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diff --git a/43283-0.txt b/43283-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48ae159 --- /dev/null +++ b/43283-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10738 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43283 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 43283-h.htm or 43283-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43283/43283-h/43283-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43283/43283-h.zip) + + + + + +THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME PRINCESS PALATINE, +MARIE-ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE, +AND +MADAME DE MAINTENON. + + +Versailles Edition + +_Limited to Eight Hundred Numbered Sets, of which +this is_ + +_No._ ---- + +[Illustration: "_Madame_"] + + + +THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME, PRINCESS PALATINE, _MOTHER OF THE REGENT_; +OF +MARIE-ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE, _DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE_; +AND OF +MADAME DE MAINTENON, +_IN RELATION TO SAINT-CYR_. + +Preceded by Introductions from C.-A. Sainte-Beuve. + +Selected and Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. + + + + + + + +Boston: +Hardy, Pratt & Company. +1899. + +Copyright, 1899, +By Hardy, Pratt & Company. + +All rights reserved. + +University Press: +John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION BY C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE 1 + + TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 35 + + CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME: + I. LETTERS OF 1695-1714 39 + II. LETTERS OF 1714-1716 64 + III. LETTERS OF 1717-1718 94 + IV. LETTERS OF 1718-1719 124 + V. LETTERS OF 1720-1722 153 + + + CORRESPONDENCE OF MARIE-ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE: + VI. LETTERS OF THE DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE 182 + + + CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME DE MAINTENON: + VII. MME. DE MAINTENON AND SAINT-CYR 216 + VIII. LETTERS TO THE DAMES DE SAINT-CYR AND + OTHERS 236 + IX. CONVERSATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS OF MME. DE + MAINTENON AT SAINT-CYR 268 + X. MME. DE MAINTENON'S DESCRIPTION OF HER LIFE + AT COURT; WITH A FEW MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS 300 + + INDEX 323 + + + + +LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + MADAME, ÉLISABETH-CHARLOTTE, PRINCESS PALATINE, DUCHESSE + D'ORLÉANS _Frontispiece_ + + By Rigaud (Hyacinthe); in the Brunswick gallery. This is the + picture Madame mentions in her letters; this reproduction is from + the copy which she promised to send to her sister Louise, Countess + Palatine; the original portrait is at Versailles. + + CHAPTER _Page_ + + I. SAINT-CLOUD, CHÂTEAU AND PARK OF 42 + + From a photograph by Neurdin, Paris. + + II. FONTAINEBLEAU. LOUIS XIV. AND ESCORT, HUNTING 64 + + By Van der Meulen (Adam Franz); painted by order of the king; + in the Louvre. + + III. MARIE-ANNE-VICTOIRE DE BAVIÈRE, DAUPHINE, WIFE OF + MONSEIGNEUR, WITH HER SONS 96 + + The Duc de Bourgogne carries a lance; the Duc d'Anjou (Philippe + V.) holds a dog; the Duc de Berry is on his mother's lap; by + Mignard (Pierre); in the Louvre. + + IV. LOUISE DE BOURBON, "MME. LA DUCHESSE" 124 + + By Largillière (Nicolas de); Versailles. + + V. MARIE-THÉRÈSE, INFANTA OF SPAIN, WIFE OF LOUIS XIV. 154 + + By Velasquez (Diego Rodriguez da Silva y); in the Prado + gallery, Madrid. + + V. RENÉ DESCARTES 168 + + By Franz Halz; in the Louvre. + + VI. MARIE ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE, DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE 182 + + Painter's name not obtained; probably Santerre; in the Royal + palace at Turin; photographed by permission from the original + for this edition. + + VII. MADAME DE MAINTENON 216 + + Head of the portrait painted for Saint-Cyr by Mignard; now in + the Louvre. + + X. LOUIS XIV. AT MARLY 300 + + By Geuslain (Charles); Versailles. + + + + + CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME, + + ÉLISABETH-CHARLOTTE, PRINCESS PALATINE, + MOTHER OF THE REGENT. + + INTRODUCTION BY C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE. + + +"I am very frank and very natural, and I say all that I have in +my heart." That is the motto that ought to be placed upon the +correspondence of Madame, which was chiefly written in German and +published from time to time in voluminous extracts at Strasburg and +beyond the Rhine. This correspondence, translated by fragments, +was made into a volume and called, very improperly, the "Memoirs +of Madame." Coming after other memoirs of the celebrated women of +the great century, it ran singularly counter to them in tone, and +caused great surprise. Now that the Memoirs of Saint-Simon have been +published in full, I will not say that the pages of the chronicle we +owe to Madame have paled, but they have ceased to astonish. They are +now recognized as good, naïve pictures, somewhat forced in colour, +rather coarse in feature, exaggerated and grimacing at times, but on +the whole good likenesses. The right method for judging of Madame's +correspondence, and thus of gaining insight to the history of that +period, is to see how Madame wrote, and in what spirit; also what she +herself was by nature and by education. For this purpose the letters +published by M. Menzel in German, and translated by M. Brunet, are +of great assistance to a knowledge of this singular and original +personage; to understand her properly it is not too much to say that +Germany and France must be combined. + +Élisabeth-Charlotte, who married in 1671 Monsieur, brother of Louis +XIV., was born at Heidelberg in 1652. Her father, Charles-Louis, was +that Elector of the Palatinate who was restored to his States by the +Peace of Westphalia. From childhood Élisabeth-Charlotte was noted +for her lively mind, and her frank, open, vigorous nature. Domestic +peace had never reigned about the hearth of the Elector-Palatine; he +had a mistress, whom he married by the left hand, and the mother of +Élisabeth-Charlotte is accused of having caused the separation by +her crabbed temper. The young girl was confided to the care of her +aunt Sophia, Electress of Hanover, a person of merit, for whom she +always retained the feelings and gratitude of a loving daughter. To +her she addressed her longest and most confidential letters, which +would certainly surpass in interest those that are published, but M. +Menzel states that it is not known what became of them. All that part +of the life and youth of Madame would be curious and very useful to +recover. "I was too old," she says, "when I came to France to change +my character; the foundations were laid." While subjecting herself +with courage and resolution to the duties of her new position she kept +her German tastes; she confesses them and proclaims them before all +Versailles and all Marly; and the Court, then the arbiter of Europe, +to which it set the tone, would certainly have been shocked if it had +not preferred to smile. + +From Marly after forty-three years' residence in France, Madame writes +(November 22, 1714): "I cannot endure coffee, chocolate, or tea, +and I do not understand how any one can like them; a good dish of +sauerkraut and smoked sausages is, to my mind, a feast for a king, +to which nothing is preferable; cabbage soup with lard suits me much +better than all the delicacies they dote on here." In the commonest +and most every-day things she finds another and a poorer taste than +in Germany. "The butter and milk," she says, after fifty years' +residence, "are not as good as ours; they have no flavour and taste +like water. The cabbages are not good either, for the soil is not +rich, but light and sandy, so that vegetables have no strength and the +cows cannot give good milk. _Mon Dieu!_ how I should like to eat the +dishes your cook prepares for you; they would be more to my taste than +those my _maître-d'hôtel_ serves up to me." + +But she clung to her own country, her German stock, her "Rhin +allemand," by other memories than those of food and the national +cooking. She loved nature, the country, a free life, even a wild +one; the impressions of her childhood returned to her in whiffs of +freshness. Apropos of Heidelberg, rebuilt after the disasters, and +of a convent of Jesuits, or Franciscans, established on the heights, +"_Mon Dieu!_" she cries, "how many times I have eaten cherries on that +mountain, with a good bit of bread, at five in the morning! I was +gayer then than I am to-day." The brisk air of Heidelberg is with her +after fifty years' absence; and she speaks of it a few months before +her death to the half-sister Louise, to whom she writes: "There is +not in all the world a better air than that of Heidelberg; above all, +about the château where my apartment is; nothing better can be found." + +In Germany, on the banks of the Neckar and the Rhine, +Élisabeth-Charlotte enjoyed the picturesque sites, her rambles +through the forests, Nature left to herself, and also the spots of +bourgeois plenty amid the wilder environment. "I love trees and +fields more than the finest palaces; I like a kitchen garden better +than a garden with statues and fountains; a brook pleases me a great +deal more than sumptuous cascades; in a word, all that is natural is +infinitely more to my taste than works of art or magnificence; the +latter only please at first sight; as soon as one is accustomed to +them they fatigue, and we care no more about them." In France she +was particularly fond of residing at Saint-Cloud, where she enjoyed +Nature with greater liberty. At Fontainebleau she often walked out on +foot and went a league through the forest. On her arrival in France +and first appearance at Court, she told her physician when presented +to her that "she did not need him; she had never been bled or purged, +and when she did not feel well she always walked six miles on foot, +which cured her." Mme. de Sévigné who relates this, seems to conclude, +with the majority of the Court, that the new Madame was overcome with +her grandeur and spoke like a person who is not accustomed to such +surroundings. Mme. de Sévigné is mistaken; Madame was in no degree +overcome by her greatness. She felt herself born for the high rank +of Monsieur's wife, and would have felt in her right place if higher +still. But Mme. de Sévigné though she herself walked with pleasure in +her woods at Livry and her park des Rochers, did not divine the proud +young girl, so brusque and wild, who ate with delight her bit of bread +and cherries plucked from the trees at five in the morning on the +hills of Heidelberg. + +Madame's marriage was not made to please her. In France this has been +concealed; in Germany it was said quite plainly. Her father, the +Elector, hoped by this alliance to buy the safety of his dominions, +always threatened by the French. Like a pious daughter she obeyed; but +she could not refrain from saying: "I am the political lamb, about to +be sacrificed for my country." The _lamb_, after we once know her, +seems a singular term to choose for so vigorous a victim; but the +comparison is just, all the same, so tender and good was the heart +within her. + +The rôle that Madame conceived for herself in France was that of +preserving her native country from the horrors of war, and of being +useful to it in the different schemes which agitated the Court of +France and might in the end overthrow it. In this she failed; and the +failure was to her a poignant grief. She was even made the innocent +cause of fresh disasters to the land she loved when, on the death of +her father and her brother (who left no children), Louis XIV. set up +a claim to the Palatinate on her account. Instead of bringing pledges +and guarantees of peace, she found herself a pretext and a means for +war. The devastation and the too famous incendiarism of the Palatinate +which the struggles of ambition brought about caused her inexpressible +grief. "When I think of those flames, shudders run over me. Every +time I try to go to sleep I see Heidelberg on fire, and I start up +in bed, so that I am almost ill in consequence." She speaks of this +incessantly, and bleeds and weeps for it after many years. For Louvois +she retained an eternal hatred. "I suffer bitter pain," she writes +thirty years later (November 3, 1718), "when I think of all that M. de +Louvois burned up in the Palatinate; I believe he is burning terribly +in the other world, for he died so suddenly he had no time to repent." + +Madame's virtue in this and other conjunctures was in being faithful +to France and to Louis XIV., all the while torn by distress within +her secret self. She never ceases to interest herself in the fate of +her unhappy country, and in its resurrection after so many disasters. +"I love that prince," she said of the Elector of another branch which +was reigning in 1718, "because he loves the Palatinate. I can easily +imagine how pained he was when he saw how little remained in the ruins +of Heidelberg; the tears come into my eyes when I think of it, and I +am so sad." Nevertheless, she regrets the religious bickerings and +persecutions introduced into the country, and her own powerlessness +to intervene for the protection of those who are persecuted. "I see +but too plainly now," she writes in 1719, "that God did not will that +I should accomplish any good in France, for, in spite of my efforts, +I have never been able to be useful to my native country. It is true +that when I came to France it was purely in obedience to my father, my +uncle, and my aunt, the Electress of Hanover; my inclination did in +nowise bring me here." Thus, in the marriage, apparently so brilliant, +which she contracted with the brother of Louis XIV. Madame cared for +one thing only, namely, to serve and protect her German land from +French policy; and on that very side where politics (to which she was +always a stranger) touched her most, she had the grief of failing. + +When the marriage of Élisabeth-Charlotte was negotiated, it became a +question of converting her. The erudite and witty Chévreau, who was +at the Court of the Elector Palatine in the capacity of councillor, +flattered himself that he contributed to that result by daily +interviews with her of four hours in length for three weeks. One of +the orators who eulogized Madame at the time of her death, her almoner +(the Abbé de Saint-Géri de Magnas), said as to this: "When asked in +marriage for Monsieur by Louis XIV. the principal condition was that +she should embrace the Catholic religion. Neither ambition nor levity +had any share in this change; the respect and tenderness she felt for +Mme. la Princesse Palatine, her aunt, who was Catholic, prevented +her from refusing to be instructed. She listened to Père Jourdain, a +Jesuit. Born with the rectitude which distinguished her all her life, +she did not resist the truth. Her abjuration was made at Metz." + +Madame was, in truth, perfectly sincere in her conversion; +nevertheless, she carried into it something of her freedom of mind +and her independence of temper. "On my arrival in France," she says, +"they made me hold conferences about religion with three bishops. All +three differed in their beliefs; I took the quintessence of their +opinions and formed my own." In this catholic religion, thus defined +in the rough, which she believed and practised in perfect good faith, +there remained traces and several of the habits of her early faith. +She continued to read the Bible in German. She mentions that at that +period in France scarcely any one, even among the devout, read Holy +Scripture. The translations recently made of it had led to such +discussions and bitter quarrels that the ecclesiastical authority +intervened and forbade the reading of them; which has ever since +remained a rarity in our country. Madame was therefore a notable +exception when, in her plan of life, she gave a great and regular +place to meditation on the Holy Book. She selected three days in the +week for that salutary practice. "After my son's visit," she writes +(November, 1717), "I sat down to table, and after dinner I took my +Bible and read four chapters of the book of Job, four Psalms, and two +chapters of Saint John, leaving the other two till this morning." And +she might have written the same thing on each of her appointed days. +On one occasion she was singing unconsciously the Calvinist psalms, or +the Lutheran canticles (for she mixed them up), while walking alone +in the Orangery at Versailles, when a painter who was at work on a +scaffolding came down hurriedly and threw himself at her feet, saying +with gratitude: "Is it possible, Madame, that you still remember our +Psalms?" The painter was a reformer and afterwards a refugee; she +relates the little story very touchingly. + +She had nothing of the sectarian spirit. She blamed Luther for +wishing to make a separate Church; he ought to have confined himself, +she thought, to attacking abuses. She retained from him and from +other reformers, in spite of her conversion, a habit of invective +against religious Orders of all kinds; and on this subject she +bursts into tirades which are less those of a woman than of a pedant +of the sixteenth century or some doctor emancipated from the rue +Saint-Jacques. Gui Patin in a farthingale could not have expressed +himself differently. She corresponded with Leibnitz, who assured her +that she wrote German "not badly;" which pleased her much, for she +could not endure, she says, to see Germans despising and ignoring +their mother tongue. The letters that she wrote to Leibnitz would +be precious could they some day be recovered and published. She may +have gladly borrowed from that illustrious philosopher his idea of +an approach and fusion, a reconciliation, in short, between the +principal Christian communities, for she renders it, rather brusquely +as her manner was, when she says: "If they followed my advice all +the sovereigns would give orders that among all Christians, without +distinction of beliefs, people were to abstain from insulting +expressions, and that each and all were to believe and practise as +they saw fit." In the midst of that Court of Louis XIV., which was so +unanimous as to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, she retained +the most inviolable ideas of tolerance. "It is not showing themselves +in any way Christian," she said, "to torture people for religious +reasons, and I think it monstrous; but when one examines things to +the bottom we find that religion is only a pretext; all is done from +policy and selfish interests. They are serving Mammon, and not God." + +Later, she humanely intercedes with her son, the regent, to release +from the galleys the Reformers who had been sent there. But as it is +in Madame's temperament to exaggerate everything, even her own good +qualities, and to introduce a sort of incoherence into her efforts, +she goes far beyond her object when she expresses the wish that she +may see in the galleys, in the place of such poor innocents, those who +she thinks have persecuted them, and also other monks, especially the +Spanish monks, who resisted to the last in Barcelona the accession of +Louis XIV.'s grandson. "They preached in all the streets that no one +should surrender; and if I had my way those rascals would have gone +to the galleys in place of the poor Reformers who are languishing +there." That is Madame--in all her goodness of heart, extravagance of +language, and her frank, sincere religion of a mixed nature. + +When she arrived in France at the age of nineteen no one expected all +this. The Court was filled with memories and regrets for the late +Madame, the amiable Henrietta, snatched away in the bloom of her charm +and grace. "Alas!" cries Mme. de Sévigné, speaking of the new-comer, +"alas! if _this_ Madame could only represent to us her whom we have +lost!" In place of a blithesome fairy and a being of enchantment, what +was it that suddenly appeared before them? + +"Madame," says Saint-Simon, "was a princess of the olden time; +attached to honour, virtue, rank, grandeur, and inexorable as to their +observances. She was not without intellect; and what she saw she saw +very well. A good and faithful friend, trusty, true, and upright; easy +to prejudice and shock; very difficult to bring back from prejudice; +coarse, and dangerous in her public outbursts; very German in her +habits; frank, indifferent to all propriety and all delicacy for +herself and for others; sober, solitary, and full of notions. She +loved dogs and horses, hunting and theatres passionately, and was +never seen except in full dress or in a man's wig and riding-habit." + +He concludes his portrait admirably in these words: "The figure and +rusticity of a Swiss, but capable withal of a tender and inviolable +friendship." + +Introduced at Court by her aunt, the illustrious Princess Palatine, +Anne of Gonzaga, in nothing was she in keeping with it,--neither in +spirit, nor in the gifts of insinuation and conciliatory conduct, nor +in caution. Succeeding the first Madame, she seemed even farther aloof +from it, more completely a contrast in manners, in the quality and +turn of her thoughts, in delicacy, in short, in everything. Madame, +throughout her life, was, and must necessarily have been, the contrary +of many things and many persons about her; she was original, at any +rate, and in all ways Herself. + +It seems an irony of fate that gave as second wife to Monsieur, that +prince so weak and so effeminate, a woman who in tastes was far more +like a man, and who always regretted she was not born a boy. Madame +gayly relates how, in her youth, feeling her vocation as a cavalier +very strongly, she was always expecting some miracle of Nature in +her favour. With this idea she devoted herself as much as she could +to all manly exercises and perilous leaping. She cared much more for +swords and guns than for dolls. But above all she proves how little +of a woman's nature was in her by the want of delicacy, or, to speak +plainly, the lack of modesty in what she says. She is honesty itself, +virtue, fidelity, honour; but also, at times, indecency and coarseness +personified. She speaks of everything indiscriminately, like a man, is +never disgusted by any language, and never goes by four roads when +she has to express something which would be difficult and embarrassing +to any one but herself. Contrary to the nature of women, she has no +desire to please, and no coquetry. Being asked one day why she never +glanced into a mirror in passing it, "Because," she replied, "I have +too much self-love to like to see how ugly I am." The fine portrait by +Rigaud gives us a perfect likeness of her in her old age, portly, fat, +a double chin and red cheeks, with dignity of carriage nevertheless, +and a proud bearing, but an expression of kindness in the eyes and +smile.[1] She herself was pleased at times to record her ugliness; one +might even suppose that she valued it. + +"It is no matter whether one is handsome or not; a fine face changes +soon, but a good conscience is always good. You must remember very +little of me if you do not rank me among the ugly ones; I have always +been so, and I am more so now because of the small-pox. My waist is +monstrous in size; I am as square as a cube; my skin is red, mottled +with yellow; my hair is getting gray; my nose is honeycombed with the +small-pox, and so are my cheeks; I have a large mouth and bad teeth; +and there's the portrait of my pretty face." + +Certainly no one was ever ugly with more spirit and light-heartedness. +Occasionally there slips in beneath Madame's pen and her expressions +a natural vein of Rabelais and the grotesque. She fills in that way a +unique corner in the Court of Louis XIV. Knowing well what was due to +her rank and never departing from it, there are many occasions when +she is incongruous with it and violates decorum. + +It was perhaps by this naïve brusqueness, and also by her solid +qualities as an honest woman (I was going to say an honest man), +that she pleased Louis XIV., so that between herself and him there +was formed a friendship which was not without its singularity, and +which at first sight seems surprising. Mme. de Sévigné, in a letter +to her daughter, seems to think that Madame felt for Louis XIV. (as +the preceding Madame had done) an inclination that was more or less +romantic, and which affected her without her admitting to herself +exactly what it was. There is a little too much that is far-fetched +in all this. In general, as I have already remarked, Mme. de Sévigné +understands Madame very little, and does not give herself the trouble +to seek the meaning of a nature so little French. When she hears that +the princess fainted with grief at the sudden news of the death of her +father, the Elector Palatine, Mme. de Sévigné jests about it thus: "On +this, Madame began to cry and weep and make a strange noise; they said +she fainted, but I do not believe it; she seems to me incapable of +that sign of weakness. All that death could do would be to sober her +spirits,"--_fixer ses esprits_, because _ses esprits_ (in the language +of the physics of the day) were always in movement and great agitation. + +But let us leave for a moment such French pleasantry and this facility +for trifling with everything and over-refining all things. Madame, +married in so sad and hapless a manner, and with whom one had only to +talk, it was said, to be disgusted at once with the painful conditions +of marriage,--Madame was not the woman to fall back upon romance to +console her for reality. Thrown into the midst of a brilliant but +false Court, full at that time of gallantry and pleasures which merely +covered ambitions and rivalries, she distinguished with an instinct of +good sense and a certain pride of race the person to whom she could +attach herself in the midst of all these people, and she turned with +her natural uprightness to the most honest man among them, namely, to +Louis XIV. himself. A Jesuit, who pronounced a funeral oration over +Madame, Père Cathalan, has said on this subject all that was best to +say. In the kingdom at that time was a king who was worthy of being +one; with the good qualities we know well, combined with defects which +every one about him sought to favour and encourage; a king who was +essentially a man of merit, "always master and always king, but more +of an honest man and Christian than he was master or king." + +"It was this merit that touched her," says Père Cathalan, very truly. +"A taste for, and, if I may so express myself, a sympathy of greatness +attached Madame to Louis XIV. Inward affinities make noble attachments +of esteem and respect; and great souls, though the features of their +greatness may differ, feel, and resemble one another. She esteemed, +she honoured, shall I venture to say she loved that great king because +she was great herself. She loved him when he was greater than his +fortunes; she loved him still more when he was greater than his +sorrows. We saw her giving to the dying monarch her bitter tears, +giving them again to his memory, seeking him in that superb palace so +filled with his presence and his virtues, saying often how she missed +him, and feeling always the wound of his death,--a sentiment which the +glory of her son, the regent, could never take away." + +Madame was agreeable to Louis XIV. by her frankness, her open nature; +she amused him with her repartees and her lively talk; she made him +laugh with all his heart, for (a rare thing at Courts) she liked +joy for joy's sake. "Joy is very good for the health," thought she; +"the silliest thing is to be sad." She broke the monotony of Court +ceremony, the long silent meals, the slow minuets of all kinds. What +would have been incongruous in others had a certain spice in her; she +had her privileges. "When the king dislikes to say a thing directly +to any one, he addresses his speech to me; he knows very well that I +don't constrain myself in conversation, and that diverts him. At table +he is obliged to talk with me because nobody else will say a word." + +She was not so inferior to the king as might be thought; or rather she +was not inferior to him at all except in politeness, in moderation, in +the spirit of consistency and sobriety. In certain respects she judged +him with much intelligence, and with freer and broader good sense than +he was capable of himself; she thought him ignorant in many ways, and +she was right. What she valued most in him was his uprightness of +feeling, and the accuracy of his _coup-d'oeil_ when left to himself; +also the quality of his mind, the charm of his intercourse, the +excellent expression of his thoughts,--it was, in short, a certain +loftiness of nature which attracted and charmed her in Louis XIV. She +aided more than any other in consoling him and diverting his mind +after the death of the Duchesse de Bourgogne; she went to him every +evening at the permitted hour, and she saw that he was pleased with +her company. "There is no one but Madame who does not leave me now," +said Louis XIV. "I see that she is glad to be with me." Madame has +ingenuously expressed the sort of open and sincere affection that +she felt for Louis XIV. by saying: "If the king had been my father I +could not have loved him more than I did love him, and I had pleasure +in being with him." When the king's health declined and he neared +his last hour, we find Madame laying bare her grief in her letters; +she, whose son was about to become regent, she dreads more than any +one the change of reign. "The king is not well," she says, August +15, 1715, "and it troubles me to the point of being half ill myself; +I have lost both sleep and appetite. God grant I may be mistaken! +but if what I fear should happen it would be for me the greatest of +misfortunes." She relates the last scenes of farewell with true and +visible emotion. The little good that has been done in the final years +of that long reign she attributes to Louis XIV.; and all that was bad +she imputes to her whom she considers an evil genius and the devil +personified,--to Mme. de Maintenon. + +And here we come to Madame's great antipathy, to what in her is almost +unimaginable prejudice, hatred, and animosity so violent that they +become at times comical. And truly, if Madame at a given moment had +really been in love with Louis XIV., and if she had hated in Mme. de +Maintenon the rival who supplanted her, she could not have expressed +herself otherwise. But there is no need of that sort of explanation +for a nature so easy to prejudice, so difficult to placate, and so +wholly in opposition and contrast to the point of departure and +proceedings of Mme. de Maintenon. Hers were antipathies of race, of +condition, of temperament, which long years passed in the presence, +the continual sight, the rigid restraint of their object only +cultivated, secretly fomented, and exasperated. Who has not seen such +long-suppressed enmities which explode when an opening is made for +them? + +Madame, pre-eminently princess of a sovereign house, who never, +with all her natural human qualities and her free and easy ways, +forgot the duties of birth and grandeur, she of whom it was said, +"No great personage ever knew her rights better or made them +better felt by others,"--Madame held nothing in so much horror and +contempt as misalliances. The gallery at Versailles long echoed +with the resounding blow she applied to her son on the day when, +having consented to marry the natural daughter of Louis XIV., he +approached his mother according to custom, to kiss her hand. Now of +all misalliances what could be greater or more inexcusable to her eyes +than that which placed Mme. de Maintenon beside Louis XIV.? + +Madame, natural, frank, letting her feelings willingly escape her, +liking to pour them out, often in excess beyond themselves and +observing no caution, could not away with the cold procedure, prudent, +cautious, mysterious, polite, and unassailable, of a person to whom +she attributed a thousand schemes blacker and deeper than those of +hell. + +She disliked her for little things and disliked her for great ones. +She supposed that it was Mme. de Maintenon who, in concert with Père +de La Chaise, had plotted and carried through the persecution of the +Reformers; in this she was not only human, but she found herself +once more a little of a Calvinist or a Lutheran with a touch of the +old leaven; she thought close at hand what the refugees in Holland +were writing from afar. She believed she saw in Mme. de Maintenon +a Tartuffe in a sage-coloured gown. And besides--another grievance +almost as serious!--if there was no longer any etiquette at Court, if +ranks were no longer preserved and defined, Mme. de Maintenon was the +cause of it. + +"There is no longer a Court in France," she writes, "and it is the +fault of the Maintenon, who, finding that the king would not declare +her queen, was determined there should be no more great functions, and +has persuaded the young dauphine [the Duchesse de Bourgogne] to stay +in her, Mme. de Maintenon's rooms, where there is no distinction of +rank or dignity. Under pretext of its being a game, the old woman has +induced the dauphine and the princesses to wait upon her at her toilet +and meals; she has even persuaded them to hand her the dishes, change +her plates, and pour what she drank. Everything is topsy-turvy, and +none of them know their right place nor what they are. I have never +mixed myself up in all that: when I go to see the lady I place myself +close to her niche in an armchair, and I never help her either at +her meals or her toilet. Some persons have advised me to do as the +dauphine and the princesses do, but I answer: 'I was never brought up +to do servile things, and I am too old to play childish games.' Since +then no one has said anything more about it." + +I should never end if I enumerated all the reasons by which Madame +brought herself, gradually and insensibly, to a species of mania which +seizes her whenever she has to speak of Mme. de Maintenon, for there +are no terms that she does not employ about her. On this subject she +drops into whatever the grossest popular credulity could imagine in +its days of madness; she sees in Mme. de Maintenon, even after the +death of Louis XIV. and while buried at Saint-Cyr, a monopolist of +wheat, a poisoner expert in the art of a Brinvilliers, a Gorgon, an +incendiary who sets fire to the château de Lunéville. And after she +has exhausted everything, she adds: "All the evil that has been said +of this diabolical woman is still below the truth." She applies to her +an old German proverb: "Where the devil can't go himself he sends an +old woman." Saint-Simon, inflamed as he is, pales beside this fabulous +hatred, and has himself told us the secret of it. + +One day, on a memorable occasion, Madame found herself humiliated +before Mme. de Maintenon, forced to admit a wrong she had done her, +to make her excuses before witnesses, and to say she was gratefully +obliged to her. This happened on the death of Monsieur (June, 1701). +Madame, who at that serious crisis had everything to obtain from +the king both for herself and for her son (and did in fact obtain +it), made the effort to lay her dignity aside and address herself +to Mme. de Maintenon. The latter went to see her, and in presence +of the Duchesse de Ventadour as witness, she represented to Madame, +after listening to her, that the king had much reason to complain of +her, but was willing to overlook it all. Madame, believing herself +quite safe, protested her innocence; Mme. de Maintenon, with great +self-possession, allowed her to speak to the end, and then drew +from her pocket a letter, such as Madame wrote daily to her aunt +the Electress of Hanover, in which she spoke in the most outrageous +terms of the relations between the king and Mme. de Maintenon. We can +imagine that Madame, at the sight, nearly died upon the spot. + +When the name of the king was laid aside Mme. de Maintenon began +to speak on her own account, and to answer Madame's reproaches for +having changed in her sentiments towards her. After allowing Madame, +as before, to say all that she had to say and to commit herself to +a certain extent, she suddenly quoted to her certain secret words +particularly offensive to herself, which she had known and kept on her +heart for ten years,--words that were said by Madame to a princess, +then dead, who had repeated them, word for word, to Mme. de Maintenon. +At the fall of this second thunderbolt Madame was turned into a +statue, and there was silence for some moments. Then followed tears, +cries, pardon, promises, and a reconciliation, which, being founded on +the cold triumph of Mme. de Maintenon and the inward humiliation of +Madame, could not of course last long. + +It was soon after this scene and during the very short time that the +renewed friendship lasted that Madame wrote to Mme. de Maintenon the +following letter:-- + + Wednesday, June 15, 11 in the morning. + + If I had not had fever and great agitation, Madame, + from the sad employment of yesterday, in opening the caskets + containing Monsieur's papers, scented with the most violent + perfumes, you would have heard from me earlier; but I can no + longer delay expressing to you how touched I am by the favours + that the king did yesterday to my son, and the manner in which + he has treated both him and myself; and as all this is the + result of your good counsels, Madame, be pleased to allow me to + express my sense of it, and to assure you that I shall keep, + very inviolably, the promise of friendship which I made to you; + I beg you to continue to me your counsels and advice, and not + to doubt a gratitude that can end only with my life. + + ÉLISABETH CHARLOTTE. + +Proud as Madame was, there was nothing for her, after such a step +and such a reconciliation so painful to the core, but to become +henceforth the intimate and cordial friend of Mme. de Maintenon, or +her implacable enemy. The latter sentiment prevailed. In spite of +efforts which may have been for a time sincere, the conditions and the +repugnances were too strong; antipathies rose up once more and carried +all before them. + +Madame deserves consideration by more than one claim, and especially +because, having written much, her testimony stands and is invoked +in many cases. When the present edition of letters and fragments of +letters by M. Brunet is exhausted, why should he not undertake to +form a complete collection, leaving nothing out that could enrich +and enlighten it on the German side, and adding only such notes and +French erudition as may be strictly necessary? We should then have, +not exactly an historical document added to so many others, but a +great chronicle of manners and morals, a fiery social gossip, by one +whom we may call the Gui Patin or the Tallemant des Reaux of the end +of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth. We +should thus gain a vivid, witty, and ruthless book, which would make a +pendant to Saint-Simon on more than one ground. + +Madame and Saint-Simon have this in common--they were two honest +souls at Court, honest souls whom indignation easily roused; often +passionate, prejudiced, and at such times ferocious and pitiless for +the adversary. Saint-Simon--need it be said?--has over Madame all the +superiority of a genius expressly made to sound and fathom hearts, +and to bring back living descriptions, which he gives us in strokes +of flame. Madame, often credulous, looking elsewhere, mixing things +up and little critical in her judgments, nevertheless sees well +what she does see, and renders it forcibly, with a violence which, +though little conformed to French taste, is none the less imprinted +on the memory. They knew each other and esteemed each other. They +had, without suspecting it, the same idiosyncrasies, which they +observed, reciprocally, in each other; one was astride of her rank as +princess and ever on the _qui-vive_ lest it should not be sufficiently +respected; the other, as we know, was intractable and even fanatical +on the chapter of dukes and peers. + +Saint-Simon has spoken of Madame with truth and justice, as of a manly +nature somewhat in keeping with his own. All that we read in Madame's +letters, in which she declares herself to every eye, is only a sort of +demonstration and commentary of Saint-Simon's judgment upon her. + +Madame was naturally just, humane, compassionate. She was very anxious +about her debts and her creditors, which the great of the earth are +not apt to be, and it was noticed that she was never easy unless she +had secured their payment,--"forestalling demands, sometimes wishes, +and always impatience or complaints." The letters she writes during +the terrible winter of 1709 breathe pity for the poor, who "are dying +of cold like flies." No princess ever had more consideration for +those who surrounded her and served her; "she preferred sometimes to +deprive herself of necessary attentions, rather than require them +when inconvenient to others." She was what is called a good mistress, +and the nearer her people came to her, the more they regretted her. +"Saint-Cloud," she wrote in the autumn of 1717, "is only a house for +summer; many of my people have to lodge in rooms without fireplaces; +they cannot pass the winter here, or I should be the cause of their +deaths, and I am not hard enough for that; the sufferings of others +make me pitiful." + +Once only was she pitiless; but she was wounded then in her tenderest +spot. Mme. de Maintenon had imported from Strasburg (_expressly to +annoy me_, thought Madame) two girls of equivocal birth who called +themselves Comtesses Palatine and whom she placed in the suite of her +nieces. The first dauphine (Monseigneur's wife, a Princess of Bavaria) +spoke of this to Madame, weeping, but not daring to resent an affront +which was aimed at both. "Let me settle that," replied Madame. "I'll +manage it; for when I am right nothing frightens me." The next day +she arranged an accidental meeting in the park with one of the two +self-styled Comtesses Palatine, and treated her in such a manner (the +astounding terms have been preserved) that the poor girl was taken +ill, and finally died of it. Louis XIV. contented himself with saying +to Madame, "It is not safe to meddle with you in the matter of your +family--life depends upon it." To which Madame replied, "I don't like +impostors." And she never felt the slightest regret for what she +had done. The trait is characteristic in a nature that was otherwise +essentially kind. All vehement passion easily becomes cruel when face +to face with an object that irritates and braves it. In this case the +execution performed by Madame appeared to her under the form of a +rigorous duty of honour. + +The life that Madame led at the Court of France varied, necessarily, +during the fifty and one years that she spent there; she could not +live at the age of sixty as she had done at twenty. But at all times, +before and after the death of Monsieur, she had managed to make +for herself a retreat and a sort of solitude. The exaggerated and +incongruous sides of Madame's nature being now sufficiently visible +and well known, I desire to neglect nothing that will show the firm +and elevated parts of her soul. From Saint-Cloud June 17, 1698, she +writes thus:-- + +"I do not need much consolation in the matter of death; I do not +desire death, neither do I dread it. There is no need of the Catechism +of Heidelberg to teach us not to be attached to this world; above +all in this country where all things are so full of falseness, envy, +and malignity, where the most unheard-of vices are displayed without +reserve. But to desire death is a thing entirely against nature. In +the midst of this great Court I live retired, as if in solitude; there +are very few persons with whom I have frequent intercourse; I am +whole, long days alone in my cabinet, where I busy myself in reading +and writing. If any one pays me a visit I see them for only a few +moments; I talk of rain and fine weather or the news of the day; and +after that I take refuge in my retreat. Four times a week I send off +my regular letters: Monday, to Savoie; Wednesday, to Modena; Thursday +and Sunday I write very long letters to my aunt in Hanover; from six +to eight o'clock I drive out with Monsieur and my ladies; three times +a week I go to Paris, and every day I write to my friends who live +there; I hunt twice a week; and this is how I pass my time." + +When she speaks of solitude we see it is a Court solitude and much +diversified. Still it was remarkable that a woman of so grand a +station and a princess should spend so many hours daily alone in her +cabinet in company with her desk. + +After the death of Monsieur, Madame could live more to her liking. +She regretted being obliged to dismiss her maids-of-honour, whose +youth and gayety amused her; but she gave herself a compensation after +her own heart, by taking to herself, without official title, two +friends, the Maréchale de Clérembault and the Comtesse de Beuvron, +both widows, whom Monsieur had dismissed with aversion from the Court +of the Palais-Royal, but to whom Madame had ever remained faithful +in absence. They were the "friends in Paris," to whom she wrote +continually. Becoming free herself, she wanted them near her, and +henceforth enjoyed, almost as a simple private person, that united +constant friendship in which she trusted. + +Hunting was long one of Madame's greatest pleasures, or rather +passions. I have said that while a child at Heidelberg she gave +herself up to all manly exercises. Her father, however, forbade her +to hunt or to ride on horseback. It was in France, therefore, that +she served her apprenticeship, and her impetuosity often made it +dangerous. Twenty-six times was she thrown from her horse, without +being frightened or discouraged. "Is it possible," she says, "that you +have never seen a great hunt? I have seen more than a thousand stags +taken, and I have had bad falls; but out of twenty-six times that I +have been thrown from my horse I never hurt myself but once, and then +I dislocated my elbow." + +The theatre was another passion, which, in her, was derived from +intelligence and her natural taste for things of the understanding. +It was the only pleasure (except that of writing letters) which +lasted to the end of her life. She was not of the opinion of Bossuet, +Bourdaloue, and other great religious oracles of the day in the matter +of theatres; she forestalled the opinion of the future and that of +the most indulgent moralists. "With regard to the priests who forbid +the theatre," she says, rather irreverently, "I shall say no more, +except this, that if they saw a little further than their own noses +they would understand that the money people spend on going to the +play is not ill-spent; in the first place, the comedians are poor +devils who earn their living that way; and next, comedies inspire joy, +joy produces health, health gives strength, strength produces good +work; therefore comedies should be encouraged, and not forbidden." +She liked to laugh, and the "Malade Imaginaire" diverted her to such +a degree that one might think in reading her letters that she was +trying to imitate all that is most physical and unfit for women in +its style of pleasantry. And yet "the 'Malade Imaginaire' is not the +one of Molière's plays that I like best," she says; "Tartuffe pleases +me better." And in another letter: "I cannot write longer, for I am +called to go to the theatre; I am to see the 'Misanthrope,' the one +of Molière's plays that gives me the most pleasure." She admired +Corneille and quotes the "Death of Pompey." I do not know whether she +liked "Esther," but she must surely have loved Shakespeare. "I have +often heard his Highness, our father," she writes to her half-sister, +"say that there are no comedies in the world finer than those of the +English." + +After the death of Monsieur and during the last years of Louis XIV. +she adopted a way of life that was very precise and retired. "I +live here quite deserted (May 3, 1709) for everybody, young and old, +runs after favour. The Maintenon cannot endure me, and the Duchesse +de Bourgogne likes only what that lady likes." She became at last +absolutely a hermit in the midst of the Court. "I consort with no one +here, except my own people; I am as polite as I can be to everybody, +but I contract no intimate relations with any one, and I live alone; +I go to walk, I go to drive, but from two o'clock to half-past nine I +never see a human face; I read, I write, or I amuse myself in making +baskets like the one I sent my aunt." Sometimes, however, to enliven +this long interval from two o'clock to half-past nine, her ladies +would play at _hombre_ or _brelan_ beside her writing-table. + +The regency of her son brought the Court again around Madame; and her +more frequent residence in Paris allowed her less retreat than she was +able to make at Versailles. Sometimes, in the morning, half a dozen +duchesses would take up her time and cut short her correspondence. She +detested their conversations of mere politeness, in which they talked +without having anything to say. "I would rather be alone than have to +give myself the trouble of finding something to say to each of them; +for the French think it very bad if you do not talk to them, and go +away discontented; one must therefore take pains to say something to +each; and so I am content and tranquil when they leave me to myself." +She made exception with less annoyance when it was a question of +Germans of high rank, who all wished to be presented to her, and whom +she greeted very well. At times there were as many as twenty-nine +German princes, counts, and gentlemen in her apartment. + +One evening she made a scene before all present to the Duchesse de +Berry, her grand-daughter, who had appeared before her in a loose +gown, or rather in fancy dress, intending to go to the Tuileries in +such array. "No, madame," she said, cutting short all explanation, +"nothing excuses you; you might at least dress yourself properly the +few times you do go to see the king; I, who am your grandmother, +dress myself every day. Say honestly it is laziness that prevents you +from doing so; which belongs neither to your age nor to your station. +A princess should be dressed as a princess, and a soubrette as a +soubrette." While saying all this and not listening to the reply of +the Duchesse de Berry, Madame went on writing her letter in German, +her pen never ceasing to scratch the paper. The table on which she +wrote was a secretary somewhat raised, so that in her pausing moments +she could, without rising from her seat, look down upon the game of +the players beside her. "That was her occupation if she ceased to +write, but when any one came in and approached her she would leave +everything to ask them, 'What news?' and as the giving of news made +every one welcome, people invented it when there was none to tell. No +sooner had she heard it than, without examination, she turned to the +letter already begun and wrote down the tale she had just been told." +It is thus that, side by side with things that she sees well and says +well, and which are in truth the expression of her own thought, her +letters contain much else that is simply malignant gossip and trash. + +In the days of Louis XIV. letters were unsealed at the post-office, +read, and extracts made and sent to the king, and sometimes to Mme. +de Maintenon. Madame knew that, but went her way in spite of it, +using her privilege as princess to tell truths without reserve, and +even to write insults on those who, unsealing the letters, would find +her opinion of them. "In the days of M. de Louvois," she writes, +"they read all letters just as they do now, but at least they sent +them on in decent time; but now that that toad of a Torcy directs +the post-office, letters are delayed for an interminable length of +time.... As Torcy does not know how to read German he has to have them +translated, and I don't thank him for his attention." M. de Torcy must +have enjoyed that passage. + +Among the tastes, or fancies, which together with her letter-writing +served to fill and amuse the long hours of Madame's solitude, we +must reckon two parrots, a canary, and eight little dogs. "After my +dinner I walk my room for half an hour for the sake of digestion, +and play with my little animals." A nobler taste was that of coins, +which Madame had to a high degree. She collected them from all parts +of the world, and no one could pay their court more delicately than +by bringing her a specimen. The collection that she thus formed was +celebrated. She confided the care of it to the learned Baudelot, who +had all the erudition and naïveté of an antiquary, and with whom +she sometimes amused herself. "One study alone," says one of her +eulogists, "attracted her--that of coins. Her series of the emperors +of the upper and lower empire, which she collected with judgment and +arranged with care, placed before her eyes all that was most to be +respected in past ages. While examining the features on the coins she +recalled the salient points of their owners' actions, filling her mind +with noble ideas of Roman greatness." I do not know whether in forming +her cabinet of coins Madame had any such lofty and stern views, but +at any rate, in this most remarkable of her tastes she showed herself +the mother of the regent,--that is to say, of the most brilliant and +best-informed of amateurs. + +There is a serious side in the letters of Madame: that by which she +judges the morals, the personages, and the society of the regency. +She had some trouble in breaking herself in to that new style of +life, and to a residence in the city and the Palais-Royal. "I like the +Parisians," she writes, "but I do not like to live in their town." +She had accustomed herself, during her long seasons at Saint-Cloud, +to a measure of retreat, companionship, and liberty which suited +her nature, and I shall even say, her semi-philosophy. When she +returned there she felt herself in her element. "I find myself well +at Saint-Cloud, where I am tranquil (1718); whereas in Paris I am +never left an instant in peace. This one presents me a petition, that +one asks me to interest myself on his behalf, another solicits an +audience, and so forth. In this world great people have their worries +like little ones, which is not surprising; but what makes it worse +for the great is that they are always surrounded by a crowd, so that +they can not hide their griefs, or indulge them in solitude--they are +always on exhibition." + +That regret was in her a most sincere one. The power of her son +brought her little influence, and she wanted none, save for the sake +of a few private benefits. She asked him for nothing; she never +meddled in public affairs or politics, and piqued herself on not +understanding them. "I have no ambition," she said (August, 1719); +"I do not wish to govern; I should take no pleasure in it. It is not +so with French women; the lowest servant-woman thinks herself quite +fitted to rule the State. I think it so ridiculous that I am quite +cured of all mania of that kind." + +She views like a virtuous woman the debauchery of the period, and that +of her family, and she expresses the deep disgust she feels for it. +The regent has never been better painted than he is by his mother; she +shows him to us with his facile faculties, his interests of all kinds, +his talents, his individual genius, his graces, his indulgence for +all, even for his enemies; she denounces the one great capital fault +that ruined him,--that ardent debauchery at a fixed hour, in which +he buried himself and was lost to sight until the next morning. "All +advice, all remonstrance on that subject," she writes, "are useless; +when spoken to he answers, 'From six o'clock in the morning till night +I am subjected to prolonged and fatiguing labour; if I did not amuse +myself after that I could not bear it, I should die of melancholy.' +I pray God sincerely for his conversion," she adds, "he has no +other fault than that, but that is great." She shows him to us as a +libertine even in matters of science, that is, curious and amorous of +all he saw, but disgusted with all he possessed. "Though he talks of +learned things, I see plainly that instead of giving him pleasure they +bore him. I have often scolded him for this; he answers it is not his +fault; that he does take pleasure in learning all things, but as soon +as he knows them he has no further pleasure in them." + +The most characteristic passages in her letters are of things that +cannot be detached and cited singly. Never did the effrontery and +gluttony of women of all ranks, the cupidity of everybody, the +shameless traffic and cynical thirst for gold, find a firmer or +more vigorous hand to catch them in the act and blast them. Madame, +in treating of these excesses, has a species of virtuous immodesty +like that of Juvenal; or rather, issuing from her Bible readings, +she applies to present scandals the energy of the sacred text, and +qualifies them in the language of the patriarchs. "How many times," +says one of her eulogists whom I like to quote, "how many times she +condemned the bold negligence of attire which favoured corruption, and +the taste for liberty and caprice--the fatal charm which our nation +has criminally invented! Indecent fashions, which ancient decorum +cannot away with, would often bring upon her face and in her eyes the +emotion and fire of outraged modesty." It was not a mere sentiment of +etiquette which made her rebuke her grand-daughter, the Duchesse de +Berry, on her dishabille, but another and a more estimable sentiment. +Even where she is not outraged she gives details which make her smile +with pity. "It is only too true that the women paint themselves blue +veins to make believe their skins are so delicate the veins show +through them." + +The Duc de Richelieu, a young dandy who turned all the heads of the +day, and whom our writers, at their wits' end, have lately endeavoured +to restore to fashion in novels and plays, was to Madame an object +of extreme aversion; she paints him with the hand of a master, +as absolutely contemptible, with all his equivocal and frivolous +charms, his varnish of politeness, and his vices. It is a portrait +to read, and I should like to quote it here, but I am restrained +by respect for the great men, and for the honourable men, who have +made that name of Richelieu so French. Without going beyond general +observations what can be more just and more sensible than the +following reflection of Madame, written a few months before her death +(April, 1722)? "Young men, at the epoch in which we live, have but +two objects in view,--debauchery and lucre; the absorption of their +minds on money-getting, no matter by what means, makes them dull +and disagreeable; in order to be agreeable, people must have their +minds free of care, and also have the wish to give themselves up to +amusement in decent company; but these are things that are very far +away from us now-a-days." With a presentiment of her coming end, she +asks of God only his mercy to herself and her children, especially her +son. "May it please God to convert him! that is the sole favour that +I ask of Him. I do not believe that there are in Paris, either among +ecclesiastics or people of the world, one hundred persons who have a +true Christian faith, and really believe in our Saviour; and that +makes me tremble." + +The people of Paris recognized in Madame a princess of honour and +integrity, incapable of giving bad advice or employing selfish +influence; consequently, she was in great favour with the Parisians; +more than she deserved, she said, meddling so little as she did in +their affairs. Even amid the riots and the execrations roused by +the catastrophes at the close of Law's system, Madame, as she drove +through the streets, received none but benedictions--which she would +gladly have transferred to her son. She noticed as a mother on that +occasion that if the cries were loud against Law, they were at least +not shouted against the regent. But there were other days when the +murmurs against her son reached her ears, and she complains of the +ingratitude of Frenchmen towards him. She was not, however, without +admitting to herself the element of weakness in his government; she +tells it and repeats it constantly. "It is very true," she says, "that +it is better to be kind than harsh, but justice consists in punishing, +as well as in rewarding; and it is certain that he who does not make +Frenchmen fear him will soon fear them; for they despise those who do +not intimidate them." She knows the nation, and judges it as one who +is not of it. + +On one point Madame sacrificed to the spirit of the regency and was in +curious contradiction to herself. She took a great liking to a natural +son of the regent, whom he had by an opera-dancer named Florence; +she said he reminded her of the "late Monsieur," only with a better +figure. In short, she loved the young man, whom she called _her_ Abbé +de Saint-Albin. He was afterwards Archbishop of Cambrai, and when he +made his argument before the Sorbonne (February, 1718) she was present +in great state, thus declaring, and also honouring, the illegitimate +birth of this grandson. Madame deserted on that day all her orthodox +principles about the duties of rank, and allowed herself to follow her +fancies. + +She died at the age of seventy at Saint-Cloud, December 8, 1722, ten +days after her faithful friend, the Maréchale de Clérembault, and one +year before her son, the regent. According to her own wish, she was +taken to Saint-Denis without pomp. The obsequies were performed in the +following February. Massillon, whom she knew and loved, pronounced +her funeral oration, which was thought fine. Père Cathalan, a Jesuit, +pronounced another at Laon in March, from which I have taken certain +traits of her character. + +Such as she is, with all her coarseness and her contradictions on a +basis of virtue and honour, Madame is a useful, a precious, and an +incomparable witness as to manners and morals. She gives a hand to +Saint-Simon and to Dangeau--nearer, however, to the former than to the +latter. She has heart; do not ask charm of her, but say: "That Court +would have lacked the most original of figures and of voices if Madame +had not been of it." Arriving at Versailles at the moment when the La +Vallière star declined and was eclipsed, and seeing only the last of +the brilliant years, she enters little into that era of refinement +which touches the imagination; but lacking that refinement, and solely +through her frankness, she lays bare to us the second half of Louis +XIV.'s reign under its human, most human, natural, and--to say the +whole truth--its material aspect. She strips that great century of +its idealism, she strips it too much; she goes almost to the point +of degrading it--if we listen to her alone. As time goes on, and the +delicacy and purity of manners and language retire more and more into +Mme. de Maintenon's corner and seek at last a refuge at Saint-Cyr, +Madame holds herself aloof at Saint-Cloud, and again aloof in the +Palais-Royal, and thence--whether at the close of Louis XIV.'s reign +or under the regency--she makes, lance in hand, and her pen behind her +ear, valiant and frequent sorties in that blunt style which is all +her own, which wears a beard upon its chin, and of which we know not +rightly whether it derives from Luther or from Rabelais, though we are +very sure it is the opposite of that of Mme. de Caylus and her like. + + + + + TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. + + +Sainte-Beuve, in his essay on Madame, suggested to the French editor +of her letters that he should make a more complete collection of +them. M. Brunet professes to have done so in the edition from which +this translation is selected.[2] But when examined the additions +prove very insignificant, and the arrangement, though apparently more +chronological, interferes with the interest of the reader. Passages +which seem to belong together are cut up into sentences and scattered +singly over weeks and months; so that the point of Madame's racy +representations is often weakened. In this translation parts of the +letters of each year on a given topic are put together, so as to offer +a better picture of Madame's thought; as for her nature, she gives +that herself, and no one can better the portrait. + +Nothing need be added to Sainte-Beuve's admirable essay beyond a brief +account of Madame's parentage, family relations, and the history, such +as it is, of her correspondence. + +She was born at Heidelberg in 1652. Soon after her birth, her father, +Charles-Louis, Elector Palatine, parted from his wife, Charlotte of +Hesse-Cassel, and the little daughter, Élisabeth-Charlotte, was given +to the care of her father's sister, Sophia, Electress of Hanover +(mother of George I. of England); with whom she remained until her +marriage, against her wishes, in 1671, to Monsieur, brother of Louis +XIV., after the death of his first wife, Henrietta, daughter of +Charles I. of England. The marriage was political,--Louis XIV. seeking +to acquire rights in the Palatinate, and subsequently in Bavaria. + +The father of Élisabeth-Charlotte, after parting from his wife, +married morganatically Louise de Degenfeld, by whom he had five +sons and three daughters,--these children being of course excluded +from the succession. Madame, in her ill-assorted and personally +mortifying marriage, of which she bravely strove to make the best, +found all her comfort in writing letters, a very small portion of +which have been preserved. All those addressed during her married +life to her beloved aunt, the Electress of Hanover, have disappeared, +probably destroyed by the judicious aunt herself, for Madame alludes +to them as containing secrets she did not write to others. Among +the many personages to whom she wrote habitually were: Duke Antoine +Ulrich of Brunswick; her two unmarried half-sisters, Louise and +Amélie, Countesses Palatine; her step-daughters, to whom she was +warmly attached, Marie-Louise, wife of Charles II., King of Spain, +and Anne-Marie, wife of Victor-Amadeus, Duke of Savoie and King +of Sardinia and Sicily (the mother of Marie-Adélaïde, Duchesse de +Bourgogne); and her own daughter, the Duchesse de Lorraine. Besides +these, she had a number of correspondents on the other side of the +Rhine, such as her cousins the Queen of Prussia and the Duchess of +Modena; her old governess in Hanover; Leibnitz in Leipzig; also the +Princess of Wales, Wilhelmina-Caroline of Brandebourg-Anspach, in +London. + +Of these letters (scarcely any remaining extant except those to +her half-sisters) fragments first appeared at Stuttgard in 1789, +subsequently in Paris, in 1807, 1823, 1832. In 1843 the first edition +in a volume was published at Stuttgard by M. Wolfgang Menzel, a +translation of which by M. Brunet appeared in Paris in 1853. That +translation was made from the German volume, the original letters +having disappeared in a conflagration. A subsequent edition, with a +few insignificant additions as mentioned above, appeared a few years +later, from the last issue of which the present translation has been +selected. + +M. Brunet remarks in his preface, that "Madame had the habit of +reproducing almost in the same terms the details which she gave of +the same events to diverse persons. She wrote with extreme rapidity, +passing, without any transition, from one subject to another, piling +up useless words and insignificant particulars which it would be quite +absurd to try to reproduce. Expressions of regret at the deaths or the +illnesses of Madame's numerous relatives, interminable protestations +of friendship, wearisome repetitions, swelled beyond all measure the +letters that came into the hands of M. Menzel, who cut off two-thirds +of them, preserving such parts only as had a more or less general +interest and an historical value." + +The following letters are almost exclusively addressed to her +half-sisters, and chiefly to the Comtesse Louise, the Comtesse Amélie +having died in 1709. The names of her correspondents do not precede +the letters in the French edition, except in a few instances. + +Madame needs no interpreter, for even her vituperative faculty conveys +its own correction; her hatred to Mme. de Maintenon becomes amusing, +and we are quite able to see the justice and the injustice of it. Her +favourite term for her enemy is, however, so outrageous (_la vieille +guenipe_, the old slut, or any such equivalent--once she descends to +saying _la vieille truie_) that it is more agreeable to the reader to +keep the word in French than to constantly repeat it in English. + +Madame died on the 8th of December, 1722, at the age of seventy, just +one year before the death of her son, the regent. She was buried in +Saint-Denis, and Massillon pronounced her funeral oration. + + * * * * * + +The letters of Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne and dauphine, +are of little value, as the reader will see, if judged historically, +or as a document on the manners and customs of a period. They are +placed here as a contemporary record of a tender and pathetic young +life on its passage, through frivolity and ill-health, to a premature +death just as age had corrected her defects, and the prospect of +being, with her husband, the blessing and salvation of France was +dawning before her. + + * * * * * + +Sainte-Beuve possessed a natural spirit of justice which led him +(though it did not invariably rule him) to satisfy his literary +conscience by returning to the portraits of his personages to correct, +modify, and balance his first impressions. It is in this spirit that +his picture of Mme. de Maintenon and Saint-Cyr, followed by a number +of her own letters and papers on that section of her life, are given +here to succeed the prejudiced statements of her two greatest enemies, +Saint-Simon and Madame. The picture of Saint-Cyr stands apart in Mme. +de Maintenon's career in a frame of its own; it shows her at her very +best and as she herself would fain appear to posterity. It is the +other extreme of the portraiture, and the reader must form his own +judgment as to how the full truth of the nature and conduct of this +remarkable woman can be evolved. + + + + + CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME. + + + + + I. + + LETTERS OF 1695-1714. + + + _To her sister Louise, Comtesse Palatine._ + + VERSAILLES, 1695. + +King James of England is not willing that we should wear mourning +for his daughter [Mary]; he has vehemently insisted that nothing of +the kind should be done. He is not at all moved by this death, which +surprises me, for I should think a man could not forget his children, +no matter what wrongs he has against them; blood must surely keep its +strength. From the portrait they made me of Prince [King] William, I +should not have thought he was so much attached to his wife; and I +like him for it. + +I am very glad to hear that Charles-Maurice [her half-brother] loves +me, though he has never seen me; that is the effect of blood. It is +not surprising that I love him, for I saw him come into the world; +and besides, I have always retained such respect for his Highness +our father that I love all those who are his children. I wish that +Charles-Maurice may soon be made a colonel. We die when our time +comes; Maurice will not live beyond the period that fate assigns him, +whether he stays at Court or goes to war. He had better follow his +inclination, for all that is done from liking is better done than when +one yields to constraint. + +We have here a Comte de Nassau, a very brave man and much respected. +He holds a patent from the emperor authorizing him to take the title +of prince; but he makes no use of it, for which I think very well of +him. Dancing has gone out of fashion everywhere. Here, in France, as +soon as the company assemble they do nothing but play _lansquenet_; +that is the game in vogue; even the young people do not care to dance. +As for me, I do neither. I am much too old to dance, which I have +not done since the death of our father. I never play cards for two +reasons: first, I have no money; and next, I don't like gambling. They +play here for frightful sums, and the players are like madmen; one +howls, another strikes the table so hard that the room resounds, a +third blasphemes in such a way that one's hair stands on end, and they +all seem beside themselves and are terrifying to see. + +I beg you to greet for me all our old friends in the Palatinate; +I curse this war to-day more than ever. My poor son, who has been +seriously ill and is still taking quinine, was engaged in that affair +when Maréchal de Villeroy fell upon the rear-guard of the Prince de +Vaudemont and put four battalions to flight. Though my son has had the +luck to escape a wound, I tremble lest fatigue should bring back his +fever. A good peace is much to be desired. + +I regard it as great praise that people should say I have a German +heart and that I love my country; I shall endeavour, by the grace of +God, to deserve that praise to my last day. I have indeed a German +heart, for I cannot console myself for what is happening in that +unfortunate Palatinate; I cannot think about it; it makes me sad all +day. Next Saturday I return, with regret, to Paris, which I think very +disagreeable. + +There is nothing in the world so miserable as the fate of a Queen of +Spain; I know this by the late queen, who used to write me day by day +the existence that she led. It is even worse in Portugal, and it shows +the truth of the proverb that all is not gold that glitters. + +I was too old when I came to France to change my character, the +foundations were laid. There is nothing surprising in that; but I +should be inexcusable if I were false and did not love the persons +for whom I ought to feel an attachment. You have reason to think +that I write as I think; I am too frank to write otherwise. The good +Duchesse de Guise, cousin of the king and of Monsieur, died five days +ago. I have felt much afflicted; she was a worthy, pious woman; we +dined together every day. There was only an antechamber between my +room and her cabinet. She kept her mind till the last moment, and died +tranquilly, without regrets. + + + VERSAILLES, 1697. + +If I had not heard from my aunt that you were going to Holland, I +should have been quite surprised at getting your letter from the +Hague. My health is now pretty good; as usual, I have driven away +the fever by hunting. I have had the satisfaction to do some service +to the prisoners who have been brought here. I cannot do much, but I +shall spare no pains to be useful to compatriots who may need me. + +I remember the Hague perfectly; I always thought it a very agreeable +city, but the air is not as good as it is in the Palatinate and +everything is so very dear in Holland. King William is not at Loo, but +at the head of his army; God grant there may not be a battle, for I +can't help trembling at the thought of it because of my son. The fate +of those good people of the Palatinate makes me wretched; but I can do +nothing to prevent it. Let us all unite in prayers for peace, for it +is indeed very needful. + +It is deplorable that the priests have brought it about that +Christians are divided one against another. If I had my way, the three +Christian religions should form but one; we should not ask what people +believed, but whether they lived in accordance with the Gospel, and +the priests should preach against those who lead bad lives. Christians +ought to be allowed to marry and go to church where they like; and +then there would be more harmony than there is now. + +I think so well of King William that I would rather have him for +a son-in-law than the Emperor of Germany. I can say with truth of +my daughter that she has no idea of coquetry or gallantry; in that +respect she gives me no anxiety, and I think I shall never have +anything to fear; she is not handsome, but she has a pretty figure, +a good face, and good feelings. I am convinced that she will stay an +old maid, for, according to all appearance, King William will marry +the Princess of Denmark. I fancy that the emperor will take the second +Princess of Savoie, and the Duc de Lorraine the daughter of the +emperor, so that no one will be left for my daughter. + +I don't know if you remember how gay I was in my youth; all that has +gone; I have been more than six weeks without laughing even once. The +theatre is what amuses me the most. If you knew all that goes on here +you would certainly not be surprised that I am no longer gay. Another +in my place would have been dead of grief this long while; as for me, +I only grow fat upon it. + +[Illustration: Saint-Cloud] + + + SAINT-CLOUD. + +I received two weeks ago your letter of May 21, but I could not answer +it, for I was not in a state to write, and Mlle. de Rathsamhausen [her +lady-of-honour] spells so badly that I do not care to dictate to +her.