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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and
+The Regency, Complete, by Duc de Saint-Simon
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete
+
+Author: Duc de Saint-Simon
+
+Release Date: September 29, 2006 [EBook #3875]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV., ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+ MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY
+
+ BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS OF THE 15 VOLUMES
+
+
+ VOLUME 1.
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Birth and Family.--Early Life.--Desire to join the Army.--Enter the
+Musketeers.--The Campaign Commences.--Camp of Gevries.--Siege of Namur.
+--Dreadful Weather.--Gentlemen Carrying Corn.--Sufferings during the
+Siege.--The Monks of Marlaigne.--Rival Couriers.--Naval Battle.--
+Playing with Fire-arms.--A Prediction Verified.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The King's Natural Children.--Proposed Marriage of the Duc de Chartres.--
+Influence of Dubois.--The Duke and the King.--An Apartment.--Announcement
+of the Marriage.--Anger of Madame.--Household of the Duchess.--Villars
+and Rochefort.--Friend of King's Mistresses.--The Marriage Ceremony.--
+Toilette of the Duchess.--Son of Montbron.--Marriage of M. du Maine.--
+Duchess of Hanover.--Duc de Choiseul.--La Grande Mademoiselle.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Death of My Father.--Anecdotes of Louis XIII.--The Cardinal de
+Richelieu.--The Duc de Bellegarde.--Madame de Hautefort.--My Father's
+Enemy.--His Services and Reward.--A Duel against Law.--An Answer to a
+Libel.--M. de la Rochefoucauld.--My Father's Gratitude to Louis XIII.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Position of the Prince of Orange.--Strange Conduct of the King.--Surprise
+and Indignation.--Battle of Neerwinden.--My Return to Paris.--Death of La
+Vauguyon.--Symptoms of Madness.--Vauguyon at the Bastille.--Projects of
+Marriage.--M. de Beauvilliers.--A Negotiation for a Wife.--My Failure.--
+Visit to La Trappe.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+M. de Luxemhourg's Claim of Precedence.--Origin of the Claim.--Duc de
+Piney.--Character of Harlay.--Progress of the Trial.--Luxembourg and
+Richelieu.--Double-dealing of Harlay.--The Duc de Gesvres.--Return to the
+Seat of War.--Divers Operations.--Origin of These Memoirs.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Quarrels of the Princesses.--Mademoiselle Choin.--A Disgraceful Affair.--
+M. de Noyon.--Comic Scene at the Academie.--Anger and Forgiveness of
+M. de Noyon.--M. de Noailles in Disgrace.--How He Gets into Favour Again.
+--M. de Vendome in Command.--Character of M. de Luxembourg.--The Trial
+for Precedence Again.--An Insolent Lawyer.--Extraordinary Decree.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Harlay and the Dutch.--Death of the Princess of Orange.--Count
+Koenigsmarck.--A New Proposal of Marriage.--My Marriage.--That of M. de
+Lauzun.--Its Result.--La Fontaine and Mignard.--Illness of the Marechal
+de Lorges.--Operations on the Rhine.--Village of Seckenheim.--An Episode
+of War.--Cowardice of M. du Maine.--Despair of the King, Who Takes a
+Knave in the Act.--Bon Mot of M. d'Elboeuf.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Abbe de Fenelon.--The Jansenists and St. Sulpice.--Alliance with
+Madame Guyon.--Preceptor of the Royal Children.--Acquaintance with Madame
+de Maintenon.--Appointment to Cambrai.--Disclosure of Madame Guyon's
+Doctrines.--Her Disgrace.--Bossuet and Fenelon.--Two Rival Books.--
+Disgrace of Fenelon.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 2.
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Death of Archbishop Harlay.--Scene at Conflans.--"The Good Langres."--
+A Scene at Marly.--Princesses Smoke Pipes!--Fortunes of Cavoye.--
+Mademoiselle de Coetlogon.--Madame de Guise.--Madame de Miramion.--Madame
+de Sevigne.--Father Seraphin.--An Angry Bishop.--Death of La Bruyere.--
+Burglary by a Duke.--Proposed Marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne.--The
+Duchesse de Lude.--A Dangerous Lady.--Madame d'O.--Arrival of the
+Duchesse de Bourgogne.
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+My Return to Fontainebleau.--A Calumny at Court.--Portrait of M. de La
+Trappe.--A False Painter.--Fast Living at the "Desert."--Comte
+d'Auvergne.--Perfidy of Harlay.--M. de Monaco.--Madame Panache.--The
+Italian Actor and the "False Prude".
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Scientific Retreat.--The Peace of Ryswick.--Prince of Conti King of
+Poland.--His Voyage and Reception.--King of England Acknowledged.--Duc de
+Conde in Burgundy.--Strange Death of Santeuil.--Duties of the Prince of
+Darmstadt in Spain.--Madame de Maintenon's Brother.--Extravagant Dresses.
+Marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne.--The Bedding of the Princesse.--Grand
+Balls.--A Scandalous Bird.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+An Odd Marriage.--Black Daughter of the King.--Travels of Peter the
+Great.--Magnificent English Ambassador.--The Prince of Parma.--
+A Dissolute Abbe.--Orondat.--Dispute about Mourning.--M. de Cambrai's
+Book Condemned by M. de La Trappe.--Anecdote of the Head of Madame de
+Montbazon.--Condemnation of Fenelon by the Pope.--His Submission.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Charnace.--An Odd Ejectment.--A Squabble at Cards.--Birth of My Son.--
+The Camp at Compiegne.--Splendour of Marechal Boufflers.--Pique of the
+Ambassadors.--Tesse's Grey Hat.--A Sham Siege.--A Singular Scene.--
+The King and Madame de Maintenon.--An Astonished Officer.--
+Breaking-up of the Camp.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Gervaise Monk of La Trappe.----His Disgusting Profligacy.--The Author of
+the Lord's Prayer.--A Struggle for Precedence.--Madame de Saint-Simon.--
+The End of the Quarrel.--Death of the Chevalier de Coislin.--A Ludicrous
+Incident.--Death of Racine.--The King and the Poet.--King Pays Debts of
+Courtiers.--Impudence of M. de Vendome.--A Mysterious Murder.--
+Extraordinary Theft.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+The Farrier of Salon.--Apparition of a Queen.--The Farrier Comes to
+Versailles.--Revelations to the Queen.--Supposed Explanation.--
+New Distinctions to the Bastards.--New Statue of the King.--
+Disappointment of Harlay.--Honesty of Chamillart.--The Comtesse de
+Fiesque.--Daughter of Jacquier.--Impudence of Saumery.--Amusing Scene.--
+Attempted Murder.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Reform at Court.--Cardinal Delfini.--Pride of M. de Monaco.--Early Life
+of Madame de Maintenon.--Madame de Navailles.--Balls at Marly.--An Odd
+Mask.--Great Dancing--Fortunes of Langlee.--His Coarseness.--The Abbe de
+Soubise.--Intrigues for His Promotion.--Disgrace and Obstinacy of
+Cardinal de Bouillon.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A Marriage Bargain.--Mademoiselle de Mailly.--James II.--Begging
+Champagne.--A Duel.--Death of Le Notre.--His Character.--History of
+Vassor.--Comtesse de Verrue and Her Romance with M. de Savoie.--A Race of
+Dwarfs.--An Indecorous Incident.--Death of M. de La Trappe.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 3.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Settlement of the Spanish Succession.--King William III.--New Party in
+Spain.--Their Attack on the Queen.--Perplexity of the King.--His Will.--
+Scene at the Palace.--News Sent to France.--Council at Madame de
+Maintenon's.--The King's Decision.--A Public Declaration.--Treatment of
+the New King.--His Departure for Spain.--Reflections.--Philip V. Arrives
+in Spain.--The Queen Dowager Banished.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Marriage of Phillip V.--The Queen's Journey.--Rival Dishes.--
+A Delicate Quarrel.--The King's journey to Italy.--The Intrigues against
+Catinat.--Vaudemont's Success.--Appointment of Villeroy.--The First
+Campaign.--A Snuffbox.--Prince Eugene's Plan.--Attack and Defence of
+Cremona.--Villeroy Made Prisoner.--Appointment of M. de Vendome.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+Discontent and Death of Barbezieux.--His Character.--Elevation of
+Chamillart.--Strange Reasons of His Success.--Death of Rose.--Anecdotes.
+--An Invasion of Foxes.--M. le Prince.--A Horse upon Roses.--Marriage of
+His Daughter: His Manners and Appearance
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Monseigneur's Indigestion.--The King Disturbed.--The Ladies of the
+Halle.--Quarrel of the King and His Brother.--Mutual Reproaches.--
+Monsieur's Confessors.--A New Scene of Wrangling.--Monsieur at Table.--
+He Is Seized with Apoplexy.--The News Carried to Marly.--How Received by
+the King.--Death of Monsieur.--Various Forms of Grief.--The Duc de
+Chartres.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+The Dead Soon Forgotten.--Feelings of Madame de Maintenon.--And of the
+Duc de Chartres.--Of the Courtiers.--Madame's Mode of Life.--Character of
+Monsieur.--Anecdote of M. le Prince.--Strange Interview of Madame de
+Maintenon with Madame.--Mourning at Court.--Death of Henriette
+d'Angleterre.--A Poisoning Scene.--The King and the Accomplice.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+Scandalous Adventure of the Abbesse de la Joye.--Anecdote of Madame de
+Saint-Herem.--Death of James II. and Recognition of His Son.--Alliance
+against France.--Scene at St. Maur.--Balls and Plays.--The "Electra" of
+Longepierre--Romantic Adventures of the Abbe de Vatterville.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+Changes in the Army.--I Leave the Service.--Annoyance of the King.--The
+Medallic History of the Reign.--Louis XIII.--Death of William III.--
+Accession of Queen Anne.--The Alliance Continued.--Anecdotes of Catinat.
+--Madame de Maintenon and the King.
+
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 4.
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+Anecdote of Canaples.--Death of the Duc de Coislin.--Anecdotes of His
+Unbearable Politeness.--Eccentric Character.--President de Novion.--
+Death of M. de Lorges.--Death of the Duchesse de Gesvres.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+The Prince d'Harcourt.--His Character and That of His Wife.--Odd Court
+Lady.--She Cheats at Play.--Scene at Fontainebleau.--Crackers at Marly.--
+Snowballing a Princess.--Strange Manners of Madame d'Harcourt.--
+Rebellion among Her Servants.--A Vigorous Chambermaid.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+Madame des Ursins.--Her Marriage and Character.--The Queen of Spain.--
+Ambition of Madame de Maintenon.--Coronation of Philip V.--A Cardinal
+Made Colonel.--Favourites of Madame des Ursins.--Her Complete Triumph.--
+A Mistake.--A Despatch Violated.--Madame des Ursins in Disgrace.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+Appointment of the Duke of Berwick.--Deception Practised by Orry.--Anger
+of Louis XIV.--Dismissal of Madame des Ursins.--Her Intrigues to Return.
+--Annoyance of the King and Queen of Spain.--Intrigues at Versailles.--
+Triumphant Return of Madame des Ursins to Court.--Baseness of the
+Courtiers.--Her Return to Spain Resolved On.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+An Honest Courtier.--Robbery of Courtin and Fieubet.--An Important
+Affair.--My Interview with the King.--His Jealousy of His Authority.--
+Madame La Queue, the King's Daughter.--Battle of Blenheim or Hochstedt.--
+Our Defeat.--Effect of the News on the King.--Public Grief and Public
+Rejoicing.--Death of My Friend Montfort.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+Naval Battle of Malaga.--Danger of Gibraltar.--Duke of Mantua in Search
+of a Wife.--Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.--Strange Intrigues.--Mademoiselle
+d'Elboeuf Carries off the Prize.--A Curious Marriage.--Its Result.--
+History of a Conversion to Catholicism.--Attempted Assassination.--
+Singular Seclusion
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+Fascination of the Duchesse de Bourgogne.--Fortunes of Nangis.--He Is
+Loved by the Duchesse and Her Dame d'Atours.--Discretion of the Court.--
+Maulevrier.--His Courtship of the Duchess.--Singular Trick.--Its Strange
+Success.--Mad Conduct of Maulevrier--He Is Sent to Spain.--His Adventures
+There.--His Return and Tragical Catastrophe.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+Death of M. de Duras.--Selfishness of the King.--Anecdote of Puysieux.--
+Character of Pontchartrain.--Why He Ruined the French Fleet.--Madame des
+Ursins at Last Resolves to Return to Spain.--Favours Heaped upon Her.--
+M. de Lauzun at the Army.--His bon mot.--Conduct of M. de Vendome.--
+Disgrace and Character of the Grand Prieur.
+
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 5.
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+A Hunting Adventure.--Story and Catastrophe of Fargues.--Death and
+Character of Ninon de l'Enclos.--Odd Adventure of Courtenvaux.--Spies at
+Court.--New Enlistment.--Wretched State of the Country.--Balls at Marly.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+Arrival of Vendome at Court.--Character of That Disgusting Personage.--
+Rise of Cardinal Alberoni.--Vendome's Reception at Marly.--His Unheard-of
+Triumph.--His High Flight.--Returns to Italy.--Battle of Calcinato.--
+Condition of the Army.--Pique of the Marechal de Villeroy.--Battle of
+Ramillies.--Its Consequences.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+Abandonment of the Siege of Barcelona.--Affairs of Italy.--
+La Feuillade.--Disastrous Rivalries.--Conduct of M. d'Orleans.--The Siege
+of Turin.--Battle.--Victory of Prince Eugene.--Insubordination in the
+Army.--Retreat.--M. d'Orleans Returns to Court.--Disgrace of La Feuillade
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+Measures of Economy.--Financial Embarrassments.--The King and
+Chamillart.--Tax on Baptisms and Marriages.--Vauban's Patriotism.--
+Its Punishment.--My Action with M. de Brissac.--I Appeal to the King.--
+The Result.--I Gain My Action.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+My Appointment as Ambassador to Rome.--How It Fell Through.--Anecdotes of
+the Bishop of Orleans.--A Droll Song.--A Saint in Spite of Himself.--
+Fashionable Crimes.--A Forged Genealogy.--Abduction of Beringhen.--
+The 'Parvulos' of Meudon and Mademoiselle Choin.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+Death and Last Days of Madame de Montespan.--Selfishness of the King.--
+Death and Character of Madame de Nemours.--Neufchatel and Prussia.--
+Campaign of Villars.--Naval Successes.--Inundations of the Loire.--Siege
+of Toulon.--A Quarrel about News.--Quixotic Despatches of Tesse.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 6.
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+Precedence at the Communion Table.--The King Offended with Madame de
+Torcy.--The King's Religion.--Atheists and Jansenists.--Project against
+Scotland.--Preparations.--Failure.--The Chevalier de St. George.--His
+Return to Court.
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+Death and Character of Brissac.--Brissac and the Court Ladies.--The
+Duchesse de Bourgogne.--Scene at the Carp Basin.--King's Selfishness.--
+The King Cuts Samuel Bernard's Purse.--A Vain Capitalist.--Story of Leon
+and Florence the Actress.--His Loves with Mademoiselle de Roquelaure.--
+Run--away Marriage.--Anger of Madame de Roquelaure.--A Furious Mother.--
+Opinions of the Court.--A Mistake.--Interference of the King.--
+Fate of the Couple.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+The Duc d'Orleans in Spain.--Offends Madame des Ursins and Madame de
+Maintenon.--Laziness of M. de Vendome in Flanders.--Battle of Oudenarde.
+--Defeat and Disasters.--Difference of M. de Vendome and the Duc de
+Bourgogne.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+Conflicting Reports.--Attacks on the Duc de Bourgogne.--The Duchesse de
+Bourgogne Acts against Vendome.--Weakness of the Duke.--Cunning of
+Vendome.--The Siege of Lille.--Anxiety for a Battle.--Its Delay.--Conduct
+of the King and Monseigneur.--A Picture of Royal Family Feeling.--Conduct
+of the Marechal de Boufflers.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+Equivocal Position of the Duc de Bourgogne.--His Weak Conduct.--
+Concealment of a Battle from the King.--Return of the Duc de Bourgogne to
+Court.--Incidents of His Reception.--Monseigneur.--Reception of the Duc
+de Berry.--Behaviour of the Duc de Bourgogne.--Anecdotes of Gamaches.--
+Return of Vendome to Court.--His Star Begins to Wane.--Contrast of
+Boufflers and Vendome.--Chamillart's Project for Retaking Lille.--How It
+Was Defeated by Madame de Maintenon.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+Tremendous Cold in France.--Winters of 1708-1709--Financiers and the
+Famine.--Interference of the Parliaments of Paris and Dijon.--Dreadful
+Oppression.--Misery of the People.--New Taxes.--Forced Labour.--General
+Ruin.--Increased Misfortunes.--Threatened Regicide.--Procession of Saint
+Genevieve.--Offerings of Plate to the King.--Discontent of the People.--
+A Bread Riot, How Appeased.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+M. de Vendome out of Favour.--Death and Character of the Prince de
+Conti.--Fall of Vendome.--Pursegur's Interview with the King.--Madame de
+Bourgogne against Vendome.--Her Decided Conduct.--Vendome Excluded from
+Marly.--He Clings to Meudon.--From Which He is also Expelled.--His Final
+Disgrace and Abandonment.--Triumph of Madame de Maintenon.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+Death of Pere La Chaise.--His Infirmities in Old Age.--Partiality of the
+King.--Character of Pere La Chaise.--The Jesuits.--Choice of a New
+Confessor.--Fagon's Opinion.--Destruction of Port Royal.--Jansenists and
+Molinists.--Pascal.--Violent Oppression of the Inhabitants of Port Royal.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 7.
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+Death of D'Avaux.--A Quarrel about a Window.--Louvois and the King.--
+Anecdote of Boisseuil.--Madame de Maintenon and M. de Beauvilliers.--
+Harcourt Proposed for the Council.--His Disappointment.--Death of M. le
+Prince.--His Character.--Treatment of His Wife.--His Love Adventures.--
+His Madness.--A Confessor Brought.--Nobody Regrets Him.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+Progress of the War.--Simplicity of Chamillart.--The Imperialists and the
+Pope.--Spanish Affairs.--Duc d'Orleans and Madame des Ursins.--Arrest of
+Flotte in Spain.--Discovery of the Intrigues of the Duc d'Orleans.--Cabal
+against Him.--His Disgrace and Its Consequences.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+Danger of Chamillart.--Witticism of D'Harcourt.--Faults of Chamillart.--
+Court Intrigues against Him.--Behaviour of the Courtiers.--Influence of
+Madame de Maintenon.--Dignified Fall of Chamillart.--He is Succeeded by
+Voysin.--First Experience of the New Minister.--The Campaign in
+Flanders.--Battle of Malplaquet.
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+Disgrace of the Duc d'Orleans.--I Endeavor to Separate Him from Madame
+d'Argenton.--Extraordinary Reports.--My Various Colloquies with Him.--The
+Separation.--Conduct of Madame d'Argenton.--Death and Character of M. le
+Duc.--The After-suppers of the King.
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+Proposed Marriage of Mademoiselle.--My Intrigues to Bring It About.--The
+Duchesse de Bourgogne and Other Allies.--The Attack Begun.--Progress of
+the Intrigue.--Economy at Marly.--The Marriage Agreed Upon.--Scene at
+Saint-Cloud.--Horrible Reports.--The Marriage.--Madame de Saint-Simon.--
+Strange Character of the Duchesse de Berry
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+Birth of Louis XV.--The Marechale de la Meilleraye.--Saint-Ruth's
+Cudgel.--The Cardinal de Bouillon's Desertion from France.--Anecdotes of
+His Audacity.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII
+
+Imprudence of Villars.--The Danger of Truthfulness.--Military Mistakes.--
+The Fortunes of Berwick.--The Son of James.--Berwick's Report on the
+Army.--Imprudent Saying of Villars.--"The Good Little Fellow" in a
+Scrape.--What Happens to Him.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV
+
+Duchesse de Berry Drunk.--Operations in Spain.--Vendome Demanded by
+Spain.--His Affront by the Duchesse de Bourgogne.--His Arrival.--
+Staremberg and Stanhope.--The Flag of Spain Leaves Madrid.--Entry of the
+Archduke.--Enthusiasm of the Spaniards--The King Returns.--Strategy, of
+Staremberg.--Affair of Brighuega.--Battle of Villavciosa.--Its
+Consequences to Vendome and to Spain.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 8.
+
+CHAPTER LV
+
+State of the Country.--New Taxes.--The King's Conscience Troubled.--
+Decision of the Sorbonne.--Debate in the Council.--Effect of the Royal
+Tithe.--Tax on Agioteurs.--Merriment at Court.--Death of a Son of
+Marechal Boufflers.--The Jesuits.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+My Interview with Du Mont.--A Mysterious Communication.--Anger of
+Monseigneur against Me.--Household of the Duchesse de Berry.--Monseigneur
+Taken Ill of the Smallpox.--Effect of the News.--The King Goes to
+Meudon.--The Danger Diminishes.--Madame de Maintenon at Meudon.--The
+Court at Versailles.--Hopes and Fears.--The Danger Returns.--Death of
+Monseigneur.--Conduct of the King.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII
+
+A Rumour Reaches Versailles.--Aspect of the Court.--Various Forms of
+Grief.--The Duc d'Orleans.--The News Confirmed at Versailles.--Behaviour
+of the Courtiers.--The Duc and Duchesse de Berry.--The Duc and Duchesse
+de Bourgogne.--Madame.--A Swiss Asleep.--Picture of a Court.--The Heir-
+Apparent's Night.--The King Returns to Marly.--Character of Monseigneur.
+--Effect of His Death.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII
+
+State of the Court at Death of Monseigneur.--Conduct of the Dauphin and
+the Dauphine.--The Duchesse de Berry.--My Interview with the Dauphin.--
+He is Reconciled with M. d'Orleans.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX
+
+Warnings to the Dauphin and the Dauphine.--The Dauphine Sickens and
+Dies.--Illness of the Dauphin.--His Death.--Character and Manners of the
+Dauphine.--And of the Dauphin.
+
+
+CHAPTER LX
+
+Certainty of Poison.--The Supposed Criminal.--Excitement of the People
+against M. d'Orleans.--The Cabal.--My Danger and Escape.--The Dauphin's
+Casket.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 9.
+
+CHAPTER LXI
+
+The King's Selfishness.--Defeat of the Czar.--Death of Catinat.--Last
+Days of Vendome.--His Body at the Escurial.--Anecdote of Harlay and the
+Jacobins.--Truce in Flanders.--Wolves.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII
+
+Settlement of the Spanish Succession.--Renunciation of France.--Comic
+Failure of the Duc de Berry.--Anecdotes of M. de Chevreuse.--Father
+Daniel's History and Its Reward.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII
+
+The Bull Unigenitus.--My Interview with Father Tellier.--Curious
+Inadvertence of Mine.--Peace.--Duc de la Rochefoucauld.--A Suicide in
+Public.--Charmel.--Two Gay Sisters.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV
+
+The King of Spain a Widower.--Intrigues of Madame des Ursins.--Choice of
+the Princes of Parma.--The King of France Kept in the Dark.--Celebration
+of the Marriage.--Sudden Fall of the Princesse des Ursins.--Her Expulsion
+from Spain.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV
+
+The King of Spain Acquiesces in the Disgrace of Madame des Ursins.--Its
+Origin.--Who Struck the Blow.--Her journey to Versailles.--Treatment
+There.--My Interview with Her.--She Retires to Genoa.--Then to Rome.--
+Dies.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVI
+
+Sudden Illness of the Duc de Berry--Suspicious Symptoms.--The Duchess
+Prevented from Seeing Him.--His Death.--Character.--Manners of the
+Duchesse de Berry.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII
+
+Maisons Seeks My Acquaintance.--His Mysterious Manner.--Increase of the
+Intimacy.--Extraordinary News.--The Bastards Declared Princes of the
+Blood.--Rage of Maisons and Noailles.--Opinion of the Court and Country.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII
+
+The King Unhappy and Ill at Ease.--Court Paid to Him.--A New Scheme to
+Rule Him.--He Yields.--New Annoyance.--His Will.--Anecdotes Concerning
+It.--Opinions of the Court.--M. du Maine
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX
+
+A New Visit from Maisons.--His Violent Project.--My Objections.--He
+Persists.--His Death and That of His Wife.--Death of the Duc de
+Beauvilliers.--His Character.--Of the Cardinal d'Estrees.--Anecdotes.--
+Death of Fenelon.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 10.
+
+CHAPTER LXX
+
+Character and Position of the Duc d'Orleans--His Manners, Talents, and
+Virtues.--His Weakness.--Anecdote Illustrative Thereof.--
+The "Debonnaire"--Adventure of the Grand Prieur in England.--Education
+of the Duc d'Orleans.--Character of Dubois.--His Pernicious Influence.--
+The Duke's Emptiness.--His Deceit.--His Love of Painting.--The Fairies at
+His Birth.--The Duke's Timidity.--An Instance of His Mistrustfulness.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI
+
+The Duke Tries to Raise the Devil.--Magical Experiments.--His Religious
+Opinions.--Impiety.--Reads Rabelais at Church.--The Duchesse d'Orleans.--
+Her Character.--Her Life with Her Husband.--My Discourses with the Duke
+on the Future.--My Plans of Government.--A Place at Choice Offered Me.--
+I Decline the Honour.--My Reason.--National Bankruptcy.--The Duke's Anger
+at My Refusal.--A Final Decision.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII
+
+The King's Health Declines.--Bets about His Death.--Lord Stair.--My New
+Friend.--The King's Last Hunt.--And Last Domestic and Public Acts.--
+Doctors.--Opium.--The King's Diet.--Failure of His Strength.--His Hopes
+of Recovery.--Increased Danger.--Codicil to His Will.--Interview with the
+Duc d'Orleans.--With the Cardinal de Noailles.--Address to His
+Attendants.--The Dauphin Brought to Him.--His Last Words.--
+An Extraordinary Physician.--The Courtiers and the Duc d'Orleans.--
+Conduct of Madame de Maintenon.--The King's Death.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII
+
+Early Life of Louis XIV.--His Education.--His Enormous Vanity.--His
+Ignorance.--Cause of the War with Holland.--His Mistakes and Weakness in
+War.--The Ruin of France.--Origin of Versailles.--The King's Love of
+Adulation, and Jealousy of People Who Came Not to Court.--His Spies.--
+His Vindictiveness.--Opening of Letters.--Confidence Sometimes Placed in
+Him--A Lady in a Predicament.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV
+
+Excessive Politeness.--Influence of the Valets.--How the King Drove
+Out.--Love of magnificence.--His Buildings.--Versailles.--The Supply of
+Water.--The King Seeks for Quiet.--Creation of Marly.--Tremendous
+Extravagance.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXV
+
+Amours of the King.--La Valliere.--Montespan.--Scandalous Publicity.--
+Temper of Madame de Montespan.--Her Unbearable Haughtiness.--Other
+Mistresses.--Madame de Maintenon.--Her Fortunes.--Her Marriage with
+Scarron.--His Character and Society.--How She Lived After His Death.--
+Gets into Better Company.--Acquaintance with Madame de Montespan.--
+The King's Children.--His Dislike of Widow Scarron.--Purchase of the
+Maintenon Estate.--Further Demands.--M. du Maine on His Travels.--
+Montespan's Ill--humour.--Madame de Maintenon Supplants Her.--Her Bitter
+Annoyance.--Progress of the New Intrigue.--Marriage of the King and
+Madame de Maintenon.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVI
+
+Character of Madame de Maintenon.--Her Conversation.--Her Narrow-
+mindedness.--Her Devotion.--Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.--Its Fatal
+Consequences.--Saint Cyr.--Madame de Maintenon Desires Her Marriage to be
+Declared.--Her Schemes.--Counterworked by Louvois.--His Vigorous Conduct
+and Sudden Death.--Behaviour of the King.--Extraordinary Death of Seron.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVII
+
+Daily Occupations of Madame de Maintenon.--Her Policy--How She Governed
+the King's Affairs.--Connivance with the Ministers.--Anecdote of
+Le Tellier.--Behaviour of the King to Madame de Maintenon.--
+His Hardness.--Selfishness.--Want of Thought for Others.--Anecdotes.--
+Resignation of the King.--Its Causes.--The Jesuits and the Doctors.--The
+King and Lay Jesuits.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 11.
+
+CHAPTER LXXVIII
+
+External Life of Louis XIV.--At the Army.--Etiquette of the King's
+Table.--Court Manners and Customs.--The Rising of the King.--Morning
+Occupations.--Secret Amours.--Going to Mass.--Councils.--Thursdays.--
+Fridays.--Ceremony of the King's Dinner.--The King's Brother.--After
+Dinner.--The Drive.--Walks at Marly and Elsewhere.--Stag--hunting.--Play-
+tables.--Lotteries.--Visits to Madame de Maintenon.--Supper.--The King
+Retires to Rest.--Medicine Days.--Kings Religious Observances.--Fervency
+in Lent.--At Mass.--Costume.--Politeness of the King for the Court of
+Saint-Germain.--Feelings of the Court at His Death.--Relief of Madame de
+Maintenon.--Of the Duchesse d'Orleans.--Of the Court Generally.--Joy of
+Paris and the Whole of France.--Decency of Foreigners.--Burial of the
+King.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIX
+
+Surprise of M. d'Orleans at the King's Death.--My Interview with Him.--
+Dispute about Hats.--M. du Maine at the Parliament.--His Reception.--
+My Protest.--The King's Will.--Its Contents and Reception.--Speech of the
+Duc d'Orleans.--Its Effect.--His Speech on the Codicil.--Violent
+Discussion.--Curious Scene.--Interruption for Dinner.--Return to the
+Parliament.--Abrogation of the Codicil.--New Scheme of Government.--
+The Regent Visits Madame de Maintenon.--The Establishment of Saint-Cyr.--
+The Regent's Liberality to Madame de Maintenon.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXX
+
+The Young King's Cold.--'Lettres des Cachet' Revived.--A Melancholy
+Story.--A Loan from Crosat.--Retrenchments.--Unpaid Ambassadors.--Council
+of the Regency.--Influence of Lord Stair.--The Pretender.--His Departure
+from Bar.--Colonel Douglas.--The Pursuit.--Adventure at Nonancourt.--Its
+Upshot.--Madame l'Hospital.--Ingratitude of the Pretender.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXI
+
+Behaviour of the Duchesse de Berry.--Her Arrogance Checked by Public
+Opinion.--Walls up the Luxembourg Garden.--La Muette.--Her Strange Amour
+with Rion.--Extraordinary Details.--The Duchess at the Carmelites.--
+Weakness of the Regent.--His Daily Round of Life.--His Suppers.--
+How He Squandered His Time.--His Impenetrability.--Scandal of His Life.--
+Public Balls at the Opera.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXII
+
+First Appearance of Law.--His Banking Project Supported by the Regent.--
+Discussed by the Regent with Me.--Approved by the Council and Registered.
+--My Interviews with Law.--His Reasons for Seeking My Friendship.--
+Arouet de Voltaire.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIII
+
+Rise of Alberoni.--Intimacy of France and England.--Gibraltar Proposed to
+be Given Up.--Louville the Agent.--His Departure.--Arrives at Madrid.--
+Alarm of Alberoni.--His Audacious Intrigues.--Louville in the Bath.--
+His Attempts to See the King.--Defeated.--Driven out of Spain.--Impudence
+of Alberoni.--Treaty between France and England.--Stipulation with
+Reference to the Pretender.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIV
+
+The Lieutenant of Police.--Jealousy of Parliament.--Arrest of Pomereu
+Resolved On.--His Imprisonment and Sudden Release.--Proposed Destruction
+of Marly.--How I Prevented It.--Sale of the Furniture.--I Obtain the
+'Grandes Entrees'.--Their Importance and Nature.--Afterwards Lavished
+Indiscriminately.--Adventure of the Diamond called "The Regent."--Bought
+for the Crown of France.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXV
+
+Death of the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.--Cavoye and His Wife.--Peter the
+Great.--His Visit to France.--Enmity to England.--Its Cause.--Kourakin,
+the Russian Ambassador.--The Czar Studies Rome.--Makes Himself the Head
+of Religion.--New Desires for Rome--Ultimately Suppressed.--Preparations
+to Receive the Czar at Paris.--His Arrival at Dunkerque.--At Beaumont.--
+Dislikes the Fine Quarters Provided for Him.--His Singular Manners, and
+Those of His Suite.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVI
+
+Personal Appearance of the Czar.--His Meals.--Invited by the Regent.--
+His Interview with the King--He Returns the Visit.--Excursion in Paris.--
+Visits Madame.--Drinks Beer at the Opera.--At the Invalides.--Meudon.--
+Issy.--The Tuileries.--Versailles.--Hunt at Fontainebleau.--Saint--Cyr.--
+Extraordinary Interview with Madame de Maintenon.--My Meeting with the
+Czar at D'Antin's.--The Ladies Crowd to See Him.--Interchange of
+Presents.--A Review.--Party Visits.--Desire of the Czar to Be United to
+France.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVII
+
+Courson in Languedoc.--Complaints of Perigueux.--Deputies to Paris.--
+Disunion at the Council.--Intrigues of the Duc de Noailles.--Scene.--
+I Support the Perigueux People.--Triumph.--My Quarrel with Noailles.--
+The Order of the Pavilion.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 12.
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVIII
+
+Policy and Schemes of Alberoni.--He is Made a Cardinal.--Other Rewards
+Bestowed on Him.--Dispute with the Majordomo.--An Irruption into the
+Royal Apartment.--The Cardinal Thrashed.--Extraordinary Scene.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIX
+
+Anecdote of the Duc d'Orleans.--He Pretends to Reform--Trick Played upon
+Me.--His Hoaxes.--His Panegyric of Me.--Madame de Sabran.--How the Regent
+Treated His Mistresses.
+
+
+CHAPTER XC
+
+Encroachments of the Parliament.--The Money Edict.--Conflict of Powers--
+Vigorous Conduct of the Parliament.--Opposed with Equal Vigour by the
+Regent.--Anecdote of the Duchesse du Maine.--Further Proceedings of the
+Parliament.--Influence of the Reading of Memoirs.--Conduct of the
+Regent.--My Political Attitude.--Conversation with the Regent on the
+Subject of the Parliament.--Proposal to Hang Law.--Meeting at My House.--
+Law Takes Refuge in the Palais Royal.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCI
+
+Proposed Bed of Justice.--My Scheme.--Interview with the Regent.--
+The Necessary Seats for the Assembly.--I Go in Search of Fontanieu.--
+My Interview with Hini.--I Return to the Palace.--Preparations.--
+Proposals of M. le Duc to Degrade M. du Maine.--My Opposition.--My Joy
+and Delight.--The Bed of Justice Finally Determined On.--A Charming
+Messenger.--Final Preparations.--Illness of the Regent.--News Given to
+M. du Maine.--Resolution of the Parliament.--Military Arrangements.--I Am
+Summoned to the Council.--My Message to the Comte de Toulouse.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCII
+
+The Material Preparations for the Bed of Justice--Arrival of the Duc
+d'Orleans:--The Council Chamber.--Attitude of the Various Actors.--The
+Duc du Maine.--Various Movements.--Arrival of the Duc de Toulouse.--
+Anxiety of the Two Bastards.--They Leave the Room.--Subsequent
+Proceedings.--Arrangement of the Council Chamber.--Speech of the Regent.
+--Countenances of the Members of Council.--The Regent Explains the Object
+of the Bed of Justice.--Speech of the Keeper of the Seals.--Taking the
+Votes.--Incidents That Followed.--New Speech of the Duc d'Orleans.--
+Against the Bastards.--My Joy.--I Express My Opinion Modestly.--Exception
+in Favour of the Comte de Toulouse.--New Proposal of M. le Duc.--Its
+Effect.--Threatened Disobedience of the Parliament.--Proper Measures.--
+The Parliament Sets Out.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIII
+
+Continuation of the Scene in the Council Chamber.--Slowness of the
+Parliament.--They Arrive at Last.--The King Fetched.--Commencement of the
+Bed of Justice.--My Arrival.--Its Effect.--What I Observed.--Absence of
+the Bastards Noticed.--Appearance of the King. The Keeper of the Seals.--
+The Proceedings Opened.--Humiliation of the Parliament.--Speech of the
+Chief-President.--New Announcement.--Fall of the Duc du Maine Announced.
+--Rage of the Chief-President.--My Extreme joy.--M. le Duc Substituted
+for M. du Maine.--Indifference of the King.--Registration of the Decrees.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIV
+
+My Return Home.--Wanted for a New Commission.--Go to the Palais Royal.--
+A Cunning Page.--My journey to Saint-Cloud.--My Reception.--Interview
+with the Duchesse d'Orleans.--Her Grief.--My Embarrassment.--Interview
+with Madame.--Her Triumph.--Letter of the Duchesse d'Orleans.--She Comes
+to Paris.--Quarrels with the Regent.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCV
+
+Intrigues of M. du Maine.--And of Cellamare, the Spanish Ambassador.--
+Monteleon and Portocarrero.--Their Despatches.--How Signed.--The
+Conspiracy Revealed.--Conduct of the Regent.--Arrest of Cellamare.--His
+House Searched.--The Regency Council.--Speech of the Duc d'Orleans.--
+Resolutions Come To.--Arrests.--Relations with Spain.--Alberoni and
+Saint-Aignan.--Their Quarrel.--Escape of Saint-Aignan.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVI
+
+The Regent Sends for Me.--Guilt of the Duc de Maine.--Proposed Arrest.--
+Discussion on the Prison to Be Chosen.--The Arrest.--His Dejection.--
+Arrest of the Duchess.--Her Rage.--Taken to Dijon.--Other Arrests.--
+Conduct of the Comte de Toulouse.--The Faux Sauniers.--Imprisonment of
+the Duc and Duchesse du Maine.--Their Sham Disagreement.--Their
+Liberation.--Their Reconciliation.
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 13.
+
+CHAPTER XCVII
+
+Anecdote of Madame de Charlus.--The 'Phillippaques'.--La Grange.--
+Pere Tellier.--The Jesuits.--Anecdote----Tellier's Banishment.--Death of
+Madame de Maintenon.--Her Life at Saint-Cyr.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVIII
+
+Mode of Life of the Duchesse de Berry.--Her Illness.--Her Degrading
+Amours.--Her Danger Increases.--The Sacraments Refused.--The Cure Is
+Supported by the Cardinal de Noailles.--Curious Scene.--The Duchess
+Refuses to Give Way.--She Recovers, and Is Delivered.--Ambition of Rion.
+--He Marries the Duchess.--She Determines to Go to Meudon.--Rion Sent to
+the Army.--Quarrels of Father and Daughter.--Supper on the Terrace of
+Meudon.--The Duchess Again Ill.--Moves to La Muette.--Great Danger.--
+Receives the Sacrament.--Garus and Chirac.--Rival Doctors.--Increased
+Illness.--Death of the Duchess.--Sentiments on the Occasion.--Funeral
+Ceremonies.--Madame de Saint-Simon Fails Ill.--Her Recovery.--We Move to
+Meudon.--Character of the Duchesse de Berry.
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIX
+
+The Mississippi Scheme.--Law Offers Me Shares.--Compensation for Blaye.--
+The Rue Quincampoix.--Excitement of the Public.--Increased Popularity of
+the Scheme.--Conniving of Law.--Plot against His Life--Disagreement with
+Argenson.--Their Quarrel.--Avarice of the Prince de Conti.--His
+Audacity.--Anger of the Regent.--Comparison with the Period of Louis
+XIV.--A Ballet Proposed.--The Marechal de Villeroy.--The Young King Is to
+Dance.--Young Law Proposed.--Excitement.--The Young King's Disgust.--
+Extravagant Presents of the Duc d'Orleans.
+
+
+CHAPTER C
+
+System of Law in Danger.--Prodigality of the Duc d'Orleans.--Admissions
+of Law.--Fall of His Notes.--Violent Measures Taken to Support Them.--
+Their Failure.--Increased Extravagance of the Regent.--Reduction of the
+Fervour.--Proposed Colonies.--Forced Emigration.--Decree on the Indian
+Company.--Scheming of Argenson. Attitude of the Parliament.--Their
+Remonstrance.--Dismissal of Law.--His Coolness--Extraordinary Decree of
+Council of State.--Prohibition of jewellery.--New Schemes.
+
+
+CHAPTER CI
+
+The New Edict.--The Commercial Company.--New Edict.--Rush on the Bank.--
+People Stifled in the Crowd.--Excitement against Law.--Money of the
+Bank.--Exile of the Parliament to Pontoise.--New Operation.--The Place
+Vendome.--The Marechal de Villeroy.--Marseilles.--Flight of Law.--
+Character of Him and His Wife.--Observations on His Schemes.--Decrees of
+the Finance.
+
+
+CHAPTER CII
+
+Council on the Finances.--Departure of Law--A Strange Dialogue.--M. le
+Duc and the Regent.--Crimes Imputed to Law during His Absence.--Schemes
+Proposed.--End, of the Council.
+
+
+CHAPTER CIII
+
+Character of Alberoni.--His Grand Projects.--Plots against Him.--The
+Queen's Nurse.--The Scheme against the Cardinal.--His Fall.--Theft of a
+Will.--Reception in Italy.--His Adventures There.
+
+
+CHAPTER CIV
+
+Meetings of the Council.--A Kitten.--The Archbishopric of Cambrai.--
+Scandalous Conduct of Dubois.--The Consecration.--I Persuade the Regent
+Not to Go.--He Promises Not.--Breaks His Word.--Madame de Parabere.--The
+Ceremony.--Story of the Comte de Horn.
+
+
+
+
+ VOLUME 14
+
+CHAPTER CV
+
+Quarrel of the King of England with His Son.--Schemes of Dubois.--
+Marriage of Brissac.--His Death.--Birth of the Young Pretender.--
+Cardinalate of Dubois.--Illness of the King.--His Convalescence.--
+A Wonderful Lesson.--Prudence of the Regent.--Insinuations against Him.
+
+
+CHAPTER CVI
+
+Projected Marriages of the King and of the Daughter of the Duc d'Orleans--
+--How It Was Communicated to Me.--I Ask for the Embassy to Spain.--It Is
+Granted to Me.--Jealousy of Dubois.--His Petty Interference.--
+Announcement of the Marriages.
+
+
+CHAPTER CVII
+
+Interview with Dubois.--His Singular Instructions to Ale.--His Insidious
+Object.--Various Tricks and Manoeuvres.--My Departure for Spain.--Journey
+by Way of Bordeaux and Bayonne.--Reception in Spain.--Arrival at Madrid.
+
+
+CHAPTER CVIII
+
+Interview in the Hall of Mirrors.--Preliminaries of the Marriages.--
+Grimaldo.--How the Question of Precedence Was Settled.--I Ask for an
+Audience.--Splendid Illuminations.--A Ball.--I Am Forced to Dance.
+
+
+CHAPTER CIX
+
+Mademoiselle de Montpensier Sets out for Spain.--I Carry the News to the
+King.--Set out for Lerma.--Stay at the Escurial.--Take the Small--pox.--
+Convalescence.
+
+
+CHAPTER CX
+
+Mode of Life of Their Catholic Majesties.--Their Night.--Morning.--
+Toilette.--Character of Philippe V.--And of His Queen.--How She Governed
+Him.
+
+
+CHAPTER CXI
+
+The King's Taste for Hunting.--Preparations for a Battue.--Dull Work.--
+My Plans to Obtain the Grandesse.--Treachery of Dubois.--Friendship of
+Grimaldo.--My Success.
+
+
+CHAPTER CXII
+
+Marriage of the Prince of the Asturias.--An Ignorant Cardinal.--I Am Made
+Grandee of Spain.--The Vidame de Chartres Named Chevalier of the Golden
+Fleece.--His Reception--My Adieux.--A Belching Princess.--
+Return to France.
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+No library of Court documents could pretend to be representative which
+ignored the famous "Memoirs" of the Duc de Saint-Simon. They stand, by
+universal consent, at the head of French historical papers, and are the
+one great source from which all historians derive their insight into the
+closing years of the reign of the "Grand Monarch," Louis XIV: whom the
+author shows to be anything but grand--and of the Regency. The opinion
+of the French critic, Sainte-Beuve, is fairly typical. "With the Memoirs
+of De Retz, it seemed that perfection had been attained, in interest, in
+movement, in moral analysis, in pictorial vivacity, and that there was no
+reason for expecting they could be surpassed. But the 'Memoirs' of
+Saint-Simon came; and they offer merits . . . which make them the most
+precious body of Memoirs that as yet exist."
+
+Villemain declared their author to be "the most original of geniuses in
+French literature, the foremost of prose satirists; inexhaustible in
+details of manners and customs, a word-painter like Tacitus; the author
+of a language of his own, lacking in accuracy, system, and art, yet an
+admirable writer." Leon Vallee reinforces this by saying: "Saint-Simon
+can not be compared to any of his contemporaries. He has an
+individuality, a style, and a language solely his own.... Language he
+treated like an abject slave. When he had gone to its farthest limit,
+when it failed to express his ideas or feelings, he forced it--the result
+was a new term, or a change in the ordinary meaning of words sprang forth
+from has pen. With this was joined a vigour and breadth of style, very
+pronounced, which makes up the originality of the works of Saint-Simon
+and contributes toward placing their author in the foremost rank of
+French writers."
+
+Louis de Rouvroy, who later became the Duc de Saint-Simon, was born in
+Paris, January 16, 1675. He claimed descent from Charlemagne, but the
+story goes that his father, as a young page of Louis XIII., gained favour
+with his royal master by his skill in holding the stirrup, and was
+finally made a duke and peer of France. The boy Louis had no lesser
+persons than the King and Queen Marie Therese as godparents, and made his
+first formal appearance at Court when seventeen. He tells us that he was
+not a studious boy, but was fond of reading history; and that if he had
+been given rein to read all he desired of it, he might have made "some
+figure in the world." At nineteen, like D'Artagnan, he entered the
+King's Musketeers. At twenty he was made a captain in the cavalry; and
+the same year he married the beautiful daughter of the Marechal de
+Larges. This marriage, which was purely political in its inception,
+finally turned into a genuine love match--a pleasant exception to the
+majority of such affairs. He became devoted to his wife, saying: "she
+exceeded all that was promised of her, and all that I myself had hoped."
+Partly because of this marriage, and also because he felt himself
+slighted in certain army appointments, he resigned his commissim after
+five years' service, and retired for a time to private life.
+
+Upon his return to Court, taking up apartments which the royal favour had
+reserved for him at Versailles, Saint-Simon secretly entered upon the
+self-appointed task for which he is now known to fame--a task which the
+proud King of a vainglorious Court would have lost no time in terminating
+had it been discovered--the task of judge, spy, critic, portraitist, and
+historian, rolled into one. Day by day, henceforth for many years, he
+was to set down upon his private "Memoirs" the results of his personal
+observations, supplemented by the gossip brought to him by his
+unsuspecting friends; for neither courtier, statesman, minister, nor
+friend ever looked upon those notes which this "little Duke with his
+cruel, piercing, unsatisfied eyes" was so busily penning. Says Vallee:
+"He filled a unique position at Court, being accepted by all, even by the
+King himself, as a cynic, personally liked for his disposition, enjoying
+consideration on account of the prestige of his social connections,
+inspiring fear in the more timid by the severity and fearlessness of his
+criticism." Yet Louis XIV. never seems to have liked him, and Saint-
+Simon owed his influence chiefly to his friendly relations with the
+Dauphin's family. During the Regency, he tried to restrain the
+profligate Duke of Orleans, and in return was offered the position of
+governor of the boy, Louis XV., which he refused. Soon after, he retired
+to private life, and devoted his remaining years largely to revising his
+beloved "Memoirs." The autograph manuscript, still in existence, reveals
+the immense labour which he put into it. The writing is remarkable for
+its legibility and freedom from erasure. It comprises no less than 2,300
+pages in folio.
+
+After the author's death, in 1755, the secret of his lifelong labour was
+revealed; and the Duc de Choiseul, fearing the result of these frank
+revelations, confiscated them and placed them among the state archives.
+For sixty years they remained under lock and key, being seen by only a
+few privileged persons, among them Marmontel, Duclos, and Voltaire. A
+garbled version of extracts appeared in 1789, possibly being used as a
+Revolutionary text. Finally, in 1819, a descendant of the analyst,
+bearing the same name, obtained permission from Louis XVIII. to set this
+"prisoner of the Bastille" at liberty; and in 1829 an authoritative
+edition, revised and arranged by chapters, appeared. It created a
+tremendous stir. Saint-Simon had been merciless, from King down to
+lady's maid, in depicting the daily life of a famous Court. He had
+stripped it of all its tinsel and pretension, and laid the ragged
+framework bare. "He wrote like the Devil for posterity!" exclaimed
+Chateaubriand. But the work at once became universally read and quoted,
+both in France and England. Macaulay made frequent use of it in his
+historical essays. It was, in a word, recognised as the chief authority
+upon an important period of thirty years (1694-1723).
+
+Since then it has passed through many editions, finally receiving an
+adequate English translation at the hands of Bayle St. John, who has been
+careful to adhere to the peculiarities of Saint-Simon's style. It is
+this version which is now presented in full, giving us not only many
+vivid pictures of the author's time, but of the author himself. "I do
+not pride myself upon my freedom from prejudice--impartiality," he
+confesses--"it would be useless to attempt it. But I have tried at all
+times to tell the truth."
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+I was born on the night of the 15th of January, 1675, of Claude Duc de
+Saint-Simon, Peer of France, and of his second wife Charlotte de
+l'Aubepine. I was the only child of that marriage. By his first wife,
+Diana de Budos, my father had had only a daughter. He married her to the
+Duc de Brissac, Peer of France, only brother of the Duchesse de Villeroy.
+She died in 1684, without children,--having been long before separated
+from a husband who was unworthy of her--leaving me heir of all her
+property.
+
+I bore the name of the Vidame de Chartres; and was educated with great
+care and attention. My mother, who was remarkable for virtue,
+perseverance, and sense, busied herself continually in forming my mind
+and body. She feared for me the usual fate of young men, who believe
+their fortunes made, and who find themselves their own masters early in
+life. It was not likely that my father, born in 1606, would live long
+enough to ward off from me this danger; and my mother repeatedly
+impressed on, me how necessary it was for a young man, the son of the
+favourite of a King long dead,--with no new friends at Court,--to acquire
+some personal value of his own. She succeeded in stimulating my courage;
+and in exciting in me the desire to make the acquisitions she laid stress
+on; but my aptitude for study and the sciences did not come up to my
+desire to succeed in them. However, I had an innate inclination for
+reading, especially works of history; and thus was inspired with ambition
+to emulate the examples presented to my imagination,--to do something and
+become somebody, which partly made amends for my coldness for letters.
+In fact, I have always thought that if I had been allowed to read history
+more constantly, instead of losing my time in studies for which I had no
+aptness, I might have made some figure in the world.
+
+What I read of my own accord, of history, and, above all, of the personal
+memoirs of the times since Francis I., bred in me the desire to write
+down what I might myself see. The hope of advancement, and of becoming
+familiar with the affairs of my time, stirred me. The annoyances I might
+thus bring upon myself did not fail to present themselves to my mind; but
+the firm resolution I made to keep my writings secret from everybody,
+appeared to me to remedy all evils. I commenced my memoirs then in July,
+1694, being at that time colonel of a cavalry regiment bearing my name,
+in the camp of Guinsheim, upon the old Rhine, in the army commanded by
+the Marechal Duc de Lorges.
+
+In 1691 I was studying my philosophy and beginning to learn to ride at an
+academy at Rochefort, getting mightily tired of masters and books, and
+anxious to join the army. The siege of Mons, formed by the King in
+person, at the commencement of the spring, had drawn away all the young
+men of my age to commence their first campaign; and, what piqued me most,
+the Duc de Chartres was there, too. I had been, as it were, educated
+with him. I was younger than he by eight months; and if the expression
+be allowed in speaking of young people, so unequal in position,
+friendship had united us. I made up my mind, therefore, to escape from
+my leading-strings; but pass lightly over the artifices I used in order
+to attain success. I addressed myself to my mother. I soon saw that she
+trifled with me. I had recourse to my father, whom I made believe that
+the King, having led a great siege this year, would rest the next.
+I said nothing of this to my mother, who did not discover my plot until
+it was just upon the point, of execution.
+
+The King had determined rigidly to adhere to a rule he had laid down--
+namely, that none who entered the service, except his illegitimate
+children, and the Princes of the blood royal, should be exempt from
+serving for a year in one of his two companies of musketeers; and passing
+afterwards through the ordeal of being private or subaltern in one of the
+regiments of cavalry or infantry, before receiving permission to purchase
+a regiment. My father took me, therefore, to Versailles, where he had
+not been for many years, and begged of the King admission for me into the
+Musketeers. It was on the day of St. Simon and St. Jude, at half-past
+twelve, and just as his Majesty came out of the council.
+
+The King did my father the honour of embracing him three times, and then
+turned towards me. Finding that I was little and of delicate appearance,
+he said I was still very young; to which my father replied, that I should
+be able in consequence to serve longer. Thereupon the King demanded in
+which of the two companies he wished to put me; and my father named that
+commanded by Maupertuis, who was one of his friends. The King relied
+much upon the information given him by the captains of the two companies
+of Musketeers, as to the young men who served in them. I have reason for
+believing, that I owe to Maupertuis the first good opinion that his
+Majesty had of me.
+
+Three months after entering the Musketeers, that is to say, in the March
+of the following year, the King held a review of his guards, and of the
+gendarmerie, at Compiegne, and I mounted guard once at the palace.
+During this little journey there was talk of a much more important one.
+My joy was extreme; but my father, who had not counted upon this,
+repented of having believed me, when I told him that the King would no
+doubt rest at Paris this year. My mother, after a little vexation and
+pouting at finding me enrolled by my father against her will, did not
+fail to bring him to reason, and to make him provide me with an equipment
+of thirty-five horses or mules, and means to live honourably.
+
+A grievous annoyance happened in our house about three weeks before my
+departure. A steward of my father named Tesse, who had been with him
+many years, disappeared all at once with fifty thousand francs due to
+various tradesfolk. He had written out false receipts from these people,
+and put them in his accounts. He was a little man, gentle, affable, and
+clever; who had shown some probity, and who had many friends.
+
+The King set out on the 10th of May, 1692, with the ladies; and I
+performed the journey on horseback with the soldiers and all the
+attendants, like the other Musketeers, and continued to do so through the
+whole campaign. I was accompanied by two gentlemen; the one had been my
+tutor, the other was my mother's squire. The King's army was formed at
+the camp of Gevries; that of M. de Luxembourg almost joined it: The
+ladies were at Mons, two leagues distant. The King made them come into
+his camp, where he entertained them; and then showed them, perhaps; the
+most superb review which had ever been seen. The two armies were ranged
+in two lines, the right of M. de Luxembourg's touching the left of the
+King's,--the whole extending over three leagues of ground.
+
+After stopping ten days at Gevries, the two armies separated and marched.
+Two days afterwards the seige of Namur was declared. The King arrived
+there in five days. Monseigneur (son of the King); Monsieur (Duc
+d'Orleans, brother of the King); M. le Prince (de Conde) and Marechal
+d'Humieres; all four, the one under the other, commanded in the King's
+army under the King himself. The Duc de Luxembourg, sole general of his
+own army, covered the siege operations, and observed the enemy. The
+ladies went away to Dinant. On the third day of the march M. le Prince
+went forward to invest the place.
+
+The celebrated Vauban, the life and soul of all the sieges the King made,
+was of opinion that the town should be attacked separately from the
+castle; and his advice was acted upon. The Baron de Bresse, however,
+who had fortified the place, was for attacking town and castle together.
+He was a humble down-looking man, whose physiognomy promised nothing, but
+who soon acquired the confidence of the King, and the esteem of the army.
+
+The Prince de Conde, Marechal d'Humieres, and the Marquis de Boufflers
+each led an attack. There was nothing worthy of note during the ten days
+the siege lasted. On the eleventh day, after the trenches had been
+opened, a parley was beaten and a capitulation made almost as the
+besieged desired it. They withdrew to the castle; and it was agreed that
+it should not be attacked from the town-side, and that the town was not
+to be battered by it. During the siege the King was almost always in his
+tent; and the weather remained constantly warm and serene. We lost
+scarcely anybody of consequence. The Comte de Toulouse received a slight
+wound in the arm while quite close to the King, who from a prominent
+place was witnessing the attack of a half-moon, which was carried in
+broad daylight by a detachment of the oldest of the two companies of
+Musketeers.
+
+The siege of the castle next commenced. The position of the camp was
+changed. The King's tents and those of all the Court were pitched in a
+beautiful meadow about five hundred paces from the monastery of
+Marlaigne. The fine weather changed to rain, which fell with an
+abundance and perseverance never before known by any one in the army.
+This circumstance increased the reputation of Saint Medard, whose fete
+falls on the 8th of June. It rained in torrents that day, and it is said
+that when such is the case it will rain for forty days afterwards. By
+chance it happened so this year. The soldiers in despair at this deluge
+uttered many imprecations against the Saint; and looked for images of
+him, burning and breaking as many as they could find. The rains sadly
+interfered with the progress of the siege. The tents of the King could
+only be communicated with by paths laid with fascines which required to
+be renewed every day, as they sank down into the soil. The camps and
+quarters were no longer accessible; the trenches were full of mud and
+water, and it took often three days to remove cannon from one battery to
+another. The waggons became useless, too, so that the transport of
+bombs, shot, and so forth, could not be performed except upon the backs
+of mules and of horses taken from the equipages of the Court and the
+army. The state of the roads deprived the Duc de Luxembourg of the use
+of waggons and other vehicles. His army was perishing for want of grain.
+To remedy this inconvenience the King ordered all his household troops to
+mount every day on horseback by detachments, and to take sacks of grain
+upon their cruppers to a village where they were to be received and
+counted by the officers of the Duc de Luxembourg. Although the household
+of the King had scarcely any repose during this siege, what with carrying
+fascines, furnishing guards, and other daily services, this increase of
+duty was given to it because the cavalry served continually also, and was
+reduced almost entirely to leaves of trees for provender.
+
+The household of the King, accustomed to all sorts of distinctions,
+complained bitterly of this task. But the King turned a deaf ear to
+them, and would be obeyed. On the first day some of the Gendarmes and of
+the light horse of the guard arrived early in the morning at the depot of
+the sacks, and commenced murmuring and exciting each other by their
+discourses. They threw down the sacks at last and flatly refused to
+carry them. I had been asked very politely if I would be of the
+detachment for the sacks or of some other. I decided for the sacks,
+because I felt that I might thereby advance myself, the subject having
+already made much noise. I arrived with the detachment of the Musketeers
+at the moment of the refusal of the others; and I loaded my sack before
+their eyes. Marin, a brigadier of cavalry and lieutenant of the body
+guards, who was there to superintend the operation, noticed me, and full
+of anger at the refusal he had just met with, exclaimed that as I did not
+think such work beneath me, the rest would do well to imitate my example.
+Without a word being spoken each took up his sack; and from that time
+forward no further difficulty occurred in the matter. As soon as the
+detachment had gone, Marin went straight to the King and told him what
+had occurred. This was a service which procured for me several obliging
+discourses from his Majesty, who during the rest of the siege always
+sought to say something agreeable every time he met me.
+
+The twenty-seventh day after opening the trenches, that is, the first of
+July, 1692, a parley was sounded by the Prince de Barbanqon, governor of
+the place,--a fortunate circumstance for the besiegers, who were worn
+out with fatigue; and destitute of means, on account of the wretched
+weather which still continued, and which had turned the whole country
+round into a quagmire. Even the horses of the King lived upon leaves,
+and not a horse of all our numerous cavalry ever thoroughly recovered
+from the effects of such sorry fare. It is certain that without the
+presence of the King the siege might never have been successful; but he
+being there, everybody was stimulated. Yet had the place held out ten
+days longer, there is no saying what might have happened. Before the end
+of the siege the King was so much fatigued with his exertions, that a new
+attack of gout came on, with more pain than ever, and compelled him to
+keep his bed, where, however, he thought of everything, and laid out his
+plans as though he had been at Versailles.
+
+During the entire siege, the Prince of Orange (William III. of England)
+had unavailingly used all his science to dislodge the Duc de Luxembourg;
+but he had to do with a man who in matters of war was his superior, and
+who continued so all his life. Namur, which, by the surrender of the
+castle, was now entirely in our power, was one of the strongest places in
+the Low Countries, and had hitherto boasted of having never changed
+masters. The inhabitants could not restrain their tears of sorrow. Even
+the monks of Marlaigne were profoundly moved, so much so, that they could
+not disguise their grief. The King, feeling for the loss of their corn
+that they had sent for safety into Namur, gave them double the quantity,
+and abundant alms. He incommoded them as little as possible, and would
+not permit the passage of cannon across their park, until it was found
+impossible to transport it by any other road. Notwithstanding these acts
+of goodness, they could scarcely look upon a Frenchman after the taking
+of the place; and one actually refused to give a bottle of beer to an
+usher of the King's antechamber, although offered a bottle of champagne
+in exchange for it!
+
+A circumstance happened just after the taking of Namur, which might have
+led to the saddest results, under any other prince than the King. Before
+he entered the town, a strict examination of every place was made,
+although by the capitulation all the mines, magazines, &c., had to be
+shown. At a visit paid to the Jesuits, they pretended to show
+everything, expressing, however, surprise and something more, that their
+bare word was not enough. But on examining here and there, where they
+did not expect search would be made, their cellars were found to be
+stored with gunpowder, of which they had taken good care to say no word.
+What they meant to do with it is uncertain. It was carried away, and as
+they were Jesuits nothing was done.
+
+During the course of this siege, the King suffered a cruel
+disappointment. James II. of England, then a refugee in France, had
+advised the King to give battle to the English fleet. Joined to that of
+Holland it was very superior to the sea forces of France. Tourville, our
+admiral, so famous for his valour and skill, pointed this circumstance
+out to the King. But it was all to no effect. He was ordered to attack
+the enemy. He did so. Many of his ships were burnt, and the victory was
+won by the English. A courier entrusted with this sad intelligence was
+despatched to the King. On his way he was joined by another courier, who
+pressed him for his news. The first courier knew that if he gave up his
+news, the other, who was better mounted, would outstrip him, and be the
+first to carry it to the King. He told his companion, therefore, an idle
+tale, very different indeed from the truth, for he changed the defeat
+into a great victory. Having gained this wonderful intelligence, the
+second courier put spurs to his horse, and hurried away to the King's
+camp, eager to be the bearer of good tidings. He reached the camp first,
+and was received with delight. While his Majesty was still in great joy
+at his happy victory, the other courier arrived with the real details.
+The Court appeared prostrated. The King was much afflicted.
+Nevertheless he found means to appear to retain his self-possession, and
+I saw, for the first time, that Courts are not long in affliction or
+occupied with sadness. I must mention that the (exiled) King of England
+looked on at this naval battle from the shore; and was accused of
+allowing expressions of partiality to escape him in favour of his
+countrymen, although none had kept their promises to him.
+
+Two days after the defeated garrison had marched out, the King went to
+Dinant, to join the ladies, with whom he returned to Versailles. I had
+hoped that Monseigneur would finish the campaign, and that I should be
+with him, and it was not without regret that I returned towards Paris.
+On the way a little circumstance happened. One of our halting-places was
+Marienburgh, where we camped for the night. I had become united in
+friendship with Comte de Coetquen, who was in the same company with
+myself. He was well instructed and full of wit; was exceedingly rich,
+and even more idle than rich. That evening he had invited several of us
+to supper in his tent. I went there early, and found him stretched out
+upon his bed, from which I dislodged him playfully and laid myself down
+in his place, several of our officers standing by. Coetquen, sporting
+with me in return, took his gun, which he thought to be unloaded, and
+pointed it at me. But to our great surprise the weapon went off.
+Fortunately for me, I was at that moment lying flat upon the bed. Three
+balls passed just above my head, and then just above the heads of our two
+tutors, who were walking outside the tent. Coetquen fainted at thought
+of the mischief he might have done, and we had all the pains in the world
+to bring him to himself again. Indeed, he did not thoroughly recover for
+several days. I relate this as a lesson which ought to teach us never
+to play with fire-arms.
+
+The poor lad,--to finish at once all that concerns him,--did not long
+survive this incident. He entered the King's regiment, and when just
+upon the point of joining it in the following spring, came to me and said
+he had had his fortune told by a woman named Du Perehoir, who practised
+her trade secretly at Paris, and that she had predicted he would be soon
+drowned. I rated him soundly for indulging a curiosity so dangerous and
+so foolish. A few days after he set out for Amiens. He found another
+fortune-teller there, a man, who made the same prediction. In marching
+afterwards with the regiment of the King to join the army, he wished to
+water his horse in the Escaut, and was drowned there, in the presence of
+the whole regiment, without it being possible to give him any aid. I felt
+extreme regret for his loss, which for his friends and his family was
+irreparable.
+
+But I must go back a little, and speak of two marriages that took place
+at the commencement of this year the first (most extraordinary) on the
+18th February the other a month after.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+The King was very anxious to establish his illegitimate children, whom he
+advanced day by day; and had married two of them, daughters, to Princes
+of the blood. One of these, the Princesse de Conti, only daughter of the
+King and Madame de la Valliere, was a widow without children; the other,
+eldest daughter of the King and Madame de Montespan, had married Monsieur
+le Duc (Louis de Bourbon, eldest son of the Prince de Conde). For some
+time past Madame de Maintenon, even more than the King, had thought of
+nothing else than how to raise the remaining illegitimate children, and
+wished to marry Mademoiselle de Blois (second daughter of the King and of
+Madame de Montespan) to Monsieur the Duc de Chartres. The Duc de
+Chartres was the sole nephew of the King, and was much above the Princes
+of the blood by his rank of Grandson of France, and by the Court that
+Monsieur his father kept up.
+
+The marriages of the two Princes of the blood, of which I have just
+spoken, had scandalised all the world. The King was not ignorant of
+this; and he could thus judge of the effect of a marriage even more
+startling; such as was this proposed one. But for four years he had
+turned it over in his mind and had even taken the first steps to bring it
+about. It was the more difficult because the father of the Duc de
+Chartres was infinitely proud of his rank, and the mother belonged to a
+nation which abhorred illegitimacy and, misalliances, and was indeed of a
+character to forbid all hope of her ever relishing this marriage.
+
+In order to vanquish all these obstacles, the King applied to M. le Grand
+(Louis de Lorraine). This person was brother of the Chevalier de
+Lorraine, the favourite, by disgraceful means, of Monsieur, father of the
+Duc de Chartres. The two brothers, unscrupulous and corrupt, entered
+willingly into the scheme, but demanded as a reward, paid in advance, to
+be made "Chevaliers of the Order." This was done, although somewhat
+against the inclination of the King, and success was promised.
+
+The young Duc de Chartres had at that time for teacher Dubois (afterwards
+the famous Cardinal Dubois), whose history was singular. He had formerly
+been a valet; but displaying unusual aptitude for learning, had been
+instructed by his master in literature and history, and in due time
+passed into the service of Saint Laurent, who was the Duc de Chartres'
+first instructor. He became so useful and showed so much skill, that
+Saint Laurent made him become an abbe. Thus raised in position, he
+passed much time with the Duc de Chartres, assisting him to prepare his
+lessons, to write his exercises, and to look out words in the dictionary.
+I have seen him thus engaged over and over again, when I used to go and
+play with the Duc de Chartres. As Saint Laurent grew infirm, Dubois
+little by little supplied his place; supplied it well too, and yet
+pleased the young Duke. When Saint Laurent died Dubois aspired to
+succeed him. He had paid his court to the Chevalier de Lorraine, by
+whose influence he was much aided in obtaining his wish. When at last
+appointed successor to Saint Laurent, I never saw a man so glad, nor with
+more reason. The extreme obligation he was under to the Chevalier de
+Lorraine, and still more the difficulty of maintaining himself in his new
+position, attached him more and more to his protector.
+
+It was, then, Dubois that the Chevalier de Lorraine made use of to gain
+the consent of the young Duc de Chartres to the marriage proposed by the
+King. Dubois had, in fact, gained the Duke's confidence, which it was
+easy to do at that age; had made him afraid of his father and of the
+King; and, on the other hand, had filled him with fine hopes and
+expectations. All that Dubois could do, however, when he broke the
+matter of the marriage to the young Duke, was to ward off a direct
+refusal; but that was sufficient for the success of the enterprise.
+Monsieur was already gained, and as soon as the King had a reply from
+Dubois he hastened to broach the affair. A day or two before this,
+however, Madame (mother of the Duc de Chartres) had scent of what was
+going on. She spoke to her son of the indignity of this marriage with
+that force in which she was never wanting, and drew from him a promise
+that he would not consent to it. Thus, he was feeble towards his
+teacher, feeble towards his mother, and there was aversion on the one
+hand and fear on the other, and great embarrassment on all sides.
+
+One day early after dinner I saw M. de Chartres, with a very sad air,
+come out of his apartment and enter the closet of the King. He found his
+Majesty alone with Monsieur. The King spoke very obligingly to the Duc
+de Chartres, said that he wished to see him married; that he offered him
+his daughter, but that he did not intend to constrain him in the matter,
+but left him quite at liberty. This discourse, however, pronounced with
+that terrifying majesty so natural to the King, and addressed to a timid
+young prince, took away his voice, and quite unnerved him. He, thought
+to escape from his slippery position by throwing himself upon Monsieur
+and Madame, and stammeringly replied that the King was master, but that a
+son's will depended upon that of his parents. "What you say is very
+proper," replied the King; "but as soon as you consent to my proposition
+your father and mother will not oppose it." And then turning to Monsieur
+he said, "Is this not true, my brother?" Monsieur consented, as he had
+already done, and the only person remaining to consult was Madame, who
+was immediately sent for.
+
+As soon as she came, the King, making her acquainted with his project,
+said that he reckoned she would not oppose what her husband and her son
+had already agreed to. Madame, who had counted upon the refusal of her
+son, was tongue-tied. She threw two furious glances upon Monsieur and
+upon the Duc de Chartres, and then said that, as they wished it, she had
+nothing to say, made a slight reverence, and went away. Her son
+immediately followed her to explain his conduct; but railing against him,
+with tears in her eyes, she would not listen, and drove him from her
+room. Her husband, who shortly afterwards joined her, met with almost
+the same treatment.
+
+That evening an "Apartment" was held at the palace, as was customary
+three times a week during the winter; the other three evenings being set
+apart for comedy, and the Sunday being free. An Apartment as it was
+called, was an assemblage of all the Court in the grand saloon, from
+seven o'clock in the evening until ten, when the King sat down to table;
+and, after ten, in one of the saloons at the end of the grand gallery
+towards the tribune of the chapel. In the first place there was some
+music; then tables were placed all about for all kinds of gambling; there
+was a 'lansquenet'; at which Monsieur and Monseigneur always played; also
+a billiard-table; in a word, every one was free to play with every one,
+and allowed to ask for fresh tables as all the others were occupied.
+Beyond the billiards was a refreshment-room. All was perfectly lighted.
+At the outset, the King went to the "apartments" very often and played,
+but lately he had ceased to do so. He spent the evening with Madame de
+Maintenon, working with different ministers one after the other. But
+still he wished his courtiers to attend assiduously.
+
+This evening, directly after the music had finished, the King sent for
+Monseigneur and Monsieur, who were already playing at 'lansquenet';
+Madame, who scarcely looked at a party of 'hombre' at which she had
+seated herself; the Duc de Chartres, who, with a rueful visage, was
+playing at chess; and Mademoiselle de Blois, who had scarcely begun to
+appear in society, but who this evening was extraordinarily decked out,
+and who, as yet, knew nothing and suspected nothing; and therefore, being
+naturally very timid, and horribly afraid of the King, believed herself
+sent for in order to be reprimanded, and trembled so that Madame de
+Maintenon took her upon her knees, where she held her, but was scarcely
+able to reassure her. The fact of these royal persons being sent for by
+the King at once made people think that a marriage was in contemplation.
+In a few minutes they returned, and then the announcement was made
+public. I arrived at that moment. I found everybody in clusters, and
+great astonishment expressed upon every face. Madame was walking in the
+gallery with Chateauthiers--her favourite, and worthy of being so.
+She took long strides, her handkerchief in her hand, weeping without
+constraint, speaking pretty loudly, gesticulating; and looking like Ceres
+after the rape of her daughter Proserpine, seeking her in fury, and
+demanding her back from Jupiter. Every one respectfully made way to let
+her pass. Monsieur, who had returned to 'lansquenet', seemed overwhelmed
+with shame, and his son appeared in despair; and the bride-elect was
+marvellously embarrassed and sad. Though very young, and likely to be
+dazzled by such a marriage, she understood what was passing, and feared
+the consequences. Most people appeared full of consternation.
+
+The Apartment, which, however heavy in appearance, was full of interest
+to, me, seemed quite short. It finished by the supper of the King. His
+Majesty appeared quite at ease. Madame's eyes were full of tears, which
+fell from time to time as she looked into every face around, as if in
+search of all our thoughts. Her son, whose eyes too were red, she would
+not give a glance to; nor to Monsieur: all three ate scarcely anything.
+I remarked that the King offered Madame nearly all the dishes that were
+before him, and that she refused with an air of rudeness which did not,
+however, check his politeness. It was furthermore noticeable that, after
+leaving the table, he made to Madame a very marked and very low
+reverence, during which she performed so complete a pirouette, that the
+King on raising his head found nothing but her back before him, removed
+about a step further towards the door.
+
+On the morrow we went as usual to wait in the gallery for the breaking-up
+of the council, and for the King's Mass. Madame came there. Her son
+approached her, as he did every day, to kiss her hand. At that very
+moment she gave him a box on the ear, so sonorous that it was heard
+several steps distant. Such treatment in presence of all the Court
+covered with confusion this unfortunate prince, and overwhelmed the
+infinite number of spectators, of whom I was one, with prodigious
+astonishment.
+
+That day the immense dowry was declared; and on Sunday there was a grand
+ball, that is, a ball opened by a 'branle' which settled the order of the
+dancing throughout the evening. Monseigneur the Duc de Bourgogne danced
+on this occasion for the first time; and led off the 'branle' with
+Mademoiselle. I danced also for the first time at Court. My partner was
+Mademoiselle de Sourches, daughter of the Grand Prevot; she danced
+excellently. I had been that morning to wait on Madame, who could not
+refrain from saying, in a sharp and angry voice, that I was doubtless
+very glad of the promise of so many balls--that this was natural at my
+age; but that, for her part, she was old, and wished they were well over.
+A few days after, the contract of marriage was signed in the closet of
+the King, and in the presence of all the Court. The same day the
+household of the future Duchesse de Chartres was declared. The King gave
+her a first gentleman usher and a Dame d'Atours, until then reserved to
+the daughters of France, and a lady of honour, in order to carry out
+completely so strange a novelty. I must say something about the persons
+who composed this household.
+
+M. de Villars was gentleman usher; he was grandson of a recorder of
+Coindrieu, and one of the best made men in France. There was a great
+deal of fighting in his young days, and he had acquired a reputation for
+courage and skill. To these qualities he owed his fortune. M. de
+Nemours was his first patron, and, in a duel which he had with M. de
+Beaufort, took Villars for second. M. de Nemours was killed; but Villars
+was victorious against his adversary, and passed into the service of the
+Prince de Conti as one of his gentlemen. He succeeded in gaining
+confidence in his new employment; so much so, that the marriage which
+afterwards took place between the Prince de Conti and the niece of
+Cardinal Mazarin was brought about in part by his assistance. He became
+the confidant of the married pair, and their bond: of union with the
+Cardinal. His position gave him an opportunity of mixing in society much
+above him; but on this he never presumed. His face was his, passport
+with the ladies: he was gallant, even discreet; and this means was not
+unuseful to him. He pleased Madame Scarron, who upon the throne never
+forgot the friendships of this kind, so freely intimate, which she had
+formed as a private person. Villars was employed in diplomacy; and from
+honour to honour, at last reached the order of the Saint Esprit, in 1698.
+His wife was full of wit, and scandalously inclined. Both were very
+poor--and always dangled about the Court, where they had many powerful
+friends.
+
+The Marechale de Rochefort was lady of honour. She was of the house of
+Montmorency--a widow--handsome--sprightly; formed by nature to live at
+Court--apt for gallantry and intrigues; full of worldly cleverness, from
+living much in the world, with little cleverness of any other kind,
+nearly enough for any post and any business. M. de Louvois found her
+suited to his taste, and she accommodated herself very well to his purse,
+and to the display she made by this intimacy. She always became the
+friend of every new mistress of the King; and when he favoured Madame de
+Soubise, it was at the Marechale's house that she waited, with closed
+doors, for Bontems, the King's valet, who led her by private ways to his
+Majesty. The Marechale herself has related to me how one day she was
+embarrassed to get rid of the people that Madame de Soubise (who had not
+had time to announce her arrival) found at her house; and how she most
+died of fright lest Bontems should return and the interview be broken off
+if he arrived before the company had departed. The Marechale de
+Rochefort was in this way the friend of Mesdames de la Valliere, de
+Montespan, and de Soubise; and she became the friend of Madame de
+Maintenon, to whom she attached herself in proportion as she saw her
+favour increase. She had, at the marriage of Monseigneur, been made Dame
+d'Atours to the new Dauphiness; and, if people were astonished at that,
+they were also astonished to see her lady of honour to an "illegitimate
+grand-daughter of France."
+
+The Comtesse de Mailly was Dame d'Atours. She was related to Madame de
+Maintenon, to whose favour she owed her marriage with the Comte de
+Mailly. She had come to Paris with all her provincial awkwardness, and,
+from want of wit, had never been able to get rid of it. On the contrary,
+she grafted thereon an immense conceit, caused by the favour of Madame de
+Maintenon. To complete the household, came M. de Fontaine-Martel, poor
+and gouty, who was first master of the horse.
+
+On the Monday before Shrove Tuesday, all the marriage party and the bride
+and bridegroom, superbly dressed, repaired, a little before mid-day, to
+the closet of the King, and afterwards to the chapel. It was arranged,
+as usual, for the Mass of the King, excepting that between his place and
+the altar were two cushions for the bride and bridegroom, who turned
+their backs to the King. Cardinal de Bouillon, in full robes, married
+them, and said Mass. From the chapel all the company went to table: it
+was of horse-shoe shape. The Princes and Princesses of the blood were
+placed at the right and at the left, according to their rank, terminated
+by the two illegitimate children of the King, and, for the first time,
+after them, the Duchesse de Verneuil; so that M. de Verneuil,
+illegitimate son of Henry IV., became thus "Prince of the blood" so many
+years after his death, without having ever suspected it. The Duc d'Uzes
+thought this so amusing that he marched in front of the Duchess, crying
+out, as loud as he could--"Place, place for Madame Charlotte Seguier!"
+In the afternoon the King and Queen of England came to Versailles with
+their Court. There was a great concert; and the play-tables were set
+out. The supper was similar to the dinner. Afterwards the married
+couple were led into the apartment of the new Duchesse de Chartres. The
+Queen of England gave the Duchess her chemise; and the shirt of the Duke
+was given to him by the King, who had at first refused on the plea that
+he was in too unhappy circumstances. The benediction of the bed was
+pronounced by the Cardinal de Bouillon, who kept us all waiting for a
+quarter of an hour; which made people say that such airs little became a
+man returned as he was from a long exile, to which he had been sent
+because he had had the madness to refuse the nuptial benediction to
+Madame la Duchesse unless admitted to the royal banquet.
+
+On Shrove Tuesday, there was a grand toilette of the Duchesse de
+Chartres, to which the King and all the Court came; and in the evening a
+grand ball, similar to that which had just taken place, except that the
+new Duchesse de Chartres was led out by the Duc de Bourgogne. Every one
+wore the same dress, and had the same partner as before.
+
+I cannot pass over in silence a very ridiculous adventure which occurred
+at both of these balls. A son of Montbron, no more made to dance at
+Court than his father was to be chevalier of the order (to which however,
+he was promoted in 1688), was among the company. He had been asked if he
+danced well; and he had replied with a confidence which made every one
+hope that the contrary was the case. Every one was satisfied. From the
+very first bow, he became confused, and he lost step at once. He tried
+to divert attention from his mistake by affected attitudes, and carrying
+his arms high; but this made him only more ridiculous, and excited bursts
+of laughter, which, in despite of the respect due to the person of the
+King (who likewise had great difficulty to hinder himself from laughing),
+degenerated at length into regular hooting. On the morrow, instead of
+flying the Court or holding his tongue, he excused himself by saying that
+the presence of the King had disconcerted him; and promised marvels for
+the ball which was to follow. He was one of my friends, and I felt for
+him, I should even have warned him against a second attempt, if the very
+indifferent success I had met with had not made me fear that my advice
+would be taken in ill part. As soon as he began to dance at the second
+ball, those who were near stood up, those who were far off climbed
+wherever they could get a sight; and the shouts of laughter were mingled
+with clapping of hands. Every one, even the King himself, laughed
+heartily, and most of us quite loud, so that I do not think any one was
+ever treated so before. Montbron disappeared immediately afterwards, and
+did not show himself again for a long time, It was a pity he exposed
+himself to this defeat, for he was an honourable and brave man.
+
+Ash Wednesday put an end to all these sad rejoicings by command, and only
+the expected rejoicings were spoken of. M. du Maine wished to marry.
+The King tried to turn him from it, and said frankly to him, that it was
+not for such as he to make a lineage. But pressed M. by Madame de
+Maintenon, who had educated Maine; and who felt for him as a nurse the
+King resolved to marry him to a daughter of the Prince de Conde. The
+Prince was greatly pleased at the project. He had three daughters for
+M. du Maine to choose from: all three were extremely little. An inch of
+height, that the second had above the others, procured for her the
+preference, much to the grief of the eldest, who was beautiful and
+clever, and who dearly wished to escape from the slavery in which her
+father kept her. The dignity with which she bore her disappointment was
+admired by every one, but it cost her an effort that ruined her health.
+The marriage once arranged, was celebrated on the 19th of March; much in
+the same manner as had been that of the Duc de Chartres. Madame de
+Saint-Vallery was appointed lady of honour to Madame du Maine, and M. de
+Montchevreuil gentleman of the chamber. This last had been one of the
+friends of Madame de Maintenon when she was Madame Scarron.
+Montchevreuil was a very honest man, modest, brave, but thick-headed.
+His wife was a tall creature, meagre, and yellow, who laughed sillily,
+and showed long and ugly teeth; who was extremely devout, of a compassed
+mien, and who only wanted a broomstick to be a perfect witch. Without
+possessing any wit, she had so captivated Madame de Maintenon, that the
+latter saw only with her eyes. All the ladies of the Court were under
+her surveillance: they depended upon her for their distinctions, and
+often for their fortunes. Everybody, from the ministers to the daughters
+of the King, trembled before her. The King himself showed her the most
+marked consideration. She was of all the Court journeys, and always with
+Madame de Maintenon.
+
+The marriage of M. du Maine caused a rupture between the Princess de
+Conde and the Duchess of Hanover her sister, who had strongly desired
+M. du Maine for one of her daughters, and who pretended that the Prince
+de Conde had cut the grass from under her feet. She lived in Paris,
+making a display quite unsuited to her rank, and had even carried it so
+far as to go about with two coaches and many liveried servants. With
+this state one day she met in the streets the coach of Madame de
+Bouillon, which the servants of the German woman forced to give way to
+their mistress's. The Bouillons, piqued to excess, resolved to be
+revenged. One day, when they knew the Duchess was going to the play,
+they went there attended by a numerous livery. Their servants had orders
+to pick a quarrel with those of the Duchess. They executed these orders
+completely; the servants of the Duchess were thoroughly thrashed--the
+harness of her horses cut--her coaches maltreated. The Duchess made a
+great fuss, and complained to the King, but he would not mix himself in
+the matter. She was so outraged, that she resolved to retire into
+Germany, and in a very few months did so.
+
+My year of service in the Musketeers being over, the King, after a time,
+gave me, without purchase, a company of cavalry in the Royal Roussillon,
+in garrison at Mons, and just then very incomplete. I thanked the King,
+who replied to me very obligingly. The company was entirely made up in a
+fortnight. This was towards the middle of April.
+
+A little before, that is, on the 27th of March, the King made seven new
+marechals of France. They were the Comte de Choiseul, the Duc de
+Villeroy, the Marquis de Joyeuse, Tourville, the Duc de Noailles, the
+Marquis de Boufllers, and Catinat. These promotions caused very great
+discontent. Complaint was more especially made that the Duc de Choiseul
+had not been named. The cause of his exclusion is curious. His wife,
+beautiful, with the form of a goddess--notorious for the number of her
+gallantries--was very intimate with the Princess de Conti. The King, not
+liking such a companion for his daughter, gave the Duc de Choiseul to
+understand that the public disorders of the Duchess offended him. If the
+Duke would send her into a convent, the Marechal's baton would be his.
+The Duc de Choiseul, indignant that the reward of his services in the war
+was attached to a domestic affair which concerned himself alone, refused
+promotion on such terms. He thus lost the baton; and, what was worse for
+him, the Duchess soon after was driven from Court, and so misbehaved
+herself, that at last he could endure her no longer, drove her away
+himself, and separated from her for ever.
+
+Mademoiselle la grande Mademoiselle, as she was called, to distinguish
+her from the daughter of Monsieur--or to call her by her name,
+Mademoiselle de Montpensier, died on Sunday the 5th of April, at her
+palace in the Luxembourg, sixty-three years of age, and the richest
+private princess in Europe. She interested herself much in those who
+were related to her, even to the lowest degree, and wore mourning for
+them, however far removed. It is well known, from all the memoirs of the
+time, that she was greatly in love with M. de Lauzun, and that she
+suffered much when the King withheld his permission to their marriage.
+M. de Lauzun was so enraged, that he could not contain himself, and at
+last went so far beyond bounds, that he was sent prisoner to Pignerol,
+where he remained, extremely ill-treated, for ten years. The affection
+of Mademoiselle did not grow cold by separation. The King profited by
+it, to make M. de Lauzun buy his liberty at her expense, and thus
+enriched M. du Maine. He always gave out that he had married
+Mademoiselle, and appeared before the King, after her death, in a long
+cloak, which gave great displeasure. He also assumed ever afterwards a
+dark brown livery, as an external expression of his grief for
+Mademoiselle, of whom he had portraits everywhere. As for Mademoiselle,
+the King never quite forgave her the day of Saint Antoine; and I heard
+him once at supper reproach her in jest, for having fired the cannons of
+the Bastille upon his troops. She was a little embarrassed, but she got
+out of the difficulty very well.
+
+Her body was laid out with great state, watched for several days, two
+hours at a time, by a duchess or a princess, and by two ladies of
+quality. The Comtesse de Soissons refused to take part in this watching,
+and would not obey until the King threatened to dismiss her from the
+Court. A very ridiculous accident happened in the midst of this
+ceremony. The urn containing the entrails fell over, with a frightful
+noise and a stink sudden and intolerable. The ladies, the heralds, the
+psalmodists, everybody present fled, in confusion. Every one tried to
+gain the door first. The entrails had been badly embalmed, and it was
+their fermentation which caused the accident. They were soon perfumed
+and put in order, and everybody laughed at this mishap. These entrails
+were in the end carried to the Celestins, the heart to Val de Grace, and
+the body to the Cathedral of Saint Denis, followed by a numerous company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+On May 3d 1693, the King announced his intention of placing himself at
+the head of his army in Flanders, and, having made certain alterations in
+the rule of precedence of the marechale of France, soon after began the
+campaign. I have here, however, to draw attention to my private affairs,
+for on the above-mentioned day, at ten o'clock in the morning, I had the
+misfortune to lose my father. He was eighty-seven years of age, and had
+been in bad health for some time, with a touch of gout during the last
+three weeks. On the day in question he had dined as usual with his
+friends, had retired to bed, and, while talking to those around him
+there, all at once gave three violent sighs. He was dead almost before
+it was perceived that he was ill; there was no more oil in the lamp.
+
+I learned this sad news after seeing the King to bed; his Majesty was to
+purge himself on the morrow. The night was given to the just sentiments
+of nature; but the next day I went early to visit Bontems, and then the
+Duc de Beauvilliers, who promised to ask the King, as soon as his
+curtains were opened, to grant me the--offices my father had held. The
+King very graciously complied with his request, and in the afternoon said
+many obliging things to me, particularly expressing his regret that my
+father had not been able to receive the last sacraments. I was able to
+say that a very short time before, my father had retired for several days
+to Saint Lazare, where was his confessor, and added something on the
+piety of his life. The King exhorted me to behave well, and promised to
+take care of me. When my father was first taken ill; several persons,
+amongst others, D'Aubigne, brother of Madame de Maintenon, had asked for
+the governorship of Blaye. But the King refused them all, and said very
+bluntly to D'Aubigne, "Is there not a son?" He had, in fact, always
+given my father to understand I should succeed him, although generally he
+did not allow offices to descend from father to son.
+
+Let me say a few words about my father. Our family in my grandfather's
+time had become impoverished; and my father was early sent to the Court
+as page to Louis XIII. It was very customary then for the sons of
+reduced gentlemen to accept this occupation. The King was passionately
+fond of hunting, an amusement that was carried on with far less state,
+without that abundance of dogs, and followers, and convenience of all
+kinds which his successor introduced, and especially without roads
+through the forests. My father, who noticed the impatience of the King
+at the delays that occurred in changing horses, thought of turning the
+head of the horse he brought towards the crupper of that which the King
+quitted. By this means, without putting his feet to the ground, his
+Majesty, who was active, jumped from one horse to another. He was so
+pleased that whenever he changed horses he asked for this same page.
+From that time my father grew day by day in favour. The King made him
+Chief Ecuyer, and in course of years bestowed other rewards upon him,
+created him Duke and peer of France, and gave him the Government of
+Blaye. My father, much attached to the King, followed him in all his
+expeditions, several times commanded the cavalry of the army, was
+commander-in-chief of all the arrierebans of the kingdom, and acquired
+great reputation in the field for his valour and skill. With Cardinal
+Richelieu he was intimate without sympathy, and more than once, but
+notably on the famous Day of the Dupes, rendered signal service to that
+minister. My father used often to be startled out of his sleep in the
+middle of the night by a valet, with a taper in his hand, drawing the
+curtain--having behind him the Cardinal de Richelieu, who would often
+take the taper and sit down upon the bed and exclaim that he was a lost
+man, and ask my father's advice upon news that he had received or on
+quarrels he had had with the King. When all Paris was in consternation
+at the success of the Spaniards, who had crossed the frontier, taken
+Corbie, and seized all the country as far as Compiegne, the King insisted
+on my father being present at the council which was then held. The
+Cardinal de Richelieu maintained that the King should retreat beyond the
+Seine, and all the assembly seemed of that opinion. But the King in a
+speech which lasted a quarter of an hour opposed this, and said that to
+retreat at such a moment would be to increase the general disorder. Then
+turning to my father he ordered him to be prepared to depart for Corbie
+on the morrow, with as many of his men as he could get ready. The
+histories and the memoirs of the time show that this bold step saved the
+state. The Cardinal, great man as he was, trembled, until the first
+appearance of success, when he grew bold enough to join the King. This
+is a specimen of the conduct of that weak King governed by that first
+minister to whom poets and historians have given the glory they have
+stripped from his master; as, for instance, all the works of the siege of
+Rochelle, and the invention and unheard-of success of the celebrated
+dyke, all solely due to the late King!
+
+Louis XIII. loved my father; but he could scold him at times. On two
+occasions he did so. The first, as my father has related to me, was on
+account of the Duc de Bellegarde. The Duke was in disgrace, and had been
+exiled. My father, who was a friend of his, wished to write to him one
+day, and for want of other leisure, being then much occupied, took the
+opportunity of the King's momentary absence to carry out his desire.
+Just as he was finishing his letter, the King came in; my father tried to
+hide the paper, but the eyes of the King were too quick for him. "What
+is that paper?" said he. My father, embarrassed, admitted that it was a
+few words he had written to M. de Bellegarde.
+
+"Let me see it," said the King; and he took the paper and read it.
+"I don't find fault with you," said he, "for writing to your friends,
+although in disgrace, for I know you will write nothing improper; but
+what displeases me is, that you should fail in the respect you owe to a
+duke and peer, in that, because he is exiled, you should omit to address
+him as Monseigneur;" and then tearing the letter in two, he added, "Write
+it again after the hunt, and put, Monseigneur, as you ought." My father
+was very glad to be let off so easily.
+
+The other reprimand was upon a more serious subject. The King was really
+enamoured of Mademoiselle d'Hautefort. My father, young and gallant,
+could not comprehend why he did not gratify his love. He believed his
+reserve to arise from timidity, and under this impression proposed one
+day to the King to be his ambassador and to bring the affair to a
+satisfactory conclusion. The King allowed him to speak to the end, and
+then assumed a severe air. "It is true," said he, "that I am enamoured
+of her, that I feel it, that I seek her, that I speak of her willingly,
+and think of her still more willingly; it is true also that I act thus in
+spite of myself, because I am mortal and have this weakness; but the more
+facility I have as King to gratify myself, the more I ought to be on my
+guard against sin and scandal. I pardon you this time, but never address
+to me a similar discourse again if you wish that I should continue to
+love you." This was a thunderbolt for my father; the scales fell from
+his eyes; the idea of the King's timidity in love disappeared before the
+display of a virtue so pure and so triumphant.
+
+My father's career was for a long time very successful, but unfortunately
+he had an enemy who brought it to an end. This enemy was M. de Chavigny:
+he was secretary of state, and had also the war department. Either from
+stupidity or malice he had left all the towns in Picardy badly supported;
+a circumstance the Spaniards knew well how to profit by when they took
+Corbie in 1636. My father had an uncle who commanded in one of these
+towns, La Capelle, and who had several times asked for ammunition and
+stores without success. My father spoke upon this subject to Chavigny,
+to the Cardinal de Richelieu, and to the King, but with no good effect.
+La Capelle, left without resources, fell like the places around. As I
+have said before, Louis XIII. did not long allow the Spaniards to enjoy
+the advantages they had gained. All the towns in Picardy were soon
+retaken, and the King, urged on by Chavigny, determined to punish the
+governors of these places for surrendering them so easily. My father's
+uncle was included with the others. This injustice was not to be borne.
+My father represented the real state of the case and used every effort,
+to save his uncle, but it was in vain. Stung to the quick he demanded
+permission to retire, and was allowed to do so. Accordingly, at the
+commencement of 1637, he left for Blaye; and remained there until the
+death of Cardinal Richelieu. During this retirement the King frequently
+wrote to him, in a language they had composed so as to speak before
+people without being understood; and I possess still many of these
+letters, with much regret that I am ignorant of their contents.
+
+Chavigny served my father another ill turn. At the Cardinal's death my
+father had returned to the Court and was in greater favour than ever.
+Just before Louis XIII. died he gave my father the place of first master
+of the horse, but left his name blank in the paper fixing the
+appointment. The paper was given into the hands of Chavigny. At the
+King's death he had the villainy, in concert with the Queen-regent, to
+fill in the name of Comte d'Harcourt, instead of that the King had
+instructed him of. The indignation of my father was great, but, as he
+could obtain no redress, he retired once again to his Government of
+Blaye. Notwithstanding the manner in which he had been treated by the
+Queen-regent, he stoutly defended her cause when the civil war broke out,
+led by M. le Prince. He garrisoned Blaye at his own expense, incurring
+thereby debts which hung upon him all his life, and which I feel the
+effects of still, and repulsed all attempts of friends to corrupt his
+loyalty. The Queen and Mazarin could not close their eyes to his
+devotion, and offered him, while the war was still going on, a marechal's
+baton, or the title of foreign prince. But he refused both, and the
+offer was not renewed when the war ended. These disturbances over, and
+Louis XIV. being married, my father came again to Paris, where he had
+many friends. He had married in 1644, and had had, as I have said, one
+only daughter. His wife dying in 1670, and leaving him without male
+children, he determined, however much he might be afflicted at the loss
+he had sustained, to marry again, although old. He carried out his
+resolution in October of the same year, and was very pleased with the
+choice he had made. He liked his new wife so much, in fact, that when
+Madame de Montespan obtained for her a place at the Court, he declined it
+at once. At his age--it was thus he wrote to Madame de Montespan, he had
+taken a wife not for the Court, but for himself. My mother, who was
+absent when the letter announcing the appointment was sent, felt much
+regret, but never showed it.
+
+Before I finish this account of my father, I will here relate adventures
+which happened to him, and which I ought to have placed before his second
+marriage. A disagreement arose between my father and M. de Vardes, and
+still existed long after everybody thought they were reconciled. It was
+ultimately agreed that upon an early day, at about twelve o'clock, they
+should meet at the Porte St. Honore, then a very deserted spot, and that
+the coach of M. de Vardes should run against my father's, and a general
+quarrel arise between masters and servants. Under cover of this quarrel,
+a duel could easily take place, and would seem simply to arise out of the
+broil there and then occasioned. On the morning appointed, my father
+called as usual upon several of his friends, and, taking one of them for
+second, went to the Porte St. Honore. There everything fell out just as
+had been arranged. The coach of M. de Vardes struck against the other.
+My father leaped out, M. de Vardes did the same, and the duel took place.
+M. de Vardes fell, and was disarmed. My father wished to make him beg
+for his life; he would not do this, but confessed himself vanquished.
+My father's coach being the nearest, M. de Vardes got into it. He
+fainted on the road. They separated afterwards like brave people, and
+went their way. Madame de Chatillon, since of Mecklenburg, lodged in one
+of the last houses near the Porte St. Honore, and at the noise made by
+the coaches, put, her head to the window, and coolly looked at the whole
+of the combat. It soon made a great noise. My father was complimented
+everywhere. M. de Vardes was sent for ten or twelve days to the
+Bastille. My father and he afterwards became completely reconciled to
+each other.
+
+The other adventure was of gentler ending. The Memoirs of M. de la
+Rochefoucauld appeared. They contained certain atrocious and false
+statements against my father, who so severely resented the calumny, that
+he seized a pen, and wrote upon the margin of the book, "The author has
+told a lie." Not content with this, he went to the bookseller, whom he
+discovered with some difficulty, for the book was not sold publicly at
+first. He asked to see all the copies of the work, prayed, promised,
+threatened, and at last succeeded in obtaining them. Then he took a pen
+and wrote in all of them the same marginal note. The astonishment of the
+bookseller may be imagined. He was not long in letting M. de la
+Rochefoucauld know what had happened to his books: it may well be
+believed that he also was astonished. This affair made great noise. My
+father, having truth on his side, wished to obtain public satisfaction
+from M. de la Rochefoucauld. Friends, however, interposed, and the
+matter was allowed to drop. But M. de la Rochefoucauld never pardoned my
+father; so true it is that we less easily forget the injuries we inflict
+than those that we receive.
+
+My father passed the rest of his long life surrounded by friends, and
+held in high esteem by the King and his ministers. His advice was often
+sought for by them, and was always acted upon. He never consoled himself
+for the loss of Louis XIII., to whom he owed his advancement and his
+fortune. Every year he kept sacred the day of his death, going to Saint-
+Denis, or holding solemnities in his own house if at Blaye. Veneration,
+gratitude, tenderness, ever adorned his lips every time he spoke of that
+monarch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+After having paid the last duties to my father I betook myself to Mons to
+join the Royal Roussillon cavalry regiment, in which I was captain. The
+King, after stopping eight or ten days with the ladies at Quesnoy, sent
+them to Namur, and put himself at the head of the army of M. de
+Boufflers, and camped at Gembloux, so that his left was only half a
+league distant from the right of M. de Luxembourg. The Prince of Orange
+was encamped at the Abbey of Pure, was unable to receive supplies, and
+could not leave his position without having the two armies of the King to
+grapple with: he entrenched himself in haste, and bitterly repented
+having allowed himself to be thus driven into a corner. We knew
+afterwards that he wrote several times to his intimate friend the Prince
+de Vaudemont, saying that he was lost, and that nothing short of a
+miracle could save him.
+
+We were in this position, with an army in every way infinitely superior
+to that of the Prince of Orange, and with four whole months before us to
+profit by our strength, when the King declared on the 8th of June that he
+should return to Versailles, and sent off a large detachment of the army
+into Germany. The surprise of the Marechal de Luxembourg was without
+bounds. He represented the facility with which the Prince of Orange
+might now be beaten with one army and pursued by another; and how
+important it was to draw off detachments of the Imperial forces from
+Germany into Flanders, and how, by sending an army into Flanders instead
+of Germany, the whole of the Low Countries would be in our power. But
+the King would not change his plans, although M. de Luxembourg went down
+on his knees and begged him not to allow such a glorious opportunity to
+escape. Madame de Maintenon, by her tears when she parted from his
+Majesty, and by her letters since, had brought about this resolution.
+
+The news had not spread on the morrow, June 9th. I chanced to go alone
+to the quarters of M. de Luxembourg, and was surprised to find not a soul
+there; every one had gone to the King's army. Pensively bringing my
+horse to a stand, I was ruminating on a fact so strange, and debating
+whether I should return to my tent or push on to the royal camp, when up
+came M. le Prince de Conti with a single page and a groom leading a
+horse. "What are you doing there?" cried he, laughing at my surprise.
+Thereupon he told me he was going to say adieu to the King, and advised
+me to do likewise. "What do you mean by saying Adieu?" answered I.
+He sent his servants to a little distance, and begged me to do the same,
+and with shouts of laughter told me about the King's retreat, making
+tremendous fun of him, despite my youth, for he had confidence in me.
+I was astonished. We soon after met the whole company coming back;
+and the great people went aside to talk and sneer. I then proceeded to
+pay my respects to the King, by whom I was honourably received.
+Surprise, however, was expressed by all faces, and indignation by some.
+
+The effect of the King's retreat, indeed, was incredible, even amongst
+the soldiers and the people. The general officers could not keep silent
+upon it, and the inferior officers spoke loudly, with a license that
+could not be restrained. All through the army, in the towns, and even at
+Court, it was talked about openly. The courtiers, generally so glad to
+find themselves again at Versailles, now declared that they were ashamed
+to be there; as for the enemy, they could not contain their surprise and
+joy. The Prince of Orange said that the retreat was a miracle he could
+not have hoped for; that he could scarcely believe in it, but that it had
+saved his army, and the whole of the Low Countries. In the midst of all
+this excitement the King arrived with the ladies, on the 25th of June, at
+Versailles.
+
+We gained some successes, however, this year. Marechal de Villeroy took
+Huy in three days, losing only a sub-engineer and some soldiers. On the
+29th of July we attacked at dawn the Prince of Orange at Neerwinden, and
+after twelve hours of hard fighting, under a blazing sun, entirely routed
+him. I was of the third squadron of the Royal Roussillon, and made five
+charges. One of the gold ornaments of my coat was torn away, but I
+received no wound. During the battle our brigadier, Quoadt, was killed
+before my eyes. The Duc de Feuillade became thus commander of the
+brigade. We missed him immediately, and for more than half an hour saw
+nothing of him; he had gone to make his toilette. When he returned he
+was powdered and decked out in a fine red surtotxt, embroidered with
+silver, and all his trappings and those of his horse were magnificent; he
+acquitted himself with distinction.
+
+Our cavalry stood so well against the fire from the enemy's guns, that
+the Prince of Orange lost all patience, and turning away, exclaimed--
+"Oh, the insolent nation!" He fought until the last, and retired with
+the Elector of Hanover only when he saw there was no longer any hope.
+After the battle my people brought us a leg of mutton and a bottle of
+wine, which they had wisely saved from the previous evening, and we
+attacked them in good earnest, as may be believed.
+
+The enemy lost about twenty thousand men, including a large number of
+officers; our loss was not more than half that number. We took all their
+cannon, eight mortars, many artillery waggons, a quantity of standards,
+and some pairs of kettle-drums. The victory was complete.
+
+Meanwhile, the army which had been sent to Germany under the command of
+Monseigneur and of the Marechal de Lorges, did little or nothing. The
+Marechal wished to attack Heilbronn, but Monseigneur was opposed to it;
+and, to the great regret of the principal generals and of the troops, the
+attack was not made. Monseigneur returned early to Versailles.
+
+At sea we were more active. The rich merchant fleet of Smyrna was
+attacked by Tourville; fifty vessels were burnt or sunk, and twenty-seven
+taken, all richly freighted. This campaign cost the English and Dutch
+dear. It is believed their loss was more than thirty millions of ecus.
+
+The season finished with the taking of Charleroy. On the 16th of
+September the Marechal de Villeroy, supported by M. de Luxembourg, laid
+siege to it, and on the 11th of October, after a good defence, the place
+capitulated. Our loss was very slight. Charleroy taken, our troops went
+into winter-quarters, and I returned to Court, like the rest. The roads
+and the posting service were in great disorder. Amongst other adventures
+I met with, I was driven by a deaf and dumb postillion, who stuck me fast
+in the mud when near Quesnoy. At Pont Saint-Maxence all the horses were
+retained by M. de Luxembourg. Fearing I might be left behind, I told the
+postmaster that I was governor (which was true), and that I would put him
+in jail if he did not give me horses. I should have been sadly puzzled
+how to do it; but he was simple enough to believe me, and gave the
+horses. I arrived, however, at last at Paris, and found a change at the
+Court, which surprised me.
+
+Daquin--first doctor of the King and creature of Madame de Montespan--had
+lost nothing of his credit by her removal, but had never been able to get
+on well with Madame de Maintenon, who looked coldly upon all the friends
+of her predecessor. Daquin had a son, an abbe, and wearied the King with
+solicitations on his behalf. Madame de Maintenon seized the opportunity,
+when the King was more than usually angry with Daquin, to obtain his
+dismissal: it came upon him like a thunderbolt. On the previous evening
+the King had spoken to him for a long time as usual, and had never
+treated him better. All the Court was astonished also. Fagon, a very
+skilful and learned man, was appointed in his place at the instance of
+Madame de Maintenon.
+
+Another event excited less surprise than interest. On Sunday, the 29th
+of November, the King learned that La Vauguyon had killed himself in his
+bed, that morning, by firing twice into his throat. I must say a few
+words about this Vauguyon. He was one of the pettiest and poorest
+gentlemen of France: he was well-made, but very swarthy, with Spanish
+features, had a charming voice, played the guitar and lute very well, and
+was skilled in the arts of gallantry. By these talents he had succeeded,
+in finding favour with Madame de Beauvais, much regarded at the Court as
+having been the King's first mistress. I have seen her--old, blear-eyed,
+and half blind,--at the toilette of the Dauphiness of Bavaria, where
+everybody courted her, because she was still much considered by the King.
+Under this protection La Vauguyon succeeded well; was several times sent
+as ambassador to foreign countries; was made councillor of state, and to
+the scandal of everybody, was raised to the Order in 1688. Of late
+years, having no appointments, he had scarcely the means of living, and
+endeavoured, but without success, to improve his condition.
+
+Poverty by degrees turned his brain; but a long time passed before it was
+perceived. The first proof that he gave of it was at the house of Madame
+Pelot, widow of the Chief President of the Rouen parliament. Playing at
+brelan one evening, she offered him a stake, and because he would not
+accept it bantered him, and playfully called him a poltroon. He said
+nothing, but waited until all the rest of the company had left the room;
+and when he found himself alone with Madame Pelot, he bolted the door,
+clapped his hat on his head, drove her up against the chimney, and
+holding her head between his two fists, said he knew no reason why he
+should not pound it into a jelly, in order to teach her to call him
+poltroon again. The poor woman was horribly frightened, and made
+perpendicular curtseys between his two fists, and all sorts of excuses.
+At last he let her go, more dead than alive. She had the generosity to
+say no syllable of this occurrence until after his death; she even
+allowed him to come to the house as usual, but took care never to be
+alone with him.
+
+One day, a long time after this, meeting, in a gallery, at Fontainebleau,
+M. de Courtenay, La Vauguyon drew his sword, and compelled the other to
+draw also, although there had never been the slightest quarrel between
+them. They were soon separated and La Vauguyon immediately fled to the
+King, who was just then in his private closet, where nobody ever entered
+unless expressly summoned. But La Vauguyon turned the key, and, in spite
+of the usher on guard, forced his way in. The King in great emotion
+asked him what was the matter. La Vauguyon on his knees said he had been
+insulted by M. de Courtenay and demanded pardon for having drawn his
+sword in the palace. His Majesty, promising to examine the matter, with
+great trouble got rid of La Vauguyon. As nothing could be made of it, M.
+de Courtenay declaring he had been insulted by La Vauguyon and forced to
+draw his sword, and the other telling the same tale, both were sent to
+the Bastille. After a short imprisonment they were released, and
+appeared at the Court as usual.
+
+Another adventure, which succeeded this, threw some light upon the state
+of affairs. Going to Versailles, one day, La Vauguyon met a groom of the
+Prince de Conde leading a saddled horse, he stopped the man, descended
+from his coach, asked whom the horse belonged to, said that the Prince
+would not object to his riding it, and leaping upon the animal's back,
+galloped off. The groom, all amazed, followed him. La Vauguyon rode on
+until he reached the Bastille, descended there, gave a gratuity to the
+man, and dismissed him: he then went straight to the governor of the
+prison, said he had had the misfortune to displease the King, and begged
+to be confined there. The governor, having no orders to do so, refused;
+and sent off an express for instructions how to act. In reply he was
+told not to receive La Vauguyon, whom at last, after great difficulty, he
+prevailed upon to go away. This occurrence made great noise. Yet even
+afterwards the King continued to receive La Vauguyon at the Court, and to
+affect to treat him well, although everybody else avoided him and was
+afraid of him. His poor wife became so affected by these public
+derangements, that she retired from Paris, and shortly afterwards died.
+This completed her husband's madness; he survived her only a month, dying
+by his own hand, as I have mentioned. During the last two years of his
+life he carried pistols in his carriage, and frequently pointed them at
+his coachman and postilion. It is certain that without the assistance of
+M. de Beauvais he would often have been brought to the last extremities.
+Beauvais frequently spoke of him to the King; and it is inconceivable
+that having raised this man to such a point; and having always shown him
+particular kindness, his Majesty should perseveringly have left him to
+die of hunger and become mad from misery.
+
+The year finished without any remarkable occurrence.
+
+My mother; who had been much disquieted for me during the campaign,
+desired strongly that I should not make another without being married.
+Although very young, I had no repugnance to marry, but wished to do so
+according to my own inclinations. With a large establishment I felt very
+lonely in a country where credit and consideration do more than all the
+rest. Without uncle, aunt, cousins-German, or near relatives, I found
+myself, I say, extremely solitary.
+
+Among my best friends, as he had been the friend of my father; was the
+Duc de Beauvilliers. He had always shown me much affection, and I felt a
+great desire to unite myself to his family: My mother approved of my
+inclination, and gave me an exact account of my estates and possessions.
+I carried it to Versailles, and sought a private interview with M. de
+Beauvilliers. At eight o'clock the same evening he received me alone in
+the cabinet of Madame de Beauvilliers. After making my compliments to
+him, I told him my wish, showed him the state of my affairs, and said
+that all I demanded of him was one of his daughters in marriage, and that
+whatever contract he thought fit to draw up would be signed by my mother
+and myself without examination.
+
+The Duke, who had fixed his eyes upon me all this time, replied like a
+man penetrated with gratitude by the offer I had made. He said, that of
+his eight daughters the eldest was between fourteen and fifteen years
+old; the second much deformed, and in no way marriageable; the third
+between twelve and thirteen years of age, and the rest were children: the
+eldest wished to enter a convent, and had shown herself firm upon that
+point. He seemed inclined to make a difficulty of his want of fortune;
+but, reminding him of the proposition I had made, I said that it was not
+for fortune I had come to him, not even for his daughter, whom I had
+never seen; that it was he and Madame de Beauvilliers who had charmed me,
+and whom I wished to marry!
+
+"But," said he, "if my eldest daughter wishes absolutely to enter a
+convent?"
+
+"Then," replied I, "I ask the third of you." To this he objected, on the
+ground that if he gave the dowry of the first to the third daughter, and
+the first afterwards changed her mind and wished to marry, he should be
+thrown into an embarrassment. I replied that I would take the third as
+though the first were to be married, and that if she were not, the
+difference between what he destined for her and what he destined for the
+third, should be given to me. The Duke, raising his eyes to heaven,
+protested that he had never been combated in this manner, and that he was
+obliged to gather up all his forces in order to prevent himself yielding
+to me that very instant.
+
+On the next day, at half-past three, I had another interview with M. de
+Beauvilliers. With much tenderness he declined my proposal, resting his
+refusal upon the inclination his daughter had displayed for the convent,
+upon his little wealth, if, the marriage of the third being made, she
+should change her mind--and upon other reasons. He spoke to me with much
+regret and friendship, and I to him in the same manner; and we separated,
+unable any longer to speak to each other. Two days after, however, I had
+another interview with him by his appointment. I endeavoured to overcome
+the objections that he made, but all in vain. He could not give me his
+third daughter with the first unmarried, and he would not force her, he
+said, to change her wish of retiring from the world. His words, pious
+and elevated, augmented my respect for him, and my desire for the
+marriage. In the evening, at the breaking up of the appointment, I could
+not prevent myself whispering in his ear that I should never live happily
+with anybody but his daughter, and without waiting for a reply hastened
+away. I had the next evening, at eight o'clock, an interview with Madame
+de Beauvilliers. I argued with her with such prodigious ardor that she
+was surprised, and, although she did not give way, she said she would be
+inconsolable for the loss of me, repeating the same tender and flattering
+things her husband had said before, and with the same effusion of
+feeling.
+
+I had yet another interview with M. de Beauvilliers. He showed even more
+affection for me than before, but I could not succeed in putting aside
+his scruples. He unbosomed himself afterwards to one of our friends, and
+in his bitterness said he could only console himself by hoping that his
+children and mine might some day intermarry, and he prayed me to go and
+pass some days at Paris, in order to allow him to seek a truce to his
+grief in my absence. We both were in want of it. I have judged it
+fitting to give these details, for they afford a key to my exceeding
+intimacy with M. de Beauvilliers, which otherwise, considering the
+difference in our ages, might appear incomprehensible.
+
+There was nothing left for me but to look out for another marriage. One
+soon presented itself, but as soon fell to the ground; and I went to La
+Trappe to console myself for the impossibility of making an alliance with
+the Duc de Beauvilliers.
+
+La Trappe is a place so celebrated and so well known, and its reformer so
+famous, that I shall say but little about it. I will, however, mention
+that this abbey is five leagues from La Ferme-au-Vidame, or Arnold, which
+is the real distinctive name of this Ferme among so many other Fetes in
+France, which have preserved the generic name of what they have been,
+that is to say, forts or fortresses ('freitas'). My father had been very
+intimate with M. de la Trappe, and had taken me to him.
+
+Although I was very young then, M. de la Trappe charmed me, and the
+sanctity of the place enchanted me. Every year I stayed some days there,
+sometimes a week at a time, and was never tired of admiring this great
+and distinguished man. He loved me as a son, and I respected him as
+though he were any father. This intimacy, singular at my age, I kept
+secret from everybody, and only went to the convent clandestinely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+On my return from La Trappe, I became engaged in an affair which made a
+great noise, and which had many results for me.
+
+M. de Luxembourg, proud of his successes, and of the applause of the
+world at his victories, believed himself sufficiently strong to claim
+precedence over seventeen dukes, myself among the number; to step, in
+fact, from the eighteenth rank, that he held amongst the peers, to the
+second. The following are the names and the order in precedence of the
+dukes he wished to supersede:
+
+The Duc d'Elboeuf; the Duc de Montbazon; the Duc de Ventadour; the Duc de
+Vendome; the Duc de la Tremoille; the Duc de Sully; the Duc de Chevreuse,
+the son (minor) of the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres-Gondi; the Duc de
+Brissac; Charles d'Albert, called d'Ailly; the Duc de Richelieu; the Duc
+de Saint-Simon; the Duc de la Rochefoucauld; the Duc de la Force; the Duc
+de Valentinois; the Duc de Rohan; the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+To explain this pretension of M. de Luxembourg, I must give some details
+respecting him and the family whose name he bore. He was the only son of
+M. de Bouteville, and had married a descendant of Francois de Luxembourg,
+Duke of Piney, created Peer of France in 1581. It was a peerage which,
+in default of male successors, went to the female, but this descendant
+was not heir to it. She was the child of a second marriage, and by a
+first marriage her mother had given birth to a son and a daughter, who
+were the inheritors of the peerage, both of whom were still living. The
+son was, however, an idiot, had been declared incapable of attending to
+his affairs, and was shut up in Saint Lazare, at Paris. The daughter had
+taken the veil, and was mistress of the novices at the Abbaye-aux-Bois.
+The peerage had thus, it might almost be said, become extinct, for it was
+vested in an idiot, who could not marry (to prevent him doing so, he had
+been made a deacon, and he was bound in consequence to remain single),
+and in a nun, who was equally bound by her vows to the same state of
+celibacy.
+
+When M. de Bouteville, for that was his only title then, married, he took
+the arms and the name of Luxembourg. He did more. By powerful
+influence--notably that of his patron the Prince de Conde--he released
+the idiot deacon from his asylum, and the nun from her convent, and
+induced them both to surrender to him their possessions and their titles.
+This done, he commenced proceedings at once in order to obtain legal
+recognition of his right to the dignities he had thus got possession of.
+He claimed to be acknowledged Duc de Piney, with all the privileges
+attached to that title as a creation of 1581. Foremost among these
+privileges was that of taking precedence of all dukes whose title did not
+go back so far as that year. Before any decision was given either for or
+against this claim, he was made Duc de Piney by new letters patent,
+dating from 1662, with a clause which left his pretensions to the title
+of 1581 by no means affected by this new creation. M. de Luxembourg,
+however, seemed satisfied with what he had obtained, and was apparently
+disposed to pursue his claim no further. He was received as Duke and
+Peer in the Parliament, took his seat in the last rank after all the
+other peers, and allowed his suit to drop. Since then he had tried
+successfully to gain it by stealth, but for several years nothing more
+had been heard of it. Now, however, he recommenced it, and with every
+intention, as we soon found, to stop at no intrigue or baseness in order
+to carry his point.
+
+Nearly everybody was in his favour. The Court, though not the King, was
+almost entirely for him; and the town, dazzled by the splendour of his
+exploits, was devoted to him. The young men regarded him as the
+protector of their debauches; for, notwithstanding his age, his conduct
+was as free as theirs. He had captivated the troops and the general
+officers.
+
+In the Parliament he had a staunch supporter in Harlay, the Chief
+President, who led that great body at his will, and whose devotion he had
+acquired to such a degree, that he believed that to undertake and succeed
+were only the same things, and that this grand affair would scarcely cost
+him a winter to carry.
+
+Let me say something more of this Harlay.
+
+Descended from two celebrated magistrates, Achille d'Harlay and
+Christopher De Thou, Harlay imitated their gravity, but carried it to a
+cynical extent, affected their disinterestedness and modesty, but
+dishonoured the first by his conduct, and the second by a refined pride
+which he endeavoured without success to conceal. He piqued himself,
+above all things, upon his probity and justice, but the mask soon fell.
+Between Peter and Paul he maintained the strictest fairness, but as soon
+as he perceived interest or favour to be acquired, he sold himself. This
+trial will show him stripped of all disguise. He was learned in the law;
+in letters he was second to no one; he was well acquainted with history,
+and knew how, above all, to govern his company with an authority which
+suffered no reply, and which no other chief president had ever attained.
+
+A pharisaical austerity rendered him redoubtable by the license he
+assumed in his public reprimands, whether to plaintiffs, or defendants,
+advocates or magistrates; so that there was not a single person who did
+not tremble to have to do with him. Besides this, sustained in all by
+the Court (of which he was the slave, and the very humble servant of
+those who were really in favour), a subtle courtier, a singularly crafty
+politician, he used all those talents solely to further his ambition, his
+desire of domination and his thirst of the reputation of a great man.
+He was without real honour, secretly of corrupt manners, with only
+outside probity, without humanity even; in one word, a perfect hypocrite;
+without faith, without law, without a God, and without a soul; a cruel
+husband, a barbarous father, a tyrannical brother, a friend of himself
+alone, wicked by nature--taking pleasure in insulting, outraging, and
+overwhelming others, and never in his life having lost an occasion to do
+so. His wit was great, but was always subservient to his wickedness.
+He was small, vigorous, and thin, with a lozenge-shaped face, a long
+aquiline nose--fine, speaking, keen eyes, that usually looked furtively
+at you, but which, if fixed on a client or a magistrate, were fit to make
+him sink into the earth. He wore narrow robes, an almost ecclesiastical
+collar and wristband to match, a brown wig mimed with white, thickly
+furnished but short, and with a great cap over it. He affected a bending
+attitude, and walked so, with a false air, more humble than modest, and
+always shaved along the walls, to make people make way for him with
+greater noise; and at Versailles worked his way on by a series of
+respectful and, as it were, shame-faced bows to the right and left. He
+held to the King and to Madame de Maintenon by knowing their weak side;
+and it was he who, being consulted upon the unheard-of legitimation of
+children without naming the mother, had sanctioned that illegality in
+favour of the King.
+
+Such was the man whose influence was given entirely to our opponent.
+
+To assist M. de Luxembourg's case as much as possible, the celebrated
+Racine, so known by his plays, and by the order he had received at that
+time to write the history of the King, was employed to polish and
+ornament his pleas. Nothing was left undone by M. de Luxembourg in order
+to gain this cause.
+
+I cannot give all the details of the case, the statements made on both
+sides, and the defences; they would occupy entire volumes. We maintained
+that M. de Luxembourg was in no way entitled to the precedence he
+claimed, and we had both law and justice on our side. To give
+instructions to our counsel, and to follow the progress of the case,
+we met once a week, seven or eight of us at least, those best disposed
+to give our time to the matter. Among the most punctual was M. de la
+Rochefoucauld. I had been solicited from the commencement to take part
+in the proceedings, and I complied most willingly, apologising for so
+doing to M. de Luxembourg, who replied with all the politeness and
+gallantry possible, that I could not do less than follow an example my
+father had set me.
+
+The trial having commenced, we soon saw how badly disposed the Chief
+President was towards us. He obstructed us in every way, and acted
+against all rules. There seemed no other means of defeating his evident
+intention of judging against us than by gaining time, first of all; and
+to do this we determined to get the case adjourned, There were, however,
+only two days at our disposal, and that was not enough in order to comply
+with the forms required for such a step. We were all in the greatest
+embarrassment, when it fortunately came into the head of one of our
+lawyers to remind us of a privilege we possessed, by which, without much
+difficulty, we could obtain what we required. I was the only one who
+could, at that moment, make use of this privilege. I hastened home, at
+once, to obtain the necessary papers, deposited them with the procureur
+of M. de Luxembourg, and the adjournment was obtained. The rage of M. de
+Luxembourg was without bounds. When we met he would not salute me, and
+in consequence I discontinued to salute him; by which he lost more than
+I, in his position and at his age, and furnished in the rooms and the
+galleries of Versailles a sufficiently ridiculous spectacle. In addition
+to this he quarrelled openly with M. de Richelieu, and made a bitter
+attack upon him in one of his pleas. But M. de Richelieu, meeting him
+soon after in the Salle des Gardes at Versailles, told him to his face
+that he should soon have a reply; and said that he feared him neither on
+horseback nor on foot--neither him nor his crew--neither in town nor at
+the Court, nor even in the army, nor in any place in the world; and
+without allowing time for a reply he turned on his heel. In the end, M.
+de Luxembourg found himself so closely pressed that he was glad to
+apologise to M. de Richelieu.
+
+After a time our cause, sent back again to the Parliament, was argued
+there with the same vigour, the same partiality, and the same injustice
+as before: seeing this, we felt that the only course left open to us was
+to get the case sent before the Assembly of all the Chambers, where the
+judges, from their number, could not be corrupted by M. de Luxembourg,
+and where the authority of Harlay was feeble, while over the Grand
+Chambre, in which the case was at present, it was absolute. The
+difficulty was to obtain an assembly of all the Chambers, for the power
+of summoning them was vested solely in Harlay. However, we determined to
+try and gain his consent. M. de Chaulnes undertook to go upon this
+delicate errand, and acquitted himself well of his mission. He pointed
+out to Harlay that everybody was convinced of his leaning towards M. de
+Luxembourg, and that the only way to efface the conviction that had gone
+abroad was to comply with our request; in fine, he used so many
+arguments, and with such address, that Harlay, confused and thrown off
+his guard, and repenting of the manner in which he had acted towards us
+as being likely to injure his interests, gave a positive assurance to M.
+de Chaulnes that what we asked should be granted.
+
+We had scarcely finished congratulating ourselves upon this unhoped-for
+success, when we found that we had to do with a man whose word was a very
+sorry support to rest upon. M. de Luxembourg, affrighted at the promise
+Harlay had given, made him resolve to break it. Suspecting this, M. de
+Chaulnes paid another visit to the Chief President, who admitted, with
+much confusion, that he had changed his views, and that it was impossible
+to carry out what he had agreed to. After this we felt that to treat any
+longer with a man so perfidious would be time lost; and we determined,
+therefore, to put it out of his power to judge the case at all.
+
+According to the received maxim, whoever is at law with the son cannot be
+judged by the father. Harlay had a son who was Advocate-General. We
+resolved that one among us should bring an action against him.
+
+After trying in vain to induce the Duc de Rohan, who was the only one of
+our number who could readily have done it, to commence a suit against
+Harlay's sort, we began to despair of arriving at our aim. Fortunately
+for us, the vexation of Harlay became so great at this time, in
+consequence of the disdain with which we treated him, and which we openly
+published, that he extricated us himself from our difficulty. We had
+only to supplicate the Duc de Gesvres in the cause (he said to some of
+our people), and we should obtain what we wanted; for the Duc de Gesvres
+was his relative. We took him at his word. The Duc de Gesvres received
+in two days a summons on our part. Harlay, annoyed with himself for the
+advice he had given, relented of it: but it was too late; he was declared
+unable to judge the cause, and the case itself was postponed until the
+next year.
+
+Meanwhile, let me mention a circumstance which should have found a place
+before, and then state what occurred in the interval which followed until
+the trial recommenced.
+
+It was while our proceedings were making some little stir that fresh
+favours were heaped upon the King's illegitimate sons, at the instance of
+the King himself, and with the connivance of Harlay, who, for the part he
+took in the affair, was promised the chancellorship when it should become
+vacant. The rank of these illegitimate sons was placed just below that
+of the princes, of the blood, and just above that of the peers even of
+the oldest creation. This gave us all exceeding annoyance: it was the
+greatest injury the peerage could have received, and became its leprosy
+and sore. All the peers who could, kept themselves aloof from the
+parliament, when M. du Maine, M. de Vendome, and the Comte de Toulouse,
+for whom this arrangement was specially made, were received there.
+
+There were several marriages at the Court this winter and many very fine
+balls, at which latter I danced. By the spring, preparations were ready
+for fresh campaigns. My regiment (I had bought one at the close of the
+last season) was ordered to join the army of M. de Luxembourg; but, as I
+had no desire to be under him, I wrote to the King, begging to be
+exchanged. In a short time, to the great vexation, as I know, of M. de
+Luxembourg, my request was granted. The Chevalier de Sully went to
+Flanders in my place, and I to Germany in his. I went first to Soissons
+to see my regiment, and in consequence of the recommendation of the King,
+was more severe with it than I should otherwise have been. I set out
+afterwards for Strasbourg, where I was surprised with the magnificence of
+the town, and with the number, beauty, and grandeur of its
+fortifications. As from my youth I knew and spoke German perfectly, I
+sought out one of my early German acquaintances, who gave me much
+pleasure. I stopped six days at Strasbourg and then went by the Rhine to
+Philipsburg. On the next day after arriving there, I joined the cavalry,
+which was encamped at Obersheim.
+
+After several movements--in which we passed and repassed the Rhine--but
+which led to no effective result, we encamped for forty days at Gaw-
+Boecklheim, one of the best and most beautiful positions in the world,
+and where we had charming weather, although a little disposed to cold.
+It was in the leisure of that long camp that I commenced these memoirs,
+incited by the pleasure I took in reading those of Marshal Bassompierre,
+which invited me thus to write what I should see in my own time.
+
+During this season M. de Noailles took Palamos, Girone, and the fortress
+of Castel-Follit in Catalonia. This last was taken by the daring of a
+soldier, who led on a small number of his comrades, and carried the place
+by assault. Nothing was done in Italy; and in Flanders M. de Luxembourg
+came to no engagement with the Prince of Orange.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+After our long rest at the camp of Gaw-Boecklheim we again put ourselves
+in movement, but without doing much against the enemy, and on the 16th of
+October I received permission to return to Paris. Upon my arrival there
+I learnt that many things had occurred since I left. During that time
+some adventures had happened to the Princesses, as the three illegitimate
+daughters of the King were called for distinction sake. Monsieur wished
+that the Duchesse de Chartres should always call the others "sister," but
+that the others should never address her except as "Madame." The
+Princesse de Conti submitted to this; but the other (Madame la Duchesse,
+being the produce of the same love) set herself to call the Duchesse de
+Chartres "mignonne." But nothing was less a mignonne than her face and
+her figure; and Monsieur, feeling the ridicule, complained to the King.
+The King prohibited very severely this familiarity.
+
+While at Trianon these Princesses took it into their heads to walk out
+at night and divert themselves with crackers. Either from malice or
+imprudence they let off some one night under the windows of Monsieur,
+rousing him thereby out of his sleep. He was so displeased, that he
+complained to the King, who made him many excuses (scolding the
+Princesses), but had great trouble to appease him. His anger lasted a
+long time, and the Duchesse de Chartres felt it. I do not know if the
+other two were very sorry. Madame la Duchesse was accused of writing
+some songs upon the Duchesse de Chartres.
+
+The Princesse de Conti had another adventure, which made considerable
+noise, and which had great results. She had taken into her favour
+Clermont, ensign of the gensdarmes and of the Guard. He had pretended to
+be enamoured of her, and had not been repelled, for she soon became in
+love with him. Clermont had attached himself to the service of M. de
+Luxembourg, and was the merest creature in his hands. At the instigation
+of M. de Luxembourg, he turned away his regards from the Princesse de
+Conti, and fixed them upon one of her maids of honour--Mademoiselle
+Choin, a great, ugly, brown, thick-set girl, upon whom Monseigneur had
+lately bestowed his affection. Monseigneur made no secret of this, nor
+did she. Such being the case, it occurred to M. de Luxembourg (who knew
+he was no favourite with the King, and who built all his hopes of the
+future upon Monseigneur) that Clermont, by marrying La Choin, might thus
+secure the favour of Monseigneur, whose entire confidence she possessed.
+Clermont was easily persuaded that this would be for him a royal road to
+fortune, and he accordingly entered willingly into the scheme, which had
+just begun to move, when the campaign commenced, and everybody went away
+to join the armies.
+
+The King, who partly saw this intrigue, soon made himself entirely master
+of it, by intercepting the letters which passed between the various
+parties. He read there the project of Clermont and La Choin to marry,
+and thus govern Monseigneur; he saw how M. de Luxembourg was the soul of
+this scheme, and the marvels to himself he expected from it. The letters
+Clermont had received from the Princesse de Conti he now sent to
+Mademoiselle la Choin, and always spoke to her of Monseigneur as their
+"fat friend." With this correspondence in his hands, the King one day
+sent for the Princesse de Conti, said in a severe tone that he knew of
+her weakness for Clermont; and, to prove to her how badly she had placed
+her affection, showed her her own letters to Clermont, and letters in
+which he had spoken most contemptuously of her to La Choin. Then, as a
+cruel punishment, he made her read aloud to him the whole of those
+letters. At this she almost died, and threw herself, bathed in tears, at
+the feet of the King, scarcely able to articulate. Then came sobs,
+entreaty, despair, and rage, and cries for justice and revenge. This was
+soon obtained. Mademoiselle la Choin was driven away the next day; and
+M. de Luxembourg had orders to strip Clermont of his office, and send him
+to the most distant part of the kingdom. The terror of M. de Luxembourg
+and the Prince de Conti at this discovery may be imagined. Songs
+increased the notoriety of this strange adventure between the Princess
+and her confidant.
+
+M. de Noyon had furnished on my return another subject for the song-
+writers, and felt it the more sensibly because everybody was diverted at
+his expense, M. de Noyon was extremely vain, and afforded thereby much
+amusement to the King. A Chair was vacant at the Academic Francaise.
+The King wished it to be given to M. de Noyon, and expressed himself to
+that effect to Dangeau, who was a member. As may be believed, the
+prelate was elected without difficulty. His Majesty testified to the
+Prince de Conde, and to the most distinguished persons of the Court, that
+he should be glad to see them at the reception. Thus M. de Noyon was the
+first member of the Academia chosen by the King, and the first at whose
+reception he had taken the trouble to invite his courtiers to attend.
+
+The Abbe de Caumartin was at that time Director of the Academie. He knew
+the vanity of M. de Noyon, and determined to divert the public at his
+expense. He had many friends in power, and judged that his pleasantry
+would be overlooked, and even approved. He composed, therefore, a
+confused and bombastic discourse in the style of M. de Noyon, full of
+pompous phrases, turning the prelate into ridicule, while they seemed to
+praise him. After finishing this work, he was afraid lest it should be
+thought out of all measure, and, to reassure himself, carried it to M. de
+Noyon himself, as a scholar might to his master, in order to see whether
+it fully met with his approval. M. de Noyon, so far from suspecting
+anything, was charmed by the discourse, and simply made a few corrections
+in the style. The Abbe de Caumartin rejoiced at the success of the snare
+he had laid, and felt quite bold enough to deliver his harangue.
+
+The day came. The Academie was crowded. The King and the Court were
+there, all expecting to be diverted. M. de Noyon, saluting everybody
+with a satisfaction he did not dissimulate, made his speech with his
+usual confidence, and in his usual style. The Abbe replied with a modest
+air, and with a gravity and slowness that gave great effect to his
+ridiculous discourse. The surprise and pleasure were general, and each
+person strove to intoxicate M. de Noyon more and more, making him believe
+that the speech of the Abbe was relished solely because it had so
+worthily praised him. The prelate was delighted with the Abbe and the
+public, and conceived not the slightest mistrust.
+
+The noise which this occurrence made may be imagined, and the praises M.
+de Noyon gave himself in relating everywhere what he had said, and what
+had been replied to him. M. de Paris, to whose house he went, thus
+triumphing, did not like him, and endeavoured to open his eyes to the
+humiliation he had received. For some time M. de Noyon would not be
+convinced of the truth; it was not until he had consulted with Pere la
+Chaise that he believed it. The excess of rage and vexation succeeded
+then to the excess of rapture he had felt. In this state he returned to
+his house, and went the next day to Versailles. There he made the most
+bitter complaints to the King, of the Abbe de Caumartin, by whose means
+he had become the sport and laughing-stock of all the world.
+
+The King, who had learned what had passed, was himself displeased. He
+ordered Pontchartrain (who was related to Caumartin) to rebuke the Abbe,
+and to send him a lettre de cachet, in order that he might go and ripen
+his brain in his Abbey of Busay, in Brittany, and better learn there how
+to speak and write. Pontchartrain executed the first part of his
+commission, but not the second. He pointed out to the King that the
+speech of the Abbe de Caumartin had been revised and corrected by M. de
+Noyon, and that, therefore, this latter had only himself to blame in the
+matter. He declared, too, that the Abbe was very sorry for what he had
+done, and was most willing to beg pardon of M. de Noyon. The lettre de
+cachet thus fell to the ground, but not the anger of the prelate. He was
+so outraged that he would not see the Abbe, retired into his diocese to
+hide his shame, and remained there a long time.
+
+Upon his return to Paris, however, being taken ill, before consenting to
+receive the sacraments, he sent for the Abbe, embraced him, pardoned him,
+and gave him a diamond ring, that he drew from his finger, and that he
+begged him to keep in memory of him. Nay, more, when he was cured, he
+used all his influence to reinstate the Abbe in the esteem of the King.
+But the King could never forgive what had taken place, and M. de Noyon,
+by this grand action, gained only the favour of God and the honour of the
+world.
+
+I must finish the account of the war of this year with a strange
+incident. M. de Noailles, who had been so successful in Catalonia, was
+on very bad terms with Barbezieux, secretary of state for the war
+department. Both were in good favour with the King; both high in power,
+both spoiled. The successes in Catalonia had annoyed Barbezieux. They
+smoothed the way for the siege of Barcelona, and that place once taken,
+the very heart of Spain would have been exposed, and M. de Noailles would
+have gained fresh honours and glory. M. de Noailles felt this so
+completely that he had pressed upon the King the siege of Barcelona; and
+when the fitting time came for undertaking it, sent a messenger to him
+with full information of the forces and supplies he required. Fearing
+that if he wrote out this information it might fall into the hands of
+Barbezieux, and never reach the King, he simply gave his messenger
+instructions by word of mouth, and charged him to deliver them so. But
+the very means he had taken to ensure success brought about failure.
+Barbezieux, informed by his spies of the departure of the messenger,
+waylaid him, bribed him, and induced him to act with the blackest
+perfidy, by telling the King quite a different story to that he was
+charged with. In this way, the project for the siege of Barcelona was
+entirely broken, at the moment for its execution, and with the most
+reasonable hopes of success; and upon M. de Noailles rested all the
+blame. What a thunderbolt this was for him may easily be imagined. But
+the trick had been so well played, that he could not clear himself with
+the King; and all through this winter he remained out of favour.
+
+At last he thought of a means by which he might regain his position. He
+saw the inclination of the King for his illegitimate children; and
+determined to make a sacrifice in favour of one of them; rightly judging
+that this would be a sure means to step back into the confidence he had
+been so craftily driven from. His scheme, which he caused to be placed
+before the King, was to go into Catalonia at the commencement of the next
+campaign, to make a semblance of falling ill immediately upon arriving,
+to send to Versailles a request that he might be recalled, and at the
+same time a suggestion that M. de Vendome (who would then be near Nice,
+under Marechal Catinat) should succeed him. In order that no time might
+be lost, nor the army left without a general, he proposed to carry with
+him the letters patent; appointing M. de Vendome, and to send them to him
+at the same time that he sent to be recalled.
+
+It is impossible to express the relief and satisfaction with which this
+proposition was received. The King was delighted with it, as with
+everything tending to advance his illegitimate children and to put a
+slight upon the Princes of the blood. He could not openly have made this
+promotion without embroiling himself with the latter; but coming as it
+would from M. de Noailles, he had nothing to fear. M. de Vendome, once
+general of an army, could no longer serve in any other quality; and would
+act as a stepping-stone for M. du Maine.
+
+From this moment M. de Noailles returned more than ever into the good
+graces of the King. Everything happened as it had been arranged. But
+the secret was betrayed in the execution. Surprise was felt that at the
+same moment M. de Noailles sent a request to be recalled, he also sent,
+and without waiting for a reply, to call M. de Vendame to the command.
+What completely raised the veil were the letters patent that he sent
+immediately after to M. de Vendome, and that it was known he could not
+have received from the King in the time that had elapsed. M. de Noailles
+returned from Catalonia, and was received as his address merited. He
+feigned being lame with rheumatism, and played the part for a long time,
+but forgot himself occasionally, and made his company smile. He fixed
+himself at the Court, and gained there much more favour than he could
+have gained by the war; to the great vexation of Barbezieux.
+
+M. de Luxembourg very strangely married his daughter at this time to the
+Chevalier de Soissons (an illegitimate son of the Comte de Soissons),
+brought out from the greatest obscurity by the Comtesse de Nemours, and
+adopted by her to spite her family: M. de Luxembourg did not long survive
+this fine marriage. At sixty-seven years of age he believed himself
+twenty-five, and lived accordingly. The want of genuine intrigues, from
+which his age and his face excluded him, he supplied by money-power; and
+his intimacy, and that of his son, with the Prince de Conti and
+Albergotti was kept up almost entirely by the community of their habits,
+and the secret parties of pleasure they concocted together. All the
+burden of marches, of orders of subsistence, fell upon a subordinate.
+Nothing could be more exact than the coup d'oeil of M. de Luxembourg--
+nobody could be more brilliant, more sagacious, more penetrating than he
+before the enemy or in battle, and this, too, with an audacity, an ease,
+and at the same time a coolness, which allowed him to see all and foresee
+all under the hottest fire, and in the most imminent danger: It was at
+such times that he was great. For the rest he was idleness itself. He
+rarely walked unless absolutely obliged, spent his time in gaming, or in
+conversation With his familiars; and had every evening a supper with a
+chosen few (nearly always the same); and if near a town, the other sex
+were always agreeably mingled with them. When thus occupied, he was
+inaccessible to everybody, and if anything pressing happened, it was his
+subordinate who attended to it. Such was at the army the life of this
+great general, and such it was at Paris, except that the Court and the
+great world occupied his days, and his pleasures the evenings. At last,
+age, temperament, and constitution betrayed him. He fell ill at
+Versailles. Given over by Fagon, the King's physician, Coretti, an
+Italian, who had secrets of his own, undertook his cure, and relieved
+him, but only for a short time. His door during this illness was
+besieged by all the Court. The King sent to inquire after him, but it
+was more for appearance' sake than from sympathy, for I have already
+remarked that the King did not like him. The brilliancy of his
+campaigns, and the difficulty of replacing him, caused all the
+disquietude. Becoming worse, M. de Luxembourg received the sacraments,
+showed some religion and firmness, and died on the morning of the 4th of
+January, 1695, the fifth day of his illness, much regretted by many
+people, but personally esteemed by none, and loved by very few.
+
+Not one of the Dukes M. de Luxembourg had attacked went to see him during
+his illness. I neither went nor sent, although at Versailles; and I must
+admit that I felt my deliverance from such an enemy.
+
+Here, perhaps, I may as well relate the result of the trial in which we
+were engaged, and which, after the death of M. de Luxembourg, was
+continued by his son. It was not judged until the following year.
+I have shown that by our implicating the Duc de Gesvres, the Chief
+President had been declared incapable of trying the case. The rage he
+conceived against us cannot be expressed, and, great actor that he was,
+he could not hide it. All his endeavour afterwards was to do what he
+could against us; the rest of the mask fell, and the deformity of the
+judge appeared in the man, stripped of all disguise.
+
+We immediately signified to M. de Luxembourg that he must choose between
+the letters patent of 1581 and those of 1662. If he abandoned the first
+the case fell through; in repudiating the last he renounced the certainty
+of being duke and peer after us; and ran the risk of being reduced to an
+inferior title previously granted to him. The position was a delicate
+one; he was affrighted; but after much consultation he resolved to run
+all risks and maintain his pretensions. It thus simply became a question
+of his right to the title of Duc de Piney, with the privilege attached to
+it as a creation of 1581.
+
+In the spring of 1696 the case was at last brought on, before the
+Assembly of all the Chambers. Myself and the other Dukes seated
+ourselves in court to hear the proceedings. The trial commenced.
+All the facts and particulars of the cause were brought forward.
+Our advocates spoke, and then few doubted but that we should gain the
+victory. M. de Luxembourg's advocate, Dumont, was next heard. He was
+very audacious, and spoke so insolently of us, saying, in Scripture
+phraseology, that we honoured the King with our lips, whilst our hearts
+were far from him, that I could not contain myself. I was seated between
+the Duc de la Rochefoucauld and the Duc d'Estrees. I stood up, crying
+out against the imposture of this knave, and calling for justice on him.
+M. de la Rochefoucauld pulled me back, made me keep silent, and I plunged
+down into my seat more from anger against him than against the advocate.
+My movement excited a murmur. We might on the instant have had justice
+against Dumont, but the opportunity had passed for us to ask for it, and
+the President de Maisons made a slight excuse for him. We complained,
+however, afterwards to the King, who expressed his surprise that Dumont
+had not been stopped in the midst of his speech.
+
+The summing up was made by D'Aguesseau, who acquitted himself of the task
+with much eloquence and impartiality. His speech lasted two days. This
+being over, the court was cleared, and the judges were left alone to
+deliberate upon their verdict. Some time after we were called in to hear
+that verdict given. It was in favour of M. de Luxembourg in so far as
+the title dating from 1662 was concerned; but the consideration of his
+claim to the title of 1581 was adjourned indefinitely, so that he
+remained exactly in the same position as his father.
+
+It was with difficulty we could believe in a decree so unjust and so
+novel, and which decided a question that was not under dispute. I was
+outraged, but I endeavoured to contain myself. I spoke to M. de la
+Rochefoucauld; I tried to make him listen to me, and to agree that we
+should complain to the King, but I spoke to a man furious, incapable of
+understanding anything or of doing anything. Returning to my own house,
+I wrote a letter to the King, in which I complained of the opinion of the
+judges. I also pointed out, that when everybody had been ordered to
+retire from the council chamber, Harlay and his secretary had been
+allowed to remain. On these and other grounds I begged the King to grant
+a new trial.
+
+I carried this letter to the Duc de la Tremoille, but I could not get him
+to look at it. I returned home more vexed if possible than when I left.
+The King, nevertheless, was exceedingly dissatisfied with the judgment.
+He explained himself to that effect at his dinner, and in a manner but
+little advantageous to the Parliament, and prepared himself to receive
+the complaints he expected would be laid before him. But the obstinacy
+of M. de la Rochefoucauld, which turned into vexation against himself,
+rendered it impossible for us to take any steps in the matter, and so
+overwhelmed me with displeasure, that I retired to La Trappe during
+Passion Week in order to recover myself.
+
+At my return I learned that the King had spoken of this judgment to the
+Chief President, and that that magistrate had blamed it, saying the cause
+was indubitably ours, and that he had always thought so! If he thought
+so, why oppose us so long? and if he did not think so, what a
+prevaricator was he to reply with this flattery, so as to be in accord
+with the King? The judges themselves were ashamed of their verdict, and
+excused themselves for it on the ground of their compassion for the state
+in which M. de Luxembourg would have been placed had he lost the title of
+1662, and upon its being impossible that he should gain the one of 1581,
+of which they had left him the chimera. M. de Luxembourg was accordingly
+received at the Parliament on the 4th of the following May, with the rank
+of 1662. He came and visited all of us, but we would have no intercourse
+with him or with his judges. To the Advocate-General, D'Aguesseau, we
+carried our thanks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Thus ended this long and important case; and now let me go back again to
+the events of the previous year.
+
+Towards the end of the summer and the commencement of the winter of 1695,
+negotiations for peace were set on foot by the King. Harlay, son-in-law
+of our enemy, was sent to Maestricht to sound the Dutch. But in
+proportion as they saw peace desired were they less inclined to listen to
+terms. They had even the impudence to insinuate to Harlay, whose
+paleness and thinness were extraordinary, that they took him for a sample
+of the reduced state of France! He, without getting angry, replied
+pleasantly, that if they would give him the time to send for his wife,
+they would, perhaps, conceive another opinion of the position of the
+realm. In effect, she was extremely fat, and of a very high colour. He
+was rather roughly dismissed, and hastened to regain our frontier.
+
+Two events followed each other very closely this winter. The first was
+the death of the Princess of Orange, in London, at the end of January.
+The King of England prayed our King to allow the Court to wear no
+mourning, and it was even prohibited to M. de Bouillon and M. de Duras,
+who were both related to the Prince of Orange. The order was obeyed, and
+no word was said; but this sort of vengeance was thought petty. Hopes
+were held out of a change in England, but they vanished immediately, and
+the Prince of Orange appeared more accredited there and stronger than
+ever. The Princess was much regretted, and the Prince of Orange, who
+loved her and gave her his entire confidence, and even most marked
+respect, was for some days ill with grief.
+
+The other event was strange. The Duke of Hanover, who, in consequence of
+the Revolution, was destined to the throne of England after the Prince
+and Princess of Orange and the Princess of Denmark, had married his
+cousin-german, a daughter of the Duke of Zell. She was beautiful, and he
+lived happily with her for some time. The Count of Koenigsmarck, young
+and very well made, came to the Court, and gave him some umbrage. The
+Duke of Hanover became jealous; he watched his wife and the Count, and at
+length believed himself fully assured of what he would have wished to
+remain ignorant of all his life. Fury seized him: he had the Count
+arrested and thrown into a hot oven. Immediately afterwards he sent his
+wife to her father, who shut her up in one of his castles, where she was
+strictly guarded by the people of the Duke of Hanover. An assembly of
+the Consistory was held in order to break off his marriage. It was
+decided, very singularly, that the marriage was annulled so far as the
+Duke was concerned, and that he could marry another woman; but that it
+remained binding on the Duchess, and that she could not marry. The
+children she had had during her marriage were declared legitimate. The
+Duke of Hanover did not remain persuaded as to this last article.
+
+The King, entirely occupied with the aggrandisement of his natural
+children, had heaped upon the Comte de Toulouse every possible favour.
+He now (in order to evade a promise he had made to his brother, that the
+first vacant government should be given to the Duc de Chartres) forced M.
+de Chaulnes to give up the government of Brittany, which he had long
+held, and conferred it upon the Comte de Toulouse, giving to the friend
+and heir of the former the successorship to the government of Guyenne, by
+way of recompense.
+
+M. de Chaulnes was old and fat, but much loved by the people of Brittany.
+He was overwhelmed by this determination of the King, and his wife, who
+had long been accustomed to play the little Queen, still more so; yet
+there was nothing for them but to obey. They did obey, but it was with a
+sorrow and chagrin they could not hide.
+
+The appointment was announced one morning at the rising of the King.
+Monsieur, who awoke later, heard of it at the drawing of his curtains,
+and was extremely piqued. The Comte de Toulouse came shortly afterwards,
+and announced it himself. Monsieur interrupted him, and before everybody
+assembled there said, "The King has given you a good present; but I know
+not if what he has done is good policy." Monsieur went shortly
+afterwards to the King, and reproached him for giving, under cover of a
+trick, the government of Brittany to the Comte de Toulouse, having
+promised it to the Duc de Chartres. The King heard him in silence: he
+knew well how to appease him. Some money for play and to embellish Saint
+Cloud, soon effaced Monsieur's chagrin.
+
+All this winter my mother was solely occupied in finding a good match for
+me. Some attempt was made to marry me to Mademoiselle de Royan. It
+would have been a noble and rich marriage; but I was alone, Mademoiselle
+de Royan was an orphan, and I wished a father-in-law and a family upon
+whom I could lean. During the preceding year there had been some talk of
+the eldest daughter of Marechal de Lorges for me. The affair had fallen
+through, almost as soon as suggested, and now, on both sides, there was a
+desire to recommence negotiations. The probity, integrity, the freedom
+of Marechal de Lorges pleased me infinitely, and everything tended to
+give me an extreme desire for this marriage. Madame de Lorges by her
+virtue and good sense was all I could wish for as the mother of my future
+wife. Mademoiselle de Lorges was a blonde, with a complexion and figure
+perfect, a very amiable face, an extremely noble and modest deportment,
+and with I know not what of majesty derived from her air of virtue, and
+of natural gentleness. The Marechal had five other daughters, but I
+liked this one best without comparison, and hoped to find with her that
+happiness which she since has given me. As she has become my wife, I
+will abstain here from saying more about her, unless it be that she has
+exceeded all that was promised of her, and all that I myself had hoped.
+
+My marriage being agreed upon and arranged the Marechal de Lorges spoke
+of it to the King, who had the goodness to reply to him that he could not
+do better, and to speak of me very obligingly. The marriage accordingly
+took place at the Hotel de Lorges, on the 8th of April, 1695, which I
+have always regarded, and with good reason, as the happiest day of my
+life. My mother treated me like the best mother in the world. On the
+Thursday before Quasimodo the contract was signed; a grand repast
+followed; at midnight the cure of Saint Roch said mass, and married us in
+the chapel of the house. On the eve, my mother had sent forty thousand
+livres' worth of precious stones to Mademoiselle de Lorges, and I six
+hundred Louis in a corbeille filled with all the knick-knacks that are
+given on these occasions.
+
+We slept in the grand apartment of the Hotel des Lorges. On the morrow,
+after dinner, my wife went to bed, and received a crowd of visitors, who
+came to pay their respects and to gratify their curiosity. The next
+evening we went to Versailles, and were received by Madame de Maintenon
+and the King. On arriving at the supper-table, the King said to the new
+Duchess:--"Madame, will you be pleased to seat yourself?"
+
+His napkin being unfolded, he saw all the duchesses and princesses still
+standing; and rising in his chair, he said to Madame de Saint-Simon--
+"Madame, I have already begged you to be seated;" and all immediately
+seated themselves. On the morrow, Madame de Saint-Simon received all the
+Court in her bed in the apartment of the Duchesse d'Arpajon, as being
+more handy, being on the ground floor. Our festivities finished by a
+supper that I gave to the former friends of my father, whose acquaintance
+I had always cultivated with great care.
+
+Almost immediately after my marriage the second daughter of the Marechal
+de Lorges followed in the footsteps of her sister. She was fifteen years
+of age, and at the reception of Madame de Saint-Simon had attracted the
+admiration of M. de Lauzun, who was then sixty-three. Since his return
+to the Court he had been reinstated in the dignity he had previously
+held. He flattered himself that by marrying the daughter of a General he
+should re-open a path to himself for command in the army. Full of this
+idea he spoke to M. de Lorges, who was by no means inclined towards the
+marriage. M. de Lauzun offered, however, to marry without dowry; and M.
+de Lorges, moved by this consideration, assented to his wish. The affair
+concluded, M. de Lorges spoke of it to the King. "You are bold," said
+his Majesty, "to take Lauzun into your family. I hope you may not repent
+of it."
+
+The contract was soon after signed. M. de Lorges gave no dowry with his
+daughter, but she was to inherit something upon the death of M. Fremont.
+We carried this contract to the King, who smiled and bantered M. de
+Lauzun. M. de Lauzun replied, that he was only too happy, since it was
+the first time since his return that he had seen the King smile at him.
+The marriage took place without delay: there were only seven or eight
+persons present at the ceremony. M. de Lauzun would undress himself
+alone with his valet de chambre, and did not enter the apartment of his
+wife until after everybody had left it, and she was in bed with the
+curtains closed, and nobody to meet him on his passage. His wife
+received company in bed, as mine had done. Nobody was able to understand
+this marriage; and all foresaw that a rupture would speedily be brought
+about by the well-known temper of M. de Lauzun. In effect, this is what
+soon happened. The Marechal de Lorges, remaining still in weak health,
+was deemed by the King unable to take the field again, and his army given
+over to the command of another General. M. de Lauzun thus saw all his
+hopes of advancement at an end, and, discontented that the Marechal had
+done nothing for him, broke off all connection with the family, took away
+Madame de Lauzun from her mother (to the great grief of the latter; who
+doted upon this daughter), and established her in a house of his own
+adjoining the Assumption, in the Faubourg Saint-Honore. There she had to
+endure her husband's continual caprices, but little removed in their
+manifestation from madness. Everybody cast blame upon him, and strongly
+pitied her and her father and mother; but nobody was surprised.
+
+A few days after the marriage of M. de Lauzun, as the King was being
+wheeled in his easy chair in the gardens at Versailles, he asked me for
+many minute particulars concerning the family of the Marechal de Lorges.
+He then set himself to joke with me upon the marriage of M. de Lauzun--
+and upon mine. He said to me, in spite of that gravity which never
+quitted him, that he had learnt from the Marechal I had well acquitted
+myself, but that he believed the Marechal had still better news.
+
+The loss of two illustrious men about this time, made more noise than
+that of two of our grand ladies. The first of these men was La Fontaine,
+so well known by his "Fables" and stories, and who, nevertheless, was so
+heavy in conversation. The other was Mignard--so illustrious by his
+pencil: he had an only daughter--perfectly beautiful: she is repeated in
+several of those magnificent historical pictures which adorn the grand
+gallery of Versailles and its two salons, and which have had no slight
+share in irritating all Europe against the King, and in leaguing it still
+more against his person than his realm.
+
+At the usual time the armies were got ready for active service, and
+everybody set out to join them. That of the Rhine, in which I was, was
+commanded by the Marechal de Lorges. No sooner had we crossed the river
+and come upon the enemy, than the Marechal fell ill. Although we were in
+want of forage and were badly encamped, nobody complained--nobody wished
+to move. Never did an army show so much interest in the life of its
+chief, or so much love for him. M. de Lorges was, in truth, at the last
+extremity, and the doctors that had been sent for from Strasbourg gave
+him up entirely. I took upon myself to administer to him some "English
+Drops." One hundred and thirty were given him in three doses: the effect
+was astonishing; an eruption burst out upon the Marechal's body, and
+saved his life. His illness was not, however, at an end; and the army,
+although suffering considerably, would not hear of moving until he was
+quite ready to move also. There was no extremity it would not undergo
+rather than endanger the life of its chief.
+
+Prince Louis of Baden offered by trumpets all sorts of assistance--
+doctors and remedies, and gave his word that if the army removed from its
+General, he and those who remained with him should be provided with
+forage and provisions--should be unmolested and allowed to rejoin the
+main body in perfect safety, or go whithersoever they pleased. He was
+thanked, as he merited, for those very kind offers, which we did not
+wish, however, to profit by.
+
+Little by little the health of the General was reestablished, and the
+army demonstrated its joy by bonfire's all over the camp, and by salvos,
+which it was impossible to prevent. Never was seen testimony of love so
+universal or so flattering. The King was much concerned at the illness
+of the Marechal; all the Court was infinitely touched by it. M. de
+Lorges was not less loved by it than by the troops. When able to support
+the fatigues of the journey, he was removed in a coach to Philipsburg,
+where he was joined by the Marechal, who had come there to meet him. The
+next day he went to Landau, and I, who formed one of his numerous and
+distinguished escort, accompanied him there, and then returned to the
+army, which was placed under the command of the Marechal de Joyeuse.
+
+We found it at about three leagues from Ketsch, its right at Roth, and
+its left at Waldsdorff. We learned that the Marechal de Joyeuse had lost
+a good occasion of fighting the enemy; but as I was not in camp at the
+time, I will say no more of the matter. Our position was not good:
+Schwartz was on our left, and the Prince of Baden on our right, hemming
+us in, as it were, between them. We had no forage, whilst they had
+abundance of everything, and were able to procure all they wanted. There
+was a contest who should decamp the last. All our communications were
+cut off with Philipsburg, so that we could not repass the Rhine under the
+protection of that place. To get out of our position, it was necessary
+to defile before our enemies into the plain of Hockenun, and this was a
+delicate operation. The most annoying circumstance was, that M. de
+Joyeuse would communicate with nobody, and was so ill-tempered that none
+dared to speak to him. At last he determined upon his plans, and I was
+of the detachment by which they were to be carried out. We were sent to
+Manheim to see if out of the ruins of that place (burned in 1688 by M. de
+Louvois) sufficient, materials could be found to construct bridges, by
+which we might cross the Rhine there. We found that the bridges could be
+made, and returned to announce this to M. de Joyeuse. Accordingly, on
+the 20th of July, the army put itself in movement. The march was made in
+the utmost confusion. Everything was in disorder; the infantry and
+cavalry were huddled together pell-mell; no commands could be acted upon,
+and indeed the whole army was so disorganised that it could have been
+easily beaten by a handful of men. In effect, the enemy at last tried to
+take advantage of our confusion, by sending a few troops to harass us.
+But it was too late; we had sufficiently rallied to be able to turn upon
+them, and they narrowly escaped falling into our hands. We encamped that
+night in the plain on the banks of the Necker--our rear at Manheim, and
+our left at Seckenheim, while waiting for the remainder of the army,
+still very distant. Indeed, so great had been the confusion, that the
+first troops arrived at one o'clock at night, and the last late in the
+morning of the next day.
+
+I thought that our headquarters were to be in this village of Seckenheim,
+and, in company with several officers took possession of a large house
+and prepared to pass the night there. While we were resting from the
+fatigues of the day we heard a great noise, and soon after a frightful
+uproar. It was caused by a body of our men, who, searching for water,
+had discovered this village, and after having quenched their thirst had,
+under the cover of thick darkness, set themselves to pillage, to violate,
+to massacre, and to commit all the horrors inspired by the most unbridled
+licence: La Bretesche, a lieutenant-general, declared to me that he had
+never seen anything like it, although he had several times been at
+pillages and sackings. He was very grateful that he had not yielded to
+my advice, and taken off his wooden leg to be more at ease; for in a
+short time we ourselves were invaded, and had some trouble to defend
+ourselves. As we bore the livery of M. de Lorges, we were respected,
+but those who bore that of M. de Joyeuse were in some cases severely
+maltreated. We passed the rest of the night as well as we could in this
+unhappy place, which was not abandoned by our soldiers until long after
+there was nothing more to find. At daylight we went to the camp.
+
+We found the army beginning to move: it had passed the night as well as
+it could without order, the troops constantly arriving, and the last
+comers simply joining themselves on to the rest. Our camp was soon,
+however, properly formed, and on the 24th July, the bridges being ready,
+all the army crossed the Rhine, without any attempt being made by the
+enemy to follow us. On the day after, the Marechal de Joyeuse permitted
+me to go to Landau, where I remained with the Marechal and the Marechale
+de Lorges until the General was again able to place himself at the head
+of his army.
+
+Nothing of importance was done by our other armies; but in Flanders an
+interesting adventure occurred. The Prince of Orange, after playing a
+fine game of chess with our army, suddenly invested Namur with a large
+force, leaving the rest of his troops under the command of M. de
+Vaudemont. The Marechal de Villeroy, who had the command of our army in
+Flanders, at once pressed upon M. de Vaudemont, who, being much the
+weaker of the two, tried hard to escape. Both felt that everything was
+in their hands: Vaudemont, that upon his safety depended the success of
+the siege of Namur; and Villeroy, that to his victory was attached the
+fate of the Low Countries, and very likely a glorious peace, with all the
+personal results of such an event. He took his measures so well that on
+the evening of the 13th of July it was impossible for M. de Vaudemont to
+escape falling into his hands on the 14th, and he wrote thus to the King.
+At daybreak on the 14th M. de Villeroy sent word to M. du Maine to
+commence the action. Impatient that his orders were not obeyed, he sent
+again five or six times. M. du Maine wished in the first instance to
+reconnoitre, then to confess himself, and delayed in effect so long that
+M. de Vaudemont was able to commence his retreat. The general officers
+cried out at this. One of them came to M. du Maine and reminded him of
+the repeated orders of the Marechal de Villeroy, represented the
+importance of victory, and the ease with which it could be obtained: with
+tears in his eyes he begged M. du Maine to commence the attack. It was
+all in vain; M. du Maine stammered, and could not be prevailed upon to
+charge, and so allowed M. de Vaudemont's army to escape, when by a single
+movement it might have been entirely defeated.
+
+All our army was in despair, and officers and soldiers made no scruple of
+expressing their anger and contempt. M. de Villeroy, more outraged than
+anybody else, was yet too good a courtier to excuse himself at the
+expense of M. du Maine. He simply wrote to the King, that he had been
+deceived in those hopes of success which appeared certain the day before,
+entered into no further details, and resigned himself to all that might
+happen. The King, who had counted the hours until news of a great and
+decisive victory should reach him, was very much surprised when this
+letter came: he saw at once that something strange had happened of which
+no intelligence had been sent: he searched the gazettes of Holland; in
+one he read of a great action said to have been fought, and in which M.
+du Maine had been grievously wounded; in the next the news of the action
+was contradicted, and M. du Maine was declared to have received no wounds
+at all. In order to learn what had really taken place, the King sent for
+Lavienne, a man he was in the habit of consulting when he wanted to learn
+things no one else dared to tell him.
+
+This Lavienne had been a bath-keeper much in vogue in Paris, and had
+become bath-keeper to the King at the time of his amours. He had pleased
+by his drugs, which had frequently put the King in a state to enjoy
+himself more, and this road had led Lavienne to become one of the four
+chief valets de chambre. He was a very honest man, but coarse, rough,
+and free-spoken; it was this last quality which made him useful in the
+manner I have before mentioned. From Lavienne the King, but not without
+difficulty, learned the truth: it threw him into despair. The other
+illegitimate children were favourites with him, but it was upon M. du
+Maine that all his hopes were placed. They now fell to the ground, and
+the grief of the King was insupportable: he felt deeply for that dear son
+whose troops had become the laughing stock of the army; he felt the
+railleries that, as the gazettes showed him, foreigners were heaping upon
+his forces; and his vexation was inconceivable.
+
+This Prince, so equal in his manners, so thoroughly master of his
+lightest movements, even upon the gravest occasions, succumbed under this
+event. On rising from the table at Marly he saw a servant who, while
+taking away the dessert, helped himself to a biscuit, which he put in his
+pocket. On the instant, the King forgets his dignity, and cane in hand
+runs to this valet (who little suspected what was in store for him),
+strikes him; abuses him, and breaks the cane upon his body! The truth
+is, 'twas only a reed, and snapped easily. However, the stump in his
+hand, he walked away like a man quite beside himself, continuing to abuse
+this valet, and entered Madame de Maintenon's room, where he remained
+nearly an hour. Upon coming out he met Father la Chaise. "My father,"
+said the King to him, in a very loud voice, "I have beaten a knave and
+broken my cane over his shoulders, but I do not think I have offended
+God." Everybody around trembled at this public confession, and the poor
+priest muttered a semblance of approval between his teeth, to avoid
+irritating the King more. The noise that the affair made and the terror
+it inspired may be imagined; for nobody could divine for some time the
+cause; and everybody easily understood that that which had appeared could
+not be the real one. To finish with this matter, once for all, let us
+add here the saying of M. d'Elboeuf. Courtier though he was, the upward
+flight of the illegitimate children weighed upon his heart. As the
+campaign was at its close and the Princes were about to depart, he begged
+M. du Maine before everybody to say where he expected to serve during the
+next campaign, because wherever it might be he should like to be there
+also.
+
+After being pressed to say why, he replied that "with him one's life was
+safe." This pointed remark made much noise. M. du Maine lowered his
+eyes, and did not reply one word. As for the Marechal de Villeroy he
+grew more and more in favour with the King and with Madame de Maintenon.
+The bitter fruit of M. du Maine's act was the taking of Namur, which
+capitulated on August 4th (1695). The Marechal de Villeroy in turn
+bombarded Brussels, which was sorely maltreated. The Marechal de
+Boufflers, who had defended Namur, was made Duke, and those who had
+served under him were variously rewarded. This gave occasion for the
+Prince of Orange to say, that the King recompensed more liberally the
+loss of a place than he could the conquest of one. The army retired into
+winter-quarters at the end of October, and the Generals went to Paris.
+
+As for me, I remained six weeks at Landau with M. and Madame de Lorges.
+At the end of that time, the Marechal, having regained his health,
+returned to the army, where he was welcomed with the utmost joy: he soon
+after had an attack of apoplexy, and, by not attending to his malady in
+time, became seriously ill again. When a little recovered, he and Madame
+de Lorges set out for Vichy, and I went to Paris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Before speaking of what happened at Court after my return, it will be
+necessary to record what had occurred there during the campaign.
+
+M. de Brias, Archbishop of Cambrai, had died, and the King had given that
+valuable preferment to the Abbe de Fenelon, preceptor of the children of
+France. Fenelon was a man of quality, without fortune, whom the
+consciousness of wit--of the insinuating and captivating kind--united
+with much ability, gracefulness of intellect, and learning, inspired with
+ambition. He had been long going about from door to door, knocking for
+admission, but without success. Piqued against the Jesuits, to whom he
+had addressed himself at first, as holding all favours in their hands,
+and discouraged because unable to succeed in that quarter, he turned next
+to the Jansenists, to console himself by the reputation he hoped he
+should derive from them, for the loss of those gifts of fortune which
+hitherto had despised him.
+
+He remained a considerable time undergoing the process of initiation, and
+succeeded at last in being of the private parties that some of the
+important Jansenists then held once or twice a week at the house of the
+Duchesse de Brancas. I know not if he appeared too clever for them, or
+if he hoped elsewhere for better things than he could get among people
+who had only sores to share; but little by little his intimacy with them
+cooled; and by dint of turning around Saint Sulpice, he succeeded in
+forming another connection there, upon which he built greater
+expectations. This society of priests was beginning to distinguish
+itself, and from a seminary of a Paris parish to extend abroad.
+Ignorance, the minuteness of their practices, the absence of all patrons
+and of members at all distinguished in any way, inspired them with a
+blind obedience to Rome and to all its maxims; with a great aversion for
+everything that passed for Jansenism, and made them so dependent upon the
+bishops that they began to be considered an acquisition in many dioceses.
+They appeared a middle party, very useful to the prelates; who equally
+feared the Court, on account of suspicions of doctrine, and the Jesuits
+for as soon as the latter had insinuated themselves into the good graces
+of the prelates, they imposed their yoke upon them, or ruined them
+hopelessly;--thus the Sulpicians grew apace. None amongst them could
+compare in any way with the Abbe de Fenelon; so that he was able easily
+to play first fiddle, and to make for himself protectors who were
+interested in advancing him, in order that they might be protected in
+turn.
+
+His piety, which was all things to all men, and his doctrine that he
+formed upon theirs (abjuring, as it were, in whispers, the impurities he
+might have contracted amongst those he had abandoned)--the charms, the
+graces, the sweetness, the insinuation of his mind, rendered him a dear
+friend to this new congregation, and procured for him what he had long
+sought, people upon whom he could lean, and who could and would serve.
+Whilst waiting opportunities, he carefully courted these people, without
+thinking, however, of positively joining them, his views being more
+ambitious; so that he ever sought to make new acquaintances and friends.
+His was a coquettish mind, which from people the most influential down to
+the workman and the lackey sought appreciation and was determined to
+please; and his talents for this work perfectly seconded his desires.
+
+At this time, and while still obscure, he heard speak of Madame Guyon,
+who has since made so much noise in the world, and who is too well known
+to need that I should dwell upon her here. He saw her. There was an
+interchange of pleasure between their minds. Their sublimes amalgamated.
+I know not if they understood each other very clearly in that system, and
+that new tongue which they hatched subsequently, but they persuaded
+themselves they did, and friendship grew up between them. Although more
+known than he, Madame Guyon was nevertheless not much known, and their
+intimacy was not perceived, because nobody thought of them; Saint Sulpice
+even was ignorant of what was going on.
+
+The Duc de Beauvilliers became Governor of the children of France almost
+in spite of himself, without having thought of it. He had to choose a
+preceptor for Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne. He addressed himself to
+Saint Sulpice, where for a long time he had confessed, for he liked and
+protected it. He had heard speak of Fenelon with eulogy: the Sulpicians
+vaunted his piety, his intelligence, his knowledge, his talents; at last
+they proposed him for preceptor. The Duc de Beauvilliers saw him, was
+charmed with him, and appointed him to the office.
+
+As soon as installed, Fenelon saw of what importance it would be to gain
+the entire favour of the Duc de Beauvilliers, and of his brother-in-law
+the Duc de Chevreuse, both very intimate friends, and both in the highest
+confidence of the King and Madame de Maintenon. This was his first care,
+and he succeeded beyond his hopes, becoming the master of their hearts
+and minds, and the director of their consciences.
+
+Madame de Maintenon dined regularly once a week at the house of one or
+other of the two Dukes, fifth of a little party, composed of the two
+sisters and the two husbands,--with a bell upon the table, in order to
+dispense with servants in waiting, and to be able to talk without
+restraint. Fenelon was at last admitted to this sanctuary, at foot of
+which all the Court was prostrated. He was almost as successful with
+Madame de Maintenon as he had been with the two Dukes. His spirituality
+enchanted her: the Court soon perceived the giant strides of the
+fortunate Abbe, and eagerly courted him. But, desiring to be free and
+entirely devoted to his great object, he kept himself aloof from their
+flatteries--made for himself a shield with his modesty and his duties of
+preceptor--and thus rendered himself still more dear to the persons he
+had captivated, and that he had so much interest in retaining in that
+attachment.
+
+Among these cares he forgot not his dear Madame Guyon; he had already
+vaunted her to the two Dukes and to Madame de Maintenon. He had even
+introduced her to them, but as though with difficulty and for a few
+moments, as a woman all in God, whose humility and whose love of
+contemplation and solitude kept her within the strictest limits, and
+whose fear, above all, was that she should become known. The tone of her
+mind pleased Madame de Maintenon extremely; her reserve, mixed with
+delicate flatteries, won upon her. Madame de Maintenon wished to hear
+her talk upon matters of piety; with difficulty she consented to speak.
+She seemed to surrender herself to the charms and to the virtue of Madame
+de Maintenon, and Madame de Maintenon fell into the nets so skilfully
+prepared for her.
+
+Such was the situation of Fenelon when he became Archbishop of Cambrai;
+increasing the admiration in which he was held by taking no step to gain
+that great benefice. He had taken care not to seek to procure himself
+Cambrai; the least spark of ambition would have destroyed all his
+edifice; and, moreover, it was not Cambrai that he coveted.
+
+Little by little he appropriated to himself some distinguished sheep of
+the small flock Madame Guyon had gathered together. He only conducted
+them, however, under the direction of that prophetess, and, everything
+passed with a secrecy and mystery that gave additional relish to the
+manna distributed.
+
+Cambrai was a thunderbolt for this little flock. It was the
+archbishopric of Paris they wished. Cambrai they looked upon with
+disdain as a country diocese, the residence in which (impossible to avoid
+from time to time) would deprive them of their pastor. Their grief was
+then profound at what the rest of the world took for a piece of amazing
+luck, and the Countess of Guiche was so affected as to be unable to hide
+her tears. The new prelate had not neglected such of his brethren as
+made the most figure; they, in turn, considered it a distinction to
+command his regard. Saint Cyr, that spot so valuable and so
+inaccessible, was the place chosen for his consecration; and M. de Meaux,
+dictator then of the episcopacy and or doctrine, consecrated him. The
+children of France were among the spectators, and Madame de Maintenon was
+present with her little court of familiars. No others were invited; the
+doors were closed to those who sought to pay their court.
+
+The new Archbishop of Cambrai, gratified with his influence over Madame
+de Maintenon and with the advantages it had brought him, felt that unless
+he became completely master of her, the hopes he still entertained could
+not be satisfied. But there was a rival in his way--Godet, Bishop of
+Chartres, who was much in the confidence of Madame de Maintenon, and had
+long discourses with her at Saint Cyr. As he was, however, of a very ill
+figure, had but little support at Court, and appeared exceedingly simple,
+M. de Cambrai believed he could easily overthrow him. To do this, he
+determined to make use of Madame Guyon, whose new spirituality had
+already been so highly relished by Madame de Maintenon. He persuaded
+this latter to allow Madame Guyon to enter Saint Cyr, where they could
+discourse together much more at their ease than at the Hotel de Chevreuse
+or Beauvilliers. Madame Guyon went accordingly to Saint Cyr two or three
+times. Soon after, Madame de Maintenon, who relished her more and more,
+made her sleep there, and their meetings grew longer. Madame Guyon
+admitted that she sought persons proper to become her disciples, and in a
+short time she formed a little flock, whose maxims and language appeared
+very strange to all the rest of the house, and, above all, to M. de
+Chartres. That prelate was not so simple as M. de Cambrai imagined.
+Profound theologian and scholar, pious, disinterested, and of rare
+probity, he could be, if necessary, a most skilful courtier; but he
+rarely exerted this power, for the favour of Madame de Maintenon sufficed
+him of itself. As soon as he got scent of this strange doctrine, he
+caused two ladies, upon whom he could count, to be admitted to Saint Cyr,
+as if to become disciples of Madame Guyon. He gave them full
+instructions, and they played their parts to perfection. In the first
+place they appeared to be ravished, and by degrees enchanted, with the
+new doctrine. Madame Guyon, pleased with this fresh conquest, took the
+ladies into her most intimate confidence in order to gain them entirely.
+They communicated everything to M. de Chartres, who quietly looked on,
+allowed things to take their course, and, when he believed the right
+moment had arrived, disclosed all he had learnt to Madame de Maintenon.
+She was strangely surprised when she saw the extraordinary drift of the
+new doctrine. Troubled and uncertain, she consulted with M. de Cambrai,
+who, not suspecting she had been so well instructed, became, when he
+discovered it, embarrassed, and thus augmented her suspicions.
+
+Suddenly Madame Guyon was driven away from Saint Cyr, and prohibited from
+spreading her doctrine elsewhere. But the admiring disciples she had
+made still gathered round her in secret, and this becoming known, she was
+ordered to leave Paris. She feigned obedience, but in effect went no
+further than the Faubourg Saint Antoine, where, with great secrecy, she
+continued to receive her flock. But being again detected, she was sent,
+without further parley, to the Bastille, well treated there, but allowed
+to see nobody, not even to write. Before being arrested, however, she
+had been put into the hands of M. de Meaux, who used all his endeavours
+to change her sentiments. Tired at last of his sermons, she feigned
+conviction, signed a recantation of her opinions, and was set at liberty.
+Yet, directly after, she held her secret assemblies in the Faubourg Saint
+Antoine, and it was in consequence of this abuse of freedom that she was
+arrested. These adventures bring me far into the year 1696, and the
+sequel extends into the following year. Let us finish this history at
+once, and return afterwards to what happened meanwhile.
+
+Monsieur de Cambrai, stunned but not overpowered by the reverse he had
+sustained, and by his loss of favour with Madame de Maintenon, stood firm
+in his stirrups. After Madame Guyon's abuse of her liberty, and the
+conferences of Issy, he bethought himself of confessing to M. de Meaux,
+by which celebrated trick he hoped to close that prelate's mouth. These
+circumstances induced M. de Meaux to take pen in hand, in order to expose
+to the public the full account of his affair, and of Madame Guyon's
+doctrine; and he did so in a work under the title of 'Instruction sur les
+Etats d'Oyaison'.
+
+While the book was yet unpublished, M. de Cambrai was shown a copy. He
+saw at once the necessity of writing another to ward off the effect of
+such a blow. He must have had a great deal of matter already prepared,
+otherwise the diligence he used would be incredible. Before M. de
+Meaux's book was ready, M. de Cambrai's, entitled 'Maximes des Saints',
+was published and distributed. M. de Chevreuse, who corrected the
+proofs, installed himself at the printer's, so as to see every sheet as
+soon as printed.
+
+This book, written in the strangest manner, did M. de Cambrai little
+service. If people were offended to find it supported upon no authority,
+they were much more so with its confused and embarrassed style, its
+precision so restrained and so decided, its barbarous terms which seemed
+as though taken from a foreign tongue, above all, its high-flown and far-
+fetched thoughts, which took one's breath away, as in the too subtle air
+of the middle region. Nobody, except the theologians, understood it, and
+even they not without reading it three or four times. Connoisseurs found
+in it a pure Quietism, which, although wrapped up in fine language, was
+clearly visible. I do not give my own judgment of things so much beyond
+me, but repeat what was said everywhere. Nothing else was talked about,
+even by the ladies; and a propos of this, the saying of Madame de Sevigne
+was revived: "Make religion a little more palpable; it evaporates by dint
+of being over-refined."
+
+Not a word was heard in praise of the book; everybody was opposed to it,
+and it was the means of making Madame de Maintenon more unfavourable to
+M. de Cambrai than ever. He sent the King a copy, without informing her.
+This completed her annoyance against him. M. de Cambrai, finding his
+book so ill-received by the Court and by the prelates, determined to try
+and support it on the authority of Rome, a step quite opposed to our
+manners. In the mean time, M. de Meaux's book appeared in two volumes
+octavo, well written, clear, modest, and supported upon the authority of
+the Scriptures. It was received with avidity, and absolutely devoured.
+There was not a person at the Court who did not take a pleasure in
+reading it, so that for a long time it was the common subject of
+conversation of the Court and of the town.
+
+These two books, so opposed in doctrine and in style, made such a stir on
+every side that the King interposed, and forced M. de Cambrai to submit
+his work to an examination by a council of prelates, whom he named.
+M. de Cambrai asked permission to go to Rome to defend his cause in
+person, but this the King refused. He sent his book, therefore, to the
+Pope, and had the annoyance to receive a dry, cold reply, and to see
+M. de Meaux's book triumph. His good fortune was in effect at an end.
+He remained at Court some little time, but the King was soon irritated
+against him, sent him off post-haste to Paris, and from there to his
+diocese, whence he has never returned. He left behind him a letter for
+one of his friends, M. de Chevreuse it was generally believed, which
+immediately after became public. It appeared like the manifesto of a man
+who disgorges his bile and restrains himself no more, because he has
+nothing more to hope. The letter, bold and bitter in style, was besides
+so full of ability and artifice, that it was extremely pleasant to read,
+without finding approvers; so true it is that a wise and disdainful
+silence is difficult to keep under reverses.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+To return now to the date from which I started. On the 6th of August,
+1695, Harlay, Arch-bishop of Paris, died of epilepsy at Conflans. He was
+a prelate of profound knowledge and ability, very amiable, and of most
+gallant manners. For some time past he had lost favour with the King and
+with Madame de Maintenon, for opposing the declaration of her marriage--
+of which marriage he had been one of the three witnesses. The clergy,
+who perceived his fall, and to whom envy is not unfamiliar, took pleasure
+in revenging themselves upon M. de Paris, for the domination, although
+gentle and kindly, he had exercised. Unaccustomed to this decay of his
+power, all the graces of his mind and body withered. He could find no
+resource but to shut himself up with his dear friend the Duchesse de
+Lesdiguieres, whom he saw every day of his life, either at her own house
+or at Conflans, where he had laid out a delicious garden, kept so
+strictly clean, that as the two walked, gardeners followed at a distance,
+and effaced their footprints with rakes. The vapours seized the
+Archbishop, and turned themselves into slight attacks of epilepsy. He
+felt this, but prohibited his servants to send for help, when they should
+see him attacked; and he was only too well obeyed. The Duchesse de
+Lesdiguieres never slept at Conflans, but she went there every afternoon,
+and was always alone with him. On the 6th of August, he passed the
+morning, as usual, until dinner-time; his steward came there to him, and
+found him in his cabinet, fallen back upon a sofa; he was dead. The
+celebrated Jesuit-Father Gaillard preached his funeral sermon, and
+carefully eluded pointing the moral of the event. The King and Madame de
+Maintenon were much relieved by the loss of M. de Paris. Various places
+he had held were at once distributed. His archbishopric and his
+nomination to the cardinalship required more discussion. The King learnt
+the news of the death of M. de Paris on the 6th. On the 8th, in going as
+usual to his cabinet, he went straight up to the Bishop of Orleans, led
+him to the Cardinals de Bouillon and de Fursternberg, and said to them:-
+"Gentlemen, I think you will thank me for giving you an associate like M.
+d'Orleans, to whom I give my nomination to the cardinalship." At this
+word the Bishop, who little expected such a scene, fell at the King's
+feet and embraced his knees. He was a man whose face spoke at once of
+the virtue and benignity he possessed. In youth he was so pious, that
+young and old were afraid to say afoul word in his presence. Although
+very rich, he appropriated scarcely any of his wealth to himself, but
+gave it away for good works. The modesty and the simplicity with which
+M. d'Orleans sustained his nomination, increased the universal esteem in
+which he was held.
+
+The archbishopric of Paris was given to a brother of the Duc de Noailles-
+the Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne--M. de Noailles thus reaping the fruit of
+his wise sacrifice to M. de Vendome, before related. M. de Chalons was
+of singular goodness and modesty. He did not wish for this preferment,
+and seeing from far the prospect of its being given to him, hastened to
+declare himself against the Jesuits, in the expectation that Pere la
+Chaise, who was of them, and who was always consulted upon these
+occasions, might oppose him. But it happened, perhaps for the first
+time, that Madame de Maintenon, who felt restrained by the Jesuits, did
+not consult Pere la Chaise, and the preferment was made without his
+knowledge, and without that of M. de Chalons. The affront was a violent
+one, and the Jesuits never forgave the new Archbishop: he was, however,
+so little anxious for the office, that it was only after repeated orders
+he could be made to accept it.
+
+The Bishop of Langres also died about this time. He was a true
+gentleman, much liked, and called "the good Langres." There was nothing
+bad about him, except his manners; he was not made for a bishop--gambled
+very much, and staked high. M. de Vendome and others won largely at
+billiards of him, two or three times. He said no word, but, on returning
+to Langres, did nothing but practise billiards in secret for six months.
+When next in Paris, he was again asked to play, and his adversaries, who
+thought him as unskilful as before, expected an easy victory but, to
+their astonishment, he gained almost every game, won back much more than
+he had lost, and then laughed in the faces of his companions.
+
+I paid about this time, my first journey to Marly, and a singular scene
+happened there. The King at dinner, setting aside his usual gravity,
+laughed and joked very much with Madame la Duchesse, eating olives with
+her in sport, and thereby causing her to drink more than usual--which he
+also pretended to do. Upon rising from the table the King, seeing the
+Princesse de Conti look extremely serious, said, dryly, that her gravity
+did not accommodate itself to their drunkenness. The Princess, piqued,
+allowed the King to pass without saying anything; and then, turning to
+Madame de Chatillon, said, in the midst of the noise, whilst everybody
+was washing his mouth, "that she would rather be grave than be a wine-
+sack" (alluding to some bouts a little prolonged that her sister had
+recently had).
+
+The saying was heard by the Duchesse de Chartres, who replied, loud
+enough to be heard, in her slow and trembling voice, that she preferred
+to be a "winesack" rather than a "rag-sack" (sac d'guenilles) by which
+she alluded to the Clermont and La Choin adventure I have related before.
+
+This remark was so cruel that it met with no reply; it spread through
+Marly, and thence to Paris; and Madame la Duchesse, who had the art of
+writing witty songs, made one upon this theme. The Princesse de Conti
+was in despair, for she had not the same weapon at her disposal.
+Monsieur tried to reconcile them gave them a dinner at Meudon--but they
+returned from it as they went.
+
+The end of the year was stormy at Marly. One evening, after the King had
+gone to bed, and while Monseigneur was playing in the saloon, the
+Duchesse de Chartres and Madame la Duchesse (who were bound together by
+their mutual aversion to the Princesse de Conti) sat down to a supper in
+the chamber of the first-named. Monseigneur, upon retiring late to his
+own room, found them smoking with pipes, which they had sent for from the
+Swiss Guards! Knowing what would happen if the smell were discovered, he
+made them leave off, but the smoke had betrayed them. The King next day
+severely scolded them, at which the Princesse de Conti triumphed.
+Nevertheless, these broils multiplied, and the King at last grew so weary
+of them that one evening he called the Princesses before him, and
+threatened that if they did not improve he would banish them all from the
+Court. The measure had its effect; calm and decorum returned, and
+supplied the place of friendship.
+
+There were many marriages this winter, and amongst them one very strange
+--a marriage of love, between a brother of Feuquiere's, who had never
+done much, and the daughter of the celebrated Mignard, first painter of
+his time. This daughter was still so beautiful, that Bloin, chief valet
+of the King, had kept her for some time, with the knowledge of every one,
+and used his influence to make the King sign the marriage-contract.
+
+There are in all Courts persons who, without wit and without
+distinguished birth, without patrons, or service rendered, pierce into
+the intimacy of the most brilliant, and succeed at last, I know not how,
+in forcing the world to look upon them as somebody. Such a person was
+Cavoye. Rising from nothing, he became Grand Marechal des Logis in the
+royal household: he arrived at that office by a perfect romance. He was
+one of the best made men in France, and was much in favour with the
+ladies. He first appeared at the Court at a time when much duelling was
+taking place, in spite of the edicts. Cavoye, brave and skilful,
+acquired so much reputation m this particular, that the name of "Brave
+Cavoye" has stuck to him ever since. An ugly but very good creature,
+Mademoiselle de Coetlogon, one of the Queen's waiting-women, fill in love
+with him, even to madness. She made all the advances; but Cavoye treated
+her so cruelly, nay, sometimes so brutally, that (wonderful to say)
+everybody pitied her, and the King at last interfered, and commanded him
+to be more humane. Cavoye went to the army; the poor Coetlogon was in
+tears until his return. In the winter, for being second in a duel, he
+was sent to the Bastille. Then the grief of Coetlogon knew no bounds:
+she threw aside all ornaments, and clad herself as meanly as possible;
+she begged the King to grant Cavoye his liberty, and, upon the King's
+refusing, quarrelled with him violently, and when in return he laughed at
+her, became so furious, that she would have used her nails, had he not
+been too wise to expose himself to them. Then she refused to attend to
+her duties, would not serve the King, saying, that he did not deserve it,
+and grew so yellow and ill, that at last she was allowed to visit her
+lover at the Bastille. When he was liberated, her joy was extreme, she
+decked herself out anon, but it was with difficulty that she consented to
+be reconciled to the King.
+
+Cavoye had many times been promised an appointment, but had never
+received one such as he wished. The office of Grand Marechal des Logis
+had just become vacant: the King offered it to Cavoye, but on condition
+that he should marry Mademoiselle Coetlogon. Cavoye sniffed a little
+longer, but was obliged to submit to this condition at last. They were
+married, and she has still the same admiration for him, and it is
+sometimes fine fun to see the caresses she gives him before all the
+world, and the constrained gravity with which he receives them. The
+history of Cavoye would fill a volume, but this I have selected suffices
+for its singularity, which assuredly is without example.
+
+About this time the King of England thought matters were ripe for an
+attempt to reinstate himself upon the throne. The Duke of Berwick had
+been secretly into England, where he narrowly escaped being arrested,
+and upon his report these hopes were built. Great preparations were
+made, but they came to nothing, as was always the case with the projects
+of this unhappy prince.
+
+Madame de Guise died at this time. Her father was the brother of Louis
+XIII., and she, humpbacked and deformed to excess, had married the last
+Duc de Guise, rather than not marry at all. During all their lives, she
+compelled him to pay her all the deference due to her rank. At table he
+stood while she unfolded her napkin and seated herself, and did not sit
+until she told him to do so, and then at the end of the table. This form
+was observed every day of their lives. She was equally severe in such
+matters of etiquette with all the rest of the world. She would keep her
+diocesan, the Bishop of Seez, standing for entire hours, while she was
+seated in her arm-chair and never once offered him a seat even in the
+corner. She was in other things an entirely good and sensible woman.
+Not until after her death was it discovered that she had been afflicted
+for a long time with a cancer, which appeared as though about to burst.
+God spared her this pain.
+
+We lost, in the month of March, Madame de Miramion, aged sixty-six. She
+was a bourgeoise, married, and in the same year became a widow very rich,
+young, and beautiful. Bussy Rabutin, so known by his 'Histoire Amoureuse
+des Gaules', and by the profound disgrace it drew upon him, and still
+more by the vanity of his mind and the baseness of his heart, wished
+absolutely to marry her, and actually carried her off to a chateau. Upon
+arriving at the place, she pronounced before everybody assembled there a
+vow of chastity, and then dared Bussy to do his worst. He, strangely
+discomfited by this action, at once set her at liberty, and tried to
+accommodate the affair. From that moment she devoted herself entirely,
+to works of piety, and was much esteemed by the King. She was the first
+woman of her condition who wrote above her door, "Hotel de Nesmond."
+Everybody cried out, and was scandalised, but the writing remained, and
+became the example and the father of those of all kinds which little by
+little have inundated Paris.
+
+Madame de Sevigne, so amiable and of such excellent company, died some
+time after at Grignan, at the house of her daughter, her idol, but who
+merited little to be so. I was very intimate with the young Marquis de
+Grignan, her grandson. This woman, by her natural graces, the sweetness
+of her wit, communicated these qualities to those who had them not; she
+was besides extremely good, and knew thoroughly many things without ever
+wishing to appear as though she knew anything.
+
+Father Seraphin preached during Lent this year at the Court. His
+sermons, in which he often repeated twice running the same phrase, were
+much in vogue. It was from him that came the saying, "Without God there
+is no wit." The King was much pleased with him, and reproached M. de
+Vendome and M. de la Rochefoucauld because they never went to hear his
+sermons. M. de Vendome replied off-hand, that he did not care to go to
+hear a man who said whatever he pleased without allowing anybody to reply
+to him, and made the King smile by this sally. But M. de la
+Rochefoucauld treated the matter in another manner he said that he could
+not induce himself to go like the merest hanger-on about the Court, and
+beg a seat of the officer who distributed them, and then betake himself
+early to church in order to have a good one, and wait about in order to
+put himself where it might please that officer to place him. Whereupon
+the King immediately gave him a fourth seat behind him, by the side of
+the Grand Chamberlain, so that everywhere he is thus placed.
+M. d'Orleans had been in the habit of seating himself there (although his
+right place was on the prie-Dieu), and little by little had accustomed
+himself to consider it as his proper place. When he found himself driven
+away, he made a great ado, and, not daring to complain to the King,
+quarrelled with M. de la Rochefoucauld, who, until then, had been one of
+his particular friends. The affair soon made a great stir; the friends
+of both parties mixed themselves up in it. The King tried in vain to
+make M. d'Orleans listen to reason; the prelate was inflexible, and when
+he found he could gain nothing by clamour and complaint, he retired in
+high dudgeon into his diocese: he remained there some time, and upon his
+return resumed his complaints with more determination than ever; he fell
+at the feet of the King, protesting that he would rather die than see his
+office degraded. M. de la Rochefoucauld entreated the King to be allowed
+to surrender the seat in favour of M. d'Orleans. But the King would not
+change his decision; he said that if the matter were to be decided
+between M. d'Orleans and a lackey, he would give the seat to the lackey
+rather than to M. d'Orleans. Upon this the prelate returned to his
+diocese, which he would have been wiser never to have quitted in order to
+obtain a place which did not belong to him.
+
+As the King really esteemed M. d'Orleans, he determined to appease his
+anger; and to put an end to this dispute he gave therefore the bishopric
+of Metz to the nephew of M. d'Orleans; and by this means a reconciliation
+was established. M. d'Orleans and M. de la Rochefoucauld joined hands
+again, and the King looked on delighted.
+
+The public lost soon after a man illustrious by his genius, by his style,
+and by his knowledge of men, I mean La Bruyere, who died of apoplexy at
+Versailles, after having surpassed Theophrastus in his own manner, and
+after painting, in the new characters, the men of our days in a manner
+inimitable. He was besides a very honest man, of excellent breeding,
+simple, very disinterested, and without anything of the pedant. I had
+sufficiently known him to regret his death, and the works that might have
+been hoped from him.
+
+The command of the armies was distributed in the same manner as before,
+with the exception that M. de Choiseul had the army of the Rhine in place
+of M. de Lorges. Every one set out to take the field. The Duc de la
+Feuillade in passing by Metz, to join the army in Germany, called upon
+his uncle, who was very rich and in his second childhood. La Feuillade
+thought fit to make sure of his uncle's money beforehand, demanded the
+key of the cabinet and of the coffers, broke them open upon being refused
+by the servants, and took away thirty thousand crowns in gold, and many
+jewels, leaving untouched the silver. The King, who for a long time had
+been much discontented with La Feuillade for his debauches and his
+negligence, spoke very strongly and very openly upon this strange
+forestalling of inheritance. It was only with great difficulty he could
+be persuaded not to strip La Feuillade of his rank.
+
+Our campaign was undistinguished by any striking event. From June to
+September of this year (1696), we did little but subsist and observe,
+after which we recrossed the Rhine at Philipsburg, where our rear guard
+was slightly inconvenienced by the enemy. In Italy there was more
+movement. The King sought to bring about peace by dividing the forces of
+his enemies, and secretly entered into a treaty with Savoy. The
+conditions were, that every place belonging to Savoy which had been taken
+by our troops should be restored, and that a marriage should take place
+between Monseigneur the Duc de Bourgogne and the daughter of the Duke of
+Savoy, when she became twelve years of age. In the mean time she was to
+be sent to the Court of France, and preparations were at once made there
+to provide her with a suitable establishment.
+
+The King was ill with an anthrax in the throat. The eyes of all Europe
+were turned towards him, for his malady was not without danger;
+nevertheless in his bed he affected to attend to affairs as usual; and he
+arranged there with Madame de Maintenon, who scarcely ever quitted his
+side, the household of the Savoy Princess. The persons selected for the
+offices in that household were either entirely devoted to Madame de
+Maintenon, or possessed of so little wit that she had nothing to fear
+from them. A selection which excited much envy and great surprise was
+that of the Duchesse de Lude to be lady of honour. The day before she
+was appointed, Monsieur had mentioned her name in sport to the King.
+"Yes," said the King, "she would be the best woman in the world to teach
+the Princess to put rouge and patches on her cheek;" and then, being
+more devout than usual, he said other things as bitter and marking strong
+aversion on his part to the Duchess. In fact, she was no favourite of
+his nor of Madame de Maintenon; and this was so well understood that the
+surprise of Monsieur and of everybody else was great, upon finding, the
+day after this discourse, that she had been appointed to the place.
+
+The cause of this was soon learnt. The Duchesse de Lude coveted much to
+be made lady of honour to the Princess, but knew she had but little
+chance, so many others more in favour than herself being in the field.
+Madame de Maintenon had an old servant named Nanon, who had been with her
+from the time of her early days of misery, and who had such influence
+with her, that this servant was made much of by everybody at Court, even
+by the ministers and the daughters of the King. The Duchesse de Lude had
+also an old servant who was on good terms with the other. The affair
+therefore was not difficult. The Duchesse de Lude sent twenty thousand
+crowns to Nanon, and on the very evening of the day on which the King had
+spoken to Monsieur, she had the place. Thus it is! A Nanon sells the
+most important and the most brilliant offices, and a Duchess of high
+birth is silly enough to buy herself into servitude!
+
+This appointment excited much envy. The Marechal de Rochefort, who had
+expected to be named, made a great ado. Madame de Maintenon, who
+despised her, was piqued, and said that she should have had it but for
+the conduct of her daughter. This was a mere artifice; but the daughter
+was, in truth, no sample of purity. She had acted in such a manner with
+Blansac that he was sent for from the army to marry her, and on the very
+night of their wedding she gave birth to a daughter. She was full of
+wit, vivacity, intrigue, and sweetness; yet most wicked, false, and
+artificial, and all this with a simplicity of manner, that imposed even
+upon those who knew her best. More than gallant while her face lasted,
+she afterwards was easier of access, and at last ruined herself for the
+meanest valets. Yet, notwithstanding her vices, she was the prettiest
+flower of the Court bunch, and had her chamber always full of the best
+company: she was also much sought after by the three daughters of the
+King. Driven away from the Court, she was after much supplication
+recalled, and pleased the King so much that Madame de Maintenon, in fear
+of her, sent her away again. But to go back again to the household of
+the Princess of Savoy.
+
+Dangeau was made chevalier d'honneur. He owed his success to his good
+looks, to the court he paid to the King's mistresses, to his skilfulness
+at play, and to a lucky stroke of fortune. The King had oftentimes been
+importuned to give him a lodging, and one day, joking with him upon his
+fancy of versifying; proposed to him some very hard rhymes, and promised
+him a lodging if he filled them up upon the spot. Dangeau accepted,
+thought but for a moment, performed the task, and thus gained his
+lodging. He was an old friend of Madame de Maintenon, and it was to her
+he was indebted for his post of chevalier d'honneur in the new household.
+
+Madame d'O was appointed lady of the palace. Her father, named
+Guilleragues, a gluttonous Gascon, had been one of the intimate friends
+of Madame Scarron, who, as Madame de Maintenon, did not forget her old
+acquaintance, but procured him the embassy to Constantinople. Dying
+there, he left an only daughter, who, on the voyage home to France,
+gained the heart of Villers, lieutenant of the vessel, and became his
+wife in Asia-Minor, near the ruins of Troy. Villers claimed to be of the
+house of d'O; hence the name his wife bore.
+
+Established at the Court, the newly-married couple quickly worked
+themselves into the favour of Madame de Maintenon, both being very clever
+in intrigue. M. d'O was made governor of the Comte de Toulouse, and soon
+gained his entire confidence. Madame d'O, too, infinitely pleased the
+young Count, just then entering upon manhood, by her gallantry, her wit,
+and the facilities she allowed him. Both, in consequence, grew in great
+esteem with the King. Had they been attendants upon Princes of the
+blood, he would assuredly have slighted them. But he always showed great
+indulgence to those who served his illegitimate children. Hence the
+appointment of Madame d'O to be lady of the palace.
+
+The household of the Princess of Savoy being completed, the members of it
+were sent to the Pont Beauvosin to meet their young mistress. She
+arrived early on the 16th of October, slept at the Pont Beauvosin that
+night, and on the morrow parted with her Italian attendants without
+shedding a single tear. On the 4th of November she arrived at Montargis,
+and was received by the King, Monseigneur, and Monsieur. The King handed
+her down from her coach, and conducted her to the apartment he had
+prepared for her. Her respectful and flattering manners pleased him
+highly. Her cajoleries, too, soon bewitched Madame de Maintenon, whom
+she never addressed except as "Aunt;" whom she treated with a respect,
+and yet with a freedom, that ravished everybody. She became the doll of
+Madame de Maintenon and the King, pleased them infinitely by her
+insinuating spirit, and took greater liberties with them than the
+children of the King had ever dared to attempt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Meanwhile our campaign upon the Rhine proceeded, and the enemy, having
+had all their grand projects of victory defeated by the firmness and the
+capacity of the Marechal de Choiseul, retired into winter-quarters, and
+we prepared to do the same. The month of October was almost over when
+Madame de Saint-Simon lost M. Fremont, father of the Marechal de Lorges.
+She had happily given birth to a daughter on the 8th of September. I was
+desirous accordingly to go to Paris, and having obtained permission from
+the Marechal de Choiseul, who had treated me throughout the campaign with
+much politeness and attention, I set out. Upon arriving at Paris I found
+the Court at Fontainebleau. I had arrived from the army a little before
+the rest, and did not wish that the King should know it without seeing
+me, lest he might think I had returned in secret. I hastened at once
+therefore to Fontainebleau, where the King received me with his usual
+goodness,-saying, nevertheless, that I had returned a little too early,
+but that it was of no consequence.
+
+I had not long left his presence when I learned a report that made my
+face burn again. It was affirmed that when the King remarked upon my
+arriving a little early, I had replied that I preferred arriving at once
+to see him, as my sole mistress, than to remain some days in Paris, as
+did the other young men with their mistresses. I went at once to the
+King, who had a numerous company around him; and I openly denied what had
+been reported, offering a reward for the discovery of the knave who had
+thus calumniated me, in order that I might give him a sound thrashing.
+All day I sought to discover the scoundrel. My speech to the King and my
+choler were the topic of the day, and I was blamed for having spoken so
+loudly and in such terms. But of two evils I had chosen the least,--a
+reprimand from the King, or a few days in the Bastille; and I had avoided
+the greatest, which was to allow myself to be believed an infamous
+libeller of our young men, in order to basely and miserably curry favour
+at the Court. The course I took succeeded. The King said nothing of the
+matter, and I went upon a little journey I wished particularly to take,
+for reasons I will now relate.
+
+I had, as I have already mentioned, conceived a strong attachment and
+admiration for M. de La Trappe. I wished to secure a portrait of him,
+but such was his modesty and humility that I feared to ask him to allow
+himself to be painted. I went therefore to Rigault, then the first
+portrait-painter in Europe. In consideration of a sum of a thousand
+crowns, and all his expenses paid, he agreed to accompany me to La
+Trappe, and to make a portrait of him from memory. The whole affair was
+to be kept a profound secret, and only one copy of the picture was to be
+made, and that for the artist himself.
+
+My plan being fully arranged, I and Rigault set out. As soon as we
+arrived at our journey's end, I sought M. de La Trappe, and begged to be
+allowed to introduce to him a friend of mine, an officer, who much wished
+to see him: I added, that my friend was a stammerer, and that therefore
+he would be importuned merely with looks and not words. M. de La Trappe
+smiled with goodness, thought the officer curious about little, and
+consented to see him. The interview took place. Rigault excusing
+himself on the ground of his infirmity, did little during three-quarters
+of an hour but keep his eyes upon M. de La Trappe, and at the end went
+into a room where materials were already provided for him, and covered
+his canvas with the images and the ideas he had filled himself with.
+On the morrow the same thing was repeated, although M. de La Trappe,
+thinking that a man whom he knew not, and who could take no part in
+conversation, had sufficiently seen him, agreed to the interview only out
+of complaisance to me. Another sitting was needed in order to finish the
+work; but it was with great difficulty M. de La Trappe could be persuaded
+to consent to it. When the third and last interview was at an end, M. de
+La Trappe testified to me his surprise at having been so much and so long
+looked at by a species of mute. I made the best excuses I could, and
+hastened to turn the conversation.
+
+The portrait was at length finished, and was a most perfect likeness of
+my venerable friend. Rigault admitted to me that he had worked so hard
+to produce it from memory, that for several months afterwards he had been
+unable to do anything to his other portraits. Notwithstanding the
+thousand crowns I had paid him, he broke the engagement he had made by
+showing the portrait before giving it up to me. Then, solicited for
+copies, he made several, gaining thereby, according to his own admission,
+more than twenty-five thousand francs, and thus gave publicity to the
+affair.
+
+I was very much annoyed at this, and with the noise it made in the world;
+and I wrote to M. de La Trappe, relating the deception I had practised
+upon him, and sued for pardon. He was pained to excess, hurt, and
+afflicted; nevertheless he showed no anger. He wrote in return to me,
+and said, I was not ignorant that a Roman Emperor had said, "I love
+treason but not traitors;" but that, as for himself, he felt on the
+contrary that he loved the traitor but could only hate his treason.
+I made presents of three copies of the picture to the monastery of La
+Trappe. On the back of the original I described the circumstance under
+which the portrait had been taken, in order to show that M. de La Trappe
+had not consented to it, and I pointed out that for some years he had
+been unable to use his right hand, to acknowledge thus the error which
+had been made in representing him as writing.
+
+The King, about this time, set on foot negotiations for peace in Holland,
+sending there two plenipotentiaries, Courtin and Harlay, and
+acknowledging one of his agents, Caillieres, who had been for some little
+time secretly in that country.
+
+The year finished with the disgrace of Madame de Saint Geran. She was on
+the best of terms with the Princesses, and as much a lover of good cheer
+as Madame de Chartres and Madame la Duchesse. This latter had in the
+park of Versailles a little house that she called the "Desert." There
+she had received very doubtful company, giving such gay repasts that the
+King, informed of her doings, was angry, and forbade her to continue
+these parties or to receive certain guests. Madame de Saint Geran was
+then in the first year of her mourning, so that the King did not think it
+necessary to include her among the interdicted; but he intimated that he
+did not approve of her. In spite of this, Madame la Duchesse invited her
+to an early supper at the Desert a short time after, and the meal was
+prolonged so far into the night, and with so much gaiety, that it came to
+the ears of the King. He was in great anger, and learning that Madame de
+Saint Geran had been of the party, sentenced her to be banished twenty
+leagues from the Court. Like a clever woman, she retired into a convent
+at Rouen, saying that as she had been unfortunate enough to displease the
+King, a convent was the only place for her; and this was much approved.
+
+At the commencement of the next year (1697) the eldest son of the Comte
+d'Auvergne completed his dishonour by a duel he fought with the Chevalier
+de Caylus, on account of a tavern broil, and a dispute about some
+wenches. Caylus, who had fought well, fled from the kingdom; the other,
+who had used his sword like a poltroon, and had run away dismayed into
+the streets, was disinherited by his father, sent out of the country, and
+returned no more. He was in every respect a wretch, who, on account of
+his disgraceful adventures, was forced to allow himself to be
+disinherited and to take the cross of Malta; he was hanged in effigy at
+the Greve, to the great regret of his family, not on account of the
+sentence, but because, in spite of every entreaty, he had been proceeded
+against like the most obscure gentleman. The exile of Caylus afterwards
+made his fortune.
+
+We had another instance, about this time, of the perfidy of Harlay. He
+had been entrusted with a valuable deposit by Ruvigny, a Huguenot
+officer, who, quitting France, had entered the service of the Prince of
+Orange, and who was, with the exception of Marshal Schomberg, the only
+Huguenot to whom the King offered the permission of remaining at Court
+with full liberty to practise his religion in secret. This, Ruvigny,
+like Marshal Schomberg, refused. He was, nevertheless, allowed to retain
+the property he possessed in France; but after his death his son, not
+showing himself at all grateful for this favour, the King at last
+confiscated the property, and publicly testified his anger. This was the
+moment that Harlay seized to tell the King of the deposit he had. As a
+recompense the King gave it to him as confiscated, and this hypocrite of
+justice, of virtue, of disinterestedness, and of rigorism was not ashamed
+to appropriate it to himself, and to close his ears and his eyes to the
+noise this perfidy excited.
+
+M. de Monaco, who had obtained for himself the title of foreign prince by
+the marriage of his son with the Duchesse de Valentinois, daughter of M.
+le Grand, and who enjoyed, as it were, the sovereignty of a rock--beyond
+whose narrow limits anybody might spit, so to speak, whilst standing in
+the middle--soon found, and his son still more so, that they had bought
+the title very dearly. The Duchess was charming, gallant, and was
+spoiled by the homage of the Court, in a house open night and day, and to
+which her beauty attracted all that was young and brilliant. Her
+husband, with much intelligence, was diffident; his face and figure had
+acquired for him the name of Goliath; he suffered for a long time the
+haughtiness and the disdain of his wife and her family. At last he and
+his father grew tired and took away Madame de Valentinois to Monaco. She
+grieved, and her parents also, as though she had been carried off to the
+Indies. After two years of absence and repentance, she promised marvels,
+and was allowed to return to Paris. I know not who counselled her, but,
+without changing her conduct, she thought only how to prevent a return to
+Monaco; and to insure herself against this, she accused her father-in-law
+of having made vile proposals to her, and of attempting to take her by
+force. This charge made a most scandalous uproar, but was believed by
+nobody. M. de Monaco was no longer young; he was a very honest man, and
+had always passed for such; besides, he was almost blind in both eyes,
+and had a huge pointed belly, which absolutely excited fear, it jutted
+out so far!
+
+After some time, as Madame de Valentinois still continued to swim in the
+pleasures of the Court under the shelter of her family, her husband
+redemanded her; and though he was laughed at at first, she was at last
+given up to him.
+
+A marriage took place at this time between the son of Pontchartrain and
+the daughter of the Comte de Roye. The Comte de Roye was a Huguenot,
+and, at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, had taken refuge, with his
+wife, in Denmark, where he had been made grand marshal and commander of
+all the troops. One day, as the Comte de Roye was dining with his wife
+and daughter at the King's table, the Comtesse de Roye asked her daughter
+if she did not think the Queen of Denmark and Madame Panache resembled
+each other like two drops of water? Although she spoke in French and in
+a low tone, the Queen both heard and understood her, and inquired at once
+who was Madame Panache. The Countess in her surprise replied, that she
+was a very amiable woman at the French Court. The Queen, who had noticed
+the surprise of the Countess, was not satisfied with this reply. She
+wrote to the Danish minister at Paris, desiring to be informed of every
+particular respecting Madame Panache, her face, her age, her condition,
+and upon what footing she was at the French Court. The minister, all
+astonished that the Queen should have heard of Madame Panache, wrote word
+that she was a little and very old creature, with lips and eyes so
+disfigured that they were painful to look upon; a species of beggar who
+had obtained a footing at Court from being half-witted, who was now at
+the supper of the King, now at the dinner of Monseigneur, or at other
+places, where everybody amused themselves by tormenting her: She in turn
+abused the company at these parties, in order to cause diversion, but
+sometimes rated them very seriously and with strong words, which
+delighted still more those princes and princesses, who emptied into her
+pockets meat and ragouts, the sauces of which ran all down her
+petticoats: at these parties some gave her a pistole or a crown, and
+others a filip or a smack in the face, which put her in a fury, because
+with her bleared eyes not being able to see the end of her nose, she
+could not tell who had struck her;--she was, in a word, the pastime of
+the Court!
+
+Upon learning this, the Queen of Denmark was so piqued, that she could no
+longer suffer the Comtesse de Roye near her; she complained to the King:
+he was much offended that foreigners, whom he had loaded with favour,
+should so repay him. The Comte de Roye was unable to stand up against
+the storm, and withdrew to England, where he died a few years after.
+
+The King at this time drove away the company of Italian actors, and would
+not permit another in its place. So long as the Italians had simply
+allowed their stage to overflow with filth or impiety they only caused
+laughter; but they set about playing a piece called "The False Prude," in
+which Madame de Maintenon was easily recognised. Everybody ran to see
+the piece; but after three or four representations, given consecutively
+on account of the gain it brought, the Italians received orders to close
+their theatre and to quit the realm in a month. This affair made a great
+noise; and if the comedians lost an establishment by their boldness and
+folly, they who drove them away gained nothing--such was the licence with
+which this ridiculous event was spoken of!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The disposition of the armies was the same this year as last, except that
+the Princes did not serve. Towards the end of May I joined the army of
+the Rhine, under the Marechal de Choiseul, as before. We made some
+skilful manoeuvres, but did little in the way of fighting. For sixteen
+days we encamped at Nieder-buhl, where we obtained a good supply of
+forage. At the end of that time the Marechal de Choiseul determined to
+change his position. Our army was so placed, that the enemy could see
+almost all of it quite distinctly; yet, nevertheless, we succeeded in
+decamping so quickly, that we disappeared from under their very eyes in
+open daylight, and in a moment as it were. Such of the Imperial Generals
+as were out riding ran from all parts to the banks of the Murg, to see
+our retreat, but it was so promptly executed that there was no time for
+them, to attempt to hinder us. When the Prince of Baden was told of our
+departure he could not credit it. He had seen us so lately, quietly
+resting in our position, that it seemed impossible to him we had left it
+in such a short space of time. When his own eyes assured him of the
+fact, he was filled with such astonishment and admiration, that he asked
+those around him if they had ever seen such a retreat, adding, that he
+could not have believed, until then, that an army so numerous and so
+considerable should have been able to disappear thus in an instant.
+This honourable and bold retreat was attended by a sad accident. One of
+our officers, named Blansac, while leading a column of infantry through
+the wood, was overtaken by night. A small party of his men heard some
+cavalry near them. The cavalry belonged to the enemy, and had lost their
+way. Instead of replying when challenged, they said to each other in
+German, "Let us run for it." Nothing more was wanting to draw upon them
+a discharge from the small body of our men, by whom they had been heard.
+To this they replied with their pistols. Immediately, and without
+orders, the whole column of infantry fired in that direction, and, before
+Blansac could inquire the cause, fired again. Fortunately he was not
+wounded; but five unhappy captains were killed, and some subalterns
+wounded.
+
+Our campaign was brought to an end by the peace of Ryswick. The first
+news of that event arrived at Fontainebleau on the 22nd of September.
+Celi, son of Harlay, had been despatched with the intelligence; but he
+did not arrive until five o'clock in the morning of the 26th of
+September. He had amused himself by the way with a young girl who had
+struck his fancy, and with some wine that he equally relished. He had
+committed all the absurdities and impertinences which might be expected
+of a debauched, hare-brained young fellow, completely spoiled by his
+father, and he crowned all by this fine delay.
+
+A little time before the signing of peace, the Prince de Conti, having
+been elected King of Poland, set out to take possession of his throne.
+The King, ravished with joy to see himself delivered from a Prince whom
+he disliked, could not hide his satisfaction--his eagerness--to get rid
+of a Prince whose only faults were that he had no bastard blood in his
+veins, and that he was so much liked by all the nation that they wished
+him at the head of the army, and murmured at the little favour he
+received, as compared with that showered down upon the illegitimate
+children.
+
+The King made all haste to treat the Prince to royal honours. After an
+interview in the cabinet of Madame de Maintenon, he presented him to a
+number of ladies, saying, "I bring you a king." The Prince was all along
+doubtful of the validity of his election, and begged that the Princess
+might not be treated as a queen, until he should have been crowned.
+He received two millions in cash from the King, and other assistances.
+Samuel Bernard undertook to make the necessary payments in Poland. The
+Prince started by way of Dunkerque, and went to that place at such speed,
+that an ill-closed chest opened, and two thousand Louis were scattered on
+the road, a portion only of which was brought back to the Hotel Conti.
+The celebrated Jean Bart pledged himself to take him safely, despite the
+enemy's fleet; and kept his word. The convoy was of five frigates. The
+Chevalier de Sillery, before starting, married Mademoiselle Bigot, rich
+and witty, with whom he had been living for some time. Meanwhile the
+best news arrived from our ambassador, the Abbe de Polignac, to the King;
+but all answers were intercepted at Dantzic by the retired Queen of
+Poland, who sent on only the envelopes! However, the Prince de Conti
+passed up the Sound; and the King and Queen of Denmark watched them from
+the windows of the Chateau de Cronenbourg. Jean Bart, against custom,
+ordered a salute to be fired. It was returned; and as some light vessels
+passing near the frigates said that the King and Queen were looking on,
+the Prince ordered another salvo.
+
+There was, however, another claimant to the throne of Poland; I mean the
+Elector of Saxony, who had also been elected, and who had many partisans;
+so many, indeed, that when the Prince de Conti arrived at Dantzic, he
+found himself almost entirely unsupported. The people even refused
+provision to his frigates. However, the Prince's partisans at length
+arrived to salute him. The Bishop of Plosko gave him a grand repast,
+near the Abbey of Oliva. Marege, a Gascon gentleman of the Prince's
+suite, was present, but had been ill. There was drinking in the Polish
+fashion, and he tried to be let off. The Prince pleaded for him; but
+these Poles, who, in order to make themselves understood, spoke Latin--
+and very bad Latin indeed--would not accept such an excuse, and forcing
+him to drink, howled furiously 'Bibat et Moriatur! Marege, who was very
+jocular and yet very choleric; used to tell this story in the same
+spirit, and made everyone who heard it laugh.
+
+However, the party of the Prince de Conti made no way, and at length he
+was fain to make his way back to France with all speed. The King
+received him very graciously, although at heart exceeding sorry to see
+him again. A short time after, the Elector of Saxony mounted the throne
+of Poland without opposition, and was publicly recognised by the King,
+towards the commencement of August.
+
+By the above-mentioned peace of Ryswick, the King acknowledged the Prince
+of Orange as King of England. It was, however, a bitter draught for him
+to swallow, and for these reasons: Some years before, the King had
+offered his illegitimate daughter, the Princesse de Conti, in marriage to
+the Prince of Orange, believing he did that Prince great honour by the
+proposal. The Prince did not think in the same manner, and flatly
+refused; saying, that the House of Orange was accustomed to marry the
+legitimate daughters of great kings, and not their bastards. These words
+sank so deeply into the heart of the King, that he never forgot them; and
+often, against even his most palpable interest, showed how firmly the
+indignation he felt at them had taken possession of his mind: Since then,
+the Prince of Orange had done all in his power to efface the effect his
+words had made, but every attempt was rejected with disdain. The King's
+ministers in Holland had orders to do all they could to thwart the
+projects of the Prince of Orange, to excite people against him, to
+protect openly those opposed to him, and to be in no way niggard of money
+in order to secure the election of magistrates unfavourable to him. The
+Prince never ceased, until the breaking-out of this war, to use every
+effort to appease the anger of the King. At last, growing tired, and
+hoping soon to make his invasion into England, he said publicly, that he
+had uselessly laboured all his life to gain the favours of the King, but
+that he hoped to be more fortunate in meriting his esteem. It may be
+imagined, therefore, what a triumph it was for him when he forced the
+King to recognise him as monarch of England, and what that recognition
+cost the King.
+
+M. le Duc presided this year over the Assembly of the States of Burgundy,
+in place of his father M. le Prince, who did not wish to go there. The
+Duke gave on that occasion a striking example of the friendship of
+princes, and a fine lesson to those who seek it. Santeuil, Canon of
+Saint Victor, and the greatest Latin poet who has appeared for many
+centuries, accompanied him. Santeuil was an excellent fellow, full of
+wit and of life, and of pleasantries, which rendered him an admirable
+boon-companion. Fond of wine and of good cheer, he was not debauched;
+and with a disposition and talents so little fitted for the cloister,
+was nevertheless, at bottom, as good a churchman as with such a character
+he could be. He was a great favourite with all the house of Conde, and
+was invited to their parties, where his witticisms, his verses, and his
+pleasantries had afforded infinite amusement for many years.
+
+M. le Duc wished to take him to Dijon. Santeuil tried to excuse himself,
+but without effect; he was obliged to go, and was established at the
+house of the Duke while the States were held. Every evening there was a
+supper, and Santeuil was always the life of the company. One evening M.
+le Duc diverted himself by forcing Santeuil to drink champagne, and
+passing from pleasantry to pleasantry, thought it would be a good joke to
+empty his snuff-box, full of Spanish snuff, into a large glass of wine,
+and to make Santeuil drink it, in order to see what would happen. It was
+not long before he was enlightened upon this point. Santeuil was seized
+with vomiting and with fever, and in twice twenty-four hours the unhappy
+man died-suffering the tortures of the damned, but with sentiments of
+extreme penitence, in which he received the sacrament, and edified a
+company little disposed towards edification, but who detested such a
+cruel joke.
+
+In consequence of the peace just concluded at Ryswick, many fresh
+arrangements were made about this time in our embassies abroad. This
+allusion to our foreign appointments brings to my mind an anecdote which
+deserves to be remembered. When M. de Vendome took Barcelona, the
+Montjoui (which is as it were its citadel) was commanded by the Prince of
+Darmstadt. He was of the house of Hesse, and had gone into Spain to seek
+employment; he was a relative of the Queen of Spain, and, being a very
+well-made man, had not, it was said, displeased her. It was said also,
+and by people whose word was not without weight, that the same council of
+Vienna, which for reasons of state had made no scruple of poisoning the
+late Queen of Spain (daughter of Monsieur), because she had no children,
+and because she had, also, too much ascendancy over the heart of her
+husband; it was said, I say, that this same council had no scruples upon
+another point. After poisoning the first Queen, it had remarried the
+King of Spain to a sister of the Empress. She was tall, majestic, not
+without beauty and capacity, and, guided by the ministers of the Emperor,
+soon acquired much influence over the King her husband. So far all was
+well, but the most important thing was wanting--she had no children. The
+council had hoped some from this second marriage, because it had lured
+itself into the belief that previously the fault rested with the late
+Queen. After some years, this same council, being no longer able to
+disguise the fact that the King could have no children, sent the Prince
+of Darmstadt into Spain, for the purpose of establishing himself there,
+and of ingratiating himself into the favour of the Queen to such an
+extent that this defect might be remedied. The Prince of Darmstadt was
+well received; he obtained command in the army; defended, as I have said,
+Barcelona; and obtained a good footing at the Court. But the object for
+which he had been more especially sent he could not accomplish. I will
+not say whether the Queen was inaccessible from her own fault or that of
+others. Nor will I say, although I have been assured, but I believe by
+persons without good knowledge of the subject, that naturally it was
+impossible for her to become a mother. I will simply say that the Prince
+of Darmstadt was on the best terms with the King and the Queen, and had
+opportunities very rare in that country, without any fruit which could
+put the succession of the monarchy in safety against the different
+pretensions afloat, or reassure on that head the politic council of
+Vienna.
+
+But to return to France.
+
+Madame de Maintenon, despite the height to which her insignificance had
+risen, had yet her troubles. Her brother, who was called the Comte
+d'Aubigne, was of but little worth, yet always spoke as though no man
+were his equal, complained that he had not been made Marechal of France
+--sometimes said that he had taken his baton in money, and constantly
+bullied Madame de Maintenon because she did not make him a duke and a
+peer. He spent his time running after girls in the Tuileries, always had
+several on his hands, and lived and spent his money with their families
+and friends of the same kidney. He was just fit for a strait-waistcoat,
+but comical, full of wit and unexpected repartees. A good, humorous
+fellow, and honest-polite, and not too impertinent on account of his
+sister's fortune. Yet it was a pleasure to hear him talk of the time of
+Scarron and the Hotel d'Albret, and of the gallantries and adventures of
+his sister, which he contrasted with her present position and devotion.
+He would talk in this manner, not before one or two, but in a
+compromising manner, quite openly in the Tuileries gardens, or in the
+galleries of Versailles, before everybody, and would often drolly speak
+of the King as "the brother-in-law." I have frequently heard him talk in
+this manner; above all, when he came (more often than was desired) to
+dine with my father and mother, who were much embarrassed with him; at
+which I used to laugh in my sleeve.
+
+A brother like this was a great annoyance to Madame de Maintenon. His
+wife, an obscure creature, more obscure, if possible, than her birth;
+--foolish to the last degree, and of humble mien, was almost equally so.
+Madame de Maintenon determined to rid herself of both. She persuaded her
+brother to enter a society that had been established by a M. Doyen, at
+St. Sulpice, for decayed gentlemen. His wife at the same time was
+induced to retire into another community, where, however, she did not
+fail to say to her companions that her fate was very hard, and that she
+wished to be free. As for d'Aubigne he concealed from nobody that his
+sister was putting a joke on him by trying to persuade him that he was
+devout, declared that he was pestered by priests, and that he should give
+up the ghost in M. Doyen's house. He could not stand it long, and went
+back to his girls and to the Tuileries, and wherever he could; but they
+caught him again, and placed him under the guardianship of one of the
+stupidest priests of St. Sulpice, who followed him everywhere like his
+shadow, and made him miserable. The fellow's name was Madot: he was good
+for no other employment, but gained his pay in this one by an assiduity
+of which perhaps no one else would have been capable. The only child of
+this Comte d'Aubigne was a daughter, taken care of by Madame de
+Maintenon, and educated under her eyes as though her own child.
+
+Towards the end of the year, and not long after my return from the army,
+the King fixed the day for the marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne to the
+young Princesse de Savoy. He announced that on that occasion he should
+be glad to see a magnificent Court; and he himself, who for a long time
+had worn only the most simple habits, ordered the most superb. This was
+enough; no one thought of consulting his purse or his state; everyone
+tried to surpass his neighbour in richness and invention. Gold and
+silver scarcely sufficed: the shops of the dealers were emptied in a few
+days; in a word luxury the most unbridled reigned over Court and city,
+for the fete had a huge crowd of spectators. Things went to such a
+point, that the King almost repented of what he had said, and remarked,
+that he could not understand how husbands could be such fools as to ruin
+themselves by dresses for their wives; he might have added, by dresses
+for themselves. But the impulse had been given; there was now no time to
+remedy it, and I believe the King at heart was glad; for it pleased him
+during the fetes to look at all the dresses. He loved passionately all
+kinds of sumptuosity at his Court; and he who should have held only to
+what had been said, as to the folly of expense, would have grown little
+in favour. There was no means, therefore, of being wise among so many
+fools. Several dresses were necessary. Those for Madame Saint-Simon and
+myself cost us twenty thousand francs. Workmen were wanting to make up
+so many rich habits. Madame la Duchesse actually sent her people to take
+some by force who were working at the Duc de Rohan's! The King heard of
+it, did not like it, and had the workmen sent back immediately to the
+Hotel de Rohan, although the Duc de Rohan was one of the men he liked the
+least in all France. The King did another thing, which showed that he
+desired everybody to be magnificent: he himself chose the design for the
+embroidery of the Princess. The embroiderer said he would leave all his
+other designs for that. The King would not permit this, but caused him
+to finish the work he had in hand, and to set himself afterwards at the
+other; adding, that if it was not ready in time, the Princess could do
+without it.
+
+The marriage was fixed for Saturday, the 7th of December; and, to avoid
+disputes and difficulties, the King suppressed all ceremonies. The day
+arrived. At an early hour all the Court went to Monseigneur the Duc de
+Bourgogne, who went afterwards to the Princess. A little before mid-day
+the procession started from the salon, and proceeded to the chapel.
+
+Cardinal de Coislin performed the marriage service.
+
+As soon as the ceremony was finished, a courier, ready at the door of the
+chapel, started for Turin. The day passed wearily. The King and Queen
+of England came about seven o'clock in the evening, and some time
+afterwards supper was served. Upon rising from the table, the Princess
+was shown to her bed, none but ladies being allowed to remain in the
+chamber. Her chemise was given her by the Queen of England through the
+Duchesse de Lude. The Duc de Bourgogne undressed in another room, in the
+midst of all the Court, and seated upon a folding-chair. The King of
+England gave him his shirt, which was presented by the Duc de
+Beauvilliers. As soon as the Duchesse de Bourgogne was in bed, the Duc
+de Bourgogne entered, and placed himself at her side, in the presence of
+all the Court. Immediately afterwards everybody went away from the
+nuptial chamber, except Monseigneur, the ladies of the Princess, and the
+Duc de Beauvilliers, who remained at the pillow by the side of his pupil,
+with the Duchesse de Lude on the other side. Monseigneur stopped a
+quarter of an hour talking with the newly-married couple, then he made
+his son get up, after having told him to kiss the Princess, in spite of
+the opposition of the Duchesse de Lude. As it proved, too, her
+opposition was not wrong. The King said he did not wish that his
+grandson should kiss the end of the Princess's finger until they were
+completely on the footing of man and wife. Monsieur le Duc de Bourgogne
+after this re-dressed himself in the ante-chamber, and went to his own
+bed as usual. The little Duc de Berry, spirited and resolute, did not
+approve of the docility of his brother, and declared that he would have
+remained in bed. The young couple were not, indeed, allowed to live
+together as man and wife until nearly two years afterwards. The first
+night that this privilege was granted them, the King repaired to their
+chamber hoping to surprise them as they went to bed; but he found the
+doors closed, and would not allow them to be opened. The marriage-fetes
+spread over several days. On the Sunday there was an assembly in the
+apartments of the new Duchesse de Bourgogne. It was magnificent by the
+prodigious number of ladies seated in a circle, or standing behind the
+stools, gentlemen in turn behind them, and the dresses of all beautiful.
+It commenced at six o'clock. The King came at the end, and led all the
+ladies into the saloon near the chapel, where was a fine collation, and
+the music. At nine o'clock he conducted Monsieur and Madame la Duchesse
+de Bourgogne to the apartment of the latter, and all was finished for the
+day. The Princess continued to live just as before, and the ladies had
+strict orders never to leave her alone with her husband.
+
+On the Wednesday there was a grand ball in the gallery, superbly
+ornamented for the occasion. There was such a crowd, and such disorder,
+that even the King was inconvenienced, and Monsieur was pushed and
+knocked about in the crush. How other people fared may be imagined. No
+place was kept--strength or chance decided everything--people squeezed in
+where they could. This spoiled all the fete. About nine o'clock
+refreshments were handed round, and at half-past ten supper was served.
+Only the Princesses of the blood and the royal family were admitted to
+it. On the following Sunday there was another ball, but this time
+matters were so arranged that no crowding or inconvenience occurred. The
+ball commenced at seven o'clock and was admirable; everybody appeared in
+dresses that had not previously been seen. The King found that of Madame
+de Saint-Simon much to his taste, and gave it the palm over all the
+others.
+
+Madame de Maintenon did not appear at these balls, at least only for half
+an hour at each. On the following Tuesday all the Court went at four
+o'clock in the afternoon to Trianon, where all gambled until the arrival
+of the King and Queen of England. The King took them into the theatre,
+where Destouches's opera of Isse was very well performed. The opera
+being finished, everybody went his way, and thus these marriage-fetes
+were brought to an end.
+
+Tesse had married his eldest daughter to La Varenne last year, and now
+married his second daughter to Maulevrier, son of a brother of Colbert.
+This mention of La Varenne brings to my recollection a very pleasant
+anecdote of his ancestor, the La Varenne so known in all the memoirs of
+the time as having risen from the position of scullion to that of cook,
+and then to that of cloak-bearer to Henry IV., whom he served in his
+pleasures, and afterwards in his state-affairs. At the death of the
+King, La Varenne retired, very old and very rich, into the country.
+Birds were much in vogue at that time, and he often amused himself with
+falconry. One day a magpie perched on one of his trees, and neither
+sticks nor stones could dislodge it. La Varenne and a number of
+sportsmen gathered around the tree and tried to drive away the magpie.
+Importuned with all this noise, the bird at last began to cry repeatedly
+with all its might, "Pandar! Pandar!"
+
+Now La Varenne had gained all he possessed by that trade. Hearing the
+magpie repeat again and again the same word, he took it into his head
+that by a miracle, like the observation Balaam's ass made to his master,
+the bird was reproaching him for his sins. He was so troubled that he
+could not help showing it; then, more and more agitated, he told the
+cause of his disturbance to the company, who laughed at him in the first
+place, but, upon finding that he was growing really ill, they endeavoured
+to convince him that the magpie belonged to a neighbouring village, where
+it had learned the word. It was all in vain: La Varenne was so ill that
+he was obliged to be carried home; fever seized him and in four days he
+died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Here perhaps is the place to speak of Charles IV., Duc de Lorraine, so
+well known by his genius, and the extremities to which he was urged. He
+was married in 1621 to the Duchesse Nicole, his cousin-german, but after
+a time ceased to live with her. Being at Brussels he fell in love with
+Madame de Cantecroix, a widow. He bribed a courier to bring him news of
+the death of the Duchesse Nicole; he circulated the report throughout the
+town, wore mourning, and fourteen days afterwards, in April, 1637,
+married Madame de Cantecroix. In a short time it was discovered that the
+Duchesse Nicole was full of life and health, and had not even been ill.
+Madame de Cantecroix made believe that she had been duped, but still
+lived with the Duke. They continued to repute the Duchesse Nicole as
+dead, and lived together in the face of the world as though effectually
+married, although there had never been any question either before or
+since of dissolving the first marriage. The Duc Charles had by this fine
+marriage a daughter and then a son, both perfectly illegitimate, and
+universally regarded as such. Of these the daughter married Comte de
+Lislebonne, by whom she had four children. The son, educated under his
+father's eye as legitimate, was called Prince de Vaudemont, and by that
+name has ever since been known. He entered the service of Spain,
+distinguished himself in the army, obtained the support of the Prince of
+Orange, and ultimately rose to the very highest influence and prosperity.
