maine
+Louvois
+Louis XV.
+Anecdotes and Historical Particulars of Various Persons
+Explanatory Notes
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXV.--VICTOR AMADEUS, KING OF SICILY.
+
+It is said that the King of Sicily is always in ill humour, and that he
+is always quarrelling with his mistresses.  He and Madame de Verrue have
+quarrelled, they say, for whole days together.  I wonder how the good
+Queen can love him with such constancy; but she is a most virtuous person
+and patience itself.  Since the King had no mistresses he lives upon
+better terms with her.  Devotion has softened his heart and his temper.
+
+Madame de Verrue is, I dare say, forty-eight years of age (1718).  I
+shared some of the profits of her theft by buying of her 160 medals of
+gold, the half of those which she stole from the King of Sicily.  She had
+also boxes filled with silver medals, but they were all sold in England.
+
+     [The Comtesse de Verrue was married at the age of thirteen years.
+     Victor Amadeus, then King of Sardinia, fell in love with her.  She
+     would have resisted, and wrote to her mother and her husband, who
+     were both absent.  They only joked her about it.  She then took that
+     step which all the world knows.  At the age of eighteen, being at a
+     dinner with a relation of her husband's, she was poisoned.  The
+     person she suspected was the same that was dining with her; he did
+     not quit her, and wanted to have her blooded.  Just at this time the
+     Spanish Ambassador at Piedmont sent her a counter-poison which had a
+     happy effect: she recovered, but never would mention whom she
+     suspected.  She got tired of the King, and persuaded her brother,
+     the Chevalier de Lugner, to come and carry her off, the King being
+     then upon a journey.  The rendezvous was in a chapel about four
+     leagues distant from Turin.  She had a little parrot with her.  Her
+     brother arrived, they set out together, and, after having proceeded
+     four leagues on her journey, she remembered that she had forgotten
+     her parrot in the chapel.  Without regarding the danger to which she
+     exposed her brother, she insisted upon returning to look for her
+     parrot, and did so.  She died in Paris in the beginning of the reign
+     of Louis XV.  She was fond of literary persons, and collected about
+     her some of the best company of that day, among whom her wit and
+     grace enabled her to cut a brilliant figure.  She was the intimate
+     friend of the poet La Faye, whom she advised in his compositions,
+     and whose life she made delightful.  Her fondness for the arts and
+     pleasure procured for her the appellation of 'Dame de Volupte', and
+     she wrote this epitaph upon herself:
+
+                   "Ci git, dans un pais profonde,
+                    Cette Dame de Volupte,
+                    Qui, pour plus grande surete,
+                    Fit son Paradis dans ce monde."]
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXVI.--THE GRAND DUCHESS, WIFE OF COSMO II. OF FLORENCE.
+
+The Grand Duchess has declared to me, that, from the day on which she set
+out for Florence, she thought of nothing but her return, and the means of
+executing this design as soon as she should be able.
+
+No one could approve of her deserting her husband, and the more
+particularly as she speaks very well of him, and describes the manner of
+living at Florence as like a terrestrial paradise.
+
+She does not think herself unfortunate for having travelled, and looks
+upon all the grandeur she enjoyed at Florence as not to be compared with
+the unrestrained way of living in which she indulges here.  She is very
+amusing when she relates her own history, in the course of which she by
+no means flatters herself.
+
+"Indeed, cousin," I say to her often, "you do not flatter yourself, but
+you really tell things which make against you."
+
+"Ah, no matter," she replies, "I care not, provided I never see the Grand
+Duke again."
+
+She cannot be accused of any amorous intrigue.
+
+Her husband furnishes her with very little money; and at this moment
+(April, 1718) he owes her fifteen months of her pension.  She is now
+really in want of money to enable her to take the waters of Bourbon.
+The Grand Duke, who is very avaricious, thinks she will die soon, and
+therefore holds back the payments that he may take advantage of that
+event when it shall happen.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXVII.--THE DUCHESSE DE LORRAINE, ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE
+PHILIPPINE D'ORLEANS, CONSORT OF LEOPOLD JOSEPH-CHARLES DE LORRAINE.
+
+My daughter is ugly; even more so than she was, for the fine complexion
+which she once had has become sun-burnt.  This makes a great difference
+in the appearance, and causes a person to look old.  She has an ugly
+round nose, and her eyes are sunken; but her shape is preserved, and, as
+she dances well, and her manners are easy and polished, any one may see
+that she is a person of breeding.  I know many people who pique
+themselves upon their good manners, and who still have not so much reason
+as she has.  At all events I am content with my child as she is; and I
+would rather see her ugly and virtuous than pretty and profligate like
+the rest.
+
+Whenever the time of her accouchement approaches, she never fails to bid
+her friends adieu, in the notion that she will die.  Fortunately she has
+hitherto always escaped well.
+
+When jealousy is once suffered to take root, it is impossible to
+extirpate it--therefore it is better not to let it gain ground.  My
+daughter pretends not to be affected by hers, but she often suffers great
+affliction from it.  This is not astonishing, because she is very fond of
+her children; and the woman with whom the Duke is infatuated, together
+with her husband, do not leave him a farthing; they completely ruin his
+household.  Craon is an accursed cuckold and a treacherous man.  The Duc
+de Lorraine knows that my daughter is acquainted with everything, and I
+believe he likes her the better that she does not remonstrate with him,
+but endures all patiently.  He is occasionally kind to her, and, provided
+that he only says tender things to her, she is content and cheerful.
+
+I should almost believe that the Duke's mistress has given him a philtre,
+as Neidschin did to the Elector of Saxony.  When he does not see her, it
+is said he perspires copiously at the head, and, in order that the
+cuckold of a husband may say nothing about the affair, the Duke suffers
+him to do whatever he pleases.  He and his wife, who is gouvernante, rule
+everything, although neither the one nor the other has any feeling of
+honour.  She is to come hither, it seems, with the Duke and Duchess.
+
+The Duc de Lorraine is here incog.
+
+     [He came to Paris for the purpose of soliciting an arrondissement in
+     Champagne and the title of Royal Highness.  Through the influence of
+     his mother-in-law he obtained both the one and the other.  By virtue
+     of a treaty very disadvantageous for France, but which was
+     nevertheless registered by the Parliament, he increased his states
+     by adding to them a great number of villages.]
+
+under the title of the Comte de Blamont.  Formerly the chase was his
+greatest passion; but now, it seems, the swain is wholly amorous.  It is
+in vain for him to attempt to conceal it; for the more he tries, the more
+apparent it becomes.  When you would suppose he is about to address you,
+his head will turn round, and his eyes wander in search of Madame Craon;
+it is quite diverting to see him.  I cannot conceive how my daughter can
+love her husband so well, and not display more jealousy.  It is
+impossible for a man to be more amorous than the Duke is of Craon (19th
+of April, 1718).
+
+It cannot be denied that she (Madame de Craon) is full of agreeable
+qualities.  Although she is not a beauty, she has a good shape, a fine
+skin, and a very white complexion; but her greatest charms are her mouth
+and teeth.  When she laughs it is in a very pleasing and modest manner;
+she behaves properly and respectfully in my daughter's presence; if she
+did the same when she is not with her, one would have nothing to complain
+of.  It is not surprising that such a woman should be beloved; she really
+deserves it.  But she treats her lover with the utmost haughtiness, as if
+she were the Duchesse de Lorraine and he M. de Luneville.  I never saw a
+man more passionately attached than he appears to be; when she is not
+present, he fixes his eyes upon the door with an expression of anxiety;
+when she appears, he smiles and is calm; it is really very droll to
+observe him.  She, on the contrary, wishes to prevent persons from
+perceiving it, and seems to care nothing about him.  As the Duke was
+crossing a hall here with her upon his arm, some of the people said
+aloud, "That is the Duc de Lorraine with his mistress."  Madame Craon
+wept bitterly, and insisted upon the Duke complaining of it to his
+brother.  The Duke did in fact complain; but my son laughed at him, and
+replied, "that the King himself could not prevent that; that he should
+despise such things, and seem not to hear them."
+
+Madame Craon was my daughter's fille d'honneur; she was then called
+Mademoiselle de Ligneville, and there it was that the Duke fell in love
+with her.  M. Craon was in disgrace with the Duke, who was about to
+dismiss him as a rascal, for having practised a sharping trick at play;
+but, as he is a cunning fellow, he perceived the Duke's love for
+Mademoiselle de Ligneville, although he pretended to make a great mystery
+of it.  About this time Madame de Lenoncourt, my daughter's dame d'atour,
+happened to die.  The Duke managed to have Mademoiselle de Ligneville
+appointed in her room; and Craon, who is rich, offered to marry this poor
+lady.  The Duke was delighted with the plan of marrying her to one who
+would lend himself to the intrigue; and thus she became Madame de Craon,
+and dame d'atour.  The old gouvernante dying soon afterwards, my daughter
+thought to gratify her husband, as well as Madame de Craon, by appointing
+her dame d'honneur; and this it is that has brought such disgrace upon
+her.
+
+My daughter is in despair.  Craon and his wife want to take a journey of
+ten days, for the purpose of buying a marquisate worth 800,000 livres.
+The Duke will not remain during this time with his wife, but chooses it
+for an opportunity to visit all the strong places of Alsatia.  He will
+stay away until the return of his mistress and her husband; and this it
+is which makes my poor daughter so unhappy.  The Duke now neither sees
+nor hears anything but through Craon, his wife, and their creatures.
+
+I do not think that my daughter's attachment to her husband is so strong
+as it used to be, and yet I think she loves him very much; for every
+proof of fondness which he gives her rejoices her so much that she sends
+me word of it immediately.  He can make her believe whatever he chooses;
+and, although she cannot doubt the Duke's passion for Madame de Craon,
+yet, when he says that he feels only friendship for her, that he is quite
+willing to give up seeing her, only that he fears by doing so he would
+dishonour her in the eyes of the public, and that there is nothing he is
+not ready to do for his wife's repose, she receives all he says
+literally, beseeches him to continue to see Madame de Craon as usual, and
+fancies that her husband is tenderly attached to her, while he is really
+laughing at her.  If I were in my daughter's place, the Duke's falsehood
+would disgust me more than his infidelity.
+
+What appears to me the most singular in this intrigue is that the Duke is
+as fond of the husband as of the wife, and that he cannot live without
+him.  This is very difficult to comprehend; but M. de Craon understands
+it well, and makes the most of it; he has already bought an estate for
+1,100,000 livres.
+
+     [The Marquis de Craon was Grand Chamberlain and Prime Minister of
+     the Duc de Lorraine; who, moreover, procured for him from the
+     Emperor of Germany the title of Prince.  This favourite married one
+     of his daughters to the Prince de Ligin, of the House of Lorraine.]
+
+The burning of Lundville was not the effect of an accident; it is well
+known that some of the people stopped a woman's mouth, who was crying out
+"Fire!"  A person was also heard to say, "It was not I who set it on
+fire."  My daughter thinks that Old Maintenon would have them all burnt;
+for the person who cried out has been employed, it seems, in the house of
+the Duc de Noailles.  For my part, I am rather disposed to believe it was
+the young mistress, Madame de Craon, who had a share in this matter; for
+Luneville is my daughter's residence and dowry.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXVIII.--THE DUC DU MAINE, LOUIS-AUGUSTUS.
+
+The Duc du Maine flattered himself that he would marry my daughter.
+Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Montespan were arranging this project
+in presence of several merchants, to whom they paid no attention, but the
+latter, engaging in the conversation, said, "Ladies, do not think of any
+such thing, for it will cost you your lives if you bring about that
+marriage."
+
+Madame de Maintenon was dreadfully frightened at this, and immediately
+went to the King to persuade him to relinquish the affair.
+
+The Duc du Maine possesses talent, which he displays particularly in his
+manner of relating anything.  He knows very well who is his mother, but
+he has never had the least affection for any one but his gouvernante,
+against whom he never bore ill-will, although she displaced his mother
+and put herself in her room.  My son will not believe that the Duc du
+Maine is the King's son.  He has always been treacherous, and is feared
+and hated at Court as an arch tale-bearer.  He has done many persons very
+ill offices with the King; and those in particular to whom he promised
+most were those who have had the greatest reason to complain of him.  His
+little wife is worse even than he, for the husband is sometimes
+restrained by fear; but she mingles the pathetic occasionally in her
+comedies.  It is certain that there does not exist a more false and
+wicked couple in the whole world than they are.
+
+I can readily believe that the Comte de Toulouse is the King's son; but I
+have always thought that the Duc du Maine is the son of Terme, who was a
+false knave, and the greatest tale-bearer in the Court.
+
+That old Maintenon had persuaded the King that the Duc du Maine was full
+of piety and virtue.  When he reported evil tales of any persons, she
+pretended that it was for their good, and to induce the King to correct
+them.  The King was, therefore, induced to fancy everything he did
+admirable, and to take him for a saint.  The confessor, Le Pere
+Letellier, contributed to keep up this good opinion in order to pay court
+to the old woman; and the late Chancellor, M. Voisin, by her orders
+continued to aid the King's delusion.
+
+The Duc du Maine fancied that, since he had succeeded in getting himself
+declared a Prince of the blood, he should not find it difficult on that
+account to attain the royal dignity, and that he could easily arrange
+everything with respect to my son and the other Princes of the blood.
+For this reason he and the old woman industriously circulated the report
+that my son had poisoned the Dauphine and the Duc de Berri.  The Duc du
+Maine was instigated by Madame de Montespan and Madame de Maintenon to
+report things secretly to the King; at first for the purpose of making
+him bark like a cur at all whom they disliked, and afterwards for the
+King's diversion, and to make themselves beloved by him.
+
+These bastards are of so bad a disposition that God knows who was their
+father.
+
+Yesterday the Parliament presented its remonstrance to my son.  It is
+not difficult to guess whence this affair proceeds.  They were closeted
+for four hours together with the Duc and Duchesse du Maine, who had the
+Councillors brought thither in their coach, and attended by their own
+livery servants (20th June, 1718).