[3] I must tell you what has happened to me. Once a month I go +with Monseigneur the dauphin to hunt a wolf. It had rained; the ground +was slippery; we had searched for a wolf two hours without finding +one, and then started for another point, where we hoped to do better. +As we were following a wood-path a wolf sprang up just in front of my +horse, which was frightened and reared on its hind legs and slipped +and fell over on its right side, and my elbow coming in contact with +a big stone was dislocated. They looked for the king's surgeon who +was with the hunt, but could not find him, for his horse had lost a +shoe and he had gone to a village to have it put on. A peasant said +there was a very skilful barber two leagues off who set legs and arms +every day of his life; when I heard he had such experience I got into +a calèche and was driven to him--not without very great pain. As soon +as he had set my arm I suffered nothing and drove back here at once. +My surgeon and Monsieur's surgeon examined the hurt. I think they were +rather jealous that a poor countryman had done the thing so well. +They bandaged my arm again and made me suffer beyond measure; my hand +swelled up in a horrible manner; I could not move my wrist or lift my +hand to my mouth. + +It is very true that celibacy is the best condition; the best of men +is not worth the devil. Love in marriage is no longer the fashion, and +is thought ridiculous. The Catholics here say in their catechism that +marriage is a sacrament, but, in point of fact, they live with their +wives as if it were no sacrament at all, and, what is worse, nothing +is more approved than to see men have gallantries and desert their +wives--But not to enlarge upon this subject, I will talk to you about +my wolf. + +You have heard by this time that peace has been signed with the +emperor and the empire; that is a great step towards a general peace. +I do not think that war will break out in Poland, for it is not at all +certain that our Prince de Conti will go there; he may renounce it, +which I think would be much better for him than the crown of Poland; +it is a savage, dirty country, and the nobles are too ambitious. + +These are dangerous times for young men, and they would do better to +go and seek honour in war than stay here doing nothing and leading the +most dissolute lives, for which, be it said between you and me, my son +has but too great a liking. He says he has taste only for women and +not for other debauchery, which is as common here as it is in Italy, +and therefore he thinks we ought to praise him and be grateful to him; +but his behaviour does not please me at all. + +Those who do not know the exact situation of things here imagine that +the king and Court are just what they used to be; but everything is +changed in a sorry way. If any one who had left the Court at the time +of the queen's death returned here now he would think he had stepped +into another world. There is much to be said about this, but I cannot +confide it to paper, because all letters are opened and read. My aunt +used to say that everybody here below is a demon charged to torment +somebody else; and that is very true. We know that all things are +the result of the will of God, and happen as He has fixed from all +eternity, but the Almighty not having consulted us on what He meant to +do, we are in ignorance of the causes of what we see going on about us. + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, 1698. + +I have not written to you for several days because I have been to +Montargis, whence we have come back here, where we found the courier +who brought us the dispensation for my daughter's marriage. It will +take place Monday next and two days later she will start. [Mlle. de +Chartres married Léopold, Duc de Lorraine, and was the mother of +Francis I., Emperor of Germany, the husband of Maria Theresa.] You can +easily imagine that my heart is full, and that I am nearer to weeping +than laughing, for my daughter and I have never been separated, and +now we are to part for a long time. My eyes are full of tears, but +I must hide them; otherwise people would laugh at me, for in this +country they do not understand how it is that persons should love +their relations. One repents very soon of speaking out one's thoughts, +and that is why I live such a solitary life. You are very happy in +being able to laugh still; it is a long time since I have done so, +though formerly I used to laugh more than any one. Persons have only +to marry in France and the desire to laugh will soon leave them. + +The King of England is not, I think, in much of a hurry to be married. +That monarch is certainly, on account of his merit, one of the +greatest kings that ever wore a crown; but between ourselves, if I +were maid or widow and he did me the honour to want to marry me, I +would rather pass my life in celibacy than become the greatest queen +in the world on condition of taking a husband, for marriage has become +to me an object of horror. + +What is worse in this country than in England is that all the persons +who conduct themselves ill, men and women, devote themselves to +politics and seek to intrigue at Court, which leads to much perfidy +and deception. In whatever country we live, if we are married we must +drive jealousy out of our hearts, for it does no good; we must wash +our hands in innocency and keep our conscience pure, although we may +have no pleasant intercourse and nothing but long and weary hours of +ennui. I do not fret myself now about the way the world goes on; I +despise it, and I have little taste for being in society. One hears of +nothing just now but tragical events; they have lately condemned five +women who killed their husbands; others killed themselves. + +Nothing is so rare in France as Christian faith; there is no longer +any vice of which persons are ashamed. If the king wanted to punish +all those who are guilty of the worst vices he would find no more +princes or nobles or servants about him; there would not be a family +in France that was not in mourning. + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, 1699. + +I receive sometimes very friendly letters from the Queen of Spain +[wife of Charles II.]. I am sorry that poor queen is so unhappy. It +would be a great blessing for Europe if she could have a child, boy +or girl would do, provided it lived; for one does not need to be a +prophet to divine that if the King of Spain dies without children a +terrible war will arise; all the Powers will claim the succession, and +none of them will yield to any of the others; nothing but a war can +decide. + +I have heard with grief of the conduct of Charles-Maurice in Berlin; +if he behaves in that way we shall not continue good friends. I am +very angry to know that he is dead-drunk nearly half the day. If I +thought that scolding him very severely would correct him I would +write to him. It is distressing to think that the only remaining son +of our father should be a drunkard. + + + MARLY, 1700. + +It is not a mere tale that the King of Morocco has asked in marriage +the Princesse de Conti [daughter of Louis XIV. and Louise de la +Vallière], but the king repulsed the proposal sharply. That princess +was extremely beautiful before she had the small-pox, but her illness +has greatly changed her. She still has a perfect figure and charming +carriage, and dances admirably; I never saw any engraved portrait that +was like her. + +I can understand why people go to Rome, like my cousin the Landgrave +of Cassel, to see the antiquities, but I cannot imagine that they +should go to be present at all those priests' ceremonies, for nothing +is more tiresome. Perhaps some people go for the thirty thousand +_dames galantes_ who are said to be there; but those who like such +merchandise have only to come to France, where they will find them in +abundance. Those who want to repent of their sins need not go to Rome; +to repent sincerely in their own homes is quite as profitable. Here no +one cares about Rome or the pope; they are quite convinced they can +get to heaven without him. + +I seldom see Monsieur here [Marly]; we do not dine together; he plays +cards all day, and at night we are each in our own room. Monsieur +has the weakness to think that when he is overlooked at cards he has +ill-luck; so I never assist at his games. He has frightened us very +much by having a quartan fever; this is the day it is due to return, +but, thanks to God, he feels nothing of it yet, and he is in the +salon, playing cards. + +All letters entering or leaving France are opened; I know that very +well, but it does not trouble me; I continue to write what comes into +my head. + + + _To Madame de Maintenon._ + + SAINT-CLOUD, June 15, 1701.[4] + +If I had not had fever and great agitation, Madame, from the sad +employment of yesterday in opening the caskets of Monsieur's papers, +scented with the most violent perfumes, you would have heard from +me earlier; but I can no longer delay expressing to you how touched +I am by the favours that the king did yesterday to my son, and the +manner in which he has treated both him and myself; and as all this +is the result of your good counsels, Madame, be pleased to allow me +to express my sense of it and to assure you that I shall keep, very +inviolably, the promise of friendship which I made to you; I beg +you to continue to me your counsels and advice, and not to doubt a +gratitude which can end only with my life. + + + _To Louise, Comtesse Palatine._ + + VERSAILLES, July 15, 1701. + +My health is still much weakened; this is the first time for eight +days that the fever has left me. Since the blow that struck me I have +had eighteen paroxysms of fever, and I thought it was the will of God +to end my sad life; but it was not so. I am left with great lassitude +and weakness of the legs, which I attribute to the shock of Monsieur's +death; they continued to tremble for twenty-four hours as if from a +violent attack of fever. Nothing could have been more dreadful than +what I witnessed. At nine o'clock in the evening Monsieur left my +room, gay and laughing; at half-past ten they called me, and I found +him almost unconscious; but he recognized me and said a few words +with much difficulty. I stayed the whole night beside him, and the +next morning at six o'clock, when there was no longer any hope, they +carried me away unconscious. + +I am grateful to you for the share you take in my misfortune, which +is dreadful, and I thank you with all my heart. I beg you to let the +Queen-dowager of Denmark know how much I am touched that her Majesty +has remembered me in my trouble. + +I have need to find, in my sad situation, something to divert my +thoughts; everything is forbidden to me at present except walking; my +greatest comfort is the kindness of the king, of which he continues to +give me many proofs. He comes to see me and takes me to walk with him. +Saturday was the day when Monsieur was interred, and though I was not +present, I wept much, as you can well imagine. + +I have every reason to rejoice in the king's favour, and so has my +son, whom the king has made a very great seigneur. I am well pleased +for him; we live happily together; he is a good lad with very good +feelings. + + + October, 1701. + +My health is now perfect, and to keep it so I drive out as much as I +can. All the others hunt daily with the king, and go twice a week to +the theatre. I am deprived of those things, as you know, and between +ourselves, it is not a little privation to be obliged to forego those +two amusements. I walk out often on foot and go a good three miles +in the forest; that disperses the melancholy that would otherwise +crush me; especially when I hear talk about public affairs of which +I had previously never heard a word in all my life. I should be very +fortunate if I could understand them as you do, but I never could, +and at fifty one is too old to begin to learn; I should only make +myself as annoying and irritating as a bed-bug. Apropos of bed-bugs, +they nearly ate up the little Queen of Spain on her passage up the +Mediterranean in the Spanish galleys. Her people were obliged to sit +up with her all night. She arrived a few days ago at Toulon, and went +from there by land to Barcelona because, so she wrote me, she could +not endure the sea any longer. I would not be in her place; to be a +queen is painful in any country, but to be Queen of Spain is worst of +all. + +I must acknowledge that the death of King James has made me very sad; +his widow is in a situation to melt a heart of rock. The good king +died with a firmness I cannot describe, and with as much tranquillity +as if he were going to sleep. The evening before his death he said: "I +forgive my daughter with all my heart for the harm she did me; and I +pray God to pardon her, and also the Prince of Orange and all my other +enemies." The Queen of England cannot be consoled for the death of +her husband, though she bears her sorrow with Christian resignation. +I have nothing new to tell you; I walk and read and write; sometimes +the king drives me to the hunt in his calèche. There are hunts every +day; Sundays and Wednesdays are my son's days; the king hunts Mondays +and Thursdays; Wednesdays and Saturdays Monseigneur hunts the wolf; +M. le Comte de Toulouse, Mondays and Wednesdays; the Duc du Maine, +Tuesdays; and M. le Duc, Fridays. They say if all the hunting kennels +were united there would be from 900 to 1000 dogs. Twice a week there +is a comedy. But you know, of course, that I go nowhere; which vexes +me, for I must own that the theatre is the greatest amusement I have +in the world, and the only pleasure that remains to me. + +You are wrong in supposing that I have ceased to read the Bible; I +read three chapters every morning. You ought not to imagine that +French Catholics are as silly as German Catholics; it is quite another +thing,--one might almost say it is another religion. Any one reads +Holy Scripture who chooses. Nobody here thinks the pope infallible, +and when he excommunicated Lavardin in Rome everybody laughed and +never dreamed of a pilgrimage. There is as much difference in France +from the Catholic of Germany as there is from those of Italy and Spain. + +Those who wish to serve God in truth and according to His word should +read Holy Scripture every day; otherwise we sit in darkness. I am +persuaded that good religion is founded on the word of God, and +consists in having Jesus Christ in the heart; all the rest is only the +prating of priests. Of whatever religion we be, it is only by works +that true faith is shown, and only by them can it be judged who does +right. To love God and our neighbour is the law and the prophets, as +our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us. + +I heard yesterday, through a letter from my aunt, the Electress of +Brunswick, of the death of our poor Charles-Maurice. I am sincerely +afflicted by it, and I pity you from the bottom of my heart. If +Charles-Maurice had not loved wine so much he would have been a +perfect philosopher. He has paid dear for his fault, for I am sure +that drunkenness shortened his life; he could not keep from drinking, +and he burnt up his body. + +If the Court of France was what it used to be one might learn here +how to behave in society; but--excepting the king and Monsieur--no +one any longer knows what politeness is. The young men think only of +horrible debauchery. I do not advise any one to send their children +here; for instead of learning good things, they will only take lessons +in misconduct. You are right in blaming Germans who send their sons +to France; how I wish that you and I were men and could go to the +wars!--but that's a completely useless wish to have. The higher one's +position in life the more polite we ought to be in order to set a good +example to others. It is impossible to be more polite than the king; +but his children and grandchildren are not so at all. If I could with +propriety return to Germany you would see me there quickly. I love +that country; I think it more agreeable than all others, because there +is less of luxury that I do not care for, and more of the frankness +and integrity which I seek. But, be it said between ourselves, I was +placed here against my will, and here I must stay till I die. There +is no likelihood that we shall see each other again in this life; and +what will become of us after that God only knows. + + + VERSAILLES, 1704. + +There are very few women here who are not coquettes by nature; it +is excessively rare to meet any. Before God that is perhaps very +reprehensible, but before men it is thought a fair game. The coquettes +flatter themselves that, our Lord having shown in Holy Scripture so +much charity for persons of their stripe, he will certainly have +compassion for them; the cases of Mary Magdalen, of the Samaritan +woman, and of the woman taken in adultery make them easy in mind. You +must not think that they ever tire of coquetry; they cannot do without +it, so to speak, and they never get tired of it. Drunkenness is but +too much the fashion among the young women; but just now they are all +in a state of complete satisfaction. Nothing is thought of but how to +amuse the Duchesse de Bourgogne with collations, presents, fireworks, +and other rejoicings: + +I have not been able to perform the good work of keeping fast this +Lent. I cannot endure fish, and I am quite convinced that we can do +better works than spoiling our stomachs by eating too much of it. + +Are you simple enough to believe that Catholics have none of the true +foundations of Christianity? Believe me, the aim of Christianity is +the same in all Christians; the differences that we see are only +priests' jargon, which does not concern honest men. What does concern +us is to live well as Christians, to be merciful, and to apply +ourselves to charity and virtue. Preachers ought to recommend all that +to Christians, and not squabble as they do over quantities of points, +as if they understood them; but this, of course, would diminish +the authority of those gentlemen, and so they busy themselves with +disputes, and not with what is more necessary and most essential. + +I have in no way approved of the ill-treatment of the Reformers; but +as to that, one must blame politics, which is a subject to be treated +of _tête-à-tête_ and not touched upon by way of the post. I shall +therefore follow your good example and write of something else. + +The jubilee bull has not converted all the abbés, for there are +still a goodly number of them in Paris who court the women. I never +in my life could understand how any one could fall in love with an +ecclesiastic. Neither you nor your sister are coquettes; I can truly +say I recognize my blood. What prevents one here from contracting +sincere friendships is that one can never be sure of reciprocity; +there is so much egotism and duplicity. And so one must either live in +a very sad and wearisome solitude, or resign one's self to many griefs. + + + VERSAILLES, 1705. + +I was never scolded for sleeping in church, and so I have acquired a +habit of it which I cannot get rid of. In the mornings I do not go to +sleep; but in the evenings, after dinner, it is impossible for me to +keep awake. I never sleep at the theatre, but I do, very often, at the +opera. I believe the devil cares very little whether I sleep or not in +church; sleep is not a sin, but the result of human weakness. I see +you are too devout to go to the theatre on Sunday; but I think that +visiting is more dangerous than the theatre; for it is difficult in a +visit not to say harm of your neighbour, which is a much worse sin +than seeing a comedy. I should never approve of going to the theatre +instead of going to church; but after having fulfilled one's duties to +God, I think the theatre is less dangerous for a scrupulous conscience +than conversation. + +Many Frenchwomen, especially those who have been coquettish and +debauched, as soon as they grow old and can no longer have lovers, +make themselves devout--or, at least, they say they are. Usually such +women are very dangerous; they are envious and cannot endure others. +But I must stop, my dear Louise; I am sweating in a terrible way. +The heat is extraordinary; it is two months since a drop of rain has +fallen, and the leaves are frying on the trees. + +I know very well what it is to be exposed in hunting to a burning sun; +many a time I have stayed with the hounds from early morning till five +in the evening, and in summer till nine at night. I come in red as +a lobster, with my face all burned; that is why my skin is so rough +and brown. No one pays any attention here to the dust; I have seen +in travelling such clouds of it that we could not see each other in +the coach, and yet the king never ordered the horsemen to keep back. +The good night air does no one any harm; at Marly I often walk out by +moonlight. + + + VERSAILLES, 1706. + +Amélie [another sister, Comtesse Palatine] writes me that she has +answered the king of Prussia, and makes many jokes about it. I would +reply to her in the same tone, but since the day before yesterday I +have lost all desire to laugh and joke. We received news that, the +orders of my son [with the army of Italy] not having been followed, +the lines before Turin have been forced; my son has two severe wounds: +one in the thigh, but a flesh wound only; the other through the right +arm, without the bone being broken. The surgeons assure us there is +no danger to life; God grant it! For two days I have done nothing but +weep; they tell me he is not in danger, but his sufferings grieve me; +my eyes are so swollen and red I cannot see out of them. + +The siege of Turin and the catastrophe that has ended it, almost +costing me the life of my son, makes me sigh more than ever for peace. +I have been so harassed for the last three days that I think I should +have lost my mind if the anxiety had lasted longer. I have constantly +said that they ought to make those two kings of Spain [she means +the claimants of the throne, Philippe V. and the Archduke Charles] +wrestle together, and whichever had the strongest wrist should win; +such a singular combat to settle the fate of a kingdom would be more +Christian than to shed the blood of so many men. + +We have here a species of pietists who are what they call quietists; +but they are much better than the pietists of Germany; they are not +so debauched. The King of Siam, when our king wanted to convert him +to Christianity, replied that he thought people could be saved in all +religions, and that God, who had willed that the leaves of the trees +should be of different colored greens, wished to be worshipped in +diverse manners; therefore the King of France ought to continue to +serve God in the way to which he was accustomed; while, for himself, +he should adore God in his way, and if God wished him to change He +would inspire him with the will to do so. I think that king was not +far wrong. I believe that a long time will elapse before the last +judgment; we have not yet seen Antichrist. + +I thank you for the medals you have sent me; but I should like to +receive those that are made against France. I already have the most +insulting,--those that were struck in the reign of King William. The +king and the ministers have them, therefore you need not hesitate to +send them to me on the first occasion.[5] + +I have received your letters from Heidelberg and Frankfort, and I +answered them; but my letters to you, dear Louise, are all in the +packet to my aunt which has been detained so long that we are nearly +crazy about it. But that is what the all-powerful dame and the +ministers succeed in--far better than they do in governing the kingdom. + + + VERSAILLES, 1709. + +Never in my life did I know so gloomy a period. The people are dying +of cold like flies. The mills are stopped, and that has forced many to +die of hunger. Yesterday they told me a sorrowful story about a woman +who stole a loaf of bread from a baker's shop in Paris. The baker +wanted to arrest her; she said, weeping, "If you knew my misery you +would not take the loaf away from me; I have three little children all +naked; they ask me for bread; I cannot bear it, and that is why I have +stolen the loaf." The commissary before whom they took the woman told +her to take him where she lived; he went there, and found the three +little children sitting in a corner under a heap of rags, trembling +with cold as if they had the ague. "Where is your father?" he asked +the eldest. The child answered, "Behind the door." The commissary +looked to see why the father was hiding behind the door, and recoiled +with horror--the man had hung himself in despair. Such things are +happening daily. + +I am very much deserted here, for every one, young and old, runs after +favour. The Maintenon cannot endure me, and the Duchesse de Bourgogne +likes only what that lady likes. I have done my best to conciliate +that all-powerful person, but I cannot succeed in doing so. So I am +excluded from everything, and I never see the king except at supper. +I can only act according to the will of others. I was less bound when +Monsieur was living. I dare not sleep away from Versailles without the +king's permission. It is not wrong, therefore, that I should wish to +be with you in our dear Palatinate; but God does not will that here +below we should be fully satisfied. You and Amélie are free, but your +health is bad; I am lonely, but my health, thank God, is perfect. + +You are mistaken if you think that no lamentations are heard here; +night and day we hear of nothing else; the famine is so great that +children have eaten each other. The king is so determined to continue +the war that yesterday he gave up his gold service and now uses +porcelain; he has sent every gold thing he has to the mint to be +turned into coin. + +All that one sees and hears is dreadful; we are living in a very fatal +epoch. If one leaves the house one is followed by a crowd of poor +creatures who cry famine; all payments are made in notes; there is no +coin anywhere; all one's contentment is destroyed till better days +appear. + +The old lady who is here in such great favour hates me; I have done my +best to obtain her good will, but I cannot succeed; she has vowed to +me and to my son an implacable hatred. One must do what is reasonable +and walk a straight path: God will see to it all. + +But that all-powerful lady has always been against me. In the days of +Monsieur his favourites feared that I should tell the king how they +pillaged Monsieur, and how they troubled me with their profligate +lives, and so they wished to get that lady on their side; and to +do so, they told her they knew her life, and that if she was not +for them, they would tell all to the king.[6] (I knew from the lady +herself that a union existed between them, but she did not tell me its +cause, which I learned from a friend of the Chevalier de Lorraine.) +She has persecuted me all her life, and she does not trust a hair of +my head because she thinks me as vindictive as she is herself--which +I am not--and so she tries to keep me away from the king. There is +another reason besides: the affection that she has for the Duchesse +de Bourgogne. As she knows very well that the king, whom I love and +respect much, has no antipathy to me, and that my natural humour +does not displease him, she is afraid that he might prefer a woman +of my age to so young a princess as the Duchesse de Bourgogne; and +that is one reason why she wants to keep me away from the king--which +she takes every possible means to do, so that there is no chance of +changing matters. + + + MARLY, 1709. + +I wish you could be with us here, just to see how beautiful the +gardens are; but one ought to be able to walk about them with kind +and agreeable people, and not with persons who hate and despise one +another mutually,--sentiments that are met with here more frequently +than those of friendship. Last Wednesday I went to Paris; every +one was in alarm about the bread-famine. As I was going to the +Palais-Royal, the people called out to me: "There is a riot; forty +persons are killed already." An hour later the Maréchal de Boufflers +and the Duc de Grammont had appeased it all; we went tranquilly to the +opera and returned to Versailles on Saturday. + + + VERSAILLES, June, 1710. + +I have to inform you of the marriage of my grand-daughter +[Marie-Louise-Élisabeth] to the Duc de Berry. Monday, the king came +to my room at Marly and announced to me that he should declare it +publicly the next day. I had been told of it the night before, with an +express injunction not to breathe it to a living soul. Tuesday I went +to Saint-Cloud to congratulate the princess; Wednesday she came to +Marly; her mother and I presented her to the king, who kissed her and +presented her to her future husband. She will be fifteen in August, +and she is already two inches taller than I. The dispensations from +Rome have been sent for, and as soon as they arrive the marriage will +take place. I own it causes me a most sincere joy. + + + VERSAILLES, July, 1710. + +This afternoon at five o'clock the contract will be signed in the +king's cabinet, and the marriage will take place on the 11th, in +the morning, without any pomp; but at night there is to be a grand +reception and supper, with the king, of all the royal family. It is a +very queer history how this marriage was brought about; but it cannot +be written _by post_; it is to hatred rather than attachment that we +owe it; but, at any rate, this marriage is better assorted than that +of the Landgrave of Homburg, for the husband is nine years older than +the wife, which is much better than when the wife is older than the +husband. + + + MARLY, April, 1711. + +We have just met with a great misfortune. Monsieur le dauphin +[Monseigneur] died on Friday, at eleven o'clock in the evening, just +as they thought him out of danger. He first had a putrid fever, +which changed into small-pox, to which he succumbed. The king spent +the night with him, but forbade us to go there. I went to see +Monseigneur's children and found them in a state that would have +melted the heart of stones.[7] The king is extremely affected, but he +shows a firmness and a submission to the will of God which I cannot +express. He speaks to every one, and gives orders with resignation. +What consoles him is that Monseigneur's confessor assures him that +his conscience was in a very satisfactory state; he had taken the +communion at Easter and he died in very religious sentiments. The king +expresses himself in such a Christian way that it goes to my heart, +and I cried all day long yesterday. + + + VERSAILLES, May, 1711. + +I am unworthy to hear good sermons, for I cannot help sleeping; the +tones of the preachers' voices send me off at once. We are here in the +greatest grief. I have told you already how poor Monsieur le dauphin +died unexpectedly. His illness was dreadful. The Duchesse de Villeroy +only spoke to her husband, who had been in the dauphin's room at +Meudon, and she was infected and died of it. + +The king is a good Christian, but very ignorant in matters of +religion. He has never in his life read the Bible; he believes all the +priests and the canting bigots tell him; it is therefore no wonder +he goes astray. They tell him he must act in such and such a way; he +knows no better, and thinks he will be damned if he listens to other +advice than that of his regular counsellors. + +The dauphin was not without intelligence; he was quick to seize on +all absurdities, his own as well as those of others. He could relate +things very amusingly when he chose, but his laziness was such that +it made him neglect everything. He would much have preferred an +indolent life to the possession of all empires and kingdoms. In his +life he never opposed the king's wishes, and he was as submissive as +anybody to the Maintenon. Those who assert that he would have retired +from Court had the king announced his marriage to the _guenipe_ did +not know him; he had himself a villanous _guenipe_ for mistress, whom +it was thought he had married secretly; her name was Mlle. Choin; +she is still in Paris. What prevented the old Maintenon from being +declared queen were the good reasons given against it to the king +by the Archbishop of Cambrai, M. de Fénelon; and that is why she +persecuted that good and respectable prelate till his death. + + + VERSAILLES, June, 1712. + +I thank you for the share you take in my grief on account of the death +of the great personages whom we have lost,[8] and also on account of +the frightful calumnies that are being spread about against my son, +who is innocent. The fabricators of those lies are confounded, and now +ask pardon: but was it not horrible to invent such tales? + +I cannot endure either tea, coffee, or chocolate; what would give me +pleasure is good beer-soup; but it cannot be procured here; beer in +France is worthless. + +I hoped that, the king having taken medicine yesterday, H. M. would +not hunt to-day, and that I should thus have time to write you a +reasonable letter; but the demon of contretemps, as they say here, has +come and put himself against it. We hunted this morning, and I did not +get back to dinner till mid-day; I have answered my aunt and written +her fourteen sheets, so now I have but little time left before supper. + +Happily for me I no longer like cards, for I am not rich enough to +risk my whole fortune as other people do, and I have no taste for +little stakes. Though I do not play, time does not seem long to me +when I am alone in my cabinet. I have quite a fine collection of gold +coins and medals; my aunt has given me others in silver and bronze; +I have two or three hundred engraved antique stones; also many brass +pieces which I like equally; I read with pleasure, and therefore I am +never bored, be the weather good or bad; I have always something to +do, and I write a great deal. When, in one day, I have written twenty +sheets to H. H. the Princess of Wales, ten or twelve to my daughter, +twenty in French to the Queen of Sicily [Anne-Marie, Monsieur's +daughter by Henrietta of England] I am so tired that I cannot put one +foot before the other. + + + MARLY, May, 1714. + +We have lost the poor Duc de Berry, who was only twenty-seven years +old, and was stout and so healthy he ought to have lived a hundred +years. He shortened his life by his own imprudences--but I don't want +to talk of such sad matters; it makes me sick at heart and does no +good. + +It is a good thing for me that he had ceased for several years to +love me, otherwise I could not be comforted for his loss. I own that +at first, and even for some days afterwards, I was greatly moved; but +having reflected that if I had died he would only have laughed, I +consoled myself promptly. + + + July, 1714. + +I cannot express the grief into which I am plunged by the death of my +aunt [Sophia, Electress of Hanover, mother of George I. of England, +who had brought Madame up, being the sister of her father]; and I +have, besides, the misery of being forced to suppress my sorrow, +because the king cannot endure to see sad faces round him; I am +obliged therefore to hunt as usual. + + + + + II. + + LETTERS OF 1714-1716. + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, 1714. + +We are here since yesterday; having slept at the house of the Duc +d'Antin, called Petit-Bourg, a charming residence; the gardens, +especially, are magnificent. I did not come with the king, because +two days before leaving Versailles I caught a bad cold in my head +accompanied by a terrible cough, and I feared to disgust the king and +make the young people laugh by spitting and blowing my nose; so I came +in my own carriage with my ladies and dogs. Yesterday they hunted, but +I could not go; it used to be great pain to me to lose a hunt, but now +I do not care. + +[Illustration: A Hunt at Fontainebleau] + +You think my life is spent in pleasure-parties and amusements; to +undeceive you I will tell you just how my existence is regulated. +Usually I get up at nine o'clock; I go where you can guess; next, +I say my prayers and read three chapters in the Bible, one in the +Old Testament, one in the New, and a psalm; then I dress myself and +receive the visits of many of the Court people; at eleven I return to +my cabinet, where I read and write. At twelve I go to church; after +which I dine alone, which amuses me very little, for I think there is +nothing so tiresome as to be alone at table, surrounded by servants +who look at everything you put in your mouth; and besides, though I +have been here forty-three years, I have not yet accustomed myself +to the detestable cooking of this country. After my dinner, which is +usually over by a quarter to two, I return to my cabinet and rest +half an hour, and then I read and write till it is time for the king's +supper; sometimes my ladies play _ombre_ or _brelan_ beside my table. +Madame d'Orléans or the Duchesse de Berry, or sometimes my son, comes +to see me between half-past nine and ten. At a quarter to eleven we +take our places at table and wait for the king, who sometimes does not +come till half-past eleven; we sup without saying a word; then we pass +into the king's room, where we stay about the length of a Pater; the +king makes a bow and retires into his cabinet; we follow him,--though +_I_ have only done so since the death of the last dauphine; the king +talks with us; at half-past twelve he says good-night, and all retire +to their own apartments; I go to bed; Mme. la Duchesse plays cards, +the game lasting all night till the next day. When there is comedy I +go to it at seven o'clock, and thence to the king's supper; when there +is hunting it is always at one o'clock; then I get up at eight and go +to church at eleven. + +I have seen Lord Peterborough twice; he said the oddest things; he has +got a mind like the devil, but a very strange head, and he talks in a +singular way. He said, in speaking of the two kings of Spain, "We are +great fools to let ourselves be killed for two such boobies." + +I am really vexed that that old and odious Duchesse de Zell should +still be living, whereas our dear electress is dead already. + +You probably have heard of the taking of Barcelona. I approve of the +people being faithful to a master so long as he shows himself worthy +of their affection; but when he abandons them it would be better not +to shed so much blood, and to submit peaceably. But those cursèd monks +are afraid they cannot live as they choose and be respected as much as +they have been under a king of France, and so they preached up and +down the streets that Barcelona must not be surrendered. If my advice +were followed they would put those rascals in the galleys, instead of +the poor Reformers who are languishing there. + + + October, 1714. + +This is, unhappily, the last letter that I shall write you from my +dear Fontainebleau; we leave Wednesday, and on Monday our last hunt +will take place in the beautiful forest. I feel that the fine air and +exercise do me much good; they disperse and drive away sad thoughts, +and nothing is so counter to my health as sadness. Last Thursday we +hunted a stag that was rather malicious; but one gentleman slipped +round a rock behind him and wounded him in the shoulder, so that not +being able to butt with his head he was no longer dangerous. Behind +my calèche was another carriage in which were three priests,--the +Archbishop of Lyons and two abbés; fearing to be attacked by the stag +two of them jumped out and flung themselves flat on their stomachs on +the ground. I am sorry I did not see that scene, which would have made +me laugh, for we old hunters are not so afraid of a stag. + +As for what concerns our king in England [George I.] I find it hard +to rejoice in his elevation, for I would not trust the English with a +hair of my head. I have seen recently what the fine talk of my Lord +Peterborough is worth. I wish that our elector, instead of becoming +King of England, had been made Roman Emperor, and that the King of +England who is here were in possession of the kingdom to which he has +a right. I fear that those English, who are so inconstant, will do +something before long which will not be to our liking. No one ever +became king in a more brilliant manner than King James, being crowned +amid cries of joy from the whole nation; yet his people persecuted him +so pitilessly that he could scarcely find a spot in which to rest +after countless sufferings. If one could only trust the English I +should say that it was well for the parliament to be over King George; +but when one reads about the revolutions of the English one sees +what eternal hatred they feel to kings, and also their inconstancy. +The English cannot endure each other; we saw that at the Court of +Saint-Germain; they lived there like cats and dogs. I never heard of +that philosopher Spinoza; was he a Spaniard? the name sounds Spanish. + +King George sent me word by M. Martini that as soon as he reached +England he should write to me and keep up a correspondence. Yesterday +M. Prior brought me a letter from the king, but it was written by a +secretary and not by his own hand. I should not have expected that +after the compliment by M. Martini; but I ought not to feel astonished +when I think what that king has always been to me--just the reverse of +his mother. Whatever happens, I shall ever remember that he is the son +of my aunt, and I shall wish him all sorts of prosperity, as I have +to-day written to him. The Princess of Wales grieves me; I esteem her +sincerely, for I find the best sentiments in her--a rare thing at the +present day. + + + VERSAILLES, 1715. + +Yesterday great news arrived about the Princesse des Ursins,--she who +has so long governed Spain, and who had gone to meet the new queen, +whose _camarera-mayor_ she expected to be. Her pride has ruined her; +she had written letters against the young queen, to whom they were +shown. When she went to meet the queen she would only go half-way down +the staircase; then she criticised her dress, and blamed her for being +so long upon the road, and said that if she had been in the king's +place she might have sent her back.[9] Thereupon the queen ordered an +officer of the body-guard to take that crazy woman out of her presence +and arrest her, and at the same time she sent a courier to the king, +making great complaints of the lady. The king answered that she could +do what she liked in the matter. So at eleven o'clock at night the +princess was put into a carriage with a single maid, lacqueys, and +guards, and orders were given to take her to France, which was done. + +I cannot pity her, for she has always persecuted my son in a horrible +manner; she persuaded the king and queen (the one that is dead) that +my son wanted to dethrone them and was conspiring against their lives; +which is so false that, do what she could, she was unable to justify +her accusations, no matter how slightly, in the eyes of the world. For +this reason I do not afflict myself at what has happened to her, and +that is natural. I am uneasy lest that malignant devil should come +here, for she would not fail to fling her poison on my son and on me, +from which may God preserve us! I will tell you later whatever happens +in regard to that old woman. + +We have just received the sad news of the death of the Archbishop of +Cambrai [Fénelon]. He is much regretted. He was a great friend to my +son. Also the good Maréchal de Chamilly, who was a very brave and +worthy man, died two days ago [The Marquis de Chamilly; to him were +addressed the famous "Portuguese Letters"]. + +There is nothing new here. Everybody is talking of the Persian +ambassador who made his entry yesterday, February 6, into Paris. He +is the oddest-looking being that was ever seen. He has brought a +soothsayer with him, whom he consults on all occasions to know if +days and hours are lucky or unlucky. If it is proposed to him to do +anything and the day does not prove to be a lucky one, he flies into a +fury, grinds his teeth, draws his sabre and his dagger, and wants to +exterminate everybody. But I am called to go to church and I cannot +tell you more just now. + + + April, 1715. + +To-day I am, as they say in our dear Palatinate, as cross as a +bed-bug; and I will give you one specimen. The king, wishing to reward +the Princesse des Ursins, who has behaved so horribly to my son, +trying to make him out a poisoner, has given her a pension of 40,000 +francs. There are two other things that have put me out of temper, +which are not worth more than that. Such injustices disgust one with +life; but we must hold our tongue and never say what we think. + +After dinner my grandson, the Duc de Chartres, came to see me, and +I gave him an entertainment suited to his years: it was a triumphal +car drawn by a big cat, in which was a little bitch named Andrienne; +a pigeon served as coachman, two others were the pages, and a dog +was the footman and sat behind. His name is Picard; and when the +lady got out of the carriage Picard let down the steps. The cat is +named Castille. Picard also allows himself to be saddled; we put a +doll on his back and he does all that a circus horse would do. I have +also a bitch, whom I call Badine, who knows the cards and will bring +whichever I tell her--but enough of such nonsense. + +England certainly owes much to the Duchess of Portsmouth. She is the +best woman of that class that I ever saw in my life; she is extremely +polite and is very agreeable company. In the days of Monsieur we often +had her at Saint-Cloud; so I know her very well. + +You cannot be surprised, my dear Louise, if I often have reason to be +sad; for you must have read the long letter I sent to my aunt, our +dear electress, by the hands of M. de Wersebé. The rancour that the +_vilaine_ has against me will end only with her life; all that she can +imagine to do me harm and grieve me she never omits. She is more angry +with me now than ever because I would not see her great friend whom +the Queen of Spain dismissed. My son had begged me not to see her, +because she has a furious enmity against him and tried to make him +out a poisoner. He has not been contented with proving his innocence; +he has insisted that all the documents of the inquiry should be taken +to Parliament and preserved there. It is therefore very natural that +I should refuse to see such a woman; but the _vilaine_ is angry--for +like meets like, as the devil said to the coal-heaver. So I must take +patience, and not look as if I resented the wrongs done to us. + +This morning, as I was washing my hands, my son came into my room and +made me a very fine present. He gave me seventeen antique gold coins, +as fresh as if they had just come out of the mint. They were found +near Modena, as you may have read in the Holland Gazette; he had them +secretly carried to Rome. This attention on his part has given me the +greatest pleasure,--not so much for the value of the present as for +the attention. + +As soon as I return to Versailles I will have a copy made of my +portrait by Rigaud, who has seized my likeness in a wonderful manner; +you will then see, my dear Louise, how old I have grown. + + + VERSAILLES, August 15th, 1715. + +Our king is not well, and that worries me to the point of being half +ill myself; I have lost both sleep and appetite. God grant I be +mistaken, for if what I fear should happen it would be the greatest +misfortune I could meet with. Were I to explain to you all that, you +would see; it is so abominable that I cannot think of it without +becoming goose-flesh. Say nothing to any one in England of what I have +now said to you, but I am very anxious about it. + +Mme. de Maintenon has not been ill; she is fresh and in good health; +would to God that our king were as well, and then I should be less +troubled than I am. + + + August 27th. + +MY DEAR LOUISE,--I am so troubled that I do not know any longer what +I do or what I say; and yet I must answer your kind letter as best +I can. I must first tell you we had yesterday the saddest and most +touching scene that can be imagined. The king, after preparing himself +for death, after having received the sacraments, had the dauphin +brought to him, gave him his benediction, and talked to him. He sent +for me next, also for the Duchesse de Berry and all his daughters and +grandchildren. He bade me farewell in words so tender that I wonder I +did not fall down senseless. He assured me that he had always loved +me and more than I knew, and that he regretted to have sometimes +caused me grief. He asked me to remember him sometimes, adding that +he thought I should do so willingly, for he was certain I had always +loved him. He said also that he gave me his blessing and offered +prayers for the happiness of my whole life. I threw myself on my knees +and, taking his hand, I kissed it. He embraced me and then he spoke to +the others. He told them that he urged harmony among them. I thought +he said that to me, and I answered that for that object as for all +else I would obey him as long as I lived. He smiled and said: "It is +not for you that I said that; I know you do not need such urging; I +said it for the other princesses." + +You can believe in what a state all this has put me. The king has +shown a firmness beyond all expression; he gave his orders as if about +to start on a journey. He said farewell to all his servants, and +recommended them to my son, and made him regent, with a tenderness +that penetrated the soul through and through. I think I shall be the +next person in the royal family to follow the king if he dies; in the +first place, on account of my advanced age, and next because as soon +as the king is dead they are going to take the young king to Vincennes +and we shall all go to Paris, where the air is so very bad for me. +I shall have to stay there in mourning, deprived of fresh air and +exercise, and, according to all appearance, I shall fall ill. It is +not true that Mme. de Maintenon is dead. She is in perfect health in +the king's chamber, which she never leaves either day or night. + +If the king dies, and there is no means of doubting it, it will be +to me a misfortune of which you can form no just idea; and that +because of certain reasons which must not be written down. I see +nothing before me but misery and wretchedness. Residence in Paris is +intolerable to me. + + + September 6th. + +It is long since I have written to you, but it was impossible I should +do so. The king died Sunday last, at nine o'clock in the morning. You +can believe that I have had many visits to make and receive, and that +I have received and written many letters. I am extremely troubled +both by the loss of the king and by the fact that I must go and live +in that cursèd Paris. If I spend a year there I shall be horribly +ill; for that reason I want to quit it as soon as I can and go to +Saint-Cloud. All this worries me much, but complaining does no good. +I am very frank and very natural, and I say out all that I have in my +heart. I must tell you that it is a great consolation to me to see +the whole people, the troops and parliament rallying to my son and +publicly proclaiming him regent. His enemies, who plotted round the +death-bed of the king, are now disconcerted, and their cabal has lost +ground. But my son takes these matters so much to heart that he has no +rest either day or night; I fear he may fall ill, and many sad ideas +come into my head, but I must not tell them. + +My son has pronounced a speech in Parliament and they tell me he did +not speak badly. The young king is very delicate; the ministers who +governed under the late king keep their places, and as there is no +doubt that they are quite as curious as they ever were, letters will +continue to be opened. It is quite impossible that I should keep my +health in Paris, for what preserved it was fresh air and exercise, +hunting, and walking. But I ought to learn to resign myself to the +will of God; the frightful wickedness and falseness of this world +disgust me with life; I cannot hope to make the people love me--I am +called to sit down to table, so I cannot read over my letter; excuse +its faults. + + + PARIS, September 10th, 1715. + +Here we are in this sad town. Last night I spent in weeping, and have +given myself a bad headache. My son has given me a new apartment which +is, beyond comparison, much superior to the old one; but I am always +uncomfortable here. This morning I began to write, but could only +accomplish a few lines, I have such a fearful crowd of people about +me, and my head aches so that I know not what I write or what I do. +Yesterday they took the late king to Saint-Denis. The royal household +is dispersed; the young king was taken yesterday to Vincennes; Mme. de +Berry went to Saint-Cloud; my son's wife and I came here; and my son +came too, after accompanying the king to Vincennes; I don't know where +the others have gone. + +I am not surprised, my dear Louise, that the king's death touched your +heart; but what I wrote you was nothing to what we saw and heard. +The king, of himself, was kind and just. But the old woman ruled him +so completely that he did nothing except by her will and that of the +ministers; he had no confidence in any but her and his confessor; and +as the good king was very little educated, the Jesuits and the old +woman on one side, and the ministers on the other, made him, between +them, do exactly as they pleased,--the ministers being, for the most +part, creatures of the old _vilaine_. So I can say with truth that all +the evil that was done was not the king's own act; he was misled and +imposed upon. + +Yesterday they took the young king to parliament for his first _lit de +justice_. The regency of my son was enregistered; so now it is a sure +and certain thing. + +I know that my son wants me to find pleasure in living here; but it +is not in his power to make it so. I wish I could have a fever; for I +have promised not to leave Paris unless I am ill, and headaches, which +I am sure to have as long as I am here, will not count; but as soon as +I have a fever I can return to my dear Saint-Cloud. My son has many +other things to do than to think of my pleasures and conveniences. +He greatly needs that we should pray to God for him; he seems to me +resolved to follow the king's last orders and live in amity with his +relations. I think that anything he directs himself will go well; but +many things must, necessarily, escape his direction. To show that he +does not wish to govern without other law than his own caprice, he +has already created various councils,--one for civil affairs, one for +ecclesiastical matters; there is also a council for foreign affairs, +and for war. He can do nothing but what has already been decided +upon in those councils; it is difficult to believe that the council +on ecclesiastical matters, which is composed of priests, will be +favourable to the Reformers. I am quite determined not to meddle in +anything. France has too long, to its sorrow, been governed by women; +I will not, so far as concerns me, give a handle to any one to lay +that blame on my son; and I hope that my example may open his eyes, +and that he will not allow himself to be ruled by any woman. + +Saint-Cloud is to me a spot of enchantment; and with good reason, for +there is not in the world a more delightful residence. But if I had +gone there, as I wished, all Paris would have detested me, and out +of consideration for my son, I was bound to abstain from going. Do +not think, dear Louise, that the king's death has rendered me, as I +desired, freer in my actions; we are forced to live according to the +customs of the country, and are in no wise masters of our own conduct. +In my situation, one is truly the victim of greatness, and one must +be resigned to do that for which we have no inclination. Do not be +grateful to me for writing to you in the midst of my troubles; nothing +soothes the heart so much as to tell our griefs to those we love, who +give to our afflictions a real sympathy. + +It is true that everybody thought the king dead when Mme. de +Maintenon left him; but he had only lost consciousness for a time, +and afterwards recovered it. I do not want to say anything more about +these sad matters, which affect me cruelly. The king showed the +greatest firmness up to his last moment. He said to Mme. de Maintenon, +smiling: "I have always heard it said that it was difficult to die; I +assure you that I find it very easy." He remained twenty-four hours +without speaking to any one; but during that time he prayed and +repeated constantly: "My God, have pity upon me; Lord, I am waiting to +appear before you; why do you not take me, my God?" He then repeated +with much fervour the Lord's prayer and the Creed, and he died +recommending his soul to God. + + + September 17th, 1715. + +Parliament has recognized my son's rights to the regency, rights which +his birth bestowed upon him indisputably. The king had told him he had +made a will in which he would find nothing to complain of; and yet +that will is found to be wholly in favour of the Duc du Maine; it is +not therefore difficult to divine who dictated it--but do not let us +talk of it. + +My son has too often heard me speak of you not to know you and +appreciate you, and he bids me offer you his affectionate compliments. +The duties with which he is charged are far from easy; he finds +everything left in a very miserable state; time is necessary to +repair the situation; nothing presents itself that is not care and +trouble, and for my son, as for me, the future does not appear under +flattering colours. More than forty placards attacking him have been +posted in Paris, and the dukes and peers are caballing against him in +Parliament; but my son is so beloved by the people and the troops that +his enemies are having their trouble for their pains, and all they get +is the shame of it. I admit, however, that I am very uneasy in seeing +him the target of so much animosity. + +Ah! my dear Louise, you do not know this country. They laud my son to +the skies, but only for the purpose, each man for himself, of getting +some profit from it; fifty persons want the same office, and as it +can only be given to one, forty-nine malcontents are made, who become +rabid enemies. My son works so hard from six in the morning till +midnight that I fear his health will suffer. + + + October, 1715. + +I have been to Saint-Cloud while the Duchesse de Berry came here. +Between ourselves, I wish to have nothing to do with her; we do not +sympathize. I live politely with her, as I would with a stranger, but +I do not see her often, and I will not concern myself with anything +that she does, or that her mother and her sisters do; I busy myself +about my own affairs. The Court is not what it is in Germany, and no +longer what it was in the days of Monsieur, when we dined together, +and all of us met every evening in the state salons. In these days we +live apart; my son takes his meals alone; I the same; his wife the +same; she is so lazy she is never able to resolve at a given moment to +do the slightest thing; she lies on a sofa all day, and Mme. de Berry +follows that example at the Luxembourg; so you see, my dear Louise, +that there cannot be any Court. Ah! you do not know the French; as +long as they hope to obtain what they want they are charming; but out +of fifty aspirants, forty-nine enemies are made, who cabal and play +the devil. I know the Court and State too well to rejoice for a moment +that my son is regent. + +I have kept the word I gave you, and have earnestly entreated for the +poor Reformers who are at the galleys; I have obtained a promise--but +just now _No_ is said to none. I do not know what my son may have said +to Lord Stair about the Reformers, but I can assure you that when I +spoke to him he gave me good hope, saying at the same time that there +were very strong reasons which prevented him from doing the thing +promptly. + +In the days of Cardinal Mazarin they wrote horrible books against +him. He appeared much irritated, and sent for all the copies as if +he intended to burn them up. When he had got them all he sold them +secretly and made ten thousand crowns out of them. Then he laughed and +said: "The French are pretty fellows; as long as I let them sing and +write, they will let me do just as I choose." + +Mme. de Maintenon is at Saint-Cyr, in the institution which she +founded herself. She was never the king's mistress, but something much +higher. She was governess to Mme. de Montespan's children, and from +that she got a footing in salons, but she went much farther. The devil +in hell cannot be worse than she has been; her ambition has flung all +France into wretchedness. La Fontanges was a good girl; I knew her +well; she was one of my maids-of-honour, handsome from head to foot, +but she had no judgment. + +I think that many people will declare themselves against King George, +for the Chevalier de Saint-George has gone to Scotland. They told me +to-night the details of his departure. He was at Commercy with the +Prince de Vaudemont and was hunting a stag. After the hunt they sat at +supper till midnight. On retiring to his chamber he said he was tired, +and told his servants to let him sleep till he called them. Two hours +after noon, as he gave no sign of life, his servants were frightened; +entering his apartment and not finding him in his bed, they ran in +terror with the news to the Prince de Vaudemont. The latter behaved as +if he knew nothing, and said that a search must be made immediately. +At the end of an hour the prince ordered all the portcullises +raised, so that no one was able to leave the château for three days. +During this time the chevalier reached Bretagne, and jumped into a +fishing-boat which took him out to a Scotch vessel in which there were +several lords, with whom he went to Scotland. If to-morrow I hear +anything new about this, and do not die in the course of the night, I +will tell you more. + +No one knows what will be the result of the affair, but I am pained +for both rivals. King George is the son of my dear aunt, the +electress, which makes him as dear to me as if he were my own child. +On the other hand the Pretender is also my relation; he is the best +man in the world; on all occasions he and the queen, his mother, have +shown me the greatest friendship. I cannot wish harm to either the one +or the other. + +I ought to tell you that it would be sovereignly unjust on the part +of Lord Stair to accuse my son of conniving in the flight of the +Chevalier. How could he know what happened at Commercy, or guess that +the Pretender was going incognito to Bretagne? My son did not know +it for a week; when he heard it the affair was over. The Chevalier +de Saint-George is the best and most polite man in the world. He +asked Lord Douglas: "What can I do to win the sympathy of my people?" +Douglas answered: "Embark, take a dozen Jesuits with you, and as soon +as you arrive, hang them publicly; nothing will please the people like +that." + +M. Leibnitz, to whom I sometimes write, assures me that I do not write +German badly; this has given me great pleasure, for I should not like +to forget my mother tongue. + +The third daughter of Mme. d'Orléans, Louise-Adélaïde, is well +brought up and is not ugly. She firmly persists in being a nun; but I +think she has no vocation for it. I do my best to turn her from the +notion; but she has always had this folly in her head. She has very +pretty hands and a skin that is naturally white and pink. + +Mme. d'Orléans has had six daughters. The first died when she was +two years old; the second is the Duchesse de Berry; the third is +seventeen, they call her Mlle. de Chartres, and it is she who wants to +be a nun; she is the prettiest of them all both in face and figure; +the fourth is Charlotte-Aglaé, Mlle. de Valois; she will be fifteen +in October. Then comes the Duc de Chartres, who is twelve in August. +The fifth girl, Louise-Élisabeth, Mlle. de Montpensier, who is in a +convent at Beauvais, was six on the eleventh of this month;[10] and +finally Mlle. de Beaujolais, who is only a year old; Mme. d'Orléans is +again pregnant. No one ever thought of marrying Mlle. de Chartres to +the Chevalier de Saint-George; it is true that it was rumoured about, +but the persons whom it concerned never thought of it. + +Mme. d'Orléans is not of my opinion as regards her daughters; she +would like to have them all nuns. She is not stupid enough to fancy +that that would take them to heaven; but she desires it from pure +laziness; for she is the laziest woman in the world, and she is +afraid, if she has them near her, of the trouble of bringing them up. +So she does not trouble herself about them; she lets them quarrel +and do what they like. All that is without my approbation; and they +must get out of it as they can. I am convinced that Mme. d'Orléans' +ailments and weaknesses come from the fact that she is always in bed +or on a sofa; she eats and drinks lying down. It is pure indolence in +her. That is why we cannot take our meals together. She has not spoken +to me since the death of the king. + +Mme. de Berry is red. When she wishes to please she ought to talk, for +she has natural eloquence. She keeps around her those who constantly +deceive her. I say nothing to her now; she has intelligence, but +has been very ill brought up. I no longer consider her as one of my +grandchildren; she goes her way, and I go mine; I do not concern +myself with her, nor she with me. + + + PARIS, 1716. + +There never were two brothers so different as the late king and +Monsieur; and yet they loved each other much. The king was tall +with fair hair, or rather a light-brown; he had a manly air and an +extremely fine face. Monsieur was not disagreeable in appearance, but +he was very small, his hair was black as jet, the eyebrows thick and +brown, with large dark eyes, a very long and rather narrow face, a +big nose, a very small mouth, and shocking teeth; he had the manners +of a woman rather than those of a man; he did not like either horses +or hunting; he cared for nothing but cards, holding a court, good +eating, dancing, and dressing himself; in a word, he took pleasure +in all that women like. The king loved hunting, music, the theatre; +Monsieur liked nothing but great assemblies and masked balls; the +king liked gallantry with women; but I do not believe that in all his +life Monsieur was ever in love. He was so fond of the sound of bells +that he always went to Paris to spend All Saints night expressly to +hear them ring as they do there the livelong night. He laughed about +it himself, but declared that ringing gave him the greatest pleasure. +I never let him go anywhere alone, except by his express orders. +Monsieur was very devout; but he was brave. The soldiers in the army +used to say of him: "He is more afraid of sun and dust than he is of +guns," and that was very true. The Chevalier de Lorraine was a wicked +man, but the rest of his dear friends were no better. Some years +before the late Monsieur's death he begged my forgiveness. + +My son has studied much, he has a good memory, he seizes everything +with facility. He does not resemble either his father or his mother. +Monsieur had a long, narrow face, whereas my son has a square one. His +walk is like that of Monsieur, and he makes the same motions with his +hands. Monsieur had a very small mouth and villanous teeth; my son +has a large mouth and beautiful teeth. He is too prejudiced in favour +of his own nation. Though he sees every day how false and deceitful +his compatriots are, he firmly believes there are no people on earth +to be compared with the French. + +I assure you that everything passed in all honour between my son and +the Queen of Spain. I do not know whether he had the good fortune to +please the queen, but he never was in love with her. He says she has +a good expression, and a fine figure, but that neither her features +nor her manners are to his taste. I certainly cannot deny that he is a +lover of women; but he has his caprices, and everybody does not please +him. The grand style suits him less than the dissipated, loose ways of +the opera-dancers. I often ridicule him for it. + +Our little king is now in the Tuileries in perfect health; he has +never been really ill; he is very lively, and does not keep in one +position for a single instant. To tell you the truth, he is very badly +brought up; they let him do just what he likes for fear of making +him ill. I am convinced that if they corrected him he would be less +quick-tempered; and