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diff --git a/old/cm37b10.txt b/old/cm37b10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f097be6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm37b10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2784 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Memoirs Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, v15 +#15 in our series by The Duc de Saint-Simon +#37 in our series Historic Court Memoirs + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + + MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY + + BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON + + + VOLUME 15. + +CHAPTER CXIII + +Attempted Reconciliation between Dubois and Villeroy.--Violent Scene.-- +Trap Laid for the Marechal.--Its Success.--His Arrest. + + +CHAPTER CXIV + +I Am Sent for by Cardinal Dubois.--Flight of Frejus.--He Is Sought and +Found.--Behaviour of Villeroy in His Exile at Lyons.--His Rage and +Reproaches against Frejus.--Rise of the Latter in the King's Confidence. + + +CHAPTER CXV + +I Retire from Public Life.--Illness and Death of Dubois. --Account of His +Riches.--His Wife.--His Character.--Anecdotes.--Madame de Conflans.-- +Relief of the Regent and the King. + + +CHAPTER CXVI + +Death of Lauzun.--His Extraordinary Adventures.--His Success at Court.-- +Appointment to the Artillery.--Counter--worked by Louvois.--Lauzun and +Madame de Montespan.--Scene with the King.--Mademoiselle and Madame de +Monaco. + + +CHAPTER CXVII + +Lauzun's Magnificence.--Louvois Conspires against Him.--He Is +Imprisoned.--His Adventures at Pignerol.--On What Terms He Is Released.-- +His Life Afterwards.--Return to Court. + + +CHAPTER CXVIII + +Lauzun Regrets His Former Favour.--Means Taken to Recover It.--Failure.-- +Anecdotes.--Biting Sayings.--My Intimacy with Lauzun.--His Illness, +Death, and Character. + + +CHAPTER CXIX + +Ill-Health of the Regent.--My Fears.--He Desires a Sudden Death.-- +Apoplectic Fit.--Death.--His Successor as Prime Minister.--The Duc de +Chartres.--End of the Memoirs. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIII + +Few events of importance had taken place during my absence in Spain. +Shortly after my return, however, a circumstance occurred which may +fairly claim description from me. Let me, therefore, at once relate it. + +Cardinal Dubois, every day more and more firmly established in the favour +of M. le Duc d'Orleans, pined for nothing less than to be declared prime +minister. He was already virtually in that position, but was not +publicly or officially recognised as being so. He wished, therefore, to +be declared. + +One great obstacle in his path was the Marechal de Villeroy, with whom he +was on very bad terms, and whom he was afraid of transforming into an +open and declared enemy, owing to the influence the Marechal exerted over +others. Tormented with agitating thoughts, every day that delayed his +nomination seemed to him a year. Dubois became doubly ill-tempered and +capricious, more and more inaccessible, and accordingly the most pressing +and most important business was utterly neglected. At last he resolved +to make a last effort at reconciliation with the Marechal, but +mistrusting his own powers, decided upon asking Cardinal Bissy to be the +mediator between them. + +Bissy with great willingness undertook the peaceful commission; spoke to +Villeroy, who appeared quite ready to make friends with Dubois, and even +consented to go and see him. As chance would have it, he went, +accompanied by Bissy, on Tuesday morning. I at the same time went, as +was my custom, to Versailles to speak to M. le Duc d'Orleans upon some +subject, I forget now what. + +It was the day on which the foreign ministers had their audience of +Cardinal Dubois, and when Bissy and Villeroy arrived, they found these +ministers waiting in the chamber adjoining the Cardinal's cabinet. + +The established usage is that they have their audience according to the +order in which they arrive, so as to avoid all disputes among them as to +rank and precedence. Thus Bissy and Villeroy found Dubois closeted with +the Russian minister. It was proposed to inform the Cardinal at once, of +a this, so rare as a visit from the Marechal de Villeroy; but the +Marechal would not permit it, and sat down upon a sofa with Bissy to wait +like the rest. + +The audience being over, Dubois came from his cabinet, conducting the +Russian minister, and immediately saw his sofa so well ornamented. He +saw nothing but that in fact; on the instant he ran there, paid a +thousand compliments to the Marechal for anticipating him, when he was +only waiting for permission to call upon him, and begged him and Bissy to +step into the cabinet. While they were going there, Dubois made his +excuses to the ambassadors for attending to Villeroy before them, saying +that his functions and his assiduity as governor of the King did not +permit him to be long absent from the presence of his Majesty; and with +this compliment he quitted them and returned into his cabinet. + +At first nothing passed but reciprocal compliments and observations from +Cardinal Bissy, appropriate to the subject. Then followed protestations +from Dubois and replies from the Marechal. Thus far, the sea was very +smooth. But absorbed in his song, the Marechal began to forget its tune; +then to plume himself upon his frankness and upon his plain speaking; +then by degrees, growing hot in his honours, he gave utterance to divers +naked truths, closely akin to insults. + +Dubois, much astonished, pretended not to feel the force of these +observations, but as they increased every moment, Bissy tried to call +back the Marechal, explain things to him, and give a more pleasant tone +to the conversation. But the mental tide had begun to rise, and now it +was entirely carrying away the brains of Villeroy. From bad to worse was +easy. The Marechal began now to utter unmistakable insults and the most +bitter reproaches. In vain Bissy tried to silence him; representing to +him how far he was wandering from the subject they came to talk upon; how +indecent it was to insult a man in his own house, especially, after +arriving on purpose to conclude a reconciliation with him. All Bissy +could say simply had the effect of exasperating the Marechal, and of +making him vomit forth the most extravagant insults that insolence and +disdain could suggest. + +Dubois, stupefied and beside himself, was deprived of his tongue, could +not utter a word; while Bissy, justly inflamed with anger, uselessly +tried to interrupt his friend. In the midst of the sudden fire which had +seized the Marechal, he had placed himself in such a manner that he +barred the passage to the door, and he continued his invectives without +restraint. Tired of insults, he passed to menaces and derision, saying +to Dubois that since he had now thrown off all disguise, they no longer +were on terms to pardon each other, and then he assured Dubois that, +sooner or later, he would do him all the injury possible, and gave him +what he called good counsel. + +"You are all powerful," said he; "everybody bends before you; nobody +resists you; what are the greatest people in the land compared with you? +Believe me, you have only one thing to do; employ all your power, put +yourself at ease, and arrest me, if you dare. Who can hinder you? +Arrest me, I say, you have only that course open." + +Thereupon, he redoubled his challenges and his insults, like a man who is +thoroughly persuaded that between arresting him and scaling Heaven there +is no difference. As may well be imagined, such astounding remarks were +not uttered without interruption, and warm altercations from the Cardinal +de Bissy, who, nevertheless, could not stop the torrent. At last, +carried away by anger and vexation, Bissy seized the Marechal by the arm +and the shoulder, and hurried him to the door, which he opened, and then +pushed him out, and followed at his heels. Dubois, more dead than alive, +followed also, as well as he could--he was obliged to be on his guard +against the foreign ministers who were waiting. But the three disputants +vainly tried to appear composed; there was not one of the ministers who +did not perceive that some violent scene must have passed in the cabinet, +and forthwith Versailles was filled with this news; which was soon +explained by the bragging, the explanations, the challenges, and the +derisive speeches of the Marechal de Villeroy. + +I had worked and chatted for a long time with M. le Duc d'Orleans. He +had passed into his wardrobe, and I was standing behind his bureau +arranging his papers when I saw Cardinal Dubois enter like a whirlwind, +his eyes starting out of his head. Seeing me alone, he screamed rather +than asked, "Where is M. le Duc d'Orleans?" I replied that he had gone +into his wardrobe, and seeing him so overturned, I asked him what was the +matter. + +"I am lost, I am lost!" he replied, running to the wardrobe. His reply +was so loud and so sharp that M. le Duc d'Orleans, who heard it, also ran +forward, so that they met each other in the doorway. They returned +towards me, and the Regent asked what was the matter. + +Dubois, who always stammered, could scarcely speak, so great was his rage +and fear; but he succeeded at last in acquainting us with the details I +have just given, although at greater length. He concluded by saying that +after the insults he had received so treacherously, and in a manner so +basely premeditated, the Regent must choose between him and the Marechal +de Villeroy, for that after what had passed he could not transact any +business or remain at the Court in safety and honour, while the Marechal +de Villeroy remained there! + +I cannot express the astonishment into which M. le Duc d'Orleans and I +were thrown. We could not believe what we had heard, but fancied we were +dreaming. M. le Duc d'Orleans put several questions to Dubois, I took +the liberty to do the same, in order to sift the affair to the bottom. +But there was no variation in the replies of the Cardinal, furious as he +was. Every moment he presented the same option to the Regent; every +moment he proposed that the Cardinal de Bissy should be sent for as +having witnessed everything. It may be imagined that this second scene, +which I would gladly have escaped, was tolerably exciting. + +The Cardinal still insisting that the Regent must choose which of the two +be sent away, M. le Duc d'Orleans asked me what I thought. I replied +that I was so bewildered and so moved by this astounding occurrence that +I must collect myself before speaking. The Cardinal, without addressing +himself to me but to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who he saw was plunged Memoirs +in embarrassment, strongly insisted that he must come to some resolution. +Upon this M. le Duc d'Orleans beckoned me over, and I said to him that +hitherto I had always regarded the dismissal of the Marechal de Villeroy +as a very dangerous enterprise, for reasons I had several times alleged +to his Royal Highness: but that now whatever peril there might be in +undertaking it, the frightful scene that had just been enacted persuaded +me that it would be much more dangerous to leave him near the King than +to get rid of him altogether. I added that this was my opinion, since +his Royal Highness wished to know it without giving me the time to +reflect upon it with more coolness; but as for the execution, that must +be well discussed before being attempted. + +Whilst I spoke, the Cardinal pricked up his ears, turned his eyes upon +me, sucked in all my words, and changed colour like a man who hears his +doom pronounced. My opinion relieved him as much as the rage with which +he was filled permitted. M. le Duc d'Orleans approved what I had just +said, and the Cardinal, casting a glance upon me as of thanks, said he +was the master, and must choose, but that he must choose at once, because +things could not remain as they were. Finally, it was agreed that the +rest of the day (it was now about twelve) and the following morning +should be given to reflection upon the matter, and that the next day, at +three o'clock in the afternoon, I should meet M. le Duc d'Orleans. + +The next day accordingly I went to M. le Prince, whom I found with the +Cardinal Dubois. M. le Duc entered a moment after, quite full of the +adventure. Cardinal Dubois did not fail, though, to give him an abridged +recital of it, loaded with comments and reflections. He was more his own +master than on the preceding day, having had time to recover himself, we +cherishing hopes that the Marechal would be sent to the right about. It +was here that I heard of the brag of the Marechal de Villeroy concerning +the struggle he had had with Dubois, and of the challenges and insults he +had uttered with a confidence which rendered his arrest more and more +necessary. + +After we had chatted awhile, standing, Dubois went away. M. le Duc +d'Orleans sat down at his bureau, and M. le Duc and I sat in front of +him. There we deliberated upon what ought to be done. After a few words +of explanation from the Regent, he called upon me to give my opinion. I +did so as briefly as possible, repeating what I had said on the previous +day. M. le Duc d'Orleans, during my short speech, was very attentive, +but with the countenance of a man much embarrassed. + +As soon as I had finished, he asked M. le Duc what he thought. M. le Duc +said his opinion was mine, and that if the Marechal de Villeroy remained +in his office there was nothing for it but to put the key outside the +door; that was his expression. He reproduced some of the principal +reasons I had alleged, supported them, and concluded by saying there was +not a moment to lose. M. le Duc d'Orleans summed up a part of what had +been said, and agreed that the Marechal de Villeroy must be got rid of. +M. le Duc again remarked that it must be done at once. Then we set about +thinking how we could do it. + +M. le Duc d'Orleans asked me my advice thereon. I said there were two +things to discuss, the pretext and the execution. That a pretext was +necessary, such as would convince the impartial, and be unopposed even by +the friends of the Marechal de Villeroy; that above all things we had to +take care to give no one ground for believing that the disgrace of +Villeroy was the fruit of the insults he had heaped upon Cardinal Dubois; +that outrageous as those insults might be, addressed to a cardinal, to a +minister in possession of entire confidence, and at the head of affairs, +the public, who envied him and did not like him, well remembering whence +he had sprung, would consider the victim too illustrious; that the +chastisement would overbalance the offence, and would be complained of; +that violent resolutions, although necessary, should always have reason +and appearances in their favour; that therefore I was against allowing +punishment to follow too quickly upon the real offence, inasmuch as M. le +Duc d'Orleans had one of the best pretexts in the world for disgracing +the Marechal, a pretext known by everybody, and which would be admitted +by everybody. + +I begged the Regent then to remember that he had told me several times he +never had been able to speak to the King in private, or even in a whisper +before others; that when he had tried, the Marechal de Villeroy had at +once come forward poking his nose between them, and declaring that while +he was governor he would never suffer any one, not even his Royal +Highness, to address his Majesty in a low tone, much lest to speak to him +in private. I said that this conduct towards the Regent, a grandson of +France, and the nearest relative the King had, was insolence enough to +disgust every one, and apparent as such at half a glance. I counselled +M. le Duc d'Orleans to make use of this circumstance, and by its means to +lay a trap for the Marechal into which there was not the slightest doubt +he would fall. The trap was to be thus arranged. M. le Duc d'Orleans +was to insist upon his right to speak to the King in private, and upon +the refusal of the Marechal to recognise it, was to adopt a new tone and +make Villeroy feel he was the master. I added, in conclusion, that this +snare must not be laid until everything was ready to secure its success. + +When I had ceased speaking, "You have robbed me," said the Regent; "I was +going to propose the same thing if you had not. What do you think of it, +Monsieur?" regarding M. le Duc. That Prince strongly approved the +proposition I had just made, briefly praised every part of it, and added +that he saw nothing better to be done than to execute this plan very +punctually. + +It was agreed afterwards that no other plan could be adopted than that of +arresting the Marechal and sending him right off at once to Villeroy, and +then, after having allowed him to repose there a day or two, on account +of his age, but well watched, to see if he should be sent on to Lyons or +elsewhere. The manner in which he was to be arrested was to be decided +at Cardinal Dubois' apartments, where the Regent begged me to go at once. +I rose accordingly, and went there. + +I found Dubois with one or two friends, all of whom were in the secret of +this affair, as he, at once told me, to put me at my ease. We soon +therefore entered upon business, but it would be superfluous to relate +here all that passed in this little assembly. What we resolved on was +very well executed, as will be seen. I arranged with Le Blanc, who was +one of the conclave, that the instant the arrest had taken place, he +should send to Meudon, and simply inquire after me; nothing more, and +that by this apparently meaningless compliment, I should know that the +Marechal had been packed off. + +I returned towards evening to Meudon, where several friends of Madame de +Saint-Simon and of myself often slept, and where others, following the +fashion established at Versailles and Paris, came to dine or sup, so that +the company was always very numerous. The scene between Dubois and +Villeroy was much talked about, and the latter universally blamed. +Neither then nor during the ten days which elapsed before his arrest, +did it enter into the head of anybody to suppose that anything worse +would