+
+I believe that my son is only, restrained from acting rigorously against
+the Duc du Maine because he fears the tears and anger of his wife; and,
+in the second place, he, has an affection for his other brother-in-law,
+the Comte de Toulouse.
+
+That old woman must surely think herself immortal, for she still hopes to
+reign, though at the age of eighty-three years.  The Duc du Maine's
+affair is a severe blow for her.  She is, nevertheless, not without hope,
+and it is said not excessively grieved.  This fills me with anxiety, for
+I know too well how expert the wicked old hussy is in the use of poison.
+
+The first President of Mesmes ought to be friendly towards the Duc du
+Maine, to whom he is indebted for the office he holds.  The Duke keeps
+all his places; as to that of Grand Master of Artillery, they could not
+take it away unless they had proceeded to extremities with him.
+
+The Duke became so devout in his prison, and during Passion week he
+fasted so rigorously, that he fell sick in consequence.  He says that he
+is innocent and that he has gained heaven by the purity of his conduct;
+this renders him gay and contented.  He is not, besides, of a sorrowful
+temper, but, on the contrary, is fond of jests and merry tales.  He does
+not speak ill of persons publicly; it was only to the King he used to
+denounce them.
+
+Yesterday my son was requested to permit the Duc du Maine to be
+reconciled with his wife.  His answer was, "They might have been
+reconciled without speaking to me about it, for whether they become
+friends again or not, I know what to think of them."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XXXIX.--THE DUCHESSE DU MAINE, LOUISE-BENOITE, DAUGHTER OF
+HENRI-JULES DE CONDE.
+
+[Illustration: Duchesse du Maine--314]
+
+
+Madame du Maine is not taller than a child ten years old, and is not well
+made.  To appear tolerably well, it is necessary for her to keep her
+mouth shut; for when she opens it, she opens it very wide, and shows her
+irregular teeth.  She is not very stout, uses a great quantity of paint,
+has fine eyes, a white skin, and fair hair.  If she were well disposed,
+she might pass, but her wickedness is insupportable.
+
+She has good sense, is accomplished, and can talk agreeably on most
+subjects.  This brings about her a host of learned men and wits.  She
+flatters the discontented very adroitly, and says all ill things of my
+son.  This is the secret by which she has made her party.  Her husband is
+fond of her, and she in turn piques herself upon her love for him; but I
+should be sorry to swear to her sincerity.  This at least is certain,
+that she rules the Duc du Maine absolutely.  As he holds several offices,
+he can provide for a great number of persons, either in the regiment of
+Guards, of which he is General; or in the Artillery, of which he is Grand
+Master; or in the Carabineers, where he appoints all the officers;
+without reckoning his regiments, by which he attracts a great number of
+persons.
+
+Madame du Maine's present lover is the Cardinal de Polignac; but she has,
+besides, the first Minister and some young men.  The Cardinal is accused
+of having assisted in the refutation of Fitz-Morris's letters, although
+he has had this very year (1718) a long interview with my son, and has
+sworn never to engage in anything against his interests, notwithstanding
+his attachment to the Duchesse du Maine.
+
+The Comte d'Albert, who was here last winter, took some pains to make
+himself agreeable to Madame du Maine, and succeeded so well as to make
+the Cardinal de Polignac very jealous.  He followed them masked to a
+ball; but upon seeing the Duchess and the Count tete-a-tete, he could not
+contain his anger this betrayed him; and when the people learned that a
+Cardinal had been seen at a masked ball it caused them great diversion.
+
+Her being arrested threw Madame du Maine into such a transport of rage
+that she was near choking, and only recovered herself by slow degrees.
+
+     [The Marquis d'Ancenis, Captain of the Guards, who came early in the
+     morning to arrest the Princess, had supped with her on the preceding
+     evening, when he entered, the Duchess cried out to him, "Mon Dieu!
+     what have I done to you, that you should wake me so early?"  The
+     chief domestics of the household were taken to the Bastille or to
+     Vincennes; the Prince of Dombes and the Comte d'Eu were carried to
+     Eu.]
+
+She is now said to be quite calm, and, it is added, she plays at cards
+all day long.  When the play is over, she grows angry again, and falls
+upon her husband, his children, or her servants, who do not know how to
+appease her.  She is dreadfully violent, and, it is said, has often
+beaten her husband.
+
+All the time of her residence at Dijon she was playing the Orlando
+Furioso: sometimes she was not treated with the respect due to her rank;
+sometimes she complains of other things; she will not understand that she
+is a prisoner, and that she has deserved even a worse fate.  She had
+flattered herself that when she should reach Chalons-sur-Saone she would
+enjoy more liberty, and have the whole city for her prison; but when she
+learnt that she was to be locked up in the citadel, as at Dijon, she
+would not set out.  Far from repenting her treason, she fancies she has
+done something very praiseworthy.
+
+Melancholy as I am, my son has made me laugh by telling me what has been
+found in Madame du Maine's letters, seized at the Cardinal de Polignac's.
+In one of her letters, this very discreet and virtuous personage writes,
+"We are going into the country tomorrow; and I shall so arrange the
+apartments that your chamber shall be next to mine.  Try to manage
+matters as well as you did the last time, and we shall be very happy."
+
+The Princess knows very well that her daughter has had an intrigue with
+the Cardinal, and has endeavoured to break it off.  For this purpose she
+has convinced her by the Cardinal's own letters that he is unfaithful to
+her, and prefers a certain Montauban to her.  This, however, has had no
+effect.  The Duc du Maine has been informed of everything, and he writes
+to her sister, "I ought not to be put into prison, but into petticoats,
+for having suffered myself to be so led by the nose."
+
+He has resolved never to see his wife again, although he does not yet
+know of the Duchess's letter to the Cardinal, nor of the other measures
+she has taken for the purpose of decorating her husband's brows.
+
+Madame du Maine will eventually become really crazy, for she is
+dreadfully troubled with the vapours.  Her mother has entreated my son
+to let her daughter be brought to her house at Anet, where she will be
+answerable for her conduct and suffer her to speak with no one.
+
+My son replied, "that if Madame du Maine had only conspired against his
+life, he would have pardoned her with all his heart; but that, as her
+offence had been committed against the State, he was obliged, in spite of
+himself, to keep her in prison."
+
+It is not true that the Duc du Maine has permission to hunt; he is only
+allowed to ride upon a hired horse round the citadel, to take the air,
+in the company of four persons.
+
+The Abbe de Maulevrier and Mademoiselle de Langeron persuaded the
+Princess that Madame du Maine was at the point of death, and was only
+desirous of seeing her dear mother before she expired, to receive her
+last benediction, as she should die innocent.  The Princess immediately
+set out in great anxiety and with deep grief; but was strangely
+surprised, on arriving at her daughter's house, to see her come to meet
+her in very good health.  Mademoiselle de Langeron said that the Duchess
+concealed her illness that she might not make her mother unhappy.
+
+After the confession which Madame du Maine thought proper to make, which
+she has confirmed by writing, my son has set her at liberty, and has
+permitted her to come to Sceaux.  She is terribly mortified at her letter
+being read in the open Council.  As she has declared in her confession
+that she had done everything without her husband's knowledge, although in
+his name, he, too, has been permitted to return to his estate of
+Chavigny, near Versailles.
+
+Madame du Maine had written to my son that, in the event of her having
+omitted anything in her declaration, he would only have to ask
+Mademoiselle de Launay about it.  He sent in consequence for that lady,
+to ask her some questions.  Mademoiselle de Launay replied: "I do not
+know whether her imprisonment may have turned my mistress's brain, but it
+has not had the same effect upon me; I neither know, nor will I say
+anything."
+
+Madame du Maine had gained over certain gentlemen in all the Provinces,
+and had tampered with them to induce them to revolt; but none of them
+would swallow the bait excepting in Brittany.
+
+She has not been at the theatre yet; meaning, by this, to intimate that
+she is still afflicted at lying under her husband's displeasure.  It is
+said that she has written to him, but that he has returned her letter
+unopened.
+
+She came some days ago to see my son, and to request him not to oppose a
+reconciliation between herself and her husband.  My son laughed and said,
+"I will not interfere in it; for have I not learned from Sganarelle that
+it is not wise to put one's finger between the bark and the tree?"
+The town says they will be reconciled.  If this really should take place,
+I shall say as my father used: "Agree together, bad ones!"
+
+My son tells me that the little Duchess has again besought him to
+reconcile her with her husband.  My son replied, "that it depended much
+more upon herself than upon him."  I do not know whether she took this
+for a compliment, or what crotchet she got in her head, but she suddenly
+jumped up from the sofa, and clung about my son's neck, kissing him on
+both cheeks in spite of himself (18th June, 1720).
+
+The Duc du Maine is entirely reconciled to his dear moiety.  I am not
+surprised, for I have been long expecting it.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XL.--LOUVOIS
+
+M. de Louvois was a person of a very wicked disposition; he hated his
+father and brother, and, as they were my very good friends, this minister
+made me feel his dislike of them.  His hatred was also increased, because
+he knew that I was acquainted with his ill-treatment of my father, and
+that I had no reason in the world to like him.  He feared that I should
+seek to take vengeance upon him, and for this reason he was always
+exciting the King against me.  Upon this point alone did he agree with
+that old, Maintenon.
+
+I believe that Louvois had a share in the conspiracy by which Langhans
+and Winkler compassed my poor brother's death.  When the King had taken
+the Palatinate, I required him to arrest the culprits; the King gave
+orders for it, and they were in fact seized, but afterwards liberated by
+a counter-order of Louvois.  Heaven, however, took care of their
+punishment for the crime which they had committed upon my poor brother;
+for Langhans died in the most abject wretchedness, and Winkler went mad
+and beat his own brains out.
+
+There is no doubt that the King spoke very harshly to Louvois, but
+certainly he did not treat him as has been pretended, for the King was
+incapable of such an action.  Louvois was a brute and an insolent person;
+but he served the King faithfully, and much better than any other person.
+He did not, however, forget his own interest, and played his cards very
+well.  He was horribly depraved, and by his impoliteness and the
+grossness of his replies made himself universally hated.  He might,
+perhaps, believe in the Devil; but he did not believe in God.  He had
+faith in all manner of predictions, but he did not scruple to burn,
+poison, lie and cheat.
+
+If he did not love me very well, I was at least even with him; and, for
+the latter part of his time, he conducted himself somewhat better.  I was
+one of the last persons to whom he spoke, and I was even shocked when it
+was announced that the man with whom I had been conversing a quarter of
+an hour before, and who did not look ill, was no more.
+
+They have not yet learnt, although I have resided so long in France, to
+respect my seal.  M. de Louvois used to have all my letters opened and
+read; and M. Corey, following his noble example, has not been more
+courteous to me.  Formerly they used to open them for the purpose of
+finding something to my prejudice, and now (1718) they open them through
+mere habit.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XLI.--LOUIS XV.
+
+It is impossible for any child to be more agreeable than our young King;
+he has large, dark eyes and long, crisp eyelashes; a good complexion, a
+charming little mouth, long and thick dark-brown hair, little red cheeks,
+a stout and well-formed body, and very pretty hands and feet; his gait is
+noble and lofty, and he puts on his hat exactly like the late King.  The
+shape of his face is neither too long nor too short; but the worst thing,
+and which he inherits from his mother, is, that he changes colour very
+frequently.  Sometimes he looks ill, but in half an hour his colour will
+have returned.  His manners are easy, and it may be said, without
+flattery, that he dances very well.  He is quick and clever in all that
+he attempts; he has already (1720) begun to shoot at pheasants and
+partridges, and has a great passion for shooting.
+
+He is as like his mother as one drop of water is to another; he has sense
+enough, and all that he seems to want is a little more affability.  He is
+terribly haughty, and already knows what respect is.  His look is what
+may be called agreeable, but his air is milder than his character, for
+his little head is rather an obstinate and wilful one.
+
+The young King was full of grief when Madame de Ventadour quitted him.
+She said to him, "Sire, I shall come back this evening; mind that you
+behave very well during my absence."
+
+"My dear mamma," replied he, "if you leave me I cannot behave well."
+
+He does not care at all for any of the other women.
+
+The Marechal de Villeroi teases the young King sometimes about not
+speaking to me enough, and sometimes about not walking with me.  This
+afflicts the poor child and makes him cry.  His figure is neat, but he
+will speak only to persons he is accustomed to.
+
+On the 12th August (1717), the young King fell out of his bed in the
+morning; a valet de chambre, who saw him falling, threw himself adroitly
+on the ground, so that the child might tumble upon him and not hurt
+himself; the little rogue thrust himself under the bed and would not
+speak, that he might frighten his attendants.
+
+The King's brother died of the small-pox in consequence of being
+injudiciously blooded; this one, who is younger than his brother, was
+also attacked, but the femme de chambre concealed it, kept him warm, and
+continued to give him Alicant wine, by which means they preserved his
+life.
+
+The King has invented an order which he bestows: upon the boys with whom
+he plays.  It is a blue and white ribbon, to which is suspended an
+enamelled oval plate, representing a star and the tent or pavilion in
+which he plays on the terrace (1717).
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XLII.--ANECDOTES AND HISTORICAL PARTICULARS RELATING TO VARIOUS
+PERSONS.
+
+Some horrible books had been written against Cardinal Mazarin, with which
+he pretended to be very much enraged, and had all the copies bought up to
+be burnt.  When he had collected them all, he caused them to be sold in
+secret, and as if it were unknown to him, by which contrivance he gained
+10,000 crowns.  He used to laugh and say, "The French are delightful
+people; I let them sing and laugh, and they let me do what I will."
+
+In Flanders it is the custom for the monks to assist at all fires.  It
+appeared to me a very whimsical spectacle to see monks of all colours,
+white, black and brown, running hither and thither with their frocks
+tucked up and carrying pails.
+
+The Chevalier de Saint George is one of the best men in the world, and
+complaisance itself.  He one day said to Lord Douglas, "What should I do
+to gain the good-will of my countrymen?"  Douglas replied, "Only embark
+hence with twelve Jesuits, and as soon as you land in England hang every
+one of them publicly; you can do nothing so likely to recommend you to
+the English people."