+People were astonished this year, that while the Princess of Savoy was at
+Fontainebleau, just before her marriage, she was taken several times by
+Madame de Maintenon to a little unknown convent at Moret, where there was
+nothing to amuse her, and no nuns who were known. Madame de Maintenon
+often went there, and Monseigneur with his children sometimes; the late
+Queen used to go also. This awakened much curiosity and gave rise to
+many reports. It seems that in this convent there was a woman of colour,
+a Moorish woman, who had been placed there very young by Bontems, valet
+of the King. She received the utmost care and attention, but never was
+shown to anybody. When the late Queen or Madame de Maintenon went, they
+did not always see her, but always watched over her welfare. She was
+treated with more consideration than people the most distinguished; and
+herself made much of the care that was taken of her, and the mystery by
+which she was surrounded. Although she lived regularly, it was easy to
+see she was not too contented with her position. Hearing Monseigneur
+hunt in the forest one day, she forgot herself so far as to exclaim,
+"My brother is hunting!" It was pretended that she was a daughter of the
+King and Queen, but that she had been hidden away on account of her
+colour; and the report was spread that the Queen had had a miscarriage.
+Many people believed this story; but whether it was true or not has
+remained an enigma.
+
+The year 1698 commenced by a reconciliation between the Jesuits and the
+Archbishop of Rheims. That prelate upon the occasion of an ordinance had
+expressed himself upon matters of doctrine and morality in a manner that
+displeased the Jesuits. They acted towards him in their usual manner, by
+writing an attack upon him, which appeared without any author's name.
+But the Archbishop complained to the King, and altogether stood his
+ground so firmly, that in the end the Jesuits were glad to give way,
+disavow the book, and arrange the reconciliation which took place.
+
+The Czar, Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, had at this time already
+commenced his voyages; he was in Holland, learning ship-building.
+Although incognito, he wished to be recognised, but after his own
+fashion; and was annoyed that, being so near to England, no embassy was
+sent to him from that country, which he wished to ally himself with for
+commercial reasons.
+
+At last an embassy arrived; he delayed for some time to give it an
+audience, but in the end fixed the day and hour at which he would see it.
+The reception, however, was to take place on board a large Dutch vessel
+that he was going to examine. There were two ambassadors; they thought
+the meeting-place rather an odd one, but were obliged to go there. When
+they arrived on board the Czar sent word that he was in the "top," and
+that it was there he would see them. The ambassadors, whose feet were
+unaccustomed to rope-ladders, tried to excuse themselves from mounting;
+but it was all in vain. The Czar would receive them in the "top" or not
+at all. At last they were compelled to ascend, and the meeting took
+place on that narrow place high up in the air. The Czar received them
+there with as much majesty as though he had been upon his throne,
+listened to their harangue, replied very graciously, and then laughed at
+the fear painted upon their faces, and good-humouredly gave them to
+understand that he had punished them thus for arriving so late.
+
+After this the Czar passed into England, curious to see and learn as much
+as possible; and, having well fulfilled his views, repaired into Holland.
+He wished to visit France, but the King civilly declined to receive him.
+He went, therefore, much mortified, to Vienna instead. Three weeks after
+his arrival he was informed of a conspiracy that had been formed against
+him in Moscow. He hastened there at once, and found that it was headed
+by his own sister; he put her in prison, and hanged her most guilty
+accomplices to the bars of his windows, as many each day as the bars
+would hold. I have related at once all that regards the Czar for this
+year, in order not to leap without ceasing from one matter to another; I
+shall do this, and for the same reason, with that which follows.
+
+The King of England was, as I have before said, at the height of
+satisfaction at having been recognised by the King (Louis XIV.), and at
+finding himself secure upon the throne. But a usurper is never tranquil
+and content. William was annoyed by the residence of the legitimate King
+and his family at Saint Germains. It was too close to the King (of
+France), and too near England to leave him without disquietude. He had
+tried hard at Ryswick to obtain the dismissal of James II. from the
+realm, or at least from the Court of France, but without effect.
+Afterwards he sent the Duke of St. Albans to our King openly, in order to
+compliment him upon the marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne, but in reality
+to obtain the dismissal.
+
+The Duke of St. Albans meeting with no success, the Duke of Portland was
+sent to succeed him. The Duke of Portland came over with a numerous and
+superb suite; he kept up a magnificent table, and had horses, liveries,
+furniture, and dresses of the most tasteful and costly kind. He was on
+his way when a fire destroyed Whitehall, the largest and ugliest palace
+in Europe, and which has not since been rebuilt; so that the kings are
+lodged, and very badly, at St. James's Palace.
+
+Portland had his first audience of the King on the 4th of February, and
+remained four months in France. His politeness, his courtly and gallant
+manners, and the good cheer he gave, charmed everybody, and made him
+universally popular. It became the fashion to give fetes in his honour;
+and the astonishing fact is, that the King, who at heart was more
+offended than ever with William of Orange, treated this ambassador with
+the most marked distinction. One evening he even gave Portland his
+bedroom candlestick, a favour only accorded to the most considerable
+persons, and always regarded as a special mark of the King's bounty.
+
+Notwithstanding all these attentions, Portland was as unsuccessful as his
+predecessor. The King had firmly resolved to continue his protection to
+James II., and nothing could shake this determination. Portland was
+warned from the first, that if he attempted to speak to the King upon the
+point, his labour would be thrown away; he wisely therefore kept silence,
+and went home again without in any way having fulfilled the mission upon
+which he had been sent.
+
+We had another distinguished foreigner arrive in France about this time,
+--I mean, the Prince of Parma, respecting whom I remember a pleasing
+adventure. At Fontainebleau more great dancing-parties are given than
+elsewhere, and Cardinal d'Estrees wished to give one there in honour of
+this Prince. I and many others were invited to the banquet; but the
+Prince himself, for whom the invitation was specially provided, was
+forgotten. The Cardinal had given invitations right and left, but by
+some omission the Prince had not had one sent to him. On the morning of
+the dinner this discovery was made. The Prince was at once sent to, but
+he was engaged, and for several days. The dinner therefore took place
+without him; the Cardinal was much laughed at for his absence of mind.
+He was often similarly forgetful.
+
+The Bishop of Poitiers died at the commencement of this year, and his
+bishopric was given at Easter to the Abbe de Caudelet. The Abbe was a
+very good man, but made himself an enemy, who circulated the blackest
+calumnies against him. Amongst other impostures it was said that the
+Abbe had gambled all Good Friday; the truth being, that in the evening,
+after all the services were over, he went to see the Marechale de Crequi,
+who prevailed upon him to amuse her for an hour by playing at piquet.
+But the calumny had such effect, that the bishopric of Poitiers was taken
+from him, and he retired into Brittany, where he passed the rest of his
+life in solitude and piety. His brother in the meantime fully proved to
+Pere de la Chaise the falsehood of this accusation; and he, who was
+upright and good, did all he could to bestow some other living upon the
+Abbe, in recompense for that he had been stripped of. But the King would
+not consent, although often importuned, and even reproached for his
+cruelty.
+
+It was known, too, who was the author of the calumny. It was the Abbe de
+la Chatre, who for a long time had been chaplain to the King, and who was
+enraged against everyone who was made bishop before him. He was a man
+not wanting in intelligence, but bitter, disagreeable, punctilious; very
+ignorant, because he would never study, and so destitute of morality,
+that I saw him say mass in the chapel on Ash Wednesday, after having
+passed a night, masked at a ball, where he said and did the most filthy
+things, as seen and heard by M. de La Vrilliere, before whom he unmasked,
+and who related this to me: half an hour after, I met the Abbe de la
+Chatre, dressed and going to the altar. Other adventures had already
+deprived him of all chance of being made bishop by the King.
+
+The old Villars died at this time. I have already mentioned him as
+having been made chevalier d'honneur to the Duchesse de Chartres at her
+marriage. I mention him now, because I omitted to say before the origin
+of his name of Orondat, by which he was generally known, and which did
+not displease him. This is the circumstance that gave rise to it.
+Madame de Choisy, a lady of the fashionable world, went one day to see
+the Comtesse de Fiesque, and found there a large company. The Countess
+had a young girl living with her, whose name was Mademoiselle
+d'Outrelaise, but who was called the Divine. Madame de Choisy, wishing
+to go into the bedroom, said she would go there, and see the Divine.
+Mounting rapidly, she found in the chamber a young and very pretty girl,
+Mademoiselle Bellefonds, and a man, who escaped immediately upon seeing
+her. The face of this man being perfectly well made, so struck her,
+that, upon coming down again, she said it could only be that of Orondat.
+Now that romances are happily no longer read, it is necessary to say that
+Orondat is a character in Cyrus, celebrated by his figure and his good
+looks, and who charmed all the heroines of that romance, which was then
+much in vogue. The greater part of the company knew that Villars was
+upstairs to see Mademoiselle de Bellefonds, with whom he was much in
+love, and whom he soon afterwards married. Everybody therefore smiled at
+this adventure of Orondat, and the name clung ever afterwards to Villars.
+
+The Prince de Conti lost, before this time, his son, Prince la Roche-sur-
+Yon, who was only four years old. The King wore mourning for him,
+although it was the custom not to do so for children under seven years of
+age. But the King had already departed from this custom for one of the
+children of M. du Maine, and he dared not afterwards act differently
+towards the children of a prince of the blood. Just at the end of
+September, M. du Maine lost another child, his only son. The King wept
+very much, and, although the child was considerably under seven years of
+age, wore mourning for it. The marriage of Mademoiselle to M. de
+Lorraine was then just upon the point of taking place; and Monsieur
+(father of Mademoiselle) begged that this mourning might be laid aside
+when the marriage was celebrated. The King agreed, but Madame la
+Duchesse and the Princesse de Conti believed it apparently beneath them
+to render this respect to Monsieur, and refused to comply. The King
+commanded them to do so, but they pushed the matter so far as to say that
+they had no other clothes. Upon this, the King ordered them to send and
+get some directly. They were obliged to obey, and admit themselves
+vanquished; but they did so not without great vexation. M. de Cambrai's
+affairs still continued to make a great stir among the prelates and at
+the Court. Madame Guyon was transferred from the Vincennes to the
+Bastille, and it was believed she would remain there all her life. The
+Ducs de Chevreuse and Beauvilliers lost all favour with M. de Maintenon,
+and narrowly escaped losing the favour of the King. An attempt was in
+fact made, which Madame de Maintenon strongly supported, to get them
+disgraced; and, but for the Archbishop of Paris, this would have taken
+place. But this prelate, thoroughly upright and conscientious,
+counselled the King against such a step, to the great vexation of his
+relations, who were the chief plotters in the conspiracy to overthrow the
+two Dukes. As for M. de Cambrai's book 'Les Maxinies des Saints', it was
+as little liked as ever, and underwent rather a strong criticism at this
+time from M. de La Trappe, which did not do much to improve its
+reputation. At the commencement of the dispute M. de Meaux had sent a
+copy of 'Les Maximes des Saints' to M. de La Trappe, asking as a friend
+for his opinion of the work. M. de La Trappe read it, and was much
+scandalized. The more he studied it, the more this sentiment penetrated
+him. At last, after having well examined the book, he sent his opinion
+to M. de Meaux, believing it would be considered as private, and not be
+shown to anybody. He did not measure his words, therefore, but wrote
+openly, that if M. de Cambrai was right he might burn the Evangelists,
+and complain of Jesus Christ, who could have come into the world only to
+deceive us. The frightful force of this phrase was so terrifying, that
+M. de Meaux thought it worthy of being shown to Madame de Maintenon; and
+she, seeking only to crush M. de Cambrai with all the authorities
+possible, would insist upon this opinion of M. de La Trappe being
+printed.
+
+It may be imagined what triumphing there was on the one side, and what
+piercing cries on the other. The friends of M. de Cambrai complained
+most bitterly that M. de La Trappe had mixed himself up in the matter,
+and had passed such a violent and cruel sentence upon a book then under
+the consideration of the Pope. M. de La Trappe on his side was much
+afflicted that his letter had been published. He wrote to M. de Meaux
+protesting against this breach of confidence; and said that, although he
+had only expressed what he really thought, he should have been careful to
+use more measured language, had he supposed his letter would have seen
+the light. He said all he could to heal the wounds his words had caused,
+but M. de Cambrai and his friends never forgave him for having written
+them.
+
+This circumstance caused much discussion, and M. de La Trappe, to whom I
+was passionately attached, was frequently spoken of in a manner that
+caused me much annoyance. Riding out one day in a coach with some of my
+friends, the conversation took this turn. I listened in silence for some
+time, and then, feeling no longer able to support the discourse, desired
+to be set down, so that my friends might talk at their ease, without pain
+to me. They tried to retain me, but I insisted and carried my point.
+Another time, Charost, one of my friends, spoke so disdainfully of M. de
+La Trappe, and I replied to him with such warmth, that on the instant he
+was seized with a fit, tottered, stammered, his throat swelled, his eyes
+seemed starting from his head, and his tongue from his mouth. Madame de
+Saint-Simon and the other ladies who were present flew to his assistance;
+one unfastened his cravat and his shirt-collar, another threw a jug of
+water over him and made him drink something; but as for me, I was struck
+motionless at the sudden change brought about by an excess of anger and
+infatuation. Charost was soon restored, and when he left I was taken to
+task by the ladies. In reply I simply smiled. I gained this by the
+occurrence, that Charost never committed himself again upon the subject
+of M. de La Trappe.
+
+Before quitting this theme, I will relate an anecdote which has found
+belief. It has been said, that when M. de La Trappe was the Abbe de
+Rance he was much in love with the beautiful Madame de Montbazon, and
+that he was well treated by her. On one occasion after leaving her, in
+perfect health, in order to go into the country, he learnt that she had
+fallen ill. He hastened back, entered hurriedly into her chamber, and
+the first sight he saw there was her head, that the surgeons, in opening
+her, had separated from her body. It was the first intimation he had had
+that she was dead, and the surprise and horror of the sight so converted
+him that immediately afterwards he retired from the world. There is
+nothing true in all this except the foundation upon which the fiction
+arose. I have frankly asked M. de La Trappe upon this matter, and from
+him I have learned that he was one of the friends of Madame de Montbazon,
+but that so far from being ignorant of the time of her death, he was by
+her side at the time, administered the sacrament to her, and had never
+quitted her during the few days she was ill. The truth is, her sudden
+death so touched him, that it made him carry out his intention of
+retiring from the world--an intention, however, he had formed for many
+years.
+
+The affair of M. de Cambrai was not finally settled until the
+commencement of the following year, 1699, but went on making more noise
+day by day. At the date I have named the verdict from Rome arrived
+Twenty-three propositions of the 'Maximes des Saints' were declared rash,
+dangerous, erroneous--'in globo'--and the Pope excommunicated those who
+read the book or kept it in their houses. The King was much pleased with
+this condemnation, and openly expressed his satisfaction. Madame de
+Maintenon appeared at the summit of joy. As for M. de Cambrai, he learnt
+his fate in a moment which would have overwhelmed a man with less
+resources in himself. He was on the point of mounting into the pulpit:
+he was by no means troubled; put aside the sermon he had prepared, and,
+without delaying a moment, took for subject the submission due to the
+Church; he treated this theme in a powerful and touching manner;
+announced the condemnation of his book; retracted the opinions he had
+professed; and concluded his sermon by a perfect acquiescence and
+submission to the judgment the Pope had just pronounced. Two days
+afterwards he published his retraction, condemned his book, prohibited
+the reading of it, acquiesced and submitted himself anew to his
+condemnation, and in the clearest terms took away from himself all means
+of returning to his opinions. A submission so prompt, so clear, so
+perfect, was generally admired, although there were not wanting censors
+who wished he had shown less readiness in giving way. His friends
+believed the submission would be so flattering to the Pope, that M. de
+Cambrai might rely upon advancement to a cardinalship, and steps were
+taken, but without any good result, to bring about that event.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+About this time the King caused Charnace to be arrested in a province to
+which he had been banished. He was accused of many wicked things, and;
+amongst others, of coining. Charnace was a lad of spirit, who had been
+page to the King and officer in the body-guard. Having retired to his
+own house, he often played off many a prank. One of these I will
+mention, as being full of wit and very laughable.
+
+He had a very long and perfectly beautiful avenue before his house in
+Anjou, but in the midst of it were the cottage and garden of a peasant;
+and neither Charnace, nor his father before him, could prevail upon him
+to remove, although they offered him large sums. Charnace at last
+determined to gain his point by stratagem. The peasant was a tailor,
+and lived all alone, without wife or child. One day Charnace sent for
+him, said he wanted a Court suit in all haste, and, agreeing to lodge and
+feed him, stipulated that he should not leave the house until it was
+done. The tailor agreed, and set himself to the work. While he was thus
+occupied, Charnace had the dimensions of his house and garden taken with
+the utmost exactitude; made a plan of the interior, showing the precise
+position of the furniture and the utensils; and, when all was done,
+pulled down the house and removed it a short distance off.
+
+Then it was arranged as before with a similar looking garden, and at the
+same time the spot on which it had previously stood was smoothed and
+levelled. All this was done before the suit was finished. The work
+being at length over on both sides, Charnace amused the tailor until it
+was quite dark, paid him, and dismissed him content. The man went on his
+way down the avenue; but, finding the distance longer than usual, looked
+about, and perceived he had gone too far. Returning, he searched
+diligently for his house, but without being able to find it. The night
+passed in this exercise. When the day came, he rubbed his eyes, thinking
+they might have been in fault; but as he found them as clear as usual,
+began to believe that the devil had carried away his house, garden and
+all. By dint of wandering to and fro, and casting his eyes in every
+direction, he saw at last a house which was as like to his as are two
+drops of water to each other. Curiosity tempted him to go and examine
+it. He did so, and became convinced it was his own. He entered, found
+everything inside as he had left it, and then became quite persuaded he
+had been tricked by a sorcerer. The day was not, however, very far
+advanced before he learned the truth through the banter of his
+neighbours. In fury he talked of going to law, or demanding justice, but
+was laughed at everywhere. The King when he heard of it laughed also;
+and Charnace had his avenue free. If he had never done anything worse
+than this, he would have preserved his reputation and his liberty.
+
+A strange scene happened at Meudon after supper one evening, towards the
+end of July. The Prince de Conti and the Grand Prieur were playing, and
+a dispute arose respecting the game. The Grand Prieur, inflated by pride
+on account of the favours the King had showered upon him, and rendered
+audacious by being placed almost on a level with the Princes of the
+blood, used words which would have been too strong even towards an equal.
+The Prince de Conti answered by a repartee, in which the other's honesty
+at play and his courage in war--both, in truth, little to boast about--
+were attacked. Upon this the Grand Prieur flew into a passion, flung
+away the cards, and demanded satisfaction, sword in hand. The Prince de
+Conti, with a smile of contempt, reminded him that he was wanting in
+respect, and at the same time said he could have the satisfaction he
+asked for whenever he pleased. The arrival of Monseigneur, in his
+dressing-gown, put an end to the fray. He ordered the Marquis de
+Gesvres, who was one of the courtiers present, to report the whole affair
+to the King, and that every one should go to bed. On the morrow the King
+was informed of what had taken place, and immediately ordered the Grand
+Prieur to go to the Bastille. He was obliged to obey, and remained in
+confinement several days. The affair made a great stir at Court. The
+Princes of the blood took a very high tone, and the illegitimates were
+much embarrassed. At last, on the 7th of August, the affair was finally
+accommodated through the intercession of Monseigneur. The Grand Prieur
+demanded pardon of the Prince de Conti in the presence of his brother, M.
+de Vendome, who was obliged to swallow this bitter draught, although
+against his will, in order to appease the Princes of the blood, who were
+extremely excited.
+
+Nearly at the same time, that is to say, on the 29th of May, in the
+morning Madame de Saint-Simon was happily delivered of a child. God did
+us the grace to give us a son. He bore, as I had, the name of Vidame of
+Chartres. I do not know why people have the fancy for these odd names,
+but they seduce in all nations, and they who feel the triviality of them,
+imitate them. It is true that the titles of Count and Marquis have
+fallen into the dust because of the quantity of people without wealth,
+and even without land, who usurp them; and that they have become so
+worthless, that people of quality who are Marquises or Counts (if they
+will permit me to say it) are silly enough to be annoyed if those titles
+are given to them in conversation. It is certain, however, that these
+titles emanated from landed creations, and that in their origin they had
+functions attached to them, which, they have since outlived. The
+vidames, on the contrary, were only principal officers of certain
+bishops, with authority to lead all the rest of their seigneurs' vassals
+to the field, either to fight against other lords, or in the armies that
+our kings used to assemble to combat their enemies before the creation of
+a standing army put an end to the employment of vassals (there being no
+further need for them), and to all the power and authority of the
+seigneurs. There is thus no comparison between the title of vidame,
+which only marks a vassal, and the titles which by fief emanate from the
+King. Yet because the few Vidames who have been known were illustrious,
+the name has appeared grand, and for this reason was given to me, and
+afterwards by me to my son:
+
+Some little time before this, the King resolved to show all Europe, which
+believed his resources exhausted by a long war, that in the midst of
+profound peace, he was as fully prepared as ever for arms. He wished at
+the same time, to present a superb spectacle to Madame de Maintenon,
+under pretext of teaching the young Duc de Bourgogne his first lesson in
+war. He gave all the necessary orders, therefore, for forming a camp at
+Compiegne, to be commanded by the Marechal de Boufflers under the young
+Duke. On Thursday, the 28th of August, all the Court set out for the
+camp. Sixty thousand men were assembled there. The King, as at the
+marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne, had announced that he counted upon
+seeing the troops look their best. The consequence of this was to excite
+the army to an emulation that was repented of afterwards. Not only were
+the troops in such beautiful order that it was impossible to give the
+palm to any one corps, but their commanders added the finery and
+magnificence of the Court to the majestic and warlike beauty of the men,
+of the arms, and of the horses; and the officers exhausted their means in
+uniforms which would have graced a fete.
+
+Colonels, and even simple captains, kept open table; but the Marechal de
+Boufflers outstripped everybody by his expenditure, by his magnificence,
+and his good taste. Never was seen a spectacle so transcendent--so
+dazzling--and (it must be said) so terrifying. At all hours, day or
+night, the Marechal's table was open to every comer--whether officer,
+courtier, or spectator. All were welcomed and invited, with the utmost
+civility and attention, to partake of the good things provided. There
+was every kind of hot and cold liquors; everything which can be the most
+widely and the most splendidly comprehended under the term refreshment:
+French and foreign wines, and the rarest liqueurs in the utmost
+abundance. Measures were so well taken that quantities of game and
+venison arrived from all sides; and the seas of Normandy, of Holland, of
+England, of Brittany, even the Mediterranean, furnished all they
+contained--the most unheard-of, extraordinary, and most exquisite--at a
+given day and hour with inimitable order, and by a prodigious number of
+horsemen and little express carriages. Even the water was fetched from
+Sainte Reine, from the Seine, and from sources the most esteemed; and it
+is impossible to imagine anything of any kind which was not at once ready
+for the obscurest as for the most distinguished visitor, the guest most
+expected, and the guest not expected at all. Wooden houses and
+magnificent tents stretched all around, in number sufficient to form a
+camp of themselves, and were furnished in the most superb manner, like
+the houses in Paris. Kitchens and rooms for every purpose were there,
+and the whole was marked by an order and cleanliness that excited
+surprise and admiration. The King, wishing that the magnificence of this
+camp should be seen by the ambassadors, invited them there, and prepared
+lodgings for them. But the ambassadors claimed a silly distinction,
+which the King would not grant, and they refused his invitation. This
+distinction I call silly because it brings no advantage with it of any
+kind. I am ignorant of its origin, but this is what it consists in.
+When, as upon such an occasion as this, lodgings are allotted to the
+Court, the quartermaster writes in chalk, "for Monsieur Such-a-one," upon
+those intended for Princes of the blood, cardinals, and foreign princes;
+but for none other. The King would not allow the "for" to be written
+upon the lodgings of the ambassadors; and the ambassadors, therefore,
+kept away. The King was much piqued at this, and I heard him say at
+supper, that if he treated them as they deserved, he should only allow
+them to come to Court at audience times, as was the custom everywhere
+else.
+
+The King arrived at the camp on Saturday, the 30th of August, and went
+with the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne and others to the quarters of
+Marechal de Boufflers, where a magnificent collation was served up to
+them--so magnificent that when the King returned, he said it would be
+useless for the Duc de Bourgogne to attempt anything so splendid; and
+that whenever he went to the camp he ought to dine with Marechal de
+Bouffiers. In effect, the King himself soon after dined there, and led
+to the Marechal's table the King of England, who was passing three or
+four days in the camp.
+
+On these occasions the King pressed Marechal de Boufflers to be seated.
+He would never comply, but waited upon the King while the Duc de
+Grammont, his brother-in-law, waited upon Monseigneur.
+
+The King amused himself much in pointing out the disposition of the
+troops to the ladies of the Court, and in the evening showed them a grand
+review.
+
+A very pleasant adventure happened at this review to Count Tesse, colonel
+of dragoons. Two days previously M. de Lauzun, in the course of chit-
+chat, asked him how he intended to dress at the review; and persuaded him
+that, it being the custom, he must appear at the head of his troops in a
+grey hat, or that he would assuredly displease the King. Tesse, grateful
+for this information, and ashamed of his ignorance, thanked M. de Lauzun,
+and sent off for a hat in all haste to Paris. The King, as M. de Lauzun
+well knew, had an aversion to grey, and nobody had worn it for several
+years. When, therefore, on the day of the review he saw Tesse in a hat
+of that colour, with a black feather, and a huge cockade dangling and
+flaunting above, he called to him, and asked him why he wore it. Tesse
+replied that it was the privilege of the colonel-general to wear that day
+a grey hat. "A grey hat," replied the King; "where the devil did you
+learn that?"
+
+"From M. de, Lauzun, Sire, for whom you created the charge," said Tesse,
+all embarrassment. On the instant, the good Lauzun vanished, bursting
+with laughter, and the King assured Tesse that M. de Lauzun had merely
+been joking with him. I never saw a man so confounded as Tesse at this.
+He remained with downcast eyes, looking at his hat, with a sadness and
+confusion that rendered the scene perfect. He was obliged to treat the
+matter as a joke, but was for a long time much tormented about it, and
+much ashamed of it.
+
+Nearly every day the Princes dined with Marechal de Boufflers, whose
+splendour and abundance knew no end. Everybody who visited him, even the
+humblest, was served with liberality and attention. All the villages and
+farms for four leagues round Compiegne were filled with people, French,
+and foreigners, yet there was no disorder. The gentlemen and valets at
+the Marechal's quarters were of themselves quite a world, each more
+polite than his neighbour, and all incessantly engaged from five o'clock
+in the morning until ten and eleven o'clock at night, doing the honours
+to various guests. I return in spite of myself to the Marechal's
+liberality; because, who ever saw it, cannot forget, or ever cease to be
+in a state of astonishment and admiration at its abundance and
+sumptuousness, or at the order, never deranged for a moment at a single
+point, that prevailed.
+
+The King wished to show the Court all the manoeuvres of war; the siege of
+Compiegne was therefore undertaken, according to due form, with lines,
+trenches, batteries, mines, &c. On Saturday, the 13th of September, the
+assault took place. To witness it, the King, Madame de Maintenon, all
+the ladies of the Court, and a number of gentlemen, stationed themselves
+upon an old rampart, from which the plain and all the disposition of the
+troops could be seen. I was in the half circle very close to the King.
+It was the most beautiful sight that can be imagined, to see all that
+army, and the prodigious number of spectators on horse and foot, and that
+game of attack and defence so cleverly conducted.
+
+But a spectacle of another sort, that I could paint forty years hence as
+well as to-day, so strongly did it strike me, was that which from the
+summit of this rampart the King gave to all his army, and to the
+innumerable crowd of spectators of all kinds in the plain below. Madame
+de Maintenon faced the plain and the troops in her sedan-chair-alone,
+between its three windows drawn up-her porters having retired to a
+distance. On the left pole in front sat Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne;
+and on the same side in a semicircle, standing, were Madame la Duchesse,
+Madame la Princesse de Conti, and all the ladies, and behind them again,
+many men. At the right window was the King, standing, and a little in
+the rear, a semicircle of the most distinguished men of the Court. The
+King was nearly always uncovered; and every now and then stooped to speak
+to Madame de Maintenon, and explain to her what she saw, and the reason
+of each movement. Each time that he did so she was obliging enough to
+open the window four or five inches, but never half way; for I noticed
+particularly, and I admit that I was more attentive to this spectacle
+than to that of the troops. Sometimes she opened of her own accord to
+ask some question of him, but generally it was he who, without waiting
+for her, stooped down to instruct her of what was passing; and sometimes,
+if she did not notice him, he tapped at the glass to make her open it.
+He never spoke, save to her, except when he gave a few brief orders, or
+just answered Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, who wanted to make him
+speak, and with whom Madame de Maintenon carried on a conversation by
+signs, without opening the front window, through which the young Princess
+screamed to her from time to time. I watched the countenance of every
+one carefully; all expressed surprise tempered with prudence and shame,
+that was, as it were, ashamed of itself: every one behind the chair and
+in the semicircle watched this scene more than what was going on in the
+army. The King often put his hat on the top of the chair in order to get
+his head in to speak; and this continual exercise tired his loins very
+much. Monseigneur was on horseback in the plain with the young Princes.
+It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the weather was as
+brilliant as could be desired.
+
+Opposite the sedan-chair was an opening with some steps cut through the
+wall, and communicating with the plain below. It had been made for the
+purpose of fetching orders from the King, should they be necessary. The
+case happened. Crenan, who commanded, sent Conillac, an officer in one
+of the defending regiments, to ask for some instructions from the King.
+Conillac had been stationed at the foot of the rampart, where what was
+passing above could not be seen. He mounted the steps; and as soon as
+his head and shoulders were at the top, caught sight of the chair, the
+King, and all the assembled company. He was not prepared for such a
+scene, and it struck him with such astonishment, that he stopped short,
+with mouth and eyes wide open-surprise painted upon every feature. I see
+him now as distinctly as I did then. The King, as well as all the rest
+of the company, remarked the agitation of Conillac, and said to him with
+emotion, "Well, Conillac! come up." Conillac remained motionless, and
+the King continued, "Come up. What is the matter?" Conillac, thus
+addressed, finished his ascent, and came towards the King with slow and
+trembling steps, rolling his eyes from right to left like one deranged.
+Then he stammered something, but in a tone so low that it could not be
+heard. "What do you say?" cried the King. "Speak up." But Conillac was
+unable; and the King, finding he could get nothing out of him, told him
+to go away. He did not need to be told twice, but disappeared at once.
+As soon as he was gone, the King, looking round, said, "I don't know what
+is the matter with Conillac. He has lost his wits; he did not remember
+what he had to say to me." No one answered.
+
+Towards the moment of the capitulation, Madame de Maintenon apparently
+asked permission to go away, for the King cried, "The chairmen of
+Madame!" They came and took her away; in less than a quarter of an hour
+afterwards the King retired also, and nearly everybody else. There was
+much interchange of glances, nudging with elbows, and then whisperings in
+the ear. Everybody was full of what had taken place on the ramparts
+between the King and Madame de Maintenon. Even the soldiers asked what
+meant that sedan-chair and the King every moment stooping to put his head
+inside of it. It became necessary gently to silence these questions of
+the troops. What effect this sight had upon foreigners present, and what
+they said of it, may be imagined. All over Europe it was as much talked
+of as the camp of Compiegne itself, with all its pomp and prodigious
+splendour.
+
+The last act of this great drama was a sham fight. The execution was
+perfect; but the commander, Rose, who was supposed to be beaten, would
+not yield. Marechal de Boufflers sent and told him more than once that
+it was time. Rose flew into a passion, and would not obey. The King
+laughed much at this, and said, "Rose does not like to be beaten." At
+last he himself sent the order for retreat. Rose was forced then to
+comply; but he did it with a very bad grace, and abused the bearer of the
+order.
+
+The King left the camp on Monday the 22d of September, much pleased with
+the troops. He gave, in parting, six hundred francs to each cavalry
+captain, and three hundred francs to each captain of infantry. He gave
+as much to the majors of all the regiments, and distributed some favours
+to his household. To Marechal de Boufflers he presented one hundred
+thousand francs. All these gifts together amounted to something: but
+separately were as mere drops of water. There was not a single regiment
+that was not ruined, officers and men, for several years. As for
+Marechal de Boufflers, I leave it to be imagined what a hundred thousand
+francs were to him whose magnificence astounded all Europe, described as
+it was by foreigners who were witnesses of it, and who day after day
+could scarcely believe their own eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Here I will relate an adventure, which shows that, however wise and
+enlightened a man may be, he is never infallible. M. de La Trappe had
+selected from amongst his brethren one who was to be his successor. The
+name of this monk was D. Francois Gervaise. He had been in the monastery
+for some years, had lived regularly during that time, and had gained the
+confidence of M. de La Trappe. As soon, however, as he received this
+appointment, his manners began to change. He acted as though he were
+already master, brought disorder and ill-feeling into the monastery, and
+sorely grieved M. de La Trapp; who, however, looked upon this affliction
+as the work of Heaven, and meekly resigned him self to it. At last,
+Francois Gervaise was by the merest chance detected openly, under
+circumstances which blasted his character for ever. His companion in
+guilt was brought before M. de La Trappe, to leave no doubt upon the
+matter. D. Francois Gervaise, utterly prostrated, resigned his office,
+and left La Trappe. Yet, even after this, he had the hardihood to show
+himself in the world, and to try and work himself into the favour of Pere
+la Chaise. A discovery that was made, effectually stopped short his
+hopes in this direction. A letter of his was found, written to a nun
+with whom he had been intimate, whom he loved, and by whom he was
+passionately loved. It was a tissue of filthiness and stark indecency,
+enough to make the most abandoned tremble. The pleasures, the regrets,
+the desires, the hopes of this precious pair, were all expressed in the
+boldest language, and with the utmost licence. I believe that so many
+abominations are not uttered in several days, even in the worst places.
+For this offence Gervaise might have been confined in a dungeon all his
+life, but he was allowed to go at large. He wandered from monastery to
+monastery for five or six years, and always caused so much disorder
+wherever he stopped, that at last the superiors thought it best to let
+him live as he liked in a curacy of his brother's. He never ceased
+troubling La Trappe, to which he wished to return; so that at last I
+obtained a 'lettre de cachet', which prohibited him from approaching
+within thirty leagues of the abbey, and within twenty of Paris. It was I
+who made known to him that his abominations had been discovered. He was
+in no way disturbed, declared he was glad to be free, and assured me with
+the hypocrisy which never left him, that in his solitude he was going to
+occupy himself in studying the Holy Scriptures.
+
+Bonnceil, introducer of the ambassadors, being dead, Breteuil obtained
+his post. Breteuil was not without intellect, but aped courtly manners,
+called himself Baron de Breteuil, and was much tormented and laughed at
+by his friends. One day, dining at the house of Madame de Pontchartrain,
+and, speaking very authoritatively, Madame de Pontchartrain disputed with
+him, and, to test his knowledge, offered to make a bet that he did not
+know who wrote the Lord's Prayer. He defended himself as well as he was
+able, and succeeded in leaving the table without being called upon to
+decide the point. Caumartin, who saw his embarrassment, ran to him, and
+kindly whispered in his ear that Moses was the author of the Lord's
+Prayer. Thus strengthened, Breteuil returned to the attack, brought,
+while taking coffee, the conversation back again to the bet; and, after
+reproaching Madame de Pontchartrain for supposing him ignorant upon such
+a point, and declaring he was ashamed of being obliged to say such a
+trivial thing, pronounced emphatically that it was Moses who had written
+the Lord's Prayer. The burst of laughter that, of course, followed this,
+overwhelmed him with confusion. Poor Breteuil was for a long time at
+loggerheads with his friend, and the Lord's Prayer became a standing
+reproach to him.
+
+He had a friend, the Marquis de Gesvres, who, upon some points, was not
+much better informed. Talking one day in the cabinet of the King, and
+admiring in the tone of a connoisseur some fine paintings of the
+Crucifixion by the first masters, he remarked that they were all by one
+hand.
+
+He was laughed at, and the different painters were named, as recognized
+by their style.
+
+"Not at all," said the Marquis, "the painter is called INRI; do you not
+see his name upon all the pictures?" What followed after such gross
+stupidity and ignorance may be imagined.
+
+At the end of this year the King resolved to undertake three grand
+projects, which ought to have been carried out long before: the chapel of
+Versailles, the Church of the Invalides, and the altar of Notre-Dame de
+Paris. This last was a vow of Louis XIII., made when, he no longer was
+able to accomplish it, and which he had left to his successor, who had
+been more than fifty years without thinking of it.
+
+On the 6th of January, upon the reception of the ambassadors at the house
+of the Duchesse de Bourogogne, an adventure happened which I will here
+relate. M. de Lorraine belonged to a family which had been noted for its
+pretensions, and for the disputes of precedency in which it engaged. He
+was as prone to this absurdity as the rest, and on this occasion incited
+the Princesse d'Harcourt, one of his relations, to act in a manner that
+scandalised all the Court. Entering the room in which the ambassadors
+were to be received and where a large number of ladies were already
+collected, she glided behind the Duchesse de Rohan, and told her to pass
+to the left. The Duchesse de Rohan, much surprised, replied that she was
+very well placed already. Whereupon, the Princesse d'Harcourt, who was
+tall and strong, made no further ado, but with her two arms seized the
+Duchesse de Rohan, turned her round, and sat down in her place. All the
+ladies were strangely scandalised at this, but none dared say a word, not
+even Madame de Lude, lady in waiting on the Duchesse de Bourgogne, who,
+for her part also, felt the insolence of the act, but dared not speak,
+being so young. As for the Duchesse de Rohan, feeling that opposition
+must lead to fisticuffs, she curtseyed to the Duchess, and quietly
+retired to another place. A few minutes after this, Madame de Saint-
+Simon, who was then with child, feeling herself unwell, and tired of
+standing, seated herself upon the first cushion she could find. It so
+happened, that in the position she thus occupied, she had taken
+precedence of Madame d'Armagnac by two degrees. Madame d'Armagnac,
+perceiving it, spoke to her upon the subject. Madame de Saint-Simon, who
+had only placed herself there for a moment, did not reply, but went
+elsewhere.
+
+As soon as I learnt of the first adventure, I thought it important that
+such an insult should not be borne, and I went and conferred with M. de
+la Rochefoucauld upon the subject, at the same time that Marechal de
+Boufflers spoke of it to M. de Noailles. I called upon other of my
+friends, and the opinion was that the Duc de Rohan should complain to the
+King on the morrow of the treatment his wife had received.
+
+In the evening while I was at the King's supper, I was sent for by Madame
+de Saint-Simon, who informed me that the Lorraines, afraid of the
+complaints that would probably be addressed to the King upon what had
+taken place between the Princesse d'Harcourt and the Duchesse de Rohan,
+had availed themselves of what happened between Madame de Saint-Simon and
+Madame d'Armagnac, in order to be the first to complain, so that one
+might balance the other. Here was a specimen of the artifice of these
+gentlemen, which much enraged me. On the instant I determined to lose no
+time in speaking to the King; and that very evening I related what had
+occurred, in so far as Madame de Saint-Simon was concerned, but made no
+allusion to M. de Rohan's affair, thinking it best to leave that to be
+settled by itself on the morrow. The King replied to me very graciously,
+and I retired, after assuring him that all I had said was true from
+beginning to end.
+
+The next day the Duc de Rohan made his complaint. The King, who had
+already been fully informed of the matter, received him well, praised the
+respect and moderation of Madame de Rohan, declared Madame d'Harcourt to
+have been very impertinent, and said some very hard words upon the
+Lorraines.
+
+I found afterwards, that Madame de Maintenon, who much favoured Madame
+d'Harcourt, had all the trouble in the world to persuade the King not to
+exclude her from the next journey to Marly. She received a severe
+reprimand from the King, a good scolding from Madame de Maintenon, and
+was compelled publicly to ask pardon of the Duchesse de Rohan. This she
+did; but with a crawling baseness equal to her previous audacity. Such
+was the end of this strange history.
+
+There appeared at this time a book entitled "Probleme," but without name
+of author, and directed against M. de Paris, declaring that he had
+uttered sentiments favourable to the Jansenists being at Chalons, and
+unfavourable being at Paris. The book came from the Jesuits, who could
+not pardon M. de Paris for having become archbishop without their
+assistance. It was condemned and burnt by decree of the Parliament, and
+the Jesuits had to swallow all the shame of it. The author was soon
+after discovered. He was named Boileau; not the friend of Bontems, who
+so often preached before the King, and still less the celebrated poet and
+author of the 'Flagellants', but a doctor of much wit and learning whom
+M. de Paris had taken into his favour and treated like a brother. Who
+would have believed that "Probleme" could spring from such a man? M. de
+Paris was much hurt; but instead of imprisoning Boileau for the rest of
+his days, as he might have done, he acted the part of a great bishop, and
+gave him a good canonical of Saint Honore, which became vacant a few days
+afterwards. Boileau, who was quite without means, completed his
+dishonour by accepting it.
+
+The honest people of the Court regretted a cynic who died at this time,
+I mean the Chevalier de Coislin. He was a most extraordinary man, very
+splenetic, and very difficult to deal with. He rarely left Versailles,
+and never went to see the king. I have seen him get out of the way not
+to meet him. He lived with Cardinal Coislin, his brother. If anybody
+displeased him, he would go and sulk in his own room; and if, whilst at
+table, any one came whom he did not like, he would throw away his plate,
+go off to sulk, or to finish his dinner all alone. One circumstance will
+paint him completely. Being on a journey once with his brothers, the Duc
+de Coislin and the Cardinal de Coislin, the party rested for the night at
+the house of a vivacious and very pretty bourgeoise. The Duc de Coislin
+was an exceedingly polite man, and bestowed amiable compliments and
+civilities upon their hostess, much to the disgust of the Chevalier. At
+parting, the Duke renewed the politeness he had displayed so abundantly
+the previous evening, and delayed the others by his long-winded
+flatteries. When, at last, they left the house, and were two or three
+leagues away from it, the Chevalier de Coislin said, that, in spite of
+all this politeness, he had reason to believe that their pretty hostess
+would not long be pleased with the Duke. The Duke, disturbed, asked his
+reason for thinking so. "Do you wish to learn it?" said the Chevalier;
+"well, then, you must know that, disgusted by your compliments, I went up
+into the bedroom in which you slept, and made a filthy mess on the floor,
+which the landlady will no doubt attribute to you, despite all your fine
+speeches."
+
+At this there was loud laughter, but the Duke was in fury, and wished to
+return in order to clear up his character. Although it rained hard, they
+had all the pains in the world to hinder him, and still more to bring
+about a reconciliation. Nothing was more pleasant than to hear the
+brothers relate this adventure each in his own way.
+
+Two cruel effects of gambling were noticed at this time. Reineville, a
+lieutenant of the body-guard, a general officer distinguished in war,
+very well treated by the King, and much esteemed by the captain of the
+Guards, suddenly disappeared, and could not be found anywhere, although
+the utmost care was taken to search for him. He loved gaming. He had
+lost what he could not pay. He was a man of honour, and could not
+sustain his misfortune. Twelve or fifteen years afterwards he was
+recognised among the Bavarian troops, in which he was serving in order to
+gain his bread and to live unknown. The other case was still worse.
+Permillac, a man of much intelligence and talent, had lost more than he
+possessed, and blew his brains out one morning in bed. He was much liked
+throughout the army; had taken a friendship for me, and I for him.
+Everybody pitied him, and I much regretted him.
+
+Nearly at the same time we lost the celebrated Racine, so known by his
+beautiful plays. No one possessed a greater talent or a more agreeable
+mien. There was nothing of the poet in his manners: he had the air of a
+well-bred and modest man, and at last that of a good man. He had
+friends, the most illustrious, at the Court as well as among men of
+letters. I leave it to the latter to speak of him in a better way than I
+can. He wrote, for the amusement of the King and Madame de Maintenon,
+and to exercise the young ladies of Saint Cyr, two dramatic masterpieces,
+Esther and Athalie. They were very difficult to write, because there
+could be no love in them, and because they are sacred tragedies, in
+which, from respect to the Holy Scriptures, it was necessary rigidly to
+keep to the historical truth. They were several times played at Saint
+Cyr before a select Court. Racine was charged with the history of the
+King, conjointly with Despreaux, his friend. This employment, the pieces
+I have just spoken of, and his friends, gained for Racine some special
+favours: It sometimes happened that the King had no ministers with him,
+as on Fridays, and, above all, when the bad weather of winter rendered
+the sittings very long; then he would send for Racine to amuse him and
+Madame de Maintenon. Unfortunately the poet was oftentimes very absent.
+It happened one evening that, talking with Racine upon the theatre, the
+King asked why comedy was so much out of fashion. Racine gave several
+reasons, and concluded by naming the principal,--namely, that for want of
+new pieces the comedians gave old ones, and, amongst others, those of
+Scarron, which were worth nothing, and which found no favour with
+anybody. At this the poor widow blushed, not for the reputation of the
+cripple attacked, but at hearing his name uttered in presence of his
+successor! The King was also embarrassed, and the unhappy Racine, by the
+silence which followed, felt what a slip he had made. He remained the
+most confounded of the three, without daring to raise his eyes or to open
+his mouth. This silence did not terminate for several moments, so heavy
+and profound was the surprise. The end was that the King sent away
+Racine, saying he was going to work. The poet never afterwards recovered
+his position. Neither the King nor Madame de Maintenon ever spoke to him
+again, or even looked at him; and he conceived so much sorrow at this,
+that he fell into a languor, and died two years afterwards. At his
+death, Valincourt was chosen to work in his place with Despreaux upon the
+history of the King.
+
+The King, who had just paid the heavy gaming and tradesmen's debts of
+Madame la Duchesse, paid also those of Monseigneur, which amounted to
+fifty thousand francs, undertook the payment of the buildings at Meudon,
+and, in lieu of fifteen hundred pistoles a month which he had allowed
+Monseigneur, gave him fifty thousand crowns. M. de la Rochefoucauld,
+always necessitous and pitiful in the midst of riches, a prey to his
+servants, obtained an increase of forty-two thousand francs a-year upon
+the salary he received as Grand Veneur, although it was but a short time
+since the King had paid his debts. The King gave also, but in secret,
+twenty thousand francs a-year to M. de Chartres, who had spent so much in
+journeys and building that he feared he should be unable to pay his
+debts. He had asked for an abbey; but as he had already one, the King
+did not like to give him another, lest it should be thought too much.
+
+M. de Vendome began at last to think about his health, which his
+debauches had thrown into a very bad state. He took public leave of the
+King and of all the Court before going away, to put himself in the hands
+of the doctors. It was the first and only example of such impudence.
+From this time he lost ground. The King said, at parting, that he hoped
+he would come back in such a state that people might kiss him without
+danger! His going in triumph, where another would have gone in shame and
+secrecy, was startling and disgusting. He was nearly three months under
+the most skilful treatment-and returned to the Court with half his nose,
+his teeth out, and a physiognomy entirely changed, almost idiotic. The
+King was so much struck by this change, that he recommended the courtiers
+not to appear to notice it, for fear of afflicting M. de Vendome. That
+was taking much interest in him assuredly. As, moreover, he had departed
+in triumph upon this medical expedition, so he returned triumphant by the
+reception of the King, which was imitated by all the Court. He remained
+only a few days, and then, his mirror telling sad tales, went away to
+Anet, to see if nose and teeth would come back to him with his hair.
+
+A strange adventure, which happened at this time, terrified everybody,
+and gave rise to many surmises. Savary was found assassinated in his
+house at Paris he kept only a valet and a maid-servant, and they were
+discovered murdered at the same time, quite dressed, like their master,
+and in different parts of the house. It appeared by writings found
+there, that the crime was one of revenge: it was supposed to have been
+committed in broad daylight. Savary was a citizen of Paris, very rich,
+without occupation, and lived like an epicurean. He had some friends of
+the highest rank, and gave parties, of all kinds of pleasure, at his
+house, politics sometimes being discussed. The cause of this
+assassination was never known; but so much of it was found out, that no
+one dared to search for more. Few doubted but that the deed had been
+done by a very ugly little man, but of a blood so highly respected, that
+all forms were dispensed with, in the fear lest it should be brought home
+to him; and, after the first excitement, everybody ceased to speak of
+this tragic history.
+
+On the night between the 3rd and 4th of June, a daring robbery was
+effected at the grand stables of Versailles. All the horse-cloths and
+trappings, worth at least fifty thousand crowns, were carried off, and so
+cleverly and with such speed, although the night was short, that no
+traces of them could ever afterwards be found. This theft reminds me of
+another which took place a little before the commencement of these
+memoirs. The grand apartment at Versailles, that is to say, from the
+gallery to the tribune, was hung with crimson velvet, trimmed and fringed
+with gold. One fine morning the fringe and trimmings were all found to
+have been cut away. This appeared extraordinary in a place so frequented
+all day, so well closed at night, and so well guarded at all times.
+Bontems, the King's valet, was in despair, and did his utmost to discover
+the thieves, but without success.
+
+Five or six days afterwards, I was at the King's supper, with nobody but
+Daqum, chief physician, between the King and me, and nobody at all
+between one and the table. Suddenly I perceived a large black form in
+the air, but before I could tell what it was, it fell upon the end of the
+King's table just before the cover which had been laid for Monseigneur
+and Madame. By the noise it made in falling, and the weight of the thing
+itself, it seemed as though the table must be broken. The plates jumped
+up, but none were upset, and the thing, as luck would have it, did not
+fall upon any of them, but simply upon the cloth. The King moved his
+head half round, and without being moved in any way said, "I think that
+is my fringe!"
+
+It was indeed a bundle, larger than a flat-brimmed priest's hat, about
+two feet in height, and shaped like a pyramid. It had come from behind
+me, from towards the middle door of the two ante-chambers, and a piece of
+fringe getting loose in the air, had fallen upon the King's wig, from
+which it was removed by Livry, a gentleman-in-waiting. Livry also opened
+the bundle, and saw that it did indeed contain the fringes all twisted
+up, and everybody saw likewise. A murmur was heard. Livry wishing to
+take away the bundle found a paper attached to it. He took the paper and
+left the bundle. The King stretched out his hand and said, "Let us see."
+Livry, and with reason, would not give up the paper, but stepped back,
+read it, and then passed it to Daquin, in whose hands I read it. The
+writing, counterfeited and long like that of a woman, was in these
+words:--"Take back your fringes, Bontems; they are not worth the trouble
+of keeping--my compliments to the King."
+
+The paper was rolled up, not folded: the King wished to take it from
+Daquin, who, after much hesitation, allowed him to read it, but did not
+let it out of his hands. "Well, that is very insolent!" said the King,
+but in quite a placid unmoved tone--as it were, an historical tone.
+Afterwards he ordered the bundle to be taken away. Livry found it so
+heavy that he could scarcely lift it from the table, and gave it to an
+attendant who presented himself. The King spoke no more of this matter,
+nobody else dared to do so; and the supper finished as though nothing had
+happened.
+
+Besides the excess of insolence and impudence of this act, it was so
+perilous as to be scarcely understood. How could any one, without being
+seconded by accomplices, throw a bundle of this weight and volume in the
+midst of a crowd such as was always present at the supper of the King, so
+dense that it could with difficulty be passed through? How, in spite of
+a circle of accomplices, could a movement of the arms necessary for such
+a throw escape all eyes? The Duc de Gesvres was in waiting. Neither he
+nor anybody else thought of closing the doors until the King had left the
+table. It may be guessed whether the guilty parties remained until then,
+having had more than three-quarters of an hour to escape, and every issue
+being free. Only one person was discovered, who was not known, but he
+proved to be a very honest man, and was dismissed after a short
+detention. Nothing has since been discovered respecting this theft or
+its bold restitution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+On the 12th August, Madame de Saint-Simon was happily delivered of a
+second son, who bore the name of Marquis de Ruffec. A singular event
+which happened soon after, made all the world marvel.
+
+There arrived at Versailles a farrier, from the little town of Salon, in
+Provence, who asked to see the King in private. In spite of the rebuffs
+he met with, he persisted in his request, so that at last it got to the
+ears of the King. The King sent word that he was not accustomed to grant
+such audiences to whoever liked to ask for them. Thereupon the farrier
+declared that if he was allowed to see the King he would tell him things
+so secret and so unknown to everybody else that he would be persuaded of
+their importance, demanding, if the King would not see him, to be sent to
+a minister of state. Upon this the King allowed him to have an interview
+with one of his secretaries, Barbezieux. But Barbezieux was not a
+minister of state, and to the great surprise of everybody, the farrier,
+who had only just arrived from the country, and who had never before left
+it or his trade, replied, that not being a minister of state he would not
+speak with him. Upon this he was allowed to see Pomponne, and converse
+with him; and this is the story he told:
+
+He said, that returning home late one evening he found himself surrounded
+by a great light, close against a tree and near Salon. A woman clad in
+white--but altogether in a royal manner, and beautiful, fair, and very
+dazzling--called him by his name, commanded him to listen to her, and
+spake to him more than half-an-hour. She told him she was the Queen,
+who had been the wife of the King; to whom she ordered him to go and say
+what she had communicated; assuring him that God would assist him through
+all the journey, and that upon a secret thing he should say, the King,
+who alone knew that secret, would recognise the truth of all he uttered.
+She said that in case he could not see the King he was to speak with a
+minister of state, telling him certain things, but reserving certain
+others for the King alone. She told him, moreover, to set out at once,
+assuring him he would be punished with death if he neglected to acquit
+himself of his commission. The farrier promised to obey her in
+everything, and the queen then disappeared. He found himself in darkness
+near the tree. He lay down and passed the night there, scarcely knowing
+whether he was awake or asleep. In the morning he went home, persuaded
+that what he had seen was a mere delusion and folly, and said nothing
+about it to a living soul.
+
+Two days afterwards he was passing by the same place when the same vision
+appeared to him, and he was addressed in the same terms. Fresh threats
+of punishment were uttered if he did not comply, and he was ordered to go
+at once to the Intendant of the province, who would assuredly furnish him
+with money, after saying what he had seen. This time the farrier was
+convinced there was no delusion in the matter; but, halting between his
+fears and doubts, knew not what to do, told no one what had passed,
+and was in great perplexity. He remained thus eight days, and at last
+had resolved not to make the journey; when, passing by the same spot,
+he saw and heard the same vision, which bestowed upon him so many
+dreadful menaces that he no longer thought of anything but setting out
+immediately. In two days from that time he presented himself, at Aix,
+to the Intendant of the province, who, without a moment's hesitation,
+urged him to pursue his journey, and gave him sufficient money to travel
+by a public conveyance. Nothing more of the story was ever known.
+
+The farrier had three interviews with M. de Pomponne, each of two hours'
+length. M. de Pomponne rendered, in private, an account of these to the
+King, who desired him to speak more fully upon the point in a council
+composed of the Ducs de Beauvilliers, Pontchartrain, Torcy, and Pomponne
+himself; Monseigneur to be excluded. This council sat very long, perhaps
+because other things were spoken of. Be that as it may, the King after
+this wished to converse with the farrier, and did so in his cabinet. Two
+days afterwards he saw the man again; at each time was nearly an hour
+with him, and was careful that no one was within hearing.
+
+The day after the first interview, as the King was descending the
+staircase, to go a-hunting, M. de Duras, who was in waiting, and who was
+upon such a footing that he said almost what he liked, began to speak of
+this farrier with contempt, and, quoting the bad proverb, said, "The man
+was mad, or the King was not noble." At this the King stopped, and,
+turning round, a thing he scarcely ever did in walking, replied, "If that
+be so, I am not noble, for I have discoursed with him long, he has spoken
+to me with much good sense, and I assure you he is far from being mad."
+
+These last words were pronounced with a sustained gravity which greatly
+surprised those near, and which in the midst of deep silence opened all
+eyes and ears. After the second interview the King felt persuaded that
+one circumstance had been related to him by the farrier, which he alone
+knew, and which had happened more than twenty years before. It was that
+he had seen a phantom in the forest of Saint Germains. Of this phantom
+he had never breathed a syllable to anybody.
+
+The King on several other occasions spoke favourably of the farrier;
+moreover, he paid all the expenses the man had been put to, gave him a
+gratuity, sent him back free, and wrote to the Intendant of the province
+to take particular care of him, and never to let him want for anything
+all his life.
+
+The most surprising thing of all this is, that none of the ministers
+could be induced to speak a word upon the occurrence. Their most
+intimate friends continually questioned them, but without being able to
+draw forth a syllable. The ministers either affected to laugh at the
+matter or answered evasively. This was the case whenever I questioned
+M. de Beauvilliers or M. de Pontchartrain, and I knew from their most
+intimate friends that nothing more could ever be obtained from M. de
+Pomponne or M. de Torcy. As for the farrier himself, he was equally
+reserved. He was a simple, honest, and modest man, about fifty years of
+age. Whenever addressed upon this subject, he cut short all discourse by
+saying, "I am not allowed to speak," and nothing more could be extracted
+from him. When he returned to his home he conducted himself just as
+before, gave himself no airs, and never boasted of the interview he had
+had with the King and his ministers. He went back to his trade, and
+worked at it as usual.
+
+Such is the singular story which filled everybody with astonishment, but
+which nobody could understand. It is true that some people persuaded
+themselves, and tried to persuade others, that the whole affair was a
+clever trick, of which the simple farrier had been the dupe. They said
+that a certain Madame Arnoul, who passed for a witch, and who, having
+known Madame de Maintenon when she was Madame Scarron, still kept up a
+secret intimacy with her, had caused the three visions to appear to the
+farrier, in order to oblige the King to declare Madame de Maintenon
+queen. But the truth of the matter was never known.
+
+The King bestowed at this time some more distinctions on his illegitimate
+children. M. du Maine, as grand-master of the artillery, had to be
+received at the Chambre des Comptes; and his place ought to have been,
+according to custom, immediately above that of the senior member. But
+the King wished him to be put between the first and second presidents;
+and this was done. The King accorded also to the Princesse de Conti that
+her two ladies of honour should be allowed to sit at the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne's table. It was a privilege that no lady of honour to a
+Princess of the blood had ever been allowed. But the King gave these
+distinctions to the ladies of his illegitimate children, and refused it
+to those of the Princesses of the blood.
+
+In thus according honours, the King seemed to merit some new ones
+himself. But nothing fresh could be thought of. What had been done
+therefore at his statue in the Place des Victoires, was done over again
+in the Place Vendome on the 13th August, after midday. Another statue
+which had been erected there was uncovered. The Duc de Gesvres, Governor
+of Paris, was in attendance on horseback, at the head of the city troops,
+and made turns, and reverences, and other ceremonies, imitated from those
+in use at the consecration of the Roman Emperors. There were, it is
+true, no incense and no victims: something more in harmony with the title
+of Christian King was necessary. In the evening, there was upon the
+river a fine illumination, which Monsieur and Madame went to see.
+
+A difficulty arose soon after this with Denmark. The Prince Royal had
+become King, and announced the circumstance to our King, but would not
+receive the reply sent him because he was not styled in it "Majesty."
+We had never accorded to the Kings of Denmark this title, and they had
+always been contented with that of "Serenity." The King in his turn
+would not wear mourning for the King of Denmark, just dead, although he
+always did so for any crowned head, whether related to him or not. This
+state of things lasted some months; until, in the end, the new King of
+Denmark gave way, received the reply as it had been first sent, and our
+King wore mourning as if the time for it had not long since passed.
+
+Boucherat, chancellor and keeper of the seals, died on the 2nd of
+September. Harlay, as I have previously said, had been promised this
+appointment when it became vacant. But the part he had taken in our case
+with M. de Luxembourg had made him so lose ground, that the appointment
+was not given to him. M. de la Rochefoucauld, above all, had undermined
+him in the favour of the King; and none of us had lost an opportunity of
+assisting in this work. Our joy, therefore, was extreme when we saw all
+Harlay's hopes frustrated, and we did not fail to let it burst forth.
+The vexation that Harlay conceived was so great, that he became
+absolutely intractable, and often cried out with a bitterness he could
+not contain, that he should be left to die in the dust of the palace.
+His weakness was such, that he could not prevent himself six weeks after
+from complaining to the King at Fontainebleau, where he was playing the
+valet with his accustomed suppleness and deceit. The King put him off
+with fine speeches, and by appointing him to take part in a commission
+then sitting for the purpose of bringing about a reduction in the price
+of corn in Paris and the suburbs, where it had become very dear. Harlay
+made a semblance of being contented, but remained not the less annoyed.
+His health and his head were at last so much attacked that he was forced
+to quit his post: he then fell into contempt after having excited so much
+hatred. The chancellorship was given to Pontchartrain, and the office of
+comptroller-general, which became vacant at the same time, was given to
+Chamillart; a very honest man, who owed his first advancement to his
+skill at billiards, of which game the King was formerly very fond.
+It was while Chamillart was accustomed to play billiards with the King,
+at least three times a week, that an incident happened which ought not to
+be forgotten. Chamillart was Counsellor of the Parliament at that time.
+He had just reported on a case that had been submitted to him.
+The losing party came to him, and complained that he had omitted to bring
+forward a document that had been given into his hands, and that would
+assuredly have turned the verdict. Chamillart searched for the document,
+found it, and saw that the complainer was right. He said so, and added,
+--"I do not know how the document escaped me, but it decides in your
+favour. You claimed twenty thousand francs, and it is my fault you did
+not get them. Come to-morrow, and I will pay you." Chamillart, although
+then by no means rich, scraped together all the money he had, borrowing
+the rest, and paid the man as he had promised, only demanding that the
+matter should be kept a secret. But after this, feeling that billiards
+three times a week interfered with his legal duties, he surrendered part
+of them, and thus left himself more free for other charges he was obliged
+to attend to.
+
+The Comtesse de Fiesque died very aged, while the Court was at
+Fontainebleau this year. She had passed her life with the most frivolous
+of the great world. Two incidents amongst a thousand will characterise
+her. She was very straitened in means, because she had frittered away
+all her substance, or allowed herself to be pillaged by her business
+people. When those beautiful mirrors were first introduced she obtained
+one, although they were then very dear and very rare. "Ah, Countess!"
+said her friends, "where did you find that?"
+
+"Oh!" replied she, "I had a miserable piece of land, which only yielded
+me corn; I have sold it, and I have this mirror instead. Is not this
+excellent? Who would hesitate between corn and this beautiful mirror?"
+
+On another occasion she harangued with her son, who was as poor as a rat,
+for the purpose of persuading him to make a good match and thus enrich
+himself. Her son, who had no desire to marry, allowed her to talk on,
+and pretended to listen to her reasons: She was delighted--entered into a
+description of the wife she destined for him, painting her as young,
+rich, an only child, beautiful, well-educated, and with parents who would
+be delighted to agree to the marriage. When she had finished, he pressed
+her for the name of this charming and desirable person. The Countess
+said she was the daughter of Jacquier, a man well known to everybody,
+and who had been a contractor of provisions to the armies of M. de
+Turenne. Upon this, her son burst out into a hearty laugh, and she in
+anger demanded why he did so and what he found so ridiculous in the
+match.
+
+The truth was, Jacquier had no children, as the Countess soon remembered.
+At which she said it was a great pity, since no marriage would have
+better suited all parties. She was full of such oddities, which she
+persisted in for some time with anger, but at which she was the first to
+laugh. People said of her that she had never been more than eighteen
+years old. The memoirs of Mademoiselle paint her well. She lived with
+Mademoiselle, and passed all her life in quarrels about trifles.
+
+It was immediately after leaving Fontainebleau that the marriage between
+the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne was consummated. It was upon this
+occasion that the King named four gentlemen to wait upon the Duke,--
+four who in truth could not have been more badly chosen. One of them,
+Gamaches, was a gossip; who never knew what he was doing or saying--
+who knew nothing of the world, or the Court, or of war, although he had
+always been in the army. D'O was another; but of him I have spoken.
+Cheverny was the third, and Saumery the fourth. Saumery had been raised
+out of obscurity by M. de Beauvilliers. Never was man so intriguing, so
+truckling, so mean, so boastful, so ambitious, so intent upon fortune,
+and all this without disguise, without veil, without shame! Saumery had
+been wounded, and no man ever made so much of such a mishap. I used to
+say of him that he limped audaciously, and it was true. He would speak
+of personages the most distinguished, whose ante-chambers even he had
+scarcely seen, as though he spoke of his equals or of his particular
+friends. He related what he had heard, and was not ashamed to say before
+people who at least had common sense, "Poor Mons. Turenne said to me,"
+M. de Turenne never having probably heard of his existence. With
+Monsieur in full he honoured nobody. It was Mons. de Beauvilliers, Mons.
+de Chevreuse, and so on; except with those whose names he clipped off
+short, as he frequently would even with Princes of the blood. I have
+heard him say many times, "the Princesse de Conti," in speaking of the
+daughter of the King; and "the Prince de Conti," in speaking of Monsieur
+her brother-in-law! As for the chief nobles of the Court, it was rare
+for him to give them the Monsieur or the Mons. It was Marechal
+d'Humieres, and so on with the others. Fatuity and insolence were united
+in him, and by dint of mounting a hundred staircases a day, and bowing
+and scraping everywhere, he had gained the ear of I know not how many
+people. His wife was a tall creature, as impertinent as he, who wore the
+breeches, and before whom he dared not breathe. Her effrontery blushed
+at nothing, and after many gallantries she had linked herself on to M. de
+Duras, whom she governed, and of whom she was publicly and absolutely the
+mistress, living at his expense. Children, friends, servants, all were
+at her mercy; even Madame de Duras herself when she came, which was but
+seldom, from the country.
+
+Such were the people whom the King placed near M. le Duc de Bourgogne.
+
+The Duc de Gesvres, a malicious old man, a cruel husband and unnatural
+father, sadly annoyed Marechal de Villeroy towards the end of this year,
+having previously treated me very scurvily for some advice I gave him
+respecting the ceremonies to be observed at the reception by the King of
+M. de Lorraine as Duc de Bar. M. de Gesvres and M. de Villeroy had both
+had fathers who made large fortunes and who became secretaries of state.
+One morning M. de Gesvres was waiting for the King, with a number of
+other courtiers, when M. de Villeroy arrived, with all that noise and
+those airs he had long assumed, and which his favour and his appointments
+rendered more superb. I know not whether this annoyed De Gesvres, more
+than usual, but as soon as the other had placed himself, he said,
+"Monsieur le Marechal, it must be admitted that you and I are very
+lucky." The Marechal, surprised at a remark which seemed to be suggested
+by nothing, assented with a modest air, and, shaking his head and his
+wig, began to talk to some one else. But M. de Gesvres had not commenced
+without a purpose. He went on, addressed M. de Villeroy point-blank,
+admiring their mutual good fortune, but when he came to speak of the
+father of each, "Let us go no further," said he, "for what did our
+fathers spring from? From tradesmen; even tradesmen they were
+themselves. Yours was the son of a dealer in fresh fish at the markets,
+and mine of a pedlar, or, perhaps, worse. Gentlemen," said he,
+addressing the company, "have we not reason to think our fortune
+prodigious--the Marechal and I?" The Marechal would have liked to
+strangle M. de Gesvres, or to see him dead--but what can be done with a
+man who, in order to say something cutting to you, says it to himself
+first? Everybody was silent, and all eyes were lowered. Many, however,
+were not sorry to see M. de Villeroy so pleasantly humiliated. The King
+came and put an end to the scene, which was the talk of the Court for
+several days.
+
+Omissions must be repaired as soon as they are perceived. Other matters
+have carried me away. At the commencement of April, Ticquet, Counsellor
+at the Parliament, was assassinated in his own house; and if he did not
+die, it was not the fault of his porter, or of the soldier who had
+attempted to kill him, and who left him for dead, disturbed by a noise
+they heard. This councillor, who was a very poor man, had complained to
+the King, the preceding year, of the conduct of his wife with
+Montgeorges, captain in the Guards, and much esteemed. The King
+prohibited Montgeorges from seeing the wife of the councillor again.
+
+Such having been the case, when the crime was attempted, suspicion fell
+upon Montgeorges and the wife of Ticquet, a beautiful, gallant, and bold
+woman, who took a very high tone in the matter. She was advised to fly,
+and one of my friends offered to assist her to do so, maintaining that in
+all such cases it is safer to be far off than close at hand. The woman
+would listen to no such advice, and in a few days she was no longer able.
+The porter and the soldier were arrested and tortured, and Madame
+Ticquet, who was foolish enough to allow herself to be arrested, also
+underwent the same examination, and avowed all. She was condemned to
+lose her head, and her accomplice to be broken on the wheel. Montgeorges
+managed so well, that he was not legally criminated. When Ticquet heard
+the sentence, he came with all his family to the King, and sued for
+mercy. But the King would not listen to him, and the execution took
+place on Wednesday, the 17th of June, after mid-day, at the Greve. All
+the windows of the Hotel de Ville, and of the houses in the Place de
+Greve, in the streets that lead to it from the Conciergerie of the palace
+where Madame Ticquet was confined, were filled with spectators, men and
+women, many of title and distinction. There were even friends of both
+sexes of this unhappy woman, who felt no shame or horror in going there.
+In the streets the crowd was so great that it could not be passed
+through. In general, pity was felt for the culprit; people hoped she
+would be pardoned, and it was because they hoped so, that they went to
+see her die. But such is the world; so unreasoning, and so little in
+accord with itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The year 1700 commenced by a reform. The King declared that he would no
+longer bear the expense of the changes that the courtiers introduced into
+their apartments. It had cost him more than sixty thousand francs since
+the Court left Fontainebleau. It is believed that Madame de Mailly was
+the cause of this determination of the King; for during the last two or
+three years she had made changes in her apartments every year.
+
+A difficulty occurred at this time which much mortified the King. Little
+by little he had taken all the ambassadors to visit Messieurs du Maine
+and de Toulouse, as though they were Princes of the blood. The nuncio,
+Cavallerini, visited them thus, but upon his return to Rome was so taken
+to task for it, that his successor, Delfini, did not dare to imitate him.
+The cardinals considered that they had lowered themselves, since
+Richelieu and Mazarm, by treating even the Princes of the blood on terms
+of equality, and giving them their hand, which had not been customary m
+the time of the two first ministers just named. To do so to the
+illegitimate offspring of the King, and on occasions of ceremony,
+appeared to them monstrous. Negotiations were carried on for a month,
+but Delfini would not bend, and although in every other respect he had
+afforded great satisfaction during his nunciature, no farewell audience
+was given to him; nor even a secret audience. He was deprived of the
+gift of a silver vessel worth eighteen hundred francs, that it was
+customary to present to the cardinal nuncios at their departure: and he
+went away without saying adieu to anybody.
+
+Some time before, M. de Monaco had been sent as ambassador to Rome. He
+claimed to be addressed by the title of "Highness," and persisted in it
+with so much obstinacy that he isolated, himself from almost everybody,
+and brought the affairs of his embassy nearly to a standstill by the
+fetters he imposed upon them in the most necessary transactions. Tired
+at last of the resistance he met with, he determined to refuse the title
+of "Excellence," although it might fairly belong to them, to all who
+refused to address him as "Highness." This finished his affair; for
+after that determination no one would see him, and the business of the
+embassy suffered even more than before. It is difficult to comprehend
+why the King permitted such a man to remain as his representative at a
+foreign Court.
+
+Madame de Navailles died on the 14th of February: Her mother, Madame de
+Neuillant, who became a widow, was avarice itself. I cannot say by what
+accident or chance it was that Madame de Maintenon in returning young and
+poor from America, where she had lost her father and mother, fell in
+landing at Rochelle into the hands of Madame de Neuillant, who lived in
+Poitou. Madame de Neuillant took home Madame de Maintenon, but could not
+resolve to feed her without making her do something in return. Madame de
+Maintenon was charged therefore with the key of the granary, had to
+measure out the corn and to see that it was given to the horses. It was
+Madame de Neuillant who brought Madame de Maintenon to Paris, and to get
+rid of her married her to Scarron, and then retired into Poitou.
+
+Madame de Navailles was the eldest daughter of this Madame de Neuillant,
+and it was her husband, M. de Navailles, who, serving under M. le Prince
+in Flanders, received from that General a strong reprimand for his
+ignorance. M. le Prince wanted to find the exact position of a little
+brook which his maps did not mark. To assist him in the search, M. de
+Navailles brought a map of the world! On another occasion, visiting
+M. Colbert, at Sceaux, the only thing M. de Navailles could find to
+praise was the endive of the kitchen garden: and when on the occasion of
+the Huguenots the difficulty of changing religion was spoken of, he
+declared that if God had been good enough to make him a Turk, he should
+have remained so.
+
+Madame de Navailles had been lady of honour to the Queen-mother, and lost
+that place by a strange adventure.
+
+She was a woman of spirit and of virtue, and the young ladies of honour
+were put under her charge. The King was at this time young and gallant.
+So long as he held aloof from the chamber of the young ladies, Madame de
+Navailles meddled not, but she kept her eye fixed upon all that she
+controlled. She soon perceived that the King was beginning to amuse
+himself, and immediately after she found that a door had secretly been
+made into the chamber of the young ladies; that this door communicated
+with a staircase by which the King mounted into the room at night, and
+was hidden during the day by the back of a bed placed against it. Upon
+this Madame de Navailles held counsel with her husband. On one side was
+virtue and honour, on the other, the King's anger, disgrace, and exile.
+The husband and wife did not long hesitate. Madame de Navailles at once
+took her measures, and so well, that in a few hours one evening the door
+was entirely closed up. During the same night the King, thinking to
+enter as usual by the little staircase, was much surprised to no longer
+find a door. He groped, he searched, he could not comprehend the
+disappearance of the door, or by what means it had become wall again.
+Anger seized him; he doubted not that the door had been closed by Madame
+de Navailles and her husband. He soon found that such was the case, and
+on the instant stripped them of almost all their offices, and exiled them
+from the Court. The exile was not long; the Queen-mother on her death-
+bed implored him to receive back Monsieur and Madame de Navailles, and he
+could not refuse. They returned, and M. de Navailles nine years
+afterwards was made Marechal of France. After this Madame de Navailles
+rarely appeared at the Court. Madame de Maintenon could not refuse her
+distinctions and special favours, but they were accorded rarely and by
+moments. The King always remembered his door; Madame de Maintenon always
+remembered the hay and barley of Madame de Neuillant, and neither years
+nor devotion could deaden the bitterness of the recollection.
+
+From just before Candlemas-day to Easter of this year, nothing was heard
+of but balls and pleasures of the Court. The King gave at Versailles and
+at Marly several masquerades, by which he was much amused, under pretext
+of amusing the Duchesse de Bourgogne. At one of these balls at Marly a
+ridiculous scene occurred. Dancers were wanting and Madame de Luxembourg
+on account of this obtained an invitation, but with great difficulty, for
+she lived in such a fashion that no woman would see her. Monsieur de
+Luxembourg was perhaps the only person in France who was ignorant of
+Madame de Luxembourg's conduct. He lived with his wife on apparently
+good terms and as though he had not the slightest mistrust of her. On
+this occasion, because of the want of dancers, the King made older people
+dance than was customary, and among others M. de Luxembourg. Everybody
+was compelled to be masked. M. de Luxembourg spoke on this subject to
+M. le Prince, who, malicious as any monkey, determined to divert all the
+Court and himself at the Duke's expense. He invited M. de Luxembourg to
+supper, and after that meal was over, masked him according to his fancy.
+
+Soon after my arrival at the ball, I saw a figure strangely clad in long
+flowing muslin, and with a headdress on which was fixed the horns of a
+stag, so high that they became entangled in the chandelier. Of course
+everybody was much astonished at so strange a sight, and all thought that
+that mask must be very sure of his wife to deck himself so. Suddenly the
+mask turned round and showed us M. de Luxembourg. The burst of laughter
+at this was scandalous. Good M. de Luxembourg, who never was very
+remarkable for wit, benignly took all this laughter as having been
+excited simply by the singularity of his costume, and to the questions
+addressed him, replied quite simply that his dress had been arranged by
+M. le Prince; then, turning to the right and to the left, he admired
+himself and strutted with pleasure at having been masked by M. le Prince.
+In a moment more the ladies arrived, and the King immediately after them.
+The laughter commenced anew as loudly as ever, and M. de Luxembourg
+presented himself to the company with a confidence that was ravishing.
+His wife had heard nothing of this masquerading, and when she saw it,
+lost countenance, brazen as she was. Everybody stared at her and her
+husband, and seemed dying of laughter. M. le Prince looked at the scene
+from behind the King, and inwardly laughed at his malicious trick. This
+amusement lasted throughout all the ball, and the King, self-contained as
+he usually was, laughed also; people were never tired of admiring an
+invention so, cruelly ridiculous, and spoke of it for several days.
+
+No evening passed on which there was not a ball. The chancellor's wife
+gave one which was a fete the most gallant and the most magnificent
+possible. There were different rooms for the fancy-dress ball, for the
+masqueraders, for a superb collation, for shops of all countries,
+Chinese, Japanese, &c., where many singular and beautiful things were
+sold, but no money taken; they were presents for the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne and the ladies. Everybody was especially diverted at this
+entertainment, which did not finish until eight o'clock in the morning.
+Madame de Saint-Simon and I passed the last three weeks of this time
+without ever seeing the day. Certain dancers were only allowed to leave
+off dancing at the same time as the Duchesse de Bourgogne. One morning,
+at Marty, wishing to escape too early, the Duchess caused me to be
+forbidden to pass the doors of the salon; several of us had the same
+fate. I was delighted when Ash Wednesday arrived; and I remained a day
+or two dead beat, and Madame de Saint-Simon could not get over Shrove
+Tuesday.
+
+La Bourlie, brother of Guiscard, after having quitted the service, had
+retired to his estate near Cevennes, where he led a life of much licence.
+About this time a robbery was committed in his house; he suspected one of
+the servants, and on his own authority put the man to the torture. This
+circumstance could not remain so secret but that complaints spread
+abroad. The offence was a capital one. La Bourlie fled from the realm,
+and did many strange things until his death, which was still more
+strange; but of which it is not yet time to speak.
+
+Madame la Duchesse, whose heavy tradesmen's debts the King had paid not
+long since, had not dared to speak of her gambling debts, also very
+heavy. They increased, and, entirely unable to pay them, she found
+herself in the greatest embarrassment. She feared, above all things,
+lest M. le Prince or M. le Duc should hear of this. In this extremity
+she addressed herself to Madame de Maintenon, laying bare the state of
+her finances, without the slightest disguise. Madame de Maintenon had
+pity on her situation, and arranged that the King should pay her debts,
+abstain from scolding her, and keep her secret. Thus, in a few weeks,
+Madame la Duchesse found herself free of debts, without anybody whom she
+feared having known even of their existence.
+
+Langlee was entrusted with the payment and arrangement of these debts.
+He was a singular kind of man at the Court, and deserves a word. Born of
+obscure parents, who had enriched themselves, he had early been
+introduced into the great world, and had devoted himself to play, gaining
+an immense fortune; but without being accused of the least unfairness.
+With but little or no wit, but much knowledge of the world, he had
+succeeded in securing many friends, and in making his way at the Court.
+He joined in all the King's parties, at the time of his mistresses.
+Similarity of tastes attached Langlee to Monsieur, but he never lost
+sight of the King. At all the fetes Langlee was present, he took part in
+the journeys, he was invited to Marly, was intimate with all the King's
+mistresses; then with all the daughters of the King, with whom indeed he
+was so familiar that he often spoke to them with the utmost freedom. He
+had become such a master of fashions and of fetes that none of the latter
+were given, even by Princes of the blood, except under his directions;
+and no houses were bought, built, furnished, or ornamented, without his
+taste being consulted. There were no marriages of which the dresses and
+the presents were not chosen, or at least approved, by him. He was on
+intimate terms with the most distinguished people of the Court; and often
+took improper advantage of his position. To the daughters of the King
+and to a number of female friends he said horribly filthy things, and
+that too in their own houses, at St. Cloud or at Marly. He was often
+made a confidant in matters of gallantry, and continued to be made so all
+his life. For he was a sure man, had nothing disagreeable about him, was
+obliging, always ready to serve others with his purse or his influence,
+and was on bad terms with no one.
+
+While everybody, during all this winter, was at balls and amusements,
+the beautiful Madame de Soubise--for she was so still--employed herself
+with more serious matters. She had just bought, very cheap, the immense
+Hotel de Guise, that the King assisted her to pay for. Assisted also by
+the King, she took steps to make her bastard son canon of Strasbourg;
+intrigued so well that his birth was made to pass muster, although among
+Germans there is a great horror of illegitimacy, and he was received into
+the chapter. This point gained, she laid her plans for carrying out
+another, and a higher one, nothing less than that of making her son
+Archbishop of Strasbourg.
+
+But there was an obstacle, in the way. This obstacle was the Abbe
+d'Auvergne (nephew of Cardinal de Bouillon), who had the highest position
+in the chapter, that of Grand Prevot, had been there much longer than the
+Abbe de Soubise, was older, and of more consequence. His reputation,
+however, was against him; his habits were publicly known to be those of
+the Greeks, whilst his intellect resembled theirs in no way. By his
+stupidity he published his bad conduct, his perfect ignorance, his
+dissipation, his ambition; and to sustain himself he had only a low,
+stinking, continual vanity, which drew upon him as much disdain as did
+his habits, alienated him from all the world, and constantly subjected
+him to ridicule.
+
+The Abbe de Soubise had, on the contrary, everything smiling in his
+favour, even his exterior, which showed that he was born of the tenderest
+amours. Upon the farms of the Sorbonne he had much distinguished
+himself. He had been made Prior of Sorbonne, and had shone conspicuously
+in that position, gaining eulogies of the most flattering kind from
+everybody, and highly pleasing the King. After this, he entered the
+seminary of Saint Magloire, then much in vogue, and gained the good
+graces of the Archbishop of Paris, by whom that seminary was favoured.
+On every side the Abbe de Soubise was regarded, either as a marvel of
+learning, or a miracle of piety and purity of manners. He had made
+himself loved everywhere, and his gentleness, his politeness, his
+intelligence, his graces, and his talent for securing friends, confirmed
+more and more the reputation he had established.
+
+The Abbe d'Auvergne had a relative, the Cardinal de Furstenberg, who also
+had two nephews, canons of Strasbourg, and in a position to become
+claimants to the bishopric. Madame de Soubise rightly thought that her
+first step must be to gain over the Cardinal to her side. There was a
+channel through which this could be done which at once suggested itself
+to her mind. Cardinal Furstenberg, it was said, had been much enamoured
+of the Comtesse de La Marck, and had married her to one of his nephews,
+in order that he might thus see her more easily. It was also said that
+he had been well treated, and it is certain that nothing was so striking
+as the resemblance, feature for feature, of the Comte de La Marck to
+Cardinal de Furstenberg. If the Count was not the son of the Cardinal he
+was nothing to him. The attachment of Cardinal Furstenberg for the
+Comtesse de La Marck did not abate when she became by her marriage
+Comtesse de Furstenberg; indeed he could not exist without her; she lived
+and reigned in his house. Her son, the Comte de La Marck, lived there
+also, and her dominion over the Cardinal was so public, that whoever had
+affairs with him spoke to the Countess, if he wished to succeed. She had
+been very beautiful, and at fifty-two years of age, still showed it,
+although tall, stout, and coarse featured as a Swiss guard in woman's
+clothes. She was, moreover, bold, audacious, talking loudly and always
+with authority; was polished, however, and of good manners when she
+pleased. Being the most imperious woman in the world, the Cardinal was
+fairly tied to her apron-strings, and scarcely dared to breathe in her
+presence. In dress and finery she spent like a prodigal, played every
+night, and lost large sums, oftentimes staking her jewels and her various
+ornaments. She was a woman who loved herself alone, who wished for
+everything, and who refused herself nothing, not even, it was said,
+certain gallantries which the poor Cardinal was obliged to pay for, as
+for everything else. Her extravagance was such, that she was obliged to
+pass six or seven months of the year in the country, in order to have
+enough to spend in Paris during the remainder of the year.
+
+It was to the Comtesse de Furstenberg, therefore, that Madame de Soubise
+addressed herself in order to gain over the support of Cardinal de
+Furstenberg, in behalf of her son. Rumour said, and it was never
+contradicted, that Madame de Soubise paid much money to the Cardinal
+through the Countess, in order to carry this point. It is certain that
+in addition to the prodigious pensions the Cardinal drew from the King,
+he touched at this time a gratification of forty thousand crowns, that it
+was pretended had been long promised him.
+
+Madame de Soubise having thus assured herself of the Countess and the
+Cardinal (and they having been privately thanked by the King), she caused
+an order to be sent to Cardinal de Bouillon, who was then at Rome,
+requesting him to ask the Pope in the name of the King, for a bull
+summoning the Chapter of Strasbourg to meet and elect a coadjutor and a
+declaration of the eligibility of the Abbe de Soubise.
+
+But here a new obstacle arose in the path of Madame de Soubise. Cardinal
+de Bouillon, a man of excessive pride and pretension, who upon reaching
+Rome claimed to be addressed as "Most Eminent Highness," and obtaining
+this title from nobody except his servants, set himself at loggerheads
+with all the city--Cardinal de Bouillon, I say, was himself canon of
+Strasbourg, and uncle of the Abbe d'Auvergne. So anxious was the
+Cardinal to secure the advancement of the Abbe d'Auvergne, that he had
+already made a daring and fraudulent attempt to procure for him a
+cardinalship. But the false representations which he made in order to
+carry his point, having been seen through, his attempt came to nothing,
+and he himself lost all favour with the King for his deceit. He,
+however; hoped to make the Abbe d'Auvergne bishop of Strasbourg, and was
+overpowered, therefore, when he saw this magnificent prey about to escape
+him. The news came upon him like a thunderbolt. It was bad enough to
+see his hopes trampled under foot; it was insupportable to be obliged to
+aid in crushing them. Vexation so transported and blinded him, that he
+forgot the relative positions of himself and of Madame de Soubise, and
+imagined that he should be able to make the King break a resolution he
+had taken, and an engagement he had entered into. He sent therefore, as
+though he had been a great man, a letter to the King, telling him that he
+had not thought sufficiently upon this matter, and raising scruples
+against it. At the same time he despatched a letter to the canons of
+Strasbourg, full of gall and compliments, trying to persuade them that
+the Abbe de Soubise was too young for the honour intended him, and
+plainly intimating that the Cardinal de Furstenberg had been gained over
+by a heavy bribe paid to the Comtesse de Furstenberg. These letters.
+made a terrible uproar.
+
+I was at the palace on Tuesday, March 30th, and after supper I saw Madame
+de Soubise arrive, leading the Comtesse de Furstenberg, both of whom
+posted themselves at the door of the King's cabinet. It was not that
+Madame de Soubise had not the privilege of entering if she pleased, but
+she preferred making her complaint as public as the charges made against
+her by Cardinal de Bouillon had become. I approached in order to witness
+the scene. Madame de Soubise appeared scarcely able to contain herself,
+and the Countess seemed furious. As the King passed, they stopped him.
+Madame de Soubise said two words in a low tone. The Countess in a louder
+strain demanded justice against the Cardinal de Bouillon, who, she said,
+not content in his pride and ambition with disregarding the orders of the
+King, had calumniated her and Cardinal de Furstenberg in the most
+atrocious manner, and had not even spared Madame de Soubise herself. The
+King replied to her with much politeness, assured her she should be
+contented, and passed on.
+
+Madame de Soubise was so much the more piqued because Cardinal de
+Bouillon had acquainted the King with the simony she had committed,
+and assuredly if he had not been ignorant of this he would never have
+supported her in the affair. She hastened therefore to secure the
+success of her son, and was so well served by the whispered authority of
+the King, and the money she had spent, that the Abbe de Soubise was
+elected by unanimity Coadjutor of Strasbourg.
+
+As for the Cardinal de Bouillon, foiled in all his attempts to prevent
+the election, he wrote a second letter to the King, more foolish than the
+first. This filled the cup to overflowing. For reply, he received
+orders, by a courier, to quit Rome immediately and to retire to Cluni or
+to Tournus, at his choice, until further orders. This order appeared so
+cruel to him that he could not make up his mind to obey. He was
+underdoyen of the sacred college. Cibo, the doyen, was no longer able to
+leave his bed. To become doyen, it was necessary to be in Rome when the
+appointment became vacant. Cardinal de Bouillon wrote therefore to the
+King, begging to be allowed to stay a short time, in order to pray the
+Pope to set aside this rule, and give him permission to succeed to the
+doyenship, even although absent from Rome when it became vacant. He knew
+he should not obtain this permission, but he asked for it in order to
+gain time, hoping that in the meanwhile Cardinal Cibo might die, or even
+the Pope himself, whose health had been threatened with ruin for some
+time. This request of the Cardinal de Bouillon was refused. There
+seemed nothing for him but to comply with the orders he had received.
+But he had evaded them so long that he thought he might continue to do
+so. He wrote to Pere la Chaise, begging him to ask the King for
+permission to remain at Rome until the death of Cardinal Cibo, adding
+that he would wait for a reply at Caprarole, a magnificent house of the
+Duke of Parma, at eight leagues from Rome. He addressed himself to Pere
+la Chaise, because M. de Torcy, to whom he had previously written, had
+been forbidden to open his letters, and had sent him word to that effect.
+Having, too, been always on the best of terms with the Jesuits, he hoped
+for good assistance from Pere la Chaise. But he found this door closed
+like that of M. de Torcy. Pere la Chaise wrote to Cardinal de Bouillon
+that he too was prohibited from opening his letters. At the same time a
+new order was sent to the Cardinal to set out immediately. Just after he
+had read it Cardinal Cibo died, and the Cardinal de Bouillon hastened at
+once to Rome to secure the doyenship, writing to the King to say that he
+had done so, that he would depart in twenty-four hours, and expressing a
+hope that this delay would not be refused him. This was laughing at the
+King and his orders, and becoming doyen in spite of him. The King,
+therefore, displayed his anger immediately he learnt this last act of
+disobedience. He sent word immediately to M. de Monaco to command the
+Cardinal de Bouillon to surrender his charge of grand chaplain, to give
+up his cordon bleu, and to take down the arms of France from the door of
+his palace; M. de Monaco was also ordered to prohibit all French people
+in Rome from seeing Cardinal de Bouillon, or from having any
+communication with him. M. de Monaco, who hated the Cardinal, hastened
+willingly to obey these instructions. The Cardinal appeared overwhelmed,
+but he did not even then give in. He pretended that his charge of grand
+chaplain was a crown office, of which he could not be dispossessed,
+without resigning. The King, out of all patience with a disobedience so
+stubborn and so marked, ordered, by a decree in council, on the 12th
+September, the seizure of all the Cardinal's estates, laical and
+ecclesiastical, the latter to be confiscated to the state, the former to
+be divided into three portions, and applied to various uses. The same
+day the charge of grand chaplain was given to Cardinal Coislin, and that
+of chief chaplain to the Bishop of Metz. The despair of the Cardinal
+de Bouillon, on hearing of this decree, was extreme. Pride had hitherto
+hindered him from believing that matters would be pushed so far against
+him. He sent in his resignation only when it was no longer needed of
+him. His order he would not give up. M. de Monaco warned him that,
+in case of refusal, he had orders to snatch it from his neck. Upon this
+the Cardinal saw the folly of holding out against the orders of the King.
+He quitted then the marks of the order, but he was pitiful enough to wear
+a narrow blue ribbon, with a cross of gold attached, under his cassock,
+and tried from time to time to show a little of the blue. A short time
+afterwards, to make the best of a bad bargain, he tried to persuade
+himself and others, that no cardinal was at liberty to wear the orders of
+any prince. But it was rather late in the day to think of this, after
+having worn the order of the King for thirty years, as grand chaplain;
+and everybody thought so, and laughed at the idea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Chateauneuf, Secretary of State, died about this time. He had asked that
+his son, La Vrilliere, might be allowed to succeed him, and was much
+vexed that the King refused this favour. The news of Chateauneuf's death
+was brought to La Vrilliere by a courier, at five o'clock in the morning.
+He did not lose his wits at the news, but at once sent and woke up the
+Princesse d'Harcourt, and begged her to come and see him instantly.
+Opening his purse, he prayed her to go and see Madame de Maintenon as
+soon as she got up, and propose his marriage with Mademoiselle de Mailly,
+whom he would take without dowry, if the King gave him his father's
+appointments. The Princesse d'Harcourt, whose habit it was to accept any
+sum, from a crown upwards, willingly undertook this strange business.
+She went upon her errand immediately, and then repaired to Madame de
+Mailly, who without property, and burdened with a troop of children--sons
+and daughters, was in no way averse to the marriage.
+
+The King, upon getting up, was duly made acquainted with La Vrilliere's
+proposal, and at once agreed to it. There was only one person opposed to
+the marriage, and that was Mademoiselle de Mailly. She was not quite
+twelve years of age. She burst out a-crying, and declared she was very
+unhappy, that she would not mind marrying a poor man, if necessary,
+provided he was a gentleman, but that to marry a paltry bourgeois, in
+order to make his fortune, was odious to her. She was furious against
+her mother and against Madame de Maintenon. She could not be kept quiet
+or appeased, or hindered from making grimaces at La Vrilliere and all his
+family, who came to see her and her mother.
+
+They felt it; but the bargain was made, and was too good to be broken.
+They thought Mademoiselle de Mailly's annoyance would pass with her
+youth--but they were mistaken. Mademoiselle de Mailly always was sore at
+having been made Madame de la Vrilliere, and people often observed it.
+
+At the marriage of Monseigneur the Duc de Bourgogne, the King had offered
+to augment considerably his monthly income. The young Prince, who found
+it sufficient, replied with thanks, and said that if money failed him at
+any time he would take the liberty, of asking the King for more. Finding
+himself short just now, he was as good as his word. The King praised him
+highly, and told him to ask whenever he wanted money, not through a third
+person, but direct, as he had done in this instance. The King, moreover,
+told the Duc de Bourgogne to play without fear, for it was of no
+consequence how much such persons as he might lose. The King was pleased
+with confidence, but liked not less to see himself feared; and when timid
+people who spoke to him discovered themselves, and grew embarrassed in
+their discourse, nothing better made their court, or advanced their
+interests.
+
+The Archbishop of Rheims presided this year over the assembly of the
+clergy, which was held every five years. It took place on this occasion
+at Saint Germains, although the King of England occupied the chateau. M.
+de Rheims kept open table there, and had some champagne that was much
+vaunted. The King of England, who drank scarcely any other wine, heard
+of this and asked for some. The Archbishop sent him six bottles. Some
+time after, the King of England, who had much relished the wine, sent and
+asked for more. The Archbishop, more sparing of his wine than of his
+money, bluntly sent word that his wine was not mad, and did not run
+through the streets; and sent none. However accustomed people might be
+to the rudeness of the Archbishop, this appeared so strange that it was
+much spoken of: but that was all.
+
+M. de Vendome took another public leave of the King, the Princes, and the
+Princesses, in order to place himself again under the doctor's hands.
+He perceived at last that he was not cured, and that it would be long
+before he was; so went to Anet to try and recover his health, but without
+success better than before. He brought back a face upon which his state
+was still more plainly printed than at first. Madame d'Uzes, only
+daughter of the Prince de Monaco, died of this disease. She was a woman
+of merit--very virtuous and unhappy--who merited a better fate.
+M. d'Uzes was an obscure man, who frequented the lowest society, and
+suffered less from its effects than his wife, who was much pitied and
+regretted. Her children perished of the same disease, and she left none
+behind her.--[Syphilis. D.W.]
+
+Soon after this the King ordered the Comtes d'Uzes and d'Albert to go to
+the Conciergerie for having fought a duel against the Comtes de Rontzau,
+a Dane, and Schwartzenberg, an Austrian. Uzes gave himself up, but the
+Comte d'Albert did not do so for a long Time, and was broken for his
+disobedience. He had been on more than good terms with Madame de
+Luxembourg--the Comte de Rontzau also: hence the quarrel; the cause of
+which was known by everybody, and made a great stir. Everybody knew it,
+at least, except M. de Luxembourg, and said nothing, but was glad of it;
+and yet in every direction he asked the reason; but, as may be imagined,
+could find nobody to tell him, so that he went over and over again to M.
+le Prince de Conti, his most intimate friend, praying him for information
+upon the subject. M. de Conti related to me that on one occasion, coming
+from Meudon, he was so solicited by M. de Luxembourg on this account,
+that he was completely embarrassed, and never suffered to such an extent
+in all his life. He contrived to put off M. de Luxembourg, and said
+nothing, but was glad indeed to get away from him at the end of the
+journey.
+
+Le Notre died about this time, after having been eighty-eight years in
+perfect health, and with all his faculties and good taste to the very
+last. He was illustrious, as having been the first designer of those
+beautiful gardens which adorn France, and which, indeed, have so
+surpassed the gardens of Italy, that the most famous masters of that
+country come here to admire and learn. Le Notre had a probity, an
+exactitude, and an uprightness which made him esteemed and loved by
+everybody. He never forgot his position, and was always perfectly
+disinterested. He worked for private people as for the King, and with
+the same application--seeking only to aid nature, and to attain the
+beautiful by the shortest road. He was of a charming simplicity and
+truthfulness. The Pope, upon one occasion, begged the King to lend him
+Le Notre for some months. On entering the Pope's chamber, instead of
+going down upon his knees, Le Notre ran to the Holy Father, clasped him
+round the neck, kissed him on the two cheeks, and said--"Good morning,
+Reverend Father; how well you look, and how glad I am to see you in such
+good health."
+
+The Pope, who was Clement X., Altieri, burst out laughing with all his
+might. He was delighted with this odd salutation, and showed his
+friendship towards the gardener in a thousand ways. Upon Le Notre's
+return, the King led him into the gardens of Versailles, and showed him
+what had been done in his absence. About the Colonnade he said nothing.
+The King pressed him to give his opinion thereupon.
+
+"Why, sire," said Le Notre, "what can I say? Of a mason you have made a
+gardener, and he has given you a sample of his trade."
+
+The King kept silence and everybody laughed; and it was true that this
+morsel of architecture, which was anything but a fountain, and yet which
+was intended to be one, was much out of place in a garden. A month
+before Le Notre's death, the King, who liked to see him and to make him
+talk, led him into the gardens, and on account of his great age, placed
+him in a wheeled chair, by the side of his own. Upon this Le Notre said,
+"Ah, my poor father, if you were living and could see a simple gardener
+like me, your son, wheeled along in a chair by the side of the greatest
+King in the world, nothing would be wanting to my joy!"
+
+Le Notre was Overseer of the Public Buildings, and lodged at the
+Tuileries, the garden of which (his design), together with the Palace,
+being under his charge. All that he did is still much superior to
+everything that has been done since, whatever care may have been taken to
+imitate and follow him as closely as possible. He used to say of flower-
+beds that they were only good for nurses, who, not being able to quit the
+children, walked on them with their eyes, and admired them from the
+second floor. He excelled, nevertheless, in flowerbeds, as in everything
+concerning gardens; but he made little account of them, and he was right,
+for they are the spots upon which people never walk.
+
+The King of England (William III.) lost the Duke of Gloucester, heir-
+presumptive to the crown. He was eleven years of age, and was the only
+son of the Princess of Denmark, sister of the defunct Queen Mary, wife of
+William. His preceptor was Doctor Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, who was
+in the secret of the invasion, and who passed into England with the
+Prince of Orange at the Revolution, of which Revolution he has left a
+very fraudulent history, and many other works of as little truth and good
+faith. The underpreceptor was the famous Vassor, author of the "History
+of Louis XIII.," which would be read with more pleasure if there were
+less spite against the Catholic religion, and less passion against the
+King. With those exceptions it is excellent and true. Vassor must have
+been singularly well informed of the anecdotes that he relates, and which
+escape almost all historians. I have found there, for instance, the Day
+of the Dupes related precisely as my father has related it to me, and
+several other curious things not less exact. This author has made such a
+stir that it is worth while to say something about him. He was a priest
+of the Oratory, and in much estimation as a man whose manners were
+without reproach. After a time, however, he was found to have disclosed
+a secret that had been entrusted to him, and to have acted the spy on
+behalf of the Jesuits. The proofs of his treason were found upon his
+table, and were so conclusive that there was nothing for him but to leave
+the Oratory. He did so, and being deserted by his Jesuit employers,
+threw himself into La Trappe. But he did not enter the place in a proper
+spirit, and in a few days withdrew. After this he went to the Abbey of
+Perseigne, hired a lodging there, and remained several months. But he
+was continually at loggerheads with the monks. Their garden was separate
+from his only by a thick hedge; their fowls could jump over it. He laid
+the blame upon the monks, and one day caught as many of their fowls as he
+could; cut off their beaks and their spurs with a cleaver, and threw them
+back again over the hedge. This was cruelty so marked that I could not
+refrain from relating it.
+
+Vassor did not long remain in this retreat, but returned to Paris, and
+still being unable to gain a living, passed into Holland, from rage and
+hunger became a Protestant, and set himself to work to live by his pen.
+His knowledge, talent, and intelligence procured him many friends, and
+his reputation reached England, into which country he passed, hoping to
+gain there more fortune than in Holland. Burnet received him with open
+arms, and obtained for him the post of under-preceptor to the Duke of
+Gloucester. It would have been difficult to have found two instructors
+so opposed to the Catholics and to France, or so well suited to the King
+as teachers of his successor.
+
+Among so many things which paved the way for the greatest events, a very
+strange one happened, which from its singularity merits a short recital.
+For many years the Comtesse de Verrue lived at Turin, mistress, publicly,
+of M. de Savoie. The Comtesse de Verrue was daughter of the Duc de
+Luynes, and had been married in Piedmont, when she was only fourteen
+years of age, to the Comte de Verrue, young, handsome, rich, and honest;
+whose mother was lady of honour to Madame de Savoie.
+
+M. de Savoie often met the Comtesse de Verrue, and soon found her much to
+his taste. She saw this, and said so to her husband and her mother-in-
+law. They praised her, but took no further notice of the matter. M. de
+Savoie redoubled his attentions, and, contrary to his usual custom, gave
+fetes, which the Comtesse de Verrue felt were for her. She did all she
+could not to attend them, but her mother-in-law quarrelled with her, said
+she wished to play the important, and that it was her vanity which gave
+her these ideas. Her husband, more gentle, desired her to attend these
+fetes, saying that even if M. de Savoie were really in love with her, it
+would not do to fail in anything towards him. Soon after M. de Savoie
+spoke to the Comtesse de Verrue. She told her husband and her mother-in-
+law, and used every entreaty in order to prevail upon them to let her go
+and pass some time in the country. They would not listen to her, and
+seeing no other course open, she feigned to be ill, and had herself sent
+to the waters of Bourbon. She wrote to her father, the Duc de Luynes, to
+meet her there, and set out under the charge of the Abbe de Verrue; uncle
+of her husband. As soon as the Duc de Luynes arrived at Bourbon, and
+became acquainted with the danger which threatened his daughter; he
+conferred with the Abbe as to the best course to adopt, and agreed with
+him that the Countess should remain away from Turin some time, in order
+that M. de Savoie might get cured of his passion. M. de Luynes little
+thought that he had conferred with a wolf who wished to carry off his
+lamb. The Abbe de Verrue, it seems, was himself violently in love with
+the Countess, and directly her father had gone declared the state of his
+heart. Finding himself only repulsed, the miserable old man turned his
+love into hate; ill-treated the Countess, and upon her return to Turin,
+lost no opportunity of injuring her in the eyes of her husband and her
+mother-in-law.
+
+The Comtesse de Verrue suffered this for some time, but at last her
+virtue yielded to the bad treatment she received. She listened to M. de
+Savoie, and delivered herself up to him in order to free herself from
+persecution. Is not this a real romance? But it happened in our own
+time, under the eyes and to the knowledge of everybody.
+
+When the truth became known, the Verrues were in despair, although they
+had only themselves to blame for what had happened. Soon the new
+mistress ruled all the Court of Savoy, whose sovereign was at her feet as
+before a goddess. She disposed of the favours of her lover, and was
+feared and courted by the ministry. Her haughtiness made her hated; she
+was poisoned; M. de Savoie gave her a subtle antidote, which fortunately
+cured her, and without injury to her beauty. Her reign still lasted.
+After a while she had the small-pox. M. de Savoie tended her during this
+illness, as though he had been a nurse; and although her face suffered a
+little by it, he loved her not the less. But he loved her after his own
+fashion. He kept her shut up from view, and at last she grew so tired of
+her restraint that she determined to fly. She conferred with her
+brother, the Chevalier de Luynes, who served with much distinction in the
+navy, and together they arranged the matter.
+
+They seized an opportunity when M. de Savoie had gone on a tour to
+Chambery, and departed furtively. Crossing our frontier, they arrived m
+Paris, where the Comtesse de Verrue, who had grown very rich, took a
+house, and by degrees succeeded in getting people to come and see her,
+though, at first, owing to the scandal of her life, this was difficult.
+In the end, her opulence gained her a large number of friends, and she
+availed herself so well of her opportunities, that she became of much
+importance, and influenced strongly the government. But that time goes
+beyond my memoirs. She left in Turin a son and a daughter, both
+recognised by M. de Savoie, after the manner of our King. He loved
+passionately these, illegitimate children, and married the daughter to
+the Prince de Carignan.
+
+Mademoiselle de Conde died at Paris on October 24th, after a long
+illness, from a disease in the chest, which consumed her less than the
+torments she experienced without end from M. le Prince, her father, whose
+continual caprices were the plague of all those over whom he could
+exercise them. Almost all the children of M. le Prince were little
+bigger than dwarfs, which caused M. le Prince, who was tall, to say in
+pleasantry, that if his race went on always thus diminishing it would
+come to nothing. People attributed the cause to a dwarf that Madame la
+Princesse had had for a long time near her.
+
+At the funeral of Mademoiselle de Conde, a very indecorous incident
+happened. My mother, who was invited to take part in the ceremony, went
+to the Hotel de Conde, in a coach and six horses, to join Mademoiselle
+d'Enghien. When the procession was about to start the Duchesse de
+Chatillon tried to take precedence of my mother. But my mother called
+upon Mademoiselle d'Enghien to prevent this, or else to allow her to
+return. Madame de Chatillon persisted in her attempt, saying that
+relationship decided the question of precedence on these occasions, and
+that she was a nearer relative to the deceased than my mother. My
+mother, in a cold but haughty tone, replied that she could pardon this
+mistake on account of the youth and ignorance of Madame de Chatillon; but
+that in all such cases it was rank and not relationship which decided the
+point. The dispute was at last put to an end by Madame de Chatillon
+giving way. But when the procession started an attempt was made by her
+coachman to drive before the coach of my mother, and one of the company
+had to descend and decide the dispute. On the morrow M. le Prince sent
+to apologise to my mother for the occurrence that had taken place, and
+came himself shortly afterwards full of compliments and excuses. I never
+could understand what induced Madame de Chatillon to take this fancy into
+her head; but she was much ashamed of it afterwards, and made many
+excuses to my mother.
+
+I experienced, shortly after this, at Fontainebleau, one of the greatest
+afflictions I had ever endured. I mean the loss of M. de La Trappe,
+These Memoirs are too profane to treat slightly of a life so sublimely
+holy, and of a death so glorious and precious before God. I will content
+myself with saying here that praises of M. de La Trappe were so much the
+more great and prolonged because the King eulogised him in public; that
+he wished to see narrations of his death; and that he spoke more than
+once of it to his grandsons by way of instruction. In every part of
+Europe this great loss was severely felt. The Church wept for him, and
+the world even rendered him justice. His death, so happy for him and so
+sad for his friends, happened on the 26th of October, towards half-past
+twelve, in the arms of his bishop, and in presence of his community, at
+the age of nearly seventy-seven years, and after nearly forty years of
+the most prodigious penance. I cannot omit, however, the most touching
+and the most honourable mark of his friendship. Lying upon the ground,
+on straw and ashes, in order to die like all the brethren of La Trappe,
+he deigned, of his own accord, to recollect me, and charged the Abbe La
+Trappe to send word to me, on his part, that as he was quite sure of my
+affection for him, he reckoned that I should not doubt of his tenderness
+for me. I check myself at this point; everything I could add would be
+too much out of place here.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+For the last two or three years the King of Spain had been in very weak
+health, and in danger of his life several times. He had no children, and
+no hope of having any. The question, therefore, of the succession to his
+vast empire began now to agitate every European Court. The King of
+England (William III.), who since his usurpation had much augmented his
+credit by the grand alliance he had formed against France, and of which
+he had been the soul and the chief up to the Peace of Ryswick, undertook
+to arrange this question in a manner that should prevent war when the
+King of Spain died. His plan was to give Spain, the Indies, the Low
+Countries, and the title of King of Spain to the Archduke, second son of
+the Emperor; Guipuscoa, Naples, Sicily, and Lorraine to France; and the
+Milanese to M. de Lorraine, as compensation for taking away from him his
+territory.
+
+The King of England made this proposition first of all to our King; who,
+tired of war, and anxious for repose, as was natural at his age, made few
+difficulties, and soon accepted. M. de Lorraine was not in a position to
+refuse his consent to a change recommended by England, France, and
+Holland. Thus much being settled, the Emperor was next applied to. But
+he was not so easy to persuade: he wished to inherit the entire
+succession, and would not brook the idea of seeing the House of Austria
+driven from Italy, as it would have been if the King of England's
+proposal had been carried out. He therefore declared it was altogether
+unheard of and unnatural to divide a succession under such circumstances,
+and that he would hear nothing upon the subject until after the death of
+the King of Spain. The resistance he made caused the whole scheme to
+come to the ears of the King of Spain, instead of remaining a secret, as
+was intended.
+
+The King of Spain made a great stir in consequence of what had taken
+place, as though the project had been formed to strip him, during his
+lifetime, of his realm. His ambassador in England spoke so insolently
+that he was ordered to leave the country by William, and retired to
+Flanders. The Emperor, who did not wish to quarrel with England,
+intervened at this point, and brought about a reconciliation between the
+two powers. The Spanish ambassador returned to London.
+
+The Emperor next endeavoured to strengthen his party in Spain. The
+reigning Queen was his sister-in-law and was all-powerful. Such of the
+nobility and of the ministers who would not bend before her she caused to
+be dismissed; and none were favoured by her who were not partisans of the
+House of Austria. The Emperor had, therefore, a powerful ally at the
+Court of Madrid to aid him in carrying out his plans; and the King was so
+much in his favour, that he had made a will bequeathing his succession to
+the Archduke. Everything therefore seemed to promise success to the
+Emperor.
+
+But just at this time, a small party arose in Spain, equally opposed to
+the Emperor, and to the propositions of the King of England. This party
+consisted at first of only five persons: namely, Villafranca, Medina-
+Sidonia, Villagarcias, Villena, and San Estevan, all of them nobles, and
+well instructed in the affairs of government. Their wish was to prevent
+the dismemberment of the Spanish kingdom by conferring the whole
+succession upon the son of the only son of the Queen of France, Maria
+Theresa, sister of the King of Spain. There were, however, two great
+obstacles in their path. Maria Theresa, upon her marriage with our King,
+had solemnly renounced all claim to the Spanish throne, and these
+renunciations had been repeated at the Peace of the Pyrenees. The other
+obstacle was the affection the King of Spain bore to the House of
+Austria,--an affection which naturally would render him opposed to any
+project by which a rival house would be aggrandised at its expense.
+
+As to the first obstacle, these politicians were of opinion that the
+renunciations made by Maria Theresa held good only as far as they applied
+to the object for which they were made. That object was to prevent the
+crowns of France and Spain from being united upon one head, as might have
+happened in the person of the Dauphin. But now that the Dauphin had
+three sons, the second of whom could be called to the throne of Spain,
+the renunciations of the Queen became of no import. As to the second
+obstacle, it was only to be removed by great perseverance and exertions;
+but they determined to leave no stone unturned to achieve their ends.
+
+One of the first resolutions of this little party was to bind one another
+to secrecy. Their next was to admit into their confidence Cardinal
+Portocarrero, a determined enemy to the Queen. Then they commenced an
+attack upon the Queen in the council; and being supported by the popular
+voice, succeeded in driving out of the country Madame Berlips, a German
+favourite of hers, who was much hated on account of the undue influence
+she exerted, and the rapacity she displayed. The next measure was of
+equal importance. Madrid and its environs groaned under the weight of
+a regiment of Germans commanded by the Prince of Darmstadt. The council
+decreed that this regiment should be disbanded, and the Prince thanked
+for his assistance. These two blows following upon each other so
+closely, frightened the Queen, isolated her, and put it out of her power
+to act during the rest of the life of the King.
+
+There was yet one of the preliminary steps to take, without which it was
+thought that success would not be certain. This was to dismiss the
+King's Confessor, who had been given to him by the Queen, and who was a
+zealous Austrian.
+
+Cardinal Portocarrero was charged with this duty, and he succeeded so
+well, that two birds were killed with one stone. The Confessor was
+dismissed, and another was put in his place, who could be relied upon to
+do and say exactly as he was requested. Thus, the King of Spain was
+influenced in his conscience, which had over him so much the more power,
+because he was beginning to look upon the things of this world by the
+glare of that terrible flambeau that is lighted for the dying. The
+Confessor and the Cardinal, after a short time, began unceasingly to
+attack the King upon the subject of the succession. The King, enfeebled
+by illness, and by a lifetime of weak health, had little power of
+resistance. Pressed by the many temporal, and affrighted by the many
+spiritual reasons which were brought forward by the two ecclesiastics,
+with no friend near whose opinion he could consult, no Austrian at hand
+to confer with, and no Spaniard who was not opposed to Austria;--the King
+fell into a profound perplexity, and in this strait, proposed to consult
+the Pope, as an authority whose decision would be infallible. The
+Cardinal, who felt persuaded that the Pope was sufficiently enlightened
+and sufficiently impartial to declare in favour of France, assented to
+this step; and the King of Spain accordingly wrote a long letter to Rome,
+feeling much relieved by the course he had adopted.
+
+The Pope replied at once and in the most decided manner. He said he saw
+clearly that the children of the Dauphin were the next heirs to the
+Spanish throne, and that the House of Austria had not the smallest right
+to it. He recommended therefore the King of Spain to render justice to
+whom justice was due, and to assign the succession of his monarchy to a
+son of France. This reply, and the letter which had given rise to it,
+were kept so profoundly secret that they were not known in Spain until
+after the King's death.
+
+Directly the Pope's answer had been received the King was pressed to make
+a fresh will, and to destroy that which he had previously made in favour
+of the Archduke. The new will accordingly was at once drawn up and
+signed; and the old one burned in the presence, of several witnesses.
+Matters having arrived at this point, it was thought opportune to admit
+others to the knowledge of what had taken place. The council of state,
+consisting of eight members, four of whom were already in the secret, was
+made acquainted with the movements of the new party; and, after a little
+hesitation, were gained over.
+
+The King, meantime, was drawing near to his end. A few days after he had
+signed the new will he was at the last extremity, and in a few days more
+he died. In his last moments the Queen had been kept from him as much as
+possible, and was unable in any way to interfere with the plans that had
+been so deeply laid. As soon as the King was dead the first thing to be
+done was to open his will. The council of state assembled for that
+purpose, and all the grandees of Spain who were in the capital took part
+in it, The singularity and the importance of such an event, interesting
+many millions of men, drew all Madrid to the palace, and the rooms
+adjoining that in which the council assembled were filled to suffocation.
+All the foreign ministers besieged the door. Every one sought to be the
+first to know the choice of the King who had just died, in order to be
+the first to inform his court. Blecourt, our ambassador, was there with
+the others, without knowing more than they; and Count d'Harrach,
+ambassador from the Emperor, who counted upon the will in favour of the
+Archduke, was there also, with a triumphant look, just opposite the door,
+and close by it.
+
+At last the door opened, and immediately closed again. The Duc
+d'Abrantes, a man of much wit and humour, but not to be trifled with,
+came out. He wished to have the pleasure of announcing upon whom the
+successorship had fallen, and was surrounded as soon as he appeared.
+Keeping silence, and turning his eyes on all sides, he fixed them for a
+moment on Blecourt, then looked in another direction, as if seeking some
+one else. Blecourt interpreted this action as a bad omen. The Duc
+d'Abrantes feigning at last to discover the Count d'Harrach, assumed a
+gratified look, flew to him, embraced him, and said aloud in Spanish,
+"Sir, it is with much pleasure;" then pausing, as though to embrace him
+better, he added: "Yes, sir, it is with an extreme joy that for all my
+life," here the embraces were redoubled as an excuse for a second pause,
+after which he went on--"and with the greatest contentment that I part
+from you, and take leave of the very august House of Austria." So saying
+he clove the crowd, and every one ran after him to know the name of the
+real heir.
+
+The astonishment and indignation of Count d'Harrach disabled him from
+speaking, but showed themselves upon his face in all their extent. He
+remained motionless some moments, and then went away in the greatest
+confusion at the manner in which he had been duped.
+
+Blecourt, on the other hand, ran home without asking other information,
+and at once despatched to the King a courier, who fell ill at Bayonne,
+and was replaced by one named by Harcourt, then at Bayonne getting ready
+for the occupation of Guipuscoa. The news arrived at Court
+(Fontainebleau) in the month of November. The King was going out
+shooting that day; but, upon learning what had taken place, at once
+countermanded the sport, announced the death of the King of Spain, and at
+three o'clock held a council of the ministers in the apartments of Madame
+de Maintenon. This council lasted until past seven o'clock in the
+evening. Monseigneur, who had been out wolf-hunting, returned in time to
+attend it. On the next morning, Wednesday, another council was held, and
+in the evening a third, in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon.
+However accustomed persons were at the Court to the favour Madame de
+Maintenon enjoyed there, they were extremely surprised to see two
+councils assembled in her rooms for the greatest and most important
+deliberation that had taken place during this long reign, or indeed
+during many others.
+
+The King, Monseigneur, the Chancellor, the Duc de Brinvilliers, Torcy,
+and Madame de Maintenon, were the only persons who deliberated upon this
+affair. Madame de Maintenon preserved at first a modest silence; but the
+King forced her to give her opinion after everybody had spoken except
+herself. The council was divided. Two were for keeping to the treaty
+that had been signed with King William, two for accepting the will.
+Monseigneur, drowned as he was in fat and sloth, appeared in quite
+another character from his usual ones at these councils. To the great
+surprise of the King and his assistants, when it was his turn to speak he
+expressed himself with force in favour of accepting the testament. Then,
+turning towards the King in a respectful but firm manner, he said that he
+took the liberty of asking for his inheritance, that the monarchy of
+Spain belonged to the Queen his mother, and consequently to him; that he
+surrendered it willingly to his second son for the tranquillity of
+Europe; but that to none other would he yield an inch of ground. These
+words, spoken with an inflamed countenance, caused excessive surprise,
+The King listened very attentively, and then said to Madame de Maintenon,
+"And you, Madame, what do you think upon all this?" She began by
+affecting modesty; but pressed, and even commanded to speak, she
+expressed herself with becoming confusion; briefly sang the praises of
+Monseigneur, whom she feared and liked but little--sentiments perfectly
+reciprocated--and at last was for accepting the will.
+
+
+[Illustration: Madame Maintenon In Conferance--Painted by Sir John
+Gilbert--front1]
+
+
+The King did not yet declare himself. He said that the affair might well
+be allowed to sleep for four-and-twenty hours, in order that they might
+ascertain if the Spaniards approved the choice of their King. He
+dismissed the council, but ordered it to meet again the next evening at
+the same hour and place. Next day, several couriers arrived from Spain,
+and the news they brought left no doubt upon the King's mind as to the
+wishes of the Spanish nobles and people upon the subject of the will.
+When therefore the council reassembled in the apartments of Madame de
+Maintenon, the King, after fully discussing the matter, resolved to
+accept the will.
+
+At the first receipt of the news the King and his ministers had been
+overwhelmed with a surprise that they could not recover from for several
+days. When the news was spread abroad, the Court was equally surprised.
+The foreign ministers passed whole nights deliberating upon the course
+the King would adopt. Nothing else was spoken of but this matter. The
+King one evening, to divert himself, asked the princesses their opinion.
+They replied that he should send M. le Duc d'Anjou (the second son of
+Monseigneur), into Spain, and that this was the general sentiment.
+"I am sure," replied the King, "that whatever course I adopt many people
+will condemn me."
+
+At last, on Tuesday, the 16th of November, the King publicly declared
+himself. The Spanish ambassador had received intelligence which proved
+the eagerness of Spain to welcome the Duc d'Anjou as its King. There
+seemed to be no doubt of the matter. The King, immediately after getting
+up, called the ambassador into his cabinet, where M. le Duc d'Anjou had
+already arrived. Then, pointing to the Duke, he told the ambassador he
+might salute him as King of Spain. The ambassador threw himself upon his
+knees after the fashion of his country, and addressed to the Duke a
+tolerably long compliment in the Spanish language. Immediately
+afterwards, the King, contrary to all custom, opened the two folding
+doors of his cabinet, and commanded everybody to enter. It was a very
+full Court that day. The King, majestically turning his eyes towards the
+numerous company, and showing them M. le Duc d'Anjou said--"Gentlemen,
+behold the King of Spain. His birth called him to that crown: the late
+King also has called him to it by his will; the whole nation wished for
+him, and has asked me for him eagerly; it is the will of heaven: I have
+obeyed it with pleasure." And then, turning towards his grandson, he
+said, "Be a good Spaniard, that is your first duty; but remember that you
+are a Frenchman born, in order that the union between the two nations may
+be preserved; it will be the means of rendering both happy, and of
+preserving the peace of Europe." Pointing afterwards with his finger to
+the Duc d'Anjou, to indicate him to the ambassador, the King added, "If
+he follows my counsels you will be a grandee, and soon; he cannot do
+better than follow your advice."
+
+When the hubbub of the courtiers had subsided, the two other sons of
+France, brothers of M. d'Anjou, arrived, and all three embraced one
+another tenderly several times, with tears in their eyes. The ambassador
+of the Emperor immediately entered, little suspecting what had taken
+place, and was confounded when he learned the news. The King afterwards
+went to mass, during which at his right hand was the new King of Spain,
+who during the rest of his stay in France, was publicly treated in every
+respect as a sovereign, by the King and all the Court.
+
+The joy of Monseigneur at all this was very great. He seemed beside
+himself, and continually repeated that no man had ever found himself in a
+condition to say as he could, "The King my father, and the King my son."
+If he had known the prophecy which from his birth had been said of him,
+"A King's son, a King's father, and never a King," which everybody had
+heard repeated a thousand times, I think he would not have so much
+rejoiced, however vain may be such prophecies. The King himself was so
+overcome, that at supper he turned to the Spanish ambassador and said
+that the whole affair seemed to him like a dream. In public, as I have
+observed, the new King of Spain was treated in every respect as a
+sovereign, but in private he was still the Duc d'Anjou. He passed his
+evenings in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, where he played at all
+sorts of children's games, scampering to and fro with Messeigneurs his
+brothers, with Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and with the few ladies
+to whom access was permitted.
+
+On Friday, the 19th of November, the new King of Spain put on mourning.
+Two days after, the King did the same. On Monday, the 22nd, letters were
+received from the Elector of Bavaria, stating that the King of Spain had
+been proclaimed at Brussels with much rejoicing and illuminations. On
+Sunday, the 28th, M. Vaudemont, governor of the Milanese, sent word that
+he had been proclaimed in that territory, and with the same
+demonstrations of joy as at Brussels.
+
+On Saturday, the 4th of December, the King of Spain set out for his
+dominions. The King rode with him in his coach as far as Sceaux,
+surrounded in pomp by many more guards than usual, gendarmes and light
+horse, all the road covered with coaches and people; and Sceaux, where
+they arrived a little after midday, full of ladies and courtiers, guarded
+by two companies of Musketeers. There was a good deal of leave-taking,
+and all the family was collected alone in the last room of the apartment;
+but as the doors were left open, the tears they shed so bitterly could be
+seen. In presenting the King of Spain to the Princes of the blood, the
+King said--"Behold the Princes of my blood and of yours; the two nations
+from this time ought to regard themselves as one nation; they ought to
+have the same interests; therefore I wish these Princes to be attached to
+you as to me; you cannot have friends more faithful or more certain."
+All this lasted a good hour and a half. But the time of separation at
+last came. The King conducted the King of Spain to the end of the
+apartment, and embraced him several times, holding him a long while in.
+his arms. Monseigneur did the same. The spectacle was extremely
+touching.
+
+The King returned into the palace for some time, in order to recover
+himself. Monseigneur got into a caleche alone, and went to Meudon; and
+the King of Spain, with his brother, M. de Noailles, and a large number
+of courtiers, set out on his journey. The King gave to his grandson
+twenty-one purses of a thousand louis each, for pocket-money, and much
+money besides for presents. Let us leave them on their journey, and
+admire the Providence which sports with the thoughts of men and disposes
+of states. What would have said Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and
+Philip II., who so many times attempted to conquer France, and who have
+been so frequently accused of aspiring to universal monarchy, and Philip
+IV., even, with all his precautions at the marriage of the King and at
+the Peace of the Pyrenees,--what would they have said, to see a son of
+France become King of Spain, by the will and testament of the last of
+their blood in Spain, and by the universal wish of all the Spaniards--
+without plot, without intrigue, without a shot being fired on our part,
+and without the sanction of our King, nay even to his extreme surprise
+and that of all his ministers, who had only the trouble of making up
+their minds and of accepting? What great and wise reflections might be
+made thereon! But they would be out of place in these Memoirs.
+
+The King of Spain arrived in Madrid on the 19th February. From his first
+entrance into the country he had everywhere been most warmly welcomed.
+Acclamations were uttered when he appeared; fetes and bull-fights were
+given in his honour; the nobles and ladies pressed around him. He had
+been proclaimed in Madrid some time before, in the midst of
+demonstrations of joy. Now that he had arrived among his subjects there,
+that joy burst out anew. There was such a crowd in the streets that
+sixty people were stifled! All along the line of route were an infinity
+of coaches filled with ladies richly decked. The streets through which
+he passed were hung in the Spanish fashion; stands were placed, adorned
+with fine pictures and a vast number of silver vessels; triumphal arches
+were built from side to side. It is impossible to conceive a greater or
+more general demonstration of joy. The Buen-Retiro, where the new King
+took up his quarters, was filled with the Court and the nobility. The
+junta and a number of great men received him at the door, and the
+Cardinal Portocarrero, who was there, threw himself on his knees, and
+wished to kiss the King's hand. But the King would not permit this;
+raised the Cardinal, embraced him, and treated him as his father. The
+Cardinal wept with joy, and could not take his eyes off the King. He was
+just then in the flower of his first youth--fair like the late King
+Charles, and the Queen his grandmother; grave, silent, measured, self-
+contained, formed exactly to live among Spaniards. With all this, very
+attentive in his demeanour, and paying everybody the attention due to
+him, having taken lessons from d'Harcourt on the way. Indeed he took off
+his hat or raised it to nearly everybody, so that the Spaniards spoke on
+the subject to the Duc d'Harcourt, who replied to them that the King in
+all essential things would conform himself to usage, but that in others
+he must be allowed to act according to French politeness. It cannot be
+imagined how much these trifling external attentions attached all hearts
+to this Prince.
+
+He was, indeed, completely triumphant in Spain, and the Austrian party as
+completely routed. The Queen of Spain was sent away from Madrid, and
+banished to Toledo, where she remained with but a small suite, and still
+less consideration. Each day the nobles, the citizens, and the people
+had given fresh proof of their hatred against the Germans and against the
+Queen. She had been almost entirely abandoned, and was refused the most
+ordinary necessaries of her state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Shortly after his arrival in Madrid, the new King of Spain began to look
+about him for a wife, and his marriage with the second daughter of M. de
+Savoie (younger sister of Madame de Bourgogne) was decided upon as an
+alliance of much honour and importance to M. de Savoie, and, by binding
+him to her interest, of much utility to France. An extraordinary
+ambassador (Homodei, brother of the Cardinal of that name) was sent to
+Turin to sign the contract of marriage, and bring back the new Queen into
+Spain. He was also appointed her Ecuyer, and the Princesse des Ursins
+was selected as her 'Camarera Mayor', a very important office. The
+Princesse des Ursins seemed just adapted for it. A Spanish lady could
+not have been relied upon: a lady of our court would not have been fit
+for the post. The Princesse des Ursins was, as it were, both French and
+Spanish--French by birth, Spanish by marriage. She had passed the
+greater part of her life in Rome and Italy, and was a widow without
+children. I shall have more hereafter to say of this celebrated woman,
+who so long and so publicly governed the Court and Crown of Spain, and
+who has made so much stir in the world by her reign and by her fall; at
+present let me finish with the new Queen of Spain.
+
+She was married, then, at Turin, on the 11th of September, with but
+little display, the King being represented by procuration, and set out on
+the 13th for Nice, where she was to embark on board the Spanish galleys
+for Barcelona. The King of Spain, meanwhile, after hearing news that he
+had been proclaimed with much unanimity and rejoicing in Peru and Mexico,
+left Madrid on the 5th of September, to journey through Aragon and
+Catalonia to Barcelona to meet his wife. He was much welcomed on his
+route, above all by Saragossa, which received him magnificently.
+
+The new Queen of Spain, brought by the French galleys to Nice, was so
+fatigued with the sea when she arrived there, that she determined to
+finish the rest of the journey by land, through Provence and Languedoc.
+Her graces, her presence of mind, the aptness and the politeness of her
+short replies, and her judicious curiosity, remarkable at her age,
+surprised everybody, and gave great hopes to the Princesse des Ursins.
+
+When within two days' journey of Barcelona, the Queen was met by a
+messenger, bearing presents and compliments from the King. All her
+household joined her at the same time, being sent on in advance for that
+purpose, and her Piedmontese attendants were dismissed. She appeared
+more affected by this separation than Madame de Bourgogne had been when
+parting from her attendants. She wept bitterly, and seemed quite lost in
+the midst of so many new faces, the most familiar of which (that of
+Madame des Ursins) was quite fresh to her. Upon arriving at Figueras,
+the King, impatient to see her, went on before on horseback. In this
+first embarrassment Madame des Ursins, although completely unknown to the
+King, and but little known to the Queen, was of great service to both.
+
+Upon arriving at Figueras, the bishop diocesan married them anew, with
+little ceremony, and soon after they sat down to supper, waited upon by
+the Princesse des Ursins and the ladies of the palace, half the dishes
+being French, half Spanish. This mixture displeased the ladies of the
+palace and several of the Spanish grandees, who plotted with the ladies
+openly to mark their displeasure; and they did so in a scandalous manner.
+Under one pretext or another--such as the weight or heat of the dishes--
+not one of the French dishes arrived upon the table; all were upset;
+while the Spanish dishes, on the contrary, were served without any
+accident. The affectation and air of chagrin, to say the least of it,
+of the ladies of the palace, were too visible not to be perceived. But
+the King and Queen were wise enough to appear not to notice this; and
+Madame des Ursins, much astonished, said not a word.
+
+After a long and disagreeable supper, the King and Queen withdrew. Then
+feelings which had been kept in during supper overflowed. The Queen wept
+for her Piedmontese women. Like a child, as she was, she thought herself
+lost in the hands of ladies so insolent; and when it was time to go to
+bed, she said flatly that she would not go, and that she wished to return
+home. Everything was done to console her; but the astonishment and
+embarrassment were great indeed when it was found that all was of no
+avail. The King had undressed, and was awaiting her. Madame des Ursins
+was at length obliged to go and tell him the resolution the Queen had
+taken. He was piqued and annoyed. He had until that time lived with the
+completest regularity; which had contributed to make him find the
+Princess more to his taste than he might otherwise have done. He was
+therefore affected by her 'fantaisie', and by the same reason easily
+persuaded that she would not keep to it beyond the first night. They did
+not see each other therefore until the morrow, and after they were
+dressed. It was lucky that by the Spanish custom no one was permitted to
+be present when the newly-married pair went to bed; or this affair, which
+went no further than the young couple, Madame des Ursins, and one or two
+domestics, might have made a very unpleasant noise.
+
+Madame des Ursins consulted with two of the courtiers, as to the best
+measures to be adopted with a child who showed so much force and
+resolution. The night was passed in exhortations and in promises upon
+what had occurred at the supper; and the Queen consented at last to
+remain Queen. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia and Count San Estevan were
+consulted on the morrow. They were of opinion that in his turn the King,
+in order to mortify her and reduce her to terms, should not visit the
+Queen on the following night. This opinion was acted upon. The King and
+Queen did not see each other in private that day. In the evening the
+Queen was very sorry. Her pride and her little vanity were wounded;
+perhaps also she had found the King to her taste.
+
+The ladies and the grand seigneurs who had attended at the supper were
+lectured for what had occurred there. Excuses, promises, demands for
+pardon, followed; all was put right; the third day was tranquil, and the
+third night still more agreeable to the young people. On the fourth day
+they went to Barcelona, where only fetes and pleasures awaited them.
+Soon after they set out for Madrid.
+
+At the commencement of the following year (1702), it was resolved, after
+much debate, at our court, that Philip V. should make a journey to Italy,
+and on Easter-day he set out. He went to Naples, Leghorn, Milan, and
+Alessandria. While at the first-named place a conspiracy which had been
+hatching against his life was discovered, and put down. But other things
+which previously occurred in Italy ought to have been related before. I
+must therefore return to them now.
+
+From the moment that Philip V. ascended the Spanish throne it was seen
+that a war was certain. England maintained for some time an obstinate
+silence, refusing to acknowledge the new King; the Dutch secretly
+murmured against him, and the Emperor openly prepared for battle. Italy,
+it was evident at once, would be the spot on which hostilities would
+commence, and our King lost no time in taking measures to be ready for
+events. By land and by sea every preparation was made for the struggle
+about to take place.
+
+After some time the war, waited for and expected by all Europe, at last
+broke out, by some Imperialist troops firing upon a handful of men near
+Albaredo. One Spaniard was killed, and all the rest of the men were
+taken prisoners. The Imperialists would not give them up until a cartel
+was arranged. The King, upon hearing this, at once despatched the
+general officers to Italy. Our troops were to be commanded by Catinat,
+under M. de Savoie; and the Spanish troops by Vaudemont, who was
+Governor-General of the Milanese, and to whom, and his dislike to our
+King, I have before alluded.
+
+Vaudemont at once began to plot to overthrow Catinat, in conjunction with
+Tesse, who had expected the command, and who was irritated because it had
+not been given to him. They were in communication with Chamillart,
+Minister of War, who aided them, as did other friends at Court, to be
+hereafter named, in carrying out their object. It was all the more easy
+because they had to do with a man who depended for support solely upon
+his own talent, and whose virtue and simplicity raised him above all
+intrigue and scheming; and who, with much ability and intelligence, was
+severe in command, very laconic, disinterested, and of exceeding pure
+life.
+
+Prince Eugene commanded the army of the Emperor in Italy. The first two
+generals under him, in order of rank, were allied with Vaudemont: one, in
+fact, was his only son; the other was the son of a friend of his. The
+least reflection ought to have opened all eyes to the conduct of
+Vaudemont, and to have discerned it to be more than suspicious. Catinat
+soon found it out. He could plan nothing against the enemy that they did
+not learn immediately; and he never attempted any movement without
+finding himself opposed by a force more than double his own; so gross was
+this treachery.
+
+Catinat often complained of this: he sent word of it to the Court, but
+without daring to draw any conclusion from what happened. Nobody
+sustained him at Court, for Vaudemont had everybody in his favour. He
+captured our general officers by his politeness, his magnificence, and,
+above all, by presenting them with abundant supplies. All the useful,
+and the agreeable, came from his side; all the dryness, all the
+exactitude, came from Catinat. It need not be asked which of the two had
+all hearts. In fine, Tesse and Vaudemont carried out their schemes so
+well that Catinat could do nothing.
+
+While these schemes were going on, the Imperialists were enabled to gain
+time, to strengthen themselves, to cross the rivers without obstacle, to,
+approach us; and, acquainted with everything as they were, to attack a
+portion of our army on the 9th July, at Capri, with five regiments of
+cavalry and dragoons. Prince Eugene led this attack without his coming
+being in the least degree suspected, and fell suddenly upon our troops.
+Tesse, who was in the immediate neighbourhood with some dragoons,
+advanced rapidly upon hearing this, but only with a few dragoons. A long
+resistance was made, but at last retreat became necessary. It was
+accomplished in excellent order, and without disturbance from the enemy;
+but our loss was very great, many officers of rank being among the dead.
+
+Such was our first exploit in Italy; all the fault of which was
+attributed to Catinat. Tesse and Vaudemont did everything in their power
+to secure his disgrace. The King, indeed, thus prejudiced against
+Catinat, determined to take from him the command, and appointed the
+Marechal de Villeroy as his successor. The surprise of everybody at this
+was very great, for no one expected that the Marechal de Villeroy would
+repair the fault of Catinat. On the evening of his appointment, this
+general was exposed in a very straightforward and public manner by M. de
+Duras. He did not like the Marechal de Villeroy; and, while everybody
+else was applauding, took the Marechal by the arm, and said, "Monsieur le
+Marechal, everybody is paying you compliments upon your departure to
+Italy, I keep mine until you return;" and then, bursting out laughing, he
+looked round upon the company. Villeroy remained confounded, without
+offering a word. Everybody smiled and looked down. The King took no
+notice.
+
+Catinat, when the command was taken out of his hands by the Marechal de
+Villeroy, made himself admired on every side by the moderation and
+tranquillity with which he conducted himself. If Vaudemont was satisfied
+with the success of his schemes, it was far otherwise with Tesse, who had
+merely intrigued against Catinat for the purpose of obtaining the command
+of the army. He did all in his power to ingratiate himself into the
+favour of the Marechal de Villeroy; but the Marechal received these
+advances very coldly. Tesse's schemes against Catinat were beginning to
+be scented out; he was accused of having wished the Imperialists to
+succeed at Capri, and of indirectly aiding them by keeping back his
+troops; his tirades against Catinat, too, made him suspected. The
+Marechal de Villeroy would have nothing to do with him. His conduct was
+contrasted with that of Catinat, who, free after his fall to retire from
+the army, continued to remain there, with rare modesty, interfering in
+nothing.
+
+The first campaign passed without notable incident, except an
+unsuccessful attack upon Chiari, by our troops on the 1st of September.
+M. de Savoie led the attack; but was so firmly met by Prince Eugene, who
+was in an excellent position for defence, that he could do nothing, and
+in the end was compelled to retire disgracefully. We lost five or six
+colonels and many men, and had a large number wounded. This action much
+astonished our army, and encouraged that of the enemy, who did almost as
+they wished during the rest of the campaign.
+
+Towards the end of this campaign, the grand airs of familiarity which the
+Marechal de Villeroy gave himself with M. de Savoie drew upon him a cruel
+rebuke, not to say an affront. M. de Savoie being in the midst of all
+the generals and of the flower of the army, opened, while talking, his
+snuff-box, and was about to take a pinch of snuff, when M. de Villeroy,
+who was standing near, stretched out his hand and put it into the box
+without saying a word. M. de Savoie flushed up, and instantly threw all
+the snuff upon the ground, gave the box to one of his attendants, and
+told him to fill it again. The Marechal, not knowing what to do with
+himself, swallowed his shame without daring to say a word, M. de Savoie
+continuing the conversation that he had not interrupted, except to ask
+for the fresh snuff.
+
+The campaign passed away, our troops always retreating, the Imperialists
+always gaining ground; they continually increasing in numbers; we
+diminishing little by little every day. The Marechal de Villeroy and
+Prince Eugene each took up his winter quarters and crossed the frontier:
+M. de Savoie returned to Turin, and Catinat went to Paris. The King
+received him well, but spoke of nothing but unimportant matters, and gave
+him no private audience, nor did he ask for one.
+
+Prince Eugene, who was more knowing than the Marechal de Villeroy, had
+obliged him to winter in the midst of the Milanese, and kept him closely
+pressed there, while his own troops enjoyed perfect liberty, by means of
+which they much disturbed ours. In this advantageous situation, Prince
+Eugene conceived the design of surprising the centre of our quarters, and
+by that blow to make himself master of our positions, and afterwards of
+Milan, and other places of the country, all in very bad order; thus
+finishing effectively and suddenly his conquest.
+
+Cremona was our centre, and it was defended by a strong garrison. Prince
+Eugene ascertained that there was at Cremona an ancient aqueduct which
+extended far out into the country, and which started from the town in the
+vault of a house occupied by a priest. He also learnt that this aqueduct
+had been recently cleaned, but that it carried very little water, and
+that in former times the town had been surprised by means of it. He
+caused the entrance of the aqueduct, in the country, to be reconnoitred,
+he gained over the priest in whose vault it ended, and who lived close to
+one of the gates of the city, which was walled up and but little guarded;
+he sent into Cremona as many chosen soldiers as he could, disguised as
+priests or peasants, and these hiding themselves in the house of the
+friendly priest, obtained secretly as many axes as they could. Then the
+Prince despatched five hundred picked men and officers to march by the
+aqueduct to the priest's vault; he put Thomas de Vaudemont, son of the
+Governor General of the Milanese, at the head of a large detachment of
+troops, with orders to occupy a redoubt that defended the Po, and to come
+by the bridge to his assistance, when the struggle commenced in the town;
+and he charged the soldiers secreted in the priest's house to break down
+the walled-up gate, so as to admit the troops whom he would lead there.
+
+Everything, thus concerted with exactness, was executed with precision,
+and with all possible secrecy and success. It was on the 1st of
+February, 1702, at break of day, that the surprise was attempted. The
+Marechal de Villeroy had only arrived in the town on the previous night.
+The first person who got scent of what was going forward was the cook of
+the Lieutenant-General Crenan, who going out in the early morning to buy
+provisions, saw the streets full of soldiers, whose uniforms were unknown
+to him. He ran back and awakened his master. Neither he nor his valets
+would believe what the cook said, but nevertheless Crenan hurriedly
+dressed himself, went out, and was only too soon convinced that it was
+true.
+
+At the same time, by a piece of good luck, which proved the saving of
+Cremona, a regiment under the command of D'Entragues, drew up in battle
+array in one of the public places. D'Entragues was a bold and skilful
+soldier, with a great desire to distinguish himself. He wished to review
+this regiment, and had commenced business before the dawn. While the
+light was still uncertain and feeble, and his battalions were under arms,
+he indistinctly perceived infantry troops forming at the end of the
+street, in front of him. He knew by the order's given on the previous
+evening that no other review was to take place except his own. He
+immediately feared, therefore, some surprise, marched at once to these
+troops, whom he found to be Imperialists, charged them, overthrew them,
+sustained the shock of the fresh troops which arrived, and kept up a
+defence so obstinate, that he gave time to all the town to awake, and to
+the majority of the troops to take up arms. Without him, all would have
+been slaughtered as they slept.
+
+Just at dawn the Marechal de Villeroy, already up and dressed, was
+writing in his chamber. He heard a noise, called for a horse, and
+followed by a single aide-de-camp and a page, threaded his way through
+the streets to the grand place, which is always the rendezvous in case of
+alarm. At the turning of one of the streets he fell into the midst of an
+Imperialist corps de garde, who surrounded him and arrested him. Feeling
+that it was impossible to defend himself, the Marechal de Villeroy
+whispered his name to the officer, and promised him ten thousand
+pistoles, a regiment, and the grandest recompenses from the King, to be
+allowed to escape. The officer was, however, above all bribes, said he
+had not served the Emperor so long in order to end by betraying him, and
+conducted the Marechal de Villeroy to Prince Eugene, who did not receive
+him so well as he himself would have been received, under similar
+circumstances, by the Marechal. While in the suite of Prince Eugene,
+Villeroy saw Crenan led in prisoner, and wounded to the death, and
+exclaimed that he should like to be in his place. A moment after they
+were both sent out of the town, and passed the day, guarded, in the coach
+of Prince Eugene.
+
+Revel, become commander-in-chief by the capture of the Marechal de
+Villeroy, tried to rally the troops. There was a fight in every street;
+the troops dispersed about, some in detachments, several scarcely armed;
+some only in their shirts fought with the greatest bravery. They were
+driven at last to the ramparts, where they had time to look about them,
+to rally and form themselves. If the enemy had not allowed our troops
+time to gain the ramparts, or if they had driven them beyond this
+position, when they reached it, the town could never have held out. But
+the imperialists kept themselves entirely towards the centre of the town,
+and made no effort to fall upon our men, or to drive them from the
+ramparts.
+
+Praslin, who had the command of our cavalry, put himself at the head of
+some Irish battalions which under him did wonders. Although continually
+occupied in defending and attacking, Praslin conceived the idea that the
+safety of Cremona depended upon the destruction of the bridge of the Po,
+so that the Imperialists could not receive reinforcements from that
+point. He repeated this so many times, that Revel was informed of it,
+and ordered Praslin to do what he thought most advisable in the matter.
+Thereupon, Praslin instantly commanded the bridge to be broken down:
+There was not a moment to lose. Thomas de Vaudemont was already
+approaching the bridge at the head of his troops. But the bridge,
+nevertheless, was destroyed before his eyes, and with all his musketeers
+he was not able to prevent it.
+
+It was now three o'clock in the afternoon. Prince Eugene was at the
+Hotel de Ville, swearing in the magistrates. Leaving that place, and
+finding that his troops were giving way, he ascended the cathedral
+steeple to see what was passing in different parts of the town, and to
+discover why the troops of Thomas de Vaudemont did not arrive. He had
+scarcely reached the top of the steeple, when he saw his detachments on
+the banks of the Po, and the bridge broken, thus rendering their
+assistance useless. He was not more satisfied with what he discovered in
+every other direction. Furious at seeing his enterprise in such bad
+case, after having been so nearly successful, he descended, tearing his
+hair and yelling. From that time, although superior in force, he thought
+of nothing but retreat.
+
+Revel, who saw that his troops were overwhelmed by hunger, fatigue, and
+wounds, for since the break of day they had had no repose or leisure,
+thought on his side of withdrawing his men into the castle of Cremona,
+in order, at least, to defend himself under cover, and to obtain a
+capitulation. So that the two opposing chiefs each thought at one and
+the same time of retreat.
+
+Towards the evening therefore the combat slackened on both sides, until
+our troops made a last effort to drive the enemy from one of the gates of
+the town; so as to have that gate free and open during the night to let
+in assistance. The Irish seconded so well this attack, that it was at
+length successful. A tolerably long calm succeeded this last struggle.
+Revel, nevertheless, thought of withdrawing his troops to the castle,
+when Mahony, an Irish officer who had fought bravely as a lion all day,
+proposed to go and see what was passing all around. It was already
+growing dark; the reconnoiterers profited by this. They saw that
+everything was tranquil, and understood that the enemy had retreated.
+This grand news was carried to Revel, who, with many around him, was a
+long time in believing it. Persuaded at last, he left everything as it
+was then, until broad daylight, when he found that the enemy had gone,
+and that the streets and public places were filled with the wounded, the
+dying, and the dead. He made arrangements for everything, and dispatched
+Mahony to the King.
+
+Prince Eugene retreated all that night with the detachment he had led,
+and made the Marechal de Villeroy, disarmed and badly mounted, follow
+him, very indecently. The Marechal was afterwards sent to Gratz in
+Styria. Crenan died in the coach of the Marechal de Villeroy.
+D'Entragues, to whose valour the safety of Cremona was owing, did not
+survive this glorious day. Our loss was great; that of the enemy
+greater.
+
+The news of this, the most surprising event that has been heard of in
+recent ages, was brought to the King at Marly on the 9th of February,
+1702, by Mahony. Soon after it arrived I heard of it, and at once
+hastened to the chateau, where I found a great buzzing and several groups
+of people talking. Mahony was closeted a long time with the King. At
+the end of an hour the King came out of his cabinet, and spoke strongly
+in praise of what had occurred. He took pleasure in dwelling at great
+length upon Mahony, and declared that he had never heard anybody give
+such a clear and good account of an occurrence as he. The King kindly
+added that he should bestow a thousand francs a year upon Mahony, and a
+brevet of Colonel.
+
+In the evening M. le Prince de Conti told me that the King had decorated
+Revel, and made Praslin Lieutenant-General. As the latter was one of my
+particular friends, this intelligence gave me much joy. I asked again to
+be more sure of the news. The other principal officers were advanced in
+proportion to their grades, and many received pensions.
+
+As for the Marechal de Villeroy he was treated as those who excite envy
+and then become unfortunate are always treated. The King, however,
+openly took his part; and in truth it was no fault of the Marechal, who
+had arrived at Cremona the day before the surprise, that he was taken
+prisoner directly he set his foot in the street.--How could he know of
+the aqueduct, the barred-up gate, and the concealed soldiers?
+Nevertheless, his friends were plunged into the greatest grief, and his
+wife, who had not been duped by the eclat which accompanied her husband
+upon his departure for Italy, but who feared for the result, was
+completely overwhelmed, and for a long time could not be prevailed upon
+to see anybody.
+
+M. de Vendome was appointed successor to M. de Villeroy, in command of
+the army in Italy.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+But it is time now for me to go back to other matters, and to start again
+from the commencement of 1701, from which I have been led by reciting, in
+a continuous story, the particulars of our first campaign in Italy.
+
+Barbezieux had viewed with discontent the elevation of Chamillart. His
+pride and presumption rose in arms against it; but as there was no remedy
+he gave himself up to debauch, to dissipate his annoyance. He had built
+between Versailles and Vaucresson, at the end of the park of Saint Cloud,
+a house in the open fields, called l'Etang, which though in the dismalest
+position in the world had cost him millions. He went there to feast and
+riot with his friends; and committing excesses above his strength, was
+seized with a fever, and died in a few days, looking death steadily in
+the face. He was told of his approaching end by the Archbishop of
+Rheims; for he would not believe Fagon.
+
+He was thirty-three years of age, with a striking and expressive
+countenance, and much wit and aptitude for labour. He was remarkable for
+grace, fine manners, and winning ways; but his pride and ambition were
+excessive, and when his fits of ill-temper came, nothing could repress
+them. Resistance always excited and irritated him. He had accustomed
+the King--whenever he had drunk too much, or when a party of pleasure was
+toward--to put off work to another time. It was a great question,
+whether the State gained or lost most by his death?
+
+As soon as he was dead, Saint-Pouange went to Marly to tell the news to
+the King, who was so prepared for it that two hours before, starting from
+Versailles, he had left La Vrilliere behind to put the seals everywhere.
+Fagon, who had condemned him at once, had never loved him or his father,
+and was accused of over-bleeding him on purpose. At any rate he allowed,
+at one of his last visits, expressions of joy to escape him because
+recovery was impossible. Barbezieux used to annoy people very much by
+answering aloud when they spoke to him in whispers, and by keeping
+visitors waiting whilst he was playing with his dogs or some base
+parasite.
+
+Many people, especially divers beautiful ladies, lost much by his death.
+Some of the latter looked very disconsolate in the salon at Marly; but
+when they had gone to table, and the cake had been cut (it was Twelfth
+Night), the King manifested a joy which seemed to command imitation.
+He was not content with exclaiming "The Queen drinks," but as in a common
+wine-shop, he clattered his spoon and fork on his plate, and made others
+do so likewise, which caused a strange din, that lasted at intervals all
+through the supper. The snivellers made more noise than the others, and
+uttered louder screams of laughter; and the nearest relatives and best
+friends were still more riotous. On the morrow all signs of grief had
+disappeared.
+
+Chamillart was appointed in the place of Barbezieux, as Secretary of
+State; and wanted to give up the Finance, but the King, remembering the
+disputes of Louvois and Colbert, insisted on his occupying both posts.
+Chamillart was a very worthy man, with clean hands and the best
+intentions; polite, patient, obliging, a good friend, and a moderate
+enemy, loving his country, but his King better; and on very good terms
+with him and Madame de Maintenon. His mind was limited and; like all
+persons of little wit and knowledge, he was obstinate and pig-headed--
+smiling affectedly with a gentle compassion on whoever opposed reasons to
+his, but utterly incapable of understanding them--consequently a dupe in
+friendship, in business, in everything; governed by all who could manage
+to win his admiration, or on very slight grounds could claim his
+affection. His capacity was small, and yet he believed he knew
+everything, which was the more pitiable, as all this came to him with his
+places, and arose more from stupidity than presumption--not at all from
+vanity, of which he was divested. The most remarkable thing is that the
+chief origin of the King's tender regard for him was this very
+incapacity. He used to confess it to the King at every opportunity; and
+the King took pleasure in directing and instructing him, so that he was
+interested in his successes as if they had been his own, and always
+excused him. The world and the Court excused him also, charmed by the
+facility with which he received people, the pleasure he felt in granting
+requests and rendering services, the gentleness and regretfulness of his
+refusals, and his indefatigable patience as a listener. His memory was
+so great that he remembered all matters submitted to him, which gave
+pleasure to people who were afraid of being forgotten. He wrote
+excellently; and his clear, flowing, and precise style was extremely
+pleasing to the King and Madame de Maintenon, who were never weary of
+praising him, encouraging him, and congratulating themselves for having
+placed upon such weak shoulders two burdens, each of which was sufficient
+to overwhelm the most sturdy.
+
+Rose, secretary in the King's cabinet, died, aged about eighty-six, at
+the commencement of the year 1701. For nearly fifty years he had held
+the office of the "pen," as it is called. To have the "pen," is to be a
+public forger, and to do what would cost anybody else his life. This
+office consists in imitating so exactly the handwriting of the King; that
+the real cannot be distinguished from the counterfeit. In this manner
+are written all the letters that the King ought or wishes to write with
+his own hand, but which, nevertheless, he will not take the trouble to
+write. Sovereigns and people of high rank, even generals and others of
+importance, employ a secretary of this kind. It is not possible to make
+a great King speak with more dignity than did Rose; nor with more fitness
+to each person, and upon every subject. The King signed all the letters
+Rose wrote, and the characters were so alike it was impossible to find
+the smallest difference. Many important things had passed through the
+hands of Rose: He was extremely faithful and secret, and the King put
+entire trust in him.
+
+Rose was artful, scheming, adroit, and dangerous. There are stories
+without number of him; and I will relate one or two solely because they
+characterise him, and those to whom they also relate.
+
+He had, near Chantilly, a nice house and grounds that he much liked, and
+that he often visited. This little property bordered the estate of M. le
+Prince, who, not liking so close a neighbour, wished to get rid of him.
+M. le Prince endeavoured to induce Rose to give up his house and grounds,
+but all to no effect; and at last tried to annoy him in various ways into
+acquiescence. Among other of his tricks, he put about four hundred
+foxes, old and young, into Rose's park. It may be imagined what disorder
+this company made there, and the surprise of Rose and his servants at an
+inexhaustible ant-hill of foxes come to one night!
+
+The worthy fellow, who was anger and vehemence itself, knew only too well
+who had treated him thus scurvily, and straightway went to the King,
+requesting to be allowed to ask him rather a rough question. The King,
+quite accustomed to him and to his jokes,--for he was pleasant and very
+witty, demanded what was the matter.
+
+"What is the matter, Sire?" replied Rose, with a face all flushed.
+"Why, I beg you will tell me if we have two Kings in France?"
+
+"What do you mean?" said the King, surprised, and flushing in his turn.
+
+"What I mean, Sire, is, that if M. le Prince is King like you, folks must
+weep and lower their heads before that tyrant. If he is only Prince of
+the blood, I ask justice from you, Sire, for you owe it to all your
+subjects, and you ought not to suffer them to be the prey of M. le
+Prince," said Rose; and he related everything that had taken place,
+concluding with the adventure of the foxes.
+
+The King promised that he would speak to M. le Prince in a manner to
+insure the future repose of Rose; and, indeed, he ordered all the foxes
+to be removed from the worthy man's park, all the damages they had made
+to be repaired, and all the expenses incurred to be paid by M. le Prince.
+M. le Prince was too good a courtier to fail in obeying this order, and
+never afterwards troubled Rose in the least thing; but, on the contrary,
+made all the advances towards a reconciliation. Rose was obliged to
+receive them, but held himself aloof, nevertheless, and continually let
+slip some raillery against M. le Prince. I and fifty others were one day
+witnesses of this.
+
+M. le Prince was accustomed to pay his court to the ministers as they
+stood waiting to attend the council in the King's chamber; and although
+he had nothing to say, spoke to them with the mien of a client obliged to
+fawn. One morning, when there was a large assembly of the Court in this
+chamber, and M. le Prince had been cajoling the ministers with much
+suppleness and flattery, Secretary Rose, who saw what had been going on,
+went up to him on a sudden, and said aloud, putting one finger under his
+closed eye, as was sometimes his habit, "Sir, I have seen your scheming
+here with all these gentlemen, and for several days; it is not for
+nothing. I have known the Court and mankind many years; and am not to be
+imposed upon: I see clearly where matters point:" and this with turns and
+inflections of voice which thoroughly embarrassed M. le Prince, who
+defended himself as he could. Every one crowded to hear what was going
+on; and at last Rose, taking M. le Prince respectfully by his arm, said,
+with a cunning and meaning smile; "Is it not that you wish to be made
+first Prince of the blood royal?" Then he turned on his heel, and
+slipped off. The Prince was stupefied; and all present tried in vain to
+restrain their laughter.
+
+Rose had never pardoned M. de Duras an ill turn the latter had served
+him. During one of the Court journeys, the carriage in which Rose was
+riding broke down. He took a horse; but, not being a good equestrian,
+was very soon pitched into a hole full of mud. While there M. de Duras
+passed, and Rose from the midst of the mire cried for help. But M. de
+Duras, instead of giving assistance, looked from his coach-window, burst
+out laughing, and cried out: "What a luxurious horse thus to roll upon
+Roses!"--and with this witticism passed gently on through the mud. The
+next comer, the Duc de Coislin, was more charitable; he picked up the
+worthy man, who was so furious, so carried away by anger, that it was
+some time before he could say who he was. But the worst was to come; for
+M. de Duras, who feared nobody, and whose tongue was accustomed to wag as
+freely as that of Rose, told the story to the King and to all the Court,
+who much laughed at it. This outraged Rose to such a point, that he
+never afterwards approached M. de Duras, and only spoke of him in fury.
+Whenever he hazarded some joke upon M. de Duras, the King began to laugh,
+and reminded him of the mud-ducking he had received.
+
+Towards the end of his life, Rose married his granddaughter, who was to
+be his heiress, to Portail, since Chief President of the Parliament.
+The marriage was not a happy one; the young spouse despised her husband;
+and said that instead of entering into a good house, she had remained at
+the portal. At last her husband and his father complained to Rose. He
+paid no attention at first; but, tired out at last, said if his
+granddaughter persisted in her bad conduct, he would disinherit her.
+There were no complaints after this.
+
+Rose was a little man, neither fat nor lean, with a tolerably handsome
+face, keen expression, piercing eyes sparkling with cleverness; a little
+cloak, a satin skull-cap over his grey hairs, a smooth collar, almost
+like an Abbe's, and his pocket-handkerchief always between his coat and
+his vest. He used to say that it was nearer his nose there. He had
+taken me into his friendship. He laughed very freely at the foreign
+princes; and always called the Dukes with whom he was familiar, "Your
+Ducal Highness," in ridicule of the sham Highnesses. He was extremely
+neat and brisk, and full of sense to the last; he was a sort of
+personage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+On Saturday, the 19th of March, in the evening, the King was about to
+undress himself, when he heard cries in his chamber, which was full of
+courtiers; everybody calling for Fagon and Felix. Monseigneur had been
+taken very ill. He had passed the day at Meudon, where he had eaten only
+a collation; at the King's supper he had made amends by gorging himself
+nigh to bursting with fish. He was a great eater, like the King, and
+like the Queens his mother and grandmother. He had not appeared after
+supper, but had jest gone down to his own room from the King's cabinet,
+and was about to undress himself, when all at once he lost consciousness.
+His valets, frightened out of their wits, and some courtiers who were
+near, ran to the King's chambers, to his chief physician and his chief
+surgeon with the hubbub which I have mentioned above. The King, all
+unbuttoned, started to his feet immediately, and descended by a little
+dark, narrow, and steep staircase towards the chamber of Monseigneur.
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne arrived at the same time, and in an
+instant the chamber, which was vast, was filled.
+
+They found Monseigneur half naked: his servants endeavouring to make him
+walk erect, and dragging rather than leading him about. He did not know
+the King, who spoke to him, nor anybody else; and defended himself as
+long as he could against Felix, who, in this pressing necessity, hazarded
+bleeding him, and succeeded. Consciousness returned. Monseigneur asked
+for a confessor; the King had already sent for, the cure. Many emetics
+were given to him: but two hours passed before they operated. At half-
+past two in the morning, no further danger appearing, the King, who had
+shed tears, went to bed, leaving orders that he was to be awakened if any
+fresh accident happened. At five o'clock, however, all the effect having
+passed, the doctors went away, and made everybody leave the sick chamber.
+During the night all Paris hastened hither. Monseigneur was compelled to
+keep his room for eight or ten days; and took care in future not to gorge
+himself so much with food. Had this accident happened a quarter of an
+hour later, the chief valet de chambre, who slept in his room, would have
+found him dead in his bed.
+
+Paris loved Monseigneur, perhaps because he often went to the opera.
+The fish-fags of the Halles thought it would be proper to exhibit their
+affection, and deputed four stout gossips to wait upon him: they were
+admitted. One of them took him round the neck and kissed him on both
+cheeks; the others kissed his hand. They were all very well received.
+Bontems showed them over the apartments, and treated them to a dinner.
+Monseigneur gave them some money, and the King did so also. They
+determined not to remain in debt, and had a fine Te Deum sung at Saint
+Eustache, and then feasted.
+
+For some time past Monsieur had been sorely grieved that his son, M. le
+Duc de Chartres, had not been appointed to the command of an army. When
+M. de Chartres married, the King, who had converted his nephew by force
+into a son-in-law, promised him all kinds of favours; but except those
+which were written down in black and white had not given him any. M. de
+Chartres, annoyed at this, and at the manner m which the illegitimate
+children were promoted over his head, had given himself up to all kinds
+of youthful follies and excesses. The King was surprised to find
+Monsieur agree with his son's ambition; but gave a flat refusal when
+overtures were made to him on the subject. All hope of rising to a high
+command was thus forbidden to the Duc de Chartres; so that Madame had a
+fine excuse for sneering at the weakness which had been shown by
+Monsieur, who, on his part, had long before repented of it. He winked,
+therefore, at all the escapades performed or threatened by his son, and
+said nothing, not being sorry that the King should become uneasy, which
+was soon the case.
+
+The King at last spoke to Monsieur; and being coldly received, reproached
+him for not knowing how to exercise authority over his son. Upon this
+Monsieur fired up; and, quite as much from foregone decision as from
+anger, in his turn asked the King what was to be done with a son at such
+an age: who was sick of treading the galleries of Versailles and the
+pavement of the Court; of being married as he was, and of remaining, as
+it were, naked, whilst his brothers-in-law were clothed in dignities,
+governments, establishments, and offices,--against all policy and all
+example. His son, he said, was worse off than any one in the King's
+service, for all others could earn distinction; added, that idleness was
+the mother of all vice, and that it gave him much pain to see his only
+son abandon himself to debauchery and bad company; but that it would be
+cruel to blame a young man, forced as it were into these follies, and to
+say nothing against him by whom he was thus forced.
+
+Who was astonished to hear this straightforward language? Why, the King.
+Monsieur had never let out to within a thousand leagues of this tone,
+which was only the more annoying because supported by unanswerable
+reasons that did not convince. Mastering his embarrassments however, the
+King answered as a brother rather than as a sovereign; endeavouring, by
+gentle words, to calm the excitement of Monsieur. But Monsieur was stung
+to the quick by the King's neglect of M. de Chartres, and would not be
+pacified; yet the real subject of the annoyance was never once alluded
+to, whilst the one kept it steadily in his mind; and the other was
+determined not to yield. The conversation lasted very long, and was
+pushed very far; Monsieur throughout taking the high tone, the King very
+gentle. They separated in this manner,--Monsieur frowning, but not
+daring to burst out; the King annoyed, but not wishing to estrange his
+brother, much less to let their squabble be known.
+
+As Monsieur passed most of his summers at Saint Cloud, the separation
+which this occasioned put them at their ease whilst waiting for a
+reconciliation; and Monsieur came less often than before, but when he did
+filled all their private interviews with bitter talk. In public little
+or nothing appeared, except that familiar people remarked politeness and
+attention on the King's part, coldness on that of Monsieur--moods not
+common to either. Nevertheless, being advised not to push matters too
+far, he read a lecture to his son, and made him change his conduct by
+degrees. But Monsieur still remained irritated against the King; and
+this completely upset him, accustomed as he always had been to live on
+the best of terms with his brother, and to be treated by him in every
+respect as such--except that the King would not allow Monsieur to become
+a great personage.
+
+Ordinarily, whenever Monsieur or Madame were unwell, even if their little
+finger ached, the King visited them at once; and continued his visits if
+the sickness lasted. But now, Madame had been laid up for six weeks with
+a tertian fever, for which she would do nothing, because she treated
+herself in her German fashion, and despised physic and doctors. The
+King, who, besides the affair of M. le Duc de Chartres, was secretly
+angered with her, as will presently be seen, had not been to see her,
+although Monsieur had urged him to do so during those flying visits which
+he made to Versailles without sleeping there. This was taken by
+Monsieur, who was ignorant of the private cause of indignation alluded
+to, for a public mark of extreme disrespect; and being proud and
+sensitive he was piqued thereby to the last degree.
+
+He had other mental troubles to torment him. For some time past he had
+had a confessor who, although a Jesuit, kept as tight a hand over him as
+he could. He was a gentleman of good birth, and of Brittany, by name le
+Pere du Trevoux. He forbade Monsieur not only certain strange pleasures,
+but many which he thought he could innocently indulge in as a penance for
+his past life. He often told him that he had no mind to be damned on his
+account; and that if he was thought too harsh let another confessor be
+appointed. He also told him to take great care of himself, as he was
+old, worn out with debauchery, fat, short-necked, and, according to all
+appearance, likely to die soon of apoplexy. These were terrible words to
+a prince the most voluptuous and the most attached to life that had been
+seen for a long time; who had always passed his days in the most
+luxurious idleness and who was the most incapable by nature of all
+serious application, of all serious reading, and of all self-examination.
+He was afraid of the devil; and he remembered that his former confessor
+had resigned for similar reasons as this new one was actuated by. He was
+forced now, therefore, to look a little into himself, and to live in a
+manner that, for him, might be considered rigid. From time to time he
+said many prayers; he obeyed his confessor, and rendered an account to
+him of the conduct he had prescribed in respect to play and many other
+things, and patiently suffered his confessor's long discourses. He
+became sad, dejected, and spoke less than usual--that is to say, only
+about as much as three or four women--so that everybody soon saw this
+great change. It would have been strange if all these troubles together
+had not made a great revolution in a man like Monsieur, full-bodied, and
+a great eater, not only at meals, but all the day.
+
+On Thursday, the 8th of June, he went from Saint Cloud to dine with the
+King at Marly; and, as was his custom, entered the cabinet as soon as the
+Council of State went out. He found the King angry with M. de Chartres
+for neglecting his wife, and allowing her to seek consolation for this
+neglect in the society of others. M. de Chartres was at that time
+enamoured of Mademoiselle de Sary, maid of honour to Madame, and carried
+on his suit in the most open and flagrant manner. The King took this for
+his theme, and very stiffly reproached Monsieur for the conduct of his
+son. Monsieur, who needed little to exasperate him, tartly replied, that
+fathers who had led certain lives had little authority over their
+children, and little right to blame them. The King, who felt the point
+of the answer, fell back on the patience of his daughter, and said that
+at least she ought not to be allowed to see the truth so clearly. But
+Monsieur was resolved to have his fling, and recalled, in the most
+aggravating manner, the conduct the King had adopted towards his Queen,
+with respect to his mistresses, even allowing the latter to accompany him
+in his journeys--the Queen at his side, and all in the same coach. This
+last remark drove the King beyond all patience, and he redoubled his
+reproaches, so that presently both were shouting to each other at the top
+of their voices. The door of the room in which they wrangled was open,
+and only covered by a curtain, as was the custom at Marly, and the
+adjoining room was full of courtiers, waiting to see the King go by to
+dinner. On the other side was a little salon, devoted to very private
+purposes, and filled with valets, who could hear distinctly every word of
+what passed. The attendant without, upon hearing this noise, entered,
+and told the King how many people were within hearing, and immediately
+retired. The conversation did not stop, however; it was simply carried
+on in a lower tone. Monsieur continued his reproaches; said that the
+King, in marrying his daughter to M. de Chartres, had promised marvels,
+and had done nothing; that for his part he had wished his son to serve,
+to keep him out of the way of these intrigues, but that his demands had
+been vain; that it was no wonder M. de Chartres amused himself, by way of
+consolation, for the neglect he had been treated with. Monsieur added,
+that he saw only too plainly the truth of what had been predicted,
+namely, that he would have all the shame and dishonour of the marriage
+without ever deriving any profit from it. The King, more and more
+carried away by anger, replied, that the war would soon oblige him to
+make some retrenchments, and that he would commence by cutting down the
+pensions of Monsieur, since he showed himself so little accommodating.
+
+At this moment the King was informed that his dinner was ready, and both
+he and Monsieur left the room and went to table, Monsieur, all fury,
+flushed, and with eyes inflamed by anger. His face thus crimsoned
+induced some ladies who were at table, and some courtiers behind--but
+more for the purpose of saying something than anything else--to make the
+remark, that Monsieur, by his appearance, had great need of bleeding.
+The same thing had been said some time before at Saint Cloud; he was
+absolutely too full; and, indeed, he had himself admitted that it was
+true. Even the King, in spite of their squabbles, had more than once
+pressed him to consent. But Tancrede, his head surgeon, was old, and an
+unskilful bleeder: he had missed fire once. Monsieur would not be bled
+by him; and not to vex him was good enough to refuse being bled by
+another, and to die in consequence.
+
+Upon hearing this observation about bleeding, the King spoke to him again
+on the subject; and said that he did not know what prevented him from
+having him at once taken to his room, and bled by force. The dinner
+passed in the ordinary manner; and Monsieur ate extremely, as he did at
+all his meals, to say nothing of an abundant supply of chocolate in the
+morning, and what he swallowed all day in the shape of fruit, pastry,
+preserves, and every kind of dainties, with which indeed the tables of
+his cabinets and his pockets were always filled.
+
+Upon rising from the table, the King, in his carriage, alone went to
+Saint Germain, to visit the King and Queen of England. Other members of
+the family went there likewise separately; and Monsieur, after going
+there also, returned to Saint Cloud.
+
+In the evening, after supper, the King was in his cabinet, with
+Monseigneur and the Princesses, as at Versailles, when a messenger came
+from Saint Cloud, and asked to see the King in the name of the Duc de
+Chartres. He was admitted into the cabinet, and said that Monsieur had
+been taken very ill while at supper; that he had been bled, that he was
+better, but that an emetic had been given to him. The fact was, Monsieur
+had supped as usual with the ladies, who were at Saint Cloud. During the
+meal, as he poured out a glass of liqueur for Madame de Bouillon, it was
+perceived that he stammered, and pointed at something with his hand. As
+it was customary with him sometimes to speak Spanish, some of the ladies
+asked what he said, others cried aloud. All this was the work of an
+instant, and immediately afterwards Monsieur fell in a fit of apoplexy
+upon M. de Chartres, who supported him. He was taken into his room,
+shaken, moved about, bled considerably, and had strong emetics
+administered to him, but scarcely any signs of life did he show.
+
+Upon hearing this news, the King, who had been accustomed to fly to visit
+Monsieur for a mere nothing, went to Madame de Maintenon's, and had her
+waked up. He passed a quarter of an hour with her, and then, towards
+midnight, returning to his room, ordered his coach to be got ready, and
+sent the Marquis de Gesvres to Saint Cloud, to see if Monsieur was worse,
+in which case he was to return and wake him; and they went quickly to
+bed. Besides the particular relations in which they were at that time, I
+think that the King suspected some artifice; that he went in consequence
+to consult Madame de Maintenon, and preferred sinning against all laws of
+propriety to running the chance of being duped. Madame de Maintenon did
+not like Monsieur. She feared him. He paid her very little court, and
+despite all his timidity and his more than deference, observations
+escaped him at times, when he was with the King, which marked his disdain
+of her, and the shame that he felt of public opinion. She was not eager,
+therefore, to advise the King to go and visit him, still less to commence
+a journey by night, the loss of rest, and the witnessing a spectacle so
+sad, and so likely to touch him, and make him make reflections on
+himself; for she hoped that if things went quietly he might be spared the
+trouble altogether.
+
+A moment after the King had got into bed, a page came to say that
+Monsieur was better, and that he had just asked for some Schaffhausen
+water, which is excellent for apoplexy. An hour and a half later,
+another messenger came, awakened the King, and told him that the emetic
+had no effect, and that Monsieur was very ill. At this the King rose and
+set out at once. On the way he met the Marquis de Gesvres, who was
+coming to fetch him, and brought similar news. It may be imagined what a
+hubbub and disorder there was this night at Marly, and what horror at
+Saint Cloud, that palace of delight! Everybody who was at Marly hastened
+as he was best able to Saint Cloud. Whoever was first ready started
+together. Men and women jostled each other, and then threw themselves
+into the coaches without order and without regard to etiquette.
+Monseigneur was with Madame la Duchesse. He was so struck by what had
+occurred, and its resemblance to what he himself had experienced, that he
+could scarcely stand, and was dragged, almost carried, to the carriage,
+all trembling.
+
+The King arrived at Saint Cloud before three o'clock in the morning.
+Monsieur had not had a moment's consciousness since his attack. A ray of
+intelligence came to him for an instant, while his confessor, Pere du
+Trevoux, went to say mass, but it returned no more. The most horrible
+sights have often ridiculous contrasts. When the said confessor came
+back, he cried, "Monsieur, do you not know your confessor? Do you not
+know the good little Pere du Trevoux, who is speaking to you?" and thus
+caused the less afflicted to laugh indecently.
+
+The King appeared much moved; naturally he wept with great facility; he
+was, therefore, all tears. He had never had cause not to love his
+brother tenderly; although on bad terms with him for the last two months,
+these sad moments recalled all his tenderness; perhaps, too, he
+reproached himself for having hastened death by the scene of the morning.
+And finally, Monsieur was younger than he by two years, and all his life
+had enjoyed as good health as he, and better! The King heard mass at
+Saint Cloud; and, towards eight o'clock in the morning, Monsieur being
+past all hope, Madame de Maintenon and Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne
+persuaded the King to stay no longer, and accordingly returned with him
+in his carriage to Marly. As he was going out and was showing some sign
+of affection to M. de Chartres--both weeping very much--that young Prince
+did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity. "Oh Sire!" he
+exclaimed, embracing the King's thighs, "what will become of me? I lose
+Monsieur, and I know that you do not like me." The King, surprised and
+much touched, embraced him, and said all the tender things he could.
+
+On arriving at Marly, the King went with the Duchesse de Bourgogne to
+Madame de Maintenon. Three hours after came M. Fagon, who had been
+ordered not to leave Monsieur until he was dead or better--which could
+not be but by miracle. The King said, as soon as he saw him: "Well!
+M. Fagon, my brother is dead?"--"Yes, Sire," said Fagon, "no remedy has
+taken effect."
+
+The King wept a good deal. He was pressed to dine with Madame de
+Maintenon; but he would not do so, and had his dinner, as usual, with the
+ladies. The tears often ran down his cheek, during the meal, which was
+short. After this, he shut himself up in Madame de Maintenon's rooms
+until seven o'clock, and then took a turn in his garden. Afterwards he
+worked with Chamillart and Pontchartrain; and arranged all the funeral
+ceremonies of Monsieur. He supped an hour before his customary time, and
+went to bed soon afterwards.
+
+At the departure from St. Cloud of the King, all the crowd assembled
+there little by little withdrew, so that Monsieur dying, stretched upon a
+couch in his cabinet, remained exposed to the scullions and the lower
+officers of the household, the majority of whom, either by affection or
+interest, were much afflicted. The chief officers and others who lost
+posts and pensions filled the air with their cries; whilst all the women
+who were at Saint Cloud, and who lost their consideration and their
+amusement, ran here and there, crying, with dishevelled hair, like
+Bacchantes. The Duchesse de la Ferme, who had basely married her
+daughter to one of Monsieur's minions, named La Carte, came into the
+cabinet; and, whilst gazing on the Prince, who still palpitated there,
+exclaimed, giving vent to her profound reflections, "Pardi! Here is a
+daughter well married!"
+
+"A very important matter!" cried Chatillon, who himself lost everything
+by this death. "Is this a moment to consider whether your daughter is
+well married or not?"
+
+Madame, who had never had great affection or great esteem for Monsieur,
+but who felt her loss and her fall, meanwhile remained in her cabinet,
+and in the midst of her grief cried out, with all her might, "No convent!
+Let no one talk of a convent! I will have nothing to do with a convent!"
+The good Princess had not lost her judgment. She knew that, by her
+compact of marriage, she had to choose, on becoming a widow, between a
+convent and the chateau of Montargis. She liked neither alternative; but
+she had greater fear of the convent than of Montargis; and perhaps
+thought it would be easier to escape from the latter than the former.
+She knew she had much to fear from the King, although she did not yet
+know all, and although he had been properly polite to her, considering
+the occasion.
+
+Next morning, Friday, M. de Chartres, came to the King, who was still in
+bed, and who spoke to him in a very friendly manner. He said that the
+Duke must for the future regard him as his father; that he would take
+care of his position and his interests; that he had forgotten all the
+little causes of anger he had had against him; that he hoped the Duke
+would also forget them; that he begged that the advances of friendship he
+made, might serve to attach him to him, and make their two hearts belong
+to one another again. It may easily be conceived how well M. de Chartres
+answered all this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+After such a frightful spectacle as had been witnessed, so many tears and
+so much tenderness, nobody doubted that the three, days which remained of
+the stay at Marly would be exceedingly sad. But, on the very morrow of
+the day on which Monsieur died, some ladies of the palace, upon entering
+the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, where was the King with the
+Duchesse de Bourgogne, about twelve o'clock, heard her from the chamber
+where they were, next to hers, singing opera tunes. A little while
+after, the King, seeing the Duchesse de Bourgogne very sad in a corner of
+the room, asked Madame de Maintenon, with surprise, why the said Duchess
+was so melancholy; set himself to work to rouse her; then played with her
+and some ladies of the palace he had called in to join in the sport.
+This was not all. Before rising from the dinner table, at a little after
+two o'clock, and twenty-six hours after the death of Monsieur,
+Monseigneur the Duc de Bourgogne asked the Duc de Montfort if he would
+play at brelan.
+
+"At brelan!" cried Montfort, in extreme astonishment; "you cannot mean
+it! Monsieur is still warm."
+
+"Pardon me," replied the Prince, "I do mean it though. The King does not
+wish that we should be dull here at Marly, and has ordered me to make
+everybody play; and, for fear that nobody should dare to begin, to set,
+myself, the example;" and with this he began to play at brelan; and the
+salon was soon filled with gaming tables.
+
+Such was the affection of the King: such that of Madame de Maintenon!
+She felt the loss of Monsieur as a deliverance, and could scarcely
+restrain her joy; and it was with the greatest difficulty she succeeded
+in putting on a mournful countenance. She saw that the King was already
+consoled; nothing could therefore be more becoming than for her to divert
+him, and nothing suited her better than to bring things back into their
+usual course, so that there might be no more talk of Monsieur nor of
+affliction. For propriety of appearance she cared nothing. The thing
+could not fail, however, to be scandalous; and in whispers was found so.
+Monseigneur, though he had appeared to like Monsieur, who had given him
+all sorts of balls and amusements, and shown him every kind of attention
+and complaisance, went out wolf hunting the very day after his death;
+and, upon his return, finding play going on in the salons, went without
+hesitation and played himself like the rest. Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne and M. le Duc de Berry only saw Monsieur on public occasions,
+and therefore could not be much moved by his loss. But Madame la
+Duchesse was extremely touched by this event. He was her grandfather;
+and she tenderly loved her mother, who loved Monsieur; and Monsieur had
+always been very kind to her, and provided all kinds of diversion for
+her. Although not very loving to anybody, she loved Monsieur; and was
+much affected not to dare to show her grief, which she indulged a long
+time in private. What the grief of Madame was has already been seen.
+
+As for M. de Chartres, he was much affected by his loss. The father and
+son loved each other extremely. Monsieur was a gentle and indulgent
+parent, who had never constrained his son. But if the Duke's heart was
+touched, his reason also was. Besides the great assistance it was to him
+to have a father, brother of the King, that father was, as it were,
+a barrier between him and the King, under whose hand he now found himself
+directly placed. His greatness, his consideration, the comfort of his
+house and his life, would, therefore, depend on him alone. Assiduity,
+propriety of conduct, a certain manner, and, above all, a very different
+deportment towards his wife, would now become the price of everything he
+could expect to obtain from the King. Madame la Duchesse de Chartres,
+although well treated by Monsieur, was glad to be delivered from him; for
+he was a barrier betwixt her and the King, that left her at the mercy of
+her husband. She was charmed to be quit of the duty of following
+Monsieur to Paris or Saint Cloud, where she found herself, as it were, in
+a foreign country, with faces which she never saw anywhere else, which
+did not make her welcome; and where she was exposed to the contempt and
+humour of Madame, who little spared her. She expected for the future
+never to leave the Court, and to be not only exempt from paying her court
+to Monsieur, but that Madame and her husband would for the future be
+obliged to treat her in quite another manner.
+
+The bulk of the Court regretted Monsieur, for it was he who set all
+pleasure a-going; and when he left it, life and merriment seemed to have
+disappeared likewise. Setting aside his obstinacy with regard to the
+Princes, he loved the order of rank; preferences, and distinctions: he
+caused them to be observed as much as possible, and himself set the
+example. He loved great people; and was so affable and polite, that
+crowds came to him. The difference which he knew how to make, and which
+he never failed to make, between every one according to his position,
+contributed greatly to his popularity. In his receptions, by his greater
+or less, or more neglectful attention, and by his words, he always marked
+in a flattering manner the differences made by birth and dignity, by age
+and merit, and by profession; and all this with a dignity natural to him,
+and a constant facility which he had acquired. His familiarity obliged,
+and yet no rash people ever ventured to take advantage of it. He visited
+or sent exactly when it was proper; and under his roof he allowed a
+complete liberty, without injury to the respect shown him, or to a
+perfect court air.
+
+He had learned from the Queen his mother, and well remembered this art.
+The crowd, therefore, constantly flocked towards the Palais Royal.
+
+At Saint Cloud, where all his numerous household used to assemble, there
+were many ladies who, to speak the truth, would scarcely have been
+received elsewhere, but many also of a higher set, and great store of
+gamblers. The pleasures of all kinds of games, and the singular beauty
+of the place, where a thousand caleches were always ready to whirl even
+the most lazy ladies through the walks, soft music and good cheer, made
+it a palace of delight, grace, and magnificence.
+
+All this without any assistance from Madame, who dined and supped with
+the ladies and Monsieur, rode out sometimes in a caleche with one of
+them, often sulked with the company, made herself feared for her harsh
+and surly temper--frequently even for her words; and passed her days in a
+little cabinet she had chosen, where the windows were ten feet from the
+ground, gazing perpetually on the portraits of Paladins and other German
+princes, with which she had tapestried the walls; and writing every day
+with her own hand whole volumes of letters, of which she always kept
+autograph copies. Monsieur had never been able to bend her to a more
+human way of life; and lived decently with her, without caring for her
+person in any way.
+
+For his part, Monsieur, who had very gallantly won the battle of Cassel,
+and who had always shown courage in the sieges where he had served, had
+only the bad qualities that distinguish women. With more knowledge of
+the world than wit, with no reading, though he had a vast and exact
+acquaintance with noble houses, their births and marriages, he was good
+for nothing. Nobody was so flabby in body and mind, no one so weak,
+so timid, so open to deception, so led by the nose, so despised by his
+favourites, often so roughly treated by them. He was quarrelsome in
+small matters, incapable of keeping any secret, suspicious, mistrustful;
+fond of spreading reports in his Court to make mischief, to learn what
+was really going on or just to amuse himself: he fetched and carried from
+one to the other. With so many defects, unrelated to any virtue, he had
+such an abominable taste, that his gifts and the fortunes that he gave to
+those he took into favour had rendered him publicly scandalous. He
+neither respected times nor places. His minions, who owed him
+everything, sometimes treated him most insolently; and he had often much
+to do to appease horrible jealousies. He lived in continual hot water
+with his favourites, to say nothing of the quarrels of that troop of
+ladies of a very decided character--many of whom were very malicious,
+and, most, more than malicious--with whom Monsieur used to divert
+himself, entering into all their wretched squabbles.
+
+The Chevaliers de Lorraine and Chatillon had both made a large fortune by
+their good looks, with which he was more smitten than with those of any
+other of his favourites. Chatillon, who had neither head, nor sense, nor
+wit, got on in this way, and acquired fortune. The other behaved like a
+Guisard, who blushes at nothing provided he succeeds; and governed
+Monsieur with a high hand all his life, was overwhelmed with money and
+benefices, did what he liked for his family, lived always publicly as the
+master with Monsieur; and as he had, with the pride of the Guises, their
+art and cleverness, he contrived to get between the King and Monsieur,
+to be dealt with gingerly, if not feared by both, and was almost as
+important a man with the one as with the other. He had the finest
+apartments in the Palais Royal and Saint Cloud, and a pension of ten
+thousand crowns. He remained in his apartments after the death of
+Monsieur, but would not from pride continue to receive the pension, which
+from pride was offered him. Although it would have been difficult to be
+more timid and submissive than was Monsieur with the King--for he
+flattered both his ministers and his mistresses--he, nevertheless,
+mingled with his respectful demeanour the demeanour of a brother, and the
+free and easy ways of one. In private, he was yet more unconstrained;
+always taking an armed chair, and never waiting until the King told him
+to sit. In the Cabinet, after the King appeared, no other Prince sat
+besides him, not even Monseigneur. But in what regarded his service, and
+his manner of approaching and leaving the King, no private person could
+behave with more respect; and he naturally did everything with grace and
+dignity. He never, however, was able to bend to Madame de Maintenon
+completely, nor avoid making small attacks on her to the King, nor avoid
+satirising her pretty broadly in person. It was not her success that
+annoyed him; but simply the idea that La Scarron had become his sister-
+in-law; this was insupportable to him. Monsieur was extremely vain, but
+not haughty, very sensitive, and a great stickler for what was due to
+him. Upon one occasion he complained to the King that M. le Duc had for
+some time neglected to attend upon him, as he was bound, and had boasted
+that he would not do it. The King replied, that it was not a thing to be
+angry about, that he ought to seek an opportunity to be served by M. le
+Duc, and if he would not, to affront him. Accordingly, one morning at
+Marly, as he was dressing, seeing M. le Duc walking in the garden,
+Monsieur opened the window and called to him. Monsieur le Duc came up,
+and entered the room. Then, while one remark was leading to another,
+Monsieur slipped off his dressing-gown, and then his shirt. A valet de
+chambre standing by, at once slipped a clean shirt into the hands of M.
+le Duc, who, caught thus in a trap, was compelled to offer the garment to
+Monsieur, as it was his duty to do. As soon as Monsieur had received it,
+he burst out laughing, and said--"Good-bye, cousin, go away. I do not
+want to delay you longer." M. le Duc felt the point of this, and went
+away very angry, and continued so in consequence of the high tone
+Monsieur afterwards kept up on the subject.
+
+Monsieur was a little round-bellied man, who wore such high-heeled shoes
+that he seemed mounted always upon stilts; was always decked out like a
+woman, covered everywhere with rings, bracelets, jewels; with a long
+black wig, powdered, and curled in front; with ribbons wherever he could
+put them; steeped in perfumes, and in fine a model of cleanliness. He
+was accused of putting on an imperceptible touch of rouge. He had a long
+nose, good eyes and mouth, a full but very long face. All his portraits
+resembled him. I was piqued to see that his features recalled those of
+Louis XIII., to whom; except in matters of courage, he was so completely
+dissimilar.
+
+On Saturday, the 11th of June, the Court returned to Versailles. On
+arriving there the King went to visit Madame and her son and daughter-in-
+law separately. Madame, very much troubled by reflection on her position
+with regard to the King, had sent the Duchesse de Ventadour to Madame de
+Maintenon. The latter replied to the message only in general terms; said
+she would visit Madame after dinner, and requested that the Duchess might
+be present at the interview. It was Sunday, the morning after the return
+from Marly. After the first compliments, every one went out except
+Madame de Ventadour. Then Madame requested Madame de Maintenon to sit
+down; and she must have felt her position keenly to bring her to this.
+
+She began the conversation by complaining of the indifference with which
+the King had treated her during her illness. Madame de Maintenon allowed
+her to talk on; and when she had finished, said that the King had
+commanded her to say that their common loss effaced all the past,
+provided that he had reason to be better satisfied for the future, not
+only as regarded M. le Duc de Chartres, but other matters also. Upon
+this Madame exclaimed and protested that, except in as far as regarded
+her son, she had never given cause for displeasure; and went on
+alternating complaints and justifications. Precisely at the point when
+she was most emphatic, Madame de Maintenon drew forth a letter from her
+pocket and asked if the handwriting was known to her. It was a letter
+from Madame to the Duchess of Hanover, in which she said, after giving
+news of the Court, that no one knew what to say of the intercourse
+between the King and Madame de Maintenon, whether it was that of marriage
+or of concubinage; and then, touching upon other matters, launched out
+upon the misery of the realm: that, she said, was too great to be
+relieved. This letter had been opened at the post--as almost all letters
+were at that time, and are indeed still--and sent to the King. It may be
+imagined that this was a thunderstroke to Madame: it nearly killed her.
+She burst into tears; and Madame de Maintenon very quietly and demurely
+began to represent to her the contents of the letter in all its parts,
+especially as it was addressed to a foreign country. Madame de Ventadour
+interposed with some twaddle, to give Madame time to breathe and recover
+sufficiently to say something. The best excuse was the admission of what
+could not be denied, with supplications for pardon, expressions of
+repentance, prayers, promises. But Madame de Maintenon had not finished
+yet. Having got rid of the commission she had been charged with by the
+King, she next turned to her own business: she asked Madame how it was,
+that after being so friendly with her a long time ago, she had suddenly
+ceased to bestow any regard upon her, and had continued to treat her with
+coldness ever since. At this, Madame thinking herself quite safe, said
+that the coldness was on the part of Madame de Maintenon, who had all on
+a sudden discontinued the friendly intercourse which formerly existed
+between them. As before, Madame de Maintenon allowed Madame to talk her
+fill before she replied. She then said she was about to divulge a secret
+which had never escaped her mouth, although she had for ten years been at
+liberty to tell it; and she forthwith related a thousand most offensive
+things which had been uttered against her by Madame to the late Madame la
+Dauphine. This latter, falling out with Madame, had related all these
+things to Madame de Maintenon, who now brought them forward triumphantly.
+
+At this new blow, Madame was thunderstruck, and stood like a statue.
+There was nothing for it but to behave as before--that is to say, shed
+tears, cry, ask pardon, humble herself, and beg for mercy. Madame de
+Maintenon triumphed coldly over her for a long time,--allowing her to
+excite herself in talking, and weeping, and taking her hands, which she
+did with increasing energy and humility. This was a terrible humiliation
+for such a haughty German. Madame de Maintenon at last gave way, as she
+had always meant to do after having satiated her vengeance. They
+embraced, promised forgetfulness on both sides, and a new friendship from
+that time. The King, who was not ignorant of what had occurred, took
+back Madame into favour. She went neither to a convent nor to Montargis,
+but was allowed to remain in Paris, and her pension was augmented. As
+for M. le Duc de Chartres, he was prodigiously well treated. The King
+gave him all the pensions Monsieur had enjoyed, besides allowing him to
+retain his own; so that he had one million eight hundred thousand livres
+a year; added to the Palais Royal, Saint Cloud, and other mansions. He
+had a Swiss guard, which none but the sons of France had ever had before;
+in fact he retained all the privileges his father had enjoyed, and he
+took the name of Duc d'Orleans. The pensions of Madame de Chartres were
+augmented. All these honours so great and so unheard of bestowed on M.
+de Chartres, and an income of a hundred thousand crowns more than his
+father, were due solely to the quarrel which had recently taken place
+between Monsieur and the King, as to the marriage M. de Chartres had
+made. People accustom themselves to everything, but this prodigious good
+fortune infinitely surprised everybody. The Princes of the blood were
+extremely mortified. To console them, the King immediately gave to M. le
+Prince all the advantages of a first Prince of the blood, and added ten
+thousand crowns to his pension.
+
+Madame wore deep mourning for forty days, after which she threw it almost
+entirely aside, with the King's permission. He did not like to see such
+sad-looking things before his eyes every day. Madame went about in
+public, and with the Court, in her half-mourning, under pretence that
+being with the King, and living under his roof, she was of the family.
+But her conduct was not the less thought strange in spite of this excuse.
+During the winter, as the King could not well go to the theatre, the
+theatre cane to him, in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, where
+comedies with music were played. The King wore mourning for six months,
+and paid all the expenses of the superb funeral which took place on the
+13th of June.
+
+While upon the subject of Monsieur, I will relate an anecdote known to
+but few people, concerning the death of his first wife, Henriette
+d'Angleterre, whom nobody doubts was poisoned. Her gallantries made
+Monsieur jealous; and his tastes made her furious. His favourites, whom
+she hated, did all in their power to sow discord between them, in order
+to dispose of Monsieur at their will. The Chevalier de Lorraine, then in
+the prime of his first youth (having been born in 1643) completely ruled
+over Monsieur, and made Madame feel that he had this power. She,
+charming and young, could not suffer this, and complained to the King,
+so that M. de Lorraine was exiled. When Monsieur heard this, he swooned,
+then melted into tears, and throwing himself at the feet of the King,
+implored him to recall M. de Lorraine. But his prayers were useless,
+and, rushing away in fury, he retired into the country and remained there
+until, ashamed of a thing so publicly disgraceful, he returned to Paris
+and lived with Madame as before.
+
+Although M. de Lorraine was banished, two of his intimate friends,
+D'Effiat and the Count de Beuvron, remained in the household of Monsieur.
+The absence of M. de Lorraine nipped all their hopes of success, and made
+them fear that some other favourite might arrive from whom they could
+hope for nothing. They saw no chance that M. de Lorraine's exile would
+speedily terminate; for Madame (Henriette d'Angleterre) was in greater
+favour with the King than ever, and had just been sent by him into
+England on a mysterious errand in which she had perfectly succeeded.
+She returned triumphant and very well in health. This gave the last blow
+to the hopes of D'Effiat and Beuvron, as to the return of M. de Lorraine,
+who had gone to Italy to try to get rid of his vexation. I know not
+which of the three thought of it first, but the Chevalier de Lorraine
+sent a sure and rapid poison to his two friends by a messenger who did
+not probably know what he carried.
+
+At Saint Cloud, Madame was in the habit of taking a glass of endive-
+water, at about seven o'clock in the evening. A servant of hers used to
+make it, and then put it away in a cupboard where there was some ordinary
+water for the use of Madame if she found the other too bitter. The
+cupboard was in an antechamber which served as the public passage by
+which the apartments of Madame were reached. D'Effiat took notice of all
+these things, and on the 29th of June, 1670, he went to the ante-chamber;
+saw that he was unobserved and that nobody was near, and threw the poison
+into the endive-water; then hearing some one approaching, he seized the
+jug of common water and feigned to be putting it back in its place just
+as the servant, before alluded to, entered and asked him sharply what he
+was doing in that cupboard. D'Effiat, without losing countenance, asked
+his pardon, and said, that being thirsty, and knowing there was some
+water in the cupboard, he could not resist drinking. The servant
+grumbled; and D'Effiat, trying to appease him, entered the apartments of
+Madame, like the other courtiers, and began talking without the slightest
+emotion.
+
+What followed an hour afterwards does not belong to my subject, and has
+made only too much stir throughout all Europe. Madame died on the
+morrow, June 30, at three o'clock in the morning; and the King was
+profoundly prostrated with grief. Apparently during the day, some
+indications showed him that Purnon, chief steward of Madame, was in the
+secret of her decease. Purnon was brought before him privately, and was
+threatened with instant death, unless he disclosed all; full pardon being
+on the contrary promised him if he did. Purnon, thus pressed, admitted
+that Madame had been poisoned, and under the circumstance I have just
+related. "And my brother," said the King, "did he know of this?"--
+"No, Sire, not one of us was stupid enough to tell him; he has no
+secrecy, he would have betrayed us." On hearing this answer the King
+uttered a great "ah!" like a man oppressed, who suddenly breathes again.
+
+Purnon was immediately set at liberty; and years afterwards related this
+narrative to M. Joly de Fleury, procureur-general of the Parliament, by
+which magistrate it was related to me. From this same magistrate I
+learned that, a few days before the second marriage of Monsieur, the King
+took Madame aside and told her that circumstance, assuring her that he
+was too honest a man to wish her to marry his brother, if that brother
+could be capable of such a crime. Madame profited by what she heard.
+Purnon remained in her service; but after a time she pretended to find
+faults in him, and made him resign; he sold his post accordingly, towards
+the end of 1674, to Maurel de Vaulonne, and quitted her service.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A the breaking out of the war in Italy this year Segur bought the
+government of the Foix country from Tallard, one of the generals called
+away to serve in that war. Segur had been in his youth a very handsome
+fellow; he was at that time in the Black Musketeers, and this company was
+always quartered at Nemours while the Court was at Fontainebleau. Segur
+played very well upon the lute; but found life dull, nevertheless, at
+Nemours, made the acquaintance of the Abbesse de la Joye, a place hard
+by, and charmed her ears and eyes so much that she became with child by
+him. After some months the Abbess pleaded illness, left the convent, and
+set out for the waters, as she said. Putting off her journey too long,
+she was obliged to stop a night at Fontainebleau; and in consequence of
+the Court being there, could find no accommodation, except in a wretched
+little inn already full of company. She had delayed so long that the
+pangs of labour seized her in the night, and the cries she uttered
+brought all the house to her assistance. She was delivered of a child
+then and there; and the next morning this fact was the talk of the town.
+
+The Duc de Saint Aignan, one of the first of the courtiers who learned
+it, went straight to the King, who was brisk and free enough in those
+days, and related to him what had occurred; the King laughed heartily at
+the poor Abbess, who, while trying to hide her shame, had come into the
+very midst of the Court. Nobody knew then that her abbey was only four
+leagues distant, but everybody learned it soon, and the Duc de Saint
+Aignan among the first.
+
+When he returned to his house, he found long faces on every side. His
+servants made signs one to another, but nobody said a word. He perceived
+this, and asked what was the matter; but, for some time, no one dared to
+reply. At last a valet-de-chambre grew bold enough to say to Saint
+Aignan, that the Abbess, whose adventure had afforded so much mirth, was
+his own daughter; and that, after he had gone to the King, she had sent
+for assistance, in order to get out of the place where she was staying.
+
+It was now the Duke's turn to be confused. After having made the King
+and all the Court laugh at this adventure, he became himself the
+laughing-stock of everybody. He bore the affair as well as he could;
+carried away the Abbess and her baggage; and, as the scandal was public,
+made her send in her resignation and hide herself in another convent,
+where she lived more than forty years.
+
+That worthy man, Saint-Herem, died this year at his house in Auvergne, to
+which he had retired. Everybody liked him; and M. de Rochefoucauld had
+reproached the King for not making him Chevalier of the Order. The King
+had confounded him with Courtine, his brother-in-law, for they had
+married two sisters; but when put right had not given the favour.
+
+Madame de Saint-Herem was the most singular creature in the world, not
+only in face but in manners. She half boiled her thigh one day in the
+Seine, near Fontainebleau, where she was bathing. The river was too
+cold; she wished to warm it, and had a quantity of water heated and
+thrown into the stream just above her. The water reaching her before it
+could grow cold, scalded her so much that she was forced to keep her bed.
+
+When it thundered, she used to squat herself under a couch and make all
+her servants lie above, one upon the other, so that if the thunderbolt
+fell, it might have its effect upon them before penetrating to her. She
+had ruined herself and her husband, though they were rich, through sheer
+imbecility; and it is incredible the amount of money she spent in her
+absurdities.
+
+The best adventure which happened to her, among a thousand others, was at
+her house in the Place Royale, where she was one day attacked by a
+madman, who, finding her alone in her chamber, was very enterprising.
+The good lady, hideous at eighteen, but who was at this time eighty and a
+widow, cried aloud as well as she could. Her servants heard her at last,
+ran to her assistance, and found her all disordered, struggling in the
+hands of this raging madman. The man was found to be really out of his
+senses when brought before the tribunal, and the story amused everybody.
+
+The health of the King of England (James II.), which had for some time
+been very languishing, grew weaker towards the middle of August of this
+year, and by the 8th of September completely gave way. There was no
+longer any hope. The King, Madame de Maintenon, and all the royal
+persons, visited him often. He received the last sacrament with a piety
+in keeping with his past life, and his death was expected every instant.
+In this conjuncture the King made a resolve more worthy of Louis XII., or
+Francis I., than of his own wisdom. On Tuesday, the 13th of September,
+he went from Marly to Saint Germain. The King of England was so ill that
+when the King was announced to him he scarcely opened his eyes for an
+instant. The King told him that he might die in peace respecting the
+Prince of Wales, whom he would recognise as King of England, Scotland,
+and Ireland.
+
+The few English who were there threw themselves upon their knees, but the
+King of England gave no signs of life. The gratitude of the Prince of
+Wales and of his mother, when they heard what the King had said, may be
+imagined. Returned to Marly, the King repeated to all the Court what he
+had said. Nothing was heard but praises and applause.
+
+Yet reflections did not fail to be made promptly, if not publicly. It
+was seen, that to recognise the Prince of Wales was to act in direct
+opposition to the recognition of the Prince of Orange as King of England,
+that the King had declared at the Peace of Ryswick. It was to wound the
+Prince of Orange in the tenderest point, and to invite England and
+Holland to become allies of the Emperor against France. As for the
+Prince of Wales, this recognition was no solid advantage to him, but was
+calculated to make the party opposed to him in England only more bitter
+and vigilant in their opposition.
+
+The King of England, in the few intervals of intelligence he had,
+appeared much impressed by what the King had done. He died about three
+o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th September of this year, 1701.
+He had requested that there might he no display at his funeral, and his
+wish was faithfully observed. He was buried on the Saturday, at seven
+o'clock in the evening, in the church of the English Benedictines at
+Paris, Rue St. Jacques, without pomp, and attended by but few mourners.
+His body rests in the chapel, like that of the simplest private person,
+until the time, apparently very distant, when it shall be transported to
+England. His heart is at the Filles de Sainte Marie, of Chaillot.
+
+Immediately afterwards, the Prince of Wales was received by the King as
+King of England, with all the formalities and state with which his father
+before him had been received. Soon afterwards he was recognised by the
+new King of Spain.
+
+The Count of Manchester, English ambassador in France, ceased to appear
+at Versailles after this recognition of the Prince of Wales by the King,
+and immediately quitted his post and left the country without any leave-
+taking. King William heard, while in Holland, of the death of James II.
+and of this recognition. He was at table with some German princes and
+other lords when the news arrived; did not utter a word, except to
+announce the death; but blushed, pulled down his hat, and could not keep
+his countenance. He sent orders to London, to drive out Poussin, acting
+as French ambassador, immediately; and Poussin directly crossed the sea
+and arrived at Calais.
+
+This event was itself followed by the signing of the great treaty of
+alliance, offensive and defensive, against France and Spain, by Austria,
+England, and Holland; in which they afterwards succeeded in engaging
+other powers, which compelled the King to increase the number of his
+troops.
+
+Just after the return of the Court from Fontainebleau, a strange scene
+happened at St. Maur, in a pretty house there which M. le Duc possessed.
+He was at this house one night with five or six intimate friends, whom he
+had invited to pass the night there. One of these friends was the Comte
+de Fiesque. At table, and before the wine had begun to circulate, a
+dispute upon some historical point arose between him and M. le Duc. The
+Comte de Fiesque, who had some intellect and learning, strongly sustained
+his opinion. M. le Duc sustained his; and for want of better reasons,
+threw a plate at the head of Fiesque, drove him from the table and out of
+the house. So sudden and strange a scene frightened the guests. The
+Comte de Fiesque, who had gone to M. le Duc's house with the intention of
+passing the night there, had not retained a carriage, went to ask shelter
+of the cure, and got back to Paris the next day as early in the morning
+as he could. It may be imagined that the rest of the supper and of the
+evening was terribly dull. M. le Duc remained fuming (perhaps against
+himself, but without saying so), and could not be induced to apologise
+for the affront. It made a great stir in society, and things remained
+thus several months. After a while, friends mixed themselves in the
+matter; M. le Duc, completely himself again, made all the advances
+towards a reconciliation. The Comte de Fiesque received them, and the
+reconciliation took place. The most surprising thing is, that after this
+they continued on as good terms as though nothing had passed between
+them.
+
+The year 1702 commenced with balls at Versailles, many of which were
+masquerades. Madame du Maine gave several in her chamber, always keeping
+her bed because she was in the family-way; which made rather a singular
+spectacle. There were several balls at Marly, but the majority were not
+masquerades. The King often witnessed, but in strict privacy, and always
+in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, sacred dramas such as
+"Absalon," "Athalie," &c. Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, the Comte and Comtesse d'Anjou, the young Comte de Noailles,
+Mademoiselle de Melun, urged by the Noailles, played the principal
+characters in very magnificent stage dresses. Baron, the excellent old
+actor, instructed them and played with them. M. de Noailles and his
+clever wife were the inventors and promoters of these interior pleasures,
+for the purpose of intruding themselves more and more into the society of
+the King, in support of the alliance of Madame de Maintenon.
+
+Only forty spectators were admitted to the representations. Madame was
+sometimes invited by the King, because she liked plays. This favour was
+much sought after. Madame de Maintenon wished to show that she had
+forgotten the past.
+
+Longepierre had written a very singular piece called "Electra," which was
+played on a magnificent stage erected in Madame de Conti's house, and all
+the Court flocked several times to see it. This piece was without love,
+but full of other passions and of most interesting situations. I think
+it had been written in the hopes that the King would go and see it. But
+he contented himself with hearing it talked about, and the representation
+was confined to the Hotel de Conti. Longepierre would not allow it to be
+given elsewhere. He was an intriguing fellow of much wit, gentle,
+insinuating, and who, under a tranquillity and indifference and a very
+deceitful philosophy, thrust himself everywhere, and meddled with
+everything in order to make his fortune. He succeeded in intruding
+himself into favour with the Duc d'Orleans, but behaved so badly that he
+was driven away.
+
+The death of the Abbe de Vatteville occurred at the commencement of this
+year, and made some noise, on account of the prodigies of the Abbe's
+life. This Vatteville was the younger son of a Franche-Comte family;
+early in life he joined the Order of the Chartreux monks, and was
+ordained priest. He had much intellect, but was of an impetuous spirit,
+and soon began to chafe under the yoke of a religious life. He
+determined, therefore, to set himself free from it, and procured some
+secular habits, pistols, and a horse. Just as he was about to escape
+over the walls of the monastery by means of a ladder, the prior entered
+his cell.
+
+Vatteville made no to-do, but at once drew a pistol, shot the prior dead,
+and effected his escape.
+
+Two or three days afterwards, travelling over the country and avoiding
+as much as possible the frequented places, he arrived at a wretched
+roadside inn, and asked what there was in the house. The landlord
+replied--"A leg of mutton and a capon."--"Good!" replied our unfrocked
+monk; "put them down to roast."
+
+The landlord replied that they were too much for a single person, and
+that he had nothing else for the whole house. The monk upon this flew
+into a passion, and declared that the least the landlord could do was to
+give him what he would pay for; and that he had sufficient appetite to
+eat both leg of mutton and capon. They were accordingly put down to the
+fire, the landlord not daring to say another word. While they were
+cooking, a traveller on horseback arrived at the inn, and learning that
+they were for one person, was much astonished. He offered to pay his
+share to be allowed to dine off them with the stranger who had ordered
+this dinner; but the landlord told him he was afraid the gentleman would
+not consent to the arrangement. Thereupon the traveller went upstairs,
+and civilly asked Vatteville if he might dine with him on paying half of
+the expense. Vatteville would not consent, and a dispute soon arose
+between the two; to be brief, the monk served this traveller as he had
+served the prior, killed him with a pistol shot. After this he went
+downstairs tranquilly, and in the midst of the fright of the landlord and
+of the whole house, had the leg of mutton and capon served up to him,
+picked both to the very bone, paid his score, remounted his horse, and
+went his way.
+
+Not knowing what course to take, he went to Turkey, and in order to
+succeed there, had himself circumcised, put on the turban, and entered
+into the militia. His blasphemy advanced him, his talents and his colour
+distinguished him; he became Bacha, and the confidential man in the
+Morea, where the Turks were making war against the Venetians. He
+determined to make use of this position in order to advance his own
+interests, and entering into communication with the generalissimo of the
+Republic, promised to betray into his hands several secret places
+belonging to the Turks, but on certain conditions. These were,
+absolution from the Pope for all crimes of his life, his murders and his
+apostasy included; security against the Chartreux and against being
+placed in any other Order; full restitution of his civil rights, and
+liberty to exercise his profession of priest with the right of possessing
+all benefices of every kind. The Venetians thought the bargain too good
+to be refused, and the Pope, in the interest of the Church, accorded all
+the demands of the Bacha. When Vatteville was quite assured that his
+conditions would be complied with, he took his measures so well that he
+executed perfectly all he had undertaken. Immediately after he threw
+himself into the Venetian army, and passed into Italy. He was well
+received at Rome by the Pope, and returned to his family in Franche-
+Comte, and amused himself by braving the Chartreux.
+
+At the first conquest of the Franche-Comte, he intrigued so well with the
+Queen-mother and the ministry, that he was promised the Archbishopric of
+Besancon; but the Pope cried out against this on account of his murders,
+circumcision, and apostasy. The King sided with the Pope, and Vatteville
+was obliged to be contented with the abbey of Baume, another good abbey
+in Picardy, and divers other advantages.
+
+Except when he came to the Court, where he was always received with great
+distinction, he remained at his abbey of Baume, living there like a grand
+seigneur, keeping a fine pack of hounds, a good table, entertaining
+jovial company, keeping mistresses very freely; tyrannising over his
+tenants and his neighbours in the most absolute manner. The intendants
+gave way to him, and by express orders of the Court allowed him to act
+much as he pleased, even with the taxes, which he regulated at his will,
+and in his conduct was oftentimes very violent. With these manners and
+this bearing, which caused him to be both feared and respected, he would
+often amuse himself by going to see the Chartreux, in order to plume
+himself on having quitted their frock. He played much at hombre, and
+frequently gained 'codille' (a term of the game), so that the name of the
+Abbe Codille was given to him. He lived in this manner always with the
+same licence and in the same consideration, until nearly ninety years of
+age.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The changes which took place in the army after the Peace of Ryswick, were
+very great and very strange. The excellence of the regiments, the merits
+of the officers, those who commanded, all were forgotten by Barbezieux,
+young and impetuous, whom the King allowed to act as he liked. My
+regiment was disbanded, and my company was incorporated with that of
+Count d'Uzes, brother-in-law of Duras, who looked well after the
+interests of his relative. I was thus deprived of command, without
+regiment, without company, and the only opportunity offered me was to
+serve in a regiment commanded by Saint Morris, where I should have been,
+as it were, at the lowest step of the ladder, with my whole military
+career to begin over again.
+
+I had served at the head of my regiment during four campaigns, with
+applause and reputation, I am bold enough to say it. I thought therefore
+I was entitled to better treatment than this. Promotions were made; five
+officers, all my juniors, were placed over my head. I resolved then to
+leave the service, but not to take a rash step. I consulted first with
+several friends before sending in my resignation. All whom I consulted
+advised me to quit the service, but for a long time I could not resolve
+to do so. Nearly three months passed, during which I suffered cruel
+anguish of mind from my irresolution. I knew that if I left the army I
+should be certain to incur the anger of the King, and I do not hesitate
+to say that this was not a matter of indifference to me. The King was
+always annoyed when anybody ceased to serve; he called it "quitting him;"
+and made his anger felt for a long time. At last, however, I determined
+on my course of action.
+
+I wrote a short letter to the King, in which, without making any
+complaints, I said that as my health was not good (it had given me some
+trouble on different occasions) I begged to be allowed to quit his
+service, and said that I hoped I should be permitted to console myself
+for leaving the army by assiduously attending upon him at the Court:
+After despatching this letter I went away immediately to Paris.
+
+I learnt afterwards from my friends, that upon receiving my letter the
+King called Chamillart to him, and said with emotion: "Well! Monsieur,
+here is another man who quits us!--" and he read my letter word for word.
+I did not learn that anything else escaped him.
+
+As for me, I did not return to Versailles for a whole week, or see the
+King again until Easter Monday. After his supper that evening, and when
+about to undress himself, he paid me a distinction, a mere trifle I
+admit, and which I should be ashamed to mention if it did not under the
+circumstances serve as a characteristic of him.
+
+Although the place he undressed in was very well illuminated, the
+chaplain at the evening prayers there held in his hand a lighted candle,
+which he gave afterwards to the chief valet-de-chambre, who carried it
+before the King until he reached his arm-chair, and then handed it to
+whomever the King ordered him to give it to. On this evening the King,
+glancing all around him, cast his eye upon me, and told the valet to give
+the candle to me. It was an honour which he bestowed sometimes upon one,
+sometimes upon another, according to his whim, but which, by his manner
+of bestowing it, was always coveted, as a great distinction. My surprise
+may be imagined when I heard myself named aloud for this office, not only
+on this but on many other occasions. It was not that there was any lack
+of people of consideration to hold the candle; but the King was
+sufficiently piqued by my retirement not to wish everybody to see that
+he was so.
+
+For three years he failed not to make me feel to what extent he was angry
+with me. He spoke to me no longer; he scarcely bestowed a glance upon
+me, and never once alluded to my letter. To show that his annoyance did
+not extend to my wife, but that it was solely and wholly directed against
+me, he bestowed, about eight months after, several marks of favour upon
+Madame de Saint-Simon. She was continually invited to the suppers at
+Trianon--an honour which had never before been granted her. I only
+laughed at this. Madame de Saint-Simon was not invited to Marly; because
+the husbands always, by right, accompanied their wives there, apartments
+being given for both. At Trianon it was different. Nobody was allowed
+to sleep there except those absolutely in attendance. The King wished,
+therefore, the better to mark by this distinction that the exclusion was
+intended for me alone, and that my wife had no part in it.
+
+Notwithstanding this; I persevered in my ordinary assiduity, without ever
+asking to be invited to Marly, and lived agreeably with my wife and my
+friends. I have thought it best to finish with this subject at once--now
+I must go back to my starting point.
+
+At the commencement of this year (1702) it seemed as though the
+flatterers of the King foresaw that the prosperity of his reign was at
+an end, and that henceforth they would only have to praise him for his
+constancy. The great number of medals that had been struck on all
+occasions--the most ordinary not having been forgotten--were collected,
+engraved, and destined for a medallic history. The Abbes Tallemant,
+Toureil, and Dacier, three learned members of the Academy, were charged
+with the explanation to be placed opposite each of these medals, in a
+large volume of the most magnificent impression of the Louvre. As the
+history commenced at the death of Louis XIII., his medal was placed at
+the head of the book, and thus it became necessary to say something of
+him in the preface.
+
+As it was known that I had a correct knowledge of Louis XIII., I was
+asked to write that portion of the preface which related to him. I
+consented to this, but on condition that I should be spared the ridicule
+of it in society, and that the matter should be faithfully kept secret.
+I wrote my theme then, which cost me little more than a morning, being of
+small extent. I had the fate of authors: my writing was praised, and
+appeared to answer all expectations. I congratulated myself, delighted
+at having devoted two or three hours to a grateful duty--for so I
+considered it.
+
+But when my essay was examined, the three gentlemen above-named were
+affrighted. There are truths the unstudied simplicity of which emits a
+lustre which obscures all the results of an eloquence which exaggerates
+or extenuates; Louis XIII. furnished such proofs in abundance. I had
+contented myself by showing them forth; but this picture tarnished those
+which followed--so at least it appeared to those who had gilded the
+latter. They applied themselves, therefore, to cut out, or weaken,
+everything that might, by comparison, obscure their hero. But as they
+found at last that it was not me they had to correct, but the thing
+itself, they gave up the task altogether, threw aside my writing, and
+printed the history without any notice whatever of Louis XIII. under his
+portrait--except to note that his death caused his son to ascend the
+throne.
+
+Reflections upon this kind of iniquity would carry me too far.
+
+In the early part of this year (1702), King William (of England), worn
+out before his time with labours and business, in which he had been
+engaged all his life, and which he had carried on with a capacity, an
+address, a superiority of genius that acquired for him supreme authority
+in Holland, the crown of England, the confidence, and, to speak the
+truth, the complete dictatorship of all Europe--except France;--King
+William, I say, had fallen into a wasting of strength and of health
+which, without attacking or diminishing his intellect, or causing him to
+relax the infinite labours of his cabinet, was accompanied by a
+deficiency of breath, which aggravated the asthma he had had for several
+years. He felt his condition, and his powerful genius did not disavow
+it. Under forged names he consulted the most eminent physicians of
+Europe, among others, Fagon; who, having to do, as he thought, with a
+cure, replied in all sincerity, and with out dissimulation, that he must
+prepare for a speedy death. His illness increasing, William consulted
+Fagon, anew, but this time openly. The physician recognised the malady
+of the cure--he did not change his opinion, but expressed it in a less
+decided manner, and prescribed with much feeling the remedies most likely
+if not to cure, at least to prolong. These remedies were followed and
+gave relief; but at last the time had arrived when William was to feel
+that the greatest men finish like the humblest and to see the nothingness
+of what the world calls great destinies.
+
+He rode out as often as he could; but no longer having the strength to
+hold himself on horseback, received a fall, which hastened his end by the
+shock it gave him. He occupied himself with religion as little as he had
+all his life. He ordered everything, and spoke to his ministers and his
+familiars with a surprising tranquillity, which did not abandon him until
+the last moment. Although crushed with pain, he had the satisfaction of
+thinking that he had consummated a great alliance, which would last after
+his death, and that it would strike the great blow against France, which
+he had projected. This thought, which flattered him even in the hour of
+death, stood in place of all other consolation,--a consolation frivolous
+and cruelly deceitful, which left him soon the prey to eternal truths!
+For two days he was sustained by strong waters and spirituous liquors.
+His last nourishment was a cup of chocolate. He died the 19th March,
+1702, at ten o'clock in the morning.
+
+The Princess Anne, his sister-in-law, wife of Prince George of Denmark,
+was at the same time proclaimed queen. A few days after, she declared
+her husband Grand Admiral and Commander-in-Chief (generalissimo),
+recalled the Earl of Rochester, her maternal uncle, and the Earl of
+Sunderland, and sent the Count of Marlborough, afterwards so well known,
+to Holland to follow out there all the plans of his predecessor.
+
+The King did not learn this death until the Saturday morning following,
+by a courier from Calais. A boat had escaped, in spite of the vigilance
+which had closed the ports. The King was silent upon the news, except to
+Monseigneur and to Madame de Maintenon. On the next day confirmation of
+the intelligence arrived from all parts. The King no longer made a
+secret of it, but spoke little on the subject, and affected much
+indifference respecting it. With the recollection of all the indecent
+follies committed in Paris during the last war, when it was believed that
+William had been killed at the battle of the Boyne in Ireland, the
+necessary precautions against falling into the same error were taken by
+the King's orders.
+
+The King simply declared that he would not wear mourning, and prohibited
+the Duc de Bouillon, the Marechal de Duras and the Marechal de Lorges,
+who were all related to William, from doing so--an act probably without
+example. Nearly all England and the United Provinces mourned the loss of
+William. Some good republicans alone breathed again with joy in secret,
+at having recovered their liberty. The grand alliance was very sensibly
+touched by this loss, but found itself so well cemented, that the spirit
+of William continued to animate it; and Heinsius, his confidant,
+perpetuated it, and inspired all the chiefs of the republic, their allies
+and their generals, with it, so that it scarcely appeared that William
+was no more.
+
+I have related, in its proper place, all that happened to Catinat in
+Italy, when the schemes of Tesse and M. de Vaudemont caused him to be
+dismissed from the command of the army. After the signing of the
+alliance against France by the Emperor, England, and Holland, the war
+took a more extended field. It became necessary to send an army to the
+Rhine. There was nothing for it but to have recourse to Catinat.
+
+Since his return from Italy, he had almost always lived at his little
+house of Saint Gratien, beyond Saint Denis, where he bore with wisdom the
+injury that had been done him and the neglect he had experienced upon his
+return, surrounded by his family and a small number of friends.
+Chamillart one day sent for him, saying that he had the King's order to
+talk with him. Catinat went accordingly to Chamillart, from whom he
+learned that he was destined for the Rhine; he refused the command, and
+only accepted it after a long dispute, by the necessity of obedience.
+
+On the morrow, the 11th of March, the King called Catinat into his
+cabinet. The conversation was amiable on the part of the King, serious
+and respectful on the part of Catinat. The King, who perceived this,
+wished to make him speak about Italy, and pressed him to explain what had
+really passed there. Catinat excused himself, saying that everything
+belonged to the past, and that it was useless now to rake up matters
+which would give him a bad opinion of the people who served him, and
+nourish eternal enmity. The King admired the sagacity and virtue of
+Catinat, but, wishing to sound the depths of certain things, and discover
+who was really to blame, pressed him more and more to speak out;
+mentioning certain things which Catinat had not rendered an account of,
+and others he had been silent upon, all of which had come to him from
+other sources.
+
+Catinat, who, by his conversation of the previous evening with
+Chamillart, suspected that the King would say something to him, had
+brought his papers to Versailles. Sure of his position, he declared that
+he had not in any way failed to render account to Chamillart or to the
+King, and detailed the very things that had just been mentioned to him.
+He begged that a messenger might be despatched in order to search his
+cassette, in which the proofs of what he had advanced could be seen,
+truths that Chamillart, if present, he said, would not dare to disavow.
+The King took him at his word, and sent in search of Chamillart.
+
+When he arrived, the King related to him the conversation that had just
+taken place. Chamillart replied with an embarrassed voice, that there
+was no necessity to wait for the cassette of Catinat, for he admitted
+that the accusation against him was true in every respect. The King,
+much astonished, reproved him for his infidelity in keeping silence upon
+these comments, whereby Catinat had lost his favour.
+
+Chamillart, his eyes lowered, allowed the King to say on; but as he felt
+that his anger was rising; said. "Sire, you are right; but it is not my
+fault."
+
+"And whose is it, then?" replied the King warmly. "Is it mine?"
+
+"Certainly not, Sire," said Chamillart, trembling; "but I am bold enough
+to tell you, with the most exact truth, that it is not mine."
+
+The King insisting, Chamillart was obliged to explain, that having shown
+the letters of Catinat to Madame de Maintenon, she had commanded him to
+keep them from his Majesty, and to say not a syllable about them.
+Chamillart added, that Madame de Maintenon was not far off, and
+supplicated the King to ask her the truth of this matter.
+
+In his turn, the King was now more embarrassed than Chamillart; lowering
+his voice, he said that it was inconceivable how Madame de Maintenon felt
+interested in his comfort, and endeavoured to keep from him everything
+that might vex him, and without showing any more displeasure, turned to
+Marshal Catinat, said he was delighted with an explanation which showed
+that nobody was wrong; addressed several gracious remarks to the Marshal;
+begged him to remain on good terms with Chamillart, and hastened to quit
+them and enter into his private cabinet.
+
+Catinat, more ashamed of what he had just heard and seen than pleased
+with a justification so complete, paid some compliments to Chamillart,
+who, out of his wits at the perilous explanation he had given, received
+them, and returned them as well as he could. They left the cabinet soon
+after, and the selection of Catinat by the King for the command of the
+army of the Rhine was declared.
+
+Reflections upon this affair present themselves of their own accord.
+The King verified what had been said that very evening with Madame de
+Maintenon. They were only on better terms than ever in consequence. She
+approved of Chamillart for avowing all; and this minister was only the
+better treated afterwards by the King and by Madame de Maintenon.
+
+As for Catinat, he took the command he had been called to, but did not
+remain long in it. The explanations that had passed, all the more
+dangerous because in his favour, were not of a kind to prove otherwise
+than hurtful to him. He soon resigned his command, finding himself too
+much obstructed to do anything, and retired to his house of Saint
+Gratien, near Saint Denis, which he scarcely ever left, and where he saw
+only a few private friends, sorry that he had ever left it, and that he
+had listened to the cajoleries of the King.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+Canaples, brother of the Marechal de Crequi, wished to marry Mademoiselle
+de Vivonne who was no longer young, but was distinguished by talent,
+virtue and high birth; she had not a penny. The Cardinal de Coislin,
+thinking Canaples too old to marry, told him so. Canaples said he wanted
+to have children. "Children!" exclaimed the Cardinal. "But she is so
+virtuous!" Everybody burst out laughing; and the more willingly, as the
+Cardinal, very pure in his manners, was still more so in his language.
+His saying was verified by the event: the marriage proved sterile.
+
+The Duc de Coislin died about this time. I have related in its proper
+place an adventure that happened to him and his brother, the Chevalier de
+Coislin: now I will say something more of the Duke. He was a very little
+man, of much humour and virtue, but of a politeness that was unendurable,
+and that passed all bounds, though not incompatible with dignity. He had
+been lieutenant-general in the army. Upon one occasion, after a battle
+in which he had taken part, one of the Rhingraves who had been made
+prisoner, fell to his lot. The Duc de Coislin wished to give up to the
+other his bed, which consisted indeed of but a mattress. They
+complimented each other so much, the one pressing, the other refusing,
+that in the end they both slept upon the ground, leaving the mattress
+between them. The Rhingrave in due time came to Paris and called on the
+Duc de Coislin. When he was going, there was such a profusion of
+compliments, and the Duke insisted so much on seeing him out, that the
+Rhingrave, as a last resource, ran out of the room, and double locked the
+door outside. M. de Coislin was not thus to be outdone. His apartments
+were only a few feet above the ground. He opened the window accordingly,
+leaped out into the court, and arrived thus at the entrance-door before
+the Rhingrave, who thought the devil must have carried him there. The
+Duc de Coislin, however, had managed to put his thumb out of joint by
+this leap. He called in Felix, chief surgeon of the King, who soon put
+the thumb to rights. Soon afterwards Felix made a call upon M. de
+Coislin to see how he was, and found that the cure was perfect. As he
+was about to leave, M. de Coislin must needs open the door for him.
+Felix, with a shower of bows, tried hard to prevent this, and while they
+were thus vying in politeness, each with a hand upon the door, the Duke
+suddenly drew back; he had put his thumb out of joint again, and Felix
+was obliged to attend to it on the spot! It may be imagined what
+laughter this story caused the King, and everybody else, when it became
+known.
+
+There was no end to the outrageous civilities of M. de Coislin. On
+returning from Fontainebleau one day, we, that is Madame de Saint-Simon
+and myself, encountered M. de Coislin and his son, M. de Metz, on foot
+upon the pavement of Ponthierry, where their coach had broken down. We
+sent word, accordingly, that we should be glad to accommodate them in
+ours. But message followed message on both sides; and at last I was
+compelled to alight and to walk through the mud, begging them to mount
+into my coach. M. de Coislin, yielding to my prayers, consented to this.
+M. de Metz was furious with him for his compliments, and at last
+prevailed on him. When M. de Coislin had accepted my offer and we had
+nothing more to do than to gain the coach, he began to capitulate, and to
+protest that he would not displace the two young ladies he saw seated in
+the vehicle. I told him that the two young ladies were chambermaids, who
+could well afford to wait until the other carriage was mended, and then
+continue their journey in that. But he would not hear of this; and at
+last all that M. de Metz and I could do was to compromise the matter, by
+agreeing to take one of the chambermaids with us. When we arrived at the
+coach, they both descended, in order to allow us to mount. During the
+compliments that passed--and they were not short--I told the servant who
+held the coach-door open, to close it as soon as I was inside, and to
+order the coachman to drive on at once. This was done; but M. de Coislin
+immediately began to cry aloud that he would jump out if we did not stop
+for the young ladies; and he set himself to do so in such an odd manner,
+that I had only time to catch hold of the belt of his breeches and hold
+him back; but he still, with his head hanging out of the window,
+exclaimed that he would leap out, and pulled against me. At this
+absurdity I called to the coachman to stop; the Duke with difficulty
+recovered himself, and persisted that he would have thrown himself out.
+The chambermaid was ordered to mount, and mount she did, all covered with
+mud, which daubed us; and she nearly crushed M. de Metz and me in this
+carriage fit only for four.
+
+M. de Coislin could not bear that at parting anybody should give him the
+"last touch;" a piece of sport, rarely cared for except in early youth,
+and out of which arises a chase by the person touched, in order to catch
+him by whom he has been touched. One evening, when the Court was at
+Nancy, and just as everybody was going to bed, M. de Longueville spoke a
+few words in private to two of his torch-bearers, and then touching the
+Duc de Coislin, said he had given him the last touch, and scampered away,
+the Duke hotly pursuing him. Once a little in advance, M. de Longueville
+hid himself in a doorway, allowed M. de Coislin to pass on, and then went
+quietly home to bed. Meanwhile the Duke, lighted by the torch-bearers,
+searched for M. de Longueville all over the town, but meeting with no
+success, was obliged to give up the chase, and went home all in a sweat.
+He was obliged of course to laugh a good deal at this joke, but he
+evidently did not like it over much.
+
+With all his politeness, which was in no way put on, M. de Coislin could,
+when he pleased, show a great deal of firmness, and a resolution to
+maintain his proper dignity worthy of much praise. At Nancy, on this
+same occasion, the Duc de Crequi, not finding apartments provided for him
+to his taste on arriving in town, went, in his brutal manner, and seized
+upon those allotted to the Duc de Coislin. The Duke, arriving a moment
+after, found his servants turned into the street, and soon learned who
+had sent them there. M. de Crequi had precedence of him in rank; he said
+not a word, therefore, but went to the apartments provided for the
+Marechal de Crequi (brother of the other), served him exactly as he
+himself had just been served, and took up his quarters there. The
+Marechal de Crequi arrived in his turn, learned what had occurred, and
+immediately seized upon the apartments of Cavoye, in order to teach him
+how to provide quarters in future so as to avoid all disputes.
+
+On another occasion, M. de Coislin went to the Sorbonne to listen to a
+thesis sustained by the second son of M. de Bouillon. When persons of
+distinction gave these discourses, it was customary for the Princes of
+the blood, and for many of the Court, to go and hear them. M. de Coislin
+was at that time almost last in order of precedence among the Dukes.
+When he took his seat, therefore, knowing that a number of them would
+probably arrive, he left several rows of vacant places in front of him,
+and sat himself down. Immediately afterwards, Novion, Chief President of
+the Parliament, arrived, and seated himself in front of M. de Coislin.
+Astonished at this act of madness, M. de Coislin said not a word, but
+took an arm-chair, and, while Novion turned his head to speak to Cardinal
+de Bouillon, placed that arm-chair in front of the Chief President in
+such a manner that he was as it were imprisoned, and unable to stir.
+M. de Coislin then sat down. This was done so rapidly, that nobody saw
+it until it was finished. When once it was observed, a great stir arose.
+Cardinal de Bouillon tried to intervene. M. de Coislin replied, that
+since the Chief President had forgotten his position he must be taught
+it, and would not budge. The other presidents were in a fright, and
+Novion, enraged by the offence put on him, knew not what to do. It was
+in vain that Cardinal de Bouillon on one side, and his brother on the
+other, tried to persuade M. de Coislin to give way. He would not listen
+to them. They sent a message to him to say that somebody wanted to see
+him at the door on most important business. But this had no effect.
+"There is no business so important," replied M. de Coislin, "as that of
+teaching M. le Premier President what he owes me, and nothing will make
+me go from this place unless M. le President, whom you see behind me,
+goes away first."
+
+At last M. le Prince was sent for, and he with much persuasion
+endeavoured to induce M. de Coislin to release the Chief President from
+his prison. But for some time M. de Coislin would listen as little to M.
+le Prince as he had listened to the others, and threatened to keep Novion
+thus shut up during all the thesis. At length, he consented to set the
+Chief President free, but only on condition that he left the building
+immediately; that M. le Prince should guarantee this; and that no
+"juggling tricks" (that was the term he made use of), should be played
+off to defeat the agreement. M. le Prince at once gave his word that
+everything should be as he required, and M. de Coislin then rose, moved
+away his arm-chair, and said to the Chief President, "Go away, sir! go
+away, sir!" Novion did on the instant go away, in the utmost confusion,
+and jumped into his coach. M. de Coislin thereupon took back his chair
+to its former position and composed himself to listen again.
+
+On every side M. de Coislin was praised for the firmness he had shown.
+The Princes of the blood called upon him the same evening, and
+complimented him for the course he had adopted; and so many other
+visitors came during the evening that his house was quite full until a
+late hour. On the morrow the King also praised him for his conduct, and
+severely blamed the Chief President. Nay more, he commanded the latter
+to go to M. de Coislin, at his house, and beg pardon of him. It is easy
+to comprehend the shame and despair of Novion at being ordered to take so
+humiliating a step, especially after what had already happened to him.
+He prevailed upon M. le Coislin, through the mediation of friends, to
+spare him this pain, and M. de Coislin had the generosity to do so. He
+agreed therefore that when Novion called upon him he would pretend to be
+out, and this was done. The King, when he heard of it, praised very
+highly the forbearance of the Duke.
+
+He was not an old man when he died, but was eaten up with the gout, which
+he sometimes had in his eyes, in his nose, and in his tongue. When in
+this state, his room was filled with the best company. He was very
+generally liked, was truth itself in his dealings and his words, and was
+one of my friends, as he had been the friend of my father before me.
+
+The President de Novion, above alluded to, was a man given up to
+iniquity, whom money and obscure mistresses alone influenced. Lawyers
+complained of his caprices, and pleaders of his injustice. At last, he
+went so far as to change decisions of the court when they were given him
+to sign, which was not found out for some time, but which led to his
+disgrace. He was replaced by Harlay in 1689; and lived in ignominy for
+four years more.
+
+About this time died Petit, a great physician, who had wit, knowledge,
+experience, and probity; and yet lived to the last without being ever
+brought to admit the circulation of the blood.