happen to him than general blame for his unmeasured violence, so +accustomed were people to his freaks, and to the feebleness of M. le Duc +d'Orleans. I was now delighted, however, to find such general +confidence, which augmented that of the Marechal, and rendered more easy +the execution of our project against him; punishment he more and more +deserved by the indecency and affectation of his discourses, and the +audacity of his continual challenges. + +Three or four days after, I went to Versailles, to see M. le Duc +d'Orleans. He said that, for want of a better, and in consequence of +what I had said to him on more than one occasion of the Duc de Charost, +it was to him he intended to give the office of governor of the King: +that he had secretly seen him that Charost had accepted with willingness +the post, and was now safely shut up in his apartment at Versailles, +seeing no one, and seen by no one, ready to be led to the King the moment +the time should arrive. The Regent went over with me all the measures to +be taken, and I returned to Meudon, resolved not to budge from it until +they were executed, there being nothing more to arrange. + +On Sunday, the 12th of August, 1722, M. le Duc d'Orleans went, towards +the end of the afternoon, to work with the King, as he was accustomed to +do several times each week; and as it was summer time now, he went after +his airing, which he always took early. This work was to show the King +by whom were to be filled up vacant places in the church, among the +magistrates and intendants, &c., and to briefly explain to him the +reasons which suggested the selection, and sometimes the distribution of +the finances. The Regent informed him, too, of the foreign news, which +was within his comprehension, before it was made public. At the +conclusion of this labour, at which the Marechal de Villeroy was always +present, and sometimes M. de Frejus (when he made bold to stop), M. le +Duc d'Orleans begged the King to step into a little back cabinet, where +he would say a word to him alone. + +The Marechal de Villeroy at once opposed. M. le Duc d'Orleans, who had +laid this snare far him, saw him fall into it with satisfaction. He +represented to the Marechal that the King was approaching the age when he +would govern by himself, that it was time for him, who was meanwhile the +depository of all his authority, to inform him of things which he could +understand, and which could only be explained to him alone, whatever +confidence might merit any third person. The Regent concluded by begging +the Marechal to cease to place any obstacles in the way of a thing so +necessary and so important, saying that he had, perhaps, to reproach +himself for,--solely out of complaisance to him, not having coerced +before. + +The Marechal, arising and stroking his wig, replied that he knew the +respect he owed, him, and knew also quite as well the respect he owed to +the King, and to his place, charged as he was with the person of his +Majesty, and being responsible for it. But he said he would not suffer +his Royal Highness to speak to the King in private (because he ought to +know everything said to his Majesty), still less would he suffer him to +lead the King into a cabinet, out of his sight, for 'twas his (the +Marechal's) duty never to lose sight of his charge, and in everything to +answer for it. + +Upon this, M. le Duc d'Orleans looked fixedly at the Marechal and said, +in the tone of a master, that he mistook himself and forgot himself; that +he ought to remember to whom he was speaking, and take care what words he +used; that the respect he (the Regent) owed to the presence of the King, +hindered him from replying as he ought to reply, and from continuing this +conversation. Therefore he made a profound reverence to the King, and +went away. + +The Marechal, thoroughly angry, conducted him some steps, mumbling and +gesticulating; M. le Duc d'Orleans pretending to neither see nor hear +him, the King astonished, and M. de Frejus laughing in his sleeve. The +bait so well swallowed,--no one doubted that the Marechal, audacious as +he was, but nevertheless a servile and timid courtier, would feel all the +difference between braving, bearding, and insulting Cardinal Dubois +(odious to everybody, and always smelling of the vile egg from which he +had been hatched) and wrestling with the Regent in the presence of the +King, claiming to annihilate M. le Duc d'Orleans' rights and authority, +by appealing to his own pretended rights and authority as governor of the +King. People were not mistaken; less than two hours after what had +occurred, it was known that the Marechal, bragging of what he had just +done, had added that he should consider himself very unhappy if M. le Duc +d'Orleans thought he had been wanting in respect to him, when his only +idea was to fulfil his precious duty; and that he would go the next day +to have an explanation with his Royal Highness, which he doubted not +would be satisfactory to him. + +At every hazard, all necessary measures had been taken as soon as the day +was fixed on which the snare was to be laid for the Marechal. Nothing +remained but to give form to them directly it was known that on the +morrow the Marechal would come and throw himself into the lion's mouth. + +Beyond the bed-room of M. le Duc d'Orleans was a large and fine cabinet, +with four big windows looking upon the garden, and on the same floor, two +paces distant, two other windows; and two at the side in front of the +chimney, and all these windows opened like doors. This cabinet occupied +the corner where the courtiers awaited, and behind was an adjoining +cabinet, where M. le Duc d'Orleans worked and received distinguished +persons or favourites who wished to talk with him. + +The word was given. Artagnan, captain of the grey musketeers, was in the +room (knowing what was going to happen), with many trusty officers of his +company whom he had sent for, and former musketeers to be made use of at +a pinch, and who clearly saw by these preparations that something +important was in the wind, but without divining what. There were also +some light horse posted outside these windows in the same ignorance, and +many principal officers and others in the Regent's bed-room, and in the +grand cabinet. + +All things being well arranged, the Marechal de Villeroy arrived about +mid-day, with his accustomed hubbub, but alone, his chair and porters +remaining outside, beyond the Salle des Gardes. He enters like a +comedian, stops, looks round, advances some steps. Under pretext of +civility, he is environed, surrounded. He asks in an authoritative tone, +what M. le Duc d'Orleans is doing: the reply is, he is in his private +room within. + +The Marechal elevates his tone, says that nevertheless he must see the +Regent; that he is going to enter; when lo! La Fare, captain of M. le Duc +d'Orleans' guards, presents himself before him, arrests him, and demands +his sword. The Marechal becomes furious, all present are in commotion. +At this instant Le Blanc presents himself. His sedan chair, that had +been hidden, is planted before the Marechal. He cries aloud, he is +shaking on his lower limbs; but he is thrust into the chair, which is +closed upon him and carried away in the twinkling of an eye through one +of the side windows into the garden, La Fare and Artagnan each on one +side of the chair, the light horse and musketeers behind, judging only by +the result what was in the wind. The march is hastened; the party +descend the steps of the orangery by the side of the thicket; the grand +gate is found open and a coach and six before it. The chair is put down; +the Marechal storms as he will; he is cast into the coach; Artagnan +mounts by his side; an officer of the musketeers is in front; and one of +the gentlemen in ordinary of the King by the side of the officer; twenty +musketeers, with mounted officers, surround the vehicle, and away they +go. + +This side of the garden is beneath the window of the Queen's apartments +(when occupied by the Infanta). This scene under the blazing noon-day +sun was seen by no one, and although the large number of persons in M. le +Duc d'Orleans' rooms soon dispersed, it is astonishing that an affair of +this kind remained unknown more than ten hours in the chateau of +Versailles. The servants of the Marechal de Villeroy (to whom nobody had +dared to say a word) still waited with their master's chair near the +Salle des Gardes. They were, told, after M. le Duc d'Orleans had seen +the King, that the Marechal had gone to Villeroy, and that they could +carry to him what was necessary. + +I received at Meudon the message arranged. I was sitting down to table, +and it was only towards the supper that people came from Versailles to +tell us all the news, which was making much sensation there, but a +sensation very measured on account of the surprise and fear paused by the +manner in which the arrest had been executed. + +It was no agreeable task, that which had to be performed soon after by +the Regent; I mean when he carried the news of the arrest to the King. +He entered into his Majesty's cabinet, which he cleared of all the +company it contained, except those people whose post gave them aright to +enter, but of them there were not many present. At the first word, the +King reddened; his eyes moistened; he hid his face against the back of an +armchair, without saying a word; would neither go out nor play. He ate +but a few mouthfuls at supper, wept, and did not sleep ail night. The +morning and the dinner of the next day, the 14th, passed off but little +better. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIV + +That same 14th, as I rose from dinner at Meudon, with much company, the +valet de chambre who served me said that a courier from Cardinal Dubois +had a letter for me, which he had not thought good to bring me before all +my guests. I opened the letter. The Cardinal conjured me to go +instantly and see him at Versailles, bringing with me a trusty servant, +ready to be despatched to La Trappe, as soon as I had spoken with him, +and not to rack my brains to divine what this might mean, because it +would be impossible to divine it, and that he was waiting with the utmost +impatience to tell it to me. I at once ordered my coach, which I thought +a long time in coming from the stables. They are a considerable distance +from the new chateau I occupied. + +This courier to be taken to the Cardinal, in order to be despatched to La +Trappe, turned my head. I could not imagine what had happened to occupy +the Cardinal so thoroughly so soon after the arrest of Villeroy. The +constitution, or some important and unknown fugitive discovered at La +Trappe, and a thousand other thoughts, agitated me until I arrived at +Versailles. + +Upon reaching the chateau, I saw Dubois at a window awaiting me, and +making many signs to me, and upon reaching the staircase, I found him +there at the bottom, as I was about to mount. His first word was to ask +me if I had brought with me a man who could post to La Trappe. I showed +him my valet de chambre, who knew the road well, having travelled over it +with me very often, and who was well known to the Cardinal, who, when +simple Abbe Dubois, used very frequently to chat with him while waiting +for me. + +The Cardinal explained to me, as we ascended the stairs, the cause of his +message. Immediately after the departure of the Marechal de Villeroy, +M. le Frejus, the King's instructor, had been missed. He had +disappeared. He had not slept at Versailles. No one knew what had +become of him! The grief of the King had so much increased upon +receiving this fresh blow--both his familiar friends taken from him at +once--that no one knew what to do with him. He was in the most violent +despair, wept bitterly, and could not be pacified. The Cardinal +concluded by saying that no stone must be left unturned in order to find +M. de Frejus. That unless he had gone to Villeroy, it was probable he +had hid himself in La Trappe, and that we must send and see. With this +he led me to M. le Duc d'Orleans. He was alone, much troubled, walking +up and down his chamber, and he said to me that he knew not what would +become of the King, or what to do with him; that he was crying for M. de +Frejus, and--would listen to nothing; and the Regent began himself to cry +out against this strange flight. + +After some further consideration, Dubois pressed me to go and write to La +Trappe. All was in disorder where we were; everybody spoke at once in +the cabinet; it was impossible, in the midst of all this noise, to write +upon the bureau, as I often did when I was alone with the King. My +apartment was in the new wing, and perhaps shut up, for I was not +expected that day. I went therefore, instead, into the chamber of Peze, +close at hand, and wrote my letter there. The letter finished, and I +about to descend, Peze, who had left me, returned, crying, "He is found! +he is found! your letter is useless; return to M. le Duc d'Orleans." + +He then related to me that just before, one of M. le Duc d'Orleans' +people, who knew that Frejus was a friend of the Lamoignons, had met +Courson in the grand court, and had asked him if he knew what had become +of Frejus; that Courson had replied, "Certainly: he went last night to +sleep at Basville, where the President Lamoignon is;" and that upon this, +the man hurried Courson to M. le Duc d'Orleans to relate this to him. + +Peze and I arrived at M. le Duc d'Orleans' room just after Courson left +it. Serenity had returned. Frejus was well belaboured. After a moment +of cheerfulness, Cardinal Dubois advised M. le Duc d'Orleans to go and +carry this good news to the King, and to say that a courier should at +once be despatched to Basville, to make his preceptor return. M. le Duc +d'Orleans acted upon the suggestion, saying he would return directly. I +remained with Dubois awaiting him. + +After having discussed a little this mysterious flight of Frejus, Dubois +told me he had news of Villeroy. He said that the Marechal had not +ceased to cry out against the outrage committed upon his person, the +audacity of the Regent, the insolence of Dubois, or to hector Artagnan +all the way for having lent himself to such criminal violence; then he +invoked the Manes of the deceased King, bragged of his confidence in him, +the importance of the place he held, and for which he had been preferred +above all others; talked of the rising that so impudent an enterprise +would cause in Paris, throughout the realm, and in foreign countries; +deplored the fate of the young King and of all the kingdom; the officers +selected by the late King for the most precious of charges, driven away, +the Duc du Maine first, himself afterwards; then he burst out into +exclamations and invectives; then into praises of his services, of his +fidelity, of his firmness, of his inviolable attachment to his duty. In +fact, he was so astonished, so troubled, so full of vexation and of rage, +that he was thoroughly beside himself. The Duc de Villeroy, the Marechal +de Tallard and Biron had permission to go and see him at Villeroy: +scarcely anybody else asked for it. + +M. le Duc d'Orleans having returned from the King, saying that the news +he had carried had much appeased his Majesty, we agreed we must so +arrange matters that Frejus should return the next morning, that M. le +Duc d'Orleans should receive him well, as though nothing had happened, +and give him to understand that it was simply to avoid embarrassing him, +that he had not been made aware of the secret of the arrest (explaining +this to him with all the more liberty, because Frejus hated the Marechal, +his haughtiness, his jealousy, his capriciousness, and in his heart must +be delighted at his removal, and at being able to have entire possession +of the--King), then beg him to explain to the King the necessity of +Villeroy's dismissal: then communicate to Frejus the selection of the Duc +de Charost as governor of the King; promise him all the concert and the +attention from this latter he could desire; ask him to counsel and guide +Charost; finally, seize the moment of the King's joy at the return of +Frejus to inform his Majesty of the new governor chosen, and to present +Charost to him. All this was arranged and very well, executed next day. + +When the Marechal heard of it at Villeroy, he flew into a strange passion +against Charost (of whom he spoke with the utmost contempt for having +accepted his place), but above all against Frejus, whom he called a +traitor and a villain! His first moments of passion, of fury, and of +transport, were all the more violent, because he saw by the tranquillity +reigning everywhere that his pride had deceived him in inducing him to +believe that the Parliament, the markets, all Paris would rise if the +Regent dared to touch a person so important and so well beloved as he +imagined himself to be. This truth, which he could no longer hide from +himself, and which succeeded so rapidly to the chimeras that had been his +food and his life, threw him into despair, and turned his head. He fell +foul of the Regent, of his minister, of those employed to arrest him, of +those who had failed to defend him, of all who had not risen in revolt to +bring him back in triumph, of Charost, who had dared to succeed him, and +especially of Frejus, who had deceived him in such an unworthy manner. +Frejus was the person against whom he was the most irritated. Reproaches +of ingratitude and of treachery rained unceasingly upon him; all that the +Marechal had done for him with the deceased King was recollected; how he +had protected, aided, lodged, and fed him; how without him (Villeroy) he +(Frejus) would never have been preceptor of the King; and all this was +exactly true. + +The treachery to which he alluded he afterwards explained. He said that +he and Frejus had agreed at the very commencement of the regency to act +in union; and that if by troubles or events impossible to foresee, but +which were only too common in regencies, one of them should be dismissed +from office, the other not being able to hinder the dismissal, though not +touched himself, should at once withdraw and never return to his post, +until the first was reinstated