+
+It is said that at one of the masked balls at the opera, a mask entered
+the box in which were the Marechals de Villars and d'Estrees.  He said to
+the former, "Why do you not go below and dance?"  The Marshal replied,
+"If I were younger I could, but not crippled as you see I am."--"Oh, go
+down," rejoined the mask, "and the Marechal d'Estrees too; you will cut
+so brilliant a figure, having both of you such large horns."  At the same
+time he put up his fingers in the shape of horns.  The Marechal d'Estrees
+only laughed, but the other was in a great rage and said, "You are a most
+insolent mask, and I do not know what will restrain me from giving you a
+good beating."--"As to a good beating;" replied the mask, "I can do a
+trifle in that way myself when necessary; and as for the insolence of
+which you accuse me, it is sufficient for me to say that I am masked."
+He went away as he said this, and was not seen again.
+
+The King of Denmark has the look of a simpleton; he made love to my
+daughter while he was here.  When they were dancing he used to squeeze
+her hand, and turn up his eyes languishingly.  He would begin his minuet
+in one corner of the hall and finish it in another.  He stopped once in
+the middle of the hall and did not know what to do next.  I was quite
+uneasy at seeing him, so I got up and, taking his hand, led him away, or
+the good gentleman might have strayed there until this time.  He has no
+notion of what is becoming or otherwise.
+
+The Cardinal de Noailles is unquestionably a virtuous man; it would be a
+very good thing if all the others were like him.  We have here four of
+them, and each is of a different character.  Three of them resemble each
+other in a certain particular--they are as false as counterfeit coin; in
+every other respect they are directly opposite.  The Cardinal de Polignac
+is well made, sensible, and insinuating, and his voice is very agreeable;
+but he meddles too much with politics, and is too much occupied with
+seeking favour.  The Cardinal de Rohan  has a handsome face, as his
+mother had, but his figure is despicable.  He is as vain as a peacock,
+and fancies that there is not his equal in the whole world.  He is a
+tricking intriguer, the slave of the Jesuits, and fancies he rules
+everything, while in fact he rules nothing.  The Cardinal de Bissi is as
+ugly and clumsy as a peasant, proud, false and wicked, and yet a most
+fulsome flatterer; his falsehood may be seen in his very eyes; his talent
+he turns to mischievous purposes.  In short, he has all the exterior of a
+Tartuffe.  These Cardinals could, if they chose, sell the Cardinal de
+Noailles in a sack, for they are all much more cunning than he is.
+
+With respect to the pregnancy of the Queen of England, the consort of
+James II., whom we saw at Saint-Germain, it is well known that her
+daughter-in-law maintains that she was not with child; but it seems to
+me that the Queen might easily have taken measures to prove the contrary.
+I spoke about it to Her Majesty myself.  She replied "that she had begged
+the Princess Anne to satisfy herself by the evidence of her own senses,
+and to feel the motion of the child;" but the latter refused, and the
+Queen added "that she never could have supposed that the persons who had
+been in the habit of seeing her daily during her pregnancy could doubt
+the fact of her having been delivered."
+
+     [On the dethronement of James II., the party of William, Prince of
+     Orange, asserted that the Prince of Orange was a supposititious
+     child, and accused James of having spirited away the persona who
+     could have proved the birth of the Queen's child, and of having made
+     the midwife leave the kingdom precipitately, she being the only
+     person who had actually seen the child born.]
+
+A song has been made upon Lord Bolingbroke on the subject of his passion
+for a young girl who escaped from her convent.  Some persons say that the
+girl was a professed nun.  She ran after the Duke Regent a long time, but
+could not accomplish her intention.
+
+Lady Gordon, the grandaunt of Lord Huntley, was my dame d'atour for a
+considerable period.  She was a singular person, and always plunged into
+reveries.  Once when she was in bed and going to seal a letter, she
+dropped the wax upon her own thigh and burnt herself dreadfully.  At
+another time, when she was also in bed and engaged in play, she threw the
+dice upon the ground and spat in the bed.  Once, too, she spat in the
+mouth of my first femme de chambre, who happened to be passing at the
+moment.  I think if I had not interposed they would have come to blows,
+so angry was the femme de chambre.  One evening when I wanted my
+head-dress to go to Court, she took off her gloves and threw them in my
+face, putting on my head-dress at the same time with great gravity.
+When she was speaking to a man she had a habit of playing with the
+buttons of his waistcoat.  Saving one day some occasion to talk to the
+Chevalier Buveon, a Captain in the late Monsieur's Guard, and he being a
+very tall man, she could only reach his waistband, which she began to
+unbutton.  The poor gentleman was quite horror-stricken, and started
+back, crying, "For Heaven's sake, madame, what are you going to do?"
+This accident caused a great laugh in the Salon of Saint Cloud.
+
+They say that Lord Peterborough, speaking of the two Kings of Spain,
+said, "What fools we are to cut each other's throats for two such apes."
+
+Monteleon has good reason to be fond of the Princesse des Ursins, for she
+made his fortune: he was an insignificant officer in the troop, but he
+had talents and attached himself to this lady, who made of him what he
+now is (1716).
+
+The Abbess of Maubuisson, Louise Hollandine, daughter of Frederic V.,
+Elector-Palatine of the days of Henri IV., had had so many illegitimate
+children, that she commonly swore by her body, which had borne fourteen
+children.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin could not bear to have unfortunate persons about him.
+When he was requested to take any one into his service, his first
+question was, "Is he lucky?"
+
+My son has never assisted the Pretender (Prince Edward Stuart), either
+publicly or privately; and if my Lord Stair had chosen to contract a more
+close alliance, as my son wished, he would have prevented the Pretender's
+staying in France and collecting adherents; but as that alliance was
+declined, he merely confined himself to the stipulations contained in the
+treaty of peace.  He neither furnished the Pretender with arms nor money.
+The Pope and some others gave him money, but my son could not, for he was
+too much engaged in paying off the late King's debts, and he would not on
+account of that treaty.  There can be no doubt that an attempt has been
+made to embroil my son with the King of England; for, at the same time
+that they were making the King believe my son was sustaining the
+Pretender's cause, they told my son that Lord Stair had interviews with
+M. Pentenriedez, the Emperor's Envoy, as well as with the Sicilian
+Ambassador, the object of which was to make a league with those powers to
+drive out the King of Spain and to set up the King of France in his
+place, at the same time that Sicily should be given up to the
+Emperor--in short, to excite all Europe against France.  My son said
+himself, that, since he was to confine himself to the articles of the
+treaty of peace, he did not think he had any right to prevent the
+Pretender's passage through his kingdom; and as the army had been
+reduced, he could not hinder the disbanded soldiers from taking service
+wherever they chose.  My son had no intention whatever to break with
+England, although he has been told that there was a majority of two
+voices only in that nation against declaring it at war with France.  He
+thinks Lord Stair is not his friend, and that he has not faithfully
+reported to his monarch the state of things here, but would rather be
+pleased to kindle the flames of a war.  If that Minister had honestly
+explained to the King my son's intentions, the King would not have
+refused to agree with them.
+
+It is said here that the present Queen of Spain (1716), although she is
+more beloved by her husband than was the last, has less influence over
+him.  The Abbe Alberoni has them both in his power, and governs them like
+two children.
+
+The English gentlemen and ladies who are here tell horrible stories of
+Queen Anne.  They say she gets quite drunk, and that besides but that she
+is inconstant in her affections, and changes often.  Lady Sandwich has
+not told this to me, but she has to my son.  I have seen her but seldom,
+on account of the repugnance I felt at learning she had confessed she had
+been present at such orgies.
+
+I do not know whether it is true that Louvois was poisoned by that old
+Maintenon, but it is quite certain that he was poisoned, as well as his
+physician who committed the crime, and who said when he was dying, "I die
+by poison, but I deserve it, for having poisoned my master, M. de
+Louvois; and I did this in the hope of becoming the King's physician, as
+Madame de Maintenon had promised me."  I ought to add that some persons
+pretend to think this story of Doctor Seron is a mere invention.  Old
+Piety (Maintenon) did not commit this crime without an object; but if she
+really did poison Louvois, it was because he had opposed her designs and
+endeavoured to undeceive the King.  Louvois, the better to gain his
+object, had advised the King not to take her with him to the army.  The
+King was weak enough to repeat this to her, and this it was that excited
+her against Louvois.  That the latter was a very bad man, who feared
+neither heaven nor hell, no man can deny; but it must be confessed that
+he served his King faithfully.
+
+The Duke de Noailles' grandfather was one of the ugliest men in the
+world.  He had one glass eye, and his nose was like an owl's, his mouth
+large, his teeth ugly and decayed, his face and head very small, his body
+long and bent, and he was bitter and ill-tempered.  His name was Gluinel.
+Madame de Cornuel one day was reading his grandson's genealogy, and, when
+she came to his name, exclaimed, "I always suspected, when I saw the Duc
+de Noailles, that he came out of the Book of the Lamentations of
+Jeremiah!"
+
+When James II. took refuge in France from England, Madame de Cornuel went
+to Saint-Germain to see him.  Some time afterwards, she was told of the
+pains our King was taking to procure his restoration to the throne.
+Madame de Cornuel shook her head, and said, "I have seen this King James;
+our monarch's efforts are all in vain; he is good for nothing but to make
+poor man's sauce.  (La sauce au pauvre homme.)"
+
+She went to Versailles to see the Court when M. de Torcy and M. de
+Seignelay, both very young, had just been appointed Ministers.  She saw
+them, as well as Madame de Maintenon, who had then grown old.  When she
+returned to Paris, some one asked her what remarkable things she had
+seen.  "I have seen," she said, "what I never expected to see there; I
+have seen love in its tomb and the Ministry in its cradle."
+
+The elder Margrave of Anspach was smitten with Mademoiselle d'Armagnac,
+but he would not marry her, and said afterwards that he had never
+intended to do so, because the familiarities which had passed between
+her and the Marquis de Villequier (1716) had disgusted him.  The lady's
+mother would have liked nothing better than to surprise the Margrave with
+her daughter in some critical situation: for this purpose he had
+sufficient opportunities given him, but he was prudent, and conducted
+himself with so much modesty, that he avoided the snare.  To tell the
+truth, I had given him a hint on the subject, for I was too well
+acquainted with the mother, who is a very bad woman.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu, notwithstanding his wit, had often fits of
+distraction.  Sometimes he would fancy himself a horse, and run jumping
+about a billiard-table, neighing and snorting; this would last an hour,
+at the end of which his people would put him to bed and cover him up
+closely to induce perspiration; when he awoke the fit had passed and did
+not appear again.
+
+The Archbishop of Paris reprimanded the Bishop of Gap on the bad
+reputation which he had acquired in consequence of his intercourse with
+women.  "Ah, Monseigneur," replied the Bishop of Gap, "if you knew what
+you talk of, you would not be astonished.  I lived the first forty years
+of my life without experiencing it; I don't know what induced me to
+venture on it, but, having done so, it is impossible to refrain.  Only
+try it for once, Monseigneur, and you will perceive the truth of what I
+tell you."
+
+     [This Bishop, whose name was Herve, had lived in prudence and
+     regularity up to the age of fifty, when he began, on a sudden, to
+     lead a very debauched life.  They compelled him to give up his
+     Bishopric, which he did on condition of being allowed to stay at
+     Paris as much as he chose.  He continued to live in perpetual
+     pleasure, but towards the close of his career he repented of his
+     sins and engaged with the Capuchin missionaries.]
+
+This Bishop is now living in the village of Boulogne, near Paris: he is a
+little priest, very ugly, with a large head and fiery red face.
+
+Our late King said, "I am, I confess, somewhat piqued to see that,
+with all the authority belonging to my station in this country, I have
+exclaimed so long against high head-dresses, while no one had the
+complaisance to lower them for me in the slightest degree.  But now, when
+a mere strange English wench arrives with a little low head-dress, all
+the Princesses think fit to go at once from one extremity to another."
+
+A Frenchman who had taken refuge in Holland informed me by letter of what
+was passing with respect to the Prince of Orange.  Thinking that I should
+do the King a service by communicating to him these news, I hastened to
+him, and he thanked me for them.  In the evening, however, he said to me,
+smiling, "My Ministers will have it that you have been misinformed, and
+that your correspondent has not written you one word of truth."
+I replied, "Time will show which is better informed, your Majesty's
+Ministers or my correspondent.  For my own part, Sire, my intention at
+least was good."
+
+Some time afterwards, when the report of the approaching accession of
+William to the throne of England became public, M. de Torcy came to me to
+beg I would acquaint him with my news.  I replied, "I receive none now;
+you told the King that what I formerly had was false, and upon this I
+desired my correspondents to send me no more, for I do not love to spread
+false reports."  He laughed, as he always did, and said, "Your news have
+turned out to be quite correct."  I replied, "A great and able Minister
+ought surely to have news more correct than I can obtain; and I have been
+angry with myself for having formerly acquainted the King with the
+reports which had reached me.  I ought to have recollected that his
+clever Ministers are acquainted with everything."  The King therefore
+said to me, "You are making game of my Ministers."--"Sire," I replied, "I
+am only giving them back their own."
+
+M. de Louvois was the only person who was well served by his spies;
+indeed, he never spared his money.  All the Frenchmen who went into
+Germany or Holland as dancing or fencing-masters, esquires, etc., were
+paid by him to give him information of whatever passed in the several
+Courts.  After his death this system was discontinued, and thus it is
+that the present Ministers are so ignorant of the affairs of other
+nations.
+
+Lauzun says the drollest things, and takes the most amusing, roundabout
+way of intimating whatever he does not care to say openly.  For example,
+when he wished the King to understand that the Count de Marsan, brother
+of M. Legrand, had attached himself to M. Chamillard, the then Minister,
+he took the following means: "Sire," said he, with an air of the utmost
+simplicity, as if he had not the least notion of malice, "I wished to
+change my wigmaker, and employ the one who is now the most in fashion;
+but I could not find him, for M. de Marsan has kept him shut up in his
+room for several days past, making wigs for his household, and for M. de
+Chamillard's friends."