+
+A rather strange novelty was observed at Fontainebleau: Madame publicly
+at the play, in the second year of her mourning for Monsieur! She made
+some objections at first, but the King persuaded her, saying that what
+took place in his palace ought not to be considered as public.
+
+On Saturday, the 22nd of October of this year (1702), at about ten in the
+morning, I had the misfortune to lose my father-in-law, the Marechal de
+Lorges, who died from the effects of an unskilful operation performed
+upon him for the stone. He had been brought up as a Protestant, and had
+practised that religion. But he had consulted on the one hand with
+Bossuet, and on the other hand with M. Claude, (Protestant) minister of
+Charenton, without acquainting them that he was thus in communication
+with both. In the end the arguments of Bossuet so convinced him that he
+lost from that time all his doubts, became steadfastly attached to the
+Catholic religion, and strove hard to convert to it all the Protestants
+with whom he spoke. M. de Turenne, with whom he was intimately allied,
+was in a similar state of mind, and, singularly enough, his doubts were
+resolved at the same time, and in exactly the same manner, as those of M.
+de Lorges. The joy of the two friends, who had both feared they should
+be estranged from each other when they announced their conversion, was
+very great. The Comtesse de Roye, sister to M. de Lorges, was sorely
+affected at this change, and she would not consent to see him except on
+condition that he never spoke of it.
+
+M. de Lorges commanded with great distinction in Holland and elsewhere,
+and at the death of M. de Turenne, took for the time, and with great
+honour, his place. He was made Marshal of France on the 21st of
+February, 1676, not before he had fairly won that distinction. The
+remainder of his career showed his capacity in many ways, and acquired
+for him the esteem of all. His family were affected beyond measure at
+his loss. That house was in truth terrible to see. Never was man so
+tenderly or so universally regretted, or so worthy of being so. Besides
+my own grief, I had to sustain that of Madame de Saint-Simon, whom many
+times I thought I should lose. Nothing was comparable to the attachment
+she had for her father, or the tenderness he had for her; nothing more
+perfectly alike than their hearts and their dispositions. As for me, I
+loved him as a father, and he loved me as a son, with the most entire and
+sweetest confidence.
+
+About the same time died the Duchesse de Gesvres, separated from a
+husband who had been the scourge of his family, and had dissipated
+millions of her fortune. She was a sort of witch, tall and lean, who
+walked like an ostrich. She sometimes came to Court, with the odd look
+and famished expression to which her husband had brought her. Virtue,
+wit, and dignity distinguished her. I remember that one summer the King
+took to going very often in the evening to Trianon, and that once for all
+he gave permission to all the Court, men and women, to follow him. There
+was a grand collation for the Princesses, his daughters, who took their
+friends there, and indeed all the women went to it if they pleased. One
+day the Duchesse de Gesvres took it into her head to go to Trianon and
+partake of this meal; her age, her rarity at Court, her accoutrements,
+and her face, provoked the Princesses to make fun of her in whispers with
+their fair visitors. She perceived this, and without being embarrassed,
+took them up so sharply, that they were silenced, and looked down. But
+this was not all: after the collation she began to talk so freely and yet
+so humorously about them that they were frightened, and went and made
+their excuses, and very frankly asked for quarter. Madame de Gesvres was
+good enough to grant them this, but said it was only on condition that
+they learned how to behave. Never afterwards did they venture to look at
+her impertinently. Nothing was ever so magnificent as these soirees of
+Trianon. All the flowers of the parterres were renewed every day; and I
+have seen the King and all the Court obliged to go away because of the
+tuberoses, the odour of which perfumed the air, but so powerfully, on
+account of their quantity, that nobody could remain in the garden,
+although very vast, and stretching like a terrace all along the canal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+The Prince d'Harcourt at last obtained permission to wait on the King,
+after having never appeared at Court for seventeen years. He had
+followed the King in all his conquests in the Low Countries and Franche-
+Comte; but he had remained little at the Court since his voyage to Spain,
+whither he had accompanied the daughter of Monsieur to the King, Charles
+II., her husband. The Prince d'Harcourt took service with Venice, and
+fought in the Morea until the Republic made peace with the Turks. He was
+tall, well made; and, although he looked like a nobleman and had wit,
+reminded one at the same time of a country actor. He was a great liar,
+and a libertine in body and mind; a great spendthrift, a great and
+impudent swindler, with a tendency to low debauchery, that cursed him all
+his life. Having fluttered about a long time after his return, and found
+it impossible either to live with his wife--which is not surprising--or
+accommodate himself to the Court or to Paris, he set up his rest at Lyons
+with wine, street-walkers, a society to match, a pack of hounds, and a
+gaming-table to support his extravagance and enable him to live at the
+expense of the dupes, the imbeciles, and the sons of fat tradesmen, whom
+he could lure into his nets. Thus he spent many years, and seemed to
+forget that there existed in the world another country besides Lyons.
+At last he got tired, and returned to Paris. The King, who despised him,
+let him alone, but would not see him; and it was only after two months of
+begging for him by the Lorraines, that he received permission to present
+himself. His wife, the Princesse d'Harcourt, was a favourite of Madame
+de Maintenon. The origin of their friendship is traced to the fact that
+Brancas, the father of the Princess, had been one of the lovers of Madame
+de Maintenon. No claim less powerful could have induced the latter to
+take into her favour a person who was so little worthy. Like all women
+who know nothing but what chance has taught them, and who have long
+languished in obscurity before arriving at splendour, Madame de Maintenon
+was dazzled by the very name of Princess, even if assumed: as to a real
+Princess, nothing equalled her in her opinion. The Princess then tried
+hard to get the Prince invited to Marly, but without success. Upon this
+she pretended to sulk, in hopes that Madame de Maintenon would exert all
+her influence; but in this she was mistaken. The Prince accordingly by
+degrees got disgusted with the Court, and retired into the provinces for
+a time.
+
+The Princesse d'Harcourt was a sort of personage whom it is good to make
+known, in order better to lay bare a Court which did not scruple to
+receive such as she. She had once been beautiful and gay; but though not
+old, all her grace and beauty had vanished. The rose had become an ugly
+thorn. At the time I speak of she was a tall, fat creature, mightily
+brisk in her movements, with a complexion like milk-porridge; great,
+ugly, thick lips, and hair like tow, always sticking out and hanging down
+in disorder, like all the rest of her fittings out. Dirty, slatternly,
+always intriguing, pretending, enterprising, quarrelling--always low as
+the grass or high as the rainbow, according to the person with whom she
+had to deal: she was a blonde Fury, nay more, a harpy: she had all the
+effrontery of one, and the deceit and violence; all the avarice and the
+audacity; moreover, all the gluttony, and all the promptitude to relieve
+herself from the effects thereof; so that she drove out of their wits
+those at whose house she dined; was often a victim of her confidence; and
+was many a time sent to the devil by the servants of M. du Maine and M.
+le Grand. She, however, was never in the least embarrassed, tucked up
+her petticoats and went her way; then returned, saying she had been
+unwell. People were accustomed to it.
+
+Whenever money was to be made by scheming and bribery, she was there to
+make it. At play she always cheated, and if found out stormed and raged;
+but pocketed what she had won. People looked upon her as they would have
+looked upon a fish-fag, and did not like to commit themselves by
+quarrelling with her. At the end of every game she used to say that she
+gave whatever might have been unfairly gained to those who had gained it,
+and hoped that others would do likewise. For she was very devout by
+profession, and thought by so doing to put her conscience in safety;
+because, she used to add, in play there is always some mistake. She went
+to church always, and constantly took the sacrament, very often after
+having played until four o'clock in the morning.
+
+One day, when there was a grand fete at Fontainebleau, Madame la
+Marechale de Villeroy persuaded her, out of malice, to sit down and play,
+instead of going to evening prayers. She resisted some time, saying that
+Madame de Maintenon was going; but the Marechale laughed at her for
+believing that her patron could see who was and who was not at the
+chapel: so down they sat to play. When the prayers were over, Madame de
+Maintenon, by the merest accident--for she scarcely ever visited any one
+--went to the apartments of the Marechale de Villeroy. The door was
+flung back, and she was announced. This was a thunderbolt for the
+Princesse d'Harcourt. "I am ruined," cried she, unable to restrain
+herself; "she will see me playing, and I ought to have been at chapel!"
+Down fell the cards from her hands, and down fell she all abroad in her
+chair. The Marechale laughed most heartily at so complete an adventure.
+Madame de Maintenon entered slowly, and found the Princess in this state,
+with five or six persons. The Marechale de Villeroy, who was full of
+wit, began to say that, whilst doing her a great honour, Madame was the
+cause of great disorder; and showed her the Princesse d'Harcourt in her
+state of discomfiture. Madame de Maintenon smiled with majestic
+kindness, and addressing the Princesse d'Harcourt, "Is this the way,"
+said she; "that you go to prayers?" Thereupon the Princess flew out of
+her half-faint into a sort of fury; said that this was the kind of trick
+that was played off upon her; that no doubt the Marechale knew that
+Madame de Maintenon was coming, and for that reason had persecuted her to
+play. "Persecuted!" exclaimed the Marechale, "I thought I could not
+receive you better than by proposing a game; it is true you were for a
+moment troubled at missing the chapel, but your tastes carried the day.
+--This, Madame, is my whole crime," continued she, addressing Madame de
+Maintenon. Upon this, everybody laughed louder than before: Madame de
+Maintenon, in order to stop the quarrel; commanded them both to continue
+their game; and they continued accordingly, the Princesse d'Harcourt,
+still grumbling, quite beside herself, blinded with fury, so as to commit
+fresh mistakes every minute. So ridiculous an adventure diverted the
+Court for several days; for this beautiful Princess was equally feared,
+hated, and despised.
+
+Monseigneur le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne continually played
+off pranks upon her. They put, one day, crackers all along the avenue of
+the chateau at Marly, that led to the Perspective where she lodged. She
+was horribly afraid of everything. The Duke and Duchess bribed two
+porters to be ready to take her into the mischief. When she was right in
+the middle of the avenue the crackers began to go off; and she to cry
+aloud for mercy; the chairman set her down and ran for it. There she
+was, then, struggling in her chair, furiously enough to upset it, and
+yelling like a demon. At this the company, which had gathered at the
+door of the chateau to see the fun, ran to her assistance, in order to
+have the pleasure of enjoying the scene more fully. Thereupon she set to
+abusing everybody right and left, commencing with Monseigneur and Madame
+la Duchesse de Bourgogne. At another time M. de Bourgogne put a cracker
+under her chair in the salon, where she was playing at piquet. As he was
+about to set fire to this cracker, some charitable soul warned him that
+it would maim her, and he desisted.
+
+Sometimes they used to send about twenty Swiss guards, with drums, into
+her chamber, who roused her from her first sleep by their horrid din.
+Another time--and these scenes were always at Marly--they waited until
+very late for her to go to bed and sleep. She lodged not far from the
+post of the captain of the guards, who was at that time the Marechal de
+Lorges. It had snowed very hard, and had frozen. Madame la Duchesse de
+Bourgogne and her suite gathered snow from the terrace which is on a
+level with their lodgings; and, in order to be better supplied, waked up,
+to assist them, the Marechal's people, who did not let them want for
+ammunition. Then, with a false key, and lights, they gently slipped into
+the chamber of the Princesse d'Harcourt; and, suddenly drawing the
+curtains of her bed, pelted her amain with snowballs. The filthy
+creature, waking up with a start, bruised and stifled in snow, with which
+even her ears were filled, with dishevelled hair, yelling at the top of
+her voice, and wriggling like an eel, without knowing where to hide,
+formed a spectacle that diverted people more than half an hour: so that
+at last the nymph swam in her bed, from which the water flowed
+everywhere, slushing all the chamber. It was enough to make one die of
+laughter. On the morrow she sulked, and was more than ever laughed at
+for her pains.
+
+Her fits of sulkiness came over her either when the tricks played were
+too violent, or when M. le Grand abused her. He thought, very properly,
+that a person who bore the name of Lorraine should not put herself so
+much on the footing of a buffoon; and, as he was a rough speaker, he
+sometimes said the most abominable things to her at table; upon which the
+Princess would burst out crying, and then, being enraged, would sulk.
+The Duchesse de Bourgogne used then to pretend to sulk, too; but the
+other did not hold out long, and came crawling back to her, crying,
+begging pardon for having sulked, and praying that she might not cease to
+be a source of amusement! After some time the Duchess would allow
+herself to be melted, and the Princess was more villainously treated than
+ever, for the Duchesse de Bourgogne had her own way in everything.
+Neither the King nor Madame de Maintenon found fault with what she did,
+so that the Princesse d'Harcourt had no resource; she did not even dare
+to complain of those who aided in tormenting her; yet it would not have
+been prudent in any one to make her an enemy.
+
+The Princesse d'Harcourt paid her servants so badly that they concocted a
+plan, and one fine day drew up on the Pont Neuf. The coachman and
+footmen got down, and came and spoke to her at the door, in language she
+was not used to hear. Her ladies and chambermaid got down, and went
+away, leaving her to shift as she might. Upon this she set herself to
+harangue the blackguards who collected, and was only too happy to find a
+man, who mounted upon the seat and drove her home. Another time, Madame
+de Saint-Simon, returning from Versailles, overtook her, walking in full
+dress in the street, and with her train under her arms. Madame de Saint-
+Simon stopped, offered her assistance, and found that she had been left
+by her servants, as on the Pont Neuf. It was volume the second of that
+story; and even when she came back she found her house deserted, every
+one having gone away at once by agreement. She was very violent with her
+servants, beat them, and changed diem every day.
+
+Upon one occasion, she took into her service a strong and robust
+chambermaid, to whom, from the first day of her arrival, she gave many
+slaps and boxes on the ear. The chambermaid said nothing, but after
+submitting to this treatment for five or six days, conferred with the
+other servants; and one morning, while in her mistress's room, locked the
+door without being perceived, said something to bring down punishment
+upon her, and at the first box on the ear she received, flew upon the
+Princesse d'Harcourt, gave her no end of thumps and slaps, knocked her
+down, kicked her, mauled her from her head to her feet, and when she was
+tired of this exercise, left her on the ground, all torn and dishevelled,
+howling like a devil. The chambermaid then quitted the room, double-
+locked the door on the outside, gained the staircase, and fled the house.
+
+Every day the Princess was fighting, or mixed up in some adventures.
+Her neighbours at Marly said they could not sleep for the riot she made
+at night; and I remember that, after one of these scenes, everybody went
+to see the room of the Duchesse de Villeroy and that of Madame d'Espinoy,
+who had put their bed in the middle of their room, and who related their
+night vigils to every one.
+
+Such was this favourite of Madame de Maintenon; so insolent and so
+insupportable to every one, but who had favours and preferences for those
+who brought her over, and who had raised so many young men, amassed their
+wealth, and made herself feared even by the Prince and minister.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+In a previous page I have alluded to the Princesse des Ursins, when she
+was appointed 'Camerera Mayor' to the Queen of Spain on her marriage.
+As I have now to occupy myself more particularly with her, it may be as
+well to give a description of this extraordinary woman, which I omitted
+when I first spoke of her.
+
+Anne Marie de la Tremoille, was daughter of M. de Noirmoutiers, who
+figured sufficiently in the troubles of the minority to be made a 'Duc a
+brevet'. She first married M. Talleyrand, who called himself Prince de
+Chalais, and who was obliged to quit the kingdom for engaging in the
+famous duel against Messieurs de la Frette. She followed her husband to
+Spain, where he died. Having gone to Rome, she got into favour with the
+Cardinals de Bouillon and d'Estrees, first on account of her name and
+nation, and afterwards for more tender reasons. In order to detain her
+at Rome, these dignitaries thought of obtaining her an establishment.
+She had no children, and almost no fortune, they wrote to Court that so
+important a man as the Duc de Bracciano, Prince des Ursins, was worth
+gaining; and that the way to arrive at this result was to have him
+married to Madame de Chalais. The Duke was persuaded by the two
+Cardinals that he was in love with Madame de Chalais: and so the affair
+was arranged. Madame des Ursins displayed all her wit and charms at
+Rome; and soon her palace became a sort of court, where all the best
+company assembled. It grew to be the fashion to go there.
+
+The husband amidst all this counts for not much. There was sometimes a
+little disagreement between the two, without open rupture; yet they were
+now and then glad to separate. This is why the Duchesse de Bracciano
+made two journeys to France: the second time she spent four or five years
+there. It was then I knew her, or rather formed a particular friendship
+with her. My mother had made her acquaintance during her previous visit.
+She lodged near us. Her wit, her grace, her manners enchanted me: she
+received me with tenderness and I was always at her house. It was she
+who proposed to me a marriage with Mlle. de Royan, which I rejected for
+the reason already given.
+
+When Madame des Ursins was appointed 'Camerera Mayor', she was a widow,
+without children. No one could have been better suited for the post.
+A lady of our court would not have done: a Spanish lady was not to be
+depended on, and might have easily disgusted the Queen. The Princesse
+des Ursins appeared to be a middle term. She was French, had been in
+Spain, and she passed a great part of her life at Rome, and in Italy.
+She was of the house of La Tremoille: her husband was chief of the house
+of Ursins, a grandee of Spain, and Prince of the Soglio. She was also on
+very good terms with the Duchess of Savoy, and with the Queen of
+Portugal. The Cardinal d'Estrees, also, was known to have remained her
+friend, after having been something more in their youth; and he gave
+information that the Cardinal Portocarrero had been much in love with her
+at Rome, and that they were then on very good terms. As it was through
+the latter Cardinal that it was necessary to govern everything, this
+circumstance was considered very important.
+
+Age and health were also appropriate; and likewise her appearance. She
+was rather tall than otherwise, a brunette, with blue eyes of the most
+varied expression, in figure perfect, with a most exquisite bosom; her
+face, without being beautiful, was charming; she was extremely noble in
+air, very majestic in demeanour, full of graces so natural and so
+continual in everything, that I have never seen any one approach her,
+either in form or mind. Her wit was copious and of all kinds: she was
+flattering, caressing, insinuating, moderate, wishing to please for
+pleasing's sake, with charms irresistible when she strove to persuade and
+win over; accompanying all this, she had a grandeur that encouraged
+instead of frightening; a delicious conversation, inexhaustible and very
+amusing, for she had seen many countries and persons; a voice and way of
+speaking extremely agreeable, and full of sweetness. She had read much,
+and reflected much. She knew how to choose the best society, how to
+receive them, and could even have held a court; was polite,
+distinguished; and above all was careful never to take a step in advance
+without dignity and discretion. She was eminently fitted for intrigue,
+in which, from taste; she had passed her time at Rome; with much
+ambition, but of that vast kind, far above her sex, and the common run of
+men--a desire to occupy a great position and to govern. A love for
+gallantry and personal vanity were her foibles, and these clung to her
+until her latest day; consequently, she dressed in a way that no longer
+became her, and as she advanced in life, removed further from propriety
+in this particular. She was an ardent and excellent friend--of a
+friendship that time and absence never enfeebled; and, consequently, an
+implacable enemy, pursuing her hatred to the infernal regions. While
+caring little for the means by which she gained her ends, she tried as
+much as possible to reach them by honest means. Secret, not only for
+herself, but for her friends, she was yet, of a decorous gaiety, and so
+governed her humours, that at all times and in everything she was
+mistress of herself. Such was the Princesse des Ursins.
+
+From the first moment on which she entered the service of the Queen of
+Spain, it became her desire to govern not only the Queen, but the King;
+and by this means the realm itself. Such a grand project had need of
+support from our King, who, at the commencement, ruled the Court of Spain
+as much as his own Court, with entire influence over all matters.
+
+The young Queen of Spain had been not less carefully educated than her
+sister, the Duchesse de Bourgogne. She had even when so young much
+intelligence and firmness, without being incapable of restraint; and as
+time went on, improved still further, and displayed a constancy and
+courage which were admirably set off by her meekness and natural graces.
+According to everything I have heard said in France and in Spain, she
+possessed all qualities that were necessary to make her adored. Indeed
+she became a divinity among the Spaniards, and to their affection for
+her, Philip V. was more than once indebted for his crown. Lords, ladies,
+soldiers, and the people still remember her with tears in their eyes; and
+even after the lapse of so many years, are not yet consoled for her loss.
+
+Madame des Ursins soon managed to obtain the entire confidence of this
+Queen; and during the absence of Philip V. in Italy, assisted her in the
+administration of all public offices. She even accompanied her to the
+junta, it not being thought proper that the Queen should be alone amid
+such an assemblage of men. In this way she became acquainted with
+everything that was passing, and knew all the affairs of the Government.
+
+This step gained, it will be imagined that the Princesse des Ursins did
+not forget to pay her court most assiduously to our King and to Madame de
+Maintenon. She continually sent them an exact account of everything
+relating to the Queen--making her appear in the most favourable light
+possible. Little by little she introduced into her letters details
+respecting public events; without, however, conveying a suspicion of her
+own ambition, or that she wished to meddle in these matters. Anchored in
+this way, she next began to flatter Madame de Maintenon, and by degrees
+to hint that she might rule over Spain, even more firmly than she ruled
+over France, if she would entrust her commands to Madame des Ursins.
+Madame des Ursins offered, in fact, to be the instrument of Madame de
+Maintenon; representing how much better it would be to rule affairs in
+this manner, than through the instrumentality of the ministers of either
+country.
+
+Madame de Maintenon, whose passion it was to know everything, to mix
+herself in everything, and to govern everything, was, enchanted by the
+siren. This method of governing Spain without ministers appeared to her
+an admirable idea. She embraced it with avidity, without reflecting that
+she would govern only in appearance, since she would know nothing except
+through the Princesse des Ursins, see nothing except in the light in
+which she presented it. From that time dates the intimate union which
+existed between these two important women, the unbounded authority of
+Madame des Ursins, the fall of all those who had placed Philip V. upon
+the throne, and of all our ministers in Spain who stood in the way of the
+new power.
+
+Such an alliance being made between the two women, it was necessary to
+draw the King of Spain into the same net. This was not a very arduous
+task. Nature and art indeed had combined to make it easy.
+
+Younger brother of an excitable, violent, and robust Prince, Philip V,
+had been bred up in a submission and dependence that were necessary for
+the repose of the Royal family. Until the testament of Charles II., the
+Duc d'Anjou was necessarily regarded as destined to be a subject all his
+life; and therefore could not be too much abased by education, and
+trained to patience and obedience: That supreme law, the reason of state,
+demanded this preference, for the safety and happiness of the kingdom,
+of the elder over the younger brother. His mind for this reason was
+purposely narrowed and beaten down, and his natural docility and
+gentleness greatly assisted in the process, He was quite formed to be
+led, although he had enough judgment left to choose the better of two
+courses proposed to him, and even to express himself in good phrase, when
+the slowness, not to say the laziness, of his mind did not prevent him
+from speaking at all. His great piety contributed to weaken his mind;
+and, being joined to very lively passions, made it disagreeable and even
+dangerous for him to be separated from his Queen. It may easily be
+conceived, therefore, how he loved her; and that he allowed himself to be
+guided by her in all things. As the Queen herself was guided in all
+things by Madame des Ursins, the influence of this latter was all-
+powerful.
+
+Soon, indeed, the junta became a mere show. Everything was brought
+before the King in private, and he gave no decision until the Queen and
+Madame des Ursins had passed theirs. This conduct met with no opposition
+from our Court, but our ministers at the Court of Spain and the Spanish
+ministers here soon began to complain of it. The first to do so were
+Cardinals d'Estrees and Portocarrero. Madame de Maintenon laughed at
+them, and Madame des Ursins, of whom they were old friends, soon showed
+them that she did not mean to abate one jot of her power. She first
+endeavoured to bring about a coldness between the two, and this succeeded
+so well, that in consequence of the quarrels that resulted, the Spanish
+Cardinal, Portocarrero (who, it will be remembered, had played an
+important part in bringing Philip to the Spanish throne) wished to quit
+the junta. But Madame des Ursins, who thought that the time had not yet
+arrived for this step, persuaded him to remain, and endeavoured to
+flatter his vanity by an expedient altogether ridiculous. She gave him
+the command of a regiment of guards, and he, priest, archbishop, primate
+and cardinal, accepted it, and was, of course, well laughed at by
+everybody for his pains. The two cardinals soon after became reconciled
+to each other, feeling, perhaps, the necessity of uniting against the
+common enemy. But they could come to no better understanding with her.
+Disagreements continued, so that at last, feeling her position perfectly
+secure, the Princesse des Ursins begged permission to retire into Italy,
+knowing full well that she would not be taken at her word, and hoping by
+this means to deliver herself of these stumbling-blocks in her path.
+
+Our ministers, who felt they would lose all control over Spanish affairs
+if Madame des Ursins was allowed to remain mistress, did all in their
+power to support the D'Estrees. But Madame de Maintenon pleaded so well
+with the King, representing the good policy of allowing a woman so much
+attached to him, and to the Spanish Queen, as was Madame des Ursins, to
+remain where she was, that he entirely swallowed the bait; the D'Estrees
+were left without support; the French ambassador at Madrid was virtually
+deprived of all power: the Spanish ministers were fettered in their every
+movement, and the authority of Madame des Ursins became stronger than
+ever. All public affairs passed through her hands. The King decided
+nothing without conferring with the Queen and her.
+
+While excluding almost all the ministers from public offices, Madame des
+Ursins admitted a few favourites into her confidence. Amongst them was
+D'Harcourt, who stood well with Madame de Maintenon, and who cared little
+for the means by which he obtained consideration; Orry, who had the
+management of the finances; and D'Aubigny, son of a Procureur in Paris.
+The last was a tall, handsome fellow, well made, and active in mind and
+body; who for many years had been with the Princess, as a sort of squire,
+and on very intimate terms with her. One day, when, followed by some of
+the ministers, she entered a room in which he was writing, he burst out
+into exclamations against her, without being aware that she was not
+alone, swore at her, asked her why she could not leave him an hour in
+peace, called her by the strangest names, and all this with so much
+impetuosity that she had no time to show him who were behind her. When
+he found it out, he ran from the room, leaving Madame des Ursins so
+confused that the ministers looked for two or three minutes upon the
+walls of the room in order to give her time to recover herself. Soon
+after this, D'Aubigny had a splendid suite of apartments, that had
+formerly been occupied by Maria Theresa (afterwards wife of Louis XIV.),
+placed at his disposal, with some rooms added, in despite of the murmurs
+that arose at a distinction so strange accorded to this favourite.
+
+At length, Cardinal d'Estrees, continually in arms against Madame des
+Ursins, and continually defeated, could not bear his position any longer,
+but asked to be immediately recalled. All that the ministry could do was
+to obtain permission for the Abbe d'Estrees (nephew of the Cardinal) to
+remain as Ambassador of France at Madrid. As for Portocarrero, seeing
+the step his associate had taken, he resolved to quit public business
+also, and resigned his place accordingly. Several others who stood in
+the way of the Princesse des Ursins were got rid of at the same time, so
+that she was now left mistress of the field. She governed absolutely in
+all things; the ministers became instruments in her hands; the King and
+Queen agents to work out her will. She was at the highest pinnacle of
+power. Together with Orry she enjoyed a power such as no one had ever
+attained since the time of the Duke of Lerma and of Olivares.
+
+In the mean time the Archduke was declared King of Spain by the Emperor,
+who made no mystery of his intention of attacking Spain by way of
+Portugal. The Archduke soon afterwards was recognised by Holland,
+England, Portugal, Brandenburg, Savoy, and Hanover, as King of Spain,
+under the title of Charles III., and soon after by the other powers of
+Europe. The Duke of Savoy had been treacherous to us, had shown that he
+was in league with the Emperor. The King accordingly had broken off all
+relations with him, and sent an army to invade his territory. It need be
+no cause of surprise, therefore, that the Archduke was recognised by
+Savoy. While our armies were fighting with varied fortune those of the
+Emperor and his allies, in different parts of Europe, notably upon the
+Rhine, Madame des Ursins was pressing matters to extremities in Spain.
+Dazzled by her success in expelling the two cardinals from public
+affairs, and all the ministers who had assisted in placing Philip V.
+upon the throne, she committed a blunder of which she soon had cause to
+repent.
+
+I have said, that when Cardinal d'Estrees quitted Spain, the Abbe
+d'Estrees was left behind, so that France should not be altogether
+unrepresented in an official manner at the Court of Madrid. Madame des
+Ursins did not like this arrangement, but as Madame de Maintenon insisted
+upon it, she was obliged to accept it with as good grace as possible.
+The Abbe, vain of his family and of his position, was not a man much to
+be feared as it seemed. Madame des Ursins accordingly laughed at and
+despised him. He was admitted to the council, but was quite without
+influence there, and when he attempted to make any representations to
+Madame des Ursins or to Orry, they listened to him without attending in
+the least to what he said. The Princess reigned supreme, and thought of
+nothing but getting rid of all who attempted to divide her authority.
+At last she obtained such a command over the poor Abbe d'Estrees, so
+teased and hampered him, that he consented to the hitherto unheard-of
+arrangement, that the Ambassador of France should not write to the King
+without first concerting his letter with her, and then show her its
+contents before he despatched it. But such restraint as this became, in
+a short time, so fettering, that the Abbe determined to break away from
+it. He wrote a letter to the King, without showing it to Madame des
+Ursins. She soon had scent of what he had done; seized the letter as it
+passed through the post, opened it, and, as she expected, found its
+contents were not of a kind to give her much satisfaction. But what
+piqued her most was, to find details exaggerating the authority of
+D'Aubigny, and a statement to the effect that it was generally believed
+she had married him. Beside herself with rage and vexation, she wrote
+with her own hand upon the margin of the letter, 'Pour mariee non'
+("At any rate, not married"), showed it in this state to the King and
+Queen of Spain, to a number of other people, always with strange
+clamouring, and finally crowned her folly by sending it to the King
+(Louis XIV.), with furious complaints against the Abbe for writing it
+without her knowledge, and for inflicting upon her such an atrocious
+injury as to mention this pretended marriage. Her letter and its
+enclosure reached the King at a very inopportune moment. Just before,
+he had received a letter, which, taken in connection with this of the
+Princesse des Ursins, struck a blow at her power of the most decisive
+kind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+Some little time previously it had been thought necessary to send an army
+to the frontiers of Portugal to oppose the Archduke. A French general
+was wanted to command this army. Madame des Ursins, who had been very
+intimate with the King of England (James II.) and his Queen, thought she
+would please them if she gave this post to the Duke of Berwick,
+illegitimate son of King James. She proposed this therefore; and our
+King, out of regard for his brother monarch, and from a natural affection
+for bastards, consented to the appointment; but as the Duke of Berwick
+had never before commanded an army, he stipulated that Pursegur, known to
+be a skilful officer, should go with him and assist him with his counsels
+and advice.
+
+Pursegur set out before the Duke of Berwick. From the Pyrenees as far as
+Madrid, he found every provision made for the subsistence of the French
+troops, and sent a very advantageous account to the King of this
+circumstance. Arrived at Madrid, he had interviews with Orry (who, as I
+have already mentioned, had the finances under his control, and who was a
+mere instrument in the hands of Madame des Ursins), and was assured by
+the minister that all the magazines along the line of route to the
+frontiers of Portugal were abundantly filled with supplies for the French
+troops, that all the money necessary was ready; and that nothing, in
+fact, should fail in the course of the campaign. Pursegur, who had found
+nothing wanting up to that time, never doubted but that these statements
+were perfectly correct; and had no suspicion that a minister would have
+the effrontery to show him in detail all these precautions if he had
+taken none. Pleased, then, to the utmost degree, he wrote to the King in
+praise of Orry, and consequently of Madame des Ursins and her wise
+government. Full of these ideas, he set out for the frontier of Portugal
+to reconnoitre the ground himself, and arrange everything for the arrival
+of the army and its general. What was his surprise, when he found that
+from Madrid to the frontier not a single preparation had been made for
+the troops, and that in consequence all that Orry had shown him, drawn
+out upon paper, was utterly fictitious. His vexation upon finding that
+nothing upon which he had reckoned was provided, may be imagined. He at
+once wrote to the King, in order to contradict all that he had recently
+written.
+
+This conduct of Orry--his impudence, I may say--in deceiving a man who
+immediately after would have under his eyes the proof of his deceit, is a
+thing past all comprehension. It is easy to understand that rogues
+should steal, but not that they should have the audacity to do so in the
+face of facts which so quickly and so easily could prove their villainy.
+
+It was Pursegur's letter then, detailing this rascality on the part of
+Orry, that had reached the King just before that respecting the Abbe
+d'Estrees. The two disclosed a state of things that could not be allowed
+any longer to exist. Our ministers, who, step by step, had been deprived
+of all control over the affairs of Spain, profited by the discontentment
+of the King to reclaim their functions. Harcourt and Madame de Maintenon
+did all they could to ward off the blow from Madame des Ursins, but
+without effect. The King determined to banish her to Rome and to dismiss
+Orry from his post.
+
+It was felt, however, that these steps must be taken cautiously, to avoid
+offending too deeply the King and Queen of Spain, who supported their
+favourite through every emergency.
+
+In the first place, then, a simple reprimand was sent to the Princesse
+des Ursins for the violation of the respect due to the King, by opening a
+letter addressed to him by one of his ambassadors. The Abbe d'Estrees,
+who expected that Madame des Ursins would be at once disgraced, and who
+had made a great outcry when his letter was opened, fell into such
+despair when he saw how lightly she was let off, that he asked for his
+dismissal. He was taken at his word; and this was a new triumph for
+Madame des Ursins, who thought herself more secure than ever. Her
+triumph was of but short duration. The King wrote to Philip,
+recommending him to head in person the army for the frontiers of
+Portugal, which, in spite of Orry's deception, it was still determined to
+send. No sooner was Philip fairly away, separated from the Queen and
+Madame des Ursins, and no longer under their influence, than the King
+wrote to the Queen of Spain, requesting her, in terms that could not be
+disputed, to dismiss at once and for ever her favourite 'Camerera Mayor'.
+The Queen, in despair at the idea of losing a friend and adviser to whom
+she had been so much attached, believed herself lost. At the same time
+that the King wrote to the Queen of Spain, he also wrote to the Princesse
+des Ursins, ordering her to quit Madrid immediately, to leave Spain, and
+to retire into Italy.
+
+At this conjuncture of affairs, when the Queen was in despair, Madame des
+Ursins did not lose her composure. She opened her eyes to all that had
+passed since she had violated D'Estrees' letter, and saw the vanity of
+the triumph she had recently enjoyed. She felt at once that for the
+present all was lost, that her only hope was to be allowed to remain in
+France. She made all her arrangements, therefore, so that affairs might
+proceed in her absence as much as possible as though she were present,
+and then prepared to set out. Dawdling day by day, she put off her
+departure as long as could be, and when at length she left Madrid only
+went to Alcala, a few leagues distant. She stopped there under various
+pretexts, and at length, after five weeks of delay, set out for Bayonne,
+journeying as slowly as she could and stopping as often as she dared.
+
+She lost no opportunity of demanding an audience at Versailles, in order
+to clear herself of the charge which weighed upon her, and her
+importunities at length were not without effect. The most terrible
+storms at Court soon blow over. The King (Louis XIV.) was satisfied with
+the success of his plans. He had been revenged in every way, and had
+humbled the pride of the Princesse des Ursins. It was not necessary to
+excite the anger of the Queen and King of Spain by too great harshness
+against their fallen friend. Madame de Maintenon took advantage of this
+change in the temper of the King, and by dint of persuasion and scheming
+succeeded in obtaining from him the permission for Madame des Ursins to
+remain in France. Toulouse was fixed upon for her residence. It was a
+place that just suited her, and from which communication with Spain was
+easy. Here accordingly she took up her residence, determined to watch
+well the course of events, and to avail herself of every opportunity that
+could bring about her complete reconciliation with the King (Louis XIV.),
+and obtain for her in consequence the permission to return to Madrid.
+
+In the mean time, the King and Queen of Spain, distressed beyond measure
+at the loss of their favourite, thought only of the best means of
+obtaining her recall. They plotted with such ministers as were
+favourable to her; they openly quarrelled with and thwarted those who
+were her opponents, so that the most important matters perished in their
+hands. Nay more, upon the King of Spain's return, the Queen persuaded
+him to oppose in all things the wishes of the King (Louis XIV.), his
+grandfather, and to neglect his counsels with studied care. Our King
+complained of this with bitterness. The aim of it was to tire him out,
+and to make him understand that it was only Madame des Ursins, well
+treated and sent back, who could restore Spanish affairs to their
+original state, and cause his authority to be respected. Madame de
+Maintenon, on her side, neglected no opportunity of pressing the King to
+allow Madame des Ursins, not to return into Spain--that would have been
+to spoil all by asking too much but simply to come to Versailles in order
+to have the opportunity of justifying herself for her past conduct. From
+other quarters the King was similarly importuned. Tired at last of the
+obstinate opposition he met with in Spain from the Queen; who governed
+completely her husband, he gave permission to Madame des Ursins to come
+to Versailles to plead her own cause. Self-imprisoned as he was in
+seclusion, the truth never approached him, and he was the only man in the
+two kingdoms who had no suspicion that the arrival of Madame ales Ursins
+at the Court was the certain sign of her speedy return to Spain more
+powerful than ever. But he was fatigued with the constant resistance he
+met with; with the disorder which this occasioned in public affairs at a
+time too when, as I will afterwards explain, the closest union was
+necessary between the two crowns in order to repel the common enemy, and
+these motives induced him, to the astonishment of his ministers, to grant
+the favour requested of him.
+
+However well informed Madame des Ursins might be of all that was being
+done on her account, this permission surpassed her hopes. Her joy
+accordingly was very great; but it did not at all carry her away. She
+saw that her return to Spain would now depend upon herself. She
+determined to put on the air of one who is disgraced, but who hopes, and
+yet is humiliated. She instructed all her friends to assume the same
+manner; took all measures with infinite presence of mind; did not hurry
+her departure, and yet set out with sufficient promptness to prevent any
+coldness springing up, and to show with what eagerness she profited by
+the favour accorded to her, and which she had so much wished.
+
+No sooner was the courier gone who carried this news to her, than the
+rumour of her return was whispered all over the Court, and became
+publicly confirmed a few days afterwards. The movement that it produced
+at Court was inconceivable. Only the friends of Madame des Ursins were
+able to remain in a tolerably tranquil state. Everybody opened his eyes
+and comprehended that the return of such an important personage was a
+fact that could not be insignificant. People prepared themselves for a
+sort of rising sun that was going to change and renew many things in
+nature. On every side were seen people who had scarcely ever uttered her
+name, and who now boasted of their intimacy with her and of her
+friendship for them. Other people were seen, who, although openly allied
+with her enemies, had the baseness to affect transports of joy at her
+forthcoming return, and to flatter those whom they thought likely to
+favour them with her.
+
+She reached Paris on Sunday, the 4th of January, 1705. The Duc d'Albe
+met her several miles out of the city, escorted her to his house, and
+gave a fete in her honour there. Several persons of distinction went out
+to meet her. Madame des Ursins had reason to be surprised at an entry so
+triumphant: she would not, however, stay with the Duc and Duchesse
+d'Albe, but took up her quarters with the Comtesse d'Egmont, niece of the
+Archbishop of Aix; the said Archbishop having been instrumental in
+obtaining her recall. The King was at Marly. I was there with Madame de
+Saint-Simon. During the remainder of the stay at Marly everybody flocked
+to the house of Madame des Ursins, anxious to pay her their court.
+However flattered she may have been by this concourse, she had matters to
+occupy her, pleaded want of repose, and shut her door to three people out
+of four who called upon her. Curiosity, perhaps fashion, drew this great
+crowd to her. The ministers were startled by it. Torcy had orders from
+the King to go, and see her: he did so; and from that moment Madame des
+Ursins changed her tone. Until then her manner had been modest,
+supplicating, nearly timid. She now saw and heard so much that from
+defendant, which she had intended to be, she thought herself in a
+condition to become accuser; and to demand justice of those who, abusing
+the confidence of the King, had drawn upon her such a long and cruel
+punishment, and made her a show for the two kingdoms. All that happened
+to her surpassed her hopes. Several times when with me she has expressed
+her astonishment; and with me has laughed at many people, often of much
+consideration, whom she scarcely knew, or who had been strongly opposed
+to her, and who basely crouched at her feet.
+
+The King returned to Versailles on Saturday, the 10th of January. Madame
+des Ursins arrived there the same day. I went immediately to see her,
+not having been able to do so before, because I could not quit Marly. My
+mother had seen a great deal of Madame des Ursins at Paris. I had always
+been on good terms with her, and had received on all occasions proofs of
+her friendship. She received me very well, spoke with much freedom, and
+said she promised herself the pleasure of seeing me again, and of talking
+with me more at her ease. On, the morrow, Sunday, she dined at home
+alone, dressed herself in grand style, and went to the King, with whom
+she remained alone two hours and a half conversing in his cabinet. From
+there she went to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, with whom she also conversed
+a long time alone. In the evening, the King said, while in Madame de
+Maintenon's apartments, that there were still many things upon which he
+had not yet spoken to Madame des Ursins. The next day she saw Madame de
+Maintenon in private for a long time, and much at her ease. She had an
+interview soon after with the King and Madame de Maintenon, which was
+also very long.
+
+A month after this a special courier arrived from the King and Queen of
+Spain, to thank the King (Louis XIV.) for his conduct towards the
+Princesse des Ursins. From that moment it was announced that she would
+remain at Court until the month of April, in order to attend to her
+affairs and her health. It was already to have made a grand step to be
+mistress enough to announce thus her stay. Nobody in truth doubted of
+her return to Spain, but the word was not yet said. She avoided all
+explanations, and it may be believed did not have many indiscreet
+questions put to her upon the subject.
+
+So many and such long audiences with the King, followed by so much
+serenity, had a great effect upon the world, and the crowd that flocked
+to see Madame des Ursins was greater than ever; but under various
+pretences she shut herself up and would see only a few intimate friends,
+foremost among which were Madame de Saint-Simon and myself. Whilst
+triumphant beyond all her hopes in Paris, she was at work in Spain, and
+with equal success. Rivas, who had drawn up the will of the late King
+Charles II., was disgraced, and never afterwards rose to favour. The Duc
+de Grammont, our ambassador at Madrid, was so overwhelmed with annoyance,
+that he asked for his recall. Amelot, whom Madame des Ursins favoured,
+was appointed in his place, and many who had been disgraced were
+reinstated in office; everything was ordered according to her wishes.
+
+We returned to Marly, where many balls took place. It need not be
+doubted that Madame des Ursins was among the invited. Apartments were
+given her, and nothing could equal the triumphant air with which she took
+possession of them, the continual attentions of the King to her, as
+though she were some little foreign queen just arrived at his Court, or
+the majestic fashion in which she received them, mingled with grace and
+respectful politeness, then almost out of date, and which recalled the
+stately old dames of the Queen-mother. She never came without the King,
+who appeared to be completely occupied with her, talking with her,
+pointing out objects for her inspection, seeking her opinion and her
+approbation with an air of gallantry, even of flattery, which never
+ceased. The frequent private conversations that she had with him in the
+apartment of Madame de Maintenon, and which lasted an hour, and sometimes
+double that time; those that she very often had in the morning alone with
+Madame de Maintenon, rendered her the divinity of the Court. The
+Princesses encircled her the moment she appeared anywhere, and went to
+see her in her chamber. Nothing was more surprising than the servile
+eagerness with which the greatest people, the highest in power and the
+most in favour, clustered around her. Her very glances were counted, and
+her words, addressed even to ladies of the highest rank, imprinted upon
+them a look of ravishment.
+
+I went nearly every morning to her house: she always rose very early,
+dressed herself at once, so that she was never seen at her toilette.
+I was in advance of the hour fixed for the most important visitors, and
+we talked with the same liberty as of yore. I learnt from her many
+details, and the opinion of the King and of Madame de Maintenon upon many
+people. We often used to laugh in concert at the truckling to her of
+persons the most considerable, and of the disdain they drew upon
+themselves, although she did not testify it to them. We laughed too at
+the falsehood of others, who after having done her all the injury in
+their power ever since her arrival, lavished upon her all kinds of
+flatteries, and boasted of their affection for her and of zeal in her
+cause. I was flattered with this confidence of the dictatress of the
+Court. It drew upon me a sudden consideration; for people of the
+greatest distinction often found me alone with her in the morning, and
+the messengers who rained down at that time reported that they had found
+me with her, and that they had not been able to speak to her. Oftentimes
+in the salon she called me to her, or at other times I went to her and
+whispered a word in her ear, with an air of ease and liberty much envied
+but little imitated. She never met Madame de Saint-Simon without going
+to her, praising her, making her join in the conversation that was
+passing around; oftentimes leading her to the glass and adjusting her
+head-dress or her robe as she might have done in private to a daughter.
+People asked with surprise and much annoyance whence came such a great
+friendship which had never been suspected by anybody? What completed the
+torment of the majority, was to see Madame des Ursins, as soon as she
+quitted the chamber of Madame de Maintenon, go immediately to Madame de
+Saint-Simon, lead her aside, and speak to her in a low tone. This opened
+the eyes of everybody and drew upon us many civilities.
+
+A more solid gratification to us were the kind things Madame des Ursins
+said in our behalf to the King and Madame de Maintenon. She spoke in the
+highest praise of Madame de Saint-Simon, and declared that there was no
+woman at Court so fitting as she, so expressly made by her virtue, good
+conduct, and ability, to be lady of the Palace, or even lady-of-honour to
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, should the post become vacant. Madame
+des Ursins did not forget me; but a woman was more susceptible of her
+praise. It made, therefore, all the more impression. This kind manner
+towards us did not change during all her stay at Court.
+
+At all the balls which Madame des Ursins attended, she was treated with
+much distinction, and at one she obtained permission for the Duc and
+Duchesse d'Albe to be present, but with some little trouble. I say with
+some little trouble, because no ambassador, no foreigner, had ever,
+with one exception, been admitted to Marly. It was a great favour,
+therefore, for Madame des Ursins to obtain. The King, too, treated the
+Duc and Duchesse d'Albe, throughout the evening with marked respect, and
+placed the latter in the most distinguished position, not only in the
+ball-room but at supper. When he went to bed, too, he gave the Duc
+d'Albe his candlestick; an honour the importance of which I have already
+described.
+
+At the other balls Madame des Ursins seated herself near the Grand
+Chamberlain, and looked at everybody with her lorgnette. At every moment
+the King turned round to speak to her and Madame de Maintenon, who came
+for half an hour or so to these balls, and on her account displaced the
+Grand Chamberlain, who put himself behind her. In this manner she joined
+Madame des Ursins, and was close to the King--the conversation between
+the three being continual. What appeared extremely singular was to see
+Madame des Ursins in the salon with a little spaniel in her arms, as
+though she had been in her own house. People could not sufficiently
+express their astonishment at a familiarity which even Madame la Duchesse
+de Bourgogne would not have dared to venture; still less could they do so
+when they saw the King caress this little dog over and over again. In
+fine, such a high flight has never been seen. People could not accustom
+themselves to it, and those who knew the King and his Court are surprised
+still, when they think of it, after so many years. There was no longer
+any doubt that Madame des Ursins would return into Spain. All her
+frequent private conversations with the King and Madame de Maintenon were
+upon that country. I will only add here that her return took place in
+due time; and that her influence became more paramount than ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+In relating what happened to Madame des Ursins upon her return to Spain,
+I have carried the narrative into the year 1705. It is not necessary to
+retrace our steps. Towards the end of 1703 Courtin died. He had early
+shone at the Council, and had been made Intendant of Picardy.
+M. de Chaulnes, whose estates were there, begged him to tax them as
+lightly as possible. Courtin, who was a very intimate friend of M. de
+Chaulnes, complied with his request; but the next year, in going over his
+accounts, he found that to do a good turn to M. de Chaulnes he had done
+an ill turn to many others--that is to say, he had relieved M. de
+Chaulnes at the expense of other parishes, which he had overcharged.
+The trouble this caused him made him search deeply into the matter, and
+he found that the wrong he had done amounted to forty thousand francs.
+Without a second thought he paid back this money, and asked to be
+recalled. As he was much esteemed, his request was not at once complied
+with, but he represented so well that he could not pass his life doing
+wrong, and unable to serve his friends, that at last what he asked was
+granted. He afterwards had several embassies, went to England as
+ambassador, and was very successful in that capacity. I cannot quit
+Courtin without relating an adventure he had one day with Fieubet, a
+Councillor of State like himself. As they were going to Saint Germain
+they were stopped by several men and robbed; robbery was common in those
+days, and Fieubet lost all he had in his pockets. When the thieves had
+left them, and while Fieubet was complaining of his misfortune, Courtin
+began to applaud himself for having saved his watch and fifty pistoles
+that he had time to slip into his trowsers. Immediately on hearing this,
+Fieubet put his head out of the coach window, and called back the
+thieves, who came sure enough to see what he wanted.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "you appear to be honest folks in distress; it is
+not reasonable that you should be the dupes of this gentleman, who his
+swindled you out of fifty pistoles and his watch." And then turning to
+Courtin, he smilingly said: "You told me so yourself, monsieur; so give
+the things up like a man, without being searched."
+
+The astonishment and indignation of Courtin were such that he allowed
+money and watch to be taken from him without uttering a single word; but
+when the thieves were gone away, he would have strangled Fieubet had not
+this latter been the stronger of the two. Fieubet only laughed at him;
+and upon arriving at Saint Germain told the adventure to everybody he
+met. Their friends had all the trouble in the world to reconcile them.
+
+The year finished with an affair in which I was not a little interested.
+During the year there were several grand fetes, at which the King went to
+High Mass and vespers. On these occasions a lady of the Court, named by
+the Queen, or when there was none, by the Dauphiness, made a collection
+for the poor. The house of Lorraine, always anxious to increase its
+importance, shirked impudently this duty, in order thereby to give itself
+a new distinction, and assimilate its rank to that of the Princes of the
+blood. It was a long time before this was perceived. At last the
+Duchesse de Noailles, the Duchesse de Guiche, her daughter, the Marechal
+de Boufflers, and others, took notice of it; and I was soon after
+informed of it. I determined that the matter should be arranged, and
+that justice should be done.
+
+The Duchesse de Lude was first spoken to on the subject; she, weak and
+timid, did not dare to do anything; but at last was induced to speak to
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, who, wishing to judge for herself as to
+the truth of the matter, ordered Madame de Montbazon to make the
+collection for the poor at the next fete that took place. Although very
+well, Madame de Montbazon pretended to be ill, stopped in bed half a day,
+and excused herself on this ground from performing the duty. Madame de
+Bourgogne was annoyed, but she did not dare to push matters farther; and,
+in consequence of this refusal, none of the Duchesses would make the
+collection. Other ladies of quality soon perceived this, and they also
+refused to serve; so that the collection fell into all sorts of hands,
+and sometimes was not made at all. Matters went on so far, indeed, that
+the King at last grew angry, and threatened to make Madame de Bourgogne
+herself take this office. But refusals still followed upon refusals, and
+the bomb thus at length was ready to burst.
+
+The King, who at last ordered the daughter of M. le Grand to take the
+plate on New Year's Day, 1704., had, it seems, got scent of the part I
+was taking in this matter, and expressed himself to Madame de Maintenon,
+as I learnt, as very discontented with me and one or two other Dukes.
+He said that the Dukes were much less obedient to him than the Princes;
+and that although many Duchesses had refused to make the collection, the
+moment he had proposed that the daughter of M. le Grand should take it,
+M. le Grand consented. On the next day, early in the morning, I saw
+Chamillart, who related to me that on the previous evening, before he had
+had time to open his business, the King had burst out in anger against
+me, saying it was very strange, but that since I had quitted the army I
+did nothing but meddle in matters of rank and bring actions against
+everybody; finishing, by declaring that if he acted well he should send
+me so far away that I should be unable to importune him any more.
+Chamillart added, that he had done all in his power to appease the King,
+but with little effect.
+
+After consulting with my friends, I determined to go up to the King and
+boldly ask to speak to him in his cabinet, believing that to be the
+wisest course I could pursue. He was not yet so reconciled to me as he
+afterwards became, and, in fact, was sorely out of humour with me. This
+step did not seem, therefore, altogether unattended with danger; but,
+as I have said, I resolved to take it. As he passed, therefore, from his
+dinner that same day, I asked permission to follow him into his cabinet.
+Without replying to me, he made a sign that I might enter, and went into
+the embrasure of the window.
+
+When we were quite alone I explained, at considerable length, my reasons
+for acting in this matter, declaring that it was from no disrespect to
+his Majesty that I had requested Madame de Saint-Simon and the other
+Duchesses to refuse to collect for the poor, but simply to bring those to
+account who had claimed without reason to be exempt from this duty.
+I added, keeping my eyes fixed upon the King all the time, that I begged
+him to believe that none of his subjects were more submissive to his will
+or more willing to acknowledge the supremacy of his authority in all
+things than the Dukes. Until this his tone and manner had been very
+severe; but now they both softened, and he said, with much goodness and
+familiarity, that "that was how it was proper to speak and think," and
+other remarks equally gracious. I took then the opportunity of
+expressing the sorrow I felt at seeing, that while my sole endeavour was
+to please him, my enemies did all they could to blacken me in his eyes,
+indicating that I suspected M. le Grand, who had never pardoned me for
+the part I took in the affair of the Princesse d'Harcourt, was one of the
+number. After I had finished the King remained still a moment, as if
+ready to hear if I had anything more to say, and then quitted me with a
+bow, slight but very gracious, saying it was well, and that he was
+pleased with me.
+
+I learnt afterwards that he said the same thing of me in the evening to
+Chamillart, but, nevertheless, that he did not seem at all shaken in his
+prejudice in favour of M. le Grand. The King was in fact very easy to
+prejudice, difficult to lead back, and most unwilling to seek
+enlightenment, or to listen to any explanations, if authority was in the
+slightest degree at stake. Whoever had the address to make a question
+take this shape, might be assured that the King would throw aside all
+consideration of justice, right, and reason, and dismiss all evidence.
+It was by playing on this chord that his ministers knew how to manage him
+with so much art, and to make themselves despotic masters, causing him to
+believe all they wished, while at the same time they rendered him
+inaccessible to explanation, and to those who might have explained.
+
+I have, perhaps, too much expanded an affair which might have been more
+compressed. But in addition to the fact that I was mixed up in it, it is
+by these little private details, as it seems to me, that the characters
+of the Court and King are best made known.
+
+In the early part of the next year, 1704., the King made La Queue, who
+was a captain of cavalry, campmaster. This La Queue was seigneur of the
+place of which he bore the name, distant six leagues from Versailles, and
+as much from Dreux. He had married a girl that the King had had by a
+gardener's wife. Bontems, the confidential valet of the King, had
+brought about the marriage without declaring the names of the father or
+the mother of the girl; but La Queue knew it, and promised himself a
+fortune. The girl herself was tall and strongly resembled the King.
+Unfortunately for her, she knew the secret of her birth, and much envied
+her three sisters--recognised, and so grandly married. She lived on very
+good terms with her husband--always, however, in the greatest privacy--
+and had several children by him. La Queue himself, although by this
+marriage son-in-law of the King, seldom appeared at the Court, and, when
+there, was on the same footing as the simplest soldier. Bontems did not
+fail from time to time to give him money. The wife of La Queue lived
+very melancholily for twenty years in her village, never left it, and
+scarcely ever went abroad for fear of betraying herself.
+
+On Wednesday, the 25th of June, Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne had a son
+born to him. This event caused great joy to the King and the Court.
+The town shared their delight, and carried their enthusiasm almost to
+madness, by the excess of their demonstration and their fetes. The King
+gave a fete at Marly, and made the most magnificent presents to Madame la
+Duchesse de Bourgogne when she left her bed. But we soon had reason to
+repent of so much joy, for the child died in less than a year--and of so
+much money unwisely spent, in fetes when it was wanted for more pressing
+purposes. Even while these rejoicings were being celebrated, news
+reached us which spread consternation in every family, and cast a gloom
+over the whole city.
+
+I have already said that a grand alliance, with the Emperor at its head,
+had been formed against France, and that our troops were opposing the
+Allies in various parts of Europe. The Elector of Bavaria had joined his
+forces to ours, and had already done us some service. On the 12th of
+August he led his men into the plain of Hochstedt, where, during the
+previous year, he had gained a victory over the Imperialists. In this
+plain he was joined by our troops, who took up positions right and left
+of him, under the command of Tallard and Marsin. The Elector himself had
+command of all. Soon after their arrival at Hochstedt, they received
+intelligence that Prince Eugene, with the Imperialist forces, and the
+Duke of Marlborough with the English were coming to meet them. Our
+generals had, however, all the day before them to choose their ground,
+and to make their dispositions. It would have been difficult to succeed
+worse, both with the one and the other. A brook, by no means of a miry
+kind, ran parallel to our army; and in front of it a spring, which formed
+a long and large quagmire, nearly separated the two lines of Marshal
+Tallard. It was a strange situation for a general to take up, who is
+master of a vast plain; and it became, as will be seen, a very sad one.
+At his extreme right was the large village of Blenheim, in which, by a
+blindness without example, he had placed twenty-six battalions of
+infantry, six regiments of dragoons, and a brigade of cavalry. It was an
+entire army merely for the purpose of holding this village, and
+supporting his right, and of course he had all these troops the less to
+aid him in the battle which took place. The first battle of Hochstedt
+afforded a lesson which ought to have been studied on this occasion.
+There were many officers present, too, who had been at that battle; but
+they were not consulted. One of two courses was open, either to take up
+a position behind the brook, and parallel to it, so as to dispute its
+passage with the enemies, or to take advantage of the disorder they would
+be thrown into in crossing it by attacking them then. Both these plans
+were good; the second was the better; but neither was adopted. What was
+done was, to leave a large space between our troops and the brook, that
+the enemy might pass at their ease, and be overthrown afterwards, as was
+said. With such dispositions it is impossible to doubt but that our
+chiefs were struck with blindness. The Danube flowed near enough to
+Blenheim to be of sufficient support to our right, better indeed than
+that village, which consequently there was no necessity to hold.
+
+The enemies arrived on the 13th of August at the dawn, and at once took
+up their position on the banks of the brook. Their surprise must have
+been great to see our army so far off, drawn up in battle array. They
+profited by the extent of ground left to them, crossed the brook at
+nearly every point, formed themselves in several lines on the side to
+which they crossed, and then extended themselves at their ease, without
+receiving the slightest opposition. This is exact truth, but without any
+appearance of being so; and posterity will with difficulty believe it.
+It was nearly eight o'clock before all these dispositions, which our
+troops saw made without moving, were completed. Prince Eugene with his
+army had the right; the Duke of Marlborough the left. The latter thus
+opposed to the forces of Tallard, and Prince Eugene to those of Marsin.
+
+The battle commenced; and in one part was so far favourable to us that
+the attack of Prince Eugene was repulsed by Marsin, who might have
+profited by this circumstance but for the unfortunate position of our
+right. Two things contributed to place us at a disadvantage. The second
+line, separated by the quagmire I have alluded to from the first line,
+could not sustain it properly; and in consequence of the long bend it was
+necessary to make round this quagmire, neither line, after receiving or
+making a charge, could retire quickly to rally and return again to the
+attack. As for the infantry, the twenty-six battalions shut up in
+Blenheim left a great gap in it that could not fail to, be felt. The
+English, who soon perceived the advantage they might obtain from this
+want of infantry, and from the difficulty with which our cavalry of the
+right was rallied, profited by these circumstances with the readiness of
+people who have plenty of ground at their disposal. They redoubled their
+charges, and to say all in one word, they defeated at their first attack
+all this army, notwithstanding the efforts of our general officers and of
+several regiments to repel them. The army of the Elector, entirely
+unsupported, and taken in flank by the English, wavered in its turn.
+All the valour of the Bavarians, all the prodigies of the Elector, were
+unable to remedy the effects of this wavering. Thus was seen, at one and
+the same time, the army of Tallard beaten and thrown into the utmost
+disorder; that of the Elector sustaining itself with great intrepidity,
+but already in retreat; and that of Marsin charging and gaining ground
+upon Prince Eugene. It was not until Marsin learnt of the defeat of
+Tallard and of the Elector, that he ceased to pursue his advantages, and
+commenced his retreat. This retreat he was able to make without being
+pursued.
+
+
+[Illustration: After The Battle of Blenheim--Painted by R. Canton
+Woodville--354]
+
+
+In the mean time the troops in Blenheim had been twice attacked, and had
+twice repulsed the enemy. Tallard had given orders to these troops on no
+account to leave their positions, nor to allow a single man even to quit
+them. Now, seeing his army defeated and in flight, he wished to
+countermand these orders. He was riding in hot haste to Blenheim to do
+so, with only two attendants, when all three were surrounded, recognised,
+and taken prisoners.
+
+These troops shut up in Blenheim had been left under the command of
+Blansac, camp-marshal, and Clerembault, lieutenant-general. During the
+battle this latter was missed, and could nowhere be found. It was known
+afterwards that, for fear of being killed, he had endeavoured to escape
+across the Danube on horseback attended by a single valet. The valet
+passed over the river in safety, but his master went to the bottom.
+Blansac, thus left alone in command, was much troubled by the disorders
+he saw and heard, and by the want which he felt of fresh orders. He sent
+a messenger to Tallard for instructions how to act, but his messenger was
+stopped on the road, and taken prisoner. I only repeat what Blansac
+himself reported in his defence, which was equally ill-received by the
+King and the public, but which had no contradictors, for nobody was
+witness of what took place at Blenheim except those actually there, and
+they all, the principals at least, agreed in their story. What some of
+the soldiers said was not of a kind that could altogether be relied upon.
+
+While Blansac was in this trouble, he saw Denonville, one of our officers
+who had been taken prisoner, coming towards the village, accompanied by
+an officer who waved a handkerchief in the air and demanded a parley.
+Denonville was a young man, very handsome and well made, who being a
+great favourite with Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne had become
+presumptuous and somewhat audacious. Instead of speaking in private to
+Blansac and the other principal officers--since he had undertaken so
+strange a mission--Denonville, who had some intellect, plenty of fine
+talk, and a mighty opinion of himself, set to work haranguing the troops,
+trying to persuade them to surrender themselves prisoners of war, so that
+they might preserve themselves for the service of the King. Blansac, who
+saw the wavering this caused among the troops, sharply told Denonville to
+hold his tongue, and began himself to harangue the troops in a contrary
+spirit. But it was to late. The mischief was done. Only one regiment,
+that of Navarre, applauded him, all the rest maintained a dull silence.
+I remind my readers that it is Blansac's version of the story I am
+giving.
+
+Soon after Denonville and his companion had returned to the enemy, an
+English lord came, demanding a parley with the commandant. He was
+admitted to Blansac, to whom he said that the Duke of Marlborough had
+sent him to say that he had forty battalions and sixty pieces of cannon
+at his disposal, with reinforcements to any extent at command; that he
+should surround the village on all sides; that the army of Tallard was in
+flight, and the remains of that of the Elector in retreat; that Tallard
+and many general officers were prisoners; that Blansac could hope for no
+reinforcements; and that, therefore, he had better at once make an
+honourable capitulation, and surrender, himself with all his men
+prisoners of war, than attempt a struggle in which he was sure to be
+worsted with great loss. Blansac wanted to dismiss this messenger at
+once, but the Englishman pressed him to advance a few steps out of the
+village, and see with his own eyes the defeat of the Electoral army, and
+the preparations that were made on the other side to continue the battle.
+Blansac accordingly, attended by one of his officers, followed this lord,
+and was astounded to see with his own eyes that all he had just heard was
+true. Returned into Bleinheim, Blansac assembled all his principal
+officers, made them acquainted with the proposition that had been made,
+and told them what he had himself seen. Every one comprehended what a
+frightful shock it would be for the country when it learnt that they had
+surrendered themselves prisoners of war; but all things well considered,
+it was thought best to accept these terms, and so preserve to the King
+the twenty-six battalions and the twelve squadrons of dragoons who were
+there. This terrible capitulation was at once, therefore, drawn up and
+signed by Blansac, the general officers, and the heads of every corps
+except that of Navarre, which was thus the sole one which refused.
+
+The number of prisoners that fell to the enemy in this battle was
+infinite. The Duke of Marlborough took charge of the most distinguished,
+until he could carry them away to England, to grace his triumph there.
+He treated them all, even the humblest, with the utmost attention,
+consideration, and politeness, and with a modesty that did him even more
+honour than his victory. Those that came under the charge of Prince
+Louis of Baden were much less kindly treated.
+
+The King received the cruel news of this battle on the 21st of August, by
+a courier from the Marechal de Villeroy. By this courier the King learnt
+that a battle had taken place on the 13th; had lasted from eight o'clock
+in the morning until evening; that the entire army of Tallard was killed
+or taken prisoners; that it was not known what had become of Tallard
+himself, or whether the Elector and Marsin had been at the action. The
+private letters that arrived were all opened to see what news they
+contained, but no fresh information could be got from them. For six days
+the King remained in this uncertainty as to the real losses that had been
+sustained. Everybody was afraid to write bad news; all the letters which
+from time to time arrived, gave, therefore, but an unsatisfactory account
+of what had taken place. The King used every means in his power to
+obtain some news. Every post that came in was examined by him, but there
+was little found to satisfy him. Neither the King nor anybody else could
+understand, from what had reached them, how it was that an entire army
+had been placed inside a village, and had surrendered itself by a signed
+capitulation. It puzzled every brain. At last the details, that had
+oozed out little by little, augmented to a perfect stream by the
+arrival of one of our officers, who, taken prisoner, had been allowed by
+the Duke of Marlborough to go to Paris to relate to the King the
+misfortune that had happened to him.
+
+We were not accustomed to misfortunes. This one, very reasonably, was
+utterly unexpected. It seemed in every way the result of bad
+generalship, of an unjustifiable disposition of troops, and of a series
+of gross and incredible errors. The commotion was general. There was
+scarcely an illustrious family that had not had one of its members
+killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Other families were in the same
+case. The public sorrow and indignation burst out without restraint.
+Nobody who had taken part in this humiliation was spared; the generals
+and the private soldiers alike came in for blame. Denonville was
+ignominiously broken for the speech he had made at Blenheim. The
+generals, however, were entirely let off. All the punishment fell upon
+certain regiments, which were broken, and upon certain unimportant
+officers--the guilty and innocent mixed together. The outcry was
+universal. The grief of the King at this ignominy and this loss, at the
+moment when he imagined that the fate of the Emperor was in his hands,
+may be imagined. At a time when he might have counted upon striking a
+decisive blow, he saw himself reduced to act simply on the defensive, in
+order to preserve his troops; and had to repair the loss of an entire
+army, killed or taken prisoners. The sequel showed not less that the
+hand of God was weighty upon us. All judgment was lost. We trembled
+even in the midst of Alsace.
+
+In the midst of all this public sorrow, the rejoicing and the fetes for
+the birth of the Duc de Bretagne son of Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne,
+were not discontinued. The city gave a firework fete upon the river,
+that Monseigneur, the Princes, his sons, and Madame la Duchesse de
+Bourgogne, with many ladies and courtiers, came to see from the windows
+of the Louvre, magnificent cheer and refreshments being provided for
+them. This was a contrast which irritated the people, who would not
+understand that it was meant for magnanimity. A few days afterwards the
+King gave an illumination and a fete at Marly, to which the Court of
+Saint Germain was invited; and which was all in honour of Madame la
+Duchesse de Bourgogne. He thanked the Prevot des Marchand for the
+fireworks upon the river, and said that Monseigneur and Madame had found
+them very beautiful.
+
+Shortly after this, I received a letter from one of my friends, the Duc
+de Montfort, who had always been in the army of the Marechal de Villeroy.
+He sent word to me, that upon his return he intended to break his sword,
+and retire from the army. His letter was written in such a despairing
+tone that, fearing lest with his burning courage he might commit some
+martial folly, I conjured him not to throw himself into danger for the
+sake of being killed. It seemed that I had anticipated his intentions.
+A convoy of money was to be sent to Landau. Twice he asked to be allowed
+to take charge of this convoy, and twice he was told it was too
+insignificant a charge for a camp-marshal to undertake. The third time
+that he asked this favour, he obtained it by pure importunity. He
+carried the money safely into Landau, without meeting with any obstacle.
+On his return he saw some hussars roving about. Without a moment's
+hesitation he resolved to give chase to them. He was with difficulty
+restrained for some time, and a last, breaking away, he set off to attack
+them, followed by only two officers. The hussars dispersed themselves,
+and retreated; the Duc de Montfort followed them, rode into the midst of
+them, was surrounded on all sides, and soon received a blow which
+overturned him. In a few moments after, being carried off by his men, he
+died, having only had time to confess himself, and to arrive at his
+quarters. He was infinitely regretted by everybody who had known him.
+The grief of his family may be imagined.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+The King did not long remain without some consolation for the loss of the
+battle of Hochstedt (Blenheim). The Comte de Toulouse--very different in
+every respect from his brother, the Duc du Maine--was wearied with
+cruising in the Mediterranean, without daring to attack enemies that were
+too strong for him. He had, therefore, obtained reinforcements this
+year, so that he was in a state to measure his forces with any opponent.
+The English fleet was under the command of Admiral Rooks. The Comte de
+Toulouse wished above all things to attack. He asked permission to do
+so, and, the permission being granted, he set about his enterprise. He
+met the fleet of Admiral Rooks near Malaga, on the 24th of September of
+this year, and fought with it from ten o'clock in the morning until eight
+o'clock in the evening. The fleets, as far as the number of vessels was
+concerned, were nearly equal. So furious or so obstinate a sea-fight had
+not been seen for a long time. They had always the wind upon our fleet,
+yet all the advantage was on the side of the Comte de Toulouse, who could
+boast that he had obtained the victory, and whose vessel fought that of
+Rooks, dismasted it, and pursued it all next day towards the coast of
+Barbary, where the Admiral retired. The enemy lost six thousand men; the
+ship of the Dutch Vice-Admiral was blown up; several others were sunk,
+and some dismasted. Our fleet lost neither ship nor mast, but the
+victory cost the lives of many distinguished people, in addition to those
+of fifteen hundred soldiers or sailors killed or wounded.
+
+Towards evening on the 25th, by dint of maneuvers, aided by the wind, our
+fleet came up again with that of Rooks. The Comte de Toulouse was for
+attacking it again on the morrow, and showed that if the attack were
+successful, Gibraltar would be the first result of the victory. That
+famous place, which commands the important strait of the same name, had
+been allowed to fall into neglect, and was defended by a miserable
+garrison of forty men. In this state it had of course easily fallen into
+the hands of the enemies. But they had not yet had time to man it with a
+much superior force, and Admiral Rooks once defeated, it must have
+surrendered to us.
+
+The Comte de Toulouse urged his advice with all the energy of which he
+was capable, and he was supported in opinion by others of more experience
+than himself. But D'O, the mentor of the fleet, against whose counsel he
+had been expressly ordered by the King never to act, opposed the project
+of another attack with such disdainful determination, that the Comte had
+no course open but to give way. The annoyance which this caused
+throughout the fleet was very great. It soon was known what would have
+become of the enemy's fleet had it been attacked, and that Gibraltar
+would have been found in exactly the same state as when abandoned. The
+Comte de Toulouse acquired great honour in this campaign, and his stupid
+teacher lost little, because he had little to lose.
+
+M. de Mantua having surrendered his state to the King, thereby rendering
+us a most important service in Italy, found himself ill at ease in his
+territory, which had become the theatre of war, and had come incognito to
+Paris. He had apartments provided for him in the Luxembourg, furnished
+magnificently with the Crown furniture, and was very graciously received
+by the King. The principal object of his journey was to marry some
+French lady; and as he made no secret of this intention, more than one
+plot was laid in order to provide him with a wife. M. de Vaudemont,
+intent upon aggrandizing the house of Lorraine, wished. M de Mantua to
+marry a member of that family, and fixed upon Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf for
+his bride. The Lorraines did all in their power to induce M. de Mantua
+to accept her. But M. le Prince had also his designs in this matter. He
+had a daughter; whom he knew not how to get off his hands, and he thought
+that in more ways than one it would be to his advantage to marry her to
+the Duke of Mantua. He explained his views to the King, who gave him
+permission to follow them out, and promised to serve him with all his
+protection. But when the subject was broached to M. de Mantua, he
+declined this match in such a respectful, yet firm, manner that M. le
+Prince felt he must abandon all hope of carrying it out. The Lorraines
+were not more successful in their designs. When M. de Vaudemont had
+first spoken of Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf, M. de Mantua had appeared to
+listen favourably. This was in Italy. Now that he was in Paris he acted
+very differently. It was in vain that Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf was thrust
+in his way, as though by chance, at the promenades, in the churches; her
+beauty, which might have touched many others, made no impression upon
+him. The fact was that M. de Mantua, even long before leaving his state,
+had fixed upon a wife.
+
+Supping one evening with the Duc de Lesdiguieres, a little before the
+death of the latter, he saw a ring with a portrait in it; upon the Duke's
+finger. He begged to be allowed to look at the portrait, was charmed
+with it, and said he should be very happy to have such a beautiful
+mistress. The Duke at this burst out laughing, and said it was the
+portrait of his wife. As soon as the Duc de Lesdiguieres was dead,
+de Mantua thought only of marrying the young widowed Duchess. He sought
+her everywhere when he arrived in Paris, but without being able to find
+her; because she was in the first year of her widowhood. He therefore
+unbosomed himself to Torcy, who reported the matter to the King. The
+King approved of the design of M. de Mantua, and charged the Marechal de
+Duras to speak to the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, who was his daughter.
+The Duchess was equally surprised and afflicted when she learned what was
+in progress. She testified to her father her repugnance to abandon
+herself to the caprices and the jealousy of an old Italian 'debauche' the
+horror she felt at the idea of being left alone with him in Italy; and
+the reasonable fear she had of her health, with a man whose own could not
+be good.
+
+I was promptly made acquainted with this affair; for Madame de
+Lesdiguieres and Madame de Saint-Simon were on the most intimate terms.
+I did everything in my power to persuade Madame de Lesdirguieres to
+content to the match, insisting at once on her family position, on the
+reason of state, and on the pleasure of ousting Madame d'Elboeuf,--but it
+was all in vain. I never saw such firmness. Pontchartrain, who came and
+reasoned with her, was even less successful than I, for he excited her by
+threats and menaces. M. le Prince himself supported us--having no longer
+any hope for himself, and fearing, above all things, M. de Mantua's
+marriage with a Lorraine--and did all he could to persuade Madame de
+Lesdiguieres to give in. I renewed my efforts in the same direction, but
+with no better success than before. Nevertheless, M. de Mantua,
+irritated by not being able to see Madame de Lesdirguieres, resolved to
+go and wait for her on a Sunday at the Minimes. He found her shut up in
+a chapel, and drew near the door in order to see her as she went out. He
+was not much gratified; her thick crape veil was lowered; it was with
+difficulty he could get a glance at her. Resolved to succeed, he spoke
+to Torcy, intimating that Madame de Lesdiguieres ought not to refuse such
+a slight favour as to allow herself to be seen in a church. Torcy
+communicated this to the King, who sent word to Madame de Lesdiguieres
+that she must consent to the favour M. de Mantua demanded. She could not
+refuse after this. M. de Mantua went accordingly, and waited for her in
+the same place, where he had once already so badly seen her. He found
+her, in the chapel, and drew near the door, as before. She came out, her
+veil raised, passed lightly before him, made him a sliding courtesy as
+she glided by, in reply to his bow, and reached her coach.
+
+M. de Mantua was charmed; he redoubled his efforts with the King and M.
+de Duras; the matter was discussed in full council, like an affair of
+state--indeed it was one; and it was resolved to amuse M. de Mantua, and
+yet at the same time to do everything to vanquish this resistance of
+Madame de Lesdiguieres, except employing the full authority of the King,
+which the King himself did not wish to exert. Everything was promised to
+her on the part of the King: that it should be his Majesty who would make
+the stipulations of the marriage contract; that it should be his Majesty
+who would give her a dowry, and would guarantee her return to France if
+she became a widow, and assure her his protection while she remained a
+wife; in one word, everything was tried, and in the gentlest and most
+honourable manner, to persuade her. Her mother lent us her house one
+afternoon, in order that we might speak more at length and more at our
+ease there to Madame de Lesdiguieres than we could at the Hotel de Duras.
+We only gained a torrent of tears for our pains.
+
+A few days after this, I was very much astonished to hear Chamillart
+relate to me all that had passed at this interview. I learnt afterwards
+that Madame de Lesdiguieres, fearing that if, entirely unsupported, she
+persisted in her refusal, it might draw upon her the anger of the King,
+had begged Chamillart to implore his Majesty not to insist upon this
+marriage. M. de Mantua hearing this, turned his thoughts elsewhere; and
+she was at last delivered of a pursuit which had become a painful
+persecution to her. Chamillart served her so well that the affair came
+to an end; and the King, flattered perhaps by the desire this young
+Duchess showed to remain his subject instead of becoming a sovereign,
+passed a eulogium upon her the same evening in his cabinet to his family
+and to the Princesses, by whom it was spread abroad through society.
+
+I may as well finish this matter at once. The Lorraines, who had watched
+very closely the affair up to this point, took hope again directly they
+heard of the resolution M. de Mantua had formed to abandon his pursuit of
+Madame de Lesdiguieres. They, in their turn, were closely watched by
+M. le Prince, who so excited the King against them, that Madame d'Elboeuf
+received orders from him not to continue pressing her suit upon M. de
+Mantua. That did not stop them. They felt that the King would not
+interfere with them by an express prohibition, and sure, by past
+experience, of being on better terms with him afterwards than before,
+they pursued their object with obstinacy. By dint of much plotting and
+scheming, and by the aid of their creatures, they contrived to overcome
+the repugnance of M. de Mantua to Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf, which at bottom
+could be only caprice--her beauty, her figure, and her birth taken into
+account. But Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf, in her turn, was as opposed to
+marriage with M. de Mantua as Madame de Lesdiguieres had been. She was,
+however, brought round ere long, and then the consent of the King was the
+only thing left to be obtained. The Lorraines made use of their usual
+suppleness in order to gain that. They represented the impolicy of
+interfering with the selection of a sovereign who was the ally of France,
+and who wished to select a wife from among her subjects, and succeeded so
+well, that the King determined to become neutral; that is to say, neither
+to prohibit nor to sanction this match. M. le Prince was instrumental in
+inducing the King to take this neutral position; and he furthermore
+caused the stipulation to be made, that it should not be celebrated in
+France, but at Mantua.
+
+After parting with the King, M. de Mantua, on the 21st of September, went
+to Nemours, slept there, and then set out for Italy. At the same time
+Madame and Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf, with Madame de Pompadour, sister of
+the former, passed through Fontainebleau without going to see a soul, and
+followed their prey lest he should change his mind and escape them until
+the road he was to take branched off from that they were to go by; he in
+fact intending to travel by sea and they by land. On the way their fears
+redoubled. Arrived at Nevers, and lodged in a hostelrie, they thought it
+would not be well to commit themselves further without more certain
+security: Madame de Pompadour therefore proposed to M. de Mantua not to
+delay his happiness any longer, but to celebrate his marriage at once.
+He defended himself as well as he could, but was at last obliged to give
+in. During this indecent dispute, the Bishop was sent to. He had just
+died, and the Grand Vicar, not knowing what might be the wishes of the
+King upon this marriage, refused to celebrate it. The chaplain was
+therefore appealed to, and he at once married Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf to
+M. de Mantua in the hotel. As soon as the ceremony was over, Madame
+d'Elboeuf wished to leave her daughter alone with M. de Mantua, and
+although he strongly objected to this, everybody quitted the room,
+leaving only the newly married couple there, and Madame de Pompadour
+outside upon the step listening to what passed between them. But finding
+after a while that both were very much embarrassed, and that M. de Mantua
+did little but cry out for the company to return, she conferred with her
+sister, and they agreed to give him his liberty. Immediately he had
+obtained it, he mounted his horse, though it was not early, and did not
+see them again until they reached Italy--though all went the same road as
+far as Lyons. The news of this strange celebration of marriage was soon
+spread abroad with all the ridicule which attached to it.
+
+The King was very much annoyed when he learnt that his orders had been
+thus disobeyed. The Lorraines plastered over the affair by representing
+that they feared an affront from M. de Mantua, and indeed it did not seem
+at all unlikely that M. de Mantua, forced as it were into compliance with
+their wishes, might have liked nothing better than to reach Italy and
+then laugh at them. Meanwhile, Madame d'Elboeuf and her daughter
+embarked on board the royal galleys and started for Italy. On the way
+they were fiercely chased by some African corsairs, and it is a great
+pity they were not taken to finish the romance.
+
+However, upon arriving in Italy, the marriage was again celebrated, this
+time with all the forms necessary for the occasion. But Madame d'Elboeuf
+had no cause to rejoice that she had succeeded in thus disposing of her
+daughter. The new Duchesse de Mantua was guarded by her husband with the
+utmost jealousy. She was not allowed to see anybody except her mother,
+and that only for an hour each day. Her women entered her apartment only
+to dress and undress her. The Duke walled up very high all the windows
+of his house, and caused his wife to, be guarded by old women. She
+passed her days thus in a cruel prison. This treatment, which I did not
+expect, and the little consideration, not to say contempt, shown here for
+M. de Mantua since his departure, consoled me much for the invincible
+obstinacy of Madame de Lesdiguieres. Six months after, Madame d'Elboeuf
+returned, beside herself with vexation, but too vain to show it. She
+disguised the misfortune of her daughter, and appeared to be offended if
+it was spoken of; but all our letters from the army showed that the news
+was true. The strangest thing of all is, that the Lorraines after this
+journey were as well treated by the King as if they had never undertaken
+it; a fact which shows their art and ascendency.
+
+I have dwelt too long perhaps upon this matter. It appeared to me to
+merit attention by its singularity, and still more so because it is by
+facts of this sort that is shown what was the composition of the Court of
+the King.
+
+About this time the Comtesse d'Auvergne finished a short life by an
+illness very strange and uncommon. When she married the Comte d'Auvergne
+she was a Huguenot, and he much wanted to make her turn Catholic.
+A famous advocate of that time, who was named Chardon, had been a
+Huguenot, and his wife also; they had made a semblance, however, of
+abjuring, but made no open profession of Catholicism. Chardon was
+sustained by his great reputation, and by the number of protectors he had
+made for himself.
+
+One morning he and his wife were in their coach before the Hotel-Dieu,
+waiting for a reply that their lackey was a very long time in bringing
+them. Madame Chardon glanced by chance upon the grand portal of Notre
+Dame, and little by little fell into a profound reverie, which might be
+better called reflection. Her husband, who at last perceived this, asked
+her what had sent her into such deep thought, and pushed her elbow even
+to draw a reply from her. She told him then what she was thinking about.
+Pointing to Notre Dame, she said that it was many centuries before Luther
+and Calvin that those images of saints had been sculptured over that
+portal; that this proved that saints had long since been invoked; the
+opposition of the reformers to this ancient opinion was a novelty; that
+this novelty rendered suspicious other dogmas against the antiquity of
+Catholicism that they taught; that these reflections, which she had never
+before made, gave her much disquietude, and made her form the resolution
+to seek to enlighten herself.
+
+Chardon thought his wife right, and from that day they laid themselves
+out to seek the truth, then to consult, then to be instructed. This
+lasted a year, and then they made a new abjuration, and both ever
+afterwards passed their lives in zeal and good works. Madame Chardon
+converted many Huguenots. The Comte d'Auvergne took his wife to her.
+The Countess was converted by her, and became a very good Catholic. When
+she died she was extremely regretted by all the relatives of her husband,
+although at first they had looked upon her coldly.
+
+In the month of this September, a strange attempt at assassination
+occurred. Vervins had been forced into many suits against his relatives,
+and was upon the point of gaining them all, when one of his cousins-
+german, who called himself the Abbe de Pre, caused him to be attacked as
+he passed in his coach along the Quai de la Tournelle, before the
+community of Madame de Miramion. Vervins was wounded with several sword
+cuts, and also his coachman, who wished to defend him. In consequence of
+the complaint Vervins made, the Abbe escaped abroad, whence he never
+returned, and soon after, his crime being proved, was condemned to be
+broken alive on the wheel. Vervins had long been menaced with an attack
+by the Abbe. Vervins was an agreeable, well-made man, but very idle.
+He had entered the army; but quitted it soon, and retired to his estates
+in Picardy. There he shut himself up without any cause of disgust or of
+displeasure, without being in any embarrassment, for on the contrary he
+was well to do, and all his affairs were in good order, and he never
+married; without motives of piety, for piety was not at all in his vein;
+without being in bad health, for his health was always perfect; without a
+taste for improvement, for no workmen were ever seen in his house; still
+less on account of the chase, for he never went to it. Yet he stayed in
+his house for several years, without intercourse with a soul, and, what
+is most incomprehensible, without budging from his bed, except to allow
+it to be made. He dined there, and often all alone; he transacted what
+little business he had to do there, and received while there the few
+people he could not refuse admission to; and each day, from the moment he
+opened his eyes until he closed them again, worked at tapestry, or read a
+little; he persevered until his death in this strange fashion of
+existence; so uniquely singular, that I have wished to describe it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+There presents itself to my memory an anecdote which it would be very
+prudent perhaps to be silent upon, and which is very curious for anybody
+who has seen things so closely as I have, to describe. What determines
+me to relate it is that the fact is not altogether unknown, and that
+every Court swarms with similar adventures. Must it be said then? We
+had amongst us a charming young Princess who, by her graces, her
+attentions, and her original manners, had taken possession of the hearts
+of the King, of Madame de Maintenon, and of her husband, Monseigneur le
+Duc de Bourgogne. The extreme discontent so justly felt against her
+father, M. de Savoie, had not made the slightest alteration in their
+tenderness for her. The King, who hid nothing from her, who worked with
+his ministers in her presence whenever she liked to enter, took care not
+to say a word in her hearing against her father. In private, she clasped
+the King round the neck at all hours, jumped upon his knees, tormented
+him with all sorts of sportiveness, rummaged among his papers, opened his
+letters end read them in his presence, sometimes in spite of him; and
+acted in the same manner with Madame de Maintenon. Despite this extreme
+liberty, she never spoke against any one: gracious to all, she
+endeavoured to ward off blows from all whenever she could; was attentive
+to the private comforts of the King, even the humblest: kind to all who
+served her, and living with her ladies, as with friends, in complete
+liberty, old and young; she was the darling of the Court, adored by all;
+everybody, great and small, was anxious to please her; everybody missed
+her when she was away; when she reappeared the void was filled up; in a
+word, she had attached all hearts to her; but while in this brilliant
+situation she lost her own.
+
+Nangis, now a very commonplace Marshal of France, was at that time in
+full bloom. He had an agreeable but not an uncommon face; was well made,
+without anything marvellous; and had been educated in intrigue by the
+Marechale de Rochefort, his grandmother, and Madame de Blansac, his
+mother, who were skilled mistresses of that art. Early introduced by
+them into the great world of which they were, so to speak, the centre,
+he had no talent but that of pleasing women, of speaking their language,
+and of monopolising the most desirable by a discretion beyond his years,
+and which did not belong to his time. Nobody was more in vogue than he.
+He had had the command of a regiment when he was quite a child. He had
+shown firmness, application, and brilliant valour in war, that the ladies
+had made the most of, and they sufficed at his age; he was of the Court
+of Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, about the same age, and well treated
+by him.
+
+The Duc de Bourgogne, passionately in love with his wife, was not so well
+made as Nangis; but the Princess reciprocated his ardor so perfectly that
+up to his death he never suspected that her glances had wandered to any
+one else. They fell, however, upon Nangis, and soon redoubled. Nangis
+was not ungrateful, but he feared the thunderbolt; and his heart, too,
+was already engaged. Madame de la Vrilliere, who, without beauty, was
+pretty and grateful as Love, had made this conquest. She was, as I have
+said, daughter of Madame de Mailly, Dame d'Atours of Madame la Duchesse
+de Bourgogne; and was always near her. Jealousy soon enlightened her as
+to what was taking place. Far from yielding her conquest to the Duchess;
+she made a point of preserving it, of disputing its possession, and
+carrying it off. This struggle threw Nangis into a terrible
+embarrassment. He feared the fury of Madame de la Vrilliere, who
+affected to be more ready to break out than in reality she was. Besides
+his love for her, he feared the result of an outburst, and already saw
+his fortune lost. On the other hand, any reserve of his towards the
+Duchess, who had so much power in her hands--and seemed destined to
+have more--and who he knew was not likely to suffer a rival
+--might, he felt, be his ruin. This perplexity, for those who were aware
+of it, gave rise to continual scenes. I was then a constant visitor of
+Madame de Blansac, at Paris, and of the Marechale de Rochefort, at
+Versailles; and, through them and several other ladies of the Court, with
+whom I was intimate, I learnt, day by day, everything that passed. In
+addition to the fact that nothing diverted me more, the results of this
+affair might be great; and it was my especial ambition to be well
+informed of everything. At length, all members of the Court who were
+assiduous and enlightened understood the state of affairs; but either
+through fear or from love to the Duchess, the whole Court was silent, saw
+everything, whispered discreetly, and actually kept the secret that was
+not entrusted to it. The struggle between the two ladies, not without
+bitterness, and sometimes insolence on the part of Madame de la
+Vrilliere, nor without suffering and displeasure gently manifested on the
+part of Madame de Bourgogne, was for a long time a singular sight.
+
+Whether Nangis, too faithful to his first love, needed some grains of
+jealousy to excite him, or whether things fell out naturally, it happened
+that he found a rival. Maulevrier, son of a brother of Colbert who had
+died of grief at not being named Marshal of France, was this rival. He
+had married a daughter of the Marechal de Tesse, and was not very
+agreeable in appearance--his face, indeed, was very commonplace. He was
+by no means framed for gallantry; but he had wit, and a mind fertile in
+intrigues, with a measureless ambition that was sometimes pushed to
+madness. His wife was pretty, not clever, quarrelsome, and under a
+virginal appearance; mischievous to the last degree. As daughter of a
+man for whom Madame de Bourgogne had much gratitude for the part he had
+taken in negotiating her marriage, and the Peace of Savoy, she was easily
+enabled to make her way at Court, and her husband with her. He soon
+sniffed what was passing in respect to Nangis, and obtained means of
+access to Madame de Bourgogne, through the influence of his father-in-
+law; was assiduous in his attentions; and at length, excited by example,
+dared to sigh. Tired of not being understood, he ventured to write. It
+is pretended that he sent his letters through one of the Court ladies,
+who thought they came from Tesse, delivered them, and handed him back the
+answers, as though for delivery by him. I will not add what more was
+believed. I will simply say that this affair was as soon perceived as
+had been the other, and was treated, with the same silence.
+
+Under pretext of friendship, Madame de Bourgogne went more than once--on
+account of the speedy departure of her husband (for the army), attended
+some, times by La Maintenon,--to the house of Madame de Maulevrier, to
+weep with her. The Court smiled. Whether the tears were for Madame de
+Maulevrier or for Nangis, was doubtful. But Nangis, nevertheless,
+aroused by this rivalry, threw Madame de la Vrilliere into terrible
+grief, and into a humour over which she was not mistress.
+
+This tocsin made itself heard by Maulevrier. What will not a man think
+of doing when possessed to excess by love or ambition? He pretended to
+have something the matter with his chest, put himself on a milk diet,
+made believe that he had lost his voice, and was sufficiently master of
+himself to refrain from uttering an intelligible word during a whole
+year; by these means evading the campaign and remaining at the Court.
+He was mad enough to relate this project, and many others, to his friend
+the Duc de Lorges, from whom, in turn, I learnt it. The fact was, that
+bringing himself thus to the necessity of never speaking to anybody
+except in their ear, he had the liberty of speaking low to--Madame la
+Duchesse de Bourgogne before all the Court without impropriety and
+without suspicion. In this manner he said to her whatever he wished day
+by day, and was never overheard. He also contrived to say things the
+short answers to which were equally unheard. He so accustomed people to
+this manner of speaking that they took no more notice of it than was
+expressed in pity for such a sad state; but it happened that those who
+approached the nearest to Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne when Maulevrier
+was at her side, soon knew enough not to be eager to draw near her again
+when she was thus situated. This trick lasted more than a year: his
+conversation was principally composed of reproaches--but reproaches
+rarely succeed in love. Maulevrier, judging by the ill-humour of Madame
+de la Vrilliere, believed Nangis to be happy. Jealousy and rage
+transported him at last to the extremity of folly.
+
+One day, as Madame de Bourgogne was coming from mass and he knew that
+Dangeau, her chevalier d'honneur, was absent, he gave her his hand. The
+attendants had accustomed themselves to let him have this honour, on
+account of his distinguished voice, so as to allow him to speak by the
+way, and retired respectfully so as not to hear what he said. The ladies
+always followed far behind, so that, in the midst of all the Court, he
+had, from the chapel to the apartments of Madame de Bourgogne, the full
+advantages of a private interview--advantages that he had availed himself
+of several times. On this day he railed against Nangis to Madame de
+Bourgogne, called him by all sorts of names, threatened to tell
+everything to the King and to Madame de Maintenon, and to the Duc de
+Bourgogne, squeezed her fingers as if he would break them, and led her in
+this manner, like a madman as he was, to her apartments. Upon entering
+them she was ready to swoon. Trembling all over she entered her
+wardrobe, called one of her favourite ladies, Madame de Nogaret, to her,
+related what had occurred, saying she knew not how she had reached her
+rooms, or how it was she had not sunk beneath the floor, or died. She
+had never been so dismayed. The same day Madame de Nogaret related this
+to Madame de Saint-Simon and to me, in the strictest confidence. She
+counselled the Duchess to behave gently with such a dangerous madman, and
+to avoid committing herself in any way with him. The worst was, that
+after this he threatened and said many things against Nangis, as a man
+with whom he was deeply offended, and whom he meant to call to account.
+Although he gave no reason for this, the reason was only too evident.
+The fear of Madame de Bourgogne at this may be imagined, and also that of
+Nangis. He was brave and cared for nobody; but to be mixed up in such an
+affair as this made him quake with fright. He beheld his fortune and his
+happiness in the hands of a furious madman. He shunned Maulevrier from
+that time as much as possible, showed himself but little, and held his
+peace.
+
+For six weeks Madame de Bourgogne lived in the most measured manner, and
+in mortal tremors of fear, without, however, anything happening. I know
+not who warned Tesse of what was going on. But when he learnt it he
+acted like a man of ability. He persuaded his son-in-law, Maulevrier, to
+follow him to Spain, as to a place where his fortune was assured to him.
+He spoke to Fagon, who saw all and knew all. He understood matters in a
+moment, and at once said, that as so many remedies had been tried
+ineffectually for Maulevrier, he must go to a warmer climate, as a winter
+in France would inevitably kill him. It was then as a remedy, and as
+people go to the waters, that he went to Spain. The King and all the
+Court believed this, and neither the King nor Madame de Maintenon offered
+any objections. As soon as Tesse knew this he hurried his son-in-law out
+of the realm, and so put a stop to his follies and the mortal fear they
+had caused. To finish this adventure at once, although it will lead me
+far beyond the date of other matters to be spoken of after, let me say
+what became of Maulevrier after this point of the narrative.
+
+He went first to Spain with Tesse. On the way they had an interview with
+Madame des Ursins, and succeeded in gaining her favour so completely,
+that, upon arriving at Madrid, the King and Queen of Spain, informed of
+this, welcomed them with much cordiality. Maulevrier soon became a great
+favourite with the Queen of Spain. It has been said, that he wished to
+please her, and that he succeeded. At all events he often had long
+interviews with her in private, and these made people think and talk.
+
+Maulevrier began to believe it time to reap after having so well sown.
+He counted upon nothing less than being made grandee of Spain, and would
+have obtained this favour but for his indiscretion. News of what was in
+store for him was noised abroad. The Duc de Grammont, then our
+ambassador at Madrid, wrote word to the King of the rumours that were in
+circulation of Maulevrier's audacious conduct towards the Queen of Spain,
+and of the reward it was to meet with. The King at once sent a very
+strong letter to the King of Spain about Maulevrier, who, by the same
+courier, was prohibited from accepting any favour that might be offered
+him. He was ordered at the same time to join Tesse at Gibraltar. He had
+already done so at the instance of Tesse himself; so the courier went
+from Madrid to Gibraltar to find him. His rage and vexation upon seeing
+himself deprived of the recompense he had considered certain were very
+great. But they yielded in time to the hopes he formed of success, and
+he determined to set off for Madrid and thence to Versailles. His
+father-in-law tried to retain him at the siege, but in vain. His
+representations and his authority were alike useless. Maulevrier hoped
+to gain over the King and Queen of Spain so completely, that our King
+would be forced, as it were, to range himself on their side; but the Duc
+de Grammont at once wrote word that Maulevrier had left the siege of
+Gibraltar and returned to Madrid. This disobedience was at once
+chastised. A courier was immediately despatched to Maulevrier,
+commanding him to set out for France. He took leave of the King and
+Queen of Spain like a man without hope, and left Spain. The most
+remarkable thing is, that upon arriving at Paris, and finding the Court
+at Marly, and his wife there also, he asked permission to go too, the
+husbands being allowed by right to accompany their wives there, and the
+King, to avoid a disturbance, did not refuse him.
+
+At first everything seemed to smile upon Maulervrier. He had, as I have
+said, made friends with Madame des Ursins when he was on the road to
+Spain. He had done so chiefly by vaunting his intimacy with Madame de
+Bourgogne, and by showing to Madame des Ursins that he was in many of the
+secrets of the Court. Accordingly, upon his return, she took him by the
+hand and showed a disposition towards him which could not fail to
+reinstate him in favour. She spoke well of him to Madame de Maintenon,
+who, always much smitten with new friends, received him well, and often
+had conversations with him which lasted more than three hours. Madame de
+Maintenon mentioned him to the King, and Maulevrier, who had returned out
+of all hope, now saw himself in a more favourable position than ever.
+
+But the old cause of trouble still existed, and with fresh complications.
+Nangis was still in favour, and his appearance made Maulevrier miserable.
+There was a new rival too in the field, the Abbe de Polignac.
+
+Pleasing, nay most fascinating in manner, the Abbe was a man to gain all
+hearts. He stopped at no flattery to succeed in this. One day when
+following the King through the gardens of Marly, it came on to rain.
+The King considerately noticed the Abbe's dress, little calculated to
+keep off rain. "It is no matter, Sire," said De Polignac, "the rain of
+Marly does not wet." People laughed much at this, and these words were a
+standing reproach to the soft-spoken Abbe.
+
+One of the means by which the Abbe gained the favour of the King was by
+being the lover of Madame du Maine. His success at length was great in
+every direction. He even envied the situations of Nangis and Maulevrier;
+and sought to participate in the same happiness. He took the same road.
+Madame d'O and the Marechale de Coeuvres became his friends.
+
+He sought to be heard, and was heard. At last he faced the danger of the
+Swiss, and on fine nights was seen with the Duchess in the gardens.
+Nangis diminished in favour. Maulevrier on his return increased in fury.
+The Abbe met with the same fate as they: everything was perceived: people
+talked about the matter in whispers, but silence was kept. This triumph,
+in spite of his age, did not satisfy the Abbe: he aimed at something more
+solid. He wished to arrive at the cardinalship, and to further his views
+he thought it advisable to ingratiate himself into the favour of Monsieur
+de Bourgogne. He sought introduction to them through friends of mine,
+whom I warned against him as a man without scruple, and intent only upon
+advancing himself. My warnings were in vain. My friends would not heed
+me, and the Abbe de Polignac succeeded in gaining the confidence of
+Monsieur de Bourgogne, as well as the favour of Madame de Bourgogne.
+
+Maulevrier had thus two sources of annoyance--the Abbe de Polignac and
+Nangis. Of the latter he showed himself so jealous, that Madame de
+Maulevrier, out of pique, made advances to him. Nangis, to screen
+himself the better, replied to her. Maulevrier perceived this. He knew
+his wife to be sufficiently wicked to make him fear her. So many
+troubles of heart and brain transported him. He lost his head.
+
+One day the Marechale de Coeuvres came to see him, apparently on some
+message of reconciliation. He shut the door upon her; barricaded her
+within, and through the door quarrelled with her, even to abuse, for an
+hour, during which she had the patience to remain there without being
+able to see him. After this he went rarely to Court, but generally kept
+himself shut up at home.
+
+Sometimes he would go out all alone at the strangest hours, take a fiacre
+and drive away to the back of the Chartreux or to other remote spots.
+Alighting there, he would whistle, and a grey-headed old man would
+advance and give him a packet, or one would be thrown to him from a
+window, or he would pick up a box filled with despatches, hidden behind a
+post. I heard of these mysterious doings from people to whom he was vain
+and indiscreet enough to boast of them. He continually wrote letters to
+Madame de Bourgogne, and to Madame de Maintenon, but more frequently to
+the former. Madame Cantin was their agent; and I know people who have
+seen letters of hers in which she assured Maulevrier, in the strongest
+terms, that he might ever reckon on the Duchess.
+
+He made a last journey to Versailles, where he saw his mistress in
+private, and quarrelled with her cruelly. After dining with Torcy he
+returned to Paris. There, torn by a thousand storms of love, of
+jealousy, of ambition, his head was so troubled that doctors were obliged
+to be called in, and he was forbidden to see any but the most
+indispensable persons, and those at the hours when he was least ill.
+A hundred visions passed through his brain. Now like a madman he would
+speak only of Spain, of Madame de Bourgogne, of Nangis, whom he wished to
+kill or to have assassinated; now full of remorse towards M. de
+Bourgogne, he made reflections so curious to hear, that no one dared to
+remain with him, and he was left alone. At other times, recalling his
+early days, he had nothing but ideas of retreat and penitence. Then a
+confession was necessary in order to banish his despair as to the mercy
+of God. Often he thought himself very ill and upon the point of death.
+
+The world, however, and even his nearest friends persuaded themselves
+that he was only playing a part; and hoping to put an end to it, they
+declared to him that he passed for mad in society, and that it behoved
+him to rise out of such a strange state and show himself. This was the
+last blow and it overwhelmed him. Furious at finding that this opinion
+was ruining all the designs of his ambition, he delivered himself up to
+despair. Although watched with extreme care by his wife, by particular
+friends, and by his servants, he took his measures so well, that on the
+Good Friday of the year 1706, at about eight o'clock in the morning, he
+slipped away from them all, entered a passage behind his room, opened the
+window, threw himself into the court below, and dashed out his brains
+upon the pavement. Such was the end of an ambitious man, who, by his
+wild and dangerous passions, lost his wits, and then his life, a tragic
+victim of himself.
+
+Madame de Bourgogne learnt the news at night. In public she showed no
+emotion, but in private some tears escaped her. They might have been of
+pity, but were not so charitably interpreted. Soon after, it was noticed
+that Madame de Maintenon seemed embarrassed and harsh towards Madame de
+Bourgogne. It was no longer doubted that Madame de Maintenon had heard
+the whole story. She often had long interviews with Madame de Bourgogne,
+who always left them in tears. Her sadness grew so much, and her eyes
+were so often red, that Monsieur de Bourgogne at last became alarmed.
+But he had no suspicion of the truth, and was easily satisfied with the
+explanation he received. Madame de Bourgogne felt the necessity,
+however, of appearing gayer, and showed herself so. As for the Abbe de
+Polignac, it was felt that that dangerous person was best away. He
+received therefore a post which called him away, as it were, into exile;
+and though he delayed his departure as long as possible, was at length
+obliged to go. Madame de Bourgogne took leave of him in a manner that
+showed how much she was affected. Some rather insolent verses were
+written upon this event; and were found written on a balustrade by
+Madame, who was not discreet enough or good enough to forget them. But
+they made little noise; everybody loved Madame de Bourgogne, and hid
+these verses as much as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+At the beginning of October, news reached the Court, which was at
+Fontainebleau, that M. de Duras was at the point of death. Upon hearing
+this, Madame de Saint-Simon and Madame de Lauzun, who were both related
+to M. Duras, wished to absent themselves from the Court performances that
+were to take place in the palace that evening. They expressed this wish
+to Madame de Bourgogne, who approved of it, but said she was afraid the
+King would not do the same. He had been very angry lately because the
+ladies had neglected to go full dressed to the Court performances. A few
+words he had spoken made everybody take good care not to rouse his anger
+on this point again. He expected so much accordingly from everybody who
+attended the Court, that Madame de Bourgogne was afraid he would not
+consent to dispense with the attendance of Madame de Saint-Simon and
+Madame de Lauzun on this occasion. They compromised the matter,
+therefore, by dressing themselves, going to the room where the
+performance was held, and, under pretext of not finding places, going
+away; Madame de Bourgogne agreeing to explain their absence in this way
+to the King. I notice this very insignificant bagatelle to show how the
+King thought only of himself, and how much he wished to be obeyed; and
+that that which would not have been pardoned to the nieces of a dying
+man, except at the Court, was a duty there, and one which it needed great
+address to escape from, without seriously infringing the etiquette
+established.
+
+After the return of the Court from Fontainebleau this year, Puysieux came
+back from Switzerland, having been sent there as ambassador. Puysieux
+was a little fat man, very agreeable, pleasant, and witty, one of the
+best fellows in the world, in fact. As he had much wit, and thoroughly
+knew the King, he bethought himself of making the best of his position;
+and as his Majesty testified much friendship for him on his return, and
+declared himself satisfied with his mission in Switzerland, Puysieux
+asked if what he heard was not mere compliment, and whether he could
+count upon it. As the King assured him that he might do so, Puysieux
+assumed a brisk air, and said that he was not so sure of that, and that
+he was not pleased with his Majesty.
+
+"And why not?" said the King.
+
+"Why not?" replied Puysieux; "why, because although the most honest man
+in your realm, you have not kept to a promise you made me more than fifty
+years ago."
+
+"What promise?" asked the King.
+
+"What promise, Sire?" said Puysieux; "you have a good memory, you cannot
+have forgotten it. Does not your Majesty remember that one day, having
+the honour to play at blindman's buff with you at my grandmother's, you
+put your cordon bleu on my back, the better to hide yourself; and that
+when, after the game, I restored it to you, you promised to give it me
+when you became master; you have long been so, thoroughly master, and
+nevertheless that cordon bleu is still to come."
+
+The King, who recollected the circumstance, here burst out laughing, and
+told Puysieux he was in the right, and that a chapter should be held on
+the first day of the new year expressly for the purpose of receiving him
+into the order. And so in fact it was, and Puysieux received the cordon
+bleu on the day the King had named. This fact is not important, but it
+is amusing. It is altogether singular in connection with a prince as
+serious and as imposing as Louis XIV.; and it is one of those little
+Court anecdotes which are curious.
+
+Here is another more important fact, the consequences of which are still
+felt by the State. Pontchartrain, Secretary of State for the Navy, was
+the plague of it, as of all those who were under his cruel dependence.
+He was a man who, with some-amount of ability, was disagreeable and
+pedantic to an excess; who loved evil for its own sake; who was jealous
+even of his father; who was a cruel tyrant towards his wife, a woman all
+docility and goodness; who was in one word a monster, whom the King kept
+in office only because he feared him. An admiral was the abhorrence of
+Pontchartrain, and an admiral who was an illegitimate son of the King,
+he loathed. There was nothing, therefore, that he had not done during
+the war to thwart the Comte de Toulouse; he laid some obstacles
+everywhere in his path; he had tried to keep him out of the command of
+the fleet, and failing this, had done everything to render the fleet
+useless.
+
+These were bold strokes against a person the King so much loved, but
+Pontchartrain knew the weak side of the King; he knew how to balance the
+father against the master, to bring forward the admiral and set aside the
+son. In this manner the Secretary of State was able to put obstacles in
+the way of the Comte de Toulouse that threw him almost into despair, and
+the Count could do little to defend himself. It was a well-known fact at
+sea and in the ports where the ships touched, and it angered all the
+fleet. Pontchartrain accordingly was abhorred there, while the Comte de
+Toulouse, by his amiability and other good qualities, was adored.
+
+At last, the annoyance he caused became so unendurable, that the Comte de
+Toulouse, at the end of his cruise in the Mediterranean, returned to
+Court and determined to expose the doings of Pontchartrain to the King.
+
+The very day he had made up his mind to do this, and just before he
+intended to have his interview with the King, Madame Pontchartrain,
+casting aside her natural timidity and modesty, came to him, and with
+tears in her eyes begged him not to bring about the ruin of her husband.
+The Comte de Toulouse was softened. He admitted afterwards that he could
+not resist the sweetness and sorrow of Madame de Pontchartrain, and that
+all his resolutions, his weapons, fell from his hands at the thought of
+the sorrow which the poor woman would undergo, after the fall of her
+brutal husband, left entirely in the hands of such a furious Cyclops.
+In this manner Pontchartrain was saved, but it cost dear to the State.
+The fear he was in of succumbing under the glory or under the vengeance
+of an admiral who was son of the King determined him to ruin the fleet
+itself, so as to render it incapable of receiving the admiral again.
+He determined to do this, and kept to his word, as was afterwards only
+too clearly verified by the facts. The Comte de Toulouse saw no more
+either ports or vessels, and from that time only very feeble squadrons
+went out, and even those very seldom. Pontchartrain, had the impudence
+to boast of this before my face.
+
+When I last spoke of Madame des Ursins, I described her as living in the
+midst of the Court, flattered and caressed by all, and on the highest
+terms of favour with the King and Madame de Maintenon. She found her
+position, indeed, so far above her hopes, that she began to waver in her
+intention of returning to Spain. The age and the health of Madame de
+Maintenon tempted her. She would have preferred to govern here rather
+than in Spain. Flattered by the attentions paid her, she thought those
+attentions, or, I may say, rather those servile adorations, would
+continue for ever, and that in time she might arrive at the highest point
+of power. The Archbishop of Aix and her brother divined her thoughts,
+for she did not dare to avow them, and showed her in the clearest way
+that those thoughts were calculated to lead her astray. They explained
+to her that the only interest Madame de Maintenon had in favouring her
+was on account of Spain. Madame des Ursins--once back in that country,
+Madame de Maintenon looked forward to a recommencement of those relations
+which had formerly existed between them, by which the government of Spain
+in appearance, if not in reality, passed through her hands. They
+therefore advised Madame des Ursins on no account to think of remaining
+in France, at the same time suggesting that it would not be amiss to stop
+there long enough to cause some inquietude to Madame de Maintenon, so as
+to gain as much advantage as possible from it.
+
+The solidity of these reasons persuaded Madame des Ursins to follow the
+advice given her. She resolved to depart, but not until after a delay by
+which she meant to profit to the utmost. We shall soon see what success
+attended her schemes. The terms upon which I stood with her enabled me
+to have knowledge of all the sentiments that had passed through her mind:
+her extreme desire, upon arriving in Paris, to return to Spain; the
+intoxication which seized her in consequence of the treatment she
+received, and which made her balance this desire; and her final
+resolution. It was not until afterwards, however, that I learnt all the
+details I have just related.
+
+It was not long before Madame de Maintenon began to feel impatient at the
+long-delayed departure of Madame des Ursins. She spoke at last upon the
+subject, and pressed Madame des Ursins to set out for Spain. This was
+just what the other wanted. She said that as she had been driven out of
+Spain like a criminal, she must go back with honour, if Madame de
+Maintenon wished her to gain the confidence and esteem of the Spaniards.
+That although she had been treated by the King with every consideration
+and goodness, many people in Spain were, and would be, ignorant of it,
+and that, therefore, her return to favour ought to be made known in as
+public and convincing a manner as was her disgrace. This was said with
+all that eloquence and persuasiveness for which Madame des Ursins was
+remarkable. The effect of it exceeded her hopes.
+
+The favours she obtained were prodigious. Twenty thousand livres by way
+of annual pension, and thirty thousand for her journey. One of her
+brothers, M. de Noirmoutiers, blind since the age of eighteen or twenty,
+was made hereditary duke; another, the Abbe de la Tremoille, of exceeding
+bad life, and much despised in Rome, where he lived, was made cardinal.
+What a success was this! How many obstacles had to be overcome in order
+to attain it! Yet this was what Madame des Ursins obtained, so anxious
+was Madame de Maintenon to get rid of her and to send her to reign in
+Spain, that she might reign there herself. Pleased and loaded with
+favour as never subject was before, Madame des Ursins set out towards the
+middle of July, and was nearly a month on the road. It may be imagined
+what sort of a reception awaited her in Spain. The King and the Queen
+went a day's journey out of Madrid to meet her. Here, then, we see again
+at the height of power this woman, whose fall the King but a short time
+since had so ardently desired, and whose separation from the King and
+Queen of Spain he had applauded himself for bringing about with so much
+tact. What a change in a few months!
+
+The war continued this year, but without bringing any great success to
+our arms. Villars, at Circk, outmanoeuvred Marlborough in a manner that
+would have done credit to the greatest general. Marlborough, compelled
+to change the plan of campaign he had determined on, returned into
+Flanders, where the Marechal de Villeroy was stationed with his forces.
+Nothing of importance occurred during the campaign, and the two armies
+went into winter quarters at the end of October.
+
+I cannot quit Flanders without relating another instance of the pleasant
+malignity of M. de Lauzun. In marrying a daughter of the Marechal de
+Lorges, he had hoped, as I have already said, to return into the
+confidence of the King by means of the Marechal, and so be again
+entrusted with military command. Finding these hopes frustrated, he
+thought of another means of reinstating himself in favour. He determined
+to go to the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, not, as may be believed, for his
+health, but in order to ingratiate himself with the important foreigners
+whom he thought to find there, learn some of the enemy's plans, and come
+back with an account of them to the King, who would, no doubt, reward him
+for his zeal. But he was deceived in his calculation. Aix-la-Chapelle,
+generally so full of foreigners of rank, was this year, owing to the war,
+almost empty. M. de Lauzun found, therefore, nobody of consequence from
+whom he could obtain any useful information. Before his return, he
+visited the Marechal de Villeroy, who received him with all military
+honours, and conducted him all over the army, pointing out to him the
+enemy's post; for the two armies were then quite close to each other.
+His extreme anxiety, however, to get information, and the multitude of
+his questions, irritated the officers who were ordered to do the honours
+to him; and, in going about, they actually, at their own risk, exposed
+him often to be shot or taken. They did not know that his courage was
+extreme; and were quite taken aback by his calmness, and, his evident
+readiness to push on even farther than they chose to venture.
+
+On returning to Court, M. de Lauzun was of course pressed by everybody to
+relate all he knew of the position of the two armies. But he held
+himself aloof from all questioners, and would not answer. On the day
+after his arrival he went to pay his court to Monseigneur, who did not
+like him, but who also was no friend to the Marechal de Villeroy.
+Monseigneur put many questions to him upon the situation of the two
+armies, and upon the reasons which had prevented them from engaging each
+other. M. de Lauzun shirked reply, like a man who wished to be pressed;
+did not deny that he had well inspected the position of the two armies,
+but instead of answering Monseigneur, dwelt upon the beauty of our
+troops, their gaiety at finding themselves so near an enemy, and their
+eagerness to fight. Pushed at last to the point at which he wished to
+arrive, "I will tell you, Monseigneur," said he, "since you absolutely
+command me; I scanned most minutely the front of the two armies to the
+right and to the left, and all the ground between them. It is true there
+is no brook, and that I saw; neither are there any ravines, nor hollow
+roads ascending or descending; but it is true that there were other
+hindrances which I particularly remarked."
+
+"But what hindrance could there be," said Monseigneur, "since there was
+nothing between the two armies?"
+
+M. de Lauzun allowed himself to be pressed upon this point, constantly
+repeating the list of hindrances that did not exist, but keeping silent
+upon the others. At last, driven into a corner, he took his snuff-box
+from his pocket.
+
+"You see," said he, to Monseigneur, "there is one thing which much
+embarrasses the feet, the furze that grows upon the ground, where M. le
+Marechal de Villeroy is encamped. The furze, it is true, is not mixed
+with any other plant, either hard or thorny; but it is a high furze, as
+high, as high, let me see, what shall I say?"--and he looked all around
+to find some object of comparison--"as high, I assure you, as this
+snuffbox!"
+
+Monseigneur burst out laughing at this sally, and all the company
+followed his example, in the midst of which M. de Lauzun turned on his
+heel and left the room. His joke soon spread all over the Court and the
+town, and in the evening was told to the King. This was all the thanks
+M. de Villeroy obtained from M. de Lauzun for the honours he had paid
+him; and this was M. de Lauzun's consolation for his ill-success at Aix-
+la-Chapelle.
+
+In Italy our armies were not more successful than elsewhere. From time
+to time, M. de Vendome attacked some unimportant post, and, having
+carried it, despatched couriers to the King, magnifying the importance
+of the exploit. But the fact was, all these successes led to nothing.
+On one occasion, at Cassano, M. de Vendome was so vigorously attacked by
+Prince Louis of Baden that, in spite of his contempt and his audacity,
+he gave himself up for lost. When danger was most imminent, instead of
+remaining at his post, he retired from the field of battle to a distant
+country-house, and began to consider how a retreat might be managed.
+The Grand Prieur, his brother, was in command under him, and was ordered
+to remain upon the field; but he was more intent upon saving his skin
+than on obeying orders, and so, at the very outset of the fight, ran away
+to a country-house hard by. M. de Vendome strangely enough had sat down
+to eat at the country-house whither he had retired, and was in the midst
+of his meal when news was brought him that, owing to the prodigies
+performed by one of his officers, Le Guerchois, the fortunes of the day
+had changed, and Prince Louis of Baden was retiring. M. Vendome had
+great difficulty to believe this, but ordered his horse, mounted, and,
+pushing on, concluded the combat gloriously. He did not fail, of course,
+to claim all the honours of this victory, which in reality was a barren
+one; and sent word of his triumph to the King. He dared to say that the
+loss of the enemy was more than thirteen thousand; and our loss less than
+three thousand--whereas, the loss was at least equal. This exploit,
+nevertheless, resounded at the Court and through the town as an advantage
+the most complete and the most decisive, and due entirely to the
+vigilance, valour, and capacity of Vendome. Not a word was said of his
+country-house, or the interrupted meal. These facts were only known
+after the return of the general officers. As for the Grand Prieur, his
+poltroonery had been so public, his flight so disgraceful--for he had
+taken troops with him to protect the country-house in which he sought
+shelter--that he could not be pardoned. The two brothers quarrelled upon
+these points, and in the end the Grand Prieur was obliged to give up his
+command. He retired to his house at Clichy, near Paris; but, tiring of
+that place, he went to Rome, made the acquaintance there of the Marquise
+de Richelieu, a wanderer like himself, and passed some time with her at
+Genoa. Leaving that city, he went to Chalons-sur-Saone, which had been
+fixed upon as the place of his a exile, and there gave himself up to the
+debaucheries in which he usually lived. From this time until the Regency
+we shall see nothing more of him. I shall only add, therefore, that he
+never went sober to bed during thirty years, but was always carried
+thither dead drunk: was a liar, swindler, and thief; a rogue to the
+marrow of his bones, rotted with vile diseases; the most contemptible and
+yet most dangerous fellow in the world.
+
+
+One day-I am speaking of a time many years previous to the date of the
+occurrences just related-one day there was a great hunting party at Saint
+Germain. The chase was pursued so long, that the King gave up, and
+returned to Saint Germain. A number of courtiers, among whom was M. de
+Lauzun, who related this story to me, continued their sport; and just as
+darkness was coming on, discovered that they had lost their way. After a
+time, they espied a light, by which they guided their steps, and at
+length reached the door of a kind of castle. They knocked, they called
+aloud, they named themselves, and asked for hospitality. It was then
+between ten and eleven at night, and towards the end of autumn. The door
+was opened to them. The master of the house came forth. He made them
+take their boots off, and warm themselves; he put their horses into his
+stables; and at the same time had a supper prepared for his guests, who
+stood much in need of it. They did not wait long for the meal; yet when
+served it proved excellent; the wines served with it, too, were of
+several kinds, and excellent likewise: as for the master of the house, he
+was so polite and respectful, yet without being ceremonious or eager.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 5.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+Two very different persons died towards the latter part of this year.
+The first was Lamoignon, Chief President; the second, Ninon, known by the
+name of Mademoiselle de l'Enclos. Of Lamoignon I will relate a single
+anecdote, curious and instructive, which will show the corruption of
+which he was capable.
+
+One day--I am speaking of a time many years previous to the date of the
+occurrences just related--one day there was a great hunting party at
+Saint Germain. The chase was pursued so long, that the King gave up,
+and returned to Saint Germain. A number of courtiers, among whom was
+M. de Lauzun, who related this story to me, continued their sport; and
+just as darkness was coming on, discovered that they had lost their way.
+After a time, they espied a light, by which they guided their steps, and
+at length reached the door of a kind of castle. They knocked, they
+called aloud, they named themselves, and asked for hospitality. It was
+then between ten and eleven at night, and towards the end of autumn.
+The door was opened to them. The master of the house came forth.
+He made them take their boots off, and warm themselves; he put their
+horses into his stables; and at the same time had a supper prepared for
+his guests, who stood much in need of it. They did not wait long for the
+meal; yet when served it proved excellent; the wines served with it, too,
+were of several kinds, and excellent likewise: as for the master of the
+house, he was so polite and respectful, yet without being ceremonious or
+eager, that it was evident he had frequented the best company. The
+courtiers soon learnt that his name vitas Fargues, that the place was
+called Courson, and that he had lived there in retirement several years.
+After having supped, Fargues showed each of them into a separate bedroom,
+where they were waited upon by his valets with every proper attention.
+In the morning, as soon as the courtiers had dressed themselves, they
+found an excellent breakfast awaiting them; and upon leaving the table
+they saw their horses ready for them, and as thoroughly attended to as
+they had been themselves. Charmed with the politeness and with the
+manners of Fargues, and touched by his hospitable reception of them, they
+made him many offers of service, and made their way back to Saint
+Germain. Their non-appearance on the previous night had been the common
+talk, their return and the adventure they had met with was no less so.
+
+These gentlemen were then the very flower of the Court, and all of them
+very intimate with the King. They related to him, therefore, their
+story, the manner of their reception, and highly praised the master of
+the house and his good cheer. The King asked his name, and, as soon as
+he heard it, exclaimed, "What, Fargues! is he so near here, then?"
+The courtiers redoubled their praises, and the King said no more; but
+soon after, went to the Queen-mother, and told her what had happened.
+
+Fargues, indeed, was no stranger, either to her or to the King. He had
+taken a prominent part in the movements of Paris against the Court and
+Cardinal Mazarin. If he had not been hanged, it was because he was well
+supported by his party, who had him included in the amnesty granted to
+those who had been engaged in these troubles. Fearing, however, that the
+hatred of his enemies might place his life in danger if he remained in
+Paris, he retired from the capital to this country-house which has just
+been mentioned, where he continued to live in strict privacy, even when
+the death of Cardinal Mazarin seemed to render such seclusion no longer
+necessary.
+
+The King and the Queen-mother, who had pardoned Fargues in spite of
+themselves, were much annoyed at finding that he was living in opulence
+and tranquillity so near the Court; thought him extremely bold to do so;
+and determined to punish him for this and for his former insolence. They
+directed Lamoignon, therefore, to find out something in the past life of
+Fargues for which punishment might be awarded; and Lamoignon, eager to
+please, and make a profit out of his eagerness, was not long in
+satisfying them. He made researches, and found means to implicate
+Fargues in a murder that had been committed in Paris at the height of the
+troubles. Officers were accordingly sent to Courson, and its owner was
+arrested.
+
+Fargues was much astonished when he learnt of what he was accused. He
+exculpated himself, nevertheless, completely; alleging, moreover, that as
+the murder of which he was accused had been committed during the
+troubles, the amnesty in which he was included effaced all memory of the
+deed, according to law and usage, which had never been contested until
+this occasion. The courtiers who had been so well treated by the unhappy
+man, did everything they could with the judges and the King to obtain the
+release of the accused. It was all in vain. Fargues was decapitated at
+once, and all his wealth was given by way of recompense to the Chief-
+President Lamoignon, who had no scruple thus to enrich himself with the
+blood of the innocent.
+
+The other person who died at the same time was, as I have said, Ninon,
+the famous courtesan, known, since age had compelled her to quit that
+trade, as Mademoiselle de l'Enclos. She was a new example of the triumph
+of vice carried on cleverly and repaired by some virtue. The stir that
+she made, and still more the disorder that she caused among the highest
+and most brilliant youth, overcame the extreme indulgence that, not
+without cause, the Queen-mother entertained for persons whose conduct was
+gallant, and more than gallant, and made her send her an order to retire
+into a convent. But Ninon, observing that no especial convent was named,
+said, with a great courtesy, to the officer who brought the order, that,
+as the option was left to her, she would choose "the convent of the
+Cordeliers at Paris;" which impudent joke so diverted the Queen that she
+left her alone for the future. Ninon never had but one lover at a time--
+but her admirers were numberless--so that when wearied of one incumbent
+she told him so frankly, and took another: The abandoned one might groan
+and complain; her decree was without appeal; and this creature had
+acquired such an influence, that the deserted lovers never dared to take
+revenge on the favoured one, and were too happy to remain on the footing
+of friend of the house. She sometimes kept faithful to one, when he
+pleased her very much, during an entire campaign.
+
+Ninon had illustrious friends of all sorts, and had so much wit that she
+preserved them all and kept them on good terms with each other; or, at
+least, no quarrels ever came to light. There was an external respect and
+decency about everything that passed in her house, such as princesses of
+the highest rank have rarely been able to preserve in their intrigues.
+
+In this way she had among her friends a selection of the best members of
+the Court; so that it became the fashion to be received by her, and it
+was useful to be so, on account of the connections that were thus formed.
+
+There was never any gambling there, nor loud laughing, nor disputes, nor
+talk about religion or politics; but much and elegant wit, ancient and
+modern stories, news of gallantries, yet without scandal. All was
+delicate, light, measured; and she herself maintained the conversation by
+her wit and her great knowledge of facts. The respect which, strange to
+say, she had acquired, and the number and distinction of her friends and
+acquaintances, continued when her charms ceased to attract; and when
+propriety and fashion compelled her to use only intellectual baits. She
+knew all the intrigues of the old and the new Court, serious and
+otherwise; her conversation was charming; she was disinterested,
+faithful, secret, safe to the last degree; and, setting aside her
+frailty, virtuous and full of probity. She frequently succoured her
+friends with money and influence; constantly did them the most important
+services, and very faithfully kept the secrets or the money deposits that
+were confided to her.
+
+She had been intimate with Madame de Maintenon during the whole of her
+residence at Paris; but Madame de Maintenon, although not daring to
+disavow this friendship, did not like to hear her spoken about.
+
+She wrote to Ninon with amity from time to time, even until her death;
+and Ninon in like manner, when she wanted to serve any friend in whom she
+took great interest, wrote to Madame de Maintenon, who did her what
+service she required efficaciously and with promptness.
+
+But since Madame de Maintenon came to power, they had only seen each
+other two or three times, and then in secret.
+
+Ninon was remarkable for her repartees. One that she made to the last
+Marechal de Choiseul is worth repeating. The Marechal was virtue itself,
+but not fond of company or blessed with much wit. One day, after a long
+visit he had paid her, Ninon gaped, looked at the Marechal, and cried:
+
+"Oh, my lord! how many virtues you make me detest!"
+
+A line from I know not what play. The laughter at this may be imagined.
+L'Enclos lived, long beyond her eightieth year, always healthy, visited,
+respected. She gave her last years to God, and her death was the news of
+the day. The singularity of this personage has made me extend my
+observations upon her.
+
+A short time after the death of Mademoiselle de l'Enclos, a terrible
+adventure happened to Courtenvaux, eldest son of M. de Louvois.
+Courtenvaux was commander of the Cent-Suisses, fond of obscure debauches;
+with a ridiculous voice, miserly, quarrelsome, though modest and
+respectful; and in fine a very stupid fellow. The King, more eager to
+know all that was passing than most people believed, although they gave
+him credit for not a little curiosity in this respect, had authorised
+Bontems to engage a number of Swiss in addition to those posted at the
+doors, and in the parks and gardens. These attendants had orders to
+stroll morning, noon, and night, along the corridors, the passages, the
+staircases, even into the private places, and, when it was fine, in the
+court-yards and gardens; and in secret to watch people, to follow them,
+to notice where they went, to notice who was there, to listen to all the
+conversation they could hear, and to make reports of their discoveries.
+This was assiduously done at Versailles, at Marly, at Trianon, at
+Fontainebleau, and in all the places where the King was. These new
+attendants vexed Courtenvaux considerably, for over such new-comers he
+had no sort of authority. This season, at Fontainebleau, a room, which
+had formerly been occupied by a party of the Cent-Suisses and of the
+body-guard, was given up entirely to the new corps. The room was in a
+public passage of communication indispensable to all in the chateau, and
+in consequence, excellently well adapted for watching those who passed
+through it. Courtenvaux, more than ever vexed by this new arrangement,
+regarded it as a fresh encroachment upon his authority, and flew into a
+violent rage with the new-comers, and railed at them in good set terms.
+They allowed him to fume as he would; they had their orders, and were too
+wise to be disturbed by his rage. The King, who heard of all this, sent
+at once for Courtenvaux. As soon as he appeared in the cabinet, the King
+called to him from the other end of the room, without giving him time to
+approach, and in a rage so terrible, and for him so novel, that not only
+Courtenvaux, but Princes, Princesses, and everybody in the chamber,
+trembled. Menaces that his post should be taken away from him, terms the
+most severe and the most unusual, rained upon Courtenvaux, who, fainting
+with fright, and ready to sink under the ground, had neither the time nor
+the means to prefer a word. The reprimand finished by the King saying,
+"Get out." He had scarcely the strength to obey.
+
+The cause of this strange scene was that Courtenvaux, by the fuss he had
+made, had drawn the attention of the whole Court to the change effected
+by the King, and that, when once seen, its object was clear to all eyes.
+The King, who hid his spy system with the greatest care, had counted upon
+this change passing unperceived, and was beside himself with anger when
+he found it made apparent to everybody by Courtenvaux's noise. He never
+regained the King's favour during the rest of his life; and but for his
+family he would certainly have been driven away, and his office taken
+from him.
+
+Let me speak now of something of more moment.
+
+The war, as I have said, still continued, but without bringing us any
+advantages. On the contrary, our losses in Germany and Italy by
+sickness, rather than by the sword, were so great that it was resolved to
+augment each company by five men; and, at the same time, twenty-five
+thousand militia were raised, thus causing great ruin and great
+desolation in the provinces. The King was rocked into the belief that
+the people were all anxious to enter this militia, and, from time to
+time, at Marly, specimens of those enlisted were shown to him, and their
+joy and eagerness to serve made much of. I have heard this often; while,
+at the same time, I knew from my own tenantry, and from everything that
+was said, that the raising of this militia carried despair everywhere,
+and that many people mutilated themselves in order to exempt themselves
+from serving. Nobody at the Court was ignorant of this. People lowered
+their eyes when they saw the deceit practised upon the King, and the
+credulity he displayed, and afterwards whispered one to another what they
+thought of flattery so ruinous. Fresh regiments, too, were raised at
+this time, and a crowd of new colonels and staffs created, instead of
+giving a new battalion or a squadron additional to regiments already in
+existence. I saw quite plainly towards what rock we were drifting. We
+had met losses at Hochstedt, Gibraltar, and Barcelona; Catalonia and the
+neighbouring countries were in revolt; Italy yielding us nothing but
+miserable successes; Spain exhausted; France, failing in men and money,
+and with incapable generals, protected by the Court against their faults.
+I saw all these things so plainly that I could not avoid making
+reflections, or reporting them to my friends in office. I thought that
+it was time to finish the war before we sank still lower, and that it
+might be finished by giving to the Archduke what we could not defend, and
+making a division of the rest. My plan was to leave Philip V.
+possession of all Italy, except those parts which belonged to the Grand
+Duke, the republics of Venice and Genoa, and the ecclesiastical states of
+Naples and Sicily; our King to have Lorraine and some other slight
+additions of territory; and to place elsewhere the Dukes of Savoy, of
+Lorraine, of Parma, and of Modem. I related this plan to the Chancellor
+and to Chamillart, amongst others. The contrast between their replies
+was striking. The Chancellor, after having listened to me very
+attentively, said, if my plan were adopted, he would most willingly kiss
+my toe for joy. Chamillart, with gravity replied, that the King would
+not give up a single mill of all the Spanish succession. Then I felt the
+blindness which had fallen upon us, and how much the results of it were
+to be dreaded.
+
+Nevertheless, the King, as if to mock at misfortune and to show his
+enemies the little uneasiness he felt, determined, at the commencement of
+the new year, 1706, that the Court should be gayer than ever. He
+announced that there would be balls at Marly every time he was there this
+winter, and he named those who were to dance there; and said he should be
+very glad to see balls given to Madame de Bourgogne at Versailles.
+Accordingly, many took place there, and also at Marly, and from time to
+time there were masquerades. One day, the King wished that everybody,
+even the most aged, who were at Marly, should go to the ball masked; and,
+to avoid all distinction, he went there himself with a gauze robe above
+his habit; but such a slight disguise was for himself alone; everybody
+else was completely disguised. M. and Madame de Beauvilliers were there
+perfectly disguised. When I say they were there, those who knew the
+Court will admit that I have said more than enough. I had the pleasure
+of seeing them, and of quietly laughing with them. At all these balls
+the King made people dance who had long since passed the age for doing
+so. As for the Comte de Brionne and the Chevalier de Sully, their
+dancing was so perfect that there was no age for them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+In the midst of all this gaiety, that is to say on the 12th of February,
+1706, one of our generals, of whom I have often spoken, I mean M. de
+Vendome, arrived at Marly. He had not quitted Italy since succeeding to
+Marechal de Villeroy, after the affair of Cremona. His battles, such as
+they were, the places he had taken, the authority he had assumed, the
+reputation he had usurped, his incomprehensible successes with the King,
+the certainty of the support he leaned on,--all this inspired him with
+the desire to come and enjoy at Court a situation so brilliant, and which
+so far surpassed what he had a right to expect. But before speaking of
+the reception which was given him, and of the incredible ascendancy he
+took, let me paint him from the life a little more completely than I have
+yet done.
+
+Vendome was of ordinary height, rather stout, but vigorous and active:
+with a very noble countenance and lofty mien. There was much natural
+grace in his carriage and words; he had a good deal of innate wit, which
+he had not cultivated, and spoke easily, supported by a natural boldness,
+which afterwards turned to the wildest audacity; he knew the world and
+the Court; was above all things an admirable courtier; was polite when
+necessary, but insolent when he dared--familiar with common people--in
+reality, full of the most ravenous pride. As his rank rose and his
+favour increased, his obstinacy, and pig-headedness increased too, so
+that at last he would listen to no advice whatever, and was inaccessible
+to all, except a small number of familiars and valets. No one better
+than he knew the subserviency of the French character, or took more
+advantage of it. Little by little he accustomed his subalterns, and then
+from one to the other all his army, to call him nothing but
+"Monseigneur," and "Your Highness." In time the gangrene spread, and
+even lieutenant-generals and the most distinguished people did not dare
+to address him in any other manner.
+
+The most wonderful thing to whoever knew the King--so gallant to the
+ladies during a long part of his life, so devout the other, and often
+importunate to make others do as he did--was that the said King had
+always a singular horror of the inhabitants of the Cities of the Plain;
+and yet M. de Vendome, though most odiously stained with that vice--so
+publicly that he treated it as an ordinary gallantry--never found his
+favour diminished on that account. The Court, Anet, the army, knew of
+these abominations. Valets and subaltern officers soon found the way to
+promotion. I have already mentioned how publicly he placed himself in
+the doctor's hands, and how basely the Court acted, imitating the King,
+who would never have pardoned a legitimate prince what he indulged so
+strangely in Vendome.
+
+The idleness of M. de Vendome was equally matter of notoriety. More than
+once he ran the risk of being taken prisoner from mere indolence. He
+rarely himself saw anything at the army, trusting to his familiars when
+ready to trust anybody. The way he employed his day prevented any real
+attention to business. He was filthy in the extreme, and proud of it.
+Fools called it simplicity. His bed was always full of dogs and bitches,
+who littered at his side, the pops rolling in the clothes. He himself
+was under constraint in nothing. One of his theses was, that everybody
+resembled him, but was not honest enough to confess it as he was. He
+mentioned this once to the Princesse de Conti--the cleanest person in the
+world, and the most delicate in her cleanliness.
+
+He rose rather late when at the army. In this situation he wrote his
+letters, and gave his morning orders. Whoever had business with him,
+general officers and distinguished persons, could speak to him then. He
+had accustomed the army to this infamy. At the same time he gobbled his
+breakfast; and whilst he ate, listened, or gave orders, many spectators
+always standing round.... (I must be excused these disgraceful details,
+in order better to make him known).... On shaving days he used the same
+vessel to lather his chin in. This, according to him, was a simplicity
+of manner worthy of the ancient Romans, and which condemned the splendour
+and superfluity of the others. When all was over, he dressed; then
+played high at piquet or hombre; or rode out, if it was absolutely
+necessary. All was now over for the day. He supped copiously with his
+familiars: was a great eater, of wonderful gluttony; a connoisseur in no
+dish, liked fish much, but the stale and stinking better than the good.
+The meal prolonged itself in theses and disputes, and above all in praise
+and flattery.
+
+He would never have forgiven the slightest blame from any one. He wanted
+to pass for the first captain of his age, and spoke with indecent
+contempt of Prince Eugene and all the others. The faintest contradiction
+would have been a crime. The soldier and the subaltern adored him for
+his familiarity with them, and the licence he allowed in order to gain
+their hearts; for all which he made up by excessive haughtiness towards
+whoever was elevated by rank or birth.
+
+On one occasion the Duke of Parma sent the bishop of that place to
+negotiate some affair with him; but M. de Vendome took such disgusting
+liberties in his presence, that the ecclesiastic, though without saying a
+word, returned to Parma, and declared to his master that never would he
+undertake such an embassy again. In his place another envoy was sent,
+the famous Alberoni. He was the son of a gardener, who became an Abbe in
+order to get on. He was full of buffoonery; and pleased M. de Parma as
+might a valet who amused him, but he soon showed talent and capacity for
+affairs. The Duke thought that the night-chair of M. de Vendome required
+no other ambassador than Alberoni, who was accordingly sent to conclude
+what the bishop had left undone. The Abbe determined to please, and was
+not proud. M. de Vendome exhibited himself as before; and Alberoni, by
+an infamous act of personal adoration, gained his heart. He was
+thenceforth much with him, made cheese-soup and other odd messes for him;
+and finally worked his way. It is true he was cudgelled by some one he
+had offended, for a thousand paces, in sight of the whole army, but this
+did not prevent his advancement. Vendome liked such an unscrupulous
+flatterer; and yet as we have seen, he was not in want of praise. The
+extraordinary favour shown him by the King--the credulity with which his
+accounts of victories were received--showed to every one in what
+direction their laudation was to be sent.
+
+Such was the man whom the King and the whole Court hastened to caress and
+flatter from the first moment of his arrival amongst us. There was a
+terrible hubbub: boys, porters, and valets rallied round his postchaise
+when he reached Marly. Scarcely had he ascended into his chamber, than
+everybody, princes, bastards and all the rest, ran after him. The
+ministers followed: so that in a short time nobody was left in the salon
+but the ladies. M. de Beauvilliers was at Vaucresson. As for me, I
+remained spectator, and did not go and adore this idol.
+
+In a few minutes Vendome was sent for by the King and Monseigneur. As
+soon as he could dress himself, surrounded as he was by such a crowd, he
+went to the salon, carried by it rather than environed. Monseigneur
+stopped the music that was playing, in order to embrace him. The King
+left the cabinet where he was at work, and came out to meet him,
+embracing him several times. Chamillart on the morrow gave a fete in his
+honour at L'Etang, which lasted two days. Following his example,
+Pontchartrain, Torcy, and the most distinguished lords of the Court, did
+the same. People begged and entreated to give him fetes; people begged
+and entreated to be invited to them. Never was triumph equal to his;
+each step he took procured him a new one. It is not too much to say,
+that everybody disappeared before him; Princes of the blood, ministers,
+the grandest seigneurs, all appeared only to show how high he was above
+them; even the King seemed only to remain King to elevate him more.
+
+The people joined in this enthusiasm, both in Versailles and at Paris,
+where he went under pretence of going to the opera. As he passed along
+the streets crowds collected to cheer him; they billed him at the doors,
+and every seat was taken in advance; people pushed and squeezed
+everywhere, and the price of admission was doubled, as on the nights of
+first performances. Vendome, who received all these homages with extreme
+ease, was yet internally surprised by a folly so universal. He feared
+that all this heat would not last out even the short stay he intended to
+make. To keep himself more in reserve, he asked and obtained permission
+to go to Anet, in the intervals between the journeys to Marly. All the
+Court, however, followed him there, and the King was pleased rather than
+otherwise, at seeing Versailles half deserted for Anet, actually asking
+some if they had been, others, when they intended to go.
+
+It was evident that every one had resolved to raise M. de Vendome to the
+rank of a hero. He determined to profit by the resolution. If they made
+him Mars, why should he not act as such? He claimed to be appointed
+commander of the Marechals of France, and although the King refused him
+this favour, he accorded him one which was but the stepping-stone to it.
+M. de Vendome went away towards the middle of March to command the army
+in Italy, with a letter signed by the King himself, promising him that if
+a Marechal of France were sent to Italy, that Marechal was to take
+commands from him. M. de Vendome was content, and determined to obtain
+all he asked on a future day. The disposition of the armies had been
+arranged just before. Tesse, for Catalonia and Spain; Berwick, for the
+frontier of Portugal; Marechal Villars, for Alsace; Marsin, for the
+Moselle; Marechal de Villeroy, for Flanders; and M. de Vendome, as I have
+said, for Italy.
+
+Now that I am speaking of the armies, let me give here an account of all
+our military operations this year, so as to complete that subject at
+once.
+
+M. de Vendome commenced his Italian campaign by a victory. He attacked
+the troops of Prince Eugene upon the heights of Calcinato, drove them
+before him, killed three thousand men, took twenty standards, ten pieces
+of cannon, and eight thousand prisoners. It was a rout rather than a
+combat. The enemy was much inferior in force to us, and was without its
+general, Prince Eugene, he not having returned to open the campaign. He
+came back, however, the day after this engagement, soon re-established
+order among his troops, and M. de Vendome from that time, far from being
+able to recommence the attack, was obliged to keep strictly on the
+defensive while he remained in Italy. He did not fail to make the most
+of his victory, which, however, to say the truth, led to nothing.
+
+Our armies just now were, it must be admitted, in by no means a good
+condition. The generals owed their promotion to favour and fantasy.
+The King thought he gave them capacity when he gave them their patents.
+Under M. de Turenne the army had afforded, as in a school, opportunities
+for young officers to learn the art of warfare, and to qualify themselves
+step by step to take command. They were promoted as they showed signs of
+their capacity, and gave proof of their talent. Now, however, it was
+very different. Promotion was granted according to length of service,
+thus rendering all application and diligence unnecessary, except when M.
+de Louvois suggested to the King such officers as he had private reasons
+for being favourable to, and whose actions he could control. He
+persuaded the King that it was he himself who ought to direct the armies
+from his cabinet. The King, flattered by this, swallowed the bait, and
+Louvois himself was thus enabled to govern in the name of the King, to
+keep the generals in leading-strings, and to fetter their every movement.
+In consequence of the way in which promotions were made, the greatest
+ignorance prevailed amongst all grades of officers. None knew scarcely
+anything more than mere routine duties, and sometimes not even so much as
+that. The luxury which had inundated the army, too, where everybody
+wished to live as delicately as at Paris, hindered the general officers
+from associating with the other officers, and in consequence from knowing
+and appreciating them. As a matter of course, there were no longer any
+deliberations upon the state of affairs, in which the young might profit
+by the counsels of the old, and the army profit by the discussions of
+all. The young officers talked only of pay and women; the old, of forage
+and equipages; the generals spent half their time in writing costly
+despatches, often useless, and sending them away by couriers. The luxury
+of the Court and city had spread into the army, so that delicacies were
+carried there unknown formerly. Nothing was spoken of but hot dishes in
+the marches and in the detachments; and the repasts that were carried to
+the trenches, during sieges, were not only well served, but ices and
+fruits were partaken of as at a fete, and a profusion of all sorts of
+liqueurs. Expense ruined the officers, who vied with one another in
+their endeavours to appear magnificent; and the things to be carried, the
+work to be done, quadrupled the number of domestics and grooms, who often
+starved. For a long time, people had complained of all this; even those
+who were put to the expenses, which ruined them; but none dared to spend
+less. At last, that is to say, in the spring of the following year, the
+King made severe rules, with the object of bringing about a reform in
+this particular. There is no country in Europe where there are so many
+fine laws, or where the observance of them is of shorter duration. It
+often happens, that in the first year all are infringed, and in the
+second, forgotten. Such was the army at this time, and we soon had
+abundant opportunities to note its incapacity to overcome the enemies
+with whom we had to contend.
+
+The King wished to open this campaign with two battles; one in Italy, the
+other in Flanders. His desire was to some extent gratified in the former
+case; but in the other he met with a sad and cruel disappointment. Since
+the departure of Marechal de Villeroy for Flanders, the King had more
+than once pressed him to engage the enemy. The Marechal, piqued with
+these reiterated orders, which he considered as reflections upon his
+courage, determined to risk anything in order to satisfy the desire of
+the King. But the King did not wish this. At the same time that he
+wished for a battle in Flanders, he wished to place Villeroy in a state
+to fight it. He sent orders, therefore, to Marsin to take eighteen
+battalions and twenty squadrons of his army, to proceed to the Moselle,
+where he would find twenty others, and then to march with the whole into
+Flanders, and join Marechal de Villeroy. At the same time he prohibited
+the latter from doing anything until this reinforcement reached him.
+Four couriers, one after the other, carried this prohibition to the
+Marechal; but he had determined to give battle without assistance, and he
+did so, with what result will be seen.
+
+On the 24th of May he posted himself between the villages of Taviers and
+Ramillies. He was superior in force to the Duke of Marlborough, who was
+opposed to him, and this fact gave him confidence. Yet the position
+which he had taken up was one which was well known to be bad. The late
+M. de Luxembourg had declared it so, and had avoided it. M. de Villeroy
+had been a witness of this, but it was his destiny and that of France
+that he should forget it. Before he took up this position he announced
+that it was his intention to do so to M. d'Orleans. M. d'Orleans said
+publicly to all who came to listen, that if M. de Villeroy did so he
+would be beaten. M. d'Orleans proved to be only too good a prophet.
+
+Just as M. de Villeroy had taken up his position and made his
+arrangements, the Elector arrived in hot haste from Brussels. It was
+too late now to blame what had been done. There was nothing for it but
+to complete what had been already begun, and await the result.
+
+It was about two hours after midday when the enemy arrived within range,
+and came under our fire from Ramillies. It forced them to halt until
+their cannon could be brought into play, which was soon done. The
+cannonade lasted a good hour. At the end of that time they marched to
+Taviers, where a part of our army was posted, found but little
+resistance, and made themselves masters of that place. From that moment
+they brought their cavalry to bear. They perceived that there was a
+marsh which covered our left, but which hindered our two wings from
+joining. They made good use of the advantage this gave them. We were
+taken in the rear at more than one point, and Taviers being no longer
+able to assist us, Ramillies itself fell, after a prodigious fire and an
+obstinate resistance. The Comte de Guiche at the head of the regiment of
+Guards defended it for four hours, and performed prodigies, but in the
+end he was obliged to give way. All this time our left had been utterly
+useless with its nose in the marsh, no enemy in front of it, and with
+strict orders not to budge from its position.
+
+
+[Illustration: Marlborough At Ramillies--Painted by R. Canton Woodville
+--418]
+
+
+Our retreat commenced in good order, but soon the night came and threw us
+into confusion. The defile of Judoigne became so gorged with baggage and
+with the wrecks of the artillery we had been able to save, that
+everything was taken from us there. Nevertheless, we arrived at Louvain,
+and then not feeling in safety, passed the canal of Wilworde without
+being very closely followed by the enemy.
+
+We lost in this battle four thousand men, and many prisoners of rank, all
+of whom were treated with much politeness by Marlborough. Brussels was
+one of the first-fruits he gathered of this victory, which had such grave
+and important results.
+
+The King did not learn this disaster until Wednesday, the 26th of May,
+at his waking. I was at Versailles. Never was such trouble or such
+consternation. The worst was, that only the broad fact was known; for
+six days we were without a courier to give us details. Even the post was
+stopped. Days seemed like years in the ignorance of everybody as to
+details, and in the inquietude of everybody for relatives and friends.
+The King was forced to ask one and another for news; but nobody could
+tell him any. Worn out at last by the silence, he determined to despatch
+Chamillart to Flanders to ascertain the real state of affairs.
+Chamillart accordingly left Versailles on Sunday, the 30th of May, to the
+astonishment of all the Court, at seeing a man charged with the war and
+the finance department sent on such an errand. He astonished no less the
+army when he arrived at Courtrai, where it had stationed itself. Having
+gained all the information he sought, Chamillart returned to Versailles
+on Friday, the 4th of June, at about eight o'clock in the evening, and at
+once went to the King, who was in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon.
+It was known then that the army, after several hasty marches, finding
+itself at Ghent, the Elector of Bavaria had insisted that it ought at
+least to remain there. A council of war was held, the Marechal de
+Villeroy, who was quite discouraged by the loss he had sustained, opposed
+the advice of the Elector. Ghent was abandoned, so was the open country.
+The army was separated and distributed here and there, under the command
+of the general officers. In this way, with the exception of Namur, Mons,
+and a very few other places, all the Spanish Low Countries were lost, and
+a part of ours, even. Never was rapidity equal to this. The enemies
+were as much astonished as we.
+
+However tranquilly the King sustained in appearance this misfortune, he
+felt it to the quick. He was so affected by what was said of his body-
+guards, that he spoke of them himself with bitterness. Court warriors
+testified in their favour, but persuaded nobody. But the King seized
+these testimonies with joy, and sent word to the Guards that he was well
+contended with them. Others, however, were not so easily satisfied.
+
+This sad reverse and the discontent of the Elector made the King feel at
+last that his favourites must give way to those better able to fill their
+places. Villeroy, who, since his defeat, had quite lost his head, and
+who, if he had been a general of the Empire, would have lost it in
+reality in another manner, received several strong hints from the King
+that he ought to give up his command. But he either could not or would
+not understand them, and so tired out the King's patience, at length.
+But he was informed in language which admitted of no misapprehension that
+he must return. Even then, the King was so kindly disposed towards him,
+that he said the Marechal had begged to be recalled with such obstinacy
+that he could not refuse him. But M. de Villeroy was absurd enough to
+reject this salve for his honour; which led to his disgrace. M. de
+Vendome had orders to leave Italy, and succeed to the command in
+Flanders, where the enemies had very promptly taken Ostend and Nieuport.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+Meanwhile, as I have promised to relate, in a continuous narrative, all
+our military operations of this year, let me say what passed in other
+directions. The siege of Barcelona made no progress. Our engineers were
+so slow and so ignorant, that they did next to nothing. They were so
+venal, too, that they aided the enemy rather than us by their movements.
+According to a new rule made by the King, whenever they changed the
+position of their guns, they were entitled to a pecuniary recompense.
+Accordingly, they passed all their time in uselessly changing about from
+place to place, in order to receive the recompense which thus became due
+to them.
+
+Our fleet, too, hearing that a much superior naval force was coming to
+the assistance of the enemy, and being, thanks to Pontchartrain, utterly
+unable to meet it, was obliged to weigh anchor, and sailed away to
+Toulon. The enemy's fleet arrived, and the besieged at once took new
+courage. Tesse, who had joined the siege, saw at once that it was
+useless to continue it. We had for some time depended upon the open sea
+for supplies. Now that the English fleet had arrived, we could depend
+upon the sea no longer. The King of Spain saw, at last, that there was
+no help for it but to raise the siege.
+
+It was raised accordingly on the night between the 10th and 11th of May,
+after fourteen days' bombardment. We abandoned one hundred pieces of
+artillery; one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of powder; thirty
+thousand sacks of flour; twenty thousand sacks of sevade, a kind of oats;
+and a great number of bombs, cannon-balls, and implements. As Catalonia
+was in revolt, it was felt that retreat could not take place in that
+direction; it was determined, therefore, to retire by the way of the
+French frontier. For eight days, however, our troops were harassed in
+flank and rear by Miquelets, who followed us from mountain to mountain.
+It was not until the Duc de Noailles, whose father had done some service
+to the chiefs of these Miquelets, had parleyed with them, and made terms
+with them, that our troops were relieved from these cruel wasps. We
+suffered much loss in our retreat, which, with the siege, cost us full
+four thousand men. The army stopped at Roussillon, and the King of
+Spain, escorted by two regiments of dragoons, made the best of his way to
+Madrid. That city was itself in danger from the Portuguese, and, indeed,
+fell into their hands soon after. The Queen, who, with her children, had
+left it in time to avoid capture, felt matters to be in such extremity,
+that she despatched all the jewels belonging to herself and her husband
+to France. They were placed in the custody of the King. Among them was
+that famous pear-shaped pearl called the Peregrine, which, for its
+weight, its form, its size, and its water, is beyond all price and all
+comparison.
+
+The King of Spain effected a junction with the army of Berwick, and both
+set to work to reconquer the places the Portuguese had taken from them.
+In this they were successful. The Portuguese, much harassed by the
+people of Castille, were forced to abandon all they had gained; and the
+King of Spain was enabled to enter Madrid towards the end of September,
+where he was received with much rejoicing.
+
+In Italy we experienced the most disastrous misfortunes. M. de Vendome,
+having been called from the command to go into Flanders, M. d'Orleans,
+after some deliberation, was appointed to take his place. M. d'Orleans
+set out from Paris on the 1st of July, with twenty-eight horses and five
+chaises, to arrive in three days at Lyons, and then to hasten on into
+Italy. La Feuillade was besieging Turin. M. d'Orleans went to the
+siege. He was magnificently received by La Feuillade, and shown all over
+the works. He found everything defective. La Feuillade was very young,
+and very inexperienced. I have already related an adventure of his, that
+of his seizing upon the coffers of his uncle, and so forestalling his
+inheritance. To recover from the disgrace this occurrence brought upon
+him, he had married a daughter of Chamillart. Favoured by this minister,
+but coldly looked upon by the King, he had succeeded in obtaining command
+in the army, and had been appointed to conduct this siege. Inflated by
+the importance of his position, and by the support of Chamillart, he
+would listen to no advice from any one. M. d'Orleans attempted to bring
+about some changes, and gave orders to that effect, but as soon as he was
+gone, La Feuillade countermanded those orders and had everything his own
+way. The siege accordingly went on with the same ill-success as before.
+
+M. d'Orleans joined M. de Vendome on the 17th of July, upon the Mincio.
+The pretended hero had just made some irreparable faults. He had allowed
+Prince Eugene to pass the Po, nearly in front of him, and nobody knew
+what had become of twelve of our battalions posted near the place where
+this passage had been made. Prince Eugene had taken all the boats that
+we had upon the river. We could not cross it, therefore, and follow the
+enemy without making a bridge. Vendome feared lest his faults should be
+perceived. He wished that his successor should remain charged with them.
+M. d'Orleans, indeed, soon saw all the faults that M. de Vendome had
+committed, and tried hard to induce the latter to aid him to repair them.
+But M. de Vendome would not listen to his representations, and started
+away almost immediately to take the command of the army in Flanders,
+leaving M. d'Orleans to get out of the difficulty as he might.
+
+M. d'Orleans, abandoned to himself (except when interfered with by
+Marechal de Marsin, under whose tutelage he was), could do nothing. He
+found as much opposition to his plans from Marsin as he had found from M.
+de Vendome. Marsin wished to keep in the good graces of La Feuillade,
+son-in-law of the all-powerful minister, and would not adopt the views of
+M. d'Orleans. This latter had proposed to dispute the passage of the
+Tanaro, a confluent of the Po, with the enemy, or compel them to accept
+battle. An intercepted letter, in cypher, from Prince Eugene to the
+Emperor, which fell into our hands, proved, subsequently, that this
+course would have been the right one to adopt; but the proof came too
+late; the decyphering table having been forgotten at Versailles!
+M. d'Orleans had in the mean time been forced to lead his army to Turin,
+to assist the besiegers, instead of waiting to stop the passage of the
+troops that were destined for the aid of the besieged. He arrived at
+Turin on the 28th of August, in the evening. La Feuillade, now under two
+masters, grew, it might be imagined, more docile. But no! He allied
+himself with Marsin (without whom M. d'Orleans could do nothing), and so
+gained him over that they acted completely in accord. When M. d'Orleans
+was convinced, soon after his arrival, that the enemy was approaching to
+succour Turin, he suggested that they should be opposed as they attempted
+the passage of the Dora.
+
+But his advice was not listened to. He was displeased with everything.
+He found that all the orders he had given had been disregarded. He found
+the siege works bad, imperfect, very wet, and very ill-guarded. He tried
+to remedy all these defects, but he was opposed at every step. A council
+of war was held. M. d'Orleans stated his views, but all the officers
+present, with one honourable exception, servilely chimed in with the
+views of Marsin and La Feuillade, and things remained as they were.
+M. d'Orleans, thereupon, protested that he washed his hands of all the
+misfortunes that might happen in consequence of his advice being
+neglected. He declared that as he was no longer master over anything,
+it was not just that he should bear any part of the blame which would
+entail to those in command. He asked, therefore, for his post-chaise,
+and wished immediately to quit the army. La Feuillade and Marsin,
+however, begged him to remain, and upon second thoughts he thought it
+better to do so. The simple reason of all this opposition was, that La
+Feuillade, being very young and very vain, wished to have all the honours
+of the siege. He was afraid that if the counsel of M. d'Orleans
+prevailed, some of that honour would be taken from him. This was the
+real reason, and to this France owes the disastrous failure of the siege
+of Turin.
+
+After the council of war, M. d'Orleans ceased to take any share in the
+command, walked about or stopped at home, like a man who had nothing to
+do with what was passing around him. On the night of the 6th to the 7th
+of September, he rose from his bed alarmed by information sent to him in
+a letter, that Prince Eugene was about to attack the castle of Pianezza,
+in order to cross the Dora, and so proceed to attack the besiegers. He
+hastened at once to Marsin, showed him the letter, and recommended that
+troops should at once be sent to dispute the passage of a brook that the
+enemies had yet to cross, even supposing them to be masters of Pianezza.
+Even as he was speaking, confirmation of the intelligence he had received
+was brought by one of our officers. But it was resolved, in the Eternal
+decrees, that France should be struck to the heart that day.
+
+Marsin would listen to none of the arguments of M. d'Orleans. He
+maintained that it would be unsafe to leave the lines; that the news was
+false; that Prince Eugene could not possibly arrive so promptly; he would
+give no orders; and he counselled M. d'Orleans to go back to bed. The
+Prince, more piqued and more disgusted than ever, retired to his quarters
+fully resolved to abandon everything to the blind and deaf, who would
+neither see nor hear.
+
+Soon after entering his chamber the news spread from all parts of the
+arrival of Prince Eugene. He did not stir. Some general officers came,
+and forced him to mount his horse. He went forth negligently at a
+walking pace. What had taken place during the previous days had made so
+much noise that even the common soldiers were ashamed of it. They liked
+him, and murmured because he would no longer command them. One of them
+called him by his name, and asked him if he refused them his sword. This
+question did more than all that the general officers had been able to do.
+M. d'Orleans replied to the soldier, that he would not refuse to serve
+them, and at once resolved to lend all his aid to Marsin and La
+Feuillade.
+
+But it was no longer possible to leave the lines. The enemy was in
+sight, and advanced so diligently, that there was no time to make
+arrangements. Marsin, more dead than alive, was incapable of giving any
+order or any advice. But La Feuillade still persevered in his obstinacy.
+He disputed the orders of the Duc d'Orleans, and prevented their
+execution, possessed by I know not what demon.
+
+The attack was commenced about ten o'clock in the morning, was pushed
+with incredible vigour, and sustained, at first, in the same manner.
+Prince Eugene poured his troops into those places which the smallness of
+our forces had compelled us to leave open. Marsin, towards the middle of
+the battle, received a wound which incapacitated him from further
+service, end was taken prisoner immediately after. Le Feuillade ran
+about like a madman, tearing his hair, and incapable of giving any order.
+The Duc d'Orleans preserved his coolness, and did wonders to save the
+day. Finding our men beginning to waver, he called the officers by their
+names, aroused the soldiers by his voice, and himself led the squadrons
+and battalions to the charge. Vanquished at last by pain, and weakened
+by the blood he had lost, he was constrained to retire a little, to have
+his wounds dressed. He scarcely gave himself time for this, however, but
+returned at once where the fire was hottest. Three times the enemy had
+been repulsed and their guns spiked by one of our officers, Le Guerchois,
+with his brigade of the old marine, when, enfeebled by the losses he had
+sustained, he called upon a neighbouring brigade to advance with him to
+oppose a number of fresh battalions the enemy had sent against him. This
+brigade and its brigadier refused bluntly to aid him. It was positively
+known afterwards, that had Le Guerchois sustained this fourth charge,
+Prince Eugene would have retreated.
+
+This was the last moment of the little order that there had been at this
+battle. All that followed was only trouble, confusion, disorder, flight,
+discomfiture. The most terrible thing is, that the general officers,
+with but few exceptions, more intent upon their equipage and upon what
+they had saved by pillage, added to the confusion instead of diminishing
+it, and were worse than useless.
+
+M. d'Orleans, convinced at last that it was impossible to re-establish
+the day, thought only how to retire as advantageously as possible. He
+withdrew his light artillery, his ammunition, everything that was at the
+siege, even at the most advanced of its works, and attended to everything
+with a presence of mind that allowed nothing to escape him. Then,
+gathering round him all the officers he could collect, he explained to
+them that nothing but retreat was open to them, and that the road to
+Italy was that which they ought to pursue. By this means they would
+leave the victorious army of the enemy in a country entirely ruined and
+desolate, and hinder it from returning into Italy, where the army of the
+King, on the contrary, would have abundance, and where it would cut off
+all succour from the others.
+
+This proposition dismayed to the last degree our officers, who hoped at
+least to reap the fruit of this disaster by returning to France with the
+money with which they were gorged. La Feuillade opposed it with so much
+impatience, that the Prince, exasperated by an effrontery so sustained,
+told him to hold his peace and let others speak. Others did speak, but
+only one was for following the counsel of M. d'Orleans. Feeling himself
+now, however, the master, he stopped all further discussion, and gave
+orders that the retreat to Italy should commence. This was all he could
+do. His body and his brain were equally exhausted. After having waited
+some little time, he was compelled to throw himself into a post-chaise,
+and in that to continue the journey.
+
+The officers obeyed his orders most unwillingly. They murmured amongst
+each other so loudly that the Duc d'Orleans, justly irritated by so much
+opposition to his will, made them hold their peace. The retreat
+continued. But it was decreed that the spirit of error and vertigo
+should ruin us and save the allies. As the army was about to cross the
+bridge over the Ticino, and march into Italy, information was brought to
+M. d'Orleans, that the enemy occupied the roads by which it was
+indispensable to pass. M. d'Orleans, not believing this intelligence,
+persisted in going forward. Our officers, thus foiled, for it was known
+afterwards that the story was their invention, and that the passes were
+entirely free, hit upon another expedient. They declared there were no
+more provisions or ammunition, and that it was accordingly impossible to
+go into Italy. M. d'Orleans, worn out by so much criminal disobedience,
+and weakened by his wound, could hold out no longer. He threw himself
+back in the chaise, and said they might go where they would. The army
+therefore turned about, and directed itself towards Pignerol, losing many
+equipages from our rear-guard during the night in the mountains, although
+that rear-guard was protected by Albergotti, and was not annoyed by the
+enemy.
+
+The joy of the enemy at their success was unbounded. They could scarcely
+believe in it. Their army was just at its last gasp. They had not more
+than four days' supply of powder left in the place. After the victory,
+M. de Savoie and Prince Eugene lost no time in idle rejoicings. They
+thought only how to profit by a success so unheard of and so unexpected.
+They retook rapidly all the places in Piedmont and Lombardy that we
+occupied, and we had no power to prevent them.
+
+Never battle cost fewer soldiers than that of Turin; never was retreat
+more undisturbed than ours; yet never were results more frightful or more
+rapid. Ramillies, with a light loss, cost the Spanish Low Countries and
+part of ours: Turin cost all Italy by the ambition of La Feuillade, the
+incapacity of Marsin, the avarice, the trickery, the disobedience of the
+general officers opposed to M, d'Orleans. So complete was the rout of
+our army, that it was found impossible to restore it sufficiently to send
+it back to Italy, not at least before the following spring. M. d'Orleans
+returned therefore to Versailles, on Monday, the 8th of November, and was
+well received by the King. La Feuillade arrived on Monday, the 13th of
+December, having remained several days at Paris without daring to go to
+Versailles. He was taken to the King by Chamillart. As soon as the King
+saw them enter he rose, went to the door, and without giving them time to
+utter a word, said to La Feuillade, "Monsieur, we are both very
+unfortunate!" and instantly turned his back upon him. La Feuillade, on
+the threshold of the door that he had not had time to cross, left the
+place immediately, without having dared to say a single word. The King
+always afterwards turned his eye from La Feuillade, and would never speak
+to him. Such was the fall of this Phaeton. He saw that he had no more
+hope, and retired from the army; although there was no baseness that he
+did not afterwards employ to return to command. I think there never was
+a more wrong-headed man or a man more radically dishonest, even to the
+marrow of his bones. As for Marsin, he died soon after his capture, from
+the effect of his wounds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+Such was our military history of the year 1706--history of losses and
+dishonour. It may be imagined in what condition was the exchequer with
+so many demands upon its treasures. For the last two or three years the
+King had been obliged, on account of the expenses of the war, and the
+losses we had sustained, to cut down the presents that he made at the
+commencement of the year. Thirty-five thousand louis in gold was the sum
+he ordinarily spent in this manner. This year, 1707, he diminished it by
+ten thousand Louis. It was upon Madame de Montespan that the blow fell.
+Since she had quitted the Court the King gave her twelve thousand Louis
+of gold each year. This year he sent word to her that he could only give
+her eight. Madame de Montespan testified not the least surprise. She
+replied, that she was only sorry for the poor, to whom indeed she gave
+with profusion. A short time after the King had made this reduction,
+that is, on the 8th of January, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne gave
+birth to a son. The joy was great, but the King prohibited all those
+expenses which had been made at the birth of the first-born of Madame de
+Bourgogne, and which had amounted to a large sum. The want of money
+indeed made itself felt so much at this time, that the King was obliged
+to seek for resources as a private person might have done. A mining
+speculator, named Rodes, having pretended that he had discovered many
+veins of gold in the Pyrenees, assistance was given him in order that he
+might bring these treasures to light.
+
+He declared that with eighteen hundred workmen he would furnish a million
+(francs' worth of gold) each week. Fifty-two millions a-year would have
+been a fine increase of revenue. However, after waiting some little
+time, no gold was forthcoming, and the money that had been spent to
+assist this enterprise was found to be pure loss.
+
+The difficulty of finding money to carry on the affairs of the nation
+continued to grow so irksome that Chamillart, who had both the finance
+and the war departments under his control, was unable to stand against
+the increased trouble and vexation which this state of things brought
+him. More than once he had represented that this double work was too
+much for him. But the King had in former times expressed so much
+annoyance from the troubles that arose between the finance and war
+departments, that he would not separate them, after having once joined
+them together. At last, Chamillart could bear up against his heavy load
+no longer. The vapours seized him: he had attacks of giddiness in the
+head; his digestion was obstructed; he grew thin as a lath. He wrote
+again to the King, begging to be released from his duties, and frankly
+stated that, in the state he was, if some relief was not afforded him,
+everything would go wrong and perish. He always left a large margin to
+his letters, and upon this the King generally wrote his reply.
+Chamillart showed me this letter when it came back to him, and I saw upon
+it with great surprise, in the handwriting of the King, this short note:
+"Well! let us perish together."
+
+The necessity for money had now become so great, that all sorts of means
+were adopted to obtain it. Amongst other things, a tax was established
+upon baptisms and marriages. This tax was extremely onerous and odious.
+The result of it was a strange confusion. Poor people, and many of
+humble means, baptised their children themselves, without carrying them
+to the church, and were married at home by reciprocal consent and before
+witnesses, when they could find no priest who would marry them without
+formality. In consequence of this there were no longer any baptismal
+extracts; no longer any certainty as to baptisms or births; and the
+children of the marriages solemnised in the way I have stated above were
+illegitimate in the eyes of the law. Researches and rigours in respect
+to abuses so prejudicial were redoubled therefore; that is to say, they
+were redoubled for the purpose of collecting the tax.
+
+From public cries and murmurs the people in some places passed to
+sedition. Matters went so far at Cahors, that two battalions which were
+there had great difficulty in holding the town against the armed
+peasants; and troops intended for Spain were obliged to be sent there.
+It was found necessary to suspend the operation of the tax, but it was
+with great trouble that the movement of Quercy was put down, and the
+peasants, who had armed and collected together, induced to retire into
+their villages. In Perigord they rose, pillaged the bureaux, and
+rendered themselves masters of a little town and some castles, and forced
+some gentlemen to put themselves at their head. They declared publicly
+that they would pay the old taxes to King, curate, and lord, but that
+they would pay no more, or hear a word of any other taxes or vexation.
+In the end it was found necessary to drop this tax upon baptism and
+marriages, to the great regret of the tax-gatherers, who, by all manner
+of vexations and rogueries, had enriched themselves cruelly.
+
+It was at this time, and in consequence, to some extent, of these events,
+that a man who had acquired the highest distinction in France was brought
+to the tomb in bitterness and grief, for that which in any other country
+would have covered him with honour. Vauban, for it is to him that I
+allude, patriot as he was, had all his life been touched with the misery
+of the people and the vexations they suffered. The knowledge that his
+offices gave him of the necessity for expense, the little hope he had
+that the King would retrench in matters of splendour and amusement, made
+him groan to see no remedy to an oppression which increased in weight
+from day to day. Feeling this, he made no journey that he did not
+collect information upon the value and produce of the land, upon the
+trade and industry of the towns and provinces, on the nature of the
+imposts, and the manner of collecting them. Not content with this, he
+secretly sent to such places as he could not visit himself, or even to
+those he had visited, to instruct him in everything, and compare the
+reports he received with those he had himself made. The last twenty
+years of his life were spent in these researches, and at considerable
+cost to himself. In, the end, he convinced himself that the land was the
+only real wealth, and he set himself to work to form a new system.
+
+He had already made much progress, when several little books appeared by
+Boisguilbert, lieutenant-general at Rouen, who long since had had the
+same views as Vauban, and had wanted to make them known. From this
+labour had resulted a learned and profound book, in which a system was
+explained by which the people could be relieved of all the expenses they
+supported, and from every tax, and by which the revenue collected would
+go at once into the treasury of the King, instead of enriching, first the
+traitants, the intendants, and the finance ministers. These latter,
+therefore, were opposed to the system, and their opposition, as will be
+seen, was of no slight consequence.
+
+Vauban read this book with much attention. He differed on some points
+with the author, but agreed with him in the main. Boisguilbert wished to
+preserve some imposts upon foreign commerce and upon provisions. Vauban
+wished to abolish all imposts, and to substitute for them two taxes, one
+upon the land, the other upon trade and industry. His book, in which he
+put forth these ideas, was full of information and figures, all arranged
+with the utmost clearness, simplicity, and exactitude.
+
+But it had a grand fault. It described a course which, if followed,
+would have ruined an army of financiers, of clerks, of functionaries of
+all kinds; it would have forced them to live at their own expense,
+instead of at the expense of the people; and it would have sapped the
+foundations of those immense fortunes that are seen to grow up in such a
+short time. This was enough to cause its failure.
+
+All the people interested in opposing the work set up a cry. They saw
+place, power, everything, about to fly from their grasp, if the counsels
+of Vauban were acted upon. What wonder, then, that the King, who was
+surrounded by these people, listened to their reasons, and received with
+a very ill grace Marechal Vauban when he presented his book to him. The
+ministers, it may well be believed, did not give him a better welcome.
+From that moment his services, his military capacity (unique of its
+kind), his virtues, the affection the King had had for him, all were
+forgotten. The King saw only in Marechal Vauban a man led astray by love
+for the people, a criminal who attacked the authority of the ministers,
+and consequently that of the King. He explained himself to this effect
+without scruple.
+
+The unhappy Marechal could not survive the loss of his royal master's
+favour, or stand up against the enmity the King's explanations had
+created against him; he died a few months after consumed with grief, and
+with an affliction nothing could soften, and to which the King was
+insensible to such a point, that he made semblance of not perceiving that
+he had lost a servitor so useful and so illustrious. Vauban, justly
+celebrated over all Europe, was regretted in France by all who were not
+financiers or their supporters.
+
+Boisguilbert, whom this event ought to have rendered wise, could not
+contain himself. One of the objections which had been urged against his
+theories, was the difficulty of carrying out changes in the midst of a
+great war. He now published a book refuting this point, and describing
+such a number of abuses then existing, to abolish which, he asked, was it
+necessary to wait for peace, that the ministers were outraged.
+Boisguilbert was exiled to Auvergne. I did all in my power to revoke
+this sentence, having known Boisguilbert at Rouen, but did not succeed
+until the end of two months. He was then allowed to return to Rouen, but
+was severely reprimanded, and stripped of his functions for some little
+time. He was amply indemnified, however, for this by the crowd of
+people, and the acclamations with which he was received.
+
+It is due to Chamillart to say, that he was the only minister who had
+listened with any attention to these new systems of Vauban and
+Boisguilbert. He indeed made trial of the plans suggested by the former,
+but the circumstances were not favourable to his success, and they of
+course failed. Some time after, instead of following the system of
+Vauban, and reducing the imposts, fresh ones were added. Who would have
+said to the Marechal that all his labours for the relief of the people of
+France would lead to new imposts, more harsh, more permanent, and more
+heavy than he protested against? It is a terrible lesson against all
+improvements in matters of taxation and finance.
+
+But it is time, now, that I should retrace my steps to other matters,
+which, if related in due order of time, should have found a place ere
+this. And first, let me relate the particulars concerning a trial in
+which I was engaged, and which I have deferred allusion to until now, so
+as not to entangle the thread of my narrative.
+
+My sister, as I have said in its proper place, had married the Duc de
+Brissac, and the marriage had not been a happy one. After a time, in
+fact, they separated. My sister at her death left me her universal
+legatee; and shortly after this, M. de Brissac brought an action against
+me on her account for five hundred thousand francs. After his death, his
+representatives continued the action, which I resisted, not only
+maintaining that I owed none of the five hundred thousand francs, but
+claiming to have two hundred thousand owing to me, out of six hundred
+thousand which had formed the dowry of my sister.
+
+When M. de Brissac died, there seemed some probability that his peerage
+would become extinct; for the Comte de Cosse, who claimed to succeed him,
+was opposed by a number of peers, and but for me might have failed to
+establish his pretensions. I, however, as his claim was just, interested
+myself in him, supported him with all my influence, and gained for him
+the support of several influential peers: so that in the end he was
+recognised as Duc de Brissac, and received as such at the parliament on
+the 6th of May, 1700.
+
+Having succeeded thus to the titles and estates of his predecessor, he
+succeeded also to his liabilities, debts, and engagements. Among these
+was the trial against me for five hundred thousand francs. Cosse felt so
+thoroughly that he owed his rank to me, that he offered to give me five
+hundred thousand francs, so as to indemnify me against an adverse
+decision in the cause. Now, as I have said, I not only resisted this
+demand made upon me for five hundred thousand francs, but I, in my turn,
+claimed two hundred thousand francs, and my claim, once admitted, all the
+personal creditors of the late Duc de Brissac (creditors who, of course,
+had to be paid by the new Duke) would have been forced to stand aside
+until my debt was settled.
+
+I, therefore, refused this offer of Cosse, lest other creditors should
+hear of the arrangement, and force him to make a similar one with them.
+He was overwhelmed with a generosity so little expected, and we became
+more intimately connected from that day.
+
+Cosse, once received as Duc de Brissac, I no longer feared to push
+forward the action I had commenced for the recovery of the two hundred
+thousand francs due to me, and which I had interrupted only on his
+account. I had gained it twice running against the late Duc de Brissac,
+at the parliament of Rouen; but the Duchesse d'Aumont, who in the last
+years of his life had lent him money, and whose debt was in danger,
+succeeded in getting this cause sent up for appeal to the parliament at
+Paris, where she threw obstacle upon obstacle in its path, and caused
+judgment to be delayed month after month. When I came to take active
+steps in the matter, my surprise--to use no stronger word--was great, to
+find Cosse, after all I had done for him, favouring the pretensions of
+the Duchesse d'Aumont, and lending her his aid to establish them.
+However, he and the Duchesse d'Aumont lost their cause, for when it was
+submitted to the judges of the council at Paris, it was sent back to
+Rouen, and they had to pay damages and expenses.
+
+For years the affair had been ready to be judged at Rouen, but M.
+d'Aumont every year, by means of his letters of state, obtained a
+postponement. At last, however, M. d'Aumont died, and I was assured that
+the letters of state should not be again produced, and that in
+consequence no further adjournment should take place. I and Madame de
+Saint-Simon at once set out, therefore, for Rouen, where we were
+exceedingly well received, fetes and entertainments being continually
+given in our honour.
+
+After we had been there but eight or ten days, I received a letter from
+Pontchartrain, who sent me word that the King had learnt with surprise I
+was at Rouen, and had charged him to ask me why I was there: so attentive
+was the King as to what became of the people of mark, he was accustomed
+to see around him! My reply was not difficult.
+
+Meanwhile our cause proceeded. The parliament, that is to say, the Grand
+Chamber, suspended all other business in order to finish ours. The
+affair was already far advanced, when it was interrupted by an obstacle,
+of all obstacles the least possible to foresee. The letters of state had
+again been put in, for the purpose of obtaining another adjournment.
+
+My design is not to weary by recitals, which interest only myself; but I
+must explain this matter fully. It was Monday evening. The parliament
+of Rouen ended on the following Saturday. If we waited until the opening
+of the next parliament, we should have to begin our cause from the
+beginning, and with new presidents and judges, who would know nothing of
+the facts. What was to be done? To appeal to the King seemed
+impossible, for he was at Marly, and, while there, never listened to such
+matters. By the time he left Marly, it would be too late to apply to
+him.
+
+Madame de Saint-Simon and others advised me, however, at all hazards, to
+go straight to the King, instead of sending a courier, as I thought of
+doing, and to keep my journey secret. I followed their advice, and
+setting out at once, arrived at Marly on Tuesday morning, the 8th of
+August, at eight of the clock. The Chancellor and Chamillart, to whom I
+told my errand, pitied me, but gave me no hope of success. Nevertheless,
+a council of state was to be held on the following morning, presided over
+by the King, and my petition was laid before it. The letters of state
+were thrown out by every voice. This information was brought to me at
+mid-day. I partook of a hasty dinner, and turned back to Rouen, where I
+arrived on Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, three hours after a
+courier, by whom I had sent this unhoped-for news.
+
+I brought with me, besides the order respecting the letters of state, an
+order to the parliament to proceed to judgment at once. It was laid
+before the judges very early on Saturday, the 11th of August, the last
+day of the parliament. From four o'clock in the morning we had an
+infinite number of visitors, wanting to accompany us to the palace. The
+parliament had been much irritated against these letters of state, after
+having suspended all other business for us. The withdrawal of these
+letters was now announced. We gained our cause, with penalties and
+expenses, amid acclamations which resounded through the court, and which
+followed us into the streets. We could scarcely enter our street, so
+full was it with the crowd, or our house, which was equally crowded. Our
+kitchen chimney soon after took fire, and it was only a marvel that it
+was extinguished, without damage, after having strongly warned us, and
+turned our joy into bitterness. There was only the master of the house
+who was unmoved. We dined, however, with a grand company; and after
+stopping one or two days more to thank our friends, we went to see the
+sea at Dieppe, and then to Cani, to a beautiful house belonging to our
+host at Rouen.
+
+As for Madame d'Aumont, she was furious at the ill-success of her affair.
+It was she who had obtained the letters of state from the steward of her
+son-in-law. Her son-in-law had promised me that they should not be used,
+and wrote at once to say he had had no hand in their production. M. de
+Brissac, who had been afraid to look me in the face ever since he had
+taken part in this matter, and with whom I had openly broken, was now so
+much ashamed that he avoided me everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+It was just at the commencement of the year 1706, that I received a piece
+of news which almost took away my breath by its suddenness, and by the
+surprise it caused me. I was on very intimate terms with Gualterio, the
+nuncio of the Pope. Just about this time we were without an ambassador
+at Rome. The nuncio spoke to me about this post; but at my age--I was
+but thirty--and knowing the unwillingness of the King to employ young men
+in public affairs, I paid no attention to his words. Eight days
+afterwards he entered my chamber-one Tuesday, about an hour after mid-
+day-his arms open, joy painted upon his face, and embracing me, told me
+to shut my door, and even that of my antechamber, so that he should not
+be seen. I was to go to Rome as ambassador. I made him repeat this
+twice over: it seemed so impossible. If one of the portraits in my
+chamber had spoken to me, I could not have been more surprised.
+Gualterio begged me to keep the matter secret, saying, that the
+appointment would be officially announced to me ere long.
+
+I went immediately and sought out Chamillart, reproaching him for not
+having apprised me of this good news. He smiled at my anger, and said
+that the King had ordered the news to be kept secret. I admit that I was
+flattered at being chosen at my age for an embassy so important. I was
+advised on every side to accept it, and this I determined to do. I could
+not understand, however, how it was I had been selected. Torcy, years
+afterwards, when the King was dead, related to me how it came about. At
+this time I had no relations with Torcy; it was not until long afterwards
+that friendship grew up between us.
+
+He said, then, that the embassy being vacant, the King wished to fill up
+that appointment, and wished also that a Duke should be ambassador. He
+took an almanack and began reading the names of the Dukes, commencing
+with M. de Uzes. He made no stop until he came to my name. Then he said
+(to Torcy), "What do you think of him? He is young, but he is good," &c.
+The King, after hearing a few opinions expressed by those around him,
+shut up the almanack, and said it was not worth while to go farther,
+determined that I should be ambassador, but ordered the appointment to be
+kept secret. I learnt this, more than ten years after its occurrence,
+from a true man, who had no longer any interest or reason to disguise
+anything from me.
+
+Advised on all sides by my friends to accept the post offered to me, I
+did not long hesitate to do so. Madame de Saint-Simon gave me the same
+advice, although she herself was pained at the idea of quitting her
+family. I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of relating here what the
+three ministers each said of my wife, a woman then of only twenty-seven
+years of age. All three, unknown to each other, and without solicitation
+on my part, counselled me to keep none of the affairs of my embassy
+secret from her, but to give her a place at the end of the table when I
+read or wrote my despatches, and to consult her with deference upon
+everything. I have rarely so much relished advice as I did in this case.
+Although, as things fell out, I could not follow it at Rome, I had
+followed it long before, and continued to do so all my life. I kept
+nothing secret from her, and I had good reason to be pleased that I did
+not. Her counsel was always wise, judicious, and useful, and oftentimes
+she warded off from me many inconveniences.
+
+But to continue the narrative of this embassy. It was soon so generally
+known that I was going to Rome, that as we danced at Marly, we heard
+people say, "Look! M. l'Ambassadeur and Madame l'Ambassadrice are
+dancing." After this I wished the announcement to be made public as soon
+as possible, but the King was not to be hurried. Day after day passed
+by, and still I was kept in suspense. At last, about the middle of
+April, I had an interview with Chamillart one day, just after he came out
+of the council at which I knew my fate had been decided. I learnt then
+that the King had determined to send no ambassador to Rome. The Abbe de
+La Tremoille was already there; he had been made Cardinal, and was to
+remain and attend to the affairs of the embassy. I found out afterwards
+that I had reason to attribute to Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine the
+change in the King's intention towards me. Madame de Saint-Simon was
+delighted. It seemed as though she foresaw the strange discredit in
+which the affairs of the King were going to fall in Italy, the
+embarrassment and the disorder that public misfortunes would cause the
+finances, and the cruel situation to which all things would have reduced
+us at Rome. As for me, I had had so much leisure to console myself
+beforehand, that I had need of no more. I felt, however, that I had now
+lost all favour with the King, and, indeed, he estranged himself from me
+more and more each day. By what means I recovered myself it is not yet
+time to tell.
+
+On the night between the 3rd and 4th of February, Cardinal Coislin,
+Bishop of Orleans, died. He was a little man, very fat, who looked like
+a village curate. His purity of manners and his virtues caused him to be
+much loved. Two good actions of his life deserve to be remembered.
+
+When, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, the King determined to
+convert the Huguenots by means of dragoons and torture, a regiment was
+sent to Orleans, to be spread abroad in the diocese. As soon as it
+arrived, M. d'Orleans sent word to the officers that they might make his
+house their home; that their horses should be lodged in his stables. He
+begged them not to allow a single one of their men to leave the town, to
+make the slightest disorder; to say no word to the Huguenots, and not to
+lodge in their houses. He resolved to be obeyed, and he was. The
+regiment stayed a month; and cost him a good deal. At the end of that
+time he so managed matters that the soldiers were sent away, and none
+came again. This conduct, so full of charity, so opposed to that of
+nearly all the other dioceses, gained as many Huguenots as were gained by
+the barbarities they suffered elsewhere. It needed some courage, to say
+nothing of generosity, to act thus, and to silently blame, as it were,
+the conduct of the King.
+
+The other action of M. d'Orleans was less public and less dangerous,
+but was not less good. He secretly gave away many alms to the poor,
+in addition to those he gave publicly. Among those whom he succoured
+was a poor, broken-down gentleman, without wife or child, to whom he gave
+four hundred livres of pension, and a place at his table whenever he was
+at Orleans. One morning the servants of M. d'Orleans told their master
+that ten pieces of plate were missing, and that suspicion fell upon the
+gentleman. M. d'Orleans could not believe him guilty, but as he did not
+make his appearance at the house for several days, was forced at last to
+imagine he was so. Upon this he sent for the gentleman, who admitted
+himself to be the offender.
+
+M. d'Orleans said he must have been strangely pressed to commit an action
+of this nature, and reproached him for not having mentioned his wants.
+Then, drawing twenty Louis from his pocket, he gave them to the
+gentleman, told him to forget what had occurred, and to use his table
+as before. M. d'Orleans prohibited his servants to mention their
+suspicions, and this anecdote would never have been known, had it not
+been told by the gentleman himself, penetrated with confusion and
+gratitude.
+
+M. d'Orleans, after he became cardinal, was often pressed by his friends
+to give up his bishopric. But this he would not listen to. The King had
+for him a respect that was almost devotion. When Madame de Bourgogne was
+about to be delivered of her first child, the King sent a courier to M.
+d'Orleans requesting him to come to Court immediately, and to remain
+there until after the delivery. When the child was born, the King would
+not allow it to be sprinkled by any other hand than that of M. d'Orleans.
+The poor man, very fat, as I have said, always sweated very much;--on
+this occasion, wrapped up in his cloak and his lawn, his body ran with
+sweat in such abundance, that in the antechamber the floor was wet all
+round where he stood. All the Court was much afflicted at his death; the
+King more than anybody spoke his praises. It was known after his death,
+from his valet de chambre, that he mortified himself continually with
+instruments of penitence, and that he rose every night and passed an hour
+on his knees in prayer. He received the sacraments with great piety, and
+died the night following as he had lived.
+
+Heudicourt the younger, a species of very mischievous satyr, and much
+mixed up in grand intrigues of gallantry, made, about this time, a song
+upon the grand 'prevot' and his family. It was so simple, so true to
+nature, withal so pleasant, that some one having whispered it in the ear
+of the Marechal de Boufflers at chapel, he could not refrain from
+bursting into laughter, although he was in attendance at the mass of the
+King. The Marechal was the gravest and most serious man in all France;
+the greatest slave to decorum. The King turned round therefore, in
+surprise, which augmented considerably when he saw the Marechal de
+Boufflers nigh to bursting with laughter, and the tears running down his
+cheeks. On turning into his cabinet, he called the Marechal, and asked
+what had got him in that state at the mass. The Marechal repeated the
+song to him. Thereupon the King burst out louder than the Marechal had,
+and for a whole fortnight afterwards could not help smiling whenever he
+saw the grand 'prevot' or any of his family. The song soon spread about,
+and much diverted the Court and the town.
+
+I should particularly avoid soiling this page with an account of the
+operation for fistula which Courcillon, only son of Dangeau, had
+performed upon him, but for the extreme ridicule with which it was
+accompanied. Courcillon was a dashing young fellow, much given to witty
+sayings, to mischief, to impiety, and to the filthiest debauchery, of
+which latter, indeed, this operation passed publicly as the fruit. His
+mother, Madams Dangeau, was in the strictest intimacy with Madame de
+Maintenon. They two alone, of all the Court, were ignorant of the life
+Courcillon led. Madame was much afflicted; and quitted his bed-side,
+even for a moment, with pain. Madame de Maintenon entered into her
+sorrow, and went every day to bear her company at the pillow of
+Courcillon. Madame d'Heudicourt, another intimate friend of Madame de
+Maintenon, was admitted there also, but scarcely anybody else.
+Courcillon listened to them, spoke devotionally to them, and uttered the
+reflections suggested by his state. They, all admiration, published
+everywhere that he was a saint. Madame d'Heudicourt and a few others who
+listened to these discourses, and who knew the pilgrim well, and saw him
+loll out his tongue at them on the sly, knew not what to do to prevent
+their laughter, and as soon as they could get away went and related all
+they had heard to their friends. Courcillon, who thought it a mighty
+honour to have Madame de Maintenon every day for nurse, but who,
+nevertheless, was dying of weariness, used to see his friends in the
+evening (when Madame de Maintenon and his mother were gone), and would
+relate to them, with burlesque exaggeration, all the miseries he had
+suffered during the day, and ridicule the devotional discourses he had
+listened to. All the time his illness lasted, Madame de Maintenon came
+every day to see him, so that her credulity, which no one dared to
+enlighten, was the laughing-stock of the Court. She conceived such a
+high opinion of the virtue of Courcillon, that she cited him always as an
+example, and the King also formed the same opinion. Courcillon took good
+care not to try and cultivate it when he became cured; yet neither the
+King nor Madame de Maintenon opened their eyes, or changed their conduct
+towards him. Madame de Maintenon, it must be said, except in the sublime
+intrigue of her government and with the King, was always the queen of
+dupes.
+
+It would seem that there are, at certain times, fashions in crimes as in
+clothes. At the period of the Voysins and the Brinvilliers, there were
+nothing but poisoners abroad; and against these, a court was expressly
+instituted, called ardente, because it condemned them to the flames. At
+the time of which I am now speaking, 1703, for I forgot to relate what
+follows in its proper place, forgers of writings were in the ascendant,
+and became so common, that a chamber was established composed of
+councillors of state and others, solely to judge the accusations which
+this sort of criminals gave rise to.
+
+The Bouillons wished to be recognised as descended, by male issue, of the
+Counts of Auvergne, and to claim all kinds of distinctions and honours in
+consequence. They had, however, no proofs of this, but, on the contrary,
+their genealogy proved it to be false. All on a sudden, an old document
+that had been interred in the obscurity of ages in the church of Brioude,
+was presented to Cardinal Bouillon. It had all the marks of antiquity,
+and contained a triumphant proof of the descent of the house of La Tour,
+to which the Bouillons belonged, from the ancient Counts of Auvergne.
+The Cardinal was delighted to have in his hands this precious document.
+But to avoid all suspicion, he affected modesty, and hesitated to give
+faith to evidence so decisive. He spoke in confidence to all the learned
+men he knew, and begged them to examine the document with care, so that
+he might not be the dupe of a too easy belief in it.
+
+Whether the examiners were deceived by the document, or whether they
+allowed themselves to be seduced into believing it, as is more than
+probable, from fear of giving offence to the Cardinal, need not be
+discussed. It is enough to say that they pronounced in favour of the
+deed, and that Father Mabillon, that Benedictine so well known throughout
+all Europe by his sense and his candour, was led by the others to share
+their opinion.
+
+After this, Cardinal de Bouillon no longer affected any doubt about the
+authenticity of the discovery. All his friends complimented him upon it,
+the majority to see how he would receive their congratulations. It was a
+chaos rather than a mixture, of vanity the most outrageous, modesty the
+most affected, and joy the most immoderate which he could not restrain.
+
+Unfortunately, De Bar, who had found the precious document, and who had
+presented it to Cardinal de Bouillon, was arrested and put in prison a
+short time after this, charged with many forgeries. This event made some
+stir, and caused suspicion to fall upon the document, which was now
+attentively examined through many new spectacles. Learned men
+unacquainted with the Bouillons contested it, and De Bar was so pushed
+upon this point, that he made many delicate admissions. Alarm at once
+spread among the Bouillons. They did all in their power to ward off the
+blow that was about to fall. Seeing the tribunal firm, and fully
+resolved to follow the affair to the end, they openly solicited for De
+Bar, and employed all their credit to gain his liberation. At last,
+finding the tribunal inflexible, they were reduced to take an extreme
+resolution. M. de Bouillon admitted to the King, that his brother,
+Cardinal de Bouillon, might, unknown to all of them, have brought forward
+facts he could not prove. He added, that putting himself in the King's
+hands, he begged that the affair might be stopped at once, out of
+consideration for those whose only guilt was too great credulity, and too
+much confidence in a brother who had deceived them. The King, with more
+of friendship for M. de Bouillon than of reflection as to what he owed by
+way of reparation for a public offence, agreed to this course.
+
+De Bar, convicted of having fabricated this document, by his own
+admission before the public tribunal, was not condemned to death, but to
+perpetual imprisonment. As may be believed, this adventure made a great
+stir; but what cannot be believed so easily is, the conduct of the
+Messieurs Bouillon about fifteen months afterwards.
+
+At the time when the false document above referred to was discovered,
+Cardinal de Bouillon had commissioned Baluze, a man much given to
+genealogical studies, to write the history of the house of Auvergne.
+In this history, the descent, by male issue; of the Bouillons from the
+Counts of Auvergne, was established upon the evidence supplied by this
+document. At least, nobody doubted that such was the case, and the world
+was strangely scandalised to see the work appear after that document had
+been pronounced to be a forgery. Many learned men and friends of Baluze
+considered him so dishonoured by it, that they broke off all relations
+with him, and this put the finishing touch to the confusion of this
+affair.
+
+On Thursday, the 7th of March, 1707, a strange event troubled the King,
+and filled the Court and the town with rumours. Beringhen, first master
+of the horse, left Versailles at seven o'clock in the evening of that
+day, to go to Paris, alone in one of the King's coaches, two of the royal
+footmen behind, and a groom carrying a torch before him on the seventh
+horse. The carriage had reached the plain of Bissancourt, and was
+passing between a farm on the road near Sevres bridge and a cabaret,
+called the "Dawn of Day," when it was stopped by fifteen or sixteen men
+on horseback, who seized on Beringhen, hurried him into a post-chaise in
+waiting, and drove off with him. The King's carriage, with the coachman,
+footmen, and groom, was allowed to go back to Versailles. As soon as it
+reached Versailles the King was informed of what had taken place. He
+sent immediately to his four Secretaries of State, ordering them to send
+couriers everywhere to the frontiers, with instructions to the governors
+to guard all the passages, so that if these horsemen were foreign
+enemies, as was suspected, they would be caught in attempting to pass out
+of the kingdom. It was known that a party of the enemy had entered
+Artois, that they had committed no disorders, but that they were there
+still. Although people found it difficult, at first, to believe that
+Beringhen had been carried off by a party such as this, yet as it was
+known that he had no enemies, that he was not reputed sufficiently rich
+to afford hope of a large ransom, and that not one of our wealthiest
+financiers had been seized in this manner, this explanation was at last
+accepted as the right one.
+
+So in fact it proved. A certain Guetem, a fiddler of the Elector of
+Bavaria, had entered the service of Holland, had taken part in her war
+against France, and had become a colonel. Chatting one evening with his
+comrades, he laid a wager that he would carry off some one of mark
+between Paris and Versailles. He obtained a passport, and thirty chosen
+men, nearly all of whom were officers. They passed the rivers disguised
+as traders, by which means they were enabled to post their relays [of
+horses]. Several of them had remained seven or eight days at Sevres,
+Saint Cloud, and Boulogne, from which they had the hardihood to go to
+Versailles and see the King sup. One of these was caught on the day
+after the disappearance of Beringhen, and when interrogated by
+Chamillart, replied with a tolerable amount of impudence. Another was
+caught in the forest of Chantilly by one of the servants of M. le Prince.
+From him it became known that relays of horses and a post-chaise had been
+provided at Morliere for the prisoner when he should arrive there, and
+that he had already passed the Oise.
+
+As I have said, couriers were despatched to the governors of the
+frontiers; in addition to this, information of what had taken place was
+sent to all the intendants of the frontier, to all the troops in quarters
+there. Several of the King's guards, too, and the grooms of the stable,
+went in pursuit of the captors of Beringhen. Notwithstanding the
+diligence used, the horsemen had traversed the Somme and had gone four
+leagues beyond Ham-Beringhen, guarded by the officers, and pledged to
+offer no resistance--when the party was stopped by a quartermaster and
+two detachments of the Livry regiment. Beringhen was at once set at
+liberty. Guetem and his companion were made prisoners.
+
+The grand fault they had committed was to allow the King's carriage and
+the footmen to go back to Versailles so soon after the abduction. Had
+they led away the coach under cover of the night, and so kept the King in
+ignorance of their doings until the next day, they would have had more
+time for their retreat. Instead of doing this they fatigued themselves
+by too much haste. They had grown tired of waiting for a carriage that
+seemed likely to contain somebody of mark. The Chancellor had passed,
+but in broad daylight, and they were afraid in consequence to stop him.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans had passed, but in a post-chaise, which they
+mistrusted. At last Beringhen appeared in one of the King's coaches,
+attended by servants in the King's livery, and wearing his cordon Neu, as
+was his custom. They thought they had found a prize indeed. They soon
+learnt with whom they had to deal, and told him also who they were.
+Guetem bestowed upon Beringhen all kinds of attention, and testified a
+great desire to spare him as much as possible all fatigue. He pushed his
+attentions so far that they caused his failure. He allowed Beringhen to
+stop and rest on two occasions. The party missed one of their relays,
+and that delayed them very much.
+
+Beringhen, delighted with his rescue, and very grateful for the good
+treatment he had received, changed places with Guetem and his companions,
+led them to Ham, and in his turn treated them well. He wrote to his wife
+and to Charnillart announcing his release, and these letters were read
+with much satisfaction by the King.
+
+On Tuesday, the 29th of March, Beringhen arrived at Versailles, about
+eight o'clock in the evening, and went at once to the King, who was in
+the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, and who received him well, and
+made him relate all his adventures. But the King was not pleased when he
+found the officers of the stable in a state of great delight, and
+preparing fireworks to welcome Beringhen back. He prohibited all these
+marks of rejoicing, and would not allow the fireworks to be let off. He
+had these little jealousies. He wished that all should be devoted to him
+alone, without reserve and without division. All the Court, however,
+showed interest in this return, and Beringhen was consoled by the public
+welcome he received for his fatigue.
+
+Guetem and his officers, while waiting the pleasure of the King, were
+lodged in Beringhen's house in Paris, where they were treated above their
+deserts. Beringhen obtained permission for Guetem to see the King. He
+did more; he presented Guetem to the King, who praised him for having so
+well treated his prisoner, and said that war always ought to be conducted
+properly. Guetem, who was not without wit, replied, that he was so
+astonished to find himself before the greatest King in the world, and to
+find that King doing him the honour of speaking to him, that he had not
+power enough to answer. He remained ten or twelve days in Beringhen's
+house to see Paris, the Opera and the Comedy, and became the talk of the
+town. People ran after him everywhere, and the most distinguished were
+not ashamed to do likewise. On all sides he was applauded for an act of
+temerity, which might have passed for insolence. Beringhen regaled him,
+furnished him with carriages and servants to accompany him, and, at
+parting, with money and considerable presents. Guetem went on his parole
+to Rheims to rejoin his comrades until exchanged, and had the town for
+prison. Nearly all the others had escaped. The project was nothing less
+than to carry off Monseigneur, or one of the princes, his sons.
+
+This ridiculous adventure gave rise to precautions, excessive in the
+first place, and which caused sad obstructions of bridges and gates. It
+caused, too, a number of people to be arrested. The hunting parties of
+the princes were for some time interfered with, until matters resumed
+their usual course. But it was not bad fun to see, during some time, the
+terror of ladies, and even of men, of the Court, who no longer dared go
+abroad except in broad daylight, even then with little assurance, and
+imagining themselves everywhere in marvellous danger of capture.
+
+I have related in its proper place the adventure of Madame la Princesse
+de Conti with Mademoiselle Choin and the attachment of Monseigneur for
+the latter. This attachment was only augmented by the difficulty of
+seeing each other.
+
+Mademoiselle Choin retired to the house of Lacroix, one of her relatives
+at Paris, where she lived quite hidden. She was informed of the rare
+days when Monseigneur dined alone at Meudon, without sleeping there. She
+went there the day before in a fiacre, passed through the courts on foot,
+ill clad, like a common sort of woman going to see some officer at
+Meudon, and, by a back staircase, was admitted to Monseigneur who passed
+some hours with her in a little apartment on the first floor. In time
+she came there with a lady's-maid, her parcel in her pocket, on the
+evenings of the days that Monseigneur slept there.
+
+She remained in this apartment without seeing anybody, attended by her
+lady's-maid, and waited upon by a servant who alone was in the secret.
+
+Little by little the friends of Monseigneur were allowed to see her;
+and amongst these were M. le Prince de Conti, Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne, Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and M. le Duc de Berry.
+There was always, however, an air of mystery about the matter. The
+parties that took place were kept secret, although frequent, and were
+called parvulos.
+
+Mademoiselle Choin remained in her little apartment only for the
+convenience of Monseigneur. She slept in the bed and in the grand
+apartment where Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne lodged when the King was
+at Meudon. She always sat in an arm-chair before Monseigneur; Madame de
+Bourgogne sat on a stool. Mademoiselle Choin never rose for her; in
+speaking of her, even before Monseigneur and the company, she used to say
+"the Duchesse de Bourgogne," and lived with her as Madame de Maintenon
+did excepting that "darling" and "my aunt," were terms not exchanged
+between them, and that Madame de Bourgogne was not nearly so free, or so
+much at her ease, as with the King and Madame de Maintenon. Monsieur de
+Bourgogne was much in restraint. His manners did not agree with those of
+that world. Monseigneur le Duc de Berry, who was more free, was quite at
+home.
+
+Mademoiselle Choin went on fete-days to hear mass in the chapel at six
+o'clock in the morning, well wrapped up, and took her meals alone, when
+Monseigneur did not eat with her. When he was alone with her, the doors
+were all guarded and barricaded to keep out intruders. People regarded
+her as being to Monseigneur, what Madame de Maintenon was to the King.
+All the batteries for the future were directed and pointed towards her.
+People schemed to gain permission to visit her at Paris; people paid
+court to her friends and acquaintances, Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne
+sought to please her, was respectful to her, attentive to her friends,
+not always with success. She acted towards Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne like a mother-in-law, and sometimes spoke with such authority
+and bluntness to Madame de Bourgogne as to make her cry.
+
+The King and Madame de Maintenon were in no way ignorant of all this, but
+they held their tongues, and all the Court who knew it, spoke only in
+whispers of it. This is enough for the present; it will serve to explain
+many things, of which I shall speak anon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+On Wednesday, the 27th of May, 1707, at three o'clock in the morning,
+Madame de Montespan, aged sixty, died very suddenly at the waters of
+Bourbon. Her death made much stir, although she had long retired from
+the Court and from the world, and preserved no trace of the commanding
+influence she had so long possessed. I need not go back beyond my own
+experience, and to the time of her reign as mistress of the King. I will
+simply say, because the anecdote is little known, that her conduct was
+more the fault of her husband than her own. She warned him as soon as
+she suspected the King to be in love with her; and told him when there
+was no longer any doubt upon her mind. She assured him that a great
+entertainment that the King gave was in her honour. She pressed him,
+she entreated him in the most eloquent manner, to take her away to his
+estates of Guyenne, and leave her there until the King had forgotten her
+or chosen another mistress. It was all to no purpose; and Montespan was
+not long before repentance seized him; for his torment was that he loved
+her all his life, and died still in love with her--although he would
+never consent to see her again after the first scandal.
+
+Nor will I speak of the divers degrees which the fear of the devil at
+various times put to her separation from the Court; and I will elsewhere
+speak of Madame de Maintenon, who owed her everything, who fed her on
+serpents, and who at last ousted her from the Court. What no one dared
+to say, what the King himself dared not, M. du Maine, her son, dared.
+M. de Meaux (Bossuet) did the rest. She went in tears and fury, and
+never forgave M. du Maine, who by his strange service gained over for
+ever to his interests the heart and the mighty influence of Madame de
+Maintenon.
+
+The mistress, retired amongst the Community of Saint Joseph, which she
+had built, was long in accustoming herself to it. She carried about her
+idleness and unhappiness to Bourbon, to Fontevrault, to D'Antin; she was
+many years without succeeding in obtaining mastery over herself. At last
+God touched her. Her sin had never been accompanied by forgetfulness;
+she used often to leave the King to go and pray in her cabinet; nothing
+could ever make her evade any fast day or meagre day; her austerity in
+fasting continued amidst all her dissipation. She gave alms, was
+esteemed by good people, never gave way to doubt of impiety; but she was
+imperious, haughty and overbearing, full of mockery, and of all the
+qualities by which beauty with the power it bestows is naturally
+accompanied. Being resolved at last to take advantage of an opportunity
+which had been given her against her will, she put herself in the hands
+of Pere de la Tour, that famous General of the Oratory. From that moment
+to the time of her death her conversion continued steadily, and her
+penitence augmented. She had first to get rid of the secret fondness she
+still entertained for the Court, even of the hopes which, however
+chimerical, had always flattered her. She was persuaded that nothing but
+the fear of the devil had forced the King to separate himself from her,
+that it was nothing but this fear that had raised Madame de Maintenon to
+the height she had attained; that age and ill-health, which she was
+pleased to imagine, would soon clear the way; that when the King was a
+widower, she being a widow, nothing would oppose their reunion, which
+might easily be brought about by their affection for their children.
+These children entertained similar hopes, and were therefore assiduous in
+their attention to her for some time.
+
+Pere de la Tour made her perform a terrible act of penitence. It was to
+ask pardon of her husband, and to submit herself to his commands. To all
+who knew Madame de Montespan this will seem the most heroic sacrifice.
+M. de Montespan, however, imposed no restraint upon his wife. He sent
+word that he wished in no way to interfere with her, or even to see her.
+She experienced no further trouble, therefore, on this score.
+
+Little by little she gave almost all she had to the poor. She worked for
+them several hours a day, making stout shirts and such things for them.
+Her table, that she had loved to excess, became the most frugal; her
+fasts multiplied; she would interrupt her meals in order to go and pray.
+Her mortifications were continued; her chemises and her sheets were of
+rough linen, of the hardest and thickest kind, but hidden under others of
+ordinary kind. She unceasingly wore bracelets, garters, and a girdle,
+all armed with iron points, which oftentimes inflicted wounds upon her;
+and her tongue, formerly so dangerous, had also its peculiar penance
+imposed on it. She was, moreover, so tormented with the fear of death,
+that she employed several women, whose sole occupation was to watch her.
+She went to sleep with all the curtains of her bed open, many lights in
+her chamber, and her women around her. Whenever she awoke she wished to
+find them chatting, playing, or enjoying themselves, so as to re-assure
+herself against their drowsiness.
+
+With all this she could never throw off the manners of a queen. She had
+an arm-chair in her chamber with its back turned to the foot of the bed.
+There was no other in the chamber, not even when her natural children
+came to see her, not even for Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. She was
+oftentimes visited by the most distinguished people of the Court, and she
+spoke like a queen to all. She treated everybody with much respect, and
+was treated so in turn. I have mentioned in its proper place, that a
+short time before her death, the King gave her a hundred thousand francs
+to buy an estate; but this present was not gratis, for she had to send
+back a necklace worth a hundred and fifty thousand, to which the King
+made additions, and bestowed it on the Duchesse de Bourgogne.
+
+The last time Madame de Montespan went to Bourbon she paid all her
+charitable pensions and gratuities two years in advance and doubled her
+alms. Although in good health she had a presentiment that she should
+return no more. This presentiment, in effect, proved correct. She felt
+herself so ill one night, although she had been very well just before,
+that she confessed herself, and received the sacrament. Previous to this
+she called all her servants into her room and made a public confession of
+her public sins, asking pardon for the scandal she had caused with a
+humility so decent, so profound, so penitent, that nothing could be more
+edifying. She received the last sacrament with an ardent piety. The
+fear of death which all her life had so continually troubled her,
+disappeared suddenly, and disturbed her no more. She died, without
+regret, occupied only with thoughts of eternity, and with a sweetness and
+tranquillity that accompanied all her actions.
+
+Her only son by Monsieur de Montespan, whom she had treated like a
+mother-in-law, until her separation from the King, but who had since
+returned to her affection, D'Antin, arrived just before her death. She
+looked at him, and only said that he saw her in a very different state to
+what he had seen her at Bellegarde. As soon as she was dead he set out
+for Paris, leaving orders for her obsequies, which were strange, or were
+strangely executed. Her body, formerly so perfect, became the prey of
+the unskilfulness and the ignorance of a surgeon. The obsequies were at
+the discretion of the commonest valets, all the rest of the house having
+suddenly deserted. The body remained a long time at the door of the
+house, whilst the canons of the Sainte Chapelle and the priests of the
+parish disputed about the order of precedence with more than indecency.
+It was put in keeping under care of the parish, like the corpse of the
+meanest citizen of the place, and not until a long time afterwards was it
+sent to Poitiers to be placed in the family tomb, and then with an
+unworthy parsimony. Madame de Montespan was bitterly regretted by all
+the poor of the province, amongst whom she spread an infinity of alms, as
+well as amongst others of different degree.
+
+As for the King, his perfect insensibility at the death of a mistress he
+had so passionately loved, and for so many years, was so extreme, that
+Madame de Bourgogne could not keep her surprise from him. He replied,
+tranquilly, that since he had dismissed her he had reckoned upon never
+seeing her again, and that thus she was from that time dead to him. It
+is easy to believe that the grief of the children he had had by her did
+not please him. Those children did not dare to wear mourning for a
+mother not recognised. Their appearance, therefore, contrasted with that
+of the children of Madame de la Valliere, who had just died, and for whom
+they were wearing mourning. Nothing could equal the grief which Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans, Madame la Duchesse, and the Comte de Toulouse
+exhibited. The grief of Madame la Duchesse especially was astonishing,
+for she always prided herself on loving nobody; still more astonishing
+was the grief of M. le Duc, so inaccessible to friendship. We must
+remember, however, that this death put an end to many hopes. M. du
+Maine, for his part, could scarcely repress his joy at the death of his
+mother, and after having stopped away from Marly two days, returned and
+caused the Comte de Toulouse to be recalled likewise. Madame de
+Maintenon, delivered of a former rival, whose place she had taken, ought,
+it might have been thought, to have felt relieved. It was otherwise;
+remorse for the benefits she had received from Madame de Montespan, and
+for the manner in which those benefits had been repaid, overwhelmed her.
+Tears stole down her cheeks, and she went into a strange privacy to hide
+them. Madame de Bourgogne, who followed, was speechless with
+astonishment.
+
+The life and conduct of so famous a mistress, subsequent to her forced
+retirement, have appeared to me sufficiently curious to describe at
+length; and what happened at her death was equally characteristic of the
+Court.
+
+The death of the Duchesse de Nemours, which followed quickly upon that of
+Madame de Montespart, made still more stir in the world, but of another
+kind. Madame de Nemours was daughter, by a first marriage, of the last
+Duc de Longueville. She was extremely rich, and lived in great
+splendour. She had a strange look, and a droll way of dressing, big
+eyes, with which she could scarcely see, a shoulder that constantly
+twitched, grey hairs that she wore flowing, and a very imposing air.
+She had a very bad temper, and could not forgive. When somebody asked
+her if she said the Pater, she replied, yes, but that she passed by
+without saying it the clause respecting pardon for our enemies. She did
+not like her kinsfolk, the Matignons, and would never see nor speak to
+any of them. One day talking to the King at a window of his cabinet,
+she saw Matignon passing in the court below. Whereupon she set to
+spitting five or six times running, and then turned to the King and
+begged his pardon, saying, that she could never see a Matignon without
+spitting in that manner. It may be imagined that devotion did not
+incommode her. She herself used to tell a story, that having entered one
+day a confessional, without being followed into the church, neither her
+appearance nor her dress gave her confessor an idea of her rank. She
+spoke of her great wealth, and said much about the Princes de Conde and
+de Conti. The confessor told her to pass by all that. She, feeling that
+the case was a serious one, insisted upon explaining and made allusion to
+her large estates and her millions. The good priest believed her mad,
+and told her to calm herself; to get rid of such ideas; to think no more
+of them; and above all to eat good soups, if she had the means to procure
+them. Seized with anger she rose and left the place. The confessor out
+of curiosity followed her to the door. When he saw the good lady, whom
+he thought mad, received by grooms, waiting women, and so on, he had like
+to have fallen backwards; but he ran to the coach door and asked her
+pardon. It was now her turn to laugh at him, and she got off scot-free
+that day from the confessional.
+
+Madame de Nemours had amongst other possessions the sovereignty of
+Neufchatel. As soon as she was dead, various claimants arose to dispute
+the succession. Madame de Mailly laid claim to it, as to the succession
+to the principality of Orange, upon the strength of a very doubtful
+alliance with the house of Chalons, and hoped to be supported by Madame
+de Maintenon. But Madame de Maintenon laughed at her chimeras, as they
+were laughed at in Switzerland.
+
+M. le Prince de Conti was another claimant. He based his right upon the
+will of the last Duc de Longueville, by which he had been called to all
+the Duke's wealth, after the Comte de Saint Paul, his brother, and his
+posterity. In addition to these, there were Matignon and the dowager
+Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, who claimed Neufchatel by right of their
+relationship to Madame de Nemours.
+
+Matignon was an intimate friend of Chamillart, who did not like the
+Prince de Conti, and was the declared enemy of the Marechal de Villeroy,
+the representative of Madame de Lesdiguieres, in this affair.
+Chamillart, therefore, persuaded the King to remain neutral, and aided
+Matignon by money and influence to get the start of the other claimants.
+
+The haughty citizens of Neufchatel saw then all these suitors begging for
+their suffrages, when a minister of the Elector of Brandenbourg appeared
+amongst them, and disputed the pretensions of the Prince de Conti in
+favour of his master, the Elector of Brandenbourg (King of Prussia), who
+drew his claim from the family of Chalons. It was more distant; more
+entangled if possible, than that of Madame de Mailly. He only made use
+of it, therefore, as a pretext. His reasons were his religion, in
+conformity with that of the country; the support of the neighbouring
+Protestant cantons, allies, and protectors of Neufchatel; the pressing
+reflection that the principality of Orange having fallen by the death of
+William III. to M. le Prince de Conti, the King (Louis XIV.) had
+appropriated it and recompensed him for it: and that he might act
+similarly if Neufchatel fell to one of his subjects; lastly, a treaty
+produced in good form, by which, in the event of the death of Madame de
+Nemours, England and Holland agreed to declare for the Elector of
+Brandenbourg, and to assist him by force in procuring this little state.
+This minister of the Elector was in concert with the Protestant cantons,
+who upon his declaration at once sided with him; and who, by the money
+spent, the conformity of religion, the power of the Elector, the
+reflection of what had happened at Orange, found nearly all the suffrages
+favourable. So striking while the iron was hot, they obtained a
+provisional judgment from Neufchatel, which adjudged their state to the
+Elector until the peace; and in consequence of this, his minister was put
+into actual possession, and M. le Prince de Conti saw himself constrained
+to return more shamefully than he had returned once before, and was
+followed by the other claimants.
+
+Madame de Mailly made such an uproar at the news of this intrusion of the
+Elector, that at last the attention of our ministers was awakened. They
+found, with her, that it was the duty of the King not to allow this
+morsel to be carried off from his subjects; and that there was danger in
+leaving it in the hands of such a powerful Protestant prince, capable of
+making a fortified place of it so close to the county of Burgundy, and on
+a frontier so little protected. Thereupon, the King despatched a courier
+to our minister in Switzerland, with orders to go to Neufchatel, and
+employ every means, even menaces, to exclude the Elector, and to promise
+that the neutrality of France should be maintained if one of her subjects
+was selected, no matter which one. It was too late. The affair was
+finished; the cantons were engaged, without means of withdrawing. They,
+moreover, were piqued into resistance, by an appeal to their honour by
+the electoral minister, who insisted on the menaces of Puysieux, our
+representative, to whose memoir the ministers of England and Holland
+printed a violent reply. The provisional judgment received no
+alteration. Shame was felt; and resentment was testified during six
+weeks; after which, for lack of being able to do better, this resentment
+was appeased of itself. It may be imagined what hope remained to the
+claimants of reversing at the peace this provisional judgment, and of
+struggling against a prince so powerful and so solidly supported. No
+mention of it was afterwards made, and Neufchatel has remained ever since
+fully and peaceably to this prince, who was even expressly confirmed in
+his possession at the peace by France.
+
+The armies assembled this year towards the end of May, and the campaign
+commenced. The Duc de Vendome was in command in Flanders, under the
+Elector of Bavaria, and by his slothfulness and inattention, allowed
+Marlborough to steal a march upon him, which, but for the failure of some
+of the arrangements, might have caused serious loss to our troops. The
+enemy was content to keep simply on the defensive after this, having
+projects of attack in hand elsewhere to which I shall soon allude.
+
+On the Rhine, the Marechal de Villars was in command, and was opposed by
+the Marquis of Bayreuth, and afterwards by the Duke of Hanover, since
+King of England. Villars was so far successful, that finding himself
+feebly opposed by the Imperials, he penetrated into Germany, after having
+made himself master of Heidelberg, Mannheim, and all the Palatinate, and
+seized upon a number of cannons, provisions, and munitions of war. He
+did not forget to tax the enemy wherever he went. He gathered immense
+sums--treasures beyond all his hopes. Thus gorged, he could not hope
+that his brigandage would remain unknown. He put on a bold face and
+wrote to the King, that the army would cost him nothing this year.
+Villars begged at the same time to be allowed to appropriate some of the
+money he had acquired to the levelling of a hill on his estate which
+displeased him. Another than he would have been dishonoured by such a
+request. But it made no difference in his respect, except with the
+public, with whom, however, he occupied himself but little. His booty
+clutched, he thought of withdrawing from the enemy's country, and passing
+the Rhine.
+
+He crossed it tranquilly, with his army and his immense booty, despite
+the attempts of the Duke of Hanover to prevent him, and as soon as he was
+on this side, had no care but how to terminate the campaign in repose.
+Thus finished a campaign tolerably brilliant, if the sordid and
+prodigious gain of the general had not soiled it. Yet that general, on
+his return, was not less well received by the King.
+
+At sea we had successes. Frobin, with vessels more feeble than the four
+English ones of seventy guns, which convoyed a fleet of eighteen ships
+loaded with provisions and articles of war, took two of those vessels of
+war and the eighteen merchantmen, after four hours' fighting, and set
+fire to one of the two others. Three months after he took at the mouth
+of the Dwiria seven richly-loaded Dutch merchant-ships, bound for
+Muscovy. He took or sunk more than fifty during this campaign.
+Afterwards he took three large English ships of war that he led to Brest,
+and sank another of a hundred guns. The English of New England and of
+New York were not more successful in Acadia; they attacked our colony
+twelve days running, without success, and were obliged to retire with
+much loss.
+
+The maritime year finished by a terrible tempest upon the coast of
+Holland, which caused many vessels to perish in the Texel, and submerged
+a large number of districts and villages. France had also its share of
+these catastrophes. The Loire overflowed in a manner hitherto unheard
+of, broke down the embankments, inundated and covered with sand many
+parts of the country, carried away villages, drowned numbers of people
+and a quantity of cattle, and caused damage to the amount of above eight
+millions. This was another of our obligations to M. de la Feuillade--an
+obligation which we have not yet escaped from. Nature, wiser than man,
+had placed rocks in the Loire above Roanne, which prevented navigation to
+that place, the principal in the duchy of M. de la Feuillade. His
+father, tempted by the profit of this navigation, wished to get rid of
+the rocks. Orleans, Blois, Tours, in one word, all the places on the
+Loire, opposed this. They represented the danger of inundations; they
+were listened to, and although the M. de la Feuillade of that day was a
+favourite, and on good terms with M. Colbert, he was not allowed to carry
+out his wishes with respect to these rocks. His son, the M. de la
+Feuillade whom we have seen figuring with so little distinction at the
+siege of Turin, had more credit. Without listening to anybody, he blew
+up the rocks, and the navigation was rendered free in his favour; the
+inundations that they used to prevent have overflowed since at immense
+loss to the King and private individuals. The cause was clearly seen
+afterwards, but then it was too late.
+
+The little effort made by the enemy in Flanders and Germany, had a cause,
+which began to be perceived towards the middle of July. We had been
+forced to abandon Italy. By a shameful treaty that was made, all our
+troops had retired from that country into Savoy. We had given up
+everything. Prince Eugene, who had had the glory of driving us out of
+Italy, remained there some time, and then entered the county of Nice.
+
+Forty of the enemy's vessels arrived at Nice shortly afterwards, and
+landed artillery. M. de Savoie arrived there also, with six or seven
+thousand men. It was now no longer hidden that the siege of Toulon was
+determined on. Every preparation was at once made to defend the place.
+Tesse was in command. The delay of a day on the part of the enemy saved
+Toulon, and it may be said, France. M. de Savoie had been promised money
+by the English. They disputed a whole day about the payment, and so
+retarded the departure of the fleet from Nice. In the end, seeing M. de
+Savoie firm, they paid him a million, which he received himself. But in
+the mean time twenty-one of our battalions had had time to arrive at
+Toulon. They decided the fortune of the siege. After several
+unsuccessful attempts to take the place, the enemy gave up the siege and
+retired in the night, between the 22nd and 23rd of August, in good order,
+and without being disturbed. Our troops could obtain no sort of
+assistance from the people of Provence, so as to harass M. de Savoie in
+his passage of the Var. They refused money, militia, and provisions
+bluntly, saying that it was no matter to them who came, and that M. de
+Savoie could not torment them more than they were tormented already.
+
+The important news of a deliverance so desired arrived at Marly on
+Friday, the 26th of August, and overwhelmed all the Court with joy. A
+scandalous fuss arose, however, out of this event. The first courier who
+brought the intelligence of it, had been despatched by the commander of
+the fleet, and had been conducted to the King by Pontchartrain, who had
+the affairs of the navy under his control. The courier sent by Tesse,
+who commanded the land forces, did not arrive until some hours after the
+other. Chamillart, who received this second courier, was piqued to
+excess that Pontchartrain had outstripped him with the news. He declared
+that the news did not belong to the navy, and consequently Pontchartrain
+had no right to carry it to the King. The public, strangely enough,
+sided with Chamillart, and on every side Pontchartrain was treated as a
+greedy usurper. Nobody had sufficient sense to reflect upon the anger
+which a master would feel against a servant who, having the information
+by which that master could be relieved from extreme anxiety, should yet
+withhold the information for six or eight hours, on the ground that to
+tell it was the duty of another servant!
+
+The strangest thing is, that the King, who was the most interested, had
+not the force to declare himself on either side, but kept silent. The
+torrent was so impetuous that Pontchartrain had only to lower his head,
+keep silent, and let the waters pass. Such was the weakness of the King
+for his ministers. I recollect that, in 1702, the Duc de Villeroy
+brought to Marly the important news of the battle of Luzzara. But,
+because Chamillart was not there, he hid himself, left the King and the
+Court in the utmost anxiety, and did not announce his news until long
+after, when Chamillart, hearing of his arrival, hastened to join him and
+present him to the King. The King was so far from being displeased, that
+he made the Duc de Villeroy Lieutenant-General before dismissing him.
+
+There is another odd thing that I must relate before quitting this
+affair. Tesse, as I have said, was charged with the defence of Toulon by
+land. It was a charge of no slight importance. He was in a country
+where nothing was prepared, and where everything was wanting; the fleet
+of the enemy and their army were near at hand, commanded by two of the
+most skilful captains of the day: if they succeeded, the kingdom itself
+was in danger, and the road open to the enemy even to Paris. A general
+thus situated would have been in no humour for jesting, it might have
+been thought. But this was not the case with Tesse. He found time to
+write to Pontchartrain all the details of the war and all that passed
+amongst our troops in the style of Don Quixote, of whom he called himself
+the wretched squire and the Sancho; and everything he wrote he adapted to
+the adventures of that romance. Pontchartrain showed me these letters;
+they made him die with laughing, he admired them so; and in truth they
+were very comical, and he imitated that romance with more wit than I
+believed him to possess. It appeared to me incredible, however, that a
+man should write thus, at such a critical time, to curry, favour with a
+secretary of state. I could not have believed it had I not seen it.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 6.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+I went this summer to Forges, to try, by means of the waters there, to
+get rid of a tertian fever that quinquina only suspended. While there I
+heard of a new enterprise on the part of the Princes of the blood, who,
+in the discredit in which the King held them, profited without measure by
+his desire for the grandeur of the illegitimate children, to acquire new
+advantages which were suffered because the others shared them. This was
+the case in question.
+
+After the elevation of the mass--at the King's communion--a folding-chair
+was pushed to the foot of the altar, was covered with a piece of stuff,
+and then with a large cloth, which hung down before and behind. At the
+Pater the chaplain rose and whispered in the King's ear the names of all
+the Dukes who were in the chapel. The King named two, always the oldest,
+to each of whom the chaplain advanced and made a reverence. During the
+communion of the priest the King rose, and went and knelt down on the
+bare floor behind this folding seat, and took hold of the cloth; at the
+same time the two Dukes, the elder on the right, the other on the left,
+each took hold of a corner of the cloth; the two chaplains took hold of
+the other two corners of the same cloth, on the side of the altar, all
+four kneeling, and the captain of the guards also kneeling and behind the
+King. The communion received and the oblation taken some moments
+afterwards, the King remained a little while in the same place, then
+returned to his own, followed by the two Dukes and the captain of the
+guards, who took theirs. If a son of France happened to be there alone,
+he alone held the right corner of the cloth, and nobody the other; and
+when M. le Duc d'Orleans was there, and no son of France was present, M.
+le Duc d'Orleans held the cloth in like manner. If a Prince of the blood
+were alone present, however, he held the cloth, but a Duke was called
+forward to assist him. He was not privileged to act without the Duke.
+
+The Princes of the blood wanted to change this; they were envious of the
+distinction accorded to M. d'Orleans, and wished to put themselves on the
+same footing. Accordingly, at the Assumption of this year, they managed
+so well that M. le Duc served alone at the altar at the King's communion,
+no Duke being called upon to come and join him. The surprise at this was
+very great. The Duc de la Force and the Marechal de Boufflers, who ought
+to have served, were both present. I wrote to this last to say that such
+a thing had never happened before, and that it was contrary to all
+precedent. I wrote, too, to M. d'Orleans, who was then in Spain,
+informing him of the circumstance. When he returned he complained to the
+King. But the King merely said that the Dukes ought to have presented
+themselves and taken hold of the cloth. But how could they have done so,
+without being requested, as was customary, to come forward? What would
+the king have thought of them if they had? To conclude, nothing could be
+made of the matter, and it remained thus. Never then, since that time,
+did I go to the communions of the King.
+
+An incident occurred at Marly about the same time, which made much stir.
+The ladies who were invited to Marly had the privilege of dining with the
+King. Tables were placed for them, and they took up positions according
+to their rank. The non-titled ladies had also their special place. It
+so happened one day; that Madame de Torcy (an untitled lady) placed
+herself above the Duchesse de Duras, who arrived at table a moment after
+her. Madame de Torcy offered to give up her place, but it was a little
+late, and the offer passed away in compliments. The King entered, and
+put himself at table. As soon as he sat down, he saw the place Madame de
+Torcy had taken, and fixed such a serious and surprised look upon her,
+that she again offered to give up her place to the Duchesse de Duras; but
+the offer was again declined. All through the dinner the King scarcely
+ever took his eyes off Madame de Torcy, said hardly a word, and bore a
+look of anger that rendered everybody very attentive, and even troubled
+the Duchesse de Duras.
+
+Upon rising from the table, the King passed, according to custom, into
+the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, followed by the Princesses of the
+blood, who grouped themselves around him upon stools; the others who
+entered, kept at a distance. Almost before he had seated himself in his
+chair, he said to Madame de Maintenon, that he had just been witness of
+an act of "incredible insolence" (that was the term he used) which had
+thrown him into such a rage that he had been unable to eat: that such an
+enterprise would have been insupportable in a woman of the highest
+quality; but coming, as it did, from a mere bourgeoise, it had so
+affected him, that ten times he had been upon the point of making her
+leave the table, and that he was only restrained by consideration for her
+husband. After this outbreak he made a long discourse upon the genealogy
+of Madame de Torcy's family, and other matters; and then, to the
+astonishment of all present, grew as angry as ever against Madame de
+Torcy. He went off then into a discourse upon the dignity of the Dukes,
+and in conclusion, he charged the Princesses to tell Madame de Torcy to
+what extent he had found her conduct impertinent. The Princesses looked
+at each other, and not one seemed to like this commission; whereupon the
+King, growing more angry, said; that it must be undertaken however, and
+left the robes; The news of what had taken place, and of the King's
+choler, soon spread all over the Court. It was believed, however, that
+all was over, and that no more would be heard of the matter. Yet the
+very same evening the King broke out again with even more bitterness than
+before. On the morrow, too, surprise was great indeed, when it was found
+that the King, immediately after dinner, could talk of nothing but this
+subject, and that, too, without any softening of tone. At last he was
+assured that Madame de Torcy had been spoken to, and this appeased him a
+little. Torcy was obliged to write him a letter, apologising for the
+fault of Madame de Torcy; and the King at this grew content. It may be
+imagined what a sensation this adventure produced all through the Court.
+
+While upon the subject of the King, let me relate an anecdote of him,
+which should have found a place ere this. When M. d'Orleans was about to
+start for Spain, he named the officers who were to be of his suite.
+Amongst others was Fontpertius. At that name the King put on a serious
+look.
+
+"What! my nephew," he said. "Fontpertius! the son of a Jansenist--of
+that silly woman who ran everywhere after M. Arnould! I do not wish that
+man to go with you."
+
+"By my faith, Sire," replied the Duc d'Orleans, "I know not what the
+mother has done; but as for the son, he is far enough from being a
+Jansenist, I'll answer for it; for he does not believe in God."
+
+"Is it possible, my nephew?" said the King, softening.
+
+"Nothing more certain, Sire, I assure you."
+
+"Well, since it is so," said the King, "there is no harm: you can take
+him with you."
+
+This scene--for it can be called by no other name--took place in the
+morning. After dinner M. d'Orleans repeated it to me, bursting with
+laughter, word for word, just as I have written it. When we had both
+well laughed at this, we admired the profound instruction of a discreet
+and religious King, who considered it better not to believe in God than
+to be a Jansenist, and who thought there was less danger to his nephew
+from the impiety of an unbeliever than from the doctrines of a sectarian.
+M. d'Orleans could not contain himself while he told the story, and never
+spoke of it without laughing until the tears came into his eyes. It ran
+all through the Court and all over the town, and the marvellous thing
+was, that the King was not angry at this. It was a testimony of his
+attachment to the good doctrine which withdrew him further and further
+from Jansenism. The majority of people laughed with all their heart.
+Others, more wise, felt rather disposed to weep than to laugh, in
+considering to what excess of blindness the King had reached.
+
+For a long time a most important project had knocked at every door,
+without being able to obtain a hearing anywhere. The project was this:--
+Hough, an English gentleman full of talent and knowledge, and who, above
+all, knew profoundly the laws of his country, had filled various posts in
+England. As first a minister by profession, and furious against King
+James; afterwards a Catholic and King James's spy, he had been delivered
+up to King William, who pardoned him. He profited by this only to
+continue his services to James. He was taken several times, and always
+escaped from the Tower of London and other prisons. Being no longer able
+to dwell in England he came to France, where he occupied himself always
+with the same line of business, and was paid for that by the King (Louis
+XIV.) and by King James, the latter of whom he unceasingly sought to re-
+establish. The union of Scotland with England appeared to him a
+favourable conjuncture, by the despair of that ancient kingdom at seeing
+itself reduced into a province under the yoke of the English. The
+Jacobite party remained there; the vexation caused by this forced union
+had increased it, by the desire felt to break that union with the aid of
+a King that they would have reestablished. Hough, who was aware of the
+fermentation going on, made several secret journeys to Scotland, and
+planned an invasion of that country; but, as I have said, for a long time
+could get no one to listen to him.
+
+The King, indeed, was so tired of such enterprises, that nobody dared to
+speak to him upon this. All drew back. No one liked to bell the cat.
+At last, however, Madame de Maintenon being gained over, the King was
+induced to listen to the project. As soon as his consent was gained to
+it, another scheme was added to the first. This was to profit by the
+disorder in which the Spanish Low Countries were thrown, and to make them
+revolt against the Imperialists at the very moment when the affair of
+Scotland would bewilder the allies, and deprive them of all support from
+England. Bergheyck, a man well acquainted with the state of those
+countries, was consulted, and thought the scheme good. He and the Duc de
+Vendome conferred upon it in presence of the King.
+
+After talking over various matters, the discussion fell, upon the Meuse,
+and its position with reference to Maastricht. Vendome held that the
+Meuse flowed in a certain direction. Bergheyck opposed him. Vendome,
+indignant that a civilian should dare to dispute military movements with
+him, grew warm. The other remained respectful and cool, but firm.