in his. And after these explanations, new +cries broke out against the perfidy of this miserable wretch--(for the +most odious terms ran glibly from the end of his tongue)--who thought +like a fool to cover his perfidy with a veil of gauze, in slipping off to +Basville, so as to be instantly sought and brought back, in fear lest he +should lose his place by the slightest resistance or the slightest delay, +and who expected to acquit himself thus of his word, and of the +reciprocal engagement both had taken; and then he returned to fresh +insults and fury against this serpent, as he said, whom he had warmed and +nourished so many years in his bosom. + +The account of these transports and insults, promptly came from Villeroy +to Versailles, brought, not only by the people whom the Regent had placed +as guards over the Marechal, and to give an exact account of all he said +and did, day by day, but by all the domestics who came and went, and +before whom Villeroy launched out his speeches, at table, while passing +through his ante-chambers, or while taking a turn in his gardens. + +All this weighed heavily upon Frejus by the rebound. Despite the +apparent tranquillity of his visage, he appeared confounded. He replied +by a silence of respect and commiseration in which he enveloped himself; +nevertheless, he could not do so to the Duc de Villeroy, the Marechal de +Tallard, and a few others. He tranquilly said to them, that he had done +all he could to fulfil an engagement which he did not deny, but that +after having thus satisfied the call of honour, he did not think he could +refuse to obey orders so express from the King and the Regent, or abandon +the former in order to bring about the return of the Marechal de +Villeroy, which was the object of their reciprocal engagement, and which +he was certain he could not effect by absence, however prolonged. But +amidst these very sober excuses could be seen the joy which peeped forth +from him, in spite of himself, at being freed from so inconvenient a +superior, at having to do with a new governor whom he could easily +manage, at being able when he chose to guide himself in all liberty +towards the grand object he had always desired, which was to attach +himself to the King without reserve, and to make out of this attachment, +obtained by all sorts of means, the means of a greatness which he did not +yet dare to figure to himself, but which time and opportunity would teach +him how to avail himself of in the best manner, marching to it meanwhile +in perfect security. + +The Marechal was allowed to refresh himself, and exhale his anger five or +six days at Villeroy; and as he was not dangerous away from the King, he +was sent to Lyons, with liberty to exercise his functions of governor of +the town and province, measures being taken to keep a watch upon him, and +Des Libois being left with him to diminish his authority by this +manifestation of precaution and surveillance, which took from him all +appearance of credit. He would receive no honours on arriving there. +A large quantity of his first fire was extinguished; this wide separation +from Paris and the Court, where not even the slightest movement had taken +place, everybody being stupefied and in terror at an arrest of this +importance; took from him all remaining hope, curbed his impetuosity, and +finally induced him to conduct himself with sagacity in order to avoid +worse treatment. + +Such was the catastrophe of a man, so incapable of all the posts he had +occupied, who displayed chimeras and audacity in the place of prudence +and sagacity, who everywhere appeared a trifler and a comedian, and whose +universal and profound ignorance (except of the meanest arts of the +courtier) made plainly visible the thin covering of probity and of virtue +with which he tried to hide his ingratitude, his mad ambition, his desire +to overturn all in order to make himself the chief of all, in the midst +of his weakness and his fears, and to hold a helm he was radically +incapable of managing. I speak here only of his conduct since the +establishment of the regency. Elsewhere, in more than one place, the +little or nothing he was worth has been shown; how his ignorance and his +jealousy lost us Flanders, and nearly ruined the State; how his felicity +was pushed to the extreme, and what deplorable reverses followed his +return. Sufficient to say that he never recovered from the state into +which this last madness threw him, and that the rest of his life was only +bitterness, regret, contempt! He had persuaded the King that it was he, +alone, who by vigilance and precaution had preserved his life from poison +that others wished to administer to him. This was the source of those +tears shed by the King when Villeroy was carried off, and of his despair +when Frejus disappeared. He did not doubt that both had been removed in +order that this crime might be more easily committed. + +The prompt return of Frejus dissipated the half, of his fear, the +continuance of his good health delivered him by degrees from the other. +The preceptor, who had a great interest in preserving the King, and who +felt much relieved by the absence of Villeroy, left nothing undone in +order to extinguish these gloomy ideas; and consequently to let blame +fall upon him who had inspired them. He feared the return of the +Marechal when the King, who was approaching his majority, should be the +master; once delivered of the yoke he did not wish it to be reimposed +upon him. He well knew that the grand airs, the ironies, the +authoritative fussiness in public of the Marechal were insupportable to +his Majesty, and that they held together only by those frightful ideas of +poison. To destroy them was to show the Marechal uncovered, and worse +than that to show to the King, without appearing to make a charge against +the Marechal, the criminal interest he had in exciting these alarms, and +the falsehood and atrocity of such a venomous invention. These +reflections; which the health of the King each day confirmed, sapped all +esteem, all gratitude, and left his Majesty in full liberty of conscience +to prohibit, when he should be the master, all approach to his person on +the part of so vile and so interested an impostor. + +Frejus made use of these means to shelter himself against the possibility +of the Marechal's return, and to attach himself to the King without +reserve. The prodigious success of his schemes has been only too well +felt since. + +The banishment of Villeroy, flight and return of Frejus, and installation +of Charost as governor of the King, were followed by the confirmation of +his Majesty by the Cardinal de Rohan, and by his first communion, +administered to him by this self-same Cardinal, his grand almoner. + + + + +CHAPTER CXV + +Villeroy being banished, the last remaining obstacle in Dubois' path was +removed. There was nothing: now, to hinder him from being proclaimed +prime minister. I had opposed it as stoutly as I could; but my words +were lost upon M. le Duc d'Orleans. Accordingly, about two o'clock in +the afternoon of the 23rd of August, 1722, Dubois was declared prime +minister by the Regent, and by the Regent at once conducted to the King +as such. + +After this event I began insensibly to withdraw from public affairs. +Before the end of the year the King was consecrated at Rheims. The +disorder at the ceremony was inexpressible. All precedent was forgotten. +Rank was hustled and jostled, so to speak, by the crowd. The desire to +exclude the nobility from all office and all dignity was obvious, at half +a glance. My spirit was ulcerated at this; I saw approaching the +complete re-establishment of the bastards; my heart was cleft in twain, +to see the Regent at the heels of his unworthy minister. He was a prey +to the interest, the avarice, the folly, of this miserable wretch, and no +remedy possible. Whatever experience I might have had of the astonishing +weakness of M. le Duc d'Orleans, it had passed all bounds when I saw him +with my own eyes make Dubois prime minister, after all I had said to him +on the subject,--after all he had said to me. The year 1723 commenced, +and found me in this spirit. It is at the end of this year I have +determined to end those memoirs, and the details of it will not be so +full or so abundant as of preceding years. I was hopelessly wearied with +M. le Duc d'Orleans; I no longer approached this poor prince (with so +many great and useless talents buried in him)--except with repugnance. +I could not help feeling for him what the poor, Israelites said to +themselves in the desert about the manna: "Nauseat anima mea suffer cibum +istum tevissimum." I no longer deigned to speak to him. He perceived +this: I felt he was pained at it; he strove to reconcile me to him, +without daring, however, to speak of affairs, except briefly, and with +constraint, and yet he could not hinder himself from speaking of them. +I scarcely took the trouble to reply to him, and I cut his conversation +as short as possible. I abridged and curtailed my audiences with him; +I listened to his reproaches with coldness. In fact, what had I to +discuss with a Regent who was no longer one, not even over himself, still +less over a realm plunged in disorder? + +Cardinal Dubois, when he met me, almost courted me. He knew not how to +catch me. The bonds which united me to M. le Duc d'Orleans had always +been so strong that the prime minister, who knew their strength, did not +dare to flatter himself he could break them. His resource was to try to +disgust me by inducing his master to treat me with a reserve which was +completely new to him, and which cost him more than it cost me; for, in +fact, he had often found my confidence very useful to him, and had grown +accustomed to it. As for me, I dispensed with his friendship more than +willingly, vexed at being no longer able to gather any fruit from it for +the advantage of the State or himself, wholly abandoned as he was to his +Paris pleasures and to his minister. The conviction of my complete +inutility more and more kept me in the background, without the slightest +suspicion that different conduct could be dangerous to me, or that, weak +and abandoned to Dubois as was the Regent, the former could ever exile +me, like the Duc de Roailles, and Cariillac, or disgust me into exiling +myself. I followed, then, my accustomed life. That is to say, never saw +M. le Duc d'Orleans except tete-a-tete, and then very seldom at intervals +that each time grew longer, coldly, briefly, never talking to him of +business, or, if he did to me, returning the conversation, and replying +it! a manner to make it drop. Acting thus, it is easy to see that I was +mixed up in nothing, and what I shall have to relate now will have less +of the singularity and instructiveness of good and faithful memoirs, than +of the dryness and sterility of the gazettes. + +First of all I will finish my account of Cardinal Dubois. I have very +little more to say of him; for he had scarcely begun to enjoy his high +honours when Death came to laugh at him for the sweating labour he had +taken to acquire them. + +On the 11th of June, 1723, the King went to reside at Meudon, ostensibly +in order that the chateau of Versailles might be cleared--in reality, +to accommodate Cardinal Dubois. He had just presided over the assembly +of the day, and flattered to the last degree at this, wished to repose +upon the honour. He desired, also, to be present sometimes at the +assembling of the Company of the Indies. Meudon brought him half-way to +Paris, and saved him a journey. His debauchery had so shattered his +health that the movement of a coach gave him pains which he very +carefully hid. + +The King held at Meudon a review of his household, which in his pride the +Cardinal must needs attend. It cost him dear. He mounted on horseback +the better, to enjoy his triumph; he suffered cruelly, and became so +violently ill that he was obliged to have assistance. The most +celebrated doctors and physicians were called in, with great secrecy. +They shook their heads, and came so often that news of the illness began +to transpire. Dubois was unable to go to Paris again more than once or +twice, and then with much trouble, and solely to conceal his malady, +which gave him no repose. + +He left nothing undone, in fact, to hide it from the world; he went as +often as he could to the council; apprised the ambassadors he would go to +Paris, and did not go; kept himself invisible at home, and bestowed the +most frightful abuse upon everybody who dared to intrude upon him. On +Saturday, the 7th of August, he was so ill that the doctors declared he +must submit to an operation, which was very urgent, and without which he +could hope to live but a few days; because the abscess he had having +burst the day he mounted on horseback, gangrene had commenced, with an +overflow of pus, and he must be transported, they added, to Versailles, +in order to undergo this operation. The trouble this terrible +announcement caused him, so overthrew him that he could not be moved the +next day, Sunday, the 8th; but on Monday he was transported in a litter, +at five o'clock in the morning. + +After having allowed him to repose himself a, little, the doctors and +surgeons proposed that he should receive the sacrament, and submit to the +operation immediately after. This was not heard very peacefully; he had +scarcely ever been free from fury since the day of the review; he had +grown worse on Saturday, when the operation was first announced to him. +Nevertheless, some little time after, he sent for a priest from +Versailles, with whom he remained alone about a quarter of an hour. +Such a great and good man, so well prepared for death, did not need more: +Prime ministers, too, have privileged confessions. As his chamber again +filled, it was proposed that he should take the viaticum; he cried out +that that was soon said, but there was a ceremonial for the cardinals, +of which he was ignorant, and Cardinal Bissy must be sent to, at Paris, +for information upon it. Everybody looked at his neighbour, and felt +that Dubois merely wished to gain time; but as the operation was urgent, +they proposed it to him without further delay. He furiously sent them +away, and would no longer hear talk of it. + +The faculty, who saw the imminent danger of the slightest delay, sent to +Meudon for M. le Duc d'Orleans, who instantly came in the first +conveyance he could lay his hands on. He exhorted the Cardinal to suffer +the operation; then asked the faculty, if it could be performed in +safety. They replied that they could say nothing for certain, but that +assuredly the Cardinal had not two hours to live if he did not instantly +agree to it. M. le Duc d'Orleans returned to the sick man, and begged +him so earnestly to do so, that he consented. + +The operation was accordingly performed about five o'clock, and in five +minutes, by La Peyronie, chief surgeon of the King, and successor to +Marechal, who was present with Chirac and others of the most celebrated +surgeons and doctors. The Cardinal cried and stormed strongly. M. le +Duc d'Orleans returned into the chamber directly after the operation was +performed, and the faculty did not dissimulate from him that, judging by +the nature of the wound, and what had issued from it, the Cardinal had +not long to live. He died, in fact, twenty-four hours afterwards, on the +10th, of August, at five o'clock in the morning, grinding his teeth +against his surgeons and against Chirac, whom he had never ceased to +abuse. + +Extreme unction was, however, brought to him. Of the communion, nothing +more was said--or of any priest for him--and he finished his life thus, +in the utmost despair, and enraged at quitting it. Fortune had nicely +played with him; slid made him dearly and slowly buy her favours by all +sorts of trouble, care, projects, intrigues, fears, labour, torment; and +at last showered down upon him torrents of greater power, unmeasured +riches, to let him enjoy them only four years (dating from the time when +he was made Secretary of State, and only two years dating from the time +when he was made Cardinal and Prime Minister), and then snatched them +from him, in the smiling moment when he was most enjoying them, at sixty- +six years of age. + +He died thus, absolute master of his master, less a prime minister than +an all-powerful minister, exercising in full and undisturbed liberty the +authority and the power of the King; he was superintendent of the post, +Cardinal, Archbishop of Cambrai, had seven abbeys, with respect to which +he was insatiable to the last; and he had set on foot overtures in order +to seize upon those of Citeaux, Premonte, and others, and it was averred +that he received a pension from England of 40,000 livres sterling! I had +the curiosity to ascertain his revenue, and I have thought what I found +curious enough to be inserted here, diminishing some of the benefices to +avoid all exaggeration. I have made a reduction, too, upon what he drew +from his place of prime minister, and that of the post. I believe, also, +that he had 20,000 livres from the clergy, as Cardinal, but I do not know +it as certain. What he drew from Law was immense. He had made use of a +good deal of it at Rome, in order to obtain his Cardinalship; but a +prodigious sum of ready cash was left in his hands. He had an extreme +quantity of the most beautiful plate in silver and enamel, most admirably +worked; the richest furniture, the rarest jewels of all kinds, the finest +and rarest horses of all countries, and the most superb equipages. His +table was in every way exquisite and superb, and he did the honours of it +very well, although extremely sober by nature and by regime. + +The place of preceptor of M. le Duc d'Orleans had procured for him the +Abbey of Nogent-sous-Coucy; the marriage of the Prince that of Saint- +Just; his first journeys to Hanover and England, those of Airvause and of +Bourgueil: three other journeys, his omnipotence. What a monster of +Fortune! With what a commencement, and with what an end! + +ACCOUNT OF HIS RICHES: + + Benefices .............................324,000 livres + Prime Minister and Past ...............250,000 " + Pension from England ................ 