+
+The adventures of Prince Emmanuel of Portugal are a perfect romance.
+His brother, the King, was desirous, it is said, at first, to have made
+a priest and a Bishop of him; to this, however, he had an insuperable
+objection, for he was in love.  The King sent for him, and asked him if
+it was true that he had really resolved not to enter the Church.  On the
+Prince's replying in the affirmative, the King, his brother, struck him.
+The Prince said, "You are my King and my brother, and therefore I cannot
+revenge myself as I ought upon you; but you have put an insult upon me
+which I cannot endure, and you shall never again see me in the whole
+course of your life."  He is said to have set out on that very night.
+His brother wrote to him, commanding his return from Paris to Holland; as
+he made no reply to this command, his Governor and the Ambassador had no
+doubt that it was his intention to obey it.  In the course of last week
+he expressed a desire to see Versailles and Marly.  The Ambassador made
+preparations for this excursion, and together with his wife accompanied
+the Prince, whose Governor and one of his gentlemen were of the party.
+Upon their return from Versailles, when they reached the courtyard, the
+Prince called out to stop, and asked if there were any chaises ready:
+
+"Yes, Monseigneur," replied a voice, "there are four."--"That will be
+sufficient," replied the Prince.  Then addressing the Ambassador, he
+expressed his warmest thanks for the friendly attention he had shown him,
+and assured him that he desired nothing so much as an opportunity to
+testify his gratitude.  "I am now going to set out," he added, "for
+Vienna; the Emperor is my cousin; I have no doubt he will receive me,
+and I shall learn in his army to become a soldier in the campaign against
+the Turks."  He then thanked the Governor for the pains he had bestowed
+upon his education; and promised that, if any good fortune should befall
+him, his Governor should share it with him.  He also said something
+complimentary to his gentleman.  He then alighted, called for the
+post-chaises, and took his seat in one of them; his favourite, a young
+man of little experience, but, as it is said, of considerable talent,
+placed himself in another, and his two valets de chambre into the third
+and fourth.  That nothing may be wanting to the romantic turn of his
+adventures, it is said, besides, that Madame de Riveira was the object of
+his affection in Portugal before she was married; that he even wished to
+make her his wife, but that his brother would not permit it.  A short
+time before his departure, the husband, who is a very jealous man, found
+him at his wife's feet; and this hastened the Prince's departure.
+
+Henri IV. had been one day told of the infidelity of one of his
+mistresses.  Believing that the King had no intention of visiting her,
+she made an assignation with the Duc de Bellegarde in her own apartment.
+The King, having caused the time of his rival's coming to be watched,
+when he was informed of his being there, went to his mistress's room.
+He found her in bed, and she complained of a violent headache.  The King
+said he was very hungry, and wanted some supper; she replied that she had
+not thought about supper, and believed she had only a couple of
+partridges.  Henri IV.  desired they should be served up, and said he
+would eat them with her.  The supper which she had prepared for
+Bellegarde, and which consisted of much more than two partridges, was
+then served up; the King, taking up a small loaf, split it open, and,
+sticking a whole partridge into it, threw it under the bed.  "Sire,"
+cried the lady, terrified to death, "what are you doing?"--"Madame,"
+replied the merry monarch, "everybody must live."  He then took his
+departure, content with having frightened the lovers.
+
+I have again seen M. La Mothe le Vayer; who, with all his sense, dresses
+himself like a madman.  He wears furred boots, and a cap which he never
+takes off, lined with the same material, a large band, and a black velvet
+coat.
+
+We have had few Queens in France who have been really happy.  Marie de
+Medicis died in exile.  The mother of the King and of the late Monsieur
+was unhappy as long as her husband was alive.  Our Queen Marie-Therese
+said upon her death-bed, "that from the time of her becoming Queen she
+had not had a day of real happiness."
+
+Lauzun sometimes affects the simpleton that he may say disagreeable
+things with impunity, for he is very malicious.  In order to hint to
+Marechal de Tesse that he did wrong in being so familiar with the common
+people, he called out to him one night in the Salon at Marly, "Marshal,
+pray give me a pinch of snuff; but let it be good--that, for example,
+which I saw you taking this morning with Daigremont the chairman."
+
+In the time of Henri IV. an Elector-Palatine came to France; the King's
+household was sent to meet him.  All his expenses were paid, as well as
+those of his suite; and when he arrived at the Court he entered between
+the Dauphin and Monsieur and dined with the King.  I learned these
+particulars from the late Monsieur.  The King, under the pretence of
+going to the chase, went about a league from Paris, and, meeting the
+Elector, conducted him in his carriage.  At Paris he was always attended
+by the King's servants.  This treatment is somewhat different from that
+which, in my time, was bestowed upon Maximilian Maria, the Elector of
+Bavaria.  This Elector often enraged me with the foolish things that he
+did.  For example, he went to play and to dine with M. d'Antin, and never
+evinced the least desire to dine with his own nephews.  A sovereign,
+whether he be Elector or not, might with propriety dine either at the
+Dauphin's table or mine; and, if the Elector had chosen, he might have
+come to us; but he was contented to dine with M. d'Antin or M. de Torcy,
+and some ladies of the King's suite.  I am angry to this day when I think
+of it.  The King used often to laugh at my anger on this subject; and,
+whenever the Elector committed some new absurdity, he used to call to me
+in the cabinet and ask me, "Well, Madame, what have you to say to that?"
+I would reply, "All that the Elector does is alike ridiculous."  This
+made the King laugh heartily.  The Elector had a Marshal, the Count
+d'Arco, the brother of that person who had married in so singular a
+manner the Prince's mistress, Popel, which marriage had been contracted
+solely upon his promise never to be alone with his wife.  The Marshal,
+who was as honest as his brother was accommodating, was terribly annoyed
+at his master's conduct; he came at first to me to impart to me his
+chagrin whenever the Elector committed some folly; and when he behaved
+better he used also to tell me of it.  I rather think he must have been
+forbidden to visit me, for latterly I never saw him.  None of the
+Elector's suite have visited me, and I presume they have been prevented.
+This Prince's amorous intrigues have been by no means agreeable to the
+King.  The Elector was so fond of grisettes that, when the King was
+giving names to each of the roads through the wood, he was exceedingly
+anxious that one of them should be called L'Allee des Grisettes; but the
+King would not consent to it.  The Elector has perpetuated his race in
+the villages; and two country girls have been pointed out to me who were
+pregnant by him at his departure.
+
+His marriage with a Polish Princess is a striking proof that a man cannot
+avoid his fate.  This was not a suitable match for him, and was managed
+almost without his knowledge, as I have been told.  His Councillors,
+having been bought over, patched up the affair; and when the Elector only
+caused it to be submitted for their deliberation, it was already decided
+on.
+
+This Elector's brother must have been made a Bishop of Cologne and
+Munster without the production of proof of his nobility being demanded;
+for it is well known that the King Sobieski was a Polish nobleman, who
+married the daughter of Darquin, Captain of our late Monsieur's Swiss
+Guards.  Great suspicions are entertained respecting the children of the
+Bavaria family, that is, the Elector and his brothers, who are thought to
+have been the progeny of an Italian doctor named Simoni.  It was said at
+Court that the doctor had only given the Elector and his wife a strong
+cordial, the effect of which had been to increase their family; but they
+are all most suspiciously like the doctor.
+
+I have heard it said that in England the people used to take my late
+uncle, Rupert, for a sorcerer, and his large black dog for the Devil;
+for this reason, when he joined the army and attacked the enemy, whole
+regiments fled before him.
+
+A knight of the Palatinate, who had served many years in India, told me
+at Court in that country the first Minister and the keeper of the seals
+hated each other mortally.  The latter having one day occasion for the
+seals, found they had been taken from the casket in which they were
+usually kept.  He was of course greatly terrified, for his head depended
+upon their production.  He went to one of his friends, and consulted with
+him what he should do.  His friend asked him if he had any enemies at
+Court.  "Yes," replied the keeper of the seals, "the chief Minister is my
+mortal foe."--"So much the better," replied his friend; "go and set fire
+to your house directly; take out of it nothing but the casket in which
+the seals were kept, and take it directly to the chief Minister, telling
+him you know no one with whom you can more safely deposit it; then go
+home again and save whatever you can.  When the fire shall be
+extinguished, you must go to the King, and request him to order the chief
+Minister to restore you the seals; and you must be sure to open the
+casket before the Prince.  If the seals are there, all will be explained;
+if the Minister has not restored them, you must accuse him at once of
+having stolen them; and thus you will be sure to ruin your enemy and
+recover your seals."  The keeper of the seals followed his friend's
+advice exactly, and the seals were found again in the casket.
+
+As soon as a royal child, which they call here un Enfant de France, is
+born, and has been swaddled, they put on him a grand cordon; but they do
+not create him a knight of the order until he has communicated; the
+ceremony is then performed in the ordinary manner.
+
+The ladies of chancellors here have the privilege of the tabouret when
+they come to the toilette; but in the afternoon they are obliged to
+stand.  This practice began in the days of Marie de Medicis, when a
+chancellor's wife happened to be in great favour.  As she had a lame foot
+and could not stand up, the Queen, who would have her come to visit her
+every morning, allowed her to sit down.  From this time the custom of
+these ladies sitting in the morning has been continued.
+
+In the reign of Henri IV. the King's illegitimate children took
+precedence of the Princes of the House of Lorraine.  On the day after the
+King's death, the Duc de Verneuil was about to go before the Duc de
+Guise, when the latter, taking him by the arm, said, "That might have
+been yesterday, but to-day matters are altered."
+
+Two young Duchesses, not being able to see their lovers, invented the
+following stratagem to accomplish their wishes.  These two sisters had
+been educated in a convent some leagues distant from Paris.  A nun of
+their acquaintance happening to die there, they pretended to be much
+afflicted at it, and requested permission to perform the last duties to
+her, and to be present at her funeral.  They were believed to be sincere,
+and the permission they asked was readily granted them.  In the funeral
+procession it was perceived that, besides the two ladies, there were two
+other persons whom no one knew.  Upon being asked who they were, they
+replied they were poor priests in need of protection; and that, having
+learnt two Duchesses were to be present at the funeral, they had come to
+the convent for the purpose of imploring their good offices.  When they
+were presented to them, the young ladies said they would interrogate them
+after the service in their chambers.  The young priests waited upon them
+at the time appointed, and stayed there until the evening.  The Abbess,
+who began to think their audience was too long, sent to beg the priests
+would retire.  One of them seemed very melancholy, but the other laughed
+as if he would burst his sides.  This was the Duc de Richelieu; the other
+was the Chevalier de Guemene, the younger son of the Duke of that name.
+The gentlemen themselves divulged the adventure.
+
+The King's illegitimate children, fearing that they should be treated in
+the same way as the Princes of the blood, have for some months past been
+engaged in drawing a strong party of the nobility to their side, and have
+presented a very unjust petition against the Dukes and Peers.  My son has
+refused to receive this petition, and has interdicted them from holding
+assemblies, the object of which he knows would tend to revolt.  They
+have, nevertheless, continued them at the instigations of the Duc du
+Maine and his wife, and have even carried their insolence so far as to
+address a memorial to my son and another to the Parliament, in which they
+assert that it is within the province of the nobility alone to decide
+between the Princes of the blood and the legitimated Princes.  Thirty of
+them have signed this memorial, of whom my son has had six arrested;
+three of them have been sent to the Bastille, and the other three to
+Vincennes; they are MM. de Chatillon, de Rieux, de Beaufremont, de
+Polignac, de Clermont, and d'O.  The last was the Governor of the Comte
+de Toulouse, and remains with him.  Clermont's wife is one of the
+Duchesse de Berri's ladies.  She is not the most discreet person in the
+world, and has been long in the habit of saying to any one who would
+listen to her, "Whatever may come of it, my husband and I are willing to
+risk our lives for the Comte de Toulouse."  It is therefore evident that
+all this proceeds from the bastards.  But I must expose still further the
+ingratitude of these people.  Chatillon is a poor gentleman, whose father
+held a small employment under M. Gaston, one of those offices which
+confer the privilege of the entree to the antechambers, and the holders
+of which do not sit in the carriage with their masters.  The two
+descendants, as they call themselves, of the house of Chatillon, insist
+that this Chatillon, who married an attorney's daughter, is descended
+from the illegitimate branches of that family.  His son was a subaltern
+in the Body Guard.  In the summer time, when the young officers went to
+bathe, they used to take young Chatillon with them to guard their
+clothes, and for this office they gave him a crown for his supper.
+Monsieur having taken this poor person into his service, gave him a
+cordon bleu, and furnished him with money to commence a suit which he
+subsequently gained against the House of Chatillon, and they were
+compelled to recognize him.  He then made him a Captain in the Guards;
+gave him a considerable pension, which my son continued, and permitted
+him also to have apartments in the Palais Royal.  In these very
+apartments did this ungrateful man hold those secret meetings, the end of
+which was proposed to be my son's ruin.  Rieux's grandfather had
+neglected to uphold the honour to which he was entitled, of being called
+the King's cousin.  My son restored him to this honour, gave his brother
+a place in the gendarmerie, and rendered him many other services.
+Chatillon tried particularly to excite the nobility against my son; and
+this is the recompense for all his kindness.  My son's wife is gay and
+content, in the hope that all will go well with her brothers.
+
+That old Maintenon has continued pretty tranquil until the termination of
+the process relating to the legitimation of the bastards.  No one has
+heard her utter a single expression on the subject.  This makes me
+believe that she has some project in her head, but I cannot tell what it
+is.
+
+A monk, who was journeying a few days ago to Luzarche, met upon the road
+a stranger, who fell into conversation with him.  He was an agreeable
+companion, and related various adventures very pleasantly.  Having
+learned from the monk that he was charged with the rents of the convent,
+to which some estates in the neighbourhood of Luzarche belonged, the
+stranger told him that he belonged to that place, whither he was
+returning after a long journey; and then observing to the monk that the
+road they were pursuing was roundabout, he pointed out to him a nearer
+one through the forest.  When they had reached the thickest part of the
+wood, the stranger alighted, and, seizing the bridle of the monk's horse,
+demanded his money.  The monk replied that he thought he was travelling
+with an honest man, and that he was astonished at so singular a demand.