+Vendome laughed at Bergheyck, as at an ignorant fellow who did not know
+the position of places. Bergheyck maintained his point. Vendome grew
+more and more hot. If he was right, what he proposed was easy enough; if
+wrong, it was impossible. It was in vain that Vendome pretended to treat
+with disdain his opponent; Bergheyck was not to be put down, and the
+King, tired out at last with a discussion upon a simple question of fact,
+examined the maps. He found at once that Bergheyck was right. Any other
+than the King would have felt by this what manner of man was this general
+of his taste, of his heart, and of his confidence; any other than Vendome
+would have been confounded; but it was Bergheyck in reality who was so,
+to see the army in such hands and the blindness of the King for him! He
+was immediately sent into Flanders to work up a revolt, and he did it so
+well, that success seemed certain, dependent, of course, upon success in
+Scotland.
+
+The preparations for the invasion of that country were at once commenced.
+Thirty vessels were armed at Dunkerque and in the neighbouring ports.
+The Chevalier de Forbin was chosen to command the squadron. Four
+thousand men were brought from Flanders to Dunkerque; and it was given
+out that this movement was a mere change of garrison. The secret of the
+expedition was well kept; but the misfortune was that things were done
+too slowly. The fleet, which depended upon Pontchartrain, was not ready
+in time, and that which depended upon Chamillart, was still more
+behindhand. The two ministers threw the fault upon each other; but the
+truth is, both were to blame. Pontchartrain was more than accused of
+delaying matters from unwillingness; the other from powerlessness.
+
+Great care was taken that no movement should be seen at Saint Germain.
+The affair, however, began in time to get noised abroad. A prodigious
+quantity of arms and clothing for the Scotch had been embarked; the
+movements by sea and land became only too visible upon the coast. At
+last, on Wednesday, the 6th of March, the King of England set out from
+Saint Germain. He was attended by the Duke of Perth, who had been his
+sub-preceptor; by the two Hamiltons, by Middleton, and a very few others.
+But his departure had been postponed too long. At the moment when all
+were ready to start, people learned with surprise that the English fleet
+had appeared in sight, and was blockading Dunkerque. Our troops, who
+were already on board ship, were at once landed. The King of England
+cried out so loudly against this, and proposed so eagerly that an attempt
+should be made to pass the enemy at all risks, that a fleet was sent out
+to reconnoitre the enemy, and the troops were re-embarked. But then a
+fresh mischance happened. The Princess of England had had the measles,
+and was barely growing convalescent at the time of the departure of the
+King, her brother. She had been prevented from seeing him, lest he
+should be attacked by the same complaint. In spite of this precaution,
+however, it declared itself upon him at Dunkerque, just as the troops
+were re-embarked. He was in despair, and wished to be wrapped up in
+blankets and carried on board. The doctors said that it would kill him;
+and he was obliged to remain. The worst of it was, that two of five
+Scotch deputies who had been hidden at Montrouge near Paris, had been
+sent into Scotland a fortnight before, to announce the immediate arrival
+of the King with arms and troops. The movement which it was felt this
+announcement would create, increased the impatience for departure. At
+last, on Saturday, the 19th of March, the King of England, half cured and
+very weak, determined to embark in spite of his physicians, and did so.
+The enemy's vessels hats retired; so, at six o'clock in the morning, our
+ships set sail with a good breeze, and in the midst of a mist, which hid
+them from view in about an hour.
+
+Forty-eight hours after the departure of our squadron, twenty-seven
+English ships of war appeared before Dunkerque. But our fleet was away.
+The very first night it experienced a furious tempest. The ship in which
+was the King of England took shelter afterwards behind the works of
+Ostend. During the storm, another ship was separated from the squadron,
+and was obliged to take refuge on the coast of Picardy. This vessel, a
+frigate, was commanded by Rambure, a lieutenant. As, soon as he was able
+he sailed after the squadron that he believed already in Scotland. He
+directed his course towards Edinburgh, and found no vessel during all the
+voyage. As he approached the mouth of the river, he saw around him a
+number of barques and small vessels that he could not avoid, and that he
+determined in consequence to approach with as good a grace as possible.
+The masters of these ships' told him that the King was expected with
+impatience, but that they had no news of him, that they had come out to
+meet him, and that they would send pilots to Rambure, to conduct him up
+the river to Edinburgh, where all was hope and joy. Rambure, equally
+surprised that the squadron which bore the King of England had not
+appeared, and by the publicity of his forthcoming arrival, went up
+towards Edinburgh more and more surrounded by barques, which addressed to
+him the same language. A gentleman of the country passed from one of
+these barques upon the frigate. He told Rambure that the principal
+noblemen of Scotland had resolved to act together, that these noblemen
+could count upon more than twenty thousand men ready to take up arms, and
+that all the towns awaited only the arrival of the King to proclaim him.
+
+More and more troubled that the squadron did not appear, Rambure, after a
+time, turned back and went in search of it. As he approached the mouth
+of the river, which he had so lately entered, he heard a great noise of
+cannon out at sea, and a short time afterwards he saw many vessels of war
+there. Approaching more and more, and quitting the river, he
+distinguished our squadron, chased by twenty-six large ships of war and a
+number of other vessels, all of which he soon lost sight of, so much was
+our squadron in advance. He continued on his course in order to join
+them; but he could not do so until all had passed by the mouth of the
+river. Then steering clear of the rear-guard of the English ships, he
+remarked that the English fleet was hotly chasing the ship of the King of
+England, which ran along the coast, however, amid the fire of cannon and
+oftentimes of musketry. Rambure tried, for a long time, to profit by the
+lightness of his frigate to get ahead; but, always cut off by the enemy's
+vessels, and continually in danger of being taken, he returned to
+Dunkerque, where he immediately despatched to the Court this sad and
+disturbing news. He was followed, five or six days after, by the King of
+England, who returned to Dunkerque on the 7th of April, with his vessels
+badly knocked about.
+
+It seems that the ship in which was the Prince, after experiencing the
+storm I have already alluded to, set sail again with its squadron, but
+twice got out of its reckoning within forty-eight hours; a fact not easy
+to understand in a voyage from Ostend to Edinburgh. This circumstance
+gave time to the English to join them; thereupon the King held a council,
+and much time was lost in deliberations. When the squadron drew near the
+river, the enemy was so close upon us, that to enter, without fighting
+either inside or out, seemed impossible. In this emergency it was
+suggested that our ships should go on to Inverness, about eighteen or
+twenty leagues further off. But this was objected to by Middleton and
+the Chevalier Forbin, who declared that the King of England was expected
+only at Edinburgh, and that it was useless to go elsewhere; and
+accordingly the project was given up, and the ships returned to France.
+
+This return, however, was not accomplished without some difficulty. The
+enemy's fleet attacked the rear guard of ours, and after an obstinate
+combat, took two vessels of war and some other vessels. Among the
+prisoners made by the English were the Marquis de Levi, Lord Griffin, and
+the two sons of Middleton; who all, after suffering some little bad
+treatment, were conducted to London.
+
+Lord Griffin was an old Englishman, who deserves a word of special
+mention. A firm Protestant, but much attached to the King of England, he
+knew nothing of this expedition until after the King's departure. He
+went immediately in quest of the Queen. With English freedom he
+reproached her for the little confidence she had had in him, in spite of
+his services and his constant fidelity, and finished by assuring her that
+neither his age nor his religion would hinder him from serving the King
+to the last drop of his blood. He spoke so feelingly that the Queen was
+ashamed. After this he went to Versailles, asked M. de Toulouse for a
+hundred Louis and a horse, and without delay rode off to Dunkerque, where
+he embarked with the others. In London he was condemned to death; but
+he showed so much firmness and such disdain of death, that his judges
+were too much ashamed to avow the execution to be carried out. The Queen
+sent him one respite, then another, although he had never asked for
+either, and finally he was allowed to remain at liberty in London on
+parole. He always received fresh respites, and lived in London as if it
+his own country, well received everywhere. Being informed that these
+respites would never cease, he lived thus several years, and died very
+old, a natural death. The other prisoners were equally well treated. It
+was in this expedition that the King of England first assumed the title
+of the Chevalier de Saint George, and that his enemies gave him that of
+the Pretender; both of which have remained to him. He showed much will
+and firmness, which he spoiled by a docility, the result of a bad
+education, austere and confined, that devotion, ill understood, together
+with the desire of maintaining him in fear and dependence, caused the
+Queen (who, with all her sanctity, always wished to dominate) to give
+him. He asked to serve in the next campaign in Flanders, and wished to
+go there at once, or remain near Dunkerque. Service was promised him,
+but he was made to return to Saint Germain. Hough, who had been made a
+peer of Ireland before starting, preceded him with the journals of the
+voyage, and that of Forbin, to whom the King gave a thousand crowns
+pension and ten thousand as a recompense.
+
+The King of England arrived at Saint Germain on Friday, the 20th of
+April, and came with the Queen, the following Sunday, to Marly, where our
+King was. The two Kings embraced each other several times, in the
+presence of the two Courts. But the visit altogether was a sad one. The
+Courts, which met in the garden, returned towards the Chateau, exchanging
+indifferent words in an indifferent way.
+
+Middleton was strongly suspected of having acquainted the English with
+our project. They acted, at all events, as if they had been informed of
+everything, and wished to appear to know nothing. They made a semblance
+of sending their fleet to escort a convoy to Portugal; they got in
+readiness the few troops they had in England and sent them towards
+Scotland; and the Queen, under various pretexts, detained in London,
+until the affair had failed, the Duke of Hamilton, the most powerful
+Scotch lord; and the life and soul of the expedition. When all was over,
+she made no arrests, and wisely avoided throwing Scotland into despair.
+This conduct much augmented her authority in England, attached all hearts
+to her, and took away all desire of stirring again by taking away all
+hope of success. Thus failed a project so well and so secretly conducted
+until the end, which was pitiable; and with this project failed that of
+the Low Countries, which was no longer thought of.
+
+The allies uttered loud cries against this attempt on the part of a power
+they believed at its last gasp, and which, while pretending to seek
+peace, thought of nothing less than the invasion of Great Britain. The
+effect of our failure was to bind closer, and to irritate more and more
+this formidable alliance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+Brissac, Major of the Body-guards, died of age and ennui about this time,
+more than eighty years old, at his country-house, to which he had not
+long retired. The King had made use of him to put the Guards upon that
+grand military footing they have reached. He had acquired the confidence
+of the King by his inexorable exactitude, his honesty, and his aptitude.
+He was a sort of wild boar, who had all the appearance of a bad man,
+without being so in reality; but his manners were, it must be admitted,
+harsh and disagreeable. The King, speaking one day of the majors of the
+troops, said that if they were good, they were sure to be hated.
+
+"If it is necessary to be perfectly hated in order to be a good major,"
+replied M. de Duras, who was behind the King with the baton, "behold,
+Sire, the best major in France!" and he took Brissac, all confusion, by
+the arm. The King laughed, though he would have thought such a sally
+very bad in any other; but M. de Duras had put himself on such a free
+footing, that he stopped at nothing before the King, and often said the
+sharpest things. This major had very robust health, and laughed at the
+doctors--very often, even before the King, at Fagon, whom nobody else
+would have dared to attack. Fagon replied by disdain, often by anger,
+and with all his wit was embarrassed. These short scenes were sometimes
+very amusing.
+
+Brissac, a few years before his retirement, served the Court ladies a
+nice turn. All through the winter they attended evening prayers on
+Thursdays and Sundays, because the King went there; and, under the
+pretence of reading their prayer-books, had little tapers before them,
+which cast a light on their faces, and enabled the King to recognise them
+as he passed. On the evenings when they knew he would not go, scarcely
+one of them went. One evening, when the King was expected, all the
+ladies had arrived, and were in their places, and the guards were at
+their doors. Suddenly, Brissac appeared in the King's place, lifted his
+baton, and cried aloud, "Guards of the King, withdraw, return to your
+quarters; the King is not coming this evening." The guards withdrew; but
+after they had proceeded a short distance, were stopped by brigadiers
+posted for the purpose, and told to return in a few minutes. What
+Brissac had said was a joke. The ladies at once began to murmur one to
+another. In a moment or two all the candles were put out, and the
+ladies, with but few exceptions, left the chapel. Soon after the King
+arrived, and, much astonished to see so few ladies present, asked how it
+was that nobody was there. At the conclusion of the prayers Brissac
+related what he had done, not without dwelling on the piety of the Court
+ladies. The King and all who accompanied him laughed heartily. The
+story soon spread, and these ladies would have strangled Brissac if they
+had been able.
+
+The Duchesse de Bourgogne being in the family way this spring, was much
+inconvenienced. The King wished to go to Fontainebleau at the
+commencement of the fine season, contrary to his usual custom; and had
+declared this wish. In the mean time he desired to pay visits to Marly.
+Madame de Bourgogne much amused him; he could not do without her, yet so
+much movement was not suitable to her state. Madame de Maintenon was
+uneasy, and Fagon gently intimated his opinion. This annoyed the King,
+accustomed to restrain himself for nothing, and spoiled by having seen
+his mistresses travel when big with child, or when just recovering from
+their confinement, and always in full dress. The hints against going to
+Marly bothered him, but did not make him give them up. All he would
+consent to was, that the journey should put off from the day after
+Quasimodo to the Wednesday of the following week; but nothing could make
+him delay his amusement, beyond that time, or induce him to allow the
+Princess to remain at Versailles.
+
+
+[Illustration: The King's Walk At Versailles--Painted by J. L. Jerome--484]
+
+
+On the following Saturday, as the King was taking a walk after mass, and
+amusing himself at the carp basin between the Chateau and the
+Perspective, we saw the Duchesse de Lude coming towards him on foot and
+all alone, which, as no lady was with the King, was a rarity in the
+morning. We understood that she had something important to say to him,
+and when he was a short distance from her, we stopped so as to allow him
+to join her alone. The interview was not long. She went away again, and
+the King came back towards us and near the carps without saying a word.
+Each saw clearly what was in the wind, and nobody was eager to speak. At
+last the King, when quite close to the basin, looked at the principal
+people around, and without addressing anybody, said, with an air of
+vexation, these few words:
+
+"The Duchesse de Bourgogne is hurt."
+
+M. de la Rochefoucauld at once uttered an exclamation. M. de Bouillon,
+the Duc de Tresmes, and Marechal de Boufflers repeated in a low tone the
+words I have named; and M. de la Rochefoucauld returning to the charge,
+declared emphatically that it was the greatest misfortune in the world,
+and that as she had already wounded herself on other occasions, she might
+never, perhaps, have any more children.
+
+"And if so," interrupted the King all on a sudden, with anger, "what is
+that to me? Has she not already a son; and if he should die, is not the
+Duc de Berry old enough to marry and have one? What matters it to the
+who succeeds me,--the one or the other? Are the not all equally my
+grandchildren?" And immediately, with impetuosity he added, "Thank God,
+she is wounded, since she was to be so; and I shall no longer be annoyed
+in my journeys and in everything I wish to do, by the representations of
+doctors, and the reasonings of matrons. I shall go and come at my
+pleasure, and shall be left in peace."
+
+A silence so deep that an ant might be heard to walk, succeeded this
+strange outburst. All eyes were lowered; no one hardly dared to breathe.
+All remained stupefied. Even the domestics and the gardeners stood
+motionless.
+
+This silence lasted more than a quarter of an hour. The King broke it as
+he leaned upon a balustrade to speak of a carp. Nobody replied. He
+addressed himself afterwards on the subject of these carps to domestics,
+who did not ordinarily join in the conversation. Nothing but carps was
+spoken of with them. All was languishing, and the King went away some
+time after. As soon as we dared look at each other--out of his sight,
+our eyes met and told all. Everybody there was for the moment the
+confidant of his neighbour. We admired--we marvelled--we grieved, we
+shrugged our shoulders. However distant may be that scene, it is always
+equally present to me. M. de la Rochefoucauld was in a fury, and this
+time without being wrong. The chief ecuyer was ready to faint with
+affright; I myself examined everybody with my eyes and ears, and was
+satisfied with myself for having long since thought that the King loved
+and cared for himself alone, and was himself his only object in life.
+
+This strange discourse sounded far and wide-much beyond Marly.
+
+Let me here relate another anecdote of the King--a trifle I was witness
+of. It was on the 7th of May, of this year, and at Marly. The King
+walking round the gardens, showing them to Bergheyck, and talking with
+him upon the approaching campaign in Flanders, stopped before one of the
+pavilions. It was that occupied by Desmarets, who had recently succeeded
+Chamillart in the direction of the finances, and who was at work within
+with Samuel Bernard, the famous banker, the richest man in Europe, and
+whose money dealings were the largest. The King observed to Desmarets
+that he was very glad to see him with M. Bernard; then immediately said
+to this latter:
+
+"You are just the man never to have seen Marly--come and see it now; I
+will give you up afterwards to Desmarets."
+
+Bernard followed, and while the walk lasted the King spoke only to
+Bergheyck and to Bernard, leading them everywhere, and showing them
+everything with the grace he so well knew how to employ when he desired
+to overwhelm. I admired, and I was not the only one, this species of
+prostitution of the King, so niggard of his words, to a man of Bernard's
+degree. I was not long in learning the cause of it, and I admired to see
+how low the greatest kings sometimes find themselves reduced.
+
+Our finances just then were exhausted. Desmarets no longer knew of what
+wood to make a crutch. He had been to Paris knocking at every door. But
+the most exact engagements had been so often broken that he found nothing
+but excuses and closed doors. Bernard, like the rest, would advance
+nothing. Much was due to him. In vain Desmarets represented to him the
+pressing necessity for money, and the enormous gains he had made out of
+the King. Bernard remained unshakeable. The King and the minister were
+cruelly embarrassed. Desmarets said to the King that, after all was said
+and done, only Samuel Bernard could draw them out of the mess, because it
+was not doubtful that he had plenty of money everywhere; that the only
+thing needed was to vanquish his determination and the obstinacy--even
+insolence--he had shown; that he was a man crazy with vanity, and capable
+of opening his purse if the King deigned to flatter him.
+
+It was agreed, therefore, that Desmarets should invite Bernard to dinner
+--should walk with him--and that the King should come and disturb them as
+I have related. Bernard was the dupe of this scheme; he returned from
+his walk with the King enchanted to such an extent that he said he would
+prefer ruining himself rather than leave in embarrassment a Prince who
+had just treated him so graciously, and whose eulogiums he uttered with
+enthusiasm! Desmarets profited by this trick immediately, and drew much
+more from it than he had proposed to himself..
+
+The Prince de Leon had an adventure just about this time, which made much
+noise. He was a great, ugly, idle, mischievous fellow, son of the Duc de
+Rohan, who had given him the title I have just named. He had served in
+one campaign very indolently, and then quitted the army, under pretence
+of ill-health, to serve no more. Glib in speech, and with the manners of
+the great world, he was full of caprices and fancies; although a great
+gambler and spendthrift, he was miserly, and cared only for himself. He
+had been enamoured of Florence, an actress, whom M. d'Orleans had for a
+long time kept, and by whom he had children, one of whom is now
+Archbishop of Cambrai. M. de Leon also had several children by this
+creature, and spent large sums upon her. When he went in place of his
+father to open the States of Brittany, she accompanied him in a coach and
+six horses, with a ridiculous scandal. His father was in agony lest he
+should marry her. He offered to insure her five thousand francs a-year
+pension, and to take care of their children, if M. de Leon would quit
+her. But M. de Leon would not hear of this, and his father accordingly
+complained to the King. The King summoned M. de Leon into his cabinet;
+but the young man pleaded his cause so well there, that he gained pity
+rather than condemnation. Nevertheless, La Florence was carried away
+from a pretty little house at the Ternes, near Paris, where M. de Leon
+kept her, and was put in a convent. M. de Leon became furious; for some
+time he would neither see nor speak of his father or mother, and repulsed
+all idea of marriage.
+
+At last, however, no longer hoping to see his actress, he not only
+consented, but wished to marry. His parents were delighted at this, and
+at once looked about for a wife for him. Their choice, fell upon the
+eldest daughter of the Duc de Roquelaure, who, although humpbacked and
+extremely ugly, she was to be very rich some day, and was, in fact, a
+very good match. The affair had been arranged and concluded up to a
+certain point, when all was broken off, in consequence of the haughty
+obstinacy with which the Duchesse de Roquelaure demanded a larger sum
+with M. de Leon than M. de Rohan chose to give.
+
+The young couple were in despair: M. de Leon, lest his father should
+always act in this way, as an excuse for giving him nothing; the young
+lady, because she, feared she should rot in a convent, through the
+avarice of her mother, and never marry. She was more than twenty-four
+years, of age; he was more than eight-and-twenty. She was in the convent
+of the Daughters of the Cross in the Faubourg Saint Antoine.
+
+As soon as M. de Leon learnt that the marriage was broken off, he
+hastened to the convent; and told all to Mademoiselle de Roquelaure;
+played the passionate, the despairing; said that if they waited for their
+parents' consent they would never marry; and that she would rot in her
+convent. He proposed, therefore, that, in spite of their parents, they
+should marry and be their own guardians. She agreed to this project; and
+he went away in order to execute it.
+
+One of the most intimate friends of Madame de Roquelaure was Madame de la
+Vieuville, and she was the only person (excepting Madame de Roquelaure
+herself) to whom the Superior of the convent had permission to confide
+Mademoiselle de Roquelaure. Madame de la Vieuville often came to see
+Mademoiselle de Roquelaure to take her out, and sometimes sent for her.
+M. de Leon was made acquainted with this, and took his measures
+accordingly. He procured a coach of the same size, shape, and fittings
+as that of Madame de la Vieuville, with her arms upon it, and with three
+servants in her livery; he counterfeited a letter in her handwriting and
+with her seal, and sent this coach with a lackey well instructed to carry
+the letter to the convent, on Tuesday morning, the 29th of May, at the
+hour Madame de la Vieuville was accustomed to send for her.
+
+Mademoiselle de Roquelaure, who had been let into the scheme, carried the
+letter to the Superior of the convent, and said Madame de la Vieuville
+had sent for her. Had the Superior any message to send?
+
+The Superior, accustomed to these invitations; did not even look at the
+letter, but gave her consent at once. Mademoiselle de Roquelaure,
+accompanied solely by her governess, left the convent immediately, and
+entered the coach, which drove off directly. At the first turning it
+stopped, and the Prince de Leon, who had been in waiting, jumped-in. The
+governess at this began to cry out with all her might; but at the very
+first sound M. de Leon thrust a handkerchief into her mouth and stifled
+the noise. The coachman meanwhile lashed his horses, and the vehicle
+went off at full speed to Bruyeres near Menilmontant, the country-house
+of the Duc de Lorges, my brother-in-law, and friend of the Prince de
+Leon, and who, with the Comte de Rieux, awaited the runaway pair.
+
+An interdicted and wandering priest was in waiting, and as soon as they
+arrived married them. My brother-in-law then led these nice young people
+into a fine chamber, where they were undressed, put to bed, and left
+alone for two or three hours. A good meal was then given to them, after
+which the bride was put into the coach, with her attendant, who was in
+despair, and driven back to the convent.
+
+Mademoiselle de Roquelaure at once went deliberately to the Superior,
+told her all that happened, and then calmly went into her chamber, and
+wrote a fine letter to her mother, giving her an account of her marriage,
+and asking for pardon; the Superior of the convent, the attendants, and
+all the household being, meanwhile, in the utmost emotion at what had
+occurred.
+
+The rage of the Duchesse de Roquelaure at this incident may be imagined.
+In her first unreasoning fury, she went to Madame de la Vieuville, who,
+all in ignorance of what had happened, was utterly at a loss to
+understand her stormy and insulting reproaches. At last Madame de
+Roquelaure saw that her friend was innocent of all connection with the
+matter; and turned the current of her wrath upon M. de Leon, against whom
+she felt the more indignant, inasmuch as he had treated her with much
+respect and attention since the rupture, and had thus, to some extent,
+gained her heart. Against her daughter she was also indignant, not only
+for what she had done, but because she had exhibited much gaiety and
+freedom of spirit at the marriage repast, and had diverted the company by
+some songs.
+
+The Duc and Duchesse de Rohan were on their side equally furious,
+although less to be pitied, and made a strange uproar. Their son,
+troubled to know how to extricate himself from this affair, had recourse
+to his aunt, Soubise, so as to assure himself of the King. She sent him
+to Pontchartrain to see the chancellor. M. de Leon saw him the day after
+this fine marriage, at five o'clock in the morning, as he was dressing.
+The chancellor advised him to do all he could to gain the pardon of his
+father and of Madame de Roquelaure. But he had scarcely begun to speak,
+when Madame de Roquelaure sent word to say, that she was close at hand,
+and wished the chancellor to come and see her. He did so, and she
+immediately poured out all her griefs to him, saying that she came not to
+ask, his advice, but to state her complaint as to a friend (they were
+very intimate), and as to the chief officer of justice to demand justice
+of him. When he attempted to put in a word on behalf of M. de Leon, her
+fury burst out anew; she would not listen to his words, but drove off to
+Marly, where she had an interview with Madame de Maintenon, and by her
+was presented to the King.
+
+As soon as she was in his presence, she fell down on her knees before
+him, and demanded justice in its fullest extent against M. de Leon. The
+King raised her with the gallantry of a prince to whom she had not been
+indifferent, and sought to console her; but as she still insisted upon
+justice, he asked her if she knew fully what she asked for, which was
+nothing less than the head of M. de Leon. She redoubled her entreaties
+notwithstanding this information, so that the King at last promised her
+that she should have complete justice. With that, and many compliments,
+he quitted her, and passed into his own rooms with a very serious air,
+and without stopping for anybody.
+
+The news of this interview, and of what had taken place, soon spread
+through the chamber. Scarcely had people begun to pity Madame de
+Roquelaure, than some, by aversion for the grand imperial airs of this
+poor mother,--the majority, seized by mirth at the idea of a creature,
+well known to be very ugly and humpbacked, being carried off by such an
+ugly gallant,--burst out laughing, even to tears, and with an uproar
+completely scandalous. Madame de Maintenon abandoned herself to mirth,
+like the rest, and corrected the others at last, by saying it was not
+very charitable, in a tone that could impose upon no one.
+
+Madame de Saint-Simon and I were at Paris. We knew with all Paris of
+this affair, but were ignorant of the place of the marriage and the part
+M. de Lorges had had in it, when the third day after the adventure I was
+startled out of my sleep at five o'clock in the morning, and saw my
+curtains and my windows open at the same time, and Madame de Saint-Simon
+and her brother (M. de Lorges) before me. They related to me all that
+had occurred, and then went away to consult with a skilful person what
+course to adopt, leaving me to dress. I never saw a man so crestfallen
+as M. de Lorges. He had confessed what he had done to a clever lawyer,
+who had much frightened him. After quitting him, he had hastened to us
+to make us go and see Pontchartrain. The most serious things are
+sometimes accompanied with the most ridiculous. M. de Lorges upon
+arriving knocked at the door of a little room which preceded the chamber
+of Madame de Saint-Simon. My daughter was rather unwell. Madame de
+Saint-Simon thought she was worse, and supposing it was I who had
+knocked, ran and opened the door. At the sight of her brother she ran
+back to her bed, to which he followed her, in order to relate his
+disaster. She rang for the windows to be opened, in order that she might
+see better. It so happened that she had taken the evening before a new
+servant, a country girl of sixteen, who slept in the little room. M. de
+Lorges, in a hurry to be off, told this girl to make haste in opening the
+windows, and then to go away and close the door. At this, the simple
+girl, all amazed, took her robe and her cotillon, and went upstairs to an
+old chambermaid, awoke her, and with much hesitation told her what had
+just happened, and that she had left by the bedside of Madame de Saint
+Simon a fine gentleman, very young, all powdered, curled, and decorated,
+who had driven her very quickly out of the chamber. She was all of a
+tremble, and much astonished. She soon learnt who he was. The story was
+told to us, and in spite of our disquietude, much diverted us.
+
+We hurried away to the chancellor, and he advised the priest, the
+witnesses to the signatures of the marriage, and, in fact, all concerned,
+to keep out of the way, except M. de Lorges, who he assured us had
+nothing to fear. We went afterwards to Chamillart, whom we found much
+displeased, but in little alarm. The King had ordered an account to be
+drawn up of the whole affair. Nevertheless, in spite of the uproar made
+on all sides, people began to see that the King would not abandon to
+public dishonour the daughter of Madame de Roquelaure, nor doom to the
+scaffold or to civil death in foreign countries the nephew of Madame de
+Soubise.
+
+Friends of M. and Madame de Roquelaure tried to arrange matters. They
+represented that it would be better to accept the marriage as it was than
+to expose a daughter to cruel dishonour. Strange enough, the Duc and
+Duchesse de Rohan were the most stormy. They wished to drive a very hard
+bargain in the matter, and made proposals so out of the way, that nothing
+could have been arranged but for the King. He did what he had never done
+before in all his life; he entered into all the details; he begged, then
+commanded as master; he had separate interviews with the parties
+concerned; and finally appointed the Duc d'Aumont and the chancellor to
+draw up the conditions of the marriage.
+
+As Madame de Rohan, even after this, still refused to give her consent,
+the King sent for her, and said that if she and her husband did not at
+once give in, he would make the marriage valid by his own sovereign
+authority. Finally, after so much noise, anguish, and trouble, the
+contract was signed by the two families, assembled at the house of the
+Duchesse de Roquelaure. The banns were published, and the marriage took
+place at the church of the Convent of the Cross, where Mademoiselle de
+Roquelaure had been confined since her beautiful marriage, guarded night
+and day by five or six nuns. She entered the church by one door, Prince
+de Leon by another; not a compliment or a word passed between them; the
+curate said mass; married them; they mounted a coach, and drove off to
+the house of a friend some leagues from Paris. They paid for their folly
+by a cruel indigence which lasted all their lives, neither of them having
+survived the Duc de Rohan, Monsieur de Roquelaure, or Madame de
+Roquelaure. They left several children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+The war this year proceeded much as before. M. d'Orleans went to Spain
+again. Before taking the field he stopped at Madrid to arrange matters.
+There he found nothing prepared, and every thing in disorder. He was
+compelled to work day after day, for many hours, in order to obtain the
+most necessary supplies. This is what accounted for a delay which was
+maliciously interpreted at Paris into love for the Queen. M. le Duc was
+angry at the idleness in which he was kept; even Madame la Duchesse, who
+hated him, because she had formerly loved him too well, industriously
+circulated this report, which was believed at Court, in the city, even in
+foreign countries, everywhere, save in Spain, where the truth was too
+well known. It was while he was thus engaged that he gave utterance to a
+pleasantry that made Madame de Maintenon and Madame des Ursins his two
+most bitter enemies for ever afterwards.
+
+One evening he was at table with several French and Spanish gentlemen,
+all occupied with his vexation against Madame des Ursins, who governed
+everything, and who had not thought of even the smallest thing for the
+campaign. The supper and the wine somewhat affected M. d'Orleans. Still
+full of his vexation, he took a glass, and, looking at the company, made
+an allusion in a toast to the two women, one the captain, the other the
+lieutenant, who governed France and Spain, and that in so coarse and yet
+humorous a manner, that it struck at once the imagination of the guests.
+
+No comment was made, but everybody burst out laughing, sense of drollery
+overcoming prudence, for it was well known that the she-captain was
+Madame de Maintenon, and the she-lieutenant Madame des Ursins. The
+health was drunk, although the words were not repeated, and the scandal
+was strange.
+
+Half an hour at most after this, Madame des Ursins was informed of what
+had taken place. She knew well who were meant by the toast, and was
+transported with rage. She at once wrote an account of the circumstance
+to Madame de Maintenon, who, for her part, was quite as furious. 'Inde
+ira'. They never pardoned M. d'Orleans, and we shall see how very nearly
+they succeeded in compassing his death. Until then, Madame de Maintenon
+had neither liked nor disliked M. d'Orleans. Madame des Ursins had
+omitted nothing in order to please him. From that moment they swore the
+ruin of this prince. All the rest of the King's life M. d'Orleans did
+not fail to find that Madame de Maintenon was an implacable and cruel
+enemy. The sad state to which she succeeded in reducing him influenced
+him during all the rest of his life. As for Madame des Ursins, he soon
+found a change in her manner. She endeavoured that everything should
+fail that passed through his hands. There are some wounds that can never
+be healed; and it must be admitted that the Duke's toast inflicted one
+especially of that sort. He felt this; did not attempt any
+reconciliation; and followed his usual course. I know not if he ever,
+repented of what he had said, whatever cause he may have had, so droll
+did it seem to him, but he has many times spoken of it since to me,
+laughing with all his might. I saw all the sad results which might arise
+from his speech, and nevertheless, while reproaching M. d'Orleans, I
+could not help laughing myself, so well, so simply; and so wittily
+expressed was his ridicule of the government on this and the other side
+of the Pyrenees.
+
+At last, M. le Duc d'Orleans found means to enter upon his campaign, but
+was so ill-provided, that he never was supplied with more than a
+fortnight's subsistence in advance. He obtained several small successes;
+but these were more than swallowed up by a fatal loss in another
+direction. The island of Sardinia, which was then under the Spanish
+Crown, was lost through the misconduct of the viceroy, the Duke of
+Veragua, and taken possession of by the troops of the Archduke. In the
+month of October, the island of Minorca also fell into the hands of the
+Archduke. Port Mahon made but little resistance; so that with this
+conquest and Gibraltar, the English found themselves able to rule in the
+Mediterranean, to winter entire fleets there, and to blockade all the
+ports of Spain upon that sea. Leaving Spain in this situation, let us
+turn to Flanders.
+
+Early in July, we took Ghent and Bruges by surprise, and the news of
+these successes was received with the most unbridled joy at
+Fontainebleau. It appeared easy to profit by these two conquests,
+obtained without difficulty, by passing the Escaut, burning Oudenarde,
+closing the country to the enemies, and cutting them off from all
+supplies. Ours were very abundant, and came by water, with a camp that
+could not be attacked. M. de Vendome agreed to all this; and alleged
+nothing against it. There was only one difficulty in the way; his
+idleness and unwillingness to move from quarters where he was
+comfortable. He wished to enjoy those quarters as long as possible, and
+maintained, therefore, that these movements would be just as good if
+delayed. Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne maintained on the contrary,
+with all the army--even the favourites of M. de Vendome--that it would be
+better to execute the operation at once, that there was no reason for
+delay, and that delay might prove disastrous. He argued in vain.
+Vendome disliked fatigue and change of quarters. They interfered with
+the daily life he was accustomed to lead, and which I have elsewhere
+described. He would not move.
+
+Marlborough clearly seeing that M. de Vendome did not at once take
+advantage of his position, determined to put it out of his power to do
+so. To reach Oudenarde, Marlborough had a journey to make of twenty-five
+leagues. Vendome was so placed that he could have gained it in six
+leagues at the most. Marlborough put himself in motion with so much
+diligence that he stole three forced marches before Vendome had the
+slightest suspicion or information of them. The news reached him in
+time, but he treated it with contempt according to his custom, assuring
+himself that he should outstrip the enemy by setting out the next
+morning. Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne pressed him to start that
+evening; such as dared represented to him the necessity and the
+importance of doing so. All was vain--in spite of repeated information
+of the enemy's march. The neglect was such that bridges had not been
+thought of for a little brook at the head of the camp, which it was
+necessary to cross.
+
+On the next day, Wednesday, the 11th of July, a party of our troops,
+under the command of Biron, which had been sent on in advance to the
+Escaut, discovered, after passing it as they could, for the bridges were
+not yet made, all the army of the enemy bending round towards them, the
+rear of their columns touching at Oudenarde, where they also had crossed.
+Biron at once despatched a messenger to the Princes and to M. de Vendome
+to inform them of this, and to ask for orders. Vendome, annoyed by
+information so different to what he expected, maintained that it could
+not be true. As he was disputing, an officer arrived from Biron to
+confirm the news; but this only irritated Vendome anew, and made him more
+obstinate. A third messenger arrived, and then M. de Vendome, still
+affecting disbelief of the news sent him, flew in a passion, but
+nevertheless mounted his horse, saying that all this was the work of the
+devil, and that such diligence was impossible. He sent orders to Biron
+to attack the enemy, promising to support him immediately. He told the
+Princes, at the same time, to gently follow with the whole of the army,
+while he placed himself at the head of his columns, and pushed on briskly
+to Biron.
+
+Biron meanwhile placed his troops as well as he could, on ground very
+unequal and much cut up. He wished to execute the order he had received,
+less from any hopes of success in a combat so vastly disproportioned than
+to secure himself from the blame of a general so ready to censure those
+who did not follow his instructions. But he was advised so strongly not
+to take so hazardous a step, that he refrained. Marechal Matignon, who
+arrived soon after, indeed specially prohibited him from acting.
+
+While this was passing, Biron heard sharp firing on his left, beyond the
+village. He hastened there, and found an encounter of infantry going on.
+He sustained it as well as he could, whilst the enemy were gaining ground
+on the left, and, the ground being difficult (there was a ravine there),
+the enemy were kept at bay until M. de Vendome came up. The troops he
+brought were all out of breath. As soon as they arrived, they threw
+themselves amidst the hedges, nearly all in columns, and sustained thus
+the attacks of the enemies, and an engagement which every moment grew
+hotter, without having the means to arranging themselves in any order.
+The columns that arrived from time to time to the relief of these were as
+out of breath as the others; and were at once sharply charged by the
+enemies; who, being extended in lines and in order, knew well how to
+profit by our disorder. The confusion was very great: the new-comers had
+no time to rally; there was a long interval between the platoons engaged
+and those meant to sustain them; the cavalry and the household troops
+were mixed up pell-mell with the infantry, which increased the disorder
+to such a point that our troops no longer recognised each other. This
+enabled the enemy to fill up the ravine with fascines sufficient to
+enable them to pass it, and allowed the rear of their army to make a
+grand tour by our right to gain the head of the ravine, and take us in
+flank there.
+
+Towards this same right were the Princes, who for some time had been
+looking from a mill at so strange a combat, so disadvantageously
+commenced. As soon as our troops saw pouring down upon them others much
+more numerous, they gave way towards their left with so much promptitude
+that the attendants of the Princes became mixed up with their masters,--
+and all were hurried away towards the thick of the fight, with a rapidity
+and confusion that were indecent. The Princes showed themselves
+everywhere, and in places the most exposed, displaying much valour and
+coolness, encouraging the men, praising the officers, asking the
+principal officers what was to be done, and telling M. de Vendome what
+they thought.
+
+The inequality of the ground that the enemies found in advancing, after
+having driven in our right, enabled our them to rally and to resist. But
+this resistance was of short duration. Every one had been engaged in
+hand-to-hand combats; every one was worn out with lassitude and despair
+of success, and a confusion so general and so unheard-of. The household
+troops owed their escape to the mistake of one of the enemy's officers,
+who carried an order to the red coats, thinking them his own men. He was
+taken, and seeing that he was about to share the peril with our troops,
+warned them that they were going to be surrounded. They retired in some
+disorder, and so avoided this.
+
+The disorder increased, however, every moment. Nobody recognised his
+troop. All were pell-mell, cavalry, infantry, dragoons; not a battalion,
+not a squadron together, and all in confusion, one upon the other.
+
+Night came. We had lost much ground, one-half of the army had not
+finished arriving. In this sad situation the Princes consulted with M.
+de Vendome as to what was to be done. He, furious at being so terribly
+out of his reckoning, affronted everybody. Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne wished to speak; but Vendome intoxicated with choler and
+authority; closed his mouth, by saying to him in an imperious voice
+before everybody, "That he came to the army only on condition of obeying
+him." These enormous words, pronounced at a moment in which everybody
+felt so terribly the weight of the obedience rendered to his idleness and
+obstinacy, made everybody tremble with indignation. The young Prince to
+whom they were addressed, hesitated, mastered himself, and kept silence.
+Vendome went on declaring that the battle was not lost--that it could be
+recommenced the next morning, when the rest of the army had arrived, and
+so on. No one of consequence cared to reply.
+
+From every side soon came information, however, that the disorder was
+extreme. Pursegur, Matignon, Sousternon, Cheladet, Purguyon, all brought
+the same news. Vendome, seeing that it was useless to resist, all this
+testimony, and beside himself with rage, cried, "Oh, very well,
+gentlemen! I see clearly what you wish. We must retire, then;" and
+looking at Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, he added, "I know you have
+long wished to do so, Monseigneur."
+
+These words, which could not fail to be taken in a double sense, were
+pronounced exactly as I relate them, and were emphasized in a manner to
+leave no doubt as to their signification. Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne remained silent as before, and for some time the silence was
+unbroken. At last, Pursegur interrupted it, by asking how the retreat
+was to be executed. Each, then, spoke confusedly. Vendome, in his turn,
+kept silence from vexation or embarrassment; then he said they must march
+to Ghent, without adding how, or anything else.
+
+The day had been very fatiguing; the retreat was long and perilous. The
+Princes mounted their horses, and took the road to Ghent. Vendome set
+out without giving any orders, or seeing to anything. The general
+officers returned to their posts, and of themselves gave the order to
+retreat. Yet so great was the confusion, that the Chevalier Rosel,
+lieutenant-general, at the head of a hundred squadrons, received no
+orders. In the morning he found himself with his hundred squadrons,
+which had been utterly forgotten. He at once commenced his march; but to
+retreat in full daylight was very difficult, as he soon found. He had to
+sustain the attacks of the enemy during several hours of his march.
+
+Elsewhere, also, the difficulty of retreating was great. Fighting went
+on at various points all night, and the enemy were on the alert. Some of
+the troops of our right, while debating as to the means of retreat, found
+they were about to be surrounded by the enemy. The Vidame of Amiens saw
+that not a moment was to be lost. He cried to the light horse, of which
+he was captain, "Follow me," and pierced his way through a line of the
+enemy's cavalry. He then found himself in front of a line of infantry,
+which fired upon him, but opened to give him passage. At the same
+moment, the household troops and others, profiting by a movement so bold,
+followed the Vidame and his men, and all escaped together to Ghent, led
+on by the Vidame, to whose sense and courage the safety of these troops
+was owing.
+
+M. de Vendome arrived at Ghent, between seven and eight o'clock in the
+morning. Even at this moment he did not forget his disgusting habits,
+and as soon as he set foot to ground.... in sight of all the troops as
+they came by,--then at once went to bed, without giving any orders, or
+seeing to anything, and remained more than thirty hours without rising,
+in order to repose himself after his fatigues. He learnt that
+Monseigneur de Bourgogne and the army had pushed on to Lawendeghem; but
+he paid no attention to it, and continued to sup and to sleep at Ghent
+several days running, without attending to anything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+As soon as Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne arrived at Lawendeghem, he
+wrote a short letter to the King, and referred him for details to M. de
+Vendome. But at the same time he wrote to the Duchess, very clearly
+expressing to her where the fault lay. M. de Vendome, on his side, wrote
+to the King, and tried to persuade him that the battle had not been
+disadvantageous to us. A short time afterwards, he wrote again, telling
+the King that he could have beaten the enemies had he been sustained; and
+that, if, contrary to his advice, retreat had not been determined on, he
+would certainly have beaten them the next day. For the details he
+referred to Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.
+
+I had always feared that some ill-fortune would fall to the lot of
+Monseigneur, le Duc de Bourgogne if he served under M. de Vendome at the
+army. When I first learned that he was going to Flanders with M. de
+Vendome, I expressed my apprehensions to M. de Beauvilliers, who treated
+them as unreasonable and ridiculous. He soon had good cause to admit
+that I had not spoken without justice. Our disasters at Oudenarde were
+very great. We had many men and officers killed and wounded, four
+thousand men and seven hundred officers taken prisoners, and a prodigious
+quantity missing and dispersed. All these losses were, as I have shown,
+entirely due to the laziness and inattention of M. de Vendome. Yet the
+friends of that general--and he had many at the Court and in the army--
+actually had the audacity to lay the blame upon Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne. This was what I had foreseen, viz., M. de Vendome, in case
+any misfortune occurred, would be sure to throw the burden of it upon
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.
+
+Alberoni, who, as I have said, was one of M. de Vendome's creatures,
+published a deceitful and impudent letter, in which he endeavoured to
+prove that M. de Vendome had acted throughout like a good general, but
+that he had been thwarted by Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne. This
+letter was distributed everywhere, and well served the purpose for which
+it was intended. Another writer, Campistron---a poor, starving poet,
+ready to do anything to live--went further. He wrote a letter, in which
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne was personally attacked in the tenderest
+points, and in which Marechal Matignon was said to merit a court-martial
+for having counselled retreat. This letter, like the other, although
+circulated with more precaution, was shown even in the cafes and in the
+theatres; in the public places of gambling and debauchery; on the
+promenades, and amongst the news-vendors. Copies of it were even shown
+in the provinces, and in foreign countries; but always with much
+circumspection. Another letter soon afterwards appeared, apologising for
+M. de Vendome. This was written by Comte d'Evreux, and was of much the
+same tone as the two others.
+
+A powerful cabal was in fact got up against Monseigneur de Bourgogne.
+Vaudeville, verses, atrocious songs against him, ran all over Paris and
+the provinces with a licence and a rapidity that no one checked; while at
+the Court, the libertines and the fashionables applauded; so that in six
+days it was thought disgraceful to speak with any measure of this Prince,
+even in his father's house.
+
+Madame de Bourgogne could not witness all this uproar against her
+husband, without feeling sensibly affected by it. She had been made
+acquainted by Monseigneur de Bourgogne with the true state of the case.
+She saw her own happiness and reputation at stake. Though very gentle,
+and still more timid, the grandeur of the occasion raised her above
+herself. She was cruelly wounded by the insults of Vendome to her
+husband, and by all the atrocities and falsehoods his emissaries
+published. She gained Madame de Maintenon, and the first result of this
+step was, that the King censured Chamillart for not speaking of the
+letters in circulation, and ordered him to write to Alberoni and D'Evreux
+(Campistron, strangely enough, was forgotten), commanding them to keep
+silence for the future.
+
+The cabal was amazed to see Madame de Maintenon on the side of Madame de
+Bourgogne, while M. du Maine (who was generally in accord with Madame de
+Maintenon) was for M. de Vendome. They concluded that the King had been
+led away, but that if they held firm, his partiality for M. de Vendome,
+for M. du Maine, and for bastardy in general, would bring him round to
+them. In point of fact, the King was led now one way, and now another,
+with a leaning always towards M. de Vendome.
+
+Soon after this, Chamillart, who was completely of the party of M. de
+Vendome, thought fit to write a letter to Monseigneur le Duc de
+Bourgogne, in which he counselled him to live on good terms with his
+general. Madame de Bourgogne never forgave Chamillart this letter, and
+was always annoyed with her husband that he acted upon it. His religious
+sentiments induced him to do so. Vendome so profited by the advances
+made to him by the young Prince, that he audaciously brought Alberoni
+with him when he visited Monseigneur de Bourgogne. This weakness of
+Monseigneur de Bourgogne lost him many friends, and made his enemies more
+bold than ever: Madame de Bourgogne, however, did not despair. She wrote
+to her husband that for M. de Vendome she had more aversion and contempt
+than for any one else in the world, and that nothing would make her
+forget what he had done. We shall see with what courage she knew how to
+keep her word.
+
+While the discussions upon the battle of Oudenarde were yet proceeding,
+a league was formed with France against the Emperor by all the states of
+Italy. The King (Louis XIV.) accepted, however, too late, a project he
+himself ought to have proposed and executed. He lost perhaps the most
+precious opportunity he had had during all his reign. The step he at
+last took was so apparent that it alarmed the allies, and put them on
+their guard. Except Flanders, they did nothing in any other spot, and
+turned all their attention to Italy.
+
+Let us return, however, to Flanders.
+
+Prince Eugene, with a large booty gathered in Artois and elsewhere, had
+fixed himself at Brussels. He wished to bear off his spoils, which
+required more than five thousand waggons to carry it, and which consisted
+in great part of provisions, worth three million five hundred thousand
+francs, and set out with them to join the army of the Duke of
+Marlborough. Our troops could not, of course, be in ignorance of this.
+M. de Vendome wished to attack the convoy with half his troops. The
+project seemed good, and, in case of success, would have brought results
+equally honourable and useful. Monseigneur de Bourgogne, however,
+opposed the attack, I know not why; and M. de Vendome, so obstinate until
+then, gave in to him in this case. His object was to ruin the Prince
+utterly, for allowing such a good chance to escape, the blame resting
+entirely upon him. Obstinacy and audacity had served M. de Vendome at
+Oudenarde: he expected no less a success now from his deference.
+
+Some anxiety was felt just about this time for Lille, which it was feared
+the enemy would lay siege to. Boufflers went to command there, at his
+own request, end found the place very ill-garrisoned with raw troops,
+many of whom had never smelt powder. M. de Vendome, however, laughed at
+the idea of the siege of Lille, as something mad and ridiculous.
+Nevertheless, the town was invested on the 12th of August, as the King
+duly learned on the 14th. Even then, flattery did its work. The friends
+of Vendome declared that such an enterprise was the best, thing that
+could happen to France, as the besiegers, inferior in numbers to our
+army, were sure to be miserably beaten. M. de Vendome, in the mean time,
+did not budge from the post he had taken up near Ghent. The King wrote
+to him to go with his army to the relief of Lille. M. de Vendome still
+delayed; another courier was sent, with the same result. At this, the
+King, losing temper, despatched another courier, with orders to
+Monseigneur de Bourgogne, to lead the army to Lille, if M. de Vendome
+refused to do so. At this, M. de Vendome awoke from his lethargy. He
+set out for Lille, but took the longest road, and dawdled as long as he
+could on the way, stopping five days at Mons Puenelle, amongst other
+places.
+
+The agitation, meanwhile, in Paris, was extreme. The King demanded news
+of the siege from his courtiers, and could not understand why no couriers
+arrived. It was generally expected that some decisive battle had been
+fought. Each day increased the uneasiness. The Princes and the
+principal noblemen of the Court were at the army. Every one at
+Versailles feared for the safety of a relative or friend. Prayers were
+offered everywhere. Madame de Bourgogne passed whole nights in the
+chapel, when people thought her in bed, and drove her women to despair.
+Following her example, ladies who had husbands at the army stirred not
+from the churches. Gaming, conversation ceased. Fear was painted upon
+every face, and seen in every speech, without shame. If a horse passed a
+little quickly, everybody ran without knowing where. The apartments of
+Chamillart were crowded with lackeys, even into the street, sent by
+people desiring to be informed of the moment that a courier arrived; and
+this terror and uncertainty lasted nearly a month. The provinces were
+even more troubled than Paris. The King wrote to the Bishop, in order
+that they should offer up prayers in terms which suited with the danger
+of the time. It may be judged what was the general impression and alarm.
+
+It is true, that in the midst of this trepidation, the partisans of M. de
+Vendome affected to pity that poor Prince Eugene, and to declare that he
+must inevitably fail in his undertaking; but these discourses did not
+impose upon me. I knew what kind of enemies we had to deal with, and I
+foresaw the worst results from the idleness and inattention of M. de
+Vendome. One evening, in the presence of Chamillart and five or six
+others, annoyed by the conversation which passed, I offered to bet four
+pistoles that there would be no general battle, and that Lille would be
+taken without being relieved. This strange proposition excited much
+surprise, and caused many questions to be addressed to me. I would
+explain nothing at all; but sustained my proposal in the English manner,
+and my bet was taken; Cani, who accepted it, thanking me for the present
+of four pistoles I was making him, as he said. The stakes were placed in
+the hand of Chamillart.
+
+By the next day, the news of my bet had spread a frightful uproar. The
+partisans of M. de Vendome, knowing I was no friend to them, took this
+opportunity to damage me in the eyes of the King. They so far succeeded
+that I entirely lost favour with him, without however suspecting it, for
+more than two months. All that I could do then, was to let the storm
+pass over my head and keep silent, so as not to make matters worse.
+Meanwhile, M. de Vendome continued the inactive policy he had hitherto
+followed. In despite of reiterated advice from the King, he took no
+steps to attack the enemy. Monseigneur de Bourgogne was for doing so,
+but Vendome would make no movement. As before, too, he contrived to
+throw all the blame of his inactivity upon Monseigneur de Bourgogne. He
+succeeded so well in making this believed, that his followers in the army
+cried out against the followers of Monseigneur de Bourgogne wherever they
+appeared. Chamillart was sent by the King to report upon the state and
+position of our troops, and if a battle had taken place and proved
+unfavourable to us, to prevent such sad results as had taken place after
+Ramillies. Chamillart came back on the 18th of September. No battle had
+been fought, but M. de Vendome felt sure, he said, of cutting off all
+supplies from the enemy, and thus compelling them to raise the siege.
+The King had need of these intervals of consolation and hope. Master as
+he might be of his words and of his features, he profoundly felt the
+powerlessness to resist his enemies that he fell into day by day. What I
+have related, about Samuel Bernard, the banker, to whom he almost did the
+honours of his gardens at Marly, in order to draw from him the assistance
+he had refused, is a great proof of this. It was much remarked at
+Fontainebleau, just as Lille was invested, that, the city of Paris coming
+to harangue him on the occasion of the oath taken by Bignon, new Prevot
+des Marchand, he replied, not only with kindness, but that he made use of
+the term "gratitude for his good city," and that in doing so he lost
+countenance,--two things which during all his reign had never escaped
+him. On the other hand, he sometimes had intervals of firmness which
+edificed less than they surprised. When everybody at the Court was in
+the anxiety I have already described, he offended them by going out every
+day hunting or walking, so that they could not know, until after his
+return, the news which might arrive when he was out.
+
+As for Monseigneur, he seemed altogether exempt from anxiety. After
+Ramillies, when everybody was waiting for the return of Chamillart, to
+learn the truth, Monseigneur went away to dine at Meudon, saying he
+should learn the news soon enough. From this time he showed no more
+interest in what was passing. When news was brought that Lille was
+invested, he turned on his heel before the letter announcing it had been
+read to the end. The King called him back to hear the rest. He returned
+and heard it. The reading finished, he went away, without offering a
+word. Entering the apartments of the Princesse de Conti, he found there
+Madame d'Espinoy, who had much property in Flanders, and who had wished
+to take a trip there.
+
+"Madame," said he, smiling, as he arrived, "how would you do just now to
+get to Lille?" And at once made them acquainted with the investment.
+These things really wounded the Princesse de Conti. Arriving at
+Fontainebleau one day, during the movements of the army, Monseigneur set
+to work reciting, for amusement, a long list of strange names of places
+in the forest.
+
+"Dear me, Monseigneur," cried she, "what a good memory you have. What a
+pity it is loaded with such things only!" If he felt the reproach, he
+did not profit by it.
+
+As for Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, Monseigneur (his father) was ill-
+disposed towards him, and readily swallowed all that was said in his
+dispraise. Monseigneur had no sympathy with the piety of his son; it
+constrained and bothered him. The cabal well profited by this. They
+succeeded to such an extent in alienating the father from the son, that
+it is only strict truth to say that no one dared to speak well of
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne in the presence of Monseigneur. From
+this it may be imagined what was the licence and freedom of speech
+elsewhere against this Prince. They reached such a point, indeed, that
+the King, not daring to complain publicly against the Prince de Conti,
+who hated Vendome, for speaking in favour of Monseigneur de Bourgogne,
+reprimanded him sharply in reality for having done so, but ostensibly
+because he had talked about the affairs of Flanders at his sister's.
+Madame de Bourgogne did all she could to turn the current that was
+setting in against her husband; and in this she was assisted by Madame de
+Maintenon, who was annoyed to the last degree to see that other people
+had more influence over the King than she had.
+
+The siege of Lille meanwhile continued, and at last it began to be seen
+that, instead of attempting to fight a grand battle, the wisest course
+would be to throw assistance into the place. An attempt was made to do
+so, but it was now too late.
+
+The besieged, under the guidance of Marechal Boufflers, who watched over
+all, and attended to all, in a manner that gained him all hearts, made a
+gallant and determined resistance. A volume would be necessary in order
+to relate all the marvels of capacity and valour displayed in this
+defence. Our troops disputed the ground inch by inch. They repulsed,
+three times running, the enemy from a mill, took it the third time, and
+burnt it. They sustained an attack, in three places at once, of ten
+thousand men, from nine o'clock in the evening to three o'clock in the
+morning, without giving way. They re-captured the sole traverse the
+enemy had been able to take from them. They drove out the besiegers from
+the projecting angles of the counterscarp, which they had kept possession
+of for eight days. They twice repulsed seven thousand men who attacked
+their covered way and an outwork; at the third attack they lost an angle
+of the outwork; but remained masters of all the rest.
+
+So many attacks and engagements terribly weakened the garrison. On the
+28th of September some assistance was sent to the besieged by the daring
+of the Chevalier de Luxembourg. It enabled them to sustain with vigour
+the fresh attacks that were directed against them, to repulse the enemy,
+and, by a grand sortie, to damage some of their works, and kill many of
+their men. But all was in vain. The enemy returned again and again to
+the attack. Every attempt to cut off their supplies failed. Finally, on
+the 23rd of October, a capitulation was signed. The place had become
+untenable; three new breaches had been made on the 20th and 21st; powder
+and ammunition were failing; the provisions were almost all eaten up
+there was nothing for it but to give in.
+
+Marechal Boufflers obtained all he asked, and retired into the citadel
+with all the prisoners of war, after two months of resistance. He
+offered discharge to all the soldiers who did not wish to enter the
+citadel. But not one of the six thousand he had left to him accepted it.
+They were all ready for a new resistance, and when their chief appeared
+among them their joy burst out in the most flattering praises of him. It
+was on Friday, the 26th of October, that they shut themselves up in the
+citadel.
+
+The enemy opened their trenches before the citadel on the 29th of
+October. On the 7th of November they made a grand attack, but were
+repulsed with considerable loss. But they did not flinch from their
+work, and Boufflers began to see that he could not long hold out. By the
+commencement of December he had only twenty thousand pounds of powder
+left; very little of other munitions, and still less food. In the town
+and the citadel they had eaten eight hundred horses. Boufflers, as soon
+as the others were reduced to this food, had it served upon his own
+table, and ate of it like the rest. The King, learning in what state
+these soldiers were, personally sent word to Boufflers to surrender, but
+the Marechal, even after he had received this order, delayed many days to
+obey it.
+
+At last, in want of the commonest necessaries, and able to protract his
+defence no longer, he beat a parley, signed a capitulation on the 9th of
+December, obtaining all he asked, and retired from Lille. Prince Eugene,
+to whom he surrendered, treated him with much distinction and friendship,
+invited him to dinner several times,--overwhelmed him, in fact, with
+attention and civilities. The Prince was glad indeed to have brought to
+a successful issue such a difficult siege.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+The position of Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne at the army continued to
+be equivocal. He was constantly in collision with M. de Vendome. The
+latter, after the loss of Lille, wished to defend the Escaut, without any
+regard to its extent of forty miles. The Duc de Bourgogne, as far as he
+dared, took the part of Berwick, who maintained that the defence was
+impossible. The King, hearing of all these disputes, actually sent
+Chamillart to the army to compose them; and it was a curious sight to
+behold this penman, this financier, acting as arbiter between generals on
+the most delicate operations of war. Chamillart continued to admire
+Vendome, and treated the Duc de Bourgogne with little respect, both at
+the army, and, after his return, in conversation with the King. His
+report was given in presence of Madame de Maintenon, who listened without
+daring to say a word, and repeated everything to the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne. We may imagine what passed between them, and the anger of the
+Princess against the minister. For the present, however, nothing could
+be done. Berwick was soon afterwards almost disgraced. As soon as he
+was gone, M. de Vendome wrote to the King, saying, that he was sure of
+preventing the enemy from passing the Escaut--that he answered for it on
+his head. With such a guarantee from a man in such favour at Court, who
+could doubt? Yet, shortly after, Marlborough crossed the Escaut in four
+places, and Vendome actually wrote to the King, begging him to remember
+that he had always declared the defence of the Escaut to be, impossible!
+
+The cabal made a great noise to cover this monstrous audacity, and
+endeavoured to renew the attack against the Duc de Bourgogne. We shall
+see what success attended their efforts. The army was at Soissons, near
+Tournai, in a profound tranquillity, the opium of which had gained the
+Duc de Bourgogne when news of the approach of the enemy was brought.
+M. de Vendome advanced in that direction, and sent word to the Duke, that
+he thought he ought to advance on the morrow with all his army. The Duke
+was going to bed when he received the letter; and although it was too
+late to repulse the enemy, was much blamed for continuing to undress
+himself, and putting off action till the morrow.
+
+To this fault he added another. He had eaten; it was very early; and it
+was no longer proper to march. It was necessary to wait fresh orders
+from M. de Vendome. Tournai was near. The Duc de Bourgogne went there
+to have a game at tennis. This sudden party of pleasure strongly
+scandalized the army, and raised all manner of unpleasant talk.
+Advantage was taken of the young Prince's imprudence to throw upon him
+the blame of what was caused by the negligence of M. de Vendome.
+
+A serious and disastrous action that took place during these operations
+was actually kept a secret from the King, until the Duc de la Tremoille,
+whose son was engaged there, let out the truth. Annoyed that the King
+said nothing to him on the way in which his son had distinguished
+himself, he took the opportunity, whilst he was serving the King, to talk
+of the passage of the Escaut, and said that his son's regiment had much
+suffered. "How, suffered?" cried the King; "nothing has happened."
+Whereupon the Duke related all to him. The King listened with the
+greatest attention, and questioned him, and admitted before everybody
+that he knew nothing of all this. His surprise, and the surprise it
+occasioned, may be imagined. It happened that when the King left table,
+Chamillart unexpectedly came into his cabinet. He was soon asked about
+the action of the Escaut, and why it had not been reported. The
+minister, embarrassed, said that it was a thing of no consequence. The
+king continued to press him, mentioned details, and talked of the
+regiment of the Prince of Tarento. Chamillart then admitted that what
+happened at the passage was so disagreeable, and the combat so
+disagreeable, but so little important, that Madame de Maintenon, to whom
+he had reported all, had thought it best not to trouble the King upon the
+matter, and it had accordingly been agreed not to trouble him. Upon this
+singular answer the King stopped short in his questions, and said not a
+word more.
+
+The Escaut being forced, the citadel of Lille on the point of being
+taken, our army exhausted with fatigue was at last dispersed, to the
+scandal of everybody; for it was known that Ghent was about to be
+besieged. The Princes received orders to return to Court, but they
+insisted on the propriety of remaining with the army. M. de Vendome, who
+began to fear the effect of his rashness and insolence, tried to obtain
+permission to pass the winter with the army on the frontier.
+
+He was not listened to. The Princes received orders most positively to
+return to Court, and accordingly set out.
+
+The Duchesse de Bourgogne was very anxious about the way in which the
+Duke was to be received, and eager to talk to him and explain how matters
+stood, before he saw the King or anybody else. I sent a message to him
+that he ought to contrive to arrive after midnight, in order to pass two
+or three hours with the Duchess, and perhaps see Madame de Maintenon
+early in the morning. My message was not received; at any rate not
+followed. The Duc de Bourgogne arrived on the 11th of December, a little
+after seven o'clock in the evening, just as Monseigneur had gone to the
+play, whither the Duchess had not gone, in order to wait for her husband.
+I know not why he alighted in the Cour des Princes, instead of the Great
+Court. I was put then in the apartments of the Comtesse de Roncy, from
+which I could see all that passed. I came down, and saw the Prince
+ascending the steps between the Ducs de Beauvilliers and De la
+Rocheguyon, who happened to be there. He looked quite satisfied, was
+gay, and laughing, and spoke right and left. I bowed to him. He did me
+the honour to embrace me in a way that showed me he knew better what was
+going on than how to maintain his dignity. He then talked only to me,
+and whispered that he knew what I had said. A troop of courtiers met
+him. In their midst he passed the Great Hall of the Guards, and instead
+of going to Madame de Maintenon's by the private door, though the nearest
+way, went to the great public entrance. There was no one there but the
+King and Madame de Maintenon, with Pontchartrain; for I do not count the
+Duchesse de Bourgogne. Pontchartrain noted well what passed at the
+interview, and related it all to me that very evening.
+
+As soon as in Madame de Maintenon's apartment was heard the rumour which
+usually precedes such an arrival, the King became sufficiently
+embarrassed to change countenance several times. The Duchesse de
+Bourgogne appeared somewhat tremulous, and fluttered about the room to
+hide her trouble, pretending not to know exactly by which door the Prince
+would arrive. Madame de Maintenon was thoughtful. Suddenly all the
+doors flew open: the young Prince advanced towards the King, who, master
+of himself, more than any one ever was, lost at once all embarrassment,
+took two or three steps towards his grandson, embraced him with some
+demonstration of tenderness, spoke of his voyage, and then pointing to
+the Princess, said, with a smiling countenance: "Do you say nothing to
+her?" The Prince turned a moment towards her, and answered respectfully,
+as if he dared not turn away from the King, and did not move. He then
+saluted Madame de Maintenon, who received him well. Talk of travel,
+beds, roads, and so forth, lasted, all standing, some half-quarter of an
+hour; then the King said it would not be fair to deprive him any longer
+of the pleasure of being alone with Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and
+that they would have time enough to see each other. The Prince made a
+bow to the King, another to Madame de Maintenon, passed before the few
+ladies of the palace who had taken courage to put their heads into the
+room, entered the neighbouring cabinet, where he embraced the Duchess,
+saluted the ladies who were there, that is, kissed them; remained a few
+moments, and then went into his apartment, where he shut himself up with
+the Duchesse de Bourgogne.
+
+Their tete-a-tete lasted two hours and more: just towards the end, Madame
+d'O was let in; soon after the Marechal d'Estrees entered, and soon after
+that the Duchesse de Bourgogne came out with them, and returned into the
+great cabinet of Madame de Maintenon. Monseigneur came there as usual,
+on returning from the comedy. Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, troubled
+that the Duke did not hurry himself to come and salute his father, went
+to fetch him, and came back saying that he was putting on his powder; but
+observing that Monseigneur was little satisfied with this want of
+eagerness, sent again to hurry him. Just then the Marechale d'Estrees,
+hair-brained and light, and free to say just what came into her head,
+began to attack Monseigneur for waiting so tranquilly for his son,
+instead of going himself to embrace him. This random expression did not
+succeed. Monseigneur replied stiffly that it was not for him to seek the
+Duc de Bourgogne; but the duty of the Duc de Bourgogne to seek him. He
+came at last. The reception was pretty good, but did not by any means
+equal that of the King. Almost immediately the King rang, and everybody
+went to the supper-room.
+
+During the supper, M. le Duc de Berry arrived, and came to salute the
+King at table. To greet him all hearts opened. The King embraced him
+very tenderly. Monseigneur only looked at him tenderly, not daring to
+embrace his (youngest) son in presence of the King. All present courted
+him. He remained standing near the King all the rest of the supper, and
+there was no talk save of post-horses, of roads, and such like trifles.
+The King spoke sufficiently at table to Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne;
+but to the Duc de Berry, he assumed a very different air. Afterwards,
+there was a supper for the Duc de Berry in the apartments of the Duchesse
+de Bourgogne; but the conjugal impatience of the Duc de Bourgogne cut it
+rather too short.
+
+I expressed to the Duc de Beauvilliers, with my accustomed freedom, that
+the Duc de Bourgogne seemed to me very gay on returning from so sad a
+campaign. He could not deny this, and made up his mind to give a hint on
+the subject. Everybody indeed blamed so misplaced a gaiety. Two or
+three days after his arrival the Duc de Bourgogne passed three hours with
+the King in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon. I was afraid that,
+his piety would withhold him from letting out on the subject of M. de
+Vendome, but I heard that he spoke on that subject without restraint,
+impelled by the advice of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and also by the Duc
+de Beauvilliers, who set his conscience at ease. His account of the
+campaign, of affairs, of things, of advices, of proceedings, was
+complete. Another, perhaps, less virtuous, might have used weightier
+terms; but at any rate everything was said with a completeness beyond all
+hope, if we consider who spoke and who listened. The Duke concluded with
+an eager prayer to be given an army in the next campaign, and with the
+promise of the King to that effect. Soon after an explanation took place
+with Monseigneur at Meudon, Mademoiselle Choin being present. With the
+latter he spoke much more in private: she had taken his part with
+Monseigneur. The Duchesse de Bourgogne had gained her over. The
+connection of this girl with Madame de Maintenon was beginning to grow
+very close indeed.
+
+Gamaches had been to the army with the Duc do Bourgogne, and being a
+free-tongued man had often spoken out very sharply on the puerilities in
+which he indulged in company with the Duc de Berry, influenced by his
+example. One day returning from mass, in company with the Duke on a
+critical day, when he would rather have seen him on horseback; he said
+aloud, "You will certainly win the kingdom of heaven; but as for the
+kingdom of the earth, Prince Eugene and Marlborough know how to seek it
+better than you." What he said quite as publicly to the two Princes on
+their treatment of the King of England, was admirable. That Prince
+(known as the Chevalier de Saint George) served incognito, with a modesty
+that the Princes took advantage of to treat him with the greatest
+indifference and contempt. Towards the end of the campaign, Gamaches,
+exasperated with their conduct, exclaimed to them in the presence of
+everybody: "Is this a wager? speak frankly; if so, you have won, there
+can be no doubt of that; but now, speak a little to the Chevalier de
+Saint George, and treat him more politely." These sallies, however, were
+too public to produce any good effect. They were suffered, but not
+attended to.
+
+The citadel of Lille capitulated as we have seen, with the consent of the
+King, who was obliged to acknowledge that the Marechal de Boufflers had
+done all he could, and that further defence was impossible. Prince
+Eugene treated Boufflers with the greatest possible consideration. The
+enemy at this time made no secret of their intention to invest Ghent,
+which made the dispersal of our army the more shameful; but necessity
+commanded, for no more provisions were to be got.
+
+M. de Vendome arrived at Versailles on the morning of December 15th, and
+saluted the King as he left table. The King embraced him with a sort of
+enthusiasm that made his cabal triumph. He monopolised all conversation
+during the dinner, but only trifles were talked of. The King said he
+would talk to him next day at Madame de Maintenon's. This delay, which
+was new to him, did not seem of good augury. He went to pay his respects
+to M. de Bourgogne, who received him well in spite of all that had
+passed. Then Vendome went to wait on Monseigneur at the Princesse de
+Coriti's: here he thought himself in his stronghold. He was received
+excellently, and the conversation turned on nothings. He wished to take
+advantage of this, and proposed a visit to Anet. His surprise and that
+of those present were great at the uncertain reply of Monseigneur, who
+caused it to be understood, and rather stiffly too, that he would not go.
+Vendome appeared embarrassed, and abridged his visit. I met him at the
+end of the gallery of the new wing, as I was coming from M. de
+Beauvilliers, turning towards the steps in the middle of the gallery. He
+was alone, without torches or valets, with Alberoni, followed by a man I
+did not know. I saw him by the light of my torches; we saluted each
+other politely, though we had not much acquaintance one with the other.
+He seemed chagrined, and was going to M. du Maine, his counsel and
+principal support.
+
+Next day he passed an hour with the King at Madame de Maintenon's. He
+remained eight or ten days at Versailles or at Meudon, and never went to
+the Duchesse de Bourgogne's. This was nothing new for him. The mixture
+of grandeur and irregularity which he had long affected seemed to him to
+have freed him from the most indispensable duties. His Abbe Alberoni
+showed himself at the King's mass in the character of a courtier with
+unparalleled effrontery. At last they went to Anet. Even before he went
+he perceived some diminution in his position, since he lowered himself so
+far as to invite people to come and see him, he, who in former years made
+it a favour to receive the most distinguished persons. He soon perceived
+the falling-off in the number of his visitors. Some excused themselves
+from going; others promised to go and did not. Every one made a
+difficulty about a journey of fifteen leagues, which, the year before,
+was considered as easy and as necessary as that of Marly. Vendome
+remained at Anet until the first voyage to Marly, when he came; and he
+always came to Marly and Meudon, never to Versailles, until the change of
+which I shall soon have occasion to speak.
+
+The Marechal de Boufflers returned to Court from his first but
+unsuccessful defence of Lille, and was received in a triumphant manner,
+and overwhelmed with honours and rewards. This contrast with Vendome was
+remarkable: the one raised by force of trickery, heaping up mountains
+like the giants, leaning on vice, lies, audacity, on a cabal inimical to
+the state and its heirs, a factitious hero, made such by will in despite
+of truth;--the other, without cabal, with no support but virtue and
+modesty, was inundated with favours, and the applause of enemies was
+followed by the acclamations of the public, so that the nature of even
+courtiers changed, and they were happy in the recompenses showered upon
+him!
+
+Some days after the return of the Duc de Bourgogne Cheverny had an
+interview with him, on leaving which he told me what I cannot refrain
+from relating here, though it is necessarily with confusion that I write
+it. He said that, speaking freely with him on what had been circulated
+during the campaign, the Prince observed that he knew how and with what
+vivacity I had expressed myself, and that he was informed of the manner
+in which the Prince de Conti had given his opinion, and added that with
+the approval of two such men, that of others might be dispensed with.
+Cheverny, a very truthful man, came full of this to tell it to me at
+once. I was filled with confusion at being placed beside a man as
+superior to me in knowledge of war as he was in rank and birth; but I
+felt with gratitude how well M. de Beauvilliers had kept his word and
+spoken in my favour.
+
+The last evening of this year (1708) was very remarkable, because there
+had not yet been an example of any such thing. The King having retired
+after supper to his cabinet with his family, as usual, Chamillart came
+without being sent for. He whispered in the King's ear that he had a
+long despatch from the Marechal de Boufflers. Immediately the King said
+good-night to Monseigneur and the Princesses, who went out with every one
+else; and the King actually worked for an hour with his minister before
+going to bed, so excited was he by the great project for retaking Lille!
+
+Since the fall of Lille, in fact, Chamillart, impressed with the
+importance of the place being in our possession, had laid out a plan by
+which he were to lay siege to it and recapture it. One part of his plan
+was, that the King should conduct the siege in person. Another was that,
+as money was so difficult to obtain, the ladies of the Court should not
+accompany the King, as their presence caused a large increase of expense
+for carriages, servants, and so on. He confided his project to the King,
+under a strict promise that it would be kept secret from Madame de
+Maintenon. He feared, and with reason, that if she heard of it she would
+object to being separated from the King for such a long time as would be
+necessary for the siege: Chamillart was warned that if he acted thus,
+hiding his plant from Madame de Maintenon, to whom he owed everything,
+she would assuredly ruin him, but he paid no attention to the warning.
+He felt all the danger he ran, but he was courageous; he loved the State,
+and, if I may say so, he loved the King as a mistress. He followed his
+own counsels then, and made the King acquainted with his project.
+
+The King was at once delighted with it. He entered into the details
+submitted to him by Chamillart with the liveliest interest, and promised
+to carry out all that was proposed. He sent for Boufflers, who had
+returned from Lille, and having, as I have said, recompensed him for his
+brave defence of that place with a peerage and other marks of favour,
+despatched him privately into Flanders to make preparations for the
+siege. The abandonment of Ghent by our troop, after a short and
+miserable defence, made him more than ever anxious to carry out this
+scheme.
+
+But the King had been so unused to keep a secret from Madame de
+Maintenon, that he felt himself constrained in attempting to do so now.
+He confided to her, therefore, the admirable plan of Chamillart. She had
+the address to hide her surprise, and the strength to dissimulate
+perfectly her vexation; she praised the project; she appeared charmed
+with it; she entered into the details; she spoke of them to Chamillart;
+admired his zeal, his labour, his diligence, and, above all, his ability,
+in having conceived and rendered possible so fine and grand a project.
+
+From that moment, however, she forgot nothing in order to ensure its
+failure. The first sight of it had made her tremble. To be separated
+from the King during a long siege; to abandon him to a minister to whom
+he would be grateful for all the success of that siege; a minister, too,
+who, although her creature, had dared to submit this project to the King
+without informing her; who, moreover, had recently offended her by
+marrying his son into a family she considered inimical to her, and by
+supporting M. de Vendome against Monseigneur de Bourgogne! These were
+considerations that determined her to bring about the failure of
+Chamillart's project and the disgrace of Chamillart himself.
+
+She employed her art so well, that after a time the project upon Lille
+did not appear so easy to the King as at first. Soon after, it seemed
+difficult; then too hazardous and ruinous; so that at last it was
+abandoned, and Boufflers had orders to cease his preparations and return
+to France! She succeeded thus in an affair she considered the most
+important she had undertaken during all her life. Chamillart was much
+touched, but little surprised: As soon as he knew his secret had been
+confided to Madame de Maintenon he had feeble hope for it. Now he began
+to fear for himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+One of the reasons Madame de Maintenon had brought forward, which much
+assisted her in opposing the siege of Lille, was the excessive cold of
+this winter. The winter was, in fact, terrible; the memory of man could
+find no parallel to it. The frost came suddenly on Twelfth Night, and
+lasted nearly two months, beyond all recollection. In four days the
+Seine and all the other rivers were frozen, and,--what had never been
+seen before,--the sea froze all along the coasts, so as to bear carts,
+even heavily laden, upon it. Curious observers pretended that this cold
+surpassed what had ever been felt in Sweden and Denmark. The tribunals
+were closed a considerable time. The worst thing was, that it completely
+thawed for seven or eight days, and then froze again as rudely as before.
+This caused the complete destruction of all kinds of vegetation--even
+fruit-trees; and others of the most hardy kind, were destroyed. The
+violence of the cold was such, that the strongest elixirs and the most
+spirituous liquors broke their bottles in cupboards of rooms with fires
+in them, and surrounded by chimneys, in several parts of the chateau of
+Versailles. As I myself was one evening supping with the Duc de
+Villeroy, in his little bedroom, I saw bottles that had come from a well-
+heated kitchen, and that had been put on the chimney-piece of this bed-
+room (which was close to the kitchen), so frozen, that pieces of ice fell
+into our glasses as we poured out from them. The second frost ruined
+everything. There were no walnut-trees, no olive-trees, no apple-trees,
+no vines left, none worth speaking of, at least. The other trees died in
+great numbers; the gardens perished, and all the grain in the earth. It
+is impossible to imagine the desolation of this general ruin. Everybody
+held tight his old grain. The price of bread increased in proportion to
+the despair for the next harvest. The most knowing resowed barley where
+there had been wheat, and were imitated by the majority. They were the
+most successful, and saved all; but the police bethought themselves of
+prohibiting this, and repented too late! Divers edicts were published
+respecting grain, researches were made and granaries filled;
+commissioners were appointed to scour the provinces, and all these steps
+contributed to increase the general dearness and poverty, and that, too,
+at a time when, as was afterwards proved, there was enough corn in the
+country to feed all France for two years, without a fresh ear being
+reaped.
+
+Many people believed that the finance gentlemen had clutched at this
+occasion to seize upon all the corn in the kingdom, by emissaries they
+sent about, in order to sell it at whatever price they wished for the
+profit of the King, not forgetting their own. The fact that a large
+quantity of corn that the King had bought, and that had spoiled upon the
+Loire, was thrown into the water in consequence, did not shake this
+opinion, as the accident could not be hidden. It is certain that the
+price of corn was equal in all the markets of the realm; that at Paris,
+commissioners fixed the price by force, and often obliged the vendors to
+raise it in spite of themselves; that when people cried out, "How long
+will this scarcity last?" some commissioners in a market, close to my
+house, near Saint Germain-des-Pres, replied openly, "As long as you
+please," moved by compassion and indignation, meaning thereby, as long as
+the people chose to submit to the regulation, according to which no corn
+entered Paris, except on an order of D'Argenson. D'Argenson was the
+lieutenant of police. The bakers were treated with the utmost rigour in
+order to keep up the price of bread all over France. In the provinces,
+officers called intendents did what D'Argenson did at Paris. On all the
+markets, the corn that was not sold at the hour fixed for closing was
+forcibly carried off; those who, from pity, sold their corn lower than
+the fixed rate were punished with cruelty!
+
+Marechal, the King's surgeon, had the courage and the probity to tell all
+these things to the King, and to state the sinister opinions it gave rise
+to among all classes, even the most enlightened. The King appeared
+touched, was not offended with Marechal, but did nothing.
+
+In several places large stores of corn were collected; by the government
+authorities, but with the greatest possible secrecy. Private people were
+expressly forbidden to do this, and informers were encouraged to; betray
+them. A poor fellow, having bethought himself of informing against one
+of the stores alluded to above, was severely punished for his pains. The
+Parliament assembled to debate upon these disorders. It came to the
+resolution of submitting various proposals to the King, which it deemed
+likely to improve the condition of the country, and offered to send its
+Conseillers to examine into the conduct of the monopolists. As soon as
+the King heard of this, he flew into a strange passion, and his first
+intention was to send a harsh message to the Parliament to attend to law
+trials, and not to mix with matters that did not concern it. The
+chancellor did not dare to represent to, the King that what the
+Parliament wished to do belonged to its province, but calmed him by
+representing the respect and affection with which the Parliament regarded
+him, and that he was master either to accept or refuse its offers. No
+reprimand was given, therefore, to the Parliament, but it was informed
+that the King prohibited it from meddling with the corn question.
+However accustomed the Parliament, as well as all the other public
+bodies, might be to humiliations, it was exceedingly vexed by this
+treatment, and obeyed with the greatest grief. The public was,
+nevertheless, much affected by the conduct of the Parliament, and felt
+that if the Finance Ministry had been innocent in the matter, the King
+would have been pleased with what had taken place, which was in no
+respect an attack on the absolute and unbounded authority of which he was
+so vilely jealous.
+
+In the country a somewhat similar incident occurred. The Parliament of
+Burgundy, seeing the province in the direst necessity, wrote to the
+Intendant, who did not bestir himself the least in the world. In this
+pressing danger of a murderous famine, the members assembled to debate
+upon the course to adopt. Nothing was said or done more than was
+necessary, and all with infinite discretion, yet the King was no sooner
+informed of it than he grew extremely irritated. He sent a severe
+reprimand to this Parliament; prohibited it from meddling again in the
+matter; and ordered the President, who had conducted the assembly, to
+come at once to Court to explain his conduct. He came, and but for the
+intervention of M. le Duc would have been deprived of his post,
+irreproachable as his conduct had been. He received a sharp scolding
+from the King, and was then allowed to depart. At the end of a few weeks
+he returned to Dijon, where it had been resolved to receive him in
+triumph; but, like a wise and experienced man, he shunned these
+attentions, arranging so that he arrived at Dijon at four o'clock in the
+morning. The other Parliaments, with these examples before them, were
+afraid to act, and allowed the Intendants and their emissaries to have it
+all their own way. It was at this time that those commissioners were
+appointed, to whom I have already alluded, who acted under the authority
+of the Intendants, and without dependence of any kind upon the
+Parliaments. True, a court of appeal against their decisions was
+established, but it was a mere mockery. The members who composed it did
+not set out to fulfil their duties until three months after having been
+appointed.
+
+Then, matters had been so arranged that they received no appeals, and
+found no cases to judge. All this dark work remained, therefore, in the
+hands of D'Argenson and the Intendants, and it continued to be done with
+the same harshness as ever.
+
+Without passing a more definite judgment on those who invented and
+profited by this scheme, it may be said that there has scarcely been a
+century which has produced one more mysterious, more daring, better
+arranged, and resulting in an oppression so enduring, so sure, so cruel.
+The sums it produced were innumerable; and innumerable were the people
+who died literally of hunger, and those who perished afterwards of the
+maladies caused by the extremity of misery; innumerable also were the
+families who were ruined, whose ruin brought down a torrent of other
+ills.
+
+Despite all this, payments hitherto most strictly made began to cease.
+Those of the customs, those of the divers loans, the dividends upon the
+Hotel de Ville--in all times so sacred--all were suspended; these last
+alone continued, but with delays, then with retrenchments, which
+desolated nearly all the families of Paris and many others. At the same
+time the taxes--increased, multiplied, and exacted with the most extreme
+rigour--completed the devastation of France.
+
+Everything rose incredibly in price, while nothing was left to buy with,
+even at the cheapest rate; and although--the majority of the cattle had
+perished for want of food, and by the misery of those who kept them, a
+new monopoly was established upon, horned beasts. A great number of
+people who, in preceding years, used to relieve the poor, found,
+themselves so reduced as to be able to subsist only with great
+difficulty, and many of them received alms in secret. It is impossible
+to say how many others laid siege to the hospitals, until then the
+shame and punishment of the poor; how many ruined hospitals revomited
+forth their inmates to the public charge--that is to say, sent them away
+to die actually of hunger; and how many decent families shut themselves
+up in garrets to die of want.
+
+It is impossible to say, moreover, how all this misery warmed up zeal and
+charity, or how immense were the alms distributed. But want increasing
+each instant, an indiscreet and tyrannical charity imagined new taxes for
+the benefit of the poor. They were imposed, and, added to so many
+others, vexed numbers of people, who were annoyed at being compelled to
+pay, who would have preferred giving voluntarily. Thus, these new taxes,
+instead of helping the poor, really took away assistance from them, and
+left them worse off than before. The strangest thing of all is, that
+these taxes in favour of the poor were, perpetuated and appropriated by
+the King, and are received by the financiers on his account to this day
+as a branch of the revenue, the name of them not having even been
+changed. The same thing has happened with respect to the annual tax for
+keeping up the highways and thoroughfares of the kingdom. The majority
+of the bridges were broken, and the high roads had become impracticable.
+Trade, which suffered by this, awakened attention. The Intendant of
+Champagne determined to mend the roads by parties of men, whom he
+compelled to work for nothing, not even giving them bread. He was
+imitated everywhere, and was made Counsellor of State. The people died
+of hunger and misery at this work, while those who overlooked them made
+fortunes. In the end the thing was found to be impracticable, and was
+abandoned, and so were the roads. But the impost for making them and
+keeping them up did not in the least stop during this experiment or
+since, nor has it ceased to be appropriated as a branch of the King's
+revenue.
+
+But to return to the year 1709. People never ceased wondering what had
+become of all the money of the realm. Nobody could any longer pay,
+because nobody was paid: the country-people, overwhelmed with exactions
+and with valueless property, had become insolvent: trade no longer
+yielded anything--good faith and confidence were at an end. Thus the
+King had no resources, except in terror and in his unlimited power,
+which, boundless as it was, failed also for want of having something to
+take and to exercise itself upon. There was no more circulation, no
+means of re-establishing it. All was perishing step by step; the realm
+was entirely exhausted; the troops, even, were not paid, although no one
+could imagine what was done with the millions that came into the King's
+coffers. The unfed soldiers, disheartened too at being so badly
+commanded, were always unsuccessful; there was no capacity in generals or
+ministers; no appointment except by whim or intrigue; nothing was
+punished, nothing examined, nothing weighed: there was equal impotence to
+sustain the war and bring about peace: all suffered, yet none dared to
+put the hand to this arch, tottering as it was and ready to fall.
+
+This was the frightful state to which we were reduced, when envoys were
+sent into Holland to try and bring about peace. The picture is exact,
+faithful, and not overcharged. It was necessary to present it as it was,
+in order to explain the extremity to which we were reduced, the enormity
+of the concessions which the King made to obtain peace, and the visible
+miracle of Him who sets bounds to the seas, by which France was allowed
+to escape from the hands of Europe, resolved and ready to destroy her.
+
+Meanwhile the money was re-coined; and its increase to a third more than
+its intrinsic value, brought some profit to the King, but ruin to private
+people, and a disorder to trade which completed its annihilation.
+
+Samuel Bernard, the banker, overthrew all Lyons by his prodigious
+bankruptcy, which caused the most terrible results. Desmarets assisted
+him as much as possible. The discredit into which paper money had
+fallen, was the cause of his failure. He had issued notes to the amount
+of twenty millions, and owed almost as much at Lyons. Fourteen millions
+were given to him in assignats, in order to draw him out of his
+difficulties. It is pretended that he found means to gain much by his
+bankruptcy, but this seems doubtful.
+
+The winter at length passed away. In the spring so many disorders took
+place in the market of Paris, that more guards than usual were kept in
+the city. At Saint Roch there was a disturbance, on account of a poor
+fellow who had fallen, and been trampled under foot; and the crowd, which
+was very large, was very insolent to D'Argenson, Lieutenant of Police,
+who had hastened there. M. de la Rochefoucauld, who had retired from the
+Court to Chenil, on account of his loss of sight, received an atrocious
+letter against the King, in which it was plainly intimated that there
+were still Ravaillacs left in the world; and to this madness was added an
+eulogy of Brutus. M. de la Rochefoucauld at once went in all haste to
+the King with this letter. His sudden appearance showed that something
+important had occurred, and the object of his visit, of course, soon
+became known. He was very ill received for coming so publicly on such an
+errand. The Ducs de Beauvilliers and de Bouillon, it seems, had received
+similar letters, but had given them to the King privately. The King for
+some days was much troubled, but after due reflection, he came to the
+conclusion that people who menace and warn have less intention of
+committing a crime than of causing alarm.
+
+What annoyed the King more was, the inundation of placards, the most
+daring and the most unmeasured, against his person, his conduct, and his
+government--placards, which for a long time were found pasted upon the
+gates of Paris, the churches, the public places; above all upon the
+statues; which during the night were insulted in various fashions, the
+marks being seen the next morning, and the inscriptions erased. There
+were also, multitudes of verses and songs, in which nothing was spared.
+
+We were in this state until the 16th of May. The procession of Saint
+Genevieve took place. This procession never takes place except in times
+of the direst necessity; and then, only in virtue of orders from the
+King, the Parliament, or the Archbishop of Paris. On the one hand, it
+was hoped that it would bring succour to the country; on the other, that
+it would amuse the people.
+
+It was shortly after this, when the news of the arrogant demands of the
+allies, and the vain attempts of the King to obtain an honourable peace
+became known, that the Duchesse de Grammont conceived the idea of
+offering her plate to the King, to replenish his impoverished exchequer,
+and to afford him means carry on the war. She hoped that her example
+would be followed by all the Court, and that she alone would have the
+merit and the profit of suggesting the idea. Unfortunately for this
+hope, the Duke, her husband, spoke of the project to Marechal Boufflers,
+who thought it so good, that he noised it abroad, and made such a stir,
+exhorting everybody to adopt it, that he passed for the inventor, and; no
+mention was made of the Duke or the old Duchesse de Grammont, the latter
+of whom was much enraged at this.
+
+The project made a great hubbub at the Court. Nobody dared to refuse to
+offer his plate, yet each offered it with much regret. Some had been
+keeping it as a last resource, which they; were very sorry to deprive
+themselves of; others feared the dirtiness of copper and earthenware;
+others again were annoyed at being obliged to imitate an ungrateful
+fashion, all the merit of which would go to the inventor. It was in vain
+that Pontchartrain objected to the project, as one from which only
+trifling benefit could be derived, and which would do great injury to
+France by acting as a proclamation of its embarrassed state to all the
+world, at home and abroad. The King would not listen to his reasonings,
+but declared himself willing to receive all the plate that was sent to
+him as a free-will offering. He announced this; and two means were
+indicated at the same time, which all good citizens might follow. One
+was, to send their plate to the King's goldsmith; the other, to send it
+to the Mint. Those who made an unconditional gift of their plate, sent
+it to the former, who kept a register of the names and of the number of
+marks he received. The King regularly looked over this list; at least at
+first, and promised in general terms to restore to everybody the weight
+of metal they gave when his affairs permitted--a promise nobody believed
+in or hoped to see executed. Those who wished to be paid for their plate
+sent it to the Mint. It was weighed on arrival; the names were written,
+the marks and the date; payment was made according as money could be
+found. Many people were not sorry thus to sell, their plate without
+shame. But the loss and the damage were inestimable in admirable
+ornaments of all kinds, with which much of the plate of the rich was
+embellished. When an account came to be drawn up, it was found that not
+a hundred people were upon the list of Launay, the goldsmith; and the
+total product of the gift did not amount to three millions. I confess
+that I was very late in sending any plate. When I found that I was
+almost the only one of my rank using silver, I sent plate to the value of
+a thousand pistoles to the Mint, and locked up the rest. All the great
+people turned to earthenware, exhausted the shops where it was sold, and
+set the trade in it on fire, while common folks continued to use their
+silver. Even the King thought of using earthenware, having sent his gold
+vessels to the Mint, but afterwards decided upon plated metal and silver;
+the Princes and Princesses of the blood used crockery.
+
+Ere three months were over his head the King felt all the shame and the
+weakness of having consented to this surrendering of plate, and avowed
+that he repented of it. The inundations of the Loire, which happened at
+the same time, and caused the utmost disorder, did not restore the Court
+or the public to good humour. The losses they caused, and the damage
+they did, were very considerable, and ruined many private people, and
+desolated home trade.
+
+Summer came. The dearness of all things, and of bread in particular,
+continued to cause frequent commotions all over the realm. Although, as
+I have said, the guards of Paris were much increased, above all in the
+markets and the suspected places, they were unable to hinder disturbances
+from breaking out. In many of these D'Argenson nearly lost his life.
+
+Monseigneur arriving and returning from the Opera, was assailed by the
+populace and by women in great numbers crying, "Bread! Bread!" so that
+he was afraid, even in the midst of his guards, who did not dare to
+disperse the crowd for fear of worse happening. He got away by throwing
+money to the people, and promising wonders; but as the wonders did not
+follow, he no longer dared to go to Paris.
+
+The King himself from his windows heard the people of Versailles crying
+aloud in the street. The discourses they held were daring and continual
+in the streets and public places; they uttered complaints, sharp, and but
+little measured, against the government, and even against the King's
+person; and even exhorted each other no longer to be so enduring, saying
+that nothing worse could happen to them than what they suffered, dying as
+they were of starvation.
+
+To amuse the people, the idle and the poor were employed to level a
+rather large hillock which remained upon the Boulevard, between the
+Portes Saint Denis and Saint Martin; and for all salary, bad bread in
+small quantities was distributed to these workers. If happened that on
+Tuesday morning, the 20th of August, there was no bread for a large
+number of these people. A woman amongst others cried out at this, which
+excited the rest to do likewise. The archers appointed to watch over
+these labourers, threatened the woman; she only cried the louder;
+thereupon the archers seized her and indiscreetly put her in an adjoining
+pillory. In a moment all her companions ran to her aid, pulled down the
+pillory, and scoured the streets, pillaging the bakers and pastrycooks.
+One by one the shops closed. The disorder increased and spread through
+the neighbouring streets; no harm was done anybody, but the cry was
+"Bread! Bread!" and bread was seized everywhere.
+
+It so fell out that Marechal Boufflers, who little thought what was
+happening, was in the neighbourhood, calling upon his notary. Surprised
+at the fright he saw everywhere, and learning, the cause, he wished of
+himself to appease it. Accompanied by the Duc de Gramont, he directed
+himself towards the scene of the disturbance, although advised not to do
+so. When he arrived at the top of the Rue Saint Denis, the crowd and the
+tumult made him judge that it would be best to alight from his coach. He
+advanced, therefore, on foot with the Duc de Grammont among the furious
+and infinite crowd of people, of whom he asked the cause of this uproar,
+promised them bread, spoke his best with gentleness but firmness, and
+remonstrated with them. He was listened to. Cries, several times
+repeated, of "Vive M. le Marechal de Boufflers!" burst from the crowd.
+M. de Boufflers walked thus with M. de Grammont all along the Rue aux
+Ours and the neighbouring streets, into the very centre of the sedition,
+in fact. The people begged him to represent their misery to the King,
+and to obtain for them some food. He promised this, and upon his word
+being given all were appeased and all dispersed with thanks and fresh
+acclamations of "Vive M. le Marechal de Boufflers!" He did a real service
+that day. D'Argenson had marched to the spot with troops; and had it not
+been for the Marechal, blood would have been spilt, and things might have
+gone very far.
+
+The Marechal had scarcely reached his own house in the Place Royale than
+he was informed that the sedition had broken out with even greater force
+in the Faubourg Saint Antoine. He ran there immediately, with the Duc de
+Grammont, and appeased it as he had appeased the other. He returned to
+his own home to eat a mouthful or two, and then set out for Versailles.
+Scarcely had he left the Place Royale than the people in the streets and
+the shopkeepers cried to him to have pity on them, and to get them some
+bread, always with "Vive M. le Marechal de Boufflers!" He was conducted
+thus as far as the quay of the Louvre.
+
+On arriving at Versailles he went straight to the King, told him what had
+occurred, and was much thanked. He was even offered by the King the
+command of Paris,--troops, citizens, police, and all; but this he
+declined, Paris, as he said, having already a governor and proper
+officers to conduct its affairs. He afterwards, however, willingly lent
+his aid to them in office, and the modesty with which he acted brought
+him new glory.
+
+Immediately after, the supply of bread was carefully looked to. Paris
+was filled with patrols, perhaps with too many, but they succeeded so
+well that no fresh disturbances took place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+After his return from the campaign, M. de Vendome continued to be paid
+like a general serving in winter, and to enjoy many other advantages.
+From all this, people inferred that he would serve during the following
+campaign; nobody dared to doubt as much, and the cabal derived new
+strength therefrom. But their little triumph was not of long
+continuance. M. de Vendome came to Versailles for the ceremony of the
+Order on Candlemas-Day. He then learned that he was not to serve, and
+that he was no longer to receive general's pay. The blow was violent,
+and he felt it to its fullest extent; but, with a prudence that equalled
+his former imprudence, he swallowed the pill without making a face,
+because he feared other more bitter ones, which he felt he had deserved.
+This it was that, for the first time in his life, made him moderate. He
+did not affect to conceal what had taken place, but did not say whether
+it was in consequence of any request of his, or whether he was glad or
+sorry,--giving it out as an indifferent piece of news; and changed
+nothing but his language, the audacity of which he diminished as no
+longer suited to the times. He sold his equipages.
+
+M. le Prince de Conti died February 22, aged not quite forty-five. His
+face had been charming; even the defects of his body and mind had
+infinite graces. His shoulders were too high; his head was a little on
+one side; his laugh would have seemed a bray in any one else; his mind
+was strangely absent. He was gallant with the women, in love with many,
+well treated by several; he was even coquettish with men. He endeavoured
+to please the cobbler, the lackey, the porter, as well as the Minister of
+State, the Grand Seigneur, the General, all so naturally that success was
+certain. He was consequently the constant delight of every one, of the
+Court, the armies; the divinity of the people, the idol of the soldiers,
+the hero of the officers, the hope of whatever was most distinguished,
+the love of the Parliament, the friend of the learned, and often the
+admiration of the historian, of jurisconsults, of astronomers, and
+mathematicians, the most profound. He was especially learned in
+genealogies, and knew their chimeras and their realities. With him the
+useful and the polite, the agreeable and the deep, all was distinct and
+in its place. He had friends, knew how to choose them, cultivate them,
+visit them, live with them, put himself on their level without
+haughtiness or baseness. But this man, so amiable, so charming, so
+delicious, loved nothing. He had and desired friends, as other people
+have and desire articles of furniture. Although with much self-respect
+he was a humble courtier, and showed too much how greatly he was in want
+of support and assistance from all sides; he was avaricious, greedy of
+fortune, ardent and unjust. The King could not bear him, and was grieved
+with the respect he was obliged to show him, and which he was careful
+never to trespass over by a single jot. Certain intercepted letters had
+excited a hatred against him in Madame de Maintenon, and an indignation
+in the King which nothing could efface. The riches, the talents, the
+agreeable qualities, the great reputation which this Prince had acquired,
+the general love of all, became crimes in him. The contrast with M. du
+Maine excited daily irritation and jealousy. The very purity of his
+blood was a reproach to him. Even his friends were odious, and felt that
+this was so. At last, however, various causes made him to be chosen, in
+the midst of a very marked disgrace, to command the army in Flanders. He
+was delighted, and gave himself up to the most agreeable hopes. But it
+was no longer time: he had sought to drown his sorrow at wearing out his
+life unoccupied in wine and other pleasures, for which his age and his
+already enfeebled body were no longer suited. His health gave way. He
+felt it soon. The tardy return to favour which he had enjoyed made him
+regret life more. He perished slowly, regretting to have been brought to
+death's door by disgrace, and the impossibility of being restored by the
+unexpected opening of a brilliant career.
+
+The Prince, against the custom of those of his rank, had been very well
+educated. He was full of instruction. The disorders of his life had
+clouded his knowledge but not extinguished it, and he often read to brush
+up his learning. He chose M. de la Tour to prepare him, and help him to
+die well. He was so attached to life that all his courage was required.
+For three months crowds of visitors filled his palace, and the people
+even collected in the place before it. The churches echoed with prayers
+for his life. The members of his family often went to pay for masses for
+him; and found that others had already done so. All questions were about
+his health. People stopped each other in the street to inquire; passers-
+by were called to by shopmen, anxious to know whether the Prince de Conti
+was to live or to die. Amidst all this, Monseigneur never visited him;
+and, to the indignation of all Paris, passed along the quay near the
+Louvre going to the Opera, whilst the sacraments were being carried to
+the Prince on the other side. He was compelled by public opinion to make
+a short visit after this. The Prince died at last in his arm-chair,
+surrounded by a few worthy people. Regrets were universal; but perhaps
+he gained by his disgrace. His heart was firmer than his head. He might
+have been timid at the head of an army or in the Council of the King if
+he had entered it. The King was much relieved by his death; Madame de
+Maintenon also; M. le Duc much more; for M. du Maine it was a
+deliverance, and for M. de Vendome a consolation. Monseigneur learned it
+at Meudon as he was going out to hunt, and showed no feeling of any kind.
+
+The death of M. le Prince de Conti seemed to the Duc de Vendome a
+considerable advantage, because he was thus delivered from a rival most
+embarrassing by the superiority of his birth, just when he was about to
+be placed in a high military position. I have already mentioned
+Vendome's exclusion from command. The fall of this Prince of the Proud
+had been begun we have now reached the second step, between which and the
+third there was a space of between two and three months; but as the third
+had no connection with any other event, I will relate it at once.
+
+Whatever reasons existed to induce the King to take from M. de Vendome
+the command of his armies, I know not if all the art and credit of Madame
+de Maintenon would not have been employed in vain, together with the
+intrigues of M. du Maine, without an adventure, which I must at once
+explain, to set before the reader's eyes the issue of the terrible
+struggle, pushed to such extremes, between Vendome, seconded by his
+formidable cabal, and the necessary, heir of the Crown, supported by his
+wife, the favourite of the King, and Madame de Maintenon, which last; to
+speak clearly, as all the Court saw, for thirty years governed him
+completely.
+
+When M. de Vendome returned from Flanders, he had a short interview with
+the King, in which he made many bitter complaints against Pursegur, one
+of his lieutenant-generals, whose sole offence was that he was much
+attached to M. de Bourgogne. Pursegur was a great favourite with the
+King, and often, on account of the business of the infantry regiment, of
+which the thought himself the private colonel, had private interviews
+with him, and was held in high estimation for his capacity and virtue.
+He, in his turn, came back from Flanders, and had a private audience of
+the King. The complaints that had been made against him by M. de Vendome
+were repeated to him by the King, who, however, did not mention from whom
+they came. Pursegur defended himself so well, that the King in his
+surprise mentioned this latter fact. At the name of Vendome, Pursegur
+lost all patience. He described, to the King all the faults, the
+impertinences; the obstinacy, the insolence of M. de Vendome, with a
+precision and clearness which made his listener very attentive and very
+fruitful in questions. Pursegur, seeing that he might go on, gave
+himself rein, unmasked M. de Vendome from top to toe, described his
+ordinary life at the army, the incapacity of his body, the incapacity of
+his judgment, the prejudice of his mind, the absurdity and crudity of his
+maxims, his utter ignorance of the art of war, and showed to
+demonstration, that it was only by a profusion of miracles France had not
+been ruined by him--lost a hundred times over.
+
+The conversation lasted more than two hours. The' King, long since
+convinced of the capacity, fidelity, and truthfulness of Pursegur, at
+last opened his eyes to the truth respecting this Vendome, hidden with so
+much art until then, and regarded as a hero and the tutelary genius of
+France. He was vexed and ashamed of his credulity, and from the date of
+this conversation Vendome fell at once from his favour.
+
+Pursegur, naturally humble, gentle, and modest, but truthful, and on this
+occasion piqued, went out into the gallery after his conversation, and
+made a general report of it to all, virtuously, braving Vendome and all
+his cabal. This cabal trembled with rage; Vendome still more so. They
+answered by miserable reasonings, which nobody cared for. This was what
+led to the suppression of his pay, and his retirement to Anet, where he
+affected a philosophical indifference.
+
+Crestfallen as he was, he continued to sustain at Meudon and Marly the
+grand manners he had usurped at the time of his prosperity. After having
+got over the first embarrassment, he put on again his haughty air, and
+ruled the roast. To see him at Meudon you would have said he was
+certainly the master of the saloon, and by his free and easy manner to
+Monseigneur, and, when he dared, to the King, he would have been thought
+the principal person there. Monseigneur de Bourgogne supported this--his
+piety made him do so--but Madame de Bourgogne was grievously offended,
+and watched her opportunity to get rid of M. de Vendome altogether.
+
+It came, the first journey the King made to Marly after Easter. 'Brelan'
+was then the fashion. Monseigneur, playing at it one day with Madame de
+Bourgogne and others, and being in want of a fifth player, sent for M. de
+Vendome from the other end of the saloon, to come and join the party.
+That instant Madame de Bourgogne said modestly, but very intelligibly, to
+Monseigneur, that the presence of M. de Vendome at Marly was sufficiently
+painful to her, without having him at play with her, and that she begged
+he might be dispensed with. Monseigneur, who had sent for Vendome
+without the slightest reflection, looked round the room, and sent for
+somebody else. When Vendome arrived, his place was taken, and he had to
+suffer this annoyance before all the company. It may be imagined to what
+an extent this superb gentleman was stung by the affront. He served no
+longer; he commanded no longer; he was no longer the adored idol; he
+found himself in the paternal mansion of the Prince he had so cruelly
+offended, and the outraged wife of that Prince was more than a match for
+him. He turned upon his heel, absented himself from the room as soon as
+he could, and retired to his own chamber, there to storm at his leisure.
+
+Other and more cruel annoyances were yet in store for him, however.
+Madame de Bourgogne reflected on what had just taken place. The facility
+with which she had succeeded in one respect encouraged her, but she was a
+little troubled to know how the King would take what she had done, and
+accordingly, whilst playing, she resolved to push matters still further,
+both to ruin her guest utterly and to get out of her embarrassment; for,
+despite her extreme familiarity, she was easily embarrassed, being gentle
+and timid. The 'brelan' over, she ran to Madame de Maintenon; told her
+what had just occurred; said that the presence of M. de Vendome at Marly
+was a continual insult to her; and begged her to solicit the King to
+forbid M. de Vendome to come there. Madame de Maintenon, only too glad.
+to have an opportunity of revenging herself upon an enemy who had set her
+at defiance, and against whom all her batteries had at one time failed,
+consented to this request. She spoke out to the King, who, completely
+weary of M. de Vendome, and troubled to have under his eyes a man whom he
+could not doubt was discontented, at once granted what was asked. Before
+going to bed, he charged one of his valets to tell M. de Vendome the next
+morning, that henceforth he was to absent himself from Marly, his
+presence there being disagreeable to Madame de Bourgogne.
+
+It may be imagined into what an excess of despair M. de Vendome fell, at
+a message so unexpected, and which sapped the foundations of all his
+hopes. He kept silent, however, for fear of making matters worse, did
+not venture attempting, to speak to the King, and hastily retired to
+Clichy to hide his rage and shame. The news of his banishment from Marly
+soon spread abroad, and made so much stir, that to show it was not worth
+attention, he returned two days before the end of the visit, and stopped
+until the end in a continual shame and embarrassment. He set out for
+Anet at the same time that the King set out for Versailles, and has never
+since put his foot in Marly.
+
+But another bitter draught was to be mixed for him. Banished from Marly,
+he had yet the privilege of going to Meudon. He did not fail to avail
+himself of this every time Monseigneur was there, and stopped as long as
+he stopped, although in the times of his splendour he had never stayed
+more than one or two days. It was seldom that Monseigneur visited Meudon
+without Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne going to see him. And yet M. de
+Vendome never failed audaciously to present himself before her, as if to
+make her feel that at all events in Monseigneur's house he was a match
+for her. Guided by former experience, the Princess gently suffered this
+in silence, and watched her opportunity. It soon came.
+
+Two months afterwards it happened that, while Monseigneur was at Meudon,
+the King, Madame de Maintenon; and Madame de Bourgogne, came to dine with
+him. Madame de Maintenon wished to talk with Mademoiselle Choin without
+sending for her to Versailles, and the King, as may be believed, was in
+the secret. I mention this to account for the King's visit.
+M. de Vendome, who was at Meudon as usual, was stupid enough to present
+himself at the coach door as the King and his companions descended.
+Madame de Bourgogne was much offended, constrained herself less than
+usual, and turned away her head with affectation, after a sort of sham
+salute. He felt the sting, but had the folly to approach her again after
+dinner, while she was playing. He experienced the same treatment, but
+this time in a still more marked manner. Stung to the quick and out of
+countenance, he went up to his chamber, and did not descend until very
+late. During this time Madame de Bourgogne spoke to Monseigneur of the
+conduct of M. de Vendorne, and the same evening she addressed herself to
+Madame de Maintenon, and openly complained to the King. She represented
+to him how hard it was to her to be treated by Monseigneur with less
+respect than by the King: for while the latter had banished M. de Vendome
+from Marly, the former continued to grant him an asylum at Meudon.
+
+M. de Vendome, on his side, complained bitterly to Monseigneur of the
+strange persecution that he suffered everywhere from Madame de Bourgogne;
+but Monseigneur replied to him so coldly that he withdrew with tears in
+his eyes, determined, however, not to give up until he had obtained some
+sort of satisfaction. He set his friends to work to speak to
+Monseigneur; all they could draw from him was, that M. de Vendome must
+avoid Madame de Bourgogne whenever she came to Meudon, and that it was
+the smallest respect he owed her until she was reconciled to him. A
+reply so dry and so precise was cruelly felt; but M. de Vendome was not
+at the end of the chastisement he had more than merited. The next day
+put an end to all discussion upon the matter.
+
+He was card-playing after dinner in a private cabinet, when D'Antin
+arrived from Versailles. He approached the players, and asked what was
+the position of the game, with an eagerness which made M. de Vendome
+inquire the reason. D'Antin said he had to render an account to him of
+the matter he had entrusted him with.
+
+"I!" exclaimed Vendome, with surprise, "I have entrusted you with
+nothing."
+
+"Pardon me," replied D'Antin; "you do not recollect, then, that I have an
+answer to make to you?"
+
+From this perseverance M. de Vendome comprehended that something was
+amiss, quitted his game, and went into an obscure wardrobe with D'Antin,
+who told him that he had been ordered by the King to beg Monseigneur not
+to invite M. de Vendome to Meudon any more; that his presence there was
+as unpleasant to Madame de Bourgogne as it had been at Marly. Upon this,
+Vendome, transported with fury, vomited forth all that his rage inspired
+him with. He spoke to Monseigneur in the evening, but was listened to as
+coldly as before. Vendome passed the rest of his visit in a rage and
+embarrassment easy to conceive, and on the day Monseigneur returned to
+Versailles he hurried straight to Anet.
+
+But he was unable to remain quiet anywhere; so went off with his dogs,
+under pretence of going a hunting, to pass a month in his estate of La
+Ferme-Aleps, where he had no proper lodging and no society, and gave
+there free vent to his rage. Thence he returned again to Anet, where he
+remained abandoned by every one. Into this solitude, into this startling
+and public seclusion, incapable of sustaining a fall so complete, after a
+long habit of attaining everything, and doing everything he pleased, of
+being the idol of the world, of the Court, of the armies, of making his
+very vices adored, and his greatest faults admired, his defects
+commended, so that he dared to conceive the prodigious design of ruining
+and destroying the necessary heir of the Crown, though he had never
+received anything but evidences of tenderness from him, and triumphed
+over him for eight months with the most scandalous success; it was, I
+say, thus that this Colossus was overthrown by the breath of a prudent
+and courageous princess, who earned by this act merited applause. All
+who were concerned with her, were charmed to see of what she was capable;
+and all who were opposed to her and her husband trembled. The cabal, so
+formidable, so lofty, so accredited, so closely united to overthrow them,
+and reign, after the King, under Monseigneur in their place--these
+chiefs, male and female, so enterprising and audacious, fell now into
+mortal discouragement and fear. It was a pleasure to see them work their
+way back with art and extreme humility, and turn round those of the
+opposite party who remained influential, and whom they had hitherto
+despised; and especially to see with what embarrassment, what fear, what
+terror, they began to crawl before the young Princess, and wretchedly
+court the Duc de Bourgogne and his friends, and bend to them in the most
+extraordinary manner.
+
+As for M. de Vendome, without any resource, save what he found in his
+vices and his valets, he did not refrain from bragging among them of the
+friendship of Monseigneur for him, of which he said he was well assured.
+Violence had been done to Monseigneur's feelings. He was reduced to this
+misery of hoping that his words would be spread about by these valets,
+and would procure him some consideration from those who thought of the
+future. But the present was insupportable to him. To escape from it, he
+thought of serving in Spain, and wrote to Madame des Ursins asking
+employment. The King was annoyed at this step, and flatly refused to let
+him go to Spain. His intrigue, therefore, came to an end at once.
+
+Nobody gained more by the fall of M. de Vendome than Madame de Maintenon.
+Besides the joy she felt in overthrowing a man who, through M. du Maine,
+owed everything to her, and yet dared to resist her so long and
+successfully, she felt, also, that her credit became still more the
+terror of the Court; for no one doubted that what had occurred was a
+great example of her power. We shall presently see how she furnished
+another, which startled no less.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+It is time now to retrace my steps to the point from which I have been
+led away in relating all the incidents which arose out of the terrible
+winter and the scarcity it caused.
+
+The Court at that time beheld the renewal of a ministry; which from the
+time it had lasted was worn down to its very roots, and which was on
+that account only the more agreeable to the King. On the 20th of
+January, the Pere La Chaise, the confessor of the King, died at a very
+advanced age. He was of good family, and his father would have been rich
+had he not had a dozen children. Pere La Chaise succeeded in 1675 to
+Pere Ferrier as confessor of the King, and occupied that post thirty-two
+years. The festival of Easter often caused him politic absences during
+the attachment of the King for Madame de Montespan. On one occasion he
+sent in his place the Pere Deschamps, who bravely refused absolution.
+The Pere La Chaise was of mediocre mind but of good character, just,
+upright, sensible, prudent, gentle, and moderate, an enemy of informers,
+and of violence of every kind. He kept clear of many scandalous
+transactions, befriended the Archbishop of Cambrai as much as he could,
+refused to push the Port Royal des Champs to its destruction, and always
+had on his table a copy of the New Testament of Pere Quesnel, saying that
+he liked what was good wherever he found it. When near his eightieth
+year, with his head and his health still good, he wished to retire, but
+the King would not hear of it. Soon after, his faculties became worn
+out, and feeling this, he repeated his wish. The Jesuits, who perceived
+his failing more than he did himself, and felt the diminution of his
+credit, exhorted him to make way for another who should have the grace
+and zeal of novelty. For his part he sincerely desired repose, and he
+pressed the King to allow him to take it, but all in vain. He was
+obliged to bear his burthen to the very end. Even the infirmities and
+the decrepitude that afflicted could not deliver him. Decaying legs,
+memory extinguished, judgment collapsed, all his faculties confused,
+strange inconveniences for a confessor--nothing could disgust the King,
+and he persisted in having this corpse brought to him and carrying on
+customary business with it. At last, two days after a return from
+Versailles, he grew much weaker, received the sacrament, wrote with his
+own hand a long letter to the King, received a very rapid and hurried one
+in reply, and soon after died at five o'clock in the morning very
+peaceably. His confessor asked him two things, whether he had acted
+according to his conscience, and whether he had thought of the interests
+and honour of the company of Jesuits; and to both these questions he
+answered satisfactorily.
+
+The news was brought to the King as he came out of his cabinet. He
+received it like a Prince accustomed to losses, praised the Pere La
+Chaise for his goodness, and then said smilingly, before all the
+courtiers, and quite aloud, to the two fathers who had come to announce
+the death: "He was so good that I sometimes reproached him for it, and he
+used to reply to me: 'It is not I who am good; it is you who are hard.'"
+
+Truly the fathers and all the auditors were so surprised at this that
+they lowered their eyes. The remark spread directly; nobody was able to
+blame the Pere La Chaise. He was generally regretted, for he had done
+much good and never harm except in self-defence. Marechal, first surgeon
+of the King, and possessed of his confidence, related once to me and
+Madame de Saint-Simon, a very important anecdote referring to this time.
+He said that the King, talking to him privately of the Pere La Chaise,
+and praising him for his attachment, related one of the great proofs he
+had given of it. A few years before his death the Pere said that he felt
+getting old, and that the King might soon have to choose a new confessor;
+he begged that that confessor might be chosen from among the Jesuits,
+that he knew them well, that they were far from deserving all that had
+been said against them, but still--he knew them well--and that attachment
+for the King and desire for his safety induced him to conjure him to act
+as he requested; because the company contained many sorts of minds and
+characters which could not be answered for, and must not be reduced to
+despair, and that the King must not incur a risk--that in fact an unlucky
+blow is soon given, and had been given before then. Marechal turned pale
+at this recital of the King, and concealed as well as he could the
+disorder it caused in him. We must remember that Henry IV. recalled the
+Jesuits, and loaded them with gifts merely from fear of them. The King
+was not superior to Henry IV. He took care not to forget the
+communication of the Pere La Chaise, or expose himself to the vengeance
+of the company by choosing a confessor out of their limits. He wanted to
+live, and to live in safety. He requested the Ducs de Chevreuse and de
+Beauvilliers to make secret inquiries for a proper person. They fell
+into a trap made, were dupes themselves, and the Church and State the
+victims.
+
+The Pere Tellier, in fact, was chosen as successor of Pere La Chaise, and
+a terrible successor he made. Harsh, exact, laborious, enemy of all
+dissipation, of all amusement, of all society, incapable of associating
+even with his colleagues, he demanded no leniency for himself and
+accorded none to others. His brain and his health were of iron; his
+conduct was so also; his nature was savage and cruel. He was profoundly
+false, deceitful, hidden under a thousand folds; and when he could show
+himself and make himself feared, he yielded nothing, laughed at the most
+express promises when he no longer cared to keep to them, and pursued
+with fury those who had trusted to them. He was the terror even of the
+Jesuits, and was so violent to them that they scarcely dared approach
+him. His exterior kept faith with his interior. He would have been
+terrible to meet in a dark lane. His physiognomy was cloudy, false,
+terrible; his eyes were burning, evil, extremely squinting; his aspect
+struck all with dismay. The whole aim of his life was to advance the
+interests of his Society; that was his god; his life had been absorbed in
+that study: surprisingly ignorant, insolent, impudent, impetuous, without
+measure and without discretion, all means were good that furthered his
+designs.
+
+The first time Pere Tellier saw the King in his cabinet, after having
+been presented to him, there was nobody but Bloin and Fagon in a corner.
+Fagon, bent double and leaning on his stick, watched the interview and
+studied the physiognomy of this new personage his duckings, and
+scrapings, and his words. The King asked him if he were a relation of
+MM. le Tellier. The good father humbled himself in the dust. "I, Sire!"
+answered he, "a relative of MM. le Tellier! I am very different from
+that. I am a poor peasant of Lower Normandy, where my father was a
+farmer." Fagon, who watched him in every movement, twisted himself up to
+look at Bloin, and said, pointing to the Jesuit: "Monsieur, what a cursed
+--------!" Then shrugging his shoulders, he curved over his stick again.
+
+It turned out that he was not mistaken in his strange judgment of a
+confessor. This Tellier made all the grimaces, not to say the
+hypocritical monkey-tricks of a man who was afraid of his place, and only
+took it out of, deference to his company.
+
+I have dwelt thus upon this new confessor, because from him have come the
+incredible tempests under, which the Church, the State, knowledge, and
+doctrine, and many good people of all kinds, are still groaning; and,
+because I had a more intimate acquaintance with this terrible personage
+than had any man at the Court. He introduced himself to me in fact, to
+my surprise; and although I did all in my power to shun his acquaintance,
+I could not succeed. He was too dangerous a man to be treated with
+anything but great prudence.
+
+During the autumn of this year, he gave a sample of his quality in the
+part he took in the destruction of the celebrated monastery of Port Royal
+des Champs. I need not dwell at any great length upon the origin and
+progress of the two religious parties, the Jansenists and the Molinists;
+enough has been written on both sides to form a whole library. It is
+enough for me to say that the Molinists were so called because they
+adopted the views expounded by, the Pere Molina in a book he wrote
+against the doctrines of St. Augustine and of the Church of Rome, upon
+the subject of spiritual grace. The Pere Molina was a Jesuit, and it was
+by the Jesuits his book was brought forward and supported. Finding,
+however, that the views it expounded met with general opposition, not
+only throughout France, but at Rome, they had recourse to their usual
+artifices on feeling themselves embarrassed, turned themselves into
+accusers instead of defendants, and invented a heresy that had neither
+author nor follower, which they attributed to Cornelius Jansenius, Bishop
+of Ypres. Many and long were the discussions at Rome upon this ideal
+heresy, invented by the Jesuits solely for the purpose of weakening the
+adversaries of Molina. To oppose his doctrines was to be a Jansenist.
+That in substance was what was meant by Jansenism.
+
+At the monastery of Port Royal des Champs, a number of holy and learned
+personages lived in retirement. Some wrote, some gathered youths around
+them, and instructed them in science and piety. The finest moral works,
+works which have thrown the most light upon the science and practice, of
+religion, and have been found so by everybody, issued from their hands.
+These men entered into the quarrel against Molinism. This was enough to
+excite against them the hatred of the Jesuits and to determine that body
+to attempt their destruction.
+
+They were accused of Jansenism, and defended themselves perfectly; but at
+the same time they carried the war into the enemy's camp, especially by
+the ingenious "Provincial Letters" of the famous Pascal.
+
+The quarrel grew more hot between the Jesuits and Port Royal, and was
+telling against the former, when the Pere Tellier brought all his
+influence to bear, to change the current of success. He was, as I have
+said, an ardent man, whose divinity was his Molinism, and the company to
+which he belonged. Confessor to the King, he saw himself in a good
+position to exercise unlimited authority. He saw that the King was very
+ignorant, and prejudiced upon all religious matters; that he was
+surrounded by people as ignorant and as prejudiced as himself, Madame de
+Maintenon, M. de Beauvilliers, M. de Chevreuse, and others, and he
+determined to take good advantage of this state of things.
+
+Step by step he gained over the King to his views, and convinced him that
+the destruction of the monastery of Port Royal des Champs was a duty
+which he owed to his conscience, and the cause of religion. This point
+gained, the means to destroy the establishment were soon resolved on.
+
+There was another monastery called Port Royal, at Paws, in addition to
+the one in question. It was now pretended that the latter had only been
+allowed to exist by tolerance, and that it was necessary one should cease
+to exist. Of the two, it was alleged that it was better to preserve the
+one, at Paris. A decree in council was, therefore, rendered, in virtue
+of which, on the night from the 28th to the 29th of October, the abbey of
+Port Royal des Champs was secretly invested by troops, and, on the next
+morning, the officer in command made all the inmates assemble, showed
+them a 'lettre de cachet', and, without giving them more than a quarter
+of an hour's warning, carried off everybody and everything. He had
+brought with him many coaches, with an elderly woman in each; he put the
+nuns in these coaches, and sent them away to their destinations, which
+were different monasteries, at ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty
+leagues distant, each coach accompanied by mounted archers, just as
+public women are carried away from a house of ill-fame! I pass in
+silence all the accompaniments of this scene, so touching and so
+strangely new. There have been entire volumes written upon it.
+
+The treatment that these nuns received in their various prisons, in order
+to force them to sign a condemnation of themselves, is the matter of
+other volumes, which, in spite of the vigilance of the oppressors, were
+soon in everybody's hands; public indignation so burst out, that the
+Court and the Jesuits even were embarrassed with it. But the Pere
+Tellier was not a man to stop half-way anywhere. He finished this matter
+directly; decree followed decree, 'Lettres de cachet' followed 'lettres
+de cachet'. The families who had relatives buried in the cemetery of
+Port Royal des Champs were ordered to exhume and carry them elsewhere.
+All the others were thrown into the cemetery of an adjoining parish, with
+the indecency that may: be imagined. Afterwards, the house, the church,
+and all the buildings were razed to the ground, so that not one stone was
+left upon another. All the materials were sold, the ground was ploughed
+up, and sown--not with salt, it is true, but that was all the favour it
+received! The scandal at this reached even to Rome. I have restricted
+myself to this simple and short recital of an expedition so military and
+so odious.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 7.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+The death of D'Avaux, who had formerly been our ambassador in Holland,
+occurred in the early part of this year (1709). D'Avaux was one of the
+first to hear of the project of William of Orange upon England, when that
+project was still only in embryo, and kept profoundly secret. He
+apprised the King (Louis XIV.) of it, but was laughed at. Barillon, then
+our ambassador in England, was listened to in preference. He, deceived
+by Sunderland and the other perfidious ministers of James II.; assured
+our Court that D'Avaux's reports were mere chimeras. It was not until it
+was impossible any longer to doubt that credit was given to them. The
+steps that we then took, instead of disconcerting all the measures of the
+conspirators, as we could have done, did not interfere with the working
+out of any one of their plans. All liberty was left, in fact, to William
+to carry out his scheme. The anecdote which explains how this happened
+is so curious, that it deserves to be mentioned here.
+
+Louvois, who was then Minister of War, was also superintendent of the
+buildings. The King, who liked building, and who had cast off all his
+mistresses, had pulled down the little porcelain Trianon he had made for
+Madame de Montespan, and was rebuilding it in the form it still retains.
+One day he perceived, for his glance was most searching, that one window
+was a trifle narrower than the others. He showed it to Louvois, in order
+that it might be altered, which, as it was not then finished, was easy to
+do. Louvois sustained that the window was all right. The King insisted
+then, and on the morrow also, but Louvois, pigheaded and inflated with
+his authority, would not yield.
+
+The next day the King saw Le Notre in the gallery. Although his trade
+was gardens rather than houses, the King did not fail to consult him upon
+the latter. He asked him if he had been to Trianon. Le Notre replied
+that he had not. The King ordered him to go. On the morrow he saw Le
+Notre again; same question, same answer. The King comprehended the
+reason of this, and a little annoyed, commanded him to be there that
+afternoon at a given time. Le Notre did not dare to disobey this time.
+The King arrived, and Louvois being present, they returned to the subject
+of the window, which Louvois obstinately said was as broad as the rest.
+The King wished Le Notre to measure it, for he knew that, upright and
+true, he would openly say what he found. Louvois, piqued, grew angry.
+The King, who was not less so, allowed him to say his say. Le Notre,
+meanwhile, did not stir. At last, the King made him go, Louvois still
+grumbling, and maintaining his assertion with audacity and little
+measure. Le Notre measured the window, and said that the King was right
+by several inches. Louvois still wished to argue, but the King silenced
+him, and commanded him to see that the window was altered at once,
+contrary to custom abusing him most harshly.
+
+What annoyed Louvois most was, that this scene passed not only before all
+the officers of the buildings, but in presence of all who followed the
+King in his promenades, nobles, courtiers, officers of the guard, and
+others, even all the rolete. The dressing given to Louvois was smart and
+long, mixed with reflections upon the fault of this window, which, not
+noticed so soon, might have spoiled all the facade, and compelled it to
+be re-built.
+
+Louvois, who was not accustomed to be thus treated, returned home in
+fury, and like a man in despair. His familiars were frightened, and in
+their disquietude angled to learn what had happened. At last he told
+them, said he was lost, and that for a few inches the King forgot all his
+services, which had led to so many conquests; he declared that henceforth
+he would leave the trowel to the King, bring about a war, and so arrange
+matters that the King should have good need of him!
+
+He soon kept his word. He caused a war to grow out of the affair of the
+double election of Cologne, of the Prince of Bavaria, and of the Cardinal
+of Furstenberg; he confirmed it in carrying the flames into the
+Palatinate, and in leaving, as I have said, all liberty to the project
+upon England; he put the finishing touch to his work by forcing the Duke
+of Savoy into the arms of his enemies, and making him become, by the
+position of his country, our enemy, the most difficult and the most
+ruinous. All that I have here related was clearly brought to light in
+due time.
+
+Boisseuil died shortly after D'Avaux. He was a tall, big man, warm and
+violent, a great gambler, bad tempered,--who often treated M. le Grand
+and Madame d'Armagnac, great people as they were, so that the company
+were ashamed,--and who swore in the saloon of Marly as if he had been in
+a tap-room. He was feared; and he said to women whatever came uppermost
+when the fury of a cut-throat seized him. During a journey the King and
+Court made to Nancy, Boisseuil one evening sat down to play in the house
+of one of the courtiers. A player happened to be there who played very
+high. Boisseuil lost a good deal, and was very angry. He thought he
+perceived that this gentleman, who was only permitted on account of his
+play, was cheating, and made such good use of his eyes that he soon found
+this was the case, and all on a sudden stretched across the table and
+seized the gambler's hand, which he held upon the table, with the cards
+he was going to deal. The gentleman, very much astonished, wished to
+withdraw his hand, and was angry. Boisseuil, stronger than he, said that
+he was a rogue, and that the company should see it, and immediately
+shaking his hand with fury put in evidence his deceit. The player,
+confounded, rose and went away. The game went on, and lasted long into
+the night. When finished, Boisseuil went away. As he was leaving the
+door he found a man stuck against the wall--it was the player--who called
+him to account for the insult he had received. Boisseuil replied that he
+should give him no satisfaction, and that he was a rogue.
+
+"That may be," said the player, "but I don't like to be told so."
+
+They went away directly and fought. Boisseuil received two wounds, from
+one of which he was like to die. The other escaped without injury.
+
+I have said, that after the affair of M. de Cambrai, Madame de Maintenon
+had taken a rooted dislike to M. de Beauvilliers. She had become
+reconciled to him in appearance during the time that Monseigneur de
+Bourgogne was a victim to the calumnies of M. de Vendome, because she had
+need of him. Now that Monseigneur de Bourgogne was brought back to
+favour, and M. de Vendome was disgraced, her antipathy for M, de
+Beauvilliers burst out anew, and she set her wits to work to get rid of
+him from the Council of State, of which he was a member. The witch
+wished to introduce her favourite Harcourt there in his place, and worked
+so well to bring about this result that the King promised he should be
+received.
+
+His word given, or rather snatched from him, the King was embarrassed as
+to how, to keep it, for he did not wish openly to proclaim Harcourt
+minister. It was agreed, therefore, that at the next Council Harcourt
+should be present, as though by accident, in the King's ante-chamber;
+that, Spanish matters being brought up, the King should propose to
+consult Harcourt, and immediately after should direct search to be made
+far him, to see if, by chance, he was close at hand; that upon finding
+him, he should be conducted to the Council, made to enter and seat
+himself, and ever afterwards be regarded as a Minister of State.
+
+This arrangement was kept extremely secret, according to the express
+commands of the King: I knew it, however, just before it was to be
+executed, and I saw at once that the day of Harcourt's entry into the
+Council would be the day of M. de Beauvilliers' disgrace. I sent,
+therefore, at once for M. de Beauvilliers, begging him to come to my
+house immediately, and that I would then tell him why I could not come to
+him. Without great precaution everything becomes known at Court.
+
+In less than half an hour M. de Beauvilliers arrived, tolerably disturbed
+at my message. I asked him if he knew anything, and I turned him about,
+less to pump him than to make him ashamed of his ignorance, and to
+persuade him the better afterwards to do what I wished. When I had well
+trotted out his ignorance, I apprised him of what I had just learnt. He
+was astounded; he so little expected it! I had not much trouble to
+persuade him that, although his expulsion might not yet be determined on,
+the intrusion of Harcourt must pave the way for it. He admitted to me
+that for some days he had found, the King cold and embarrassed with him,
+but that he had paid little attention to the circumstance, the reason of
+which was now clear. There was no time to lose. In twenty-four hours
+all would be over. I therefore took the liberty in the first instance of
+scolding him for his profound ignorance of what passed at the Court, and
+was bold enough to say to him that he had only to thank himself for the
+situation he found himself in. He let me say to the end without growing
+angry, then smiled, and said, "Well! what do you think I ought to do?"
+
+That was just what I wanted. I replied that there was only one course
+open to him, and that was to have an interview with the King early the
+next morning; to say to him, that he had been informed Harcourt was about
+to enter the Council; that he thought the affairs of State would suffer
+rather than otherwise if Harcourt did so; and finally, to allude to the
+change that had taken place in the King's manner towards him lately, and
+to say, with all respect, affection, and submission, that he was equally
+ready to continue serving the King or to give up his appointments, as his
+Majesty might desire.
+
+M. de Beauvilliers took pleasure in listening to me. He embraced me
+closely, and promised to follow the course I had marked out.
+
+The next morning I went straight to him, and learned that he had
+perfectly succeeded. He had spoken exactly as I had suggested. The King
+appeared astonished and piqued that the secret of Harcourt's entry into
+the Council was discovered. He would not hear a word as to resignation
+of office on the part of M. de Beauvilliers, and appeared more satisfied
+with him than ever. Whether, without this interview, he would have been
+lost, I know not, but by the coldness and embarrassment of the King
+before that interview, and during the first part of it, I am nearly
+persuaded that he would. M. de Beauvilliers embraced me again very
+tenderly--more than once.
+
+As for Harcourt, sure of his good fortune, and scarcely able to contain
+his joy, he arrived at the meeting place. Time ran on. During the
+Council there are only the most subaltern people in the antechambers and
+a few courtiers who pass that way to go from one wing to another. Each
+of these subalterns eagerly asked M. d'Harcourt what he wanted, if he
+wished for anything, and importuned him strongly. He was obliged to
+remain there, although he had no pretext. He went and came, limping with
+his stick, not knowing what to reply to the passers-by, or the attendants
+by whom he was remarked. At last, after waiting long, he returned as he
+came, much disturbed at not having been called. He sent word so to
+Madame de Maintenon, who, in her turn, was as much disturbed, the King
+not having said a word to her, and she not having dared to say a word to
+him. She consoled Harcourt, hoping that at the next Council he would be
+called. At her wish he waited again, as before, during another Council,
+but with as little success. He was very much annoyed, comprehending that
+the affair had fallen through.
+
+Madame de Maintenon did not, however, like to be defeated in this way.
+After waiting some time she spoke to the King, reminding him what he had
+promised to do. The King replied in confusion that he had thought better
+of it; that Harcourt was on bad terms with all the Ministers, and might,
+if admitted to the Council, cause them much embarrassment; he preferred,
+therefore, things to remain as they were. This was said in a manner that
+admitted of no reply.
+
+Madame de Maintenon felt herself beaten; Harcourt was in despair. M. de
+Beauvilliers was quite reestablished in the favour of the King. I
+pretended to have known nothing of this affair, and innocent asked many
+questions about it when all was over. I was happy to the last degree
+that everything had turned out so well.
+
+M. le Prince, who for more than two years had not appeared at the Court,
+died at Paris a little after midnight on the night between Easter Sunday
+and Monday, the last of March and first of April, and in his seventy-
+sixth year. No man had ever more ability of all kinds, extending even to
+the arts and mechanics more valour, and, when it pleased him, more
+discernment, grace, politeness, and nobility. But then no man had ever
+before so many useless talents, so much genius of no avail, or an
+imagination so calculated to be a bugbear to itself and a plague to
+others. Abjectly and vilely servile even to lackeys, he scrupled not to
+use the lowest and paltriest means to gain his ends. Unnatural son,
+cruel father, terrible husband, detestable master, pernicious neighbour;
+without friendship, without friends--incapable of having any jealous,
+suspicious, ever restless, full of slyness and artifices to discover and
+to scrutinise all, (in which he was unceasingly occupied, aided by an
+extreme vivacity and a surprising penetration,) choleric and headstrong
+to excess even for trifles, difficult of access, never in accord with
+himself, and keeping all around him in a tremble; to conclude,
+impetuosity and avarice were his masters, which monopolised him always.
+With all this he was a man difficult to be proof against when he put in
+play the pleasing qualities he possessed.
+
+Madame la Princesse, his wife, was his continual victim. She was
+disgustingly ugly, virtuous, and foolish, a little humpbacked, and stunk
+like a skunk, even from a distance. All these things did not hinder M.
+le Prince from being jealous of her even to fury up to the very last.
+The piety, the indefatigable attention of Madame la Princesse, her
+sweetness, her novice-like submission, could not guarantee her from
+frequent injuries, or from kicks, and blows with the fist, which were not
+rare. She was not mistress even of the most trifling things; she did not
+dare to propose or ask anything. He made her set out from one place to
+another the moment the fancy took him. Often when seated in their coach
+he made her descend, or return from the end of the street, then
+recommence the journey after dinner, or the next day. This see-sawing
+lasted once fifteen days running, before a trip to Fontainebleau. At
+other times he sent for her from church, made her quit high mass, and
+sometimes sent for her the moment she was going to receive the sacrament;
+she was obliged to return at once and put off her communion to another
+occasion. It was not that he wanted her, but it was merely to gratify
+his whim that he thus troubled her.
+
+He was always of, uncertain habits, and had four dinners ready for him
+every day; one at Paris, one at Ecouen, one at Chantilly, and one where
+the Court was. But the expense of this arrangement was not great; he
+dined on soup, and the half of a fowl roasted upon a crust of bread; the
+other half serving for the next day. He rarely invited anybody to
+dinner, but when he did, no man could be more polite or attentive to his
+guests.
+
+Formerly he had been in love with several ladies of the Court; then,
+nothing cost too much. He was grace, magnificence, gallantry in person--
+a Jupiter transformed into a shower of gold. Now he disguised himself as
+a lackey, another time as a female broker in articles for the toilette;
+and now in another fashion. He was the most ingenious man in the world.
+He once gave a grand fete solely for the purpose of retarding the journey
+into Italy of a lady with whom he was enamoured, with whom he was on good
+terms, and whose husband he amused by making verses. He hired all the
+houses on one side of a street near Saint Sulpice, furnished them, and
+pierced the connecting walls, in order to be able thus to reach the place
+of rendezvous without being suspected.
+
+Jealous and cruel to his mistresses, he had, amongst others, the Marquise
+de Richelieu; whom I name, because she is not worth the trouble of being
+silent upon. He was hopelessly smitten and spent millions upon her and
+to learn her movements. He knew that the Comte de Roucy shared her
+favours (it was for her that sagacious Count proposed to put straw before
+the house in order to guarantee her against the sound of the church
+bells, of which she complained). M. le Prince reproached her for
+favouring the Count. She defended herself; but he watched her so
+closely, that he brought home the offence to her without her being able
+to deny it. The fear of losing a lover so rich as was M. le Prince
+furnished her on the spot with an excellent suggestion for putting him at
+ease. She proposed to make an appointment at her own house with the
+Comte de Roucy, M. le Prince's people to lie in wait, and when the Count
+appeared, to make away with him. Instead of the success she expected
+from a proposition so humane and ingenious, M. le Prince was so horror-
+struck, that he warned the Comte de Roucy, and never saw the Marquise de
+Richelieu again all his life.
+
+The most surprising thing was, that with so much ability, penetration,
+activity, and valour, as had M. le Prince, with the desire to be as great
+a warrior as the Great Conde, his father, he could never succeed in
+understanding even the first elements of the military art. Instructed as
+he was by his father, he never acquired the least aptitude in war. It
+was a profession was not born for, and for which he could not qualify
+himself by study. During the last fifteen or twenty years of his life,
+he was accused of something more than fierceness and ferocity.
+Wanderings were noticed in his conduct, which were not exhibited in his
+own house alone. Entering one morning into the apartment of the
+Marechale de Noailles (she herself has related this to me) as her bed was
+being made, and there being only the counterpane to put on, he stopped
+short at the door, crying with transport, "Oh, the nice bed, the nice
+bed!" took a spring, leaped upon the bed, rolled himself upon it seven
+or eight times, then descended and made his excuses to the Marechale,
+saying that her bed was so clean and so well-made, that he could not
+hinder himself from jumping upon it; and this, although there had never
+been anything between them; and when the Marechale, who all her life had
+been above suspicion, was at an age at which she could not give birth to
+any. Her servants remained stupefied, and she as much as they. She got
+out of the difficulty by laughing and treating it as a joke. It was
+whispered that there were times when M. le Prince believed himself a dog,
+or some other beast, whose manners he imitated; and I have known people
+very worthy of faith who have assured me they have seen him at the going
+to bed of the King suddenly throw his head into the air several times
+running, and open his mouth quite wide, like a dog while barking, yet
+without making a noise. It is certain, that for a long time nobody saw
+him except a single valet, who had control over him, and who did not
+annoy him.
+
+In the latter part of his life he attended in a ridiculously minute
+manner to his diet and its results, and entered into discussions which
+drove his doctors to despair. Fever and gout at last attacked him, and
+he augmented them by the course he pursued. Finot, our physician and
+his, at times knew not what to do with him. What embarrassed Finot most,
+as he related to us more than once, was that M. le Prince would eat
+nothing, for the simple reason, as he alleged, that he was dead, and that
+dead men did not eat! It was necessary, however, that he should take
+something, or he would have really died. Finot, and another doctor who
+attended him, determined to agree with him that he was dead, but to
+maintain that dead men sometimes eat. They offered to produce dead men
+of this kind; and, in point of fact, led to M. le Prince some persons
+unknown to him, who pretended to be dead, but who ate nevertheless. This
+trick succeeded, but he would never eat except with these men and Finot.
+On that condition he ate well, and this jealousy lasted a long time, and
+drove Finot to despair by its duration; who, nevertheless, sometimes
+nearly died of laughter in relating to us what passed at these repasts,
+and the conversation from the other world heard there.
+
+M. le Prince's malady augmenting, Madame la Princesse grew bold enough to
+ask him if he did not wish to think of his conscience, and to see a
+confessor. He amused himself tolerably long in refusing to do so. Some
+months before he had seen in secret Pere de la Tour. He had sent to the
+reverend father asking him to, come by night and disguised. Pere de la
+Tour, surprised to the last degree at so wild a proposition, replied that
+the respect he owed to the cloth would prevent him visiting M. le Prince
+in disguise; but that he would come in his ordinary attire. M. le Prince
+agreed to this last imposed condition. He made the Pere de la Tour enter
+at night by a little back door, at which an attendant was in waiting to
+receive him. He was led by this attendant, who had a lantern in one hand
+and a key in the other, through many long and obscure passages; and
+through many doors, which were opened and closed upon him as he passed.
+Having arrived at last at the sick-chamber, he confessed M. le Prince,
+and was conducted out of the house in the same manner and by the same way
+as before. These visits were repeated during several months.
+
+The Prince's malady rapidly increased and became extreme. The doctors
+found him so ill on the night of Easter Sunday that they proposed to him
+the sacrament for the next day. He disputed with them, and said that if
+he was so very bad it would be better to take the sacraments at once, and
+have done with them. They in their turn opposed this, saying there was
+no need of so much hurry. At last, for fear of incensing him, they
+consented, and he received all hurriedly the last sacraments. A little
+while after he called M. le Duc to him, and spoke of the honours he
+wished at his funeral, mentioning those which had been omitted at the
+funeral of his father, but which he did not wish to be omitted from his.
+He talked of nothing but this and of the sums he had spent at Chantilly,
+until his reason began to wander.
+
+Not a soul regretted him; neither servants, nor friends, neither child
+nor wife. Indeed the Princess was so ashamed of her tears that she made
+excuses for them. This was scarcely to be wondered at.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+It is time now that I should speak of our military operations this year
+and of the progress of the war. Let me commence by stating the
+disposition of our armies at the beginning of the campaign.
+
+Marechal Boufflers, having become dangerously ill, was unable to take
+command in Flanders. Marechal de Villars was accordingly appointed in
+his stead under Monseigneur, and with him served the King of England,
+under his incognito of the previous year, and M. le Duc de Berry, as
+volunteers. The Marechal d'Harcourt was appointed to command upon the
+Rhine under Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne. M. d'Orleans commanded in
+Spain; Marechal Berwick in Dauphiny; and the Duc de Noailles in
+Roussillon, as usual. The generals went to their destinations, but the
+Princes remained at the Court.
+
+Before I relate what we did in war, let me here state the strange
+opposition of our ministers in their attempts to bring about peace.
+Since Villars had introduced Chamillart to Court, he had heard it said
+that M. de Louvois did everybody's business as much as he could; and took
+it into his head that having succeeded to M. de Louvois he ought to act
+exactly like him. For some time past, accordingly, Chamillart, with the
+knowledge of the King, had sent people to Holland and elsewhere to
+negotiate for peace, although he had no right to do so, Torcy being the
+minister to whose department this business belonged. Torcy likewise sent
+people to Holland and elsewhere with a similar object, and these
+ambassadors of the two ministers, instead of working in common, did all
+in their power thwart each other. They succeeded so well that it was
+said they seemed in foreign countries ministers of different powers,
+whose interests were quite opposed. This manner of conducting business
+gave a most injurious idea of our government, and tended very much to
+bring it into ridicule. Those who sincerely wished to treat with us,
+found themselves so embarrassed between the rival factions, that they did
+not know what to do; and others made our disagreements a plausible
+pretext for not listening to our propositions.
+
+At last Torcy was so annoyed with the interference of Chamillart, that he
+called the latter to account for it, and made him sign an agreement by
+which he bound himself to enter into no negotiations for peace and to mix
+himself in no foreign affairs; and so this absurdity came to an end.
+
+In Italy, early this year, we received a check of no small importance. I
+have mentioned that we were invited to join in an Italian league, having
+for its object to oppose the Emperor. We joined this league, but not
+before its existence had been noised abroad, and put the allies on their
+guard as to the danger they ran of losing Italy. Therefore the
+Imperialists entered the Papal States, laid them under contribution,
+ravaged them, lived there in true Tartar style, and snapped their fingers
+at the Pope, who cried aloud as he could obtain no redress and no
+assistance. Pushed at last to extremity by the military occupation which
+desolated his States, he yielded to all the rashes of the Emperor, and
+recognised the Archduke as King of Spain. Philip V. immediately ceased
+all intercourse with Rome, and dismissed the nuncio from Madrid. The
+Imperialists, even after the Pope had ceded to their wishes, treated him
+with the utmost disdain, and continued to ravage, his territories. The
+Imperialist minister at Rome actually gave a comedy and a ball in his
+palace there, contrary to the express orders of the Pope, who had
+forbidden all kinds of amusement in this period of calamity. When
+remonstrated with by the Pope, this minister said that he had promised a
+fete to the ladies, and could not break his word, The strangest thing is,
+that after this public instance of contempt the nephews of the Pope went
+to the fete, and the Pope had the weakness to suffer it.
+
+In Spain, everything went wrong, and people began to think it would be
+best to give up that country to the house of Austria, under the hope that
+by this means the war would be terminated. It was therefore seriously
+resolved to recall all our troops from Spain, and to give orders to
+Madame des Ursins to quit the country. Instructions were accordingly
+sent to this effect. The King and Queen of Spain, in the greatest alarm
+at such a violent determination, cried aloud against it, and begged that
+the execution of it might at least be suspended for a while.
+
+At this, our King paused and called a Council to discuss the subject.
+It was ultimately agreed to leave sixty-six battalions of our troops to
+the King of Spain, but to withdraw all the rest. This compromise
+satisfied nobody. Those who wished to support Spain said this assistance
+was not enough. The other party said it was too much.
+
+This determination being arrived at, it seemed as though the only thing
+to be done was to send M. d'Orleans to Spain to take command there. But
+now will be seen the effect of that mischievous pleasantry of his upon
+Madame de Maintenon and Madame des Ursins, the "she-captain," and the
+"she-lieutenant"--as he called them, in the gross language to which I
+have before alluded. Those two ladies had not forgiven him his
+witticism, and had determined to accomplish his disgrace. His own
+thoughtless conduct assisted them it bringing about this result.
+
+The King one day asked him if he had much desire to return into Spain.
+He replied in a manner evidencing his willingness to serve, marking no
+eagerness. He did not notice that there might be a secret meaning,
+hidden under this question. When he related to me what had passed
+between him and the King, I blamed the feebleness of his reply, and
+represented to him the ill effect it would create if at such a time he
+evinced any desire to keep out of the campaign. He appeared convinced by
+my arguments, and to wish with more eagerness than before to return to
+Spain.
+
+A few days after, the King asked him, on what terms he believed himself
+with the Princesse des Ursins; and when M. d'Orleans replied that he
+believed himself to be on good terms with her, as he had done all in his
+power to be so, the King said that he feared it was not thus, since she
+had asked that he should not be again sent to Spain, saying that he had
+leagued himself with all her enemies there, and that a secretary of his,
+named Renaut, whom he had left behind him, kept up such strict and secret
+intercourse with those enemies, that she was obliged to demand his recall
+lest he might do wrong to the name of his master.
+
+Upon this, M. d'Orleans replied that he was infinitely surprised at these
+complaints of Madame des Ursins, since he had done nothing to deserve
+them. The King, after reflecting for a moment, said he thought, all
+things considered, that M. d'Orleans had better not return to Spain.
+In a few days it was publicly known that he would not go. The withdrawal
+of so many of our troops from Spain was the reason alleged. At the same
+time the King gave orders to M. d'Orleans to send for his equipages from
+Spain, and added in his ear, that he had better send some one of sense
+for them, who might be the bearer of a protest, if Philip V. quitted his
+throne. At least this is what M. d'Orleans told me, although few people
+believed him in the end.
+
+M. d'Orleans chose for this errand a man named Flotte, very skilful in
+intrigue, in which he had, so to speak, been always brought up. He went
+straight to Madrid, and one of his first employments when he arrived
+there was to look for Renaut, the secretary just alluded to. But Renaut
+was nowhere to be found, nor could any news be heard of him. Flotte
+stayed some time in Madrid, and then went to the army, which was still in
+quarters. He remained there three weeks, idling from quarter to quarter,
+saluting the Marechal in command, who was much surprised at his long
+stay, and who pressed him to return into France. At last Flotte took
+leave of the Marechal, asking him for an escort for himself and a
+commissary, with whom he meant to go in company across the Pyrenees.
+Twenty dragoons were given him as escort, and he and the commissary set
+out in a chaise.
+
+They had not proceeded far before Flotte perceived that they were
+followed by other troops besides those guarding them. Flotte fearing
+that something was meant by this, slipped a pocket-book into the hands of
+the commissary, requesting him to take care of it. Shortly afterwards
+the chaise was surrounded by troops, and stopped; the two travellers were
+made to alight. The commissary was ordered to give up the pocket-book,
+an order that he complied with very rapidly, and Flotte was made
+prisoner, and escorted back to the spot he had just left.
+
+The news of this occurrence reached the King on the 12th of July, by the
+ordinary courier from Madrid.
+
+The King informed M. d'Orleans of it, who, having learnt it by a private
+courier six days before, affected nevertheless surprise, and said it was
+strange that one of his people should have been thus arrested, and that
+as his Majesty was concerned, it was for him to demand the reason. The
+King replied, that in fact the injury regarded him more than M.
+d'Orleans, and that he would give orders to Torcy to write as was
+necessary to Spain.
+
+It is not difficult to believe that such an explosion made a great noise,
+both in France and Spain; but the noise it made at first was nothing to
+that which followed. A cabal was formed against Monsieur le Duc
+d'Orleans. It was said that he had plotted to place himself upon the
+Spanish throne, by driving out Philip V., under pretext of his
+incapacity, of the domination of Madame des Ursins, and of the
+abandonment of the country by France; that he had treated with Stanhope,
+commander of the English troops in Spain, and with whom he was known to
+be on friendly terms, in order to be protected by the Archduke. This was
+the report most widely spread. Others went further. In these M.
+d'Orleans was accused of nothing less than of intending to divorce
+himself from Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, as having been married to her
+by force; of intending to marry the sister of the Empress (widow of
+Charles II.), and of mounting with her upon the Spanish throne; to marry
+Madame d'Argenton, as the Queen Dowager was sure to have no children, and
+finally, to poison Madame d'Orleans.
+
+Meanwhile the reply from Spain came not. The King and Monseigneur
+treated M. d'Orleans with a coldness which made him sorely ill at ease;
+the majority of the courtiers, following this example, withdrew from him.
+He was left almost alone.
+
+I learnt at last from M. d'Orleans how far he was deserving of public
+censure, and what had given colouring to the reports spread against him.
+He admitted to me, that several of the Spanish grandees had persuaded him
+that it was not possible the King of Spain could stand, and had proposed
+to him to hasten his fall, and take his place; that he had rejected this
+proposition with indignation, but had been induced to promise, that if
+Philip V. fell of himself, without hope of rising, he would not object to
+mounting the vacant throne, believing that by so doing he would be doing
+good to our King, by preserving Spain to his house.
+
+As soon as I heard this, I advised him to make a clean breast of it to
+the King, and to ask his pardon for having acted in this matter without
+his orders and without his knowledge. He thought my advice good, and
+acted upon it. But the King was too much under the influence of the
+enemies of M. d'Orleans, to listen favourably to what was said to him.
+The facts of the case, too, were much against M. d'Orleans. Both Renaut
+and Flotte had been entrusted with his secret. The former had openly
+leagued himself with the enemies of Madame des Ursins, and acted with the
+utmost imprudence. He had been privately arrested just before the
+arrival of Flotte. When this latter was arrested, papers were found upon
+him which brought everything to light. The views of M. d'Orleans and of
+those who supported him were clearly shown. The King would not listen to
+anything in favour of his nephew.
+
+The whole Court cried out against M. d'Orleans; never was such an uproar
+heard. He was accused of plotting to overthrow the King of Spain, he, a
+Prince of the blood, and so closely allied to the two crowns!
+Monseigneur, usually so plunged in apathy, roused himself to fury against
+M. d'Orleans, and insisted upon nothing less than a criminal prosecution.
+He insisted so strongly upon this, that the King at last consented that
+it should take place, and gave orders to the chancellor to examine the
+forms requisite in such a case. While the chancellor was about this
+work, I went to see him one day, and represented to him so strongly, that
+M. d'Orleans' misdemeanour did not concern us at all, and could only be
+judged before a Spanish tribunal, that the idea of a criminal trial was
+altogether abandoned almost immediately after. M. d'Orleans was allowed
+to remain in peace.
+
+Madame des Ursins and Madame de Maintenon had so far triumphed, however,
+that M. d'Orleans found himself plunged in the deepest disgrace. He was
+universally shunned. Whenever he appeared, people flew away, so that
+they might not be seen in communication with him. His solitude was so
+great, that for a whole month only one friend entered his house. In the
+midst of this desertion, he had no resource but debauchery, and the
+society of his mistress, Madame d'Argenton. The disorder and scandal of
+his life had for a long time offended the King, the Court, and the
+public. They now unhappily confirmed everybody in the bad opinion they
+had formed of him. That the long disgrace he suffered continued to
+confirm him in his bad habits, and that it explains to some extent his
+after-conduct, there can be no doubt. But I must leave him now, and
+return to other matters.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+But, meanwhile, a great change had taken place at Court. Chamillart had
+committed the mistake of allowing the advancement of D'Harcourt to the
+head of an army. The poor man did not see the danger; and when warned of
+it, thought his cleverness would preserve him. Reports of his fall had
+already begun to circulate, and D'Antin had been spoken of in his place.
+I warned his daughter Dreux, the only one of the family to whom it was
+possible to speak with profit. The mother, with little wit and knowledge
+of the Court, full of apparent confidence and sham cunning, received all
+advice ill. The brothers were imbecile, the son was a child and a
+simpleton, the two other daughters too light-headed. I had often warned
+Madame de Dreux of the enmity of the Duchesse de Bourgogne; and she had
+spoken to her on the subject. The Princess had answered very coldly that
+she was mistaken, that she had no such enmity. At last I succeeded, in
+this indirect way, in forcing Chamillart to speak to the King on the
+reports that were abroad; but he did so in a half-and-half way, and
+committed the capital mistake of not naming the successor which public
+rumour mentioned. The King appeared touched, and gave him all sorts of
+assurances of friendship, and made as if he liked him better than ever.
+I do not know if Chamillart was then near his destruction, and whether
+this conversation set him up again; but from the day it took place all
+reports died away, and the Court thought him perfectly re-established.
+
+But his enemies continued to work against him. Madame de Maintenon and
+the Duchesse de Bourgogne abated not a jot in their enmity. The Marechal
+d'Harcourt lost no opportunity of pulling him to pieces. One day, among
+others, he was declaiming violently against him at Madame de Maintenon's,
+whom he knew he should thus please. She asked him whom he would put in
+his place. "M. Fagon, Madame," he replied coldly. She laughed, but said
+this was not a thing to joke about; but he maintained seriously that the
+old doctor would make a much better minister than Chamillart, for he had
+some intelligence, which would make up for his ignorance of many matters;
+but what could be expected of a man who was ignorant and stupid too? The
+cunning Norman knew well the effect this strange parallel would have; and
+it is indeed inconceivable how damaging his sarcasm proved. A short time
+afterwards, D'Antin, wishing also to please, but more imprudent, insulted
+the son of Chamillart so grossly, and abused the father so publicly, that
+he was obliged afterwards to excuse himself.
+
+The King held, for the first time in his life, a real council of war.
+He told the Duc de Bourgogne of it, saying rather sharply: "Come, unless
+you prefer going to vespers." The council lasted nearly three hours; and
+was stormy. The Marechals were freer in their language than usual, and
+complained of the ministers. All fell upon Chamillart, who was accused,
+among other things, of matters that concerned Desmarets, on whom, he
+finished by turning off the King's anger. Chamillart defended himself
+with so much anger that his voice was heard by people outside.
+
+But he had of late heaped fault on fault. Besides setting Madame de
+Maintenon and the Duchesse de Bourgogne against him, he rather wantonly
+irritated Monseigneur, at that time more than ever under the government
+of Mademoiselle Choin. The latter had asked him a favour, and had been
+refused even with contempt. Various advances at reconciliation she made
+were also repulsed with contumely. Yet every one, even the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne, crawled before this creature--the favourite of the heir to the
+throne. Madame de Maintenon actually caused the King to offer her
+apartments at Versailles, which she refused, for fear of losing the
+liberty she enjoyed at Meudon. D'Antin, who saw all that was going on,
+became the soul of a conspiracy against Chamillart. It was infinitely
+well managed. Everything moved in order and harmony--always prudently,
+always knowingly.
+
+The King, quietly attacked on all hands, was shaken; but he had many
+reasons for sticking to Chamillart. He was his own choice. No minister
+had stood aside so completely, and allowed the King to receive all the
+praise of whatever was done. Though the King's reason way, therefore,
+soon influenced, his heart was not so easily. But Madame de Maintenon
+was not discouraged. Monseigneur, urged by Mademoiselle Choin, had
+already spoken out to the King. She laboured to make him speak again;
+for, on the previous occasion, he had been listened to attentively.
+
+So many machines could not be set in motion without some noise being
+heard abroad. There rose in the Court, I know not what confused murmurs,
+the origin of which could not be pointed out, publishing that either the
+State or Chamillart must perish; that already his ignorance had brought
+the kingdom within an ace of destruction; that it was a miracle this
+destruction had not yet come to pass; and that it would be madness to
+tempt Providence any longer. Some did not blush to abuse him; others
+praised his intentions, and spoke with moderation of faults that many
+people reproached him bitterly with. All admitted his rectitude, but
+maintained that a successor of some kind or other was absolutely
+necessary. Some, believing or trying to persuade others that they
+carried friendship to as far a point as was possible, protested that they
+should ever preserve this friendship, and would never forget the pleasure
+and the services that they had received from Chamillart; but delicately
+confessed that they preferred the interests of the State to their own
+personal advantage and the support they would lose; that, even if
+Chamillart were their brother, they would sorrowfully admit the necessity
+of removing him! At last, nobody could understand either how such a man
+could ever have been chosen, or how he could have remained so long in his
+place! All his faults and all his ridicules formed the staple of Court
+conversation. If anybody referred to the great things he had done, to
+the rapid gathering of armies after our disasters, people turned on their
+heels and walked away. Such were the presages of the fall of Chamillart.
+
+The Marechal de Boufflers, who had never forgiven the causes that led to
+the loss of Lille, joined in the attack on Chamillart; and assisted in
+exciting the King against him. Chamillart has since related to me that
+up to the last moment he had always been received equally graciously by
+the King--that is, up to two days before his fall. Then, indeed, he
+noticed that the King's countenance was embarrassed; and felt inclined to
+ask if he was displeasing to him, and to offer to retire. Had he done
+so, he might, if we may judge from what transpired subsequently, have
+remained in office. But now Madame de Maintenon had come personally into
+the field, and, believing herself sure of success, only attacked
+Chamillart. What passed between her and the King was quite private and
+never related; but there seems reason to believe that she did not succeed
+without difficulty.
+
+On Sunday morning, November 9, the King, on entering the Council of
+State, called the Duc de Beauvilliers to him, and requested him to go in
+the afternoon and tell Chamillart that he was obliged, for motives of
+public interest, to ask him to resign his office; but that, in order to
+give him a mark of his esteem and satisfaction with his services, he
+continued his pension of Minister--that is to say, twenty thousand
+francs--and added as much more, with one to his son of twenty thousand
+francs likewise. He added that he should have liked to see Chamillart,
+but that at first it would grieve him too much: he was not to come till
+sent for; he might live in Paris, and go where he liked. The Duc de
+Beauvilliers did all he could to escape from carrying so harsh a message,
+but could only obtain permission to let the Duc de Chevreuse accompany
+him.
+
+They went to Chamillart, and found him alone, working in his cabinet.
+The air of consternation with which they entered, told the unfortunate
+Minister that something disagreeable had happened; and without giving
+them time to speak, he said, with a serene and tranquil countenance,
+"What is the matter, gentlemen? If what you have to say concerns only
+me, you may speak: I have long been prepared for everything." This
+gentle firmness touched them still more. They could scarcely explain
+what they came about. Chamillart listened without any change of
+countenance, and said, with the same air and tone as at first: "The King
+is the master. I have endeavoured to serve him to the best of my
+ability. I hope some one else will please him better, and be more
+lucky." He then asked if he had been forbidden to write to the King, and
+being told not, he wrote a letter of respect and thanks, and sent it by
+the two Dukes, with a memoir which he had just finished. He also wrote
+to Madame de Maintenon. He sent a verbal message to his wife; and,
+without complaint, murmur, or sighs, got into his carriage, and drove to
+L'Etang. Both then and afterwards he showed the greatest magnanimity.
+Every one went, from a sort of fashion, to visit him. When I went, the
+house looked as if a death had taken place; and it was frightful to see,
+in the midst of cries and tears, the dead man walking, speaking with a
+quiet, gentle air, and serene brow,--unconstrained, unaffected, attentive
+to every one, not at all or scarcely different from what he was
+accustomed to be.
+
+Chamillart, as I have said, had received permission to live at Paris, if
+he liked; but soon afterwards he innocently gave umbrage to Madame de
+Maintenon, who was annoyed that his disgrace was not followed by general
+abandonment. She caused him to be threatened secretly, and he prudently
+left Paris, and went far away, under pretence of seeking for an estate to
+buy.
+
+Next day after the fall of Chamillart, it became known that the triumph
+of Madame de Maintenon was completed, and that Voysin, her creature, was
+the succeeding Secretary of State. This Voysin had the one indispensable
+quality for admission into the counsels of Louis XIV.--not a drop of
+noble blood in his veins. He had married, in 1683, the daughter of
+Trudaine. She had a very agreeable countenance, without any affectation.
+She appeared simple and modest, and occupied with her household and good
+works; but in reality, had sense, wit, cleverness, above all, a natural
+insinuation, and the art of bringing things to pass without being
+perceived. She kept with great tact a magnificent house. It was she who
+received Madame de Maintenon at Dinan, when the King was besieging Namur;
+and, as she had been instructed by M. de Luxembourg in the way to please
+that lady, succeeded most effectually. Among her arts was her modesty,
+which led her prudently to avoid pressing herself on Madame de Maintenon,
+or showing herself more than was absolutely necessary. She was sometimes
+two whole days without seeing her. A trifle, luckily contrived, finished
+the conquest of Madame de Maintenon. It happened that the weather passed
+suddenly from excessive heat to a damp cold, which lasted a long time.
+Immediately, an excellent dressing-gown, simple, and well lined, appeared
+in the corner of the chamber. This present, by so much the more
+agreeable, as Madame de Maintenon had not brought any warm clothing,
+touched her also by its suddenness, and by its simple appearance, as if
+of its own accord.
+
+In this way, the taste of Madame de Maintenon for Madame Voysin was
+formed and increased. Madame Voysin obtained an appointment for her
+husband, and coming to Paris, at last grew extremely familiar with Madame
+de Maintenon. Voysin himself had much need of the wife that Providence
+had given him. He was perfectly ignorant of everything but the duties of
+an Intendant. He was, moreover, rough and uncivil, as the courtiers soon
+found. He was never unjust for the sake of being so, nor was he bad
+naturally; but he knew nothing but authority, the King and Madame de
+Maintenon, whose will was unanswerable--his sovereign law and reason.
+The choice was settled between the King and Madame de Maintenon after
+supper, the day of Chamillart's fall. Voysin was conducted to the King
+by Bloin, after having received the orders and instructions of his
+benefactress. In the evening of that day, the King found Madame Voysin
+with Madame de Maintenon, and kissed her several times to please his
+lady.
+
+Voysin's first experience of the duties of his office was unpleasant.
+He was foolish enough, feeling his ignorance, to tell the King, that at
+the outset he should be obliged to leave everything to his Majesty, but
+that when he knew better, he would take more on himself. The King, to
+whom Chamillart used himself to leave everything, was much offended by
+this language; and drawing himself up, in the tone of a master, told
+Voysin to learn, once for all, that his duties were to receive, and
+expedite orders, nothing else. He then took the projects brought to him,
+examined them, prescribed the measures he thought fit, and very stiffly
+sent away Voysin, who did not know where he was, and had great want of
+his wife to set his head to rights, and of Madame de Maintenon to give
+him completer lessons than she had yet been able to do. Shortly
+afterwards he was forbidden to send any orders without submitting them to
+the Marechal de Boufflers. He was supple, and sure of Madame de
+Maintenon, and through her of the Marechal, waited for time to release
+him from this state of tutelage and showed nothing of his annoyance,
+especially to Boufflers himself.
+
+Events soon happened to alter the position of the Marechal de Boufflers.
+
+Flanders, ever since the opening of the campaign, had been the principal
+object of attention. Prince Eugene and Marlborough, joined together,
+continued their vast designs, and disdained to hide them. Their
+prodigious preparations spoke of sieges. Shall I say that we desired
+them, and that we thought of nothing but how to preserve, not use our
+army?
+
+Tournai was the first place towards which the enemies directed their
+arms. After a short resistance it fell into their hands. Villars, as I
+have said, was coriander in Flanders. Boufflers feeling that, in the
+position of affairs, such a post must weigh very heavily upon one man,
+and that in case of his death there was no one to take his place, offered
+to go to assist him. The King, after some little hesitation, accepted
+this magnanimous offer, and Boufflers set out. I say magnanimous offer,
+because Boufflers, loaded with honours and glory, might well have hoped
+to pass the rest of his life in repose. It was hardly possible, do what
+he might, that he could add to his reputation; while, on the other hand,
+it was not unlikely that he might be made answerable for the faults or
+shortcomings of others, and return to Paris stripped of some of the
+laurels that adorned his brow. But he thought only of the welfare of the
+State, and pressed the King to allow him to depart to Flanders. The
+King, as I have said, at last consented.
+
+The surprise was great in the army when he arrived there. The general
+impression was that he was the bearer of news of peace. Villars received
+him with an air of joy and respect, and at once showed every willingness
+to act in concert with him. The two generals accordingly worked
+harmoniously together, taking no steps without consulting each other, and
+showing great deference for each other's opinions. They were like one
+man.
+
+
+[Illustration: Marlborough At Malplaquet--Painted by R. Canton
+Woodville--596]
+
+
+After the fall of Tournai, our army took up position at Malplaquet, the
+right and the left supported by two woods, with hedges and woods before
+the centre, so that the plain was, as it were, cut in two. Marlborough
+and Prince Eugene marched in their turn, fearing lest Villars should
+embarrass them as they went towards Mons, which place they had resolved
+to besiege. They sent on a large detachment of their army, under the
+command of the Prince of Hesse, to watch ours. He arrived in sight of
+the camp at Malpladuet at the same time that we entered it, and was
+quickly warned of our existence by, three cannon shots that Villars, out
+of braggadocio, fired by way of appeal to Marlborough and Prince Eugene.
+Some little firing took place this day and the next, the 10th of
+September, but without doing much harm on either side.
+
+Marlborough and Prince Eugene, warned of the perilous state in which the
+Prince of Hesse was placed--he would have been lost if attacked hastened
+at once to join him, and arrived in the middle of the morning of the
+10th. Their first care was to examine the position of our army, and to
+do so, while waiting for their rear-guard, they employed a stratagem
+which succeeded admirably.
+
+They sent several officers, who had the look of subalterns, to our lines,
+and asked to be allowed to speak to our officers. Their request was
+granted. Albergotti came down to them, and discoursed with them a long
+time. They pretended they came to see whether peace could not be
+arranged, but they, in reality, spoke of little but compliments, which
+signified nothing. They stayed so long, under various pretexts, that at
+last we were obliged to threaten them in order to get rid of them. All
+this time a few of their best general officers on horseback, and a larger
+number of engineers and designers on foot, profited by these ridiculous
+colloquies to put upon paper drawings of our position, thus being able to
+see the best positions for their cannon, and the best mode, in fact, in
+which all their disposition might be made. We learnt this artifice
+afterwards from the prisoners.
+
+It was decided that evening to give us battle on the morrow, although the
+deputies of the States-General, content with the advantages that had been
+already gained, and not liking to run the risk of failure, were, opposed
+to an action taking place. They were, however, persuaded to agree, and
+on the following morning the battle began.
+
+The struggle lasted many hours. But our position had been badly chosen,
+and, in spite of every effort, we were unable to maintain it. Villars,
+in the early part of the action, received a wound which incapacitated him
+from duty. All the burden of command fell upon Boufflers. He bore it
+well; but after a time finding his army dispersed, his infantry
+overwhelmed, the ground slipping from under his feet, he thought only of
+beating a good and honourable retreat. He led away his army in such good
+order, that the enemy were unable to interfere with it in the slightest
+degree. During all the march, which lasted until night, we did not lose
+a hundred stragglers, and carried off all the cannon with the exception
+of a few pieces. The enemy passed the night upon the battle-field, in
+the midst of twenty-five thousand dead, and marched towards Mons the next
+evening. They frankly admitted that in men killed and wounded, in
+general officers and privates, in flags and standards, they had lost more
+than we. The battle cost them, in fact, seven lieutenant-generals, five
+other generals, about eighteen hundred officers killed or wounded, and
+more than fifteen thousand men killed or rendered unfit for service.
+They openly avowed, also, how much they had been surprised by the valour
+of the majority of our troops, above all of the cavalry, and did not
+dissimulate that we should have gained the day, had we been better led.
+
+Why the Marechal Villars waited ten days to be attacked in a position so
+disadvantageous, instead of at once marching upon the enemies and
+overcoming, as he might at first easily have done, it is difficult to
+understand. He threw all the blame upon his wound, although it was well
+known that the fate of the day was decided long before he was hurt.
+
+Although forced to retire, our men burned with eagerness to engage the
+enemies again. Mons had been laid siege to. Boufflers tried to make the
+besiegers give up the undertaking. But his men were without bread and
+without pay: the subaltern officers were compelled to eat the regulation
+bread, the general-officers were reduced to the most miserable shifts,
+and were like the privates, without pay, oftentimes for seven or eight
+days running. There was no meat and no bread for the army. The common
+soldiers were reduced to herbs and roots for all sustenance. Under
+these circumstances it was found impossible to persevere in trying to
+save Mons. Nothing but subsistence could be thought of.
+
+The Court had now become so accustomed to defeats that a battle lost as
+was Malplaquet seemed half a victory. Boufflers sent a courier to the
+King with an account of the event, and spoke so favourably of Villars,
+that all the blame of the defeat fell upon himself. Villars was
+everywhere pitied and applauded, although he had lost an important
+battle: when it was in his power to beat the enemies in detail, and
+render them unable to undertake the siege of Mons, or any other siege.
+If Boufflers was indignant at this, he was still more indignant at what
+happened afterwards. In the first dispatch he sent to the King he
+promised to send another as soon as possible giving full details, with
+propositions as to how the vacancies which had occurred in the army might
+be filled up. On the very evening he sent off his second dispatch, he
+received intelligence that the King had already taken his dispositions
+with respect to these vacancies, without having consulted him upon a
+single point. This was the first reward Boufflers received for the
+services he had just rendered, and that, too, from a King who had said in
+public that without Boufflers all was lost, and that assuredly it was God
+who had inspired him with the idea of going to the army. From that time
+Boufflers fell into a disgrace from which he never recovered. He had the
+courage to appear as usual at the Court; but a worm was gnawing him
+within and destroyed him. Oftentimes he opened his heart to me without
+rashness, and without passing the strict limits of his virtue; but the
+poniard was in his heart, and neither time nor reflection could dull its
+edge. He did nothing but languish afterwards, yet without being confined
+to his bed or to his chamber, but did not live more than two years.
+Villars, on the contrary, was in greater favour than ever. He arrived at
+Court triumphant. The King made him occupy an apartment at Versailles,
+so that his wound might be well attended to.
+
+What a contrast! What a difference between the services, the merit, the
+condition, the virtue, the situation of these two men! What
+inexhaustible funds of reflection.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L
+
+I have described in its proper place the profound fall of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans and the neglect in which he lived, out of all favour with the
+King, hated by Madame de Maintenon and Monseigneur, and regarded with an
+unfavourable eye by the public, on account of the scandals of his private
+life. I had long seen that the only way in which he could hope to
+recover his position would be to give up his mistress, Madame d'Argenton,
+with whom he had been on terms of intimacy for many years past, to the
+knowledge and the scandal of all the world. I knew it would be a bold
+and dangerous game to play, to try to persuade him to separate himself
+from a woman he had known and loved so long; but I determined to engage
+in it, nevertheless, and I looked about for some one to assist me in this
+enterprise. At once I cast my eyes upon the Marechal de Besons, who for
+many long years had been the bosom friend of M. d'Orleans. He applauded
+the undertaking, but doubted, he said, its success; nevertheless he
+promised to aid me to the utmost of his power, and, it will be seen, was
+as good as his word. For some time I had no opportunity of accosting M.
+d'Orleans, and was obliged to keep my project in abeyance, but I did not
+lose sight of it; and when I saw my way clear, I took the matter in hand,
+determined to strain every nerve in order to succeed.
+
+It was just at the commencement of the year 1710, that I first spoke to
+M. d'Orleans. I began by extracting from him an admission of the neglect
+into which he had fallen--the dislike of the King, the hatred of
+Monseigneur, who accused him of wishing to replace his son in Spain; that
+of Madame de Maintenon, whom he had offended by his bon mot; the
+suspicions of the public, who talked of his chemical experiments--and
+then, throwing off all fear of consequences, I said that before he could
+hope to draw back his friends and the world to him, he must reinstate
+himself in the favour of the King. He appeared struck with what I had
+said, rose after a profound silence, paced to and fro, and then asked,
+"But how?" Seeing the opportunity so good, I replied in a firm and
+significant tone, "How? I know well enough, but I will never tell you;
+and yet it is the only thing to do."--"Ah, I understand you," said he, as
+though struck with a thunderbolt; "I understand you perfectly;" and he
+threw himself upon the chair at the end of the room. There he remained
+some time, without speaking a word, yet agitated and sighing, and with
+his eyes lowered. I broke silence at last, by saying that the state
+which he was in had touched me to the quick, and that I had determined in
+conjunction with the Marechal de Besons to speak to him upon the subject,
+and to propose the only means by which he could hope to bring about a
+change in his position. He considered some time, and then giving me
+encouragement to proceed, I entered at some length upon the proposal I
+had to make to him and left him evidently affected by what I had said,
+when I thought I had for the time gone far enough.
+
+The next day, Thursday, January 2nd, Besons, to whom I had written,
+joined me; and after I had communicated to him what had passed the
+previous evening, we hastened to M. d'Orleans. He received us well, and
+we at once commenced an attack. In order to aid my purpose as much as
+possible, I repeated to M. d'Orleans, at this meeting, the odious reports
+that were in circulation against him, viz., that he intended to repudiate
+his wife forced upon him by the King, in order to marry the Queen Dowager
+of Spain, and by means of her gold to open up a path for himself to the
+Spanish throne; that he intended to wait for his new wife's death, and
+then marry Madame D'ARGENSON, to whom the genii had promised a throne;
+and I added, that it was very fortunate that the Duchesse d'Orleans had
+safely passed through the dangers of her confinement, for already some
+wretches had begun to spread the saying, that he was not the son of
+Monsieur for nothing. (An allusion to the death of Henriette
+d'Angleterre.)
+
+On hearing these words, the Duke was seized with a terror that cannot be
+described, and at the same time with a grief that is above expression.
+I took advantage of the effect my discourse had had upon him to show how
+necessary it was he should make a great effort in order to win back the
+favour of the King and of the public. I represented to him that the only
+way to do this was to give up Madame d'Argenton, at once and for ever,
+and to announce to the King that he had done so. At first he would not
+hear of such a step, and I was obliged to employ all my eloquence, and
+all my firmness too, to make him listen to reason. One great obstacle in
+our way was the repugnance of M. d'Orleans for his wife. He had been
+married, as I have described in the early part of these memoirs, against
+his will, and with no sort of affection for the woman he was given to.
+It was natural that he should look upon her with dislike ever since she
+had become his wife. I did what I could to speak in praise of Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans, and Besons aided me; but we did little else than
+waste our breath for sometime. Our praises in fact irritated
+M. d'Orleans, and to such a point, that no longer screening things or
+names, he told us what we should have wished not to hear, but what it was
+very lucky we did hear. He had suspicions, in fact, of his wife's
+honour; but fortunately I was able to prove clearly and decisively that
+those suspicions were unfounded, and I did so. The joy of M. d'Orleans
+upon finding he had been deceived was great indeed; and when we separated
+from him after mid-day, in order to go to dinner, I saw that a point was
+gained.
+
+A little before three o'clock I returned to M. d'Orleans, whom I found
+alone in his cabinet with Besons. He received me with pleasure, and made
+me seat myself between him and the Marechal, whom he complimented upon
+his diligence. Our conversation recommenced. I returned to the attack
+with all the arguments I could muster, and the Marechal supported me; but
+I saw with affright that M. d'Orleans was less reduced than when we had
+quitted him in the morning, and that he had sadly taken breath during our
+short absence. I saw that, if we were to succeed, we must make the best
+use we could of our time, and accordingly I brought all my powers into
+play in order to gain over M. d'Orleans.
+
+Feeling that everything was now to be lost or gained, I spoke out with
+all the force of which I was capable, surprising and terrifying Marechal
+Besons to such a point, with my hardihood, that he had not a word to say
+in order to aid me. When I had finished, M. d'Orleans thanked me in a
+piteous tone, by which I knew the profound impression I had made upon his
+mind. I proposed, while he was still shaken, that he should at once send
+to Madame de Maintenon, to know when she, would grant him an audience;
+for he had determined to speak to her first of his intention to give up
+Madame d'Argenton. Besons seconded me; and while we were talking
+together, not daring to push our point farther, M. d'Orleans much
+astonished us by rising, running with impetuosity to the door, and
+calling aloud for his servants. One ran to him, whom he ordered in a
+whisper to go to Madame de Maintenon, to ask at what hour she would see
+him on the morrow. He returned immediately, and threw himself into a
+chair like a man whose strength fails him and who is at his last gasp.
+Uncertain as to what he had just done, I asked him if he had sent to
+Madame de Maintenon. "Yes, Monsieur," said he, in a tone of despair.
+Instantly I started towards him, and thanked him with all the contentment
+and all the joy imaginable. This terrible interview, for the struggle we
+had all gone through was very great, was soon after brought to a close,
+and Besons and myself went our way, congratulating each other on the
+success of this day's labour.
+
+On the next day, Friday, the 3rd of January, I saw M. d'Orleans as he
+preceded the King to mass, and in my impatience I approached him, and
+speaking in a low tone, asked him if he had seen "that woman." I did not
+dare to mention names just then. He replied "yes," but in so
+lackadaisical a tone that I feared he had seen her to effect, and I asked
+him if he had spoken to her. Upon receiving another "yes," like the
+other, my emotion redoubled. "But have you told her all?" I said.
+"Yes," he replied, "I have told her all."--"And are you content?" said
+I. "Nobody could be more so," he replied; "I was nearly an hour with
+her, she was very much surprised and ravished."
+
+I saw M. d'Orleans under better circumstances at another period of the
+day, and then I learnt from him that since meeting me he had spoken to
+the King also, and told him all. "Ah, Monsieur," cried I with transport,
+"how I love you!" and advancing warmly toward him, I added, "How glad I
+am to see you at last delivered; how did you bring this to pass?"--
+"I mistrusted myself so much," replied he, "and was so violently
+agitated after speaking to Madame de Maintenon, that I feared to run the
+risk of pausing all the morning; so, immediately after mass I spoke to
+the King, and--" here, overcome by his grief, his voice faltered, and he
+burst into sighs, into tears, and into sobs. I retired into a corner. A
+moment after Besons entered: the spectacle and the profound silence
+astonished him. He lowered his eyes, and advanced but little. At last
+we gently approached each other. I told him that M. d'Orleans had
+conquered himself, and had spoken to the King. The Marechal was so
+bewildered with surprise and joy that he remained for some moments
+speechless and motionless: then running towards M. d'Orleans, he thanked
+him, felicitated him, and wept for very joy. M. d'Orleans was cruelly
+agitated, now maintaining a ferocious silence, and now bursting into a
+torrent of sighs, sobs, and tears. He said at last that Madame de
+Maintenon had been extremely surprised with the resolution he had taken,
+and at the same time delighted. She assured him that it would put him on
+better terms than ever with the King, and that Madame d'Argenton should
+be treated with every consideration. I pressed M. d'Orleans to let us
+know how the King had received him. He replied that the King had
+appeared very much surprised, but had spoken coldly. I comforted him for
+this disappointment by assuring him that the King's coldness arose only
+from his astonishment, and that in the end all would be well.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the joy felt by Besons and myself at
+seeing our labours brought to this satisfactory point. I knew I should
+make many enemies when the part I had taken in influencing M. d'Orleans
+to give up Madame d'Argenton came to be known, as it necessarily would;
+but I felt I had done rightly, and left the consequences to Providence.
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans showed me the utmost gratitude for what I
+had done. She exhibited, too, so much intelligence, good sense, and
+ability, in the conversation I had with her, that I determined to spare
+no pains to unite her husband to her more closely; being firmly persuaded
+that he would nowhere find a better counsellor than in her. The surprise
+of the whole Court, when it became known that M. d'Orleans had at last
+separated himself from Madame d'Argenton, was great indeed. It was only
+equalled by the vexation of those who were opposed to him. Of course in
+this matter I was not spared. For several days nothing was spoken of but
+this rupture, and everywhere I was pointed out as the author of it.
+
+Besons being scarcely alluded to. I parried the thrust made at me as
+well as I could, as much for the purpose of leaving all the honour to
+M. d'Orleans, as for the purpose of avoiding the anger of those who
+were annoyed with me; and also from a just fear of showing that I had too
+much influence over the mind of a Prince not without faults, and who
+could not always be led.
+
+As for Madame d'Argenton, she received the news that her reign was over
+with all the consternation, rage, and despair that might have been
+expected. Mademoiselle de Chausseraye was sent by Madame de Maintenon to
+announce the ill news to her. When Mademoiselle de Chausseraye arrived
+at Madame l'Argenton's house, Madame d'Argenton was out she had gone to
+supper with the Princesse de Rohan. Mademoiselle de Chausseraye waited
+until she returned, and then broke the matter to her gently, and after
+much preamble and circumlocution, as though she were about to announce
+the death of some one.
+
+The tears, the cries, the howlings of Madame d'Argenton filled the house,
+and announced to all the domestics that the reign of felicity was at an
+end there. After a long silence on the part of Mademoiselle de
+Chausseraye, she spoke her best in order to appease the poor lady. She
+represented to her the delicacy and liberality of the arrangements M.
+d'Orleans had made in her behalf. In the first place she was free to
+live in any part of the realm except Paris and its appanages. In the
+next place he assured to her forty-five thousand livres a year, nearly
+all the capital of which would belong to the son he had had by her, whom
+he had recognised and made legitimate, and who has since become Grandee
+of Spain, Grand Prieur of France, and General of the Galleys (for the
+best of all conditions in France is to have none at all, and to be a
+bastard). Lastly he undertook to pay all her debts up to the day of the
+rupture, so that she should not be importuned by any creditor, and
+allowed her to retain her jewellery, her plate, her furniture--worth
+altogether about four hundred thousand livres. His liberality amounted
+to a total of about two million livres, which I thought prodigious.
+
+Madame d'Argenton, in despair at first, became more tractable as she
+learnt the provisions which had been made for her, and the delicacy with
+which she was treated. She remained four days in Paris, and then
+returned to her father's house near Port-Sainte-Maxence, the Chevalier
+d'Orleans, her son, remaining at the Palais Royal. The King after his
+first surprise had worn away, was in the greatest joy at the rupture; and
+testified his gratification to M. d'Orleans, whom he treated better and
+better every day. Madame de Maintenon did not dare not to contribute a
+little at first; and in this the Prince felt the friendship of the
+Jesuits, whom he had contrived to attach to him.
+
+The Duchesse de Bourgogne did marvels of her own accord; and the Duc de
+Bourgogne, also, being urged by M. de Beauvilliers. Monseigneur alone
+remained irritated, on account of the Spanish affair.
+
+I must here mention the death of M. le Duc. He was engaged in a trial
+which was just about to be pleaded. He had for some time suffered from a
+strange disease, a mixture of apoplexy and epilepsy, which he concealed
+so carefully, that he drove away one of his servants for speaking of it
+to his fellows.
+
+For some time he had had a continual headache. This state troubled the
+gladness he felt at being delivered from his troublesome father and
+brother-in-law. One evening he was riding in his carriage, returning
+from a visit to the Hotel de Coislin, without torches, and with only one
+servant behind, when he felt so ill that he drew the string, and made his
+lackey get up to tell him whether his mouth was not all on one side.
+This was not the case, but he soon lost speech and consciousness after
+having requested to be taken in privately to the Hotel de Conde. They
+there put him in bed. Priests and doctors came. But he only made
+horrible faces, and died about four o'clock in the morning.
+
+Madame la Duchesse did not lose her presence of mind, and, whilst her
+husband was dying, took steps to secure her future fortune. Meanwhile
+she managed to cry a little, but nobody believed in her grief. As for M.
+le Duc, I have already mentioned some anecdotes of him that exhibit his
+cruel character. He was a marvellously little man, short, without being
+fat. A dwarf of Madame la Princesse was said to be the cause. He was of
+a livid yellow, nearly always looked furious, and was ever so proud, so
+audacious, that it was difficult to get used to him. His cruelty and
+ferocity were so extreme that people avoided him, and his pretended
+friends would not invite him to join in any merriment. They avoided him:
+he ran after them to escape from solitude, and would sometimes burst upon
+them during their jovial repasts, reproach them with turning a cold
+shoulder to him, and change their merriment to desolation.
+
+After the death of M. le Duc, a grand discussion on precedence at the
+After-suppers, set on foot by the proud Duchesse d'Orleans, was,--after
+an elaborate examination by the King, brought to a close. The King
+ordered his determination to be kept secret until he formally declared
+it. It is necessary to set forth in a few words the mechanism of the
+After-suppers every day. The King, on leaving table, stopped less than a
+half-quarter of an hour with his back leaning against the balustrade of
+his chamber. He there found in a circle all the ladies who had been at
+his supper, and who came there to wait for him a little before he left
+table, except the ladies who sat, who came out after him, and who, in the
+suite of the Princes and the Princesses who had supped with him, advanced
+one by one and made him a courtesy, and filled up the remainder of the
+standing circle; for a space was always left for them by the other
+ladies. The men stood behind. The King amused himself by observing the
+dresses, the countenances, and the gracefulness of the ladies courtesies,
+said a word to the Princes and Princesses who had supped with him, and
+who closed the circle near him an either hand, then bowed to the ladies
+on right and left, bowed once or twice more as he went away, with a grace
+and majesty unparalleled, spoke sometimes, but very rarely, to some lady
+in passing, entered the first cabinet, where he gave the order, and then
+advanced to the second cabinet, the doors from the first to the second
+always remaining open. There he placed himself in a fauteuil, Monsieur,
+while he was there, in another; the Duchesse de Bourgogne, Madame (but
+only after the death of Monsieur), the Duchesse de Berry (after her
+marriage), the three bastard-daughters, and Madame du Maine (when she was
+at Versailles), on stools on each side. Monseigneur, the Duc de
+Bourgogne, the Duc de Berry, the Duc d'Orleans, the two bastards, M. le
+Duc (as the husband of Madame la Duchesse), and afterwards the two sons
+of M. du Maine, when they had grown a little, and D'Antin, came
+afterwards, all standing. It was the object of the Duchesse d'Orleans to
+change this order, and make her daughters take precedence of the wives of
+the Princes of the blood; but the King declared against her. When he
+made the public announcement of his decision, the Duc d'Orleans took the
+opportunity of alluding to a marriage which would console him for
+everything. "I should think so," replied the King, dryly, and with a
+bitter and mocking smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+It was the desire of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans to marry Mademoiselle
+(their daughter) to the Duc de Berry (third son of Monseigneur, and
+consequently brother of the Duc de Bourgogne and of the King of Spain).
+There were many obstacles in the way--partly the state of public affairs
+--partly the fact that the King, though seemingly, was not really quite
+reconciled--partly the recollection of that cruel 'bon mot' in Spain--
+partly the fact that Monseigneur would naturally object to marry his
+favourite son with the daughter of a man toward whom he always testified
+hatred in the most indecent manner. The recent union between Madame de
+Maintenon, Mademoiselle Choin, and Monseigneur was also a great obstacle.
+In fact after what M. le Duc d'Or leans had been accused of in Spain,
+with his abilities and talents it seemed dangerous to make him the
+father-in-law of M. le Duc de Berry.
+
+For my part I passionately desired the marriage of Mademoiselle, although
+I saw that all tended to the marriage of Mademoiselle de Bourbon,
+daughter of Madame la Duchesse, in her place. I had many reasons,
+private and public, for acting against the latter marriage; but it was
+clear that unless very vigorous steps were taken it would fall like a
+mill-stone upon my head, crush me, and wound the persons to whom I was
+attached. M. le Duc d'Orleans and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans were
+immersed in the deepest indolence. They desired, but did not act. I
+went to them and explained the state of the case--pointed out the danger
+of Madame la Duchesse--excited their pride, their jealousy, their spite.
+Will it be believed that it was necessary to put all this machinery in
+motion? At last, by working on them by the most powerful motives, I made
+them attend to their own interests. The natural but extreme laziness of
+the Duchesse d'Orleans gave way this time, but less to ambition than to
+the desire of defeating a sister who was so inimical to her. We next
+concerted how we should make use of M. d'Orleans himself.
+
+That Prince, with all his wit and his passion for Mademoiselle--which had
+never weakened since her birth--was like a motionless beam, which stirred
+only in obedience to our redoubled efforts, and who remained so to the
+conclusion of this great business. I often reflected on the causes of
+this incredible conduct, and was led to suppose that the knowledge of the
+irremediable nature of what had taken place in Spain was the rein that
+restrained him. However this may have been, I was throughout obliged to
+use main force to bring him to activity. I determined to form and direct
+a powerful cabal in order to bring my views to pass. The first person of
+whom it was necessary to make sure was the Duchesse de Bourgogne. That
+Princess had many reasons for the preference of Mademoiselle over
+Mademoiselle de Bourbon (daughter of Madame la Duchesse). She knew the
+King perfectly; and could not be ignorant of the power of novelty over
+his mind, of which power she had herself made a happy experiment. What
+she had to fear was another herself--I mean a Princess on the same terms
+with the King as she was, who, being younger than she, would amuse him by
+new childish playfulness no longer suited to her age, and yet which she
+(the Duchess) was still obliged to employ. The very contrast of her own
+untimely childishness, with a childishness so much more natural, would
+injure her. The new favourite would, moreover, not have a husband to
+support; for the Duc de Berry was already well liked. The Duc de
+Bourgogne, on the contrary, since the affair of Flanders, had fallen into
+disgrace with his father, Monseigneur; and his scruples, his preciseness,
+his retired life, devoted to literal compliance with the rules of
+devotion, contrasted unfavourably with the free life of his younger
+brother.
+
+The present and the future--whatever was important in life--were
+therefore at stake with Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne; and yet her
+great duty to herself was perpetually in danger of being stifled by the
+fictitious and petty duties of daily life. It was necessary to stimulate
+her. She felt these things in general; and that it was necessary that
+her sister-in-law should be a Princess, neither able nor willing to give
+her umbrage, and over whom she should be mistress. But in spite of her
+wit and sense, she was not capable of feeling in a sufficiently lively
+manner of herself all the importance of these things, amidst the
+effervescence of her youth, the occupation of her successive duties,
+the private and general favour she seemed to enjoy, the greatness of a
+rank in expectation of a throne, the round of amusements which dissipated
+her mind and her days: gentle, light, easy--perhaps too easy. I felt,
+however, that from the effect of these considerations upon her I should
+derive the greatest assistance, on account of the influence she could
+exert upon the King, and still more on Madame de Maintenon, both of whom
+loved her exceedingly; and I felt also that the Duchesse d'Orleans would
+have neither the grace nor the fire necessary to stick it in deep enough
+--on account of her great interest in the matter.
+
+I influenced the Duchesse de Villeroy and Madame de Levi, who could work
+on the Duchess, and also Madame d'O; obtained the indirect assistance of
+M. du Maine--and by representing to the Ducs de Chevreuse, and de
+Beauvilliers, that if M. de Berry married Mademoiselle de Bourbon, hatred
+would arise between him and his brother, and great danger to the state,
+enlisted them also on my side. I knew that the Joie de Berry was a fort
+that could only be carried by mine and assault. Working still further,
+I obtained the concurrence of the Jesuits; and made the Pere de Trevoux
+our partisan. Nothing is indifferent to the Jesuits. They became a
+powerful instrument. As a last ally I obtained the co-operation of the
+Marechal de Boufflers. Such were the machines that my friendship for
+those to whom I was attached, my hatred for Madame la Duchesse, my care
+of my present and future situation, enabled me to discover, to set going,
+with an exact and compassed movement, a precise agreement, and the
+strength of a lever--which the space of one Lent commenced and perfected
+--all whose movements, embarrassments, and progress in their divers lines
+I knew; and which I regularly wound up in reciprocal cadence every day!
+
+Towards the end of the Lent, the Duchesse de Bourgogne, having sounded
+the King and Madame de Maintenon, had found the latter well disposed, and
+the former without any particular objection. One day that Mademoiselle
+had been taken to see the King at the apartments of Madame de Maintenon,
+where Monseigneur happened to be, the Duchesse de Bourgogne praised her,
+and when she had gone away, ventured, with that freedom and that
+predetermined impulsiveness and gaiety which she sometimes made use of,
+to say: "What an excellent wife for M. le Duc de Berry!" This expression
+made Monseigneur redden with anger, and exclaim, "that would be an
+excellent method of recompensing the Duc d'Orleans for his conduct in
+Spain!" When he had said these words he hastily left the company, all
+very much astonished; for no one expected a person seemingly so
+indifferent and so measured to come out so strongly. The Duchesse de
+Bourgogne, who had only spoken so to feel the way with Monseigneur in
+presence of the King, was bold and clever to the end. Turning with a
+bewildered look towards Madame de Maintenon, "My Aunt," quoth she to her,
+"have I said something foolish?" the King, piqued, answered for Madame
+de Maintenon, and said, warmly, that if Madame la Duchesse was working
+upon Monseigneur she would have to deal with him. Madame de Maintenon
+adroitly envenomed the matter by wondering at a vivacity so uncommon with
+Monseigneur, and said that if Madame la Duchesse had that much of
+influence, she would soon make him do other things of more consequence.
+The conversation, interrupted in various ways and renewed, advanced with
+emotion, and in the midst of reflections that did more injury to
+Mademoiselle de Bourbon than the friendship of Monseigneur for Madame la
+Duchesse could serve her.
+
+When I learned this adventure, I saw that it was necessary to attack
+Monseigneur by piquing the King against Madame la Duchesse, and making
+him fear the influence of that Princess on Monseigneur and through
+Monseigneur on himself; that no opportunity should be lost to impress on
+the King the fear of being governed and kept in pupilage by his children;
+that it was equally important to frighten Madame de Maintenon, and show
+her the danger she was in from the influence of Monseigneur. I worked on
+the fears of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, by Madame de Villeroy and de
+Levi; on the Duc de Bourgogne, by M. de Beauvilliers; on Madame de
+Maintenon, by the Marechal de Boufflers; on the King himself, by the Pere
+Tellier; and all these batteries succeeded.
+
+In order not to hurry matters too much, I took a turn to La Ferme, and
+then came back to Marly just as the King arrived. Here I had a little
+alarm, which did not, however, discourage me. I learned, in fact, that
+one day the Duchesse de Bourgogne, urged perhaps rather too much on the
+subject of Mademoiselle by Madame d'O, and somewhat annoyed, had shown an
+inclination for a foreign marriage. Would to God that such a marriage
+could have been brought about! I should always have preferred it, but
+there were many reasons to render it impossible.
+
+On my arrival at Marly, I found everything in trouble there: the King so
+chagrined that he could not hide it--although usually a master of himself
+and of his face: the Court believing that some new disaster had happened
+which would unwillingly be declared. Four or five days passed in this
+way: at last it became known what was in the wind. The King, informed
+that Paris and all the public were murmuring loudly about the expenses of
+Marly--at a time when it was impossible to meet the most indispensable
+claims of a necessary and unfortunate war--was more annoyed this time
+than on any other occasion, although he had often received the same
+warnings. Madame de Maintenon had the greatest difficulty to hinder him
+from returning straight to Versailles. The upshot was that the King
+declared with a sort of bitter joy, that he would no longer feed the
+ladies at Marly; that for the future he would dine alone, simply, as at
+Versailles; that he would sup every day at a table for sixteen with his
+family, and that the spare places should be occupied by ladies invited in
+the morning; that the Princesses of his family should each have a table
+for the ladies they brought with them; and that Mesdames Voysin and
+Desmarets should each have one for the ladies who did not choose to eat
+in their own rooms. He added bitterly, that by making retrenchments at
+Marly he should not spend more there than at Versailles, so that he could
+go there when he pleased without being exposed to the blame of any one.
+He deceived himself from one end of this business to the other, but
+nobody but himself was deceived, if indeed he was in any other way but in
+expecting to deceive the world. The truth is, that no change was made at
+Marly, except in name. The same expenses went on. The enemies
+insultingly ridiculed these retrenchments. The King's subjects did not
+cease to complain.
+
+About this time an invitation to Marly having been obtained by Madame la
+Duchesse for her daughters, Mademoiselles de Bourbon and de Charolois,
+the King offered one to Mademoiselle. This offer was discussed before
+the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans and me. We at last resolved to leave
+Mademoiselle at Versailles; and not to be troubled by seeing Mademoiselle
+de Bourbon passing her days in the same salon, often at the same play-
+table with the Duc de Berry, making herself admired by the Court,
+fluttering round Monseigneur, and accustoming the eye of the King to her.
+We knew that these trifles would not bring about a marriage; and it was
+still more important not to give up Mademoiselle to the malignity of the
+Court, to exposure, and complaints, from which it might not always be
+possible to protect her.
+
+But I had felt that it was necessary to act vigorously, and pressed the
+Duc d'Orleans to speak to the King. To my surprise he suddenly heaped up
+objections, derived from the public disasters, with which a princely
+marriage would contrast disagreeably. The Duchesse d'Orleans was
+strangely staggered by this admission; it only angered me. I answered by
+repeating all my arguments. At last he gave way, and agreed to write to
+the King. Here, again, I had many difficulties to overcome, and was
+obliged, in fact, to write the letter myself, and dictate it to him. He
+made one or two changes; and at last signed and sealed it. But I had the
+greatest difficulty yet in inciting him to give it to the King. I had to
+follow him, to urge him, to pique him, almost to push him into the
+presence. The King received the letter very graciously; it had its
+effect; and the marriage was resolved on.
+
+When the preliminaries were settled, the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans began
+to show their desire that Madame de Saint-Simon should be lady of honour
+to their daughter when she had become the Duchesse de Berry. I was far
+from flattered by this distinction and refused as best I might. Madame
+de Saint-Simon went to have an audience of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and
+asked not to be appointed; but her objections were not listened to, or
+listened to with astonishment. Meanwhile I endeavoured to bring about a
+reconciliation of the Duc d'Orleans with La Choin; but utterly failed.
+La Choin positively refused to have anything to do with the Duke and
+Duchess. I was much embarrassed to communicate this news to them, to
+whom I was attached. It was necessary; however, to do so. I hastened to
+Saint-Cloud, and found the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans at table with
+Mademoiselle and some ladies in a most delightful menagerie, adjoining
+the railing of the avenue near the village, with a charming pleasure-
+garden attached to it. All this belonged, under the name of
+Mademoiselle, to Madame de Mare, her governess. I sat down and chatted
+with them; but the impatience of the Duc d'Orleans to learn the news
+could not be checked. He asked me if I was very satisfied. "Middling,"
+I replied, not to spoil his dinner; but he rose at once and took me into
+the garden. He was much affected to hear of the ill-success of my
+negotiation; and returned downcast to table. I took the first
+opportunity to blame his impatience, and the facility with which he
+allowed the impressions he received to appear. Always in extreme, he
+said he cared not; and talked wildly of planting cabbages--talk in which
+he indulged often without meaning anything.
+
+Soon after, M. le Duc d'Orleans went aside with Mademoiselle, and I found
+myself placed accidentally near Madame de Fontaine-Martel. She was a
+great friend of mine, and much attached to M. d'Orleans; and it was by
+her means that I had become friendly with the Duke. She felt at once
+that something was going on; and did not doubt that the marriage of
+Mademoiselle was on the carpet. She said so, but I did not answer, yet
+without assuming an air of reserve that would have convinced her. Taking
+her text from the presence of M. le Duc d'Orleans with Mademoiselle, she
+said to me confidentially, that it would be well to hasten this marriage
+if it was possible, because all sorts of horrible things were invented to
+prevent it; and without waiting to be too much pressed, she told me that
+the most abominable stories were in circulation as to the friendship of
+father and daughter. The hair of my head stood on end. I now felt more
+heavily than ever with what demons we had to do; and how necessary it was
+to hurry on matters. For this reason, after we had walked about a good
+deal after dark, I again spoke with M. d'Orleans, and told him that if,
+before the end of this voyage to Marly, he did not carry the declaration
+of his daughter's marriage, it would never take place.
+
+I persuaded him; and left him more animated and encouraged than I had
+seen him. He amused himself I know not in what other part of the house.
+I then talked a little with Madame de Mare, my relation and friend, until
+I was told that Madame de Fontaine-Martel wished to speak to me in the
+chateau. When I went there I was taken to the cabinet of the Duchesse
+d'Orleans, when I learnt that she had just been made acquainted with the
+abominable reports spread against her husband and daughter. We deplored
+together the misfortune of having to do with such furies. The Duchess
+protested that there was not even any seeming in favour of these
+calumnies. The Duke had ever tenderly loved his daughter from the age of
+two years, when he was nearly driven to despair by a serious illness she
+had, during which he watched her night and day; and this tenderness had
+gone on increasing day by day, so that he loved her more than his son.
+We agreed that it would be cruel, wicked, and dangerous to tell M.
+d'Orleans what was said.
+
+At length the decisive blow was struck. The King had an interview with
+Monseigneur; and told him he had determined on the marriage, begging him
+to make up his mind as soon as possible. The declaration was soon made.
+What must have been the state of Madame la Duchesse! I never knew what
+took place in her house at this strange moment; and would have dearly
+paid for a hiding-place behind the tapestry. As for Monseigneur, as soon
+as his original repugnance was overcome, and he saw that it was necessary
+to comply, he behaved very well. He received the Duc and Duchesse
+d'Orleans very well, and kissed her and drank their health and that of
+all the family cheerfully. They were extremely delighted and surprised.
+
+My next visit to Saint-Cloud was very different from that in which I
+reported the failure of my endeavours with Mademoiselle Choin. I was
+received in triumph before a large company. To my surprise,
+Mademoiselle, as soon as I appeared, ran towards me, kissed me on both
+cheeks, took me by the hand, and led me into the orangery. Then she
+thanked me, and admitted that her father had constantly kept her
+acquainted with all the negotiations as they went on. I could not help
+blaming his easiness and imprudence. She mingled all with testimonies of
+the most lively joy; and I was surprised by her grace, her eloquence, the
+dignity and the propriety of the terms she used. I learned an immense
+number of things in this half-hour's conversation. Afterwards
+Mademoiselle took the opportunity to say and do all manner of graceful
+things to Madame de Saint-Simon.
+
+The Duchesse d'Orleans now returned once more to the charge, in order to
+persuade my wife to be dame d'honneur to her daughter. I refused as
+firmly as I could. But soon after the King himself named Madame de
+Saint-Simon; and when the Duchesse de Bourgogne suggested a doubt of her
+acceptance, exclaimed, almost piqued: "Refuse! O, no! not when she
+learns that it is my desire." In fact, I soon received so many menacing
+warnings that I was obliged to give in; and Madame de Saint-Simon
+received the appointment. This was made publicly known by the King, who
+up to that very morning remained doubtful whether he would be met by a
+refusal or not; and who, as he was about to speak, looked at me with a
+smile that was meant to please and warn me to be silent. Madame de
+Saint-Simon learned the news with tears. She was excellently well
+received by the King, and complimented agreeably by Madame de Maintenon.
+
+The marriage took place with the usual ceremonies. The Duc de
+Beauvilliers and Madame de Saint-Simon drew the curtains of the couple
+when they went to bed; and laughed together at being thus employed. The
+King, who had given a very mediocre present of diamonds to the new
+Duchesse de Berry, gave nothing to the Duc de Berry. The latter had so
+little money that he could not play during the first days of the voyage
+to Marly. The Duchesse de Bourgogne told this to the King, who, feeling
+the state in which he himself was, said that he had only five hundred
+pistoles to give him. He gave them with an excuse on the misfortunes of
+the time, because the Duchesse de Bourgogne thought with reason that a
+little was better than nothing, and that it was insufferable not to be
+able to play.
+
+Madame de Mare was now set at liberty. The place of Dame d'Atours was
+offered to her; but she advanced many reasons for not accepting it, and
+on being pressed, refused with an obstinacy that surprised every one.
+We were not long in finding out the cause of her obstinate unwillingness
+to remain with Madame la Duchesse de Berry. The more that Princess
+allowed people to see what she was--and she never concealed herself--the
+more we saw that Madame de Mare was in the right; and the more we admired
+the miracle of care and prudence which had prevented anything from coming
+to light; and the more we felt how blindly people act in what they desire
+with the most eagerness, and achieve with much trouble and much joy; and
+the more we deplored having succeeded in an affair which, so far from
+having undertaken and carried out as I did, I should have traversed with
+still greater zeal, even if Mademoiselle de Bourbon had profited thereby
+without knowing it, if I had known half a quarter--what do I say? the
+thousandth part--of what we unhappily witnessed! I shall say no more for
+the present; and as I go on, I shall only say what cannot be concealed;
+and I say thus much so soon merely because the strange things that soon
+happened began to develop themselves a little during this first voyage to
+Marly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+On Saturday, the 15th of February, the King was waked up at seven o'clock
+in the morning, an hour earlier than usual, because Madame la Duchesse de
+Bourgogne was in the pains of labour. He dressed himself diligently in
+order to go to her. She did not keep him waiting long. At three minutes
+and three seconds after eight o'clock, she brought into the world a Duc
+d'Anjou, who is the King Louis XV., at present reigning, which caused a
+great joy. This Prince was soon after sprinkled by Cardinal de Janson in
+the chamber where he was born, and then carried upon the knees of the
+Duchesse de Ventadour in the sedan chair of the King into the King's
+apartments, accompanied by the Marechal de Boufflers and by the body-
+guards with officers. A little while after La Villiere carried to him
+the cordon bleu, and all the Court went to see him, two things which much
+displeased his brother, who did not scruple to show it. Madame de Saint-
+Simon, who was in the chamber of Madame la Dauphine, was by chance one of
+the first who saw this new-born Prince. The accouchement passed over
+very well.
+
+About this time died the Marechale de la Meilleraye, aged eighty-eight
+years. She was the paternal aunt of the Marechal de Villeroy and the Duc
+de Brissac, his brother-in-law. It was she who unwittingly put the cap
+on MM. de Brissac, which they have ever since worn in their arms, and
+which has been imitated. She was walking in a picture gallery of her
+ancestors one day with her niece, a lively, merry person, whom she
+obliged to salute and be polite to each portrait, and who in pleasant
+revenge persuaded her that one of the said portraits wore a cap which
+proved him to be an Italian Prince. She swallowed this, and had the cap
+introduced into her, arms, despite her family, who are now obliged to
+keep it, but who always call it, "My Aunt's cap." On another occasion,
+people were speaking in her presence of the death of the Chevalier de
+Savoie, brother of the Comte de Soissons, and of the famous Prince
+Eugene, who died very young, very suddenly, very debauched; and full of
+benefices. The talk became religious. She listened some time, and then,
+with a profound look of conviction, said: "For my part, I am persuaded
+that God will think twice about damning a man of such high birth as
+that!" This caused a burst of laughter, but nothing could make her
+change her opinion. Her vanity was cruelly punished. She used to affect
+to apologise for having married the Marechal de la Meilleraye. After his
+death, being in love with Saint-Ruth, her page, she married him; but took
+care not to disclose her marriage for fear of losing her distinction at
+Court. Saint-Ruth was a very honourable gentleman, very poor, tall, and
+well made, whom everybody knew; extremely ugly--I don't know whether he
+became so after his marriage. He was a worthy man and a good soldier.
+But he was also a rough customer, and when his distinguished wife annoyed
+him he twirled his cudgel and belaboured her soundly. This went so far
+that the Marechale, not being able to stand it any longer, demanded an
+audience of the King, admitted her weakness and her shame, and implored
+his protection. The King kindly promised to set matters to rights. He
+soundly rated Saint-Ruth in his cabinet, and forbade him to ill-treat the
+Marechale. But what is bred in the bone will never get out of the flesh.
+The Marechale came to make fresh complaints. The King grew angry in
+earnest, and threatened Saint-Ruth. This kept him quiet for some time.
+But the habit of the stick was too powerful; and he flourished it again.
+The Marechale flew as usual to the King, who, seeing that Saint-Ruth was
+incorrigible, was good enough to send him to Guyenne under pretence, of
+employment. Afterwards he was sent to Ireland; where he was killed.
+
+The Marechale de la Meilleraye had been perfectly beautiful, and was full
+of wit. She so turned the head of the Cardinal de Retz, that he wanted
+to turn everything topsy-turvy in France, in order to make himself, a
+necessary man and force the King to use his influence at Rome in order to
+obtain a dispensation by which he (the Cardinal) should be allowed,
+though a priest--and a consecrated bishop, to marry the Marechale de la
+Meilleraye while her husband was alive and she on very good terms with
+him! This madness is inconceivable and yet existed.
+
+I have described in its place the disgrace of Cardinal de Bouillon, and
+the banishment to which he was sentenced. Exile did not improve him.
+He languished in weariness and rage, and saw no hope that his position
+would ever change. Incapable of repose, he had passed all his long
+enforced leisure in a monastic war. The monks of Cluni were his
+antagonists. He was constantly bringing actions against them, which they
+as constantly defended. He accused them of revolt--they accused him of
+scheming. They profited by his disgrace, and omitted nothing to shake
+off the yoke which, when in favour, he had imposed on them. These broils
+went on, until at last a suit, which Cardinal de Bouillon had commenced
+against the refractory monks, and which had been carried into Grand
+Council of Paris, was decided against him, notwithstanding all the
+efforts he made to obtain a contrary verdict. This was the last drop
+which made the too full cup overflow, and which consummated the
+resolution that Cardinal had long since had in his head, and which he now
+executed.
+
+By the terms of his exile, he was allowed to visit, without restraint,
+his various abbeys, situated in different parts of the realm. He took
+advantage of this privilege, gave out that he was going to Normandy, but
+instead of doing so, posted away to Picardy, stopped briefly at
+Abbeville, gained Arras, where he had the Abbey of Saint-Waast, thence
+feigning to go and see his abbey of Vigogne, he passed over into the camp
+of the enemy, and threw himself into the arms of the Duke of Marlborough
+and Prince Eugene. The Prince d'Auvergne, his nephew, had deserted from
+France in a similar manner some time before, as I have related in its
+place, and was in waiting to receive the Cardinal, who was also very
+graciously welcomed by Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough, who
+introduced him to the heads of the army, and lavished upon him the
+greatest honours.
+
+Such a change of condition appeared very sweet to this spirit so haughty
+and so ulcerated, and marvellously inflated the Cardinal's courage. He
+recompensed his dear hosts by discourses, which were the most agreeable
+to them, upon the misery of France (which his frequent journeys through
+the provinces had placed before his eyes), upon its powerlessness to
+sustain the war; upon the discontent which reigned among the people; upon
+the exhaustion of the finances; in fine, he spared nothing that perfidy
+or ingratitude could suggest to flatter them and gain their favour.
+
+No sooner had the Cardinal had time to turn round among his new friends
+than he wrote a letter to the King announcing his flight--a letter which
+was such a monstrous production of insolence, of madness, of felony, and
+which was written in a style so extravagant and confused that it deserves
+to be thus specially alluded to. In this letter, as full of absurdities,
+impudence, and of madness, as of words, the Cardinal, while pretending
+much devotion for the King, and much submission to the Church, plainly
+intimated that he cared for neither. Although this was as the sting of a
+gnat upon an elephant, the King was horribly piqued at it. He received
+the letter on the 24th of May, gave it the next day to D'Aguesseau,
+attorney-general, and ordered him to commence a suit against Cardinal de
+Bouillon, as guilty of felony. At the same time the King wrote to Rome,
+enclosing a copy of Bouillon's letter, so that it might be laid before
+the Pope. This letter received little approbation. People considered
+that the King had forgotten his dignity in writing it, it seemed so much
+like a justification and so little worthy, of a great monarch. As for
+the Cardinal de Bouillon, he grew more haughty than ever. He wrote a
+letter upon the subject of this trial with which he was threatened, even
+more violent than his previous letter, and proclaimed that cardinals were
+not in any way amenable to secular justice, and could not be judged
+except by the Pope and all the sacred college.
+
+So in fact it seemed to, be; for although the Parliament commenced the
+trial, and issued an order of arrest against the Cardinal, they soon
+found themselves stopped by difficulties which arose, and by this
+immunity of the cardinals, which was supported by many examples. After
+all the fuss made, therefore, this cause fell by its own weakness, and
+exhaled itself, so to speak, in insensible perspiration. A fine lesson
+this for the most powerful princes, and calculated to teach them that if
+they want to be served by Rome they should favour those that are there,
+instead of raising their own subjects, who, out of Rome, can be of no
+service to the State; and who are good only to seize three or four
+hundred thousand livres a year in benefices, with the quarter of which an
+Italian would be more than recompensed. A French cardinal in France is
+the friend of the Pope, but the enemy of the King, the Church, and the
+State; a tyrant very often to the clergy and the ministers, at liberty to
+do what he likes without ever being punished for anything.
+
+As nothing could be done in this way against the Cardinal, other steps
+were taken. The fraudulent "Genealogical History of the House of
+Auvergne," which I have previously alluded to, was suppressed by royal
+edict, and orders given that all the copies of it should be seized.
+Baluze, who had written it, was deprived of his chair of Professor of the
+Royal College, and driven out of the realm. A large quantity of copies
+of this edict were printed and publicly distributed. The little
+patrimony that Cardinal de Bouillon had not been able to carry away, was
+immediately confiscated: the temporality of his benefices had been
+already seized, and on the 7th of July appeared a declaration from the
+King, which, depriving the Cardinal of all his advowsons, distributed
+them to the bishops of the dioceses in which those advowsons were
+situated.
+
+These blows were very sensibly felt by the other Bouillons, but it was no
+time for complaint. The Cardinal himself became more enraged than ever.
+Even up to this time he had kept so little within bounds that he had
+pontifically officiated in the church of Tournai at the Te Deum for the
+taking of Douai (by the enemies); and from that town (Tournai), where he
+had fixed his residence, he wrote a long letter to M. de Beauvais,--
+bishop of the place, when it yielded, and who would not sing the Te Deum,
+exhorting him to return to Tournai and submit to the new rule. Some time
+after this, that is to say, towards the end of the year, he was guilty of
+even greater presumption. The Abbey of Saint-Arnaud, in Flanders, had
+just been given by the King to Cardinal La Tremoille, who had been
+confirmed in his possession by bulls from the Pope. Since then the abbey
+had fallen into the power of the enemy. Upon this, Cardinal de Bouillon
+caused himself to be elected Abbot by a minority of the monks and in
+spite of the opposition of the others. It was curious to see this
+dutiful son of Rome, who had declared in his letter to the King, that he
+thought of nothing except the dignity of the King, and how he could best.
+serve God and the Church, thus elect him self in spite of the bull of the
+Pope, in spite of the orders of the King, and enjoy by force the revenues
+of the abbey, protected solely by heretics!
+
+But I have in the above recital alluded to the taking of Douai: this
+reminds me that I have got to speak of our military movements, our
+losses, and our victories, of this year. In Flanders and in Spain they
+were of some importance, and had better, perhaps, have a chapter or more
+to themselves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII
+
+The King, who had made numberless promotions, appointed this year the
+same generals to the same armies. Villars was chosen for Flanders, as
+before. Having, arrived at the very summit of favour, he thought he
+might venture, for the first time in his life, to bring a few truths
+before the King. He did nothing then but represent to the ministers,
+nay, even to the King and Madame de Maintenon themselves, the wretched
+state of our magazines and our garrisons; the utter absence of all
+provision for the campaign, and the piteous condition of the troops and
+their officers, without money and without pay. This was new language in
+the mouth of Villars, who hitherto had owed all his success to the
+smiling, rose-tinted account he had given of everything. It was the
+frequency and the hardihood of his falsehoods in this respect that made
+the King and Madame de Maintenon look upon him as their sole resource;
+for he never said anything disagreeable, and never found difficulties
+anywhere. Now that he had raised this fatal curtain, the aspect appeared
+so hideous to them, that they found it easier to fly into a rage than to
+reply. From that moment they began to regard Villars with other eyes.
+Finding that he spoke now the language which everybody spoke, they began
+to look upon him as the world had always looked upon him, to find him
+ridiculous, silly, impudent, lying, insupportable; to reproach themselves
+with having elevated him from nothing, so rapidly and so enormously; they
+began to shun him, to put him aside, to make him perceive what they
+thought, and to let others perceive it also.
+
+Villars in his turn was frightened. He saw the prospect of losing what
+he had gained, and of sinking into hopeless disgrace. With the
+effrontery that was natural to him, he returned therefore to his usual
+flatteries, artifices, and deceits; laughed at all dangers and
+inconveniences, as having resources in himself against everything!
+The coarseness of this variation was as plain as possible; but the
+difficulty of choosing another general was equally plain, and Villars
+thus got out of the quagmire. He set forth for the frontier, therefore,
+in his coach, and travelling easy stages, on account of his wound,
+arrived in due time at the army.
+
+Neither Prince Eugene nor the Duke of Marlborough wished for peace; their
+object was, the first, from personal vengeance against the King, and a
+desire to obtain a still greater reputation; the second, to get rich, for
+ambition was the prominent passion of one, and avarice of the other--
+their object was, I say, to enter France, and, profiting by the extreme
+weakness and straitened state of our troops and of our places, to push
+their conquests as far as possible.
+
+As for the King, stung by his continual losses, he wished passionately
+for nothing so much as a victory, which should disturb the plans of the
+enemies, and deliver him from the necessity of continuing the sad and
+shameful negotiations for peace he had set an foot at Gertruydemberg.
+But the enemies were well posted, end Villars had imprudently lost a good
+opportunity of engaging them. All the army had noticed this fault; he
+had been warned in time by several general officers, and by the Marechal
+de Montesquiou, but he would not believe them. He did not dare to attack
+the enemies, now, after having left them leisure to make all their
+dispositions. The army cried aloud against so capital a fault. Villars
+answered with his usual effrontery. He had quarrelled with his second in
+command, the Marechal de Montesquiou, and now knew not what to do.
+
+In this crisis, no engagement taking place, the King thought it fitting
+to send Berwick into Flanders to act as mediator, even, to some extent,
+as dictator to the army. He was ordered to bring back an account of all
+things, so that it might be seen whether a battle could or could not be
+fought.
+
+I think I have already stated who Berwick was; but I will here add a few
+more words about him to signalise his prodigious and rapid advancement.
+
+We were in the golden age of bastards, and Berwick was a man who had
+reason to think so. Bastard of James II., of England, he had arrived in
+France, at the age of eighteen, with that monarch, after the Revolution
+of 1688. At twenty-two he was made lieutenant-general, and served as
+such in Flanders, without having passed through any other rank. At
+thirty-three he commanded in chief in Spain with a patent of general.
+At thirty-four he was made, on account of his victory at Almanza, Grandee
+of Spain, and Chevalier of the Golden Fleece. He continued to command in
+chief until February, 1706, when he was made Marshal of France, being
+then not more than thirty-six years old. He was an English Duke, and
+although as such he had no rank in France, the King had awarded it to
+him, as to all who came over with James. This was making a rapid fortune
+with a vengeance, under a King who regarded people of thirty-odd as
+children, but who thought no more of the ages of bastards than of those
+of the gods.
+
+For more than a year past Berwick had coveted to be made Duke and Peer;
+But he could not obtain his wish. Now, however, that he was to be sent
+into Flanders for the purpose I have just described, it seemed a good
+opportunity to try again. He did try, and was successful. He was made
+Duke and Peer. He had been twice married. By his first wife he had had
+a son. By his second several sons and daughters. Will it be believed,
+that he was hardy enough to propose, and that we were weak enough to
+accord to him, that his son of the first bed should be formally excluded
+from the letters-patent of Duke and Peer, and that those of the second
+bed should alone be entered there? Yet so it was. Berwick was, in
+respect to England, like the Jews, who await the Messiah. He coaxed
+himself always with the hope of a revolution in England, which should put
+the Stuarts on the throne again, and reinstate him in his wealth and
+honours. He was son of the sister of the Duke of Marlborough, by which
+general he was much loved, and with whom, by permission of the King, and
+of King James, he kept up a secret intercourse, of which all three were
+the dupes, but which enabled Berwick to maintain other intercourses in
+England, and to establish his batteries there, hoping thus for his
+reinstatement even under the government established. This explains his
+motive for the arrangement he made in the letters-patent. He wished his
+eldest son to succeed to his English dukedom and his English estates; to
+make the second Duke and Peer of France, and the third Grandee of Spain.
+Three sons hereditarily elevated to the three chief dignities of the
+three, chief realms in Europe, it must be agreed was not bad work for a
+man to have achieved at fifty years of age! But Berwick failed in his
+English projects. Do what he could all his life to court the various
+ministers who came from England, he never could succeed in reestablishing
+himself.
+
+The scandal was great at the complaisance of the King in consenting to a
+family arrangement, by which a cadet was put over the head of his elder
+brother; but the time of the monsters had arrived. Berwick bought an
+estate that he created under the name of Fitz-James. The King, who
+allowed him to do so, was shocked by the name; and, in my presence, asked
+Berwick the meaning of it; he, without any embarrassment, thus explained
+it.
+
+The Kings of England, in legitimatising their children gave them a name
+and arms, which pass to their posterity. The name varies. Thus the Duke
+of Richmond, bastard of Charles II., had the name of "Lennox;" the Dukes
+of Cleveland and of Grafton, by the same king, that of "Fitz-Roi," which
+means "son of the king;" in fine, the Duke of Berwick had the name of
+"Fitz-James;" so that his family name for his posterity is thus "Son of
+James;" as a name, it is so ridiculous in French, that nobody could help
+laughing at it, or being astonished at the scandal of imposing it in
+English upon France.
+
+Berwick having thus obtained his recompense beforehand, started off for
+Flanders, but not until he had seen everything signed and sealed and
+delivered in due form. He found the enemy so advantageously placed, and
+so well prepared, that he had no difficulty in subscribing to the common
+opinion of the general officers, that an attack could no longer be
+thought of. He gathered up all the opinions he could, and then returned
+to Court, having been only about three weeks absent. His report dismayed
+the King, and those who penetrated it. Letters from the army soon showed
+the fault of which Villars had been guilty, and everybody revolted
+against this wordy bully.
+
+He soon after was the subject of common talk at the Court, and in the
+army, in consequence of a ridiculous adventure, in which he was the hero.
+His wound, or the airs that he gave himself in consequence of it, often
+forced him to hold his leg upon the neck of his horse, almost in the same
+manner as ladies do. One day, he let slip the remark that he was sick to
+death of mounting on horseback like those "harlots" in the suite of
+Madame de Bourgogne. Those "harlots," I will observe parenthetically,
+were all the young ladies of the Court, and the daughters of Madame la
+Duchesse! Such a remark uttered by a general not much loved, speedily
+flew from one end of the camp to the other, and was not long in making
+its way to the Court and to Paris. The young horsewomen alluded to were
+offended; their friends took up arms for them, and Madame la Duchesse de
+Bourgogne could not help showing irritation, or avoid complaining.
+
+Villars was apprised of all, and was much troubled by this increase of
+enemies so redoubtable, of whom just then he assuredly had no need. He
+took it into his head to try and discover who had blabbed; and found it
+was Heudicourt, whom Villars, to advance his own interests, by means of
+Heudicourt's mother (who was the evil genius of Madame de Maintenon,) had
+protected; and to whom even, much against his custom, he had actually not
+lent, but given money.
+
+This Heudicourt (whom I have previously allluded to, 'a propos' of a song
+he wrote) was a merry wag who excelled in making fun of people, in
+highly-seasoned pleasantry, and in comic songs. Spoiled by the favour
+which had always sustained him, he gave full licence to his tongue, and
+by this audacity had rendered himself redoubtable. He was a scurrilous
+wretch, a great drunkard, and a debauchee; not at all cowardly, and with
+a face hideous as that of an ugly satyr. He was not insensible to this;
+and so, unfitted for intrigues himself, he assisted others in them, and,
+by this honest trade, had acquired many friends amongst the flower of the
+courtiers of both sexes--above all with the ladies. By way of contrast
+to his wickedness, he was called "the good little fellow" and "the good
+little fellow" was mixed up in all intrigues; the ladies of the Court
+positively struggled for him; and not one of them, even of the highest
+ranks, would have dared to fall out with him. Thus protected, he was
+rather an embarrassing customer for Marechal de Villars, who,
+nevertheless, falling back as usual upon his effrontery, hit upon a
+bright project to bring home to Heudicourt the expedient he had against
+him.
+
+He collected together about fifteen general officers, and Heudicourt with
+them. When they had all arrived, he left his chamber, and went to them.
+A number of loiterers had gathered round. This was just what Villars
+wanted. He asked all the officers in turn, if they remembered hearing
+him utter the expression attributed to him. Albergotti said he
+remembered to have heard Villars apply the term "harlots" to the sutlers
+and the camp creatures, but never to any other woman. All the rest
+followed in the same track. Then Villars, after letting out against this
+frightful calumny, and against the impostor who had written and sent it
+to the Court, addressed himself to Heudicourt, whom he treated in the
+most cruel fashion. "The good little fellow" was strangely taken aback,
+and wished to defend himself; but Villars produced proofs that could not
+be contradicted. Thereupon the ill-favoured dog avowed his turpitude,
+and had the audacity to approach Villars in order to speak low to him;
+but the Marechal, drawing back, and repelling him with an air of
+indignation, said to him, aloud, that with scoundrels like him he wished
+for no privacy. Gathering up, his pluck at this, Heudicourt gave rein to
+all his impudence, and declared that they who had been questioned had not
+dared to own the truth for fear of offending a Marechal; that as for
+himself he might have been wrong in speaking and writing about it, but he
+had not imagined that words said before such a numerous company; and in
+such a public place, could remain secret, or that he had done more harm
+in writing about them that so, many others who had acted likewise.
+
+The Marechal, outraged upon hearing so bold and so truthful a reply, let
+out with, greater violence than ever against Heudicourt, accused him of
+ingratitude and villainy, drove him away, and a few minutes after had him
+arrested and conducted as a prisoner to the chateau at Calais. This
+violent scene made as much stir at the Court and in the army as that
+which had caused it. The consistent and public conduct of Villars was
+much approved. The King declared that he left Heudicourt in his hands:
+Madame de Maintenon and, Madame de Bourgogne, that they abandoned him;
+and his friends avowed that his fault was inexcusable. But the tide soon
+turned. After the first hubbub, the excuse of "the good little fellow"
+appeared excellent to the ladies who had their reasons for liking him and
+for fearing to irritate him; and also to the army, where the Marechal was
+not liked. Several of the officers who had been publicly interrogated by
+Villars, now admitted that they had been taken by surprise, and had not
+wished to compromise themselves. It was even, going into base details,
+argued that the Marechal's expression could not apply to the vivandieres
+and the other camp women, as they always rode astride, one leg on this
+side one leg on the other, like men, a manner very different from that of
+the ladies of Madame de Bourgogne. People contested the power of a
+general to deal out justice upon his inferiors for personal matters in
+which the service was in nowise concerned; in a word, Heudicourt was soon
+let out of Calais, and remained "the good little fellow" in fashion in
+spite of the Marechal, who, tormented by so many things this campaign,
+sought for and obtained permission to go and take the waters; and did so.
+He was succeeded by Harcourt, who was himself in weak health. Thus one
+cripple replaced another. One began, the other ended, at Bourbonne.
+Douai, Saint-Venant, and Aire fell into the hands of the enemy during
+this 'campaign, who thus gained upon us more and more, while we did
+little or nothing. This was the last campaign in Flanders of the Duke of
+Marlborough. On the Rhine our troops observed and subsisted: nothing
+more; but in Spain there was more movement, and I will therefore turn my
+glances towards that country, and relate what took place there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV
+
+Before I commence speaking of the affairs of Spain, let me pass lightly
+over an event which, engrafted upon some others, made much noise,
+notwithstanding the care taken to stifle it.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne supped at Saint-Cloud one evening with
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry and others--Madame de Saint-Simon absenting
+herself from the party. Madame la Duchesse de Berry and M. d'Orleans--
+but she more than he--got so drunk, that Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans,
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the rest of the numerous company
+there assembled, knew not what to do. M. le Duc de Berry was there, and
+him they talked over as well as they could; and the numerous company was
+amused by the Grand Duchess as well as she was able. The effect of the
+wine, in more ways than one, was such, that people were troubled. In
+spite of all, the Duchesse de Berry could not be sobered, so that it
+became necessary to carry her, drunk as she was; to Versailles. All the
+servants saw her state, and did not keep it to themselves; nevertheless,
+it was hidden from the King, from Monseigneur, and from Madame de
+Maintenon.
+
+And now, having related this incident, let me turn to Spain.
+
+The events which took place in that country were so important, that I
+have thought it best to relate them in a continuous narrative without
+interruption. We must go back to the commencement of the year, and
+remember the dangerous state which Spain was thrown into, delivered up to
+her own weakness, France being too feeble to defend her; finding it
+difficult enough, in fact, to defend herself, and willing to abandon her
+ally entirely in the hope by this means to obtain peace.
+
+Towards the end of March the King of Spain set out from Madrid to put
+himself at the head of his army in Aragon. Villadatias, one of his best
+and oldest general officers, was chosen to command under him. The King
+of Spain went from Saragossa to Lerida, where he was received with
+acclamations by the people and his army. He crossed the Segre on the
+14th of May, and advanced towards Balaguier; designing to lay siege to
+it. But heavy rains falling and causing the waters to rise, he was
+obliged to abandon his project. Joined a month afterwards by troops
+arrived from Flanders, he sought to attack the enemy, but was obliged to
+content himself for the moment by scouring the country, and taking some
+little towns where the Archduke had established stores. All this time
+the Count of Staremberg, who commanded the forces of the Archduke, was
+ill; this circumstance the King of Spain was profiting by. But the Count
+grew well again quicker than was expected; promptly assembled his forces;
+marched against the army of the King of Spain; engaged it, and obliged
+it, all astonished, to retire under Saragossa. This ill-success fell
+entirely on Villadarias, who was accused of imprudence and negligence.
+The King of Spain was desperately in want of generals, and M. de Vendome,
+knowing this, and sick to death of banishment, had asked some little time
+before to be allowed to offer his services. At first he was snubbed.
+But the King of Spain, who eagerly wished for M. de Vendome, despatched a
+courier, after this defeat, begging the King to allow him to come and
+take command. The King held out no longer.
+
+The Duc de Vendome had prepared everything in advance; and having got
+over a slight attack of gout, hastened to Versailles. M. du Maine had
+negotiated with Madame de Maintenon to obtain permission to take Vendome
+to the Duchesse de Bourgogne. The opportunity seemed favourable to them.
+Vendome was going to Spain to serve the brother and sister of the
+Duchess; and his departure without seeing her would have had a very
+disagreeable effect. The Duc du Maine, followed by Vendome, came then
+that day to the toilette of the Duchesse de Bourgogne. There happened
+that there was a very large company of men and ladies. The Duchess rose
+for them, as she always did for the Princes of the blood and others, and
+for all the Dukes and Duchesses, and sat down again as usual; but after
+this first glance, which could not be refused, she, though usually very
+talkative and accustomed to look round, became for once attentive to her
+adornment, fixed her eyes on her mirror, and spoke no more to any one.