960,000 " + -------- + 1,534,000 " + +On Wednesday evening, the day after his death, Dubois was carried from +Versailles to the church of the chapter of Saint-Honore, in Paris, where +he was interred some days after. Each of the academies of which he was a +member had a service performed for him (at which they were present), the +assembly of the clergy had another (he being their president); and as +prime minister he had one at Notre Dame, at which the Cardinal de +Noailles officiated, and at which the superior courts were present. +There was no funeral oration at any of them. It could not be hazarded. +His brother, more modest than he, and an honest man, kept the office of +secretary of the cabinet, which he had, and which the Cardinal had given +him. This brother found an immense heritage. He had but one son, canon +of Saint-Honore, who had never desired places or livings, and who led a +good life. He would touch scarcely anything of this rich succession. +He employed a part of it in building for his uncle a sort of mausoleum +(fine, but very modest, against the wall, at the end of the church, where +the Cardinal is interred, with a Christian-like inscription), and +distributed the rest to the poor, fearing lest this money should bring a +curse upon him. + +It was found some time after his death that the Cardinal had been long +married, but very obscurely! He paid his wife to keep silent when he +received his benefices; but when he dawned into greatness became much +embarrassed with her. He was always in agony lest she should come +forward and ruin him. His marriage had been made in Limousin, and +celebrated in a village church. When he was named Archbishop of Cambrai +he resolved to destroy the proofs of this marriage, and employed +Breteuil, Intendant of Limoges, to whom he committed the secret, to do +this for him skilfully and quietly. + +Breteuil saw the heavens open before him if he could but succeed in this +enterprise, so delicate and so important. He had intelligence, and knew +how to make use of it. He goes to this village where the marriage had +been celebrated, accompanied by only two or three valets, and arranges +his journey so as to arrive at night, stops at the cure's house, in +default of an inn, familiarly claims hospitality like a man surprised by +the night, dying of hunger and thirst, and unable to go a step further. + +The good cure; transported with gladness to lodge M. l'Intendant, hastily +prepared all there was in the house, and had the honour of supping with +him, whilst his servant regaled the two valets in another room, Breteuil +having sent them all away in order to be alone with his host. Breteuil +liked his glass and knew how to empty it. He pretended to find the +supper good and the wine better. The cure, charmed with his guest, +thought only of egging him on, as they say in the provinces. The tankard +was on the table, and was drained again and again with a familiarity +which transported the worthy priest. Breteuil; who had laid his project, +succeeded in it, and made the good man so drunk that he could not keep +upright, or see, or utter a word. When Breteuil had brought him to this +state, and had finished him off with a few more draughts of wine, he +profited by the information he had extracted from him during the first +quarter of an hour of supper. He had asked if his registers were in good +order, and how far they extended, and under pretext of safety against +thieves, asked him where he kept them, and the keys of them, so that the +moment Breteuil was certain the cure could no longer make use of his +senses, he took his keys, opened the cupboard, took from it the register +of the marriage of the year he wanted, very neatly detached the page he +sought (and woe unto that marriage registered upon the same page), put it +in his pocket, replaced the registers where he had found them, locked up +the cupboard, and put back the keys in the place he had taken them +from. His only thought after this was to steal off as soon as the dawn +appeared, leaving the good cure snoring away the effects of the wine, and +giving, some pistoles to the servant. + +He went thence to the notary, who had succeeded to the business and the +papers of the one who had made the contract of marriage; liked himself up +with him, and by force and authority made him give up the minutes of the +marriage contract. He sent afterwards for the wife of Dubois (from whose +hands the wily Cardinal had already obtained the copy of the contract she +possessed), threatened her with dreadful dungeons if she ever dared to +breathe a word of her marriage, and promised marvels to her if she kept +silent. + +He assured her, moreover, that all she could say or do would be thrown +away, because everything had been so arranged that she could prove +nothing, and that if she dared to speak, preparations were made for +condemning her as a calumniator and impostor, to rot with a shaven head +in the prison of a convent! Breteuil placed these two important +documents in the hands of Dubois, and was (to the surprise and scandal of +all the world) recompensed, some time after, with the post of war +secretary, which, apparently; he had done nothing to deserve, and for +which he was utterly unqualified. The secret reason of his appointment +was not discovered until long after. + +Dubois' wife did not dare to utter a whisper. She came to Paris after +the death of her husband. A good proportion was given to her of what was +left. She lived obscure, but in easy circumstances, and died at Paris +more than twenty years after the Cardinal Dubois, by whom she had had no +children. The brother lived on very good terms with her. He was a +village doctor when Dubois sent for him to Paris: In the end this history +was known, and has been neither contradicted nor disavowed by anybody. + +We have many examples of prodigious fortune acquired by insignificant +people, but there is no example of a person so destitute of all talent +(excepting that of low intrigue), as was Cardinal Dubois, being thus +fortunate. His intellect was of the most ordinary kind; his knowledge +the most common-place; his capacity nil; his exterior that of a ferret, +of a pedant; his conversation disagreeable, broken, always uncertain; his +falsehood written upon his forehead; his habits too measureless to be +hidden; his fits of impetuosity resembling fits of madness; his head +incapable of containing more than one thing at a time, and he incapable +of following anything but his personal interest; nothing was sacred with +him; he had no sort of worthy intimacy with any one; had a declared +contempt for faith, promises, honour, probity, truth; took pleasure at +laughing at all these things; was equally voluptuous and ambitious, +wishing to be all in all in everything; counting himself alone as +everything, and whatever was not connected with him as nothing; and +regarding it as the height of madness to think or act otherwise. With +all this he was soft, cringing, supple, a flatterer, and false admirer, +taking all shapes with the greatest facility, and playing the most +opposite parts in order to arrive at the different ends he proposed to +himself; and nevertheless was but little capable of seducing. His +judgment acted by fits and starts, was involuntarily crooked, with little +sense or clearness; he was disagreeable in spite of himself. +Nevertheless, he could be funnily vivacious when he wished, but nothing +more, could tell a good story, spoiled, however, to some extent by his +stuttering, which his falsehood had turned into a habit from the +hesitation he always had in replying and in speaking. With such defects +it is surprising that the only man he was able to seduce was M. le Duc +d'Orleans, who had so much intelligence, such a well-balanced mind, and +so much clear and rapid perception of character. Dubois gained upon him +as a child while his preceptor; he seized upon him as a young man by +favouring his liking for liberty, sham fashionable manners and +debauchery, and his disdain of all rule. He ruined his heart, his mind, +and his habits, by instilling into him the principles of libertines, +which this poor prince could no more deliver himself from than from those +ideas of reason, truth, and conscience which he always took care to +stifle. + +Dubois having insinuated himself into the favour of his master in this +manner, was incessantly engaged in studying how to preserve his position. +He never lost sight of his prince, whose great talents and great defects +he had learnt how to profit by. The Regent's feebleness was the main +rock upon which he built. As for Dubois' talent and capacity, as I have +before said, they were worth nothing. All his success was due to his +servile pliancy and base intrigues. + +When he became the real master of the State he was just as incompetent as +before. All his application was directed towards his master, and it had +for sole aim that that master should not escape him. He wearied himself +in watching all the movements of the prince, what he did, whom he saw, +and for how long; his humour, his visage, his remarks at the issue of +every audience and of every party; who took part in them, what was said +and by whom, combining all these things; above all, he strove to frighten +everybody from approaching the Regent, and kept no bounds with any one +who had the temerity to do so without his knowledge and permission. This +watching occupied all his days, and by it he regulated all his movements. +This application, and the orders he was obliged to give for appearance +sake, occupied all his time, so that he became inaccessible except for a +few public audiences, or for others to the foreign ministers. Yet the +majority of those ministers never could catch him, and were obliged to +lie in wait for him upon staircases or in passages, where he did not +expect to meet them. Once he threw into the fire a prodigious quantity +of unopened letters, and then congratulated himself upon having got rid +of all his business at once. At his death thousands of letters were +found unopened. + +Thus everything was in arrear, and nobody, not even the foreign +ministers, dared to complain to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who, entirely +abandoned to his pleasures, and always on the road from Versailles to +Paris, never thought of business, only too satisfied to find himself so +free, and attending to nothing except the few trifles he submitted to the +King under the pretence of working with his Majesty. Thus, nothing could +be settled, and all was in chaos. To govern in this manner there is no +need for capacity. Two words to each minister charged with a department, +and some care in garnishing the councils attended by the King, with the +least important despatches (settling the others with M. le Duc d'Orleans) +constituted all the labour of the prime minister; and spying, scheming, +parade, flatteries, defence, occupied all his time. His fits of passion, +full of insults and blackguardism, from which neither man nor woman, no +matter of what rank, was sheltered, relieved him from an infinite number +of audiences, because people preferred going to subalterns, or neglecting +their business altogether, to exposing themselves to this fury and these +affronts. + +The mad freaks of Dubois, especially when he had become master, and +thrown off all restraint, would fill a volume. I will relate only one or +two as samples. His frenzy was such that he would sometimes run all +round the chamber, upon the tables and chairs, without touching the +floor! M. le Duc d'Orleans told me that he had often witnessed this. + +Another sample: + +The Cardinal de Gesvres came over to-day to complain to M. le Duc +d'Orleans that the Cardinal Dubois had dismissed him in the most filthy +terms. On a former occasion, Dubois had treated the Princesse de +Montauban in a similar manner, and M. le Duc d'Orleans had replied to her +complaints as he now replied to those of the Cardinal de Gesvres. He +told the Cardinal, who was a man of good manners, of gravity, and of +dignity (whereas the Princess deserved what she got) that he had always +found the counsel of the Cardinal Dubois good, and that he thought he +(Gesvres ) would do well to follow the advice just given him! Apparently +it was to free himself from similar complaints that he spoke thus; and, +in fact, he had no more afterwards. + +Another sample: + +Madame de Cheverny, become a widow, had retired to the Incurables. Her +place of governess of the daughters of M. le Duc d'Orleans had been given +to Madame de Conflans. A little while after Dubois was consecrated, +Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans asked Madame de Conflans if she had called +upon him. Thereupon Madame de Conflans replied negatively and that she +saw no reason for going, the place she held being so little mixed up in +State affairs. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans pointed out how intimate the +Cardinal was with M. le Duc d'Orleans. Madame de Conflans still tried to +back out, saying that he was a madman, who insulted everybody, and to +whom she would not expose herself. She had wit and a tongue, and was +supremely vain, although very polite. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans burst +out laughing at her fear, and said, that having nothing to ask of the +Cardinal, but simply to render an account to him of the office M. le Duc +d'Orleans had given her, it was an act of politeness which could only +please him, and obtain for her his regard, far from having anything +disagreeable, or to be feared about it; and finished by saying to her +that it was proper, and that she wished her to go. + +She went, therefore, for it was at Versailles, and arrived in a large +cabinet, where there were eight or ten persons waiting to speak to the +Cardinal, who was larking with one of his favourites, by the mantelpiece. +Fear seized upon Madame de Conflans, who was little, and who appeared +less. Nevertheless, she approached as this woman retired. The Cardinal, +seeing her advance, sharply asked her what she wanted. + +"Monseigneur," said she,--"Oh, Monseigneur--" + +"Monseigneur," interrupted the Cardinal, "I can't now." + +"But, Monseigneur," replied she-- + +"Now, devil take me, I tell you again," interrupted the Cardinal, "when I +say I can't, I can't." + +"Monseigneur," Madame de Conflans again said, in order to explain that +she wanted nothing; but at this word the Cardinal seized her by the +shoulders; and pushed her out, saying, "Go to the devil, and let me +alone." + +She nearly fell over, flew away in fury, weeping hot tears, and reached, +in this state, Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, to whom, through her sobs, +she related the adventure. + +People were so accustomed to the insults of the Cardinal, and this was +thought so singular and so amusing, that the recital of it caused shouts +of laughter, which finished off poor Madame de Conflans, who swore that, +never in her life, would she put foot in the house of this madman. + +The Easter Sunday after he was made Cardinal, Dubois woke about eight +o'clock, rang his bells as though he would break them, called for his +people with the most horrible blasphemies, vomited forth a thousand +filthy expressions and insults, raved at everybody because he had not +been awakened, said that he wanted to say mass, but knew not how to find +time, occupied as he was. After this very beautiful preparation, he very +wisely abstained from saying mass, and I don't know whether he ever did +say it after his consecration. + +He had taken for private secretary one Verrier, whom he had unfrocked +from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the business of which he had +conducted for twenty years, with much cleverness and intelligence. He +soon accommodated himself to the humours of the Cardinal, and said to him +all he pleased. + +One morning he was with the Cardinal, who asked for something that could +not at once be found. Thereupon Dubois began to blaspheme, to storm +against his clerks, saying that if he had not enough he would engage +twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred, and making the most frightful din. +Verrier tranquilly listened to him. The Cardinal asked him if it was not +a terrible thing to be so ill-served, considering the expense he was put +to; then broke out again, and pressed him to reply. + +"Monseigneur," said Verrier, "engage one more clerk, and give him, for +sole occupation, to swear and storm for you, and all will go well; you +will have much more time to yourself and will be better served." + +The Cardinal burst out laughing, and was appeased. + +Every evening he ate an entire chicken for his supper. I know not by +whose carelessness, but this chicken was forgotten one evening by his +people. As he was about to go to bed he bethought him of his bird, rang, +cried out, stormed against his servants, who ran and coolly listened to +him. Upon this he cried the more, and complained of not having been +served. He was astonished when they replied to him that he had eaten his +chicken, but that if he pleased they would put another down to the spit. + +"What!" said he, "I have eaten my chicken!" + +The bold and cool assertion of his people persuaded him, and they laughed +at him. + +I will say no more, because, I repeat it, volumes might be filled with +these details. I have said enough to show what was this monstrous +personage, whose death was a relief to great and little, to all Europe, +even to his brother, whom he treated like a negro. He wanted to dismiss +a groom on one occasion for having lent one of his coaches to this same +brother, to go somewhere in Paris. + +The most relieved of all was M. le Duc d'Orleans. For a long time he had +groaned in secret beneath the weight of a domination so harsh, and of +chains he had forged for himself. Not only he could no longer dispose or +decide upon anything, but he could get the Cardinal to do nothing, great +or small, he desired done. He was obliged, in everything, to follow the +will of the Cardinal, who became furious, reproached him, and stormed +at him when too much contradicted. The poor Prince felt thus the +abandonment into which he had cast