+The stranger replied that he had no time for trifling, and that the monk
+must either give up his money or his life.  The monk replied, "I never
+carry money about me; but if you will let me alight and go to my servant,
+who carries my money, I will bring you 1,000 francs."
+
+The robber suffered the monk to alight, who went to his servant, and,
+taking from him the 1,000 francs which were in a purse, he at the same
+time furnished himself with a loaded pistol which he concealed in his
+sleeve.  When he returned to the thief, he threw down the purse, and, as
+the robber stooped to pick it up, the monk fired and shot him dead; then,
+remounting his horse, he hastened to apply to the police, and related his
+adventure.  A patrole was sent back with him to the wood, and, upon
+searching the robber, there were found in his pockets six whistles of
+different sizes; they blew the largest of the number, upon which ten
+other armed robbers soon afterwards appeared; they defended themselves,
+but eventually two of them were killed and the others taken.
+
+The Chevalier Schaub, who was employed in State affairs by Stanhope, the
+English Minister, brought with him a secretary, to whom the Prince of
+Wales had entrusted sixty guineas, to be paid to a M. d'Isten, who had
+made a purchase of some lace to that amount for the Princess of Wales;
+the brother of M. d'Isten, then living in London, had also given the same
+secretary 200 guineas, to be delivered to his brother at Paris.  When the
+secretary arrived he enquired at the Ambassador's where M. d'Isten lived,
+and, having procured his address, he went to the house and asked for the
+German gentleman.  A person appeared, who said, "I am he."  The secretary
+suspecting nothing, gave him the Prince of Wales' letter and the sixty
+guineas.  The fictitious d'Isten, perceiving that the secretary had a
+gold watch, and a purse containing fifty other guineas, detained him to
+supper; but no sooner had the secretary drank some wine than he was
+seized with an invincible desire to go to sleep.  "My good friend," said
+his host, "your journey has fatigued you; you had better undress and lie
+down on my bed for a short time."  The secretary, who could not keep his
+eyes open, consented; and no sooner had he lain down than he was asleep.
+Some time after, his servant came to look for him, and awoke him; the
+bottles were still standing before the bed, but the poor secretary's
+pockets were emptied, and the sharper who had personated M. d'Isten had
+disappeared with their valuable contents.
+
+The Princesse Maubuisson was astonishingly pleasant and amiable.  I was
+always delighted to visit her, and never felt myself tired in her
+society.  I soon found myself in much greater favour than any other of
+her nieces, because I could converse with her about almost everybody she
+had known in the whole course of her life, which the others could not.
+She used frequently to talk German with me, which she knew very well; and
+she told me all her adventures.  I asked her how she could accustom
+herself to the monastic life.  She laughed and said, "I never speak to
+the nuns but to give orders."  She had a deaf nun with her in her own
+chamber, that she might not feel any desire to speak.  She told me that
+she had always been fond of a country life, and that she still could
+fancy herself a country girl.  "But," I asked her, "how do you like
+getting up and going to church in the middle of the night?"  She replied
+that she did as the painters do, who increase the splendour of their
+light by the introduction of deep shadows.  She had in general the
+faculty of giving to all things a turn which deprived them of their
+absurdity.
+
+I have often heard M. Bernstorff spoken of by a person who was formerly
+very agreeable to him; I mean the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, the Duc de
+Luxembourg's sister.  She praised his talents very highly, and assured me
+that it was she who gave him to the Duke George William.
+
+The wife of the Marechal de Villars is running after the Comte de
+Toulouse.  My son is also in her good graces, and is not a whit more
+discreet.  Marechal de Villars came one day to see me; and, as he
+pretends to understand medals, he asked to see mine.  Baudelot, who is a
+very honest and clever man, and in whose keeping they are, was desired to
+show them; he is not the most cautious man in the world, and is very
+little acquainted with what is going on at Court.  He had written a
+dissertation upon one of my medals, in which he proved, against the
+opinion of other learned men, that the horned head which it displayed was
+that of Pan and not of Jupiter Ammon.  Honest Baudelot, to display his
+erudition, said to the Marshal, "Ah, Monseigneur, this is one of the
+finest medals that Madame possesses: it is the triumph of Cornificius; he
+has, you see, all sorts of horns.  He was like you, sir, a great general;
+he wears the horns of Juno and Faunus.  Cornificius was, as you probably
+well know, sir, a very able general."  Here I interrupted him.  "Let us
+pass on," I said, "to the other medal; if you stop in this manner at
+each, you will not have time to show the whole."
+
+But he, full of his subject, returned to it.  "Ah, Madame," he went on,
+"this is worthy of more attention than perhaps any other; Cornificius is,
+indeed, one of the most rare medals in the world.  Look at it, Madame;
+I beg you to observe it narrowly; here, you see, is Juno crowned, and she
+is also crowning this great general."  All that I could say to him was
+not sufficient to prevent Baudelot talking to the Marshal of horns.
+"Monseigneur," he said, "is well versed in all these matters, and I want
+him to see that I am right in insisting that these horns are those of
+Faunus, not those of Jupiter Ammon."
+
+All the people who were in the chamber, with difficulty refrained from
+bursting into a loud laugh.  If the plan had been laid for the purpose,
+it could not have succeeded better.  When the Marshal had gone, I, too,
+indulged myself by joining in the laugh.  It was with great difficulty
+that I could make Baudelot understand he had done wrong.
+
+The same Baudelot, one day at a masked ball, had been saying a great many
+civil things to the Dowager Madame, who was there masked, and whom,
+therefore, he did not know.  When he came and saw that it was Madame, he
+was terrified with affright: the Princess laughed beyond measure at it.
+
+Our Princes here have no particular costume.  When they go to the
+Parliament they wear only a cloak, which, in my opinion, has a very
+vulgar appearance; and the more so, as they wear the 'collet' without a
+cravat.  Those of the Royal Family have no privileges above the other
+Dukes, excepting in their seats and the right of crossing over the
+carpet, which is allowed to none but them.  The President, when he
+addresses them, is uncovered, but keeps his hat on when he speaks to
+everybody else.  This is the cause of those great disputes which the
+Princes of the blood have had with the bastards, as may be seen by their
+memorial.  The Presidents of the Parliament wear flame-coloured robes
+trimmed with ermine at the neck and sleeves.
+
+The Comtesse de Soissons, Angelique Cunegonde, the daughter of
+Francois-Henri de Luxembourg, has, it must be confessed, a considerable
+share of virtue and of wit; but she has also her faults, like the rest
+of the world.  It may be said of her that she is truly a poor Princess.
+Her husband, Louis-Henri, Chevalier de Soissons, was very ugly, having a
+very long hooked nose, and eyes extremely close to it.  He was as yellow
+as saffron; his mouth was extremely small for a man, and full of bad
+teeth of a most villanous odour; his legs were ugly and clumsy; his
+knees and feet turned inwards, which made him look when he was walking
+like a parrot; and his manner of making a bow was bad.  He was rather
+short than otherwise; but he had fine hair and a large quantity of it.
+He was rather good-looking when a child.  I have seen portraits of him
+painted at that period.  If the Comtesse de Soissons' son had resembled
+his mother, he would have been very well, for her features are good, and
+nothing could be better than her, eyes, her mouth, and the turn of her
+face; only her nose was too large and thick, and her skin was not fine
+enough.
+
+Whoever is like the Prince Eugene in person cannot be called a handsome
+man; he is shorter than his elder brother, but, with the exception of
+Prince Eugene, all the rest of them are good for nothing.  The youngest,
+Prince Philippe, was a great madman, and died of the small-pox at Paris.
+He was of a very fair complexion, had an ungraceful manner, and always
+looked distracted.  He had a nose like a hawk, a large mouth, thick lips,
+and hollow cheeks; in all respects I thought he was like his elder
+brother.  The third brother, who was called the Chevalier de Savoie, died
+in consequence of a fall from his horse.  The Prince Eugene was a younger
+brother: he had two sisters, who were equally ugly; one of them is dead,
+and the other is still living (1717) in a convent in Savoy.  The elder
+was of a monstrous shape, but a mere dwarf.  She led a very irregular
+life.  She afterwards ran away with a rogue, the Abbe de la Bourlie, whom
+she obliged to marry her at Geneva; they used to beat each other.  She is
+now dead.
+
+Prince Eugene was not in his younger days so ugly as he has become since;
+but he never was good-looking, nor had he any nobility in his manner.
+His eyes were pretty good, but his nose, and two large teeth which he
+displayed whenever he opened his mouth, completely spoilt his face.  He
+was besides always very filthy, and his coarse hair was never dressed.
+
+This Prince is little addicted to women, and, during the whole time that
+he has been here, I never heard one mentioned who has pleased him, or
+whom he has distinguished or visited more than another.
+
+His mother took no care of him; she brought him up like a scullion, and
+liked better to stake her money at play than to expend it upon her
+youngest son.  This is the ordinary practice of women in this country.
+
+They will not yet believe that the Persian Ambassador was an impostor;
+
+     [This embassy was always equivocal, and even something more.  From
+     all that can be understood of it, it would seem that a Minister of
+     one of the Persian provinces, a sort of Intendant de Languedoc, as
+     we might say, had commissioned this pretended Ambassador to manage
+     for him some commercial affairs with certain merchants, and that for
+     his own amusement the agent chose to represent the Persian
+     Ambassador.  It is said, too, that Pontchartrain, under whose
+     department this affair fell, would not expose the trick, that the
+     King might be amused, and that he might recommend himself to His
+     Majesty's favour by making him believe that the Sophy had sent him
+     an Ambassador.--Notes to Dangeau's Journal.]
+
+it is quite certain that he was a clumsy fellow, although he had some
+sense.  There was an air of magnificence about the way in which he gave
+audience.  He prevailed upon a married woman, who was pregnant by him,
+to abjure Christianity.  It is true she was not a very respectable
+person, being the illegitimate daughter of my son's chief almoner, the
+Abbe de Grancey, who always kept a little seraglio.  In order to carry
+her away with him, the Ambassador had her fastened up in a box filled
+with holes, and then begged that no person might be allowed to touch it,
+being, as he said, filled with the sacred books written by Mahomet
+himself, which would be polluted by the contact of Christians.  Upon this
+pretence the permission was given, and by these means the woman was
+carried off.  I cannot believe the story which is told of this Ambassador
+having had 10,000 louis d'or given him.
+
+I had the misfortune to displease the Margrave John Frederic of Anspach.
+He brought me a letter from my brother and his wife, both of whom begged
+I would assist him with my advice.  I therefore thought that by
+counselling him as I should have counselled my own brother I should be
+rendering him the best service.  When he arrived he was in deep mourning
+for his first wife, who had then not been dead three months.  I asked him
+what he proposed to do in France?  He replied "that he was on his way to
+England, but that before his departure he should wish to pay his respects
+to the King."  I asked him if he had anything to solicit from the King or
+to arrange with him.  He replied "he had not."--"Then," I said, "I would
+advise you, if you will permit me, to send the principal person of your
+suite to the King to make your compliments, to inform him that you are
+going to England, and that you would not have failed to wait upon him,
+but that, being in mourning for your wife, your respect for him prevented
+your appearing before him in so melancholy a garb."--"But," he rejoined,
+"I am very fond of dancing, and I wish to go to the ball; now I cannot go
+thither until I have first visited the King."--"For God's sake," I said,
+"do not go to the ball; it is not the custom here.  You will be laughed
+at, and the more particularly so because the Marechal de Grammont, who
+presented you to the King some years ago, said that you could find
+nothing to praise in the whole of France, with the exception of a little
+goldfinch in the King's cabinet which whistled airs.  I recommend you not
+to go to see the King, nor to be present at the ball."  He was angry, and
+said "he saw very well that I discountenanced German Princes, and did not
+wish them to be presented to the King."  I replied "that the advice I had
+given him sprang from the best intentions, and was such as I would have
+given to my own brother."  He went away quite angry to Marechal
+Schomberg's, where he complained of my behaviour to him.  The Marshal
+asked him what I had said, which he repeated word for word.  The Marshal
+told him that I had advised him well, and that he was himself of my
+opinion.  Nevertheless, the Margrave persisted on being presented to the
+King, whither he prevailed upon the Marshal to accompany him, and went
+the next day to the ball.  He was extremely well dressed in
+half-mourning, with white lace over the black, fine blue ribands, black
+and white laces, and rheingraves, which look well upon persons of a good
+figure; in short, he was magnificently dressed, but improperly, for a
+widower in the first stage of his mourning.  He would have seated himself
+within the King's circle, where none but the members of the Royal Family
+and the King's grandchildren are allowed to sit; the Princes of the blood
+even are not allowed to do so, and therefore foreign Princes can of
+course have no right.  The Margrave then began to repent not having
+believed me, and early the next morning he set off.
+
+Prince Ragotzky is under great obligations to his wife, who saved his
+life and delivered him from prison.  Some person was repeating things to
+her disadvantage, but he interrupted them by saying, "She saved my head
+from the axe, and this prevents my having any right to reprove too
+strictly whatever she may choose to do; for this reason I shall not thank
+any person who speaks to me upon the subject."
+
+     [Louis XIV. gave to the Prince Ragotsky, who in France took the
+     title of Comte de Saaross, 200,000 crowns upon the Maison de Ville,
+     and a pension of 2,000 crowns per month besides.]
+
+Beatrice Eleanora, the Queen of James II., was always upon such good
+terms with Maintenon that it is impossible to believe our late King was
+ever fond of her.  I have seen a book, entitled "L'ancien Ward protecteur
+du nouveau," in 12mo, in which is related a gallantry between the Queen
+and the Pere la Chaise.  The confessor was then eighty years of age, and
+not unlike an ass; his ears were very long, his mouth very wide, his head
+very large, and his body very long.  It was an ill-chosen joke.  This
+libel was even less credible than what was stated about the King himself.