+M. du Maine, with M. de Vendome stuck by his side, remained very
+disconcerted; and M. du Maine, usually so free and easy, dared not utter
+a single word. Nobody went near them or spoke to them. They remained
+thus about half a quarter of an hour, with an universal silence
+throughout the chamber--all eyes being fixed on them; and not being able
+to stand this any longer, slunk away. This reception was not
+sufficiently agreeable to induce Vendome to pay his respects at parting;
+for it would have been more embarrassing still if, when according to
+custom he advanced to kiss the Duchesse de Bourgogne, she had given him
+the unheard-of affront of a refusal. As for the Duc de Bourgogne, he
+received Vendome tolerably politely, that is to say, much too well.
+
+Staremberg meanwhile profited by the advantage he had gained; he attacked
+the Spanish army under Saragossa and totally defeated it. Artillery,
+baggage, all was lost; and the rout was complete. This misfortune
+happened on the 20th of August. The King, who had witnessed it from
+Saragossa, immediately afterwards took the road for Madrid. Bay, one of
+his generals, gathered together eighteen thousand men, with whom he
+retired to Tudela, without any impediment on the part of the enemy.
+
+M. de Vendome learnt the news of this defeat while on his way to Spain.
+Like a prudent man as he was, for his own interests, he stopped at once
+so as to see what turn affairs were taking, and to know how to act.
+He waited at Bayonne, gaining time there by sending a courier to the King
+for instructions how to act, and remaining until the reply came. After
+its arrival he set out to continue his journey, and joined the King of
+Spain at Valladolid.
+
+Staremberg, after his victory, was joined by the Archduke, and a debate
+soon took place as to the steps next to be taken. Staremberg was for
+giving battle to the army of eighteen thousand men under Bay, which I
+have just alluded to, beating it, and then advancing little by little
+into Spain, to make head against the vanquished army of the King. Had
+this advice been acted on, it could scarcely have failed to ruin the King
+of Spain, and the whole country must have fallen into the hands of the
+enemy. But it was not acted on. Stanhope, who commanded the English and
+Dutch troops, said that his Queen had ordered him to march upon Madrid
+when possible, in preference to every other place. He therefore proposed
+that they should go straight to Madrid with the Archduke, proclaim him
+King there, and thus terrify all Spain by seizing the capital.
+Staremberg, who admitted that the project was dazzling, sustained,
+however, that it was of little use, and of great danger. He tried all in
+his power to shake the inflexibility of Stanhope, but in vain, and at
+last was obliged to yield as being the feebler of the two. The time lost
+in this dispute saved the wreck of the army which had just been defeated.
+What was afterwards done saved the King of Spain.
+
+When the plan of the allies became known, however, the consternation at
+Madrid, which was already great, was extreme. The King resolved to
+withdraw from a place which could not defend itself, and to carry away
+with him the Queen, the Prince, and the Councils. The grandees declared
+that they would follow the King and his fortune everywhere, and very few
+failed to do so; the departure succeeded the declaration in twenty-four
+hours. The Queen, holding the Prince in her arms, at a balcony of the
+palace, spoke to the people assembled beneath, with so much grace, force,
+and courage, that the success she had is incredible. The impression that
+the people received was communicated everywhere, and soon gained all the
+provinces. The Court thus left Madrid for the second time in the midst
+of the most lamentable cries, uttered from the bottom of their hearts, by
+people who came from town and country, and who so wished to follow the
+King and Queen that considerable effort was required in order to induce
+them to return, each one to his home.
+
+Valladolid was the retreat of this wretched Court, which in the most
+terrible trouble it had yet experienced, lost neither judgment nor
+courage. Meanwhile the grandest and rarest example of attachment and of
+courage that had ever been heard of or seen was seen in Spain. Prelates
+and the humblest of the clergy, noblemen and the poorest people, lawyers
+and artisans all bled themselves of the last drop of their substance,
+in order to form new troops and magazines, and to provide all kinds of
+provisions for the Court, and those who had followed it. Never nation
+made more efforts so surprising, with a unanimity and a concert which
+acted everywhere at once. The Queen sold off all she possessed, received
+with her own hands sometimes even as little as ten pistoles, in order to
+content the zeal of those; who brought, and thanked them with as much
+affection as they themselves displayed. She would continually say that
+she should like to put herself at the head of her troops, with her son in
+her arms. With this language and her conduct, she gained all hearts, and
+was very useful in such a strange extremity.
+
+The Archduke meanwhile arrived in Madrid with his army. He entered there
+in triumph, and caused himself to be proclaimed King of Spain, by the
+violence of his troops, who dragged the trembling Corregidor through the
+streets, which for the most part were deserted, whilst the majority of
+the houses were without inhabitants, the few who remained having
+barricaded their doors and windows, and shut themselves up in the most
+remote places, where the troops did not dare to break in upon them, for
+fear of increasing the visible and general despair, and in the hope of
+gaining by gentleness. The entry of the Archduke was not less sad than
+his proclamation. A few scarcely audible and feeble acclamations were
+heard, but were so forced that the Archduke, sensibly astonished, made
+them cease of himself. He did not dare to lodge in the palace, or in the
+centre of Madrid, but slept at the extremity of the city, and even there
+only for two or three nights. Scarcely any damage was inflicted upon the
+town. Staremberg was careful to gain over the inhabitants by
+conciliation and clemency; yet his army perished of all kinds of misery.
+
+Not a single person could be found to supply it with subsistence for man
+or beast--not even when offered money. Prayers, menaces, executions, all
+were perfectly useless. There was not a Castilian who would not have
+believed himself dishonourable in selling the least thing to the enemies,
+or in allowing them to take it. It is thus that this magnanimous people,
+without any other help than their courage and their fidelity, sustained
+themselves in the midst of their enemies, whose army they caused to
+perish; while at the same time; by inconceivable prodigies, they formed a
+new army for themselves, perfectly equipped and furnished, and put thus,
+by themselves; alone, and for the second time, the crown upon the head of
+their King; with a glory for ever an example to all the people of Europe;
+so true it is that nothing approaches the strength which is found in the
+heart of a nation for the succour and re-establishment of kings!
+
+Stanhope, who had not failed to see the excellence of Staremberg's advice
+from the first moment of their dispute, now said insolently, that having
+executed the orders of his Queen, it was for Staremberg to draw the army
+out of its embarrassment. As for himself, he had nothing more to do in
+the matter! When ten or twelve days had elapsed, it was resolved to
+remove from Madrid towards Toledo. From the former place nothing was
+taken away, except same of the king's tapestry; which Stanhope was not
+ashamed to carry off, but which he did not long keep. This act of
+meanness was blamed even by his own countrymen. Staremberg did not make
+a long stay at Toledo, but in quitting the town, burnt the superb palace
+in the Moorish style that Charles Quint had built there, and that, was
+called the Alcazar. This was an irreparable damage, which he made
+believe happened accidentally.
+
+As nothing now hindered the King of Spain from going to see his faithful
+subjects at Madrid, he entered that city on the 2nd of December, in the
+midst of an infinite crowd and incredible acclamations. He descended at
+the church of Notre Dame d'Atocha, and was three hours in arriving at the
+palace, so prodigious was the crowd. The city made a present to him of
+twenty thousand pistoles. On the fourth day after his arrival at Madrid,
+the King left, in order to join M. de Vendeme and his army.
+
+But a little while before, this monarch was a fugitive wanderer, almost
+entirely destroyed, without troops, without money, and without
+subsistence. Now he found himself at the head of ten or fifteen thousand
+men well armed, well clad, well paid, with provisions, money, and
+ammunition in abundance; and this magical change was brought about by the
+sudden universal conspiracy of the unshakable fidelity and attachment--
+without example, of all the orders of his subjects; by their efforts and
+their industry, as prodigious the one as the other.
+
+Vendome, in the utmost surprise at a change so little to be hoped for,
+wished to profit by it by joining the army under Bay, which was too weak
+itself to appear before Staremberg. Vendome accordingly set about making
+this junction, which Staremberg thought only how to hinder. He knew well
+the Duc de Vendome. In Savoy he had gained many a march upon him; had
+passed five rivers in front of him; and in spite of him had led his
+troops to M. de Savoie. Staremberg thought only therefore in what manner
+he could lay a trap for M. de Vendome, in which he, with his army, might
+fall and break his neck without hope of escape. With this view he put
+his army into quarters access to which was easy everywhere, which were
+near each other, and which could assist each other in case of need. He
+then placed all his English and Dutch, Stanhope at their head, in
+Brighuega, a little fortified town in good condition for defence. It was
+at the head of all the quarters of Staremberg's army, and at the entrance
+of a plain over which M. de Vendome had to pass to join Bay.
+
+Staremberg was on the point of being joined by his army of Estremadura,
+so that in the event of M. de Vendeme attacking Brighuega, as he hoped,
+he had a large number of troops to depend upon.
+
+Vendome, meanwhile, set out on his march. He was informed of
+Staremberg's position, but in a manner just such as Staremberg wished;
+that is to say, he was led to believe that Stanhope had made a wrong move
+in occupying Brighuega, that he was too far removed from Staremberg to
+receive any assistance from him, and that he could be easily overpowered.
+That is how matters appeared to Vendome. He hastened his march,
+therefore, made his dispositions, and on the 8th of December, after mid-
+day, approached Brighuega, called upon it to surrender, and upon its
+refusal, prepared to attack it.
+
+Immediately afterwards his surprise was great, upon discovering that
+there were so many troops in the town, and that instead of having to do
+with a mere outpost, he was engaged against a place of some consequence.
+He did not wish to retire, and could not have done so with impunity. He
+set to therefore, storming in his usual manner, and did what he could to
+excite his troops to make short work, of a conquest so different from
+what he had imagined, and so dangerous to delay.
+
+Nevertheless, the weight of his mistake pressed upon him as the hours
+passed and he saw fresh enemies arrive. Two of his assaults had failed:
+he determined to play at double or quits, and ordered a third assault.
+While the dispositions were being made, on the 9th of December he learnt
+that Staremberg was marching against him with four or five thousand men,
+that is to say, with just about half of what he really led. In this
+anguish, Vendome did not hesitate to stake even the Crown of Spain upon
+the hazard of the die. His third attack was made with all the force of
+which he was capable. Every one of the assailants knew the extremity of
+the danger, and behaved with so much valour and impetuosity, that the
+town was carried in spite of an obstinate resistance. The besieged were
+obliged to yield, and to the number of eight battalions and eight
+squadrons, surrendered themselves prisoners of war, and with them,
+Stanhope, their general, who, so triumphant in Madrid, was here obliged
+to disgorge the King's tapestries that he had taken from the palace.
+
+While the capitulation was being made, various information came to
+Vendome of Staremberg's march, which it was necessary, above all, to hide
+from the prisoners, who, had they known their liberator was only a league
+and a half distant from them, as he was then, would have broken the
+capitulation; and defended themselves. M. de Vendome's embarrassment was
+great. He had, at the same time, to march out and meet Staremberg and to
+get rid of, his numerous prisoners. All was done, however, very
+successfully. Sufficient troops were left in Brighuega to attend to the
+evacuation, and when it was at an end, those troops left the place
+themselves and joined their comrades, who, with M. de Vendome, were
+waiting for Staremberg outside the town, at Villaviciosa, a little place
+that afterwards gave its name to the battle. Only four hundred men were
+left in Brighuega.
+
+M. de Vendome arranged his army in order of battle in a tolerably open
+plain, but embarrassed by little knolls in several places; very
+disadvantageous for the cavalry. Immediately afterwards the cannon began
+to fire on both sides, and almost immediately the two links of the King
+of Spain prepared to charge. After the battle had proceeded some time,
+M. de Vendome perceived that his centre began to give way, and that the
+left of his cavalry could not break the right of the enemies. He thought
+all was lost, and gave orders accordingly to his men to retire towards
+Torija. Straightway, too, he directed himself in that direction, with
+the King of Spain and a good part of his troops. While thus retreating,
+he learnt that two of his officers had charged the enemy's infantry with
+the cavalry they had at their orders, had much knocked it about and had
+rendered themselves masters, on the field of battle, of a large number
+of-prisoners, and of the artillery that the enemy had abandoned. News so
+agreeable and so little expected determined the Duc de Vendome and the
+King of Spain to return to the battle with the troops that had followed
+them. The day was, in fact, won just as night came on. The enemies
+abandoned twenty pieces of cannon, two mortars, their wounded and their
+equipages; and numbers of them were taken prisoners. But Staremberg,
+having all the night to himself, succeeded in retiring in good order with
+seven or eight thousand men. His baggage and the majority of his waggons
+fell a prey to the vanquisher. Counting the garrison of Brighuega, the
+loss to the enemy was eleven thousand men killed or taken, their
+ammunition, artillery, baggage, and a great number of flags and
+standards.
+
+When we consider the extreme peril the Crown of Spain ran in these
+engagements, and that this time, if things had gone ill there was no
+resource, we tremble still. Had a catastrophe happened, there was
+nothing to hope from France. Its exhaustion and its losses would not
+have enabled it to lend aid. In its desire for peace, in fact, it would
+have hailed the loss of the Spanish Crown as a relief. The imprudence,
+therefore, of M. de Vendome in so readily falling into the snare laid for
+him, is all the more to be blamed. He takes no trouble to inform himself
+of the dispositions of the enemy; he comes upon a place which he believes
+a mere post, but soon sees it contains a numerous garrison, and finds
+that the principal part of the enemy's army is ready to fall upon him as
+he makes the attack. Then he begins to see in what ship he has embarked;
+he sees the double peril of a double action to sustain against Stanhope,
+whom he must overwhelm by furious assault, and against Staremberg, whom
+he must meet and defeat; or, leave to the enemies the Crown of Spain, and
+perhaps the person of Philip V., as price of his folly. Brighuega is
+gained, but it is without him. Villaviciosa is gained, but it is also
+without him. This hero is not sharp-sighted enough to see success when
+it comes. He thinks it defeat, and gives orders for retreat. When
+informed that the battle is gained, he returns to the field, and as
+daylight comes perceives the fact to be so. He is quite without shame
+for his stupid mistake, and cries out that he has vanquished, with an
+impudence to which the Spaniards were not accustomed; and, to conclude,
+he allows Staremberg's army to get clean off, instead of destroying it at
+once, as he might have done, and so finished the war. Such were the
+exploits of this great warrior, so desired in Spain to resuscitate it,
+and such, were the first proofs of his capacity upon arriving in that
+country!
+
+At the moment that the King of Spain was led back to the battle-field by
+Vendome, and that they could no longer doubt their good fortune, he sent
+a courier to the Queen. Her mortal anguish was on the instant changed
+into so great a joy, that she went out immediately on foot into the
+streets of Vittoria, where all was delight; as it soon was over all
+Spain. The news of the victory was brought to the King (of France) by
+Don Gaspard de Zuniga, who gave an exact account of all that had
+occurred, hiding nothing respecting M. de Vendome, who was thus unmasked
+and disgraced, in spite of every effort on the part of his cabal to
+defend him.
+
+Among the allies, all the blame, of this defeat fell upon Stanhope.
+Seven or eight hours more of resistance on his part at Brighuega would
+have enabled Staremberg to come up to his assistance, and all the
+resources of Spain would then have been annihilated. Staremberg,
+outraged at the ill-success of his undertaking, cried out loudly against
+Stanhope. Some of the principal officers who had been at Brighuega
+seconded these complaints. Stanhope even did not dare to deny his fault.
+He was allowed to demand leave of absence to go home and defend himself.
+He was badly received, stripped of all military rank in England and
+Holland, and (as well as the officers under him) was not without fear of
+his degradation, and was even in danger of his life.
+
+This recital of the events that took place in Spain has led me away from
+other matters of earlier date. It is time now that I should return to
+them.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV
+
+Although, as we have just seen, matters were beginning to brighten a
+little in Spain, they remained as dull and overcast as ever in France.
+The impossibility of obtaining peace, and the exhaustion of the realm,
+threw, the King into the most cruel anguish, and Desmarets into the
+saddest embarrassment. The paper of all kinds with which trade was
+inundated, and which had all more or less lost credit, made a chaos for
+which no remedy could be perceived. State-bills, bank-bills, receiver-
+general's-bills, title-bills, utensil-bills, were the ruin of private
+people, who were forced by the King to take them in payment, and who lost
+half, two-thirds, and sometimes more, by the transaction. This
+depreciation enriched the money people, at the expense of the public; and
+the circulation of money ceased, because there was no longer any money;
+because the King no longer paid anybody, but drew his revenues still; and
+because all the specie out of his control was locked up in the coffers of
+the possessors.
+
+The capitation tax was doubled and trebled, at the will of the Intendants
+of the Provinces; merchandise and all kinds of provision were taxed to
+the amount of four times their value; new taxes of all kinds and upon all
+sorts of things were exacted; all this crushed nobles and roturiers,
+lords and clergy, and yet did not bring enough to the King, who drew the
+blood of all his subjects, squeezed out their very marrow, without
+distinction, and who enriched an army of tax-gatherers and officials of
+all kinds, in whose hands the best part of what was collected remained.
+
+Desmarets, in whom the King had been forced to put all his confidence in
+finance matters, conceived the idea of establishing, in addition to so
+many taxes, that Royal Tithe upon all the property of each community and
+of each private person of the realm, that the Marechal de Vauban, on the
+one hand, and Boisguilbert on the other, had formerly proposed; but, as I
+have already described, as a simple and stile tax which would suffice for
+all, which would all enter the coffers of the King, and by means of which
+every other impost would be abolished.
+
+We have seen what success this proposition met with; how the fanciers
+trembled at it; how the ministers blushed at it, with what anathemas it
+was rejected, and to what extent these two excellent and skilful citizens
+were disgraced. All this must be recollected here, since Desmarets, who
+had not lost sight of this system (not as relief and remedy--unpardonable
+crimes in the financial doctrine), now had recourse to it.
+
+He imparted his project to three friends, Councillors of State, who
+examined it well, and worked hard to see how to overcome the obstacles
+which arose in the way of its execution. In the first place, it was
+necessary, in order to collect this tax, to draw from each person a clear
+statement of his wealth, of his debts, and so on. It was necessary to
+demand sure proofs on these points so as not to be deceived. Here was
+all the difficulty. Nothing was thought of the desolation this extra
+impost must cause to a prodigious number of men, or of their despair upon
+finding themselves obliged to disclose their family secrets; to hate a
+lamp thrown, as it were, upon their most delicate parts; all these
+things, I say, went for nothing. Less than a month sufficed these humane
+commissioners to render an account of this gentle project to the Cyclops
+who had charged them with it. Desmarets thereupon proposed it to the
+King, who, accustomed as he was to the most ruinous imposts, could not
+avoid being terrified at this. For a long while he had heard nothing
+talked of but the most extreme misery; this increase saddened him in a
+manner so evident, that his valets perceived it several days running, and
+were so disturbed at it, that Marechal (who related all this curious
+anecdote to me) made bold to speak to the King upon this sadness, fearing
+for his health. The King avowed to him that he felt infinite trouble,
+and threw himself vaguely upon the state of affairs. Eight or ten days.
+after (during which he continued to feel the same melancholy), the King
+regained his usual calmness, and called Marechal to explain the cause of
+his trouble.
+
+The King related to Marechal that the extremity of his affairs had forced
+him to put on furious imposts; that setting aside compassion, scruples
+had much tormented him for taking thus the wealth of his subjects; that
+at last he had unbosomed himself to the Pere Tellier, who had asked for a
+few days to think upon the matter, and that he had returned after having
+had a consultation with some of the most skilful doctors of the Sorbonne,
+who had decided that all the wealth of his subjects was his, and that
+when he took it he only took what belonged to him! The King added, that
+this decision had taken away all his scruples, and had restored to him
+the calm and tranquillity he had lost. Marechal was so astonished, so
+bewildered to hear, this recital, that he could not offer one word.
+Happily for him, the King quitted him almost immediately, and Marechal
+remained some time in the same place, scarcely knowing where he was.
+
+After the King had been thus satisfied by his confessor, no time was lost
+in establishing the tax. On Tuesday, the 30th of September, Desmarets
+entered the Finance Council with the necessary edict in his bag.
+
+For some days everybody had known of this bombshell in the air, and had
+trembled with that remnant of hope which is founded only upon desire; all
+the Court as well as all Paris waited in a dejected sadness to see what
+would happen. People whispered to each other, and even when the project
+was rendered public, no one dared to talk of it aloud.
+
+On the day above-named, the King brought forward this measure in the
+Council, by saying, that the impossibility of obtaining peace, and the
+extreme difficulty of sustaining the war, had caused Desmarets to look
+about in order to discover some means, which should appear good, of
+raising money; that he had pitched upon this tax; that he (the King),
+although sorry to adopt such a resource, approved it, and had no doubt
+the Council would do so likewise, when it was explained to them.
+Desmarets, in a pathetic discourse, then dwelt upon the reasons which had
+induced him to propose this tax, and afterwards read the edict through
+from beginning to end without interruption.
+
+No one spoke, moreover, when it was over, until the King asked
+D'Aguesseau his opinion. D'Aguesseau replied, that it would be necessary
+for him to take home the edict and read it through very carefully before
+expressing an opinion. The King said that D'Aguesseau was right--it
+would take a long time to examine the edict--but after all, examination
+was unnecessary, and would only be loss of time. All remained silent
+again, except the Duc de Beauvilliers, who, seduced by the nephew of
+Colbert, whom he thought an oracle in finance, said a few words in favour
+of the project.
+
+Thus was settled this bloody business, and immediately after signed,
+sealed, and registered, among stifled sobs, and published amidst the most
+gentle but most piteous complaints. The product of this tax was nothing
+like so much as had been imagined in this bureau of Cannibals; and the
+King did not pay a single farthing more to any one than he had previously
+done. Thus all the fine relief expected by this tax ended in smoke.
+
+The Marechal de Vauban had died of grief at the ill-success of his task
+and his zeal, as I have related in its place. Poor Boisguilbert, in the
+exile his zeal had brought him, was terribly afflicted, to find he had
+innocently given advice which he intended for the relief of the State,
+but which had been made use of in this frightful manner. Every man,
+without exception, saw himself a prey to the tax-gatherers: reduced to
+calculate and discuss with them his own patrimony, to receive their
+signature and their protection under the most terrible pains; to show in
+public all the secrets of his family; to bring into the broad open
+daylight domestic turpitudes enveloped until then in the folds of
+precautions the wisest and the most multiplied. Many had to convince the
+tax agents, but vainly, that although proprietors, they did not enjoy the
+tenth part of them property. All Languedoc offered to give up its entire
+wealth, if allowed to enjoy, free from every impost, the tenth part of
+it. The proposition not only was not listened to, but was reputed an
+insult and severely blamed.
+
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne spoke openly against this tax; and
+against the finance people, who lived upon the very marrow of the people;
+spoke with a just and holy anger that recalled the memory of Saint-Louis,
+of Louis XII., Father of the People, and of Louis the Just. Monseigneur,
+too, moved by this indignation, so unusual, of his son, sided with him,
+and showed anger at so many exactions as injurious as barbarous, and at
+so many insignificant men so monstrously enriched with the nation's
+blood. Both father and son infinitely surprised those who heard them,
+and made themselves looked upon, in some sort as resources from which
+something might hereafter be hoped for. But the edict was issued, and
+though there might be some hope in the future, there was none in the
+present. And no one knew who was to be the real successor of Louis XIV.,
+and how under the next government we were to be still more overwhelmed
+than under this one.
+
+One result of this tax was, that it enabled the King to augment all his
+infantry with five men per company.
+
+A tax was also levied upon the usurers, who had much gained by
+trafficking in the paper of the King, that is to say, had taken advantage
+of the need of those to whom the King gave this paper in payment. These
+usurers are called 'agioteurs'. Their mode was, ordinarily, to give, for
+example, according as the holder of paper was more or less pressed, three
+or four hundred francs (the greater part often in provisions), for a bill
+of a thousand francs! This game was called 'agio'. It was said that
+thirty millions were obtained from this tax. Many people gained much by
+it; I know not if the King was the better treated.
+
+Soon after this the coin was re-coined, by which much profit was made for
+the King, and much wrong done to private people and to trade. In all
+times it has, been regarded as a very great misfortune to meddle with
+corn and money. Desmarets has accustomed us to tricks with the money;
+M. le Duc and Cardinal Fleury to interfere with corn and to fictitious
+famine.
+
+At the commencement of December, the King declared that he wished there
+should be, contrary to custom, plays and "apartments" at Versailles even
+when Monseigneur should be at Meudon. He thought apparently he must keep
+his Court full of amusements, to hide, if it was possible, abroad and at
+home, the disorder and the extremity of affairs. For the same reason,
+the carnival was opened early this season, and all through the winter
+there were many balls of all kinds at the Court, where the wives of the
+ministers gave very magnificent displays, like fetes, to Madame la
+Duchesse de Bourgogne and to all the Court.
+
+But Paris did not remain less wretched or the provinces less desolated.
+
+And thus I have arrived at the end of 1710.
+
+At the commencement of the following year, 1711, that is to say, a few
+days after the middle of March, a cruel misfortune happened to the
+Marechal de Boufflers. His eldest son was fourteen years of age,
+handsome, well made, of much promise, and who succeeded marvellously at
+the Court, when his father presented him there to the King to thank his
+Majesty for the reversion of the government of Flow and of Lille. He
+returned afterwards to the College of the Jesuits, where he was being
+educated. I know not what youthful folly he was guilty of with the two
+sons of D'Argenson; but the Jesuits, wishing to show that they made no
+distinction of persons, whipped the little lad, because, to say the
+truth, they had nothing to fear from the Marechal de Boufflers; but they
+took good care to left the others off, although equally guilty, because
+they had to reckon with D'Argenson, lieutenant of the police, of much
+credit in book matters, Jansenism, and all sorts of things and affairs in
+which they were interested.
+
+Little Boufflers, who was full of courage, and who had done no more than
+the two Argensons, and with them, was seized with such despair, that he
+fell ill that same day. He was carried to the Marechal's house, but it
+was impossible to save him. The heart was seized, the blood diseased,
+the purples appeared; in four days all was over. The state of the father
+and mother may be imagined! The King, who was much touched by it, did
+not let them ask or wait for him. He sent one of his gentlemen to
+testify to them the share he had in their loss, and announced that he
+would give to their remaining son 'what he had already given to the
+other. As for the Jesuits, the universal cry against them was
+prodigious; but that was all. This would be the place, now that I am
+speaking of the Jesuits, to speak of another affair in which they were
+concerned. But I pass over, for the present, the dissensions that broke
+out at about this time, and that ultimately led to the famous Papal Bull
+Unigenitus, so fatal to the Church and to the State, so shameful far
+Rome, and so injurious to religion; and I proceed to speak of the great
+event of this year which led to others so memorable and so unexpected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+But in Order to understand the part I played in the event I have alluded
+to and the interest I took in it, it is necessary for me to relate some
+personal matters that occurred in the previous year. Du Mont was one of
+the confidants of Monseigneur; but also had never forgotten what his
+father owed to mine. Some days after the commencement of the second
+voyage to Marly, subsequently to the marriage of the Duchesse de Berry,
+as I was coming back from the King's mass, the said Du Mont, in the crush
+at the door of the little salon of the chapel, took an opportunity when
+he was not perceived, to pull me by my coat, and when I turned round put
+a finger to his lips, and pointed towards the gardens which are at the
+bottom of the river, that is to say, of that superb cascade which the
+Cardinal Fleury has destroyed, and which faced the rear of the chateau.
+At the same time du Mont whispered in my car: "To the arbours!" That part
+of the garden was surrounded with arbours palisaded so as to conceal what
+was inside. It was the least frequented place at Marly, leading to
+nothing; and in the afternoon even, and the evening, few people within
+them.
+
+Uneasy to know what Du Mont wished to communicate with so much mystery,
+I gently went towards the arbours where, without being seen, I looked
+through one of the openings until I saw him appear. He slipped in by the
+corner of the chapel, and I went towards him. As he joined me he begged
+me to return towards the river, so as to be still more out of the way;
+and then we set ourselves against the thickest palisades, as far as
+possible from all openings, so as to be still more concealed. All this
+surprised and frightened me: I was still more so when I learned what was
+the matter.
+
+Du Mont then told me, on condition that I promised not to show that I
+knew it, and not to make use of my knowledge in any way without his
+consent, that two days after the marriage of the Duc de Berry, having
+entered towards the end of the morning the cabinet of Monseigneur, he
+found him alone, looking very serious. He followed Monseigneur, through
+the gardens alone, until he entered by the window the apartments of the
+Princesse de Conti, who was also alone. As he entered Monseigneur said
+with an air not natural to him, and very inflamed--as if by way of
+interrogation--that she "sat very quietly there." This frightened her
+so, that she asked if there was any news from Flanders, and what had
+happened. Monseigneur answered, in a tone of great annoyance, that there
+was no news except that the Duc de Saint-Simon had said, that now that
+the marriage of the Duc de Berry was brought about, it would be proper to
+drive away Madame la Duchesse and the Princesse de Conti, after which it
+would be easy to govern "the great imbecile," meaning himself. This was
+why he thought she ought not to be so much at her ease. Then, suddenly,
+as if lashing his sides to get into a greater rage, he spoke in a way
+such a speech would have deserved, added menaces, said that he would have
+the Duc de Bourgogne to fear me, to put me aside, and separate himself
+entirely from me. This sort of soliloquy lasted a long time, and I was
+not told what the Princesse de Conti said to it; but from the silence of
+Du Mont, her annoyance at the marriage, I had brought about, and other
+reasons, it seems to me unlikely that she tried to soften Monseigneur.
+
+Du Mont begged me not, for a long time at least, to show that I knew what
+had taken place, and to behave with the utmost prudence. Then he fled
+away by the path he had come by, fearing to be seen. I remained walking
+up and down in the arbour all the time, reflecting on the wickedness of
+my enemies, and the gross credulity of Monseigneur. Then I ran away, and
+escaped to Madame de Saint-Simon, who, as astonished and frightened as I,
+said not a word of the communication I had received.
+
+I never knew who had served me this ill-turn with Monseigneur, but I
+always suspected Mademoiselle de Lillebonne. After a long time, having
+obtained with difficulty the consent of the timid Du Mont, I made Madame
+de Saint-Simon speak to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, who undertook to
+arrange the affair as well as it could be arranged. The Duchesse spoke
+indeed to Monseigneur, and showed him how ridiculously he had been
+deceived, when he was persuaded that I could ever have entertained the
+ideas attributed to me. Monseigneur admitted that he had been carried
+away by anger; and that there was no likelihood that I should have
+thought of anything so wicked and incredible.
+
+About this time the household of the Duc and Duchesse de Berry was
+constituted. Racilly obtained the splendid appointment of first surgeon,
+and was worthy of it; but the Duchesse de Berry wept bitterly, because
+she did not consider him of high family enough. She was not so delicate
+about La Haye, whose appointment she rapidly secured. The fellow looked
+in the glass more complaisantly than ever. He was well made, but stiff,
+and with a face not at all handsome, and looking as if it had been
+skinned. He was happy in more ways than one, and was far more attached
+to his new mistress than to his master. The King was very angry when he
+learned that the Duc de Berry had supplied himself with such an
+assistant.
+
+Meantime, I continued on very uneasy terms with Monseigneur, since I had
+learned his strange credulity with respect to me. I began to feel my
+position very irksome, not to say painful, on this account. Meudon I
+would not go to--for me it was a place infested with demons--yet by
+stopping away I ran great risks of losing the favour and consideration I
+enjoyed at Court. Monseigneur was a man so easily imposed upon, as I had
+already experienced, and his intimate friends were so unscrupulous that
+there was no saying what might be invented on the one side and swallowed
+on the other, to my discredit. Those friends, too, were, I knew, enraged
+against me for divers weighty reasons, and would stop at nothing, I was
+satisfied, to procure my downfall. For want of better support I
+sustained myself with courage. I said to myself, "We never experience
+all the evil or all the good that we have apparently the most reason to
+expect." I hoped, therefore, against hope, terribly troubled it must be
+confessed on the score of Meudon. At Easter, this year, I went away to
+La Ferme, far from the Court and the world, to solace myself as I could;
+but this thorn in my side was cruelly sharp! At the moment the most
+unlooked-for it pleased God to deliver me from it.
+
+At La Ferme I had but few guests: M. de Saint-Louis, an old brigadier of
+cavalry, and a Normandy gentleman, who had been in my regiment, and who
+was much attached to me. On Saturday, the 11th of the month, and the day
+before Quasimodo, I had been walking with them all the morning, and I had
+entered all-alone into my cabinet a little before dinner, when a courier
+sent by Madame de Saint-Simon, gave me a letter from her, in which I was
+informed that Monseigneur was ill!
+
+I learnt afterwards that this Prince, while on his way to Meudon for the
+Easter fetes, met at Chaville a priest, who was carrying Our Lord to a
+sick person. Monseigneur, and Madame de Bourgogne, who was with him,
+knelt down to adore the Host, and then Monseigneur inquired what was the
+malady of the patient. "The small-pox," he was told. That disease was
+very prevalent just then. Monseigneur had had it, but very lightly, and
+when young. He feared it very much, and was struck with the answer he
+now received. In the evening he said to Boudin, his chief doctor, "I
+should not be surprised if I were to have the small-pox." The day,
+however, passed over as usual.
+
+On the morrow, Thursday, the 9th, Monseigneur rose, and meant to go out
+wolf-hunting; but as he was dressing, such a fit of weakness seized him,
+that he fell into his chair. Boudin made him get into bed again; but all
+the day his pulse was in an alarming state. The King, only half informed
+by Fagon of what had taken place, believed there was nothing the matter,
+and went out walking at Marly after dinner, receiving news from time to
+time. Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne and Madame de Bourgogne dined at
+Meudon, and they would not quit Monseigneur for one moment. The Princess
+added to the strict duties of a daughter-in-law all that her gracefulness
+could suggest, and gave everything to Monseigneur with her own hand. Her
+heart could not have been troubled by what her reason foresaw; but,
+nevertheless, her care and attention were extreme, without any airs of
+affectation or acting. The Duc de Bourgogne, simple and holy as he was,
+and full of the idea of his duty, exaggerated his attention; and although
+there was a strong suspicion of the small-pox, neither quitted
+Monseigneur, except for the King's supper.
+
+The next day, Friday, the 10th, in reply to his express demands, the King
+was informed of the extremely dangerous state of Monseigneur. He had
+said on the previous evening that he would go on the following morning to
+Meudon, and remain there during all the illness of Monseigneur whatever
+its nature might be. He was now as good as his word. Immediately after
+mass he set out for Meudon. Before doing so, he forbade his children,
+and all who had not had the small-pox, to go there, which was suggested
+by a motive of kindness. With Madame de Maintenon and a small suite, he
+had just taken up his abode in Meudon, when Madame de Saint-Simon sent me
+the letter of which I have just made mention.
+
+I will continue to speak of myself with the same truthfulness I speak of
+others, and with as much exactness as possible. According to the terms
+on which I was with Monseigneur and his intimates, may be imagined the
+impression made upon me by this news. I felt that one way or other, well
+or ill, the malady of Monseigneur would soon terminate. I was quite at
+my ease at La Ferme. I resolved therefore to wait there until I received
+fresh particulars. I despatched a courier to Madame de Saint-Simon,
+requesting her to send me another the next day, and I passed the rest of
+this day, in an ebb and flow of feelings; the man and the Christian
+struggling against the man and the courtier, and in the midst of a crowd
+of vague fancies catching glimpses of the future, painted in the most
+agreeable colours.
+
+The courier I expected so impatiently arrived the next day, Sunday, after
+dinner. The small-pox had declared itself, I learnt, and was going on as
+well as could be wished. I believed Monseigneur saved, and wished to
+remain at my own house; nevertheless I took advice, as I have done all my
+life, and with great regret set out the next morning. At La queue, about
+six leagues from Versailles, I met a financier of the name of La
+Fontaine, whom I knew well. He was coming from Paris and Versailles, and
+came up to me as I changed horses. Monseigneur, he said, was going on
+admirably; and he added details which convinced me he was out of all
+danger. I arrived at Versailles, full of this opinion, which was
+confirmed by Madame de Saint-Simon and everybody I met, so that nobody
+any longer feared, except on account of the treacherous nature of this
+disease in a very fat man of fifty.
+
+The King held his Council, and worked in the evening with his ministers
+as usual. He saw Monseigneur morning and evening, oftentimes in the
+afternoon, and always remained long by the bedside. On the Monday I
+arrived he had dined early, and had driven to Marly, where the Duchesse
+de Bourgogne joined him. He saw in passing on the outskirts of the
+garden of Versailles his grandchildren, who had come out to meet him, but
+he would not let them come near, and said, "good day" from a distance.
+The Duchesse de Bourgogne had had the small-pox, but no trace was left.
+
+The King only liked his own houses, and could not bear to be anywhere
+else. This was why his visits to Meudon were few and short, and only
+made from complaisance. Madame de Maintenon was still more out of her
+element there. Although her chamber was everywhere a sanctuary, where
+only ladies entitled to the most extreme familiarity entered, she always
+wanted another retreat near at hand entirely inaccessible except to the
+Duchesse de Bourgogne alone, and that only for a few instants at a time.
+Thus she had Saint-Cyr for Versailles and for Marly; and at Marly also a
+particular retiring place; at Fontainebleau she had her town house.
+Seeing therefore that Monseigneur was getting on well, and that a long
+sojourn it Meudon would be necessary, the upholsterers of the King were
+ordered to furnish a house in the park which once belonged to the
+Chancellor le Tellier, but which Monseigneur had bought.
+
+When I arrived at Versailles, I wrote to M. de Beauvilliers at Meudon
+praying him to apprise the King that I had returned on account of the
+illness of Monseigneur, and that I would have gone to see him, but that,
+never having had the small-pox, I was included in the prohibition. M. de
+Beauvilliers did as I asked, and sent word back to me that my return had
+been very well timed, and that the King still forbade me as well as
+Madame de Saint-Simon to go to Meudon. This fresh prohibition did not
+distress me in the least. I was informed of all that was passing there;
+and that satisfied me.
+
+There were yet contrasts at Meudon worth noticing. Mademoiselle Choin
+never appeared while the King was with Monseigneur, but kept close in her
+loft. When the coast was clear she came out, and took up her position at
+the sick man's bedside. All sorts of compliments passed between her and
+Madame de Maintenon, yet the two ladies never met. The King asked Madame
+de Maintenon if she had seen Mademoiselle Choin, and upon learning that
+she had not, was but ill-pleased. Therefore Madame de Maintenon sent
+excuses and apologies to Mademoiselle Choin, and hoped she said to see
+her soon,--strange compliments from one chamber to another under the same
+roof. They never saw each other afterwards.
+
+It should be observed, that Pere Tellier was also incognito at Meudon,
+and dwelt in a retired room from which he issued to see the King, but
+never approached the apartments of Monseigneur.
+
+Versailles presented another scene. Monseigneur le Duc and Madame la
+Duchesse de Bourgogne held their Court openly there; and this Court
+resembled the first gleamings of the dawn. All the Court assembled
+there; all Paris also; and as discretion and precaution were never French
+virtues, all Meudon came as well. People were believed on their word
+when they declared that they had not entered the apartments of
+Monseigneur that day, and consequently could not bring the infection.
+When the Prince and Princess rose, when they weft to bed, when they dined
+and supped with the ladies,--all public conversations--all meals--all
+assembled--were opportunities of paying court to them. The apartments
+could not contain the crowd. The characteristic features of the room
+were many. Couriers arrived every quarter of an hour, and reminded
+people of the illness of Monseigneur--he was going on as well as could be
+expected; confidence and hope were easily felt; but there was an extreme
+desire to please at the new Court. The young Prince and the Princess
+exhibited majesty and gravity, mixed with gaiety; obligingly received
+all, continually spoke to every one; the crowd wore an air of
+complaisance; reciprocal satisfaction showed in every face; the Duc and
+Duchesse de Berry ware treated almost as nobody. Thus five days fled
+away in increasing thought of future events--in preparation to be ready
+for whatever might happen.
+
+On Tuesday, the 14th of April, I went to see the chancellor, and asked
+for information upon the state of Monseigneur. He assured me it was
+good, and repeated to me the words Fagon had spoken to him, "that things
+were going an according to their wishes, and beyond their hopes." The
+Chancellor appeared to me very confident, and I had faith in him, so much
+the more, because he was on extremely good footing with Monseigneur. The
+Prince, indeed, had so much recovered, that the fish-women came in a body
+the self-same day to congratulate him, as they did after his attack of
+indigestion. They threw the themselves at the foot of his bed, which
+they kissed several times, and in their joy said they would go back to
+Paris and have a Te Deum sung. But Monseigneur, who was not insensible
+to these marks of popular affection, told them it was not yet time,
+thanked them, and gave them a dinner and some money.
+
+As I was going home, I saw the Duchesse d'Orleans walking on a terrace.
+She called to me; but I pretended not to notice her, because La Montauban
+was with her, and hastened home, my mind filled with this news, and
+withdrew to my cabinet. Almost immediately afterwards Madame la Duchesse
+d'Orleans joined me there. We were bursting to speak to each other
+alone, upon a point on which our thoughts were alike. She had left
+Meudon not an hour before, and she had the same tale to tell as the
+Chancellor. Everybody was at ease there she said; and then she extolled
+the care and capacities of the doctors, exaggerating their success; and,
+to speak frankly and to our shame, she and I lamented together to see
+Monseigneur, in spite of his age and his fat, escape from so dangerous an
+illness. She reflected seriously but wittily, that after an illness of
+this sort, apoplexy was not to be looked for; that an attack of
+indigestion was equally unlikely to arise, considering the care
+Monseigneur had taken not to over-gorge himself since his recent danger;
+and we concluded more than dolefully, that henceforth we must make up our
+minds that the Prince would live and reign for a long time. In a word,
+we let ourselves loose in this rare conversation, although not without an
+occasional scruple of conscience which disturbed it. Madame de Saint-
+Simon all devoutly tried what she could to put a drag upon our tongues,
+but the drag broke, so to speak, and we continued our free discourse,
+humanly speaking very reasonable on our parts, but which we felt,
+nevertheless, was not according to religion. Thus two hours passed,
+seemingly very short. Madame d'Orleans went away, and I repaired with
+Madame de Saint-Simon to receive a numerous company.
+
+While thus all was tranquillity at Versailles, and even at Meudon,
+everything had changed its aspect at the chateau. The King had seen
+Monseigneur several times during the day; but in his after-dinner visit
+he was so much struck with the extraordinary swelling of the face and of
+the head, that he shortened his stay, and on leaving the chateau, shed
+tears. He was reassured as much as possible, and after the council he
+took a walk in the garden.
+
+Nevertheless Monseigneur had already mistaken Madame la Princesse de
+Conti for some one else; and Boudin, the doctor, was alarmed.
+Monseigneur himself had been so from the first, and he admitted, that for
+a long time before being attacked, he had been very unwell, and so much
+on Good Friday, that he had been unable to read his prayer-book at
+chapel.
+
+Towards four o'clock he grew worse, so much so that Boudin proposed to
+Fagon to call in other doctors, more familiar with the disease than they
+were. But Fagon flew into a rage at this, and would call in nobody. He
+declared that it would be better to act for themselves, and to keep
+Monseigneur's state secret, although it was hourly growing worse, and
+towards seven o'clock was perceived by several valets and courtiers. But
+nobody dared to open his mouth before Fagon, and the King was actually
+allowed to go to supper and to finish it without interruption, believing
+on the faith of Fagon that Monseigneur was going on well.
+
+While the King supped thus tranquilly, all those who were in the sick-
+chamber began to lose their wits. Fagon and the others poured down
+physic on physic, without leaving time for any to work. The Cure, who
+was accustomed to go and learn the news every evening, found, against all
+custom, the doors thrown wide open, and the valets in confusion. He
+entered the chamber, and perceiving what was the matter, ran to the
+bedside, took the hand of Monseigneur, spoke to him of God, and seeing
+him full of consciousness, but scarcely able to speak, drew from him a
+sort of confession, of which nobody had hitherto thought, and suggested
+some acts of contrition. The poor Prince repeated distinctly several
+words suggested to him, and confusedly answered others, struck his
+breast, squeezed the Cure's hand, appeared penetrated with the best
+sentiments, and received with a contrite and willing air the absolution
+of the Cure.
+
+As the King rose from the supper-table, he well-nigh fell backward when
+Fagon, coming forward, cried in great trouble that all was lost. It may
+be imagined what terror seized all the company at this abrupt passage
+from perfect security to hopeless despair. The King, scarcely master of
+himself, at once began to go towards the apartment of Monseigneur, and
+repelled very stiffly the indiscreet eagerness of some courtiers who
+wished to prevent him, saying that he would see his son again, and be
+quite certain that nothing could be done. As he was about to enter the
+chamber, Madame la Princesse de Conti presented herself before him, and
+prevented him from going in. She pushed him back with her hands, and
+said that henceforth he had only to think of himself. Then the King,
+nearly fainting from a shock so complete and so sudden, fell upon a sofa
+that stood near. He asked unceasingly for news of all who passed, but
+scarce anybody dared to reply to him. He had sent for here Tellier, who
+went into Monseigneur's room; but it was no longer time. It is true the
+Jesuit, perhaps to console the King, said that he gave him a well-founded
+absolution. Madame de Maintenon hastened after the King, and sitting
+down beside him on the same sofa, tried to cry. She endeavoured to lead
+away the King into the carriage already waiting for him in the
+courtyard, but he would not go, and sat thus outside the door until
+Monseigneur had expired.
+
+The agony, without consciousness, of Monseigneur lasted more than an hour
+after the King had come into the cabinet. Madame la Duchesse and Madame
+la Princesse de Conti divided their cares between the dying man and the
+King, to whom they constantly came back; whilst the faculty confounded,
+the valets bewildered, the courtiers hurrying and murmuring, hustled
+against each other, and moved unceasingly to and fro, backwards and
+forwards, in the same narrow space. At last the fatal moment arrived.
+Fagon came out, and allowed so much to be understood.
+
+The King, much afflicted, and very grieved that Monseigneur's confession
+had been so tardily made, abused Fagon a little; and went away led by
+Madame de Maintenon and the two Princesses. He was somewhat struck by
+finding the vehicle of Monseigneur outside; and made a sign that he would
+have another coach, for that one made him suffer, and left the chateau.
+He was not, however, so much occupied with his grief that he could not
+call Pontchartrain to arrange the hour of the council on the next day.
+I will not comment on this coolness, and shall merely say it surprised
+extremely all present; and that if Pontchartrain had not said the council
+could be put off, no interruption to business would have taken place.
+The King got into his coach with difficulty, supported on both sides.
+Madame de Maintenon seated herself beside him. A crowd of officers of
+Monseigneur lined both sides of the court on their knees, as he passed
+out, crying to him with strange howlings to have compassion on them, for
+they had lost all, and must die of hunger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII
+
+While Meudon was filled with horror, all was tranquil at Versailles,
+without the least suspicion. We had supped. The company some time after
+had retired, and I was talking with Madame de Saint-Simon, who had nearly
+finished undressing herself to go to bed, when a servant of Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry, who had formerly belonged to us, entered, all
+terrified. He said that there must be some bad news from Meudon, since
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne had just whispered in the ear of M. le
+Duc de Berry, whose eyes had at once become red, that he left the table,
+and that all the company shortly after him rose with precipitation. So
+sudden a change rendered my surprise extreme. I ran in hot haste to
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry's. Nobody was there. Everybody had gone to
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne. I followed on with all speed.
+
+I found all Versailles assembled on arriving, all the ladies hastily
+dressed--the majority having been on the point of going to bed--all the
+doors open, and all in trouble. I learnt that Monseigneur had received
+the extreme unction, that he was without consciousness and beyond hope,
+and that the King had sent word to Madame de Bourgogne that he was going
+to Marly, and that she was to meet him as he passed through the avenue
+between the two stables.
+
+The spectacle before me attracted all the attention I could bestow. The
+two Princes and the two Princesses were in the little cabinet behind the
+bed.
+
+The bed toilette was as usual in the chamber of the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne, which was filled with all the Court in confusion. She came
+and went from the cabinet to the chamber, waiting for the moment when she
+was to meet the King; and her demeanour, always distinguished by the same
+graces, was one of trouble and compassion, which the trouble and
+compassion of others induced them to take for grief. Now and then, in
+passing, she said a few rare words. All present were in truth expressive
+personages. Whoever had eyes, without any knowledge of the Court, could
+see the interests of all interested painted on their faces, and the
+indifference of the indifferent; these tranquil, the former penetrated
+with grief, or gravely attentive to themselves to, hide their
+emancipation and their joy.
+
+For my part, my first care was to inform myself thoroughly of the state
+of affairs, fearing lest there might be too much alarm for too trifling a
+cause; then, recovering myself, I reflected upon the misery common to all
+men, and that I myself should find myself some day at the gates of death.
+Joy, nevertheless, found its way through the momentary reflections of
+religion and of humanity, by which I tried to master myself. My own
+private deliverance seemed so great and so unhoped for, that it appeared
+to me that the State must gain everything by such a loss. And with these
+thoughts I felt, in spite of myself, a lingering fear lest the sick man
+should recover, and was extremely ashamed of it.
+
+Wrapped up thus in myself, I did not fail, nevertheless, to cast
+clandestine looks upon each face, to see what was passing there. I saw
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans arrive, but her countenance, majestic and
+constrained, said nothing. She went into the little cabinet, whence she
+presently issued with the Duc d'Orleans, whose activity and turbulent air
+marked his emotion at the spectacle more than any other sentiment. They
+went away, and I notice this expressly, on account of what happened
+afterwards in my presence.
+
+Soon afterwards I caught a distant glimpse of the Duc de Bourgogne, who
+seemed much moved and troubled; but the glance with which I probed him
+rapidly, revealed nothing tender, and told merely of a mind profoundly
+occupied with the bearings of what had taken place.
+
+Valets and chamber-women were already indiscreetly crying out; and their
+grief showed well that they were about to lose something!
+
+Towards half-past twelve we had news of the King, and immediately after
+Madame de Bourgogne came out of the little cabinet with the Duke, who
+seemed more touched than when I first saw him. The Princess took her
+scarf and her coifs from the toilette, standing with a deliberate air,
+her eyes scarcely wet--a fact betrayed by inquisitive glances cast
+rapidly to the right and left--and, followed only by her ladies, went to
+her coach by the great staircase.
+
+I took the opportunity to go to the Duchesse d'Orleans, where I found
+many people. Their presence made me very impatient; the Duchess, who was
+equally impatient, took a light and went in. I whispered in the ear of
+the Duchesse de Villeroy, who thought as I thought of this event. She
+nudged me, and said in a very low voice that I must contain myself.
+I was smothered with silence, amidst the complaints and the narrative
+surprises of these ladies; but at last M. le Duc d'Orleans appeared at
+the door of his cabinet, and beckoned me to come to him.
+
+I followed him into the cabinet, where we were alone. What was my
+surprise, remembering the terms on which he was with Monseigneur, to see
+the tears streaming from his eyes.
+
+"Sir!" exclaimed I, rising: He understood me at once; and answered in a
+broken voice, really crying: "You are right to be surprised--I am
+surprised myself; but such a spectacle touches. He was a man with whom I
+passed much of my life, and who treated me well when he was uninfluenced.
+I feel very well that my grief won't last long; in a few days I shall
+discover motives of joy; at present, blood, relationship, humanity,--all
+work; and my entrails are moved." I praised his sentiments, but repeated
+my surprise. He rose, thrust his head into a corner, and with his nose
+there, wept bitterly and sobbed, which if I had not seen I could not have
+believed.
+
+After a little silence, however, I exhorted him to calm himself. I
+represented to him that, everybody knowing on what terms he had been with
+Monseigneur, he would be laughed at, as playing a part, if his eyes
+showed that he had been weeping. He did what he could to remove the
+marks of his tears, and we then went back into the other room.
+
+The interview of the Duchesse de Bourgogne with the King had not been
+long. She met him in the avenue between the two stables, got down, and
+went to the door of the carriage. Madame de Maintenon cried out, "Where
+are you going? We bear the plague about with us." I do not know what
+the King said or did. The Princess returned to her carriage, and came
+back to Versailles, bringing in reality the first news of the actual
+death of Monseigneur.
+
+Acting upon the advice of M. de Beauvilliers, all the company had gone
+into the salon. The two Princes, Monseigneur de Bourgogne and M. de
+Berry, were there, seated on one sofa, their Princesses at their sides;
+all the rest of the company were scattered about in confusion, seated or
+standing, some of the ladies being on the floor, near the sofa. There
+could be no doubt of what had happened. It was plainly written on every
+face in the chamber and throughout the apartment. Monseigneur was no
+more: it was known: it was spoken of: constraint with respect to him no
+longer existed. Amidst the surprise, the confusion, and the movements
+that prevailed, the sentiments of all were painted to the life in looks
+and gestures.
+
+In the outside rooms were heard the constrained groans and sighs of the
+valets--grieving for the master they had lost as well as for the master
+that had succeeded. Farther on began the crowd of courtiers of all
+kinds. The greater number--that is to say the fools--pumped up sighs as
+well as they could, and with wandering but dry eyes, sung the praises of
+Monseigneur--insisting especially on his goodness. They pitied the King
+for the loss of so good a son. The keener began already to be uneasy
+about the health of the King; and admired themselves for preserving so
+much judgment amidst so much trouble, which could be perceived by the
+frequency of their repetitions. Others, really afflicted--the
+discomfited cabal--wept bitterly, and kept themselves under with an
+effort as easy to notice as sobs. The most strong-minded or the wisest,
+with eyes fixed on the ground, in corners, meditated on the consequences
+of such an event--and especially on their own interests. Few words
+passed in conversation--here and there an exclamation wrung from grief
+was answered by some neighbouring grief--a word every quarter of an hour
+--sombre and haggard eyes--movements quite involuntary of the hands--
+immobility of all other parts of the body. Those who already looked upon
+the event as favourable in vain exaggerated their gravity so as to make
+it resemble chagrin and severity; the veil over their faces was
+transparent and hid not a single feature. They remained as motionless as
+those who grieved most, fearing opinion, curiosity, their own
+satisfaction, their every movement; but their eyes made up for their
+immobility. Indeed they could not refrain from repeatedly changing their
+attitude like people ill at ease, sitting or standing, from avoiding each
+other too carefully, even from allowing their eyes to meet--nor repress a
+manifest air of liberty--nor conceal their increased liveliness--nor put
+out a sort of brilliancy which distinguished them in spite of themselves.
+
+The two Princes, and the two Princesses who sat by their sides, were more
+exposed to view than any other. The Duc de Bourgogne wept with
+tenderness, sincerity, and gentleness, the tears of nature, of religion,
+and patience. M. le Duc de Berry also sincerely shed abundance of tears,
+but bloody tears, so to speak, so great appeared their bitterness; and he
+uttered not only sobs, but cries, nay, even yells. He was silent
+sometimes, but from suffocation, and then would burst out again with such
+a noise, such a trumpet sound of despair, that the majority present burst
+out also at these dolorous repetitions, either impelled by affliction or
+decorum. He became so bad, in fact, that his people were forced to
+undress him then and there, put him to bed, and call in the doctor,
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry was beside herself, and we shall soon see
+why. The most bitter despair was painted with horror on her face. There
+was seen written, as it were, a sort of furious grief, based on interest,
+not affection; now and then came dry lulls deep and sullen, then a
+torrent of tears and involuntary gestures, yet restrained, which showed
+extreme bitterness of mind, fruit of the profound meditation that had
+preceded. Often aroused by the cries of her husband, prompt to assist
+him, to support him, to embrace him, to give her smelling-bottle, her
+care for him was evident; but soon came another profound reverie--then a
+gush of tears assisted to suppress her cries. As for Madame la Duchesse
+de Bourgogne she consoled her husband with less trouble than she had to
+appear herself in want of consolation. Without attempting to play a
+part, it was evident that she did her best to acquit herself of a
+pressing duty of decorum. But she found extreme difficulty in keeping up
+appearances. When the Prince her brother-in-law howled, she blew her
+nose. She had brought some tears along with her and kept them up with
+care; and these, combined with the art of the handkerchief, enabled her
+to redden her eyes, and make them swell, and smudge her face; but her
+glances often wandered on the sly to the countenances of all present.
+
+Madame arrived, in full dress she knew not why, and howling she knew not
+why, inundated everybody with her tears in embracing them, making the
+chateau echo with renewed cries, and furnished the odd spectacle of a
+Princess putting on her robes of ceremony in the dead of night to come
+and cry among a crowd of women with but little on except their night-
+dresses,--almost as masqueraders.
+
+In the gallery several ladies, Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, Madame de
+Castries, and Madame de Saint-Simon among the rest, finding no one close
+by, drew near each other by the side of a tent-bedstead, and began to
+open their hearts to each other, which they did with the more freedom,
+inasmuch as they had but one sentiment in common upon what had occurred.
+In this gallery, and in the salon, there were always during the night
+several beds, in which, for security's sake, certain Swiss guards and
+servants slept. These beds had been put in their usual place this
+evening before the bad news came from Meudon. In the midst of the
+conversation of the ladies, Madame de Castries touched the bed, felt
+something move, and was much terrified. A moment after they saw a sturdy
+arm, nearly naked, raise on a sudden the curtains, and thus show them a
+great brawny Swiss under the sheets, half awake, and wholly amazed. The
+fellow was a long time in making out his position, fixing his eyes upon
+every face one after the other; but at last, not judging it advisable to
+get up in the midst of such a grand company, he reburied himself in his
+bed, and closed the curtains. Apparently the good man had gone to bed
+before anything had transpired, and had slept so soundly ever since that
+he had not been aroused until then. The saddest sights have often the
+most ridiculous contrasts. This caused some of the ladies to laugh, and
+Madame d'Orleans to fear lest the conversation should have been
+overheard. But after reflection, the sleep and the stupidity of the
+sleeper reassured her.
+
+I had some doubts yet as to the event that had taken place; for I did not
+like to abandon myself to belief, until the word was pronounced by some
+one in whom I could have faith. By chance I met D'O, and I asked him.
+He answered me clearly that Monseigneur was no more. Thus answered, I
+tried not to be glad. I know not if I succeeded well, but at least it is
+certain, that neither joy nor sorrow blunted my curiosity, and that while
+taking due care to preserve all decorum, I did not consider myself in any
+way forced to play the doleful. I no longer feared any fresh attack from
+the citadel of Meudon, nor any cruel charges from its implacable
+garrison. I felt, therefore, under no constraint, and followed every
+face with my glances, and tried to scrutinise them unobserved.
+
+It must be admitted, that for him who is well acquainted with the
+privacies of a Court, the first sight of rare events of this nature, so
+interesting in so many different respects, is extremely satisfactory.
+Every countenance recalls the cares, the intrigues, the labours employed
+in the advancement of fortunes--in the overthrow of rivals: the
+relations, the coldness, the hatreds, the evil offices done, the baseness
+of all; hope, despair, rage, satisfaction, express themselves in the
+features. See how all eyes wander to and fro examining what passes
+around--how some are astonished to find others more mean, or less mean
+than was expected! Thus this spectacle produced a pleasure, which,
+hollow as it may be, is one of the greatest a Court can bestow.
+
+The turmoil in this vast apartment lasted about an hour, at the end of
+which M. de Beauvilliers thought it was high time to deliver the Princes
+of their company. The rooms were cleared. M. le Duc de Berry went away
+to his rooms, partly supported by his wife. All through the night he
+asked, amid tears and cries, for news from Meudon; he would not
+understand the cause of the King's departure to Marly. When at length
+the mournful curtain was drawn from before his eyes, the state he fell
+into cannot be described. The night of Monseigneur and Madame de
+Bourgogne was more tranquil. Some one having said to the Princess, that
+having--no real cause to be affected, it would be terrible to play a
+part, she replied, quite naturally, that without feigning, pity touched
+her and decorum controlled her; and indeed she kept herself within these
+bounds with truth and decency. Their chamber, in which they invited
+several ladies to pass the night in armchairs, became immediately a
+palace of Morpheus. All quietly fell asleep. The curtains were left
+open, so that the Prince and Princess could be seen sleeping profoundly.
+They woke up once or twice for a moment. In the morning the Duke and
+Duchess rose early, their tears quite dried up. They shed no more for
+this cause, except on special and rare occasions. The ladies who had
+watched and slept in their chamber, told their friends how tranquil the
+night had been. But nobody was surprised, and as there was no longer a
+Monseigneur, nobody was scandalised. Madame de Saint-Simon and I
+remained up two hours before going to bed, and then went there without
+feeling any want of rest. In fact, I slept so little that at seven in
+the morning I was up; but it must be admitted that such restlessness is
+sweet, and such re-awakenings are savoury.
+
+Horror reigned at Meudon. As soon as the King left, all the courtiers
+left also, crowding into the first carriages that came. In an instant
+Meudon was empty. Mademoiselle Choin remained alone in her garret, and
+unaware of what had taken place. She learned it only by the cry raised.
+Nobody thought of telling her. At last some friends went up to her,
+hurried her into a hired coach, and took her to Paris. The dispersion
+was general. One or two valets, at the most, remained near the body.
+La Villiere, to his praise be it said, was the only courtier who, not
+having abandoned Monseigneur during life, did not abandon him after his
+death. He had some difficulty to find somebody to go in search of
+Capuchins to pray over the corpse. The decomposition became so rapid and
+so great, that the opening of the windows was not enough; the Capuchins,
+La Vrilliere, and the valets, were compelled to pass the night outside.
+
+At Marly everybody had felt so confident that the King's return there was
+not dreamt of. Nothing was ready, no keys of the rooms, no fires,
+scarcely an end of candle. The King was more than an hour thus with
+Madame de Maintenon and other ladies in one of the ante-chambers. The
+King retired into a corner, seated between Madame de Maintenon and two
+other ladies, and wept at long intervals. At last the chamber of Madame
+de Maintenon was ready. The King entered, remained there an hour, and
+then 'went to bed at nearly four o'clock in the morning.
+
+Monseigneur was rather tall than short; very fat, but without being
+bloated; with a very lofty and noble aspect without any harshness; and he
+would have had a very agreeable face if M. le Prince de Conti had not
+unfortunately broken his nose in playing while they were both young. He
+was of a very beautiful fair complexion; he had a face everywhere covered
+with a healthy red, but without expression; the most beautiful legs in
+the world; his feet singularly small and delicate. He wavered always in
+walking, and felt his way with his feet; he was always afraid of falling,
+and if the path was not perfectly even and straight, he called for
+assistance. He was a good horseman, and looked well when mounted; but he
+was not a bold rider. When hunting--they had persuaded him that he liked
+this amusement--a servant rode before him; if he lost sight of this
+servant he gave himself up for lost, slicked his pace to a gentle trot,
+and oftentimes waited under a tree for the hunting party, and returned to
+it slowly. He was very fond of the table, but always without indecency.
+Ever since that great attack of indigestion, which was taken at first for
+apoplexy, he made but one real meal a day, and was content,--although a
+great eater, like the rest of the royal family. Nearly all his portraits
+well resemble him.
+
+As for his character he had none; he was without enlightenment or
+knowledge of any kind, radically incapable of acquiring any; very idle,
+without imagination or productiveness; without taste, without choice,
+without discernment; neither seeing the weariness he caused others, nor
+that he was as a ball moving at hap-hazard by the impulsion of others;
+obstinate and little to excess in everything; amazingly credulous and
+accessible to prejudice, keeping himself, always, in the most pernicious
+hands, yet incapable of seeing his position or of changing it; absorbed
+in his fat and his ignorance; so that without any desire to do ill he
+would have made a pernicious King.
+
+His avariciousness, except in certain things, passed all belief. He kept
+an account of his personal expenditure, and knew to a penny what his
+smallest and his largest expenses amounted to. He spent large sums in
+building, in furniture, in jewels, and in hunting, which he made himself
+believe he was fond of.
+
+It is inconceivable the little he gave to La Choin, whom he so much
+loved. It never exceeded four hundred Louis a quarter in gold, or
+sixteen hundred Louis a year, whatever the Louis might be worth. He gave
+them to her with his own hand, without adding or subtracting a pistole,
+and, at the most, made her but one present a year, and that he looked at
+twice before giving. It was said that they were married, and certain
+circumstances seemed to justify this rumour. As for instance, during the
+illness of Monseigneur, the King, as I have said, asked Madame de
+Maintenon if she had seen Mademoiselle Choin, and upon receiving negative
+reply, was displeased. Instead of driving her away from the chateau he
+inquired particularly after her! This, to say the least, looked as
+though Mademoiselle Choin was Monseigneur's Maintenon--but the matter
+remained incomprehensible to the last. Mademoiselle Choin threw no light
+upon it, although she spoke on many other things concerning Monseigneur.
+In the modest home at Paris, to which she had retired for the rest of her
+days. The King gave her a pension of twelve thousand livres.
+
+Monseigneur was, I have said, ignorant to the last degree, and had a
+thorough aversion for learning; so that, according to his own admission,
+ever since he had been released from the hands of teachers he had never
+read anything except the article in the "Gazette de France," in which
+deaths and marriages are recorded. His timidity, especially before the
+King, was equal to his ignorance, which indeed contributed not a little
+to cause it. The King took advantage of it, and never treated him as a
+son, but as a subject. He was the monarch always, never the father.
+Monseigneur had not the slightest influence with the King. If he showed
+any preference for a person it was enough! That person was sure to be
+kept back by the King. The King was so anxious to show that Monseigneur
+could do nothing, that Monseigneur after a time did not even try. He
+contented himself by complaining occasionally in monosyllables, and by
+hoping for better times.
+
+The body of Monseigneur so soon grew decomposed; that immediate burial
+was necessary. At midnight on Wednesday he was carried, with but little
+ceremony, to Saint-Denis, and deposited in the royal vaults. His funeral
+services were said at Saint-Denis on the 18th of the following June, and
+at Notre Dame on the 3rd of July. As the procession passed through Paris
+nothing but cries, acclamations, and eulogiums of the defunct were heard.
+Monseigneur had, I know not how, much endeared himself to the common
+people of Paris, and this sentiment soon gained the provinces; so true it
+is, that in France it costs little to its Princes to make themselves
+almost adored!
+
+The King soon got over his affliction for the loss of this son of fifty.
+Never was a man so ready with tears, so backward with grief, or so
+promptly restored to his ordinary state. The morning after the death of
+Monseigneur he rose late, called M. de Beauvilliers into his cabinet,
+shed some more tears, and then said that from that time Monseigneur le
+Duc de Bourgogne and Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne were to enjoy the
+honours, the rank, and the name of Dauphin and of Dauphine. Henceforth I
+shall call them by no other names.
+
+My joy at this change may be imagined. In a few days all my causes of
+disquietude had been removed, and I saw a future opening before me full
+of light and promise. Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne become Dauphin,
+heir to the throne of France; what favour might I not hope for? I could
+not conceal or control my satisfaction.
+
+But alas! it was soon followed by sad disappointment and grievous
+sorrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII
+
+The death of Monseigneur, as we have seen, made a great change in the
+aspect of the Court and in the relative positions of its members. But
+the two persons to whom I must chiefly direct attention are the Duchesse
+de Bourgogne and the Duchesse de Berry. The former, on account of her
+husband's fall in the opinion of his father, had long been out of favour
+likewise. Although Monseigneur had begun to treat her less well for a
+long time, and most harshly during the campaign of Lille, and above all
+after the expulsion of the Duc de Vendome from Marly and Meudon; yet
+after the marriage of the Duc de Berry his coldness had still further
+increased. The adroit Princess, it is true, had rowed against the current
+with a steadiness and grace capable of disarming even a well-founded
+resentment; but the persons who surrounded him looked upon the meeting of
+them as dangerous for their projects. The Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne
+were every day still further removed in comparative disgrace.
+
+Things even went so far that apropos of an engagement broken off, the
+Duchesse resolved to exert her power instead of her persuasion, and
+threatened the two Lillebonnes. A sort of reconciliation was then
+patched up, but it was neither sincere nor apparently so.
+
+The cabal which laboured to destroy the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne was
+equally assiduous in augmenting the influence of the Duc de Berry, whose
+wife had at once been admitted without having asked into the sanctuary of
+the Parvulo. The object was to disunite the two brothers and excite
+jealousy between then. In this they did not succeed even in the
+slightest degree. But they found a formidable ally in the Duchesse de
+Berry, who proved as full of wickedness and ambition as any among them.
+The Duc d'Orleans often called his Duchess Madame Lucifer, at which she
+used to smile with complacency. He was right, for she would have been a
+prodigy of pride had she not, had a daughter who far surpassed her. This
+is not yet the time to paint their portraits; but I must give a word or
+two of explanation on the Duchesse de Berry.
+
+That princess was a marvel of wit, of pride, of ingratitude and folly--
+nay, of debauchery and obstinacy.
+
+Scarcely had she been married a week when she began to exhibit herself in
+all these lights,--not too manifestly it is true, for one of the
+qualities of which she was most vain was her falsity and power of
+concealment, but sufficiently to make an impression on those around her.
+People soon perceived how annoyed she was to be the daughter of an
+illegitimate mother, and to have lived under her restraint however mild;
+how she despised the weakness of her father, the Duc d'Orleans, and how
+confident she was of her influence over him; and how she had hated all
+who had interfered in her marriage--merely because she could not bear to
+be under obligations to any one--a reason she was absurd enough publicly
+to avow and boast of. Her conduct was now based on those motives. This
+is an example of how in this world people work with their heads in a
+sack, and how human prudence and wisdom are sometimes confounded by
+successes which have been reasonably desired and which turn out to be
+detestable! We had brought about this marriage to avoid a marriage with
+Mademoiselle de Bourbon and to cement the union of the two brothers. We
+now discovered that there was little danger of Mademoiselle de Bourbon,
+and then instead of her we had a Fury who had no thought but how to ruin
+those who had established her, to injure her benefactors, to make her
+husband and her brother quarrel; and to put herself in the power of her
+enemies because they were the enemies of her natural friends. It never
+occurred to her that the cabal would not be likely to abandon to her the
+fruit of so much labour and so many crimes.
+
+It may easily be imagined that she was neither gentle nor docile when
+Madame la Duchesse began to give her advice. Certain that her father
+would support her, she played the stranger and the daughter of France
+with her mother. Estrangement, however, soon came on. She behaved
+differently in form, but in effect the same with the Duchesse de
+Bourgogne, who wished to guide her as a daughter, but who soon gave up
+the attempt. The Duchesse de Berry's object could only be gained by
+bringing about disunion between the two brothers, and for this purpose
+she employed as a spring the passion of her husband for herself.
+
+The first night at Versailles after the death of Monseigneur was
+sleepless. The Dauphin and Dauphine heard mass early next morning.
+I went to see them. Few persons were present on account of the hour.
+The Princess wished to be at Marly at the King's waking. Their eyes were
+wonderfully dry, but carefully managed; and it was easy to see they were
+more occupied with their new position than with the death of Monseigneur.
+A smile which they exchanged as they spoke, in whispers convinced me of
+this. One of their first cares was to endeavour to increase their good
+relations with the Duc and Duchesse de Berry. They were to see them
+before they were up. The Duc de Berry showed himself very sensible to
+this act, and the Duchess was eloquent, clever, and full of tears. But
+her heart was wrung by these advances of pure generosity. The separation
+she had planned soon followed: and the two princesses felt relieved at no
+longer being obliged to dine together.
+
+Thus never was change greater or more marked than that brought about by
+the death of Monseigneur. That prince had become the centre of all hope
+and of all fear, a formidable cabal had seized upon him, yet without
+awakening the jealousy of the King, before whom all trembled, but whose
+anxieties did not extend beyond his own lifetime, during which, and very
+reasonably, he feared nothing.
+
+Before I go any further, let me note a circumstance characteristic of the
+King. Madame la Dauphine went every day to Marly to see him. On the day
+after the death of Monseigneur she received, not without surprise, easily
+understood, a hint from Madame de Maintenon. It was to the effect that
+she should dress herself with some little care, inasmuch as the
+negligence of her attire displeased the King! The Princess did not think
+that dress ought to occupy her then; and even if she had thought so, she
+would have believed, and with good reason, that she was committing a
+grave fault against decorum, a fault which would have been less readily
+pardoned, since in every way she had gained too much by what had just
+occurred not to be very guarded in her behaviour. On the next day she
+took more pains with her toilette; but what she did not being found
+sufficient, the day following she carried with her some things and
+dressed herself secretly in Madame de Maintenon's rooms; and resumed
+there her ordinary apparel before returning to Versailles. Thus she
+avoided offence both to the King and to society. The latter certainly
+would with difficulty have been persuaded that in this ill-timed
+adornment of her person, her own tastes went for nothing. The Comtesse
+de Mailly, who invented the scheme, and Madame de Nogaret, who both liked
+Monseigneur, related this to me and were piqued by it. From this fact
+and from the circumstance that all the ordinary pleasures and occupations
+were resumed immediately after the death of Monseigneur, the King passing
+his days without any constraint,--it may be assumed that if the royal
+grief was bitter its evidences were of a kind to promise that it would
+not be of long duration.
+
+M. le Dauphin, for, as I have said, it is by that title I shall now name
+Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne--M. le Dauphin, I say, soon gained all
+hearts. In the first days of solitude following upon the death of
+Monseigneur, the King intimated to M. de Beauvilliers that he should not
+care to see the new Dauphin go very often to Meudon. This was enough.
+M. le Dauphin at once declared that he would never set his foot in that
+palace, and that he would never quit the King. He was as good as his
+word, and not one single visit did he ever afterwards pay to Meudon. The
+King wished to give him fifty thousand livres a month, Monseigneur having
+had that sum. M. le Dauphin would not accept them. He had only six
+thousand livres per month. He was satisfied with double that amount and
+would not receive more. This disinterestedness much pleased the public.
+M. le Dauphin wished for nothing special on his account, and persisted in
+remaining in nearly everything as he was during the life of Monseigneur.
+These auguries of a prudent and measured reign, suggested the brightest
+of hopes.
+
+Aided by his adroit spouse, who already had full possession of the King's
+heart and of that of Madame de Maintenon, M. le Dauphin redoubled his
+attentions in order to possess them also. These attentions, addressed to
+Madame de Maintenon, produced their fruit. She was transported with
+pleasure at finding a Dauphin upon whom she could rely, instead of one
+whom she did not like, gave herself up to him accordingly, and by that
+means secured to him the King's favour. The first fortnight made evident
+to everybody at Marly the extraordinary change that had come over the
+King with respect to the Dauphin. His Majesty, generally severe beyond
+measure with his legitimate children, showed the most marked graciousness
+for this prince. The effects of this, and of the change that had taken
+place in his state, were soon most clearly visible in the Dauphin.
+Instead of being timid and retiring, diffident in speech, and more fond
+of his study than of the salon, he became on a sudden easy and frank,
+showing himself in public on all occasions, conversing right and left in
+a gay, agreeable, and dignified manner; presiding, in fact, over the
+Salon of Marly, and over the groups gathered round him, like the divinity
+of a temple, who receives with goodness the homage to which he is
+accustomed, and recompenses the mortals who offer it with gentle regard.
+
+In a short time hunting became a less usual topic of conversation.
+History, and even science, were touched upon lightly, pleasantly, and
+discreetly, in a manner that charmed while it instructed. The Dauphin
+spoke with an eloquent freedom that opened all eyes, ears and hearts.
+People sometimes, in gathering near him, were less anxious to make their
+court than to listen to his natural eloquence, and to draw from it
+delicious instruction. It is astonishing with what rapidity he gained
+universal esteem and admiration. The public joy could not keep silent.
+People asked each other if this was really the same man they had known as
+the Duc de Bourgogne, whether he was a vision or a reality? One of M. le
+Dauphin's friends, to whom this question was addressed, gave a keen
+reply. He answered, that the cause of all this surprise was, that
+previously the people did not, and would not, know this prince, who,
+nevertheless, to those who had known him, was the same now as he had ever
+been; and that this justice would be rendered to him when time had shown
+how much it was deserved.
+
+From the Court to Paris, and from Paris to the provinces, the reputation
+of the Dauphin flew on rapid wings. However founded might be this
+prodigious success, we need not believe it was entirely due to the
+marvellous qualities of the young prince. It was in a great measure a
+reaction against the hostile feeling towards him which had been excited
+by the cabal, whose efforts I have previously spoken of. Now that people
+saw how unjust was this feeling, their astonishment added to their
+admiration. Everybody was filled with a sentiment of joy at seeing the
+first dawn of a new state of things, which promised so much order and
+happiness after such a long confusion and so much obscurity.
+
+Gracious as the King showed himself to M. le Dauphin, and accustomed as
+the people grew to his graciousness, all the Court was strangely
+surprised at a fresh mark of favour that was bestowed one morning by his
+Majesty on this virtuous prince. The King, after having been closeted
+alone with him for some time, ordered his ministers to work with the
+Dauphin whenever sent for, and, whether sent for or not, to make him
+acquainted with all public affairs; this command being given once for
+all.
+
+It is not easy to describe the prodigious movement caused at the Court by
+this order, so directly opposed to the tastes, to the disposition, to the
+maxims, to the usage of the King, who thus showed a confidence in the
+Dauphin which was nothing less than tacitly transferring to him a large
+part of the disposition of public affairs. This was a thunderbolt for
+the ministers; who, accustomed to have almost everything their own way,
+to rule over everybody and browbeat everybody at will, to govern the
+state abroad and at home, in fact, fixing all punishments, all
+recompenses, and always sheltering themselves behind the royal authority
+"the King wills it so" being the phrase ever on their lips,--to these
+officers, I say, it was a thunderbolt which so bewildered them, that they
+could not hide their astonishment or their confusion. The public joy at
+an order which reduced these ministers, or rather these kings, to the
+condition of subjects, which put a curb upon their power, and provided
+against the abuses they committed, was great indeed! The ministers were
+compelled to bend their necks, though stiff as iron, to the yoke. They
+all went, with a hang-dog look, to show the Dauphin a feigned joy and a
+forced obedience to the order they had received.
+
+Here, perhaps, I may as well speak of the situation in which I soon
+afterwards found myself with the Dauphin, the confidence as to the
+present and the future that I enjoyed with him, and the many
+deliberations we had upon public affairs. The matter is curious and
+interesting, and need no longer be deferred.
+
+The Court being changed by the death of Monseigneur, I soon began indeed
+to think of changing my conduct with regard to the new Dauphin. M. de
+Beauvilliers spoke to me about this matter first, but he judged, and I
+shared his opinion, that slandered as I had been on previous occasions,
+and remaining still, as it were, half in disgrace, I must approach the
+Dauphin only by slow degrees, and not endeavour to shelter myself under
+him until his authority with the King had become strong enough to afford
+me a safe asylum. I believed, nevertheless, that it would be well to
+sound him immediately; and one evening, when he was but thinly
+accompanied, I joined him in the gardens at Marly and profited by his
+gracious welcome to say to him, on the sly, that many reasons, of which
+he was not ignorant, had necessarily kept me until then removed from him,
+but that now I hoped to be able to follow with less constraint my
+attachment and my inclination, and that I flattered myself this would be
+agreeable to him. He replied in a low tone, that there were sometimes
+reasons which fettered people, but in our case such no longer existed;
+that he knew of my regard for him, and reckoned with pleasure that we
+should soon see each other more frequently than before. I am writing the
+exact words of his reply, on account of the singular politeness of the
+concluding ones. I regarded that reply as the successful result of a
+bait that had been taken as I wished. Little by little I became more
+assiduous at his promenades, but without following them when the crowd or
+any dangerous people do so; and I spoke more freely. I remained content
+with seeing the Dauphin in public, and I approached him in the Salon only
+when if I saw a good opportunity.
+
+Some days after, being in the Salon, I saw the Dauphin and the Dauphine
+enter together and converse. I approached and heard their last words;
+they stimulated me to ask the prince what was in debate, not in a
+straightforward manner, but in a sort of respectful insinuating way which
+I already adopted. He explained to me that he was going to Saint-Germain
+to pay an ordinary visit; that on this occasion there would be some
+change in the ceremonial; explained the matter, and enlarged with
+eagerness on the necessity of not abandoning legitimate rights.
+
+"How glad I am to see you think thus," I replied, "and how well you act
+in advocating these forms, the neglect of which tarnishes everything."
+
+He responded with warmth; and I seized the moment to say, that if he,
+whose rank was so great and so derided, was right to pay attention to
+these things, how such we dukes had reason to complain of our losses, and
+to try to sustain ourselves! Thereupon he entered into the question so
+far as to become the advocate of our cause, and finished by saying that
+he regarded our restoration as an act of justice important to the state;
+that he knew I was well instructed in these things, and that I should
+give him pleasure by talking of them some day. He rejoined at that,
+moment the Dauphine, and they set off for Saint-Germain.
+
+A few days after this the Dauphin sent for me. I entered by the
+wardrobe, where a sure and trusty valet was in waiting; he conducted me
+to a cabinet in which the Dauphin was sitting alone. Our conversation at
+once commenced. For a full hour we talked upon the state of affairs, the
+Dauphin listening with much attention to all I said, and expressing
+himself with infinite modesty, sense, and judgment. His view, I found,
+were almost entirely in harmony with mine. He was sorry, and touchingly
+said so, for the ignorance of all things in which the King was kept by
+his ministers; he was anxious to see the power of those ministers
+restricted; he looked with dislike upon the incredible elevation of the
+illegitimate children; he wished to see the order to which I belonged
+restored to the position it deserved to occupy.
+
+It is difficult to express what I felt in quitting the Dauphin. A
+magnificent and near future opened out before me. I saw a prince, pious,
+just, debonnaire, enlightened, and seeking to become more so; with
+principles completely in accord with my own, and capacity to carry out
+those principles when the time for doing so arrived. I relished
+deliciously a confident so precious and so full upon the most momentous
+matters and at a first interview. I felt all the sweetness of this
+perspective, and of my deliverance from a servitude which, in spite of
+myself, I sometimes could not help showing myself impatient of. I felt,
+too, that I now had an opportunity of elevating myself, and of
+contributing to those grand works, for the happiness and advantage of the
+state I so much wished to see accomplished.
+
+A few days after this I had another interview with the Dauphin. I was
+introduced secretly as before, so that no one perceived either my coming
+or my departure. The same subjects we had previously touched upon we now
+entered into again, and more amply than on the former occasion. The
+Dauphin, in taking leave of me, gave me full permission to see him in
+private as often as I desired, though in public I was still to be
+circumspect.
+
+Indeed there was need of great circumspection in carrying on even private
+intercourse with the Dauphin. From this time I continually saw him in
+his cabinet, talking with him in all liberty upon the various persons of
+the Court, and upon the various subjects relating to the state; but
+always with the same secrecy as at first. This was absolutely necessary;
+as I have just said, I was still in a sort of half disgrace the King did
+not regard me with the eyes of favour; Madame de Maintenon was resolutely
+averse to me. If they two had suspected my strict intimacy with the heir
+to the throne, I should have been assuredly lost.
+
+To show what need there was of precaution in my private interviews with
+the Dauphin, let me here recall an incident which one day occurred when
+we were closeted together, and which might have led to the greatest
+results. The Prince lodged then in one of the four grand suites of
+apartments, on the same level as the Salon, the suite that was broken up
+during an illness of Madame la Princesse de Conti, to make way for a
+grand stair case, the narrow and crooked one in use annoying the King
+when he ascended it. The chamber of the Dauphine was there; the bed had
+its foot towards the window; by the chimney was the door of the obscure
+wardrobe by which I entered; between the chimney and one of the two
+windows was a little portable bureau; in front of the ordinary entrance
+door of the chamber and behind the bureau was the door of one of the
+Dauphine's rooms; between the two windows was a chest of drawers which
+was used for papers only.
+
+There were always some moments of conversation before the Dauphin set
+himself down at his bureau, and ordered me to place myself opposite him.
+Having become more free with him, I took the liberty to say one day in
+these first moments of our discourse, that he would do well to bolt the
+door behind him, the door I mean of the Dauphine's chamber. He said that
+the Dauphine would not come, it not being her hour. I replied that I did
+not fear that princess herself, but the crowd that always accompanied
+her. He was obstinate, and would not bolt the door. I did not dare to
+press him more. He sat down before his bureau, and ordered me to sit
+also. Our deliberation was long; afterwards we sorted our papers. Here
+let me say this--Every time I went to see the Dauphin I garnished all my
+pockets with papers, and I often smiled within myself passing through the
+Salon, at seeing there many people who at that moment were in my pockets,
+and who were far indeed from suspecting the important discussion that was
+going to take place. To return: the Dauphin gave, me his papers to put
+in my pockets, and kept mine. He locked up some in his cupboard, and
+instead of locking up the others in his bureau, kept them out, and began
+talking to me, his back to the chimney, his papers in one hand, his keys
+in the other. I was standing at the bureau looking for some other
+papers, when on a sudden the door in front of me opened, and the Dauphine
+entered!
+
+The first appearance of all three--for, thank God! she was alone--the
+astonishment, the countenance of all have never left my memory. Our
+fixed eyes, our statue-like immobility, and our embarrassment were all
+alike, and lasted longer than a slow Pater-poster. The Princess spoke
+first. She said to the Prince in a very ill-assured voice, that she had
+not imagined him in such good company; smiling upon him and upon me. I
+had scarce time to smile also and to lower my eyes, before the Dauphin
+replied.
+
+"Since you find me so," said he, smiling in turn, "leave me so."
+
+For an instant she looked on him, he and she both smiling at each other
+more; then she looked on me, still smiling with greater liberty than at
+first, made a pirouette, went away and closed the door, beyond the
+threshold of which she had not come.
+
+Never have I seen woman so astonished; never man so taken aback, as the
+Prince after the Dauphine's departure; and never man, to say truth, was
+so afraid as I was at first, though I quickly reassured myself when I
+found that our intruder was alone. As soon as she had closed the door,
+"Well, Monsieur," said I to the Dauphin, "if you had drawn the bolt?"
+
+"You were right," he replied, "and I was wrong. But no harm is done.
+She was alone fortunately, and I guarantee to you her secrecy."
+
+"I am not troubled," said I to him, (yet I was so mightily) "but it is a
+miracle she was alone. With her suite you would have escaped with a
+scolding perhaps but for me, I should have been utterly lost."
+
+He admitted again he had, been wrong, and assure me more and more that
+our secret was safe. The Dauphine had caught us, not only tete-a-tete--
+of which no one had the least suspicion--she had caught us in the fact,
+so to say, our crimes in out hands. I felt that she would not expose the
+Dauphin, but I feared an after-revelation through some over-easy
+confidant. Nevertheless our secret was so well kept if confided that it
+never transpired. We finished, I to pocket, the Prince to lock up, the
+papers. The rest of the conversation was short, and I withdrew by the
+wardrobe as usual. M. de Beauvilliers, to whom I related this adventure
+shortly afterwards, grew pale at first, but recovered when I said the
+Dauphine was alone. He blamed the imprudence of the Dauphin, but assured
+me my secret was safe. Ever since that adventure the Dauphine often
+smiled upon me when we met, as if to remind me of it, and showed marked
+attention to me.
+
+No sooner did I feel myself pretty firmly established on this footing of
+delicious intimacy with the Dauphin than I conceived the desire to unite
+him with M. le Duc d'Orleans through the means of M. de Beauvilliers. At
+the very outset, however, an obstacle arose in my path.
+
+I have already said, that the friendship of M. d'Orleans for his
+daughter, Madame la Duchesse de Berry, had given employment to the
+tongues of Satan, set in Motion by hatred and jealousy. Evil reports
+even reached M. le Duc de Berry, who on his part, wishing to enjoy the
+society of his wife in full liberty, was importuned by the continual
+presence near her, of her father. To ward off a quarrel between son-in-
+law and father-in-law, based upon so false and so odious a foundation,
+appeared to Madame de Saint-Simon and myself a pressing duty.
+
+I had already tried to divert M. le Duc d'Orleans from an assiduity which
+wearied M. le Duc de Berry; but I had not succeeded. I believed it my
+duty then to return to the charge more hotly; and remembering my previous
+ill-success, I prefaced properly, and then said what I had to say. M.
+d'Orleans was astonished; he cried out against the horror of such a vile
+imputation and the villainy that had carried it to M. le Duc de Berry.
+He thanked me for having warned him of it, a service few besides myself
+would have rendered him. I left him to draw the proper and natural
+conclusion on the conduct he should pursue. This conversation passed one
+day at Versailles about four o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+On the morrow Madame de Saint-Simon related to me, that returning home
+the previous evening, from the supper and the cabinet of the King with
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, the Duchess had passed straight into the
+wardrobe and called her there; and then with a cold and angry air, said
+she was very much astonished that I wished to get up a quarrel between
+her and M. le Duc d'Orleans. Madame Saint-Simon exhibited surprise, but
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry declared that nothing was so true; that I
+wished to estrange M. d'Orleans from her, but that I should not succeed;
+and immediately related all that I had just said to her father. He had
+had the goodness to repeat it to her an hour afterwards! Madame de
+Saint-Simon, still more surprised, listened attentively to the end, and
+replied that this horrible report was public, that she herself could see
+what consequences it would have, false and abominable as it might be, and
+feel whether it was not important that M. le Duc d'Orleans should be
+informed of it. She added, that I had shown such proofs of my attachment
+for them and of my desire for their happiness, that I was above all
+suspicion. Then she curtsied and leaving the Princess went to bed. This
+scene appeared to me enormous.
+
+For some time after this I ceased entirely to see Duc d'Orleans and
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry. They cajoled me with all sorts of excuses,
+apologies, and so forth, but I remained frozen. They redoubled their
+excuses and their prayers. Friendship, I dare not say compassion,
+seduced me, and I allowed myself to be led away. In a word, we were
+reconciled. I kept aloof, however, from Madame la Duchesse de Berry as
+much as possible, visiting her only for form's sake; and as long as she
+lived never changed in this respect.
+
+Being reconciled with M. d'Orleans, I again thought of my project of
+uniting him to the Dauphin through M. de Beauvilliers. He had need of
+some support, for on all sides he was sadly out of favour. His
+debauchery and his impiety, which he had quitted for a time after
+separating himself from Madame d'Argenton, his mistress, had now seized
+on him again as firmly as ever. It seemed as though there were a wager
+between him and his daughter, Madame la Duchesse de Berry, which should
+cast most contempt on religion and good manners.
+
+The King was nothing ignorant of the conduct of his nephew. He had been
+much shocked with the return to debauchery and low company. The enemies
+of M. d'Orleans, foremost among whom was M. du Maine, had therefore
+everything in their favour. As I have said, without some support M.
+d'Orleans seemed in danger of being utterly lost.
+
+It was no easy matter to persuade M. de Beauvilliers to, fall in with the
+plan I had concocted, and lend his aid to it. But I worked him hard. I
+dwelt upon the taste of the Dauphin for history, science, and the arts,
+and showed what a ripe knowledge of those subjects M. d'Orleans had, and
+what agreeable conversation thereon they both might enjoy together. In
+brief I won over M. de Beauvilliers to my scheme. M. D'Orleans, on his
+side, saw without difficulty the advantage to him of union with the
+Dauphin. To bring it about I laid before him two conditions. One, that
+when in the presence of the Prince he should suppress that detestable
+heroism of impiety he affected more than he felt, and allow no licentious
+expressions to escape him. The second was to go less often into evil
+company at Paris, and if he must continue his debauchery, to do so at the
+least within closed doors, and avoid all public scandal. He promised
+obedience, and was faithful to his promise. The Dauphin perceived and
+approved the change; little by little the object of my desire was gained.
+
+As I have already said, it would be impossible for me to express all the
+joy I felt at my deliverance from the dangers I was threatened with
+during the lifetime of Monseigneur. My respect, esteem, and admiration
+for the Dauphin grew more and more day by day, as I saw his noble
+qualities blossom out in richer luxuriance. My hopes, too, took a
+brighter colour from the rising dawn of prosperity that was breaking
+around me. Alas! that I should be compelled to relate the cruel manner
+in which envious fortune took from me the cup of gladness just as I was
+raising it to my lips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX
+
+On Monday, the 18th of January, 1712, after a visit to Versailles, the
+King went to Marly. I mark expressly this journey. No sooner were we
+settled there than Boudin, chief doctor of the Dauphine, warned her to
+take care of herself, as he had received sure information that there was
+a plot to poison her and the Dauphin, to whom he made a similar
+communication. Not content with this he repeated it with a terrified
+manner to everybody in the salon, and frightened all who listened to him.
+The King spoke to him about it in private. Boudin declared that this
+information was good, and yet that he did not know whence it came; and he
+stuck to this contradiction. For, if he did not know where the
+information came from how could he be assured it was trustworthy?
+
+The most singular thing is, that twenty-four hours after Boudin had
+uttered this warning, the Dauphin received a similar one from the King of
+Spain, vague, and without mentioning whence obtained, and yet also
+declared to be of good source. In this only the Dauphin was named
+distinctly--the Dauphine obscurely and by implication--at least, so the
+Dauphin explained the matter, and I never heard that he said otherwise.
+People pretended to despise these stories of origin unknown, but they
+were struck by them nevertheless, and in the midst of the amusements and
+occupations of the Court, seriousness, silence, and consternation were
+spread.
+
+The King, as I have said, went to Marly on Monday, the 18th of January,
+1712. The Dauphine came there early with a face very much swelled, and
+went to bed at once; yet she rose at seven o'clock in the evening because
+the King wished her to preside in the salon. She played there, in
+morning-dress, with her head wrapped up, visited the King m the apartment
+of Madame de Maintenon just before his supper, and then again went to
+bed, where she supped. On the morrow, the 19th, she rose only to play in
+the salon, and see the King, returning to her bed and supping there. On
+the 20th, her swelling diminished, and she was better. She was subject
+to this complaint, which was caused by her teeth. She passed the
+following days as usual. On Monday, the 1st of February, the Court
+returned to Versailles.
+
+On Friday, the 5th of February, the Duc de Noailles gave a very fine box
+full of excellent Spanish snuff to the Dauphine, who took some, and liked
+it. This was towards the end of the morning. Upon entering her cabinet
+(closed to everybody else), she put this box upon the table, and left it
+there. Towards the evening she was seized with trembling fits of fever.
+She went to bed, and could not rise again even to go to the King's
+cabinet after the supper. On Saturday, the 6th of February, the
+Dauphine, who had had fever all night, did not fail to rise at her
+ordinary hour, and to pass the day as usual; but in the evening the fever
+returned. She was but middling all that night, a little worse the next
+day; but towards ten o'clock at night she was suddenly seized by a sharp
+pain under the temple. It did not extend to the dimensions of a ten sous
+piece, but was so violent that she begged the King, who was coming to see
+her, not to enter. This kind of madness of suffering lasted without
+intermission until Monday, the 8th, and was proof against tobacco chewed
+and smoked, a quantity of opium, and two bleedings in the arms. Fever
+showed itself more then this pain was a little calmed; the Dauphine said
+she had suffered more than in child-birth.
+
+Such a violent illness filled the chamber with rumours concerning the
+snuff-box given to the Dauphine by the Duc de Noailles. In going to bed
+the day she had received it and was seized by fever, she spoke of the
+snuff to her ladies, highly praising it and the box, which she told one
+of them to go and look for upon the table in the cabinet, where, as I
+have said, it had been left. The box could not be found, although looked
+for high and low. This disappearance had seemed very extraordinary from
+the first moment it became known. Now, joined to the grave illness with
+which the Dauphine was so cruelly assailed, it aroused the most sombre
+suspicions. Nothing, however, was breathed of these suspicions, beyond a
+very restricted circle; for the Princess took snuff with the knowledge of
+Madame de Maintenon, but without that of the King, who would have made a
+fine scene if he had discovered it. This was what was feared, if the
+singular loss of the box became divulged.
+
+Let me here say, that although one of my friends, the Archbishop of
+Rheims, believed to his dying day that the Duc de Noailles had poisoned
+the Dauphine by means of this box of Spanish snuff, I never could induce
+myself to believe so too. The Archbishop declared that in the manner of
+the Duc de Noailles, after quitting the chamber of the Princess, there
+was something which suggested both confusion and contentment. He brought
+forward other proofs of guilt, but they made no impression upon me. I
+endeavoured, on the contrary, to shake his belief, but my labour was in
+vain. I entreated him, however, at least to maintain the most profound
+silence upon this horrible thought, and he did so.
+
+Those who afterwards knew the history of the box--and they were in good
+number--were as inaccessible to suspicion as I; and nobody thought of
+charging the Duc de Noailles with the offence it was said he had
+committed. As for me, I believed in his guilt so little that our
+intimacy remained the same; and although that intimacy grew even up to
+the death of the King, we never spoke of this fatal snuff-box.
+
+During the night, from Monday to Tuesday, the 9th of February, the
+lethargy was great. During the day the King approached the bed many
+times: the fever was strong, the awakenings were short; the head was
+confused, and some marks upon the skin gave tokens of measles, because
+they extended quickly, and because many people at Versailles and at Paris
+were known to be, at this time, attacked with that disease. The night
+from Tuesday to Wednesday passed so much the more badly, because the hope
+of measles had already vanished. The King came in the morning to see
+Madame la Dauphine, to whom an emetic had been given. It operated well,
+but produced no relief. The Dauphin, who scarcely ever left the bedside
+of his wife, was forced into the garden to take the air, of which he had
+much need; but his disquiet led him back immediately into the chamber.
+The malady increased towards the evening, and at eleven o'clock there was
+a considerable augmentation of fever. The night was very bad.
+On Thursday, the 11th of February, at nine o'clock in the morning, the
+King entered the Dauphine's chamber, which Madame de Maintenon scarcely
+ever left, except when he was in her apartments. The Princess was so ill
+that it was resolved to speak to her of receiving the sacrament.
+Prostrated though she was she was surprised at this. She put some
+questions as to her state; replies as little terrifying as possible were
+given to her, and little by little she was warned against delay.
+Grateful for this advice, she said she would prepare herself.
+
+After some time, accidents being feared, Father la Rue, her (Jesuit)
+confessor, whom she had always appeared to like, approached her to exhort
+her not to delay confession. She looked at him, replied that she
+understood him, and then remained silent. Like a sensible man he saw
+what was the matter, and at once said that if she had any objection to
+confess to him to have no hesitation in admitting it. Thereupon she
+indicated that she should like to have M. Bailly, priest of the mission
+of the parish of Versailles. He was a man much esteemed, but not
+altogether free from the suspicion of Jansenism. Bailly, as it happened,
+had gone to Paris. This being told her, the Dauphine asked for Father
+Noel, who was instantly sent for.
+
+The excitement that this change of confessor made at a moment so critical
+may be imagined. All the cruelty of the tyranny that the King never
+ceased to exercise over every member of his family was now apparent.
+They could not have a confessor not of his choosing! What was his
+surprise and the surprise of all the Court, to find that in these last
+terrible moments of life the Dauphine wished to change her confessor,
+whose order even she repudiated!
+
+Meanwhile the Dauphin had given way. He had hidden his own illness as
+long as he could, so as not to leave the pillow of his Dauphine. Now the
+fever he had was too strong to be dissimulated; and the doctors, who
+wished to spare him the sight of the horrors they foresaw, forgot nothing
+to induce him to stay in his chamber, where, to sustain him, false news
+was, from time to time, brought him of the state of his spouse.
+
+The confession of the Dauphine was long. Extreme unction was
+administered immediately afterwards; and the holy viaticum directly.
+An hour afterwards the Dauphine desired the prayers for the dying to be
+said. They told her she was not yet in that state, and with words of
+consolation exhorted her to try and get to sleep. Seven doctors of the
+Court and of Paris were sent for. They consulted together in the
+presence of the King and Madame de Maintenon. All with one voice were in
+favour of bleeding at the foot; and in case it did not have the effect
+desired, to give an emetic at the end of the night. The bleeding was
+executed at seven o'clock in the evening. The return of the fever came
+and was found less violent than the preceding. The night was cruel. The
+King came early next morning to see the Dauphine. The emetic she took at
+about nine o'clock had little effect. The day passed in symptoms each
+more sad than the other; consciousness only at rare intervals. All at
+once towards evening, the whole chamber fell into dismay. A number of
+people were allowed to enter although the King was there. Just before
+she expired he left, mounted into his coach at the foot of the grand
+staircase, and with Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Caylus went away to
+Marly. They were both in the most bitter grief, and had not the courage
+to go to the Dauphin. Upon arriving at Marly the King supped in his own
+room; and passed a short time with M. d'Orleans and his natural children.
+M. le Duc de Berry, entirely occupied with his affliction, which was
+great and real, had remained at Versailles with Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry, who, transported with joy upon seeing herself delivered from a
+powerful rival, to whom, however, she owed all, made her face do duty for
+her heart.
+
+Monseigneur le Dauphin, ill and agitated by the most bitter grief, kept
+his chamber; but on Saturday morning the 13th, being pressed to go to
+Marly to avoid the horror of the noise overhead where the Dauphine was
+lying dead, he set out for that place at seven o'clock in the morning.
+Shortly after arriving he heard mass in the chapel, and thence was
+carried in a chair to the window of one of his rooms. Madame de
+Maintenon came to see him there afterwards; the anguish of the interview
+was speedily too much for her, and she went away. Early in the morning I
+went uninvited to see M. le Dauphin. He showed me that he perceived this
+with an air of gentleness and of affection which penetrated me. But I
+was terrified with his looks, constrained, fixed and with something wild
+about them, with the change in his face and with the marks there, livid
+rather than red, that I observed in good number and large; marks observed
+by the others also. The Dauphin was standing. In a few minutes he was
+apprised that the King had awaked. The tears that he had restrained, now
+rolled from his eyes; he turned round at the news but said nothing,
+remaining stock still. His three attendants proposed to him, once or
+twice, that he should go to the King. He neither spoke nor stirred. I
+approached and made signs to him to go, then softly spoke to the same
+effect. Seeing that he still remained speechless and motionless, I made
+bold to take his arm, representing to him that sooner or later he must
+see the King, who expected him, and assuredly with the desire to see and
+embrace him; and pressing him in this manner, I took the liberty to
+gently push him. He cast upon me a look that pierced my soul and went
+away: I followed him some few steps and then withdrew to recover breath;
+I never saw him again. May I, by the mercy of God, see him eternally
+where God's goodness doubtless has placed him!
+
+The Dauphin reached the chamber of the King, full just then of company.
+As soon as, he appeared the King called him and embraced him tenderly
+again and again. These first moments, so touching, passed in words
+broken by sobs and tears.
+
+Shortly afterwards the King looking at the Dauphin was terrified by the
+same things that had previously struck me with affright. Everybody
+around was so, also the doctors more than the others. The King ordered
+them to feel his pulse; that they found bad, so they said afterwards; for
+the time they contented themselves with saying it was not regular, and
+that the Dauphin would do wisely to go to bed. The King embraced him
+again, recommended him very tenderly to take care of himself, and ordered
+him to go to bed. He obeyed and rose no more!
+
+It was now late in the morning. The King had passed a cruel night and
+had a bad headache; he saw at his dinner, the few courtiers who presented
+themselves, and after dinner went to the Dauphin. The fever had
+augmented: the pulse was worse than before. The King passed into the
+apartments of Madame de Maintenon, and the Dauphin was left with his
+attendants and his doctors. He spent the day in prayers and holy
+reading.
+
+On the morrow, Sunday, the uneasiness felt on account of the Dauphin
+augmented. He himself did not conceal his belief that he should never
+rise again, and that the plot Boudin had warned him of, had been
+executed. He explained himself to this effect more than once, and always
+with a disdain of earthly grandeur and an incomparable submission and
+love of God. It is impossible to describe the general consternation. On
+Monday the 15th, the King was bled. The Dauphin was no better than
+before. The King and Madame de Maintenon saw him separately several
+times during the day, which was passed in prayers and reading.
+
+On Tuesday, the 16th, the Dauphin was worse. He felt himself devoured by
+a consuming fire, which the external fever did not seem to justify; but
+the pulse was very extraordinary and exceedingly menacing. This was a
+deceptive day. The marks on the Dauphin's face extended over all the
+body. They were regarded as the marks of measles. Hope arose thereon,
+but the doctors and the most clear-sighted of the Court could not forget
+that these same marks had shown themselves on the body of the Dauphine; a
+fact unknown out of her chamber until after death.
+
+On Wednesday, the 17th, the malady considerably increased. I had news at
+all moments of the Dauphin's state from Cheverny, an excellent apothecary
+of the King and of my family. He hid nothing from us. He had told us
+what he thought of the Dauphine's illness; he told us now what he thought
+of the Dauphin's. I no longer hoped therefore, or rather I hoped to the
+end, against all hope.
+
+On Wednesday the pains increased. They were like a devouring fire, but
+more violent than ever. Very late into the evening the Dauphin sent to
+the King for permission to receive the communion early the next morning,
+without ceremony and without display, at the mass performed in his
+chamber. Nobody heard of this, that evening; it was not known until the
+following morning. I was in extreme desolation; I scarcely saw the King
+once a day. I did nothing but go in quest of news several times a day,
+and to the house of M. de Chevreuse, where I was completely free. M. de
+Chevreuse--always calm, always sanguine--endeavoured to prove to us by
+his medical reasonings that there was more reason to hope than to fear,
+but he did so with a tranquillity that roused my impatience. I returned
+home to pass a cruel night.
+
+On Thursday morning, the 18th of February, I learned that the Dauphin,
+who had waited for midnight with impatience, had heard mass immediately
+after the communion, had passed two hours in devout communication with
+God, and that his reason then became embarrassed. Madame de Saint-Simon
+told me afterwards that he had received extreme unction: in fine, that he
+died at half-past eight. These memoirs are not written to describe my
+private sentiments. But in reading them,--if, long after me, they shall
+ever appear, my state and that of Madame de Saint-Simon will only too
+keenly be felt. I will content myself with saying, that the first days
+after the Dauphin's death scarcely appeared to us more than moments; that
+I wished to quit all, to withdraw from the Court and the world, and that
+I was only hindered by the wisdom, conduct, and power over me of Madame
+de Saint-Simon, who yet had much trouble to subdue my sorrowful desires.
+Let me say something now of the young prince and his spouse, whom we thus
+lost in such quick succession.
+
+Never did princess arrive amongst us so young with so much instruction,
+or with such capacity to profit by instruction. Her skilful father, who
+thoroughly knew our Court, had painted it to her, and had made her
+acquainted with the only manner of making herself happy there. From the
+first moment of her arrival she had acted upon his lessons. Gentle,
+timid, but adroit, fearing to give the slightest pain to anybody, and
+though all lightness and vivacity, very capable of far-stretching views;
+constraint, even to annoyance, cost her nothing, though she felt all its
+weight. Complacency was natural to her, flowed from her, and was
+exhibited towards every member of the Court.
+
+Regularly plain, with cheeks hanging, a forehead too prominent, a nose
+without meaning, thick biting lips, hair and eye-brows of dark chestnut,
+and well planted; the most speaking and most beautiful eyes in the world;
+few teeth, and those all rotten, about which she was the first to talk
+and jest; the most beautiful complexion and skin; not much bosom, but
+what there was admirable; the throat long, with the suspicion of a
+goitre, which did not ill become her; her head carried gallantly,
+majestically, gracefully; her mien noble; her smile most expressive; her
+figure long, round, slender, easy, perfectly-shaped; her walk that of a
+goddess upon the clouds: with such qualifications she pleased supremely.
+Grace accompanied her every step, and shone through her manners and her
+most ordinary conversation. An air always simple and natural, often
+naive, but seasoned with wit-this with the ease peculiar to her, charmed
+all who approached her, and communicated itself to them. She wished to
+please even the most useless and the most ordinary persons, and yet
+without making an effort to do so. You were tempted to believe her
+wholly and solely devoted to those with whom she found herself. Her
+gaiety--young, quick, and active--animated all; and her nymph-like
+lightness carried her everywhere, like a whirlwind which fills several
+places at once, and gives them movement and life. She was the ornament
+of all diversions, the life and soul of all pleasure, and at balls
+ravished everybody by the justness and perfection of her dancing. She
+could be amused by playing for small sums but liked high gambling better,
+and was an excellent, good-tempered, and bold gamester.
+
+She spared nothing, not even her health, to gain Madame de Maintenon, and
+through her the King. Her suppleness towards them was without example,
+and never for a moment was at fault. She accompanied it with all the
+discretion that her knowledge of them, acquired by study and experience,
+had given her, and could measure their dispositions to an inch. In this
+way she had acquired a familiarity with them such as none of the King's
+children, not even the bastards, had approached.
+
+In public, serious, measured, with the King, and in timid decorum with
+Madame de Maintenon, whom she never addressed except as my aunt, thus
+prettily confounding friendship and rank. In private, prattling,
+skipping, flying around them, now perched upon the sides of their arm-
+chairs, now playing upon their knees, she clasped them round the neck,
+embraced them, kissed them, caressed them, rumpled them, tickled them
+under the chin, tormented them, rummaged their tables, their papers,
+their letters, broke open the seals, and read the contents in spite of
+opposition, if she saw that her waggeries were likely to be received in
+good part. When the King was with his ministers, when he received
+couriers, when the most important affairs were under discussion, she was
+present, and with such liberty, that, hearing the King and Madame de
+Maintenon speak one evening with affection of the Court of England, at
+the time when peace was hoped for from Queen Anne, "My aunt," she said,
+"you must admit that in England the queens govern better than the kings,
+and do you know why, my aunt?" asked she, running about and gambolling
+all the time, "because under kings it is women who govern, and men under
+queens." The joke is that they both laughed, and said she was right.
+
+The King really could not do without her. Everything went wrong with him
+if she was not by; even at his public supper, if she were away an
+additional cloud of seriousness and silence settled around him. She took
+great care to see him every day upon arriving and departing; and if some
+ball in winter, or some pleasure party in summer, made her lose half the
+night, she nevertheless adjusted things so well that she went and
+embraced the King the moment he was up, and amused him with a description
+of the fete.
+
+She was so far removed from the thoughts of death, that on Candlemas-day
+she talked with Madame de Saint-Simon of people who had died since she
+had been at Court, and of what she would herself do in old age, of the
+life she would lead, and of such like matters. Alas! it pleased God,
+for our misfortune, to dispose of her differently.
+
+With all her coquetry--and she was not wanting in it--never woman seemed
+to take less heed of her appearance; her toilette was finished in a
+moment, she cared nothing for finery except at balls and fetes; if she
+displayed a little at other times it was simply in order to please the
+king. If the Court subsisted after her it was only to languish. Never
+was princess so regretted, never one so worthy of it: regrets have not
+yet passed away, the involuntary and secret bitterness they caused still
+remain, with a frightful blank not yet filled up.
+
+Let me now turn to the Dauphin.
+
+The youth of this prince made every one tremble. Stern and choleric to
+the last degree, and even against inanimate objects; impetuous with
+frenzy, incapable of suffering the slightest resistance even from the
+hours and the elements, without flying into a passion that threatened to
+destroy his body; obstinate to excess; passionately fond of all kind of
+voluptuousness, of women, with even a worse passion strongly developed at
+the same time; fond not less of wine, good living, hunting, music, and
+gaming, in which last he could not endure to be beaten; in fine,
+abandoned to every passion, and transported by every pleasure; oftentimes
+wild, naturally disposed towards cruelty; barbarous in raillery, and with
+an all-powerful capacity for ridicule.
+
+He looked down upon all men as from the sky, as atoms with whom he had
+nothing in common; even his brothers scarcely appeared connecting links
+between himself and human nature, although all had been educated together
+in perfect equality. His sense and penetration shone through everything.
+His replies, even in anger, astonished everybody. He amused himself with
+the most abstract knowledge. The extent and vivacity of his intellect
+were prodigious, and rendered him incapable of applying himself to one
+study at a time.
+
+So much intelligence and of such a kind, joined to such vivacity,
+sensibility, and passion, rendered his education difficult. But God, who
+is the master of all hearts, and whose divine spirit breathes where he
+wishes, worked a miracle on this prince between his eighteenth and
+twentieth years. From this abyss he came out affable, gentle, humane,
+moderate, patient, modest, penitent, and humble; and austere, even more
+than harmonised with his position. Devoted to his duties, feeling them
+to be immense, he thought only how to unite the duties of son and subject
+with those he saw to be destined for himself. The shortness of each day
+was his only sorrow. All his force, all his consolation, was in prayer
+and pious reading. He clung with joy to the cross of his Saviour,
+repenting sincerely of his past pride. The King, with his outside
+devotion, soon saw with secret displeasure his own life censured by that
+of a prince so young, who refused himself a new desk in order to give the
+money it would cost to the poor, and who did not care to accept some new
+gilding with which it was proposed to furnish his little room.
+Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne, alarmed at so austere a spouse, left
+nothing undone in order to soften him. Her charms, with which he was
+smitten, the cunning and the unbridled importunities of the young ladies
+of her suite, disguised in a hundred different forms--the attraction of
+parties and pleasures to which he was far from insensible, all were
+displayed every day.. But for a long time he behaved not like a prince
+but like a novice. On one occasion he refused to be present at a ball on
+Twelfth Night, and in various ways made himself ridiculous at Court.
+In due time, however, he comprehended that the faithful performance of
+the duties proper to the state in which he had been placed, would be the
+conduct most agreeable to God. The bark of the tree, little by little,
+grew softer without affecting the solidity of the trunk. He applied
+himself to the studies which were necessary, in order to instruct himself
+in public affairs, and at the same time he lent himself more to the
+world, doing so with so much grace, with such a natural air, that
+everybody soon began to grow reconciled to him.
+
+The discernment of this prince was such, that, like the bee, he gathered
+the most perfect substance from the best and most beautiful flowers. He
+tried to fathom men, to draw from them the instruction and the light that
+he could hope for. He conferred sometimes, but rarely, with others
+besides his chosen few. I was the only one, not of that number, who had
+complete access to him; with me he opened his heart upon the present and
+the future with confidence, with sageness, with discretion. A volume
+would not describe sufficiently my private interviews with this prince,
+what love of good! what forgetfulness of self! what researches! what
+fruit! what purity of purpose!--May I say it? what reflection of the
+divinity in that mind, candid, simple, strong, which as much as is
+possible here below had preserved the image of its maker!
+
+If you had business, and thought of opening it to him, say for a quarter
+of an hour or half an hour, he gave you oftentimes two hours or more,
+according as he found himself at liberty. Yet he was without verbiage,
+compliments, prefaces, pleasantries, or other hindrances; went straight
+to the point, and allowed you to go also.
+
+His undue scruples of devotion diminished every day, as he found himself
+face to face with the world; above all, he was well cured of the
+inclination for piety in preference to talent, that is to say, for making
+a man ambassador, minister, or general, rather on account of his
+devotedness than of his capacity or experience. He saw the danger of
+inducing hypocrisy by placing devotion too high as a qualification for
+employ.
+
+It was he who was not afraid to say publicly, in the Salon of Marly, that
+"a king is made for his subjects, and not the subjects for him;" a remark
+that, except under his own reign, which God did not permit, would have
+been the most frightful blasphemy.
+
+Great God! what a spectacle you gave to us in him. What tender but
+tranquil views he had! What submission and love of God! What a
+consciousness of his own nothingness, and of his sins! What a
+magnificent idea of the infinite mercy! What religious and humble fear!
+What tempered confidence! What patience!
+
+What constant goodness for all who approached him! France fell, in fine,
+under this last chastisement. God showed to her a prince she merited
+not. The earth was not worthy of him; he was ripe already for the
+blessed eternity!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX
+
+The consternation at the event that had taken place was real and general;
+it penetrated to foreign lands and courts. Whilst the people wept for
+him who thought only of their relief, and all France lamented a prince
+who only wished to reign in order to render it flourishing and happy,
+the sovereigns of Europe publicly lamented him whom they regarded as
+their example, and whose virtues were preparing him to be their
+arbitrator, and the peaceful and revered moderator of nations. The Pope
+was so touched that he resolved of himself to set aside all rule and hold
+expressly a consistory; deplored there the infinite loss the church and
+all Christianity had sustained, and pronounced a complete eulogium of the
+prince who caused the just regrets of all Europe.
+
+On Saturday, the 13th, the corpse of the Dauphine was left in its bed
+with uncovered face, and opened the same evening at eleven in presence of
+all the faculty. On the 15th it was placed in the grand cabinet, where
+masses were continually said.
+
+On Friday, the 19th, the corpse of Monseigneur le Dauphin was opened, a
+little more than twenty-four hours after his death, also in presence of
+all the faculty. His heart was immediately carried to Versailles, and
+placed by the side of that of Madame la Dauphine. Both were afterwards
+taken to the Val de Grace. They arrived at midnight with a numerous
+cortege. All was finished in two hours. The corpse of Monseigneur le
+Dauphin was afterwards carried from Marly to Versailles, and placed by
+the side of Madame la Dauphine on the same estrade.
+
+On Tuesday, the 23rd February, the two bodies were taken from Versailles
+to Saint-Denis in the same chariot. The procession began to enter Paris
+by the Porte Saint-Honore at two o'clock in the morning, and arrived
+between seven and eight o'clock in the morning at Saint-Denis. There was
+great order in Paris, and no confusion.
+
+On Tuesday, the 8th March, Monseigneur le Duc de Bretagne, eldest son of
+Monsieur le Dauphin, who had succeeded to the name and rank of his
+father, being then only five years and some months old, and who had been
+seized with measles within a few days, expired, in spite of all the
+remedies given him. His brother, M. le Duc d'Anjou, who still sucked,
+was taken ill at the same time, but thanks to the care of the Duchesse de
+Ventadour, whom in after life he never forgot, and who administered an
+antidote, escaped, and is now King.
+
+Thus three Dauphins died in less than a year, and father, mother, and
+eldest son in twenty-four days! On Wednesday, the 9th of March, the
+corpse of the little Dauphin was opened at night, and without any
+ceremony his heart was taken to the Val de Grace, his body to Saint-
+Denis, and placed by the side of those of his father and mother. M. le
+Duc d'Anjou, now, sole remaining child, succeeded to the title and to the
+rank of Dauphin.
+
+I have said that the bodies of the Dauphin and the Dauphine were opened
+in presence of all the faculty. The report made upon the opening of the
+latter was not consolatory. Only one of the doctors declared there were
+no signs of poison; the rest were of the opposite opinion. When the body
+of the Dauphin was opened, everybody was terrified. His viscera were
+all dissolved; his heart had no consistency; its substance flowed through
+the hands of those who tried to hold it; an intolerable odour, too,
+filled the apartment. The majority of the doctors declared they saw in
+all this the effect of a very subtle and very violent poison, which had
+consumed all the interior of the body, like a burning fire. As before,
+there was one of their number who held different views, but this was
+Marechal, who declared that to persuade the King of the existence of
+secret enemies of his family would be to kill him by degrees.
+
+This medical opinion that the cause of the Dauphin's and the Dauphine's
+death was poison, soon spread like wildfire over the Court and the city.
+Public indignation fell upon M. d'Orleans, who was at once pointed out as
+the poisoner. The rapidity with which this rumour filled the Court,
+Paris, the provinces, the least frequented places, the most isolated
+monasteries, the most deserted solitudes, all foreign countries and all
+the peoples of Europe, recalled to me the efforts of the cabal, which had
+previously spread such black reports against the honour of him whom all
+the world now wept, and showed that the cabal, though dispersed, was not
+dissolved.
+
+In effect M. du Maine, now the head of the cabal, who had all to gain and
+nothing to lose by the death of the Dauphin and Dauphine, from both of
+whom he had studiously held aloof, and who thoroughly disliked M.
+d'Orleans, did all in his power to circulate this odious report. He
+communicated it to Madame de Maintenon, by whom it reached the King. In
+a short time all the Court, down to the meanest valets, publicly cried
+vengeance upon M. d'Orleans, with an air of the most unbridled
+indignation and of perfect security.
+
+M. d'Orleans, with respect to the two losses that afflicted the public,
+had an interest the most directly opposite to that of M. du Maine; he had
+everything to gain by the life of the Dauphin and Dauphine, and unless he
+had been a monster vomited forth from hell he could not have been guilty
+of the crime with which he was charged. Nevertheless, the odious
+accusation flew from mouth to mouth, and took refuge in every breast.
+
+Let us compare the interest M. d'Orleans had in the life of the Dauphin
+with the interest M. du Maine had in his death, and then look about for
+the poisoner. But this is not all. Let us remember how M. le Duc
+d'Orleans was treated by Monseigneur, and yet what genuine grief he
+displayed at the death of that prince. What a contrast was this conduct
+with that of M. du Maine at another time, who, after leaving the King
+(Louis XIV.) at the point of death, delivered over to an ignorant
+peasant, imitated that peasant so naturally and so pleasantly, that
+bursts of laughter extended to the gallery, and scandalized the passers-
+by. This is a celebrated and very characteristic fact, which will find
+its proper place if I live long enough to carry these memoirs up to the
+death of the King.
+
+M. d'Orleans was, however, already in such bad odour, that people were
+ready to believe anything to his discredit. They drank in this new
+report so rapidly, that on the 17th of February, as he went with Madame
+to give the holy water to the corpse of the Dauphine, the crowd of the
+people threw out all sorts of accusations against him, which both he and
+Madame very distinctly heard, without daring to show it, and were in
+trouble, embarrassment, and indignation, as may be imagined. There was
+even ground for fearing worse from an excited and credulous populace when
+M. d'Orleans went alone to give the holy water to the corpse of the
+Dauphin. For he had to endure on his passage atrocious insults from a
+populace which uttered aloud the most frightful observations, which
+pointed the finger at him with the coarsest epithets, and which believed
+it was doing him a favour in not falling upon him and tearing him to
+pieces!
+
+Similar circumstances took place at the funeral procession. The streets
+resounded more with cries of indignation against M. d'Orleans and abuse
+of him than with grief. Silent precautions were not forgotten in Paris
+in order to check the public fury, the boiling over of which was feared
+at different moments. The people recompensed themselves by gestures,
+cries, and other atrocities, vomited against M. d'Orleans. Near the
+Palais Royal, before which the procession passed, the increase of shouts,
+of cries, of abuse, was so great, that for some minutes everything was to
+be feared.
+
+It may be imagined what use M. du Maine contrived to make of the public
+folly, the rumours of the Paris cafes, the feeling of the salon of Marly,
+that of the Parliament, the reports that arrived from the provinces and
+foreign countries. In a short time so overpowered was M. d'Orleans by
+the feeling against him everywhere exhibited, that acting upon very ill-
+judged advice he spoke to the King upon the subject, and begged to be
+allowed to surrender himself as a prisoner at the Bastille, until his
+character was cleared from stain.
+
+I was terribly annoyed when I heard that M. d'Orleans had taken this
+step, which could not possibly lead to good. I had quite another sort of
+scheme in my head which I should have proposed to him had I known of his
+resolve. Fortunately, however, the King was persuaded not to grant M.
+d'Orleans' request, out of which therefore nothing came. The Duke
+meanwhile lived more abandoned by everybody than ever; if in the salon he
+approached a group of courtiers, each, without the least hesitation,
+turned to the right or to the left and went elsewhere, so that it was
+impossible for him to accost anybody except by surprise, and if he did
+so, he was left alone directly after with the most marked indecency.
+In a word, I was the only person, I say distinctly, the only person,
+who spoke to M. d'Orleans as before. Whether in his own house or in the
+palace I conversed with him, seated myself by his side in a corner of the
+salon, where assuredly we had no third person to fear, and walked with
+him in the gardens under the very windows of the King and of Madame de
+Maintenon.
+
+Nevertheless, all my friends warned me that if I pursued this conduct so
+opposite to that in vogue, I should assuredly fall into disgrace. I held
+firm. I thought that when we did not believe our friends guilty we ought
+not to desert them, but, on the contrary, to draw closer to them, as by
+honour bound, give them the consolation due from us, and show thus to the
+world our hatred for calumny. My friends insisted; gave me to understand
+that the King disapproved my conduct, that Madame de Maintenon was
+annoyed at it: they forgot nothing to awaken my fears. But I was
+insensible to all they said to me, and did not omit seeing M. d'Orleans a
+single day; often stopping with him two and three hours at a time.
+
+A few weeks had passed over thus, when one morning M. de Beauvilliers
+called upon me, and urged me to plead business, and at once withdraw to
+La Ferme; intimating that if I did not do so of my own accord, I should
+be compelled by an order from the King. He never explained himself more
+fully, but I have always remained persuaded that the King or Madame de
+Maintenon had sent him to me, and had told him that I should be banished
+if I did not banish myself. Neither my absence nor my departure made any
+stir; nobody suspected anything. I was carefully informed, without
+knowing by whom, when my exile was likely to end: and I returned, after a
+month or five weeks, straight to the Court, where I kept up the same
+intimacy with M. d'Orleans as before.
+
+But he was not yet at the end of his misfortunes. The Princesse des
+Ursins had not forgiven him his pleasantry at her expense. Chalais, one
+of her most useful agents, was despatched by her on a journey so
+mysterious that its obscurity has never been illuminated. He was
+eighteen days on the road, unknown, concealing his name, and passing
+within two leagues of Chalais, where his father and mother lived, without
+giving them any signs of life, although all were on very good terms. He
+loitered secretly in Poitou, and at last arrested there a Cordelier monk,
+of middle age, in the convent of Bressuire, who cried, "Ah! I am lost!"
+upon being caught. Chalais conducted him to the prison of Poitiers,
+whence he despatched to Madrid an officer of dragoons he had brought with
+him, and who knew this Cordelier, whose name has never transpired,
+although it is certain he was really a Cordelier, and that he was
+returning from as journey in Italy and Germany that had extended as far
+as Vienna. Chalais pushed on to Paris, and came to Marly on the 27th of
+April, a day on which the King had taken medicine. After dinner he was
+taken by Torcy to the King, with whom he remained half an hour, delaying
+thus the Council of State for the same time, and then returned
+immediately to Paris. So much trouble had not been taken for no purpose:
+and Chalais had not prostituted himself to play the part of prevot to a
+miserable monk without expecting good winnings from the game.
+Immediately afterwards the most dreadful rumours were everywhere in
+circulation against M. d'Orleans, who, it was said, had poisoned the
+Dauphin and Dauphine by means of this monk, who, nevertheless, was far
+enough away from our Prince and Princess at the time of their death. In
+an instant Paris resounded with these horrors; the provinces were
+inundated with them, and immediately afterwards foreign countries--this
+too with an incredible rapidity, which plainly showed how well the plot
+had been prepared--and a publicity that reached the very caverns of the
+earth. Madame des Ursins was not less served in Spain than M. du Maine
+and Madame de Maintenon in France. The anger of the public was doubled.
+The Cordelier was brought, bound hand and foot, to the Bastille, and
+delivered up to D'Argenson, Lieutenant of Police.
+
+This D'Argenson rendered an account to the King of many things which
+Pontchartrain, as Secretary of State, considered to belong to his
+department. Pontchartrain was vexed beyond measure at this, and could
+not see without despair his subaltern become a kind of minister more
+feared, more valued, more in consideration than he, and conduct himself
+always in such manner that he gained many powerful friends, and made but
+few enemies, and those of but little moment. M. d'Orleans bowed before
+the storm that he could not avert; it could not increase the general
+desertion; he had accustomed himself to his solitude, and, as he had
+never heard this monk spoken of, had not the slightest fear on his
+account. D'Argenson, who questioned the Cordelier several times, and
+carried his replies daily to the King, was sufficiently adroit to pay his
+court to M. d'Orleans, by telling him that the prisoner had uttered
+nothing which concerned him, and by representing the services he did M.
+d'Orleans with the King. Like a sagacious man, D'Argenson saw the
+madness of popular anger devoid of all foundation, and which could not
+hinder M. d'Orleans from being a very considerable person in France,
+during a minority that--the age of the King showed to be pretty near.
+He took care, therefore, to avail himself of the mystery which surrounded
+his office, to ingratiate himself more and more with M. d'Orleans, whom
+he had always carefully though secretly served; and his conduct, as will
+be seen in due time, procured him a large fortune.
+
+But I have gone too far. I must retrace my steps, to speak of things I
+have omitted to notice in their proper place.
+
+The two Dauphins and the Dauphine were interred at Saint-Denis, on
+Monday, the 18th of April. The funeral oration was pronounced by Maboul,
+Bishop of Aleth, and pleased; M. de Metz, chief chaplain, officiated; the
+service commenced at about eleven o'clock. As it was very long, it was
+thought well to have at hand a large vase of vinegar, in case anybody
+should be ill. M. de Metz having taken the first oblation, and observing
+that very little wine was left for the second, asked for more. This
+large vase of vinegar was supposed to be wine, and M. de Metz, who wished
+to strengthen himself, said, washing his fingers over the chalice, "fill
+right up." He swallowed all at a draught, and did not perceive until the
+end that he had drunk vinegar; his grimace and his complaint caused some
+little laughter round him; and he often related this adventure, which
+much soured him. On Monday, the 20th of May, the funeral service for the
+Dauphin and Dauphine was performed at Notre Dame.
+
+Let me here say, that before the Prince and his spouse were buried, that
+is to say, the 6th of April, the King gave orders for the recommencement
+of the usual play at Marly; and that M. le Duc de Berry and Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry presided in the salon at the public lansquenet and
+brelan; and the different gaming tables for all the Court. In a short
+time the King dined in Madame de Maintenon's apartments once or twice a
+week, and had music there. And all this, as I have remarked, with the
+corpse of the Dauphin and that of the Dauphine still above ground.
+
+The gap left by the death of the Dauphine could not, however, be easily
+filled up. Some months after her loss, the King began to feel great
+ennui steal upon him in the hours when he had no work with his ministers.
+The few ladies admitted into the apartments of Madame de Maintenon when
+he was there, were unable to entertain him. Music, frequently
+introduced, languished from that cause. Detached scenes from the
+comedies of Moliere were thought of, and were played by the King's
+musicians, comedians for the nonce. Madame de Maintenon introduced, too,
+the Marechal de Villeroy, to amuse the King by relating their youthful
+adventures.
+
+Evening amusements became more and more frequent in Madame de Maintenon's
+apartments, where, however, nothing could fill up the void left by the
+poor Dauphine.
+
+I have said little of the grief I felt at the loss of the prince whom
+everybody so deeply regretted. As will be believed, it was bitter and
+profound. The day of his death, I barricaded myself in my own house, and
+only left it for one instant in order to join the King at his promenade
+in the gardens. The vexation I felt upon seeing him followed almost as
+usual, did not permit me to stop more than an instant. All the rest of
+the stay at Versailles, I scarcely left my room, except to visit M. de
+Beauvilliers. I will admit that, to reach M. de Beauvilliers' house, I
+made a circuit between the canal and the gardens of Versailles, so as to
+spare myself the sight of the chamber of death, which I had not force
+enough to approach. I admit that I was weak. I was sustained neither by
+the piety, superior to all things, of M. de Beauvilliers, nor by that of
+Madame de Saint-Simon, who nevertheless not the less suffered. The truth
+is, I was in despair. To those who know my position, this will appear
+less strange than my being able to support at all so complete a
+misfortune. I experienced this sadness precisely at the same age as that
+of my father when he lost Louis XIII.; but he at least had enjoyed the
+results of favour, whilst I, 'Gustavi paululum mellis, et ecce morior.'
+Yet this was not all.
+
+In the casket of the Dauphin there were several papers he had asked me
+for. I had drawn them up in all confidence; he had preserved them in the
+same manner. There was one, very large, in my hand, which if seen by the
+King, would have robbed me of his favour for ever; ruined me without hope
+of return. We do not think in time of such catastrophes. The King knew
+my handwriting; he did not know my mode of thought, but might pretty well
+have guessed it. I had sometimes supplied him with means to do so; my
+good friends of the Court had done the rest. The King when he discovered
+my paper would also discover on what close terms of intimacy I had been
+with the Dauphin, of which he had no suspicion. My anguish was then
+cruel, and there seemed every reason to believe that if my secret was
+found out, I should be disgraced and exiled during all the rest of the
+King's reign.
+
+What a contrast between the bright heaven I had so recently gazed upon
+and the abyss now yawning at my feet! But so it is in the Court and the
+world! I felt then the nothingness of even the most desirable future, by
+an inward sentiment, which, nevertheless, indicates how we cling to it.
+Fear on account of the contents of the casket had scarcely any power over
+me. I was obliged to reflect in order to return to it from time to time.
+Regret for this incomparable Dauphin pierced my heart, and suspended all
+the faculties of my soul. For a long time I wished to fly from the
+Court, so that I might never again see the deceitful face of the world;
+and it was some time before prudence and honour got the upper hand.
+
+It so happened that the Duc de Beauvilliers himself was able to carry
+this casket to the King, who had the key of it. M. de Beauvilliers in
+fact resolved not to trust it out of his own hands, but to wait until he
+was well enough to take it to the King, so that he might then try to hide
+my papers from view. This task was difficult, for he did not know the
+position in the casket of these dangerous documents, and yet it was our
+only resource. This terrible uncertainty lasted more than a fortnight.
+
+On Tuesday, the 1st of March, M. de Beauvilliers carried the casket to
+the King. He came to me shortly after, and before sitting down,
+indicated by signs that there was no further occasion for fear. He then
+related to me that he had found the casket full of a mass of documents,
+finance projects, reports from the provinces, papers of all kinds, that
+he had read some of them to the King on purpose to weary him, and had
+succeeded so well that the King soon was satisfied by hearing only the
+titles; and, at last, tired out by not finding anything important, said
+it was not worth while to read more, and that there was nothing to do but
+to throw everything into the fire. The Duke assured me that he did not
+wait to be told twice, being all the more anxious to comply, because at
+the bottom of the casket he had seen some of my handwriting, which he had
+promptly covered up in taking other papers to read their titles to the
+King; and that immediately the word "fire" was uttered, he confusedly
+threw all the papers into the casket, and then emptied it near the fire,
+between the King and Madame de Maintenon, taking good care as he did so
+that my documents should not be seen,--even cautiously using the tongs in
+order to prevent any piece flying away, and not quitting the fireplace
+until he had seen every page consumed. We embraced each other, in the
+relief we reciprocally felt, relief proportioned to the danger we had
+run.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 9.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI
+
+Let me here relate an incident which should have found a place earlier,
+but which has been omitted in order that what has gone before might be
+uninterrupted. On the 16th of the previous July the King made a journey
+to Fontainebleau, where he remained until the 14th of September. I
+should suppress the bagatelle which happened on the occasion of this
+journey, if it did not serve more and more to characterize the King.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way for the first time,
+had been so for nearly three months, was much inconvenienced, and had a
+pretty strong fever. M. Fagon, the doctor, thought it would be imprudent
+for her not to put off travelling for a day or two. Neither she nor M,
+d'Orleans dared to speak about it. M. le Duc de Berry timidly hazarded a
+word, and was ill received. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans more timid
+still, addressed herself to Madame, and to Madame de Maintenon, who,
+indifferent as they might be respecting Madame la Duchesse de Berry,
+thought her departure so hazardous that, supported by Fagon, they spoke
+of it to the King. It was useless. They were not daunted, however, and
+this dispute lasted three or four days. The end of it was, that the King
+grew thoroughly angry and agreed, by way of capitulation, that the
+journey should be performed in a boat instead of a coach.
+
+It was arranged that Madame la Duchesse de Berry should leave Marly,
+where the King then was, on the 13th, sleep at the Palais Royal that
+night and repose herself there all the next day and night, that on the
+15th she should set out for Petit-Bourg, where the King was to halt for
+the night, and arrive like him, on the 16th, at Fontainebleau, the whole
+journey to be by the river. M. le Duc de Berry had permission to
+accompany his wife; but during the two nights they were to rest in Paris
+the King angrily forbade them to go anywhere, even to the Opera, although
+that building joined the Palais Royal, and M. d'Orleans' box could be
+reached without going out of the palace.
+
+On the 14th the King, under pretence of inquiry after them, repeated this
+prohibition to M. le Duc de Berry and Madame his wife, and also to M.
+d'Orleans and Madame d'Orleans, who had been included in it. He carried
+his caution so far as to enjoin Madame de Saint-Simon to see that Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry obeyed the instructions she had received. As may be
+believed, his orders were punctually obeyed. Madame de Saint-Simon could
+not refuse to remain and sleep in the Palais Royal, where the apartment
+of the queen-mother was given to her. All the while the party was shut
+up there was a good deal of gaming in order to console M. le Duc de Berry
+for his confinement.
+
+The provost of the merchants had orders to prepare boats for the trip to
+Fontainebleau. He had so little time that they were ill chosen. Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry embarked, however, on the 15th, and arrived, with
+fever, at ten o'clock at night at Petit-Bourg, where the King appeared
+rejoiced by an obedience so exact.
+
+On the morrow the journey recommenced. In passing Melun, the boat of
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry struck against the bridge, was nearly
+capsized, and almost swamped, so that they were all in great danger.
+They got off, however, with fear and a delay. Disembarking in great
+disorder at Valvin, where their equipages were waiting for there, they
+arrived at Fontainebleau two hours after midnight. The King, pleased
+beyond measure, went the next morning to see Madame la Duchesse de Berry
+in the beautiful apartment of the queen-mother that had been given to
+her. From the moment of her arrival she had been forced to keep her bed,
+and at six o'clock in the morning of the 21st of July she miscarried and
+was delivered of a daughter, still-born. Madame de Saint-Simon ran to
+tell the King; he did not appear much moved; he had been obeyed! The
+Duchesse de Beauvilliers and the Marquise de Chatillon were named by the
+King to carry the embryo to Saint-Denis. As it was only a girl, and as
+the miscarriage had no ill effect, consolation soon came.
+
+It was some little time after this occurrence, that we heard of the
+defeat of the Czar by the Grand Vizier upon the Pruth. The Czar, annoyed
+by the protection the Porte had accorded to the King of Sweden (in
+retirement at Bender), made an appeal to arms, and fell into the same
+error as that which had occasioned the defeat of the King of Sweden by
+him. The Turks drew him to the Pruth across deserts supplied with
+nothing; if he did not risk all, by a very unequal battle, he must
+perish. The Czar was at the head of sixty thousand men: he lost more
+than thirty thousand on the Pruth, the rest were dying of hunger and
+misery; and he, without any resources, could scarcely avoid surrendering
+himself and his forces to the Turks. In this pressing extremity, a
+common woman whom he had taken away from her husband, a drummer in the
+army, and whom he had publicly espoused after having repudiated and
+confined his own wife in a convent,--proposed that he should try by
+bribery to induce the Grand Vizier to allow him and the wreck of his
+forces to retreat The Czar approved of the proposition, without hoping
+for success from it. He sent to the Grand Vizier and ordered him to be
+spoken to in secret. The Vizier was dazzled by the gold, the precious
+stones, and several valuable things that were offered to him. He
+accepted and received them; and signed a treaty by which the Czar was
+permitted to retire, with all who accompanied him, into his own states by
+the shortest road, the Turks to furnish him with provisions, with which
+he was entirely unprovided. The Czar, on his side, agreed to give up
+Azof as soon as he returned; destroy all the forts and burn all the
+vessels that he had upon the Black Sea; allow the King of Sweden to
+return by Pomerania; and to pay the Turks and their Prince all the
+expenses of the war.
+
+The Grand Vizier found such an opposition in the Divan to this treaty,
+and such boldness in the minister of the King of Sweden, who accompanied
+him, in exciting against him all the chiefs of the army, that it was
+within an ace of being broken; and the Czar, with every one left to him,
+of being made prisoner. The latter was in no condition to make even the
+least resistance. The Grand Vizier had only to will it, in order to
+execute it on the spot. In addition to the glory of leading captive to
+Constantinople the Czar, his Court, and his troops, there would have been
+his ransom, which must have cost not a little. But if he had been thus
+stripped of his riches, they would have been for the Sultan, and the
+Grand Vizier preferred having them for himself. He braved it then with
+authority and menaces, and hastened the Czar's departure and his own.
+The Swedish minister, charged with protests from the principal Turkish
+chiefs, hurried to Constantinople, where the Grand Vizier was strangled
+upon arriving.
+
+The Czar never forgot this service of his wife, by whose courage and
+presence of mind he had been saved. The esteem he conceived for her,
+joined to his friendship, induced him to crown her Czarina, and to
+consult her upon all his affairs and all his schemes. Escaped from
+danger, he was a long time without giving up Azof, or demolishing his
+forts on the Black Sea. As for his vessels, he kept them nearly all, and
+would not allow the King of Sweden to return into Germany, as he had
+agreed, thus almost lighting up a fresh war with the Turk.
+
+On the 6th of November, 1711, at about eight o'clock in the evening, the
+shock of an earthquake was felt in Paris and at Versailles; but it was so
+slight that few people perceived it. In several places towards Touraine
+and Poitou, in Saxony, and in some of the German towns near, it was very
+perceptible at the same day and hour. At this date a new tontine was
+established in Paris.
+
+I have so often spoken of Marshal Catinat, of his virtue, wisdom,
+modesty, and disinterestedness; of the rare superiority of his
+sentiments, and of his great qualities as captain, that nothing remains
+for me to say except that he died at this time very advanced in years,
+at his little house of Saint-Gratien, near Saint-Denis, where he had
+retired, and which he seldom quitted, although receiving there but few
+friends. By his simplicity and frugality, his contempt for worldly
+distinction, and his uniformity of conduct, he recalled the memory of
+those great men who, after the best-merited triumphs, peacefully returned
+to the plough, still loving their country and but little offended by the
+ingratitude of the Rome they had so well served. Catinat placed his
+philosophy at the service of his piety. He had intelligence, good sense,
+ripe reflection; and he never forgot his origin; his dress, his
+equipages, his furniture, all were of the greatest simplicity. His air
+and his deportment were so also. He was tall, dark, and thin; had an
+aspect pensive, slow, and somewhat mean; with very fine and expressive
+eyes. He deplored the signal faults that he saw succeed each other
+unceasingly; the gradual extinction of all emulation; the luxury, the
+emptiness, the ignorance, the confusion of ranks; the inquisition in the
+place of the police: he saw all the signs of destruction, and he used to
+say it was only a climax of dangerous disorder that could restore order
+to the realm.
+
+Vendome was one of the few to whom the death of the Dauphin and the
+Dauphine brought hope and joy. He had deemed himself expatriated for the
+rest of his life. He saw, now, good chances before him of returning to
+our Court, and of playing a part there again. He had obtained some
+honour in Spain; he aimed at others even higher, and hoped to return to
+France with all the honours of a Prince of the Blood. His idleness, his
+free living, his debauchery, had prolonged his stay upon the frontier,
+where he had more facilities for gratifying his tastes than at Madrid.
+In that city, it is true, he did not much constrain himself, but he was
+forced to do so to some extent by courtly usages. He was, then, quite at
+home on the frontier; there was nothing to do; for the Austrians,
+weakened by the departure of the English, were quite unable to attack;
+and Vendome, floating upon the delights of his new dignities, thought
+only of enjoying himself in the midst of profound idleness, under pretext
+that operations could not at once be commenced.
+
+In order to be more at liberty he separated from the general officers,
+and established himself with his valets and two or three of his most
+familiar friends, cherished companions everywhere, at Vignarez, a little
+isolated hamlet, almost deserted, on the sea-shore and in the kingdom of
+Valencia. His object was to eat fish there to his heart's content. He
+carried out that object, and filled himself to repletion for nearly a
+month. He became unwell--his diet, as may be believed, was enough to
+cause this--but his illness increased so rapidly, and in so strange a
+manner, after having for a long time seemed nothing that the few around
+him suspected poison, and sent on all sides for assistance. But the
+malady would not wait; it augmented rapidly with strange symptoms.
+Vendome could not sign a will that was presented to him; nor a letter to
+the King, its which he asked that his brother might be permitted to
+return to Court. Everybody near flew from him and abandoned him, so that
+he remained in the hands of three or four of the meanest valets, whilst
+the rest robbed him of everything and decamped. He passed thus the last
+two or three days of his life, without a priest,--no mention even had
+been made of one,--without other help than that of a single surgeon.
+The three or four valets who remained near him, seeing him at his last
+extremity, seized hold of the few things he still possessed, and for want
+of better plunder, dragged off his bedclothes and the mattress from under
+him. He piteously cried to them at least not to leave him to die naked
+upon the bare bed. I know not whether they listened to him.
+
+Thus died on Friday, the 10th of June, 1712, the haughtiest of men; and
+the happiest, except in the later years of his life. After having been
+obliged to speak of him so often, I get rid of him now, once and for
+ever. He was fifty-eight years old; but in spite of the blind and
+prodigious favour he had enjoyed, that favour had never been able to make
+ought but a cabal hero out of a captain who was a very bad general, and a
+man whose vices were the shame of humanity. His death restored life and
+joy to all Spain.
+
+Aguilar, a friend of the Duc de Noailles, was accused of having poisoned
+him; but took little pains to defend himself, inasmuch as little pains
+were taken to substantiate the accusation. The Princesse des Ursins, who
+had so well profited by his life in order to increase her own greatness,
+did not profit less by his death. She felt her deliverance from a new
+Don Juan of Spain who had ceased to be supple in her hands, and who might
+have revived, in the course of time, all the power and authority he had
+formerly enjoyed in France. She was not shocked them by the joy which
+burst out without constraint; nor by the free talk of the Court, the
+city, the army, of all Spain. But in order to sustain what she had done,
+and cheaply pay her court to M. du Maine, Madame de Maintenon, and even
+to the King, she ordered that the corpse of this hideous monster of
+greatness and of fortune should be carried to the Escurial. This was
+crowning the glory of M. de Vendome in good earnest; for no private
+persons are buried in the Escurial, although several are to be found in
+Saint-Denis. But meanwhile, until I speak of the visit I made to the
+Escurial--I shall do so if I live long enough to carry these memoirs up
+to the death of M. d'Orleans,--let me say something of that illustrious
+sepulchre.
+
+The Pantheon is the place where only the bodies of kings and queens who
+have had posterity are admitted. In a separate place, near, though not
+on the same floor, and resembling a library, the bodies of children, and
+of queens who have had no posterity, are ranged. A third place, a sort
+of antechamber to the last named, is rightly called "the rotting room;"
+whilst the other improperly bears the same name. In whilst third room,
+there is nothing to be seen but four bare walls and a table in the
+middle. The walls being very thick, openings are made in them in which
+the bodies are placed. Each body has an opening to itself, which is
+afterwards walled up, so that nothing is seen. When it is thought that
+the corpse has been closed up sufficiently long to be free from odour the
+wall is opened, the body taken out, and put in a coffin which allows a
+portion of it to be seen towards the feet. This coffin is covered with a
+rich stuff and carried into an adjoining room.
+
+The body of the Duc de Vendome had been walled up nine years when I
+entered the Escurial. I was shown the place it occupied, smooth like
+every part of the four walls and without mark. I gently asked the monks
+who did me the honours of the place, when the body would be removed to
+the other chamber. They would not satisfy my curiosity, showed some
+indignation, and plainly intimated that this removal was not dreamt of,
+and that as M. de Vendome had been so carefully walled up he might remain
+so!
+
+Harlay, formerly chief-president, of whom I have so often had occasion to
+speak, died a short time after M. de Vendome. I have already made him
+known. I will simply add an account of the humiliation to which this
+haughty cynic was reduced. He hired a house in the Rue de l'Universite
+with a partition wall between his garden and that of the Jacobins of the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain. The house did not belong to the Jacobins, like
+the houses of the Rue Saint-Dominique, and the Rue du Bac, which, in
+order that they might command higher rents, were put in connection with
+the convent garden. These mendicant Jacobins thus derive fifty thousand
+livres a-year. Harlay, accustomed to exercise authority, asked them for
+a door into their garden. He was refused. He insisted, had them spoken
+to, and succeeded no better. Nevertheless the Jacobins comprehended that
+although this magistrate, recently so powerful, was now nothing by
+himself, he had a son and a cousin, Councillors of State, whom they might
+some day have to do with, and who for pride's sake might make themselves
+very disagreeable. The argument of interest is the best of all with
+monks. The Jacobins changed their mind. The Prior, accompanied by some
+of the notabilities of the convent, went to Harlay with excuses, and said
+he was at liberty, if he liked, to make the door. Harlay, true to his
+character, looked at them askance, and replied, that he had changed his
+mind and would do without it. The monks, much troubled by his refusal,
+insisted; he interrupted them and said, "Look you, my fathers, I am
+grandson of Achille du Harlay, Chief-President of the Parliament, who so
+well served the State and the Kingdom, and who for his support of the
+public cause was dragged to the Bastille, where he expected to be hanged
+by those rascally Leaguers; it would ill become me, therefore, to enter
+the house, or pray to God there, of folks of the same stamp as that
+Jacques Clement." And he immediately turned his back upon them, leaving
+them confounded. This was his last act of vigour. He took it into his
+head afterwards to go out visiting a good deal, and as he preserved all
+his old unpleasant manners, he afflicted all he visited; he went even to
+persons who had often cooled their heels in his antechambers. By
+degrees, slight but frequent attacks of apoplexy troubled his speech, so
+that people had great difficulty in understanding him, and he in
+speaking. In this state he did not cease his visits and could not
+perceive that many doors were closed to him. He died in this misery, and
+this neglect, to the great relief of the few who by relationship were
+obliged to see him, above all of his son and his domestic.
+
+On the 17th July, a truce between France and England was published in
+Flanders, at the head of the troops of the two crowns. The Emperor,
+however, was not yet inclined for peace and his forces under Prince
+Eugene continued to oppose us in Flanders, where, however, the tide at
+last turned in our favour. The King was so flattered by the overflow of
+joy that took place at Fontainebleau on account of our successes, that he
+thanked the country for it, for the first time in his life. Prince
+Eugene, in want of bread and of everything, raised the siege of
+Landrecies, which he had been conducting, and terrible desertion took
+place among his troops.
+
+About this time, there was an irruption of wolves, which caused great
+disorders in the Orleannais; the King's wolf-hunters were sent there, and
+the people were authorised to take arms and make a number of grand
+battues.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+Peace was now all but concluded between France and England. There was,
+however, one great obstacle still in its way. Queen Anne and her Council
+were stopped by the consideration that the king of Spain would claim to
+succeed to the Crown of France, if the little Dauphin should die.
+Neither England nor any of the other powers at war would consent to see
+the two principal crowns of Europe upon the same head. It was necessary,
+then, above all things to get rid of this difficulty, and so arrange the
+order of succession to our throne, that the case to be provided against
+could never happen. Treaties, renunciations, and oaths, all of which the
+King had already broken, appeared feeble guarantees in the eyes of
+Europe. Something stronger was sought for. It could not be found;
+because there is nothing more sacred among men than engagements which
+they consider binding on each other. What was wanting then in mere forms
+it was now thought could be supplied by giving to those forms the
+greatest possible solemnity.
+
+It was a long time before we could get over the difficulty. The King
+would accord nothing except promises in order to guarantee to Europe that
+the two crowns should never be united upon the same head. His authority
+was wounded at the idea of being called upon to admit, as it were, a
+rival near it. Absolute without reply, as he had become, he had
+extinguished and absorbed even the minutest trace, idea, and recollection
+of all other authority, all other power in France except that which
+emanated from himself alone. The English, little accustomed to such
+maxims, proposed that the States-General should assemble in order to give
+weight to the renunciations to be made. They said, and with reason, that
+it was not enough that the King of Spain should renounce France unless
+France renounced Spain; and that this formality was necessary in order to
+break the double bonds which attached Spain to France, as France was
+attached to Spain. Accustomed to their parliaments, which are in effect
+their States-General, they believed ours preserved the same authority,
+and they thought such authority the greatest to be obtained and the best
+capable of solidly supporting that of the King.
+
+The effect of this upon the mind of a Prince almost deified in his own
+eyes, and habituated to the most unlimited despotism, cannot be
+expressed. To show him that the authority of his subjects was thought
+necessary in order to confirm his own, wounded him in his most delicate
+part. The English were made to understand the weakness and the
+uselessness of what they asked; for the powerlessness of our States-
+General was explained to them, and they saw at once how vain their help
+would be, even if accorded.
+
+For a long time nothing was done; France saying that a treaty of
+renunciation and an express confirmatory declaration of the King,
+registered in the Parliament, were sufficient; the English replying by
+reference to the fate of past treaties. Peace meanwhile was arranged
+with the English, and much beyond our hopes remained undisturbed.
+
+In due time matters were so far advanced in spite of obstacles thrown in
+the way by the allies, that the Duc d'Aumont was sent as ambassador into
+England; and the Duke of Hamilton was named as ambassador for France.
+This last, however, losing his life in a duel with Lord Mohun, the Duke
+of Shrewsbury was appointed in his stead.
+
+At the commencement of the new year [1713] the Duke and Duchess of
+Shrewsbury arrived in Paris. The Duchess was a great fat masculine
+creature, more than past the meridian, who had been beautiful and who
+affected to be so still; bare bosomed; her hair behind her ears; covered
+with rouge and patches, and full of finicking ways. All her manners were
+that of a mad thing, but her play, her taste, her magnificence, even her
+general familiarity, made her the fashion. She soon declared the women's
+head-dresses ridiculous, as indeed they were. They were edifices of
+brass wire, ribbons, hair, and all sorts of tawdry rubbish more than two
+feet high, making women's faces seem in the middle of their bodies. The
+old ladies wore the same, but made of black gauze. If they moved ever so
+lightly the edifice trembled and the inconvenience was extreme. The King
+could not endure them, but master as he was of everything was unable to
+banish them. They lasted for ten years and more, despite all he could
+say and do. What this monarch had been unable to perform, the taste and
+example of a silly foreigner accomplished with the most surprising
+rapidity. From extreme height, the ladies descended to extreme lowness,
+and these head-dresses, more simple; more convenient, and more becoming,
+last even now. Reasonable people wait with impatience for some other mad
+stranger who will strip our dames of these immense baskets, thoroughly
+insupportable to themselves and to others.
+
+Shortly after the Duke of Shrewsbury arrived in Paris, the Hotel de Powis
+in London, occupied by our ambassador the Duc d'Aumont, was burnt to the
+ground. A neighbouring house was pulled down to prevent others catching
+fire. The plate of M. d'Aumont was saved. He pretended to have lost
+everything else. He pretended also to have received several warnings
+that his house was to be burnt and himself assassinated, and that the
+Queen, to whom he had mentioned these warnings, offered to give him a
+guard. People judged otherwise in London and Paris, and felt persuaded
+he himself had been the incendiary in order to draw money from the King
+and also to conceal some monstrous smuggling operations, by which he
+gained enormously, and which the English had complained of ever since his
+arrival. This is at least what was publicly said in the two courts and
+cities, and nearly everybody believed it.
+
+But to return to the peace. The renunciations were ready, towards the
+middle of March, and were agreed upon. The King was invited to sign them
+by his own most pressing interest; and the Court of England, to which we
+owed all, was not less interested in consummating this grand work, so as
+to enjoy, with the glory of having imposed it upon all the powers, that
+domestic repose which was unceasingly disturbed by the party opposed to
+the government, which party, excited by the enemies of peace abroad,
+could not cease to cause disquiet to the Queen's minister, while, by
+delay in signing, vain hopes of disturbing the peace or hindering its
+ratification existed in people's minds. The King of Spain had made his
+renunciations with all the solidity and solemnity which could be desired
+from the laws, customs, and usages of Spain. It only remained for France
+to imitate him.
+
+For the ceremony that was to take place, all that could be obtained in
+order to render it more solemn was the presence of the peers. But the
+King was so jealous of his authority, and so little inclined to pay
+attention to that of others, that he wished to content himself with
+merely saying in a general way that he hoped to find all the peers at the
+Parliament when the renunciations were made. I told M. d'Orleans that if
+the King thought such an announcement as this was enough he might rely
+upon finding not a single peer at the Parliament. I added, that if the
+King did not himself invite each peer, the master of the ceremonies ought
+to do so for him, according to the custom always followed. This warning
+had its effect. We all received written invitations, immediately.
+Wednesday, the 18th of May, was fixed for the ceremony.
+
+At six o'clock on the morning of that day I went to the apartments of M.
+le Duc de Berry, in parliamentary dress, and shortly afterwards M.
+d'Orleans came there also, with a grand suite. It had been arranged that
+the ceremony was to commence by a compliment from the Chief-President de
+Mesmes to M. le Duc de Berry, who was to reply to it. He was much
+troubled at this. Madame de Saint-Simon, to whom he unbosomed himself;
+found means, through a subaltern, to obtain the discourse of the Chief-
+President, and gave it to M. le Duc de Berry, to regulate his reply by.
+This, however, seemed too much for him; he admitted so to Madame de
+Saint-Simon, and that he knew not what to do. She proposed that I should
+take the work off his hands; and he was delighted with the expedient.
+I wrote, therefore, a page and a half full of common-sized paper in an
+ordinary handwriting. M. le Duc de Berry liked it, but thought it too
+long to be learnt. I abridged it; he wished it to be still shorter, so
+that at last there was not more than three-quarters of a page. He had
+learned it by heart, and repeated it in his cabinet the night before the
+ceremony to Madame de Saint-Simon, who encouraged him as much as she
+could.
+
+At about half-past six o'clock we set out--M. le Duc d'Orleans, M. le Duc
+de Berry, myself, and M. le Duc de Saint-Aignan, in one coach, several
+other coaches following. M. le Duc de Berry was very silent all the
+journey, appearing to be much occupied with the speech he had learned by
+heart. M. d'Orleans, on the contrary, was full of gaiety, and related
+some of his youthful adventures, and his wild doings by night in the
+streets of Paris. We arrived gently at the Porte de la Conference, that
+is to say--for it is now pulled down--at the end of the terrace, and of
+the Quai of the Tuileries.
+
+We found there the trumpeters and drummers of M. le Duc de Berry's guard,
+who made a great noise all the rest of our journey, which ended at the
+Palais de justice. Thence we went to the Sainte-Chapelle to hear mass.
+The Chapelle was filled with company, among which were many people of
+quality. The crowd of people from this building to the grand chamber was
+so great that a pin could not have fallen to the ground. On all sides,
+too, folks had climbed up to see what passed.
+
+All the Princes of the blood, the bastards, the peers and the parliament,
+were assembled in the palace. When M. le Duc de Berry entered,
+everything was ready. Silence having with difficulty been obtained, the
+Chief-President paid his compliment to the Prince. When he had finished,
+it was for M. le Duc de Berry to reply. He half took off his hat,
+immediately put it back again, looked at the Chief-President, and said,
+"Monsieur;" after a moment's pause he repeated "Monsieur." Then he
+looked at the assembly, and again said, "Monsieur." Afterwards he
+turned towards M. d'Orleans, who, like himself, was as red as fire, next
+to the Chief-President, and finally stopped short, nothing else than
+"Monsieur" having been able to issue from his mouth.
+
+I saw distinctly the confusion of M. le Duc de Berry, and sweated at it;
+but what could be done? The Duke turned again towards M. d'Orleans, who
+lowered his head. Both were dismayed. At last the Chief-President,
+seeing there was no other resource, finished this cruel scene by taking
+off his cap to M. le Duc de Berry, and inclining himself very low, as if
+the response was finished. Immediately afterwards he told the King's
+people to begin. The embarrassment of all the courtiers and the surprise
+of the magistracy may be imagined.
+
+The renunciations were then read; and by these the King of Spain and his
+posterity gave up all claim to the throne of France, and M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, and M. le Duc de Berry to succeed to that of Spain. These and
+other forms occupied a long time. The chamber was all the while crowded
+to excess. There was not room for a single other person to enter. It
+was very late when all was over.
+
+When everything was at an end M. de Saint-Aignan and I accompanied M. le
+Duc de Berry and M. le Duc d'Orleans in a coach to the Palais Royal. On
+the way the conversation was very quiet. M. le Duc de Berry appeared
+dispirited, embarrassed, and vexed. Even after we had partaken of a
+splendid and delicate dinner, to which an immense number of other guests
+sat down, he did not improve. We were conducted to the Porte Saint-
+Honore with the same pomp as that in the midst, of which we had entered
+Paris. During the rest of the journey to Versailles M. le Duc de Berry
+was as silent as ever.
+
+To add to his vexation, as soon as he arrived at Versailles the Princesse
+de Montauban, without knowing a word of what had passed, set herself to
+exclaim, with her usual flattery, that she was charmed with the grace and
+the appropriate eloquence with which he had spoken at the Parliament, and
+paraphrased this theme with all the praises of which it was susceptible.
+M. le Duc de Berry blushed with vexation without saying a word; she
+recommenced extolling his modesty, he blushing the more, and saying
+nothing. When at last he had got rid of her, he went to his own
+apartments, said not, a word to the persons he found there, scarcely one
+to Madame his wife, but taking Madame de Saint-Simon with him, went into
+his library, and shut himself up alone there with her.
+
+Throwing himself into an armchair he cried out that he was dishonoured,
+and wept scalding tears. Then he related to Madame de Saint-Simon, in
+the midst of sobs, how he had stuck fast at the Parliament, without being
+able to utter a word, said that he should everywhere be regarded as an
+ass and a blockhead, and repeated the compliments he had received from
+Madame de Montauban, who, he said, had laughed at and insulted him,
+knowing well what had happened; then, infuriated against her to the last
+degree, he called her by all sots of names. Madame de Saint-Simon spared
+no exertion in order to calm M. de Berry, assuring him that it was
+impossible Madame de Montauban could know what had taken place at the
+Parliament, the news not having then reached Versailles, and that she had
+had no other object than flattery in addressing him. Nothing availed.
+Complaints and silence succeeded each other in the midst of tears. Then,
+suddenly falling upon the Duc de Beauvilliers and the King, and accusing
+the defects of his education: "They thought only;" he exclaimed,
+"of making me stupid, and of stifling all my powers. I was a younger
+son. I coped with my brother. They feared the consequences; they
+annihilated me. I was taught only to play and to hunt, and they have
+succeeded in making me a fool and an ass, incapable of anything, the
+laughing-stock and disdain of everybody." Madame de Saint-Simon was
+overpowered with compassion, and did everything to calm M. de Berry.
+Their strange tete-a-tete lasted nearly two hours, and resumed the next
+day but with less violence. By degrees M. le Duc de Berry became
+consoled, but never afterwards did any one dare to speak to him of his
+misadventure at the peace ceremony.
+
+Let me here say that, the ceremony over, peace was signed at Utrecht on
+the 20th April, 1713, at a late hour of the night. It was published in
+Paris with great solemnity on the 22nd. Monsieur and Madame du Maine,
+who wished to render themselves popular, came from Sceaux to see the
+ceremony in the Place Royale, showed themselves on a balcony to the
+people, to whom they threw some money--a liberality that the King would
+not have permitted in anybody else. At night fires were lighted before
+the houses, several of which were illuminated: On the 25th a Te Deum was
+sung at Notre Dame, and in the evening there was a grand display of
+fireworks at the Grave, which was followed by a superb banquet given at
+the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, the Governor of Paris, to a
+large number of distinguished persons of both sexes of the Court and the
+city, twenty-four violins playing during the repast.
+
+I have omitted to mention the death of M. de Chevreise, which took place
+between seven and eight o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 5th of
+November; of the previous year (1712). I have so often alluded to M. de
+Chevreuse in the course of these pages, that I will content myself with
+relating here two anecdotes of him, which serve to paint a part of his
+character.
+
+He was very forgetful, and adventures often happened to him in
+consequence, which diverted us amazingly. Sometimes his horses were put
+to and kept waiting for him twelve or fifteen hours at a time. Upon one
+occasion in summer this happened at Vaucresson, whence he was going to
+dine at Dampierre. The coachman, first, then the postilion, grew tired
+of looking after the horses, and left them. Towards six o'clock at night
+the horses themselves were in their turn worn out, bolted, and a din was
+heard which shook the house. Everybody ran out, the coach was found
+smashed, the large door shivered in pieces; the garden railings, which
+enclosed both sides of the court, broken down; the gates in pieces; in
+short, damage was done that took a long time to repair. M. de Chevreuse,
+who had not been disturbed by this uproar even for an instant, was quite
+astonished when he heard of it. M. de Beauvilliers amused himself for a
+long time by reproaching him with it, and by asking the expense.
+
+Another adventure happened to him also at Vaucresson, and covered him
+with real confusion, comical to see, every time it was mentioned. About
+ten o'clock one morning a M. Sconin, who had formerly been his steward,
+was announced. "Let him take a turn in the garden," said M. de
+Chevreuse, "and come back in half an hour." He continued what he was
+doing, and completely forgot his man. Towards seven o'clock in the
+evening Sconin was again announced. "In a moment," replied M. de
+Chevreuse, without disturbing himself. A quarter of an hour afterwards
+he called Sconin, and admitted him. "Ah, my poor Sconin!" said he,
+"I must offer you a thousand excuses for having caused you to lose your
+day."
+
+"Not at all, Monseigneur," replied Sconin. "As I have had the honour of
+knowing you for many years, I comprehended this morning that the half-
+hour might be long, so I went to Paris, did some business there, before
+and after dinner, and here I am again."
+
+M. de Chevreuse was confounded. Sconin did not keep silence, nor did the
+servants of the house. M. de Beauvilliers made merry with the adventure
+when he heard of it, and accustomed as M. de Chevreuse might be to his
+raillery, he could not bear to have this subject alluded to. I have
+selected two anecdotes out of a hundred others of the same kind, because
+they characterise the man.
+
+The liberality of M. du Maine which we have related on the occasion of
+the proclamation of peace at Paris, and which was so popular, and so
+surprising when viewed in connection with the disposition of the King,
+soon took new development. The Jesuits, so skilful in detecting the
+foibles of monarchs, and so clever in seizing hold of everything which
+can protect themselves and answer their ends, showed to what extent they
+were masters of these arts. A new and assuredly a very original History
+of France, in three large folio volumes, appeared under the name of
+Father Daniel, who lived at Paris in the establishment of the Jesuits.
+The paper and the printing of the work were excellent; the style was
+admirable. Never was French so clear, so pure, so flowing, with such
+happy transitions; in a word, everything to charm and entice the reader;
+admirable preface, magnificent promises, short, learned dissertations, a
+pomp, an authority of the most seductive kind. As for the history, there
+was much romance in the first race, much in the second, and much.
+mistiness in the early times of the third. In a word, all the work
+evidently appeared composed in order to persuade people--under the simple
+air of a man who set aside prejudices with discernment, and who only
+seeks the truth--that the majority of the Kings of the first race,
+several of the second, some even of the third, were, bastards, whom this
+defect did not exclude from the throne, or affect in any way.
+
+I say bluntly here what was very delicately veiled in the work, and yet
+plainly seen. The effect of the book was great; its vogue such, that
+everybody, even women, asked for it. The King spoke of it to several of
+his Court, asked if they had read it; the most sagacious early saw how
+much it was protected; it was the sole historical book the King and
+Madame de Maintenon had ever spoken of. Thus the work appeared at
+Versailles upon every table, nothing else was talked about, marvellous
+eulogies were lavished upon it, which were sometimes comical in the
+mouths of persons either very ignorant, or who, incapable of reading,
+pretended to read and relish this book.
+
+But this surprising success did not last. People perceived that this
+history, which so cleverly unravelled the remote part, gave but a meagre
+account of modern days, except in so far as their military operations
+were concerned; of which even the minutest details were recorded. Of
+negotiations, cabals, Court intrigues, portraits, elevations, falls, and
+the main springs of events, there was not a word in all the work, except
+briefly, dryly, and with precision as in the gazettes, often more
+superficially. Upon legal matters, public ceremonies, fetes of different
+times, there was also silence at the best, the same laconism; and when we
+come to the affairs of Rome and of the League, it is a pleasure to see
+the author glide over that dangerous ice on his Jesuit skates!
+
+In due time critics condemned the work which, after so much applause, was
+recognised as a very wretched history, which had very industriously and
+very fraudulently answered the purpose for which it was written. It fell
+to the ground then; learned men wrote against it; but the principal and
+delicate point of the work was scarcely touched in France with the pen,
+so great was the danger.
+
+Father Daniel obtained two thousand francs' pension for his history,--
+a prodigious recompense,--with a title of Historiographer of France. He
+enjoyed the fruits of his falsehood, and laughed at those who attacked
+him. Foreign countries did not swallow quite so readily these stories
+that declared such a number of our early kings bastards; but great care
+was taken not to let France be infected by the disagreeable truths
+therein published.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII
+
+It is now time that I should say something of the infamous bull
+'Unigenitus', which by the unsurpassed audacity and scheming of Father Le
+Tellier and his friends was forced upon the Pope and the world.
+
+I need not enter into a very lengthy account of the celebrated Papal
+decree which has made so many martyrs, depopulated our schools,
+introduced ignorance, fanaticism, and misrule, rewarded vice, thrown the
+whole community into the greatest confusion, caused disorder everywhere,
+and established the most arbitrary and the most barbarous inquisition;
+evils which have doubled within the last thirty years. I will content
+myself with a word or two, and will not blacken further the pages of my
+Memoirs. Many pens have been occupied, and will be occupied, with this
+subject. It is not the apostleship of Jesus Christ that is in question,
+but that of the reverend fathers and their ambitious clients.
+
+It is enough to say that the new bull condemned in set terms the
+doctrines of Saint-Paul (respected like oracles of the Holy Spirit ever
+since the time of our Saviour), and also those of Saint-Augustin, and of
+other fathers; doctrines which have always been adopted by the Popes, by
+the Councils, and by the Church itself. The bull, as soon as published,
+met with a violent opposition in Rome from the cardinals there, who went
+by sixes, by eights, and by tens, to complain of it to the Pope. They
+might well do so, for they had not been consulted in any way upon this
+new constitution. Father Tellier and his friends had had the art and the
+audacity to obtain the publication of it without submitting it to them.
+The Pope, as I have said, had been forced into acquiescence, and now, all
+confused, knew not what to say. He protested, however, that the
+publication had been made without his knowledge, and put off the
+cardinals with compliments, excuses, and tears, which last he could
+always command.
+
+The constitution had the same fate in France as in Rome. The cry against
+it was universal. The cardinals protested that it would never be
+received. They were shocked by its condemnation of the doctrines of
+Saint-Augustin and of the other fathers; terrified at its condemnation of
+Saint-Paul. There were not two opinions upon this terrible constitution.
+The Court, the city, and the provinces, as soon as they knew the nature
+of it, rose against it like one man.
+
+In addition to the articles of this constitution which I have already
+named, there was one which excited infinite alarm and indignation, for it
+rendered the Pope master of every crown! As is well known, there is a
+doctrine of the Church, which says:
+
+"An unjust excommunication ought got to hinder [us] from doing our duty."
+
+The new constitution condemned this doctrine, and consequently proclaimed
+that:
+
+"An unjust excommunication ought to hinder [us] from doing our duty."
+
+The enormity of this last is more striking than the simple truth of the
+proposition condemned. The second is a shadow which better throws up the
+light of the first. The results and the frightful consequences of the
+condemnation are as clear as day.
+
+I think I have before said that Father Tellier, without any advances on
+my part, without, in fact, encouragement of any kind, insisted upon
+keeping up an intimacy with me, which I could not well repel, for it came
+from a man whom it would have been very dangerous indeed to have for an-
+enemy. As soon as this matter of the constitution was in the wind, he
+came to me to talk about it. I did not disguise my opinion from him, nor
+did he disguise in any way from me the unscrupulous means he meant to
+employ in order to get this bull accepted by the clergy. Indeed, he was
+so free with me, showed me so plainly his knavery and cunning, that I
+was, as it were, transformed with astonishment and fright. I never could
+comprehend this openness in a man so false, so artificial, so profound,
+or see in what manner it could be useful to him.
+
+One day he came to me by appointment, with a copy of the constitution in
+his hand in order that we might thoroughly discuss it. I was at
+Versailles. In order to understand what I am going to relate, I must
+give some account of my apartments there. Let me say, then, that I had a
+little back cabinet, leading out of another cabinet, but so arranged that
+you would not have thought it was there. It received no light except
+from the outer cabinet, its own windows being boarded up. In this back
+cabinet I had a bureau, some chairs, books, and all I needed; my friends
+called it my "shop," and in truth it did not ill resemble one.
+
+Father Tellier came at the hour he had fixed. As chance would have it,
+M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Berry had invited themselves to a
+collation with Madame de Saint-Simon that morning. I knew that when they
+arrived I should no longer be master of my chamber or of my cabinet. I
+told Father Tellier this, and he was much vexed. He begged me so hard to
+find some place where we might be inaccessible to the company, that at
+last, pressed by him to excess, I said I knew of only one expedient by
+which we might become free: and I told him that he must dismiss his
+'vatble' (as the brother who always accompanies a monk is called), and
+that then, furnished with candles, we would go and shut ourselves up in
+my back cabinet, where we could neither be seen nor heard, if we took
+care not to speak loud when anybody approached. He thought the expedient
+admirable, dismissed his companion, and we sat down opposite each other,
+the bureau between us, with two candles alight upon it.
+
+He immediately began to sing the praises of the Constitution Unigenitus,
+a copy of which he placed on the table. I interrupted him so as to come
+at once to the excommunication proposition. We discussed it with much
+politeness, but with little accord. I shall not pretend to report our
+dispute. It was warm and long. I pointed out to Father Tellier, that
+supposing the King and the little Dauphin were both to die, and this was
+a misfortune which might happen, the crown of France would by right of
+birth belong to the King of Spain; but according to the renunciation just
+made, it would belong to M. le Duc de Berry and his branch, or in default
+to M. le Duc d'Orleans. "Now," said I, "if the two brothers dispute the
+crown, and the Pope favouring the one should excommunicate the other, it
+follows, according to our new constitution, that the excommunicated must
+abandon all his claims, all his partisans, all his forces, and go over to
+the other side. For you say, an unjust excommunication ought to hinder
+us from doing our duty. So that in one fashion or another the Pope is
+master of all the crowns in his communion, is at liberty to take them
+away or to give them as he pleases, a liberty so many Popes have claimed
+and so many have tried to put in action."
+
+My argument was simple, applicable, natural, and pressing: it offered
+itself, of itself. Wherefore, the confessor was amazed by it; he
+blushed, he beat about the bush, he could not collect himself. By
+degrees he did so, and replied to me in a manner that he doubtless
+thought would convince me at once. "If the case you suggest were to
+happen," he said, "and the Pope declaring for one disputant were to
+excommunicate the other and all his followers, such excommunication would
+not merely be unjust, it would be false; and it has never been decided
+that a false excommunication should hinder us from doing our duty."
+
+"Ah! my father," I said, "your distinction is subtle and clever, I admit.
+I admit, too, I did not expect it, but permit me some few more
+objections, I beseech you. Will the Ultramontanes admit the nullity of
+the excommunication? Is it not null as soon as it is unjust? If the
+Pope has the power to excommunicate unjustly, and to enforce obedience to
+his excommunication, who can limit power so unlimited, and why should not
+his false (or nullified) excommunication be as much obeyed and respected
+as his unjust excommunication? Suppose the case I have imagined were to
+happen. Suppose the Pope were to excommunicate one of the two brothers.
+Do you think it would be easy to make your subtle distinction between a
+false and an unjust excommunication understood by the people, the
+soldiers, the bourgeois, the officers, the lords, the women, at the very
+moment when they would be preparing to act and to take up arms? You see
+I point out great inconveniences that may arise if the new doctrine be
+accepted, and if the Pope should claim the power of deposing kings,
+disposing of their crowns, and releasing their subjects from the oath of
+fidelity in opposition to the formal words of Jesus Christ and of all the
+Scripture."
+
+My words transported the Jesuit, for I had touched the right spring in
+spite of his effort to hide it. He said nothing personal to me, but he
+fumed. The more he restrained himself for me the less he did so for the
+matter in hand. As though to indemnify himself for his moderation on my
+account, he launched out the more, upon the subject we were discussing.
+In his heat, no longer master of himself, many things escaped him,
+silence upon which I am sure he would afterwards have bought very dearly.
+He told me so many things of the violence that would be used to make his
+constitution accepted, things so monstrous, so atrocious, so terrible,
+and with such extreme passion that I fell into a veritable syncope. I
+saw him right in front of me between two candles, only the width of the
+table between us (I have described elsewhere his horrible physiognomy).
+My hearing and my sight became bewildered. I was seized, while he was
+speaking, with the full idea of what a Jesuit was. Here was a man who,
+by his state and his vows, could hope for nothing for his family or for
+himself; who could not expect an apple or a glass of wine more than his
+brethren; who was approaching an age when he would have to render account
+of all things to God, and who, with studied deliberation and mighty
+artifice, was going to throw the state and religion into the most
+terrible flames, and commence a most frightful persecution for questions
+which affected him in nothing, nor touched in any way the honour of the
+School of Molina!
+
+His profundities, the violence he spoke of--all this together, threw me
+into such an ecstasy, that suddenly I interrupted him by saying:
+
+"My father, how old are you?"
+
+The extreme surprise which painted itself upon his face as I looked at
+him with all my eyes, fetched back my senses, and his reply brought me
+completely to myself. "Why do you ask?" he replied, smiling. The effort
+that I made over myself to escape such a unique 'proposito', the terrible
+value of which I fully appreciated, furnished me an issue. "Because,"
+said I, "never have I looked at you so long as I have now, you in front
+of me, these two candles between us, and your face is so fresh and so
+healthy, with all your labours, that I am surprised at it."
+
+He swallowed the answer, or so well pretended to do so, that he said
+nothing of it then nor since, never ceasing when he met me to speak to me
+as openly, and as frequently as before, I seeking him as little as ever.
+He replied at that time that he was seventy-four years old; that in truth
+he was very well; that he had accustomed himself, from his earliest
+years, to a hard life and to labour; and then went back to the point at
+which I had interrupted him. We were compelled, however, to be silent
+for a time, because people came into my cabinet, and Madame de Saint-
+Simon, who knew of our interview, had some difficulty to keep the coast
+clear.
+
+For more than two hours we continued our discussion, he trying to put me
+off with his subtleties and authoritativeness, I offering but little
+opposition to him, feeling that opposition was of no use, all his plans
+being already decided. We separated without having persuaded each other,
+he with many flatteries upon my intelligence, praying me to reflect well
+upon the matter; I replying that my reflections were all made, and that
+my capacity could not go farther. I let him out by the little back door
+of my cabinet, so that nobody perceived him, and as soon as I had closed
+it, I threw myself into a chair like a man out of breath, and I remained
+there a long time alone, reflecting upon the strange kind of ecstasy I
+had been in, and the horror it had caused me.
+
+The results of this constitution were, as I have said, terrible to the
+last degree; every artifice, every cruelty was used, in order to force it
+down the throats of the clergy; and hence the confusion and sore trouble
+which arose all over the realm. But it is time now for me to touch upon
+other matters.
+
+Towards the close of this year, 1713, peace with the Emperor seemed so
+certain, that the King disbanded sixty Battalions and eighteen men per
+company of the regiment of the guards, and one hundred and six squadrons;
+of which squadrons twenty-seven were dragoons. At peace now with the
+rest of Europe he had no need of so many troops, even although the war
+Against the Empire had continued; fortunately, however it did not.
+Negotiations were set on foot, and on the 6th of March of the following
+year, 1714, after much debate, they ended successfully. On that day, in
+fact, peace was signed at Rastadt. It was shortly afterwards published
+at Paris, a Te Deum sung, and bonfires lighted at night; a grand
+collation was given at the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, who at
+midnight also gave, in his own house, a splendid banquet, at which were
+present many ladies, foreigners, and courtiers.
+
+This winter was fertile in balls at the Court; there were several, fancy-
+dress and masked, given by M. le Duc de Berry, by Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry, M. le Duc, and others. There were some also at Paris, and at
+Sceaux, where Madame du Maine gave many fetes and played many comedies,
+everybody going there from Paris and the Court--M. du Maine doing the
+Honours. Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way, and went to
+no dances out of her own house. The King permitted her, on account of
+her condition, to sup with him in a robe de chambre, as under similar
+circumstances he had permitted the two Dauphines to do.
+
+At the opera, one night this winter, the Abbe Servien, not liking certain
+praises of the King contained in a Prologue, let slip a bitter joke in
+ridicule of them. The pit took it up, repeated it, and applauded it.
+Two days afterwards, the Abbe Servien was arrested and taken to
+Vincennes, forbidden to speak to anybody and allowed no servant to wait
+upon him. For form's sake seals were put upon his papers, but he was not
+a man likely to have any fit for aught else than to light the fire.
+Though more than sixty-five years old, he was strangely debauched.
+
+The Duc de la Rochefoucauld died on Thursday, the 11th of January, at
+Versailles, seventy-nine years of age, and blind. I have spoken of him
+so frequently in the course of these memoirs, that I will do nothing more
+now than relate a few particulars respecting him, which will serve in
+some sort to form his portrait.
+
+He had much honour, worth, and probity. He was noble, good, magnificent,
+ever willing to serve his friends; a little too much so, for he
+oftentimes wearied the King with importunities on their behalf. Without
+any intellect or discernment he was proud to excess, coarse and rough in
+his manners--disagreeable even, and embarrassed with all except his
+flatterers; like a man who does not know how to receive a visit, enter or
+leave a room. He scarcely went anywhere except to pay the indispensable
+compliments demanded by marriage, death, etc., and even then as little as
+he could. He lived in his own house so shut up that no, one went to see
+him except on these same occasions. He gave himself up almost entirely
+to his valets, who mixed themselves in the conversation; and you were
+obliged to treat them with all sorts of attentions if you wished to
+become a frequenter of the house.
+
+I shall never forget what happened to us at the death of the Prince of
+Vaudemont's son, by which M. de la Rochefoucauld's family came in for a
+good inheritance. We were at Marly. The King had been stag-hunting.
+M. de Chevreuse, whom I found when the King was being unbooted, proposed
+that we should go and pay our compliments to M. de la Rochefoucauld.
+We went. Upon entering, what was our surprise, nay, our shame, to find
+M. de la Rochefoucauld playing at chess with one of his servants in
+livery, seated opposite to him! Speech failed us. M. de la
+Rochefoucauld perceived it, and remained confounded himself. He
+stammered, he grew confused, he tried to excuse what we had seen, saying
+that this lackey played very well, and that chess-players played with
+everybody. M. de Chevreuse had not come to contradict him; neither had
+I; we turned the conversation, therefore, and left as soon as possible.
+As soon as we were outside we opened our minds to each other, and said
+what we thought of this rare meeting, which, however, we did not make
+public.
+
+M. de Rochefoucauld, towards the end of his career at Court, became so
+importunate, as I have said, for his friends, that the King was much
+relieved by his death. Such have been his sentiments at the death of
+nearly all those whom he had liked and favoured.
+
+Of the courage of M. de la Rochefoucauld, courtier as he was, in speaking
+to the King, I will relate an instance. It was during one of the visits
+at Marly, in the gardens of which the King was amusing himself with a
+fountain that he set at work. I know not what led to it, but the King,
+usually so reserved, spoke with him of the bishop of Saint-Pons, then in
+disgrace on account of the affairs of Port Royal. M. de la Rochefoucauld
+let him speak on to the end, and then began to praise the bishop. The
+discouraging silence of the King warned him; he persisted, however, and
+related how the bishop, mounted upon a mule, and visiting one day his
+diocese, found himself in a path which grew narrower at every step; and
+which ended in a precipice. There were no means of getting out of it
+except by going back, but this was impossible, there not being enough
+space to turn round or to alight. The holy bishop (for such was his term
+as I well remarked) lifted his eyes to Heaven, let go the bridle, and
+abandoned himself to Providence. Immediately his mule rose up upon its
+hind legs, and thus upright, the bishop still astride, turned round until
+its head was where its tail had been. The beast thereupon returned along
+the path until it found an opening into a good road. Everybody around
+the King imitated his silence, which excited the Duke to comment upon
+what he had just related. This generosity charmed me, and surprised all
+who were witness of it.
+
+The day after the death of M. de la Rochefoucauld, the Chancellor took
+part in a very tragic scene. A Vice-bailli of Alencon had just lost a
+trial, in which, apparently, his honour, or his property, was much
+interested. He came to Pontchartrain's, where the Chancellor was at the
+moment, and waited until he came out into the court to get into his
+carriage. The Vice-bailli then asked him for a revision of the verdict.
+The Chancellor, with much gentleness and goodness represented to the man
+that the law courts were open to him if he insisted to appeal, but that
+as to a revision of the verdict; it was contrary to usage; and turned to
+get into his coach. While he was getting in; the unhappy bailli said
+there was a shorter way of escaping from trouble, and stabbed himself
+twice with a poniard. At the dies of the domestics the Chancellor
+descended from the coach, had the man carried into a room, and sent for a
+doctor, and a confessor. The bailli made confession very peacefully, and
+died an hour afterwards.
+
+I have spoken in its time of the exile of Charmel and its causes, of
+which the chief was his obstinate refusal to present himself before the
+King. The vexation of the King against people who withdrew from him was
+always very great. In this case, it never passed away, but hardened into
+a strange cruelty, to speak within limits. Charmel, attacked with the
+stone, asked permission to come to Paris to undergo an operation. The
+permission was positively refused. Time pressed. The operation was
+obliged to be done in the country. It was so severe, and perhaps so
+badly done, that Charmel died three days afterwards full of penitence and
+piety. He had led a life remarkable for its goodness, was without
+education, but had religious fervour that supplied the want of it. He
+was sixty-eight years of age.
+
+The Marechale de la Ferme died at Paris, at the same time, more than
+eighty years old. She was sister of the Comtesse d'Olonne, very rich and
+a widow. The beauty of the two sisters, and the excesses of their lives,
+made a great stir. No women, not even those most stigmatized for their
+gallantry, dared to see them, or to be seen anywhere with them. That was
+the way then; the fashion has changed since. When they were old and
+nobody cared for them, they tried to become devout. They lodged
+together, and one Ash Wednesday went and heard a sermon. This sermon,
+which was upon fasting and penitence, terrified them.
+
+"My sister," they said to each other on their return, "it was all true;
+there was no joke about it; we must do penance, or we are lost. But, my
+sister, what shall we do?" After having well turned it over: "My
+sister," said Madame d'Olonne, "this is what we must do; we must make our
+servants fast." Madame d'Olonne thought she had very well met the
+difficulty. However, at last she set herself to work in earnest, at
+piety and penitence, and died three months after her sister, the
+Marechale de la Ferme. It will not be forgotten, that it was under cover
+of the Marechale that a natural child was first legitimated without
+naming the mother, in order that by this example, the King's natural
+children might be similarly honoured, without naming Madame de Montespan,
+as I have related in its place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV
+
+The Queen of Spain, for a long time violently attacked with the king's
+evil around the face and neck, was just now at the point of death.
+Obtaining no relief from the Spanish doctors, she wished to have
+Helvetius, and begged the King by an express command to send him to her.
+Helvetius, much inconvenienced, and knowing besides the condition of the
+Princess, did not wish to go, but the King expressly commanded him.
+He set out then in a postchaise, followed by another in case his own
+should break down, and arrived thus at Madrid on the 11th of February,
+1714. As soon as he had seen the Queen, he said there was nothing but
+a miracle could save her. The King of Spain did not discontinue sleeping
+with her until the 9th. On the 14th she died, with much courage,
+consciousness, and piety.
+
+Despair was general in Spain, where this Queen was universally adored.
+There was not a family which did not lament her, not a person who has
+since been consoled. The King of Spain was extremely touched, but
+somewhat in a royal manner. Thus, when out shooting one day, he came
+close to the convoy by which the body of his queen was being conveyed to
+the Escurial; he looked at it, followed it with his eyes, and continued
+his sport! Are these princes made like other human beings?
+
+The death of the Queen led to amazing changes, such as the most prophetic
+could not have foreseen. Let me here, then, relate the events that
+followed this misfortune.
+
+I must commence by saying, that the principal cause which had so long and
+scandalously hindered us from making peace with the Emperor, was a
+condition, which Madame des Ursins wished to insert in the treaty, (and
+which the King of Spain supported through thick and thin) to the effect
+that she should be invested with a bona fide sovereignty. She had set
+her heart upon this, and the king of Spain was a long time before he
+would consent to any terms of peace that did not concede it to her. It
+was not until the King had uttered threats against him that he would give
+way. As for Madame des Ursins, she had counted upon this sovereignty
+with as much certainty as though it were already between her fingers.
+She had counted, too, with equal certainty upon exchanging it with our
+King, for the sovereignty of Touraine and the Amboise country; and had
+actually charged her faithful Aubigny to buy her some land near Amboise
+to build her there a vast palace, with courts and outbuildings; to
+furnish it with magnificence, to spare neither gilding nor paintings, and
+to surround the whole with the most beautiful gardens. She meant to live
+there as sovereign lady of the country. Aubigny had at once set about
+the work to the surprise of everybody: for no one could imagine for whom
+such a grand building could be designed. He kept the secret, pretended
+he was building a house for himself and pushed on the work so rapidly
+that just as peace was concluded without the stipulation respecting
+Madame des Ursins being inserted in the treaty, nearly all was finished.
+Her sovereignty scheme thoroughly failed; and to finish at once with that
+mad idea, I may as well state that, ashamed of her failure, she gave this
+palace to Aubigny, who lived there all the rest of his life: Chanteloup,
+for so it was called, has since passed into the hands of Madame
+d'Armantieres, his daughter. It is one of the most beautiful and most
+singular places in all France, and the most superbly furnished.
+
+This sovereignty, coveted by Madame des Ursins, exceedingly offended
+Madame de Maintenon and wounded her pride. She felt, with jealousy, that
+the grand airs Madame des Ursins gave herself were solely the effect of
+the protection she had accorded her. She could not bear to be
+outstripped in importance by the woman she herself had elevated. The
+King, too, was much vexed with Madame des Ursins; vexed also to see peace
+delayed; and to be obliged to speak with authority and menace to the King
+of Spain, in order to compel him to give up the idea of this precious
+sovereignty. The King of Spain did not yield until he was threatened
+with abandonment by France. It may be imagined what was the rage of
+Madame des Ursins upon missing her mark after having, before the eyes
+of all Europe, fired at it with so much perseverance; nay, with such
+unmeasured obstinacy. From this time there was no longer the same
+concert between Madame de Maintenon and Madame des Ursins that had
+formerly existed. But the latter had reached such a point in Spain,
+that she thought this was of no consequence.
+
+It has been seen with what art Madame des Ursins had unceasingly isolated
+the King of Spain; in what manner she had shut him up with the Queen, and
+rendered him inaccessible, not only to his Court but to his grand
+officers, his ministers, even his valets, so that he was served by only
+three or four attendants, all French, and entirely under her thumb. At
+the death of the Queen this solitude continued. Under the pretext that
+his grief demanded privacy, she persuaded the King to leave his palace
+and to instal himself in a quiet retreat, the Palace of Medina-Celi, near
+the Buen-Retiro, at the other end of the city. She preferred this
+because it was infinitely smaller than the Royal Palace, and because few
+people, in consequence, could approach the King. She herself took the
+Queen's place; and in order to have a sort of pretext for being near the
+King, in the same solitude, she caused herself to be named governess of
+his children. But in order to be always there, and so that nobody should
+know when they were together, she had a large wooden corridor made from
+the cabinet of the King to the apartment of his children, in which she
+lodged. By this means they could pass from one to the other without
+being perceived, and without traversing the long suite of rooms, filled
+with courtiers, that were between the two apartments. In this manner it
+was never known whether the King was alone or with Madame des Ursins;
+or which of the two was in the apartments of the other. When they were
+together or how long is equally unknown. This corridor, roofed and
+glazed, was proceeded with in so much haste, that the work went on, in
+spite of the King's devotion, on fete days and Sundays. The whole Court,
+which perfectly well knew for what use this corridor was intended, was
+much displeased. Those who directed the work were the same. Of this
+good proof was given. One day, the Comptroller of the royal buildings,
+who had been ordered to keep the men hard at it, Sundays and fete days,
+asked the Pere Robinet, the King's confessor, and the only good one he
+ever had; he asked, I say, in one of those rooms Madame des Ursins was so
+anxious to avoid, and in the presence of various courtiers, if the work
+was to be continued on the morrow, a Sunday, and the next day, the Fete
+of the Virgin. Robinet replied, that the King had said nothing to the
+contrary; and met a second appeal with the same answer. At the third, he
+added, that before saying anything he would wait till the King spoke on
+the subject. At the fourth appeal, he lost patience, and said that if
+for the purpose of destroying what had been commenced, he believed work
+might be done even on Easter-day itself; but if for the purpose of
+continuing the corridor, he did not think a Sunday or a fete day was a
+fitting time. All the Court applauded; but Madame des Ursins, to whom
+this sally was soon carried, was much irritated.
+
+It was suspected that she thought of becoming something more than the
+mere companion of the King. There were several princes. Reports were
+spread which appeared equivocal and which terrified. It was said that
+the King had no need of posterity, with all the children it had pleased
+God to bless him with; but now he only needed a wife who could take
+charge of those children. Not content with passing all her days with the
+King, and allowing him, like the deceased Queen, to work with his
+ministers only in her presence, the Princesse des Ursins felt that to
+render this habit lasting she must assure herself of him at all moments.
+He was accustomed to take the air, and he was in want of it all the more
+now because he had been much shut up during the last days of the Queen's
+illness, and the first which followed her death. Madame des Ursins chose
+four or five gentlemen to accompany him, to the exclusion of all others,
+even his chief officers, and people still more necessary. These
+gentlemen charged with the amusement of the King, were called
+recreadores. With so much circumspection, importunity, preparation, and
+rumour carefully circulated, it was not doubted that Madame des Ursins
+intended to marry him; and the opinion, as well as the fear, became
+general. The King (Louis XIV.), was infinitely alarmed; and Madame de
+Maintenon, who had twice tried to be proclaimed Queen and twice failed,
+was distracted with jealousy. However, if Madame des Ursins flattered
+herself then, it was not for long.
+
+The King of Spain, always curious to learn the news from France, often
+demanded them of his confessor, the only man to whom he could speak who
+was not under the thumb of Madame des Ursins. The clever and courageous
+Robinet, as disturbed as others at the progress of the design, which
+nobody in the two Courts of France and Spain doubted was in execution,
+allowed himself to be pressed by questions--in an embrasure where the
+King had drawn him--played the reserved and the mysterious in order to
+excite curiosity more. When he saw it was sufficiently excited, he said
+that since he was forced to speak, his news from France was the same as
+that at Madrid, where no one doubted that the King would do the Princesse
+des Ursins the honour to espouse her. The King blushed and hastily
+replied, "Marry her! oh no! not that!" and quitted him.
+
+Whether the Princesse des Ursins was informed of this sharp repartee, or
+whether she despaired already of success, she changed about; and judging
+that this interregnum in the Palace of Medina-Celi could not last for
+ever, resolved to assure herself of the King by a Queen who should owe to
+her such a grand marriage, and who, having no other support, would throw
+herself into her arms by gratitude and necessity. With this view she
+explained herself to Alberoni, who, since the death of the Duc de
+Vendome, had remained at Madrid charged with the affairs of Parma; and
+proposed to him the marriage of the Princess of Parma, daughter of the
+Duchess and of the late Duke of Parma, who had married the widow of his
+brother.
+
+Alberoni could with difficulty believe his ears. An alliance so
+disproportioned appeared to him so much the more incredible, because he
+thought the Court of France would never consent to it, and that without
+its consent the marriage could not be concluded. The Princess in
+question was the issue of double illegitimacy; by her father descended
+from a pope, by her mother from a natural daughter of Charles Quint. She
+was daughter of a petty Duke of Parma, and of a mother, entirely
+Austrian, sister of the Dowager Empress and of the Dowager Queen of Spain
+(whose acts had excited such disapproval that she was sent from her exile
+at Toledo to Bayonne), sister too of the Queen of Portugal, who had
+induced the King, her husband, to receive the Archduke at Lisbon, and to
+carry the war into Spain. It did not seem reasonable, therefore, that
+such a Princess would be accepted as a wife for the King of Spain.
+
+Nothing of all this, however, stopped the Princesse des Ursins; her own
+interest was the most pressing consideration with her; the will of the
+King of Spain was entirely subject to her; she felt all the change
+towards her of our King and of Madame de Maintenon; she no longer hoped
+for a return of their favour; she believed that she must look around for
+support against the very authority which had established her so
+powerfully, and which could destroy her; and occupied herself solely in
+pushing forward a marriage from which she expected everything by making
+the same use of the new queen as she had made of the one just dead. The
+King of Spain was devout, he absolutely wanted a wife, the Princesse des
+Ursins was of an age when her charms were but the charms, of art; in a
+word, she set Alberoni to work, and it may be believed she was not
+scrupulous as to her means as soon as they were persuaded at Parma that
+she was serious and not joking. Orry, always united with Madame des
+Ursins, and all-powerful, by her means, was her sole confidant in this
+important affair.
+
+At that time the Marquis de Brancas was French ambassador at Madrid. He
+had flattered himself that Madame des Ursins would make him one of the
+grandees of Spain. Instead of doing so she simply bestowed upon him the
+order of the Golden Fleece. He had never pardoned her for this.
+Entirely devoted to Madame de Maintenon, he became on that very account
+an object of suspicion to Madame des Ursins, who did not doubt that he
+cherished a grudge against her, on account of the favour he had missed.
+She allowed him no access to her, and had her eyes open upon all he did.
+Brancas in like manner watched all her doings. The confessor, Robinet,
+confided to him his fears respecting Madame des Ursins, and the chiefs of
+a court universally discontented went and opened their hearts to him,
+thinking it was France alone which could set to rights the situation of
+Spain.
+
+Brancas appreciated all the importance of what was told him, but warned
+by the fate of the Abbe d'Estrees, fearing even for his couriers, he took
+the precaution of sending word to the King that he had pressing business
+to acquaint him with, which he could not trust to paper, and that he
+wished to be allowed to come to Versailles for a fortnight. The reply
+was the permission asked for, accompanied, however, with an order to
+communicate en route with the Duc de Berwick, who was about to pass to
+Barcelona.
+
+Madame des Ursins, who always found means to be informed of everything,
+immediately knew of Brancas's projected journey, and determined to get
+the start of him. At once she had sixteen relays of mules provided upon
+the Bayonne road, and suddenly sent off to France, on Holy Thursday,
+Cardinal del Giudice, grand inquisitor and minister of state, who had
+this mean complaisance for her. She thus struck two blows at once; she
+got rid, at least for a time, of a Cardinal minister who troubled her,
+and anticipated Brancas, which in our Court was no small point.
+
+Brancas, who felt all the importance of arriving first, followed the
+Cardinal on Good Friday, and moved so well that he overtook him at
+Bayonne, at night while he was asleep; Brancas passed straight on,
+charging the Commandant to amuse and to delay the Cardinal as long as
+possible on the morrow; gained ground, and arrived at Bordeaux with
+twenty-eight post-horses that he had carried off with him from various
+stations, to keep them from the Cardinal. He arrived in Paris in this
+manner two days before the other, and went straight to Marly where the
+King was, to explain the business that had led him there. He had a long
+audience with the King, and received a lodging for the rest of the visit.
+
+The Cardinal del Giudice rested four or five days at Paris, and then came
+to Marly, where he was introduced to the King. The Cardinal was somewhat
+embarrassed; he was charged with no business; all his mission was to
+praise Madame des Ursins, and complain of the Marquis de Brancas. These
+praises of Madame des Ursins were but vague; she had not sufficient
+confidence in the Cardinal to admit to him her real position in our
+Court, and to give him instructions accordingly, so that what he had to
+say was soon all said; against the Marquis de Brancas he had really no
+fact to allege, his sole crime that he was too sharp-sighted and not
+sufficiently devoted to the Princess.
+
+The Cardinal was a courtier, a man of talent, of business, of intrigue,
+who felt, with annoyance, that for a person of his condition and weight,
+such a commission as he bore was very empty. He appeared exceedingly
+agreeable in conversation, of pleasant manners, and was much liked in
+good society. He was assiduous in his attentions to the King, without
+importuning him for audiences that were unnecessary; and by all his
+conduct, he gave reason for believing that he suspected Madame des
+Ursins' decadence in our Court, and sought to gain esteem and confidence,
+so as to become by the support of the King, prime minister in Spain; but
+as we shall soon see, his ultramontane hobbies hindered the
+accomplishment of his measures. All the success of his journey consisted
+in hindering Brancas from returning to Spain. This was no great
+punishment, for Brancas had nothing more to hope for from Madame des
+Ursins, and was not a man to lose his time for nothing.
+
+Up to this period not a word had been said to the King (Louis XIV.) by
+the King of Spain upon the subject of his marriage; not a hint had been
+given that he meant to remarry, much less with a Parma princess. This
+proceeding, grafted upon the sovereignty claimed by the Princesse des
+Ursine, and all her conduct with the King of Spain since the death of the
+Queen, resolved our King to disgrace her without appeal.
+
+A remark upon Madame des Ursins, accompanied by a smile, escaped from the
+King, generally so complete a master of himself, and appeared enigmatical
+to such an extent, although striking, that Torcy, to wham it was
+addressed, understood nothing. In his surprise, he related to Castries
+what the King had said; Castries told it to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans,
+who reported it to M. d'Orleans and to me. We racked our brains to
+comprehend it, but in vain; nevertheless such an unintelligible remark
+upon a person like Madame des Ursins, who up to this time had been on
+such good terms with the King and Madame de Maintenon, did not appear to
+me to be favourable. I was confirmed in this view by what had just
+happened with regard to her sovereignty; but I was a thousand leagues
+from the thunderbolt which this lightning announced, and which only
+declared itself to us by its fall.
+
+It wits not until the 27th of June that the King was made acquainted by
+the King of Spain with his approaching marriage. Of course, through
+other channels, he had not failed to hear of it long before. He passed
+in the lightest and gentlest manner in the world over this project, and
+the mystery so long and so complete! with which it had been kept from
+him, stranger, if possible, than the marriage itself. He could not
+hinder it; but from this moment he was sure of his vengeance against her
+who had arranged and brought it about in this manner. The disgrace of
+Madame des Ursine was in fact determined on between the King and Madame
+de Maintenon, but in a manner a secret before and since, that I know
+nobody who has found out by whom or how it was carried out. It is good
+to admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions in place
+of what we are unacquainted with.
+
+I know not why, but a short time after this, the Princesse des Ursine
+conceived such strong suspicion of the lofty and enterprising spirit of
+the Princess of Parma that she repented having made this marriage; and
+wished to break it off. She brought forward; therefore, I know not what
+difficulties, and despatched a courier to Rome to Cardinal Acquaviva, who
+did the King of Spain's business there, ordering him to delay his journey
+to Parma, where he had been commanded to ask the hand of the Princess,
+and to see her provisionally espoused. But Madame des Ursins
+had changed her mind too late. The courier did not find Acquaviva at
+Rome. That Cardinal was already far away on the road to Parma, so that
+there were no means of retreat.
+
+Acquaviva was received with great honour and much magnificence; he made
+his demand, but delayed the espousals as long as he could, and this
+caused much remark. The marriage, which was to have been celebrated on
+the 25th of August, did not take place until the 15th of September.
+Immediately after the ceremony the new Queen set out for Spain.
+
+An envoy from Parma, with news of the marriage of the Princess, arrived
+at Fontainebleau on the 11th October, and had an audience with the King.
+This was rather late in the day: For dowry she had one hundred thousand
+pistoles, and three hundred thousand livres' worth of jewels. She had
+embarked for Alicante at Sestri di Levante. A violent tempest sickened
+her of the sea. She landed, therefore, at Monaco, in order to traverse
+by land Provence, Languedoc, and Guienne, so as to reach Bayonne, and see
+there the Queen Dowager of Spain; sister of her mother, and widow of
+Charles II. Desgranges, master of the ceremonies, was to meet her in
+Provence, with orders to follow her, and to command the governors,
+lieutenants-general, and intendants to follow her also, and serve her,
+though she travelled incognito.
+
+The new Queen of Spain, on arriving at Pau, found the Queen Dowager, her
+aunt, had come expressly from Bayonne to meet her. As they approached
+each other, they both descended at the same time, and after saluting,
+mounted alone into a beautiful caleche that the Queen Dowager had brought
+with her, and that she presented to her niece. They supped together
+alone. The Queen Dowager conducted her to Saint-Jean Pied-de-Port (for
+in that country, as in Spain, the entrances to mountain passes are called
+ports). They separated there, the Queen Dowager making the Queen many
+presents, among others a garniture of diamonds. The Duc de Saint-Aignan
+joined the Queen of Spain at Pau, and accompanied her by command of the
+King to Madrid. She sent Grillo, a Genoese noble, whom she has since
+made grandee of Spain, to thank the King for sending her the Duc de
+Saint-Aignan, and for the present he brought with him. The officers of
+her household had been named by Madame des Ursins.
+
+The Queen of Spain advanced towards Madrid with the attendants sent to
+accompany her. She was to be met by the King of Spain at Guadalaxara,
+which is about the same distance from Madrid as Paris is from
+Fontainebleau. He arrived there, accompanied by the attendants that the
+Princesse des Ursins had placed near him, to keep him company, and to
+allow no one else to approach him. She followed in her coach, so as to
+arrive at the same time, and immediately afterwards he shut himself up
+alone with her, and saw nobody until he went to bed. This was on the
+22nd of December. The next day the Princesse des Ursins set out with a
+small suite for a little place, seven leagues further, called Quadraque,
+where the Queen was to sleep that night. Madame des Ursins counted upon
+enjoying all the gratitude that the queen would feel for the unhoped-for
+grandeur she had obtained by her means; counted upon passing the evening
+with her, and upon accompanying her next day to Guadalaxara. She found,
+upon arriving at Quadraque, that the Queen had already reached there.
+She at once entered into a lodging that had been prepared for her,
+opposite that of the Queen. She was in a full Court dress. After
+adjusting it in a hurried manner, she went to the Queen. The coldness
+and stiffness of her reception surprised her extremely. She attributed
+it in the first place to the embarrassment of the Queen, and tried to
+melt this ice. Everybody withdrew, in order to leave the two alone.
+
+Then the conversation commenced. The Queen would not long allow Madame
+des Ursins to continue it; but burst out into reproaches against her for
+her manners, and for appearing there in a dress that showed want of
+respect for the company she was in. Madame des Ursins, whose dress was
+proper, and who, on account of her respectful manners and her discourse,
+calculated to win the Queen, believed herself to be far from meriting
+this treatment, was strangely surprised, and wished to excuse herself;
+but the Queen immediately began to utter offensive words, to cry out, to
+call aloud, to demand the officers of the guard, and sharply to; command
+Madame des Ursins to leave her presence. The latter wished to speak and
+defend herself against the reproaches she heard; but the Queen,
+increasing her fury and her menaces, cried out to her people to drive
+this mad woman from her presence and from the house; and absolutely had
+her turned out by the shoulders. Immediately afterwards, she called
+Amenzaga, lieutenant of the body-guard, and at the same time the ecuyer
+who had the control of her equipages. She ordered the first to arrest
+Madame des Ursins, and not quit her until he had placed her in a coach,
+with two sure officers of the guard and fifteen soldiers as sentinels
+over her; the second she commanded to provide instantly a coach and six,
+with two or three footmen, and send off in it the Princesse des Ursins
+towards Burgos and Bayonne, without once stopping on the road. Amenzago
+tried to represent to the Queen that the King of Spain alone had the
+power to give such commands; but she haughtily asked him if he had not
+received an order from the King of Spain to obey her in everything,
+without reserve and without comment. It was true he had received such an
+order, though nobody knew a word about it.
+
+Madame des Ursins was then immediately arrested, and put into a coach
+with one of her waiting-women, without having had time to change her
+costume or her head-dress, to take any precaution against the cold, to
+provide herself with any money or other things, and without any kind of
+refreshment in the coach, or a chemise; nothing, in fact, to change or to
+sleep in! She was shipped off thus (with two officers of the guard; who
+were ready as soon as the coach), in full Court dress, just as she left
+the Queen. In the very short and tumultuous interval which elapsed, she
+sent a message to the Queen, who flew into a fresh passion upon not being
+obeyed, and made her set out immediately.
+
+It was then nearly seven o'clock in the evening, two days before
+Christmas, the ground all covered with snow and ice, and the cold extreme
+and very sharp and bitter, as it always is in Spain. As soon as the
+Queen learned that the Princesse des Ursins was out of Quadraque, she
+wrote to the King of Spain, by an officer of the guards whom she
+despatched to Guadalaxara. The night was so dark that it was only by
+means of the snow that anything could be seen.
+
+It is not easy to represent the state of Madame des Ursins in the coach.
+An excess of astonishment and bewilderment prevailed at first, and
+suspended all other sentiment; but grief, vexation, rage, and despair,
+soon followed. In their turn succeeded sad and profound reflections upon
+a step so violent, so unheard-of, and so unjustifiable as she thought.
+Then she hoped everything from the friendship of the King of Spain and
+his confidence in her; pictured his anger and surprise, and those of the
+group of attached servitors, by whom she had surrounded him, and who
+would be so interested in exciting the King in her favour. The long
+winter's night pissed thus; the cold was, terrible, there was nothing to
+ward it off; the coachman actually lost the use of one hand. The morning
+advanced; a halt was necessary in order to bait the horses; as for the
+travellers there is nothing for them ever in the Spanish inns. You are
+simply told where each thing you want is sold. The meat is ordinarily
+alive; the wine, thick, flat, and strong; the bread bad; the water is
+often worthless; as to beds, there are some, but only for the mule-
+drivers, so that you must carry everything with you, and neither Madame
+des Ursins nor those with her had anything whatever. Eggs, where they
+could find any, were their sole resource; and these, fresh or not, simply
+boiled, supported them during all the journey.
+
+Until this halt for the horses, silence had been profound and
+uninterrupted; now it was broken. During all this long night the
+Princesse des Ursins had had leisure to think upon the course she should
+adopt, and to compose her face. She spoke of her extreme surprise, and
+of the little that had passed between her and the Queen. In like manner
+the two officers of the guard accustomed, as was all Spain, to fear and
+respect her more than their King, replied to her from the bottom of that
+abyss of astonishment from which they had not yet arisen. The horses
+being put to, the coach soon started again. Soon, too, the Princesse des
+Ursins found that the assistance she expected from the King did not
+arrive. No rest, no provisions, nothing to put on, until Saint-Jean de
+Luz was reached. As she went further on, as time passed and no news
+came, she felt she had nothing more to hope for. It may be imagined what
+rage succeeded in a woman so ambitious, so accustomed to publicly reign,
+so rapidly and shamefully precipitated from the summit of power by the
+hand that she herself had chosen as the most solid support of her
+grandeur. The Queen had not replied to the last two letters Madame des
+Ursins had written to her. This studied negligence was of bad augury,
+but who would have imagined treatment so strange and so unheard of?
+
+Her nephews, Lanti and Chalais, who had permission to join her, completed
+her dejection. Yet she was faithful to herself. Neither tears nor
+regrets, neither reproaches nor the slightest weakness escaped her; not a
+complaint even of the excessive cold, of the deprivation of all things,
+or of the extreme fatigue of such a journey. The two officers who
+guarded her could not contain their admiration.
+
+At Saint-Jean de Luz, where she arrived on the 14th of January, 1715, she
+found at last her corporeal ills at an end. She obtained a bed, change
+of dress, food, and her liberty. The guards, their officers, and the
+coach which had brought her, returned; she remained with her waiting-maid
+and her nephews. She had leisure to think what she might expect from
+Versailles. In spite of her mad sovereignty scheme so long maintained,
+and her hardihood in arranging the King of Spain's marriage without
+consulting our King, she flattered herself she should find resources in a
+Court she had so long governed. It was from Saint-Jean de Luz that she
+despatched a courier charged with letters for the King, for Madame de
+Maintenon, and for her friends. She briefly gave us an account in those
+letters of the thunderbolt which had fallen on her, and asked permission
+to come to the Court to explain herself more in detail. She waited for
+the return of her courier in this her first place of liberty and repose,
+which of itself is very agreeable. But this first courier despatched,
+she sent off Lanti with letters written less hastily, and with
+instructions. Lanti saw the King in his cabinet on the last of January,
+and remained there some moments. From him it was known that as soon as
+Madame des Ursins despatched her first courier, she had sent her
+compliments to the Queen Dowager of Spain at Bayonne, who would not
+receive them. What cruel mortifications attend a fall from a throne!
+Let us now return to Guadalaxara.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV
+
+The officer of the guards, whom the Queen despatched with a letter for
+the King of Spain as soon as Madame des Ursins was out of Quadraque,
+found the King upon the point of going to bed. He appeared moved, sent a
+short reply to the Queen, and gave no orders. The officer returned
+immediately. What is singular is, that the secret was so well kept that
+it did not transpire until the next morning at ten o'clock. It may be
+imagined what emotion seized the whole Court, and what divers movements
+there were among all at Guadalaxara. However, nobody dared to speak to
+the King, and much expectation was built upon the reply he had sent to
+the Queen. The morning passed and nothing was said; the fate of Madame
+des Ursins then became pretty evident.
+
+Chalais and Lanti made bold to ask the King for permission to go and join
+the Princess in her isolation. Not only he allowed them to do so, but
+charged them with a letter of simple civility, in which he told her he
+was very sorry for what had happened; that he had not been able to oppose
+the Queen's will; that he should continue to her her pensions, and see
+that they were punctually paid. He was as good as his word: as long as
+she lived she regularly received them.
+
+The Queen arrived at Guadalaxara on the afternoon of the day before
+Christmas day, at the hour fixed, and as though nothing had occurred.
+The King received her in the same manner on the staircase, gave her his
+hand, and immediately led her to the chapel, where the marriage was at
+once celebrated; for in Spain the custom is to marry after dinner. After
+that he led her to her chamber, and straightway went to bed; it was
+before six o'clock in the evening, and both got up again for the midnight
+mass. What passed between them upon the event of the previous evening
+was entirely unknown, and has always remained so. The day after
+Christmas day the King and Queen alone together in a coach, and followed
+by all the Court, took the road for Madrid, where there was no more talk
+of Madame des Ursins than if the King had never known her. Our King
+showed not the least surprise at the news brought to him by a courier
+despatched from Guadalaxara by the Duc de Saint-Aignan, though all the
+Court was filled with emotion and affright after having seen Madame des
+Ursins so triumphant.
+
+Let us now look about for some explanations that will enable us to pierce
+this mystery--that remark to Torcy which escaped the King, which Torcy
+could not comprehend, and which he related to Castries, who told it to
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, from whom I learned it! Can we imagine
+that a Parma princess brought up in a garret by an imperious mother,
+would have dared to take upon herself, while six leagues from the King of
+Spain whom she had never seen, a step so bold and unheard-of, when we
+consider against whom directed, a person possessing the entire confidence
+of that King and reigning openly? The thing is explained by the order,
+so unusual and so secret, that Amenzago had from the King of Spain to
+obey the Queen in everything, without reserve and without comment; an
+order that became known only at the moment when she gave orders to arrest
+Madame des Ursins and take her away.
+
+Let us remark, too, the tranquillity with which our King and the King of
+Spain received the first intelligence of this event; the inactivity of
+the latter, the coldness of his letters to Madame des Ursins, and his
+perfect indifference what became of a person who was so cherished the day
+before, and who yet was forced to travel deprived of everything, by roads
+full of ice and snow. We must recollect that when the King banished
+Madame des Ursins before, for opening the letter of the Abbe d'Estrees,
+and for the note she sent upon it, he did not dare to have his orders
+executed in the presence of the King of Spain. It was on the frontier of
+Portugal, where our King wished him to go for the express purpose, that
+the King of Spain signed the order by which the Princesse des Ursins was
+forced to withdraw from the country. Now we had a second edition of the
+same volume. Let me add what I learnt from the Marechal de Brancas, to
+whom Alberoni related, a long while after this disgrace, that one evening
+as the Queen was travelling from Parma to Spain, he found her pacing her
+chamber, with rapid step and in agitation muttering to herself, letting
+escape the name of the Princesse des Ursins, and then saying with heat,
+"I will drive her away, the first thing." He cried out to the Queen and
+sought to represent to her the danger, the madness, the inutility of the
+enterprise which overwhelmed him: "Keep all this quiet," said the Queen,
+"and never let what you have heard escape you. Not a word! I know what
+I am about."
+
+All these things together threw much light upon a catastrophe equally
+astonishing in itself and in its execution, and clearly show our King to
+have been the author of it; the King of Spain a consenting party and
+assisting by the extraordinary order given to Amenzago; and the Queen the
+actress, charged in some mariner by the two Kings to bring it about. The
+sequel in France confirmed this opinion.
+
+The fall of the Princesse des Ursins caused great changes in Spain. The
+Comtesse d'Altamire was named Camarera Mayor, in her place. She was one
+of the greatest ladies in all Spain, and was hereditary Duchess of
+Cardonne. Cellamare, nephew of Cardinal del Giudice, was named her grand
+ecuyer; and the Cardinal himself soon returned to Madrid and to
+consideration. As a natural consequence, Macanas was disgraced. He and
+Orry had orders to leave Spain, the latter without seeing the King. He
+carried with him the maledictions of the public. Pompadour, who had been
+named Ambassador in Spain only to amuse Madame des Ursins, was dismissed,
+and the Duc de Saint-Aignan invested with that character, just as he was
+about to return after having conducted the Queen to Madrid.
+
+In due time the Princesse des Ursins arrived in Paris, and took up her
+quarters in the house of the Duc de Noirmoutiers, her brother, in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique, close to mine. This journey must have appeared to her
+very different from the last she had made in France, when she was Queen
+of the Court. Few people, except her former friends and those of her
+formal cabal, came to see her; yet, nevertheless, some curious folks
+appeared, so that for the first few days there was company enough; but
+after that, solitude followed when the ill-success of her journey to
+Versailles became known. M. d'Orleans, reunited now with the King of
+Spain, felt that it was due to his interest even more than to his
+vengeance to show in a striking manner, that it was solely owing to the
+hatred and artifice of Madame des Ursins that he had fallen into such
+disfavour on account of Spain, and had been in danger of losing his head.
+Times had changed. Monseigneur was dead, the Meudon cabal annihilated;
+Madame de Maintenon had turned her back upon Madame des Ursins; thus M.
+d'Orleans was free to act as he pleased. Incited by Madame la Duchesse
+d'Orleans, and more still by Madame, he begged the King to prohibit
+Madame des Ursins from appearing anywhere (Versailles not even excepted)
+where she might meet Madame la Duchesse de Berry, Madame, Monsieur le
+Duc, and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, who at the same time strictly
+forbade their households to see her, and asked the persons to whom they
+were particularly attached to hold no intercourse with her. This made a
+great stir, openly showed that Madame des Ursins had utterly lost the
+support of Madame de Maintenon and the King, and much embarrassed her.
+
+I could not feel that M. d'Orleans was acting wrong, in thus paying off
+his wrongs for the injuries she had heaped upon him, but I represented to
+him, that as I had always been an intimate friend of Madame des Ursins,
+putting aside her conduct towards him and making no comparison between my
+attachment for him and my friendship for her, I could not forget the
+marks of consideration she had always given me, particularly in her last
+triumphant journey (as I have already explained), and that it would be
+hard if I could not see her. We capitulated then, and M. le Duc and
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans permitted me to see her twice--once
+immediately; once when she left--giving my word that I would not see her
+three times, and that Madame de Saint-Simon should not see her at all;
+which latter clause we agreed to very unwillingly, but there was no
+remedy. As I wished at least to profit by my chance, I sent word to
+Madame des Ursins, explaining the fetters that bound me, and saying that
+as I wished to see her at all events at my ease since I should see her so
+little, I would let pass the first few days and her first journey to
+Court, before asking her for an audience.
+
+My message was very well received; she had known for many years the terms
+on which I was with M. d'Orleans; she was not surprised with these
+fetters, and was grateful to me for what I had obtained. Some days after
+she had been to Versailles, I went to her at two o'clock in the day. She
+at once closed the door to all comers, and I was tete-a-tete with her
+until ten o'clock at night.
+
+It may be imagined what a number of things were passed in review during
+this long discourse. Our eight hours of conversation appeared to me like
+eight moments. She related to me her catastrophe, without mixing up the
+King or the King of Spain, of whom she spoke well; but, without violently
+attacking the Queen, she predicted what since has occurred. We separated
+at supper time, with a thousand reciprocal protestations and regret that
+Madame de Saint-Simon could not see her. She promised to inform me of
+her departure early enough to allow us to pass another day together.
+
+Her journey to Versailles did not pass off very pleasantly. She dined
+with the Duchesse de Luders, and then visited Madame de Maintenon; waited
+with her for the King, but when he came did not stop long, withdrawing to
+Madame Adam's, where she passed the night. The next day she dined with
+the Duchesse de Ventadour, and returned to Paris. She was allowed to
+give up the pension she received from the King, and in exchange to have
+her Hotel de Ville stock increased, so that it yielded forty thousand
+livres a-year. Her income, besides being doubled, was thus much more
+sure than would have been a pension from the King, which she doubted not
+M. d'Orleans, as soon as he became master, would take from her. She
+thought of retiring into Holland, but the States-General would have
+nothing to do with her, either at the Hague, or at Amsterdam. She had
+reckoned upon the Hague. She next thought of Utrecht, but was soon out
+of conceit with it, and turned her regards towards Italy.
+
+The health of the King, meanwhile, visibly declining, Madame des Ursins
+feared lest she should entirely fall into the clutches of M. d'Orleans.
+She fully resolved, therefore, to make off, without knowing, however,
+where to fix herself; and asked permission of the King to come and take
+leave of him at Marly. She came there from Paris on Tuesday, the 6th of
+August, so as to arrive as he left dinner, that is, about ten o'clock.
+She was immediately admitted into the cabinet of the King, with whom she
+remained tete-a-tete full half an hour. She passed immediately to the
+apartments of Madame de Maintenon, with whom she remained an hour; and
+then got into her coach and returned to Paris. I only knew of this
+leave-taking by her arrival at Marly, where I had some trouble in meeting
+her. As chance would have it, I went in search of her coach to ask her
+people what had become of her, and was speaking to them when, to and
+behold! she herself arrived. She seemed very glad to see me, and made me
+mount with her into her coach, where for little less than an hour we
+discoursed very freely. She did not dissimulate from me her fears; the
+coldness the King and Madame de Maintenon had testified for her through
+all their politeness; the isolation she found herself in at the Court,
+even in Paris; and the uncertainty in which she was as to the choice of a
+retreat; all this in detail, and nevertheless without complaint, without
+regret, without weakness; always reassured and superior to events, as
+though some one else were in question. She touched lightly upon Spain,
+upon the ascendency the Queen was acquiring already over the King, giving
+me to understand that it could not be otherwise; running lightly and
+modestly over the Queen, and always praising the goodness of the King of
+Spain. Fear, on account of the passers-by, put an end to our
+conversation. She was very gracious to me; expressed regret that we must
+part; proceeded to tell me when she should start in time for us to have
+another day together; sent many compliments to Madame de Saint-Simon; and
+declared herself sensible of the mark of friendship I had given her, in
+spite of my engagement with M. d'Orleans. As soon as I had seen her off,
+I went to M. d'Orleans, to whom I related what I had just done; said I
+had not paid a visit, but had had simply a meeting; that it was true I
+could not hinder myself from seeking it, without prejudice to the final
+visit he had allowed me. Neither he nor Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans
+complained. They had fully triumphed over their enemy, and were on the
+point of seeing her leave France for ever, without hope in Spain.
+
+Until now, Madame des Ursins amused by a residue of friends, increased by
+those of M. de Noirmoutiers with whom she lodged and who had money, had
+gently occupied herself with the arrangement of her affairs, changed as
+they were, and in withdrawing her effects from Spain. The fear lest she
+should find herself in the power of a Prince whom she had so cruelly
+offended, and who showed, since her arrival in France, that he felt it,
+hurried all her measures. Her terror augmented by the change in the King
+that she found at this last audience had taken place since her first.
+She no longer doubted that his end was very near; and all her attention
+was directed to the means by which she might anticipate it, and be well
+informed of his health; this she believed her sole security in France.
+Terrified anew by the accounts she received of it, she no longer gave
+herself time for anything, but precipitately set out on the 14th August,
+accompanied as far as Essonne by her two nephews. She had no time to
+inform me, so that I have never seen her since the day of our
+conversation at Marly in her coach. She did not breathe until she
+arrived at Lyons.
+
+She had abandoned the project of retiring into Holland, where the States-
+General would not have her. She herself, too, was disgusted with the
+equality of a republic, which counterbalanced in her mind the pleasure of
+the liberty enjoyed there. But she could not resolve to return to Rome,
+the theatre of her former reign, and appear there proscribed and old, as
+in an asylum. She feared, too, a bad reception, remembering the quarrels
+that had taken place between the Courts of Rome and Spain. She had lost
+many friends and acquaintances; in fifteen years of absence all had
+passed away, and she felt the trouble she might be subjected to by the
+ministers of the Emperor, and by those of the two Crowns, with their
+partisans. Turin was not a Court worthy of her; the King of Sardinia had
+not always been pleased with her, and they knew too much for each other.
+At Venice she would have been out of her element.
+
+Whilst agitated in this manner, without being able to make up her mind,
+she learned that the King was in extreme danger, a danger exaggerated by
+rumour. Fear seized her lest he should die whilst she was in his realm.
+She set off immediately, therefore, without knowing where to go; and
+solely to leave France went to Chambery, as the nearest place of safety,
+arriving there out of breath, so to say.
+
+Every place being well examined, she preferred Genoa; its liberty pleased
+her; there was intercourse there with a rich and numerous nobility; the
+climate and the city were beautiful; the place was in some sort a centre
+and halting-point between Madrid, Paris, and Rome, with which places she
+was always in communication, and always hungered after all that passed
+there. Genoa determined on, she went there. She was well received,
+hoped to fix her tabernacle there, and indeed stayed some years. But at
+last ennui seized her; perhaps vexation at not being made enough of. She
+could not exist without meddling, and what is there for a superannuated
+woman to meddle with at Genoa? She turned her thoughts, therefore,
+towards Rome. Then, on sounding, found her course clear, quitted Genoa,
+and returned to her nest.
+
+She was not long there before she attached herself to the King and Queen
+of England (the Pretender and his wife), and soon governed them openly.
+What a poor resource! But it was courtly and had a flavour of occupation
+for a woman who could not exist without movement. She finished her life
+there remarkably healthy in mind and body, and in a prodigious opulence,
+which was not without its use in that deplorable Court. For the rest,
+Madame des Ursins was in mediocre estimation at Rome, was deserted by the
+Spanish, little visited by the French, but always faithfully paid by
+France and Spain, and unmolested by the Regent. She was always occupied
+with the world, and with what she had been, but was no longer; yet
+without meanness, nay, with courage and dignity.
+
+The loss she experienced in January, 1720, of the Cardinal de la
+Tremoille, although there was no real friendship between them, did not
+fail, to create a void in her. She survived him three years, preserved
+all her health, her strength, her mind until death, and was carried off,
+more than eighty years of age, at Rome, on the 5th of December, 1722,
+after a very short illness.
+
+She had the pleasure of seeing Madame de Maintenon forgotten and
+annihilated in Saint-Cyr, of surviving her, of seeing at Rome her two
+enemies, Giudice and Alberoni, as profoundly disgraced as she,--one
+falling from the same height, and of relishing the forgetfulness, not to
+say contempt, into which they both sank. Her death, which, a few years
+before, would have resounded throughout all Europe, made not the least
+sensation. The little English Court regretted her, and some private
+friends also, of whom I was one. I did not hide this, although,--on
+account of M. le Duc d'Orleans, I had kept up no intercourse with her;
+for the rest, nobody seemed to perceive she had disappeared. She was,
+nevertheless, so extraordinary a person, during all the course of her
+long life, everywhere, and had so grandly figured, although in various
+ways; had such rare intellect, courage, industry, and resources; reigned
+so publicly and so absolutely in Spain; and had a character so sustained
+and so unique, that her life deserves to be written, and would take a
+place among the most curious fragments of the history of the times in
+which she lived.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+But I must return somewhat now, in order to make way for a crowd of
+events which have been pressing forward all this time, but which I have
+passed by, in going straightforward at once to the end of Madame des
+Ursins' history.
+
+On Monday, the 30th April, 1714., the King took medicine, and worked
+after dinner with Pontchartrain. This was at Marly. About six o'clock,
+he went to M. le Duc de Berry, who had had fever all night. M. le Duc de
+Berry had risen without saying anything, had been with the King at the
+medicine-hour, and intended to go stag-hunting; but on leaving the King's
+chamber shivering seized him, and forced him to go back again. He was
+bled while the King was in his chamber, and the blood was found very bad;
+when the King went to bed the doctors told him the illness was of a
+nature to make them hope that it might be a case of contagion. M. le Duc
+de Berry had vomited a good deal--a black vomit. Fagon said,
+confidently, that it was from the blood; the other doctors fastened upon
+some chocolate he had taken on the Sunday. From this day forward I knew
+what was the matter. Boulduc, apothecary of the King, and extremely
+attached to Madame de Saint-Simon and to me, whispered in my ear that M.
+le Duc de Berry would not recover, and that, with some little difference,
+his malady was the same as that of which the Dauphin and Dauphine died.
+He repeated this the next day, and never once varied afterwards; saying
+to me on the third day, that none of the doctors who attended the Prince
+were of a different opinion, or hid from him what they thought.
+
+On Tuesday, the 1st of May, the Prince was bled in the foot at seven
+o'clock in the morning, after a very bad night; took emetics twice, which
+had a good effect; then some manna; but still there were two accesses.
+The King went to the sick-room afterwards, held a finance council, would
+not go shooting, as he had arranged, but walked in his gardens. The
+doctors, contrary to their custom, never reassured him. The night was
+cruel. On Wednesday; the 2nd of May, the King went, after mass, to M. le
+Duc de Berry, who had been again bled in the foot. The King held the
+Council of State, as usual, dined in Madame de Maintenon's rooms, and
+afterwards reviewed his Guards. Coettenfao, chevalier d'honneur of
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, came during the morning to beg the King, in
+her name, that Chirac, a famous doctor of M. d'Orleans, should be allowed
+to see M. le Duc de Berry. The King refused, on the ground that all the
+other doctors were in accord, and that Chirac, who might differ with
+them, would embarrass them. After dinner Mesdames de Pompadour and La
+Vieuville arrived, on the part of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, to beg the
+King that she might be allowed to come and see her husband, saying that
+she would come on foot rather than stay away. It would have been better,
+surely, for her to come in a coach, if she so much wished, and, before
+alighting, to send to the King for permission so to do. But the fact is,
+she had no more desire to come than M. de Berry had to see her. He never
+once mentioned her name, or spoke of her, even indirectly. The King
+replied to those ladies by saying that he would not close the door
+against Madame la Duchesse de Berry, but, considering the state she was
+in, he thought it would be very imprudent on her part to come. He
+afterwards told M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans to go to
+Versailles and hinder her from coming. Upon returning from the review
+the King went again to see M. le Duc de Berry. He had been once more
+bled in the arm, had vomited all day much blood too--and had taken some
+Robel water three times, in order to stop his sickness. This vomiting
+put off the communion. Pere de la Rue had been by his side ever since
+Tuesday morning, and found him very patient and resigned.
+
+On Thursday, the 3rd, after a night worse than ever, the doctors said
+they did not doubt that a vein had been broken in the stomach. It was
+reported that this accident had happened by an effort M. de Berry made
+when out hunting on the previous Thursday, the day the Elector of Bavaria
+arrived. His horse slipped; in drawing the animal up, his body struck
+against the pommel of the saddle, so it was said, and ever since he had
+spit blood every day. The vomiting ceased at nine o'clock in the
+morning, but the patient was no better. The King, who was going stag-
+hunting, put it off. At six o'clock at night M. de Berry was so choked
+that he could no longer remain in bed; about eight o'clock he found
+himself so relieved that he said to Madame, he hoped he should not die;
+but soon after, the malady increased so much that Pere de la Rue said it
+was no longer time to think of anything but God, and of receiving the
+sacrament. The poor Prince himself seemed to desire it.
+
+A little after ten o'clock at night the King went to the chapel, where a
+consecrated Host had been kept prepared ever since the commencement of
+the illness. M. le Duc de Berry received it, with extreme unction, in
+presence of the King, with much devotion and respect. The King remained
+nearly an hour in the chamber, supped alone in his own, did not receive
+the Princesses afterwards, but went to bed. M. le Duc d'Orleans, at ten
+o'clock in the morning, went again to Versailles, as Madame la Duchesse
+de Berry wished still to come to Marly. M. le Duc de Berry related to
+Pere de la Rue, who at least said so, the accident just spoken of; but,
+it was added, "his head was then beginning to wander." After losing the
+power of speech, he took the crucifix Pere de la Rue held, kissed it, and
+placed it upon his heart. He expired on Friday, the 4th of May, 1714, at
+four o'clock in the morning, in his twenty-eighth year, having been born
+at Versailles, the last day of August, 1686.
+
+M. le Duc de Berry was of ordinary height, rather fat, of a beautiful
+blonde complexion, with a fresh, handsome face, indicating excellent
+health. He was made for society, and for pleasure, which he loved; the
+best, gentlest, most compassionate and accessible of men, without pride,
+and without vanity, but not without dignity or self-appreciation. He was
+of medium intellect, without ambition or desire, but had very good sense,
+and was capable of listening, of understanding, and of always taking the
+right side in preference to the wrong, however speciously put. He loved
+truth, justice, and reason; all that was contrary to religion pained him
+to excess, although he was not of marked piety. He was not without
+firmness, and hated constraint. This caused it to be feared that he was
+not supple enough for a younger son, and, indeed, in his early youth he
+could not understand that there was any difference between him and his
+eldest brother, and his boyish quarrels often caused alarm.
+
+He was the most gay, the most frank, and consequently the most loved of
+the three brothers; in his youth nothing was spoken of but his smart
+replies to Madame and M. de la Rochefoucauld. He laughed at preceptors
+and at masters--often at punishment. He scarcely knew anything except
+how to read and write; and learned nothing after being freed from the
+necessity of learning. This ignorance so intimidated him, that he could
+scarcely open his mouth before strangers, or perform the most ordinary
+duties of his rank; he had persuaded himself that he was an ass and a
+fool; fit for nothing. He was so afraid of the King that he dared not
+approach him, and was so confused if the King looked hard at him, or
+spoke of other things than hunting, or gaming, that he scarcely
+understood a word, or could collect his thoughts. As may be imagined,
+such fear does not go hand in hand with deep affection.