himself, and, by this abandonment, +the power of the Cardinal, and the eclipse of his own power. He feared +him; Dubois had become insupportable to him; he was dying with desire, as +was shown in a thousand things, to get rid of him, but he dared not--he +did not know how to set about it; and, isolated and unceasingly wretched +as he was, there was nobody to whom he could unbosom himself; and the +Cardinal, well informed of this, increased his freaks, so as to retain by +fear what he had usurped by artifice, and what he no longer hoped to +preserve in any other way. + +As soon as Dubois was dead, M. le Duc d'Orleans returned to Meudon, to +inform the King of the event. The King immediately begged him to charge +himself with the management of public affairs, declared him prime +minister, and received, the next day, his oath, the patent of which was +immediately sent to the Parliament, and verified. This prompt +declaration was caused by the fear Frejus had to see a private person +prime minister. The King liked M. le Duc d'Orleans, as we have already +seen by the respect he received from him, and by his manner of working +with him. The Regent, without danger of being taken at his word, always +left him master of all favours, and of the choice of persons he proposed +to him; and, besides, never bothered him, or allowed business to +interfere with his amusements. In spite of all the care and all the +suppleness Dubois had employed in order to gain the spirit of the King, +he never could succeed, and people remarked, without having wonderful +eyes, a very decided repugnance of the King for him. The Cardinal was +afflicted, but redoubled his efforts, in the hope at last of success. +But, in addition to his own disagreeable manners, heightened by the +visible efforts he made to please, he had two enemies near the King, very +watchful to keep him away from the young prince--the Marechal de +Villeroy, while he was there, and Frejus, who was much more dangerous, +and who was resolved to overthrow him. Death, as we have seen, spared +him the trouble. + +The Court returned from Meudon to Paris on the 13th of August. Soon +after I met M. le Duc d'Orleans there. + +As soon as he saw me enter his cabinet he ran to me, and eagerly asked me +if I meant to abandon him. I replied that while his Cardinal lived I +felt I should be useless to him, but that now this obstacle was removed, +I should always be very humbly at his service. He promised to live with +me on the same terms as before, and, without a word upon the Cardinal, +began to talk about home and foreign affairs. If I flattered myself that +I was to be again of use to him for any length of time, events soon came +to change the prospect. But I will not anticipate my story. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVI + +The Duc de Lauzun died on the 19th of November, at the age of ninety +years and six months. The intimate union of the two sisters I and he had +espoused, and our continual intercourse at the Court (at Marly, we had a +pavilion especially for us four), caused me to be constantly with him, +and after the King's death we saw each other nearly every day at Paris, +and unceasingly frequented each other's table. He was so extraordinary a +personage, in every way so singular, that La Bruyere, with much justice, +says of him in his "Characters," that others were not allowed to dream as +he had lived. For those who saw him in his old age, this description +seems even more just. That is what induces me to dwell upon him here. +He was of the House of Caumont, the branch of which represented by the +Ducs de la Force has always passed for the eldest, although that of +Lauzun has tried to dispute with it. + +The mother of M. de Lauzun was daughter of the Duc de la Force, son of +the second Marechal Duc de la Force, and brother of the Marechale de +Turenne, but by another marriage; the Marechale was by a first marriage. +The father of M. de Lauzun was the Comte de Lauzun, cousin-german of the +first Marechal Duc de Grammont, and of the old Comte de Grammont. + +M. de Lauzun was a little fair man, of good figure, with a noble and +expressively commanding face, but which was without charm, as I have +heard people say who knew him when he was young. He was full of +ambition, of caprice, of fancies; jealous of all; wishing always to go +too far; never content with anything; had no reading, a mind in no way +cultivated, and without charm; naturally sorrowful, fond of solitude, +uncivilised; very noble in his dealings, disagreeable and malicious by +nature, still more so by jealousy and by ambition; nevertheless, a good +friend when a friend at all, which was rare; a good relative; enemy even +of the indifferent; hard upon faults, and upon what was ridiculous, +which he soon discovered; extremely brave, and as dangerously bold. +As a courtier he was equally insolent and satirical, and as cringing as a +valet; full of foresight, perseverance, intrigue, and meanness, in order +to arrive at his ends; with this, dangerous to the ministers; at the +Court feared by all, and full of witty and sharp remarks which spared +nobody. + +He came very young to the Court without any fortune, a cadet of Gascony, +under the name of the Marquis de Puyguilhem. The Marechal de Grammont, +cousin-german of his brother, lodged him: Grammont was then in high +consideration at the Court, enjoyed the confidence of the Queen-mother, +and of Cardinal Mazarin, and had the regiment of the guards and the +reversion of it for the Comte de Guiche, his eldest son, who, the prince +of brave fellows, was on his side in great favour with the ladies, and +far advanced in the good graces of the King and of the Comtesse de +Soissons, niece of the Cardinal, whom the King never quitted, and who was +the Queen of the Court. This Comte de Guiche introduced to the Comtesse +de Soissons the Marquis de Puyguilhem, who in a very little time became +the King's favourite. The King, in fact, gave him his regiment of +dragoons on forming it, and soon after made him Marechal de Camp, and +created for him the post of colonel-general of dragoons. + +The Duc de Mazarin, who in 1669 had already retired from the Court, +wished to get rid of his post of grand master of the artillery; +Puyguilhem had scent of his intention, and asked the King for this +office. The King promised it to him, but on condition that he kept the +matter secret some days. The day arrived on which the King had agreed to +declare him. Puyguilhem, who had the entrees of the first gentleman of +the chamber (which are also named the grandes entrees), went to wait for +the King (who was holding a finance council), in a room that nobody +entered during the council, between that in which all the Court waited, +and that in which the council itself was held. He found there no one but +Nyert, chief valet de chambre, who asked him how he happened to come +there. Puyguilhem, sure of his affair, thought he should make a friend +of this valet by confiding to him what was about to take place. Nyert +expressed his joy; then drawing out his watch, said he should have time +to go and execute a pressing commission the King had given him. He +mounted four steps at a time the little staircase, at the head of which +was the bureau where Louvois worked all day--for at Saint-Germain the +lodgings were little and few--and the ministers and nearly all the Court +lodged each at his own house in the town. Nyert entered the bureau of +Louvois, and informed him that upon leaving the council (of which Louvois +was not a member), the King was going to declare Puyguilhem grand master +of the artillery, adding that he had just learned this news from +Puyguilhem himself, and saying where he had left him. + +Louvois hated Puyguilhem, friend of Colbert, his rival, and he feared his +influence in a post which had so many intimate relations with his +department of the war, the functions and authority of which he invaded +as much as possible, a proceeding which he felt Puyguilhem was not the +kind of man to suffer. He embraces Nyert, thanking him, dismisses him as +quickly as possible, takes some papers to serve as an excuse, descends, +and finds Puyguilhem and Nyert in the chamber, as above described. Nyert +pretends to be surprised to see Louvois arrive, and says to him that the +council has not broken up. + +"No matter," replied Louvois, "I must enter, I have something important +to say to the King;" and thereupon he enters. The King, surprised to see +him, asks what brings him there, rises, and goes to him. Louvois draws +him into the embrasure of a window, and says he knows that his Majesty is +going to declare Puyguilhem grand master of the artillery; that he is +waiting in the adjoining room for the breaking up of the council; that +his Majesty is fully master of his favours and of his choice, but that he +(Louvois) thinks it his duty to represent to him the incompatibility +between Puyguilhem and him, his caprices, his pride; that he will wish to +change everything in the artillery; that this post has such intimate +relations with the war department, that continual quarrels will arise +between the two, with which his Majesty will be importuned at every +moment. + +The King is piqued to see his secret known by him from whom, above all, +he wished to hide it; he replies to Louvois, with a very serious air, +that the appointment is not yet made, dismisses him, and reseats himself +at the council. A moment after it breaks up. The King leaves to go to +mass, sees Puyguilhem, and passes without saying anything to him. +Puyguilhem, much astonished, waits all the rest of the day, and seeing +that the promised declaration does not come, speaks of it to the King at +night. The King replies to him that it cannot be yet, and that he will +see; the ambiguity of the response, and the cold tone, alarm Puyguilhem; +he is in favour with the ladies, and speaks the jargon of gallantry; he +goes to Madame de Montespan, to whom he states his disquietude, and +conjures her to put an end to it. She promises him wonders, and amuses +him thus several days. + +Tired of this, and not being able to divine whence comes his failure, he +takes a resolution--incredible if it was not attested by all the Court of +that time. The King was in the habit of visiting Madame de Montespan in +the afternoon, and of remaining with her some time. Puyguilhem was on +terms of tender intimacy with one of the chambermaids of Madame de +Montespan. She privately introduced him into the room where the King +visited Madame de Montespan, and he secreted himself under the bed. In +this position he was able to hear all the conversation that took place +between the King and his mistress above, and he learned by it that it was +Louvois who had ousted him; that the King was very angry at the secret +having got wind, and had changed his resolution to avoid quarrels between +the artillery and the war department; and, finally, that Madame de +Montespan, who had promised him her good offices, was doing him all the +harm she could. A cough, the least movement, the slightest accident, +might have betrayed the foolhardy Puyguilhem, and then what would have +become of him? These are things the recital of which takes the breath +away, and terrifies at the same time. + +Puyguilhem was more fortunate than prudent, and was not discovered. The +King and his mistress at last closed their conversation; the King dressed +himself again, and went to his own rooms. Madame de Montespan went away +to her toilette, in order to prepare for the rehearsal of a ballet to +which the King, the Queen, and all the Court were going. The chambermaid +drew Puyguilhem from under the bed, and he went and glued himself against +the door of Madame de Montespan's chamber. + +When Madame de Montespan came forth, in order to go to the rehearsal of +the ballet, he presented his hand to her, and asked her, with an air of +gentleness and of respect, if he might flatter himself that she had +deigned to think of him when with the King. She assured him that she had +not failed, and enumerated services she had; she said, just rendered him. +Here and there he credulously interrupted her with questions, the better +to entrap her; then, drawing near her, he told her she was a liar, a +hussy, a harlot, and repeated to her, word for word, her conversation +with the King! + +Madame de Montespan was so amazed that she had not strength enough to +reply one word; with difficulty she reached the place she was going to, +and with difficulty overcame and hid the trembling of her legs and of her +whole body; so that upon arriving at the room where the rehearsal was to +take place, she fainted. All the Court was already there. The King, in +great fright, came to her; it was not without much trouble she was +restored to herself. The same evening she related to the King what had +just happened, never doubting it was the devil who had so promptly and so +precisely informed Puyguilhem of all that she had said to the King. The +King was extremely irritated at the insult Madame de Montespan had +received, and was much troubled to divine how Puyguilhem had been so +exactly and so suddenly instructed. + +Puyguilhem, on his side, was furious at losing the artillery, so that the +King and he were under strange constraint together. This could last only +a few days. Puyguilhem, with his grandes entrees, seized his opportunity +and had a private audience with the King. He spoke to him of the +artillery, and audaciously summoned him to keep his word. The King +replied that he was not bound by it, since he had given it under secrecy, +which he (Puyguilhem) had broken. + +Upon this Puyguilhem retreats a few steps, turns his back upon the King, +draws his sword, breaks the blade of it with his foot, and cries out in +fury, that he will never in his life serve a prince who has so shamefully +broken his word. The King, transported with anger, performed in that +moment the finest action perhaps of his life. He instantly turned round, +opened the window, threw his cane outside, said he should be sorry to +strike a man of quality, and left the room. + +The next morning, Puyguilhem, who had not dared to show himself since, +was arrested in his chamber, and conducted to the Bastille. He was an +intimate friend of Guitz, favourite of the King, for whom his Majesty had +created the post of grand master of the wardrobe. Guitz had the courage +to speak to the King in favour of Puyguilhem, and to try and reawaken the +infinite liking he had conceived for the young Gascon. He succeeded so +well in touching the King, by showing him that the refusal of such a +grand post as the artillery had turned Puyguilhem's head, that his +Majesty wished to make amends far this refusal. He offered the post of +captain of the King's guards to Puyguilhem, who, seeing this incredible +and prompt return of favour, re-assumed sufficient audacity to refuse it, +flattering himself he should thus gain a better appointment. The King +was not discouraged. Guitz went and preached to his friend in the +Bastille, and with great trouble made him agree to have the goodness to +accept the King's offer. As soon as he had accepted it he left the +Bastille, went and saluted the King, and took the oaths of his new post, +selling that which he occupied in the dragoons. + +He had in 1665 the government of Berry, at the death of Marechal de +Clerembault. I will not speak here of his adventures with Mademoiselle, +which she herself so naively relates in her memoirs, or of his extreme +folly in delaying his marriage with her (to which the King had +consented), in order to have fine liveries, and get the marriage +celebrated at the King's mass, which gave time to Monsieur (incited by M. +le Prince) to make representations to the King, which induced him to +retract his consent, breaking off thus the marriage. Mademoiselle made a +terrible uproar, but Puyguilhem, who since the death of his father had +taken the name of Comte de Lauzun, made this great sacrifice with good +grace, and with more wisdom than belonged to him. He had the company of +the hundred gentlemen, with battle-axes, of the King's household, which +his father had had, and he had just been made lieutenant-general. + +Lauzun was in love with Madame de Monaco, an intimate friend of Madame, +and in all her Intrigues: He was very jealous of her, and was not pleased +with her. One summer's afternoon he went to Saint-Cloud, and found +Madame and her Court seated upon the ground, enjoying the air, and Madame +de Monaco half lying down, one of her hands open and outstretched. +Lauzun played the gallant with the ladies, and turned round so neatly +that he placed his heel in the palm of Madame de Monaco, made a pirouette +there, and departed. Madame de Monaco had strength enough to utter no +cry, no word! + +A short time after he did worse. He learnt that the King was on intimate +terms with Madame de Monaco, learnt also the hour at which Bontems, the +valet, conducted her, enveloped in a cloak, by a back staircase, upon the +landing-place of which was a door leading into the King's cabinet, and in +front of it a private cabinet. Lauzun anticipates the hour, and lies in +ambush in the private cabinet, fastening it from within with a hook, and +sees through the keyhole the King open the door of the cabinet, put the +key outside (in the lock) and close the door again. Lauzun waits a +little, comes out of his hiding-place, listens at the door in which the +King had just placed the key, locks it, and takes out the key, which he +throws into the private cabinet, in which he again shuts himself up. + +Some time after Bontems and the lady arrive. Much astonished not to find +the key in the door of the King's cabinet, Bontems gently taps at the +door several times, but in vain; finally so loudly does he tap that the +King hears the sound. Bontems says he is there, and asks his Majesty to +open, because the key is not in the door. The King replies that he has +just put it there. Bontems looks on the ground for it, the King +meanwhile trying to open the door from the inside, and finding it double- +locked. Of course all three are much astonished and much annoyed; the +conversation is carried on through the door, and they cannot determine +how this accident has happened. The King exhausts himself in efforts to +force the door, in spite of its being double-locked. At last they are +obliged to say good-bye through the door, and Lauzun, who hears every +word they utter, and who sees them through the keyhole, laughs in his +sleeve at their mishap with infinite enjoyment. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVII + +In 1670 the King wished to make a triumphant journey with the ladies, +under pretext of visiting his possessions in Flanders, accompanied by an +army, and by all his household troops, so that the alarm was great in the +Low Countries, which he took no pains to appease. He gave the command of +all to Lauzun, with the patent of army-general. Lauzun performed the +duties of his post with much intelligence, and with extreme gallantry and +magnificence. This brilliancy, and this distinguished mark of favour, +made Louvois, whom Lauzun in no way spared, think very seriously. He +united with Madame de Montespan (who had not pardoned the discovery +Lauzun had made, or the atrocious insults he had bestowed upon her), and +the two worked so well that they reawakened in the King's mind +recollections of the broken sword, the refusal in the Bastille of the +post of captain of the guards, and made his Majesty look upon Lauzun as a +man who no longer knew himself, who had suborned Mademoiselle until he +had been within an inch of marrying her, and of assuring to himself +immense wealth; finally, as a man, very dangerous on account of his +audacity, and who had taken it into his head to gain the devotion of the +troops by his magnificence, his services to the officers, and by the +manner in which he had treated them during the Flanders journey, making +himself adored. They made him out criminal for having remained the +friend of, and on terms of great intimacy with, the Comtesse de Soissons, +driven from the Court and suspected of crimes. They must have accused +Lauzun also of crimes which I have never heard of, in order to procure +for him the barbarous treatment they succeeded in subjecting him to. + +Their intrigues lasted all the year, 1671, without Lauzun discovering +anything by the visage of the King, or that of Madame de Montespan. Both +the King and his mistress treated him with their ordinary distinction and +familiarity. He was a good judge of jewels (knowing also how to set them +well), and Madame de Montespan often employed him in this capacity. One +evening, in the middle of November, 1671, he arrived from Paris, where +Madame de Montespan had sent him in the morning for some precious stones, +and as he was about to enter his chamber he was arrested by the Marechal +de Rochefort, captain of the guards. + +Lauzun, in the utmost surprise, wished to know why, to see the King or +Madame de Montespan--at least, to write to them; everything was refused +him. He was taken to the Bastille, and shortly afterwards to Pignerol, +where he was shut up in a low-roofed dungeon. His post of captain of the +body-guard was given to M. de Luxembourg, and the government of Berry to +the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, who, at the death of Guitz, at the passage +of the Rhine, 12th June, 1672, was made grand master of the wardrobe. + +It may be imagined what was the state of a man like Lauzun, precipitated, +in a twinkling, from such a height to a dungeon in the chateau of +Pignerol, without seeing anybody, and ignorant of his crime. He bore up, +however, pretty well, but at last fell so ill that he began to think +about confession. I have heard him relate that he feared a fictitious +priest, and that, consequently, he obstinately insisted upon a Capuchin; +and as soon as he came he seized him by the beard, and tugged at it, +as hard as he could, on all sides, in order to see that it was not a sham +one! He was four or five years in his gaol. Prisoners find employment +which necessity teaches them. There ware prisoners above him and at the +side of him. They found means to speak to him. This intercourse led +them to make a hole, well hidden, so as to talk more easily; then to +increase it, and visit each other. + +The superintendent Fouquet had been enclosed near them ever since +December, 1664. He knew by his neighbours (who had found means of seeing +him) that Lauzun was under them. Fouquet, who received no news, hoped +for some from him, and had a great desire to see him. He, had left +Lauzun a young man, dawning at the Court, introduced by the Marechal de +Grammont, well received at the house of the Comtesse de Soissons, which +the King never quitted, and already looked upon favourably. The +prisoners, who had become intimate with Lauzun, persuaded him to allow +himself to be drawn up through their hole, in order to see Fouquet in +their dungeon. Lauzun was very willing. They met, and Lauzun began +relating, accordingly, his fortunes and his misfortunes, to Fouquet. The +unhappy superintendent opened wide his ears and eyes when he heard this +young Gasepan (once only too happy to be welcomed and harboured by the +Marechal de Grammont) talk of having been general of dragoons, captain of +the guards, with the patent and functions of army-general! Fouquet no +longer knew where he was, believed Lauzun mad, and that he was relating +his visions, when he described how he had missed the artillery, and what +had passed afterwards thereupon: but he was convinced that madness had +reached its climax, and was afraid to be with Lauzun, when he heard him +talk of his marriage with Mademoiselle, agreed to by the King, how +broken, and the wealth she had assured to him. This much curbed their +intercourse, as far as Fouquet was concerned, for he, believing the brain +of Lauzun completely turned, took for fairy tales all the stories the +Gascon told him of what had happened in the world, from the imprisonment +of the one to the imprisonment of the other. + +The confinement of Fouquet was a little relieved before that of Lauzun. +His wife and some officers of the chateau of Pignerol had permission to +see him, and to tell him the news of the day. One of the first things he +did was to tell them of this poor Puyguilhem, whom he had left young, and +on a tolerably good footing for his age, at the Court, and whose head was +now completely turned, his madness hidden within the prison walls; but +what was his astonishment when they all assured him that what he had +heard was perfectly true! He did not return to the subject, and was +tempted to believe them all mad together. It was some time before he was +persuaded. + +In his turn, Lauzun was taken from his dungeon, and had a chamber, and +soon after had the same liberty that had been given to Fouquet; finally, +they were allowed to see each other as much as they liked. I have never +known what displeased Lauzun, but he left Pignerol the enemy of Fouquet, +and did him afterwards all the harm he could, and after his death +extended his animosity to his family. + +During the long imprisonment of Lauzun, Madame de Nogent, one of his +sisters, took such care of his revenues that he left Pignerol extremely +rich. + +Mademoiselle, meanwhile, was inconsolable at this long and harsh +imprisonment, and took all possible measures to deliver Lauzun. The King +at last resolved to turn this to the profit of the Duc du Maine, and to +make Mademoiselle pay dear for the release of her lover. He caused a +proposition to be made to her, which was nothing less than to assure to +the Duc du Maine, and his posterity after her death, the countdom of Eu, +the Duchy of Aumale, and the principality of Domfes! The gift was +enormous, not only as regards the value, but the dignity and extent of +these three slices. Moreover, she had given the first two to Lauzun, +with the Duchy of Saint-Forgeon, and the fine estate of Thiers, in +Auvergne, when their marriage was broken off, and she would have been +obliged to make him renounce Eu and Aumale before she could have disposed +of them in favour of the Duc du Maine. Mademoiselle could not, make up +her mind to this yoke, or to strip Lauzun of such considerable benefits. +She was importuned to the utmost, finally menaced by the ministers, now +Louvois, now Colbert. With the latter she was better pleased, because he +had always been on good terms with Lauzun, and because he handled her +more gently than Louvois, who, an enemy of her lover, always spoke in the +harshest terms. Mademoiselle unceasingly felt that the King did not like +her, and that he had never pardoned her the Orleans journey, still less +her doings at the Bastille, when she fired its cannons upon the King's +troops, and saved thus M. le Prince and his people, at the combat of the +Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Feeling, therefore, that the King, hopelessly +estranged from her, and consenting to give liberty to Lauzun only from +his passion for elevating and enriching his bastards, would not cease to +persecute her until she had consented--despairing of better terms, she +agreed to the gift, with the most bitter tears and complaints. But it +was found that, in order to make valid the renunciation of Lauzun, he +must be set at liberty, so that it was pretended he had need of the +waters of Bourbon, and Madame de Montespan also, in order that they might +confer together upon this affair. + +Lauzun was taken guarded to Bourbon by a detachment of musketeers, +commanded by Maupertuis. Lauzun saw Madame de Montespan at Bourbon; but +he was so indignant at the terms proposed to him as the condition of his +liberty, that after long disputes he would hear nothing more on the +subject, and was reconducted to Pignerol as he had been brought. + +This firmness did not suit the King, intent upon the fortune of his well- +beloved bastard. He sent Madame de Nogent to Pignerol; then Borin (a +friend of Lauzun, and who was mixed up in all his affairs), with menaces +and promises. Borin, with great trouble, obtained the consent of Lauzun, +and brought about a second journey to Bourbon for him and Madame de +Montespan, with the same pretext of the waters. Lauzun was conducted +there as before, and never pardoned Maupertuis the severe pedantry of his +exactitude. This last journey was made in the autumn of 1680. Lauzun +consented to everything. Madame de Montespan returned triumphant. +Maupertuis and his musketeers took leave of Lauzun at Bourbon, whence he +had permission to go and reside at Angers; and immediately after, this +exile was enlarged, so that he had the liberty of all Anjou and Lorraine. +The consummation of the affair was deferred until the commencement of +February, 1681, in order to give him a greater air of liberty. Thus +Lauzun had from Mademoiselle only Saint-Forgeon and Thiers, after having +been on the point of marrying her, and of succeeding to all her immense +wealth. The Duc du Maine was instructed to make his court to +Mademoiselle, who always received him very coldly, and who saw him take +her arms, with much vexation, as a mark of his gratitude, in reality for +the Sake of the honour it brought him; for the arms were those of Gaston, +which the Comte de Toulouse afterwards took, not for the same reason, but +under pretext of conformity with his brother; and they have handed them +down to their children. + +Lauzun, who had been led to expect much more gentle treatment, remained +four years in these two provinces, of which he grew as weary as was +Mademoiselle at his absence. She cried out in anger against Madame de +Montespan and her son; complained loudly that after having been so +pitilessly fleeced, Lauzun was still kept removed from her; and made such +a stir that at last she obtained permission for him to return to Paris, +with entire liberty; on condition, however, that he did not approach +within two leagues of any place where the King might be. + +Lauzun came, therefore, to Paris, and assiduously visited his +benefactors. The weariness of this kind of exile, although so softened, +led him into high play, at which he was extremely successful; always a +good and sure player, and very straightforward, he gained largely. +Monsieur, who sometimes made little visits to Paris, and who played very +high, permitted him to join the gambling parties of the Palais Royal, +then those of Saint-Cloud. Lauzun passed thus several years, gaining and +lending much money very nobly; but the nearer he found himself to the +Court, and to the great world, the more insupportable became to him the +prohibition he had received. + +Finally, being no longer able to bear it, he asked the King for +permission to go to England, where high play was much in vogue. He +obtained it, and took with him a good deal of money, which secured him an +open-armed reception in London, where he was not less successful than in +Paris. + +James II., then reigning, received Lauzun with distinction. But the +Revolution was already brewing. It burst after Lauzun had been in +England eight or ten months. It seemed made expressly for him, by the +success he derived from it, as everybody is aware. James II., no longer +knowing what was to become of him--betrayed by his favourites and his +ministers, abandoned by all his nation, the Prince of Orange master of +all hearts, the troops, the navy, and ready to enter London--the unhappy +monarch confided to Lauzun what he held most dear--the Queen and the +Prince of Wales, whom Lauzun happily conducted to Calais. The Queen at +once despatched a courier to the King, in the midst of the compliments of +which she insinuated that by the side of her joy at finding herself and +her son in security under his protection, was her grief at not daring to +bring with her him to whom she owed her safety. + +The reply of the King, after much generous and gallant sentiment, was, +that he shared this obligation with her, and that he hastened to show it +to her, by restoring the Comte de Lauzun to favour. + +In effect, when the Queen presented Lauzun to the King, in the Palace of +Saint-Germain (where the King, with all the family and all the Court, +came to meet her), he treated him as of old, gave him the privilege of +the grandes entrees, and promised him a lodging at Versailles, which he +received immediately after. From that day he always went to Marly, and +to Fontainebleau, and, in fact, never after quitted the Court. It may be +imagined what was the delight of such an ambitious courtier, so +completely re-established in such a sudden and brilliant manner. He had +also a lodging in the chateau of Saint-Germain, chosen as the residence +of this fugitive Court, at which King James soon arrived. + +Lauzun, like a skilful courtier, made all possible use of the two Courts, +and procured for himself many interviews with the King, in which he +received minor commissions. Finally, he played his cards so well that +the King permitted him to receive in Notre Dame, at Paris, the Order of +the Garter, from the hands of the King of England, accorded to him at his +second passage into Ireland the rank of lieutenant-general of his +auxiliary army, and permitted at the same time that he should be of the +staff of the King of England, who lost Ireland during the same campaign +at the battle of the Boyne. He returned into France with the Comte de +Lauzun, for whom he obtained letters of the Duke; which were verified at +the Parliament in May, 1692. What a miraculous return of fortune! But +what a fortune, in comparison with that of marrying Mademoiselle, with +the donation of all her prodigious wealth, and the title and dignity of +Duke and Peer of Montpensier. What a monstrous pedestal! And with +children by this marriage, what a flight might not Lauzun have taken, and +who can say where he might have arrived? + + + + +CHAPTER CXVIII + +I have elsewhere related Lauzun's humours, his notable wanton tricks, and +his rare singularity. + +He enjoyed, during the rest of his long life, intimacy with the King, +distinction at the Court, great consideration, extreme abundance, kept up +the state of a great nobleman, with one of the most magnificent houses of +the Court, and the best table, morning and evening, most honourably +frequented, and at Paris the same, after the King's death: All this did +not content him. He could only approach the King with outside +familiarity; he felt that the mind and the heart of that monarch were on +their guard against him, and in an estrangement that not all his art nor +all his application could ever overcome. This is what made him marry my +sister-in-law, hoping thus to re-establish himself in serious intercourse +with the King by means of the army that M. le Marechal de Lorge commanded +in Germany; but his project failed, as has been seen. This is what made +him bring about the marriage of the Duc de Lorge with the daughter of +Chamillart, in order to reinstate himself by means of that ministry; +but without success. This is what made him undertake the journey to Aix- +la-Chapelle, under the pretext of the waters, to obtain information which +might lead to private interviews with the King, respecting the peace; +but he was again unsuccessful. All his projects failed; in fact, he +unceasingly sorrowed, and believed himself in profound disgrace--even +saying so. He left nothing undone in order to pay his court, at bottom +with meanness, but externally with dignity; and he every year celebrated +a sort of anniversary of his disgrace, by extraordinary acts, of which +ill-humour and solitude were oftentimes absurdly the fruit. He himself +spoke of it, and used to say that he was not rational at the annual +return of this epoch, which was stronger than he. He thought he pleased +the King by this refinement of attention, without perceiving he was +laughed at. + +By nature he was extraordinary in everything, and took pleasure in +affecting to be more so, even at home, and among his valets. He +counterfeited the deaf and the blind, the better to see and hear without +exciting suspicion, and diverted himself by laughing at fools, even the +most elevated, by holding with them a language which had no sense. His +manners were measured, reserved, gentle, even respectful; and from his +low and honeyed tongue, came piercing remarks, overwhelming by their +justice, their force, or their satire, composed of two or three words, +perhaps, and