+
+The Monks of Saint Mihiel possess the original manuscripts of the Memoirs
+of Cardinal Retz.  They have had them printed and are selling them at
+Nancy; but in this copy there are many omissions.  A lady at Paris,
+Madame Caumartin, has a copy in which there is not a word deficient; but
+she obstinately refused to lend it that the others may be made complete.
+
+When an Ambassador would make his entry at Paris he has himself announced
+some days before by the officers whose duty it is to introduce
+Ambassadors, in order that the usual compliments may be paid him.  To
+royal Ambassadors a chevalier d'honneur is sent, to those from Venice or
+Holland the first equerry, and when he is absent or unwell the chief
+Maitre d'Hotel, who is also sent to the Ambassador from Malta.
+
+The English ladies are said to be much given to running away with their
+lovers.  I knew a Count von Konigsmark, whom a young English lady
+followed in the dress of a page.  He had her with him at Chambord, and,
+as there was no room for her in the castle, he lodged her under a tent
+which he had put up in the forest.  When we were at the chase one day he
+told me this adventure.  As I had a great curiosity to see her, I rode
+towards the tent, and never in my life did I see anything prettier than
+this girl in the habit of a page.  She had large and beautiful eyes, a
+charming little nose, and an elegant mouth and teeth.  She smiled when
+she saw me, for she suspected that the Count had told me the whole story.
+Her hair was a beautiful chestnut colour, and hung about her neck in
+large curls.  After their departure from Chambord, while they were at an
+inn upon their way to Italy, the innkeeper's wife ran to the Count,
+crying, "Sir, make haste upstairs, for your page is lying-in."  She was
+delivered of a girl, and the mother and child were soon afterwards placed
+in a convent near Paris.  While the Count lived he took great care of
+her, but he died in the Morea, and his pretended page did not long
+survive him; she displayed great piety in the hour of death.  A friend of
+the Count's, and a nephew of Madame de Montespan, took care of the child,
+and after his death the King gave the little creature a pension.  I
+believe she is still (1717) in the convent.
+
+The Abbe Perrault founded an annual funeral oration for the Prince de
+Conde in the Jesuits' Church, where his heart is deposited.  I shall not
+upon this occasion call to mind his victories, his courage in war, or his
+timidity at Court; these are things well known throughout France.
+
+A gentleman of my acquaintance at Paris heard a learned Abbe, who was in
+the confidence of Descartes, say that the philosopher used often to laugh
+at his own system, and said, "I have cut them out some work: we shall see
+who will be fools enough to undertake it."
+
+That old Beauvais, the Queen-mother's first femme de chambre, was
+acquainted with the secret of her marriage, and this obliged the Queen to
+put up with whatever the confidante chose to do.  From this circumstance
+has arisen that custom which gives femmes de chambre so much authority in
+our apartments.  The Queen-mother, the widow of Louis XIII., not
+contented with loving Cardinal Mazarin, went the absurd length of
+marrying him.  He was not a priest, and therefore was not prevented by
+his orders from contracting matrimony.  He soon, however, got very tired
+of the poor Queen, and treated her dreadfully ill, which is the ordinary
+result in such marriages.  But it is the vice of the times to contract
+clandestine marriages.  The Queen-mother of England, the widow of Charles
+II., made such an one in marrying her chevalier d'honneur, who behaved
+very ill to her; while the poor Queen was in want of food and fuel, he
+had a good fire in his apartment, and was giving great dinners.  He
+called himself Lord Germain, Earl of St. Albans; he never addressed a
+kind expression to the Queen.  As to the Queen-mother's marriage, all the
+circumstances relating to it are now well enough known.  The secret
+passage by which he went nightly to the Palais Royal may still be seen;
+when she used to visit him, he was in the habit of saying, "what does
+this woman want with me?"  He was in love with a lady of the Queen's
+suite, whom I knew very well: she had apartments in the Palais Royal, and
+was called Madame de Bregie.  As she was very pretty, she excited a good
+deal of passion; but she was a very honest lady, who served the Queen
+with great fidelity, and was the cause of the Cardinal's living upon
+better terms with the Queen than before.  She had very good sense.
+Monsieur loved her for her fidelity to the Queen his mother.  She has
+been dead now four-and-twenty years (1717).
+
+The Princesse de Deux Ponts has recently furnished another instance of
+the misfortune which usually attends the secret marriages of ladies of
+high birth.  She married her equerry, was very ill-treated by him, and
+led a very miserable life; but she deserved all she met with and I
+foresaw it.  She was with me at the Opera once, and insisted at all
+events that her equerry should sit behind her.  "For God's sake," I said
+to her, "be quiet, and give yourself no trouble about this Gerstorf; you
+do not know the manners of this country; when folks perceive you are so
+anxious about that man, they will think you are in love with him."  I did
+not know then how near this was to the truth.  She replied, "Do people,
+then, in this country take no care of their servants?"--"Oh, yes,"
+I said, "they request some of their friends to carry them to the Opera,
+but they do not go with them."
+
+M. Pentenrieder is a perfect gentleman, extremely well-bred, totally
+divested of the vile Austrian manners, and speaks good German instead of
+the jargon of Austria.  While he was staying here, the Fair of
+Saint-Germain commenced; a giant, who came to Paris for the purpose of
+exhibiting himself, having accidentally met M. Pentenrieder, said as soon
+as he saw him, "It's all over with me: I shall not go into the fair; for
+who will give money to see me while this man shows himself for nothing?"
+and he really went away.  M. Pentenrieder pleased everybody.  Count
+Zinzendorf, who succeeded him, did not resemble him at all, but was a
+perfect Austrian in his manners and his language.
+
+I have heard that it was from the excitement of insulted honour that
+Ravaillac was induced to murder Henri IV.; for that the King had seduced
+his sister, and had abandoned her during her pregnancy: the brother then
+swore he would be avenged on the King.  Some persons even accuse the Duc
+d'Epernon, who was seated in the coach in such a manner that he might
+have warded off the blow, but he is said to have drawn back and given the
+assassin an opportunity to strike.
+
+When I first came to France I found in it such an assemblage of talent as
+occurs but in few ages.  There was Lulli in music; Beauchamp in ballets;
+Corneille and Racine in tragedy; Moliere in comedy; La Chamelle and La
+Beauval, actresses; and Baron, Lafleur, Toriliere, and Guerin, actors.
+Each of these persons was excellent in his way.  La Ducloa and La Raisin
+were also very good; the charms of the latter had even penetrated the
+thick heart of our Dauphin, who loved her very tenderly: her husband was
+excellent in comic parts.  There was also a very good harlequin, and as
+good a scaramouch.  Among the best performers at the Opera were Clediere,
+Pomereuil, Godenarche, Dumenil, La Rochechouard, Maury, La Saint
+Christophe, La Brigogne, La Beaucreux.  All that we see and hear now do
+not equal them.
+
+That which pleased me most in Beauvernois' life is the answer he made to
+the Prince of Vaudemont.  When he was fleeing, and had arrived at
+Brussels, he gave himself out for a Prince of Lorraine.  M. de Vaudemont
+sent for him, and, upon seeing him, said,--"I know all the Princes of
+Lorraine, but I do not know you."--"I assure you, sir," replied
+Beauvernois, "that I am as much a Prince of Lorraine as you are."
+
+I like that Mercy who tricked his master, the Duc de Lorraine.  When he
+reached Nancy he requested the Duke to recruit three regiments, which he
+said should be his own.  The Duke did recruit them, fully persuaded they
+were to be his; but when the companies were filled, Mercy begged the
+Emperor to give them to him, and he actually obtained them; so that the
+Duke had not the appointment of a single officer.
+
+The poor Duchess of Mecklenbourg, the wife of Christian Louis, was a very
+good woman when one was thoroughly acquainted with her.  She told me the
+whole history of her intrigue with Bernstorff.  She regulated her
+household very well, and had always two carriages.  She did not affect
+the splendour of a sovereign; but she kept up her rank better than the
+other Duchesses, and I liked her the better for this.  The husband,
+Christian Louis of Mecklenbourg, was a notable fool.  He one day demanded
+an audience of the King, under the pretence of having something of
+importance to say to him.  Louis XIV. was then more than forty years old.
+When the Duke found himself in the King's presence, he said to him,
+"Sire, you seem to me to have grown."  The King laughed, and said,
+"Monsieur, I am past the age of growing."--"Sire," rejoined the Duke,
+"do you know everybody says I am very much like you, and quite as
+good-looking as you are?"--"That is very probable," said the King, still
+laughing.  The audience was then finished, and the Duke went away.  This
+fool could never engage his brother-in-law's favour, for M. de Luxembourg
+had no regard for him.
+
+When the Queen had the government of the country, all the females of the
+Court, even to the very servants, became intriguers.  They say it was the
+most ridiculous thing in the world to see the eagerness with which women
+meddled with the Queen-mother's regency.  At the commencement she knew
+nothing at all.  She made a present to her first femme de chambre of five
+large farms, upon which the whole Court subsisted.  When she went to the
+Council to propose the affair, everybody laughed, and she was asked how
+she proposed to live.  She was quite astonished when the thing was
+explained to her, for she thought she had only given away five ordinary
+farms.  This anecdote is very true and was related to me by the old
+Chancellor Le Tellier, who was present at the Council.  She is said often
+to have laughed as she confessed her ignorance.  Many other things of a
+similar nature happened during the regency.
+
+There is a Bishop of a noble family, tolerably young but very ugly, who
+was at first so devout that he thought of entering La Trappe; he wore his
+hair combed down straight, and dared not look a woman in the face.
+Having learned that in the city where he held his see there was a frail
+fair one, whose gallantries had become notorious, he felt a great desire
+to convert her and to make her come to the confessional.  She was, it is
+said, a very pretty woman, and had, moreover, a great deal of wit.
+
+No sooner had the Bishop began to visit than he began to pay attention to
+his hair: first he powdered it, and then he had it dressed.  At length he
+swallowed the bait so completely, that he neither quitted the fair siren
+by night nor by day.  His clergy ventured to exhort him to put an end to
+this scandal, but he replied that, if they did not cease their
+remonstrances, he would find means of making them.  At length he even
+rode through the city in his carriage with his fair penitent.
+
+The people became so enraged at this that they pelted him with stones.
+His relations repaired to his diocese for the purpose of exhorting him in
+their turn, but he would only receive his mother, and would not even
+follow her advice.  His relations then applied to the Regent to summon
+the lady to Paris.  She came, but her lover followed and recovered her;
+at length she was torn from him by a lettre-de-cachet, and taken from his
+arms to a house of correction.  The Bishop is in a great rage, and
+declares that he will never forgive his family for the affront which has
+been put upon him (1718).
+
+The Queen-mother is said to have eaten four times a day in a frightful
+manner, and this practice is supposed to have brought on that cancer in
+the breast, which she sought to conceal by strong Spanish perfumes, and
+of which she died.
+
+Those female branches of the French Royal Family, who are called  Enfants
+de France, all bear the title of Madame.  For this reason it is that in
+the brevets they are called Madame la Duchesse de Berri; Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans; but in conversation they are called the Duchesse de
+Berri, the Duchesse d'Orleans; or, rather, one should say, Madame de
+Berri will have it so with respect to herself.  The title of Duchesse
+d'Orleans belongs to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, as granddaughter.
+Such is the custom prevalent here.  The brother and the sister-in-law of
+the King are called simply Monsieur and Madame, and these titles are also
+contained in my brevets; but I suffer myself to be called commonly Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans.  Madame de Berri will be called Madame la Duchess
+de Berri, because, being only an Enfant de France of the third descent,
+she has need of that title to set off her relationship.  There is nothing
+to be said for this: if there were any unmarried daughters of the late
+King, each would be called Madame, with the addition of their baptismal
+name.
+
+It seems that Queen Mary of England was something of a coquette in
+Holland.  Comte d'Avaux, the French Ambassador, told me himself that he
+had had a secret interview with her at the apartments of one of the
+Queen's Maids of Honour, Madame Treslane.  The Prince of Orange, becoming
+acquainted with the affair, dismissed the young lady, but invented some
+other pretext that the real cause might not be known.
+
+Three footmen had a quarrel together; two of them refused to admit the
+third to their table, saying, "as he and his master only serve a
+president's wife, he cannot presume to compare himself with us, who serve
+Princesses and Duchesses."  The rejected footman called another fellow to
+his aid, and a violent squabble ensued.  The commissaire was called: he
+found that they served three brothers, the sons of a rich merchant at
+Rouen; two of them had bought companies in the French Guards; one of the
+two had an intrigue with the wife of Duc d'Abret, and the other with the
+Duchesse de Luxembourg, while the third was only engaged with the wife of
+a president.  The two former were called Colande and Maigremont; and, as
+at the same time the Duc d'Abret, the son of the Duc de Bouillon, was in
+love with the lady of the President Savari.
+
+The Envoy from Holstein, M. Dumont, was very much attached to Madame de
+La Rochefoucauld, one of Madame de Berri's 'dames du palais'.  She was
+very pretty, but gifted with no other than personal charms.  Some one was
+joking her on this subject, and insinuated that she had treated her lover
+very favourably.  "Oh! no," she replied, "that is impossible, I assure
+you, entirely impossible."  When she was urged to say what constituted
+the impossibility, she replied, "If I tell, you will immediately agree
+with me that it is quite impossible."  Being pressed still further, she
+said, with a very serious air, "Because he is a Protestant!"
+
+When the marriage of Monsieur was declared, he said to Saint-Remi, "Did
+you know that I was married to the Princesse de Lorraine?"--
+
+"No, Monsieur," replied the latter; "I knew very well that you lived with
+her, but I did not think you would have married her."
+
+Queen Marie de Medicis, the wife of Henri IV., was one day walking at the
+Tuileries with her son, the Dauphin, when the King's mistress came into
+the garden, having also her son with her.  The mistress said very,
+insolently, to the Queen, "There are our two Dauphins walking together,
+but mine is a fairer one than yours." The Queen gave her a smart box on
+the ear, and said at the same time, "Let this impertinent woman be taken
+away."  The mistress ran instantly to Henri IV. to complain, but the
+King, having heard her story, said, "This is your own fault; why did you
+not speak to the Queen with the respect which you owe to her?"