+
+He commenced life with Madame la Duchesse de Berry as do almost all those
+who marry very young and green. He became extremely amorous of her;
+this, joined to his gentleness and natural complaisance, had the usual
+effect, which was to thoroughly spoil her. He was not long in perceiving
+it; but love was too strong for him. He found a woman proud, haughty,
+passionate, incapable of forgiveness, who despised him, and who allowed
+him to see it, because he had infinitely less head than she; and because,
+moreover, she was supremely false and strongly determined. She piqued
+herself upon both these qualities, and on her contempt for religion,
+ridiculing M. le Duc de Berry for being devout; and all these things
+became insupportable to him. Her gallantries were so prompt, so rapid,
+so unmeasured, that he could not help seeing them. Her endless private
+interviews with M. le Duc d'Orleans, in which everything languished if he
+was present, made him furious. Violent scenes frequently took place
+between them; the last, which occurred at Rambouillet, went so far that
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry received a kick * * * * , and a menace that
+she should be shut up in a convent for the rest of her life; and when M.
+le Duc de Berry fell ill, he was thumbing his hat, like a child, before
+the King, relating all his grievances, and asking to be delivered from
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry. Hitherto I have only alluded to Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry, but, as will be seen, she became so singular a person
+when her father was Regent, that I will here make her known more
+completely than I have yet done.
+
+She was tall, handsome, well made, with, however, but little grace, and
+had something in her, eyes which made you fear what she was. Like her
+father and mother, she spoke well and with facility. Timid in trifles,
+yet in other things terrifyingly bold,--foolishly haughty sometimes, and
+sometimes mean to the lowest degree,--it may be said that she was a model
+of all the vices, avarice excepted; and was all the more dangerous
+because she had art and talent. I am not accustomed to over-colour the
+picture I am obliged to present to render things understood, and it will
+easily be perceived how strictly I am reserved upon the ladies, and upon
+all gallantries, not intimately associated with what may be called
+important matters. I should be so here, more than in any other case,
+from self-love, if not from respect for the sex and dignity of the
+person. The considerable part I played in bringing about Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry's marriage, and the place that Madame de Saint-Simon,
+in spite of herself and of me, occupied in connection with her, would be
+for me reasons more than enough for silence, if I did not feel that
+silence would throw obscurity over all the sequel of this history. It is
+then to the truth that I sacrifice my self-love, and with the same
+truthfulness I will say that if I had known or merely suspected, that the
+Princess was so bad as she showed herself directly after her marriage,
+and always more and more since, she would never have become Duchesse de
+Berry.
+
+I have already told how she annoyed M. le Duc de Berry by ridiculing his
+devotion. In other ways she put his patience to severe trials, and more
+than once was in danger of public exposure. She partook of few meals in
+private, at which she did not get so drunk as to lose consciousness, and
+to bring up all she had taken on every side. The presence of M. le Duc
+de Berry, of M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, of ladies with
+whom she was not on familiar terms, in no way restrained her. She
+complained even of M. le Duc de Berry for not doing as she did. She
+often treated her father with a haughtiness which was terrifying on all
+accounts.
+
+In her gallantries she was as unrestrained as in other things. After
+having had several favourites, she fixed herself upon La Haye, who from
+King's page had become private ecuyer of M. le Duc de Berry. The oglings
+in the Salon of Marly were perceived by everybody; nothing restrained
+them. At last, it must be said, for this fact encloses all the rest, she
+wished La Haye to run away with her from Versailles to the Low Countries,
+whilst M. le Duc de Berry and the King were both living. La Haye almost
+died with fright at this proposition, which she herself made to him. His
+refusal made her furious. From the most pressing entreaties she came to
+all the invectives that rage could suggest, and that torrents of tears
+allowed her to pronounce. La Haye had to suffer her attacks--now tender,
+now furious; he was in the most mortal embarrassment. It was a long time
+before she could be cured of her mad idea, and in the meanwhile she
+subjected the poor fellow to the most frightful persecution. Her passion
+for La Haye continued until the death of M. le Duc de Berry, and some
+time after.
+
+M. le Duc de Berry was buried at Saint-Denis on Wednesday, the 16th of
+May; M. le Duc d'Orleans was to have headed the procession, but the same
+odious reports against him that had circulated at the death of the
+Dauphin had again appeared, and he begged to be let off. M. le Duc
+filled his place. Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who was in the family
+way, kept her bed; and in order that she should not be seen there when
+people came to pay her the usual visits of condolence, the room was kept
+quite dark. Many ridiculous scenes and much indecent laughter, that
+could not be restrained, thus arose. Persons accustomed to the room
+could see their way, but those unaccustomed stumbled at every step, and
+had need of guidance. For want of this, Pere du Trevoux, and Pere
+Tellier after him, both addressed their compliments to the wall; others
+to the foot of the bed. This became a secret amusement, but happily did
+not last long.
+
+As may be imagined, the death of M. le Duc de Berry was a deliverance for
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry. She was, as I have said, in the family way;
+she hoped for a boy, and counted upon enjoying as a widow more liberty
+than she had been able to take as a wife. She had a miscarriage,
+however, on Saturday, the 16th of June, and was delivered of a daughter
+which lived only twelve hours. The little corpse was buried at Saint-
+Denis, Madame de Saint-Simon at the head of the procession. Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry, shortly before this event, received two hundred
+thousand livres income of pension; but the establishment she would have
+had if the child had been a boy was not allowed her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII.
+
+It is time now that I should say something about an event that caused an
+immense stir throughout the land, and was much talked of even in foreign
+parts. I must first introduce, however, a sort of a personage whose
+intimacy was forced upon me at this period; for the two incidents are in
+a certain degree associated together.
+
+M. d'Orleans for some little time had continually represented to me, how
+desirous one of his acquaintances was to secure my friendship. This
+acquaintance was Maisons, president in the parliament, grandson of that
+superintendent of the finances who built the superb chateau of Maisons,
+and son of the man who had presided so unworthily at the judgment of our
+trial with M. de Luxembourg, which I have related in its place. Maisons
+was a person of much ambition, exceedingly anxious to make a name,
+gracious and flattering in manners to gain his ends, and amazingly fond
+of grand society.
+
+The position of Maisons, where he lived, close to Marly, afforded him
+many opportunities of drawing there the principal people of the Court.
+It became quite the fashion to go from Marly to his chateau. The King
+grew accustomed to hear the place spoken of, and was in no way
+displeased. Maisons had managed to become very intimate with M. le Duc
+and M. le Prince de Conti. These two princes being dead, he turned his
+thoughts towards M, d'Orleans. He addressed himself to Canillac, who had
+always been an intimate friend of M. d'Orleans, and by him soon gained
+the intimacy of that prince. But he was not yet satisfied. He wished to
+circumvent M. d'Orleans more completely than he could by means of
+Canillac. He cast his eye, therefore, upon me. I think he was afraid of
+me on account of what I have related concerning his father. He had an
+only son about the same age as my children. For a long time he had made
+all kinds of advances, and visited them often. The son's intimacy did
+not, however, assist the father; so that at last Maisons made M. le Duc
+d'Orleans speak to me himself.
+
+I was cold; tried to get out of the matter with compliments and excuses.
+M. d'Orleans, who believed he had found a treasure in his new
+acquaintance, returned to the charge; but I was not more docile. A few
+days after, I was surprised by an attack of the same kind from M. de
+Beauvilliers. How or when he had formed an intimacy with Maisons, I have
+never been able to unravel; but formed it, he had; and he importuned me
+so much, nay exerted his authority over me, that at last I found I must
+give way. Not to offend M. d'Orleans by yielding to another after having
+refused to yield to him, I waited until he should again speak to me on
+the subject, so that he might give himself the credit of vanquishing me.
+I did not wait long. The Prince attacked me anew, maintained that
+nothing would be more useful to him than an intimacy between myself and
+Maisons, who scarcely dared to see him, except in secret, and with whom
+he had not the same leisure or liberty for discussing many things that
+might present themselves. I had replied to all this before; but as I had
+resolved to surrender to the Prince (after the authority of the Duc de
+Beauvilliers had vanquished me), I complied with his wish.
+
+Maisons was soon informed of it, and did not let my resolution grow,
+cold. M. le Duc d'Orleans urged me to go and sleep a night in Paris.
+Upon arriving there, I found a note from Maisons, who had already sent an
+ocean of compliments to me by the Prince and the Duke. This note, for
+reasons to be told me afterwards, appointed a meeting at eleven o'clock
+this night, in the plain behind the Invalides, in a very mysterious
+manner. I went there with an old coachman of my mother's and a lackey to
+put my people off the scent. There was a little moonlight. Maisons in a
+small carriage awaited me. We soon met. He mounted into my coach. I
+never could comprehend the mystery of this meeting. There was nothing on
+his part but advances, compliments, protestations, allusions to the
+former interview of our fathers; only such things, in fact, as a man of
+cleverness and breeding says when he wishes to form a close intimacy with
+any one. Not a word that he said was of importance or of a private
+nature.
+
+I replied in the civillest manner possible to the abundance he bestowed
+upon me. I expected afterwards something that would justify the hour,
+the place, the mystery, in a word, of our interview. What was my
+surprise to hear no syllable upon these points. The only reason Maisons
+gave for our secret interview was that from that time he should be able
+to come and see me at Versailles with less inconvenience, and gradually
+increase the number and the length of his visits until people grew
+accustomed to see him there! He then begged me not to visit him in
+Paris, because his house was always too full of people. This interview
+lasted little less than half an hour. It was long indeed, considering
+what passed. We separated with much politeness, and the first time he
+went to Versailles he called upon me towards the middle of the day.
+
+In a short time he visited me every Sunday. Our conversation by degrees
+became more serious. I did not fail to be on my guard, but drew him out
+upon various subjects; he being very willing.
+
+We were on this footing when, returning to my room at Marly about midday-
+on Sunday, the 29th of July, I found a lackey of Maisons with a note from
+him, in which he conjured me to quit all business and come immediately to
+his house at Paris, where he would wait for me alone, and where I should
+find that something was in question, that could not suffer the slightest
+delay, that could not even be named in writing, and which was of the most
+extreme importance. This lackey had long since arrived, and had sent my
+people everywhere in search of me. I was engaged that day to dine with
+M. and Madame de Lauzun. To have broken my engagement would have been to
+set the curiosity and the malignity of M. de Lauzun at work. I dared not
+disappear; therefore I gave orders to my coachman, and as soon as I had
+dined I vanished. Nobody saw me get into my chaise; and I quickly
+arrived at Paris, and immediately hastened to Maisons' with eagerness
+easy to imagine.
+
+I found him alone with the Duc de Noailles. At the first glance I saw
+two dismayed men, who said to me in an exhausted manner, but after a
+heated though short preface, that the King had declared his two bastards
+and their male posterity to all eternity, real princes of the blood, with
+full liberty to assume all their dignities, honours, and rank, and
+capacity to succeed to the throne in default of the others.
+
+At this news, which I did not expect, and the secret of which had
+hitherto been preserved, without a particle of it transpiring, my arms
+fell. I lowered my head and remained profoundly silent, absorbed in my
+reflections. They were soon disturbed by cries which aroused me. These
+two men commenced pacing the chamber; stamped with their feet; pushed and
+struck the furniture; raged as though each wished to be louder than the
+other, and made the house echo with their noise. I avow that so much
+hubbub seemed suspicious to me on the part of two men, one so sage and so
+measured, and to whom this rank was of no consequence; the other always
+so tranquil, so crafty, so master of himself. I knew not why this sudden
+fury succeeded to such dejected oppression; and I was not without
+suspicion that their passion was put on merely to excite mine. If this
+was their design, it succeeded ill. I remained in my chair, and coldly
+asked them what was the matter. My tranquillity sharpened their fury.
+Never in my life have I seen anything so surprising.
+
+I asked them if they had gone mad, and if instead of this tempest it
+would not be better to reason, and see whether something could not be
+done. They declared it was precisely because nothing could be done
+against a thing not only resolved on, but executed, declared, and sent to
+the Parliament, that they were so furious; that M. le Duc d'Orleans, on
+the terms he was with the King, would not dare even to whisper
+objections; that the Princes of the blood, mere children as they were,
+could only tremble; that the Dukes had no means of opposition, and that
+the Parliament was reduced to silence and slavery. Thereupon they set to
+work to see who could cry the louder and reviled again, sparing neither
+things nor persons.
+
+I, also, was in anger, but this racket kept me cool and made me smile.
+I argued with them and said, that after all I preferred to see the
+bastards princes of the blood, capable of succeeding to the throne, than
+to see them in the intermediary rank they occupied. And it is true that
+as soon as I had cooled myself, I felt thus.
+
+At last the storm grew calm, and they told me that the Chief-President
+and the Attorney-General--who, I knew, had been at Marly very early in
+the morning at the Chancellor's--had seen the King in his cabinet soon
+after he rose, and had brought back the declaration, all prepared.
+Maisons must, however, have known this earlier; because when the lackey
+he sent to me set out from Paris, those gentlemen could not have returned
+there. Our talk led to nothing, and I regained Marly in all haste, in
+order that my absence might not be remarked.
+
+Nevertheless it was towards the King's supper hour when I arrived. I
+went straight to the salon, and found it very dejected. People looked,
+but scarcely dared to approach each other; at the most, a sign or a
+whisper in the ear, as the courtiers brushed by one another, was ventured
+out. I saw the King sit down to table; he seemed to me more haughty than
+usual, and continually looked all around. The news had only been known
+one hour; everybody was still congealed and upon his guard.
+
+As soon as the King was seated (he had looked very hard at me in passing)
+I went straight to M. du Maine's. Although the hour was unusual, the
+doors fell before me; I saw a man, who received me with joyful surprise,
+and who, as it were, moved through the air towards me, all lame that he
+was. I said that I came to offer him a sincere compliment, that we (the
+Dukes) claimed no precedence over the Princes of the blood; but what we
+claimed was, that there should be nobody between the Princes of the blood
+and us; that as this intermediary rank no longer existed, we had nothing
+more to say, but to rejoice that we had no longer to support what was
+insupportable. The joy of M. du Maine burst forth at my compliments, and
+he startled me with a politeness inspired by the transport of triumph.
+
+But if he was delighted at the declaration of the King, it was far
+otherwise with the world. Foreign dukes and princes fumed, but
+uselessly. The Court uttered dull murmurs more than could have been
+expected. Paris and the provinces broke out; the Parliament did not keep
+silent. Madame de Maintenon, delighted with her work, received the
+adoration of her familiars.
+
+As for me, I will content myself with but few reflections upon this most
+monstrous, astounding, and frightful determination of the King. I will
+simply say, that it is impossible not to see in it an attack upon the
+Crown; contempt for the entire nation, whose rights are trodden under
+foot by it; insult to all the Princes of the blood; in fact the crime of
+high treason in its most rash and most criminal extent. Yes! however
+venerable God may have rendered in the eyes of men the majesty of Kings
+and their sacred persons, which are his anointed; however execrable may
+be the crime known as high treason, of attempting their lives; however
+terrible and singular may be the punishments justly invented to prevent
+that crime, and to remove by their horror the most infamous from the
+infernal resolution of committing it, we cannot help finding in the crime
+in question a plenitude not in the other, however abominable it may be:
+Yes! to overthrow the most holy laws, that have existed ever since the
+establishment of monarchy; to extinguish a right the most sacred--the
+most important--the most inherent in the nation: to make succession to
+the throne, purely, supremely, and despotically arbitrary; in a word, to
+make of a bastard a crown prince, is a crime more black, more vast, more
+terrible, than that of high treason against the chief of the State.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII
+
+But let me now explain by what means the King was induced to arrive at,
+and publish this terrible determination.
+
+He was growing old, and though no external change in him was visible,
+those near him had for some time begun to fear that he could not live
+long. This is not the place to descant upon a health hitherto so good
+and so even: suffice it to mention, that it silently began to give way.
+Overwhelmed by the most violent reverses of fortune after being so long
+accustomed to success, the King was even more overwhelmed by domestic
+misfortunes. All his children had disappeared before him, and left him
+abandoned to the most fatal reflections. At every moment he himself
+expected the same kind of death. Instead of finding relief from his
+anguish among those who surrounded him, and whom he saw most frequently,
+he met with nothing but fresh trouble there. Excepting Marechal, his
+chief surgeon, who laboured unceasingly to cure him of his suspicions,
+Madame de Maintenon, M. du Maine, Fagon, Bloin, the other principal
+valets sold to the bastard and his former governors,--all sought to
+augment these suspicions; and in truth it was not difficult to do so.
+Nobody doubted that poison had been used, nobody could seriously doubt
+it; and Marechal, who was as persuaded as the rest, held a different
+opinion before the King only to deliver him from a useless torment which
+could not but do him injury. But M. du Maine, and Madame de Maintenon
+also, had too much interest to maintain him in this fear, and by their
+art filled him with horror against M. d'Orleans, whom they named as the
+author of these crimes, so that the King with this prince before his eyes
+every day, was in a perpetual state of alarm.
+
+With his children the King had lost, and by the same way, a princess, who
+in addition to being the soul and ornament of his court, was, moreover,
+all his amusement, all his joy, all his affection, in the hours when he
+was not in public. Never, since he entered the world, had he become
+really familiar with any one but her; it has been seen elsewhere to what
+extent. Nothing could fill up this great void: The bitterness of being
+deprived of her augmented, because he could find no diversion. This
+unfortunate state made him seek relief everywhere in abandoning himself
+more and more to Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine.
+
+They soon managed to obtain possession of him, as it were, entirely;
+leaving no art unexhausted in order to flatter, to amuse, to please, and
+to interest him. He was made to believe that M. du Maine was utterly
+without ambition; like a good father of a family, solely occupied with
+his children, touched with the grandeur of his nearness to the King,
+simple, frank, upright, and one who after working at his duties all day,
+and after giving himself time for prayer and piety, amused himself in
+hunting, and drew upon his natural gaiety and cheerfulness, without
+knowing anything of the Court, or of what was passing! Compare this
+portrait with his real character, and we shall feel with terror what a
+rattlesnake was introduced into the King's privacy.
+
+Established thus in the mind and heart of the King, the opportunity
+seemed ripe for profiting by precious time that could not last long.
+Everybody smiled upon the project of M. du Maine and Madame de Maintenon.
+They had rendered M. d'Orleans odious in the eyes of the King and of the
+whole country, by the most execrable calumnies. How could he defend
+himself? shut up as the King was, how oppose them? how interfere with
+their dark designs? M. du Maine wished not only to be made prince of the
+blood, but to be made guardian of the heir to the throne, so as to dwarf
+the power of the Regent as much as possible. He flattered himself that
+the feeling he had excited against M. d'Orleans in the Court, in Paris,
+and in the provinces would be powerfully strengthened by dispositions so
+dishonourable; that he should find himself received as the guardian and
+protector of the life of the royal infant, to whom was attached the
+salvation of France, of which he would then become the idol; that the
+independent possession of the young King, and of his military and civil
+households, would strengthen with the public applause the power with
+which he would be invested in the state by this testament; that the
+Regent, reviled and stripped in this manner, not only would be in no
+condition to dispute anything, but would be unable to defend himself from
+any attempts the bastard might afterwards make against him. M. du Maine
+wished in fact to take from M. d'Orleans everything, except the name of
+Regent, and to divide all the power between himself and his brother.
+Such was his scheme, that the King by incredible art was induced to
+sanction and approve.
+
+But the schemers had tough work before they obtained this success.
+They found that the King would not consent to their wishes without much
+opposition. They hit upon a devilish plan to overpower his resistance.
+Hitherto, they had only been occupied in pleasing him, in amusing him,
+in anticipating his wishes, in praising him--let me say the word--
+in adoring him. They had redoubled their attention, since, by the
+Dauphine's death, they had become his sole resource.
+
+Not being able now to lead him as they wished, but determined to do so at
+all cost, they adopted another system, certain as they were that they
+could do so with impunity. Both became serious, often times dejected,
+silent, furnishing nothing to the conversation, letting pass what the
+King forced himself to say, sometimes not even replying, if it was not a
+direct interrogation. In this manner all the leisure hours of the King
+were rendered dull and empty; his amusements and diversions were made
+fatiguing and sad and a weight was cast upon him, which he was the more
+unable to bear because it was quite new to him, and he was utterly
+without means to remove it. The few ladies who were admitted to the
+intimacy of the King knew not what to make of the change they saw in
+Madame de Maintenon. They were duped at first by the plea of illness;
+but seeing at last that its duration passed all bounds, that it had no
+intermission, that her face announced no malady, that her daily life was
+in no way deranged, that the King became as serious and as sad as she,
+they sounded each other to find out the cause. Fear, lest it should be
+something in which they, unknowingly, were concerned, troubled them; so
+that they became even worse company to the King than Madame de Maintenon.
+
+There was no relief for the King. All his resource was in the
+commonplace talk of the Comte de Toulouse, who was not amusing, although
+ignorant of the plot, and the stories of his valets, who lost tongue as
+soon as they perceived that they were not seconded by the Duc du Maine in
+his usual manner. Marechal and all the rest, astonished at the
+mysterious dejection of the Duc du Maine, looked at each other without
+being able to divine the cause. They saw that the King was sad and
+bored; they trembled for his health, but not one of them dared to do
+anything. Time ran on, and the dejection of M. du Maine and Madame de
+Maintenon increased. This is as far as the most instructed have ever
+been able to penetrate. To describe the interior scenes that doubtless
+passed during the long time this state of things lasted, would be to
+write romance. Truth demands that we should relate what we know, and
+admit what we are ignorant of. I cannot go farther, therefore, or pierce
+deeper into the density of these dark mysteries.
+
+What is certain is, that cheerfulness came back all at once, with the
+same surprise to the witnesses of it, as the long-continued dejection had
+caused them, simply because they understood no more of the end than of
+the commencement. The double knowledge did not come to them until they
+heard the frightful crash of the thunderbolt which fell upon France, and
+astonished all Europe.
+
+To give some idea of the opposition from the King, M. du Maine and Madame
+de Maintenon had to overcome, and to show how reluctantly he consented to
+their wishes, more than one incident may be brought forward. Some days
+before the news transpired, the King, full of the enormity of what he had
+just done for his bastards, looked at them in his cabinet, in presence of
+the valets, and of D'Antin and D'O, and in a sharp manner, that told of
+vexation, and with a severe glance, suddenly thus addressed himself to M.
+du Maine:
+
+"You have wished it; but know that however great I may make you, and you
+may be in my lifetime, you are nothing after me; and it will be for you
+then to avail yourself of what I have done for you, if you can."
+
+Everybody present trembled at a thunder-clap so sudden, so little
+expected, so entirely removed from the character and custom of the King,
+and which showed so clearly the extreme ambition of the Duc du Maine, and
+the violence he had done to the weakness of the King, who seemed to
+reproach himself for it, and to reproach the bastard for his ambition and
+tyranny. The consternation of M. du Maine seemed extreme at this rough
+sally, which no previous remark had led to. The King had made a clean
+breast of it. Everybody fixed his eyes upon the floor and held his
+breath. The silence was profound for a considerable time: it finished
+only when the King passed into his wardrobe. In his absence everybody
+breathed again. The King's heart was full to bursting with what he had
+just been made to do; but like a woman who gives birth to two children,
+he had at present brought but one into the world, and bore a second of
+which he must be delivered, and of which he felt all the pangs without
+any relief from the suffering the first had caused him.
+
+Again, on Sunday, the 27th August, the Chief-President and the Attorney-
+General were sent for by the King. He was at Versailles. As soon as
+they were alone with him, he took from a drawer, which he unlocked, a
+large and thick packet, sealed with seven seals (I know not if by this M.
+du Maine wished to imitate the mysterious book with Seven Seals, of the
+Apocalypse, and so sanctify the packet). In handing it to them, the King
+said: "Gentlemen, this is my will. No one but myself knows its contents.
+I commit it to you to keep in the Parliament, to which I cannot give a
+greater testimony of my esteem and confidence than by rendering it the
+depository of it. The example of the Kings my predecessors, and that of
+the will of the King, my father, do not allow me to be ignorant of what
+may become of this; but they would have it; they have tormented me; they
+have left me no repose, whatever I might say. Very well! I have bought
+my repose. Here is the will; take it away: come what may of it, at
+least, I shall have rest, and shall hear no more about it."
+
+At this last word, that he finished with a dry nod, he turned his back
+upon them, passed into another cabinet, and left them both nearly turned
+into statues. They looked at each other frozen by what they had just
+heard, and still more by what they had just seen in the eyes and the
+countenance of the King; and as soon as they had collected their senses,
+they retired, and went to Paris. It was not known until after dinner
+that the King had made a will and given it to them. In proportion as the
+news spread, consternation filled the Court, while the flatterers, at
+bottom as much alarmed as the rest, and as Paris was afterwards,
+exhausted themselves in praises and eulogies.
+
+The next day, Monday, the 28th, the Queen of England came from Chaillot,
+where she almost always was, to Madame de Maintenon's. As soon as the
+King perceived her, "Madame," said he to her, like a man full of
+something and angry, "I have made my will; I have been tormented to do
+it;" then casting his eyes upon Madame de Maintenon, "I have bought
+repose; I know the powerlessness and inutility of it. We can do all we
+wish while we live; afterwards we are less than the meanest. You have
+only to see what became of my father's will immediately after his death,
+and the wills of so many other Kings. I know it well; but nevertheless
+they have wished it; they gave me no rest nor repose, no calm until it
+was done; ah, well! then, Madame, it is done; come what may of it, I
+shall be no longer tormented."
+
+Words such as these so expressive of the extreme violence suffered by the
+King, of his long and obstinate battle before surrendering, of his
+vexation, and uneasiness, demand the clearest proofs. I had them from
+people who heard them, and would not advance them unless I were perfectly
+persuaded of their exactness.
+
+As soon as the Chief-President and the Attorney-General returned to
+Paris, they sent for some workmen, whom they led into a tower of the
+Palace of justice, behind the Buvette, or drinking-place of the grand
+chamber and the cabinet of the Chief-President. They had a big hole made
+in the wall of this tower, which is very thick, deposited the testament
+there, closed up the opening with an iron door, put an iron grating by
+way of second door, and then walled all up together. The door and the
+grating each had three locks, the same for both; and a different key for
+each of the three, which consequently opened each of the two locks, the
+one in the door and the one in the grating. The Chief-President kept one
+key, the Attorney-General another, and the Chief-Greffier of the
+Parliament the third. The Parliament was assembled and the Chief-
+President flattered the members as best he might upon the confidence
+shown them in entrusting them with this deposit.
+
+At the same time was presented to the Parliament an edict that the Chief-
+President and the Attorney-General had received from the hand of the
+Chancellor at Versailles the same morning the King had given them his
+will, and the edict was registered. It was very short. It declared that
+the packet committed to the Chief-President and to the Attorney-General
+contained the will of the King, by which he had provided for the
+protection and guardianship of the young King, and had chosen a Regency
+council, the dispositions of which--for good reasons he had not wished to
+publish; that he wished this deposit should be preserved during his life
+in the registry of the Parliament, and that at the moment when it should
+please God to call him from the world, all the chambers of the
+Parliament, all the princes of the royal house, and all the peers who
+might be there, should assemble and open the will; and that after it was
+read, all its dispositions should be made public and executed, nobody to
+be permitted to oppose them in any way.
+
+Notwithstanding all this secrecy, the terms of the will were pretty
+generally guessed, and as I have said, the consternation was general.
+It was the fate of M. du Maine to obtain what he wished; but always with
+the maledictions of the public. This fate did not abandon him now, and
+as soon as he felt it, he was overwhelmed, and Madame de Maintenon
+exasperated, and their attentions and their care redoubled, to shut up
+the King, so that the murmurs of the world should not reach him. They
+occupied themselves more than ever to amuse and to please him, and to
+fill the air around him with praises, joy, and public adoring at an act
+so generous and so grand, and at the same time so wise and so necessary
+to the maintenance of good order and tranquillity, which would cause him
+to reign so gloriously even after his reign.
+
+This consternation was very natural, and is precisely why the Duc du
+Maine found himself deceived and troubled by it. He believed he had
+prepared everything, smoothed everything, in rendering M. d'Orleans so
+suspected and so odious; he had succeeded, but not so much as he
+imagined. His desires and his emissaries had exaggerated everything;
+and he found himself overwhelmed with astonishment, when instead of the
+public acclamations with which he had flattered himself the will would be
+accompanied, it was precisely the opposite.
+
+It was seen very clearly that the will assuredly could not have been made
+in favour of M. d'Orleans, and although public feeling against him had in
+no way changed, no one was so blind as not to see that he must be Regent
+by the incontestable right of his birth; that the dispositions of the
+testament could not weaken that right, except by establishing a power
+that should balance his; and that thus two parties would be formed in the
+state the chief of each of which would be interested in vanquishing the
+other, everybody being necessitated to join one side or other, thereby
+running a thousand risks without any advantage. The rights of the two
+disputants were compared. In the one they were found sacred, in the
+other they could not be found at all. The two persons were compared.
+Both were found odious, but M. d'Orleans was deemed superior to M. du
+Maine. I speak only of the mass of uninstructed people, and of what
+presented itself naturally and of itself. The better informed had even
+more cause to arrive at the same decision.
+
+M. d'Orleans was stunned by the blow; he felt that it fell directly upon
+him, but during the lifetime of the King he saw no remedy for it.
+Silence respectful and profound appeared to him the sole course open;
+any other would only have led to an increase of precautions. The King
+avoided all discourse with him upon this matter; M. du Maine the same.
+M. d'Orleans was contented with a simple approving monosyllable to both,
+like a courtier who ought not to meddle with anything; and he avoided
+conversation upon this subject, even with Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans,
+and with anybody else. I was the sole person to whom he dared to unbosom
+himself; with the rest of the world he had an open, an ordinary manner,
+was on his guard against any discontented sign, and against the curiosity
+of all eyes. The inexpressible abandonment in which he was, in the midst
+of the Court, guaranteed him at least from all remarks upon the will. It
+was not until the health of the King grew more menacing that he began to
+speak and be spoken to thereon.
+
+As for M. du Maine, despite his good fortune, he was not to be envied At
+Sceaux, where he lived, the Duchesse du Maine, his wife, ruined him by
+her extravagance. Sceaux was more than ever the theatre of her follies,
+and of the shame and embarrassment of her husband, by the crowd from the
+Court and the town, which abounded there and laughed at them. She
+herself played there Athalie (assisted by actors and actresses) and other
+pieces several times a week. Whole nights were passed in coteries,
+games, fetes, illuminations, fireworks, in a word, fancies and fripperies
+of every kind and every day. She revelled in the joy of her new
+greatness--redoubled her follies; and the Duc du Maine, who always
+trembled before her, and who, moreover, feared that the slightest
+contradiction would entirely turn her brain, suffered all this, even
+piteously doing the honours as often as he could without ceasing in his
+conduct to the King.
+
+However great might be his joy, whatever the unimaginable greatness to
+which he had arrived, he was not tranquil. Like those tyrants who have
+usurped by their crimes the sovereign power, and who fear as so many
+conspiring enemies all their fallen citizens they have enslaved--he felt
+as though seated under that sword that Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse,
+suspended by a hair over his table, above the head of a man whom he
+placed there because he believed him happy, and in this manner wished to
+make him feel what passed unceasingly in himself. M. du Maine, who
+willingly expressed in pleasantry the most serious things, frankly said
+to his familiars, that he was "like a louse between two fingernails" (the
+Princes of the blood and the peers), by which he could not fail to be
+cracked if he did not take care! This reflection troubled the excess of
+his pleasure, and that of the greatness and the power to which so many
+artifices had elevated him. He feared the Princes of the blood as soon
+as they should be of age to feel the infamy and the danger of the wound
+he had given them; he feared the Parliament, which even under his eyes
+had not been able to dissimulate its indignation at the violence he had
+committed against the most holy and the most inviolable laws; he even
+feared the Dukes so timid are injustice and tyranny!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX
+
+Let me return to Maisons. Five days after the King's will had been
+walled up, in the manner I have described, he came to me and made a
+pathetic discourse upon the injustice done to M. le Duc d'Orleans by this
+testament, and did all he could to excite me by railing in good set terms
+against dispositions intended to add to the power and grandeur of the
+bastards.
+
+When he had well harangued, I said he had told me nothing new; that I saw
+the same truths as he with the same evidence; that the worst thing I
+found was that there was no remedy.
+
+"No remedy!" he exclaimed, interrupting me, with his sly and cunning
+laugh; "courage and ability can always find one for everything, and I am
+astonished that you, who have both, should have nothing to suggest while
+everybody is going to confusion."
+
+I asked him how it was possible to suppress a will registered by edict; a
+document solemn and public deposited with ceremony in the very depths of
+the palace, with precautions known to everybody--nature and art combining
+to keep it in safety?
+
+"You are at a loss to know!" replied Maisons to me. "Have ready at the
+instant of the King's death sure troops and sensible officers, all ready
+and well instructed; and with them, masons and lock-smiths--march to the
+palace, break open the doors and the wall, carry off the will, and let it
+never be seen."
+
+In my extreme surprise I asked him, what he expected would be the fruit
+of such violence? I pointed out that to seize by force of arms a public
+and solemn document, in the midst of the capital, in despite of all--all
+law and order, would be to put weapons into the hands of the enemies of
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, who assuredly would be justified in crying out
+against this outrage, and who would find the whole country disposed to
+echo their cries. I said too, that if in the execution of such an odious
+scheme a sedition occurred, and blood were shed, universal hatred and
+opprobrium would fall upon the head of M, le Duc d'Orleans, and
+deservedly so.
+
+We carried on our discussion a long time, but Maisons would in no way
+give up his scheme. After leaving me he went to M. le Duc d'Orleans and
+communicated it to him. Happily it met with no success with the Duke,
+indeed, he was extremely astonished at it; but what astonished us more
+was, that Maisons persisted in it up to his death, which preceded by some
+few days that of the King, and pressed it upon M. le Duc d'Orleans and
+myself till his importunity became persecution.
+
+It was certainly not his fault that I over and over again refused to go
+to the Grand Chamber of the Parliament to examine the place, as Maisons
+wished me to do; I who never went to the Parliament except for the
+reception of the peers or when the King was there. Not being able to
+vanquish what he called my obstinacy, Maisons begged me at the least to
+go and fix myself upon the Quai de la Megisserie, where so much old iron
+is sold, and examine from that spot the tower where the will was; he
+pointed it out to me; it looked out upon the Quai des Morforidus, but was
+behind the buildings on the quai. What information could be obtained
+from such a point of view may be imagined. I promised to go there, not
+to stop, and thus awake the attention of the passers-by, but to pass
+along and see what was to be seen; adding, that it as simply out of
+complaisance to him, and not because I meant to agree in any way to his
+enterprise. What is incomprehensible is, that for a whole year Maisons
+pressed his charming project upon us. The worst enemy of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans could not have devised a more rash and ridiculous undertaking.
+I doubt whether many people would have been found in all Paris
+sufficiently deprived of sense to fall in with it. What are we to think
+then of a Parliamentary President of such consideration as Maisons had
+acquired at the Palace of justice, at the Court, in the town, where he
+had always passed for a man of intellect, prudent, circumspect,
+intelligent, capable, measured? Was he vile enough, in concert with M.
+du Maine, to open this gulf beneath our feet, to push us to our ruin, and
+by the fall of M. le Duc d'Orleans--the sole prince of the blood old
+enough to be Regent--to put M. le Duc du Maine in his place, from which
+to the crown there was only one step, as none are ignorant, left to be
+taken? It seems by no means impossible: M. du Maine, that son of
+darkness, was, judging him by what he had already done, quite capable of
+adding this new crime to his long list.
+
+The mystery was, however, never explained. Maisons died before its
+darkness could be penetrated. His end was terrible. He had no religion;
+his father had had none. He married a sister of the Marechal de Villars,
+who was in the same case. Their only son they specially educated in
+unbelief. Nevertheless, everything seemed to smile upon them. They had
+wealth, consideration, distinguished friends. But mark the end.
+
+Maisons is slightly unwell. He takes rhubarb twice or thrice,
+unseasonably; more unseasonably comes Cardinal de Bissy to him, to talk
+upon the constitution, and thus hinder the operation of the rhubarb; his
+inside seems on fire, but he will not believe himself ill; the progress
+of his disease is great in a few hours; the doctors, though soon at their
+wits' ends, dare not say so; the malady visibly increases; his whole
+household is in confusion; he dies, forty-eight years of age, midst of a
+crowd of friends, of clients, without the power or leisure to think for a
+moment what is going to happen to his soul!
+
+His wife survives him ten or twelve years, opulent, and in consideration,
+when suddenly she has an attack of apoplexy in her garden. Instead of
+thinking of her state, and profiting by leisure, she makes light of her
+illness, has another attack a few days after, and is carried off on the
+5th of May, 1727, in her forty-sixth year, without having had a moment
+free.
+
+Her son, for a long time much afflicted, seeks to distinguish himself and
+acquire friends. Taking no warning from what has occurred, he thinks
+only of running after the fortune of this world, and is surprised at
+Paris by the small-pox. He believes himself dead, thinks of what he has
+neglected all his life, but fear suddenly seizes him, and he dies in the
+midst of it, on the 13th of September, 1731, leaving an only son, who
+dies a year after him, eighteen months old, all the great wealth of the
+family going to collateral relatives.
+
+These Memoirs are not essays on morality, therefore I have contented
+myself with the most simple and the most naked recital of facts; but I
+may, perhaps, be permitted to apply here those two verses of the 37th
+Psalm, which appear so expressly made for the purpose: "I have seen the
+impious exalted like the cedars of Lebanon: Yea, he passed away, and, lo,
+he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found."
+
+But let me leave this subject now, to treat of other matters. On Friday,
+the last day of August, I lost one of the best and most revered of
+friends, the Duc de Beavilliers. He died at Vaucresson after an illness
+of about two months, his intellect clear to the last, aged sixty-six
+years, having been born on the 24th of Oct 1648.
+
+He was the son of M. de Saint-Aignan, who with honour and valour was
+truly romantic in gallantry, in belles-lettres, and in arms. He was
+Captain of the Guards of Gaston, and at the end of 1649 bought of the Duc
+de Liancourt the post of first-gentleman of the King's chamber. He
+commanded afterwards in Berry against the party of M. le Prince, and
+served elsewhere subsequently. In 1661 he was made Chevalier of the
+Order, and in 1661 Duke and Peer. His first wife he lost in 1679. At
+the end of a year he married one of her chambermaids, who had been first
+of all engaged to take care of her dogs. She was so modest, and he so
+shamefaced, that in despite of repeated pressing on the part of the King,
+she could not be induced to take her tabouret. She lived in much
+retirement, and had so many virtues that she made herself respected all
+her life, which was long. M. de Beauvilliers was one of the children of
+the first marriage. I know not what care M. and Madame de Saint-Aignan
+took of the others, but they left him, until he was six or seven years of
+age, to the mercy of their lodge-keeper. Then he was confided to the
+care of a canon of Notre Dame de Clery. The household of the canon
+consisted of one maid-servant, with whom the little boy slept; and they
+continued to sleep together until he was fourteen or fifteen years old,
+without either of them thinking of evil, or the canon remarking that the
+lad was growing into a man. The death of his eldest brother called
+M. de Beauvilliers home. He entered the army, served with distinction at
+the head of is regiment of cavalry, and was brigadier.
+
+He was tall, thin, had a long and ruddy face, a large aquiline nose, a
+sunken mouth, expressive, piercing eyes, an agreeable smile, a very
+gentle manner but ordinarily retiring, serious, and concentrated. B
+disposition he was hasty, hot, passionate, fond of pleasure. Ever since
+God had touched him, which happened early in his life, he had become
+gentle, mildest, humble, kind, enlightened, charitable, and always full
+of real piety and goodness. In private, where he was free, he was gay,
+joked, and bantered pleasantly, and laughed with good heart. He liked to
+be made fun of there was only the story of his sleeping with the canon's
+servant that wounded his modesty, and I have seen him embarrassed when
+Madame de Beauvilliers has related it,--smiling, however, but praying her
+sometimes not to tell it. His piety, which, as I have said, commenced
+early in life, separated him from companions of his own age. At the army
+one day, during a promenade of the King, he walked alone, a little in
+front. Some one remarked it, and observed, sneeringly, that "he was
+meditating." The King, who heard this, turned towards the speaker, and,
+looking at him, said, "Yes, 'tis M. de Beauvilliers, one of the best men
+of the Court, and of my realm." This sudden and short apology caused
+silence, and food for reflection, so that the fault-finders remained in
+respect before his merit.
+
+The King must have entertained a high regard for him, to give him, in
+1670, the very delicate commission he entrusted to him. Madame had just
+been so openly poisoned, the conviction was so complete and so general
+that it was very difficult to palliate it. Our King and the King of
+England, between whom she had just become a stronger bond, by the journey
+she had made into England, were penetrated by grief and indignation, and
+the English could not contain themselves. The King chose the Duc de
+Beauvilliers to carry his compliments of condolence to the King of
+England, and under this pretext to try to prevent this misfortune
+interfering with their friendship and their union, and to calm the fury
+of London and the nation. The King was not deceived: the prudent
+dexterity of the Duc de Beauvilliers brought round the King of England,
+and even appeased London and the nation.
+
+M. de Beauvilliers had expressed a wish to be buried at Montargis, in the
+Benedictine monastery, where eight of his daughters had become nuns.
+Madame de Beauvilliers went there, and by an act of religion, terrible to
+think of, insisted upon being present at the interment. She retired to
+her house at Paris, where during the rest of her life she lived in
+complete solitude, without company or amusement of any kind. For nearly
+twenty years she remained there, and died in 1733, seventy-five years of
+age, infinitely rich in alms and all sorts of good works.
+
+The King taxed the infantry regiments, which had risen to an excessive
+price. This venality of the only path by which the superior grades can
+be reached is a great blot upon the military system, and stops the career
+of many a man who would become an excellent soldier. It is a gangrene
+which for a long time has eaten into all the orders and all the parties
+of the state, and under which it will be odd if all do not succumb.
+Happily it is unknown, or little known, in all the other countries of
+Europe!
+
+Towards the end of this year Cardinal d'Estrees died in Paris at his
+abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, nearly eighty-seven years of age, having
+always enjoyed perfect health of body and mind until this illness, which
+was very short, and which left his intellect clear to the last. It is
+proper and curious to pause for a moment upon a personage, all his life
+of importance, and who at his death was Cardinal, Bishop of Albano, Abbe
+of Longpont, of Mount Saint-Eloi, of Saint-Nichoas-aux-Bois, of La
+Staffarde in Piedmont (where Catinat gained a celebrated battle before
+being Marechal of France), of Saint-Claude in Franche-Comte, of Anchin in
+Flanders, and of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris. He was also Commander
+of the Order of the promotion of 1688.
+
+Merit, aided by the chances of fortune, made out of an obscure family of
+the Boulonais country, a singularly illustrious race in the fourth
+generation, of which Mademoiselle de Tourbes alone remains. The
+Cardinal, brother of the last Marechal d'Estrees, their uncle, used to
+say; that he knew his fathers as far as the one who had been page of
+Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany; but beyond that he knew nothing, and it
+was not worth while searching. Gabrielle d'Estrees, mistress of Henry
+IV., whose beauty made her father's fortune, and whose history is too
+well known to be here alluded to, was sister of the Cardinal's father,
+but died thirty years before he was born. It was through her that the
+family became elevated. The father of Cardinal d'Estrees was
+distinguished all his life by his merit, his capacity, and the authority
+and elevated posts he held. He was made Marshal of France in 1626, and
+it is a thing unique that he, his son, and his grandson were not only
+Marshals of France, but all three were in succession seniors of that
+corps for a long time.
+
+The Cardinal d'Estrees was born in 1627, and for forty years lived with
+his father, profiting by his lessons and his consideration. He was of
+the most agreeable manners, handsome, well made, full of humour, wit, and
+ability; in society the pleasantest person in the world, and yet well
+instructed; indeed, of rare erudition, generous, obliging, dignified,
+incapable of meanness, he was with so much talent and so many great and
+amiable qualities generally loved and respected, and deserved to be. He
+was made Cardinal in 1671, but was not declared until after many delays
+had occurred. These delays much disturbed him. It was customary, then,
+to pay more visits. One evening the Abbe de la Victoire, one of his
+friends, and very witty, arrived very late at a supper, in a house where
+he was expected. The company inopportunely asked him where he had been,
+and what had delayed him.
+
+"Alas!" replied the Abbe, in a tone of sadness, "where have I been? I
+have been all day accompanying the body of poor M. de Laon." [The
+Cardinal d'Estrees was then Bishop and Duke of Laon.]
+
+"M. de Laon!" cried everybody, "M. de Laon dead! Why, he was quite well
+yesterday. 'Tis dreadful. Tell us what has happened."
+
+"What has happened?" replied the Abbe, still with the same tone. "Why,
+he took me with him when he paid his visits, and though his body was with
+me, his spirit was at Rome, so that I quitted him very wearied." At this
+recital grief changed into merriment.
+
+That grand dinner at Fontainebleau for the Prince of Tuscany, at which
+the Prince was to be the only guest, and yet never received his
+invitation from the Cardinal, I have already mentioned. He was
+oftentimes thus absent, but never when business or serious matters were
+concerned, so that his forgetfulness was amusing. He never could bear to
+hear of his domestic affairs. Pressed and tormented by his steward and
+his maitre d'hotel to overlook their accounts, that he had not seen for
+many years, he appointed a day to be devoted to them. The two financiers
+demanded that he should close his door so as not to be interrupted; he
+consented with difficulty, then changed his mind, and said that if
+Cardinal Bonzi came he must be admitted, but that it was not likely he
+would come on that particular day. Directly afterwards he sent a trusty
+servant to Cardinal Bonzi, entreating him to come on such and such a day,
+between three and four o'clock, conjuring him not to fail, and begging
+him above all to come as of his own accord, the reason to be explained
+afterwards. On the appointed day Cardinal d'Estrees told his porter to
+let no one enter in the afternoon except Cardinal Bonzi, who assuredly
+was not likely to come, but who was not to be sent away if he did. His
+people, delighted at having their master to themselves all day without
+interruption, arrived about three o'clock; the Cardinal quitted his
+family and the few friends who had that day dined with him, and passed
+into a cabinet where his business people laid out their papers. He said
+a thousand absurdities to them upon his expenditure, of which he
+understood nothing, and unceasingly looked towards the window, without
+appearing to do so, secretly sighing for a prompt deliverance. A little
+before four o'clock, a coach arrived in the court-yard; his business
+people, enraged with the porter, exclaimed that there will then be no
+more opportunity for working. The Cardinal in delight referred to the
+orders he had given. "You will see," he added, "that it is Cardinal
+Bonzi, the only man I excepted, and who, of all days in the world, comes
+to-day."
+
+Immediately afterwards, the Cardinal was announced, and the intendant and
+maitre d'hotel were forced to make off with their papers and their table.
+As soon as he was alone with Bonzi, he explained why he had requested
+this visit, and both laughed heartily. Since then his business people
+have never caught him again, never during the rest of his life would he
+hear speak of them.
+
+He must have had honest people about him; for every day his table was
+magnificent, and filled at Paris and at the Court with the best company.
+His equipages were so, also; he had numberless domestics, many gentlemen,
+chaplains, and secretaries. He gave freely to the poor, and to his
+brother the Marechal and his children (who were not well off), and yet
+died without owing a crown to a living soul.
+
+His death, for which he had been long prepared, was fine-edifying and
+very Christian-like. He was universally regretted. A joke of his with
+the King is still remembered. One day, at dinner, where he always paid
+much attention to the Cardinal, the King complained of the inconvenience
+he felt in no longer having teeth.
+
+"Teeth, sire!" replied the Cardinal; "why, who has any teeth?"
+
+The joke is that the Cardinal, though old, still had very white and very
+beautiful teeth, and that his mouth, large, but agreeable, was so shaped
+that it showed them plainly in speaking. Therefore the King burst out
+laughing at this reply, and all present also, including the Cardinal, who
+was not in the slightest degree embarrassed. I might go on forever
+telling about him, but enough, perhaps, has been already said.
+
+The commencement of the new year, 1715, was marked by the death of
+Fenelon, at Cambrai, where he had lived in disgrace so many years. I
+have already said something about him, so that I have now but little to
+add. His life at Cambrai was remarkable for the assiduity with which he
+attended to the spiritual and temporal wants of his flock. He was
+indefatigable in the discharge of his functions, and in endeavouring to
+gain all hearts. Cambrai is a place much frequented; through which many
+people pass. During the war the number of wounded soldiers he had
+received into his house or attended to in the hospitals passes all
+belief. He spared nothing for them, neither physical comforts nor
+spiritual consolations. Thus it is incredible to what an extent he
+became the idol of the whole army. His manners, to high and low, were
+most affable, yet everywhere he was the prelate, the gentleman, the
+author of "Telemachus." He ruled his diocese with a gentle hand, in no
+way meddled with the Jansenists; he left all untouched. Take him for all
+in all, he had a bright genius and was a great man. His admiration true
+or feigned for Madame Guyon remained to the last, yet always without
+suspicion of impropriety. He had so exactly arranged his affairs that he
+died without money, and yet without owing a sou to anybody.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 10.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXX
+
+The reign of Louis XIV. was approaching its conclusion, so that there is
+now nothing more to relate but what passed during the last month of his
+life, and scarcely so much. These events, indeed, so curious and so
+important, are so mixed up with those that immediately followed the
+King's death, that they cannot be separated from them. It will be
+interesting and is necessary to describe the projects, the thoughts, the
+difficulties, the different resolutions, which occupied the brain of the
+Prince, who, despite the efforts of Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine,
+was of necessity about to be called to the head of affairs during the
+minority of the young King. This is the place, therefore, to explain all
+these things, after which we will resume the narrative of the last month
+of the King's life, and go on to the events which followed his death.
+
+But, as I have said, before entering upon this thorny path, it will be as
+well to make known, if possible, the chief personage of the story, the
+impediments interior and exterior in his path, and all that personally
+belonged to him.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans was, at the most, of mediocre stature, full-bodied
+without being fat; his manner and his deportment were easy and very
+noble; his face was broad and very agreeable, high in colour; his hair
+black, and wig the same. Although he danced very badly, and had but ill
+succeeded at the riding-school, he had in his face, in his gestures, in
+all his movements, infinite grace, and so natural that it adorned even
+his most ordinary commonplace actions. With much ease when nothing
+constrained him, he was gentle, affable, open, of facile and charming
+access; the tone of his voice was agreeable, and he had a surprisingly
+easy flow of words upon all subjects which nothing ever disturbed, and
+which never failed to surprise; his eloquence was natural and extended
+even to his most familiar discourse, while it equally entered into his
+observations upon the most abstract sciences, on which he talked most
+perspicuously; the affairs of government, politics, finance, justice,
+war, the court, ordinary conversation, the arts, and mechanics. He could
+speak as well too upon history and memoirs, and was well acquainted with
+pedigrees. The personages of former days were familiar to him; and the
+intrigues of the ancient courts were to him as those of his own time.
+To hear him, you would have thought him a great reader. Not so. He
+skimmed; but his memory was so singular that he never forgot things,
+names, or dates, cherishing remembrance of things with precision; and his
+apprehension was so good, that in skimming thus it was, with him,
+precisely as though he had read very laboriously. He excelled in
+unpremeditated discourse, which, whether in the shape of repartee or
+jest, was always appropriate and vivacious. He often reproached me, and
+others more than he, with "not spoiling him;" but I often gave him praise
+merited by few, and which belonged to nobody so justly as to him; it was,
+that besides having infinite ability and of various kinds, the singular
+perspicuity of his mind was joined to so much exactness, that he would
+never have made a mistake in anything if he had allowed the first
+suggestions of his judgment. He oftentimes took this my eulogy as a
+reproach, and he was not always wrong, but it was not the less true.
+With all this he had no presumption, no trace of superiority natural or
+acquired; he reasoned with you as with his equal, and struck the most
+able with surprise. Although he never forgot his own position, nor
+allowed others to forget it, he carried no constraint with him, but put
+everybody at his ease, and placed himself upon the level of all others.
+
+He had the weakness to believe that he resembled Henry IV. in
+everything, and strove to affect the manners, the gestures, the bearing,
+of that monarch. Like Henry IV. he was naturally good, humane,
+compassionate; and, indeed, this man, who has been so cruelly accused of
+the blackest and most inhuman crimes, was more opposed to the destruction
+of others than any one I have ever known, and had such a singular dislike
+to causing anybody pain that it may be said, his gentleness, his
+humanity, his easiness, had become faults; and I do not hesitate to
+affirm that that supreme virtue which teaches us to pardon our enemies he
+turned into vice, by the indiscriminate prodigality with which he applied
+it; thereby causing himself many sad embarrassments and misfortunes,
+examples and proofs of which will be seen in the sequel.
+
+I remember that about a year, perhaps, before the death of the King,
+having gone up early after dinner into the apartments of Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans at Marly, I found her in bed with the megrims,
+and M. d'Orleans alone in the room, seated in an armchair at her pillow.
+Scarcely had I sat down than Madame la Duchesse began to talk of some of
+those execrable imputations concerning M. d'Orleans unceasingly
+circulated by Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine; and of an incident
+arising therefrom, in which the Prince and the Cardinal de Rohan had
+played a part against M. d'Orleans. I sympathised with her all the more
+because the Duke, I knew not why, had always distinguished and courted
+those two brothers, and thought he could count upon them. "And what will
+you say of M. d'Orleans," added the Duchesse, "when I tell you that since
+he has known this, known it beyond doubt, he treats them exactly the same
+as before?"
+
+I looked at M. d'Orleans, who had uttered only a few words to confirm the
+story, as it was being told, and who was negligently lolling in his
+chair, and I said to him with warmth:
+
+"Oh, as to that, Monsieur, the truth must be told; since Louis the
+Debonnaire, never has there been such a Debonnaire as you."
+
+At these words he rose in his chair, red with anger to the very whites of
+his eyes, and blurted out his vexation against me for abusing him, as he
+pretended, and against Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans for encouraging me
+and laughing at him.
+
+"Go on," said I, "treat your enemies well, and rail at your friends. I
+am delighted to see you angry. It is a sign that I have touched the sore
+point, when you press the finger on it the patient cries. I should like
+to squeeze out all the matter, and after that you would be quite another
+man, and differently esteemed."
+
+He grumbled a little more, and then calmed down. This was one of two
+occasions only, on which he was ever really angry with me.
+
+Two or three years after the death of the King, I was chatting in one of
+the grand rooms of the Tuileries, where the Council of the Regency was,
+according to custom, soon to be held, and M. d'Orleans at the other end
+was talking to some one in a window recess. I heard myself called from
+mouth to mouth, and was told that M. d'Orleans wished to speak to me.
+This often happened before the Council. I went therefore to the window
+where he was standing. I found a serious bearing, a concentrated manner,
+an angry face, and was much surprised.
+
+"Monsieur," said he to me at once, "I have a serious complaint against
+you; you, whom I have always regarded as my best of friends."
+
+"Against me! Monsieur!" said I, still more surprised. "What is the
+matter, then, may I ask?"
+
+"The matter!" he replied with a mien still more angry; "something you
+cannot deny; verses you have made against me."
+
+"I--verses!" was my reply. "Why, who the devil has been telling you such
+nonsense? You have been acquainted with me nearly forty years, and do
+you not know, that never in my life have I been able to make a single
+verse--much less verses?"
+
+"No, no, by Heaven," replied he, "you cannot deny these;" and forthwith
+he began to sing to me a street song in his praise, the chorus of which
+was: 'Our Regent is debonnaire, la la, he is debonnaire,' with a burst of
+laughter.
+
+"What!" said I, "you remember it still!" and smiling, I added also,
+"since you are revenged for it, remember it in good earnest." He kept on
+laughing a long time before going to the Council, and could not hinder
+himself. I have not been afraid to write this trifle, because it seems
+to me that it paints the man.
+
+M. d'Orleans loved liberty, and as much for others as for himself. He
+extolled England to me one day on this account, as a country where there
+are no banishments, no lettres de cachet, and where the King may close
+the door of his palace to anybody, but can keep no one in prison; and
+thereupon related to me with enjoyment, that besides the Duchess of
+Portsmouth, Charles the Second had many subordinate mistresses; that the
+Grand Prieur, young and amiable in those days, driven out of France for
+some folly, had gone to England to pass his exile and had been well
+received by the King. By way of thanks, he seduced one of those
+mistresses, by whom the King was then so smitten, that he sued for mercy,
+offered money to the Grand Prieur, and undertook to obtain his
+reconciliation in France. The Grand Prieur held firm. Charles
+prohibited him the palace. He laughed at this, and went every day to the
+theatre, with his conquest, and placed himself opposite the King. At
+last, Charles, not knowing what to do to deliver himself from his
+tormentor, begged our King to recall him, and this was done. But the
+Grand Prieur said he was very comfortable in England and continued his
+game. Charles, outraged, confided to the King (Louis XIV.) the state he
+was thrown into by the Grand Prieur, and obtained a command so absolute
+and so prompt, that his tormentor was afterwards obliged to go back into
+France.
+
+M. d'Orleans admired this; and I know not if he would not have wished to
+be the Grand Prieur. He always related this story with delight. Thus,
+of ambition for reigning or governing, he had none. If he made a false
+move in Spain it was because he had been misdirected. What he would have
+liked best would have been to command armies while war lasted, and divert
+himself the rest of the time without constraint to himself or to others.
+He was, in fact, very fit for this. With much valour, he had also much
+foresight, judgment, coolness, and vast capacity. It may be said that he
+was captain, engineer, and army purveyor; that he knew the strength of
+his troops, the names and the company of the officers, and the most
+distinguished of each corps; that he knew how to make himself adored, at
+the same time keeping up discipline, and could execute the most difficult
+things, while unprovided with everything. Unfortunately there is another
+side of this picture, which it will be as well now to describe.
+
+M. d'Orleans, by disposition so adapted to become the honour and the
+master-piece of an education, was not fortunate in his teachers. Saint-
+Laurent, to whom he was first confided, was, it is true, the man in all
+Europe best fitted to act as the instructor of kings, but he died before
+his pupil was beyond the birch, and the young Prince, as I have related,
+fell entirely into the hands of the Abbe Dubois. This person has played
+such an important part in the state since the death of the King, that it
+is fit that he should be made known. The Abbe Dubois was a little,
+pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weazel's
+face, brightened by some intellect. In familiar terms, he was a regular
+scamp. All the vices unceasingly fought within him for supremacy, so
+that a continual uproar filled his mind. Avarice, debauchery, ambition;
+were his gods; perfidy, flattery, foot-licking his means of action;
+complete impiety was his repose; and he held the opinion as a great
+principle, that probity and honesty are chimeras, with which people deck
+themselves, but which have no existence. In consequence, all means were
+good to him. He excelled in low intrigues; he lived in them, and could
+not do without them; but they always had an aim, and he followed them
+with a patience terminated only by success, or by firm conviction that he
+could not reach what he aimed at, or unless, as he wandered thus in deep
+darkness, a glimmer of light came to him from some other cranny. He
+passed thus his days in sapping and counter-sapping. The most impudent
+deceit had become natural to him, and was concealed under an air that was
+simple, upright, sincere, often bashful. He would have spoken with grace
+and forcibly, if, fearful of saying more than he wished, he had not
+accustomed himself to a fictitious hesitation, a stuttering--which
+disfigured his speech, and which, redoubled when important things were in
+question, became insupportable and sometimes unintelligible. He had wit,
+learning, knowledge of the world; much desire to please and insinuate
+himself, but all was spoiled by an odour of falsehood which escaped in
+spite of him through every pore of his body--even in the midst of his
+gaiety, which made whoever beheld it sad. Wicked besides, with
+reflection, both by nature and by argument, treacherous and ungrateful,
+expert in the blackest villainies, terribly brazen when detected; he
+desired everything, envied everything, and wished to seize everything.
+It was known afterwards, when he no longer could restrain himself, to
+what an extent he was selfish, debauched, inconsistent, ignorant of
+everything, passionate, headstrong, blasphemous and mad, and to what an
+extent he publicly despised his master, the state, and all the world,
+never hesitating to sacrifice everybody and everything to his credit, his
+power, his absolute authority, his greatness, his avarice, his fears, and
+his vengeance.
+
+Such was the sage to whom M. le Duc d'Orleans was confided in early
+youth!
+
+Such a good master did not lose his pains with his new disciple, in whom
+the excellent principles of Saint-Laurent had not had time to take deep
+root, whatever esteem and affection he may have preserved through life
+for that worthy man. I will admit here, with bitterness, for everything
+should be sacrificed to the truth, that M. le Duc d'Orleans brought into
+the world a failing--let us call things by their names--a weakness, which
+unceasingly spoiled all his talents, and which were of marvellous use to
+his preceptor all his life. Dubois led him into debauchery, made him
+despise all duty and all decency, and persuaded him that he had too much
+mind to be the dupe of religion, which he said was a politic invention to
+frighten ordinary, intellects, and keep the people in subjection. He
+filled him too with his favourite principle, that probity in man and
+virtue in woman, are mere chimeras, without existence in anybody except a
+few poor slaves of early training. This was the basis of the good
+ecclesiatic's doctrines, whence arose the license of falsehood, deceit,
+artifice, infidelity, perfidy; in a word, every villainy, every crime,
+was turned into policy, capacity, greatness, liberty and depth of
+intellect, enlightenment, good conduct, if it could be hidden, and if
+suspicions and common prejudices could be avoided.
+
+Unfortunately all conspired in M. d'Orleans to open his heart and his
+mind to this execrable poison: a fresh and early youth, much strength and
+health, joy at escaping from the yoke as well as vexation at his
+marriage, the wearisomeness produced by idleness, the impulse of his
+passions, the example of other young men, whose vanity and whose interest
+it was to make him live like them. Thus he grew accustomed to
+debauchery, above all to the uproar of it, so that he could not do
+without it, and could only divert himself by dint of noise, tumult, and
+excess. It is this which led him often into such strange and such
+scandalous debauches, and as he wished to surpass all his companions, to
+mix up with his parties of pleasure the most impious discourses, and as a
+precious refinement, to hold the most outrageous orgies on the most holy
+days, as he did several times during his Regency on Good Friday, by
+choice, and on other similar days. The more debauched a man was, the
+more he esteemed him; and I have unceasingly seen him in admiration, that
+reached almost to veneration for the Grand Prieur,--because for forty
+years he had always gone to bed drunk, and had never ceased to keep
+mistresses in the most public manner, and to hold the most impious and
+irreligious discourses. With these principles, and the conduct that
+resulted from them, it is not surprising that M. le Duc d'Orleans was
+false to such an extent, that he boasted of his falsehood, and plumed
+himself upon being the most skilful deceiver in the world. He and Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry sometimes disputed which was the cleverer of the
+two; and this in public before M. le Duc de Berry, Madame de Saint-Simon,
+and others!
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, following out the traditions of the Palais Royal,
+had acquired the detestable taste and habit of embroiling people one with
+the other, so as to profit by their divisions. This was one of his
+principal occupations during all the time he was at the head of affairs,
+and one that he liked the best; but which, as soon as discovered,
+rendered him odious, and caused him a thousand annoyances. He was not
+wicked, far from it; but he could not quit the habits of impiety,
+debauchery, and deceit into which Dubois had led him. A remarkable
+feature in his character is, that he was suspicious and full of
+confidence at the same time with reference to the very same people.
+
+It is surprising that with all his talents he was totally without honest
+resources for amusing himself. He was born bored; and he was so
+accustomed to live out of himself, that it was insufferable to him to
+return, incapable as he was of trying even to occupy himself. He could
+only live in the midst of the movement and torrent of business; at the
+head of an army for instance, or in the cares that arose out of the
+execution of campaign projects, or in the excitement and uproar of
+debauchery. He began to languish as soon as he was without noise,
+excess, and tumult, the time painfully hanging upon his hands. He cast
+himself upon painting, when his great fancy for chemistry had passed or
+grown deadened, in consequence of what had been said upon it. He painted
+nearly all the afternoon at Versailles and at Marly. He was a good judge
+of pictures, liked them, and made a collection, which in number and
+excellence was not surpassed by those of the Crown. He amused himself
+afterwards in making composition stones and seals over charcoal, the
+fumes of which often drove me away; and the strongest perfumes, which he
+was fond of all his life, but from which I turned him because the King
+was very much afraid of them, and soon sniffed them. In fact, never was
+man born with so many talents of all kinds, so much readiness and
+facility in making use of them, and yet never was man so idle, so given
+up to vacuity and weariness. Thus Madame painted him very happily by an
+illustration from fairy tales, of which she was full.
+
+She said, that all the fairies had been invited to his birth; that all
+came, and that each gave him some talent, so that he had them all. But,
+unfortunately, an old fairy, who had disappeared so many years ago that
+she was no longer remembered, had been omitted from the invitation lists.
+Piqued at this neglect, she came supported upon her little wand, just at
+the moment when all the rest had endowed the child with their gifts.
+More and more vexed, she revenged herself by rendering useless all the
+talents he had received from the other fairies, not one of which, though
+possessing them all, in consequence of her malediction, was he able to
+make use of. It must be admitted, that on the whole this is a speaking
+portrait.
+
+One of the misfortunes of this Prince was being incapable of following up
+anything, and an inability to comprehend, even, how any one else could do
+so. Another, was a sort of insensibility which rendered him indifferent
+to the most mortal and the most dangerous offences; and as the nerve and
+principle of hatred and friendship, of gratitude and vengeance, are the
+same, and as they were wanting in him, the consequences were infinite and
+pernicious. He was timid to excess, knew it, and was so ashamed that he
+affected to be exactly the reverse, and plumed himself upon his daring.
+But the truth is, as was afterwards seen, nothing could be obtained from
+him, neither grace, nor justice, except by working upon his fears, to
+which he was very susceptible; or by extreme importunity. He tried to
+put people off by words, then by promises, of which he was monstrously
+prodigal, but which he only kept when made to people who had good firm
+claws. In this manner he broke so many engagements that the most
+positive became counted as nothing; and he promised moreover to so many
+different people, what could only be given to one, that he thus opened
+out a copious source of discredit to himself and caused much discontent.
+Nothing deceived or injured him more than the opinion he had formed, that
+he could deceive all the world. He was no longer believed, even when he
+spoke with the best faith, and his facility much diminished the value of
+everything he did. To conclude, the obscure, and for the most part
+blackguard company, which he ordinarily frequented in his debauches, and
+which he did not scruple publicly to call his roues, drove away all
+decent people, and did him infinite harm.
+
+His constant mistrust of everything and everybody was disgusting, above
+all when he was at the head of affairs. The fault sprang from his
+timidity, which made him fear his most certain enemies, and treat them
+with more distinction than his friends; from his natural easiness, from a
+false imitation of Henry IV., in whom this quality was by no means the
+finest; and from the unfortunate opinion which he held, that probity was
+a sham. He was, nevertheless, persuaded of my probity; and would often
+reproach me with it as a fault and prejudice of education which had
+cramped my mind and obscured my understanding, and he said as much of
+Madame de Saint-Simon, because he believed her virtuous.
+
+I had given him so many proofs of my attachment that he could not very
+well suspect me; and yet, this is what happened two or three years after
+the establishment of the Regency. I give it as one of the most striking
+of the touches that paint his portrait.
+
+It was autumn. M. d'Orleans had dismissed the councils for a fortnight.
+I profited by this to go and spend the time at La Ferme. I had just
+passed an hour alone with the Duke, and had taken my leave of him and
+gone home, where in order to be in repose I had closed my door to
+everybody. In about an hour at most, I was told that Biron, with a
+message from M. le Duc d'Orleans, was at the door, with orders to see me,
+and that he would not go away without. I allowed Biron to enter, all the
+more surprised because I had just quitted M. le Duc d'Orleans, and
+eagerly asked him the news. Biron was embarrassed, and in his turn asked
+where was the Marquis de Ruffec (my son). At this my surprise increased,
+and I demanded what he meant. Biron, more and more confused, admitted
+that M. le Duc d'Orleans wanted information on this point, and had sent
+him for it. I replied, that my son was with his regiment at Besancon,
+lodging with M. de Levi, who commanded in Franche-Comte.
+
+"Oh," said Biron, "I know that very well; but have you any letter from
+him?"
+
+"What for?" I asked.
+
+"Because, frankly, since I must tell you all," said he, "M. le Duc
+d'Orleans wishes to see his handwriting."
+
+He added, that soon after I had quitted M. le Duc d'Orleans, whilst he
+was walking at Montmartre ma garden with his 'roues' and his harlots,
+some letters had been brought to him by a post-office clerk, to whom he
+had spoken in private; that afterwards he, Biron, had been called by the
+Duke, who showed him a letter from the Marquis de Ruffec to his master,
+dated "Madrid," and charged him, thereupon, with this present commission.
+
+At this recital I felt a mixture of anger and compassion, and I did not
+constrain myself with Biron. I had no letters from my son, because I
+used to burn them, as I did all useless papers. I charged Biron to say
+to M. le Duc d'Orleans a part of what I felt; that I had not the
+slightest acquaintance with anybody in Spain; that I begged him at once
+to despatch a courier there in order to satisfy himself that my son was
+at Besancon.
+
+Biron, shrugging his shoulders, said all that was very good, but that if
+I could find a letter from the Marquis de Ruffec it would be much better;
+adding, that if one turned up and I sent it to him, he would take care
+that it reached M. le Duc d'Orleans, at table, in spite of the privacy of
+his suppers. I did not wish to return to the Palais Royal to make a
+scene there, and dismissed Biron. Fortunately, Madame de Saint-Simon
+came in some time after. I related to her this adventure. She found the
+last letter of the Marquis de Ruffec, and we sent it to Biron. It
+reached the table as he had promised. M. le Duc d'Orleans seized it with
+eagerness. The joke is that he did not know the handwriting. Not only
+did he look at the letter, but he read it; and as he found it diverting,
+regaled his company with it; it became the topic of their discourse, and
+entirely removed his suspicions. Upon my return from La Ferme, I found
+him ashamed of himself, and I rendered him still more so by what I said
+to him on the subject.
+
+I learnt afterwards that this Madrid letter, and others that followed,
+came from a sham Marquis de Ruffec, that is to say, from the son of one
+of Madame's porters, who passed himself off as my son. He pretended that
+he had quarrelled with me, and wrote to Madame de Saint-Simon, begging
+her to intercede for him; and all this that his letters might be seen,
+and that he might reap substantial benefits from his imposture in the
+shape of money and consideration. He was a well-made fellow, had much
+address and effrontery, knew the Court very well, and had taken care to
+learn all about our family, so as to speak within limits. He was
+arrested at Bayonne, at the table of Dadoncourt, who commanded there, and
+who suddenly formed the resolution, suspecting him not to be a gentleman,
+upon seeing him eat olives with a fork! When in gaol he confessed who he
+was. He was not new at the trade and was confined some little time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI
+
+But to return to M. le Duc d'Orleans.
+
+His curiosity, joined to a false idea of firmness and courage, had early
+led him to try and raise the devil and make him speak. He left nothing
+untried, even the wildest reading, to persuade himself there was no God;
+and yet believed meanwhile in the devil, and hoped to see him and
+converse with him! This inconsistency is hard to understand, and yet is
+extremely common. He worked with all sorts of obscure people; and above
+all with Mirepoix, sublieutenant of the Black Musketeers, to find out
+Satan. They passed whole nights in the quarries of Vanvres and of
+Vaugirard uttering invocations. M. le Duc d'Orleans, however, admitted
+to me that he had never succeeded in hearing or seeing anything, and at
+last had given up this folly.
+
+At first it was only to please Madame d'Argenton, but afterwards from
+curiosity, that he tried to see the present and the future in a glass of
+water; so he said, and he was no liar. To be false and to be a liar are
+not one and the same thing, though they closely resemble each other, and
+if he told a lie it was only when hard pressed upon some promise or some
+business, and in spite of himself, so as to escape from a dilemma.
+
+Although we often spoke upon religion, to which I tried to lead him so
+long as I had hope of success, I never could unravel the system he had
+formed for himself, and I ended by becoming persuaded that he wavered
+unceasingly without forming any religion at all.
+
+His passionate desire, like that of his companions in morals, was this,
+that it would turn out that there is no God; but he had too much
+enlightenment to be an atheist; who is a particular kind of fool much
+more rare than is thought. This enlightenment importuned him; he tried
+to extinguish it and could not. A mortal soul would have been to him a
+resource; but he could not convince himself of its existence. A God and
+an immortal soul, threw him into sad straits, and yet he could not blind
+himself to the truth of both the one and the other. I can say then this,
+I know of what religion he was not; nothing more. I am sure, however,
+that he was very ill at ease upon this point, and that if a dangerous
+illness had overtaken him, and he had had the time, he would have thrown
+himself into the hands of all the priests and all the Capuchins of the
+town. His great foible was to pride himself upon his impiety and to wish
+to surpass in that everybody else.
+
+I recollect that one Christmas-time, at Versailles, when he accompanied
+the King to morning prayers and to the three midnight masses, he
+surprised the Court by his continued application in reading a volume he
+had brought with him, and which appeared to be, a prayer book. The chief
+femme de chambre of Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, much attached to the
+family, and very free as all good old domestics are, transfixed with joy
+at M. le Duc d'Orleans's application to his book, complimented him upon
+it the next day, in the presence of others. M. le Duc d'Orleans allowed
+her to go on some time, and then said, "You are very silly, Madame
+Imbert. Do you know what I was reading? It was 'Rabelais,' that I
+brought with me for fear of being bored."
+
+The effect of this reply may be imagined. The thing was too true, and
+was pure braggadocio; for, without comparison of the places, or of the
+things, the music of the chapel was much superior to that of the opera,
+and to all the music of Europe; and at Christmas it surpassed itself.
+There was nothing so magnificent as the decoration of the chapel, or the
+manner in which it was lighted. It was full of people; the arches of the
+tribune were crowded with the Court ladies, in undress, but ready for
+conquest. There was nothing so surprising as the beauty of the
+spectacle. The ears were charmed also. M. le Duc d'Orleans loved music
+extremely; he could compose, and had amused himself by composing a kind
+of little opera, La Fare writing the words, which was performed before
+the King. This music of the chapel, therefore, might well have occupied
+him in the most agreeable manner, to say nothing of the brilliant scene,
+without his having recourse to Rabelais. But he must needs play the
+impious, and the wag.
+
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans was another kind of person. She was tall,
+and in every way majestic; her complexion, her throat, her arms, were
+admirable; she had a tolerable mouth, with beautiful teeth, somewhat
+long; and cheeks too broad, and too hanging, which interfered with, but
+did not spoil, her beauty. What disfigured her most was her eyebrows,
+which were, as it were, peeled and red, with very little hair; she had,
+however, fine eyelashes, and well-set chestnut-coloured hair. Without
+being hump-backed or deformed, she had one side larger than the other,
+and walked awry. This defect in her figure indicated another, which was
+more troublesome in society, and which inconvenienced herself. She had a
+good deal of intellect, and spoke with much ability. She said all she
+wished, and often conveyed her meaning to you without directly expressing
+it; saying, as it were, what she did not say. Her utterance was,
+however, slow and embarrassed, so that unaccustomed ears with difficulty
+followed her.
+
+Every kind of decency and decorum centred themselves in her, and the most
+exquisite pride was there upon its throne. Astonishment will be felt at
+what I am going to say, and yet, however, nothing is more strictly true:
+it is, that at the bottom of her soul she believed that she, bastard of
+the King, had much honoured M. d'Orleans in marrying him! M. le Duc
+d'Orleans often laughed at her pride, called her Madame Lucifer, in
+speaking to her, and she admitted that the name did not displease her.
+She always received his advances with coldness, and a sort of superiority
+of greatness. She was a princess to the backbone, at all hours, and in
+all places. Yet, at the same time, her timidity was extreme. The King
+could have made her feel ill with a single severe look; and Madame de
+Maintenon could have done likewise, perhaps. At all events, Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans trembled before her; and upon the most commonplace
+matters never replied to either him or her without hesitation, fear
+printed on her face.
+
+M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans lived an idle, languishing,
+shameful, indecent, and despised life, abandoned by all the Court. This,
+I felt, was one of the first things that must be remedied. Accordingly,
+I induced Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans to make an effort to attract
+people to her table. She did so, persevering against the coldness and
+aversion she met with, and in time succeeded in drawing a tolerably
+numerous company to her dinners. They were of exquisite quality, and
+people soon got over their first hesitation, when they found everything
+orderly, free, and unobjectionable. At these dinners, M. d'Orleans kept
+within bounds, not only in his discourse, but in his behaviour. But
+oftentimes his ennui led him to Paris, to join in supper parties and
+debauchery. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans tried to draw him from these
+pleasures by arranging small parties at her pretty little villa, l'Etoile
+(in the park of Versailles), which the King had given to her, and which
+she had furnished in the most delightful manner. She loved good cheer,
+the guests loved it also, and at table she was altogether another person
+--free, gay, exciting, charming. M. le Duc d'Orleans cared for nothing
+but noise, and as he threw off all restraint at these parties, there was
+much difficulty in selecting guests, for the ears of many people would
+have been much confused at his loose talk, and their eyes much astonished
+to see him get drunk at the very commencement of the repast, in the midst
+of those who thought only of amusing and recreating themselves in a
+decent manner, and who never approached intoxication.
+
+As the King became weaker in health, and evidently drew near his end, I
+had continued interviews with Madame d'Orleans upon the subject of the
+Regency, the plan of government to be adopted, and the policy she should
+follow. Hundreds of times before we had reasoned together upon the
+faults of the Government, and the misfortunes that resulted from them.
+What we had to do was to avoid those faults, educate the young King in
+good and rational maxims, so that when he succeeded to power he might
+continue what the Regency had not had time to finish. This, at least,
+was my idea; and I laboured hard to make it the idea of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans. As the health of the King diminished I entered more into
+details; as I will explain.
+
+What I considered the most important thing to be done, was to overthrow
+entirely the system of government in which Cardinal Mazarin had
+imprisoned the King and the realm. A foreigner, risen from the dregs
+of the people, who thinks of nothing but his own power and his own
+greatness, cares nothing for the state, except in its relation to
+himself. He despises its laws, its genius, its advantages: he is
+ignorant of its rules and its forms; he thinks only of subjugating all,
+of confounding all, of bringing all down to one level. Richelieu and his
+successor, Mazarin, succeeded so well in this policy that the nobility,
+by degrees, became annihilated, as we now see them. The pen and the robe
+people, on the other hand, were exalted; so that now things have reached
+such a pretty pass that the greatest lord is without power, and in a
+thousand different manners is dependent upon the meanest plebeian. It is
+in this manner that things hasten from one extreme to the other.
+
+My design was to commence by introducing the nobility into the ministry,
+with the dignity and authority due to them, and by degrees to dismiss the
+pen and robe people from all employ not purely judicial. In this manner
+the administration of public affairs would be entirely in the hands of
+the aristocracy. I proposed to abolish the two offices of secretary of
+state for the war department, and for foreign affairs, and to supply
+their place by councils; also, that the offices of the navy should be
+managed by a council. I insisted upon the distinct and perfect
+separation of these councils, so that their authority should never be
+confounded, and the public should never have the slightest trouble in
+finding out where to address itself for any kind of business.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans exceedingly relished my project, which we much
+discussed. This point arrived at, it became necessary to debate upon the
+persons who were to form these councils. I suggested names, which were
+accepted or set aside, according as they met his approval or
+disapprobation. "But," said M. le Duc d'Orleans, after we had been a
+long time at this work, "you propose everybody and never say a word of
+yourself. What do you wish to be?"
+
+I replied, that it was not for me to propose, still less to choose any
+office, but for him to see if he wished to employ me, believing me
+capable, and in that case to determine the place he wished me to occupy.
+This was at Marly, in his chamber, and I shall never forget it.
+
+After some little debate, that between equals would have been called
+complimentary, he proposed to me the Presidency of the Council of
+Finance. But I had good reasons for shrinking from this office. I saw
+that disordered as the finances had become there was only one remedy by
+which improvement could be effected; and this was National Bankruptcy.
+Had I occupied the office, I should have been too strongly tempted to
+urge this view, and carry it out, but it was a responsibility I did not
+wish to take upon myself before God and man. Yet, I felt as I said, that
+to declare the State bankrupt would be the wisest course, and I am bold
+enough to think, that there is not a man, having no personal interest in
+the continuance of imposts, who of two evils, viz., vastly increased
+taxation, and national failure, would not prefer the latter. We were in
+the condition of a man who unfortunately must choose between passing
+twelve or fifteen years in his bed, in continual pain, or having his leg
+cut off. Who can doubt this? he would prefer the loss of his leg by a
+painful operation, in order to find himself two months after quite well,
+free from suffering and in the enjoyment of all his faculties.
+
+I shrunk accordingly from the finances for the reason I have above given,
+and made M. le Duc d'Orleans so angry by my refusal to accept the office
+he had proposed to me, that for three weeks he sulked and would not speak
+to me, except upon unimportant matters.
+
+At the end of that time, in the midst of a languishing conversation, he
+exclaimed, "Very well, then. You stick to your text, you won't have the
+finances?"
+
+I respectfully lowered my eyes and replied, in a gentle tone, that I
+thought that question was settled. He could not restrain some
+complaints, but they were not bitter, nor was he angry, and then rising
+and taking a few turns in the room, without saying a word, and his head
+bent, as was his custom when embarrassed, he suddenly spun round upon me,
+and exclaimed, "But whom shall we put there?"
+
+I suggested the Duc de Noailles, and although the suggestion at first met
+with much warm opposition from M. le Duc d'Orleans, it was ultimately
+accepted by him.
+
+The moment after we had settled this point he said to me, "And you! what
+will you be?" and he pressed me so much to explain myself that I said at
+last if he would put me in the council of affairs of the interior, I
+thought I should do better there than elsewhere.
+
+"Chief, then," replied he with vivacity.
+
+"No, no! not that," said I; "simply a place in the council."
+
+We both insisted, he for, I against. "A place in that council," he said,
+"would be ridiculous, and cannot be thought of. Since you will not be
+chief, there is only one post which suits you, and which suits me also.
+You must be in the council I shall be in the Supreme Council."
+
+I accepted the post, and thanked him. From that moment this distinction
+remained fixed.
+
+I will not enter into all the suggestions I offered to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans respecting the Regency, or give the details of all the projects
+I submitted to him. Many of those projects and suggestions were either
+acted upon only partially, or not acted upon at all, although nearly
+every one met with his approval. But he was variable as the winds, and
+as difficult to hold. In my dealings with him I had to do with a person
+very different from that estimable Dauphin who was so rudely taken away
+from us.
+
+But let me, before going further, describe the last days of the King, his
+illness, and death, adding to the narrative a review of his life and
+character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII
+
+LOUIS XIV. began, as I have before remarked, sensibly to decline, and
+his appetite, which had always been good and uniform, very considerably
+diminished. Even foreign countries became aware of this. Bets were laid
+in London that his life would not last beyond the first of September,
+that is to say, about three months, and although the King wished to know
+everything, it may be imagined that nobody was very eager to make him
+acquainted with the news. He used to have the Dutch papers read to him
+in private by Torcy, often after the Council of State. One day as Torcy
+was reading, coming unexpectedly--for he had not examined the paper--upon
+the account of these bets, he stopped, stammered, and skipped it. The
+King, who easily perceived this, asked him the cause of his
+embarrassment; what he was passing over, and why? Torcy blushed to the
+very whites of his eyes, and said it was a piece of impertinence unworthy
+of being read. The King insisted; Torcy also: but at last thoroughly
+confused, he could not resist the reiterated command he received, and
+read the whole account of the bets. The King pretended not to be touched
+by it, but he was, and profoundly, so that sitting down to table
+immediately afterwards, he could not keep himself from speaking of it,
+though without mentioning the gazette.
+
+This was at Marly, and by chance I was there that day. The King looked
+at me as at the others, but as though asking for a reply. I took good
+care not to open my mouth, and lowered my eyes. Cheverny, (a discreet
+man,) too, was not so prudent, but made a long and ill-timed rhapsody
+upon similar reports that had come to Copenhagen from Vienna while he was
+ambassador at the former place seventeen or eighteen years before. The
+King allowed him to say on, but did not take the bait. He appeared
+touched, but like a man who does not wish to seem so. It could be seen
+that he did all he could to eat, and to show that he ate with appetite.
+But it was also seen that the mouthfuls loitered on their way. This
+trifle did not fail to augment the circumspection of the Court, above all
+of those who by their position had reason to be more attentive than the
+rest. It was reported that an aide-decamp of Lord Stair, who was then
+English ambassador to our Court, and very much disliked for his insolent
+bearing and his troublesome ways, had caused these bets by what he had
+said in England respecting the health of the King. Stair, when told
+this, was much grieved, and said 'twas a scoundrel he had dismissed.
+
+As the King sensibly declined I noticed that although terror of him kept
+people as much away from M. d'Orleans as ever, I was approached even by
+the most considerable. I had often amused myself at the expense of these
+prompt friends; I did so now, and diverted M. d'Orleans by warning him
+beforehand what he had to expect.
+
+On Friday, the 9th of August, 1715, the King hunted the stag after dinner
+in his caleche, that he drove himself as usual. 'Twas for the last time.
+Upon his return he appeared much knocked up. There was a grand concert
+in the evening in Madame de Maintenon's apartment.
+
+On Saturday, the 10th of August, he walked before dinner in his gardens
+at Marly; he returned to Versailles about six o'clock in the evening, and
+never again saw that strange work of his hands. In the evening he worked
+with the Chancellor in Madame de Maintenon's rooms, and appeared to
+everybody very ill. On Sunday, the eleventh of August, he held the
+Council of State, walked, after dinner to Trianon, never more to go out
+again during life.
+
+On the morrow, the 12th of August, he took medicine as usual, and lived
+as usual the following days. It was known that he complained of sciatica
+in the leg and thigh. He had never before had sciatica, or rheumatism,
+or a cold; and for a long time no touch of gout. In the evening there
+was a little concert in Madame de Maintenon's rooms. This was the last
+time in his life that he walked alone.
+
+On Tuesday, the 13th of August, he made a violent effort, and gave a
+farewell audience to a sham Persian ambassador, whom Pontchartrain had
+imposed upon him; this was the last public action of his life. The
+audience, which was long, fatigued the King. He resisted the desire for
+sleep which came over him, held the Finance Council, dined, had himself
+carried to Madame de Maintenon's, where a little concert was given, and
+on leaving his cabinet stopped for the Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld, who
+presented to him the Duchesse de la Rocheguyon, her daughter-in-law, who
+was the last lady presented to him. She took her tabouret that evening
+at the King's grand supper, which was the last he ever gave. On the
+morrow he sent some precious stones to the Persian ambassador just
+alluded to. It was on this day that the Princesse des Ursins set off for
+Lyons, terrified at the state of the King as I have already related.
+
+For more than a year the health of the King had diminished. His valets
+noticed this first, and followed the progress of the malady, without one
+of them daring to open his mouth. The bastards, or to speak exactly, M,
+du Maine saw it; Madame de Maintenon also; but they did nothing. Fagon,
+the chief physician, much fallen off in mind and body, was the only one
+of the King's intimates who saw nothing. Marechal, also chief physician,
+spoke to him (Fagon) several times, but was always harshly repulsed.
+Pressed at last by his duty and his attachment, he made bold one morning
+towards Whitsuntide to go to Madame de Maintenon. He told her what he
+saw and how grossly Fagon was mistaken. He assured her that the King,
+whose pulse he had often felt, had had for some time a slow internal
+fever; that his constitution was so good that with remedies and attention
+all would go well, but that if the malady were allowed to grow there
+would no longer be any resource. Madame de Maintenon grew angry, and all
+he obtained for his zeal was her anger. She said that only the personal
+enemies of Fagon could find fault with his opinion upon the King's
+health, concerning which the capacity, the application, the experience of
+the chief physician could not be deceived. The best of it is that
+Marechal, who had formerly operated upon Fagon for stone, had been
+appointed chief surgeon by him, and they had always lived on the best of
+terms. Marechal, annoyed as he related to me, could do nothing more, and
+began from that time to lament the death of his master. Fagon was in
+fact the first physician in Europe, but for a long time his health had
+not permitted him to maintain his experience; and the high point of
+authority to which his capacity and his favour had carried him, had at
+last spoiled him. He would not hear reason, or submit to reply, and
+continued to treat the King as he had treated him in early years; and
+killed him by his obstinacy.
+
+The gout of which the King had had long attacks, induced Fagon to swaddle
+him, so to say, every evening in a heap of feather pillows, which made
+him sweat all night to such an extent that it was necessary in the
+morning to rub him down and change his linen before the grand chamberlain
+and the first gentleman of the chamber could enter. For many years he
+had drunk nothing but Burgundy wine, half mixed with water, and so old
+that it was used up instead of the best champagne which he had used all
+his life. He would pleasantly say sometimes that foreign lords who were
+anxious to taste the wine he used, were often mightily deceived. At no
+time had he ever drunk pure wine, or made use in any way of spirits, or
+even tea, coffee, or chocolate. Upon rising, instead of a little bread
+and wine and water, he had taken for a long time two glasses of sage and
+veronica; often between his meals, and always on going to bed, glasses of
+water with a little orange-flower water in them, and always iced. Even
+on the days when he had medicine he drank this, and always also at his
+meals, between which he never ate anything except some cinnamon lozenges
+that he put into his pocket at his dessert, with a good many cracknels
+for the bitches he kept in his cabinet.
+
+As during the last year of his life the King became more and more
+costive, Fagon made him eat at the commencement of his repasts many iced
+fruits, that is to say, mulberries, melons, and figs rotten from
+ripeness; and at his dessert many other fruits, finishing with a
+surprising quantity of sweetmeats. All the year round he ate at supper a
+prodigious quantity of salad. His soups, several of which he partook of
+morning and evening, were full of gravy, and were of exceeding strength,
+and everything that was served to him was full of spice, to double the
+usual extent, and very strong also. This regimen and the sweetmeats
+together Fagon did not like, and sometimes while seeing the King eat, he
+would make most amusing grimaces, without daring however to say anything
+except now and then to Livry and Benoist, who replied that it was their
+business to feed the King, and his to doctor him. The King never ate any
+kind of venison or water-fowl, but otherwise partook of everything, fete
+days and fast days alike, except that during the last twenty years of his
+life he observed some few days of Lent.
+
+This summer he redoubled his regime of fruits and drinks. At last the
+former clogged his stomach, taken after soup, weakened the digestive
+organs and took away his appetite, which until then had never failed him
+all his life, though however late dinner might be delayed he never was
+hungry or wanted to eat. But after the first spoonfuls of soup, his
+appetite came, as I have several times heard him say, and he ate so
+prodigiously and so solidly morning and evening that no one could get
+accustomed to see it. So much water and so much fruit unconnected by
+anything spirituous, turned his blood into gangrene; while those forced
+night sweats diminished its strength and impoverished it; and thus his
+death was caused, as was seen by the opening of his body. The organs
+were found in such good and healthy condition that there is reason to
+believe he would have lived beyond his hundredth year. His stomach above
+all astonished, and also his bowels by their volume and extent, double
+that of the ordinary, whence it came that he was such a great yet uniform
+eater. Remedies were not thought of until it was no longer time, because
+Fagon would never believe him ill, or Madame de Maintenon either; though
+at the same time she had taken good care to provide for her own retreat
+in the case of his death. Amidst all this, the King felt his state
+before they felt it, and said so sometimes to his valets: Fagon always
+reassured him, but did nothing. The King was contented with what was
+said to him without being persuaded: but his friendship for Fagon
+restrained him, and Madame de Maintenon still more.
+
+On Wednesday, the 14th of August, the King was carried to hear mass for
+the last time; held the Council of State, ate a meat dinner, and had
+music in Madame de Maintenon's rooms. He supped in his chamber, where
+the Court saw him as at his dinner; was with his family a short time in
+his cabinet, and went to bed a little after ten.
+
+On Thursday, the Festival of the Assumption, he heard mass in his bed.
+The night had been disturbed and bad. He dined in his bed, the courtiers
+being present, rose at five and was carried to Madame de Maintenon's,
+where music was played. He supped and went to bed as on the previous
+evening. As long as he could sit up he did the same.
+
+On Friday, the 16th of August, the night had been no better; much thirst
+and drink. The King ordered no one to enter until ten. Mass and dinner
+in his bed as before; then he was carried to Madame de Maintenon's; he
+played with the ladies there, and afterwards there was a grand concert.
+
+On Saturday, the 17th of August, the night as the preceding. He held the
+Finance Council, he being in bed; saw people at his dinner, rose
+immediately after; gave audience in his cabinet to the General of the
+order of Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie; passed to Madame de Maintenon's,
+where he worked with the Chancellor. At night, Fagon slept for the first
+time in his chamber.
+
+Sunday, the 18th of August, passed like the preceding days, Fagon
+pretended there had been no fever. The King held a Council of State
+before and after his dinner; worked afterwards upon the fortifications
+with Pelletier; then passed to Madame de Maintenon's, where there was
+music.
+
+Monday, the 19th, and Tuesday, the 20th of August, passed much as the
+previous days, excepting that on the latter the King supped in his
+dressing-gown, seated in an armchair; and that after this evening he
+never left his room or dressed himself again. That same day Madame de
+Saint-Simon, whom I had pressed to return, came back from the waters of
+Forges. The king, entering after supper into his cabinet, perceived her.
+He ordered his chair to be stopped; spoke to her very kindly upon her
+journey and her return; then had himself wheeled on by Bloin into the
+other cabinet. She was the last Court lady to whom he spoke. I don't
+count those who were always near him, and who came to him when he could
+no longer leave his room. Madame de Saint-Simon said to me in the
+evening that she should not have recognised the King if she had met him
+anywhere else. Yet she had left Marly for Forges only on the 6th of
+July.
+
+On Wednesday, the 21st of August, four physicians saw the King, but took
+care to do nothing except praise Fagon, who gave him cassia. For some
+days it had been perceived that he ate meat and even bread with
+difficulty, (though all his life he had eaten but little of the latter,
+and for some time only the crumb, because he had no teeth). Soup in
+larger quantity, hash very light, and eggs compensated him; but he ate
+very sparingly.
+
+On Thursday, the 22nd of August, the King was still worse. He saw four
+other physicians, who, like the first four, did nothing but admire the
+learned and admirable treatment of Fagon, who made him take towards
+evening some Jesuit bark and water and intended to give him at night,
+ass's milk. This same day, the King ordered the Duc de la Rochefoucauld
+to bring him his clothes on the morrow, in order that he might choose
+which he would wear upon leaving off the mourning he wore for a son of
+Madame la Duchesse de Lorraine. He had not been able to quit his chamber
+for some days; he could scarcely eat anything solid; his physician slept
+in his chamber, and yet he reckoned upon being cured, upon dressing
+himself again, and wished to choose his dress! In like manner there was
+the same round of councils, of work, of amusements. So true it is, that
+men do not wish to die, and dissimulate from themselves the approach of
+death as long as possible. Meanwhile, let me say, that the state of the
+King, which nobody was ignorant of, had already changed M. d'Orleans'
+desert into a crowded city.
+
+Friday, the 23rd of August, the night was as usual, the morning also.
+The King worked with Pere Tellier, who tried, but in vain, to make him
+fill up several benefices that were vacant; that is to say, Pere Tellier
+wished to dispose of them himself, instead of leaving them to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans. Let me state at once, that the feebler the King grew the more
+Pere Tellier worried him; so as not to lose such a rich prey, or miss the
+opportunity of securing fresh creatures for his service. But he could
+not succeed. The King declared to him that he had enough to render
+account of to God, without charging himself with this nomination, and
+forbade him to speak again upon the subject.
+
+On Saturday evening, the 24th of August, he supped in his dressing-gown,
+in presence of the courtiers, for the last time. I noticed that he could
+only swallow liquids, and that he was troubled if looked at. He could
+not finish his supper, and begged the courtiers to pass on, that is to
+say, go away. He went to bed, where his leg, on which were several black
+marks, was examined. It had grown worse lately and had given him much
+pain. He sent for Pere Tellier and made confession. Confusion spread
+among the doctors at this. Milk, and Jesuit bark and water had been
+tried and abandoned in turns; now, nobody knew what to try. The doctors
+admitted that they believed he had had a slow fever ever since
+Whitsuntide; and excused themselves for doing nothing on the ground that
+he did not wish for remedies.
+
+On Sunday, the 25th of August, no more mystery was made of the King's
+danger. Nevertheless, he expressly commanded that nothing should be
+changed in the usual order of this day (the fete of St. Louis), that is
+to say, that the drums and the hautboys, assembled beneath his windows,
+should play their accustomed music as soon as he awoke, and that the
+twenty-four violins should play in the ante-chamber during his dinner.
+He worked afterwards with the Chancellor, who wrote, under his dictation,
+a codicil to his will, Madame de Maintenon being present. She and M. du
+Maine, who thought incessantly of themselves, did not consider the King
+had done enough for them by his will; they wished to remedy this by a
+codicil, which equally showed how enormously they abused the King's
+weakness in this extremity, and to what an excess ambition may carry us.
+By this codicil the King submitted all the civil and military household
+of the young King to the Duc du Maine, and under his orders to Marechal
+de Villeroy, who, by this disposition became the sole masters of the
+person and the dwelling place of the King, and of Paris, by the troops
+placed in their hands; so that the Regent had not the slightest shadow of
+authority and was at their mercy; certainly liable to be arrested or
+worse, any time it should please M. du Maine.
+
+Soon after the Chancellor left the King, Madame de Maintenon, who
+remained, sent for the ladies; and the musicians came at seven o'clock in
+the evening. But the King fell asleep during the conversation of the
+ladies. He awoke; his brain confused, which frightened them and made
+them call the doctors. They found his pulse so bad that they did not
+hesitate to propose to him, his senses having returned, to take the
+sacrament without delay. Pere Tellier was sent for; the musicians who
+had just prepared their books and their instruments, were dismissed, the
+ladies also; and in a quarter of an hour from that time, the King made
+confession to Pere Tellier, the Cardinal de Rohan, meanwhile, bringing
+the Holy Sacrament from the chapel, and sending for the Cure and holy
+oils. Two of the King's chaplains, summoned by the Cardinal, came, and
+seven or eight candlesticks were carried by valets. The Cardinal said a
+word or two to the King upon this great and last action, during which the
+King appeared very firm, but very penetrated with what he was doing. As
+soon as he had received Our Saviour and the holy oils, everybody left the
+chamber except Madame de Maintenon and the Chancellor. Immediately
+afterwards, and this was rather strange, a kind of book or little tablet
+was placed upon the bed, the codicil was presented to the King, and at
+the bottom of it he wrote four or five lines, and restored the document
+to the Chancellor.
+
+After this, the King sent for M. le Duc d'Orleans, showed him much
+esteem, friendship, and confidence; but what is terrible with Jesus
+Christ still upon his lips--the Sacrament he had just received--he
+assured him, he would find nothing in his will with which he would not
+feel pleased. Then he recommended to him the state and the person of the
+future King.
+
+On Monday, the 26th of August, the King called to him the Cardinals de
+Rohan and de Bissy, protested that he died in the faith, and in
+submission to the Church, then added, looking at them, that he was sorry
+to leave the affairs of the Church as they were; that they knew he had
+done nothing except what they wished; that it was therefore for them to
+answer before God for what he had done; that his own conscience was
+clear, and that he was as an ignorant man who had abandoned himself
+entirely to them. What a frightful thunderbolt was this to the two
+Cardinals; for this was an allusion to the terrible constitution they had
+assisted Pere Tellier in forcing upon him. But their calm was superior
+to all trial. They praised him and said he had done well, and that he
+might be at ease as to the result.
+
+This same Monday, 26th of August, after the two Cardinals had left the
+room, the King dined in his bed in the presence of those who were
+privileged to enter. As the things were being cleared away, he made them
+approach and addressed to them these words, which were stored up in their
+memory:--"Gentlemen, I ask your pardon for the bad example I have given
+you. I have much to thank you for the manner in which you have served
+me, and for the attachment and fidelity you have always shown for me. I
+am very sorry I have not done for you all I should have wished to do; bad
+times have been the cause. I ask for my grandson the same application
+and the same fidelity you have had for me. He is a child who may
+experience many reverses. Let your example be one for all my other
+subjects. Follow the orders my nephew will give you; he is to govern the
+realm; I hope he will govern it well; I hope also that you will all
+contribute to keep up union, and that if any one falls away you will aid
+in bringing him back. I feel that I am moved, and that I move you also.
+I ask your pardon. Adieu, gentlemen, I hope you will sometimes remember
+me."
+
+A short time after he called the Marechal de Villeroy to him, and said he
+had made him governor of the Dauphin. He then called to him M. le Duc
+and M. le Prince de Conti, and recommended to them the advantage of union
+among princes. Then, hearing women in the cabinet, questioned who were
+there, and immediately sent word they might enter. Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry, Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, and the Princesses of the blood
+forthwith appeared, crying. The King told them they must not cry thus,
+and said a few friendly words to them, and dismissed them. They retired
+by the cabinet, weeping and crying very loudly, which caused people to
+believe outside that the King was dead; and, indeed, the rumour spread to
+Paris, and even to the provinces.
+
+Some time after the King requested the Duchesse de Ventadour to bring the
+little Dauphin to him. He made the child approach, and then said to him,
+before Madame de Maintenon and the few privileged people present, "My
+child, you are going to be a great king; do not imitate me in the taste
+I have had for building, or in that I have had for war; try, on the
+contrary, to be at peace with your neighbours. Render to God what you
+owe Him; recognise the obligations you are under to Him; make Him
+honoured by your subjects. Always follow good counsels; try to comfort
+your people, which I unhappily have not done. Never forget the
+obligation you owe to Madame de Ventadour. Madame (addressing her), let
+me embrace him (and while embracing him), my dear child, I give you my
+benediction with my whole heart."
+
+As the little Prince was about to be taken off the bed, the King
+redemanded him, embraced him again, and raising hands and eyes to Heaven,
+blessed him once more. This spectacle was extremely touching.
+
+On Tuesday, the 27th of August, the King said to Madame de Maintenon,
+that he had always heard, it was hard to resolve to die; but that as for
+him, seeing himself upon the point of death, he did not find this
+resolution so difficult to form. She replied that it was very hard when
+we had attachments to creatures, hatred in our hearts, or restitutions to
+make. "Ah," rejoined the King, "as for restitutions, to nobody in
+particular do I owe any; but as for those I owe to the realm, I hope in
+the mercy of God."
+
+The night which followed was very agitated. The King was seen at all
+moments joining his hands, striking his breast, and was heard repeating
+the prayers he ordinarily employed.
+
+On Wednesday morning, the 28th of August, he paid a compliment to Madame
+de Maintenon, which pleased her but little, and to which she replied not
+one word. He said, that what consoled him in quitting her was that,
+considering the age she had reached, they must soon meet again!
+
+About seven o'clock in the morning, he saw in the mirror two of his
+valets at the foot of the bed weeping, and said to them, "Why do you
+weep? Is it because you thought me immortal? As for me, I have not
+thought myself so, and you ought, considering my age, to have been
+prepared to lose me."
+
+A very clownish Provencal rustic heard of the extremity of the King,
+while on his way from Marseilles to Paris, and came this morning to
+Versailles with a remedy, which he said would cure the gangrene. The
+King was so ill, and the doctors so at their wits' ends, that they
+consented to receive him. Fagon tried to say something, but this rustic,
+who was named Le Brun, abused him very coarsely, and Fagon, accustomed to
+abuse others, was confounded. Ten drops of Le Brun's mixture in Alicante
+wine were therefore given to the King about eleven o'clock in the
+morning. Some time after he became stronger, but the pulse falling again
+and becoming bad, another dose was given to him about four o'clock, to
+recall him to life, they told him. He replied, taking the mixture, "To
+life or to death as it shall please God."
+
+Le Brun's remedy was continued. Some one proposed that the King should
+take some broth. The King replied that it was not broth he wanted, but a
+confessor, and sent for him. One day, recovering from loss of
+consciousness, he asked Pere Tellier to give him absolution for all his
+sins. Pere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. "No," replied the
+King, "that's what troubles me: I should like to suffer more for the
+expiation of my sins."
+
+On Thursday, the 29th of August, he grew a little better; he even ate two
+little biscuits steeped in wine, with a certain appetite. The news
+immediately spread abroad that the King was recovering. I went that day
+to the apartments of M. le Duc d'Orleans, where, during the previous
+eight days, there had been such a crowd that, speaking exactly, a pin
+would not have fallen to the ground. Not a soul was there! As soon as
+the Duke saw me he burst out laughing, and said, I was the first person
+who had been to see him all the day! And until the evening he was
+entirely deserted. Such is the world!
+
+In the evening it was known that the King had only recovered for the
+moment. In giving orders during the day, he called the young Dauphin
+"the young King." He saw a movement amongst those around him. "Why
+not?" said he, "that does not trouble me." Towards eight o'clock he
+took the elixir of the rustic. His brain appeared confused; he himself
+said he felt very ill. Towards eleven o'clock his leg was examined. The
+gangrene was found to be in the foot and the knee; the thigh much
+inflamed. He swooned during this examination. He had perceived with
+much pain that Madame de Maintenon was no longer near him. She had in
+fact gone off on the previous day with very dry eyes to Saint-Cyr, not
+intending to return. He asked for her several times during the day. Her
+departure could not be hidden. He sent for her to Saint-Cyr, and she
+came back in the evening.
+
+Friday, August the 30th, was a bad day preceded by a bad night. The King
+continually lost his reason. About five o'clock in the evening Madame de
+Maintenon left him, gave away her furniture to the domestics, and went to
+Saint-Cyr never to leave it.
+
+On Saturday, the 31st of August, everything went from bad to worse. The
+gangrene had reached the knee and all the thigh. Towards eleven o'clock
+at night the King was found to be so ill that the prayers for the dying
+were said. This restored him to himself. He repeated the prayers in a
+voice so strong that it rose above all the other voices. At the end he
+recognised Cardinal de Rohan, and said to him, "These are the last
+favours of the Church." This was the last man to whom he spoke. He
+repeated several times, "Nunc et in hora mortis", then said, "Oh, my God,
+come to my aid: hasten to succour me."
+
+These were his last words. All the night he was without consciousness
+and in a long agony, which finished on Sunday, the 1st September, 1715,
+at a quarter past eight in the morning, three days before he had
+accomplished his seventy-seventh year, and in the seventy-second of his
+reign. He had survived all his sons and grandsons, except the King of
+Spain. Europe never saw so long a reign or France a King so old.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII
+
+I shall pass over the stormy period of Louis XIV.'s minority. At twenty-
+three years of age he entered the great world as King, under the most
+favourable auspices. His ministers were the most skilful in all Europe;
+his generals the best; his Court was filled with illustrious and clever
+men, formed during the troubles which had followed the death of Louis
+XIII.
+
+Louis XIV. was made for a brilliant Court. In the midst of other men,
+his figure, his courage, his grace, his beauty, his grand mien, even the
+tone of his voice and the majestic and natural charm of all his person,
+distinguished him till his death as the King Bee, and showed that if he
+had only been born a simple private gentlemen, he would equally have
+excelled in fetes, pleasures, and gallantry, and would have had the
+greatest success in love. The intrigues and adventures which early in
+life he had been engaged in--when the Comtesse de Soissons lodged at the
+Tuileries, as superintendent of the Queen's household, and was the centre
+figure of the Court group--had exercised an unfortunate influence upon
+him: he received those impressions with which he could never after
+successfully struggle. From this time, intellect, education, nobility of
+sentiment, and high principle, in others, became objects of suspicion to
+him, and soon of hatred. The more he advanced in years the more this
+sentiment was confirmed in him. He wished to reign by himself. His
+jealousy on this point unceasingly became weakness. He reigned, indeed,
+in little things; the great he could never reach: even in the former,
+too, he was often governed. The superior ability of his early ministers
+and his early generals soon wearied him. He liked nobody to be in any
+way superior to him. Thus he chose his ministers, not for their
+knowledge, but for their ignorance; not for their capacity, but for their
+want of it. He liked to form them, as he said; liked to teach them even
+the most trifling things. It was the same with his generals. He took
+credit to himself for instructing them; wished it to be thought that from
+his cabinet he commanded and directed all his armies. Naturally fond of
+trifles, he unceasingly occupied himself with the most petty details of
+his troops, his household, his mansions; would even instruct his cooks,
+who received, like novices, lessons they had known by heart for years.
+This vanity, this unmeasured and unreasonable love of admiration, was his
+ruin. His ministers, his generals, his mistresses, his courtiers, soon
+perceived his weakness. They praised him with emulation and spoiled him.
+Praises, or to say truth, flattery, pleased him to such an extent, that
+the coarsest was well received, the vilest even better relished. It was
+the sole means by which you could approach him. Those whom he liked owed
+his affection for them to their untiring flatteries. This is what gave
+his ministers so much authority, and the opportunities they had for
+adulating him, of attributing everything to him, and of pretending to
+learn everything from him. Suppleness, meanness, an admiring, dependent,
+cringing manner--above all, an air of nothingness--were the sole means of
+pleasing him.
+
+This poison spread. It spread, too, to an incredible extent, in a prince
+who, although of intellect beneath mediocrity, was not utterly without
+sense, and who had had some experience. Without voice or musical
+knowledge, he used to sing, in private, the passages of the opera
+prologues that were fullest of his praises.
+
+He was drowned in vanity; and so deeply, that at his public suppers--all
+the Court present, musicians also--he would hum these self-same praises
+between his teeth, when the music they were set to was played!
+
+And yet, it must be admitted, he might have done better. Though his
+intellect, as I have said, was beneath mediocrity, it was capable of
+being formed. He loved glory, was fond of order and regularity; was by
+disposition prudent, moderate, discreet, master of his movements and his
+tongue. Will it be believed? He was also by disposition good and just!
+God had sufficiently gifted him to enable him to be a good King; perhaps
+even a tolerably great King! All the evil came to him from elsewhere.
+His early education was so neglected that nobody dared approach his
+apartment. He has often been heard to speak of those times with
+bitterness, and even to relate that, one evening he was found in the
+basin of the Palais Royal garden fountain, into which he had fallen! He
+was scarcely taught how to read or write, and remained so ignorant, that
+the most familiar historical and other facts were utterly unknown to him!
+He fell, accordingly, and sometimes even in public, into the grossest
+absurdities.
+
+It was his vanity, his desire for glory, that led him, soon after the
+death of the King of Spain, to make that event the pretext for war; in
+spite of the renunciations so recently made, so carefully stipulated, in
+the marriage contract. He marched into Flanders; his conquests there
+were rapid; the passage of the Rhine was admirable; the triple alliance
+of England, Sweden, and Holland only animated him. In the midst of
+winter he took Franche-Comte, by restoring which at the peace of Aix-la-
+Chapelle, he preserved his conquests in Flanders. All was flourishing
+then in the state. Riches everywhere. Colbert had placed the finances,
+the navy, commerce, manufactures, letters even, upon the highest point;
+and this age, like that of Augustus, produced in abundance illustrious
+men of all kinds,-even those illustrious only in pleasures.
+
+Le Tellier and Louvois, his son, who had the war department, trembled at
+the success and at the credit of Colbert, and had no difficulty in
+putting into the head of the King a new war, the success of which caused
+such fear to all Europe that France never recovered from it, and after
+having been upon the point of succumbing to this war, for a long time
+felt the weight and misfortune of it. Such was the real cause of that
+famous Dutch war, to which the King allowed himself to be pushed, and
+which his love for Madame de Montespan rendered so unfortunate for his
+glory and for his kingdom. Everything being conquered, everything taken,
+and Amsterdam ready to give up her keys, the King yields to his
+impatience, quits the army, flies to Versailles, and destroys in an
+instant all the success of his arms! He repaired this disgrace by a
+second conquest, in person, of Franche-Comte, which this time was
+preserved by France.
+
+In 1676, the King having returned into Flanders, took Conde; whilst
+Monsieur took Bouchain. The armies of the King and of the Prince of
+Orange approached each other so suddenly and so closely, that they found
+themselves front to front near Heurtebise. According even to the
+admission of the enemy, our forces were so superior to those of the
+Prince of Orange, that we must have gained the victory if we had
+attacked. But the King, after listening to the opinions of his generals,
+some for, and some against giving battle, decided for the latter, turned
+tail, and the engagement was talked of no more. The army was much
+discontented. Everybody wished for battle. The fault therefore of the
+King made much impression upon the troops, and excited cruel railleries
+against us at home and in the foreign courts. The King stopped but
+little longer afterwards in the army, although we were only in the month
+of May. He returned to his mistress.
+
+The following year he returned to Flanders, and took Cambrai; and
+Monsieur besieged Saint-Omer. Monsieur got the start of the Prince of
+Orange, who was about to assist the place, gave him battle near Corsel,
+obtained a complete victory, immediately took Saint-Omer, and then joined
+the King. This contrast so affected the monarch that never afterwards
+did he give Monsieur command of an army! External appearances were
+perfectly kept up, but from that moment the resolution was taken and
+always well sustained.
+
+The year afterwards the King led in person the siege of Ghent. The peace
+of Nimeguen ended this year the war with Holland, Spain, &c.; and on the
+commencement of the following year, that with the Emperor and the Empire.
+America, Africa, the Archipelago, Sicily, acutely felt the power of
+France, and in 1684 Luxembourg was the price of the delay of the
+Spaniards in fulfilling all the conditions of the peace. Genoa,
+bombarded, was forced to come in the persons of its doge and four of its
+senators, to sue for peace at the commencement of the following year.
+From this date, until 1688, the time passed in the cabinet less in fetes
+than in devotion and constraint. Here finishes the apogeum of this
+reign, and the fulness of glory and prosperity. The great captains, the
+great ministers, were no more, but their pupils remained. The second
+epoch of the reign was very different from the first; but the third was
+even more sadly dissimilar.
+
+I have related the adventure which led to the wars of this period; how an
+ill-made window-frame was noticed at the Trianon, then building; how
+Louvois was blamed for it; his alarm lest his disgrace should follow; his
+determination to engage the King in a war which should turn him from his
+building fancies. He carried out his resolve: with what result I have
+already shown. France was ruined at home; and abroad, despite the
+success of her arms, gained nothing. On the contrary, the withdrawal of
+the King from Gembloux, when he might have utterly defeated the Prince of
+Orange, did us infinite harm, as I have shown in its place. The peace
+which followed this war was disgraceful. The King was obliged to
+acknowledge the Prince of Orange as King of England, after having so long
+shown hatred and contempt for him. Our precipitation, too, cost us
+Luxembourg; and the ignorance of our plenipotentiaries gave our enemies
+great advantages in forming their frontier. Such was the peace of
+Ryswick, concluded in September, 1697.
+
+This peace seemed as though it would allow France some breathing time.
+The King was sixty years of age, and had, in his own opinion, acquired
+all sorts of glory. But scarcely were we at peace, without having had
+time to taste it, than the pride of the King made him wish to astonish
+all Europe by the display of a power that it believed prostrated. And
+truly he did astonish Europe. But at what a cost! The famous camp of
+Compiegne--for 'tis to that I allude--was one of the most magnificent
+spectacles ever seen; but its immense and misplaced prodigality was soon
+regretted. Twenty years afterwards, some of the regiments who took part
+in it were still in difficulties from this cause.
+
+Shortly afterwards,--by one of the most surprising and unheard-of pieces
+of good fortune, the crown of Spain fell into the hands of the Duc
+d'Anjou, grandson of the King. It seemed as though golden days had come
+back again to France. Only for a little time, however, did it seem so.
+Nearly all Europe, as it has been seen, banded against France, to dispute
+the Spanish crown. The King had lost all his good ministers, all his
+able generals, and had taken good pains they should leave no successors.
+When war came, then, we were utterly unable to prosecute it with success
+or honour. We were driven out of Germany, of Italy, of the Low
+Countries. We could not sustain the war, or resolve to make peace.
+Every day led us nearer and nearer the brink of the precipice, the
+terrible depths of which were for ever staring us in the face. A
+misunderstanding amongst our enemies, whereby England became detached
+from the grand alliance; the undue contempt of Prince Eugene for our
+generals, out of which arose the battle of Denain; saved us from the
+gulf. Peace came, and a peace, too, infinitely better than that we
+should have ardently embraced if our enemies had agreed amongst
+themselves beforehand. Nevertheless, this peace cost dear to France, and
+cost Spain half its territory--Spain, of which the King had said not even
+a windmill would he yield! But this was another piece of folly he soon
+repented of.
+
+Thus, we see this monarch, grand, rich, conquering, the arbiter of
+Europe; feared and admired as long as the ministers and captains existed
+who really deserved the name. When they were no more, the machine kept
+moving some time by impulsion, and from their influence. But soon
+afterwards we saw beneath the surface; faults and errors were multiplied,
+and decay came on with giant strides; without, however, opening the eyes
+of that despotic master, so anxious to do everything and direct
+everything himself, and who seemed to indemnify himself for disdain
+abroad by increasing fear and trembling at home.
+
+So much for the reign of this vain-glorious monarch.
+
+Let me touch now upon some other incidents in his career, and upon some
+points in his character.
+
+He early showed a disinclination for Paris. The troubles that had taken
+place there during his minority made him regard the place as dangerous;
+he wished, too, to render himself venerable by hiding himself from the
+eyes of the multitude; all these considerations fixed him at Saint-
+Germain soon after the death of the Queen, his mother. It was to that
+place he began to attract the world by fetes and gallantries, and by
+making it felt that he wished to be often seen.
+
+His love for Madame de la Valliere, which was at first kept secret,
+occasioned frequent excursions to Versailles, then a little card castle,
+which had been built by Louis XIII.--annoyed, and his suite still more
+so, at being frequently obliged to sleep in a wretched inn there, after
+he had been out hunting in the forest of Saint Leger. That monarch
+rarely slept at Versailles more than one night, and then from necessity;
+the King, his son, slept there, so that he might be more in private with
+his mistress, pleasures unknown to the hero and just man, worthy son of
+Saint-Louis, who built the little chateau.
+
+These excursions of Louis XIV. by degrees gave birth to those immense
+buildings he erected at Versailles; and their convenience for a numerous
+court, so different from the apartments at Saint-Germain, led him to take
+up his abode there entirely shortly after the death of the Queen. He
+built an infinite number of apartments, which were asked for by those who
+wished to pay their court to him; whereas at Saint-Germain nearly
+everybody was obliged to lodge in the town, and the few who found
+accommodation at the chateau were strangely inconvenienced.
+
+The frequent fetes, the private promenades at Versailles, the journeys,
+were means on which the King seized in order to distinguish or mortify
+the courtiers, and thus render them more assiduous in pleasing him.
+
+He felt that of real favours he had not enough to bestow; in order to
+keep up the spirit of devotion, he therefore unceasingly invented all
+sorts of ideal ones, little preferences and petty distinctions, which
+answered his purpose as well.
+
+He was exceedingly jealous of the attention paid him. Not only did he
+notice the presence of the most distinguished courtiers, but those of
+inferior degree also. He looked to the right and to the left, not only
+upon rising but upon going to bed, at his meals, in passing through his
+apartments, or his gardens of Versailles, where alone the courtiers were
+allowed to follow him; he saw and noticed everybody; not one escaped him,
+not even those who hoped to remain unnoticed. He marked well all
+absentees from the Court, found out the reason of their absence, and
+never lost an opportunity of acting towards them as the occasion might
+seem to justify. With some of the courtiers (the most distinguished), it
+was a demerit not to make the Court their ordinary abode; with others
+'twas a fault to come but rarely; for those who never or scarcely ever
+came it was certain disgrace. When their names were in any way
+mentioned, "I do not know them," the King would reply haughtily. Those
+who presented themselves but seldom were thus Characterise: "They are
+people I never see;" these decrees were irrevocable. He could not bear
+people who liked Paris.
+
+Louis XIV. took great pains to be well informed of all that passed
+everywhere; in the public places, in the private houses, in society and
+familiar intercourse. His spies and tell-tales were infinite. He had
+them of all species; many who were ignorant that their information
+reached him; others who knew it; others who wrote to him direct, sending
+their letters through channels he indicated; and all these letters were
+seen by him alone, and always before everything else; others who
+sometimes spoke to him secretly in his cabinet, entering by the back
+stairs. These unknown means ruined an infinite number of people of all
+classes, who never could discover the cause; often ruined them very
+unjustly; for the King, once prejudiced, never altered his opinion, or so
+rarely, that nothing was more rare. He had, too, another fault, very
+dangerous for others and often for himself, since it deprived him of good
+subjects. He had an excellent memory; in this way, that if he saw a man
+who, twenty years before, perhaps, had in some manner offended him, he
+did not forget the man, though he might forget the offence. This was
+enough, however, to exclude the person from all favour. The
+representations of a minister, of a general, of his confessor even,
+could not move the King. He would not yield.
+
+The most cruel means by which the King was informed of what was passing--
+for many years before anybody knew it--was that of opening letters. The
+promptitude and dexterity with which they were opened passes
+understanding. He saw extracts from all the letters in which there were
+passages that the chiefs of the post-office, and then the minister who
+governed it, thought ought to go before him; entire letters, too, were
+sent to him, when their contents seemed to justify the sending. Thus the
+chiefs of the post, nay, the principal clerks were in a position to
+suppose what they pleased and against whom they pleased. A word of
+contempt against the King or the government, a joke, a detached phrase,
+was enough. It is incredible how many people, justly or unjustly, were
+more or less ruined, always without resource, without trial, and without
+knowing why. The secret was impenetrable; for nothing ever cost the King
+less than profound silence and dissimulation.
+
+This last talent he pushed almost to falsehood, but never to deceit,
+pluming himself upon keeping his word,--therefore he scarcely ever gave
+it. The secrets of others he kept as religiously as his own. He was
+even flattered by certain confessions and certain confidences; and there
+was no mistress, minister, or favourite, who could have wormed them out,
+even though the secret regarded themselves.
+
+We know, amongst many others, the famous story of a woman of quality,
+who, after having been separated a year from her husband, found herself
+in the family way just as he was on the point of returning from the army,
+and who, not knowing what else to do, in the most urgent manner begged a
+private interview of the King. She obtained it, and confined to him her
+position, as to the worthiest man in his realm, as she said. The King
+counselled her to profit by her distress, and live more wisely for the
+future, and immediately promised to retain her husband on the frontier as
+long as was necessary, and to forbid his return under any pretext, and in
+fact he gave orders the same day to Louvois, and prohibited the husband
+not only all leave of absence, but forbade him to quit for a single day
+the post he was to command all the winter. The officer, who was
+distinguished, and who had neither wished nor asked to be employed all
+the winter upon the frontier, and Louvois, who had in no way thought of
+it, were equally surprised and vexed. They were obliged, however, to
+obey to the letter, and without asking why; and the King never mentioned
+the circumstance until many years afterwards, when he was quite sure
+nobody could find out either husband or wife, as in fact they never
+could, or even obtain the most vague or the most uncertain suspicion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV
+
+Never did man give with better grace than Louis XIV., or augmented so
+much, in this way, the price of his benefits. Never did man sell to
+better profit his words, even his smiles,--nay, his looks. Never did
+disobliging words escape him; and if he had to blame, to reprimand, or
+correct, which was very rare, it was nearly always with goodness, never,
+except on one occasion (the admonition of Courtenvaux, related in its
+place), with anger or severity. Never was man so naturally polite, or of
+a politeness so measured, so graduated, so adapted to person, time, and
+place. Towards women his politeness was without parallel. Never did he
+pass the humblest petticoat without raising his hat; even to chamber-
+maids, that he knew to be such, as often happened at Marly. For ladies
+he took his hat off completely, but to a greater or less extent; for
+titled people, half off, holding it in his hand or against his ear some
+instants, more or less marked. For the nobility he contented himself by
+putting his hand to his hat. He took it off for the Princes of the
+blood, as for the ladies. If he accosted ladies he did not cover himself
+until he had quitted them. All this was out of doors, for in the house
+he was never covered. His reverences, more or less marked, but always
+light, were incomparable for their grace and manner; even his mode of
+half raising himself at supper for each lady who arrived at table.
+Though at last this fatigued him, yet he never ceased it; the ladies who
+were to sit down, however, took care not to enter after supper had
+commenced.
+
+If he was made to wait for anything while dressing, it was always with
+patience. He was exact to the hours that he gave for all his day, with a
+precision clear and brief in his orders. If in the bad weather of
+winter, when he could not go out, he went to Madame de Maintenon's a
+quarter of an hour earlier than he had arranged (which seldom happened),
+and the captain of the guards was not on duty, he did not fail afterwards
+to say that it was his own fault for anticipating the hour, not that of
+the captain of the guards for being absent. Thus, with this regularity
+which he never deviated from, he was served with the utmost exactitude.
+
+He treated his valets well, above all those of the household. It was
+amongst them that he felt most at ease, and that he unbosomed himself the
+most familiarly, especially to the chiefs. Their friendship and their
+aversion have often had grand results. They were unceasingly in a
+position to render good and bad offices: thus they recalled those
+powerful enfranchised slaves of the Roman emperors, to whom the senate
+and the great people paid court and basely truckled. These valets during
+Louis XIV.'s reign were not less courted. The ministers, even the most
+powerful, openly studied their caprices; and the Princes of the blood,
+nay, the bastards,--not to mention people of lower grade, did the same.
+The majority were accordingly insolent enough; and if you could not avoid
+their insolence, you were forced to put up with it.
+
+The King loved air and exercise very much, as long as he could make use
+of them. He had excelled in dancing, and at tennis and mall. On
+horseback he was admirable, even at a late age. He liked to see
+everything done with grace and address. To acquit yourself well or ill
+before him was a merit or a fault. He said that with things not
+necessary it was best not to meddle, unless they were done well. He was
+very fond of shooting, and there was not a better or more graceful shot
+than he. He had always, in his cabinet seven or eight pointer bitches,
+and was fond of feeding them, to make himself known to them. He was very
+fond, too, of stag hunting; but in a caleche, since he broke his arm,
+while hunting at Fontainebleau, immediately after the death of the Queen.
+He rode alone in a species of "box," drawn by four little horses--with
+five or six relays, and drove himself with an address and accuracy
+unknown to the best coachmen. His postilions were children from ten to
+fifteen years of age, and he directed them.
+
+He liked splendour, magnificence, and profusion in everything: you
+pleased him if you shone through the brilliancy of your houses, your
+clothes, your table, your equipages. Thus a taste for extravagance and
+luxury was disseminated through all classes of society; causing infinite
+harm, and leading to general confusion of rank and to ruin.
+
+As for the King himself, nobody ever approached his magnificence. His
+buildings, who could number them? At the same time, who was there who
+did not deplore the pride, the caprice, the bad taste seen in them? He
+built nothing useful or ornamental in Paris, except the Pont Royal, and
+that simply by necessity; so that despite its incomparable extent, Paris
+is inferior to many cities of Europe. Saint-Germain, a lovely spot, with
+a marvellous view, rich forest, terraces, gardens, and water he abandoned
+for Versailles; the dullest and most ungrateful of all places, without
+prospect, without wood, without water, without soil; for the ground is
+all shifting sand or swamp, the air accordingly bad.
+
+But he liked to subjugate nature by art and treasure.
+
+He built at Versailles, on, on, without any general design, the beautiful
+and the ugly, the vast and the mean, all jumbled together. His own
+apartments and those of the Queen, are inconvenient to the last degree,
+dull, close, stinking. The gardens astonish by their magnificence, but
+cause regret by their bad taste. You are introduced to the freshness of
+the shade only by a vast torrid zone, at the end of which there is
+nothing for you but to mount or descend; and with the hill, which is very
+short, terminate the gardens. The violence everywhere done to nature
+repels and wearies us despite ourselves. The abundance of water, forced
+up and gathered together from all parts, is rendered green, thick, muddy;
+it disseminates humidity, unhealthy and evident; and an odour still more
+so. I might never finish upon the monstrous defects of a palace so
+immense and so immensely dear, with its accompaniments, which are still
+more so.
+
+But the supply of water for the fountains was all defective at all
+moments, in spite of those seas of reservoirs which had cost so many
+millions to establish and to form upon the shifting sand and marsh. Who
+could have believed it? This defect became the ruin of the infantry
+which was turned out to do the work. Madame de Maintenon reigned. M. de
+Louvois was well with her, then. We were at peace. He conceived the
+idea of turning the river Eure between Chartres and Maintenon, and of
+making it come to Versailles. Who can say what gold and men this
+obstinate attempt cost during several years, until it was prohibited by
+the heaviest penalties, in the camp established there, and for a long
+time kept up; not to speak of the sick,--above all, of the dead,--that
+the hard labour and still more the much disturbed earth, caused? How
+many men were years in recovering from the effects of the contagion! How
+many never regained their health at all! And not only the sub-officers,
+but the colonels, the brigadiers and general officers, were compelled to
+be upon the spot, and were not at liberty to absent themselves a quarter
+of an hour from the works. The war at last interrupted them in 1688, and
+they have never since been undertaken; only unfinished portions of them
+exist which will immortalise this cruel folly.
+
+At last, the King, tired of the cost and bustle, persuaded himself that
+he should like something little and solitary. He searched all around
+Versailles for some place to satisfy this new taste. He examined several
+neighbourhoods, he traversed the hills near Saint-Germain, and the vast
+plain which is at the bottom, where the Seine winds and bathes the feet
+of so many towns, and so many treasures in quitting Paris. He was
+pressed to fix himself at Lucienne, where Cavoye afterwards had a house,
+the view from which is enchanting; but he replied that, that fine
+situation would ruin him, and that as he wished to go to no expense, so
+he also wished a situation which would not urge him into any. He found
+behind Lucienne a deep narrow valley, completely shut in, inaccessible
+from its swamps, and with a wretched village called Marly upon the slope
+of one of its hills. This closeness, without drain or the means of
+having any, was the sole merit of the valley. The King was overjoyed at
+his discovery. It was a great work, that of draining this sewer of all
+the environs, which threw there their garbage, and of bringing soil
+thither! The hermitage was made. At first, it was only for sleeping in
+three nights, from Wednesday to Saturday, two or three times a-year, with
+a dozen at the outside of courtiers, to fill the most indispensable
+posts.
+
+By degrees, the hermitage was augmented, the hills were pared and cut
+down, to give at least the semblance of a prospect; in fine, what with
+buildings, gardens, waters, aqueducts, the curious and well known
+machine, statues, precious furniture, the park, the ornamental enclosed
+forest,--Marly has become what it is to-day, though it has been stripped
+since the death of the King. Great trees were unceasingly brought from
+Compiegne or farther, three-fourths of which died and were immediately
+after replaced; vast spaces covered with thick wood, or obscure alleys,
+were suddenly changed into immense pieces of water, on which people were
+rowed in gondolas; then they were changed again into forest (I speak of
+what I have seen in six weeks); basins were changed a hundred times;
+cascades the same; carp ponds adorned with the most exquisite painting,
+scarcely finished, were changed and differently arranged by the same
+hands; and this an infinite number of times; then there was that
+prodigious machine just alluded to, with its immense aqueducts, the
+conduit, its monstrous resources solely devoted to Marly, and no longer
+to Versailles; so that I am under the mark in saying that Versailles,
+even, did not cost so much as Marly.
+
+Such was the fate of a place the abode of serpents, and of carrion, of
+toads and frogs, solely chosen to avoid expense. Such was the bad taste
+of the King in all things, and his proud haughty pleasure in forcing
+nature; which neither the most mighty war, nor devotion could subdue!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXV
+
+Let me now speak of the amours of the King in which were even more fatal
+to the state than his building mania. Their scandal filled all Europe;
+stupefied France, shook the state, and without doubt drew upon the King
+those maledictions under the weight of which he was pushed so near the
+very edge of the precipice, and had the misfortune of seeing his
+legitimate posterity within an ace of extinction in France. These are
+evils which became veritable catastrophes and which will be long felt.
+
+Louis XIV., in his youth more made for love than any of his subjects--
+being tired of gathering passing sweets, fixed himself at last upon La
+Valliere. The progress and the result of his love are well known.
+
+Madame de Montespan was she whose rare beauty touched him next, even
+during the reign of Madame de La Valliere. She soon perceived it, and
+vainly pressed her husband to carry her away into Guienne. With foolish
+confidence he refused to listen to her. She spoke to him more in
+earnest. In vain. At last the King was listened to, and carried her off
+from her husband, with that frightful hubbub which resounded with horror
+among all nations, and which gave to the world the new spectacle of two
+mistresses at once! The King took them to the frontiers, to the camps,
+to the armies, both of them in the Queen's coach. The people ran from
+all parts to look at the three queens; and asked one another in their
+simplicity if they had seen them. In the end, Madame de Montespan
+triumphed, and disposed of the master and his Court with an eclat that
+knew no veil; and in order that nothing should be wanting to complete the
+licence of this life, M. de Montespan was sent to the Bastille; then
+banished to Guienne, and his wife was appointed superintendent of the
+Queen's household.
+
+The accouchements of Madame de Montespan were public. Her circle became
+the centre of the Court, of the amusements, of the hopes and of the fears
+of ministers and the generals, and the humiliation of all France. It was
+also the centre of wit, and of a kind so peculiar, so delicate, and so
+subtle, but always so natural and so agreeable, that it made itself
+distinguished by its special character.
+
+Madame de Montespan was cross, capricious, ill-tempered, and of a
+haughtiness in everything which, readied to the clouds, and from the
+effects of which nobody, not even the King, was exempt. The courtiers
+avoided passing under her windows, above all when the King was with her.
+They used to say it was equivalent to being put to the sword, and this
+phrase became proverbial at the Court. It is true that she spared
+nobody, often without other design than to divert the King; and as she
+had infinite wit and sharp pleasantry, nothing was more dangerous than
+the ridicule she, better than anybody, could cast on all. With that she
+loved her family and her relatives, and did not fail to serve people for
+whom she conceived friendship. The Queen endured with difficulty her
+haughtiness--very different from the respect and measure with which she
+had been treated by the Duchesse de la Valliere, whom she always loved;
+whereas of Madame de Montespan she would say, "That strumpet will cause
+my death." The retirement, the austere penitence, and the pious end of
+Madame de Montespan have been already described.
+
+During her reign she did not fail to have causes for jealousy. There was
+Mademoiselle de Fontange, who pleased the King sufficiently to become his
+mistress. But she had no intellect, and without that it was impossible
+to maintain supremacy over the King. Her early death quickly put an end
+to this amour. Then there was Madame de Soubise, who, by the infamous
+connivance of her husband, prostituted herself to the King, and thus
+secured all sorts of advantages for that husband, for herself, and for
+her children. The love of the King for her continued until her death,
+although for many years before that he had ceased to see her in private.
+Then there was the beautiful Ludre, demoiselle of Lorraine, and maid of
+honour to Madame, who was openly loved for a moment. But this amour was
+a flash of lightning, and Madame de Montespan remained triumphant.
+
+Let us now pass to another kind of amour which astonished all the world
+as much as the other had scandalised it, and which the King carried with
+him to the tomb. Who does not already recognise the celebrated Francoise
+d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon, whose permanent reign did not last less
+than thirty-two years?
+
+Born in the American islands, where her father, perhaps a gentleman, had
+gone to seek his bread, and where he was stifled by obscurity, she
+returned alone and at haphazard into France. She landed at La Rochelle,
+and was received in pity by Madame de Neuillant, mother of the Marechale
+Duchesse de Navailles, and was reduced by that avaricious old woman to
+keep the keys of her granary, and to see the hay measured out to her
+horses, as I have already related elsewhere. She came afterwards to
+Paris, young, clever, witty, and beautiful, without friends and without
+money; and by lucky chance made acquaintance with the famous Scarron. He
+found her amiable; his friends perhaps still more so. Marriage with this
+joyous and learned cripple appeared to her the greatest and most
+unlooked-for good fortune; and folks who were, perhaps, more in want of a
+wife than he, persuaded him to marry her, and thus raise this charming
+unfortunate from her misery.
+
+The marriage being brought about, the new spouse pleased the company
+which went to Scarron's house. It was the fashion to go there: people of
+the Court and of the city, the best and most distinguished went. Scarron
+was not in a state to leave his house, but the charm of his genius, of
+his knowledge, of his imagination, of that incomparable and ever fresh
+gaiety which he showed in the midst of his afflictions, that rare
+fecundity, and that humour, tempered by so much good taste that is still
+admired in his writings, drew everybody there.
+
+Madame Scarron made at home all sorts of acquaintances, which, however,
+at the death of her husband, did not keep her from being reduced to the
+charity of the parish of Saint-Eustace. She took a chamber for herself
+and for a servant, where she lived in a very pinched manner. Her
+personal charms by degrees improved her condition. Villars, father of
+the Marechal; Beuvron, father of D'Harcourt; the three Villarceaux, and
+many others kept her.
+
+This set her afloat again, and, step by step, introduced her to the Hotel
+d'Albret, and thence to the Hotel de Richelieu, and elsewhere; so she
+passed from one house to the other. In these houses Madame Scarron was
+far from being on the footing of the rest of the company. She was more
+like a servant than a guest. She was completely at the beck and call of
+her hosts; now to ask for firewood; now if a meal was nearly ready;
+another time if the coach of so-and-so or such a one had returned; and so
+on, with a thousand little commissions which the use of bells, introduced
+a long time after, differently disposes of.
+
+It was in these houses, principally in the Hotel de Richelieu, much more
+still in the Hotel d'Albret, where the Marechal d'Albret lived in great
+state, that Madame Scarron made the majority of her acquaintances. The
+Marechal was cousin-german of M. de Montespan, very intimate with him,
+and with Madame de Montespan. When she became the King's mistress he
+became her counsellor, and abandoned her husband.
+
+To the intimacy between the Marechal d'Albret and Madame de Montespan,
+Madame de Maintenon owed the good fortune she met with fourteen or
+fifteen years later. Madame de Montespan continually visited the Hotel
+d'Albret, and was much impressed with Madame Scarron. She conceived a
+friendship for the obliging widow, and when she had her first children by
+the King--M. du Maine and Madame la Duchesse, whom the King wished to
+conceal--she proposed that they should be confided to Madame Scarron. A
+house in the Marais was accordingly given to her, to lodge in with them,
+and the means to bring them up, but in the utmost secrecy. Afterwards,
+these children were taken to Madame de Montespan, then shown to the King,
+and then by degrees drawn from secrecy and avowed. Their governess,
+being established with them at the Court, more and more pleased Madame de
+Montespan, who several times made the King give presents to her. He, on
+the other hand, could not endure her; what he gave to her, always little,
+was by excess of complaisance and with a regret that he did not hide.
+
+The estate of Maintenon being for sale, Madame de Montespan did not let
+the King rest until she had drawn from him enough to buy it for Madame
+Scarron, who thenceforth assumed its name. She obtained enough also for
+the repair of the chateau, and then attacked the King for means to
+arrange the garden, which the former owners had allowed to go to ruin.
+
+It was at the toilette of Madame de Montespan that these demands were
+made. The captain of the guards alone followed the King there. M. le
+Marechal de Lorges, the truest man that ever lived, held that post then,
+and he has often related to me the scene he witnessed. The King at first
+turned a deaf ear to the request of Madame de Montespan, and then
+refused. Annoyed that she still insisted, he said he had already done
+more than enough for this creature; that he could not understand the
+fancy of Madame de Montespan for her, and her obstinacy in keeping her
+after he had begged her so many times to dismiss her; that he admitted
+Madame Scarron was insupportable to him, and provided he never saw her
+more and never heard speak of her, he would open his purse again; though,
+to say truth, he had already given too much to a creature of this kind!
+Never did M. le Marechel de Lorges forget these words; and he has always
+repeated them to me and others precisely as they are given here, so
+struck was he with them, and much more after all that he saw since, so
+astonishing and so contradictory. Madame de Montespan stopped short,
+very much troubled by having too far pressed the King.
+
+M. du Maine was extremely lame; this was caused, it was said, by a fall
+he had from his nurse's arms. Nothing done for him succeeded; the
+resolution was then taken to send him to various practicians in Flanders,
+and elsewhere in the realm, then to the waters, among others to Bareges.
+The letters that the governess wrote to Madame de Montespan, giving an
+account of these journeys, were shown to the King. He thought them well
+written, relished them, and the last ones made his aversion for the
+writer diminish.
+
+The ill-humour of Madame de Montespan finished the work. She had a good
+deal of that quality, and had become accustomed to give it full swing.
+The King was the object of it more frequently than anybody; he was still
+amorous; but her ill-humour pained him. Madame de Maintenon reproached
+Madame de Montespan for this, and thus advanced herself in the King's
+favour. The King, by degrees, grew accustomed to speak sometimes to
+Madame de Maintenon; to unbosom to her what he wished her to say to
+Madame de Montespan; at last to relate to her the chagrin this latter
+caused him, and to consult her thereupon.
+
+Admitted thus into the intimate confidence of the lover and the mistress,
+and this by the King's own doing, the adroit waiting-woman knew how to
+cultivate it, and profited so well by her industry that by degrees she
+supplanted Madame de Montespan, who perceived, too late, that her friend
+had become necessary to the King. Arrived at this point, Madame de
+Maintenon made, in her turn, complaints to the King of all she had to
+suffer, from a mistress who spared even him so little; and by dint of
+these mutual complaints about Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon at
+last took her place, and knew well how to keep it.
+
+Fortune, I dare not say Providence, which was preparing for the
+haughtiest of kings, humiliation the most profound, the most-public, the
+most durable, the most unheard-of, strengthened more and more his taste
+for this woman, so adroit and expert at her trade; while the continued
+ill-humour and jealousy of Madame de Montespan rendered the new union
+still more solid. It was this that Madame de Sevigne so prettily paints,
+enigmatically, in her letters to Madame de Grignan, in which she
+sometimes talks of these Court movements; for Madame de Maintenon had
+been in Paris in the society of Madame de Sevigne, of Madame de Coulange,
+of Madame de La Fayette, and had begun to make them feel her importance.
+Charming touches are to be seen in the same style upon the favour, veiled
+but brilliant enjoyed by Madame de Soubise.
+
+It was while the King was in the midst of his partiality for Madame de
+Maintenon that the Queen died. It was at the same time, too, that the
+ill-humour of Madame de Montespan became more and more insupportable.
+This imperious beauty, accustomed to domineer and to be adored, could not
+struggle against the despair, which the prospect of her fall caused her.
+What carried her beyond all bounds, was that she could no longer disguise
+from herself, that she had an abject rival whom she had supported, who
+owed everything to her; whom she had so much liked that she had several
+times refused to dismiss her when pressed to do so by the King; a rival,
+too, so beneath her in beauty, and older by several years; to feel that
+it was this lady's-maid, not to say this servant, that the King most
+frequently went to see; that he sought only her; that he could not
+dissimulate his uneasiness if he did not find her; that he quitted all
+for her; in fine, that at all moments she (Madame de Montespan) needed
+the intervention of Madame de Maintenon, in order to attract the King to
+reconcile her with him, or to obtain the favours she asked for. It was
+then, in times so propitious to the enchantress, that the King became
+free by the death of the Queen.
+
+He passed the first few days at Saint-Cloud, at Monsieur's, whence he
+went to Fontainebleau, where he spent all the autumn. It was there that
+his liking, stimulated by absence, made him find that absence
+insupportable. Upon his return it is pretended--for we must distinguish
+the certain from that which is not so--it is pretended, I say, that the
+King spoke more freely to Madame de Maintenon, and that she; venturing to
+put forth her strength, intrenched herself behind devotion and prudery;
+that the King did not cease, that she preached to him and made him afraid
+of the devil, and that she balanced his love against his conscience with
+so much art, that she succeeded in becoming what our eyes have seen her,
+but what posterity will never believe she was.
+
+But what is very certain and very true, is, that some time after the
+return of the King from Fontainebleau, and in the midst of the winter
+that followed the death of the Queen (posterity will with difficulty
+believe it, although perfectly true and proved), Pere de la Chaise,
+confessor of the King, said mass at the dead of night in one of the
+King's cabinets at Versailles. Bontems, governor of Versailles, chief
+valet on duty, and the most confidential of the four, was present at this
+mass, at which the monarch and La Maintenon were married in presence of
+Harlay, Archbishop of Paris, as diocesan, of Louvois (both of whom drew
+from the King a promise that he would never declare this marriage), and
+of Montchevreuil. This last was a relative and friend of Villarceaux, to
+whom during the summer he lent his house at Montchevreuil, remaining
+there himself, however, with his wife; and in that house Villarceaux kept
+Madame Scarron, paying all the expenses because his relative was poor,
+and because he (Villarceaux) was ashamed to take her to his own home, to
+live in concubinage with her in the presence of his wife whose patience
+and virtue he respected.
+
+The satiety of the honeymoon, usually so fatal, and especially the
+honeymoon of such marriages, only consolidated the favour of Madame de
+Maintenon. Soon after, she astonished everybody by the apartments given
+to her at Versailles, at the top of the grand staircase facing those of
+the King and on the same floor. From that moment the King always passed
+some hours with her every day of his life; wherever she might be she was
+always lodged near him, and on the same floor if possible.
+
+What manner of person she was,--this incredible enchantress,--and how she
+governed all-powerfully for more than thirty years, it behoves me now to
+explain!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVI
+
+Madame de Maintenon was a woman of much wit, which the good company, in
+which she had at first been merely suffered, but in which she soon shone,
+had much polished; and ornamented with knowledge of the world, and which
+gallantry had rendered of the most agreeable kind. The various positions
+she had held had rendered her flattering, insinuating, complaisant,
+always seeking to please. The need she had of intrigues, those she had
+seen of all kinds, and been mixed up in for herself and for others, had
+given her the taste, the ability, and the habit of them. Incomparable
+grace, an easy manner, and yet measured and respectful, which, in
+consequence of her long obscurity, had become natural to her,
+marvellously aided her talents; with language gentle, exact, well
+expressed, and naturally eloquent and brief. Her best time, for she was
+three or four years older than the King, had been the dainty phrase
+period;--the superfine gallantry days,--in a word, the time of the
+"ruelles," as it was called; and it had so influenced her that she always
+retained evidences of it. She put on afterwards an air of importance,
+but this gradually gave place to one of devoutness that she wore
+admirably. She was not absolutely false by disposition, but necessity
+had made her so, and her natural flightiness made her appear twice as
+false as she was.
+
+The distress and poverty in which she had so long lived had narrowed her
+mind, and abased her heart and her sentiments. Her feelings and her
+thoughts were so circumscribed, that she was in truth always less even
+than Madame Scarron, and in everything and everywhere she found herself
+such. Nothing was more repelling than this meanness, joined to a
+situation so radiant.
+
+Her flightiness or inconstancy was of the most dangerous kind. With the
+exception of some of her old friends, to whom she had good reasons for
+remaining faithful, she favoured people one moment only to cast them off
+the next. You were admitted to an audience with her for instance, you
+pleased her in some manner, and forthwith she unbosomed herself to you as
+though you had known her from childhood. At the second audience you
+found her dry, laconic, cold. You racked your brains to discover the
+cause of this change. Mere loss of time!--Flightiness was the sole
+reason of it.
+
+Devoutness was her strong point; by that she governed and held her place.
+She found a King who believed himself an apostle, because he had all his
+life persecuted Jansenism, or what was presented to him as such. This
+indicated to her with what grain she could sow the field most profitably.
+
+The profound ignorance in which the King had been educated and kept all
+his life, rendered him from the first an easy prey to the Jesuits. He
+became even more so with years, when he grew devout, for he was devout
+with the grossest ignorance. Religion became his weak point. In this
+state it was easy to persuade him that a decisive and tremendous blow
+struck against the Protestants would give his name more grandeur than any
+of his ancestors had acquired, besides strengthening his power and
+increasing his authority. Madame de Maintenon was one of those who did
+most to make him believe this.
+
+The revocation of the edict of Nantes, without the slightest pretext or
+necessity, and the various proscriptions that followed it, were the
+fruits of a frightful plot, in which the new spouse was one of the chief
+conspirators, and which depopulated a quarter of the realm, ruined its
+commerce, weakened it in every direction, gave it up for a long time to
+the public and avowed pillage of the dragoons, authorised torments and
+punishments by which so many innocent people of both sexes were killed by
+thousands; ruined a numerous class; tore in pieces a world of families;
+armed relatives against relatives, so as to seize their property and
+leave them to die of hunger; banished our manufactures to foreign lands,
+made those lands flourish and overflow at the expense of France, and
+enabled them to build new cities; gave to the world the spectacle of a
+prodigious population proscribed, stripped, fugitive, wandering, without
+crime, and seeking shelter far from its country; sent to the galleys,
+nobles, rich old men, people much esteemed for their piety, learning, and
+virtue, people well off, weak, delicate, and solely on account of
+religion; in fact, to heap up the measure of horror, filled all the realm
+with perjury and sacrilege, in the midst of the echoed cries of these
+unfortunate victims of error, while so many others sacrificed their
+conscience to their wealth and their repose, and purchased both by
+simulated abjuration, from which without pause they were dragged to adore
+what they did not believe in, and to receive the divine body of the Saint
+of Saints whilst remaining persuaded that they were only eating bread
+which they ought to abhor! Such was the general abomination born of
+flattery and cruelty. From torture to abjuration, and from that to the
+communion, there was often only twenty-four hours' distance; and
+executioners were the conductors of the converts and their witnesses.
+Those who in the end appeared to have been reconciled, more at leisure
+did not fail by their flight, or their behaviour, to contradict their
+pretended conversion.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Edict Of Nantes--Painted by Jules Girardet--front2]
+
+
+The King received from all sides news and details of these persecutions
+and of these conversions. It was by thousands that those who had abjured
+and taken the communion were counted; ten thousand in one place; six
+thousand in another--all at once and instantly. The King congratulated
+himself on his power and his piety. He believed himself to have renewed
+the days of the preaching of the Apostles, and attributed to himself all
+the honour. The bishops wrote panegyrics of him, the Jesuits made the
+pulpit resound with his praises. All France was filled with horror and
+confusion; and yet there never was so much triumph and joy--never such
+profusion of laudations! The monarch doubted not of the sincerity of
+this crowd of conversions; the converters took good care to persuade him
+of it and to beatify him beforehand. He swallowed their poison in long.
+draughts. He had never yet believed himself so great in the eyes of man,
+or so advanced in the eyes of God, in the reparation of his sins and of
+the scandals of his life. He heard nothing but eulogies, while the good
+and true Catholics and the true bishops, groaned in spirit to see the
+orthodox act towards error and heretics as heretical tyrants and heathens
+had acted against the truth, the confessors, and the martyrs. They could
+not, above all, endure this immensity of perjury and sacrilege. They
+bitterly lamented the durable and irremediable odium that detestable
+measure cast upon the true religion, whilst our neighbours, exulting to
+see us thus weaken and destroy ourselves, profited by our madness, and
+built designs upon the hatred we should draw upon ourselves from all the
+Protestant powers.
+
+But to these spearing truths, the King was inaccessible. Even the
+conduct of Rome in this matter, could not open his eyes. That Court
+which formerly had not been ashamed to extol the Saint-Bartholomew, to
+thank God for it by public processions, to employ the greatest masters to
+paint this execrable action in the Vatican; Rome, I say, would not give
+the slightest approbation to this onslaught on the Huguenots.
+
+The magnificent establishment of Saint-Cyr, followed closely upon the
+revocation of the edict of Nantes. Madame de Montespan had founded at
+Paris an establishment for the instruction of young girls in all sorts of
+fine and ornamental work. Emulation gave Madame de Maintenon higher and
+vaster views which, whilst gratifying the poor nobility, would cause her
+to be regarded as protectress in whom all the nobility would feel
+interested. She hoped to smooth the way for a declaration of her
+marriage, by rendering herself illustrious by a monument with which she
+could amuse both the King and herself, and which might serve her as a
+retreat if she had the misfortune to lose him, as in fact it happened.
+
+This declaration of her marriage was always her most ardent desire. She
+wished above all things to be proclaimed Queen; and never lost sight of
+the idea. Once she was near indeed upon seeing it gratified. The King
+had actually given her his word, that she should be declared; and the
+ceremony was forthwith about to take place. But it was postponed, and
+for ever, by the representations of Louvois to the King. To this
+interference that minister owed his fall, and under circumstances so
+surprising and so strange, that I cannot do better, I think, than
+introduce an account of them here, by way of episode. They are all the
+more interesting because they show what an unlimited power Madame de
+Maintenon exercised by subterranean means, and with what patient
+perseverance she undermined her enemies when once she had resolved to
+destroy them.
+
+Lauvois had gained the confidence of the King to such an extent, that he
+was, as I have said, one of the two witnesses of the frightful marriage
+of his Majesty with Madame de Maintenon. He had the courage to show he
+was worthy of this confidence, by representing to the King the ignominy
+of declaring that marriage, and drew from him his word, that never in his
+life would he do so.
+
+Several years afterwards, Louvois, who took care to be well informed of
+all that passed in the palace, found out that Madame de Maintenon had
+been again scheming in order to be declared Queen; that the King had had
+the weakness to promise she should be, and that the declaration was about
+to be made. He put some papers in his hand, and at once went straight to
+the King, who was in a very private room. Seeing Louvois at an
+unexpected hour, he asked him what brought him there. "Something
+pressing and important," replied Louvois, with a sad manner that
+astonished the King, and induced him to command the valets present to
+quit the room. They went away in fact, but left the door open, so that
+they could hear all, and see all, too, by the glass. This was the great
+danger of the cabinets.
+
+The valets being gone, Louvois did not dissimulate from the King his
+mission. The monarch was often false, but incapable of rising above his
+own falsehood. Surprised at being discovered, he tried to shuffle out of
+the matter, and pressed by his minister, began to move so as to gain the
+other cabinet where the valets were, and thus deliver himself from this
+hobble. But Louvois, who perceived what he was about, threw himself on
+his knees and stopped him, drew from his side a little sword he wore,
+presented the handle to the King, and prayed him to kill him on the spot,
+if he would persist in declaring his marriage, in breaking his word, and
+covering himself in the eyes of Europe with infamy. The King stamped,
+fumed, told Louvois to let him go. But Louvois squeezed him tighter by
+the legs for fear he should escape; represented to him the shame of what
+he had decided on doing; in a word, succeeded so well, that he drew for
+the second time from the King, a promise that the marriage should never
+be declared.
+
+Madame de Maintenon meanwhile expected every moment to be proclaimed
+Queen. At the end of some days disturbed by the silence of the King,
+she ventured to touch upon the subject. The embarrassment she caused the
+King much troubled her. He softened the affair as much as he could, but
+finished by begging her to think no more of being declared, and never to
+speak of it to him again! After the first shock that the loss of her
+hopes caused her, she sought to find out to whom she was beholden for it.
+She soon learned the truth; and it is not surprising that she swore to
+obtain Louvois's disgrace, and never ceased to work at it until
+successful. She waited her opportunity, and undermined her enemy at
+leisure, availing herself of every occasion to make him odious to the
+King.
+
+Time passed. At length it happened that Louvois, not content with the
+terrible executions in the Palatinate, which he had counselled, wished to
+burn Treves. He proposed it to the King. A dispute arose between them,
+but the King would not or could not be persuaded. It may be imagined
+that Madame de Maintenon did not do much to convince him.
+
+Some days afterwards Louvois, who had the fault of obstinacy, came as
+usual to work with the King in Madame de Maintenon's rooms. At the end
+of the sitting he said, that he felt convinced that it was scrupulousness
+alone which had hindered the King from consenting to so necessary an act
+as the burning, of Treves, and that he had, therefore, taken the
+responsibility on himself by sending a courier with orders to set fire to
+the place at once.
+
+The King was immediately, and contrary to his nature, so transported with
+anger that he seized the tongs, and was about to make a run at Louvois,
+when Madame de Maintenon placed herself between them, crying, "Oh, Sire,
+what are you going to do?" and took the tongs from his hands.
+
+Louvois, meanwhile, gained the door. The King cried after him to recall
+him, and said, with flashing eyes: "Despatch a courier instantly with a
+counter order, and let him arrive in time; for, know this: if a single
+house is burned your head shall answer for it." Louvois, more dead than
+alive, hastened away at once.
+
+Of course, he had sent off no courier. He said he had, believing that by
+this trick the King, though he might be angry, would be led to give way.
+He had reckoned wrongly, however, as we have seen.
+
+From this time forward Louvois became day by day more distasteful to the
+King. In the winter of 1690, he proposed that, in order to save expense,
+the ladies should not accompany the King to the siege of Mons. Madame de
+Maintenon, we may be sure, did not grow more kindly disposed towards him
+after this. But as it is always the last drop of water that makes the
+glass overflow, so a trifle that happened at this siege, completed the
+disgrace of Louvois.
+
+The King, who plumed himself upon knowing better than anybody the
+minutest military details, walking one day about the camp, found an
+ordinary cavalry guard ill-posted, and placed it differently. Later the
+same day he again visited by chance the spot, and found the guard
+replaced as at first. He was surprised and shocked. He asked the
+captain who had done this, and was told it was Louvois.
+
+"But," replied the King, "did you not tell him 'twas I who had placed
+you?"
+
+"Yes, Sire," replied the captain. The King piqued, turned towards his
+suite, and said: "That's Louvois's trade, is it not? He thinks himself a
+great captain, and that he knows everything," and forthwith he replaced
+the guard as he had put it in the morning. It was, indeed, foolishness
+and insolence on the part of Louvois, and the King had spoken truly of
+him. The King was so wounded that he could not pardon him. After
+Louvois's death, he related this incident to Pomponne, still annoyed at
+it, as I knew by means of the Abbe de Pomponne.
+
+After the return from Mons the dislike of the King for Louvois augmented
+to such an extent, that this minister, who was so presumptuous, and who
+thought himself so necessary, began to tremble. The Marechale de
+Rochefort having gone with her daughter, Madame de Blansac, to dine with
+him at Meudon, he took them out for a ride in a little 'calache', which
+he himself drove. They heard him repeatedly say to himself, musing
+profoundly, "Will he? Will he be made to? No--and yet--no, he will not
+dare."
+
+During this monologue Louvois was so absorbed that he was within an ace
+of driving them all into the water, and would have done so, had they not
+seized the reins, and cried out that he was going to drown them. At
+their cries and movement, Louvois awoke as from a deep sleep, drew up,
+and turned, saying that, indeed, he was musing, and not thinking of the
+vehicle.
+
+I was at Versailles at that time, and happened to call upon Louvois about
+some business of my father's.
+
+The same day I met him after dinner as he was going to work with the
+King. About four o'clock in the afternoon I learned that he had been
+taken rather unwell at Madame de Maintenon's, that the King had forced
+him to go home, that he had done so on foot, that some trifling remedy
+was administered to him there, and that during the operation of it he
+died!
+
+The surprise of all the Court may be imagined. Although I was little
+more than fifteen years of age, I wished to see the countenance of the
+King after the occurrence of an event of this kind. I went and waited
+for him, and followed him during all his promenade. He appeared to me
+with his accustomed majesty, but had a nimble manner, as though he felt
+more free than usual. I remarked that, instead of going to see his
+fountains, and diversifying his walk as usual, he did nothing but walk up
+and down by the balustrade of the orangery, whence he could see, in
+returning towards the chateau, the lodging in which Louvois had just
+died, and towards which he unceasingly looked.
+
+The name of Louvois was never afterwards pronounced; not a word was said
+upon this death so surprising, and so sudden, until the arrival of an
+officer, sent by the King of England from Saint-Germain, who came to the
+King upon this terrace, and paid him a compliment of condolence upon the
+loss he had received.
+
+"Monsieur," replied the King, in a tone and with a manner more than easy,
+"give my compliments and my thanks to the King and Queen of England, and
+say to them in my name, that my affairs and theirs will go on none the
+worse for what has happened."
+
+The officer made a bow and retired, astonishment painted upon his face,
+and expressed in all his bearing. I anxiously observed all this, and
+also remarked, that all the principal people around the King looked at
+each other, but said no word. The fact was, as I afterwards learned,
+that Louvois, when he died, was so deeply in disgrace, that the very next
+day he was to have been arrested and sent to the Bastille! The King told
+Chamillart so, and Chamillart related it to me. This explains, I fancy,
+the joy of the King at the death of his minister; for it saved him from
+executing the plan he had resolved on.
+
+The suddenness of the disease and death of Louvois caused much talk,
+especially when, on the opening of the body, it was discovered that he
+had been poisoned. A servant was arrested on the charge; but before the
+trial took place he was liberated, at the express command of the King,
+and the whole affair was hushed up. Five or six months afterwards Seron,
+private physician of Louvois, barricaded himself in his apartment at
+Versailles, and uttered dreadful cries. People came but he refused to
+open; and as the door could not be forced, he went on shrieking all day,
+without succour, spiritual or temporal, saying at last that he had got
+what he deserved for what he had done to his master; that he was a wretch
+unworthy of help; and so he died despairing, in eight or ten hours,
+without having spoken of any ones or uttered a single name!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVII
+
+It must not be imagined that in order to maintain her position Madame de
+Maintenon had need of no address. Her reign, on the contrary, was only
+one continual intrigue; and that of the King a perpetual dupery.
+
+Her mornings, which she commenced very early, were occupied with obscure
+audiences for charitable or spiritual affairs. Pretty often, at eight
+o'clock in the morning, or earlier, she went to some minister; the
+ministers of war, above all those of finance, were those with whom she
+had most business.
+
+Ordinarily as soon as she rose, she went to Saint-Cyr, dined in her
+apartment there alone, or with some favourite of the house, gave as few
+audiences as possible, ruled over the arrangements of the establishment,
+meddled with the affairs of convents, read and replied to letters,
+directed the affairs of the house, received information and letters from
+her spies, and returned to Versailles just as the King was ready to enter
+her rooms. When older and more infirm, she would lie down in bed on
+arriving between seven and eight o'clock in the morning at Saint-Cyr, or
+take some remedy.
+
+Towards nine o'clock in the evening two waiting-women came to undress
+her. Immediately afterwards, her maitre d'hotel, or a valet de chambre
+brought her her supper--soup, or something light. As soon as she had
+finished her meal, her women put her to bed, and all this in the presence
+of the King and his minister, who did not cease working or speak lower.
+This done, ten o'clock had arrived; the curtains of Madame de Maintenon
+were drawn, and the King went to supper, after saying good night to her.
+
+When with the King in her own room, they each occupied an armchair, with
+a table between them, at either side of the fireplace, hers towards the
+bed, the King's with the back to the wall, where was the door of the
+ante-chamber; two stools were before the table, one for the minister who
+came to work, the other for his papers.
+
+During the work Madame de Maintenon read or worked at tapestry. She
+heard all that passed between the King and his minister, for they spoke
+out loud. Rarely did she say anything, or, if so, it was of no moment.
+The King often asked her opinion; then she replied with great discretion.
+Never did she appear to lay stress on anything, still less to interest
+herself for anybody, but she had an understanding with the minister, who
+did not dare to oppose her in private, still less to trip in her
+presence. When some favour or some post was to be granted, the matter
+was arranged between them beforehand; and this it was that sometimes
+delayed her, without the King or anybody knowing the cause.
+
+She would send word to the minister that she wished to speak to him. He
+did not dare to bring anything forward until he had received her orders;
+until the revolving mechanism of each day had given them the leisure to
+confer together. That done, the minister proposed and showed a list. If
+by chance the King stopped at the name Madame de Maintenon wished, the
+minister stopped too, and went no further. If the King stopped at some
+other, the minister proposed that he should look at those which were also
+fitting, allowed the King leisure to make his observations, and profited
+by them, to exclude the people who were not wanted. Rarely did he
+propose expressly the name to which he wished to come, but always
+suggested several that he tried to balance against each other, so as to
+embarrass the King in his choice. Then the King asked his opinion, and
+the minister, after touching upon other names, fixed upon the one he had
+selected.
+
+The King nearly always hesitated, and asked Madame de Maintenon what she
+thought. She smiled, shammed incapacity, said a word upon some other
+name, then returned, if she had not fixed herself there at first, to that
+which the minister had proposed; so that three-fourths of the favours and
+opportunities which passed through the hands of the ministers in her
+rooms--and three-fourths even of the remaining fourth-were disposed of by
+her. Sometimes when she had nobody for whom she cared, it was the
+minister, with her consent and her help, who decided, without the King
+having the least suspicion. He thought he disposed of everything by
+himself; whilst, in fact, he disposed only of the smallest part, and
+always then by chance, except on the rare occasions when he specially
+wished to favour some one.
+
+As for state matters, if Madame de Maintenon wished to make them succeed,
+fail, or turn in some particular fashion (which happened much less often
+than where favours and appointments were in the wind), the same
+intelligence and the same intrigue were carried on between herself and
+the minister. By these particulars it will be seen that this clever
+woman did nearly all she wished, but not when or how she wished.
+
+There was another scheme if the King stood out; it was to avoid decision
+by confusing and spinning out the matter in hand, or by substituting
+another as though arising, opportunely out of it, and by which it was
+turned aside, or by proposing that some explanations should be obtained.
+The first ideas of the King were thus weakened, and the charge was
+afterwards returned to, with the same address, oftentimes with success.
+
+It is this which made the ministers so necessary to Madame de Maintenon,
+and her so necessary to them: She rendered them, in fact, continual
+services by means of the King, in return for the services they rendered
+her. The mutual concerns, therefore, between her and them were infinite;
+the King, all the while, not having the slightest suspicion of what was
+going on!
+
+The power of Madame de Maintenon was, as may be imagined, immense. She
+had everybody in her hands, from the highest and most favoured minister
+to the meanest subject of the realm. Many people have been ruined by
+her, without having been able to discover the author of their ruin,
+search as they might. All attempts to find a remedy were equally
+unsuccessful.
+
+Yet the King was constantly on his guard, not only against Madame de
+Maintenon, but against his ministers also. Many a time it happened that
+when sufficient care had not been taken, and he perceived that a minister
+or a general wished to favour a relative or protege of Madame de
+Maintenon, he firmly opposed the appointment on that account alone, and
+the remarks he uttered thereupon made Madame de Maintenon very timid and
+very measured when she wished openly to ask a favour.
+
+Le Tellier, long before he was made Chancellor, well knew the mood of the
+King. One of his friends asked him for some place that he much desired.
+Le Tellier replied that he would do what he could. The friend did not
+like this reply, and frankly said that it was not such as he expected
+from a man with such authority. "You do not know the ground," replied Le
+Tellier; "of twenty matters that we bring before the King, we are sure he
+will pass nineteen according to our wishes; we are equally certain that
+the twentieth will be decided against them. But which of the twenty will
+be decided contrary to our desire we never know, although it may be the
+one we have most at heart. The King reserves to himself this caprice, to
+make us feel that he is the master, and that he governs; and if, by
+chance, something is presented upon which he is obstinate, and which is
+sufficiently important for us to be obstinate about also, either on
+account of the thing itself, or for the desire we have that it should
+succeed as we wish, we very often get a dressing; but, in truth, the
+dressing over, and the affair fallen through, the King, content with
+having showed that we can do nothing, and pained by having vexed us,
+becomes afterwards supple and flexible, so that then is the time at which
+we can do all we wish."
+
+This is, in truth, how the King conducted himself with his ministers,
+always completely governed by them, even by the youngest and most
+mediocre, even by the least accredited and the least respected--yet
+always on his guard against being governed, and always persuaded that he
+succeeded fully in avoiding it.
+
+He adopted the same conduct towards Madame de Maintenon, whom at times he
+scolded terribly, and applauded himself for so doing. Sometimes she
+threw herself on her knees before him, and for several days was really
+upon thorns. When she had appointed Fagon physician of the King in place
+of Daquin, whom she dismissed, she had a doctor upon whom she could
+certainly rely, and she played the sick woman accordingly, after those
+scenes with the King, and in this manner turned them to her own
+advantage.
+
+It was not that this artifice had any power in constraining the King, or
+that a real illness would have had any. He was a man solely personal,
+and who counted others only as they stood in relation to himself. His
+hard-heartedness, therefore, was extreme. At the time when he was most
+inclined towards his mistresses, whatever indisposition they might labour
+under, even the most opposed to travelling and to appearing in full court
+dress, could not save them from either. When enceinte, or ill, or just
+risen from child birth, they must needs be squeezed into full dress, go
+to Flanders or further, dance; sit up, attend fetes, eat, be merry and
+good company; go from place to place; appear neither to fear, nor to be
+inconvenienced by heat, cold, wind, or dust; and all this precisely to
+the hour and day, without a minute's grace.
+
+His daughters he treated in the same manner. It has been seen, in its
+place, that he had no more consideration for Madame la Duchesse de Berry,
+nor even for Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne--whatever Fagon, Madame de
+Maintenon, and others might do or say. Yet he loved Madame la Duchesse
+de Bourgogne as tenderly as he was capable of loving anybody: but both
+she and Madame la Duchesse de Berry had miscarriages, which relieved him,
+he said, though they then had no children.
+
+When he travelled, his coach was always full of women; his mistresses,
+afterwards his bastards, his daughters-in-law, sometimes Madame, and
+other ladies when there was room. In the coach, during his journeys,
+there were always all sorts of things to eat, as meat, pastry, fruit.
+A quarter of a league was not passed over before the King asked if
+somebody would not eat. He never ate anything between meals himself,
+not even fruit; but he amused himself by seeing others do so, aye,
+and to bursting. You were obliged to be hungry, merry, and to eat with
+appetite, otherwise he was displeased, and even showed it. And yet after
+this, if you supped with him at table the same day, you were compelled to
+eat with as good a countenance as though you had tasted nothing since the
+previous night. He was as inconsiderate in other and more delicate
+matters; and ladies, in his long drives and stations, had often occasion
+to curse him. The Duchesse de Chevreuse once rode all the way from
+Versailles to Fontainebleau in such extremity, that several times she was
+well-nigh losing consciousness.
+
+The King, who was fond of air, liked all the windows to be lowered;
+he would have been much displeased had any lady drawn a curtain for
+protection against sun, wind, or cold. No inconvenience or incommodity
+was allowed to be even perceived; and the King always went very quickly,
+most frequently with relays. To faint was a fault past hope of pardon.
+
+Madame de Maintenon, who feared the air and many other inconveniences,
+could gain no privilege over the others. All she obtained, under
+pretence of modesty and other reasons, was permission to journey apart;
+but whatever condition she might be in, she was obliged to follow the
+King, and be ready to receive him in her rooms by the time he was ready
+to enter them. She made many journeys to Marly in a state such as would
+have saved a servant from movement. She made one to Fontainebleau when
+it seemed not unlikely that she would die on the road! In whatever
+condition she might be, the King went to her at his ordinary hour and did
+what he had projected; though several times she was in bed, profusely
+sweating away a fever. The King, who as I have said, was fond of air,
+and feared warm rooms, was astonished upon arriving to find everything
+close shut, and ordered the windows to be opened; would not spare them an
+inch; and up to ten o'clock, when he went to supper, kept them open,
+utterly regardless of the cool night air, although he knew well what a
+state she was in. If there was to be music, fever or headache availed
+not; a hundred wax candles flashed all the same in her eyes. The King,
+in fact, always followed his own inclination, without ever asking whether
+she was inconvenienced.
+
+The tranquillity and pious resignation of the King during the last days
+of his illness, was a matter of some surprise to many people, as, indeed,
+it deserved to be. By way of explanation, the doctors said that the
+malady he died of, while it deadens and destroys all bodily pain, calms
+and annihilates all heart pangs and agitation of the mind.
+
+They who were in the sick-chamber, during the last days of his illness,
+gave another reason.
+
+The Jesuits constantly admit the laity, even married, into their company.
+This fact is certain. There is no doubt that Des Noyers, Secretary of
+State under Louis XIII., was of this number, or that many others have
+been so too. These licentiates make the same vow as the Jesuits, as far
+as their condition admits: that is, unrestricted obedience to the
+General, and to the superiors of the company. They are obliged to supply
+the place of the vows of poverty and chastity, by promising to give all
+the service and all the protection in their power to the Company, above
+all, to be entirely submissive to the superiors and to their confessor.
+They are obliged to perform, with exactitude, such light exercises of
+piety as their confessor may think adapted to the circumstances of their
+lives, and that he simplifies as much as he likes. It answers the
+purpose of the Company to ensure to itself those hidden auxiliaries whom
+it lets off cheaply. But nothing must pass through their minds, nothing
+must come to their knowledge that they do not reveal to their confessor;
+and that which is not a secret of the conscience, to the superiors, if
+the confessor thinks fit. In everything, too, they must obey without
+comment, the superior and the confessors.
+
+It has been pretended that Pere Tellier had inspired the King, long
+before his death, with the desire to be admitted, on this footing, into
+the Company; that he had vaunted to him the privileges and plenary
+indulgences attached to it; that he had persuaded him that whatever
+crimes had been committed, and whatever difficulty there might be in
+making amends for them, this secret profession washed out all, and
+infallibly assured salvation, provided that the vows were faithfully
+kept; that the General of the Company was admitted into the secret with
+the consent of the King; that the King pronounced the vows before Pere
+Tellier; that in the last days of his life they were heard, the one
+fortifying, the other resposing upon these promises; that, at last,
+the King received from Pere Tellier the final benediction of the Company,
+as one of its members; that Pere Tellier made the King offer up prayers,
+partly heard, of a kind to leave no doubt of the matter; and that he had
+given him the robe, or the almost imperceptible sign, as it were, a sort
+of scapulary, which was found upon him. To conclude, the majority of
+those who approached the King in his last moments attributed his
+penitence to the artifices and persuasions of the Jesuits, who, for
+temporal interests, deceive sinners even up to the edge of the tomb, and
+conduct them to it in profound peace by a path strewn with flowers.
+
+However it is but fair to say, that Marechal, who was very trustful,
+assured me he had never perceived anything which justified this idea, and
+that he was persuaded there was not the least truth in it; and I think,
+that although he was not always in the chamber or near the bed, and
+although Pere Tellier might mistrust and try to deceive him, still if the
+King had been made a Jesuit as stated, Marechal must have had sore
+knowledge or some suspicion of the circumstance.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 11.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXVIII
+
+After having thus described with truth and the most exact fidelity all
+that has come to my knowledge through my own experience, or others
+qualified to speak of Louis XIV. during the last twenty-two years of his
+life: and after having shown him such as he was, without prejudice
+(although I have permitted myself to use the arguments naturally
+resulting from things), nothing remains but to describe the outside life
+of this monarch, during my residence at the Court.
+
+However insipid and perhaps superfluous details so well known may appear
+after what has been already given, lessons will be found therein for
+kings who may wish to make themselves respected, and who may wish to
+respect themselves. What determines me still more is, that details
+wearying, nay annoying, to instructed readers, who had been witnesses of
+what I relate, soon escape the knowledge of posterity; and that
+experience shows us how much we regret that no one takes upon himself a
+labour, in his own time so ungrateful, but in future years so
+interesting, and by which princes, who have made quite as much stir as
+the one in question, are characterise. Although it may be difficult to
+steer clear of repetitions, I will do my best to avoid them.
+
+I will not speak much of the King's manner of living when with the army.
+His hours were determined by what was to be done, though he held his
+councils regularly; I will simply say, that morning and evening he ate
+with people privileged to have that honour. When any one wished to claim
+it, the first gentleman of the chamber on duty was appealed to. He gave
+the answer, and if favourable you presented yourself the next day to the
+King, who said to you, "Monsieur, seat yourself at table." That being
+done, all was done. Ever afterwards you were at liberty to take a place
+at the King's table, but with discretion. The number of the persons from
+whom a choice was made was, however, very limited. Even very high
+military rank did not suffice. M. de Vauban, at the siege of Namur, was
+overwhelmed by the distinction. The King did the same honour at Namur to
+the Abbe de Grancey, who exposed himself everywhere to confess the
+wounded and encourage the troops. No other Abbe was ever so
+distinguished. All the clergy were excluded save the cardinals, and the
+bishops, piers, or the ecclesiastics who held the rank of foreign
+princes.
+
+At these repasts everybody was covered; it would have been a want of
+respect, of which you would have been immediately informed, if you had
+not kept your hat on your head. The King alone was uncovered. When the
+King wished to speak to you, or you had occasion to speak to him, you
+uncovered. You uncovered, also, when Monseigneur or Monsieur spoke to
+you, or you to them. For Princes of the blood you merely put your hand
+to your hat. The King alone had an armchair. All the rest of the
+company, Monseigneur included, had seats, with backs of black morocco
+leather, which could be folded up to be carried, and which were called
+"parrots." Except at the army, the King never ate with any man, under
+whatever circumstances; not even with the Princes of the Blood, save
+sometimes at their wedding feasts.
+
+Let us return now to the Court.
+
+At eight o'clock the chief valet de chambre on duty, who alone had slept
+in the royal chamber, and who had dressed himself, awoke the King. The
+chief physician, the chief surgeon, and the nurse (as long as she lived),
+entered at the same time; the latter kissed the King; the others rubbed
+and often changed his shirt, because he was in the habit of sweating a
+great deal. At the quarter, the grand chamberlain was called (or, in his
+absence, the first gentleman of the chamber), and those who had what was
+called the 'grandes entrees'. The chamberlain (or chief gentleman) drew
+back the curtains which had been closed again; and presented the holy-
+water from the vase, at the head of the bed. These gentlemen stayed but
+a moment, and that was the time to speak to the King, if any one had
+anything to ask of him; in which case the rest stood aside. When,
+contrary to custom, nobody had ought to say, they were there but for a
+few moments. He who had opened the curtains and presented the holy-
+water, presented also a prayer-book. Then all passed into the cabinet of
+the council. A very short religious service being over, the King called,
+they re-entered, The same officer gave him his dressing-gown; immediately
+after, other privileged courtiers entered, and then everybody, in time to
+find the King putting on his shoes and stockings, for he did almost
+everything himself and with address and grace. Every other day we saw
+him shave himself; and he had a little short wig in which he always
+appeared, even in bed, and on medicine days. He often spoke of the
+chase, and sometimes said a-word to somebody. No toilette table was near
+him; he had simply a mirror held before him.
+
+As soon as he was dressed, he prayed to God, at the side of his bed,
+where all the clergy present knelt, the cardinals without cushions, all
+the laity remaining standing; and the captain of the guards came to the
+balustrade during the prayer, after which the King passed into his
+cabinet.
+
+He found there, or was followed by all who had the entree, a very
+numerous company, for it included everybody in any office. He gave
+orders to each for the day; thus within a half a quarter of an hour it
+was known what he meant to do; and then all this crowd left directly.
+The bastards, a few favourites; and the valets alone were left. It was
+then a good opportunity for talking with the King; for example, about
+plans of gardens and buildings; and conversation lasted more or less
+according to the person engaged in it.
+
+All the Court meantime waited for the King in the gallery, the captain of
+the guard being alone in the chamber seated at the door of the cabinet.
+At morning the Court awaited in the saloon; at Trianon in the front rooms
+as at Meudon; at Fontainebleau in the chamber and ante-chamber. During
+this pause the King gave audiences when he wished to accord any; spoke
+with whoever he might wish to speak secretly to, and gave secret
+interviews to foreign ministers in presence of Torcy. They were called
+"secret" simply to distinguish them from the uncommon ones by the
+bedsides.
+
+The King went to mass, where his musicians always sang an anthem. He did
+not go below--except on grand fetes or at ceremonies. Whilst he was
+going to and returning from mass, everybody spoke to him who wished,
+after apprising the captain of the guard, if they were not distinguished;
+and he came and went by the door of the cabinet into the gallery. During
+the mass the ministers assembled in the King's chamber, where
+distinguished people could go and speak or chat with them. The King
+amused himself a little upon returning from mass and asked almost
+immediately for the council. Then the morning was finished.
+
+On Sunday, and often on Monday, there was a council of state; on Tuesday
+a finance council; on Wednesday council of state; on Saturday finance
+council: rarely were two held in one day or any on Thursday or Friday.
+Once or twice a month there was a council of despatches on Monday
+morning; but the order that the Secretaries of State took every morning
+between the King's rising and his mass, much abridged this kind of
+business. All the ministers were seated accordingly to rank, except at
+the council of despatches, where all stood except the sons of France, the
+Chancellor, and the Duc de Beauvilliers.
+
+Thursday morning was almost always blank. It was the day for audiences
+that the King wished to give--often unknown to any--back-stair audiences.
+It was also the grand day taken advantage of by the bastards, the valets,
+etc., because the King had nothing to do. On Friday after the mass the
+King was with his confessor, and the length of their audiences was
+limited by nothing, and might last until dinner. At Fontainebleau on the
+mornings when there was no council, the King usually passed from mass to
+Madame de Maintenon's, and so at Trianon and Marly. It was the time for
+their tete-a-tete without interruption. Often on the days when there was
+no council the dinner hour was advanced, more or less for the chase or
+the promenade. The ordinary hour was one o'clock; if the council still
+lasted, then the dinner waited and nothing was said to the King.
+
+The dinner was always 'au petit couvert', that is, the King ate by
+himself in his chamber upon a square table in front of the middle window.
+It was more or less abundant, for he ordered in the morning whether it
+was to be "a little," or "very little" service. But even at this last,
+there were always many dishes, and three courses without counting the
+fruit. The dinner being ready, the principal courtiers entered; then all
+who were known; and the gentleman of the chamber on duty informed the
+King.
+
+I have seen, but very rarely, Monseigneur and his sons standing at their
+dinners, the King not offering them a seat. I have continually seen
+there the Princes of the blood and the cardinals. I have often seen
+there also Monsieur, either on arriving from Saint-Cloud to see the King,
+or arriving from the council of despatches (the only one he entered),
+give the King his napkin and remain standing. A little while afterwards,
+the King, seeing that he did not go away, asked him if he would not sit
+down; he bowed, and the King ordered a seat to be brought for him. A
+stool was put behind him. Some moments after the King said, "Nay then,
+sit down, my brother." Monsieur bowed and seated himself until the end
+of the dinner, when he presented the napkin.
+
+At other times when he came from Saint-Cloud, the King, on arriving at
+the table, asked for a plate for Monsieur, or asked him if he would dine.
+If he refused, he went away a moment after, and there was no mention of a
+seat; if he accepted, the King asked for a plate for him. The table was
+square, he placed himself at one end, his back to the cabinet. Then the
+Grand Chamberlain (or the first gentleman of the chamber) gave him drink
+and plates, taking them from him as he finished with them, exactly as he
+served the King; but Monsieur received all this attention with strongly
+marked politeness. When he dined thus with the King he much enlivened
+the conversation. The King ordinarily spoke little at table unless some
+family favourite was near. It was the same at hid rising. Ladies
+scarcely ever were seen at these little dinners.
+
+I have, however, seen the Marechale de la Mothe, who came in because she
+had been used to do so as governess to the children of France, and who
+received a seat, because she was a Duchess. Grand dinners were very
+rare, and only took place on grand occasions, and then ladies were
+present.
+
+Upon leaving the table the King immediately entered his cabinet. That
+was the time for distinguished people to speak to him. He stopped at the
+door a moment to listen, then entered; very rarely did any one follow
+him, never without asking him for permission to do so; and for this few
+had the courage. If followed he placed himself in the embrasure of the
+window nearest to the door of the cabinet, which immediately closed of
+itself, and which you were obliged to open yourself on quitting the King.
+This also was the time for the bastards and the valets.
+
+The King amused himself by feeding his dogs, and remained with them more
+or less time, then asked for his wardrobe, changed before the very few
+distinguished people it pleased the first gentleman of the chamber to
+admit there, and immediately went out by the back stairs into the court
+of marble to get into his coach. From the bottom of that staircase to
+the coach, any one spoke to him who wished.
+
+The King was fond of air, and when deprived of it his health suffered; he
+had headaches and vapours caused by the undue use he had formerly made of
+perfumes, so that for many years he could not endure any, except the
+odour of orange flowers; therefore if you had to approach anywhere near
+him you did well not to carry them.
+
+As he was but little sensitive to heat or cold, or even to rain, the
+weather was seldom sufficiently bad to prevent his going abroad. He went
+out for three objects: stag-hunting, once or more each week; shooting in
+his parks (and no man handled a gun with more grace or skill), once or
+twice each week; and walking in his gardens for exercise, and to see his
+workmen. Sometimes he made picnics with ladies, in the forest at Marly
+or at Fontainebleau, and in this last place, promenades with all the
+Court around the canal, which was a magnificent spectacle. Nobody
+followed him in his other promenades but those who held principal
+offices, except at Versailles or in the gardens of Trianon. Marly had a
+privilege unknown to the other places. On going out from the chateau,
+the King said aloud, "Your hats, gentlemen," and immediately courtiers,
+officers of the guard, everybody, in fact, covered their heads, as he
+would have been much displeased had they not done so; and this lasted all
+the promenade, that is four or five hours in summer, or in other seasons,
+when he dined early at Versailles to go and walk at Marly, and not sleep
+there.
+
+The stag-hunting parties were on an extensive scale. At Fontainebleau
+every one went who wished; elsewhere only those were allowed to go who
+had obtained the permission once for all, and those who had obtained
+leave to wear the justau-corps, which was a blue uniform with silver and
+gold lace, lined with red. The King did not like too many people at
+these parties. He did not care for you to go if you were not fond of the
+chase. He thought that ridiculous, and never bore ill-will to those who
+stopped away altogether.
+
+It was the same with the play-table, which he liked to see always well
+frequented--with high stakes--in the saloon at Marly, for lansquenet and
+other games. He amused himself at Fontainebleau during bad weather by
+seeing good players at tennis, in which he had formerly excelled; and at
+Marly by seeing mall played, in which he had also been skilful.
+Sometimes when there was no council, he would make presents of stuff, or
+of silverware, or jewels, to the ladies, by means of a lottery, for the
+tickets of which they paid nothing. Madame de Maintenon drew lots with
+the others, and almost always gave at once what she gained. The King
+took no ticket.
+
+Upon returning home from walks or drives, anybody, as I have said, might
+speak to the King from the moment he left his coach till he reached the
+foot of his staircase. He changed his dress again, and rested in his
+cabinet an hour or more, then went to Madame de Maintenon's, and on the
+way any one who wished might speak to him.
+
+At ten o'clock his supper was served. The captain of the guard announced
+this to him. A quarter of an hour after the King came to supper, and
+from the antechamber of Madame de Maintenon to the table--again, any one
+spoke to him who wished. This supper was always on a grand scale, the
+royal household (that is, the sons and daughters of France) at table, and
+a large number of courtiers and ladies present, sitting or standing, and
+on the evening before the journey to Marly all those ladies who wished to
+take part in it. That was called presenting yourself for Marly. Men
+asked in the morning, simply saying to the King, "Sire, Marly." In later
+years the King grew tired of this, and a valet wrote up in the gallery
+the names of those who asked. The ladies continued to present
+themselves.
+
+After supper the King stood some moments, his back to the balustrade of
+the foot of his bed, encircled by all his Court; then, with bows to the
+ladies, passed into his cabinet, where, on arriving, he gave his orders.
+
+He passed a little less than an hour there, seated in an armchair, with
+his legitimate children and bastards, his grandchildren, legitimate and
+otherwise, and their husbands or wives. Monsieur in another armchair;
+the Princesses upon stools, Monseigneur and all the other Princes
+standing.
+
+The King, wishing to retire, went and fed his dogs; then said good night,
+passed into his chamber to the 'ruelle' of his bed, where he said his
+prayers, as in the morning, then undressed. He said good night with an
+inclination of the head, and whilst everybody was leaving the room stood
+at the corner of the mantelpiece, where he gave the order to the colonel
+of the guards alone. Then commenced what was called the 'petit coucher',
+at which only the specially privileged remained. That was short. They
+did not leave until be got into bed. It was a moment to speak to him.
+Then all left if they saw any one buckle to the King. For ten or twelve
+years before he died the 'petit coucher' ceased, in consequence of a long
+attack of gout be had had; so that the Court was finished at the rising
+from supper.
+
+On medicine days, which occurred about once a month, the King remained in
+bed, then heard mass. The royal household came to see him for a moment,
+and Madame de Maintenon seated herself in the armchair at the head of his
+bed. The King dined in bed about three o'clock, everybody being allowed
+to enter the room, then rose, and the privileged alone remained. He
+passed afterwards into his cabinet, where he held a council, and
+afterwards went, as usual, to Madame de Maintenon's and supped at ten
+o'clock, according to custom.
+
+During all his life, the King failed only once in his attendance at mass,
+It was with the army, during a forced march; he missed no fast day,
+unless really indisposed. Some days before Lent, he publicly declared
+that he should be very much displeased if any one ate meat or gave it to
+others, under any pretext. He ordered the grand prevot to look to this,
+and report all cases of disobedience. But no one dared to disobey his
+commands, for they would soon have found out the cost. They extended
+even to Paris, where the lieutenant of police kept watch and reported.
+For twelve or fifteen years he had himself not observed Lent, however.
+At church he was very respectful. During his mass everybody was obliged
+to kneel at the Sanctus, and to remain so until after the communion of
+the priest; and if he heard the least noise, or saw anybody talking
+during the mass, he was much displeased. He took the communion five
+times a year, in the collar of the Order, band, and cloak. On Holy
+Thursday, he served the poor at dinner; at the mass he said his chaplet
+(he knew no more), always kneeling, except at the Gospel.
+
+He was always clad in dresses more or less brown, lightly embroidered,
+but never at the edges, sometimes with nothing but a gold button,
+sometimes black velvet. He wore always a vest of cloth, or of red, blue,
+or green satin, much embroidered. He used no ring; and no jewels, except
+in the buckles of his shoes, garters, and hat, the latter always trimmed
+with Spanish point, with a white feather. He had always the cordon bleu
+outside, except at fetes, when he wore it inside, with eight or ten
+millions of precious stones attached.
+
+Rarely a fortnight passed that the King did not go to Saint-Germain, even
+after the death of King James the Second. The Court of Saint-Germain
+came also to Versailles, but oftener to Marly, and frequently to sup
+there; and no fete or ceremony took place to which they were not invited,
+and at which they were not received with all honours. Nothing could
+compare with the politeness of the King for this Court, or with the air
+of gallantry and of majesty with which he received it at any time. Birth
+days, or the fete days of the King and his family, so observed in the
+courts of Europe, were always unknown in that of the King; so that there
+never was the slightest mention of them, or any difference made on their
+account.
+
+The King was but little regretted. His valets and a few other people
+felt his loss, scarcely anybody else. His successor was not yet old
+enough to feel anything. Madame entertained for him only fear and
+considerate respect. Madame la Duchesse de Berry did not like him, and
+counted now upon reigning undisturbed. M. le Duc d'Orleans could
+scarcely be expected to feel much grief for him. And those who may have
+been expected did not consider it necessary to do their duty. Madame de
+Maintenon was wearied with him ever since the death of the Dauphine; she
+knew not what to do, or with what to amuse him; her constraint was
+tripled because he was much more with her than before. She had often,
+too, experienced much ill-humour from him. She had attained all she
+wished, so whatever she might lose in losing him, she felt herself
+relieved, and was capable of no other sentiment at first. The ennui and
+emptiness of her life afterwards made her feel regret. As for M. du
+Maine, the barbarous indecency of his joy need not be dwelt upon. The
+icy tranquillity of his brother, the Comte de Toulouse, neither increased
+nor diminished. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans surprised me. I had
+expected some grief, I perceived only a few tears, which upon all
+occasions flowed very readily from her eyes, and which were soon dried
+up. Her bed, which she was very fond of, supplied what was wanting
+during several days, amidst obscurity which she by no means disliked.
+
+But the window curtains were soon withdrawn and grief disappeared.
+
+As for the Court, it was divided into two grand parties, the men hoping
+to figure, to obtain employ, to introduce themselves: and they were
+ravished to see the end of a reign under which they had nothing to hope
+for; the others; fatigued with a heavy yoke, always overwhelming, and of
+the ministers much more than of the King, were charmed to find themselves
+at liberty. Thus all, generally speaking, were glad to be delivered from
+continual restraint, and were eager for change.
+
+Paris, tired of a dependence which had enslaved everything, breathed
+again in the hope of liberty, and with joy at seeing at an end the
+authority of so many people who abused it. The provinces in despair at
+their ruin and their annihilation breathed again and leaped for joy; and
+the Parliament and the robe destroyed by edicts and by revolutions,
+flattered themselves the first that they should figure, the other that
+they should find themselves free. The people ruined, overwhelmed,
+desperate, gave thanks to God, with a scandalous eclat, for a
+deliverance, their most ardent desires had not anticipated.
+
+Foreigners delighted to be at last, after so many years, quit of a
+monarch who had so long imposed his law upon them, and who had escaped
+from them by a species of miracle at the very moment in which they
+counted upon having subjugated him, contained themselves with much more
+decency than the French. The marvels of the first three quarters of this
+reign of more than seventy years, and the personal magnanimity of this
+King until then so successful, and so abandoned afterwards by fortune
+during the last quarter of his reign--had justly dazzled them. They made
+it a point of honour to render to him after his death what they had
+constantly refused him during life. No foreign Court exulted: all plumed
+themselves upon praising and honouring his memory. The Emperor wore
+mourning as for a father, and although four or five months elapsed
+between the death of the King and the Carnival, all kinds of amusements
+were prohibited at Vienna during the Carnival, and the prohibition was
+strictly observed. A monstrous fact was, that towards the end of this
+period there was a single ball and a kind of fete that the Comte du Luc
+our own ambassador, was not ashamed to give to the ladies, who seduced
+him by the ennui of so dull a Carnival. This complaisance did not raise
+him in estimation at Vienna or elsewhere. In France people were
+contented with ignoring it.
+
+As for our ministry and the intendants of the provinces, the financiers
+and what may be called the canaille, they felt all the extent of their
+loss. We shall see if the realm was right or wrong in the sentiments it
+held, and whether it found soon after that it had gained or lost.
+
+To finish at once all that regards the King, let me here say, that his
+entrails were taken to Notre Dame, on the 4th of September, without any
+ceremony, by two almoners of the King, without accompaniment. On Friday,
+the 6th of September, the Cardinal de Rohan carried the heart to the
+Grand Jesuits, with very little accompaniment or pomp. Except the
+persons necessary for the ceremony, not half a dozen courtiers were
+present. It is not for me to comment upon this prompt ingratitude, I,
+who for fifty-two years have never once missed going to Saint-Denis on
+the anniversary of the death of Louis XIII., and have never seen a single
+person there on the same errand. On the 9th of September, the body of
+the late King was buried at Saint-Denis. The Bishop of Aleth pronounced
+the oration. Very little expense was gone to; and nobody was found who
+cared sufficiently for the late King to murmur at the economy. On
+Friday, the 25th of October, his solemn obsequies took place at Saint-
+Denis in a confusion, as to rank and precedence, without example. On
+Thursday, the 28th of November, the solemn obsequies were again
+performed, this time at Notre Dame, and with the usual ceremonies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIX
+
+The death of the King surprised M. le Duc d'Orleans in the midst of his
+idleness as though it had not been foreseen. He had made no progress in
+numberless arrangements, which I had suggested he should carry out;
+accordingly he was overwhelmed with orders to give, with things to
+settle, each more petty than the other, but all so provisional and so
+urgent that it happened as I had predicted, he had no time to think of
+anything important.
+
+I learnt the death of the King upon awaking. Immediately after, I went
+to pay my respects to the new monarch. The first blood had already
+passed. I found myself almost alone. I went thence to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, whom I found shut in, but all his apartments so full that a
+pin could not have fallen to the ground. I talked of the Convocation of
+the States-General, and reminded him of a promise he had given me, that
+he would allow the Dukes to keep their hats on when their votes were
+asked for; and I also mentioned various other promises he had made. All
+I could obtain from him was another promise, that when the public affairs
+of pressing moment awaiting attention were disposed of, we should have
+all we required. Several of the Dukes who had been witnesses of the
+engagement M. le Duc d'Orleans had made, were much vexed at this; but
+ultimately it was agreed that for the moment we would sacrifice our own
+particular interests to those of the State.
+
+Between five and six the next morning a number of us met at the house of
+the Archbishop of Rheims at the end of the Pont Royal, behind the Hotel
+de Mailly, and there, in accordance with a resolution previously agreed
+upon, it was arranged that I should make a protest to the Parliament
+before the opening of the King's will there, against certain other
+usurpations, and state that it was solely because M. le Duc d'Orleans had
+given us his word that our complaints should be attended to as soon as
+the public affairs of the government were settled, that we postponed
+further measures upon this subject. It was past seven before our debate
+ended, and then we went straight to the Parliament.
+
+We found it already assembled, and a few Dukes who had not attended our
+meeting, but had promised to be guided by us, were also present; and then
+a quarter of an hour after we were seated the bastards arrived. M. du
+Maine was bursting with joy; the term is strange, but his bearing cannot
+otherwise be described. The smiling and satisfied air prevailed over
+that of audacity and of confidence, which shone, nevertheless, and over
+politeness which seemed to struggle with them. He saluted right and
+left, and pierced everybody with his looks. His salutation to the
+Presidents had an air of rejoicing. To the peers he was serious, nay,
+respectful; the slowness, the lowness of his inclination, was eloquent.
+His head remained lowered even when he rose, so heavy is the weight of
+crime, even at the moment when nothing but triumph is expected. I
+rigidly followed him everywhere with my eyes, and I remarked that his
+salute was returned by the peers in a very dry and cold manner.
+
+Scarcely were we re-seated than M. le Duc arrived, and the instant after
+M. le Duc d'Orleans. I allowed the stir that accompanied his appearance
+to subside a little, and then, seeing that the Chief-President was about
+to speak, I forestalled him, uncovered my head, and then covered it, and
+made my speech in the terms agreed upon. I concluded by appealing to M.
+le Duc d'Orleans to verify the truth of what I had said, in so far as it
+affected him.
+
+The profound silence with which I was listened to showed the surprise of
+all present. M. le Duc d'Orleans uncovered himself, and in a low tone,
+and with an embarrassed manner, confirmed what I had said, then covered
+himself again.
+
+Immediately afterwards I looked at M. du Maine, who appeared, to be well
+content at being let off so easily, and who, my neighbours said to me,
+appeared much troubled at my commencement.
+
+A very short silence followed my protest, after which I saw the Chief-
+President say something in a low tone to M. le Duc d'Orleans, then
+arrange a deputation of the Parliament to go in search of the King's
+will, and its codicil, which had been put in the same place. Silence
+continued during this great and short period of expectation; every one
+looked at his neighbour without stirring. We were all upon the lower
+seats, the doors were supposed to be closed, but the grand chamber was
+filled with a large and inquisitive crowd. The regiment of guards had
+secretly occupied all the avenues, commanded by the Duc de Guiche, who
+got six hundred thousand francs out of the Duc d'Orleans for this
+service, which was quite unnecessary.
+
+The deputation was not long in returning. It placed the will and the
+codicil in the hands of the Chief-President, who presented them, without
+parting with them, to M. le Duc d'Orleans, then passed them from hand to
+hand to Dreux, 'conseiller' of the Parliament, and father of the grand
+master of the ceremonies, saying that he read well, and in a loud voice
+that would he well heard by everybody. It may be imagined with what
+silence he was listened to, and how all eyes? and ears were turned
+towards him. Through all his; joy the Duc du Maine showed that his soul
+was, troubled, as though about to undergo an operation that he must
+submit to. M. le Duc d'Orleans showed only a tranquil attention.
+
+I will not dwell upon these two documents, in which nothing is provided
+but the grandeur and the power of the bastards, Madame de Maintenon and
+Saint-Cyr, the choice of the King's education and of the council of the
+regency, by which M. le Duc d'Orleans was to be shorn of all authority to
+the advantage of M. le Duc du Maine.
+
+I remarked a sadness and a kind of indignation which were painted upon
+all cheeks, as the reading advanced, and which turned into a sort of
+tranquil fermentation at the reading of the codicil, which was entrusted
+to the Abbe Menguy, another conseiller. The Duc du Maine felt it and
+grew pale, for he was solely occupied in looking at every face, and I in
+following his looks, and in glancing occasionally at M. le Duc d'Orleans.
+
+The reading being finished, that prince spoke, casting his eyes upon all
+the assembly, uncovering himself, and then covering himself again, and
+commencing by a word of praise and of regret for the late King;
+afterwards raising his voice, he declared that he had only to approve
+everything just read respecting the education of the King, and everything
+respecting an establishment so fine and so useful as that of Saint-Cyr;
+that with respect to the dispositions concerning the government of the
+state, he would speak separately of those in the will and those in the
+codicil; that he could with difficulty harmonise them with the assurances
+the King, during the last days of his life, had given him; that the King
+could not have understood the importance of what he had been made to do
+for the Duc du Maine since the council of the regency was chosen, and M.
+du Maine's authority so established by the will, that the Regent remained
+almost without power; that this injury done to the rights of his birth,
+to his attachment to the person of the King, to his love and fidelity for
+the state, could not be endured if he was to preserve his honour; and
+that he hoped sufficiently from the esteem of all present, to persuade
+himself that his regency would be declared as it ought to be, that is to
+say, complete, independent, and that he should be allowed to choose his
+own council, with the members of which he would not discuss public
+affairs, unless they were persons who, being approved by the public,
+might also have his confidence. This short speech appeared to make a
+great impression.
+
+The Duc du Maine wished to speak. As he was about to do so, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans put his head in front of M. le Duc and said, in a dry tone,
+"Monsieur, you will speak in your turn." In one moment the affair turned
+according to the desires of M. le Duc d'Orleans. The power of the
+council of the regency and its composition fell. The choice of the
+council was awarded to M. le Duc d'Orleans, with all the authority of the
+regency, and to the plurality of the votes of the council, the decision
+of affairs, the vote of the Regent to be counted as two in the event of
+an equal division. Thus all favours and all punishments remained in the
+hands of M. le Duc d'Orleans alone. The acclamation was such that the
+Duc du Maine did not dare to say a word. He reserved himself for the
+codicil, which, if adopted, would have annulled all that M. le Duc
+d'Orleans had just obtained.
+
+After some few moments of silence, M. le Duc d'Orleans spoke again. He
+testified fresh surprise that the dispositions of the will had not been
+sufficient for those who had suggested them, and that, not content with
+having established themselves as masters of the state, they themselves
+should have thought those dispositions so strange that in order to
+reassure them, it had been thought necessary to make them masters of the
+person of the King, of the Regent, of the Court, and of Paris. He added,
+that if his honour and all law and rule had been wounded by the
+dispositions of the will, still more violated were they by those of the
+codicil, which left neither his life nor his liberty in safety, and
+placed the person of the King in the absolute dependence of those who had
+dared to profit by the feeble state of a dying monarch, to draw from him
+conditions he did not understand. He concluded by declaring that the
+regency was impossible under such conditions, and that he doubted not the
+wisdom of the assembly would annul a codicil which could not be
+sustained, and the regulations of which would plunge France into the
+greatest and most troublesome misfortune. Whilst this prince spoke a
+profound and sad silence applauded him without explaining itself.
+
+The Duc du Maine became of all colours, and began to speak, this time
+being allowed to do so. He said that the education of the King, and
+consequently his person, being confided to him, as a natural result,
+entire authority over his civil and military household followed, without
+which he could not properly serve him or answer for his person. Then he
+vaunted his well-known attachment to the deceased King, who had put all
+confidence in him.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans interrupted him at this word, and commented upon it.
+M. du Maine wished to calm him by praising the Marechal de Villeroy, who
+was to assist him in his charge. M. le Duc d'Orleans replied that it
+would be strange if the chief and most complete confidence were not
+placed in the Regent, and stranger still if he were obliged to live under
+the protection and authority of those who had rendered themselves the
+absolute masters within and without, and of Paris even, by the regiment
+of guards.
+
+The dispute grew warm, broken phrases were thrown from one to the other,
+when, troubled about the end of an altercation which became indecent and
+yielding to the proposal that the Duc de la Force had just made me in
+front of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, who sat between us, I made a sign
+with my hand to M. le Duc d'Orleans to go out and finish this discussion
+in another room leading out of the grand chamber and where there was
+nobody. What led me to this action was that I perceived M. du Maine grew
+stronger, that confused murmurs for a division were heard, and that M. le
+Duc d'Orleans did not shine to the best advantage since he descended to
+plead his cause, so to speak, against that of the Duc du Maine.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans was short-sighted. He was entirely absorbed in
+attacking and repelling; so that he did not see the sign I made. Some
+moments after I increased it, and meeting with no more success, rose,
+advanced some steps, and said to him, though rather distant, "Monsieur,
+if you passed into the fourth chamber with M. du Maine you could speak
+there more easily," and advancing nearer at the same time I pressed him
+by a sign of the head and the eyes that he could distinguish. He replied
+to me with another sign, and scarcely was I reseated than I saw him
+advance in front of M. le Duc to the Duc du Maine, and immediately after
+both rose and went into the chamber I had indicated. I could not see who
+of the scattered group around followed them, for all present rose at
+their departure, and seated themselves again directly in complete
+silence. Some time after, M. le Comte de Toulouse left his place and
+went into the Chamber. M. le Duc followed him in a little while soon
+again the Duc de la Force did the same.
+
+He did not stay long. Returning to the assembly; he passed the Duc de la
+Rochefoucauld and me, put his head between that of the Duc de Sully and
+mine, because he did not wish to be heard by La Rochefoucauld, and said
+to me, "In the name of God go there; things are getting on badly. M. le
+Duc d'Orleans gives way; stop the dispute; make M. le Duc d'Orleans come
+back; and, as soon as he is in his place, let him say that it is too late
+to finish, that the company had better go to dinner, and return to finish
+afterwards, and during this interval," added La Force, "send the King's
+people to the Palais Royal, and let doubtful peers be spoken to, and the
+chiefs among other magistrates."
+
+The advice appeared to me good and important. I left the assembly and
+went to the chamber. I found a large circle of spectators. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans and the Duc du Maine stood before the fireplace, looking both
+very excited. I looked at this spectacle some moments; then approached
+the mantelpiece like a man who wishes to speak. "What is this,
+Monsieur?" said M. le Duc d'Orleans to me, with an impatient manner.
+"A pressing word, Monsieur, that I have to say to you," said I. He
+continued speaking to the Duc du Maine, I being close by. I redoubled my
+instances; he lent me his ear. "No, no," said I, "not like that, come
+here," and I took him into a corner by the chimney. The Comte de
+Toulouse, who was there, drew completely back, and all the circle on that
+side. The Duc du Maine drew back also from where he was.
+
+I said to M. le Duc d'Orleans, in his ear, that he could not hope to gain
+anything from M. du Maine, who would not sacrifice the codicil to his
+reasonings; that the length of their conference became indecent, useless,
+dangerous; that he was making a sight of himself to all who entered; that
+the only thing to be done was to return to the assembly, and, when there,
+dissolve it. "You are right," said he, "I will do it."--"But," said I,
+"do it immediately, and do not allow yourself to be amused. It is to M.
+de la Force you owe this advice: he sent me to give it you." He quitted
+me without another word, went to M. du Maine, told him in two words that
+it was too late, and that the matter must be finished after dinner.
+
+I had remained where he left me. I saw the Duc du Maine bow to him
+immediately, and the two separated, and retired at the same moment into
+the assembly.
+
+The noise which always accompanies these entrances being appeased, M. le
+Duc d'Orleans said it was too late to abuse the patience of the company
+any longer; that dinner must be eaten, and the work finished afterwards.
+He immediately added, he believed it fitting that M. le Duc should enter
+the council of the regency as its chief; and that since the company had
+rendered the justice due to his birth and his position as Regent, he
+would explain what he thought upon the form to be given to the
+government, and that meanwhile he profited by the power he had to avail
+himself of the knowledge and the wisdom of the company, and restored to
+them from that time their former liberty of remonstrance. These words
+were followed by striking and general applause, and the assembly was
+immediately adjourned.
+
+I was invited this day to dine with the Cardinal de Noailles, but I felt
+the importance of employing the time so precious and so short, of the
+interval of dinner, and of not quitting M. le Duc d'Orleans, according to
+a suggestion of M. le Duc de la Force. I approached M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+and said in his ear, "The moments are precious: I will follow you to the
+Palais Royal," and went back to my place among the peers. Jumping into
+my coach, I sent a gentleman with my excuses to the Cardinal de Noailles,
+saying, I would tell him the reason of my absence afterwards. Then I
+went to the Palais Royal, where curiosity had gathered together all who
+were not at the palace, and even some who had been there. All the
+acquaintances I met asked me the news with eagerness. I contented myself
+with replying that everything went well, and according to rule, but that
+all was not yet finished.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans had passed into a cabinet, where I found him alone
+with Canillac, who had waited for him. We took our measures there, and
+M. le Duc d'Orleans sent for the Attorney-General, D'Aguesseau,
+afterwards Chancellor, and the chief Advocate-General, Joly de Fleury,
+since Attorney-General. It was nearly two o'clock. A little dinner was
+served, of which Canillac, Conflans, M. le Duc d'Orleans, and myself
+partook; and I will say this, by the way, I never dined with him but once
+since, namely, at Bagnolet.
+
+We returned to the Parliament a little before four o'clock. I arrived
+there alone in my carriage, a moment before M. le Duc d'Orleans, and
+found everybody assembled. I was looked at with much curiosity, as it
+seemed to me. I am not aware if it was known whence I came. I took care
+that my bearing should say nothing. I simply said to the Duc de la Force
+that his advice had been salutary, that I had reason to hope all success
+from it, and that I had told M. le Duc d'Orleans whence it came. That
+Prince arrived, and (the hubbub inseparable from such a numerous suite
+being appeased) he said that matters must be recommenced from the point
+where they had been broken off in the morning; that it was his duty to
+say to the Court that in nothing had he agreed with M. du Maine and to
+bring again before all eyes the monstrous clauses of a codicil, drawn
+from a dying prince; clauses much more strange than the dispositions of
+the testament that the Court had not deemed fit to be put in execution,
+and that the Court could not allow M. du Maine to be master of the person
+of the King, of the camp, of Paris, consequently of the State, of the
+person, life, and liberty of the Regent, whom he would be in a position
+to arrest at any moment as soon as he became the absolute and independent
+master of the civil and military household of the King; that the Court
+saw what must inevitably result from an unheard-of novelty, which placed
+everything in the hands of M. du Maine; and that he left it to the
+enlightenment, to the prudence, to the wisdom, to the equity of the
+company, and its love for the State, to declare what they thought on this
+subject.
+
+M. du Maine appeared then as contemptible in the broad open daylight as
+he had appeared redoubtable in the obscurity of the cabinets. He had the
+look of one condemned, and his face, generally so fresh-coloured, was now
+as pale as death. He replied in a very low and scarcely intelligible
+voice, and with an air as respectful and as humble as it had been
+audacious in the morning.
+
+People opined without listening to him; and tumultuously, but with one
+voice, the entire abrogation of the codicil was passed. This was
+premature, as the abrogation of the testament had been in the morning--
+both caused by sudden indignation. D'Aguesseauand Fleury both spoke, the
+first in a few words, the other at greater length, making a very good
+speech. As it exists, in the libraries, I will only say that the
+conclusions of both orators were in everything favourable to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans.
+
+After they had spoken, the Duc du Maine, seeing himself totally shorn,
+tried a last resource. He represented, with more force than could have
+been expected from his demeanour at this second sitting, but yet with
+measure, that since he had been stripped of the authority confided to him
+by the codicil, he asked to be discharged from the responsibility of
+answering for the person of the King, and to be allowed simply to
+preserve the superintendence of his education. M, le Duc d'Orleans
+replied, "With all my heart, Monsieur; nothing more is wanted."
+Thereupon the Chief. President formally put the question to the vote.
+A decree was passed by which all power was taken from the hands of M. du
+Maine and placed in those of the Regent, with the right of placing whom
+he pleased in the council; of dismissing anybody as it should seem good
+to him; and of doing all he might think fit respecting the form to be
+given to the government; authority over public affairs, nevertheless, to
+remain with the council, and decision to be taken by the plurality of
+votes, the vote of the Regent to count double in case of equal division;
+M. le Duc to be chief of the council under him, with the right to enter
+it at once and opine there.
+
+During all this time, and until the end of the sitting, M. du Maine had
+his eyes always cast down, looked more dead than alive, and appeared
+motionless. His son and his brother gave no sign of taking interest in
+anything.
+
+The decree was followed by loud acclamations of the crowd scattered
+outside, and that which filled the rest of the palace replied as soon as
+they learnt what had been decided.
+
+This noise, which lasted some time, being appeased, the Regent thanked
+the company in brief, polished, and majestic terms; declared with what
+care he would employ for the good of the state, the authority with which
+he was invested; then said it was time he should inform them what he
+judged ought to be established in order to aid him in the administration
+of affairs. He added that he did so with the more confidence, because
+what he proposed was exactly what M. le Duc de Bourgogne ('twas thus he
+named him) had resolved, as shown by papers found in his bureau. He
+passed a short and graceful eulogy upon the enlightenment and intentions
+of that prince; then declared that, besides the council of the regency,
+which would be the supreme centre from which all the affairs of the
+government would spring, he proposed to establish a council for foreign
+affairs, one for war, one for the navy, one for finance, one for
+ecclesiastical matters, and one for home affairs and to choose some of
+the magistrates of the company to enter these last two councils, and aid
+them by their knowledge upon the police of the realm, the jurisprudence,
+and what related to the liberties of the Gallican church.
+
+The applause of the magistrates burst out at this, and all the crowd
+replied to it. The Chief-President concluded the sitting by a very short
+compliment to the Regent, who rose, and at the same time all the
+assembly, which then broke up.
+
+On Friday, the 6th of September, 1715, the Regent performed an action of
+most exquisite merit, if it had been actuated by the love of God, but
+which was of the utmost meanness, religion having no connection with it.
+He went at eight o'clock in the morning to see Madame de Maintenon at
+Saint-Cyr. He was nearly an hour with this enemy, who had wished to cut
+off his head, and who quite recently had sought to deliver him, tied hand
+and foot, to M. du Maine, by the monstrous dispositions of the King's
+will and codicil.
+
+The Regent assured her during this visit that the four thousand livres
+the King had given her every month should be continued, and should be
+brought to her the first day of every month by the Duc de Noailles, who
+had apparently induced the Prince to pay this visit, and promise this
+present. He said to Madame de Maintenon that if she wished for more she
+had only to speak, and assured her he would protect Saint-Cyr. In leaving
+he was shown the young girls, all together in classes.
+
+It must be remembered, that besides the estate of Maintenon, and the
+other property of this famous and fatal witch, the establishment of
+Saint-Cyr, which had more than four hundred thousand livres yearly
+income, and much money in reserve, was obliged by the rules which founded
+it, to receive Madame de Maintenon, if she wished to retire there; to
+obey her in all things, as the absolute and sole superior; to keep her
+and everybody connected with her, her domestics, her equipages, as she
+wished, her table, etc., at the expense of the house, all of which was
+very punctually done until her death. Thus she needed not this generous
+liberality, by which her pension of forty-eight thousand livres was
+continued to her. It would have been quite enough if M. le Duc d'Orleans
+had forgotten that she was in existence, and had simply left her
+untroubled in Saint-Cyr.
+
+The Regent took good care not to inform me of his visit, before or after;
+and I took good care not to reproach him with it, or make him ashamed of
+it. It made much noise, and was not approved of. The Spanish affair was
+not yet forgotten, and the will and codicil furnished other matter for
+all conversations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXX
+
+Saturday, the 7th of September, was the day fixed for the first Bed of
+Justice of the King (Louis XV.); but he caught a cold during the night,
+and suffered a good deal. The Regent came alone to Paris. The
+Parliament had assembled, and I went to a door of the palace, where I was
+informed of the countermand which had just arrived. The Chief-President
+and the King's people were at once sent for to the Palais Royal, and the
+Parliament, which was about to adjourn, was continued for all the rest of
+the month for general business. On the morrow, the Regent, who was
+wearied with Versailles,--for he liked to live in Paris, where all his
+pleasures were within easy reach,--and who met with opposition from the
+Court doctors, all comfortably lodged at Versailles, to the removal of
+the person of the King to Vincennes, under pretext of a slight cold,
+fetched other doctors from Paris, who had been sent for to see the
+deceased King. These practitioners, who had nothing to gain by
+recommending Versailles, laughed at the Court doctors, and upon their
+opinion it was resolved to take the King to Vincennes, where all was
+ready for him on the morrow.
+
+He set out, then, that day from Versailles, at about two o'clock in the
+day, in company with the Regent, the Duchesse de Ventadour, the Duc du
+Maine, and the Marechal de Villeroy, passed round the ramparts of Paris,
+without entering the city, and arrived at Vincennes about five o'clock,
+many people and carriages having come out along the road to see him.
+
+On the day after the arrival of the King at Vincennes, the Regent worked
+all the morning with all the Secretaries of State separately, whom he had
+charged to bring him the list of all the 'lettres de cachet' issued from
+their bureaux, and a statement of the reasons for which they were
+delivered, as such oftentimes were slight. The majority of the 'lettres
+de cachet' of exile and of imprisonment had been drawn up against
+Jansenists, and people who had opposed the constitution; numbers the
+reasons of which were known only to the deceased King, and to those who
+had induced him to grant them; others were of the time of previous
+ministers, and among them were many which had been long forgotten and
+unknown. The Regent restored everybody to liberty, exiles and prisoners,
+except those whom he knew to have been arrested for grave crimes, or
+affairs of State; and brought down infinite benedictions upon himself by
+this act of justice and humanity.
+
+Many very singular and strange stories were then circulated, which showed
+the tyranny of the last reign, and of its ministers, and caused the
+misfortunes of the prisoners to be deplored. Among those in the Bastille
+was a man who had been imprisoned thirty-five years. Arrested the day he
+arrived in Paris, on a journey from Italy, to which country he belonged.
+It has never been known why he was arrested, and he had never been
+examined, as was the case with the majority of the others: people were
+persuaded a mistake had been made. When his liberty was announced to
+him, he sadly asked what it was expected he could do with it. He said he
+had not a farthing; that he did not know a soul in Paris, not even a
+single street, or a person in all France; that his relatives in Italy
+had, doubtless, died since he left; that his property, doubtless, had
+been divided, so many years having elapsed during which no news had been
+received from him; that he knew not what to do. He asked to be allowed
+to remain in the Bastille for the rest of his days, with food and
+lodging. This was granted, with as much liberty as he wished.
+
+As for those who were taken from the dungeons where the hatred of the
+ministers; of the Jesuits; and of the Constitution chiefs, had cast them,
+the horrible state they appeared in terrified everybody, and rendered
+credible all the cruel stories which, as soon as they were fully at
+liberty, they revealed.
+
+The same day on which this merciful decision was come to, died Madame de
+la Vieuville, not old, of a cancer in the breast, the existence of which
+she had concealed until two days before her death, and thus deprived
+herself of help.
+
+A few days after, the finances being in such a bad state, the Regent made
+Crosat treasurer of the order, in return for which he obtained from him a
+loan of a million, in bars of silver, and the promise of another two
+million. Previous to this, the hunting establishments of the King had
+been much reduced. Now another retrenchment was made. There were seven
+intendants of the finances, who, for six hundred thousand livres, which
+their places had cost them, enjoyed eighty thousand livres each per
+annum. They were all suppressed, and simply the interest of their
+purchase-money paid to them; that is to say, thirty thousand livres each,
+until that purchase-money could be paid. It was found that there were
+sixteen hundred thousand francs owing to our ambassadors, and to our
+agents in foreign countries, the majority of whom literally had not
+enough to pay the postage of their letters, having spent all they
+possessed. This was a cruel discredit to us, all over Europe. I might
+fill a volume in treating upon the state and the arrangements of our
+finances. But this labour is above my strength, and contrary to my
+taste. I will simply say that as soon as money could be spared it was
+sent to our ambassadors abroad. They were dying of hunger, were over
+head and ears in debt, had fallen into utter contempt, and our affairs
+were suffering accordingly.
+
+The council of the regency, let me say here, was composed of the
+following persons: M. le Duc d'Orleans, M. le Duc, the Duc du Maine, the
+Comte de Toulouse, Voysin the Chancellor, myself--since I must name
+myself,--Marechal de Villeroy, Marechal d'Harcourt, Marechal de Besons,
+the Late Bishop of Troyes, and Torcy, with a right to vote; with La
+Vrilliere, who kept the register, and Pontchartrain, both without the
+right to vote.
+
+I have already alluded to the presence of Lord Stair at this time in our
+Court, as ambassador from England. By means of intrigues he had
+succeeded in ingratiating himself into the favour of the Regent, and in
+convincing him that the interests of France and England were identical.
+One of the reasons--the main one--which he brought forward to show this,
+was that King George was an usurper; and that if anything happened to our
+King, M. le Duc d'Orleans would become, in mounting the throne of France,
+an usurper also, the King of Spain being the real heir to the French
+monarchy; that, in consequence of this, France and England ought to march
+together, protect each other; France assisting England against the
+Pretender, and England assisting France, if need be, against the King of
+Spain. M. le Duc d'Orleans had too much penetration not to see this
+snare; but, marvellous as it may seem, the crookedness of this policy,
+and not the desire of reigning, seduced him. I am quite prepared, if
+ever these memoirs see the day, to find that this statement will be
+laughed at; that it will throw discredit on others, and cause me to be
+regarded as a great ass, if I think to make my readers, believe it; or
+for an idiot, if I have believed it myself. Nevertheless, such is the
+pure truth, to which I sacrifice all, in despite of what my readers may
+think of me. However incredible it may be, it is, as I say, the exact
+verity; and I do not hesitate to advance, that there are many such facts,
+unknown to history, which would much surprise if known; and which are
+unknown, only because scarcely any history has been written at first
+hand.
+
+Stair wished, above all, to hinder the Regent from giving any assistance
+to the Pretender, and to prevent him passing through the realm in order
+to reach a seaport. Now the Regent was between two stools, for he had
+promised the Pretender to wink at his doings, and to favour his passage
+through France, if it were made secretly, and at the same time he had
+assented to the demand of Stair. Things had arrived at this pass when
+the troubles increased in England, and the Earl of Mar obtained some
+success in Scotland. Soon after news came that the Pretender had
+departed from Bar, and was making his way to the coast. Thereupon Stair
+ran in hot haste to M. le Duc d'Orleans to ask him to keep his promise,
+and hinder the Pretender's journey. The Regent immediately sent off
+Contade, major in the guards, very intelligent, and in whom he could
+trust, with his brother, a lieutenant in the same regiment, and two
+sergeants of their choice, to go to Chateau-Thierry, and wait for the
+Pretender, Stair having sure information that he would pass there.
+Contade set out at night on the 9th of November, well resolved and
+instructed to miss the person he was to seek. Stair, who expected as
+much, took also his measures, which were within an inch of succeeding;
+for this is what happened.
+
+The Pretender set out disguised from Bar, accompanied by only three or
+four persons, and came to Chaillot, where M. de Lauzun had a little
+house, which he never visited, and which he had kept for mere fancy,
+although he had a house at Passy, of which he made much use. It was in
+this, Chaillot's house, that the Pretender put up, and where he saw the
+Queen, his mother, who often stopped at the Convent of the Filles de
+Sainte Marie-Therese. Thence he set out in a post-chaise of Torcy's, by
+way of Alencon, for Brittany, where he meant to embark.
+
+Stair discovered this scheme, and resolved to leave nothing undone in
+order to deliver his party of this, the last of the Stuarts. He quietly
+despatched different people by different roads, especially by that from
+Paris to Alencon. He charged with this duty Colonel Douglas (who
+belonged to the Irish (regiments) in the pay of France), who, under the
+protection of his name, and by his wit and his intrigues, had insinuated
+himself into many places in Paris since the commencement of the regency;
+had placed himself on a footing of consideration and of familiarity with
+the Regent; and often came to my house. He was good company; had married
+upon the frontier of Metz; was very poor; had politeness and much
+experience of the world; the reputation of distinguished valour; and
+nothing which could render him suspected of being capable of a crime.
+
+Douglas got into a post-chaise, accompanied by two horsemen; all three
+were well armed, and posted leisurely along this road. Nonancourt is a
+kind of little village upon this route, at nineteen leagues from Paris;
+between Dreux, three leagues further, and Verneuil au Perche, four
+leagues this side. It was at Nonancourt that he alighted, ate a morsel
+at the post-house, inquired with extreme solicitude after a post-chaise
+which he described, as well as the manner in which it would be
+accompanied, expressed fear lest it had already passed, and lest he had
+not been answered truly. After infinite inquiries, he left a third
+horseman, who had just reached him, on guard, with orders to inform him
+when the chaise he was in search of appeared; and added menaces and
+promises of recompense to the post people, so as not to be deceived by
+their negligence.
+
+The post-master was named L'Hospital; he was absent, but his wife was in
+the house, and she fortunately was a very honest woman, who had wit,
+sense, and courage. Nonancourt is only five leagues from La Ferme, and
+when, to save distance, you do not pass there, they send you relays upon
+the road. Thus I knew very well this post-mistress, who mixed herself
+more in the business than her husband, and who has herself related to me
+this adventure more than once. She did all she could, uselessly, to
+obtain some explanation upon these alarms. All that she could unravel
+was that the strangers were Englishmen, and in a violent excitement about
+something, that something very important was at stake,--and that they
+meditated mischief. She fancied thereupon that the Pretender was in
+question; resolved to save him; mentally arranged her plans, and
+fortunately enough executed them.
+
+In order to succeed she devoted herself to the service of these
+gentlemen, refused them nothing, appeared quite satisfied, and promised
+that they should infallibly be informed. She persuaded them of this so
+thoroughly, that Douglas went away without saying where, except to this
+third horseman just arrived, but it was close at hand; so that he might
+be warned in time. He took one of his valets with him; the other
+remained with the horseman to wait and watch.
+
+Another man much embarrassed the post-mistress; nevertheless, she laid
+her plans. She proposed to the horseman to drink something, because when
+he arrived Douglas had left the table. She served him in her best
+manner, and with her best wine, and kept him at table as long as she
+could, anticipating all his orders. She had placed a valet, in whom she
+could trust, as guard, with orders simply to appear, without a word, if
+he saw a chaise; and her resolution was to lock up the Englishman and his
+servant, and to give their horses to the chaise if it came. But it came
+not, and the Englishman grew tired of stopping at table. Then she
+manoeuvred so well that she persuaded him to go and lie down, and to
+count upon her, her people, and upon the valet Douglas had left. The
+Englishman told this valet not to quit the threshold of the house, and to
+inform him as soon as the chaise appeared. He then suffered himself to
+be led to the back of the house, in order to lie down. The post-
+mistress, immediately after, goes to one of her friends in a by-street,
+relates her adventure and her suspicions, makes the friend agree to
+receive and secrete in her dwelling the person she expected, sends for an
+ecclesiastic, a relative of them both, and in whom she could repose
+confidence, who came and lent an Abbe's dress and wig to match. This
+done, Madame L'Hospital returns to her home, finds the English valet at
+the door, talks with him, pities his ennui, says he is a good fellow to
+be so particular, says that from the door to the house there is but one
+step, promises him that he shall be as well informed as by his own eyes,
+presses him to drink something, and tips the wink to a trusty postilion,
+who makes him drink until he rolls dead drunk under the table. During
+this performance, the wary mistress listens at the door of the English
+gentleman's room, gently turns the key and locks him in, and then
+establishes herself upon the threshold of her door.
+
+Half an hour after comes the trusty valet whom she had put on guard: it
+was the expected chaise, which, as well as the three men who accompanied
+it, were made, without knowing why, to slacken speed. It was King James.
+Madame L'Hospital accosts him, says he is expected, and lost if he does
+not take care; but that he may trust in her and follow her. At once they
+both go to her friends. There he learns all that has happened, and they
+hide him, and the three men of his suite as well as they could. Madame
+L'Hospital returns home, sends for the officers of justice, and in
+consequence of her suspicions she causes the English gentleman and the
+English valet, the one drunk, the other asleep, locked in the room where
+she had left him, to be arrested, and immediately after despatches a
+postilion to Torcy. The officers of justice act, and send their
+deposition to the Court.
+
+The rage of the English gentleman on finding himself arrested, and unable
+to execute the duty which led him there, and his fury against the valet
+who had allowed himself to be intoxicated, cannot be expressed. As for
+Madame L'Hospital he would have strangled her if he could; and she for a
+long time was afraid of her life.
+
+The Englishman could not be induced to confess what brought him there, or
+where was Douglas, whom he named in order to show his importance. He
+declared he had been sent by the English ambassador, though Stair had not
+yet officially assumed that title, and exclaimed that that minister would
+never suffer the affront he had received. They civilly replied to him,
+that there were no proofs he came from the English ambassador,--none that
+he was connected with the minister: that very suspicious designs against
+public safety on the highway alone were visible; that no harm or
+annoyance should be caused him, but that he must remain in safety until
+orders came, and there upon he was civilly led to prison, as well as the
+intoxicated valet.
+
+What became of Douglas at that time was never known, except that he was
+recognised in various places, running, inquiring, crying out with despair
+that he had escaped, without mentioning any name. Apparently news came
+to him, or he sought it, being tired of receiving none. The report of
+what had occurred in such a little place as Nonancourt would easily have
+reached him, close as he was to it; and perhaps it made him set out anew
+to try and catch his prey.
+
+But he journeyed in vain. King James had remained hidden at Nonancourt,
+where, charmed with the attentions of his generous post-mistress, who had
+saved him from his assassins, he admitted to her who he was, and gave her
+a letter for the Queen, his mother. He remained there three days, to
+allow the hubbub to pass, and rob those who sought him of all hope; then,
+disguised as an Abbe, he jumped into a post-chaise that Madame L'Hospital
+had borrowed in the neighbourhood--to confound all identity--and
+continued his journey, during which he was always pursued, but happily
+was never recognised, and embarked in Brittany for Scotland.
+
+Douglas, tired of useless searches, returned to Paris, where Stair kicked
+up a fine dust about the Nonancourt adventure. This he denominated
+nothing less than an infraction of the law of nations, with an extreme
+audacity and impudence, and Douglas, who could not be ignorant of what
+was said about him, had the hardihood to go about everywhere as usual; to
+show himself at the theatre; and to present himself before M. le Duc
+d'Orleans.
+
+This Prince ignored as much as he could a plot so cowardly and so
+barbarous, and in respect to him so insolent. He kept silence, said to
+Stair what he judged fitting to make him be silent likewise, but gave
+liberty to his English assassins. Douglas, however, fell much in the
+favour of the Regent, and many considerable people closed their doors to
+him. He vainly tried to force mine. But as for me I was a perfect
+Jacobite, and quite persuaded that it was the interest of France to give
+England domestic occupation, which would long hinder her from thinking of
+foreign matters. I then, as may be supposed, could not look upon the
+odious enterprise with a favourable eye, or pardon its authors. Douglas
+complained to me of my disregard for him, but to no purpose. Soon after
+he disappeared from Paris. I know not what became of him afterwards.
+His wife and his children remained there living by charity. A long time
+after his death beyond the seas, the Abbe de Saint-Simon passed from
+Noyan to Metz, where he found his widow in great misery.
+
+The Queen of England sent for Madame L'Hospital to Saint-Germain, thanked
+her, caressed her, as she deserved, and gave her her portrait. This was
+all; the Regent gave her nothing; a long while after King James wrote to
+her, and sent her also his portrait. Conclusion: she remained post-
+mistress of Nonancourt as before, twenty or twenty-five years after, to
+her death; and her son and her daughter-in-law keep the post now. She
+was a true woman; estimated in her neighbourhood; not a single word that
+she uttered concerning this history has been contradicted by any one.
+What it cost her can never be said, but she never received a farthing.
+She never complained, but spoke as she found things, with modesty, and
+without seeking to speak. Such is the indigence of dethroned Kings, and
+their complete forgetfulness of the greatest perils and the most signal
+services.
+
+Many honest people avoided Stair, whose insolent airs made others avoid
+him. He filled the cup by the insupportable manner in which he spoke
+upon that affair, never daring to admit he had directed it, or deigning
+to disculpate himself. The only annoyance he showed was about his ill-
+success.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXI
+
+I must say a few words now of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who, as may be
+imagined, began to hold her head very high indeed directly the regency of
+Monsieur her father was established. Despite the representations of
+Madame de Saint-Simon, she usurped all the honours of a queen; she went
+through Paris with kettle-drums beating, and all along the quay of the
+Tuileries where the King was. The Marechal de Villeroy complained of
+this next day to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who promised him that while the
+King remained in Paris no kettle-drums should be heard but his. Never
+afterwards did Madame la Duchesse de Berry have any, yet when she went to
+the theatre she sat upon a raised dais in her box, had four of her guards
+upon the stage, and others in the pit; the house was better lighted than
+usual, and before the commencement of the performance she was harangued
+by the players. This made a strange stir in Paris, and as she did not
+dare to continue it she gave up her usual place, and took at the opera a
+little box where she could scarcely be seen, and where she was almost
+incognito. As the comedy was played then upon the opera stage for
+Madame, this little box served for both entertainments.
+
+The Duchess desired apparently to pass the summer nights in all liberty
+in the garden of the Luxembourg. She accordingly had all the gates
+walled up but one, by which the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which had always
+enjoyed the privilege of walking there, were much deprived. M. le Duc
+thereupon opened the Conti garden to make up to the public for their
+loss. As may be imagined, strange things were said about the motives
+which led to the walling up of the garden.
+
+As the Princess found new lovers to replace the old ones, she tried to
+pension off the latter at the expense of the public. She had a place
+created expressly for La Haye. She bought, or rather the King for her,
+a little house at the entry of the Bois de Boulogne, which was pretty,
+with all the wood in front, and a fine garden behind. It was called La
+Muette.
+
+After many amours she had become smitten with Rion, a younger son of the
+house of Aydic. He was a fat, chubby, pale little fellow, who had so
+many pimples that he did not ill resemble an abscess. He had good teeth,
+but had no idea he should cause a passion which in less than no time
+became ungovernable, and which lasted a long while without however
+interfering with temporary and passing amours. He was not worth a penny,
+but had many brothers and sisters who had no more than he. He was a
+lieutenant of dragoons, relative of Madame Pons, dame d'atours of Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry, who sent for him to try and do something for him.