sometimes uttered with an air of naivete or of distraction, +as though he was not thinking of what he said. Thus he was feared, +without exception, by everybody, and with many acquaintances he had few +or no friends, although he merited them by his ardor in seeing everybody +as much as he could, and by his readiness in opening his purse. He liked +to gather together foreigners of any distinction, and perfectly did the +honours of the Court. But devouring ambition poisoned his life; yet he +was a very good and useful relative. + +During the summer which followed the death of Louis XIV. there was a +review of the King's household troops, led by M. le Duc d'Orleans, in the +plain by the side of the Bois de Boulogne. Passy, where M. de Lauzun had +a pretty house, is on the other side. Madame de Lauzun was there with +company, and I slept there the evening before the review. Madame de +Poitiers, a young widow, and one of our relatives, was there too, and was +dying to see the review, like a young person who has seen nothing, but +who dares not show herself in public in the first months of her mourning. + +How she could be taken was discussed in the company, and it was decided +that Madame de Lauzun could conduct her a little way, buried in her +carriage. In the midst of the gaiety of this party, M. de Lauzun arrived +from Paris, where he had gone in the morning. He was told what had just +been decided. As soon as he learnt it he flew into a fury, was no longer +master of himself, broke off the engagement, almost foaming at the mouth; +said the most disagreeable things to his wife in the strongest, the +harshest, the most insulting, and the most foolish terms. She gently +wept; Madame de Poitiers sobbed outright, and all the company felt the +utmost embarrassment. The evening appeared an age, and the saddest +refectory repast a gay meal by the side of our supper. He was wild in +the midst of the profoundest silence; scarcely a word was said. He +quitted the table, as usual, at the fruit, and went to bed. An attempt +was made to say something afterwards by way of relief, but Madame de +Lauzun politely and wisely stopped the conversation, and brought out +cards in order to turn the subject. + +The next morning I went to M. de Lauzun, in order to tell him in plain +language my opinion of the scene of the previous evening. I had not the +time. As soon as he saw me enter he extended his arms, and cried that I +saw a madman, who did not deserve my visit, but an asylum; passed the +strongest eulogies upon his wife (which assuredly she merited), said he +was not worthy of her, and that he ought to kiss the ground upon which +she walked; overwhelmed himself with blame; then, with tears in his eyes, +said he was more worthy of pity than of anger; that he must admit to me +all his shame and misery; that he was more than eighty years of age; that +he had neither children nor survivors; that he had been captain of the +guards; that though he might be so again, he should be incapable of the +function; that he unceasingly said this to himself, and that yet with all +this he could not console himself for having been so no longer during the +many years since he had lost his post; that he had never been able to +draw the dagger from his heart; that everything which recalled the memory +of the past made him beside himself, and that to hear that his wife was +going to take Madame de Poitiers to see a review of the body-guards, in +which he now counted for nothing, had turned his head, and had rendered +him wild to the extent I had seen; that he no longer dared show himself +before any one after this evidence of madness; that he was going to lock +himself up in his chamber, and that he threw himself at my feet in order +to conjure me to go and find his wife, and try to induce her to take pity +on and pardon a senseless old man, who was dying with grief and shame. +This admission, so sincere and so dolorous to make, penetrated me. I +sought only to console him and compose him. The reconciliation was not +difficult; we drew him from his chamber, not without trouble, and he +evinced during several days as much disinclination to show himself, as I +was told, for I went away in the evening, my occupations keeping me very +busy. + +I have often reflected, apropos of this, upon the extreme misfortune of +allowing ourselves to be carried away by the intoxication of the world, +and into the formidable state of an ambitious man, whom neither riches +nor comfort, neither dignity acquired nor age, can satisfy, and who, +instead of tranquilly enjoying what he possesses, and appreciating the +happiness of it, exhausts himself in regrets, and in useless and +continual bitterness. But we die as we have lived, and 'tis rare it +happens otherwise. This madness respecting the captaincy of the guards +so cruelly dominated M. de Lauzun, that he often dressed himself in a +blue coat, with silver lace, which, without being exactly the uniform of +the captain of, the body-guards, resembled it closely, and would have +rendered him ridiculous if he had not accustomed people to it, made +himself feared, and risen above all ridicule. + +With all his scheming and cringing he fell foul of everybody, always +saying some biting remark with dove-like gentleness. Ministers, +generals, fortunate people and their families, were the most ill-treated. +He had, as it were, usurped the right of saying and doing what he +pleased; nobody daring to be angry with him. The Grammonts alone were +excepted. He always remembered the hospitality and the protection he had +received from them at the outset of his life. He liked them; he +interested himself in them; he was in respect before them. Old Comte +Grammont took advantage of this and revenged the Court by the sallies he +constantly made against Lauzun, who never returned them or grew angry, +but gently avoided him. He always did a good deal for the children of +his sisters. + +During the plague the Bishop of Marseilles had much signalised himself by +wealth spent and danger incurred. When the plague had completely passed +away, M. de Lauzun asked M. le Duc d'Orleans for an abbey for the Bishop. +The Regent gave away some livings soon after, and forgot M. de +Marseilles. Lauzun pretended to be ignorant of it, and asked M. le Duc +d'Orleans if he had had the goodness to remember him. The Regent was +embarrassed. The Duc de Lauzun, as though to relieve him from his +embarrassment, said, in a gentle and respectful tone, "Monsieur, he will +do better another time," and with this sarcasm rendered the Regent dumb, +and went away smiling. The story got abroad, and M. le Duc d'Orleans +repaired his forgetfulness by the bishopric of Laon, and upon the refusal +of M. de Marseilles to change, gave him a fat abbey. + +M. de Lauzun hindered also a promotion of Marshal of France by the +ridicule he cast upon the candidates. He said to the Regent, with that +gentle and respectful tone he knew so well how to assume, that in case +any useless Marshals of France (as he said) were made, he begged his +Royal Highness to remember that he was the oldest lieutenant-general of +the realm, and that he had had the honour of commanding armies with the +patent of general. I have elsewhere related other of his witty remarks. +He could not keep them in; envy and jealousy urged him to utter them, and +as his bon-mots always went straight to the point, they were always much +repeated. + +We were on terms of continual intimacy; he had rendered me real solid +friendly services of himself, and I paid him all sorts of respectful +attentions, and he paid me the same. Nevertheless, I did not always +escape his tongue; and on one occasion, he was perhaps within an inch of +doing me much injury by it. + +The King (Louis XIV.) was declining; Lauzun felt it, and began to think +of the future. Few people were in favour with M. le Duc d'Orleans; +nevertheless, it was seen that his grandeur was approaching. All eyes +were upon him, shining with malignity, consequently upon me, who for a +long time had been the sole courtier who remained publicly attached to +him, the sole in his confidence. M. de Lauzun came to dine at my house, +and found us at table. The company he saw apparently displeased him; for +he went away to Torcy, with whom I had no intimacy, and who was also at +table, with many people opposed to M. le Duc d'Orleans, Tallard, among +others, and Tesse. + +"Monsieur," said Lauzun to Torcy, with a gentle and timid air, familiar +to him, "take pity upon me, I have just tried to dine with M. de Saint- +Simon. I found him at table, with company; I took care not to sit down +with them, as I did not wish to be the 'zeste' of the cabal. I have come +here to find one." + +They all burst out laughing. The remark instantly ran over all +Versailles. Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine at once heard it, and +nevertheless no sign was anywhere made. To have been angry would only +have been to spread it wider: I took the matter as the scratch of an ill- +natured cat, and did not allow Lauzun to perceive that I knew it. + +Two or three years before his death he had an illness which reduced him +to extremity. We were all very assiduous, but he would see none of us, +except Madame de Saint-Simon, and her but once. Languet, cure of Saint- +Sulpice, often went to him, and discoursed most admirably to him. One +day, when he was there, the Duc de la Force glided into the chamber: +M. de Lauzun did not like him at all, and often laughed at him. He +received him tolerably well, and continued to talk aloud with the cure. + +Suddenly he turned to the cure, complimented and thanked him, said he had +nothing more valuable to give him than his blessing, drew his arm from +the bed, pronounced the blessing, and gave it to him. Then turning to +the Duc de la Force, Lauzun said he had always loved and respected him as +the head of his house, and that as such he asked him for his blessing. + +These two men, the cure and the Duc de la Force, were astonished, could +not utter a word. The sick man redoubled his instances. M. de la Force, +recovering himself, found the thing so amusing, that he gave his +blessing; and in fear lest he should explode, left the room, and came to +us in the adjoining chamber, bursting with laughter, and scarcely able to +relate what had happened to him. + +A moment after, the cure came also, all abroad, but smiling as much as +possible, so as to put a good face on the matter. Lauzun knew that he +was ardent and skilful in drawing money from people for the building of a +church, and had often said he would never fall into his net; he suspected +that the worthy cure's assiduities had an interested motive, and laughed +at him in giving him only his blessing (which he ought to have received +from him), and in perseveringly asking the Duc de la Force for his. The +cure, who saw the point of the joke, was much mortified, but, like a +sensible man, he was not less frequent in his visits to M. de Lauzun +after this; but the patient cut short his visits, and would not +understand the language he spoke. + +Another day, while he was still very ill, Biron and his wife made bold to +enter his room on tiptoe, and kept behind his curtains, out of sight, as +they thought; but he perceived them by means of the glass on the chimney- +piece. Lauzun liked Biron tolerably well, but Madame Biron not at all; +she was, nevertheless, his niece, and his principal heiress; he thought +her mercenary, and all her manners insupportable to him. In that he was +like the rest of the world. He was shocked by this unscrupulous entrance +into his chamber, and felt that, impatient for her inheritance, she came +in order to make sure of it, if he should die directly. He wished to +make her repent of this, and to divert himself at her expense. He +begins, therefore; to utter aloud, as though believing himself alone, an +ejaculatory orison, asking pardon of God for his past life, expressing +himself as though persuaded his death was nigh, and saying that, grieved +at his inability to do penance, he wishes at least to make use of all the +wealth he possesses, in order to redeem his sins, and bequeath that +wealth to the hospitals without any reserve; says it is the sole road to +salvation left to him by God, after having passed a long life without +thinking of the future; and thanks God for this sole resource left him, +which he adopts with all his heart! + +He accompanied this resolution with a tone so touched, so persuaded, so +determined, that Biron and his wife did not doubt for a moment he was +going to execute his design, or that they should be deprived of all the +succession. They had no desire to spy any more, and went, confounded, to +the Duchesse de Lauzun, to relate to her the cruel decree they had just +heard pronounced, conjuring her to try and moderate it. Thereupon the +patient sent for the notaries, and Madame Biron believed herself lost. +It was exactly the design of the testator to produce this idea. He made +the notaries wait; then allowed them to enter, and dictated his will, +which was a death-blow to Madame de Biron. Nevertheless, he delayed +signing it, and finding himself better and better, did not sign it at +all. He was much diverted with this farce, and could not restrain his +laughter at it, when reestablished. Despite his age, and the gravity of +his illness, he was promptly cured and restored to his usual health. + +He was internally as strong as a lion, though externally very delicate. +He dined and supped very heartily every day of an excellent and very +delicate cheer, always with good company, evening and morning; eating of +everything, 'gras' and 'maigre', with no choice except that of his taste +and no moderation. He took chocolate in the morning, and had always on +the table the fruits in season, and biscuits; at other times beer, cider, +lemonade, and other similar drinks iced; and as he passed to and fro, ate +and drank at this table every afternoon, exhorting others to do the same. +In this way he left table or the fruit, and immediately went to bed. + +I recollect that once, among others, he ate at my house, after his +illness, so much fish, vegetables, and all sorts of things (I having no +power to hinder him), that in the evening we quietly sent to learn +whether he had not felt the effects of them. He was found at table +eating with good appetite. + +His gallantry was long faithful to him. Mademoiselle was jealous of it, +and that often controlled him. I have heard Madame de Fontenelles ( a +very enviable woman, of much intelligence, very truthful, and of singular +virtue), I have heard her say, that being at Eu with Mademoiselle, +M. de Lauzun came there and could not desist from running after the +girls; Mademoiselle knew it, was angry, scratched him, and drove him from +her presence. The Comtesse de Fiesque reconciled them. Mademoiselle +appeared at the end of a long gallery; Lauzun was at the other end, and +he traversed the whole length of it on his knees until he reached the +feet of Mademoiselle. These scenes, more or less moving, often took +place afterwards. Lauzun allowed himself to be beaten, and in his turn +soundly beat Mademoiselle; and this happened several times, until at +last, tired of each other, they quarrelled once for all and never saw +each other again; he kept several portraits of her, however, in his house +or upon him, and never spoke of her without much respect. Nobody doubted +they had been secretly married. At her death he assumed a livery almost +black, with silver lace; this he changed into white with a little blue +upon gold, when silver was prohibited upon liveries. + +His temper, naturally scornful and capricious, rendered more so by prison +and solitude, had made him a recluse and dreamer; so that having in his +house the best of company, he left them to Madame de Lauzun, and withdrew +alone all the afternoon, several hours running, almost always without +books, for he read only a few works of fancy--a very few--and without +sequence; so that he knew nothing except what he had seen, and until the +last was exclusively occupied with the Court and the news of the great +world. I have a thousand times regretted his radical incapacity to write +down what he had seen and done. It would have been a treasure of the +most curious anecdotes, but he had no perseverance, no application. I +have often tried to draw from him some morsels. Another misfortune. He +began to relate; in the recital names occurred of people who had taken +part in what he wished to relate. He instantly quitted the principal +object of the story in order to hang on to one of these persons, and +immediately after to some other person connected with the first, then to +a third, in the manner of the romances; he threaded through a dozen +histories at once, which made him lose ground and drove him from one to +the other without ever finishing anything; and with this his words were +very confused, so that it was impossible to learn anything from him or +retain anything he said. For the rest, his conversation was always +constrained by caprice or policy; and was amusing only by starts, and by +the malicious witticisms which sprung out of it. A few months after his +last illness, that is to say, when he was more than ninety years of age, +he broke in his horses and made a hundred passades at the Bois de +Boulogne (before the King, who was going to the Muette), upon a colt he +had just trained, surprising the spectators by his address, his firmness, +and his grace. These details about him might go on for ever. + +His last illness came on without warning, almost in a moment, with the +most horrible of all ills, a cancer in the mouth. He endured it to the +last with incredible patience and firmness, without complaint, without +spleen, without the slightest repining; he was insupportable to himself. +When he saw his illness somewhat advanced, he withdrew into a little +apartment (which he had hired with this object in the interior of the +Convent of the Petits Augustins, into which there was an entrance from +his house) to die in repose there, inaccessible to Madame de Biron and +every other woman, except his wife, who had permission to go in at all +hours, followed by one of her attendants. + +Into