they do him great harm by letting him follow his +caprices. But everybody wants to gain the good graces of a king, no +matter how young he is. + +Mme. la Duchesse learned from her mother and her aunt [Mmes. de +Montespan and de Thiange] to turn people into ridicule; they never did +anything else; everybody was a butt for their satire under pretext of +amusing the king. The children, who were always there, never knew or +heard aught else. It was a bad school, but not so dangerous as that +of the children's governess; for the latter went seriously to work, +without any intention of amusing, and told the king all sorts of evil +of everybody, under pretence of religion and charity and reforming the +neighbour. In this way the king was given a bad opinion of the whole +Court, and the old woman was able to prevent the king from liking +to be with any others than herself and her creatures--they were the +only perfect beings, exempt from all faults. This was really the more +perilous because _lettres de cachet_ sending persons to prison or +exile, followed on such denunciations,--things which Mme. de Montespan +never procured. When she had well laughed at any one she was satisfied +and went no further. + +Mme. la Duchesse has three charming daughters; one of them, Mlle. +de Clermont, is very beautiful, but I think her sister, the young +Princesse de Conti, is much more agreeable. The mother is not more +beautiful than her daughters, but she has more grace, a better +countenance, and more engaging ways; wit sparkles in her eyes, also +malice. I always say she is like a pretty cat which lets you feel +her claws even while she plays. She laughs at everybody; but is very +amusing, and turns things into ridicule in such a pleasant way that +you can't help laughing. She is very good company,--always gay, and +makes the liveliest sallies; she is very insinuating, and when she +wants to please a person she can take all shapes; in her life she +never was out of temper, and if she is false (as she really is) there +never was any one more agreeable; she knows how to adapt herself to +every one's humour, and you would think she had a genuine sympathy for +those to whom she shows it, but you must not trust her. + + + PARIS, 1716. + +Cardinal de Noailles is certainly a virtuous cardinal of great merit, +which all cardinals are not. We have four here, each different. Three +have this in common, that they are all as false as gibbet-wood, but +in face and temper they are quite different. Cardinal de Polignac is +well-bred; he has capacity; he is insinuating, his voice is soft; +he is too much given to politics and sycophancy, which makes him +commit the faults for which people blame him. Cardinal de Rohan has +a fine face, like his mother [Mme. de Soubise, one of Louis XIV.'s +mistresses], but he has no figure; he is vain as a peacock, full +of whims, intriguing, a slave to the Jesuits; he thinks he governs +everything, but really governs nothing; he believes that he is +without an equal in this world. Cardinal de Bissy is ugly; he has the +face of a clumsy peasant; he is proud, malignant, and false; more +dissimulating than any one imagines; a sickening flatterer, you see +his falseness in his eyes; he has capacity, but uses it only to do +harm. These three cardinals could put the Noailles in a sack and sell +him without his knowing it, as the proverb says; they are all three +far more shrewd than he. Bissy and Tartuffe are as like as two drops +of water; Bissy has just Tartuffe's manners. + +Wolves are going about in bands of eight and ten and attacking +travellers; the extreme severity of the cold is the reason of this; +it is causing great misfortunes. In Paris eight poor washerwomen were +at work on a boat; the ice cut the rope like a razor; the boat was +crushed into bits; one of the women had the presence of mind to jump +from one cake of ice to another, and they had time to throw her a rope +and save her; but all the others perished. The head of one was cut off +by the ice, and the body of another was cut through; that was an awful +thing, and what made it more terrible was that the woman was pregnant, +and when the ice cut her open the head of a child appeared. What can +be imagined more dreadful than that! + + + PARIS, 1716. + +I had completely won my husband during the last three years of his +life; I had brought him round to laugh with me at his weaknesses, and +to take what I said pleasantly without being irritated. He no longer +allowed any one to calumniate and attack me in his presence; he had a +just confidence in me; he always took my part. But previously to that +I had suffered horribly. I was just about to become happy when our +Lord God took away my poor husband, and I saw disappear in one instant +the result of all the cares and pains I had taken for thirty years to +make myself happy. I am subject to attacks of the spleen, and when +anything agitates me my left side swells up as big as a child's head. +I do not like to stay in bed; as soon as I wake I want to be up. + +Three or four years before Monsieur's death I had, to please him, +been reconciled with the Chevalier de Lorraine; after which he did +me no more harm. The chevalier died so poor that his friends had +to pay for his burial. He had, however, an income of three hundred +thousand crowns; but he was a bad manager, and his people robbed him. +As long as they gave him a thousand pistoles for his gambling and +debauchery he let them dissipate and pillage his property as they +chose. La Grançay contrived to get a great deal of money out of him. +He came to a dreadful end. He was sitting with Mme. de Maré, sister +of Mme. de Grançay, and was telling her how he had passed the night +in debauchery, relating the utmost horrors, when he was struck with +apoplexy, lost his speech at once, and never recovered consciousness. + +If I could have given my blood to prevent the marriage of my son +I would have done it; but after the thing was done I consulted +only concord. Monsieur felt much attachment to his daughter-in-law +during the first months, but after he imagined that she looked +with too favourable an eye on the Chevalier de Roye [Marquis de la +Rochefoucauld] he hated her like the devil. To prevent him from +bursting out I was obliged to represent to him daily with all my +strength that he would dishonour himself, and his son too, by making +a scene, which would lead to nothing but unhappiness with the king. +As no one had wished for that marriage less than I, my advice was +not suspicious; it was plain I spoke, not from attachment to my +daughter-in-law, but for the purpose of avoiding scandal and from love +of my son and his family. So long as an outburst could be prevented +the thing was at least doubtful to the eyes of the public; an opposite +behaviour would have given proof that it was true. + +I am now satisfied with Mme. d'Orléans; she shows me great respect, +and I, too, do my best to please her in everything, and I live with +her now as politely as possible. She never could resolve to dine +with the king, her father, therefore she cannot take that pains for +me. She is always lying down when she eats, with a little table and +her favourite, the Duchesse Sforza, beside her. At mid-day my son is +always with her. + + + PARIS, 1716. + +There is nothing surprising in the fact that the dauphin [the Duc de +Bourgogne] was in love with the dauphine. She had much intelligence +and was very agreeable when she chose to be. Her husband was devout +and rather melancholy in temperament, while she was always gay; that +served to animate him and disperse his gloom; and as he had a strong +liking for women (humpbacked persons always have), but was so pious +that he thought he committed a sin by looking at any other woman than +his wife, it is very simple that he was much in love with her. I have +seen him squint to make himself ugly when a lady told him he had +fine eyes; though it was not necessary, for the good soul was ugly +enough without endeavouring to make himself more so. He had a shocking +mouth, a sickly skin, was very short, humpbacked, and deformed. His +wife lived very well with him, but she did not love him; she saw him +as others did; and yet I think she was touched by the passion he had +for her; it is certain that no greater attachment could be than that +of the dauphin for his wife. He had many good qualities; he was very +charitable and helped great numbers of officers, though no one knew +it. At his birth the public rejoicings were universal. The dauphine +could make him believe whatever she liked; he was so in love with +her that whenever she looked favourably at him he went into ecstasy +and was quite beside himself. When the king scolded him he seemed so +distressed that the king was obliged to soften down. The old aunt +[Mme. de Maintenon] would also seem so troubled that the king had +enough to do to tranquillize her. In short, to get peace the king at +last left the old mistress to direct all such domestic matters, and no +longer concerned himself about them. + +Nangis, who commanded the king's regiment, was not displeasing to the +dauphine, but he had more liking for the little La Vrillière. The +dauphin was fond of Nangis, and thought it was to please him that his +wife talked to Nangis; he was convinced that his favourite had gallant +relations with Mme. de La Vrillière. + +My son is no longer a young man of twenty; he is forty-two, and +therefore they cannot pardon him in Paris for running after women +like a hare-brained youth when he has all the weighty affairs of the +kingdom on his hands. When the late king took possession of his crown +the kingdom was in a state of prosperity, and he could then very well +divert himself; but to-day it is not the same thing; my son must +work night and day to repair what the king, or rather, his faithless +ministers, ruined. + +I cannot deny that my son has a great inclination for women; he has +now a sultana-queen, named Mme. de Parabère. Her mother, Mme. de la +Vieuville, was lady of the bed-chamber to the Duchesse de Berry, and +that is where he made her acquaintance. She is now a widow, with a +fine figure, tall and well-made; her skin is dark and she does not +paint; she has a pretty mouth, and pretty eyes, but very little mind; +she is a fine bit of flesh. My son has become alarmingly delicate; he +cannot kneel down without dropping over from weakness. When he drinks +too much he does not use strong liquors, only champagne; he does not +care for any other wine. + + + PARIS, 1716. + +Cardinal de Richelieu, in spite of all his talent, used to have fits +of madness; he fancied sometimes he was a horse, and would gallop +round a billiard-table, neighing, and making a great noise for a hour, +and trying to kick his attendants. After that they would put him to +bed and cover him up to induce perspiration, and when he woke up he +had no recollection of what had happened. + +The late king used to say: "I own I am piqued when I see that with +all my authority as king over this country, I have complained in +vain against those tall head-dresses; for not one person has shown +the least desire to please me by lowering them. And yet a stranger +arrives, an English nobody, with a flat cap, and suddenly all the +princesses have gone from one extreme to the other." + +Mme. d'Orléans looks older than she is, for she puts on a great deal +of rouge, and her cheeks and nose are pendent; moreover the small-pox +has left her with a trembling of the head like that of an old woman. +She is so indolent she expects to have larks drop roasted into her +mouth, but as we do not live in a land where things are to be had for +the asking, that is past wishing for. She would like very well to +govern; but she does not understand true dignity, she is too badly +bred for that; she knows how to live as a simple duchess but not as a +grand-daughter of France. + +My son's intentions are always good and upright; if some things happen +that ought not to be, they are certain to be the doing of some one +else. He is too easy and is not sufficiently distrustful; consequently +he is often deceived; for wicked people know his kindness and abuse +it shamefully. It is a fact that my son has enough education to keep +him from ever being bored; he knows music well, and composes, not +badly; he paints very prettily; he understands several languages, and +he likes to read; he is well-informed about chemistry and comprehends +without trouble very difficult sciences. And yet, all that does not +keep him from being bored by everything. I have reason myself to be +satisfied with him. He lives very well with me and gives me no ground +to complain of him. He pays me much attention, and I know few persons +in whom he has more confidence than he has in me. + +In early days they always called me sister-pacificator, because I did +my best to keep the peace between Monsieur and his cousin la Grande +Mademoiselle, and also her sister, the Grand-duchess of Tuscany. They +quarrelled often, and like children, for the merest nonsense. Monsieur +was very jealous of his children; he kept them as much as he could +away from me; he let me have more authority over my daughter and the +Queen of Sicily than over my son; but he could not prevent me from +telling him plain truths. My daughter never in her life did anything +to cause me uneasiness. + +Monsieur did not like hunting. He never could bring himself to mount +a horse--except at the wars. He wrote so badly that he frequently +brought me the letters he had written to get me to read them to him, +saying with a laugh, "You are so accustomed to my writing, madame, do +read that to me, for I don't know what I said." We often laughed over +this with all our hearts. + +The Duc du Maine thought he could have married my daughter, but +certain merchants who were in Mme. de Montespan's apartment overheard +her speaking to Mme. de Maintenon of the marriage,--those ladies +thinking such common persons would not understand them. But the +merchants spoke up and said, "Mesdames, don't try that; it will cost +you your lives if you make that marriage." That prevented the thing; +for Mme. de Montespan was so frightened she went to the king and +begged him not to think of it any longer. + +The King of Denmark, Frederick IV., seems to me rather a fool; he +wants to pass himself off as being in love with my daughter; in +dancing he presses her hand and rolls his eyes up to heaven; he +began a minuet at one end of the hall and ought to have ended it at +the other, but he stopped in the middle to be told what to do. That +distressed me for him; so I rose, took him by the hand, and led him +back to his place; I think without that he would be still in the same +spot. The good soul does not know what is and what is not the thing to +do. + +The Pretender has been well received in Scotland and proclaimed king; +but I cannot tell you more, for we have very little news from England. +The Queen of England is so happy in hearing of her son's safe arrival +and good reception. The poor woman is not accustomed to rejoice; her +satisfaction has been so great that a fever which she had has passed +off. I know from a good source that the pope and the King of Spain +furnished the money for the Pretender. The pope gave thirty thousand +crowns, and the king three hundred thousand; as for my son, he did not +give a penny. + +Religion used to be very reasonable in France before the old _guenipe_ +reigned here; but she ruined everything and introduced all sorts of +silly devotions,--rosaries and such-like. If any persons wanted to +reason upon that matter she and the confessor sent them to prison or +exiled them. Those two caused all the persecutions that were levelled +in France against the poor Reformers and Lutherans. That Jesuit with +the long ears, Père La Chaise, began the work in union with the old +_guenipe_, and Père Tellier finished it; it was thus that France has +been utterly ruined. + +The old woman was implacable, and when she had once taken a dislike to +any one it was for life, and that person became the object of a secret +persecution that never ceased. I experienced this; she laid many +traps for me, which I escaped by the help of God. She was dreadfully +weary of her old husband, who was always in her room. Some persons +assert that she poisoned Mansard; they say she discovered that Mansard +intended that very day to show certain papers to the king which +would prove how she had made money from the post without the king's +knowledge. Never in his life did the king hear of this adventure, nor +of that of Louvois, because no one was inclined to be poisoned--that +kept all tongues respectful. + +Long before his death the king was entirely converted and no longer +ran after women; when he was young the women ran after him; but +he renounced all that sort of life when he imagined that he became +devout. The real truth was that the old witch watched him so closely +he dared not look at a woman; she disgusted him with society, to have +him and govern him alone, and this under pretence of taking care of +his soul. She controlled him so well that he even exiled the Duchesse +de la Ferté who posed as being in love with him. When that duchess +could not see him she had his portrait in her carriage, in order to +look at him constantly. The king said she made him ridiculous, and +sent her an order to go and live on her estates. It was suspected, +however, that the Duchesse de Roquelaire, of the family of Laval, had +made a conquest of the king; certainly his Majesty was not angry about +her as he was with the Duchesse de la Ferté. Gossip had a great deal +to say about this intrigue, but I never put my nose into it. + + + PARIS, 1716. + +A Frenchman, a refugee in Holland, used to write to me how the affairs +of the Prince of Orange were going. I thought that I should do the +king a service in communicating to him what I thus heard; I did so. +The king was much obliged and thanked me; but in the evening he said, +laughing: "My ministers insist that you are ill-informed; they say +there is not a word of truth in what was written to you." I answered: +"Time will show who is best informed, your ministers, or the person +who wrote to me; my intentions were good, monsieur." Some time later, +after it was proved that King William had gone to England, M. de +Torcy came to me and said that I ought to inform him of the news I +received. I replied: "You assured the king that I received false news; +on which I ordered that nothing more should be written to me; for I +do not like to spread false reports." He laughed, as he usually did, +and said: "Your news is always very good." To which I answered: "A +great and able minister must have surer news than I, for he knows all +things." That evening the king said to me: "You have been ridiculing +my ministers." I replied: "I only returned them what they gave." + + + + + III. + + LETTERS OF 1717-1718. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +M. le dauphin [Monseigneur] never really loved or hated, but he was +malicious; his greatest pleasure was in giving pain; when he had a +trick to play on any one he began by treating them graciously. In +every respect he had the most inconceivable character that could be +imagined. When one thought him angry he was often in the best humour; +when he seemed content he was cross; never could we guess correctly. +He had not heart enough to know what true friendship was; he loved +only those persons who procured him amusement, and disliked all +others. For over twenty years, as long as he was in the hands of the +_grande_ Princesse de Conti,[11] I was on very good terms with him +and he had great confidence in me; but after he passed into those of +Mme. la Duchesse he completely changed. He behaved as if he had never +seen or known me in his life, and as, after Monsieur's death, I never +hunted with his Highness I had very few relations with him to his +death. If he had had good sense he would have preferred the Princesse +de Conti to Mme. la Duchesse, for she had a much better heart; she +loved him unselfishly, whereas the other loved nothing in the world, +and thought only of her pleasures, her interests, and her ambition. As +long as she attained her ends she cared very little for the dauphin, +who gave clear proof of his weak-mindedness by his dependence upon +her. + +When the King of Spain [his son, the Duc d'Anjou] departed the king +wept bitterly, and the dauphin too, but he had previously never given +to any of his sons the slightest sign of attachment. He never had them +in his apartments morning or evening; when he was not hunting he was +always in those of the Princesse de Conti, or, later, in those of Mme. +la Duchesse. No one would ever have guessed that the sons were his; he +treated them as strangers and never called them "my son," always "M. +le Duc de Bourgogne," "M. le Duc d'Anjou," "M. le Duc de Berry;" and +they called him "Monseigneur." + +He lived very well with his wife for two or three years; that is to +say, as long as the old woman was satisfied with the dauphine; but +as soon as there came a little coolness between them she set herself +to make the dauphin believe that his wife did not love him, that she +cared only for Bessola [her maid], and that everybody thought him a +fool for spending his time in a room where more German was talked +than French. He was told also that Bessola was the confidante of the +dauphine's gallantries, and helped her to make pleasure-parties with +the maids-of-honour. I heard all these details from the dauphine +herself [Marie-Anne-Victoire of Bavaria], for her husband, who still +loved her, related them to her. But the old witch returned so often +to the charge, and gave the dauphin so many opportunities, that he +finally became enamoured of Mlle. de Rambure, afterwards Mme. de +Polignac, and as soon as that amour began all his friendship for the +dauphine departed. + +At times the dauphine was not ugly, when, for instance, she had a +fine colour. If she had not had such a passion for that faithless +Bessola, she might perhaps have been happy. But that woman, in order +to rule her and to maintain herself with the Maintenon, made the poor +princess the most wretched creature upon earth. She died tranquil and +resigned, but they sent her into another world as surely as if they +had put a pistol to her head. In giving birth to the Duc de Berry she +was so badly managed that she became deformed; before that she had a +very pretty figure. From that time she never had an hour's health. The +evening before her death, while the little Duc de Berry was sitting +on her bed, she said to him: "My dear Berry, I love you much, but you +have cost me dear." M. le dauphin was not affected. They had told him +so much harm of his wife that he did not care for her, and when he +muffled himself up in his great mourning-cloak he burst out laughing. +The old _guenipe_ hoped (as really happened) to govern the dauphin +through his mistresses, which she could not have done had he continued +to love his wife. That old woman had conceived such a terrible hatred +to the poor princess, that I believe she had given orders to Clément, +the _accoucheur_, to manage her ill. What confirms me in this idea is +that she nearly killed the dauphine by going to see her in perfumed +gloves; she afterwards said it was I who wore them, which was not true. + +The dauphine often said to me: "We are both unhappy, but the +difference between us is that your Excellency endeavoured as much as +you possibly could to avoid your fate; whereas I did my best to come +here, and so I deserve what has happened to me." She loved the dauphin +as a husband, but more as if he were her son. They tried to make her +pass for crazy when she complained. An hour before her death she said +to me: "I shall prove to-day that I was not crazy when I complained +and said that I was ill." The old _guenipe_ sent her agents among the +populace to spread a rumour that the dauphine hated France and wanted +to create new taxes and lay burdens on the people. + +[Illustration: The Dauphine wife of Monseigneur] + + + PARIS, 1717. + +Though the late Monsieur received much property with me, I was obliged +to give it all up to him,--jewels, furniture, pictures, in short, +all that came to me from my family; and I really had not means to +live according to my rank and maintain my household, which is very +considerable. I have been ill-used in this respect, but it was rather +the fault of the Princess Palatine, who allowed my marriage-contract +to be so ill-drawn. All the Madames have had pensions from the king; +but as these are established on the old footing, they do not afford +sufficient means to reach the end of the year. I have been obliged to +cede my jewels to my son; otherwise I could not live as I should and +keep up my establishment, which is very large; but to do so is, to my +thinking, more commendable than to be decked with jewels. + +I cannot see why people should have so many different garments. All I +have are either full-dress gowns, or my hunting habit for horseback. +I never in my life had a dressing-gown, and I have but one wrapper +[_robe de nuit_] in my wardrobe to go to bed and get up in. + +I was very glad when the late Monsieur, after the birth of his +daughter, took a bed to himself, for I never liked the business of +making children. When his Highness made me the proposal I said: "Yes, +with all my heart, Monsieur; I shall be very glad of it, provided you +do not hate me and continue to be a little kind to me." He promised me +that, and we were always very well satisfied with each other. + +It was very annoying to sleep with Monsieur; he could not endure that +any one should disturb his sleep; I was obliged to keep myself on the +very edge of the bed, so that sometimes I fell out like a sack. I was +therefore extremely pleased when Monsieur, in good friendship and +without bitterness, proposed that we should sleep in separate rooms. +I am like you; I cannot imagine that any one should remarry; there is +but one motive that I can conceive, and that is dying of hunger and +getting one's bread that way. + +I never had but one hundred louis for cards until the death of my +mother; after Monsieur received the money of the Palatinate he doubled +that allowance. + +The Maréchale de Villars runs after the Comte de Toulouse; my son +is also in her good graces, and he is not discreet. The Maréchal +de Villars came to see me one day, and as he assumes to know much +about medals he asked to see mine. Baudelot,[12] a very honourable +and learned man, who is in charge of them, was obliged to show them. +Baudelot is not the most discreet of men, and moreover he is little +informed as to what goes on at Court. So he made a dissertation on +one of my medals to prove, against the opinion of other savants, that +a head with horns which appears upon it is that of Pan, and not that +of Jupiter Ammon. To prove his erudition the worthy soul said to M. +de Villars, "Ah! monseigneur, here is one of the finest medals Madame +has; it is the triumph of Cornificius; he has all sorts of horns. He +was a great general like yourself, monseigneur; he has the horns of +Juno and of Faunus. Cornificius, as you know, monseigneur, was a very +able general." I interrupted him. "Go on," I said; "if you stop to +talk about each medal, you will not have time to show them all." But, +full of his subject, he replied: "Oh, Madame, this one is worth all +the rest. Cornificius is really one of the rarest medals on earth. +Consider it, Madame, look at it; here is a crowned Juno crowning that +great general." In spite of all I did, I could not prevent Baudelot +from harping on horns to the marshal. "Monseigneur knows all about +such things," he said, "and I want him to judge whether I am not right +in saying that those horns are the horns of Pan, and not of Jupiter +Ammon." Everybody in the room had all they could do not to laugh. If +it had been done on purpose it could not have been more complete. When +the marshal had gone, I laughed out; but I had the greatest difficulty +in convincing Baudelot that he had blundered. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +It is certain that the Comtesse de Soissons, Angélique-Cunégonde, +daughter of François-Henri de Luxembourg, has much virtue and +capacity, though, like all the world, she has defects. One may say +of her indeed that she is a poor princess. Her husband, Louis-Henri, +Comte de Soissons, is very ugly. If her children had been like their +mother they would have been very handsome, for all her features are +fine; eyes, mouth, and lines of the face could not be better; her +nose is a little too large, and her skin not delicate. All her sons, +except Prince Eugène, have not been worth much, and any one who +resembles Eugène cannot be good-looking. When he was young he was +not so very ugly; but he has grown ugly in growing old; he never had +a fine countenance or the noble air; his eyes are not bad, but his +nose spoils his face; his teeth are too large and protrude from his +mouth; he is always dirty, and he wears greasy hair which he never +curls. I think a good deal of Prince Eugène, for he is not selfish. +He did a fine action: he left behind him here a great many debts; +after he entered the service of the emperor and acquired a fortune he +paid to the last farthing all that he owed, even to those who had no +bill or written engagement with him and never dreamed of being paid. +Therefore it is impossible that a man who acted with such loyalty +could have betrayed his master for money. The accusations of the +traitor Nimtsch are lies and the work of that devil of an Alberoni. I +see from the "Gazette of Vienna" which you sent me that Prince Eugène +does not intend to let so horrible an accusation drop, but will pursue +the Comte de Nimtsch to the death. That is right. + +I thank you for the silver coin you send; it comes extremely _à +propos_. I have also the Doctor Luther in gold and in silver. I am +convinced that Luther would have done much better not to make a +separate Church, but to have confined himself to opposing the abuses +of the papacy; more good would have come from it. + +To go back to what I was beginning to tell you on Wednesday--I assure +you that my son has more enemies than friends. His brother-in-law +[the Duc du Maine] and his wife are working with the greatest ardour +to rouse the hatred of the populace against him. Mme. du Maine is +circulating writings against him. The children of the Montespan come +of a malignant race. + +The little king has a pretty face and much judgment, but he is a +spiteful child; he loves no one in the world but his governess, Mme. +de Ventadour; he takes aversions to people without any cause, and +likes to say the most wounding things to them. I am not in his good +graces, but that does not trouble me; for when he is of an age to +reign I shall not be in this world and dependent on his caprices. When +I advise my son to be on his guard against all these wicked people, he +only laughs and says: "You know, Madame, that we cannot avoid what God +has ordained for us throughout all time; therefore, if I am to perish +I cannot avoid it; therefore I shall do only what is reasonable for my +preservation, but nothing extraordinary." + +[This is a favourable opportunity to reveal Madame's French spelling; +the letter is in German, but she quotes her son in French, as follows: + +"Vous saves bien, Madame, qu'on ne peust Evitter ce que Dieu vous +a de tout temps destines; ainsi, sije le suis à perir, je ne Le +pourris Evitter; ainsi je feres que ce qui est raisonnable pour ma +Conservation, mais rien dextraordinaire."] + +My son has studied much; he has a good memory; he expresses himself +well on all sorts of subjects; above all, he speaks extremely well in +public; but he is a man, he has his faults like others. They do harm +to himself only, for he is only too kind and good to other people. I +tell him every day he is too kind; he laughs and asks me if it is not +better to be kind than harsh. I don't know where he gets his great +patience; Monsieur had none, nor I either. + +When he was fourteen or fifteen years of age he was not ugly; but +since then the sun of Italy and Spain so burned him that his skin +became a deep red. He is not tall, and yet he is stout, with fat +cheeks; his bad sight makes him squint, and his eyes protrude; and he +has a bad walk. And yet I do not think he is disagreeable-looking. +When he dances or rides on horseback he makes a good appearance; but +when he goes about in his usual way he does not appear to advantage. +Close by he sees very well, and can read the finest writing, but at +the distance of half the length of a room he recognizes no one without +spectacles. Though he talks well on matters of science or knowledge, +one can easily see that they give him no pleasure; on the contrary, +they bore him. I have often observed this to him; he admits that at +first he has the greatest desire to know a thing, but as soon as he +thoroughly knows what he studies it gives him no longer the least +satisfaction. I love him from the bottom of my heart, but I cannot +understand how women should be enamoured of him; for he has in no +way the manners of gallantry, and he is not discreet; besides, he is +incapable of feeling a passion and of being attached for any length +of time to the same person. On the other hand, his manners are not +polite or seductive enough to make him beloved. He is very indiscreet +and relates all that happens to him. I have told him a hundred times +that I am amazed that those women run after him so madly when I should +think they would rather run away from him. He laughs and says: "You +don't know the loose women of the present day. To say you have been +their lover pleases them." + + + PARIS, 1717. + +I am very glad that my letters have reached you at last. M. de Torey +is no friend of mine; if he could find occasion to do me harm he +would not let it escape him; but I do not trouble myself about that. +My son knows me well; he knows how sincere my attachment to him is, +and it would be difficult to make us quarrel. There is no use in +sealing letters with wax; they have a species of composition, made +of quicksilver and other substances, which lifts the wax, and when +the letters have been opened, read, and copied, they seal them up so +adroitly that no one can perceive that they have been opened. My son +knows how to manufacture that composition; they call it _gama_. The +Queen of Sicily once wrote and asked me if I no longer walked with the +king, as in her day. I answered with these lines:-- + + "Those happy days are gone; the face of all is changed + Since to these parts the gods have brought + The daughter of the Cretan king and Pasiphaë." + +Torey took them to the _guenipe_, as if I meant her--which was true +enough; and the king was sulky with me for a long time about it. + +The late king contracted a great many debts because he would not +retrench his luxury in anything; and that has been the cause of great +malversations on the part of business men and their partisans; for +when one sou had been lent to the king they turned it by agreement +with their creatures into a pistole. Thanks to their rascality, on +which no check was put, they have enriched themselves, but the king, +and now the country, have been impoverished. My son works night and +day, with no thanks from anybody, to bring things back to a good +condition. He has many enemies, who pour out against him all sorts of +horrid threats, and do all they can to rouse the hatred of the people +against him; in which they succeed easily, especially because he is +no bigot. He is so little self-interested that he has never touched +a farthing of what comes to him as regent, although he has great +needs because of his numerous children. The young king has around him +persons who are very ill-disposed towards my son,--one especially, +though he is his brother-in-law; but he is also the falsest of +hypocrites. He has an air as if he would eat the very images of +saints, but he is none the less the most wicked man on earth. In the +days of the late king when that man flattered any one and spoke to +him kindly it was taken as a proof that he had played him some evil +trick. He contributed to get his mother sent away from Court so as to +please the old woman, and he was so anxious to prevent her return to +Versailles that he ordered her furniture turned out of doors, as it +were. You can imagine what a man of that nature is capable of doing. I +fear him for my son as I do the devil; and I think that my son is not +sufficiently on his guard against him. The old woman wants his life; +all that they say of that diabolical woman is below the truth. + +When my son reproached the Maintenon quite gently for slandering him, +and asked her to look into her conscience, where she knew that what +she said were falsehoods, she replied: "I spread that rumour because I +believed it." + +My son said: "No, you could not have believed it, for you knew the +contrary." + +Thereupon she answered insolently (and I admired the patience of my +son): "Did not the dauphine die?" + +"Could she not have died without me?" asked my son, "was she immortal?" + +The old woman replied: "I was in such despair at her loss that I +blamed the person who they told me had caused it." + +My son said to her, "But, madame, you knew of the report that was +rendered to the king; you knew that I had done nothing, and that Mme. +la dauphine was not poisoned at all." + +"That is true," she replied, "I will say no more about it." + +That humpback Fagon, the favourite of the old _guenipe_, used to say +that what displeased him in Christianity was that he could not raise a +temple to the Maintenon and an altar for her worship. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +I have received to-day a great visit,--that of my hero, the czar +[Peter the Great]. I think he has very good manners, taking that +expression in the sense of the manners of a person without affectation +or ceremony. He has much judgment; he speaks bad German, but he makes +himself understood without difficulty, and he converses very well. He +is polite to everybody, and is much liked. + +He went to Saint-Cyr and saw the old _guenipe_, who keeps herself +completely retired there; no one can say that she has meddled in +the slightest thing; which makes me think that woman has still some +project in her head, though I can't imagine what it can be. She used +to reproach me, and say it was a shame I had no ambition and never +took part in anything, and one day I answered: "If a person had +intrigued a great deal to become Madame, might she not be permitted +to enjoy that title in tranquillity? Imagine that to be my case, and +leave me in peace." + +She said, "You are very obstinate." + +I answered: "No, madame, but I like my peace and I regard your +ambition as pure vanity." I really thought she would burst her skin, +she was so angry. + +She said: "Make the attempt; you will be aided." + +"No, madame," I replied; "when I think that you, who have a +hundred-fold more cleverness than I, have not been able to maintain +yourself at Court as you wished, what would happen to me, a poor +foreigner, who knows nothing of intrigues and does not like them?" + +She was angry and said: "Fie! you are good for nothing." + +She never could forgive the king for not having declared her queen. +She gave herself out to the King of England as so pious and humble +that the queen took her for a saint. The old _guenipe_ knew very well +that I was a German who could never in my life endure a misalliance, +and she imagined that it was partly because of me that the king would +not acknowledge his marriage. The hatred she bore me came from that; +as long as the queen lived she did not hate me. After the death of +the king, and since we left Versailles, my son has not seen the old +woman. The mistresses of the late king did not tarnish his glory as +much as she did; she has drawn upon France the greatest misfortunes. +She occasioned the persecution of the Reformers; she caused the price +of wheat to rise, which brought a famine; she helped the ministers to +rob the king; she was guilty of the death of the king in consequence +of the worry she caused him about that Constitution [the bull +Unigenitus]; she made the marriage of my son, and tried to put the +bastards on the throne. In short, she threw all things into confusion +and ruined them. The ministers also served the king very ill. The +king never thought that his will would be sustained. He said to +several persons: "They made me write my will and other things; I did +it to get peace, but I know that all that will not stand hereafter." + + + PARIS, 1717. + +I will tell you frankly why I will not interfere in anything. I am +old; I need to rest, and do not care to torment myself. I am not +willing to undertake anything that I cannot be sure of carrying +through to a good end; I have never learned to govern; politics I do +not understand, nor State affairs, and I am much too old now to learn +such difficult things. My son, thanks to God, has capacity enough to +guide things without me; besides, I should excite the jealousy of his +wife, and his eldest daughter, whom he loves better than he does me; +from this, perpetual quarrels would result, and that is something +that would in no wise suit me. I have been much urged and tormented +to use my influence, but I held firm. I said I wished to set a good +example to the wife and daughter of my son. This kingdom has, to its +sorrow, been too long governed by women, young and old. It is time to +let men take the helm. I have therefore adopted the course of meddling +in nothing. In England women can reign; but in France, in order to +have things go well, men must govern. What advantage should I gain +by tormenting myself night and day? I ask for only peace and rest. +All my own nearest ones are dead; for whom, therefore, should I give +myself cares? My life is nearly over; there remains to me only enough +to prepare for a tranquil death, and it is difficult in great public +matters to keep one's conscience peaceful. + +I was born at Heidelberg, in September, 1652. When I can by my +influence help those poor people of the Palatinate in the councils +which decide their affairs, I employ it with all my heart. If it +succeeds I am very glad; if it fails I think it is the will of God, +and I am still content. + +The king had a better opinion of my brain than it deserves. He wanted +with all his might to make me regent with my son. God be praised it +was not done. I should have gone crazy very quickly. + +I have never had Trench manners and I never could assume them; I have +even made it a point of honour to be a German woman, and to preserve +German manners and ways, which are little to the taste of people here. +In the matter of soup, I never eat any but milk soup, or beer or wine +soup; I cannot endure broths; I am made ill at once if there is the +merest little broth in the dishes I eat; my body swells up, I have +colics, and I am forced to be bled; blood puddings[13] and ham settle +my stomach. + +The king used to say of me: "Madame cannot endure misalliances; she is +always mocking at them." But all the great ladies who contract such +marriages are well rewarded; they are usually unhappy in wedlock and +ill-treated by their husbands. That is the case of the Princesse de +Deux-Ponts, who married her equerry. She finds herself very badly off, +but I do not pity her; she deserves it. I can't help laughing when +I think how I forewarned her of what would happen. She was with me +at the opera and wanted with all her might to have that equerry sit +behind us. I said, "For the love of God, Madame, let your Highness +keep quiet, and not worry yourself so about Gersdorf; you do not know +this country; when people show such anxiety about their servants it is +always supposed they are in love with them." + +"Cannot persons feel an interest in their people?" she asked. + +I said, "Yes; and they can take them to the opera, but there is no +need to have them close beside us." I did not know then that I had +guessed true. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +For the last six months, in consequence of a terrible blow my son +received in the face when playing tennis, one of his eyes is all +inflamed and full of blood. He consulted an oculist who prescribed +good remedies and made him promise, above all, to restrain himself in +eating and drinking, etc.; but he cannot resolve to keep that promise +and he leads his usual life. The condition of the eye has therefore +grown much worse; my son has had recourse to all the remedies, but he +will not interrupt his pleasures, or his business, which gives him a +great deal of reading and writing to do. Yesterday, he let himself be +bled and purged; to-day he is trying a powder which a priest gave him, +having got it from Germany. This powder has begun by causing a great +inflammation; he will have to use it two or three times. I really fear +it will end in his losing his sight; and you cannot think into what +anxiety that idea throws me. + +To answer the other points in your letter, I must tell you that it is +not allowable to take the communion in one's chamber, unless in case +of illness. I should like very much to hear sermons in Advent; but +after dinner it is impossible; for if I listen to preaching just after +eating it does not depend on me not to go to sleep. + +The Princess of Wales is, thank God, safely delivered of a son. It +is quite common that pregnancies should be delayed, like hers, to +the tenth month. As for me, I have had three children, but without +anything extraordinary. I never had a miscarriage, and bore them all +to the end of the ninth month. I lost my first son; my doctor, old M. +Esprit, killed him as if he had shot him through the head; but all +that is ancient history. He was called the Duc de Valois; but as that +name is unlucky, Monsieur would not let my second son bear it; that is +why he received the name of Duc de Chartres, which he bore till the +death of his father; then he took the name of Duc d'Orléans, and his +son is now the Duc de Chartres. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +The moment I get an instant of liberty I go to the chapel to pray +for my son, whose eye is rather better. He could not at one time +distinguish colours; but Cardinal de Polignac came to see him to-day +when I was with him, and my son could perfectly discern the cardinal's +red robe; which proves him really better. As long as he was taking +remedies he kept himself from excesses of eating and drinking and +ill-conduct of every kind, but I fear that as soon as he is cured he +will go back to his disorderly life. Those loose women will run after +him again and get him back to their little suppers, and then his eye +will inflame once more. After the visit to my son I sat down to table, +and after dinner I read four chapters of the Book of Job, four psalms, +and two chapters of Saint John. The two others I put off till this +morning. + +It is quite true, as you say, that my son's mistresses if they really +loved him would think about his life and health; but I see, my dear +Louise, that you know nothing about Frenchwomen. Nothing leads them +except selfishness and a liking for debauchery; these mistresses think +of nothing but their pleasure and money; for the individual himself +they would not give a hair. That inspires me with utter disgust; and +if I were in my son's place I should find nothing seductive in such +connections. But he is so accustomed to them; it is all the same to +him what those women are, provided they amuse him. There is also +another thing I cannot comprehend. He is never jealous; he will let +his own servants have relations with his mistresses. That seems to me +dreadful, and proves that he has no love for them. He is so accustomed +to eat and drink and lead that debauched life that he cannot tear +himself from it. It often afflicts me to the bottom of my heart; but +I hope that God will in the end draw him through this labyrinth and +wrench him from the hands of these wicked people, who are only wanting +to get money from him. But that is saying enough about vexations. + +The little king makes me two visits a year much against his will; he +cannot endure me. I think that is because I told him once it did not +become a great king to be so refractory and obstinate as he is. He +was in despair one day because Mme. de Ventadour left him. She said: +"Sire, I shall return this evening; be very good during my absence." +"No, my dear mamma," he replied, "not if you leave me." + +He is well made and has the straightest figure that was ever seen +and beautiful brown hair in abundance. His face is pretty, but he +only speaks to those persons who habitually surround him. He has +intelligence, that is very certain, but he ought to talk more. He has +invented an Order which he gives to the boys who play with him; it is +a blue and white ribbon, from which hangs an oval piece of enamelled +metal, on which is a star and the outline of a little tent which +stands on the terrace where he plays. He has eyes as black as jet, +and what may be called a noble look; the eyes are much softer than he +really is, for he has a violent little temper. His vanity is already +dreadful, and he knows very well what reverence is. + + + PARIS, 1717. + +The late king told me a story about the Queen of Sweden, Christina. +She never wore night-caps, but she twisted a towel round her head. +Once, not being able to sleep, she had music played beside her bed. +As the concert pleased her she suddenly protruded her head beyond +the curtains and called out, "Devil's death! how well they play!" +The eunuchs and Italians, who are not the bravest of the brave, were +so terrified at the aspect of that singular figure that they were +struck speechless, and the music had to stop. We can still see at +Fontainebleau in the great salon the blood of the man she caused to +be murdered there. She did not wish that all that he knew about her +should come to be known, and she thought certain things would surely +be divulged unless she put an end to his life. He had already begun +to tattle, out of jealousy for another man who had supplanted him +in her good graces. She was very vindictive and given to all sorts +of debauchery. If she had not had so much intellect no one could +have endured her. She owed her vices to Frenchmen, especially to old +Bourdelot, who was the doctor of the great Condé; he encouraged her in +her license. She talked of things that the worst men only could have +imagined. She was considered to be an hermaphrodite. The Frenchmen who +were with her in Stockholm were very depraved men, and it was they who +led her into such licentiousness. Duke Frederick Augustus of Brunswick +was charmed with Christina; he said that in all his life he had never +met with any woman who had so much intellect and was so agreeable +and diverting; he never found the time long when he was with her. I +told him I heard that her talk was most licentious; he said that was +true, but that she knew so well how to present things that they did +not inspire disgust. This queen could never please women, because she +despised them one and all. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +My last letters from England are to the 16th of January; everything is +in a sad state there. They say in Paris that the refugees are doing +their best to excite the king and the Prince of Wales against each +other in the hope that a regent may be chosen by the parliament, and +that the country will thus escape the authority of the prince. That +seems very likely to be true; but it also seems to me that father and +son ought to perceive the scheme and thus be led to reconciliation +with each other; if not, great evils will result. There is no motive +in the world which can justify a son in not submitting to a father, +and when, moreover, that father is his king. I believe there has +never existed any tenderness between them; our dear Electress used +to say it was the son who was in fault. The dear Princess of Wales +inspires me with such compassion that yesterday I wept over her. Her +departure from Saint James' palace as Countess of Buckenburg [_sic_] +was described to me; it was truly deplorable; she fainted several +times when her three little princes, all in tears, took leave of her; +that touched me deeply. The King of England, if I may dare to say so, +treats her too harshly. She has done nothing to justify his forbidding +her to see her children, whom she loves with such tenderness. Where +can they be better brought up than beside so sensible and virtuous a +mother? According to my ideas, the whole thing is very blamable. + +King George was always an artful, dissimulating egoist. I have known +that for a long time. Whatever marks of friendship I gave him he +never gave me any sign of confidence, and sometimes would scarcely +speak to me. I had to drag his words from him, one by one, which is a +very unpleasant thing to do; he is completely devoid of good natural +feelings. I am not surprised that he takes no notice of you. He cares +for no one; but it happens to him, as it does to such people, that in +return nobody cares for him. He piques himself on not being civil; I +saw this by the manners of those who frequented his Court in Hanover. +It is not possible to meet any one more sulky and surly than young +Count Platten; if he had not been warmly recommended to me by my aunt, +and if his father and mother had not been my good friends, I would +have let him be put in a place where he would have had time to make +reflections and learn how to live; he fully deserved the Bastille, but +serious reasons led me to save him. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +My Lorraine children have arrived; my daughter was beside herself with +an excess of joy. I do not find her much changed, but her husband +is, dreadfully. He used to have a fine skin and now he has turned +to a red-brown and he is stouter than my son. I can say now that my +children are fatter than I. + +My daughter is gay and content; but her husband seems preoccupied. +Yesterday she had a strong attack of fever: God grant it may not be +the forerunner of small-pox; for neither the Duc de Lorraine nor my +son have had it, and the duke would not fail to be with his wife; +three of his brothers have died of that terrible malady; therefore +I am very anxious about this. I will write you more about it on +Wednesday. + +They told me yesterday that a nun has just died who was one hundred +and thirty years old; she had a long old age; I don't envy it; if one +could stay young it would be another thing and would make one's mouth +water for it. + +The poor Princess of Wales causes me real pain. In a letter of the +3rd of this month she tells me that her husband and she have three +times asked pardon of the king as they would ask it of God, and +could not obtain it. I cannot understand such a thing. I fear that +the prince may be concerned in his mother's trouble. I have an idea +that the King of England believes he is not his son; for it does +not seem possible that he should act with his own child as he has +been acting. But, in any case, it appears to me that if he publicly +recognizes him as his son he ought to treat him as a son, and not +behave so rigorously to a princess who, in all her life, never did +anything against him and has always honoured and loved him as a +father. From what I see and know, I think no good will ever come of +it; the irritation is too great. But the king had better put an end +to the matter, for it leads to a hundred impertinent things being +said, and renews certain old and villanous tales that had better be +forgotten. May God guide all for the best! I have been told that a +sort of petition has been sent to the Prince of Wales in which it was +said that if he had any honour he would admit that the kingdom did +not belong to him, but to the legitimate sovereign, now called The +Pretender; who was the son of James II. as surely as he, the prince, +was the son of Comte Königsmarck. It was terribly insolent. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +My Lorraine children leave me in three days; my heart is full; my +daughter would gladly have stayed longer; but the duke was anxious to +return. My daughter is, thank God, so firmly fixed in good principles +that she can mix in all society without fear of contamination. But +nothing was ever seen like the youth of the present day; it makes +one's hair stand on end. I know a daughter who encourages the +debauchery of her father; she is not ashamed to procure him a pretty +waiting-maid, and her mother looks on and lets it be done, so that she +may be left in peace [evidently the Duchesse de Berry]. In short, one +sees and hears of nothing but shocking things. My daughter tells me +that though I wrote them to her she could not believe me, until she +saw them daily with her own eyes. Youth no longer believes in God, and +neglects all exercise of religion; consequently God abandons it. It is +sad to live in a period when honest people have such surroundings; it +inspires universal disgust. I thank God that my daughter knows what +virtue is and has a righteous horror for the life that people are +leading; that is a great comfort to me. + +I hear that in Germany the princesses are beginning to go about and +act as they do in France; it was not so in my day. The times have +come, as Holy Scripture says, when seven women run after one man; +never were women what they are at present; they act as if their only +happiness was sleeping with men. What one sees and hears here daily, +even about the most eminent personages, is not to be written down. +When my daughter lived here it was not so; therefore she is in a state +of astonishment that puts her sometimes beside herself and has more +than once made me laugh. She cannot accustom herself to see, openly +at the opera, women who bear the noblest names behave to men with a +familiarity that indicates something very different from hatred. She +says to me sometimes, "Madame! Madame!" + +I answer: "Well, my daughter, what can I do? those are the manners of +the day." + +"But such manners are infamous," she replies, with truth. Never was +the mercy of God needed as it is now, for this epoch of ours is +terrible. One hears of nothing but quarrels, disputes, robberies, +murders, and vices of all kinds; the old serpent, the devil, has +shaken off his chains and reigns in the air. It behooves all good +Christians to give themselves up to prayer. + +The Princess of Wales writes me that the Countess of Shrewsbury +[Madame spells the name Schoresburg] flung herself at the knees of the +king to ask pardon for her brother, who is condemned to be hanged. The +king replied that if he granted that pardon he should rouse the anger +of the English, who would say the guilty man was spared because he was +a foreigner, whereas were he English he would be hanged without pity. +He deserved severe punishment, but I pity his sister; it is a dreadful +thing for nobles to hang on a gibbet. Things are going from bad to +worse in England, and I dare write nothing more upon that subject. +All Paris says that King George intends to declare publicly that the +Prince of Wales is not his son, and, to injure him still further, that +he means to marry the Schulenberg, now Duchess of Munster. I told this +to Lord Stair; he answered that nothing of the kind would happen, and +I need not trouble myself. + +In England, and in France too, the dukes and lords have such excessive +pride that they think themselves above everybody; and if allowed to +have their way they would consider themselves superior to the princes +of the blood; some of them are not really nobles. I rebuked one of our +dukes very neatly one day. As he was placing himself at the king's +table above the Prince de Deux Ponts I said, quite loud: "How comes M. +le Duc de Saint-Simon to be pressing up to the Prince de Deux Ponts? +does he want him to take one of his sons as page?" Everybody laughed +so loud that he had to go away. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +Mme. de Berry has made my daughter a very pretty parting present; +it is a commode, or rather a table with drawers, in which are all +kinds of stuffs, scarfs, coiffures, etc., in the last fashion. The +commode is decorated with gilt ornaments worth a thousand pistoles. +My son gave his sister a _necessaire_, that is to say, a small square +chest containing whatever is necessary for taking tea, coffee, and +chocolate. The cups are in white porcelain with raised designs in gold +and enamel. + +My daughter has postponed her departure till Wednesday; the day will +come soon enough, for whatever grieves us comes more surely and +quickly than what gladdens us. The king owes a great deal of money to +the Duc de Lorraine, and on account of that debt he has given him one +hundred thousand francs to pay the costs of this journey. + +The Prince of Wales has done a fine action, and if that does not touch +the King of England nothing will ever restore peace between them. +Emissaries went to the prince and urged him to put himself at the head +of their party. He answered that never in his life would he belong to +any party against his father and king. The King of England is a bad +man; he had no consideration for his mother, who loved him tenderly, +and without whom he never would have been King of England. None of her +children, even the Queen of Prussia, whom she adored, ever treated her +as they ought. + +My Lorraine children are satisfied with me, and I with them. I am +also more satisfied with my grand-daughter the Duchesse de Berry, +who behaved very well to them. She has good judgment and she shows +a disposition to return to religion and a disgust for vice. I hope +that God will have pity upon her and grant her the mercy of a sincere +conversion. If she had been properly brought-up she would have turned +to better things, for she has capacity, and a good heart; also she +has, undoubtedly, intellect, and is never captious. I tease her +sometimes, and tell her she only fancies she likes hunting; for at +bottom it is only a liking for change of place. She really cares for +nothing but the death of the game, and she prefers that of a boar to +a stag, because it procures her good blood-puddings and sausages. +She amuses herself as much as she can; one day she hunts, another +she drives, on a third she goes to a fair; sometimes to see the +rope-dancers, or to the comedy or the opera; but always in a scarf, +never in a gown with a body to it. She sometimes laughs about her +figure and her waist. Her flesh is very firm, and her cheeks are as +hard as stones. + +I once made the Comtesse de Soissons laugh with all her heart when she +asked me: "How is it, Madame, that you never look at yourself when you +pass a mirror, as other people do?" I answered: "Because I have too +much vanity to like to see myself, ugly as I am." There cannot be in +the whole world more villanous hands than mine. The late king often +reproached me for them, and made me laugh heartily myself. As I never +in my life could boast of having anything pretty about me, I took a +way of laughing myself at my own ugliness; and that has answered, for +indeed I have often found cause to laugh. + +Mme. de Berry does not eat much at dinner, and it is impossible that +she should, because she makes them bring her, before she gets up, all +sorts of things to eat; she never stirs from her bed till mid-day; at +two o'clock she sits down to table, and does not leave it till three; +she takes no exercise; at four they bring her eatables of all kinds, +fruits, salad, and cheese; at ten she sups, and goes to bed between +one and two o'clock; she drinks the strongest brandy. + +The youth of both sexes in France lead the most reprehensible life; +the more licentious it is, the better they think it. That may be +very nice, but I confess I do not think it is. They do not follow my +example in having regular hours; but I am determined not to alter my +conduct to suit theirs, which seems to me that of sows and hogs. + +Nothing in the world disgusts me so much as the taking of snuff; it +makes all noses horrible and spreads a fetid odour. I have known +persons with sweet breath who in six months after they took to +tobacco, smelt like goats With noses besmeared with snuff they look, +forgive me the expression, as if they had tumbled into a cesspool. +The king detested the habit, but his children and his grandchildren +persisted in it, though they knew how he disliked it. Persons should +abstain altogether, for if they take a little they soon want to take +much. People call it the magic herb, because those who once begin to +use it cannot go without it. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +I received a letter yesterday from my daughter; she and her husband +are, thank God, safely back at Lunéville in good health. She sends me +the measure of the height of her eldest son, taken the week before he +was eleven years old; he is just as tall as the Duc de Chartres, who +will be fifteen next July. I am afraid my grandson Lorraine is going +to be a giant, for the Duc de Chartres is not small for his age. All +my Lorraine children are robust; their mother is healthy and always +well; she is not good for nothing like Mme. d'Orléans. Never did any +one hear of such laziness as hers. She has had a sofa made on which +she can lie while playing lansquenet; we laugh at her, but it does no +good. She plays cards lying down; she eats lying down; she reads lying +down; in short, she spends nearly all her life lying down. It must be +bad for her health; and in fact, she is almost always ill; one day she +complains of her head, another of her stomach. But it seems, in spite +of that, she can make robust children; her three eldest daughters are +strong and healthy; the first and third are tall and stout; they are +built like men,--Mlle. de Valois especially. + +The Montespan, the _guenipe_, and all the waiting-women made Mme. +d'Orléans believe that she did my son great honour in consenting to +marry him. She cannot endure any contradiction on the subject of +her vanity in being daughter of the king; she does not comprehend +the difference between legitimate and bastard children; her nature +is proud and full of vanity; my son often calls her in jest Madame +Lucifer. She takes all the flattering things that are said to her as +her right. She thinks her husband prefers his eldest daughter, the +Duchesse de Berry, to her; the daughter has no great affection for her +mother. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +The person whom I hope to see correct herself [the Duchesse de Berry] +has judgment and a good heart. One might hope for her return to better +ways if she were not in the midst of such bad company; her aunts and +cousins on the maternal side also set her a bad example, for they +lead the most irregular lives. The mother acts only from caprice; +one day she hates her daughter without knowing why; another she +approves of all she does, good or bad; that makes me fear that the +good resolutions made at Easter will have no results, and that the +devil will return to the house he left, accompanied by seven other +evil spirits more wicked than himself, as Holy Scripture tells us. +In short, one sees and hears nothing here but grievous things; I can +do nothing; and I am most sincerely afflicted. My daughter did not +stay here long enough for her good example to have any effect. They +asked me how I managed to bring her up so well; I answered: by always +talking reason to her; by showing her why such or such a thing was +good or bad; by never passing over any foolish caprice; by striving +as much as possible that she should not see bad examples; by not +disheartening her with attacks of ill-humour; by praising virtue, +and inspiring her with a horror of vice of all kinds. That is how I +brought up my daughter, who, thanks be to God, has won the respect +of all. But it is not to be supposed that we can bring up children +without giving ourselves great trouble; vigilance and activity are +indispensable. + +In Germany there is one good thing: those who put no curb upon their +conduct are despised. Here it is not so; youth imagines that the +lectures of old persons are simply the result of bitterness in those +who did the same things themselves in other days. People with bad +reputations are just as well received and treated as those who have +always led good lives; and it is that sight which ruins youth. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +I write you with a troubled heart, and yesterday I wept the whole +morning. The good and pious Queen of England died at seven o'clock +yesterday morning at Saint-Germain. Assuredly she is now in heaven. +She did not keep a penny for herself, but gave all she had to the +poor; she supported whole families; she never said an unkind thing +of any one, no matter who, and if others began to talk to her about +their neighbours, she would say: "If it is harm of any one, I beg you +not to tell me." She bore her misfortunes with perfect resignation; +she was polite and agreeable, though far from being handsome; she was +always cheerful and was constantly praising our Princess of Wales. I +loved her well, and her death grieves my heart. She died with sincere +satisfaction, thanking God for delivering her from this world. I +think, as you do, that we may look upon her as sainted; more so than +her husband; though I believe that he is also in heaven; he suffered +with great resignation. The queen had great firmness, and true royal +qualities, much generosity, politeness, and judgment. She used to +joke me about my liking for the theatre. She told me once, laughing, +that there had been a time when she could not go out, because her +horses were dead and she had no money to buy others, but she never +complained of her misfortunes. + +She was very thin, but more so in the body than in her face, which was +long, the eyes spiritual, the teeth white and large, the skin wan, +which showed all the more because she never wore rouge; she had a good +expression of countenance, and was always very clean. My son, out of +compassion for her poor servants, has allowed quite a number of them +to keep their pensions. + +It is perfectly false that she left great sums of money behind her. +She supported her son, as well as her household; she gave pensions to +most of her ladies; she maintained whole families of English people, +and deprived herself of necessaries to succour the poor in hospitals. +In the matter of cupidity she was not an Italian, for she never laid a +penny aside. It may truly be said that she had all the royal virtues. +Her sole fault (for no one is perfect) was in pushing her piety to +such extremes; but she paid dear for that, as it was really the cause +of all her misfortunes. She could not make any savings while living in +France, for her pension was paid irregularly, and she was forced to +borrow money and make debts. It is not true that her servants pillaged +her furniture. She was lodged at Saint-Germain, where the furniture +belongs to the king. Few queens of England have been happy; and the +kings themselves in that land have not had much to make them so. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +Mme. de Berry has nursed her mother through an illness with the +devotion of a Gray Sister. I should be very ungrateful if I did not +feel attachment to her, for she shows me all possible friendship and +treats me with such politeness that I am often quite touched by it. +The Maintenon was so afraid that the king would like the Duchesse de +Berry, and thus be detached from the dauphine, that she did her as +many ill-turns as she could. But after the death of the dauphine she +patched matters up, though, to tell the truth, the liking of the king +for the duchess was never great. + +Nothing new from England: the king is defiant and suspicious. The +English are wily and think only of their own interests; they see +very well that they can fish in troubled waters, and that as long as +there is ill-will between father and son, the king will not think +of tightening his authority upon them. They therefore endeavour to +keep up the ill-temper that is natural to him. I do not believe he +will return to Hanover as soon as some people think. I heard from +the Princess of Wales yesterday that she had written to the king a +most submissive letter; the king answered it harshly and made her +many reproaches on her behaviour. He will get himself laughed at for +behaving in that way; for the good reputation of the princess is +perfectly established. I cannot comprehend the king's behaviour. + + + + + IV. + + LETTERS OF 1718-1719. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +Historians often tell lies. They say in the history of my grandfather, +the King of Bohemia, that my grandmother, the queen, carried away +by her ambition, never left her husband a moment's peace until he +declared himself king. There is not a single word of truth in all +that. The queen thought of nothing but seeing comedies and ballets and +reading novels. They also say in the history of the late king that +it was from generosity he retired from Holland and consented to make +peace. The truth is that Mme. de Montespan, after giving birth to a +daughter (now Mme. la Duchesse), had returned to Versailles, and the +king longed to see her. + +They also attribute the first war in Holland to the king's ambition, +whereas I am positively sure that war was undertaken because M. de +Lionne, then minister, was jealous of his wife on account of Prince +William of Furstemberg. To get the prince out of France he began the +war against Holland and the emperor. If historians lie in that way +about things that have passed before our noses, what are we to believe +as to the things that are far away from us and happened a great many +years ago? I think that histories, except those in Holy Writ, are +as false as novels; the only difference is that the latter are more +amusing. + +[Illustration: Mme. la Duchesse] + +Nothing new here. I am told that yesterday a man, wanting to beat his +wife, with whom he was displeased, prayed thus: "My good God, command +that the blows I am about to give thy servant may correct her and +make her virtuous." + +I went to Paris yesterday to see my son and his family and be present +at the representation of a new play, called "Artaxerxes," in which +there was nothing extraordinary, though there were one or two fine +points. On entering my box they gave me your letter of the 7th. + +I am so well at Saint-Cloud, where I am tranquil and happy, whereas +in Paris I am never allowed an instant of rest; one person brings me +a petition, another requests me to use my influence, another solicits +an audience, another demands an answer to all the letters he has +written, until I really cannot bear it any longer. And then people +are surprised that I am not charmed with my fate! In this world great +people have their troubles as well as little people; that is not +surprising; but what is very annoying for the first is that they are +always surrounded by a crowd, so that they cannot hide their griefs +nor indulge them in solitude; they are always on exhibition. + +My son does not like the country, he cares for nothing but the life of +cities. In that he resembles Mme. de Longueville, who was extremely +bored in Normandy, where her husband lived. Those about her said, +"Good God! madame, ennui is gnawing you to death; why not take some +amusement? Here are horses and dogs and forests; will you hunt?" + +"No," she said, "I don't like hunting." + +"Will you embroider?" + +"No, I don't like embroidery." + +"Will you take a walk, or play at some game?" + +"No, I don't like either." + +"Then what will you do?" some one asked her. + +She answered: "I can't say; but I don't like innocent pleasures." + +This Duchesse de Longueville was sister of the Prince de Condé. +She had led a very irregular life, but afterwards repented and did +penance, and never ceased to fast and pray for the rest of her days. +She changed so much that no one could imagine she had ever been +handsome; her figure alone preserved its grace--but these are old +tales. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +Nothing new, except that my son came here yesterday afternoon and +brought me the decree which alters the legal value of the currency. +The _louis d'or_ will henceforth be worth thirty-six francs; those +who have a great deal of money will profit finely. I am not of that +number; it is a long time since money and I have kept company. + +You ask me if foreigners professing the Lutheran religion can obtain +military employments here. No, they are never admitted except into the +Alsace regiment and the Swiss corps. + +All parliament is unchained against my son, and it is certainly +sustained by the eldest of the bastards [Duc du Maine] and his +wife. As soon as any one speaks ill of my son and shows himself +dissatisfied, the duchess invites him to Sceaux, cajoles and pities +him, and spares nothing to excite him still further against my son. I +am amazed at his patience. He has courage, goes his straight road, and +does not fret himself about anything. The parliament of Paris has made +an appeal to all the other parliaments of France to unite with it; +but none as yet have committed that folly; on the contrary, they have +shown themselves faithful to my son. Everything has been done to rouse +the people against him by spreading libels, but so far without effect; +I think more would have been produced if the bastard and his wife had +not been mixed up in the matter, because they are detested in Paris. I +think what prevents my son from acting with vigour against the Duc du +Maine is, first, that he dreads the tears and anger of his wife, and +next, that he loves his other brother-in-law, the Comte de Toulouse. + +My son will soon find means to pay the debts of the late king, for Law +(or Lass as they call him in France) is an Englishman who has great +talent. The people are not more pressed than they were in the days of +the king, but they are not relieved, and my son's enemies profit by +that unfortunate circumstance to rouse the public hatred against him. +It is false that he accumulates money; he has never touched what comes +to him as regent. I do not believe there exists in the world a more +disinterested being; he is even too much so; he makes beggars of his +children. Nearly all the tales told in the gazettes about him are lies. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +I thought M. Law was an Englishman but it seems he is a Scotchman; +and in point of fact horribly ugly; but he appears to be a worthy man +and he has much talent; he came near dying yesterday of an attack of +colic. Parliament is not quiet yet; it still makes remonstrances. +Everything is so horribly ruined in the kingdom that my son will never +in all his life have rest or satisfaction again. + +The wife of the humpback [Duchesse du Maine] desired to have an +interview and explanation with my son. She spoke with emphasis, as she +does when she acts comedy, and told him he ought not to believe that +the answer to Fitzmaurice's book emanated from her; that a princess +of the blood like herself did not condescend to write libels; that +Cardinal de Polignac [her lover] had been employed in far too great +affairs to meddle in such trifles; and that M. de Malézieux was too +great a philosopher to know about anything but science; and as for +herself, she was solely occupied in bringing up her children and +making them worthy of the rank of princes of the blood--of which they +were unjustly deprived. My son confined himself to saying: "I have +reason to believe that those libels were written in your house and for +you; persons in your service have sworn that they saw them written; +I cannot be made to either believe or disbelieve things." As to her +last words he said nothing in reply, and went away. The lady boasted +everywhere of the energy and firmness with which she spoke to him. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +Parliament thwarts my son and tries more than ever to excite the +bourgeoisie and the populace of Paris against him, and great +calamities may result. Every night in going to bed I thank God that no +evil has happened during the day. Many persons here would like to have +the King of Spain for king; he is a weak man and could be managed more +easily than my son. Every one thinks solely of his own interest. It is +asserted that the King of Spain has rights to the throne of France, +and that a great wrong was done when he was induced to renounce his +country. All this is said in view of the possible death of the little +king. If he should die, my son would be king, but he would not be in +greater safety than he is at this moment, and that death would be a +great misfortune for him. + +I have never known such a summer as this. It has not rained for +weeks and the heat increases every day; the leaves on the trees are +shrivelled as if a fire had gone over them. There are prophecies that +rain will begin to fall on Wednesday. God grant it! but until it rains +no one will see me in Paris. We think it is hot here, but every one +who comes from Paris exclaims, "Oh! how cool Saint-Cloud is!" Paris +is horrible, very hot and stinking; the streets have such a shocking +smell one can't endure it; the extreme heat has made the meat and +the fish rot, and that, joined to the crowds of people who relieve +themselves in the streets, makes an odour so detestable that it cannot +be borne. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, August 30, 1718. + +Parliament had formed the fine project, if my son had postponed +action twenty-four hours, to make the Duc du Maine ruler of France by +declaring the king major and giving to the duke the sole direction +of affairs. But my son has disconcerted all this by removing the Duc +du Maine from the king and degrading him to his proper rank. They +say that the president of parliament was so frightened that he sat +petrified as if he had seen the head of Medusa. But Medusa herself +could not stop the fury of the Duchesse du Maine. She launched into +horrible threats, and said publicly she would soon find means to give +the regent a fillip that should make him bite the dust. It is thought +the old _guenipe_ is intriguing underhand in this matter with her +pupil. + +I went this morning to Paris where there is great uproar. My son +made the king hold a _lit de justice_, to which the parliament was +summoned, and was formally enjoined, in the king's name, not to meddle +with the government, but to keep to its own province, that of judging +cases and doing justice. The new Keeper of the Seals was installed in +office, and as it was known positively that the Duc du Maine and his +wife were exciting parliament against the king and against my son, the +superintendence of the king's education was taken from him and given +to M. le Duc; he was also deprived, he and his children, of the right +to be treated as princes of the blood; but they maintained the younger +brother in all his privileges because he has always conducted himself +well. + +The parliament people and the Duchesse du Maine are so furious against +my son that I am constantly afraid they will assassinate him. The +duchess makes the most insulting speeches; she said at table: "They +say that I push parliament to revolt against the Duc d'Orléans; but +I despise him too much to take such a noble vengeance against him--I +shall know how to avenge myself otherwise." You see what a fury that +woman is, and whether I have not good reason to be in a continual +agony. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1718. + +I know all about the tragical affair of the czarewitch; an exact +account of it has been rendered to my son by the people over there. +There are many lies about it in the newspapers; the czar is not as +barbarous as he was before he travelled here and to other Courts. The +czarewitch had taken part in a plot the object of which was to kill +his father; it was from papers written by his own hand that he was +condemned to death. He began by denying everything, and they could +not have convicted him if his mistress had not betrayed him and given +up his papers. My son told me last night at the theatre that the czar +had assembled a great Council, in which were the bishops and all the +councillors of State. He had his son brought before them, embraced +him, and said: "Is it possible that after I spared your life you were +trying to assassinate me?" The prince denied everything. Then the +czar gave to the Council the letters which had been seized, and said: +"I cannot judge my own son; judge him, and let him find mercy and +not be proceeded against by the full rigour of the law." The Council +unanimously condemned the prince to death. When the czarewitch heard +the sentence he was overcome with emotion and remained some hours +without being able to speak. Then he asked to see his father once +more before he died. He confessed everything to him and begged his +forgiveness with tears. He lived two days after that, and he died in +the greatest repentance. Between ourselves, I think they poisoned +him, so as not to have the shame of seeing him in the hands of the +executioner. It is a dreadful story and has the air of a tragedy; it +is like those of Livius Andronicus. + +I am still very uneasy on the subject of my son. He has unfortunately +many enemies, but still more false friends; everything is to be feared +from both. One of my grand-daughters is determined to be a nun, in +spite of my wishes and those of her father. The mother has brought +her children up in a way that is a matter of derision and shame; I am +forced to see it daily; but all that I could say would do no good. + +My heart is full when I think that is the day when our poor Mlle. +de Chartres is to make her profession. I have represented to her +all I could think of to turn her from that cursed resolution, but +without result. In convents the nuns take the names of saints; my +grand-daughter has taken that of Sister Batilde. No one is afflicted +to the point of weeping, which would surely have happened to me had +I been present at her profession. I do not know the motives that +determined her; she only told me that she felt herself perfectly +capable of enduring the life. + +Mlle. de Valois, the fourth daughter, is not on good terms with her +mother, who tried in vain to make her marry the Prince de Dombes, +the eldest son of the Duc du Maine. The mother constantly reproaches +the daughter and tells her that if she had married her nephew the +misfortune which has fallen upon her brother would never have +happened. She is so unwilling to have her daughter before her eyes +that she has asked me to keep her for a while with me. + +The old _guenipe_ must think herself immortal to still wish to reign +though she is eighty-three years old. The blow which struck the Duc +du Maine has shaken her roughly. But she has not lost all hope, and +she is so little scrupulous as to the means of reaching her ends, +that I am very uneasy, for I know what usage she can make of poison. +What has happened to the Duc du Maine is a terrible blow to her, and +my son is never upon his guard; he goes about the environs at night +in strange carriages; he sups in one place and then in another with +his companions, among whom are many who are quite worthless; they are +clever enough, but have no good quality. + +People talk in diverse ways of the Duchesse du Maine. Some people say +she beat her husband and broke the mirrors in her room to bits, also +everything else that was breakable when she received the news of his +overthrow. Others say she never said a word and only wept. M. le Duc +is charged with the education of the king. He said that he did not +in the beginning ask for that office because he had not reached his +majority; but now in the actual state of things he did demand it, and +he obtained it. + +I must tell you of a most amusing dialogue between Lord Stair and the +Spanish ambassador, Prince Cellamare. The latter had reported all over +Paris that it was entirely false that the English fleet had beaten the +Spanish fleet; and the partisans of Spain who are here managed so well +that the news of the defeat was no longer believed, when, suddenly, +the son of Admiral Byng arrived, bringing the official account of the +action and a list of the ships which the English had captured, burned, +or sunk. Lord Stair, having received these documents, said to Prince +Cellamare: "Well, monsieur, what do you say now about your fleet?" + +"I say," replied the ambassador, "that the fleet is safely at Cadiz." + +"I am not talking about the fleet at Cadiz," said Stair. "I mean that +of Messina." + +"The fleet of Cadiz and all the galleons richly laden have entered the +port of Cadiz," returned the prince; and no other answer could be got +from him. + +The little dwarf [Duchesse du Maine] says she has more courage than +her husband, her sons, and her brother-in-law, and, like another Jael, +she will kill my son by hammering a nail into his head. My son does +not trouble himself about her threats. When I tell him he ought to be +upon his guard, he laughs and shakes his head as if I were talking +nonsense. But the perils that surround my son's existence make me +spend many a sleepless night, and certainly his regency has not been +to me a subject of satisfaction. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +The affair of the Duc du Maine is not one of those things that can be +forgotten, at least not so long as those two old hussies are living +[Mme. de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins]; for they stir him +up, together with his little devil of a wife, to all sorts of secret +plotting against my son. Mme. des Ursins has one good thing about her, +however: she does not call upon the good God to assist her intrigues. +My son is not in safety, and that troubles me extremely. I do my best +to be resigned to the divine will and to accept whatever it provides; +but the heart of a mother is too tender about an only son. + +You may move lions and tigers and all sorts of wild beasts sooner +than wicked people when ambition and cupidity are the cause of their +enmity. All arguers on the condition of the country do not know the +deplorable state in which my son found the kingdom. When the change in +the government occurred each person imagined he would grow rich; they +praised my son and expected marvels of him; as these marvels have not +been realized, because they were impossible, blame is now substituted +for praise. There would be little harm if such complaints exhaled +in words, but the discontented are forming intrigues and plots. The +French will not stop at anything, and they do not know what gratitude +is. + + + PARIS, 1718. + +When I first came to France I saw here many persons such as one may +not find again in centuries. There was Lulli, for music; Beauchamp, +for ballets; Corneille and Racine, for tragedy; Molière, for comedy; +la Chamelle and Beauval, actresses; Baron, Lafleur, Torilière, and +Guérin, actors. All these persons excelled in their vocations. La +Duclos and la Raisin were equally good; the latter had a great deal +of charm. Her husband was also excellent in comic parts. There was +likewise a good harlequin and a capital scaramouch. There were good +singers at the opera, Clédière, Pomerueil, Godenarche, Duménil, la +Rochechouard, Mauvry, la Saint-Christophe, la Brigogne, la Beaucreux. +All that one sees and hears now does not come up to such talents. + +Everything goes to beat of drum between my son and his mistresses, +without the least gallantry. It reminds me of the old patriarchs who +had so many women. My son has a good deal of King David about him; he +has courage and spirit, he is a good musician, he is small, brave, +and ready to love any woman; he is not particular in that respect; +provided they are good-humoured, very shameless, and can eat and drink +a great deal, he does not mind about their faces. + +The Duc du Maine and his party have let his sister [the Duchesse +d'Orléans] know that if my son dies she will be made regent, and they +have promised her they would then act in all things by her will, and +she would be the greatest figure that there was in the world. They +told her they meant no harm to my son, but that he could not live +long, his life was so disorderly; that he must die soon, or else +become blind, in which case he would consent to her exercising the +regency. I heard all this from a person to whom the Duc du Maine +himself told it; and when one knows it one is not surprised that Mme. +d'Orléans wanted to force her daughter to marry the Duc du Maine's son. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +Thank God, my son is now in perfect health; he came here last night +and supped and slept, and returned this morning to Paris; he was very +gay indeed. He told us that in Spain they have enormous grapes that +intoxicate like wine, and that once after eating only one grape his +head swam; he went to a convent and said all sorts of foolish things +to the nuns, without knowing what he was talking about. + +Mme. du Maine is not larger than a child of ten. When she shuts her +mouth she is not ugly, but she has villanous, irregular teeth. She +is not very plump, has pretty eyes, and is white and fair, but puts +on a horrible quantity of rouge. If she was as good as she is bad +there would be nothing to say against her; but her malignancy is +intolerable. She is easy during the day, which she spends playing +cards, but when evening comes the tempers and the follies begin; she +torments her husband, her children, and her servants till they do +not know how to bear it. She is no beauty, but she has a great deal +of intelligence; she is very well educated and can talk on all sorts +of subjects, and that attracts to her learned men; she knows how to +flatter the discontented and excite them against my son. She is lord +and master of her husband. He holds many offices and can give places +to a great many persons: in the regiment of the guards, of which he +is general; in the artillery, of which he is grand-master; in the +carbineers, to which he appoints all officers; he has also his own +regiment; and these favours rally to him a great many persons. + + + PARIS, December 18, 1718. + +My son has found himself obliged to arrest Prince Cellamare, because +they found on his messenger, who was the Abbé Porto-Carrero, letters +from the ambassador which revealed a conspiracy against the king and +against my son. The ambassador was arrested by two of the Councillors +of State. In his secret despatches he warned Alberoni to be very +careful not to be on good terms with my son, because as soon as the +treaty was signed he meant to poison the little king; the ambassador +added that he would see that my son had his hands too full to think of +war, for he had brought a number of provinces to promise to revolt; +that their party was strong in Paris, and that Alberoni had only to +send money and not spare it. I believe the lamester, brother of my +daughter-in-law, will be found in this affair. The ambassador has +been interrogated by the two Councillors of State, and he admitted, +laughing, that he wrote the letters in order to avoid the evils of +war, and wanted simply to frighten my son. When they asked him why he +had said such infamies of the regent, he replied that he must admit +there had been a little poison in his remarks, but that poison was +necessary to compose an antidote. What is very strange is that the +Maréchal de Noailles, once my son's sub-governor, is implicated in +the plot; that is because he is related to that devil incarnate, the +Princesse des Ursins, who will pursue my son to the death,--her sole +motive being that he thought her too old to wish to be her lover. +Cellamare's letters have been printed, so that every one can see the +thread of the conspiracy. + +If the Abbé Dubois were at his first lie he would be dead long ago; +he is passed master in the art of lying, above all when it is to his +personal advantage; if I wrote down all that I know about that, it +would make a long litany. It was he who clandestinely told the king at +the time of my son's marriage what he had better say and do to bring +it about; he also had conferences on that subject with the Maintenon. +He behaves now as if he thought that he and I were perfectly agreed, +and no matter what disagreeable things I say to him, he turns them +all into jest. I will do him justice and say he is a man of capacity; +he talks well and is good company; but he is false and selfish as +the devil; he looks like a fox, his deceitfulness can be read in his +eyes. His portrait might be made as a fox crouching on the ground to +pounce on a hen. But he can express himself so well as an honest man +that I regarded him as such till the marriage of my son; it was then I +discovered his trickery. If that abbé were as good a Christian as he +is an able man, he would be excellent; but he believes in nothing, and +it is that which makes him false and a scoundrel. He is well-informed, +no doubt of that, and he gave my son a good education; but I wish he +had never seen him, and then this miserable marriage, which I deplore, +would never have taken place. Except the Abbé Dubois, no priest has +any favour with my son. + + + PARIS, 1719. + +It is certain that my son is much to be pitied on account of his wife, +and for this, if there were no other reason, I cannot comprehend why +he should like the Abbé Dubois as he does; for it was that abbé who +persuaded him to consent to the marriage and plunged him into all that +affliction. My son sees his wife every day; if she is in a good humour +he stays a long time with her; if she is out of temper, which often +happens, he goes away and says nothing. + +I used to be attached to the Abbé Dubois because I thought that he +truly loved my son and only thought of his good and his advantage; but +when I found he was a faithless dog looking to nothing but his own +interests, and did not care in the least for my son's honour, but was +helping to precipitate him to eternal damnation by letting him plunge +into debauchery, all my esteem for that little priest changed to +contempt. I heard from my son himself that the abbé met him once as he +was about to enter a bad house, and instead of taking him by the arm +and leading him away, he only laughed. By such laxity and by my son's +marriage he proved that neither faith, fidelity, nor decency was in +him. I am not wrong in suspecting him of taking part in that marriage. +What I know I have from my son himself and from the persons around the +old _vilaine_ in the days when the abbé went to her secretly at night +to help her intrigues and betray the young master whom he sold. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +I am so troubled that my hand trembles: my son has come to tell me +that he has been obliged to decide on arresting his brother-in-law, +the Duc du Maine and the duchess. They are the leaders of the shocking +Spanish plot. All is discovered; the papers of the ambassador of Spain +were seized, the persons arrested have confessed. The duchess, being +a princess of the blood [daughter of M. le Prince de Condé], was +arrested by four captains of the guard; her husband, who was in the +country, by a lieutenant. That makes a great difference between them. +The duchess was sent to Dijon, and her husband to Doullens, a little +fortress. Their people who were in the plot have been put in the +Bastille. + +Mme. d'Orléans is much distressed, but is much more reasonable than +Mme. la Duchesse. She says that, as her husband was compelled to adopt +such rigorous measures against his brother-in-law, there must have +been strong reasons. + +There is great discord among the clergy. The bishops are disunited; +some are for the pope and the doctrine of the Jesuits; others support +the Jansenists. I wish that both sides took more care to live like +Christians and die well; leaving disputes to those who find them to +their taste. I do not trouble myself about either party. + +Cardinals cannot be arrested, but you can exile them. Cardinal de +Polignac has therefore received orders to retire to one of his abbeys +and stay there. Love turned his head. He was formerly a good friend to +my son, but he changed as soon as he attached himself to that little +frog. Magny is not yet arrested; he is hiding from convent to convent +among the Jesuits. My son showed me a letter that Mme. du Maine had +written to Cardinal de Polignac, which was seized among his papers. +A most virtuous and estimable person she is, truly! In this fine +letter she says: "We go to-morrow to the country; I will arrange the +apartments so that your room can be near mine; try to manage as well +as last time, and we will give ourselves heart-joy." + + + PARIS, 1719. + +I wrote you that the Duc and Duchesse du Maine were the leaders of the +plot; since then the proof of the duke's culpability has been found in +a letter to him from Alberoni, in which are these words: "As soon as +war is declared, fire all your mines." Nothing can be clearer. They +are great wretches. + +Though the treason is discovered, all the traitors are not yet known. +My son laughs and says: "I hold the head and tail of the monster, +but not its body as yet." The Duc and Duchesse du Maine have written +on all sides to justify themselves. There is such wickedness and +falsehood in what they say that I cannot endure the thought of it. No +one can imagine the libels they have spread in the provinces about my +poor son; they have also sent them to foreign countries. + +Parliament is now on good terms with my son, and has rendered a +judgment wholly in his favour; that shows how the du Maines had +stirred it up against him. The Jesuits may, very likely, be secretly +plotting against my son, for all the partisans of the Constitution +[bull Unigenitus] are his adversaries; but they keep themselves quiet, +and nothing is shown to compromise them. They are clever people. Mme. +d'Orléans is beginning to laugh and show satisfaction; which worries +me, because I know she has consulted the president of parliament +[Mesmes] and other persons to learn whether in case of her husband's +death, she could be appointed regent with her son. The president +answered no; that the regency would devolve on M. le Duc, which answer +seemed to greatly disturb her. + +My son made me laugh yesterday. I asked him how the Maintenon was; he +answered, "Wonderfully well." I said, "How can that be, at her age?" +to which he replied: "Don't you know that the good God to punish the +devil makes him stay a very long time in a villanous body?" + + + PARIS, April 20, 1719. + +Saturday evening we lost a pious soul at Saint-Cyr, the old Maintenon. +The news of the arrest of the Duc du Maine and his wife made her +faint away, and it may have been the cause of her death, for from +that moment she had no rest. Anger and the loss of the hope to reign +through him turned her blood and gave her the measles, and for twenty +days she had continual fever. A storm which came up made the disease +strike inward, and it stifled her. She was eighty-six years old. I +have it in my head that what grieved her most at the last was leaving +my son and me behind her in good health. + +She died like a young person. She gave herself eighty-two years, but +she was really eighty-six. If she had died twenty years ago I should +have cordially rejoiced, but now it gives me neither pleasure nor +pain. There is nothing to wonder at in her dying like a young person. +In the other world, where all are equal and there is no difference +in rank, it will be decided whether she stays with the king or the +paralytic Scarron; but if the king knows then all that was hidden from +him in this world, there is no doubt he will return her very willingly +to Scarron. + + + PARIS, 1719. + +It appears that the Duc de Richelieu was not in the conspiracy of +the Duc and Duchesse du Maine, but had a plot of his own, which has +put him in the Bastille. He took it into his head that he was so +considerable a person he could not be refused a certain marriage far +above his just pretensions. When that hope vanished, he began, in his +vexation, to plot. He is an arch-debauchee, and a coward; he believes +in neither God nor His word; in all his life he never has done, and +never will do a worthy thing; he is ambitious and false as the devil. +He is not yet twenty-four years old. I do not think him as handsome as +the Court women do, who are mad about him. He has a pretty figure and +fine hair, an oval face and very brilliant eyes, but everything about +him indicates a rascal; he is graceful and is not without cleverness, +but his insolence is great; he is the worst of spoiled youths. The +first time he was put in the Bastille was for saying he was an actual +lover of the Duchesse de Bourgogne and all her young ladies; which was +a horrible lie. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +You ask me what has recently made me so angry; I cannot tell it in +detail, only in the gross. It is the horrible coquetry of Mlle. de +Valois with that cursèd Duc de Richelieu, who has shown the letters +that he had from her, for he only loves her from vanity. All the young +seigneurs of the Court have read the letters in which she assigns him +rendezvous. Her mother wanted me to take her here with me, which I +refused curtly; but she is now returning to the charge. I am horribly +vexed; the human species disgusts me. I cannot endure the idea of +having her; but I must, to avoid worse scandal; the very sight of that +heedless creature will make me ill. All this is the result of the +apathy and nullity of the mother; may God forgive her! but she has +brought up her daughters very ill. + +The Duc de Richelieu is bold and full of impertinence; he knows the +kindness of my son and abuses it; if justice were done he would pay +for his manoeuvres and his temerity with his head; he has triply +deserved it. I am not cruel, but I could see him hanging from a +gibbet without a tear. He is now walking about on the rampart of the +Bastille, curled and bedecked, while the ladies are standing in the +street below to see that beautiful image. Many tears will be shed in +Paris, for every woman is in love with him; I don't know why, for +he is a little toad in whom I can see nothing agreeable. He has no +courage; he is impertinent, faithless, and indiscreet; he says harm +of all his mistresses; and yet a princess of the blood-royal [Mlle. +de Charolais, grand-daughter of M. le Prince de Condé] is so in love +with him that when he became a widower she wanted to marry him. Her +grandmother and brother formally opposed it, and with reason, for +independently of the misalliance she would have been, all her life, +most unhappy. He has had each of his mistresses painted in the various +habits of the religious orders: Mlle. de Charolais as a Franciscan +nun,--they say it is an excellent likeness; the Maréchale de Villars +and the Maréchale d'Estrées in the Capucin habit. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +I do not mingle in any way with what is going on in Rome. The pope and +I have no relations with each other; therefore no one need address +himself to me to get a dispensation. + +It is not true that I have changed my name; I cannot be called in +France by any other title than that of Madame, for my husband, as +brother of the king, bore the title of Monsieur, and I as his wife +cannot bear any other than that of Madame. The daughters of the king +are also called so, but, to distinguish them, the baptismal name is +added; for instance, the three daughters of Henri II. were called: +Madame Élisabeth, who became Queen of Spain; Madame Henriette, who +became Queen of England; and Madame Christine, who was afterwards +Duchesse de Savoie. The daughters of the king's brother are called +Mademoiselle; the eldest bears that title with nothing added to it; +the others add the name of their appanage; that is how it is there +is a Mademoiselle de Chartres, Mademoiselle de Valois, Mademoiselle +de Montpensier. It is the same with the grandsons of the king; they +should be called Monsieur with the names of their appanages attached; +it was always an abuse to say the Duc de Bourgogne, the Duc de Berry: +they ought to have been called Monsieur de Bourgogne, Monsieur de +Berry. + +I went last Sunday to see the Duchesse de Berry and found her in a sad +state. She had such frightful pains in the soles and toes of her feet +that the tears came into her eyes. I saw that my presence prevented +her from screaming and so I came away. I thought she looked very ill. +They have had a consultation of three physicians, who decided on +bleeding from the foot. It was difficult to bring her to consent, for +the suffering in her feet is so unbearable that she screams if the +sheets merely touch them. However, the bleeding succeeded and she has +suffered less since. It was gout in both feet. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +I went yesterday to see the Duchesse de Berry; she is better, thank +God, but she cannot walk yet. Two great boils have come upon the soles +of her feet, which burn them as if with red-hot iron; it is a very +singular illness. Twice a week they give her medicine, and the other +days an enema; both do her good. It seems that her illness comes from +the frightful gluttony in which she indulged last year. + +I told you my son had a fever; he is better now; but I fear a relapse, +for he is, to say the least, as much of a glutton as his daughter; and +he will not listen to any advice. + +The English nation is a wicked nation, false and ungrateful. Most of +the persons of rank who were at Saint-Germain, whom the late queen +supported (imposing upon herself personally the greatest privations in +order to do so) now declaim against her, and tell a thousand lies of +that good and virtuous queen. All this fills me with wrath. + +My son is really too kind; that little Duc de Richelieu having +assured him that he had fully intended to reveal to him the plot, he +believed him and has set him at liberty. It is true that the duke's +mistress, Mlle. de Charolais, never left my son a moment's peace about +it. It is a horrible thing for a princess of the blood to declare in +the face of all the world that she is as amorous as a cat, and that +her passion is for a scoundrel of a rank so beneath her own that she +cannot marry him, and who is moreover unfaithful to her, for he is +known to have half a dozen other mistresses. When she is told of that +she replies: "Pooh! he only has them to sacrifice them to me and to +tell me all that passes between them." It is really an awful thing. + +If I believed in sorcery I should say that that duke possessed a +supernatural power; for he has never yet found a woman who opposed him +the slightest resistance; they all run after him, and it is literally +shameful. He is not handsomer than others, and he is so indiscreet +and gabbling that he says himself if an empress beautiful as an angel +fell in love with him and wished to be his on condition that he would +not tell of it, he should prefer to leave her on the spot and never +look at her again. He is a great poltroon, but very insolent, without +heart or soul. I revolt at the thought that he is the petted darling +of women, and I am quite sure he will only show ingratitude for my +son's kindness--but I will not say another word about that personage; +he puts me out of all patience. + +The harm that is said of M. Law and his bank is the effect of +jealousy; for nothing better could be found. He is paying off the +fearful debts of the late king, and he has diminished the taxes, +lessening in that way the burdens that are weighing down the people; +wood does not cost the half of what it did; the duties on wine, meats, +in fact, all that is consumed in Paris have been abolished; and that +has caused great joy among the people, as you may suppose. M. Law +is very polite. I think a great deal of him; he does all he can to +be agreeable to me. He does not wish to act secretly, like those who +have preceded him in the management of the finances, but publicly, +with honour. It is quite false that he has bought a palace from the +Duchesse de Berry; she has none to sell; all the houses she has return +to the king,--such as Meudon, Châville, and La Muette. + +Law is so pursued that he has no peace day or night; a duchess kissed +his hands in sight of everybody, and if duchesses kiss his hands, what +will not the other women kiss? Impossible to have more capacity than +he, but I would not for all the gold in the world be in his place; he +is tormented like a lost soul; besides which his enemies are spreading +all sorts of wicked tales about him. I am tired out with hearing of +nothing but shares and millions, and I cannot hide my ill-humour. +People are flocking here from all corners of Europe; during the last +month there have been in Paris two hundred and fifty thousand more +persons than usual; they have had to make rooms in lofts and barns, +and Paris is so full of carriages that there is great difficulty in +getting through the streets, and many persons have been crushed. One +lady meaning to say to M. Law, "Give me a concession," called out in +a loud voice, "Ah! monsieur, give me a conception;" to which M. Law +replied: "Madame, you have come too late; there is no way at present +by which you can obtain one." + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +I am afraid that the excesses of the Duchesse de Berry in eating and +drinking will put her underground. The fever never leaves her and she +has two paroxysms of it daily. She shows neither impatience nor anger, +though she suffered greatly from the emetic they gave her yesterday. +She has become as thin and shrunken as she was fat; yesterday she +confessed and received the communion. + + + July 17, 1719. + +The Duchesse de Berry died last night between two and three o'clock; +her end was very gentle; they say she died as if she fell asleep. My +son remained beside her until she had entirely lost consciousness. She +was his favourite child. + +The poor duchess took her own life as surely as if she had put a +pistol to her head; she secretly ate melons, figs, milk; she owned it +to me herself, and her physician told me she locked her door against +him and all the other doctors for fourteen days in order to do as +she liked. When the storm came up, as it did, she turned to death. +She said to me last night: "Ah! Madame, that peal of thunder did me +great harm,"--and indeed it was very visible. She received the last +sacraments with such firmness that it wrung our hearts. + +My son has lost the power to sleep; his poor daughter could not +have been saved; her head was full of water; she had an ulcer in +the stomach, another in the hip, the rest of her inside was like +_bouillie_ and the liver attacked. She was taken at night, secretly, +with all her household, to Saint-Denis. Such embarrassment was felt +about her funeral oration that it was judged best to have none at all. +She said she died without regret, because she was reconciled with God, +and that if her life were prolonged she might offend Him again. That +touched us in a way I cannot express. At heart she was a good person; +and if her mother had taken more care of her and had brought her up +better there would be nothing but good to say of her. I own that her +loss goes to my heart--but let us talk of something else; this is too +sad. + +The reason you could not read my last letter was that it was partly +torn by one of my dogs just as I finished it. I see you do not like +dogs, for if you loved them as I do you would forgive their little +faults. I have one, named _Reine inconnue_, which understands as well +as a man, and never leaves me an instant without weeping and howling +as long as I am out of her sight. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +Yesterday, directly after my dinner, I went to Paris, and found my +poor son in a state to melt a heart of rock. He is afflicted to the +soul, and all the more because he sees that if he had not shown such +excessive indulgence to his dear daughter, if he had better acted a +father's part, she would now be living and healthy. + +With all her revenues she leaves behind her debts amounting to 400,000 +francs, for my son to pay. Those people about her robbed and pillaged +the poor princess horribly; but that is always the way with a brood +of favourites. Her marriage with that toad's head [Rion] is unhappily +but too true. He is not, however, of a bad stock; he is allied to +good families; the Duc de Lauzun is his uncle, and Biron his nephew; +but, for all that, he was not worthy of the honours that came to him. +He was only a captain in the king's regiment. Women ran after him. I +thought him ugly and repulsive, and sickly looking besides. When the +news of the Duchesse de Berry's death reached the army, the Prince de +Conti went to find Rion and made him this pretty speech: "She is dead, +your milch cow, and you need not talk any more about her." My son +feels rather stung; but he does not wish to seem to know of it. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1719. + +I promised to tell you about my journey to Chelles [to witness the +installation of her grand-daughter as abbess of the convent of +Chelles]. I started Thursday at seven o'clock, with the Duchesse de +Brancas, Mme. de Châteauthiers, and Mme. de Rathsamhausen; we arrived +at half-past ten. My grandson, the Duc de Chartres, had already +arrived; my son came a few minutes later; then Mlle. de Valois. Mme. +d'Orléans had herself bled expressly to be unable to come. She and the +abbess are not very good friends; and besides, her extreme laziness +would prevent her from getting up so early. + +We went to the church. The _prie-dieu_ of the abbess was placed in the +nun's choir; it was violet velvet covered with gold _fleur-de-lis_; my +_prie-dieu_ was against the balustrade; my son and his daughter were +behind my chair, because the princes of the blood cannot kneel upon my +carpet; that is a right reserved to the grandsons of France. The whole +of the king's band was in the loft. Cardinal de Noailles said mass. +The altar is a very fine one of black and white marble with four thick +columns of black marble; there are four beautiful statues of sainted +abbesses, one so like our own abbess you might think it was her +portrait; it was, however, carved before my grand-daughter was born, +for she is only twenty-one years old. + +Twelve monks of her Order, robed in splendid chasubles, came to +serve the mass. After the cardinal had read the epistle, the master +of ceremonies entered the nun's choir and brought out the abbess; +she came with a very good air, followed by two abbesses, and half a +dozen nuns of her own convent. She made a deep curtsey to the altar, +then to me, and knelt down before the cardinal, who was seated in a +great armchair before the altar. They brought in state the confession +of faith, which she read, and after the cardinal had recited many +prayers, he gave her a book containing the rules of the convent. She +then returned to her place; and after the _Credo_ and the offertory +had been read, she came forward again, accompanied by an abbess and +her nuns. Two great wax tapers and two loaves of bread, one gilt, the +other silvered, were brought, with which she made her offering. After +the cardinal had taken the communion, she again knelt before him and +he gave her the crozier. Then he took her to her seat, not at her +_prie-dieu_, but to her seat as abbess, a sort of throne surmounted +by the dais of a princess of the blood with the _fleurs-de-lis_. As +soon as she was seated the trumpets and the hautboys sounded, and the +cardinal, followed by all his priests, placed himself near the altar +on the left side, crozier in hand, and they chanted the Te Deum. Next, +all the nuns of the convent came forward, two and two, to testify +their submission to their new abbess, making her a deep obeisance. +That reminded me of the honours they pay Athys when they make him high +priest of Cybele in the opera, and I almost thought they were going to +sing, "Before thee all bow down and tremble," etc. + +After the Te Deum, we entered the convent about half-past twelve and +sat down to table, my son and I, my grandson, the Duc de Chartres, +the Princesse Victoire de Soissons, the young Demoiselle d'Auvergne, +daughter of Duc d'Albret, and my three ladies. The abbess went to +a table in her refectory with her sister, Mlle. de Valois, the two +ladies who accompanied her, twelve abbesses, and all the nuns of the +convent. It was droll to see so many black robes round a table. My +son's people served a very fine repast; and after dinner was over they +let the people come in and pillage the dessert and confectionery. At a +quarter to five my carriage came, and I returned to Saint-Cloud. + +You ask me if my Abbé de Saint-Albin and his brother the Chevalier +d'Orléans have the same mother; no. The chevalier is legitimatized, +but the poor abbé has not been so at all. He has the family look, and +strongly resembles the late Monsieur; he is something like his father +and is very like Mlle. de Valois. He is some years older than the +chevalier and is very grieved to see his younger brother so much above +him. The chevalier, who for some time past has been the grand-prior of +France in the Order of Malta, is the son of Mlle. de Séry, formerly my +maid-of-honour; she now calls herself Mme. d'Argenton. The mother of +the abbé is an opera-dancer named Florence. My son has also a daughter +by the left hand, whom he does not recognize; he has married her to a +Marquis de Ségur; her mother was Desmares, one of the best actresses +in the king's troupe. I love the Abbé de Saint-Albin, and he deserves +it. In the first place, he loves me sincerely, and in the next he +conducts himself extremely well. He has intellect; he is reasonable, +and there is no canting bigotry about him. He is not in as much favour +with my son as he deserves, but he is the best young man in the world; +well brought-up, pious, and virtuous; he is well educated but has no +conceit. He is more like the late Monsieur than he is like his father; +but it is plain where he comes from; my son cannot deny him; and it is +a great pity that he is not my son's legitimate child. + +The enormous wealth that is now in France is inconceivable. All the +talk is in millions. I cannot understand it; but I see plainly that +the God Mammon reigns in Paris absolutely. The late king would gladly +have employed M. Law in the finances; but as he was not a Catholic the +king said he could not trust him. Nothing is now thought of but Law's +bank; a hundred tales are told of it. A lady gave her coachman an +order to upset her in front of it, and when M. Law ran out, supposing +from the cries that she had broken her neck or legs, she hastened to +acknowledge it was only a stratagem to get speech with him. It is +certainly a droll thing to see how everybody runs after that man, +jostling each other merely to see him or his son. + +M. le Duc and his mother have made, they say, two hundred and fifty +millions; the Prince de Conti rather less, though people declare his +gains amount to many millions; the two cousins never budge from the +rue Quincampoix. But the one who has gained the most money is d'Antin, +who is terribly grasping. + +M. Law has abjured at Melun; he has become a Catholic, and so have his +children; his wife is in despair. He is not avaricious; he does much +in charity, without letting it be known, and gives away great sums; he +helps large numbers of poor people. + + + + + V. + + LETTERS OF 1720-1722. + + + PARIS, 1720. + +I have often walked about at night in the gallery of the château of +Fontainebleau, where they say the ghost of the late king François I. +appears; but the good man never did me the honour to appear to me; +perhaps he does not think my prayers sufficiently efficacious to call +him out of purgatory; and in that he may be right enough. + +I was very gay in my youth; that is why they called me in German +_Rauschen petten Knecht_. I remember the birth of the King of England +[George I.] as if it had been yesterday. I was a very roguish, +inquisitive child. They put a doll in a clump of rosemary and tried +to make me believe that it was the child that I was told my aunt was +going to have; but just at that moment I heard her scream, which +did not agree with the baby in the rosemary bush. I pretended that +I believed them, but I slipped into my aunt's chamber as if I were +playing hide and seek with young Bulau and Haxthausen, and hid behind +a great screen they had placed beside the chimney next the door. +Presently they brought the child to the fireplace to bathe it, and +I ran out of my hiding-place. I ought to have been whipped, but in +honour of the happy event I was only well scolded. + +The late king was so attached to the old customs of the royal family +that he would not have allowed any of them to be changed for all the +world. Mme. de Fiennes used to say that they clung so to old ways in +the royal household that the queen died with a frilled cap on her +head such as they tie on children when they put them to bed. When +the king wished a thing he never allowed any one to argue against +it; the thing he ordered must be done at once without reply. He was +too used to "such is our good pleasure" to brook an observation. +He was very severe in the etiquette he established about him. At +Marly it was quite another thing; there he allowed no ceremony. +Neither ambassadors nor envoys were invited to go there, and he never +gave audiences; there was no etiquette, and everything went along +pell-mell. On the promenades the king made the men wear their hats, +and in the salon every one, down to the captains and sub-lieutenants +of the foot-guards, was allowed to sit down. That gave me such a +disgust for the salon that I never chose to stay there. My son is like +all the rest of the family, he wants the things to which he has been +accustomed from his youth to go on forever. That is why he cannot part +with the Abbé Dubois, though he knows his knavery. That abbé wanted to +persuade me, myself, that the marriage of my son was very advantageous +for him. I replied: "And Honour, monsieur, what can repair that?" The +Maintenon had made great promises to him and also to my son, but, +thanks be to God, she did not keep her word to either of them. + +[Illustration: Infanta Maria Theresa wife of Louis XIV] + +We have had few queens in France who have been perfectly happy. +Marie de' Medici died in exile; the mother of the king and Monsieur +was miserable as long as her husband lived; and our own queen, +Marie-Thérèse, used to say that since she became queen she had never +had but one day of true contentment. She was certainly excessively +silly, but the best and most virtuous woman on earth; she had +grandeur, and she knew well how to hold a Court. She believed all the +king told her, good and bad. Her accoutrements were ridiculous; +and her teeth were black and decayed, which came, they said, from +eating chocolate, and she also ate a great deal of garlic. She was +clumsy and short, and had a very white skin; when she neither danced +nor walked she looked taller than she was. She ate frequently, and was +very long about it, because it was always in little scraps as if for +a canary. She never forgot her native land, and many of her ways were +Spanish. She loved cards beyond measure, and played at _bassette_, +_reversi_, and _ombre_, sometimes at _petit prime_, but she never +won, because she could never learn to play well. While she and the +first dauphine lived there was never anything at Court but modesty and +dignity. Those who were licentious in secret affected propriety in +public; but after the old _guenipe_ began to govern and to introduce +the bastards among the royal family everything went topsy-turvy. + +The queen had such a passion for the king that she tried to read in +his eyes what would please him, and provided he looked at her kindly +she was gay all day. She was glad when the king passed the night with +her, for being a true Spanish woman she did not dislike that business; +whenever it happened she was so gay everybody knew of it. She liked to +be joked about it, and would laugh, wink her eyes, and rub her little +hands. + +She died of an abscess which she had under the arm. Instead of drawing +it outside, Fagon, who by great ill-luck was just then her doctor, +bled her; that made the abscess break within; the whole of it fell +upon the heart, and the emetic which he gave her choked her. The +surgeon who bled her said to Fagon: "Monsieur, have you reflected? +This will be the death of my mistress." Fagon replied: "Do as I order +you, Gervais." The surgeon wept and said to Fagon: "Do you compel me +to be the one to kill my mistress?" At eleven o'clock he bled her; at +twelve Fagon gave her a great dose of emetic, and at three the queen +departed for another world. We may indeed say that the happiness of +France died with her. The king was much moved, but that old devil of a +Fagon did it on purpose, in order to bring about the fortunes of the +old _guenipe_. The king always showed consideration for his wife, and +required his mistresses to respect her. He liked her because of her +virtue and the sincere attachment she felt for him in spite of his +infidelities. He was sincerely afflicted when she died. + + + PARIS, 1720. + +One hears of nothing every day but bank-bills. I think it very hard +not to see gold. For forty-eight years I have always had fine gold +pieces in my pocket, and now there is nothing to be seen but silver +money, and that of little value. + +It is very certain that M. Law is now most horribly disliked. My son +told me something in the carriage to-day which moved me so much that +the tears came into my eyes. He said: "The populace said a thing that +touched me to the heart; I feel it deeply." I asked him what it was, +and he replied that when the Comte de Horn was executed the people +said: "If anything is done against the regent personally he forgives +it all; but if anything is done against us, he listens to no nonsense, +but does justice." M. Law has no bad intentions; he buys landed +property and shows in that way that he means to stay in France. I do +not believe that he is sending money to England, Holland, and Hamburg. + +We no longer know here what a Court is. No ladies come to see me, +because I will not allow them to present themselves before me as they +do before Mme. d'Orléans, with scarfs, and no bodies to their loose +gowns. Those are things that I will not tolerate. I prefer to see no +one at all than to permit such familiarities. Mme. d'Orléans has +spoilt these women; she does not make herself respected and does not +really know what rank is. Mmes. de Montesson and de Maintenon, who +brought her up, did not know either. She is too proud to be willing to +learn anything from me; she thinks it would be beneath her, believing +herself far superior to me when she sees how her room is filled and +mine is empty. She would not imitate me, neither would I imitate her; +and so each of us keeps to her own way. + + + PARIS, May, 1720. + +My son has been obliged to dismiss Law, who has hitherto been adored +as a god. He is no longer controller-general, though still the +director of the Bank and the Company of the Indies. They are obliged +to give him a guard, for his life is not safe; and it is pitiable to +see how great his terror is. All sorts of satires are being written +and spread about him. + +The jewellers refuse to work; they value their merchandise at three +times the price it can now bring on account of paper-money. I have +often wished that hell-fire would burn up those bank-bills. They give +my son more trouble than comfort. There is no describing all the +results they have brought about. My son spares himself no trouble, +but after working from morning till night he likes to amuse himself +at supper with his little black crow [the regent's name for Mme. de +Parabère]. + +According to public clamour things are going horribly ill. I wish +Law had been at the devil with his system, and had never set foot in +France. The people do me too much honour in saying that if my advice +had been listened to things would have gone better; I have no advice +to give in matters concerning the government; I meddle in nothing +of the kind. But Frenchmen are so accustomed to see women with their +fingers in everything that it seems to them impossible that I should +be aloof from what happens. The good Parisians, with whom I am in +favour, choose to attribute to me whatever is good; I am very much +obliged to those poor souls for the affection they feel to me, but I +do not deserve it. The Parisians are the best people in the world, and +if the parliament did not excite them they would never revolt. Poor +people, they touch me very much, for while they shout against Law they +do not attack my son, and when I passed in my carriage through the +crowd they called out benedictions. That touched me so much I could +not help crying. It is not surprising that they do not like my son as +much as they do me, for his enemies spare nothing to decry him and +make him out a reprobate and a tyrant; whereas he is really the best +man in the world--he is too good. I have never understood the system +of M. Law, but I have firmly believed that no good would come of it. +As I cannot disguise my thoughts I have always told my son plainly +what I think of it. He assured me I was mistaken and he wanted to +explain the matter to me; but the more he tried to make me comprehend +it, the less I could understand a word of it. + +Law is like a dead man, pale as linen; he cannot get over that last +fright of his. His good friend, the Duc d'Antin, wants to get his +place as director of the Bank. No one was ever more terrified than M. +Law; my son, who is not intimidated in spite of the threats addressed +to him, laughs till he makes himself ill over Law's cowardice. Though +everything at present is quiet here, Law does not dare go out; the +market-women have placed spies round his house to know if he leaves +it, which bodes no good to him, and I fear some new disturbance. But +I never in my life knew an Englishman or a Scotchman so cowardly as +Law; it is the possession of fortune that destroys courage; men do not +willingly give up wealth. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +For the last week I have had a number of letters threatening to burn +me at Saint-Cloud and my son in the Palais-Royal. My son never tells +me a word of such things; he follows the example of his father, who +used to say: "It is all well, provided Madame knows nothing about it." + +M. Law has gone to Brussels. Mme. de Prie [M. le Duc's mistress] lent +him her post-chaise; in returning it he wrote to thank her, and sent +her a ring worth a hundred thousand francs. M. le Duc had given him +relays and sent four of his servants with him. On taking leave of +my son Law said to him: "Monseigneur, I have made great mistakes; I +made them because I was human; but you will find neither malice nor +dishonesty in my conduct." His wife would not leave Paris till all +their debts were paid; he owed his provision man alone ten thousand +francs. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +I am firmly persuaded that my days are counted, but I do not occupy +my mind with that thought for a moment. I place all in the hands of +Almighty God, and do not give myself any anxiety as to what may come +to me; for it would indeed be great folly in men and women to imagine +that human beings are not equal before God, and that He would do +special things for any of them. I have not, thanks to God, either such +presumption or such pride. I know who I am and I do not deceive myself +in that respect. + +I am irritated when I look back and think how ill they speak of the +late king, and how little his Majesty has been regretted by those to +whom he did most good. + +The daughter whom he loved best was the tall Princesse de Conti. +She did not stand ill with the Maintenon; who thought it an honour +to herself to pay attentions to the princess, who had always led a +regular life and renounced frivolity. She lived at last in great +devotion, and when they told her that death was near she said: "Dying +is the smallest event of my life." + +The king often complained that in his youth he had never been allowed +to mingle with people and converse with them. But that is a matter of +nature, for Monsieur, who was brought up with the king, was always +ready to talk with anybody. The king said, laughing, that Monsieur's +gabble had disgusted him with speech. "Good God!" he used to say, +"must I, in order to please people, talk such paltry and silly +nonsense as my brother?" It is true, however, that Monsieur was more +beloved in Paris than the king on account of his affability. But when +the king wanted to please any one he had the most seductive manners +in the world, and he could win hearts much better than my husband. +Monsieur (and it is the same with my son), was very amiable to +everybody, but he did not distinguish persons sufficiently; he only +showed regard to those who liked the Chevalier de Lorraine and his +other favourites. + +After Monsieur's death the king sent to ask me where I wished to +go, whether to a convent in Paris or to Montargis, or elsewhere. I +answered that as I had the honour to belong to the royal family I +could not wish for any other residence than that of the king, and +I wished to go at once to Versailles. That pleased him; he came to +see me; but he rather piqued me by saying that he had not thought I +should wish to stay in the same place with himself. I replied I did +not know who could have made to his Majesty such false reports about +me, and that I had more respect and attachment to him than those who +had accused me falsely. Then the king made every one leave the room +and we had a grand explanation, in which the king reproached me for +hating Mme. de Maintenon. I said it was true that I hated her, but it +was only out of attachment to him, and because of the evil offices +she did me with him; nevertheless, I added, if it would be agreeable +to him that I should be reconciled with her I was ready to be so. +The good lady had not foreseen that, otherwise she would never have +let the king come near me; but he was acting in such good faith that +he continued friendly to me to his last hour. He sent for the old +woman and said to her: "Madame is very willing to be reconciled with +you;" he made us embrace and the affair ended that way. Ever after he +wished her to live on good terms with me; which she did outwardly, +but she played me, underhand, all sorts of tricks. I should not have +minded making a trip to Montargis, but I did not want it to look +like a disgrace,--as if I had done something to deserve being sent +from Court. There was also danger that I should be left there to die +of hunger; I much preferred to be reconciled with the king. As for +retiring to a convent, that was not at all my reckoning--though it was +just what the old woman would have liked to make me do. The château de +Montargis is my dower-house; at Orléans there is no house; Saint-Cloud +is not an appanage, it is private property which Monsieur bought with +his own money. Now my dower is nothing; all that I have to live upon +comes from the king and my son. At the beginning of my widowhood I was +left without a penny till they finally owed me three hundred thousand +francs which was never paid till after the king's death. What would +have become of me, therefore, had I chosen Montargis for my residence? + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +The king forgot La Vallière as completely as if he had never seen her +or known her in his life. She had as many virtues as the Montespan had +vices. The sole weakness that she had for the king was very excusable. +The king was young, gallant, and handsome; she herself very young; all +the world led her and drove her to her fault. At bottom she was modest +and virtuous, with a most kind heart. I told her sometimes that she +had transposed her love and carried to God just that which she had +for the king. They did her the utmost injustice in accusing her of +loving any one but the king--but lies cost the Montespan nothing. It +was at her instigation that the king so ill-treated La Vallière. The +poor creature's heart was pierced; but she fancied she was offering +the greatest sacrifice to God in immolating to him the source of her +sin on the very spot where the sin was committed. Therefore, she +stayed on, as penance, with the Montespan. The latter, who had more +cleverness, laughed at her publicly, treated her ill, and made the +king do likewise. Yet she bore it with patience. + +Her glance had a charm that can never be described; she had a graceful +figure, but her teeth were vile; her eyes seemed to me much more +beautiful than those of Mme. de Montespan; her whole bearing was +modesty itself. She limped slightly, but it was not unbecoming. When +the king made her a duchess and legitimatized her children she was in +despair, for she thought till then that no one knew she had them. When +I came to France she had not yet retired to a convent; in fact, she +remained two years longer at Court. We became intimately acquainted +at the time she took the veil. I was greatly touched to see that +charming creature persist in her resolution, and when they put her +beneath the pall I wept so bitterly I could not see the rest. When +the ceremony was over she came to me to comfort me, and told me that I +ought to congratulate her and not pity her because she was beginning, +from that instant, to be happy; she said she should never in her +life forget the favour and friendship I had shown to her, which she +had never deserved to receive from me. Shortly after, I went to see +her again; I was curious to know why she had remained so long as a +servant to the Montespan. God, she told me, had touched her heart, and +had given her to know her sin; she then thought that she ought to do +penance and suffer in the way most painful to her,--that of sharing +the king's heart with another, and seeing him despise her. During the +three years that the king's love was ceasing she had suffered like +a lost soul, and had offered to God her sorrow in expiation of her +past sin, because, having sinned publicly, she thought her repentance +should be public also. They had taken her, she said, for a silly fool +who noticed nothing, and it was precisely then that she suffered most, +until God put into her mind to leave all and serve Him only, which +she had now done, although on account of her vices she was not worthy +to live among the pure and pious souls of the other Carmelites. I saw +that what she said came from the depths of her spirit. + +You tell me that you are never fatigued listening to your two +preachers. I must confess to my shame that I know nothing more +wearisome than a sermon; opium could not make me sleep more soundly. I +cannot go to church in the afternoon, for I fall asleep at once; and +as I am not in a pew here, but facing the pulpit in an armchair where +everybody sees me, it would be a real scandal. Besides, since I have +grown old, I snore very loud, which would make people laugh, and the +preacher himself might be disconcerted. + +I have three fine Bibles: that of Mérian, which my aunt, the Abbess +of Maubuisson, bequeathed to me; an edition of Luneburg which is very +fine, and another sent to me last year by the Princess of Oldenbourg. +The latter is like me, short and thick, and neither the print nor the +engravings are as good as in the two others. When I came to France +every one was forbidden to read the Bible; for the last few years it +has been permitted, but lately the Constitution (Unigenitus), about +which there has been so much talk, has again forbidden it. It is true +no one minds the injunction. As for me, I laugh and say I am perfectly +willing to obey the Constitution, and will bind myself to read no +French Bible; in fact, I never open any but my German ones. The Bible +is good and wholesome nourishment; and what is more, very agreeable. +But the German Catholics never have recourse to it, they are so +inclined to superstition. + +When a person has lived like M. Leibnitz I cannot believe that he +needs to have priests about him; they can teach him nothing, for he +knows more than they. Habit does not form a true fear of God, and +the communion, considered as the result of habit, has no moral value +if the heart is devoid of praiseworthy feelings. I do not doubt M. +Leibnitz's salvation, and I think he is very fortunate not to have +suffered longer. + +I know a person who has been the very intimate friend of a learned +abbé That abbé knew most particularly well the celebrated Descartes at +the time when he was living in Amsterdam, before he went to Sweden to +visit Queen Christina. The abbé often told my friend that Descartes +used to laugh at his own system and say: "I have cut them out a fine +piece of work; we'll see who will be fool enough to take hold of +it" [or "be taken in by it." _Je leur ai taillé de la besogne; nous +verrons qui sera assez sot pour y donner_]. + +I have seen that other philosopher, M. de La Mothe Vayer; with all +his talent he scurried along like a crazy man. He always wore furred +boots and a cap lined with fur, which he never took off, very broad +neck-bands, and a velvet coat. + +As long as I was at Heidelberg I never read a novel; his Highness, +my father, would not let me do so; but since I have been here I have +compensated myself finely. There are none that I have not read: +"Astrée," "Cléopatre," "Aléfie," "Cassandre," "Poliesandre" [Madame's +own spelling]. Besides which I have read lesser ones: "Tarcis et +Célie," "Lissandre et Calixte," "Caloandro," "Endimiro," "Amadis" +(but as to the last I only got as far as the seventeenth volume, and +there are twenty-four); also the "Roman des Romans," "Théagène and +Chariclée," of which there are pictures at Fontainebleau in the king's +cabinet. + +The monks of Saint-Mihiel have the original of the "Memoirs of +Cardinal de Retz," and they have printed and sold them at Nancy. +Many things are lacking in that edition. But Mme. de Caumartin, who +possesses the memoirs in manuscript, where not a word is missing, is +obstinate in not letting them be seen, so that the work is incomplete. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +I think that Madame [her predecessor] was more wronged than wronging; +she had to do with very wicked people, about whom I could tell many +things if I chose. Madame was very young, beautiful, agreeable, and +full of grace, and surrounded by the greatest coquettes in the world, +the mistresses of Madame's enemies, who sought only to get her into +trouble and make Monsieur quarrel with her. They say here that she was +not handsome; but she had so much grace that everything became her. +She was not capable of forgiving, and was determined to drive away the +Chevalier de Lorraine. In that she succeeded, but it cost her her +life. He sent the poison from Italy by a Provençal gentleman named +Morel, and to reward the latter he was made chief _maître-d'hôtel_. +He robbed and pillaged me and was made to sell his office, for which +he got a high price. This Morel had the cleverness of a devil, but +knew neither law nor gospel. He owned to me himself that he believed +in nothing. When he was dying he would not hear of God, and said of +himself, "Let this carcass alone; it is good for nothing more." + +It is very true that Madame was poisoned, but without Monsieur's +knowledge. When those scoundrels held counsel with one another to +determine how they should poison poor Madame, they discussed whether +or not they should warn Monsieur. The Chevalier de Lorraine said, "No, +do not let us tell him, for he cannot hold his tongue. If he does not +speak of it the first year, he will get us hanged ten years later." +And it is known that one of the wretches added, "Be careful not to let +Monsieur know of it; he would tell it to the king, and that would hang +us." They made Monsieur believe that the Dutch had given Madame a slow +poison in chocolate: but here is the truth:-- + +D'Effiat did not poison the chicory water, but he poisoned Madame's +cup; and that was well imagined, because no one drinks from our cups +but ourselves. The cup was not brought out as soon as asked for; they +said it was mislaid. A _valet de chambre_ whom I had, and who had been +in the service of the late Madame (he is dead now), related to me +that in the morning, while Monsieur and Madame were at mass, d'Effiat +went to the buffet, found the cup, and rubbed it with some paper. The +_valet de chambre_ said to him: "Monsieur, what are you doing in our +closet, and why are you touching Madame's cup?" He answered: "I am +dying of thirst, and as the cup was dirty I cleaned it with paper." +That evening Madame asked for her chicory water, and as soon as she +drank it she cried out that she was poisoned. Those who were there had +drunk of the same water, but not from her cup, and they were not taken +ill. They put her to bed, and she grew worse and worse, and died two +hours after midnight in frightful suffering. + +Monsieur never troubled his wife about her gallantries with the king +his brother; he himself related to me the whole of Madame's life, and +he never would have passed that matter over in silence had he believed +it. I think that as to this circumstance the world has been unjust to +Madame. + +For many years a rumour has spread about Saint-Cloud that the ghost +of the late Madame appeared about a fountain where she used to sit in +very warm weather, because the place was cool. One evening a lacquey +of the Maréchale de Clérembault, going to draw water at the well, +saw something white without a face; the phantom, which was sitting +down, rose to double its height. The poor lacquey, seized with +fright, ran away; on reaching the house he insisted that he had seen +Madame, fell ill and died. The officer who was then captain of the +château, imagining that there must be something under it all, went +to the fountain himself, saw the ghost, and threatened to give it a +hundred blows with his stick if it did not own who it was. Whereupon +the ghost said: "Oh! Monsieur de Lastéra, don't hurt me, I am only +poor Philippinette." She was an old woman in the village, about +seventy-seven years old, with only one tooth in her mouth, weak eyes +rimmed with red, a huge mouth, a thick nose,--in short, hideous. They +wanted to put her in prison, but I interceded for her. When she came +to thank me for that I said to her: "What mania possessed you to play +the ghost instead of staying in your bed?" She answered, laughing: "I +don't regret what I have done; at my age one sleeps little, and one +must have something or other to keep one's spirits up. All I ever did +in my youth did not give me as much enjoyment as playing the ghost. +Those who were not afraid of my white sheet were afraid of my face. +The cowards made such faces I nearly died of laughing. That pleasure +at night paid me for the pain of carrying faggots by day." + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +I feel a bitter grief whenever I think of all M. Louvois burned in the +Palatinate, and I believe he is burning terribly in the other world, +for he died so suddenly he had no time to repent. He was poisoned by +his doctor, who was afterwards poisoned himself, but confessed his +crime before he died, with all details and circumstances, so that +there could be no doubt about it. As he was a friend of the old woman, +it was given out that he died in a spasm of hot fever. Thus we see, +if we examine things well, the justice of God; people are usually +punished in this world by their own sins. + +The longer I live the more reason I have to regret my aunt, the +Electress, and to respect her memory. You are very right in saying +that in many centuries we shall not see her like again. Unhappily, I +lack a great deal of having her judgment and her energy. What may be +praised in me is frankness and good-will; and, thank God, I am not +licentious, as is now the fashion among the princely people of the +royal house of France. + +[Illustration: René Descartes] + +Rhine wine was _never_ put into the great tun at Heidelberg; only +Neckar wine. The present Elector is said not to hate it. As for me, +Rhine wine is what I prefer. I cannot endure Burgundy; the taste seems +to me disagreeable, and besides, it gives me a stomach-ache. I am +delighted that Heidelberg is being rebuilt, and that they are working +on the château; but what vexes me is that they are putting up a +Jesuit convent instead of the commissariat. Jesuits are out of place +at Heidelberg, and so are the Franciscans. I am told they live now +near to the upper gate; my God! how often I have eaten cherries on +that mountain, with a good bit of bread, at five in the morning! I was +gayer then than I am now. + +You know how the pope had Lord Peterborough arrested at Bologna, +nobody knows why. He went about disguised as a woman; with great +talents he behaves like a madman. He says he will not come out of +prison till he obtains reparation for the affront put upon him. For my +part, if I were in prison and they gave me leave to get out, I should +depart as fast as possible and say what I had to say later,--first of +all, I should recover my liberty. This lord is the queerest eccentric. +I think he would rather die than deprive himself of saying what comes +into his head and of doing malicious things to the persons he dislikes. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, 1720. + +For forty years no October has ever passed without my son being ill, +one way or another, about the 22nd of the month. Though he is regent +he never appears before me or leaves me without kissing my hand +before I embrace him. He never takes a chair in my presence; but in +other respects he stands on no ceremony and gabbles as he likes; we +laugh and joke together like cronies. Between him and his mistresses +everything goes on to beat of drum without the least gallantry; it +reminds me of those old patriarchs who had so many women. The Duc de +Saint-Simon was impatient one day with some of my son's easy-going +ways and said to him, angrily: "Oh! you are so _debonnaire_! since the +days of Louis le Debonnaire there has never been any one so easy-going +as you." My son nearly died of laughter. + +My son believes in predestination as much as if he had belonged, like +me, for nineteen years to the Reformed religion. What seems to me +strange is that he does not hate his brother-in-law, the lamester, who +would like to see him dead. I think there never was his like; there is +no gall in him; I never knew him to hate any one. + +Mme. la Duchesse is very amusing and says the most diverting things. +She is fond of good eating; and that was just what suited the dauphin +[Monseigneur]; he went to her every morning for a good breakfast, and +at night for a collation. Her daughters had the same tastes, so that +Monseigneur spent the whole day in a society that amused him. At first +he was attached to his daughter-in-law [the Duchesse de Bourgogne], +but after she quarrelled with Mme. la Duchesse he completely changed; +and what irritated him still more was that the Duchesse de Bourgogne +brought about the marriage of his son, the Duc de Berry, a marriage +he did not like. He was not wrong in that, and they did not treat him +well in the matter, I must allow, though the marriage was greatly to +our advantage. + +The Queen of Spain [Marie-Louise de Savoie] remained much longer with +her mother than our dauphine, her sister; consequently, she was very +much better educated. The Maintenon knew nothing about education; to +win the young dauphine's affection and keep it for herself alone, she +let her do just what she liked. The young girl had been brought up by +her virtuous mother, and was very winning and droll; merriness became +her; she was not ugly when she had a fine colour. I could not tell +you what foolish heads were allowed to surround the young princess; +for example, the Maréchale d'Estrées. The Maintenon was well paid for +giving her such senseless animals, for the result was that she ceased +to care for her society. But the Maintenon, determined to know the +cause, tormented the princess to admit it. Finally the dauphine told +her that the Maréchale d'Estrées was daily saying to her, "Why do you +stay with the old woman, and not with those who can amuse you much +better than that old carcass?"--saying also other evil things of her. +The Maintenon told me this herself after the dauphine's death, to +prove it was solely the fault of that hussy that the dauphine did not +live on good terms with me. That might be half true, but it is none +the less certain that the old _vilaine_ had set her against me. Nearly +all the giddy young women who surrounded the dauphine were relations +or allies of the old woman; it was by her orders that they tried to +amuse and divert the princess,--in order that she might have no other +society than what she gave her, and be bored elsewhere. + +But when the dauphine reached years of discretion she corrected +herself in a wonderful manner, and repented heartily of her childish +follies; which showed she had judgment. What corrected her was +the marriage of Mme. de Berry. She saw that that young woman made +others dislike her, and that all went wrong; she then desired to +adopt another behaviour than that of her cousin, and to make herself +respected. Accordingly she changed her conduct completely; retired +within herself, and became as sensible as she had previously been too +little so. She had much judgment; she knew her faults perfectly well, +and she knew also how to correct them in a wonderful way. She changed +her way of life, and in one month she brought back to her side all +those whom she had caused to dislike her. Thus she continued until +her death. She said frankly how much she regretted to have been so +giddy; but excused herself on the ground of her extreme youth, and she +blamed the young women who had set her such a bad example and given +her such bad advice. She gave them public marks of her displeasure; +and managed matters so that the king did not take them any longer to +Marly. In this way she brought every one back to her. + +She was delicate in health and even sickly. But Doctor Chirac assured +us until the last that she would recover. And it is true that if +they had not let her get up whilst she had the measles, and had not +bled her in the foot, she would now be living. Immediately after the +bleeding, from being red as fire she became pale as death and felt +extremely ill. When they took her out of her bed I cried out that +they ought to let the sweating subside before they bled her. Chirac +and Fagon were obstinate and only scoffed at me. The old _guenipe_ +came up to me and said: "Do you think yourself cleverer than all the +doctors who are here?" I replied, "No, madame, but it does not take +much cleverness to know that we ought to follow nature, and if nature +inclines to sweating it would be better to follow that indication than +to take a sick person up in a perspiration to bleed her." She shrugged +her shoulders and smiled ironically. I went to the other side of the +room and never said another word. + +The Maintenon always retained the fire of her eyes; but she pinched +her lips and contracted her nostrils, which gave her the very +disagreeable air she put on when she saw any one who displeased her, +my Excellency for instance; at such times she would raise the corners +of her mouth and drop her under lip. I have often heard her say in a +jesting way, "I have been too far from, and too near grandeur to know +what it is." + + + PARIS, February 1, 1721. + +I grow weaker and can hardly hold my pen, but there is nothing to be +done. I place myself in the hands of God and refer all things to His +will. I think I shall end by drying up, like that tortoise I kept at +Heidelberg in my bedroom. But as long as I live be sure, dear Louise, +that my heart will cherish you. + +There is not in all the world a better air than that of Heidelberg, +especially that about the château near my bedroom; nothing finer can +be found. No one understands better than I, dear Louise, what you must +have felt at Heidelberg; I cannot think of it without deep emotion; +but I must not speak of it to-night; it makes me too sad and hinders +me from sleeping. + +My son lives very well with me; he shows me great affection and +will be miserable at losing me. His visits do me more good than +quinine--they rejoice my heart and do not give me pains in my stomach. +He always has something droll to tell me which makes me laugh; he has +wit and expresses himself charmingly. I should be a most unnatural +mother if I did not love him from the bottom of my heart; if you knew +him you would see that he has no ambition and no malignity. Ah! my +God, he is only too kind; he pardons all that is done against him +and laughs about it. If he would only show his teeth to his wicked +relations they would learn to fear him and cease their horrible +machinations. You cannot imagine the wickedness and the ambition of +the third prince of the blood. As long as M. le Duc hoped to get money +out of my son he overwhelmed him with protestations of attachment and +devotion; now that there is nothing more to get from him he has turned +completely against him and has joined my son's inhuman enemy, the +Prince de Conti. + + + PARIS, 1720. + +I am coming to the close of my seventieth year, and I feel that if I +have another shock like that which struck me so severely last year I +shall soon know how things go on in the other world. My constitution +continues sound, as may be seen by the fact that I have resisted all +attacks, but, as the French proverb says, "the pitcher may go once too +often to the well;" and that is what will happen to me in the end. But +these thoughts do not trouble me, for we know that we come into this +world only to die. I do not think that extreme old age is a pleasant +thing; there is too much to suffer; and with regard to physical +suffering I am a great coward. + +Saint François de Sales, who founded the Order of the Filles de +Sainte-Marie, was in his youth a friend of the Maréchal de Villeroy, +father of the present marshal. The marshal never could bring himself +to give him his name as a saint, and when they spoke to him of his +friend he used to say: "I was delighted when I heard that M. de Sales +was a saint; he liked smutty stories and cheated at cards; the best +man in the world in other respects, but a fool." + +I follow the fashions at a distance, and some of them I put aside +entirely, such as paniers, which I do not wear, and loose gowns, +which I cannot abide and will not permit in my presence. I think them +indecent; women look as if they had just got out of their beds. There +is no rule here now about the fashions. Tailors, dressmakers, and +hairdressers invent what they please. I have never followed to excess +the fashion of tall head-dresses. + +I do not know what you mean about your neighbours the storks never +failing to come back every year. We have none in France, and I wish +you would tell me if you see them in England; for it is said they +never stay in any kingdom. + + + PARIS, 1721. + +All that we read in the Bible about the excesses which were punished +by the Deluge, and about the lewdness of Sodom and Gomorrah does not +approach the life now led in Paris. Out of nine young men of rank who +dined the other day with my grandson, the Duc de Chartres, seven had +the French disease. Is it not horrible? The majority of the people +here are occupied solely with their pleasures and debauchery; outside +of that they know nothing and care for nothing; they do not believe in +a future life; they imagine that they will end in death. + +The Abbé Dubois sends me word he has nothing now to do with the post, +which concerns exclusively M. de Torcy; they are rotten eggs and +rancid butter, the pair of them; one is no better than the other, and +both would be more in their place on a gibbet than at Court, for they +are not worth the devil and are more treacherous than gallows-wood, +as Lenore would say. If they have the curiosity to read this letter +they will see the eulogy I make upon them, and they will recognize +the truth of our German proverb, "Listeners never hear any good of +themselves." + +I know very well that we pay the postage on letters we receive, but as +to paying for those we put in the post, that is something new; I never +heard of it before in all my life. + + + PARIS, 1721. + +The Archbishop of Cambrai [Dubois] is coming here to-day to tell me of +his elevation to the cardinalate; so Alberoni has got a comrade. He is +one I cannot love; he poisoned my whole life; at the same time I would +not do him any harm. May God forgive him, but he may suffer for it in +this world. + +We are all in full dress for the ceremony of his reception at three +o'clock; I shall be obliged to bow to him, and make him sit down, and +talk to him a few moments. It will not be without pain; but pain and +vexation are one's daily bread--but here comes the cardinal, and I +must pause. + +The cardinal has begged me to forget the past; he has made me +the finest harangue that was ever listened to. He has great +capacities,--that is undeniable; and if he were only as honest as he +is capable, he would leave nothing to be desired. + + + SAINT-CLOUD, October, 1721. + +I can only write you a few words and in all haste this morning, my +dear Louise, for I am going to Paris to compliment my son and his +wife on the good news they have just received and transmitted to me +instantly. The King of Spain has asked their daughter in marriage for +his son the Prince of the Asturias. Mlle. de Montpensier has no name +as yet, but before she goes to Spain the ceremony will be performed; +the king and I are to name her; she will then make her first communion +and be confirmed; that is what may be called receiving the three +sacraments together. + + + PARIS, 1721. + +They leave me no peace; visitors at every moment; I am obliged to +get up and make conversation. First came the Comte de Clermont, +third brother of M. le Duc; after him the Duchesse de Ventadour and +her sister the Duchesse de La Ferté; then the Duc de Chartres, his +three sisters and their governess, my two ladies, and Mme. de Ségur, +my son's daughter by the left side and not legitimatized. That made +twelve at table. Then came the Maréchale de Clérembault and Cardinal +de Gèsvres; I had to rise to receive him and talk to him. But all that +is not comparable to what awaited me after dinner from two o'clock to +half-past six. I found in my salon Mme. la Princesse, with our Duchess +of Hanover, the tall Princesse de Conti, and Mlle. de Clermont, with +all their ladies; and when they went away the little Princesse de +Conti came with her daughter; then the Duchesse du Maine, Mme. la +Duchesse and her daughter, and all their ladies. Also a great many +other ladies not of the royal family, such as the Princesse d'Espinoy, +the Duchesse de Valentinois, the Princesse de Montauban, and I don't +know who else, innumerable duchesses, the Maréchales de Noailles and +de Boufflers, the Duchesses de Lesdiguières, de Nevers, d'Humières, de +Grammont, de Roquelaire, de Villars; the Duchesse d'Orléans came too; +as for the ladies who did not sit, they were innumerable, and I am +quite sure I have forgotten some of the _tabouret_ ones. It was so hot +in my room that I should have fainted if I had not gone, now and then, +into my dressing-room to get a breath of air. But what made me suffer +most was my knees; by dint of rising and bowing I really thought I +should faint away. + +I have an abbé (whom I often call a scamp) sitting by me now; he is +dinning his chatter into my ears so that I really do not know what I +write; from that, you will know very well that I mean my Abbé de Saint +Albin, who will soon be Bishop of Laon, duke and peer of France. That +will give me great pleasure, because I have felt more attachment for +that poor boy from his earliest childhood than for all his brothers +and sisters; I feel that of all my son's children, legitimate and +illegitimate, he is the one that I love best. + +My son cannot and will not believe that the Duc du Maine is the +king's son. That man has always been treacherous; he did ill-turns to +everybody; he was always hated as an arch-spy and informer. His wife, +the little frog, is much more violent than he; for he is cowardly, and +fear restrains him; but the wife mingles the heroic with her capers. +I think myself that the Comte de Toulouse is really the king's son; +but I have always believed that the Duc du Maine was the son of Terme, +who was a treacherous scoundrel and the worst spy at Court. The old +_guenipe_ had persuaded the king that the Duc du Maine was all virtue +and piety; and when he reported harm of any one, she said it was for +that person's good, so that the king might correct him. Thus the king +considered everything that came from du Maine admirable; he regarded +him as a saint. To this that confessor, Père Tellier, contributed much +in order to please the old woman. The late chancellor Voysin also +talked about the duke to the king by order of the Maintenon. + + + PARIS, 1721. + +It cannot be said that Mlle. de Montpensier is ugly; she has pretty +eyes, a delicate white skin, a well-formed nose, though rather too +slim, and a very small mouth; and yet with all that she is the most +disagreeable person I ever saw in my life; in all her actions, +speaking, eating, drinking, she is intolerable; she did not shed a +tear in leaving us; in fact, she scarcely said farewell.[14] I have +seen successively two of my relatives and now my grand-daughter become +Queens of Spain. The one I loved best was my step-daughter [wife of +Charles II.]; for her I had a most sincere affection as if she were +my sister; she could not have been my daughter because I was only +nine years older than she. I was still very childish when I came to +France, and we used to play together with Charles-Louis and the little +Prince d'Eisenach, and make such a racket you could not have heard a +thunderbolt fall. + + + PARIS, March, 1722. + +I do not believe that in the whole world you could find a more amiable +and sweeter child than our pretty infanta.[15] She makes reflections +that are worthy of a woman of thirty; for instance: "They say that +those who die at my age are saved and go straight to paradise; I +should therefore be very glad if the good God would take me." I fear +she has too much mind, and will not live. She has the prettiest ways +in the world; she has taken a great liking to me, and runs to me in +her antechamber with her arms wide open, and kisses me with affection. +I am not on bad terms with the little king. + + + May, 1722. + +I thank you heartily for praying for me; I have nothing now to ask for +my own happiness in this world; provided God protects my children, I +am content; but I have great need of intercession for my happiness in +the other life, and also for that of my son. May God convert him; that +is the only blessing that I ask of Him. I think there is not in all +Paris, whether among the priests or the world's people, one hundred +persons who have the true Christian faith and believe in our Saviour; +and the thought makes me shudder. + + + September 29, 1722. + +I do what my doctor orders, so as not to be tormented, and I await +from the hand of God Almighty whatsoever he decides on my account; I +am entirely resigned to his will. + + + October 3, 1722. + +Since I last wrote to you no change has occurred in respect to me; +matters will go as God wills. I am preparing for my journey to Reims +[to the coronation of Louis XV.]; time will show the result. + + + PARIS, November 5, 1722. + +I returned here the day before yesterday; but in a sad state. + +During my journey I received five of your good letters, dear Louise, +and I thank you most sincerely, for they gave me great pleasure. I +could not answer them, as much on account of my weakness as from +the perpetual bustle in which I was. My time was all taken up by +the ceremonies, by my children whom I had constantly about me, and +by a crowd of distinguished persons, princes, dukes, cardinals, +archbishops, and bishops who came to see me. I think that in the +whole world nothing more magnificent could be imagined than the +coronation of the king; if God allows me a little health I will write +you a description of it. My daughter was much moved at seeing me. She +scarcely believed in my illness, and fancied it was only a little +over-fatigue. But when she saw me at Reims she was so shocked that the +tears came into her eyes, and that pained me very much. + +I wish I could talk with you longer, but I feel too weak. + + + November 12, 1722. + +I hope to send you to-morrow a grand account of the coronation. I know +nothing new, except that I have been told one thing which causes me +the greatest joy. My son has broken from his mistresses, thinking that +he ought not to continue a style of life which would be a bad example +to the king and draw down upon him just condemnation. May God maintain +him in these good intentions and order all things for his happiness; +that is the only thing about which I am solicitous; I have no anxiety +as to what God may do with me. + + + November 21, 1722. + +I grow worse hour by hour, and I suffer day and night; nothing that +they do for me relieves me. I have great need that God should inspire +me with patience; He would do me a great mercy if He delivered me from +my sufferings; therefore do not be distressed if you lose me; it will +be a great blessing for me. + +In addition to my own illness I have another thing that goes to my +heart; my poor old Maréchale de Clérembault is very ill. + + + November 29, 1722. + +You will receive to-day but a very short letter; I am worse than I +have ever been, and have not closed my eyes all night. Yesterday +morning we lost our poor maréchale; she had no attack, but life +appeared to abandon her. It gives me sincere pain; she was a lady of +great capacity and much merit; she was highly educated, though she did +not make it apparent. They tell me she has chosen as her heir the son +of her eldest brother. It is not surprising that a person eighty-eight +years of age should go; but, even so, it is painful to lose a friend +with whom one has passed fifty-one years of one's life. But I must +stop, my dear Louise; I suffer too much to say more to-day. If you +could see the state in which I am you would understand how much I wish +that it might end. + + * * * * * + +[Madame died nine days after this letter was written.] + + + + + VI. + + LETTERS OF THE DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE. + + PRECEDED BY REMARKS OF + + C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE. + + +Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne, who was married to +the grandson of Louis XIV. and was the mother of Louis XV., has left +a very gracious memory behind her. She flitted through the world +like one of those bright, rapid apparitions which the imagination +of contemporaries delights to embellish. Born in 1685, daughter of +the Duc de Savoie, who transmitted to her his ability and possibly +his craft, grand-daughter by her mother of that amiable Henrietta of +England (first wife of Monsieur, Louis XIV.'s brother), whose death +Bossuet immortalized, and whose charm she resuscitated, Marie-Adélaïde +came to France when eleven years old to marry the Duc de Bourgogne, +who was then thirteen. The marriage took place the following year, +but in form only; and for several years the education of the young +princess was the occupation of her life. Mme. de Maintenon applied +herself to that purpose with all the care and consistency of which she +was so capable. It was not her fault if the Duchesse de Bourgogne did +not become the most exemplary of the pupils of Saint-Cyr. The vivacity +and lively spirits of the princess disconcerted at times the well-laid +schemes of prudence, and she constantly broke from the frame in which +it was designed to hold her. Nevertheless, she profited through it +all; serious thoughts slipped in among her pleasures. It was +for her that sacred plays, some by Duché, but especially Racine's +"Athalie," were acted in Mme. de Maintenon's apartment. In "Athalie," +the Duchesse de Bourgogne played a part. + +[Illustration: The Duchesse de Bourgogne] + +The princess had already received in Savoie a certain education, +especially in that so necessary to princes and which nature itself +gives to women, namely, the desire and the effort to please. She +arrived at Montargis on Sunday, November 4, 1696. Louis XIV. had +left Fontainebleau after dinner and gone to Montargis with his +son [Monseigneur], his brother [Monsieur, the little Adélaïde's +grandfather], and all the principal seigneurs of his Court, in order +to receive her. Before going to bed that night the king concludes +an important letter to Mme. de Maintenon in which he gives her an +account in the fullest detail of the person and slightest action of +the little princess; it was the affair of State of the moment. The +original of this letter of Louis XIV. exists in the library of the +Louvre, and it is here given textually. Let us now read Louis XIV. +undisguised, or rather, let us listen to the great monarch conversing +and relating; language excellent, phrases neat, exact, and perfect, +terms appropriate, good taste supreme in all that concerns externals +and visible appearance; whatever, in short, contributes to regal +presentation. As for the moral basis, that is slim and mediocre +enough, we must allow, or rather, it is absent. But let us read the +letter:-- + + "I arrived here [Montargis] before five o'clock," writes + the king; "the princess did not come till nearly six. I went + to receive her at the carriage; she let me speak first, and + afterwards she replied extremely well, but with a little + embarrassment that would have pleased you. I led her to her + room through the crowd, letting her be seen from time to time + by making the torches come nearer to her face. She bore that + march and the lights with grace and modesty. At last we reached + her room, where there was a crowd, and heat enough to kill + us. I showed her now and then to those who approached us, and + I considered her in every way in order to write you what I + think of her. She has the best grace and the prettiest figure + I have ever seen; dressed to paint, and hair the same; eyes + very bright and very beautiful, the lashes black and admirable; + complexion very even, white and red, all that one could + wish; the finest blond hair that was ever seen, and in great + quantity. She is thin, but that belongs to her years; her mouth + is rosy, the lips full, the teeth white, long, and ill-placed; + the hands well shaped, but the colour of her age. She speaks + little, so far as I have seen; is not embarrassed when looked + at, like a person who has seen the world. She curtseys badly, + with a rather Italian air. She has also something of an Italian + in her face; but she pleases; I saw that in the eyes of those + present. As for me, I am wholly satisfied. She resembles her + first portrait, not the second. To speak to you as I always do, + I must tell you that I find her all that could be wished; I + should be sorry if she were handsomer. + + "I say it again: everything is pleasing except the + curtsey. I will tell you more after supper, for there I shall + observe many things which I have not been able to see as yet. I + forgot to tell you that she is short rather than tall for her + age. Up to this time I have done marvels; I hope I can sustain + a certain easy air I have taken until we reach Fontainebleau, + where I greatly desire to find myself." + +At ten o'clock that night, before going to bed, the king added the +following postscript:-- + + "The more I see of the princess, the more satisfied I am. + We had a public conversation, in which she said nothing, and + that is saying all. Her waist is very beautiful, one might + say perfect, and her modesty would please you. We supped and + she did not fail in anything, and has a charming politeness + to every one; but to me and my son she fails in nothing, and + behaves as you might have done. She was much looked at and + observed; and all present seemed in good faith to be satisfied. + Her air is noble, her manners polished and agreeable; I have + pleasure in telling you such good of her, for I find that, + without prepossession or flattery, I can do so and that + everything obliges me to do so." + +Now, shall I venture to express my thought? There is certainly a +mention of modesty in one or two places in the letter; but it is of +the modest _air_, the good effect produced, the grace that depended on +it. For all the rest it is impossible to find on these pages anything +other than a charming physical, external, and mundane description, +without the slightest concern as to inward and moral qualities. +Evidently the king is as little concerned about those as he is deeply +anxious about externals. Let the princess succeed and please, let her +charm and amuse, let her adorn the Court and enliven it, give her a +good confessor, a sound Jesuit, and for all the rest let her be and do +what pleases her; the king asks nothing else: that is the impression +left upon me by that letter. + +If there had entered into this letter written from Montargis even a +flash of moral solicitude in the midst of the record of those external +graces and perfect proprieties, Louis XIV. would not have been, after +twelve years' hourly intimacy, the odious and hard grandfather of the +scene at Marly near the carp basin, to the mother of his expected +heir. I send the reader for the details and the accessories of that +singular scene to Saint-Simon, who in this instance is our Tacitus, +the Tacitus of a king not naturally cruel, but who was so that day by +force of egotism and selfishness. That first letter from Montargis, +so elegant, so smiling on the outward surface, covered in its depths +the vanity and egotism of a master, solicitude solely for decorum and +curtseying--the scene at the basin of carp concludes it. + +I shall not reproduce here the divers portraits of the Duchesse de +Bourgogne; I should have to take them from many sources, but above +all from Saint-Simon. She was neither handsome nor pretty, she was +better than either. Each feature of her face taken separately might +seem defective, even ugly, but from all these uglinesses, these +defects, these irregularities arranged by the hand of the Graces, +came a nameless harmony of her person, a delightful _ensemble_, the +movement and airy whirl of which enchanted both eyes and soul. In +moral qualities it was the same. + +She played a part in "Athalie;" why should I not tell what she +thought of that play, capricious child that she was? Apropos of its +representation at Saint-Cyr, Mme. de Maintenon writes: "Here is +'Athalie' again breaking down. Ill-luck pursues all that I protect +and care for. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne tells me it can never +succeed, that the piece is cold, that Racine regretted it, that I +am the only person who likes it, and a number of other things which +enable me to perceive, through the knowledge I have of this Court, +that her part displeases her. She wants to play Josabeth, which she +cannot play as well as the Comtesse d'Ayen."[16] As soon as they +gave her the rôle she liked, the point of view was changed in a +moment; such were the coulisses of Saint-Cyr! "She is delighted," +continues Mme. de Maintenon, "and now thinks 'Athalie' marvellous. +Let us play it, then, inasmuch as we have agreed to do so; but, in +truth, it is not agreeable to mix in the pleasures of the great." The +Duchesse de Bourgogne came of that race of _the great_ which will +soon be a race departed. She deserves to remain in the vista as a +true representative in her transitory life of its lightest and most +seductive charm. + +The letters of the duchess which have been published up to this +time are mere notes, adding nothing to the idea that we form of her +mind. La Fare, in his memoirs written about the year 1699, has very +well remarked that after the death of Madame, Henrietta of England +(grandmother of Marie-Adélaïde) in 1670, the taste for things of +intellect was greatly lowered in that brilliant Court of Louis +XIV. "It is certain," he says, "that in losing that princess the +Court lost the only person of her rank who was capable of liking +and distinguishing real merit; since her death, nothing is seen but +gambling, confusion, and impoliteness." Towards the close of the reign +of Louis XIV. a taste for matters of mind and even for the refinements +of wit reappeared no doubt and found favour in the little circles of +Saint-Maur and Sceaux, but the body of the Court during that period +was a victim to _bassette_, _lansquenet_, and other excesses, in which +wine bore its fair share. The Duchesse de Berry, daughter of the +future regent, was not the only young woman to whom it happened to +be drunk. The Duchesse de Bourgogne herself, entering such society, +found it difficult sometimes not to fall into the vices of the day, +into those nets of which _lansquenet_ was the best known and the +most ruinous. More than once the king or Mme. de Maintenon paid her +debts. But she asked for pardon with such good grace and submission by +letter, and by word of mouth with such pretty and coaxing ways that +she was sure to obtain it. + +Those who judged her with the most severity are all agreed that she +corrected herself with age, and that her will, her rare spirit, her +sense of the rank she was about to hold, triumphed in the end over +her first impetuosity and petulance. "Three years before her death," +writes Madame, mother of the regent, honest and terrible woman who +says all things bluntly, "the dauphine had entirely changed, to her +great advantage; she no longer made escapades or drank too much. +Instead of behaving like an intractable being, she became sensible +and polite, behaved according to her rank, and no longer allowed her +young ladies to be familiar with her, and put their fingers in her +dish." Uncomfortable praises, perhaps, with which we could dispense. +But at this distance of time we can hear all without scruple, and, +while doing homage to a person who had the gift of charm, we may dare +to look on manners and customs as they were.[17] We must resolve, +whatever it costs us, to leave the chamber of Mme. de Maintenon and +the twilight of its sanctuary. The Duchesse de Bourgogne has been +pictured to us in the garb of Saint-Cyr; it is not in that habit that +she is, to my thinking, most natural or truest. + +A delicate question presents itself,--more delicate than that of +_lansquenet_: did the Duchesse de Bourgogne have weaknesses of the +heart? Adored by her young husband, and knowing how to take in hand +his interests under all attacks, it does not seem that she had for +his person a very warm or tender liking. Hence one does not see what +there was to guarantee her from some other penchant. Saint-Simon, who +is in no way malevolent to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, relates with +great detail and as if receiving the confidences of well-informed +persons, the slight weaknesses of the princess for M. de Nangis, M. +de Maulévrier, and the Abbé de Polignac. "At Marly," he says, "the +dauphine would run about the gardens with other young people till +three and four o'clock in the morning. The king never knew of these +nocturnal expeditions." Nevertheless, I do not desire to do otherwise +than agree with Mme. de Caylus, who, while admitting the liking of +the princess for M. de Nangis, makes haste to add: "The only thing I +doubt is whether the affair ever went so far as people thought; I am +convinced that the whole intrigue took place in looks, and, at most, +in a few letters." + +In the midst of all her levity and childish frivolity the Duchesse de +Bourgogne had serious good qualities, which increased as the years +went on. She said very sweetly one day to Mme. de Maintenon: "Aunt, +I am under infinite obligations to you; you have had the patience to +wait for my reason." She would no doubt have proved capable of State +business and politics. The manner in which she knew how to defend +the prince, her husband, against the cabal of the Duc de Vendôme, +the striking revenge she took upon the latter at Marly, and the +back-handed stroke by which she ousted him, show us plainly what she +could do that was able and persistent when a matter came close to +her heart. The few letters which she wrote to the Duc de Noailles, +in which she says she knows nothing of politics, go to prove, on +the contrary, that, if she could have talked about them instead of +writing, she would have liked very well to take part in them. There is +a more serious matter, which I see no reason for disguising. According +to Duclos [author of "The Secret Memoirs of the reign of Louis XIV.," +etc.], this fascinating child, so dear to the king, did, nevertheless, +betray France by informing her father, the Duc de Savoie, then become +our enemy, of military plans which she was able to discover when, with +playful familiarity and the liberty of entering the king's cabinet at +all hours, she had the opportunity to read and learn those plans at +their source. The king, adds the historian, found the proofs of this +treachery, after the death of the princess, in her desk. "The little +rogue," he is reported to have said to Mme. de Maintenon, "deceived us +after all." + +In spite of all, we find ourselves regretting that this princess, +taken from us at the age of twenty-six, whose natural fairy-like +presence bewitched all hearts, did not live to reign beside the +virtuous pupil of Fénelon. The reign of their son, that Louis XV. +who was only a pretty child at their deaths and became the most +contemptible of kings, would at least have been postponed. But what +good is there in re-making history and in setting up a mere idea of +what _might have been_? + + * * * * * + +[Sainte-Beuve does not show his usual justice and careful +discrimination in his foregoing semi-acceptance of Duclos' tale of +"perfidy." The whole story of Marie-Adélaïde's position at the French +Court should have been more clearly sifted. The two daughters of +Vittorio Amadeo, Duke of Savoie, were, in a sense, hostages given by +him to Louis XIV. in 1696 and 1701 as an earnest of faithful alliance. +Circumstances, however, forced the duke in 1703 (during the war of the +Spanish Succession) into the coalition against France. + +From the tenth century the princes of the ancient house of Savoie had +been, for various reasons geographical and political, the upholders +of Italian unity, or, as one might better say, of Italian existence. +France had felt this under all her attempts to master Italy, until +finally her wisest statesmen, Henri IV., Richelieu, and Mazarin, saw +that their true policy was to use Piedmont against the extension of +the two branches of the House of Austria. The whole history of the +Princes of Savoie is a romance, hitherto neglected, which ought to be +traced out and written by a sympathetic hand. + +The alliance of France and Piedmont, so useful to the former by +enabling her to maintain her conquests on the northern frontier, was +converted by Louis XIV. into a species of vassalage, to which the +indolent nature of Carlo Emmanuele submitted. The latter died in 1675, +leaving one son, Vittorio Amadeo, aged nine, under the regency of his +mother, Jeanne de Nemours, an ambitious and powerful woman. It is +impossible to give here even a brief sketch of the House of Savoie, an +heroic history, which should be rescued from the archives of Turin and +elsewhere--in it will be found, we may add parenthetically, the story +of the Waldenses and the secret of the Iron Mask. + +Vittorio Amadeo married Anne, daughter of Monsieur, Louis XIV.'s +brother, by his first wife, Henrietta, daughter of Charles I., King +of England. The grandmother to whom the following letters are chiefly +addressed was the father's mother, Jeanne de Nemours. + +These letters, which seem to us very short, were laborious +undertakings to the princess, who was never able to write easily. +The first, in a childish round text hand, filling a sheet of paper +twenty-three centimetres long by sixteen centimetres wide, is better +written than those of her after life. The grammar and the spelling +improved somewhat in later years, though never keeping pace with +the improvement in the diction. They are signed with a sort of +hieroglyphic, seldom with her name, and tied by a silken thread, +the seal being a lozenge with the arms of Savoie, or sometimes the +impression of a little dog. + +Returning to the charge of Duclos (an historian of gossip rather than +of history), it seems enough to say: (1) that his story has never been +supported in any way; (2) that the tone of the princess's letters +refutes it; (3) that what we know from Madame about the opening of +letters makes it certain that the little duchess, surrounded as she +was, could not have sent documents and plans undetected; (4) that +Madame, that lynx for evil tales, and who did not like the dauphine, +though she did her justice, makes no allusion to this story; and +(5) that Saint-Simon, in a position to know everything, states the +contrary. + +The little princess arrived in France, and was met by the king at +Montargis, November 4, 1696. The following is her first letter to +her grandmother, Jeanne de Nemours, dowager Duchess of Savoie. This +letter and one written two years later are here given in the French as +amusing specimens of her spelling and punctuation.] + + + DE VERSAIE ce 13 Novembre [1696] + +Vous me pardonere Madame si ie ne uous est pas ecrit la peur de uous +anuier me la fait fair ie fini Madame uous embrasan. + + Tres humble tres obeisantes petite fille + M. ADÉLÄIDE DE SAUOIE. + + + VERSAILLES, November 13 [1696]. + +You will pardon me, Madame, if I have not written you, the fear of +ennuying you made me do it. I end, Madame, embracing you. + + Very humble, very obedient grand-daughter, + M. ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE. + + + [1696]. + +The trip to Marly prevented me from writing to you by the last courier +as I had planned, my dear grandmamma. It is not to be believed +how little time I have. I do what you ordered me about Madame de +Maintenon. I have much affection for her, and confidence in her +advice. Believe, my dear grandmamma, all that she writes you about me, +though I do not deserve it; but I would like you to have the pleasure +of it, for I count on your love [_amitié_], and I never forget all the +marks you have given me of it. + + + VERSAILLES, August, 1697. + +I have had great joy in the taking of Barcelona, my dear grandmamma, +for I am a good Frenchwoman, and I feel for all that pleases the +king, to whom I am attached as much as you can wish. Though I do not +enter much into affairs of State, I understand that we shall soon +have peace, and that will be another joy to me, for I have many in +this country, my dear grandmamma, and I am very certain you share my +happiness because of all your goodness to me. + + + December 3 [three days before the marriage ceremony]. + +I am well assured, my dear grandmamma, that you take part in the +accomplishment of my happiness; do me the same justice on the feelings +that I have for you, which will always be full of tenderness and +respect. I assure you in my change of state I shall be always the same +through life. + + + VERSAILLES, February 28, 1698. + +I hope to repair, when I know how to write, the faults that I make +now, and to let you see, my dear grandmamma, that I write to you +rarely because I write so badly; but I love you tenderly, none the +less. I am going to a ball. + + + VERSAILLES, March 25, 1698. + +I hope I write pretty well, my dear grandmamma; I have a master who +takes such pains I should do very wrong not to profit by the care they +take of everything concerning me. + +The Duchesse du Lude has come to me; which delights me, and it is +true that Mme. de Maintenon sees me as often as she can. I think I +can assure you that those two ladies love me. Never doubt, my dear +grandmamma, that I love you as much as I should. + + + VERSAILE ce 25 Mars. 1698 + +Iespere que iescrire assez bien, ma chere grandmaman jai un maitre +qui se donne beaucoup de paine iaurois grans tort de ne pas profitter +des soins qu'on prend de tout ce que me regarde la D du Lude estre +venue auprais de moy dont je suis ravie et il est vrai que Mme. de +Mentenon me voit le plus souvent qui lui est possible ie croye pouvoir +vous assurer sans saut [trop?] me flatter que ces deux dames maimen. +Ne douttes iamais ma chere gran maman que ie ne vous aime tous jours +autan que ie le dois. + + + May 26, 1698. + +It is time, my dear grandmamma, that I knew how to write; they often +reproach me here for the shame of a married woman [æt. 13] who has a +master for such a common thing. + + + July 2, 1698. + +They are working on my menagerie. The king has ordered Mansart to +spare nothing. Imagine, my dear grandmamma, what it will be. But I +shall only see it on my return from Fontainebleau. It is true that the +king's kindnesses to me are wonderful; but also, I love him well. + + + COMPIÈGNE, September 13, 1698.[18] + +I never thought, my dear grandmamma, that I should find myself in +a besieged town, and be waked by the sound of cannon as I was this +morning. I hope we shall soon get out of this state. It is true +that I have great pleasures here. I shall be delighted to go back +to Versailles and to the menagerie at Saint-Cyr. Certainly one has +no leisure to be bored. I am convinced that you share my happiness, +because of the love you have for me. + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, October 31, 1698. + +The stay at Fontainebleau is very agreeable to me, especially as +it is the second place where I had the honour of seeing the king; +and I hope, my dear grandmamma, that I shall be happy not only at +Fontainebleau but everywhere, being resolved to do all that depends on +me to be so. + +Those who love me have every reason to be glad with me in the king's +kindness, for he gives me every day fresh marks of it. I have reason +to think it will increase; at any rate I shall forget nothing on +my part to deserve it. I am going to try a new pleasure,--that of +travelling. But I shall love you everywhere, my dear grandmamma. + + + VERSAILLES, December, 1698. + +I could not write you by the last courier, my dear grandmamma, +because I am out continually, and every evening I go to the king. I +am sure that excuse will not displease you, and that you will think +my time well spent if near the king. His kindness to me can never be +expressed; and as I know the interest you take in my happiness I am +very glad to assure you it is perfect, and that I shall never forget +the tenderness I ought to have and do have for you. + + + January 10, 1699. + +I am not yet free enough, my dear grandmamma, with M. le Duc de +Bourgogne to do the honours of him. I am only very glad that you are +content with his letter. I wish that mine could express what I desire +for your happiness during this year and many other years, and how +much I hope that you will love me always. + + + MARLY, July 3, 1699. + +I am very glad, my dear grandmamma, that you are not tired of telling +me of your friendship, for I always receive the assurance of it with +fresh joy. I wish I could tell you of the beauty of this place and of +the pleasures we have here. I am delighted to be on the footing of +coming here on all the trips, for I like these as well as I do those +of the Marly-Bourgogne. I embrace you, my dear grandmamma, and I am +going to bathe. + + + December 27, 1699. + +It is true, my dear grandmother, that I have a good friend in Mme. de +Maintenon, and it will not be her fault if I am not perfect and happy. +M. le Cardinal d'Estrées wishes to carry a letter to you from me, and +I give it to him willingly. I shall trust to his informing you of all +that concerns me; but he cannot tell you how I love you, nor to what +point I am touched by your kindness. I go about in mask the last few +days, and so, sleeping very late, I have little time for the rest. + + + _To Vittorio Amadeo, Duc de Savoie._ + + January 3, 1700. + +Be pleased to approve, my dear father, that, according to custom, +I should renew at the beginning of this year the assurances of my +respect, my gratitude, and my tenderness for you, and I beg you to +love me always. M. de Brionne tells me things as to that which give me +great pleasure, as proving to me that my removal has not diminished +your affection for me. + +If I do not write oftener, my dear father, believe, I entreat you, +that the fear of importuning you prevents it, also the confidence I +have that you will never doubt the feelings of tenderness, respect, +and gratitude which I owe to the best father in the world. I should be +grieved indeed if I did not do you justice in that respect; you could +not think otherwise without having a bad opinion of me, who indeed +deserve the tenderness I ask of you. + + + March 20, 1700. + +There is never a time that I do not receive your letters with +pleasure, my dear grandmamma; but it is true that the carnival keeps +me occupied, and the balls lead to other occupations that take all my +time. That is what has hindered me from writing. I am delighted that +the reports made to you of me have been agreeable; for I desire to +please you in everything and preserve the affection you have always +had for me. + + + November 16, 1700. + +I am delighted, my dear grandmamma, that you approve of what I am +doing; I have no stronger passion than that of doing nothing wrong +and thus deserving the esteem of honourable people. Yours, my dear +grandmamma, is precious to me. + +Perhaps you will think this discourse very serious; but I warn you I +am no longer a child; even my gayety is a little diminished. The more +reasonable I become, the more I know, my dear grandmamma, how much I +ought to love you. + + + December 27, 1701. + +I am ashamed, my dear grandmamma, to have been so long without writing +to you. It may be partly my fault, and for that I beg your pardon; +but I assure you we lead a life of great irregularity, changing +continually from place to place. + +I am delighted to tell you that my sister is very happy and that +the King of Spain is extremely content with her. [Marie-Louise de +Savoie, married to Philippe V.] What she did about her women was only +a piece of childishness, and had no consequences. I hope that she and +I, my dear grandmamma, will give you nothing but joy, and that my +irregularities will never make you doubt the affection that I have for +you. + + + January 9, 1702. + +I am very irregular, my dear grandmother, in not having wished you a +happy year, but I have been unwell with inflammations and headaches. +Forgive me, dear grandmother, and do not think that I love you less +tenderly. The Marquis de Coudray is returning to Turin. You can hear +more about me in detail from him. He seems charmed with this country. +I have spared no pains to make him satisfied with me, and I think I +have succeeded. He will tell you that your grand-daughter has grown +tall. It seems to me that I am no longer young; my childhood has +lasted but a short time! + +[The correspondence with her mother, Anne, daughter of Monsieur +and Henrietta of England, was doubtless voluminous, but it has +disappeared. Four letters remain for the month of January of this +year, showing their rapid intercourse, but only three for the rest of +Marie-Adélaïde's short lifetime.] + + + January 2, 1702. + +I think with you, my dear mother, that news from Spain comes slowly. +I would like to know all that She does from morning till night, to +satisfy the interest that I feel. I am, however, more easy now that I +feel the true affection that exists between the King of Spain and Her. +I hope, my dear mother, that we shall have in that direction sources +of joy only. + +I pique myself now on being a great personage, and I think that +"Mamma" is not suitable. But I shall love still more my dear mother +than my dear mamma, because I now understand better what your value +is, and what I owe to you. + + + VERSAILLES, January 9, 1702. + +I have no news from you this week, my dear mother, for which I am +sorry: but I think the ice and snow are the reason. The wretched +weather prevents our going to Marly, for it is not fit weather for the +country. I fear this winter will give us no amusement that I can write +about; on account of the mourning there may be no balls, theatres, or +any pleasures. I do not regret it much, for the carnival is very short +this year, and consequently more easy to do without. + + + January 23, 1702. + +I send you the plan which M. Mansart has returned to me. It seems to +me very pretty, if the works are well executed. He begs me to ask if +you would like him to send you a man to execute them. You have only +to tell me what you wish. I will gladly take charge of it, my dear +mother, desiring nothing so much as to please you in all things. + +The King of Spain's journey to Italy is decided on. This gives me +great pleasure, and I see at the same time that they are still greatly +satisfied with my sister. I will tell you more by the next courier. + +I am now going to see the Queen of England, and thence to Marly, where +we shall dance. On this trip we played a comedy [this was the time +when they played "Athalie"]; the king was much pleased with it, and so +was Monseigneur. Forgive me, my dear mother, if I write badly; it is +because I am so hurried. You know well that I love best to write to +you and amuse you for a moment. + +Adieu, my very dear mother; I embrace you with all my heart, my dear +mother, with all my heart. + + + MARLY, January 30, 1702. + +Thank God, I am rid of inflammation, my dear mother, after having +my cheek swelled for a week, with fever at night. The great cold +prevented them from giving me remedies, of which I was very glad; they +wanted at all risks to bleed me, assuring me that the inflammation +would continue if it were not done. However, I am rid of the swelling +without it, and, provided it does not return, I am content. + +I am very sorry, my dear mother, that you do not receive my letters +regularly; yours do not play me the same trick. The prospect of peace +continues wonderfully good, and it makes me hope that we shall soon +have it. I own to you, my dear mother, that I await it with great +impatience, for I think we shall all have reason then to be satisfied. +It will be a great consolation to me to see no more of this vile war +which has lasted for so long a time. + +Adieu, my dear mother; love me always, and be assured of the tender +feelings that I have for you. + + + VERSAILLES, July 4, 1702. + +We have been much afflicted, my dear grandmother [by the death of +Monsieur, her maternal grandfather] and I have felt for my own sake +much more than I expected. I loved Monsieur very much and I think +he loved me. His death was unexpected, at least by us, and all the +circumstances were painful. I am convinced, my dear grandmother, that +you have felt it also, and I count on your affection under all events. +Never doubt that which I have for you. + + + April 2, 1703. + +I am delighted, my dear grandmother, that you have given me a +commission. I send you a sample of tea, which they assure me is +excellent. If you find it so I will send you more. The king does not +take it; M. Fagon orders him sage tea, which agrees with him. I hope +the use of this tea will do the same with you; no one in the world +feels more interest in you than I, my dear grandmother. + +[Only two letters of the year 1704 have been preserved. The health +of the princess caused such anxiety that she was made (according to +Dangeau's Journal) to keep her bed from February 8th until after the +birth of her first child, the Duc de Bretagne, born June 25, 1704. She +was then eighteen years old.] + + + September 1, 1704. + +I am ashamed, my dear grandmother, to have been so long without +writing to you; but I have had many ailments that prevented it. You +will surely believe that I would not otherwise have been all this time +without assuring you of my tenderness and begging you for that you +have always shown me. + +I cannot help telling you about my son, who is very well; he would be +rather pretty if he did not have an eruption, but I am in hopes when +we get to Fontainebleau he will have no more of it. + + + April 25, 1705. + +I cannot, my dear grandmother, be longer without comforting myself +with you in the sorrow that has befallen me [death of her son]. I am +convinced that you have felt it, for I know the affection you have for +me. If we did not take all the sorrows of this life from God, I do not +know what would become of us. I think He wants to draw me to Him, by +overwhelming me with every sort of grief. My health suffers greatly, +but that is the least of my troubles. + +I have received one of your letters, my dear grandmother, which +gave me great pleasure; the assurances of your affection bring me +consolation. I have great need of it in my present state. Adieu; I +write so slowly that the shortest letters take me a great deal of time. + +[At the close of the year 1703 her father, Vittorio Amadeo, had +entered the alliance against France; the battle of Ramillies was +fought May 23, 1706, and the French were defeated at Turin September 7 +of the same year.] + + + MARLY, June 21, 1706. + +I can be no longer, my dear grandmother, without sharing all our +troubles with you. Imagine my anxiety as to what is happening with +you, loving you as I do very tenderly and having all possible +affection for my father, my mother, and my brothers. I cannot think of +them in so unhappy a position without tears in my eyes, for assuredly, +my dear grandmother, I feel for all that concerns you, and I see by +all that is in me to what point my love for my family goes. + +My health is not so much injured as it might be; I am pretty well, but +in a state of sadness which no amusement can lessen, and which will +never leave me, my dear grandmother, for it serves to comfort me in my +present state. + +Do not deprive me, I conjure you, of your letters. They give me much +pleasure; I need them in the state I am in. Send me news of all that +is dearest to me in the world. + + + MARLY, July 25, 1706. + +I have not written, my dear grandmother, not knowing if you are still +with my mother, being unable to obtain the slightest information. You +know my heart; imagine therefore the state I am in. I feel for yours; +I cannot be reconciled to your trials; I see them increasing with +extreme sorrow; there is not a day when I do not feel them keenly, and +weep in thinking of what my dear family--whom I would give my life to +comfort--is suffering. + +I am glad, my dear grandmother, that the fatigues of so sad and +painful a journey [the removal of the royal family from Turin before +the siege] has not injured your health. I pity my mother, who, for +additional sorrow, is anxious about the illness of her children and +yet is obliged to travel with them in such excessive heat and over +such dreadful roads. + +I have no other comfort, my dear grandmother, than in receiving your +letters and the assurance of your affection. We all need great courage +to sustain such violent griefs as those we have had of late. God is +trying me by ways in which I feel it most; I must resign myself to His +will, and pray that He will soon withdraw us from the state in which +we are. As for me, I feel I cannot bear it longer if He does not give +me strength. + + + VERSAILLES, March, 1707. + +I am delighted, my dear grandmother, that you exhort me to give you +frequent news of my son [the second Duc de Bretagne, born January 7, +1707]; I assure you I do not need to be urged to do so. He is very +well, thank God. I found him much grown and changed for the better +on my return to Marly. He is not handsome, up to this time, but very +lively, and much healthier than he was when he came into the world. +He is only two months old, and I should not be surprised if, a few +months hence, he became pretty. I don't know whether it is that I +am beginning to blind myself about him and therefore hope it. But I +believe that I shall never be blind about my children, and that the +love I have for them will make me see their defects and so try in good +season to correct them. + +I go very seldom to see my son, in order not to grow too attached +to him; also to note the changes in him. He is not old enough to +play with as yet, and as long as I know he is in good health, I am +satisfied; that is all I need wish for as yet. + + + _To Mme. de Maintenon._ + + VERSAILLES, July, 1707. + +I am in despair, my dear aunt, to be always doing foolish things and +giving you reason to complain of me. I am thoroughly resolved to +correct myself, and not play any longer at that miserable game, which +only injures my reputation, and diminishes your affection, which is +more precious to me than all. I beg you, my dear aunt, not to speak +of this in case I keep the resolution I have made. If I break it only +once, I should be glad that the king would forbid me to play, and I +would bear whatever impression it might make against me in his mind. I +shall never console myself for being the cause of your troubles, and +I will not forget that cursèd _lansquenet_. All that I desire in the +world is to be a princess esteemed for my conduct; and that I will +endeavour to deserve in the future. I flatter myself that my age is +not too advanced, or my reputation too much tarnished, to enable me +with time to succeed. + + + VERSAILLES, January 2, 1708. + +Here we are, my dear grandmother, at the beginning of another year, +which I hope may be as prosperous as you can desire it. It will be so +for me if you continue to love me; I ask it with all the respect and +tenderness I have for you. + +We are much occupied here with a grand ball which will take place the +night before the Epiphany. I am prepared to amuse myself much. Every +day I practise getting my breath to dance well, which I think will be +very difficult, for I have absolutely forgotten how to do so, and I +have grown very heavy, which is not good for dancing. + + + VERSAILLES, April 2, 1708. + +I have a great desire to know what you think of the portrait of my +son. His health is better and better, and he thrives on his new milk. +He begins to give me a good deal of pleasure, for he knows much and +has very amiable manners, which I hope will go on increasing. + + + MARLY, May 7, 1708. + +I believe you have heard of the accident which happened to me, and +which has prevented me from writing sooner, my dear grandmother; but I +am now quite recovered and beginning to pick up my strength.