+Scarcely had he arrived than the passion of the Duchess declared itself,
+and he became the master of the Luxembourg where she dwelt. M. de
+Lauzun, who was a distant relative, was delighted, and chuckled inwardly.
+He thought he saw a repetition of the old times, when Mademoiselle was in
+her glory; he vouchsafed his advice to Rion.
+
+Rion was gentle and naturally polished and respectful, a good and honest
+fellow. He soon felt the power of his charms, which could only have
+captivated the incomprehensible and depraved fantasy of such a princess.
+He did not abuse this power; made himself liked by everybody; but he
+treated Madame la Duchesse de Berry as M. de Lauzun had treated
+Mademoiselle. He was soon decorated with the most beautiful lace and the
+richest clothes covered with silver, loaded with snuffboxes, jewels, and
+precious stones. He took pleasure in making the Princess long after him,
+and be jealous; affecting to be still more jealous of her. He often made
+her cry. Little by little, he obtained such authority over her that she
+did not dare to do anything without his permission, not even the most
+indifferent things. If she were ready to go to the opera, he made her
+stay away; at other times he made her go thither in spite of herself.
+He made her treat well many ladies she did not like, or of whom she was
+jealous, and treat ill persons who pleased her, but of whom he pretended
+to be jealous. Even in her finery she had not the slightest liberty.
+He amused himself by making her disarrange her head-dress, or change her
+clothes, when she was quite dressed; and that so often and so publicly,
+that he accustomed her at last to take over night his orders for her
+morning's dress and occupation, and on the morrow he would change
+everything, and the Princess wept as much as she could, and more. At
+last she actually sent messages to him by trusty valets,--for he lived
+close to the Luxembourg,--several times during her toilet, to know what
+ribbons she should wear; the same with her gown and other things; and
+nearly always he made her wear what she did not wish for. If ever she
+dared to do the least thing without his permission, he treated her like a
+serving-wench, and her tears lasted sometimes several days. This
+princess, so haughty, and so fond of showing and exercising the most
+unmeasured pride, disgraced herself by joining in repasts with him and
+obscure people; she, with whom no man could lawfully eat if he were not a
+prince of the blood!
+
+A Jesuit, named Pere Riglet, whom she had known as a child, and whose
+intimacy she had always cultivated since, was admitted to these private
+repasts, without being ashamed thereof, and without Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry being embarrassed. Madame de Mouchy was the confidante of all
+these strange parties she and Rion invited the guests, and chose the
+days. La Mouchy often reconciled the Princess to her lover, and was
+better treated by him than she, without her daring to take notice of it,
+for fear of an eclat which would have caused her to lose so dear a lover,
+and a confidante so necessary. This life was public; everybody at the
+Luxembourg paid court to M. de Rion, who, on his side, took care to be on
+good terms with all the world, nay, with an air of respect that he
+refused, even in public, to his princess. He often gave sharp replies to
+her in society, which made people lower their eyes, and brought blushes
+to the cheek of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who, nevertheless, did not
+attempt to conceal her submission and passionate manners, even before
+others. A remarkable fact is, that in the midst of this life, she took
+an apartment at the Convent of the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-
+Germain, where she sometimes went in the afternoon, always slept there on
+grand religious fete days, and often remained there several days running.
+She took with her two ladies, rarely three, scarcely a single domestic;
+she ate with her ladies what the convent could supply for her table;
+attended the services, was sometimes long in prayer, and rigidly fasted
+on the appointed days.
+
+Two Carmelites, of much talent, and who knew the world, were charged to
+receive her, and to be near her. One was very beautiful: the other had
+been so. They were rather young, especially the handsomer; but were very
+religious and holy, and performed the office entrusted to them much
+against their inclination. When they became more familiar they spoke
+freely to the Princess, and said to her that if they knew nothing of her
+but what they saw, they should admire her as a saint, but, elsewhere,
+they learnt that she led a strange life, and so public, that they could
+not comprehend why she came to their convent. Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry laughed at this, and was not angry. Sometimes they lectured her,
+called people and things by their names, and exhorted her to change so
+scandalous a life; but it was all in vain. She lived as before, both at
+the Luxembourg and at the Carmelites, and caused wonderment by this
+surprising conduct.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry returned with usury to her father, the
+severity and the domination she suffered at the hands of Rion--yet this
+prince, in his weakness, was not less submissive to her, attentive to
+her, or afraid of her. He was afflicted with the public reign of Rion,
+and the scandal of his daughter; but he did not dare to breathe a word,
+or if he did (after some scene, as ridiculous as it was violent, had
+passed between the lover and the Princess, and become public), he was
+treated like a negro, pouted at several days, and did not know how to
+make his peace.
+
+But it is time now to speak of the public and private occupations of the
+Regent himself, of his conduct, his pleasure parties, and the employment
+of his days.
+
+Up to five o'clock in the evening he devoted himself exclusively to
+public business, reception of ministers, councils, etc., never dining
+during the day, but taking chocolate between two and three o'clock, when
+everybody was allowed to enter his room. After the council of the day,
+that is to say, at about five o'clock, there was no more talk of
+business. It was now the time of the Opera or the Luxembourg (if he had
+not been to the latter place before his chocolate), or he went to Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans' apartments, or supped, or went out privately, or
+received company privately; or, in the fine season, he went to Saint-
+Cloud, or elsewhere out of town, now supping there, or at the Luxembourg,
+or at home. When Madame was at Paris, he spoke to her for a moment
+before his mass; and when she was at Saint-Cloud he went to see her
+there, and always paid her much attention and respect.
+
+His suppers were always in very strange company. His mistresses,
+sometimes an opera girl, often Madame la Duchesse de Berry, and a dozen
+men whom he called his rows, formed the party. The requisite cheer was
+prepared in places made expressly, on the same floor, all the utensils
+were of silver; the company often lent a hand to the cooks. It was at
+these parties that the character of every one was passed in review,
+ministers and favourites like the rest, with a liberty which was
+unbridled license. The gallantries past and present of the Court and of
+the town; all old stories, disputes, jokes, absurdities were raked up;
+nobody was spared; M. le Duc d'Orleans had his say like the rest, but
+very rarely did these discourses make the slightest impression upon him.
+The company drank as much as they could, inflamed themselves, said the
+filthiest things without stint, uttered impieties with emulation, and
+when they had made a good deal of noise and were very drunk, they went to
+bed to recommence the same game the next day. From the moment when
+supper was ready, business, no matter of, what importance, no matter
+whether private or national, was entirely banished from view. Until the
+next morning everybody and everything were compelled to wait.
+
+The Regent lost then an infinite amount of time in private, in
+amusements, and debauchery. He lost much also in audiences too long, too
+extended, too easily granted, and drowned himself in those same details
+which during the lifetime of the late King we had both so often
+reproached him with. Questions he might have decided in half an hour he
+prolonged, sometimes from weakness, sometimes from that miserable desire
+to set people at loggerheads, and that poisonous maxim which occasionally
+escaped him or his favourite, 'divide et impera'; often from his general
+mistrust of everybody and everything; nothings became hydras with which
+he himself afterwards was much embarrassed. His familiarity and his
+readiness of access extremely pleased people, but were much abused.
+Folks sometimes were even wanting in respect to him, which at last was an
+inconvenience all the more dangerous because he could not, when he
+wished, reprimand those who embarrassed him; insomuch as they themselves
+did not feel embarrassed.
+
+What is extraordinary is, neither his mistress nor Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry, nor his 'roues', could ever draw anything from him, even when
+drunk, concerning the affairs of the government, however important. He
+publicly lived with Madame de Parabere; he lived at the same time with
+others; he amused himself with the jealousy and vexation of these women;
+he was not the less on good terms with them all; and the scandal of this
+public seraglio, and that of the daily filthiness and impiety at his
+suppers, were extreme and spread everywhere.
+
+Towards the end of the year (1715) the Chevalier de Bouillon, who since
+the death of the son of the Comte d'Auvergne had taken the name of the
+Prince d'Auvergne, proposed to the Regent that there should be a public
+ball, masked and unmasked, in the opera three times a week, people to pay
+upon entering, and the boxes to be thrown open to those who did not care
+to dance. It was believed that a public ball, guarded as is the opera on
+days of performance, would prevent those adventures which happened so
+often at the little obscure balls scattered throughout Paris; and indeed
+close them altogether. The opera balls were established on a grand
+scale, and with all possible effect. The proposer of the idea had for it
+six thousand livres pension; and a machine admirably invented and of easy
+and instantaneous application, was made to cover the orchestra, and put
+the stage and the pit on the same level. The misfortune was, that the
+opera was at the Palais Royal, and that M. le Duc d'Orleans had only one
+step to take to reach it after his suppers and show himself there, often
+in a state but little becoming. The Duc de Noailles, who strove to pay
+court to him, went there from the commencement so drunk that there was no
+indecency he did not commit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXII
+
+Let me speak now of another matter.
+
+A Scotchman, I do not know of what family, a great player and combiner,
+who had gained much in various countries he had been in, had come to
+Paris during the last days of the deceased King. His name was Law; but
+when he became more known, people grew so accustomed to call him Las,
+that his name of Law disappeared. He was spoken of to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans as a man deep in banking and commercial matters, in the
+movements of the precious metals, in monies and finance: the Regent, from
+this description, was desirous to see him. He conversed with Law some
+time, and was so pleased with him, that he spoke of him to Desmarets as a
+man from whom information was to be drawn. I recollect that the Prince
+spoke of him to me at the same time. Desmarets sent for Law, and was a
+long while with him several times; I know nothing of what passed between
+them or its results, except that Desmarets was pleased with Law, and
+formed some esteem for him.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, after that, only saw him from time to time; but
+after the first rush of affairs, which followed the death of the King,
+Law, who had formed some subaltern acquaintances at the Palais Royal, and
+an intimacy with the Abbe Dubois, presented himself anew before M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, soon after conversed with him in private, and proposed some
+finance plans to him. The Regent made him work with the Duc de Noailles,
+with Rouille, with Amelot--this last for commercial matters. The first
+two were afraid of an intruder, favoured by the Regent, in their
+administration; so that Law was a long time tossed about, but was always
+backed by the Duc d'Orleans. At last, the bank project pleased that
+Prince so much that he wished to carry it out. He spoke in private to
+the heads of finance, in whom he found great opposition. He had often
+spoken to me of it, and I had contented myself with listening to him upon
+a matter I never liked, and which, consequently, I never well understood;
+and the carrying out of which appeared to me distant. When he had
+entirely formed his resolution, he summoned a financial and commercial
+assembly, in which Law explained the whole plan of the bank he wished to
+establish (this was on the 24th of October, 1715). He was listened to as
+long as he liked to talk. Some, who saw that the Regent was almost
+decided, acquiesced; but the majority opposed.
+
+Law was not disheartened. The majority were spoken to privately in very
+good French. Nearly the same assembly was called, in which, the Regent
+being present, Law again explained his project. This time few opposed
+and feebly. The Duc de Noailles was obliged to give in. The bank being
+approved of in this manner, it had next to be proposed to the regency
+council.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans took the trouble to speak in private to each member
+of the council, and gently to make them understand that he wished the
+bank to meet with no opposition. He spoke his mind to me thoroughly:
+therefore a reply was necessary. I said to him that I did not hide my
+ignorance or my disgust for all finance matters; that, nevertheless, what
+he had just explained to me appeared good in itself, that without any new
+tax, without expense, and without wronging or embarrassing anybody, money
+should double itself at once by means of the notes of this bank, and
+become transferable with the greatest facility. But along with this
+advantage I found two inconveniences, the first, how to govern the bank
+with sufficient foresight and wisdom, so as not to issue more notes than
+could be paid whenever presented: the second, that what is excellent in a
+republic, or in a monarchy where the finance is entirely popular, as in
+England, is of pernicious use in an absolute monarchy, such as France,
+where the necessities of a war badly undertaken and ill sustained, the
+avarice of a first minister, favourite, or mistress, the luxury, the wild
+expenses, the prodigality of a King, might soon exhaust a bank, and ruin
+all the holders of notes, that is to say, overthrow the realm. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans agreed to this; but at the same time maintained that a King
+would have so much interest in never meddling or allowing minister,
+mistress, or favourite to meddle with the bank, that this capital
+inconvenience was never to be feared. Upon that we for a long time
+disputed without convincing each other, so that when, some few days
+afterwards, he proposed the bank to the regency council, I gave my
+opinion as I have just explained it, but with more force and at length:
+and my conclusion was to reject the bank, as a bait the most fatal, in an
+absolute country, while in a free country it would be a very good and
+very wise establishment.
+
+Few dared to be of this opinion: the bank passed. Duc d'Orleans cast
+upon me some little reproaches, but gentle, for having spoken at such
+length. I based my excuses upon my belief that by duty, honour, and
+conscience, I ought to speak according to my persuasion, after having
+well thought over the matter, and explained myself sufficiently to make
+my opinion well understood, and the reason I had for forming it.
+Immediately after, the edict was registered without difficulty at the
+Parliament. This assembly sometimes knew how to please the Regent with
+good grace in order to turn the cold shoulder to him afterwards with more
+efficacy.
+
+Some time after, to relate all at once, M. le Duc d'Orleans wished me to
+see Law in order that he might explain to me his plans, and asked me to
+do so as a favour. I represented to him my unskilfulness in all finance
+matters; that Law would in vain speak a language to me of which I
+understood nothing, that we should both lose our time very uselessly.
+I tried to back out thus, as well as I could. The Regent several times
+reverted to the charge, and at last demanded my submission. Law came
+then to my house. Though there was much of the foreigner in his bearing,
+in his expressions, and in his accent, he expressed himself in very good
+terms, with much clearness and precision. He conversed with me a long
+while upon his bank, which, indeed, was an excellent thing in itself, but
+for another country rather than for France, and with a prince less easy
+than the Regent. Law had no other solutions to give me, of my two
+objections, than those the Regent himself had given, which did not
+satisfy me. But as the affair had passed, and there was nothing now to
+do but well direct it, principally upon that did our conversation turn.
+I made him feel as much as I could the importance of not showing such
+facility, that it might be abused, with a Regent so good, so easy, so
+open, so surrounded. I masked as well as I could what I wished to make
+him understand thereupon; and I dwelt especially upon the necessity of
+being prepared to satisfy instantly all bearers of notes, who should
+demand payment: for upon this depended the credit or the overthrow of the
+bank. Law, on going out, begged me to permit him to come sometimes and
+talk with me; we separated mutually satisfied, at which the Regent was
+still more so.
+
+Law came several other times to my house, and showed much desire to grow
+intimate with me. I kept to civilities, because finance entered not into
+my head, and I regarded as lost time all these conversations. Some time
+after, the Regent, who spoke to me tolerably often of Law with great
+prepossession, said that he had to ask of me, nay to demand of me, a
+favour; it was, to receive a visit from Law regularly every week. I
+represented to him the perfect inutility of these conversations, in which
+I was incapable of learning anything, and still more so of enlightening
+Law upon subjects he possessed, and of which I knew naught. It was in
+vain; the Regent wished it; obedience was necessary. Law, informed of
+this by the Regent, came then to my house. He admitted to me with good
+grace, that it was he who had asked the Regent to ask me, not daring to
+do so himself. Many compliments followed on both sides, and we agreed
+that he should come to my house every Tuesday morning about ten o'clock,
+and that my door should be closed to everybody while he remained. This
+first visit was not given to business. On the following Tuesday morning
+he came to keep his appointment, and punctually came until his
+discomfiture. An hour-and-a-half, very often two hours, was the ordinary
+time for our conversations. He always took care to inform me of the
+favour his bank was obtaining in France and foreign countries, of its
+products, of his views, of his conduct, of the opposition he met with
+from the heads of finance and the magistracy, of his reasons, and
+especially of his balance sheet, to convince me that he was more than
+prepared to face all holders of notes whatever sums they had to ask for.
+
+I soon knew that if Law had desired these regular visits at my house, it
+was not because he expected to make me a skilful financier; but because,
+like a man of sense--and he had a good deal--he wished to draw near a
+servitor of the Regent who had the best post in his confidence, and who
+long since had been in a position to speak to him of everything and of
+everybody with the greatest freedom and the most complete liberty; to try
+by this frequent intercourse to gain my friendship; inform himself by me
+of the intrinsic qualities of those of whom he only saw the outside; and
+by degrees to come to the Council, through me, to represent the
+annoyances he experienced, the people with whom he had to do; and lastly,
+to profit by my dislike to the Duc de Noailles, who, whilst embracing him
+every day, was dying of jealousy and vexation, and raised in his path,
+under-hand, all the obstacles and embarrassments possible, and would have
+liked to stifle him. The bank being in action and flourishing,
+I believed it my duty to sustain it. I lent myself, therefore, to the
+instructions Law proposed, and soon we spoke to each other with a
+confidence I never have had reason to repent. I will not enter into the
+details of this bank, the other schemes which followed it, or the
+operations made in consequence. This subject of finance would fill
+several volumes. I will speak of it only as it affects the history of
+the time, or what concerns me in particular. It is the history of my
+time I have wished to write; I should have been too much turned from it
+had I entered into the immense details respecting finance. I might add
+here what Law was. I defer it to a time when this curiosity will be more
+in place.
+
+Arouet, son of a notary, who was employed by my father and me until his
+death, was exiled and sent to Tulle at this time (the early part of
+1716), for some verses very satirical and very impudent.
+
+I should not amuse myself by writing down such a trifle, if this same
+Arouet, having become a great poet and academician under the name of
+Voltaire, had not also become--after many tragical adventures--a manner
+of personage in the republic of letters, and even achieved a sort of
+importance among certain people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIII
+
+I have elsewhere alluded to Alberoni, and shown what filthy baseness he
+stooped to in order to curry favour with the infamous Duc de Vendome.
+I have also shown that he accompanied the new Queen of Spain from Parma
+to Madrid, after she had been married, by procuration, to Philip V. He
+arrived at the Court of Spain at a most opportune moment for his fortune.
+Madame des Ursins had just been disgraced; there was no one to take her
+place. Alberoni saw his opportunity and was not slow to avail himself of
+it. During the journey with the new Queen, he had contrived to
+ingratiate himself so completely into her favour, that she was, in a
+measure, prepared to see only with his eyes. The King had grown so
+accustomed to be shut out from all the world, and to be ruled by others,
+that he easily adapted himself to his new chains. The Queen and
+Alberoni, then, in a short time had him as completely under their thumb,
+as he had before been under that of Madame des Ursins.
+
+Alberoni, unscrupulous and ambitious, stopped at nothing in order to
+consolidate his power and pave the way for his future greatness. Having
+become prime minister, he kept the King as completely inaccessible to the
+courtiers as to the world; would allow no one to approach him whose
+influence he had in any way feared. He had Philip completely in his own
+hands by means of the Queen, and was always on his guard to keep him
+there.
+
+Ever since the Regent's accession to power an intimacy had gradually been
+growing up between the two governments of France and England. This was
+mainly owing to the intrigues of the Abbe Dubois, who had sold himself to
+the English Court, from which he secretly received an enormous pension.
+He was, therefore, devoted heart and soul--if such a despicable personage
+can be said to have the one or the other--to the interests of King
+George, and tried to serve them in every way. He had but little
+difficulty--comparatively speaking--in inducing M. le Duc d'Orleans to
+fall into his nets, and to declare himself in favour of an English
+alliance. Negotiations with this end in view were, in fact, set on foot,
+had been for some time; and about the month of September of this year
+(1716), assumed a more smiling face than they had yet displayed.
+
+Both France and England, from different motives, wished to draw Spain
+into this alliance. The Regent, therefore, in order to further this
+desire, obtained from England a promise that she would give up Gibraltar
+to its former owners, the Spaniards. The King of England consented to do
+so, but on one condition: it was, that in order not to expose himself to
+the cries of the party opposed to him, this arrangement should be kept
+profoundly secret until executed. In order that this secrecy might be
+secured, he stipulated that the negotiation should not in any way pass
+through the hands of Alberoni, or any Spanish minister, but be treated
+directly between the Regent and the King of Spain, through a confidential
+agent chosen by the former.
+
+This confidential agent was to take a letter respecting the treaty to the
+King of Spain, a letter full of insignificant trifles, and at the same
+time a positive order from the King of England, written and signed by his
+hand, to the Governor of Gibraltar, commanding him to surrender the place
+to the King of Spain the very moment he received this order, and to
+retire with his garrison, etc., to Tangiers. In order to execute this a
+Spanish general was suddenly to march to Gibraltar, under pretence of
+repressing the incursions of its garrison,--summon the Governor to
+appear, deliver to him the King of England's order, and enter into
+possession of the place. All this was very weakly contrived; but this
+concerned the King of England, not us.
+
+I must not be proud; and must admit that I knew nothing of all this, save
+at second-hand. If I had, without pretending to be very clever, I must
+say that I should have mistrusted this fine scheme. The King of England
+could not be ignorant with what care and with what jealousy the Queen and
+Alberoni kept the King of Spain locked up, inaccessible to everybody--and
+that the certain way to fail, was to try to speak to him without their
+knowledge, in spite of them, or unaided by them. However, my opinion
+upon this point was not asked, and accordingly was not given.
+
+Louville was the secret agent whom the Regent determined to send. He had
+already been in Spain, had gained the confidence of the King, and knew
+him better than any other person who could have been chosen. Precisely
+because of all these reasons, I thought him the most unfit person to be
+charged with this commission. The more intimate he had been with the
+King of Spain, the more firm in his confidence, the more would he be
+feared by the Queen and Alberoni; and the more would they do to cover his
+embassy with failure, so as to guard their credit and their authority.
+I represented my views on this subject to Louville, who acknowledged
+there was truth in them, but contented himself with saying, that he had
+not in his surprise dared to refuse the mission offered to him; and that
+if he succeeded in it, the restitution to Spain of such an important
+place as Gibraltar, would doubtless be the means of securing to him large
+arrears of pensions due to him from Philip the First: an object of no
+small importance in his eyes. Louville, therefore, in due time departed
+to Madrid, on his strange and secret embassy.
+
+Upon arriving he went straight to the house of the Duc de Saint-Aignan,
+our ambassador, and took up his quarters there. Saint-Aignan who had
+received not the slightest information of his arriving, was surprised
+beyond measure at it. Alberoni was something more than surprised.
+As fortune would have it, Louville when at some distance from Madrid was
+seen by a courier, who straightway told Alberoni of the circumstance.
+As may be imagined, tormented as Alberoni was by jealousy and suspicion,
+this caused him infinite alarm. He was quite aware who Louville was;
+the credit he had attained with the King of Spain; the trouble Madame
+des Ursins and the deceased Queen had had to get him out of their way;
+the fear, therefore, that he conceived on account of this unexpected
+arrival, was so great that he passed all bounds, in order to free himself
+from it.
+
+He instantly despatched a courier to meet Louville with an order
+prohibiting him to approach any nearer to Madrid. The courier missed
+Louville, but a quarter of an hour after this latter had alighted at
+Saint-Aignan's, he received a note from Grimaldo inclosing an order from
+the King of Spain, commanding him to leave the city that instant!
+Louville replied that he was charged with a confidential letter from the
+King of France, and with another from M. le Duc d'Orleans, for the King
+of Spain; and with a commission for his Catholic Majesty which would not
+permit him to leave until he had executed it. In consequence of this
+reply, a courier was at once despatched to the Prince de Cellamare,
+Spanish ambassador at Paris, ordering him to ask for the recall of
+Louville, and to declare that the King of Spain so disliked his person
+that he would neither see him, nor allow him to treat with any of the
+ministers!
+
+Meanwhile the fatigue of the journey followed by such a reception so
+affected Louville, that during the night he had an attack of a disease to
+which he was subject, so that he had a bath prepared for him, into which
+he got towards the end of the morning.
+
+Alberoni, not satisfied with what he had already done, came himself to
+the Duc de Saint-Aignan's, in order to persuade Louville to depart at
+once. Despite the representations made to him, he insisted upon
+penetrating to the sick-chamber. There he saw Louville in his bath.
+Nothing could be more civil than the words of Alberoni, but nothing could
+be more dry, more negative, or more absolute than their signification.
+He pitied the other's illness and the fatigue of his journey; would have
+wished to have known of this journey beforehand, so as to have prevented
+it; and had hoped to be able to overcome the repugnance of the King of
+Spain to see him, or at least to obtain permission for him to remain some
+days in Madrid. He added that he had been unable to shake his Majesty in
+any way, or to avoid obeying the very express order he had received from
+him, to see that he (Louville) departed at once.
+
+Louville, however, was in a condition which rendered his departure
+impossible. Alberoni admitted this, but warned him that his stay must
+only last as long as his illness, and that the attack once over, he must
+away. Louville insisted upon the confidential letters, of which he was
+the bearer, and which gave him an official character, instructed as he
+was to execute an important commission from the King of France, nephew of
+the King of Spain, such as his Majesty could not refuse to hear direct
+from his mouth, and such as he would regret not having listened to.
+The dispute was long and warm, despite the illness of Louville, who could
+gain nothing. He did not fail to remain five or six days with the Duc de
+Saint-Aignan, and to make him act as ambassador in order to obtain an
+audience of the King, although Saint-Aignan was hurt at being kept
+ignorant of the object of the other's mission.
+
+Louville did not dare to call upon a soul, for fear of committing
+himself, and nobody dared to call upon him. He hazarded, however, for
+curiosity, to go and see the King of Spain pass through a street, and
+ascertain if, on espying him, he would not be tempted to hear him, in
+case his arrival, as was very possible, had been kept a secret. But
+Alberoni had anticipated everything. Louville saw the King pass,
+certainly, but found it was impossible to make himself perceived by his
+Majesty. Grimaldo came afterwards to intimate to Louville an absolute
+order to depart, and to inform the Duc de Saint-Aignan that the King of
+Spain was so angry with the obstinacy of this delay, that he would not
+say what might happen if the stay of Louville was protracted; but that he
+feared the respect due to a representative minister, and above all an
+ambassador of France, would be disregarded.
+
+Both Louville and Saint-Aignan clearly saw that all audience was
+impossible, and that in consequence a longer stay could only lead to
+disturbances which might embroil the two crowns; so that, at the end of
+seven or eight days, Louville departed, returning as he came. Alberoni
+began then to breathe again after the extreme fear he had had. He was
+consoled by this proof of his power, which showed he need no longer fear
+that any one could approach the King without his aid, or that any
+business could be conducted without him. Thus Spain lost Gibraltar, and
+she has never been able to recover it since.
+
+Such is the utility of prime ministers!
+
+Alberoni spread the report in Spain and in France, that Philip V. had
+taken a mortal aversion against Louville, since he had driven him out of
+the country for his insolence and his scheming; that he would never see
+him, and was offended because he had passed the Pyrenees; that Louville
+had no proposition to make, or commission to execute; that he had
+deceived the Regent, in making him believe that if once he found a
+pretext for appearing before the King of Spain, knowing him so well as he
+did, that prince would be ravished by the memory of his former affection,
+would reinstate him in his former credit, and thus France would be able
+to make Spain do all she wished. In a word, Alberoni declared that
+Louville had only come into the country to try and obtain some of the
+pensions he had been promised on quitting the King of Spain, but that he
+had not gone the right way to work to be so soon paid.
+
+Nothing short of the effrontery of Alberoni would have been enough for
+the purpose of spreading these impostures. No one had forgotten in Spain
+what Madame des Ursins had done to get rid of Louville, how the King of
+Spain had resisted; that she was not able to succeed without the aid of
+France and her intrigues with Madame de Maintenon; and that the King,
+afflicted to the utmost, yielding to the orders given by France to
+Louville, had doubled the pensions which had for a long time been paid to
+him, given him a sum of money in addition, and the government of
+Courtray, which he lost only by the misfortune of the war that followed
+the loss of the battle of Ramillies. With respect to the commission, to
+deny it was an extreme piece of impudence, a man being concerned so well
+known as Louville, who descends at the house of the ambassador of France,
+says he has letters of trust from the King and the Regent, and an
+important mission which he can only confide to the King of Spain, the
+self-same ambassador striving to obtain an audience for him. Nothing was
+so easy as to cover Louville with confusion, if he had spoken falsely,
+by making him show his letters; if he had none he would have been struck
+dumb, and having no official character, Alberoni would have been free to
+punish him. Even if with confidential letters, he had only a complaint
+to utter in order to introduce himself and to solicit his pay, Alberoni
+would very easily have been able to dishonour him, because he had no
+commission after having roundly asserted that he was charged with one of
+great importance. But omnipotence says and does with impunity whatever
+it pleases.
+
+Louville having returned, it was necessary to send word to the King of
+England of all he had done in Spain; and this business came to nothing,
+except that it set Alberoni against the Regent for trying to execute a
+secret commission without his knowledge; and that it set the Regent
+against Alberoni for frustrating a project so openly, and for showing the
+full force of his power. Neither of the two ever forgot this matter; and
+the dislike of Alberoni to the Regent led, as will be seen, to some
+strange results.
+
+I will add here, that the treaty of alliance between France and England
+was signed a short time after this event. I did my utmost to prevent it,
+representing to the Regent that his best policy was to favour the cause
+of the Pretender, and thus by keeping the attention of Great Britain
+continually fixed upon her domestic concerns, he would effectually
+prevent her from influencing the affairs of the continent, and long were
+the conversations I had with him, insisting upon this point. But
+although, while he was with me, my arguments might appear to have some
+weight with him, they were forgotten, clean swept from his mind, directly
+the Abbe Dubois, who had begun to obtain a most complete and pernicious
+influence over him, brought his persuasiveness to bear. Dubois' palm had
+been so well greased by the English that he was afraid of nothing.
+He succeeded then in inducing the Regent to sign a treaty with England,
+in every way, it may safely be said, advantageous to that power, and in
+no way advantageous to France. Amongst other conditions, the Regent
+agreed to send the so-called Pretender out of the realm, and to force him
+to seek an asylum in Italy. This was, in fact, executed to the letter.
+King James, who for some time had retired to Avignon, crossed the Alps
+and settled in Rome, where he lived ever afterwards. I could not but
+deplore the adoption of a policy so contrary to the true interests of
+France; but the business being done I held my peace, and let matters take
+their course. It was the only course of conduct open to me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIV
+
+I have already shown in these memoirs, that the late King had made of the
+lieutenant of police a species of secret and confidential minister; a
+sort of inquisitor, with important powers that brought him in constant
+relation with the King. The Regent, with less authority than the
+deceased monarch, and with more reasons than he to be well informed of
+everything passing, intrigues included, found occupying this office of
+lieutenant of police, Argenson, who had gained his good graces chiefly,
+I fancy, when the affair of the cordelier was on the carpet, as shown in
+its place. Argenson, who had much intelligence, and who had desired this
+post as the entry, the basis, and the road of his fortune, filled it in a
+very superior manner, and the Regent made use of him with much liberty.
+The Parliament, very ready to show the extent of its authority
+everywhere, at the least as though in competition with that of the
+Regent, suffered impatiently what it called the encroachments of the
+Court. It wished to indemnify itself for the silence it had been
+compelled to keep thereon under the last reign, and to re-obtain at the
+expense of the Regent all it had lost of its authority over the police,
+of which it is the head. The lieutenant of police is answerable to this
+body--even receives his orders from it, and its reprimands (in public
+audiences, standing uncovered at the bar of the Parliament) from the
+mouth of the Chief-President, or of him who presides, and who calls him
+neither Master nor Monsieur, but nakedly by his name, although the
+lieutenant of police might have claimed these titles, being then
+Councillor of State.
+
+The Parliament wished, then, to humiliate Argenson (whom it hated during
+the time of the deceased King); to give a disagreeable lesson to the
+Regent; to prepare worse treatment still for his lieutenant of police; to
+make parade of its power, to terrify thus the public, and arrogate to
+itself the right of limiting the authority of the Regent.
+
+Argenson had often during the late reign, and sometimes since, made use
+of an intelligent and clever fellow, just suited to him, and named
+Pomereu, to make discoveries, arrest people, and occasionally keep them a
+short time in his own house. The Parliament believed, and rightly, that
+in arresting this man under other pretexts, it would find the thread of
+many curious and secret tortuosities, which would aid its design, and
+that it might plume itself upon protecting the public safety against the
+tyranny of secret arrests and private imprisonments. To carry out its
+aim it made use of the Chamber of justice, so as to appear as little as
+possible in the matter. This Chamber hastened on so well the
+proceedings, for fear of being stopped on the road, that the first hint
+people had of them was on learning that Pomereu was, by decree of this
+Chamber, in the prisons of the Conciergerie, which are those of the
+Parliament. Argenson, who was informed of this imprisonment immediately
+it took place, instantly went to the Regent, who that very moment sent a
+'lettre de cachet', ordering Pomereu to be taken from prison by force if
+the gaoler made the slightest difficulty in giving him up to the bearers
+of the 'lettre de cachet'; but that gentleman did not dare to make any.
+The execution was so prompt that this man was not an hour in prison, and
+they who had sent him there had not time to seize upon a box of papers
+which had been transported with him to the Conciergerie, and which was
+very carefully carried away with him. At the same time, everything in
+any way bearing upon Pomereu, or upon the things in which he had been
+employed, was carefully removed and secreted.
+
+The vexation of the Parliament upon seeing its prey, which it had
+reckoned upon making such a grand use of, carried off before its eyes,
+may be imagined. It left nothing undone in order to move the public by
+its complaints, and by its cries against such an attack upon law. The
+Chamber of justice sent a deputation to the Regent, who made, fun of it,
+by gravely giving permission to the deputies to re-take their prisoner,
+but without saying a single word to them upon his escape from gaol. He
+was in Paris, in a place where he feared nobody. The Chamber of justice
+felt the derisiveness of the Regent's permission, and ceased to transact
+business. It thought to embarrass the Regent thus, but 'twould have been
+at its own expense. This lasted only a day or two. The Duc de Noailles
+spoke to the Chamber; the members felt they could gain nothing by their
+strike, and that if they were obstinate they would be dispensed with, and
+others found to perform their duties. They recommenced their labours
+then, and the Parliament gained nothing by its attack, but only showed
+its ill-will, and at the same time its powerlessness.
+
+I have forgotten something which, from its singularity, deserves
+recollection, and I will relate it now lest it should escape me again.
+
+One afternoon, as we were about to take our places at the regency
+council, the Marechal de Villars drew me aside and asked me if I knew
+that Marly was going to be destroyed. I replied, "No;" indeed, I had not
+heard speak of it; and I added that I could not believe it. "You do not
+approve of it?" said the Marechal. I assured him I was far from doing
+so. He repeated that the destruction was resolved on, that he knew it
+beyond all doubt, and that if I wished to hinder it, I had not a moment
+to lose. I replied that when we took our places I would speak to M. le
+Duc d'Orleans. "Immediately," quickly replied the Marechal; "speak to
+him this instant, for the order is perhaps already given."
+
+As all the council were already seated I went behind to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, and whispered in his ear what I had just learnt without naming
+from whom, and begged him, if my information was right, to suspend
+execution of his project until I had spoken to him, adding that I would
+join him at the Palais Royal after the council. He stammered a little,
+as if sorry at being discovered, but nevertheless agreed to wait for me:
+I said so in leaving to the Marechal de Villars, and went to the Palais
+Royal, where M. le Duc d'Orleans admitted the truth of the news I had
+heard. I said I would not ask who had given such a pernicious counsel.
+He tried to show it was good by pointing to the saving in keeping up that
+would be obtained; to the gain that would accrue from the sale of so many
+water-conduits and materials; to the unpleasant situation of a place to
+which the King would not be able to go for several years; and to the
+expense the King was put to in keeping up so many other beautiful houses,
+not one of which admitted of pulling down.
+
+I replied to him, that these were the reasons of the guardian of a
+private gentleman that had been presented to him, the conduct of whom
+could in no way resemble that of the guardian of a King of France; that
+the expenses incurred in keeping up Marly were necessary, and that,
+compared with the total of those of the King, they were but as drops in
+the ocean. I begged him to get rid of the idea that the sale of the
+materials would yield any profit,--all the receipts would go in gifts and
+pillage, I said; and also that it was not these petty objects he ought to
+regard, but that he should consider how many millions had been buried in
+this ancient sewer, to transform it into a fairy palace, unique as to
+form in all Europe--unique by the beauty of its fountains, unique also by
+the reputation that the deceased King had given to it; and that it was an
+object of curiosity to strangers of every rank who came to France; that
+its destruction would resound throughout Europe with censure; that these
+mean reasons of petty economy would not prevent all France from being
+indignant at seeing so distinguished an ornament swept away; that
+although neither he nor I might be very delicate upon what had been the
+taste and the favourite work of the late King, the Regent ought to avoid
+wounding his memory,--which by such a long reign, so many brilliant
+years, so many grand reverses so heroically sustained, and escaped from
+in so unhoped-for a manner--had left the entire world in veneration of
+his person: in fine, that he might reckon all the discontented, all the
+neutral even, would join in chorus with the Ancient Court, and cry
+murder; that the Duc du Maine, Madame de Ventadour, the Marechal de
+Villeroy would not hesitate to look upon the destruction of Marly as a
+crime against the King,--a crime they would not fail to make the best of
+for their own purposes during all the regency, and even after it was at
+an end. I clearly saw that M. le Duc d'Orleans had not in the least
+reflected upon all this. He agreed that I was right: promised that Marly
+should not be touched, that it should continue to be kept up, and thanked
+me for preserving him from this fault.
+
+When I was well assured of him, "Admit," said I, "that the King, in the
+other world, would be much astonished if he could know that the Duc de
+Noailles had made you order the destruction of Marly, and that it was who
+hindered it."
+
+"Oh! as to that," he quickly replied, "it is true he could not believe
+it." In effect Marly was preserved and kept up; and it is the Cardinal
+Fleury, with his collegiate proctor's avarice, who has stripped it of its
+river, which was its most superb charm.
+
+I hastened to relate this good resolve to the Marechal de Villars.
+The Duc de Noailles, who, for his own private reasons, had wished the
+destruction of Marly, was furious when he saw his proposal fail.
+To indemnify himself in some degree for his vexation, he made the Regent
+agree, in the utmost secrecy, for fear of another failure, that all the
+furniture, linen, etc., should be sold. He persuaded M. le Duc d'Orleans
+that all these things would be spoiled and lost by the time the King was
+old enough to use them; that in selling them a large sum would be gained
+to relieve expenses; and that in future years the King could furnish
+Marly as he pleased. There was an immense quantity of things sold, but
+owing to favour and pillage they brought very little; and to replace them
+afterwards, millions were spent. I did not know of this sale, at which
+anybody bought who wished, and at very low prices, until it had
+commenced; therefore I was unable to hinder this very damaging
+parsimoniousness.
+
+The Regent just about this time was bestowing his favours right and left
+with a very prodigal hand; I thought, therefore, I was fully entitled to
+ask him for one, which, during the previous reign, had been so rare, so
+useful, and accordingly so difficult to obtain; I mean the right of
+entering the King's room--the 'grandes entrees'--as it was called, and I
+attained it at once.
+
+Since the occasion offers, I may as well explain what are the different
+sorts of entrees. The most precious are called the "grand," which give
+the right to enter into all the retired places of the King's apartments,
+whenever the grand chamberlain and the chief gentlemen of the chamber
+enter. The importance of this privilege under a King who grants
+audiences with difficulty, need not be insisted on. Enjoying it, you can
+speak with him, tete-a-tete, whenever you please, without asking his
+permission, and without the knowledge of others; you obtain a
+familiarity, too, with him by being able to see him thus in private.
+
+The offices which give this right are, those of grand chamberlain, of
+first gentleman of the chamber, and of grand master of the wardrobe on
+annual duty; the children, legitimate and illegitimate, of the King, and
+the wives and husbands of the latter enjoy the same right. As for
+Monsieur and M. le Duc d'Orleans they always had these entrees, and as
+sons of France, were at liberty to enter and see the King at all hours,
+but they did not abuse this privilege. The Duc du Maine and the Comte de
+Toulouse had the same, which they availed themselves of unceasingly, but
+by the back stairs.
+
+The second entrees, simply called entrees, were purely personal; no
+appointment or change gave them. They conferred the right to see the
+King at his rising, after the grandes, and also to see him, but under
+difficulties, during all the day and evening.
+
+The last entrees are those called chamber entrees. They also give the
+right to see the King at his rising, before the distinguished courtiers;
+but no other privilege except to be present at the booting of the King.
+This was the name employed when the King changed his coat, in going or
+returning from hunting or a walk. At Marly, all who were staying there
+by invitation, entered to see this ceremony without asking; elsewhere,
+those who had not the entree were excluded. The first gentleman of the
+chamber had the right, and used it sometimes, to admit four or five
+persons at the most, to the "booting," if they asked, and provided they
+were people of quality, or of some distinction.
+
+Lastly, there were the entrees of the cabinet which gave you the right to
+wait for the King there when he entered after rising, until he had given
+orders for the day, and to pay your court to him, and to enter there when
+he entered to change his coat. Beyond this, the privilege attached to
+these admissions did not extend. The Cardinals and the Princes of the
+blood had the entrees of the chamber and those of the cabinet, so had all
+the chief officials.
+
+I was the first who had the 'grandes entrees' from the Regent. D'Antin
+asked for them next. Soon after, upon this example, they were accorded
+to D'O. M. le Prince de Conti, the sole prince of the blood who had them
+not, because he was the sole prince of the blood who did not come from
+Madame de Montespan, received them next, and little by little the
+privilege was completely prostituted as so many others were.
+
+By extremely rare good fortune a servant employed in the diamond mines of
+the Great Mogul found means to secrete about his person a diamond of
+prodigious size, and what is more marvellous, to gain the seashore and
+embark without being subjected to the rigid and not very delicate ordeal,
+that all persons not above suspicion by their name or their occupation,
+are compelled to submit to, ere leaving the country. He played his cards
+so well, apparently, that he was not suspected of having been near the
+mines, or of having had anything to do with the jewel trade. To complete
+his good fortune he safely arrived in Europe with his diamond. He showed
+it to several princes, none of whom were rich enough to buy, and carried
+it at last to England, where the King admired it, but could not resolve
+to purchase it. A model of it in crystal was made in England, and the
+man, the diamond, and the model (perfectly resembling the original) were
+introduced to Law, who proposed to the Regent that he should purchase the
+jewel for the King. The price dismayed the Regent, who refused to buy.
+
+Law, who had in many things much grandour of sentiment, came dispirited
+to me, bringing the model. I thought, with him, that it was not
+consistent with the greatness of a King of France to be repelled from the
+purchase of an inestimable jewel, unique of its kind in the world, by the
+mere consideration of price, and that the greater the number of
+potentates who had not dared to think of it, the greater ought to be his
+care not to let it escape him. Law, ravished to find me think in this
+manner, begged me to speak to M. le Duc d'Orleans. The state of the
+finances was an obstacle upon which the Regent much insisted. He feared
+blame for making so considerable a purchase, while the most pressing
+necessities could only be provided for with much trouble, and so many
+people were of necessity kept in distress. I praised this sentiment,
+but I said that he ought not to regard the greatest King of Europe as he
+would a private gentleman, who would be very reprehensible if he threw
+away 100,000 livres upon a fine diamond, while he owed many debts which
+he could not pay: that he must consider the honour of the crown, and not
+lose the occasion of obtaining, a priceless diamond which would efface
+the lustre of all others in Europe: that it was a glory for his regency
+which would last for ever; that whatever might be the state of the
+finances the saving obtained by a refusal of the jewel would not much
+relieve them, for it would be scarcely perceptible; in fact I did not
+quit M. le Duc d'Orleans until he had promised that the diamond should be
+bought.
+
+Law, before speaking to me, had so strongly represented to the dealer the
+impossibility of selling his diamond at the price he hoped for, and the
+loss he would suffer in cutting it into different pieces, that at last he
+made him reduce the price to two millions, with the scrapings, which must
+necessarily be made in polishing, given in. The bargain was concluded on
+these terms. The interest upon the two millions was paid to the dealer
+until the principal could be given to him, and in the meanwhile two
+millions' worth of jewels were handed to him as security.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans was agreeably deceived by the applause that the
+public gave to an acquisition so beautiful and so unique. This diamond
+was called the "Regent." It is of the size of a greengage plum, nearly
+round, of a thickness which corresponds with its volume, perfectly white,
+free from all spot, speck, or blemish, of admirable water, and weighs
+more than 500 grains. I much applauded myself for having induced the
+Regent to make so illustrious a purchase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXV
+
+In 1716 the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres died at Paris in her fine hotel.
+She was not old, but had been long a widow, and had lost her only son.
+She was the last relic of the Gondi who were brought into France by
+Catherine de' Medici, and who made so prodigious a fortune. She left
+great wealth. She was a sort of fairy, who, though endowed with much
+wit, would see scarcely anybody, still less give dinners to the few
+people she did see. She never went to Court, and seldom went out of her
+house. The door of her house was always thrown back, disclosing a
+grating, through which could be perceived a true fairy palace, such as
+is sometimes described in romances. Inside it was nearly desert, but of
+consummate magnificence, and all this confirmed the first impression,
+assisted by the singularity of everything, her followers, her livery,
+the yellow hangings of her carriage, and the two great Moors who always
+followed her. She left much to her servants, and for pious purposes, but
+nothing to her daughter-in-law, though poor and respectful to her. Others
+got magnificent legacies.
+
+Cavoye died about the same time. I have said enough about him and his
+wife to have nothing to add. Cavoye, away from Court, was like a fish
+out of water; and he could not stand it long. If romances have rarely
+produced conduct like that of his wife towards him, they would with still
+greater difficulty describe the courage with which her lasting love for
+her husband sustained her in her attendance on his last illness, and the
+entombment to which she condemned herself afterwards. She preserved her
+first mourning all her life, never slept away from the house where he
+died, or went out, except to go twice a day to Saint-Sulpice to pray in
+the chapel where he was buried. She would never see any other persons
+besides those she had seen during the last moments of her husband, and
+occupied herself with good works also, consuming herself thus in a few
+years without a single sign of hesitation. A vehemence so equal and so
+maintained is perhaps an example, great, unique, and assuredly very
+respectable.
+
+Peter I., Czar of Muscovy, has made for himself, and justly, such a great
+name, in his own country, in all Europe, and in Asia, that I will not
+undertake to describe so grand, so illustrious a prince--comparable to
+the greatest men of antiquity--who has been the admiration of his age,
+who will be that of years to come, and whom all Europe has been so much
+occupied in studying. The singularity of the journey into France of so
+extraordinary a prince, has appeared to me to deserve a complete
+description in an unbroken narrative. It is for this reason that I place
+my account of it here a little late, according to the order of time, but
+with dates that will rectify this fault.
+
+Various things relating to this monarch have been seen in their place;
+his various journeys to Holland, Germany, Vienna, England, and to several
+parts of the North; the object of those journeys, with some account of
+his military actions, his policy, his family. It has been shown that he
+wished to come into France during the time of the late King, who civilly
+refused to receive him. There being no longer this obstacle, he wished
+to satisfy his curiosity, and he informed the Regent through Prince
+Kourakin, his ambassador at Paris, that he was going to quit the Low
+Countries, and come and see the King.
+
+There was nothing for it but to appear very pleased, although the Regent
+would gladly have dispensed with this visit. The expenses to be defrayed
+were great; the trouble would be not less great with a prince so powerful
+and so clear-sighted, but full of whims, with a remnant of barbarous
+manners, and a grand suite of people, of behaviour very different from
+that common in these countries, full of caprices and of strange fashions,
+and both they and their master very touchy and very positive upon what
+they claimed to be due or permitted to them.
+
+Moreover the Czar was at daggers drawn with the King of England, the
+enmity between them passing all decent limits, and being the more bitter
+because personal. This troubled not a little the Regent, whose intimacy
+with the King of England was public, the private interest of Dubois
+carrying it even to dependence. The dominant passion of the Czar was to
+render his territories flourishing by commerce; he had made a number of
+canals in order to facilitate it; there was one for which he needed the
+concurrence of the King of England, because it traversed a little corner
+of his German dominions. From jealousy George would not consent to it.
+Peter, engaged in the war with Poland, then in that of the North, in
+which George was also engaged, negotiated in vain. He was all the more
+irritated, because he was in no condition to employ force; and this
+canal, much advanced, could not be continued. Such was the source of
+that hatred which lasted all the lives of these monarchs, and with the
+utmost bitterness.
+
+Kourakin was of a branch of that ancient family of the Jagellons, which
+had long worn the crowns of Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. He was
+a tall, well-made man, who felt all the grandeur of his origin; had much
+intelligence, knowledge of the way of managing men, and instruction. He
+spoke French and several languages very fairly; he had travelled much,
+served in war, then been employed in different courts. He was Russian to
+the backbone, and his extreme avarice much damaged his talents. The Czar
+and he had married two sisters, and each had a son. The Czarina had been
+repudiated and put into a convent near Moscow; Kourakin in no way
+suffered from this disgrace; he perfectly knew his master, with whom he
+kept on very free terms, and by whom he was treated with confidence and
+consideration. His last mission had been to Rome, where he remained
+three years; thence he came as ambassador to Paris. At Rome he was
+without official character, and without business except a secret one,
+with which the Czar had entrusted him, as to a sure and enlightened man.
+
+This monarch, who wished to raise himself and his country from barbarism,
+and extend his power by conquests and treaties, had felt the necessity of
+marriages, in order to ally himself with the chief potentates of Europe.
+But to form such marriages he must be of the Catholic religion, from
+which the Greeks were separated by such a little distance, that he
+thought his project would easily be received in his dominions, if he
+allowed liberty of conscience there. But this prince was sufficiently
+sagacious to seek enlightenment beforehand upon Romish pretensions. He
+had sent for that purpose to Rome a man of no mark, but capable of well
+fulfilling his mission, who remained there five or six months, and who
+brought back no very satisfactory report. Later he opened his heart in
+Holland to King William, who dissuaded him from his design, and who
+counselled him even to imitate England, and to make himself the chief of
+his religion, without which he would never be really master in his own
+country. This counsel pleased the Czar all the more, because it was by
+the wealth and by the authority of the patriarchs of Moscow, his
+grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, that his father had attained the
+crown, although only of ordinary rank among the Russian nobility.
+
+These patriarchs were dependent upon those of the Greek rite of
+Constantinople but very slightly. They had obtained such great power,
+and such prodigious rank, that at their entry into Moscow the Czar held
+their stirrups, and, on foot, led their horse by the bridle: Since the
+grandfather of Peter, there had been no patriarch at Moscow. Peter I.,
+who had reigned some time with his elder brother, incapable of affairs,
+long since dead, leaving no son, had, like his father, never consented to
+have a patriarch there. The archbishops of Novgorod supplied their place
+in certain things, as occupying the chief see after that of Moscow, but
+with scarcely any authority that the Czar did not entirely usurp, and
+more carefully still after King William had given him the counsel before
+alluded to; so that by degrees he had become the real religious chief of
+his vast dominions.
+
+Nevertheless, the passionate desire he had to give to his posterity the
+privilege of marrying with Catholic princes, the wish he had, above all,
+for the honour of alliances with the house of France, and that of
+Austria, made him return to his first project. He tried to persuade
+himself that the man whom he had secretly sent to Rome had not been well
+informed, or had ill understood; he resolved, therefore, to fathom his
+doubts, so that he should no longer have any as to the course he ought to
+adopt.
+
+It was with this design that he chose Prince Kourakin, whose knowledge
+and intelligence were known to him, and sent him to Rome under pretence
+of curiosity, feeling that a nobleman of his rank would find the best,
+the most important, and the most distinguished society there ready to
+receive him; and that by remaining there, under pretext of liking the
+life he led, and of wishing to see and admire at his ease all the marvels
+of so many different kinds collected there, he should have leisure and
+means to return perfectly instructed upon everything he wished to know.
+Kourakin, in fact, remained in Rome three years, associating with the
+savans on the one hand and the best company on the other, whence by
+degrees he obtained all he wished to know; all the more readily because
+this Court boasts of its temporal pretensions and of its conquests of
+this kind, instead of keeping them secret. In consequence of the long
+and faithful report that Kourakin made to the Czar, that prince heaved a
+sigh, saying that he must be master in his own country, and could not
+place there anybody greater than himself; and never afterwards did he
+think of turning Catholic.
+
+This fact respecting the Czars and Rome, Prince Kourakin did not hide.
+Everybody who knew him has heard him relate it. I have eaten with him
+and he with me, and I have talked a good deal with him, and heard him
+talk, with pleasure, upon many things.
+
+The Regent, informed by him of the forthcoming arrival in France of the
+Czar by sea, sent the King's equipages; horses, coaches, vehicles,
+waggons, and tables and chambers with Du Libois, one of the King's
+gentlemen in ordinary, to go and wait for the Czar at Dunkerque, pay the
+expenses incurred by him and his suite on the way to Paris, and
+everywhere render him the same honour as to the King. The Czar proposed
+to allot a hundred days to his journey. The apartment of the Queen-
+mother at the Louvre was furnished for him, the councils usually held
+there taking place in the houses of the chiefs of these councils.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans discussing with me as to the nobleman best fitted to
+be appointed to wait upon the Czar during his stay, I recommended the
+Marechal de Tesse, as a man without occupation, who well knew the
+language and usages of society, who was accustomed to foreigners by his
+journeys and negotiations in Spain, Turin, Rome, and in other courts of
+Italy, and who, gentle and polite, was sure to perform his duties well.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans agreed with me, and the next day sent for him and
+gave him his orders.
+
+When it was known that the Czar was near Dunkerque, the Regent sent the
+Marquis de Neelle to receive him at Calais, and accompany him until they
+met the Marechal de Tesse, who was not to go beyond Beaumont to wait for
+him. At the same time the Hotel de Lesdiguieres was prepared for the
+Czar and his suite, under the idea that he might prefer a private house,
+with all his people around him, to the Louvre. The Hotel de Lesdiguieres
+was large and handsome, as I have said at the commencement of this
+chapter, adjoined the arsenal, and belonged by succession to the Marechal
+de Villeroy, who lodged at the Tuileries. Thus the house was empty,
+because the Duc de Villeroy, who was not a man fond of display, had found
+it too distant to live in. It was entirely refurnished, and very
+magnificently, with the furniture of the King.
+
+The Czar arrived at Beaumont on Friday, the 7th of May, 1717, about mid-
+day. Tesse made his reverences to him as he descended from his coach,
+had the honour of dining with him, and of escorting him that very day to
+Paris.
+
+The Czar entered the city in one of Tesse's coaches, with three of his
+suite with him, but not Tesse himself. The Marechal followed in another
+coach. The Czar alighted at nine o'clock in the evening at the Louvre,
+and walked all through the apartments of the Queen-mother. He considered
+them to be too magnificently hung and lighted, jumped into his coach
+again, and went to the Hotel de Lesdiguieres, where he wished to lodge.
+He thought the apartment destined for him too fine also, and had his
+camp-bed immediately spread out in a wardrobe. The Marechal de Tesse,
+who was to do the honours of his house and of his table, to accompany him
+everywhere, and not quit the place where he might be, lodged in an
+apartment of the Hotel de Lesdiguieres, and had enough to do in following
+and sometimes running after him. Verton, one of the King's maitres
+d'hotel, was charged with serving him and all the tables of the Czar and
+his suite. The suite consisted of forty persons of all sorts, twelve or
+fifteen of whom were considerable people in themselves, or by their
+appointments; they all ate with the Czar.
+
+Verton was a clever lad, strong in certain company, fond of good cheer
+and of gaming, and served the Czar with so much order, and conducted
+himself so well, that this monarch and all the suite conceived a singular
+friendship for him.
+
+The Czar excited admiration by his extreme curiosity, always bearing upon
+his views of government, trade, instruction, police, and this curiosity
+embraced everything, disdained nothing in the smallest degree useful;
+it was marked and enlightened, esteeming only what merited to be
+esteemed, and exhibited in a clear light the intelligence, justness,
+ready appreciation of his mind. Everything showed in the Czar the vast
+extent of his knowledge, and a sort of logical harmony of ideas. He
+allied in the most surprising manner the highest, the proudest, the most
+delicate, the most sustained, and at the same time the least embarrassing
+majesty, when he had established it in all its safety with a marked
+politeness. Yet he was always and with everybody the master everywhere,
+but with gradations, according to the persons he was with. He had a kind
+of familiarity which sprang from liberty, but he was not without a strong
+dash of that ancient barbarism of his country, which rendered all his
+actions rapid; nay, precipitous, his will uncertain, and not to be
+constrained or contradicted in anything. Often his table was but little
+decent, much less so were the attendants who served, often too with an
+openness of kingly audacity everywhere. What he proposed to see or do
+was entirely independent of means; they were to be bent to his pleasure
+and command. His desire for liberty, his dislike to be made a show of,
+his free and easy habits, often made him prefer hired coaches, common
+cabs even; nay, the first which he could lay his hands on, though
+belonging to people below him of whom he knew nothing. He jumped in, and
+had himself driven all over the city, and outside it. On one occasion he
+seized hold of the coach of Madame de Mattignon, who had come to gape at
+him, drove off with it to Boulogne and other country places near Paris.
+The owner was much astonished to find she must journey back on foot. On
+such occasions the Marechal de Tesse and his suite had often hard work to
+find the Czar, who had thus escaped them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVI
+
+The Czar was a very tall man, exceedingly well made; rather thin, his
+face somewhat round, a high forehead, good eyebrows, a rather short nose,
+but not too short, and large at the end, rather thick lips, complexion
+reddish brown, good black eyes, large, bright, piercing, and well open;
+his look majestic and gracious when he liked, but when otherwise, severe
+and stern, with a twitching of the face, not often occurring, but which
+appeared to contort his eyes and all his physiognomy, and was frightful
+to see; it lasted a moment, gave him a wild and terrible air, and passed
+away. All his bearing showed his intellect, his reflectiveness, and his
+greatness, and was not devoid of a certain grace. He wore a linen
+collar, a round-brown wig, as though without powder, and which did not
+reach to his shoulders; a brown coat tight to the body, even, and with
+gold buttons; vest, breeches, stockings, no gloves or ruffles, the star
+of his order over his coat, and the cordon under it, the coat itself
+being frequently quite unbuttoned, his hat upon the table, but never upon
+his head, even out of doors. With this simplicity ill-accompanied or ill
+mounted as he might be, the air of greatness natural to him could not be
+mistaken.
+
+What he ate and drank at his two regular meals is inconceivable, without
+reckoning the beer, lemonade, and other drinks he swallowed between these
+repasts, his suite following his example; a bottle or two of beer, as
+many more of wine, and occasionally, liqueurs afterwards; at the end of
+the meal strong drinks, such as brandy, as much sometimes as a quart.
+This was about the usual quantity at each meal. His suite at his table
+drank more and ate in proportion, at eleven o'clock in the morning and at
+eight at night. There was a chaplain who ate at the table of the Czar,
+who consumed half as much again as the rest, and with whom the monarch,
+who was fond of him, much amused himself. Prince Kourakin went every day
+to the Hotel de Lesdiguieres, but lodged elsewhere.
+
+The Czar well understood French, and I think could have spoken it, if he
+had wished, but for greatness' sake he always had an interpreter. Latin
+and many other languages he spoke very well. There was a detachment of
+guards in his house, but he would scarcely ever allow himself to be
+followed by them. He would not set foot outside the Hotel de
+Lesdiguieres, whatever curiosity he might feel, or give any signs of
+life, until he had received a visit from the King.
+
+On Saturday, the day after his arrival, the Regent went in the morning to
+see the Czar. This monarch left his cabinet, advanced a few paces,
+embraced Monsieur d'Orleans with an air of great superiority, pointed to
+the door of the cabinet, and instantly turning on his heel, without the
+slightest compliment, entered there. The Regent followed, and Prince
+Kourakin after him to serve as interpreter. They found two armchairs
+facing each other, the Czar seated himself in the upper, the Regent in
+the other. The conversation lasted nearly an hour without public affairs
+being mentioned, after which the Czar left his cabinet; the Regent
+followed him, made him a profound reverence, but slightly returned, and
+left him in the same place as he had found him on entering.
+
+On Monday, the 10th of May, the King went to see the Czar, who received
+him at the door, saw him alight from his coach, walked with him at his
+left into his chamber, where they found two armchairs equally placed.
+The King sat down in the right-hand one, the Czar in the other, Prince
+Kourakin served as interpreter. It was astonishing to see the Czar take
+the King under both arms, hoist him up to his level, embrace him thus in
+the air; and the King, young as he was, show no fear, although he could
+not possibly have been prepared for such a reception. It was striking,
+too, to see the grace which the Czar displayed before the King, the air
+of tenderness he assumed towards him, the politeness which flowed as it
+were naturally, and which nevertheless was mixed with greatness, with
+equality of rank, and slightly with superiority of age: for all these
+things made themselves felt. He praised the King, appeared charmed with
+him, and persuaded everybody he was. He embraced him again and again.
+The King paid his brief compliment very prettily; and M. du Maine, the
+Marechal de Villeroy, and the distinguished people present, filled up the
+conversation. The meeting lasted a short quarter of an hour. The Czar
+accompanied the King as he had received him, and saw him to his coach.
+
+On Tuesday, the 11th of May, between four and five o'clock, the Czar went
+to see the King. He was received by the King at his carriage door, took
+up a position on his right, and was conducted within. All these
+ceremonies had been agreed on before the King went to see him. The Czar
+showed the same affection and the same attentions to the King as before;
+and his visit was not longer than the one he had received, but the crowd
+much surprised him.
+
+He had been at eight o'clock in the morning to see the Place Royal, the
+Place des Victoires, and the Place de Vendome, and the next day he went
+to the Observatoire, the Gobelins, and the King's Garden of Simples.
+Everywhere he amused himself in examining everything, and in asking many
+questions.
+
+On Thursday, the 13th of May, he took medicine, but did not refrain after
+dinner from calling upon several celebrated artificers. On Friday, the
+14th, he went at six o'clock in the morning into the grand gallery of the
+Louvre, to see the plans in relief of all the King's fortified places,
+Hasfield, with his engineers, doing the honours. The Czar examined all
+these plans for a long time; visited many other parts of the Louvre, and
+descended afterwards into the Tuileries garden, from which everybody had
+been excluded. They were working then upon the Pont Tournant. The Czar
+industriously examined this work, and remained there a long time. In the
+afternoon he went to see, at the Palais Royal, Madame, who had sent her
+compliments to him by her officer. The armchair excepted, she received
+him as she would have received the King. M. le Duc d'Orleans came
+afterwards and took him to the Opera, into his grand box, where they sat
+upon the front seat upon a splendid carpet. Sometime after, the Czar
+asked if there was no beer to be had. Immediately a large goblet of it
+was brought to him, on a salver. The Regent rose, took it, and presented
+it to the Czar, who with a smile and an inclination of politeness,
+received the goblet without any ceremony, drank, and put it back on the
+salver which the Regent still held. In handing it back, the Regent took
+a plate, in which was a napkin, presented it to the Czar, who without
+rising made use of it, at which the house appeared rather astonished.
+At the fourth act the Czar went away to supper, but did not wish the
+Regent to leave the box. The next morning he jumped into a hired coach,
+and went to see a number of curiosities among the workmen.
+
+On the 16th of May, Whit Sunday, he went to the Invalides, where he
+wished to see and examine everything. At the refectory he tasted the
+soldiers' soup and their wine, drank to their healths, struck them on the
+shoulders, and called them comrades. He much admired the church, the
+dispensary, and the infirmary, and appeared much pleased with the order
+of the establishment. The Marechal de Villars did the honours; the
+Marechale went there to look on. The Czar was very civil to her.
+
+On Monday, the 17th, he dined early with Prince Ragotzi, who had invited
+him, and afterwards went to Meudon, where he found some of the King's
+horses to enable him to see the gardens and the park at his ease. Prince
+Ragotzi accompanied him.
+
+On Tuesday, the 18th, the Marechal d'Estrees took him, at eight o'clock
+in the morning, to his house at Issy, gave him a dinner, and much amused
+him during the day with many things shown to him relating to the navy.
+
+On Monday, the 24th, he went out early to the Tuileries, before the King
+was up. He entered the rooms of the Marechal de Villeroy, who showed him
+the crown jewels. They were more beautiful and more numerous than he
+suspected, but he said he was not much of a judge of such things. He
+stated that he cared but little for the beauties purely of wealth and
+imagination, above all for those he could not attain. Thence he wished
+to go and see the King, who spared him the trouble by coming. It had
+been expressly arranged thus, so that his visit should appear one of
+chance. They met each other in a cabinet, and remained there. The King,
+who held a roll of paper in his hand, gave it to him, and said it was the
+map of his territories. This compliment much pleased the Czar, whose
+politeness and friendly affectionate bearing were the same as before,
+with much grace and majesty.
+
+In the afternoon he went to Versailles, where the Marechal de Tesse left
+him to the Duc d'Antin. The apartment of Madame la Dauphine was prepared
+for him, and he slept in the room of Monseigneur le Dauphin (the King's
+father), now made into a cabinet for the Queen.
+
+On Tuesday, the 25th, he had traversed the gardens, and had been upon the
+canal early in the morning, before the hour of his appointment with
+D'Antin. He saw all Versailles, Trianon, and the menagerie. His
+principal suite was lodged at the chateau. They took ladies with them,
+and slept in the apartments Madame de Maintenon had occupied, quite close
+to that in which the Czar slept. Bloin, governor of Versailles, was
+extremely scandalised to see this temple of prudery thus profaned. Its
+goddess and he formerly would have been less shocked. The Czar and his
+people were not accustomed to restraint.
+
+The expenses of this Prince amounted to six hundred crowns a day, though
+he had much diminished his table since the commencement.
+
+On Sunday, the 30th of May, he set out with Bellegarde, and many relays,
+to dine at Petit Bourg, with D'Antin, who received him there, and took
+him in the afternoon to see Fontainebleau, where he slept, and the morrow
+there was a stag-hunt, at which the Comte de Toulouse did the honours.
+Fontainebleau did not much please the Czar, and the hunt did not please
+him at all; for he nearly fell off his horse, not being accustomed to
+this exercise, and finding it too violent. When he returned to Petit
+Bourg, the appearance of his carriage showed that he had eaten and drunk
+a good deal in it.
+
+On Friday, the 11th of June, he went from Versailles to Saint-Cyr, where
+he saw all the household, and the girls in their classes. He was
+received there like the King. He wished to see Madame de Maintenon, who,
+expecting his curiosity, had buried herself in her bed, all the curtains
+closed, except one, which was half-open. The Czar entered her chamber,
+pulled back the window-curtains upon arriving, then the bed-curtains,
+took a good long stare at her, said not a word to her,--nor did she open
+her lips,--and, without making her any kind of reverence, went his way.
+I knew afterwards that she was much astonished, and still more mortified
+at this; but the King was no more. The Czar returned on Saturday, the
+12th of June, to Paris.
+
+On Tuesday, the 15th of June, he went early to D'Antin's Paris house.
+Working this day with M. le Duc d'Orleans, I finished in half an hour; he
+was surprised, and wished to detain me. I said, I could always have the
+honour of finding him, but not the Czar, who was going away; that I had
+not yet seen him, and was going to D'Antin's to stare at my ease. Nobody
+entered except those invited, and some ladies with Madame la Duchesse and
+the Princesses, her daughters, who wished to stare also. I entered the
+garden, where the Czar was walking. The Marechal de Tesse, seeing me at
+a distance, came up, wishing to present me to the Czar. I begged him to
+do nothing of the kind, not even to perceive me, but to let me gape at my
+ease, which I could not do if made known. I begged him also to tell this
+to D'Antin, and with these precautions I was enabled to satisfy my
+curiosity without interruption. I found that the Czar conversed
+tolerably freely, but always as the master everywhere. He retired into a
+cabinet, where D'Antin showed him various plans and several curiosities,
+upon which he asked several questions. It was there I saw the convulsion
+which I have noticed. I asked Tesse if it often happened; he replied,
+"several times a day, especially when he is not on his guard to prevent
+it." Returning afterwards into the garden, D'Antin made the Czar pass
+through the lower apartments, and informed him that Madame la Duchesse
+was there with some ladies, who had a great desire to see him. He made
+no reply, but allowed himself to be conducted. He walked more gently,
+turned his head towards the apartment where all the ladies were under
+arms to receive him; looked well at them all, made a slight inclination
+of the head to the whole company at once, and passed on haughtily. I
+think, by the manner in which he received other ladies, that he would
+have shown more politeness to these if Madame la Duchesse had not been
+there, making her visit too pretentious. He affected even not to inquire
+which she was, or to ask the name of any of the others. I was nearly an
+hour without quitting him, and unceasingly regarding him. At last I saw
+he remarked it. This rendered me more discreet, lest he should ask who I
+was. As he was returning, I walked away to the room where the table was
+laid. D'Antin, always the same, had found means to have a very good
+portrait of the Czarina placed upon the chimney-piece of this room, with
+verses in her praise, which much pleased and surprised the Czar. He and
+his suite thought the portrait very like.
+
+The King gave the Czar two magnificent pieces of Gobelins tapestry. He
+wished to give him also a beautiful sword, ornamented with diamonds, but
+he excused himself from accepting it. The Czar, on his side, distributed
+60,000 livres to the King's domestics, who had waited upon him; gave to
+D'Antin, Marechal d'Estrees, and Marechal Tesse, his portrait, adorned
+with diamonds, and five gold and eleven silver medals, representing the
+principal actions of his life. He made a friendly present to Verton,
+whom he begged the Regent to send to him as charge d'affaires of the
+King, which the Regent promised.
+
+On Wednesday, the 16th of June, he attended on horseback a review of the
+two regiments of the guards; gendarmes, light horse, and mousquetaires.
+There was only M. le Duc d'Orleans with him; the Czar scarcely looked at
+these troops, and they perceived it. He partook of a dinner-supper at
+Saint Ouen, at the Duc de Tresmes, where he said that the excessive heat
+and dust, together with the crowd on horseback and on foot, had made him
+quit the review sooner than he wished. The meal was magnificent; the
+Czar learnt that the Marquise de Bethune, who was looking on, was the
+daughter of the Duc de Tresriles; he begged her to sit at table; she was
+the only lady who did so, among a crowd of noblemen. Several other
+ladies came to look on, and to these he was very civil when he knew who
+they were.
+
+On Thursday, the 17th, he went for the second time to the Observatoire,
+and there supped with the Marechal de Villars.
+
+On Friday, the 18th of June, the Regent went early to the Hotel de
+Lesdiguieres, to say adieu to the Czar, remaining some time with him,
+with Prince Kourakin present. After this visit the Czar went to say
+goodbye to the King at the Tuileries. It had been agreed that there
+should be no more ceremonies between them. It was impossible to display
+more intelligence, grace, and tenderness towards the King than the Czar
+displayed on all these occasions; and again on the morrow, when the King
+came to the Hotel de Lesdiguieres to wish him a pleasant journey, no
+ceremony being observed.
+
+On Sunday, the 20th of June, the Czar departed, and slept at Ivry, bound
+straight for Spa, where he was expected by the Czarina. He would be
+accompanied by nobody, not even on leaving Paris. The luxury he remarked
+much surprised him; he was moved in speaking upon the King and upon
+France, saying, he saw with sorrow that this luxury would soon ruin the
+country. He departed, charmed by the manner in which he had been
+received, by all he had seen, by the liberty that had been left to him,
+and extremely desirous to closely unite himself with the King; but the
+interests of the Abbe Dubois, and of England, were obstacles which have
+been much deplored since.
+
+The Czar had an extreme desire to unite himself to France. Nothing would
+have been more advantageous to our commerce, to our importance in the
+north, in Germany, in all Europe. The Czar kept England in restraint as
+to her commerce, and King George in fear for his German states. He kept
+Holland respectful, and the Emperor measured. It cannot be denied that
+he made a grand figure in Europe and in Asia, or that France would have
+infinitely profited by close union with him. He did not like the
+Emperor; he wished to sever us from England, and it was England which
+rendered us deaf to his invitations, unbecomingly so, though they lasted
+after his departure. Often I vainly pressed the Regent upon this
+subject, and gave him reasons of which he felt all the force, and to
+which he could not reply. He was bewitched by Dubois, who panted to
+become Cardinal, and who built all his hopes of success upon England.
+The English saw his ambition, and took advantage of it for their own
+interests. Dubois' aim was to make use of the intimacy between the King
+of England and the Emperor, in order that the latter might be induced by
+the former to obtain a Cardinalship from the Pope, over whom he had great
+power. It will be seen, in due time, what success has attended the
+intrigues of the scheming and unscrupulous Abbe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVII
+
+Courson, Intendant, or rather King of Languedoc, exercised his authority
+there so tyrannically that the people suffered the most cruel oppressions
+at his hands. He had been Intendant of Rouen, and was so hated that more
+than once he thought himself in danger of having his brains beaten out
+with stones. He became at last so odious that he was removed; but the
+credit of his father saved him, and he was sent as Intendant to Bordeaux.
+He was internally and externally a very animal, extremely brutal,
+extremely insolent, his hands by no means clean, as was also the case
+with those of his secretaries, who did all his work for him, he being
+very idle and quite unfit for his post.
+
+Amongst other tyrannic acts he levied very violent and heavy taxes in
+Perigueux, of his own good will and pleasure, without any edict or decree
+of the Council; and seeing that people were not eager to satisfy his
+demands, augmented them, multiplied the expenses, and at last threw into
+dungeons some sheriffs and other rich citizens. He became so tyrannical
+that they sent a deputation to Paris to complain of him. But the
+deputies went in vain the round of all the members of the council of the
+regency, after having for two months kicked their heels in the ante-
+chamber of the Duc de Noailles, the minister who ought to have attended
+to their representations.
+
+The Comte de Toulouse, who was a very just man, and who had listened to
+them, was annoyed that they could obtain no hearing of the Duc de,
+Noailles, and spoke to me on the subject. I was as indignant as he.
+I spoke to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who only knew the matter superficially.
+I showed him the necessity of thoroughly examining into complaints of
+this nature; the injustice of allowing these deputies to wear out hope,
+patience, and life, in the streets of Paris, without giving some
+audience; the cruelty of suffering honest citizens to languish in
+dungeons, without knowing why or by what authority they were there. He
+agreed with me, and promised to speak to the Duc de Noailles. At the
+first finance council after this, I apprised the Comte de Toulouse, and
+we both asked the Duc de Noailles when he meant to bring forward the
+affair of these Perigueux people.
+
+He was utterly unprepared for this question, and wished to put us off. I
+said to him that for a long time some of these people had been in prison,
+and others had wandered the streets of Paris; that this was shameful, and
+could not be longer endured. The Comte de Toulouse spoke very firmly, in
+the same sense. M. le Duc d'Orleans arrived and took his place.
+
+As the Duc de Noailles opened his bag, I said very loudly to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans that M. le Comte de Toulouse and I had just asked M. de
+Noailles when he would bring forward the Perigueux affair; that these
+people, innocent or guilty, begged only to be heard and tried; and that
+it appeared to me the council was in honour bound to keep them in misery
+no longer. On finishing, I looked at the Comte de Toulouse, who also
+said something short but rather strong. M. le Duc d'Orleans replied that
+we could not have done better. The Duc de Noailles began muttering
+something about the press of business; that he had not time, and so
+forth. I interrupted him by saying that he must find time, and that he
+ought to have found it long before; that nothing was so important as to
+keep people from ruin, or to extricate others from dungeons they were
+remaining in without knowing why. M. le Duc d'Orleans said a word to the
+same effect, and ordered the Duc de Noailles to get himself ready to
+bring forward the case in a week.
+
+From excuse to excuse, three weeks passed over. At last I said openly to
+M. le Duc d'Orleans that he was being laughed at, and that justice was
+being trodden under foot. At the next council it appeared that M. le Duc
+d'Orleans had already told the Duc de Noailles he would wait no longer.
+M. le Comte de Toulouse and I continued to ask him if at last he would
+bring forward the Perigueux affair. We doubted not that it would in the
+end be brought forward, but artifice was not yet at an end.
+
+It was on a Tuesday afternoon, when M. le Duc d'Orleans often abridged
+the council to go to the opera. Knowing this, the Duc de Noailles kept
+all the council occupied with different matters. I was between him and
+the Comte de Toulouse. At the end of each matter I said to him, "And the
+Perigueux affair?"--"Directly," he replied, and at once commenced
+something else. At last I perceived his project, and whispered so to the
+Comte de Toulouse, who had already suspected it, and resolved not to be
+its dupe. When the Duc de Noailles had exhausted his bag, it was five
+o'clock. After putting back his papers he closed his bag, and said to M.
+le Duc d'Orleans that there was still the Perigueux affair which he had
+ordered him to bring forward, but that it would be long and detailed;
+that he doubtless wished to go to the opera; that it could be attended to
+next week; and at once, without waiting for a reply, he rises, pushes
+back his stool, and turns to go away. I took him by the arm.
+
+"Gently," said I. "You must learn his highness's pleasure. Monsieur,"
+said I to M. le Duc d'Orleans, still firmly holding the sleeve of the Duc
+de Noailles, "do you care much to-day for the opera?"
+
+"No, no," replied he; "let us turn to the Perigueux affair."
+
+"But without strangling it," replied I.
+
+"Yes," said M. le Duc d'Orleans: then looking at M. le Duc, who smiled;
+"you don't care to go there?"
+
+"No, Monsieur, let us see this business," replied M. le Duc.
+
+"Oh, sit down again then, Monsieur," said I to the Duc de Noailles in a
+very firm tone, pulling him sharply; "take your rest, and re-open your
+bag."
+
+Without saying a word he drew forward his stool with a great noise, and
+threw himself upon it as though he would smash it. Rage beamed from his
+eyes. The Comte de Toulouse smiled; he had said his word, too, upon the
+opera, and all the company looked at us; nearly every one smiling, but
+astounded also.
+
+The Duc de Noailles displayed his papers, and began reading them. As
+various documents were referred to, I turned them over, and now and then
+took him up and corrected him. He did not dare to show anger in his
+replies, yet he was foaming. He passed an eulogy upon Basville (father
+of the Intendant), talked of the consideration he merited; excused
+Courson, and babbled thereupon as much as he could to extenuate
+everything, and lose sight of the principal points at issue. Seeing that
+he did not finish, and that he wished to tire us, and to manage the
+affair in his own way, I interrupted him, saying that the father and the
+son were two people; that the case in point respected the son alone, and
+that he had to determine whether an Intendant was authorised or not, by
+his office, to tax people at will; to raise imposts in the towns and
+country places of his department, without edicts ordering them, without
+even a decree of council, solely by his own particular ordonnances, and
+to keep people in prison four or five months, without form or shadow of
+trial, because they refused to pay these heavy taxes, rendered still more
+heavy by expenses. Then, turning round so as to look hard at him, "It is
+upon that, Monsieur," added I, "that we must decide, since your report is
+over, and not amuse ourselves with a panegyric upon M. de Basville, who
+is not mixed up in the case."
+
+The Duc de Noailles, all the more beside himself because he saw the
+Regent smile, and M. le Duc, who looked at me do the same, but more
+openly, began to speak, or rather to stammer. He did not dare, however,
+to decide against the release of the prisoners.
+
+"And the expenses, and the ordonnance respecting these taxes, what do you
+do with them?"
+
+"By setting the prisoners at liberty," he said, "the ordonnance falls to
+the ground."
+
+I did not wish to push things further just then. The liberation of the
+prisoners, and the quashing of the ordonnance, were determined on: some
+voices were for the reimbursement of the charges at the expense of the
+Intendant, and for preventing him to do the like again.
+
+When it was my turn to speak, I expressed the same opinions, but I added
+that it was not enough to recompense people so unjustly ill-treated; that
+I thought a sum of money, such as it should please the council to
+name, ought to be adjudged to them; and that as to an Intendant who
+abused the authority of his office so much as to usurp that of the King
+and impose taxes, such as pleased him by his own ordinances, and who
+threw people into dungeons as he thought fit by his private authority,
+pillaging thus a province, I was of opinion that his Royal Highness
+should be asked to make such an example of him that all the other
+Intendants might profit by it.
+
+The majority of those who had spoken before me made signs that I was
+right, but did not speak again. Others were against me. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans promised the liberation of the prisoners, broke Courson's
+ordonnance, and all which had followed it; said that as for the rest, he
+would take care these people should be well recompensed, and Courson well
+blamed; that he merited worse, and, but for his father, would have
+received it. As we were about to rise, I said it would be as well to
+draw up the decree at once, and M. le Duc d'Orleans approved. Noailles
+pounced, like a bird of prey, upon paper and ink, and commenced writing.
+I bent down and read as he wrote. He stopped and boggled at the
+annulling of the ordonnance, and the prohibition against issuing one
+again without authorisation by edict or decree of council. I dictated
+the clause to him; he looked at the company as though questioning all
+eyes.
+
+"Yes," said I, "it was passed like that--you have only to ask again."
+M. le Duc d Orleans said, "Yes." Noailles wrote. I took the paper, and
+read what he had written. He received it back in fury, cast it among the
+papers pell-mell into his bag, then shoved his stool almost to the other
+end of the room, and went out, bristling like a wild boar, without
+looking at or saluting anybody--we all laughing. M. le Duc and several
+others came to me, and with M. le Comte de Toulouse, were much diverted.
+M. de Noailles had, in fact, so little command over himself, that, in
+turning to go out, he struck the table, swearing, and saying he could
+endure it no longer.
+
+I learnt afterwards, by frequenters of the Hotel de Noailles, who told it
+to my friends, that when he reached home he went to bed: and would not
+see a soul; that fever seized him, that the next day he was of a
+frightful temper, and, that he had been heard to say he could no longer
+endure the annoyances I caused him. It may be imagined whether or not
+this softened me. The Duc de Noailles had, in fact, behaved towards me
+with such infamous treachery, and such unmasked impudence, that I took
+pleasure at all times and at all places in making him feel, and others
+see, the sovereign disdain I entertained for him. I did not allow my
+private feelings to sway my judgment when public interests were at stake,
+for when I thought the Duc de Noailles right, and this often occurred,
+I supported him; but when I knew him to be wrong, or when I caught him
+neglecting his duties, conniving at injustice, shirking inquiry, or
+evading the truth, I in no way spared him. The incident just related is
+an illustration of the treatment he often received at my hands. Fret,
+fume, stamp, storm, as he might, I cared nothing for him. His anger to
+me was as indifferent as his friendship. I despised both equally.
+Occasionally he would imagine, after there had been no storm between us
+for some time, that I had become reconciled to him, and would make
+advances to me. But the stern and terrible manner in which I met them,
+--or rather refused to meet them, taking no more notice of his politeness
+and his compliments, than as if they made no appeal whatever to my eyes
+or ears,--soon convinced him of the permanent nature of our quarrel, and
+drove him to the most violent rage and despair.
+
+The history of the affair was, apparently, revealed by somebody to the
+deputies of Perigueux (for this very evening it was talked of in Paris),
+who came and offered me many thanks. Noailles was so afraid of me, that
+he did not keep their business unsettled more than two days.
+
+A few months afterwards Courson was recalled, amid the bonfires of his
+province. This did not improve him, or hinder him from obtaining
+afterwards one of the two places of councillor at the Royal Council of
+Finance, for he was already Councillor of State at the time of this
+affair of Perigueux.
+
+An amusement, suited to the King's age, caused a serious quarrel. A sort
+of tent had been erected for him on the terrace of the Tuileries, before
+his apartments, and on the same level. The diversions of kings always
+have to do with distinction. He invented some medals to give to the
+courtiers of his own age, whom he wished to distinguish, and those
+medals, which were intended to be worn, conferred the right of entering
+this tent without being invited; thus was created the Order of the
+Pavilion. The Marechal de Villeroy gave orders to Lefevre to have the
+medals made. He obeyed, and brought them to the Marechal, who presented
+them to the King. Lefevre was silversmith to the King's household, and
+as such under the orders of the first gentleman of the chamber. The Duc
+de Mortemart, who had previously had some tiff with the Marechal de
+Villeroy, declared that it devolved upon him to order these medals and
+present them to the King. He flew into a passion because everything had
+been done without his knowledge; and complained to the Duc d'Orleans.
+It was a trifle not worth discussing, and in which the three other
+gentlemen of the chamber took no part. Thus the Duc de Mortemart,
+opposed alone to the Marechal de Villeroy, stood no chance. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, with his usual love for mezzo termine, said that Lefevre had
+not made these medals, or brought them to the Marechal as silversmith,
+but as having received through the Marechal the King's order, and that
+nothing more must be said. The Duc de Mortemart was indignant, and did
+not spare the Marechal.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXVIII
+
+The Abbe Alberoni, having risen by the means I have described, and
+acquired power by following in the track of the Princesse des Ursins,
+governed Spain like a master. He had the most ambitious projects. One
+of his ideas was to drive all strangers, especially the French, out of
+the West Indies; and he hoped to make use of the Dutch to attain this
+end. But Holland was too much in the dependence of England.
+
+At home Alberoni proposed many useful reforms, and endeavoured to
+diminish the expenses of the royal household. He thought, with reason,
+that a strong navy was the necessary basis of the power of Spain; and to
+create one he endeavoured to economise the public money. He flattered
+the King with the idea that next year he would arm forty vessels to
+protect the commerce of the Spanish Indies. He had the address to boast
+of his disinterestedness, in that whilst working at all manner of
+business he had never received any grace from the King, and lived only
+on fifty pistoles, which the Duke of Parma, his master, gave him every
+month; and therefore he made gently some complaints against the
+ingratitude of princes.
+
+Alberoni had persuaded the Queen of Spain to keep her husband shut up,
+as had the Princesse des Ursins. This was a certain means of governing a
+prince whose temperament and whose conscience equally attached him to his
+spouse. He was soon completely governed once more--under lock and key,
+as it were, night and day. By this means the Queen was jailoress and
+prisoner at the same time. As she was constantly with the King nobody
+could come to her. Thus Alberoni kept them both shut up, with the key of
+their prison in his pocket.
+
+One of the chief objects of his ambition was the Cardinal's hat. It
+would be too long to relate the schemes he set on foot to attain his end.
+He was opposed by a violent party at Rome; but at last his inflexible
+will and extreme cunning gained the day. The Pope, no longer able to
+resist the menaces of the King of Spain, and dreading the vengeance of
+the all-powerful minister, consented to grant the favour that minister
+had so pertinaciously demanded. Alberoni was made Cardinal on the 12th
+of July, 1717. Not a soul approved this promotion when it was announced
+at the consistory. Not a single cardinal uttered a word in praise of the
+new confrere, but many openly disapproved his nomination. Alberoni's
+good fortune did not stop here. At the death, some little time after,
+of the Bishop of Malaga, that rich see, worth thirty thousand ecus a
+year, was given to him. He received it as the mere introduction to the
+grandest and richest sees of Spain, when they should become vacant.
+The King of Spain gave him also twenty thousand ducats, to be levied upon
+property confiscated for political reasons. Shortly after, Cardinal
+Arias, Archbishop of Seville, having died, Alberoni was named to this
+rich archbishopric.
+
+In the middle of his grandeur and good luck he met with an adventure that
+must have strangely disconcerted him.
+
+I have before explained how Madame des Ursins and the deceased Queen had
+kept the King of Spain screened from all eyes, inaccessible to all his
+Court, a very palace-hermit. Alberoni, as I have said, followed their
+example. He kept the King even more closely imprisoned than before, and
+allowed no one, except a few indispensable attendants, to approach him.
+These attendants were a small number of valets and doctors, two gentlemen
+of the chamber, one or two ladies, and the majordomo-major of the King.
+This last post was filled by the Duc d'Escalone, always called Marquis de
+Villena, in every way one of the greatest noblemen in Spain, and most
+respected and revered of all, and justly so, for his virtue, his
+appointment, and his services.
+
+Now the King's doctors are entirely under the authority of the majordomo-
+major. He ought to be present at all their consultations; the King
+should take no remedy that he is not told of, or that he does not
+approve, or that he does not see taken; an account of all the medicines
+should be rendered to him. Just at this time the King was ill. Villena
+wished to discharge the duties attached to his post of majordomo-major.
+Alberoni caused it to be insinuated to him, that the King wished to be at
+liberty, and that he would be better liked if he kept at home; or had the
+discretion and civility not to enter the royal chamber, but to ask at the
+door for news. This was language the Marquis would not understand.
+
+At the end of the grand cabinet of the mirrors was placed a bed, in which
+the King was laid, in front of the door; and as the room is vast and
+long, it is a good distance from the door (which leads to the interior)
+to the place where the bed was. Alberoni again caused the Marquis to be
+informed that his attentions were troublesome, but the Marquis did not
+fail to enter as before. At last, in concert with the Queen, the
+Cardinal resolved to refuse him admission. The Marquis, presenting
+himself one afternoon, a valet partly opened the door and said, with much
+confusion, that he was forbidden to let him enter.
+
+"Insolent fellow," replied the Marquis, "stand aside," and he pushed the
+door against the valet and entered. In front of him was the Queen,
+seated at the King's pillow; the Cardinal standing by her side, and the
+privileged few, and not all of them, far away from the bed. The Marquis,
+who, though full of pride, was but weak upon his legs, leisurely
+advanced, supported upon his little stick. The Queen and the Cardinal
+saw him and looked at each other. The King was too ill to notice
+anything, and his curtains were closed except at the side where the Queen
+was. Seeing the Marquis approach, the Cardinal made signs, with
+impatience, to one of the valets to tell him to go away, and immediately
+after, observing that the Marquis, without replying, still advanced, he
+went to him, explained to him that the King wished to be alone, and
+begged him to leave.
+
+"That is not true," said the Marquis; "I have watched you; you have not
+approached the bed, and the King has said nothing to you."
+
+The Cardinal insisting, and without success, took him by the arm to make
+him go. The Marquis said he was very insolent to wish to hinder him from
+seeing the King, and perform his duties. The Cardinal, stronger than his
+adversary, turned the Marquis round, hurried him towards the door, both
+talking the while, the Cardinal with measure, the Marquis in no way
+mincing his words. Tired of being hauled out in this manner, the Marquis
+struggled, called Alberoni a "little scoundrel," to whom he would teach
+manners; and in this heat and dust the Marquis, who was weak, fortunately
+fell into an armchair hard by. Angry at his fall, he raised his little
+stick and let it fall with all his force upon the ears and the shoulders
+of the Cardinal, calling him a little scoundrel--a little rascal--
+a little blackguard, deserving a horsewhipping.
+
+The Cardinal, whom he held with one hand, escaped as well as he could,
+the Marquis continuing to abuse him, and shaking the stick at him. One
+of the valets came and assisted him to rise from his armchair, and gain
+the door; for after this accident his only thought was to leave the room.
+
+The Queen looked on from her chair during all this scene, without
+stirring or saying a word; and the privileged few in the chamber did not
+dare to move. I learned all this from every one in Spain; and moreover I
+asked the Marquis de Villena himself to give me the full details; and he,
+who was all uprightness and truth, and who had conceived some little
+friendship for me, related with pleasure all I have written. The two
+gentlemen of the chamber present also did the same, laughing in their
+sleeves. One had refused to tell the Marquis to leave the room, and the
+other had accompanied him to the door. The most singular thing is, that
+the Cardinal, furious, but surprised beyond measure at the blows he had
+received, thought only of getting out of reach. The Marquis cried to him
+from a distance, that but for the respect he owed to the King, and to the
+state in which he was, he would give him a hundred kicks in the stomach,
+and haul him out by the ears. I was going to forget this. The King was
+so ill that he saw nothing.
+
+A quarter of an hour after the Marquis had returned home, he received an
+order to retire to one of his estates at thirty leagues from Madrid. The
+rest of the day his house was filled with the most considerable people of
+Madrid, arriving as they learned the news, which made a furious sensation
+through the city. He departed the next day with his children. The
+Cardinal, nevertheless, remained so terrified, that, content with the
+exile of the Marquis, and with having got rid of him, he did not dare to
+pass any censure upon him for the blows he had received. Five or six
+months afterwards he sent him an order of recall, though the Marquis had
+not taken the slightest steps to obtain it. What is incredible is, that
+the adventure, the exile, the return, remained unknown to the King until
+the fall of the Cardinal! The Marquis would never consent to see him, or
+to hear him talked of, on any account, after returning, though the
+Cardinal was the absolute master. His pride was much humiliated by this
+worthy and just haughtiness; and he was all the more piqued because he
+left nothing undone in order to bring about a reconciliation, without any
+other success than that of obtaining fresh disdain, which much increased
+the public estimation in which this wise and virtuous nobleman was held.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXXIX
+
+I must not omit to mention an incident which occurred during the early
+part of the year 1718, and which will give some idea of the character of
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, already pretty amply described by me.
+
+One day (when Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans had gone to Montmartre, which
+she quitted soon after) I was walking alone with M. le Duc d'Orleans in
+the little garden of the Palais Royal, chatting upon various affairs,
+when he suddenly interrupted me, and turning towards me; said, "I am
+going to tell you something that will please you."
+
+Thereupon he related to me that he was tired of the life he led, which
+was no longer in harmony with his age or his desires, and many similar
+things; that he was resolved to give up his gay parties, pass his
+evenings more soberly and decently, sometimes at home, often with Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans; that his health would gain thereby, and he should
+have more time for business; that in a little while I might rely upon it
+--there would be no more suppers of "roues and harlots" (these were his
+own terms), and that he was going to lead a prudent and reasonable life
+adapted to his age and state.
+
+I admit that in my extreme surprise I was ravished, so great was the
+interest I took in him. I testified this to him with overflowing heart,
+thanking him for his confidence. I said to him that he knew I for a long
+time had not spoken to him of the indecency of his life, or of the time
+he lost, because I saw that in so doing I lost my own; that I had long
+since despaired of his conduct changing; that this had much grieved me;
+that he could not be ignorant from all that had passed between us at
+various times, how much I desired a change, and that he might judge of
+the surprise and joy his announcement gave me. He assured me more and
+more that his resolution was fixed, and thereupon I took leave of him,
+the hour for his soiree having arrived.
+
+The next day I learned from people to whom the roues had just related it,
+that M. le Duc d'Orleans was no sooner at table than he burst out
+laughing, and applauded his cleverness, saying that he had just laid a
+trap for me into which I had fallen full length. He recited to them our
+conversation, at which the joy and applause were marvellous. It is the
+only time he ever diverted himself at my expense (not to say at his own)
+in a matter in which the fib he told me, and which I was foolish enough
+to swallow, surprised by a sudden joy that took from me reflection, did
+honour to me, though but little to him. I would not gratify him by
+telling him I knew of his joke, or call to his mind what he had said to
+me; accordingly he never dared to speak of it.
+
+I never could unravel what fantasy had seized him to lead him to hoax me
+in this manner, since for many years I had never opened my mouth
+concerning the life he led, whilst he, on his side, had said not a word
+to me relating to it. Yet it is true that sometimes being alone with
+confidential valets, some complaints have escaped him (but never before
+others) that I ill-treated him, and spoke hastily to him, but all was
+said in two words, without bitterness, and without accusing me of
+treating him wrongfully. He spoke truly also; sometimes, when I was
+exasperated with stupidity or error in important matters which affected
+him or the State, or when he had agreed (having been persuaded and
+convinced by good reasons) to do or not to do some essential thing, and
+was completely turned from it by his feebleness, his easy-going nature
+(which he appreciated as well as I)--cruelly did I let out against him.
+But the trick he most frequently played me before others, one of which my
+warmth was always dupe, was suddenly to interrupt an important argument
+by a 'sproposito' of buffoonery. I could not stand it; sometimes being
+so angry that I wished to leave the room. I used to say to him that if
+he wished to joke I would joke as much as he liked, but to mix the most
+serious matters with tomfoolery was insupportable. He laughed heartily,
+and all the more because, as the thing often happened, I ought to have
+been on my guard; but never was, and was vexed both at the joke and at
+being surprised; then he returned to business. But princes must
+sometimes banter and amuse themselves with those whom they treat as
+friends. Nevertheless, in spite of his occasional banter, he entertained
+really sincere esteem and friendship for me.
+
+By chance I learnt one day what he really thought of me. I will say it
+now, so as to leave at once all these trifles. M. le Duc d'Orleans
+returning one afternoon from the Regency Council at the Tuileries to the
+Palais Royal with M. le Duc de Chartres (his son) and the Bailli de
+Conflans (then first gentleman of his chamber) began to talk of me,
+passing an eulogium upon me I hardly dare to repeat. I know not what had
+occurred at the Council to occasion it. All that I can say is that he
+insisted upon his happiness in having a friend so faithful, so unchanging
+at all times, so useful to him as I was, and always had been; so sure, so
+true, so disinterested, so firm, such as he could meet with in no one
+else, and upon whom he could always count. This eulogy lasted from the
+Tuileries to the Palais Royal, the Regent saying to his son that he
+wished to teach him how to make my acquaintance, as a support and a
+source of happiness (all that I relate here is in his own words); such as
+he had always found in my friendship and counsel. The Bailli de
+Conflans, astonished at this abundant eloquence, repeated it to me two
+days after, and I admit that I never have forgotten it. And here I will
+say that whatever others might do, whatever I myself (from disgust and
+vexation at what I saw ill done) might do, the Regent always sought
+reconciliation with me with shame, confidence, confusion, and he has
+never found himself in any perplexity that he has not opened his heart to
+me, and consulted me, without however always following my advice, for he
+was frequently turned from it by others.
+
+He would never content himself with one mistress. He needed a variety in
+order to stimulate his taste. I had no more intercourse with them than
+with his roues. He never spoke of them to me, nor I to him. I scarcely
+ever knew anything of their adventures. His roues and valets were always
+eager to present fresh mistresses to him, from which he generally
+selected one. Amongst these was Madame de Sabran, who had married a man
+of high rank, but without wealth or merit, in order to be at liberty.
+There never was a woman so beautiful as she, or of a beauty more regular,
+more agreeable, more touching, or of a grander or nobler bearing, and yet
+without affectation. Her air and her manners were simple and natural,
+making you think she was ignorant of her beauty and of her figure (this
+last the finest in the world), and when it pleased her she was
+deceitfully modest. With much intellect she was insinuating, merry,
+overflowing, dissipated, not bad-hearted, charming, especially at table.
+In a word, she was all M. le Duc d'Orleans wanted, and soon became his
+mistress without prejudice to the rest.
+
+As neither she nor her husband had a rap, they were ready for anything,
+and yet they did not make a large fortune. One of the chamberlains of
+the Regent, with an annual salary of six thousand livres, having received
+another appointment, Madame de Sabran thought six thousand livres a year
+too good to be lost, and asked for the post for her husband. She cared
+so little for him, by the way, that she called him her "mastiff." It was
+she, who, supping with M. le Duc d'Orleans and his roues, wittily said,
+that princes and lackeys had been made of one material, separated by
+Providence at the creation from that out of which all other men had been
+made.
+
+All the Regent's mistresses had one by one their turn. Fortunately they
+had little power, were not initiated into any state secrets, and received
+but little money.
+
+The Regent amused himself with them, and treated them in other respects
+exactly as they deserved to be treated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XC
+
+It is time now that I should speak of matters of very great importance,
+which led to changes that filled my heart with excessive joy, such as it
+had never known before.
+
+For a long time past the Parliament had made many encroachments upon the
+privileges belonging to the Dukes. Even under the late King it had begun
+these impudent enterprises, and no word was said against it; for nothing
+gave the King greater pleasure than to mix all ranks together in a
+caldron of confusion. He hated and feared the nobility, was jealous of
+their power, which in former reigns had often so successfully balanced
+that of the crown; he was glad therefore of any opportunity which
+presented itself that enabled him to see our order weakened and robbed of
+its dignity.
+
+The Parliament grew bolder as its encroachments one by one succeeded.
+It began to fancy itself armed with powers of the highest kind. It began
+to imagine that it possessed all the authority of the English Parliament,
+forgetting that that assembly is charged with the legislative
+administration of the country, that it has the right to make laws and
+repeat laws, and that the monarch can do but little, comparatively
+speaking, without the support and sanction of this representative
+chamber; whereas, our own Parliament is but a tribunal of justice, with
+no control or influence over the royal authority or state affairs.
+
+But, as I have said, success gave it new impudence. Now that the King
+was dead, at whose name alone it trembled, this assembly thought that a
+fine opportunity had come to give its power the rein. It had to do with
+a Regent, notorious for his easy-going disposition, his indifference to
+form and rule, his dislike to all vigorous measures. It fancied that
+victory over such an opponent would be easy; that it could successfully
+overcome all the opposition he could put in action, and in due time make
+his authority secondary to its own. The Chief-President of the
+Parliament, I should observe, was the principal promoter of these
+sentiments. He was the bosom friend of M. and Madame du Maine, and by
+them was encouraged in his views. Incited by his encouragement, he
+seized an opportunity which presented itself now, to throw down the glove
+to M. le Duc d'Orleans, in the name of the Parliament, and to prepare for
+something like a struggle. The Parliament of Brittany had recently
+manifested a very turbulent spirit, and this was an additional
+encouragement to that of Paris.
+
+At first the Parliament men scarcely knew what to lay hold of and bring
+forward, as an excuse for the battle. They wished of course to gain the
+applause of the people as protectors of their interests--likewise those
+who for their private ends try to trouble and embroil the State--but
+could not at first see their way clear. They sent for Trudaine, Prevot
+des Marchand, Councillor of State, to give an account to them of the
+state of the Hotel de Ville funds. He declared that they had never been
+so well paid, and that there was no cause of complaint against the
+government. Baffled upon this point, they fastened upon a edict,
+recently rendered, respecting the money of the realm. They deliberated
+thereon, deputed a commission to examine the matter, made a great fuss,
+and came to the conclusion that the edict would, if acted upon, be very
+prejudicial to the country.
+
+Thus much done, the Parliament assembled anew on Friday morning, the 17th
+of June, 1718, and again in the afternoon. At the end they decided upon
+sending a deputation to the Regent, asking him to suspend the operation
+of the edict, introduce into it the changes suggested by their body, and
+then send it to them to be registered. The deputation was sent, and said
+all it had to say.
+
+On the morrow the Parliament again assembled, morning and afternoon, and
+sent a message to the Regent, saying, it would not separate until it had
+received his reply. That reply was very short and simple. The Regent
+sent word that he was tired of the meddling interference of the
+Parliament (this was not the first time, let me add, that he experienced
+it), that he had ordered all the troops in Paris, and round about, to
+hold themselves ready to march, and that the King must be obeyed. Such
+was in fact true. He had really ordered the soldiers to keep under arms
+and to be supplied with powder and shot.
+
+The message did not intimidate the Parliament. The next day, Sunday, the
+Chief-President, accompanied by all the other presidents, and by several
+councillors, came to the Palais Royal. Although, as I have said, the
+leader of his company, and the right-hand man of M. and Madame du Maine,
+he wished for his own sake to keep on good terms with the Regent, and at
+the same time to preserve all authority over his brethren, so as to have
+them under his thumb. His discourse then to the Regent commenced with
+many praises and much flattery, in order to smooth the way for the three
+fine requests he wound up with. The first of these was that the edict
+should be sent to the Parliament to be examined, and to suffer such
+changes as the members should think fit to introduce, and then be
+registered; the second, that the King should pay attention to their
+remonstrances in an affair of this importance, which they believed
+prejudicial to the State; the third, that the works recently undertaken
+at the mint for recasting the specie should be suspended!
+
+To these modest requests the Regent replied that the edict had been
+registered at the Cour des Monnaies, which is a superior court, and
+consequently sufficient for such registration; that there was only a
+single instance of an edict respecting the money of the realm having been
+sent before the Parliament, and then out of pure civility; that the
+matter had been well sifted, and all its inconveniences weighed; that it
+was to the advantage of the State to put in force this edict; that the
+works of the Mint could not be interfered with in any way; finally, that
+the King must be obeyed! It was quite true that the edict had been sent
+to the Parliament out of courtesy, but at the suggestion of the Regent's
+false and treacherous confidants, valets of the Parliament, such as the
+Marechals de Villeroy, and Huxelles, and Besons, Canillac, Effiat, and
+Noailles.
+
+Notwithstanding the decisive answer they had received, the Parliament met
+the very next day, and passed a decree against the edict. The council of
+the regency, at its sitting on the afternoon of the same day, abrogated
+this decree. Thus, since war was in a measure declared between the
+Regent's authority and that of the Parliament, the orders emanating from
+the one were disputed by the other, and vice versa. A nice game of
+shuttlecock this, which it was scarce likely could last long!
+
+The Regent was determined to be obeyed. He prohibited, therefore, the
+printing and posting up of the decree of the Parliament. Soldiers of the
+guards, too, were placed in the markets to hinder the refusal of the new
+money which had been issued. The fact is, by the edict which had been
+passed, the Louis worth thirty livres was taken at thirty-six livres, and
+the crown piece, worth a hundred sous, at six livres instead of five. By
+this edict also government notes were made legal tender until the new
+money should be ready. The finances were thus relieved, and the King
+gained largely from the recasting of the coin. But private people lost
+by this increase, which much exceeded the intrinsic value of the metal
+used, and which caused everything to rise in price. Thus the Parliament
+had a fine opportunity for trumpeting forth its solicitude for the public
+interest, and did not fail to avail itself of it.
+
+During the night a councillor of the Parliament was surprised on
+horseback in the streets tearing down and disfiguring the decree of the
+Regency Council, which abrogated that of the Parliament. He was taken to
+prison.
+
+On Monday, the 27th of June, the Chief-President, at the head of all the
+other presidents, and of forty councillors, went to the Tuileries, and in
+the presence of the Regent read the wire-drawn remonstrance of the
+Parliament upon this famous edict. The Keeper of the Seals said that in
+a few days the King would reply. Accordingly on Saturday, the 2nd of
+July, the same deputation came again to the Tuileries to hear the reply.
+The Regent and all the Princes of the blood were there, the bastards
+also. Argenson, who from lieutenant of police had been made keeper of
+the seals, and who in his former capacity had often been ill-used--nay,
+even attacked by the Parliament--took good care to show his superiority
+over that assembly. He answered that deputation in the name of the King,
+and concluded by saying that the edict would in no way be altered, but
+would receive complete application. The parliamentary gentlemen did not
+expect so firm a reply, and withdrew, much mortified.
+
+They were not, however, vanquished. They reassembled on the 11th and
+12th of August, and spat forth all their venom in another decree
+specially aimed at the authority of the Regent. By this decree the
+administration of the finances was henceforth entirely to be at the mercy
+of the Parliament. Law, the Scotchman, who, under the favour of M. le
+Duc d'Orleans, had been allowed some influence over the State money
+matters, was to possess that influence no longer; in fact, all power on
+the part of the Regent over the finances was to be taken from him.
+
+After this the Parliament had to take but one step in order to become the
+guardian of the King and the master of the realm (as in fact it madly
+claimed to be), the Regent more at its mercy than the King, and perhaps
+as exposed as King Charles I. of England. Our parliamentary gentlemen
+began as humbly as those of England, and though, as I have said, their
+assembly was but a simple court of justice, limited in its jurisdiction
+like the other courts of the realm, to judge disputes between private
+people, yet by dint of hammering upon the word parliament they believed
+themselves not less important than their English brethren, who form the
+legislative assembly, and represent all the nation.
+
+M. and Madame du Maine had done not a little to bring about these
+fancies, and they continued in secret to do more. Madame du Maine, it
+may be recollected, had said that she would throw the whole country into
+combustion, in order not to lose her husband's prerogative. She was as
+good as her word. Encouraged doubtless by the support they received from
+this precious pair, the Parliament continued on its mad career of
+impudent presumption, pride, and arrogance. It assembled on the 22nd of
+August, and ordered inquiry to be made of the Regent as to what had
+become of all the state notes that had been passed at the Chamber of
+justice; those which had been given for the lotteries that were held
+every month; those which had been given for the Mississippi or Western
+Company; finally, those which had been taken to the Mint since the change
+in the specie.
+
+These questions were communicated to the Regent by the King's officers.
+In reply he turned his back upon them, and went away into his cabinet,
+leaving these people slightly bewildered. Immediately after this
+occurrence it was rumoured that a Bed of justice would soon be held. The
+Regent had not then thought of summoning such an important assembly, and
+his weakness and vacillation were such that no one thought he would dare
+to do so.
+
+The memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, of Joly, of Madame Motteville, had
+turned all heads. These books had become so fashionable, that in no
+class was the man or woman who did not have them continually in hand.
+Ambition, the desire for novelty, the skill of those who circulated these
+books, made the majority of people hope to cut a figure or make a
+fortune, and persuaded them there was as little lack of personages as in
+the last minority. People looked upon Law as the Mazarin of the day--
+(they were both foreign)--upon M. and Madame du Maine, as the chiefs of
+the Fronde; the weakness of M. le Duc d'Orleans was compared to that of
+the Queen-mother, and so on.
+
+To say the truth, all tended towards whatever was extreme--moderation
+seemed forgotten--and it was high time the Regent aroused himself from a
+supineness which rendered him contemptible, and which emboldened his
+enemies and those of the State to brave all and undertake all. This
+lethargy, too, disheartened his servants, and made all healthy activity
+on their part impossible. It had at last led him to the very verge of
+the precipice, and the realm he governed to within an inch of the
+greatest confusion. He had need, indeed, to be up and doing!
+
+The Regent, without having the horrible vice or the favourites of Henry
+III., had even more than that monarch become notorious for his daily
+debauches, his indecency, and his impiety. Like Henry III., too, he was
+betrayed by his most intimate councillors and domestics. This treachery
+pleased him (as it had pleased that King) because it induced him to keep
+idle, now from fear, now from interest, now from disdain, and now from
+policy. This torpor was agreeable to him because it was in conformity
+with his humour and his tastes, and because he regarded those who
+counselled it as good, wise, and enlightened people, not blinded by their
+private interests, but seeing clearly things as they were; while he was
+importuned with opinions and explanations which would have disclosed the
+true state of affairs and suggested remedies.
+
+He looked upon such people as offered these opinions and explanations as
+impetuous counsellors, who hurried everything and suggested everything,
+who wished to discount the future in order to satisfy their ambition,
+their aversion, their different passions. He kept on his guard against
+them; he applauded himself for not being their dupe. Now, he laughed at
+them; often he allowed them to believe he appreciated their reasoning,
+that he was going to act and rouse from his lethargy. He amused them
+thus, gained time, and diverted himself afterwards with the others.
+Sometimes he replied coldly to them, and when they pressed him too much
+he allowed his suspicions to peep out.
+
+Long since I had perceived M. le Duc d'Orleans' mode of action. At the
+first movements of the Parliament, of the bastards, and of those who had
+usurped the name of nobility, I had warned him. I had done so again as
+soon as I saw the cadence and the harmony of the designs in progress. I
+had pointed out to him their inevitable sequel; how easy it was to hinder
+them at the commencement; how difficult after, especially for a person of
+his character and disposition. But I was not the man for such work as
+this. I was the oldest, the most attached, the freest spoken of all his
+servitors; I had given him the best proofs of this in the most critical
+times of his life, and in the midst of his universal abandonment; the
+counsels I had offered him in these sad days he had always found for his
+good; he was accustomed to repose in me the most complete confidence;
+but, whatever opinion he might have of me, and of my truth and probity,
+he was on his guard against what he called my warmth, and against the
+love I had for my dignity, so attacked by the usurpations of the
+bastards, the designs of the Parliament, and the modern fancies of a sham
+nobility. As soon as I perceived his suspicions I told him so, and I
+added that, content with having done my duty as citizen and as his
+servitor, I would say no more on the subject. I kept my word. For more
+than a year I had not of myself opened my mouth thereon. If he was
+sometimes spoken to before me, and I could not keep quite silent without
+being suspected of sulking or pique, I carelessly said something
+indefinite, with as little meaning in it as possible, and calculated to
+make us drop the subject.
+
+Judge of my surprise, therefore, when as I was working as usual one
+afternoon with the Regent, he interrupted me to speak with bitterness of
+the Parliament. I replied with my accustomed coldness and pretended
+negligence, and continued my business. He stopped me, and said that he
+saw very well that I would not reply to him concerning the Parliament.
+I admitted it was true, and added that he must long since have perceived
+this. Pressed and pressed beyond measure, I coldly remarked that he
+could not but remember what I had said to him of the Parliament both
+before and after his accession to the regency, that other counsels had
+prevailed over mine, and that finding my opinions were misinterpreted by
+him, I had resolved to hold my tongue, and had done so. As the subject
+was now reopened I reminded him of a prophecy I had uttered long before,
+that he had missed the opportunity of governing the Parliament when he
+might have done so with a frown, and that step by step he would allow
+himself to be conducted by his easy-going disposition, until he found
+himself on the very verge of the abyss; that if he wished to recover his
+position he must begin at once to retrace his steps, or lose his footing
+for ever!
+
+Such strong words (from my mouth they had been rare of late), pronounced
+with a slow, firm coldness, as though I were indifferent to the course he
+might adopt, made him feel how little capable I believed him of vigorous
+and sustained action, and what trifling trouble I took to make him adopt
+my views. Dubois, Argenson, and Law had also spoken to him, urging him
+to take strong measures against the Parliament; the effect of my speech
+was therefore marvellous.
+
+It was indeed high time to do something, as I have before remarked.
+The Parliament, we found, after passing its last decree, had named a
+commission to inquire into the financial edict; this commission was
+working in the utmost secrecy; a number of witnesses had already been
+examined, and preparations were quietly making to arrest Law some fine
+morning, and hang him three hours after within the enclosure of the
+Palais de justice.
+
+Immediately this fact became known, the Duc de la Force and Fagon
+(Councillor of State) went to the Regent--'twas on the 19th of August,
+1718--and spoke to him with such effect, that he ordered them to assemble
+with Law that very day at my house in order to see what was to be done.
+They came, in fact, and this was the first intimation I had that the
+Regent had begun to feel the gravity of his position, and that he was
+ready to do something. In this conference at my house the firmness of
+Law, hitherto so great, was shaken so that tears escaped him. Arguments
+did not satisfy us at first, because the question could only be decided
+by force, and we could not rely upon that of the Regent. The safe-
+conduct with which Law was supplied would not have stopped the Parliament
+an instant. On every side we were embarrassed. Law, more dead than
+alive, knew not what to say; much less what to do. His safety appeared
+to us the most pressing matter to ensure. If he had been taken it would
+have been all over with him before the ordinary machinery of negotiation
+(delayed as it was likely to be by the weakness of the Regent) could have
+been set in motion; certainly, before there would have been leisure to
+think of better, or to send a regiment of guards to force open the Palais
+de justice; a critical remedy at all times, and grievous to the last
+degree, even when it succeeds; frightful, if instead of Law, only his
+suspended corpse had been found!
+
+I advised Law, therefore, to retire to the Palais Royal, and occupy the
+chamber of Nancre, his friend, then away in Spain. Law breathed again at
+this suggestion (approved by de la Force and Fagon), and put it in
+execution the moment he left my house. He might have been kept in safety
+at the Bank, but I thought the Palais Royal would be better: that his
+retirement there would create more effect, and induce the Regent to hold
+firm to his purpose, besides allowing his Royal Highness to see the
+financier whenever he pleased.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCI
+
+This done I proposed, and the others approved my proposition, that a Bed
+of Justice should be held as the only means left by which the abrogation
+of the parliamentary decrees could be registered. But while our
+arguments were moving, I stopped them all short by a reflection which
+came into my mind. I represented to my guests that the Duc du Maine was
+in secret the principal leader of the Parliament, and was closely allied
+with Marechal de Villeroy; that both would oppose might and main the
+assembling of a Bed of justice, so contrary to their views, to their
+schemes, to their projects; that to hinder it they, as guardians of the
+young King, would plead on his behalf, the heat, which was in fact
+extreme, the fear of the crowd, of the fatigue, of the bad air; that they
+would assume a pathetic tone in speaking of the King's health, calculated
+to embarrass the Regent; that if he persisted they would protest against
+everything which might happen to His Majesty; declare, perhaps, that in
+order not to share the blame, they would not accompany him; that the
+King, prepared by them, would grow frightened, perhaps, and would not go
+to the Parliament without them; that then all would be lost, and the
+powerlessness of the Regent, so clearly manifested, might rapidly lead to
+the most disastrous results.
+
+These remarks stopped short our arguments, but I had not started
+objections without being prepared with a remedy for them. I said, "Let
+the Bed of justice be held at the Tuileries; let it be kept a profound
+secret until the very morning it is to take place; and let those who are
+to attend it be told so only a few hours before they are to assemble.
+By these means no time will be allowed for anybody to object to the
+proceeding, to plead the health of the King, the heat of the weather,
+or to interfere with the arrangement of the troops which it will be
+necessary to make."
+
+We stopped at this: Law went away, and I dictated to Fagon the full
+details of my scheme, by which secrecy was to be ensured and all
+obstacles provided against. We finished about nine o'clock in the
+evening, and I counselled Fagon to carry what he had written to the Abbe
+Dubois, who had just returned from England with new credit over the mind
+of his master.
+
+The next day I repaired to the Palais Royal about four o'clock. A moment
+after La Vrilliere came and relieved me of the company of Grancey and
+Broglio, two roues, whom I had found in the grand cabinet, in the cool,
+familiarly, without wigs. When M. le Duc d'Orleans was free he led me
+into the cabinet, behind the grand salon, by the Rue de Richelieu, and on
+entering said he was at the crisis of his regency, and that everything
+was needed in order to sustain him on this occasion. He added that he
+was resolved to strike a heavy blow at the Parliament; that he much
+approved my proposition respecting the Bed of justice at the Tuileries,
+and that it would be held exactly as I had suggested.
+
+I was delighted at his animation, and at the firmness he appeared to
+possess, and after having well discussed with him all the inconveniences
+of my plan, and their remedy, we came at last to a very important matter,
+the mechanical means, so to speak, by which that plan was to be put in
+force. There was one thing to be provided for, which may appear an
+exceedingly insignificant matter, but which in truth was of no light
+importance. When a Bed of justice is held, seats one above another must
+be provided for those who take part in it. No room in the Tuileries
+possessed such seats and how erect them without noise, without exciting
+remarks, without causing inquiries and suspicions, which must inevitably
+lead to the discovery and perhaps thereby to the failure of our project?
+I had not forgotten this difficulty, however, and I said to the Regent
+I would go in secret to Fontanieu, who controlled the crown furniture,
+explain all to him, and arrange matters with him so that these seats
+should be erected at the very last moment, in time for our purpose, but
+too late to supply information that could be made use of by our enemies.
+I hurried off accordingly, as soon as I could get away, in search of
+Fontanieu.
+
+I had already had some relations with him, for he had married his
+daughter to the son of the sister of my brother-in-law, M. de Lauzun.
+I had done him some little service, and had therefore every reason to
+expect he would serve me on this occasion. Judge of my annoyance when
+upon reaching his house I learned that he had gone almost to the other
+end of the town, to the Marais, to conduct a suit at law, in which
+Monsieur and Madame de Lauzun were concerned, respecting an estate at
+Rondon they claimed!
+
+The porter seeing me so vexed at being obliged to journey so far in
+search of Fontanieu, said, that if I would go and speak to Madame
+Fontanieu, he would see if his master was not still in the neighbourhood,
+at a place he intended to visit before going to the Marais. I acted upon
+this suggestion and went to Madame Fontanieu, whom I found alone. I was
+forced to talk to her of the suit of Monsieur and Madame de Lauzun, which
+I pretended was the business I came upon, and cruelly did I rack my
+brains to say enough to keep up the conversation. When Fontanieu
+arrived, for he was soon found, fortunately, I was thrown into another
+embarrassment, for I had all the pains in the world to get away from
+Madame Fontanieu, who, aided by her husband, begged me not to take the
+trouble to descend but to discuss the subject where I was as she was as
+well informed upon the case as he, I thought once or twice I should never
+escape her. At last, however, I led away Fontanieu, by dint of
+compliments to his wife, in which I expressed my unwillingness to weary
+her with this affair.
+
+When Fontanieu and I were alone down in his cabinet, I remained some
+moments talking to him upon the same subject, to allow the valets who had
+opened the doors for us time to retire. Then, to his great astonishment,
+I went outside to see if there were no listeners, and carefully closed
+the doors. After this I said to Fontanieu that I had not come concerning
+the affair of Madame de Lauzun, but upon another very different, which
+demanded all his industry, a secrecy proof against every trial, and which
+M. le Duc d'Orleans had charged me to communicate to him; but that before
+explaining myself he must know whether his Royal Highness could certainly
+count upon him.
+
+It is strange what an impression the wildest absurdities leave if they
+are spread abroad with art. The first thing Fontanieu did was to tremble
+violently all over and become whiter than his shirt. With difficulty he
+stammered out a few words to the effect that he would do for M. le Duc
+d'Orleans as much as his duty would permit him to do. I smiled, looking
+fixedly at him, and this smile warned him apparently that he owed me an
+excuse for not being quite at ease upon any affair that passed through my
+hands; he directly made me one, at all events, and with the confusion of
+a man who sees that his first view has dazzled the second, and who, full
+of this first view, does not show anything, yet lets all be seen.
+
+I reassured him as well as I could, and said that I had answered for him
+to M. le Duc d'Orleans, and afterwards that a Bed of justice was wanted,
+for the construction of which we had need of him.
+
+Scarcely had I explained this, than the poor fellow began to take breath,
+as though escaping from stifling oppression, or a painful operation for
+the stone, and asked me if that was what I wanted?
+
+He promised everything, so glad was he to be let off thus cheaply, and in
+truth he kept to his word, both as to the secret and the work. He had
+never seen a Bed of justice, and had not the slightest notion what it was
+like. I sat down on his bureau, and drew out the design of one. I
+dictated to him the explanations in the margin, because I did not wish
+them to be in my handwriting. I talked more than an hour with him; I
+disarranged his furniture, the better to show to him the order of the
+assembly, and explained to him what was to be done, so that all might be
+carried to the Tuileries and erected in a very, few moments. When I
+found I had made everything sufficiently clear, and he had understood me,
+I returned to the Palais Royal as though recollecting something, being
+already in the streets, to deceive my people.
+
+A servant awaited me at the top of the staircase, and the concierge of
+the Palais Royal at the door of M. le Duc d'Orleans' room, with orders to
+beg me to write. It was the sacred hour of the roues and the supper,
+at which all idea of business was banished. I wrote, therefore, to the
+Regent in his winter cabinet what I had just done, not without some
+little indignation that he could not give up his pleasure for an affair
+of this importance. I was obliged to beg the concierge not to give my
+note to M. le Duc d'Orleans unless he were in a state to read it and to
+burn it afterwards.
+
+Our preparations for the Bed of justice continued to be actively but
+silently made during the next few days. In the course of the numberless
+discussions which arose upon the subject, it was agreed, after much
+opposition on my part, to strike a blow, not only at the Parliament, but
+at M. du Maine, who had fomented its discontent. M. le Duc, who had been
+admitted to our councils, and who was heart and soul against the
+bastards, proposed that at the Bed of justice the education of the young
+King should be taken out of the control of M. du Maine and placed in his
+hands. He proposed also that the title of Prince of the Blood should be
+taken from him, with all the privileges it conferred, and that he should
+be reduced to the rank of a simple Duke and Peer, taking his place among
+the rest according to the date of his erection; thus, at a bound, going
+down to the bottom of the peerage!
+
+Should these memoirs ever see the light, every one who reads them will be
+able to judge how such a proposition as this harmonised with my personal
+wishes. I had seen the bastards grow in rank and importance with an
+indignation and disgust I could scarcely contain. I had seen favour
+after favour heaped upon them by the late King, until he crowned all by
+elevating them to the rank of Princes of the Blood in defiance of all
+law, of all precedent, of all decency, if I must say the word. What I
+felt at this accumulation of honours I have more than once expressed;
+what I did to oppose such monstrous innovations has also been said. No
+man could be more against M. du Maine than I, and yet I opposed this
+proposition of M. le Duc because I thought one blow was enough at a time,
+and that it might be dangerous to attempt the two at once. M. du Maine
+had supporters, nay; he was at the head of a sort of party; strip him of
+the important post he held, and what might not his rake, his
+disappointment, and his wounded ambition lead him to attempt? Civil war,
+perhaps, would be the result of his disgrace.
+
+Again and again I urged these views, not only upon M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+but upon M. le Duc. Nay, with this latter I had two long stolen
+interviews in the Tuileries Gardens, where we spoke without constraint,
+and exhausted all our arguments. But M. le Duc was not to be shaken, and
+as I could do no more than I had done to move him, I was obliged at last
+to give in. It was resolved, however, that disgrace should fall upon M.
+du Maine alone; that his brother, the Comte de Toulouse, an account of
+the devotion to the State he had ever exhibited, and his excellent
+conduct since the death of the late King, should, when stripped of his
+title like the other, receive it back again the moment after, in
+acknowledgment of the services he had rendered to the Regent as
+Councillor of State, and as an expression of personal good feeling
+towards him, which his excellent qualities so justly merited.
+
+I returned home from my last interview with M. le Duc, and went to mass
+at the Jacobins, to which I entered from my garden. It was not without a
+distracted mind. But I prayed to God sincerely and earnestly to guide my
+steps, so that I might labour for His glory and the good of the State
+without private ends. My prayer was heard, and in the sequel I had
+nothing to reproach myself with. I followed the straight road without
+turning to the right or to the left.
+
+Fontanieu was waiting for me in my house as I returned home from mass,
+and I was obliged to listen to his questions and to reply to them, as
+though I had nothing on my mind. I arranged my chamber like a Bed of
+Justice, I made him understand several things; connected with the
+ceremonial that he had not under stood before, and that it was essential
+he should in no way omit. Thus everything went on satisfactorily, and I
+began to count the hours, by day as well as by night, until the great day
+was to arrive on which the arrogant pride of the Parliament was to
+receive a check, and the false plumage which adorned the bastards was to
+be plucked from them.
+
+In the midst of the sweet joy that I felt, no bitterness entered. I was
+satisfied with the part I had played in this affair, satisfied that I had
+acted sincerely, honestly, that I had not allowed my own private motives
+to sway me; that in the interests of the State, as opposed to my own
+interests, I had done all in my power to save the Duc du Maine. And yet
+I did not dare to give myself up to the rosy thoughts suggested by the
+great event, now so rapidly approaching. I toyed with them instead of
+allowing myself to embrace them. I shrunk from them as it were like a
+cold lover who fears the too ardent caresses of his mistress. I could
+not believe that the supreme happiness I had so long pined for was at
+last so near. Might not M. le Duc d'Orleans falter at the last moment?
+Might not all our preparations, so carefully conducted, so cleverly
+planned, weigh upon his feebleness until they fell to the ground? It was
+not improbable. He was often firm in promises. How often was he firm in
+carrying them out? All these questions, all these restless doubts--
+natural as it appears to me under the circumstances--winged their way
+through my mind, and kept me excited and feverish as though life and
+death were hanging on one thread.
+
+In the midst of my reflections, a messenger from M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+Millain by name, arrived at my house. It was on the afternoon of
+Thursday, the 25th of August, 1718. His message was simple. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans was in the same mood as ever, and I was to join him at the
+Palais Royal, according to previous agreement, at eight o'clock in the
+evening. The Bed of justice was to be held on the morrow.
+
+Never was kiss given to a beautiful mistress sweeter than that which I
+imprinted upon the fat old face of this charming messenger! A close
+embrace, eagerly repeated, was my first reply, followed afterwards by an
+overflow of feeling for M. le Duc, and for Millain even, who had worthily
+served in this great undertaking.
+
+The rest of the day I passed at home with the Abbe Dubois, Fagon, and the
+Duc de la Force, one after the other finishing up our work. We provided
+against everything: If the Parliament refused to come to the Tuileries,
+its interdiction was determined on: if any of the members attempted to
+leave Paris they were to be arrested; troops were to be assembled in
+order to carry out the Regent's orders; we left no accident without its
+remedy.
+
+The Abbe Dubois arranged a little code of signals, such as crossing the
+legs, shaking a handkerchief, or other simple gestures, to be given the
+first thing in the morning to the officers of the body-guards chosen to
+be in attendance in the room where the Bed of Justice was to be held.
+They were to fix their eyes upon the Regent, and when he made any of the
+above signals, immediately to act upon it according to their written
+instructions. The Abbe Dubois also drew out a sort of programme for M.
+le Duc d'Orleans, of the different orders he was to give during the
+night, fixing the hour for each, so that they might not arrive a minute
+too soon or a minute too late, and secrecy thus be maintained to the very
+latest moment.
+
+Towards eight o'clock in the evening I went to they Palais Royal. I was
+horror-struck to find M. le Duc d'Orleans in bed with fever, as he said;
+I felt his pulse. Fever, he had, sure enough; perhaps from excitement
+caused by the business in hand. I said to him it was only fatigue of
+body and mind, of which he would be quit in twenty-four hours; he, on his
+side, protested that whatever it might be, he would hold the Bed of
+justice on the morrow. M. le Duc, who had just entered, was at his
+pillow; the chamber lighted by a single wax candle. We sat down, M. le
+Duc and I, and passed in review the orders given and to give, not without
+much apprehension on account of this fever, come so strangely out of
+season to the healthiest man in the world, and who had never had it
+before.
+
+I exhorted the Regent to take as much repose as he could, so that he
+might be fully able to execute the great work of the morrow, the safety
+of the Regency itself being at stake. After this I felt his pulse again,
+not without fear. I assured him, however, his illness would be nothing;
+without, it is true, being too sure of it myself. I took my leave about
+ten o'clock, and went out of the room with Millain. When I found myself
+alone with him in the cabinet, through which we passed, I embraced him
+with an extreme pleasure. We had entered by the backstairs; we descended
+by the same, so as not to be observed. It was dark, so that on both
+occasions we were obliged to grope our way. Upon arriving at the bottom
+I could not refrain from again embracing Millain, so great was my
+pleasure, and we separated each to his home.
+
+The arrangements respecting the troops and for summoning the Parliament,
+etc., were all carried out to the letter during the night and early
+morning. At the hours agreed upon M. le Duc d'Orleans gave the various
+orders. About four o'clock in the morning the Duc du Maine, as colonel-
+general of the Swiss guards, was aroused. He had not been in bed above
+an hour, having just returned from a fete given at the arsenal by Madame
+du Maine. He was doubtless much astonished, but contained himself, hid
+his fear, and sent at once to instruct his companies of Swiss guards of
+the orders they were to execute. I don't think he slept very well after
+this, uncertain as he must have been what was going to happen. But I
+never knew what he or Madame du Maine did after being thus rudely
+disturbed.
+
+Towards five o'clock in the morning drums began to be heard throughout
+the town, and soon soldiers were seen in movement. At six o'clock a
+message was sent to the Parliament requesting it to attend at the
+Tuileries. The reply was that the request should be obeyed. The members
+thereupon debated whether they should go to the Tuileries in coaches or
+on foot. The last mode was adopted as being the most ordinary, and in
+the hope of stirring the people and arriving at the Tuileries with a
+yelling crowd. What happened will be related in its place.
+
+At the same time, horsemen went to all the Peers and officers of the
+Crown, and to all the chevaliers of the order, the governors and
+lieutenant-governors of the provinces (who were to accompany the King),
+informing them of the Bed of Justice. The Comte de Toulouse had been to
+supper at the house of M. de Nevers, near Saint-Denis, and did not return
+until late into the night. The French and Swiss guards were under arms
+in various quarters; the watch, the light horse, and the two companies of
+musketeers all ready in their barracks; the usual guard at the Tuileries.
+
+If I had slept but little during the last eight days, I slept still less
+that night, so near to the most considerable events. I rose before six
+o'clock, and shortly after received my summons to the Bed of justice, on
+the back of which was a note that I was not to be awakened, a piece of
+politeness due to the knowledge of the bearer, who was aware that this
+summons would teach me nothing I did not know. All the others had been
+awakened, surprised thereby to an extent that may be imagined.
+
+Towards eight o'clock in the morning a messenger from M. le Duc d'Orleans
+came to remind me of the Regency Council at eight o'clock, and to attend
+it in my mantle. I dressed myself in black, because I had only that suit
+with a mantle, and another, a magnificent one in cloth of gold, which I
+did not wish to wear lest it should cause the remark to be made, though
+much out of season, that I wished to insult the Parliament and M. du
+Maine. I took two gentlemen with me in my coach, and I went in order to
+witness all that was to take place. I was at the same time full of fear,
+hope, joy, reflection, and mistrust of M. le Duc d'Orleans' weakness, and
+all that might result from it. I was also firmly resolved to do my best,
+whatever might happen, but without appearing to know anything, and
+without eagerness, and I resolved to show presence of mind, attention,
+circumspection, modesty, and much moderation.
+
+Upon leaving my house I went to Valincourt, who lived behind the hotel of
+the Comte de Toulouse. He was a very honourable man, of much intellect,
+moving among the best company, secretary-general of the navy, devoted to
+the Comte de Toulouse ever since his early youth, and possessing all his
+confidence. I did not wish to leave the Comte de Toulouse in any
+personal fear, or expose him to be led away by his brother. I sent
+therefore for Valincourt, whom I knew intimately, to come and speak to
+me. He came half-dressed, terrified at the rumours flying over the town,
+and eagerly asked me what they all meant. I drew him close to me and
+said, "Listen attentively to me, and lose not a word. Go immediately to
+M. le Comte de Toulouse, tell him he may trust in my word, tell him to be
+discreet, and that things are about to happen to others which may
+displease him, but that not a hair of his head shall be touched. I hope
+he will not have a moment's uneasiness. Go! and lose not an instant."
+
+Valincourt held me in a tight embrace. "Ah, Monsieur," said he, "we
+foresaw that at last there would be a storm. It is well merited, but not
+by M. le Comte, who will be eternally obliged to you." And, he went
+immediately with my message to the Comte de Toulouse, who never forgot
+that I saved him from the fall of his brother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCII
+
+Arrived at the grand court of the Tuileries about eight o'clock without
+having remarked anything extraordinary on the way. The coaches of the
+Duc de Noailles, of Marechal de Villars, of Marechal d'Huxelles, and of
+some others were already there. I ascended without finding many people
+about, and directed the two doors of the Salle des Gardes, which were
+closed, to be opened. The Bed of justice was prepared in the grand ante-
+chamber, where the King was accustomed to eat. I stopped a short time to
+see if everything was in proper order, and felicitated Fontanieu in a low
+voice. He said to me in the same manner that he had arrived at the
+Tuileries with his workmen and materials at six o'clock in the morning;
+that everything was so well constructed and put up that the King had not
+heard a sound; that his chief valet de chambre, having left the room for
+some commission about seven o'clock in the morning, had been much
+astonished upon seeing this apparatus; that the Marechal de Villeroy had
+only heard of it through him, and that the seats had been erected with
+such little noise that nobody had heard anything. After having well
+examined everything with my eyes I advanced to the throne, then being
+finished; wishing to enter the second ante-chamber, some servants came to
+me, saying that I could not go in, all being locked up. I asked where I
+was to await the assembling of the Council, and was admitted to a room
+upstairs, where I found a good number of people already congregated.
+
+After chatting some time with the Keeper of the Seals, the arrival of M.
+le Duc d'Orleans was announced. We finished what we had to say, and went
+downstairs separately, not wishing to be seen together.
+
+The Council was held in a room which ever since the very hot weather the
+King had slept in. The hangings of his bed, and of the Marechal de
+Villeroy's were drawn back. The Council table was placed at the foot of
+one of the beds. Upon entering the adjoining chamber I found many people
+whom the first rumours of such an unexpected occurrence had no doubt led
+there, and among the rest some of the Council. M. le Duc d'Orleans was
+in the midst of a crowd at the end of the room, and, as I afterwards
+learned, had just seen the Duc du Maine without speaking to him, or being
+spoken to.
+
+After a passing glance upon this crowd I entered the Council chamber. I
+found scattered there the majority of those who composed the Council with
+serious and troubled looks, which increased my seriousness. Scarcely
+anybody spoke; and each, standing or seated here and there, kept himself
+in his place. The better to examine all, I joined nobody. A moment
+after M. le Duc d'Orleans entered with a gay, easy, untroubled air, and
+looked smilingly upon the company. I considered this of good augury.
+Immediately afterwards I asked him his news. He replied aloud that he
+was tolerably well; then approaching my ear, added that, except when
+aroused to give his orders, he had slept very well, and that he was
+determined to hold firm. This infinitely pleased me, for it seemed to me
+by his manner that he was in earnest, and I briefly exhorted him to
+remain so.
+
+Came, afterwards, M. le Duc, who pretty soon approached me, and asked if
+I augured well from the Regent, and if he would remain firm. M. le Duc
+had an air of exceeding gaiety, which was perceptible to those behind the
+scenes. The Duc de Noailles devoured everything with his eyes, which
+sparkled with anger because he had not been initiated into the secret of
+this great day.
+
+In due time M. du Maine appeared in his mantle, entering by the King's
+little door. Never before had he made so many or such profound
+reverences as he did now--though he was not usually very stingy of them--
+then standing alone, resting upon his stick near the Council table, he
+looked around at everybody. Then and there, being in front of him, with
+the table between us, I made him the most smiling bow I had ever given
+him, and did it with extreme volupty. He repaid me in the same coin, and
+continued to fix his eyes upon everybody in turn; his face agitated, and
+nearly always speaking to himself.
+
+A few minutes after M. le Duc came to me, begging me to exhort M. le Duc
+d'Orleans to firmness: then the Keeper of the Seals came forth for the
+same purpose. M. le Duc d'Orleans himself approached me to say something
+a moment afterwards, and he had no sooner quitted my side than M. le Duc,
+impatient and troubled, came to know in what frame of mind was the
+Regent. I told him good in a monosyllable, and sent him away.
+
+I know not if these movements, upon which all eyes were fixed, began to
+frighten the Duc du Maine, but no sooner had M. le Duc joined the Regent,
+after quitting me, than the Duc du Maine went to speak to the Marechal de
+Villeroy and to D'Effiat, both seated at the end of the room towards the
+King's little door, their backs to the wall. They did not rise for the
+Duc du Maine, who remained standing opposite, and quite near them, all
+three holding long discourses, like people who deliberate with
+embarrassment and surprise, as it appeared to me by the faces of the two
+I saw, and which I tried not to lose sight of.
+
+During this time M. le Duc d'Orleans and M. le Duc spoke to each other
+near the window and the ordinary entrance door; the Keeper of the Seals,
+who was near, joined them. At this moment M. le Duc turned round a
+little, which gave me the opportunity to make signs to him of the other
+conference, which he immediately saw. I was alone, near the Council
+table, very attentive to everything, and the others scattered about began
+to become more so. A little while after the Duc du Maine placed himself
+where he had been previously: the two he quitted remained as before.
+M. du Maine was thus again in front of me, the table between us: I
+observed that he had a bewildered look, and that he spoke to himself more
+than ever.
+
+The Comte de Toulouse arrived as the Regent had just quitted the two
+persons with whom he had been talking. The Comte de Toulouse was in his
+mantle, and saluted the company with a grave and meditative manner,
+neither accosting nor accosted: M. le Duc d'Orleans found himself in
+front of him and turned towards me, although at some distance, as though
+to testify his trouble. I bent my head a little while looking fixedly at
+him, as though to say, "Well, what then?"
+
+A short time afterwards the Comte de Toulouse had a conversation with his
+brother, both speaking with agitation and without appearing to agree very
+well. Then the Count approached M. le Duc d'Orleans, who was talking
+again to M. le Duc, and they spoke at some length to each other. As
+their faces were towards the wall, nothing but their backs could be seen,
+no emotion and scarcely a gesture was visible.
+
+The Duc du Maine had remained where he had spoken to his brother. He
+seemed half dead, looked askance upon the company with wandering eyes,
+and the troubled agitated manner of a criminal, or a man condemned to
+death. Shortly afterwards he became pale as a corpse, and appeared to me
+to have been taken ill.
+
+He crawled to the end of the table, during which the Comte de Toulouse
+came and said a word to the Regent, and began to walk out of the room.
+
+All these movements took place in a trice. The Regent, who was near the
+King's armchair, said aloud, "Now, gentlemen, let us take our places."
+Each approached to do so, and as I looked behind mine I saw the two
+brothers at the door as though about to leave the room. I leaped, so to
+speak, between the King's armchair and M. le Duc d'Orleans, and whispered
+in the Regent's ear so as not to be heard by the Prince de Conti:
+
+"Monsieur, look at them. They are going."
+
+"I know it," he replied tranquilly.
+
+"Yes," I exclaimed with animation, "but do you know what they will do
+when they are outside."
+
+"Nothing at all," said he: "the Comte de Toulouse has asked me for
+permission to go out with his brother; he has assured me that they will
+be discreet."
+
+"And if they are not?" I asked.
+
+"They will be. But if they are not, they will be well looked after."
+
+"But if they commit some absurdity, or leave Paris?"
+
+"They will be arrested. Orders have been given, and I will answer for
+their execution."
+
+Therefore, more tranquil, I sat down in my place. Scarcely had I got
+there than the Regent called me back, and said that since they had left
+the room, he should like to tell the Council what was going to be done
+with respect to them. I replied that the only objection to this, their
+presence, being now removed--I thought it would be wrong not to do so.
+He asked M. le Duc in a whisper, across the table, afterwards called to
+the Keeper of the Seals; both agreed, and then we really seated
+ourselves.
+
+These movements had augmented the trouble and curiosity of every one.
+The eyes of all, occupied with the Regent, had been removed from the
+door, so that the absence of the bastards was by no means generally
+remarked. As soon as it was perceived, everybody looked inquiringly
+around, and remained standing in expectation. I sat down in the seat of
+the Comte de Toulouse. The Duc de Guiche, who sat on the other side of
+me, left a seat between us, and still waited for the bastards. He told
+me to approach nearer to him, saying I had mistaken my place. I replied
+not a word, looking on at the company, which was a sight to see. At the
+second or third summons, I replied that he, on the contrary, must
+approach me.
+
+"And M. le Comte de Toulouse?" replied he.
+
+"Approach," said I, and seeing him motionless with astonishment, looking
+towards the Duc du Maine's seat, which had been taken by the Keeper of
+the Seals, I pulled him by his coat (I was seated), saying to him, "Come
+here and sit down."
+
+I pulled him so hard that he seated himself near me without understanding
+aught.
+
+"But what is the meaning of all this?" he demanded; "where are these
+gentlemen?"
+
+"I don't know," replied I, impatiently; "but they are not here."
+
+At the same time, the Duc de Noailles, who sat next to the Duc de Guiche,
+and who, enraged at counting for nothing in preparations for such a great
+day, had apparently divined that I was in the plot, vanquished by his
+curiosity, stretched over the table in front of the Duc de Guiche, and
+said to me:
+
+"In the name of Heaven, M. le Duc, do me the favour to say what all this
+means?"
+
+I was at daggers-drawn with him, as I have explained, and had no mercy
+for him. I turned, therefore, towards him with a cold and disdainful
+air, and, after having heard him out, and looked at him, I turned away
+again. That was all my reply. The Duc de Guiche pressed me to say
+something, even if it was only that I knew all. I denied it, and yet
+each seated himself slowly, because intent only upon looking around, and
+divining what all this could mean, and because it was a long time before
+any one could comprehend that we must proceed to business without the
+bastards, although nobody opened his mouth.
+
+When everybody was in his place M. le Duc d'Orleans after having far a
+moment looked all around, every eye fixed upon him, said that he had
+assembled this Regency Council to hear read the resolutions adopted at
+the last; that he had come to the conclusion that there was no other
+means of obtaining the registration of the finance edict recently passed
+than that of holding a Bed of justice; that the heat rendering it
+unadvisable to jeopardise the King's health in the midst of the crowd of
+the Palais de justice, he had thought it best to follow the example of
+the late King, who had sometimes sent for the Parliament to the
+Tuileries; that, as it had become necessary to hold this Bed of justice,
+he had thought it right to profit by the occasion, and register the
+'lettres de provision' of the Keeper of the Seals at the commencement of
+the sitting; and he ordered the Keeper of the Seals to read them.
+
+During this reading, which had no other importance than to seize an
+occasion of forcing the Parliament to recognize the Keeper of the Seals,
+whose person and whose commission they hated, I occupied myself in
+examining the faces.
+
+I saw M. le Duc d'Orleans with an air of authority and of attention, so
+new that I was struck with it. M. le Duc, gay and brilliant, appeared
+quite at his ease, and confident. The Prince de Conti, astonished,
+absent, meditative, seemed to see nothing and to take part in nothing.
+The Keeper of the Seals, grave and pensive, appeared to have too many
+things in his head; nevertheless, with bag, wax, and seals near him, he
+looked very decided and very firm. The Duc de la Force hung his head,
+but examined on the sly the faces of us all. Marechal Villeroy and
+Marechal de Villars spoke to each other now and then; both had irritated
+eyes and long faces. Nobody was more composed than the Marechal de
+Tallard; but he could not hide an internal agitation which often peeped
+out. The Marechal d'Estrees had a stupefied air, as though he saw
+nothing but a mist before him. The Marechal de Besons, enveloped more
+than ordinarily in his big wig, appeared deeply meditative, his look cast
+down and angry. Pelletier, very buoyant, simple, curious, looking at
+everything. Torcy, three times more starched than usual, seemed to look
+at everything by stealth. Effiat, meddlesome, piqued, outraged, ready to
+boil over, fuming at everybody, his look haggard, as it passed
+precipitously, and by fits and starts, from side to side. Those on my
+side I could not well examine; I saw them only by moments as they changed
+their postures or I mine; and then not well or for long. I have already
+spoken of the astonishment of the Duc de Guiche, and of the vexation and
+curiosity of the Duc de Noailles. D'Antin, usually of such easy
+carriage, appeared to me as though in fetters, and quite scared. The
+Marechal d'Huxelles tried to put a good face on the matter, but could not
+hide the despair which pierced him. Old Troyes, all abroad, showed
+nothing but surprise and embarrassment, and did not appear to know where
+he was.
+
+From the first moment of this reading and the departure of the bastards,
+everybody saw that something was in preparation against them. What that
+something was to be, kept every mind in suspense. A Bed of justice, too,
+prepared in secret, ready as soon as announced, indicated a strong
+resolution taken against the Parliament, and indicated also so much
+firmness and measure in a Prince, usually supposed to be entirely
+incapable of any, that every one was at sea. All, according as they were
+allied to the Parliament or to the bastards, seemed to wait in fear what
+was to be proposed. Many others appeared deeply wounded because the
+Regent had not admitted them behind the scenes, and because they were
+compelled to share the common surprise. Never were faces so universally
+elongated; never was embarrassment more general or more marked. In these
+first moments of trouble I fancy few people lent an ear to the letters
+the Keeper of the Seals was reading. When they were finished, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans said he did not think it was worth while to take the votes one
+by one, either upon the contents of these letters or their registration;
+but that all would be in favour of commencing the Bed of justice at once.
+
+After a short but marked pause, the Regent developed, in few words, the
+reasons which had induced the Council at its last sitting, to abrogate
+the decree of the Parliament. He added, that judging by the conduct of
+that assembly, it would have been to jeopardise anew the King's
+authority, to send for registration this act of abrogation to the
+Parliament, which would assuredly have given in public a proof of formal
+disobedience, in refusing to register; that there being no other remedy
+than a Bed of justice, he had thought it best to assemble one, but in
+secret, so as not to give time or opportunity to the ill-disposed to
+prepare for disobedience; that he believed, with the Keeper of the Seals,
+the frequency and the manner of the parliamentary remonstrances were such
+that the Parliament must be made to keep within the limits of its duty,
+which, long since, it seemed to have lost sight of; that the Keeper of
+the Seals would now read to the Council the act of abrogation, and the
+rules that were to be observed in future. Then, looking at the Keeper of
+the Seals, "Monsieur," said he, "you will explain this better than I.
+Have the goodness to do so before reading the decree."
+
+The Keeper of the Seals then spoke, and paraphrased what his Royal
+Highness had said more briefly; he explained in what manner the
+Parliament had the right to remonstrate, showed the distinction between
+its power and that of the Crown; the incompetence of the tribunals in all
+matters of state and finance; and the necessity of repressing the
+remonstrances of Parliament by passing a code (that was the term used),
+which was to serve as their inviolable guide. All this explained without
+lengthiness, with grace and clearness, he began to read the decree, as it
+has since been printed and circulated everywhere, some trifling
+alteration excepted.
+
+The reading finished, the Regent, contrary to his custom, showed his
+opinion by the praises he gave to this document: and then, assuming the
+Regent's tone and air he had never before put on, and which completed the
+astonishment of the company, he added, "To-day, gentlemen, I shall
+deviate from the usual rule in taking your votes, and I think it will be
+well to do so during all this Council."
+
+Then after a slight glance upon both sides of the table, during which you
+might have heard a worm crawl, he turned towards M. le Duc and asked him
+his opinion. M. le Duc declared for the decree, alleging several short
+but strong reasons. The Prince de Conti spoke in the same sense. I
+spoke after, for the Keeper of the Seals had done so directly his reading
+was finished. My opinion was given in more general terms so as not to
+fall too heavily upon the Parliament, or to show that I arrogated to
+myself the right to support his Royal Highness in the same manner as a
+prince of the blood. The Duc de la Force was longer. All spoke, but the
+majority said but little, and some allowed their vexation to be seen, but
+did not dare to oppose, feeling that it would be of no use. Dejection
+was painted upon their faces; it was evident this affair, of the
+Parliament was not what they expected or wished. Tallard was the only
+one whose face did not betray him; but the suffocated monosyllable of the
+Marechal d'Huxelles tore off the rest of the mask. The Duc de Noailles
+could scarcely contain himself, and spoke more than he wished, with
+anguish worthy of Fresnes. M. le Duc d'Orleans spoke last, and with
+unusual force; then made a pause, piercing all the company with his eyes.
+
+At this moment the Marechal de Villeroy, full of his own thoughts,
+muttered between his teeth, "But will the Parliament come?" This was
+gently taken up. M. le Duc d'Orleans replied that he did not doubt it;
+and immediately afterwards, that it would be as well to know when they
+set out. The Keeper of the Seals said he should be informed. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans replied that the door-keepers must be told. Thereupon up jumps
+M. de Troyes.
+
+I was seized with such a sudden fear lest he should go and chatter at the
+door with some one that I jumped up also, and got the start of him. As I
+returned, D'Antin, who had turned round to lay wait for me, begged me for
+mercy's sake to tell him what all this meant. I sped on saying that I
+knew nothing. "Tell that to others! Ho, ho!" replied he. When he had
+resumed his seat, M. le Duc d'Orleans said something, I don't know what,
+M. de Troyes still standing, I also. In passing La Vrilliere, I asked
+him to go to the door every time anything was wanted, for fear of the
+babbling of M. de Troyes; adding, that distant as I was from the door,
+going there looked too peculiar. La Vrilliere did as I begged him all
+the rest of the sitting.
+
+As I was returning to my place, D'Antin, still in ambush, begged me in
+the name of heaven, his hands joined, to tell him something. I kept
+firm, however, saying, "You will see." The Duc de Guiche pressed me as
+resolutely, even saying, it was evident I was in the plot. I remained
+deaf.
+
+These little movements over, M. le Duc d'Orleans, rising a little in his
+seat, said to the company, in a tone more firm, and more like that of a
+master than before, that there was another matter now to attend to, much
+more important than the one just heard. This prelude increased the
+general astonishment, and rendered everybody motionless. After a moment
+of silence the Regent said, that the peers had had for some time good
+grounds of complaint against certain persons, who by unaccustomed favour,
+had been allowed to assume rank and dignity to which their birth did not
+entitle them; that it was time this irregularity should be stopped short,
+and that with this view, an instrument had been drawn up, which the
+Keeper of the Seals would read to them.
+
+A profound silence followed this discourse, so unexpected, and which
+began to explain the absence of the bastards. Upon many visages a sombre
+hue was painted. As for me I had enough to do to compose my own visage,
+upon which all eyes successively passed; I had put upon it an extra coat
+of gravity and of modesty; I steered my eyes with care, and only looked
+horizontally at most, not an inch higher. As soon as the Regent opened
+his mouth on this business, M. le Duc cast upon me a triumphant look
+which almost routed my seriousness, and which warned me to increase it,
+and no longer expose myself to meet his glance. Contained in this
+manner, attentive in devouring the aspect of all, alive to everything and
+to myself, motionless, glued to my chair, all my body fixed, penetrated
+with the most acute and most sensible pleasure that joy could impart,
+with the most charming anxiety, with an enjoyment, so perseveringly and
+so immoderately hoped for, I sweated with agony at the captivity of my
+transport, and this agony was of a voluptuousness such as I had never
+felt before, such as I have never felt since. How inferior are the
+pleasures of the senses to those of the mind! and how true it is that the
+balance-weight of misfortunes, is the good fortune that finishes them!
+
+A moment after the Regent had ceased speaking, he told the Keeper of the
+Seals to read the declaration. During the reading, which was more than
+music to my ears, my attention was again fixed on the company. I saw by
+the alteration of the faces what an immense effect this document, which
+embodied the resolutions I have already explained, produced upon some of
+our friends. The whole of the reading was listened to with the utmost
+attention, and the utmost emotion.
+
+When it was finished, M. le Duc d'Orleans said he was very sorry for this
+necessity, but that justice must be done to the peers as well as to the
+princes of the blood: then turning to the Keeper of the Seals asked him
+for his opinion.
+
+This latter spoke briefly and well; but was like a dog running over hot
+ashes. He declared for the declaration. His Royal Highness then called
+upon M. le Duc for his opinion. It was short, but nervous, and polite to
+the peers. M. le Prince de Conti the same. Then the Regent asked me my
+opinion. I made, contrary to my custom, a profound inclination, but
+without rising, and said, that having the honour to find myself the
+eldest of the peers of the Council, I offered to his Royal Highness my
+very humble thanks and those of all the peers of France, for the justice
+so ardently desired, and touching so closely our dignity and our persons,
+that he had resolved to render us; that I begged him to be persuaded of
+our gratitude, and to count upon our utmost attachment to his person for
+an act of equity so longed for, and so complete; that in this sincere
+expression of our sentiments consisted all our opinion, because, being
+pleaders, we could not be judges also. I terminated these few words with
+a profound inclination, without rising, imitated by the Duc de la Force
+at the same moment; all the rest of the Council briefly gave their
+opinions, approving what the majority of them evidently did not approve
+at all.
+
+I had tried to modulate my voice, so that it should be just heard and no
+more, preferring to be indistinct rather than speak too loudly; and
+confined all my person to express as much as possible, gravity, modesty,
+and simple gratitude. M. le Duc maliciously made signs to me in smiling,
+that I had spoken well. But I kept my seriousness, and turned round to
+examine all the rest.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the aspect of the company. Nothing
+was seen but people, oppressed with surprise that overwhelmed them,
+meditative, agitated, some irritated, some but ill at ease, like La Force
+and Guiche, who freely admitted so to me.
+
+The opinions taken almost as soon as demanded, M. le Duc d'Orleans said,
+"Gentlemen, it is finished, then justice is done, and the rights of
+Messieurs the Peers are in safety. I have now an act of grace to propose
+to you, and I do so with all the more confidence, because I have taken
+care to consult the parties interested, who support me; and because, I
+have drawn up the document in a manner to wound no one. What I am going
+to explain to you, regards the Comte de Toulouse alone.
+
+"Nobody is ignorant how he has disapproved all that has been done in
+favour of him and his brother, and that he has sustained it since the
+regency only out of respect for the wishes of the late King. Everybody
+knows also his virtue, his merit, his application, his probity, his
+disinterestedness. Nevertheless, I could not avoid including him in the
+declaration you have just heard. Justice furnishes no exception in his
+favour, and the rights of the Peers must be assured. Now that they are
+no longer attacked, I have thought fitly to render to merit what from
+equity I have taken from birth; and to make an exception of M. le Comte
+de Toulouse, which (while confirming the rule), will leave him in full
+possession of all the honours he enjoys to the exclusion of every other.
+Those honours are not to pass to his children, should he marry and have
+any, or their restitution be considered as a precedent to be made use of
+at any future time.
+
+"I have the pleasure to announce that the Princes of the Blood consent to
+this, and that such of the Peers to whom I have been able to explain
+myself, share my sentiments. I doubt not that the esteem he has acquired
+here will render this proposition agreeable to you." And then turning to
+the Keeper of the Seals, "Monsieur, will you read the declaration?"
+
+It was read at once.
+
+I had, during the discourse of his Royal Highness, thrown all my
+attention into an examination of the impression it made upon the
+assembly. The astonishment it caused was general; it was such, that to
+judge of those addressed, it seemed that they understood nothing; and
+they did not recover themselves during all the reading. I inwardly
+rejoiced at success so pleasingly demonstrated and did not receive too
+well the Duc de Guiche, who testified to me his disapprobation. Villeroy
+confounded, Villars raging, Effiat rolling his eyes, Estrees beside
+himself with surprise, were the most marked. Tallard, with his head
+stretched forward, sucked in, so to speak, all the Regent's words as they
+were proffered, and those of the declaration, as the Keeper of the Seals
+read them. Noailles, inwardly distracted, could not hide his
+distraction; Huxelles, entirely occupied in smoothing himself, forgot to
+frown. I divided my attention between the declaration and these persons.
+
+The document read, M. le Duc d'Orleans praised it in two words, and
+called upon the Keeper of the Seals to give his opinion. He did so
+briefly, in favour of the Comte de Toulouse. M. le Duc the same; M. le
+Prince de Conti the same. After him, I testified to his Royal Highness
+my joy at seeing him conciliate the justice and the safety of the peers
+with the unheard-of favour he had just rendered to the virtue of M. le
+Comte de Toulouse, who merited it by his moderation, his truthfulness,
+his attachment to the State; thus the more he had recognised the
+injustice of his elevation to the rank to which he was raised, the more
+he had rendered himself worthy of it, and the more it was advantageous to
+the peers to yield to merit, (when this exception was confined solely to
+his person, with formal and legal precautions, so abundantly supplied by
+the declaration) and voluntarily contribute thus to an elevation without
+example, (so much the more flattering because its only foundation was
+virtue), so as to incite that virtue more and more to the service and
+utility of the state; that I declared therefore with joy for the
+declaration, and did not fear to add the very humble thanks of the peers,
+since I had the honour to be the oldest present.
+
+As I closed my mouth I cast my eyes in front of some, and plainly saw
+that my applause did not please, and, perhaps, my thanks still less. The
+others gave their opinion with heavy heart, as it were, to so terrible a
+blow, some few muttered I know not what between their teeth, but the
+thunderbolt upon the Duc du Maine's cabal was more and more felt, and as
+reflection succeeded to the first feeling of surprise, so a bitter and
+sharp grief manifested itself upon their faces in so marked a manner,
+that it was easy to see it had become high time to strike.
+
+All opinions having been expressed, M. le Duc cast a brilliant leer at
+me, and prepared to speak; but the Keeper of the Seals, who, from his
+side of the table did not see this movement, wishing also to say
+something, M. le Duc d'Orleans intimated to him that M. le Duc had the
+start of him. Raising himself majestically from his seat, the Regent
+then said: "Gentlemen, M. le Duc has a proposition to make to you. I
+have found it just and reasonable; I doubt not, you will find it so too."
+Then turning towards M. le Duc, he added, "Monsieur, will you explain
+it?"
+
+The movement these few words made among the company is inexpressible.
+'Twas as though I saw before me people deprived of all power, and
+surprised by a new assembly rising up from the midst of them in an asylum
+they had breathlessly reached.
+
+"Monsieur," said M. le Duc, addressing himself to the Regent, as usual;
+"since you have rendered justice to the Dukes, I think I am justified in
+asking for it myself. The deceased King gave the education of his
+Majesty to M. le Duc du Maine. I was a minor then, and according to the
+idea of the deceased King, M. du Maine was prince of the blood, capable
+of succeeding to the crown. Now I am of age, and not only M. du Maine is
+no longer prince of the blood, but he is reduced to the rank of his
+peerage. M. le Marechal de Villeroy is now his senior, and precedes him
+everywhere; M. le Marechal can therefore no longer remain governor of the
+King, under the superintendence of M. du Maine. I ask you, then, for M.
+du Maine's post, that I think my age, my rank, my attachment to the King
+and the State, qualify me for. I hope," he added, turning towards his
+left, "that I shall profit by the lessons of M. le Marechal de Villeroy,
+acquit myself of my duties with distinction, and merit his friendship."
+
+At this discourse the Marechal de Villeroy almost slipped off his chair.
+As soon, at least, as he heard the Words, "Superintendence of the King's
+education," he rested his forehead upon his stick, and remained several
+moments in that posture. He appeared even to understand nothing of the
+rest of the speech. Villars and D'Effiat bent their backs like people
+who had received the last blow. I could see nobody on my own side except
+the Duc de Guiche, who approved through all his prodigious astonishment.
+Estrees became master of himself the first, shook himself, brightened up,
+and looked at the company like a man who returns from the other world.
+
+As soon as M. le Duc had finished, M. le Duc d'Orleans reviewed all the
+company with his eyes, and then said, that the request of M. le Duc was
+just; that he did not think it could be refused; that M. le Marechal de
+Villeroy could not be allowed to remain under a person whom he preceded
+in rank; that the superintendence of the King's education could not be
+more worthily filled than by M. le Duc; and that he was persuaded all
+would be of one voice in this matter. Immediately afterwards, he asked
+M. le Prince de Conti to give his opinion, who did so in two words; then
+he asked the Keeper of the Seals, whose reply was equally brief; then he
+asked me.
+
+I simply said, looking at M. le Duc, that I was for the change with all
+my heart. The rest, M. de la Force excepted (who said a single word),
+voted without speaking, simply bowing; the Marshals and D'Effiat scarcely
+moved their eyes, and those of Villars glistened with fury.
+
+The opinions taken, the Regent turning towards M. le Duc, said,
+"Monsieur, I think you would like to read what you intend to say to the
+King at the Bed of Justice."
+
+Therefore M. le Duc read it as it has been printed. Some moments of sad
+and profound silence succeeded this reading, during which the Marechal de
+Villeroy, pale and agitated, muttered to himself. At last, like a man
+who has made up his mind, he turned with bended head, expiring eyes, and
+feeble voice, towards the Regent, and said, "I will simply say these two
+words; here are all the dispositions of the late king overturned, I
+cannot see it without grief. M. du Maine is very unfortunate."
+
+"Monsieur," replied the Regent, in a loud and animated tone, "M. du Maine
+is my brother-in-law, but I prefer an open enemy to a hidden one."
+
+At this great declaration several lowered their heads. The Marechal de
+Villeroy nearly swooned; sighs began to make themselves heard near me, as
+though by stealth; everybody felt by this that the scabbard was thrown
+away.
+
+The Keeper of the Seals, to make a diversion; proposed to read the speech
+he had prepared to serve as preface to the decree to be read at the Bed
+of justice, abrogating the Parliament decrees; as he was finishing it,
+some one entered to say he was asked for at the door.
+
+He went out, returning immediately afterwards, not to his place, but to
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, whom he took into a window, meditative silence
+reigning around. The Regent having returned back to his place, said to
+the company, he had received information that the Chief-President of the
+Parliament, notwithstanding the reply previously made, had proposed that
+the Parliament should not go to the Tuileries, asking, "What it was to do
+in a place where it would not be free?" that he had proposed to send a
+message to the King, stating that "his Parliament would hear his wishes
+in their ordinary place of meeting, whenever it should please him to come
+or to send." The Regent added that these propositions had made
+considerable sensation, and that the Parliament were at that moment
+debating upon them. The Council appeared much astounded at this news,
+but M. le Duc d'Orleans said, in a very composed manner, that he did not
+expect a refusal; he ordered the Keeper of the Seals, nevertheless, to
+propose such measures as it would be best to take, supposing the motion
+of the Chief-President should be carried.
+
+The Keeper of the Seals declared that he could not believe the Parliament
+would be guilty of this disobedience, contrary to all law and usage.
+He showed at some length that nothing was so pernicious as to expose the
+King's authority to a formal opposition, and decided in favour of the
+immediate interdiction of the Parliament if it fell into this fault.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans added that there was no other course open, and took
+the opinion of M. le Duc, which was strongly in his favour. M. le Prince
+de Conti the same, mine also, that of M. de la Force and of M. de Guiche
+still more so. The Marechal de Villeroy, in a broken voice, seeking big
+words, which would not come in time to him, deplored this extremity, and
+did all he could to avoid giving a precise opinion. Forced at last by
+the Regent to explain himself, he did not dare to oppose, but added that
+he assented with regret, and wished to explain the grievous results of
+the proposed measure. But the Regent, interrupting him, said he need not
+take the trouble: everything had been foreseen; that it would be much
+more grievous to be disobeyed by the Parliament than to force it into
+obedience; and immediately after asked the Duc de Noailles his opinion,
+who replied that it would be very sad to act thus, but that he was for
+it. Villars wished to paraphrase, but contained himself, and said he
+hoped the Parliament would obey. Pressed by the Regent, he proposed to
+wait for fresh news before deciding; but, pressed more closely, he
+declared for the interdiction, with an air of warmth and vexation,
+extremely marked. Nobody after this dared to hesitate, and the majority
+voted by an inclination of the head.
+
+A short time afterwards it was announced to M. le Duc d'Orleans that the
+Parliament had set out on foot, and had begun to defile through the
+palace. This news much cooled the blood of the company, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans more than that of any one else.
+
+After this the Regent, in a cheerful manner, called upon the Presidents
+of the Councils to bring forward any business they might have on hand,
+but not one had any. The Marechal de Villars said, however, that he had
+a matter to produce, and he produced it accordingly, but with a clearness
+which, under the circumstances, was extraordinary. I fancy, however,
+that very few knew what he was talking about. We were all too much
+occupied with more interesting matters, and each voted without speaking.
+Bad luck to those who had had business to bring forward this day; they
+who conducted it would have known but little what they said: they who
+listened, still less.
+
+The Council finished thus, from lack of matter, and a movement was made
+to adjourn it as usual. I stepped in front of M. le Prince de Conti to
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, who understood me, and who begged the company to
+keep their seats. La Vrilliere went out by order for news, but there was
+nothing fresh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIII
+
+It was now a little after ten. We remained a good half-hour in our
+places, talking a little with each other, but on the whole rather silent.
+At the end some grew fidgety and anxious, rose and went to the windows.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans restrained them as well as he could; but at length
+Desgranges entered to say that the Chief-President had already arrived,
+in his coach, and that the Parliament was near. So soon as he had
+retired, the Council rose by groups, and could no longer be kept seated.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans himself at last rose, and all he could do was to
+prohibit everybody from leaving the room under any pretext, and this
+prohibition he repeated two or three times.
+
+Scarcely had we risen when M. le Duc came to me, rejoiced at the success
+that had hitherto been had, and much relieved by the absence of the
+bastards. Soon after I quitted him the Duc d'Orleans came to me,
+overpowered with the same sentiment. I said what I thought of the
+consternation of every one; and painted the expression of M. d'Effiat, at
+which he was not surprised. He was more so about Besons. I asked if he
+was not afraid the bastards would come to the Bed of justice; but he was
+certain they would not. I was resolved, however, to prepare his mind
+against that contingency.
+
+I walked about, slowly and incessantly without fixing myself on any one,
+in order that nothing should escape me, principally attending to the
+doors. I took advantage of the opportunity to say a word here and a word
+there, to pass continually near those who were suspected, to skim and
+interrupt all conversations. D'Antin was often joined by the Duc de
+Noailles, who had resumed his habit of the morning, and continually
+followed me with his eyes. He had an air of consternation, was agitated
+and embarrassed in countenance--he commonly so free and easy! D'Antin
+took me aside to see whether he could not, considering his position, be
+excused from attending the Bed of Justice. He received permission from
+the Regent on certain conditions.
+
+I went then to break in upon the colloquy of D'Effiat and his friends,
+and taking them by surprise, caused D'Effiat to say that he had just
+heard strange resolutions, that he did not know who had advised them,
+that he prayed that M. d'Orleans would find them advantageous.
+I replied, agreeing with him. The Marechal de Villeroy sighed, muttered,
+and shook his wig, Villars spoke more at length, and blamed sharply what
+had been done. I assented to everything, being there not to persuade but
+to watch.
+
+Nevertheless we grew weary of the slowness of the Parliament, and often
+sent out for news. Several of the Council tried to leave the room,
+perhaps to blab, but the Regent would allow no one but La Vrilliere to go
+out, and seeing that the desire to leave increased, stood at the door
+himself. I suggested to him that Madame d'Orleans would be in a great
+state of uneasiness, and suggested that he should write to her; but he
+could not be persuaded to do it, though he promised.
+
+At last the Parliament arrived, and behold us! like children, all at the
+windows. The members came in red robes, two by two, by the grand door of
+the court, which they passed in order to reach the Hall of the
+Ambassadors, where the Chief-President, who had come in his carriage with
+the president Haligre, awaited them.
+
+The Parliament being in its place, the peers having arrived, and the
+presidents having put on their furs behind the screens arranged for that
+purpose in an adjoining room, a messenger came to inform us that all was
+ready. The question had been agitated, whether the King should dine
+meanwhile, and I had it carried in the negative, fearing lest coming
+immediately after to the Bed of justice, and having eaten before his
+usual hour, he might be ill, which would have been a grievous
+inconvenience. As soon as it was announced to the Regent that we could
+set out, his Royal Highness sent word to the Parliament, to prepare the
+deputation to receive the King; and then said aloud to the company, that
+it was time to go in search of his Majesty.
+
+At these words I felt a storm of joy sweep over me, at the thought of the
+grand spectacle that was going to pass in my presence, which warned me to
+be doubly on my guard. I tried to furnish myself with the strongest dose
+of seriousness, gravity, and modesty. I followed M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+who entered the King's room by the little door, and who found the King in
+his cabinet. On the way the Duc d'Albret made me some very marked
+compliments, with evident desire to discover something. I put him off
+with politeness, complaints of the crowd, of the annoyance of my dress,
+and gained thus the King's cabinet.
+
+The King was dressed as usual. When the Duc d'Orleans had been a few
+moments with him, he asked him if he would be pleased to go: and the way
+was instantly' cleared, a procession formed, and the King moved towards
+the Hall of the Swiss Guard.
+
+I now hastened to the chamber, where the Bed of justice was to be held.
+The passage to it was tolerably, free. The officers of the body-guard
+made place for me and for the Duc de la Force, and Marechal de Villars,
+who followed me, one by one. I stopped a moment in the passage at the
+entrance to the room, seized with joy upon seeing this grand spectacle,
+and at the thought of the grand movement that was drawing nigh, I needed
+a pause in order to recover myself sufficiently to see distinctly what
+I looked at, and to put on a new coat of seriousness and of modesty.
+I fully expected I should be well examined by a company which had been
+carefully taught not to like me, and by the curious spectators waiting to
+see what was to be hatched out of so profound a secret, in such an
+important assembly, summoned so hastily. Moreover, nobody was ignorant
+that I knew all, at least from the Council of the Regency I had just
+left.
+
+I did not deceive myself. As soon as I appeared, all eyes were fixed
+upon me. I slowly advanced towards the chief greffier, and introducing
+myself between the two seats, I traversed the length of the room, in
+front of the King's people, who saluted me with a smiling air, and I
+ascended over three rows of high seats, where all the peers were in their
+places, and who rose as I approached the steps. I respectfully saluted
+them from the third row.
+
+Seated in my elevated place, and with nothing before me, I was able to
+glance over the whole assembly. I did so at once, piercing everybody
+with my eyes. One thing alone restrained me; it was that I did not dare
+to fix my eyes upon certain objects. I feared the fire and brilliant
+significance of my looks at that moment so appreciated by everybody: and
+the more I saw I attracted attention, the more anxious was I to wean
+curiosity by my discreetness. I cast, nevertheless, a glittering glance
+upon the Chief-President and his friends, for the examination of whom I
+was admirably placed. I carried my looks over all the Parliament,
+and saw there an astonishment, a silence, a consternation, such as I had
+not expected, and which was of good augury to me. The Chief-President,
+insolently crest-fallen, the other presidents disconcerted, and attentive
+to all, furnished me the most agreeable spectacle. The simply curious
+(among which I rank those who had no vote) appeared to me not less
+surprised (but without the bewilderment of the others), calmly surprised;
+in a word, everybody showed much expectation and desire to divine what
+had passed at the Council.
+
+I had but little leisure for this examination, for the King immediately
+arrived. The hubbub which followed his entrance, and which lasted until
+his Majesty and all who accompanied him were in their places, was another
+singularity. Everybody sought to penetrate the Regent, the Keeper of the
+Seals, and the principal personages. The departure of the bastards from
+the cabinet of the Council had redoubled attention, but everybody did not
+know of that departure; now everybody perceived their absence. The
+consternation of the Marechals--of their senior--(the governor of the
+King) was evident. It augmented the dejection of the Chief-President,
+who not seeing his master the Duc du Maine, cast a terrible glance upon
+M. de Sully and me, who exactly occupied the places of the two brothers.
+In an instant all the eyes of the assembly were cast, at the same time,
+upon us; and I remarked that the meditativeness and expectation increased
+in every face. That of the Regent had an air of gentle but resolute
+majesty completely new to it, his eyes attentive, his deportment grave,
+but easy. M. le Duc, sage, measured, but encircled by I know not what
+brilliancy, which adorned all his person and which was evidently kept
+down. M. le Prince de Conti appeared dull, pensive, his mind far away
+perhaps. I was not able during the sitting to see them except now and
+then, and under pretext of looking at the King, who was serious,
+majestic, and at the same time as pretty as can be imagined; grave, with
+grace in all his bearing, his air attentive, and not at all wearied,
+playing his part very well and without embarrassment.
+
+When all was ready, Argenson, the Keeper of the Seals, remained some
+minutes at his desk motionless, looking down, and the fire which sprang
+from his eyes seemed to burn every breast. An extreme silence eloquently
+announced the fear, the attention, the trouble, and the curiosity of all
+the expectants. The Parliament, which under the deceased King had often
+summoned this same Argenson, and as lieutenant of police had often given
+him its orders, he standing uncovered at the bar of the house; the
+Parliament, which since the regency had displayed its ill-will towards
+him so far as to excite public remark, and which still detained prisoners
+and papers to vex him; this Chief President so superior to him, so
+haughty, so proud of his Duc du Maine; this Lamoignon, who had boasted he
+would have him hanged at his Chamber of justice, where he had so
+completely dishonoured himself: this Parliament and all saw him clad in
+the ornaments of the chief office of the robe, presiding over them,
+effacing them, and entering upon his functions to teach them their duty,
+to read them a public lesson the first time he found himself at their
+head! These vain presidents were seen turning their looks from a man who
+imposed so strongly upon their pride, and who annihilated their arrogance
+in the place even whence they drew it, and rendered them stupid by
+regards they could not sustain.
+
+After the Keeper of the Seals (according to the manner of the preachers)
+had accustomed himself to this august audience, he uncovered himself,
+rose, mounted to the King, knelt before the steps of the throne, by the
+side of the middle of the steps, where the grand chamberlain was lying
+upon cushions, and took the King's orders, descended, placed himself in
+his chair and covered himself. Let us say it once for all, he performed
+the same ceremony at the commencement of each business, and likewise
+before and after taking the opinion upon each; at the bar of justice
+neither he nor the chamberlain ever speaks otherwise to the King; and
+every time he went to the King on this occasion the Regent rose and
+approached him to hear and suggest the orders. Having returned back into
+his place, he opened, after some moments of silence, this great scene by
+a discourse. The report of the Bed of justice, made by the Parliament
+and printed, which is in the hands of everybody, renders it unnecessary
+for me to give the discourse of the Keeper of the Seals, that of the
+Chief-President, those of the King's people, and the different papers
+that were read and registered. I will simply content myself with some
+observations. This first discourse, the reading of the letters of the
+Keeper of the Seals, and the speech of the Advocate-General Blancmesnil
+which followed, the opinions taken, the order given, sometimes reiterated
+to keep the two double doors open, did not surprise anybody; served only
+as the preface to all the rest; to sharpen curiosity more and more as the
+moment approached in which it was to be satisfied.
+
+This first act finished, the second was announced by the discourse of the
+Keeper of the Seals, the force of which penetrated all the Parliament.
+General consternation spread itself over their faces. Scarcely one of
+the members dared to speak to his neighbour. I remarked that the Abbe
+Pucelle, who, although only counsellor-clerk, was upon the forms in front
+of me, stood, so that he might hear better every time the Keeper of the
+Seals spoke. Bitter grief, obviously full of vexation, obscured the
+visage of the Chief-President. Shame and confusion were painted there.
+
+After the vote, and when the Keeper of the Seals had pronounced, I saw
+the principal members of the Parliament in commotion. The Chief-
+President was about to speak. He did so by uttering the remonstrance of
+the Parliament, full of the most subtle and impudent malice against the
+Regent, and of insolence against the King. The villain trembled,
+nevertheless, in pronouncing it. His voice broken, his eyes constrained,
+his flurry and confusion, contradicted the venomous words he uttered;
+libations he could not abstain from offering to himself and his company.
+This was the moment when I relished, with delight utterly impossible to
+express, the sight of these haughty lawyers (who had dared to refuse us
+the salutation), prostrated upon their knees, and rendering, at our feet,
+homage to the throne, whilst we sat covered upon elevated seats, at the
+side of that same throne. These situations and these postures, so widely
+disproportioned, plead of themselves with all the force of evidence, the
+cause of those who are really and truly 'laterales regis' against this
+'vas electum' of the third estate. My eyes fixed, glued, upon these
+haughty bourgeois, with their uncovered heads humiliated to the level of
+our feet, traversed the chief members kneeling or standing, and the ample
+folds of those fur robes of rabbit-skin that would imitate ermine, which
+waved at each long and redoubled genuflexion; genuflexions which only
+finished by command of the King.
+
+The remonstrance being finished, the Keeper of the Seals mentioned to the
+King their wishes, asking further opinions; took his place again; cast
+his eyes on the Chief-President, and said: The King wishes to be obeyed,
+and obeyed immediately.
+
+This grand speech was a thunder-bolt which overturned councillors and
+presidents in the most marked manner. All of them lowered their heads,
+and the majority kept them lowered for a long time. The rest of the
+spectators, except the marshals of France, appeared little affected by
+this desolation.
+
+But this--an ordinary triumph--was nothing to that which was to follow.
+After an interval of some few minutes, the Keeper of the Seals went up
+again to the King, returned to his place, and remained there in silence
+some little time. Then everybody clearly saw that the Parliamentary
+affair being finished, something else must be in the wind. Some thought
+that a dispute which the Dukes had had with the Parliament, concerning
+one of its usurpations, was now to be settled in our favour. Others who
+had noticed the absence of the bastards, guessed it was something that
+affected them; but nobody divined what, much less its extent.
+
+At last the Keeper of the Seals opened his mouth, and in his first
+sentence announced the fall of one brother and the preservation of the
+other. The effect of this upon every one was inexpressible. However
+occupied I might be in containing mine, I lost nothing. Astonishment
+prevailed over every other sentiment. Many appeared glad, either from
+hatred to the Duc du Maine, or from affection for the Comte de Toulouse;
+several were in consternation. The Chief-President lost all countenance;
+his visage, so self-sufficient and so audacious, was seized with a
+convulsive movement; the excess alone of his rage kept him from swooning.
+It was even worse at the reading of the declaration. Each word was
+legislative and decreed a fresh fall. The attention was general; every
+one was motionless, so as not to lose a word; all eyes were fixed upon
+the 'greffier' who was reading. A third of this reading over, the Chief-
+President, gnashing the few teeth left in his head, rested his forehead
+upon his stick that he held in both hands, and in this singular and
+marked position finished listening to the declaration, so overwhelming
+for him, so resurrectionary for us.
+
+Yet, as for me, I was dying with joy. I was so oppressed that I feared I
+should swoon; my heart dilated to excess, and no longer found room to
+beat. The violence I did myself, in order to let nothing escape me, was
+infinite; and, nevertheless, this torment was delicious. I compared the
+years and the time of servitude; the grievous days, when dragged at the
+tail of the Parliamentary car as a victim, I had served as a triumph for
+the bastards; the various steps by which they had mounted to the summit
+above our heads; I compared them, I say, to this court of justice and of
+rule, to this frightful fall which, at the same time, raised us by the
+force of the shock. I thanked myself that it was through me this had
+been brought about. I had triumphed, I was revenged; I swam in my
+vengeance; I enjoyed the full accomplishment of desires the most vehement
+and the most continuous of all my life. I was tempted to fling away all
+thought and care. Nevertheless, I did not fail to listen to this
+vivifying reading (every note of which sounded upon my heart as the bow
+upon an instrument), or to examine, at the same time, the impressions it
+made upon every one.
+
+At the first word the Keeper of the Seals said of this affair, the eyes
+of the two bishop-peers met mine. Never did I see surprise equal to
+theirs, or so marked a transport of joy. I had not been able to speak to
+them on account of the distance of our places; and they could not resist
+the movement which suddenly seized them. I swallowed through my eyes a
+delicious draught of their joy, and turned away my glance from theirs,
+lest I should succumb beneath this increase of delight. I no longer
+dared to look at them.
+
+The reading finished, the other declaration in favour of the Comte de
+Toulouse was immediately commenced by the 'greffier', according to the
+command of the Keeper of the Seals, who had given them to him both
+together. It seemed to complete the confusion of the Chief-President and
+the friends of the Duc du Maine, by the contrast between the treatment of
+the two brothers.
+
+After the Advocate-General had spoken, the Keeper of the Seals mounted to
+the King, with the opinions of the Princes of the Blood; then came to the
+Duc de Sully and me. Fortunately I had more memory than he had, or
+wished to have; therefore it was exactly my affair. I presented to him
+my hat with a bunch of feathers in the front, in an express manner very
+marked, saying to him loudly enough: "No, Monsieur, we cannot be judges;
+we are parties to the cause, and we have only to thank the King for the
+justice he renders us."
+
+He smiled and made an excuse. I pushed him away before the Duc de Sully
+had time to open his mouth; and looking round I saw with pleasure that my
+refusal had been marked by everybody. The Keeper of the Seals retired as
+he came, and without taking the opinions of the peers, or of the bishop-
+peers, went to the marshals of France; thence descended to the Chief-
+President and to the 'presidents a mortier', and so to the rest of the
+lower seats; after which, having been to the King and returned to his
+place, he pronounced the decree of registration, and thus put the
+finishing touch to my joy.
+
+Immediately after M. le Duc rose, and having made his reverences to the
+King forgot to sit down and cover himself to speak, according to the
+uninterrupted right and usage of the peers of France; therefore not one
+of us rose. He made, then, slowly and uncovered, the speech which has
+been printed at the end of the preceding ones, and read it not very
+intelligibly because his organ was not favourable. As soon as he had
+finished, M. le Duc d'Orleans rose, and committed the same fault. He
+said, also standing and uncovered, that the request of M. le Duc appeared
+to him just; and after some praises added, that M. le Duc du Maine was
+now reduced to the rank given to him by his peerage, M. le Marechal de
+Villeroy, his senior, could no longer remain under him, which was a new
+and very strong reason in addition to those M. le Duc had alleged. This
+request had carried to the highest point the astonishment of the assembly
+and the despair of the Chief-President, and the handful of people who
+appeared by their embarrassment to be interested in the Duc du Maine.
+The Marechal de Villeroy, without knitting his brow, had a disturbed
+look, and the eyes of the chief accuser oftener were inundated with
+tears. I was not able to distinguish well his cousin and intimate friend
+the Marechal d'Huxelles, who screened himself beneath the vast brim of
+his hat, thrust over his eyes, and who did not stir. The Chief-
+President, stunned by this last thunder-bolt, elongated his face so
+surprisingly, that I thought for a moment his chin had fallen upon his
+knees.
+
+However, the Keeper of the Seals having called upon the King's people to
+speak, they replied that they had not heard the proposition of M. le Duc,
+therefore his paper was passed to them from hand to hand, during which
+the Keeper of the Seals repeated very kindly what the Regent had added
+upon the seniority of the Marechal de Villeroy over the Duc du Maine.
+Blancmesnil merely threw his eyes upon the paper of M. le Duc, and spoke,
+after which the Keeper of the Seals put it to the vote. I gave mine loud
+enough, and said, "As for this affair I vote with all my heart for giving
+the superintendence of the King's education to M. le Duc."
+
+The votes being taken, the Keeper, of the Seals called the chief
+'greffier', ordered him to bring his paper and his little bureau near
+his, so as to do all at once; and in presence of the King register
+everything that had been read and resolved, and signed also. This was
+done without any difficulty, according to forms, under the eyes of the
+Keeper of the Seals, who never raised them: but as there were five or six
+documents to register they took up a long time.
+
+I had well observed the King when his education was in question, and I
+remarked in him no sort of alteration, change, or constraint. This was
+the last act of the drama: he was quite lively now the registrations
+commenced. However, as there were no more speeches to occupy him, he
+laughed with those near, amused himself with everything, even remarking
+that the Duc de Louvigny had on a velvet coat, and laughed at the heat he
+must feel, and all this with grace. This indifference for M. du Maine
+struck everybody, and publicly contradicted what his partisans tried to
+publish, viz., that his eyes had been red, but that neither at the Bed of
+justice, nor since, he had dared to show his trouble. The truth is he
+had his eyes dry and serene the whole time, and pronounced the name of
+the Duc du Maine only once since, which was after dinner the same day,
+when he asked where he had gone, with a very indifferent air, without
+saying a word more, then or since, or naming his children, who took
+little trouble to see him; and when they went it was in order to have
+even in his presence their little court apart, and to divert themselves
+among themselves. As for the Duc du Maine, either from policy or because
+he thought it not yet time, he only, saw the King in the morning,
+sometimes in his bed, and not at all during the rest of the day, except
+when obliged by his functions.
+
+During the registration I gently passed my eyes over the whole assembly.,
+and though I constantly constrained them, I could not resist the
+temptation to indemnify myself upon the Chief-President; I perseveringly
+overwhelmed him, therefore, a hundred different times during the sitting,
+with my hard-hitting regards. Insult, contempt, disdain, triumph, were
+darted at him from my eyes,--and pierced him to the very marrow often he
+lowered his eyes when he caught my gaze once or twice he raised his upon
+me, and I took pleasure in annoying him by sly but malicious smiles which
+completed his vexation. I bathed myself in his rage, and amused myself
+by making him feel it. I sometimes played with him by pointing him out
+to my two neighbours when he could perceive this movement; in a word, I
+pressed upon him without mercy, as heavily as I could.
+
+At last the registration finished, the King descended the throne, and was
+followed by the Regent, the two Princes of the Blood, and the necessary
+gentlemen of the suite. At the same time the Marshals of France
+descended, and while the King traversed the room, accompanied by the
+deputation which had received him, they passed between the seats of the
+councillors opposite us, to follow him to the door by which his Majesty
+departed; and at the same time the two bishop-peers, passing before the
+throne, came to put themselves at our head, and squeezed my hands and
+my head (in passing before me) with warm gratification.
+
+We followed them two by two according to seniority, and went straight
+forward to the door. The Parliament began to move directly afterwards.
+Place was made for us to the steps. The crowd, the people, the display
+contrasted our conversation and our joy. I was sorry for it.
+
+I immediately gained my coach, which I found near, and which took me
+skilfully out of the court, so that I met with no check, and in a quarter
+of an hour after leaving the sitting, I was at home.
+
+I had need of a little rest, for pleasure even is fatigue, and happiness,
+pure and untroubled as it may be, wearies the spirit. I entered my
+house, then, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, intending to repose
+myself, and in order to do so in security, I closed my door to everybody.
+
+Alas! I had not been many minutes at home when I was called away to
+perform one of the most painful and annoying commissions it was ever my
+ill fortune to be charged with.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIV.
+
+A little while before leaving the Cabinet of the Council for the Bed of
+Justice, M. le Duc d'Orleans had begged me to go to the Palais Royal with
+the Keeper of the Seals immediately after the ceremony had ended. As I
+saw that nothing had been undertaken, I thought myself free of this
+conference, and was glad to avoid a new proof that I had been in a
+secret which had excited envy. I went, therefore, straight home,
+arriving between two and three. I found at the foot of the steps
+the Duc d'Humieres, Louville, and all my family, even my mother, whom
+curiosity had drawn from her chamber, which she had not left since the
+commencement of the winter. We remained below in my apartment, where,
+while changing my coat and my shirt, I replied to their eager questions;
+when, lo! M. de Biron, who had forced my door which I had closed against
+everybody, in order to obtain a little repose, was announced.
+
+Biron put his head in at my door, and begged to be allowed to say a word
+to me. I passed, half-dressed, into my chamber with him. He said that
+M. le Duc d'Orleans had expected me at the Palais Royal immediately after
+the Bed of justice, and was surprised I had not appeared. He added that
+there was no great harm done; and that the Regent wished to see me now,
+in order that I might execute a commission for him. I asked Biron what
+it was? He replied that it was to go to Saint-Clerc to announce what had
+taken place to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans!
+
+This was a thunder-bolt for me. I disputed with Biron, who exhorted me
+to lose no time, but to go at once to the Palais Royal, where I was
+expected with impatience. I returned into my cabinet with him, so
+changed in aspect that Madame de Saint-Simon was alarmed. I explained
+what was the matter, and after Biron had chatted a moment, and again
+pressed me to set out at once, he went away to eat his dinner. Ours was
+served. I waited a little time in order to recover myself, determined
+not to vex M. le Duc d'Orleans by dawdling, took some soup and an egg,
+and went off to the Palais Royal.
+
+It was in vain that, using all the eloquence I could command and all the
+liberty I dared employ, I protested against being employed for this duty.
+I represented to the Regent what an ill-chosen messenger I should be to
+carry to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans news of the disgrace of her brother
+the Duc du Maine; I, who had always been such an open and declared enemy
+to the bastards! I represented to him that people would say I went on
+purpose to triumph over her at what had been done, and that she herself
+would look upon my presence as a kind of insult. In vain! in vain! were
+my arguments, my entreaties, my instances. M. le Duc d'Orleans had
+determined that I should go on this errand, and go I must.
+
+As I left his house to execute my luckless commission, I found one of
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans' pages, booted and spurred, who had just
+arrived from Saint-Cloud. I begged him to return at once, at a gallop,
+and say, on arriving, to the Duchesse Sforze (one of Madame la Duchesse
+d'Orleans' ladies) that I should be there soon with a message from M. le
+Duc d'Orleans, and to ask her to meet me as I descended from my coach.
+My object was to charge her with the message I had to deliver, and not to
+see Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans at all. But my poor prudence was
+confounded by that of the page, who had not less than I. He took good
+care not to be the bearer of such ill news as he had just learned at the
+Palais Royal, and which was now everywhere public. He contented himself
+with saying that I was coming, sent by M. le Duc d'Orleans, spoke not a
+word to the Duchesse Sforze, and disappeared at once. This is what I
+afterwards learned, and what I saw clearly enough on arriving at Saint-
+Cloud.
+
+I went there at a gentle trot, in order to give time to the page to
+arrive before me, and to the Duchesse Sforze to receive me. During the
+journey I applauded myself for my address, but feared lest I should be
+obliged to see Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans after Madame Sforze. I could
+not imagine that Saint-Cloud was in ignorance of what had occurred, and,
+nevertheless, I was in an agony that cannot be expressed, and this
+increased as I approached the end of my journey. If it is disagreeable
+to announce unpleasant news to the indifferent, how much more is it to
+announce them to the deeply interested!
+
+Penetrated with this dolorous sentiment I arrived in the grand court of
+Saint-Cloud, and saw everybody at the windows, running from all parts.
+I alighted, and asked the first comer to lead me to the Duchesse Sforze,
+the position of whose apartments I am unacquainted with. I was told that
+Madame Sforze was in the chapel with Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. Then
+I asked for the Marechale de Rochefort, and after a time she arrived,
+hobbling along with her stick. I disputed with her, wishing to see
+Madame Sforze, who was not to be found. I was anxious at all events to
+go to her room and wait, but the inexorable Marechale pulled me by the
+arm, asking what news I brought. Worn out at last, I said, "News? news
+that you are acquainted with."
+
+"How, acquainted with?" she asked. "We know nothing, except that a Bed
+of justice has been held, and we are expiring to know why, and what has
+passed there."
+
+My astonishment at this ignorance was extreme, and I made her swear and
+repeat four times over that nothing was known at Saint-Cloud. I told her
+thereupon what had happened, and she, in her turn, astonished, almost
+fell backwards! But where was Madame Sforze? she came not, and do what
+I must, say what I might, I was forced to carry, my message to Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans. I was sorely loth to do so, but was dragged by the
+hand almost as a sheep is led to the slaughter.
+
+I stood before Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans after having passed through
+an apartment filled with her people, fear painted upon all their faces.
+I saluted her; but, oh! how differently from my usual manner! She did
+not perceive this at first, and begged me, with a cheerful natural air,
+to approach her; but seeing my trouble, she exclaimed, "Good Heavens,
+Monsieur, what a face you wear! What news bring you?"
+
+Seeing that I remained silent and motionless, she became more moved, and
+repeated her questions. I advanced a few steps towards her, and at her
+third appeal, I said: "Madame, you know nothing then?"
+
+"No, Monsieur; I simply know that there has been a Bed of justice: what
+has passed there I am quite ignorant of."
+
+"Ah, Madame," I replied, half turning away; "I am more unhappy, then,
+than I thought to be."
+
+"What is the matter?" exclaimed she; "what has happened?" (rising and
+sitting bolt upright on the sofa she was stretched upon.) "Come near and
+sit down!"
+
+I approached; stated that I was in despair. She, more and more moved,
+said to me, "But speak; better to learn bad news from one's friend than
+from others."
+
+This remark pierced me to the heart, and made me sensible of the grief I
+was going to inflict upon her. I summoned up courage, and I told her
+all.
+
+The tears of Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans flowed abundantly at my
+recital. She did not answer a word, uttered no cry, but wept bitterly.
+She pointed to a seat and I sat down upon it, my eyes during several
+instants fixed upon the floor. Afterwards I said that M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, who had rather forced upon me this commission, than charged me
+with it, had expressly commanded me to tell her that he had very strong
+proofs in his hands against M. du Maine; that he had kept them back a
+long time, but could no longer do so now. She gently replied to me that
+her brother was very unfortunate and shortly afterwards asked if I knew
+what his crime was. I said that M. le Duc d'Orleans had not told me; and
+that I had not dared to question him upon a subject of this nature,
+seeing that he was not inclined to talk of it.
+
+More tears shortly afterwards filled her eyes. Her brother must be very
+criminal, she said, to be so treated.
+
+I remained some time upon my seat, not daring to raise my eyes, in the
+most painful state possible, and not knowing whether to remain or go
+away. At last I acquainted her with my difficulty; said I fancied she
+would like to be alone some little time before giving me her orders, but
+that respect kept me equally in suspense as to whether I should go or
+stay. After a short silence, she said she should like to see her women.
+I rose, sent them to her, and said to them, if her Royal Highness asked
+for me, I should be with the Duchesse Sforze, or the Marechale Rochefort;
+but I could find neither of these two ladies, so I went up to Madame.
+
+She rose as soon as I appeared, and said to me, with eagerness, "Well,
+Monsieur, what news?" At the same time her ladies retired, and I was left
+alone with her.
+
+I commenced by an excuse for not coming to see her first, as was my duty,
+on the ground that M. le Duc d'Orleans had assured me she would not
+object to my commencing with Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. She did not
+object, in fact, but asked me for my news with much eagerness. I told
+her what had happened. Joy spread over her face. She replied with a
+mighty, "At last!" which she repeated, saying, her son long since ought
+to have struck this blow, but that he was too good. I mentioned to her
+that she was standing, but for politeness she remained so. After some
+further talk she begged me to state all the details of this celebrated
+morning.
+
+I again recalled to her mind that she was standing, and represented that
+what she desired to learn would take a long time to relate; but her ardor
+to know it was extreme. I began then my story, commencing with the very
+morning. At the end of a quarter of an hour, Madame seated herself, but
+with the greatest politeness. I was nearly an hour with her, continually
+telling and sometimes replying to her questions. She was delighted at
+the humiliation of the Parliament, and of the bastards, and that her son
+had at last displayed some firmness.
+
+At this point the Marechale de Rochefort entered, and summoned me back to
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. I found that princess extended upon the
+sofa where I had left her, an inkstand upon her knees and a pen in her
+hand. She had commenced a reply to M. le Duc d'Orleans, but had not been
+able to finish it. Looking at me with an air of gentleness and of
+friendship, she observed, "Tears escape me; I have begged you to descend
+in order to render me a service; my hand is unsteady, I pray you finish
+my writing for me;" and she handed to me the inkstand and her letter. I
+took them, and she dictated to me the rest of the epistle, that I at once
+added to what she had written.
+
+I was infinitely amazed at the conciseness and appropriateness of the
+expressions she readily found, in the midst of her violent emotion, her
+sobs, and her tears. She finished by saying that she was going to
+Montmartre to mourn the misfortunes of her brother, and pray God for his
+prosperity. I shall regret all my life I did not transcribe this letter.
+All its expressions were so worthy, so fitting, so measured, everything
+being according to truth and duty; and the letter, in fact, being so
+perfectly well written, that although I remember it roughly, I dare not
+give it, for fear of spoiling it. What a pity that a mind capable of
+such self-possession, at such a moment, should have become valueless from
+its leaning towards illegitimacy.
+
+After this I had another interview with Madame, and a long talk with my
+sure and trusty friend Madame Sforze. Then I set out for Paris, went
+straight to the Palais Royal, and found M. le Duc d'Orleans with Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry. He was delighted when he heard what Madame had
+said respecting him; but he was not particularly pleased when he found
+that Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans (who after telling me she would go to
+Montmartre, had changed her mind), was coming to the Palais Royal.
+
+I learned afterwards that she came about half an hour after I left. At
+first she was all humility and sorrow, hoping to soften the Regent by
+this conduct. Then she passed to tears, sobs, cries, reproaches,
+expecting to make him by these means undo what he had done, and reinstate
+M. du Maine in the position he had lost. But all her efforts proving
+vain, she adopted another course: her sorrow turned to rage,--her tears
+to looks of anger. Still in vain. She could gain nothing; vex and annoy
+M. le Duc d'Orleans as she might by her conduct. At last, finding there
+was no remedy to be had, she was obliged to endure her sorrow as best she
+might.
+
+As for me, I was erased entirely from her books. She looked upon me as
+the chief cause of what had occurred, and would not see me. I remained
+ever afterwards at variance with her. I had nothing to reproach myself
+with, however, so that her enmity did not very deeply penetrate me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCV
+
+It was scarcely to be expected, perhaps, that M. du Maine would remain
+altogether quiet under the disgrace which had been heaped upon him by the
+proceedings at the Bed of Justice. Soon indeed we found that he had been
+secretly working out the most perfidious and horrible schemes for a long
+time before that assembly; and that after his fall, he gave himself up
+with redoubled energy to his devilish devices.
+
+Towards the end of this memorable year, 1718, it was discovered that
+Alberoni, by means of Cellamare, Spanish Ambassador at our Court, was
+preparing a plot against the Regent. The scheme was nothing less than to
+throw all the realm into revolt against the government of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans; to put the King of Spain at the head of the affairs of France,
+with a council and ministers named by him, and a lieutenant, who would in
+fact have been regent; this self-same lieutenant to be no other than the
+Duc du Maine!
+
+This precious plot was, fortunately, discovered before it had come to
+maturity. Had such not happened, the consequences might have been very
+serious, although they could scarcely have been fatal. The conspirators
+counted upon the Parliaments of Paris and of Brittany, upon all the old
+Court accustomed to the yoke of the bastards, and to that of Madame de
+Maintenon; and they flung about promises with an unsparing hand to all
+who supported them. After all, it must be admitted, however, that the
+measures they took and the men they secured, were strangely unequal to
+the circumstances of the case, when the details became known; in fact,
+there was a general murmur of surprise among the public, at the
+contemptible nature of the whole affair.
+
+But let me relate the circumstances accompanying the discovery of M. du
+Maine's pitiable treachery.
+
+Cellamare, as I have said, was Spanish Ambassador at our Court. He had
+been one of the chief movers in the plot. He had excited, as much as lay
+in his power, discontent against the Regent's government; he had done his
+best to embroil France with Spain; he had worked heart and soul with M.
+du Maine, to carry out the common end they had in view. So much
+preparation had been made; so much of the treason train laid, that at
+last it became necessary to send to Alberoni a full and clear account of
+all that had been done, so as to paint exactly the position of affairs,
+and determine the measures that remained to be taken. But how to send
+such an account as this? To trust it to the ordinary channels of
+communication would have been to run a great risk of exposure and
+detection. To send it by private hand would have been suspicious, if the
+hand were known, and dangerous if it were not: Cellamare had long since
+provided for this difficulty.
+
+He had caused a young ecclesiastic to be sent from Spain, who came to
+Paris as though for his pleasure. There he was introduced to young
+Monteleon, son of a former ambassador at our Court, who had been much
+liked. The young ecclesiastic was called the Abbe Portocarrero, a name
+regarded with favour in France. Monteleon came from the Hague, and was
+going to Madrid. Portocarrero came from Madrid, and was going back
+there. What more natural than that the two young men should travel in
+company? What less natural than that the two young men, meeting each
+other by pure accident in Paris, should be charged by the ambassador with
+any packet of consequence, he having his own couriers, and the use, for
+the return journey, of those sent to him from Spain? In fact, it may be
+believed that these young people themselves were perfectly ignorant of
+what they were charged with, and simply believed that, as they were going
+to Spain, the ambassador merely seized the occasion to entrust them with
+some packet of no special importance.
+
+They set out, then, at the commencement of December, furnished with
+passports from the King--(for Alberoni had openly caused almost a rupture
+between the two Courts)--with a Spanish banker, who had been established
+in England, where he had become bankrupt for a large amount, so that the
+English government had obtained permission from the Regent to arrest him,
+if they could, anywhere in France. It will sometimes be perceived that I
+am ill-instructed in this affair; but I can only tell what I know: and as
+for the rest, I give my conjectures. In fact, the Abbe Dubois kept
+everybody so much in the dark, that even M. le Duc d'Orleans was not
+informed of all.
+
+Whether the arrival of the Abbe Portocarrero in Paris, and his short stay
+there, seemed suspicious to the Abbe Dubois and his emissaries, or
+whether he had corrupted some of the principal people of the Spanish
+Ambassador and this Court, and learned that these young men were charged
+with a packet of importance; whether there was no other mystery than the
+bad company of the bankrupt banker, and that the anxiety of Dubois to
+oblige his friends the English, induced him to arrest the three
+travellers and seize their papers, lest the banker should have confided
+his to the young men, I know not: but however it may have been, it is
+certain that the Abbe Dubois arrested the three travellers at Poitiers,
+and carried off their papers, a courier bringing these papers to him
+immediately afterwards.
+
+Great things sometimes spring from chance. The courier from Poitiers
+entered the house of the Abbe Dubois just as the Regent entered the
+opera. Dubois glanced over the papers, and went and related the news of
+this capture to M. le Duc Orleans, as he left his box. This prince, who
+was accustomed to shut himself up with his roues at that hour, did so
+with a carelessness to which everything yielded, under pretext that
+Dubois had not had sufficient time to examine all the papers. The first
+few hours of the morning he was not himself. His head, still confused by
+the fumes of the wine and by the undigested supper of the previous night,
+was not in a state to understand anything, and the secretaries of state
+have often told me that was the time they could make him sign anything.
+This was the moment taken by Dubois to acquaint the Regent with as much
+or as little of the contents of the papers as he thought fit. The upshot
+of their interview was, that the Abbe was allowed by the Duc d'Orleans to
+have the control of this matter entirely in his own hands.
+
+The day after the arrival of the courier from Poitiers, Cellamare,
+informed of what had occurred, but who flattered himself that the
+presence of the banker had caused the arrest of the young men, and the
+seizure of their papers, hid his fears under a very tranquil bearing, and
+went, at one o'clock in the day, to M. le Blanc, to ask for a packet of
+letters he had entrusted to Portocarrero and Monteleon on their return to
+Spain. Le Blanc (who had had his lesson prepared beforehand by the Abbe
+Dubois) replied that the packet had been seen; that it contained
+important things, and that, far from being restored to him, he himself
+must go back to his hotel under escort, to meet there M. l'Abbe Dubois.
+The ambassador, who felt that such a compliment would not be attempted
+with out means having been prepared to put it in execution, made no
+difficulty, and did not lose for a moment his address or his
+tranquillity.
+
+During the three hours, at least, passed in his house, in the examination
+of all his bureaux and his boxes, and his papers, Cellamare, like a man
+who fears nothing, and who is sure of his game, treated M. le Blanc very
+civilly; as for the Abbe Dubois, with whom he felt he had no measure to
+keep (all the plot being discovered), he affected to treat him with the
+utmost disdain. Thus Le Blanc, taking hold of a little casket, Cellamare
+cried, "M. le Blanc, M. le Blanc, leave that alone; that is not for you;
+that is for the Abbe Dubois" (who was then present). Then looking at
+him, he added, "He has been a pander all his life, and there are nothing
+but women's letters there."
+
+
+[Illustration: Search Of The Spanish Ambassador--Painted by Maurice
+Leloir--front3]
+
+
+The Abbe Dubois burst out laughing, not daring to grow angry.
+
+When all was examined, the King's seal, and that of the ambassador, were
+put upon all the bureaux and the caskets which contained papers. The
+Abbe Dubois and Le Blanc went off together to give an account of their
+proceedings to the Regent, leaving a company of musketeers to guard the
+ambassador and his household.
+
+I heard of the capture effected at Poitiers, at home, the morning after
+it occurred, without knowing anything of those arrested. As I was at
+table, a servant came to me from M. le Duc d'Orleans, summoning me to a
+council of the regency, at four o'clock that day. As it was not the
+usual day for the council, I asked what was the matter. The messenger
+was surprised at my ignorance and informed me that the Spanish ambassador
+was arrested. As soon as I had eaten a morsel, I quitted my company, and
+hastened to the Palais Royal, where I learnt from M. le Duc d'Orleans all
+that I have just related. Our conversation took up time, and, when it
+was over, I went away to the Tuileries. I found there astonishment
+painted upon several faces; little groups of two, three, and four people
+together; and the majority struck by the importance of the arrest, and
+little disposed to approve it.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans arrived shortly after. He had, better than any man I
+have ever known, the gift of speech, and without needing any preparation
+he said exactly what he wanted to say, neither more nor less; his
+expressions were just and precise, a natural grace accompanied them with
+an air of proper dignity, always mixed with an air of politeness. He
+opened the council with a discourse upon the people and the papers seized
+at Poitiers, the latter proving that a very dangerous conspiracy against
+the state was on the eve of bursting, and of which the Ambassador of
+Spain was the principal promoter. His Royal Highness alleged the
+pressing reasons which had induced him to secure the person of this
+ambassador, to examine his papers, and to place them under guard. He
+showed that the protection afforded by the law of nations did not extend
+to conspiracies, that ambassadors rendered themselves unworthy of that
+protection when they took part in them, still more when they excited
+people against the state where they dwelt. He cited several examples of
+ambassadors arrested for less. He explained the orders he had given so
+as to inform all the foreign ministers in Paris of what had occurred, and
+had ordered Dubois to render an account to the council of what he had
+done at the ambassador's, and offered to read the letters from Cellamare
+to Cardinal Alberoni, found among the papers brought from Poitiers.
+
+The Abbe Dubois stammered out a short and ill-arranged recital of what he
+had done at the ambassador's house, and dwelt upon the importance of the
+discovery and upon that of the conspiracy as far as already known. The
+two letters he read left me no doubt that Cellamare was at the head of
+this affair, and that Alberoni had entered into it as far as he. We were
+much scandalised with the expressions in these letters against M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, who was in no way spared.
+
+This prince spoke again, to say he did not suspect the King or Queen of
+Spain to be mixed up in this affair, but that he attributed it all to the
+passion of Alberoni, and that of his ambassador to please him, and that
+he would ask for justice from their Catholic Majesties. He showed the
+importance of neglecting no means in order to clear up an affair so
+capital to the repose and tranquillity of the kingdom, and finished by
+saying, that until he knew more he would name nobody who was mixed up in
+the matter. All this speech was much applauded, and I believe there were
+some among the company who felt greatly relieved when they heard the
+Regent say he would name nobody nor would he allow suspicions to be
+circulated until all was unravelled.
+
+Nevertheless the next day, Saturday, the 10th of December, more than one
+arrest was made. Others took place a few days afterwards.
+
+On Tuesday, the 13th of December, all the foreign ministers went to the
+Palais Royal, according to custom; not one made any complaint of what had
+happened. A copy of the two letters read at the council was given to
+them. In the afternoon, Cellamare was placed in a coach with a captain
+of cavalry and a captain of dragoons, chosen to conduct him: to Blois,
+until Saint-Aignan, our ambassador in Spain, should arrive in France.
+
+The position of our ambassador, Saint-Aignan, at Madrid, was, as may be
+imagined, by no means agreeable. The two courts were just upon the point
+of an open rupture, thanks to the hatred Alberoni had made it a principle
+to keep up in Spain against M. le Duc d'Orleans, by crying down his
+actions, his government, his personal conduct, his most innocent acts,
+and by rendering suspicious even his favourable proceedings with regard
+to Spain. Alberoni for a long time had ceased to keep on even decent
+terms with Saint-Aignan, scandalising thus even the most unfavourably
+disposed towards France. Saint-Aignan only maintained his position by
+the sagacity of his conduct, and he was delighted when he received orders
+to return to France. He asked for his parting audience, and meanwhile
+bade adieu to all his friends and to all the Court. Alberoni, who every
+moment expected decisive news from Cellamare respecting the conspiracy,
+wished to remain master of our ambassador, so as, in case of accident,
+to have a useful hostage in his hands as security for his own ambassador.
+He put off therefore this parting audience under various pretexts. At
+last, Saint-Aignan, pressed by his reiterated orders (orders all the more
+positive because suspicion had already begun to foresee a disturbance
+ever alarming), spoke firmly to the Cardinal, and declared that if this
+audience were not at once accorded to him, he would do without it!
+Therefore the Cardinal, in anger, replied with a menace, that he knew
+well enough how to hinder, him, from acting thus.
+
+Saint-Aignan wisely contained himself; but seeing to what sort of a man
+he was exposed, and judging rightly why he was detained at Madrid, took
+his measures so secretly and so well, that he set out the same night,
+with his most necessary equipage, gained ground and arrived at the foot
+of the Pyrenees without being overtaken and arrested; two occurrences
+which he expected at every moment, knowing that Alberoni was a man who
+would stick at nothing.
+
+Saint-Aignan, already so far advanced, did not deem it advisable to
+expose himself any longer, bothered as he would be among the mountains by
+his carriages. He and the Duchess, his wife, followed by a waiting-woman
+and three valets, with a very trusty guide, mounted upon mules and rode
+straight for Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port without stopping a moment more on
+the road than was necessary. He sent on his equipages to Pampeluna at a
+gentle pace, and placed in his carriage an intelligent valet de chambre
+and a waiting-woman, with orders to pass themselves off as the ambassador
+and ambassadress of France, and in case they were arrested to cry out a
+good deal. The arrest did not fail to happen. The people despatched by
+Alberoni soon came up with the carriage. The pretended ambassador and
+ambassadress played their parts very well, and they who had arrested them
+did not doubt for a moment they had made a fine capture, sending news of
+it to Madrid, and keeping the prisoners in Pampeluna, to which the party
+returned.
+
+This device saved M. and Madame de Saint-Aignan, and gave them means to
+reach Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port; as soon as they arrived there they sent
+for assistance and carriages to Bayonne, which they gained in safety, and
+reposed after their fatigue. The Duc de Saint-Aignan sent word of all
+this to M. le Duc d'Orleans by a courier, and, at this arrival in
+Bayonne, despatched a message to the Governor of Pampeluna, begging him
+to send on his equipages. Alberoni's people were very much ashamed of
+having been duped, but Alberoni when he heard of it flew into a furious
+rage, and cruelly punished the mistake. The equipages were sent on to
+Bayonne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVI
+
+To return now to what took place at Paris.
+
+On Sunday, the 25th of December, Christmas Day, M. le Duc d'Orleans sent
+for me to come and see him at the Palais Royal, about four o'clock in the
+afternoon. I went accordingly, and after despatching some business with
+him, other people being present, I followed him into his little winter
+cabinet at the end of the little gallery, M. le Duc being present.
+
+After a moment of silence, the Regent told me to see if no one was
+outside in the gallery, and if the door at the end was closed. I went
+out, found the door shut, and no one near.
+
+This being ascertained, M. le Duc d'Orleans said that we should not be
+surprised to learn that M. and Madame du Maine had been mixed up all
+along with this affair of the Spanish Ambassador Cellamare; that he had
+written proofs of this, and that the project was exactly that which I
+have already described. He added, that he had strictly forbidden the
+Keeper of the Seals, the Abbe Dubois, and Le Blanc, who alone knew of
+this project, to give the slightest sign of their knowledge, recommended
+to me the same secrecy, and the same precaution; and finished by saying
+that he wished, above all things, to consult M. le Duc and me upon the
+course he ought to adopt.
+
+M. le Duc at once went to the point and said M. and Madame du Maine must
+at once be arrested and put where they could cause no apprehension. I
+supported this opinion, and showed the perilous annoyances that might
+arise if this step were not instantly taken; as much for the purpose of
+striking terror into the conspirators, as for disconcerting their
+schemes. I added that there was not a moment to lose, and that it was
+better to incur uncertain danger than to wait for that which was certain.
+
+Our advice was accepted by M. le Duc d'Orleans, after some little debate.
+But now the question arose, where are the prisoners to be put? The
+Bastille and Vincennes both seemed to me too near to Paris. Several
+places were named without one appearing to suit. At lasts M. le Duc
+d'Orleans mentioned Dourlens. I stopped him short at the name, and
+recommended it warmly. I knew the governor, Charost, and his son to be
+men of probity, faithful, virtuous, and much attached to the state. Upon
+this it was agreed to send M. du Maine to Dourlens.
+
+Then we had to fix upon a place for his wife, and this was more
+difficult; there were her sex, her fiery temper, her courage; her
+daring,--all to be considered; whereas, her husband, we knew, so
+dangerous as a hidden enemy, was contemptible without his mask, and would
+fall into the lowest state of dejection in prison, trembling all over
+with fear of the scaffold, and attempting nothing; his wife, on the
+contrary, being capable of attempting anything:
+
+Various places discussed, M. le Duc d'Orleans smiled, and proposed the
+chateau of Dijon! Now, the joke of this suggestion was, that Dijon
+belonged to M. le Duc, and that he was nephew of Madame du Maine, whom
+the Regent proposed to lock up there! M. le Duc smiled also, and said it
+was a little too bad to make him the gaoler of his aunt! But all things
+considered, it was found that a better choice than Dijon could not be
+made, so M. le Duc gave way. I fancy he had held out more for form's
+sake than for any other reason. These points settled, we separated, to
+meet another time, in order to make the final arrangements for the
+arrest.
+
+We met accordingly, the Monday and Tuesday following, and deliberated
+with the same secrecy as before. On Wednesday we assembled again to put
+the final touch to our work. Our conference was long, and the result of
+it was, that M. and Madame du Maine were to be arrested on the morrow;
+all the necessary arrangements were made, and, as we thought, with the
+utmost secrecy. Nevertheless, the orders given to the regiment of the
+guards, and to the musketeers somehow or other transpired during the
+evening, and gave people reason to believe that something considerable
+was in contemplation. On leaving the conference, I arranged with Le
+Blanc that, when the blow was struck, he should inform me by simply
+sending a servant to inquire after my health.
+
+The morrow, about ten o'clock in the morning, having noiselessly and
+without show placed the body-guard around Sceaux, La Billardiere,
+lieutenant of the regiment, entered there, and arrested the Duc du Maine
+as he was leaving his chapel after hearing mass, and very respectfully
+begged him not to re-enter the house, but to mount immediately into a
+coach which he had brought. M. du Maine, who had expected this arrest,
+and who had had time to put his papers in order, mad not the slightest
+resistance. He replied that he had anticipated this compliment for some
+days, and at once moved into the coach. La Billardiere placed himself by
+his side, and in front was an exempt of the bodyguards, and Favancourt,
+brigadier in the first company of musketeers, destined to guard him in
+his prison.
+
+As these two latter persons did not appear before the Duc du Maine until
+the moment he entered the coach, be appeared surprised and moved to see
+Favancourt.
+
+He would not have been at the exempt, but the sight of the other
+depressed him. He asked La Billardiere what this meant. Billardiere
+could not dissimulate that Favancourt had orders to accompany him, and to
+remain with him in the place to which they were going. Favancourt
+himself took this moment to pay his compliments as best he might to the
+Duc du Maine, to which the Duke replied but little, and that in a civil
+and apprehensive manner. These proceedings conducted them to the end of
+the avenue of Sceaux, where the bodyguards appeared. The sight of them
+made the Duc du Maine change colour.
+
+Silence was but little interrupted in the coach. Now and then M. du
+Maine would say that he was very innocent of the accusation which had
+been formed against him; that he was much attached to the King, and not
+less so to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who could not but recognise it; and that
+it was very unfortunate his Royal Highness should put faith in his
+enemies (he never named anybody). All this was said in a broken manner,
+and amid many sighs; from time to time signs of the cross; low mumblings
+as of prayers; and plunges at each church or each cross they passed. He
+took his meals in the coach, ate very little, was alone at night, but
+with good precautions taken. He did not know until the morrow that he
+was going to Dourlens. He showed no emotion thereupon. All these
+details I learnt from Favancourt, whom I knew very well, and who was in
+the Musketeers when I served in that corps.
+
+At the moment of the arrest of M. du Maine, Ancenis, captain of the body-
+guard, arrested the Duchesse du Maine in her house in the Rue St.
+Honore. A lieutenant, and an exempt of the foot body-guards, with other
+troops, took possession of the house at the same time, and guarded the
+doors. The compliment of the Duc d'Ancenis was sharply received. Madame
+du Maine wished to take away some caskets. Ancenis objected. She
+demanded, at the least, her jewels; altercations very strong on one side,
+very modest on the other: but she was obliged to yield. She raged at the
+violence done to a person of her rank, without saying anything too
+disobliging to M. d'Ancenis, and without naming anybody. She delayed her
+departure as long as she could, despite the instances of d'Ancenis, who
+at last presented his hand to her, and politely, but firmly, said she
+must go. She found at her door two six-horse coaches, the sight of which
+much shocked her. She was obliged, however, to mount. Ancenis placed
+himself by her side, the lieutenant and the exempt of the guard in front,
+two chambermaids whom she had chosen were in the other coach, with her
+apparel, which had been examined. The ramparts were followed, the
+principal streets avoided; there was no stir, and at this she could not
+restrain her surprise and vexation, or check a tear, declaiming by fits
+and starts against the violence done her. She complained of the rough
+coach, the indignity it cast upon her, and from time to time asked where
+she was being led to. She was simply told that she would sleep at
+Essonne, nothing more. Her three guardians maintained profound silence.
+At night all possible precautions were taken. When she set out the next
+day, the Duc d'Ancenis took leave of her, and left her to the lieutenant
+and to the exempt of the body-guards, with troops to conduct her. She
+asked where they were leading her to: he simply replied,
+"To Fontainebleau." The disquietude of Madame du Maine augmented as she
+left Paris farther behind, but when she found herself in Burgundy, and
+knew at last she was to go to Dijon, she stormed at a fine rate.
+
+It was worse when she was forced to enter the castle, and found herself
+the prisoner of M. le Duc. Fury suffocated her. She raged against her
+nephew, and the horrible place chosen for her. Nevertheless, after her
+first transports, she returned to herself, and began to comprehend that
+she was in no place and no condition to play the fury. Her extreme rage
+she kept to herself, affected nothing but indifference for all, and
+disdainful security. The King's lieutenant of the castle, absolutely
+devoted to M. le Duc, kept her fast, and closely watched her and her
+chambermaids. The Prince de Dombes and the Comte d'Eu (her sons) were at
+the same time exiled to Eu, where a gentleman in ordinary always was near
+them; Mademoiselle du Maine was sent to Maubuisson.
+
+Several other people were successively arrested and placed either in the
+Bastille or Vincennes. The commotion caused by the arrest and
+imprisonment of M. and Madame du Maine was great; many faces, already
+elongated by the Bed of justice, were still further pulled out by these
+events. The Chief-President, D'Effiat, the Marechal de Villeroy, the
+Marechal de Villars, the Marechal d'Huxelles, and other devoted friends
+of M. du Maine, were completely terrified; they did not dare to say a
+word; they kept out of the way; did not leave their houses except from
+necessity; fear was painted upon their faces. All their pride was put
+aside; they became polite, caressing, would have eaten out of your hand;
+and by this sudden change and their visible embarrassment betrayed
+themselves.
+
+As for the Comte de Toulouse he remained as upright and loyal as ever.
+The very day of the double arrest he came to M. le Duc d'Orleans and said
+that he regarded the King, the Regent, and the State as one and the same
+thing; that he should never be wanting in his duty or in his fidelity
+towards them; that he was very sorry at what had happened to his brother,
+but that he was in no way answerable for him. The Regent stated this to
+me the same day, and appeared, with reason, to be charmed with such
+straightforward honesty.
+
+This arrest of M. and Madame du Maine had another effect. For some time
+past, a large quantity of illicit salt had been sold throughout the
+country. The people by whom this trade was conducted, 'faux sauniers',
+as they were called, travelled over the provinces in bands well armed and
+well organized. So powerful had they become that troops were necessary
+in order to capture them. There were more than five thousand faux
+saumers, who openly carried on their traffic in Champagne and Picardy.
+They had become political instruments in the hands of others, being
+secretly encouraged and commanded by those who wished to sow trouble in
+the land. It could not be hidden that these 'faux sauniers' were
+redoubtable by their valour and their arrangements; that the people were
+favourable to them, buying as they did from them salt at a low price, and
+irritated as they were against the gabelle and other imposts; that these
+'faux sauniers' spread over all the realm, and often marching in large
+bands, which beat all opposed to them, were dangerous people, who incited
+the population by their examples to opposition against the government.
+
+I had proposed on one occasion the abolition of the salt tax to the
+Regent, as a remedy for these evils; but my suggestion shared the fate of
+many others. It was favourably listened to, and nothing more. And
+meanwhile the 'faux sauniers' had gone on increasing. I had no
+difficulty in discovering by whom they were encouraged, and the event
+showed I was right. Directly after the arrest of M. and Madame du Maine,
+the 'faux sauniers' laid down their arms, asked, and obtained pardon.
+This prompt submission showed dearly enough by whom they had been
+employed, and for what reason. I had uselessly told M. le Duc d'Orleans
+so long before, who admitted that I was right, but did nothing. It was
+his usual plan.
+
+Let me finish at once with all I shall have to say respecting M. and
+Madame du Maine.
+
+They remained in their prisons during the whole of the year 1719,
+supplied with all the comforts and attentions befitting their state, and
+much less rigorously watched than at first, thanks to the easy
+disposition of M. le Duc d'Orleans, whose firmness yielded even more
+rapidly than beauty to the effects of time. The consequence of his
+indulgence towards the two conspirators was, that at about the
+commencement of the following year, 1720, they began to play a very
+ridiculous comedy, of which not a soul was the dupe; not even the public,
+nor the principal actors, nor the Regent.
+
+The Duc and Duchesse du Maine, thanks to the perfidy of the Abbe Dubois,
+had had time to hide away all their papers, and to arrange together the
+different parts they should play. Madame du Maine, supported by her sex
+and birth, muffled herself up in her dignity, when replying to the
+questions addressed to her, of which just as many, and no more, were read
+to the replying counsel as pleased the Abbe Dubois; and strongly accusing
+Cellamare and others; protected as much as possible her friends, her
+husband above all, by charging herself with all; by declaring that what
+she had done M. du Maine had no knowledge of; and that its object went no
+farther than to obtain from the Regent such reforms in his administration
+as were wanted.
+
+The Duc du Maine, shorn of his rank and of his title of prince of the
+blood, trembled for his life. His crimes against the state, against the
+blood royal, against the person of the Regent, so long, so artfully, and
+so cruelly offended, troubled him all the more because he felt they
+deserved severe punishment. He soon, therefore, conceived the idea of
+screening himself beneath his wife's petticoats. His replies, and all
+his observations were to the same tune; perfect ignorance of everything.
+Therefore when the Duchess had made her confessions, and they were
+communicated to him, he cried out against his wife,--her madness, her
+felony,--his misfortune in having a wife capable of conspiring, and
+daring enough to implicate him in everything without having spoken to
+him; making him thus a criminal without being so the least in the world;
+and keeping him so ignorant of her doings, that it was out of his power
+to stop them, to chide her, or inform M. le Duc d'Orleans if things had
+been pushed so far that he ought to have done so!
+
+From that time the Duc du Maine would no longer hear talk of a woman who,
+without his knowledge, had cast him and his children into this abyss; and
+when at their release from prison, they were permitted to write and send
+messages to each other, he would receive nothing from her, or give any
+signs of life. Madame du Maine, on her side, pretended to be afflicted
+at this treatment; admitting, nevertheless, that she had acted wrongfully
+towards her husband in implicating him without his knowledge in her
+schemes. They were at this point when they were allowed to come near
+Paris. M. du Maine went to live at Clagny, a chateau near Versailles,
+built for Madame de Montespan. Madame du Maine went to Sceaux. They
+came separately to see M. le Duc d'Orleans at Paris, without sleeping
+there; both played their parts, and as the Abbe Dubois judged the time
+had come to take credit to himself in their eyes for finishing their
+disgrace, he easily persuaded M. le Duc d'Orleans to, appear convinced of
+the innocence of M. du Maine.
+
+During their stay in the two country-houses above named, where they saw
+but little company, Madame du Maine made many attempts at reconciliation
+with her husband, which he repelled. This farce lasted from the month of
+January (when they arrived at Sceaux and at Clagny) to the end of July.
+Then they thought the game had lasted long enough to be put an end to.
+They had found themselves quit of all danger so cheaply, and counted so
+much upon the Abbe Dubois, that they were already thinking of returning
+to their former considerations; and to work at this usefully, they must
+be in a position to see each other, and commence by establishing
+themselves in Paris, where they would of necessity live together.
+
+The sham rupture had been carried to this extent, that the two sons of
+the Duc du Maine returned from Eu to Clagny a few days after him, did not
+for a long time go and see Madame du Maine, and subsequently saw her but
+rarely, and without sleeping under her roof.
+
+At last a resolution being taken to put an end to the comedy, this is how
+it was terminated by another.
+
+Madame la Princesse made an appointment with the Duc du Maine, at
+Vaugirard on the last of July, and in the house of Landais, treasurer of
+the artillery. She arrived there a little after him with the Duchesse du
+Maine, whom she left in her carriage. She said to M. du Maine she had
+brought a lady with her who much desired to see him. The thing was not
+difficult to understand; the piece had been well studied. The Duchesse
+du Maine was sent for. The apparent reconcilement took place. The three
+were a long time together. To play out the comedy, M. and Madame du
+Maine still kept apart, but saw and approached each other by degrees,
+until at last the former returned to Sceaux, and lived with his wife as
+before.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 13.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVII
+
+To go back, now, to the remaining events of the year 1719.
+
+The Marquise de Charlus, sister of Mezieres, and mother of the Marquis de
+Levi, who has since become a duke and a peer, died rich and old. She was
+the exact picture of an "old clothes" woman and was thus subject to many
+insults from those who did not know her, which she by no means relished.
+To relieve a little the seriousness of these memoirs, I will here relate
+an amusing adventure of which she was heroine.
+
+She was very avaricious, and a great gambler. She would have passed the
+night up to her knees in water in order to play. Heavy gambling at
+lansquenet was carried on at Paris in the evening, at Madame la Princesse
+de Conti's. Madame de Charlus supped there one Friday, between the
+games, much company being present. She was no better clad than at other
+times, and wore a head-dress, in vogue at that day, called commode, not
+fastened, but put on or taken off like a wig or a night-cap. It was
+fashionable, then, to wear these headdresses very high.
+
+Madame de Charlus was near the Archbishop of Rheims, Le Tellier. She
+took a boiled egg, that she cracked, and in reaching for some salt, set
+her head dress on fire, at a candle near, without perceiving it. The
+Archbishop, who saw her all in flames, seized the head-dress and flung it
+upon the ground. Madame de Charlus, in her surprise, and indignant at
+seeing her self thus uncovered, without knowing why, threw her egg in the
+Archbishop's face, and made him a fine mess.
+
+Nothing but laughter was heard; and all the company were in convulsions
+of mirth at the grey, dirty, and hoary head of Madame de Charlus, and the
+Archbishop's omelette; above all, at the fury and abuse of Madame de
+Charlus, who thought she had been affronted, and who was a long time
+before she would understand the cause, irritated at finding herself thus
+treated before everybody. The head-dress was burnt, Madame la Princesse
+de Conti gave her another, but before it was on her head everybody had
+time to contemplate her charms, and she to grow in fury. Her, husband
+died three months after her. M. de Levi expected to find treasures;
+there had been such; but they had taken wing and flown away.
+
+About this time appeared some verses under the title of Philippiques,
+which were distributed with extraordinary promptitude and abundance. La
+Grange, formerly page of Madame la Princesse de Conti, was the author,
+and did not deny it. All that hell could vomit forth, true and false,
+was expressed in the most beautiful verses, most poetic in style, and
+with all the art and talent imaginable. M. le Duc d'Orleans knew it, and
+wished to see the poem, but he could not succeed in getting it, for no
+one dared to show it to him.
+
+He spoke of it several times to me, and at last demanded with such
+earnestness that I should bring it to him, that I could not refuse. I
+brought it to him accordingly, but read it to him I declared I never
+would. He took it, therefore, and read it in a low tone, standing in the
+window of his little cabinet, where we were. He judged it in reading
+much as it was, for he stopped from time to time to speak to me, and
+without appearing much moved. But all on a sudden I saw him change
+countenance, and turn towards me, tears in his eyes, and himself ready to
+drop.
+
+"Ah," said he, "this is too much, this horrible poem beats me
+completely."
+
+He was at the part where the scoundrel shows M. le Duc d'Orleans having
+the design to poison the King, and quite ready to execute his crime.
+It is the part where the author redoubles his energy, his poetry, his
+invocations, his terrible and startling beauties, his invectives, his
+hideous pictures, his touching portraits of the youth and innocence of
+the King, and of the hopes he has, adjuring the nation to save so dear a
+victim from the barbarity of a murderer; in a word, all that is most
+delicate, most tender, stringent, and blackest, most pompous, and most
+moving, is there.
+
+I wished to profit by the dejected silence into which the reading of this
+poem had thrown M. le Duc d'Orleans, to take from him the execrable
+paper, but I could not succeed; he broke out into just complaints against
+such horrible wickedness, and into tenderness for the King; then finished
+his reading, that he interrupted more than once to speak to me. I never
+saw a man so penetrated, so deeply touched, so overwhelmed with injustice
+so enormous and sustained. As for me, I could not contain myself. To
+see him, the most prejudiced, if of good faith, would have been convinced
+he was innocent of the come imputed to him, by the horror he displayed at
+it. I have said all, when I state that I recovered myself with
+difficulty, and that I had all the pains in the world to compose him a
+little.
+
+This La Grange, who was of no personal value, yet a good poet--only that,
+and never anything else--had, by his poetry, insinuated himself into
+Sceaux, where he had become one of the great favourites of Madame du
+Maine. She and her husband knew his life, his habits, and his mercenary
+villainy. They knew, too, haw to profit by it. He was arrested shortly
+afterwards, and sent to the Isle de Sainte Marguerite, which he obtained
+permission to leave before the end of the Regency. He had the audacity
+to show himself everywhere in Paris, and while he was appearing at the
+theatres and in all public places, people had the impudence to spread the
+report that M. le Duc d'Orleans had had him killed! M. le Duc d'Orleans
+and his enemies have been equally indefatigable; the latter in the
+blackest villainies, the Prince in the most unfruitful clemency, to call
+it by no more expressive name.
+
+Before the Regent was called to the head of public affairs, I recommended
+him to banish Pere Tellier when he had the power to do so. He did not
+act upon my advice, or only partially; nevertheless, Tellier was
+disgraced, and after wandering hither and thither, a very firebrand
+wherever he went, he was confined by his superiors in La Fleche.
+
+This tyrant of the Church, furious that he could no longer move, which
+had been his sole consolation during the end of his reign and his
+terrible domination, found himself at La Fleche, reduced to a position as
+insupportable as it was new to him.
+
+The Jesuits, spies of each other, and jealous and envious of those who
+have the superior authority, are marvellously ungrateful towards those
+who, having occupied high posts, or served the company with much labour
+and success, become useless to it, by their age or their infirmities.
+They regard them with disdain, and instead of bestowing upon them the
+attention merited by their age, their services, and their merit, leave
+them in the dreariest solitude, and begrudge them even their food!
+
+I have with my own eyes seen three examples of this in these Jesuits, men
+of much piety and honour, who hid filled positions of confidence and of
+talent, and with whom I was very intimate. The first had been rector of
+their establishment at Paris, was distinguished by excellent works of
+piety, and was for several years assistant of the general at Rome, at the
+death of whom he returned to Paris; because the rule is, that the new
+general has new assistants. Upon his return to the Paris establishment
+he was put into a garret, at the very top of the house, amid solitude,
+contempt, and want.
+
+The direction of the royal conscience had been the principal occupation
+of the two others, one of whom had even been proposed as confessor to
+Madame la Dauphine. One was long ill of a malady he died of. He was not
+properly nourished, and I sent him his dinner every day, for more than
+five months, because I had seen his pittance. I sent him even remedies,
+for he could not refrain from admitting to me that he suffered from the
+treatment he was subjected to.