this retreat Lauzun gave access only to his nephews and brothers-in- +law, and to them as little as possible. He thought only of profiting by +his terrible state, of giving all his time to the pious discourses of his +confessor and of some of the pious people of the house, and to holy +reading; to everything, in fact, which best could prepare him for death. +When we saw him, no disorder, nothing lugubrious, no trace of suffering, +politeness, tranquillity, conversation but little animated, indifference +to what was passing in the world, speaking of it little and with +difficulty; little or no morality, still less talk of his state; and this +uniformity, so courageous and so peaceful, was sustained full four months +until the end; but during the last ten or twelve days he would see +neither brothers-in-law nor nephews, and as for his wife, promptly +dismissed her. He received all the sacraments very edifyingly, and +preserved his senses to the last moment: The morning of the day during +the night of which he died, he sent for Biron, said he had done for him +all that Madame de Lauzun had wished; that by his testament he gave him +all his wealth, except a trifling legacy to the son of his other sister, +and some recompenses to his domestics; that all he had done for him since +his marriage, and what he did in dying, he (Biron) entirely owed to +Madame de Lauzun; that he must never forget the gratitude he owed her; +that he prohibited him, by the authority of uncle and testator, ever to +cause her any trouble or annoyance, or to have any process against her, +no matter of what kind. It was Biron himself who told me this the next +day, in the terms I have given. M. de Lauzun said adieu to him in a firm +tone, and dismissed him. He prohibited, and reasonably, all ceremony; he +was buried at the Petits Augustins; he had nothing from the King but the +ancient company of the battle-axes, which was suppressed two days after. +A month before his death he had sent for Dillon (charged here with the +affairs of King James, and a very distinguished officer general), to whom +he surrendered his collar of the Order of the Garter, and a George of +onyx, encircled with perfectly beautiful and large diamonds, to be sent +back to the Prince. + +I perceive at last, that I have been very prolix upon this man, but the +extraordinary singularity of his life, and my close connexion with him, +appear to me sufficient excuses for making him known, especially as he +did not sufficiently figure in general affairs to expect much notice in +the histories that will appear. Another sentiment has extended my +recital. I am drawing near a term I fear to reach, because my desires +cannot be in harmony with the truth; they are ardent, consequently +gainful, because the other sentiment is terrible, and cannot in any way +be palliated; the terror of arriving there has stopped me--nailed me +where I was--frozen me. + +It will easily be seen that I speak of the death (and what a death!) of +M. le Duc d'Orleans; and this frightful recital, especially after such a +long attachment (it lasted all his life, and will last all mine), +penetrates me with terror and with grief for him. The Regent had said, +when he died he should like to die suddenly: I shudder to my very marrow, +with the horrible suspicion that God, in His anger, granted his desire. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIX + +The new chateau of Meudon, completely furnished, had been restored to me +since the return of the Court to Versailles, just as I had had it before +the Court came to Meudon. The Duc and Duchesse d'Humieres were with us +there, and good company. One morning towards the end of October, 1723, +the Duc d'Humieres wished me to conduct him to Versailles, to thank M. le +Duc d'Orleans. + +We found the Regent dressing in the vault he used as his wardrobe. He +was upon his chair among his valets, and one or two of his principal +officers. His look terrified me. I saw a man with hanging head, a +purple-red complexion, and a heavy stupid air. He did not even see me +approach. His people told him. He slowly turned his head towards me, +and asked me with a thick tongue what brought me. I told him. I had +intended to pass him to come into the room where he dressed himself, so +as not to keep the Duc d'Humieres waiting; but I was so astonished that I +stood stock still. + +I took Simiane, first gentleman of his chamber, into a window, and +testified to him my surprise and my fear at the state in which I saw M. +le Duc d'Orleans. + +Simiane replied that for a long time he had been so in the morning; that +to-day there was nothing extraordinary about him, and that I was +surprised simply because I did not see him at those hours; that nothing +would be seen when he had shaken himself a little in dressing. There was +still, however, much to be seen when he came to dress himself. The +Regent received the thanks of the Duc d'Humieres with an astonished and +heavy air; he who always was so gracious and so polite to everybody, and +who so well knew how to express himself, scarcely replied to him! A +moment after, M. d'Humieres and I withdrew. We dined with the Duc de +Gesvres, who led him to the King to thank his Majesty. + +The condition of M. le Duc d'Orleans made me make many reflections. For +a very long time the Secretaries of State had told me that during the +first hours of the morning they could have made him pass anything they +wished, or sign what might have been the most hurtful to him. It was the +fruit of his suppers. Within the last year he himself had more than once +told me that Chirac doctored him unceasingly, without effect; because he +was so full that he sat down to table every evening without hunger, +without any desire to eat, though he took nothing in the morning, and +simply a cup of chocolate between one and two o'clock in the day (before +everybody), it being then the time to see him in public. I had not kept +dumb with him thereupon, but all my representations were perfectly +useless. I knew moreover, that Chirac had continually told him that the +habitual continuance of his suppers would lead him to apoplexy, or dropsy +on the chest, because his respiration was interrupted at times; upon +which he had cried out against this latter malady, which was a slow, +suffocating, annoying preparation for death, saying that he preferred +apoplexy, which surprised and which killed at once, without allowing time +to think of it! + +Another man, instead of crying out against this kind of death with which +he was menaced, and of preferring another, allowing him no time for +reflection, would have thought about leading a sober, healthy, and decent +life, which, with the temperament he had, would have procured him a very +long time, exceeding agreeable in the situation--very probably durable-- +in which he found himself; but such was the double blindness of this +unhappy prince. + +I was on terms of much intimacy with M. de Frejus, and since, in default +of M. le Duc d'Orleans, there must be another master besides the King, +until he could take command, I preferred this prelate to any other. I +went to him, therefore, and told him what I had seen this morning of the +state of M. le Duc d'Orleans. I predicted that his death must soon come, +and that it would arrive suddenly, without warning. I counselled Frejus, +therefore, to have all his arrangements ready with the King, in order to +fill up the Regent's place of prime minister when it should become +vacant. M. de Frejus appeared very grateful for the advice, but was +measured and modest as though he thought the post much above him! + +On the 22nd of December, 1723, I went from Meudon to Versailles to see +M. le Duc d'Orleans; I was three-quarters of an hour with him in his +cabinet, where I had found him alone. We walked to and fro there, +talking of affairs of which he was going to give an account to the King +that day. I found no difference in him, his state was, as usual, languid +and heavy, as it had been for some time, but his judgment was clear as +ever. I immediately returned to Meudon, and chatted there some time with +Madame de Saint-Simon on arriving. On account of the season we had +little company. I left Madame de Saint-Simon in her cabinet, and went +into mine. + +About an hour after, at most, I heard cries and a sudden uproar. I ran +out and I found Madame de Saint-Simon quite terrified, bringing to me a +groom of the Marquis de Ruffec, who wrote to me from Versailles, that +M. le Duc d'Orleans was in a apoplectic fit. I was deeply moved, but not +surprised; I had expected it, as I have shown, for a long time. +I impatiently waited for my carriage, which was a long while coming, +on account of the distance of the new chateau from the stables. I flung +myself inside; and was driven as fast as possible. + +At the park gate I met another courier from M. de Ruffec, who stopped me, +and said it was all over. I remained there more than half an hour +absorbed in grief and reflection. At the end I resolved to go to +Versailles, and shut myself up in my rooms; I learnt there the +particulars of the event. + +M. le Duc d'Orleans had everything prepared to go and work with the King. +While waiting the hour, he chatted with Madame Falari, one of his +mistresses. They were close to each other, both seated in armchairs, +when suddenly he fell against her, and never from that moment had the +slightest glimmer of consciousness. + +La Falari, frightened as much as may be imagined, cried with all her +might for help, and redoubled her cries. Seeing that nobody replied, she +supported as best she could this poor prince upon the contiguous arms of +the two chairs, ran into the grand cabinet, into the chamber, into the +ante-chambers, without finding a soul; finally, into the court and the +lower gallery. It was the hour at which M. le Duc d'Orleans worked with +the King, an hour when people were sure no one would come and see him, +and that he had no need of them, because he ascended to the King's room +by the little staircase from his vault, that is to say his wardrobe. At +last La Falari found somebody, and sent the first who came to hand for +help. Chance; or rather providence, had arranged this sad event at a +time when everybody was ordinarily away upon business or visits, so that +a full half-hour elapsed before doctor or surgeon appeared, and about as +long before any domestics of M. le Duc d'Orleans could be found. + +As soon as the faculty had examined the Regent; they judged his case +hopeless. He was hastily extended upon the floor, and bled, but he gave +not the slightest sign of life, do what they might to him. In an +instant, after the first announcement, everybody flocked to the spot; the +great and the little cabinet were full of people. In less than two hours +all was over, and little by little the solitude became as great as the +crowd had been. As soon as assistance came, La Falari flew away and +gained Paris as quickly as possible. + +La Vrilliere was one of the first who learnt of the attack of apoplexy. +He instantly ran and informed the King and the Bishop of Frejus. Then M. +le Duc, like a skilful courtier, resolved to make the best of his time; +he at once ran home and drew up at all hazards the patent appointing M. +le Duc prime minister, thinking it probable that that prince would be +named. Nor was he deceived. At the first intelligence of apoplexy, +Frejus proposed M. le Duc to the King, having probably made his +arrangements in advance. M. le Duc arrived soon after, and entered the +cabinet where he saw the King, looking very sad, his eyes red and +tearful. + +Scarcely had he entered than Frejus said aloud to the King, that in the +loss he had sustained by the death of M. le Duc d'Orleans (whom he very +briefly eulogised), his Majesty could not do better than beg M. le Duc, +there present, to charge himself with everything, and accept the post of +prime minister M. le Duc d'Orleans had filled. The King, without saying +a word, looked at Frejus, and consented by a sign of the head, and M. le +Duc uttered his thanks. + +La Vrilliere, transported with joy at the prompt policy he had followed, +had in his pocket the form of an oath taken by the prime minister, copied +from that taken by M. le Duc d'Orleans, and proposed to Frejus to +administer it immediately. Frejus proposed it to the King as a fitting +thing, and M. le Duc instantly took it. Shortly after, M. le Duc went +away; the crowd in the adjoining rooms augmented his suite, and in a +moment nothing was talked of but M. le Duc. + +M. le Duc de Chartres (the Regent's son), very awkward, but a libertine, +was at Paris with an opera dancer he kept. He received the courier which +brought him the news of the apoplexy, and on the road (to Versailles), +another with the news of death. Upon descending from his coach, he found +no crowd, but simply the Duc de Noailles, and De Guiche, who very +'apertement' offered him their services, and all they could do for him. +He received them as though they were begging-messengers whom he was in a +hurry to get rid of, bolted upstairs to his mother, to whom he said he +had just met two men who wished to bamboozle him, but that he had not +been such a fool as to let them. This remarkable evidence of +intelligence, judgment, and policy, promised at once all that this prince +has since performed. It was with much trouble he was made to comprehend +that he had acted with gross stupidity; he continued, nevertheless, to +act as before. + +He was not less of a cub in the interview I shortly afterwards had with +him. Feeling it my duty to pay a visit of condolence to Madame la +Duchesse d'Orleans, although I had not been on terms of intimacy with her +for a long while, I sent a message to her to learn whether my presence +would be agreeable. I was told that Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans would +be very glad to see me. I accordingly immediately went to her. + +I found her in bed, with a few ladies and her chief officers around, and +M. le Duc de Chartres making decorum do double duty for grief. As soon +as I approached her she spoke to me of the grievous misfortune--not a +word of our private differences. I had stipulated thus. M. le Duc de +Chartres went away to his own rooms. Our dragging conversation I put an +end to as soon as possible. + +From Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans I went to M. le Duc de Chartres. He +occupied the room his father had used before being Regent. They told me +he was engaged. I went again three times during the same morning. At +the last his valet de chambre was ashamed, and apprised him of my visit, +in despite of me. He came across the threshold of the door of his +cabinet, where he had been occupied with some very common people; they +were just the sort of people suited to him. + +I saw a man before me stupefied and dumfounded, not afflicted, but so +embarrassed that he knew not where he was. I paid him the strongest, the +clearest, the most energetic of compliments, in a loud voice. He took +me, apparently, for some repetition of the Ducs de Guiche and de +Noailles, and did not do me the honour to reply one word. + +I waited some moments, and seeing that nothing would come out of the +mouth of this image, I made my reverence and withdrew, he advancing not +one step to conduct me, as he ought to have done, all along his +apartment, but reburying himself in his cabinet. It is true that in +retiring I cast my eyes upon the company, right and left, who appeared to +me much surprised. I went home very weary of dancing attendance at the +chateau. + +The death of M. le Duc d'Orleans made a great sensation abroad and at +home; but foreign countries rendered him incomparably more justice, and +regretted him much more, than the French. Although foreigners knew his +feebleness, and although the English had strangely abused it, their +experience had not the less persuaded them of the range of his mind, of +the greatness of his genius and of his views, of his singular +penetration, of the sagacity and address of his policy, of the fertility +of his expedients and of his resources, of the dexterity of his conduct +under all changes of circumstances and events, of his clearness in +considering objects and combining things; of his superiority over his +ministers, and over those that various powers sent to him; of the +exquisite discernment he displayed in investigating affairs; of his +learned ability in immediately replying to everything when he wished. +The majority of our Court did not regret him, however. The life he had +led displeased the Church people; but more still, the treatment they had +received from his hands. + +The day after death, the corpse of M. le Duc d'Orleans was taken from +Versailles to Saint-Cloud, and the next day the ceremonies commenced. +His heart was carried from Saint-Cloud to the Val de Grace by the +Archbishop of Rouen, chief almoner of the defunct Prince. The burial +took place at Saint-Denis, the funeral procession passing through Paris, +with the greatest pomp. The obsequies were delayed until the 12th of +February. M. le Duc de Chartres became Duc d'Orleans. + +After this event, I carried out a determination I had long resolved on. +I appeared before the new masters of the realm as seldom as possible-- +only, in fact, upon such occasions where it would have been inconsistent +with my position to stop away. My situation at the Court had totally +changed. The loss of the dear Prince, the Duc de Bourgogne, was the +first blow I had received. The loss of the Regent was the second. But +what a wide gulf separated these two men! + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A good friend when a friend at all, which was rare +Artagnan, captain of the grey musketeers +Death came to laugh at him for the sweating labour he had taken +From bad to worse was easy +Others were not allowed to dream as he had lived +We die as we have lived, and 'tis rare it happens otherwise + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XIV. and The Regency, +v15, by the Duc de Saint-Simon + diff --git a/old/cm37b10.zip b/old/cm37b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..768ad32 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm37b10.zip |