[19] + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, July 5, 1708. + +I am afraid, my dear grandmother, that if you have the same weather +that we do you will suffer from inflammation. There is not a day that +it does not rain and that causes great humidity. The milk I am taking +does me good, but if I come in late I have toothache during the night. +But my health is coming back to its usual state. You are very kind in +wishing to be informed of it; I feel all your kindnesses. + + + FONTAINEBLEAU, July 31, 1708. + +The milk I have taken did not do me as much good as I hoped during +the time I took it; but since I left it off I think I am the better +for it. [It was probably asses' milk, a great remedy in those days.] +I have taken it with all possible regularity; for when I do take +remedies I do it thoroughly. My face is coming to itself, and I am +beginning to fatten, but I have to take great care to avoid the +twilight dampness. + +[It was during this summer that the cabal of Vendôme, or as +Saint-Simon calls it, the cabal of Meudon, made its great attempt to +ruin the Duc de Bourgogne during the campaign in Flanders, and that +his wife proved her brave spirit in defending him. The princess's own +letters say nothing of all this; but a letter exists from the Duc de +Bourgogne to Mme. de Maintenon, who seems to have written to him to +counteract some attack upon his wife, which is as follows:--] + + + CAMP OF LOWENDEGHEM, August 27, 1708. + +It is not very difficult to justify Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne +to me as to matters on which I do not place entire faith, and I am +only too much inclined to be favourable to her in everything. But +the affection of which she has now given me such signal marks made +me apprehend that she might have gone a little too far in certain +speeches. I have already told her several times that I am satisfied +with what she has replied to me as to this, and my present fear is +that I may have pained her a little by what I wrote to her. I beg you +to tell her so once more, madame, and to make her see how charmed I +am with her affection and confidence. I flatter myself that I deserve +them, and I shall endeavour more and more to merit her esteem. + +To-day is not the first time that I have known of persons at Court +who do not like her, and who see with annoyance the affection that +the king shows for her. I believe I am not ignorant of their names. +It will be for you, madame, when I see you, to enlighten me more +particularly, that proper precautions may be taken to save Madame la +Duchesse de Bourgogne from falling into certain very dangerous traps, +which I have often seen you dread. As for mischief-making, it would be +most unjust to accuse her of that; she sovereignly despises it, and +her spirit is far indeed from being what is called the woman's spirit. +She has assuredly a solid mind, much good sense, an excellent and +very noble heart--but you know her better than I, and this portrait is +useless. Perhaps the pleasure that I have in speaking of her prevents +me from perceiving that I do it too often and at too great length. + + LOUIS. + + + _To Vittorio Amadeo, Duc de Savoie._ + + VERSAILLES, Dec. 31, 1708. + +The assurances, my dear father, that my mother gives me of your +continued affection for me have caused me too much pleasure not to +make me tell you myself of my gratitude, and how sensible I am of +your remembrance. Nothing can ever diminish my respect and tenderness +for you. Blood, my dear father, makes itself warmly felt under all +circumstances, and in spite of my destiny--unfortunate because it +puts me in a party opposed to yours--your interests are so strongly +imprinted in my heart that nothing can make me wish the contrary. But +this very tenderness only increases my grief when I think that we +are among the number of your enemies. I own that affection may feel +somewhat wounded by seeing you arrayed against both your daughters. +But as for me, I will never be against you, and I can only regard +you as the father whom I love as my own life. But that is not saying +enough; I would willingly sacrifice my life for you; your interests +are the sole object of my present desires. + +Permit me, therefore, my dear father, to forestall by a day the coming +year and to wish that it may lead us to the end of my sorrow and +reunite us in a manner that shall crown us with joy. I venture to tell +you that it depends on you alone to make me the happiest person in the +world. + +I fear to importune you by the length of this letter; but you will +pardon me the liberty I take. I cannot prevent myself from assuring +you at least once a year of my tenderness and respect, asking you +at the same time for the continuation of your affection. I think I +deserve it, and shall never make myself unworthy of it. + +[With the year 1709 the letters begin to show distress at the +sorrowful results of the war, at the terrible winter, her failing +health, and, above all, the reserve she was forced to maintain towards +her family.] + + + VERSAILLES, February 4, 1709. + +Would to God, my dear grandmother, that your prayers could be granted. +We should then, each of us, have reason to be content, for though we +live now in different lands we could then think alike on many subjects. + +It appears that the excessive cold prevails everywhere. They say it is +two hundred years since such a severe winter has been known here. It +is thought impossible to keep Lent because all vegetables are frozen, +and the archbishop will be obliged to allow three meat days a week. As +for me, I am not interested, for my health does not allow me to fast; +fish makes me ill. + +I have a strong desire to drive out on a sledge; for I never did so; +a very pleasant idea of it is in my mind from having seen my mother +do it. But I own I have not enough courage on account of the bitter +cold. I shall not have much trouble in giving you an account of the +amusements of this carnival. It has been very dull up to this time, +and I think it will end in the same way. There can be no balls, for +there is no one to dance. Several ladies are pregnant, and those who +are lately married come from convents and do not know how to dance. +There are but nine ladies who can do so, and half of those are little +girls. I should be the old woman of a ball [æt. 23], which takes away +all my desire for one. I do not know what folly possesses the women +now, but at thirty years of age they think they are past dancing; if +the fashion lasts, I ought to make the most of the time that is left +to me. + + + September 23, 1709. + +I have been for three days very ill, having vomited at intervals, +which fatigues me greatly, not being accustomed to it. Otherwise, my +health is good. I hope very much to give you another grandson, and I +do not doubt it, for I am as I was with the two others. + +I have been in the greatest anxiety the last week; but never was a +lost battle so advantageous and glorious [Malplaquet]. That is to me a +great consolation. You will hear, my dear grandmother, from my sister +the anxiety she, too, has been in about the King of Spain, who started +hurriedly to put himself at the head of his army because he was not +satisfied with the manoeuvring of the man who commanded it. + +I do not know, my dear grandmother, who has written you such marvels +of my son. It is true that he is pretty in manners and mind, but not +in looks. + + + December 9, 1709. + +When, my dear grandmother, when will come the long desired day when +we can speak frankly on so many things about which we are forced to +keep silence now? This war has lasted so long! I believe that all of +those who are making it desire its end; and yet in spite of that it +continues. The more you could look into the bottom of my heart, the +better you would know, my dear grandmother, that it is what it should +be, and full of feeling--which does not contribute to my tranquillity. +But I have no regret for what I suffer, for I know that blood and duty +ordain it for me. + +I have spent my day in the church, which is no small matter in my +present condition. Now that I have passed the eighth month I am very +languishing. The changes of month always affect me in my pregnancies, +so that I hope in a few days I shall be over it. + + + March 24, 1710. + +I was most agreeably mistaken, my dear grandmother, in giving you +another grandson [Louis XV., then called Duc d'Anjou]. He is the +prettiest child in the world, and I believe he will become a great +beauty. Though it is of no consequence after they grow up, one likes +better to have a pretty child than an ugly one. + + + VERSAILLES, June 23, 1710. + +There is no talk of anything here, my dear grandmother, but the +marriage of the Duc de Berry. Though it will take place without any +ceremony (for the times do not allow amusements or great expenses), +all the ladies are none the less busy with their finery. This does not +render conversation very lively, nor does it give much matter for a +letter, for really nothing is talked of but head-dresses, costumes, +petticoats, and milliners, and though I am a woman, I never take much +pleasure in such discussions. I have a great desire for the wedding +to take place and end all discussions about it. They are waiting for +the dispensation from Rome. I hope in ten or twelve days to send you a +brief account of the event. + +Every one tells me that my father will begin the campaign on the +first of next month. Judge, therefore, my dear grandmother, of my +uneasiness; it is the last stroke. But in whatever state I am, be sure +that you have a grand-daughter who loves you tenderly. + + + July 7, 1710. + +M. le Duc de Berry was married yesterday. It was all as magnificent as +the season and the times would allow. There was no fête; and that is +all I can tell you to-day, being completely wearied out. + + + November 17, 1710. + +I am always afraid, my dear grandmother, to bore you by talking of my +children, but since you order me to give you news of them, I obey you +with pleasure. I shall begin by telling you that the elder is getting +sense enough to know he has a grandmother, and that he loves you. He +grows immensely and, consequently, is very thin; he is well-made, but +rather ugly. The little one is not the same; he is a fat dumpling and +very handsome; he will soon have four teeth, and is in fine health. As +soon as he is one year old I will send you his portrait; I dare not +have it painted any earlier, for they say it brings ill-luck. I do +not believe that; but the case of my eldest makes me prefer to risk +nothing. + + + _To her father._ + + MARLY, February 16, 1711. + +I am so charmed, my dear father, with the letter you have written me +that I cannot prevent myself from telling you how sensitive I am to +the assurances you give me of your affection. I assure you that I +deserve it through the tenderness that I shall feel for you throughout +my life. Would to God, my dear father, that this year might be to me +as happy as you have been kind enough to wish it. + +There is but one thing lacking to my happiness, but it is a thing that +is very near my heart. I shall never accustom myself to be in other +interests than yours, and I own to you that my duty in vain compels me +to be so; nature _will_ have the upper hand, and I cannot keep myself +from continually praying for you. But, indeed, my dear father, is it +not high time to end our sorrows? The advantages we have won in Spain +made me hope that peace would follow. But the only peace that I can +have can come through you alone. + +I would not end my letter so soon, for I have many things to say +to you, if I did not fear to say too much on a topic which is not +suitable for me in any way. Forgive it, my dear father, in favour of a +daughter whose tenderness alone inclines her to speak, and who longs +to see you both content and glorious. + +[No letters exist concerning the most important event in the Duchesse +de Bourgogne's life, the death of Monseigneur, which made her +dauphine, April 10, 1711. From that moment she felt more deeply the +importance of fitting herself for the great post she expected soon to +fill.] + + + _To her mother._ + + VERSAILLES, May 3, 1711. + +I have had no letters from you by this courier, my very dear mother; I +hope, however, they may reach me within a few days. + +We have had very good news from Barcelona, and from all sides pleasant +things are reaching us. All that is taking place in Italy causes +me to make many reflections and gives me many hopes. I confess the +truth, my very dear mother, it would be the greatest happiness I could +have in this life if I could see my father brought back to reason. I +cannot comprehend how it is that he does not make terms, above all in +the unfortunate position in which he now finds himself, and without +any hope whatever of succour. Will he let them take Turin again? The +rumour is afloat here that it will not be long before that siege is +laid. Judge, therefore, my dear mother, of the state I must be in,--I, +so sensitive to all that concerns you. I am in despair at the position +to which my father is reduced by his own fault. Is it possible that +he really thinks we will not give him good terms? I assure you that +all the king wants is to see his kingdom tranquil, and that of his +grandson, the King of Spain, secure. It seems to me that my father +ought to desire the same thing for himself, and when I consider that +he is master of making it so, I am astonished that he does not do it. + +I fear, my very dear mother, that you will think me too daring in +what I say, but I cannot restrain myself under the view I take of my +father's position. I feel that he is my father, and a father whom I +deeply love. Therefore, my very dear mother, forgive me if I write +too freely. It is the desire I have that we should all escape these +difficult moments that makes me write as I do. I send you a letter +from my sister, who is just as vexed as I am at what is now going on. + + + VERSAILLES, December 13, 1711. + +It is sad, my dear mother, that my brother and I have the same +sympathy in toothache. I hope he has not had anything like that which +I had last night; it made me suffer horribly, not being rid of it one +moment. For more than two months it has seized me from time to time. +I have ceased taking care of it, for keeping my room does me no good, +and during the time I am not in it I am thinking and always hoping the +pain may not return. I merely avoid the wind in my ears, and eating +anything which may hurt me. I think the dreadful weather contributes +to these face-aches. + +As for me, my dear mother, I cannot be as reserved as you in speaking +about the peace; I absolutely must tell you what I think of it. We +have to-day another courier from England which confirms the hopes +I feel. The conferences will be held at Utrecht, and will begin on +the twelfth of next month. [The peace she longed for was not signed +at Utrecht until a year after her death.] They would not make such +advances if they were not veritably resolved to conclude a peace so +desired by all and so necessary to Europe. It is only the emperor +who still will not listen to it; but when he finds himself alone +he will surely come into it. They say it is his usual way to make +difficulties, and that the last time he made as many as he makes now. +I hope that soon you will not be so reserved with me, and that we +shall all have every reason to rejoice together. + +I look forward to the great pleasure of once more seeing the +Piedmontese in this country, and of being able to talk to them of you, +of all my dear family, and of the country, the mere recollection of +which is so pleasant to me. + +Poor Mme. du Lude is again attacked with gout in the breast and feet; +she suffers much. I am very much afraid that in the end it will play +her some bad trick. Madame is taking remedies; she was bled two days +ago and has taken medicine to-day. It was not before she wanted it, +for she drops asleep everywhere, which gives much anxiety to all those +who take an interest in her. She must have felt the need of remedies +to have brought herself to take them. Adieu, my dear mother, I embrace +you with all my heart. + + + VERSAILLES, December 18, 1711. + +It is in order not to miss a week in assuring you myself of my +tenderness that I write to-day. For the last seven days I have been, +my dear mother, in a state of great exhaustion which has prevented me +from dressing; for the inflammation that I had in my teeth has spread +now over my whole body. I can scarcely move; and my head feels a +horrible weight. + +I wanted to forestall the first day of the year by offering to all +my family the wishes I desire for them; not being able to do so, I +content myself, my dear mother, by embracing you with all my heart. + +[The above is the last letter of the dauphine which has been preserved +in the State Archives of Turin. She died two months later, February +12, 1712, aged twenty-six years and two months; her husband, the +dauphin, died on the 18th, and her eldest son, the Duc de Bretagne, +the little dauphin, died a week later. See "Memoirs of the Duc de +Saint-Simon," Vol. III., translated edition.] + + + + + VII. + + + MME. DE MAINTENON AND SAINT-CYR. + + PRECEDED BY REMARKS OF + + C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE. + + +I have just read a pleasing, sweet, simple, and even touching +narrative, which rests and elevates the mind,--a narrative which all +should read as I have done. It concerns, once more, Mme. de Maintenon; +but Mme. de Maintenon taken this time on her practical side, which +is least open to discussion, namely, her work and foundation of +Saint-Cyr. M. le duc de Noailles had already given a brief but +interesting account of it in his prelude to the "History of Madame de +Maintenon," but M. Théophile Lavallée has now published a complete and +connected "History of Saint-Cyr," which may be called definitive. + +[Illustration: _Mme. de Maintenon_] + +In studying the history of Mme. de Maintenon there has happened to +M. Lavallée what will happen to all sound but prejudiced minds (and +I sometimes meet with such) who will approach this distinguished +personage and take pains to know her in her habit of life. I will not +say that he is converted to her; that would be an ill-rendering of a +simply equitable impression received by an upright mind; but he has +brought justice to bear on that mass of fantastic and odiously vague +imputations which have long been in circulation as to the assumed +historical rôle of this celebrated woman. He sees her as she was, +wholly concerned for the salvation of the king, for his reform, his +decent amusement, for the interior life of the royal family, for +the relief of the people, and doing all this, it is true, with more +rectitude than enthusiasm, more precision than grandeur. + +On the threshold of Saint-Cyr M. Lavallée has placed a portrait of +its illustrious founder in which lives again that grace of hers, so +real, so sober, so indefinable, which, liable as it is to disappear +in the distance, should not be overlooked when at times her image +seems to us too hard and cold. He borrows this portrait from a Dame +de Saint-Cyr whose pen, in its vivacity and colour, is worthy of a +Sévigné: "She had, at fifty years of age, a most agreeable tone of +voice, an affectionate air, an open, smiling forehead, natural gesture +with her beautiful hands, eyes of fire, and motions of an easy figure +so cordial, so harmonious, that she put into the shade the greatest +beauties of the Court.... At a first glance she seemed imposing, as if +veiled in severity; the smile and the voice dispersed the cloud." + +Saint-Cyr, in its completed idea, was not only a girls' school, then a +convent for young ladies of rank, a good work and recreation for Mme. +de Maintenon; it was something more loftily conceived, a foundation +worthy in all respects of Louis XIV. and his epoch. Under Louis XIV., +and especially during the second half of his reign, France, even +in times of peace, was compelled to maintain its imposing military +attitude and a powerful army of 150,000 men under arms. Louvois +introduced a system of modern organization into that great body; +though the essentially modern base, the regular and equal contribution +of all to military service, was still lacking. The nobility, which +was, and continued to be, the soul of war, found itself for the first +time subjected to strict rules and obligations which offended its +spirit and greatly aggravated its burdens. Consequently, royalty +contracted towards it fresh duties. Louis XIV. saw this, and had +the heart to meet his obligation,--first, by founding the Hôtel +des Invalides, a part of which was reserved for old or wounded +officers; secondly, by forming companies of Cadets, exercised at the +frontier forts, in which four thousand sons of nobles were brought +up; and thirdly (as soon as Mme. de Maintenon suggested to him the +idea), by the foundation of the royal house of Saint-Cyr, intended +for the education of two hundred and fifty noble but impoverished +young ladies. The establishment in the succeeding century of the +École Militaire, was the necessary complement of these monarchical +foundations; it added all that was insufficient in the companies of +Cadets. + +The first thought of Saint-Cyr in Mme. de Maintenon's mind did not +rise to this height. Mme. de Maintenon was sincerely religious. She +was no sooner drawn from indigence by the bounty of the king than +she said in her own mind that she ought to shed something of that +bounty on others as poor as she herself had once been. This idea of +succouring poor young ladies and preserving them from dangers through +which she herself had passed was a very old and very natural thing in +her; she regarded it as a debt and an indemnity before God for her +great fortune. Her first step was to gather a number of young ladies, +for whose education she paid, at Montmorency, then at Rueil; at which +latter place she gave more development to her good intention. She +had always had a great taste for bringing up children, for teaching +them, reproving and reprimanding them; it was one of her particular +and prominent talents. From Rueil the Institution was transferred to +Noisy, where it continued to increase, Mme. de Maintenon devoting to +it every instant she could steal from the Court. She soon began to +congratulate herself on its success. "Fancy my pleasure," she writes +to her brother, "when I return along the avenue, followed by the +hundred and eighty-four young ladies who are here at the present time." + +Mme. de Maintenon was made for this sort of internal domestic +government. She had the gift and the art of it; she enjoyed the +full pleasure of it. That is no reason why we should estimate her +merit to be less. Because she sought repose in action, delights in +authority and familiarity, and because her self-love (from which we +never part) found its satisfaction there, we should not the less +admire her. An ancient poet, Simonides of Amorgos, in a satire against +women, compares them for their dominant defects, when they are bad, +to various species of animals (those Ancients were not gallant), but +when he comes to a wise, useful, frugal, industrious, diligent, and +fruitful woman he compares her to the bee. Mme. de Maintenon, in the +bosom of this establishment of which she was the soul and the mother, +ruling the hive in every sense, may be likened to the indefatigable +bee. Such she had been all her life in the houses where she lived +on a footing of friendship; putting them into order, cleanliness, +decency, spreading a spirit of work about her, and at the same time +doing honour also to the spirit of society and courtesy. What must it +therefore have been in her own domain, her own foundation, in the hive +of her predilection, with all her joy and all her pride as queen-bee +and mother, having at last succeeded in producing the perfect ideal +that was in her? + +That ideal was patriotic and Christian both. One day, in an interview, +the record of which was written down by her pious pupils, after +telling them how little premeditated and foreseen was her great +fortune at Court, she said with a transport and fire we should +scarcely expect of her, but which was in her whenever she dwelt on a +cherished topic: + +"That is how it was with Saint-Cyr, which became insensibly what +you see it to-day. I have often told you that I do not like new +establishments; it is far better to support old ones. And yet, almost +without thinking of it, I have made a new one. Every one believes +that I, my head on my pillow, have planned this fine institution; but +it is not so. God has brought about Saint-Cyr by degrees. If I had +made a plan, I should have thought of the worries of execution, the +difficulties, the details. I should have feared them; I should have +said: 'All this is far beyond me;' courage would have failed me. Much +compassion for indigent nobility, because I have been orphaned and +poor myself, and knowledge of such a life, made me desire to assist it +in my lifetime. But, while planning to do the good I could, I never +dreamed of doing it after my death. That was a second thought, born of +the first. May this establishment last as long as France itself, and +France as long as the world! Nothing is dearer to me than my children +of Saint-Cyr; I love their very dust. I offer myself, and all my +attendants to serve them; I have no reluctance to be their servant if +my service will teach them to do without that of others. It is to this +I tend; this is my passion, this is my heart." + +It was in the year of her marriage (1684) that she applied herself, +as an inward thank-offering towards Heaven, to perfect the attempt +at Noisy, and to give it that first royal character which it assumed +wholly after its removal to Saint-Cyr. She represented to the king, +after a visit he had made to Noisy which had pleased him much, that +"the greater part of the noble families of the kingdom were reduced to +a pitiable state, owing to the costs their heads had been forced to +incur in his service; that their children required support to prevent +them from falling into utter degradation; that it would be a work +worthy of his piety and greatness to make a settled establishment as +a refuge for poor young girls of rank throughout the kingdom, where +they could be brought-up piously to the duties of their condition." +Père de La Chaise approved the project; Louvois cried out at the +expense; Louis XIV. himself seemed to hesitate. "Never did Queen of +France," he said, "do anything like this." It was thus, and thus only, +that Mme. de Maintenon allowed herself to manifest her secret but +efficacious royalty. + +The idea of the foundation of Saint-Cyr was accepted, and the king +spoke of it to the council of August 15, 1684. Two years went +by, during which the house was built [by Mansart at a cost of +1,200,000 francs], the endowments and revenues were settled, and the +Constitution was prepared. Letters-patent were delivered in June, +1686, and the Community was transferred from Noisy to the new domicile +between the 26th of July and the 1st of August. During the succeeding +six years it felt its way and made tentative essays; these were most +brilliant, and even glorious; never did Saint-Cyr make more noise in +the world than during this period before it was firmly seated on its +permanent and sure foundation. + +Mme. de Maintenon had dreamed of an establishment like no other; where +all should go by rule without being bound by vows; where absolutely +nothing of the minutiæ and pettiness of convents should exist; +maintaining, nevertheless, at the same time purity and ignorance of +evil, while sharing, with prudence and Christian reserve, in the +charms of society and polished intercourse. Louis XIV., who saw +all things with a practical eye and in the interests of the State, +approved of Saint-Cyr having nothing monastic about it, and would fain +have kept it so. But precautions were needed in this first attempt +of Mme. de Maintenon to mingle substantial qualities, reason, and +charm, which she found it impossible to maintain; to do so all the +mistresses and all the pupils needed a wisdom and strength equal +to her own. To bring up young ladies in a "Christian, reasonable, +and noble manner" was her object; but a danger soon appeared that +_nobleness_ would lead to contempt of humility, and reasonableness to +a spirit of reasoning. + +It was during these tentative years, while Saint-Cyr was trying its +wings and working out its apprenticeship, that Mme. de Maintenon +requested Racine to compose the sacred comedies that were there +performed. If "Esther," with the worldly consequences and the +introduction of the élite of profane society that then ensued, +proved a distraction and perhaps an imprudence and fault in Mme. de +Maintenon's management of the first Saint-Cyr, we feel that we ought +not to cavil, and no one in the world can really blame her. "Esther" +has remained, in the eyes of all, the crown of that establishment. +The details of the composition of that adorable play and its +representation are too well known to need repetition; they form one +of the most graceful and assuredly the most original episodes of our +dramatic literature. Nevertheless, Mme. de La Fayette, like a sensible +woman, and one a little jealous, perhaps, of Mme. de Maintenon, found +it a pretext to say:-- + + "Mme. de Maintenon, who is the foundress of Saint-Cyr, + always busy with the purpose of amusing the king, is constantly + introducing some novelty among the little girls brought up in + that establishment, of which it may be said that it is worthy + of the grandeur of the king and of the mind of her who invented + and who conducts it. But sometimes the best-invented things + degenerate considerably; and that establishment which, now + that we have become devout, is the abode of virtue and piety, + may some day, without any profound prophesying, be that of + debauchery and impiety. For to believe that three hundred young + girls can live there until they are twenty years old with a + Court full of eager young men at their very doors, especially + when the authority of the king will no longer restrain + them,--to believe, I say, that young women and young men can + be so near to each other without jumping the walls is scarcely + reasonable." + +It became necessary, after the success of "Esther," and the +instigation given to the Court, to make a step backward and return +to the spirit of the foundation, fortifying it by more severe +regulations. The danger of the neighbourhood of Saint-Cyr to +Versailles was indeed great; it was of the utmost consequence that +Mme. de La Fayette's prophecy should not be fulfilled, and that the +young ladies of Saint-Cyr should in no wise resemble those of M. +Alexandre Dumas. The lesson that Mme. de Maintenon drew from the +representations of "Esther," and the invasion of the profane was +henceforth to say and resay ceaselessly to her teachers: "Hide your +pupils; do not let them be seen." + +From the passage of Racine through Saint-Cyr, and that of Fénelon, +there resulted (from the point of view of the foundation and its +object) a number of unsuitable things in the midst of their graces. +Fénelon developed a taste for refined and subtile piety suited only +for choice souls; Racine, without intending it, created a taste +for reading, poesy, and all such things, the perfume of which is +sweet, but the fruit not always salutary. Mme. de Maintenon, however +influenced she might herself be by these tastes, recognized with her +natural good sense the necessity of finding a remedy, and of not +allowing those young and tender spirits, some of whom were already +taken with the new ideas, to go farther in that direction. Among the +first pupils and mistresses of Saint-Cyr was a certain Mme. de La +Maisonfort, a distinguished woman, with an inquiring spirit, fond of +investigating, and made for quite another career than that which she +had chosen. She could not bring herself to renounce the gratifications +of her mind and taste or the sensitiveness of her feelings. Mme. de +Maintenon made war upon them in a number of very fine letters, which +did not convince her. "How will you bear," she writes to her, "the +crosses that God will send you in the course of your life if a Norman +or a Picard accent hinders you, or a man disgusts you because he is +not as sublime as Racine? The latter, poor man, would have edified +you could you have seen his humility during his illness, and his +repentance for his search after intellect. He did not ask at such a +time for a fashionable confessor; he saw none but a worthy priest +of his own parish." That example of the dying Racine did not work +successfully. Mme. de La Maisonfort was one of those rare persons +whom we see from time to time soaring to the summit of all the +investigations of their epoch, supreme and refined judges of works +of intellect, oracles and proselytes of the opinions in vogue. She +could play charmingly at Jansenism with Racine and M. de Troisville, +and distil Quietism with Fénelon, as in the eighteenth century she +might have fallen in love with David Hume in company with the Comtesse +de Boufflers, or in the nineteenth she would surely have shone in a +_doctrinaire_ salon discussing psychology and æstheticism, perhaps +even going so far as the Fathers of the Church, not without adverting, +as she passed, to socialism. Mme. de La Maisonfort, much as she was +liked by Mme. de Maintenon, was, necessarily, dismissed from the +Institute of Saint-Cyr. + +Another mind, much better and much safer, that of Mme. de Glapion, was +slightly affected by the new doctrines. "I have perceived," Mme. de +Maintenon writes to her, "the disgust you feel for your confessors; +you think them vulgar; you want more brilliancy and delicacy; you wish +to go to heaven by none but flowery paths." Mme. de Glapion thought +the Catechism rather grovelling and a little wanting in certain ways; +it seemed to her ridiculous "that the master should put questions +worthy of a scholar, and that the scholar should make the answers +of a master." She wished the question to be put by the child, who, +after receiving the answer, should reason upon it and so be led from +one investigation to another. Mme. de Glapion wished, as we see, to +introduce the method of Descartes into theology. Mme. de Maintenon +did not discuss the point; but she held up custom, experience, the +impossibility of not stammering in such matters. "All those ideas," +she wrote to Mme. de Glapion, "are the remains of vanity. You do not +like things common to all the world; your own mind is lofty, and you +wish everything to be as lofty. Vain desire! The most learned theology +cannot tell you more about the Trinity than you find in the Catechism. +What you think and feel beyond that is a matter to be sacrificed; your +spirit must become as simple as your heart. Employ your mind, not in +multiplying your disgusts, but in conquering them, in concealing them +until they are conquered, and in making yourself like the pleasures of +your condition." Mme. de Glapion succeeded in doing so. She was the +consolation of Mme. de Maintenon and her truest inheritor; together +with Madame du Pérou, she maintained at Saint-Cyr that spirit of +precision and regularity combined with suavity and noble manners which +distinguished the foundress, until long after the latter's death. +It may be said, definitively, that the persons of the generation +at Saint-Cyr who had known and enjoyed Racine and Fénelon, and who +remembered all of which they were cured, could alone realize the +perfection of the education, the grace, and the language of Saint-Cyr; +after them the essential virtues and the rules were kept, but the +charm had flown, perhaps we may even say the life. + +During these years of labour and tentative effort Mme. de Maintenon +never ceased to visit, inspire, and correct Saint-Cyr; she went there +once in every two days at least, remaining whole days whenever she +could. She took part in the classes, in the exercises, in the smallest +details of the establishment, thinking nothing beneath her. "I have +often seen her," says one of the modest historians quoted by M. +Lavallée, "arrive before six in the morning in order to be present at +the rising of the young ladies, and follow them throughout their whole +day in the capacity of first instructress, in order to judge properly +of what should be done and regulated. She helped to comb and dress the +little ones. Often she gave two or three consecutive months to one +class, observing the order of the day, talking to the class in general +and to each member in private; reproving one, encouraging another, +giving to all the means of correcting themselves. She had much grace +in speaking, as in all else that she did. Her talks were lively, +simple, natural, intelligent, insinuating, persuasive. I should never +finish if I tried to relate all the good she did to the classes in +those happy days." Those "happy days," that golden age, was the period +of the start, the beginning, when all was not yet reduced to a code, +when a certain liberty of inexperience was mingled with the early +freshness of virtue. + +Nevertheless, under the wise direction of the Bishop of Chartres, +Mme. de Maintenon felt the necessity of giving to her enterprise less +peculiarity than she had at first intended. It was decided that the +"Dames institutrices," while remaining true to the special object of +their trust, should be regular nuns under solemn vows. Warned by the +first irregularities and the fancies that she saw were dawning, she +busied herself in making a rampart for her girls of their Constitution +and rules. She understood, like all great founders, that we can +draw from human nature a particular and extraordinary strength in +one direction only by suppressing, or at least repressing, in all +others. This final reform, this transformation of Saint-Cyr from a +secular house into a regular nunnery, was completed between the years +1692 and 1694. The grave nature of Mme. de Maintenon is imprinted on +every line of the little book addressed to the "Dames" and entitled +"The Spirit of the Institute of the Daughters of Saint-Louis." The +first suggestion made to them is in terms as absolute as can well be +imagined; nothing is ever to be changed or modified in their rule +under any pretext whatsoever; solidity, stability, immovability is +the vow and the command of Mme. de Maintenon--and the Institute +remained faithful thereto to its last hour. The Institution was not +founded, says the book, for prayer, but for action, for the _education +of young ladies_; that is its true austerity; that is, as it were, +the perpetual prayer, which needs only to be fed by other rapid and +short prayers repeated often in the depths of the heart. "A mixture +of prayer and action," such was the spirit of the Institute. Mme. de +Maintenon endeavours to forearm her girls against the perils they +have already encountered. "Have neither fancy nor curiosity to seek +for extraordinary reading and _ragouts d'oraison_." "There is a great +difference between knowing God through learning, by the _point of the +mind_, by the subtlety of reason, by the multiplicity of studies, and +knowing Him through the simple instructions of Christianity." Between +those lines I seem to read, "Above all, not much Racine and no more +Fénelon." + +Truly, it was a high idea that the Dames de Saint-Louis were destined +to bring up young ladies to be mothers of families and to take part +in the good education of their children, thus placing in their hands +a portion of the future of France and of religion. "There is," says +Mme. de Maintenon, "in this work of Saint-Louis, if properly done in a +spirit of true faith and a real love of God, the wherewithal to renew +throughout this kingdom the perfection of Christianity." + +The foundress reminds them in so many words that, being at the gates +of Versailles as they are, there is no medium for them between a +very strict or a very scandalous establishment. "Make your parlours +inaccessible to all superfluous visits. Do not fear to seem a little +stern, but do not be haughty." She counsels a more absolute humility +than she is able to obtain. "Reject the name of Dames [ladies] and +take pleasure in calling yourselves the Daughters of Saint-Louis." +She particularly insists on this virtue of humility, which is always +the weak side of the Institution. "You will preserve yourselves only +by humility. You must expiate what there is of human grandeur in +your foundation." Recognizing these conditions of society, Mme. de +Maintenon gives this advice to a young girl leaving Saint-Cyr for +the world: "Never appear without the body of your gown (meaning in +dishabille), and flee from all the other excesses common even to girls +in the present day, such as too much eating, tobacco, hot liquors, too +much wine, etc.; we have enough real needs without inventing others so +useless and dangerous." + +In presence of a world that she knew so well, we must not think +that Mme. de Maintenon tried to make tender plants, fragile women, +ingenuously ignorant, with the morality of novices; she had, beyond +all other persons, a profound sense of reality. She desired her +"Dames" to speak boldly to their pupils on the marriage state; to +show them the world and its divers conditions such as they are. "Most +nuns," she said, "dare not utter the word 'marriage.' Saint Paul had +no such false delicacy, for he speaks of it very openly." She was +the first to speak of it as an honourable, necessary, and hazardous +state. "When your young ladies have entered marriage they will find it +is not a thing to laugh about. You should accustom them to speak of +it seriously, even sadly, in a Christian manner; for it is the state +in which we have most tribulations, even in the best marriage; they +should be shown that three-fourths of all marriages are unhappy." As +for celibacy, to which too many young girls might be condemned on +leaving the Institution, for lack of a dowry ("my greatest need," she +says jestingly, "is of sons-in-law"), she thinks it an equally sad +state. In general, no one has ever had fewer illusions than Mme. de +Maintenon. Speaking of men, she thinks them rough and hard, "little +tender in their love when passion ceases to have sway." As for women, +she has very fixed views of them, which are but moderately flattering. +"Women," she says, "only half know things, but the little they do know +makes them usually conceited, disdainful, loquacious, and scornful of +solid information." The education of Saint-Cyr, after its reform, had +it always been carried out in Mme. de Maintenon's true spirit, would +not have sinned through too much timidity, weakness, and tender grace; +its austerity was only veiled. + +The reform once established at Saint-Cyr and the first sad impression +effaced, all became orderly, and joy returned as before to a life so +uniform and busy. Mme. de Maintenon had, as I have said, the gift of +education, and she would have no sadness about it; there never can +be sadness in what is done thoroughly with a full heart in the right +way; at one moment or at another, joy, which is but the expansion +of the soul, returns and cannot cease to flow through actions. Mme. +de Maintenon relied greatly on recreations to form her pupils +pleasantly, to show them their defects and win their confidence +without seeming to be in search of it. In the good she felt she had +done at Saint-Cyr she dwelt much on the pains she had bestowed on +"recreation." "That," she said, "is what leads to union and removes +partialities; that is what binds the mistresses with the pupils; a +superior makes herself liked and warms the hearts of her girls by +giving them pleasures; that is the time when edifying things can +be said without repelling, because we can mingle them with gayety; +_many good maxims can be thrown out in jest_." She requires from the +mistresses she has trained a talent for recreation as well as for +teaching. "Make your recreations gay and free, and your girls will +come to them." + +Louis XIV. at Saint-Cyr appears full of charm, of nobleness always, +and sometimes with a certain _bonhomie_ which he showed nowhere else. +Under great events he intervened as king; when it was judged proper +to reform the Constitution, he re-read it and approved it with his +signature; when it becomes necessary to dismiss the recalcitrant +mistresses, such as Mme. de La Maisonfort and some others, and to use +for the purpose _lettres de cachet_, he, knowing that the heart of +the other mistresses is wrung by this exile of their sisters, writes +from the Camp at Compiègne to explain his rigour, and goes himself +with a full cortège to the hall of the Community, where he holds a +sort of _lit de justice_ both regal and paternal. On his return from +hunting he frequently came to find Mme. de Maintenon in this place of +retreat, but never without taking time to put on, as he said, "out of +respect to these ladies, a decent coat." During the wars he remembers +that he has at Saint-Cyr, in those young daughters of Saint-Louis +and of the race of heroes, "warrior spirits, religious souls, good +Frenchwomen;" and he asks for their prayers on days of disaster as +on those of victory. He knows that they mourn with him, and that +his glory is their joy. All this new and private side of Louis XIV. +is very delicately and generously touched by M. Lavallée; at certain +passages we are surprised to find ourselves as much touched as the +great monarch himself. + +Louis XIV. and Mme. de Maintenon believed in the efficacy of prayer, +especially that of Saint-Cyr. "Make yourselves saints," says the +foundress to her daughters repeatedly throughout the long series of +calamitous wars,--"make yourselves saints in order to gain us peace." +And towards the end, when a ray of victory returned, she mingles a +sort of gayety with the solemnity of her hope. "It would be shameful +in our Superior," she writes, "if she could not raise the siege of +Landrecies by force of prayers: it is for great souls to do great +things." + +During the last years of Louis XIV. Mme. de Maintenon was happy only +when she could go to Saint-Cyr, "to hide and comfort herself." She +said it again and again, under all forms and in all tones: "My great +consoler is Saint-Cyr."--"Vive Saint-Cyr! in spite of its defects +one is better here than elsewhere in all the world." She had tasted +of all and was surfeited of all. In spite of her dazzling position, +and at the very summit, apparently, she was one of those delicate +natures that are more sensitive to the secret animosities of the +world than to its grosser offerings. Surrounded at Versailles by men +who did not like her and by women she despised, reading their hearts +through their self-interested homage and cringing baseness, worn-out +with fatigue and constraint in presence of the king and the royal +family, who used and abused her, she went to Saint-Cyr to relax, to +moan, to let fall the mask that she wore perpetually. There she was +respected, cherished, and obeyed; when absent, her letters read at +recreation were the pride of the one who had received them and the +joy of all; when present, the mistresses and pupils concerted together +to awaken her souvenirs and induce her to tell of her beginnings and +the singular incidents of her fortune,--in short, to make her talk of +herself; that topic to all of us so restful and so sweet. "We love to +talk of ourselves," she remarked, "were it even to say harm." But she +never said harm. + +If it is painful, as she said in after years, to last too long, to +live in a society of persons who do not know us or the life that +we have led in former days, who are, in short, of another epoch, +it is nevertheless very pleasant to retreat to a garden bench and +find ourselves surrounded by fresh young souls, docile in letting +themselves be trained, and eager for all that we will say to them. +Do not let us analyze too closely the various sentiments of Mme. de +Maintenon at Saint-Cyr; suffice it to say that the effect on all who +surrounded her was fruitful and good. + +The language of Saint-Cyr has a tone apart amid that period of Louis +XIV.; Mme. de Caylus was the mundane flower of it. We feel that +"Esther" has passed that way, and Fénelon equally. The diction is that +of Racine in prose, of Massillon, shorter and more sober,--a school, +in fact, all pure, precise, and perfect (to which belonged the Duc du +Maine); a charming source, more sparkling on the side of the women, +though rather less fertile. At first it promised greater things; +and to one of the Dames de Saint-Louis (Mme. de Chapigny) Mme. de +Maintenon was able to write: "I have never read anything so good, so +charming, so clear, so well arranged, so eloquent, so regulated, in a +word, so wonderful as your letter." + +At the death of Louis XIV. and under the harsh contrast with times +so changed, Saint-Cyr passed, almost in an instant, to a state of +antiquity and royal relic. After Mme. de Maintenon's death worthy +inheritors of her rule continued to maintain for a long time the +culture of suavity and intelligence; but the Dames de Saint-Louis +were faithful, above all, to the intention of their foundress in +never making themselves talked of. Respected by all, little liked +by Louis XV., who thought them, as was natural, too lofty and too +worthy of honour, they vanish from sight in the continuance of duty +and the uniformity of their quiet existence. A letter of Horace +Walpole, who visits them as an antiquary, another from the Chevalier +de Boufflers, are the only noticeable testimony that we have about +them in the course of many years. When the revolution of '89 broke +out, the astonishment in that valley so close to Versailles was great, +much greater than elsewhere. Saint-Cyr had made itself so completely +_immobile_ in its past that it fell abruptly from Mme. de Maintenon to +Mirabeau. + +From that time, after the abolition of the titles of nobility, there +seemed no uncertainty except as to the precise day on which the +Institution should perish. Nevertheless, the Dames de Saint-Louis +made a long and placid resistance, which maintained them in their +House till 1793; they accomplished and verified to the letter Mme. de +Maintenon's unconscious prediction when she said: "Your institution +can never fail so long as there is a king in France." It perished on +the morrow of the day when there was no king. + +But see and wonder at the linking of fates: Among the young ladies +who were being educated at Saint-Cyr at that date was Marie-Anne de +Buonaparte, born at Ajaccio, January 3, 1771, and received at the +Institution in June, 1784. Her brother Napoléon de Buonaparte, an +officer of artillery, observing that after August 10 the decrees of +the Legislative Assembly seemed to announce, or rather to confirm, the +ruin of the house, went to that house on the morning of September 1, +1792, and took such active steps towards the mayor of the village and +the administrators of Versailles that he was enabled on the same day +to take away his sister (of whom he was the guardian) and carry her +to his family in Corsica. He was destined not to return to Saint-Cyr, +converted by him into a French Prytaneum, until June 28, 1805, when as +Emperor and master of all France he gazed--an equal to an equal--on +Louis XIV. + +In 1793 the devastated Saint-Cyr lost for a time its very name, and +the ruined village was called Val-Libre. In 1794, while persons were +converting the church into a hospital, the tomb of Mme. de Maintenon +was discovered in the choir, broken open, the coffin violated, and her +remains insulted. On that day, at least, she was treated as a queen. + + * * * * * + +[Mme. de Maintenon was a voluminous letter-writer; many hundreds of +her letters are published, the most interesting of which are those to +the Princesse des Ursins. Her style is simple, easy, and dignified; +not graphic nor lifelike; she seems too rounded into her own mind +and views to be a good general observer; nor is she guided in her +judgment of others by a perception of their feelings, unless they are +reflected by her own. This remark does not apply to the Saint-Cyr +letters; in those she is genuine, she is writing on a topic that +fills her heart and opens it to others. Saint-Cyr was an episode in +Mme. de Maintenon's life, and as such it can be placed here with +some completeness. The last chapter of this volume contains a few +miscellaneous letters bearing more especially upon the character and +career of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, which Sainte-Beuve asserts can +only be truly known through the letters of Mme. de Maintenon to the +Princesse des Ursins. + +The pupils of Saint-Cyr were divided into four classes named and +distinguished by the colour of their ribbons. Class Red (the youngest) +were from seven to ten years of age; class Green from ten to fourteen; +class Yellow from fourteen to seventeen; class Blue from seventeen +to twenty. Certain young ladies of class Blue were detailed as head +monitors and wore black ribbons; other monitors selected from classes +Blue and Yellow wore flame-coloured ribbons. The classes were divided +into bands or "families" of ten. Each class had a head mistress +and three sub-mistresses; there were also two mistresses for the +postulants or novices, two for the infirmary, others for the various +departments of the house, and a mistress-general for the whole school. +These mistresses were called "Dames de Saint-Louis" and were under +vows; they were recruited by postulants selected from class Blue; the +Superior was chosen by election among themselves from their own body. +Mme. de Brinon, the first Superior, who came with the school from +Rueil and Noisy, was an Ursuline nun. + +After Mme. de Brinon, the Dames de Saint-Louis who were most relied +upon by Mme. de Maintenon were: Mme. du Pérou, mistress of the novices +at twenty years of age, afterwards elected many times as Superior; +Mme. de Fontaines, mistress-general, also frequently elected Superior; +and Mme. de Glapion, called the "Pearl of Saint-Cyr," who seems to +have been Mme. de Maintenon's most trusted friend, to whom she made +personal confidences. Many letters and "talks" addressed to these +ladies and others at Saint-Cyr have been published, from which those +that here follow are selected.] + + + + + VIII. + + + LETTERS TO THE DAMES DE SAINT-CYR AND OTHERS. + + + _To M. l'Abbé Gobelin_ [her confessor]. + + CHAMBORD, October 10, 1685. + +I am very glad that you are satisfied with what you have seen at +Noisy, and you will give me very great pleasure by going there again +before the cold weather; but I would like you to confess, or at any +rate converse in private with, all those who desire to enter our +community. I have sent word to Mme. de Brinon to examine them all, and +to begin nothing for the novitiate until my return. [This refers to +the selection of mistresses, not pupils, for the establishment on its +removal to Saint-Cyr.] + +When you go again, I beg you to make a few familiar exhortations to +the whole community. I approve, with you, that these ladies should +make a year's trial, but it seems to me that it would be more useful +if, instead of shutting them up to learn the rule and only know their +obligations by speculation, they were to spend that year in performing +the duties they will afterwards have to fulfil; above all, those of +governing and instructing children, which is the foundation of the +Institution. + +I know well that this must not be done so exclusively that they will +have no time for prayer, orisons, silence, acts, and conferences; but +a mingling might be made which would make known to others, and also +to themselves, of what they are capable. Concern yourself about this +affair, I beg of you, inasmuch as you hope it may be useful; since +God and the king have laid it upon me, you ought to help me to acquit +myself well. + +Humility cannot be preached too strongly, both in public and in +private, to our postulants; for I fear that Mme. de Brinon may inspire +them with a certain grandeur which she has herself, and that the +neighbourhood of the Court, this royal foundation, the visits of +the king and mine, may give them the idea of being chanoinesses, or +important persons; which would not fail to swell their hearts, and +counteract strongly the good we are seeking to do. All the rest is +going on, it seems to me, very well; there is a very solid piety in +the house; but we must take a medium course between the true splendour +of our devotion and the puerilities and pettiness of convents, which +we have tried to avoid. I do not yet know by what name the community +will be called. If you have read the Constitution you will have seen +that Mme. de Brinon calls them "Dames de Saint-Louis." But this could +hardly be, for the king would not canonize himself, and it is he who +will name them when founding them. [They were so named, however.] They +wish to be called Dames to distinguish them from the young ladies; +send me your opinion on this. As for their costume, it must be black, +of a shape now worn, but without hair, or any adornment; such, I +think, as Saint Paul demands for Christian widows. Adieu; write to me, +I entreat you, whenever you can do so without inconvenience. + + + _To Mlle. de Butéry_ [pupil-mistress at Noisy]. + + January, 1686. + +I am very glad to be in communication with you, Mademoiselle, and I +judge by the office Mme. de Brinon has given you that she thinks you +have much benevolence and exactitude. You can address yourself to me +for all your wants, asking, however, only for those it is impossible +to avoid having; for as you will have everything new at Saint-Cyr you +must be patient at Noisy. When you write to me again, leave rather +more interval between your lines, that I may correct your orthography +on days when I have leisure; the best way of learning to spell is to +copy books. Your handwriting is very handsome, and I see with pleasure +that several of the novices write very well. I am now going to correct +your letter, but I shall not finish mine without assuring you of my +esteem and friendship. + +Take care to notice the difference between my corrections and what you +have written; for that is how you will learn better. + + + _To Mme. de Brinon._ + + June, 1686. + +They are working hard about Saint-Cyr. Your Constitution and rules +have been examined; they have been admired, cut down, and added to. +Pray God that he will inspire all those who touch them. I must inform +you of a visit I have received from the king this morning; he is +none the better for it; still we were delighted to see him out of +his room. [Louis XIV. had lately undergone a surgical operation.] He +has corrected the choir of Saint-Cyr, and several other parts; the +young ladies are to be placed on four benches as at Noisy; therefore +we must again change the colours. He talked yesterday with the +controller-general about the foundation, and all will be settled soon. +One never has all good things at once; proximity to Versailles will +give you many advantages and as many restraints; praise God for all +things. I shall go, please God, to Noisy next Sunday and give you an +account of all that has then happened. + +Rejoice, my very dear; you are spending your life for God and a great +work. + + + _To the Dames de Saint-Louis._ + + August 1, 1686. + +God having willed to use me to assist in this establishment which +the king undertakes for the education of poor young ladies in his +kingdom, I think I ought to communicate to the persons destined to +bring them up what my experience has taught me about the means of +giving a good education; to do that is assuredly one of the greatest +austerities that can be practised, because there is no other without +some relaxation; whereas in the education of children the whole life +must be employed upon it. + +When the object is merely to adorn their memories, it suffices to +instruct them for a few hours a day,--it would even be a great +imprudence to burden them longer; but when we seek to form their +reason, waken their hearts, elevate their minds, destroy their +evil inclinations, in a word, make them know and love virtue, we +must always be at work, for at all moments opportunities present +themselves. We are just as important to pupils in their amusements +as in their lessons, and we cannot leave them for a moment except to +their injury. + +As it is not possible that a single person can conduct a large number +of children, it will be necessary to have several mistresses for each +class; but they must act together in great union and with the very +greatest uniformity of sentiments; their maxims must be alike, and +they must endeavour to instil them with the same manners. + +In this employment, more than in any other, there is need to forget +one's self entirely; or, at least, if any credit is hoped for it must +only be after success, using the simplest means to obtain it. When I +say that we must forget ourselves I mean that we must aim only to make +ourselves understood and thus convince; eloquence must be abandoned, +for that may attract the admiration of listeners; it is even well +to play with, children on certain occasions and make them love us in +order to acquire a power over them by which they will profit. But we +must make no mistake as to the means we may use to make ourselves +loved; none but upright intentions will draw down the blessing of God. + +We should think less of adorning their minds than of forming their +reason; this system, it is true, makes the knowledge and ability of +the mistresses less apparent; a young girl who knows a thousand things +by heart will shine in company and gratify her relatives more than one +whose judgment has been formed, who knows how to be silent, who is +modest and reserved, and is in no haste to show her cleverness. + +It is right to let them sometimes follow their own will in order to +know their inclinations, to teach them the difference between what it +good, what is bad, and what is indifferent. I think that all persons +who give themselves the trouble to read this will know as well as I +what is meant by indifferent things. Give them, for instance, one +companion in place of another; a walk in one direction rather than +in another, a game or other trifles, to let them see we are only +mistresses when we must be, and that they might be so themselves in +all things if they were reasonable. A companion may be dangerous, a +walk may have some impropriety, a game may be out of place; but I wish +that in refusing them they be told the reason, as far as prudence +will allow, trying always to grant them frequently what they want, in +order to refuse what is bad with a firmness that never yields. It is +wonderful how much such methods make governing easy and absolute. + +It is good to accustom them to have nothing granted to importunity. + +You must be implacable on vices, and punish them either by shame or by +chastisements, which must be very rigorous, but as rare as possible. + +Guard yourselves from the dangerous principle of some persons who, out +of a scrupulous fear that God will be offended, avoid all occasions +when children's inclinations can appear; we cannot know too much about +them in order to inspire a horror of vice and a love of virtue, in +which we should confirm the young by giving them principles which will +prevent their going wrong through ignorance. We should study their +inclinations, observe their tempers, and follow their little contests +in order to train them in every way. For experience shows us only too +well how often faults are committed without knowing it, and how many +persons fall into crime without being more wicked than others who live +innocently. + +They should be taught all the delicacies of honour, integrity, +discretion, generosity, and humanity; and virtue should be described +to them as being both beautiful and agreeable, as it is. A few +little stories suited to this purpose will be very proper and +useful,--amusing, yet all the while instructing them; but they must +be convinced that if virtue does not have religion for its basis it +is not solid, and God will not sustain it, but will rebuke such pagan +and heroic virtues, which are only the result of susceptible pride +insatiable for praise. + +It is not necessary to make long disquisitions on such matters; it is +better to place them as occasions occur. + +You must make yourselves esteemed by the children; and the only means +of doing so is not to show them defects; for it is hard to believe how +intelligent they are in perceiving them. The study to appear perfect +in their eyes is of great utility to ourselves. + +Never scold them from ill-humour, and never give them reason to think +there are times more favourable than others to obtain what they want. +Treat fine natures with affection, be stern with bad ones, but harsh +with none. Make them like the presence of their mistresses through +amiable kindness, and let them do before you exactly what they would +do if left alone. + +We should enter into the amusements of children, but never adapt +ourselves to them by childish language or puerile ways; and as they +cannot be too reasonable, or too soon be made so, we should accustom +children to reason from the moment they can talk and understand,--all +the more because they will never reject the healthy amusements we give +them. + +The external accomplishments of foreign languages and the thousand +other things with which young ladies of quality are expected to be +adorned have their inconveniences; for such studies are apt to take +time which might be more usefully employed. The young ladies of the +house of Saint-Louis ought not to be brought up, more than can be +helped, in that way; because, being without property, it is not well +to uplift their hearts and minds in a manner so little suitable to +their fortunes and state of life. + +But Christianity and reason, which are all that we wish to inspire, +are equally good for princesses and paupers; and if our young ladies +profit by what I believe they will be taught, they will be capable of +sustaining all the good and all the evil that God may be pleased to +send them. + + + _To Mme. du Pérou._ + + October 25, 1686. + +I am convinced of your zeal and your capacity; and both must be +employed for our dear house. It is true that I am very keen for all +its interests; I think I sometimes go as far as impatience; but it +seems to me that there are reasons why we should hasten, and use well +the favourable moment in which we now are. God knows that I never +thought to make so grand an establishment as yours, and that I had no +other view than to do a few good works during my lifetime; not feeling +myself obliged to do more, and thinking that there were already too +many nunneries. The less part I had in this plan, the more I see in +it the will of God; which makes me love it much more than if it were +my own work. God has led the king to found this school, as you know, +although he does not like new institutions. + +It is true that just as much as I should have trembled in governing +Saint-Cyr had it been my own work, so much on the other hand do I find +myself emboldened by the sense that it is done by the will of God, and +that that same will has laid this duty upon me. Therefore I can say +to you with truth that I regard it as the means God has granted me +for my salvation, and that I would sacrifice my life with joy to make +it glorious. What is now urging me on, sometimes perhaps too eagerly, +is the desire I have that all should be firmly established before the +death of Mme. de Brinon, my own, and that of the Abbé de Gobelin, so +that the spirit of the house may always last, in spite of oppositions +it may meet with in the future. You will never have an abler or more +commanding Superior than Mme. de Brinon, a friend more zealous for the +house than I, a director more saintly than the one you have now. + +We have, moreover, all authority, temporal and spiritual, in our +hands. The king and the bishop [Godet of Chartres] are ready to do all +that we desire; it is for us to put things in that state of perfection +in which we desire them to remain forever. + +In examining your girls [for the novitiate] seek for true piety, an +upright mind, the liking they may have for the Institute, the desire +they have to be useful, their attachment to the rules, their spirit of +community, their detachment from the world; these are the principal +things for a Dame de Saint-Louis. As for tempers a little too quick, +remember that we all have the vices and virtues of our temperament; +that which makes us hasty makes us active, vigilant, eager for the +success of what we undertake; that which makes us gentle makes us +nonchalant, lazy, indifferent, slow, insensible; piety rectifies both +in the long run, and surely that is the essential thing. Who can be +hastier than Mme. de Brinon and I? but do you love us less? You will +tell me, perhaps, and with reason, that subordinates suffer from such +tempers; to that I reply that everybody has to suffer; and, after all, +you will only have such Superiors as you elect yourselves. But while I +excuse hasty people (from self-love perhaps), I exhort you to correct +that disposition as much as you possibly can in your novices. + +You can show what I write to you to whom you please; would to God it +were good enough that all might draw some profit from it. + + + _To a young lady in class Blue._ + + December, 1690. + +I have heard of your disobedience to Mme. de Labarre, and I have +stopped the punishment they intended to give you. How can you suppose +that we should allow such rebellion? What exception could there be +to our rules? Do you think yourself necessary because you have a +fine voice? Can you know me and yet think that the representation +of "Athalie" goes before the regulations established at Saint-Cyr? +No, certainly not; and you will leave the establishment if I hear +anything more about you. Submit, if you wish to remain; but, if you +wish to leave, it will be more honourable to you to do so by agreement +with me than to get yourself dismissed. You are lax and cold towards +God; it is that which makes you fall into all these faults. Reflect, I +beg of you, on what you might hope of yourself on the occasions which +you will find to fail. You are becoming grown-up; this is the time to +make serious reflections. It is for God, my dear child, to touch your +heart, but it is for us to rule your conduct. You will be very unhappy +if it is good only externally. I wished to give you this advice before +punishing you, and I hope that you will give me the joy of seeing you +profit by it; I ask this of you with all my heart; for I am as sorry +to have to treat you with rigour as I am resolved to establish in your +class an absolute obedience to the regulations. + + + _To Mme. de Fontaines._ + + September 20, 1691. + +The pain I feel about the daughters of Saint-Cyr can only be relieved +by time and by a total change in the education we have given them up +to this time. It is very just that I should suffer because I have +contributed to the harm more than any one; I shall be happy if God +does not punish me more severely. My pride has been in everything +concerning the establishment; and its depth is so great it carries +the day against my own good intentions. God knows that I wanted to +establish virtue at Saint-Cyr, but I have built on sand,--not having +that which alone can make a firm foundation. I wanted that the girls +should have intelligence, that their hearts should be uplifted, their +reason formed. I have succeeded in my purpose: they have intelligence, +and they use it against us; their hearts are uplifted, and they +are prouder and more haughty than is becoming in the greatest +princesses--speaking as the world thinks; we have formed their reason, +and we have made them disputatious, presumptuous, inquisitive, bold, +etc. Thus it is that we succeed when the desire of excelling [shining] +makes us act. A simple, Christian education would have made good +girls, out of whom we could have made good wives and good nuns; we +have made _beaux-esprits_, whom we ourselves who made them cannot +endure: there is our blame, in which I have a greater share than any +one. + +Let us come to the remedy; for we must not be discouraged. I have +already proposed some to Balbien [Mme. de Maintenon's waiting-maid +mentioned in "Saint-Simon" as Nanon]. They may seem to you rather +petty, but I hope, by the grace of God, they will not be without +effect. As many little things have fomented pride, so many little +things will subdue it. Our girls have been too much considered, too +petted, too often deferred to. They must now be ignored in their +classes; they must be made to keep the rules of the day; and little +else must be talked of. They should not be forced to feel that I am +angry with them; it is not their grief that I want; I am more to +blame than they; I desire only to repair by another line of conduct +the harm that has been done. The best girls have done more to show me +the excess of pride which we must now correct than the bad ones; I +have been more alarmed at seeing their self-conceit and the arrogance +of Mlles. de ----, de ----, and de ---- than at all that I have +heard of the insubordinate members of the class. These are girls +of good intentions who wish to be nuns, but with that desire they +have a language and manners too proud and haughty to be tolerated +at Versailles among young ladies of the highest rank. You see by +this that the evil has sunk into their natures, so that they are not +themselves aware of it. Pray God, and make others pray that He will +change their hearts, and give us all humility. But, madame, do not +discourse to them too much. All Saint-Cyr is turning to discourses; +much is said there just now of simplicity; they seek to define it, to +comprehend it, to discern what is simple and what is not; and then +in practice they say: "Out of simplicity, I take the best thing; out +of simplicity I praise myself; out of simplicity I want something at +table that is far away from me." Truly, this is turning into ridicule +all that is most serious. We must now correct in our girls that turn +for witty satire which I myself have given them, and which I now see +to be opposed to simplicity; it is a refinement of pride that says in +jest what it dares not say openly. But, once more, do not talk to them +of pride or satire; we must destroy all that without fighting it, by +stopping the use of it; their confessors will talk to them of humility +better than we. Do not preach to them,--try that silence that I have +so long urged upon you; it will have more effect than all our words. + +I am very glad that Mlle. de ---- has at last humbled herself; let us +praise God for it, but do not praise her; it is another of our faults +that we have praised too much. Do not irritate their pride by too +frequent corrections; but when you are obliged to make one, do not +admire the girl who is corrected for taking it properly. + +As for you, my dear daughter, I know your intentions; you have, it +seems to me, no personal blame in all this; it is only too true that +the great harm has come from me; but take care, with the others, +to have no part in that pride which has been so firmly established +everywhere that we are scarcely conscious of it. We wanted to +avoid the pettiness of certain convents, and God has punished our +assumption. There is no house in the world more in need of external +and internal humility than ours: its situation so near the Court, +its grandeur, its wealth, its nobleness, the air of favour that +pervades it, the attentions of a great king, the care of a person of +influence, the example of vanity and manners of the world which she +gives you in spite of herself by force of habit,--all these dangerous +traps ought to make us take measures quite the contrary of those we +have hitherto taken. Let us bless God for having opened our eyes. It +is he who inspires your piety; it will daily increase; but establish +it solidly. Let us not be ashamed to retract; to change our fashions +of acting and