+
+The third, very old and very infirm, had not a better fate. At last,
+being no longer able to hold out, he asked to be allowed to pay a visit
+to my Versailles house (after having explained himself to me), under
+pretext of fresh air. He remained there several months, and died at the
+noviciate in Paris. Such is the fate of all the Jesuits, without
+excepting the most famous, putting aside a few who having shone at the
+Court and in the world by their sermons and their merit, and having made
+many friends--as Peres Bordaloue, La Rue, Gaillard--have been guaranteed
+from the general disgrace, because, often visited by the principal
+persons of the Court and the town, policy did not permit them to be
+treated like the rest, for fear of making so many considerable people
+notice what they would not have suffered without disturbance and scandal.
+
+It was, then, in this abandonment and this contempt that Pere Tellier
+remained at La Fleche, although he had from the Regent four thousand
+livres pension. He had ill-treated everybody. When he was confessor of
+the King, not one of his brethren approached him without trembling,
+although most of them were the "big-wigs" of the company. Even the
+general of the company was forced to bend beneath the despotism he
+exercised upon all. There was not a Jesuit who did not disapprove the
+violence of his conduct, or who did not fear it would injure the society.
+All hated him, as a minister is hated who is coarse, harsh, inaccessible,
+egotistical, and who takes pleasure in showing his power and his disdain.
+
+His exile, and the conduct that drew it upon him, were fresh motives for
+hatred against him, unveiling, as they did, a number of secret intrigues
+he had been concerned in, and which he had great interest in hiding. All
+these things together did not render agreeable to Tellier his forced
+retirement at La Fleche. He found there sharp superiors and equals,
+instead of the general terror his presence had formerly caused among the
+Jesuits. All now showed nothing but contempt for him, and took pleasure
+in making him sensible of it. This King of the Church, in part of the
+State, and in private of his society, became a common Jesuit like the
+rest, and under superiors; it may be imagined what a hell this was to a
+man so impetuous and so accustomed to a domination without reply, and
+without bounds, and abused in every fashion. Thus he did not endure it
+long. Nothing more was heard of him, and he died after having been only
+six months at La Fleche.
+
+There was another death, which I may as well mention here, as it occurred
+about the same time.
+
+On Saturday evening, the 15th of April, 1719, the celebrated and fatal
+Madame de Maintenon died at Saint-Cyr. What a stir this event would have
+made in Europe, had it happened a few years earlier. It was scarcely
+mentioned in Paris!
+
+I have already said so much respecting this woman, so unfortunately
+famous, that I will say but little more now. Her life at Saint-Cyr was
+divided between her spiritual duties, the letters she received, from her
+religious correspondents, and the answers she gave to them. She took the
+communion twice a-week, ordinarily between seven and eight o'clock in the
+morning; not, as Dangeau says in his Memoires, at midnight or every day.
+She was very rich, having four thousand livres pension per month from the
+Regent, besides other emoluments. She had, too, her estate at Maintenon,
+and some other property. With all this wealth, too, she had not a
+farthing of expense at Saint-Cyr. Everything was provided for herself
+and servants and their horses, even wood, coals, and candles. She had
+nothing to buy, except dress for herself and for her people. She kept a
+steward, a valet, people for the horses and the kitchen, a coach, seven
+or eight horses, one or two others for the saddle, besides having the
+young ladies of Saint-Cyr, chambermaids, and Mademoiselle d'Aumale to
+wait upon her.
+
+The fall of the Duc du Maine at the Bed of justice struck the first blow
+at her. It is not too much to presume that she was well informed of the
+measures and the designs of this darling, and that this hope had
+sustained her; but when she saw him arrested she succumbed; continuous
+fever seized her, and she died at eighty-three years of age, in the full
+possession of all her intellect.
+
+Regret for her loss, which was not even universal in Saint-Cyr, scarcely
+passed the walls of that community. Aubigny, Archbishop of Rouen, her
+pretended cousin, was the only man I ever heard of, who was fool enough
+to die of grief on account of it. But he was so afflicted by this loss,
+that he fell ill, and soon followed her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCVII.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry was living as usual, amid the loftiest pride,
+and the vilest servitude; amid penitence the most austere at the
+Carmelite convent of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and suppers the most
+profaned by vile company, filthiness, and impiety; amid the most
+shameless debauchery, and the most horrible fear of the devil and death;
+when lo! she fell ill at the Luxembourg.
+
+I must disguise nothing more, especially as what I am relating belongs to
+history; and never in these memoirs have I introduced details upon
+gallantry except such as were necessary to the proper comprehension of
+important or interesting matters to which they related. Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry would constrain herself in nothing; she was indignant
+that people would dare to speak of what she did not take the trouble to
+hide from them; and nevertheless she was grieved to death that her
+conduct was known.
+
+She was in the family way by Rion, but hid--it as much as she could.
+Madame de Mouchy was their go-between, although her conduct was as clear
+as day. Rion and Mouchy, in fact, were in love with each other, and had
+innumerable facilities for indulging their passion. They laughed at the
+Princess, who was their dupe, and from whom they drew in council all they
+could. In one word, they were the masters of her and of her household,
+and so insolently, that M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, who
+knew them and hated them, feared them also and temporised with them.
+Madame de Saint-Simon, sheltered from all that, extremely loved and
+respected by all the household, and respected even by this couple who
+made themselves so much dreaded and courted, only saw Madame la Duchesse
+de Berry during the moments of presentation at the Luxembourg, whence she
+returned as soon as all was finished, entirely ignorant of what was
+passing, though she might have been perfectly instructed.
+
+The illness of Madame la Duchesse de Berry came on, and this illness, ill
+prepared for by suppers washed down by wine and strong liquors, became
+stormy and dangerous. Madame de Saint-Simon could not avoid becoming
+assiduous in her attendance as soon as the peril appeared, but she never
+would yield to the instances of M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse
+d'Orleans, who, with all the household; wished her to sleep in the
+chamber allotted to her, and which she never put foot in, not even during
+the day. She found Madame la Duchesse de Berry shut up in a little
+chamber, which had private entrances--very useful just then, with no one
+near her but La Mouchy and Rion, and a few trusty waiting-women. All in
+attendance had free entrance to this room. M. le Duc and Madame la
+Duchesse d'Orleans were not allowed to enter when they liked; of course
+it was the same with the lady of honour, the other ladies, the chief
+femme de chambre, and the doctors. All entered from time to time, but
+ringing for an instant. A bad headache or want of sleep caused them
+often to be asked to stay away, or, if they entered, to leave directly
+afterwards. They did not press their presence upon the sick woman,
+knowing only too well the nature of her malady; but contented themselves
+by asking after her through Madame de Mouchy, who opened the door to
+reply to them, keeping it scarcely ajar: This ridiculous proceeding
+passed before the crowd of the Luxembourg, of the Palais Royal, and of
+many other people who, for form's sake or for curiosity, came to inquire
+the news, and became common town-talk.
+
+The danger increasing, Languet, a celebrated cure of Saint-Sulpice, who
+had always rendered himself assiduous, spoke of the sacraments to M. le
+Duc d'Orleans. The difficulty was how to enter and propose them to
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry. But another and greater difficulty soon
+appeared. It was this: the cure, like a man knowing his duty, refused to
+administer the sacrament, or to suffer it to be administered, while Rion
+or Madame de Mouchy remained in the chamber, or even in the Luxembourg!
+He declared this aloud before everybody, expressly in presence of M. le
+Duc d'Orleans, who was less shocked than embarrassed. He took the cure
+aside, and for a long time tried to make him give way. Seeing him
+inflexible, he proposed reference to the Cardinal de Noailles. The cure
+immediately agreed, and promised to defer to his orders, Noailles being
+his bishop, provided he was allowed to explain his reasons. The affair
+passed, and Madame la Duchesse de Berry made confession to a Cordelier,
+her confessor. M. le Duc d'Orleans flattered himself, no doubt, he would
+find the diocesan more flexible than the cure. If he hoped so he
+deceived himself.
+
+The Cardinal de Noailles arrived; M. le Duc d'Orleans took him aside with
+the cure, and their conversation lasted more than half an hour. As the
+declaration of the cure had been public, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris
+judged it fitting that his should be so also. As all three approached
+the door of the chamber, filled with company, the Cardinal de Noailles
+said aloud to the cure, that he had very worthily done his duty, that he
+expected nothing less from such a good, experienced, and enlightened man
+as he was; that he praised him for what he had demanded before
+administering the sacrament to Madame la Duchesse de Berry; that he
+exhorted him not to give in, or to suffer himself to be deceived upon so
+important a thing; and that if he wanted further authorisation he, as his
+bishop, diocesan, and superior, prohibited him from administering the
+sacraments, or allowing them to be administered, to Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry while Rion and Madame de Mouchy were in the chamber, or even in the
+Luxembourg.
+
+It may be imagined what a stir such inevitable scandal as this made in a
+room so full of company; what embarrassment it caused M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, and what a noise it immediately made everywhere. Nobody, even
+the chiefs of the constitution, the mass without, enemies of the Cardinal
+de Noailles, the most fashionable bishops, the most distinguished women,
+the libertines even--not one blamed the cure or his archbishop: some
+because they knew the rules of the Church, and did not dare to impugn
+them; others, the majority, from horror of the conduct of Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry, and hatred drawn upon her by her pride.
+
+Now came the question between the Regent, the Cardinal, and the cure,
+which should announce this determination to Madame la Duchesse de Berry,
+who in no way expected it, and who, having confessed, expected every
+moment to see the Holy Sacrament enter, and to take it. After a short
+colloquy urged on by the state of the patient, the Cardinal and the cure
+withdrew a little, while M. le Duc d'Orleans slightly opened the door and
+called Madame de Mouchy. Then, the door ajar, she within, he without, he
+told her what was in debate. La Mouchy, much astonished, still more
+annoyed, rode the high horse, talked of her merit, and of the affront
+that bigots wished to cast upon her and Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who
+would never suffer it or consent to it, and that she would die--in the
+state she was--if they had the impudence and the cruelty to tell it to
+her.
+
+The conclusion was that La Mouchy undertook to announce to Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry the resolution that had been taken respecting the
+sacraments--what she added of her own may be imagined. A negative
+response did not fail to be quickly delivered to M. le Duc d'Orleans
+through the half-opened door. Coming through such a messenger, it was
+just the reply he might have expected. Immediately after, he repeated it
+to the Cardinal, and to the cure; the cure, being supported by his
+archbishop, contented himself with shrugging his shoulders. But the
+Cardinal said to M. le Duc d'Orleans that Madame de Mouchy, one of the
+two who ought to be sent away, was not a fit person to bring Madame la
+Duchesse to reason; that it was his duty to carry this message to her,
+and to exhort her to do her duty as a Christian shortly about to appear
+before God; and the Archbishop pressed the Regent to go and say so to
+her. It will be believed, without difficulty, that his eloquence gained
+nothing. This Prince feared too much his daughter, and would have been
+but a feeble apostle with her.
+
+Reiterated refusals determined the Cardinal to go and speak to Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry, accompanied by the cure, and as he wished to set about
+it at once, M. le Duc d'Orleans, who did not dare to hinder him, but who
+feared some sudden and dangerous revolution in his daughter at the sight
+and at the discourses of the two pastors, conjured him to wait until
+preparations could be made to receive him. He went, therefore, and held
+another colloquy through the door with Madame de Mouchy, the success of
+which was equal to the other. Madame la Duchesse de Berry flew into
+fury, railed in unruly terms against these hypocritical humbugs, who took
+advantage of her state and their calling to dishonour her by an unheard-
+of scandal, not in the least sparing her father for his stupidity and
+feebleness in allowing it. To have heard her, you would have thought
+that the cure and the Cardinal ought to be kicked downstairs.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans returned to the ecclesiastics, looking very small,
+and not knowing what to do between his daughter and them. However, he
+said to them that she was so weak and suffering that they must put off
+their visit, persuading them as well as he could. The attention and
+anxiety of the large company which filled the room were extreme:
+everything was known afterwards, bit by bit, during the day.
+
+The Cardinal de Noailles remained more than two hours with M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, round whom people gathered at last. The Cardinal, seeing that
+he could not enter the chamber without a sort of violence, much opposed
+to persuasion, thought it indecent and useless to wait any longer. In
+going away, he reiterated his orders to the cure, and begged him to watch
+so as not to be deceived respecting the sacraments, lest attempts were
+made to administer them clandestinely. He afterwards approached Madame
+de Saint-Simon, took her aside, related to her what had passed, and
+deplored with her a scandal that he had not been able to avoid. M. le
+Duc d'Orleans hastened to announce to his daughter the departure of the
+Cardinal, at which he himself was much relieved. But on leaving the
+chamber he was astonished to find the cure glued against the door, and
+still more so to hear he had taken up his post there, and meant to
+remain, happen what might, because he did not wish to be deceived
+respecting the sacraments. And, indeed, he remained there four days and
+four nights, except during short intervals for food and repose that he
+took at home, quite close to the Luxembourg, and during which his place
+was filled by two priests whom he left there. At last, the danger being
+passed, he raised the siege.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, safely delivered of a daughter, had nothing
+to do but to re-establish herself; but she remained firm against the cure
+and the Cardinal de Noailles, neither of whom she ever pardoned. She
+became more and more bewitched by the two lovers, who laughed at her, and
+who were attached to her only for their fortune and their interest. She
+remained shut up without seeing M. and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans,
+except for a few moments; no one, commencing with Madame de Saint-Simon,
+showed any eagerness to see her, for everybody knew what kept the door
+shut.
+
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, infinitely pained by the manner in which
+everybody, even the people, looked upon her malady, thought to gain a
+little lost ground by throwing open the gardens of the Luxembourg to the
+public, after having long since closed them. People were glad: they
+profited by the act; that was all. She made a vow that she would give
+herself up to religion, and dress in white--that is, devote herself to
+the service of the Virgin--for six months. This vow made people laugh a
+little.
+
+Her illness had begun on the 26th of March, 1719, and Easter-day fell on
+the 9th of April. She was then quite well, but would not see a soul. A
+new cause of annoyance had arisen to trouble her. Rion, who saw himself
+so successful as the lover of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, wished to
+improve his position by becoming her husband. He was encouraged in this
+desire by his uncle, M. de Lauzun, who had also advised him to treat her
+with the rigour, harshness--nay, brutality, which I have already
+described. The maxim of M. de Lauzun was, that the Bourbons must be ill-
+used and treated with a high hand in order to maintain empire over them.
+Madame de Mouchy was as strongly in favour of this marriage as Rion. She
+knew she was sure of her lover, and that when he became the husband of
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, all the doors which shut intimacy would be
+thrown down. A secret marriage accordingly took place.
+
+This marriage gave rise to violent quarrels, and much weeping. In order
+to deliver herself from these annoyances, and at the same time steer
+clear of Easter, the Duchess resolved to go away to Meudon on Easter
+Monday. It was in vain that the danger was represented to her, of the
+air, of the movement of the coach, and of the change of place at the end
+of a fortnight. Nothing could make her endure Paris any longer. She set
+out, therefore, followed by Rion and the majority of her ladies and her
+household.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans informed me then of the fixed design of Madame la
+Duchesse de Berry to declare the secret marriage she had just made with
+Rion. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans was at Montmartre for a few days, and
+we were walking in the little garden of her apartments. The marriage did
+not surprise me much, knowing the strength of her passion, her fear of
+the devil, and the scandal which had just happened. But I was
+astonished, to the last degree, at this furious desire to declare the
+marriage, in a person so superbly proud.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans dilated upon his troubles, his anger, that of Madame
+(who wished to proceed to the most violent extremities), and the great
+resolve of Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. Fortunately the majority of the
+officers destined to serve against Spain, (war with that country had just
+been declared) were leaving every day, and Rion had remained solely on
+account of the illness of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans thought the shortest plan would be to encourage hope by delay,
+in forcing Rion to depart, flattering himself that the declaration would
+be put off much more easily in his absence than in his presence. I
+strongly approved this idea, and on the morrow, Rion received at Meudon a
+curt and positive order to depart at once and join his regiment in the
+army of the Duc de Berwick. Madame la Duchesse de Berry was all the more
+outraged, because she knew the cause of this order, and consequently felt
+her inability to hinder its execution. Rion on his side did not dare to
+disobey it. He set out, therefore; and M. le Duc d'Orleans, who had not
+yet been to Meudon, remained several days without going there.
+
+Father and daughter feared each other, and this departure had not put
+them on better terms. She had told him, and repeated it, that she was a
+rich widow, mistress of her own actions, independent of him; had flown
+into a fury, and terribly abused M. le Duc d'Orleans when he tried to
+remonstrate with her. He had received much rough handling from her at
+the Luxembourg when she was better; it was the same at Meudon during the
+few visits he paid her there. She wished to declare her marriage; and
+all the art, intellect, gentleness, anger, menace, prayers, and interest
+of M. le Duc d'Orleans barely sufficed to make her consent to a brief
+delay.
+
+If Madame had been listened to, the affair would have been finished
+before the journey to Meudon; for M. le Duc d'Orleans would have thrown
+Rion out of the windows of the Luxembourg!
+
+The premature journey to Meudon, and quarrels so warm, were not
+calculated to re-establish a person just returned from the gates of
+death. The extreme desire she had to hide her state from the public, and
+to conceal the terms on which she was with her father ( for the rarity of
+his visits to her began to be remarked), induced her to give a supper to
+him on the terrace of Meudon about eight o'clock one evening. In vain
+the danger was represented to her of the cool evening air so soon after
+an illness such as she had just suffered from, and which had left her
+health still tottering. It was specially on this account that she stuck
+more obstinately to her supper on the terrace, thinking that it would
+take away all suspicion she had been confined, and induce the belief that
+she was on the same terms as ever with M. le Duc d'Orleans, though the
+uncommon rarity of his visits to her had been remarked.
+
+This supper in the open air did not succeed. The same night she was
+taken ill. She was attacked by accidents, caused by the state in which
+she still was, and by an irregular fever, that the opposition she met
+with respecting the declaration of her marriage did not contribute to
+diminish. She grew disgusted with Meudon, like people ill in body and
+mind, who in their grief attribute everything to the air and the place.
+She was annoyed at the few visits she received from M. le Duc and Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans,-her pride, however, suffering more than her
+tenderness.
+
+In despite of all reason, nothing could hinder her from changing her
+abode. She was transferred from Meudon to the Muette, wrapped up in
+sheets, and in a large coach, on Sunday, the 14th of May, 1719. Arrived
+so near Paris, she hoped M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans would
+come and see her more frequently, if only for form's sake.
+
+This journey was painful by the sufferings it caused her, added to those
+she already had, which no remedies could appease, except for short
+intervals, and which became very violent. Her illness augmented; but
+hopes and fears sustained her until the commencement of July. During all
+this time her desire to declare her marriage weakened, and M. le Duc and
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, as well as Madame, who passed the summer at
+Saint-Cloud, came more frequently to see her. The month of July became
+more menacing because of the augmentation of pain and fever. These ills
+increased so much, in fact, that, by the 14th of July, fears for her life
+began to be felt.
+
+The night of the 14th was so stormy, that M. le Duc d'Orleans was sent to
+at the Palais Royal, and awakened. At the same time Madame de Pons wrote
+to Madame de Saint-Simon, pressing her to come and establish herself at
+La Muette. Madame de Saint-Simon, although she made a point of scarcely
+ever sleeping under the same roof as Madame la Duchesse de Berry (for
+reasons which need no further explanation than those already given),
+complied at once with this request, and took up her quarters from this
+time at La Muette.
+
+Upon arriving, she found the danger great. Madame la Duchesse de Berry
+had been bled in the arm and in the foot on the 10th, and her confessor
+had been sent for. But the malady still went on increasing. As the pain
+which had so long afflicted her could not induce her to follow a regimen
+necessary for her condition, or to think of a future state, relations and
+doctors were at last obliged to speak a language to her, not used towards
+princesses, except at the most urgent extremity. This, at last, had its
+effect. She submitted to the medical treatment prescribed for her, and
+received the sacrament with open doors, speaking to those present upon
+her life and upon her state, but like a queen in both instances. After
+this sight was over, alone with her familiars, she applauded herself for
+the firmness she had displayed, asked them if she had not spoken well,
+and if she was not dying with greatness and courage.
+
+A day or two after, she wished to receive Our Lord once more. She
+received, accordingly, and as it appeared, with much piety, quite
+differently from the first time.
+
+At the extremity to which she had arrived, the doctors knew not what to
+do; everybody was tried. An elixir was spoken of, discovered by a
+certain Garus, which made much stir just then, and the secret of which
+the King has since bought. Garus was sent for and soon arrived. He
+found Madame la Duchesse de Berry so ill that he would answer for
+nothing. His remedy was given, and succeeded beyond all hopes. Nothing
+remained but to continue it. Above all things, Garus had begged that
+nothing should, on any account, be given to Madame la Duchesse de Berry
+except by him, and this had been most expressly commanded by M. le Duc
+and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. Madame la Duchesse de Berry continued
+to be more and more relieved and so restored, that Chirac, her regular
+doctor, began to fear for his reputation, and taking the opportunity when
+Garus was asleep upon a sofa, presented, with impetuosity, a purgative to
+Madame la Duchesse de Berry, and made her swallow it without saying a
+word to anybody, the two nurses standing by, the only persons present,
+not daring to oppose him.
+
+The audacity of this was as complete as its villainy, for M. le Duc and
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans were close at hand in the salon. From this
+moment to that in which the patient fell into a state worse than that
+from which the elixir had drawn her, there was scarcely an interval.
+Garus was awaked and called. Seeing this disorder, he cried that a
+purgative had been given, and whatever it might be, it was poison in the
+state to which the princess was now reduced. He wished to depart, he was
+detained, he was taken to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. Then followed a
+great uproar, cries from Garus, impudence and unequalled hardihood of
+Chirac, in defending what he had done.
+
+He could not deny it, for the two nurses had been questioned, and had
+told all. Madame la Duchesse de Berry drew near her end during this
+debate, and neither Chirac nor Garus could prevent it. She lasted,
+however, the rest of the day, and did not die until about midnight.
+Chirac, seeing the death-agony advance, traversed the chamber, made an
+insulting reverence at the foot of the bed, which was open, and wished
+her "a pleasant journey" (in equivalent terms), and thereupon went off to
+Paris. The marvel is that nothing came of this, and that he remained the
+doctor of M. le Duc d'Orleans as before!
+
+While the end was yet approaching, Madame de Saint-Simon, seeing that
+there was no one to bear M. le Duc d'Orleans company, sent for me to
+stand by him in these sad moments. It appeared to me that my arrival
+pleased him, and that I was not altogether useless to him in relieving
+his grief. The rest of the day was passed in entering for a moment at a
+time into the sick-chamber. In the evening I was nearly always alone
+with him.
+
+He wished that I should charge myself with all the funeral arrangements,
+and in case Madame la Duchesse de Berry, when opened, should be found to
+be enceinte, to see that the secret was kept. I proposed that the
+funeral should be of the simplest, without show or ceremonial. I
+explained my reasons, he thanked me, and left all the orders in my hands.
+Getting rid of these gloomy matters as quickly as possible, I walked with
+him from time to time in the reception rooms, and in the garden, keeping
+him from the chamber of the dying as much as possible.
+
+The night was well advanced, and Madame la Duchesse de Berry grew worse
+and worse, and without consciousness since Chirac had poisoned her. M.
+le Duc d'Orleans returned into the chamber, approached the head of the
+bed--all the curtains being pulled back; I allowed him to remain there
+but a few moments, and hurried him into the cabinet, which was deserted
+just then. The windows were open, he leaned upon the iron balustrade,
+and his tears increased so much that I feared lest they should suffocate
+him. When this attack had a little subsided, he began to talk of the
+misfortunes of this world, and of the short duration of its most
+agreeable pleasures. I urged the occasion to say to him everything God
+gave me the power to say, with all the gentleness, emotion, and
+tenderness, I could command. Not only he received well what I said to
+him, but he replied to it and prolonged the conversation.
+
+After we had been there more than an hour, Madame de Saint-Simon gently
+warned me that it was time to try and lead M. le Duc d'Orleans away,
+especially as there was no exit from the cabinet, except through the
+sick-chamber. His coach, that Madame de Saint-Simon had sent for, was
+ready. It was without difficulty that I succeeded in gently moving away
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, plunged as he was in the most bitter grief. I made
+him traverse the chamber at once, and supplicated him to return to Paris.
+At last he consented. He wished me to remain and give orders, and
+begged, with much positiveness, Madame de Saint-Simon to be present when
+seals were put upon the effects, after which I led him to his coach, and
+he went away. I immediately repeated to Madame de Saint-Simon the orders
+he had given me respecting the opening of the body, in order that she
+might have them executed, and I hindered her from remaining in the
+chamber, where there was nothing now but horror to be seen.
+
+At last, about midnight, on the 21st of July, 1819, Madame la Duchesse de
+Berry died, ten days after Chirac had consummated his crime. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans was the only person touched. Some people grieved; but not one
+of them who had enough to live upon appeared ever to regret her loss.
+Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans felt her deliverance, but paid every
+attention to decorum. Madame constrained herself but little. However
+affected M. le Duc d'Orleans might be, consolation soon came. The yoke
+to which he had submitted himself, and which he afterwards found heavy,
+was severed. Above all, he was free from all annoyance on the score of
+Rion's marriage, and its results, annoyance that would have been all the
+greater, inasmuch as at the opening of the poor princess she was found to
+be again enceinte; it was also found that her brain was deranged. These
+circumstances were for the time carefully hidden. It may be imagined
+what a state Rion fell into in learning at the army the death of Madame
+la Duchesse de Berry. All his romantic notions of ambition being
+overturned, he was more than once on the point of killing himself, and
+for a long time was always kept in sight by his friends. He sold out at
+the end of the campaign. As he had been gentle and polite to his
+friends, they did not desert him. But he ever afterwards remained in
+obscurity.
+
+On account of this death the theatres were closed for eight days.
+
+On Saturday, the 22nd of July, the heart of Madame la Duchesse de Berry
+was taken to the Val-de-Grace.
+
+On Sunday, the 23rd of July, her body was carried in an eight-horse coach
+to Saint-Denis. There was very little display; only about forty torches
+were carried by pages and guards.
+
+The funeral service was performed at Saint-Denis in the early part of
+September. There was no funeral oration.
+
+Madame de Saint-Simon had been forced, as I have shown, to accept the
+post of lady of honour to Madame la Duchesse de Berry, and had never been
+able to quit it. She had been treated with all sorts of consideration,
+had been allowed every liberty, but this did not console her for the post
+she occupied; so that she felt all the pleasure, not to say the
+satisfaction, of a deliverance she did not expect, from a princess
+twenty-four years of age. But the extreme fatigue of the last days of
+the illness, and of those which followed death, caused her a malignant
+fever, which left her at death's portal during six weeks in a house at
+Passy. She was two months recovering herself.
+
+This accident, which almost turned my head, sequestered me from anything
+for two months, during which I never left the house, scarcely left the
+sick-chamber, attended to nothing, and saw only a few relatives or
+indispensable friends.
+
+When my wife began to be re-established, I asked M. le Duc d'Orleans for
+a lodging at the new chateau at Meudon. He lent me the whole chateau;
+completely furnished. We passed there the rest of this summer, and
+several other summers afterwards. It is a charming place for rides or
+drives. We counted upon seeing only our friends there, but the proximity
+to Paris overwhelmed us with people, so that all the new chateau was
+sometimes completely filled, without reckoning the people of passage.
+
+I have little need to say anything more of Madame la Duchesse de Berry.
+These pages have already painted her. She was a strange mixture of pride
+and shamelessness. Drunkenness, filthy conversation, debauchery of the
+vilest kind, and impiety, were her diversions, varied, as has been seen,
+by occasional religious fits. Her indecency in everything, language,
+acts, behaviour, passed all bounds; and yet her pride was so sublime that
+she could not endure that people should dare to speak of her amid her
+depravity, so universal and so public; she had the hardihood to declare
+that nobody had the right to speak of persons of her rank, or blame their
+most notorious actions!
+
+Yet she had by nature a superior intellect, and, when she wished, could
+be agreeable and amiable. Her face was commanding, though somewhat
+spoiled at last by fat. She had much eloquence, speaking with an ease
+and precision that charmed and overpowered. What might she not have
+become, with the talents she possessed! But her pride, her violent
+temper, her irreligion, and her falsehood, spoiled all, and made her what
+we have seen her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XCIX
+
+Law had established his Mississippi Company, and now began to do marvels
+with it. A sort of language had been invented, to talk of this scheme,
+language which, however, I shall no more undertake to explain than the
+other finance operations. Everybody was mad upon Mississippi Stock.
+Immense fortunes were made, almost in a breath; Law, besieged in his
+house by eager applicants, saw people force open his door, enter by the
+windows from the garden, drop into his cabinet down the chimney! People
+talked only of millions.
+
+Law, who, as I have said, came to my house every Tuesday, between eleven
+and twelve, often pressed me to receive some shares for nothing, offering
+to manage them without any trouble to me, so that I must gain to the
+amount of several millions! So many people had already gained enormously
+by their own exertions that it was not doubtful Law could gain for me
+even more rapidly. But I never would lend myself to it. Law addressed
+himself to Madame de Saint-Simon, whom he found as inflexible. He would
+have much preferred to enrich me than many others; so as to attach me to
+him by interest, intimate as he saw me with the Regent. He spoke to M.
+le Duc d'Orleans, even, so as to vanquish me by his authority. The
+Regent attacked me more than once, but I always eluded him.
+
+At last, one day when we were together by appointment, at Saint-Cloud,
+seated upon the balustrade of the orangery, which covers the descent into
+the wood of the goulottes, the Regent spoke again to me of the
+Mississippi, and pressed me to receive some shares from Law.
+
+The more I resisted, the more he pressed me, and argued; at last he grew
+angry, and said that I was too conceited, thus to refuse what the King
+wished to give me (for everything was done in the King's name), while so
+many of my equals in rank and dignity were running after these shares.
+I replied that such conduct would be that of a fool, the conduct of
+impertinence, rather than of conceit; that it was not mine, and that
+since he pressed me so much I would tell him my reasons. They were,
+that since the fable of Midas, I had nowhere read, still less seen,
+that anybody had the faculty of converting into gold all he touched;
+that I did not believe this virtue was given to Law, but thought that all
+his knowledge was a learned trick, a new and skilful juggle, which put
+the wealth of Peter into the pockets of Paul, and which enriched one at
+the expense of the other; that sooner or later the game would be played
+out, that an infinity of people would be ruined; finally, that I abhorred
+to gain at the expense of others, and would in no way mix myself up with
+the Mississippi scheme.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans knew only too well how to reply to me, always
+returning to his idea that I was refusing the bounties of the King.
+I said that I was so removed from such madness, that I would make a
+proposition to him, of which assuredly I should never have spoken, but
+for his accusation.
+
+I related to him the expense to which my father had been put in defending
+Blaye against the party of M. le Prince in years gone by. How he had
+paid the garrison, furnished provisions, cast cannon, stocked the place,
+during a blockade of eighteen months, and kept up, at his own expense,
+within the town, five hundred gentlemen, whom he had collected together.
+How he had been almost ruined by the undertaking, and had never received
+a sou, except in warrants to the amount of five hundred thousand livres,
+of which not one had ever been paid, and that he had been compelled to
+pay yearly the interest of the debts he had contracted, debts that still
+hung like a mill-stone upon me. My proposition was that M. le Duc
+d'Orleans should indemnify me for this loss, I giving up the warrants, to
+be burnt before him.
+
+This he at once agreed to. He spoke of it the very next day to Law: my
+warrants were burnt by degrees in the cabinet of M. le Duc d'Orleans, and
+it was by this means I paid for what I had done at La Ferme.
+
+Meanwhile the Mississippi scheme went on more swimmingly than ever. It
+was established in the Rue Quincampoix, from which horses and coaches
+were banished. About the end of October of this year, 1817, its business
+so much increased, that the office was thronged all day long, and it was
+found necessary to place clocks and guards with drums at each end of the
+street, to inform people, at seven o'clock in the morning, of the opening
+of business, and of its close at night: fresh announcements were issued,
+too, prohibiting people from going there on Sundays and fete days.
+
+Never had excitement or madness been heard of which approached this.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans distributed a large number of the Company's shares to
+all the general officers and others employed in the war against Spain.
+A month after, the value of the specie was diminished; then the whole of
+the coin was re-cast.
+
+Money was in such abundance--that is to say, the notes of Law, preferred
+then to the metallic currency--that four millions were paid to Bavaria,
+and three millions to Sweden, in settlement of old debts. Shortly after,
+M. le Duc d'Orleans gave 80,000 livres to Meuse; and 80,000 livres to
+Madame de Chateauthiers, dame d'atours of Madame. The Abbe Alari, too,
+obtained 2000 livres pension. Various other people had augmentation of
+income given to them at this time.
+
+Day by day Law's bank and his Mississippi increased in favour. The
+confidence in them was complete. People could not change their lands and
+their houses into paper fast enough, and the result of this paper was,
+that everything became dear beyond all previous experience. All heads
+were turned, Foreigners envied our good fortune, and left nothing undone
+to have a share in it. The English, even, so clear and so learned in
+banks, in companies, in commerce, allowed themselves to be caught, and
+bitterly repented it afterwards. Law, although cold and discreet, felt
+his modesty giving way. He grew tired of being a subaltern. He hankered
+after greatness in the midst of this splendour; the Abbe Dubois and M. le
+Duc d'Orleans desired it for him more than he; nevertheless, two
+formidable obstacles were in the way: Law was a foreigner and a heretic,
+and he could not be naturalised without a preliminary act of abjuration.
+To perform that, somebody must be found to convert him, somebody upon
+whom good reliance could be placed. The Abbe Dubois had such a person
+all ready in his pocket, so to speak. The Abbe Tencin was the name of
+this ecclesiastic, a fellow of debauched habits and shameless life, whom
+the devil has since pushed into the most astonishing good fortune; so
+true it is that he sometimes departs from his ordinary rules, in order to
+recompense his servitors, and by these striking examples dazzle others,
+and so secure them.
+
+As may be imagined, Law did not feel very proud of the Abbe who had
+converted him: more especially as that same Abbe was just about this time
+publicly convicted of simony, of deliberate fraud, of right-down lying
+(proved by his own handwriting), and was condemned by the Parliament to
+pay a fine, which branded him with infamy, and which was the scandal of
+the whole town. Law, however, was converted, and this was a subject
+which supplied all conversation.
+
+Soon after, he bought, for one million livres, the Hotel Mazarin for his
+bank, which until then had been established in a house he hired of the
+Chief-President, who had not need of it, being very magnificently lodged
+in the Palace of the Parliament by virtue of his office. Law bought, at
+the same time, for 550,000 livres, the house of the Comte de Tesse.
+
+Yet it was not all sunshine with this famous foreigner, for the sky above
+him was heavy with threatening clouds. In the midst of the flourishing
+success of his Mississippi, it was discovered that there was a plot to
+kill him. Thereupon sixteen soldiers of the regiment of the Guards were
+given to him as a protection to his house, and eight to his brother, who
+had come to Paris some little time before.
+
+Law had other enemies besides those who were hidden. He could not get on
+well with Argenson, who, as comptroller of the finances, was continually
+thrown into connection with him. The disorder of the finances increased
+in consequence every day, as well as the quarrels between Law and
+Argenson, who each laid the blame upon the other. The Scotchman was the
+best supported, for his manners were pleasing, and his willingness to
+oblige infinite. He had, as it were, a finance tap in his hand, and he
+turned it on for every one who helped him. M. le Duc, Madame la
+Duchesse, Tesse, Madame de Verue, had drawn many millions through this
+tap, and drew still. The Abbe Dubois turned it on as he pleased. These
+were grand supports, besides that of M. le Duc d'Orleans, who could not
+part with his favourite.
+
+Argenson, on the contrary, was not much liked. He had been at the head
+of the police so long that he could not shake off the habits he had
+acquired in that position: He had been accustomed to give audiences upon
+all sorts of police matters at dead of night, or at the small hours of
+the morning, and he appeared to see no reason why he should not do the
+same now that he was Keeper of the Seals. He irritated people beyond all
+bearing, by making appointments with them at these unreasonable hours,
+and threw into despair all who worked under him, or who had business with
+him. The difficulty of the finances, and his struggles with Law, had
+thrown him into ill-humour, which extended through all his refusals.
+Things, in fact, had come to such a pass, that it was evident one or the
+other must give up an administration which their rivalry threw into
+confusion.
+
+Argenson saw the storm coming, and feeling the insecurity of his
+position, wished to save himself. He had too much sense and too much
+knowledge of the world not to feel that if he obstinately clung to the
+finances he should not only lose them but the seals also. He yielded
+therefore to Law, who was at last declared comptroller-general of the
+finances, and who, elevated to this (for him) surprising point, continued
+to visit me as usual every Tuesday morning, always trying to persuade me
+into belief of his past miracles, and of those to come.
+
+Argenson remained Keeper of the Seals, and skilfully turned to account
+the sacrifice he had made by obtaining through it the permission to
+surrender his appointment of Chancellor of the Order of Saint-Louis to
+his eldest son, and the title, effectively, to his younger son. His
+place of Conseiller d'Etat, that he had retained,--he also gave to his
+eldest son, and made the other lieutenant of police. The murmur was
+great upon seeing a foreigner comptroller-general, and all abandoned to a
+finance system which already had begun to be mistrusted. But Frenchmen
+grow accustomed to everything, and the majority were consoled by being no
+longer exposed to the sharp humour of Argenson, or his strange hours of
+business.
+
+But Law's annoyances were not over when this change had been made. M. le
+Prince de Conti began to be troublesome. He was more grasping than any
+of his relatives, and that is not saying a little. He accosted Law now,
+pistol in hand, so to speak, and with a perfect "money or your life"
+manner. He had already amassed mountains of gold by the easy humour of
+M. le Duc d'Orleans; he had drawn, too, a good deal from Law, in private.
+Not content with this, he wished to draw more. M. le Duc d'Orleans grew
+tired, and was not over-pleased with him. The Parliament just then was
+at its tricks again; its plots began to peep out, and the Prince de Conti
+joined in its intrigues in order to try and play a part indecent,
+considering his birth; little fitting his age; shameful, after the
+monstrous favours unceasingly heaped upon him.
+
+Repelled by the Regent, he turned, as I have said, towards Law, hoping
+for more success. His expectations were deceived; prayers, cringing
+meanness (for he stopped at nothing to get money) being of no effect, he
+tried main strength, and spared Law neither abuse nor menaces. In fact,
+not knowing what else to do to injure his bank, he sent three waggons
+there, and drove them away full of money, which he made Law give him for
+paper he held. Law did not dare to refuse, and thus show the poverty of
+his metallic funds, but fearing to accustom so insatiable a prince to
+such tyranny as this, he went, directly the waggons left, to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, and complained of what had occurred. The Regent was much
+annoyed; he saw the dangerous results, and the pernicious example of so
+violent a proceeding, directed against an unsupported foreigner, whom
+rather lightly he had just made comptroller-general. He flew into a
+violent rage, sent for the Prince de Conti, and, contrary to his nature,
+reprimanded him so severely, that he was silenced and cried for mercy.
+But annoyed at having failed, and still more at the sharp scolding he had
+received, the Prince de Conti consoled himself, like a woman, by
+spreading all sorts of reports against Law, which caused him but little
+fear, and did him still less harm, but which did slight honour to M. le
+Prince de Conti, because the cause of these reports, and also the large
+sums he had drawn from the financier, were not unknown to the public;
+blame upon him was general, and all the more heavy, because Law had
+fallen out of public favour, which a mere trifle had changed into spite
+and indignation.
+
+This is the trifle. The Marechal de Villeroy, incapable of inspiring the
+King with any solid ideas, adoring even to worship the deceased King,
+full of wind, and lightness, and frivolity, and of sweet recollections of
+his early years, his grace at fetes and ballets, his splendid
+gallantries, wished that the King, in imitation of the deceased monarch,
+should dance in a ballet. It was a little too early to think of this.
+This pleasure seemed a trifle too much of pain to so young a King; his
+timidity should have been vanquished by degrees, in order to accustom him
+to society which he feared, before engaging him to show himself off in
+public, and dance upon a stage.
+
+The deceased King,--educated in a brilliant Court, where rule and
+grandeur were kept up with much distinction, and where continual
+intercourse with ladies, the Queen-mother, and others of the Court, had
+early fashioned and emboldened him, had relished and excelled in these
+sorts of fetes and amusements, amid a crowd of young people of both
+sexes, who all rightfully bore the names of nobility, and amongst whom
+scarcely any of humble birth were mixed, for we cannot call thus some
+three or four of coarser stuff, who were admitted simply for the purpose
+of adding strength and beauty to the ballet, by the grace of their faces
+and the elegance of their movements, with a few dancing-masters to
+regulate and give the tone to the whole. Between this time and that I am
+now speaking of was an abyss. The education of those days instructed
+every one in grace, address, exercise, respect for bearing, graduated and
+delicate politeness, polished and decent gallantry. The difference,
+then, between the two periods is seen at a glance, without time lost in
+pointing it out.
+
+Reflection was not the principal virtue of the Marechal de Villeroy. He
+thought of no obstacle either on the part of the King or elsewhere, and
+declared that his Majesty would dance in a ballet. Everything was soon
+ready for the execution. It was not so with the action. It became
+necessary to search for young people who could dance: soon, whether they
+danced ill or well, they were gladly received; at last the only question
+was, "Whom can we get?" consequently a sorry lot was obtained. Several,
+who ought never to have been admitted, were, and so easily, that from one
+to the other Law had the temerity to ask M. le Duc d'Orleans to allow his
+son, who danced very well, to join the ballet company! The Regent,
+always easy, still enamoured of Law, and, to speak truth, purposely
+contributing as much as possible to confusion of rank, immediately
+accorded the demand, and undertook to say so to the Marechal de Villeroy.
+
+The Marechal, who hated and crossed Law with might and main, reddened
+with anger, and represented to the Regent what, in fact, deserved to be
+said: the Regent, in reply, named several young people, who, although of
+superior rank, were not so well fitted for the ballet as young Law; and
+although the answer to this was close at hand, the Marechal could not
+find it, and exhausted himself in vain exclamations. He could not,
+therefore, resist the Regent; and having no support from M. le Duc,
+superintendent of the King's education and a great protector of Law and
+of confusion, he gave in, and the financier's son was named for the
+ballet.
+
+It is impossible to express the public revolt excited by this bagatelle,
+at which every one was offended. Nothing else was spoken of for some
+days; tongues wagged freely, too; and a good deal of dirty water was
+thrown upon other dancers in the ballet.
+
+At last the public was satisfied. The small-pox seized Law's son, and
+(on account of its keeping him from the ballet) caused universal joy.
+The ballet was danced several times, its success answering in no way to
+the Marechal de Villeroy. The King was so wearied, so fatigued, with
+learning, with rehearsing, and with dancing this ballet, that he took an
+aversion for these fetes and for everything offering display, which has
+never quitted him since, and which does not fail to leave a void in the
+Court; so that this ballet ceased sooner than was intended, and the
+Marechal de Villeroy never dared to propose another.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, either by his usual facility, or to smooth down the
+new elevation of Law to the post of comptroller-general, bestowed a
+number of pecuniary favours; he gave 600,000 livres to La Fare, captain
+of his guard; 200,000 livres to Castries, chevalier d'honneur to Madame
+la Duchesse d'Orleans; 200,000 livres to the old Prince de Courtenay, who
+much needed them; 20,000 livres pension to the Prince de Talmont; 6000
+livres to the Marquise de Bellefonds, who already had a similar sum; and
+moved by cries on the part of M. le Prince de Conti, 60,000 livres to the
+Comte de la Marche his son, scarcely three years old; he gave, also,
+smaller amounts to various others. Seeing so much depredation, and no
+recovery to hope for, I asked M. le Duc d'Orleans to attach 12,000
+livres, by way of increase, to my government of Senlis, which was worth
+only 1000 livres, and of which my second son had the reversion. I
+obtained it at once.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER C
+
+About the commencement of the new year, 1720, the system of Law
+approached its end. If he had been content with his bank his bank within
+wise and proper limits--the money of the realm might have been doubled,
+and an extreme facility afforded to commerce and to private enterprise,
+because, the establishment always being prepared to meet its liabilities,
+the notes it issued would have been as good as ready money, and sometimes
+even preferable, on account of the facility of transport. It must be
+admitted, however, as I declared to M. le Duc d'Orleans in his cabinet,
+and as I openly said in the Council of the Regency when the bank passed
+there, that good as this establishment might be in itself, it could only
+be so in a republic, or in a monarchy, like that of England, where the
+finances are absolutely governed by those who furnish them, and who
+simply furnish as much or as little as they please; but in a trivial,
+changing, and more than absolute state like France solidity necessarily
+is wanting, consequently confidence (at least of a discreet and proper
+kind): since a king, and under his name, a mistress, a minister,
+favourites; still more, extreme necessities, such as the deceased King
+experienced in the years 1707-8-9 and 10,--a hundred things, in fact,
+could overthrow the bank, the allurements of which were, at once, too
+great and too easy. But to add to the reality of this bank, the chimera
+of the Mississippi, with its shares, its special jargon, its science (a
+continual juggle for drawing money from one person to give it to
+another), was to almost guarantee that these shares should at last end in
+smoke (since we had neither mines, nor quarries of the philosopher's
+stone), and that the few would be enriched at the expense of the many, as
+in fact happened.
+
+What hastened the fall of the bank, and of the system, was the
+inconceivable prodigality of M. le Duc d'Orleans, who, without bounds,
+and worse still, if it can be, without choice, could not resist the
+importunities even of those whom he knew, beyond all doubt, to have been
+the most opposed to him, and who were completely despicable, but gave
+with open hands; and more frequently allowed money to be drawn from him
+by people who laughed at him, and who were grateful only to their
+effrontery. People with difficulty believe what they have seen; and
+posterity will consider as a fable what we ourselves look upon as a
+dream. At last, so much was given to a greedy and prodigal nation,
+always covetous and in want on account of its luxury, its disorder, and
+its confusion of ranks, that paper became scarce, and the mills could not
+furnish enough.
+
+It may be imagined by this, what abuse had been made of a bank,
+established as a resource always ready, but which could not exist as such
+without being always delicately adjusted; and above all, kept in a state
+to meet the obligations it had contracted. I obtained information on
+this point from Law, when he came to me on Tuesday mornings; for a long
+time he played with me before admitting his embarrassments, and
+complained modestly and timidly, that the Regent was ruining everything
+by his extravagance. I knew from outsiders more than he thought, and it
+was this that induced me to press him upon his balance-sheet. In
+admitting to me, at last, although faintly, what he could no longer hide,
+he assured me he should not be wanting in resources provided M. le Duc
+d'Orleans left him free. That did not persuade me. Soon after, the
+notes began to lose favour; then to fall into discredit, and the
+discredit to become public. Then came the necessity to sustain them by
+force, since they could no longer be sustained by industry; and the
+moment force showed itself every one felt that all was over. Coercive
+authority was resorted to; the use of gold, silver, and jewels was
+suppressed (I speak of coined money); it was pretended that since the
+time of Abraham,--Abraham, who paid ready money for the sepulchre of
+Sarah,--all the civilised nations in the world had been in the greatest
+error and under the grossest delusion, respecting money and the metals it
+is made of; that paper alone was useful and necessary; that we could not
+do greater harm to our neighbours--jealous of our greatness and of our
+advantages--than to send to them all our money and all our jewels; and
+this idea was in no way concealed, for the Indian Company was allowed to
+visit every house, even Royal houses, confiscate all the louis d'or, and
+the coins it could find there; and to leave only pieces of twenty sous
+and under (to the amount of not more than 200 francs), for the odd money
+of bills, and in order to purchase necessary provisions of a minor kind,
+with prohibitions, strengthened by heavy punishment, against keeping
+more; so that everybody was obliged to take all the ready money he
+possessed to the bank, for fear of its being discovered by a valet. But
+nobody, as may be imagined, was persuaded of the justice of the power
+accorded to the Company, and accordingly authority was more and more
+exerted; all private houses were searched, informations were laid against
+people in order that no money might be kept back, or if it were, that the
+guilty parties might be severely punished.
+
+Never before had sovereign power been so violently exercised, never had
+it attacked in such a manner the temporal interests of the community.
+Therefore was it by a prodigy, rather than by any effort or act of the
+government, that these terribly new ordonnances failed to produce the
+saddest and most complete revolutions; but there was not even talk of
+them; and although there were so many millions of people, either
+absolutely ruined or dying of hunger, and of the direst want, without
+means to procure their daily subsistence, nothing more than complaints
+and groans was heard.
+
+This violence was, however, too excessive, and in every respect too
+indefensible to last long; new paper and new juggling tricks were of
+necessity resorted to; the latter were known to be such--people felt them
+to be such--but they submitted to them rather than not have twenty crowns
+in safety in their houses; and a greater violence made people suffer the
+smaller. Hence so many projects, so many different faces in finance, and
+all tending to establish one issue of paper upon another; that is to say,
+always causing loss to the holders of the different paper (everybody
+being obliged to hold it), and the universal multitude. This is what
+occupied all the rest of the government, and of the life of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans; which drove Law out of the realm; which increased six-fold the
+price of all merchandise, all food even the commonest; which ruinously
+augmented every kind of wages, and ruined public and private commerce;
+which gave, at the expense of the public, sudden riches to a few noblemen
+who dissipated it, and were all the poorer in a short time; which enabled
+many financiers' clerks, and the lowest dregs of the people, profiting by
+the general confusion, to take advantage of the Mississippi, and make
+enormous fortunes; which occupied the government several years after the
+death of M. le Duc d'Orleans; and which, to conclude, France never will
+recover from, although it may be true that the value of land is
+considerably augmented. As a last affliction, the all-powerful,
+especially the princes and princesses of the blood, who had been mixed
+up, in the Mississippi, and who had used all their authority to escape
+from it without loss, re-established it upon what they called the Great
+Western Company, which with the same juggles and exclusive trade with the
+Indies, is completing the annihilation of the trade of the realm,
+sacrificed to the enormous interest of a small number of private
+individuals, whose hatred and vengeance the government has not dared to
+draw upon itself by attacking their delicate privileges.
+
+Several violent executions, and confiscations of considerable sums found
+in the houses searched, took place. A certain Adine, employed at the
+bank, had 10,000 crowns confiscated, was fined 10,000 francs, and lost
+his appointment. Many people hid their money with so much secrecy, that,
+dying without being able to say where they had put it, these little
+treasures remained buried and lost to the heirs.
+
+In the midst of the embarrassments of the finances, and in spite of them,
+M. le Duc d'Orleans continued his prodigal gifts. He attached pensions
+of 6000 livres and 4000 livres to the grades of lieutenant-general and
+camp-marshal. He gave a pension of 20,000 livres to old Montauban; one
+of 6000 livres to M. de Montauban (younger brother of the Prince de
+Guemene); and one of 6000 livres to the Duchesse de Brissac. To several
+other people he gave pensions of 4000 livres; to eight or ten others,
+3000 or 2000 livres. I obtained one of 8000 livres for Madame Marechal
+de Lorges; and one of 6000 livres was given to the Marechal de Chamilly,
+whose affairs were much deranged by the Mississippi. M. de Soubise and
+the Marquis Noailles had each upwards of 200,000 livres. Even Saint-
+Genies, just out of the Bastille, and banished to Beauvais, had a pension
+of 1000. Everybody in truth wanted an augmentation of income, on account
+of the extreme high price to which the commonest, almost necessary things
+had risen, and even all other things; which, although at last diminshed
+by degrees, remain to this day much dearer than they were before the
+Mississippi.
+
+The pensions being given away, M. le Duc d'Orleans began to think how he
+could reduce the public expenditure. Persuaded by those in whose
+financial knowledge he had most confidence, he resolved to reduce to two
+per cent. the interest upon all the funds. This much relieved those who
+paid, but terribly cut down the income of those who received, that is to
+say, the creditors of the state, who had lent their money at five per
+cent., according to the loan--and, public faith and usage, and who had
+hitherto peacefully enjoyed that interest. M. le Duc d'Orleans assembled
+at the Palais Royal several financiers of different rank, and resolved
+with them to pass this edict. It made much stir among the Parliament
+men, who refused to register it. But M. le Duc d'Orleans would not
+change his determination, and maintained his decree in spite of them.
+
+By dint of turning and turning around the Mississippi, not to say of
+juggling with it, the desire came to establish, according to the example
+of the English, colonies in the vast countries beyond the seas. In order
+to people these colonies, persons without means of livelihood, sturdy
+beggars, female and male, and a quantity of public creatures were carried
+off. If this had been executed with discretion and discernment, with the
+necessary measures and precautions, it would have ensured the object
+proposed, and relieved Paris and the provinces of a heavy, useless, and
+often dangerous burthen; but in Paris and elsewhere so much violence, and
+even more roguery, were mixed up with it, that great murmuring was
+excited. Not the slightest care had been taken to provide for the
+subsistence of so many unfortunate people, either while in the place they
+were to embark from, or while on the road to reach it; by night they were
+shut up, with nothing to eat, in barns, or in the dry ditches of the
+towns they stopped in, all means of egress being forbidden them. They
+uttered cries which excited pity and indignation; but the alms collected
+for them not being sufficient, still less the little their conductors
+gave them, they everywhere died in frightful numbers.
+
+
+[Illustration: Mississippi Colonization--Painted by C. E. Delort--1176]
+
+
+This inhumanity, joined to the barbarity of the conductors, to violence
+of a kind unknown until this, and to the rascality of carrying off people
+who were not of the prescribed quality, but whom others thus got rid of
+by whispering a word in the ear of the conductors and greasing their
+palms; all these things, I say, caused so much stir, so much excitement,
+that the system, it was found, could not be kept up. Some troops had
+been embarked, and during the voyage were not treated much better than
+the others. The persons already collected were set at liberty, allowed
+to do what they pleased, and no more were seized. Law, regarded as the
+author of these seizures, became much detested, and M. le Duc d'Orleans
+repented having ever fallen in with the scheme.
+
+The 22nd of May of this year, 1720, became celebrated by the publication
+of a decree of the Council of State, concerning the shares of the Company
+of the Indies (the same as that known under the name of Mississippi) and
+the notes of Law's bank. This decree diminished by degrees, and from
+month to month, the value of the shares and the notes, so that, by the
+end of the year, that value would have been reduced one-half.
+
+This, in the language of finance and of bankruptcy, was to turn tail with
+a vengeance: and its effect, while remedying nothing, was to make people
+believe that things were in a worse state than was actually the case.
+Argenson, who, as we have seen, had been turned out of the finances to
+make room for Law, was generally accused of suggesting this decree out of
+malice, already foreseeing all the evils that must arise from it. The
+uproar was general and frightful. There was not a rich person who did
+not believe himself lost without resource; not a poor one who did not see
+himself reduced to beggary. The Parliament, so opposed to the new money
+system, did not let slip this fine opportunity. It rendered itself the
+protector of the public by refusing to register the decree, and by
+promptly uttering the strongest remonstrance against it. The public even
+believed that to the Parliament was due the sudden revocation of the
+edict, which, however, was simply caused by the universal complaining,
+and the tardy discovery of the fault committed in passing it. The little
+confidence in Law remaining was now radically extinguished; not an atom
+of it could ever be set afloat again. Seditious writings and analytical
+and reasonable pamphlets rained on all sides, and the consternation was
+general.
+
+The Parliament assembled on Monday, the 27th of May, in the morning, and
+named certain of its members to go to M. le Duc d'Orleans, with
+remonstrances against the decree. About noon of the same day, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans sent La Vrilliere to say to the Parliament that he revoked that
+decree, and that the notes would remain as before. La Vrilliere, finding
+that the Parliament had adjourned, went to the Chief-President, to say
+with what he was charged. After dinner the Parliamentary deputies came
+to the Palais Royal, where they were well received; M. le Duc d'Orleans
+confirmed what they had already heard from La Vrilliere, and said to them
+that he would re-establish the funds of the Hotel de Ville at two-and-a-
+half percent. The deputies expected that in justice and in goodness he
+ought to raise them to at least three per cent. M. le Duc d'Orleans
+answered, that he should like not only to raise them to three, but to
+four, nay, five per cent.; but that the state of affairs would not permit
+him to go beyond two-and-a-half. On the next day was published the
+counter-decree, which placed the shares and actions as they were before
+the 22nd of May. The decree of that date was therefore revoked in six
+days, after having caused such a strange effect.
+
+On Wednesday, the 29th, a pretty little comedy was played. Le Blanc,
+Secretary of State, went to Law, told him that M. le Duc d'Orleans
+discharged him from his office as comptroller-general of the finances,
+thanked him for the attention he had given to it, and announced that as
+many people in Paris did not like him, a meritorious officer should keep
+guard in his house to prevent any accident that might happen to him. At
+the same time, Benzualde, major of the regiment of Swiss guards, arrived
+with sixteen of his men to remain night and day in Law's house.
+
+The Scotchman did not in the least expect this dismissal or this guard,
+but he appeared very tranquil respecting both, and maintained his usual
+coolness. The next day he was taken by the Duc de la Force to the Palais
+Royal. Then comedy number two was played. M. le Duc d'Orleans refused
+to see the financier, who went away without an interview. On the day
+after, however, Law was admitted by the back stairs, closeted with the
+Regent, and was treated by him as well as ever. The comedies were over.
+
+On Sunday, the 2nd of June, Benzualde and his Swiss withdrew from Law's
+house. Stock-jobbing was banished at the same time from the Rue
+Quincampoix, and established in the Place Vendome. In this latter place
+there was more room for it. The passers-by were not incommoded. Yet
+some people did not find it as convenient as the other. At this time the
+King gave up to the bank one hundred million of shares he had in it.
+
+On the 5th July, a decree of the Council was issued, prohibiting people
+from possessing jewels, from keeping them locked up, or from selling them
+to foreigners. It may be imagined what a commotion ensued. This decree
+was grafted upon a number of others, the object of all, too visibly,
+being to seize upon all coin, in favour of the discredited paper, in
+which nobody could any longer have the slightest confidence. In vain M.
+le Duc d'Orleans, M. le Duc, and his mother, tried to persuade others, by
+getting rid of their immense stores of jewels, that is to say, by sending
+them abroad on a journey--nothing more: not a person was duped by this
+example; not a person omitted to conceal his jewels very carefully: a
+thing much more easy to accomplish than the concealment of gold or silver
+coin, on account of the smaller value of precious stones. This jewellery
+eclipse was not of long duration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CI
+
+Immediately after the issue of this decree an edict was drawn up for the
+establishment of an Indian commercial company, which was to undertake to
+reimburse in a year six, hundred millions of bank notes, by paying fifty
+thousand dollars per month. Such was the last resource of Law and his
+system. For the juggling tricks of the Mississippi, it was found
+necessary to substitute something real; especially since the edict of the
+22nd of May, so celebrated and so disastrous for the paper. Chimeras
+were replaced by realities--by a true India Company; and it was this name
+and this thing which succeeded, which took the place of the undertaking
+previously known as the Mississippi. It was in vain that the tobacco
+monopoly and a number of other immense monopolies were given to the new
+company; they could not enable it to meet the proper claims spread among
+the public, no matter what trouble might be taken to diminish them at all
+hazard and at all loss.
+
+It was now necessary to seek other expedients. None could be found
+except that of rendering this company a commercial one; this was, under a
+gentler name, a name vague and unpretending, to hand over to it the
+entire and exclusive commerce of the country. It may be imagined how
+such a resolution was received by the public, exasperated by the severe
+decree, prohibiting people, under heavy penalties, from having more than
+five-hundred livres, in coin, in their possession, subjecting them to
+visits of inspection, and leaving them nothing but bank notes to, pay for
+the commonest necessaries of daily life. Two things resulted; first,
+fury, which day by day was so embittered by the difficulty of obtaining
+money for daily subsistence, that it was a marvel all Paris did not
+revolt at once, and that the emeute was appeased; second, the Parliament,
+taking its stand upon this public emotion, held firm to the end in
+refusing to register the edict instituting the new company.
+
+On the 15th of July, the Chancellor showed in his own house the draught
+of the edict to deputies from the Parliament, who remained with him until
+nine o'clock at night, without being persuaded. On the morrow, the 16th,
+the edict was brought forward in the Regency Council. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, sustained by M. le Duc, spoke well upon it, because he could
+not speak ill, however bad his theme. Nobody said a word, and all bowed
+their necks. It was resolved, in this manner, to send the edict to the
+Parliament on the morrow, the 17th of July.
+
+That same 17th of July, there was such a crowd in the morning, at the
+bank and in the neighbouring streets, for the purpose of obtaining enough
+money to go to market with, that ten or twelve people were stifled.
+Three of the bodies were tumultuously carried to the Palais Royal, which
+the people, with loud cries, wished to enter. A detachment of the King's
+guards at the Tuileries was promptly sent there. La Vrilliere and Le
+Blanc separately harangued the people. The lieutenant of police came;
+brigades of the watch were sent for. The dead bodies were afterwards
+carried away, and by gentleness and cajoleries the people were at length
+dispersed. The detachment of the King's guards returned to the
+Tuileries. By about ten o'clock in the morning, all being over, Law took
+it into his head to go to the Palais Royal. He received many
+imprecations as he passed through the streets. M. le Duc d'Orleans
+thought it would be well not to let him leave the Palais Royal, and gave
+him a lodging there. He sent back Law's carriage, however, the windows
+of which were smashed on the way by the stones thrown at them. Law's
+house, too, was attacked, amid much breaking of windows. All this was
+known so late in our quarter of the Jacobins of the Saint-Dominique, that
+when I arrived at the Palais Royal there was not a vestige visible of any
+disturbance. M. le Duc d'Orleans, in the midst of a very small company,
+was very tranquil, and showed that you would not please him unless you
+were so also. I did not stop long, having nothing to do or say.
+
+This same morning the edict was carried to the Parliament, which refused
+to register it, and sent a deputation to M. le Duc d'Orleans with its
+reasons for this, at which the Regent was much vexed. The next morning
+an ordonnance of the King was pasted all over the town, prohibiting the
+people, under heavy penalties, to assemble, and announcing that in
+consequence of the disturbances which had taken place the previous day at
+the bank, that establishment would remain closed until further notice,
+and no more money would be paid by it. Luck supplied the place of
+prudence; for people knew not how they were to live in the meanwhile, yet
+no fresh disturbance occurred fact which shows the goodness and obedience
+of the people, subjected to so many and to such strange trials. Troops,
+however, were collected at Charenton, who were at work upon the canal of
+Montargis: some regiments of cavalry and of dragoons were stationed at
+Saint-Denis, and the King's regiment was posted upon the heights of
+Chaillot. Money was sent to Gonesse to induce the bakers to come as
+usual, and for fear they should refuse bank notes, like the Paris workmen
+and shopkeepers, nearly all of whom would no longer receive any paper,
+the regiment of the guards had orders to hold itself ready, and the
+musketeers to keep within their quarters, their horses saddled and
+bridled.
+
+As for the Parliament, M. le Duc d'Orleans determined to punish its
+disobedience by sending it to Blois. This resolution was carried in full
+council. The Regent hoped that the Parliamentary men, accustomed to the
+comfort of their Paris homes, and to the society there of their wives;
+children, and friends, would soon grow tired of being separated from
+them, and of the extra expense they would be put to, and would give in.
+I agreed to the project, although I saw, alas! that by this exile the
+Parliament would be punished, but would be neither conciliated nor tamed
+into submission. To make matters worse, Blois was given up, and Pontoise
+was substituted for it! This latter town being close to Paris, the
+chastisement became ridiculous, showed the vacillating weakness of the
+Regent, and encouraged the Parliament to laugh at him. One thing was,
+however, well done. The resolution taken to banish the Parliament was
+kept so secret that that assembly had not the slightest knowledge of it.
+
+On Sunday, the 21st of July, squadrons of the guards, with officers at
+their head, took possession, at four o'clock in the morning, of all the
+doors of the Palais de justice. The musketeers seized at the same time
+upon the doors of the Grand Chamber, whilst others invaded the house of
+the Chief-President, who was in much fear during the first hour. Other
+musketeers went in parties of four to all the officers of the Parliament,
+and served them with the King's order, commanding them to repair to
+Pontoise within twice twenty-four hours. All passed off very politely on
+both sides, so that there was not the slightest complaint: several
+members obeyed the same day and went to Pontoise.
+
+Rather late in the evening M. le Duc d'Orleans sent to the Attorney-
+General 200,000 livres in coin, and as much in bank notes of 100 livres,
+and of 10 livres to be given to those who should need them for the
+journey, but not as gifts. The Chief-President was more brazen and more
+fortunate; he made so many promises, showed so much meanness, employed so
+much roguery, that abusing by these means the feebleness and easiness of
+the Regent, whom he laughed at, he obtained more than 100,000 ecus for
+his expenses. The poor prince gave him the money, under the rose, in two
+or three different payments, and permitted the Duc de Bouillon to lend
+him his house at Pontoise, completely furnished, and the garden of which,
+on the banks of the river, is admirable and immense, a masterpiece of its
+kind, and had been the delight of Cardinal Bouillon, being perhaps the
+only thing in France he regretted. With such fine assistance the Chief-
+President--on bad terms with his companions, who had openly despised him
+for some time--perfectly made it up with them. He kept at Pontoise open
+table for the Parliament; all were every day at liberty to use it if they
+liked, so that there were always several tables, all equally, delicately,
+and splendidly served. He sent, too, to those who asked for them,
+liquors, etc., as they could desire. Cooling drinks and fruits of all
+kinds were abundantly served every afternoon, and there were a number of
+little one and two-horse vehicles always ready for the ladies and old men
+who liked a drive, besides play-tables in the apartments until supper
+time. The result of all this magnificence was, as I have said, that the
+Chief-President completely reinstated himself in the good graces of his
+companions; but it was at the expense of the Regent, who was laughed at
+for his pains. A large number of the members of the Parliament did not
+go to Pontoise at all, but took advantage of the occasion to recreate
+themselves in the country. Only a few of the younger members mounted
+guard in the assembly, where nothing but the most trivial and make-
+believe business was conducted. Everything important was deliberately
+neglected. Woe! to those, therefore, who had any trial on hand. The
+Parliament, in a word, did nothing but divert itself, leave all business
+untouched, and laugh at the Regent and the government. Banishment to
+Pontoise was a fine punishment!
+
+This banishment of the Parliament to Pontoise was followed by various
+financial operations and by several changes in the administrations. Des
+Forts had the general control of the finances and all authority, but
+without the name. The disordered state of the exchequer did not hinder
+M. le Duc d'Orleans from indulging in his strange liberalities to people
+without merit and without need, and not one of whom he could possibly
+care a straw for. He gave to Madame la Grande Duchesse an augmentation
+of her pension of 50,000 livres; one of 8,000 livres to Trudaine: one of
+9,000 livres to Chateauneuf; one of 8,000 livres to Bontems, chief valet
+de chambre of the King; one of 6,000 livres to the Marechal de
+Montesquieu; one of 3,000 livres to Faucault; and one of 9,000 livres to
+the widow of the Duc d'Albemarle, secretly remarried to the son of
+Mahoni.
+
+All this time the public stock-jobbing still continued on the Place
+Vendome. The Mississippi had tempted everybody. It was who should fill
+his pockets first with millions, through M. le Duc d'Orleans and Law.
+The crowd was very great. One day the Marechal de Villars traversed the
+Place Vendome in a fine coach, loaded with pages and lackeys, to make way
+for which the mob of stock-jobbers had some difficulty. The Marechal
+upon this harangued the people in his braggart manner from the carriage
+window, crying out against the iniquity of stock-jobbing, and the shame
+it cast upon all. Until this point he had been allowed to say on, but
+when he thought fit to add that his own hands were clean, and that he had
+never dabbled in shares, a voice uttered a cutting sarcasm, and all the
+crowd took up the word, at which the Marechal, ashamed and confounded,
+despite his ordinary authority, buried himself in his carriage and
+finished his journey across the Place Vendome at a gentle trot in the
+midst of a hue and cry, which followed him even beyond, and which
+diverted Paris at his expense for several days, nobody pitying him.
+
+At last it was found that this stock-jobbing too much embarrassed the
+Place Vendome and the public way; it was transferred, therefore, to the
+vast garden of the Hotel de Soissons. This was, in fact, its proper
+place. Law, who had remained at the Palais Royal some time, had returned
+to his own house, where he received many visits. The King several times
+went to see the troops that had been stationed near Paris; after this
+they were sent away again. Those which had formed a little camp at
+Charenton, returned to Montargis to work at the canal making there.
+
+Law, for commercial reasons, had some time ago caused Marseilles to be
+made a free port. The consequence of this was that an abundance of
+vessels came there, especially vessels from the Levant, and from want of
+precautions the plague came also, lasted a long while, desolated the
+town, province; and the neighbouring provinces. The care and precautions
+afterwards taken restrained it as much as possible, but did not hinder it
+from lasting a long time, or from creating frightful disorders. These
+details are so well known that they can be dispensed with here.
+
+I have a few more words to say of Law and his Mississippi. The bubble
+finally burst at the end of the year (1720). Law, who had no more
+resources, being obliged secretly to depart from the realm, was
+sacrificed to the public. His flight was known only through the eldest
+son of Argenson, intendant at Mainbeuge, who had the stupidity to arrest
+him. The courier he despatched with the news was immediately sent back,
+with a strong reprimand for not having deferred to the passport with
+which Law had been furnished by the Regent. The financier was with his
+son, and they both went to Brussels where the Marquis de Prie, Governor
+of the Imperial Low Countries, received them very well, and entertained
+them. Law did not stop long, gained Liege and Germany, where he offered
+his talents to several princes, who all thanked him; nothing more. After
+having thus roamed, he passed through the Tyrol, visited several Italian
+courts, not one of which would have him, and at last retired to Venice.
+This republic, however, did not employ him. His wife and daughter
+followed him some time after. I don't know what became of them or of the
+son.
+
+Law was a Scotchman; of very doubtful birth; tall and well made; of
+agreeable face and aspect; gallant, and on very good terms with the
+ladies of all the countries he had travelled in. His wife was not his
+wife; she was of a good English family and well connected; had followed
+Law for love; had had a son and a daughter by him, passed for his wife,
+and bore his name without being married to him. This was suspected
+towards the end; after his departure it became certain. She had one eye
+and the top of one cheek covered by an ugly stain as of wine; otherwise
+she was well made, proud, impertinent in her conversation and in her
+manners, receiving compliments, giving next to none, paying but few
+visits, these rare and selected, and exercising authority in her
+household. I know not whether her credit over her husband was great; but
+he appeared full of regard, of care, and of respect for her; at the time
+of their departure they were each about fifty and fifty-five years old.
+Law had made many acquisitions of all kinds and still more debts, so that
+this tangle is not yet unravelled by the committee of the council
+appointed to arrange his affairs with his creditors. I have said
+elsewhere, and I repeat it here, that there was neither avarice nor
+roguery in his composition. He was a gentle, good, respectable man, whom
+excess of credit and fortune had not spoiled, and whose deportment,
+equipages, table, and furniture could not scandalise any one. He
+suffered with singular patience and constancy all the vexations excited
+by his operations, until towards the last, when, finding himself short of
+means and wishing to meet his difficulty, he became quick and bad-
+tempered, and his replies were often ill-measured. He was a man of
+system, of calculation, of comparison, well and profoundly instructed in
+these things, and, without ever cheating, had everywhere gained at play
+by dint of understanding--which seems to me incredible--the combinations
+of cards.
+
+His bank, as I have elsewhere said, was an excellent thing for a
+republic, or for a country like England, where finance is as in a
+republic. His Mississippi he was the dupe of, and believed with good
+faith he should make great and rich establishments in America. He
+reasoned like an Englishman, and did not know how opposed to commerce and
+to such establishments are the frivolity of the (French) nation, its
+inexperience, its avidity to enrich itself at once, the inconvenience of
+a despotic government, which meddles with everything, which has little or
+no consistency, and in which what one minister does is always destroyed
+by his successor.
+
+Law's proscription of specie, then of jewels, so as to have only paper in
+France, is a system I have never comprehended, nor has anybody, I fancy,
+during all the ages which have elapsed since that in which Abraham, after
+losing Sarah, bought, for ready-money, a sepulchre for her and for her
+children. But Law was a man of system, and of system so deep, that
+nobody ever could get to the bottom of it, though he spoke easily, well
+and clearly, but with a good deal of English in his French.
+
+He remained several years at Venice, upon very scanty means, and died
+there a Catholic, having lived decently, but very humbly, wisely, and
+modestly, and received with piety the last sacraments of the Church.
+
+Thus terminates all I have to say of Law. But a painful truth remains.
+I have to speak of the woful disorder in the finances which his system
+led to, disorder which was not fully known until after his departure from
+France. Then people saw, at last, where all the golden schemes that had
+flooded upon popular credulity had borne us;--not to the smiling and
+fertile shores of Prosperity and Confidence, as may be imagined; but to
+the bleak rocks and dangerous sands of Ruin and Mistrust, where dull
+clouds obscure the sky, and where there is no protection against the
+storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CII
+
+Not long after the flight of Law, that is to say, on Sunday, the 24th of
+January, of the new year, 1721, a council was held at the Tuileries, at
+four o'clock in the afternoon, principally for the purpose of examining
+the state of the finances and of Law's Bank and India Company. It was,
+in fact, high time to do something to diminish the overgrown disorder and
+confusion everywhere reigning. For some time there had been complete
+stagnation in all financial matters; the credit of the King had step by
+step diminished, private fortune had become more and more uncertain. The
+bag was at last empty, the cards were cast aside, the last trick was
+played: The administration of the finances had passed into the hands of
+La Houssaye, and his first act was to call the attention of the Regency
+Council to the position of the bank and the company. We were prepared to
+hear that things were in a very bad state, but we were scarcely prepared
+to find that they so closely resembled utter ruin and bankruptcy.
+
+I need not relate all that passed at this council; the substance of it is
+enough. From the statement there of M. le Duc d'Orleans, it appeared
+that Law had issued 1,200,000,000 livres of bank notes more than he ought
+to have issued. The first 600,00,000 livres had not done much harm,
+because they had been kept locked up in the bank; but after the 22nd of
+May, another issue of 600,000,000 had taken place, and been circulated
+among the public, without the knowledge of the Regent, without the
+authorisation of any decree. "For this," said M. le Duc d'Orleans, "Law
+deserved to be hanged, but under the circumstances of the case, I drew
+him from his embarrassment, by an ante-dated decree, ordering the issue
+of this quantity of notes."
+
+Thereupon M. le Duc said to the Regent, "But, Monsieur, why, knowing
+this, did you allow him to leave the realm?"
+
+"It was you who furnished him with the means to do so," replied M. le Duc
+d'Orleans.
+
+"I never asked you to allow him to quit the country," rejoined M. le Duc.
+
+"But," insisted the Regent, "it was you yourself who sent him his
+passports."
+
+"That's true," replied M. le Duc, "but it was you who gave them to me to
+send to him; but I never asked you for them, or to let him leave the
+realm. I know that I have the credit for it amongst the public, and I am
+glad of this opportunity to explain here the facts of the case. I was
+against the proposition for sending M. Law to the Bastille, or to any
+other prison, because I believed that it was not to your interest to
+sanction this, after having made use of him as you had; but I never asked
+you to let him leave the realm, and I beg you, Monsieur, in presence of
+the King, and before all these gentlemen, to say if I ever did."
+
+"'Tis true," replied the Regent, "you never asked me; I allowed him to
+go, because I thought his presence in France would injure public credit,
+and the operations of the public."
+
+"So far was I from asking you," said M. le Duc, "that if you had done me
+the honour to demand my opinion, I should have advised you to take good
+care not to let him depart from the country."
+
+This strange conversation, which roused our astonishment to an incredible
+point, and which was sustained with so much out-spoken freedom by M. le
+Duc, demands a word or two of explanation.
+
+M. le Duc was one of those who, without spending a farthing, had drawn
+millions from Law's notes and shares. He had had large allotments of the
+latter, and now that they had become utterly valueless, he had been
+obliged to make the best of a bad bargain, by voluntarily giving them up,
+in order to lighten the real responsibilities of the Company. This he
+had done at the commencement of the Council, M. le Prince de Conti also.
+But let me explain at greater length.
+
+The 22nd of May, the day of the decree, was the period at which commenced
+the final decay of the Company, and of the bank, and the extinction of
+all confidence by the sad discovery that there was no longer any money
+wherewith to pay the bank notes, they being so prodigiously in excess of
+the coin. After this, each step had been but a stumble: each operation a
+very feeble palliation. Days and weeks had been gained, obscurity had
+been allowed to give more chance, solely from fear of disclosing the true
+and terrible state of affairs, and the extent of the public ruin. Law
+could not wash his hands of all this before the world; he could not avoid
+passing for the inventor and instrument, and he would have run great risk
+at the moment when all was unveiled. M. le Duc d'Orleans, who, to
+satisfy his own prodigality, and the prodigious avidity of his friends,
+had compelled Law to issue so many millions of livres of notes more than
+he had any means of paying, and who had thus precipitated him into the
+abyss, could not let him run the chance of perishing, still less to save
+him, could he proclaim himself the real criminal. It was to extricate
+himself from this embarrassment that he made Law leave the country, when
+he saw that the monstrous deceit could no longer be hidden.
+
+This manifestation, which so strongly interested the shareholders, and
+the holders of bank notes, especially those who had received shares or
+notes as favours due to their authority, and who could show no other
+title to them, threw every one into despair. The most important holders,
+such as the Princes of the Blood, and others, whose profits had been
+immense, had by force or industry delayed this manifestation as long as
+possible. As they knew the real state of affairs, they felt that the
+moment all the world knew it also, their gains would cease, and their
+paper become worthless, that paper from which they had drawn so much, and
+which had not cost them a farthing! This is what induced M. le Duc
+d'Orleans to hide from them the day of this manifestation, so as to avoid
+being importuned by them; and by a surprise, to take from them the power
+of preparing any opposition to the measures it was proposed to carry out.
+M. le Duc, when he learned this, flew into a fury, and hence the strange
+scene between him and M. le Duc d'Orleans, which scandalised and
+terrified everybody in the Council.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, who, from taste, and afterwards from necessity,
+lived upon schemes and trickery, thought he had done marvels in saddling
+M. le Duc with the passport of Law. He wished to lay the blame of Law's
+departure upon M. le Duc; but as I have shown, he was defeated by his own
+weapons. He had to do with a man as sharp as himself. M. le Duc, who
+knew he had nothing to fear, would not allow it to be supposed that he
+had sanctioned the flight of the financier. That was why he pressed M.
+le Duc d'Orleans so pitilessly, and forced him to admit that he had never
+asked him to allow Law to leave the country.
+
+The great and terrible fact brought out by this Council was, that Law,
+without the knowledge or authority of the Regent, had issued and
+disseminated among the public 600,000,000 livres of notes; and not only
+without being authorised by any edict, but contrary to express
+prohibition. But when the Regent announced this, who did he suppose
+would credit it? Who could believe that Law would have had the hardihood
+to issue notes at this rate without the sanction and approbation of his
+master?
+
+However, to leave once and for all these unpleasant matters, let me say
+what was resolved upon by way of remedy to the embarrassments discovered
+to exist. The junction of the India Company with the bank, which had
+taken place during the previous February, had led to transactions which
+made the former debtor to the latter to an immense amount. But the bank
+being a governmental establishment, the King became thus the creditor of
+the Company. It was decreed, in fact, that the Company should be
+considered as debtor to the King. It was decided, however, that other
+debtors should receive first attention. Many private people had invested
+their money in the shares of the Company. It was not thought just that
+by the debt of the Company to the King, these people should be ruined;
+or, on the other hand, that those who had left the Company in good time,
+who had converted their shares into notes, or who had bought them at a
+low price in the market, should profit by the misfortune of the bona fide
+shareholders. Accordingly, commissioners, it was decided, were to be
+named, to liquidate all these papers and parchments, and annul those
+which did not proceed from real purchases.
+
+M. le Duc said, upon this, "There are at least eighty thousand families,
+the whole of whose wealth consists of these effects; how are they to live
+during this liquidation?"
+
+La Houssaye replied, that so many commissioners could be named, that the
+work would soon be done.
+
+And so the Council ended.
+
+But I must, perforce, retrace my steps at this point to many other
+matters, which I have left far behind me in going on at once to the end
+of this financial labyrinth. And first let me tell what happened to that
+monstrous personage, Alberoni, how he fell from the lofty pinnacle of
+dower on which he had placed himself, and lost all consideration and all
+importance in the fall. The story is mightily curious and instructive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CIII
+
+Alberoni had made himself detested by all Europe,--for all Europe, in one
+way or another, was the victim of his crimes. He was detested as the
+absolute master of Spain, whose guides were perfidy, ambition, personal
+interest, views always oblique, often caprice, sometimes madness; and
+whose selfish desires, varied and diversified according to the fantasy
+of the moment, were hidden under schemes always uncertain and oftentimes
+impossible of execution. Accustomed to keep the King and Queen of Spain
+in chains, and in the narrowest and obscurest prison, where he allowed
+them to communicate with no one, and made them see, feel, and breathe
+through him, and blindly obey his every wish; he caused all Spain to
+tremble, and had annihilated all power there, except his own, by the most
+violent acts, constraining himself in no way, despising his master and
+his mistress, whose will and whose authority he had utterly absorbed.
+He braved successively all the powers of Europe, and aspired to nothing
+less than to deceive them all, then to govern them, making them serve all
+his ends; and seeing at last his cunning exhausted, tried to execute
+alone, and without allies, the plan he had formed.
+
+This plan was nothing less than to take away from the Emperor all that
+the peace of Utrecht had left him in Italy; all that the Spanish house of
+Austria had possessed there; to dominate the Pope and the King of Sicily;
+to deprive the Emperor of the help of France and England, by exciting the
+first against the Regent through the schemes of the ambassador Cellamare
+and the Duc du Maine; and by sending King James to England, by the aid of
+the North, so as to keep King George occupied with a civil war. In the
+end he wished to profit by all these disorders, by transporting into
+Italy (which his cardinalship made him regard as a safe asylum against
+all reverses) the immense treasures he had pillaged and collected m
+Spain, under pretext of sending the sums necessary to sustain the war,
+and the conquests he intended to make; and this last project was,
+perhaps, the motive power of all the rest. The madness of these schemes,
+and his obstinacy in clinging to them, were not discovered until
+afterwards. The astonishment then was great indeed, upon discovering the
+poverty of the resources with which he thought himself capable of
+carrying out these wild projects. Yet he had made such prodigious
+preparations for war, that he had entirely exhausted the country without
+rendering it able for a moment to oppose the powers of Europe.
+
+Alberoni, abhorred in Spain as a cruel tyrant, in France, in England, in
+Rome, and by the Emperor as an implacable and personal enemy, did not
+seem to have the slightest uneasiness. Yet he might have had some, and
+with good cause, at the very moment when he fancied himself most powerful
+and most secure.
+
+The Regent and the Abbe Dubois, who for a long time had only too many
+reasons to regard Alberoni as their personal enemy, were unceasingly
+occupied in silently plotting his fall; they believed the present moment
+favourable, and did not fail to profit by it. How they did so is a
+curious fact, which, to my great regret, has never reached me. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans survived Dubois such a few months that many things I should
+have liked to have gained information upon, I had not the time to ask him
+about; and this was one.
+
+All I know is, that what Alberoni always dreaded, at last happened to
+him. He trembled, at every one, no matter of how little importance, who
+arrived from Parma (the Queen of Spain, it has not been forgotten, was of
+that Duchy); he omitted nothing by the aid of the Duke of Parma, and by
+other means, to hinder the Parmesans from coming to Madrid; and was in
+terror of the few of those whose journey he could not hinder, and whose
+dismissal he could not obtain.
+
+Among these few people there was nobody he feared so much as the Queen's
+nurse, whom he drew up with a round turn occasionally, so to speak, but
+less from policy than ill-temper. This nurse, who was a rough country-
+woman of Parma, was named Donna Piscatori Laura. She had arrived in
+Spain some years after the Queen, who had always liked her, and who made
+her, shortly after her arrival, her 'assofeta', that is to say, her chief
+'femme de chambre'; an office more considerable in Spain than with us.
+Laura had brought her husband with her, a peasant in every way, seen and
+known by nobody; but Laura had intelligence, shrewdness, cleverness, and
+ambitious views, in spite of the external vulgarity of her manners, which
+she had preserved either from habit, or from policy, for make herself
+less suspected. Like all persons of this extraction, she was thoroughly
+selfish. She was not unaware how impatiently Alberoni endured her
+presence, and feared her favour with the Queen, whom he wished to possess
+alone; and, more sensible to the gentle taps she from time to time
+received from him, than to his ordinary attentions, she looked upon him
+simply as a very formidable enemy, who kept her within very narrow
+limits, who hindered her from profiting by the favour of the Queen, and
+whose design was to send her back to Parma, and to leave nothing undone
+until he had carried it out.
+
+This is all the information I have ever been able to obtain. The
+probability is, that Donna Laura was gained by the money of the Regent
+and the intrigues gained Dubois; and that she succeeded in convincing the
+Queen of Spain that Alberoni was a minister who had ruined the country,
+who was the sole obstacle in the way of peace, and who had sacrificed
+everything and everybody to his personal views, their Catholic Majesties
+included. However, as I relate only what I know, I shall be very brief
+upon this interesting event.
+
+Laura succeeded. Alberoni, at the moment he least expected it, received
+a note from the King of Spain ordering him to withdraw at once, without
+attempting to see him or the Queen, or to write to them; and to leave
+Spain in twice twenty-four hours! An officer of the guards was to
+accompany him until his departure: How this overruling order was
+received, and what the Cardinal did, I know not; I only know that he
+obeyed it, and took the road for Arragon. So few precautions had been
+taken, that he carried off an immense number of papers, money, and
+jewels; and it was not until a few days had elapsed, that the King of
+Spain was informed that the original will of Charles the Second could not
+be found. It was at once supposed that Alberoni had carried away this
+precious document (by which Charles the Second named Philippe V. King of
+Spain), in order to offer it, perhaps, to the Emperor, so as to gain his
+favour and good graces. Alberoni was stopped. It was not without
+trouble, the most terrible menaces, and loud cries from him, that he
+surrendered the testament, and some other important papers which it was
+perceived were missing. The terror he had inspired was so profound,
+that, until this moment, no one had dared to show his joy, or to speak,
+though the tyrant was gone. But this event reassured every one against
+his return, and the result was an unexampled overflow of delight, of
+imprecations, and of reports against him, to the King and Queen, of the
+most public occurrences (which they alone were ignorant of) and of.
+private misdeeds, which it was no longer thought necessary to hide.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans did not restrain his joy, still less the Abbe Dubois;
+it was their work which had overthrown their personal enemy; with him
+fell the wall of separation, so firmly erected by Alberoni between the
+Regent and the King of Spain; and (at the same time) the sole obstacle
+against peace. This last reason caused joy to burst out in Italy, in
+Vienna, in London; and peace between France, and Spain soon resulted.
+
+The allied princes felicitated themselves on what had happened; even the
+Dutch were ravished to be delivered of a minister so double-dealing, so
+impetuous, so powerful. M. le Duc d'Orleans dispatched the Chevalier de
+Morcieu, a very skilful and intelligent man, and certainly in the hands
+of the Abbe Dubois, to the extreme confines of the frontiers to wait for
+Alberoni, accompanying him until the moment of his embarkation in
+Provence for Italy; with orders never to lose sight of him, to make him
+avoid the large towns and principal places as much as possible; suffer no
+honours to be rendered to him; above all, to hinder him from
+communicating with anybody, or anybody with him; in a word, to conduct
+him civilly, like a prisoner under guard.
+
+Morcieu executed to the letter this disagreeable commission; all the more
+necessary, because, entirely disgraced as was Alberoni, everything was to
+be forced from him while traversing a great part of France, where all who
+were adverse to the Regent might have recourse to him. Therefore it was
+not without good reason that every kind of liberty was denied him.
+
+It may be imagined what was suffered by a man so impetuous, and so
+accustomed to unlimited power; but he succeeded in accommodating himself
+to such a great and sudden change of condition; in maintaining his self-
+possession; in subjecting himself to no refusals; in being sage and
+measured in his manners; very reserved in speech, with an air as though
+he cared for nothing; and in adapting himself to everything without
+questions, without pretension, without complaining, dissimulating
+everything, and untiringly pretending to regard Morcieu as an
+accompaniment of honour. He received, then, no sort of civility on the
+part of the Regent, of Dubois, or of anybody; and performed the day's
+journeys, arranged by Morcieu, without stopping, almost without suite,
+until he arrived on the shores of the Mediterranean, where he immediately
+embarked and passed to the Genoa coast.
+
+Alberoni, delivered of his Argus, and arrived in Italy, found himself in
+another trouble by the anger of the Emperor, who would suffer him
+nowhere, and by the indignation of the Court of Rome, which prevailed, on
+this occasion, over respect for the purple. Alberoni for a long time was
+forced to keep out of the way, hidden and a fugitive, and was not able to
+approach Rome until the death of the Pope. The remainder of the life of
+this most extraordinary man is not a subject for these memoirs. But what
+ought not to be forgotten is the last mark of rage, despair, and madness
+that he gave in traversing France. He wrote to M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+offering to supply him with the means of making a most dangerous war
+against Spain; and at Marseilles, ready to embark, he again wrote to
+reiterate the same offers, and press them on the Regent.
+
+I cannot refrain from commenting here upon the blindness of allowing
+ecclesiastics to meddle with public affairs; above all, cardinals, whose
+special privilege is immunity from everything most infamous and most
+degrading. Ingratitude, infidelity, revolt, felony, independence, are
+the chief characteristics of these eminent criminals.
+
+Of Alberoni's latter days I will say but a few words.
+
+At the death of Clement XI., legal proceedings that had been taken to
+deprive Alberoni of his cardinalship, came to an end. Wandering and
+hidden in Italy, he was summoned to attend a conclave for the purpose of
+electing a new Pope. Alberoni was the opprobrium of the sacred college;
+proceedings, as I have said, were in progress to deprive him of his
+cardinalship. The King and Queen of Spain evidently stimulated those
+proceedings: the Pope just dead had opposed him; but the cardinals would
+not agree to his disgrace; they would not consent to strip him of his
+dignity. The example would have been too dangerous. That a cardinal,
+prince, or great nobleman, should surrender his hat in order to marry,
+the store of his house demands it; well and good; but to see a cardinal
+deprive himself of his hat by way of penitence, is what his brethren will
+not endure. A cardinal may be poisoned, stabbed, got rid of altogether,
+but lose his dignity he never can. Rome must be infallible, or she is
+nothing.
+
+It was decided, that if, at the election of the new Pope, Alberoni were
+not admitted to take part in the proceedings, he always might protest
+against them, and declare them irregular. Therefore he was, as I have
+said, admitted to the conclave. He arrived in Rome, without display, in
+his own coach, and was received in the conclave with the same honours as
+all the other cardinals, and performed all the duties of his position.
+
+A few days after the election, he absented himself from Rome, as though
+to see whether proceedings would be continued against him. But they fell
+of themselves. The new Pope had no interest in them. The cardinals
+wished only for silence. Spain felt at last the inutility of her cries.
+Dubois was in favour of throwing a veil over his former crimes, so that,
+after a short absence, Alberoni hired in Rome a magnificent palace, and
+returned there for good, with the attendance, expense, and display his
+Spanish spoils supplied. He found himself face to face with the Cardinal
+Giudice, and with Madame des Ursins. The three formed a rare triangle,
+which caused many a singular scene in home. After seeing them both die,
+Alberoni became legate at Ferrara, continued there a long time, little
+esteemed at Rome, where he is now living, sound in mind and body, and
+eighty-six years of age.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CIV
+
+The King attended the Royal Council for the first time on Sunday, the
+18th of February, 1720. He said nothing while there, or on going away,
+excepting that when M. le Duc d'Orleans, who feared he might grow weary
+of the proceedings, proposed to him to leave, he said he would stop to
+the end. After this he did not come always, but often, invariably
+remaining to the last, without moving or speaking. His presence changed
+nothing in the order of our arrangements, because his armchair was always
+there, alone, at the end of the table, and M. le Duc d'Orleans, whether
+his Majesty came or not, had but a "stool" similar to those we all sat
+upon. Step by step this council had been so much increased, that now, by
+the entry of the Duc de Berwick, it numbered sixteen members! To say
+truth, we were far too many, and we had several among us who would have
+been much better away. I had tried, but in vain, to make the Regent see
+this. He did see at last, but it was too late; and meanwhile we were, as
+I have stated, sixteen in the council. I remember that one day, when the
+King came, a kitten followed him, and some time after jumped upon him,
+and thence upon the table, where it began to walk; the Duc de Noailles
+immediately crying out, because he did not like cats. M. le Duc
+d'Orleans wished to drive the animal away. I smiled, and said, "Oh,
+leave the kitten alone, it will make the seventeenth."
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans burst out laughing at this, and looked at the
+company, who laughed also, the King as well. His Majesty briefly spoke
+of it to me on the morrow, as though appreciating the joke, which, by the
+way, immediately ran over all Paris.
+
+The Abbe Dubois still maintained his pernicious influence over the
+Regent, and still looked forward to a cardinalship as the reward of his
+scheming, his baseness, and his perfidy. In the meantime, the
+Archbishopric of Cambrai became vacant (by the death, at Rome, of the
+Cardinal Tremoille). That is to say, the richest archbishopric, and one
+of the best posts in the Church. The Abbe Dubois was only tonsured;
+150,000 livres, a year tempted him, and perhaps this position, from which
+he could more easily elevate himself to the cardinalship. Impudent as he
+might be, powerful as might be the empire he had acquired over his
+master, he was much embarrassed, and masked his effrontery under a trick.
+He said to M. le Duc d'Orleans, he had a pleasant dream; and related to
+him that he had dreamt he was Archbishop of Cambrai! The Regent, who
+smelt the rat, turned on his heel, and said nothing. Dubois, more and
+more embarrassed, stammered, and paraphrased his dream; then, re-assuring
+himself by an effort, asked, in an offhand manner, why he should not
+obtain it, His Royal Highness, by his will alone, being able thus to make
+his fortune.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans was indignant, even terrified, little scrupulous as
+he might be as to the choice of bishops, and in a tone of contempt
+replied to Dubois, "What, you Archbishop of Cambrai!" making him thus
+feel his low origin, and still more the debauchery and scandal of his
+life. Dubois was, however, too far advanced to stop on the road, and
+cited examples; unfortunately these were only too many.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, less touched by such bad reasoning than embarrassed
+how to resist the ardor of a man whom for a long time he had not dated to
+contradict, tried to get out of the difficulty, by saying, "But you being
+such a scoundrel, where will you find another to consecrate you?"
+
+"Oh, if it's only that!" exclaimed Dubois, "the thing is done. I know
+very well who will consecrate me; he is not far from here."
+
+"And who the devil is he who will dare to do so?" asked the Regent.
+
+"Would you like to know?" replied the Abbe, "and does the matter rest
+only upon that?"
+
+"Well, who?" said the Regent.
+
+"Your chief chaplain," replied Dubois, "who is close at hand. Nothing
+will please him better; I will run and speak to him."
+
+And thereupon he embraces the knees of M. le Duc d'Orleans (who, caught
+thus in his own trap, had not the strength to refuse), runs to the Bishop
+of Nantes, says that he is to have Cambrai, begs the Bishop to consecrate
+him, and receives his promise to do so, returns, wheels round, tells M.
+le Duc d'Orleans that his chief chaplain has agreed to the consecration;
+thanks, praises, admires the Regent, fixes more and more firmly the
+office by regarding it as settled, and by persuading M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+who dares not say no; and in this manner was Dubois made Archbishop of
+Cambrai!
+
+The extreme scandal of this nomination caused a strange, stir. Impudent
+as was the Abbe Dubois, he was extremely embarrassed; and M. le Duc
+d'Orleans so much ashamed, that it was soon remarked he was humbled if
+you spoke to him upon the subject. The next question was, from whom
+Dubois was to receive holy orders? The Cardinal de Noailles was applied
+to, but he stoutly refused to assist in any way. It may be imagined what
+an affront this was to Dubois. He never in his life pardoned the
+Cardinal, who was nevertheless universally applauded for his refusal.
+But the Abbe Dubois was not a man to be daunted by an ordinary obstacle;
+he turned his glances elsewhere, and soon went through all the
+formalities necessary.
+
+The very day he took orders there was a Regency Council at the old
+Louvre, because the measles, which were then very prevalent, even in the
+Palais Royal, hindered us from meeting as usual in the Tuileries.
+A Regency Council without the Abbe Dubois present was a thing to marvel
+at, and yet his arrival to-day caused even more surprise than his absence
+would have caused. But he was not a man to waste his time in
+thanksgiving for what had just happened to him. This was a new scandal,
+which revived and aggravated the first. Everybody had arrived in the
+cabinet of the council, M. le Duc d'Orleans also; we were scattered about
+and standing. I was in a corner of the lower end, when I saw Dubois
+enter in a stout coat, with his ordinary bearing. We did not expect him
+on such a day, and naturally enough cried out surprised. M. le Prince de
+Conti, with his father's sneering manner, spoke to the Abbe Dubois, on
+his appearance among us on the very day of taking orders, and expressed
+his surprise at it with the most pathetic malignity imaginable.
+
+Dubois, who had not had time to reply one word, let him say to the end;
+then coldly observed, that if he had been a little more familiar with
+ancient history, he would not have found what astonished him very
+strange, since he (the Abbe) had only followed the example of Saint-
+Ambrose, whose ordination he began to relate. I did not wait for his
+recital; at the mere mention of Saint-Ambrose I flew to the other end of
+the cabinet, horror-struck at the comparison Dubois had just made, and
+fearing lest I should be tempted to say to him, that the ordination of
+Saint-Ambrose had been forced upon him in spite of his resistance. This
+impious citation of Saint-Ambrose ran all over the town with the effect
+that may be imagined. The nomination and this ordination took place
+towards the end of February.
+
+I will finish at once all that relates to this matter, so as not to
+separate it, or have to return to it. Dubois had his bulls at the
+commencement of May, and the consecration was fixed for Sunday the 9th
+of June. All Paris and the Court were invited to it, myself excepted.
+I was on bad terms with Dubois, because I in no way spared him when with
+M. le Duc d'Orleans. He on his side, fearing the power I had over the
+Regent, the liberty I enjoyed with him, and the freedom with which I
+spoke to him, did as much as he could to injure me, and to weaken the
+confidence of M. le Duc d'Orleans in me. Dubois and I continued,
+nevertheless, to be on good terms with each other in appearance, but it
+was in appearance only.
+
+This consecration was to be magnificent, and M. le Duc d'Orleans was to
+be present at it. If the nomination and the ordination of the Abbe
+Dubois had caused much stir, scandal, and horror, the superb preparations
+for the consecration caused even more: Great was the indignation against
+M. le Duc d'Orleans. I went, therefore, to him the evening before this
+strange ceremony was to take place, to beg him not to attend it. I
+represented to him that the nomination and ordination of the Abbe Dubois
+had created frightful effect upon the public, and that the consecration
+of a man of such low extraction, and whose manners and mode of life were
+so notorious; would create more. I added, that if he attended this
+ceremony, people would say it was simply for the purpose of mocking God,
+and insulting His Church; that the effect of this would be terrible,
+and always much to be feared; and that people would say the Abbe Dubois
+abused the mastery he had over him, and that this was evidence of
+dependence would draw down upon him hatred, disdain, and shame, the
+results of which were to be dreaded. I concluded by saying, that I spoke
+to him as his disinterested servitor; that his absence or his presence at
+this consecration would change in, nothing the fortune of the Abbe
+Dubois, who would be Archbishop of Cambrai all the same without
+prostituting his master in the eyes of all France, and of all Europe,
+by compelling him to be guilty of a measure to which it would be seen he
+had been urged by force. I conjured him not to go; and to show him on
+what terms I was with the Abbe Dubois, I explained to him I was the sole
+man of rank he had not invited to his consecration; but that,
+notwithstanding this circumstance, if he would give me his word that he
+would not go, I on my side would agree to go, though my horror at doing
+so would be very great.
+
+My discourse, pronounced with warmth and developed with freedom, was
+listened to from beginning to end. I was surprised to hear the Regent
+say I was right, but I opened my eyes very wide when he embraced me, said
+that I spoke like a true friend, and that he would give me his word, and
+stick to it, he would not go. We parted upon this, I strengthening him
+in his resolution, promising anew I would go, and he thanking me for this
+effort. He showed no impatience, no desire that I should go; for I knew
+him well, and I examined him to the very bottom of his soul, and quitted
+him much pleased at having turned him from a measure so disgraceful and
+so extraordinary. Who could have guessed that he would not keep his
+word? But so it happened.
+
+Although as I have said I felt sure of him, yet the extreme weakness of
+this prince, and the empire the Abbe Dubois had acquired over him;
+induced me to be quite certain of him before going to the consecration.
+I sent therefore the next morning to the Palais Royal to inquire after M.
+le Duc d'Orleans; keeping my carriage all ready for a start. But I was
+much confused, accustomed as I might be to his miserable vacillation, to
+hear from the person I had sent, that he had just seen the Regent jump
+into his coach, surrounded by all the pomp usual on grand occasions,
+and set out for the consecration. I had my horses put up at once, and
+locked myself into my cabinet.
+
+A day or two after I learnt from a friend of Madame de Parabere, then the
+reigning Sultana, but not a faithful one, that M. le Duc d'Orleans had
+been with her the previous night, and had spoken to her in praise of me,
+saying he would not go to the ceremony, and that he was very grateful to
+me for having dissuaded him from going. La Parabere praised me, admitted
+I was right, but her conclusion was that he would go.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans, surprised, said to her she was then mad.
+
+"Be it so," replied she, "but you will go."
+
+"But I tell you I will not go," he rejoined.
+
+"Yes, yes, I tell you," said she; "you will go."
+
+"But," replied he, "this is admirable. You say M. de Saint-Simon is
+quite right, why then should I go?"
+
+"Because I wish it," said she.
+
+"Very good," replied he, "and why do you wish I should go--what madness
+is this?"
+
+"I wish it because--," said she.
+
+"Oh, because," replied he, "that's no reason; say why you wish it."
+
+(After some dispute) "You obstinately desire then to know? Are you not
+aware that the Abbe Dubois and I quarreled four days ago, and that we
+have not yet made it up. He mixes in everything. He will know that you
+have been with me to-night. If to-morrow you do not go to his
+consecration, he will not fail to believe it is I who have hindered you;
+nothing will take this idea out of his head; he will never pardon me;
+he will undermine in a hundred ways my credit with you, and finish by
+embroiling us. But I don't wish such a thing to happen, and for that
+reason you must go to his consecration, although M. de Saint-Simon is
+right."
+
+Thereupon ensued a feeble debate, then resolution and promise to go,
+which was very faithfully kept.
+
+As for me I could only deplore the feebleness of the Regent, to whom I
+never afterwards spoke of this consecration, or he to me; but he was very
+much ashamed of himself, and much embarrassed with me afterwards. I do
+not know whether he carried his weakness so far as to tell Dubois what I
+had said to hinder him from going to the ceremony or whether the Abbe was
+told by La Parabere, who thought thus to take credit to herself for
+having changed the determination of M. le Duc d'Orleans, and to show her
+credit over him. But Dubois was perfectly informed of it, and never
+pardoned me.
+
+The Val de Grace was chosen for the consecration as being a royal
+monastery, the most magnificent of Paris, and the most singular church.
+It was superbly decorated; all France was invited, and nobody dared to
+stop away or to be out of sight during the whole ceremony.
+
+There were tribunes with blinds prepared for the ambassadors and
+Protestant ministers. There was another more magnificent for M. le Duc
+d'Orleans and M. le Duc de Chartres, whom he took there. There were
+places for the ladies, and as M. le Duc d'Orleans entered by the
+monastery, and his tribune was within, it was open to all comers, so that
+outside and inside were filled with refreshments of all kinds, which
+officers distributed in profusion. This disorder continued all day, on
+account of the large number of tables that were served without and within
+for the subordinate people of the fete and all who liked to thrust
+themselves in. The chief gentlemen of the chamber of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, and his chief officers did the business of the ceremony;
+placed distinguished people in their seats, received them, conducted
+them, and other of his officers paid similar attentions to less
+considerable people, while, all the watch and all the police were
+occupied in looking after the arrival and departure of the carriages
+in proper and regular order.
+
+During the consecration, which was but little decent as far as the
+consecrated and the spectators were concerned, above all when leaving the
+building, M. le Duc d'Orleans evinced his satisfaction at finding so many
+considerable people present, and then went away to Asnieres to dine with
+Madame Parabere--very glad that a ceremony was over upon which he had
+bestowed only indirect attention, from the commencement to the end. All
+the prelates, the distinguished Abbes, and a considerable number of the
+laity, were invited during the consecration by the chief officers of M.
+le Duc d'Orleans to dine at the Palais Royal. The same officers did the
+honours of the feast, which was served with the most splendid abundance
+and delicacy. There were two services of thirty covers each, in a large
+room of the grand suite of apartments, filled with the most considerable
+people of Paris, and several other tables equally well served in
+adjoining rooms for people less distinguished. M. le Duc d'Orleans gave
+to the new Archbishop a diamond of great price to serve him as ring.
+
+All this day was given up to that sort of triumph which draws down
+neither the approbation of man nor the blessing of God. I saw nothing of
+it all, however, and M. le Duc d'Orleans and I never spoke of it.
+
+The Comte de Horn had been in Paris for the last two months, leading an
+obscure life of gaming and debauchery. He was a man of two-and-twenty,
+tall and well made, of that ancient and grand family of Horn, known in
+the eleventh century among the little dynasties of the Low Countries, and
+afterwards by a long series of illustrious generations. The Comte de
+Horn in question had been made captain in the Austrian army, less on
+account of his youth than because he was such an ill-behaved dog, causing
+vast trouble to his mother and brother. They heard so much of the
+disorderly life he was leading in Paris, that they sent there a
+confidential gentleman with money to pay his debts, to try and persuade
+him to return, and failing in this, to implore the authority of the
+Regent (to whom, through Madame, the Horns were related), in order to
+compel him to do so. As ill-luck would have it, this gentleman arrived
+the day after the Comte had committed the crime I am about to relate.
+
+On Friday, the 22nd of March, 1720, he went to the Rue Quincampoix,
+wishing, he said, to buy 100,000 ecus worth of shares, and for that
+purpose made an appointment with a stockbroker in a cabaret. The stock-
+broker came there with his pocket-book and his shares; the Comte de Horn
+came also, accompanied, as he said, by two of his friends; a moment
+after, they all three threw themselves upon this unfortunate stock-
+broker; the Comte de Horn stabbed him several times with a poniard, and
+seized his pocket-book; one of his pretended friends (a Piedmontese named
+Mille), seeing that the stock-broker was not dead, finished the work.
+At the noise they made the people of the house came, not sufficiently
+quick to prevent the murder, but in time to render themselves masters of
+the assassins, and to arrest them. In the midst of the scuffle, the
+other cut-throat escaped, but the Comte de Horn and Mille were not so
+fortunate. The cabaret people sent for the officers of justice, who
+conducted the criminals to the Conciergerie. This horrible crime,
+committed in broad daylight, immediately made an immense stir, and
+several kinsmen of this illustrious family at once went to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans to beg for mercy; but the Regent avoided speaking to them as
+much as possible, and very rightly ordered full and prompt justice to be
+done.
+
+At last, the relatives of Horn penetrated to the Regent: they tried to
+make the Count pass for mad, saying even that he had an uncle confined in
+an asylum, and begging that he might be confined also. But the reply
+was, that madmen who carried their madness to fury could not be got rid
+of too quickly. Repulsed in this manner, they represented what an infamy
+it would be to their illustrious family, related to nearly all the
+sovereigns of Europe, to have one of its members tried and condemned.
+M. le Duc d'Orleans replied that the infamy was in the crime, and not in
+the punishment. They pressed him upon the honour the family had in being
+related to him. "Very well, gentlemen," said he, "I will divide the
+shame with you."
+
+The trial was neither long nor difficult. Law and the Abbe Dubois, so
+interested in the safety of the stock-jobbers (without whom the paper
+must have fallen at once), supported M. le Duc d'Orleans might and main,
+in order to render him inexorable, and he, to avoid the persecutions he
+unceasingly experienced on the other side, left nothing undone in order
+to hurry the Parliament into a decision; the affair, therefore; went full
+speed, and it seemed likely that the Comte de Horn would be broken on the
+wheel.
+
+The relatives, no longer hoping to save the criminal, thought only of
+obtaining a commutation of the sentence. Some of them came to me, asking
+me to save them: though I was not related to the Horn family, they
+explained to me, that death on the wheel would throw into despair all
+that family, and everybody connected with it in the Low Countries,
+and in Germany, because in those parts there was a great and important
+difference between the punishments of persons of quality who had
+committed crimes; that decapitation in no way influenced the family of
+the decapitated, but that death on the wheel threw such infamy upon it,
+that the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, and the three next
+generations, were excluded from entering into any noble chapter, which,
+in addition to the shame, was a very injurious deprivation, annihilating
+the family's chance of ecclesiastic preferment; this reason touched me,
+and I promised to do my best with M. le Duc d'Orleans to obtain a
+commutation of the sentence.
+
+I was going off to La Ferme to profit by the leisure of Holy Week.
+I went therefore to M. le Duc d'Orleans, and explained to him what I had
+just learnt. I said that after the detestable crime the Comte de Horn
+had committed, every one must feel that he was worthy of death; but that
+every one could not admit it was necessary to break him on the wheel, in
+order to satisfy the ends of justice. I showed him how the family would
+suffer if this sentence were carried out, and I concluded by proposing to
+the Regent a 'mezzo termine', such as he was so fond of.
+
+I suggested that the decree ordering death by the wheel should be
+pronounced. That another decree should at the same time be prepared and
+kept ready signed and sealed, with only a date to fill in, revoking the
+first, and changing the punishment into decapitation. That at the last
+moment this second decree should be produced, and immediately afterwards
+the head of the Comte de Horn be cut off. M. le Duc d'Orleans offered no
+objection, but consented at once to my plan. I said to him, by way of
+conclusion, that I was going to set out the next day, and that I begged
+him not to be shaken in the determination he had just formed, by the
+entreaties of Dubois or Law, both of whom were strongly in favour of
+punishment by the wheel. He assured me he would keep firm; reiterated
+the assurance; I took leave of him; and the next day went to La Ferme.
+
+He was firm, however, in his usual manner. Dubois and Law besieged him,
+and led the attack so well that he gave in, and the first thing I learnt
+at La Ferme was that the Comte de Horn had been broken alive on the wheel
+at the Greve, on Holy Friday; the 26th March, 1720, about 4 o'clock in
+the afternoon, and the scoundrel Mille with him on the same scaffold,
+after having both suffered torture.
+
+The result of this was as I anticipated. The Horn family and all the
+grand nobility of the Low Countries, many of Germany, were outraged, and
+contained themselves neither in words nor in writings. Some of them even
+talked of strange vengeance, and a long time after the death of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, I met with certain of the gentlemen upon whose hearts the
+memory of this punishment still weighed heavily.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 14
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CV
+
+For a long time a species of war had been declared between the King of
+England and his son, the Prince of Wales, which had caused much scandal;
+and which had enlisted the Court on one side, and made much stir in the
+Parliament. George had more than once broken out with indecency against
+his son; he had long since driven him from the palace, and would not see
+him. He had so cut down his income that he could scarcely subsist. The
+father never could endure this son, because he did not believe him to be
+his own. He had more than suspected the Duchess, his wife, to be in
+relations with Count Konigsmarck. He surprised him one morning leaving
+her chamber; threw him into a hot oven, and shut up his wife in a chateau
+for the rest of her days. The Prince of Wales, who found himself ill-
+treated for a cause of which he was personally innocent, had always borne
+with impatience the presence of his mother and the aversion of his
+father. The Princess of Wales, who had much sense, intelligence, grace,
+and art, had softened things as much as possible; and the King was unable
+to refuse her his esteem, or avoid loving her. She had conciliated all
+England; and her Court, always large, boasted of the presence of the most
+accredited and the most distinguished persons. The Prince of Wales
+feeling his strength, no longer studied his father, and blamed the
+ministers with words that at least alarmed them. They feared the credit
+of the Princess of Wales; feared lest they should be attacked by the
+Parliament, which often indulges in this pleasure. These considerations
+became more and more pressing as they discovered what was brewing against
+them; plans such as would necessarily have rebounded upon the King. They
+communicated their fears to him, and indeed tried to make it up with his
+son, on certain conditions, through the medium of the Princess of Wales,
+who, on her side, felt all the consciousness of sustaining a party
+against the King, and who always had sincerely desired peace in the royal
+family. She profited by this conjuncture; made use of the ascendency she
+had over her husband, and the reconciliation was concluded. The King
+gave a large sum to the Prince of Wales, and consented to see him. The
+ministers were saved, and all appeared forgotten.
+
+The excess to which things had been carried between father and son had
+not only kept the entire nation attentive to the intestine disorders
+ready to arise, but had made a great stir all over Europe; each power
+tried to blow this fire into a blaze, or to stifle it according as
+interest suggested. The Archbishop of Cambrai, whom I shall continue to
+call the Abbe Dubois, was just then very anxiously looking out for his
+cardinal's hat, which he was to obtain through the favour of England,
+acting upon that of the Emperor with the Court of Rome. Dubois,
+overjoyed at the reconciliation which had taken place, wished to show
+this in a striking manner, in order to pay his court to the King of
+England. He named, therefore, the Duc de la Force to go to England, and
+compliment King George on the happy event that had occurred.
+
+The demonstration of joy that had been resolved on in France was soon
+known in England. George, annoyed by the stir that his domestic
+squabbles had made throughout all Europe, did not wish to see it
+prolonged by the sensation that this solemn envoy would cause. He begged
+the Regent, therefore, not to send him one. As the scheme had been
+determined on only order to please him, the journey of the Duc de la
+Force was abandoned almost as soon as declared. Dubois had the double
+credit, with the King of England, of having arranged this demonstration
+of joy, and of giving it up; in both cases solely for the purpose of
+pleasing his Britannic Majesty.
+
+Towards the end of this year, 1720, the Duc de Brissac married Mlle.
+Pecoil, a very rich heiress, whose father was a 'maitre des requetes',
+and whose mother was daughter of Le Gendre, a very wealthy merchant of
+Rouen. The father of Mlle. Pecoil was a citizen of Lyons, a wholesale
+dealer, and extremely avaricious. He had a large iron safe, or strong-
+box, filled with money, in a cellar, shut in by an iron door, with a
+secret lock, and to arrive at which other doors had to be passed through.
+He disappeared so long one day, that his wife and two or three valets or
+servants that he had sought him everywhere. They well knew that he had a
+hiding-place, because they had sometimes seen him descending into his
+cellar, flat-candlestick in hand, but no one had ever dared to follow
+him.
+
+Wondering what had become of him, they descended to the cellar, broke
+open the doors, and found at last the iron one. They were obliged to
+send for workmen to break it open, by attacking the wall in which it was
+fixed. After much labour they entered, and found the old miser dead in
+his strong-box, the secret spring of which he had apparently not been
+able to find, after having locked himself in; a horrible end in every
+respect.
+
+The Brissacs have not been very particular in their alliances for some
+time, and yet appear no richer. The gold flies away; the dross remains.
+
+I had almost forgotten to say that in the last day of this year, 1720, a
+Prince of Wales was born at Rome.
+
+The Prince was immediately baptised by the Bishop; of Montefiascone, and
+named Charles. The event caused a great stir in the Holy City. The Pope
+sent his compliments to their Britannic Majesties, and forwarded to the
+King of England (the Pretender) 10,000 Roman crowns, gave him, for his
+life, a country house at Albano, which until then, he had only lent him,
+and 2000 crowns to furnish it. A Te Deum was sung in the chapel of the
+Pope, in his presence, and there were rejoicings at Rome. When the Queen
+of England was able to see company, Cardinal Tanora came in state, as
+representative of the Sacred College, to congratulate her.
+
+The birth of the Prince also made much stir at the Court of England, and
+among the priests and Jacobites of that country. For very different
+reasons, not only the Catholics and Protestants, enemies of the
+government, were ravished at it, but nearly all the three realms showed
+as much joy as they dared; not from any attachment to the dethroned
+house, but for the satisfaction of seeing a line continue with which they
+could always menace and oppose their kings and the royal family.
+
+
+[Illustration: Jacobites Drinking To The Pretender--Painted by F.
+Willems--1208]
+
+
+In France we were afraid to show any public feeling upon the event. We
+were too much in the hands of England; the Regent and Dubois too much the
+humble servants of the house of Hanover; Dubois especially, waiting, as
+he was, so anxiously for his cardinal's hat. He did not, as will be
+seen, have to wait much longer.
+
+The new Pope had given, in writing, a promise to Dubois, that if elected
+to the chair of St. Peter he would make him cardinal. Time had flown,
+and the promise was not yet fulfilled. The impatience of Dubois
+increased with his hopes, and gave him no repose. He was much bewildered
+when he learnt that, on the 16th of June, 1721, the Pope had elevated to
+the cardinalship; his brother, who for ten years had been Bishop of
+Terracine and Benedictine monk of Mount Cassini. Dubois had expected
+that no promotion would be made in which he was not included. But here
+was a promotion of a single person only. He was furious; this fury did
+not last long, however; a month after, that is to say, on the 16th of
+July, the Pope made him cardinal with Dion Alexander Alboni, nephew of
+the deceased Pope, and brother of the Cardinal Camarlingue.
+
+Dubois received the news and the compliment that followed with extreme
+joy, but managed to contain himself with some little decency, and to give
+all the honour of his nomination to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who, sooth to
+say, had had scarcely anything to do with it. But he could not prevent
+himself from saying to everybody that what honoured him more than the
+Roman purple was the unanimous eagerness of all the European powers to
+procure him this distinction; to press the Pope to award it; to desire
+that his promotion would be hastened without waiting for their
+nominations. He incessantly blew these reports about everywhere without
+ever being out of breath; but nobody was the dupe of them.
+
+Shortly after this, that is, on the last day of July, the King, who had
+until then been in perfect health, woke with headache and pain in the
+throat; shivering followed, and towards afternoon, the pains in the head
+and throat being augmented, he went to bed. I repaired the next day
+about twelve to inquire after him. I found he had passed a bad night,
+and that within the last two hours he had grown worse. I saw everywhere
+consternation. I had the grandes entrees, therefore I went into his
+chamber. I found it very empty. M. le Duc d'Orleans, seated in the
+chimney corner, looked exceedingly downcast and solitary. I approached
+him for a moment, then I went to the King's bed. At this moment Boulduc,
+one of the apothecaries, gave him something to take. The Duchesse de la
+Ferme, who, through the Duchesse de Ventadour, her sister, had all the
+entrees as godmother to the King, was at the heels of Boulduc, and
+turning round to see who was approaching, saw me, and immediately said in
+a tone neither high nor low, "He is poisoned! he is poisoned!"
+
+"Hold your tongue, Madame," said I. "This is terrible."
+
+But she kept on, and spoke so loudly that I feared the King would hear
+her. Boulduc and I looked at each other, and I immediately withdrew from
+the bed and from this mad woman, with whom I was in no way familiar.
+During this illness, which lasted only five days (but of which the first
+three were violent) I was much troubled, but at the same time I was
+exceedingly glad that I had refused to be the King's governor, though the
+Regent had over and over again pressed me to accept the office. There
+were too many evil reports in circulation against M. le Duc d'Orleans for
+me to dream of filling this position. For was I not his bosom friend
+known to have been on the most intimate terms with him ever since his
+child hood--and if anything had happened to excite new suspicions against
+him, what would not have been said? The thought of this so troubled me
+during the King's illness, that I used to wake in the night with a start,
+and, oh, what joy was mine when I remembered that I had not this duty on
+my head!
+
+The malady, as I have said, was not long, and the convalescence was
+prompt, which restored tranquillity and joy, and caused an overflow of Te
+Deums and rejoicing. Helvetius had all the honour of the cure; the
+doctors had lost their heads, he preserved his, and obstinately proposed
+bleeding at the foot, at a consultation at which M. le Duc d'Orleans was
+present; his advice prevailed, change for the better immediately took
+place, cure soon after.
+
+The Marechal de Villeroy (the King's governor) did not let slip this
+occasion for showing all his venom and his baseness; he forgot nothing,
+left nothing undone in order to fix suspicion upon M. le Duc d'Orleans,
+and thus pay his court to the robe. No magistrate, however unimportant,
+could come to the Tuileries whom he did not himself go to with the news
+of the King and caresses; whilst to the first nobles he was inaccessible.
+The magistrates of higher standing he allowed to enter at all times into
+the King's chamber, even to stand by his bed in order to see him, while
+they who had the 'grandes entrees' with difficulty enjoyed a similar
+privilege.
+
+He did the same during the first days of convalescence, which he
+prolonged as much as possible, in order to give the same distinction to
+the magistrates, come at what time they might, and privately to the great
+people of the Court and the ambassadors. He fancied himself a tribune of
+the people, and aspired to their favour and their dangerous power. From
+this he turned to other affectations which had the same aim against M. le
+Duc d'Orleans. He multiplied the Te Deums that he induced the various
+ranks of petty officers of the King to have sung on different days and in
+different churches; he attended all, took with him as many people as he
+could, and for six weeks continued this game. A Te Deum was sung in
+every church in Paris. He spoke of nothing else, and above the real joy
+he felt at the King's recovery, he put on a false one which had a party
+smell about it, and which avowed designs not to be mistaken.
+
+The King went in state to Notre Dame and Saint Genevieve to thank God.
+These mummeries, thus prolonged, extended to the end of August and the
+fete Saint-Louis. Each year there, is on that day a concert in the
+garden. The Marechal de Villeroy took care that on this occasion, the
+concert should become a species of fete, to which he added a display of
+fireworks. Less than this would have been enough to draw the crowd.
+It was so great that a pin could not have fallen to the ground through
+the mass of people wedged against each other in the garden. The windows
+of the Tuileries were ornamented, and were filled with people. All the
+roofs of the Carrousel, as well as the Place, were covered with
+spectators.
+
+The Marechal de Villeroy was in; his element, and importuned the King,
+who tried to hide himself in the corners at every moment. The Marechal
+took him by the arm, and led him, now to the windows where he could see
+the Carrousel, and the houses covered with people; now to those which
+looked upon the garden, full of the innumerable crowd waiting for the
+fete. Everybody cried 'Vive le Roi!' when he appeared, but had not the
+Marechal detained him, he would have run away and hid himself.
+
+"Look, my master," the Marechal would say, "all that crowd, all these
+people are yours, all belong to you; you are the master of them: look at
+them a little therefore, to please them, for they are all yours, they are
+all devoted to you."
+
+A nice lesson this for a governor to give to a young King, repeating it
+every time he leads him to the windows, so fearful is he lest the boy-
+sovereign shall forget it! I do not know whether he received similar
+lessons from those who had the charge of his education. At last the
+Marechal led him upon the terrace, where, beneath a dais, he heard the
+end of the concert, and afterwards saw the fireworks. The lesson of the
+Marechal de Villeroy, so often and so publicly repeated, made much stir,
+and threw but little honour upon him. He himself experienced the first
+effect of is fine instruction.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans conducted himself in a manner simple, so prudent,
+that he infinitely gained by it. His cares and his reasonable anxiety
+were measured; there was much reserve in his conversation, an exact and
+sustained attention in his language, and in his countenance, which
+allowed nothing to escape him, and which showed as little as possible
+that he was the successor to the crown; above all, he never gave cause
+for people to believe that he thought the King's illness more or less
+serious than it was, or that his hopes were stronger than his fears.
+
+He could not but feel that in a conjuncture so critical, all eyes were
+fixed upon him, and as in truth he never wished for the crown (however
+unlikely the statement may seem), he had no need to constrain himself in
+any way, but simply to be measured in his bearing. His conduct was, in
+fact, much remarked, and the cabal opposed to him entirely reduced to
+silence. Nobody spoke to him upon the event that might happen, not even
+his most familiar friends and acquaintances, myself included; and at this
+he was much pleased. He acted entirely upon the suggestions of his own
+good sense.
+
+This was not the first time, let me add, that the Marechal de Villeroy,
+in his capacity of governor of the King, had tacitly insulted M. le Duc
+d'Orleans. He always, in fact, affected, in the discharge of his duties,
+a degree of care, vigilance, and scrutiny, the object of which was
+evident. He was particularly watchful of the food of the King, taking it
+up with his own hands, and making a great show of this precaution; as
+though the King could not have been poisoned a thousand times over in
+spite of such ridiculous care. 'Twas because M. le Duc d'Orleans was
+vexed with this childish behaviour, so calculated to do him great injury,
+that he wished me to supersede the Marechal de Villeroy as governor of
+the King. This, as before said, I would never consent to. As for the
+Marechal, his absurdities met with their just reward, but at a date I
+have not yet come to.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CVI
+
+Before this illness of the King, that is to say, at the commencement of
+June, I went one day to work with M, le Duc d'Orleans, and found him
+alone, walking up and down the grand apartment.
+
+"Holloa! there," said he, as soon as he saw me; then, taking me by the
+hand, "I cannot leave you in ignorance of a thing which I desire above
+all others, which is of the utmost importance to me, and which will cause
+you as much joy as me; but you must keep it profoundly secret." Then
+bursting out laughing, "If M. de Cambrai knew that I had told it to you,
+he would never pardon me." And he proceeded to state that perfect
+reconciliation had been established between himself and the King and
+Queen of Spain; that arrangements had been made by which our young King
+was to marry the Infanta of Spain, as soon as he should be old enough;
+and the Prince of the Asturias (the heir to the Spanish throne) was to
+marry Mademoiselle de Chartres, the Regent's daughter.
+
+If my joy at this was great, my astonishment was even greater; M. le Duc
+d'Orleans embraced me, and the first surprise over, I asked him how he
+had contrived to bring about these marriages; above all, that of his
+daughter. He replied that it had all been done in a trice by the Abbe
+Dubois, who was a regular devil when once he had set his mind upon
+anything; that the King of Spain had been transported at the idea of the
+King of France marrying the Infanta; and that the marriage of the Prince
+of the Asturias had been the 'sine qua non' of the other.
+
+After we had well talked over the matter and rejoiced thereon, I said to
+the Regent that the proposed marriage of his daughter must be kept
+profoundly secret until the moment of her departure for Spain; and that
+of the King also, until the time for their execution arrived; so as to
+prevent the jealousy of all Europe. At this union, so grand and so
+intimate, of the two branches of the royal family, such a union having
+always been the terror of Europe and disunion the object of all its
+policy--this policy having only too well succeeded--I urged that the
+sovereigns must be left as long as possible in the confidence they had
+acquired, the Infanta above all, being but three years old (she was born
+at Madrid on the morning of the 30th of March, 1718), by which means the
+fears of Europe upon the marriage of Mademoiselle de Chartres with the
+Prince of the Asturias would be coloured--the Prince could wait, he
+having been born in August, 1707, and being accordingly only fourteen
+years of age. "You are quite right," replied M. le Duc d'Orleans, "but
+this can't be, because in Spain they wish to make public the declarations
+of marriage at once, indeed, as soon as the demand is made and the
+declaration can be signed."
+
+"What madness!" cried I; "what end can this tocsin have except to arouse
+all Europe and put it in movement! They must be made to understand this,
+and we must stick to it; nothing is so important."
+
+"All this is true," said M. le Duc d'Orleans. "I think exactly like you,
+but they are obstinate in Spain; they have wished matters to be arranged
+thus, and their wishes have been agreed to. Everything is arranged,
+fixed, finished. I am so much interested in the matter that you surely
+would not have advised me to break off for this condition."
+
+I said of course not, shrugging my shoulders at his unseasonable
+impatience.
+
+During the discussion which followed, I did not forget to think of
+myself, the occasion being so opportune for making the fortunes of my
+second son. I remembered then, that as matters were advanced to this
+point, a special ambassador must be sent to Spain, to ask the hand of the
+Infanta for the King, and to sign the compact of marriage; that the
+ambassador must be a nobleman of mark and title, and thus I begged the
+Duke to give me this commission, with a recommendation to the King of
+Spain, so as to make my second son, the Marquis of Ruffec, grandee of
+Spain.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans scarcely allowed me to finish, immediately accorded
+me what I had asked, promised me the recommendation with many expressions
+of friendship, and asked me to keep the whole matter secret, and make no
+preparation that would disclose it.
+
+I knew well enough why he enjoined me to secrecy. He wished to have the
+time to make Dubois swallow this pill. My thanks expressed, I asked him
+two favours; first, not to pay me as an ambassador, but to give me a
+round sum sufficient to provide for all my expenses without ruining
+myself; second, not to entrust any business to me which might necessitate
+a long stay in Spain, inasmuch as I did not wish to quit him, and wanted
+to go to Spain simply for the purpose of obtaining the honour above
+alluded to for my second son. The fact is, I feared that Dubois, not
+being able to hinder my embassy, might keep me in Spain in a sort of
+exile, under pretence of business, in order to get rid of me altogether.
+Events proved that my precaution was not altogether useless.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans accorded both the favours I asked, with many obliging
+remarks, and a hope that my absence would not be long. I thought I had
+then done great things for my family, and went home much pleased. But,
+mon Dieu! what are the projects and the successes of men!
+
+Dubois, as I expected, was vexed beyond measure at my embassy, and
+resolved to ruin me and throw me into disgrace. I was prepared for this,
+and I soon saw it was so. At first, I received from him nothing but
+professions of friendship and of attachment for me, congratulations that
+M. le Duc d'Orleans had accorded to me an embassy my merit deserved, and
+which would be productive of such useful results for my children. He
+took care, however, in the midst of these fine phrases, to introduce not
+one word upon my arrangements, so that he might be able to drive me into
+a corner at the last moment, and cause me all the inconvenience possible.
+He slipped through my hands like an eel until the moment for my departure
+drew near. As he saw it approach, he began to preach to me of
+magnificence, and wished to enter into details respecting my suite. I
+described it to him, and everybody else would have been satisfied, but as
+his design was to ruin me, he cried out against it, and augmented it by a
+third. I represented to him the excessive expense this augmentation
+would cause, the state of the finances, the loss upon the exchange: his
+sole reply was that the dignity of the King necessitated this expense and
+show; and that his Majesty would bear the charge. I spoke to M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, who listened to me with attention, but being persuaded by the
+Cardinal, held the same language.
+
+This point settled, the Cardinal must needs know how many coats I should
+take, and how many I should give to my sons.--in a word, there was not a
+single detail of table or stable that he did not enter into, and that he
+did not double. My friends exhorted me not to be obstinate with a man so
+impetuous, so dangerous, so completely in possession of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans, pointing out to me that when once I was away he might profit
+by my absence, and that, meanwhile, everything relating to my embassy
+must pass through his hands. All this was only too true. I was obliged,
+therefore, to yield, although I felt that, once embarked, the King's
+purse would be spared at the expense of mine.
+
+As soon as the marriages were declared, I asked to be declared as
+ambassador, so that I might openly make my preparations, which, it will
+be remembered, I had been forbidden to do. Now that there was no secret
+about the marriage, I fancied there need be no secret as to the
+ambassador by whom they were to be conducted. I was deceived: Whatever I
+might allege, the prohibition remained. The Cardinal wished to put me to
+double the necessary expense, by compelling me to have my liveries,
+dresses, etc., made in the utmost precipitation; and this happened. He
+thought, too, I should not be able to provide myself with everything in
+time; and that he might represent this to M. le Duc d'Orleans, and in
+Spain, as a fault, and excite envious cries against me.
+
+Nevertheless, I did not choose to press him: to announce my embassy, at
+the same time trying to obtain from him the instructions I was to
+receive, and which, passing through him and the Regent done, told nothing
+to the public, as my preparations would have done. But I could not
+obtain them. Dubois carelessly replied to me, that in one or two
+conversations the matter would be exhausted. He wished me to know
+nothing, except vaguely; to leave no time for reflection, for questions,
+for explanations; and to throw me thus into embarrassments, and to cause
+me to commit blunders which he intended to make the most of.
+
+At last, tired of so many and such dangerous postponements, I went on
+Tuesday, the 23rd of September, to M. le Duc d'Orleans, arranging my
+visit so that it took place when he was in his apartments at the
+Tuileries; there I spoke with such effect, that he said I had only to
+show myself to the King. He led me to his Majesty at once, and there and
+then my embassy was announced. Upon leaving the King's cabinet, M. le
+Duc d'Orleans made me jump into his coach, which was waiting for him, and
+took me to the Palais Royal, where we began to speak seriously upon the
+affairs of my embassy.
+
+I fancy that Cardinal Dubois was much annoyed at what had been done, and
+that he would have liked to postpone the declaration yet a little longer.
+But this now was impossible. The next day people were sent to work upon
+my equipments, the Cardinal showing as much eagerness and impatience
+respecting them, as he had before shown apathy and indifference. He
+urged on the workmen; must needs see each livery and each coat as it was
+finished; increased the magnificence of each; and had all my coats and
+those of my children sent to him. At last, the hurry to make me set out
+was so great, that such of the things as were ready he sent on by rapid
+conveyance to Bayonne, at a cost by no means trifling to me.
+
+The Cardinal next examined the list of persons I intended to have with
+me, and approved it. To my extreme surprise he said, however, that I
+must add forty officers of cavalry and infantry, from the regiments of my
+sons. I cried out against the madness and the expense of such a numerous
+military accompaniment. I represented that it was not usual for
+ambassadors, with a peaceful mission, to take with them such an imposing
+force by way of escort; I showed that these officers, being necessarily
+gay men, might be led away into indiscreet gallantries, which would give
+me more trouble than all the business of my embassy. Nothing could be
+more evident, true, and reasonable than my representations, nothing more
+useless or worse received.
+
+The Cardinal had resolved to ruin me, and to leave me in Spain with all
+the embarrassment, business, and annoyances he could. He rightly thought
+that nothing was more likely to make him succeed than to charge me with
+forty officers. Not finding them, I took only twenty-nine, and if the
+Cardinal succeeded as far as concerned my purse, I was so fortunate, and
+these gentlemen were so discreet, that he succeeded in no other way.
+
+Let me add here, before I give the details of my journey to Spain, in
+what manner the announcement of these two marriages was received by the
+King and the public.
+
+His Majesty was by no means gratified when he heard that a wife had been
+provided for him. At the first mention of marriage he burst out crying.
+The Regent, M. le Duc, and M. de Frejus, had all the trouble in the world
+to extract a "yes" from him, and to induce him to attend the Regency
+Council, in which it was necessary that he should announce his consent to
+the proposed union, or be present while it was announced for him. The
+council was held, and the King came to it, his eyes swollen and red, and
+his look very serious.
+
+Some moments of silence passed, during which M. le Duc d'Orleans threw
+his eyes over all the company (who appeared deeply expectant), and then
+fixed them on the King, and asked if he might announce to the council the
+marriage of his Majesty. The King replied by a dry "yes," and in a
+rather low tone, but which was heard by the four or five people on each
+side of him, and the Regent immediately announced the marriage. Then,
+after taking the opinions of the council, which were for the most part
+favorable, he turned towards the King with a smiling air, as though
+inviting him to assume the same, and said, "There, then, Sire, your
+marriage is approved and passed, and a grand and fortunate matter
+finished." The council then broke up.
+
+The news of what had taken place immediately ran over all Paris. The
+Tuileries and the Palais Royal were soon filled with people who came to
+present themselves before the King to compliment him and the Regent on
+the conclusion of this grand marriage, and the crowd continued the
+following days. The King had much difficulty in assuming some little
+gaiety the first day, but on the morrow he was less sombre, and by
+degrees he quite recovered himself.
+
+M. le Duc d'Orleans took care not to announce the marriage of his
+daughter with the Prince of the Asturias at the same time that the other
+marriage was announced. He declared it, however, the next day, and the
+news was received with the utmost internal vexation by the cabal opposed
+to him. Men, women, people of all conditions who belonged to that cabal,
+lost all countenance. It was a pleasure to me, I admit, to look upon
+them. They were utterly disconcerted. Nevertheless, after the first few
+days of overthrow, they regained courage, and set to work in order to
+break off both the marriages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CVII
+
+I have already said that Dubois looked most unfavourably upon my embassy
+to Spain, and that I saw he was determined to do all in his power to
+throw obstacles in its way. I had fresh proofs of this. First, before
+my departure: when he gave me my written instructions, he told me that in
+Spain I must take precedence of everybody during the signing of the
+King's contract of marriage, and at the chapel, at the two ceremonies of
+the marriage of the Prince of the Asturias, allowing no one to be before
+me!
+
+I represented to him that the Pope's nuncio would be present, and that to
+him the ambassadors of France gave place everywhere, and even the
+ambassadors of the Emperor also, who, without opposition, preceded those
+of the King. He replied that that was true, except in special cases like
+the present, and that his instructions must be obeyed: My surprise was
+great at so strange an order. I tried to move him by appealing to his
+pride; asking him how I should manage with a cardinal, if one happened to
+be present, and with the majordomo-major, who corresponds, but in a very
+superior degree, with our grand master of France. He flew in a rage, and
+declared that I must precede the majordomo-major also; that there would
+be no difficulty in doing so; and that, as to the cardinals, I should
+find none. I shrugged my shoulders, and begged him to think of the
+matter. Instead of replying, to me, he said he had forgotten to acquaint
+me with a most essential particular: it was, that I must take care not to
+visit anybody until I had been first visited.
+
+I replied that the visiting question had not been forgotten in my
+instructions, and that those instructions were to the effect that I
+should act in this respect as the Duc de Saint-Aignan had acted, and that
+the usage he had followed was to pay the first visit to the Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, and to the Councillors of State (when there were any),
+who are the same as are known here under the name of ministers.
+Thereupon he broke out afresh, prated, talked about the dignity of the
+King, and did not allow me the opportunity of saying another word. I
+abridged my visit, therefore, and went away.
+
+However strange might appear to me these verbal orders of such a new
+kind, I thought it best to speak to the Duc de Saint-Aignan and Amelot on
+the subject, so as to convince myself of their novelty. Both these
+ambassadors, as well as those who had preceded them, had visited in an
+exactly opposite manner; and they thought it extravagant that I should
+precede the nuncio, no matter where. Amelot told me, moreover, that I
+should suffer all sorts of annoyances, and succeed in nothing, if I
+refused the first visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs; that as for
+the Councillors of State, they existed only in name, the office having
+fallen into desuetude; and that I must pay other visits to certain
+officers he named (three in number), who would be justly offended and
+piqued if I refused them what every one who had preceded me had rendered
+them. He added that I had better take good care to do so, unless I
+wished to remain alone in my house, and have the cold shoulder turned
+upon me by every principal person of the Court.
+
+By this explanation of Amelot I easily comprehended the reason of these
+singular verbal orders. The Cardinal wished to secure my failure in
+Spain, and my disgrace in France: in Spain by making me offend at the
+outset all the greatest people and the minister through whose hands all
+my business would pass; draw upon myself thus complaints here, which, as
+I had no written orders to justify my conduct, he (Dubois) would
+completely admit the justice of, and then disavow me, declaring he had
+given me exactly opposite orders. If I did not execute what he had told
+me, I felt that he would accuse me of sacrificing the King's honour and
+the dignity of the Crown, in order to please in Spain, and obtain thus
+honours for myself and my sons, and that he would prohibit the latter to.
+accept them. There would have been less uproar respecting the nuncio;
+but if I preceded him, Dubois felt persuaded that the Court of Rome would
+demand justice; and this justice in his hands would have been a shameful
+recall.
+
+My position appeared so difficult, that I resolved to leave nothing
+undone in order to change it. I thought M. le Duc d'Orleans would not
+resist the evidence I should bring forward, in order to show the
+extraordinary nature of Dubois' verbal instructions: I deceived myself.
+It was in vain that I spoke to M. le Duc d'Orleans. I found nothing but
+feebleness under the yoke of a master; by which I judged how much I could
+hope for during my absence. Several times I argued with him and the
+Cardinal; but in vain. They both declared that if preceding ambassadors
+had paid the first visits, that was no example for me, in an embassy so
+solemn and distinguished as that I was about to execute. I represented
+that, however solemn and however distinguished might be my embassy, it
+gave me no rank superior to that of extraordinary ambassadors, and that I
+could claim none. Useless! useless! To my arguments there was no
+reply, but obstinacy prevailed; and I clearly saw the extreme malignity
+of the valet, and the unspeakable weakness of the master. It was for me
+to manage as I could.
+
+The Cardinal now began ardently to press my departure; and, in fact,
+there was no more time to lose. He unceasingly hurried on the workmen
+who were making all that I required,--vexed, perhaps, that being in such
+prodigious number, he could not augment them. There was nothing more for
+him to do but to give me the letters with which I was to be charged. He
+delayed writing them until the last moment previous to my departure, that
+is to say; the very evening before I started; the reason will soon be
+seen. The letters were for their Catholic Majesties, for the Queen
+Dowager at Bayonne, and for the Prince of the Asturias; letters from the
+King and from the Duc d'Orleans. But before giving them to me, the
+Regent said he would write two letters to the Prince of the Asturias,
+both alike, except in this respect, that in the one he would address the
+Prince as "nephew," and in the other as "brother and nephew," and that I
+was to try and deliver the latter, which he passionately wished; but that
+if I found too much difficulty in doing so, I must not persevere but
+deliver the former instead.
+
+I had reason to believe that here was another plot of Dubois, to cause me
+trouble by embroiling me with M. le Duc d'Orleans. The Regent was the
+last man in the world to care for these formalities. The Prince of the
+Asturias was son of the King and heir to the Crown, and, in consequence,
+of the rank of a son of France. In whatever way regarded, M. le Duc
+d'Orleans was extremely inferior in rank to him; and it was something new
+and adventurous to treat him on terms of equality. This, however, is
+what I was charged with, and I believe, in the firm hope of Cardinal
+Dubois that I should fail, and that he might profit by my failure.
+
+Finally, on the morning of the day before my departure, all the papers
+with which I was to be charged were brought to me. I will not give the
+list of them. But among these letters there was none from the King to
+the Infanta! I thought they had forgotten to put it with the others.
+I said so to the persons who brought them to me. What was my surprise
+when they told me that the letter was not written, but that I would have
+it in the course of the day.
+
+This appeared so strange to me, that my mind was filled with suspicion.
+I spoke of the letter to the Cardinal and to M. le Duc d'Orleans, who
+assured me that I should have it in the evening. At midnight it had not
+arrived. I wrote to the Cardinal. Finally I set out without it. He
+wrote to me, saying I should receive it before arriving at Bayonne; but
+nothing less. I wrote him anew. He replied to me, saying that I should
+have it before I arrived at Madrid. A letter from the King to the
+Infanta was not difficult to write; I could not doubt, therefore, that
+there was some design in this delay. Whatever it might be, I could not
+understand it, unless the intention was to send the letter afterwards,
+and make me pass for a heedless fellow who had lost the first.
+
+Dubois served me another most impudent turn, seven or eight days before
+my departure. He sent word to me, by his two devoted slaves, Le Blanc
+and Belleisle, that as he had the foreign affairs under his charge, he
+must have the post, which he would not and could not any longer do
+without; that he knew I was the intimate friend of Torcy (who had the
+post in his department), whose resignation he desired; that he begged me
+to write to Torcy, and send my letter to him by an express courier to
+Sable (where he had gone on an excursion); that he should see by my
+conduct on this occasion, and its success, in what manner he could count
+upon me, and that he should act towards me accordingly. To this his two
+slaves added all they could to persuade me to comply, assuring me that
+Dubois would break off my embassy if I did not do as he wished. I did
+not for a moment doubt, after what I had seen of the inconceivable
+feebleness of M. le Duc d'Orleans, that Dubois was really capable of thus
+affronting and thwarting me, or that I should have no aid from the
+Regent. At the same time I resolved to run all hazards rather than lend
+myself to an act of violence against a friend, so sure; so sage, and so
+virtuous, and who had served the state with such reputation, and deserved
+so well of it.
+
+I replied therefore to these gentlemen that I thought the commission very
+strange, and much more so their reasoning of it; that Torcy was not a man
+from whom an office of this importance could be taken unless he wished to
+give it up; that all I could do was to ask him if he wished to resign,
+and if so, on what conditions; that as to exhorting him to resign, I
+could do nothing of the kind, although I was not ignorant of what this
+refusal might cost me and my embassy. They tried in vain to reason with
+me; all they could obtain was this firm resolution.
+
+Castries and his brother, the Archbishop, were intimate friends of Torcy
+and of myself. I sent for them to come to me in the midst of the tumult
+of my departure. They immediately came, and I related to them what had
+just happened. They were more indignant at the manner and the moment,
+than at the thing itself; for Torcy knew that sooner or later the
+Cardinal would strip him of the post for his own benefit. They extremely
+praised my reply, exhorted me to send word to Torcy, who was on the point
+of departing from Sable, or had departed, and who would make his own
+terms with M. le Duc d'Orleans much more advantageously, present, than
+absent. I read to them the letter I had written to Torcy, while waiting
+for them, which they much approved, and which I at once despatched.
+
+Torcy of himself, had hastened his return. My courier found him with his
+wife in the Parc of Versailles, having passed by the Chartres route. He
+read my letter, charged the courier with many compliments for me (his
+wife did likewise), and told me to say he would see me the next day. I
+informed M. Castries of his arrival. We all four met the next day.
+Torcy warmly appreciated my conduct, and, to his death, we lived on terms
+of the greatest intimacy, as may be imagined when I say that he committed
+to me his memoirs (these he did not write until long after the death of
+M. le Duc d'Orleans), with which I have connected mine. He did not seem
+to care for the post, if assured of an honourable pension.
+
+I announced then his return to Dubois, saying it would be for him and M.
+le Duc d'Orleans to make their own terms with him, and get out of the
+matter in this way. Dubois, content at seeing by this that Torcy
+consented to resign the post, cared not how, so that the latter made his
+own arrangements, and all passed off with the best grace on both sides.
+Torcy had some money and 60,000 livres pension during life, and 20,000
+for his wife after him. This was arranged before my departure and was
+very well carried out afterwards.
+
+A little while after the declaration of the marriage, the Duchesse de
+Ventadour and Madame de Soubise, her granddaughter, had been named, the
+one governess of the Infanta, the other successor to the office; and they
+were both to go and meet her at the frontier, and bring her to Paris to
+the Louvre, where she was to be lodged a little while after the
+declaration of my embassy: the Prince de Rohan, her son-in-law, had
+orders to go and make the exchange of the Princesses upon the frontier,
+with the people sent by the King of Spain to perform the same function.
+I had never had any intimacy with them, though we were not on bad terms.
+But these Spanish commissions caused us to visit each other with proper
+politeness. I forgot to say so earlier and in the proper place.
+
+At last, viz., on the 23rd of October, 1721, I set out, having with me
+the Comte de Lorge, my children, the Abbe de Saint-Simon, and his
+brother, and many others. The rest of the company joined me at Blaye.
+We slept at Orleans, at Montrichard; and at Poictiers. On arriving at
+Conte my berline broke down. This caused a delay of three hours, and I
+did not arrive at Ruffec until nearly midnight. Many noblemen of the
+neighbourhood were waiting for me there, and I entertained them at dinner
+and supper during the two days I stayed. I experienced real pleasure in
+embracing Puy-Robert, who was lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Roussillon
+Regiment when I was captain.
+
+From Ruffec I went in two days to La Cassine, a small house at four
+leagues from Blaye, which my father had built on the borders of his
+marshes of Blaye, and which I felt much pleasure in visiting; I stopped
+there during All Saints' Day and the evening before, and the next day I
+early betook myself to Blaye again, where I sojourned two days. I found
+several persons of quality there, many of the nobility of the country and
+of the adjoining provinces, and Boucher, Intendant of Bordeaux, brother-
+in-law of Le Blanc, who was waiting for me, and whom I entertained with
+good cheer morning and evening during this short stay.
+
+We crossed to Bordeaux in the midst of such bad weather that everybody
+pressed me to delay the trip; but I had so few, days at my command that I
+did not accede to their representations. Boucher had brought his
+brigantine magnificently equipped, and boats enough to carry over all my
+company, most of whom went with us. The view of the port and the town of
+Bordeaux surprised me, with more than three hundred ships of all nations
+ranged in two lines upon my passage, decked out in all their finery, and
+with a great noise from their cannons and those of the Chateau Trompette.
+
+Bordeaux is too well known to need description at my hands: I will simply
+say that after Constantinople it presents the finest view of any other
+port. Upon landing we received many compliments, and found many
+carriages, which conducted us to the Intendant's house, where the Jurats
+came to compliment me in state dress. I invited them to supper with.
+me, a politeness they did not expect, and which they appeared to highly
+appreciate. I insisted upon going to see the Hotel de Ville, which is
+amazingly ugly, saying to the Jurats that it was not to satisfy my
+curiosity, but in order to pay a visit to them, that I went. This
+extremely pleased.
+
+After thanking M. and Madame Boucher for their attention, we set out
+again, traversed the great Landes, and reached in due time Bayonne. The
+day after my arrival there, I had an audience with the Queen Dowager of
+Spain. I was astonished upon arriving at her house. It had only two
+windows in front, looked upon a little court, and had but trifling depth.
+The room I entered was very plainly furnished. I found the Queen, who
+was waiting for me, accompanied by the Duchesse de Linorez and very few
+other persons. I complimented her in the name of the King, and presented
+to her his letter. Nothing could be more polite than her bearing towards
+me.
+
+Passing the Pyrenees, I quitted with France, rain and bad weather, and
+found a clear sky, a charming temperature, with views and perspectives
+which changed at each moment, and which were not less charming. We were
+all mounted upon mules, the pace of which is good but easy. I turned a
+little out of my way to visit Loyola, famous by the birth of Saint
+Ignatius, and situated all alone in a narrow valley. We found there four
+or five Jesuits, very polite and instructed, who took care of the
+prodigious building erected there for more than a hundred Jesuits and
+numberless scholars. A church was there nearly finished, of rotunda
+shape, of a grandeur and size which surprised me. Gold, painting,
+sculpture, the richest ornaments of all kinds, are distributed everywhere
+with prodigality but taste. The architecture is correct and admirable,
+the marble is most exquisite; jasper, porphyry, lapis, polished,
+wreathed, and fluted columns, with their capitals and their ornaments of
+gilded bronze, a row of balconies between each altar with little steps of
+marble to ascend them, and the cage encrusted; the altars and that which
+accompanied them admirable. In a word, the church was one of the most
+superb edifices in Europe, the best kept up, and the most magnificently
+adorned. We took there the best chocolate I ever tasted, and, after some
+hours of curiosity and admiration, we regained our road.
+
+On the 15th, we arrived at Vittoria, where I found a deputation of the
+province, whom I invited to supper, and the next day to breakfast. They
+spoke French and I was surprised to see Spaniards so gay and such good
+company at table. Joy on account of my journey burst out in every place
+through which I passed in France and Spain, and obtained for me a good
+reception. At Salinas, among other towns which I passed through without
+stopping, ladies, who, to judge by their houses and by themselves,
+appeared to me to be quality folks, asked me with such good grace to let
+them see the man who was bringing happiness to Spain, that I thought it
+would only be proper gallantry to enter their dwellings. They appeared
+ravished, and I had all the trouble in the world to get rid of them, and
+to continue my road.
+
+I arrived on the 18th at Burgos, where I meant to stay at least one day,
+to see what turn would take a rather strong fever which had seized my
+eldest son; but I was so pressed to hasten on that I was obliged to leave
+my son behind with nearly all his attendants.
+
+I left Burgos therefore on the 19th. We found but few relays, and those
+ill-established. We travelled night and day without going to bed, until
+we reached Madrid, using such vehicles as we could obtain. I performed
+the last twelve leagues on a posthorse, which cost twice as much as in
+France. In this manner we arrived in Madrid on Friday, the 21st, at
+eleven o'clock at night.
+
+We found at the entrance of the town (which has neither gates nor walls,
+neither barriers nor faubourgs,) people on guard, who asked us who we
+were, and whence we came. They had been placed there expressly so as to
+know the moment of my arrival. As I was much fatigued by travelling
+incessantly from Burgos without stopping, I replied that we were the
+people of the Ambassador of France, who would arrive the next day.
+
+I learnt afterwards, that the minister had calculated that I could not
+reach Madrid before the 22d.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CVIII
+
+Early the next morning I received a visit from Grimaldo, Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, who, overjoyed at my arrival, had announced it to their
+Catholic Majesties before coming to me. Upon his example, apparently,
+the three other ministers, whom, according to usage, I ought to have
+visited first, came also; so that one infamous difficulty which Cardinal
+Dubois had placed in my path was happily overcome without effort on my
+part.
+
+Grimaldo at once conducted me to the palace, and introduced me to the
+King. I made a profound reverence to him; he testified to me his joy at
+my arrival, and asked me for news of the King, of M. le Duc d'Orleans, of
+my journey, and of my eldest son, whom, as he knew, I had left behind at
+Burgos. He then entered alone into the Cabinet of the Mirrors. I was
+instantly surrounded by all the Court with compliments and indications of
+joy at the marriages and union of the crowns. Nearly all the seigneurs
+spoke French, and I had great difficulty in replying to their numberless
+compliments.
+
+A half quarter of an hour after the King had entered his cabinet, he sent
+for me. I entered alone into the Hall of Mirrors, which is very vast,
+but much less wide than long. The King, with the Queen on his left, was
+nearly at the bottom of the salon, both their Majesties standing and
+touching each other. I approached with three profound reverences, and I
+will remark, once for all, that the King never covers himself except at
+public audiences, and when he goes to and comes from his mass. The
+audience lasted half an hour, and was principally occupied, on the part
+of the King and Queen, with compliments and expressions of joy at the
+marriages that were to take place. At its close, the Queen asked me if I
+would like to see the children, and conducted me to them.
+
+I never saw prettier boys than Don Carlos and Don Ferdinand, nor a
+prettier babe than Don Philip. The King and Queen took pleasure in
+making me look at them, and in making them turn and walk before me with
+very good grace. Their Majesties entered afterwards into the Infanta's
+chamber, where I tried to exhibit as much gallantry as possible. In
+fact, the Infanta was charming-like a little woman--and not at all
+embarrassed. The Queen said to me that she already had begun to learn
+French, and the King that she would soon forget Spain.
+
+"Oh!" cried the Queen, "not only Spain, but the King and me, so as to
+attach herself to the King, her husband, alone." Upon this I tried not
+to remain dumb, and to say what was appropriate. Their Majesties
+dismissed me with much goodness, and I was again encircled by the crowd
+with many compliments.
+
+A few moments after the King recalled me, in order to see the Prince of
+the Asturias, who was with their Majesties in the same Hall of Mirrors.
+I found him tall, and really made to be painted; fine light-brown hair,
+light fresh-coloured complexion, long face, but agreeable; good eyes, but
+too near the nose. I found in him also much grace and politeness. He
+particularly asked after the King, M. le Duc d'Orleans, and Mademoiselle
+de Montpensier, to whom he was to be betrothed.
+
+Their Catholic Majesties testified much satisfaction to me at the
+diligence I had used; said that a single day would be sufficient for the
+ceremonies that had to be gone through (demanding the hand of the
+Infanta, according it, and signing the marriage contract). Afterwards
+they asked me when all would be ready. I replied it would be any day
+they pleased; because, as they wished to go into the country, I thought
+it would be best to throw no delay in their path. They appeared much
+pleased at this reply, but would not fix the day, upon which I proposed
+the following Tuesday. Overjoyed at this promptness, they fixed the
+Thursday for their departure, and left me with the best possible grace.
+
+I had got over one difficulty, as I have shown, that connected with the
+first visits, but I had others yet to grapple with. And first, there was
+my embarrassment at finding no letter for the Infanta. I confided this
+fact to Grimaldo, who burst out laughing, was to have my first audience
+with the Infanta the next day, and it was then that the letter ought to
+be produced. Grimaldo said he would arrange so that when I--went, the
+governess should come into the antechamber, and say that the Infanta was
+asleep, and upon offering to awake her, I should refuse to allow her,
+take my leave, and wait until the letter from the King arrived before I
+visited her again. Everything happened just as it had been planned, and
+thus the second obstacle which the crafty and malicious Cardinal had put
+in my path, for the sake of overturning me, was quietly got over.
+Grimaldo's kindness encouraged me to open my heart under its influence.
+I found that the Spanish minister knew, quite as, well as I did, what
+manner of person Dubois was.
+
+On Sunday, the 23rd, I had in the morning my first private audience of
+the King and Queen, together, in the Hall of Mirrors, which is the place
+where they usually give it. I was accompanied by Maulevrier, our
+ambassador. I presented to their Catholic Majesties the Comte de Lorge,
+the Comte de Cereste, my second son, and the Abbe de Saint-Simon and his
+bother. I received many marks of goodness from the Queen in this
+audience.
+
+On Tuesday, the 25th of November, I had my solemn audience. I went to
+the palace in a magnificent coach, belonging to the King, drawn by eight
+grey horses, admirably dappled. There were no postillions, and the
+coachman drove me, his hat under his arm. Five of my coaches filled with
+my suite followed, and about twenty others (belonging to noblemen of the
+Court, and sent by them in order to do me honour), with gentlemen in
+each. The King's coach was surrounded by my musicians, liveried servants
+on foot, and by officers of my household. On arriving at the open place
+in front of the palace, I thought myself at the Tuileries. The regiments
+of Spanish guards, clad, officers and soldiers, like the French guards,
+and the regiment of the Walloon guards, clad, officers and, soldiers,
+like the Swiss guards, were under arms; the flags waved, the drums beat,
+and the officers saluted with the half-pike. On the way, the streets
+were filled with people, the shops with dealers and artisans, all the
+windows were crowded. Joy showed itself on every face, and we heard
+nothing but benedictions.
+
+The audience passed off admirably. I asked the hand of the Infanta in
+marriage on the part of the King; my request was graciously complied
+with, compliments passed on both sides, and I returned to my house, well
+pleased with the reception I had met with from both their Catholic
+Majesties.
+
+There was still the marriage contract to be signed, and this was to take
+place in the afternoon. Here was to be my great trial, for the
+majordomo-major and the nuncio of the Pope were to be present at the
+ceremony, and, according to the infamous and extraordinary instructions
+I had received from Dubois, I was to precede them! How was this to be
+done? I had to bring all my ingenuity to bear upon the subject in order
+to determine. In the embarrassment I felt upon this position, I was
+careful to affect the most marked attention to the nuncio and the
+majordomo-major every time I met them and visited them; so as to take
+from them all idea that I wished to precede them, when I should in
+reality do so.
+
+The place the majordomo-major was to occupy at this ceremony was behind
+the King's armchair, a little to the right, so as to allow room for the
+captain of the guards on duty; to put myself there would be to take his
+place, and push the captain of the guards away, and those near him. The
+place of the nuncio was at the side of the King, his face to the
+armchair; to take it would have been to push him beyond the arm of the
+chair, which assuredly he would no more have submitted to than the
+majordomo-major on the other side. I resolved, therefore, to hazard a
+middle term; to try and introduce myself at the top of the right arm of
+the chair, a little sideways, so as to take the place of neither,
+entirely; but, nevertheless, to drive them out, and to cover this with an
+air of ignorance and of simplicity; and, at the same time, of eagerness,
+of joy, of curiosity, of courtier-like desire to speak to the King as
+much as possible: and all this I exactly executed, in appearance
+stupidly, and in reality very successfully!
+
+When the time for the audience arrived, I took up my position,
+accordingly, in the manner I have indicated. The majordomo-major and the
+nuncio entered, and finding me thus placed, and speaking to the King,
+appeared much surprised. I heard Signor and Sefor repeated right and
+left of me, and addressed to me--for both expressed themselves with
+difficulty in French--and I replied with bows to one and to the other
+with the smiling air of a man entirely absorbed in joy at his functions,
+and who understands nothing of what is meant; then I recommenced my
+conversation with the King, with a sort of liberty and enthusiasm, so
+that the nuncio and majordomo-major: soon grew tired of appealing to a
+man whose spirit was so transported that he no longer knew where he was,
+or what was said to him. In this manner I defeated the craft, cunning,
+and maliciousness of Dubois. At the conclusion of the ceremony, I
+accompanied the King and Queen to the door of the Hall of Mirrors, taking
+good care then to show every deference to the majordomo-major and the
+nuncio, and yielding place to them, in order to remove any impression
+from their minds that I had just acted in a contrary manner from design.
+As soon as their Catholic Majesties had departed, and the door of the
+salon was closed upon them, I was encircled and, so to speak, almost
+stifled by the company present, who, one after the other, pressed upon me
+with the greatest demonstrations of joy and a thousand compliments.
+I returned home after the ceremony, which had lasted a long time. While
+I occupied my stolen position I was obliged, in order to maintain it, to
+keep up an incessant conversation with the King, and at last, no longer
+knowing what to talk about, I asked him for an audience the next day,
+which he readily accorded me. But this direct request was contrary to
+the usage of the Court, where the ambassadors, the other foreign
+ministers, and the subjects of the country of, whatever rank, address
+their requests to an officer who is appointed to receive them, who
+communicates with the King, and names the day and the hour when his
+Majesty will grant the interview.
+
+Grimaldo, a little after the end of ceremony, had gone to work with the
+King and Queen, as was customary.--I was surprised, an hour after
+returning home, to receive a letter from this minister, asking me if I
+had anything to say to the King I did not wish the Queen to hear,
+referring to the audience I had asked of the King for the morrow, and
+begging me to tell him what it was for. I replied to him instantly, that
+having found the opportunity good I had asked for this audience; but if I
+had not mentioned the Queen, it was because I had imagined she was so
+accustomed to be present that there was no necessity to allude to her:
+but as to the rest, I had my thanks to offer to the King upon what had
+just passed, and nothing to say to him that I should not wish to say to
+the Queen, and that I should be very sorry if she were not present.
+
+As I was writing this reply, Don Gaspard Giron invited me to go and see
+the illuminations of the Place Mayor. I quickly finished my letter; we
+jumped into a coach, and the principal people of my suite jumped into
+others. We were conducted by detours to avoid the light of the
+illuminations in approaching them, and we arrived at a fine house which
+looks upon the middle of the Place, and which is that where the King and
+Queen go to see the fetes that take place. We perceived no light in
+descending or in ascending the staircase. Everything had been closed,
+but on entering into the chamber which looks upon the Place, we were
+dazzled, and immediately we entered the balcony speech failed me, from
+surprise, for more than seven or eight minutes.
+
+This Place is superficially much vaster than any I had ever seen in Paris
+or elsewhere, and of greater length than breadth. The five stories of
+the houses which surround it are all of the same level; each has windows
+at equal distance, and of equal size, with balconies as deep as they are
+long, guarded by iron balustrades, exactly alike in every case. Upon
+each of these balconies two torches of white wax were placed, one at each
+end of the balcony, supported upon the balustrade, slightly leaning
+outwards, and attached to nothing. The light that this--gives is
+incredible; it has a splendour and a majesty about it that astonish you
+and impress you. The smallest type can be read in the middle of the
+Place, and all about, though the ground-floor is not illuminated.
+
+As soon as I appeared upon the balcony, all the people beneath gathered
+round and began to cry, Senor! tauro! tauro! The people were asking me
+to obtain for them a bull-fight, which is what they like best in the
+world, and what the King had not permitted for several years from
+conscientious principles. Therefore I contented myself the next day with
+simply telling him of these cries, without asking any questions thereon,
+while expressing to him my astonishment at an illumination so surprising
+and so admirable.
+
+Don Gaspard Giron and the Spaniards who were with me in the house from
+which I saw the illumination, charmed with the astonishment I had
+displayed at this spectacle, published it abroad with all the more
+pleasure because they were not accustomed to the admiration of the
+French, and many noblemen spoke of it to me with great pleasure.
+Scarcely had I time to return home and sup after this fine illumination
+than I was obliged to go to the palace for the ball that the King had
+prepared there, and which lasted until past two in the morning.
+
+The salon was very vast and splendid;'the dresses of the company were
+sumptuous; the appearance of our finest fancy-dress balls did not
+approach the appearance of this.
+
+What seemed strange to me was to see three bishops in lawn sleeves and
+cloaks in the ball-room, remaining, too, all the evening, and to see the
+accoutrement of the camerara-mayor, who held exposed in her hand a great
+chaplet, and who, while talking and criticising the ball and the dancers,
+muttered her prayers, and continued to do so while the ball lasted. What
+I found very strange was, that none of the men present (except six
+special officers and Maulevrier and myself) were allowed to sit, not even
+the dancers; in fact, there was not a single seat in the whole salon, not
+even at the back, except those I have specified.
+
+In Spain, men and women of all ages wear all sorts of colours, and dance
+if they like, even when more than sixty years old, without exciting the
+slightest ridicule or astonishment. I saw several examples of this among
+men and women.
+
+Amongst the company present was Madame Robecque, a Frenchwoman, one of
+the Queen's ladies, whom I had known before she went to Spain. In former
+days we had danced together at the Court. Apparently she said so to the
+Queen, for after having danced with one of the children, she traversed
+the whole length of the salon, made a fine curtsey to their Catholic
+Majesties, and came to dislodge me from my retreat, asking me with a
+curtsey and a smile to dance. I replied to her by saying she was
+laughing at me; dispute, gallantries; finally, she went to the Queen, who
+called me and told me that the King and she wished me to dance.
+
+I took the liberty to represent to her that she wished to divert herself
+at my expense; that this order could not be serious; I alleged my age, my
+position, the number of years since I had danced; in a word, I did all I
+could to back out. But all was useless. The King mixed himself in the
+matter; both he and the Queen begged me to comply, tried to persuade me
+I danced very well; at last commanded me, and in such a manner that I was
+obliged to obey. I acquitted myself, therefore, as well as I could.
+
+The ball being finished, the Marquis de Villagarcias, one of the
+majordomos, and one of the most honest and most gracious of men I ever
+saw (since appointed Viceroy of Peru), would not let me leave until I had
+rested in the refreshment-room, where he made me drink a glass of
+excellent neat wine, because I was all in a sweat from the minuets and
+quadrilles I had gone through, under a very heavy coat.
+
+This same evening and the next I illuminated my house within and without,
+not having a moment's leisure to give any fete in the midst of the many
+functions I had been so precipitately called upon to fulfil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CIX
+
+On Thursday, the 27th of November, the King and Queen were to depart from
+Madrid to Lerma, a pretty hamlet six leagues from Burgos, where they had
+a palace. On the same day, very early in the morning, our ambassador,
+Maulevrier, came to me with despatches from Cardinal Dubois, announcing
+that the Regent's daughter, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, had departed on
+the 18th of November for Spain, and giving information as to the places
+she would stop at, the people she would be accompanied by, the day she
+would arrive at the frontier, and the persons charged with the exchange
+of the Princesses.
+
+Maulevrier and I thought this news so important that we felt there was no
+time to lose, and at once hastened away to the palace to communicate it
+to their Majesties, who we knew were waiting for it most impatiently. We
+arrived at such an early hour that all was deserted in the palace, and
+when we reached the door of the Hall of Mirrors, we were obliged to knock
+loudly in order to be heard. A French valet opened the door, and told us
+that their Catholic Majesties were still in bed. We did not doubt it,
+and begged him to apprise them that we wished to have the honour of
+speaking to them. Such an honour was unheard of, except under
+extraordinary circumstances; nevertheless the valet quickly returned,
+saying that their Majesties would receive us, though it was against all
+rule and usage to do so while they were in bed.
+
+We traversed therefore the long and grand Hall of Mirrors, turned to the
+left at the end into a large and fine room, then short off to the left
+again into a very little chamber, portioned off from the other, and
+lighted by the door and by two little windows at the top of the partition
+wall. There was a bed of four feet and a half at most, of crimson
+damask, with gold fringe, four posts, the curtains open at the foot and
+at the side the King occupied. The King was almost stretched out upon
+pillows with a little bed-gown of white satin; the Queen sitting upright,
+a piece of tapestry in her hand, at the left of the King, some skeins of
+thread near her, papers scattered upon the rest of the bed and upon an
+armchair at the side of it. She was quite close to the King, who was in
+his night-cap, she also, and in her bed-gown, both between the sheets,
+which were only very imperfectly hidden by the papers.
+
+They made us abridge our reverences, and the King, raising himself a
+little impatiently, asked us our business. We were alone, the valet
+having retired after showing us the door.
+
+"Good news, Sire," replied I. "Mademoiselle de Montpensier set out on
+the 18th; the courier has this instant brought us the news, and we have
+at once come to present ourselves to you and apprise your Majesties of
+it."
+
+Joy instantly painted itself on their faces, and immediately they began
+to question us at great length upon the details the courier had brought
+us. After an animated conversation, in which Maulevrier took but little
+part, their Catholic Majesties dismissed us, testifying to us the great
+pleasure we had caused them by not losing a minute in acquainting them
+with the departure of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, above all in not
+having been stopped by the hour, and by the fact that they were in bed.
+
+We went back to my house to dine and returned to the palace in order to
+see the King and Queen depart. I again received from them a thousand
+marks of favour. Both the King and Queen, but especially the latter,
+several times insisted that I must not lose any time in following them to
+Lerma; upon which I assured them they would find me there as they
+alighted from their coach.
+
+I set out, in fact, on the 2nd of December, from Madrid, to join the
+Court, and was to sleep at the Escurial, with the Comtes de Lorges and de
+Cereste, my second son, the Abbe de Saint-Simon and his brother, Pacquet,
+and two principal officers of the King's troops, who remained with me as
+long as I stayed in Spain. In addition to the orders of the King of
+Spain and the letters of the Marquis de Grimaldo, I was also furnished
+with those of the nuncio for the Prior of the Escurial, who is, at the
+same time, governor, in order that I might he shown the marvels of this
+superb and prodigious monastery, and that everything might be opened for
+me that I wished to visit; for I had been warned that, without the
+recommendation of the nuncio, neither that of the King and his minister,
+nor any official character, would have much served me. It will be seen
+that, after all, I did not fail to suffer from the churlishness and the
+superstition of these coarse Jeronimites.
+
+They are black and white monks, whose dress resembles that of the
+Celestins; very idle, ignorant, and without austerity, who, by the number
+of their monasteries and their riches, are in Spain much about what the
+Benedictines are in France, and like them are a congregation. They elect
+also, like the Benedictines, their superiors, local and general, except
+the Prior of the Escurial, who is nominated by the King, remains in
+office as long as the King likes and no more, and who is yet better
+lodged at the Escurial than his Catholic Majesty. 'Tis a prodigy, this
+building, of extent, of structure, of every kind of magnificence, and
+contains an immense heap of riches, in pictures, in ornaments, in vases
+of all kinds, in precious stones, everywhere strewn about, and the
+description of which I will not undertake, since it does not belong to my
+subject. Suffice it to say that a curious connoisseur of all these
+different beauties might occupy himself there for three months without
+cessation, and then would not have examined all. The gridiron (its form,
+at least) has regulated all the ordonnance of this sumptuous edifice in
+honour of Saint-Laurent, and of the battle of Saint-Quentin, gained by
+Philippe II., who, seeing the action from a height, vowed he would erect
+this monastery if his troops obtained the victory, and asked his
+courtiers, if such were the pleasures of the Emperor, his father, who in
+fact did not go so far for them as that.
+
+There is not a door, a lock, or utensil of any kind, or a piece of plate,
+that is not marked with a gridiron.
+
+The distance from Madrid to the Escurial is much about the same as that
+from Paris to Fontainebleau. The country is very flat and becomes a
+wilderness on approaching the Escurial, which takes its name from a large
+village you pass, a league off. It is upon an eminence which you ascend
+imperceptibly, and upon which you see endless deserts on three sides; but
+it is backed, as it were, by the mountain of Guadarama, which encircles
+Madrid on three sides, at a distance of several leagues, more or less.
+There is no village at the Escurial; the lodging of their Catholic
+Majesties forms the handle of the gridiron. The principal grand
+officers, and those most necessary, are lodged, as well as the Queen's
+ladies, in the monastery; on the side by which you arrive all is very
+badly built.
+
+The church, the grand staircase, and the grand cloister, surprised me.
+I admired the elegance of the surgery, and the pleasantness of the
+gardens, which, however, are only a long and wide terrace. The Pantheon
+frightened me by a sort of horror and majesty. The grand-altar and the
+sacristy wearied my eyes, by their immense opulence. The library did not
+satisfy me, and the librarians still less: I was received with much
+civility, and invited to a good supper in the Spanish style, at which the
+Prior and another monk did the honours. After this fast repast my people
+prepared my meals, but this fat monk always supplied one or two things
+that it would not have been civil to refuse, and always ate with me; for,
+in order that he might conduct us everywhere, he never quitted our sides.
+Bad Latin supplied the place of French, which he did not understand; nor
+even Spanish.
+
+In the sanctuary at the grand altar, there are windows behind the seats
+of the priest and his assistants, who celebrate the grand mass. These
+windows, which are nearly on a level with the sanctuary (very high),
+belong to the apartment that Philippe II. had built for himself, and in
+which he died. He heard service through these windows. I wished to see
+this apartment, which was entered from behind. I was refused. It was in
+vain that I insisted on the orders of the King and of the nuncio,
+authorising me to see all I wished. I disputed uselessly. They told me
+this apartment had been closed ever since the death of Philippe II., and
+that nobody had entered it. I maintained that King Philippe V. and his
+suite had seen it. They admitted the fact, but at the same time told me
+that he had entered by force as a master, threatening to break in the
+doors, that he was the only King who had entered since Philippe II., and
+that they would not open the apartment to anybody. I understood nothing
+of all this superstition, but I was forced to rest content in my
+ignorance. Louville, who had entered with the King, had told me that the
+place contained only five or six dark chambers, and some holes and
+corners with wainscots plastered with mud; without tapestry, when he saw
+it, or any kind of furniture; thus I did not lose much by not entering.
+
+In the Rotting-Room, which I have elsewhere described, we read the
+inscriptions near us, and the monk read others as we asked him. We
+walked thus, all round, talking and discoursing thereon. Passing to the
+bottom of the room, the coffin of the unhappy Don Carlos offered itself
+to our sight.
+
+"As for him," said I, "it is well known why, and of what he died." At
+this remark, the fat monk turned rusty, maintained he had died a natural
+death, and began to declaim against the stories which he said had been
+spread abroad about him. I smiled, saying, I admitted it was not true
+that his veins had been opened. This observation completed the
+irritation of the monk, who began to babble in a sort of fury. I
+diverted myself with it at first in silence; then I said to him, that the
+King, shortly after arriving in Spain; had had the curiosity to open the
+coffin of Don Carlos, and that I knew from a man who was present ('twas
+Louville), that his head had been found between his legs; that Philippe
+II., his father, had had it cut off before him in the prison.
+
+"Very well!" cried the monk in fury, "apparently he had well deserved it;
+for Philippe II., had permission from the Pope to do so!" and,
+thereupon, he began to cry with all his might about the marvels of piety
+and of justice of Philippe II., and about the boundless power of the
+Pope, and to cry heresy against any one who doubted that he could not
+order, decide, and dispose of all.
+
+Such is the fanaticism of the countries of the Inquisition, where science
+is a crime, ignorance and superstition the first of virtues. Though my
+official character protected me, I did not care to dispute, and cause a
+ridiculous scene with this bigot of a monk. I contented myself with
+smiling, and by making a sign of silence as I did so to those who were
+with me. The monk, therefore, had full swing, and preached a long time
+without giving over. He perceived, perhaps, by our faces, that we were
+laughing at him, although without gestures or words. At last he showed
+us the rest of the chamber, still fuming; then we descended to the
+Pantheon. They did me the singular favour to light about two-thirds of
+the immense and admirable chandelier, suspended from the middle of the
+roof, the lights of which dazzled us, and enabled us to distinguish in
+every part of the Rotting-Room; not only the smallest details of the
+smallest letter, but the minutest features of the place.
+
+I passed three days in the Escurial, lodged in a large and fine
+apartment, and all that were with me well lodged also. Our monk, who had
+always been in an ill-humour since the day of the Rotting-Room, did not
+recover himself until the parting breakfast came. We quitted him without
+regret, but not the Escurial, which would pleasantly occupy a curious
+connoisseur during more than a three months' stay. On the road we met
+the Marquis de Montalegre, who invited, us to dinner with him. The meal
+was so good that we little regretted the dinner my people had prepared
+for us.
+
+At last we arrived on the 9th, at our village of Villahalmanzo, where I
+found most comfortable quarters for myself and all who were with me. I
+found there, also, my eldest son, still merely, convalescent, with the
+Abbe de Monthon, who came from Burgos. We supped very gaily, and I
+reckoned upon taking a good excursion the next day, and upon amusing
+myself in reconnoitring the village and the environs; but fever seized me
+during the night, augmented during the day, became violent the following
+night, so that there was no more talk of going on the 11th to meet the
+King and Queen at Lerma, as they alighted from their coach, according to
+arrangement.
+
+The malady increased with such rapidity that I was found to be in great
+danger, and immediately after, on the point of death. I was bled shortly
+after. The small-pox, with which the whole country was filled, appeared.
+The climate was such this year that it froze hard twelve or fourteen
+hours every day, while from eleven o'clock in 'the morning till nearly
+four, the sun shone as brightly as possible, and it was too hot about
+mid-day for walking! Yet in the shade it did not thaw for an instant.
+This cold weather was all the more sharp because the air was purer and
+clearer, and the sky continually of the most perfect serenity.
+
+The King of Spain, who was dreadfully afraid of the small-pox, and who
+with reason had confidence only in his chief doctor, sent him to me as
+soon as he was informed of my illness, with orders not to quit me until I
+was cured. I had, therefore, five or six persons continually around me,
+in addition to the domestics who served me, one of the best and most
+skilful physicians in Europe, who, moreover, was capital company, and who
+did not quit me night or day, and three very good surgeons. The small-
+pox came out very abundantly all over me; it was of a good kind, and I
+had no dangerous accident. Every one who waited upon me, master or man,
+was cut off from all intercourse with the rest of the world; even those
+who cooked for us, from those who did not.
+
+The chief physician nearly every day provided new remedies in case of
+need, and yet administered none to me, except in giving me, as my sole
+beverage, water, in which, according to its quantity, oranges were
+thrown, cut in two with their skins on, and which gently simmered before
+my fire; occasionally some spoonful of a gentle and agreeable cordial
+during the height of the suppuration, and afterwards a little Rota wine,
+and some broth, made of beef and partridge.
+
+Nothing was wanting, then, on the part of those who had charge of me. I
+was their only patient, and they had orders not to quit me, and nothing
+was wanting for my amusement, when I was in a condition to take any, so
+much good company being around me, and that at a time when convalescents
+of this malady experience all the weariness and fretfulness of it. At
+the end of my illness I was bled and purged once, after which I lived as
+usual, but in a species of solitude.
+
+During the long interval in which this illness shut me out from all
+intercourse with the world, the Abbe de Saint-Simon corresponded for me
+with Cardinal Dubois, Grimaldo, Sartine, and some others.
+
+The King and Queen, not content with having sent me their chief
+physician, M. Hyghens, to be with me night and day, wished to hear how I
+was twice a day, and when I was better, unceasingly showed to me a
+thousand favours, in which they were imitated by all the Court.
+
+But I was six weeks ill in all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CX
+
+Here I think will be the fitting place to introduce an account of the
+daily life of the King and Queen of Spain, which in many respects was
+entitled to be regarded as singular. During my stay at the Court I had
+plenty of opportunity to mark it well, so that what I relate may be said
+to have passed under my own eyes. This, then, was their daily life
+wherever they were, and in all times and seasons.
+
+The King and Queen never had more than one apartment, and one bed between
+them, the latter exactly as I have described it when relating my visit
+with Maulevrier to their Catholic Majesties to carry to them the news of
+the departure from Paris of the future Princess of the Asturias. During
+fevers, illness, no matter of what kind, or on whose side, childbirth
+even,--never were they a single night apart, and even when the deceased
+Queen was eaten up with the scrofula, the King continued to sleep with
+her until a few nights before her death!
+
+About nine o'clock in the morning the curtains were drawn by the Asafeta,
+followed by a single valet carrying a basin full of caudle. Hyghens,
+during my convalescence, explained to me how this caudle was made, and in
+fact concocted some for me to taste. It is a light mixture of broth,
+milk, wine (which is in the largest quantity), one or two yolks of eggs,
+sugar, cinnamon, and a few cloves. It is white; has a very strong taste,
+not unmixed with softness. I should not like to take it habitually,
+nevertheless it is not disagreeable. You put in it, if you like, crusts
+of bread, or, at times, toast, and then it becomes a species of soup;
+otherwise it is drunk as broth; and, ordinarily, it was in this last
+fashion the King took it. It is unctuous, but very warm, a restorative
+singularly good for retrieving the past night, and, for preparing you for
+the next.
+
+While the King partook of this brief breakfast, the Asafeta brought the
+Queen some tapestry to work at, passed bed-gowns to their Majesties, and
+put upon the bed some of the papers she found upon the adjoining seats,
+then withdrew with the valet and what he had brought. Their Majesties
+then said their morning prayers. Grimaldo afterwards entered. Sometimes
+they signalled to him to wait, as he came in, and called him when their
+prayer was over, for there was nobody else, and the bedroom was very
+small. Then Grimaldo displayed his papers, drew from his pocket an
+inkstand, and worked with the King; the Queen not being hindered by her
+tapestry from giving her opinion.
+
+This work lasted more or less according to the business, or to the
+conversation. Grimaldo, upon leaving with his papers, found the
+adjoining room empty, and a valet in that beyond, who, seeing him pass,
+entered into the empty room, crossed it, and summoned the Asafeta, who
+immediately came and presented to the King his slippers and his dressing-
+gown; he at once passed across the empty room and entered into a cabinet,
+where he dressed himself, followed by three valets (never changed) and by
+the Duc del Arco, or the Marquis de Santa Cruz, and after by both, nobody
+else ever being present at the ceremony.
+
+The Queen, as soon as the King had passed into his cabinet, put on her
+stockings and shoes alone with the Asafeta, who gave her her dressing-
+gown. It was the only moment in which this person could speak to the
+Queen, or the Queen to her; but this moment did not stretch at the most
+to more than half a quarter of an hour. Had they been longer together
+the King would have known it, and would have wanted to hear what kept
+them. The Queen passed through the empty chamber and entered into a fine
+large cabinet, where her toilette awaited her. When the King had dressed
+in his cabinet--where he often spoke to his confessor--he went to the
+Queen's toilette, followed by the two seigneurs just named. A few of the
+specially--privileged were also admitted there. This toilette lasted
+about three-quarters of an hour, the King and all the rest of the company
+standing.
+
+When it was over, the King half opened the door of the Hall of Mirrors,
+which leads into the salon where the Court assembled, and gave his
+orders; then rejoined the Queen in that room which I have so often called
+the empty room. There and then took place the private audiences of the
+foreign ministers, and of, the seigneurs, or other subjects who obtained
+them. Once a week, on Monday, there was a public audience, a practice
+which cannot be too much praised where it is not abused. The King,
+instead of half opening the door, threw it wide open, and admitted
+whoever liked to enter. People spoke to the King as much as they liked,
+how they liked, and gave him in writing what they liked. But the
+Spaniards resemble in nothing the French; they are measured, discreet,
+respectful, brief.
+
+After the audiences, or after amusing himself with the Queen--if there
+are none, the King went to dress. The Queen accompanied him, and they
+took the communion together (never separately) about once a week, and
+then they heard a second mass. The confession of the King was said after
+he rose, and before he went to the Queen's toilette.
+
+Upon returning from mass, or very shortly after, the dinner was served.
+It was always in the Queen's apartment, as well as the supper, but the
+King and Queen had each their dishes; the former, few, the latter, many,
+for she liked eating, and ate of everything; the King always kept to the
+same things--soup, capon, pigeons, boiled and roast, and always a roast
+loin of veal--no fruit; or salad, or cheese; pastry, rarely, never
+maigre; eggs, often cooked in various fashion; and he drank nothing but
+champagne; the Queen the same. When the dinner was finished, they prayed
+to God together. If anything pressing happened, Grimaldo came and gave
+them a brief account of it.
+
+About an hour after dinner, they left the apartment by a short passage
+accessible to the court, and descended by a little staircase to their
+coach, returning by the same way. The seigneurs who frequented the court
+pretty constantly assembled, now one, now another, in this passage, or
+followed their Majesties to their coaches. Very often I saw them in this
+passage as they went or returned. The Queen always said something
+pleasant to whoever was there. I will speak elsewhere of the hunting-
+party their Majesties daily made.
+
+Upon returning, the King gave his orders. If they had not partaken of a
+collation in the coach, they partook of one upon arriving. It was for
+the King, a morsel of bread, a big biscuit, some water and wine; and for
+the Queen, pastry and fruit in season, sometimes cheese. The Prince and
+the Princess of the Asturias, and the children, followed and waited for
+them in the inner apartment. This company withdrew in less than half a
+quarter of an hour. Grimaldo came and worked ordinarily for a long time;
+it was the time for the real work of the day. When the Queen went to
+confession this also was the time she selected. Except what related to
+the confession, she and her confessor had no time to say anything to each
+other. The cabinet in which she confessed to him was contiguous to the
+room occupied by the King, and when the latter thought the confession too
+long, he opened the door and called her. Grimaldo being gone, they
+prayed together, or sometimes occupied themselves with spiritual reading
+until supper. It was served like the dinner. At both meals there were
+more dishes in the French style than in the Spanish, or even the Italian.
+
+After supper, conversation or prayers conducted them to the hour for bed,
+when nearly the same observances took place as in the morning. Finally,
+their Catholic Majesties everywhere had but one wardrobe between them,
+and were never in private one from another.
+
+These uniform days were the same in all places, and even during the
+journeys taken by their Majesties, who were thus never separated, except
+for a few minutes at a time. They passed their lives in one long tete-a-
+tete. When they travelled it was at the merest snail's pace, and they
+slept on the road, night after night, in houses prepared for them. In
+their coach they were always alone; when in the palace it was the same.
+
+The King had been accustomed to this monotonous life by his first queen,
+and he did not care for any other. The new Queen, upon arriving, soon
+found this out, and found also that if she wished to rule him, she must
+keep him in the same room, confined as he had been kept by her
+predecessor. Alberoni was the only person admitted to their privacy.
+This second marriage of the King of Spain, entirely brought about by
+Madame des Ursins, was very distasteful to the Spaniards, who detested
+that personage most warmly, and were in consequence predisposed to look
+unfavourably upon anyone she favoured. It is true, the new Queen, on
+arriving, drove out Madame des Ursins, but this showed her to be
+possessed of as much power as the woman she displaced, and when she began
+to exercise that power in other directions the popular dislike to her was
+increased. She made no effort to mitigate it--hating the Spaniards as
+much as they hated her--and it is incredible to what an extent this
+reciprocal aversion stretched.
+
+When the Queen went out with the King to the chase or to the atocha, the
+people unceasingly cried, as well as the citizens in their shops, "Viva
+el Re y la Savoyana, y la Savoyana," and incessantly repeated, with all
+their lungs, "la Savoyana," which is the deceased Queen (I say this to
+prevent mistake), no voice ever crying "Viva la Reina." The Queen
+pretended to despise this, but inwardly raged (as people saw), she could
+not habituate herself to it. She has said to me very frequently and more
+than once: "The Spaniards do not like me, and in return I hate them,"
+with an air of anger and of pique.
+
+These long details upon the daily life of the King and Queen may appear
+trivial, but they will not be judged so by those who know, as I do, what
+valuable information is to be gained from similar particulars. I will
+simply say in passing, that an experience of twenty years has convinced
+me that the knowledge of such details is the key to many others, and that
+it is always wanting in histories, often in memoirs the most interesting
+and instructive, but which would be much more so if they had not
+neglected this chapter, regarded by those who do not know its price, as a
+bagatelle unworthy of entering into a serious recital. Nevertheless, I
+am quite certain, that there is not a minister of state, a favourite, or
+a single person of whatever rank, initiated by his office into the
+domestic life of sovereigns, who will not echo my sentiments.
+
+And now let me give a more distinct account of the King of Spain than I
+have yet written.
+
+Philip V. was not gifted with superior understanding or with any stock of
+what is called imagination. He was cold, silent, sad, sober, fond of no
+pleasure except the chase, fearing society, fearing himself, unexpansive,
+a recluse by taste and habits, rarely touched by others, of good sense
+nevertheless, and upright, with a tolerably good knowledge of things,
+obstinate when he liked, and often then not to be moved; nevertheless,
+easy at other times to govern and influence.
+
+He was cold. In his campaigns he allowed himself to be led into any
+position, even under a brisk fire, without budging in the slightest; nay,
+amusing himself by seeing whether anybody was afraid. Secured and
+removed from danger he was the same, without thinking that his glory
+could suffer by it. He liked to make war, but was indifferent whether he
+went there or not; and present or absent, left everything to the generals
+without doing anything himself.
+
+He was extremely vain; could bear no opposition in any of his
+enterprises; and what made me judge he liked praise, was that the Queen
+invariably praised him--even his face; and asked me one day, at the end
+of an audience which had led us into conversation, if I did not think him
+very handsome, and more so than any one I knew?--His piety was only
+custom, scruples, fears, little observances, without knowing anything of
+religion: the Pope a divinity when not opposed to him; in fact he had the
+outside religion of the Jesuits, of whom he was passionately fond.
+
+Although his health was very good, he always feared for it; he was always
+looking after it. A physician, such as the one Louis XI. enriched so
+much at the end of his life; a Maitre Coythier would have become a rich
+and powerful personage by his side; fortunately his physician was a
+thoroughly good and honourable man, and he who succeeded him devoted to
+the Queen. Philip V. could speak well--very well, but was often hindered
+by idleness and self-mistrust. To the audiences I had with him, however,
+he astonished me by the precision, the grace, the easiness of his words.
+He was good, easy to serve, familiar with a few. His love of France
+showed itself in everything. He preserved much gratitude and veneration
+for the deceased King, and tenderness for the late Monsieur; above all
+for the Dauphin, his brother, for whose loss he was never consoled.
+I noticed nothing in him towards any other of the royal family, except
+the King; and he never asked me concerning anybody in the Court, except,
+and then in a friendly manner, the Duchesse de Beauvilliers.
+
+He had scruples respecting his crown, that can with difficulty be
+reconciled with the desire he had to return, in case of misfortune, to
+the throne of his fathers, which he had more than once so solemnly
+renounced. He believed himself an usurper! and in this idea nourished
+his desire to return to France, and abandon Spain and his scruples at one
+and the same time. It cannot be disguised that all this was very ill-
+arranged in his head, but there it was, and he would have abandoned Spain
+had it been possible, because he felt compelled by duty to do so. It was
+this feeling which principally induced him, after meditating upon it long
+before I arrived in Spain, to abdicate his throne in favour of his son.
+It was the same usurpation in his eyes, but not being able to obey his
+scruples, he contented himself by doing all he could in abdicating. It
+was still this feeling which, at the death of his son, troubled him so
+much, when he saw himself compelled to reascend the throne; though,
+during his abdication, that son had caused him not a little vexation.
+As may well be imagined, Philip V. never spoke of these delicate matters
+to me, but I was not less well informed of them elsewhere.
+
+The Queen desired not less to abandon Spain, which she hated, and to
+return into France and reign, where she hoped to lead a life of less
+seclusion, and much more agreeable.
+
+Notwithstanding all I have said, it is perfectly true that Philip V. was
+but little troubled by the wars he made, that he was fond of enterprises,
+and that his passion was to be respected and dreaded, and to figure
+grandly in Europe.
+
+But let me now more particularly describe the Queen.
+
+This princess had much intellect and natural graces, which she knew how
+to put to account. Her sense, her reflection, and her conduct, were
+guided by that intellect, from which she drew all the charms and, all the
+advantages possible. Whoever knew her was astonished to find how her
+intelligence and natural capacity supplied the place of her want of
+knowledge of the world, of persons, of affairs, upon all of which
+subjects, her garret life in Parma, and afterwards her secluded life with
+the King of Spain, hindered her from obtaining any real instruction. The
+perspicuity she possessed, which enabled her to see the right side of
+everything that came under her inspection, was undeniable, and this
+singular gift would have become developed in her to perfection if its
+growth had not been interrupted by the ill-humour she possessed; which it
+must be admitted the life she led was more than enough to give her. She
+felt her talent and her strength, but did not feel the fatuity and pride
+which weakened them and rendered them ridiculous. The current of her
+life was simple, smooth, with a natural gaiety even, which sparkled
+through the eternal restraint of her existence; and despite the ill-
+temper and the sharpness which this restraint without rest gave her, she
+was a woman ordinarily without pretension, and really charming.
+
+When she arrived in Spain she was sure, in the first place, of driving
+away Madame des Ursins, and of filling-her place in the government at
+once. She seized that place, and took possession also of the King's
+mind, which she soon entirely ruled. As to public business, nothing
+could be hidden from her. The King always worked in her presence, never
+otherwise; all that he saw alone she read and discussed with him. She
+was always present at all the private audiences that he gave, whether to
+his subjects or to the foreign ministers; so that, as I have before
+remarked, nothing possibly could escape her.
+
+As for the King, the eternal night and day tete-a-tete she had with him
+enabled her to sound him thoroughly, to know him by heart, so to speak.
+She knew perfectly the time for preparatory insinuations, their success;
+the resistance, when there was any, its course and how to overcome it;
+the moments for yielding, in order to return afterwards to the charge,
+and those for holding firm and carrying everything by force. She stood
+in need of all these intrigues, notwithstanding her credit with the King.
+If I may dare to say it, his temperament was her strong point, and she
+sometimes had recourse to it. Then her coldness excited tempests. The
+King cried and menaced; now and then went further; she held firm, wept,
+and sometimes defended herself. In the morning all was stormy. The
+immediate attendants acted towards King and Queen often without
+penetrating the cause of their quarrel. Peace was concluded at the first
+opportunity, rarely to the disadvantage of the Queen, who mostly had her
+own way.
+
+A quarrel of this sort arose when I was at Madrid; and I was advised,
+after hearing details I will not repeat, to mix myself up in it, but I
+burst out laughing and took good care not to follow this counsel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CXI.
+
+The chase was every day the amusement of the King, and the Queen was
+obliged to make it hers. But it was always the same. Their Catholic
+Majesties did me the singular honour to invite me to it once, and I went
+in my coach. Thus I saw this pleasure well, and to see it once is to see
+it always. Animals to shoot are not met with in the plains. They must
+be sought for among the mountains,--and there the ground is too rugged
+for hunting the stag, the wild boar, and other beasts as we hunt the
+hare,--and elsewhere. The plains even are so dry, so hard, so full of
+deep crevices (that are not perceived until their brink is reached), that
+the best hounds or harriers would soon be knocked up, and would have
+their feet blistered, nay lamed, for a long time. Besides, the ground is
+so thickly covered with sturdy vegetation that the hounds could not
+derive much help from their noses. Mere shooting on the wing the King
+had long since quitted, and he had ceased to mount his horse; thus the
+chase simply resolved itself into a battue.
+
+The Duc del Orco, who, by his post of grand ecuyer, had the
+superintendence of all the hunting arrangements, chose the place where
+the King and Queen were to go. Two large arbours were erected there, the
+one against the other, entirely shut in, except where two large openings,
+like windows, were made, of breast-height. The King, the Queen, the
+captain of the guards, and the grand ecuyer were in the first arbour with
+about twenty guns and the wherewithal to load them. In the other arbour,
+the day I was present, were the Prince of the Asturias, who came in his
+coach with the Duc de Ponoli and the Marquis del Surco, the Marquis de
+Santa Cruz, the Duc Giovenazzo, majordomo, major and grand ecuyer to the
+Queen, Valouse, two or three officers of the body-guard, and I myself.
+We had a number of guns, and some men to load them. A single lady of the
+palace followed the Queen all alone, in another coach, which she did not
+quit; she carried with her, for her consolation, a book or some work, for
+no one approached her. Their Majesties and their suite went to the chase
+in hot haste with relays of guards and of coach horses, for the distance
+was at least three or four leagues; at the least double that from Paris
+to Versailles. The party alighted at the arbours, and immediately the
+carriages, the poor lady of the palace, and all the horses were led away
+far out of sight, lest they should frighten the beasts.
+
+Two, three, four hundred peasants had early in the morning beaten the
+country round, with hue and cry, after having enclosed it and driven all
+the animals together as near these arbours as possible. When in the
+arbour you were not allowed to stir, or to make the slightest remarks, or
+to wear attractive colours; and everybody stood up in silence.
+
+This period of expectation lasted an hour and a half, and did not appear
+to me very amusing. At last we heard loud cries from afar, and soon
+after we saw troops of animals pass and repass within shot and within
+half-shot of us; and then the King and the Queen banged away in good
+earnest. This diversion, or rather species of butchery, lasted more than
+half an hour, during which stags, hinds, roebucks, boars, hares, wolves,
+badgers, foxes, and numberless pole-cats passed; and were killed or
+lamed.
+
+We were obliged to let the King and Queen fire first, although pretty
+often they permitted the grand ecuyer and the captain of the guard to
+fire also; and as we did not know from whom came the report, we were
+obliged to wait until the King's arbour was perfectly silent; then let
+the Prince shoot, who very often had nothing to shoot at, and we still
+less. Nevertheless, I killed a fox, but a little before I ought to have
+done so, at which, somewhat ashamed, I made my excuses to the Prince of
+the Asturias, who burst out laughing, and the company also, I following
+their example and all passing very politely.
+
+In proportion as the peasants approach and draw nearer each other, the
+sport advances, and it finishes when they all come close to the arbours,
+still shouting, and with nothing more behind them. Then the coaches
+return, the company quits the arbours, the beasts killed are laid before
+the King. They are placed afterwards behind the coaches. During all
+this, conversation respecting the sport rolls on. We carried away this
+day about a dozen or more beasts, some hares, foxes, and polecats. The
+night overtook us soon after we quitted the arbours.
+
+And this is the daily diversion of their Catholic Majesties.
+
+It is time now, however, to resume the thread of my narrative, from which
+these curious and little-known details have led me.
+
+I have shown in its place the motive which made me desire my embassy; it
+was to obtain the 'grandesse' for my second son, and thus to "branch" my
+house. I also desired to obtain the Toison d'Or for my eldest son, that
+he might derive from this journey an ornament which, at his age, was a
+decoration. I had left Paris with full liberty to employ every aid, in
+order to obtain these things; I had, too, from M. le Duc d'Orleans, the
+promise that he would expressly ask the King of Spain for the former
+favour, employing the name of the King, and letters of the strongest kind
+from Cardinal Dubois to Grimaldo and Father Aubenton. In the midst of
+the turmoil of affairs I spoke to both of these persons, and was
+favourably attended to.
+
+Grimaldo was upright and truthful. He conceived a real friendship for
+me, and gave me, during my stay at Madrid, all sorts of proofs of it.
+He said that this union of the two Courts by the two marriages might
+influence the ministers. His sole point of support, in order to maintain
+himself in the post he occupied, so brilliant and so envied, was the King
+of Spain. The Queen, he found, could never be a solid foundation on
+which to repose. He wished, then, to support himself upon France, or at
+least to have no opposition from it, and he perfectly well knew the
+duplicity and caprices of Cardinal Dubois. The Court of Spain, at all
+times so watchful over M. le Duc d'Orleans, in consequence of what had
+passed in the time of the Princesse des Ursins, and during the Regency,
+was not ignorant of the intimate and uninterrupted confidence of this
+prince in me, or of the terms on which I was with him. These sort of
+things appear larger than they are, when seen from afar, and the choice
+that had been made of me for this singular embassy confirmed it still
+more! Grimaldo, then, might have thought to assure my friendship in his
+behalf, and my influence with M. le Duc d'Orleans, occasion demanding it;
+and I don't think I am deceiving myself in attributing to him this policy
+while he aided me to obtain a favour, at bottom quite natural, and which
+could cause him no inconvenience.
+
+I regarded the moment at which the marriage would be celebrated as that
+at which I stood most chance of obtaining what I desired, and I
+considered that if it passed over without result to me, all would grow
+cold, and become uncertain, and very disagreeable. I had forgotten
+nothing during this first stay in Madrid, in order to please everybody,
+and I make bold to say that I had all the better succeeded because I had
+tried to give weight and merit to my politeness, measuring it according
+to the persons I addressed, without prostitution and without avarice, and
+that's what made me hasten to learn all I could of the birth, of the
+dignities, of the posts, of the alliances, of the reputation of each, so
+as to play my cards well, and secure the game.
+
+But still I needed the letters of M. le Duc d'Orleans, and of Cardinal
+Dubois. I did not doubt the willingness of the Regent, but I did doubt,
+and very much too, that of his minister. It has been seen what reason I
+had for this.
+
+These letters ought to have arrived at Madrid at the same time that I
+did, but they had not come, and there seemed no prospect of their
+arriving. What redoubled my impatience was that I read them beforehand,
+and that I wished to have the time to reflect, and to turn round, in
+order to draw from them, in spite of them, all the help I could. I
+reckoned that these letters would be in a feeble spirit, and this opinion
+made me more desirous to fortify my batteries in Spain in order to render
+myself agreeable to the King and Queen, and to inspire them with the
+desire to grant me the favours I wished.
+
+A few days before going to Lerma I received letters from Cardinal Dubois
+upon my affair. Nobody could be more eager or more earnest than the
+Cardinal, for he gave me advice how to arrive at my aim, and pressed me
+to look out for everything which could aid me; assuring me that his
+letters, and those of M. le Duc d'Orleans, would arrive in time. In the
+midst of the perfume of so many flowers, the odour of falsehood could
+nevertheless be smelt. I had reckoned upon this. I had done all in my
+power to supply the place of these letters. I received therefore not as
+gospel, all the marvels Dubois sent me, and I set out for Lerma fully
+resolved to more and more cultivate my affair without reckoning upon the
+letters promised me; but determined to draw as much advantage from them
+as I could.
+
+Upon arriving at Lerma I fell ill as I have described, and the small-pox
+kept me confined forty days: The letters so long promised and so long
+expected did not arrive until the end of my quarantine. They were just
+what I expected. Cardinal Dubois explained himself to Grimaldo in turns
+and circumlocution, and if one phrase displayed eagerness and desire, the
+next destroyed it by an air of respect and of discretion, protesting he
+wished simply what the King of Spain would himself wish, with all the
+seasoning necessary for the annihilation of his good offices under the
+pretence that he did not wish to press his Majesty to anything or to
+importune him.
+
+This written stammering savoured of the bombast of a man who had no
+desire to serve me, but who, not daring to break his word, used all his
+wits to twist and overrate the little he could not hinder himself from
+saying. This letter was simply for Grimaldo, as the letter of M. le Duc
+d'Orleans was simply for the King of Spain. The last was even weaker
+than the first. It was like a design in pencil nearly effaced by the
+rain, and in which nothing, connected appeared. It scarcely touched upon
+the real point, but lost itself in respects, in reservations, in
+deference, and would propose nothing that was not according to the taste
+of the King! In a word, the letter withdrew rather than advanced, and
+was a sort of ease-conscience which could not be refused, and which did
+not promise much success.
+
+It is easy to understand that these letters much displeased me. Although
+I had anticipated all the malice of Cardinal Dubois, I found it exceeded
+my calculations, and that it was more undisguised than I imagined it
+would be.
+
+Such as the letters were I was obliged to make use of them. The Abbe de
+Saint-Simon wrote to Grimaldo and to Sartine, enclosing these letter, for
+I myself did not yet dare to write on account of the precautions I was
+obliged to use against the bad air. Sartine and Grimaldo, to whom I had
+not confided my suspicions that these recommendations would be in a very
+weak tone, were thrown into the utmost surprise on reading them.
+
+They argued together, they were indignant, they searched for a bias to
+strengthen that which had so much need of strength, but this bias could
+not be found; they consulted together, and Grimaldo formed a bold
+resolution, which astonished me to the last degree, and much troubled me
+also.
+
+He came to the conclusion that these letters would assuredly do me more
+harm than good; that they must be suppressed, never spoken of to the
+King, who must be confirmed without them in the belief that in according
+me these favours he would confer upon M. le Duc d'Orleans a pleasure, all
+the greater, because he saw to what point extended all his reserve in not
+speaking to him about this matter, and mine in not asking for these
+favours through his Royal Highness, as there was every reason to believe
+I should do. Grimaldo proposed to draw from these circumstances all the
+benefit he proposed to have drawn from the letters had they been written
+in a fitting spirit, and he said he would answer for it; I should have
+the 'grandesse' and the 'Toison d'Or' without making the slightest
+allusion to the cold recommendations of M. le Duc d'Orleans to the King
+of Spain, and of Dubois to him.
+
+Sartine, by his order, made this known to the Abbe de Saint-Simon, who
+communicated it to me, and after having discussed together with Hyghens,
+who knew the ground as well as they, and who had really devoted himself
+to me, I blindly abandoned myself to the guidance and friendship of
+Grimaldo, with full success, as will be seen.
+
+In relating here the very singular fashion by which my affair succeeded,
+I am far indeed from abstracting from M. le Duc d'Orleans all gratitude.
+If he had not confided to me the double marriage, without the knowledge
+of Dubois, and in spite of the secrecy that had been asked for, precisely
+on my account, I should not have been led to beg of him the embassy.
+
+I instantly asked for it, declaring that my sole aim was the grandesse
+for my second son, and he certainly accorded it to me with this aim, and
+promised to aid me with his recommendation in order to arrive at it, but
+with the utmost secrecy on account of the vexation Dubois would feel, and
+in order to give himself time to arrange with the minister and induce him
+to swallow the pill.
+
+If I had not had the embassy in this manner, it would certainly have
+escaped me; and thus would have been lost all hope of the grandesse, to
+obtain which there would have been no longer occasion, reason, or means.
+
+The friendship and the confidence of this prince prevailed then over the
+witchery which his miserable preceptor had cast upon him, and if he
+afterwards yielded to the roguery, to the schemes, to the folly which
+Dubois employed in the course of this embassy to ruin and disgrace me,
+and to bring about the failure of the sole object which had made me
+desire it, we must only blame his villainy and the deplorable feebleness
+of M. le Duc d'Orleans, which caused me many sad embarrassments, and did
+so much harm, but which even did more harm to the state and to the prince
+himself.
+
+It is with this sad but only too true reflection that I finish the year
+1721.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER CXII
+
+The Regent's daughter arrived in Spain at the commencement of the year
+1722, and it was arranged that her marriage with the Prince of the
+Asturias should be celebrated on the 30th of January at Lerma, where
+their Catholic Majesties were then staying. It was some little distance
+from my house. I was obliged therefore to start early in the morning in
+order to arrive in time. On the way I paid a visit of ceremony to the
+Princess, at Cogollos, ate a mouthful of something, and turned off to
+Lerma.
+
+As soon as I arrived there, I went to the Marquis of Grimaldo's
+apartments. His chamber was at the end of a vast room, a piece of which
+had been portioned off, in order to serve as a chapel. Once again I had
+to meet the nuncio, and I feared lest he should remember what had passed
+on a former occasion, and that I should give Dubois a handle for
+complaint. I saw, therefore, but very imperfectly, the reception of the
+Princess; to meet whom the King and Queen (who lodged below) and the
+Prince precipitated themselves, so to speak, almost to the steps of the
+coach. I quietly went up again to the chapel.
+
+The prie-dieu of the King was placed in front of the altar, a short
+distance from the steps, precisely as the King's prie-dieu is placed at
+Versailles, but closer to the altar, and with a cushion on each side of
+it. The chapel was void of courtiers. I placed myself to the right of
+the King's cushion just beyond the edge of the carpet, and amused myself
+there better than I had expected. Cardinal Borgia, pontifically clad,
+was in the corner, his face turned towards me, learning his lesson
+between two chaplains in surplices, who held a large book open in front
+of him. The good prelate did not know how to read; he tried, however,
+and read aloud, but inaccurately. The chaplains took him up, he grew
+angry, scolded them, recommenced, was again corrected, again grew angry,
+and to such an extent that he turned round upon them and shook them by
+their surplices. I laughed as much as I could; for he perceived nothing,
+so occupied and entangled was he with his lesson.
+
+Marriages in Spain are performed in the afternoon, and commence at the
+door of the church, like baptisms. The King, the Queen, the Prince, and
+the Princess arrived with all the Court, and the King was announced.
+"Let them wait," said the Cardinal in choler, "I am not ready." They
+waited, in fact, and the Cardinal continued his lesson, redder than his
+hat, and still furious. At last he went to the door, at which a ceremony
+took place that lasted some time. Had I not been obliged to continue at
+my post, curiosity would have made me follow him. That I lost some
+amusement is certain, for I saw the King and Queen laughing and looking
+at their prie-dieu, and all the Court laughing also. The nuncio arriving
+and seeing by the position I had taken up that I was preceding him, again
+indicated his surprise to me by gestures, repeating, "Signor, signor;"
+but I had resolved to understand nothing, and laughingly pointed out the
+Cardinal to him, and reproached him for not having better instructed the
+worthy prelate for the honour of the Sacred College. The nuncio
+understood French very well, but spoke it very badly. This banter and
+the innocent air with which I gave it, without appearing to notice his
+demonstrations, created such a fortunate diversion, that nobody else was
+thought of; more especially as the poor cardinal more and more caused
+amusement while continuing the ceremony, during which he neither knew
+where he was nor what he was doing, being taken up and corrected every
+moment by his chaplains, and fuming against them so that neither the King
+nor the Queen could; contain themselves. It was the same with everybody
+else who witnessed the scene.
+
+I could see nothing more than the back of the Prince and the Princess as
+they knelt each upon a cushion between the prie-dieu and the altar, the
+Cardinal in front making grimaces indicative of the utmost confusion.
+Happily all I had to think of was the nuncio, the King's majordomo-major
+having placed himself by the side of his son, captain of the guards. The
+grandees were crowded around with the most considerable people: the rest
+filled all the chapel so that there was no stirring.
+
+Amidst the amusement supplied to us by the poor Cardinal, I remarked
+extreme satisfaction in the King and Queen at seeing this grand marriage
+accomplished. The ceremony finished, as it was not long, only the King,
+the Queen, and, when necessary, the Prince and Princess kneeling, their
+Catholic Majesties rose and withdrew towards the left corner of their
+footcloth, talked together for a short time, after which the Queen
+remained where she was, and the King advanced to me, I being where I had
+been during all the ceremony.
+
+The King did me the honour to say to me, "Monsieur, in every respect I am
+so pleased with you, and particularly for the manner in which you have
+acquitted yourself of your embassy, that I wish to give you some marks of
+my esteem, of my satisfaction; of my friendship. I make you Grandee of
+Spain of the first class; you, and, at the same time, whichever of your
+sons you may wish to have the same distinction; and your eldest son I
+will make chevalier of the Toison d'Or."
+
+I immediately embraced his knees, and I tried to testify to him my
+gratitude and my extreme desire to render myself worthy of the favour he
+deigned to spread upon me, by my attachment, my very humble services, and
+my most profound respect. Then I kissed his hand, turned and sent for
+my children, employing the moments which had elapsed before they came in
+uttering fresh thanks. As soon as my sons appeared, I called the younger
+and told him, to embrace the knees of the King who overwhelmed us with
+favours, and made him grandee of Spain with me. He kissed the King's
+hand in rising, the King saying he was very glad of what he had just
+done. I presented the elder to him afterwards, to thank him for the
+Toison. He simply bent very low and kissed the King's hand. As soon as
+this was at an end, the King went towards the Queen, and I followed him
+with my children. I bent very low before the Queen, thanked her, then
+presented to her my children, the younger first, the elder afterwards.
+The Queen received us with much goodness, said a thousand civil things,
+then walked away with the King, followed by the Prince, having upon his
+arm the Princess, whom we saluted in passing; and they returned to their
+apartments. I wished to follow them, but was carried away, as it were,
+by the crowd which pressed eagerly around me to compliment me. I was
+very careful to reply in a fitting manner to each, and with the utmost
+politeness, and though I but little expected these favours at this
+moment, I found afterwards that all this numerous court was pleased with
+me.
+
+A short time after the celebration of the marriage between the Regent's
+daughter and the Prince of the Asturias, the day came on which my eldest
+son was to receive the Toison d'Or. The Duc de Liria was to be his,
+godfather, and it was he who conducted us to the place of ceremony. His
+carriage was drawn by four perfectly beautiful Neapolitan horses; but
+these animals, which are often extremely fantastical, would not stir.
+The whip was vigorously applied; results--rearing, snorting, fury, the
+carriage in danger of being upset. Time was flying; I begged the Duc de
+Liria, therefore, to get into my carriage, so that we might not keep the
+King and the company waiting for us. It was in vain I represented to him
+that this function of godfather would in no way be affected by changing
+his own coach for mine, since it would be by necessity. He would not
+listen to me. The horses continued their game for a good half hour
+before they consented to start.
+
+All my cortege followed us, for I wished by this display to show the King
+of Spain how highly I appreciated the honours of his Court. On the way
+the horses again commenced their pranks. I again pressed the Duc de
+Liria to change his coach, and he again refused. Fortunately the pause
+this time was much shorter than at first; but before we reached the end
+of our journey there came a message to say that the King was waiting for
+us. At last we arrived, and as soon as the King was informed of it he
+entered the room where the chapter of the order was assembled. He
+straightway sat himself down in an armchair, and while the rest of the
+company were placing themselves in position; the Queen, the Princess of
+the Asturias, and their suite, seated themselves as simple spectators at
+the end of the room.
+
+All the chapter having arranged themselves in order, the door in front of
+the King, by which we had entered, was closed, my son remaining outside
+with a number of the courtiers. Then the King covered himself, and all
+the chevaliers at the same time, in the midst of a silence, without sign,
+which lasted as long as a little prayer. After this, the King very
+briefly proposed that the Vidame de Chartres should be received into the
+order. All the chevaliers uncovered themselves, made an inclination,
+without rising, and covered themselves again. After another silence, the
+King called the Duc de Liria, who uncovered himself, and with a reverence
+approached the King; by whom he was thus addressed: "Go and see if the
+Vidame de Chartres is not somewhere about here."
+
+The Duc de Liria made another reverence to the King, but none to the
+chevaliers (who, nevertheless, were uncovered at the same time as he),
+went away, the door was closed upon him, and the chevaliers covered
+themselves again. The reverences just made, and those I shall have
+occasion to speak of in the course of my description, were the same as
+are seen at the receptions of the chevaliers of the Saint-Esprit, and in
+all grand ceremonies.
+
+The Duc de Liria remained outside nearly a quarter of an hour, because it
+is assumed that the new chevalier is ignorant of the proposition made for
+him, and that it is only by chance he is found in the palace, time being
+needed in order to look for him. The Duc de Liria returned, and
+immediately after the door was again closed, and he advanced to the King,
+as before, saying that the Vidame de Chartres was in the other room.
+
+Upon this the King ordered him to go and ask the Vidame if he wished to
+accept the Order of the Toison d'Or, and be received into it, and
+undertake to observe its statutes, its duties, its ceremonies, take its
+oaths, promise to fulfil all the conditions submitted: to every one who
+is admitted into it, and agree to conduct himself in everything like a
+good, loyal, brave, and virtuous chevalier. The Duc de Liria withdrew as
+he had before withdrawn. The door was again closed. He returned after
+having been absent a shorter time than at first. The door was again
+closed, and he approached the King as before, and announced to him the
+consent and the thanks of the Vidame. "Very well," replied the King.
+"Go seek him, and bring him here."
+
+The Duc de Liria withdrew, as on the previous occasions, and immediately
+returned, having my son on his left. The door being open, anybody was at
+liberty to enter, and see the ceremony.
+
+The Duc de Liria conducted my son to the feet of the King, and then
+seated himself in his place. My son, in advancing, had lightly inclined
+himself to the chevaliers, right and left; and, after having made in the
+middle of the room a profound bow, knelt before the King, without
+quitting his sword, and having his hat under his arm, and no gloves on.
+The chevaliers, who had uncovered themselves at the entry of the Duc de
+Liria, covered themselves when he sat down; and the Prince of the
+Asturias acted precisely as they acted.
+
+The King repeated to my son the same things, a little more lengthily,
+that had been said to him by the Duc de Liria, and received his promise
+upon each in succession. Afterwards, an attendant, who was standing in
+waiting behind the table, presented to the King, from between the table
+and the chair, a large book, open, and in which was a long oath, that my
+son repeated to the King, who had the book upon his knees, the oath in
+French, and on loose paper; being in it. This ceremony lasted rather a
+long time: Afterwards, my son kissed the King's hand, and the King made
+him rise and pass, without reverence; directly before the table, towards
+the middle of which he knelt, his back to the Prince of the Asturias, his
+face to the attendant, who showed him (the table being between them) what
+to do. There was upon this table a great crucifix of enamel upon a
+stand, with a missal open at the Canon, the Gospel of Saint-John, and
+forms, in French, of promises and oaths to be made, whilst putting the
+hand now upon the Canon, now upon the Gospel. The oath-making took up
+some time; after which my son came back and knelt before the King again
+as before.
+
+Then, the Duc del Orco, grand ecuyer, and Valouse, premier ecuyer, who
+have had the Toison since, and who were near me, went away, the Duke
+first, Valouse behind him, carrying in his two hands, with marked care
+and respect, the sword of the Grand Captain, Don Gonzalvo de Cordova, who
+is never called otherwise. They walked, with measured step, outside the
+right-hand seats of the chevaliers, then entered the chapter, where the
+Duc de Liria had entered with my son, marched inside the left-hand seats
+of the chevaliers, without reverence, but the Duke inclining himself;
+Valouse not doing so on account of the respect due to the sword; the
+grandees did not incline themselves.
+
+The Duke on arriving between the Prince of the Asturias and the King,
+knelt, and Valouse knelt behind him. Some moments after, the King made a
+sign to them; Valouse drew the sword from its sheath which he put under
+his arm, held the naked weapon by the middle of the blade, kissed the
+hilt, and presented it to the King, who, without uncovering himself,
+kissed the pommel, took the sword in both hands by the handle, held it
+upright some moments; then held it with one hand, but almost immediately
+with the other as well, and struck it three times upon each shoulder of
+my son, alternately, saying to him, "By Saint-George and Saint-Andrew I
+make you Chevalier." And the weight of the sword was so great that the
+blows did not fall lightly. While the King was striking them, the grand
+ecuyer and the premier remained in their places kneeling. The sword was
+returned as it had been presented, and kissed in the same manner.
+Valouse put it back into its sheath, after which the grand ecuyer and the
+premier ecuyer returned as they came.
+
+This sword, handle included, was more than four feet long; the blade four
+good digits wide, thick in proportion, insensibly diminishing in
+thickness and width to the point, which was very small. The handle
+appeared to me of worked enamel, long and very large; as well as the
+pommel; the crossed piece long, and the two ends wide, even, worked,
+without branch. I examined it well, and I could not hold it in the air
+with one-hand, still less handle it with both hands except with much
+difficulty. It is pretended that this is the sword the Great Captain
+made use of, and with which he obtained so many victories.
+
+I marvelled at the strength of the men in those days, with whom I believe
+early habits did much. I was touched by the grand honour rendered to the
+Great Captain's memory; his sword becoming the sword of the State,
+carried even by the King with great respect. I repeated, more than once,
+that if I were the Duc de Scose (who descends in a direct line from the
+Great Captain by the female branch, the male being extinct), I would
+leave nothing undone to obtain the Toison, in order to enjoy the honour
+and the sensible pleasure of being struck by this sword, and with such
+great respect for my ancestor. But to return to the ceremony from which
+this little digression has taken me.
+
+The accolade being given by the King after the blows with the sword,
+fresh oaths being taken at his feet, then before the table as at first,
+and on this occasion at greater length, my son returned and knelt before
+the King, but without saying anything more. Then Grimaldo rose and,
+without reverence, left the chapter by the left, went behind the right-
+hand seats of the chevaliers, and took the collar of the Toison which was
+extended at the end of the table. At this moment the King told my son to
+rise, and so remain standing in the same place. The Prince of the
+Asturias, and the Marquis de Villena then rose also, end approached my
+son, both covered, all the other chevaliers remaining seated and covered.
+Then Grimaldo, passing between the table and the empty seat of the Prince
+of the Asturias, presented; standing, the collar to the King, who took it
+with both hands, and meanwhile Grimaldo, passing behind the Prince of the
+Asturias, went and placed himself behind my son. As soon as he was
+there, the King told my son to bend very low, but without kneeling, and
+then leaning forward, but without rising, placed the collar upon him, and
+made him immediately after stand upright. The King then took hold of the
+collar, simply holding the end of it in his hand. At the same time, the
+collar was attached to the left shoulder by the Prince of the Asturias,
+to the right shoulder by the Marquis de Villena, and behind by Grimaldo;
+the King still holding the end.
+
+When the collar was attached, the Prince of the Asturias, the Marquis de
+Villena, and Grimaldo, without making a reverence and no chevalier
+uncovering himself, went back to their places, and sat down; at, the same
+moment my son knelt before the King, and bared, his head. Then the Duc
+de Liria, without reverence, and uncovered (no chevalier uncovering
+himself), placed himself before the King at the left, by the side of my
+son, and both made their reverences to the King; turned round to the
+Prince of the Asturias, did the same to him, he rising and doing my son
+the honour to embrace him, and as soon as he was reseated they made a
+reverence to him; then, turning to the King, made him one; afterwards
+they did the same to the Marquis de Villena, who rose and embraced my
+son. Then he reseated himself; upon which they made a reverence to him,
+then turning again towards the King, made another to him; and so an from
+right to left until every chevalier had been bowed to in a similar
+manner. Then my son sat down, and the Duc de Liria returned to his
+place.
+
+After this long series of bows, so bewildering for those who play the
+chief part in it, the King remained a short time in his armchair, them
+rose, uncovered himself, and retired into his apartment as he came. I
+had instructed my son to hurry forward and arrive before him at the door
+of his inner apartment. He was in time, and I also, to kiss the hand of
+the King, and to express our thanks, which were well received. The Queen
+arrived and overwhelmed us with compliments. I must observe that the
+ceremony of the sword and the accolade are not performed at the reception
+of those who, having already another order, are supposed to have received
+them; like the chevaliers of the Saint-Esprit and of Saint-Michel, and
+the chevaliers of Saint-Louis.
+
+Their Catholic Majesties being gone, we withdrew to my house, where a
+very grand dinner was prepared. The usage is, before the reception, to
+visit all the chevaliers of the Toison, and when the day is fixed, to
+visit all those invited to dinner on the day of the ceremony; the
+godfather, with the other chevalier by whom he is accompanied, also
+invites them at the palace before they enter the chapter, and aids the
+new chevalier to do the honours of the repast. I had led my son with me
+to pay these visits. Nearly all the chevaliers came to dine with us, and
+many other nobles. The Duc d'Albuquerque, whom I met pretty often, and
+who had excused himself from attending a dinner I had previously given,
+on account of his stomach (ruined as he said in the Indies), said he,
+would not refuse me twice, on condition that I permitted him to take
+nothing but soup, because meat was too solid for him. He came, and
+partook of six sorts of soup, moderately of all; he afterwards lightly
+soaked his bread in such ragouts as were near him, eating only the end,
+and finding everything very good. He drank nothing but wine and water.
+The dinner was gay, in spite of the great number of guests. The
+Spaniards eat as much as, nay more than, we, and with taste, choice, and
+pleasure: as to drink, they are very modest.
+
+On the 13th of March, 1722, their Catholic Majesties returned from their
+excursion to the Retiro. The hurried journey I had just made to the
+former place, immediately after the arrival of a courier, and in spite of
+most open prohibitions forbidding every one to go there, joined to the
+fashion, full of favour and goodness, with which I had been distinguished
+by their Majesties ever since my arrival in Spain, caused a most
+ridiculous rumour to obtain circulation, and which, to my great surprise,
+at once gained much belief.
+
+It was reported there that I was going to quit my position of ambassador
+from France, and be declared prime minister of Spain! The people who had
+been pleased, apparently, with the expense I had kept up, and to whom not
+one of my suite had given the slightest cause of complaint, set to crying
+after me in the streets; announcing my promotion, displaying joy at it,
+and talking of it even in the shops. A number of persons even assembled
+round my house to testify to me their pleasure. I dispersed them as
+civilly and as quickly as possible, assuring them the report was not
+true, and that I was forthwith about to return to France.
+
+This was nothing more than the truth. I had finished all my business.
+It was time to think about setting out. As soon, however, as I talked
+about going, there was nothing which the King and the Queen did not do to
+detain me. All the Court, too, did me the favour to express much
+friendship for me, and regret at my departure. I admit even that I could
+not easily make up my mind to quit a country where I had found nothing
+but fruits and flowers, and to which I was attached, as I shall ever be,
+by esteem and gratitude. I made at once a number of farewell visits
+among the friends I had been once acquainted with; and on the 21st of
+March I had my parting state audiences of the King and Queen separately.
+I was surprised with the dignity, the precision, and the measure of the
+King's expressions, as I had been surprised at my first audience. I
+received many marks of personal goodness, and of regret at my departure
+from his Catholic Majesty, and from the Queen even more; from the Prince
+of the Asturias a good many also. But in another direction I met with
+very different treatment, which I cannot refrain from describing, however
+ridiculous it may appear.
+
+I went, of course, to say my adieux to the Princess of the Asturias, and
+I was accompanied by all my suite. I found the young lady standing under
+a dais, the ladies on one side, the grandees on the other; and I made my
+three reverences, then uttered my compliments. I waited in silence her
+reply, but 'twas in vain. She answered not one word.
+
+After some moments of silence, I thought I would furnish her with matter
+for an answer; so I asked her what orders she had for the King; for the
+Infanta, for Madame, and for M. and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans. By way
+of reply, she looked at me and belched so loudly in my face, that the
+noise echoed throughout the chamber. My surprise was such that I was
+stupefied. A second belch followed as noisy as the first.
+
+I lost countenance at this, and all power of hindering myself from
+laughing. Turning round, therefore, I saw everybody with their hands
+upon their mouths, and their shoulders in motion. At last a third belch,
+still louder than the two others, threw all present into confusion, and
+forced me to take flight, followed by all my suite, amid shouts of
+laughter, all the louder because they had previously been kept in. But
+all barriers of restraint were now thrown down; Spanish gravity was
+entirely disconcerted; all was deranged; no reverences; each person,
+bursting with laughter, escaped as he could, the Princess all the while
+maintaining her countenance. Her belches were the only answers she made
+me. In the adjoining room we all stopped to laugh at our ease, and
+express our astonishment afterwards more freely.
+
+The King and Queen were soon informed of the success of this audience,
+and spoke of it to me after dinner at the Racket Court. They were the
+first to laugh at it, so as to leave others at liberty to do so too; a
+privilege that was largely made use of without pressing. I received and
+I paid numberless visits; and as it is easy to flatter one's self, I
+fancied I might flatter myself that I was regretted.
+
+I left Madrid on the 24th of March, after having had the honour of paying
+my court to their Catholic Majesties all the afternoon at the Racket
+Court, they overwhelming me with civilities, and begging me to take a
+final adieu of them in their apartments. I had devoted the last few days
+to the friends whom, during my short stay of six months, I had made.
+Whatever might be the joy and eagerness I felt at the prospect of seeing
+Madame de Saint-Simon and my Paris friends again, I could not quit Spain
+without feeling my heart moved, or without regretting persons from whom I
+had received so many marks of goodness, and for whom, all I had seen of
+the nation, had made me conceive esteem, respect, and gratitude. I kept
+up, for many years, a correspondence with Grimaldo, while he lived, in
+fact, and after his fall and disgrace, which occurred long after my
+departure, with more care and attention than formerly. My attachment,
+full of respect and gratitude for the King and Queen of Spain, induced me
+to do myself the honour of writing to them on all occasions. They often
+did me the honour to reply to me; and always charged their new ministers
+in France and the persons of consideration who came there, to convey to
+me the expression of their good feeling for me.
+
+After a journey without particular incident, I embarked early one morning
+upon the Garonne, and soon arrived at Bordeaux. The jurats did me the
+honour to ask, through Segur, the under-mayor, at what time they might
+come and salute me. I invited them to supper, and said to Segur that
+compliments would be best uttered glass in hand. They came, therefore,
+to supper, and appeared to me much pleased with this civility: On the
+morrow, the tide early carried me to Blaye, the weather being most
+delightful. I slept only one night there, and to save time did not go to
+Ruffec.
+
+On the 13th of April, I arrived, about five o'clock in the afternoon, at
+Loches. I slept there because I wished to write a volume of details to
+the Duchesse de Beauvilliers, who was six leagues off, at one of her
+estates. I sent my packet by an express, and in this manner I was able
+to say what I liked to her without fearing that the letter would be
+opened.
+
+On the morrow, the 14th, I arrived at Etampes, where I slept, and the
+15th, at ten o'clock in the morning, I reached Chartres, where Madame de
+Saint-Simon was to meet me, dine, and sleep, so that we might have the
+pleasure of opening our hearts to each other, and of finding ourselves
+together again in solitude and in liberty, greater than could be looked
+for in Paris during the first few days of my return. The Duc d'Humieres
+and Louville came with her. She arrived an hour after me, fixing herself
+in the little chateau of the Marquis d'Arpajan, who had lent it to her,
+and where the day appeared to us very short as well as the next morning,
+the 16th of April.
+
+To conclude the account of my journey, let me say that I arrived in Paris
+shortly after, and at once made the best of my way to the Palais Royal,
+where M. le Duc d'Orleans gave me a sincere and friendly welcome.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME 15.
+
+
+
+
+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 all 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 FOR THE ENTIRE SAINT-SIMON SET:
+
+A cardinal may be poisoned, stabbed, got rid of altogether
+A good friend when a friend at all, which was rare
+A King's son, a King's father, and never a King
+A lingering fear lest the sick man should recover
+A king is made for his subjects, and not the subjects for him
+Admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions
+Aptitude did not come up to my desire
+Arranged his affairs that he died without money
+Artagnan, captain of the grey musketeers
+Believed that to undertake and succeed were only the same things
+But with a crawling baseness equal to her previous audacity
+Capacity was small, and yet he believed he knew everything
+Compelled to pay, who would have preferred giving voluntarily
+Conjugal impatience of the Duc de Bourgogne
+Countries of the Inquisition, where science is a crime
+Danger of inducing hypocrisy by placing devotion too high
+Death came to laugh at him for the sweating labour he had taken
+Depopulated a quarter of the realm
+Desmarets no longer knew of what wood to make a crutch
+Enriched one at the expense of the other
+Exceeded all that was promised of her, and all that I had hoped
+Few would be enriched at the expense of the many
+For penance: "we must make our servants fast"
+For want of better support I sustained myself with courage
+Found it easier to fly into a rage than to reply
+From bad to worse was easy
+He had pleased (the King) by his drugs
+He limped audaciously
+He was often firm in promises
+He was so good that I sometimes reproached him for it
+He was born bored; he was so accustomed to live out of himself
+He liked nobody to be in any way superior to him
+He was scarcely taught how to read or write
+He was accused of putting on an imperceptible touch of rouge
+Height to which her insignificance had risen
+His death, so happy for him and so sad for his friends
+His habits were publicly known to be those of the Greeks
+His great piety contributed to weaken his mind
+I abhorred to gain at the expense of others
+Ignorance and superstition the first of virtues
+Imagining themselves everywhere in marvellous danger of capture
+In order to say something cutting to you, says it to himself
+Indiscreet and tyrannical charity
+Interests of all interested painted on their faces
+It is a sign that I have touched the sore point
+Jesuits: all means were good that furthered his designs
+Juggle, which put the wealth of Peter into the pockets of Paul
+King was being wheeled in his easy chair in the gardens
+Less easily forget the injuries we inflict than those received
+Madame de Maintenon in returning young and poor from America
+Make religion a little more palpable
+Manifesto of a man who disgorges his bile
+Mightily tired of masters and books
+Monseigneur, who had been out wolf-hunting
+More facility I have as King to gratify myself
+My wife went to bed, and received a crowd of visitors
+Never been able to bend her to a more human way of life
+Never was a man so ready with tears, so backward with grief
+No means, therefore, of being wise among so many fools
+Not allowing ecclesiastics to meddle with public affairs
+Of a politeness that was unendurable
+Oh, my lord! how many virtues you make me detest
+Omissions must be repaired as soon as they are perceived
+Others were not allowed to dream as he had lived
+People who had only sores to share
+People with difficulty believe what they have seen
+Persuaded themselves they understood each other
+Polite when necessary, but insolent when he dared
+Pope excommunicated those who read the book or kept it
+Pope not been ashamed to extol the Saint-Bartholomew
+Promotion was granted according to length of service
+Received all the Court in her bed
+Reproaches rarely succeed in love
+Revocation of the edict of Nantes
+Rome must be infallible, or she is nothing
+Said that if they were good, they were sure to be hated
+Saw peace desired were they less inclined to listen to terms
+Scarcely any history has been written at first hand
+Seeing him eat olives with a fork!
+She lose her head, and her accomplice to be broken on the wheel
+Spark of ambition would have destroyed all his edifice
+Spoil all by asking too much
+Spoke only about as much as three or four women
+Sulpicians
+Supported by unanswerable reasons that did not convince
+Suspicion of a goitre, which did not ill become her
+Teacher lost little, because he had little to lose
+The clergy, to whom envy is not unfamiliar
+The porter and the soldier were arrested and tortured
+The shortness of each day was his only sorrow
+The most horrible sights have often ridiculous contrasts
+The argument of interest is the best of all with monks
+The nothingness of what the world calls great destinies
+The safest place on the Continent
+There was no end to the outrageous civilities of M. de Coislin
+Touched, but like a man who does not wish to seem so
+Unreasonable love of admiration, was his ruin
+We die as we have lived, and 'tis rare it happens otherwise
+Whatever course I adopt many people will condemn me
+Whitehall, the largest and ugliest palace in Europe
+Who counted others only as they stood in relation to himself
+Wise and disdainful silence is difficult to keep under reverses
+With him one's life was safe
+World; so unreasoning, and so little in accord with itself
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court
+and The Regency, Complete, by Duc de Saint-Simon
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