+
+Madame de Fiennes, who in her youth had been about the Queen-mother, used
+always to say to the late Monsieur, "The Queen, your mother, was a very
+silly woman; rest her soul!"  My aunt, the Abbess of Maubuisson, told me
+that she saw at the Queen's a man who was called "the repairer of the
+Queen's face;" that Princess, as well as all the ladies of the Court,
+wore great quantities of paint.
+
+On account of the great services which the House of Arpajon in France had
+rendered to the Order of Malta, a privilege was formerly granted that the
+second son of that family, should at his birth become a Knight of the
+Order without the necessity of any proof or any inquiry as to his mother.
+
+The Czar Peter I. is not mad; he has sense enough, and if he had not
+unfortunately been so brutally educated he would have made a good prince.
+The way in which he behaved to his Czarowitz (Alexis) is horrible.  He
+gave his word that he would do him no injury, and afterwards poisoned him
+by means of the Sacrament.  This is so impious and abominable that I can
+never forgive him for it (1719).
+
+The last Duc d'Ossuna had, it is said, a very beautiful, but at the same
+time a passionate and jealous wife.  Having learnt that her husband had
+chosen a very fine stuff for the dress of his mistress, an actress, she
+went to the merchant and procured it of him.  He, thinking it was
+intended for her, made no scruple of delivering it to her.  After it was
+made up she put it on, and, showing it to her husband, said, "Do not you
+think it is very beautiful?"  The husband, angry at the trick, replied,
+"Yes, the stuff is very beautiful, but it is put to an unworthy use."
+"That is what everybody says of me," retorted the Duchess.
+
+At Fontainebleau in the Queen's cabinet may be seen the portrait of La
+Belle Terronniere, who was so much beloved by Francois I., and who was
+the unwitting cause of his death.
+
+I have often walked at night in the gallery at Fontainebleau where the
+King's ghost is said to appear, but the good Francois I. never did me
+the honour to show himself.  Perhaps it was because he thought my prayers
+were not efficacious enough to draw him from purgatory, and in this I
+think he was quite right.
+
+King James II. died with great firmness and resolution, and without any
+bigotry; that is to say, very differently from the manner in which he had
+lived.  I saw and spoke to him four-and-twenty hours before his death.
+"I hope," I said, "soon to hear of your Majesty's getting better."  He
+smiled and said, "If I should die, shall I not have lived long enough?"
+
+I hardly know how to rejoice at the accession of our Prince George to the
+Throne of England, for I have no confidence in the English people.  I
+remember still too well the fine speeches which were made here not long
+ago by Lord Peterborough.  I would rather that our Elector was Emperor of
+Germany, and I wish that the King who is here (James II.) was again in
+possession of England, because the kingdom belongs to him.  I fear that
+the inconstancy of the English will in the end produce some scheme which
+may be injurious to us.  Perhaps there was never in any nation a King who
+had been crowned with more eclat, or tumultuous joy than James II.; and
+yet the same nation since persecuted him in the most pitiless manner, and
+has so tormented his innocent son that he can scarcely find an asylum
+after all his heavy misfortunes.
+
+     [The Duchesse D'Orleans was, by the mother's side, granddaughter of
+     James I, which explains the interest she took in the fate of the
+     Stuart family.]
+
+If the English were to be trusted I should say that it is fortunate the
+Parliaments are in favour of George; but the more one reads the history
+of English Revolutions, the more one is compelled to remark the eternal
+hatred which the people of that nation have had towards their Kings, as
+well as their fickleness (1714).
+
+Have I not reason to fear on George's account since he has been made King
+of England, and knowing as I do the desire he had to be King of another
+country?  I know the accursed English too well to trust them.  May God
+protect their Majesties the Princes, and all the family, but I confess I
+fear for them greatly (1715).
+
+The poor Princess of Wales
+
+     [Wilhelmina-Dorothea-Charlotte, daughter of John Frederick, Margrave
+     of Anspach, born in 1682, married to the Prince of Wales in 1706.
+     The particulars of the quarrel between George I. and his son, the
+     Prince of Wales, will be found in Cose's "Memoirs of Sir Robert
+     Walpole."]
+
+has caused me great uneasiness since her letter of the 3rd (15th) of
+February (1718).  She has implored the King's pardon as one implores the
+pardon of God, but without success.  I know nothing about it, but dread
+lest the Prince should partake his mother's disgrace.  I think, however,
+since the King has declared the Prince to be his son, he should treat him
+as such, and not act so haughtily against the Princess, who has never
+offended him, but has always treated him with the respect due to a
+father.  Nothing good can result from the present state of affairs; and
+the King had better put an end to a quarrel which gives occasion to a
+thousand impertinences, and revives awkward stories which were better
+forgotten.
+
+The King of England has returned to London in good health (1719).  The
+Prince of Wales causes me great anxiety.  He thought he should do well to
+send one of his gentlemen to his father, to assure him in most submissive
+terms of the joy he felt at his happy return.  The King not only would
+not receive the letter, but he sent back the gentleman with a very harsh
+rebuke, revoking at the same time the permission, which before his
+journey he had given to the Prince of Wales, to see his daughter, whom
+the Prince loves very tenderly; this really seems too severe.  It may be
+said that the King is rather descended from the race of the Czar than
+from that of Brunswick and the Palatinate.  Such conduct can do him no
+good.
+
+M. d'Entremont, the last Ambassador from Sicily, was upon the point of
+departing, and had already had his farewell audience, when some
+circumstance happened which compelled him to stay some time longer.
+He found himself without a lodging, for his hotel had been already let.
+A lady seeing the embarrassment in which Madame d'Entremont was thus
+placed, said to her, "Madame, I have pleasure in offering you my house,
+my own room, and my own bed."  The Ambassador's lady not knowing what to
+do, accepted the offer with great readiness.  She went to the lady's
+house, and as she is old and in ill health, she went to bed immediately.
+Towards midnight she heard a noise like that of some person opening a
+secret door.  In fact, a door in the wall by the bedside was opened.
+Some one entered, and began to undress.  The lady called out, "Who is
+there?"  A voice replied, "It is I; be quiet."  "Who are you?"  asked the
+lady.  "What is the matter with you?" was the reply.  "You were not wont
+to be so particular.  I am undressing, and shall come to bed directly."
+At these words the lady cried out, "Thieves!" with all her might, and the
+unknown person dressed himself quickly, and withdrew.
+
+When the Electoral Prince of Saxony came hither, he addressed a pretty
+compliment to the King, which we all thought was his own, and we
+therefore conceived a very favourable notion of his parts.  He did not,
+however, keep up that good opinion, and probably the compliment was made
+for him by the Elector-Palatine.  The King desired the Duchesse de Berri
+to show him about Marly.  He walked with her for an hour without ever
+offering her his arm or saying one word to her.  While they were
+ascending a small hill, the Palatine, his Governor, nodded to him; and as
+the Prince did not understand what he meant, he was at length obliged to
+say to him, "Offer your arm to the Duchesse de Berri."  The Prince
+obeyed, but without saying a word.  When they reached the summit, "Here,"
+said the Duchesse de Berri, "is a nice place for blindman's buff."  Then,
+for the first time, he opened his mouth, and said, "Oh, yes; I am very
+willing to play."  Madame de Berri was too much fatigued to play; but the
+Prince continued amusing himself the whole day without offering the least
+civility to the Duchess, who had taken such pains for him.  This will
+serve to show how puerile the Prince is.
+
+                    ..........................
+
+We have had here several good repartees of Duke Bernard von Weimar.
+One day a young Frenchman asked him, "How happened it that you lost the
+battle?"--"I will tell you, sir," replied the Duke, coolly; "I thought I
+should win it, and so I lost it.  But," he said, turning himself slowly
+round, "who is the fool that asked me this question?"
+
+Father Joseph was in great favour with Cardinal Richelieu, and was
+consulted by him on all occasions.  One day, when the Cardinal had
+summoned Duke Bernard to the Council, Father Joseph, running his finger
+over a map, said, "Monsieur, you must first take this city; then that,
+and then that."  The Duke Bernard listened to him for some time, and at
+length said, "But, Monsieur Joseph, you cannot take cities with your
+finger."  This story always made the King laugh heartily.
+
+                    ..........................
+
+M. de Brancas was very deeply in love with the lady whom he married.  On
+his wedding-day he went to take a bath, and was afterwards going to bed
+at the bath-house.  "Why are you going to bed here, sir?"  said his valet
+de chambre; "do you not mean to go to your wife?"--"I had quite
+forgotten," he replied.  He was the Queen-mother's chevalier d'honneur.
+One day, while she was at church, Brancas forgot that the Queen was
+kneeling before him, for as her back was very round, her head could
+hardly be seen when she hung it down.  He took her for a prie-dieu, and
+knelt down upon her, putting his elbows upon her shoulders.  The Queen
+was of course not a little surprised to find her chevalier d'honneur upon
+her back, and all the bystanders were ready to die with laughing.
+
+Dr. Chirac was once called to see a lady, and, while he was in her
+bedchamber, he heard that the price of stock had considerably decreased.
+As he happened to be a large holder of the Mississippi Bonds, he was
+alarmed at the news; and being seated near the patient, whose pulse he
+was feeling, he said with a deep sigh, "Ah, good God! they keep sinking,
+sinking, sinking!"  The poor sick lady hearing this, uttered a loud
+shriek; the people ran to her immediately.  "Ah," said she, "I shall die;
+M. de Chirac has just said three times, as he felt my pulse, 'They keep
+sinking!'"  The Doctor recovered himself soon, and said, "You dream; your
+pulse is very healthy, and you are very well.  I was thinking of the
+Mississippi stocks, upon which I lose my money, because their price
+sinks."  This explanation satisfied the sick lady.
+
+The Duc de Sully was subject to frequent fits of abstraction.  One day,
+having dressed himself to go to church, he forgot nothing but his
+breeches.  This was in the winter; when he entered the church, he said,
+"Mon Dieu, it is very cold to-day."  The persons present said, "Not
+colder than usual!"--"Then I am in a fever," he said.  Some one suggested
+that he had perhaps not dressed himself so warmly as usual, and, opening
+his coat, the cause of his being cold was very apparent.
+
+Our late King told me the following anecdote of Queen Christina of
+Sweden: That Princess, instead of putting on a nightcap, wrapped her head
+up in a napkin.  One night she could not sleep, and ordered the musicians
+to be brought into her bedroom; where, drawing the bed-curtains, she
+could not be seen by the musicians, but could hear them at her ease.  At
+length, enchanted at a piece which they had just played, she abruptly
+thrust her head beyond the curtains, and cried out, "Mort diable! but
+they sing delightfully!"  At this grotesque sight, the Italians, and
+particularly the castrati, who are not the bravest men in the world, were
+so frightened that they were obliged to stop short.
+
+In the great gallery at Fontainebleau may still be seen the blood of the
+man whom she caused to be assassinated; it was to prevent his disclosing
+some secrets of which he was in possession that she deprived him of life.
+He had, in fact, begun to chatter through jealousy of another person who
+had gained the Queen's favour.  Christina was very vindictive, and given
+up to all kinds of debauchery.
+
+Duke Frederick Augustus of Brunswick was delighted with Christina; he
+said that he had never in his life met a woman who had so much wit, and
+whose conversation was so truly diverting; he added that it was
+impossible to be dull with her for a moment.  I observed to him that the
+Queen in her conversation frequently indulged in very filthy discussions.
+"That is true," replied he, "but she conceals such things in so artful a
+manner as to take from them all their disgusting features."  She never
+could be agreeable to women, for she despised them altogether.
+
+Saint Francois de Sales, who founded the order of the Sisters of Saint
+Mary, had in his youth been extremely intimate with the Marechal de
+Villeroi, the father of the present Marshal.  The old gentleman could
+therefore never bring himself to call his old friend a saint.  When any
+one spoke in his presence of Saint Francois de Sales, he used to say, "I
+was delighted when I saw M. de Sales become a saint; he used to delight
+in talking indecently, and always cheated at play; but in every other
+respect he was one of the best gentlemen in the world, and perhaps one of
+the most foolish."
+
+     M. de Cosnac, Archbishop of Aix, was at a very advanced age when he
+     learnt that Saint Francois de Sales had been canonized.  "What!"
+     cried he, "M. de Geneve, my old friend?  I am delighted at his good
+     fortune; he was a gallant man, an amiable man, and an honest man,
+     too, although he would sometimes cheat at piquet, at which we have
+     often played together."--"But, sir," said some one present, "is it
+     possible that a saint could be a sharper at play?"--"No," replied
+     the Archbishop, "he said, as a reason for it, that he gave all his
+     winnings to the poor."  [Loisirs d'un homme d'etat, et Dictionnaire
+     Historique, tom. vii.  Paris, 1810.]
+
+While Frederick Charles de Wurtemberg, the administrateur of that duchy,
+was staying at Paris, the Princesse Marianne de Wurtemberg, Duke Ulric's
+daughter, was there also with her mother.  Expecting then to marry her
+cousin,
+
+     [The learned Journal of Gottengin for the year 1789, No.  30,
+     observes there must be some mistake here, because in 1689, when this
+     circumstance is supposed to have occurred, the administrateur had
+     been married seven years, and had children at Stuttgard.]
+
+she had herself painted as Andromeda and her cousin as Perseus as the
+latter wore no helmet, everybody could of course recognize him.  But when
+he went away without having married her, she had a casque painted, which
+concealed the face, and said she would not have another face inserted
+until she should be married.  She was then about nineteen years old.
+Her mother said once at Court, "My daughter has not come with me to-day
+because she is gone to confess; but, poor child, what can she have to say
+to her confessor, except that she has dropped some stitches in her work."
+Madame de Fiennes, who was present, whispered, "The placid old fool!
+as if a stout, healthy girl of nineteen had no other sins to confess
+than having dropped some stitches."
+
+A village pastor was examining his parishioners in their catechism.  The
+first question in the Heidelberg catechism is this: "What is thy only
+consolation in life and in death?"  A young girl, to whom the pastor put
+this question, laughed, and would not answer.  The priest insisted.