speaking; and let us ask our Lord fervently to change +our hearts within us, to take from our house the spirit of loftiness, +of satire, of subtlety, of curiosity, and of freedom in judging and +giving our opinion about everything, and of meddling in the duties +of others at the risk of wounding charity. Let us pray also that He +will take from us that prevailing over-delicacy, that impatience of +small inconveniences; silence and humility are the best means. Show my +letter to our Mother Superior; all must be in common among us. + + + _To Mme. de Radouay_ (mistress-general of the classes). + + MARLY, 1692. + +Do not be disturbed by the complaints made to you [by the mistresses] +of your children; think only of training their hearts to piety, +integrity, simplicity, candour, sincerity, honesty, and courage, and +you will one day see, if it pleases God, that they are far removed +from the children you now write of. + +Do not notice all the faults of the Yellows and Blues; have patience; +all will come right in time, and the sisters will be better convinced +by their own experience than by anything we can say to them. As for +what you have done about silence, nothing could be better. I only +beg you, as I have already said, to preach it without expecting +to fully obtain it. You will never succeed in keeping sixty girls +together without a word from one of them. You must see things as they +are, and not attack a small infringement like a vice. Regularity and +silence are necessary for the quiet, the order, and the propriety of +the house; but the essential part of the education of your girls is +that they shall bear with them and always practise the virtues I have +named to you. Those virtues do not show to persons who merely see a +march in the choir or a silent recreation in the class-room; but it +is this sincerity of purpose that I ask of you; God will reward it +magnificently. + +I should be afraid to write all this to certain of the Dames, who, +with very good intentions, pass from one extreme to the other at the +least word said to them, and who on the strength of this letter would +cease to attend to regularity or silence; but I hope that you at least +will understand me better. + +I have been without news from Saint-Cyr for several days. The king is +well, I am very well, but the Prince of Orange is ill. + + + _To one of the mistresses._ + + MARLY, 1692. + +When you wish to know anything, madame, it is better that I should +write it to you than say it, because it is then impossible that either +of us should forget it. I am at your service for whatever you want; +and I will now repeat what I think I have already said to you. + +You must punish as seldom as you possibly can, and for this reason you +must not see all faults. But when you cannot ignore those you have +seen, you must not pardon them if they are considerable, or if they +have already been pardoned. It is now a question of bringing the young +ladies to a footing of perfect obedience. To this you must apply +yourself seriously, without, however, searching out those faults that +you could ignore.... + +Get it into your mind, once for all, that there are few circumstances +in life without their drawbacks, and that you must choose the side +that has the least. You must also distinguish clearly those that +disturb order and the public good; that is what we must especially +avoid in communities. + +Yes, madame, you will have the necessary courage if you ask it of God, +if you act in His presence and for Him solely; or I should better say, +if you forget yourself entirely, without thinking whether you will be +loved or hated. If you punish without prejudice, without listening +to your repugnances or your inclinations, if you can think that you +please God, whatever you do, and are conscious that you seek good only +without respect to persons,--if you govern with those dispositions, as +I do not doubt you will, our Lord will govern with you. Pray to Him, I +implore you, for those who are guiding you. + + + _To Mlle. d'Aubigné_ [her niece, a pupil at Saint-Cyr]. + + CHANTILLY, May 11, 1693. + +I love you too well, my dear niece, not to tell you all that I think +will be useful to you, and I should be very lacking to my obligations +if, being wholly occupied with the young ladies of Saint-Cyr, I +neglected you whom I regard as my own daughter. [The child was only +nine years old at the time this letter was written.] I do not know +if it is you who inspire the pride your companions have, or whether +it is they who have given theirs to you; however that may be, rely +upon it that you will be intolerable to God and men if you do not +become more humble and more modest than you are. You take a tone of +authority which will never be becoming in you, happen what may. You +think yourself a person of importance because you are fed and lodged +in a house where the king comes daily; but the day after my death +neither the king nor all those who caress you now will look at you. +If that should happen before you are married, you will have a very +poor country gentleman for a husband because you are not rich; and +if during my life you should marry a greater seigneur, he would only +consider you, after my death, as long as your humour was agreeable to +him; you would be valued only for your gentleness, and of that you +have none. Your _mignonne_ [term used in those days for an attendant +on girls] loves you too much, and does not see you as other people +see you. I am not prejudiced against you, for I love you much, but +I cannot see without pain the pride that appears in all you do. You +are assuredly very disagreeable to God; consider His example. You +know the Gospel by heart; and what good will such learning do you if +you are lost like Lucifer? Remember that it is solely the fortune of +your aunt that has made that of your father and yourself. You allow +persons to pay you a respect that is not due to you; you will not +suffer being told that it is only paid on my account; you would like +to raise yourself above me, so proud and lofty are you. How do you +reconcile that puffed-up heart with the pious devotion in which you +are being brought up? Begin by asking of God humility, contempt for +yourself,--who are, in truth, nothing at all,--and the esteem of your +neighbours. I speak to you as if you were a great girl because you +have a very advanced mind; but I would consent with all my heart to +your having less, and therefore less presumption. + +If there is anything in my letter that you do not understand your +_mignonne_ will explain it to you. I pray Our Lord to change you so +that I may on my return find you modest, humble, timid, and putting +into practice what you know to be right. I shall love you much more. I +conjure you by the affection you have for me to work upon yourself and +to pray daily for the graces of which you are in need. + + + _To M. l'Abbé de Bisacier_ [special confessor at Saint-Cyr]. + + September, 1694. + +The mother of the Demoiselles de ---- has been beheaded; I shall +always reproach myself for not following up that case with a care +which might have saved the life of the poor creature. God has disposed +otherwise. I am awaiting you before announcing this sad news to the +two daughters. I am requested to consult the king on sending them +away from Saint-Cyr. He does not understand any more than I do why +this crime should be visited on the children, and I conjure you to +reflect still further upon it with the Bishop of Chartres and the Abbé +Tiberge. They say that the Jesuits would not admit to their Society +in a like case, nor the nuns of the Visitation either. If that spirit +comes from Saint Ignatius or Saint François de Sales, I submit to it +without repugnance, but if it is only the effect of human wisdom or +the harshness of communities, I desire with all my heart to escape +it in this case. The father of M. de Luxembourg was beheaded; but +they confided to the latter the person of the king and his armies. We +saw M. de Rohan die upon the scaffold some twenty years ago, and all +his family were in offices round the king and queen, and receiving +condolences on the event without its entering the head of a single +courtier to speak against them. What! shall worldly decency go farther +than charity? Shall we fail to give our pupils the true ideas they +ought to have on all things? I am told that in the classes these girls +will meet with less respect and be exposed to reproaches: I should +put that act among the most punishable of faults; girls with proper +hearts would be incapable of it; the others must be corrected.... + +I say all this for justice, and from the desire I have that our girls +should have their minds and their hearts right, for it may very well +be that the girls in question are not suitable for us. I do not need, +monsieur, to commend them to your charity; I pray God to console and +bless them. + + + _To Mme. du Pérou._ + + 1696. + +Madame, I have always forgotten to ask you why they continue to serve +the young ladies with rye bread in days when wheat is no longer dear. +It was very proper that they should learn by their own experience +the inequality of the riches of the world, and take some share in +the public sufferings; but they ought to be put back into the usual +system when there is no reason to keep them out of it. The tendency +of communities is to retrench on food, rather than on commodities or +embellishments which they ought to go without. As our nourishment is +simple and frugal, nothing should touch it. The girls are murmuring +in their hearts much more bitterly than they dare say. I try in +everything to help you with my experience. + +Do not think, either for yourself or for your girls, that those who +do not feel dull have no need of relaxation. Serious occupations wear +upon us, little by little, without our perceiving it until too late; +that is why, my dear daughter, you ought to prevent such a result by +diversions of the mind that are innocent. Take care only that nothing +passes contrary to religious modesty, nothing worldly, nothing excited +or excessive; but that gentleness, holy liberty, simplicity, charity, +modesty reign in everything. I wish no dancing. + + + _To Mme. de Radouay._ + + October 15, 1696. + +Profit, I conjure you, for yourself and for others by the experience +you have just had of quinine. Nothing is more unreasonable than +notions; our age assumes them about everything; they decide all +things; there is no one who does not seek to be a doctor, or meddle in +the direction of affairs; all have decided opinions; women pretend to +judge of books, sermons, governments, of the spiritual and the bodily; +modesty is no longer in usage. No one ever replies now, "I do not +know," or "It is not for me to judge;" no one is baffled; the place of +knowledge and judgment is filled by intolerable presumption, for never +were persons more ignorant. Do not have, or allow that quality in your +midst. Say out, simply, that you do not know. Let yourselves be guided +by confessors, doctors, superiors, magistrates, the king; inspire that +modesty in your novices, to whom this letter is as necessary as to you. + +I am delighted that the Reds desire to please me; what pleasure if +at my next visit you can tell me they have all been good. They will +obtain that happiness if they ask it of God and serve Him with their +whole heart. + + + _To Mme. de Fontaines_ [now the Superior]. + + December, 1696. + +Complaint is made, my dear daughter, that you do not give enough +little comforts to the classes. You want me to speak to you freely and +I shall do so. I think it true that you are too stern about expenses +and all sorts of economy. Consider, I beg of you, that the most +important thing in your case is not to save a thousand francs more or +less (and the favours asked of you would not cost more than that), but +to firmly establish and cause to be liked your rule as Superior; and +you can do it in no better way than by entering, not only into the +just needs of your community, but even into some wants that are not +altogether necessary. + +When certain of the mistresses ask me for ribbon for use in +representing the tragedies, and I give it, do you not think that +I do better than if I replied dryly that my money would be better +employed in giving alms? Am I not doing a much greater good by this +compliance to the mistresses of the different classes? They are +pleased; and it is just to soften their labour; we make their young +ladies like them, and so dispose them to receive instruction; the +latter will open their hearts themselves to those who grant them these +attentions. Nevertheless, you refuse them twenty pairs of gloves, or +you deduct those gloves from the next distribution; do you not see, +my dear daughter, that to save ten francs you have vexed sixteen +of your mistresses? Saint-François de Sales sent Mme. de Chantal +word as to a lawsuit she had gained which he did not wish her to +undertake. "This time," he said, "you have been more just than kind; +I would rather have you more kind than just." Apply those words to +yourself, and be more kind than saving, more careful than thrifty; +make yourself beloved, and in that way you will do a solid good to +the establishment. Keep your negatives for all that is against the +regulations; never relax there, but even there you can make answers +that will not be harsh by saying: "The Constitution forbids that; the +rules point to this," and so on. But for details within those lines, +I beg you to give ear to what the mistresses request, leaning to +compliance rather than severity. I pray God to give you the courage of +which you have need to fulfil your duties, and an extension of charity +and perception which will make you prefer great duties to little ones. + + + _To Mme. de Pérou._ + + 1699. + +We should have an equitable not a superficial charity. For instance, +we should rid ourselves of a girl who would be capable of corrupting +others, without listening to the sentiments of a weak compassion +which would lead us to say: "But she is so poor; what will her family +do? she will be ruined in the world." Better that she should be lost +alone than ruin your whole establishment. For certain defects which +cannot injure others and only make you suffer yourself, I exhort you +to have infinite patience; how many we have known who were bad and +are now among our best girls! I was listening to one the other day +with great pleasure as she told me with humility and simplicity the +evil inclinations that might have led her to bad ways, and yet she has +done marvels. Such cases ought to encourage you and make you see that +if there are some pains in educating there are also many grounds for +consolation. + +I entreat you to tell my sister de Riancourt that she must give good +nourishment to the sick, take great care that they rest well, warm +them in their chills, and dry them if they perspire. But easy chairs +in which they lounge all day, loose dressing-gowns without belts like +fashionable women, soups without bread crumbs, such things, I say, are +delicacies out of all proportion with the illnesses I have known you +have, so far. Read her this part of my letter, I beg of you, and bind +her conscience to establish the infirmary on the footing of religious +charity but with none of that laxness which ought not to be allowed +among your young ladies. + + + _To Mme. de la Rozières_ [the sub-mistress of a class]. + + October 3, 1699. + +I must, my dear daughter, repair by a letter the wrong I did in not +seeing you in private when I saw the others. My want of leisure makes +me fail in many things I ought to do, and want to do. It is a great +pity to have for mother a person who is always moving about, off +hunting, or at cards, when she ought to be talking with her daughters. +You are too good to put up with me and my many defects, but I assure +you that I am well punished, and there is nothing in the pleasures I +speak of to console me for not going oftener to Saint-Cyr. + + + _To Mme. de Pérou._ + + February 23, 1701. + +It has seemed to me as if you desired that I should write to you on +all things that might be of consequence to your establishment. I place +in that rank the representations of the beautiful tragedies I caused +to be written for you,[20] and which may in the future be imitated. My +object was to avoid the miserable compositions of nuns, such as I saw +at Noisy. I thought it was judicious and necessary to amuse children; +I have always seen it done in places where they are collected; but I +wished while amusing those of Saint-Cyr to fill their minds with fine +things of which they would not be ashamed when they entered the world; +I wished to teach them to pronounce properly; to occupy them in a way +that would withdraw them from conversations with one another, and +especially to amuse the elder ones, who from fifteen to twenty years +of age get rather weary of the life at Saint-Cyr. These are my reasons +for still continuing the representations, provided your superiors +[meaning the Bishop of Chartres and the confessors] do not forbid +them. But you must keep them entirely confined to your own house, and +never let them be seen by outside persons under any pretext whatever. +It is always dangerous to allow men to see well-made girls who add +to the charms of their person by acting well what they represent. +Therefore do not, I say, permit the presence of any man, whoever he +may be, poor, rich, young or old, priest or secular,--I would even say +a saint, if there were such on earth. All that can be allowed, if one +of the superiors [priests] insists on judging the performance, is to +let the youngest children act a play before him--as, in fact, we have +already done. + + + _To Mme. de Gruel_ [head mistress of the Reds]. + + March, 1701. + +You admire too much what I do for your class, but nevertheless, such +as it is you do not imitate it enough. You talk to your children +with a stiffness, a gloominess, a brusqueness which will close their +hearts. They should feel that you love them, that you are grieved by +their faults for their own sake, and that you are full of hope that +they will correct themselves; you should take them expertly, encourage +them, praise them, in a word, employ all means except roughness--which +will never lead any one to God. You are too rigidly of a piece, +very proper to live with saints, but you ought to know how to adapt +yourself, to be every sort of person, and especially a kind mother to +a large family, all of whom are equally dear to her. + +I have always forgotten to tell you that I noticed several days ago, +in hearing you explain the Gospel, that you seem to me to embrace too +many topics; children want but few. You also talk too much; I think +you had better make the children talk more, so as to see if they have +listened and understood. I likewise think that you are too eloquent. +For example, you said to them that they must make an eternal divorce +from sin; that is true, and well said, but I doubt if there are three +girls in your class who know what a divorce is. Be simple, and think +only of making yourself intelligible. + +I think, my dear daughter, that you will consider it right that I +should give you my opinion from time to time on what I see you do. +Inspire your children, I conjure you, with the practices of piety, +with a horror of sin, a sense of God's presence, and a docility in +being led by you. I beg you also to guide them according to the spirit +of the Church; as for this, I have written a little compendium which +you must follow. + +Adieu, my dear daughter. + + + _To Mme. de Montalembert_ [head mistress of the Blues]. + + October 19, 1703. + +Your arrangements are all that could be wished, my dear daughter; we +cannot thank God enough for what He does for you by means of your +saintly and able confessor. I tell you again, my joy would be perfect +if I could see you walking as straight without that great support; +but I will have confidence in God and believe that the provision of +strength you are making now will nourish you for the future. + +The affection you feel for your girls will never harm you if you love +them all equally; preferences would be ruinous to the class and to +yourself; you must have none, except for the very best girls, and such +preferences ought not to offend the others. + +Why do you not ask of your class all that you know I should ask of +them? My greatest honour at Saint-Cyr is that Saint-Cyr can do without +me; what I should now do would be nothing; what there was of good +in me has passed to you, my dear children, and will ever remain in +the Institution. I desire with all my heart that it may be a school +of virtue, and that you may live there as angels while corruption +increases daily in the world. What would I not give to have you all +see as I do how long and wearisome our days are here at Court; I +do not mean only for those persons who have outlived the follies +of youth, but for youth itself, which is dying of ennui because it +wants to amuse itself continually and finds nothing to content that +insatiable desire for pleasure. I toil at the oar to amuse Mme. la +Duchesse de Bourgogne. It would not be thus if they sought only to +please God, to work and sing His praises, as with you; the peace which +that kind of life puts into the heart is a solid and lasting joy. +Adieu; this subject would lead me far. I write to none but you to-day; +assure the dear sisters that the healths about which they inquire are +very good. + + + _To Mme. de Bouju_ [head mistress of the Yellows]. + + January 4, 1704. + +Yes, my dear daughter, you must use simple language; a nun should rule +that as she rules her eyes, her walk, and all her actions. We should +feed on Holy Scripture, but not use its terms more than is necessary +to make it understood. M. Fagon is often praised because he talks +medically in so simple and intelligible a way that we think we see +the things that he explains; a village doctor talks Greek. Explain to +your girls what you find in the books you read to them; but tell them +always they are never to use those words. In this our Mother and I are +not aiming at any one in particular, only at the names you introduce; +and from them we pass to learned words, in short, to that which may be +called the pedantic spirit. We cannot endure this in learned people; +how much more displeasing is it in ignorant ones and particularly in +those of our sex! We should do very wrong, my dear daughter, to tell +you this in a roundabout way; because, by the favour God has done you, +we can say to you all without reserve. Ask Him, I beg of you, to give +to me the same grace. + + + _To Mme. du Pérou._ + + FONTAINEBLEAU, October 1, 1707. + +I think as you do about Saint-Cyr; and whatever reasons I may have +to open the door to certain persons sometimes, I am always enchanted +when they go out of it, and I never love Saint-Cyr so well as when +it is its natural self. My sister de Radouay will tell you if that +is flattery; she tells us many truths in a jesting way, and I should +like, as she advises, to prepare you for the change you will some +day feel; but I find difficulty in doing so, and I fall back on what +wisdom has told us: "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." + +My intention was to answer all letters with my own hand, but I have +so many things to do that I must husband myself from early morning in +order to be able to go on till night; my sister de Fontaines would +choke at the recital of my days; my restraints extend to everything. +The letter of my sister de Jas has furnished me with many subjects +of rejoicing in the account she gives me of her interior and her +exterior; but those are subjects of confession,--they must not be +answered. Our good mistress of the novices goes quietly to her ends; +she asks me to send her a "Conversation;" if she saw me, she would +not ask it. My poor mind is dragged apart by four horses; it is not +yet eleven o'clock, but my head feels bound with iron, and yet I must +sustain my rôle as personage till ten at night. + +I see no difficulty in putting Mlle. de Grouchy into the novitiate; +why not also Fontanges, who desires it so ardently? Their appearance +is not charming, but we must accustom ourselves to value only that +which God values. I am perfectly well so far as my general health is +concerned; that is to say, I no longer have fever or weakness, but +many rheumatic pains in my head as soon as I expose myself to cold. + +Adieu, my children. I shall see you again on the 17th of October, and +I defy you to be more glad than I. + + + _To Mme. de Saint-Périer_ [mistress of the Blues]. + + VERSAILLES, 1708. + +We were interrupted a few days ago just as I was telling you, my dear +daughter, what I have already written elsewhere, namely: when you have +girls of high rank you must redouble your care for their education, +but in a manner imperceptible to the others--for the equality that you +keep is admirable. What I ask does not go further than wishing you to +speak to them oftener in private, employing them in all that can open +their minds, instilling into them a solid piety and whatever can form +their hearts to virtue. Those girls, when they go into the world, or +even into convents, can do greater good than others who are forced by +poverty to return to their parents. Mlle. de Rochechouart is a case +in point; it seems to me that you push her enough; I hope that her +inclinations respond to her birth. + +You say you have had difficulty in combining two things that I asked +of you, and which you find opposed to each other: one, that you +ought to train, as much as you can, the consciences of your girls to +be simple, open and direct; and the other, that you must not make +them talkative. There is no contrariety, as I think, between the two +things; it is never the frank who have the most to say. Frankness +does not consist in saying much, but in saying all; and that all is +quickly said when it is sincere, because there are no preambles, and +no great number of words are needed to open the heart. A simple person +says naïvely what is in her mind; if she should chance to be a little +too diffuse, obedience calms her and four words are enough. Those who +are not simple cannot resolve either to speak or hold their tongues; +their confidences must be dragged from them; we lose ourselves in +their twists and turns; that is what makes such long conversations +and frequent confessions; they have said something, but not all; they +were not willing to tell perhaps one circumstance, and then they +are frightened at not having told it, and so they return to tell +it and perhaps much else. Now an honest heart tells at once all it +knows. Have you not observed that the frankest girls are the soonest +confessed? They hide nothing, and the confessor, who knows their +disposition, has little to say to them.... + + + _To Mme. du Pérou_ [now Superior of Saint-Cyr]. + + VERSAILLES, 1711. + +The [mistresses of the] classes are your principal affair; the +establishment is your Institute, that is the king's intention; that is +the object of your office. Never weary of preaching to your sisters +the vigilance required in guarding and educating the young ladies. +Do not add rules to rules; you have rules enough, but the mistresses +do not read them enough. Make ceaseless attack upon the furtive +quibbling that the Dames de Saint-Louis keep up about their time. +They go against the will of God, the intention of their instituters +and founders, and against the charity they owe to the young ladies if +they leave them at times when their regulations do not oblige them to +be in church. That hunger for prayer is only self-love wanting to be +pleased with itself for its works, and counting as nought that which +is done under rules. How can they teach young ladies that duty should +be done according to the place of each person if they themselves +neglect the duty of theirs, which is the care of those young ladies? +A true Dame de Saint-Louis ought to contrive to be with her class +at all possible moments, even at the hours when she is not obliged +to be there. And yet they think they are pleasing God by making a +half-hour's orison which was not required of them, and deserting the +employment of the time which He does demand in accordance with their +vows! I should never end on this chapter, my dear daughter. Never +give up on this point, I conjure you. It is for you to see that the +rules are obeyed, and when your functions cease and you become again a +simple mistress, set an example of fidelity to the others. + + + _To Mme. de Fontaines._ + + April 20, 1713. + +Do not let us complain, my dear sister, and fear the future; let us +rather try to establish the present as best we can. You can contribute +better than any one to this purpose, for you are sufficiently prudent +not to vex the sisters; at the same time you will never allow the +young ladies to speak in a low tone to one another. The sisters must +excuse a great deal of poor talk that they will hear, and not reprove +it when there is no real harm in it. + +Mme. d'Auxy [this was Jeannette de Pincré, an adopted daughter of +Mme. de Maintenon] is quite beside herself when she has a new gown. +She consults me about the trimming; I enter into it and give her my +advice, telling her that her joy and liking for adornment belongs +to her age, but that youth must pass, and that I hope she will come +sooner or later to better inclinations. I think that such compliance +does more good than severity, which serves only to rebuff the young +and make them dissimulating. + +I am told that one of the little girls was scandalized in the parlour +because her father talked of his _breeches_. That is a word in common +usage. What refinement do they mean by this? Does the arrangement of +the letters form an immodest word? Do they feel distress at the words +"breed" or "breeze" or "breviary"? It is pitiable. Others only whisper +under their breath that a woman is pregnant; do they wish to be more +modest than our Lord who talked of pregnancy and childbirth, etc.? One +of the young ladies stopped short when I asked her how many sacraments +there were, not being willing to name marriage. She began to laugh and +told me they were not allowed to name it in the convent from which she +came. + +What! a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ, which he honoured with +his presence, the obligations of which his Apostles explained, and +which we ought to teach to our daughters, must not be named to them! +These are the things that turn a convent education into ridicule. +There is much more immodesty in such proceedings than there is in +speaking openly of what is innocent and with which all pious books +are filled. When our young ladies have passed through marriage they +will know that it is not a thing to be laughed at. They ought to be +accustomed to speak of it very seriously and even sadly, for I think +it is the state of life in which we suffer most tribulation, even +in the best marriages. They should be taught, when occasion offers, +the difference between immodest words, which must never be uttered, +and coarse words,--the first being sinful, the second simply against +good-breeding. + +Adieu, my daughter, I never can finish when it is a question of our +girls and the good of the establishment. + + + _To Mme. de la Rouzière_ [a class mistress]. + + Monday, May 6, 1714. + +I think, my dear daughter, that being too much attached to one's body +means fearing too much inconveniences and want of ease, being too +particular about one's person, being easily disgusted with that of +others, dressing with too much care, apprehending cold, heat, smoke, +dust--in a word, all the little flesh mortifications--too much; +it is desiring to satisfy our senses, seeking pleasure, being too +much attached to our health, taking too much care of it, troubling +ourselves about remedies, occupying ourselves with our own relief, +being too nice about what we like and too fidgety about what we fear; +it is examining ourselves on such points with too much care. Being +too much attached to one's mind means to think we have one, to plume +one's self upon it, to wish to increase it, to show it, to turn the +conversation according to our own tastes, to seek out persons who have +mind and despise others whom we think have none, to speak affectedly, +and write the same.--But I am obliged to finish, my dear daughter. + + + _To Mme. de Vandam_ [then head mistress of the Blues]. + + January 12, 1715. + +In the year 1700 or 1701 I busied myself much with the classes, and we +began to establish what is now practised with such great success. We +should, however, renew our vigilance unceasingly, my dear daughter, +and forbid the young ladies absolutely to say a single word in a low +voice to their companions. This fault, which seems very slight to +persons without experience, is really very considerable; and there is +none as to which you must be less indulgent. Punish it very severely, +and let people say what they like. If the young ladies would reason +about it for a moment themselves they would admit that they are +whispering in order to say things that they know are not right; it is +therefore very proper to forbid it. + +We cannot feel sure of youth without this precaution; but after taking +it, do not reprove them too severely for what you hear them say; +strive to teach them to distinguish the good, the bad, the indiscreet, +the imprudent, the immodest, the coarse; but always little by little, +letting pass a number of things. + +I see our mistresses shocked and alarmed when our girls desire finery +and think themselves happy when they get a pink gown; a crime ought +not to be made of that weakness of their age and sex; they should be +told gently that such tastes will pass away, but not that they are +sins. By such little concessions you will win their confidence the +more. But I repeat: they must not whisper, and the mistresses, the +blacks, and the flame-coloured ribbons must keep their eyes always +upon them. + +I pray God to make you know the value and sincerity of this vigilance, +so that you may give yourself wholly to it; keep at a distance +whatever can embarrass you, and watch continually, but quietly. + +[On the 30th of August, 1715, two days before the king's death, Mme. +de Maintenon went to Saint-Cyr, which was bound by its Constitution to +provide for her and her establishment; she never left its precincts +again.] + + + + + IX. + + CONVERSATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS OF MME. DE MAINTENON AT SAINT-CYR. + + +[The following reports were written down by the mistresses, +occasionally by the pupils, and corrected by Mme. de Maintenon +herself, in order to make them more worthy of being read and re-read +by the mistresses in after days.] + +_Advice to the Young Ladies on the letters they write. Brevity and +simplicity recommended._ + + + January, 1695. + +As you order us to write down what was said yesterday at recreation +we shall do so as exactly and simply as we can. Mme. de Maintenon was +good enough to come here expressly to correct our letters, as our +mistresses had begged her to do. She first made all the young ladies +surround her, and those whose letters were to be corrected stood +nearest to her. She showed them, one after another, the faults in +those presented to her, making us particularly notice how a simple, +natural style, without turns of phrase, was the best, and the one +that all persons of intellect used; telling us that the principal +thing in order to write well is to express simply and clearly what +one thinks. She gave us as an example M. le Duc du Maine, whom she +taught to write, when she had the care of him, by the time he was five +years old. She related to us that having told him one day to write to +the king, he answered, quite embarrassed, that he did not know how to +write letters. Mme. de Maintenon said, "But have you nothing in your +heart that you want to tell him?" + +"I am very sorry he has gone," he replied. + +"Well," she said, "write that, it is very good." Next she said, "Is +that all you are thinking? have you nothing else to say to him?" + +"I shall be very glad when he comes back," replied the Duc du Maine. + +"There is your letter made," said Mme. de Maintenon; "you have only to +write it down simply, as you think it; if you think badly, it will be +corrected." She then said to us, "That is how I taught him, and you +have seen the charming letters that he writes." Mme. de Loubert, our +head mistress, said it would be giving us great pleasure if she would +take the trouble to write a model for us. She consented, and took for +her subject the letters she had just corrected; she wrote a note and a +letter in order to show us the difference. + +We dared not show her the desire we had that she should write one for +us as if to a person to whom we owed respect; one of our mistresses +was so good as to say this for us. Mme. de Maintenon asked us, with +her accustomed kindness, "To whom, my children, do you wish me to +address it?" We answered her in a manner to let her know it should be +to herself, as our benefactress. "Well," she said, "since you wish it, +I will write you a letter of ceremony and respect to aged persons, +although they are not of better families than your own." Then, +addressing one of us, she said: "For instance, you owe respect to old +M. T----, your uncle, whom I know, though he is of the same family +as your own; you also owe me respect on account of my age,"--as if +wishing to tell us there was no other reason to make us respect her, +so great is her humility; but it does not become us, Mother, to speak +to you of that, which you know better than we. + +After having written the letter we had asked of her, she had the +kindness to read it to us, and then said: "You see I have made it +respectful and tender, but it is meant for those who regard me as a +mother, just as I regard them as my daughters." + +We have not as yet, Mother, received the letters she took the pains to +write for us, but we shall try to obtain them soon, and will then give +them to you, without changing anything. + +We must also tell you what she made us notice as to the last words of +her letter which express the tenderness she allows us to show her, +having the charity to consider us her daughters. She said to us: "If +a person whom I did not know wrote to me thus it would not be proper, +though I should not mind it; but as for those at Saint-Cyr, I like +them to show me affection and write to me without ceremony...." + +Before going away she said to us, "My dear children, do you think that +all this will profit you?" We answered that we hoped the pains she had +taken would not be wasted, and she went away saying that she wished +the same with all her heart. + +It is with much pleasure, Mother, that we have acquitted ourselves +of what you ordered us; we beg you to excuse all the defects you may +perceive in it; but we think there is no need to tell you how filled +we are with gratitude to Mme. de Maintenon, who gives us daily fresh +marks of her kindness. It is this which makes us hope for as fortunate +a fate as that which has come to several of our companions who have +been brought closer to her. We cannot hope that fate will do as much +for us, but at least we are going to apply ourselves with all our +strength to profit by the kindnesses which she now does us; and we +shall endeavour all our lives to do honour to the education which she +procured for us, and in which she so often employs herself. We are, +Mother, with profound respect, your very humble and very obedient +servants, + D'OSMONT AND DU BOUCHOT. + + + _On good and bad characteristics of mind._ + + April, 1700. + +On April 12 of the year 1700, Madame said to us during recreation: +"I fear you judge too much by what the young ladies who present +themselves for the novitiate have done in the classes. You see a girl +commit some considerable fault, perhaps many faults, and that is +enough to prejudice you against her; this is not just. You ought to +judge, both in good and evil, only by perseverance in them; because a +girl who has kept to either throughout the classes proves that such +is her character. I should, therefore, not oblige a girl who has done +well throughout to make a long novitiate. And, without excluding +a girl who did badly in the lower classes and seemed to change on +entering class Blue, I should nevertheless prolong her novitiate so +as to give her time to strengthen herself in good, if her change is +sincere, and to test it if assumed; so that you may see if she has one +of those fickle, inconstant natures which, it may be feared, will fall +back after a time into its early defects. + +"One of the things to which you ought to apply yourselves the most," +continued Madame, "is to know the character of your novices; it is +very important to choose only sound ones; piety may cut off vices, +but it seldom changes the defects that come from the character +of the mind. As for me, I would rather have what you call here a +naughty girl, who is often only frolicksome, than a captious mind or +an ill-humoured one, however pious. I rather like what are called +naughty children, that is to say jovial, vainglorious, passionate, +even a little headstrong, girls who chatter and are lively and +self-willed, because all those defects are easily corrected by reason +and piety, or even by age itself. But an ill-formed mind, a captious +mind remains to the end." + +"What do you mean," they asked her, "by an ill-formed, captious mind?" + +"A mind," replied Madame, "that does not yield to reason; that does +not see results; believes always that one is trying to vex it, gives +an evil turn to everything, and without being malignant takes things +quite otherwise than as they are meant. But nothing is worse than a +false spirit, a disguised and dissembling one, or an obstinate and +opinionated one. Beware of those defects and of a bad temper; they +are most troublesome in a community; for nothing makes the burden of +government heavier than the management of difficult natures which +require diverse treatment. God allows all these defects because such +ill-formed natures can always be saved. He is," she added pleasantly, +"more indulgent than we; He receives many persons into His paradise +whom I should be sorry to admit into our community." + +Mme. de Riancourt asked if being rather sulky was the same as being +bad-tempered. "No," replied Madame, laughing. "I would readily permit +a little sulkiness; there are few children not subject to it; but +their natures are not bad for all that. What I call a bad temper is +that of a person easily affronted, suspicious, cavilling about an +air, a look, a word,--in short, a person with whom one can never be a +moment at one's ease; whereas a girl of a good spirit takes everything +in good part, lets many things go by without taking them up; and, far +from imagining that persons mean to attack her, when they are not +dreaming of it, does not even perceive a real intention to annoy; +a girl who accommodates herself to everything, who finds facilities +for doing whatever is wanted; a girl whom a superior can put without +caution into any office and with all sorts of persons. That is what I +call a good mind; it is a treasure to a community." + + + _Mistresses ought to suit their conduct to the diverse natures._ + + 1701. + +On one of our working-days Madame said to us: "You ask me to instruct +you about your classes; experience will teach you more than I can tell +you; it is less my own mind that has taught me what I know than the +experiments I made myself in the days when I educated the princes. +You should regulate your conduct to the various characters; be firm, +but never find too much fault; you must often shut your eyes and see +nothing, and above all take care not to irritate your girls and drive +them indiscreetly to extremities. There come unlucky days, when they +are upset, emotional, and ready to murmur; whatever you might then do +in the way of remonstrance and reprimand would not bring them back +to order. You must let things slide as gently as you can, so as not +to commit your authority; and it will often happen that the next day +the class will do marvels. Some children are so passionate and their +tempers are so quick that were you to whip them ten times running you +could not lead them as you wish. At such times they are incapable of +reason, and punishment is useless; you must give them time to calm, +and calm yourself; but in order that they may not think you give up +to them and that by their obstinacy they have become the stronger, +you must use dexterity, employ an intermediary, or say that you put +off the affair to another time, which renders it more terrible; but +do not think that they will be angry and passionate all their lives +because in childhood their tempers are quick. + +"I have seen this in M. le Duc du Maine; he is now the gentlest man +in the world, but in his childhood, made irritable by illness and +violent remedies, he was sometimes in a fury of impatience which +every one reproached me for permitting. They used to put him into a +boiling bath [_bain bouillant_], and because he screamed and was out +of temper they wanted me to scold him; but I assure you I had not the +courage; I would go away to write, or have myself called away, so that +he might not think I tolerated his ill-temper (which, as I think, was +very pardonable on such occasions); besides which, the remedies so +heated his blood that all I could have said or done would not have +calmed him. One must study the moments at which to take the means +most suitable to children. Sometimes a look, a word, will bring them +back to their duty; or a private conversation in which you can bring +them to reason by speaking kindly with them. There are some that you +must publicly rebuke, and sometimes often; there are others that you +must punish instantly and not appear to spare. In short, discretion +and experience can alone teach you the means you ought to take on all +occasions; but you will never succeed unless you act with a great +dependence on the spirit of God. You must pray to Him much for all +those with whom you are intrusted; address Him in a special manner +when you are puzzled, never doubt that He will help you as long as you +distrust yourselves and are careful to keep yourselves united to Him." + + + _Questions on ideas of pleasure. Principle of conduct to follow in + friendships._ + + December, 1701. + +Mme. de Maintenon asked Mlle. de la Jonchapt on what was the lesson of +the day when she entered the class [of the Blues]. She replied, "It +was, Madame, on the ideas we form of pleasure." + +"Well," said Mme. de Maintenon, "what are yours; what would they be if +you were no longer here?" + +"I think," said the young lady, "I would like to be with my family, +all assembled and all united." + +"You are right to consider that a pleasure," said Mme. de Maintenon, +"it is in the order of God; nothing is so lovable as a united family. +And you, Laudonie, what would you like, when you are no longer here?" + +"I hope, Madame, that I should find my pleasure in rendering service +to my father and mother." + +"That is also very right," said Mme. de Maintenon, "every time that +you think in that way, and do not look for greater pleasures, it may +be said that you are very reasonable. But you do not sufficiently put +into your plan that you will have to suffer. Expect that, my children, +I implore you; nothing is so capable of softening ill-fortune, which +may overtake you, as being prepared for it; always expect something +worse than you have met with." + +"There is one among them," said the mistress (it was Mme. de +Saint-Périer), "who tells me she expects her pleasure in going to see +her friends and receiving them in her own house." + +"Assuredly," replied Mme. de Maintenon, "there is much pleasure in +living with our friends and conversing with open hearts, as we say, +and no constraint. But there is," she added in a lower voice to the +mistress, "a pagan maxim, which I think very stern; it is to act with +our friends as if we were sure they would some day be our enemies. +I could secure myself, it seems to me, by letting my friends see +nothing that was bad in me; I should try never to be wrong in their +presence, nor in that of persons whom I loved less, because so many +circumstances occur in life to separate us that friends often become +enemies, and then we are in despair at having trusted them too much, +and having spoken to them freely without reserve. + +"Mme. de Montespan and I, for example," she added, continuing to speak +in a low voice to the mistress,--"we have been the greatest friends +in the world; she liked me much, and I, simple as I was, trusted her +friendship. She was a woman of much intelligence and full of charm; +she spoke to me with great confidence, and told me all she thought. +And yet we are now at variance, without either of us having intended +it. It is assuredly without fault on my side; and yet if either has +cause to complain it is she; for she may say with truth: 'I was the +cause of her elevation; it was I who made her known and liked by the +king, and she became the favourite while I was dismissed.' On the +other hand, was I wrong to accept the affection of the king on the +conditions upon which I accepted it? Did I do wrong to give him good +advice and to try, as best I could, to break up his connections? But +let us return to what I meant to say in the first instance. If in +loving Mme. de Montespan as I loved her I had been led to enter in a +bad way into her intrigues, if I had given her bad advice, either from +the world's point of view or from God's, if--instead of urging her all +I could to break her bonds--I had shown her the means of retaining the +king's affection, would she not have in her hands at this moment the +means of destroying me if she wished revenge? 'This (or that) person +whom you esteem so much,' she used to say to me, 'said to me thus and +so; she urged me to do this, she counselled me that,' etc. Have I +not good reason to say that we should not let anything be seen even +to our friends which they might use in the end against us? Sooner or +later things are known, and it is very annoying to have to blush for +things we have said and done in times past." + +"I said, many years ago, to M. de Barillon [one of her oldest friends] +that there was nothing so clever as to never be in the wrong, and +to conduct one's self always and with all sorts of persons in an +irreproachable manner; he thought I was right, and said that, in +truth, there was nothing so able as to put one's self, through good +conduct, under shelter from all blame. + +"I remember that one day the king sent me to speak to Mlle. de +Fontanges; she was in a fury against certain mortifications she had +received; the king feared an explosion and sent me to calm her. I was +there two hours and I employed the time in persuading her to quit the +king and in trying to convince her it would be a fine and praiseworthy +thing to do. I remember that she answered me excitedly, 'Madame, you +talk to me of quitting a passion as I would a chemise.' But to return +to myself, you must admit I had nothing to blush for, and no reason to +fear it should be known what I had said to her. + +"You cannot too strongly preach the same conduct to your young ladies; +let them give nothing but good advice; teach them to act in the most +secret and personal affairs as if a hundred thousand witnesses were +about them, or would be later; for I say again, there is nothing that +is not sooner or later known, and it is more Christian, more virtuous, +safer, and more honourable to have been a noble personage only; and +even if we remain forever ignorant of what has been the wisdom of our +conduct, I think we ought to count for much the inward testimony of +a good conscience." Then rising, she said to the class, "Adieu, my +children, I am obliged to return to Versailles; but I have given my +sister de Saint-Périer a fine field on which, to instruct you." + + + _On contempt for insults and injuries._ + + 1701. + +On the last day of the year 1700, the community having said to Mme. +de Maintenon that they hoped to bury with the past century all their +old differences and be other than they had been in the coming one; and +also that they begged her to pardon and forget the imperfections of +the year 1700 and those which had preceded it, "The past year," she +replied, "has been fortunate enough; many things have been corrected +and I now see in this establishment more of good than of evil. God +grant that you advance as much the coming year; I hope it greatly, +for He has given you good willingness; that is what he requires of +us: 'Peace on earth to men of good will,' said the angels. When this +good will is real and sincere it does not remain useless, it produces +infallibly its fruit; in some sooner, in others later. We must await +the times and moments of God, not by remaining idle, but by working +with good will, without discouragement and without uneasiness, leaving +to God the care of blessing our labour. It is certain that He desires +our perfection more than we do ourselves. He could make us perfect in +a single day and all at once; but that is not His ordinary conduct; +He defers, He touches the heart of one at this time, another may be +touched at a future time. We must adore His designs and work in peace +and confidence." + +The Dames de Saint-Louis having complained in the same conversation +that they were not persecuted as other institutions had been at their +birth: "You will be," said Mme. de Maintenon, "and you have been +already, though the harm that is said of you may not come to your +ears. I pay no regard to it, nor to that which is said of me myself. +I receive letters every day not only in the style of the person whom +my sister de Butéry knows of, but letters which ask if I am not tired +of growing fat by sucking the blood of the poor; and what I, being +so aged, expect to do with the gold I am amassing. I receive other +letters that go farther still and say to me the most insulting things; +some of them warn me I shall be assassinated. But all this does not +trouble me; I do not think it needs much virtue to feel no resentment +for that sort of opposition. I said rather an amusing thing on a +first impulse the other day to a poor woman, who came to me while I +was surrounded by a number of the Court, weeping and imploring that +I would get justice for her. I asked what wrong had been done to +her. 'Insults,' she said; 'they insult me, and I want reparation.' +'Insults!' I exclaimed, 'why, that is what we live on here!' That +answer made the ladies who accompanied me laugh." "I think, Madame," +said Mme. de Saint-Pars, "that, far from enriching yourself at the +expense of the poor, you run into debt for the charities you do." "As +for debts," she replied, "I have none; but it often happens that I +have no money; and when I settle my accounts at the end of the year I +do not see how my income has been able to furnish all I have spent and +given away." + + + _On Civility._ + + 1702. + +Mme. de Maintenon having had the goodness to ask the young ladies +on what topic they wished her to speak to them, Mlle. de Bouloc +entreated her to instruct them on civility. She told them that +civility consisted more in actions than in words and compliments; and +there was but one rule to be given about it. "It is in the Gospel," +she said, "which adapts itself so well to the duties of civil life. +You know that our Lord said that we must not do to others what we +would not wish them to do to us. That is our great rule, which does +not exclude the proprieties in usage in the different regions where +we may be living. As for what regards society, I make civility to +consist in forgetting one's self and being occupied only with what +concerns others; in paying attention to whatever may convenience or +inconvenience them, so as to do the one and avoid the other; in never +speaking of one's self; in listening to others and not obliging them +to listen to us; in not turning the conversation to one's self or +one's own tastes, but letting it fall naturally on that of others; in +moving away when two persons begin to speak to each other in a low +voice; in returning thanks for the smallest service and therefore of +course for great ones. You cannot do better, my children, than to +practise all these good manners among yourselves, and so acquire such +a habit of them that they will soon become natural to you. I assure +you that these attentions, and continual regard paid to the claims +of others are what make a person pleasing in society; and they cost +nothing to those who are well brought up. You have, for the most +part, that advantage; put it therefore to profit, and you will be +compensated for the self-restraint you will have to exercise in the +beginning by the esteem and friendship these deferential manners will +procure you." + + + _On never neglecting to learn useful things._ + + 1702. + +Madame having come to class Green and asking news of a certain young +lady, the mistress told her she had given up plain-chant. "Has she no +voice?" said Madame, "well, we are alike in that. I never could sing +an air, but I never hear one that I do not remember it, and after the +second hearing I feel all the mistakes that are made in it. I do +sing sometimes when I am alone, and it gives me great pleasure, but I +do not think it would give as much to others if they heard me. What +effect does plain-chant have on the classes?" + +"They are delighted to learn it, and it will be very useful to them," +replied the mistress. + +"Yes, undoubtedly," said Madame; "even if they cannot sing, they +will get a little knowledge of singing, which will always give them +pleasure. We should never neglect to learn anything, no matter what. +I never supposed that learning to comb hair would be useful to me. My +mother, going to America, took several women with her, but they all +married there,--even to one old woman, frightfully ugly, with club +feet. My mother was left with none but little slaves, who were quite +incapable of waiting upon her, and especially of doing her hair. She +then taught me to do it, and as she had a very fine head of very long +hair I was obliged to stand on a chair; but I combed it extremely +well. From there I came to Court, and this little talent won me the +favour of Mme. la Dauphine; she was quite astonished at the way I +could handle a comb. I began by disentangling the ends of the hair +and went on upwards. The dauphine said she was never so well combed +as by me; I did it often, because her waiting-women never could do +it as well; they, the women, would have been sorry--if for nothing +else--not to have had me there every morning. I think you have to comb +each other's hair; and you ought not to make difficulties, or think +it beneath you because you are young ladies. Many a day I have come +here very early in the morning to comb the Reds and cut their hair +and clean out the vermin. You are given the liberty to cut your hair; +and cutting it makes it finer. I remember that my mother never saw me +without putting her scissors to mine; and she succeeded in what she +intended, for I have still a great deal of hair on my head. + +"I repeat, my children, that you should never neglect to learn +everything you can learn. Nothing so marks the intelligence of a +person as liking to see and learn how a thing is done. I am charmed +with Jeannette; it is surprising that a child of her age should apply +herself as she does; the other day she spent half an hour watching to +see how a lock was put on; she looked it over in every way and gave +her whole attention to it. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne knows how to +do every kind of work; I am often astonished by it. I think she must +have been brought up like our princes, and that some waiting-woman, to +pay her court, taught her these things. She does not need to learn any +of the handicrafts wherever she is, for she knows them all; you could +teach her nothing. Also, would you believe it? she understands about +fevers; she feels my pulse when she thinks I am ill, and what she says +about me is sure to be the same that M. Fagon says afterwards. She +knows how to spin wool, flax, silk, how to use a spinning-wheel, how +to knit, and she has lately embroidered for herself a gown of yellow +taffetas. I used to spin myself; to please my governess, I spun her +a gown. M. de Louvois knew all sorts of trades; he had enormously +thick fingers, almost as large as two of my thumbs, and yet he could +take a watch to pieces with wonderful nicety, though there is nothing +more delicate to handle. He could be shoemaker, mason, gardener, +etc. One day when I was winding silk on two cards, or squares, of a +pretty shape, while he worked with the king in my room, he was dying +of curiosity to know how the pretty thing that I held was made. The +king noticed this, and told me in a low voice. I showed it to him; he +unwound the silk, examined the card, and put it together again most +adroitly. + +"There is nothing that we have not, sometime or other, a need to know. +In the days when I brought up the princes [Louis XIV.'s children by +Mme. de Montespan] it was necessary to keep them concealed; and for +that purpose we were constantly changing our place of residence, and +the tapestries had to be rehung each time. I used to mount the ladder +myself, for I often had no one to help me and I dared not make the +nurses do it; in that way I learned a trade I am sure I should never +have learned otherwise." + +"It was because you had great energy," said a mistress. + +"It is true," replied Madame, "that I did have energy in my youth." + +"That is just what is wanting to our young ladies," said the mistress; +"they are so tired with the least exertion that they can hardly walk +round the garden without fatigue." + +"They ought not to sit still a moment," said Madame; "it is good to +run, jump, dance, and play at base, skittles, and other games; it +makes them grow. Perhaps that is the reason they are so short. It is +amazing that at their age they do not like to be active, and that they +want to be always sitting down or leaning upon something. Mme. de +Richelieu at seventy years of age had never leaned back in her coach, +and I myself, old and ill as I am, I am always as erect as you see +me. I am glad when I see you sweeping and rubbing the floors of the +church, because it is good for your health; if I could, I would make +you run about all the time; but you cannot be educated while running. +I do not understand why you should object to sweeping; it makes you +strong. You ought not to object to help a servant; I have never seen +pride on that point among the nobility, except at Saint-Cyr. I can +understand perfectly well that beggars reclothed [_gueux revêtus_, the +term in those days for _parvenus_] should not venture to touch the +ground with the tips of their fingers; but nobles do not think such +things beneath them." + +"I think," said a mistress, "that you had the goodness to tell us once +that you taught your nurse to read." + +"Yes," replied Madame, "and sometimes she said she would not learn. I +used to follow that woman about, and often I spent whole days sifting +flour through a hopper; she would set me up upon a chair to do it +more conveniently. It is very fatiguing work; I only did it to oblige +my nurse. Since then God has raised me to great fortune and given me +great wealth; but I have never loved money except to share it. I do +not put my happiness into having fine petticoats, as you may see by +the gowns I wear, but I put it into giving pleasure to others. You +know that one of the maxims I have taught you is: The greatest of all +pleasures is to be able to give pleasure." + +Then she asked Mlle. de Brunet which was easier, to exact things +from one's self, or from others. Mlle. de Brunet answered, "From +ourselves." Several other young ladies were questioned and thought the +same. "You are right," said Mme. de Maintenon. "I cannot understand +how any one can think otherwise, because it seems to me more just +and appropriate that we should inconvenience ourselves rather than +inconvenience others; we ought always to be occupied in avoiding +whatever may give pain to other people. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne +undertook a piece of work, to execute which she sent for a woman who +embroiders, and this woman spent the whole of yesterday with her +without her ever thinking of giving her anything to eat. I asked the +woman in the evening if she had eaten; she said no, and I made her +dine and sup both. The king, who is wonderfully attentive, reproved +Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne severely; she tried to laugh it off, but +he told her that he could not laugh at such a matter. I am convinced +that that poor woman was not much pleased to find that while she +worked hard, those she worked for let her go hungry. If such a mark +of inattention, which might be very pardonable in a young princess +of sixteen, was rebuked by the king with such seriousness, how much +more should girls like you who will have to spend all your lives in +attentions to others need reproof if you neglect them. + +"The king always astonishes me when he speaks of his own education. +His governesses amused themselves, he says, all day, and left him +in the hands of the maids without taking any care of him--you know +that he began to reign when he was three and a half years old. He ate +whatever he could lay hands on, without any attention being paid to +the injury this was to his health; it was this that accustomed him +to so much carelessness about himself. If they fricasseed an omelet +he snatched bits of it, which Monsieur and he went off into a corner +to eat. He relates sometimes that he spent his time mostly with a +peasant girl, the child of a waiting-maid of the queen's waiting-maid. +He called her Queen Marie, because they played at the game, '_à la +madame_,' she taking the part of queen, and he serving her as page or +footman, carrying her train, wheeling her in a chair, or marching with +a torch in front of her. You can imagine whether little Queen Marie +gave him good advice, and whether she was useful to him in any way." + + + _On never omitting either labour or pains._ + + July, 1703. + +I am very much pleased, my dear children [of class Yellow], to find +in you as much docility and the same simplicity that there is in +the younger classes; and for this I give you great praise. I wish +to talk with you now on the precautions which you take to avoid +too much labour and trouble. It seems that some of you think you +can exempt yourselves from the common lot and avoid suffering the +slightest discomfort; but you will find that what you have to suffer +now is nothing at all in comparison with what you will meet with in +the world. There is no one who does not suffer. I have long had the +honour of seeing the king very closely; if any one could shake off +the yoke and have no cares or troubles it would surely be he; and +yet he has them continually. Sometimes he spends the whole day in +his cabinet going over his accounts; I often see him cracking his +brains over them, beginning them over and over again, and not leaving +them till he has finished them all; and this duty he never devolves +upon a minister. He relies on no one but himself for the regulation +of his armies; he possesses a knowledge of the number of his troops +and regiments in detail, like that which I possess of the divisions +in your classes. He holds several councils a day, where business +that is often vexatious and always wearisome is transacted; such as +that of war, pestilence, famine, and other afflictions. He has now +the government of two great kingdoms; for nothing is done in Spain +except by his order. The King of Spain has no money, because of the +laziness of his subjects; their land is much more extensive than that +of France, but it brings in nothing because it is not cultivated. +All this is an additional care to our king; he can scarcely take +any pleasure; business absorbs all his time. And yet if there is a +condition which might be supposed exempt from toil and fatigue, it +is that of royalty. The ministers, whose places are so coveted and +envied (though without reason), well deserve the profits of their +offices from the pains and fatigues they have to endure in them. +M. de Chamillart is working perpetually; there is no longer even a +question of relaxation for him, still less of pleasure; he cannot see +his family, whom he loves passionately, because he has not a moment +to give it, being from morning till night engaged in disagreeable +affairs and trying, for example, to make out whether Peter or John is +in the right. People fear he will fall ill, and he is very much +changed; he sent for his daughter, to marry her, but he cannot even +see her. Yet that is a man whom everybody thinks fortunate. + + + _On marriage._ + + 1705. + +Mme. de Maintenon, having married Mlle. de Normanville (who had stayed +with her some years after leaving Saint-Cyr) to M. le Président +Brunet de Chailly, did her the honour to be present at the wedding. +The next day she mentioned to the Dames de Saint Louis that M. l'Abbé +Brunet had made an excellent exhortation in marrying them, in which +he rebuked the over-delicate modesty of those who blamed priests for +opening their lips in church about a sacrament there administered, +which Jesus Christ has instituted, which Saint Paul declares to be +great and honourable; while at the same time their ears are not too +scrupulous to listen outside of the church to love-songs, and speeches +of questionable meaning. "This false delicacy is one of the blunders," +she said, "that I do not wish to see you fall into, my dear daughters. +Nearly all nuns dare not utter the word 'marriage'; Saint Paul had +no such scruple, and speaks of it very openly. I have noticed this +weakness in you, and I should like to destroy it once for all." + +"It is true," said Mme. de Jas, "that we usually pass over that +article in the Catechism; we consulted the Superior to know if we +should use it; we did not even mention it in the choir until you told +us we ought to speak of it as of all other matters in the Catechism, +when occasion offered." + +"Do you not see, my dear daughters," resumed Mme. de Maintenon, "that +it is a notion quite unsustainable in a house like this that you +cannot venture to speak of a state which many of your young ladies +must enter, which is approved by the Church, which Jesus Christ +himself honoured by his presence? How will you make them capable of +properly fulfilling the duties of the several states to which God +calls them if you never speak of them; and (what is worse) if you let +them see the difficulty which you feel in speaking of such things? +There is certainly less modesty and propriety in such feelings than in +speaking seriously and in a Christian manner of a holy state which has +great obligations to meet. Fear only that the omissions your pupils +make through ignorance of the duties of that state may fall on you who +have failed to instruct them in it." + +"Have the kindness, Madame," said Mme. de Jas, "to tell us a little in +detail what it is proper for us to say to them on that subject." + +"You cannot preach to them too much," replied Mme. de Maintenon, +"about the edification that each will owe to her husband; also the +support, the attachment to his person and all his interests, the +service and cares that depend upon her; above all, the sincere and +discreet zeal for his salvation, of which so many virtuous women have +set an example, as well as of that of patience; also the care of the +education of children which extends so far into the future; and that +of servants and household; all of which are much more indispensable +duties for mothers of families than prayers of supererogation, which +many of them have been taught to make, to the injury of the more +important duties of their condition. When you speak of marriage to +your young ladies in this way, they will see that there is nothing +in it to laugh about. Nothing can be more serious than such an +engagement. Establish it, therefore, as a system, to speak to them on +this subject when it presents itself; and do not permit that, under +a pretence of modesty and perfection, the name of marriage shall not +be mentioned; that silly affectation, if I may venture to so express +myself, will cast you down very low into the pettiness I have taken +such pains to make you avoid." + + + _On the virtues called cardinal._ + + June, 1705. + +Mme. de Maintenon, being in class Blue, talked to the young ladies +of the cardinal virtues, but first she said that the word "cardinal" +was taken from a Latin word signifying hinge, because, just as a door +turns on its hinges, so the whole conduct of our lives should turn on +the four virtues which include all others. She exhorted them to love +them, and not think it was enough to know how to define them, but to +practise them, in order all the sooner to gain merit. + +Mlle. de Villeneuve asked her in what "merit" consisted. She answered: +"In having an assemblage of virtues and good qualities, and, above +all, religion and reason." Then she explained Justice; saying that +justice in action consists in rendering to every one that which is +due to him, and consenting that others should render to us what we +deserve. "What do we deserve when we do wrong? Mlle. de Laudonie, +answer." + +"We deserve blame," answered the young lady. + +"Yes," said Mme. de Maintenon, "and it is therefore justice to suffer +ourselves to be blamed when we do wrong; that is one of the best ways +of repairing our faults; there is no one who cannot act justly in that +way. It is the mark of a good mind to recognize our faults and admit +them. On the other hand, it is the mark of a very small mind not to be +able to see and admit that we are wrong, and to seek for false excuses +to cover it." + +She next said that besides that sort of justice, which ought to +be found in our actions, there was one of judgment, called equity, +which so works that, without being influenced by our inclinations +or dislikes, it obliges us to form just ideas on all things, to +distinguish good from evil (even to seeing the faults of friends +without being blinded in their favour by affection), and to recognize +in good faith the good qualities which may exist in persons whom +we like least and who are even unpleasant to us. "Not," she said, +"that we are obliged to disclose the faults of our friends; because +friendship demands that we should cover and excuse them unless it is +necessary to stop an evil by disclosing them; but justice requires +that we should judge to be bad that which is bad, and good that which +is good, independently of our inclinations either way in respect +to the persons concerned. The first and surest rule to avoid being +mistaken in our judgments is to conform them as nearly as possible +to those of God, which are shown to us in Holy Scripture and in the +Gospel; and the second rule, which is also drawn from the Gospel, is +to judge others as we wish that they should think and judge of us, and +to treat them in all things as we should wish to be treated. + +"But there is still another degree of justice more excellent than +these and which demands a very different kind of virtue: it is +_unselfishness_, which makes us capable of deciding against ourselves +in favour of those who have right on their side. There are many +persons sufficiently equitable to judge justly about the cases of +others; but as soon as they themselves are interested we find them +biased in their own favour. That is not justice, for justice insists +that we shall declare for the right on whichever side it is found. +The king did a praiseworthy action, which has been much admired as to +this. Some time ago he had a lawsuit against certain private persons +in Paris who had believed, the ramparts of the town being greatly +neglected, that they were free to appropriate a piece of land and +build upon it. Many years after they had done so the officers charged +with the king's revenue reflected that as that land belonged to him, +the houses that were built upon it ought also to belong to him, or at +least that he ought to be paid the value of the land on which they +were built. The private persons contended that the long time they had +been in possession was a sufficient title to make the property theirs. +The affair was carried to the king and judged in his presence; half +of the judges were for him, half declared for the other side, which +was very praiseworthy, the king being present. Now it is a law of the +kingdom, in suits thus judged before the king according to plurality +of opinions, that in case of an equal division he shall give the +casting vote; it depended therefore on the king himself to win his +case; but instead of doing so he gave his vote to the opposite side, +saying that, inasmuch as there were good reasons on both sides, he +preferred to relinquish his rights rather than press them farther to +the injury of his subjects. + +"Let us now pass to Prudence. That is a virtue that rules all our +words and actions according to reason and religion; it enables us +to discern what we should do or omit doing, say or keep silence +about, according to occasions and circumstances; it is opposed to +the indiscretion of speaking out of season." Thereupon she asked +Mlle. de Saint-Maixant what she considered most contrary to charity, +to ridicule a person for corporal defects, or for defects of mind +or temper. The young lady answered, "To ridicule defects of mind or +heart." "It is never right to ridicule any defects," said Mme. de +Maintenon; "charity enjoins us to excuse all; but I think that it is +base and cruel to blame a person for a natural defect which he has +had no share in producing, and which he cannot correct. Good hearts +and minds are incapable of laughing at such defects; they endure them +and ignore them out of care and tenderness for those who have them. +But I should think it more excusable to blame a defect of mind or +temper; for, after all, the person who has it could correct it, or at +least diminish it; therefore that person is blamable to give way to +it. Nevertheless, charity forbids us to reproach him for that as well +as for the other. One means of avoiding the indiscretion which is so +disagreeable in society is to become prudent, to reflect on what we +are about to say, in order to foresee whether it will have any evil +result or give pain to others. + +"Prudence also induces us to consult those who are wise and +experienced; it makes us take judicious measures to carry out that +which we undertake to do; and it teaches us to undertake nothing that +is not judicious, and has not a fair appearance of success. + +"Temperance is a virtue which moderates us in all things, and makes +us keep the golden mean between too much and too little. It should be +in continual use; it prevents all excitements of passion, whether of +joy or sadness; if we laugh, it is with moderation and modesty; if we +weep, it is not as delivering ourselves up entirely to grief, but as +bearing it peaceably and patiently; if we eat, it is with moderation; +in short, temperance prevents excess in all things. Temperance is to +you, who are here, very necessary on all occasions, because the foible +of youth is to be carried away by joy and pleasure; everything turns +the head of youth and prevents it from possessing itself, unless it +takes great care to control this tendency. Remember carefully what I +am about to say to you: every person who is not mistress of herself +will never have merit, whether before God or before the world. She +must be mistress of her joy and not give way to fits of laughter, to +excessive demonstrations; all joy shown by postures of the body is +immoderate, and, consequently, opposed to temperance. We should never +hear a modest and well brought-up young person laugh noisily; the Holy +Spirit, as you know, says Himself that the laugh of a fool is known +because he laughs loudly, but the wise man laughs beneath his breath +because he is master of all his motions and knows how to moderate +them. And yet everything puts you beside yourselves. If the ball rolls +into _trou madame_ [a game] that is enough to make you shout and +scream with laughter; and still more if you win the game. I do not +condemn a little joy on such occasions, but it should not go so far as +immoderate shouts and losing your self-possession. We break the Reds +of such uproars of joy, how much therefore should you, who ought to be +more reasonable, break yourselves of this habit. + +"Fortitude is a virtue which makes us pursue our enterprises with +courage, and surmount the obstacles we find in ourselves and others to +the good we have undertaken, without giving way before difficulties; +sustaining all unfortunate events with firmness and without +discouragement. + +"To which of us is the virtue of fortitude most necessary, Beauvais?" + +"To the one who has most defects and those most difficult to conquer," +replied the young lady. + +"Yes, I think as you do," said Mme. de Maintenon. Then she added: +"Should those who have the most defects, or who feel they are not +so well-born, be discouraged and imagine they can never succeed in +conquering them?" + +"No, Madame," said the young lady, "because our merit depends on our +efforts aided by the grace of God." + +"That is an admirable answer," said Mme. de Maintenon; "never forget +it, my children; our merit depends upon our effort. With that good +word I leave you, but we will talk of it again." + + + _On making excuses and inappropriate answers._ + + 1706. + +"I wish, my dear children," said Mme. de Maintenon to the young +ladies, "that I could rid you of your tendency to make excuses. I +know it is very natural, and it forms a religious penance not to make +excuses, even when unjustly blamed. But that is not what I require of +you; I ask you only, on such occasions, to listen respectfully and +tranquilly to what your mistresses say to you, and when they have +ended ask them, in a gentle and modest way, to allow you to give +your reasons--provided they are good, for it is a thousand times +better when you are wrong to acknowledge it than to make a single +bad excuse.... I like a girl infinitely more who sometimes does +wrongful things and owns it frankly and seems sorry for the trouble +she occasions, than another who usually does right but refuses to +acknowledge a fault when she happens to commit one. I have often +admired Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, who is the first princess in +the land and over whom I, naturally, have no authority; you would +scarcely believe with what docility, what good spirit, what gratitude +she receives the advice I take the liberty to give her. But, more than +that, I found her the other day sitting on the stairs outside the door +of my room with Jeanne, a coarse village-woman of good sense whom I +have in my household, who was telling her of her faults and what she +heard said to her disadvantage in Paris; and that charming princess, +instead of being offended by the frankness of the good woman, threw +her arm round her neck and kissed her several times, saying: 'I am +very much obliged to you, Jeanne; I thank you for all that you have +told me, for I know it is out of affection to me.' And whenever she +sees her now she is not only friendly but she kisses her heartily, +though she is old and ugly and disgusting." + + + _On the taste for dress._ + + 1708. + +A mistress having said to Madame that some of the young ladies +had shown publicly before their companions their delight in being +well-dressed, and had said they could not conceive of a greater +pleasure and that nuns withered with grief at seeing persons who were +thus dressed, ... Madame said: "I cannot sufficiently tell you, my +children, what pettiness there is in this desire for adornment, though +it is natural in persons of our sex. It is, however, so humiliating +that those who care for their reputation, even in the great world, +should be careful not to show that weakness if they have it, for it +makes them despised by all; the most worldly persons, on the contrary, +esteem young ladies who despise their beauty and do not affect to +improve it by dress. + +"When I exhort you sometimes to endeavour to please, I mean that it +shall be by good conduct, and not by fine clothes; sorrow to those who +seek to distinguish themselves in that way! If they are not sensitive +to the distress of offending God, a love of their own honour should +put them above this foible; for the world turns to ridicule those in +whom it sees the desire to appear beautiful, especially when they +are not so really. Those who have beauty and seem to disregard it +are, on the contrary, much esteemed. I wish," added Madame, sighing, +"I had done as much for God as I have for the world to preserve my +reputation. In my youth I persisted, in the midst of the highest +society, in wearing nothing but simple serge, at a period when no +one wore it; I was more singular in my dress than a young lady of +Saint-Cyr would be now in the midst of the Court." Mme. de Champigny +asked her if it was from fear of pleasing that she dressed so +modestly. "I was not happy enough," she replied, "to act in that way +from piety; I did it from reason and for the sake of my reputation. +I had not means enough to equal others in the magnificence of their +clothing; so I preferred to throw myself into the other extreme and +prove that I was above all desire to make a show by apparel and +adornment, rather than let it be thought I snatched at what I could, +and did my best to equal them. I could not tell you what esteem such +conduct won me; people never tired of admiring a pretty young woman +who had the courage, in the midst of society, to keep to such modest +apparel; that is just what it was; but there was nothing vulgar or +repulsive about it; if the stuff itself was simple, the gown was +well-fitting and very ample, the linen was white and fine, nothing was +shabby. I made more of an appearance in that way than if I had worn a +gown of faded silk, like most of the poor young ladies who try to be +in the fashion and who have not the means to pay for it. + +"I also maintained with inviolable firmness a disinterested +determination to receive no presents; I was so well known for that +characteristic that no man ever presumed to offer me any, except one, +who was foolish. I do not know what made him do the thing I will now +tell you: I had an amber fan, very pretty; I laid it for a moment on a +table; and this man, whether as a joke or from design, took it up and +broke it in two. I was surprised and angry; I liked my fan very much, +and to lose it was a great regret to me. The next day the man sent me +a dozen fans the equals of the one he had broken. I sent him word it +was not worth while to break mine in order to send me a dozen others, +for I should have liked thirteen fans better than twelve, which I +returned to him, and remained without any fan at all. I turned the man +to ridicule in company for having sent me a present, so that no one +after that ever offered me one. You cannot think what a reputation +this proceeding gave me; and I was so jealous of maintaining it +that I would gladly have done without everything rather than act +otherwise. Such love of reputation, though it may be mixed with pride +and arrogance, and should consequently be corrected by piety, is +nevertheless of great utility to young ladies; it is a supplement to +piety, which protects them from many disorders." + + + _What pains and ennui there are in all states of life._ + + 1710. + +Mme. de Maintenon, having had fever all night, and having it still, +went up to class Blue and said to them: "I have dragged myself here +to see you, my children, in order that you may tell me what you have +remembered of the fine conference you had yesterday with M. l'Abbé +Tiberge" [one of the confessors of Saint-Cyr]. The young ladies +repeated it, and when they came to the part where he told them there +were troubles in every state of life she took up the subject and +enlarged upon it, saying: "That is true indeed, beginning first +with the Court people, whom the world considers so fortunate. There +is nothing more burdensome than the life they lead; it costs them +infinite trouble, constraint, expense, and ennui to pay their court; +and at the end of it all you will hear them say: 'Ah! how vexed I am; +I have stood about since morning and I think the king has not even +seen me.' And, in truth," continued Mme. de Maintenon, "they get up +very early in the morning, dress with care, and are on their feet all +day, watching for a favourable moment to make themselves seen and be +presented; and often they come back as they went, except that they +are in despair at having wasted both time and trouble. But I wish +you could see the state of the fortunate ones; that is to say, those +who see the king and have the honour to be in his intimacy; there is +nothing to equal the ennui that consumes them. We are now at Meudon, +a magnificent palace. Well! every one must go to walk, without liking +to do so, in a dreadful wind perhaps, out of respect to the king. They +come back very tired, and you will see a number of women complaining +and saying: 'How weary I am! this place will kill us all.' 'I cannot +bear it,' says another; 'if I could only walk with some one whom I +like, but no! I find myself in file with some one who makes me die of +weariness.' For no one can choose her companion any more than you can +here; she must go with whoever presents himself. The fact is," said +Mme. de Maintenon, "they do not really know what to do, and nothing +gives them any pleasure. Fête-days are the most wearisome of all +for those who are not pious; they do not know how to while away the +time. A few ladies are fortunate enough to like to spend those days, +as they should, in church; others who like to work are vexed not to +dare to do so; others again, who like neither church nor work, find +those days intolerably wearisome. You see, my dear girls, how it is +with the greatest of the earth; for I am speaking now of princes and +princesses, the very first persons of the Court, and those who are +the envy of the rest of the world. They are usually not contented +anywhere; they are bored by dint of seeking pleasure; they go from +palace to palace, Meudon, Marly, Rambouillet, Fontainebleau, in hopes +of amusing themselves. All these are delightful places, where you, my +children, would be enchanted if you saw them; but these people are +bored because they are used to it all. In the long run the finest +things cease to give pleasure and become indifferent; besides, such +things do not make us happy; happiness must come from within.... As +for me, whose favour every one envies because I pass a part of my day +with the king,--they think me the most fortunate person in the world; +and they are right, so far as the goodness with which his Majesty +honours me; and yet there is no one more restrained. When the king is +in my room I often sit apart from him because he is writing; no one +speaks, unless very low, in order not to disturb him. Before I came to +Court, at thirty-two years of age, I can truly say that I never knew +ennui; but I have known it enough since, and I believe that I could +not bear it, in spite of my reason, if I did not feel that it is God +who wills it. If you had to sit in my chamber and never say a word for +a portion of your lives you would quiver with impatience, would you +not? And yet, in spite of all I tell you, my post is envied. There is +no true happiness my children, except in serving God; piety alone can +sustain us and give us an equable behaviour, in the midst of pains and +tedium as well as in the midst of prosperity, which is a state no less +dangerous to our salvation." + + + + + X. + + MME. DE MAINTENON'S DESCRIPTION OF HER LIFE AT COURT;[21] WITH A FEW + MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS. + + +"I am," Madame said to me [1705], "in great joy whenever I see the +door closing behind me as I enter here; and I never go out of it +without pain. Often, on returning to Versailles, I think: 'This is the +world, and apparently the world for which Jesus Christ would not pray +on the eve of his death. I know there are good souls at Court, and +that God has saints in all conditions; but it is certain that what is +called the world is centred here; it is here that all passions are in +motion,--self-interest, ambition, envy, pleasure; this is the world +so often cursed by God.' I own to you that these reflections give me +a sense of sadness and horror for that place, where, nevertheless, I +have to live." + +[Illustration: _Louis XIV at Marly._] + +After speaking with Madame of various afflicting things, I said to her +that at least she would see none in this house, for all was going on +so well it ought to be a place of rest to her, where she could take +comfort for what she suffered elsewhere. "That is just so," replied +Madame, "and what should I do without this house? I could not live. I +think that God has given it to me, not for my salvation only, but for +my rest; it does not serve me only to pray to God and gather myself +together, but it diverts my mind; it makes me forget those other +things. When I am here, and busy, when we hold counsel together or I +talk with the young ladies, I do not even think there is a Court, and +I breathe freely." + +"I thought this morning," I said, "when I saw you taking the +communion, that it may have been long since you had such a morning, +when you could pray to God at your ease and collect yourself." + +"That is true," replied Madame. "I have told you often that the only +time I can take for my prayers and the mass is when other people +sleep; without it, I could not go on; for when people once begin to +enter my room I am not my own mistress; I have not an instant to +myself." I replied, as to that, that I always imagined her room to +be like the shop of a great merchant, which, once opened, is never +empty and where the shopman must remain. "That is just how it is," +said Madame. "They begin to come in about half-past seven; first it +is M. Maréchal [the king's surgeon]; he has no sooner gone than M. +Fagon enters; he is followed by M. Bloin [the king's head valet] +or some else sent to inquire how I am. Sometimes I have extremely +pressing letters to write, which I must get in here. Next come +persons of greater consequence: one day, M. Chamillart; another, the +archbishop; to-day, a general of the army on the point of departure; +to-morrow, an audience that I must give, having been demanded under +such circumstances that I cannot defer it. M. le Duc du Maine waited +the other day in my antechamber till M. Chamillart had finished. When +M. Chamillart went out M. du Maine came in and kept me till the king +arrived; for there is a little etiquette in this, that no one leaves +me till some one of higher rank enters and sends them away. When the +king comes, they all have to go. The king stays till he goes to mass. +I do not know if you have observed that all this time I am not yet +dressed; if I were I should not have been able to say my prayers. I +still have my night-cap on; but my room by this time is like a church; +a perpetual procession is going on, everybody passes through it; the +comings and goings are endless. + +"When the king has heard mass he returns to me; next comes the +Duchesse de Bourgogne with a number of ladies, and there they stay +while I eat my dinner. You would think that here at least was a time +I could have to myself; but you shall see how it is. I fret lest the +Duchesse de Bourgogne should do something unsuitable; I try to make +her say a word to this one; I look to see if she treats that one +properly, and whether she is behaving well to her husband. I must +entertain the company, and do it in a way to unite them all. If some +one commits an indiscretion I feel it; I am worried by the manner in +which people take what is said to them; in short, it is a tumult of +mind that nothing equals. Around me stand a circle of ladies, so that +I cannot even ask for something to drink. I turn to them sometimes +and say: 'This is a great honour for me, but I would like to have +a footman.' On that, each of them wants to serve me and hastens to +bring me what I want; but that is only another sort of embarrassment +and annoyance to me. At last they go off to dine themselves, for +my dinner is at twelve o'clock with Mme. d'Heudicourt and Mme. de +Dangeau, who are invalids. Here I am at last alone with those two; +every one else has gone. If there were a moment in the day when I +might what is called amuse myself, this is it, either for talk or a +game at backgammon. But usually Monseigneur takes this time to come +and see me, because on some days he does not dine, on other days he +has dined early, and so comes after the others. He is the hardest man +in the world to talk with, for he never says a word. But I must try to +entertain him because I am in my own apartment; if it were elsewhere +I could lean back in a chair and say nothing if I chose. The ladies +who are with me can do that if they like, but I must, as they say, +labour it out, and manage to find something to say; and this is not +very enlivening. + +"After the king's dinner is over, he comes with all the princesses and +the royal family into my room; and they cause it to be intolerably +hot. They talk; the king stays about half an hour; then he goes away, +but no one else; the rest remain, and as the king is no longer there +they come nearer to me; they surround me, and I am forced to listen +to the jokes of Mme. la Maréchale de Clérembault, the satire of this +one, and the tales of that one. They have nothing to do, those good +ladies; and they have done nothing all the morning. It is not so with +me, who have much else to do than to sit there and talk, probably +with a heart full of care, grief, and distress at bad news, like that +from Verrue lately. I have everything on my mind; I am thinking how +a thousand men may be perishing, and others in agony.... After they +have all stayed some time they begin to go away, and then what do you +suppose happens? One or other of these ladies invariably stays behind, +wishing to speak to me in private. She takes me by the hand, leads me +into my little room, and tells me frequently the most unpleasant and +wearisome things, for, as you may well suppose, it is not my affairs +that they talk about; they are those of their own family: one has had +a quarrel with her husband; another wants to obtain something from the +king; an ill turn has been done to this one; a false report has been +spread about that one; domestic troubles have embroiled a third; and +I am forced to listen to all this, and the one among them whom I like +least does not restrain herself more than the others,--she tells me +everything; I must be told all the circumstances and speak about them +to the king. Often the Duchesse de Bourgogne wants to speak to me in +private, like the rest. + +"All this makes me think sometimes when I reflect upon it that my +position is so singular it must be God who placed me in it. I behold +myself in the midst of them all; this person, this old person of mine, +the object of all their attention. It is to me they must address +themselves, to me, through whom all passes! God has given me grace +never to look at my position on its splendid side. I feel nothing but +the pains of it; it seems to me that, thank God! I am not dazzled; +He enables me to see it just as it is. I do not allow myself to be +blinded by the grandeur and the favour that surround me; I regard +myself as an instrument which God is using to do good, and I feel that +all the influence He permits me to have should be employed in serving +Him, in comforting whom I can, and in uniting these princes with one +another, if possible. I think sometimes of the hatred that I have +instinctively for the Court; it is nothing new; I have had it always. +God, nevertheless, destined me to be there; why, then, has He given +me this aversion to it? It must be because He wills that I should +live in its midst and find my salvation there. Mme. de Montespan, on +the contrary, loved the Court, not only for the ties that held her +to it, but because she liked Court life. What does God do? He binds +to it the one who hates it, He sends away from it the one who loves +it, apparently for the salvation of both. Ah! how good it is to let +Him act, to abandon ourselves to Him, to live from day to day doing +all the good we can. He knows better what we want than ourselves; +and, assuredly, He is an excellent director; we need only to yield +ourselves to His guidance. But let us go on. + +"When the king returns from hunting he comes to me; then my door is +closed and no one enters. Here I am, then, alone with him. I must +bear his troubles, if he has any, his sadness, his nervous dejection; +sometimes he bursts into tears which he cannot control, or else he +complains of illness. He has no conversation. Then a minister comes, +who often brings fatal news; the king works. If they wish me to be +a third in their consultation, they call me; if they do not want me +I retire to a little distance, and it is then that I sometimes make +my afternoon prayers; I pray to God for about half an hour. If they +wish me to hear what is said I cannot do this; I sit there, and hear +perhaps that things are going ill; a courier has arrived with bad +news; and all that wrings my heart and prevents me from sleeping at +night. + +"While the king continues to work I sup; but it is not once in two +months that I can do so at my ease. I feel that the king is alone, or +I have left him sad, or that M. Chamillart has almost finished with +him; sometimes he sends and begs me to make haste. Another day he +wants to show me something. So that I am always hurried, and the only +thing I can do is to eat very fast. I have my fruit brought with the +meat to hasten supper; and all this as fast as I can. I leave Mme. +d'Heudicourt and Mme. de Dangeau at table, because they cannot eat as +fast as I do, and often I am oppressed by it. + +"After this it is, as you may suppose, getting late. I have been about +since six in the morning; I have not breathed freely the whole day; +I am overcome with weariness and yawning; more than that, I begin to +feel what it is that makes old age; I find myself at last so weary +that I can no more. Sometimes the king perceives it and says: 'You +are very tired, are you not? You ought to go to bed.' So I go to +bed; my women come and undress me; but I feel that the king wants +to talk to me and is waiting till they go; or some minister still +remains and he fears my women will hear what he says. That makes him +uneasy, and me too. What can I do? I hurry; I hurry so that I almost +faint; and you must know that all my life what I have hated most is +to be hurried. At five years of age it had the same effect upon me; +I was faint if I ran too fast, for being naturally very quick and +consequently inclined to haste, I was also very delicate, so that to +run, as I tell you, choked me. Well, at last I am in bed; I send away +my women; the king approaches and sits down by my pillow. What can I +do then? I am in bed, but I have need of many things; mine is not a +glorified body without wants. There is no one there whom I can ask for +what I need; not a single woman. It is not because I could not have +them, for the king is full of kindness, and if he thought I wanted one +woman he would endure ten; but it never comes into his mind that I +am constraining myself. As he is master everywhere, and does exactly +what he wishes, he cannot imagine that any one should do otherwise; he +believes that if I show no wants, I have none. You know that my rule +is to take everything on myself and think for others. Great people, as +a rule, are not like that; they never constrain themselves, they never +think that others are constrained by them, nor do they feel grateful +for it, simply because they are so accustomed to see everything done +in reference only to themselves that they are no longer struck by +it and pay no heed. I have sometimes, during my severe colds, been +on the point of choking with a cough I was unable to check. M. de +Pontchartrain, who saw me one day all crimson with the effort, said to +the king: 'She cannot bear it; some one must be called.' + +"The king stays with me till he goes to supper, and about a quarter of +an hour before the supper is served M. le Dauphin, M. le Duc and Mme. +la Duchesse de Bourgogne come to me. At ten o'clock or a quarter past +ten everybody goes away. There is my day. I am now alone, and I take +the relief of which I am in need; but often the anxieties and fatigues +I have gone through keep me from sleeping." + +I expressed to Madame how trying all that seemed to me, and said I +should not be surprised if some one should speak of her as the most +unhappy person in the world. "And yet," she added, "could they not +also say, 'She is the happiest. She is with the king from morning +till night?' But they do not remember, in saying that, that kings and +princes are men like other men; they have their griefs and troubles +which we must share with them. Moreover, there are a thousand things +that our princes never think of which fall upon me. For example, Mme. +la Princesse des Ursins is about to return to Spain; I must busy +myself with her; I must repair as best I can by my attentions the +coldness of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, the stiffness of the king, +the indifference of others. I go to see her; I give her time with +me; I listen to a thousand matters I do not care about; and all that +merely that she may go away pleased with others, and say good of +them, especially of the Duchesse de Bourgogne. I see they are all too +negligent to do this for themselves; I must supply the want; and so +with a thousand other things. I have always on my mind Spain nearly +lost to us, peace receding farther than ever, miseries that I hear of +on all sides, thousands of persons suffering before my very eyes and I +not able to help them,--and then, besides these sorrows, the excesses +that reign at Court, drunkenness, gluttony, excessive luxury, and, +worst of all, the visible dangers to religion." + +I asked Madame if she were not sometimes impatient; she answered: +"Ah! indeed yes, I am; I am often, as they say, up to my throat in +it; but it must be borne; and besides, God has arranged it. When I +reflect on my condition, and how burdened I am with cares and griefs, +I think: 'How would it be with my soul if this were not so? If, with +this magnificence, wealth, and luxury, I had nothing to pain me, would +anything on this earth be so likely to ruin me? A grandeur like this, +if combined with ease of life, would soon lead me to forget God. I am +lodged like the king; my furniture is magnificent; I am in luxury; but +God shows his mercy throughout all that by mingling with it pains and +distresses which serve as a counterpoise and make me turn to Him.'" + + + _To M. le Duc de Noailles._ + + SAINT-CYR, September 5, 1706. + +Our dear princess [Duchesse de Bourgogne] is fairly well; she is too +anxious about the war for a person of her age. M. le Duc de Bourgogne +is always pious, amorous, and scrupulous; but he is becoming every +day more reasonable. I have no one to speak with, and I think that +spares me many sins; for my confidences would be neither favourable to +nor honourable for my neighbours. The men are all on bad terms with +me, and the women I pay no heed to. Adieu, my dear duke. It is not +necessary to urge you to zeal for the king and State; you act from +principles that cannot change; and if you do not meet with all the +gratitude you deserve, you will receive a more solid reward hereafter. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + SAINT-CYR, October 17, 1706. + +I can only add that our princess is taking great care to carry her +child to the end. She is fairly well, but extremely sad. She has an +affection for her father, but feels a great resentment to him; she +loves her mother tenderly, and takes as great an interest in the +affairs of Spain as in those of France. She loves the king, and never +sees him more serious than usual without the tears coming into her +eyes; and with her excessive kindness she interests herself also in my +pains and woes. I should like to comfort her, but, on the contrary, I +distress her. This is a terrible state for a person of her age, and +one who has, I think, without speaking of it, much uneasiness about +her approaching confinement, and many fears lest she should have a +girl. + + + _To Mme. de Glapion._ + + SAINT-CYR, February, 1707. + +I have just been witness of a conversation between the king and M. +le Dauphin which has caused me great pain. I spend my life in trying +to unite them and in warding off everything that is likely to cause +misunderstandings between them, and yet here they are on the verge of +quarrelling about a trifle. Monseigneur wanted to give a public ball +to which society in general should be admitted; he was absolutely +determined about it, and with him the Duchesse de Bourgogne. The king, +with charming gentleness, opposed it, and told Monseigneur it was not +proper, if he wished the Duchesse de Bourgogne to be present, that all +sorts of men and women should be present also. The princess, on her +side, could see no harm in it, for she is just as ready to dance with +a comedian as with a prince of the blood. I cannot tell you how this +little squabble has made me suffer, and what a night I have passed. I +blame myself for my too great sensibility, and yet, on the other hand, +it seems to me I am right to desire peace in the royal family and to +dread, between a king of seventy and a dauphin of forty-six, whatever +may set them against each other and add to our general war a civil +one. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + SAINT-CYR, April 10, 1707. + +Our king is tranquil, gentle, and equable in temper, such as you left +him. His health is very good; his occupations the same as ever; it +would really seem as though nothing had happened to give him pain +[reference to disasters in war]. This is something surprising, which +amazes me constantly. + +Our princess makes great efforts to amuse herself, and only succeeds +in making herself giddy with fatigue. She went yesterday to dine at +Meudon followed by twenty-four ladies; after that they were to go to +the fair and see some famous rope-dancers, return to sup at Meudon, +and play cards, no doubt, till daybreak. She must have come home this +morning,--ill perhaps, certainly serious, for that is the usual result +of all her pleasures. + + + VERSAILLES, later. + +Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne has a severe headache. M. Fagon has +fever and must be bled. Wherever I turn I find subjects for distress +and anxiety. How can you, madame, wish for my letters? + + + _To Mme. la Marquise de Dangeau._ + + SAINT-CYR, Saturday, July 16, 1707. + +It is in order that I may speak to you, madame, of the Duchesse de +Bourgogne, that I have asked you to put off your visit to Paris till +to-morrow. The king said to me last evening that he had been much +surprised to hear of the card-playing at Bretesch [a village between +Marly and Versailles]. I saw by that that the Duchesse de Bourgogne +had deceived me. She told me that Mme. la Duchesse had invited herself +to supper, but I see now it was a prearranged party, for the king +tells me that the princess herself invited Mme. la Duchesse, and that +M. de Lorges was the first to arrive. I answered that it was quite +natural that Mme. la Duchesse should sup at her brother's house, but +that as for the cards, I was more sorry than any one. + +The king said, "Is not a dinner, a cavalcade, a hunt, a collation +enough for one day?" Then he added after a while, "I should do well to +tell those gentlemen they are not paying their court well in gambling +with the Duchesse de Bourgogne." I said that _lansquenet_ had always +troubled me, for fear she might make some trip that would do her harm +and put her on a bad footing. We talked of other things and then the +king returned to the subject and said to me, "Should I not do better +to speak to those gentlemen?" I replied that I thought that manner +of acting might be injurious to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and that +he had better speak to her herself, so that the matter might remain +secret. He said he should do so to-day; and I have begged you to +remain in order that you may warn her. We have now come sooner than I +expected to the alienation I have all along apprehended. The king will +think he has vexed her by stopping her _lansquenet_ and will be more +stiff with her; she will certainly be vexed and be cold with him; I +shall feel the same and return to the formal respect I owe to her; but +I am not yet detached enough from the esteem of the world to consent +to let it think I approve such conduct. [We know already how the sweet +temper of the princess took these rebukes and turned away wrath.] + +The Duchesse de Bourgogne will be compassionated by Mme. la Duchesse; +which makes me remember the traps that her mother [Mme. de Montespan] +used to lay for the queen and Mme. de la Vallière, in order to make +the king notice later what their behaviour had been. If after +speaking to the princess you could come out to Saint-Cyr I should +be glad; but I doubt whether, after so painful a conversation, you +will be in a state to appear. If you find it possible to approach the +Duchesse de Bourgogne you might give her this letter to prepare her +for answering the king, and then you can speak to her in the evening +more at length. You can imagine, madame, what a night I have passed. +Let us pray God for our princess, who is drowning herself in a glass +of water. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + FONTAINEBLEAU, July 23, 1708. + +You know now, madame, that our happiness has not lasted long. The +reduction of Ghent to the power of his Catholic Majesty had placed us +in a situation of great advantage, which ought to have been maintained +through the rest of the campaign; the enemy were on the retreat and +quite disheartened. M. de Vendôme, who believes what he wishes, chose +to give battle and lost it [Oudenarde], and we are worse off now than +we were before, as much from fear of consequences and the air of +superiority assumed by the enemy as from the loss of our troops. + +In this condition we have felt the joy of the taking of Tortosa much +less [taken by the Duc d'Orléans, July 11], though we see all the +value of it. Madame is delighted, and with good reason; she sees M. le +Duc d'Orléans covered with glory, and out of the danger to which he +was exposed. + +You know, madame, the levity of Frenchmen, and it seems to me that +their talk is reaching you. Ghent, they are now saying, put us in a +condition to make peace on any terms we chose; now all is lost, and we +have to ask it with a cord round our necks. And yet, madame, neither +statement is true. The enemy had great resources though we had Ghent; +we should have had more if M. de Vendôme had chosen to act with more +precaution. Our army is still very fine and very good, the troops +have done their duty, they are in nowise discouraged, and are now +asking only to redeem themselves; but that they must not be allowed +to attempt except with the order and caution to be observed on such +occasions. The Duc de Bourgogne has held the wisest opinions, but +he was ordered to yield to M. de Vendôme as being more experienced. +Our princes have been in a position to be captured; imagine, madame, +where we should then have been. That is a comfort I try to give to +the Duchesse de Bourgogne in the extreme distress she feels. She +shows throughout these sad events the feelings of a true Frenchwoman, +such as I have always known her to feel; but I own I did not think +that she loved M. le Duc de Bourgogne to the point we now see. Her +tenderness goes even to delicate sentiment; she keenly feels that his +first battle has proved disastrous; she would like him to have been +as much exposed as a grenadier, and then to have come back to her +without a scratch. She feels, too, _his_ pain for the troubles that +have happened; she shares the uneasiness that his present position +must give him; she would like a battle, in order to have him win, +and yet she fears it. Nothing escapes her; she is worse than I. This +affliction which, in one aspect, gives me some pleasure because it +proves her merit, gives me also great uneasiness about her health, +which seems to have changed. Milk had done her some good and her fine +colour was returning; but all these troubles distress her; and she is +capable of prolonged grief; we saw after the death of Monsieur how +long she felt it; and she is still feeling it. + + + _To M. le Duc de Noailles._ + + SAINT-CYR, June 13, 1710. + +We are awaiting the dispensation from Rome to marry the Duc de Berry; +there would be many things to write you about that if prudence did not +restrain me; but it is time to have a little of that virtue. There +will be no fêtes, rejoicings, or expense; all will be done with regard +to the present condition of affairs.... + +Our tall Princesse de Conti is greatly afflicted by the death of the +Duchesse de la Vallière. She is hurt that the king has not been to +see her; but he thought he ought not to renew a matter of which he +repents daily. The princess no longer conceals her piety, and she sets +a great example to the Court with much sense and courage. We shall go +to Marly immediately after the wedding; I have some impatience to see +two little rooms next the chapel, which the king has given me that I +may go and rest sometimes, and get away from the annoyance of visitors +in the morning. + +The Duchesse de Bourgogne becomes more sensible every day. She is to +be trusted with the feeding and education of the Duchesse de Berry, +who for some time to come is not to have an establishment of her own. +People are beginning to say, however, that a contract of marriage +cannot be made without giving an appanage; and the king may give them +that which Mme. de Guise once had. No one has ever seen a better +household than that of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orléans; they are never +apart, and they take all their pleasures together. It is thought that +Mme. de Saint-Simon will be lady of honour. + +The whole talk now is of the new chapel [the present chapel at +Versailles]; every one is rushing from all parts to see it; it is +magnificent; I have not enough good taste to judge as to the rest. + +In addition to my other woes I have a toothache, which does not make +me gay. Let us all take courage and hope in the vicissitudes of this +world. Adieu, Monsieur le Duc. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + VERSAILLES, December 15, 1710. + +I consulted M. Fagon this morning to know if he approved of your +taking back with you to Madrid the waters of Barège; he tells me that +he has written in favour of it to your physicians, and told them of +the experiments made by Gervais in that matter. + +Though I know that your queen is above all other women, I cannot +help feeling for what disfigures her. [The Queen of Spain, Louise de +Savoie, had glandular swellings, which increased terribly and finally +killed her February, 1714, just two years after her sister's death.] I +entreat you, madame, to send me news of her condition. + +You must allow me, madame, to pour out to you my feelings about the +Duchesse de Bourgogne. After having borne with much discussion as to +the bad system I had pursued in her education; after being blamed by +all the world for the liberties she has taken in running about from +morning till night; after seeing her hated by some for never saying +a word, and accused of horrible dissimulation in the attachment she +has shown to the king and the goodness with which she honoured me, I +see her to-day with all the world chanting her praises, believing in +her good heart, also in her great mind, and agreeing that she knows +well how to hold a large Court to respect; I see her adored by the Duc +de Bourgogne, tenderly beloved by the king, who has just placed her +household in her own hands to manage as she likes, saying publicly +that she is capable of governing much greater things. I tell you of my +joy about all this, madame, convinced that you will be glad of it, +for you were the first to discover, sooner than others, the merits of +our princess. + +Mme. la Duchesse de Berry is still a child; her husband loves her +passionately. M. le Dauphin said last night that he himself was the +man in the world who had made the most good husbands. May God preserve +them all. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + SAINT-CYR, November 30, 1711. + +We have no courier to-day, madame; perhaps he is delayed by the floods +that surround us on all sides. For a month it has rained every day and +all night too; but no matter, we are soon apparently to have peace. +The passports have been sent; the Dutch are beginning to change their +ideas; Philippe V. and his amiable descendants will reign securely on +the throne of Spain; I have always hoped for a miracle in his favour: +and _we_ shall profit by what is now to happen to him--which he has +deserved far more than we. I still hope, old as I am, to see the King +of England return to his kingdom. + +What glory for our king, madame, to have sustained a ten years' war +against all Europe, endured the misfortunes which arose, experienced +famine and a species of pestilence that carried off millions of souls, +and now to see it end in a peace which places the monarchy of Spain +in his family, and re-establishes a Catholic king in his kingdom--for +I will not doubt that that will follow upon peace. The king is blest +with a health which makes me hope he will long enjoy the rest he is +now to have. I think you sufficiently a Frenchwoman (in spite of all +my insults) to rejoice with us. + +Mme. la Dauphine takes eagerly to this subject of joy; she revels in +it to its fullest extent; she imagines the happiness of her mother, +and often talks to me of that of your queen. She intends to do +something on the day peace is concluded that she has never done before +in her life and never will do again; but she has not yet found out +what it shall be. Meantime she is going to the Te Deum at Notre-Dame, +to dinner with the Duchesse du Lude in a beautiful new house, after +that to the opera, and to sup with the Prince de Rohan in that +magnificent hôtel de Guise, then cards and a ball all night, and as +the hour of her return will be that of my waking, she will probably +come and ask me for some breakfast on arriving. I think, madame, that +you would find such a day rather long in spite of its pleasures. + +M. le Comte de Toulouse was extremely well until the twenty-first day +after the operation, when the king went to see him, and the whole +Court, with French indiscretion, went also, which threw him into a +fever. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + VERSAILLES, January 11, 1712. + +I do not know, madame, if the courier of to-day will bring me letters +from you; but I have one by M. de Torcy's courier and another by the +last courier to answer. + +It is true, madame, that Madame la Dauphine does greatly regret her +youth; there is, however, ground to hope that she will always amuse +herself, for she has within her a fund of inexhaustible joy; and +if we are fortunate enough to have peace, it is probable that she +will always be very happy. Her great gayety does not prevent great +sympathy in trouble; she has keenly felt the uncertainty which the +King and Queen of Spain have borne; she suffers much on account of +her father; but there is no Frenchwoman more attached to the welfare +of this country than she; so that I think she never can be held in +when all these subjects of distress are lifted from her. She has +reason to be happy; she is well married, much beloved by the king +and dauphin, and she truly makes the enjoyment of the whole Court. +There are days when she has attacks of fever, and then the courtiers +are in consternation, and cry out about the irreparable loss she +would be to them. The people love her much because she lets herself +be seen very readily; she has the most pleasing children she could +possibly desire, less handsome than yours, but very vigorous, and +perfect pictures,--graceful like herself, and showing already much +intelligence. + +If we may judge of the king's life by the present state of his +health we may hope that it will last as long as that of the Marquis +de Mancera, for their _régime_ is about the same; there is no +retrenchment in the meals that you know of; no diminution in the fine +appearance, the habit of walking, in fact the whole figure, which you +know, madame, is superior to that of all others. M. le Grand, who +eats as much as the king and is much younger, is broken down with +rheumatism, and can hardly drag himself about. M. de Villeroy always +looks finely, but his sobriety does not save him from gout; M. le Duc +de Grammont never has a day's health. These are the contemporaries and +the strongest men of his time. + +You will probably hear of a little scene with the Duchesse de Berry, +who gives much anxiety to Madame, and to the Duchesse d'Orléans. We +must hope for some change in a young person only sixteen years old. +Why, madame, do you speak to me of respectful attachment? Are you not, +as it were, making game of me? You owe me, madame, merely a little +friendship in return for the sentiments I have for you. I beg you to +place me at the feet of the king and queen; and to believe that I +shall esteem and love you all my life; I do not think that in saying +that I am wanting in respect. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + February 7, 1712. + +I do not know, madame, how I shall have strength to write you of the +horrors that surround us. Measles are making great ravages in Paris. +M. de Gondrin was buried yesterday; his wife has measles and continued +fever with a dead child in her body; she wants to rise at every moment +and go to her husband, who they dare not tell her is dead. Mme. la +Dauphine has an inflammation in the head, which gives her a fixed pain +between the ear and the upper end of the jaw; the place of the pain is +so small that it could be covered by a thumb-nail. She has convulsions +and screams like a woman in childbirth, and with the same intervals. +She was bled twice yesterday and has taken opium three times, and +seems a little more quiet at this moment. I am now going to her; and +will close this at the last moment to give you the latest news. + + Seven o'clock at night. + +Mme. la Dauphine, having taken a fourth dose of opium and chewed and +smoked tobacco, feels a little easier. They have just come to tell me +that she has slept an hour, and hopes to sleep a long time. + +[The dauphine died February 12, the dauphin February 18; and their +eldest son, the Duc de Bretagne, March 8, leaving the infant Duc +d'Anjou (Louis XV.) as the sole direct descendant of Louis XIV.] + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + VERSAILLES, February 22, 1712. + +You will have heard the unhappy news; it is such that I cannot tell it +to you in detail. The grief of the king is too great. All France is in +consternation. My own state must not hinder me from thinking often of +their Catholic Majesties; I beg you, madame, to assure them of this. +The King of Spain loses a saint in losing his brother; the queen is +fortunate in never having known our dauphine [she was a little child +when Marie-Adélaïde left Savoie]. Adieu, madame; I am quite unable to +write you any details. + + + _To M. le Duc de Beauvilliers._ + + SAINT-CYR, March 15, 1712. + +To put your mind at ease, monsieur, I have taken copies of all +your writings [found among the dauphin's papers], and I send them +all to you, without exception. Secrecy would have been kept, but +circumstances might arise to reveal everything. We have just passed +through a sad experience. I should have liked to return to you all the +letters from yourself, and from M. de Cambrai [Fénelon], but the king +desired to burn them himself. I own to you that I regret this much, +for nothing was ever written so beautiful and so good. If the prince +we mourn had a few defects it was not because the counsel given him +was too timid, nor yet that he was too much flattered. It may be said +that those who walk straight can never be confounded. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + SAINT-CYR, September 11, 1715. + +You are very good, madame, to think of me in the great event that has +just happened [death of Louis XIV., September 1, 1715]. We can but bow +our heads beneath the hand that strikes us. + +I would with all my heart, madame, that your condition were as happy +as mine. I have seen the king die like a saint and a hero; I am in the +most pleasing retreat I could desire; and wherever I am, madame, I +shall be, all my life, your very humble and very obedient servant. + + + _To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._ + + SAINT-CYR, December 27, 1715. + +It is true, madame, that I have withdrawn from the world as much +as possible, and that if my friends were a little less kind to me, +I should henceforth see no one. But it is true also that I do not +forget those I have esteemed, loved, and honoured, and that I think +very often of you, wishing for you that which I believe to be the +best of all things. I supposed, madame, that you would go to Rome, +and I am very glad that you have done so for the sake of your eyes. +Mine have had a different fate. I have left off the spectacles I +began thirty-five years ago to wear, and I now work tapestry day +and night--for I sleep but little. My retreat is peaceful and most +complete. As for society, one can have none with persons who have no +knowledge of all that I have seen and who have been brought up in this +house and know absolutely nothing but its rules. + +There is no state on earth, madame, that does not have its troubles; +your good mind, your courage, and your blood have always diminished +yours. Our Maréchal de Villeroy scarcely ever sees me now; but he +does me kindnesses every day of his life. He is the refuge of the +miserable. You would be satisfied with the public opinion of his +merit; I know men who do not like him who, nevertheless, cannot help +admitting that he makes a noble personage. + +Believe me, madame, that I can never forget the marks of your goodness +to me, and that I shall die with the same attachment as ever to you. + + * * * * * + +[Mme. de Maintenon died at Saint-Cyr, April 15, 1719, in the +eighty-fifth year of her age.] + + + + + INDEX. + + + BERRY (Charles, Duc de), 62, 210, 314. + + BERRY (Marie Louise Élisabeth, Duchesse de), 57, 77, 80, 116, 117, +118, 120, 122, 144, 146, 147, 148, 314, 318. + + BISSY (Cardinal de), 84. + + BOURGOGNE (Louis, Duc de), 86, 308, 313. + + BOURGOGNE (Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de), 170, 172; + Sainte-Beuve's introduction to her letters, 182-190; + letter of Louis XIV., describing her, 183, 184; + her appearance, 186; + she came of the race of the great, 186; + her letters, 187; + her levity, 187; + corrects herself, 187, 188; + did she have weaknesses of the heart? 188, 189; + her serious good qualities, 189; + mistaken charge of treachery, 189, 190; + description of her letters, 191; + arrival in France and first letter to her grandmother, 192; + letters from 1696 to 1712, 192-214; + her bad writing, 193, 194; + at the camp of Compiègne, 194; + letter to her father, 196; + to her grandmother, 197, 198; + to her mother, 198-200; + birth and death of her first child, 201; + grief at war between France and Savoie, 202; + letter to Mme. de Maintenon accepting rebuke, 204; + failing health, 204; + the Meudon cabal, 206; + letter concerning her from Duc de Bourgogne, 206; + letter to her father, 207; + the terrible winter, 208; + anxieties about the war, 209; + birth of the Duc d'Anjou (Louis XV.), 210; + marriage of Duc de Berry, 210; + letter to her father, 211; + disapproval of her father's course, 212; + hopes of peace, 213; + failing health, 214; + death, 215; + Sainte-Beuve asserts she is only rightly known in the letters of +Mme. de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins, 234; + her knowledge of all kinds of manual work, 284; + her thoughtlessness, 284; + her sweet docility, 294; + references to her in the letters of Mme. de Maintenon to the +Princesse des Ursins, 308-320. + + BRINON (Mme. de), 235, 238. + + BUONAPARTE (Marie Anne de), 233, 234. + + BUONAPARTE (Napoléon de), 233, 234. + + + CELLAMARE (Prince), Spanish ambassador, 136. + + CHAMILLY (Marquis de), 68. + + CHELLES (Louise-Adélaïde d'Orléans, Abbess of), 131, 148-150. + + CLÉREMBAULT (La Maréchale de), 181, 303. + + CONTI (François-Louis, Prince de), 44. + + CONTI (Marie-Anne, Princesse de), 46, 47, 94, 314. + + CURRENCY, inflation of the, 126. + + + DAUPHINE (Marie-Anne-Victoire de Bavière, Mme. la), 95, 96. + + DENMARK (Frederick IV., King of), 90. + + DESCARTES (René), 164. + + DUC (M. le), de Bourbon, 152. + + DUCHESSE (Louise de Bourbon, Mme. la), 82, 83, 94, 152, 170. + + + ENGLAND (James II., King of), 39, 50, 66. + + ENGLAND (Marie of Modena, Queen of), 50, 90, 91, 121, 122. + + ENGLAND (William III., King of), 41, 42, 45. + + ENGLAND (George I., King of), 66, 67, 79, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, +152. + + EUGÈNE (François-Eugène de Savoie-Carignan, called Prince), 99, +100. + + + FAGON (Louis XIV.'s physician), 104, 260. + + FÉNELON (Archbishop of Cambrai), 68, 223, 232, 320. + + FONTAINES (Mme. de), 235, 245, 254, 264. + + + GLAPION (Mme. de), 224, 225, 235, 300-308, 309. + + GOBELIN (the Abbé de), 236, 243. + + GUISE (Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchesse de), 41. + + + HANOVER (Sophia, Electress of), 62. + + + LA CHAISE (Père de), 91. + + LAW (John), 127, 145, 146, 151, 152, 156, 157, 158, 159. + + LEIBNITZ (Gottfried Wilhelm), 79, 164. + + LORRAINE (Duc de), 113, 114. + + LORRAINE (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse de), 42, 45, 113, 114, 115, +117, 119, 120, 180. + + LORRAINE (The Chevalier de), 85. + + LONGUEVILLE (Mme. de), 125, 126. + + LOUIS XIV., 46, 49, 51, 54, 57, 58, 65, 70-72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 81, 83, +88, 91, 92, 103, 107, 110, 124, 153, 154, 160, 161, 162, 183-185, 217, +218, 221, 230, 231, 237, 238, 239, 267, 284, 285, 286, 290, 291, 298, +299, 301-308, 309, 320. + + LOUIS XV., 73, 74, 82, 100, 103, 180, 210. + + LOUVOIS (François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de), 165, 282. + + + MADAME (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Princess Palatine and Duchesse +d'Orléans), too old on coming to France to change her character, 41; + accident in hunting, 43; + sentiments on marriage, 43, 44; + why she lived a solitary life, 45; + prophesies the war of the Spanish succession, 46; + letter to Mme. de Maintenon, 47; + Monsieur's death, 48, 49; + her views of the Bible, 50, 51; + of Christianity, 52, 53; + the poverty of the people, 56, 58; + allusion to deaths of Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne, 61; + her daily routine of life, 64, 65; + her portrait by Rigaud, 70; + collection of coins and medals, 55, 70; + grief at illness and death of Louis XIV., 70-72; + dislike to Paris, 72, 73, 74; + judgment on the king, 74; + determined not to meddle in affairs of State, 75; + the king's death, 75, 76; + his will, 76; + no longer at Court, 77; + had won her husband's regard, 85; + horror at her son's marriage, 85; + "sister-pacificator," 89; + her medals, 98-100; + her French spelling, 101; + why she would not interfere in State affairs, 106; + a German woman, 107; + prays for her son, 109; + asserts her ugliness, 118; + hatred of tobacco, 118, 119; + how she brought up her daughter, 120; + love for Saint-Cloud, 125; + anxiety about the regent, 131; + deplorable condition of the country, 133, 134; + recounts the distinguished talent she has known in France, 134; + her title of Madame, 143; + goes to installation of Abbess of Chelles, 148-150; + love for her illegitimate grandson, 151; + her roguishness as a child, 152; + rebuke to the Abbé Dubois, 154; + no state at Court, 156, 157; + her illness, 159; + her course of life after Monsieur's death, 160; + reconciled by the king with Mme. de Maintenon, 161; + regard and interest for Louise de La Vallière, 162, 163; + nothing so wearisome as a sermon, 163; + her Bibles, 164; + her novel-reading, 165; + her failing health, 172, 173; + horror at the depravity of Paris, 174, 175; + increasing illness, 179; + goes to the coronation of Louis XV., 180; + her last letter, and death, 181. + + MADAME (Henrietta of England), 165, 166, 167. + + MAINE (Louis-Auguste, Duc de), 90, 100, 103, 126, 129, 133, 134, 138, +139, 177, 178, 268, 269, 274. + + MAINE (Anne-Louise-Benedicité de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de), 127, +130, 132, 133, 135, 138, 139, 177. + + MAINTENON (Françoise d'Aubigné, Mme. de), 47, 48, 57, 59, 70, 71, +72, 74, 75, 78, 82, 83, 87, 91, 103, 104, 105, 122, 124, 132, 133, 140, +182, 186, 192, 204; + Sainte-Beuve's essay on her and on Saint-Cyr, 216-234; + portrait of her by a Dame de Saint-Cyr, 218; + her art of government, 219; + her ideal in Saint-Cyr, 226; + her precepts, 227-230; + happy only at Saint-Cyr, 231, 232; + her unconscious prediction verified, 233; + treated as a queen at last, 234; + letters to the Dames de Saint-Cyr and others, 236-267; + conversations and instructions addressed to the mistresses and +pupils of Saint-Cyr, 268-299; + herself and Mme. de Montespan, 276; + and Mlle. de Fontanges, 277; + her description of her life at Court, 300-308; + letters to the Duc de Noailles, 308; + to the Princesse des Ursins, 308-310, 321; + to Mme. de Glapion, 309; + to Mme. de Dangeau, 310; + to the Duc de Beauvilliers, 320; + death of Louis XIV., 320; + her death, 321. + + MAISONFORT (Mme. de La), 223, 224. + + MARIE-THÉRÈSE (The Infanta), wife of Louis XIV., 154-156. + + MAZARIN (Cardinal de), 78. + + MONSEIGNEUR (Louis, Dauphin), 59-61, 94, 95, 183, 302. + + MONSIEUR (Philippe, Duc d'Orléans), 47, 48, 57, 81, 82, 85, 89, 90, +97, 98, 160, 166, 167, 183. + + MONTESPAN (Mme. de), 124, 276. + + MONTPENSIER (Louise-Élisabeth d'Orléans, Mlle. de), Queen of Spain, +176, 178. + + + NANGIS (Général de), 87. + + NASSAU (Comte de), 40. + + NOAILLES (Cardinal de), 83, 84. + + NOAILLES (Duc de), 308. + + + ORLÉANS (Philippe Duc d'), Regent, 49, 54, 55, 60, 61, 68, 70, 72, +73, 74, 76, 76-81, 82, 87, 88, 89, 101, 102, 103, 108, 109, 110, 125, +126, 128, 131, 135, 137, 140, 147, 148, 154-157, 170, 173, 180, 312. + + ORLÉANS (Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse d'), 79, 80, 86, 88, 119, +120, 134, 135, 140, 154, 156. + + + PALATINATE (The), 40, 41. + + PÉROU (Mme. du), mistress at Saint-Cyr, 235, 242, 253, 256, 257, 261, +263. + + PETERBOROUGH (Charles Mordaunt, Earl of), 65, 66, 169. + + POLIGNAC (Cardinal de), 84, 139. + + PORTSMOUTH (Duchess of), 69. + + PRETENDER (The), James, "Chevalier de St. George," 78, 79, 90. + + + RACINE (Jean), 222, 223, 224, 232. + + REGENT (see Orléans, Philippe, Duc d'). + + RETZ (Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de), 165. + + RICHELIEU (Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de), 87. + + RICHELIEU (Louis-François-Armand Duplessis, Duc de), 141, 142, 144, +145. + + RUSSIA (Peter the Great, Czar of), 104, 130, 131. + + + SAINT-ALBIN (The Abbé de), 150, 151, 177. + + SAINTE-BEUVE (Charles-Augustin), his introduction to Madame's +correspondence, 1-33; + to the Duchesse de Bourgogne's letters, 182-190; + essay on Mme. de Maintenon at Saint-Cyr, 216-234. + + SAINT-CYR (The Institution of), Sainte-Beuve's essay on it, 216-234; + its completed idea, 217, 218; + its foundation, 221; + first and tentative years, 222; + changes and permanent establishment, 224-230; + its existence after Mme. de Maintenon's death and its final +destruction, 233, 234; + Saint-Cyr, an episode in Mme. de Maintenon's life, 234; + system and arrangement of classes, 235; + letters, conversations, and instructions of Mme. de Maintenon +relating to it, 236-299. + + SAINT-FRANÇOIS DE SALES, 174. + + SAINT-SIMON (Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de), 116, 173, 185, 186. + + SAVOIE (Vittorio Amadeo, Duc de), 182, 190, 191, 196, 197, 202, 207. + + SAVOIE (Anne-Marie d'Orléans, Duchesse de), 191, 198-200. + + SAVOIE (Jeanne de Nemours, Duchesse de), 192-196. + + SIAM (The King of), 55. + + SOISSONS (The Comtesse de), 99, 118. + + SPAIN (Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Queen of), 40, 41, 46, 178. + + SPAIN (Marie-Louise de Savoie, Queen of), 49, 82, 170. + + STAIR (Earl of), 79, 132, 133. + + SWEDEN (Christina, Queen of), 110, 111. + + + TORCY (J. B. Colbert, Marquis de), 92, 102, 175. + + TRANSLATOR'S NOTE, 34-38. + + + URSINS (Anne de la Trémouille, Princesse des), 67, 68, 69, 70, 134, +136, 310-321. + + + VALLIÈRE (Louise, Marquise de La), 162, 163, 314. + + VALOIS (Charlotte-Aglaé d'Orléans, Mlle. de), 131. + + VILLARS (Maréchal de), 98, 99. + + VILLEROY (Maréchal de), 321. + + + WALES (The Prince of), son of George I., 112, 113, 117. + + WALES (Wilhelmina-Charlotte, Princess of), 67, 108, 112, 113, 115, +123. + + + + + FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] This portrait is the frontispiece of the present translated +edition.--TR. + +[2] Correspondance Complète de Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans, née +Princesse Palatine, Mère du Régent; traduction entièrement nouvelle, +par M. G. Brunet. Paris: Charpentier, 1891. + +[3] Madame's own spelling could hardly be worse; she always spells +Saint-Cloud "_Saint-Clou_."--TR. + +[4] Monsieur had died on the 9th of June, and the scene between Madame +and Mme. de Maintenon had taken place in the interim.--TR. + +[5] Curious details as to these satirical medals will be found in a +work by Klotz: _Historia numorum Contumeliosorum_, Attenbury, 1765. +(French editor.) + +[6] Madame here refers to the Lorraines, whose scandalous relations to +Monsieur are matters of history.--TR. + +[7] We remember Saint-Simon's account of Madame who "arrived howling, +in full-dress." Madame will tell us herself that she never owned +a dressing-gown; and as she had nothing but "full-dress" or a +riding habit, her costume on this occasion seems the best she could +choose.--TR. + +[8] This appears to be the only letter contemporaneous with the deaths +of the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne (to which it alludes) that has +been preserved.--TR. + +[9] As to this tale see the "Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon, which +gives Mme des Ursins own account of the affair."--TR. + +[10] She was married in 1722 to Luis, Prince of the Asturias. See the +"Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon."--TR. + +[11] So-called from her height; she was his half-sister, the daughter +of Mme. de la Vallière. Mme. la Duchesse was the daughter of Mme. de +Montespan.--TR. + +[12] Charles-Louis Baudelot de Dairval devoted his life to the study +of antiquity; was a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, and wrote +a book on "The Utility of Travelling." (French editor.) + +[13] _Boudins_. Littré defines them as guts filled with blood and pork +fat.--TR. + +[14] Louise-Élisabeth, born 1709, married January 20, 1722, to Louis, +Prince of the Asturias; see Saint-Simon's account of the marriage, +and her behaviour. Philippe V. abdicated in favour of Louis in 1724, +but the latter dying within six months, Philippe resumed the crown. +The young queen then returned to France, where she lived unnoticed +and died in 1742. In Spain she had shown "the sulky, sullen temper of +a dull and silly child," and continued to do so after her return to +Paris.--TR. + +[15] Daughter of Philippe V., brought to France to be educated and +married to Louis XV.; see "Saint-Simon." The marriage never took +place, and the infanta was sent back to Spain, April 5, 1725, when the +treaty of alliance between Spain and Austria was signed, and France, +England, and Prussia formed a counter treaty.--TR. + +[16] Sainte-Beuve does not mention that this letter was written by +Mme. de Maintenon to the Comte d'Ayen to soothe him for the part of +Josabeth being taken from his wife. Mme. de Maintenon's diplomacy is +visible.--TR. + +[17] Sainte-Beuve has selected the harshest terms in which Madame has +mentioned the dauphine's change of conduct. The reader will have read, +earlier in this volume, Madame's other and much fuller comments, which +are kind and evidently just.--TR. + +[18] Saturday, September 13th, was the day of the assault of the +town and of the singular scene with Mme. de Maintenon, described by +Saint-Simon. See vol. i. of translated edition.--TR. + +[19] This was the miscarriage which caused the memorable scene at the +carp basin.--TR. + +[20] "Esther," and "Athalie," of Racine; "Absalon" and "Jonathas," by +Duché; "Jephté," by the Abbé Boyer. + +[21] This is a confidence made at Saint-Cyr to Mme. de Glapion, one +of the Dames de Saint-Cyr, whose zeal, modesty, tenderness of soul, +intelligence and devotion to duty had won for her the friendship of +the foundress. She narrates the conversation. (French editor.) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43283 *** |