+"Well, then," said she at length, "if I must tell you, it is the young
+shoemaker who lives in the Rue Agneaux."
+
+The late Madame de Nemours had charitably brought up a poor child.
+When the child was about nine years old, she said to her benefactress,
+"Madame, no one can be more grateful for your charity than I am, and I
+cannot acknowledge it better than by telling everybody I am your
+daughter; but do not be alarmed, I will not say that I am your lawful
+child, only your illegitimate daughter."
+
+The Memoirs of Queen Margaret of Navarre are merely a romance compared
+with those of Mdlle. de La Force.  The authoress's own life was a
+romance.  Being extremely poor, although of an ancient and honourable
+family, she accepted the office of demoiselle d'honneur to the Duchesse
+de Guise.  Here the Marquis de Nesle, father of the present Marquis
+(1720), became enamoured of her, after having received from her a small
+bag to wear about his neck, as a remedy against the vapours.  He would
+have married her, but his relations opposed this intention on the score
+of Mdlle. de La Force's poverty, and because she had improperly quitted
+the Duchesse de Guise.  The Great Conde, the Marquis de Nesle's nearest
+relation, took him to Chattillon that he might forget his love for Mdlle.
+de La Force; all the Marquis's relations were there assembled for the
+purpose of declaring to him that they would never consent to his marriage
+with Mdlle. de La Force; and he on his part told them that he would never
+while he lived marry any other person.  In a moment of despair, he rushed
+out to the garden and would have thrown himself into the canal, but that
+the strings, with which Mdlle. de La Force had tied the bag about his
+neck, broke, and the bag fell at his feet.  His thoughts appeared to
+undergo a sudden change, and Mdlle. de La Force seemed to him to be as
+ugly as she really is.  He went instantly to the Prince and his other
+relations who were there, and told them what had just happened.  They
+searched about in the garden for the bag and the strings, and, opening
+it, they found it to contain two toads' feet holding a heart wrapped up
+in a bat's wing, and round the whole a paper inscribed with
+unintelligible cyphers.  The Marquis was seized with horror at the sight.
+He told me this story with his own mouth.  Mdlle. de La Force after this
+fell in love with Baron, but as he was not bewitched, the intrigue did
+not last long: he used to give a very amusing account of the declaration
+she made to him.  Then a M. Briou, the son of a Councillor of that name,
+became attached to her; his relations, who would by no means have
+consented to such a marriage, shut the young man up.  La Force, who has
+a very fertile wit, engaged an itinerant musician who led about dancing
+bears in the street, and intimated to her lover that, if he would express
+a wish to see the bears dance in the courtyard of his, own house, she
+would come to him disguised in a bear's skin.  She procured a bear's skin
+to be made so as to fit her, and went to M. Briou's house with the bears;
+the young man, under the pretence of playing with this bear, had an
+opportunity of conversing with her and of laying their future plans.
+He then promised his father that he would submit to his will, and thus
+having regained his liberty he immediately married Mdlle. de La Force,
+and went with her to Versailles, where the King gave them apartments,
+and where Madame de Briou was every day with the Dauphine of Bavaria,
+who admired her wit and was delighted with her society.  M. de Briou was
+not then five-and-twenty years of age, a very good-looking and well-bred
+young man.  His father, however, procured a dissolution of the marriage
+by the Parliament, and made him marry another person.  Madame de Briou
+thus became once more Mdlle. de La Force, and found herself without
+husband and money.  I cannot tell how it was that the King and her
+parents, both of whom had consented to the marriage, did not oppose its
+dissolution.  To gain a subsistence she set about composing romances, and
+as she was often staying with the Princesse de Conti, she dedicated to
+her that of Queen Margaret.
+
+We have had four Dukes who have bought coffee, stuffs, and even candles
+for the purpose of selling them again at a profit.  It was the Duke de La
+Force who bought the candles.  One evening, very recently, as he was
+going out of the Opera, the staircase was filled with young men, one of
+whom cried out, as he passed, "His purse!"--"No," said another, "there
+can be no money in it; he would not risk it; it must be candles that he
+has bought to sell again."  They then sang the air of the fourth act of
+'Phaeton'.
+
+     [The Duke, together with certain other persons, made considerable
+     purchases of spice, porcelain, and other merchandizes, for the
+     purpose of realizing the hope of Law's Banks.  As he was not held in
+     estimation either by the public or by the Parliament, the Duke was
+     accused of monopoly; and by a decree of the Parliament, in concert
+     with the Peers, he was enjoined "to use more circumspection for the
+     future, and to conduct himself irreproachably, in a manner as should
+     be consistent with his birth and his dignity as a Peer of France."]
+
+The Queen Catherine (de Medicis) was a very wicked woman.  Her uncle, the
+Pope, had good reason for saying that he had made a bad present to
+France.  It is said that she poisoned her youngest son because he had
+discovered her in a common brothel whither she had gone privately.  Who
+can wonder that such a woman should drink out of a cup covered with
+designs from Aretino.  The Pope had an object in sending her to France.
+Her son was the Duc d'Alencon; and as they both remained incog. the world
+did not know that they were mother and son, which occasioned frequent
+mistakes.
+
+The young Count Horn, who has just been executed here (1720), was
+descended from a well-known Flemish family; he was distinguished at first
+for the amiable qualities of his head and for his wit.  At college he was
+a model for good conduct, application, and purity of morals; but the
+intimacy which he formed with some libertine young men during his stay at
+the Academy of Paris entirely changed him.  He contracted an insatiable
+desire for play, and even his own father said to him, "You will die by
+the hands of the executioner."  Being destitute of money, the young Count
+took up the trade of a pickpocket, which he carried on in the pit of the
+theatres, and by which he made considerable gains in silver-hilted swords
+and watches.  At length, having lost a sum of five-and-twenty thousand
+crowns at the fair of Saint-Germain, he was led to commit that crime
+which he has just expiated on the scaffold.  For the purpose of
+discharging the debt he had contracted, he sent for a banker's clerk to
+bring him certain bank bills, which he proposed to purchase.  Having
+connected himself with two other villains, he attacked the clerk as soon
+as he arrived, and stabbed him with poniards which he had bought three
+days before on the Pont Neuf.  Hoping to conceal the share which he had
+taken in this crime, he went immediately after its perpetration to the
+Commissaire du Quartier, and told him, with a cool and determined air,
+that he had been obliged, in his own defence, to kill the clerk, who had
+attacked him and put him in danger of his life.  The Commissaire looking
+at him steadfastly, said, "You are covered with blood, but you are not
+even wounded; I must retain you in custody until I can examine this
+affair more minutely."  At this moment the accomplice entered the room.
+"Here, sir," said the Count to the Commissaire, "is one who can bear
+testimony that the account I have given you of this business is perfectly
+true."  The accomplice was quite terrified at hearing this; he thought
+that Count Horn had confessed his crime, and that there could be no
+advantage in continuing to deny it; he therefore confessed all that had
+taken place, and thus the murder was revealed.  The Count was not more
+than two-and-twenty years of age, and one of the handsomest men in Paris.
+Some of the first persons in France solicited in his favour, but the Duke
+Regent thought it necessary to make an example of him on account of the
+prevalent excess of crime.  Horn was publicly broken on the wheel with
+his second accomplice; the other died just before: they were both
+gentlemen and of noble families.  When they arrived at the place of
+punishment, they begged the people to implore the pardon of Heaven upon
+their sins.  The spectators were affected to tears, but they nevertheless
+agreed in the just severity of their punishment.  The people said aloud
+after the execution, "Our Regent has done justice."
+
+One lady was blaming another, her intimate friend, for loving a very
+ugly man.  The latter said, "Did he ever speak to you tenderly or
+passionately?"--"No," replied the former.  "Then you cannot judge," said
+her friend, "whether I ought to love him or not."
+
+Madame de Nemours used to say, "I have observed one thing in this
+country, 'Honour grows again as well as hair.'"
+
+An officer, a gentleman of talent, whose name was Hautmont, wrote the
+following verses upon Cardinal Mazarin, for which he was locked up in the
+Bastille for eighteen months:
+
+                         Creusons tous le tombeau
+                         A qui nous persecute;
+                         A ce Jules nouveauu
+                         Cherchons un nouveau Brute.
+                         Que le jour serait beau,
+                         Si nous voyions sa chute!
+
+The Queen-mother could not endure Boisrobert on account of his impiety;
+she did not like him to visit her sons, the King and Monsieur, in their
+youth, but they were very fond of him because he used to amuse them.
+When he was at the point of death, the Queen-mother sent some priests to
+convert him and to prepare him for confession.  Boisrobert appeared
+inclined to confess.  "Yes, mon Dieu," said he, devoutly joining his
+hands, "I sincerely implore Thy pardon, and confess that I am a great
+sinner, but thou knowest that the Abbe de Villargeau is a much greater
+sinner than I am."
+
+Cardinal Mazarin sent him once to compliment the English Ambassador on
+his arrival.  When he reached the hotel, an Englishman said to him,
+"Milord, il est pret; my ladi, il n'est pas pret, friselire ses chevaux,
+prendre patience."  The late King used to relate stories of this same
+Boisrobert in a very whimsical manner.
+
+The life which folks lead at Paris becomes daily more scandalous; I
+really tremble for the city every time it thunders.  Three ladies of
+quality have just committed a monstrous imprudence.  They have been
+running after the Turkish Ambassador; they made his son drunk and kept
+him with them three days; if they go on in this way even the Capuchins
+will not be safe from them.  The Turks must needs have a very becoming
+notion of the conduct of ladies of quality in a Christian country.  The
+young Turk is said to have told Madame de Polignac, who was one of the
+three ladies, "Madame, your reputation has reached Constantinople, and I
+see that report has only done you justice."  The Ambassador, it is said,
+is very much enraged with his son, and has enjoined him to keep his
+adventure profoundly a secret, because he would risk the top of his head
+on his return to Constantinople if it were known that he had associated
+with Christian women.  It is to be feared that the young man will get
+safely out of France.  Madame de Polignac has fleeced all the young men
+of quality here.  I do not know how her relations and those of her
+husband choose to suffer her to lead so libertine a life.  But all shame
+is extinct in France, and everything is turned topsy-turvy.
+
+It is very unfortunate that noblemen like the Elector-Palatine John
+William should suffer themselves to be governed by the priesthood;
+nothing but evil can result from it.  He would do much better if he would
+follow the advice of able statesmen, and throw his priest into the
+Necker.  I would advise him to do so, and I think I should advise him
+well.
+
+I cannot conceive why the Duke Maximilian (brother of George I. of
+England)
+
+     [Prince Maximilian of Hanover, the second brother of George I., had,
+     after the death of his brother, Frederick Augustus, certain rights
+     over the Bishopric of Osnaburgh; love and his monks caused him to
+     embrace the catholic faith.]
+
+changed his religion, for he had very little faith in general; none of
+his relations solicited him to do so, and he was induced by no personal
+interest.
+
+I have heard a story of this Prince, which does him little honour.  I
+have been told that he complained to the Emperor of his mother, who bred
+him tenderly, but who had not sent him eight thousand crowns which he had
+asked her for.  This is abominable, and he can hope for happiness neither
+in this nor in the next world; I can never forgive him for it.  The first
+idea of this must have originated with Father Wolff, who has also excited
+him against Prince Edward Augustus.--[Maximilian contested the Bishopric
+of Osnaburgh with his younger brother.]--What angers me most with this
+cursed monk is, that he will not suffer Duke Maximilian to have a single
+nobleman about him; he will only allow him to be approached by beggars
+like himself.
+
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS
+
+A pious Capuchin explained her dream to her
+Always has a fictitious malady in reserve
+Art of satisfying people even while he reproved their requests
+Asked the King a hundred questions, which is not the fashion
+Bad company spoils good manners
+Because the Queen has only the rinsings of the glass
+But all shame is extinct in France
+Duc de Grammont, then Ambassador, played the Confessor
+Duplicity passes for wit, and frankness is looked upon as folly
+Even doubt whether he believes in the existence of a God
+Exclaimed so long against high head-dresses
+Follies and superstitions as the rosaries and other things
+Formerly the custom to swear horridly on all occasions
+Frequent and excessive bathing have undermined her health
+Great filthiness in the interior of their houses
+Great things originated from the most insignificant trifles
+He had good natural wit, but was extremely ignorant
+He always slept in the Queen's bed
+He was a good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses
+Her teeth were very ugly, being black and broken (Queen)
+Honour grows again as well as hair
+I thought I should win it, and so I lost it
+I never take medicine but on urgent occasions
+I wished the husband not to be informed of it
+I have seldom been at a loss for something to laugh at
+I am unquestionably very ugly
+I had a mind, he said, to commit one sin, but not two
+I formed a religion of my own
+If I should die, shall I not have lived long enough?
+It is an unfortunate thing for a man not to know himself
+It was not permitted to argue with him
+Jewels and decoration attract attention (to the ugly)
+Like will to like
+Louis XIV. scarcely knew how to read and write
+Made his mistresses treat her with all becoming respect
+My husband proposed separate beds
+No man more ignorant of religion than the King was
+Nobility becoming poor could not afford to buy the high offices
+Not lawful to investigate in matters of religion
+Old Maintenon
+Only your illegitimate daughter
+Original manuscripts of the Memoirs of Cardinal Retz
+Provided they are talked of, they are satisfied
+Robes battantes for the purpose of concealing her pregnancy
+Seeing myself look as ugly as I really am (in a mirror)
+She never could be agreeable to women
+Since becoming Queen she had not had a day of real happiness
+So great a fear of hell had been instilled into the King
+Soon tired of war, and wishing to return home (Louis XIV)
+Stout, healthy girl of nineteen had no other sins to confess
+Subject to frequent fits of abstraction
+That what he called love was mere debauchery
+The old woman (Madame Maintenon)
+Throw his priest into the Necker
+To tell the truth, I was never very fond of having children
+To die is the least event of my life (Maintenon)
+You never look in a mirror when you pass it
+You are a King; you weep, and yet I go
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of the Louis XIV. and The
+Regency, Complete, by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans
+
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